France seeks 120 bln EU package, euro bonds later - Reuters UK
PARIS, June 17 |
PARIS, June 17 (Reuters) - France wants the European Union to agree before the end of 2012 on growth-boosting measures worth 120 billion euros, the weekly Journal du Dimanche said on Sunday, citing a proposal circulated by France ahead of an end-June summit.
The newspaper also reported that France has accepted Germany's rejection of its call to issue mutualised debt in the euro bloc and now agreed that so-called euro bonds were a project to be looked at over a 10-year time frame.
The 120 billion euros are to come from a combination of short-term growth instruments such as project bonds, reallocated EU structural funds and fresh investment capital from the European Investment Bank.
French President Francois Hollande submitted his ideas to EU partners and the European Council a few days ago ahead of a Group of 20 summit in Mexico on Monday and Tuesday and four-way talks with the leaders of Germany, Italy and Spain in Rome on Friday.
"From June, the European Council should adopt growth measures having a rapid impact and totalling 120 billion euros," the newspaper cited Hollande as saying in the document, entitled "European growth pact."
Hollande said the measures should be enlarged upon before the end of 2012 with the creation of a financial transaction tax and measures to create jobs, especially for young people.
The 120 billion euros would be made up of some 55 billion euros of unused EU structural development funds, some 4.5 billion euros in project bonds for infrastructure projects and 60 billion euros in capital that could be raised by the EIB if it were given an extra 10 billion euros in financing, the newspaper said.
Hollande, France's first Socialist leader in 17 years, is demanding that Europe complement a budget discipline pact agreed earlier this year with a growth pact, an idea so widely supported that Berlin has come around to it.
Hollande has put himself on a collision course with the German government, however, with his push for the euro zone to adopt new mechanisms to insulate member states and their banks from market turmoil, such as a joint fund to pay down debt.
Hollande discussed his ideas with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti in Rome on Thursday and also circulated them to European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and others two weeks before the crucial June 28-29 summit.
The French president also wants the euro zone's ESM permanent rescue fund to be given a banking licence to allow it to borrow money from the European Central Bank to bolster its firepower.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel strongly opposes creating euro bonds in the near term or having Germany underwrite debt or guarantee bank deposits in the euro zone. (Reporting by Jean-Baptiste Vey; writing by Gus Trompiz; editing by Mohammad Zargham)
Whitecaps overcome ejection with late goal to down Rapids - CBC
Sebastien Le Toux's goal in the 80th-minute gave the undermanned Vancouver Whitecaps a 1-0 victory Saturday over the Colorado Rapids.
Vancouver won while playing a man down after striker Darren Mattocks was ejected in the 60th minute following his second yellow card.
The Whitecaps (7-3-4) posted their seventh Major League Soccer victory of the season, surpassing the six they mustered in their 2011 expansion season. Vancouver moved four points up on Colorado (6-7-1) in the Western Conference standings.
Colorado won both games against Vancouver by identical 2-1 scores last season.
Le Toux scored on a sliding volley off Davide Chiumiento's long cross from near midfield. Chiumiento was the key to the play as he dribbled away from three or four defenders in his vicinity and sent the seeing-eye cross.
It was Vancouver's second consecutive victory. Colorado has not won a league game since early May.
Vancouver's Brazilian striker Camilo and French counterpart Eric Hassli, the team's highest-paid player, started on the bench for the second straight game as coach Martin Rennie elected to go with Mattocks and Le Toux, who plays a withdrawn attacker role. Camilo did not see the field for the second consecutive contest while Hassli subbed in during the 86th minute.
Both clubs had excellent scoring chances at the outset of the game. Colorado goalkeeper Matt Pickens stopped a Mattocks shot from close range after the Whitecaps striker darted down the left wing. In the fourth minute, Vancouver goalkeeper Joe Cannon came out to make a sliding save on Edu.
Ten minutes later, Pickens stopped a Gershon Koffie shot from about 35 yards out. Colorado was unlucky not to score in the 28th minute as Martin Rivero drilled a shot wide of the post from about 20 yards as baffled Cannon looked on.
In the next minute, Cannon came out to snatch the ball away from Jeff Larentowicz. Moments later, Koffie had another chance but could only get a weak shot off from short range as he was checked from behind by a defender and stumbled over the ball.
In the 34th minute, Cannon dove right to get his hand on a Rivero shot from the top of the 18-yard box. Following the ensuing corner kick, Cannon dove to his left and caught a deflected ball before it went inside the post.
Two minutes before halftime, Pickens ran out and stole the ball from a charging Le Toux.
Cannon and Pickens were both credited with two saves in the first half.
Five minutes into the second half, Pickens stopped Le Toux from point-blank range after Vancouver's Young-Pyo Lee ran onto a cross but could not get control of the ball. Three minutes later, Koffie fired a shot from the Colorado from the top of the Colorado 18.
Vancouver lost Mattocks as he took two yellow cards a minute apart.
He received the first card in the 59th minute as he was called for diving in the 18-yard box after he ran onto a ball and it was cleared. In the following minute, he took his second yellow, and an automatic red, for a high tackle near the sideline on Colorado captain Drew Moor.
In the 70th minute, Le Toux saw his shot hit ring off the crossbar after the ball hit a fallen Pickens and ricocheted upward. The chance came off a give-and-go between Le Toux and Alain Rochat.
Two minutes after Le Toux scored, Colorado came close to equalizing, but were denied as three factors worked in Vancouver's favour. First, Cannon got his hand on a Conor Casey shot from the right flank. Then with the goalkeeper out of position, Vancouver defender Martin Bonjor blocked an Edu shot. Then Rivero clunked the rebound off the crossbar.
Six minutes later, Colorado was unlucky again as Hunter Freeman curled a shot past Cannon from the corner of the 18 — only to see it hit the post.
The game was the first of three meetings between Vancouver and Colorado this season. Vancouver's next game is Wednesday at home against the New York Red Bulls.
Mattocks will sit out an automatic one-game suspension for the red card.
Hack My Trip - Site Updates and New RSS Feed - USA Today
Obviously I haven’t been posting much lately. I’m trying to get back into the swing of things as I am in the final stages of writing my dissertation. In the meantime, I am making a few changes here and there with the site. I would like at some point to select a new theme that is a bit cleaner and perhaps makes it easier to read. If anyone has extensive knowledge of WordPress and custom CSS, I might even call on you for some advice/employment on one or two design changes that are beyond my ability. But these are things I probably won’t get around to right away.
In the immediate future, I want to alert those of you who already access my blog by RSS or email subscriptions that I’ve signed up with FeedBurner to replace the standard WordPress distribution mechanisms. This has advantages for both you and me. All the normal RSS features still work, although I strongly recommend you sign up for the new FeedBurner feed. I won’t be actively monitoring the old RSS feed to see if it’s working, although I don’t see any reason why it would stop. Even so, sign up again to make sure you keep getting the RSS updates. One nice thing is that I now have a way to tell how many people have subscribed, and I always like more numbers.
You can also tell FeedBurner when you click on this link if you’d rather have new posts delivered by email. A couple hundred of you already do through a direct subscription to my blog through WordPress. Those emails are sent out immediately, which some of you might like but others don’t. Perhaps I’m spamming you. I’ve set up FeedBurner so that it only delivers one email per day. I also set it to deliver between 5 and 7 PM Pacific Time. I expect to get back into Rewarding Recap series on Monday, and since I like to do those around the late afternoon I hope this means you will still receive them in your inbox the same day.
Thanks for your attention. Now back to the dissertation…
© Hack My Trip, a BoardingArea Blog
Greece V Russia : UEFA Euro 2012 Match Report - Football
Published: 16 Jun 2012 - 22:01:24
Greece in Euro 2012 quarters after foiling Russia
Veteran Greece captain Giorgos Karagounis halted Russia's Euro 2012 campaign in its tracks here on Saturday, as the underdogs unexpectedly beat the Group A early pacesetters 1-0 to reach the last eight instead.
Seconds before the end of stoppage time in the first half, the 35-year-old midfielder latched onto a throw-in that Russian defender Sergei Ignashevich failed to deal with.
Dodging between the Russian rearguard, he fired a powerful low cross shot past goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev.
The 4,000 Greek fans in Warsaw's stadium, who up to then had largely been outsung by 20,000 Russians, went wild as Karagounis hit home to put his side through on the head to head rule - both sides ending on four points behind group winners the Czech Republic.
Karagounis, who was in Greece's Euro 2004 winning squad, and his team-mates had gone into the Russia game gung-ho, knowing that only a win would keep them in the tournament.
They had also said they aimed to bring some cheer to their crisis-ravaged homeland.
Six minutes in, Karagounis fired a corner to Kostas Katsouranis, and Dimitris Salpingidis bundled goalwards, only for Malafeev to save.
Salpingidis had been Greece's hero of the night when, after coming on as a half-time substitute, he equalised against Poland for his side, earlier reduced to 10 men.
Three minutes later, Russian captain Andrey Arshavin crossed to rising star Alan Dzagoev but he was beaten by Greek goalkeeper Michalis Sifakis - brought in to replace Kostas Chalkias, injured in their defeat by the Czechs.
Dzagoev tried again a minute later, but fired over the bar, before Aleksandr Kerzhakov shot wide.
Russia continued to show their strength as the half progressed, underlining the Greeks' vulnerability to counter-attacks.
But while not ironclad, Greece's defence remained solid at the end.
Five minutes from half-time, Yuri Zhirkov took a superb short corner, only to shoot over the bar.
With two minutes added on, Karagounis's strike came just seconds before Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson's half-time whistle.
Returning from the dressing room, both sides continued to display fighting spirit.
Russia came within a whisker of equalising in the 56th minute, but Igor Denisov was off-target.
There was gloom for Karagounis when he received a yellow card for being harshly adjudged to have dived in the box, meaning he will miss their quarter-final as he was also booked against the Czechs.
Greece's Giorgos Tzavellas came close to putting them further ahead in the 69th minute, but hit the post.
Five minutes later, Sifakis saved a shot from Igor Denisov, while Russia were again foiled in the 83rd minute when Dzagoev latched onto an Arshavin cross but fired wide.
With Eriksson adding four minutes' stoppage time, a desperate Russia battled to save face, but Sifakis denied Denisov again on his line.
Related Greece News
Central banks prepare for turmoil after Greek vote - Reuters
FRANKFURT/LONDON |
FRANKFURT/LONDON (Reuters) - Central banks from Tokyo to London checked their ammunition on Friday in preparation for any turmoil from Greece's election, with the European Central Bank hinting at an interest rate cut and Britain set to open its coffers.
Tensions were high about how to manage the euro zone's debt crisis - epitomized by Greece's bankruptcy and need for international aid - and a rare fight broke out between Germany and France, normally the glue that keeps the bloc together.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel criticized France's economic performance, effectively taking a swipe at Socialist President Francois Hollande who has called for more emphasis on economic growth and less on budget austerity.
The feeling of crisis was real. "We must do everything possible to prevent the euro zone from falling apart," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on television.
ECB President Mario Draghi, one of many policymakers gearing up for trouble after Sunday's vote in Greece, said his bank was ready to step in and fund any viable euro zone bank that gets in trouble.
He painted a picture of a deteriorating euro zone economy with no inflation danger - conditions for monetary easing.
"There are serious downside risks here," Draghi told the annual ECB Watchers conference in Frankfurt, two days before the vote that could set Athens on a path out of the euro zone and stoke turmoil in financial markets.
"This risk has to do mostly with the heightened uncertainty."
Japan's top financial diplomat Takehiko Nakao warned that authorities in Tokyo would respond to unwelcome currency moves as appropriate, a clear threat of intervention if investors seeking safety push the yen too high.
It was an echo of strong pledges from the Swiss National Bank on Thursday that it would do what it takes to protect the franc from soaring.
The Bank of England followed up on Thursday's joint announcement with the government of a 100 billion pound ($155 billion) offer of loans to banks by saying it will start next week with a charge of just 0.75 percent.
In the United States, Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs Lael Brainard offered assurance that Washington has a "tool kit" and stood ready to preserve market confidence.
"Everyone is well prepared, too, in the wake of the elections on Greece, to work together to make sure there is a path forward that is sustainable for Greece and bolsters confidence more broadly," she said.
GETTING READY
Officials from the G20 nations, whose leaders are meeting in Mexico next week, say numerous central banks are preparing to take steps to stabilize financial markets - if needed - by providing liquidity and prevent any credit squeeze.
European Council President Herman Van Rompuy convened a conference call on Friday afternoon with the leaders of Germany, France, Italy and Britain, officially to discuss preparations for the G20 summit, expected to be dominated by the euro zone debt crisis.
Depending on the depth of any turmoil, an emergency meeting of ministers from the Group of Seven developed nations could be held on Monday or Tuesday during the summit in Los Cabos, Mexico, sources said.
The focal point for all is Sunday's repeat general election in Greece, a knife-edge race that could be won by parties vowing to tear up the harsh economic terms that the European Union and International Monetary Fund imposed as conditions of a bailout for the near-bankrupt state.
Such an outcome could drive Greece into default and possibly out of the euro zone, a prospect that could undermine faith in the currency bloc and add to pressure on the finances of bigger economies such as Italy and Spain.
Madrid's borrowing costs rose above 7 percent on Thursday, a level that is widely considered unsustainable. They fell slightly on Friday and European shares gained on expectations of global central bank response. The euro was lower, however.
"At best, we are going to have a situation that is extremely serious on Monday," Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg told journalists. "In all likelihood, whatever the outcome, we are going to have a government which is going to find it hard to live up to the agreements they (the Greeks) have signed up to."
WORSENING OUTLOOK
In a sign of growing strain between Europe's central powers, Merkel hit out at France in response to Hollande's proposals for joint euro zone bonds and a joint bank deposit guarantee scheme.
"Europe must discuss the growing differences in economic strength between France and Germany," Merkel said.
Responding to Hollande's call for more euro zone solidarity, she said Germany had wanted to give the European Court of Justice the power to reject national budgets that breach EU rules but others had objected. She meant France.
Draghi said the ECB was ready to provide money to solvent banks if they needed it, a clear plan to avoid the kind of credit crunch that occurred during the Lehman Brother crisis in 2008.
"The ECB has the crucial role of providing liquidity to sound bank counterparties in return for adequate collateral. This is what we have done throughout the crisis, faithful to our mandate of maintaining price stability over the medium term - and this is what we will continue to do," he said.
Draghi also said that no euro zone country faces an inflation risk, which is the bank's main concern. That gelled with comments from ECB policymakers a day earlier that the central bank might be open to cutting interest rates.
Britain did not wait for the Greek vote to announce action. Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said on Thursday the country would launch a scheme to provide cheap long-term funding to banks to encourage them to lend to businesses and consumers.
The central bank would also activate an emergency liquidity supply, King said.
King said the euro zone's problems were causing a crisis of confidence in Britain that was leading to a self-reinforcing weaker picture of growth.
"The black cloud has dampened animal spirits so that businesses and households are battening down the hatches to prepare for the storms ahead," he said.
On Friday, the bank said it will hold a first emergency liquidity operation for banks next week with at least 5 billion pounds on offer. Loans would be at a minimum of the Bank Rate, 0.5 percent, plus an additional 25 basis points.
STAND-OFF IN ATHENS
In Athens, the election was seen as too close to call. Alexis Tsipras, leader of the main anti-bailout leftist party SYRIZA, said on Thursday the deal with Greece's international lenders, which has helped push the economy into a depression, would not last beyond the weekend.
"The memorandum of bankruptcy will belong to the past on Monday," Tsipras, who has rapidly emerged from fringe politics to challenge the mainstream for power, told his last campaign rally in Athens.
European leaders, however, have warned that Greece will get no help if it reneges. Officials have also hinted that Athens might be granted more time to achieve its fiscal targets if a new government sticks to the core reforms in the program.
French President Francois Hollande warned Greek voters about seeking what Tsipras has promised - a future in the euro while ditching the 130-billion-euro ($160 billion) bailout deal sealed earlier this year and its demands for punishing austerity policies.
Hollande said on Greek TV that he wanted the country to stay in the euro, rather than reviving its drachma currency.
"But I have to warn them, because I am a friend of Greece, that if the impression is given that Greece wants to distance itself from its commitments and abandon all prospect of recovery, there will be countries in the euro zone which will prefer to finish with the presence of Greece in the euro zone."
SYRIZA is running neck-and-neck with the mainstream conservatives for Sunday's parliamentary vote, a re-run of an election last month that produced a stalemate in which neither the pro- nor anti-bailout camps was able to form a coalition.
(Writing by Jeremy Gaunt, additional reporting by Fiona Shaikh, Paul Carrel, Leika Kihara, Rie Ishiguro and Johan Sennero; Editing by Giles Elgood and Chizu Nomiyama)
Golf-Woods bogeys first hole in U.S. Open third round - Reuters UK
SAN FRANCISCO, June 16 |
SAN FRANCISCO, June 16 (Reuters) - Tiger Woods made a shaky start to the third round of the U.S. Open on Saturday, bogeying the tricky opening hole at the Olympic Club.
The former world number one, bidding to end a four-year title drought in major championships, started the day tied for the lead at one under par with fellow Americans Jim Furyk and David Toms.
But the pacesetting trio all bogeyed the 509-yard first hole to drop back to even.
That left them one stroke clear of a group of four players - Americans Michael Thompson and John Peterson, 2010 champion Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland and Belgian Nicolas Colsaerts.
McDowell, Peterson and Colsaerts all safely parred the first two holes while Thompson, who led after the first round, made a birdie at the first to join the leaders but handed the shot back when he bogeyed the par-three third.
Conditions on the notoriously difficult course were slightly easier in the morning, allowing a handful of early starters to break par, but were expected to get harder in the afternoon once the winds picked up and the greens began to quicken.
American Casey Wittenberg, who teed off five hours before Woods, made an eagle at the seventh hole, then birdied the last two to sign for a three-under 67 to move to five over.
"By the time Tiger and those guys tee off, I think it's going to be a brick," Wittenberg told reporters of the firm and fast-running layout at the Olympic Club.
"There are a lot of front pin placements out there and it's hard to get to those front pin placements when it gets a little crusty in the afternoon.
"I'm sure with the sun being out and everybody walking on those greens it's going to be a challenge." (Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)
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