On Washington Post's On Faith blog, Daily Beast contributor Lisa Miller teased a piece about Occupy Wall Street with a worthy question: “What would Jesus think about Occupy Wall Street?” Her answer was simple, and predictably liberal: “The Jesus of history would love them all.” In a piece titled “Jesus at Occupy Wall Street: 'I feel like I've been here before,'” Miller portrayed the protestors as wretched outcasts, whom God would embrace because of their misery: “Born with little means into a first century world, the historical Jesus might feel right at home with the very aspects of the occupation that so many 21st century observers consider gross: the tents, the damp sleeping bags, the communal kitchen. Jesus would have sympathy, I think, with the campers' efforts to keep a small space sanitary in the absence of modern plumbing.” Poor and wretched outcasts, bringing $5500 laptops to protests. Miller did concede that the protestors didn't really concern themselves with God or religion. “The protestors don't talk much about Jesus or God. Nor do they offer explicit guidance on transcendent, higher principles.” But according to Miller, actual belief in God doesn't determine whether a person is actually a Christian or not. “A lesson from Jesus might show them that they have moral authority within their grasp – only it won't be conveyed through banners or sound bites. Their most radical act is the company they keep.” No word on what the Savior would have thought about the public sex, drug use, violent rhetoric or criminality on display, or even the crass materialism of the protestors' complaints. Nor did Miller stop to wonder if Christ would approve of making common cause with Marxists , whose philosophy resulted in the murder 100 million people. Miller cites “professor of religious studies” Bart Ehrman: “Jesus believed the whole system was corrupt. The people who ran things were empowered by the evil forces of the world and his followers had to work against these powers by feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and caring for the sick.” Ehrman is a non church-going agnostic , who is the author of a book titled Forged: Writing in the Name of God-Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are . In a March 25 article on the Huffington Post, Ehrman charged the New Testament writers with lying: “It appears that some of the New Testament writers, such as the authors of 2 Peter, 1 Timothy and Ephesians, felt they were perfectly justified to lie in order to tell the truth. But we today can at least evaluate their claims and realize just how human, and fallible, they were. They were creatures of their time and place. And so too were their teachings, lies and all.” (Other scholars dispute Ehrman's contention that the Bible is a pack of lies.) A person who claims that Christianity is a “beautiful myth” may not be the best exponent of Christianity. But to liberals, the “Jesus of history” (or, more accurately, the liberal fantasy of Jesus) is more convenient to liberal tastes, because it contradicts the Jesus of the Bible. The Christ who sought to befriend and convert tax collectors so that they would give voluntarily of their means and who proposed the parable of the talents bears little resemblance to the demanding, grasping protestors, who seek government handouts and a utopia. His kingdom, of course, was “not of this world.” But the revolutionary character of Occupy Wall Street is clear. And perhaps they will chant from their holy text: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.” Wait, that's not in the Bible.
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Wen Jiabao lectures EU leaders on the need for structural reform but they will make no decision until summit next week America and China, the world’s two economic superpowers, have again urged EU leaders to resolve the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis and prevent the world from sliding into another slump. As it emerged that no decisions would be taken by European leaders until an unprecedented second eurozone summit next Wednesday, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao told EU leaders to stop the debt crisis spreading and lectured them on the need for structural reform. His outspoken comments, in a phone call with Herman Van Rompuy, the European council president, came after Brussels cancelled an EU-China summit planned for Wednesday and hours after Barack Obama had a transatlantic video conference call with the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and German chancellor, Angela Merkel. Wen told Van Rompuy: “The most urgent task is to take decisive measures to prevent the debt crisis spreading further and avoid financial market turbulence, a recession and fluctuations in the euro.” Britain’s chancellor, George Osborne, said before Saturday’s meeting of the 27 EU finance ministers: “The coming days will be critical for resolving the crisis in the eurozone. I am convinced of everyone’s commitment to this. A resolution to the eurozone crisis would be the biggest boost to growth in Britain and around the world.” But Europe’s leaders continued to feud in public and private over the reasons for twice delaying final decisions, with France and Germany still at loggerheads over fundamental issues and Italy and Spain, let alone Greece, under severe pressure to fix their budgets as all of them slash economic growth forecasts for 2012. Arriving for a meeting of eurogroup finance ministers, Jean-Claude Juncker, the group’s chairman and veteran Luxembourg premier, admitted that the outside impression given by the EU was “disastrous”. He said: “It does not appear a bright example of superior statesmanship.” On the uppermost floor of the Berlaymont, the European commission’s HQ, the talk was of how Merkel and Sarkozy had in effect sabotaged Sunday’s summit by insisting on taking all the decisions themselves. “Previously, 90% of decisions were taken before the summit, and now everything has to be decided at the summit table.” Merkel was accused of failing to realise until it was too late that too much work remained to be done to ensure a successful summit. But in Berlin government sources attacked foot dragging by senior officials preparing the dossiers, including a key report on the sustainability of Greek debt promised for Wednesday morning and still unavailable on Friday. As Juncker cancelled a planned news conference after the eurogroup meeting, it emerged that the only agreement reached so far on the three core issues was on recapitalising Europe’s 60 or 70 “systemic” banks. They are now said to require capital buffers of around €80bn-€90bn to withstand exposure to potential debt defaults. The ratings agency Standard & Poors calculated that 21 of the 47 banks it had sampled might need €91bn under the “stress test” of a double-dip recession. This proposal is expected to be approved by the 27 finance ministers on Saturday and formally signed off by the EU-27 summit on Sunday, but France still insists that its banks be given as much as nine months to meet the new 9% capital ratio target as it fights to defend its AAA credit rating. Government sources in Berlin sought to play down differences with Paris on the two outstanding issues of how and by how much to “leverage” the eurozone’s main bailout find, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), and the scale of the losses, or “haircuts”, private creditors should suffer as the price for restructuring Greek debt and giving final approval to the second bailout package of €109bn (£95bn) for Greece. Insisting that disagreements between Germany and France were on purely technical questions, the sources said the two agreed on the fundamentals. It is even claimed that Sarkozy has dropped a key demand that the European Central Bank help to bolster the EFSF’s financial firepower from the current €440bn to closer to the €2tn sought by the US, the UK and market players, turning the fund into a bank. Berlin is pushing for two options: either making the EFSF an insurer which would offer first-loss guarantees to private creditors who buy new issues of government debt from countries under pressure such as Spain and Italy; or combining the bailout fund with last-resort IMF loans. Confidential background reports obtained by the Guardian suggest that these loans, valid for a year but renewable twice for six months, could be as much as 2%-10% of the affected country’s GDP. Sources in Berlin said these two options – among a dozen being studied – are “the most promising.” Profound disagreements, meanwhile, resurfaced over the write-downs banks and insurers would have to suffer on Greek debt to make the latter sustainable. Last July these were set at 21% for private creditors and were entirely voluntary but they could now become compulsory and be set at anywhere between 30% and 50%. The outcome of the next few days could hinge on talks on Saturday between Merkel and Sarkozy, though the French president may still be smarting from an entirely fruitless flight he made to Frankfurt this week for emergency talks with the German chancellor. European debt crisis Euro European Union Economics Euro Europe China United States European banks guardian.co.uk
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October 21, 2011 No Comment
St Paul’s says it has closed for safety reasons, but protesters insist they cannot be moved on without court order Anti-global finance protesters were refusing to quit their camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral on Friday night, despite requests from church officials who complain they have been forced to shut the building for the first time since the second world war. The Occupy the London Stock Exchange protesters, who moved on to an area at the front of the cathedral a week ago, will continue their encampment in defiance of the dean of St Paul’s, the Rt Rev Graeme Knowles, who asked them to “let the cathedral get its life back”. The movement said cathedral officials were more concerned about visitor numbers than the safety reasons they claimed lay behind the shutdown. The refusal has led to a standoff between the cathedral and the protesters, who say they cannot be moved on without a court order. Knowles said the decision to close the cathedral was unprecedented in recent times, but there was no choice and it had been done with a “heavy heart”. Services have been cancelled until further notice and staff have been sent home. In a statement Knowles said he had asked protesters to “recognise the huge issues facing us at this time and asking them to leave the vicinity of the building so that the cathedral can reopen as soon as possible”. He stressed that he and other officials had formed good relations with the protesters. “We are delighted that the London protests have been peaceful, and indeed there has been a good atmosphere generally between cathedral staff and those dwelling in the tents around St Paul’s. “There is something profound about protest being made and heard in front of this most holy place – a gathering together of those concerned about poverty and inequality facing the great dome of this cathedral church.” However, he said, it was obvious the size of the camp had “increasingly put us in a difficult position”. Knowles met members of the chapter that governs St Paul’s on Thursday evening, leading to the closure. “The health, safety and fire officers have pointed out that access to and from the cathedral is seriously limited. With so many stoves and fires and lots of different types of fuel around, there is a clear fire hazard. Then there is the public health aspect, which speaks for itself. The dangers relate not just to cathedral staff and visitors but are a potential hazard to those encamped themselves.” Therefore, he said, the cathedral would stay closed “until such a time that we can open safely”. He added: “We have done this with a very heavy heart, but it is simply not possible to fulfil our day to day obligations to worshippers, visitors and pilgrims in current circumstances.” Although he initially played down the financial impact of the protest, he later conceded there would have to be “long term planning”. “We have a commitment to the paid staff, we must pay them as best we can.” And, while he did not directly address the issue of eviction, explained that ownership of the grounds around the cathedral was “so complicated” he would have to go through “lawyers and the Corporation of London” to remove the protesters. Knowles was forced to deny that Giles Fraser, the canon chancellor of St Paul’s, who initially said he supported the protesters’ right to remain, had acted inappropriately or unilaterally. Occupy LSX cast doubt on the cathedral’s concerns and said it had spoken to the fire brigade and believed there were no fire safety issues. “As to the cathedral’s commercial concerns, access to the restaurant has never been blocked by the encampment. The closure of the restaurant, by the cathedral, has mystified us, especially as it came at the same time as we encouraged our people to use and support the restaurant. We would much prefer to eat there than in some of the nearby chains. We believe the cathedral is also concerned about their visitor numbers. We have endeavoured to ensure that our schedule does not conflict with the cathedral’s, so that their normal operations are not impaired. Clearly, we have become another tourist attraction on the cathedral’s doorstep – but, since we are not a commercial concern, we are struggling to understand how we have had any financial impact on the cathedral’s revenues.” The protest, modelled on similar events in Spain and New York, descended on London’s financial district last Saturday with the intention of setting up a permanent camp in Paternoster Square, the private commercial and retail plaza housing the Stock Exchange headquarters. However, the square’s owners won a court order preventing this, and police blocked access. Several thousand activists, who eventually coalesced into an encampment of around 200 tents, instead based themselves on the western edge of St Paul’s. There, they set up an increasingly entrenched camp , featuring a food marquee, a media tent and a “university”. Relations with the church began well, especially after Fraser’s intervention. However, sSince then, however, cathedral officials have repeatedly raised concerns about the size and scope of the camp, warning that it was impeding access for both worshippers and tourists, especially ahead of next week’s busy half term. This is a particular issue for a cathedral that relies heavily on entrance fees for its income. One protester, Marcus Wright, said he would resist any attempt to remove him from the area. The 22-year-old, wearing a Batman hoodie and a Guy Fawkes mask, has been at St Paul’s since Monday. “It will be non-violent, but I will still be protesting as they drag me away,” he said. “The only way we’ll move is by force. We won’t be violent. It is our right to protest.” Occupy London Occupy movement London Protest Religion Riazat Butt Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
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Figures show that only 106 electric cars were bought in 2011 third quarter through ‘plugged-in car grant’ scheme Hopes that £5,000 government grants would make 2011 “remembered as the year the electric car took off” have been dashed with the release of new figures showing uptake of the greener cars has sputtered out. Only 106 electric cars were bought in the third quarter of 2011 through the “plugged-in car grant” scheme, launched in January . It marks a significant slump in demand on already sluggish-take-up, with 465 cars registered through the scheme in Q1 and 215 in Q2 . However, trade body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) pointed out that all electric car registrations – both inside and out of the grant scheme – have gone from 167 in 2010 to 940 in 2011. Electric car campaigners and industry had hoped this would be the year the year the cars – billed as a clean low carbon alternative to conventional petrol and diesel models – made a breakthrough. Former transport secretary Phillip Hammond said in January : “Government action to support affordable vehicles and more local charging points means we are on the threshold of an exciting green revolution – 2011 could be remembered as the year the electric car took off.” The number of electric vehicles in the UK stands at just 1,107, a tiny chunk of the country’s 28.5m cars. But the government had hoped to incentivise take-up with the launch of grants of up to £5,000, preserving the grant during last summer’s cuts and putting aside £43m , or enough for 8,600 cars, until March 2012. The scheme is due to be reviewed in January. A paucity of electric car models could be to blame for the slow uptake, with drivers currently only having a choice of five models eligible for the grant, including the well-reviewed Nissan Leaf . Upfront prices are also relatively high – the Leaf costs £25,990 even accounting for the £5,000 grant – though fuel costs are significantly lower . Transport minister, Norman Baker, blamed a lack of choice for consumers: “It is nonsense to say the market has ‘sputtered out’. The availability of qualifying cars, rather than the public appetite for them is part of the problem. I have every confidence that that will change in the next few months and we will begin to see sales of ultra-low carbon cars improve.” Other high profile models, including the extended range Vauxhall Ampera , family size Renault Fluence ZE and plug-in version of the popular Toyota Prius , are not due to on sale until next year. Marc Rinkel, senior analyst on EMEA Powertrain Forecasting at IHS Automotive , said a lack of infrastructure and the economic climate were likely to blame: “Despite the £5,000 incentive, it’s still early days for electric vehicles. Yes, the sluggish take-up has to do with the lack of charging points and a very limited product range. “In addition, compared to the beginning of 2011, consumer confidence has been further downgraded with the increasing risk of another economic downturn. This is not helping risk-taking for new and expensive technology and it is certainly another explanation behind the slumping demand.” Green campaigners called for more charging points for electric vehicles, and said energy generation should be “decarbonised” to make the cars lower carbon. Tony Bosworth, the Friends of the Earth transport campaigner, said: “In the medium term most motorists will still buy diesel and petrol cars, so making these [conventional] vehicles run on less fuel must be the top priority. But electric cars powered by clean energy are one of the key ways to get ourselves off the fossil fuel hook – and away from pricey petrol – in the long run. “The government must press on with building a 21st century car fleet by providing grants and investing in a UK-wide network of charging points to encourage drivers to ditch petrol for electrons.” The figures come as a new documentary, Revenge of the Electric Car, opens in the US on Friday , charting the rapid rise in popularity of electric cars in the US and the success of the Chevy Volt . Electric, hybrid and low-emission cars Carbon emissions Philip Hammond Travel and transport Ethical and green living Motoring Adam Vaughan guardian.co.uk
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New defence secretary confirms that he will pursue renewal of nuclear deterrent that could cost up to £25bn Britain will continue its plans to replace the Trident nuclear deterrent, the defence secretary has confirmed, as he moved to dispel speculation that he was less committed to the project. Philip Hammond made clear that he would pursue the renewal plans, which could cost up to £25bn for four new submarines. His predecessor Liam Fox, who resigned last week, was strongly committed to Trident despite the project’s huge cost, and the likely burden it will put on the already overstretched budget at the Ministry of Defence. There had been talk at Westminster that Hammond might have a rethink, with experts noting that he had missed a vote in parliament on the need for Britain to have a “continuous at sea deterrence”. But in his first interview Hammond dismissed the doubters and said he was “absolutely committed” to Trident and always had been. He said he had only missed the parliamentary vote on the issue because he was “out on a visit on the route of the high-speed railway proposal”. “Had I been there I would have voted in favour,” he said. Fox announced in May that the government had approved “initial gate” – up to £7bn for the technical and design assessments needed for the renewal of Trident. The decision on “main gate” – the green light for construction of the submarines–was delayed until 2016 – after the next general election. This led to calls for ministers to consider reducing the number of submarines from four to three to cut costs, particularly as the £25bn does not include the money needed to buy new warheads. The difficulties surrounding the renewal of Trident were underlined earlier this month in a report by Professor Malcolm Chalmers, of the Royal United Services Institute thinktank. He said renewing Britain’s nuclear deterrent was “the largest and politically most difficult procurement programme” for the MoD over the next 20 years, and predicted that unless the Treasury provided more cash to fund it, the department would have to make further drastic cuts to services and personnel. Hammond insisted that the budget squeeze, and a redundancy programme that will mean up to 60,000 jobs being axed in the coming years, would not prevent Britain having a viable armed forces. “We have had to make some serious budget cuts,” he said. “My predecessor has successfully negotiated with the Treasury a settlement that will allow the UK to continue to project force abroad, to continue to have viable and sustainable armed forces in the future.” The cuts have hit all three services, and the start of the civilian jobs cull has now begun, with 3,000 staff leaving this month. Steve Jary, from the Prospect union, said: “By destroying its specialist capability, the MoD is putting the lives of troops at risk.” Philip Hammond Trident Defence policy Nuclear weapons Military Nick Hopkins guardian.co.uk
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Dutch engineer tells crown court he wanted to kiss his next-door neighbour but sex was not on his mind Vincent Tabak denied that he derived sexual gratification when he held Joanna Yeates by the throat and rejected the notion he was sexually aroused as he killed her. On his second day in the witness box at Bristol crown court, the Dutch engineer conceded that after Yeates’s death he researched the definition of sexual assault because he was worried that a “pass” he had made at her could be seen as sexual conduct. Tabak, 33, denied his admission that he wanted to kiss his next-door neighbour showed he had intended to commit a sexual act. “I wanted to kiss her. It’s nice to kiss,” he told the jury. At the end of his six-hour stint in the witness box Tabak again rejected the allegation that he had meant to kill or seriously harm the 25-year-old landscape architect. Yeates’s mother, Teresa, was not present when Tabak resumed giving evidence. Her father, David, was on the front row of the public gallery, within touching distance of Tabak as he walked from the dock to the witness box. Mr Yeates did not look at Tabak as he passed. Continuing his cross-examination, Nigel Lickley QC, for the prosecution, began by asking Tabak about his attempt to kiss Yeates. Tabak claims he made a pass at his neighbour at flats in Clifton, Bristol, after she made a “flirty” remark. “I thought she wanted me to kiss her,” he said. Lickley asked if he had intended to put his tongue in her mouth. “I was not thinking of that at that moment,” Tabak replied. Lickley asked Tabak if holding her throat was sexual, if he derived sexual gratification from it and if he was sexually aroused while he did it. Three times Tabak replied: “Definitely not.” The prosecutor suggested to Tabak that he may have used Yeates’s cat – which occasionally strayed into his flat – as an excuse to knock on her door. Tabak rejected the idea. Lickley questioned Tabak about online research he had done after the killing on subjects such as the difference between manslaughter and murder and the definition of sexual assault. Tabak said: “I was a bit worried if my pass could be seen as sexual conduct.” Bespectacled Tabak ran his fingers through his hair as Lickley showed him a full-length photograph of how Yeates’s body appeared after it was found on a roadside verge on Christmas Day. Her pink shirt was rucked up showing her bra and exposing part of one breast. Lickley suggested Tabak had pulled her top up. “No I didn’t, not intentionally at least,” he said. Lickley asked Tabak if pulling her top up made her scream. “That is not what made her scream,” he replied. The prosecutor pointed out that Yeates’s injuries had included bruises to her ribs and her back. “You had her up against something,” said Lickley. “Was it a wall? Was it the floor?” Tabak replied: “Definitely not the floor.” Lickley then silently counted out 20 seconds – the time the defence has suggested Tabak may have held Yeates around the neck. “Is that the time you had your hand around her throat?” asked Lickley. “I can’t remember,” Tabak replied. Lickley went on: “You squeezed and squeezed and squeezed.” “I had my hand around her neck, yes,” Tabak answered, rejecting the suggestion he had used two hands. The defendant, who admits manslaughter but denies murder, apologised again to Yeates’s family and boyfriend, Greg Reardon, for his crime. This time he also said sorry to his own family and his girlfriend, Tanja Morson. Tabak denied that there had been a struggle when he attacked Yeates. He told the court: “I was not being aggressive. She was not resisting me.” “That’s a lie, Vincent Tabak,” Lickley said. Tabak was probed about minor arm injuries he was found to have when he was arrested. He said he could not remember how he had got the injuries. Lickley concluded by putting to Tabak that Yeates was not “interested” in him. She may have invited him into her flat to be neighbourly. “She showed interest in me, she invited me in,” replied Tabak. Lickley alleged that it had been a sexual attack and Tabak had meant to kill or seriously harm Yeates. “Not true,” he replied. The forensic pathologist Nat Cary, the second witness called by the defence, said there was no evidence that Yeates’s genital area had been interfered with. He could not exclude the possibility that her breasts had been interfered with but there was “nothing positive” to suggest that. He said Yeates’s top could have been rucked up as her body was moved. It was “largely speculative” that Tabak’s motive for killing Yeates was sexual, Cary said. He told the jury that asphyxiation could form part of a sexually motivated attack. “There are some people, probably a pretty small number in the population, who become sexually aroused by asphyxiating someone,” he said. Cary said Yeates’s death would not have been “instantaneous” but likely to have taken a “period of time such as 20 seconds or more”. The trial continues. Joanna Yeates Crime Bristol Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
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Dutch engineer tells crown court he wanted to kiss his next-door neighbour but sex was not on his mind Vincent Tabak denied that he derived sexual gratification when he held Joanna Yeates by the throat and rejected the notion he was sexually aroused as he killed her. On his second day in the witness box at Bristol crown court, the Dutch engineer conceded that after Yeates’s death he researched the definition of sexual assault because he was worried that a “pass” he had made at her could be seen as sexual conduct. Tabak, 33, denied his admission that he wanted to kiss his next-door neighbour showed he had intended to commit a sexual act. “I wanted to kiss her. It’s nice to kiss,” he told the jury. At the end of his six-hour stint in the witness box Tabak again rejected the allegation that he had meant to kill or seriously harm the 25-year-old landscape architect. Yeates’s mother, Teresa, was not present when Tabak resumed giving evidence. Her father, David, was on the front row of the public gallery, within touching distance of Tabak as he walked from the dock to the witness box. Mr Yeates did not look at Tabak as he passed. Continuing his cross-examination, Nigel Lickley QC, for the prosecution, began by asking Tabak about his attempt to kiss Yeates. Tabak claims he made a pass at his neighbour at flats in Clifton, Bristol, after she made a “flirty” remark. “I thought she wanted me to kiss her,” he said. Lickley asked if he had intended to put his tongue in her mouth. “I was not thinking of that at that moment,” Tabak replied. Lickley asked Tabak if holding her throat was sexual, if he derived sexual gratification from it and if he was sexually aroused while he did it. Three times Tabak replied: “Definitely not.” The prosecutor suggested to Tabak that he may have used Yeates’s cat – which occasionally strayed into his flat – as an excuse to knock on her door. Tabak rejected the idea. Lickley questioned Tabak about online research he had done after the killing on subjects such as the difference between manslaughter and murder and the definition of sexual assault. Tabak said: “I was a bit worried if my pass could be seen as sexual conduct.” Bespectacled Tabak ran his fingers through his hair as Lickley showed him a full-length photograph of how Yeates’s body appeared after it was found on a roadside verge on Christmas Day. Her pink shirt was rucked up showing her bra and exposing part of one breast. Lickley suggested Tabak had pulled her top up. “No I didn’t, not intentionally at least,” he said. Lickley asked Tabak if pulling her top up made her scream. “That is not what made her scream,” he replied. The prosecutor pointed out that Yeates’s injuries had included bruises to her ribs and her back. “You had her up against something,” said Lickley. “Was it a wall? Was it the floor?” Tabak replied: “Definitely not the floor.” Lickley then silently counted out 20 seconds – the time the defence has suggested Tabak may have held Yeates around the neck. “Is that the time you had your hand around her throat?” asked Lickley. “I can’t remember,” Tabak replied. Lickley went on: “You squeezed and squeezed and squeezed.” “I had my hand around her neck, yes,” Tabak answered, rejecting the suggestion he had used two hands. The defendant, who admits manslaughter but denies murder, apologised again to Yeates’s family and boyfriend, Greg Reardon, for his crime. This time he also said sorry to his own family and his girlfriend, Tanja Morson. Tabak denied that there had been a struggle when he attacked Yeates. He told the court: “I was not being aggressive. She was not resisting me.” “That’s a lie, Vincent Tabak,” Lickley said. Tabak was probed about minor arm injuries he was found to have when he was arrested. He said he could not remember how he had got the injuries. Lickley concluded by putting to Tabak that Yeates was not “interested” in him. She may have invited him into her flat to be neighbourly. “She showed interest in me, she invited me in,” replied Tabak. Lickley alleged that it had been a sexual attack and Tabak had meant to kill or seriously harm Yeates. “Not true,” he replied. The forensic pathologist Nat Cary, the second witness called by the defence, said there was no evidence that Yeates’s genital area had been interfered with. He could not exclude the possibility that her breasts had been interfered with but there was “nothing positive” to suggest that. He said Yeates’s top could have been rucked up as her body was moved. It was “largely speculative” that Tabak’s motive for killing Yeates was sexual, Cary said. He told the jury that asphyxiation could form part of a sexually motivated attack. “There are some people, probably a pretty small number in the population, who become sexually aroused by asphyxiating someone,” he said. Cary said Yeates’s death would not have been “instantaneous” but likely to have taken a “period of time such as 20 seconds or more”. The trial continues. Joanna Yeates Crime Bristol Steven Morris guardian.co.uk
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• Just 48 hours to go to crunch bailout summit • FTSE up 1.4% – European stocks higher • Afternoon market round-up • Today’s agenda 7.44am: Welcome to Friday’s business blog live with me, Katie Allen. There remains plenty for markets to get nervous about as we head towards a summit this weekend to shore up the euro, sort out vulnerable banks, deal with Greece’s mounting fiscal problems and find a way to stop Italy and Spain succumbing to the same fate. Sound like a lot? Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy certainly think so. That’s why they confirmed last night that Sunday’s meeting won’t do the job and that there will be another summit next Wednesday . Before we round-up reactions to this latest development in the bailout story, we’ll give you a quick look ahead to Friday’s main events. Obviously, we’ll be watching out for all the comments throughout Europe ahead of the summit and developments in Greece – where violent clashes claimed a man’s life on Thursday . 7.45am: Here’s a list of the scheduled events. (All times are UK local and where possible we’ve put in links for more on the data/events): • 7.45am: French business climate indicator for October. Forecast 98 reading from 99 in September. • 8.40am: ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet, ECB’s Juergen Stark, EU commissioner Olli Rehn all speaking in Poland • 9.00am: Germany’s IFO business climate indicator for October. Forecast 106.3 from 107.5 in September. • 9.00am: Sarkozy scheduled to speak at G20 conference on development • 9.30am: ONS publishes UK public finances for September . PSNB forecast at £12.15bn vs £13.16bn August. • 3.30pm: US Economic Cycle Research Institute releases weekly activity index 8.11am: To catch up on Thursday’s events, my colleagues’ blog covered developments in Europe as they happened . A quick run-down: • Dimitris Kotsaridis, a 53-year-old construction worker, died during a second-day of violent clashes in Greece • Communist and anarchist groups clashed, while riot police used stun grenades to clear the streets • The Greek parliament approved the latest austerity package , although one ruling MP broke ranks • European leaders will hold a second summit next week, admitting they won’t reach a deal this weekend • Troika warned that Greek economy will shrink 15% between 2009 and 2012 8.33am: And now to the markets: European shares are reversing some of Thursday’s losses made on euro zone dithering. Any big solution on Sunday seems off the agenda but markets are pinning their hopes on a Wednesday result and so the FTSE 100 is up 16 points at 5400, France’s CAC40 is up 23 points – that’s almost 1% – at 3107 and Germany Dax is up 17 points at 5783. On Wall Street last night shares finished with modest gains after a choppy session while in Asia , there’s a fairly calm picture, with the Hang Seng and the Nikkei both close to the unchanged mark. 9.00am: And now to France. Another day, another downbeat economic indicator. France’s manufacturing sector appears to be in a gloomier mood with an official confidence index dropping to 97 in October from 99 in September. That was the lowest in more than a year and below an eocnomists’ forecast for 98. Meanwhile, France’s Le Figaro newspaper is reporting that Paris is ready to downgrade its economic growth forecast from a current 1.75% pencilled in for 2012. The report follows a move by Germany on Thursday to nearly halve its growth forecast for 2012 to 1% from 1.8%. And just when markets thought it was safe to enjoy a moment of optimism ahead of the coming summits, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is doing its best to bring them back down to earth. It said it will likely cut the ratings of five European countries , including France, if the region slips into recession and government borrowing rises. 9.07am: Germany’s closely watched IFO business climate index has come in slightly ahead of forecasts at 106.4, compared with predictions for 106.3. 9.24am: ING Financial Markets economist Carsten Brzeski sends through this reaction to the softer German IFO reading : The drop was almost equally driven by weaker current assessment and some further downward correction of expectations. The positive take is that the drop in expectations of latest months has slowed down. Recent developments in financial markets and confidence indicators have brought back the bad memories of 2008 when the German economy fell into a deep black hole. Could Greece 2011 be the same as Lehman 2008? In our view, despite all similarities with 2008, there are currently important differences: orders at hand are much higher than in 2008 and inventories are much lower. Fortunately, this is not 2008 and the economy should not collapse. Economic fundamentals are simply too sound. 9.34am: Britain’s public finances were not in quite the state economists had feared in September . A rise in tax receipts and no change in government spending left public sector net borrowing excluding the temporary effects of financial interventions at £14.1bn, according to the Office for National Statistics . That was a smaller deficit than the £15bn forecast on average by economists. 9.40am: Now back to the bigger picture and the multi-trillion-dollar question of sorting out the euro zone. Stock markets may be moderately higher but economists do not share their (albeit muted) optimism. Gary Jenkins, head of fixed income at Evolution Securities, says yesterday “must have been one of the most extraordinary days in the history of the capital markets, even though nothing actually happened.” We had leaks, counter leaks, hints and allegations but nothing of substance. The Sunday deadline has been moved to Wednesday as Germany and France cannot agree on how to increase the efficiency of EFSF funds ( according to the WSJ there is “disagreement between Germany and France over virtually every point…”). The Sunday summit will still take place (asked why a German official said “…good question…” according to the FT ). Considering the importance of the discussions and there potential impact upon the European economy, global capital markets and the future of the EU itself a delay of a few days is neither here nor there in the overall scheme of things. However the suggestions that they are still far apart on how to make best use of the EFSF is of some concern. After the announcement that Sunday’s summit would be more of a social occasion, which unsurprisingly was taken badly by the markets, there was a rumour that in fact they had agreed a new €940bn fund by combining the EFSF and the ESM. Now call me a cynic but on a day when it is clear that they cannot agree on the key points how on earth do they reach agreement to basically double the real size of the bailout fund? Especially after all the problems in getting parliamentary agreement across Europe for the small amendments to the EFSF? Seems to me that they are just throwing the market a bone to try and keep it sweet until Wednesday. 9.46am: Well we have at least one happy finance minister in Europe this morning. UK chancellor George Osborne has welcomed the public finance data. A year into from the coalition’s austerity drive, the Treasury say the smaller-than-expected September budget gap shows the government’s progress in delivering its deficit reduction plan. A spokesman for the Treasury says in a statement: One year on from the spending review, and despite the global economic turbulence stemming from the crisis of confidence in the euro zone, today’s figures show the government’s progress in delivering its deficit reduction plan. At the halfway point in the fiscal year, half of the fall in borrowing forecast for the whole year has been achieved. Howard Archer, economist at IHS Global Insight says the official data this morning is indeed welcome news for the government, but the deficit battle is far from over: The September public finance figures provided some very welcome good news for George Osborne as they came in below expectations and showed improvement on 2010. Furthermore, the Chancellor is currently on track to meet his full year fiscal targets, although the weakness of the economy and rising job losses suggest that he will have a major battle over the second half of the fiscal year to achieve his goals. 9.59am: Paul Donovan, senior economist at UBS has sent us his scathing take on developments ahead of the eurozone summits: Donovan says: “The euro has a binary choice in the long term – integrate or break up. In the near term there are three inter-related problems to resolve: Greek default; Greek bank recapitalisation by a supernational authority; euro area bank recapitalisation. “There is little point speculating on the details of the next three summits. Euro 1 seems certain to disappoint. The Euro 2 outcome may or may not disappoint. The G20 will do nothing of note (that is what the G20 always does). “In almost two decades as a professional economist I can not recall witnessing as much confusion and policy incompetence as this last week has shown. Regardless, we must hope that the euro can be made to work. The alternative is too hideous to contemplate.” 10.12am: Now, this is a clever interactive graphic tweeted by Peter Thal Larsen at Reuters Breakingviews. How to split the pain of a Greek restructuring: the latest calculator from @breakingviews and @reutersflasseur http://r.reuters.com/wuw54s The Greek mullet – think haircut – allows you to play around with the ways public and private creditors could split the pain of Greek restructuring. The graphic lets you choose whether to act today or wait till 2012 (can you guess which one European leaders would go for – think summits PLURAL). It also allows you to play around with debt to GDP ratios – something that is supposed to have been set years ago but, like many things right now in the eurozone – is up in the air. A handy one for Angela and Nicolas to have a look at perhaps. 10.49am: Time for a mid-morning markets round-up. France and Germany have promised to come up with an “ambitious, global response” to the eurozone crisis and that all the important bits of it will be “definitively adopted” on Wednesday “at the latest”. As one market player said this morning, this may be little more than bone-throwing to turbulent markets, but for now stock market traders in Europe seem pacified. The FTSE 100 is up 43 points, or 0.8%, at 5427 while France’s CAC40 is up 32 points, or more than 1%, at 3117 and Germany’s DAX is up 37 points, or 0.7%, 5803.78. Brent crude is holding above $109 a barrel but on foreign exchange markets there appears to be quite a bit more caution around the coming bailout summits and the euro has slipped against most other major currencies. 11.10am: Thanks for reading so far and if you would like to continue to follow the eurozone crisis over the weekend, here’s a helpful schedule of events to come from analysts at Citi. • Today: Eurogroup meeting, starting at 1pm London Time • Tomorrow: ECOFIN (finance ministers) meeting; General Affairs Council meeting; Merkel and Sarkozy have another meeting; meeting from 6.30pm UK time of EU leaders belonging to the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) grouping (Currently 17 out of 27 European Council members belong to this grouping, including France, Germany, Italy and Ireland.) • Sunday: EU Council meeting of the heads of state and government in the morning, followed by euro area summit in the afternoon. But what do Citi’s analysts think will be achieved by all this talking? With the parties taking more time for negotiations, we remain confident that there will in the end be an agreement on a package which includes a leveraged version of the EFSF (probably up to around €1,000bn) to support sovereign bond purchases… While the package in the end is likely to tick all boxes, the overall outcome will not solve the sovereign debt and banking problems in Europe and therefore is likely to disappoint markets, in our view. 11.21am: And now a plea. I have searched in vain for the full text of Thursday’s communique from France and Germany. Well almost in vain. Here’s a French copy of it on the Elysee Palace website with the all important “au plus tard mercredi” phrase. But we’d like to give everyone a chance to read about what is going to happen “by Wednesday at the latest” in full in English. If you have found the communique text, please do give us a shout with a link. Does the fact it’s impossible or near impossible to find tell us anything about how much commitment we should attribute to its vows? 11.34am: Germany has sought to enlighten us over the need for two summits rather than just one on Sunday. According to Angela Merkel’s spokesman a key German parliamentary committee needs time to approve key decisions, otherwise the Chancellor would be travelling to the summit without a mandate. Reuters reports that spokesman Steffen Seibert said there had to be two summits – on Sunday and on Wednesday – because there had not been time for the lower house’s budget committee to study proposals in detail – and in German – in time for Sunday’s meeting. 12.21pm: Get out your European phrase books, it’s time to update them. We thought it was about time for a round-up of metaphors and buzz words ahead of the summit. Our first phrase comes from the ECB’s Juergen Stark who warns “there is a risk that water damage is much larger than damage done by the fire” when it comes to sorting out the crisis with ballooning rescue packages. It was British prime minister David Cameron who talked of the need for a ” big bazooka ” approach. The FT (subscription) quotes this from a European official: “We’ve lost the main parachute and we’re on the reserve chute and we’re not sure that will even work.” Britain’s foreign secretary William Hague maintained that euro was a burning building with no exit Were the eurozone to break up, it might be called Eurogeddon, as suggested by a special report from the Economist Intelligence Unit entitled: After Eurogeddon: What break-up of the eurozone could mean for financial markets, business operations and the global economy Michel Barnier, internal market commissioner, has gone for a fever metaphor: “It is not the thermometer that causes the fever,” he said. “But the thermometer has to work properly to ensure you do not exaggerate the fever.” Please share your favourites with us. 1.35pm: An update now from my colleague David Gow in Brussels who has been hearing plenty about behind-the-scenes workings ahead of the weekend meetings : It seems as if all those commentators highlighting huge differences between France and Germany are barking up the wrong tree. At least, that’s the mood music coming live from Berlin where government sources insist the two agree on practically everything apart from technical issues. Anyone who suggests otherwise “is simply wrong.” The real reason why the decisions on the “comprehensive and ambitious” plan alluded to last night by Merkozy cannot be taken until Wednesday – and Wednesday it is – is the unprecedented dragging of feet by unnamed officials entrusted with preparing Sunday’s summit(s) and the spate of ministerial meetings that have just kicked off with the eurogroup. “There will be no decisions but preparation of decisions,” is the word from Berlin. It’s even being put about that the French are not even asking to use the ECB to help leverage the bailout fund, the EFSF, as the Elysée and Bercy (finance ministry) know it’s simply not a runner for the Germans. Rather, we are indeed talking about first-loss insurance and, much more intriguingly, a role for the IMF in boosting the EFSF’s firepower. Somehow, and I’m not entirely clear about this, even with an extensive briefing, eurozone countries in trouble or being prudential could use their access to the IMF’s special credit facilities via the EFSF or the IMF could itself bolster the eurozone fund. Anyway, Berlin sees this and the insurer option as being the most promising – and maybe Christine Lagarde, IMF managing director, can explain all this weekend. Either way, leveraging the EFSF will be decided upon on Wednesday – and so might the bigger haircuts for private creditors in restructuring Greek debt. Even now, the troika’s report on Greek debt sustainability has not been delivered to the eurogroup as the IMF and European commission disagree. It was promised on Wednesday morning, Wednesday evening, throughout Thursday and now it’s gloriously sunny Friday – and, well, we’re still waiting. 1.44pm: John Redwood, chairman of Evercore Pan Asset’s investment committee, has sent us his latest view of the euro zone situation and he reiterates his advice to investors to steer clear of Europe: The disagreements between France and Germany come down to a simple and big divide. France wants the EU to behave like a single country and to print, devalue and borrow as the US and UK do. Germany has no wish to underwrite the extra spending of certain members of the Eurozone and has a fear of inflation. She is not happy about the idea of a laxer monetary policy, with devaluation and more money printing. It is best to avoid European investments. 1.57pm: We have just heard from some major banks what they want out of the European Financial Stability Fund. According to IFR – a division of Reuters – a group of 10 European financial institutions have sent a letter to the EFSF to back a proposal for insurance of parts of eurozone sovereign bonds. The letter was signed by Allianz, Axa, Banco Popular Espanol, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Generali, Mediobanca, MunichRe, PIMCO, and Unicredit. 2.04pm: So we know what banks are demanding from this weekend. What about Europe’s citizens? Campaign group Avaaz has been running a petition demanding leaders agree on a “fairer EU bailout”. It says 485,805 have backed the claim that “EU leaders are using the wrong approach to the euro zone crisis and must put people not bankers first”. The citizens – from all EU Member States – demand a eurozone bailout that “serves the public interest and doesn’t reward the banks and speculators which have helped cause the crisis”. Avaaz campaign director Luis Morago says: For three years leaders have stubbornly stuck with a banker-led approach, taking the EU to the edge of the abyss. European citizens want real change now. Today half a million people are demanding that leaders stop listening to speculators, and put people first. The financial gamblers who got us into this mess can’t be allowed any more free public money. Avaaz says its petition will be presented on a mobile billboard that will circle the summit location this Sunday ahead of the arrival of the heads of state. 2.19pm: Before I hand over for the rest of the afternoon to my colleague Juliette Garside, here’s a markets update: The FTSE 100 is up 75 points, or 1.4%, at 5459, the CAC40 in France is up 51 points, or 1.6%, at 3135 and Germany’s DAX is up 134, or 2.3%, at 5900. My colleague Nils Pratley has been wondering what all the calm is about . He doesn’t expect it to last. On foreign exchange markets, the pound has hit a six-week high against the dollar while inn commodity markets, oil is rallying on optimism over this weekend’s summit while copper and gold prices are higher on day but look set to end lower over the week as a whole. 2.49pm: Hello and welcome back to the live blog with me, Juliette Garside Summary of today’s developments: Stock markets in Europe pacified by France and Germany’s promise of an “ambitious, global response” to the eurozone crisis on Wednesday The pound has hit a six-week high against the dollar Oil, copper and gold is rallying on optimism over this weekend’s summit Campaign group Avaaz calling for leaders to put people not bankers first 3.11pm: more from David Gow in Brussels: Europe’s unions are worried sick that finance ministers will use the crisis to dismantle collective wage bargaining – and threatened them with legal action if they do. This, of course, is exactly what is happening in Greece where a “socialist” government is being forced by the troika to undo national agreements and get all pay awards done at company or even plant level. This is what the ETUC, often a forgotten actor, says: “There is a real danger that these rules (on excessive imbalances) will be used to push for brutal fiscal austerity, to impose excessively high and fast deficit reduction targets and systematically roll back social benefits, public services and public investments. Decentralised and uncoordinated bargaining along with downwards flexibility of wages would be prompted so as to weaken the bargaining position of workers and trade unions. Downward wage competition within countries and between countries might follow.” The ETUC, headed by Bernadette Ségol, warns it will systematically use the wage safeguard clause to prevent such a race to the bottom and tells the neo-liberals to take their hands off Europe’s social model. “Once again,” it says, “workers and their families are asked to pay for the banks. It is time to put an end to a dysfunctional system where workers are prisoners of casino capitalism.” 3.16pm: Capital markets in the United States made a solid start, with the Dow Jones and Nasdaq both up over 1.7% in early morning trading. US traders were betting the European summit would deliver a solution and allow markets to return their focus to corporate results. John Brady, senior vice president at MF Global in Chicago, said: Today will be all Europe, everything Europe. It is all about the summit this weekend. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 1.77% or 205 points to 11746, while the Nasdaq composite rose 1.71% to 2644. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 13.6 points or 1.12% to 1229, and according to Thomson Reuters datea, 109 of the companies listed in the ranking that had reported financial results by Thursday have topped analysts’ expectations. 3.32pm: Groupon’s long awaited initial public offering has today been filed with market regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission. The online coupon pioneer is seeking a valuation of $11.4 billion (£7.2bn) in what will be the largest tech stock float since LinkedIn shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in May. The Chicago company is offering 30 million shares, or 4.7% of its 632.8m outstanding stock, at $16 to $18 each, to raise up to $540m. Groupon is due to meet with investors as early as next week to gauge demand, with the offer set for completion on 3 November, according to Bloomberg. The company had previously hoped to raise $750m, but its earlier filing in June had to be revised due to declining investor demand. Groupon reported revenue of $430.2m in the three months to end September, an increase of 9.6% on the previous quarter. The numbers show growth has slowed in the third quarter. The second quarter had shown a 33% rise compared to the first three months of the year. Net losses, however, have narrowed to $10.6m in the third quarter, from $49m a year earlier, according to Groupon’s filing. The net loss for the first nine months of 2011 is $239m. Groupon now has nearly 143m subscribers to its email list, an increase of 24% on the previous three months. Of these, nearly 30m had purchased a coupon. 4.43pm: US stocks are rising to levels not seen since early August, according to Reuters. The Dow Jones continues its recovery, up 1.9% to 11768. General Electric, the world’s biggest maker of jet engines and electric turbines, is adding to the cheer with today’s upbeat third quarter financial results. Strong demand from Brazil, Russia and China drove profit up 18%, countering the effect of the slowdown in Europe and North America. General electric says it expects earnings to rise at a double digit percentage next year. Chief executive Jeff Immelt told investors: Our emerging market growth was very strong. it was a good quarter in a volatile environment. However, General Electric’s shares were down about 1.6% in morning trading after its profit margins were revealed to be weaker than forecast. 4.54pm: European stocks ended the week on a positive note, with investors confident that the forthcoming round of summits would halt contagion from the Greek debt crisis. The FTSE 100 closed up 1.93%, or 103.97 points at 5488.65, while the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares provisionally closed 2.5% higher at 977.72 points, the highest rise in two weeks. Chancellor George Osborne will attend a meeting of European finance ministers in Brussels tomorrow, ahead of a European Council on Sunday. France and Germany have promised a firm solution after further talks on Wednesday. Speaking ahead of the summits, Osborne said: The coming days will be critical for resolving the crisis in the Eurozone. I am convinced of everyone’s commitment to this. A resolution to the Eurozone crisis would be the biggest boost to growth in Britain and around the world. Patrice Perois at Kepler Capital Markets warns the rally could be short lived, with today’s merriment leading to headaches next week. He told Reuters: People are afraid of being caught on the wrong side before the meeting. It’s a rumour-driven market, clearly not controlled by long-only guys and there’s a risk of hangover next week. Today’s highlights: • The FTSE 100 closed up 1.93%, or 103.97 points at 5488.65 • United States indexes made their strongest gains since August • France’s Le Figaro newspaper predicted Paris would downgrade the 1.75% economic growth forecast pencilled in for 2012 • Groupon filed a long-awaited £11.4bn initial public offering • A group of 10 Euro banks and insurers wrote to the European Financial Stability Fund requesting insurance for parts of sovereign bonds That’s all for the live blog today. European debt crisis Economics Europe Europe Greece France Germany Katie Allen Juliette Garside guardian.co.uk
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• Just 48 hours to go to crunch bailout summit • FTSE up 1.4% – European stocks higher • Afternoon market round-up • Today’s agenda 7.44am: Welcome to Friday’s business blog live with me, Katie Allen. There remains plenty for markets to get nervous about as we head towards a summit this weekend to shore up the euro, sort out vulnerable banks, deal with Greece’s mounting fiscal problems and find a way to stop Italy and Spain succumbing to the same fate. Sound like a lot? Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy certainly think so. That’s why they confirmed last night that Sunday’s meeting won’t do the job and that there will be another summit next Wednesday . Before we round-up reactions to this latest development in the bailout story, we’ll give you a quick look ahead to Friday’s main events. Obviously, we’ll be watching out for all the comments throughout Europe ahead of the summit and developments in Greece – where violent clashes claimed a man’s life on Thursday . 7.45am: Here’s a list of the scheduled events. (All times are UK local and where possible we’ve put in links for more on the data/events): • 7.45am: French business climate indicator for October. Forecast 98 reading from 99 in September. • 8.40am: ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet, ECB’s Juergen Stark, EU commissioner Olli Rehn all speaking in Poland • 9.00am: Germany’s IFO business climate indicator for October. Forecast 106.3 from 107.5 in September. • 9.00am: Sarkozy scheduled to speak at G20 conference on development • 9.30am: ONS publishes UK public finances for September . PSNB forecast at £12.15bn vs £13.16bn August. • 3.30pm: US Economic Cycle Research Institute releases weekly activity index 8.11am: To catch up on Thursday’s events, my colleagues’ blog covered developments in Europe as they happened . A quick run-down: • Dimitris Kotsaridis, a 53-year-old construction worker, died during a second-day of violent clashes in Greece • Communist and anarchist groups clashed, while riot police used stun grenades to clear the streets • The Greek parliament approved the latest austerity package , although one ruling MP broke ranks • European leaders will hold a second summit next week, admitting they won’t reach a deal this weekend • Troika warned that Greek economy will shrink 15% between 2009 and 2012 8.33am: And now to the markets: European shares are reversing some of Thursday’s losses made on euro zone dithering. Any big solution on Sunday seems off the agenda but markets are pinning their hopes on a Wednesday result and so the FTSE 100 is up 16 points at 5400, France’s CAC40 is up 23 points – that’s almost 1% – at 3107 and Germany Dax is up 17 points at 5783. On Wall Street last night shares finished with modest gains after a choppy session while in Asia , there’s a fairly calm picture, with the Hang Seng and the Nikkei both close to the unchanged mark. 9.00am: And now to France. Another day, another downbeat economic indicator. France’s manufacturing sector appears to be in a gloomier mood with an official confidence index dropping to 97 in October from 99 in September. That was the lowest in more than a year and below an eocnomists’ forecast for 98. Meanwhile, France’s Le Figaro newspaper is reporting that Paris is ready to downgrade its economic growth forecast from a current 1.75% pencilled in for 2012. The report follows a move by Germany on Thursday to nearly halve its growth forecast for 2012 to 1% from 1.8%. And just when markets thought it was safe to enjoy a moment of optimism ahead of the coming summits, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is doing its best to bring them back down to earth. It said it will likely cut the ratings of five European countries , including France, if the region slips into recession and government borrowing rises. 9.07am: Germany’s closely watched IFO business climate index has come in slightly ahead of forecasts at 106.4, compared with predictions for 106.3. 9.24am: ING Financial Markets economist Carsten Brzeski sends through this reaction to the softer German IFO reading : The drop was almost equally driven by weaker current assessment and some further downward correction of expectations. The positive take is that the drop in expectations of latest months has slowed down. Recent developments in financial markets and confidence indicators have brought back the bad memories of 2008 when the German economy fell into a deep black hole. Could Greece 2011 be the same as Lehman 2008? In our view, despite all similarities with 2008, there are currently important differences: orders at hand are much higher than in 2008 and inventories are much lower. Fortunately, this is not 2008 and the economy should not collapse. Economic fundamentals are simply too sound. 9.34am: Britain’s public finances were not in quite the state economists had feared in September . A rise in tax receipts and no change in government spending left public sector net borrowing excluding the temporary effects of financial interventions at £14.1bn, according to the Office for National Statistics . That was a smaller deficit than the £15bn forecast on average by economists. 9.40am: Now back to the bigger picture and the multi-trillion-dollar question of sorting out the euro zone. Stock markets may be moderately higher but economists do not share their (albeit muted) optimism. Gary Jenkins, head of fixed income at Evolution Securities, says yesterday “must have been one of the most extraordinary days in the history of the capital markets, even though nothing actually happened.” We had leaks, counter leaks, hints and allegations but nothing of substance. The Sunday deadline has been moved to Wednesday as Germany and France cannot agree on how to increase the efficiency of EFSF funds ( according to the WSJ there is “disagreement between Germany and France over virtually every point…”). The Sunday summit will still take place (asked why a German official said “…good question…” according to the FT ). Considering the importance of the discussions and there potential impact upon the European economy, global capital markets and the future of the EU itself a delay of a few days is neither here nor there in the overall scheme of things. However the suggestions that they are still far apart on how to make best use of the EFSF is of some concern. After the announcement that Sunday’s summit would be more of a social occasion, which unsurprisingly was taken badly by the markets, there was a rumour that in fact they had agreed a new €940bn fund by combining the EFSF and the ESM. Now call me a cynic but on a day when it is clear that they cannot agree on the key points how on earth do they reach agreement to basically double the real size of the bailout fund? Especially after all the problems in getting parliamentary agreement across Europe for the small amendments to the EFSF? Seems to me that they are just throwing the market a bone to try and keep it sweet until Wednesday. 9.46am: Well we have at least one happy finance minister in Europe this morning. UK chancellor George Osborne has welcomed the public finance data. A year into from the coalition’s austerity drive, the Treasury say the smaller-than-expected September budget gap shows the government’s progress in delivering its deficit reduction plan. A spokesman for the Treasury says in a statement: One year on from the spending review, and despite the global economic turbulence stemming from the crisis of confidence in the euro zone, today’s figures show the government’s progress in delivering its deficit reduction plan. At the halfway point in the fiscal year, half of the fall in borrowing forecast for the whole year has been achieved. Howard Archer, economist at IHS Global Insight says the official data this morning is indeed welcome news for the government, but the deficit battle is far from over: The September public finance figures provided some very welcome good news for George Osborne as they came in below expectations and showed improvement on 2010. Furthermore, the Chancellor is currently on track to meet his full year fiscal targets, although the weakness of the economy and rising job losses suggest that he will have a major battle over the second half of the fiscal year to achieve his goals. 9.59am: Paul Donovan, senior economist at UBS has sent us his scathing take on developments ahead of the eurozone summits: Donovan says: “The euro has a binary choice in the long term – integrate or break up. In the near term there are three inter-related problems to resolve: Greek default; Greek bank recapitalisation by a supernational authority; euro area bank recapitalisation. “There is little point speculating on the details of the next three summits. Euro 1 seems certain to disappoint. The Euro 2 outcome may or may not disappoint. The G20 will do nothing of note (that is what the G20 always does). “In almost two decades as a professional economist I can not recall witnessing as much confusion and policy incompetence as this last week has shown. Regardless, we must hope that the euro can be made to work. The alternative is too hideous to contemplate.” 10.12am: Now, this is a clever interactive graphic tweeted by Peter Thal Larsen at Reuters Breakingviews. How to split the pain of a Greek restructuring: the latest calculator from @breakingviews and @reutersflasseur http://r.reuters.com/wuw54s The Greek mullet – think haircut – allows you to play around with the ways public and private creditors could split the pain of Greek restructuring. The graphic lets you choose whether to act today or wait till 2012 (can you guess which one European leaders would go for – think summits PLURAL). It also allows you to play around with debt to GDP ratios – something that is supposed to have been set years ago but, like many things right now in the eurozone – is up in the air. A handy one for Angela and Nicolas to have a look at perhaps. 10.49am: Time for a mid-morning markets round-up. France and Germany have promised to come up with an “ambitious, global response” to the eurozone crisis and that all the important bits of it will be “definitively adopted” on Wednesday “at the latest”. As one market player said this morning, this may be little more than bone-throwing to turbulent markets, but for now stock market traders in Europe seem pacified. The FTSE 100 is up 43 points, or 0.8%, at 5427 while France’s CAC40 is up 32 points, or more than 1%, at 3117 and Germany’s DAX is up 37 points, or 0.7%, 5803.78. Brent crude is holding above $109 a barrel but on foreign exchange markets there appears to be quite a bit more caution around the coming bailout summits and the euro has slipped against most other major currencies. 11.10am: Thanks for reading so far and if you would like to continue to follow the eurozone crisis over the weekend, here’s a helpful schedule of events to come from analysts at Citi. • Today: Eurogroup meeting, starting at 1pm London Time • Tomorrow: ECOFIN (finance ministers) meeting; General Affairs Council meeting; Merkel and Sarkozy have another meeting; meeting from 6.30pm UK time of EU leaders belonging to the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) grouping (Currently 17 out of 27 European Council members belong to this grouping, including France, Germany, Italy and Ireland.) • Sunday: EU Council meeting of the heads of state and government in the morning, followed by euro area summit in the afternoon. But what do Citi’s analysts think will be achieved by all this talking? With the parties taking more time for negotiations, we remain confident that there will in the end be an agreement on a package which includes a leveraged version of the EFSF (probably up to around €1,000bn) to support sovereign bond purchases… While the package in the end is likely to tick all boxes, the overall outcome will not solve the sovereign debt and banking problems in Europe and therefore is likely to disappoint markets, in our view. 11.21am: And now a plea. I have searched in vain for the full text of Thursday’s communique from France and Germany. Well almost in vain. Here’s a French copy of it on the Elysee Palace website with the all important “au plus tard mercredi” phrase. But we’d like to give everyone a chance to read about what is going to happen “by Wednesday at the latest” in full in English. If you have found the communique text, please do give us a shout with a link. Does the fact it’s impossible or near impossible to find tell us anything about how much commitment we should attribute to its vows? 11.34am: Germany has sought to enlighten us over the need for two summits rather than just one on Sunday. According to Angela Merkel’s spokesman a key German parliamentary committee needs time to approve key decisions, otherwise the Chancellor would be travelling to the summit without a mandate. Reuters reports that spokesman Steffen Seibert said there had to be two summits – on Sunday and on Wednesday – because there had not been time for the lower house’s budget committee to study proposals in detail – and in German – in time for Sunday’s meeting. 12.21pm: Get out your European phrase books, it’s time to update them. We thought it was about time for a round-up of metaphors and buzz words ahead of the summit. Our first phrase comes from the ECB’s Juergen Stark who warns “there is a risk that water damage is much larger than damage done by the fire” when it comes to sorting out the crisis with ballooning rescue packages. It was British prime minister David Cameron who talked of the need for a ” big bazooka ” approach. The FT (subscription) quotes this from a European official: “We’ve lost the main parachute and we’re on the reserve chute and we’re not sure that will even work.” Britain’s foreign secretary William Hague maintained that euro was a burning building with no exit Were the eurozone to break up, it might be called Eurogeddon, as suggested by a special report from the Economist Intelligence Unit entitled: After Eurogeddon: What break-up of the eurozone could mean for financial markets, business operations and the global economy Michel Barnier, internal market commissioner, has gone for a fever metaphor: “It is not the thermometer that causes the fever,” he said. “But the thermometer has to work properly to ensure you do not exaggerate the fever.” Please share your favourites with us. 1.35pm: An update now from my colleague David Gow in Brussels who has been hearing plenty about behind-the-scenes workings ahead of the weekend meetings : It seems as if all those commentators highlighting huge differences between France and Germany are barking up the wrong tree. At least, that’s the mood music coming live from Berlin where government sources insist the two agree on practically everything apart from technical issues. Anyone who suggests otherwise “is simply wrong.” The real reason why the decisions on the “comprehensive and ambitious” plan alluded to last night by Merkozy cannot be taken until Wednesday – and Wednesday it is – is the unprecedented dragging of feet by unnamed officials entrusted with preparing Sunday’s summit(s) and the spate of ministerial meetings that have just kicked off with the eurogroup. “There will be no decisions but preparation of decisions,” is the word from Berlin. It’s even being put about that the French are not even asking to use the ECB to help leverage the bailout fund, the EFSF, as the Elysée and Bercy (finance ministry) know it’s simply not a runner for the Germans. Rather, we are indeed talking about first-loss insurance and, much more intriguingly, a role for the IMF in boosting the EFSF’s firepower. Somehow, and I’m not entirely clear about this, even with an extensive briefing, eurozone countries in trouble or being prudential could use their access to the IMF’s special credit facilities via the EFSF or the IMF could itself bolster the eurozone fund. Anyway, Berlin sees this and the insurer option as being the most promising – and maybe Christine Lagarde, IMF managing director, can explain all this weekend. Either way, leveraging the EFSF will be decided upon on Wednesday – and so might the bigger haircuts for private creditors in restructuring Greek debt. Even now, the troika’s report on Greek debt sustainability has not been delivered to the eurogroup as the IMF and European commission disagree. It was promised on Wednesday morning, Wednesday evening, throughout Thursday and now it’s gloriously sunny Friday – and, well, we’re still waiting. 1.44pm: John Redwood, chairman of Evercore Pan Asset’s investment committee, has sent us his latest view of the euro zone situation and he reiterates his advice to investors to steer clear of Europe: The disagreements between France and Germany come down to a simple and big divide. France wants the EU to behave like a single country and to print, devalue and borrow as the US and UK do. Germany has no wish to underwrite the extra spending of certain members of the Eurozone and has a fear of inflation. She is not happy about the idea of a laxer monetary policy, with devaluation and more money printing. It is best to avoid European investments. 1.57pm: We have just heard from some major banks what they want out of the European Financial Stability Fund. According to IFR – a division of Reuters – a group of 10 European financial institutions have sent a letter to the EFSF to back a proposal for insurance of parts of eurozone sovereign bonds. The letter was signed by Allianz, Axa, Banco Popular Espanol, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Generali, Mediobanca, MunichRe, PIMCO, and Unicredit. 2.04pm: So we know what banks are demanding from this weekend. What about Europe’s citizens? Campaign group Avaaz has been running a petition demanding leaders agree on a “fairer EU bailout”. It says 485,805 have backed the claim that “EU leaders are using the wrong approach to the euro zone crisis and must put people not bankers first”. The citizens – from all EU Member States – demand a eurozone bailout that “serves the public interest and doesn’t reward the banks and speculators which have helped cause the crisis”. Avaaz campaign director Luis Morago says: For three years leaders have stubbornly stuck with a banker-led approach, taking the EU to the edge of the abyss. European citizens want real change now. Today half a million people are demanding that leaders stop listening to speculators, and put people first. The financial gamblers who got us into this mess can’t be allowed any more free public money. Avaaz says its petition will be presented on a mobile billboard that will circle the summit location this Sunday ahead of the arrival of the heads of state. 2.19pm: Before I hand over for the rest of the afternoon to my colleague Juliette Garside, here’s a markets update: The FTSE 100 is up 75 points, or 1.4%, at 5459, the CAC40 in France is up 51 points, or 1.6%, at 3135 and Germany’s DAX is up 134, or 2.3%, at 5900. My colleague Nils Pratley has been wondering what all the calm is about . He doesn’t expect it to last. On foreign exchange markets, the pound has hit a six-week high against the dollar while inn commodity markets, oil is rallying on optimism over this weekend’s summit while copper and gold prices are higher on day but look set to end lower over the week as a whole. 2.49pm: Hello and welcome back to the live blog with me, Juliette Garside Summary of today’s developments: Stock markets in Europe pacified by France and Germany’s promise of an “ambitious, global response” to the eurozone crisis on Wednesday The pound has hit a six-week high against the dollar Oil, copper and gold is rallying on optimism over this weekend’s summit Campaign group Avaaz calling for leaders to put people not bankers first 3.11pm: more from David Gow in Brussels: Europe’s unions are worried sick that finance ministers will use the crisis to dismantle collective wage bargaining – and threatened them with legal action if they do. This, of course, is exactly what is happening in Greece where a “socialist” government is being forced by the troika to undo national agreements and get all pay awards done at company or even plant level. This is what the ETUC, often a forgotten actor, says: “There is a real danger that these rules (on excessive imbalances) will be used to push for brutal fiscal austerity, to impose excessively high and fast deficit reduction targets and systematically roll back social benefits, public services and public investments. Decentralised and uncoordinated bargaining along with downwards flexibility of wages would be prompted so as to weaken the bargaining position of workers and trade unions. Downward wage competition within countries and between countries might follow.” The ETUC, headed by Bernadette Ségol, warns it will systematically use the wage safeguard clause to prevent such a race to the bottom and tells the neo-liberals to take their hands off Europe’s social model. “Once again,” it says, “workers and their families are asked to pay for the banks. It is time to put an end to a dysfunctional system where workers are prisoners of casino capitalism.” 3.16pm: Capital markets in the United States made a solid start, with the Dow Jones and Nasdaq both up over 1.7% in early morning trading. US traders were betting the European summit would deliver a solution and allow markets to return their focus to corporate results. John Brady, senior vice president at MF Global in Chicago, said: Today will be all Europe, everything Europe. It is all about the summit this weekend. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 1.77% or 205 points to 11746, while the Nasdaq composite rose 1.71% to 2644. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 13.6 points or 1.12% to 1229, and according to Thomson Reuters datea, 109 of the companies listed in the ranking that had reported financial results by Thursday have topped analysts’ expectations. 3.32pm: Groupon’s long awaited initial public offering has today been filed with market regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission. The online coupon pioneer is seeking a valuation of $11.4 billion (£7.2bn) in what will be the largest tech stock float since LinkedIn shares began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in May. The Chicago company is offering 30 million shares, or 4.7% of its 632.8m outstanding stock, at $16 to $18 each, to raise up to $540m. Groupon is due to meet with investors as early as next week to gauge demand, with the offer set for completion on 3 November, according to Bloomberg. The company had previously hoped to raise $750m, but its earlier filing in June had to be revised due to declining investor demand. Groupon reported revenue of $430.2m in the three months to end September, an increase of 9.6% on the previous quarter. The numbers show growth has slowed in the third quarter. The second quarter had shown a 33% rise compared to the first three months of the year. Net losses, however, have narrowed to $10.6m in the third quarter, from $49m a year earlier, according to Groupon’s filing. The net loss for the first nine months of 2011 is $239m. Groupon now has nearly 143m subscribers to its email list, an increase of 24% on the previous three months. Of these, nearly 30m had purchased a coupon. 4.43pm: US stocks are rising to levels not seen since early August, according to Reuters. The Dow Jones continues its recovery, up 1.9% to 11768. General Electric, the world’s biggest maker of jet engines and electric turbines, is adding to the cheer with today’s upbeat third quarter financial results. Strong demand from Brazil, Russia and China drove profit up 18%, countering the effect of the slowdown in Europe and North America. General electric says it expects earnings to rise at a double digit percentage next year. Chief executive Jeff Immelt told investors: Our emerging market growth was very strong. it was a good quarter in a volatile environment. However, General Electric’s shares were down about 1.6% in morning trading after its profit margins were revealed to be weaker than forecast. 4.54pm: European stocks ended the week on a positive note, with investors confident that the forthcoming round of summits would halt contagion from the Greek debt crisis. The FTSE 100 closed up 1.93%, or 103.97 points at 5488.65, while the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares provisionally closed 2.5% higher at 977.72 points, the highest rise in two weeks. Chancellor George Osborne will attend a meeting of European finance ministers in Brussels tomorrow, ahead of a European Council on Sunday. France and Germany have promised a firm solution after further talks on Wednesday. Speaking ahead of the summits, Osborne said: The coming days will be critical for resolving the crisis in the Eurozone. I am convinced of everyone’s commitment to this. A resolution to the Eurozone crisis would be the biggest boost to growth in Britain and around the world. Patrice Perois at Kepler Capital Markets warns the rally could be short lived, with today’s merriment leading to headaches next week. He told Reuters: People are afraid of being caught on the wrong side before the meeting. It’s a rumour-driven market, clearly not controlled by long-only guys and there’s a risk of hangover next week. Today’s highlights: • The FTSE 100 closed up 1.93%, or 103.97 points at 5488.65 • United States indexes made their strongest gains since August • France’s Le Figaro newspaper predicted Paris would downgrade the 1.75% economic growth forecast pencilled in for 2012 • Groupon filed a long-awaited £11.4bn initial public offering • A group of 10 Euro banks and insurers wrote to the European Financial Stability Fund requesting insurance for parts of sovereign bonds That’s all for the live blog today. European debt crisis Economics Europe Europe Greece France Germany Katie Allen Juliette Garside guardian.co.uk
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Rupert Murdoch is facing a revolt at News Corporation’s annual meeting over its handling of the phone hacking scandal. Follow developments live 2.06pm ET / 7.06pm BST: I’m listening in to the annual meeting on an audio stream, and Murdoch’s demeanour is fascinating. At times he is combative, brusque, putting down his veteran adversaries such as Stephen Mayne with waspish comments. At other times he stumbles and seems unsure of himself. It’s gripping. 1.55pm ET / 6.55pm BST: Stephen Mayne is back up at the mic now, complaining that Murdoch is attempting to close the debate down in an “anti-democratic and embarassing” manner. “I think we can stand our embarrassment,” Murdoch replies, pointing out that Tom Watson had been on Fox News this morning. “That’s fair and balanced,” Murdoch says, in a wry reference to the channel’s much-derided slogan. 1.53pm ET / 6.53pm BST: Tom Watson has the floor for a second time, and attempts to press Murdoch once again on allegations of computer hacking – attempting to widen the debate from phone hacking. He names Alex Marunchak, a former News of the World senior journalist linked to private investigator Jonathan Rees. Viet Dinh replies, says News Corporation is fully co-operating with the police, but that it wonn’t comment in individuals. He says police have asked the company to withhold comment to “ensure the proper administration of justice”. Dinh says there are “number of allegations, assertions, rumours and reports” which the company takes very seriously and investigates. Murdoch adds: “We will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of this and put it right.” 1.45pm ET / 6.45pm BST: Viet Dinh is speaking now, and says he has engaged directly on the issue of corporate governance with all those who have spoken today. 1.42pm ET / 6.42pm BST Murdoch is is having something of a ding-dong with Mayne. The Australian shareholders association director is trying to prolong the debate, but Murdoch wants to move to a vote. Mayne says he has not decided how to vote. “I’m not calling you a liar, but I know exactly how you’re going to vote,” Murdoch says, to laughter. 1.41pm: A representative of the pension fund Calpers tells Murdoch they and Hermes, the BT pension fund, want him to step down as chairman. 1.34pm ET / 6.34pm BST: Edward Mason of the Church of England is now speaking in support of the motion that would oust Rupert Murdoch as chairman. Murdoch interrupts Mason almost immediately, saying “your investments haven’t been that great”. 1.33pm ET / 6.33pm ET: Murdoch says the allegations by Watson are “recent rumours”. He says 90% of what the police knows comes from News Corporation, he says. “We will put this right,” he affirms, banging the desk. 1.30pm ET / 6.30pm ET: Tom Watson is now speaking. He’s listing how the scandal has spread in Britain. He’s saying that police are investigating three more private detectives, involving invasions of privacy via computer hacking. “If I know about this, with all the resources you are putting into clearing up this scandal, you must know this too.” 1.29pm ET / 6.29pm BST Stephen Mayne , director of the Australian Shareholder Association is now speaking. He’s not mincing his words, talking about “gross underperformance” of the company, a “gerrymandered” two-tier share structure. Director Viet Dinh is godfather to Lachlan Murdoch’s child, he says. “You’ve treated us like mushrooms for a long time. It’s time to get with the programme.” 1.24pm ET / 6.24pm BST: Julie Tanner, assistant director of socially responsible investing at shareholder Christian Brothers Investment Services, is putting forward the proposal now. She says it has strong support in the light of the phone hacking scandal. “This pervasive and value destroying scandal requires stronger independent leadership on the board,” she says. 1.23pm ET / 6.23pm BST: The meeting is now discussing the first proposal – that Rupert Murdoch should be ousted as chairman. 1.21pm ET / 6.21pm BST: As the meeting gets under way inside the theater, there are more than 200 protesters with the lobbying organization Common Cause outside, according to Dominic Rushe. 1.17pm ET / 6.17pm BST: He says that News Corp’s cable channels, including Fox News and the Fox broadcasting network in the US now account for more than half of the company’s adjusted income. Fox is “leaving the competition far behind”, he says. In the UK, he says BSkyB now has more than 10m subscribers. He does not mention the tangle over News Corporation’s attempt to buy 100% of BSkyB, which was scuppered by the phone hacking scandal. He says the company “will not rest on our laurels”. It says it is in “great shape to prosper”. And that’s the end of the opening statement. 1.14pm ET / 6.14pm BST: Murdoch has now moved onto listing the achievements of News Corporation elsewhere. He references his beloved new educational ventures before talking about the media divisions. The first newspaper he mentions is the Wall Street Journal, on which he lavishes praise. He mentions the iPad-only Daily. He says advertising is “surprisingly strong” in the UK. 1.10pm ET / 6.10pm BST: Murdoch is showing some contrition for the phone hacking scandal. He says: “We must admit to and confront our mistakes.” He says he is “personally determined” to right the wrongs that have been committed and that it does not happen again “anywhere in our company”. He adds the company has been under “understandable scrutiny and unfair attack”. He says that he want to put the phone hacking scandal “in context”, and that the story of News Corp “is the stuff of legend”. “We could not be taking this more seriously,” he says, referencing the closure of the News fo the World and saying the company was co-operating closely with the Metropolitan Police in London. 1.07pm ET: The meeting has begun and Rupert Murdoch is now speaking, making an opening statement. 12.53pm ET / 5.53pm BST: Tom Watson has tweeted a picture of himself on the News Corporation bus, taking him to the annual meeting venue at Fox. He seems quite pleased with his “stockholder” badge. Meanwhile the activist group Avaaz has been urging its supporters to call News Corp shareholders. It is printing telephone numbers on its website and asking people to call them up and “politely” ask them to vote down the Murdochs. Avaaz says more than 1,000 calls have already been made. It’s largely a symbolic protest: many of the institutional shareholders will not be present at the meeting and have already voted. 12.40pm ET / 5.40pm BST: Here’s more from Dominic in Los Angeles: The day started in a nondescript parking lot in Century City. Shareholders and press were ushered by uniformed guards into a screening room and ID and bags were checked (presumably to make sure there are no cream pies). We were then bussed to the Fox Studios lot and had to pass another metal detector test and bag check. I got here early and now there are a few dozen people waiting for the main event which will take place in an hour in the Zanuck Theatre. We are in a tent outside the theatre – it has fake grass on the floor and moody pink lighting. It reminds me of some outdoor weddings I’ve been to. The Murdochs face three potentially embarrassing votes. First the re-election of directors. Major shareholders have said they will vote against the re-election of most of the board, including Rupert and his two sons. Second, shareholders are preparing to vote against the company’s pay scheme. Murdoch was paid $33.3m in the last financial year including a $12.5m cash bonus, in the previous year he was paid $22.7m. Third, shareholders in the room will vote on a proposal to force Murdoch to stand down and appoint an independent chairman. The family has enough votes to win any ballot. But if giant US pension funds like Calpers keep up the pressure it will be hard for them to ignore. Tom Watson MP is hoping to be here. He’s bought shares and is aiming to ask a few questions. I’m sure Rupert’s looking forward to that! 12.11pm ET / 5.11pm BST: Dominic Rushe writes from Los Angeles: Edward Mason, secretary of the the ethical investment advisory group of the Church of England i s here. They own about $6m worth of News Corp shares. This is the first time they have attended a US annual general meeting. “We have had difficulty getting the company to listen to us,” he says. “There needs to be decisive action in terms of holding people to account. Responsibility needs to be taken at a senior level.” He said the resignations of Rebekah Brooks and Les Hinton were accepted “with great reluctance” he says. “There needs to be a fresh start.” 11.56am ET / 4.56pm BST: The annual meeting is taking place in the Daryl F Zanuck Theater at the Fox studio complex near Beverly Hills, California. Dominic Rushe , who is tweeting throughout the meeting , says he has passed security. “Have passed security check. No cream pies in my bag. Now on coach heading to NewsCorp agm” 11.38am ET / 4.38pm BST: My colleague Dominic Rushe , who is in Los Angeles for the meeting, caught up with the campaigning MP Tom Watson, who has acquired nonvoting proxy stockholder status in order to be present at the meeting today. I caught up with Tom Watson last night at the hotel. He told me that so far shareholders believe this is a scandal centered around one rogue private investigator but there are three other private investigators being looked at by the Metropolitan Police and much more to come. “I don’t think shareholders know what they are exposing themselves to,” he said. That’s what he intends to say at the meeting given the chance. He also alleges there is good evidence that Murdoch knew that the issue was wider than one rogue reporter at the time of the last annual meeting in October 2010, and is intending to bring that up. He’s been speaking to shareholders. “When I talk to people they are genuinely shocked. When you look at the scale of wrongdoing, it’s obvious it is systemic,” he said. With that, he was off to dinner in his rather natty suit and Prada glasses. 11.31am ET / 4.31pm BST: Here’s the Guardian’s story on the confirmation today that News Corporation has agreed a settlement totalling £3m with the family of Milly Dowler, the murdered British schoolgirl whose phone was hacked by the News of the World. The settlement includes a personal £1m donation from Rupert Murdoch to charities selected by the Dowler family. Our story says: The Dowlers have decided to donate Murdoch’s £1m to six charities representing causes close to Milly and those that support victims of crime. They are Shooting Star Chase, Child Victims of Crime, Suzy Lamplugh Trust, Hampton Pool Trust, Braintumouruk.org and Cancer Research. “Nothing that has been agreed will ever bring back Milly or undo the traumas of her disappearance and the horrendous murder trial earlier this year,” the Dowler family said. 11.25am ET / 4.25pm BST: Dan Sabbagh, the Guardian’s head of media and technology, is predicting a rebellion of around 20%. He writes: The key moment will be the votes for the re-election of Rupert Murdoch, and particularly for James and for his eldest son Lachlan. The Murdoch family’s 40% bloc of voting shares means that there is no doubt about who will win the vote. But the key point is the size of the rebellion – and in particular with a majority of non-Murdoch investors vote against the family members as they seek to be reappointed to the company’s board. News Corp insiders talk about a revolt of in excess of 20% of independent investors, which sets a minimum level. But it is expected that Prince Alwaleed, the Saudi billionaire, will lend the support of his 7% bloc to the ruling family, leaving the opposition to come from US, UK and Australian investors. Chief amongst the critics will be the influential Calpers, which manages pension funds on behalf of California’s public employees, an activist body that has long believed the Murdochs exercise too much control. Such is the structure of News Corp’s share capital that two-thirds of the shares carry no voting rights. The result is that the Murdochs may have 40% of the voting shares, but their true economic interest is about 12% in the vast company whose interest spans from the Fox film studio, television network and news channel, to the Australian and other newspapers in that country, through to Sky Italia and the Sun and the Times newspapers in the UK. Expect also plenty of theatre along the way. Shareholders and press are being bussed into the Fox studio lot where the meeting is taking place. Tom Watson, the Labour MP, has flown over from the UK to try and challenge the Murdochs at the meeting with the help of proxy vote on behalf of the American labour union, the AFL-CIO. There will be questions from the floor from investors, as well as Watson if he gets his way. Rupert Murdoch will make his feelings known. The talk from the company is that there will be less contrition, more defiance. He will emphasise the company’s healthy financial performance, and note that for all the problems caused by the News of the World, none of this should derail the business financially. Operating profits of $4.9bn after all dwarf the £3m paid out to the Dowler family today, or the £20m settlement fund proposed. It will be enough to get him through the day, but the question is what damage will be done to him and the prospects for James by the response of the independent shareholders, who are also part owners in the family business. 11.21am ET / 4.21pm BST: Here’s a brief reading list while we wait for the meeting to get under way. • Here’s the New York Times preview of today’s event. It says News Corp executives will attempt to placate shareholders by highlighting the company’s strong share performance and its share buyback scheme. • This Guardian piece by Dominic Rushe highlights the concerns of some shareholders. “The scandal shows that there is something deeply wrong with this company,” says Julie Tanner, assistant director of socially responsible investing at shareholder Christian Brothers Investment Services, who will propose a vote to remove Rupert Murdoch as chairman. “The board is failing in its leadership operation. • The Los Angeles Times speculates that News Corp president Chase Carey, who is well regarded by shareholders, may be elevated to CEO. Rupert Murdoch would be left with a diminished role. • The Financial Times quotes Tom Watson as saying Rupert Murdoch is approaching his “Rosebud moment” – “in reference to the last word uttered by the title character in Citizen Kane, the Orson Welles film about a press tycoon”. 11.08am ET / 4.08pm BST: Today’s event is likely to be something of a spectacle, particularly with the presence of Watson. Shareholders will have the opportunity to question Rupert Murdoch from the floor, and there could be some lively scenes. But the reality is that the Murdoch family control 39% of the voting shares, even though they only 12% of the company, because of the two-tier share structure at News Corp. They also have the backing of Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who controls another 7% of voting shares. So while the meeting will be bumpy, they are likely to survive the key votes. The question is how much damage a large revolt will cause. 11am ET / 4pm BST: News Corporation is holding its annual shareholder meeting in Los Angeles today. The company is facing a potential revolt from a group of shareholders over its handling of the phone-hacking scandal. Our correspondent Dominic Rushe is there and we will be covering the event live, backed up with our unrivalled team of experts. Here is a summary of events so far today. Rupert Murdoch will face angry shareholders at News Corp’s annual general meeting in Los Angeles. Close to a quarter News Corp shareholders – including some of the world’s biggest pension funds – have pledged to vote for the removal of Murdoch, his sons James and Lachlan, and other directors, whom the shareholders blame for the phone-hacking scandal that has rocked the media empire and led to the closure of the News of the World in the UK. The British Labour MP Tom Watson, who has led the parliamentary charge on phone hacking, is in Los Angeles for the meeting. He has pledged to make further revelations about practices at News Corportation, saying many shareholders are not aware of the full extent of how far the scandal extends. Murdoch has today announced that he will make a personal donation of £1m (about $1.6m) to charities chosen by the family of the murdered British schoolgirl Milly Dowler, whose phone was hacked by the News of the World. News Corporation will pay a further £2m will paid to the Dowler family in compensation. News Corporation News International News of the World Phone hacking Rupert Murdoch James Murdoch Tom Watson United States Matt Wells guardian.co.uk
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