"France and Belgium nationalize Dexia bank" October 10, 2011|By Judy Dempsey and Liz Alderman, New York Times
PARIS - Europe’s debt crisis hit another milestone yesterday when the French and Belgian governments agreed to nationalize Dexia, Belgium’s biggest bank, infusing it with billions in taxpayer money after it became the first casualty of the Greek sovereign debt crisis.
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France acknowledged Europe’s banks still need billions of euros more to cushion against a possible Greek default. In meetings in Berlin, they said that they would have a comprehensive solution by the time leaders of the G-20 group of nations meet in early November in Cannes, France.
“We are determined to do what is necessary to guarantee the recapitalization of our banks,’’ Merkel said.
They declined to provide any specifics, however, which could unnerve investors.
In a sign of how heightened the concern over European banks has become, government officials raced to prop up Dexia before financial markets opened today....
Dexia, which has global credit exposure of about $700 billion, will create a so-called bad bank to house its troubled assets, including billions of euros worth of Greek, Portuguese, and Italian debt. Last night, the governments were still haggling over how to split the bill....
What is it about $700 BILLION BAILOUTS?
Bankers think that is a LUCKY NUMBER or something?
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Related: France Bailing Out Banks While Beggaring Citizens
"Belgium may end 500-day impasse" October 14, 2011|Associated Press
BRUSSELS - Belgium’s prime minister-designate announced yesterday that he will seek a six-party coalition to end a political impasse that has lasted nearly 500 days, a record for a country to go without a permanent government.
Elio Di Rupo said he expects to form a government of Christian Democrats, Liberals, and Socialists, each split into Dutch and French-speaking parties. Bickering along language lines has prevented the formation of a government since elections on June 13, 2010....
Tough economic and financial measures are essential since the crisis gripping Europe is also closing in on Belgium.
It caused the demise of the Dexia Belgium bank, which was nationalized at a cost of $5.5 billion early this week. Yesterday, steel giant ArcelorMittal announced the partial closure of an east Belgian plant and the layoffs of hundreds of workers....
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Also see: No Bedlam in Belgium
Now on to more important things:
"Strauss-Kahn eludes charges in French court" October 14, 2011|By Maia De La Baume and Steven Erlanger, New York Times
PARIS - For the second time this year, Dominique Strauss-Kahn escaped criminal charges of attempted rape, despite what prosecutors said was evidence of sexual assault, ending months of scandal that have tarnished a political career that once seemed destined to lead to the French presidency.
There was evidence of sexual assault from Strauss-Kahn’s own testimony about a 2003 encounter with a French writer and novelist, Tristane Banon, the prosecutor said in a statement, but given a three-year statute of limitations on that charge, no case would be brought.
“Facts that could be qualified as sexual assault have been acknowledged,’’ the statement said.
The decision of the prosecutor was no surprise, given the age of the case and the difficulty of finding physical evidence so long after the alleged event....
In some sense, Strauss-Kahn, 62, appears to be lucky, as if he has nine lives. But he has been personally chastened and humiliated in a very public fashion, and his political career has been derailed by the charges.
Doesn't anyone care about the women?
Arriving in New York in May, then the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, highly respected for his handling of the early stages of the euro crisis, Strauss-Kahn was considered nearly a shoo-in as the Socialist Party’s presidential candidate in next spring’s race against the incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy. Strauss-Kahn was about to announce his well-planned candidacy and was considered very likely to become the next president of France.
But Sunday, an unshaven Strauss-Kahn, looking tired, cast his vote in the first round of the Socialist Party primary for his ally, Martine Aubry, who is running only because Strauss-Kahn could not.
Since his return to France in August, after the New York charges were dropped, Strauss-Kahn has largely kept out of sight. He has spent a good part of the time at his home in Morocco. He did appear in a nationally televised interview on Sept. 18, questioned by a journalist who is a close friend of his wife, Anne Sinclair....
Asked about his reputation as a womanizer, or “dragueur,’’ he said: “I have respect for women, I understand their reaction, I understand they are shocked. I paid heavily, I’m still paying.’’
Aww, the poor, self-centered, piece of shit!
He may pay still more. While his wife, the US-born daughter of a wealthy art dealer, is extremely rich, Strauss-Kahn is facing one and possibly two civil suits, one brought by Diallo in New York and one that is expected to be brought by Banon....
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"Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers deny assault claims" October 15, 2011|Associated Press
PARIS - Lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn have disputed the Paris prosecutor’s statement that the former head of the International Monetary Fund admitted to sexually assaulting a French writer.
Attorneys Frederique Beaulieu and Henri Leclerc dismissed allegations by writer Tristane Banon that Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her during a 2003 interview as “lying accusations.’’
In a statement yesterday, the lawyers insisted that Strauss-Kahn “didn’t hide anything about the exact nature of his relations’’ with Banon.
The statement comes a day after the Paris prosecutor’s office said it has dropped an investigation into Banon’s attempted rape claims but added that Strauss-Kahn admitted during questioning to actions amounting to sexual assault.
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"Socialist vote in France likely to go to runoff" October 10, 2011|By Associated Press
PARIS - In a surprise breakthrough, the third-place candidate in yesterday’s Socialist primary was a hard-leftist who campaigns against globalization, legislator Arnaud Montebourg. He’s emerging the kingmaker in next week’s runoff and may push the Socialists’ presidential platform farther toward the left.
The high number of voters yesterday is a boost for the Socialists, who haven’t won a presidential election since 1988 and have suffered for years from divisions and confusion about how to steer a leftist course through the increasingly interconnected global economy....
What does it matter? Greeks elected Socialists and you see what it got them.
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Also see: French Socialists choose candidate
Related: France hit by anti-austerity protests
Funny. The Globe never mentioned those.
