1 of 2. The U.S. Consulate in Benghazi is seen in flames during a protest by an armed group said to have been protesting a film being produced in the United States in this September 11, 2012 file photo. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said December 19, 2012, she accepted the findings of an independent panel that faulted the State Department over the deadly September attack and had ordered widespread changes to bolster US. Diplomatic security overseas.

WASHINGTON | Thu Dec 20, 2012 5:06pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department will seek billions of dollars in new funds and revamp security procedures around the globe in response to criticism by an independent investigation of the September 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, senior officials said on Thursday.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's two top deputies appeared at a Senate hearing and conceded that U.S. officials had failed to "connect the dots" ahead of the attack, which killed U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and three other Americans.

"We learned some very hard and painful lessons in Benghazi," said Deputy Secretary of State William Burns. "We are already acting on them. We have to do better."

The State Department said on Wednesday its security chief had resigned and three other officials were relieved of their posts following the report, which cited leadership and management deficiencies, poor coordination and confusion over who had the authority to make decisions.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, tipped to be President Barack Obama's pick to replace Clinton when she steps down next month, chaired the session and led the call for increased funding.

"We need to make certain that we are not penny wise and pound foolish when it comes to supporting America's vital interest overseas," Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, said.

SECURITY SPENDING EYED

Clinton, unable to appear at the hearing due to illness, has already asked for $1.4 billion in funds for the 2013 fiscal year to be re-allocated to improve security at U.S. diplomatic missions, a State Department fact sheet said.

The State Department is also expected to request $2.3 billion per year for the next 10 years to further this work.

Some Republican lawmakers challenged the call for more money.

"If the State Department intends to blame its long string of failures on inadequate funding, then perhaps it should take a closer look at the money that is being lavished on global climate change, culinary diplomacy programs and other favored projects," House Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, said at an afternoon hearing.

But the panel's top Democrat, Representative Howard Berman, said the diplomatic security budget was cut so often it "created a culture at the State Department that is more preoccupied with saving money than with achieving its security goals."

Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides said the department had formed a task force to implement 29 specific recommendations in the panel's report and sent security assessment teams to 19 U.S. missions in 13 countries.

The department, in cooperation with the Pentagon, intends to send 35 additional Marine detachments, or about 225 uniformed personnel, to beef up security at medium- and high-threat posts and to boost staffing of its own Bureau of Diplomatic Security by about 5 percent, or 150 additional agents, Nides said.

"Implementation of each and every recommendation will be under way by the time the next secretary of state takes office," Nides said.

The State Department said Bill Miller, a diplomatic security special agent since 1987 who has served in Egypt and Iraq, was appointed deputy assistant secretary of state for high-threat posts - a new position in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security.

The job will focus on U.S. posts in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Libya, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia and Yemen, the State Department said.

The Benghazi incident could tarnish Clinton's four-year tenure as secretary of state but the report does not fault her specifically.

Burns said to his knowledge the security requests from diplomats in Libya "did not get as far as Secretary Clinton."

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama endorsed the recommendations of the Benghazi report and expects them to be fully implemented.

"Immediately, accountability has been brought to bear with regard to four individuals who are very senior," he said.

'SCLEROTIC' DEPARTMENT

Republican Senator Bob Corker, an outspoken critic of the Obama administration's response to Benghazi, said the panel report revealed a "sclerotic" State Department that has failed to make good use of the resources already at its disposal.

"We have no idea whether the State Department is using its money wisely or not," he said.

Nides said the department still was coming to terms with widespread changes across the Middle East and defended the department's overall track record.

"We get this right about 99 percent of the time. We would like to be at 100 percent without question," he said.

Republicans have focused much of their firepower on U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, who appeared on TV talk shows after the attack and suggested it was the result of a spontaneous protest rather than a planned attack.

The report concluded there was no such protest and Rice, who had been widely seen as Obama's top pick to succeed Clinton, withdrew her name from consideration last week.

U.S. officials say the assault, which occurred on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, was the work of Islamist extremists and have pledged to bring those responsible to justice.

Burns said the attack highlighted the need to take a broader look at security rather than focus on "specific and credible" threats, which officials insist were absent in Benghazi.

"What happened in Benghazi was clearly a terrorist attack," Burns said. "We did not do a good enough job, as the report highlights, in trying to connect the dots."

(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria and Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Bill Trott and Todd Eastham)

View the original article here

1 of 4. European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi (L) speaks during the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee in Brussels October 9, 2012.

BRUSSELS | Tue Oct 9, 2012 9:55am EDT

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Greece has made progress on reforming its economy but has more work to do, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said on Tuesday.

"It's quite clear that the progress at the level of undertaking the necessary policy reform has been perceptible and significant and it's also clear that more needs to be done," he told the European Parliament Committee.

"We see progress, we see a need for further work," he added.

The ECB, the European Commission, and the International Monetary Fund form the so-called troika of international lenders. The troika is working on a report on Greece's progress in tackling its debts.

(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio, writing by Paul Carrel; editing by Patrick Graham)

View the original article here

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, September 20, 2012.

NEW YORK | Thu Sep 27, 2012 4:44pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 snapped a five-day string of declines in a broad-based rally on Thursday, as Spain's plans for economic reform eased some worries about one of the euro zone's most troubled countries.

The benchmark S&P 500 rose 1 percent, its biggest percentage gain since the Federal Reserve announced its plan for a third round of stimulus on September 13.

Spain announced a detailed timetable for economic reforms for the fiscally troubled nation and a tough 2013 budget based mostly on spending cuts.

"Any information that gives some understanding about what's going to happen is good for the market. It's small news, but more certainty is good," said Giri Cherukuri, head trader at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.

The EU's Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner, Olli Rehn, said Spain's detailed timetable for economic reforms goes beyond what the European Commission has asked of Spain. Rehn said it is an ambitious step forward.

Gold stocks ranked among the day's bigger gainers in the wake of Spain's news; the PHLX gold/silver index .XAU jumped 3 percent.

Adding to the rally was a last-minute push by investors to reposition portfolios ahead of the quarter's end, with the S&P 500 on track for a gain of 6.2 percent in the third quarter. Friday will be the quarter's last trading day.

"What we've seen is broadly a consolidation, but also an attempt by fund managers to position properly for the rest of the year, to be in the best sectors," said Bruce Zaro, chief technical strategist at Delta Global Asset Management in Boston.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI shot up 72.46 points, or 0.54 percent, to 13,485.97 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX rose 13.83 points, or 0.96 percent, to finish at 1,447.15. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC gained 42.90 points, or 1.39 percent, to close at 3,136.60.

While the Nasdaq led Thursday's gains, it also led the market's declines earlier this week - its volatility possibly reflecting investors' nervousness about the U.S. economic outlook, analysts said.

Apple (AAPL.O), up 2.4 percent at $681.32, gave the biggest lift to the Nasdaq. The semiconductor index .SOX gained 2.3 percent, bolstering the Nasdaq 100 .NDX. Intel Corp (INTC.O) was up 1.9 percent at $23.09.

After the bell, U.S.-listed shares of Research In Motion (RIMM.O) surged 15 percent to $8.21 after the Canadian maker of the BlackBerry reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss.

On the deal-making front, Tempur-Pedic International Inc (TPX.N) agreed to buy rival mattress maker Sealy Corp (ZZ.N) for about $242 million and assume about $750 million in debt. Tempur-Pedic shares jumped 14.4 percent to $30.64, while Sealy's stock rose 2.3 percent to $2.19.

In the earnings realm, Discover Financial Services (DFS.N) reported third-quarter earnings that beat expectations - and its shares climbed 7.3 percent to $39.71.

Stocks were rising before Spain's announcement on hopes that China would take steps to spur its slowing economy.

China has severely underestimated this year's global economic slowdown, and further cuts to Chinese interest rates or bank reserve requirements will hinge on any new deterioration in the external environment, a central bank adviser said on Thursday.

U.S. economic data was mixed. A report showed initial jobless claims dropped by 23,000 to 359,000, sharply exceeding the decline of 4,000 that had been expected.

But the final read on second-quarter gross domestic product showed growth of just 1.3 percent, weaker than an expected 1.7 percent. And August durable goods orders tumbled 13.2 percent, much more than the expected drop of 5 percent.

Volume was below average at roughly 5.74 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the Amex, compared with the year-to-date average daily closing volume of 6.53 billion.

Advancers outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by a ratio of slightly more than 3 to 1,and on the Nasdaq, about three stocks rose for every one that fell.

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

View the original article here

HELSINKI | Thu Aug 2, 2012 6:37am EDT

HELSINKI Aug 2 (Reuters) - Italy's prime minister warned markets to give his country more credit for its fiscal reforms and said he favoured bold measures to tackle Europe's debt crisis, outlining a possible future policy path for the region as a key ECB meeting got under way.

Mario Monti, a technocrat drafted in after Silvio Berlusconi resigned as premier last year, said continued high borrowing costs for Italy could usher in a eurosceptic government that would renege on fiscal targets.

"I can assure you that if the (bond yield) spread in Italy remains at these levels for some time ... then you are going to see a... non euro-oriented, non fiscal discipline-oriented government taking power in Italy," he told a conference.

Italy's bond yields have stayed stubbornly high despite budget reform efforts steered by Monti, contributing to the pressure to match words with bold actions that European Central Bank President Mario Draghi is under after he pledged last week to do whatever it takes to save the euro.

Markets believe the main option on the table for the ECB is a resumption of its bond-buying programme, which would ease Spanish and Italian borrowing costs, though Reuters reported on Monday that that action could be weeks away.

Italy is due to hold elections next spring, which Monti has said he will not contest, but disagreements within the ruling coalition - in part over the cost of implementing tough austerity measures during a recession - have prompted speculation the government could fall this year.

Centre-right leader Berlusconi, who has hinted he may run again for prime minister, has made several comments in recent months suggesting that Italy could consider quitting the euro zone.

Running the rule over further options for strengthening the single currency bloc, Monti said he strongly favoured jointly issued bonds but admitted other measures in support of a European fiscal union would have to be introduced first.

On Wednesday, he predicted the euro zone's ESM rescue fund would eventually be granted a banking licence, allowing it to tap unlimited resources through the ECB's liquidity operations.

Euro zone paymaster Germany is strongly opposed to both measures. Finland has also said it opposes common euro zone bonds.

Monti was visiting Finland as part of a campaign for concerted action by euro zone governments and the ECB to help bring down peripheral sovereign borrowing costs.

Italian 10-year bond yields were 14 basis points lower on the day at 5.94 percent.

View the original article here