Protesters take to the streets of Spain

Several thousand demonstrators took to the streets of the Spanish capital Sunday, protesting unemployment a week before voters elect a new government.

The march past the world-famous Prado museum and Madrid's city hall ended at the Puerta del Sol plaza, where economic protests began last May.

As riot police passed the demonstrators, protesters shouted "Less police, more education," a criticism of cutbacks in education during Spain's deep economic crisis.

The demonstration was smaller than one held October 15, when at least 10,000 people marched in Madrid on a day when Occupy Wall Street-style protests spread to Europe, Asia and Australia.

The Spanish newspaper El Pais said tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Barcelona that day.

Similar protests over the economy turned violent in Italy, with at least 70 people injured and a government building set on fire, but the Spanish demonstrations remained peaceful.

Protester Esteban Guerrero, 25, who's been to a dozen protests since last May, said he was not discouraged by the smaller crowd on Sunday.

"Each demonstration is not just one more," Guerrero said. "Many young people and workers take part. Some are bigger than others but what's important is that thousands turn out each time."

A journalism student in his final year of university, he said his job prospects after graduation are bleak, with the country's youth unemployment rate about 45%, twice the national average.

"It's a very precarious situation for young people in Spain, and getting worse, like it is for youth in Greece and Portugal. There's a big deterioration," Guerrero said.

Next Sunday's election, which the opposition conservatives are expected to win, will not be enough to change things, he added.

"I think it's necessary to vote, but that's not enough. People feel the elections won't change the situation. They won't stop the cutbacks," he said.

That's why people keep coming out onto the streets, he said.

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Obama pushes the trans-Pacific trade deal at APEC

President Barack Obama, in Hawaii for a weekend economic conference, said Saturday that leaders of nine nations have agreed on the "broad outlines" of a trans-Pacific free trade agreement.

The United States has been negotiating with Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Vietnam, Chile and Peru to develop the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which officials have said could eventually expand to include other nations.

Speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Honolulu, Obama pushed the expanded trade deal as a way to help boost investment and exports, create jobs, and "compete and win in the markets of the future."

The president is on a nine-day trip through the Asia-Pacific region that will include stops in Australia and Indonesia.

"I'm very pleased to announce that our nine nations have reached the broad outlines of an agreement. There are still plenty of details to work out, but we are confident that we can do so. So we've directed our teams to finalize this agreement in the coming year. It is an ambitious goal, but we are optimistic that we can get it done," he said, according to remarks provided by his office.

The next round of negotiations is scheduled for early next month.

Obama said the TPP has the potential to be a model for future trade agreements elsewhere in the world, as it will address issues not covered in previous pacts. It will ensure that state-owned enterprises compete fairly with private companies and address trade and investment in digital technologies.

Obama's administration is taking care to highlight the importance of strong Asia-Pacific relations to the president's efforts to create jobs domestically.

"The U.S. exports to this region are essential to the president's goal of doubling U.S. exports in the next several years," Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, told reporters in a briefing this week. "In fact, nearly all of the efforts that we're going to be making towards that export goal take place in this part of the world."

The 21 members of APEC account for 55% of the world's gross domestic product, 43% of world trade and 58% of U.S. exports, according to the group.

"So I think when the American people see the president traveling in the Asia-Pacific, they will see him advocating for U.S. jobs and U.S. businesses," Rhodes said. "He will be trying to open new markets, and he will be trying to achieve new export initiatives, and he will be trying to foster a trade agreement through the, for instance, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, that takes us beyond the Korea Free Trade Agreement towards a multilateral agreement that, again, has very high standards to ensure that our interests are being protected."

During the weekend conference, Obama was also scheduled to have a discussion with business leaders, as well as side meetings with Russian President Dimitry Medvedev and Chinese President Hu Jintao. Obama met with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Saturday.

After a break Monday for a political fundraiser, Obama is scheduled to depart Tuesday for Australia and later Bali, Indonesia, where he will stress the U.S. role in the Asia-Pacific region and seek to reassure U.S. allies of the nation's continued commitment to the region, Rhodes said.

Speaking to business leaders on Saturday, the president addressed the need to campaign aggressively on behalf of the United States to boost business.

"We've been a little bit lazy, I think, over the last couple of decades. We've kind of taken for granted -- well, people will want to come here and we aren't out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new business into America," he said. "We can do much better than we're doing right now."

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Olympus urged to bring chief back

A former director of scandal-hit optical equipment maker Olympus has launched a campaign for reinstatement of its ousted British chief executive, saying Michael Woodford's return is crucial to the "painful restructuring" needed to save the group.

The call from Koji Miyata, former head of Olympus' medical systems business who served on the board from 1995 to 2006, adds to the pressure on the 92-year-old company's management amid a scandal that has shaken faith in Japanese corporate governance.

It came as Tokyo regulators struggled to decide how to handle the scandal and Singapore's sovereign wealth fund disclosed that it had sold its 2 per cent stake in Olympus.
Other large foreign Olympus shareholders have called for a return by Mr Woodford, who was fired after he raised questions about a series of acquisitions in which the company paid $1.4bn to obscure advisers and Cayman-registered funds.

After initial denials, Olympus has admitted that it used the deals to dispose of investment losses it had been hiding since the 1990s.

But the company's new president, Shuichi Takayama -- who previously defended the payments -- has continued to insist that Mr Woodford was sacked because he was a "high-handed" manager who did not understand Japanese culture.

In a statement on a campaign website set up at the weekend, Mr Miyata called for Olympus to offer an apology to Mr Woodford for "the baseless aspersions cast on his character".

Olympus should invite Mr Woodford to return as president to push reforms that would make the company a model of excellence "complying with the highest standards of corporate ethics", Mr Miyata said, asking current and former employees to sign an online petition.

By early evening in Tokyo on Sunday, the petition carried the names of almost 40 people described as former or current employees, along with others who registered anonymously.

Mr Woodford told the Financial Times last week that he was prepared to return to Olympus. However, such a return is sure to be fiercely opposed by the current management and could further strain the internal unity of the crisis-hit company. "A complete newcomer would be better," said one Olympus manager on Sunday.

The Olympus scandal has raised questions about the efficacy of Japanese regulators. On Friday, the Financial Services Agency confirmed it was examining the Olympus case, while the Tokyo Stock Exchange has put the company on watch for possible delisting and police are reportedly investigating.

It is still unclear how rigorous such examinations will be or how far they will go to make clear how Olympus suffered the losses it was trying to hide and who might have benefited in the process of concealing them.

Japanese media on Sunday quoted sources at the Securities Exchange and Surveillance Commission as saying it had already concluded that all the losses had been fully written off and that the SESC might thus recommend Olympus be subject to only an administrative levy.

Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, which manages more than $300bn of funds, said it had sold its 2 per cent shareholding in the troubled Japanese medical equipment and cameras group when indications of wrongdoing first emerged.

GIC retains an "insignificant" indirect holding, but the announcement it has sold its direct stake could further undermine confidence. GIC was Olympus' 10th biggest shareholder at the end of March, according to the company's latest annual report.

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Monti nominated to replace Berlusconi

Economist Mario Monti was nominated Sunday to replace Silvio Berlusconi as Italy's prime minister, presidential spokesman Donato Marra said.

Berlusconi resigned Saturday amid the country's ongoing financial crisis.

In announcing his nomination, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said Monti, a former European Union commissioner, is "gifted, competent, experienced" and well respected in Europe and internationally.

"This is the moment of his test," Napolitano said.
For his part, Monti in brief remarks to reporters, thanked Napolitano "for his trust in me" and pledged to do his best to serve Italy during the economic crisis, speaking of the importance of providing a better future for Italy's children. He said he will work with urgency, but also with scruples.

Monti ultimately will face approval by the Italian Parliament.

He must return to Napolitano within hours or days and accept the nomination fully, at which point he would be sworn in. Within days after being sworn in, Monti will have to go to parliament to present his government -- essentially his cabinet and his government plan. The upper and lower houses of parliament have 10 days from the time Monti is sworn in to separately hold votes of confidence on the new goverment before it would be finalized.

Napolitano met the heads of the Senate and the lower house of parliament Sunday, among other politicians, during the course of a full day of consultations, his office said.

Berlusconi's resignation was greeted with cheers and dancing in the streets, as people waved the Italian flag and sang the nation's anthem.

He is the second prime minister to resign this month over the debt crisis sweeping across Europe. Greece's George Papandreou was replaced Wednesday by Lucas Papademos, a former European Central Bank official.

European Commission President Jose Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy welcomed Monti's nomination in a joint statement.

"We believe it sends a further encouraging signal -- following the swift adoption of the 2012 Stability Law -- of the Italian authorities' determination to overcome the current crisis," the statement said.

Support appeared to be growing this week for Monti to take the helm of a technocratic administration. Other names floated include former Justice Minister Angelino Alfano and Gianni Letta, Berlusconi's chief of staff.

The Berlusconi government will back Monti, with conditions, Alfano, a spokesman for Berlusconi's People of Freedom party, told reporters on Sunday. Those conditions would be that the new government is comprised of technocrats, and that it concentrate on economic reforms, he said. The duration of the new government must be connected to how long those reforms take, according to Alfano.

Left-wing opposition leader Pier Luigi Bersani told reporters after meeting with Napolitano that his party supports the new government. "A new and technocrat government is needed ... because the crisis is serious," he said.

Bersani said his party expressed support for the upcoming government to carry out reforms in the electoral law and in the government, and thanked Napolitano for his handling of a "very grave crisis" in which "there was no time to lose."

"We need to do all that is possible to conserve our family and our companies from the global crisis that has hit all the advanced countries," Berlusconi said Sunday in a speech.

Berlusconi has said he does not intend to stand again if new elections are called.

But in a letter to the head of a far-right party, Berlusconi suggested he did want to return to power.

"I hope to be able to undertake with you the path of government," he said in a letter to Francesco Storace, the head of the right-wing La Desta party.

"I'm proud of what we've managed to achieve in these three and half years, which were marked by an unprecedented international crisis," Berlusconi said in the letter which was posted on his Facebook page. It was dated before his resignation.

The 75-year-old business magnate stepped down just hours after the lower house of parliament approved austerity measures aimed at restoring confidence in Italy's economy.

Since entering politics nearly two decades ago, Berlusconi has been one of his country's great survivors, hanging on despite facing numerous trials, on charges ranging from corruption to having sex with an underage prostitute, none of which has resulted in a jail term.

The billionaire was elected for the third time in 2008, under the banner of the newly created People of Freedom party.

In the three and a half years since, his colorful personal life has claimed ever more headlines, as his second wife filed for divorce, he was charged with having sex with an underage nightclub dancer and abusing power, and the so-called "bunga-bunga" parties held at his home gained international notoriety.

On Tuesday, he failed to win a parliamentary majority on a budget vote that should have been routine, and had to face the inevitable: his days at the helm were numbered. In the end, it was his perceived failure to tackle Italy's debt crisis rather than any private scandal which had brought him down.

On Saturday, the Italian lower house of parliament approved a series of austerity measures demanded by Europe to shore up confidence in the country's economy. It passed by a vote of 380 for to 26 against.

The package, which includes spending cuts and proposals to boost growth, was approved by the Senate Friday, resulting in a market surge.

The measures include pension reform, with plans to raise the retirement age from 65 to 67, the privatization of state-owned companies and sale of state-owned properties, the liberalization of certain professions, and investment in infrastructure.

Italy is the the third-largest economy using the euro, and a meltdown would have a massive impact on global markets.

Berlusconi had pledged to step down once the austerity measures passed both houses of parliament after losing his majority.

The structural reforms demanded by the European Central Bank and the European Commission must be brought in without delay, said Emma Marcegaglia, head of the Italian employers' association, Confindustria.

"These reforms are the only thing that can take us out of the current situation," she said. "We have no choice. We cannot wait for three months for the next elections, this would mean the destruction of Italy. "

She said a rapid solution to the political uncertainty in Italy was essential to put it "firmly back on the road to credibility."

She added: "We are not Greece, we are a strong economy, we are the world's eighth largest economy. We have many state assets and have lots of potential. But we have to survive this very difficult situation."

Italian borrowing costs continued to ease Friday, after spiking above 6.75% Wednesday, giving investors hope that Italy is finally starting to make some progress toward addressing its massive debt problems.

Yields on Italian 10-year bonds were trading at 6.5% Friday after dipping as low as 6.43%. While that's still stubbornly above 6%, it's finally moving in the right direction.

It is imperative to keep Italy's 10-year bond yields well below 7% because that was the level that eventually led to bailouts for Ireland, Portugal and Greece.

Currently, Italy -- the biggest bond issuer in Europe -- possesses a massive gross debt of roughly €1.9 trillion and a debt-to-GDP ratio of 120%. The country is widely considered to be too big to fail. But it may also be too big to bail.

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Ambani calls for the younger leadership in India

Mukesh Ambani, India's richest man, has called for a generational change in the country's gerontocratic leadership, and urged the government to move faster to implement reforms that would help meet its young population's economic ambitions.

"We've had a mystery [in India] where we think that [important] jobs can only be done by 60-yearr-old plus [people]. . . I think we're now fast moving to say that our 40-year-olds can take more responsibility and can perform better," Mr Ambani, 54, told business leaders and policymakers at the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit in Mumbai.

He added that moving towards "leadership [that] reflects our demographics", should be a top priority for the country.

The tycoon's call for younger leadership comes as 41-year-old Rahul Gandhi prepares to take greater responsibility in India's ruling Congress party from his ailing mother Sonia, the party president, and as the country's economy recedes from much-wanted double-digit growth.

Many political analysts are expecting an imminent transition of power in which Mr Gandhi -- the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty -- takes a more visible role following the treatment of his 64-year-old mother for an unknown illness in the US over the summer.

Some expect him to take the party's presidency before crucial elections in Uttar Pradesh next year.

About 70 per cent of India's 1.2bn people are under 35. Mr Ambani's call to "align leadership with demographics" is an appeal for greater dynamism in Asia's third largest economy at a time when the administration of Manmohan Singh, the 79-year-old prime minister, is flagging. The opposition Bharatiya Janata party is led by the 83-year old L.K. Advani.

Likewise, some of its leading businesses, such as the Tata Group, are led by septuagenarians.

One of the top complaints of Mumbai industrialists, alongside high domestic borrowing costs, is paralysis in India's parliament and bureaucracy following a slew of embarrassing high-profile corruption scandals.

Mr Singh and his top economic team were absent from the WEF, viewed as a key investment showcase held this year for the first time in India's financial capital. Previously, Mr Singh has used the event to sell his country's prospects to foreign investors.

Janmejaya Sinha, the chairman of the Boston Consulting Group in the Asia-Pacific region, said: "The government's record in addressing the big issues is abysmal."

"The issues are ethical not economic, but we keep saying it is an economic problem," he said about New Delhi's failure to push through improvements in education, healthcare and power.

Mr Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries, India's largest family-controlled conglomerate by market capitalisation, emphasised that it was essential for the government to speed up reform to meet the demands of the fast growing private sector. "The reality is that India is a land of a billion opportunities and not of a billion problems," he said.

Room at the top

Oldies

Manmohan Singh Prime minister, 79, a respected technocrat in his second term as PM

Pranab Mukherjee Finance minister, 75, and Congress party's troubleshooter

L.K. Advani Leader of opposition Bharatiya Janata party, 83

Sonia Gandhi Congress president, 64, Italian-born wife of murdered former PM Rajiv Gandhi

Ratan Tata Tata Group chairman, 73. A search is on for his successor at the head of one of India's largest industrial groups

Youngsters

Rahul Gandhi Congress general secretary, 41, widely tipped as a future PM

Sachin Pilot Junior minister of technology, 34, son of a late Congress politician

Varun Gandhi A BJP leader, 31, Rahul's cousin who has gone over to the Hindu nationalist opposition

Madhu Kannan Managing director of Bombay Stock Exchange, 38

Sachin Bansal FlipKart chief, 28, founded India's answer to Amazon.com with his brother

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Boeing secures record the Emirates deal

Boeing on Sunday won its single largest ever commercial aircraft order when Emirates, the fast-growing Gulf carrier, announced it would buy at least 50 twin-aisle passenger airplanes from the US manufacturer.

The order for 50 Boeing 777 long-haul aircraft is worth $18bn at list prices, a record contract by value for the US company.

Unveiled at the Dubai air show, the deal provides a much-needed boost for Boeing, which has been badly trailing Airbus -- its arch rival -- in the number of orders won this year.
The contract also underlines the ambitions of Emirates, the Dubai-based carrier that is rapidly becoming a strong rival to Asian, European and US airlines.

Emirates currently has a fleet of 162 aircraft and is already the biggest operator of Boeing's 777 aircraft and Airbus' A380 superjumbos.

Jim Albaugh, head of Boeing's commercial aircraft division, said Boeing's single largest order by dollar value in its 95-year history was an "extremely proud moment", adding that the Emirates' deal would sustain several thousand jobs in the US.

Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates' chief executive, said the 777 order was part of the airline's strategy to expand across Africa, Asia, Europe and the US.

Emirates is buying 50 Boeing 777-300 ER planes, which seat 365 passengers, and deliveries of the aircraft will start in 2015.

Although the order is worth $18bn at list prices, Emirates is expected to pay significantly less because airlines typically secure discounts on large deals. Boeing's previous record single order was a 2006 deal with Air India for 68 planes, worth $11bn at list prices.

Emirates has taken out options on a further 20 Boeing 777-300 ER planes, which means the order's value could rise to $26bn at list prices.

Nick Cunningham, analyst at Agency Partners, said the order should represent "very profitable" business to Boeing because the US company has finished the 777's costly development phase.

He added that Airbus had effectively "missed out" on the opportunity to secure Emirates' order because of the European manufacturer's decision to delay its planned new alternative to the 777-300 ER. Airbus' A350-1000, which will seat 350 passengers, was due to enter service in 2015, but the timetable has slipped to 2017.

Airbus -- a subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space company -- has announced 1,038 orders for new aircraft net of cancellations in the first nine months of this year, compared to Boeing's 426.

Airbus' higher tally is partly due to strong demand for its A320 NEO, the planned new single-aisle, short-haul plane that is more fuel efficient than the existing A320.

However, Mr Albaugh claimed Boeing's plane deliveries to customers could overtake Airbus' in 2013, partly because of demand for the US company's new 787 twin-aisle, long haul aircraft. Airbus' deliveries have surpassed Boeing's every year since 2003.

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Turkey suicide bomb attack

  A female suicide bomber killed two people and herself in an attack Saturday in Turkey's eastern Bingol province, the Turkish state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

Bingol Governor Mustafa Hakan Guvencer said 20 people were also hurt when the woman detonated her explosives in the town of Bingol, the agency said.

He told the agency that one of the two victims killed was a woman.

Turkish Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin said the injured were being treated in hospital.

Turkey has suffered a number of violent incidents in recent weeks.

An attack 10 days ago in the country's southeastern Hakkari province, blamed on Kurdish separatists, left 24 soldiers dead and 18 injured.

Last month, at least three people were killed by an explosion in the heart of the Turkish capital, Ankara. A Kurdish rebel splinter group later claimed responsibility for the attack.

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