Greece Gets Some Relief on Credit Rating

Greece won some respite from financial market pressure Tuesday as ratings agency Standard & Poor's took the country off credit watch for a possible downgrade — a day after eurozone governments laid out a vague blueprint for possible loans to help the indebted country.

S&P's announcement that it was no longer considering a downgrade of Greece's credit rating after it made bigger budget cuts is the strongest sign yet that markets may see less chance of the country failing to repay its debts.

A Greek default would be a serious blow for Europe's currency union, showing that eurozone countries are unable or unwilling to lend their own money to one of their members. That's why markets and many economists expect that European government would step in and stop it with a financial backstop of some sort.

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Britain rules out stronger deficit cuts

BRUSSELS -- British Treasury chief Alistair Darling on Tuesday hit back at European Union calls for more aggressive deficit cuts, saying such moves would risk tipping Britain back into recession.

Responding to reports that the European Commission will tomorrow recommend that Britain move more quickly to reduce its ballooning budget deficit, he said the EU's recommendation would take 25 billion pounds out of the British economy.

It would also risk "seriously derailing the economy and tipping our economy back into recession," Darling said after a meeting of European finance ministers.

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Warning: Ancient sex on show in Paris

The latest show at Paris' Quai Branly museum comes with a warning for visitors: "This exhibition of Moche ceramics shows sexual acts of an explicit nature."

But the extraordinary and graphic testimonial of the ancient Moche civilization of Peru isn't about physical pleasure or procreation, according to the curator.

He says the sexual acts evoke the rituals that accompanied the death of dignitaries, and the human sacrifices that went with them. They tell a story about the power of the elite that he says has parallels with modern life.

"Sex, death and sacrifice in the Moche religion," which opened this week and runs until May 23, brings to Europe for the first time 134 erotic Moche ceramics on loan from the Larco Museum in Lima, Peru.

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Russia helps Europe's space business

KOUROU, French Guiana -- Joel Barre, the head of Europe's tropical spaceport in French Guiana, is relaxed about letting a former Cold War rival into the very heart of the Guiana Space Center's control center.
Unthinkable twenty years ago, Europe is letting Russians into its space program because they have something Europe needs: a tried and tested mid-range rocket launcher that just happens to be a veteran of the space race.
The Soyuz rocket is expected to make its debut at the Guiana launch site in the second half of the year.
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PPR to continue Alexander McQueen label

PARIS – The French owners of the late designer Alexander McQueen's label promise to continue his legacy, saying that would be the best tribute to a man they called a genius, a poet and a friend.

Francois-Henri Pinault, head of the French luxury group PPR which controls McQueen's companies through its Gucci Group, said the company will ensure McQueen's label continues and will build on the brand.

Pinault called McQueen, who killed himself last week, a "genius," a "friend" and a "poet" who was "hurt and lost in a world whose superficiality and lack of ideals he couldn't accept."

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Europe's new financial markets chief signals differences with US over financial regulation

BRUSSELS (AP) - Europe's new financial services chief signaled differences with the U.S. over how to overhaul banking regulations, saying he wants binding rules on pay and rejecting as wrong for Europe President Barack Obama's plans to limit banks' size and risky trading.

In his first press conference since taking office, Frenchman Michel Barnier said he wants "binding rules on remuneration throughout the financial sector."

He didn't give a time frame for making detailed proposals, which would have to be approved by EU governments and the European parliament.

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Airbus leads Boeing but problems linger

SEVILLE, Spain — Airbus on Tuesday said it beat rival Boeing in aircraft production in 2009, maintaining its place as the world's largest planemaker, but warned that a troubled military transport program is endangering the rest of the company.

CEO Tom Enders said Airbus should cancel the delayed and over-budget A400M project if customer governments fail to commit more funds soon because it is swallowing money and valuable resources.

The issue overshadowed the news that Airbus delivered a record 498 aircraft in 2009, above its 2008 tally of 483 and Boeing's score of 481.

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