Reuters News - Maya lunar calendar notes discovered in Guatemala

By Deborah Zabarenko

WASHINGTON | Thu May 10, 2012 6:50pm EDT

(Reuters) - On the wall of a tiny structure buried under forest debris in Guatemala, archaeologists have discovered a scribe's notes about the Maya lunar calendar, which they say could be the first known records by an official chronicler of this ancient civilization.

These notes pertain to the same Maya calendar that is sometimes erroneously thought to predict the world's end on or about December 22, 2012. The researchers who helped uncover and decipher the wall's inscriptions said the Maya calendar foresaw a vast progression of time, with the December 2012 date the beginning of a new calendar cycle called a baktun.

"They were looking at the way these cycles were turning," said William Saturno of Boston University, an author of an article on the find in the journal Science. "The Maya calendar is going to keep going and keep going for billions, trillions, octillions of years into the future, a huge number that we can't even wrap our heads around."

The faint numerical inscriptions on the wall in Guatemala measure out time in approximate six-month increments, based on six lunar cycles, with small stylized pictures of Maya gods to indicate which deity was the patron of a specific slice of time, the researchers said Thursday in an online briefing.

"It seems pretty clear that what we have here is a lunar calendar," said David Stuart of the University of Texas at Austin, another author of the Science article. The findings will also be published in the June issue of National Geographic, which funded some of the research.

The numbers on the wall were likely written by a scribe or calendar priest, who would have been an important figure in the Maya court, where monarchs were keenly interested in astronomy and sought to harmonize sacred rituals with events in the sky.

The wall was used the way a modern scientist might use a whiteboard, to write down frequently consulted formulas instead of having to look them up in a book, he said.

The fact that these calendar details were inscribed on the wall preserved them better than any book would have, since no books remain from the period when the inscriptions were made, probably around 800 AD, the researchers said.

In addition to the inscribed numbers, there were pictures on other walls of the structure, including an image of a king in a feather headdress, seated on a throne, with a white-garbed person peeking out from behind him. A painting of a scribe holding a stylus was on another wall.

These paintings were the first Maya art to be found on the walls of a house, the researchers said.

The structure, covered with vegetation, was detected in 2010 at the ruined Maya complex at Xultun in a rainforest area of Guatemala. Xultun, once home to tens of thousands of people, stretches over 12 square miles (31 square km), and thousands of the remaining structures have not yet been explored.

"It's weird that the Xultun finds exist at all," Saturno said in a statement. "Such writings and artwork on walls don't preserve well in the Maya lowlands, especially in a house buried only a meter below the surface."

(Reporting By Deborah Zabarenko; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Bloomberg News - Japan Pledges Liquidity in Case of Any Global Crisis Eruption

By Toru Fujioka and Masahiro Hidaka - May 11, 2012 8:22 AM GMT+0200

Japan’s central bank pledged to deploy its foreign-exchange assets as part of any international emergency response to the eruption of turmoil in financial markets.

A pedestrian walks past the Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

“Time may be necessary before international organizations and other relevant institutions are able to take necessary measures,” the Bank of Japan said in a statement in Tokyo today. The bank “would be prepared to provide foreign currency until international support is provided,” it said.

The bank revised its guidelines for reserve management to take account of “recent changes in international financial and capital market conditions.” In 2008, the BOJ participated in Federal Reserve swap lines designed to address a surge in demand for dollars in the aftermath Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.’s collapse. Today, investors are monitoring for any signs of a Greek exit from the euro region that would roil markets anew.

“Whatever their intentions, today’s decision is likely to promote a risk-off mode among investors especially when there seems to be no real improvement in Greece,” said Masaaki Kanno, chief Japan economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Tokyo and a former chief foreign-exchange dealer at the BOJ.

Yields on benchmark 30-year German government bonds fell to a record low of 2.201 percent as European trading began today, with investors piling into the securities of Europe’s largest economy as a haven. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index of stock fell 1 percent as of 3:07 p.m. in Tokyo, heading for the biggest weekly decline since November.

Japan held $1.2 trillion of reserves at the end of April, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, second only to China’s $3.3 trillion as of March.

The nation’s central bank said that it’s prepared to provide emergency liquidity to Japanese financial institutions, while saying that they “do not face any problems with their foreign currency funding” at the moment.

Bloomberg News - Trade Gap in U.S. Probably Widened in March as Imports Rebounded

By Lorraine Woellert - May 10, 2012 6:00 AM GMT+0200

The trade deficit in the U.S. probably widened in March as imports rebounded from the biggest setback in three years, economists said before a report today.

The gap grew to $50 billion from $46 billion in February, according to the median forecast of 75 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Another report may show first-time claims forunemployment benefits last week held close to a one-month low.

The pickup in the value of imports probably reflected higher fuel prices and a bounce back in shipments from China following the week-long Lunar New Year celebrations. At the same time, exports may cooled as slower global growth and the European debt crisis limit sales at companies like Caterpillar Inc. (CAT)and United Technologies Corp.

“We’re having headwinds on the global environment, especially from Europe, but seeing support from emerging economies,” said Sean Incremona, a senior economist at 4Cast Inc. in New York. The March widening “looks to be a correction from the very large decline” the prior month, he said.

The Commerce Department’s trade figures are scheduled for release at 8:30 a.m. in Washington. Estimates in the Bloomberg survey ranged from gaps of $45 billion to $54 billion.

Purchases of foreign goods decreased by 2.7 percent in February, the biggest drop since February 2009, according to Commerce Department data last month. Imports from China plunged 18 percent as the Lunar New Year holidays extended into early February. That slump was probably reversed in March, widening the trade gap.

Caterpillar Inc. on April 25 reported a gain in first-quarter revenue that was smaller than analysts estimated after sales fell in China and Brazil. Photo: Jim R. Bounds/Bloomberg

Crude Oil Prices

More-expensive petroleum may also have contributed to the gains. The price of foreign crude oilclimbed 3.5 percent in March, according to figures from the Labor Department. Fuel prices probably retreated last month, helping to restrain inflation from overseas.

The import price index dropped 0.2 percent in April after rising 1.3 percent the prior month, according to the median forecasts of economists surveyed by Bloomberg ahead of Labor Department figures that are also scheduled for 8:30 a.m.

Jobless claims climbed to 368,000 last week from 365,000 a week earlier, economists project another Labor Department report at the same time will show.

A hiring slowdown would raise the risk of weaker consumer spending, which means imports could keep slowing this quarter. Payrolls climbed by 115,000 workers in April, the smallest increase in six months, Labor Department reported last week. The jobless rate fell to a three-year low of 8.1 percent as people left the labor force, adding to worries that the economic expansion is cooling.

After reaching a record in February, U.S. exports may also slow as economies from Europe, to China and Brazil decelerate.

Europe’s Economy

The European debt crisis is curbing demand for goods as governments step up spending cuts. Euro-region unemployment rose to a 15-year high in March and manufacturing contracted in April for the ninth month.

Concerns about Europe have pushed stocks lower this month. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index has dropped 3.1 percent so far in May.

Caterpillar, the world’s largest maker of construction equipment, on April 25 reported a gain in first-quarter revenue that was smaller than analysts estimated after sales fell in China and Brazil. The Peoria, Illinois-based company said demand in developing nations this year will be lower than anticipated, a reversal after 2011 growth in Latin America and the Asia- Pacific region outpaced North America.

Reuters News - Spain takes over Bankia to combat crisis

Thu May 10, 2012 1:38am EDT

(Reuters) - Spain took over Bankia, the country's fourth biggest lender, on Wednesday, trying to dispel concerns over the government's ability to clean up the financial sector four years after the banks were hit by a property market crash.

In a deal that will give the state a 45 percent indirect stake in Bankia (BKIA.MC), the government will take control of its parent company BFA by converting into equity a 4.5 billion euro loan it had given the financial group previously, the central bank said.

The economy ministry pledged to do all it takes to clean up Bankia, which has more than 30 billion euros of exposure to troubled loans to property developers and repossessed land and buildings.

The government is expected to lend or give Bankia up to 10 billion euros in additional aid, though some bank analysts say it will need more.

Uncertainty over the final cost of the country's banking reform hit the euro, Spanish debt and global stock markets on Wednesday.

If a huge rescue puts Spain's fiscal solvency into question and the country needs international aid, the survival of the euro zone could be at stake.

Since the banking crisis began, Spain has bailed out seven smaller savings banks, but the Bankia rescue is by far the biggest and it comes after a string of other banking reform plans revealed over the past week.

These include moving toxic assets out of some banks and demanding that banks set aside 35 billion euros against loans to the moribund building sector, on top of 54 billion euros the banks are already provisioning.

"We will deepen the process of cleaning up the banks," Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy told a news conference.

Rajoy had promised not to use state funds to rescue the banks, but mounting doubts over Bankia had shaken the euro zone and he did a U-turn.

Rajoy's latest moves are the fourth banking sector overhaul in three years, but investors have yet to be convinced.

The yield on the Spanish 10-year benchmark bond rose to its highest level since the end of November on Wednesday, spiking up to 6.07 percent, close to levels considered unaffordable over the long term..

European shares were down .FTEU3, the U.S. stock market opened lower, and the euro moved close to a recent three-month low versus the dollar, with political turmoil in Greece and the rising costs of fixing Spain's banks deepening fears about the euro zone.

RECOGNISE MORE LOSSES

Bankia will also have to sell off assets and strengthen its management, the government said, even after it named well-known banker Jose Ignacio Goirigolzarri to take over as chief executive.

"These additional measures are geared to enhancing the bank's soundness and restoring full market confidence," the economy ministry said.

Bankia shares fell by as much as 7 percent on Wednesday in anticipation of the state intervention. A 45 percent stake in Bankia was worth 1.9 billion euros ($2.5 billion) at Wednesday's closing share price of 2.13 euros per share.

In further banking reform announcements due on Friday, the government is expected to ask banks to recognize more potential losses, beyond massive write downs on their property exposure.

Some Spanish lenders are unlikely to be able to find the extra funds without public help, raising expectations the government may have to issue more debt to bail them out.

"It depends what's announced, but right now it feels like smoke and mirrors and not the cathartic moment that Spain needs. It looks more like the government has panicked and pushed something out," Ben Levett, an analyst at consultancy 4Cast, said.

Markets have returned their focus to the funding hole at Spain's banks in recent weeks following a negative International Monetary Fund report on the sector and a Standard & Poor's credit rating downgrade.

Spain's banks have around 300 billion euros in total exposure to the building sector, including property seized as collateral, equivalent to around 30 percent of the country's gross domestic product. More than half is problematic.

The country is suffering its second recession in three years and has the highest unemployment rate in the European Union at 24.4 percent, leading more Spaniards to default on their debts and spreading the rot beyond the real estate sector on banks' balance sheets.

The government will demand banks raise provisions to a level equivalent to 30 percent of loans to housebuilders, one source told Reuters, up from the current 7 percent.

"There's no way we can meet these provisions by ourselves - the whole sector would fall into losses," said a source at one savings bank who declined to be named.

Market watchers said Spain should bite the bullet and raise the funds to solve the banking crisis, which has dragged on through two successive governments.

Even injecting the 40 billion to 50 billion euros analysts estimate the banks need to protect themselves against future losses would keep Spain's ratio of public debt to gross domestic product below 100 percent and in line with France and Germany.

"The banking issue has been allowed to fester ... More public cash will raise funding costs for the government but it's worth the risk," said Gilles Moec, an analyst at Deutsche Bank.

(Additional reporting by Sonya Dowsett and Tracy Rucinski in Madrid and Steve Slater in London; Writing by Sonya Dowsett; and Fiona Ortiz; Editing by David Stamp and Giles Elgood)

Reuters News - Cameron says Euro needs single government - report

LONDON | Wed May 9, 2012 5:00am BST

(Reuters) - A successful euro zone requires a single government if it is to work properly, Prime Minister David Cameron said in a newspaper interview on Wednesday.

"There's nowhere in the world that has a single currency without having more of a single government," Cameron told Daily Mail.

"Making sense of the euro for me would mean that those euro zone countries would have to have much more co-ordinated economic policy, much more co-ordinated debt policy," he said.

Cameron, who opted out of a new European economic pact late last year, advocated Britain's position outside the euro and its ability "to do things to ourselves, for ourselves, by ourselves.

"I have always believed different countries at times will need different economic policies, interest rates tailored to their own needs."

Cameron said, however, that it is in Britain's interest to see a return to growth in the euro zone, which accounts for 40 percent of UK exports.

"We want them to sort out the problems that they have. We want to be in the single market, we want European co-operation, we don't want to be in the euro," Cameron said.

"The euro is a project in transition that could go in a number of different ways ... all these countries have to make their own choices."

(Reporting by Stephen Mangan; editing by Christopher Wilson)

BBC News - Portugal scraps four public holidays in austerity drive

Portugal has taken austerity measures to a new level with the decision to scrap four of its 14 public holidays.

Portuguese people showed their anger over austerity measures in May Day rallies

Two religious festivals and two other public holidays will be suspended for five years from 2013.

The decision over which Catholic festivals to cut was negotiated with the Vatican.

Portugal has already cut public sector wages and raised taxes to reduce its budget deficit and deal with its economic crisis.

The country agreed a 78bn euro bailout deal with the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund last year and recently passed the latest review of its spending cuts.

It is hoped the suspension of the public holidays will improve competitiveness and boost economic activity.

The four days affected are All Saints Day on 1 November; Corpus Christi, which falls 60 days after Easter; 5 October, which commemorates the formation of the Portuguese Republic in 1910; and 1 December, which marks Portuguese independence from Spanish rule in 1640.

BBC News - Australian budget set to return to surplus this year

The Australian government is set to end four years of public spending deficits and return to a budget surplus this year, as it looks to shore up support.

Duncan Kennedy on how Canberra balances its books

Treasurer Wayne Swan is due to announce deep cuts in spending, but also cash payments for the low-paid in his budget.

He said the surplus would allow the central bank to cut interest rates.

It comes with support for Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her minority government near record lows.

Mr Swan will deliver the budget to parliament at about 19:30 Canberra local time (09:30 GMT).

'Battler's budget'

The budget for 2012-2013 is set to include cuts to Australia's military spending and other government departments.

The governing Labor party has said it is also aimed at supporting lower-income families.

"In many ways this is a battler's budget," said Mr Swan in Canberra on Tuesday, according to ABC News.

"It makes sure we support jobs, it provides cost-of-living support for those under financial pressure and it puts in place new initiatives for some of the most vulnerable in our community."

Although Australia's economy has weathered the global financial crisis better than most developed nations, Mr Swan said this surplus would strengthen it against shocks from future global economic uncertainty.

"When you look around the world, when you look at what's happening in Europe, you can see that Australia's economic fundamentals are strong," he said.

"Coming back to surplus is about making sure we help those people sitting around the kitchen table when they're figuring out how they will make ends meet."

But Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said bringing the budget to surplus was based on "fiddled figures", according to ABC News.

"The Treasurer has artificially moved spending out of next year into this year or into the year after, and he's artificially moved spending off-budget that should be on-budget, so this is a cooked books surplus," Mr Abbott said.

Some analysts have also questioned the need for a surplus, given the central bank moved last week to cut the cost of borrowing by 50 basis points and lowered the country's growth forecast.

A lower cost of borrowing, now at 3.75%, provides relief for mortgage holders facing high real estate prices.

Politics is playing a part in this move to a surplus as well. The BBC's Duncan Kennedy, in Sydney, says this is a budget that could determine Julia Gillard's political future, with elections due to be held in November 2013.