Tuesday, December 1, 2015

US manufacturing contracts for first time in three years

US manufacturing contracts for first time in three years

[WASHINGTON] US manufacturing activity contracted for the first time in three years in November under pressure from falling energy prices, the stronger dollar and slowing global growth, a survey showed on Tuesday.
The Institute for Supply Management purchasing managers index for the manufacturing sector dropped to 48.6 in November from an October reading of 50.1 that was just a tick inside growth territory.
The contraction, the first since November 2012, was unexpected, with analysts on average forecasting an increase to 50.4 on the index.
"The fact that the manufacturing ISM declined in November to its lowest level since June 2009, i.e. since the end of the Great Recession, is unequivocally a very bad surprise," said Harm Bandholz, chief US economist at UniCredit Research.
But, he pointed out, manufacturing only represents about 12 per cent of the US economy and less than 10 per cent of total employment, and the much more important services sector "has continued to do very well."
Ten out of the 18 manufacturing industries surveyed reported contraction in November, "with lower new orders, production and raw materials inventories accounting for the overall softness," the ISM said.
New orders fell particularly hard, tumbling four points to 48.9. Production dropped 3.7 points to 49.2. Both components had been growing in October.
Inventories contracted at a faster pace, while customers' inventories fell slightly but were still considered to be too high for the fourth straight month.
"Downturn in China and European markets are negatively affecting our business," one survey respondent in the machinery sector.
"The oil and gas industry is realizing that (the) 'low' oil prices are now the new reality with expectations to continue at this level for some time," said a purchasing manager in the sector.
IHS Global Insight economist Michael Montgomery noted that manufacturing has been weak for some time.
"The manufacturing sector is suffering from a bad case of the blahs worldwide; some countries are firming from tepid to less tepid and others are in modest retreat, but worldwide PMI scores are hovering around 50 due to anemic global demand for goods," Mr Montgomery said.
AFP

Bomb blast hits nervous Istanbul near metro station

Bomb blast hits nervous Istanbul near metro station

[ISTANBUL] An explosion caused by a home-made bomb rocked an Istanbul metro station on Tuesday, triggering panic in the evening rush hour and wounding up to half a dozen people.
The local mayor and the state-run Anatolia news agency confirmed a bomb caused the blast, which came at a time of growing jitters over security in Istanbul and the risk of a militant attack in Turkey's largest city.
The blast, which was heard in several areas of the city, hit an overpass close to the metro station in the Bayrampasa district of Istanbul.
"Five of our citizens were injured when a pipe bomb left on barriers on the overpass exploded," Atilla Aydiner, the district mayor, told A-Haber television.
Security sources were also quoted by the Dogan news agency as saying the blast appeared to have been caused by a home-made bomb.
The metro system in Istanbul was brought entirely to a halt after the blast, the municipality said, although normal service was gradually restored.
Other reports had said the cause of the blast could have been linked to an electrical transformer and that six people had been injured.
Video footage on Dogan showed large sparks shooting out like fireworks from the overpass, lighting up the sky near the height of evening rush hour.
Dogan also said a truck on the overpass was damaged by the explosion with holes on its windscreen, while other pictures showed a bus with blown-out windows.
Large numbers of ambulances were dispatched to the scene, as commuters were helped to safety, reports said.
Anatolia said it was being investigated whether the bomb had been aimed at a police bus that was damaged in the attack.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the explosion.
"The cause of the explosion is not clear. We are investigating all possibilities," Istanbul governor Vasip Sahin was quoted as saying by Anatolia.
He gave a lower toll of just one person injured. "It was a large explosion, right in a central location and in a busy place but fortunately there was no loss of life."
Turkey is on alert for attacks after 103 people were killed on October 10 when two suicide bombers ripped through a crowd of peace activists in the capital Ankara, the worst attack in modern Turkey's history.
Turkey has in recent weeks detained several suspected members of the Islamic State (IS) group with officials saying they were planning attacks in Istanbul.
The Paris attacks on November 13 Paris that left 130 people dead and were claimed by the Islamic State group also raised fears over Istanbul's potential vulnerability to a similar assault.
But Turkey is also waging an all-out assault on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who have staged dozens of deadly attacks against members of the security forces but largely in the southeast of the country.
Meanwhile the banned ultra-left wing group the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front has also staged a string of usually small-scale attacks in Istanbul over the last months.
There have been repeated security alerts on Istanbul's expanding metro system in the last months but until now all had proved to be false alarms.
AFP

'Visa waiver' travelers would be fingerprinted under US Senate bill

'Visa waiver' travelers would be fingerprinted under US Senate bill

[WASHINGTON] Travelers to the United States from "visa waiver" nations would have to provide fingerprints and photos under a US Senate bill to intensify scrutiny of foreigners, one of several border-tightening measures offered since the Paris attacks.
The measure is the latest to propose tightening US border control since the Nov 13 shootings and bombings in France by Islamic State militants that left 130 people dead, triggering a wave of fear across the United States.
The bill was introduced on Tuesday by a bipartisan group of senators led by Democrat Dianne Feinstein and Republican Jeff Flake.
It would also require individuals who had visited Syria or Iraq in the last five years to get a traditional US tourist visa before heading for the United States, rather than taking advantage of the "visa waiver" programme.
Under that programme, travelers from 38 countries, including much of Western Europe, can embark for the United States without first getting a visa from a US consulate or embassy in their home country.
About 20 million visitors a year enter the United States under the programme, which allows them to stay 90 days.
US officials privately admit they are more worried about possible Islamic State or other Europe-based militants using the visa waiver programme to enter the United States than they are by the possibility that would-be attackers might hide among droves of US-bound refugees fleeing conflict in Syria and Iraq.
The Feinstein-Flake bill would also increase the fee charged by the United States to visa waiver travelers, now US$14. Travelers who get visas from US embassies or consulates now must pay a fee of US$160.
Feinstein and Flake did not say how high they wanted to raise the fee for visa waiver travelers.
The bill was greeted with skepticism by a travel industry representative. Jonathan Grella, executive vice-president of the US Travel Association, said a pre-travel fingerprinting requirement could deter travelers from the United States.
"The US travel community strongly supports sensible security enhancements to the visa waiver programme. What we cannot support are steps that ultimately dismantle the programme and set back America's economy and our efforts to protect the homeland,"the trade organisation said in a statement.
Obama administration officials said they have already taken steps to tighten scrutiny of visa waiver travelers.
In August, the administration said it would require the use of an Interpol database containing reports of lost and stolen passports to screen passengers, and the reporting of suspected"foreign fighters" to international security agencies such as Interpol, a US official said.
However, the administration had not proposed either requiring visa waiver passengers to submit fingerprints in advance of travel or increasing fees. A congressional official said the fingerprinting requirement in the bill would most directly affect first-time travelers to the United States.
REUTERS

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