BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The shadow banking system – blamed for aggravating the financial crisis – grew to a new high of $67 trillion globally last year, a top regulatory group said, calling for tighter control of the sector. A report by the Financial Stability Board (FSB) on Sunday appeared to confirm fears among policymakers that the so-called shadow banking system of non-bank intermediaries continues to harbour risks to the financial system. …
Israel bombing kills militant in Gaza Strip
Israeli aircraft struck crowded areas in the Gaza Strip and killed a senior militant with a missile strike on a media center Monday, driving up the Palestinian death toll to 100, as Israel broadened its targets in the 6-day-old offensive meant to quell Hamas rocket fire on Israel. Israel's Bedouin Arabs caught in middle as rockets fly in both directions
“Remember God” reads a sign on the main street of this devout, impoverished Bedouin Arab town in southern Israel that is trapped in the middle of the devastating Israel-Gaza fighting, even more than most places in the country.
Spain may offer residency to foreigners buying homes
MADRID (Reuters) – Spain is considering offering rich investors from countries such as Russia and China the right to settle in return for them buying up property in the stagnant housing sector. Spain has more than a million empty homes across the country and is setting up a bad bank to clean up toxic assets from a housing bubble which burst in 2008. Foreigners could be offered a residency permit if they buy a property worth 160,000 euros ($200,000) or more, the country’s commerce secretary said on Monday. …
For Syrian rebels, a relentless game of cat-and-mouse
In the flat, open Syrian-Lebanese border region, the strapped Syrian rebels have no choice but to let ground they capture fall back into enemy hands.
Swaziland gets first female Anglican bishop
The Anglican Church has appointed its first female bishop in Africa with the elevation of a priest in the tiny nation of Swaziland.
Rioters attack ethnic Somalis in Kenyan capital
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Kenyan police fired tear gas to disperse rioters who attacked ethnic Somalis in the Nairobi district known as “Little Mogadishu” on Monday, hurling rocks and smashing windows after a weekend bomb attack there killed nine people. The violence coincided with the start of voter registration for a general election in March, adding to security concerns ahead of the first national polls since 2007 when a dispute over the results fuelled ethnic slaughter that killed more than 1,200 people and forced some 300,000 from their homes. …
Aussie rockers AC/DC's music to be sold on iTunes
NEW YORK (Reuters) – AC/DC'S entire catalogue, including 20 studio and live albums and three compilations will be available on iTunes for the first time worldwide, Columbia Records and Apple said on Monday. Until now the Australian heavy metal group that was for med by two brothers, Angus and Malcolm Young, in 1973, had refused to put their music on Apple Inc's online music store. … Tuareg rebels battle Islamists for north Mali town
BAMAKO (Reuters) – Islamist gunmen fought Tuareg separatist rebels on Monday in a battle for control of the town of Menaka in Mali’s northern desert, close to the border with Niger, both sides said. The renewed fighting came as African leaders put the finishing touches on an international intervention plan to retake Mali’s north from a patchwork of armed groups. “The fighting started early this morning and it is ongoing,” said Moussa Ag Acharatoumane, a France-based spokesman for the independence-seeking MNLA Tuareg group. “We have not given up on Menaka,” he added. …
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