Monday Business Edition

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, lifting the lid on government plans for the financial year from April 1, scaled up spending for farmers, fertiliser subsidies, food programmes, education and rural employment.

“The country has carried for long enough the burden of hunger and malnutrition,” Mukherjee told parliament, saying the money earmarked for social spending would amount to 36 percent of the total budget.

Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi’s international spending spree in recent years included fighter jets and military helicopters, but also assault rifles, pistols and explosives that charities warn could be used against protesters.

A Russian military source quoted by Interfax news agency on Sunday said Moscow had an order book for contracts from Libya worth 2.0 billion dollars (1.5 billion euros) and had been negotiating deals worth 1.8 billion more.

Factory production rose 2.4 percent month on month, according to the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, supported by carmakers and semiconductor-manufacturing devices.

Although it represents the third gain in a row the figure was down from December’s surprise 3.3 percent jump and also off the 3.8 percent predicted in a survey by the Nikkei business daily.

The show in the wealthy Swiss city, which opens to an expected 700,000 paying visitors on March 3 to 13, is traditionally neutral ground for the industry, attracting 260 exhibitors from 31 countries.

When top executives preview the event from Tuesday, car makers are again set to whip up an appetite for the big, powerful and glitzy, even if the engine under the bonnet seeks greener or thriftier credentials.

More than 4,200 tech firms from 70 countries are expected to attend this year’s CeBIT — the self-styled “Davos of high-tech” — with many of the big names that stayed away during the global financial crisis returning to Germany.

Google, IBM, SAP, Microsoft, HP and Dell are among the top companies setting up their stalls in Hanover, northern Germany, for the five-day event that is likely to attract around 350,000 punters and self-confessed technology geeks.

Wen made the comments in a chat with Internet users as authorities braced for possible rallies in major cities after an online appeal aimed at pressing for government openness.

Wen also said the world’s second-largest economy would aim for seven percent annual growth over the next five years — a rare lowering of its usual target of eight percent expansion, until now seen as key to staving off social unrest.

Every day millions of barrels of oil pass through the Indian Ocean from the Middle East to Asia, the world’s busiest route for supertankers, providing energy to fuel the region’s rapid economic growth.

It’s an intercontinental voyage that highlights the ever-increasing interdependence of the world economies and explains why the fallout from unrest in the Middle East is having an impact thousands of miles (kilometres) away.

The country has struggled in recent years to compete with beach destinations in Egypt’s Red Sea and Tunisia’s Mediterranean coast which are cheaper and of a similar flying distance from its key markets like Germany and Britain.

But since the unrest sweeping the Arab world began in Tunisia in early January, tourists have been changing their travel plans, and Spain, especially the Canary Islands off the coast of Morocco, has been one of the main beneficiaries.

Governments know they have their work cut out to satisfy expectant markets, with the heat still on over fears for Portugal and Greece, a country that wants its existing bailout renegotiated.

Final decisions are due to be reached on the size, shape and scope of a permanent financial rescue system being set up for January 1, 2013.

“All of us agree that a government shutdown would be bad for the economy,” said spokesman Jay Carney, who told reporters “we believe that a compromise can be reached” in hard-fought congressional negotiations.

His comments came as Republican leaders of the House of Representatives unveiled a two-week stopgap spending measure that would cut $4 billion dollars by reducing or scrapping programs and urged Senate Democrats to support it.

But as the DS3 makes its debut in Japan on Saturday, it will be looking for a place in an increasingly crowded gaming market.

More than 1,500 fans queued outside Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara, the hub of Tokyo’s comic-book subculture, to be the first to own the machine, with many having spent the night on the streets ahead of the morning launch.

The fact that Arab rulers in the Gulf have responded with money and benefits to the wave of popular unrest sweeping across the region betrays their deep concern, analysts say.

While a swift injection of cash may take the edge off potential crises in the rich states, only huge amounts of international aid can ensure development of those poorer Arab nations where the current unrest began, they believe.

Growth edged down to 2.8 percent in the last quarter of the year, a slower pace than first thought, putting yet another question mark over the vitality of the recovery.

With the United States locked in a fierce political debate over government costs, local authorities cut spending by nearly 2.5 percent, helping trim the growth rate.

Europe’s biggest bank said 2010 pretax profit more than doubled from 2009 to $19 billion, but that fell short of the average forecast of $20 billion, according to analysts polled by Reuters Estimates.

New chief executive Stuart Gulliver cut the bank’s long-term return on equity (RoE) target to 12-15 percent from a previous 15-19 percent target as the cost of hoarding more capital to make banks safer takes its toll. It also reflected a view that economic recovery will be “somewhat unstable and uneven.”

If it goes ahead, an initial public offering (IPO) of privately held Glencore could value the company at as much as $60 billion according to Liberum Capital estimates, making it one of Europe’s biggest listings ever.

Qatar, one of the sovereign wealth funds flagged as a possible “cornerstone” shareholder, is considering investing in Glencore, the country’s prime minister said on Monday.

In those moments, he turns to a pile of boxes filled with news clippings documenting his stewardship of Japanese automaker Nissan (7201.T), a debt-ridden company more than a decade ago that some feared was heading toward bankruptcy.

“From time to time, when I’m a little bit discouraged, I go back, open one box, and read some of the articles from 1999,” the Brazilian-born Ghosn told reporters one June afternoon in 2007, after a grilling from shareholders unhappy with Nissan’s fall in profits.

European car sales are expected to remain roughly stable in 2011 now that the scrapping incentive schemes that propped up demand have finished, while sales in markets like Asia, Latin America and Russia will keep growing.

Carmakers are pinning their hopes on cracking these markets, signing partnerships with local players, designing new models with those regions in mind, and increasingly, presenting new cars to the public in these regions.

With its echo of Warren Buffett’s description of derivatives themselves as “financial weapons of mass destruction,” Huertas’ choice of language reflects how potent the industry has become, not to mention hard to understand and difficult to tame.

Yet that is just what regulators are trying to do, and they’ve got a fight on their hands.

The data underscored the view by the government and the Bank of Japan that solid exports to Asia will underpin output and help the fragile economy to emerge from a lull soon.

But a spike in commodity costs triggered by unrest in the Middle East clouds the outlook, with some analysts worried about the damage it could inflict on corporate profits.

Buffett’s annual letter, released Saturday, is brimming with references to the strength of the American people, economy and spirit.

Investors said they were struck by how confident the letter was, particularly in comparison to his annual missives of recent years.

Wen’s comments ahead of China’s annual parliament session from March 5 showed the sensitivity among ruling Communist Party leaders to public grumbling about rising real estate and food prices.

That wariness has been amplified by jitters about fallout from the unseating of authoritarian rulers in the Middle East.

Crude prices creeping back into the triple digits have sparked concern about slower economic growth and will no doubt reignite two long-running monetary policy debates:

Should central banks have a single inflation-fighting mandate, as the ECB does, or dual goals of price stability and full employment, like the Fed?

Following the S&P 500’s worst week in 15 last week, investors are trying to determine whether the predictions of a correction have been fulfilled or if there’s still downside ahead as oil prices remain at elevated levels.

Shares could find some support Monday after positive commentary from Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) Chairman Warren Buffett, who said in his annual letter that Berkshire will engage in record capital spending in the coming year.

The statements, made in regulatory filings on Friday, are the most direct admission yet from major banks that they could have to pay significant amounts of money to settle probes and lawsuits alleging that they improperly foreclosed on homes.

Bank of America Corp (BAC.N), the largest U.S. bank by assets, said the probe could lead to “material fines” and “significant” legal expenses in 2011.

There is also a chance that the contract for 179 U.S. Air Force refueling planes could be broken if Boeing’s snubbed European rival EADS protests the award.

Boeing shares rose on the victory, but experts predicted a muted stock reaction in the longer term.

In another blow to beleaguered Prime Minister Naoto Kan, media reported that 16 MPs close to a rival powerbroker in his ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), were considering boycotting the lower house vote on the 2011/12 budget.

Kan still has enough votes in the lower house to pass the budget but a no-show by the 16 lawmakers would be an embarrassment for the prime minister struggling to enact any policies and facing growing calls, including within the DPJ, to resign.

Buffett gave an aggressive earnings forecast for Berkshire’s collection of businesses, said the company would engage in record capital spending and forecast a recovery in the housing market would start within a year.

Foremost, though, was his acknowledgment of the need for Berkshire to expand its non-insurance businesses, a broad collection that most prominently includes the railroad Burlington Northern and the electric utility MidAmerican.

The surge in oil prices is the latest blow for businesses that are already being hit by soaring ingredient costs, as consumer spending on everyday items remains weak, executives said.

“We’ve had, even since our earnings release, a pretty significant run-up in commodities, some of which have an immediate impact on the bottom line, things like diesel,” said P&G Chief Financial Officer Jon Moeller, at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York Conference here.

Gasoline prices rose 4 percent last week to a national average of $3.29 per gallon. That’s the highest level ever for this time of year, when prices are typically low. And with unrest in the Middle East and North Africa lifting the price of oil to the $100-a-barrel range, analysts say pump prices are likely headed higher.

Bryon Gongaware, an owner of The Floral Trunk and Gifts in White Bear Lake, Minn., didn’t raise his $7 flower delivery charge when gas prices spiked in 2008, and he doesn’t plan to do so this time, either.

Just when automakers thought it safe to roll out new models in the wake of the devastating economic crisis – 170 premiers are advertised for the Geneva Auto Show opening this week – confidence is shaken by a spike in oil prices due to civil unrest in Libya and other energy-producing nations.

Gas pump prices, which are at a seasonal record in the U.S., will sharpen attention at the auto show on technologies that squeeze more power out of conventional engines, along with much-anticipated news in hybrid and electric vehicles.

Although most carmakers are showing upbeat signs of recovery, the key theme, as during the financial crisis years, will once again be fuel efficiency.

Libya once again was at the forefront of investors’ minds as governments around the world piled pressure on longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi to step aside in the wake of the uprising that has split the country in two and left hundreds of people dead.

The primary market impact of the violence in the OPEC country has been on oil prices, which shot higher over the past couple of weeks as investors fretted over Libya’s supplies and whether the violence in the Arab world will spread, in particular to Saudi Arabia. Already this year, the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt have quit following huge demonstrations.

The news came as the chief executive of Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil giant announced his company had stepped in to compensate for an export shortfall stemming from the unrest in the North African nation, and the kingdom’s information minister reaffirmed his country’s policy of ensuring stability in oil markets.

In tandem, the news offered a glimmer of hope that the export disruption from Libya may ease, at least slightly, even if market fears had yet to dissipate. Libya, whose exports mainly head to Europe, is the only member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries so far seriously affected by the protests roiling the Arab world, and unrest there has sent shudders through global oil markets.

To challenge the cable TV industry’s dominance in the living room, though, online video services need popular movies and TV shows to lure viewers, and access to high-speed Internet networks to reach them.

Yet they have had no rights to either – until now.

The Senate is taking up the Patent Reform Act, which would significantly overhaul a 1952 law and, supporters say, bring the patent system in line with 21st century technology of biogenetics and artificial intelligence. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, hails it as “an important step toward maintaining our global competitive edge.”

Congress has been trying for well over a decade to rewrite patent law, only to be thwarted by the many interested parties – multinational corporations and small-scale inventors, pharmaceuticals and Silicon Valley companies – pulling in different directions. Prospects for passing a bill now, however, are promising.

The Dubai Financial Market closed 3.83 percent lower, hitting 1,410 points, and dragging the year-to-date losses to over 13 percent. The benchmark had dropped almost 0.9 percent on Sunday with the violence in Libya, as Moammar Gadhafi, the country’s leader, struggled to remain in power.

“Outside of Libya, it is the fate of other regional oil producers that will continue to preoccupy global markets. In particular, any change to the perceived threat to production in Saudi Arabia, which for now remains secure, will remain of crucial importance,” said international brokerage giant Nomura in a research note. “For now, the barometer of political risk for Gulf oil producers will likely remain centered in Bahrain.”

Prosecutors say Berlusconi’s Mediaset media empire purchased TV rights for U.S. movies through two offshore companies and falsely declared the costs to reduce its tax bill.

Berlusconi, who wasn’t in court Monday, has denied the allegations. The case was immediately adjourned until April 11, when Berlusconi may appear, lawyers said.

High food inflation and a spate of embarrassing corruption scandals have put pressure on India’s ruling Congress Party in recent months, spooking foreign investors and sparking street protests in advance of crucial state elections.

In his budget speech before parliament, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee revealed no major policy shifts, but said the much-watched fiscal deficit would fall from an estimated 5.1 percent of gross domestic product in the year ending March 31 to 4.6 percent next fiscal year.

The almond industry has hired Gao as its ambassador in China, and its effort is just one of many California nut growers are making to capture new markets in developing countries. U.S. farm exports reached an all-time high of $115.8 billion last year, and experts say developing nations such as China and India have huge potential for future growth.

China surpassed Canada to emerge as the top market for U.S. agricultural exports last year with $17.5 billion in sales, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Roughly three hours after a deadline to vacate the building had passed and as police officers continued to look on quietly, protest coordinator Erika Wolf took to a microphone and announced: “There’s really awesomely good news – that we’re going to be able to stay here tonight.”

A cheer went up from the several hundred protesters who had ignored a request from the state agency that oversees the Capitol to leave by 4 p.m. so that the normally immaculate building could get a thorough cleaning.

The activists’ statement, seen on several Saudi websites Sunday, reflects the undercurrent of tension that has simmered for years in the world’s largest oil producer. While Abdullah is seen as a reformer, the pace of those reforms has been slow as Saudi officials balance the need to push the country forward with the perennial pressure from hard-line clergy in the conservative nation.

“The current situation … is full of reasons for concern,” said the statement, which was signed by 119 academics, activists and businessmen. “We are seeing … a receding of Saudi Arabia’s prominent regional role for which our nation was known and the …. prevalence of corruption and nepotism, the exacerbation of factionalism and a widening in the gap between state and society.”

Lugging mattresses, blankets, overstuffed duffel bags and pulling suitcases on wheels, the expatriate laborers jostled one another for position in long lines, waiting to be processed.

“If you have registered move to the side!” screamed a Tunisian army official, waving his arms and blowing a whistle at a group of exhausted and confused-looking Egyptian day laborers.

Mississippi is among those states – many in the South – where most government employees do not have the right to collective bargaining, the benefit that has caused a political upheaval in Wisconsin and has become a national flashpoint for those who argue that public employee benefits are too generous.

Those states provide a snapshot of what life is like for government employees who do not have the same union clout that workers in Wisconsin and some other states are desperately trying to retain.

The city is offering to pay him for the 1,800-square-foot Frank Lloyd Wright family home if he wants to move off the flood plain. But Stern says he’s not going anywhere.

He fondly recalls the first time he walked through the brick house, with its unique twists and turns, and looked out at the river from an elevated living area.

Joule Unlimited has invented a genetically-engineered organism that it says simply secretes diesel fuel or ethanol wherever it finds sunlight, water and carbon dioxide.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based company says it can manipulate the organism to produce the renewable fuels on demand at unprecedented rates, and can do it in facilities large and small at costs comparable to the cheapest fossil fuels.

The tweak to the growth rate, announced by Premier Wen Jiabao in an online chat with Chinese citizens, is largely symbolic. Economic growth has exceeded the 8 percent target each of the past six years that it has been a fixture of government plans. Last year, growth reached 10.3 percent, making China the world’s fastest-expanding major economy.

Along with the growth, however, inflation has picked up, especially for food and housing. Economists and senior Chinese officials have said for months that Beijing must downshift the economy to help tame prices and move toward growth that is driven more by consumer spending than by the hefty investment and bank lending that fueled the latest spurt.

Defying doubters of his ability, Kenny rebuilt his Fine Gael party into a force that handed the ruling Fianna Fail party its worst defeat since 1932 in Friday’s national vote. He faces a decision within days on building a stable government that will respond to Irish voters angry and anxious over the nation’s economic freefall and subsequent bailout by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

In victory, Kenny made big promises of a new style of government.

The neighbors were not pleased.

“They don’t want to live next door to ghetto folks,” he says.

The most activity on the site Saturday appeared to be a squad of boys from the nearby town finishing the job of tearing apart the local headquarters of Moammar Gadhafi’s Revolutionary Committee.

The seaside Brega complex, some 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, collects crude oil and gas from Libya’s fields in the southeast and prepares it for export. It also produces some petrochemicals and refined products for local consumption.

Gov. Scott Walker insists the state is broke and must make drastic spending cuts. Unions believe Republican leaders are trying to wipe them out. Two weeks into the debate, The Associated Press assessed the claims in an effort to shed light on what’s at stake.

Walker says his plan is needed to ease a deficit that is projected to hit $137 million by July and $3.6 billion by mid-2013.

Also Sunday, Iraq’s parliament speaker called for new provincial and municipal elections as a way of addressing the public’s growing frustration over corruption, high unemployment and electricity shortages.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s warning to his ministers and Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi’s call for elections came two days after thousands participated in the largest anti-government protests in Iraq since unrest began spreading in the Arab world several weeks ago.