Tag-Archive for » asia «
Markets have risen on hopes that Greece will finally secure a massive but long-delayed international bailout, allowing the debt-crippled country to avoid defaulting on its debts next month.
A surprise easing in monetary policy in China over the weekend also added to the buoyant mood in markets on Monday – many stock indexes are trading at multi-month highs, while the euro has recovered its poise.
The main focus of attention – on a day when Wall Street is shut for a public holiday – will be Brussels, where the finance ministers from the 17 euro zone countries are gathering to discuss the elusive Greek bailout deal.
After some euro zone countries suggested last week that they might prefer Greece to default, the latest comments indicate the ministers will approve the 130-billion-euro ($A160 billion) bailout.
Greece has struggled to convince its partners in the euro zone, particularly Germany, that it will enact the austerity and reform measures in return for the cash.
As the finance ministers arrived for the meeting, which may last until well into the night, they appeared ready to back the deal.
“I am of the opinion that today we have to deliver, because we don’t have any more time,” Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg who also chairs the meetings of euro zone finance ministers, said as he arrived in Brussels.
Alongside the bailout, Greece is expected to conclude debt-reduction discussions with its private creditors. That should slice off about 100 billion euros from Greece’s debt mountain. Even after that, Greece will have the highest debt burden of all the euro countries.
TOKYO — Honda Motor Co. says it will recall a total of 962,000 cars worldwide to fix power windows and computer systems.
Honda will recall 936,000 units of the Fit subcompact, CR-V crossover and Fit Aria in North America, Asia, Europe and Africa, the company said Monday. The Fit is called Jazz in some overseas markets, while the Fit Aria is also known as City.
Honda says the recall was prompted by defects in driver’s-side power window switch units, which could potentially melt and catch fire.
It will also recall 26,000 CR-Z compact hybrids globally due to programming problems with the engine control unit
There have been no injuries because of the defects, Honda says
At a meeting in Helsinki yesterday, “most groups stated they want to have a kind of clear responsibility for investors in Portugal’s sovereign bonds,” said Kimmo Sasi, who heads the Finnish parliament’s working group on bailout talks, in a phone interview. The Social Democrats, which emerged as the second- biggest party after April 17 elections, will provide the “most important proposal,” he said.
Portugal this month became the third euro member to obtain aid as Europe’s sovereign debt crisis spreads beyond Greece and Ireland. Voters in Finland last month rewarded parties critical of bailouts, with the euro-skeptic True Finns winning record backing to become parliament’s third-biggest group. Finance Minister Jyrki Katainen, whose pro-Europe National Coalition is Finland’s largest party, will present his country’s stance on crisis-handling measures at a May 16 meeting of European finance ministers.
While Katainen would be able to get majority lawmaker support for a Portuguese bailout without the True Finns, he can’t do so without the backing of the Social Democrats. The party yesterday said it wants burden sharing to be incorporated into bailouts and demands a bank tax be introduced to help fund future financial rescues. The party also wants the option of restructuring to be available if sovereign debt burdens become unsustainable, while demanding that aid donors be first to get their loans repaid.
The degree to which a culture is evolved is demonstrated by the degree to which it labels a being or an action……”shameful” or “guilty”.
Results of a study released May 12th showing that the early introduction of antiretroviral drugs immediately after an HIV diagnosis deters the spread of HIV are “highly encouraging,” said C. Virginia Fields, President and CEO of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, Inc. (NBLCA).
“We applaud the efforts of the courageous individuals and highly respected scientists who participated in the trial, known as HPTN 052,” Fields said. “They have made an important and significant contribution to the fight against HIV/AIDS. Certainly, more scientific study is called for. The results of this trial, although extremely encouraging, is not a panacea. Ultimately, researchers, supported by sufficient funding from our federal government, must step up their efforts to find a cure for this devastating global HIV/AIDS pandemic. Three decades of living in the dark shadow of HIV/AIDS is long enough!”
Fields added: “This highly encouraging study supports what the NBLCA, other organizations, and infectious disease specialists have been saying for years. Knowing one’s HIV status and gaining early access to treatment and care is beneficial both for the individual and the community at large. In 2010, armed with this scientific knowledge, the NBLCA played a leading role in successfully amending Article 27F of New York State’s Public Health Law to require medical practitioners to offer HIV testing to New Yorkers between the ages of 13 and 64 in all appropriate medical settings, as recommended by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The idea is simple – a patient who tests positive for HIV can be linked to treatment and care early in the course of their infection, as opposed to later when they become sicker. This early treatment benefits the patient by keeping them healthier longer and reduces the community’s viral load.”
On Thursday, May 12, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Dr. Myron Cohen from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, announced the findings of a $73 million HIV trial involving 1,763 couples in 13 cities and four continents, including Africa, Asia, South America, and North America.