Daily Archives: 10 December 2011
Headlines from Russia
Head of Russia’s only political watchdog detained as elections begin 
The head of Russia’s only independent political watchdog was held at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Saturday as elections in the world’s biggest country began, The Associated Press reported. 
(Read more)
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Independent Russian Websites Hacked, Disabled On Election Day Suspected hackers shut down several Russian websites that provide independent election data, making state-controlled media one of the few widely accessible sources of information about today’s parliamentary vote. (Read more)
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Media Pressured Before Elections Reporters Without Borders said Thursday that it compiled a list of recent freedom of information violations that shows “that no methods are being spared to bolster strongman Vladimir Putin and promote unanimous acclaim for his decision to run again for the presidency.”
The most telling example is the crackdown on Golos, the country’s only independent elections observer organization, which became the target of a concerted campaign by authorities and certain media this week.
This Friday night, Gazprom-controlled television channel NTV, will air a 30-minute investigative piece on Golos, questioning the organization’s objectivity on grounds that it is financed by U.S. grants….
Other incidents this week include censorship accusations against RIA-Novosti, the country’s biggest state-owned news agency, and fresh denial-of-service attacks against LiveJournal, the country’s biggest blogging platform. (Read more)
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Vladimir Putin set to lose majority amid complaints of electoral violations Kadyrov, the brutal leader of the federal republic of Chechnya, said that 99.51% of its voters backed United Russia, out of a 94% turnout; in the past it has been reported as 100%, while he himself had promised “more than 100%” this time. (Read more)
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Russia PM Vladimir Putin accuses US over poll protests Mr Putin said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “set the tone for some opposition activists”.
She “gave them a signal, they heard this signal and started active work”, he said. (Read more)
Euro breakup looking more likely
Banks Build Contingency for Breakup of the Euro For the growing chorus of observers who fear that a breakup of the euro zone might be at hand, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany has a pointed rebuke: It’s never going to happen.
But some banks are no longer so sure, especially as the sovereign debt crisis threatened to ensnare Germany itself this week, when investors began to question the nation’s stature as Europe’s main pillar of stability.
On Friday, Standard & Poor’s downgraded Belgium’s credit standing to AA from AA+, saying it might not be able to cut its towering debt load any time soon. Ratings agencies this week cautioned that France could lose its AAA rating if the crisis grew. On Thursday, agencies lowered the ratings of Portugal and Hungary to junk.
While European leaders still say there is no need to draw up a Plan B, some of the world’s biggest banks, and their supervisors, are doing just that.
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Banks including Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital and Nomura issued a cascade of reports this week examining the likelihood of a breakup of the euro zone. “The euro zone financial crisis has entered a far more dangerous phase,” analysts at Nomura wrote on Friday. Unless the European Central Bank steps in to help where politicians have failed, “a euro breakup now appears probable rather than possible,” the bank said. (Read more)
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Premarket: Now Germany can’t sell bonds One of Germany’s worst bond sales since the launch of the euro sparked concerns the debt crisis was even beginning to threaten Berlin.The Bundesbank was forced to buy 39 per cent of the 6 billion euros of debt Germany had hoped to sell to investors after banks bought just 3.644 billion euros of the issue. (Read more)