China's economy experiencing 'period of pain': vice minister

GNN - China's economy is going through a "period of pain" as authorities try to shift it toward slower, more sustainable growth, with the rapid expansion of its shadow banking sector a major problem, the vice finance minister said on Saturday.

"We do have problems that have been accumulating over time," Vice Finance Minister Zhu Guangyao told reporters at the G20 Leaders Summit in Australia.

Zhu reiterated President Xi Jinping's catchphrase of a "new normal" for the Chinese economy, saying it would be "running at relatively high speed instead of super high speed."

"We are changing gear and our economic structure is undergoing a period of pain and a period where we are absorbing the large-scale stimulus packages we rolled out earlier," he said.

The IMF expects global growth of 3.3 percent this year, with China growing 7.4 percent and the United States 2.2 percent. That would still be China's slowest growth in 24 years.

SHADOW BANKING

Zhu said shadow banking, a term that broadly refers to a variety of lending that does not appear on bank balance sheets, and overcapacity in the parts of the economy were some of the major problems facing China.

"The main problem of shadow banking is the offshoot business of the banks, and it's mainly about the trust funds that they run," Zhu said.

The Financial Stability Board said in a recent report that China's shadow banking sector grew rapidly in 2013 and was now the third largest in the world.

Zhu said the size of the shadow banking sector compared with the total financial volume of the world's second-largest economy "is not that great, but the biggest risk here is that growth is very rapid."

Beijing has been trying to rein in the riskier elements of shadow banking without shutting down the flow of money to smaller businesses that need funding.

Figures on Friday showed bank lending tumbled in October and money supply growth cooled, raising fears of a sharper economic slowdown and prompting calls for more stimulus measures, including cutting interest rates.

Zhu said the global economy recovery was too slow and unbalanced, and also called on the United States to ratify a much-delayed IMF quota and governance reform package.

"We also really hope to see that our partners in Europe, in Japan... will restore a relatively high growth rate," he said.

(GNN,reuters,aip)(Reporting by Jane Wardell; Editing by John Mair)

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CEC’s post: Jilani declines to become nominee

GNN - Former Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jilani has declined to become any party’s or parties’ nominee for the post of chief election commissioner (CEC), a private TV channel reported.

Sources said that Justice Jilani declined from being nominated due to a raging controversy surrounding the post. He and former Justice Tariq Pervez Khan had emerged as the most likely contenders for the post of CEC.

The two retired judges topped the list of five candidates whose names came under discussion at a meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Ahmed Shah.

SOURCE: RECORDER

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Imran’s demand not unconstitutional or unlawful: Wajih

GNN - It is not violation of the Constitution or law to include the personnel of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Military Intelligence (MI) in a Judicial Commission to investigate vote rigging allegations.

“Basically the job of Judicial Commission is to prepare investigation report and the decision in light of the report will be taken by the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The judges of the Commission will take administrative and executive inputs from representatives of ISI and MI during the investigation,” former Justice Wajihuddin said while talking to Business Recorder on Monday.

He said the Judicial Commission would not be a decision-making body; it would prepare an investigative report and on-send it to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and it would be the prerogative of the ECP to take a decision on the report. Jutsice Wajihuddin, in response to a query, said that tribunal courts undertake judicial functions and give judgements. He said that under Article 225 of the Constitution, ECP has the authority to take decisions.

According to Article-225 of the Constitution, “Election dispute, No election to a House or a Provincial Assembly shall be called in question except by an election petition presented to such tribunal and in such manner as may be determined by Act of Majlis-e-Shoora (Parliament).”

Answering another question, Wajihuddin said the constitution does not bar the inclusion of a representative of secret agencies in the Commission. However, he added that the inquiry commission could be constituted under the Commission of Inquiry Act, 1956 wherein the judges do not conduct the inquiry themselves but it is the officials of intelligence agencies (ISI and MI) that will carry out this job.

Former Justice Tariq Mehmood said that as the terms of reference have not been settled for the Commission any discussion on the matter would be premature. However, he said, it is preferable to constitute a joint investigation team instead of a judicial commission if “we want to include the representatives of intelligence agencies in it”.

SOURCE: RECORDER

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Laundry soap pods dangerous for young kids: study

GNN - WASHINGTON- Laundry detergent pods could be dangerous for young children, researchers warned Monday, as reports grow of kids under six swallowing the capsules in the United States.

The detergent pods — on US shelves since 2010 — are just the right size for a single load of laundry, eliminating the need to measure out a liquid or powder.

More than 17,000 incidents from 2012 and 2013 were reported to US poison control centers of children under six being exposed to the detergent chemicals — equivalent to one child every hour — according to the new study.

“Laundry detergent pods are small, colorful, and may look like candy or juice to a young child,” said co-author Marcel Casavant, toxicology chief at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and medical director of the Central Ohio Poison Center.

“It can take just a few seconds for children to grab them, break them open, and swallow the toxic chemicals they contain, or get the chemicals in their eyes.”

In one case, the child died, while some 769 children were hospitalized, a rate of more than one a day.

Two-thirds of the cases were among toddlers — children just one or two years old.

Children who put the capsules in their mouths can quickly swallow a large quantity of concentrated chemicals, the Nationwide Children’s Hospital researchers warned.

Nearly half the children, 48 percent, vomited after ingesting the detergent, the study found.

Other effects included coughing or choking, eye pain, drowsiness and pinkeye.

Most of the detergent capsules are sold in clear, easy-to-open containers. One manufacturer last year switched to an opaque package with an additional latch and a warning label, but the study authors said this was not enough.

“It is not clear that any laundry detergent pods currently available are truly child resistant; a national safety standard is needed to make sure that all pod makers adopt safer packaging and labeling,” said senior author Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

He urged households with young children to use traditional detergent.

SOURCE: AFP, AIP

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