Buddah Lineage

WikiLeaks cables: Prince Andrew bats for Britain - at taxpayers' expense UK news guardian.co.uk: "Prince Andrew does brusque, blunt and boorish, but very rarely charming, especially to those in inferior social positions to himself and to journalists – even those who go to interview him about his mission as Britain's special representative for international trade. It is an occupation that takes the Duke of York around the world at taxpayers' expense and often by the most expensive form of transport. Not that public criticism, or the nickname Airmiles Andy, ever deters him from taking the next privately chartered jet, or helicopter to lift him over the traffic to a golf club. 'It's not the quickest way – it's the most cost-effective and sensible way to use the time I have available. I probably use the helicopter less than other members of the royal family,' he told the Daily Telegraph last year after taking a £2,000 helicopter flight from Windsor to Dea...

How taste for high life led public schoolboy to set up multi-million pound internet crime site - Telegraph: "Thousands of criminals were logging on to a 'cyber supermarket' where they could shop for stolen credit card details or learn how to manufacture illegal drugs – and even bombs. At its peak GhostMarket. Net had 8,500 members who bought and sold credit cards and bank account information worth millions of pounds and traded advice on committing and getting away with crimes. The information was used to rip off banks and retailers anywhere around the world. Innocent shoppers using the internet would find their pin numbers and passwords copied by cyber criminals who had infected home computers using special software. The details were then sold and modified on GhostMarket."

It emerged last night that the EU and the IMF will offer the Government an €85 billion facility which can be used to recapitalise the banks and fund the public finances. The package would see the level of capital in the Irish banks being increased from 8% to 12% in a move to bolster confidence of depositors in the financial system. Last week the IMF and EU team began intensive meetings with the Central Bank to re-shape the financial system for the future. Their plan would boost levels of capital in banks, to cushion against future loan losses. The 12% capital figure - a measure of how much funds the banks must hold in reserve - is significant by international standards. It is aimed at boosting confidence - particularly for depositors who are also covered by the EU bank guarantee. The money will come from an €85 billion facility provided by the EU and IMF. The remainder of the funds will be used to run the country on a day-to-day basis - perhaps over a two to three-year period. While th...

THE future of the euro is now at stake, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble warned yesterday as European officials prepared a bailout package for Ireland and bank shares plunged. Mr Schaeuble spoke as Spain became the latest country to come under pressure from the bond markets. "The uncertainty puts our common currency at stake," he said as pressure mounted on the Government here to pass a Budget to ease the threat to other weak eurozone countries. "If we can't defend this common currency as a sustainably stable currency the consequences would be incalculable," Mr Schaeuble said. "It's extraordinarily important to show that it's possible in Germany to do what we've promoted so often abroad," he said, referring to Berlin's plans to cut more than €80bn from its budget over the next four years. "We have every reason to continue decisively on this path," he added. German Chancellor Angela Merkel echoed his sentiments warnin...

The horrible truth starts to dawn on Europe's leaders – Telegraph Blogs : "entire European Project is now at risk of disintegration, with strategic and economic consequences that are very hard to predict. In a speech this morning, EU President Herman Van Rompuy (poet, and writer of Japanese and Latin verse) warned that if Europe’s leaders mishandle the current crisis and allow the eurozone to break up, they will destroy the European Union itself. “We’re in a survival crisis. We all have to work together in order to survive with the euro zone, because if we don’t survive with the euro zone we will not survive with the European Union,” he said."

"Even as the final details of the Irish rescue package are still being resolved, investors and economists are asking: 'Who's next?' The answer has been plain for some weeks – Portugal is the nation widely regarded as next most in need of assistance after Greece and Ireland, with Spain and, possibly, Italy following behind. There has been intense fear in Lisbon, Madrid and Brussels about what would happen even if Ireland's problems were not resolved rapidly."

BBC News - Prayers in Ireland ahead of budget plan : "finances. The Irish may not be as religious as they once were, but in churches right across the country on Sunday prayers were offered for the future of the country and its people. On Tuesday, the Irish government is expected to publish its four-year-plan aimed at getting its budget deficit down to 3% by 2014, in line with the rules of the Eurozone and agreements reached between Dublin and its European partners. It currently stands at 32% due to the amount spent on bailing out its banks to date. A worried people know that tax rises, spending cutbacks and probable privatisations are in the offing."