Moody’s cuts ratings of 16 Spanish banks

AFP Photo / Joel Saget

Source: Russia Today
http://rt.com/business/news/moodys-spain-banks-ratings-cut-518/

The European banking industry has suffered another crushing blow after Moody’s ratings agency downgraded the credit ratings of 16 Spanish banks, citing the weakened government’s ability to support some banks.

The agency downgraded the long-term debt and deposit ratings by one to three notches for 16 Spanish banks and Santander UK PLC, a UK-domiciled subsidiary of Banco Santander SA.

Among those downgraded on Thursday are Spain's two largest banks, Banco Santander (Spain) SA and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA.

The debt and deposit ratings declined by one notch for five banks, by two notches for three banks and by three notches for nine banks. The short-term ratings for 13 banks have also been downgraded between one and two notches, triggered by the long-term ratings changes.

The outlooks on the debt and deposit ratings for ten of the 17 banks downgraded today are now negative. For the remaining seven banks affected by today's actions, their ratings remain on review for a further downgrade.

Also on Thursday, Moody’s downgraded the ratings of the Spanish regions of Catalunya, Murcia, Andalucia and Extremadura due to their poor fiscal performance in 2011 and the low probability that the regional governments will be able to meet the 2012 deficit target set by the central government.

The Spanish downgrade comes shortly after the agency cut the ratings of 26 Italian banks on May 14, including Italy’s largest, UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo. Moody’s dropped its long-term debt and deposit ratings for financial institutions due to the recession, tough austerity measures and €1.9 trillion of outstanding public debt. This resulted in lower loan demand and more loan losses for Italian banks.

The move comes as no surprise. Moody’s has been poised to cut the ratings cut since February, when the agency announced it was planning to downgrade 122 European financial institutions by May.

The ratings of 114 banks and nine investment banks from 16 European countries were put under consideration, with the downgrade risks mainly relating to the eurozone periphery.

Israeli spy held in Algeria with false passport

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=122164§ionid=351020506


Algerian forces have arrested an Israeli spy with a false Spanish passport amid the international outcry over use of forged passports by Mossad agents in terrorist operations.

Algerian officials say the agent who used the name of Alberto Vagilo was arrested ten days after he arrived in the North African country.

Security sources note that the agent entered south Algeria in mid-March from Barcelona in Spain.

According to the sources, he had passed himself off as a 35-year-old Spanish man.

Earlier, it was reported that an al-Qaeda-linked group had abducted a Spanish citizen only to be denied later by Algerian and Spanish authorities. That person turned out to be the alleged spy.

The new arrest was made not long after Israeli agents assassinated a high-ranking Hamas official in Dubai.

Last week, Britain expelled a senior Israeli diplomat amid a diplomatic row with Tel Aviv over the use of UK passports to plot the assassination.

Letters from Spanish children draw Israeli ire

Source: PressTV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=119765&sectionid=351020202


Tel Aviv is seriously angered by letters from Spanish children urging Israel to 'stop killing Palestinians' and has accused Madrid of favoring 'anti-Semitism' in schools.

Israel expressed 'distress' on Sunday after its embassy in Madrid was flooded with hundreds of letters from schoolchildren protesting Tel Aviv's conduct toward the Palestinians.

One letter directed at Israel's envoy in Madrid, Rafael Shotz, asked, "How many Palestinians have you murdered today?"

"Mr. Ambassador, you should think about not killing Palestinian children and the elderly. I don't know if it doesn't bother you, having to murder people. You should leave Palestine," read another.

Officials within Israel's Foreign Ministry said the handwriting appears typical of children six to nine years of age and criticized Spanish authorities for condoning activities by "anti-Semitic and anti-Israel individuals who gain permission to operate within schools."

The Israelis were, moreover, perplexed by the different sources of the profuse letters, saying that "it seems as though whoever was doing this was moving from school to school," Haaretz reported.

Despite an earlier decision to summon Spain's Ambassador to Israel Alvaro Iranzo, the Israeli Foreign Ministry opted instead to call the official by telephone on Sunday to complain about the issue.

"Israel is greatly distressed," Naor Gilon, foreign ministry deputy director for Europe, told Iranzo. However, the Spanish side argued that the letters were not part of any Spanish Education Ministry program, but the initiative by private citizens.

Israel has sealed all border crossings to Gaza Strip for years, in a move widely condemned as a collective punishment of Palestinians. The blockade, tightened since 2007, exerts a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the populated coastal enclave which is home to some 1.5 million Palestinians.

Turning a deaf ear to calls for easing the siege, Israel launched three weeks of relentless airstrikes and ground incursions into the Gaza Strip on the last days of 2008, leaving well over 1400 people — mainly women and children — killed.