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Posts Tagged ‘Ireland’

No Wonder the Eurozone is Imploding

You might assume that the reason for the implosion in the Eurozone is a mystery. But it’s not.There Wouldn’t Be a Crisis Among Nations If Banks’ Toxic Gambling Debts Hadn’t Been Assumed by the World’s Central BanksThere wouldn’t be a crisis among natio…

Wide-spread worries

Spreads widen alarmingly on government bonds in troubled euro-area economies

GREECE’S debt was downgraded by Standard & Poor’s to “junk” status on Tuesday April 27th, driven in part by fears about delays in aid for Greece from the European Union and the IMF. The agency also cut Portugal’s debt rating by two notches. The moves provided another jolt to euro-area bond markets and added to worries that a bail-out for Greece, even if it came soon, would only delay a default. Contagion has already hit other troubled European economies. Yields on two-year Greek notes rose above 25% on Wednesday, from 4.6% a month ago. Spreads between ten-year Greek bonds and benchmark German bunds the day before spiked to nearly seven percentage points. Spreads also rose substantially for bonds issued by Portugal and Ireland, but only slightly for Italian and Spanish government debt.

Bouncing back

The housing recovery is now in full flow

FOR THE past 12 months The Economist’s data on housing markets has been dominated by falling prices. No longer. In half of the 20 countries we monitor, house prices are higher than they were a year ago. And in countries where house prices are still falling, the speed of that the fall is slowing everywhere except for Ireland. Indices in Singapore and Hong Kong suggest housing is around 25% more expensive than it was a year ago. In the most buoyant markets, governments are beginning to look at ways to help curb such froth. Our interactive house-price tool allows you to chart the ups and downs of house prices for 20 of the most important economies over several years (some of the indices go back to 1975). In addition, the chart lets readers compare house prices in real terms and against average incomes, providing ample fodder for arguments that the next crash is either imminent or nowhere in sight, depending on your point of view.

Click here for the interactive house-price chart. …

New car bombing in Northern Ireland

Dissident republican extremists in Northern Ireland are “hell-bent on killing police officers”. This is according a police chief, who made the warning on Friday after an overnight car bombing that left two people injured.

An extreme necessity

Greece’s request for aid from the euro zone and the IMF will provide only temporary relief

GREECE’S prime minister, George Papandreou, faced the television cameras on Friday 23rd April to anounce that his government would draw on emergency aid to tide it over for the rest of the year. Mr Papandreou decribed the rather embarassing request to to other euro zone members and the IMF as “an extreme necessity.” This followed a week in which yields on Greek bonds reached an alarming 8.9%. That in part reflected an announcement by Eurostat, the European statistics agency, that Greece’s budget deficit reached 13.6% of GDP in 2009, even worse than it had previously thought. The agency added that the number might be revised up again, owing to the poor quality of the available data. Moody’s, a credit-rating agency, responded by giving the latest of many downgrades by agencies to Greece’s sovereign bonds.

The interest rate for emergency aid from other members of the euro zone will be 3.5 percentage points above the benchmark “risk-free” rates for euro loans. That works out at around 5% for a fixed-rate loan, which is less than markets were asking of Greece before the deal was struck but still steep. Portugal and Ireland, the next-riskiest borrowers in the euro area, pay less than half as much for three-year money. Germany pays a mere 1.3%. …

Willy Vlautin: New Book Out Now

RICHMOND FONTAINE FRONTMAN NEW NOVEL LEAN ON PETE RELEASED APRIL
13

Richmond Fontaine

Tuesday April 13 was the official U.S. release date for the third novel from Richmond Fontaine‘s Willy
Vlautin
, Lean On Pete. It has been extremely well received so far in the U.K., Ireland and
Australia.

“As one boy’s journey, Lean on Pete is as real as blood: as a novel it is remarkable. Willy Vlautin, romantic
and realist, has written something special that will make you shudder, weep, rage and wonder at how such things
happen and do, and how some individuals such as Charley can suffer them, absorb the grief, and somehow survive. How good is contemporary U.S. fiction? This good: catch your breath good.” -Eileen Battersby, Irish Times

Willy is heading out on the road to do a bunch of readings. Support your local bookstore and come on out to a
reading. For a lucky couple of cities guitar man Dan Eccles and Willy will play as the RF Acoustic Duo. See
dates below and on Willy’s site.

More info on the novel here.

If you can’t make it to a reading but want to buy a personalized autographed copy of Lean on Pete, click here.

April 19 Brooklyn, NY @ Powerhouse Arena reading with HANNAH TINTI
April 21 Boston, MA @ Brookline Booksmith reading with JENNIFER HAIGH
April 27 Portland, OR @ Powell’s Books
April 28 Seattle, WA @ Elliott Bay Book Company
May 3 San Francisco @ Green Apple Books (Reading is at Edinburgh Castle and features Dan Eccles on guitar)
May 4 Reno, NV reading @ Sundance Books 6:30 PM
May 4 Reno, NV Richmond Fontaine acoustic duo (Willy and Dan) @ Ole Bridge Pub 9:00 PM
May 5 Salt Lake City, UT @ Sam Wellers 6:00 PM
May 5 Salt Lake City, UT Richmond Fontaine acoustic duo (Willy and Dan) @ The State Room 9:00 PM
May 6 Denver, CO @ Tattered Cover
May 11 Pasadena, CA @ Vromans
May 12 LA, CA @ Book Soup

May 21 Willy and Dan are heading to Australia! Tour dates to follow.

Richmond Fontaine Tour Dates ::
Richmond Fontaine News :: Richmond Fontaine Concert
Reviews


UN blasts Musharraf government for Bhutto death

A UN investigative report on the 2007 assassination of former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto has severely criticised the government headed by then-president Pervez Musharraf for failing to protect her despite publicly known threats.
Bhutto, twice a prime minister, died in a gun and bomb attack on Dec 27, 2007, when she appeared at an election [...]

Blowing its top

The odds on the next big volcanic eruption

ASH propelled into the atmosphere by the eruption of a volcano in Iceland led to cancelled flights and closed airspace in Britain, Ireland, Holland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland on Thursday April 15th. Eyjafjallajokull blasted clouds of ash several miles into the atmosphere on Wednesday night, which drifted south-east on the wind. Volcanic ash does not mix well with jet engines, hence the disruption. In addition to surprising airlines, Eyjafjallajokull caught bookmakers unawares. Paddy Power, an Irish bookie, had the odds on it erupting at 28-1. The odds are much shorter on other volcanoes around the world losing their lids.

Britain condemns bomb blast in N. Ireland

The British government condemned a car bomb attack on intelligence headquarters in Northern Ireland. The blast came just seconds after full police and justice powers were devolved to the troublesome province.

Prince to pay £2M over scrapped Irish gig

Prince has reportedly been ordered to pay 2 million pounds in damages over his decision to pull out of a 2008 concert in Ireland just days before the event.
The 51-year-old singer had landed in a legal dispute with bosses at Irish promotions company MCD after cancelling a show at Dublin’’s Croke Park in June 2008.
He [...]

Prince Ordered To Pay Irish Promoters $3 Million For Cancelled Concert

Prince cashflow troubles just keep getting tighter. A Dublin judge has ordered His Purpleness, now 51, to pay Irish concert promoters up to $2.95 million for pulling out of a concert in the eleventh hour.
High Court Justice Peter Kelly ruled that Prince entered a deal with Dublin promoters MCD Productions Ltd. to perform in [...]

Yukos haunts Rosneft: A spectre of litigation

Adverse court rulings are exhuming Russia’s most infamous expropriation

REMEMBER Yukos, Russia’s biggest oil firm, which was bankrupted by improbable tax claims and then dismembered in bogus auctions? The Russian government would rather that you did not. Although it has expunged Yukos from official registers, the firm’s ghost is haunting the Kremlin and its state oil company, Rosneft, which swallowed Yukos’s assets. In the past few weeks this ghost has been particularly active, making appearances in several European and American courts, demanding retribution and winning injunctions against Rosneft. Earlier this month an English court froze Rosneft’s local assets in a case brought by Yukos Capital, an offshore affiliate of Yukos. A week later a similar freezing order was imposed by a court in Ireland.

This is part of an effort by Yukos’s former managers to enforce an earlier Dutch court ruling that Rosneft should repay a loan of nearly $400m (plus interest and penalties), which it had acquired together with Yukos’s main production assets. The loan dates to 2004, when the Russian authorities simultaneously piled up billions of dollars worth of tax claims on Yukos and froze its assets and bank accounts, making it impossible for the oil company to make any tax payments. …

Pope apologizes for Irish priests’ sex abuse

Pope Benedict XVI has apologized to victims of child sex abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland.
In a pastoral letter to Irish Catholics, he acknowledged the sense of betrayal in the Church felt by victims and their families.

eWEEK Newsbreak Video March 12 2010

Google Android users can now use Opera Mini 5 on their smart phones. The new mobile browser includes features such as Speed Dial, tabbed browsing, and boosted speed. On March 4, Opera announced Opera Mini 5 beta for Windows Mobile 5.x and 6.x devices; Google has released Google Bike Directions. The new feature will let bikers in on the best route and give you insight into nearby biking trails; Intel showed off its Core i7-980X Extreme Edition, the chip makers first six-core CPU for consumers. Codenamed Gulftown, the Core i7-980X comes with more cores and computing threads, and a larger L3 cache, than the current i7-975, and all at the same price; NAS storage specialist Buffalo Technology recently linked up with NovaStor to provide cost-conscious businesses with backup software solutions. The alliance will bundle the companys NovaBackup data protection software with the entire portfolio of Buffalo’s network attached storage solutions; Nearly 70 million people worldwide claim Irish heritage. So today as we end this weeks Newsbreak, eWEEK Reporter Ashley Daley will leave you with images of the St. Patricks Day festival in Ireland.
– Video Content….


Pearl Jam: Midwest/E. Coast Tour Band of Horses To Support

PEARL JAM ANNOUNCES 11-DATE MIDWEST AND EAST COAST TOUR

Tickets on sale Friday, March 19 and Saturday, March 20

Pearl Jam

Pearl Jam announced today that they will play eleven Midwest and East Coast tour dates in May of 2010. The tour kicks-off on May 3 at Sprint Center in Kansas City and wraps on May 21 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Pearl Jam’s U.S. tour follows the band’s previously announced headlining appearance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation Festival on May 1.

Band of Horses will open all shows except the May 20 Madison Square Garden engagement, where The Black Keys will open. Show time for all concerts is 7:30 p.m.

Public tickets go on sale Friday and Saturday, March 19 and 20. (Check local concert listings.)

PEARL JAM’S 2010 U.S. TOUR DATES ARE AS FOLLOWS:

05.03 – Kansas City, MO – Sprint Center

05.04 – St. Louis, MO – Scottrade Center

05.06 – Columbus, OH – Nationwide Arena

05.07 – Noblesville, IN – Verizon Wireless Music Center

05.09 – Cleveland, OH – Quicken Loans Arena

05.10 – Buffalo, NY – HSBC Arena

05.13 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live

05.15 – Hartford, CT – XL Center

05.17 – Boston, MA – TD Garden

05.18 – TBD – TBD

05.20 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden

05.21 – New York, NY – Madison Square Garden

Pearl Jam recently announced that they will also play a series of select European festival and headlining tour dates in June and July of 2010. The band’s European dates kick off in Dublin, Ireland at the 02 Arena and close at the Optimus Alive Festival in Oeiras, Portugal. Pearl Jam’s tour dates are in support of their ninth studio album, Backspacer. Released on September 20, 2009 in the U.S. and September 21, 2009 internationally, Backspacer debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 Chart.

Pearl Jam Tour Dates :: Pearl Jam News :: Pearl Jam Concert Reviews


Hire or fire?

Where employers are most optimistic, and pessimistic

IN 27 out of 36 countries surveyed by Manpower, an employment-services firm, more companies said they expected to add jobs in the three months to the end of June than said they reckoned on reducing their workforce. The difference between the proportion of hirers and firers was highest in Brazil and India. Throughout Asia companies have become more optimistic about hiring than they were a year ago, most dramatically in Singapore but only slightly in Japan. Things look less rosy in Europe. In several countries, including Spain and Ireland, more companies expect to see cuts to their workforce than expect it to grow. Of the four countries where the outlook has darkened, three are in Europe.

Herbie Hancock New Album w/ Matthews, Jeff Beck, Trucks

HERBIE HANCOCK’S THE IMAGINE PROJECT SET FOR RELEASE JUNE 22

CD AND DOCUMENTARY RECORDED AROUND THE GLOBE AND WILL BE ACCOMPANIED

BY TOUR DATES TO COINCIDE WITH HANCOCK’S 70TH BIRTHDAY

Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock‘s The Imagine Project, the new CD from multiple Grammy-winning artist and musical pioneer Herbie Hancock, is an unprecedented international recording and film project featuring collaborations between music legend Herbie Hancock and over a dozen superstars from every region of the planet. Utilizing the universal language of music to express its central themes of peace and global responsibility, the musical collaborations combine Hancock’s genre-defying musical vision with the “local” musical identity of cultures from around the world. Additionally, noted Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney (“Taxi To The Dark Side”) is serving as one of the film’s producers with veteran music producer Larry Klein serving as one of the album’s producing consultants. The Imagine Project is set for release June 22, 2010 via Hancock Records/RED.

Tracks include “The Song Goes On” with Anoushka Shankar (sitarist daughter of Ravi Shankar), Chaka Khan and Wayne Shorter which was recorded in Mumbai, India, along with a stellar group of Indian musicians; “Don’t Give Up,” a duet with guitarist extraordinaire Jeff Beck recorded in London featuring Seal and Pink, “Imagine” with Konono No. 1, Jeff Beck, Oumou Sangare and Lionel Loueke recorded in Paris and London; “Tamatant Tilay/Exodus” featuring Tinariwen, “Times They Are A Changin’” featuring The Chieftains, Lionel Loueke and Lisa Hannigan recorded in Ireland; “Jackpot” with Dave Matthews and Marcus Miller, “Space Captain” with Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, “Mi Tierra” recorded with Latin superstar Juanes in Miami and a track with Brazilian singer-songwriter Ceu recorded in São Paulo.

While the CD and film will stand, on one level, as powerful testaments for the goals of world peace, humanity and tolerance along with respect for our planet, Herbie Hancock’s The Imagine Project shall remain, at its core, entertainment content that is creatively and emotionally deeply fulfilling.

Herbie Hancock Tour Dates :: Herbie Hancock News :: Herbie Hancock Concert Reviews


Kathy Ireland Defends Loopy Behavior On Oscars Red Carpet

Kathy Ireland’s isn’t quitting her day job after channeling her inner Paula Abdul with a stiff presentatio as one of ABC’s Oscars red carpet correspondents at this weekend’s Academy Awards.

The 46-year-old former supermodel shocked viewers Sunday night as she awkwardly interviewed Precious star Gabourey Sidibe and heartthrob Zac Efron, leading thousands to question her behavior [...]

The end of the show?

Tumbling corporate-tax rates

CORPORATE-TAX rates in OECD countries have fallen remorselessly over the past 30 years. A survey by Robert Carroll of American University in Washington, DC, found that the top rate in OECD countries (excluding America) had dropped from 51% in the early 1980s to 32% by 2009. Competition among countries to attract business and with it bring employment was fierce in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Ireland reduced its corporate-tax rate to just 12.5% and chose not to raise it last year during an emergency budget. Such differentials may not last long. High-tax European governments have complained in the past about competition from countries such as Ireland and the current economic crisis may lead to more calls for co-ordination of tax policies.

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra: Tour/Album

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra Premiere Video and Announce U.S. Tour
in Support of New Album, Kollaps Tradixionales

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra (SMZ) returns with its sixth full-length recording and first since the band’s lineup change in summer 2008. Having shed three members and recruiting a new drummer, the group officially dropped the “Tra-La-La Band” from its name, played a debut performance as a newly minted quintet at All
Tomorrow’s Parties in upstate NY, and embarked on an extensive European tour through the Fall of 2008. As Kollaps Tradixionales ably demonstrates, the band has lost none of its raw and frazzled anthemic power and continues to forge bold new ground in its search for a unique hybrid of punk, blues, psych, folk and modern orchestral idioms.

Kollaps Tradixionales is available on standard CD (in a custom gatefold paperboard jacket) and limited-edition deluxe CD (which is packaged together with a 6″x9″ 16-page perfect-bound art book and poster). The album also comes in a deluxe first pressing on double 10″ vinyl, with the art book, a CD copy, and two different posters
inside. The album is also available digitally. You can purchase the album here.

Kollaps Tradixionales Track List:
1. There Is A Light
2. I Built Myself A Metal Bird
3. I Fed My Metal Bird The Wings Of Other Metal Birds
4. Kollapz Tradixional (Thee Olde Dirty Flag)
5. Collapse Traditional (For Darling)
6. Kollaps Tradicional (Bury 3 Dynamos)
7. ‘Piphany Rambler

Tour Dates:

Europe

03/16 – Bristol, England – The Fleece
03/17 – Birmingham, England – Asylum
03/18 – Dublin, Ireland – The Button Factory
03/19 – Glasgow, Scotland – The Arts School
03/21 – Manchester, England – Academy 3
03/22 – Leeds, England – TJ’s Woodhouse Club
03/23 – London, England – Electric Ballroom
03/24 – Nottingham, England – Rescue Rooms
03/25 – Sheffield, England – Corporation
03/26 – Oxford, England – The Regal
03/27 – Brighton, England – St. George’s Church
03/30 – Rennes, France – Ubu
03/31 – Paris, France – Alhambra
04/01 – Reims, France – Cartonnerie
04/02 – Brussels, Belgium – Botanique
04/03 – Zottegem, Belgium (Dunkfestival)
04/04 – Munich, German – Feierwerk
04/06 – Padova, Italy – Unwound
04/07 – Rome, Italy – Circolo Degli Artisti
04/08 – Bologna, Italy – Locomotive
04/09 – Torino, Italy – Spazio 211
04/10 – Arezzo, Italy – Karemaski
04/11 – Varese, Italy – Twiggy
04/13 – Toulouse, France – Le Bikini
04/14 – Marseille, France – Espace Julien
04/15 – Nice, France – Theatre Lino Ventura
04/16 – Montpelier, France – La Taf
94/17 – Lausanne, Switzerland – Impetus Festival
04/18 – Luzern, Switzerland – Schurr
04/20 – Zurich, Switzerland – Rote Fabrik
04/21 – Lyon, France – Grnd Zero
04/22 – Paris, France – Alhambra
04/23 – Lille, France – Le Splendid
04/24 – Groningen, Netherlands – Vera
04/25 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso

North America

05/13 – Cambridge, MA – Middle East Downstairs
05/15 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall Of Wiliamsburg
05/16 – New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
05/17 – Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church Sanctuary
05/18 – Baltimore, MD – Ottobar
05/19 – Washington DC – Black Cat
05/20 – Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
05/21 – Asheville, NC – Grey Eagle Tavern
05/22 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl
05/24 – Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge
05/25 – Newport, KY – Southgate House
05/26 – Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall
05/27 – Chicago, IL – Schuba’s
05/28 – Pontiac, MI – Crofoot Ballroom
05/29 – Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace
05/31 – Ottawa, ON – Mayfair Theatre