LyrArc Article Gist
Italy's prime minister, Mario Monti, in an interview with Britain's Guardian newspaper, June 22, 2012, says the detailed blueprint for action will not come out of the meetings in Rome of European leaders at the end of June. But he added: "there will be some strong elements and a short road, I hope, short, a few months, to get from there to the overall project." Separately Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF, said after meeting European financial leaders in Luxembourg: "A determined and forceful move towards complete European monetary union should be reaffirmed in order to restore faith. At the moment, the viability of the European monetary system is questioned." Monti is a former senior EU official, and Christine Lagarde was France's finance minister under president Sarkozy. The difference now compared to meetings in 2010, is the changes in France, Italy, and Spain, and at the IMF, with new leaders Hollande in France, Monti in Italy, and Rajoy in Spain, and Lagarde at the IMF, and a new context in that the austerity policies by themselves are seen as failing to produce the desired results. A further change in the dynamic is the win by Social Democrats in regional elections in Germany and Hollande opening a dialogue with the German Social Democrats. The dialogue with Merkel has been enhanced by appointing seasoned EU officials in key positions in the Hollande administration in anticipation of a tighter fiscal union in the EU....

LyrArc Article Gist
Spain's plan to reduce corporate taxes by 5% and individual income taxes by average 12.5% in 2015-2016, reversing earlier austerity measures. A similiar move in Italy.

LyrArc Article Gist
S&P downgrades Netherlands to double-A-plus and raises Spain's outlook from negative to stable while retaining Spain's triple-B-minus rating.

LyrArc Article Gist
Only teams from Spain France England Italy and Germany win in the Champions League that leaves out Portugal and Hungary with great sporting traditions. Philip Lamm looks at Hungary for The Guardian, a country that made it to the finals of World Cup twice 1938 and 1954. The Danube has great history going back to wins against Bayern Munich in July 1919 in Budapest winning praise in Germany.

LyrArc Article Gist
Kylian Mbappe says he is very "impatient" "holds grudges" and is also "direct"- finds it "very surreal" to be closing in on Miroslav Klose's world record of 16 World Cup goals when he is only 27 years. He accepts the fame and the drawbacks of being who he is. He is mature and well rounded for his age, knows what he wants and not afraid to play for it, yet humble. In an intervew with Vanity Fair he says just being home some days doing nothing is all he wants to do, and being with a friend who does not care for soccer thats ok. He also loves to cook , and loves the cooking in Spain, as well as France. He likes life in Spain and is getting to know Spanish culture through Ronaldo, the all time Portuguese great who spent years with Real Madrid. His comment about Spanish culture - they eat late, just chill. And they use the words "muy tranquilo" meaning its all OK, its all OK, that he says is the Spanish cultural attitude to life, and which shrugs off the pressures. ...

LyrArc Article Gist
Soccer is played in only a few states in India - W. Bengal, Tripura, Mizoram, Punjab, Kerala, and Maharashtra. There is no careful youth development in India for soccer as happens in Spain, Italy, France and Britain. Cricket dominates as the most important sport. This still does not explain why Cabo Verde and Curacao succeeded and India and China did not make it. India did not make it to even the Asian cup.

LyrArc Article Gist
Don Bradman's 270 runs in the Ashes 1937 as the greatest batting of all time

LyrArc Article Gist
Spain's finance minister, Elena Salgado, says the state backed Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring, will acquire direct equity stakes in the Cajas, Spain's regional banks, for upto 5 years. The Bank of Spain's preliminary estimates of the capital needs of the banking sector are below 20 billion euros, according to Salgado. The Spanish government will raise the Tier 1 capital requirements for all banks to 8% and will inject capital into lenders that do not meet the new requirements. The moves are designed to reassure investors who lack information about the true financial condition of the cajas.