Insight: Young Jobless on the Rise in Europe's Rich North
REUTERS.COM: At 29, Samira Ahidar just got a permanent job, her first.

Ahidar, who still lives with her parents, dropped out of school a decade ago and her adult life has been dominated by the search for work. She would still be jobless if it were not for a job creation scheme that employs her at an elderly care home.

"I've no idea where I'll be in five years time," said Ahidar, dressed in an orange apron that comes with her new role. "It is so hard to find work, you feel like giving up."

Ahidar does not live in Greece or Spain, countries where as many as one in two young people are without work, but in the wealthy Belgian port city of Antwerp. With its stunning 16th-century Gothic houses, the city is a world centre for diamond trading and boasts a cutting-edge fashion industry. It also has a fast-growing number of unemployed twentysomethings.

Youth unemployment is notoriously a problem of southern Europe. What is less obvious, as the euro zone slips into its second recession in just three years, is the scale of the problem in the north. » | Robin Emmott and Robert-Jan Bartunek | ANTWERP, Belgium | Friday, September 21, 2012

Debt Crisis: Central Bank Action Is Work of the Devil, Says Germany's Jens Weidmann
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The head of Germany’s Bundesbank has raised eyebrows across Europe after he appeared to compare Mario Draghi’s bond buying programme with the "devil’s work".

Jens Weidmann said that efforts by central banks to pump money into the economy reminded him of the scene in Faust, when the devil Mephistopheles, “disguised as a fool”, convinces an emperor to issue large amounts of paper money. In Goethe’s classic, the money printing solves the kingdom’s financial problems but the tale ends badly with rampant inflation.

Without specifically mentioning Mario Draghi’s bond-buying programme, he said: “If a central bank can potentially create unlimited money from nothing, how can it ensure that money is sufficiently scarce to retain its value?” He added: “Yes, this temptation certainly exists, and many in monetary history have succumbed to it,” Mr Weidmann warned. » | Louise Armitstead, Chief Business Correspondent | Tuesday, September 18, 2012

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: 'Too Close to State Financing Via the Money Press': Jens Weidmann, the 44-year-old head of Germany's central bank, has made a name for himself by championing price stability and opposing bond purchases by the European Central Bank. In a SPIEGEL interview, he criticizes the ECB's latest plans and insists he only wants to secure the euro's long-term future. | » | SPIEGEL Interview | Bundesbank President on ECB Bond Purchases | Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Angela Merkel's Austerity Postergirl, the Thrifty Swabian Housewife

THE GUARDIAN: Frugal housekeeping and balanced budgeting stems from an area with a history of poverty and a religious avoidance of worldly amusements

In the sleepy, picturesque towns and villages of south-west Germany, the paragons of thrift are doing what they do best. They shop frugally, use credit cards rarely and save up to a third of a property's value before applying for a mortgage.

The schwäbische Hausfrau – southern Germany's thrifty Swabian housewife – is frequently invoked by Angela Merkel. The German chancellor argues that Europe has been living beyond its means and can learn from these women's frugal housekeeping and balanced budgeting.

Heide Sickinger and Waltraud Maier, two housewives from Gerlingen [D], near Stuttgart, agree. "A housewife keeps the family together and the money," says Maier. "I don't buy on credit. People never used to live beyond their means here," she adds, before noting that the younger generation are more cavalier. She and her friend only use credit cards when they go on holiday, and make sure they have enough money in their accounts to pay off the debt immediately. Both believe that "southern Europeans are a different breed. They are more easy-going".

The two women say that they only tend to buy what they really need (with the exception of a flatscreen TV). Even a wardrobe counts as a luxury purchase – because Swabians don't buy cheap. They value quality, which means a wardrobe has to be solid wood, so it lasts a lifetime.

Similarly, the two women buy their food at the butcher's, local farms and markets, rather than at discount supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl. "The quality is better," says Maier, "and you can buy two carrots rather than a whole kilogramme." She never throws anything away – old bread is made into bread dumplings, for example. Many people in this rural area grow their own fruit and vegetables, and bottle or pickle them. » | Julia Kollewe in Gerlingen | Monday, September 17, 2012

Lord Ashcroft Tells Coalition to 'Turn Off the Golden Taps and Stop Flooding the Developing World with Our Money'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Ministers should “turn off the golden taps and stop flooding the developing world with our money”, according to a senior Conservative.

Lord Ashcroft, who was made a Government adviser in this month’s reshuffle, said Britain’s approach to aid for the developing world was “flawed and self-defeating”.

He urged new development secretary Justine Greening to avoid “spraying around taxpayers’ money” in the developing world like Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

In strident comments, Lord Ashcroft - who has donated millions to the Conservative party - said it was “politically insane” by trying to “curry favour” with Guardian readers over the development budget.

In an open letter to Ms Greening - signed "Yours sincerely, Michael xx" - he said: “Britain’s approach to aid is flawed and self-defeating.

“So I urge you to recommend to the Prime Minister to turn off the golden taps and stop flooding the developing world with our money.” » | Christopher Hope, Senior Political Correspondent | Monday, September 17, 2012

UBS 'Rogue Trader' on Trial in UK
Kweku Adoboli was arrested last year and is charged with fraud and false accounting, for allegedly losing his bank, UBS, a cool $2.3 billion in so-called unauthorised trades. The 32-year-old Ghanaian has pleaded not guilty to the charge. On Friday the prosecution accused him of acting like a naked gambler. GFX It said "The motive was to increase his bonus, his status in the bank, his job prospects and his ego." "Like most gamblers he believed he had the magic touch." At one level this is a trial about the misdeeds of a single rogue trader and how he was able to make such a mess of things for so long. In the public's perception at least, the behaviour of banks like UBS is at the heart of the ongoing economic crisis. Al Jazeera's Sylvia Lennan reports.

Mass Protest in Spain against ‘Authoritarian’ Austerity

Forget the Recession - London Mansion On Sale for £300m

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: It could be yours for just £300 million. Britain’s most expensive house, the former residence of the Lebanese Prime Minister, has gone on sale complete with a view of Hyde Park, bullet-proof windows, lifts and an underground car park.

The white palazzo-style building, which has 45 bedrooms, is being discreetly offered to a select group of wealthy international buyers.

A reported price tag of £300 million would smash Britain’s existing house-price record of £140 million, which was achieved on a 300 year-old house in Henley-on-Thames last year.

The 60,000 square feet house is the former residence of Rafiq Hariri, the late Prime Minister of Lebanon, and is located at 2 to 8a Rutland Gate in Knightsbridge, equidistant between Harrods and the Royal Albert Hall.

The building, which is rumoured to contain millions of pounds worth of gold leaf decoration, is on the site of the old German Consulate General’s office. It was redeveloped in the 1980s and turned into four separate flats before it was converted into one house by Mr Hariri.

The asking price shows just how far adrift the London property market is from the rest of Britain. According to Halifax, the average house in the UK costs £160,250, meaning that whoever buys the mansion would be buying the equivalent of 1,872 typical homes. » | James Hall, Consumer Affairs Editor | Thursday, September 13, 2012

Vince Cable: I Would Work with Labour to Increase Tax on Wealthy

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Vince Cable has admitted that he is of the 'centre left' as he appeared to welcome Labour overtures to work together on increasing taxes for the wealthy.

Sitting side by side with Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, on a television studio sofa, Mr Cable laughingly dismissed as "flattery" the Labourman's call for him to become leader of the Liberal Democrats.

He said that he would be happy to work with Mr Balls on issues such as raising taxes from the better off, including the imposition of a "mansion tax" on the most expensive properties.

But the Business Secretary, who is far more popular than Nick Clegg among grass roots Liberal Democrats, denied that he had ambitions to become leader. And he insisted that he was working well with Mr Clegg and his Conservative Coalition colleagues.

Asked about his idea for a mansion tax, which Labour now supports, he said: "I was delighted that Ed Balls has signed up. I have not been embarrassed to call myself a person of the centre left. » | Rosa Prince, Online Political Editor | Sunday, September 09, 2012

Germany Should Lead or Leave – Soros
Germany needs to embrace its leadership role in Europe or leave the euro, veteran investor George Soros tells Thomson Reuters Digital Editor Chrystia Freeland.

World's Richest Woman Calls for Australian Workers Wage Cut
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The world's richest woman, mining magnate Gina Rinehart, has sparked a political storm by saying that Australian workers should take a wage cut to be more competitive with African workers on $2 a day.


In a rare public appearance, Gina Rinehart said in a video posted on the website of the Sydney Mining Club that Australians should not be complacent about mining investment when African workers were willing to work for $2 a day. » | Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Global Crisis Moves East as China Suffers Rapid Downturn

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: China’s industrial output is contracting at the fastest pace since the depths of the global financial crisis, with knock-on effects spreading across the Far East.

“It just keeps getting worse,” said Alistair Thornton and Xianfang Ren from IHS Global Insight. “The government has underestimated the pace of the slowdown and is behind the curve.”

The HSBC/Markit manufacturing index for China fell to 47.6 in August, the lowest since the onset of Great Recession in late 2008. Inventories are rising. The index for new export orders fell to the lowest since March 2009. “Beijing must step up policy easing to stabilise growth,” said Hongbin Qu from HSBC.

China’s official PMI manufacturing index – weighted to big companies – also fell through the contraction line of 50, though services are holding up better.

Evidence of a hard landing over the summer is becoming clearer. Rail volumes fell 8.2pc in July from a year before. The Japanese group Komatsu said its exports of hydraulic excavators to China – a proxy gauge for Chinese construction – fell 48pc in August from a year before.

The twin effect of China’s downturn and Europe’s double-dip recession has turned into a full-blown shock for much of Asia. Hong Kong and Singapore both contracted in the second quarter and are probably in technical recession. Read on and comment » | Ambrose Evans-Pritchard | Monday, September 03, 2012

Australia's Qantas Posts Huge Loss
Australian carrier, Qantas, has posted its first annual loss since privatisation in 1995 and cancelled orders for 35 Boeing jets as high fuel costs and industrial action hammered its bottom line. The airline announced a net loss of $256m (244 million Australian dollar), a half-billion-dollar reverse from a net profit of AU$250m in the previous 12 months. Andrew Thomas reports from Sydney.

Coalition 'Most Unlikely' to Meet Key Economic Goals by Next Election

THE GUARDIAN: Conservative thinktank says government has no hope of eliminating deficit and only slim chance of cutting debt by 2015

The coalition is "most unlikely" to meet its two key economic goals before the general election, a conservative thinktank says.

In a report published on Monday, the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) said the coalition had already given up hope of getting rid of the structural deficit by 2015 and that the chance of ensuring that public-sector debt is falling by the time of the next election is now slim.

The CPS, whose claims are rejected by the Treasury, also said the government's problems were exacerbated by the fact that many people do not understand the difference between debt and deficit and that they will be shocked to learn that debt (the historic total owed by the nation) will be around £600bn higher in 2015 than it was in 2010 even though the deficit (annual borrowing) will be lower.

The coalition "will be vulnerable at the next general election when opposition parties could argue that the huge increase in debt is primarily the result of economic incompetence", the CPS report said. » | Andrew Sparrow, political correspondent | Monday, August 27, 2012

Germany and France Turn Screw on Greece over Austerity Plans

THE GUARDIAN: Greek PM Antonis Samaras to be told to stick to hardline reforms to stay in eurozone as Berlin rejects plea for more time

Germany and France have ratcheted up the pressure on the Greek government by insisting that Athens stick to its hardline austerity plans in order to remain a member of the eurozone.

Before meetings with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, in Berlin on Friday and the French president, François Hollande, in Paris on Saturday, the Greek prime minister, Antonis Samaras, was given little hope that the two biggest EU economies were prepared to soften their approach.

Hollande, speaking at a meeting with Merkel in Berlin on Thursday night, said he wanted Greece to remain in the single currency but that the recession-stricken country had to carry out the reforms it had promised.

Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany's finance minister, flatly rejected Samaras's plea that Greece be given two extra years to put its finances back on track.

A decision on whether Athens should be allowed more time will be taken next month by the "troika" – the European Central Bank, the EU and the International Monetary Fund – but Schäuble said it was only six months ago that a second package of help had been provided.

"You cannot just say after half a year, all of that is not enough, because then you will never win the confidence of financial markets," he said on Germany's SWR radio. » | Larry Elliott, economics editor | Thursday, August 23, 2012

Apple Worth More Than Any Company in History
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Apple was worth more this afternoon than any company had ever been, as its share price inflated on rumours of new products and took its total value to a record high.

Apple's share price hit $664.74 at its peak today, giving it a market capitalisation - the total value of all its tradeable shares - of $622.5bn.

The previous record for market capitalisation was set by technology giant Microsoft in December 1999, just before the dot-com bubble burst, when it reached $616.3bn.

Apple usurped oil producer Exxon as the world's most valuable company in January after announcing record quarterly results on strong iPhone sales. The two businesses had previously leap-frogged each other to the distinction as their shares fluctuated, but Apple now stands clear as the most valuable company in the world, both currently and historically. » | Matthew Sparkes | Monday, August 20, 2012

Facebook Share Price Halves Since IPO
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Facebook's beleaguered stock has lost more than half of its value since its initial public offering three months ago.

Facebook Inc hit a new low of $US18.75 before bouncing back to $US19.01 - down 4 cents - in morning trading on Monday.

The social networking icon's much-anticipated IPO turned sour amid technical problems on the Nasdaq stock market and high expectations.

The stock has not surpassed its $US38 IPO price since its first trading day. » | AP | Tuesday, August 21, 2012

UK Ticket Wins £148m Euromillions Lottery Jackpot
BBC: One UK ticket-holder has won Friday's £148m Euromillions jackpot, lottery organiser Camelot has confirmed.

The winning numbers were 11, 17, 21, 48 and 50. The lucky stars were 9 and 10.

The ticket is the second biggest National Lottery win, behind Colin and Chris Weir from Largs, Ayrshire, who scooped £161m in July 2011.

A National Lottery spokeswoman said: "Lady Luck is clearly shining down on the UK once again with another big Euromillions win this year."

It is the seventh Euromillions jackpot to be won in the UK so far in 2012.

Camelot said it "looked forward to welcoming the lucky ticket-holder into the National Lottery's millionaires' club". » | Friday, August 10, 2012

Rekordsumme von 190 Mio. € wartet bei EuroMillionen
KRONE.AT: Bei der EuroMillionen-Ziehung am kommenden Dienstag winkt ein Rekordgewinn von 190 Millionen Euro. Bei der Ziehung am Freitag hat es nämlich wieder keinen Hauptgewinn (5 + 2 Richtige) gegeben. Wie die Österreichischen Lotterien in einer Aussendung mitteilten, werden somit voraussichtlich 190 Millionen Euro im Europot liegen. Gezogen wurden am Freitag folgende Zahlen: 24, 34, 35, 42, 46 Sternenkreis: 1, 5 (Angaben ohne Gewähr). » | AG/red | Freitag, 03. August 2012

High-End London Property Prices Falter on Budget Worries
CNBC: Prime Central London property had looked almost immune to economic problems in the rest of the U.K and the euro zone in the past couple of years.

This could be changing.

In July, prices for properties over 2 million pounds ($3 million) in areas like Chelsea and Mayfair grew by 0.5 percent — the lowest rate of growth in almost two years — according to estate agents Knight Frank.

This came despite plenty of interest from buyers elsewhere in the euro zone looking for safe havens. Interest from prospective buyers rose by 23 percent in the three months to July compared to the previous quarter, according to Knight Frank.

And internet searches for London property rose by 9 percent from Italy, 10 percent from Spain and 50 percent from Greece in May, according to Savills. » | Catherine Boyle, Staff Writer | Thursday, August 02, 2012

Paris Ritz Regulars Bid au revoir to 'Old Lady'
AFP: PARIS — Well-heeled regulars at the Paris Ritz bid au revoir to a dear "Old Lady" on Wednesday as the historic luxury hotel shut for a two-year facelift aimed at matching tough new competition from Asia.

"It's so sad. We've been coming for 20 years," said a bleary-eyed tourist from Hong Kong who gave only her first name, Ray-Heather.

Dressed in an Asian-inspired suit of yellow silk, the elegant blonde in her sixties lingered on in the lobby, embracing the hotel staff, before heading out on to the Place Vendome, beating heart of the Paris luxury quarter.

"The plumbing, electricity -- there's things like that that had to be done," she told AFP. "But as far as the rest of it is concerned, that's the Ritz. It's historical and it's home."

The hotel of choice of Charlie Chaplin, Coco Chanel and Ernest Hemingway, the Ritz is also infamous as the place where Princess Diana and Dodi Al Fayed dined before their fatal car crash in 1997.

But Paris' best-known luxury hotel has not had a refit since 1979, when it was revamped by its new owner, Al Fayed's tycoon father Mohamed, and even its biggest fans admit it was starting to show its age. » | Karine Albertazzi | Thursday, August 02, 2012