FOREX WORLD TREND

The U.S. government is becoming a majority stakeholder in General Motors, an iconic fallen titan of American automobile manufacturing. GM filed for bankruptcy Monday as part of a plan crafted by the Obama administration to make the company smaller, more competitive, and ultimately profitable. The plan includes a massive federal investment in the automaker.
Two years after losing its status as the world's biggest carmaker, General Motors surrendered a 60 percent ownership stake to the U.S. government in return for $30 billion of federal funds to continue operations and finance an ambitious restructuring effort. GM also filed for bankruptcy to shield it from creditors while the company retools itself. After years of declining car sales, shrinking market share, and ballooning costs and financial obligations, GM's debt is twice as large as the total value of its assets.

The government's cash infusion comes on top of $20 billion of federal loans whose repayment is far from assured. Canada's government is also taking an ownership stake in GM, as is the United Auto Workers union. Existing GM stock owners will lose their investment.
At the White House, President Obama said he did not want to see American car manufacturing disappear, but stressed the need for major reform of the industry. He explained the rationale for acquiring GM shares.

"Instead of taking so much stock in GM, we could have simply offered the company more loans. But for years, GM has been buried under an unsustainable mountain of debt," he said.

Mr. Obama said the U.S. government is acting as a "reluctant" shareholder.
"What we are not doing, what I have no interest in doing, is running GM. GM will be run by a private board of directors and management team with a track record in American manufacturing that reflects a commitment to innovation and quality," he added.

The president expressed confidence in GM's ability to restructure and thrive. That confidence was echoed by the head of the company, Fritz Henderson.

"This new GM will be built from the strongest parts of our business, including our best brands and our very finest products. We will have far less debt, fully-competitive labor costs, and the ability to generate sustained and positive bottom-line performance [profits]," Henderson said.

Not everyone is cheering. Among Republicans, House Minority Leader John Boehner said the administration's plan "makes clear is that the government is firmly in the business of running companies using taxpayer dollars."

Others said the plan is the best way to confront a disastrous situation and prevent catastrophic economic losses. Jennifer Granholm is governor of Michigan, where America's automobile industry is headquartered, and a state with the highest unemployment rate in the country.

"This is a really, really tough day. But our fortunes, meaning Michigan's fortunes and Gm's fortunes are inextricably bound together. And so at least now we can see the end of the slide [deterioration of auto industry]," she said.

Granholm spoke on CBS' "Early Show".

Along with filing for bankruptcy, GM announced the closing or idling of a dozen plants. The company's workforce stands at roughly 60,000 employees, down from more than 600,000 in the 1970s.

GM's drastic actions came as a painful blow to many workers. But some said the moves were inevitable.

"We knew it [bankruptcy] was coming. Just a matter of time," said one worker.
Another GM worker said Monday's turn of events would have been unimaginable just a few years ago.

"We kind of work for the government now. It is weird," he said.

Meanwhile, a federal judge has approved the sale of assets of America's number-three carmaker, Chrysler, to Fiat of Italy. Chrysler filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.

Nearly all carmakers, both domestic and foreign, have reported sharply lower vehicle sales coinciding with the global economic slowdown.

The U.S. economy shrank at a 5.7 percent annual pace in the first three months of this year.

Friday's report from the Commerce Department said the decline was a bit less (0.4 percent) than estimated earlier, and better than the prior quarter.

Many government economic experts and private economists say the worst of the recession may have passed, and they predict slow economic growth will resume later this year.

Other economic reports Friday showed U.S. business activity declining faster in a key region, while consumers grew less pessimistic.

Consumer sentiment hit its highest level since September, but remained at a relatively low level. Economists track consumer confidence for clues about the consumer demand that drives most U.S. economic activity.

A separate report from an industry group said the pace of business activity in the U.S. Midwest fell even faster in May than in the previous month.

The European Union is urging Burma to immediately release democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners. European and Asian foreign ministers are meeting in Hanoi this week to discuss cooperation on a range of issues. EU leaders are also asking Asian countries to push Burma towards democratic reform.

The Asia-Europe meeting brings together representatives of more than 40 nations to discuss cooperation between the regions.

Economic cooperation was expected to be at the top of the agenda, but the imminent sentencing of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has made her trial a timely concern.


Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU commissioner for external relations, speaks during the opening ceremony of ASEM FMs' Meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, 25 May 2009
EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told journalists in Bangkok she would personally push Burma, also known as Myanmar, on the issue.

"I will most probably, in the form of a troika, see the Foreign Minister of Myanmar now in Hanoi," she said. "It is in principle for seeing, so you can imagine that we will pass on very clearly our message and that is of course a release of all prisoners and foremost also Aung San Suu Kyi, and not using any pretexts to have her in prison any longer."

Despite growing pressure to release her, Burma's military government appears determined to keep Aung San Suu Kyi locked up.

Thailand, which holds the rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, last week issued a statement expressing "grave concern" about her treatment.

The statement said the trial put Burma's "honor and credibility" on the line and was the strongest ASEAN comment to date against Burma.

Ferrero-Waldner says the European Union wants to see more pressure on Burma.

"I think it is the most important, therefore I appeal to all the neighboring countries that the neighboring countries particularly, commit themselves to engage with this government in such a way that there be changes, because China, India and of course ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] countries, they are the real neighbors here," said Benita Ferrero-Waldner. "They work with the country, and therefore they have the best influence."

Burma's military government has rejected all criticism of the trial.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been kept under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years and is on trial for violating the terms of her arrest.

Earlier this month, she allowed an American man who snuck into her house to stay for two days without official permission.

The man, John Yettaw, and two of Aung San Suu Kyi's aids are also on trial.

The charges are widely seen as an excuse to keep the Nobel Peace Prize winner locked up through next year's elections.

Her National League for Democracy Party won Burma's last elections in 1990, but the military never let them take power.

If Aung San Suu Kyi is found guilty, she could be imprisoned for up to five years along with the more than 2,000 other political prisoners in Burma.

President Dmitri Medvedev says Russia's economy is declining more than expected, resulting in the country's first federal budget deficit in ten years. Mr. Medvedev is also warning the government not to plan on higher prices for oil and other Russian natural resources.


President Dmitry Medvedev speaks during a cabinet meeting in the Moscow's Kremlin, 25 May 2009
Mr. Medvedev told a meeting of government ministers in Moscow the global economic crisis has caused a sharp decline in Russian federal revenues.

The Kremlin leader says expenditures will exceed revenues for the first time in ten years, creating a budget deficit of no less than seven percent of the country's gross domestic product. He notes that is an optimistic figure.

Economic figures recently released by the Russian Federal Statistics Service show the GDP declined in the first quarter of this year by 9.5 percent. The Economic Development Ministry had initially predicted a 2.2 percent drop.

The Russian national budget relies heavily on taxes from the sale of oil and other natural resources, and oil prices have dropped sharply over the past year. Mr. Medvedev says the government's economic planning should not necessarily count on a return to higher prices.

The Russian president says budget plans should be based on conservative estimates of future prices for raw materials. He notes prices could, of course, be higher, which would be better for Russia, but warns the government does not have the right to risk the budget on the possibility.

Unemployment in Russia hit 10.2 percent at the end of April, and industrial production fell nearly 17 percent.

U.S. President Barack Obama says agreement on energy legislation and progress on health care reform show that Washington is beginning to change.

In his weekly address, President Obama says he is heartened by the willingness of those with differing interests to come together around common goals.

Mr. Obama has met in the past few days with representatives of insurance and drug companies, as well as doctors, hospitals and labor unions, to talk about reforming health care. These groups, which have opposed many previous reform attempts, agreed to reduce the health care spending growth rate.

And leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives are trying to pass a health care reform bill by the end of July. The president is applauding both efforts.

"That is the kind of urgency and determination we need to achieve comprehensive reform by the end of this year," he said. "And the reductions in spending the health care community has pledged will help make this reform possible."

In the weekly Republican message, Congressman Charles Boustany, who is also a cardiovascular surgeon, says his party agrees with the president on the basic principles of health care reform. But Boustany says offering consumers an option for government-run health care insurance would cause medical and financial problems.

"Government takeover of health care will put bureaucrats in charge of health care decisions that should be made by families and doctors," he said. "It will limit treatment options and lead to rationed care. And to pay for government health care, your taxes will be raised."

Mr. Obama says he is also encouraged by progress on energy legislation. After weeks of negotiations in the House, a bill has been introduced to require reductions in the gases that are blamed for global warming and increase reliance on cleaner forms of energy.

"For the first time, utility companies and corporate leaders are joining, rather than opposing, environmental advocates and labor leaders to create a new system of clean energy initiatives that will help unleash a new era of growth and prosperity," said the president.

Mr. Obama says, taken together, the agreements on energy and health care are signs that divisions in Washington are beginning to erode.

"This has been an alien notion in Washington for far too long," he said. "But we are seeing that the ways of Washington are beginning to change."

The president will travel to the central state of Indiana on Sunday, to deliver the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame. Some students and others plan to boycott Mr. Obama's address at the Roman Catholic university because of his support for abortion rights.

U.S. President Barack Obama is calling on Congress to pass legislation that would reform the U.S. credit card industry to protect consumers.


Pres. Obama speaks about credit card debt reform at a town hall meeting in NM, 14 May 2009
At a town hall event in the U.S. state of New Mexico Thursday, Mr. Obama said "it is time for reform that is built on transparency, accountability and mutual responsibility."

He said credit card companies too often take advantage of people by imposing sudden rate hikes, unfair penalties and hidden fees. He said some of the dealings are not honest.

The president said consumers should not have to worry that when they sign up for a credit card they are signing away all their rights. He said Americans should also be able to see the card's terms of agreement in plain, understandable language.

President Obama urged lawmakers to have a credit card reform bill ready for him to sign by the Memorial Day holiday, which is May 25.

The House of Representatives approved such a bill two weeks ago. The Senate is currently debating its own version.

Mr. Obama met with leaders of major credit card companies last month to discuss the reforms being considered.

Mr. Obama said he agrees with the companies that consumers must also accept the responsibility that comes with holding a credit card. He said consumers are expected to make sound choices, live within their means and make payments in a timely manner.

Chinese and Australian engineers are gearing up to build the final stretch of track in the Trans-Asian Railway, which will link Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand with Vietnam and China through Cambodia. The Cambodian government has divided the country's railway system in two. Australia's Toll Holdings takes control of old French-built lines in the east, which run from the capital to the Thai border and south to Sihanoukville, home to one of the largest ports in the Gulf of Siam.

The China Railway Group has the contract to carry out a feasibility study that will link Phnom Penh with Snoul near this country's western border with Vietnam.

This 255-kilometer stretch will complete the Singapore-to-Kunming line, a railway connecting southeast Asia to the heart of China.

Paul Power is an advisor to the Cambodian government and team leader for the Asian Development Bank's involvement in the reconstruction of Cambodia's railways. He says the railway's economic benefit for the region and Cambodia will be enormous.

"It makes Cambodia the hub of transportation between China and Singapore and you would have a port link, you would have a link to Thailand, you'll have a link through to Vietnam," Power said, "and the implications for that, for Cambodia in the region, are that Cambodia becomes the hub."

He says freight will provide the greatest economic benefits, particularly for shipping bulk goods like rice. The railway will be a cheaper alternative to ships and trucks.

However, the contractors first must deal with the thorny issue of resettling people living along the route. In Cambodia, poor landholders often are pushed out with little compensation to make way for commercial developments, causing considerable public anger.

Power says the companies working on the railway are aware of the problems that have afflicted other construction projects and thinks they can avoid similar difficulties.

If the resettlement issues are resolved quickly then authorities hope the first passengers from Singapore to China and beyond as far as London, will start boarding within the next two years.

A United Nations maritime organization is adopting standards for dismantling and recycling the old ships. Delegates met this week in Hong Kong to draft the plan, which aims to address environmental and safety concerns.


A group of protestors from several NGO's unfurl a banner in front of Victoria Harbour close to where a symposium on shipbreaking is being held in Hong Kong, 15 May 2009
The least expensive way to dismantle a ship can also be the most costly to the environment and human lives.

It is called "beaching" and is common in South Asia, where ships are run aground and then dismantled, their steel and other materials sold as scrap.

Rizwana Hasan is an attorney and advocate for the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association. She says beaching soils shorelines with asbestos and toxic waste. Workers are sometimes injured or killed. Hasan calls the practice is a "crisis of mismanagement".

"It was a crisis of ship owners that continued to allow such reprehensible practices to take place, all in the name of profits," said Hasan.

In response to the concerns, delegates from 63 countries on Friday passed international rules governing the ship recycling industry.

The Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, will control ship construction, limiting the amount of hazardous materials used. It requires ships to maintain logs of hazardous materials used for maintenance. And it sets standards for dismantling vessels, such as requiring old ships be broken down in yards that meet certain environmental standards.

The agreement calls for ship recycling workers to wear protective gear and for recycling centers to properly dispose of hazardous waste and prepare emergency response plans.

Jim Puckett is executive director of the Basel Action Network in Seattle, in the U.S. state of Washington. He calls the agreement a failure. It neither requires workers to be specially trained to remove hazardous waste nor prohibits beaching.

Puckett says environmental groups now will focus on their "Off the Beach" campaign.

"We're going to pressure the shipping companies, themselves, but moreover their customers so the major Fortune 500 companies that are using big shipping, we're going to be sure that the ships they use are not going to hit the beach," said Puckett.

Ship breaking now is mainly done in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and to a lesser extent in China and Turkey. The industry estimates up to 1,000 ships are broken down each year.

With the downturn in the economy, industry officials say even more ships are being decommissioned, because there is less cargo to haul.

Captain Mohammed Anam Chowdhury is a consultant for the ship recycling industry in Bangladesh. He says the industry provides thousands of jobs.

"It's a major industry for the country," said Chowdhury. "When it's in full swing it employs almost 150,000 directly and you have almost two and a half million making their living out of this industry, with the back-water industries and other industries involved."

The agreement takes effect in two years, once at least 15 countries ratify it and meet tonnage and recycling standards.

New U.S. economic reports show prices declining, consumer confidence rising, and the battered factory sector shrinking more slowly.

Friday's Labor Department report said the cost of living in the United States dropped by the largest amount in half a century in the 12-month period ending in April.

While consumers welcomed these price declines, a long-term, self-reinforcing fall in prices called "deflation" could further slow the economy by giving consumers an incentive to delay purchases. While some experts worry about deflation, many think action by the U.S. central bank is likely to prevent the problem.

A report by the University of Michigan on how U.S. consumer view the economy shows them growing less pessimistic. Their gauge of consumer sentiment rose 2.8 percentage points to a reading of 67.9. Experts track consumer confidence for clues about consumer demand, which drives two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.

Two reports on manufacturing show the battered factory sector still shrinking, but at a slower pace than the previous month.



Some information for this report was provided by Bloomberg, AP and Reuters.

President Barack Obama wants to crack down on U.S. companies and wealthy investors who avoid federal taxes through offshore business dealings. Mr. Obama unveiled a plan that aims to boost U.S. tax revenue and preserve American jobs.

President Obama says the U.S. tax code is cheating the United States out of good-paying jobs and badly needed funds.

"It is a tax code that makes it all too easy for a small number of individuals and companies to abuse overseas tax havens to avoid paying any taxes at all," the president said. "And it is a tax code that says you should pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, India than if you create one in Buffalo, New York."

Many hide monies in Cayman Islands

The president noted that, in the Cayman Islands, for instance, a single address houses thousands of corporations, few of which have a physical presence on the Caribbean islands.

To correct the situation, the president wants to rescind tax breaks that foster job creation overseas, and re-channel funds toward domestic job creation, including new investments in education. Mr. Obama also wants to curb tax advantages for foreign investing, close tax loopholes on offshore business dealings, and boost overall federal tax enforcement.

Appearing with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the president said he wants U.S. businesses to remain engaged and competitive on the world stage, but that offshore tax havens must be eliminated.

"We will stop letting American companies that create jobs overseas take deductions on their expenses when they do not pay any American taxes on their profits," president Obama said. "And we will use the savings to give tax cuts to companies that are investing in research and development here at home, so we can jump-start job creation, foster innovation, and enhance America's competitiveness."

Analyst: proposal is impractical, counterproductive

The president said the proposal will generate $210 billion in revenue over the next 10 years.

The plan is generating few cheers from corporate America. Some business groups complain that the proposed tax changes will impose new costs on U.S. firms and make them less competitive in the global marketplace.

Former Federal Reserve economist Alan Viard tells VOA that efforts to crack down on tax evasion and save American jobs are always politically popular. But he says the administration's proposal will prove impractical and counterproductive when applied to the business world.

"This notion that you do not want U.S. firms going overseas is really a mistake to begin with, because in many cases the operations abroad and the operations at home are actually complimentary to each other," Viard said. When U.S. firms create jobs abroad, they are often expanding opportunities to create jobs in the United States, as well. It does not have to be a choice between the two."

The president's plan will need congressional approval to go into effect.

U.S. President Barack Obama will meet Wednesday with the presidents of Pakistan and Afghanistan in what U.S. officials call an effort to get them to work more closely together to fight extremist insurgents.

Mr. Obama is due to meet separately at the White House with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, and then the three leaders will hold joint talks.

On Tuesday, ahead of the meeting, Mr. Zardari said his government is safe and the country's nuclear arsenal is in secure hands.

Mr. Zardari told a U.S. television network Tuesday that the Taliban insurgency does not pose a threat to his government, only to his security. He called it another chapter in the country's long-running tribal and ethnic conflicts.

President Karzai, meanwhile, has expressed concern about civilian casualties in U.S.-led military strikes in Afghanistan.

Earlier Tuesday, the special U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said Washington does not believe Pakistan is a "failed state" even though it is dealing with enormous social, political and economic pressures.

Holbrooke told the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee that Taliban advances have sparked a sense of panic in Pakistan and the United States, but that Washington is committed to supporting and stabilizing Islamabad.

The veteran diplomat appealed to Congress to approve pending legislation to provide Pakistan with billions of dollars in military and non-military aid.

That proposed bill would give military aid, military education training and hundreds of millions of dollars to strengthen Pakistan's democratic institutions, judiciary, law enforcement agencies and the educational system.

Holbrooke also dismissed media reports suggesting the Obama administration is distancing itself from the Zardari government in favor of political rival and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

Thousands of panicked residents fled the Swat valley north of Pakistan's capital following the breakdown of a fragile truce between government forces and the Taliban.

Opinion: The War for PakistanWashington Asserts Loyalty to ZardariPhotos: Seeking Refuge in PeshawarWashington Asserts Loyalty to Zardari Mumbai Suspect Pleads Not

European stocks advanced Wednesday, as investors mulled a flurry of earnings ahead of the U.S. bank stress-test results Thursday.

The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index was up 1% at 207.18. London's FTSE 100 Index was 0.5% higher at 4359.47, while Frankfurt's DAX Index added 0.3% to 4865.37 and the CAC-40 index in Paris was 0.7% higher at 3248.23.

"Investors will no doubt remain focused on the results of the bank stress tests," said Bob Doll, chief investment office for global equities at BlackRock. "Since the health of the overall economy is so highly dependent on the stability of the banking sector, these results could have a significant market impact."

Amid caution ahead of the release of the U.S. bank stress tests on Thursday, a report in The Wall Street Journal is also likely to rattle nerves.The Journal said that regulators have told Bank of America Corp. that the company needs to take steps to address a roughly $35 billion capital shortfall based on results of the government's stress tests.

Banking shares in Europe rose, however, after BNP Paribas posted better-than-expected first-quarter results. Shares in BNP Paribas rose 6.7% , while Societe Generale gained 2.2% and Credit Agricole advanced 2.3%.

The construction sector was also in focus after Irish building materials company CRH said trading in the first four months of 2009 was "extremely challenging" compared with 2008. Shares in CRH fell 5.2%.

Building materials company Lafarge SA, however, added 2.3% as the company said it swung to a less-than-expected first-quarter net loss of €17 million.

The dollar suffered on concerns ahead of the bank stress test results. The yen rose against the dollar and the euro, boosted by flight-to-safety moves and the report regarding Bank of America. In recent trading, the dollar was trading at 98.53 yen, down from 98.96 yen late Tuesday in New York, after hitting a low of 98.06 yen. The euro was at 131.17 yen, down from 131.89 yen. The single currency was also lower against the dollar, trading at $1.3317 from $1.3324.

Spot gold remained above $900 a troy ounce, while front-month Nymex crude oil futures rose 43 cents to $$4.27 a barrel. In the sovereign debt markets, a short-term bounce is expected in the bund market given the expected weaker tone for equities. The June bund contract stood at 122.23, down 0.12.

Asian stock markets were mixed and off their early peaks. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.6% , while South Korea's Kospi Composite decreased 0.3%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 1.7%. Japanese markets were closed again for the Golden Week holiday. The mixed fortunes in Asian stock markets was largely prompted by nerves setting in before the release of the U.S. bank stress tests on Thursday.

Regulators have told Bank of America Corp. that the company needs to take steps to address a roughly $35 billion capital shortfall based on results of the government's stress tests, according to people familiar with the situation.

The exact amount of the needed infusion couldn't be determined late Tuesday, and Bank of America officials either declined to comment or couldn't be reached.

Regulators began notifying the 19 financial companies subjected to the government tests of the results Tuesday.

An official announcement is expected after the close of U.S. stock-market trading Thursday.

At Bank of America, the government's findings are likely ...

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