Facebook and banks behind flotation face lawsuit
Facebook, its founder Mark Zuckerberg and the banks leading its flotation are being sued by disgruntled shareholders.
A writ, filed in a Manhattan court, alleges that Facebook's revised growth figures were not disclosed to all investors.
US financial regulators have already said Morgan Stanley may have questions to answer over the disclosure of information ahead of Friday's float.
The lead underwriter to Facebook said it had fully complied with the rules.
The lawsuit claims that defendants concealed from investors during the flotation marketing process "a severe and pronounced reduction" in revenue growth forecasts.
Meanwhile, the Reuters and AP news agencies reported that the Senate banking committee may look into the matter, but was still considering its options.
These latest developments continue to cast a cloud over one of the most anticipated stock market listings of recent times.
The flotation was disrupted on Friday by technical glitches on the Nasdaq stock exchange. The share price has since slumped amid worries that the company was over-valued by advisers marketing the float.
On Tuesday, the leading financial regulator in Massachusetts issued a subpoena to Morgan Stanley as part of an investigation into whether its analysts selectively disclosed revised revenue forecasts for Facebook.
Now, a group of investors has issued a class-action lawsuit alleging that Facebook revenues were revised down because of a surge in the number people using mobile devices for apps and connection to websites.
Morgan Stanley has not yet commented on the latest lawsuit.
On Tuesday, in response to the Massachusetts subpoena, the company said it was "in compliance with all applicable regulations" and had "followed the same procedures for the Facebook offering that it follows for all initial public offerings".
Meanwhile, there was some good news for the Facebook share price, which closed up 3.2% at $32-a-share.
The shares listed at $38-a-share, and fell as low as $31 on Tuesday.
German Leader Pressed to Soften Austerity Stance on Greece
German Chancellor Angela Merkel faced pressure Wednesday in Brussels to soften her economic austerity stance that threatens to push Greece out of the euro currency zone.
Leaders of 27 European Union countries discussed ideas on how to spur economic growth across the bloc and solve the European currency crisis during a dinner summit in the Belgian capital.
France and Germany, once unified in pushing the tough measures, are at odds since France's new president, Socialist Francois Hollande, took office earlier this month.
Mr. Hollande is urging economic growth as a way out of crisis instead of austerity measures alone. The German leader said she was willing to look into ways of helping Greece, but rejected a call for eurobonds — jointly pooled eurozone debt — saying that they would help stimulate growth in the eurozone.
Ahead of the meeting, former Greek prime minister George Papandreou said this was a “make or break” moment for Greece and for Europe.
“We have made major sacrifices, because we want to see a transparent Greece, a competitive Greece, a dynamic Greece, and a just Greece. And we want to remain in the euro. But we also need time and understanding, and we need understanding that this is a wider crisis. It is a crisis where we need to go beyond name-calling and scapegoating (blaming each other) and we need to collectively pull our strength.”
Greek Socialist leader Evangelos Venizelos said that the situation in Greece is very fragile and expressed hope that with the support of Europe's Socialists, a solution can be found.
Europe's leaders are not expected to come up with any concrete plan of action before new Greek elections in June. If anti-austerity politicians win out, Greece may have to leave the 17-member common currency zone.
Klaus Larres is a professor of international relations at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an expert on European integration. Larres told VOA that Greece may be forced to leave the eurozone regardless of the election results because international creditors will stop financing the country if it does not commit to harsh debt-reducing measures.
“That will mean an escape from the country by all investors in Europe and all global investors. A lot of Greek people will withdraw all their funds from the Greek banks — their euro savings — before the drachma is introduced, and it will lead to collapse of the Greek banking system and also the Greek economy. It will make imports into Greece extremely expensive because the new drachma will be devalued at a considerable extent thus exports into Greece will become rather expensive, including medicine, oil, all other goods, the Greeks are actually very dependent on and it will lead to a severe crisis in Greece.”
Larres says European leaders are preparing contingency plans for a possible Greek exit from the currency zone, which would affect international banks and hurt the global economy.
Uri Dadush, an economist with the U.S.-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told VOA he believes the austerity measures will prevail.
“I think in the end, the austerity measures will prevail because that is the logic of the market. So my view is that the austerity policies for virtually every country in Europe mandated, because of the fact that the markets will not finance increased deficits and indeed they will not finance current levels of deficit. They want to see reductions. The markets have lost confidence.”
On the eve of the summit, the European Parliament agreed to a pilot program that would use nearly $300 million of so-called project bonds in 2012 and 2013 to finance about $5.8 billion of investment projects.
Leaders at the summit may also consider assisting large and troubled European bank
s like those in Spain that are struggling under the economic crisis.
VOA
US Charges Chinese Salesman with Illegally Exporting Nuclear Equipment
U.S. authorities have arrested a Chinese employee of a technology manufacturer for allegedly smuggling uranium enrichment equipment into China.
Agents arrested Qiang Hu at a hotel in the northeastern state of Massachusetts.
He is suspected of illegally exporting thousands of pressure measuring sensors to China from MKS Instruments in Massachusetts.
The devices are used to enrich uranium and could be used in nuclear bombs.
The U.S. Justice Department says Qiang is MKS's sales representative in its Shanghai office.
Iran Nuclear Talks Hit Snag
Continuing talks between Iran and global powers have hit a snag as the West rebuffed Tehran's call for an immediate easing of economic sanctions and official Iranian media said the proposals on the table needed to be significantly revised.
The negotiations in Baghdad were extended for a second day into Thursday, as U.S. and European officials said they remained committed to finding a solution to the impasse.
Western representatives presented a package Wednesday that calls on Tehran to freeze production of nuclear fuel enriched to 20 percent purity, considered a short step away from weapons grade. The plan also seeks to close an Iranian enrichment facility built inside a fortified military bunker near the holy city of Qom.
In exchange, the P5+1 group offered benefits, including medical isotopes, some nuclear safety cooperation and spare parts for civilian airliners, much needed in Iran. The P5+1 includes the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany.
The Iranian side indicated that ending impending Western sanctions on Tehran's oil trade is key for the talks to advance. But diplomats from the six world powers have refused to consider postponing the new harsher measures.
Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said Tehran presented its own package Wednesday, including details on what mutual compromises Iran and its international counterparts should make.
IRNA criticized the proposal from the six-nation group, saying it makes too many demands of Iran while offering too little in return.
Iran said its enrichment work is meant for medical research and generating electricity. Western nations fear Iran could quickly upgrade its uranium to the 90 percent purity needed for nuclear weapons.
Baghdad University professor Said Dahdhoh told VOA's Kurdish service that Iran wants the talks to be comprehensive and focus on more than just the nuclear dispute. He said Tehran also wants the West to clarify its stand on Bahrain and other regional issues.
Shi'ite Iran has strongly criticized plans by Bahrain's minority Sunni leadership to seek a political union with Sunni-dominated Gulf states. Bahrain's ruling family is an ally of Washington that provides the U.S. Navy with a key regional base.
World powers have insisted for months that talks focus solely on the disputes with Iran's nuclear program.
This is the second round of a dialogue that resumed last month in Istanbul after a break of more than a year.
Published reports say the six-nation group is reviving a 2009 proposal for Iran to ship out its stockpiles of low-enriched uranium in return for higher-enriched fuel for a medical research reactor in Tehran.
Iran is seeking pledges from the world powers to ease U.N. and Western sanctions imposed on the country for defying international demands for a suspension of enrichment.
Israel sees a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to its existence and refuses to rule out military action against the Iranian nuclear program.
Israeli officials have urged the world powers not to compromise on their demand for a stop to Iranian enrichment work. Those officials also have expressed concern that Iran will make empty promises of concessions to buy more time to covertly develop nuclear weapons.
Miami Heat defeats Indiana Pacers, takes 3-2 lead in series
The Heat’s grind-it-out series with the Pacers got a little easier Tuesday night. Miami coasted to a 115-83 victory at AmericanAirlines Arena in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-7 second-round series. The Heat can close out the series Thursday with a victory in Indianapolis.
LeBron James dominated once again, and Dwyane Wade looked as fresh as ever in what turned out to be a statement game for the Heat after a series of hard fouls. It all started with Wade facedown on the court in the second quarter.
Pacers forward Tyler Hansbrough sent Wade to the ground with a dirty foul with 10:23 left in the quarter. A replay revealed that Hansbrough raked his fingernails across Wade’s eyes, drawing blood above Wade’s right eyebrow.
Hansbrough’s claw work marked the second game in a row the Pacers have bloodied a Heat player. In Game 4, Pacers reserve Lou Amundson gashed Udonis Haslem in the head with an elbow. The cut required stitches.
Apparently, Haslem had seen enough.
Less than a minute after Hansbrough’s flagrant foul on Wade, Haslem went after Hansbrough with a shot to the face. Hansbrough was in the act of shooting but Haslem worried little about trying to block the shot. Instead, he crushed Hansbrough with both arms.
Hansbrough’s head snapped back as he went to the ground. Haslem was whistled for a flagrant 1. From there, the Heat outscored the Pacers 83-58.
James led the Heat with 30 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. He has missed back-to-back triple-doubles by a combined three assists. James left the game with 4:19 remaining and received a standing ovation from the crowd. James’ early exit triggered the arena’s customary seat cover toss. White seat covers rained down from the upper deck as James lifted his hand to the crowd to acknowledge the applause.
James has scored 70 points to go along with 26 rebounds and 17 assists in his past two games.
Wade had another throwback playoff game, going 10 of 17 from the field for 28 points. He struggled from the free-throw line (7 of 13) but made up for it with vintage dashes to the basket and superb transition play with James. The Heat outscored the Pacers 22-2 in fast-break points.
The Heat led 49-40 at halftime before blowing the game open in the third quarter. Indiana shot 28.6 percent from the floor in the period and managed just 17 points. James led the Heat with 12 points in the third quarter and the Heat shot 60 percent.
The outcome was decided but the hard shots kept coming. Dexter Pittman sent a nasty elbow to the face of reserve Lance Stephenson in the final seconds of the game. Pittman was assessed with a flagrant 1, but the NBA could review the play and suspend Pittman for Game 5.
Stephenson is the Pacers’ little-used reserve who made headlines in Game 3 when he made the chocking sign after a missed free-throw attempt by James. Before Tuesday, Stephenson had played only six minutes before Game 5.
After struggling from the field throughout the series, the Heat shot 61.4 percent to set a postseason franchise record. Shane Battier led the way from three-point range, going 4 of 5 from distance. Battier stroked three three-pointers in the first quarter and then started the second half with another three-pointer. He finished with 13 points.
Olympic champion Bolt eyes 9.7s run in Ostrava
Olympic champion Usain Bolt hopes to clock 9.7 seconds in the 100 metres at the Golden Spike meeting in the Czech Republic on Friday as he continues his preparations for the London Games Arriving in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava, Bolt said yesterday he was happy with his season start but wanted to improve on the 9.82 he set in his sole race this year in Kingston on May 5.
"I think I am in a great shape. My coach is very happy with where I am at, and I am very happy with it also," he said.
"So I'm definitely going out there to run, probably 9.7 would be good for me."
Bolt owns the world record of 9.58 seconds in the 100, as well as world records in the 200 and 4x100 relay.
He won gold in 100, 200 and 4x100 relay races at the Beijing Games in 2008 and is hungry for more success in London this year.
"I definitely want to improve on my last Olympic Games. Run fast, win more gold," he said.
"Hopefully I can break those records at the Olympic Games, it would be a wonderful feat. I'm really looking forward to it and training toward it."
(REUTERS)
Chanderpaul extends lead; Samuels, Roach also move
World number one Shivnarine Chanderpaul has stretched his lead at the top of the latest International Cricket Council batting rankings, following his two half-centuries in the opening Lord’s Test against England last weekend. The veteran left-hander has now moved to 878 rating points, 57 clear of the second placed South African batsman AB de Villiers whom he recently replaced.
He is now 22 points shy of the 900-point mark yet again, which he last reached four years ago.
Chanderpaul stroked 87 in the first innings and 91 in the second as West Indies put up a brave fight before losing to England and hour before tea on the final day of the match.
Batsman Marlon Samuels also enjoyed healthy movement in the rankings, jumping eight places to 55th after his second innings 86.
Opener Adrian Barath also made a leap in the batting rankings, rising 14 spots to 67th following scores of 42 and 14.
There was no such luck, however, for vice-captain Edwards whose double failure at Lord’s saw him plunge nine places to 53rd. The right-hander scored one and nought.
Meanwhile, speedster Kemar Roach has jumped one place to a career-best ranking of 16th following his match-haul of six for 168.
His spell of three for 60 in the second innings put England on the backfoot for the first time during the game.
There was much for captain Darren Sammy to celebrate as he moved five places up to 68th in the batting rankings and two places to 23rd in the bowling rankings.
He is now ranked eighth among Test all-rounders.
West Indies Gabriel to return home after injury
West Indies Cricket Board advised on Tuesday that fast bowler Shannon Gabriel will return home to Trinidad & Tobago from the tour of England due to a back injury.
West Indies team physiotherapist C.J. Clark said: “Shannon made the complaint late in the first Test against England and scans conducted following the match showed a stress reaction in the lower spine.
“He was subsequently ruled out of the second Test and, after further consultation, we feel that to prevent this injury developing any further it is in Shannon’s best interest for him to return to T&T for rest and rehabilitation to ensure he is fully fit when selected for West Indies in the future.”
Gabriel made his Test debut at Lord’s, grabbing four wickets in the match. He will not travel with the rest of the side on Tuesday to Nottingham, where the second Test takes place at Trent Bridge, and will depart for home on Wednesday.
Tino Best, who has played 14 Tests and 12 One-day Internationals for West Indies previously, has been selected as the replacement for Gabriel and is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday.
Top Democrats break with Obama over Castro visa issue
Florida’s top Congressional Democrats broke with President Barack Obama on Tuesday over his administration’s decision to issue Fidel Castro’s niece a visa to attend a conference this week in San Francisco.
The opposition of Sen. Bill Nelson and Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz came just hours after Republicans had blasted away at the visa decision — while failing to acknowledge that Republican President George W. Bush’s administration had allowed Mariela Castro to visit the United States three times a decade ago.
The fact that Republicans had remained silent over Bush’s decision while criticizing Obama gave Wasserman Schultz a measure of political cover in breaking with Obama.
"The Bush Administration set a bad precedent by granting Mariela Castro a waiver in 2001 and 2002 as I believe that such visa requests should not be accepted because of the ongoing human rights abuses in Cuba," she said in a written statement to The Miami Herald. "While I respect my colleagues, it’s important to note they did not criticize President George W. Bush for granting Ms. Castro a waiver in 2002. Politics has no place when we are standing up for human rights."
Nelson was more terse and more concerned with the plight of a jailed American.
"Allowing Raul’s daughter to come to the U.S. when the regime still holds Alan Gross makes no sense," said Nelson, who faces a tough re-election campaign this fall.
Castro, a noted gay rights activist who heads a sex education center in Cuba, is the daughter of Cuban President Raul Castro. She is scheduled to lead a panel on sexual diversity at the Latin American Studies Association conference in San Francisco this week. She is among more than 70 Cubans who applied for visas for the event; the State Department has denied about a half dozen of the requests.
Both Wasserman Schultz and Nelson had remained quiet on the visa controversy until asked this week by the Miami Herald.
Meanwhile, the Florida Democratic Party has been vigorously defending the Obama administration’s visa decision since last week. That’s when Cuban-American Republicans from Miami, including Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Mario Diaz-Balart and David Rivera, began criticizing the administration’s move.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a vice-presidential shortlister for Republican Mitt Romney., said it was "shameful" to grant the visa. He described the Cuban president’s daughter as "an arm of his regime" who’s coming to the United States to "spread their anti-American propaganda."
Romney’s presidential campaign took advantage of the issue to slam Obama. "The United States should be standing up for freedom, not coddling the privileged children of communist dictators," Romney’s policy director, Lanhee Chen said late last week.
On Tuesday, Republicans blasted out press releases all but calling Obama a communist. "Obama Lays Welcome Mat for Communist at U.S. Front Door" said one press release from the Hispanic Leadership Network. "Obama Rolling out the Red Carpet for the Castro Family," one from the Republican National Committee screamed.
The political tempest comes at a time when the Republican Party are attacking Obama’s record at every turn to excite a crucial conservative voting bloc Romney in Florida: Cuban-Americans, who overwhelmingly vote Republican.
http://www.miamiherald.com
CARICOM, Mexico to cement ties against common challenges
The second CARICOM/Mexico summit opened on Monday in Bridgetown, Barbados with acknowledgement of the need for a strengthened alliance against the common challenges of citizen security, transnational crime and sustainable human development.
Trade, investment, tourism and cooperation are expected to feature prominently over the two-day event but CARICOM leaders are also looking forward to a meaningful outcome on natural disaster risk reduction and the environment.
Under two existing programmes; the Meso-American Territorial Information System and the Meso-American Environmental Sustainability Strategy; experiences are to be shared on regional co-ordination system for natural disaster risk reduction and projects in the areas of bio-diversity and forestry, climate change, green growth and sustainable competitiveness.
Guyana’s President Donald Ramotar joined his other colleague Heads of State in CARICOM at the summit, looking forward most of all to an engagement with Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon on strengthening responses to challenges in the social, economic and political realm.
While accrediting the new Mexican Ambassador to Guyana Francisco Olguin on May 10, Ramotar conveyed the high value which the Guyana government believes the forum can engender with the challenges facing today’s world.
He said that in the current global environment, all countries have become forcibly aware of the need to work together for a common good and hailed the bilateral relations between the governments of Guyana and Mexico especially as it relates to advancing the political economic and social objective on regional and international issues.
CARICOM secretary-general, Irwin LaRocque, in his remarks at the opening of the summit on Monday, made reference to the support that Mexico rendered to Haiti, including the recent visit by Calderon as a symbol of the Latin American country’s deep commitment to the revival and reconstruction of the country.
Given that the CARICOM/Mexico summit took place days after the devastating earthquake in 2010, LaRocque said both sides assumed the commitment of creating new measures to alleviate, in the medium and long-term, the challenges that Haiti is facing.
The inaugural summit was held during “testing times” according to chairman of CARICOM and president of Suriname Desi Bouterse, who made reference to the recovery efforts by several member states from the global financial and economic crisis and the fact that discussions then were anchored around the need for a strategic partnership common to all states to address those challenges.
He noted regrettably, however, that the “stranglehold” of the crisis remains somewhat unabated and, as small vulnerable economies, countries are still seeking strategies to counteract the debilitating effects of the crisis.
“It is also fitting that our agenda will focus on some areas of mutual concern, including citizen security and transnational organized crime, issues which have had a harmful effect on our countries, destabilizing our societies, and hampering economic development,” Bouterse said.
Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart in his address said that at this unsure point in time of world affairs, the most significant input that Mexico can make to the cause of Caribbean development is that of advocacy because of its role as current chair of the G20.
“I must articulate here some of CARICOM’s critical concerns, which include: the slow process of reform of the multilateral institutions and the uneven results to date; the continued lack of representativeness and transparency of the G20 which, as the Commonwealth secretary general has recently said, may represent 90% of global GDP but certainly not 90% of the world’s countries; the worrying signs that we have moved from the rich man’s club of the G7 to the big man’s club of the G20, whose members are more united in telling non-G20 countries what they should do than in prescribing for those within their own fold,” Stuart said.
He also spoke of ‘constant tilting of playing fields and moving of goal-posts in the G20’s response towards Caribbean-based international financial centres, notwithstanding the fact that the bulk of proven money-laundering, inadequate regulation and tax avoidance has occurred in the financial centres of Europe and the United States of America.
The Barbadian prime minister highlighted the need to promote the supportive policies of the small vulnerable economies in the areas of financing for development, aid for trade, and addressing the issue of indebtedness; the need to reassert the grave threat posed by climate change.
Mexico holds the distinction as the first country to form a Joint Commission with CARICOM, to identify and promote economic, political and cultural co-operation initiatives.
The signing of a technical co-operation agreement in 1990 to promote transportation, language training, agriculture and agro-industrial development, maritime education, disaster preparedness and management, and climatology further cemented relations between the two.
As a result, partnerships were forged between the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and CENAPRED the Mexican disaster preparedness and management agency, and between the Caribbean Meteorological Institute (CMI) and, the Mexican Institute for Water Technology.
Financial services, security, health, energy and climate change were incorporated as the cooperation evolved.
Mexico is chair to the upcoming G-20 summit and the government has identified green growth, food security and infrastructure as the priorities.
(GINA)