| The priorities are clear for Northern Rock
1. Depositors. Banks are different from other businesses, where customers shop at their own risk. The people who have placed their savings in Northern Rock need to know that their money is safe, not only to prevent another run on the bank but to ensure confidence in the banking system. It is in the general public’s interest that the depositors sleep easy at night. 2. Financial stability. The Government’s job is to address systemic risk. The chaotic collapse of a bank could easily prompt a run on others, paralysing the financial system and damaging the economy. Jobs and prosperity well beyond Tyneside are at stake. 3. Taxpayer funds. British citizens did not sign up to Northern Rock’s foolish business model, nor should they underwrite it. While Treasury money is not sacrosanct – i.e.
Stocks End Volatile Day With Comeback
NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street ended a volatile week with a late-day comeback Friday after investors set aside some concerns about the banking sector and the health of the overall economy. Stocks began Friday's trading having fallen in six of the prior seven sessions as investors fretted about whether consumers would succumb to higher energy prices, rising mortgage costs and an anemic dollar. Continuing credit turmoil has also stirred concerns about the soundness of corporate balance sheets and profits. A sharp rally Tuesday was largely undone by subsequent pullbacks; on Friday, the market appeared headed to another down day before the major indexes, which had flip-flopped all day, turned higher in the last half-hour. Financial stocks fell, partly due to a Fortune story that raised the possibility Fannie Mae could be masking the true magnitude of credit-related hits to its profits.
Church fund dispute on way to court
A set of mortgage checks written by a Hammond church helps explain the feud now ripping apart the congregation of Peace Baptist Church in Gary. Robert Johnson, the president of Peace Baptist's deacon board, filed a lawsuit against his church's pastor in July, accusing him of holding "sham" meetings to hijack its assets. Months earlier, Johnson incorporated a business named People Building Communities, Inc. Using the same initials as his church, he was able to deposit checks meant for Peace Baptist into its accounts. Those checks, written by God's New Covenant Church in Hammond, were made out to an ambiguous "PBC, Inc." Johnson and his wife, Barbara Johnson, said People Building Communities is a non-profit charitable arm of Peace Baptist Church, and that all but $800 of the money is back in the church's general account.
Russian president calls his opponents 'foreign-fed jackals' in campaign address
MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin called his political foes "jackals" Wednesday, accusing them of trying to weaken Russia, in a thunderous attack in advance of Dec. 2 parliamentary elections. Putin delivered his attack at a sports arena where thousands of flag-waving supporters called for him to remain Russia's "national leader" after his second and, under the constitution, final presidential term ends next year. But it was not clear what formal title he would hold. The elections have, in essence, turned into a plebiscite on whether he should retain power. Putin, whose approval ratings exceed 70 per cent, cast the parliamentary vote, where he leads the ticket of the dominant United Russia party, as a choice between the current economic boom and the poverty and chaos of the 1990s - rhetoric aimed at getting his supporters to the polls.
British Telecom sees opportunity in emerging global champions
The competitive advantage of UK-based telecom company British Telecom (BT), a daughter company of BT Group, is in tailoring complex transnational business solutions for an individual client's needs, said Pawel Karlowski, appointed in August 2007 as BT's CEO for Central and Eastern Europe. .
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