Riskier assets across the board from equities to oil and the euro rallied on Thursday after European leaders agreed to boost the region's rescue fund and struck a deal on a 50% writedown for private bondholders on their Greek debt. Spreads tightened in Asian credit markets while U.S. Treasuries extended losses in Asia, but gold
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* European banks to be recapitalised; Italy promises pension reform * Euro zone leaders struck a deal with private banks and insurers on Thursday for them to accept a 50% loss on their Greek government bonds under a plan to lower Greece's debt burden and try to contain the two-year-old euro zone crisis. The agreement
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A deal that imposes 50% losses on private sector bondholders means Greece's debt burden will be sustainable, Prime Minister George Papandreou said on Thursday. Greece will produce no more primary budget deficits from next year, but some of the country's banks may face temporary nationalisation as a result of the debt relief, he warned. "The
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Japan's Olympus Corp on Thursday stuck to its defence of deals that have come under fire since the firm axed its British CEO in a bitter boardroom battle, insisting the acquisitions were strategic and involved no wrongdoing. But the 92-year-old company's explanations failed to ease investor doubts about the deals, which have sparked worries about
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Few economists have been as spectacularly wrong as Thomas Malthus, who predicted in 1798 that unchecked population growth would doom the Earth to starvation. As the number of people on the planet reaches 7 billion, his modern-day peers are cautiously confident that the English clergyman will remain synonymous with unwarranted doom and gloom. With the
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Women who eat a Mediterranean-style diet — high in fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains — are less likely to have trouble getting pregnant, hints a new study from Spain. The findings add to a growing body of evidence linking the Mediterranean diet to all kinds of health effects, including lower risks of obesity, diabetes
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A flare-up over the European Central Bank and political turmoil in Italy kept the euro zone on edge on Tuesday on the eve of a summit meant to confront the currency bloc's worsening sovereign debt crisis. Just 24 hours before European leaders are due to adopt a plan to reduce Greece's debt burden, fortify European
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Prospects for a comprehensive deal to resolve the euro zone debt crisis at a summit on Wednesday look dim, with deep disagreement remaining on critical aspects of the potential agreement, including how to give the region's bailout fund greater firepower. EU officials and European diplomats are lowering expectations of a breakthrough when the 17 euro
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China will intensify controls of online social media and instant messaging tools, the ruling Communist Party said in an agenda-setting document that marks the government's highest-level reaction so far to the explosive growth of microblogs. Beijing's vow to strengthen Internet administration and promote content acceptable to the ruling party appeared in the communique of a
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* Papadopoulos: “We can survive a haircut” * The Council of Ministers has prepared legislation to aid the banks that are heavily exposed to Greek government bonds in the event of a crisis and to create a financial stability fund. A financial crisis management bill would allow the government to bolster a bank's liquidity if
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