Europe rushes to save failing banks
STOCKHOLM: Governments across Europe scrambled to save failing banks on Sunday, working largely on their own a day after leaders of the continent’s four biggest economies called for tighter regulation and coordinated response to the global meltdown.
The German government held crisis talks after the collapse of a ballyhooed €35-billion bailout of Hypo Real Estate AG, the country’s second biggest property lender. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Europe’s biggest economy would “not allow the distress of one financial institution to distress the entire system.”
In Iceland — particularly hard-hit by the credit crunch — government officials and banking chiefs were discussing a possible rescue plan for overstretched commercial banks. Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme said he aims to find a new owner for troubled bank Fortis NV to restore confidence in the company before the opening of markets on Monday. Mr. Leterme said government officials were going over a takeover bid for Fortis’ Belgian operations. The bank’s Dutch operations were nationalised amid fears they could go insolvent.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Asian markets fall on financial turmoil fears
SINGAPORE (AP): Asian stock markets plunged Monday as investors shrugged off Washington's passage of a US$700 billion bailout plan amid signs that financial turmoil is deepening in Europe, threatening to slow global economic growth.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average was down 3 percent to 10,615, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slid 2.7 percent to 17,198.
Trading in mainland China, shut for a weeklong holiday, resumed with the main Shanghai index sinking 3.5 percent to 2,213.
Key indices in Australia, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand also fell sharply. Indonesia's key index plunged more than 5 percent.
Traders were spooked by Germany's announcement Sunday of a new bailout package totaling 50 billion euros (US$69 billion) for Hypo Real Estate, the country's second-biggest commercial property lender, part of a scramble by European governments to save failing banks.
SINGAPORE (AP): Asian stock markets plunged Monday as investors shrugged off Washington's passage of a US$700 billion bailout plan amid signs that financial turmoil is deepening in Europe, threatening to slow global economic growth.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average was down 3 percent to 10,615, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index slid 2.7 percent to 17,198.
Trading in mainland China, shut for a weeklong holiday, resumed with the main Shanghai index sinking 3.5 percent to 2,213.
Key indices in Australia, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand also fell sharply. Indonesia's key index plunged more than 5 percent.
Traders were spooked by Germany's announcement Sunday of a new bailout package totaling 50 billion euros (US$69 billion) for Hypo Real Estate, the country's second-biggest commercial property lender, part of a scramble by European governments to save failing banks.
20 killed in suicide bomb attack in Sri Lanka
COLOMBO (AP): A news report says a suicide bomber has killed around 20 people including a former army officer in a town in northern Sri Lanka.
Privately owned Swarnavahini television says retired Maj. Gen. Janaka Perera and his wife were among nearly 20 people killed in Monday's blast in Anuradhapura town.
Perera, who led successful campaigns in the civil war against separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, won a seat in the country's North-Central provincial assembly in August to become its opposition leader.
COLOMBO (AP): A news report says a suicide bomber has killed around 20 people including a former army officer in a town in northern Sri Lanka.
Privately owned Swarnavahini television says retired Maj. Gen. Janaka Perera and his wife were among nearly 20 people killed in Monday's blast in Anuradhapura town.
Perera, who led successful campaigns in the civil war against separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, won a seat in the country's North-Central provincial assembly in August to become its opposition leader.
5.7 quake rattles northwestern China
BEIJING (AP): A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck a remote northwestern Chinese region early Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The quake struck just after midnight in the Xinjiang region near China's border with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The center said the quake was at a depth of 21 miles (35 kilometers).
China's official Xinhua News Agency said the epicenter was located in Wuqia, southwestern Xinjiang, and there were no reports of casualties or damage.
The report said the quake was also felt by residents in the city of Kashgar, about 112 miles (180 kilometers) from Wuqia.
BEIJING (AP): A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck a remote northwestern Chinese region early Monday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The quake struck just after midnight in the Xinjiang region near China's border with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. The center said the quake was at a depth of 21 miles (35 kilometers).
China's official Xinhua News Agency said the epicenter was located in Wuqia, southwestern Xinjiang, and there were no reports of casualties or damage.
The report said the quake was also felt by residents in the city of Kashgar, about 112 miles (180 kilometers) from Wuqia.
Any Israeli attack will be seen as US attack: Iran
New York (PTI): Symbolising Israel as a signature mark of the United States in the middle east, Iran's foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said that any offensive action by Tel Aviv would be seen as an attack by Washington.
Iran does not believe that Israelis or Americans will attack its nuclear facilities but any attack by Tel Aviv would be considered an attack by Washington, Mottaki said.
"In the Middle East, (no one) makes a distinction between the US and Israel," the minister told Newsweek in an interview.
Asked why his country is calling for wiping out Israel from the map of the earth, Mottaki said Tehran does not recognise Israel.
Reiterating to continue its uranium enrichment programme, he said "What we are doing is completely legal," emphasising that negotiations are the only way to arrive at mutually acceptable solution to the issue.
New York (PTI): Symbolising Israel as a signature mark of the United States in the middle east, Iran's foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said that any offensive action by Tel Aviv would be seen as an attack by Washington.
Iran does not believe that Israelis or Americans will attack its nuclear facilities but any attack by Tel Aviv would be considered an attack by Washington, Mottaki said.
"In the Middle East, (no one) makes a distinction between the US and Israel," the minister told Newsweek in an interview.
Asked why his country is calling for wiping out Israel from the map of the earth, Mottaki said Tehran does not recognise Israel.
Reiterating to continue its uranium enrichment programme, he said "What we are doing is completely legal," emphasising that negotiations are the only way to arrive at mutually acceptable solution to the issue.
Journalist on trial for sedition in Malaysia
KUALA LUMPUR (AP): The editor of Malaysia's best-known anti-government news portal went on trial on Monday for sedition for allegedly implying the deputy prime minister was involved in the murder of a young Mongolian woman.
Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin, who denies the allegation, is already in jail in a separate case under the Internal Security Act, a law that allows indefinite detention without trial.
The two cases against Raja Petra, who runs the popular Malaysia Today news site on his blog, have provoked an outcry against the government, with detractors accusing it of misusing the judiciary to crack down on critics and suppress freedom of speech.
``They are penalizing him twice ... It's double jeopardy. But his spirits are up,'' said Raja Petra's wife, Marina, at a district court where the frail-looking activist, wearing flip-flops and sporting stubble, was brought in handcuffs in a police van for the trial.
KUALA LUMPUR (AP): The editor of Malaysia's best-known anti-government news portal went on trial on Monday for sedition for allegedly implying the deputy prime minister was involved in the murder of a young Mongolian woman.
Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin, who denies the allegation, is already in jail in a separate case under the Internal Security Act, a law that allows indefinite detention without trial.
The two cases against Raja Petra, who runs the popular Malaysia Today news site on his blog, have provoked an outcry against the government, with detractors accusing it of misusing the judiciary to crack down on critics and suppress freedom of speech.
``They are penalizing him twice ... It's double jeopardy. But his spirits are up,'' said Raja Petra's wife, Marina, at a district court where the frail-looking activist, wearing flip-flops and sporting stubble, was brought in handcuffs in a police van for the trial.
Simpson jury: We didn't need witnesses to convict
LAS VEGAS (AP): Jurors who convicted O.J. Simpson of armed robbery and kidnapping said Sunday that they did not trust witness testimony and instead relied on recordings and other documented evidence to convict the former football star.
It might have been a waste for prosecutors to give plea deals to several Simpson co-defendants in exchange for their testimony, since the jury did not rely on it, foreman Paul Connelly said.
Seven members of the 12-person jury agreed to the extraordinary news conference two nights after the verdict was announced because they said they were being hounded by reporters. They answered questions for an hour in the same courtroom where Simpson and Clarence ``C.J.'' Stewart were convicted of robbing two memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a hotel room.
The jury listened repeatedly to recordings made by collectibles dealer Thomas Riccio _ the host of the hotel confrontation, who was granted immunity _ and felt they heard things that had not been fully transcribed by police, juror Michelle Lyons said.
But jurors could not trust the credibility of witnesses who were given plea deals, Lyons said.
LAS VEGAS (AP): Jurors who convicted O.J. Simpson of armed robbery and kidnapping said Sunday that they did not trust witness testimony and instead relied on recordings and other documented evidence to convict the former football star.
It might have been a waste for prosecutors to give plea deals to several Simpson co-defendants in exchange for their testimony, since the jury did not rely on it, foreman Paul Connelly said.
Seven members of the 12-person jury agreed to the extraordinary news conference two nights after the verdict was announced because they said they were being hounded by reporters. They answered questions for an hour in the same courtroom where Simpson and Clarence ``C.J.'' Stewart were convicted of robbing two memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a hotel room.
The jury listened repeatedly to recordings made by collectibles dealer Thomas Riccio _ the host of the hotel confrontation, who was granted immunity _ and felt they heard things that had not been fully transcribed by police, juror Michelle Lyons said.
But jurors could not trust the credibility of witnesses who were given plea deals, Lyons said.
58 people killed in Kyrgyzstan quake
ALMATY (Xinhua): Fifty-eight people have been killed in the strong earthquake which rocked southern Kyrgyzstan Sunday night, the country's emergencies ministry said Monday.
Reports reaching here quoted an emergencies ministry official as saying that the rescue operation was still going on in the quake-hit rural region, where many houses have also been destroyed in the 6.3-magnitude quake.
ALMATY (Xinhua): Fifty-eight people have been killed in the strong earthquake which rocked southern Kyrgyzstan Sunday night, the country's emergencies ministry said Monday.
Reports reaching here quoted an emergencies ministry official as saying that the rescue operation was still going on in the quake-hit rural region, where many houses have also been destroyed in the 6.3-magnitude quake.
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