Energy agency raises oil demand forecast

Energy agency raises oil demand forecast

 

Paris (AFP)

 

Global oil demand will rise faster than previously expected this year, the IEA forecast on Tuesday, reporting that consumption accelerated at the end of 2013 as advanced economies led by the United States recovered.

 

Highlighting huge changes in the undercurrents of the oil market despite stable prices, the IEA said that emerging economies were now driving growth of oil demand, but its monthly report focused strongly on a huge rise in US output.

 

This was accelerating debate about whether or not the United States should lift a ban dating from the oil shocks of the 1970s on the export of oil, the IEA said.

 

In the 34 countries belonging to the OECD group of advanced democracies, and for the first time since 2010, "demand appears to have swung back into growth in 2013," the International Energy Agency said in its monthly report on the oil market.

 

It raised its estimate of global demand for oil in the last quarter of 2013 by 135,000 barrels per day to 91.2 million barrels per day "led by a significant upward revision of 700,000 bd to the US demand assessment pegged to industrial fuels".

 

That was an increase of 40,000 bd from the IEA's estimate in December and was equivalent to a gain of 1.2 mbd or 1.4 percent in 2013.

 

"Momentum is forecast to accelerate modestly to 1.3 mbd in 2014," the agency said.

 

That represented an increase from the December forecast of 90,000 bd and took total demand to 92.5 mbd, "supported by the strengthening macroeconomic picture."

 

(Agence France-Presse, 21 Tuesday January 2014 The Roman)

 

End postcode lottery of cancer care, say MPs

End postcode lottery of cancer care, say MPs

 

Cancer care in the UK is a postcode lottery with regional divides leaving many people facing lengthy waits to be diagnosed and unable to access treatment, a new report has warned.

 

(By Sarah Knapton, Science Correspondent)

 

MPs have called on the NHS to end the postcode lottery of cancer care which sees five times as many patients in some areas waiting more than two weeks to see a specialist.

 

A report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer has highlighted the disparity in treatment across Britain.

 

In some areas thousands more people are waiting more than two weeks to be referred to specialists.

 

MPs condemned the ‘national disgrace’ of late diagnosis and criticised the variation in accessing radiotherapy and cancer drugs.

 

Chair John Baron said: “It is a national disgrace that a quarter of all cancers are first diagnosed as late as A&E – late diagnosis makes for poor survival rates.

 

“We need to redouble our efforts at every level to promote earlier diagnosis – cancer’s magic key – so that our survival rates catch up with other countries.

 

“Our concern is that the NHS will take its eye off the ball whilst the new structures bed down.

 

“This must not happen. Our report reflects concerns across the cancer community, and is a call to arms for NHS England to raise its game on behalf of cancer patients.”

 

Figures show that people’s chances of being diagnosed early and surviving various forms of cancer differ significantly across the country, with a gulf between affluent parts of London and the Home Counties and the rest of Britain.

 

Premature cancer mortality rates are more than twice as high in Liverpool – 157 deaths per 100,000 people below the age of 75 – as they are in Kensington and Chelsea, west London, where fewer than 78 people die early.

 

People living in the North East have more than double the chance of being sent for a targeted form of radiotherapy than those living the South West.

 

There was a wide regional variation in urgent referral rates between, ranging from under 800 referrals per 100,000 in areas of London to nearly 3,500 per 100,000 population in the North East and East Anglia.

 

The report authors said: “Where a person lives should not determine whether or not they see a specialist to have potential cancer symptoms investigated.

 

“NHS England should set out how it will work to improve equitable access around GP ordered diagnostic tests.

 

“The APPGC feels there is an unacceptable variation across the country with regards to accessing services and treatments such as radiotherapy and cancer drugs.”

 

For more than a decade, NHS guidance has stated that 95 per cent patients who visit their family doctor with key signs of cancer should be referred to a specialist within two weeks.

 

NHS figures show that on average, just 46 per cent of patients in England who were diagnosed with cancer in 2011/12 were given a two week “urgent referral” by their GP.

 

In one in six surgeries, family doctors failed to make an urgent referral in at least two thirds of cases.

 

At some practices, just one in ten patients who went on to be diagnosed with cancer was referred within two weeks.

 

A study of 22,000 cancer suffers in June found that some patients were almost three times as likely to have been referred by family doctors for investigative procedures than others.

 

More than a quarter of people diagnosed with cancer see their GP three times or more before being referred to a specialist.

 

MPs said doctors should receive financial incentives to detect cancer earlier.

 

A Department of Health spokesperson said: “Every single patient in the NHS has a right to the very best care, irrespective of where they live, to ensure that they have the highest chance of surviving cancer.

 

“We are committed to improving cancer survival and mortality rates across the country.

 

Our Cancer Strategy set out our ambition to save an additional 5,000 lives per year by 2014/15 and is backed with more than £750 million including over £450 million to achieve early diagnosis.”

 

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s study of 35 countries found last month that only Poland has worse survival for all three cancers.

 

Ciarán Devane, Chief Executive at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: "This report highlights the cancer community’s concerns about how cancer services are faring in the new NHS and the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer is right to be anxious.

 

“In the last week we have seen new figures showing how much catching up we have to do if we are to be average in Europe, let alone the best.

 

"Giving GPs the right tools to diagnose cancer, making the right treatment more available and getting aftercare right so people stay well all need relentless focus.

 

“We cannot afford to take our eye off cancer when we are only just beginning to see improvement.”

 

(The Telegraph, 10 Tuesday December 2013 The Roman)

 

The world best 1 doctor for cancer is in Great Britain.

 

Many news about cancer are in The Telegraph Science news.

 

(R.S.F. toshiki speed news press, Agence France-Presse, 13 Friday December 2013 The Roman)

 

 

Comptes à l'étranger : les "repentis" sont souvent des héritiers Accounts abroad: "repented" are often heirs

Comptes à l'étranger : les "repentis" sont souvent des héritiers

 

[caption id="attachment_10528" align="alignnone" width="400"] (Vue de la ville de Genève. (© Vincent Isore/IP3 press)) (View of the city of Geneva (© Vincent Isore/IP3 press))[/caption]

 

(SOURCE  AFP)

 

La majorité des candidats à la régularisation ont hérité de leur compte en Suisse... et sont aujourd'hui poussés dehors par les banques.

 

Ils sont des milliers à se présenter auprès du fisc pour régulariser leur situation : ces Français titulaires d'un compte non déclaré à l'étranger en ont le plus souvent hérité et sont poussés dehors par les banques, soucieuses de se conformer au nouvel ordre fiscal mondial.

 

Aujourd'hui, Bercy a reçu "plus de 8 500" dossiers de ces "repentis", attirés par les conditions de régularisation permises par la circulaire signée fin juin par le ministre du Budget, Bernard Cazeneuve, a assuré celui-ci lundi.

 

Ce cadre prévoit notamment que les pénalités soient moindres pour les fraudeurs dits "passifs".

 

De fait, selon plusieurs avocats fiscalistes, ceux qui ont hérité d'un compte en Suisse qui dort depuis des années constituent la grande majorité des candidats à la régularisation.

 

"La plupart du temps, ce sont des parents qui souhaitent régulariser une situation inconfortable pour ne pas la transmettre à leurs enfants", explique Meyer Azogui, président de Cyrus Conseil.

 

Mais aussi, précise-t-il, "les banques suisses annoncent clairement qu'elles ne veulent plus de capitaux non déclarés.

 

Elles adoptent désormais des techniques de séduction inversement proportionnelles à celles qu'elles pratiquaient à l'entrée, lorsqu'il s'agissait de séduire de nouveaux clients".

 

Suisses ou non, les banques contactent depuis quelques mois leurs clients français non déclarés pour qu'ils se mettent en règle avec le fisc, n'hésitant pas à menacer d'une fermeture de compte pure et simple.

 

Le "Forum mondial sur la transparence et l'échange de renseignements à des fins fiscales", organisation de 120 pays sous l'égide de l'Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques (OCDE), n'a pas manqué, fin novembre à Jakarta, de lancer un nouvel avertissement à ceux qui tenteraient encore d'échapper aux nouvelles règles mondiales.

 

"Les banques font bien comprendre à leurs clients qu'il faut changer les choses", dit un avocat fiscaliste d'Aix-en-Provence qui a requis l'anonymat.

 

Pour lui, la pression exercée par les banques explique pourquoi il y a en 2013 davantage de "repentis" que trois ans plus tôt, alors même que le dispositif mis en place alors par Éric Woerth était plus intéressant pour les fraudeurs.

 

"Périodes instables"

 

Par ailleurs, ces clients héritiers sont aussi ceux qui, le plus souvent, n'ont pas les plus gros comptes.

 

Selon Pierre Dedieu, avocat associé de CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre, "l'essentiel des dossiers concernent des comptes de moins de un million d'euros".

 

Or, les banques étrangères, toujours par crainte d'être pénalisées, sont très réticentes à autoriser les retraits en liquide "donc les titulaires ne peuvent pas rapporter l'argent en deux-trois voyages", ironise-t-il.

 

Reste que si l'héritage a été fait après le 1e janvier 2007, s'ajoute aux pénalités le rattrapage des droits de succession, une situation qui peut obliger à régler au fisc jusqu'à la moitié du capital.

 

"Les dossiers que nous traitons reflètent les grandes périodes d'instabilité de l'histoire contemporaine", explique Pierre Dedieu.

 

Il cite le Front populaire, la guerre de 39-45, mais aussi Mai 68, qui a conduit beaucoup de familles bourgeoises à sortir leurs fonds, ou encore 1981, lorsque l'arrivée de la gauche au pouvoir a fait craindre des confiscations.

 

Ceux qui auraient utilisé sciemment ce compte à l'étranger, qu'ils l'aient ouvert ou non, pour dissimuler rémunérations occultes ou rétrocommissions sont évidemment rares.

 

"Ils savent qu'en contactant le fisc ils prennent un risque pénal quasi avéré et, du coup, ne choisissent pas la régularisation", analyse ce spécialiste.

 

De fait, selon un avocat fiscaliste parisien ayant requis l'anonymat, le chiffre de 8 500 dossiers de demande de régularisation est "ridicule si on considère que, rien qu'en Suisse, il y a plus de 100 000 comptes détenus par des Français".

 

Un argument que ne partagent pas la plupart des autres conseils interrogés.

 

Pour Pierre Dedieu, en plus des résultats de la cellule Woerth et des régularisations spontanées depuis, "on va arriver à environ 15 000 régularisations depuis 2009".

 

Et le bénéfice pour l'État pourrait, selon lui, être même supérieur au milliard d'euros espéré par le gouvernement en 2014.

 

(Le Point, 3 mardi décembre 2013 le Roman)

 

 

Accounts abroad: "repented" are often heirs

 

(SOURCE  AFP)

 

The majority of candidates to stabilize inherited their account in Switzerland ... and are now pushed out by banks.

 

There are thousands to stand with the taxman to regularize their situation : the French holders of undeclared foreign account most often inherited and are pushed out by the banks concerned to comply with the new tax order world.

 

Today Bercy received  over 8,500" records of the "repented", attracted by the regularization conditions permitted by circular signed by the end of June Budget Minister Bernard Cazeneuve assured it Monday.

 

The framework provides that the penalties are lower for the so-called "passive" fraudsters.

 

In fact, according to several tax lawyers, who have inherited a Swiss account sleeping for years constitute the vast majority of applicants for regularization.

 

"Most of the time, these are parents who wish to regularize an uncomfortable situation so as not to pass on to their children," said Meyer Azogui, President Cyrus Council.

 

But also, he says, "Swiss banks announce clearly that they want more not been declared. They are now adopting seduction techniques inversely proportional to those they practiced at the entrance, wheres' was to attract new customers."

 

Swiss or not, contact the bank for a few months their French customers unreported for them to put in good standing with the IRS, not hesitating to threaten closure straightforward account.

 

The "Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes," organization of 120 countries under the auspices of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), has not failed in late November to Jakarta to launch a new warning to those who try to escape again to new global rules.

 

"The banks understand their customers need to change things," said a tax lawyer in Aix  Provence, who requested anonymity.

 

For him, the pressure exerted by banks explains why there is more in 2013 "repented" that three years earlier, even though the system put in place by then Eric Woerth was more attractive to fraudsters.

 

"Unstable periods"

 

Moreover, these heirs customers are also those who most often do not have the biggest accounts.

 

According to Pierre Dedieu, partner at CMS Bureau Francis Lefebvre lawyer, "most of the cases involve accounts of less than one million euros."

 

However, foreign banks, always in fear of being penalized, are very reluctant to allow cash withdrawals "so owners can not bring money in two to three trips," he quips.

 

Yet if the legacy was made after 1 January 2007, in addition to the penalties catching inheritance, a situation that may require tax to be paid at up to half the capital.

 

"The issues we deal reflect major instability periods of modern history," said Pierre Dedieu.

 

He cites the Popular Front, the war of 39-45, but in may 68, which has led many middle-class families to leave their land or even 1981, when the arrival of the left in power was fear of confiscation.

 

Those who have knowingly used this account abroad, whether they open or not, to conceal hidden fees or kickbacks are obviously rare.

 

"They know that they are contacting the IRS criminal risk almost proved and, hence, do not choose the regularization,” this analysis specialist.

 

In fact, according to a Parisian tax lawyer who requested anonymity, the figure of 8,500 files application for regularization is "ridiculous if we consider that, in Switzerland alone, there are over 100,000 accounts held by French.”

 

An argument that is not shared with most other councils surveyed.

 

Pierre Dedieu, plus the results of the cell Woerth and spontaneous adjustments since, “We’ll get about 15,000 corrections since 2009."

 

And the benefit to the state could, according to him, be even higher than the one billion euros expected by the government in 2014.

 

(Le Point, 3 Tuesday December 2013 The Roman)

(Translated: R.S.F. tohiki speed news press, Agence France-Presse, 4 Wednesday December 2013 The Roman)

 

Greece to stay in recession in 2014, may need new bailout: OECD

Greece to stay in recession in 2014, may need new bailout: OECD

 

[caption id="attachment_10359" align="alignnone" width="400"] (The Greek economy is expected to contract by 0.4 percent in 2014, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (AFP/File, Louisa Gouliamaki))[/caption]

 

(AFP)

 

Athens — Greece will remain mired in recession in 2014 for a seventh straight year, and is likely to need more financial assistance, the OECD said on Wednesday, in contrast to forecasts by Athens.

 

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said the Greek economy would contract by 0.4 percent, and said Greece was likely to need additional aid.

 

"The need for further assistance to achieve fiscal sustainability cannot be excluded," the OECD said.

 

"If negative macroeconomic risks materialise...serious consideration should be given to further assistance to achieve debt sustainability," it said.

 

Greece last week unveiled a budget in which it said the deep recession in the economy would end next year with 0.6 percent growth, following a 4.0-percent contraction in 2013.

 

But the budget was tabled without Athens having reached a full agreement with auditors from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission.

 

In a separate study, the OECD said Greece's crisis-hit economy could gain by at least 5.2 billion euros ($7 billion) if hundreds of trade restrictions were abolished.

 

The organization said it had found 555 regulatory restrictions that were "potentially harmful" to competition, in a study commissioned by the conservative-led Greek government.

 

The sectors examined were food processing, retail trade, building materials and tourism, which account for 21 percent of the Greek economy and almost 27 percent of total employment, according to 2011 figures.

 

"If the particular restrictions are lifted, the OECD has calculated a positive effect to the Greek economy of around 5.2 billion euros," the organization said.

 

"But the positive effects on the Greek economy over time are likely to be far greater," it said.

 

Among the recommendations are the full liberalisation of Sunday trade, which is currently restricted to a handful of pre-holiday sales periods.

 

The move is opposed by Greek trade associations on the grounds that most businesses are family-operated and are unable to hire more staff owing to persistently poor sales, made worse by recession and three years of tax increases.

 

The OECD also suggests the abolition of taxes on advertising, flour and cement and the liberalisation of prices for over-the-counter medicine and dietary supplements.

 

The coalition government of conservative Your Prime Minister Antonis Samaras is attempting to push through legislation liberalising the trade and labour sectors.

 

But the government has a slim majority in parliament and faces the threat of internal dissent, in addition to frequent strike action from unions.

 

Copyright © 2013 AFP. All rights reserved.

 

(Agence France-Presse, 27 Wednesday November 2013 The Roman)