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Gisèle Pelicot’s Sons Tell of a ‘Devastated’ Family at Rape Trial in France
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The men appeared in court, addressing their father, who admits to having
drugged their mother over years and inviting scores of men to rape her
while she w...
38 minutes ago
SYSTEMATIC CRISIS, or CONTAGION EFFECTS Relates to infection and afflictions AFTERSHOCKS. ...Germany and France, the last hope of a European bailout, have seen their economies grind to a halt as the crisis widened. Investors have bailed out of European bank stocks, fearing they could lose large chunks of capital if governments default on the bonds they hold. Some bank stocks are now trading for less than half the reported value of the assets on their books, a sign that investors believe those assets will inevitably have to be written down.
ReplyDeleteEuropean leaders have been working for more than a year to assemble a financial backstop, similar to the reponse by the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve to the collapse of credit markets in 2008. The European Central Bank has stepped in on a limited basis to buy Greek and Italian bonds to prop up those markets. But those efforts have not been big enough to calm jittery bond investors.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, one of the architects of the plan to stop the 2008 financial crisis, was in Poland Thursday pushing a similar plan to European officials to help stop the current problems.
The European Union has established a bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, or ESFS, which stands ready to intervene if a default appears imminent. But most observers doubt that the $750 billion euro fund is adequate.
Geithner was expected to suggest to EU leaders that they leverage the fund to make it more effective in fighting the contagion.