Published: 16 June 2012

UN observers suspended their mission to Syria on Saturday, blaming intensifying violence as troops reportedly rained shells down on rebel strongholds, trapping more than 1,000 families in one city alone.

The unarmed observers have been targeted almost daily since deploying in mid-April to monitor a UN-backed but widely ignored ceasefire, and they were likened to "sitting ducks in a shooting gallery" by Susan Rice, the US envoy to the United Nations.

Explaining the decision, mission head Major General Robert Mood spoke of an escalation in fighting and of the risk to his 300-strong team, as well as the "lack of willingness" for peace by the warring parties.

"There has been an intensification of armed violence across Syria over the past 10 days," General Mood said in a statement.

"This escalation is limiting our ability to observe, verify, report as well as assist in local dialogue and stability projects -- basically impeding our ability to carry out our mandate.

"The lack of willingness by the parties to seek a peaceful transition, and the push towards advancing military positions is increasing the losses on both sides: innocent civilians, men women and children are being killed every day.

"It is also posing significant risks to our observers.

"In this high risk situation, UNSMIS (United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria) is suspending its activities," Mood said.

The observers "will not conduct patrols and will stay in their locations until further notice," he said, adding that "engagement with the parties will be restricted."

Mood said the suspension would be reviewed daily, and that "operations will resume when we see the situation fit for us to carry out our mandated activities."

As the decision was announced, a watchdog reported 31 people killed across Syria as government forces shelled rebel strongholds including Douma near the capital and the flashpoint central city of Homs.

Regime forces targeted several districts of Homs city -- including Bab Tadmur, Jourat al-Shiah, Khalidiyeh and Safsafa -- killing at least five people, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

More than 14,400 people have been killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad's regime erupted in mid-March 2011, according to the Britain-based watchdog.

In the latest bloodshed, families were trapped in the Khalidiyeh, Jourat al-Shiah, Qarabees, old city and Qusour areas of Homs, an opposition stronghold, according to the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman.

"They have no food and no medical equipment," he told AFP.

The Observatory issued an "urgent call" to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon "and all those with a sense of humanity to intervene immediately, in order to put a stop to the continuous shelling."

The watchdog also called for the "evacuation and protection of dozens of injured."

"More than 100 people are injured, many of them badly, and the lack of medical equipment means some of them will die," Abdel Rahman said, adding there was also a lack of medical staff.

Home to several Free Syrian Army bastions, Homs has been under intermittent attack by regime forces ever since the Baba Amr district was relentlessly pounded for a month earlier this year, according to the Observatory, and retaken by the regime.

An escalation of violence over the past week has engulfed several areas of the country, including Homs, and France's foreign ministry said Friday it was deeply concerned at reports of "an imminent, large-scale operation" by regime forces in the city.

The Observatory reported another 31 people killed on Saturday, taking the countrywide death toll to 169 in the past three days.

It said troops shelled a rebel bastion in the Damascus northern suburb of Douma overnight, killing seven people, while also among the dead was a family of three whose house in Irbin was hit by a shell, and a soldier who died in a blast.

Three other regime troops died in clashes in rebel bastion Rastan in Homs province, while two rebel leaders were killed near a regime checkpoint in the southern province of Daraa, the Observatory said.

Anti-regime activist Abu Rawan described the shelling of Rastan as "insane."

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Published: 15 June 2012

Japan Airlines, the flag-carrier that went bust in one of the nation's biggest-ever bankruptcies, is aiming to re-list its shares by September, the Nikkei business daily reported Friday.

The airline, whose shares were delisted in February 2010, will file an application with the Tokyo Stock Exchange this month with plans to have its stock publicly traded again on September 19, the report said.

JAL went bankrupt in January 2010 with debts totalling 2.32 trillion yen ($29 billion), but it continued flying during an overhaul that included massive cuts to jobs and routes.

It exited bankruptcy protection last year and logged an annual net profit of $2.3 billion in the fiscal year to March 2012.

The airline's market value after the float would be between 600 billion and 700 billion yen, vaulting it ahead of rival All Nippon Airways' market capitalisation of roughly 550 billion yen, the report said.

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Published: 13 June 2012

Two car bombs in the central Iraqi city of Hilla killed at least 13 people Wednesday, while Baghdad was rocked by a spate of shootings and bombings, officials said.

The first car bomb, which detonated near a restaurant in Hilla, killed six people and wounded 20, according to a police captain and doctor Ali al-Khafaji in the city's hospital.

A second blast, minutes later, killed seven people and wounded 25, they said.

Baghdad meanwhile was hit by five bomb attacks and two shooting incidents, an interior ministry official said.

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Published: 07 June 2012

Spain paid sharply higher borrowing costs to lure buyers for its bonds Thursday as the crisis-torn banking sector tottered towards a bailout.

The treasury raised 2.074 billion euros ($2.6 billion) in the auction of two-, four- and 10-year bonds, comfortably beating its own target range of 1.0-2.0 billion euros, Bank of Spain figures showed.

The sale attracted healthy demand.

But the state had to pay a high price, with the 10-year bonds fetching more than 6.0 percent -- a rate widely regarded as unsustainable over the longer term.

Investors fret over the huge, as-yet unknown sums required to rescue Spain's weakened banks, weighed down by a vast exposure to the property sector, which collapsed in 2008.

Stricken lender Bankia, recently nationalised to save it from collapse, has asked for a total of 23.465 billion euros in capital from the state, of which 19 billion euros have yet to be found.

Three other banks could need another 30 billion euros, according to some Spanish reports.

An IMF report on Spanish banks to be released on Monday will price their capital needs at 40-80 billion euros, Spanish newspaper ABC said Thursday, citing a draft of the document.

The Spanish authorities have given themselves two weeks to take a decision on how to recapitalise weakened banks.

In addition to the IMF report, officials are waiting for assessments by two private consulting firms, Roland Berger and Oliver Wyman, on the state of the banks' balance sheets.

Markets have eased the pressure on Spain, however, as expectations mount that Europe will step in to save the banks.

Spain, the eurozone's fourth largest economy, is fighting tooth and nail to avoid an all-out bailout in the style of Portugal, Ireland or Greece and is seekign instead aid directed only at the banks.

Madrid is pushing for European rescue funds to be authorized to intervene directly in the region's banks without the need for a broad rescue that would come with attached austerity conditions.

It is unclear if the European authorities would make such a concession, however.

"What is sure is that things are moving: it seems Spain will manage to obtain a tailor-made rescue for its problematic banking sector," said a report by Bankinter analysts.

A breakdown of the latest Spanish bond sale showed the rate on benchmark 10-year bonds climbed to an average 6.044 percent from 5.743 percent in the previous comparable auction April 19.

But that was still short of the euro era record of 6.975 percent struck November 17, 2011.

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