beyondbrics

* Chinese defence budget set to double by 2015

* US-China economic tiff simmers

* Apple: labour group began Foxconn inspections

* Netanyahu blames Iran for India, Georgia car-bomb attacks

* US envoy to meet North Korean aides in first talks since Kim died

* Iraq blocks Exxon license bid

* BHP, Rio up copper output by over $4bn

* Bahrain erupts before protest anniversary

* Markets: mixed

Chinese defence budget set to double by 2015
China’s defence budget is expected to almost double by 2015 as Beijing accelerates its spending on fighter jets and other military equipment, according to defence forecasts, the FT reports. IHS Jane’s analysts said they believe China will spend $120bn on defence this year and that will grow to $238bn in 2015 – a combined annual increase of 18.75 per cent and more than the joint total of Nato’s top eight members, bar the US. China’s economy grew at an annual rate of 9.2 per cent in 2011.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/7b58ac0a-5592-11e1-9d95-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1mKKYs6or

US-China economic tiff simmers
As China’s vice-president is greeted at the White House on Tuesday, the relationship between Washington and Beijing on economic issues is for the moment a manageable tiff rather than all-out conflict, the FT reports.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/3ee4dfa0-55a6-11e1-9d95-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss#axzz1mKKYs6or

Apple: labour group began Foxconn inspections
Apple said the Fair Labor Association began auditing supplier Foxconn Technology Group’s plants in China, the first inspections in an effort to respond to criticism of conditions for workers making its gadgets, Bloomberg reports.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-13/apple-says-fair-labor-association-will-inspect-suppliers-including-foxconn.html

Netanyahu blames Iran for India, Georgia car-bomb attacks
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to “act methodically” against Iran-backed terrorism, which he blamed for car-bomb attacks on diplomatic targets in India and Georgia, Bloomberg reports.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-13/netanyahu-blames-iran-backed-terrorism-for-india-georgia-car-bomb-attacks.html

US envoy to meet North Korean aides in first talks since Kim died
A U.S. delegation will meet with North Korea over its nuclear program on Feb. 23 in Beijing in the first such talks since the death of dictator Kim Jong Il and the succession of his son Kim Jong Un, Bloomberg reports.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-14/u-s-envoy-davies-to-meet-north-korean-aides-in-first-talks-since-kim-died.html

Iraq blocks Exxon license bid
US energy giant Exxon Mobil will be barred from Iraq’s fourth oil- and gas-licensing auction because of the deals it struck with the country’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, a spokesman for Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Hussein al-Shahristani said Monday, the WSJ reports.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204795304577220572807271132.html

BHP, Rio up copper output by over $4bn
BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, two of the world’s biggest mining companies, Tuesday laid out plans to invest more than $4bn beefing up their copper output, the WSJ reports.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204883304577221840642891260.html

Bahrain erupts before protest anniversary
Riot police clashed with protesters across Bahrain on Monday, the eve of the first anniversary of the country’s pro-democracy uprising, in some of the worst violence seen there for months, the WSJ reports.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204062704577221083414153346.html?mod=WSJ_World_LEFTSecondNews

Emerging Markets
MSCI Emerging Market Index down -0.21% at 1,051

Americas
DJIA up +0.57% at 12,874
S&P 500 up +0.68% at 1,352
Bovespa up +2.65% at 65,692

Asia
Nikkei 225 up +0.50% at 9,045
Topix up +0.60% at 786.35
Hang Seng down 0.00% at 20,887
Shanghai Composite down -0.58% at 2,338
MSCI Asia ex-Japan down -0.29% at 520.45
S&P CNX Nifty Index up +0.34% at 5,409

Currencies
€/$ 1.32 (1.32)
$/¥ 77.86 (77.54)

Commodities
Brent Crude (ICE) down -0.73 at 117.20
Light Crude (Nymex) down -0.40 at 100.51
100 Oz Gold (Comex) down -5.50 at 1,718