- Top Cleric Tells Iraq Leaders to Pick Premier by Next Week. Iraq’s top Shiite religious leader escalated pressure on politicians to agree on a new government that can prevent a fracturing of the country, as the military pressed its assault on militants who have seized major cities. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in remarks relayed to worshipers at Friday prayers in the holy city of Karbala, said that picking a prime minister, president and speaker when the legislature meets July 1 will lead to the “desired solution” to the crisis.
- EU Tells Russia to Stop Ukraine Rebels or Face New Costs. The European Union gave Russia three days to stop a separatist rebellion in Ukraine or face deeper sanctions as the government in Kiev prepared to extend a cease-fire originally due to expire tonight. EU leaders meeting in Brussels demanded that the separatists, whom Ukraine and its allies say are backed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government, return border checkpoints, release hostages and start talks to implement a peace plan drawn up by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko by June 30. Failure to do so will result in “further significant restrictive measures” against Russia, the leaders said in a statement. The U.S. reinforced the EU demands. White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the conditions “are very specific steps that the Russians can take by Monday” or face more economic costs.
- Ukraine to Extend Cease-Fire as President Signs EU Pact. Ukraine will extend a cease-fire in its fight against separatist rebels today after President Petro Poroshenko signed a European Union accord rejected by his predecessor that sent the country spiraling into crisis. The government in Kiev will prolong the week-long truce, which it says has been repeatedly flouted by pro-Russian separatists, by 72 hours from an original plan to end it at 10 p.m. tonight, two European government officials said. The officials asked not to be named because the discussions were private and hadn’t finished. The extension will let talks continue on the release of hostages held by separatists in Ukraine’s eastern border regions, one official said.
- China Builds Its Own Manhattan -- Except It's a Ghost Town. “Investing here won’t be better than throwing money into the water,” Zhang Zhihe, 60, said during a visit to the area last week from neighboring Hebei province to look at potential commercial-property investments. “There will be no way out -- it will be very difficult to find the next buyer.” The deserted area underscores the challenge facing China’s leaders in dealing with the fallout from a record credit-fueled investment spree while sustaining growth and jobs in the world’s second-biggest economy. A Tianjin local-government financing vehicle connected to the developments said revenue fell 68 percent in 2013 to an amount that’s less than one-third of debt due this year.
- High-Yield Bond Sales Set to Exceed $100 Billion in Europe. Sales of junk bonds in Europe are poised to surpass $100 billion for the first time as companies seek to take advantage of record low funding costs and investor demand for higher-yielding securities. Western European companies issued $99 billion of speculative-grade debt this year, up from $56 billion in the first half of 2013, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Issuance has already surpassed last year’s record $96 billion, the data show. Investors are buying riskier securities after almost six years of suppressed benchmark interest rates eroded yields. Bond investors are shrugging off warnings from central bankers including Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen and Bundesbank board member Andreas Dombret that they’ve become too complacent and are making markets vulnerable to a swift reversal.
- EU Leaders Snub Cameron and Pick Juncker for Top EU Post. European Union leaders swept aside U.K. opposition and nominated Jean-Claude Juncker to the EU’s top job, further fraying ties with Britain before its planned referendum on membership of the bloc. Government heads proposed Juncker, a 59-year-old former Luxembourg prime minister, as European Commission president after he ran for the post as the candidate of Europe’s Christian Democratic parties in EU-wide elections. U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron was out-voted by his fellow leaders, the first time such a decision wasn’t taken unanimously.
- Euro-Area Economic Confidence Unexpectedly Fell in June. An index of executive and consumer sentiment fell to 102 from a revised 102.6 in May, the European Commission in Brussels said today. The median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey of 27 economists was for an increase to 103.
- German Inflation Above Forecasts Signals Euro Area Price Pickup. German inflation (GRCP2HYY) exceeded economists’ estimates this month, signaling that the annual rate of consumer-price gains in the euro area may rise from the lowest level in four years. Inflation, calculated using a harmonized European Union method, accelerated to 1 percent in June from 0.6 percent in May, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today. Economists predicted the rate would increase to 0.7 percent, according to the median of 23 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey. Prices rose 0.4 percent on the month, twice as much as forecast.
- Bulgarian Lenders Under Attack, Central Bank Chief Warns. The Bulgarian central bank warned the financial industry is under organized attack by anonymous e-mails, texts and rumors, threatening the Balkan nation’s security, and urged police to find those responsible. Central bank Governor Ivan Iskrov said that First Investment Bank AD is the target of an “epidemic of rumors and libelous public statements.” He asked prosecutors, the Interior Ministry and the State Agency for National Security to investigate. The Sofix index fell as much as 2.55 percent, its fourth consecutive decline, while First Investment, the third-biggest lender by assets, tumbled 23 percent.
- European Stocks Are Little Changed as Mediaset Gains. European stocks were little changed, with the benchmark index posting its the biggest weekly loss since early April, as investors weighed data that showed U.S. consumer confidence rebounded in June. Mediaset (MS) SpA gained 4 percent after Exane BNP Paribas upgraded its recommendation on the stock. Ophir Energy Plc fell 5.4 percent after UBS AG downgraded the shares. Imagination Technologies Group Plc dropped 5.8 percent after Intel Corp. sold a 9.3 percent stake in the U.K. designer of chip technology for devices. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added less than 0.1 percent to 341.97 at the close.
- Sources: US letting Benghazi suspects off hook, recent arrest ‘small potatoes’. According to multiple sources on the ground, including some with direct knowledge of the operations to identify and hunt the Benghazi suspects, intelligence that could have been acted upon at times has been ignored or put on hold. Further, they say, the recent capture of Ahmed Abu Khattala -- now on a ship bound for the U.S., expected to arrive this weekend -- was an easy one.
- Hillary reportedly called Obama 'incompetent and feckless'. The book, "Blood Feud" by Edward Klein, claims Clinton's comments took place at a May 2013 dinner with college friends in Westchester, the New York Post reported. "When her friends asked Hillary to tell them what she thought — really thought — about the president she had served for four draining years, she lit into Obama with a passion that surprised them all," Klein wrote, according to the Post.
Washington Post:
- Army Maj. Gen. Dana Pittard to lead U.S. operations in Iraq. The Pentagon has selected a two-star Army general who oversaw U.S. teams in Iraq in 2006 and 2007 to lead its new military mission there.
- Puerto Rico agency debt slumps on downgrades, restructuring law. Puerto Rico public corporation debt slumped on Friday after a new law that allows agencies to restructure their debts sparked fears of an imminent default and led to a slew of downgrades on the electricity, highway, and water authorities.
- House prices: stop meddling, Mark Carney, and bite the bullet on interest rates. Credit rationing is a bad idea – and we can only guess at the trouble it will create in the future.
- ISIL staged "mass executions" in Iraq's Tikrit: Rights group.
Photograph and satellite imagery indicate that Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) insurgents have carried out mass executions in the northern Iraqi city of Tikrit, Human Rights Watch reported on Friday.
ISIL, radical Islamists who want to re-create a mediaeval-style caliphate straddling Iraq and Syria, has stormed largely unopposed across much of northern Iraq, taking cities including Mosul and Tikrit, seizing border posts with Syria and advancing to within some 100 km (62 mil ..
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