Smiley N. Pool, Houston Chronicle
Even without stars, Valencia shows up Dynamo in Charities Cup
The Dynamo were missing U.S. national team center back Geoff Cameron, Canadian national team defender Andre Hainault, Jamaican nationa...
Finance ministry for 10% cut in non-plan expenditure - Economic Times
The Centre is aiming to bring down its fiscal deficit to 5.1% of GDP in 2012-13, from 5.76% in the previous fiscal. It also hopes to cut its subsidy bill to below 2% of GDP this year.
The ministry has argued that there is tremendous pressure on government resources, which necessitates rationalisation and optimisation of resources.
The cut will not apply to interest payments, repayment of debt, defence capital expenditure, salaries, pensions and grants to states. The total non-plan expenditure is Rs 9.7 lakh crore, but after the exclusions the government could only save at most Rs 20,000 crore.
It also announced a ban on creation of new posts and on holding government functions in five-star hotels. The directive from the ministry's expenditure division to all ministries and department has also imposed curbs on foreign travel. It has also directed that the size of delegations and the duration of visits be kept to "absolute minimum". Re-appropriation proposals on this will not be approved.
"There will be a total ban on holding of meetings and conferences in five-star hotels...purchase of vehicles is banned until further orders," said an office memorandum issued by the ministry.
Earlier this month, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said in the Rajya Sabha that he would impose new austerity measures.
"I am going to issue some sort of austerity measures... whether people like it or not ... to convey a signal that we are responding to the situation," he had said.
The ministry has also cautioned that the rush of expenditure on procurement should be avoided during the last quarter of the fiscal and, in particular, the last month of the year "so as to ensure that all procedures are complied with and there is no infructuous or wasteful expenditure".
The memorandum says that funds should not be released without prior approval of the ministry to any entity, including state governments, which default in furnishing utilisation certificates for grants-in-aid released by the Central government.
Finance board: Voters should decide energy-saving contract - Eagle-Tribune
NORTH ANDOVER — The battle of the boards over energy saving continues.
While the Finance Committee did not take a formal vote on the issue Tuesday night, the advisory board is moving toward recommending that contracts of more than three years be approved by Town Meeting. The committee is particularly concerned about a proposed $4.3 million contract with Ameresco, a Framingham energy services firm,
Ameresco has said it will reduce the town's energy consumption and costs by making a host of improvements to buildings, including boiler replacements and more efficient lighting. The town would pay back the $4.3 million over 15 years and that bothers Finance Committee members.
The selectmen and School Committee, as well as Town Manager Andrew Maylor and Assistant Town Manager Raymond Santilli, support a pact with Ameresco.
Article 3 on the warrant for the June 12 Town Meeting authorizes the town manager and superintendent of schools to award contracts for more than three years if four selectmen or four School Committee members approve.
Finance Committee member Peter Besen proposed amending the article to require that such contracts be approved by Town Meeting.
"We don't want it to happen administratively," his colleague, Benjamin Osgood, said about the possibility of a contract with Ameresco being approved without voters' approval.
Thomas Dugan, presiding in the absence of Chairman Alan LeBovidge, said board members need to agree on the language of an amendment before moving forward with it.
"We don't have to make a decision tonight," Dugan said. The board invited Ameresco to send a representative to its meeting last night, but the company declined to do so, according to Dugan.
Dugan, Osgood, Matthew Remis and other Finance Committee members have said the board has not been given sufficient information about Ameresco to make an informed decision.
Panic in Spain as money flies out of country and head of European bank says Eurozone is 'unsustainable' - Daily Mail
By Hugo Duncan
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Senior European officials last night issued a grave warning that the very survival of the euro is at risk as the crisis in Spain threatens to tear the region apart.
Politicians and central bankers said the situation in the eurozone was unsustainable and drastic action was needed to prevent the ‘disintegration’ of the single currency.
They spoke out as European leaders scrambled to stop the financial crisis in Spain spiralling out of control and infecting other countries such as Italy.
Mario Draghi, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), called for Eurozone leaders to come up with a plan for the future to keep the single currency afloat
One analyst warned of ‘a perfect storm’ in Spain as the country’s deputy prime minister held crunch talks in Washington with US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde.
It is thought the IMF is drawing up contingency plans for Spain to prevent a cataclysmic financial meltdown.
The euro crashed to a 23-month low against the US dollar at $1.2335 but was up slightly against sterling having recovered from its lowest level since late 2008. Last night, 1 was worth 1.2460 euros.
Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, said the eurozone was unsustainable in its current form. In his sharpest criticism yet of eurozone leaders’ handling of the crisis, he said the ECB could not ‘fill the vacuum’ left by governments in terms of economic growth or structural reforms.
The head of the European Central Bank called on EU leaders including David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, to come up with a long-term plan for the euro
And he called for overwhelming force to be used to shore up Europe’s battered banks to restore confidence in the financial system.
Ignazio Visco, governor of the Bank of Italy and a senior ECB member, said political inertia and bad economic decisions have put ‘the entire European edifice’ at risk. ‘There are growing doubts among international investors about governments’ ability to ensure the survival of the single currency,’ he said.
Olli Rehn, EU economic and monetary affairs commissioner, said bold action was required ‘if we want to avoid a disintegration of the eurozone’.
The apocalyptic tone from usually measured EU officials betrayed the spreading sense of panic.
Irish voters are likely to approve a European treaty on budget discipline in yesterday’s referendum – securing continued aid. The result will be announced later today.
But the outcome of a second Greek election on June 17 – seen as crucial for the country’s future in the eurozone – is too close to call.
And fears are mounting that Spain, the fourth biggest economy in the eurozone, will be the fourth country to need a bailout.
City commentator David Buik, of financial betting firm BGC Partners, said: ‘There is an uncomfortable feeling out there. Whilst EU politicians and bureaucrats continue to waffle and the army of intellectual egg-heads proffer their useless economic advice, sentiment will continue to be negative.’
Investment bank JP Morgan warned that Spain would need 280billion to keep it afloat, with UK taxpayers potentially forced to stump up billions through the IMF.
The Spanish banking system has been crippled by nearly 150billion of toxic loans to homeowners and developers. One in four Spaniards are now out of work.
Bankia, one of the country’s biggest lenders, has asked the government for a 15billion lifeline, triggering concerns about the scale of the losses at other Spanish banks.
With Spain’s regions also in trouble, international investors are betting that the Spanish government will not be able to foot the bill for it all. Edward Thomas of investment firm Quantum Global Wealth Management declared: ‘It’s a perfect storm for Spain.’
This is beginning to have the inevitability of the Berlin Wall coming down. The creators will be denying it till the end, but historical imperatives mean it will happen and the European experiment go the same way as communism. It's going to be painful and it will cost us as ordinary people, but we'll recover.
- Naaman, London, UK, 01/6/2012 03:31
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