In Thursday's Europe papers

15 May 2008 06:00  [Source: ICIS news]

Blow to Clinton as Edwards backs Obama
John Edwards, former candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination and champion of organised labour, on Wednesday night sought to rally his party and bring the primary race to a close by providing Barack Obama with his highest-profile endorsement in months.

Kohler attacks markets ‘monster’
Global financial markets have become "a monster" that "must be put back in its place", the German president has said, comparing bankers with alchemists who were responsible for "massive destruction of assets".

Clear Channel deal puts banks on defensive
Banks will be less willing to finance leveraged buy-outs as a consequence of a revised deal struck by Bain Capital and Thomas H Lee to buy Clear Channel Communications, bankers and private equity executives said on Wednesday.

Speculation grows over Libor changes
Interest rates in dollar money markets rose sharply on Wednesday amid a welter of speculation over changes to the calculation of Libor, the benchmark for global borrowing costs.

Tiny bodies in a morgue, and grief in China
The bodies are everywhere. Some are zipped inside white vinyl bags and strewn on the floor. Others have been covered in a favorite blanket or dressed in new clothes. There are so many bodies that undertakers want to cremate them in groups. They are all children.

Amid secrecy, tales of survival in Myanmar
It is a disaster still shrouded in secrecy. The world is growing accustomed to seeing images of devastation, from earthquakes or calamitous storms, as they unfold. Here the military dictatorship continues to cordon off the areas worst hit by Cyclone Nargis on 3 May, and so little is known about the extent of the devastation, how aid is reaching those in need--or extraordinary stories of survival and death like that of Than Lwin.

GE looking to sell appliance division
General Electric is planning to sell its appliance division, one of the oldest businesses in the conglomerate's 120-year history, people briefed on the proposal said Wednesday.

Icahn to move forward with Yahoo proxy fight
The billionaire investor and activist shareholder, Carl Icahn, has decided to move ahead with plans for a proxy fight at Yahoo and will propose a dissident slate of directors, people with knowledge of the plans said Wednesday.

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Medvedev makes Germany a top priority
In another sign of the special relationship between Moscow and Berlin, President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday welcomed German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier as the first prominent foreign guest to the Kremlin since his inauguration last week.

A lineup aimed at taming Siloviki
The new makeup of the Cabinet and presidential administration resulting from this week's government shakeup is aimed at undercutting the power that political clans within the security services have accumulated in recent years, former security insiders said.

Sechin looks to raise oil output
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his new energy policy director, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, went on the offensive Wednesday to battle claims that the country's oil production was in decline.

BP staff locked out as visa trouble ends
A court order banning BP employees from working for its Russian unit, TNK-BP, came at a time when some of them were ready to come back to their jobs after a suspension, a BP spokesman said Wednesday.

Globalization's victors hunt for the next low-wage country
The world's manufacturing powerhouse needs new low-wage workers, which is why the man in the dark suit is talking himself hoarse. "Do not delay," he calls out to the people gathered around him, pressing his mouth to the microphone. "We will handle everything in minutes, and you'll have work right away."

Cannes pays homage to the spirit of the 1960s
The revolt of forty years ago began on the beach, with a view of the Mediterranean and of many wine glasses. The would-be revolutionaries spent six days and nights meeting and drinking in luxury hotels and on expensive yachts, proclaiming their solidarity with the working classes.

An ex-envoy's soft blow to hard power
The comments of a senior retired American diplomat Thursday on the Turkish army shifted the focus of discussions on the military to its firepower rather than it's influence on Turkish politics.

Erdogan repeats call for three-child families
Efforts to degenerate the family structure in Turkey are frowned upon by the government, said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday, repeating his call for families to have at least three children.

German chemical company designs house model with no fuel bill
A German chemical company has designed a method of building houses which have no heating costs. After transforming 8,000 company dwellings into the new model, the firm said that they would be willing to offer consulting services in Turkey as well.

SocGen's first quarter net profit suffers 23% drop
Societe Generale, France's second-largest bank by market value, reported a 23% decline in first-quarter profit on increased provisions for risky loans and writedowns tied to the US subprime mortgage market collapse.

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