Category: News Desk

Italian Museum Burns Artwork To Protest Budget Cuts


A contemporary art museum in Naples, Italy, has begun to burn its collection of art pieces in a public protest against harsh government budget cuts, which have left many of the nation’s cultural institutions on the verge of closing down.

”Our 1000 artworks are headed for destruction anyway because of the indifference of the government,” said the museum’s director Antonio Manfredi, who wrote a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel last year in an attempt to move his entire collection to her nation.

Shareholders Reject Citigroup’s $15m CEO Pay Package


Citigroup shareholders have rejected a pay package that would have seen the bank’s chief executive receive $15 million a year, a major embarrassment for one of the world’s biggest banks. Citigroup’s chief executive, Vikram Pandit, received just $1 in 2010, and $128,741 in 2009.

Amid a backdrop of national discontent over obscene income inequality, Citigroup has become the first of Wall Street banking titans to get a veto from shareholders over supersized executive pay.

Goldman Sachs Reports $2.1 billion Q1 Profit


Wall Street’s Goldman Sachs has reported a higher than expected $2.1 billion profit for the first quarter of 2012, an outcome of the company reining in costs and risk-taking activities. However, analysts are saying that Goldman’s profits mask other problems, including a 16 percent decline in revenue.

Russia Ends “Cheese War” With Ukraine


Russia has agreed to begin re-importing cheese from neighbouring Ukraine after a two-month long ban, which many believed to have been politically motivated, claimed a report by Reuters on Tuesday.

In February this year, the Russian consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor had barred all cheese imports from Ukrainian producers in February this year after claiming that they had violated Russian milk and milk product standards, which included excessive quantities of palm oil.

Japan Pledges $60 Billion To IMF Firewall For Europe


Japan will provide $60 billion in loans to the IMF in order to boost the fund’s financial firepower against the eurozone debt crisis, announced Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi, who also pledged to coordinate an international effort with other finance ministers ahead of a crucial G-20 meeting in Washington later this week.

Argentina Moves to Seize Control of Spanish Energy Company YPF


Despite fierce criticism from Spain and EU officials, Argentina has announced plans to seize majority control of Spanish oil and gas company YPF. Last November, YPF announced a major 1 billion barrel shale oil find in Argentina.

Cheered by her ministers and regional governors, Argentina President Cristina Fernandez said a bill has already been sent to Congress that would allow for the nationalisation of 51 percent of YPF, which is now majority-owned by a Spanish energy company, Repsol YPF.

China Buys More US Debt for a Second Consecutive Month


China has increased its US debt holdings for the second month in a row as the country looks for new ways to spend its rising foreign currency reserves. China, the largest foreign buyer of US government debt, also has the largest foreign exchange reserves in the world.

A large part of Beijing’s foreign exchange reserves are invested in US government bonds, and the latest data from the US Treasury department shows that China purchased an additional $12.7 billion of US Treasuries in February.

Worldwide Military Spending Levels Out For First Time In 13 Years: Study


Worldwide military expenditure increased by just 0.3 percent from 2010 to 2011, compared to annual average increases of 4.5 percent between 2001 and 2009, said a study published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on Tuesday.

US “Too-Big-To-Fail” Banks Now Bigger Than Before Financial Crisis


The United States’ five largest banks, who have been deemed as “too big to fail” by some analysts, are now bigger than they’ve ever been before, according to a report by Bloomberg on Monday.

Key Economic News To Watch This Week: April 16


A quick preview of the key economic events for the upcoming week:

Last week, China announced that its economy grew a disappointing 8.1 percent in the first quarter of 2012, a figure that was lower than what officials and analysts had expected. This week, China announced it would widen the yuan’s trading band, as it aims to create a fully flexible and convertible exchange rate regime. How will this affect China’s growth and trade balance, and on a wider scale, its global trading relationships?