France - Nicholas Sarkozy to quit politics if not re-elected

Published on Mar 8, 2012 by Euronews

http://www.euronews.com/ Nicholas Sarkozy said he will give up politics if he's not re-elected as he struggles to regain lost ground in France's Presidential campaign.

Sarkozy, who's been in government since the 1980s when he was a district mayor in Paris, is lagging behind Socialist challenger François Hollande in opinion polls.

"I'm telling the French people that I'm going to fight hard to gain your trust, to protect you, to lead you, to build a Strong France. But if you decide otherwise, I'll bow out after having a really nice life in politics," Sarkozy told Paris-based RMC radio.

April's Presidential election is expected to go to a second round run-off in early May.

Main rival François Hollande was once described as the invisible man of French politics and Sarkozy's hit out at his lack of ministerial experience.

Nigeria - Cameron: hostages 'murdered by their captors' A al-Qaeda group

Uploaded by telegraphtv on Mar 8, 2012

The Prime Minister, David Cameron has confirmed one British and one Italian
hostage have been killed following an unsuccessful attempt to rescue them
from an al-Qaeda group who kidnapped the men in Nigeria.

Día Internacional de la Mujer - 'Las mujeres somos más luchadoras, no es fácil conciliar vida laboral y...

Uploaded by cyltelevision on Mar 8, 2012

http://www.rtvcyl.es/Noticias.aspx
María Tovar abrió en Valladolid un centro de belleza hace 10 meses y a pesar de la crisis ha sacado su negocio hacia delante. Asegura que para emprender "hay que tener el miedo justo"

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Uploaded by cyltelevision on Mar 8, 2012

http://www.rtvcyl.es/Noticias.aspx | Este jueves es el Día Internacional de la Mujer. Un exposición en Salamanca recoge el trabajo de una fotoperiodista salmantina que aborda la realidad de las mujeres en diferentes países del mundo.

La muestra fotográfica se titula 'Miss Universos'.

euronews U talk: Rating agencies in the spotlight "let rating agencies dictate how European stock markets are run?"

Published on Mar 8, 2012 by Euronews

http://www.euronews.com/ Arnaud from Brussels asks: "My question for European officials is: how far are we going to let rating agencies dictate how European stock markets are run, and are we ever going to react against this speculative lobbying?"

Arnaud from Brussels asks: "My question for European officials is: how far are we going to let rating agencies dictate how European stock markets are run, and are we ever going to react against this speculative lobbying?"

Thierry Philipponnat, Secretary General of public interest association Finance Watch, responds: "That's a good question. We can't let this diktak continue. There's a very simple solution. It's to permit investors to follow the rating agencies' opinions without being obliged to. We're in an absurd system today in which, once an agency's opinion is given, the investor is obliged to follow that opinion. Why? Because the ratings are in the financial regulations. So we have to get rid of all reference to the ratings in the rules so investors can follow the ratings if they want to. They are free to - fine - but are not obliged to. That's really the key."

Sébastien, from Brussels, asks: "My question is as follows: which of Europe's directives concern how the rating agencies are financed?"

Philipponnat responds: "The alternative to the borrower paying the agency would be that the investor pays the agency. The potential conflict of interest would not be the same but it could be just as real. The essential question is to ensure that the whole system does not depend on a single opinion. The key to not having a system that degenerates is that when an agency issues an opinion it remains simply an opinion and not the truth with a capital 'T'. That's why one of the European Commission's proposals consists of establishing a European index of ratings, which would be given a framework and organised by the European financial market authorities. It's an excellent proposal, because index means averaging what's given by several agencies, and we'd depend less and less on the opinion of a single agency."

Michael from Brussels asks: "I'd like to know when we're going to set up a European rating agency for sovereign debt."

Philipponnat responds: "Yes, let's increase competition, yes, let's create European agencies - but that's not enough. Other measures must also be taken: a European ratings index, removing ratings from all financial regulation so that we find ourselves in a healthy situation in which, as I said earlier about what seems important to me, we would have analyses coming out, and not verdicts."

Space - How the solar flare will affect the UK / Solar storm to affect earth´s communications networks

Uploaded by telegraphtv on Mar 8, 2012

Dr Ben Taylor from Surrey Space Centre explains what a solar flare is and what effects it might have on the UK.

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Published on Mar 8, 2012 by Euronews

http://www.euronews.com/ Scientists are warning about a temporary disruption to essential power and communications networks from a strong geomagnetic storm that is racing toward earth from the Sun.

Power grids, flight routes and space-based GPS systems could be affected by the fallout from a pair of solar flares - that have sent charged particles travelling at 7.2 million kilometres per hour - in our direction.

"Satellites may experience a sort of electrical failure. You could have radio blackout and I believe some areas on the sun lit side have already experienced that. We might begin to see more of that," said Lika Guhathakurta, NASA sun scientist.

Scientists say this kind of space storm is unusual and is likely to last until Friday morning.

While satellite and radio communications could be disrupted, the risk of interuption to power supplies is thought to be small.

Russia - Mikhail Gorbachev urges Putin to usher in reforms / Россия - Михаил Горбачев призывает Путина вступить в реформах

Published on Mar 8, 2012 by Euronews

http://www.euronews.com/ Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev says Russian president-elect Vladimir Putin will have to make democratic reforms in the face of opposition complaints of election fraud.

Gorbachev told euronews that restoring confidence in the Russian political system would be a key challenge for Putin:

"Even if he wanted to go back to old ways, he couldn't do so in this current situation. Moreover, I think we soon will have to change things - namely, elect a new parliament, because we knew how this election happened and in what conditions."

The 81-year-old also expressed his support for third-placed candidate Mikhail Prokhorov:

"I liked Prokhorov - maybe because we're fed up with all the others. He has fresh ideas, new ways of presenting his vision and he has a lot of experience in business. But he has a lot to learn though like the rest of us."

The full, exclusive interview will be broadcast on euronews from ten thirty PM Central European time tonight.

Goldbug100 - Portfolio

LONDON (ShareCast) - Iberdrola (TLO: IBE-U.TI - news) : BPI recommends OVERWEIGHT and lowers price target to €5.55 from €6.05. 

 NH Hoteles (Madrid: NHH.MC - news) : AlphaValue upgrades to BUY from add with a price target of €2.70.

Greece - officials hopeful of bond swap acceptance

Published on Mar 8, 2012 by Euronews

http://www.euronews.com/ In Greece, Thursday was deadline day for a bond swap offer to private creditors. If more than two-thirds accept it it will lead to the release of a 130 billion euros in bailout funds to save the Greek economy.

Hours ahead of the 21:00 CET deadline, holders of nearly 57 percent of the total 206 billion euros in outstanding debt were already committed. They included major banks and pension funds.

"This recapitalisation will be significant and will be necessary as to allow the Greek banking system to extend credit again to the real economy," said Plato Monokroussos, Head of Financial Markets Research at Eurobank, Athens.

It is in the real economy that the money is desperately needed.

New unemployment figures released on Thursday showed Greece's jobless total reached a record 21 percent of the workforce in December. Severe budget cuts have caused a wave of business closures and bankruptcies.

Greece's problems are so severe, it has no credibility to raise money directly from the international financial markets. Analysts say the bond swap is the only way Athens can stave off a default.