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BRUSSELS (Reuters) ? Euro zone finance ministers will speed up work on strengthening their bailout fund on Monday to enhance its market credibility by the end of November, a month early, as concern grows about Italy, euro zone officials said.
Euro zone leaders agreed last week to scale up the 440 billion euro European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to convince markets they can prevent Italy and Spain from being swept up by the sovereign debt crisis, which has already claimed Greece, Ireland and Portugal.
The agreement of the leaders of the 17 countries using the euro to leverage the EFSF by 4-5 times still needs, however, technical details to be provided by finance ministers before the EFSF's bigger firepower can be demonstrated to markets.
"The original plan was to have the details ready by the end of the year," one euro zone official said.
"But there is a clear sense that we have to accelerate the finalization of the technical details, because tensions in the markets have increased after the last Greek episode and we don't know what may happen next," the official said.
"Considering the pressure on countries like Italy, which presents an enormous challenge, there is a sense we need to have it (leveraged EFSF) ready already by the end of this month," the official said.
Greece sparked panic in the market and shocked fellow euro zone countries by announcing last Monday it would call a referendum to seek citizens' approval for an emergency financing package that euro zone governments, private investors and the IMF agreed on after tortuous talks on October 27.
Greece has since dropped the referendum plan and its politicians agreed on Sunday to form a unity government to enact the unpopular 130 billion ($179 billion) euro package.
But markets are worried about how the euro zone debt crisis will develop and yields of Italy's benchmark 10-year bonds rose to 6.39 percent on Friday, from 5.88 percent on October 27.
Many economists believe that once yields rise above 7 percent, the financing costs for a government become too high and a country is forced to ask for a bailout.
"The pressure on Italy is quite significant if you look at how the yields have increased over the last days -- it is worrying," a second euro zone official said.
"All the parties agree there is a need to accelerate the work on the leveraging of the EFSF," the official said.
ITALY, GREECE TO REPORT TO EUROGROUP
Italy's Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti will tell his fellow euro zone colleagues how Rome plans to implement a list of reform commitments made in late October, including public asset sales, a change to employment laws and a pension reform.
The implementation of the reforms, which are to boost Italy's weak growth and make it a more credible borrower in the eyes of the market, will also be monitored by the International Monetary Fund.
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos is to brief the Eurogroup on the latest developments in Athens, where Prime Minister George Papandreou agreed to step down to allow a unity government to be formed to push through the bailout deal.
Party leaders have yet to announce who will replace him.
The European Union wants the Greek parliament to approve the emergency financing package for Athens agreed on October 27, before any more euro zone loans are disbursed to Greece.
Athens must get the next, 8 billion euro tranche of aid before mid-December, if it is to stave off bankruptcy.
"After the presentation from Mr. Venizelos there will be a discussion on what will happen with the next tranche of aid. As long as there is uncertainty about the commitment of the Greek authorities, the money cannot be paid," the official said.
More input to the discussions on Monday on EFSF leveraging will come from the summit of G20 biggest economies in Cannes on Nov 3-4, where interest in details of the idea was high, and from a visit to Asia by EFSF Chief Executive Klaus Regling.
Existing and planned EFSF lending commitments leave around 250 billion euros in the fund, which the euro zone wants leveraged to a headline figure of around 1.0 trillion euros.
Euro zone leaders want this done by offering first-loss guarantees to purchasers of euro zone debt in the primary market or via a special purpose vehicle that would be set up in the coming weeks and which would aim to attract investment from countries like China or Brazil, possibly via the International Monetary Fund.
IMF ROLE IN EFSF LEVERAGING
An IMF official, possibly the head of the fund's European department Antonio Borges, will take part in the meeting of the Eurogroup on Monday.
"The involvement of the IMF in EFSF leveraging is not yet decided, but it is important that they can have a say," the first official said.
Markets had hoped that some cash rich emerging market powers like China or Brazil would invest in the EFSF's special purpose vehicle and were disappointed on Friday when German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a meeting of leaders of the G20 biggest economies that few countries were ready to contribute.
But some euro zone officials said the lack of concrete investment declarations so far could have been due to lack of agreed details about the project, since many G20 leaders were interested in the idea and asking for details.
Some countries could be more willing to invest in such a venture through the IMF, rather than directly, officials said.
"Frankly, it looks more like our international partners want IMF involvement, because IMF involvement is a way for others to get involved," the first official said.
(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
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Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pauses before speaking during a media conference at a G20 summit in Cannes, France on Friday, Nov. 4, 2011. Leaders from within troubled Europe and far beyond are working Friday on ways the International Monetary Fund could do more to calm Europe's debt crisis. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pauses before speaking during a media conference at a G20 summit in Cannes, France on Friday, Nov. 4, 2011. Leaders from within troubled Europe and far beyond are working Friday on ways the International Monetary Fund could do more to calm Europe's debt crisis. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Demonstrators wear masks mocking Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, right ,and Reform Minister Umberto Bossi carry placards reading: "Silvio, change my diaper", left, and "I'm looking for confidence, payment in cash" during a demonstration staged by the Italian Democratic party in Rome, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011. The International Monetary Fund will monitor Italy's financial reform efforts, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Friday, a humbling step for one of the world's biggest _ but also most indebted _ economies as market confidence in its future wanes. Berlusconi told a press conference Friday at the end of the G-20 summit of world leaders in Cannes that Italy had turned down an offer of financial aid from the IMF. "We don't believe this type of intervention is necessary," he said. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
Opposition leader Pier Luigi Bersani gestures at the end of a demonstration staged by the Italian Democratic party in Rome, Saturday, Nov. 5, 2011. The International Monetary Fund will monitor Italy's financial reform efforts, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Friday, a humbling step for one of the world's biggest _ but also most indebted _ economies as market confidence in its future wanes. Berlusconi told a press conference Friday at the end of the G-20 summit of world leaders in Cannes that Italy had turned down an offer of financial aid from the IMF. "We don't believe this type of intervention is necessary," he said. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
FILE - In this Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010 file photo, Cgil labor union federation leader Susanna Camusso arrives to deliver her speech during a demonstration to protest the government policies against the economical crisis in Rome. In an interview with The Associated Press Monday Nov. 7, 2011, Camusso is predicting 2012 will be a "terrifying" year for the economy even if beleaguered Premier Silvio Berlusconi leaves power soon. She also slammed Berlusconi's anti-crisis plan as containing virtually nothing to spark economic growth. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito, File)
ROME (AP) ? Italy became the latest target in Europe's financial crisis Monday, as soaring borrowing rates intensified pressure on Premier Silvio Berlusconi to resign and let a new government reform the country's spendthrift ways.
Berlusconi batted away reports that he was considering stepping down in favor of early elections, saying they were "without foundation."
But the prospect of financial disaster was real because of Italy's huge debts and slow growth. Unlike Greece, Ireland and Portugal ? the three countries that Europe has already bailed out ? Italy's economy could be too large to rescue.
Investors want the government to quickly pass measures to boost growth and cut debt. But defections from Berlusconi's coalition government mean he no longer commands enough loyalty to pass the reforms.
Increasingly, Berlusconi is himself being seen as the problem.
If Berlusconi should resign or lose a confidence vote, President Giorgio Napolitano would decide whether to call early elections, or name a government of technocrats rather than politicians. The most widely discussed name to lead a technical government is Mario Monti, the former EU competition commissioner who once blocked General Electric's takeover of Honeywell.
The opposition center-left has long demanded the resignation of Berlusconi, citing sex scandals, criminal prosecutions and legislative priorities it says are aimed at protecting his own business interests rather than those of the country. However, it has failed to come up with a leader who can energize the base and create a credible program, leaving the opposition divided and rudderless.
The ultimate fear is that Italy cannot pay for its euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion) debt and need international help. Europe would struggle with a bailout that large, meaning a default that could break up the 17-nation eurozone and drag down the global economy.
During a G-20 summit last week, Berlusconi had to ask the International Monetary Fund to monitor the country's reform efforts, a humiliating step for the eurozone's third-largest economy.
The yield on Italy's 10-year bonds jumped another 0.42 of a percentage point Monday to 6.67 percent, its highest level since the euro was established in 1999. That is drawing uncomfortably near the 7 percent threshold that forced both Ireland and Portugal to accept bailouts. As yields rise, governments must devote more of their national budgets simply to paying interest costs, creating a vicious circle of debt.
When traders thought early Monday that Berlusconi might resign, those borrowing rates eased. But later in the day, when it was clear the 75-year-old would not leave willingly, rates shot up again, reflecting market fears that he is not the leader who can turn Italy around.
"The leader and his country are in danger of taking the rest of Europe, if not the world, into economic hell," said Louise Cooper, markets analyst at BGC Partners.
Stocks worldwide recovered from big losses, while U.S. stock indexes edged lower Monday, gyrations driven by speculation over Berlusconi's future.
The European Central Bank said Monday that it stepped up its program to buy government bonds last week, spending euro9.5 billion ($13 billion). It has been buying bonds for weeks to keep a lid on borrowing costs to help prevent Italy and Spain from succumbing to the debt crisis.
Berlusconi had lunch Monday with his children and friends at his villa near Milan, sparking Italian news media to speculate he was devising an exit strategy. But the lunch is a long family tradition and his Facebook page said "the reports of my resignation are without foundation."
Public administration minister Renato Brunetta, a Berlusconi loyalist, acknowledged Monday that the government has a "numbers problem" in parliament and if a majority is lacking then "everybody goes home." Interior Minister Roberto Maroni agreed, adding "it is useless to persist."
James Walston, professor of political science at the American University of Rome, said Berlusconi's time is quickly running out, even though elections are not due until 2013.
"He could go tomorrow. He could go next week. The sort of pressure that he is under, coming from his own people, will make it sooner than later," he said.
But Berlusconi has remained defiant, insisting he still commands enough support in Parliament.
"I don't understand how rumors of my resignation are circulating," Berlusconi was quoted as saying Monday by Libero newspaper.
Only the loss of a confidence vote can force a government to resign. Opposition leader Pierluigi Bersani said lawmakers are planning exactly that. Political analysts say a vote could come as early as Tuesday, when parliament is expected to approve the state's balance sheets ? a routine measure that failed by one vote last month.
Other analysts say should Berlusconi step down, he would seek to have his right-hand man, Gianni Letta, named to succeed him as premier until early elections can be organized. It is not known whether the Italian president, Napolitano, would agree to that.
If the opposition doesn't call a vote of confidence this week in an effort to unseat him, Berlusconi has pledged to call one himself to prove his majority stands, possibly next week, on reforms and other stopgap measures to lower Italy's debt ? now near 120 percent of GDP ? and revive the dormant economy.
The reform measures include a plan to sell government assets ? expected to raise euro5 billion ($6.9 billion) a year for three years ? and tax breaks to reduce youth unemployment of 29 percent and to get women back into the work force in a country where just 48 percent of women have jobs. The legislation would also allow stores to stay open on Sundays and open up closed professions.
Berlusconi has also pledged to raise the retirement age to 67 for all to match European trends, despite the fierce resistance of his allies in the Northern League, on whom Berlusconi relies to govern. They have proven at times difficult allies, exerting a strong independent streak and challenging Berlusconi on key policies. The leader, Umberto Bossi, also has on several occasions expressed doubts about Berlusconi's ability to complete the current mandate.
The leader of Italy's largest labor confederation, meanwhile, predicted 2012 will be a "terrifying" year for the economy even if Berlusconi leaves power. CGIL leader Susanna Camusso also slammed Berlusconi's anti-crisis plan as containing virtually nothing to spark economic growth.
"I hope there will be (early elections), and that they will be soon for the good of the country," she told The Associated Press on Monday.
Mario Draghi, an Italian who just took over as European Central Bank president, said last week that since joining the euro, Italy has enjoyed unnaturally low interest rates for years because its monetary policy has been linked to that of stronger economies like Germany.
"For a long time spreads between sovereign bonds in the euro area were very narrow," he said. "They did not reflect the different realities of different countries."
In contrast, German borrowing costs hit a record low Monday, as investors fled to their bonds as a safe haven in Europe.
___
Associated Press writer Colleen Barry in Milan contributed to this report.
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On this week?s edition of ??Fox News Sunday,? Paul put those rumors to rest saying he had no interest in running as a third party candidate. But that doesn?t mean he would support the eventual GOP nominee.
Since announcing earlier this year that he would not be running for re-election to Congress, there has been some speculation that, if he doesn?t secure the GOP nomination, Texas Rep. Ron Paul might run as a third party candidate for president.
?Probably not unless I get to talk to them and find out what they believe in,? Paul said of whether he would support the Republican nominee. ?But if they believe in expanding the wars, if they don?t believe in looking at the Federal Reserve, if they don?t believe in real cuts, if they don?t believe in deregulation and a better tax system, it would defy everything I believe in. And so therefore I would be reluctant to jump on board and tell all of the supporters that have given me trust and money, then all of a sudden say, ?All we have done is for naught and let?s support anybody at all because even if they disagree with everything we do.??
As for a third party or independent run, the Texas congressman said he just doesn?t want to do it.
WALLACE: Does that mean you might then consider an independent run?
PAUL: No, doesn?t mean that at all.
WALLACE: Would you?
PAUL: I have no intention doing that. That doesn?t make any sense to me ? to even think about it, to let alone plan to do that.
WALLACE: Because?
PAUL: Because I don?t want to do it. That?s a pretty good reason.
WALLACE: You know you answered it right there.
Watch:
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MOSCOW ? Russia's Interior Ministry says police have arrested a man who kept 29 mummified bodies at his apartment and dressed them up like dolls.
Ministry spokesman Valery Gribakin said Monday that the suspect from the Volga River city of Nizhny Novgorod dug up the bodies at several cemeteries in the region. The man, whose identity was withheld, dressed them in clothes dug up from the graves.
Gribakin said that the suspect is a historian who has authored several books. He said the arrest followed a police probe into the desecration of graves in the region, which was initially blamed on extremist groups. Nizhny Novgorod is located about 250 miles (400 kilometers) east of Moscow.
Russian media reports quoted police as saying that the man only had selected the remains of young women for his grisly collection.
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L'ISLE-SUR-LA-SORGUE, France (Reuters) ? The euro zone's repeated failure to tackle its debt crisis is catapulting the bloc toward recession, raising the specter of dangerous spillovers to the rest of the world economy.
Whittling down the euro area's mountain of debt was always going to be a long slog, even without the unpredictable political dramas in Greece and Italy that overshadowed last week's summit of the Group of 20 major economies in Cannes on the French Riviera.
But the inability of euro zone leaders to convince their G20 counterparts that they were getting a grip on events has made the task that much harder. Confidence, already fragile, has frayed further.
"It's no wonder that people aren't spending when all you hear every day is about 'the crisis'," said Michel Quintao, co-owner of a wrought-iron workshop in this corner of southeast France, some 200 km (125 miles) from Cannes.
Even before the G20 meeting and an inconclusive pair of euro zone debt-crisis summits last month, the corrosive effect of flagging confidence was taking a toll on growth.
The euro zone's composite purchasing managers' index, a timely gauge of business sentiment, fell sharply in October to 46.5 from 49.1 in September, while German manufacturing orders slumped 4.3 percent in September.
Jim O'Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said the figures suggested the 17-member euro zone was already in, or close to, recession - explaining why the European Central Bank cut interest rates last Thursday, to the surprise of many investors.
O'Neill said the spread of economic weakness from the periphery to the core of the euro zone was in large part due to contagion via the financial markets, especially the relentless pressure on Italian bonds.
"They desperately need somehow to stabilize Italian financial markets," O'Neill said.
MEANINGFUL RISKS
Undermined by market mistrust of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government, Italy's 10-year bonds yields soared to a euro era high of 6.4 percent last week.
That is close to levels that made the debt-service burdens of Greece, Ireland and Portugal unsustainably onerous and triggered bailouts by the euro zone and the International Monetary Fund. But Italy, with 1.9 trillion euros in public debt, is simply too large to bail out.
O'Neill said it boiled down to vanishing confidence. After all, until July, Italy was relatively untouched by the maelstrom despite weak growth that has averaged just 0.6 percent a year since the euro was created in 1999. Even now, its cyclically adjusted budget position is one of the strongest of any major economy.
"It's a crisis of confidence: Italy needs leadership and supply side reforms to boost growth," O'Neill said.
As Europe bumbles, the rest of the world is watching anxiously, fearful of the fallout.
The United States is perhaps only half-way through its own debt workout. Recovery from the 2008/2009 recession is the weakest on record and, even though economists have marked up their forecasts for fourth-quarter growth, a slump in Europe could revive fears of a relapse.
"The risks associated with the euro area's slide into recession are meaningful," economists at J.P. Morgan wrote in their weekly Global Data Watch publication.
Asia is currently the region with the strongest economy, but it too would not escape unscathed if Europe took a big hit.
Indeed, Rob Subbaraman, Nomura's chief Asian economist based in Hong Kong, said sentiment was already being tested. Companies and the man in the street were anxious.
"Growth is cooling but it's not collapsing," Subbaraman said. Still, he said it was fanciful to imagine that Asia could decouple from its major Western markets. "Asia is very much integrated into the global economy, and if things deteriorate, we'll get hit hard again," Subbaraman said.
CONFIDENCE TRICK
It was telling that Australia, whose reliance on commodity exports makes it a good barometer of global demand, saw fit to cut interest rates last week for the first time since April 2009. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the central bank, said a 'mildly restrictive' policy was no longer appropriate.
"The RBA has a very good track record on monetary policy, yet they felt compelled to take their foot off the brake," Subbaraman said.
China, which sends 20 percent of its exports to the European Union, has tirelessly pressed for a resolution to the euro zone's problems, although President Hu Jintao, like other G20 leaders, conspicuously declined in Cannes to contribute to the bloc's rescue fund.
Ting Lu, a Bank of America Merrill Lynch economist based in Hong Kong, is forecasting robust 8.7 percent year-on-year growth for China this quarter and 8.6 percent in 2012. But he said a sharp slowdown could not be ruled out in the event of an economic slump in Europe or a break-up of the euro.
"Our central case is a soft landing. We do have a scenario for a hard landing, but it's not because of domestic Chinese issues," Lu said.
In short, the world economy is increasingly hostage to the fast-changing politics of the euro zone. For want of leadership, uncertainty and fear are sapping the spirits of entrepreneurs, investors and consumers.
"Let me be clear," Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in Cannes. "Moving the European plan forward remains critical to restoring confidence and growth in the global economy."
(Editing by Erica Billingham)
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Time is quickly running out to right the wrongs of a bygone era where the most vicious form of violence and hate ran rampant with seeming impunity. It is an era that most of us would rather leave to the anonymity of history. The immersion in the now, and the drumbeat of contemporary pursuits both grand and banal, leaves little room for even the most disquieting, yet compelling issues of our past. We are so over that era--after all we even have an African-American president now.
However, when our future president entered the world as an infant maimings, arsons, shootings, lynchings and bombings exploded out of the quiet darkness as part of an unrelenting war on our Black and Brown neighbors. In many parts of the country President Obama's parents could be imprisoned simply for being married. The Klan, not al Qaeda was the primary terrorist organization to be reckoned with. And a war was being waged on our most vulnerable citizens to keep them exactly that way. There were no blacks serving as Senators, big city mayors, Ivy League Presidents, CEO's of Fortune 500 companies or heads of major sport franchises. And in the South black and brown life existed at the whim of the most angry and ignorant of white folk.
The fa?ade of gently rolling green hills, bucolic farms and small towns with maple and magnolia tree lined winding roads hid the stench of murder. It wasn't merely the landscape that continually masked these killings, but a combination of time and acquiescence by communities and our insouciant justice system. Shrugging off the most horrific and unimaginable of evils is possible when the primary divergence in many white communities was the enforcement method, rather than the segregationist goal. The evils of the day were committed by remarkably unremarkable killers who believed they had a license to kill and history on their side. This license seemed to be repeatedly validated with the passage of time.
One Man's Crusade Galvanizes Others
Had Alvin Sykes been an adult in the South during the Civil Rights era, he likely would have been a target of the Klan. A tall handsome and lanky figure, I have never seen Alvin say no to anyone who came to him with a case of injustice. Born to a 14 year old single mom in Kansas City, Mo., Alvin dropped out of high school in the 9th grade. He worked to desegregate Kansas City schools, increase jury pools, and rallied around the cases of those who had been killed. One such case involved the murder of Jazz musician Steve Harvey who was beaten to death with a baseball bat by a defendant who was acquitted by a local jury.
Alvin poured over the case and all the relevant federal criminal statutes in his local public library when he found a small hook in the federal law that gave the federal government jurisdiction. His dogged determination and thorough research caused a justice department lawyer to pursue the case to conviction with a life sentence for the killer.
Decades later, Alvin formed the Emmett Till Justice Campaign with Emmett's mother Mamie Till Mobley in January 2003 to shed a renewed spotlight on "cold cases" from the Civil Rights era. Chicagoan Emmett Till, 14, was brutally lynched in 1955 in Mississippi for whistling at a white woman. Two days after her meeting with Sykes and now deceased former Justice Department employee Donald Burgher, Ms. Mobley perished from a sudden heart attack. Alvin worked tirelessly to make good on his promise to her to pass a law in Emmett's name to devote resources to these cases.
Alvin Sykes and young New York documentary filmmaker Keith Beauchamp, along with projects at Syracuse and Northeastern Universities and others assisted the Justice Department and FBI to find clues to many of the murders from the Civil Rights era that went unsolved. An indefatigable Sykes, finally saw the Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act signed into law President George Bush in October 2008.
Despite the best efforts of Sykes, civil rights activists and devoted FBI agents among others, the money and deadlines granted by the Till Act are running out. With cases going back as far as 1934 time has taken a toll. Deaths, double jeopardy protections for defendants and lack of evidence have been formidable obstacles. In addition the limited federal laws from that era and statutes of limitations, which limit their subsequent use, even in cases resulting in death have yielded disappointedly mixed results as well.
The two most fundamental currencies of life are heart and time. Alvin has devoted both to this cause. Unfortunately, time is running out on both the Till Act, which expires soon, as well on witnesses, perpetrators and evidence. Let's use the power of social media to find whatever clues we can to solve the unsolved and right injustices that still stain our nation's promise of equality.
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Follow Brian Levin, J.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/proflevin
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-levin-jd/for-unsolved-civil-rights_b_1079406.html
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