Disclaimer: This post will likely be obsolete by the time I finish it. Aack!

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Washington Crisis Meetings: IMF presses Four-Step Plan; Paulson confirms plan to buy bank stakes; Dow has worst week in 112 years

• IMF Proposal:
• Some explicit guarantee of financial system liabilities is unavoidable
• High degree of international cooperation has become urgent
• Could boost legitimacy by extending G-8 to at least China, India, Brazil

Treasury Secretary Paulson said the administration is developing a "standardised program" that would allow the US government to purchase equity in "a broad array of financial institutions."



IMF head hails global coordination to fight financial crisis

WASHINGTON (AFP) — IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn hailed the first global coordination to tackle the financial crisis on Saturday, saying all 185 members of the institution had signed up to an action plan.

"It is so important that the first coordination took place today in the IMFC when emerging market economies and low-income countries agreed with the principles and actions decided by the G7 yesterday," he told reporters.

The IMFC is the policy-making body of the 185-member IMF, which held a meeting of finance ministers and central bankers on Saturday.



Time is running out for a rescue

For a time on Friday it seemed as though the end of financial civilisation was upon us. After huge falls in Asia, Europe and London, it appeared that Wall Street – which started the panic with a huge slide in the last hour of trading on Thursday – was falling off a cliff.

The first few minutes of trading on Friday morning continued Thursday’s dive, but Wall Street later came back from the edge, and by the time New York’s traders left for the bars or the suburbs, a degree of calm had returned. A day of volatility had shattered nerves but left shares a “modest” 1.5% down.

Nobody, however, believes the crisis is over. This weekend finance ministers and central bankers are trying frantically to prop up the system before the markets open. The week will not be a normal one, with Wall Street and Tokyo closed for public holidays tomorrow. That, however, will not provide an excuse for delay.



IMF in global 'meltdown' warning

The world financial system is teetering on the "brink of systemic meltdown", the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned in Washington.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn said rich nations had so far failed to restore confidence, but he endorsed a new action plan by the G7 group.

He also said the IMF was ready to lend to countries in dire need of capital.

Mr Strauss-Kahn spoke after talks with US President George W Bush, G7 finance ministers and the World Bank.
...
Speaking in Washington on Saturday, Mr Strauss-Kahn said: "Intensifying solvency concerns about a number of the largest US-based and European financial institutions have pushed the global financial system to the brink of systemic meltdown."

He later told a news conference: "The first co-ordination between advanced countries and the rest of the world is now on track."



Europeans leave US meetings early for crisis summit

WASHINGTON: Top European finance officials brought forward their flights to Europe from weekend meetings in Washington in order to attend an emergency leaders' summit in Paris. European Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet, French Economy Minister Christine Lagarde and Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the Eurogroup countries sharing the euro, were among the officials due to fly back on Saturday, earlier than scheduled.

Leaders from the 15-strong euro zone group of countries are due to meet on Sunday in Paris to work on measures to stem panic that has swept global financial markets.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking after meeting in France on Saturday, said they had "prepared a certain number of decisions" to present at Sunday's summit. Trichet was due to return to the United States on Monday for previously arranged speaking commitments, a European official said.



Italy to push for broader G7 membership

WASHINGTON, Oct 11 (Reuters) - Italy will push for broadening membership in the Group of Seven when it takes over leading the rich nations' club next year, Italian Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti pledged on Saturday.

Tremonti said he also wanted to see new and more varied tasks assigned to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to try to smooth the operation of the global economy.
...
"We propose to go beyond the G7 framework to adopt a larger structure," he said. He did not suggest which or how many new countries should enter the exclusive rich nations group, saying that for now he was calling it the GX.



BOJ injects record ¥4.5 trillion


The Bank of Japan injected ¥4.5 trillion into the Tokyo money market Friday, the biggest-ever amount in a single-day operation.

The injection of liquidity marked the 18th straight business day of emergency operations by the BOJ in an effort to facilitate interbank borrowing amid financial market turmoil.

The BOJ funneled the funds in three separate operations. The repayment date was set for next Tuesday.



Fannie, Freddie to Buy $40 Billion a Month of Troubled Assets

Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Federal regulators directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to start purchasing $40 billion a month of underperforming mortgage bonds as the Bush administration expands its options to buy troubled financial assets and resuscitate the U.S. economy, according to three people briefed about the plan.

Fannie and Freddie began notifying bond traders last week that each company needs to buy $20 billion a month in mostly subprime, Alt-A and non-performing prime mortgage securities, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are confidential. The purchases would be separate from the U.S. Treasury's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.




Lehman Brothers demise triggers huge default

Lehman Brothers, the bust investment bank, triggered one of the biggest corporate debt defaults in history yesterday as it emerged that the US Federal Reserve is harbouring grave concerns about whether Washington’s $700 billion (£413 billion) bailout fund will avert a financial meltdown.

An auction of Lehman’s bonds yesterday determined that the bank’s borrowings were worth only 8.625 cents on the dollar. The valuation leaves the insurers of the debt a bill of about $365 billion. It is not clear whether the insurers, which are required to settle the bill in the next two weeks, will be able to pay – a development that could further undermine increasingly stressed capital markets.




Financial crisis: World leaders pledge to part-nationalise swathes of global banking

World leaders have pledged to part-nationalise swathes of the global banking system as part of a drastic international plan to halt the panic gripping financial markets and prevent the crisis from descending into a global depression.

Finance ministers from the Group of Seven leading world economies, including the UK and US, said they stood ready to pump public money into banks in order to prevent them from collapse.

The agreement came as Chancellor Alistair Darling admitted that the UK was facing "turbulence the like of which we have never seen" after markets ended their worst week in history, with shares having fallen by more than a fifth on all leading stock exchanges.

The G7 presented a five-point "Plan of Action" to arrest the turmoil, including, most significantly a promise to "ensure that our banks…can raise capital from public and well as private sources, in sufficient amounts to re-establish confidence and permit them to continue lending to households and businesses."

It leaves the G7 – which also includes Japan, France, Italy and Canada – open to start buying bank shares with taxpayers' cash.
...
The G7 statement, which was among the most eagerly awaited in recent history, said: "[We agree] today that the current situation calls for urgent and exceptional action."
...
Mr King said: "Central banks will work together as we demonstrated this week, to ensure sufficient short term liquidity is provided to stabilise banking systems. But it is also vital that governments work together to ensure their banking systems are recapitalised to enable them to lend to finance spending in the real economy."



GM, Chrysler in merger talks: Report

WASHINGTON: General Motors is in preliminary talks about a possible merger with fellow U.S. automaker Chrysler, The New York Times reported late on Friday.

The talks between GM and Cerberus Capital Management, the private equity firm that owns Chrysler, began more than a month ago and are not certain to produce a deal, the paper said.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday night that the merger talks had been suspended because of financial market turmoil.



Morgan Stanley, Goldman May Gain Investment From U.S. Treasury

Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the biggest independent U.S. investment banks, may reap cash infusions as part of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's plan to buy stakes in financial institutions, investors said.

Paulson, in a statement yesterday, said the U.S. will purchase equity in a ``broad array'' of banks and other financial firms to restore market stability and ensure economic growth. The Treasury is working on a ``standardized program that is open to a broad array of financial institutions,'' he said.

Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer John Mack, 63, and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, 54, failed to regain investor confidence by converting their firms into bank holding companies last month and raising new capital from private investors. Morgan Stanley's stock dropped almost 60 percent this week, while Goldman's fell 29 percent.

[I don't know about Morgan Stanley, but I'm sure that Goldman Sachs will.--Amanda]




Japan in desperate effort to halt its own downward economic spiral

Japan's prime minister has offered to host an emergency Group of Eight summit in a bid to stem the downward spiral of the world's worst economic crisis in financial history.

With its $5 trillion economy and store of cash rich banks, Japan had initially appeared comparatively unscathed from the credit crisis swiftly gathering pace across the United States and Europe.

However, last week marked a bleak turning point for Japan. On Friday, the nation's benchmark Nikkei nose-dived nearly 10 per cent to its lowest point since Black Monday in October 1987.




Russia approves $86bn bank rescue

Russia's lower house of parliament, the Duma, has approved a raft of measures worth $86bn (£51bn) to assist banks hit by the credit freeze.

The government will make $50bn available to banks and firms that need to refinance foreign debt. The rest will be available as loans to banks.

The package is designed to restore confidence in Russian banks and revive shares, which have seen steep falls.

Trade on Russian stock exchanges has been suspended since Wednesday.




Joerg Haider, Austria's far-right leader, dies in car crash

Austrian far right leader, Joerg Haider, was killed in a car crash early this morning just weeks after making a major comeback in national elections last month.

Police said Haider's car skidded out of control as he tried to overtake another vehicle near the southern Austrian city of Klagenfurt. His car crashed into a concrete traffic barrier before rolling over several times. He suffered severe injuries to his head and chest and was pronounced dead in hospital a short while later. An initial investigation into the accident revealed no signs of foul play.

Haider, 58, who was governor of Carinthia province, drew international condemnation for his right wing rhetoric and staunchly anti-immigrant stance. He also caused controversy by seeming to harbour Nazi sympathies after citing the “proper labour policies” of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich.




Somali pirates attack two more ships in Indian Ocean

The piracy crisis that threatens to cripple vital shipping lines through the Indian Ocean has claimed fresh victims as Somali bandits attacked two more ships.

Gun-toting buccaneers were reported to have stormed a chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia's northern coast, while another group tried to seize a United Nations World Food Programme ship off the coast of the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

The attacks, disclosed by the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre, bring the number of hijacks and attempted hijacks off the Somali coast to 69 this year alone.



Three lightly hurt in renewed Arab-Jewish clashes in Acre

Clashes between the Jewish and Arab residents of Acre renewed Saturday evening despite the attempts of community leaders to quell the flames, Channel 2 reported.

Three people were lightly wounded in Saturday evening's round of violence and taken to hospital. Large police forces were on the scene and both Jews and Arabs were throwing rocks not only at each other but also at the police officers attempting to restore the order.

On Harav Lopez street, an Arab family's house was set ablaze. No casualties were reported in the incident but the house sustained serious damage.



New rebels attack DR Congo town

A new rebel group is threatening the key town of Bunia in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Firing on the outskirts of the town led to a stampede as local people left and shut shops hurriedly, according to the BBC's Thomas Fessy, in Kinshasa.

Bunia is the capital of Ituri province and an important base for United Nations peacekeepers.
It was also the scene of bloody fighting before a 2006 ceasefire led to a peace deal.

The new rebel coalition, the Popular Front for Justice in Congo - known by its French acronym, FPJC, had earlier taken a village close to Bunia, killing soldiers and sending thousands fleeing for their lives into the bush.





Personal details of 100,000 pensioners lost by private firm

A laptop containing data on 100,000 pensioners has been lost by an employee of the accountancy firm Deloitte.

The computer, which contained pensioners' names and National Insurance numbers was in a handbag which was stolen.

The loss of the information on the laptop could leave the pensioners vulnerable to ID fraudsters.

However Deloitte said the machine was protected by security measures, and there was only a "very, very low" risk of anyone being able to access the data.




U.K. reports new data loss for 100,000 military staff

LONDON: A computer disk that reportedly carries personal details on about 100,000 serving British military personnel is missing, the Defense Ministry said Friday.

The military confirmed a report in The Sun newspaper that the contractor EDS had lost track of a portable hard drive, but said that it could not comment on the claim that the disk contained names, addresses, passport numbers and driver's license information of service personnel along with data on 600,000 potential recruits.

"We don't know what's on it, and we don't even know if there's anything on it," a defense spokesman said on condition of anonymity, in line with military policy.




Chechnya Prepares For Pre-Term, And Pre-Determined, Parliamentary Elections

On October 12, Chechens will go to the polls to elect a new one-chamber parliament. There is little doubt that the pro-Kremlin Unified Russia party will win a majority, if not all, of the 41 mandates, primarily because many voters are afraid to register opposition to republic head Ramzan Kadyrov, who heads the Unified Russia party list of 61 candidates.

In keeping with Kadyrov's insistence on authoritarian micromanagement, the election campaign has been stage-managed down to the smallest detail to create the semblance of a democratic process while leaving nothing to chance -- or to the preferences of the electorate.




Peru rebels launch deadly ambush

Twelve soldiers and seven civilians have been killed in a bomb attack by rebels in a remote coca-growing region of south-east Peru, the military said.

A military convoy was returning to base when a device hidden under one of the vehicles exploded. The survivors were then caught up in a gun battle.

The armed forces blame the Shining Path group, which wrought havoc in Peru during the 1980s and early 1990s.

It is the worst attack in a decade by the Maoist-inspired organisation.




Christians fleeing Mosul after targeted killings

BAGHDAD: Hundreds of Christians are fleeing Mosul after a string of killings that appear to be singling out the minority group in the northern city, where many had sought refuge from persecution in other parts of Iraq.

Since late September, at least 11 and perhaps as many as 14 Christians have been killed in Mosul, according to government officials and humanitarian groups. The victims include a doctor, an engineer, two builders, two businessmen and a 15-year-old boy, who was gunned down in front of his home. In some cases, there have been two or three killings on the same day.

A pharmacist was killed Friday by a man who pretended to be an undercover police officer and asked for the pharmacist's identification card, said Khisroo Koran, deputy governor of Nineveh Province, of which Mosul is the capital.

The attacks coincide with an angry dispute over the Iraqi Parliament's decision to drop a provision of the provincial elections law that ensured political representation for Christians and other minorities, before passing the legislation on Sept. 24. To protest Parliament's action, Christians held demonstrations in Nineveh Province - where about 250,000 Christians live, about 50,000 of them in Mosul - and in Baghdad.

[Mosul is the modern city at the site of ancient Ninevah.]




Turkish Warplanes Hit Suspected PKK In Northern Iraq

ANKARA (Reuters) -- Turkish fighter jets have bombed suspected Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, the military said.

The military has stepped up its operations against the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in southeast Turkey and across the border in northern Iraq after a series of deadly attacks by the separatists on Turkish soldiers.

"A large group of terrorists were detected while trying to sneak into Turkey last night through the border in northern Iraq. Most of them were eliminated with the assistance of the air force," the Turkish General Staff said in a statement on October 10.




Syria 'boosts troops on border'

Syria has reportedly moved more troops to its side of the eastern Lebanese border, weeks after boosting numbers along Lebanon's northern frontier.

Reports said the troops had dug trenches and set up checkpoints in the northern Bekaa valley region.

The Syrian authorities have not commented on the latest deployment.




Japan minister regrets N.Korea delisting: Kyodo

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's finance minister called the United States' removal of North Korea from its terrorism blacklist as "extremely regrettable" and families of Japanese seized by Pyongyang expressed outrage and sorrow over the move, Kyodo news agency reported.
...
Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa called the U.S. decision "extremely regrettable" and said he doubted that Washington had consulted its ally Japan about the move in advance, Kyodo said.

"I believe abductions amount to terrorist acts. I talked with the Yokotas over the phone a while ago and they were very shocked," Nakagawa told reporters in Washington, referring to the parents of perhaps the best-known abductee, Megumi Yokota.



Cargo ship smashed in half on rocks in Gibraltar--Pictures

The crew of a cargo ship were plucked to safety as their 35,000 tonne vessel snapped in half after smashing against rocks in the Strait of Gilbraltar.

The Liberian-registered Fedra had been dragging her anchor in a force 8 gale on Friday afternoon.

Despite earlier efforts of two tug boats to hold the ship clear of land its anchor broke and the stern of the vessel smashed against rocks at Europa Point - Europe's most southerly spot.




31st General Assembly of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO Dubai 2008) opens

Under the patronage of H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, the 31st General Assembly of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) opens today at Grand Hyatt Dubai.

The five-day ISO Dubai 2008, held in Dubai and the Middle East for the first time since ISO’s inception in 1947, is hosted by the Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (ESMA), and attended by more than 500 delegates from 157 ISO member countries.



The dirty secrets behind Dubai’s glitzy veneer

But do I actually want to spend any time in the emirate? I think not. Having a holiday in Dubai is beginning to look as politically unaware as going on safari in apartheid South Africa or taking a cruise down the Irrawaddy in military junta-run Burma.

Even the World Trade Organisation, not a body generally given to elevating human rights over wealth creation, has harsh words for Dubai: "The situation of migrant workers, which constitute about 95% of the private sector workforce, is particularly worrisome since they may be excluded from the scope of labour law, as in the case of domestic workers, and face the risk of deportation when claiming their rights. Abuses committed against migrant workers include non-payment of wages, extended working hours without overtime compensation, unsafe working environments resulting in death and injury, and withholding of passports and travel documents by employers."

Human Rights Watch's 2006 report - Building Towers, Cheating Workers - said that behind the glitter and luxury, the experiences of these migrant workers present a much less attractive picture of "wage exploitation, indebtedness to unscrupulous recruiters, and working conditions that are hazardous to the point of being deadly".