Amazon fends off Apple claim to ‘Appstore’ name

OAKLAND (AFP) ― A federal judge on Wednesday rejected Apple’s claim of false advertising for Amazon.com to refer to its online shop for mobile gadget applications as an “app store.”

“Apple has failed to establish that Amazon made any false statement of fact that actually deceived or had the tendency to deceive a substantial segment of its audience,” U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton said in her ruling.

“The mere use of ‘Appstore’ by Amazon to designate a site for viewing and downloading/purchasing apps cannot be construed as a representation that the nature, characteristics, or quality of the Amazon Appstore is the same as that of the Apple App Store.”

The headquarters of Amazon. com Inc. in Seattle. (Bloomberg)

Apple in 2008 launched its App Store, which is stocked with mini-programs for iPhones, iPads, and iPod touch devices.

Amazon in late 2011 opened its “Appstore,” which sells applications tailored for Android-powered mobile devices for the Seattle, Washington-based retail giant’s Kindle Fire tablets.

Apple sued Amazon, claiming its rival was engaging in false advertising as well as trademark infringement.

U.S. officials are still considering Apple’s application to trademark the term “App Store,” but that did not deter the company from pressing its case in Hamilton’s courtroom in the California city of Oakland.

Software titan Microsoft is among the companies that have weighed in against letting the Cupertino, California, company have a trademark giving it the exclusive right to call a mobile applications market an “app store.”

IMF, EU push for less drastic deficit cuts

Published : 2012-12-30 21:10
Updated : 2012-12-30 21:10

PARIS (AFP) ― The International Monetary Fund and European Commission officials have encouraged France and its eurozone partners not to fixate on deficit reduction targets if it would exacerbate the bloc’s debt crisis.

The head of an IMF mission in France, Edward Gardner, urged officials in Paris last week to consider their 2013 budget targets “in a broader European context.”

The IMF and the EU Commission expect the French public deficit to amount to 3.5 percent of gross domestic product this year.

They do not believe France can reach its 3 percent goal, the eurozone limit, without additional measures that could aggravate an already tenuous economic situation.

“The credibility of the medium term orientation policy” was more important than a specific deficit target, Gardner told reporters.

Loosening the criteria would “be more effective, more credible in a coordinated fashion” across the 17-nation eurozone, he suggested.

In Portugal the public deficit fell at the end of the third quarter to 5.6 percent of GDP from 6.7 percent at the same point a year earlier, while neighboring Spain has promised to slash its deficit to 3 percent by 2014 from a blowout shortfall equal to 9.4 percent of output last year.

Germany expects its budget to be in balance this year, two years ahead of schedule, but IMF head Christine Lagarde has suggested that Berlin ease up a bit in its drive for healthy finances.

Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF. (Bloomberg)

“Germany ... and others ... can allow themselves to go a little more slowly than others in the push to straighten out their public finances,” Lagarde told the German weekly Die Zeit in comments published last week.

Her call echoed other European voices that are now arguing for greater emphasis on growth rather than austerity measures.

“The IMF is beginning to understand that the French situation has become dangerous,” economist Marc Touati at the ACDefi consulting group said.

Unemployment is climbing and the economy is still struggling, he pointed out.

The IMF was “trying to prepare public opinion” for missed government targets, Touati suggested.

“This is not really a new position,” Frederique Cerisier at the French bank BNP Paribas said of Lagarde’s recent remarks. She acknowledged however that some international institutions were “placing added emphasis” on the need to cut deficits more gradually.

On Tuesday, the EU’s “fiscal compact,” a hard-won step towards tighter economic coordination agreed as part of efforts to tame the debilitating debt crisis, takes effect.

Finalized in March, 25 of the 27 EU member states accepted a ‘balanced budget rule’ in the compact to ensure that governments would no longer run the massive budget deficits which drove the debt crisis and nearly sank the euro.

But as the European debt crisis drags on and economies flounder, the idea of allowing governments more time to straighten out their finances has gained ground.

European Economic Affairs Commissioner Ollie Rehn said last week that France needed more reforms rather than more austerity.

“Once you have a credible medium-term budget strategy, backed up by reforms, you can have a slower adjustment,” he told French daily Le Monde.

If a 3-percent French deficit remains a valid reference, “what needs to be taken into account above all is the structural budget adjustment effort which France is making with remarkable intensity,” the EU official said.









French officials nevertheless seem determined to stick by their targets.

They insist that the public deficit will be brought down to 3 percent of GDP This year from 4.5 percent in 2012, based on a 2013 growth estimate of 0.8 percent that economists consider overly optimistic.

Friday’s third-quarter growth figures gave them little comfort: official statistics revised growth over that period down from 0.2 to 0.1 percent.

French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici wrote in the German business daily Handelsblatt that France had a duty to reverse years of budget deficits.

“In the past 30 years, France has not been able to pass a balanced budget.

State debt rose to an unacceptable 1.7 trillion euros ($2.2 trillion) in 2011.

It is our duty to reverse this,” Moscovici said.

On Friday he reaffirmed the goverment’s 2013 growth target.

Cerisier at BNP Paribas warned that France, which is now benefitting from exceptionally low borrowing rates, must be careful how it communicates to markets, if it wants to maintain its credibility.

But, she added: “The fact that we can begin to discuss all that is proof that countries have become more credible with respect to their economic targets.”

India rape victim's body cremated in New Delhi

Published : 2012-12-31 13:36
Updated : 2012-12-31 13:36

NEW DELHI (AP) -- A young woman who died after being gang-raped and beaten on a bus in India's capital was cremated Sunday amid an outpouring of anger and grief by millions across the country demanding greater protection for women from sexual violence.

The cremation took place during a private ceremony in New Delhi soon after the woman's body arrived in the capital on a special Air India flight from Singapore, where she died at a hospital Saturday after being sent for medical treatment.

The tragedy has forced India to confront the reality that sexually assaulted women are often blamed for the crime, forcing them to keep quiet and discouraging them from going to authorities for fear of exposing their families to ridicule. Police often refuse to accept complaints from rape victims, and the rare prosecutions that reach courts can drag on for years.

Security was tight, with no access to the public or media at the crematorium.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, head of the ruling Congress party, were at the airport to receive the body and meet family members of the victim who were on the flight.

Hours after the victim died early Saturday, Indian police charged six men who had been arrested in connection with the attack with murder, adding to accusations that they beat and gang-raped the woman on a New Delhi bus on Dec. 16.

New Delhi police spokesman Rajan Bhagat said the six suspects face the death penalty if convicted, in a case that has triggered protests across India and raised questions about lax attitudes by police toward sexual crimes.

After 10 days at a hospital in New Delhi, the victim, who has not been identified, was taken Thursday to Singapore's Mount Elizabeth hospital, which specializes in multi-organ transplants, but her condition worsened, with her vital signs deteriorating.

Following her death, thousands of Indians lit candles, held prayer meetings and marched through various cities and towns, including New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata, on Saturday night to express their grief and demand stronger protection for women and the death penalty for rape, which is now punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment.

Egypt’s president warns over dangers to economy

Published : 2012-12-30 21:13
Updated : 2012-12-30 21:13

CAIRO (AP) ― Egypt’s Islamist president used his first address before the newly convened upper house of parliament on Saturday to warn against any unrest that could harm the country’s battered economy, as he renewed calls for the opposition to join in a national dialogue.

In the nationally televised speech, Mohammed Morsi said the nation’s entire efforts should be focused on “production, work, seriousness and effort” now that a new constitution came into effect this week. He blamed protests and violence the past month for causing further damage to an economy already deteriorating from the turmoil since the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

In an alarm bell over the economy, the central bank announced soon after Morsi’s speech that foreign currency reserves ― which have been bleeding away for nearly two years ― are at a “critical” level, the minimum needed to cover foreign debt payments and buy strategic imports.

Morsi’s strongly worded address to lawmakers appeared aimed at sending a message to the mainly liberal and secular opposition not to engage in any new protests, depicting unrest as a threat to the priority of rebuilding.

All sides must “realize the needs of the moment” and work only through “mature democracy while avoiding violence,” Morsi told the 270-member upper house, or Shura Council. “We condemn and reject all forms of violence by individuals, groups, institutions and even from the nation and its government. This is completely rejected.”

He appeared to chide the opposition for not working with him.

“We all know the interests of the nation,” he said. “Would any of us be happy if the nation goes bankrupt? I don’t doubt anyone’s intentions. But can anyone here be happy if the nation is exposed to economic weakness?”

The mainly liberal and secular opposition accuses Morsi of concentrating all power on the Muslim Brotherhood, from which he hails, and other Islamists and steamrolling any alternative voices.

The main opposition groups have refused to join a national dialogue convened by Morsi, saying past talks have brought no compromise. They also stayed out of the president’s appointments last week of a few opposition figures to the overwhelmingly Islamist Shura Council, calling the move tokenism.

The bitterness between the two sides was inflamed by the crisis of the past month leading up to the referendum that passed the new constitution. Mass street rallies were held by both the opposition trying to stop the charter and by Morsi’s Islamist supporters determined to push it to victory. Clashes that erupted left 10 dead. The charter was approved by 64 percent, but with a low turnout of around 33 percent.

Civil society groups and the opposition also point to incidents of fraud in the vote they say have not been properly investigated.

Opponents fear the new charter will consecrate the Islamists’ power. The document allows for a stronger implementation of Islamic law, or Shariah, than in the past and has provisions that could limit civil rights and freedoms of minorities.

Morsi has depicted his national dialogue as a chance for all factions to have a voice in planning the next steps and drawing up key legislation to put before the upper house, including a law organizing parliamentary elections. So far, mainly Islamists and only a few small opposition parties are participating.

Liberal former lawmaker Amr Hamzawi said the president’s speech offered no new insights and failed to acknowledge significant opposition to the Islamist-drafted constitution. Hamzawi was among those who walked out in protest of the Islamists’ handling of the draft process earlier this year.

“We need binding mechanisms to amend the flawed constitution, guarantee that the legislative role of the upper house of parliament will be temporary and to ensure fair elections,” he said. “We will not enter into fraud elections each and every time.”

Morsi’s address aimed to set the tone as the Shura Council begins work on a slate of new laws. The upper house normally has few powers but it will now serve as the law-making body until a new lower house is chosen in national elections expected within a few months. Two thirds of the Shura Council members were elected in voting last winter, but few Egyptians bothered to vote, and Islamist allies of Morsi swept the chamber.

The ultraconservative Salafi al-Nour Party, the second strongest party after the Brotherhood’s political wing, suffered a blow this week when its founder and chief Emad Abdel-Ghafour resigned to start a new party, Al-Watan. He took with him around 150 members, including many who were elected to office. The fracturing of the party may bolster the Brotherhood in the coming elections.

In his speech, Morsi repeatedly said it was time to return to “production” and “work.” But he did not give details on an overall economic program, including crucial questions like how the government will tackle a crippling budget deficit or carry out expected tax hikes or reductions of subsidies.

The impending austerity measures are major concerns in a country where some 40 percent of the 85 million population live near or below the poverty line of surviving on $2 a day. Morsi’s government has requested a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund to bridge the budget deficit, but talks are on hold after the government reversed plans for tax hikes this month.

Instead, Morsi denounced those who he said were spreading panic about Egypt’s economy, saying the country will “not go bankrupt.” He underlined that banks were healthy, after a rush to buy dollars the past week over fears of devaluation of the Egyptian pound.

“Those who talk about bankruptcy, they are the ones who are bankrupt. Egypt will never be bankrupt and will not kneel, God willing,” he said to a round of applause.

He directly blamed the past month’s violence for Standard & Poor’s downgrading this week of Egypt’s long-term credit rating one level this week to “B-,” six steps below investment grade.

Morsi presented the country’s foreign currency reserves, currently at $15 billion, as up slightly from last year, though he acknowledged they were still down dramatically from around $36 billion in 2010.

After last year’s anti-Mubarak uprising, foreign investment and tourism -- one of the country’s biggest money makers -- dried up. With fewer dollars coming in, the central bank has been spending reserves furiously to prop up the currency and pay for key imports. The slight uptick in reserves from last year is mainly due to hundreds of millions of dollars provided by the Gulf nation of Qatar.

France’s 75% tax rate on rich struck down

PARIS (AFP) ― France’s top constitutional body on Saturday struck down a 75-percent upper income tax rate, dealing a major blow to Socialist President Francois Hollande, who had made it his centerpiece tax measure.

The government vowed to push ahead with the tax rate, which would apply to incomes over a million euros ($1.3 million) a year, and propose a new measure that would conform with the constitution.

The tax rate had angered business leaders and prompted some wealthy French citizens to seek tax exile abroad, including actor Gerard Depardieu who recently took up residency in Belgium.

The Constitutional Council said in its ruling that the temporary two-year tax rate, due to take effect next year, was unconstitutional because unlike other forms of income tax it applied to individuals instead of whole households.

As a result, the council said, the tax rate “failed to recognize equality before public burdens.”

Though largely symbolic ― it would have applied to only about 1,500 individuals ― the Socialists said the tax rate was aimed at making the ultra-rich contribute more to tackling France’s budget deficit.

The move was welcomed by the French Football League which had expressed concern at the impact on top footballers such as Paris Saint Germain’s Swedish star striker Zlatan Ibrahomovic. LFP chairman Frederic Thiriez said if the measure had reached the statute book there could have been an “exodus of the best players” in the French league.

The 75 percent tax rate was a flagship promise of the election campaign that saw Hollande defeat right-winger Nicolas Sarkozy in May.

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told AFP the ruling was a “symbolic but not severe censure” and pledged to ensure the measure was adopted.

“The government will propose a new system that conforms with the principles laid down by the decision of the Constitutional Council. It will be presented in the framework of the next Finance Act,” he said in a statement.







“We want to maintain” the measure “because it symbolizes the need for the effort to be more fairly shared,” he added.

The Constitutional Council also rejected new methods for calculating a separate wealth tax, striking down a provision that would have increased the amount of taxable revenues and capital gains.

Other new measures in the budget were approved, however, including an increase in some upper tax rates to 45 percent and the addition of capital gains to taxable income.

Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici told AFP the ruling “does not compromise” 

budget efforts and said the council had approved “the essential” of the government’s economic policies.

But government critics hailed the ruling as proof the Socialists are pursuing unfair tax policies.

“While the whole world watched us in dismay, Francois Hollande deceived the French into believing that ‘taxing the rich’ would be enough to solve our country’s problems,” said the head of the right-wing opposition UMP, Jean-Francois Cope.

“In reality, discouraging entrepreneurs and punishing the most wealthy until they leave our country inevitably puts the tax burden on the middle class. This moral error was sanctioned today.”

France is struggling to plug a 37-billion-euro hole in its public finances to meet its target of reducing the budget deficit to the EU ceiling of three percent in 2013.

The 2013 budget included 12.5 billion euros in spending cuts and 20 billion euros in new taxes on individuals and businesses.

Critics have said the new tax measures will stifle economic growth, with the French economy already expected to contract by 0.2 percent in the final quarter of this year.

The 2013 budget is based on a government forecast of 0.8 percent economic growth next year ― a figure many economists consider too optimistic.

Hollande has seen his popularity plummet in recent months as the economy stagnates and unemployment mounts.