European bank bill well over $133.8 billion: Ireland

DUBLIN (Reuters) - There is general agreement that European banks will need fresh capital well in excess of 100 billion euros ($133.8 billion) and it will likely come from a variety of sources, including the euro zone rescue fund, Ireland's finance minister said on Saturday.

Germany and France are split ahead of key talks on Sunday over how to strengthen shaky European banks. Paris is keen to tap the euro zone's 400 billion rescue fund, the EFSF, to recapitalize its own banks and Berlin is insisting the fund should be used as a last resort.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said European banks need 200 billion euros in additional funds.

"I think there is general agreement that it will be significantly in excess of 100 billion (euros)," Michael Noonan told reporters on the sidelines of an economic forum in Dublin.

"I know that some of the big German banks that I was talking to personally intend raising money on the market so it will be private funding. Other banks would like to avail of the EFSF fund. Other banks will rely on their sovereign governments to provide the capital so there is going to be a range of ways of doing it."

"I think the principle should be that sovereign governments are responsible for their banking system on the advice of the European Central Bank."

"If banks can't capitalize themselves, either by issuing equity to the market or by getting exchequer funds then obviously they would have the option of requesting EFSF funding. When we recapitalized our banks here we went the EFSF option."

Noonan said recent credit rating downgrades of Spain and Italy reflected frustration at Europe's failure to solve a long-running sovereign debt crisis.

"There is certainly an impatience that Europe should resolve the problems of the euro zone and do it pretty quickly," he said.

Ireland's banks were at the heart of its financial crisis and subsequent EU-IMF bailout and earlier this year Dublin put a 70 billion euros bill on recapitalizing its lenders.

Noonan is currently looking at ways to try and restructure nearly 31 billion euros worth of promissory notes, a form of IOU, used to recapitalize shuttered lenders Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society.

The notes carry an interest bill of 17 billion euros, spread out over 20 years and Noonan would like to tap the EFSF to pay off the remaining amount outstanding, nearly 44 billion euros, and then repay that money to the EFSF over a longer timeframe and at a lower interest rate.

"We are moving on it with colleagues in Europe and they have given no commitment but they are prepared to proceed on the basis of joint policy papers, which we have just commenced to draft now."

"I want to position ourselves in a changing European situation so that Ireland's interests are studied carefully and taken into account in any wider solution that goes forward in the next month."

http://news.yahoo.com/european-bank-bill-well-over-133-8-billion-123755628.html

Prognosis Negative: ‘Aftershocks’ Author Predicts Another 2008-Style “Meltdown”

Strike by Greek civil servants shuts down govt

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Angry and frustrated, Greek civil servants walked off the job Wednesday, paralyzing the government and public transport to protest ever-deeper austerity measures and seemingly ineffectual financial policies.

As Greece struggles to avoid a catastrophic default, demonstrators in Athens expressed outrage over their misfortune and bewilderment at a crisis that shows no signs of easing.

"Nobody knows what's going on. Every day they say something different. It's all so unclear," said Irini Sypsomou-Arapogianni, a 57-year-old Finance Ministry employee. "I don't know where all this will lead."

She said the government should have acted more boldly to stem the country's chronic tax evasion and seems to have lost its way despite pledges to stabilize the economy.

At least 16,000 protesters converged in central Athens, and another 10,000 gathered in the northern city of Thessaloniki, chanting slogans, banging drums and blowing whistles. The vast majority of demonstrators were peaceful, but a few dozen protesters near parliament threw stones at riot police, who fired tear gas. One man was seen bleeding from the head.

Air traffic controllers joined the 24-hour strike, grounding all flights to and from Greek airports. State hospitals were running on emergency staff, while lawyers, teachers and tax officers also didn't work. Public transport employees were holding work stoppages in the morning and evening, and state television and radio pulled news programs off the air.

Civil servants are protesting plans to suspend about 30,000 staff on partial pay, part of new cutbacks that come on top of salary and pension cuts. Greece has also seen repeated waves of tax hikes over the past year and a half.

Greece relies on a euro110 billion ($145 billion) package of international bailout loans since May 2010, but it has slipped on meeting budget targets required to qualify for the funds. The country is suffering through a deep recession, with the economy expected to contract 5.5 percent this year, and unemployment has spiraled to above 16 percent as businesses have closed down.

Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said Tuesday that Greece has enough money to pay pensions, salaries and bondholders through mid-November. Greece needs the next batch of loans, worth euro8 billion ($10.5 billion), to avoid bankruptcy, however.

In Brussels, Antonio Borges, the head of the IMF's Europe program, piled pressure on Greece to take more stringent measures to get its economy back on track, saying there was no rush to take a decision on the next slice of bailout money because the country doesn't face a big bond repayment deadline until December.

Protesters in Athens directed anger at the foreign creditors, saying they had little hope that the hardship inflicted by austerity measures would yield benefits in the long run.

"If these protests don't have an effect, then we deserve our fate," said Zacharis Zacharia, a 59-year-old demonstrator. "Everybody's paying except those few who drove us to this point."

Global markets have been roiled by concerns that a messy Greek default could bring down European banks, drag other troubled eurozone countries into further financial trouble and trigger another global recession.

Venizelos insisted Greece would be able to meet its commitments and that there was no question of a default -- but urged his countrymen to pay their taxes and support the government effort to ensure the situation doesn't deteriorate.

Debt inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission, known as the troika, suspended their review of Greek reforms last month amid talk of delays on Athens meeting its budget deficit targets and implementing reforms.

The government hurriedly announced another series of austerity measures, including an extra property tax, and put into motion plans to suspend civil servants. The troika returned to Athens after the announcements and are currently negotiating measures for 2013 and 2014.

Even members of the Socialist government have voiced concerns, saying Greeks cannot stand any more taxes.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Strike-by-Greek-civil-apf-1142539418.html

China warns of trade war if U.S. bill passes

BEIJING (Reuters) - An angry China warned Washington on Tuesday that passage of a bill aimed at forcing Beijing to let its currency rise could lead to a trade war between the world's top two economies.

China's central bank and the ministries of commerce and foreign affairs accused Washington of "politicising" currency issues and putting the global economy at risk after U.S. senators voted on Monday to start a week of debate on the bill.

The response suggested China sees a greater risk from the proposed bill than it has in the past when U.S. lawmakers attempted to put forward similar legislation to speed up the pace of appreciation in the yuan, or renminbi.

Beijing made similar remarks last year after the House of Representatives passed a currency bill that later failed to make any further progress in Congress.

Tuesday's coordinated salvo and the central bank's warning of a trade war and a slowdown in China's exchange rate reforms indicated Beijing was taking the latest currency bill more seriously.

"It is very rare for three different ministries of the country to refute something so quickly and strongly, showing how deeply the Chinese government is concerned about the yuan bill," said Wang Zihong, a researcher at the China Academy of Social Sciences, a top government think tank.

"The strong responses made by the Chinese government may also suggest that the possibility would be quite high this time that the United States will pass the final bill in the end and that Beijing is worried about the possible negative impact on China's exports resulting from the legislation," he said.

U.S. Senate vote opened a week of debate on the Currency Exchange Rate Oversight Reform Act of 2011, which would allow the U.S. government to slap countervailing duties on products from countries found to be subsidising their exports by undervaluing their currencies.

U.S. lawmakers, eyeing 2012 elections, said keeping China's currency undervalued had cost American jobs and that a fairer exchange rate would help cut an annual trade gap Washington puts at more than $250 billion.

"By using the excuse of a so-called 'currency imbalance', this will escalate the exchange rate issue, adopting a protectionist measure that gravely violates WTO rules and seriously upsets Sino-U.S. trade and economic relations," foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said in a statement posted on China's official government website (www.gov.cn) on Tuesday.

"China expresses its adamant opposition to this."

Ma urged U.S. legislators to "proceed from the broader picture of Sino-U.S. trade and economic cooperation" and "forsake protectionism."

He repeated Beijing's position that it will continue to gradually reform its currency policy, "strengthening the flexibility of the renminbi exchange rate."

China's exchange rate has long been a bone of contention between Beijing and Washington. The yuan has appreciated some 30 percent against the dollar since it was revalued in 2005, although critics say it is still valued too low and gives Chinese exporters an unfair advantage.

The emergence of China as the world's fastest-growing major economy has led to often testy relations with the United States. The most recent tension was over U.S. plans for a $5.3 billion upgrade of the F-16 A/B fighter fleet of Taiwan, which Beijing considers to be a breakaway province.

http://news.yahoo.com/senate-takes-first-step-china-yuan-bill-001119095.html

10/3 Dwarf Star Emergency Alert!!!

Sean Penn joins Egyptian protests

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/sean-penn-joins-egyptian-protests-1317401630-slideshow/sean-penn-holds-egypt-flag-walks-egyptian-actor-photo-151737673.html

Wall Street protesters march on police

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Protesters who have camped out near Wall Street for two weeks marched on Friday on police headquarters in Manhattan over what they viewed as a heavy-handed police response to a previous demonstration.

The Occupy Wall Street movement, whose members have vowed to stay through the winter, are protesting issues including the 2008 bank bailouts, foreclosures and high unemployment.

More than 1,000 people marched past City Hall and arrived at a plaza outside police headquarters in the late afternoon. Some held banners criticizing police, while others chanted: "We are the 99 percent" and "The banks got bailed out, we got sold out."

Workers from the financial district on their way home watched as the marchers passed, with some saying it was not obvious what outcome organizers of the Occupy Wall Street movement wanted.

Police observed the march and kept protesters on the sidewalk, but no clashes were reported. Police said no arrests were made before the protest dispersed peaceably by 8 p.m. after the march.

"No to the NYPD crackdown on Wall St. protesters," organizers had said on their website, promoting the march. Other online flyers for the march read: "No to Stop-and-Frisk in Black & Latino neighborhoods" and "No to Spying and Harassment of Muslim Communities."

The protest came less than a week after police arrested 80 people during a march to the bustling Union Square shopping district, the most arrests by New York police at a demonstration since hundreds were detained outside the Republican National Convention in 2004.

A police commander used pepper spray on four women at last weekend's march and a video of the incident went viral on the Internet, angering many protesters who vowed to continue their protests indefinitely.

Police have said pepper spray was a better alternative than night sticks to subdue those blocking traffic.

RIGHT TO PROTEST

Friday's crowd appeared to have been boosted by an announcement that the rock band Radiohead would perform at 4 p.m. Later, organizers said on their website, "Radiohead will not being playing. This was a hoax. Please accept our apologies."

"We heard about Radiohead coming here on Facebook," said Alegra Felter, a 34-year-old teacher from Brooklyn who was among the disappointed rock fans.

The protest encampment in Zuccotti Park in downtown Manhattan is festooned with placards and anti-Wall Street slogans. There is a makeshift kitchen and library, and celebrities from filmmaker Michael Moore to actress Susan Sarandon have stopped by to show solidarity.

Asked on his weekly radio show on Friday whether the protesters could stay indefinitely at the private park they call their base, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said, "We'll see."

Bloomberg added: "People have a right to protest. But we also have to make sure that people who don't want to protest can go down the street unmolested."

While the protest has been made up mostly of young people, it also has recently attracted the support of a loose coalition of labor and community organizations.

Marty Goodman, a unionized subway worker, said, "Last year we had 900 of our members laid off ... These are our issues too: Wall Street, the banks, layoffs, the struggle that these young people are spearheading is our struggle too."

Among those pledging solidarity were the United Federation of Teachers and the Transport Workers Union Local 100, which has 38,000 members. The unions could provide important organizational and financial support for the largely leaderless movement.

Similar but smaller protests have also sprouted in other cities in recent days, including Boston, Chicago and San Francisco.