Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Asian stocks declined, a day after the region's benchmark index rallied the most in a decade, as concern earnings will deteriorate overshadowed a $2 trillion global bank rescue.
Posco, Asia's third-largest steelmaker, plunged 8.5 percent in Seoul after saying demand will fall this quarter, while BHP Billiton Ltd. lost 4.2 percent as oil dropped. Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd., Japan's third-biggest shipping line operator by sales, tumbled 6.8 percent after freight rates slumped to a three-year low. China Construction Bank Corp. fell 6.7 percent in Hong Kong after Citigroup Inc. said Chinese lenders' profits may decline in 2009 as bad loans rise.
"Markets are still on a downward phase,'' Masahiko Ejiri, who helps manage about $30 billion at Mizuho Asset Management Co., said in Tokyo. "Many are anticipating weaknesses in economies. We have to have some kind of evidence that the financial rescue plan is working.''
Merrill bets on Asian property with $2.65 bil fund
HONG KONG — Merrill Lynch & Co. announced Tuesday it has raised $2.65 billion to invest in Asian real estate, betting that cooling property markets will rebound despite slowing regional economies and global financial turmoil.
The fund will focus primarily on Japan, China, South Korea and India, with Australia and Southeast Asia of secondary consideration, the U.S. bank said in a statement.
It represents Merrill’s first fund dedicated to real estate investment in Asia.
Bernanke says U.S. economy faces big threat
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday gave a dour assessment of the U.S. economy, emphasizing a "significant threat" from turmoil in credit markets in remarks that suggested more interest-rate cuts could be coming.
Bernanke said it will take some time to restore normal credit flows and pledged the U.S. central bank would continue to act aggressively to fight the crisis. Importantly, he said inflation risks were ebbing, which suggests Fed officials see latitude to lower borrowing costs further.
Brown calls for "new Bretton Woods"
Brussels - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Wednesday joined French President Nicolas Sarkozy in calling for 'a new Bretton Woods' to better regulate global financial markets and avoid future credit crunches.
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Brown's proposals included placing the world's top 30 companies - among them 'some of the biggest financial institutions' - under international supervision, and the creation of 'an early warning system' designed to prevent future financial crises from spreading.
The premier also called for a global summit to discuss the new Bretton Woods, as well as improved transparency and coordination.
'Instead of having national supervisors, we need a global way of supervising our financial system,' Brown said.
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In Paris, eurozone leaders also agreed to set up a financial crisis management unit tasked with sharing out sensitive financial information among the eurozone's key players and to come up with a rapid, common response.
The unit would comprise governments, the EU presidency, the heads of the European Central Bank and of the European Commission, and the chairman of the eurogroup, Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker.
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Finally, EU leaders were set to call for a curb on managers' salaries and on the need to work with their international partners on 'a real and comprehensive reform of the international financial system.'
Such a system should be based on the principles of 'transparency, banking soundness, responsibility, integrity and global governance.'
EU leaders weigh overhaul of Western financial foundations
BRUSSELS: Shaken by the financial meltdown and plunging markets, leaders of the world's economic powers said Wednesday that they favored an ambitious campaign to revamp the structures that have governed global finance for more than 60 years.
Officials from Britain, France and Germany, meeting before a summit meeting here of European Union leaders, said they approved of convening a conference in November or December aimed at revising the system put in place toward the end of the World War II.
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The EU meeting Wednesday was dominated by the fallout from the banking crisis and by fears of a recession. One consequence of that concern was a growing threat to Europe's ambitious plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2020.
Poland led a rebellion by a group of nations threatening to block the conclusions of the meeting unless there was an agreement to abandon the December deadline for reaching an accord on a climate-change package. Eight East European nations want the EU to ease targets for greenhouse-gas cuts because of the economic crisis. Italy has also aired concerns, calling for an impact study of the effects on the real economy.
Gordon Brown wants to rewrite the rules of capitalism
Gordon Brown has called for the most ambitious reform of the world economic order since the Second World War in order to prevent a repeat of the current global financial crisis.
The Prime Minister wants dozens of world leaders to meet for a major one-off summit where they would rewrite the rules of international capitalism that have stood since 1944.
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He said: "We now have global financial markets, global corporations, global financial flows. But what we do not have is anything other than national and regional regulation and supervision."
The Prime Minister has won considerable international kudos for his £37 billion recapitalistion of Britain's banks, a measure that has been followed by both US and European leaders.
He now wants to use that political capital to create a new system of international financial regulation, led by a reformed and enlarged IMF. "We need a global way of supervising our financial system."
U.S. Stocks Drop Most Since Crash of 1987 on Recession Concerns
Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks plunged the most since the crash of 1987, hammered by the biggest drop in retail sales in three years and growing doubt that plans to bail out banks will keep the economic slump from deepening.
Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. tumbled more than 12 percent as oil fell below $75 a barrel on concern the slowing economy will hurt demand. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. retreated 8 percent after the Commerce Department said purchases at chain stores decreased 1.2 percent last month. Morgan Stanley lost 16 percent after Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Meredith Whitney said the government's bank rescue is not a ``panacea'' solution.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index sank 90.17 points, or 9 percent, to 907.84, with nine companies declining more than 20 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated 733.08, or 7.9 percent, to 8,577.91, its second-biggest point drop ever. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 150.68, or 8.5 percent, to 1,628.33. About 37 stocks fell for each that rose on the New York Stock Exchange.
World Stocks Down Again; US Retail Sales Drop
Wall Street followed Europe and most Asian exchanges in losing ground on Wednesday. In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down more than 300 points, or three percent, early in the day. London's FTSE 100 index, the DAX in Frankfurt and the CAC 40 in Paris were all down more than five percent in afternoon trading.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei index gained 100 points, or more than one percent, but Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped almost five percent (835 points).
A report that U.S. retail sales plunged in September accented global concerns that the United States is either moving toward a recession or already in one. The Commerce Department said Wednesday retail sales dropped by 1.2 percent last month. It was the biggest decline in three years, and almost double what experts were expecting. Consumer spending is two-thirds of the total U.S. economic activity.
BRUSSELS, Oct 15 (Reuters) - France, Britain and Germany led calls on Wednesday for an overhaul of the world's financial system aimed at preventing a repeat of the worst credit crisis since the Great Depression while markets slumped again.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy told an EU summit that a "new form of capitalism" was needed, as European fears grew that the U.S. subprime debacle could plunge the global economy into recession despite unprecedented rescues of banking giants.
His proposal for talks on reforms to financial architecture won acceptance from the United States, Japan and Russia, which put their name to a Group of Eight statement saying a meeting could be held "at an appropriate time in the near future".
World sharemarkets tumble as recession fears deepen
Stock markets in America and Europe slumped overnight as investors concentrated on weak economic figures and lacked confidence in government bailouts of the financial system to avoid a deep recession.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed down nearly 8%, to finish at 8,577.91. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index tumbled 90.23 points or 9% to close at 906.98, whilst the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 8.47% or 150.68 points, to 1628.33.
The FTSE 100 index closed 314.62 points lower at 4079.59 (7.16% down), Germany’s Dax lost 337.56 points at 4861.63 points (6.49% down) and France’s Cac shed 247.45 points at 3381.07 (6.82% down).
Earlier, Asian markets were mixed with Japan up and other markets down. Japan's Nikkei 225 index ended up 1.1% at 9547.47 points after big gains the previous day. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index closed down 834.58 points, or 5% at 15,998, and India's main index slid 6%, falling below 11,000 points.
Ukraine seeks IMF assistance amid economic crisis
KIEV, Ukraine: Ukrainian authorities pumped more money into the shaken banking sector as they prepared for talks with the International Monetary Fund about getting help with the country's financial troubles.
Worried Ukrainians continued to pull money from banks, but government rescue measures appeared to have slowed the withdrawals and experts were optimistic that the country would weather the difficulties.
The government, which is also in the midst of an escalating political crisis, is struggling to support the hryvna currency in the face of the world financial meltdown, as investor money flees emerging markets and orders fall for the country's chief export commodity, steel.
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Globe: 'Hey kids! Let's scrap the Constitution and make Obama President right away!'
Few things in life surprise me at my age. Perhaps a win by the Chicago Cubs in the World Series would get a mild eyebrow raise but beyond that, not much.
Until I read this piece in the Boston Globe. The more I read, the more my jaw kept dropping until by the time I was finished, my lower mandible had hit the floor and begun to dig. This is beyond incredible, beyond amazing, beyond stupid:
Obama's Abortion Extremism
Barack Obama is the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to seek the office of President of the United States. He is the most extreme pro-abortion member of the United States Senate. Indeed, he is the most extreme pro-abortion legislator ever to serve in either house of the United States Congress.
Yet there are Catholics and Evangelicals-even self-identified pro-life Catholics and Evangelicals - who aggressively promote Obama's candidacy and even declare him the preferred candidate from the pro-life point of view.
What is going on here?
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Africa: 100 Million People Risk Starvation, Says World Bank
The prevalent global financial crisis that has pushed up the cost of food items around the world may force over 100 million people especially in developing countries into starvation, a World Bank report has said.
National President of the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives, Alhaji Lawal Hussaini Dutsinma said this in Minna, Niger state, quoting from a recent World Bank report on the global food crisis and its impact on developing countries.
Tribunal urged for Kenya violence
An international tribunal should be set up in Kenya to try those implicated in clashes after December's disputed poll, an inquiry into the violence says.
The commission found that in some areas, the violence was planned and organised with the support of politicians and businessmen.
It said if no tribunal was formed a sealed list of those responsible would go to the International Criminal Court.
More than 1,500 people were killed and some 300,000 more fled their homes.
Somalia: 10 Somalis Die in Libya's Desert
At least 10 Somalis died in a desert between Libya and Sudan as they were attempting to cross the desert in search of greener pastures in Europe on Tuesday according to survivors.
The tragedy happened after these people have traveled with vehicle from Sudanese capital Khartoum to Libya, but unfortunately the vehicle has had technical faults that caused them to stay in nights t desert areas till their logistics has run out.
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Food warehouse infested with rats and pigeons
FOOD warehouse was forced to close after it became infested with pigeons and rats.I ts owners were served with a hygiene emergency prohibition order after animal droppings and urine were found at warehouse in Barking.
Stockholm: Rat capital of Europe?
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Rising global temperatures may be contributing to an increase in rat populations in Swedish cities.
Hakan Kjellberg of the commercial pest control firm Anticimex said Stockholm's rats also benefit from a scattershot approach to the infestation, The Local reported.
2 Killed on Thai-Cambodian Border
BANGKOK — Thai and Cambodian soldiers exchanged rocket and rifle fire for about an hour on Wednesday in a confrontation at their border over a disputed 900-year-old mountaintop temple, according to reports from the area. At least two Cambodian soldiers were killed, the Cambodian foreign minister said.
Several hundred soldiers from both sides have faced each other at the border since July, when Unesco, the United Nations agency, approved Cambodia’s request to have the temple named a World Heritage Site.
Georgia-Russia talks move fails
Georgia and Russia have blamed each other after an effort to bring them together in Geneva for talks about their war over South Ossetia failed.
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"The Russians and the Georgians were not in a formal meeting at the same time, they weren't in the same room at the same time," US Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Daniel Fried told reporters after the talks move failed.
Convicted Lockerbie bomber wins legal victory
LONDON (AP) - The former Libyan intelligence agent convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland in 1988 won an important victory Wednesday in his long-running battle to have his conviction overturned.
Judge Arthur Hamilton ruled that Abdel Basset Ali Mohmed al-Megrahi can make a wide-ranging appeal against his conviction. Prosecutors had wanted an
appeal to focus on fewer points.
Labor: We achieved 100% of our goals
It took 18-and-a-half hours of nonstop negotiations, but Kadima and Labor representatives managed to complete a new coalition deal minutes before Succot began on Monday evening.
MK Tzahi Hanegbi of Kadima and former MK Efi Oshaya met at the latter's Tel Aviv office after Sunday night's Kadima council meeting.
They sat down at 10 p.m. and did not get up until 4:30 p.m. the next day, when they initialed the deal.
During that time, Hanegbi often updated Livni. Oshaya said that he never called Barak, but that Barak called him 40 times from the Negev, where he is vacationing with his wife.
Palestinian shot after throwing Molotov dies of wounds
Troops open fire on youth who hurled Molotov cocktail near Ramallah, arrives in hospital in critical condition but succumbs to wounds in late evening hours. On Tuesday a Palestinian teen throwing rocks, Molotovs at Israeli cars in same region was killed.
Key Iraq al-Qaeda leader 'killed'
The US military says al-Qaeda in Iraq's second-in-command has been killed during an operation in the northern city of Mosul.
The military has identified the militant leader as a Moroccan known as Abu Qaswarah or Abu Sara.
A statement said he became the senior commander in northern Iraq in June 2007 and had ties to senior al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The overall head is Abu Ayyub al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir.
The statement said Abu Qaswarah was killed in a raid on 5 October.
Welcome to AqsaTube: Hamas' 'jihad audio-visual' Web site
The Palestinian militant group Hamas has launched its own version of the popular YouTube video sharing Web site.
The Hamas version, AqsaTube, features content ranging from relatively conservative Syrian social drama to videos glorifying Al-Qaida.
The website describes itself as, "the first Palestinian website specializing in Islamic and jihad audio-visual productions."
Gas mask handout delayed to late 2009
Due to budget disputes with the Treasury, the Defense Ministry has been forced to postpone the distribution of gas masks to the public by at least six months to late 2009, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
Last year, the Defense Ministry finished collecting gas masks from the public and in the past few weeks completed refurbishing a majority of the kits. The initial plan, a senior defense official said Wednesday, was to return the masks to the public in January.
"Most of the masks are refurbished and they are sitting and waiting to be returned to the public," the official said. "We initially wanted to return the masks in January but the Treasury did not release the funds and we are still waiting for the budget to be able to hire a civilian company to distribute them."
Iran slams great powers’ talks with Taliban
Iran's Ambassador to the UN Mohammad Khazaee has criticized efforts by certain powers to negotiate with extremist and terrorist groups.
""This move will lead to return of extremism in Afghanistan which will not only fail to resolve the country's problems but intensify insecurity,"" Khazaee said addressing the UN Security Council session on Afghanistan in New York Tuesday.
Jordan hosts exhibition
One of the Middle East’s major exhibitions for hotel equipment, materials and services takes place at the Amman Exhibitions Park in Jordan from October 28 to 30, 2008.
The 8th International Hospitality Forum is to be organised by Jordan’s Events Unlimited and Lebanon’s Hospitality Services. According to Samar Shawareb Ashkar, general manager of Events Unlimited, the Amman exhibition is expected to witness alliances among major companies for the first time, aimed at getting the business generated by the many new hotels in the region, some of which are still under construction.
Franklin CEO Discusses GTL Investment in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina
Franklin Mining, Inc. (PINKSHEETS: FMNJ) (FRANKFURT: FMJ) Chairman and CEO William Petty will release his October 2008 Memo to Shareholders later today.
In today's Memo, Mr. Petty tells shareholders, "Argentina needs local diesel fuel production resources. Tierra del Fuego has an abundant supply of natural gas. Franklin understands GTL technology. And the three combine to make a massive challenge and a great opportunity."
Panama Canal Borrows $2.3B
Agencies from Europe, Asia and Latin America will finance $2.3 billion of the $5.25-billion expansion of the Panama Canal, Panamanian President Martin Torrijos announced Tuesday.
The final financing structure follows months of extensive negotiations, the Panama Canal Authority said in a release.
The financing includes $500 million from the European Investment Bank; $800 million from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation; $400 million from the Inter-American Development Bank; $300 million from the International Finance Corp., and $300 million from the Corporacion Andina de Fomento.
Suez: the supertanker super highway
Wars have been waged for control of this aquatic superhighway, embroiling the former colonial powers of Britain and France as well as Israel. Internationally, the canal guarantees Egypt a key strategic role on the world stage, while domestically it is second only to tourism in economic importance.
The canal brought in revenues of $5.2bn (£3bn) in the year to June 2008, up from $4.2bn the previous year, and those revenues look set to soar: Beltone, an investment bank, recently estimated that they would reach $6.2bn next year on the back of strong global trade, higher fees and increased traffic.
Some 16,000 vessels already pass through the canal each year, carrying an estimated 14% of world shipping and 30% of world oil supplies. Further work is underway to increase the depth of the canal by 2010, opening it up to fully-laden supertankers with a draught of 22m (72ft) against the current 16m (53ft).
Seaway staff reach labour agreement
An agreement has been reached between the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp.' and its 445 unionized employees represented by the Canadian Auto Workers union.
The CAW on Monday night unanimously recommended that the membership ratify the three-year agreement. It came as good news for Richard Corfe, president and CEO of the Seaway after a series of bargaining sessions throughout the holiday weekend.
Bahrain-Iran gas pipeline on way
A NEW pipeline will be built to import natural gas from Iran to Bahrain - doubling the country's gas supplies as it strives to keep pace with development.
The project will go ahead once negotiations between the two countries are complete, Oil and Gas Affairs Minister and National Oil and Gas Authority (Noga) chairman Dr Abdulhussain Mirza told the GDN yesterday.
He said an understanding had been reached that would result in one billion cubic feet of natural gas being piped from Iran to Bahrain.
Bahrain currently produces 1.2bn cubic feet of gas and a final deal with Iran is expected to be signed next year, the minister said.
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