Russell Howard’s Good News and Frank Skinner’s Opinionated are the latest in a slew of programmes offering a satirical take on current events. Are you still laughing? In retrospect, perhaps this wasn’t the ideal week for Russell Howard’s Good News to return. Writing topical comedy is hard. Writing upbeat topical comedy is harder. Writing upbeat topical comedy during the least amusing week in recent memory is just plain stupid. Between the stories of bombings and war and death and financial cuts and impending nuclear catastrophe, Russell Howard should probably consider Thursday’s episode a success by managing to go the distance without curling into a ball and weeping into his clenched fists. But he’s not alone. Right now you can barely move for televised topical comedy shows. As well as Good News, a new series of Frank Skinner’s Opinionated starts tonight, competing with Channel 4′s 10 O’Clock Live and Stand Up for the Week – not to mention the current Mock the Week repeats on BBC Two and the impending return of Have I Got News For You. That’s an awful lot of programmes competing for what isn’t a particularly big patch of turf, and it’ll be interesting to see what the result of this bun fight is. In general, topical comedy lives and dies by the quality of the news. If it’s been a big, busy week then there should be more than enough to go around. But if there’s been a tragedy – or, worse, no news at all – it could mean several shows will end up all scraping the bottom of the same empty barrel. But there’s a plus side to this sudden glut, of course. This is the first time in years that viewers can pick and choose from a smorgasbord of different topical comedies rather than just mopping up whatever scraps are fed to them. Not that the differences between these shows will be immediately clear, of course – despite the recent comedy boom, there’s still a tiny and slightly incestuous dollop of talent to go around. For example, Stand Up for the Week features Jack Whitehall (Mock the Week, Tonightly, TNT Show), Andi Osho (Mock the Week, Tonightly), Kevin Bridges (Mock the Week, Have I Got News For You), Rich Hall (Have Got News For You) and Jon Richardson (Have I Got News For You). And the pool of topical comedy writers is even smaller – it’s not uncommon to find a 10 O’Clock Live writer has also written for Mock the Week or Have I Got News For You, or that a Stand Up for the Week writer has written for Tonightly or 2DTV or The Friday Night Project. Most of these have also written for Never Mind the Buzzcocks. Almost all of them helped to write Robert’s Web. As a result of all this interbreeding, you could argue that many of today’s shows lack a distinct voice; something that’s always been intrinsic to the success of news-based comedy, from David Frost to Stephen Colbert. But look closely enough and there are still a few differences to be found. Perhaps the best example is the manner in which each show dealt with the Japanese earthquake. Being a weekendy, home from the pub affair, Stand Up for the Week barely even mentioned it at all, paring it down to a brief acknowledgement at the start and a line in a Rich Hall shaggy dog story about Mothra’s inability to cope with bureaucracy. Having slightly more of a Daily Show-esque leaning, the steadily-improving 10 O’Clock Live at least allowed Charlie Brooker a Newswipe-style deconstruction of how the tragedy was reported, albeit one indirectly followed by Jimmy Carr in a slaphead wig telling a string of end-of-the-pier “bunga bunga” Berlusconi gags in a slightly offensive Italian accent. Of this week’s new shows, it’ll probably be Frank Skinner who’ll broach the subject more openly. The format of Opinionated is more loosey-goosey and guest-driven, so a discussion of events could feasibly take place without derailing the episode completely, but whether or not it will actually happen is anyone’s guess. So what do you make of this sudden influx of news-based comedy shows? Are there too many and, if so, which would you rather avoid? Your thoughts below, please. Comedy Television Stuart Heritage guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Creating infrastructure and bike lanes is easy – the real challenge is changing perceptions about cycling and cyclists Since I last wrote about the New York bike lanes controversy , there have been some interesting developments. Arguably, the most surprising was that a Guardian headline got a round of applause in a public meeting . To recap quickly. Michael Bloomberg’s administration has put in over 250 miles of bike lanes in New York city over the last four years, entrusting this modest but significant shift to pro-bike policy to his transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan , who has also made waves with a couple of high-profile pedestrianisation projects, including Times Square. Bike use in the city is estimated to have doubled in this period, with bike lanes also showing significant safety benefits for all road users (not just cyclists). But not everyone has bought in to the programme. And one bike lane in particular, the now world-famous Prospect Park West (PPW) bike lane, has become the focus for a concerted counter-revolutionary push. A posse of Prospect Park residents have signed up a hotshot corporate lawyer, on a pro bono basis, to sue the city for having abused its authority by installing this bike lane, alleging that it connived with the pro-bike lobby to misrepresent the need for and effectiveness of the measure. Sniffing blood, namely Sadik-Khan’s, the New York Post (a tabloid) and the New York Times have raised the temperature. And from the PPW bike lane battle, other skirmishes have broken out all over the media – including a civil war in the hallowed corridors of the New Yorker magazine, where economics writer John Cassidy aired his view that the city had been hijacked by the bike lobby in “a classic case of regulatory capture”. After an even more classic takedown by Reuters financial blogger Felix Salmon , Cassidy tried to extricate himself from the hole he’d dug by digging some more . And some more . Until the New Yorker’s political writer Hendrik Hertzberg came along to bury him . This was all good fun, and shows the depth of engagement of serious people with an issue sometimes characterised (wrongly) as trivial, but it was essentially a sideshow to the serious business of transportation policy in the city. With the lawsuit against the PPW lane under way, it was clear that a serious pushback had begun – which is what prompted me to write my last post here . At last, though, the backlash seemed to have provoked a reaction from the supporters of bike lanes (who actually constitute a majority of New Yorkers, according to the most recent poll ). A community board meeting in Brooklyn largely endorsed the PPW bike lane – which is not altogether surprising since the neighbourhood’s community board had requested the bike lane from the city’s transportation department in the first place, and the majority of local residents approve it. In a typically comprehensive piece of reporting , New York magazine (not to be confused with the New Yorker) returned the focus to the PPW bike lane’s larger bearing on city-wide policy – asking: “Is New York too New York for bike lanes?” This was met by a surprise move from deputy mayor Howard Wolfson, who responded with a memo (pdf) to “interested parties” robustly defending the case for bike lanes. Since then, Wolfson has also appeared on National Public Radio, on the Brian Lehrer Show , fighting the city’s corner, putting out some necessary, absent facts and rebutting the criticisms of the PPW lawsuit attorney, Jim Walden, who had appeared on the same NPR show the previous day . This now feels like a critical moment. Instead of appearing to wash his hands of his transportation commissioner, Mayor Bloomberg has clearly moved to back her, getting a senior executive like Wolfson out in front of the media to own the policy and speak up for it. As Aaron Naparstek ( @naparstek ) of the influential Streetsblog told me: “We’ve never had anyone as senior in city government advocating for bikes before. It suggests City Hall is fully supportive of what Janette Sadik-Khan is doing. And that’s great … Given there’s now a clear message from the top of the administration, I’d expect that will cool things down in the press.” So, is that the happy ending to the saga? Hardly. For one thing, there is the lawsuit, which will be heard in Brooklyn’s Kings County supreme court. On the face of it, there is no case to answer: the department of transportation followed procedure, answered a call from the community board, conducted a survey, delivered the results; the community board voted approval and the bike lane was built. But Walden is subpoenaing everyone’s email records in an effort to make his charge of collusion between bike advocates and city officials stand up. With a sympathetic press and possibly a sympathetic judge, what appears a threadbare strategy might make headway. And even if the lawsuit runs into the sand, its backers will continue to carry the fight into the realm of symbolic politics. And then, though apparently unrelated, there is the New York Police Department (NYPD) ticketing blitz against cyclists. I already reported the beginning of this campaign , which seems to have consisted largely of squad cars observing cyclists riding recreationally around Central Park when the roads are closed to traffic and then handing them $270 fines for going through red lights which, by custom and convention (and possibly by law), only apply when the roads are open to vehicles. But the latest phase in this bizarre approach to enforcement has been truly surreal. On Tuesday morning, NYPD officers used a radar gun to catch cyclists “speeding” in the park, and handed out 10 tickets . Questions were bound to be raised as to whether this constituted a useful deployment of police resources and justifiable expenditure of taxpayer dollars, but the NYPD’s embarrassment was complete when it turned out they’d enforced the wrong speed limit, which is 25mph for cyclists, not 15mph. Officers have now made house calls to cancel the tickets and apologise. Yet the red light ticketing looks set to continue. I attended a public meeting in on Central Park West where Captain Wishnia, the officer responsible for the enforcement, debated the policy with an audience of about 300 concerned residents, park users and cyclists. It was evident that he was acting on instructions from above, though it was not clear whether these came from City Hall itself, or from the upper echelons of the NYPD. For a somewhat beleaguered biking community, it would be tempting to see some connection between the bike lane backlash and the cops’ “get tough” policy. But the likelihood is that the two issues have merely coincided, and are not part of a generalised persecution of cyclists. If there is a link, it is that both affairs have a “culture wars” dimension as New York adjusts to a new idea of itself and of cycling’s role in the life of the city. Naparstek says of the NYPD: “They tend to have a deep ‘windshield’ perspective on the city. Many now live outside the city, in the suburbs, and drive in to work. Culturally, they don’t seem to get why anyone would cycle in the city.” Worse, since the bitter confrontation at the 2004 Republican national convention in New York , where hundreds of Critical Mass cyclists were arrested and manhandled, the NYPD’s rank and file tends to see cyclists “as a force for disorder and chaos”. The irony of the crackdown, Naparstek observes, is that “a lot of people in the bike advocacy community would support real enforcement” on city streets, as opposed to in Central Park. The problem, he says, is that the NYPD simply doesn’t know how to do it. So, instead of real enforcement that would actually encourage compliance, there is this “completely bogus ticketing blitz, where the only metric of success is the number of tickets written”. And the easiest way to catch a large number of cyclists with a small number of personnel is to go to the park. Naparstek believes the best way forward is for bike advocates, like Transportation Alternatives , to sit down with the NYPD and work on enforcement and compliance together. But that will take a culture shift on both sides. Can it be done, or is New York really “too New York” for cycling ever to be acceptably mainstream? That remains to be seen – and I’m optimistic – but what has become painfully obvious is that putting in place the infrastructure, the bike lanes and paint on the road, is the easy part. Changing perceptions and altering the way people think about cycling and cyclists is the uphill bit. Cycling United States New York Matt Seaton guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Jenni Simpson applies to court of appeal for right to take on case amid fears it could lead to claims being traded like commodities A vast, speculative market in negligence claims could be created if a widow from Norfolk persuades the court of appeal to let her pursue someone else’s NHS compensation case. The highly unusual legal manoeuvre threatens to congest the courts with thousands of applications that could force public authorities to pay out massive sums to avoid being bankrupted by litigation costs. Jenni Simpson, from Norwich, paid £1 for the “right” to take over the compensation case of former hospital patient Alan Catchpole, also from Norwich, who contracted an MRSA infection while undergoing surgery in 2005. The NHS Litigation Authority, which paid out £827m in claims and costs last year, warned that if Simpson’s case succeeds it would be a “worrying development” that could lead to claims “being traded like commodities”. Her novel method has twice been struck out by lower courts. “It’s a very strange case,” a spokesman for the NHS Litigation Authority said. “It’s the only claim of its type.” The authority is funding the hospital trust’s defence. Catchpole, the court of appeal was told, decided not to pursue any claim himself. Simpson’s interest in picking it up is not financial: her husband was diagnosed with the same superbug at Norwich and Norfolk University hospital before he died. She wants to highlight the hospital’s alleged failure to control the infection. But her success could open the floodgates to a secondary market in compensation claims driven by profit and buoyed up by no win, no fee agreements. Simon Redmayne, representing Simpson, said her motive was not financial, but to see the hospital’s infection control procedures tested in court and to “heighten the appreciation within the hospital that it needs to deal with MRSA”. He said there was no principle of law preventing alleged negligence victims assigning their right to take court action to third parties and, even if there was, it was anachronistic in light of the Human Rights Act and modern attitudes to access to justice. Although he now has no direct interest in the case, the court heard Catchpole “cares about the result” and would like an apology from the Norfolk and Norwich University hospital NHS trust. But Jeremy Morgan QC, for the trust, said it was against public policy for Simpson to be able to step into Catchpole’s shoes and pursue his damages claim herself. If the arrangement between Catchpole and Simpson were upheld, there would be nothing to prevent solicitors and “claim farmers simply buying causes of action from injured people and running the cases for themselves,” he told the court. “There would be a ready market for the sale and purchase of claims,” he said. NHS trusts would also find themselves “on a hiding to nothing” in trying to defend claims by impecunious claimants – backed by legal aid, or no win, no fee deals – and would be forced to settle cases for more than they were really worth, just to save legal costs. “By substituting a person of straw as a claimant, it ensures that, whatever the merits of the dispute, the rational course for the defendant is not to go to court itself, but to buy off the claim as cheaply as possible,” he added. Judgment has been reserved until a later date. NHS Health MRSA and superbugs Court of appeal Owen Bowcott guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Managers ousted after damning audit reveals that £2.4m has been spent, but school project has not even broken ground The managers of Madonna’s charity in Malawi have been ousted after they squandered $3.8m (£2.4m) on a school that will never be built, it has been reported. The damning audit came as Raising Malawi confirmed it has scrapped plans for a $15m elite academy for girls. The charity’s executive director, Philippe van den Bossche, the partner of Madonna’s former trainer, left in October after criticism of his management style and spending at the school, according to the New York Times . “These included what auditors described as outlandish expenditures on salaries, cars, office space and a golf course membership, free housing and a car and driver for the school’s director,” the paper said. In a shakeup at the charity, the board of directors has been removed and replaced by a caretaker board that includes the 52-year-old singer and her manager, it added. The abandonment of the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls – backed by prominent Hollywood figures and Madonna’s associates in Kabbalah – was announced in January. This caught the Malawian government by surprise and caused anger among villagers who had surrendered their homes to make way for a 117-acre construction site near the capital, Lilongwe. When the project began to turn sour, Madonna, who has reportedly invested $11m, turned to the Global Philanthropy Group for help. Its report on Raising Malawi’s work, seen by the New York Times, was critical of the way Bossche oversaw both the building plans and the curriculum. “Philippe’s level of mismanagement and lack of oversight was extreme in both aspects of the project and the lack of success of the players on the ground is in large part a result of his inability to effectively manage project plans, people and finances,” it was quoted as saying. The audit also gave a withering verdict on Anjimile Oponyo, who was supposed to head the school. “Her charisma masks a lack of substantive knowledge of the practical application of educational development, and her weak management skills are a major contributor to the current financial and programmatic chaos.” Trevor Neilson, a founder of the Global Philanthropy Group, said $3.8m had been spent on the unbuilt school, much of it on architects, design, salaries and two cars for employees who had not yet been appointed. “Despite $3.8m having been spent by the previous management team, the project has not broken ground, there was no title to the land and there was, overall, a startling lack of accountability on the part of the management team in Malawi and the management team in the United States,” he was quoted as saying. “We have yet to determine exactly what happened to all of that $3.8m. We have not accounted for all the funds that were used.” Construction of the academy was also delayed over a dispute between Raising Malawi and villagers who claimed they were not adequately compensated for land. The building had been due for completion in December this year. Michael Berg, a co-director of the Kabbalah Centre and co-founder of Raising Malawi, accepted defeat this week. He wrote to the centre’s contributors: “A thoughtful decision has been made to discontinue plans for the Raising Malawi Academy for Girls, as it was originally conceived.” But Madonna, who has adopted a boy and a girl from Malawi, insisted the charity will continue to work in the impoverished African nation. “There’s a real education crisis in Malawi,” she said. “Sixty-seven per cent of girls don’t go to secondary school, and this is simply unacceptable. Our team is going to work hard to address this in every way we can.” Raising Malawi has made progress despite the setbacks, she added. “While I’m proud of these accomplishments, I’m frustrated that our education work has not moved forward in a faster way.” In January, Madonna said she would focus on building secondary schools across the country so she could reach thousands rather than hundreds of girls. In an interview last month Neilson, now leading the charity’s efforts, told the Associated Press: “Basically, what we’d be doing is expanding the ability for a group of nonprofits to provide education to more kids. “Madonna increasingly began to have concerns about the effectiveness of the existing strategy and management team, and as a result has made sweeping changes in order to better serve more children in Malawi.” The Kabbalah Centre, once a part of the project, is no longer involved, Neilson added. Malawi Madonna United States New York David Smith guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Troubled retailer HMV denies it is in takeover talks but confirms it may sell book chain and Canadian operation HMV confirmed this morning that it is looking at selling off the Waterstone’s chain of booksellers, but insisted that it is not in talks about a takeover for the whole group. Shares in the troubled retailer jumped 7.5% to 18p, a rise of 1.25p, after it updated the City on its plans, which could also include finding a buyer for its Canadian operation. Speculation has swirled that its shareholder, the Russian oligarch Alexander Mamut, could break up the business ever since HMV posted a shock profit warning following poor trading over Christmas. Mamut has now assembled a 6.1% stake in HMV. There has been speculation that Tim Waterstone, the entrepreneur turned novelist who founded the bookshop in 1982, is plotting a bid for Waterstone’s with Mamut . He previously teamed up with Mamut to invest in Bookberry, a now bankrupt Russian bookstore chain. “In response to press speculation, the board confirms it is exploring strategic options in respect of Waterstone’s and HMV Canada,” HMV said. “The board also confirms that no discussions are taking place with respect to an offer for the group.” Amid worries that it could breach loan covenant tests, the company stressed that its lenders “continue to be supportive, our banking facilities remain fully available and the group is continuing to maintain a regular and constructive dialogue with its lenders”. HMV issued its second profit warning of the year at the beginning of the month, saying trading conditions had remained difficult since the start of the year. It also admitted that it expected to fail some parts of a critical loan covenant test next month and was busy renegotiating borrowing conditions with its bankers. The company is already planning to close up to 20 Waterstone’s outlets and about 40 HMV stores as part of a cost-cutting drive. HMV Retail industry Waterstone’s Booksellers Julia Kollewe guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Yosion’s second-gen Apple Peel 520 arriving on March 28th, ready to cellularize your iPod touch
March 25, 2011 No Comment
Remember the second-gen Apple Peel 520 we saw back in January? Yep, Yosion has now confirmed that this familiar-looking adapter will be available in China on March 28th, which happens to be this coming Monday. Like its predecessor, this new sleeve lets you send texts and make regular phone calls on a jailbroken iPod touch (including the latest FaceTime -loving model), but now Yosion’s also thrown in GPRS data connectivity along with some extra battery juice, all for the price of just
Continue reading …
Metropolitan police blunders meant rapist was free to attack 146 more elderly victims Scotland Yard has admitted one of the biggest errors in its history after it accepted that blunders by officers led to 146 elderly people becoming victims of a “perverted, callous and violent” serial sex attacker and burglar. Delroy Grant was convicted of a 17-year reign of terror that saw him attack at least 203 elderly people in their own homes. Police accept that 146 of these attacks happened after he should have been arrested but errors branded by an independent investigation as “basic”, coupled with “simple misunderstandings”, left him free. Police admit that in 1999 they had a golden chance to catch Grant but blundered and not only failed to detain him, but ruled him out as a suspect. Grant was finally convicted on Thursday of 29 offences, a fraction of the crimes police suspect he committed. He was convicted of three rapes, one attempted rape, six indecent assaults, one sexual assault, 16 burglaries and two attempted burglaries after a three-week trial. Officially police believe he was responsible for a total of 203 crimes across south London, but his total offences could be double that, a senior officer said, amounting to 400-500 crimes. None of his targets were younger than 68 years old, while the eldest victim was aged 93. Police say Grant started offending in 1991, carrying out his first sexual assault one year later, and his crimes stretched though to 2009. Seven of the elderly victims who found the courage to go to the police have died of natural causes before seeing their rapist brought to justice. Others were so traumatised that their final years would be lived haunted by fear that he would come after them again. Police linked the offences by 1998, and one senior source said Grant returned not just to the same areas to strike again, but to the same street, and even targeted the same victims. Grant, 53, was dubbed the “night stalker” because he invariably struck at night, having watched his victims, sometimes for hours. He would cut the phone lines and electricity to their houses, then enter, shining a torch in their faces. Sometimes he carried out a ferocious assault; sometimes he heeded pleas for mercy. Police realised their blunder after Grant was finally arrested in 2009 and referred the case to the Independent Police Complaints Commission. On 28 May 1999, Grant carried out a burglary during which a member of the public spotted a car that seemed suspicious and noted down the number plate. On hearing that a nearby house had been burgled, the person then contacted the police and passed on the car registration. Police did investigate. They managed to become confused and link the number plate to a Delroy Grant living in east London, who was completely the wrong age. DNA from the man in east London was checked against DNA recovered from the crime scenes. It did not match. But worse was to follow. By August 1999, the name of Delroy Grant was marked down not just as having being investigated, but as being eliminated from inquiries. Grant carried out at least three rapes after May 1999. An IPCC investigation found that three officers were responsible, and cited “a number of basic actions that were not undertaken”. The officers have since received advice. After the convictions, one of Grant’s elderly victims said she would have her first peaceful night’s sleep in years. “Thank you so much for telling me,” the 83-year-old said. “I can go back to sleeping at night and being awake in the daytime.” As Grant’s victims and their families took whatever solace they could from his conviction, it was left to the current leadership of Scotland Yard to apologise and vow to fix the sins of the past. Commander Simon Foy, head of the homicide and serious crime command, said: “In 1999 there was an opportunity to have identified and apprehended Grant … it is appropriate … to apologise now for this missed opportunity that led to his continued offending for so long afterwards. We are deeply sorry for the harm suffered by all those other victims and for our failure to bring Grant to justice earlier.” Three internal reviews failed to identify the blunder. Police conducted serious case reviews in 1999, 2003 and 2009. Deborah Glass, IPCC commissioner for London, said confusion over a suspect and a poor response to a burglary led to the failure to arrest Grant. “It is clear that a simple misunderstanding had horrific consequences,” said Glass. Judge Peter Rook QC told Grant his convictions were “of the utmost gravity”. He said: “You should appreciate the sentence you receive will be what is called an indeterminate sentence.” Grant seemed to be living a model life. He was a Jehovah’s Witness who cared for his former wife, and a cricket lover. Once arrested, he tried to blame his son, Delroy Jr, then accused his first wife, Janet Watson, 53, of trying to frame him. It was a defence branded as “utter, utter rubbish” and “pure fiction and fantasy” by Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting. A jury at Woolwich crown court, after deliberating for eight hours and 29 minutes, reached a majority verdict of 10 to two on all 29 counts against Grant, of Brockley, south-east London. ‘A lack of diligence’: how the Met again missed chances to catch violent rapist Sorry may be the hardest word, but the Metropolitan police has in recent years been getting practice in saying it. The “basic” errors that left Delroy Grant free to strike for a decade after he should have been caught are the latest in a series of instances that have led the force to apologise for missing chances to stop a serial attacker. In the case of John Worboys, the Met missed chances to stop the man who was known as the “black-cab rapist” . Worboys drugged, raped and sexually assaulted at least 85 victims despite numerous women reporting his attacks over many years. He was arrested then released after a woman came forward in July 2007 and officers chose to believe his account, not hers. The victim said she had been “lied to and laughed at” by officers. Worboys was given an indeterminate sentence in April 2009. Soon after, errors were revealed about another serial rapist, Kirk Reid , who sexually assaulted 71 women over eight years. Police had a dozen clues and chances pointing to Reid, but missed them. Senior officers say the Worboys errors were the result of a “culture of disbelief” of rape victims, while in the Reid case, errors also appeared to be systemic. But one senior officer said the errors that left Grant free stemmed from lack of diligence by individual officers, and not because of something systemically wrong. The officer accepts that is of next to no comfort for anyone. Crime Police Older people London Rape Independent Police Complaints Commission Vikram Dodd Amelia Hill guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
S&P cuts Portugal’s debt rating two notches to BBB and keeps it on negative watch The cost of Portuguese borrowing has risen to a new record on the bond markets after Standard & Poor’s downgraded the country’s debt overnight. The yield on 10-year Portuguese government bonds hit a new high above 8% on Friday morning. Following a downgrade by Fitch on Thursday, S&P cut Portugal’s debt rating by two notches to BBB and kept it on negative watch, warning it could lower the rating one notch further once the details of the European Union’s permanent bailout fund are unveiled. Markets shrugged off comments by Herman van Rompuy , the EU president, who said that European leaders gathered in Brussels had agreed a comprehensive package of economic measures, including a permanent bailout fund for the eurozone. Once it has been approved by national governments, the European stability mechanism will replace the existing temporary fund. “We will make sure that €500bn (£440bn) is available with triple-A status. We have agreed to ensure that the temporary facility has an effective lending capacity of €440bn. It will be in place in June,” said van Rompuy. He also stressed the importance of credible stress tests to strengthen the banking sector. European leaders have adopted the Euro Plus Pact to improve economic co-ordination, which will be joined by six countries that are not in the eurozone – Denmark, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Romania. Portugal’s crisis intensified on Thursday when prime minister José Sócrates resigned after his minority Socialist government’s latest austerity measures were rejected by parliament. The country must refinance €4.5bn of debt in April, and is dangerously close to becoming the third eurozone state in six months to ask for a bailout. “Even Moody’s who downgraded Portugal two notches to A3 10 days ago may have to consider further moves,” said Gary Jenkins, head of fixed income research at Evolution Securities. “The factors that could push Portugal’s rating lower according to Moody’s are: First, the likely trend in interest rates the government has to pay to access capital markets; with five-year yields 70bps higher than they were 10 days ago this box is already ticked. Secondly, how successful the government is in achieving fiscal targets; there must be a big question mark next to this following the government losing the vote on further austerity measures, and thirdly, uncertainty over how much support the government has to provide to the banks. “The latter is to a large extent dependent upon the first two factors and will be adversely affected by the widening sovereign yields and political uncertainty. So it does not seem inconceivable that we see more rating action on Portugal over the coming days and as they slip closer to the tipping point of low triple B from S&P so it becomes more likely that they will have to request a bailout.” European debt crisis Europe Portugal Europe Julia Kollewe guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
March 23: Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty…” speech; Germany’s Reichstag gives dictatorial powers to Hitler; Reagan proposes ‘Star Wars’ program; Mir space station crashes into Pacific; “Titanic” wins 11 Oscars.
Continue reading …
Protesters and supporters of Jordan’s king clashed in the capital Amman Thursday, and about 35 people were hurt in one of the most violent incidents in three months of demonstrations. (March 25)
Continue reading …