Reuters – Vladimir Soldatkin – In Moscow, New Chinese Leader Xi Warns Against Meddling – 25 March 2013

(Reuters) – Chinese President Xi Jinping warned against foreign interference in the affairs of other nations during a speech in Moscow on Saturday, sending a signal to the West and echoing a message often repeated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Permanent U.N. Security Council members with veto power, Russia and China have frequently teamed up diplomatically to blunt the influence of the United States and its NATO allies and have blocked three draft resolutions on Syria.

Read the whole story at www.reuters.com / link to original article

Reuters – Michele Kambas And Costas Pitas – Cyprus Weighs Big Bank Levy; Bailout Goes Down To Wire – 23 March 2013

NICOSIA (Reuters) – Cyprus said on Saturday it was looking at seizing a quarter of the value of big deposits at its largest bank as it races to raise the funds for a bailout from the European Union and avert financial collapse.

Finance Minister Michael Sarris said “significant progress” had been made in talks in Nicosia with officials from the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Reuters – U.S. Congress Panel Blames Corzine For MF Global Fall – 15 November 2012

(Reuters) – Poor management decisions by MF Global former CEO Jon Corzine triggered the brokerage firm’s collapse, while lax protections for customer funds contributed to the loss of an estimated $1.6 billion of customer money, U.S. congressional investigators have determined.

Reuters – Exclusive : Euro Zone Considering Bond Insurance For Spain – Sources – 4 October 2012

(Lucas: Every last scam or scheme that is not yet sold to us is tried out before the inevitable will happen. Pull the plug.)

By Julien Toyer and Paul Taylor

MADRID/PARIS | Thu Oct 4, 2012 9:40am EDT

(Reuters) – The euro zone is considering aiding Spain by providing insurance for investors who buy government bonds in a move designed to maintain Spanish access to capital markets and minimize the cost to European taxpayers, European sources said.

One senior European source said the plan could cost about 50 billion euros ($64.5 billion) for a year. It would enable Spain to cover its full funding needs and trigger potentially unlimited European Central bank buying of short-term Spanish bonds in the secondary market.

Reuters – David Lawder – Senate Passes Funding Bill To Avoid October 1 Government Shutdown (And Iran Resolution) – 22 September 2012

(Reuters) – A deeply divided and unproductive Congress wrapped up its final business before November’s elections early on Saturday as the U.S. Senate passed a stopgap measure to fund federal programs and avoid an October 1 government shutdown.

Reuters – Russia Says Wrote Off 90 Percent Of North Korea’s Debt – 18 September 2012

MOSCOW | Tue Sep 18, 2012 3:45am EDT

(Reuters) – Russia has signed a deal to write off 90 percent of North Korea’s $11 billion debt to Moscow, Konstantin Vyshkovsky, head of the debt department at the Finance Ministry told Reuters on Tuesday.

Vyshkovsky said the rest of the debt will be restructured and reinvested in Russian projects in North Korea.

(Reporting by Maya Dyakina; Writing by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Steve Gutterman)

http://www.reuters.com link to original article

Reuters – Michelle Conlin – State Court Ruling Deals Blow To U.S. Bank Mortgage System – 18 September 202

(Reuters) – The highest court in the state of Washington recently ruled that a company that has foreclosed on millions of mortgages nationwide can be sued for fraud, a decision that could cause a new round of trouble for the nation’s banks.

The ruling is one of the first to allow consumers to seek damages from Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, a company set up by the nation’s major banks, if they can prove they were harmed.

Reuters – Rachel Armstrong – Ex-RBS Trader Details Bank’s LIBOR fixing – 29 August 2012

A former dealer for the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC has provided fresh details on how traders at the British bank tried to influence Libor rates, court documents filed in Singapore show.

Tan Chi Min, who is suing RBS for wrongful dismissal, alleges that the bank’s minutes of his disciplinary meeting held in September last year did not accurately reflect what was discussed and omitted details of conversations about how traders at the bank tried to influence RBS’s interbank lending rate submissions.

To read the rest of this story, visit In.Reuters.com. Thanks Rain!

Reuters – Hungary Set For A Row With EU Over Non-Profit Energy – 28 August 2012

(Reuters) – Hungary expects heated debate with the European Union over government plans to transform energy distribution in the household sector into a “non-profit activity”, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Wednesday.

Orban’s conservative government has often been at odds with Brussels over controversial policies such as Europe’s highest bank levy or hefty windfall taxes on selected business sectors.

http://www.reuters.com link to original article / http://www.soundofheart.org link to article

Reuters – Katharina Bart – Apologetic Swiss Banks Sweat It Out As U.S., Europe Mull Redress – 13 August 2012

(Reuters) – Swiss banks hoping to atone for decades of complicity in tax evasion may be left to sweat it out for months as the United States and Germany ponder the right level of punishment.

Switzerland has long dodged U.S. accusations of hiding money for wealthy Americans. But now eleven Swiss banks are under investigation in the United States and there is pressure too from Europe where burdened taxpayers want scalps after numerous banking scandals. The Swiss need a deal to remove the taint from their financial industry.