China and EU at it again - this time they're chucking shoes
Beijing, China: China may have warned the European Union that it might report it to the World Trade Organisation if it applies anti-dumping duties to shoes made in China, according to an article in the Economic Observer.

The article, written by an unnamed analyst at the commerce ministry's research arm, said vice commerce minister Gao Hucheng handed out the warning but omitted mentioning when the warning was issued. The Chinese action may have taken place in January, presumably, when Gao led a delegation to Brussels,

The visit was an attempt to dissuade the EU's executive Commission from imposing the anti-dumping duties. During the trip, Gao also met representatives of Europe's retail sector, who could help Beijing in its fight against the controls. The sector had put up a big shout in favour of Chinese goods during the "bra wars" last year.

Some of the world's biggest sportswear companies, which produce many shoes in China, have said the import duties could threaten more than half a million European jobs in design, marketing, sales and logistics.

The EU Commission last year began investigating whether shoes made in China and Vietnam were being sold at below cost in Europe after EU member countries with shoe industries of their own, led by Italy, complained they were being unfairly hit.

The EU move has come after imports of Chinese-made leather and fabric shoes soared 700 per cent in the first four months of 2005, while consumer prices fell by about a third according to its figures. China and Vietnam each exported an estimated US$2bn worth of shoes to the EU last year.

Brussels is slated to decide on the anti-dumping move in April.
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Murdoch moves to upset CNBC's apple cart
Sydney, Australia: News Corp. executive chairman Rupert Murdoch has initiated moves to launch a rival business channel, intended to challenge CNBC's dominance, by the year-end, Newsweek magazine has reported.

According to an article in the US news magazine's Feb 13 edition, News Corp is in discussions with the biggest cable companies, and gives the impression that Murdoch may be making considerable progress. 'You can expect something fairly soon,' Murdoch told the magazine in an interview.

Newsweek said Murdoch also plans to announce a US$1bn plan for adding broadband to DirecTV, the satellite TV service he controls, by the end of the month. The magazine also said that it expects News Corp's combined Internet interests to add up to 'a conservative US$1bn' in revenues by 2010, not counting any more acquisitions.
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Yen climbs against the dollar as Jap. economy continues to strengthen
Tokyo, Japan: The yen snapped a three-day decline against the dollar in Asia on speculation a Japanese government report today will show economic growth is likely to quicken.

Analysts said that today's leading economic index would in all probability show the Japanese economy is in a solid recovery. The yen gained to 118.72 against the U.S. currency as of 10:13 a.m. in Tokyo, from 118.94 yen on Feb. 3 in New York. Against the euro, it traded at 142.83 from 143.00. The dollar will move between 117 and 120 yen this week, analysts said.

It would be a fourth straight quarter of growth.

Industrial production rose for a fifth month in December, the longest expansion since 1999, a separate report Jan. 30 showed.
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BNP Paribas's move on Italian bank likely to spark off consolidation
Paris, France: BNP Paribas, the French banking giant, said on Friday that it wanted to buy BNL, Italy's sixth-largest bank by assets, for £5 billion in a deal that is expected to prompt a series of similar deals in Italy, according to banking analysts.

Analysts predict that Italian banks, which are still relatively small compared with their European peers, may now try to increase their size through mergers. Analysts say that without mergers the Italian banks will not be able to play a role at the European level.

The BNP bid, which is the third in a year, after earlier attempts by the insurer Unipol and BBVA of Spain, was made public after BNP struck a deal with investors owning 48 per cent in the Roman bank.
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