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Australia guarantees bank deposits to combat crisis Reuters
Reuters - Australia will guarantee all bank deposits for three years and guarantee wholesale funding to Australian banks in an attempt to combat the global credit crisis, Australian Prime Minister Kev...
2008-10-12 00:50:06
Australia to guarantee bank deposits for three years: PM Reuters
Reuters - Australia will guarantee all bank deposits for three years and will also guarantee wholesale funding to Australian banks in an attempt to combat the global credit crisis, Australian Prime Mi...
2008-10-11 23:53:08
Inflation falls to 11.80% from 11.99%
The wholesale price index fell to 11.80 per cent in the 12 months to September 27, from the previous week's 11.99 per cent....
2008-10-10 03:19:09
Luck saved travelers from June 2007 terror strike at Glasgow Airport
London, Oct.10 ANI: Luck played a huge and significant role in saving hundreds of travellers at Glasgow Airport in June 2007 from an attempted terror strike by Indian-born medics Dr. Bilal Abdullah and Dr. Kafeel Ahmed, investigators have told a jury here on Thursday.Islamist extremists tried to set off a suicide blast by driving a jeep into the main terminal building on the busiest day of the year, a jury heard. The vehicle, which was packed with gas canisters and fuel containers, caught fire but was stuck in the doors of the terminal and failed to explode. The Sun quoted prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw , as saying: "It was simply luck that protected the people of Scotland." It was alleged Dr Bilal Abdulla, 29, a junior house doctor at the oyal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley, who lived in Houston, Renfrewshire, and Dr. Mohammed Asha, 27, were behind the attack hours after they botched two car bombs in London. "These two were intent on committing murder on an indiscriminate and wholesale scale," Laidlaw claimed.It was alleged that Kafeel Ahmed, who suffered fatal burns on the attack in Glasgow, was the third man in the terror cell. Laidlaw claimed the terrorists launched the airport attack on June 30 last year knowing they had only a limited time before they were caught following the failed London bombings.Laidlaw alleged that Abdulla, who was arrested at the airport, had been in the passenger seat and had sprayed petrol around the inside of the vehicle. He added: "Material found in their possession after their arrests reveals they both hold or adhere to extreme Islamic belief and that both share, despite their profession and their obligation to save life and avert suffering, the same extreme religious and murderous ideology as has inspired other terrorists who have struck and threatened this country in recent years."Abdulla and Asha deny conspiring to murder and to cause explosions likely to endanger life. The trial continues. ANI
2008-10-10 02:55:38
60's baby boomers not 'developing new third age lifestyles'
Washington, October 10 ANI: Britain's post-war baby boomers, who experienced an unusual boost in birth rates, are far from 'developing new third age lifestyles, and want to retire the traditional way.The first of the baby boomers are often acknowledged for being the primary age group that experienced the social change of becoming a more prosperous consumer society following the effects of Great Depression and World War II.Yet, according to an academic research supported by the Economic and Social Research Council and Arts and Humanities Research Council, they want to spend their retirement days conventionally either travelling or using second homes or by watching TV, playing records or taking long walks.Dr Rebecca Leach explained the study's revelations that "provide only limited evidence that first wave boomers are developing new third age lifestyles." The study further found that most people hoped to maintain their present lifestyles and activities, if their health and finances allowed them to.Though the range of lifestyles themselves had become greater for the 60's generation, only three per cent of the people questioned revealed that they practiced health provision falling under the 'alternative' consumption category.The research led by Dr Leach at Keele University and King's College, London, particularly focused on examining the extent to which the baby boomers saw themselves as a distinct generational group and this might affect their consumption patterns.It was revealed that only a minority of 41 per cent categorised themselves as boomers, while some members of the group saw themselves in a totally different light-such as the baby bulge group, the burden group, the lucky generation, the political generation, etc.The research also showed that the familial responsibilities of the baby boomers have increased rather than reduced with 43 per cent, born between 1945-1952, having at least one child living at home while 37 per have financial responsibility for other members of the household - usually children.Progress in life expectancy meant that 43 per cent of people aged 50-57 still had a mother alive, and 20 per cent a father. They displayed a shifting change towards inheritance, where according to the study, with more aging groups wanting to enjoy life with their wealth rather than be bothered about leaving their inheritance.Consequently, this change played a significant role in their lifestyles, with housing taking a priority. 33 per cent of boomers owned their homes outright and 52 per cent had mortgages, while 15 per cent had second homes.Other lifestyle alternatives that were of particular interest with the boomers was global travel and cosmopolitan food choices, with 81 per cent of the people surveyed went on holiday abroad at least every two years.Dr Leach said: "Travel was a major consumption item for boomers and loomed large in projects for retirement."Less evident was any wholesale transfer of teenage consumption concerns into midlife: boomers might have been the first teenagers, but they have now grown up. Consumer interests have matured, notably around interests linked to homes, gardens and travel."The research further unfolded that most boomers - 70 per cent - felt younger than their actual age and identified themselves more with their children than their parents or older generational age bands.They "see ageing as something that requires managing but is not overly problematic." Dr Leach showed that while 69 per cent of people interviewed agreed that it was possible to plan for retirement, 71 per cent were themselves making either no plans or only limited ones. The researchers also took into consideration the fact that boomers were also early exponents of a consumer society"In the same way that music, fashion and mobility were used to construct a teenage identity, consumption can be seen to play a similar role in mid-life: the notion of the big trip or the retirement project - usually a hobby or home building project - providing a focus for boomers' spending as well as a source of self worth and esteem."Dr. Leach substantiated that though the baby boom generation was believed to identify with all that followed in its changing society, the reality of it all was under estimated.She said: "There are lots of assumptions about baby boomers: that they are wealthy, radical individuals who are spending the kids' inheritance; but this research shows that the reality is much more complex and ordinary - some of what it means to be a 'boomer' is because of shared life experiences but some of it is driven by the same challenges health, wealth, jobs and family as those faced by all of us." ANI
2008-10-10 02:59:38
Jurors trying doctors in Kafeel Ahmed case warned against prejudice
INT67International/TerrorismJurors trying doctors in Kafeel Ahmed case warned against prejudiceBy Dipankar De SarkarLondon, Oct 9 IANS Two doctors from the Middle East who participated in Indian-born terrorist Kafeel Ahmed's plot to bomb targets in Britain wanted to commit “indiscriminate and wholesale” murder, a London court was told Thursday. Bilal Abdulla, 29, and Mohammad Asha, 27, were arrested last year in connection with a bomb plot in London and an attempt to attack Glasgow airport in Scotland. Although both attacks failed, they have figured prominently in the British press, and the judge too warned the jury Wednesday not to allow any personal prejudices to come in the way of their verdict. Justice Mackay told jurors at Woolwich Crown Court in south-east London they must base any decisions solely on the evidence they hear and "not based on any prejudices, beliefs or personal opinions the members of the jury may have". Prosecutors told the jury Thursday that Abdulla, a Britain-born Iraqi citizen, and Kafeel Ahmed were in a bomb-laden burning Jeep Cherokee that rammed the Glasgow airport terminal building on June 30 last year. Ahmed, who drove the jeep, died of burn injuries five weeks later. Two days earlier, he and Ahmed had left two gas-laden cars in London's West End - a theatre district that is popular with tourists - the court was told by prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw. That attack also failed. Asha, a Jordanian neurologist, supported the plot as a key figure behind the scenes, the trial heard. "Their plan was to carry out a series of attacks on the public using bombs concealed in vehicles. No warnings were to be given and the cars were to be positioned in busy urban areas,” Laidlaw said. "These men were intent on committing murder on an indiscriminate and a wholesale scale. "By the carrying out of a series of explosions, with no warning as to where the next strike would occur, the terrorists knew the public would be gripped by fear. They would not know where the terrorists would strike next." Laidlow told the court that the two men were motivated by revenge for how they believed Britain was treating Muslims in conflicts around the world. --Indo-Asian News Servicedds/vm400 Words09101802
2008-10-09 09:00:00
LUXEMBOURG
BUS9Business/Diplomacy/EconomyEU should save all vital financial institutions: ministersLuxembourg, Oct 7 DPA The European Union EU should save all "financial institutions that are vital to the system" and adopt common principles on how to do it, the finance ministers of the 15 countries which use the euro agreed Monday. But on a day of precipitous stock-market falls, they did not reveal how such "vital" banks are to be defined, simply saying that governments should have the right to intervene in the management of failing institutions - including in the question of managers' pay. The finance ministers of the Eurogroup shared "a common determination" to make sure that "financial institutions which are vital to the system" do not go bankrupt, the chairman of the group, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said after the meeting. They further agreed that national governments that bail out failing banks should make sure their interventions are temporary and "in the interest of taxpayers" and do not distort competition. And they agreed that each member state should have the right to change the management of failing institutions, including in the vexed question of executive pay, he said. "There has to be a necessarily national approach, which has to unfold in a framework of solidarity ... We have no other choice, we're not a federation," he said. The monthly meeting of the Eurogroup, a day before the regular meeting of the finance ministers of the EU's 27 member states, came at the end of a day of high drama on European markets. Stock exchanges in Paris, London and Berlin all registered massive falls, with the Paris Bourse falling over 9 percent to register the greatest single day's loss in its history. By the end of the day, the heads of state and government of the EU's 27 member states in an unprecedented move issued a joint statement on the crisis, pledging to take "all the necessary steps" to ensure financial stability. Such measures would include the injection of liquidity by European central banks, bail-outs for troubled banks and guarantees for deposits, the joint statement said. Following on from that announcement, the first concern of the Eurogroup meeting was to restore confidence in a system that successive injections of government money have not yet calmed. The European Central Bank ECB "was among the first to analyse the fact that we had an under-estimation of risk before the turbulence. Now we're in a moment when the pendulum has probably gone too far the other way," ECB chief Jean-Claude Trichet said. The Eurogroup also moved to dispel fears that the crisis would prompt governments to abandon the principles of the EU's Stability and Growth Pact, which sets strict rules for how much money governments can borrow and spend in a bid to maintain stability. The pact "has room to manoeuvre. The rules are precisely established, all you have to do is apply them," EU Economic and Monetary Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said. He said that the EU's executive, the European Commission, will shortly propose lifting the minimum amount of savings European states guarantee above the current 20,000-euro $27,500 level - a move which some member states have already taken themselves. "We absolutely have to avoid the consequences of unilateral action, which has caused more than a few problems for some member states. We absolutely have to put the brakes on that risk," he said. But serious questions remained over how the EU's member states could coordinate their actions when financial issues are the jealously regarded prerogative of national governments. "What concerns me is that I see different ceilings applied across Europe as to the amount of money to which the guarantee applies, and I also see a different base applied - in one country it includes wholesale funding, in another it's only savings deposits," Dutch Finance Minister Wouter Bos said. The finance ministers of the EU's 27 member states are set to return to the question Tuesday.--DPAsnb711 Words07100615
2008-10-07 00:00:00
Inflation slips below 12%
The wholesale price index rose 12.14% in the 12 months to September 13....
2008-10-03 08:13:07
STRASBOURG
INT72International/Business/EconomyEurope may also need massive rescue plan: OECD chiefStrasbourg, Oct 1 DPA Despite assurances by European leaders that their finance systems were stable, Europe may still need a massive rescue plan similar to the $700-billion measure being voted on by the US Congress, the head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD said Wednesday. Speaking as he presented the annual report to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on the outlook for the world economy, Angel Gurria said: "We have already seen the first troubled European banks being rescued in the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany." "Considering the exposure of European financial institutions, we might have to start thinking of a systemic plan for Europe if things don't improve on the other side of the Atlantic. The piecemeal approach may not work in Europe either." So far, European countries have reacted to troubled financial institutions with case-by-case, rather than systemic, measures such as the government bail-outs of the Belgian bank Fortis and the French-Belgian financial group Dexia. In addition, the European Central Bank has continued injecting funds into money markets so that lending does not decline even as credit dries up. The Paris-based International Herald Tribune reported Wednesday that banks have sharply increased their lending rates on short-term loans, sending Libor - a daily reference rate based on the interest rates at which banks offer to lend unsecured funds to other banks in the London wholesale money market - to its highest level ever. Gurria said that major economies face several quarters of weak growth as a result of the worldwide slowdown and the current financial crisis, with G7 economies set to grow by a mere 1.4 percent in 2008, against 2.2 percent last year. "We are facing the worst financial crisis since the great depression and its consequences are already spreading beyond the financial sphere, throughout the globe," he said. "The financial system is a conveyor belt through which the economy works. And if the financial system is partially blocked or paralyzed, as it is now, then the economy cannot work normally," he added.The OECD, a Paris-based grouping of 30 developed countries, war formed in 1948 with an aim at helping implementing the Marshall Plan for the reconstruction of Europe after the World War II.--DPAskp/dg410 Words01102021
2008-10-01 11:14:11
West Bengal Left Front crisis blows over Lead
NAT62National/Politics/BusinessWest Bengal Left Front crisis blows over LeadKolkata, Sep 28 IANS Putting aside their differences, the constituents of West Bengal's ruling Left Front Sunday decided to renew the licence of German firm Metro Cash and Carry while the Forward Bloc withdrew its threat of boycotting the state secretariat on the issue."We discussed the issue threadbare and openly. We have arrived at the unanimous decision that the state Agricultural Marketing Board will renew the licence of Metro Cash & Carry on Oct 10, but there will be some conditions attached," Left Front chairman Biman Bose said after the three-hour deliberations."Following the discussions, the Forward Bloc has also suspended the decision that its ministers will not go to the state secretariat Writers Buildings from Monday. They will attend office from Monday," Bose said.The Bloc's ire had stemmed from a letter written by Chief Secretary Amit Kiran Deb to the South 24 Parganas district magistrate at Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's instance that the wholesale major's licence to do business in the state may be renewed. The Bloc had also threatened to pull out of the ministry if Bhattacharjee did not withdraw his instruction by Sep 30. The Bloc, which holds the portfolios of agriculture and agricultural marketing in the state, had Friday said it was opposed to renewing the licence of the German company fearing "it Metro would eat up the space of small and poor farmers and the intermediaries". The party, which controls the Agriculture Marketing Board that issues the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee APMC licences, took exception to Bhattacharjee bypassing the Board.According to the formula finalised at Sunday's Left Front meeting, the chief secretary's order would not be implemented, and the Agriculture Marketing Board itself would grant the renewal. The Communist Party of India-Marxist CPI-M, which leads the Front, and the Bloc will hold bilateral talks before Oct 10 to decide the conditions to be imposed on Metro."It was also decided that in future, whenever some other company comes from abroad, the matter will first be discussed in the Left Front to decide what rights the company can be given," Bose said.The Bloc, opposing the entry of large corporate houses in retail trade, has expressed apprehension that Metro Cash & Carry could shift to retail business after getting a foothold in the state through wholesale trade.The company had said it would wait till Monday before deciding whether to move out of the state.The Bloc's aggressive posture had come at a time when the state government was in a soup on the land issue in Singur, with Tata Motors signalling an imminent pull-out of its small car facility after having suspended operations in the Nano plant since Sep 2.Metro Cash & Carry started constructing a 100,000 sq ft outlet for an investment of $30 million in the southeast of the city a couple of years back. The project got delayed due to land disputes.It was granted a licence to trade in APMC commodities in 2005, which was subsequently renewed twice in 2006 and 2007 to be valid till March 2008. However, in June 2007 the said licence was unilaterally withdrawn by APMC authorities. The company filed for issuance of fresh APMC licence in March 2008 and is still awaiting this.The German major already has four stores in India - two in Bangalore, one each in Hyderabad and Mumbai and has partnered with small and medium businesses like grocery stores, hotels and restaurants.The Left Front has been in power in West Bengal without a break since 1977.--Indo-Asian News Service. ag-ssp/am/vm638 Words*28092247
2008-09-28 13:02:07

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Australia guarantees bank deposits to combat crisis Reuters

Australia to guarantee bank deposits for three years: PM Reuters

Inflation falls to 11.80% from 11.99%

Luck saved travelers from June 2007 terror strike at Glasgow Airport

60's baby boomers not 'developing new third age lifestyles'

Jurors trying doctors in Kafeel Ahmed case warned against prejudice

LUXEMBOURG

Inflation slips below 12%

STRASBOURG

West Bengal Left Front crisis blows over Lead