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Clooney, Steisand, Geffen may not be Obama's real friends in Hollywood
Washington, November 20 ANI: Hollywood stars like George Clooney, Barbra Streisand and David Geffen might have supported Barack Obama's campaign, but they are just not the showbiz giants who are closest to the President-elect. James Lassiter, the long-time manage of Will Smith and head of their production company Overbrook Entertainment, is said to be among people who are very close to Obama.He became close with Obama through a mutual friend, Wall Street investment banker Brian Mathis.Hill Harper, best known to television audiences as crime scene investigator Sheldon Hawkes on the hit series 'CSI: NY', is yet another celebrity who is expected to stay in close contact with Obama. He was a member of Obama's national campaign finance committee, reports politico.com. Also on the list of Obama's closest friends from the show business is Sony Pictures Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton's wife Jamie Lynton.She had co-hosted an early fundraiser for Obama's Senate bid in 2004 in addition to hosting a presidential campaign event early last year, when most showbiz types were still supporting Hillary Rodham Clinton. Entertainment lawyer Nancy McCullough and television writer Crystal Nix Hines are also among Obama's closest friends in Hollywood. ANI
2008-11-20 09:00:00
BRUSSELS
ECO1Economy/BusinessNo Christmas gravy for Europe's ailing carmakersBy Nicholas RigilloBrussels, Nov 20 DPA Ah, the style of an Italian Ferrari, the solidity of a German Mercedes, the flair of a French Renault!The car industry is not only Europe's pride and joy, it provides income for some 12 million families and last year generated a combined turnover of 551 billion euros $700 billion, or about 5 percent of the continent's gross domestic product GDP.One in every three cars sold around the world is European.But now, caught between the global credit crunch, a recession and the need to make greener vehicles, Europe's automobile industry says it is facing its most difficult moment since the oil crisis of the early 1970s.Sales have shifted into reverse since the spring, and the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association ACEA is predicting layoffs of up to 5 percent of the industry's continental workforce.Manufacturers are appealing for help. All indications are that they won't get all they want.One demand from ACEA is for more schemes similar to what Italy did to help save Fiat - state-subsidized discounts for people who trade in their old bangers for new, less-polluting models.Another involves 40 billion euros in cheap loans to help develop fuel-efficient technologies.Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, one of the European Union's most influential figures, on Tuesday joined top officials from France and Germany in calling for a European-wide rescue plan similar to the one being considered by US President George W Bush."If the US administration is prepared to spend billions of dollars to save Ford and General Motors from collapse, then we cannot simply look on and abandon our manufacturers in Europe," Juncker told the German tabloid Bild.Officials in Brussels say the European Commission is working on a range of short-term measures which should help the industry head off recession.But they caution industrialists against raising their expectations too high.The European Investment Bank EIB, whose task it would be to provide carmakers with low-interest loans, has dismissed the 40-billion-euro demand as "fantasy".Spokesman Rainer Schlitt told DPA that the EIB has already loaned 7 billion euros to car manufacturers over the past 12 years.The 40 billion euros that carmakers seek would be only five billion short of the total amount of cheap credit that the EIB provided across all EU industries in 2007.While France's PSA Peugeot-Citroen and Renault and Germany's Daimler are among those that suffered the greatest drop in sales in October, Europe's biggest headache concerns Opel, GM's German subsidiary.German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she is considering a request for credit guarantees to help Opel overcome a possible liquidity crisis due to the massive cash shortages being experienced by its US-based parent company.But Schlitt said the EIB would only be able to finance research and development projects, not "Opel-style" aid.Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso has also said he wants to help. But he is also threatening to refer the United States to the World Trade Organization WTO over Washington's plans to bail out its own ailing car industry with subsidies worth $25 billion.One of the problems facing the likes of Opel is that the EU has very strict rules on what kind of state aid governments can provide to their industries."Member states cannot export their problems to other member states," said Jonathan Todd, spokesman for EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes."You should not have a situation where a subsidy received by one company puts another company in another member state, or in the same member state, at risk," Todd said.This means governments cannot bail out a specific carmaker, and that any help to the industry should be agreed with other EU car-making nations.And while Opel is clearly suffering from the effects of the global credit crunch, officials also reject any comparison with the banking industry, which has enjoyed credit guarantees and aid totalling some 1.5 trillion euros."If banks collapse, the economy collapses," one official said, while the bankruptcy of a single car manufacturer would not jeopardize a country's entire economy.Thus, Europe's carmakers can still expect billions of euros in state aid. But this will likely be spread over a number of years and will mostly be targeted at research and development projects that lead to more fuel-efficient, less-polluting cars. And that aid will almost certainly not boost car sales this Christmas.--Indo-Asian News Service791 Words20110750
2008-11-20 03:00:00
Colombia seeks 'scam boss' arrest
Colombia asks Panama to arrest and extradite a man suspected of running a collapsed pyramid finance scheme.
2008-11-19 18:02:07
Israel unveils $5 bln stimulus plan
JERUSALEM, Nov. 19 Xinhua -- Israeli Finance Minister ...
2008-11-19 14:14:15
Iceland xA350m meeting 'positive'
A visit to Iceland by finance chiefs from Kent County Council KCC to secure xA350m invested in collapsed banks is described as "positive".
2008-11-19 03:37:33
Take control of your finances
Feeling powerless in an uncertain economy One way to take control is creating a budget.
2008-11-17 20:49:38
Pak turns to 'Friends' for aid to combat financial crisis, Islamist insurgents
Washington, Nov 17 ANI: In the wake of the ongoing recession and economy collapse, Pakistan is learnt to have turned to Britain and 11 other "Friends of Democratic Pakistan" for help to save itself from financial crisis and military defeat by Islamist insurgents, said a report in timesonline.com According to the report, Pakistani officials are in Abu Dhabi today to ask for billions of dollars from "Friends of Democratic Pakistan". The meeting comes just two days after Pakistan agreed to a loan of 7.6 billion dollars from the International Monetary Fund IMF.The likely outcome of the meeting is that the Friends will agree to help Pakistan secure more funds from international agencies such as the Asian Development Bank. To do that, however, Pakistan will have to abide by unpopular IMF conditions, which could precipitate another political crisis. Already the Government is under fire for failing to curb its own profligacy or clarify what strings are attached to the IMF loan. Pakistani officials say they were over the worst of a crisis that had brought them within days of defaulting on foreign debt repayments, and which had threatened to derail a military campaign against Taleban and al-Qaeda militants on the Afghan border. "We have fulfilled our commitment that Pakistan will never default," the report quoted Shaukat Tareen, finance adviser to Pakistan's Prime Minister, as saying. Pakistan's foreign exchange reserves have now plummeted to less than 7 billion dollars, enough to pay for just two months of imports. Its Rupee has slumped by one-fifth this year, the stock market by more than a third, and inflation stands staring at 25 per cent. Rich Pakistanis have exacerbated the crisis by illegally transferring an estimated $10 billion dollars overseas in the past year.Pakistani officials, who have emphasised the economic cost of supporting the War on Terror in recent days, say that they expect good news from the meeting with "Friends", now that the IMF loan has been agreed upon.The "Friends", however, are playing down expectations - not least because of their own pressing financial woes, said the report. "Most people are pretty adamant it's not going to be another donors' conference. It's there to support the democratic process in Pakistan," it quoted a Western official as saying. ANI
2008-11-17 10:06:08
War on terror costs Pakistan Rs 2 trillion
Pakistan has spent over Rs 2082.942 billion on the 'war on terror' since 2004, a document released by the Ministry of Finance said on Sunday.This included direct cost of Rs 450.222 billion and indirect cost of Rs 1632.720 billion, said the Draft Poverty...
2008-11-17 03:18:20
Old Mutual finance director calls it a day
Old Mutual, the South African insurer, confirmed Jonathan Nicholls, finance director, was leaving less than two months after its chief executive also left the company...
2008-11-16 23:00:00
EU divided over financial, economic challenges
EU finance ministers failed to endorse significant measures to tackle recessionxA0andxA0conflicting positions emerged on global economic governance duringxA0their meeting in Brussels yesterday 4 November, which was dominated byxA0internal divisions.
2008-11-16 08:55:26