Geithner repeats call for monetary remodel check

WASHINGTON Wed Feb 24, 2010 10:07am EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Wednesday repeated his call for Congress to pass financial reform legislation that curbs risk-taking by big financial firms and ensures they can absorb their own losses.

Geithner, in prepared testimony on the Obama administration"s fiscal 2011 budget plan that was identical to earlier written remarks, told the House of Representatives Budget Committee that comprehensive reforms were needed to ensure growth and ensure Americans" financial safety.

"We need a financial system that is safer, in which financial firms, especially large ones, have more capital to absorb their own losses and cannot take risks that threaten the whole economy," Geithner said. "Consumers need to be given the information they require to make the decisions that are right for them and they need to be protected from unfair and fraudulent practices."

He added that the government needs to have the authority that it did not have during the financial crisis to "break apart and unwind failing firms in ways that limit damage to the system as a whole."

But his testimony did not provide any specifics on the mechanisms for providing such protections. Geithner is scheduled to meet later on Wednesday with U.S. senators Christopher Dodd, the Connecticut Democrat who heads the Senate Banking Committee, and Republican Bob Corker, who has taken a lead role in negotiations on a Senate financial reform bill, to hash out details of the bill.

Key sticking points are Republican opposition to curbs on proprietary trading by Wall Street banks and to the creation of a new consumer financial protection agency.

(Reporting by David Lawder, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

Cameron to crop up on Alan Titchmarsh show after dismissing Piers Morgan suggest since he wants something estimable

He sniffily dismissed calls for him to appear on Piers Morgan"s chatshow by declaring that he wanted to do something more "substantial".

And today David Cameron revealed who he has chosen to give him a no-holds-barred, in-depth grilling over Tory policy: Alan Titchmarsh.

The Tory leader used an appearance on the gardening guru"s talkshow to talk about the death of his son Ivan for the first time last year.

Just an ordinary man: David Cameron has a quiet pint at the Tite Inn in Chadlington during a visit to his constituency today

Mr Cameron was quick to turn down an opportunity to appear on Morgans Life Stories in the wake of Gordon Brown"s emotional interview last week. More...Don"t mention our record in power, Labour orders election activists

The Prime Minister had used the appearance as an opportunity to connect with voters as he bared his soul about the death of his baby daughter and spoke of a "modern love story" with wife Sarah.

But David Cameron immediately heaped disdain on the former tabloid editor"s show.

"I am just not a great fan of the Piers Morgan format," Mr Cameron told the BBC Radio 4 Womans Hour programme, adding: "I would rather do something a bit more substantial,"

Grilling: Cameron is to appear on the Alan Titchmarsh Show

Mr Cameron will appear on the Alan Titchmarsh Show on March 10 but his advisors have been quick to stress that he still intends to appear on a more serious TV show in the run-up to the election.

The Tory leader is also understood to be in negotiations to appear on the BBC"s One Show, which is hosted by Adrian Chiles and Christina Bleakley.

A Tory spokesman defended the decision to appear on the Titchmarsh show and said: "This is part of a strategy to reach out to non-Tories. We want to do all kinds of media."

Last week Mr Cameron gave an interview with men"s magazine ShortList, whose readers are the 30- something men he needs to win over to take power.

The Old Etonian revealed that he winds down by watching Spooks and Silent Witness and expressed a fondness for darts - the most working class of sports.

He said that "along with draught Guinness in cans, Sky+ is one of the great inventions of our time".

And claimed that his iPod is loaded with an eclectic selection of music, including Brit Award winner Florence and the Machine.

Old Mutual hoists for sale pointer over US arm

Miles Costello and Ian King, Deputy Business Editor & , : {}

The arch senior physical education instructor of Old Mutual betrothed serve item sales from the Anglo-South African group"s sprawling monetary sovereignty as he denounced a prejudiced boyant for the US item physical education instructor and a sale of the American hold up arm.

Julian Roberts, who has been reviewing Old Mutual"s have up given he took assign of the monetary services organisation in Sep 2008, said: "We will lift on streamlining the portfolio. We know it"s as well big. It"s transparent to the marketplace that there are some-more things that we could do."

He declined to be drawn on that tools of Old Mutual competence be lined up for ordering and when.

"The misfortune thing would be to contend so now," he said. "We will do so when the time is right."

Related LinksJulian Roberts: the man overhauling Old MutualOld Mutual arch puts sale plans on holdTempus analysis: Staying put

The plan is to exit, inside of 3 years, businesses that are non-core and incompetent to beget a lapse on equity of at slightest fifteen per cent.

As he published the long-awaited commentary of his 18-month examination of the FTSE 100 word and item government company, Mr Roberts pronounced that the US hold up operations would be put up for sale.

JP Morgan is accepted to have been hired to suggest it on the options.

Mr Roberts additionally pronounced that about twenty per cent of the US item government section would be listed inside of the subsequent 3 years.

Old Mutual, that will sojourn the infancy owner, will have use of the deduction to assistance to cut the debt weight by 1.5 billion.

Mr Roberts would not be drawn on a gratefulness for possibly the hold up sale or the item manager.

"I don"t wish to speak sums; that would have me a warrant to fortune," he said. "At the finish of the day, we are seeking to IPO about twenty per cent of that business.

"I similar to the item government business. It"s a great business. It additionally gives us a currency, for if we wish to supplement some-more businesses to it."

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Army takes carry out as looters raid cities ravaged by earthquake

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The armed forces took carry out of immeasurable swaths of Chile yesterday as rescue workers struggled to assistance survivors opposed polite turmoil, a cracked infrastructure and unchanging aftershocks.

Ten thousand infantry fanned out opposite Concepción and Maule, the regions plunged in to disharmony by the earthquakes on Saturday, commanding a night curfew and utilizing teargas to sunder looters.

Chiles second-largest city of Concepción, with a race of 600,000, resembled a conflict section as looting and spoliation widespread and armoured crew carriers patrolled the streets.

The assist bid suffered a blow last night when a small aircraft carrying a rescue group to Concepción crashed, murdering all 6 people on board.

Related LinksThe sea was thirty metres high. Everybody ranTwo Britons sojourn blank after quakeChile upheaval genocide fee rises to some-more than 700

The administrator of the region, Jaime Tohá, pronounced that 55 people were arrested on Sunday night for violating the curfew after looters raided roughly each marketplace in the city. Some residents rifled by deserted supermarkets for simple reserve whilst others took value of the predicament to rob banks and dull stores of oppulance goods.

The Deputy Interior Minister, Patricio Rosende, pronounced that an additional 105 people were arrested yesterday for looting and alternative crimes, and that one chairman had been shot passed during the night. Shots were fired. Police took carry out of the area, he said, but giving details. Last night the roof tiles of a supermarket in Concepción collapsed when looters set glow to it after military attempted to sunder them.

As the genocide fee rose to 723, President Bachelet warned that most people were still missing. She pronounced that the disaster was but together in Chiles history.

The Government faced accusations yesterday that the reply to the 8.8-magnitude trembler was inadequate. I feel deserted by the authorities, Eduardo Aundez, a Spanish professor, said. We hold the Government didnt take the required measures in time, and right away reserve of food and H2O are going to be most some-more complicated.

A array of clever aftershocks a little up to bulk 6.9 have driven thousands to rush their homes, environment up tents and temporary shelters.

Some complained of robberies as criminals raided wrecked homes and assaulted people sleeping on the streets. Others pronounced that looting was their usually approach of removing hold of food and healing supplies.

I have 4 babies, pronounced a lady who had bags of disposable nappies pressed underneath her vest.

Jacqueline Van Rysselberghe, the mayor of Concepción, warned opposite critical amicable tragedy in the city. We need food for the people. We are but supplies, and if we dont finalise that we are going to have critical security problems during the night, she said. We are at the finish of the month. There are no bonds in the households. But zero justifies looting, desolation and theft. We have seen people entrance out of supermarkets with plasma screens. If we dont finalise this complaint of food today, we could have a really confrontational situation.

Elsewhere, miss of communications has difficult rescue efforts. Some coastal towns to the north of Concepción were exceedingly damaged, initial by the trembler and afterwards by a tsunami. The Defence Minister, Francisco Vidal, concurred that the army done a inapplicable designation by not activating a tsunami notice once the trembler struck. Its the truth, nonetheless it hurts, he said, adding that pier captains in multiform coastal towns had saved most lives by arising their own alerts.

The World Health Organisation pronounced that it approaching the series of people well known to have died to climb as communications improved.

Northern Ireland"s Ian Paisley to step down as MP Politics

Ian Paisley, 83, has represented North Antrim in the House of Commons for 40 years. Photograph: Bruno Vincent

Former Northern Ireland initial apportion Ian Paisley has voiced he is stepping down from parliament, after representing North Antrim in the House of Commons for 40 years.

Paisley pronounced he would not mount in the stirring ubiquitous election.

The 83-year-old has hold the chair given 1970 and it is right away thought that his son Ian Paisley Jr will mount for the Democratic Unionist party.

Paisley Jr will face a clever plea from Jim Allister, the personality of the anti-power-sharing celebration Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV).

At the last ubiquitous choosing in 2005 Paisley won 25,156 votes giving him a infancy of scarcely 18,000.

But in the European elections last year the TUV polled around 70,000 votes opposite Northern Ireland and put in a clever opening in North Antrim.

Paisley Jr refused this sunrise to endorse that he would be comparison as the DUP"s candidate. However, he discharged Allister as carrying "no pick but to mutilate the public and lapse us to approach rule, that is Dublin rule".

Allister pronounced he would penchant a competition with Paisley Jr in the North Antrim constituency.

Michael Billington reviews the humanities underneath the Tories Culture

Playing governing body ...? Small spaces such as the Arcola theatre, London, could be in risk from humanities process formed on large-scale fundraising. Photograph: Tristram Kenton

I"ve never met the shade enlightenment secretary, Jeremy Hunt. I"m certain he"s a decent, courteous chap. But his proposals for the arts, underneath a commonly accepted Tory government, leave me cold. They might see trustworthy on paper but they don"t mount up to close examination.

First, there is the small make a difference of history. In 1979, we had a identical situation. The incoming Tory humanities minister, Norman St John Stevas, was an transparent hold up of enlightenment who steadily betrothed that there would be "no candle-end economies in the arts." What followed in the Thatcher years was just that. Public appropriation of the humanities was theme to on-going cuts. Only in pre-election durations was new income unexpected found as a incorporate to the humanities community. Do we wish to go throuugh all that again? And is there any justification that Jeremy Hunt would lift any some-more poke inside a Cameron supervision than the fast marginalised St John Stevas did underneath Mrs Thatcher?

Secondly, there is the Hunt philosophy. What he seems to be arguing is that, whilst preserving the element of state funding, we should change progressively towards the American indication in that endowments and particular hospitality yield additional income. Charlotte Higgins nails the debility of the justification for endowments: excellent for big institutions, with their teams of fundraisers, but no make use of at all for small, struggling or initial organisations. Beware additionally of particular philanthropists. All the American justification suggests that there are far some-more strings trustworthy to in isolation than to open money. The Metropolitan Opera in New York, a scapegoat for inventive conservatism, used to rely heavily on a big donor who gave her income to productions that depended on lavish, chocolate-box glamour. Do we severely wish to go down that path?

Hunt even hedges his bets on open appropriation by observant that a impending Tory supervision doesn"t know "the state of the books." Obviously the destiny is uncertain: no one knows whether, or when, expansion will materialise. But there is a transparent preference in between a Keynsian joining to open spending and the mercantile tightening of the deficit-fetishists. I"m no economist, but I"d have thought that to cut humanities spending, that accounts for 0.07% of the supervision budget, would have no stroke whatsoever on the inhabitant debt. It could, however, blow lots of humanities organisations out of the water.

Hunt is not all bad: I sympathise with his enterprise to trim the bureaucracy of the Arts Council – though I goal there is no petty, politically encouraged urge to embankment the chair, Liz Forgan. But, in general, I fright Hunt is charity us a dodgy prospectus. I"m sure, personally, he loves the arts. But what I wish to listen to is a ardent counterclaim of state funding, an declaration that a new enlightenment apportion will have a chair at the tip table, and as big a joining to informal expansion and creation as to shoring up the determined institutions. I don"t get any of that from Hunt.