Europe’s finance ministers met in Luxembourg yesterday, hoping to draw a line under the continent’s financial crisis. While they stopped short of agreeing a rescue package for ailing banks, they raised deposit guarantees to €50,000 (Dh250,000) per account. Their efforts seemed more aimed at reassuring the consumer than individual institutions.
While they were talking, billions were being wiped off bank shares in London, with Royal Bank of Scotland down 34.5 per cent, Lloyds TSB down 18.5 per cent, HBOS down 17.7 per cent and Barclays down 13.3 per cent, at one stage.
Three of the banks are planning to ask Alistair Darling, the chancellor of the exchequer, for a recapitalisation of around £15billion (Dh97.5bn) each, with half upfront and the other half available if needed, according to the BBC. Lloyds TSB had agreed a merger with HBOS; that may now be in doubt.
Dollar rates rise in Asia despite global rate cuts
SINGAPORE, Oct 9 (Reuters) - The cost of overnight dollar funding rose as high as 7 percent in Asia on Thursday, reflecting persistent fears in credit markets even after coordinated interest rate cuts by major central banks around the world.
Overnight dollar funds
"Counterparty risks still remains and that has blocked the lending by banks as risk aversion persists," said Suresh Ramanathan, a strategist at CIMB Investment Bank in Kuala Lumpur.
Britain urges EU to match guarantee of inter-bank lending
(LONDON) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote to EU leaders Wednesday to urge them to follow Britain in guaranteeing loans between banks, proposing a "European-wide funding plan" to help ease the financial crisis.
In a letter to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and copied to EU leaders and the European Commission, Brown outlined the rescue package announced by his government Wednesday and said a "concerted international approach" was needed.
Britain is making 50 billion pounds (64 billion euros, 87 billion dollars) available to buy preference shares in banks, along with 200 billion pounds in short-term loans and another 250 billion to guarantee loans between banks.
The reluctance of banks to lend to each other is at the root of the current global crisis.
No longer shielded by oil money, Arab investors take severe beating
BEIRUT: Like anyone invested in global financial markets, Arab sovereign funds, investment banks and rich individuals are taking a severe beating.
Also getting queasy are those who have poured money into real estate ventures in boomtowns like Dubai or Doha, Qatar, or housing markets like Amman, Damascus and Beirut that have been fueled by remittances and investments from the Gulf.
But they have few other outlets for their wealth in a region where corruption, political instability and sluggish economic change have handicapped growth and development for decades.
[I'm not exactly crying for them. --Amanda]
Pair of American journalists reported missing in Lebanon
BEIRUT: Two American citizens have gone missing in Lebanon after leaving their Beirut hotel to travel to Jbeil and Tripoli, the US Embassy said Wednesday. Holli Chmela, 27, and Taylor Luck, 23, were last seen on October 1 while visiting Lebanon on vacation from Amman, Jordan. The pair, who had been working as journalists in Jordan, left the Mozart Hotel in Hamra a week ago after telling a friend they planned to visit Jbeil and then travel north to Tripoli. On the same day, a cash withdrawal was reportedly made using Luck's credit card. They have not been heard from since.
Syrian troops gather on Lebanese border
ABBOUDIYEH, Lebanon (AP) — A few tents and trucks dotting a green hill across the river are about all that is visible of a Syrian troop deployment on Lebanon's northern border — a buildup that has raised concerns of a possible Syrian incursion.
There was no sign Wednesday that the Syrian troops were preparing to cross the border. Syria says the deployment — first made public several weeks ago — is aimed at preventing smuggling from Lebanon.
But the United States and some anti-Syrian politicians in Beirut have warned that Syria could attempt an incursion, a concern raised especially after a Sept. 27 car bombing in Damascus killed 17 people.
Anger over Guantanamo Bay ruling
The White House has reacted angrily after a judge ordered that 17 Chinese Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay should be released into the United States.
U.S. court blocks Uighurs' release from Guantanamo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday temporarily blocked the release of 17 Chinese Muslims held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The appeals court granted the Bush administration's emergency request for a stay of a federal judge's order that the members of the Uighur ethnic group be released into the United States at the end of this week.
In a sharp rebuke to the Bush administration, U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina ruled on Tuesday there was no evidence the detainees, who have been held at Guantanamo for nearly seven years, were "enemy combatants" or a security risk.
Russia withdraws troops from Georgian buffer zones
Russia says it has pulled back all troops from the so-called buffer zone in Georgia bordering the battle-torn breakaway region of South Ossetia.
The pullback has been completed two days ahead of an agreed Friday deadline.
The peace plan put in place after the August conflict over South Ossetia stipulated that Russian troops were to pull out of buffer zones in Georgia by October 10.
The troops had been in the zones bordering South Ossetia and another breakaway region, Abkhazia, since the fighting ended.
"At 20:30 Moscow time the last column of Russian peacekeepers withdrew into South Ossetia. The pullback is completed," Igor Konashenkov, aide to the commander of the Russian military's ground forces, said.
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A Georgian Interior Ministry spokesman said the pullback from the buffer zones was complete.
Georgian media has been reporting that Russian checkpoints near Abkhazia have also been closed.
But Russia intends to keep about 7,500 troops in both breakaway regions, which it now recognises as independent from Georgia.
But Foreign Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili said Russian troops still had to quit two disputed enclaves within South Ossetia and Abkhazia by October 10.
Tbilisi says the Georgian-populated enclaves, Akhalgori and the Kodori gorge, have for years not been part of the rebel regions.
Coffee House exclusive: What the Russians want in return for bailing out Iceland
But what price will the Russians demand for their bailout? A highly-placed source in Reykjavik tells Coffee House that Iceland might look kindly on requests from Russia's military to use America's former military base in Iceland. America closed its Naval Air Station at Keflavik Airport two years ago, handing back the Nato facility to the Icelandic government.
Now the word in Reykjavik is that the Russians could have use of it in return for the loan. Not that Keflavik would become a Russian air base -- Iceland is a member of Nato, so that is out of the question -- but it would suit the Kremlin to be able to use it for, say, refuelling and maintenance. Having use of such a facility only a few hours flying time from North America would be a major Russian propaganda coup and cause consternation in Washington.
Russian warships to visit Libya: navy
MOSCOW (AFP) — A group of Russian warships will stop in Libya next week before moving on to joint exercises with Venezuela and an anti-piracy mission off Somalia, a navy spokesman said Wednesday.
"The ships of the Russian Northern Fleet and the frigate Fearless are going to stop in Tripoli to obtain supplies from October 11 to 13," navy spokesman Igor Dygalo told AFP.
The Northern Fleet ships, led by the massive nuclear-powered missile cruiser Peter the Great, will "fulfil several tasks in the Mediterranean Sea" before moving on to the Caribbean, Dygalo said, without giving further details.
Russia Presses for Larger Middle East Role
Moscow (CNSNews.com) – As Russia moves to boost its clout in the Middle East, Israel is stepping up its appeals to Moscow not to provide Iran and Syria with advanced weapons systems.
Visiting Moscow on October 6-7, outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert urged President Dmitry Medvedev not to sell air defense and other sophisticated arms to Israel’s two most dangerous foes.
Medvedev refrained from any firm commitment on the issue, but reiterated Russia’s determination to play an important role in the Middle East and contribute to peace-making efforts in the region.
From Syrian fishing port to naval power base: Russia moves into the Mediterranean
During balmy evenings in the sleepy Syrian port of Tartous locals promenade along the seafront or suck on hookahs discussing the two great pillars of their society: business and family.
Politics, such as it is in the tightly controlled one-party state, rarely gets a mention, and certainly not in public. But few could fail to wonder about the foreign sailors dockside and the grey warship dominating a harbour that was once a trading hub of the Phoenician empire and is now the centre of a new projection of power, this time by Syria's old ally Russia.
Tartous is being dredged and renovated to provide a permanent facility for the Russian navy, giving Moscow a key military foothold in the Mediterranean at a time when Russia's invasion of Georgia has led to fears of a new cold war.
The bolstering of military ties between Russia and Syria has also worried Israel, whose prime minister, Ehud Olmert, was in Moscow yesterday seeking to persuade the Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, to stop Russian arms sales to Syria and Iran. Mr Olmert later said he had received assurances that Russia would not allow Israel's security to be threatened, but offered no indication he won any concrete promises on Russian arms sales.
Snap election called in Ukraine
President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine has dissolved parliament weeks after the collapse of the country's ruling pro-Western coalition.
Mr Yushchenko, who is visiting Italy, announced Ukraine's third general election in less than three years on television, in a pre-recorded speech.
He accused Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko of wrecking the government through her "thirst for power".
A Tymoshenko ally accused Mr Yushchenko of violating the constitution.
Kenya Denies Ukrainian Ship Bound for Southern Sudan
Kenya's foreign minister has dismissed a BBC report suggesting that a consignment of tanks and other military hardware aboard a hijacked Ukrainian ship was bound for South Sudan when it was seized by Somali pirates last month. The Kenyan government maintains that the Russian-made arms were being delivered to Kenya to be used by its military.
OPEC may need further oil supply cut-Libya
LONDON, Oct 7 (Reuters) - OPEC may need to cut oil supply further to prop up oil prices, the top official for OPEC member Libya said on Tuesday, a day after crude prices fell to an eight-month low.
Shokri Ghanem also told Reuters by telephone that members of the producer group were watching the market closely and that OPEC could decide to meet to review output before its next scheduled conference in December.
Turkey participates IAEA Board meeting for the first time
Turkey participates for the first time at the meeting along with other 10 new members of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board.
Ahmet Ertay, permanent ambassador to the IAEA, is representing Turkey in the meeting. In the 52nd session of the IAEA General Conference in the Austrian capital of Vienna, the agency chose Turkey as a new member of its board of governor.
Spain, Malaysia, New Zealand, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Argentina, Cuba, Uruguay, Romania and Afghanistan were elected as the other ten new members of the board.
Obama Asks Supporters to 'Believe'
INDIANAPOLIS -- Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama followed last night's debate with a confident and inspirational speech that asked Americans to "believe in each other" as the country faces a historic challenge to fix the economy.
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"I realize you're cynical and fed up with politics. I understand that you're disappointed and even angry with your leaders." Obama told the crowd at a wet and muddy Indiana State Fairgrounds. "You have every right to be.
"But despite all of this, I ask of you what's been asked of the American people in times of trial and turmoil throughout our history. I ask you to believe -- believe in yourselves, believe in each other, believe in the future we can build together."
[ *retch*--Amanda]
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