BUSINESS WEEK - The Cypriot Bailout Hasn't Rocked Markets, Mar 25, 2013

"Could the tiny Cyprus banking system be the powder keg whose explosion reverberates around the planet? A bank run in Cyprus, a euro zone nation of 1.1 million, should be an island-contained crisis. But the entwinement of Cyprus and Russia, the world’s ninth-biggest economy, makes things complicated. Russia’s banks and companies have $31 billion parked in Cypriot banks, according to estimates by Moody’s Investor Services—on top of almost as much in Russian bank loans to Cypriot companies. The immediate question is: How confident are 145 million Russians that their money is safe at their Russian bank? By extension, how confident are global banking multinationals—in the U.S., Switzerland, London, Brazil, and China—that their Russian counterparties are good for their rubles if Cyprus rots up to their balance sheets? Will this all prompt a mass run on banks in weak links such as Italy, Greece, and Spain? And a bolt to the exits by equity investors the world over?"
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STOCKS rise on Cyprus bailout deal, Mar 25, 2013

"Stocks stepped higher Monday as Cyprus secured a last-minute 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout. The S&P 500 stock index started the day 8.27 points away from an all-time high. European stocks were mostly higher. And earlier, investors in Asia mostly responded positively to the news. Japan's Nikkei 225 index surged 1.69% to 12,546.46 and South Korea's Kospi jumped 1.49% to 1,977.67. Stocks in mainland China fell, however. The European Central Bank had threatened to withhold emergency liquidity from the Mediterranean nation's central bank if a deal was not clinched by Monday."
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NATIONAL POST - Watch Sergio Garcia’s crazy tree shot at Bay Hill: video, Mar 25, 2013

"ORLANDO, Fla. — Sergio Garcia might want to change his name to Tarzan. Garcia provided an amazing highlight Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational when he climbed some 15 feet into an oak tree and played a shot back out to the fairway. “First, I went up there to identify the ball and then saw that I could make the shot with just one hand,” Garcia said on his website. “Luckily, it went well.”"
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REUTERS - EU Commission says capital controls in Cyprus must be brief, Mar 25, 2013

"(Reuters) - Cyprus may impose controls on the movement of capital but only for a temporary period of time, the European Commission said on Monday, hours after the island sealed a deal to close its second-largest bank in return for international aid. "Any measures to restrict or limit freedom of movement may only be enacted exceptionally and temporarily and that is what has been requested by the Cypriot authorities," Michel Barnier, the European Commissioner responsible for the 27-member European Union's single market, told a news conference in Brussels. "This is a restriction on movement that may only last a few days," he said. Barnier's remarks, where he underscored the need for any restrictions to be as brief as possible, adds to pressure on Cyprus to resume business as normal for its remaining banks as soon as possible. Banks in Cyprus remain closed and the country is expected to continue some controls on the movement of money when they reopen. "
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NORTH KOREA: U.S., South Korea sign contingency plan against attack, Mar 25, 2013

"The U.S. and South Korea signed a contingency plan of action against attacks from North Korea, which this month threatened preemptive nuclear strikes against the two allies. General James Thurman, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, signed the agreement on March 22 with South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Jung Seung Jo, South Korea’s Defense Ministry said on Monday in a statement on its website. The document outlines South Korean-led, U.S.-backed action against various scenarios from a North Korean provocation, the ministry said. The two militaries decided to draft a joint blueprint after North Korea shelled the South Korean border island of Yeonpyeong in November 2010."
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INDEPENDENT - Cyprus bailout: Large deposits will be seized and second-largest bank closed in €10bn EU bailout deal, Mar 25, 2013

"An 11th-hour deal with the EU, which has saved the Cypriot economy from the brink, will see investors with more than €100,000 in the nation’s largest banks forfeit a large chunk of their deposits. The punishing deal – which has been approved by the eurozone finance ministers – will allow the country to receive the €10bn (£8.5bn) bailout it needed before the European Central Bank pulled funding and sent the island on the path to bankruptcy and a possible exit from the single currency. Under the new agreement, all bank deposits under €100,000 will be secured and guaranteed by the state. The country's second-biggest bank, The Popular Bank of Cyprus – known as Laiki – will be closed whilst holders of deposits of more than €100,000 face big losses."
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