United Kingdom

CFR: EU Leaders Prepare for Crucial Summit

December 8, 2011 (CFR; Repub. by Vietnamica) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged all twenty-seven members of the EU to agree to broad amendments to the EU treaty (DeutscheWelle) in order to ensure greater fiscal coordination and budget discipline. Merkel and Sarkozy called for decisive action to stem the tide of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis ahead of an EU summit that gets underway Thursday evening.

Read more »

The Catfish, Your Savings & Japan’s Gold Coin Giveaway

japangold

December 8, 2011 (Vietnamica) — Unlike us – who are so smart today – ancient folk in ancient times used to believe the oddest things about how the world worked. The Japanese, for instance, long thought that earthquakes were caused by a giant catfish, shuffling and shifting whenever the great god of Kashima forgot to keep his foot on a heavy stone which held the beast down, deep beneath the coast of Honshu. Honoring the Kashima shrine, some 80 miles north-east of what was then Edo (modern-day Tokyo) was therefore a good idea. Because tectonic upheaval, causing death and...

Read more »

Gold Rallies, Stocks Fall, ECB Borrowing “Positive for European Liquidity”, China “Facing Severe Trade Challenges” Next Year

December 8, 2011 (Vietnamica) — Spot market gold prices jumped to $1737 an ounce Wednesday aftetnoon in London, as rumors continued to build of more aggressive monetary stimulus ahead of tomorrow’s European Central Bank meeting. German opposition to proposed changes to the Eurozone’s rescue framework also threw doubt on whether this Friday’s summit will deliver a significant deal.

Read more »

Vietnam Airlines Opens Direct Flights to Britain

December 4, 2011 (Vietnamica) — From Dec 8, Vietnam Airlines will begin twice-weekly services between Gatwick and Hanoi and the same number between Gatwick and Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). The flights will take approximately 12 hours, cutting several hours off the journey to Vietnam – until now only possible via regional hubs such as Bangkok, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Read more »

Gift Wrapped Liquidity

December 1, 2011 (Vietnamica) — With Christmas a little over three weeks away, the European Central Bank may be about to hand indebted European governments – not to mention its banking sector – the biggest gift they ever received: an unlimited credit backstop.

Read more »

CFR: Obama Meets EU Leaders over Worsening Euro Crisis

November 29, 2011 (Vietnamica) — U.S. President Barack Obama met at the White House with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton over how to contain the ongoing eurozone sovereign debt crisis (NYT). Obama highlighted the threat to the U.S. financial recovery, but emphasized that the crisis is fundamentally a European one, and Europe has the resources to address it.

Read more »