The Wallow Fire, the largest in Arizona history growing to approximately 511,118 acres, on Sunday has been 51 percent contained.
____________________________
Sen. John McCain: Blame illegal immigrants for Wallow fire
The State Column | Staff | Sunday, June 19, 2011
Arizona U.S. Senator John McCain fanned the flames of immigration reform and border security Saturday, saying undocumented immigrants are partly to blame for the growing Wallow fire in Arizona.
“There is substantial evidence that some of these fires have been caused by people who have crossed our border illegally,” Mr. McCain said during a press conference in Springerville on Saturday. “The answer to that part of the problem is to get a secure border.”
Mr. McCain, who has repeatedly called for a comprehensive immigration reform bill, seemed to contradict Arizona Republican governor Jan Brewer, who said the causes and sources of two southern Arizona fires have yet to be determined and that an investigation is under way.
Mr. McCain’s comment come as Ms. Brewer declared a state of emergency, activating the state’s National Guard. On Friday morning, Ms. Brewer conducted an aerial tour of the Horseshoe II and Monument fires,
and received a briefing from incident commanders. The two fires have burned more than 200,000 acres,
including 40 residential homes. Also still burning is the Horseshoe Two fire, which has blackened nearly 200,000 acres and is 65 percent contained.
Ms. Brewer joined Mr. McCain, calling Friday for additional troops to be deployed to the southern border.
“While I’m pleased that President Obama has agreed to temporarily extend the deployment of National Guard along the border, this extension would be more meaningful if it were for a longer period of time and coupled with broader security measures,” Ms. Brewer said in a statement.
Monday, June 20, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Why is Jim Johnson and Barney Frank Not in Jail?
Congress railroaded and imprisoned Jim Traficant for fixing his driveway, but the really connected and protected thieves in and out of Government go on and steal from the US people by the hundreds of billions of dollars. The same thieves get the US involved in wars and foreign entanglements costing further hundreds of billions and young Americans killed and wounded. Jim Johnson and Barney Frank are just the tip of the spear of the Fannie Mae crisis, but the Fannie Mae crisis is just one of many scandals that are ruing the US.
I looked for the exact charges against Traficant and found this video of a recent talk by Traficant. Believe him or deny Traficant but Traficant says some interesting things that have a ring of truth and make you think. There are 13 parts to this but if half of it is true, we have bigger problems than I thought.
______________________________________
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Who Is James Johnson?
By DAVID BROOKS NY TIMES
Published: June 16, 2011
Most political scandals involve people who are not really enmeshed in the Washington establishment — people like Representative Anthony Weiner or Representative William Jefferson. Most scandals involve spectacularly bad behavior — like posting pictures of your private parts on the Web or hiding $90,000 in cash in your freezer.
But the most devastating scandal in recent history involved dozens of the most respected members of the Washington establishment. Their behavior was not out of the ordinary by any means.
For that reason, the Fannie Mae scandal is the most important political scandal since Watergate. It helped sink the American economy. It has cost taxpayers about $153 billion, so far. It indicts patterns of behavior that are considered normal and respectable in Washington.
The Fannie Mae scandal has gotten relatively little media attention because many of the participants are still powerful, admired and well connected. But Gretchen Morgenson, a Times colleague, and the financial analyst Joshua Rosner have rectified that, writing “Reckless Endangerment,” a brave book that exposes the affair in clear and gripping form.
The story centers around James Johnson, a Democratic sage with a raft of prestigious connections. Appointed as chief executive of Fannie Mae in 1991, Johnson started an aggressive effort to expand homeownership.
Back then, Fannie Mae could raise money at low interest rates because the federal government implicitly guaranteed its debt. In 1995, according to the Congressional Budget Office, this implied guarantee netted the agency $7 billion. Instead of using that money to help buyers, Johnson and other executives kept $2.1 billion for themselves and their shareholders. They used it to further the cause — expanding their clout, their salaries and their bonuses. They did the things that every special-interest group does to advance its interests.
Fannie Mae co-opted relevant activist groups, handing out money to Acorn, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and other groups that it might need on its side.
Fannie ginned up Astroturf lobbying campaigns. In 2000, for example, a bill was introduced that threatened Fannie’s special status. The Coalition for Homeownership was formed and letters poured into Congressional offices opposing the bill. Many signatories of the letter had no idea their names had been used.
Fannie lavished campaign contributions on members of Congress. Time and again experts would go before some Congressional committee to warn that Fannie was lowering borrowing standards and posing an enormous risk to taxpayers. Phalanxes of congressmen would be mobilized to bludgeon the experts and kill unfriendly legislation.
Fannie executives ginned up academic studies. They created a foundation that spent tens of millions in advertising. They spent enormous amounts of time and money capturing the regulators who were supposed to police them.
Morgenson and Rosner write with barely suppressed rage, as if great crimes are being committed. But there are no crimes. This is how Washington works. Only two of the characters in this tale come off as egregiously immoral. Johnson made $100 million while supposedly helping the poor. Representative Barney Frank, whose partner at the time worked for Fannie, was arrogantly dismissive when anybody raised doubts about the stability of the whole arrangement.
Most of the people were simply doing what reputable figures do in service to a supposedly good cause. Johnson roped in some of the most respected establishment names: Bill Daley, Tom Donilon, Joseph Stiglitz, Dianne Feinstein, Kit Bond, Franklin Raines, Larry Summers, Robert Zoellick, Ken Starr and so on.
Of course, it all came undone. Underneath, Fannie was a cancer that helped spread risky behavior and low standards across the housing industry. We all know what happened next.
The scandal has sent the message that the leadership class is fundamentally self-dealing. Leaders on the center-right and center-left are always trying to create public-private partnerships to spark socially productive activity. But the biggest public-private partnership to date led to shameless self-enrichment and disastrous results.
It has sent the message that we have hit the moment of demosclerosis. Washington is home to a vertiginous tangle of industry associations, activist groups, think tanks and communications shops. These forces have overwhelmed the government that was originally conceived by the founders.
The final message is that members of the leadership class have done nothing to police themselves. The Wall Street-Industry-Regulator-Lobbyist tangle is even more deeply enmeshed.
People may not like Michele Bachmann, but when they finish “Reckless Endangerment” they will understand why there is a market for politicians like her. They’ll realize that if the existing leadership class doesn’t redefine “normal” behavior, some pungent and colorful movement will sweep in and do it for them.
I looked for the exact charges against Traficant and found this video of a recent talk by Traficant. Believe him or deny Traficant but Traficant says some interesting things that have a ring of truth and make you think. There are 13 parts to this but if half of it is true, we have bigger problems than I thought.
______________________________________
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Who Is James Johnson?
By DAVID BROOKS NY TIMES
Published: June 16, 2011
Most political scandals involve people who are not really enmeshed in the Washington establishment — people like Representative Anthony Weiner or Representative William Jefferson. Most scandals involve spectacularly bad behavior — like posting pictures of your private parts on the Web or hiding $90,000 in cash in your freezer.
But the most devastating scandal in recent history involved dozens of the most respected members of the Washington establishment. Their behavior was not out of the ordinary by any means.
For that reason, the Fannie Mae scandal is the most important political scandal since Watergate. It helped sink the American economy. It has cost taxpayers about $153 billion, so far. It indicts patterns of behavior that are considered normal and respectable in Washington.
The Fannie Mae scandal has gotten relatively little media attention because many of the participants are still powerful, admired and well connected. But Gretchen Morgenson, a Times colleague, and the financial analyst Joshua Rosner have rectified that, writing “Reckless Endangerment,” a brave book that exposes the affair in clear and gripping form.
The story centers around James Johnson, a Democratic sage with a raft of prestigious connections. Appointed as chief executive of Fannie Mae in 1991, Johnson started an aggressive effort to expand homeownership.
Back then, Fannie Mae could raise money at low interest rates because the federal government implicitly guaranteed its debt. In 1995, according to the Congressional Budget Office, this implied guarantee netted the agency $7 billion. Instead of using that money to help buyers, Johnson and other executives kept $2.1 billion for themselves and their shareholders. They used it to further the cause — expanding their clout, their salaries and their bonuses. They did the things that every special-interest group does to advance its interests.
Fannie Mae co-opted relevant activist groups, handing out money to Acorn, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and other groups that it might need on its side.
Fannie ginned up Astroturf lobbying campaigns. In 2000, for example, a bill was introduced that threatened Fannie’s special status. The Coalition for Homeownership was formed and letters poured into Congressional offices opposing the bill. Many signatories of the letter had no idea their names had been used.
Fannie lavished campaign contributions on members of Congress. Time and again experts would go before some Congressional committee to warn that Fannie was lowering borrowing standards and posing an enormous risk to taxpayers. Phalanxes of congressmen would be mobilized to bludgeon the experts and kill unfriendly legislation.
Fannie executives ginned up academic studies. They created a foundation that spent tens of millions in advertising. They spent enormous amounts of time and money capturing the regulators who were supposed to police them.
Morgenson and Rosner write with barely suppressed rage, as if great crimes are being committed. But there are no crimes. This is how Washington works. Only two of the characters in this tale come off as egregiously immoral. Johnson made $100 million while supposedly helping the poor. Representative Barney Frank, whose partner at the time worked for Fannie, was arrogantly dismissive when anybody raised doubts about the stability of the whole arrangement.
Most of the people were simply doing what reputable figures do in service to a supposedly good cause. Johnson roped in some of the most respected establishment names: Bill Daley, Tom Donilon, Joseph Stiglitz, Dianne Feinstein, Kit Bond, Franklin Raines, Larry Summers, Robert Zoellick, Ken Starr and so on.
Of course, it all came undone. Underneath, Fannie was a cancer that helped spread risky behavior and low standards across the housing industry. We all know what happened next.
The scandal has sent the message that the leadership class is fundamentally self-dealing. Leaders on the center-right and center-left are always trying to create public-private partnerships to spark socially productive activity. But the biggest public-private partnership to date led to shameless self-enrichment and disastrous results.
It has sent the message that we have hit the moment of demosclerosis. Washington is home to a vertiginous tangle of industry associations, activist groups, think tanks and communications shops. These forces have overwhelmed the government that was originally conceived by the founders.
The final message is that members of the leadership class have done nothing to police themselves. The Wall Street-Industry-Regulator-Lobbyist tangle is even more deeply enmeshed.
People may not like Michele Bachmann, but when they finish “Reckless Endangerment” they will understand why there is a market for politicians like her. They’ll realize that if the existing leadership class doesn’t redefine “normal” behavior, some pungent and colorful movement will sweep in and do it for them.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
How to Fix Social Security
- Number one is to eliminate everyone that never paid into the system. Social Security was a pension scheme for workers. It was never intended as a lifetime welfare program. It was intended to help a worker after he retired, not pay a drug addict a check from the age of twenty-five till the day he overdoses. Other programs can be set up for welfare payments. It should not be the burden of people who had their payrolls taxed for retirement.
- All savings from payroll and wages should be tax exempt. It makes no sense to discourage capital formation and savings which helps create jobs and tax payments into the system.
- Eliminate the earning restrictions on retried people. Why discourage payments into the social security system? In fact the opposite should be done. Eliminate federal taxes from those working after retirement age. They would continue to pay into social security but in exchange for them deferring social security payments they would be able to work with a federal tax holiday. What would be wrong with productive workers deferring retirement until the age of 75?
- Lastly, eliminate the upper cap on taxable income. People work and plan on their net take-home pay. No one plans to increase their income so that they no longer pay social security taxes. People wish to maximize their income for many reasons and do not regard the upper income cap. Eliminating the upper income cap brings the system into solvency.
Obama Knows Better Than His Lawyers (I am Shocked)
2 Top Lawyers Lost to Obama in Libya War Policy Debate
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
Published: June 17, 2011
WASHINGTON — President Obama rejected the views of top lawyers at the Pentagon and the Justice Department when he decided that he had the legal authority to continue American military participation in the air war in Libya without Congressional authorization, according to officials familiar with internal administration deliberations.
Jeh C. Johnson, the Pentagon general counsel, and Caroline D. Krass, the acting head of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, had told the White House that they believed that the United States military’s activities in the NATO-led air war amounted to “hostilities.” Under the War Powers Resolution, that would have required Mr. Obama to terminate or scale back the mission after May 20.
But Mr. Obama decided instead to adopt the legal analysis of several other senior members of his legal team — including the White House counsel, Robert Bauer, and the State Department legal adviser, Harold H. Koh — who argued that the United States military’s activities fell short of “hostilities.” Under that view, Mr. Obama needed no permission from Congress to continue the mission unchanged.
Presidents have the legal authority to override the legal conclusions of the Office of Legal Counsel and to act in a manner that is contrary to its advice, but it is extraordinarily rare for that to happen. Under normal circumstances, the office’s interpretation of the law is legally binding on the executive branch.
A White House spokesman, Eric Schultz, said there had been “a full airing of views within the administration and a robust process” that led Mr. Obama to his view that the Libya campaign was not covered by a provision of the War Powers Resolution that requires presidents to halt unauthorized hostilities after 60 days.
“It should come as no surprise that there would be some disagreements, even within an administration, regarding the application of a statute that is nearly 40 years old to a unique and evolving conflict,” Mr. Schultz said. “Those disagreements are ordinary and healthy.” More Here at New York Times
Friday, June 17, 2011
Government Overreach: NLRB, Big Unions & Obama Against American Jobs in South Carolina
Boeing has a right to build a factory anywhere it chooses. Boeing needed a new plant to produce more 787 Dreamliners and built a $750 million facility in South Carolina, which is one of 22 right-to-work states. Workers cannot be forced to join a union as a condition of employment.
Acting NLRB General Counsel Lafe Solomon, an Obama appointee, does Obama's bidding and claims that, by building the plant in the Palmetto State, Boeing "retaliated against union workers. Obama's other recess appointment, Craig Becker is also another Obama waterboy on the National Labor Relations Board. Becker served as a a top union lawyer and has argued that workers should not have any right to opt out of union representation. He also counseled a large local union founded as a subsidiary of the corrupt Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), another favorite of Obama.
No jobs in Washington are being transferred to South Carolina; in fact, Boeing's Washington facility gained 2,000 jobs. That was not good enough for Obama and his NLRB is suing Boeing and trying to stop their production in South Carolina. That is hard to believe even for the shit-bird sitting in The White House. It is stupid politics and the Democrats will come out badly for this autocratic overreach.
Acting NLRB General Counsel Lafe Solomon, an Obama appointee, does Obama's bidding and claims that, by building the plant in the Palmetto State, Boeing "retaliated against union workers. Obama's other recess appointment, Craig Becker is also another Obama waterboy on the National Labor Relations Board. Becker served as a a top union lawyer and has argued that workers should not have any right to opt out of union representation. He also counseled a large local union founded as a subsidiary of the corrupt Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), another favorite of Obama.
No jobs in Washington are being transferred to South Carolina; in fact, Boeing's Washington facility gained 2,000 jobs. That was not good enough for Obama and his NLRB is suing Boeing and trying to stop their production in South Carolina. That is hard to believe even for the shit-bird sitting in The White House. It is stupid politics and the Democrats will come out badly for this autocratic overreach.
How About Those Chinese Bonds Yielding 8.1% ?
Chinese Bond Markets – An Introduction
- While foreign investors have flocked to Chinese equities because of performance and correlation considerations, there is relatively less awareness of Chinese bond markets. This paper serves as an introduction to structure, trading venues, investor base and performance of Chinese bond markets for outside investors.
- After more than a quarter century of development, Chinese bond markets have evolved into a RMB 15 trillion (more than USD 2 trillion) market across a broad variety of credit, maturity and investor profiles.
- The market has a multi-layered structure, comprised of the national interbank market, the exchange market and bank counters, with the interbank market being the dominant trading venue.
- Foreign institutional investors can invest in Chinese bonds by seeking regulator approval for QFII quota or access to the interbank market. Product creators and asset managers have hitherto focused on bringing out higher margin equity products. This may change as global investors seek to participate in the growth of Chinese capital markets without volatility of equities.
- Over the five years ending 2008, the Chinese bonds in aggregate returned 8.1% annually in USD terms as measured by S&P/CITIC Composite Bond Index, a rate higher than those of U.S. and European bonds. RMB appreciation was a key return driver.
- Correlations of Chinese bonds with U.S. and European bonds have been less than 10%. Correlation with Chinese equities is a low 1.6%.
- Prospects for future evolution of the market include broadening of corporate bond markets, expansion of derivatives and risk management tools, and possible development of municipal bonds.
"Gorillas in the Mist."..."Kwita Izina"
Rare Rwandan gorillas back from brink
Annual festival names babies of still-rare species Washington Times
KIGALI, RWANDA — In 1988, a small group of almost-extinct mountain gorillas in volcano ranges straddling Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo became movie stars.
Since then, not much has changed about the Rwandan parkland featured in "Gorillas in the Mist." But a lot has changed for the gorillas.
No longer movie stars, mountain gorillas have more than tripled in population to nearly 750, but their species remains one of the rarest on earth.
Tens of thousands of people, including Rwandan President Paul Kagame, plan to celebrate the growing population on Saturday.
Every year, Rwandans hold what feels like a national holiday called "Kwita Izina" - an adaptation of a traditional naming ceremony held especially for gorillas.
This year, 22 baby gorillas will be named - the largest batch since the event began seven years ago.
Planners say this year's ceremony is especially happy because of the unusual births of two sets of twins since last year's naming ceremony. Seven gorillas have given birth to twins since the animals started being monitored in the 1960s, but rarely do the offspring survive.
Rica Rwigamba, head of tourism and conservation at the Rwanda Development Board, said the four twins - three males and one female - appear to be doing fine, and two will be named at Saturday's ceremony. The other two, born May 27, will be named at Kwita Izina 2012.
Ms. Rwigamba said gorillas have served as the mainstay of the country's tourism industry, which caters to high-end, eco-friendly visitors and collected $200 million in 2010.
"Mountain gorillas [are] the anchor product that Rwanda is known for," she said in the Rwandan capital, Kigali.
Mountain gorillas in Rwanda are treated like national heroes, accounting for 90 percent of the country's tourism revenue.
Visitors pay $500 to see the gorillas, excluding the price of travel, food and lodging. Gorilla permits often sell out months in advance because any given family of gorillas in Rwanda is allowed a maximum of eight visitors a day.
Still, the gorillas live practically on top of some of the most crowded and poorest areas in the region, leaving the animals constantly vulnerable to encroachment, human diseases and poachers.
"It's still a very, very delicate, small population," said Dr. Mike Cranfield, executive director of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, an organization that has been providing health care to the gorillas since the mid-1980s. "There is no buffer zone around it."
Known as one of the organization's "gorilla doctors," Dr. Cranfield said the gorilla population is growing rapidly and has increased by 26 percent in the past seven years.
Dr. Cranfield said gorilla safety and population growth remain matters of constant vigilance.
Most of the people who live around Volcanoes National Park, the Rwandan territory where the gorillas roam, live on about $1 a day, he said. The extreme poverty induces a tendency to exploit the forest for short-term gains, such as poaching and illegal animal trafficking, which could destroy the gorilla population.
"If you look at any conservation issue," Dr. Cranfield said, "it seems to be magnified here to an extreme."
Rwanda's government has several programs designed to protect the forest, Ms. Rwigamba said. Former poachers are recruited to work as conservationists, and a revenue-sharing plan guarantees that 5 percent of the money earned from gorilla tourism is sent back to the communities to build schools and fund agriculture and beautification projects.
But Dr. Cranfield said poverty remains a threat to the gorillas, regardless of the behavior of local people. A lack of available health care and limited hygiene make the people and the livestock generally sicker, he said.
Because gorillas share almost 99 percent of their genes with humans, they are highly susceptible to human diseases. Human respiratory diseases are the second-highest cause of death among the mountain gorillas, trumped only by trauma from snares.
Political instability is another constant threat to the gorillas in the tumultuous region, according to the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project's regional veterinary manager, Dr. Jan Ramer. Conflict in Congo makes it difficult to provide the animals with regular care and sometimes forces local people to flee their homes for the forest.
As a result, she said, gorillas can be exposed to diseases as people defecate and cough in the woods.
Dr. Ramer said even gorillas that are accustomed to humans have to be treated with extreme care. Tourists cannot eat, smoke or spit near the animals for health reasons, and doctors retreat behind makeshift blinds after darting the animals to sedate them for medical care.
Like Sigourney Weaver, who portrayed the now-deceased Dian Fossey in "Gorillas in the Mist," doctors approach the animals by making soft gorillalike noises to indicate they come in peace, Dr. Ramer said. Ms. Fossey is credited with spearheading conservation efforts starting in the 1960s that led to the preservation of the gorilla population.
In the movie, Miss Weaver also grunted, lumbered about and munched on leaves like a gorilla to gain the animals' trust. But Dr. Ramer said doctors no longer pretend they are gorillas.
"They know you are not a gorilla," she said of the great apes. "We are just trying to make them feel more comfortable."
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Where Goes Greece and the €?
Europe warned of financial chaos over Greek debt crisis
Greek prime minister fails to form unity government as police battle rioters in Athens and shares tumble over default fears
Greece's 18-month sovereign debt crisis brought the government to the brink of collapse as public fury over savage austerity measures erupted in pitched battles with riot police on the streets of Athens.
The escalation of the Greek crisis had instant European and global impact, sending world stocks tumbling and exposing European Union paralysis over whether and how to launch a second attempt in a year to save Greece from insolvency.
George Papandreou, the socialist prime minister, announced he would seek a vote of confidence on a new government after offering to resign and broker a new national unity coalition with opposition conservatives.
He admitted failure after intense but fruitless negotiations with the conservative New Democracy party aimed at engineering a consensus behind the massive public spending cuts and wholesale privatisation programme – moves deemed necessary to secure a second bailout from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
The opposition called for Papandreou's resignation and a renegotiation of the bailout terms with the EU, the European Central Bank, and the IMF as the price for its assent to a national coalition.
Earlier, riot police clashed with tens of thousands of demonstrators protesting in the capital against the radical austerity measures being imposed to try to secure a new bailout expected to amount to around €100bn.
Following the fall of the Irish and Portuguese governments in recent months after driving their countries into bankruptcy, it appeared that the eurozone's worst crisis was claiming another scalp. Despite the heightening sense of urgency, EU governments, the ECB, and the European Commission remained gridlocked over how to respond to the debt emergency, which pushed Greece closer to sovereign default and Europe towards a fresh banking crisis.
The ECB warned that a Greek default could spark "contagion" across Europe, causing Greek banks to implode and inflicting major damage on the big banks in France and Germany.
"It looks like a week of chaos," said a European official in Brussels. An emergency meeting of the 17 eurozone finance ministers on Tuesday failed to bridge the differences over how to construct a second bailout for Greece, senior EU diplomats said. In May last year the EU and the IMF put together a €110bn bailout for Greece, the first in a single currency country. That experiment has failed. Ireland and Portugal have since also needed to be rescued from national insolvency.
"The euro area faces a very challenging situation that comes mostly from the interconnection of the sovereign debt crisis and the situation of the banking sector," the ECB said. "Greece could have a contagion effect," added Vitor Constancio, an ECB vice-president.
Papandreou's offer of a national unity government signalled he was throwing in the towel because of an inability to push through the tens of billions in spending cuts, tax rises, and privatisation progress needed to secure the international bailout.
Europe's peripheral debt crisis has also taken a heavy political toll in the richer creditor countries of the eurozone, with anti-bailout populists making big gains in Finland and the Netherlands. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has also suffered political setbacks at home while coming in for searing criticism abroad for her handling of the emergency.
The Americans too are exasperated with the failure of the big EU states to resolve the crisis and fear for the impact of a Greek default on the international economy. Greek borrowing costs soared to record levels as investors took fright.
Stock markets suffered; the Dow Jones industrial average in Wall Street was down 180 points, and FTSE 100 was down 60 points.
Berlin, backed by the Dutch, Austrians, and Finns, have been arguing for weeks that there can be no new bailout of Greece without the country's private creditors being forced to suffer losses on their loans. Otherwise, they argue, European taxpayers will be shouldering the costs while the international banks pocket the proceeds.
The ECB, the European Commission and other EU countries led by France argue that this could pave the way to disaster, with the financial markets decreeing the compulsory "haircuts" on private bondholders a Greek default, a "credit event" that could lay waste to the single currency.
"We are against any sort of default with haircuts and any form of private-sector event that could lead to a credit event or a rating event," Constancio said.
There was little sign that the differences had been bridged at Tuesday's emergency meeting of eurozone finance ministers.
They meet again in Luxembourg on Sunday under pressure to strike a deal on a new Greek rescue by 20 June, ahead of an EU summit next Thursday.
But yesterday in Brussels diplomats said it could take weeks, perhaps until mid-July, to reach agreement. Amid a sense that the Greek drama was moving towards a European denouement, all eyes were on a summit between Merkel and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy.
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