Free trade deal approves with US & S. Korea

Free trade deal approves with US & S. Korea ..
An opposition lawmaker with the Democratic Party tries to stop a lawmaker of the ruling Grand National Party and committee's chairman, to approve South Korea's free trade deal with the United States ..

South Korean lawmakers approve a free trade deal with the US, signed two years ago, paving the way for the assembly to vote on the pact this month.

The ruling Grand National Party (GNP) members physically fought off opposition lawmakers, trying to stop the proceedings held on Wednesday.

However, the deal which includes more favorable provisions for US automakers and other manufacturers was finally accepted.

Based on this agreement the USD 78 billion annual bilateral trade between the two countries will increase by as much as a quarter.

Earlier reports suggested that South Korea's ruling conservative GNP and a majority of the public would support the agreement.

World trade drop hits Hong Kong shipping

The whole shipping market starts to unravel
Ships travel to and from the manufacturing and trading hubs of southern China through the Lamma channel, and it is still busy.

But the ships once sitting heavily in the water, loftily loaded with containers, are now visibly higher in the water.

There is less cargo moving around the world, so less need for ships. Hence, dramatically lower rates for hiring large ships, and so a growing crisis in world shipping.

As the China boom deflates, demand for steel, iron ore and other bulk items from around the world diminishes, leaving bulk carrying ships all dressed up with nowhere to go.

"If you sit in one of the glamorous bars on the south side of Hong Kong, especially in the evening, you will see the lights of lots of ships," says Tim Huxley, chief executive of Wah Kwong Shipping, one of Hong Kong's largest ship-owners.

"Those ships are sitting there, waiting," he says.