MADRID - A tense situation also developed last night in downtown Madrid, with riot police preventing hundreds of anti-austerity protesters from entering the central plaza where they have held numerous demonstrations since May. The protests are directed against Spain’s political status quo and a stunning 35 percent joblessness rate for people ages 16-29.
And yet I rarely read about them in my morning paper, sigh.
There were no immediate reports of violent clashes, but Spanish media showed photos of officers dragging away some protesters....
Where is the U.S. criticism?
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Debt worries spread to larger economies of Italy, Spain
The deepening woes raised the prospect of a crisis that would be almost as calamitous for the global economy as the one just avoided in Washington....
Concern on Wednesday focused on Italy, whose sheer size — it is the world’s seventh-largest economy — makes it potentially too big to bail out and would require radical new steps from already reluctant European leaders and the European Central Bank to prevent a full-blown crisis there....
The trouble in Italy and Spain came amid more signs that European economies are rapidly slowing as nations across the continent tighten their fiscal belts to combat high debt loads. At the same time, economists warn, the spending cuts in the U.S. debt agreement could undercut the anemic U.S. economic recovery. Concerns about slower growth are already rattling global markets and raising the prospect that European countries will have an even harder time than anticipated restoring themselves to health.
Underscoring the urgency, Italy’s embattled prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, delivered an emergency address to Parliament, rejecting renewed calls for his resignation while defiantly warning that speculators are wrong to bet against Italy.
The anxiety spread as a broad plan by European leaders reached last month in an attempt to finally contain the region’s nearly two-year-old debt crisis was failing to calm investors....
Honestly, readers, I'm sick of games and walls. They obviously don't want us anymore.
"Italian leader vows to finish term, work for economic growth" August 04, 2011|By Colleen Barry, Associated Press
MILAN - Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, vowed yesterday to complete his five-year term and focus his government policies on growth to calm the market turmoil that threatens to plunge one of Europe’s biggest economies into the debt crisis.
After a volatile day on the markets, where borrowing rates touched a record high for the Italian government, Berlusconi told Parliament that Italy “has not done little’’ in response to the crisis. “But we know there is more to do.’’
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He emphasized that Italian banks remain solid and that investors who were pushing up Italy’s borrowing rates did not recognize the country’s fundamental strengths: a stable banking system, low levels of private-sector indebtedness - half that of the United States and Britain - and a strong entrepreneurial spirit....
Growing market jitters have intensified calls for Berlusconi’s resignation....
Spain was also in the spotlight yesterday, forcing Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to delay his vacation....
Both countries’ yields have soared in recent days, suggesting investors are worried they may need help with their debt....
Italy and Spain could continue borrowing at their current rates, but their financing costs would increase, adding to the debt that is the source of market worries. The fear is that global market turmoil will push the countries closer to needing bailouts, which would be far more expensive than the rescue packages for Greece, Ireland, and Portugal and could overwhelm the eurozone’s finances.
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Also see:
"Knox case on hold over DNA question
PERUGIA - Prosecutors at Amanda Knox’s appeals trial yesterday contested the conclusions of independent forensic experts who say some of the key DNA evidence used to convict the American student of killing her British roommate in 2007 was unreliable. Prosecutor Manuela Comodi sought to show that the forensic evidence could stand. The trial was adjourned until September."
"Evidence faulted in American’s conviction" July 26, 2011|Associated Press
PERUGIA, Italy - The investigators who collected the genetic evidence used to convict American student Amanda Knox of murder in Italy made a series of glaring errors, including using a dirty glove and not wearing caps, two independent forensic experts said yesterday.
The experts had been appointed by an Italian appeals court to review the DNA evidence used in Knox’s trial, including some found on a kitchen knife believed to be the murder weapon and some found on the clasp of the victim’s bra.
That evidence played a crucial role in securing the convictions of Knox and her codefendant Raffaele Sollecito in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a Briton who shared an apartment with Knox while they were both exchange students in Perugia....
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Related: Globe Court Report: Knoxed Out
Also see: Boston Globe Closes Doors on Berlusconi Trial
