World News

Japan

• In the first post-earthquake visit by a foreign leader to Japan, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for the creation of new and legally binding global nuclear regulations.  Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan is backing the proposal.

The Ivory Coast

• Forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara have seized San Pedro, a major cocoa port, as part of an ongoing rebellion aimed at ousting President Laurent Gbagbo (who refused to step down after he lost the presidential election last November).  Cocoa bean exports, which have been disrupted since the rebellion began, may resume within days.

 

Libya

• Libyan rebels rallied for a counterattack today, on news that President Obama has authorized the CIA to begin covert operations in Libya and that Moussa Koussa has defected.
• US Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Congress earlier today that he expects to see Muammar Gaddafi removed from power by his own people, but that removing Gaddafi from power is not part of the UN Security Council mandate.

 

Portugal

• Revised figures released yesterday show that Portugal's deficit is currently at 8.6% of GDP, which is 100 bps higher than it should be under its austerity measures.

 

United States

• US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has told a G20 meeting that tightly controlled exchange rates are the main flaw in the international monetary system[1].  He also called for a stronger International Monetary Fund.
• Ohio's legislature voted yesterday to strip collective bargaining rights from about 350,000 state employees.

 

[1]  Apparently, the fact that 26 nations have a debt to GDP ratio higher than Spain (the most stable of the PIIGS nations as of 2010), is not the main flaw.