INTERNATIONALG8 backs Greece, vows to combat financial turmoil
Reuters: World leaders backed keeping Greece in the euro zone on Saturday and vowed to take all steps necessary to combat financial turmoil while revitalizing a global economy increasingly threatened by Europe’s debt crisis.
Chinese entities world’s biggest economic spies-Pentagon
WASHINGTON, (Reuters) : The Pentagon said on Friday it believes China spent up to $180 billion on its military buildup last year, a far higher figure than acknowledged by Beijing, and it accused “Chinese actors” of being the world’s biggest perpetrators of economic espionage.
Blind Chinese activist Chen arrives in New York
NEW YORK (Reuters) : Blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng arrived in the United States on Saturday and declared “equality and justice have no boundaries” after China let him leave a Beijing hospital to quell a sensitive diplomatic rift between the two countries.
Asia shares fall steeply on worries over Spain banks, growth
Reuters: Asian shares fell steeply on Friday after more signs emerged of growing instability among Spanish banks and political turmoil in Greece, with the latest sluggish economic data from the United States adding to the list of risks for investors.
US suspends sanctions on investment in Myanmar
Reuters: The United States on Thursday suspended sanctions barring U.S. investment in Myanmar in response to political reforms in the poor southeast Asian state, drawing praise from some U.S. lawmakers but criticism from human rights advocates.
Spain beset by bank crisis, downgrades, bond pressure
Reuters: Spain’s borrowing costs shot up at a bond auction on Thursday and its troubled banks suffered a double blow, with shares in part-nationalised Bankia diving and 16 lenders – including the euro zone’s biggest – having their credit ratings cut.
Euro zone fears rattle global markets
Reuters: The euro hovered near four-month lows and European shares extended their losing streak on Thursday, as investors avoided riskier assets due to the deepening turmoil in Greece and fears of contagion spreading to other stressed euro zone economies.
Greek exit could cost euro zone 100s of billions of euros
Reuters: A Greek exit from the euro zone could expose the European Central Bank and the currency bloc it seeks to protect to hundreds of billions of euros in losses, landing Germany and its partners with a crippling bill.
A Greek departure would take Europe into uncharted legal waters. The size of the burden other euro zone states could bear gives them a powerful incentive to keep Greece in the currency club.
Obama, Republicans clash over US debt limit increase
Reuters: If Republican and Democratic leaders want to avoid a reprise of last year’s nasty showdown over raising the federal debt limit, they are not off to a good start.
After meeting with President Barack Obama and senior Democratic lawmakers over lunch at the White House on Wednesday, top Republicans came away thinking the Democratic president does not want new spending cuts to accompany any legislation to increase the debt limit.
Obama has assets in JPMorgan accounts: White House
Reuters: US President Barack Obama has $ 500,001 to $ 1 million in a JPMorgan Chase private client asset management checking account, according to financial disclosures released by the White House on Tuesday.
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