Irish commissioner says EU Treaty would be rejected in most countries

Irish commissioner says EU Treaty would be rejected in most countries

(Source EUObserver) Ireland's EU commissioner, Charlie McCreevy, has said that the Lisbon Treaty would be rejected by most member states if put to a referendum.
With just a few months to go before his own country's second referendum on the document, the plain-speaking former finance minister said 95 percent of the 27 member states would have said "no" to the new institutional rules if it had been put to a vote.
The commissioner, in charge of the internal market, reckons all leaders know this and it is only officials working in the EU institutions who have unrealistic expectations about the popularity of the treaty, designed to streamline how the EU functions and removing the unanimity requirement for decision-making in most policy areas.

"When Irish people rejected the Lisbon Treaty a year ago, the initial reaction ranged from shock to horror to temper to vexation. That would be the view of a lot of the people who live in the Brussels beltway," he told the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ireland on Friday (26 June), reports the Irish Times.

"On the other hand, all of the [political leaders] know quite well that if the similar question was put to their electorate by a referendum the answer in 95 per cent of the countries would probably have been 'No' as well."

"I have always divided the reaction between those two forces: those within the beltway, the 'fonctionnaires', those who gasp with horror [on the one hand] and the heads of state, who are far more realistic. They are glad they didn't have to put the question themselves to their people."

Ireland rejected the Lisbon Treaty in a referendum a year ago. In the run up to that vote, Mr McCreevy stole the headlines by saying he had not read the treaty from cover to cover and that no "sane" person had done so. Read Article... http://euobserver.com/843/28382

Financial crisis coverage dominates Loeb Awards

Financial crisis coverage dominates Loeb Awards
New York Times wins 3 Loeb Awards for business journalism, struggling McClatchy gets 3 honors


LOS ANGELES (AP) -- McClatchy & Co., one of the companies hardest hit by the crisis in the newspaper industry, was honored Monday for its coverage of the economic meltdown.
The Loeb Awards, among the highest honors in business journalism, have been presented for 36 years by Anderson School of Management at the University of California at Los Angeles. They were established in 1957 by Gerald Loeb, a financier and founding partner of E.F. Hutton, to encourage quality reporting in business, finance and the economy.

Even as media companies struggle with a chronic decline in advertising revenue, made worse by the recession, they continued to put resources towards investigative journalism in covering the biggest economic and business story of the past 70 years. A number of award recipients spoke of being given a year or more to travel to big cities and small towns across the U.S. to write stories of abusive mortgage practices and other financial misdeeds.

The New York Times, which received three Loeb Awards, was honored for "The Reckoning," a 19-part account of who and what was to blame for the financial crisis. Lawrence Ingrassia, business and financial editor at The New York Times and the driving force behind the series, received the Lawrence Minard Editor Award.

In accepting the honor, Ingrassia said the current era hearkens "back to the 1930's, not because we're in a depression, but because it's increasingly incumbent on the press to be the watchdog."

The New York Times' Gretchen Morgenson, who co-authored "The Reckoning" with eight colleagues, also won a Loeb Award in the beat writing category for her coverage of the follies of Wall Street.

She shared that win with Rick Rothacker of McClatchy publication The Charlotte Observer, who was recognized for anticipating how adjustable rate mortgages would topple Charlotte, N.C.-based bank Wachovia Corp. and ultimately force its takeover by Wells Fargo & Co. That newspaper also received an Honorable Mention for its investigative series on the poultry industry, "The Cruelest Cuts."

The Miami Herald, another former Knight Ridder publication now owned by McClatchy, was recognized in the medium and small newspapers category for "Borrowers Betrayed," which chronicled Florida's failure to prevent convicted felons from working in the state's mortgage industry and bilking lenders and borrowers out of millions of dollars. Read more... http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Financial-crisis-coverage-apf-3992981568.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=

Exxon to pay interest on spill damages

Exxon to pay interest on spill damages

(Source Anchorage Daily News)Exxon Mobil Corp. said Monday it won't appeal nearly $500 million in interest that a court recently ordered it to pay to Alaska fishermen, business owners and others harmed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Exxon said it will pay $470 million in interest on the $507.5 million in punitive damages it has already begun paying out to claimants. The company has already paid out $383 million and the only sum that remains in dispute in the long-running lawsuit is $70 million in court fees, according to a company spokesman.

"We expect to make payment on the interest in the next few days," said Alan Jeffers, the Exxon spokesman.

He said he couldn't immediately provide an explanation for Exxon's decision not to challenge the court-ordered interest payment.

Exxon's decision is the latest in a series of high-profile Alaska actions this year. The company has endured two decades of infamy in the state thanks to its tanker running aground and spilling 11 million gallons of oil in Prince William Sound, and its lengthy fight over how much to pay in spill damages.
Earlier this year Exxon significantly upped its major sponsorship of the Iditarod Trail Sled-Dog Race and it began drilling on its long-dormant oil and gas leases at the promising Point Thomson field. And this month it joined the competition to build a massive North Slope gas pipeline.
"Exxon's actions lately appear to be geared at generating relationships with the Alaska public, not just elected officials," said Joe Balash, a member of the Palin administration's gas pipeline team.
"As far as what their ultimate strategy is, in my experience, Exxon doesn't do anything unless they think it's good for their shareholders," he said.

DOUBLED AWARDS
The request for punitive damages was filed by Alaska Natives, fishermen and others who claimed damages to their livelihoods after the Exxon Valdez oil spill sullied 1,200 miles of Alaska coast. Since the mid-1990s, Exxon has appealed court-awarded punitive damages. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this month finalized the punitive damages at $507.5 million, ordered Exxon to pay interest on that amount since 1996 and set the interest rate at 5.9 percent a year.

The $470 million will roughly double the average punitive damage award to 32,000 to 35,000 claimants, said David Oesting, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

"It's a blessing for everyone involved," said Oesting, who signed Exxon's paperwork on Monday. Read more... http://www.adn.com/exxonvaldez/story/847901.html

Brazil: Venture Capital's Next Hotbed?

Brazil: Venture Capital's Next Hotbed?
Investments in Brazilian startups are surging, but high taxes and strict labor laws could hamper returns

(Source Business Week, Technology, Investment) Brazil is best known around the world for soccer, samba music, and supermodels. Now it's emerging as an attractive destination for investment capital.

At a June 25 conference in New York, a Brazilian venture capital trade group announced some impressive figures. As of the end of 2008, local and foreign investors had committed $28 billion in venture and private equity capital to Brazilian companies, said Luiz Figueiredo, president of the Brazilian Association for Private Equity & Venture Capital. That's up from $6 billion in 2004, amounting to a hearty 50% compound annual growth rate over the last four years. Investors have financed 500 Brazilian companies to date with venture or private equity capital, and there's $12 billion left to invest over the next few years from that $28 billion kitty.

Venture and private equity players see ample opportunity in Brazil, which boasts a stable financial system and a strong base of local investors. But the country's business challenges, including high taxes and restrictive labor laws, could hold back growth.

The conference on investment opportunities in Brazil was hosted by the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce and drew more than 150 investors, executives, and technologists. An initial public offering and a large investment underscored the event's theme.

On June 25, Brazilian stock exchange Bovespa hosted the world’s largest IPO this year, a $4.3 billion offering by Brazilian credit-card processor VisaNet. The same day, Boston private equity firm Advent International announced that it has bought a 50% stake in Brazilian holding company PAP for $142 million. PAP controls Kroton Educational, a fast-growing education company. It was Advent’s fifteenth investment in Brazil since 1997. Read Article... http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jun2009/tc20090628_830521.htm?chan=technology_technology+index+page_top+stories

Beware the New Hazards of Plastic

Beware the New Hazards of Plastic

(Source Yahoo Finance) A recent study finds that more credit card holders are being penalized by their card issuers as companies try to maximize profits and bring balance sheets in line ahead of a law banning unfair practices.

The ink is barely dry on the Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights Act, signed by President Obama in May, but the legislation doesn’t take effect until February 2010. According to the June survey of 1,000 consumers by Credit.com, a card-comparison and informational Web site, one-third of respondents said their card company made one or some combination of changes to their accounts:

* 19 percent said the card’s interest rose (up from 15 percent in a February survey);
* 14 percent said fees increased;
* 14 percent said the firm lowered their credit limit (up from 8 percent in February);
* 12 percent said their minimum payment increased;
* and 9 percent said their rewards program was cut back.

“It’s certainly open season on consumers between now and when the law goes into effect in February,” says Adam Levin, co-founder of credit.com and a former director of the New Jersey Department of Consumer Affairs. “There may be fee increases that are purely front-running of the law, and you could also have consumers who have run into problems because of the economy.”

Americans carry about $850 billion in credit card debt, which translates to about $17,000 for the roughly 50 million households that don’t pay their credit card balances in full every month, according to the Consumer Federation of America. Among other provisions, the new law prohibits retroactive interest rate increases on existing balances unless a consumer is 60 days late with a payment; bans “universal default” clauses, in which credit card companies raise their rates because the consumer is late paying another creditor; and eliminates over-limit fees, unless the consumer has specifically opted in to allow over-limit transactions. Read article Linda Rowley... http://finance.yahoo.com/expert/article/moneyhappy/172642

U.S. and Russia Differ on a Treaty for Cyberspace

World
U.S. and Russia Differ on a Treaty for Cyberspace
By JOHN MARKOFF and ANDREW E. KRAMER Published: June 28, 2009 (New York Times Permalink)
The Kremlin’s call for an international treaty to protect computer security is a likely topic for discussion during President Obama’s visit to Moscow next week.

Silicon Valley Hotshot Turns Prius Into High-Tech Batmobile

Silicon Valley Hotshot Turns Prius Into High-Tech Batmobile

JPMorgan to Charge 5% on Card Balance Transfers, Cash Advances

JPMorgan to Charge 5% on Card Balance Transfers, Cash Advances

(Source LA Times) JPMorgan Chase & Co. is raising some balance-transfer fees on credit cards to 5 percent, the highest among the nation's largest banks, citing increasing regulations and costs after the U.S. put new curbs on the industry.

JPMorgan, the biggest credit-card issuer, disclosed the increase in a notice mailed to customers this month that referred to "new federal regulations." The New York-based lender starts charging more in August, just as the law designed to curb interest-rate increases, fees and marketing practices begins to take effect.
"In the current economic environment, our costs of doing business have been impacted by increased losses," JPMorgan spokesman Paul Hartwick said in an e-mailed statement. "We are increasing balance-transfer fees to reflect the increasing costs for these transactions." The notice didn't specify the current average fee for balance transfers.

The credit-card law President Barack Obama signed May 22 prompted warnings from industry executives that they'd be forced to raise fees, curtail credit and restrict consumer rewards. Discover Financial Services Chief Executive Officer David Nelms said last week his credit-card company will pull back "dramatically" on balance transfers.

The rate increase at JPMorgan also affects cash advances, and fixed rates will become variable, the notice said. Hartwick declined to say how many customers are affected. The agreement says JPMorgan may choose to offer a lower transfer fee; Hartwick declined to elaborate on how customers might qualify.

JPMorgan's 5 percent fee tops the 4 percent that Bank of America Corp. implemented June 1, citing increasing costs. Bank of America ranks third by cards outstanding, according to industry newsletter the Nilson Report.

"This is the highest balance-transfer fee in the industry," said Bill Hardekopf, chief executive officer of LowCards.com, a Birmingham, Alabama research firm. "It is setting a new precedent that I'm afraid other issuers may follow."

Madoff Client Jeffry Picower Netted $5 Billion—Likely More Than Madoff Himself

Madoff Client Jeffry Picower Netted $5 Billion—Likely More Than Madoff Himself
(Source ProPublica) It is rare these days to see Bernard Madoff's name in print unaccompanied by the word "Ponzi." Yet recent allegations raise the possibility of one key difference between Madoff's crimes and those of legendary con artist Charles Ponzi. While Ponzi's scam was under way, Ponzi himself was its biggest beneficiary. It now appears that the biggest winner in Madoff's scheme may not have been Madoff at all, but a secretive businessman named Jeffry Picower.

Between December 1995 and December 2008, Picower and his family withdrew from their various Madoff accounts $5.1 billion more than they invested with the self-confessed swindler, according to a lawsuit [2] filed by the trustee who is trying to recover money for those Madoff defrauded.

In contrast, shortly after he confessed [3], Madoff declared his household net worth to be between $823 and $826 million, according to court documents. While the Madoffs clearly lived opulently, no evidence has emerged that their combined assets and expenditures approached the amount the Picower family is alleged to have withdrawn from the scheme.

In an era when billions of dollars are being tossed about in financial collapses and government bailouts, remarkably little attention has been paid to Jeffry Picower's extraordinary success with Bernie Madoff. If Picower has penetrated the popular consciousness at all, it is as a Madoff victim. The victim narrative is buoyed by testimonials from the nonprofits who received funding from his charitable foundation – which quickly closed on the heels of the swindler's confession. For this reason, ProPublica decided to take a closer look at both Jeffry Picower and the complaint filed against him by Madoff trustee Irving Picard [4].

Fortunately for the trustee and the federal investigators presently swarming over the case, Madoff apparently kept detailed notes of communications between his office and his clients. But despite this documentary evidence, which is cited but not provided in court documents, Picard's complaint raises more questions than it answers. Above all, what was the exact relationship between the two men? The complaint [2] is larded with the legal catch-all phrase, "knew or should have known," to describe Picower's cognizance of Madoff's fraud, but the intricacies of the relationship are left to the imagination.
http://www.propublica.org/projects/picower/chart.html

Michael Jackson's Legacy

Michael Jackson's Legacy
6/25/2009

With all the turmoil in his personal life, it is easy to forget that Michael Jackson was once the biggest pop star in the world. Fox News' Dan Springer looks back at a long and colorful life.






Jackson lived like king but died awash in debt
King of Pop dies before comeback bid could burnish ailing finances, career

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Michael Jackson the singer was also Michael Jackson the billion-dollar business.
Yet after selling more than 61 million albums in the U.S. and having a decade-long attraction open at Disney theme parks, the "King of Pop" died Thursday at age 50 reportedly awash in about $400 million in debt, on the cusp of a final comeback after well over a decade of scandal.

The moonwalking pop star drove the growth of music videos, vaulting cable channel MTV into the popular mainstream after its launch in 1981. His 1982 hit "Thriller," still the second best-selling U.S. album of all time, spawned a John Landis-directed music video that MTV played every hour on the hour.

"The ratings were three or four times what they were normally every time the video came on," said Judy McGrath, the chairman and CEO of Viacom Inc.'s MTV Networks. "He was inextricably tied to the so-called MTV generation."

Five years later, "Bad" sold 22 million copies. In 1991, he signed a $65 million recording deal with Sony.

Jackson was so popular that The Walt Disney Co. hitched its wagon to his star in 1986, opening a 3-D movie at its parks called "Captain EO," executive produced by George Lucas and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The last attraction in Paris closed 12 years later.
One of Jackson's shrewdest deals at the height of his fame in 1985 was the $47.5 million acquisition of ATV Music, which owned the copyright to songs written by the Beatles' John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The catalog provided Jackson a steady stream of income and the ability to afford a lavish lifestyle.
He bought the sprawling Neverland ranch in 1988 for $14.6 million, a fantasy-like 2,500-acre property nestled in the hills of Santa Barbara County's wine country.
But the bombshell hit in 1993 when he was accused of molesting a 13-year-old boy.

Jackson fans gather in Harlem
(02:03) Rough Cut

Jun. 25 - Fans of Michael Jackson gather at the historic Apollo Theater in New York to celebrate his life and share their sorrow at his death.

Note: original sound only, no reporter narrationFans and admirers of Michael Jackson, who died Thursday, gathered at the historic Apollo Theater in New York City's Harlem district, singing his songs and expressing their sorrow at his loss.

The columnist Roger Cohen discusses his recent reporting trip to Iran.

opinion Videolink New York Times
Roger Cohen on Iran
Jigar Mehta Published:
The columnist Roger Cohen discusses his recent reporting trip to Iran.
http://video.nytimes.com/video/2009/06/25/opinion/1194841179757/roger-cohen-on-iran.html

Report: China likely to reject Hummer acquisition due to energy, business concerns

Report: China likely to reject Hummer acquisition
Report: China likely to reject Hummer acquisition due to energy, business concerns

BEIJING (AP) -- China's planning agency is likely to reject a Chinese company's bid to acquire General Motors Corp.'s Hummer unit, in part because its gas-guzzling vehicles conflict with Beijing's conservation goals, state radio reported.

The National Development and Reform Commission also is likely to say Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Corp., a maker of construction machinery, lacks expertise to run Hummer, China National Radio said late Thursday. It cited no source.
Employees who answered the phone at the NDRC referred questions to its foreign affairs office, where calls were not answered. Tengzhong spokespeople did not immediately respond to phone messages.

Hummers, which roar along on oversize tires and can weigh up to five tons, are based on U.S. military vehicles that gained fame during the 1991 Gulf War. But its sales have been battered by soaring fuel prices.
Tengzhong, based in the southwestern city of Chengdu, emerged as Hummer's surprise buyer this month after GM sought court protection from its creditors. The companies said the sale still required regulatory approval and refused to disclose the price.
Auto industry analysts questioned how Tengzhong, which makes construction vehicles such as cement mixers and tow trucks, could succeed with Hummer, known as "Han Ma," or Bold Horse, in China.
GM said the planned sale would save some 3,000 jobs in the United States. Tengzhong said it planned to invest in research to create more fuel-efficient Hummers. The company said it would keep Hummer's headquarters and manufacturing in the United States.
The Chinese government is trying to promote conservation and use of more fuel-efficient vehicles. It has cut sales taxes on cars with smaller engines and is encouraging automakers to develop electric and other alternative-energy vehicles.

China accuses Google of spreading pornography

China accuses Google of spreading pornography
China accuses Google of spreading pornography following outage in Chinese access

BEIJING (AP) -- China's government accused Google Inc. on Thursday of spreading pornography after Chinese Internet users were temporarily unable to gain access to the U.S. search giant's main Web site or China-based service.

"We have found that the English version of google.com has spread lots of pornographic, lewd and vulgar content, which is in serious violation of Chinese laws and regulations," said foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang. He said authorities "summoned representatives of Google.com in China and urged them to remove the content immediately."

Qin, speaking at a regular briefing, did not respond to questions about whether China's government was blocking Web users from seeing Google's site. However, he said he hoped the problem can be "resolved immediately."
Google said Thursday it was investigating the reason for the outage, which began late Wednesday. Chinese users were blocked from seeing Google's U.S. site, its China-based site google.cn and its Gmail e-mail service.
A Chinese watchdog agency accused Google last week of providing links to vulgar and obscene sites. Google, based in Mountainview, Calif., said it would do more to stop users in China from accessing pornography.
"I would like to stress that Google.com, as an Internet enterprise providing services in China, should earnestly abide by all Chinese laws," Qin said. "All the punitive measures adopted by the relevant authorities are conducted strictly according to law."
The Chinese agency that oversees the Internet, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
China has the world's largest population of Internet users at more than 298 million. The communist government has the world's most extensive Web monitoring and filtering system, and it regularly blocks access to foreign Web sites.

Authorities launched a crackdown this year that led to the closing of more than 1,900 porn-related Web sites.
Google has struggled to expand in China, where it says it has about 30 percent of the search market. The company launched Google.cn with a Chinese partner after seeing its market share erode as government filters slowed access to its U.S. service.

'Veel topvrouwen verlaten ING om cultuur'

'Veel topvrouwen verlaten ING om cultuur'

(Bron: de Telegraaf, DFT)AMSTERDAM (AFN) - Veel topvrouwen bij de bankverzekeraar ING houden het na verloop van tijd voor gezien. Dit komt onder meer door onvrede over ’de kille cultuur’ en de ’gebrekkige steun van de leiding’. Dat meldde de Volkskrant donderdag op basis van een intern onderzoek bij ING.
Tussen 2004 en 2006 vertrokken bijna honderd van de 550 topvrouwen. Ze ervaren gebrek aan draagvlak en voelen zich in de steek gelaten. Vrouwen met een hogere functie verlaten ING daardoor vaker dan mannen in vergelijkbare topfuncties.