crash – praag.org

China believes hostile short-sellers caused panic

A recent sell-off in China’s stock markets is the first major challenge facing the country since the introduction of margin trading, and is believed to have been caused by hostile short-sellers.

In a report on the Chinese news site ifeng.com, an analyst said the sell-off was similar to what took place in Hong Kong in 1997, when the territory’s benchmark Hang Seng Index plunged 60% after peaking at 16,673 points.

The steep drop in share prices in Hong Kong in 1997 was caused by financier George Soros, who shorted both the Hong Kong dollar and the Hang Seng Index futures, the analyst said, adding that similar practices were observed in the last two trading sessions in China.

According to the analyst, massive funds entered the futures market, building a short position and leading to declines in the stock markets. The size of the funds and the sophisticated trading methods are beyond the ability of Chinese institutional investors, the analyst said.

In fact, Bill Gross of Janus Capital, a co-founder of global investment firm PIMCO, said in early June that the Shenzhen Stock Exchange’s Component Index presented perfect short-selling opportunities.

At the time, the index was at a seven-year high but plummeted 30% on Gross’s comments. Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse have also been bearish on Chinese shares recently.

Several measures introduced or announced by the Chinese government, such as lower interest rates, required reserve ratio cuts, and a plan to allow the investment of pension funds in equities, have failed to prop up the Chinese stock markets.

The Chinese government is expected to introduce new policies to rescue the market, since further a decline will hurt companies’ ability to borrow money and will put pressure on the economy.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission reportedly was soliciting proposals from institutions to rescue the market.

There have also been reports of brokerages promising not to force liquidation of shares held by investors facing margin calls.

Source: China Times

‘Black car’ blamed for Zuma accident

A black car suspected to have caused the crash in which President Jacob Zuma’s children were injured on Friday morning was allegedly driven away after the accident.

A relative of Zuma’s wife Nompumelelo Ntuli-Zuma, the mother of Zuma’s two injured young daughters, said the children were still at a hospital in Pietermaritzburg.

Ntuli-Zuma’s son, from a previous relationship, was also believed to be injured and in hospital. They were getting better and were eating and talking.

“The children said a black car appeared out of nowhere and bumped their vehicle, leading to the crash. They said the other car did not stop,” said the relative.

However, police spokesman Thulani Zwane said police could not confirm or deny the allegation that the second car failed to stop.

“We are not going to discuss the details, except to say police are investigating. We confirm a case of reckless and negligent driving was opened for investigation. No arrests have yet been made,” said Zwane.

The accident happened near Copesville as the children were being taken along the R33 towards the city about 6am.

“It is a miracle that the children are recovering very well; those who witnessed the accident said they should not have survived,” he said.

The Sunday Times reported that Zuma was seen entering St Anne’s Hospital about 7pm on Friday, and left in high spirits an hour later.

It said Ntuli-Zuma was also at the hospital.

The Sunday Times reported earlier that Jacob Zuma had been poisoned by his second wife Ntuli-Zuma.

The paper said Ntuli-Zuma had been banned from the Zuma’s Nkandla home following claims of a plot to poison the president. The paper could not confirm that Zuma had been poisoned and it could not confirm the type of poison Ntuli-Zuma had allegedly used on her husband.

It quoted three unnamed sources who “claim that although the president fell ill and was hospitalised last year, it was only during a trip to the US two months later that the still-ailing Zuma was told he had been poisoned”.

Source: IOL

Singapore Airlines criticised over MH17 tweet

‘Customers may wish to note that Singapore Airlines flights are not using Ukraine airspace.’

Singapore Airlines (SIA) has apologised for posting an “insensitive” comment on social media about the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash in crisis-stricken eastern Ukraine.

Hours after the Boeing 777-200 passenger jet with 298 people on board went down on Thursday, believed shot by a surface-to-air missile, SIA posted a one-line statement on Facebook and Twitter.

It read: “Customers may wish to note that Singapore Airlines flights are not using Ukraine airspace.”

The comment sparked anger among users of social media.

“How about at least acknowledging the terrible event and sending condolences to those families and friends involved instead of this cold, classless update?,” wrote a Michael Reif in response.

Hundreds of others joined in the condemnation but some defended the airline, saying it was trying to reassure customers concerned about the safety of their flight route.

“We are aware that our Facebook and Twitter update on Friday morning may have come across as insensitive to some,” SIA said in a Facebook posting late Saturday.

“We recognise that the information could have been better communicated and we sincerely apologise if it had offended our customers and anyone else in the online community,” it added.

“The post was in response to many requests from our customers who had asked for information about our flight routes for their upcoming flights with us.”

SIA acknowledged that prior to the crash it was flying the route taken by MH17 but has since re-routed flights.

World leaders are in agreement that MH17 was blown out of the sky by a surface-to-air missile fired from rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine.

Kiev has gone a step further, saying militias using a Russian-supplied anti-aircraft system were responsible.

Airlines avoid Ukraine airspace after MH17 Boeing crashes

A number of airlines around the world have announced they are going to reroute flights to avoid Ukrainian airspace. The list of companies includes Russian Aeroflot, UTair and Transaero, German Lufthansa and Turkish airlines.

“After the incident we have decided to avoid Ukrainian airspace,” a Turkish Airlines spokesman said.

American airlines have also agreed to avoid airspace near the Russian-Ukrainian border, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Thursday. The US Federal Aviation Administration issued a Notice to Airman (NOTAM)“prohibiting US flight operations until further notice” over eastern Ukraine.

The restricted area includes the “entire Simferopol and Dnepropetrovsk flight information regions (FIRs).” No scheduled US airlines are currently flying routes through this airspace, the watchdog added.

Air France and Virgin have decided to temporarily re-route flights to bypass Ukraine.Italy’s Alitalia has also announced it is diverting flights away from eastern Ukraine joining the growing list of companies re-routing flights.

The UK department of transport has ordered “flights already airborne” to bypass south-eastern regions of the country.

Pilots around the world are being advised to plan routes that avoid the area, the statement said. China’s aviation administration has ordered all Chinese airliners to avoid eastern Ukrainian airspace where flight MH17 has crashed, CCTV reports.

Dubai-based Emirates Airline has turned around its Kiev-bound Flight EK171 which has returned to it airport of departure in United Arab Emirates.

“The safety of our customers and crew is paramount, and we will continue to monitor the situation carefully,” the company said in a statement.

In addition Belorussian Belavia, Eva Air, Korean Air Lines, Asiana Airlines, and Swedish SCA, have all announced rerouting their flight patterns to avoid Ukraine.

Flight MH17 crashed in Ukraine on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpar, and was carrying 298 people.

The flight was due to enter Russian airspace when contact was lost.

The EU air traffic control regulator – Eurocontrol – has closed the airspace over eastern Ukraine and has already started working on routes that would bypass the country.

“Since the crash, the Ukrainian authorities have informed EUROCONTROL of the closure of routes from the ground to unlimited in Eastern Ukraine (Dnipropetrovsk Flight Information Region). All flight plans that are filed using these routes are now being rejected by EUROCONTROL. The routes will remain closed until further notice,” it said in a statement.

Both Ukrainian government and anti-Kiev fighters have denied shooting the plane down.

A source in Russia’s federal air traffic agency Rosaviatsia has said that three days ago Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council closed the airspace over eastern Ukraine because of the so-called “anti-terrorist operation” that Kiev conducts in the region.

Earlier a representative of Donetsk People’s Republic said that civil aviation planes could not fly over Donetsk and Lugansk regions. He added that all necessary traffic control and navigation equipment was damaged.

“Dispatching support of all passenger flights is being conducted from Kiev. How this plane could be there – is not clear,” a representative of Donetsk People’s Republic said.

The US Federal Aviation Administration has issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) prohibiting US Airlines from flying in the area in Ukraine in April.

At least 11 killed in bus crash near Louis Trichardt

At least eleven people have been killed after a bus collided with another vehicle on the N1 near Louis Trichardt in Limpopo.

The bus was apparently overtaking a car, when it crashed head-on into the vehicle.

Limpopo Roads and Transport spokesperson Jimmy Machaka said the Gudwil Luxury Coaches bus involved in the accident was ferrying passengers from Johannesburg to Harare.

“The accident occurred around 2am. We don’t know where it was heading but we can confirm that it came from Johannesburg. Paramedics are still clearing the scene. Only one lane is operating but is moving very slow,” said Machaka.

Gudwil representative Cherinet Gudis said the company was saddened by the accident.

“I can’t comment much about the incident because we are still rushing to the scene. But obviously we are saddened by the report,” said Gudis.

Gudis confirmed that the bus had left at 7.30pm Johannesburg on Thursday and it was heading to Harare.

An estimated 56 passengers were in the bus.

The accident comes less than two weeks after the Moloto bus crash.

30 people were killed when a when a Putco bus collided with another vehicle on the notorious road. -eNCA

Five robbers crash into East London store, steal TVs

Five robbers broke into an East London store by crashing through its security gate with a bakkie, the DispatchOnline reported on Monday.

Eye witnesses told the Eastern Cape publication that the men then went into the Jet Mart store and stole about 10 plasma screen TVs.

The robbery happened on Saturday night near the taxi rank in the city centre.

Red Alert security company operations manager Alistair Bleach said a patrolling officer was sent to the scene when an alarm went off.

“When he got to the store armed suspects started firing shots at him. Seeing that he was outnumbered and with innocent bystanders nearby our officer did not fire back but called for back up,” said Bleach.

No-one was injured.

East London police spokesman Captain Stephen Marais said no arrests had been made. – Sapa

Nine killed in East Rand crash

Nine people, including two children, were killed in an accident on the R25 near Kempton Park, east of Johannesburg, emergency workers said on Monday.

Six other people were injured when a light delivery vehicle and another car collided head-on, said Netcare 911 spokeswoman Santi Steinmann.

The accident occurred on Sunday at around 11pm.

The injured people were treated on the scene before being transported to nearby hospitals.

Steinmann said police were investigating the cause of the accident. – Sapa