Disputes have flared in recent weeks in the South China Sea, with Vietnam holding live-fire military exercises after accusing Chinese ship

The IMF formally accepted the nominations of two candidates for the position of managing director: Christine Lagarde, the French finance minister and firm favourite for the job, and Agustin Carstens, the governor of the Bank of Mexico, who has asked emerging economies to back his long-shot bid. Stanley Fischer, a renowned academic economist who heads Israel's central bank, made a late entry into the field but was excluded from the final list because at 67 he is two years older than the maximum for candidates.



Nicolas Sarkozy sharpened his attack on SPECULATION IN COMMODITIES MARKETS, which he insists is an underlying factor in pushing up prices for raw materials. The French president said that the "gap between the reality of physical markets and that of financial markets has widened" and called for stricter regulations, on commodities trading, such as minimum deposits for derivatives trades and a global standard for clearing contracts.



APPLE settled a patent dispute with NOKIA, which demanded royalties for the use of its intellectual property in the iPhone. Apple will pay a one-off fee to Nokia and royalties from now on. The pair will enter into a patent-licensing agreement that ends all outstanding quarrels over patents between the companies, including the countersuit that Apple brought against Nokia.



As Apple and Nokia made up, tensions escalated between HEWLETT-PACKARD and ORACLE when HP sued Oracle, accusing it of purposely neglecting to fix software bugs for customers in a chip widely used in HP's servers in order to entice them to switch to Oracle's servers. The two companies have been at odds since Mark Hurd was forced out as HP's boss last year, only to take a senior position at Oracle.



US, Vietnam urge peace in South China Sea

AFP 18 June 2011



The United States and Vietnam on Friday jointly called for freedom of navigation and rejected the use of force in the South China Sea, amid simmering tensions between Beijing and its neighbors. After talks in Washington, the two former war foes said that "the maintenance of peace, stability, safety and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea is in the common interests of the international community."

"All territorial disputes in the South China Sea should be resolved through a collaborative, diplomatic process without coercion or the use of force," the two countries said in a joint statement.



Disputes have flared in recent weeks in the South China Sea, with Vietnam holding live-fire military exercises after accusing Chinese ships of ramming an oil survey ship and cutting the exploration cables of another one. China staged its own three days of military exercises in the South China Sea, which state media said was aimed at boosting the country's offshore maritime patrol force. "The US side reiterated that troubling incidents in recent months do not foster peace and stability within the region," the statement said. It said that the incidents "raise concerns about maritime security, especially with regard to freedom of navigation, unimpeded economic development and commerce under lawful conditions, and respect for international law."



Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in remarks in July 2010 on a visit to Vietnam that were closely watched around Asia, said that the United States had a vital national interest in freedom of navigation in the South China Sea. China and Vietnam each claim the strategic Paracel Islands and Spratly archipelago. China has myriad disputes in the the potentially resource-rich sea with countries including Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. The Philippines said Friday that it was sending its ageing naval flagship into the disputed waters. Amid the tensions, China said Tuesday that it would not resort to the use of force in the South China Sea and urged other countries to "do more for peace and stability in the region."






Hanoi Tries to Ease Rift With Beijing
By James Hookway 14 June 2011

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