Greece could Jump S&P CC rating Eurozone Jump -1& -2 down – PHL as ease

Philippines + up ratings

While the Philippines is still lobbying to have the investment grade ratings for its high liquidity and foreign currency reserves continued to grow in October 2011, giving the Philippines more than enough of a defense against a deteriorating global economic situation as it ranks now up to thethe 26^th highest World Gross International Reserves higher than many countries in Europe – S&P and Fitch stick the Philippines' rating as ease though it deserves upgrade.

Currently, Fitch Ratings has put the country one notch below investment grade while Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's have it rated two notches lower. This is after four recent upgrades by the agencies.

Last month, the country repaid 7% of its outstanding foreign debt, about $1.3 billion at a premium of nearly $1.7 billion, the secretary said, as part of a series of broad economic and government reforms it is undertaking to improve the country's image and governance.

The repayment of debt is expected to save the country from making expensive interest payments and takes it a step closer toward its policy goal of reducing foreign currency debt. Like other countries in the region, the Philippines, which is the largest issuer of foreign debt with nearly $16 billion outstanding, hopes to protect its economy from the swings of the currency trade by reducing its dependence on such debt.

As the Philippines economy continue to bubble, the countries GIR will also grow upward. The country's GIR now higher than the reserves of Canada, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, Australia, and most countries in Europe.

Japan remains the 2^nd highest followed by Russia & Saudi Arabia. France ranks 13^th lower than South Korea's 8^th notch. United Kingdom is on the 20^th of $114,180 Billion GIR.

Eurozone Jump -1 & -2 ratings down

Confirming earlier reports, Standard & Poor's put its ratings of 15 Euro zone countries on watch negative, implying it could lower credit ratings of countries including Germany and France.

Ahead of an EU summit Thursday and Friday, S&P said the 15 countries are at risk of a downgrade depending on what comes out of the meeting. The move, S&P said, was "prompted by our belief that systemic stresses in the eurozone have risen in recent weeks to the extent that they now put downward pressure on the credit standing of the eurozone as a whole."

S&P said Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Luxembourg could have ratings lowered by up to one notch, while France, also currently AAA, and the rest of the governments, including Italy and Spain, and could see ratings lowered by up to two notches.

The ratings agency, which cut the U.S. rating one notch from AAA in August after the debt ceiling debate failed to generate significant deficit reduction plans, said the systemic stress in the Euro zone comes from five factors:

(1) Tightening credit conditions across the eurozone;

(2) Markedly higher risk premiums on a growing number of eurozone sovereigns, including some that are currently rated 'AAA';

(3) Continuing disagreements among European policy makers on how to tackle the immediate market confidence crisis and, longer term, how to ensure greater economic, financial, and fiscal convergence among eurozone members;

(4) High levels of government and household indebtedness across a large area of the eurozone; and

(5) The rising risk of economic recession in the eurozone as a whole in 2012.

Currently, we expect output to decline next year in countries such as Spain,

Portugal and Greece, but we now assign a 40% probability of a fall in output for the eurozone as a whole.

Of those factors, S&P said its review will focus on the political, external and monetary scores it assigns the region's government's, considering both "country-specific and Euro zone-wide issues that appear to us to be limiting the effectiveness of efforts to resolve the market confidence crisis." S&P will also consider the borrowing requirements of governments and European banks, as well as the European Central Bank's policy settings, which to date have not included any signals of a willingness to act as a lender of last resort. (See "What Bernanke & Friends' Latest Move Means For Markets.")

Seth Setrakian, co-head of equities at First New York Securities, highlighted the issue of high levels of government and household indebtedness mentioned by S&P, arguing that all the bailout discussions currently in effect or on the table increase, rather than decrease indebtedness in some fashion. Germany's resistance to a full-on rescue of countries like Italy without stringent debt and deficit restrictions is a positive in Setrakian's view, even if it makes trading a challenge in a highly volatile market. "For once, somebody is willing to take short-term pain for long-term gain."

Earlier Monday, France's Nicholas Sarkozy and Germany's Angela Merkel said they were determined to rework treaties in order to allow for sanctions on countries that to not meet fiscal guidelines, while the Italian government announced €30 billion in austerity measures aimed at cutting its debt load under new Prime Minister Mario Monti.

Greece, the country that kicked off the European debt crisis more than a year ago, was not one of the country's placed on watch by S&P Monday. Of course, that's because the ratings agency believes there is already "a relatively high near-term probability of default," as connoted by its CC rating.

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WikiLeaks Founder - Julian Assange to take fight to British Supreme Court

Julian Assange arrives at the High Court in London. "Today the High Court has decided that an issue that arises from my own case is of general public importance and may be of assistance to other cases and could be heard by the Supreme Court," he said. (Stefan Wermuth / Reuters / December 5, 2011)

By Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times (henry.chu@latimes.com)

December 6, 2011: Reporting from London— Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks website, is free to ask Britain's highest court to decide whether he should be extradited to Sweden on allegations of sexual assault, judges ruled Monday.

Recently, Julian Assange has been recognized in Australia for its "outstanding contribution to journalism", with founder Julian Assange lashing out at "cowardly" Prime Minister Julia Gillard in an acceptance speech.

The global community recognized the independent journalism and heroic contribution of the Wikileaks that leaked thousands of confidential information involving the politics and US cables.

In the Philippines; Wikileaks leaked tons of information from the US cables related to the Philippines political issues and including the information that lauded by the locals regarding the tons of gold and oil and gas deposits in Agusan Marsh Mindanao which is estimated to a $Trillion US dollars.

Wikileaks leaked also the confidential comment of former US Ambassador to the Philippines Kristie Kenney describing the Philippines President Benigno Aquino III as unassertive.

The 40-year-old Australian has been battling extradition to Stockholm, the Swedish capital, since a judge ruled in February that he should be sent there to face accusations of raping and molesting two women.

Assange and his lawyers have 14 days to file a request for review by the Supreme Court. If it refuses to hear the matter, Assange would be extradited within days of the decision. If it accepts, the case would probably come before the court sometime next spring, the BBC reported.

Assange denies any misconduct and insists his relations with the women in separate encounters in August 2010 were consensual. He contends that the allegations against him are politically motivated, a pretext to ship him onward for prosecution in the U.S., where the Obama administration has roundly condemned him for leaking thousands of diplomatic documents on his website.

He surrendered to police in London last December after Sweden issued a warrant for his arrest. He has spent almost the entire time since then under "mansion arrest," living on a supporter's sprawling country estate outside London but forced to wear an electronic tag, abide by a curfew and check in with police daily.

Last month, judges on Britain's High Court upheld the earlier ruling approving Assange's extradition. On Monday, they said he would not be allowed to pursue his case any further through the normal appeals process but could apply directly to the Supreme Court for a hearing, on the basis that general principles worthy of the court's scrutiny were at stake.

Those principles deal with which bodies in foreign countries ought to be allowed to request extradition of suspects from Britain.

"Today the High Court has decided that an issue that arises from my own case is of general public importance and may be of assistance to other cases and could be heard by the Supreme Court," Assange told reporters. "I think that is a correct decision and I am thankful. The long struggle for justice for me and others continues."

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6 Chinese fishermen charged for endangered sea turtle catch in Philippines Spratlys

MANILA, Philippines — A court in the Philippines charged six Chinese fishermen with poaching endangered sea turtles in proceedings Monday aimed at protecting threatened wildlife along the country's coastline.

Authorities discovered a batch of giant green turtles after intercepting the fishermen's speedboat in waters off the western province of Palawan on Friday, said military spokesman Major Niel Estrella. A joint team from the Philippine navy, coast guard and the Environment Department made the seizure.

The boat was likely attached to a mother ship that escaped after the fishermen were detained, Estrella said.

Nine of the turtles were already dead, but three were released alive into the waters after being tagged, Glenda Cadigal, a wildlife specialist at the Palawan Council, told The Associated Press.

The sea turtles, also known as Chelonia mydas, are often caught for food and for use in traditional medicine. They can grow as long as 5 feet (150 centimeters) and weigh as much as 290 pounds (130 kilograms). They are endangered because of overharvesting of both eggs and adults.

On Monday, authorities filed criminal charges under the Philippines' Wildlife Act and Fisheries Code at the Palawan Regional Trial Court in the capital Puerto Princessa, said Adelina Villena, chief lawyer for the government's Palawan Council for Sustainable Development.

If found guilty on all charges, the fishermen would face up to 24 years in prison. They were not requested to enter a plea Monday and a date for their arraignment was not immediately set, Villena said.

In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China was "paying attention to the incident" and asked the Philippines to ensure the safety and legal rights of the fishermen. "The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines has sent staff to visit the detained fishermen," Hong said.

Last year, six Chinese fishermen also on a speedboat were arrested near the same area with more than 50 turtles, many of them already butchered and one bearing a monitoring tag of the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute, said Cadrigal, the wildlife specialist.

The trial of those fishermen is still continuing.

"These kinds of practices endanger the lives of other creatures in the sea because marine turtles have their function in the balance of the ecosystem," Cadigal said.

Sea turtles feed on sea grass, which keeps the blades short and promotes their growth across the sea bed, and also provide sand beaches with nutrients, partly because of the eggs they lay that remain unhatched.

Palawan, about 510 miles (820 kilometers) southwest of Manila, is the nearest Philippine province to the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, which are claimed by China, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam and Brunei.

Relations between the Philippines and China have recently soured after Manila accused Beijing of interfering with its oil exploration activities in the sea China claims in its entirety.

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Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. Associated Press writer Louise Watt in Beijing contributed to this report.

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