Tony Benshoof Miss Europe Trip for Back Rehab

Tony Benshoof, who missed a medal at the 2006 Turin Olympics by less than 0.20 seconds, will forgo an offseason training week in Europe next month to continue recovering from back surgery.

Benshoof underwent surgery Dec. 26, with hopes of alleviating pain that plagued him for years. He was eligible to be among the dozen or so USA Luge athletes making the European trip, which starts Aug. 18 and will culminate with the International Luge Start Competition in Meransen, Italy.

The team's preseason camp in Lake Placid opens Sept. 14.

Last Surviving European Communist - Aleksander Lukashenko

In Belarus, Aleksander Lukashenko, the country's president, runs the state on lines that hark back to the days of the Soviet Union.

In power since 1994 and once dubbed "Europe's last dictator" by the US government, Lukashenko maintains an authoritarian grip on power, crushing dissent and pedalling a personality culture reminiscent of those once reserved for leaders of the old communist bloc. Resistant to change he has kept the Belarusian economy tied to the principles of state control and nationalisation.

Although nominally a multiparty democracy the tiny strip of land in eastern Moldova that forms the breakaway republic of Trans-Dniester has been run on authoritarian terms by its leader Igor Smirnov since he was first elected in 1990. Although some its companies have been privatised, the country's remains welded to the communist past with the hammer and sickle emblazoned on the flag and Soviet-style rhetoric and politics dominant.

Scattered throughout the former socialist bloc lie the remains of the old once-dominant communist parties. Now embracing, and at ease with, democratic principles they wield occasional influence.

Poland, in particular has seen a number of governments formed by the reconstituted communists, and had Aleksander Kwasniewski as its president for eight years, despite him being a junior minister in Poland's last authoritarian government.

Euro Falls on Report IMF Discussing Aid to East Europe Nations

The euro fell, heading for its worst week against the yen in two months, after Handelsblatt reported the International Monetary Fund is discussing aid programs with at least 10 Eastern European governments.

News europe networks says europe’s currency weakened versus 12 of its 16 major counterparts after the German newspaper cited unidentified IMF officials as saying the countries applying for loans for the first time included Bulgaria, Croatia and Macedonia. The yen and the dollar rose against most major currencies as U.S. stock futures fell, boosting demand for safer assets. South Korea’s won completed its biggest weekly loss in four months as demand for emerging-market assets declined.

“There are lingering worries over the financial health of eastern and central European countries,” said Tsutomu Soma, a bond and currency dealer at Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo. “Investors are still risk averse, so they’re likely to sell the euro and buy the yen and dollar as safe-haven currencies.”

The euro declined to 129.09 yen as of 7:58 a.m. in London from 130.36 yesterday in New York, set for a 3.8 percent loss this week, the biggest since the period ended May 15. Europe’s currency dropped to $1.3947 from $1.4020. Japan’s currency rose to 92.64 per dollar from 92.99. The won fell 0.3 percent to 1,282.50 per dollar.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average trimmed its advance to close little changed after earlier rising as much as 0.9 percent. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 0.3 percent.

‘Systemic Risks’

The euro headed for a second weekly loss against the dollar after Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said yesterday Germany’s regional state banks are the “biggest systemic risk” to the nation’s financial industry.

Ukraine, Serbia, Romania, Belarus and Latvia aim for faster payment of IMF funds or an increase of existing loans, Handelsblatt also reported, citing the IMF officials.

“People are still cautious about the sustainability of a recovery,” said Takao Yahata, senior manager of foreign exchange and financial-products trading in Tokyo at Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp., a unit of Japan’s largest publicly traded lender by assets. “As risk-aversion resurfaced, buying- back of the yen against higher-yielding currencies may continue.”

Losses in the euro accelerated after so-called stop-loss orders on investors’ positions on the currency were activated around $1.40, said Takashi Kudo, director of foreign-exchange sales in Tokyo at NTT SmartTrade Inc., a unit of Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Corp. A stop-loss order is an automatic instruction to sell or buy a currency should it reach a particular level.

Overseas Assets

The yen headed for a fourth week of gains against the Australian dollar on signs Japanese investors are losing appetite for overseas assets.

Nikko Asset Management Co. said it collected 4.9 billion yen ($52.7 million) in new funds for three high-income sovereign funds, investing in the Brazilian real, South Africa’s rand and Turkish lira, which launched today, compared with the pre- registered amount of 300 billion.

“Individual investors are not 100 percent certain about the prospect of the global recovery, which if continued, should have favored the currencies of resource-rich nations,” said Morio Okayasu, chief analyst at Monex FX Inc., a unit of Japan’s third-largest online broker.

Closely Watching

The yen earlier pared its weekly gain against the dollar after Japanese Economy Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said the government will closely watch the stock market and the appreciation of the yen.

“If the yen’s rise and stock declines last a long time, there are concerns they may have a negative impact on both exporter and overall sentiment,” Hayashi told reporters today.

A stronger yen may squeeze corporate profits of exporters and hurt households by eroding their wages, Japan’s Vice Finance Minister Kazuyuki Sugimoto said at a press conference in Tokyo yesterday said.

“As the ongoing recovery is still fragile, we can’t rule out the possibility of the Bank of Japan intervening in the market to prevent the appreciation of the yen if the currency breaches 90 per dollar,” said Akio Yoshino, chief economist in Tokyo at Societe Generale Asset Management (Japan) Co.

South Korea’s won led Asian currencies lower as sliding stock markets and concern about the pace of the global economic recovery damped appetite for riskier assets.

The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar Index, which tracks Asia’s 10 most-traded currencies excluding the yen, was poised for a sixth weekly decline in seven. The Kospi share index dropped as foreign investors sold more local shares than they bought, exchange data show.

“The dominant theme is still risk, growth is a secondary issue,” said Julian Wee, a Singapore-based economist at IDEAglobal. “The market’s paring back its optimism and Korea is vulnerable.”

The won fell 1.3 percent this week, the largest decline since the period ended Feb. 27.

Oracle To Cut Up To 1,000 European Jobs, French Union Says

Oracle Corp. (ORCL) is planning to cut up to 1,000 jobs in Europe, according to a French labor union.

An Oracle spokeswoman declined to comment, and it remains unclear whether Oracle plans to make any cuts in other regions.

A post on the CFDT union's Web site said Oracle, the world's second-largest software maker, had forecast growth to be slower than expected in Europe, and that the cuts were designed to maintain the operating margin and preserve the long-term strategy of the company.

The CFDT, one of the largest unions in France, said it had expressed "surprise and anger" to Oracle over the planned cuts.

According to the union, Oracle, based in Redwood City, Calif., plans to cut between 850 and 1,000 jobs from a total of 17,000 staff in Europe. Approximately 250 positions will be lost in France, the union said, which is just over 15% of its French workforce. Oracle has around 86,000 employees in total, according to the company's Web site.

The apparent move by Oracle comes shortly after the company indicated that the business outlook in North America had improved in the fourth quarter. At its earnings call, Oracle wasn't as clear on the outlook for Europe.

Oracle in June reported that its fiscal fourth-quarter profit ending May 31 declined 7.2%, marking its first revenue decline in seven years, as the stronger dollar and continuing economic weakness weighed on revenues and earnings.

Despite declining sales and a tough technology-spending environment, Oracle has avoided large-scale job cuts, unlike peers such as Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), all of which have announced plans to lay off thousands of workers.

Oracle, which makes databases and other business tools, recently announced it intends to buy Sun Microsystems Inc. (JAVA) for $7.4 billion.

U.S. and European Officials Discuss Detainees

Top officials of the Obama administration met Monday with a delegation from the European Union and promised to provide information on Guantánamo prisoners when American officials begin asking European countries to accept specific detainees for resettlement.

Both sides said the sessions, the first of their kind since the administration took office, were a productive beginning toward defining a European role in helping the United States meet the president’s goal of closing the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, within a year of his taking office.

Jacques Barrot, a European Union vice president who led the delegation, said the Europeans had made it clear that to accept detainees, European countries would need complete information on the prisoners. “Otherwise we cannot accept that responsibility,” he said.

A statement from the Justice Department said that Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. had pledged to provide information so that European countries could “make their own determinations” and acknowledged that closing Guantánamo was “a complex issue.”

The Obama administration has said that about 60 detainees who cannot be returned to their home countries for humanitarian or other reasons could be resettled in Europe, but some European officials have expressed concerns about possible security risks and about whether American intelligence agencies will share complete information about the prisoners.

New CEO for UBS comes from rival Credit Suisse

BERN, Switzerland – Troubled Swiss banking giant UBS AG suddenly replaced its CEO on Thursday, appointing Oswald J. Gruebel — former head of crosstown rival Credit Suisse Group — to take over immediately.

Gruebel's experience in leading Credit Suisse through a turnaround before he left the company two years ago will prove invaluable, UBS said. He replaces Marcel Rohner, who has resigned.

"With his previous employer Credit Suisse, Mr. Gruebel was the architect of a successful turnaround and restored confidence in the company in turbulent times," said a statement from the Zurich-based bank.

Gruebel said his top priority will be regaining the trust of clients and investors, followed by restoring the bank's profitability. In an internal memo to staff he announced he was planning considerable cost-cutting measures, without elaborating.

UBS, one of the pillars of Switzerland's crucial banking industry, has had massive losses related to the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis. Earlier this month, UBS reported a full-year loss of 19.7 billion Swiss francs ($18.41 billion) for 2008, the biggest loss in Swiss corporate history.

The bank is also facing legal pressures in the United States over allegations it has helped wealthy Americans evade U.S. taxes, and has seen confidence by investors, shareholders and clients erode recently.

UBS is also receiving heavy financial support from the Swiss government in its attempts to recover the losses.

Traders on the Zurich exchange welcomed the personnel move. UBS shares opened at 11.93 ($9.71), up 12.20 percent over Wednesday's close.

Gruebel, who from 2003 to 2007 was co-CEO and then CEO at Credit Suisse, said he was convinced that Switzerland needs more than one big global bank.

"The opportunity to lead UBS with its unique client franchise in wealth management, investment banking and asset management in these extraordinary times presents a fascinating, yet formidable challenge to me," he said.

He said he would do all he could "to bring UBS back on a profitable, successful track."

In a staff memo provided by the bank, Gruebel warned that the economic situation would require further considerable cost-cutting measures.

"Here too, I ask for you support," he said.

The bank recently announced it would cut some 2,700 jobs, on top of 6,000 positions already shed since the third quarter of 2007.

UBS Chairman Peter Kurer said Gruebel "brings the ideal skill set to recreate value, together with our management team, for our shareholders and clients. He will also be adept in balancing our focus on prudent risk taking and client confidence, and our goal to position UBS for future success."

Kurer said Rohner had told the bank's board in January of his intention to step down after restructuring moves.

The United States' Internal Revenue Service is seeking to force UBS to turn over records for an estimated 52,000 U.S. customers who allegedly violated American tax laws by concealing Swiss accounts worth at least $14.8 billion.

UBS already has agreed in a deal with the U.S. Justice Department to pay $780 million and disclose up to 300 UBS account holders suspected of tax fraud.

Gruebel told staff the bank had to stick strictly to the law in order to protect its reputation.

"Abiding by existing laws and regulations in all business areas and world markets in which we operate is essential," he said.