Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng – who was at the centre of a diplomatic crisis with the US – says he is at Beijing’s airport, where he expects to leave to go to the US.
The blind activist told reporters he did not have a passport, but believed he was going to New York.
Mr Chen recently spent six days in the US embassy in Beijing after escaping house arrest.
He wants to leave China and has been offered a place at New York university.
Mr Chen was taken to a hospital after leaving the US embassy on 2 May, initially saying he wanted to stay in China.
But he later said he wanted to go to the US because he feared for his safety.
Mr Chen was offered a place to study law at New York University after Beijing said he would be allowed to apply to study abroad.
The US has said visas for Mr Chen and his family are ready.
Chen Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who campaigned against forced abortions under China’s one-child policy, was jailed for four years in 2006 for disrupting traffic and damaging property, and placed under house arrest after his release in 2010.
Claims that German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested debt-stricken Greece vote on whether it should stay in the eurozone have sparked a row.
The Greek allegation, which Berlin denies, comes as President Barack Obama welcomed G8 leaders to a dinner at Camp David, opening a summit expected to be dominated by the eurozone turmoil.
Mr Obama said talks on Saturday would promote a “strong growth agenda”.
Investors fear a Greek eurozone exit could trigger a fresh global crisis.
‘False’ report
Athens said that Chancellor Merkel had suggested on Friday morning that Greece could hold a referendum on the euro when it votes in national elections next month.
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Mark Lowen BBC News, Athens
The new spokesman of the caretaker Greek government, Dimitris Tsiodras, told me he had nothing to add since the earlier statement that Angela Merkel had discussed the referendum proposal with the Greek president.
If Chancellor Merkel indeed suggested a referendum on euro membership, it would be an astonishing about-turn. Last November, the then Greek PM George Papandreou formally proposed a referendum – ostensibly on the bailout, but it would have turned out to be on euro membership.
The idea caused outrage from Mrs Merkel and then French President Nicolas Sarkozy, furious that the Greek government could play such a potentially dangerous game with the euro. Mr Papandreou was forced to row back on the proposal – and it ultimately cost him his premiership.
Could Mrs Merkel’s suggestion – if it stands (her office denies it was made) – be part of a high-stakes game of brinkmanship? Possibly. Berlin and others are obviously aware that the vast majority of Greeks want to stay in the euro, according to opinion polls. And they are using that fact to their advantage.
A statement from the office of Greece’s interim prime minister said that Mrs Merkel had raised the subject during a telephone call with Greek President Karolos Papoulias.
The German chancellor “conveyed thoughts about a vote parallel to the election with the question to what extent do the Greek citizens wish to remain within the eurozone”, said the statement.
“However, it is clear that the matter is beyond the competence of the caretaker government.”
But Berlin denied such a proposal had been made.
“This is false and we completely dismiss this,” a German government spokeswoman said.
Greece’s caretaker government was sworn in this week after elections failed to produce a viable coalition to run the country. New elections have been scheduled for 17 June.
The result of the poll could determine the fate of austerity measures which Greece’s international creditors are insisting on.
Investors fear any refusal by Athens to impose deep spending cuts agreed under a bailout deal could result in the country quitting the bloc of 17 countries that use the euro.
Larger countries such as Spain or Italy that are struggling to ease their debt loads might then become vulnerable, potentially triggering wider eurozone upheaval and even a global financial crisis to rival the one of 2008.
‘Decisive action’ needed
The situation is expected to top the agenda as the leaders of the US, Germany, France, Britain, Japan, Russia, Italy and Canada gather for the annual G8 summit, at Camp David near Washington DC.
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Francois Hollande and Barack Obama have met for the first time at the White House
Iran’s nuclear programme and Syria’s crackdown on dissent are also expected to be addressed at Saturday’s meeting.
Earlier on Friday, President Obama welcomed the new French President, Francois Hollande, to the White House to discuss economic matters.
Mr Hollande, who took office this month, said he and Mr Obama “have the same conviction that Greece must remain in the eurozone”.
Mr Obama said the situation was of great importance not only to Europe, but for the whole world.
The US president said he looked forward to “fruitful” discussions with other G8 leaders, with a strong focus on economic growth.
Mr Hollande also met British Prime Minister David Cameron at the British embassy in Washington.
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AAA-rating
The best credit rating that can be given to a borrower’s debts, indicating that the risk of borrowing defaulting is minuscule.
Mr Cameron said that Greece must decide if it wanted to remain in the euro.
“We need decisive action from eurozone countries in terms of strengthening eurozone banks, in terms of a strong eurozone firewall and decisive action over Greece. That has to be done.”
Meanwhile, there was another contradiction as European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said the bloc’s officials were working on contingency plans in case Greece left the eurozone.
He was contradicted by own his colleague, Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, who said in a statement: “We are not working on the scenario of a Greek exit.”
That however still does not rule out the possibility of contingency planning, says the BBC’s Matthew Price in Brussels.
After the G8 summit ends on Saturday evening, most of the leaders will decamp to Chicago to join a larger group of international officials for a Nato summit on Sunday and Monday.
Germany’s leader has had telephone contact with the Greek president, amid continuing speculation that his country may have to leave the eurozone.
Greek officials said Chancellor Angela Merkel had suggested Greece could hold a referendum on the euro when it votes in national elections next month.
However their German counterparts denied she had made such a proposal.
The crisis in the eurozone is expected to dominate G8 talks in the US this weekend.
The reports of the German-Greek contacts came as US and French leaders ended talks in Washington focusing on the economy.
‘Shared conviction’
In a telephone call with President Karolos Papoulias, Mrs Merkel “conveyed thoughts about a vote parallel to the election with the question to what extent do the Greek citizens wish to remain within the eurozone,” said a statement from the office of Greece’s interim prime minister.
“However, it is clear that the matter is beyond the competence of the caretaker government,” the statement went on.
But a spokeswoman in Berlin said: “The information reported that the chancellor had suggested a referendum to the Greek President Karolos Papoulias is wrong.”
The caretaker government was sworn in this week after elections failed to produce a viable coalition to run the country.
New elections have been scheduled for 17 June.
The vote could result in a government that would refuse to implement the austerity measures that Greece’s last remaining international creditors are insisting on.
‘Conviction’
Speculation is increasing that Greece may have to leave the eurozone.
Meeting in Washington just before news broke of the German proposal, the US and French leaders said Greece should stay.
“We have the same conviction that Greece must remain in the eurozone,” France’s new President, Francois Hollande, said.
President Barack Obama said the situation in the eurozone was of great importance to the people of Europe and the whole world.
He said he looked forward to “fruitful” discussions with other G8 leaders, with a strong focus on economic growth.
Mr Hollande, who was elected president on 6 May, is also to have talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Exit scenario?
Earlier, European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said he European Central Bank and the European Commission are working on emergency scenarios in case Greece had to leave the single currency.
Several hours later, fellow commissioner Olli Rehn issued a statement saying that he is responsible for financial and economic affairs and relations with the ECB.
“We are not working on the scenario of a Greek exit” he said.
That however still doesn’t rule out the possibility of contingency planning, says the BBC’s Matthew Price in Brussels.
Facebook shares will start trading in New York later in one of the most high-profile share sales of recent years.
Founder Mark Zuckerberg officially opened the day’s trading on the Nasdaq exchange, although trading in Facebook shares will not start until later.
He appeared via video link from a celebration at the social network’s headquarters in California.
The shares are priced at $ 38 each, valuing the eight-year-old social network site at $ 104bn (£66bn).
Strong demand has led Facebook to increase both the price and the number of shares available for sale.
The Nasdaq exchange, which is where technology giants such as Google and Apple are traded, opened at 0930 local time (1430 BST), with buying and selling of Facebook shares set to begin about an hour later.
This valuation means the social network site is worth about the same as internet shopping giant Amazon, and more than the value of stalwarts such as Disney.
The initial public offering (IPO) of the shares is the third-largest in US history, after the financial giant Visa and General Motors.
Facebook’s owners are releasing just under a fifth of the company’s total shares, about 421 million, which could raise about $ 18bn.
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Is Facebook worth $ 100bn?
Facebook employees have been up all night ahead of the event, taking part in a “hackathon” at the company’s headquarters in Menlo Park, California.
It is a tradition in which programmers work on projects that sometimes turn into mainstream offerings.
Future profits?
Early indications suggest that the share price will increase once open trading begins, despite the fact its profits are tiny in relation to its size – it makes about $ 5 a year for each of its 900 million users – and its plans to increase profitability are unclear.
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Major flotations
Google: raises $ 1.67bn for 7% of the company in 2004
Rosneft: raises $ 10.4bn for 15% of the company in 2006
Visa: raises $ 19.1bn for 50% of the company in 2008
Agricultural Bank of China: raises $ 22.1bn in 2010 making it the world’s largest IPO to date
David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect, says there is an army of potential stock holders among its users who are likely to push the price higher.
“People want to own the [Facebook] stock because they love it so much. I find people all the time who are just devoted to Facebook,” he said.
The site is largely used for social updates, and although Facebook has said its use on mobile devices are the key to new profits, analysts question how much room there is for advertising on such platforms.
Car giant General Motors added to those doubts by saying on Tuesday that it would no longer pay to advertise on the site.
But the potential revenue from online advertising is huge.
“We know our industry is $ 1tn worldwide,” Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising giant WPP, told the BBC.
“We know internet advertising is currently 20% roughly [of the total]. We know people are spending almost a third of their time online in one way or another, so there’s a vast opportunity for Facebook.”
Voting power
The feverish anticipation for this market debut does not extend to all investors.
Oliver Pursche, president of Gary Goldberg Financial Services, told the BBC: “We’re telling our investors to hold off.
“Number one, we don’t know what the guts and the balance sheet of the company looks like yet so that’s a big red flag for us. We want to understand the business before we tell people to invest.”
The new shareholders will not have much say in how the business is run.
The shares on offer are “A” shares, which carry one vote per share, as is normal, but the current owners’ shares are “B” shares, which carry 10 votes each.
They will control more than 96% of the votes after the flotation, with founder Mark Zuckerberg holding just under 56% of the voting power of the company.
Mr Zuckerberg, who owns about 25% of the company, stands to gain the most from taking Facebook public. Fellow founders Dustin Moskovitz and Eduardo Saverin will also become paper-billionaires overnight, as will Napster founder and former employee Sean Parker.
US venture capital firm Accel Partners and Russian internet investment group Digital Sky Technologies also hold significant stakes in Facebook, while software giant Microsoft and U2 frontman Bono also stand to make a huge profit on their investment in the company.
European stock markets had a shaky start on Friday as concern continued over Greece and Spain.
Spain’s main share index fell more than 2% before recovering, while shares in London fell by as much as 1%.
Those losses followed steep falls for Asian markets. Tokyo’s Nikkei average fell 3%, the biggest one day fall since last August.
Asian markets were also hit by losses in New York, where the Dow Jones closed more than 1% lower.
Investors were discouraged by two weak reports on the US economy.
“There is no resolution to the [European] problem yet, and we also we had very disappointing US data, so overall, it’s negative and further denting market sentiment,” said Frances Cheung, a senior strategist, at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong.
Challenges
Confidence in European banks was undermined by ratings agency Moody’s, which cut the credit ratings of 16 Spanish banks late on Thursday.
It also cut the debt rating on Santander UK, a subsidiary of the Spanish banking giant.
Santander shares reversed early losses to trade 3% higher, and Bankia shares jumped 9% following Thursday’s 14% slump.
Moody’s said there were several reasons behind the downgrade, including Spain’s slide back into recession, the financial challenges facing the Spanish government and bad loans in the property industry.
But Moody’s also recognised that banks had made progress in improving their financial situation, and noted the European Central Bank was providing support.
In response to worries over Spain some investors moved money into German bonds, which are seen as low-risk investments. That drove the yield on 10-year German bonds down to 1.399% on Friday, a record low.
In Asia, banking shares were hurt after the chief executive of ANZ said volatile market conditions meant that Australian banks were not lending to each other.
The wholesale lending markets are an important source of funds for banks.
“Right now, markets are closed again, and this is what happens in this sort of situation,” said ANZ chief executive Mike Smith.
The taxpayer could lose about £2bn once the assets of collapsed bank Northern Rock are wound down, the public spending watchdog has estimated.
The National Audit Office also said that taxpayers lost about £480m on the sale of Northern Rock PLC last year.
But the NAO said the sale of the bank to Virgin Money – criticised by some as too early – helped to minimise losses for the taxpayer.
Northern Rock was rescued in 2008 at the start of the financial crisis.
After nationalisation, the bank was split into a mortgage lending and savings arm, Northern Rock PLC, and a “bad bank” of sub-prime assets, Northern Rock Asset Management (NRAM).
The NAO said it could be years before the assets of NRAM were wound down, but its current estimate is that the taxpayer is sitting on a £2bn loss.
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For the NAO, that notional £2bn loss is probably a price that was worth paying: it prevented a banking collapse that could have been contagious and could have led to the demise of other banks”
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But the report says: “This net present cost should, however, be seen as part of the overall cost of securing the benefits of financial stability during the financial crisis.”
The NAO’s report, which deals specifically with the sale of Northern Rock PLC, concludes that the Treasury took big risks after it rescued the bank in 2008.
Northern Rock PLC was sold Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin at the end of 2011, at a loss to the taxpayer estimated by the NAO at £480m.
There was criticism at the time of the sale that the Treasury should have delayed any disposal until market conditions had improved and the taxpayer could get a better return.
But the NAO’s head, Amyas Morse, said: “A sale of Northern Rock PLC at the earliest opportunity was the best option to minimise losses on the £1.4bn of public money invested in the bank.”
However, the creation of Northern Rock PLC in 2009, which was designed to support UK mortgage lending, carried risks that the Treasury failed to address sufficiently, the NAO said.
While the Treasury’s intentions were laudable, Mr Morse said, the department committed itself to splitting the company before “looking in detail at the possible consequences for the taxpayer”.
Northern Rock’s lending arm was hived off on the basis of a business plan prepared by the bank’s management. The NAO report says that “events quickly showed [this plan] to have been optimistic”.
Luck, not judgement?
Mr Morse said the bad bank’s assets, under the control of Northern Rock Asset Management, would remain “in public ownership for many years to come and there could be a net cost for the taxpayer of some £2bn by the time these assets are finally wound down.”
In a statement, Margaret Hodge, chairwoman of the Committee of Public Accounts, accepted that the Treasury had had to act quickly during the financial crisis.
But she said: “Given the scale of the crisis we are fortunate that the net present cost to the taxpayer is potentially not more than £2nm. But this is perhaps more by luck than good judgement.”
Floral supplies come in many different shapes and sizes. As well as those items that are used to create your floral displays and help you master the art of floristry or streamline some of the processes involved, there are also display items that help to give your work the best look and ensure that customers see your designs at their very best. The type of display you create, the type of work you do, and the places where you display your floristry will ultimately determine the most beneficial floral supplies for your needs.
Christmas Displays
Seasonal displays typically use more than just flowers in flower shops Sheffield to create a great looking and relevant design. For instance Christmas displays will usually include baubles and may also include Santa figurines, snowmen and other related items. For your florist shop you may also want to include items like Christmas trees and wreaths which you can decorate yourself or buy ready decorated.
Valentines Day Displays
Valentines Day is one of the most popular days for buying flowers and roses are the biggest seller. However, the modern florist will typically cater to more than just floral needs. Teddy bears, ribbons, boxes, and balloons are all suitable floral supplies to help promote your florist business during the build up to Valentines Day.
Gift Shop Supplies
Floral supplies can be varied and extensive all year round. Many florists have become more gift shop than simple florist now. Helium filled birthday and event balloons, along with gift bags, baskets, and even scented candles and displays can make popular additional gift items which increases the average sale value for a florist while also pulling more potential customers through the door.
Floral Supplies
Of course, floral supplies also include items like floral bases and floral foam. Moss bases, ribbons, and spray paint can also be used to decorate a floral display and provide customers with the bunch of flowers or other gift idea that they have been looking for. You can create unique and artistic as well as classic looking displays with equally unique items which all florists in Sheffield seem to be doing.
Read More….This article was first published 14th January 2011 – http://flora.ezinemark.com/florist-supplies-31e0375efd2.html
Monica F Hewitt Florist Ltd 197 Middlewood Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S6 4HD 0114 234 5652 monicafhewitt.co.uk
Facebook has priced its shares ahead of one of the most eagerly-anticipated share flotations in recent stock market history.
The social network said on Thursday that it valued shares at $ 38 (£24) each, and they would begin trading in New York on Friday.
The share price values Facebook at more than $ 100bn.
Demand is set be high as this week the social networking site said it would be selling 25% more shares than planned.
But questions remain about the firm’s ability to generate profits and take advantage of mobile phone platforms.
There are also concerns that once the company has to answer to shareholders, there may be a greater emphasis on advertising to generate profits.
Limited say
Earlier this week, the company indicated the price would be between $ 34-$ 38 a share, with about 421 million shares up for sale.
This would represent one of the highest value share sales, or initial public offerings (IPOs) in US history.
By selling shares at that value, Facebook raised $ 16bn for itself.
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It was in 2004 that a Harvard student called Mark Zuckerberg started a social networking site in his college bedroom.
Eight years on, more than 900 million people use Facebook and its young founder – who still wears a hoodie to work – has convinced investors that his company is the most valuable technology business ever to have offered itself to investors.
Facebook’s revenue comes from advertising – and it’s now worth six times as much as the world’s biggest advertising business WPP.
When trading begins in New York, it’s expected that the shares will rise as small investors rush to get in on the act.
The real question though is whether in a year’s time Facebook will have started to deliver the huge growth in profits that shareholders will expect.
However, the new shareholders will not have much of a say in how the company is run.
The shares on offer are A shares, which carry one vote per share, whereas the current owners’ shares are B shares, which carry 10 votes each.
They will control more than 96% of the votes after the public listing, with founder Mark Zuckerberg holding just under 56% of the voting power of the company.
Mr Zuckerberg, who owns about 25% of the company, stands to gain the most from taking Facebook public. Fellow founders Dustin Moskovitz and Eduardo Saverin will also become paper-billionares overnight, as will Napster founder and former employee Sean Parker.
US venture capital firm Accel Partners and Russian internet investment group Digital Sky Technologies also hold significant stakes in Facebook, while Microsoft and U2 frontman Bono also stand to make a huge profit on their investment in the company.
Revenue growth
The social networking site has transformed the way in which hundreds of millions of people around the world communicate. It is also transforming the way companies advertise to existing and potential customers.
But Facebook’s 900 million users helped the company generate just $ 1bn in profit last year, and there are concerns about its ability to grow profits in the future.
For while it holds a depth of personal information advertisers dream about, Facebook only generates about $ 5 a year per user.
This has led a number of commentators to question the company’s valuation.
“Facebook will need to generate annual revenue of $ 30bn-$ 40bn in order to justify the likely valuation of the business,” said Victor Basta at Magister Advisors.
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Sir Martin Sorrell talks to Rory Cellan-Jones about the value of Facebook
“This is a tenfold increase over the revenues that it currently generates. The question is ‘where from?’”.
The potential revenue from online advertising is huge.
“We know our industry is $ 1tn worldwide,” Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising giant WPP, told the BBC.
“We know internet advertising is currently 20% roughly [of the total]. We know people are spending almost a third of their time online in one way or another, so there’s a vast opportunity for Facebook.”
Generating greater revenues from this potential market is the first key challenge facing the company, both in terms of its own business model and in the face of strong competition from the likes of Amazon, Apple and Google.
“We’re telling our investors to hold off,” Oliver Pursche, president of Gary Goldberg Financial Services, told the BBC.
“Number one, we don’t know what the guts and the balance sheet of the company looks like yet so that’s a big red flag for us. We want to understand the business before we tell people to invest.”
‘Knife edge’
Facebook has identified mobile devices, phones and tablet computers as key areas for revenue growth, but observers say this will not be easy.
“[Facebook is] the holy grail for advertisers. It holds the minutiae of everybody’s lives, the perfect concoction of information – age, sex and what you like,” technology analyst Ernest Doku told the BBC.
“[But] so many people are engaged for so long, it’s very difficult to lure them away to what you’re trying to sell them.”
The second big challenge is not alienating users while trying to maximise revenue.
“[The company] is balancing on a knife edge between servicing its users and pleasing its investors,” Mr Doku said.
“It has been able put the user experience first and foremost, but now investors are going to want [a return].”
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PM: “The eurozone… either has to make up, or it is looking at a potential break-up.”
David Cameron has said there will be no retreat on deficit reduction – and that he was right to speculate publicly about the break up of the euro.
He told business leaders in Manchester it was “more dangerous to stay silent than to speak out”.
It comes as the prime minister prepares for a conference call with European leaders including Angela Merkel and new French President Francois Hollande.
Labour says the recession is caused by coalition policies not the euro crisis.
Mr Cameron raised eyebrows at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday when he warned the eurozone it “either has to make up or it is looking at a potential break-up”.
Chancellor George Osborne has repeatedly warned against speculating about eurozone break-up, saying it would cause instability amid Greece’s ongoing inability to form a government able to push through austerity plans.
But he told MPs earlier on Thursday that the Greek elections had “let the genie out of the bottle” and “some of the things we were happy to say in private we are now also willing to say in public because the issue is out there”.
“We have very clear ideas about what the eurozone needs to do to make their currency work,” he added, saying he backed austerity measures in “peripheral” countries but also wanted to see the “core of the eurozone” do more “to support demand”.
‘Keep Britain safe’
Mr Cameron said it was “essential to speak out about what needs to be done to safeguard the eurozone, to safeguard Britain, to take the steps to make sure we deliver the strong and stable economic growth that we want”.
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The Coalition believed that it was winning the argument on deficit reduction, but fears it is in danger of losing the argument on growth.”
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Downing Street refused to say whether Mr Cameron would use similarly blunt language when he took part in a video conference later with Mr Hollande, Mrs Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, European Commission president José Manuel Barroso and European Council president Herman Van Rompuy.
The prime minister’s spokesman also declined to say whether Mr Cameron believed Greece should exit the euro, telling reporters: “It is in our interest that the eurozone sorts out its problems. There is no legal mechanism for a country to leave the euro.”
In a speech to business leaders in the North West of England, the PM warned that the problems in Greece and the survival of the euro were a “crisis that never really went away”.
“Either Europe has a committed, stable, successful eurozone with an effective firewall, well capitalised and regulated banks, a system of fiscal burden sharing, and supportive monetary policy across the Eurozone or we are in uncharted territory which carries huge risks for everybody,” he said.
“As I have consistently said it is in Britain’s interest for the eurozone to sort out its problems.
“But be in no doubt: whichever path is chosen, I am prepared to do whatever is necessary to protect this country and secure our economy and financial system.”
Faced with the knock-on effects of the eurozone crisis, Mr Cameron said that he had “a clear task” which was “to keep Britain safe”.
‘Right direction’
He defended the coalition’s austerity measures, saying the programme of spending cuts, tax rises and pay freezes was already having the desired effect of reducing the deficit.
“Let me be clear, we are moving in the right direction – not rushing the task but judging it carefully. And that is why we must resist dangerous voices calling on us to retreat.
He described Labour calls for the pace of spending cuts to be slowed as “something for nothing economics”.
“We cannot blow the budget on more spending and more debt. It would mean more austerity for even longer. It is not an alternative policy, it is a cop-out.”
Earlier, Business Secretary Vince Cable said Britain “shouldn’t be panicking or be unduly negative” about the crisis in the eurozone.
“We need to get the risks in perspective,” he told BBC Breakfast, adding there was no reason the crisis should spread beyond Greece.
Mr Cable said the UK could not directly influence the eurozone and the government must concentrate on ensuring Britain had a well-run economy with “growth and jobs on the one hand, and financial discipline on the other”.
‘Bystander’
Labour said Mr Cameron was using the eurozone crisis as “an excuse for Britain’s problems” and should instead be urging Europe to rethink its approach to austerity and the role of the European Central Bank.
Labour leader Ed Miliband told BBC News: “David Cameron isn’t part of the solution, he is part of the problem. He promised Britain there would be recovery and he has delivered a recession.
“All of Europe’s leaders, including David Cameron, bear responsibility for the fact that over the last two years they haven’t sorted out the problems of the eurozone and they haven’t had a proper plan for growth and jobs in Europe.”
Mr Miliband added: “The prime minister should be showing leadership, not looking like a man who is a bystander to events, shouting from the rooftops.”
The Bank of England has again downgraded its forecast for growth in 2012 to just 0.8% with Governor Mervyn King attributing UK weakness to fissures in the single currency bloc.
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The court was shown scenes of Ratko Mladic triumphantly entering Srebrenica
Prosecutors have described the chaos leading up the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, on the second day of Bosnian Serb ex-commander Ratko Mladic’s trial.
Gen Mladic is accused of orchestrating the killings of more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim boys and men in the town.
The 70-year-old faces 11 charges, including genocide, in connection with the brutal 1992-95 Bosnian war.
He calls the claims “monstrous”, and the court in The Hague has entered a not guilty plea on his behalf.
Prosecuting counsel Peter McCloskey said that the crimes at Srebrenica had never been in dispute so the prosecution’s focus would be on individual criminal responsibility.
He said that the Bosnian Serb Army was not an “army out of control” and that Gen Mladic had been on the ground and in command.
“We have radio intercepts of VRS (Bosnian Serb) soldiers and officers discussing murders. We have video of two of the actual executions themselves. So let me be perfectly clear, the crime will not be the main focus of this prosecution. This case will be primarily about one issue. The individual criminal responsibility of Ratko Mladic,” he said.
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The charges
Counts 1/2: Genocide of Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) and Bosnian Croats in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Srebrenica
Count 3: Persecutions
Counts 4/5/6: Extermination and murder
Counts 7/8: Deportation and inhumane acts
Counts 9/10: Terror and unlawful attacks
Count 11: Taking of UN hostages
The court watched video of local people panicking in a UN compound outside Srebrenica on 11 July 1995 as Bosnian Serb forces approached, followed by scenes of Gen Mladic triumphantly entering the town.
“We give this town to the Serbs as a gift,” he says to the camera.
More video showed Gen Mladic berating Dutch UN peacekeepers.
Mr McCloskey concluded by saying that Srebrenica “was a Bosnian genocide that we must never forget”.
During the evidence Gen Mladic listened intently, occasionally making notes.
The Srebrenica massacre was the worst atrocity in Europe since the end of World War II.
Serb fighters overran the enclave in eastern Bosnia – supposedly under the protection of Dutch UN peacekeepers. Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys were separated off, shot dead and bulldozed into mass graves – later to be dug up and reburied in more remote spots.
Gen Mladic is also charged in connection with the 44-month siege of Sarajevo during which more than 10,000 people died.
‘Criminal endeavour’
On the first day of the trial on Wednesday, the prosecution at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) argued that Gen Mladic had intended to “ethnically cleanse” Bosnia.
Prosecuting counsel Dermot Groome said they would prove Gen Mladic’s hand in the crimes.
Mr Groome said that by the time Gen Mladic and his troops had “murdered thousands in Srebrenica”, they were “well-rehearsed in the craft of murder”.
He then showed judges video of the aftermath of a notorious shelling of a market in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, in which dozens of people died.
Mr Groome said there was “no doubt” that Gen Mladic had controlled the shelling of Sarajevo. He had promised that the city would shake, the prosecutor said.
Mr Groome said the attacks were part of an “overarching” plan to ethnically cleanse non-Serbs from parts of Bosnia.
He said crimes of sexual violence had played an integral part of the process of “taking over and ethnically cleansing Bosnia”.
The prosecution also highlighted the role of snipers in Sarajevo, showing images of a child shot dead on a street and pictures taken from sniper nests overlooking the besieged city.
The trial had been scheduled to begin hearing evidence on 29 May.
However, at the end of Thursday’s hearing the presiding judge adjourned proceedings until further notice due to disclosure errors by prosecutors.
The BBC’s Allan Little at The Hague says the court will now be adjourned for some months.
Gen Mladic spent 15 years on the run before being apprehended by Serb forces last May and sent to The Hague.
The number of crimes of which he stands accused has been almost halved to speed up his trial.
Judicial authorities have rejected defence calls to delay proceedings, most recently a petition to have the Dutch presiding judge replaced on grounds of alleged bias.
Strong emotions
Gen Mladic is accused of committing genocide and other crimes against Bosniaks (Bosnian Muslims) and Bosnian Croats in a campaign of ethnic cleansing that began in 1992 and climaxed in Srebrenica.
Pre-trial hearings have been characterised by ill-tempered outbursts from Gen Mladic, who has heckled the judge and interrupted proceedings.
“The whole world knows who I am,” he said at a hearing last year.
“I am General Ratko Mladic. I defended my people, my country… now I am defending myself.”
The case has stirred up strong emotions among watching survivors, with some shouting “murderer” and “killer” from the court gallery.
Members of the “Mothers of Srebrenica” group were among those attending Thursday’s hearing
Axel Hagedorn, a lawyer for victims’ relatives, said it was a “very important [day] for the Mothers of Srebrenica”.
However, while Gen Mladic’s critics consider him a butcher, to some Serbs he is a national hero.
Gen Mladic suffered at least one stroke while in hiding and remains in frail health.
Some former Bosnian Serb commanders have already been convicted by the international court in connection with the Srebrenica killings.
In 2010 Vujadin Popovic and Ljubisa Beara were sentenced to life in prison. Five other defendants were jailed for between five and 35 years.
The architect of the Balkan wars, former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, died in detention in his cell in 2006, before receiving a verdict.
