Regulators OK Wells Fargo Takeover Of Wachovia
Wells Fargo & Co. has been cleared by federal antitrust regulators to acquire troubled Wachovia Corp. for $11.7 billion after a deal between Citigroup and the bank fell through.
Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia fell victim to the subprime mortgage crisis and became ripe for takeover.
The rapid approval from federal regulators comes a day after Citigroup Inc. broke off talks with Wells Fargo after the two suitors failed to reach an agreement over how to split up the bank.
The San Francisco-based Wells Fargo said Thursday it would proceed with the purchase and plans to complete the deal by the end of the fourth quarter. The acquisition still needs the approval of Wachovia shareholders.
Oil Drops Below $80 Per Barrel
The price of oil fell below $80 on Friday for the first time in a year, pressured by expectations that demand will plummet amid a global economic recession.
U.S. light crude for November delivery was down $6.74 at $79.85 a barrel by 13.35 GMT. It touched a session low of $78.61, its lowest since October 2007.
Economic weakness spurred the International Energy Agency (IEA) to cut its forecasts for world oil demand growth for 2008 to its lowest rate since 1993.
Prices have dropped nearly 45 percent from a peak of $147.27 in July.
Connecticut Supreme Court OKs Gay Marriage
Connecticut's Supreme Court has ruled that same-sex couples are legally entitled to marry, a move that moves the state into line with only two others -- Massachusetts and California.
The opinion of the court, which voted 4-3 for the decision and against a Connecticut petition, said the state had failed to show adequate reason to ban gay marriage and that not allowing same-sex couples to marry violated the Connecticut constitution's equal protection clause.
Eight couples sued Connecticut in 2004 challenging the state's gay marriage ban.
Since 2005 Connecticut has allowed civil unions in the state but gay rights groups say the law discriminated against homosexuals by denying gay couples the financial, social and emotional benefits of marriage.
Opponents of gay marriage have said the state's civil unions law is adequate.
Bush Promises U.S. Will Resolve Financial Crisis
President Bush on Friday tried once again to reassure Americans over the nation's teetering economy, acknowledging that it was a "deeply unsettling period" for many people.
"This uncertainty has led to anxiety among our people, and that is understandable," Bush said in the White House Rose Garden. "That anxiety can feed anxiety, and that could make it hard to see all that is being done to solve the problem."
He said the U.S. was acting "to resolve this crisis and restore stability to our markets."
"This has been a deeply unsettling period for the American people. Many of our citizens have serious concerns about their retirement accounts, their investments and their economic well-being," Bush said.
The administration's top advisers have pledged to continue working to correct the mistakes that have led to more than a year of severe market turmoil.
The President's Working Group on Financial Markets, which includes Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, issued a report Friday that says while many reforms have been implemented, more needs to be done.
Athisaari Wins Nobel Peace Prize
Former Finish President Martti Ahtisaari won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for decades of peace missions ranging from Namibia to Kosovo.
Ahtisaari was chosen to receive the $1.4 million prize from a field of 197 candidates "for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts," the award committee said.
The 71-year-old recipient was Finland's president from 1994 to 2000.
In 2005, he brokered peace between Indonesia and rebels in Aceh province to end 30 years of fighting. Until March last year he led Serb-Albanian talks on Kosovo as U.N. envoy.
Athisaari was also an architect of the European Union-backed plan for Kosovo's independence from Serbia which guaranteed Serb minority rights and was implemented bloodlessly after the wars that tore apart Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
EU Says Russian Troop Withdraw Meets Deadline
The European Union said on Friday it was satisfied that Russian forces have pulled out of uncontested Georgian territory ahead of a deadline.
But Georgia accused Moscow of violating a cease-fire requiring Russian forces to withdraw thousands of troops from Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said EU monitors in Georgia had confirmed the departure of Russian troops from so-called security zones around the breakaway regions.
Moscow invaded Georgia in August after Georgian forces tried to re-take South Ossetia. Moscow says it is keeping 8,000 troops in the two regions.
