Man on drugs, depressed when cruiser torched during G20, court told

And then he looked on with glee as the flames rose higher and higher . . .

That’s how the Crown described the look on Nicodemo Catenacci’s face in one of several photographs presented Monday in a provincial court.

Catenacci, a 41-year old Windsor carpenter, has pleaded guilty to arson in the burning of a Toronto Police cruiser during the G20 summit. In photos shown at Monday’s sentencing hearing, he is seen setting a newspaper ablaze and tossing it into the smashed cruiser.

G-20 Interim Study Faults Short Supply For Rise in Commodity Prices

A report being conducted for the world’s Group of 20 leading economies points to supply not keeping up with demand as the main factor behind price increases in wheat, sugar, cotton, metals, oil and other commodities.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s study–which is being put together ahead of the next G-20 meeting of top finance officials in April in Washington– may lead to increased efforts to boost commodities production around the world. It could also help reduce criticism of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s easy-money policies, which some have blamed for stoking global inflation.

IMF: Told G-20 To Cooperate On Rebalancing Growth, Sustaining Recovery

The International Monetary Fund urged Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers last week to work together on rebalancing the global economy, with emerging economies increasingly outpacing the rebound in wealthier nations.

In a staff note to G-20 officials meeting in Paris, the IMF said the uneven pace of the global recovery suggests that prospects for more balanced, sustainable economic growth are limited. While the risks to advanced nations remain on the downside, fast-growing emerging economies are facing a growing threat of overheating as political turmoil in the Middle East pushes up the price of oil and other commodities.

G-20 at Odds Over Crisis Prevention

The coalition of leading world economies known as the Group of 20 faces growing strains, with China and other countries increasingly at odds over how to prevent another financial crisis.

The sharpening divisions pose a critical test for the G-20, which must have the complete agreement of each country in order to advance new policies.

The G-20 proved successful at coordinating policy responses during the recent financial crisis and global recession. But now consensus has become elusive as economies recover at much different speeds, with much different interests. China and other emerging economies are growing quickly, Europe and Japan are expanding slowly, and the pace of the United States is somewhere in between.

G-20 leaders: Global recovery is 'strengthening, but is still uneven'

(CNN) -- In the face of an "uneven" economic recovery, members of the G20 meeting in Paris agreed Saturday that the international monetary system has proven "resilient, but vulnerabilities remain."

Delegates at the meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors cited in a communique issued at the end of their two-day meeting the need to prevent "disorderly movements" and "persistent misalignment" of exchange rates.

G-20 Paris: Nicolas Sarkozy calls for action against inflation's 'great threat'

Inflation poses a "great threat" to global growth, risking dangerous unrest if food prices soar out of people's reach, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has warned the world's finance ministers.

Rising prices pushed up by the climbing costs of raw commodities present a "social issue" , he argued in a rallying cry to avoid the "hunger riots" he sees looming.

Geithner Says G-20 Consensus Is Building on Early-Warning System

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Saturday that the Group of 20 largest industrial and developing nations is gradually building consensus on an early-warning system to head off future crises and expressed confidence the group would complete the program.

He spoke after China agreed to allow international scrutiny of its much-criticized exchange-rate policy in the face of unified opposition from other G-20 members, including from emerging nations that previously backed Beijing.

Pranab Mukherjee to attend G-20 finance ministers' meet in Paris

Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will leave for Paris on Thursday evening on a three-day visit to attend G-20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors' meet from February 18.

During his stay in Paris, Mukherjee will hold his first meeting with his French counterpart Christine Legarde on Friday where the two leaders are expected to discuss both bilateral and multi lateral issues of mutual interest, including revenue related matters.

US Likely To Leverage G-20 Agenda To Tackle China Yuan Policy

The U.S. will likely leverage many of the major economic issues at the upcoming conference of the Group of 20 largest economies as an opportunity to continue pressuring China on its currency policy.

The G-20 will tackle rebalancing the global economy and emerging-market concerns about volatile capital flows and commodity-price inflation as some of its top priorities when world financial leaders meet in Paris, France later this week.

G-20 to weigh capital inflows, tie up with IMF: Japan

The Group of 20 financial chiefs will discuss this week destabilizing capital inflows to emerging market countries and collaboration with the International Monetary Fund to address the problem, Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said today.

Capital inflows to emerging economies will be a new, formal agenda, Noda told reporters, adding that the G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors will talk about what cooperation could be possible between the group and the IMF, an international lender in Washington.

Recovery Redefines G-20 Challenge

The global economy's recovery, though still fragile, is easing pressure on world leaders to address lingering financial and economic risks at the meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 leading economies in Paris later this week.

Fears that helped drive cooperation during the peak of the financial crisis are dissipating, and the agenda promoted by the G-20's current chairman, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, is proving divisive.

France invites UAE to G-20 summit in Cannes

France invited Ethiopia, Singapore, Spain, the UAE and Equatorial Guinea to the Group of 20 nations summit which will be held in Cannes on November 3 and November 4.

The invitation of the five non-member countries was “in line with the principles defined by the G-20 under the Korean presidency and after consultations with all G-20 partners,” France said in a statement on Saturday.

G-20 Set to Agree on Need to Oversee Capital Flows

The world's economic leaders are expected to agree next week on the need for a new system to oversee international capital flows. But a decision on what exactly the guidelines should be, and how to enforce them, could prove a much thornier issue.

Finance officials from the Group of 20 world's largest economies and representatives of international financial institutions are due to gather on February 18 and 19 for the first high-level meeting under France's year-long G-20 presidency. Against the backdrop of a wobbly global economy, officials plan to tackle the euro-zone debt crisis, currency policy, financial regulation and a raft of other economic problems ailing rich and developing countries alike. They also may discuss how to better represent non-G-20 countries at future meetings.

No compensation yet for G20: business owners

Dozens of businesses in the city centre say they haven't received any federal compensation following last summer's G20 meetings, which led to large-scale street closures and rampant vandalism in major retail areas in Toronto.

Kevin Parker from the Queen Street West landmark Steve's Music said that his storefront was seriously damaged when a police cruiser was set on fire only metres from the store.

French Fin Min: G-20 Must Protect Financial Product Consumers

PARIS (Dow Jones)--French finance minister Christine Lagarde Tuesday said she will ask her G-20 counterparts to define common principles on protecting consumers of financial products.

Consumer rights should be high on the agenda of the Group of 20 leading economies, Lagarde said in a statement ahead of next week's meeting.

FOCUS: G-20 Ponders More Inclusive Governance

PARIS (Dow Jones)--An updated report commissioned by French President Nicolas Sarkozy will recommend that the Group of 20 industrialized economies undergo a major structural overhaul while also expanding the powers of the International Monetary Fund to deal more effectively with future financial crises, according to one of the report's authors.

France, which this year holds the G20's rotating presidency, has made reforming the international monetary system, curbing the volatility of commodities prices and improving global governance its top priorities.

Sarkozy comes to Turkey wearing his G-20 hat

French officials are looking forward to their president’s visit to Turkey on Feb. 25. He will come within his capacity as president of the G-20. This will be his second visit with this hat after Washington. “This visit shows the importance France attaches to hearing Turkey’s views on issues that the G-20 will be tackling,” say French officials.

I cannot help but have a cynical attitude about the visit, which is expected to take place in Ankara probably without a stop in Istanbul, the financial center of Turkey. It is a known fact that Nicolas Sarkozy prefers to stay away from Turkey in order to avoid giving contradictory messages to his own public, which has always heard how Turkey needs to stay outside the European Union. This is also the view of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, yet this has not stopped her from coming to Turkey. It is not possible to understand Sarkozy’s anxiety of not being photographed on Turkish (or should I say Anatolian) soil. The G-20 presidency obviously provided an excellent pretext to come to Turkey.

Although I do not have the intention of overestimating the importance of the visit, I should not underestimate the perspective of the French officials, which is possibly shared by Turkish officials as well. Instead of looking at the visit from a cynical, negative point of view, they prefer to see the cup half-full. Although Sarkozy met Turkish leadership on the sidelines of international conferences, nothing takes the place of a visit. And at least, one can hope, he will have an extra five minutes in the plane before landing at Esenboğa Airport to be briefed on Turkish-French economic relations, and might be surprised with the volume it has reached. There might even be an extra five minutes in the car from the airport to the Prime Ministry for him to be briefed on Turkish views toward regional issues, which again he might find the overlap much to his surprise. And perhaps he might have an extra three minutes on his fight back to Paris to reflect on Turkey.

Obviously he cannot leave Ankara without touching on bilateral ties as well as the regional turmoil. Yet he will also have to lend an ear to what Turkey thinks of the global economic issues.

Most of the emerging economies that became interested in an enlarged G-8 were at the beginning solely interested in being part of it, Turkey included. At the beginning their contribution remained a little limited, as some of the essential international financial and monetary issues were rather managed directly by developed countries, although the rest of the world suffered consequences. Take the subprime mortgage crisis. As the system did not exist in Turkey, you would not expect Turkey or other countries to brainstorm for a remedy. In fact, leaders within Turkey’s state mechanism, as well as the opinion makers, did not ponder too much about what to do for a better international economic system, as they had enough to ponder about the problems of Turkey’s economy.

Actually in 2009, when Great Britain held the G-20 presidency, the British consulate, in cooperation with a Turkish university, initiated a series of conferences in Istanbul to brainstorm on the G-20 agenda. It struck me at the time that it was the British consulate that took the mission upon itself to stimulate discussion on international financial issues.

The ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, has ambitiously aimed to have a say in international organizations. In fact Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu is on the record saying that Turkey will and should have a say in shaping the new world order. The government takes pride when some countries in the southern flank tell Turkey it should be their voice in organizations like the G-20. In fact Davutoğlu has been saying Turkey will be the voice of the poor and the victim. It is no coincidence that the foreign ministers’ meeting of the Council of Europe in Istanbul will take place at the same time as the summit of less developed countries. In order to take on such a mission, Turkey needs to be well prepared. It seems that Turkey’s civil servants have been more active in the preparatory meetings, voicing detailed demands. In doing so, they should not neglect being in touch with those countries that expect their views to be voiced by Turkey.

Source: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com

Tackle export bans to ease food crisis

Listening to President Nicolas Sarkozy of France one can only fear for the G20 agenda for food security and commodities policy.

Vitriolic attacks on speculators seem to be at the centre of the discourse. But behind the rhetoric – which is mostly linked to domestic politics – lies an interesting agenda that could really help to mitigate the current spike in volatility and prices in agricultural commodities markets.

While most politicians focus on speculation, I strongly believe that the current spike in agricultural prices was exacerbated by policy – export bans – and lack of information, as no one really knows what the current level of stocks is.

France must tackle both problems during Mr Sarkozy’s chairmanship of the G20, which runs till November. They may seem rather dull problems when it is more headline-catching to demonise speculators. But addressing these problems would do a lot more to bring down prices or, at least, mitigate volatility than another call for a clampdown on speculation.

The restrictions in agricultural commodities exports are legal under global commerce rules, even for those countries, such as Ukraine, that are bound by their membership to the World Trade Organisation.

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the core treaty of the WTO, has since 1947 banned “prohibitions or restrictions” on exports of commodities. However, it permits them when “temporarily applied to prevent or relieve critical shortages of foodstuffs or other products essential” to the exporting country. To add to the confusion, the treaty fails to explain what it means by “temporarily” or what is a “critical shortage”, leaving countries ample room for manoeuvre.

France is likely to find strong support for its proposal to regulate export bans from fellow European countries and Japan, South Korea and the US. But Argentina, Brazil, India and China are reluctant to back them. At the end, Paris may have to settle for some form of gentleman’s agreement on export bans, with promises from large exporters not to abuse them.

The other area in which Paris needs to make progress is in the effective distribution of reliable information.

I am told that when Russia imposed its export ban, resulting in a spike in the prices of wheat and other agricultural commodities, President Sarkozy demanded information about the level of stocks. Of course, he was right in asking for that particular piece of data: if stocks are high, they will cushion the lack of sales from a major exporter. His advisers were at pains to explain that the current information about global stocks, production and demand was rather poor.

In reality, we know little about the current status of global physical agricultural commodities markets. Only the big trading houses – Cargill, Archer Daniel Midlands, Bunge, Louis Dreyfus, Glencore, Wilmar, Noble and Olam – have a proper understanding of the situation.

Governments are mostly in the dark. A senior Western official recently told me that his estimates of stocks of wheat, corn and soyabean in China – which are widely followed by the market – are nothing more than “informed guesses”.

The problem is that many countries see information about agricultural commodities markets, particularly the level of stocks, as state secrets. Don’t expect China and India to welcome Paris’ idea for more disclosure. Even so, the G20 could offer more money and resources to institutions such the Rome-based UN’ Food and Agriculture Organisation to provide better and more up-to-date data. For that, the FAO should stop relying on information largely provided by member governments and instead do its own estimates based on field work and satellite images.

Both proposals surely sound less sexy than the attacks on speculators, but if Paris is able to achieve some advances, it could make a great difference in coming years.

Source: http://www.ft.com

Toronto police officer Babak Andalib-Goortani charged for G-20 assault

A Toronto Police Service officer has been arrested and charged.

Constable Babak Andalib-Goortani, 30, has over three years' service and is assigned to 31 Division.

On Friday, January 21, 2011, the Toronto Police Service began a criminal investigation based on a complaint received by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director.

It is alleged that:

- on Saturday, June 26, 2010, Constable Andalib-Goortani assaulted a woman by hitting her with his baton, in the area of Queen's Park.

On Tuesday, February 1, 2011, Constable Andalib-Goortani was arrested and charged with Assault with a Weapon.

He is scheduled to appear in court at College Park on Monday, March 7, 2011 at 10 a.m., room 507.

Source: http://www.oyetimes.com

G20 activist loses challenge to rescind bail conditions

TORONTO — A Montreal activist banned from demonstrating after last summer's G20 protests has lost his bid to have the restriction overturned.

Jaggi Singh, who faces conspiracy charges in connection with the protests, asked a Toronto court to rescind his bail conditions, which include a ban on demonstrating.

Singh's lawyer, Peter Rosenthal, says the court's decision issued today upholds the ban, but releases his client from house arrest and the obligation to live with one of his sureties.

Rosenthal says he is "disappointed" with the decision.

He says Singh could bring his case to the Supreme Court of Canada, but there's only a "very small chance" the court would hear it.

There is a publication ban on the reasons for the decision.

Singh is a community organizer with the Anti-Capitalist Convergence as well as No One Is Illegal-Montreal.

Other G20 conspiracy defendants face restrictive curfews and house arrest.

A co-accused, Alex Hundert, is also prohibited from appearing at public demonstrations.

Source: http://www.ctv.ca