Archive
Reuters blog archive
from Global Investing:
A Plan B for Argentina
What's Argentina's Plan B?
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has said she will sell the presidential palace in Buenos Aires, if need be, to keep paying creditors who agreed to restructure the country's debts. But it may not come to that. Warning: this is a complicated saga with very interesting twists.
A pair of hedge fund litigants demanding $1.3 billion in payments and a New York court are making it hard for Kirchner to keep paying international bondholders. But she might contemplate asking those existing creditors to swap into Argentine law bonds, to which the writ of the New York court will not extend.
First some background. Argentina is due to pay bond coupons this week and in June. Looks like the hedge funds will decline the payment proposal Argentina made last week; this could lead to a default.
Most investors reckon this week's payment is safe and that the crash will fall in June. Argentina pleaded in the NY court that its own laws prohibit it from paying more to the hedge funds than it pays other creditors. Out of court it is less polite, calling the two hedge funds vultures. See here for more.
from Global Investing:
Argentina back in court
Argentina squares off today in a U.S. Appeals court with the so-called holdout creditors who are demanding $1.3 billion in payments on defaulted bonds. A decision will probably take a few days but supporters of both sides have been mustering.
Emails have been pouring into journalists' inboxes thick and fast from the Argentine Task Force, a lobby group that wants Argentina to settle with bondholders and identifies its goal as "pursuing a fair reconciliation of of the Argentine debt default". And yesterday, a noisy pots-and-pans protest was held outside the London offices of Elliot Associates (the parent company of one of the two hedge fund litigants) by groups supporting Argentina in its battle against those it terms "vulture funds". Nick Dearden, director of the Jubilee Debt Campaign, a group that calls for cancelling poor countries' debts, says:
from India Insight:
Interview: Satisfied with response from police, government: rape victim’s father
Five men accused of the rape and murder of the 23-year-old student appeared in court on Monday to hear charges against them.
Reuters’ Shashank Chouhan interviewed the rape victim’s father over telephone. Here are the excerpts:
from Oddly Enough Blog:
I Hope You’re Proud Of Yourself!
Hey Blog Guy, it's September 14th. This is the day you announce the coveted annual I Hope You're Proud Of Yourself! award.
Yes, I'm sorry for the delay. I was all set to give this year's trophy to the folks at that Tea Party presidential debate on Monday.
from FaithWorld:
Ethiopia jails hundreds in Muslim attacks on Christians over Koran rumour
(A destroyed Protestant church in Asendabo, 300 km (200 miles) west of the capital Addis Ababa, March 16, 2011, after Muslim youths attacked Christians/Aaron Maasho )
An Ethiopian court has sentenced 558 people to jail terms ranging from six months to 25 years for attacks on Christians that displaced thousands and led 69 churches to be burned to the ground. More than 4,000 members of local Protestant denominations were forced to flee near the town of Asendabo, some 300 kilometres (186 miles) west of the capital, in March during a rare bout of religious violence.
from FaithWorld:
Dutch populist Geert Wilders acquitted of hate speech against Muslims
(Dutch right-wing politician Geert Wilders in the courtroom in Amsterdam June 23, 2011/Robin Utrecht)
Dutch populist politician Geert Wilders was acquitted of inciting hatred of Muslims in a court ruling on Thursday that may strengthen his political influence and exacerbate tensions over immigration policy. The case was seen by some as a test of free speech in a country which has a long tradition of tolerance and blunt talk, but where opposition to immigration, particularly from Muslim or predominantly Muslim countries, is on the rise.
from FaithWorld:
Indian Supreme Court suspends controversial Ayodhya mosque ruling
(Hindu militants storm a disputed mosque-temple site December 6, 1992 climbing atop the building's dome as they demolish it to clear the site for a Hindu temple/Sunil Malhotra)
India's Supreme Court has suspended a High Court ruling over the partition of a disputed site that has been a flashpoint for Hindu-Muslim clashes, throwing one of the country's most religiously-divisive legal battles into uncertainty. A two-justice bench questioned the reasoning behind a ruling passed last year that divided the site of the former Babri Masjid mosque destroyed by Hindu rioters in 1992 into three separate plots for Hindus, Muslims, and a local Hindu trust.
from India Insight:
The Aruna Shanbaug case: SC rejects plea
UPDATE: The Supreme Court in its judgement on Monday rejected the euthanasia plea of Aruna Shanbaug, who has been lying in a vegetative state for 37 years following a sexual assault on her.
Euthanasia in various forms is legal in some countries with safeguards, but has been criticised.
from Funds Hub:
Morning Line-Up: Winters’ come back, Pru’s pension, double-dippers
News and views on the asset management industry from Reuters and elsewhere
Ex-JP Morgan Winters starts new fund - FT
Pru in pension top up court case - Guardian
"Double-dippers" in the frame in N.Y. pension debate - Reuters
from FaithWorld:
Indonesia Muslims attack court, churches; mob kills Ahmadis
(Anti-riot police block protesters outside the court where a Catholic man is on trial for blasphemy in Temanggung February 8, 2011/Stringer)
Hundreds of Muslim radicals set two churches ablaze and attacked a court in Indonesia's central Java on Tuesday, calling for harsh punishment for a Christian on trial for blasphemy, police said.
