mock exam, mock 卷, dse mock - S&P Downgrades French Credit Rating |
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Standard & Poor's Friday downgraded the credit ratings of nine European countries caught up in the eurozone crisis. This includes France, which has Europe's second-largest economy. S&P's downgrade of France's credit rating has been expected for weeks. French Finance Minister Francois Baroin called it only "half a surprise," as he confirmed on TV Friday night the downgrade from AAA to AA+. He described it as among a series of S&P credit changes across the 17-nation eurozone. Baroin said the news was not good, but that France's credit rating remained excellent. He said the downgrade only reaffirmed the government's determination to stabilize the governance of the eurozone. France was not alone as S&P also downgraded the credit standings of eight other nations. Baroin said it was important to stay calm and not to politicize the event. France's downgrade is clearly a blow to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, however, just a few months ahead of presidential elections. Sarkozy, who remains deeply unpopular in France, has put a premium on maintaining the country's sterling rating. His rivals have quickly pounced on the news. Far-right presidential contender Marine Le Pen blamed the downgrade on the French leader. She said it was critical to shelter France through what she called "reasoned protectionism." The euro currency and markets fell at expectations over the eurozone downgrades. In another blow to the shaky eurozone, banks suspended debt restructuring talks with Greece. Some analysts consider the downgrades a major blow ahead of the year's first European Union summit that will address a French and German plan to bring new rigor to EU economies. But Laurent Maruani, of the HEC business school in Paris, downplays the impact of the French downgrade as "nonsense." He noted that a number of other countries have seen their credit ratings slashed. 'Because people from rating agencies have no real power, no real trust that we put in them. So if everybody's degraded what can happen? Nothing really," said Maruani. The eurozone sovereign debt and banking crisis is now in its third year. There has also been some good news, though, with the European Central Bank recently moving to end a credit crunch at banks. |
2013年5月24日星期五
S&P Downgrades French Credit Rating
階梯聽力天天練——他人
mock exam, mock 卷, dse mock - 階梯聽力天天練——他人 |
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【階梯文本】
others
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Iran Considers Release of US Hikers
mock exam, mock 卷, dse mock - Iran Considers Release of US Hikers |
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The lawyer for two Americans jailed in Iran says he needs the signature of one more judge on bail papers before his clients can be released. Masoud Shafiei said Saturday he hopes Iran's judiciary will clear the way for the payment of $1 million bail in exchange for the release of the two men. Meanwhile, Iran's foreign minister says the release of hikers Josh Fattal and Shane Bauer would be a gesture of Islamic mercy. During a Saturday news conference, Ali Akbar Salehi also urged the U.S. to free Iranians held in U.S. prisons. Last month, Iran gave Bauer and Fattal eight years sentences on charges of spying and illegally entering the country. They were arrested on July 31, 2009, along with a third American, Sarah Shourd, who was freed on $500,000 bail last year and returned to the United States. The trio has always proclaimed their innocence and said they were hiking in the mountains of northern Iraq while on vacation. They said that if they crossed the unmarked border into Iran, it was by mistake. Earlier this week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Bauer and Fattal would be released soon. But Iran's judiciary responded that the bail provisions were still under review. The United States, which does not have diplomatic relations with Iran, has repeatedly called for the hikers' freedom. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday she had received word through a number of sources that the two men would soon be released. |
Indonesian Entrepreneurs Use Technology to Get Ambitious
mock exam, mock 卷, dse mock - Indonesian Entrepreneurs Use Technology to Get Ambitious |
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In Indonesia's booming capital of Jakarta, it’s not just the five-star hotel lounges that are packed with businessmen talking about deals and proposals. The Coffee Tree cafe in Mall of Indonesia, North Jakarta is also bustling with customers. Not just any ordinary customers, that is. On a Tuesday afternoon, the cafe's patrons are mainly entrepreneurs from various parts of Indonesia scouting for business and investing opportunities in Jakarta. The large teak tables in the cafe are like work stations. Lying among coffee-stained mugs and French presses, are business proposals, name cards, plans and products for testing. At a particular table, an entrepreneur was giving a slideshow presentation projected against the cafe wall to a small group of potential investors. Yonathan Purnomo hails from the city of Surabaya on Java Island and has recently set up a business venture selling botanical beauty products via a direct-selling system using an online database known as Immortal.com. The range of products sold are extensive, from painless hair removal cream to water ionizers. Although Purnomo, 49, has not officially promoted his business widely yet, he says he already has 5,000 members in the direct-selling network, mainly housewives living in the city of Surabaya. With an online database and payment system using mobile phones, Purnomo says its members will be able to make orders and purchases with just a phone call, without having to attend to physical stores. Purnomo is among the rising number of entrepreneurs in Indonesia, which already has about 50 million small businesses. However, with the high mobile and Internet penetration in the country, Indonesian entrepreneurs are evolving into Internet-savvy business people. By tapping into the mobile market, the cost of starting a business are getting lower, and at the same time, small companies are able to reach out to the populous nation that is spread across islands and villages. According to data extracted by Mobile Money Live, a tracking system on global mobile penetration, Indonesia has one of the highest mobile penetration rates, with about 73% of its population of 240 million using cell phones. The country is also home to the second-largest population of Facebook users in the world, after the US, and fourth most Twitter account users. It is no wonder why Google has recently announced that it will set up an office in Indonesia and potentially pour in some $100 million of investments into the country. Some of the plans include building online linkages and leveraging small and medium enterprises from Indonesia with foreign buyers. A manager of a China-based mobile phone chip manufacturer, who did not want to be identified, told me “The potential is huge. We are talking about an average of 70 million subscribers for each telecommunications network here.” A business venture known as Go-Jek recently captured the imagination of Indonesians when it received funding and the attention of foreign companies to expand its businesses in Jakarta. Go-Jek is a motorcycle courier service that provides passengers rides on motorcycles to beat the capital city’s notorious traffic jams. Started barely eight months ago, Go-Jek uses its website, Facebook and Twitter accounts to draw publicity, and has over 200 reliable drivers and 80 pick-up points around the city. With a GDP growth of 6.1% last year, Indonesia is one of the fastest-growing economies in the Southeast Asian region. The country is also vying for a spot to be among the Brazil-India-China-Russia cluster of emerging economies that are preferred by foreign investors. The country saw some $13 billion poured in via foreign direct investments in 2010, as investors hunt for coal mines and other commodities-related investments such as palm plantations and metal. However, as fears of a global recession looms near, Indonesia needs to prop up domestic demand and investments, as well as increase job creation for its people. One of the strategies is to spur entrepreneurship among the locals. In a survey conducted by BBC in May, Indonesia ranked as the most favorable place for entrepreneurs, in terms of ease in starting businesses and innovation. Although locals say there is still much to improve, especially in terms of access to start-up capital. Purnomo says apart from making his business a profitable entity, he says his venture will also create more entrepreneurs. “I am a teacher, and I believe in sharing knowledge with the people here,” he says. |
Ukrainian Opposition Protests Tymoshenko Trial on Independence Day
mock exam, mock 卷, dse mock - Ukrainian Opposition Protests Tymoshenko Trial on Independence Day |
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Thousands of Ukrainian opposition activists have rallied in the capital, Kyiv, to protest the arrest and jailing of their leader, former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, as the country marks its 20th anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union. The activists gathered Wednesday near a monument to national poet Taras Shevchenko in central Kyiv and tried to march through the city, but police blocked their path. The protesters denounced Tymoshenko's arrest earlier this month on charges of contempt of court. She is on trial for alleged abuse of office when she signed a gas deal with Russia in 2009 while serving as prime minister. A Ukrainian court had banned opposition groups from holding rallies in most of the capital on the independence anniversary. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych attended ceremonies in Kyiv to mark the occasion, but the festivities were low-key as the government tries to cut back on spending to reduce its budget deficit. Speaking ahead of the anniversary, Yanukovych said he expects to complete negotiations with the European Union on a political association agreement and a free trade deal by the end of this year. He said Ukraine has made an "irreversible" choice to adopt what he called the European social model, while maintaining historic ties with Russia, which provides crucial supplies of natural gas. Yanukovych defeated Tymoshenko in a close presidential election last year. Tymoshenko says her trial is part of a political vendetta against her by the president. A conviction would make her ineligible to run for office in parliamentary elections next year and the next presidential contest in 2015. |
2013年5月23日星期四
Battlefield of Italy's elections expected at Senate
mock exam, mock 卷, dse mock - Battlefield of Italy's elections expected at Senate |
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ROME, Jan. 21 (Xinhua) -- Contenders for Italy's power prepare to fight across the Senate battlefield to win the next government mandate as well as the difficult task of pulling the country out of recession. Five weeks before national vote, parties filed their lists of names for parliament seats on Monday, ending days of debate about candidacy criteria after a series of scandals hit the political spectrum over the past months. The last to show its cards by the deadline for submission was the People of Freedom (PdL) party of former premier Silvio Berlusconi after he was pushed hard for purging the lists of some senior members linked to criminal cases. Surveys have pointed that former industry minister Pier Luigi Bersani, caretaker prime minister Mario Monti and Berlusconi, though the 76-year-old media tycoon has promised he would not be the premier again, will compete for victory. Bersani has defined himself to be a pro-Europe leader who is ready to respect all the commitments made within the European Union while asking to concentrate more on growth and social justice. The leader said to be in favor of a personal tax for the wealthy and aims at supporting made-in-Italy products, investments and new technologies in order to re-launch the economy. Berlusconi wants a reflection on the choices made by the "Germano-centric" EU which has created "stricter budgets and compromised growth." He has proposed to review the relationship between the euro and the European Central Bank (ECB) to make the single currency more solid, and counts on abolishing the property tax while increasing taxes on alcohol and cigarettes. Monti, who was appointed at the helm of a technocratic government when Italy was on the verge of falling victim to the European debt crisis in Nov. 2011, has pulled the eurozone's third largest economy back from the brink of fiscal collapse. His pro-Europe program is committed to an "agenda" of growth-oriented policies for a more efficient public administration, opening the markets of goods and services, and increasing investments for research and innovation. Two other figures, comedian Beppe Grillo and former anti-mafia magistrate Antonio Ingroia, will stand before the electorate. Their respective formations, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and Civil Revolution, are both attractive for the part of electorate which was nauseated by widespread corruption in the political world. However, analysts agreed that the Senate will be at the real center of the election campaign. Differently from the lower chamber where allocation is national, the seats of the upper house are won on the basis of majorities in 17 regions, which means that obtaining more votes nationwide does not automatically mean winning a parliament majority. Bersani has repeatedly said he was certain that his center-left coalition between the Democratic Party (PD) and Left, Ecology and Freedom (SEL) would defeat Berlusconi's center-right "across the country." In such a case, he would be able to form a government and becomes the prime minister. Most recent opinion polls have showed in effect that the PD-SEL is indeed in front of the alliance between PdL and its resumed ally Northern League, followed by that of Monti's centrist forces. "But if in some regions the center-left's victory is almost certain, in several others the outcome is undefined or presently in favor of the center-right," noted Renato Mannheimer, one of Italy's leading electoral analysts. Even assumed that the result would be in favor of Bersani's coalition in 13 regions, electoral competition in the uncertain ones, to a large extent those allocating more seats, is fundamental. The bottom line is that to deprive the center-left formation of an absolute majority within the Senate, it would be enough for Berlusconi to win Lombardy together with any of the other critical regions, said another renowned election expert and political science professor at LUISS University in Rome, Roberto D'Alimonte. According to political observers, should the PD-SEL coalition get a majority in the lower chamber but not in the Senate, it is likely that they will need the support of an extra force, and it is here that the Monti's group enters the game. Bersani, despite his alliance with more radical SEL, has kept open channels of communication with Monti, whose group includes the Union of the Center (UDC) and the Future and Freedom for Italy (FLI) moderate parties as well as a number of civil dignitaries outside the political sphere. Local media said there have been meetings between the two leaders over the past few days with the view of some kind of "anti-Berlusconi agreement." |
EU Mulls Gender Quotas to Crack Glass Ceiling
mock exam, mock 卷, dse mock - EU Mulls Gender Quotas to Crack Glass Ceiling |
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Francoise Roels is the only woman among 12 board members at Cofinimmo. But that's about to change. The top brass of the leading listed real-estate investor in Belgium will soon have a completely different set-up.
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