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| Sanctions Boomerang |
 THERE'S an old saying, attributed
to the British Foreign Office in
colonial days: "Keep the Persians
hungry, and the Arabs fat." For
the British - then the stewards of
Persian destiny - that was the formula
for maintaining calm; it still is for Saudi
Arabian leaders ... |
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| STATES OF
DEPRESSION |
 THE economic news is looking
better lately. But after previous
false starts - remember
"green shoots"? - it would be
foolish to assume that all is
well. And in any case, it's still a very
slow economic recovery by historical
standards.
There are several reasons for this
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Spanish govt aims to defuse row over cuts
REUTERS MADRID SPAIN’S centre-right government moved on Tuesday to head off any potential rebellion by the country’s 17 autonomous regions over cost-cutting measures that are key to retaining credibility with its eurozone peers and financial markets.
Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro met with the financial heads from all of the regions on Tuesday to drive home the message of austerity.
The regions account for close to half of all public spending - the biggest parts of their budgets go on health and education - and almost all of them widely overshot their spending targets last year.
Spain’s country risk, as measured by the spread between its borrowing cost and that of Germany, overtook Italy’s this week as concerns have grown on whether the regions, with a combined deficit of 30 billion euros, can tighten their belts.
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