Thousands of Syrians are fleeing the fighting in Damascus where anti government rebels are trying to topple the government of President Assad. As many as 30,000 Syrians are reported to cross into neighbouring Lebanon. But the United Nations refugee agency the UNHCR is talking of a lower number of some 8,500.
The borrowing costs for Spain have risen to record highs; just its former approval has been given for a bailout of its banks. Eurozone finance ministers endorsed a loan up to 120 billion dollars, but the move failed to rally Spain's stock market which punched nearly 6%. Andrew Walker reports.
Critics of European economic policy that often say their consistently running to catch up with the financial markets. And now investors are already looking beyond this Spanish banking bailout. They are increasingly concerned that the government might need additional help for these financial needs beyond repairing the banks. One growing concern is the stated regional government finances; they are likely to need additional support from Madrid. The government has also downgraded its economic forecasts. Weaker growth which hit tax revenues can make it even hard to bring down the central government budget deficit.
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A departing senior economist of the International Monetary Fund has accused it of suppressing warning ahead of global financial crisis and the crisis in the eurozone. Peter Doyle, who is leaving after 20 years, says he is ashamed to have had any association with the IMF. In a resignation letter, he has said the difficulties have been identified well in advance, not warning about them have been a failure of the first order.