Currency markets keeping eye on yuan

Currency markets keeping eye on yuan

BEIJING

Currency markets will closely watch Chinese exchange rates today to see how far Beijing will allow the yuan to rise after announcing the end of its 2-year-old peg to the dollar.

A stronger yuan would make Chinese exports more expensive and bring relief to foreign manufacturers that have been struggling to compete.

But Beijing plans to disappoint them, saying Sunday there will be no dramatic rise.

The Communist leadership finally acceded to foreign pressure to increase the exchange rate’s flexibility Saturday, a week ahead of a G-20 summit at which President Hu Jintao was likely to have been hammered by critics of the currency policy.

Deal would allow commercial whaling

AMSTERDAM

The International Whaling Commission begins a five-day meeting today in Morocco’s Atlantic Ocean resort of Agadir — arguably its most important gathering since 1986, when a moratorium on commercial whaling halted the factory-style slaughter of tens of thousands of animals every year.

A compromise that would suspend the whaling ban has been drafted by the agency’s chairman, but it’s an unhappy option for nations that abhor whaling. The deal would legitimize commercial hunting in exchange for a drop in the number of whales actually killed by those claiming exemptions to the ban — Japan, Norway and Iceland.

FCC to start review of media rules

WASHINGTON

For decades, the Federal Communications Commission has imposed strict limits preventing any company from controlling too many media properties in the same market. These limits were established to ensure that communities have choices of newspapers and local TV and radio stations.

Congress requires the FCC to take a hard look at the rules every four years to determine whether they still serve the public interest.

Now, as the FCC kicks off its latest review, it faces calls to pare the limits because traditional media companies are no longer the almighty players that they were when the ownership rules were first enacted.

Associated Press