(Reuters) – Developing nations must be ready for a severe global financial crisis should the euro zone fail to cope with its current problems, outgoing World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said in an interview published online on Saturday.
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Comments »Cairo (CNN) — On the eve of a presidential runoff election, Egypt’s military council formally dissolved parliament Friday, in line with a ruling from the nation’s top court that declared the legislative body invalid.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces — the military rulers in control of the country since the fall of Hosni Mubarak — officially informed parliament that it was dissolved, said Maj. Mohamed Askar, a spokesman for the council.
He said there was no notice to lawmakers denying them access but a report posted on the English website of Al-Ahram newspaper said entry was barred.
The military council, known by its acronym SCAF, claimed full legislative power after the High Constitutional Court’s ruling Thursday that the constitutional articles that regulated parliamentary elections were invalid.
Gen. Hussein Tantawi, the head of SCAF and Egypt’s de facto ruler, was in an emergency meeting with the council Friday to discuss the drafting of a new constitution. The council is widely expected to issue its own interim constitutional charter.
The court’s ruling triggered fears that Egypt’s revolution will unravel and Cairo braced for angry protests Friday night. By evening, however, the capital was surprisingly quiet though a few protesters chanted in the streets calling for a boycott of the voting that begins Saturday.
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Comments »“Hedge-fund manager Paul Sinclair is the latest casualty of Europe’s sovereign-debt turmoil, almost six thousand miles away from the epicenter of the crisis.
Sinclair, who is based in Los Angeles, is liquidating his $458 million health-care equities fund,Expo Capital Management LLC, after more than five years, as political decisions made on the other side of the globe have undermined his stock picks and spurred losses for a second year.”
Comments »This graphic is based on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal best seller This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly by Carmen M. Reinhart & Kenneth S. Rogoff. Using data developed by Reinhart and Rogoff, it maps the cyclical history of financial crisis from 1810 to 2010 for sixty-six countries representing 90% of world GDP.
See the graphic here.
Comments »Moody’s downgrades Spain to BAA3 from A3
Comments »“Greek deposit outflows have accelerated before this weekend’s elections, two bankers familiar with the situation said, on concern the nation may move closer to abandoning the euro.
Daily withdrawals have increased to the upper end of a 100 million-euro ($125 million) to 500 million-euro range this month, one banker said, asking not to be identified because the figures aren’t public. A second banker said the drawdown may have exceeded 700 million euros yesterday. An official for the Bank of Greece (TELL), the Athens-based central bank, declined to comment.”
Comments »Spain and Italy need a full-scale bailout from the European Union because of their high levels of government debt and the credit quality of their banks, and will likely seek help within the next 6 months, according to Sean Egan, Founding Partner and President of Egan-Jones, an independent ratings agency.
Comments »VIENNA/ROME (Reuters) – Raising the stakes in Europe’s debt crisis, Austria’s finance minister said Italy may need a financial rescue because of its high borrowing costs, drawing a sharp denial on Tuesday from the Italian prime minister.
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Comments »The head of the U.S. Postal Service said Tuesday that they could become toast with a layer of Greece on top…
Comments »“WASHINGTON (AP) – The Obama administration said Tuesday that Russia is sending attack helicopters to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime and warned that the Arab country’s 15-month conflict could become even deadlier.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. was “concerned about the latest information we have that there are attack helicopters on the way from Russia to Syria.”
Comments »“I almost fell off the barstool when I read that it was Bain Capital (Mitt Romney, former CEO), that told oil giant BP it was a good idea to cut costs. The cuts would lead to death, mayhem and the destruction of the Gulf Coast (not to mention BP’s poisoning of Alaska, Africa, Central Asia and Colombia).
In 2007, after BP’s criminal negligence and penny-pinching led to the explosion at the BP oil refinery on the Gulf Coast, in Texas City, Texas, the company brought in industry pooh-bah James Baker, their lawyer and former Secretary of State, to write a report. Baker is Big Oil’s BFF, but in this case, he was horrified, and told BP to get its act together and spend some real money on operating safety.”
Comments »[youtube://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5jNK0IKdfg 450 300]
Comments »Gotta get good grades and get a high paying job to pay off that student debt….
Comments »Missed this very important read this morning. It is a wonder why the markets are not afraid. Qehopium ?
Comments »“Christine Largarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, has warned that the world risks a triple crisis of declining incomes, environmental damage and social unrest unless countries adopt a more sustainable approach to economic growth.
Ahead of the Rio+20 Earth summit later this month, she said the rich should restrain their demands for higher incomes while there are still 200 million people worldwide looking for a job and poverty is on the rise.
Giving her clearest backing yet to green taxes and a range of measures to protect the environment, she argued for taxes on petrol-guzzling cars among a range of green measures to tackle climate change.”
Comments »A Republican senator challenged the Pentagon on Monday over its contract with a Russian export firm that is “arming the Assad regime” in Syria, calling for an audit of the contract amid fresh warnings about a new wave of Syrian violence.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, expressed “grave concerns” about the contract in a letter Monday to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. He was referring to an Army contract with Russian firm Rosoboronexport for Mi-17 helicopters to equip the Afghan military.
Cornyn wrote that the Defense Department awarded a no-bid contract to the company last June, though he was told months later by the Pentagon that the firm “continues to supply weapons and ammunition” to the regime of Bashar al-Assad.
“I remain deeply troubled that the (Defense Department) would knowingly do business with a firm that has enabled mass atrocities in Syria,” Cornyn wrote, suggesting sanctions against Rosoboronexport would be more appropriate than a contract.
A Pentagon spokeswoman, though, defended the contract.
Spokeswoman Tara Rigler said in an email to FoxNews.com that it is “the only legal method to purchase the military version of the Mi-17 and to provide an appropriate measure of flight safety and airworthiness.”
“As we have noted before, these aircraft remain crucial to the development of Afghanistan’s Air Force capability and therefore important to our mission of ensuring that Afghan forces can ultimately defend their own sovereignty,” Rigler said.
She said Panetta has received Cornyn’s letter and would respond to the senator “promptly” about his concerns.
On Monday, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin also defended his country’s arms sales to Syria.
“Under no circumstances can the arms supplied to Syria be used against the civilian population,” Rogozin was quoted as saying by the ITAR-Tass news agency.
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Comments »“As few details on the Spanish bank bailout. The only information released is the amount – Euro 100B. This is a nice round number.
Last week the IMF suggested that Euro 40B might be the right number. Now we get a deal for 2+Xs that. I think this was orchestrated to leave the markets with the impression that massive firepower has been garnered, and therefore the problem is now contained. Rubbish. “
