Daimler expands commercial production in Brazil

FRANKFURT – German automotive group Daimler AG says it will expand commercial vehicle production through its Mercedes-Benz plant in Juiz de Fora in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil, starting in 2011.

The Stuttgart-based company did not provide details Tuesday about cost, or what models it might produce, but said it was increasing capacity because of sales growth in Latin American markets, especially in Brazil. Daimler says it expects to increase the number of jobs there, but wasn't more specific cheap business cards.

Daimler announced earlier this month that it would expand production at its Sao Bernardo do Campo truck and bus plant, near Sao Paulo.

Daimler is the world's biggest truckmaker with brands including Mercedes-Benz, Freightliner and Mitsubishi-Fuso.

Daimler expands commercial production in Brazil

Hot News: Japan auto production surges in February

WTO boss warns EU to sharpen its G20 voice

BRUSSELS (AFP) – WTO chief Pascal Lamy on Sunday told EU participants to sort out first who will argue for what at June's G20 summit in Toronto, otherwise "nobody" will listen.

"The frank reality is that it does not make sense," the former EU trade commissioner said of seven European Union seats at the summit, after the bloc's new president Herman Van Rompuy also secured his ticket at last week's EU summit.

"If one European takes the floor, and then another European... nobody listens," the World Trade Organization boss told a Brussels conference.

He said the "right solution, if I may, is to at least make sure they speak with one mouth -- not one voice -- on each topic on the agenda."

Lamy, who occupies the WTO's own seat in the G20, said he was "sure that's what Van Rompuy is trying to get to," but warned that "if it doesn't translate into one mouth, it doesn't work."

Britain, France, Germany and Italy are each members of the Group of 20 major and developing economies seen as the forum for deciding how the world acts to avert repeat economic crises.

Spain, as rotating EU presidency, will also attend the Toronto summit, where leaders will try to agree how to regulate the finance industry and examine ideas such as whether a global levy on financial transactions could deliver insurance against future recessions payday loan company.

The European Commission meanwhile has a seat in the name of the 27-nation EU, which is a member in its own right, and now Van Rompuy has managed to obtain a place at the top table as well as the bloc's appointed chair.

The issue of how much weight Europe's collective voice should be given has stirred debate among countries struggling to be heard at G20 level, although national interests often collide with EU perspectives, for instance where Britain's financial sector is concerned.

Robert Hormats, US under-secretary of state for economic, energy and agricultural affairs, while stressing that representation was for the Europeans to sort out themselves, nevertheless gave his opinion that on trade matters, saying Europe is "more effective" because it "does speak with one voice".

WTO boss warns EU to sharpen its G20 voice

Hot News: NYC recession proves shallower than expected: study

ECB chief supports EUs Greek rescue plan

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Jean-Claude Trichet, the head of the European Central Bank, hailed an EU plan to offer financial relief to Greece jointly with the IMF, as both "workable" and "courageous".

"I'm happy that the heads of state and government could work out a solution to take coordinated action if needed," Trichet said after leaders of the 27-nation bloc approved an unprecedented EU-IMF tie-up to offer loans to Greece as "a last resort".

"It's a workable solution," Trichet said, adding that it had also been a "courageous one".

He added, however, that due to Athens' current bid to reduce its ballooning deficit and debt, "I am confident the mechanism worked out today will not need to be activated and that Greece will regain the confidence of the market."

Trichet also came back on comments he made earlier in the day which appeared to criticise recourse by the European Union for the first time in its history to the IMF personal loans for bad credit.

He had said that "if the International Monetary Fund or any other body takes action instead of the eurogroup, instead of the governments... this is obviously very, very bad.

"All sign of a lack of responsibility on behalf of the members of the eurozone is bad in my eyes," he had added in an interview to a French television network recorded before the deal was brokered.

Speaking later at a press conference following the announcement of the rescue plan, in which the EU has a majority role, Trichet said "this solution proves the responsibility of the euro area".

ECB chief supports EU's Greek rescue plan

Lloyds of London to Join Study for Another Insurance Market in New York

Coming off a record year for profits, the chief executive of Lloyd’s of London said Wednesday that the storied insurance group is participating in a study looking at creating a similar market in New York.

Lloyd’s said its annual pretax profit soared last year to a record £3.9 billion, or about $5.8 billion, more than double the 2008 profit of £1.9 billion. Results were aided by relatively light damage from Atlantic hurricanes and better investment performance.

But Richard Ward, Lloyd’s chief executive, warned in an interview that it would be hard for Lloyd’s to maintain its profitability at last year’s level.

And Lloyd’s is facing a possible challenge from Wall Street, after Governor David A. Paterson of New York in January announced that his administration was working to create an international insurance exchange modeled on Lloyd’s. New York failed in an earlier attempt to create such an exchange nearly three decades ago.

Mr. Ward said that Lloyd’s was participating in a working group on setting up such a market with the New York insurance commissioner, James J. Wrynn, and that the group was to issue its report in September.

“It’s a challenging time to be setting up an insurance entity, considering the downward pressure on rates and oversupply in the market,” Mr. Ward said, adding that it was “far too early” to say if Lloyds would participate in the ultimate project, whatever form it might take.

For now, Mr. Ward said, “Lloyds is at the center of the insurance market and London is the preeminent city for insurance. There’s no other place like it.”

“The strength of London,” he added, “is that we have the cluster effect of 50,000 people working in insurance around the Lloyd’s building.”

Owned by its members and unlisted, Lloyd’s is actually a marketplace rather than a company, describing itself as “a society of members which underwrite insurance (each for their own account) as members of syndicates on line pay day loans.”

Mr. Ward noted that Lloyd’s generated an investment return of £1.8 billion in 2009, but was unlikely to repeat that performance in the current climate. Further, results were bolstered by the release of reserves from prior years, he said, something that cannot be counted on in 2010.

But the most important factor expected to affect profitability, Mr. Ward said, is that 2010 is unlikely to be as disaster-free, relatively speaking, as 2009, which had the lowest number of number of named Atlantic hurricanes since 1996.

“We’ve already had the Haitian and Chilean earthquakes already this year,” he said, “and hurricane season hasn’t even started.”

The insurance industry will be only minimally affected by the Haitian quake, he said, because despite the scale of disaster, there is little insurance coverage on the poor island. The Chilean quake will ultimately cost the industry $6 billion to $10 billion, he estimated, of which “we’ll pick up a small amount.”

Lloyd’s noted in a statement that there were “few, if any, significant failures among insurance businesses in the year,” and said those insurers that were hurt by the financial crisis “saw their capital levels largely replenished as confidence was restored and stock market values increased.”

The insurer said its combined ratio, which sets the cost of claims and expenses against net premiums, was 86.1 percent in 2009, down from 91.3 percent in 2008. A ratio of 100 percent represents break even, while a ratio lower than 100 percent shows an underwriting profit.

Lloyd's of London to Join Study for Another Insurance Market in New York

Market Snapshot: U.S. stocks lower on weak oil, political jitters

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- U.S. stocks opened lower on Monday as slipping oil prices dragged down energy stocks and passage of a landmark health-care bill left investors fretting over what Congress will target next.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was recently down 26 points, or 0.2%, at 10,716 in early trading. Alcoa led the measure's declines, with the aluminum giant down 2.3%. General Electric was also weak, down 1.3%.

The Dow's pharmaceutical components were among the very few stocks in the black on Monday, as drug-makers are expected to profit from the expansion of health-care coverage. Merck rose 0.3%, while Pfizer climbed 1.1%.

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The Nasdaq Composite fell 0.4%, while the Standard & Poor's 500-share index also slipped 0.4%. The energy sector posted the biggest drop, as crude-oil prices fell below $79 per barrel.

Health-care was the only component in the black, after the House of Representatives on Sunday voted along party lines to approve a historic health-care overhaul bill promising to bring health insurance to 32 million Americans and dramatically refashioning the industry's regulation.

Hospital operator Tenet Healthcare rose 6.1%, while insurers UnitedHealth gained 2% and managed-care provider WellPoint rose 1.8%.

Investors said while the market had largely already braced itself for the bill's passage, several of the new taxes approved to pay for the bill are now raising concerns easy payday loans. The health-care bill includes a 3.8% Medicare tax on investment income and a 0.9% surtax on earned income for the most affluent taxpayers.

And with health-care passed, Congress may now have time to focus on financial regulatory reform, which could impact the market more sharply and quicker than the health bill, most of whose provisions will go into effect in 2014.

"I'm afraid that Congress is going to be laser-locked on financial regulatory reform and that's more meaningful for the market," said Jamie Cox, managing partner of Harris Financial Group. "Financial regulatory reform, once passed, would really wreak havoc on the financial system."

Bank of America was recently down 1%, while J.P. Morgan slipped 0.5%.

The dollar weakened against the yen, but strengthened against the euro after German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a radio station that markets shouldn't expect a Greek aid package when European leaders gather later this week. Meanwhile, Treasurys advanced, with the 10-year note up 7/32 to yield 3.666%. Gold futures also declined.

Among stocks in focus, Williams-Sonoma climbed 6.7% after reporting better-than-forecast earnings and hiking its dividend by 8%. Jeweler Tiffany dropped 4%, as its quarterly earnings missed expectations.

American International Group fell 3.7% as former CEO Hank Greenberg's Starr International said it would sell up to 10 million of its shares in the insurer for $278 million to UBS.

American depositary shares of Credit Suisse dropped 3.8% after restricting banker travel to Germany, following an investigation by the country into 1,100 customers and staff.

Market Snapshot: U.S. stocks lower on weak oil, political jitters

Obama calls on Congress to pass finance reform

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama said Saturday that Congress needs to enact comprehensive financial reforms to protect consumers, keep banks strong and ensure the U.S. economy doesn't sink into another Great Depression.

In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said "we need commonsense rules that will our allow markets to function fairly and freely while reining in the worst practices of the financial industry."

That, he said, is the central lesson of the current financial crisis that has cost millions of Americans their jobs and nearly caused the collapse of the entire financial system.

"And we fail to heed that lesson at our peril," Obama said.

The Senate Banking Committee is set to begin debate on a more than 1,300-page bill authored by its chairman, Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., that would give the government unprecedented powers to split up firms that threaten the economy, force the industry to pay for its most spectacular failures and create an independent consumer watchdog free business cards.

Already, Obama said, industry lobbyists are gearing up to spend millions of dollars in an attempt to defeat the legislation.

"In fact, the Republican leader in the House reportedly met with a top executive of one of America's largest banks and made thwarting reform a key part of his party's pitch for campaign contributions," Obama said.

The president said he remains a "vigorous defender" of free markets.

"But what we have seen over the past two years is that without reasonable and clear rules to check abuse and protect families, markets don't function freely," he said.

___

On the Net:

Obama address: http://www.whitehouse.gov

Obama calls on Congress to pass finance reform

Hot News: Revival of beleaguered US housing market hits snowstorm

Apple director, ex-auto exec York hospitalized

DETROIT – A spokeswoman says Apple Inc. board member and former auto industry executive Jerome York has been hospitalized in Pontiac, Mich.

The Wall Street Journal says York had a brain aneurysm on Tuesday and is gravely ill.

A spokeswoman for POH Regional Medical Center confirms the 71-year-old York is in the hospital but has no further information.

York worked for all three Detroit automakers starting in the 1960s. He helped Chrysler survive its first government bailout in 1980 and later helped oversee costs cuts and a return to profitability at the automaker paydayloans. He made similar moves as IBM Corp.'s chief financial officer in the 1990s.

He also advised investor Kirk Kerkorian in a later takeover attempt of Chrysler and in efforts to reform GM.

Apple director, ex-auto exec York hospitalized

Snowstorm hits US housing market revival

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Construction of new houses in the United States slumped in February on freezing temperatures across the nation, breaking a rally that spurred hopes of a rapid recovery for the battered sector.

New construction starts were down 5.9 percent in February versus the month before, the Commerce Department said Tuesday, as analysts saw bad weather once again clouding their view of how well the US economy was recovering.

"It was tough to get the shovels into the ground in February so not surprisingly, home construction fell," said Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors.

"It will be nice to get through the weather-driven February data so we can start getting a better picture of what is really going on in the economy."

This February's construction figures were enough to beat market expectations, but not adequate to top a drastically revised estimate of how many homes were built in January 2010 quick guaranteed personal loans.

The Commerce Department said constructors broke ground on 611,000 new homes in January, more than the previous estimate of 591,000.

An estimated 575,000 new homes were built in February, up 0.2 percent from the same month a year before, when the housing market was still recoiling from the battering sustained by the subprime crisis.

The US housing sector is seen as key to getting the US economy back on its feet.

Looking to future construction, the Commerce Department said the number of new building permits issued fell 1.2 percent in February versus January, but was 11.3 percent higher than the year before.

Snowstorm hits US housing market revival

Conn. would waive student loans in green jobs

HARTFORD, Conn. – Connecticut is considering legislation to erase a portion of college debt for students who work in green technology and other industries.

The state wants to boost its work force in high-growth green technology, life sciences and health information technology.

Under the proposal, it would forgive as much as $2,500 of education loans annually for up to four years, or 5 percent of loans, whichever is less.

Students would have to earn a bachelor's or associate's degree and work in Connecticut in those industries for at least two years default payday loan.

States have forgiven loans in areas such as medicine, but Connecticut's proposal could break new ground in green technology. One problem: Officials must define exactly what green jobs are.

Conn. would waive student loans in 'green' jobs

Hot News: Runaway Prius case presents nagging questions

Oil settles near $81 after mixed economic news

NEW YORK – Oil prices ended the week lower following mixed economic reports that kept investors on edge about the outlook for improving energy demand.

On Friday benchmark crude for April delivery slid 87 cents to settle at $81.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices jumped as high as $83.16 earlier, after the Commerce Department reported a surprise increase in February retail sales and the International Energy Agency said world energy demand this year could be better than previously thought.

The IEA, based in Paris, predicted in its monthly report that oil demand will average 86.6 million barrels a day this year, or 1.6 million barrels a day more than in 2009, up slightly from last month's forecast.

PFGBest analyst Phil Flynn said IEA's report of "astonishing" demand growth out of China pushed prices higher before traders backed off.

"That's the third report this week that showed China's demand growth is going to be strong," said Flynn.

Still, he thinks China's growth raises concerns. "The bottom line is the Chinese government is leading the global economy out of a recession, but if they end up popping, everyone will feel the reverberations," said Flynn.

U.S. retail sales rose 0.3 percent in February. Analysts expected a decline of 0.2 percent. The increase was the biggest since November and provided some hope that the recovery from the Great Recession is picking up speed.

One energy analyst warned that consumers may be spending a little more, but are still worried about their jobs and losing their homes to foreclosure no faxing payday loans. "A return to pre-recession profligacy appears out of the question, for the moment," said Mike Fitzpatrick of MF global.

This week a few economic data points nudged oil back and forth, but for the most part prices held steady in a tight range, settling between $81.24 per barrel on Friday and $82.11 on Thursday. Flynn said traders are waiting for more significant economic news to guide their plays, with next week's Federal Reserve meeting and the OPEC ministers meeting in Vienna on their radar.

Many motorists paid more at the pump this week, as retail gasoline prices increased for the fifth straight day. The nationwide average rose 0.7 cents to $2.783 per gallon, according to AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.

Gasoline prices have risen 14.2 cents in the last month and are now 85.2 cents higher than levels of a year ago.

In other Nymex trading in April contracts, heating oil fell 2.1 cents to settle at $2.094 a gallon, and gasoline lost 1.7 cents to settle at $2.255 a gallon. Natural gas gave up 4 cents to settle at $4.4 per 1,000 cubic feet. Earlier it hit a 52-week low of $4.412 per 1,000 cubic feet.

In London, Brent crude fell 89 cents to settle at $79.39 on the ICE futures exchange.

___

Associated Press writers Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal and Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.

Oil settles near $81 after mixed economic news

Corker: Payday lenders have no bank bill carve out

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- There will be no special exemptions for payday lenders in sweeping bank reform legislation under consideration on Capitol Hill, said a key lawmaker on Wednesday.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., a member of the Senate Banking Committee that is crafting the legislation, refuted reports that payday lenders and other non-banks would be treated more favorably than community banks and credit unions in the bill.

"There is no carve-out for payday lenders," Corker said at a National Journal Financial Services event. Corker is working with banking panel chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., to come up with a bipartisan deal on financial reform. "The goal is to ensure that rules that are established apply to everybody involved in financial activity," said Corker.

White House Pushes for Passing of Health Bill

The President's final push on health care reform may be creating a big rift with Democrats in Congress, Fox News' Doug Luzader reports. Courtesy of Fox News.

At issue is whether payday lenders will come under the oversight of a broad consumer protection unit that would write rules for mortgages and credit card products.

The Independent Community Bankers of America is writing a letter to lawmakers on Capitol Hill that would oppose any exemptions for payday lenders from the consumer protection unit, according to ICBA Senior Vice President Chris Cole.

The ICBA is worried that community banks could be subject to the heightened oversight and costs of a consumer protection unit, while payday lenders, who offer high-risk, short-term cash loans to low income individuals, are not.

One possible approach reportedly being considered by lawmakers is for payday lenders to be exempted from the consumer unit but maintain existing state oversight as well as additional oversight from the Federal Trade Commission.

Center for Economic and Policy Research co-director Dean Baker argues that a consumer agency could cap the interest rate that payday lenders charge and require these companies to disclose their fee structure that is often hidden in the fine print. Only a consumer agency that could write rules for payday lenders nationally could craft a national cap.

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., another key member of the Senate Banking panel, said senators are "on the verge of getting a bipartisan approach that appropriately enhances consumer protection." Lawmakers are discussing whether to house the consumer agency within the Federal Reserve or another bank regulator. Warner said he isn't sure the Fed is where it should be housed, adding "I do think there is a solution here."

How to dismantle a failed mega-bank?

As part of the bank reform legislation, senators are also putting the final touches on a measure that would create a process to let a behemoth financial institution collapse in a way that avoids a repeat of the collateral damage to the markets that occurred when Lehman Brothers imploded in 2008 cheap business cards.

However, a key sticking point is whether Congress will charge big banks an upfront fee to cover costs of this resolution, or have those fees collected from the industry after the fact.

Corker indicated that funds would have to be made available to provide a failing institution with enough working capital to continue to operate for a period so that it can be collapsed in a way that doesn't unsettle the markets.

"There is a short period of time when the lights have to be on and the people who are working there continue to get paid, payroll has to be made, there has to be some working capital that will be repaid upon selling off the assets," Corker said

Corker said that these costs can be recouped by having the company sell assets.

Warner said he is not yet ready to lay out whether the Senate bill would charge banks in advance to create a fund for such a resolution, or seek to collect the costs after the fact.

However, the House bill would tax big banks to create a $150 billion fund that would be used to fund such a dismantling.

The House legislation sets up a mechanism for the government to dole out funds to creditors, debtholders and counterparties of the failed bank so they don't collapse as well. Investors at the failed mega-bank would be required to take some losses, but the government would make sure their losses weren't so severe that they would collapse.

Warner said the resolution process would be a matter of last resort and used rarely, and Corker added that there would be some strong bankruptcy language in the bill.

"When someone enters Chapter 11 bankruptcy they have the ability to emerge from it," Corker said. "When someone enters this resolution mechanism, it will be far more painful than bankruptcy."

Corker added that in the event of another massive financial crisis, where two or three institutions fail, the Treasury Department would need to "come back to Congress," and seek funds to cover the costs of stabilizing the system. That approach goes against the proposal made by the Treasury, which sought the ability to inject as many funds as they need to stabilize the financial crisis, with the ability to recoup the costs after-the-fact from the banking industry.

"That [Treasury's proposal] is probably not a good solution, that means Treasury would have access to unlimited taxpayer dollars," he said.

As the economic crisis expanded in late 2008, the Treasury Department asked Congress to approve legislation to create a $700 billion bank bailout fund. Congress approved legislation in October, 2008, but only after a bill to create the fund was rejected House in September, 2008. The September rejection led to a one-day loss of about $1.2 trillion in market value in stocks.

Corker: Payday lenders have no bank bill carve out

Hot News: Iceland Voters Set to Reject Debt Deal

Summary Box: Avoiding fraud artists in tax season

ON ALERT: In tax season, online criminals often send phony e-mails that claim to be from the Internal Revenue Service.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR: Such messages often ask you to supply personal information so you can get your refund or speed up your return. But the e-mails instead may be tools for identify theft. If they trick you into opening attachments or visiting a bogus Web site, they can install malicious software on your computer guaranteed approval cash loans.

STAY SAFE: Never supply your personal information, such as Social Security numbers or credit card numbers, to anyone e-mailing you for it. The IRS doesn't discuss tax matters over e-mail.

Summary Box: Avoiding fraud artists in tax season

Obama turns up heat for health care overhaul plan

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is trying to persuade a weary public and wavering Democrats to get behind his frantic, late-stage push on health care, while Republicans dig in and demand starting from scratch after a year's worth of work.

"Now, despite all the progress and improvements we've made, Republicans in Congress insist that the only acceptable course on health care is to start over. But you know what? The insurance companies aren't starting over," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address Saturday.

"I just met with some of them on Thursday, and they couldn't give me a straight answer as to why they keep arbitrarily and massively raising premiums — by as much as 60 percent in states like Illinois. If we do not act, they will continue to do this."

Republicans were not swayed.

"It's not too late: We can, and we must, stop this government takeover of health care," said Rep. Parker Griffith, a retired physician and a first-term congressman from Alabama who switched parties in December and delivered the GOP message.

The competing addresses underscored the urgency behind Obama's last-ditch push for immediate health care reform. Without a victory — and quickly — Democrats move into a fast-approaching election season without a major, tangible accomplishment that affects voters' pocketbooks. And with a chasm remaining between the two parties, Democrats considered passing the overhaul with votes just from their party.

That process would let the 59 Senate Democrats declare victory with a simple majority instead of a 60-vote count. It also would allow Obama's team to get back to talking about the economy, which has shed more than 8 million jobs since the recession began auto loans.

Obama is pleading with Democrats to overcome divisions to seize a historic moment to remake the health care system during this election year. The White House wants to pass a health care overhaul and then campaign on it. Voters will pick candidates to serve 36 Senate seats; the entire House is up for re-election.

White House officials hope the immediate changes in the health overhaul would be enough to satisfy voters' expectations — and Democratic lawmakers who were hardly unified in support of the plan.

If Democrats pass the plan, voters would find greater consumer protections and a ban on discriminating against customers with previous ailments. Small businesses would receive a tax credit this year, insurance companies would no longer be able to drop patients' coverage if they become sick, and plans would be required to offer free preventive care to customers.

Griffith said leaders of the Democratic Party he left last year were missing the point.

"For them, health care reform has become less about the best reforms and more about what best fits their 'Washington knows best' mentality — less about helping patients and more about scoring political points," he said. "This is no idle observation. I've witnessed it firsthand."

___

On the Net:

Obama address: http://www.whitehouse.gov

GOP address: http://www.youtube.com/republicanconference

Obama turns up heat for health care overhaul plan

Greece offers key new bond issue

ATHENS, Greece – Greece launched a critical 10-year bond issue on Thursday, a day after winning approval from markets and the European Union for painful austerity measures designed to lift the debt-ridden country out of its financial crisis.

The bond was already oversubscribed — meaning more takers than there were bonds available — within an hour of the book opening, with euro7 billion ($9.5 billion) in offers received. The government was seeking a maximum of euro5 billion ($6.8 billion), said the chief of Greece's debt management agency, Petros Christodoulou.

The sale is a key test of Greece's ability to raise money to pay off expiring bonds and avoid the risk of default. The announcement of the issue comes a day after debt-ridden Greece detailed a whole new round of pain austerity measures, including salary cuts for civil servants, pension freezes and tax hikes on cigarettes, alcohol, luxury goods and gems.

The measures were aimed at showing markets that the governent is serious about getting spending under control and will have the money to pay its debts.

Greece has to borrow some euro54 billion ($7.4 billion) through sovereign debt issues this year, and has so far raised around euro13 billion ($18 billion), including treasury bill sales. But low market confidence in the country has translated into extremely high borrowing costs for Athens, and the government has been seeking for a way to borrow at more reasonable rates.

Greece is pressing its European Union partners for stronger support in return for its new harsh austerity plan, saying it needed a vote of confidence that would calm the markets quartz infrared heaters. Prime Minister George Papandreou is to meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel whose country has the 16-nation eurozone's biggest economy, in Berlin Friday, and with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris Sunday.

The European Union has made a vague expression of support, and there has been market speculation that Germany and France might extend help in the form of state-owned banks guaranteeing Greek bonds. Many analysts think the EU would step in to stop a Greek default and avoid the severe blow it would cause to the euro currency and to the balance sheets of European banks who hold Greek bonds.

"What we expect from our EU partners and above all Germany — because Germany's voice is a particularly important one in this context — is a clear expression of solidarity and confidence" in the Greek government and its new austerity plan, Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas told Germany's ARD television.

Droutsas stressed that "the Greek government at no point demanded or asked for direct financial support from its EU partners or, naturally, from Germany."

"We are of the opinion that we can master this crisis alone," he said. "What we need is a really strong expression of solidarity."

Germany has stressed repeatedly that Greece bears the main responsibility for overcoming its debt crisis. Merkel welcomed the deeper austerity measures Wednesday, but stressed that her meeting with Papandreou would "not be about pledges of aid."

Greece offers key new bond issue

Hot News: Memo From Tripoli: Unknotting Father’s Reins in Hope of ‘Reinventing’ Libya

Ark. gov. candidate: Cut capital, income taxes

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Keet on Tuesday called for phasing out the state's tax on capital gains and a reduction in Arkansas' income tax.

Keet, a Little Rock restaurant owner and former state legislator, made his candidacy official by filing paperwork at the state Capitol. Keet had announced Friday that he would run against Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe.

Keet announced his run for governor after briefly considering a run for lieutenant governor. Keet said Republicans had asked him to consider running for the state's top elected office instead.

Keet avoided directly criticizing Beebe, a Democrat who remains popular in the state and who has raised more than $1 million for his re-election bid. Instead, Keet criticized the state's tax structure, which he says is scaring businesses away from the state.

Keet said he wants to phase out the state's tax on capital gains, but did not offer a timeline for eliminating it. The Department of Finance and Administration estimated that eliminating the tax would decrease individual income tax collections by $98 million and decrease corporate income tax collections by $18.5 million.

Keet also proposed raising the threshold on the highest income tax bracket in the state but did not offer specifics on how he would do it.

"Our tax structure is obsolete, needs reform, and our taxes are too darn high," Keet said at a news conference after filing.

Keet said he believed he could beat Beebe and denied he was running just to help Republicans keep their spot on the ballot. Under Arkansas law, a party must receive at least 3 percent of the vote for governor in the last election to have a guaranteed spot on the ballot direct payday loans.

"I'm not in this to get 4 percent," Keet told reporters. "I'm in this race to win."

Earlier Tuesday, Beebe said he believed his administration had done a good job in making the state attractive to businesses. Beebe ran on a promise to phase out the state's sales taxes on groceries, which has been cut from 6 percent to 2 percent since he took office in 2007.

"We've done a pretty good job, compared to the rest of the country, in attracting business in the last couple of years," Beebe said. "You always look at ways to improve things, but you've got to balance all of that with the ability to meet your obligations."

Tuesday marked the second day of the one-week filing period for state and federal office in Arkansas.

The Arkansas secretary of state's office said that 209 candidates had filed for office by the end of the day Tuesday.

Also filing Tuesday was former state Sen. Tim Wooldridge, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 1st Congressional District. Democratic Rep. Marion Berry announced in January he was retiring and would not seek re-election to the post.

Former Berry Chief of Staff Chad Causey and Mountain Home physician Terry Green filed on Monday to run for the Democratic nomination for the seat. Rick Crawford of Jonesboro is the only Republican who has filed so far.

___

On the Net:

Additional filings can be found at http://www.votenaturally.org/electionresults/index.php by selecting "Candidate Information" and "Sort by Position."

Ark. gov. candidate: Cut capital, income taxes