Washington: The cascade of bank failures this year surpassed 100 on Friday, the most in nearly two decades. And the trouble in the banking system from bad loans and the recession goes even deeper than the number suggests.
Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of other banks remain open even though they are as weak as many that have been shuttered. Regulators are seizing banks slowly and selectively — partly to avoid inciting panic and partly because buyers for bad banks are hard to find.
Going slow buys time. An economic recovery could save some banks that would otherwise go under. But if the recovery is slow and smaller banks' finances get even worse, it could wind up costing even more.
The bank failures, 106 in all, are the most in any year since 181 collapsed in 1992, at the end of the savings-and-loan crisis. On Friday, regulators took over three small Florida banks — Partners Bank and Hillcrest Bank Florida, both of Naples, and Flagship National Bank in Bradenton — along with American United Bank of Lawrenceville, Ga, Bank of Elmwood in Racine, Wis, Riverview Community Bank in Otsego, Minn, and First Dupage Bank in Westmont, Ill.
When a bank fails, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp swoops in, usually on a Friday afternoon. It tries to sell off the bank's assets to buyers and cover its liabilities, primarily customer deposits. It taps the insurance fund to cover the rest.
Bank failures have cost the FDIC's fund that insures deposits an estimated USD 25 billion this year and are expected to cost USD 100 billion through 2013. To replenish the fund, the agency wants banks to pay in advance USD 45 billion in premiums that would have been due over the next three years.
The FDIC won't say how deep a hole its deposit insurance fund is in. It can tap a credit line from the Treasury of up to a half-trillion dollars to cover the gap.
The list of banks in trouble is getting longer. At the end of June, the FDIC had flagged 416 as being at risk of failure, up from 305 at the end of March and 252 at the beginning of the year.
Yet the pace of actual bank failures appears to be slowing. The FDIC seized 24 banks in July, 11 in September and 11 in October.
If any bank poses an immediate danger to customers or the broader financial system, regulators close it immediately, bank supervisors said. The issue is murkier for troubled banks that might qualify to close but whose closings might still be postponed or even prevented.
Friday, October 23, 2009
Swedish church agrees to conduct gay weddings
Stockholm: Sweden's Lutheran Church has decided to allow gay marriages in its places of worship, five months after they became legal.
Nearly 70 percent of the 250 members of the Church of Sweden's synod voted to allow same-sex couples to marry in its congregations from November 1 and adopted a marriage rite for gay weddings, the church said in a statement.
The Church of Sweden, which was the state church until 2000, had backed the parliament's adoption of the gay marriage law, which took effect on May 1. But it deferred its synod's decision on church weddings until now.
Sweden, already a pioneer in giving same-sex couples the right to adopt children, becomes one of the first countries in the world to allow gays to marry in a major Church.
Around three in four Swedes are members of the Lutheran Church.
The country's largest gay rights group, RFSL, welcomed the protestant church's decision
"RFSL congratulates the Church of Sweden for its decision, your homosexual and bisexual members will finally be able to feel a little more welcome within society," it said in a statement.
But the group was disappointed that ministers can refuse to celebrate a gay marriage. In such cases, the Church should find another priest for the ceremony.
The country's smaller Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches said they were disappointed by the Lutherans' decision.
"It is with sadness that we learn about the decision by the synod of the Church of Sweden," Fredrik Emanuelson, a leader of the Roman Catholic Church, and Orthodox church senior official Misha Jaksic said in a joint statement.
"In our churches and communities, we will not unite homosexual couples since it is in complete contradiction with the tradition of the church and our vision of creation," they said.
Nearly 70 percent of the 250 members of the Church of Sweden's synod voted to allow same-sex couples to marry in its congregations from November 1 and adopted a marriage rite for gay weddings, the church said in a statement.
The Church of Sweden, which was the state church until 2000, had backed the parliament's adoption of the gay marriage law, which took effect on May 1. But it deferred its synod's decision on church weddings until now.
Sweden, already a pioneer in giving same-sex couples the right to adopt children, becomes one of the first countries in the world to allow gays to marry in a major Church.
Around three in four Swedes are members of the Lutheran Church.
The country's largest gay rights group, RFSL, welcomed the protestant church's decision
"RFSL congratulates the Church of Sweden for its decision, your homosexual and bisexual members will finally be able to feel a little more welcome within society," it said in a statement.
But the group was disappointed that ministers can refuse to celebrate a gay marriage. In such cases, the Church should find another priest for the ceremony.
The country's smaller Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches said they were disappointed by the Lutherans' decision.
"It is with sadness that we learn about the decision by the synod of the Church of Sweden," Fredrik Emanuelson, a leader of the Roman Catholic Church, and Orthodox church senior official Misha Jaksic said in a joint statement.
"In our churches and communities, we will not unite homosexual couples since it is in complete contradiction with the tradition of the church and our vision of creation," they said.
Swine flu spreads in Europe as global toll nears 5,000
Geneva: Swine flu is spreading faster and claiming new fatalities in Europe, health officials said today, as the global death toll from the virus rose to nearly 5,000 victims.
Since the A(H1N1) virus was uncovered in April, there have been over 4,735 deaths reported to the World Health Organisation as of a week ago, the WHO said.
Most of the fatal cases -- 3,539 -- have been recorded in North and South America, the UN health agency said in its latest update on the flu pandemic.
But with the winter flu season approaching in the northern hemisphere, swine flu deaths were reported in several European countries this week, with Dutch health officials saying the situation has reached an epidemic level.
"The spread of the A(H1N1) virus in the Netherlands accelerated this week. It is now a small epidemic," said the Dutch institute for health and the environment in a statement.
"Around 10 people infected with the virus were admitted daily to hospitals this week," it said. A 14-year-old girl became the first otherwise healthy person to die from the virus, bringing to six the number of swine flu deaths so far in the Netherlands.
In Britain, the worst hit country in Europe, new swine flu cases nearly doubled in a week, from 27,000 to 53,000, and the number of deaths now total 128, according to updated figures released this week.
New deaths from the virus were also reported in Germany, its third fatality, and for the first time in the Czech Republic. The Czech health ministry confirmed today that a 31-year old woman who had the A(H1N1) virus, and also suffered from heart problems, was the country's first fatality linked to swine flu.
Since the A(H1N1) virus was uncovered in April, there have been over 4,735 deaths reported to the World Health Organisation as of a week ago, the WHO said.
Most of the fatal cases -- 3,539 -- have been recorded in North and South America, the UN health agency said in its latest update on the flu pandemic.
But with the winter flu season approaching in the northern hemisphere, swine flu deaths were reported in several European countries this week, with Dutch health officials saying the situation has reached an epidemic level.
"The spread of the A(H1N1) virus in the Netherlands accelerated this week. It is now a small epidemic," said the Dutch institute for health and the environment in a statement.
"Around 10 people infected with the virus were admitted daily to hospitals this week," it said. A 14-year-old girl became the first otherwise healthy person to die from the virus, bringing to six the number of swine flu deaths so far in the Netherlands.
In Britain, the worst hit country in Europe, new swine flu cases nearly doubled in a week, from 27,000 to 53,000, and the number of deaths now total 128, according to updated figures released this week.
New deaths from the virus were also reported in Germany, its third fatality, and for the first time in the Czech Republic. The Czech health ministry confirmed today that a 31-year old woman who had the A(H1N1) virus, and also suffered from heart problems, was the country's first fatality linked to swine flu.
US backs Iran nuclear deal
Washington: The United States gave its backing today to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) proposals that aim to break the deadlock over Iran's nuclear efforts, the White House said.
"The United States delivered its positive response to IAEA Director General's (Mohamed) ElBaradei's proposal," said National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer in a statement.
"We look forward to Iran's reply," Hammer added.
Earlier this week, ElBaradei set a Friday deadline for France, Iran, Russia and the United States to give their formal approval to an arrangement under which Russia would further enrich Iranian low-enriched uranium on Russian soil.
Moscow was the first to give the official nod, and earlier Friday French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero agreed that the draft agreement "suits" Paris.
"We have made this known in an official manner," Valero said, adding that ElBaradei was awaiting "a clear response from Iran."
"The United States delivered its positive response to IAEA Director General's (Mohamed) ElBaradei's proposal," said National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer in a statement.
"We look forward to Iran's reply," Hammer added.
Earlier this week, ElBaradei set a Friday deadline for France, Iran, Russia and the United States to give their formal approval to an arrangement under which Russia would further enrich Iranian low-enriched uranium on Russian soil.
Moscow was the first to give the official nod, and earlier Friday French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero agreed that the draft agreement "suits" Paris.
"We have made this known in an official manner," Valero said, adding that ElBaradei was awaiting "a clear response from Iran."
'Distracted' US pilots fly plane 150 miles off course
Washington: The US National Transportation Safety Board has said it is investigating a flight that overshot its destination by 150 miles when pilots reportedly got into a "heated discussion" on airline policy.
The NTSB said the Airbus A320 became a "no radio communications" flight on Wednesday evening as it travelled at 11,300 meters from San Diego, California, prompting fears it had been hijacked.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that four military fighter jets were readied to chase down the plane before contact was re-established.
The flight was carrying 147 passengers and an unknown number of crew and was supposed to land at Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain Airport.
But instead, the plane flew over the airport and continued to fly northeast for another 240 kilometres before air traffic control at Minneapolis airport managed to regain contact.
"According to the Federal Administration (FAA), the crew was interviewed by the FBI and airport police," the NTSB said in a statement.
"The crew stated they were in a heated discussion over airline policy and they lost situational awareness," the statement added.
The NTSB said they plan to interview the crew and that the plane's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder are being sent to their laboratory for analysis.
Bureau Report
The NTSB said the Airbus A320 became a "no radio communications" flight on Wednesday evening as it travelled at 11,300 meters from San Diego, California, prompting fears it had been hijacked.
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that four military fighter jets were readied to chase down the plane before contact was re-established.
The flight was carrying 147 passengers and an unknown number of crew and was supposed to land at Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain Airport.
But instead, the plane flew over the airport and continued to fly northeast for another 240 kilometres before air traffic control at Minneapolis airport managed to regain contact.
"According to the Federal Administration (FAA), the crew was interviewed by the FBI and airport police," the NTSB said in a statement.
"The crew stated they were in a heated discussion over airline policy and they lost situational awareness," the statement added.
The NTSB said they plan to interview the crew and that the plane's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder are being sent to their laboratory for analysis.
Bureau Report
Thai trial for AIDS vaccine: No real breakthrough?
Thai trial for AIDS vaccine: No real breakthrough?
The full results from an AIDS vaccine trial in Thailand, released Tuesday, showed that the vaccine's protective effect might be even weaker than researchers first admitted.
However, the complicated six-shot, two-vaccine regimen may have briefly worked better in the first year after it was given, and also may have worked better in Thais at average risk from heterosexual sex, rather than those who used drugs or men who had sex with men. Those offshoot results could open avenues for future research, scientists said.
Meanwhile, the continuing debate over whether the vaccine's slight protective effect found in the study was real or just a fluke got only more complicated.
Last month, researchers from the U.S. military and the Thai government said their three-year study of about 16,400 Thai men and women suggested that the new vaccine, known as RV144, could protect 31 percent of those getting it.
Although no one would consider licensing such a weak vaccine, the announcement made headlines around the world because no other AIDS vaccine trial in 20 years had protected anyone.
But a controversy soon emerged. Of the roughly 8,200 people who got the vaccine, only 51 became infected, while among the roughly 8,200 who received a placebo, 74 became infected. The authors of the study conceded that the difference was just barely statistically significant.
Rival researchers with whom they shared the full trial data in private soon began grumbling that it could be analyzed in other ways that made the results meaningless.
The full release of data - which took place simultaneously at a medical conference in Paris and online in the New England Journal of Medicine - showed three different analyses.
The previously released one, known as the "modified intent-to-treat" analysis and showing the vaccine to be 31 percent effective, included everyone in the trial except seven people, who researchers later realized were infected before it began. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, representing the National Institutes of Health, which oversaw the trial, described that analysis as the "gold standard."
A second, the "per protocol" analysis, included only the 12,450 subjects who got the entire vaccine series or the placebo and stayed in the trial to the end. It showed the vaccine to be only 26 percent effective, and there was also a 16 percent chance the results were due to chance. (Five percent is the usual limit in clinical trials.)
A third, the full "intent to treat," included the seven previously infected subjects and also showed the vaccine to be 26 percent effective. It had an 8 percent chance that the results were meaningless.
In an accompanying editorial, Raphael Dolin of Harvard Medical School described the vaccine as "modest" at best and "unlikely to be a public health control measure," though the results suggested further direction for research.
Different statisticians interpreted the results differently.
Philip B. Stark, a professor of statistics at the University of California, Berkeley, said he considered the full intent to treat "the most kosher analysis."
"Once you start modifying, you start introducing new opportunities for confounding the results," he added.
But Donald A. Berry, chairman of biostatistics at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, said he accepted the modified intent to treat analysis the researchers preferred, because it was the endpoint they said early on they would use.
However, in the end, he said, all three results "are really the same, so it doesn't make much of a difference."
But his overall impression, said Berry - who had no connection to the study or any of its rivals - is that the vaccine does not work. So many trials of AIDS vaccine have been conducted he said, that it is likely that even one that consisted of injections of water would, just by chance, show a weak effectiveness like this.
The full results from an AIDS vaccine trial in Thailand, released Tuesday, showed that the vaccine's protective effect might be even weaker than researchers first admitted.
However, the complicated six-shot, two-vaccine regimen may have briefly worked better in the first year after it was given, and also may have worked better in Thais at average risk from heterosexual sex, rather than those who used drugs or men who had sex with men. Those offshoot results could open avenues for future research, scientists said.
Meanwhile, the continuing debate over whether the vaccine's slight protective effect found in the study was real or just a fluke got only more complicated.
Last month, researchers from the U.S. military and the Thai government said their three-year study of about 16,400 Thai men and women suggested that the new vaccine, known as RV144, could protect 31 percent of those getting it.
Although no one would consider licensing such a weak vaccine, the announcement made headlines around the world because no other AIDS vaccine trial in 20 years had protected anyone.
But a controversy soon emerged. Of the roughly 8,200 people who got the vaccine, only 51 became infected, while among the roughly 8,200 who received a placebo, 74 became infected. The authors of the study conceded that the difference was just barely statistically significant.
Rival researchers with whom they shared the full trial data in private soon began grumbling that it could be analyzed in other ways that made the results meaningless.
The full release of data - which took place simultaneously at a medical conference in Paris and online in the New England Journal of Medicine - showed three different analyses.
The previously released one, known as the "modified intent-to-treat" analysis and showing the vaccine to be 31 percent effective, included everyone in the trial except seven people, who researchers later realized were infected before it began. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, representing the National Institutes of Health, which oversaw the trial, described that analysis as the "gold standard."
A second, the "per protocol" analysis, included only the 12,450 subjects who got the entire vaccine series or the placebo and stayed in the trial to the end. It showed the vaccine to be only 26 percent effective, and there was also a 16 percent chance the results were due to chance. (Five percent is the usual limit in clinical trials.)
A third, the full "intent to treat," included the seven previously infected subjects and also showed the vaccine to be 26 percent effective. It had an 8 percent chance that the results were meaningless.
In an accompanying editorial, Raphael Dolin of Harvard Medical School described the vaccine as "modest" at best and "unlikely to be a public health control measure," though the results suggested further direction for research.
Different statisticians interpreted the results differently.
Philip B. Stark, a professor of statistics at the University of California, Berkeley, said he considered the full intent to treat "the most kosher analysis."
"Once you start modifying, you start introducing new opportunities for confounding the results," he added.
But Donald A. Berry, chairman of biostatistics at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas, said he accepted the modified intent to treat analysis the researchers preferred, because it was the endpoint they said early on they would use.
However, in the end, he said, all three results "are really the same, so it doesn't make much of a difference."
But his overall impression, said Berry - who had no connection to the study or any of its rivals - is that the vaccine does not work. So many trials of AIDS vaccine have been conducted he said, that it is likely that even one that consisted of injections of water would, just by chance, show a weak effectiveness like this.
Recent terror strikes no threat to Pak nuke arsenal: Clinton
The recent terrorist attacks in Pakistan including its army headquarters do not pose a threat to the country's nuclear arsenal, even though the United States remains watchful about it, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today.
"We don't think that those attacks pose a threat to the nuclear command and control or access," Clinton replied at the US Institute of Peace on a question about threat to Pakistan's nuclear arsenal in view of the recent attacks on the its army headquarters in Rawalpindi.
"But we have certainly... made our views known and asked a lot of questions and are supporting the Pakistani government in their courageous efforts against these extremists," Clinton said.
Noting that the Obama administration is concerned about the safety of Pakistan's nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation through the A Q Khan network, Clinton said these are part of every engagement that the US has with Pakistan.
"We have been reassured about the security of the nuclear-weapons stockpiles and facilities," she said.
"But it is obviously a matter that we are watching very closely for reasons ...first, the continuing threat of proliferation... of course, the militant attack that we saw last week and the continuing organised attacks on government targets, including the military itself and the intelligence services, by Taliban, Al-Qaeda and related extremists," Clinton said.
Clinton said US plans to be aggressive with the Pakistan media.
"I think we have as a government not done a very good job in responding to what you rightly call propaganda, misinformation, even in some instances disinformation about our motivations and our actions in Pakistan," Clinton said.
Clinton said that Judith McHale, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy, is undertaking a very thorough analysis of what better can be done.
"We're going to be much more aggressive in interacting with the Pakistani media," Clinton said.
Noting that it is unfortunate that there is a lot of mistrust that has built up with respect to the US, Clinton said, "I think we saw that in some of the reaction on the Kerry-Lugar legislation, which we would been working on and consulting with the government of Pakistan for months.
"The passage of Kerry-Lugar bill was as a great milestone in US-Pak relationship, and Obama administration was very concerned when the reaction to it was so volatile and negative.
"We don't think that those attacks pose a threat to the nuclear command and control or access," Clinton replied at the US Institute of Peace on a question about threat to Pakistan's nuclear arsenal in view of the recent attacks on the its army headquarters in Rawalpindi.
"But we have certainly... made our views known and asked a lot of questions and are supporting the Pakistani government in their courageous efforts against these extremists," Clinton said.
Noting that the Obama administration is concerned about the safety of Pakistan's nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation through the A Q Khan network, Clinton said these are part of every engagement that the US has with Pakistan.
"We have been reassured about the security of the nuclear-weapons stockpiles and facilities," she said.
"But it is obviously a matter that we are watching very closely for reasons ...first, the continuing threat of proliferation... of course, the militant attack that we saw last week and the continuing organised attacks on government targets, including the military itself and the intelligence services, by Taliban, Al-Qaeda and related extremists," Clinton said.
Clinton said US plans to be aggressive with the Pakistan media.
"I think we have as a government not done a very good job in responding to what you rightly call propaganda, misinformation, even in some instances disinformation about our motivations and our actions in Pakistan," Clinton said.
Clinton said that Judith McHale, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy, is undertaking a very thorough analysis of what better can be done.
"We're going to be much more aggressive in interacting with the Pakistani media," Clinton said.
Noting that it is unfortunate that there is a lot of mistrust that has built up with respect to the US, Clinton said, "I think we saw that in some of the reaction on the Kerry-Lugar legislation, which we would been working on and consulting with the government of Pakistan for months.
"The passage of Kerry-Lugar bill was as a great milestone in US-Pak relationship, and Obama administration was very concerned when the reaction to it was so volatile and negative.
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