Stress Tests Show Big Banks Will Need to Raise Billions More

Some of the nation's largest banks will need to raise billions of dollars in additional capital after results of the government stress tests are released late Thursday.

The tests, which will be made public at 5 pm ET, were designed to gauge whether any of the nation's 19 largest banks would need more capital to survive a deeper recession.

Much of the results already began leaking out on Wednesday. Financial stocks initially rallied after the early results didn't appear to be as bad as investors feared. But the rally lost steam on Thursday even after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments that the stress tests should restore investor confidence in the banks.

Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Bank of America all need billions more, regulators have told them.

Citigroup will need to raise about $5 billion, according to a government official briefed on the results who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter. Earlier news reports had put that dollar figure closer to $10 billion.

Regions Financial will also need to raise more money, according to people briefed on the results, as will Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

Bank of America stock rose Wednesday after reports that the Charlotte, N.C.-based company would need to collect $34 billion in additional capital. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported the figure.

Wells Fargo needs between $13 billion and $15 billion, according to Times and Journal reports Thursday.

GMAC, the lending arm of beleaguered automaker General Motors, is said to need $11.5 billion.

Morgan Stanley is looking at between a $1 billion and $2 billion shortfall, according to the Times.

In all, the Journal said at least seven of the banks will need a combined $65 billion. The entire group that is deemed to need more capital will require less than $100 billion combined, according to the Times.

Despite being included in the Journal's tally, State Street is not being required to raise more capital after completing its stress test, a person familiar with the matter said Thursday.

The public nature of the assessments and Thursday's planned announcement raised questions among some critics about whether the findings will reflect the banks' actual conditions.

The tests put banks through two scenarios: one that reflected expectations about the current recession and another that envisioned a recession deeper than what analysts predict.

Stress tests have long been a part of the bank regulation system. They help regulators decide how to supervise banks and aid banks in deciding how to limit their risk. But those conversations between banks and regulators normally take place behind closed doors.

In recent weeks, the government's unprecedented decision to publicly release bank-test results has fanned speculation, with analysts predicting the findings and investors staking out trading positions.

Critics are concerned that all the attention could make the tests much less effective.

They say regulators seem so intent on maintaining public confidence in the banks that the results will have to say the banks are basically healthy. Officials have said they will not let any of the 19 institutions fold.

That makes it almost impossible for them to say anything about a bank that would threaten its survival, since a flight by investors could force the government to step in with additional bailout money—something the Treasury Department hopes to avoid.

"There is a real question as to the legitimacy of these results," said Jason O'Donnell, senior analyst at Boenning & Scattergood.

The stress tests are a key part of the Obama administration's plan to stabilize the financial industry. The tests estimated how much value the banks' loans would lose as consumers and businesses faced more trouble repaying loans.

The first test scenario envisioned unemployment reaching 8.8 percent in 2010 and housing prices dropping another 14 percent this year. The second imagined unemployment rising to 10.3 percent next year and homes losing another 22 percent of their value this year.

But economic assumptions have changed since the tests were designed in February.

Unemployment already has surpassed the 8.4 percent the test's first scenario predicts for 2009, which leaves some analysts wondering whether the tests were harsh enough.

The government is asking banks to keep their capital reserve ratios above a certain level so they can continue lending even if the economic picture darkens.

The banks that need more capital will have until June 8 to come up with a plan to raise the additional resources and have the plan approved by their regulators, officials said Wednesday.

Banks will have several options for increasing their capital. Some will be able to close the gap by converting the government's debt into common stock. Others will have six months to attempt to raise money from private investors.

If they cannot do it, the government will provide money from its $700 billion financial system bailout.

Representatives for American Express, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of New York Mellon, Citigroup and Regions Financial would not comment on the tests.

The remaining stress-tested banks are: Goldman Sachs Group, MetLife, PNC Financial Services Group, U.S. Bancorp, SunTrust Banks, Capital One Financial, BB&T, Regions Financial, Fifth Third Bancorp and Keycorp.

Tokoh Berpengaruh TIME 2009 : Pencitraan Tokoh Pro Barat

Presiden Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono masuk dalam 100 tokoh dunia yang paling berpengaruh versi majalah terkemuka dunia TIME edisi Mei 2009. Pemilihan majalah TIME terbagi dalam sejumlah kategori dan Presiden Yudhoyono masuk dalam kategori Leader and Revolutionaries.

Pro-kontra pun muncul. Pantaskah SBY disebut tokoh berpengaruh ? Jelas ada yang mendukung. Tapi tidak sedikit yang menolak. Dari situs www.hizbut-tahrir.or.id banyak komentar yang kontra. Salah seorang pembaca Rie menyatakan : “Negara teladan yang diakui dunia???” Lha mbok lihat tuh berapa jumlah pengangguran, kemiskinan, jumlah kejahatan dan kriminalitas, premanisme, borok-borok korupsi, aborsi, rebutan zakat sampai mati, caleg stress gila sampai bunuh diri, tawuran kampus dan sekolah, pesta miras shabu, … prestasi hukum sekuler seperti ini yang mau dibanggakan?


Pembaca yang lain melihat penghargaan majalah Time bagian dari politik pencitraan SBY sebagai agen Amerika Serikat. Ajeng berkomentar : Ini adalah promosi jelang pilpres 2009. AS berdiri di belakang TIME, berusaha mengorbitkan “kekasihnya” untuk tetap memimpin rakyat Indonesia yang mayoritas muslim, dengan hukum kufur ala Amerika, untuk menjamin Indonesia tetap dalam kekuasaan AS. Kita tidak boleh bangga. Justru kita harus khawatir, berarti AS makin canggih usahanya menjajah Indonesia, dengan “pura-pura” memberi penghargaan. Ayo, terus dengungkan Syariah dan Khilafah agar umat tahu, sistem yang baik hanyalah Islam, dan pemimpin yang layak dapat penghargaan hanyalah pemimpin yang menerapkan Syariat Islam. Allahu Akbar !!!


Beberapa tokoh yang dianggap berpengaruh versi TIME 2009 memang dikenal orang dekat Paman Sam. Terdapat nama PM Irak Nouri al-Maliki yang dikenal sebagai pemerintah boneka AS. Al Maliki dikenal mendukung penuh perpanjangan pasukan AS di Irak.


Kepala Staf Angkatan Bersenjata Pakistan Jenderal Ashfaq Kayani yang dikenal pendukung perang melawan terorisme ala AS juga terpilih. Dalam ulasannya di Majalah TIME, Mullen (Kepala Staf Komando Pasukan Gabungan AS) secara khusus memuji jenderal ini sebagai sahabat Amerika . Jenderal Pakistan ini berjanji kepada AS untuk memerangi pejuang Islam yang dituding Barat sebagai ekstrimis. Jenderal ini juga telah memenuhi janjinya untuk mengirim hampir 2000 pasukan ke perbatasan wilayah laut untuk memerangi al Qaida dan kelompok ekstrim di Bajur dan lembah SWAT.


Beberapa yang dianggap tokoh juga dikenal kebijakannya anti Islam dan pro Israel seperti Presiden Amerika Serikat Barack Obama, yang baru-baru ini melakukan pembunuhan massal terhadap rakyat sipil di Afghanistan-Pakistan. Ada juga Perdana Menteri Inggris Gordon Brown, Menteri Luar Negeri AS Hilary Clinton yang menyerukan pemberian otonomi untuk Papua yang jelas merupakan bentuk campurtangan AS untuk memecahbelah Indonesia.


Tokoh ultranasionalis Israel Avigador Lieberman yang sekarang menjadi menteri luar negeri Israel juga terpilih. Tokoh Yahudi garis keras ini dikenal anti Palestina dan mendukung serangan pre-emptive terhadapat Iran. Mitra utama koalis PM Benjamin Netanyahu dikenal dengan kata-katanya (1 April) kepada staf Departemen Luar Negeri (dan dunia): “Jika anda ingin damai, bersiap-siaplah untuk perang”.


Bau-bau mendukung liberalisme juga tampak dari pencantuman Noral al Faiz sebagai menteri perempuan Saudi Arabia yang pertama dalam sejarah . Dalam komentaranya di Time ,secara khusus mantan pejabat politik di era Bush, Cheney memuji sikap Saudi ini sebagai bagian dari reformasi kerajaan Saudi kearah yang lebih liberal.


Walhasil, komentar Megan diwebsite HTI tampaknya penting untuk dicermati menurutnya : semua rentetan sudah jelas tujuannya untuk “pencitraan seorang tokoh yang loyal kepada dunia barat” yang ujung ujungnya nanti bisa dimanfaatkan Barat untuk mengokohkan kekuasaannya di dunia Islam. sebenarnya umat dibohongi dengan pencitraan itu. (Farid Wadjdi)

For sale: tropical islands at recession-friendly prices

Thu May 7, 2009 1:11am EDT
By Pauline Askin

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - Dreaming of a tropical paradise to call your own? Several Australian islands off the Great Barrier Reef are on sale, and thanks to the global recession, they're cheaper than they used to be.

Global real estate agency Coldwell Banker's Capricorn Coast branch is offering 9 islands, some with luxury mansions and other amenities, around the Great Barrier Reef with prices starting at A$1.3 million ($962,000) and up to A$90 million ($67 million).

One island on offer, Long Island, has seen its A$6.5 million price tag slashed by 42 percent. Others are being advertised for almost half what they cost about a year ago.

"Islands have certainly have come down in price significantly and that's a reflection of the global economy," principal realtor Richard Vanhoff told Reuters.

"Seller's are realists, if they've made the decision to sell, they are coming in line with the market trend and market value."

Some of the islands Coldwell Banker has on their website include Turtle Island, which Vanhoff said actress Julia Robert had wanted to buy eight years ago but lost out to an Australian businessman.

"The island is up for sale again and all the toys go with the property -- there are motorbikes, tractors, motor vehicles and some furniture," Vanhoff said.

"The owners were asking A$6.5 million for that and now they are ready to take any reasonable offer, so that's a good example of vendors keen to sell."

There is also Temple Island, Avoid Island, Marble Island and the newly listed Hinchinbrook island, where 2008's children's movie "Nim's Island" was filmed.

Australia's Queesland state, where the Great Barrier Reef is located, has used another tropical island called Hamilton as the base of a hugely successful advertising campaign to lure tourists, offering them the chance to become island taker and have the "Best Job in the World."

(Reporting by Pauline Askin, Editing by Miral Fahmy)

Stress tests may bring few shotgun weddings

Thu May 7, 2009 7:49am EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. regulators may be tempted to force bank marriages and asset sales to fill multi-billion dollar capital holes exposed by their stress tests.

But a rapid redrawing of the banking landscape like the one last fall may not be in the cards, banking industry experts say, even though the capital shortfalls at the 19 largest U.S. banks are much larger than analysts had expected.

Citigroup analyst Keith Horowitz wrote that banks, other than his own, may need to raise $75 billion after the tests.

The results are due on Thursday, and about 10 of the 19 banks may need capital, according to media leaks.

While seeking stronger partners could be tempting to the weaker banks, their healthier brethren will likely want to repay money they got under the Treasury Department's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) before they use their capital for acquisitions.

And regulators may not have the needed leverage to force these banks to buy their needy rivals, the experts said.

Still as some banks find it hard to raise money, and with mergers often offering significant cost savings, regulators may try to forge a handful of deals, they said.

Some companies may try to sell assets to raise capital, but regulators are unlikely to give weaker banks six months to raise capital unless they have assets they can plausibly sell in that time, said Seamus McMahon, chief executive of bank consulting firm McMahon Advisory LLC.

"If what you are saying is that you are waiting for market conditions to improve and you have no plausible plans in place by June, I don't think they will hesitate to force some of these banks together," McMahon said.

The list of likely acquirers could include banks such as US Bancorp (USB.N), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N), McMahon said.

Targets could include banks such as SunTrust Banks Inc (STI.N), Regions Financial Corp (RF.N), KeyCorp (KEY.N) and Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB.O), he added.

Citigroup Inc (C.N), which a source said needs $5 billion, could be an acquirer as well despite all its troubles, as takeovers could be a way for it to get much-needed deposits, McMahon said.

RELUCTANT BUYERS?

In urging any mergers, though, regulators will want to be careful that they do not create a new problem instead of solving one.

"You don't want to put two stones together and see if they float," said Jonathan Weld, a banking lawyer at Shearman & Sterling.

"You would only want to put together a strong organization and a weaker one if you thought that you could restructure it and emerge with a strong single entity."

The regulators will be dealing with a situation much changed from last fall, when the U.S. financial system was at a risk of collapse and the government bailout money was seen by many as desirable.

Now, healthy banks are eager to give back taxpayer funds and, despite a recession, the end of the financial world doesn't appear to be at hand.

"The reality is they too want to get rid of their TARP money," said Marshall Sonenshine, chairman of the boutique investment bank bearing his name, referring to healthier institutions. "So they are not going to buy anything that slows down that process."

Regulators may have also lost some of their leeway after allegations they forced Bank of America (BAC.N) to complete its acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

"Already you have BofA feeling more than a little bit burned by having been pushed so hard to take over Merrill Lynch," Sonenshine said. "You are likely to see more banks fail at the bottom of the food chain."

Regulators may not want to create another giant through a merger, but they could urge one of the stronger banks to acquire a weak and smaller rival.

"If as a result of the stress test they realize there are two categories of banks -- banks with excess capital that are in great shape and banks that are deficient, then such marriages may make a lot of sense from a regulatory standpoint," said Joseph Vitale, a bank regulatory partner at law firm Schulte Roth & Zabel.

BofA, Citi, Wells need capital under stress tests

Thu May 7, 2009 3:59am EDT


By Karey Wutkowski and Jonathan Stempel



WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Regulators are ordering some of the largest U.S. banks to find tens of billions of dollars of capital to cushion themselves in the event of a deep economic downturn.


The results of government "stress tests" of the ability of the 19 largest U.S. banks to weather a deep recession will be released on Thursday at 5 p.m. EDT and are expected to show about half the banks need more capital.


While the reported capital shortfalls so far are much larger than analysts had expected, bank shares soared as investors got more clarity over how well the industry will cope with perhaps the most severe recession since World War Two.


Among banks needing capital, Bank of America Corp shares closed up 17.1 percent, Citigroup Inc rose 16.6 percent and Wells Fargo & Co rose 15.6 percent. The Standard & Poor's Financials Index gained 8.1 percent.


"The market likes the certainty of putting numbers on the worst-case scenarios of how much capital these banks need," said Chris Armbruster, an analyst at Al Frank Asset Management in Laguna Beach, California.


Regulators have told Bank of America it needs $34 billion, while Citigroup needs $5 billion and auto and mortgage lender GMAC LLC needs $11.5 billion, according to people familiar with the matter.


Citigroup's amount reflects its previously announced plan to convert some preferred shares into common stock. The various sources were not authorized to speak because the official stress test results are not public.


Wells Fargo needs $15 billion, Morgan Stanley needs $1.5 billion and Regions Financial Corp needs some capital, the Wall Street Journal said.


Bank of New York Mellon Corp does not need capital, a person familiar with the matter said.


American Express Co, Capital One Financial Corp, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and MetLife Inc also do not need capital, the Journal said.


All the companies declined to comment.

In an interview on PBS' "Charlie Rose Show," U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said none of the 19 banks are at risk of insolvency. He also said the government does not want to get involved in day-to-day management at the banks.


Geithner and the top U.S. bank regulators -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp Chairman Sheila Bair and Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan -- will brief media on the tests at 4:15 p.m. EDT on Thursday on condition reporters withhold the information until the results are released.


Bair said on Wednesday the results should be "confidence instilling."



STABILITY SOUGHT

Banks may cover any capital shortfalls through a mixture of asset sales, share sales and perhaps the conversion of preferred shares into common stock.


The government is giving banks needing capital one month to develop a plan to raise it and until November 9 to finish the job. These banks must also review their managements and board of directors to ensure proper leadership.


Banks needing capital may ask the government to issue more preferred shares, or to swap government preferred shares into convertible preferred shares. They cannot repay aid from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) until they issue debt not backed by the federal government, and for more than a 5-year term.


Calling the new capital a "one-time buffer," the government pledged "to stand firmly behind the banking system during this period of financial strain to ensure it can perform its key function of providing credit to households and businesses."


If banks convert preferred shares issued under TARP, the government could become one of their biggest shareholders. The White House said it will await the stress test results before commenting on banks' potential management changes.


Citigroup analyst Keith Horowitz wrote that banks, other than his own, may need to raise $75 billion after the tests.


Analysts believe other banks that may need capital include Fifth Third Bancorp, KeyCorp, PNC Financial Services Group Inc and SunTrust Banks Inc.



PRESSURE ON BANK OF AMERICA CEO

Bank of America's stress test results are certain to increase pressure on Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis, who was ousted as chairman last week in a shareholder vote.


That ouster could also lay the groundwork for his departure from his employer of 40 years, including the last eight as CEO. The largest U.S. bank has already received $45 billion of government help.


Critics fault Lewis for not backing away in December from Bank of America's planned merger with Merrill Lynch or disclosing Merrill's failing health.


The bank might raise capital by converting some of its $30 billion of privately held preferred shares into common stock, or by selling its stakes in China Construction Bank and Brazil's Itau Unibanco.


It might also sell its Columbia asset management unit, and has said it may sell its First Republic Bank business.



WELLS FARGO, CITI, GMAC

Wells Fargo opposed taking its initial $25 billion of government aid and did not get government help in buying Wachovia Corp for $12.5 billion at the year-end.


Chairman Dick Kovacevich in March called the government tests "asinine." Billionaire investor Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc is the bank's largest shareholder, said on Sunday that Wells Fargo needs no more capital.


But analysts have said Wells Fargo may need a greater cushion against loan losses, despite it having taken a big writedown when it bought Wachovia.


Citigroup's capital need would be at the low end of the $5-$10 billion it had been expected to require.


The bank is preparing an exchange offer that could leave the government with a 36 percent equity stake.


GMAC, meanwhile, has been struggling with rising auto and mortgage losses, as well as falling vehicle sales at its former parent, General Motors Corp. It said on Tuesday a GM bankruptcy would not automatically trigger a GMAC filing.

Kaspersky Targetkan Pertumbuhan 2X Lipat

JAKARTA - Kaspersky Lab memperkuat posisinya di Indonesia dengan menargetkan 200 persen pertumbuhan di Indonesia pada akhir tahun 2009.

Salah satu alasan yang menjadikan Kaspersky Lab sebagai vendor penyedia solusi keamanan TI terkemuka di Indonesia pada kurun waktu dua tahun, adalah karena produknya yang berkualitas prima dan efektif dalam melindungi pengguna terharap ancaman malware.

Sebagai salah satu negara yang banyak mendapatkan serangan, Indonesia menjadi pasar utama bagi Kaspersky. Hal ini terbukti dari pertumbuhan bisnisnya (year-on-year) di tahun 2007 sebanyak 100 persen dan 272 persen di tahun 2008.

"Berdasarkan performa kami yang sangat baik di tahun lalu, kami percaya dapat mencapai pertumbuhan sebesar 200 persen pada akhir tahun ini," kata Gun Suk Ling, Managing Director of Southeast Asia, Kaspersky Labs Asia Limited, melalui keterangan resminya, Kamis (30/4/2009).

Akhir Februari lalu, Kaspersky juga meluncurkan toko online (e-Store) yang menawarkan produk-produk Kaspersky Lab untuk konsumen dari Indonesia, Malaysia dan Thailand. Hal ini merupakan indikasi positif bahwa Indonesia memiliki potensi pembeli online untuk produk antivirus dan keamanan internet.

"Kami melihat peningkatan jumlah pengunjung yang luar biasa dari negara-negara ini dan Indonesia menduduki peringkat ketiga di toko online kami setelah Singapura dan Malaysia. Dalam jangka 6 hingga 12 bulan kedepan, peningkatan daya beli akan meningkatkan penjualan online kami juga," lanjutnya lagi.

Di Indonesia, penjualan Kaspersky Lab menduduki peringkat teratas untuk penggunaan perorangan berdasarkan volume jika dibandingkan dengan produk antivirus lainnya. Untuk segmen korporat, Kaspersky menduduki peringkat ke lima dengan rasio antara segmen consumer dan korporat sebesar 45:55. Di Asia Tenggara, pangsa pasar Indonesia menduduki peringkat ke empat setelah Thailand.

Swine flu name change? Flu genes spell pig

WASHINGTON – No matter what you call it, leading experts say the virus that is scaring the world is pretty much all pig. So while the U.S. government and now the World Health Organization are taking the swine out of "swine flu," the experts who track the genetic heritage of the virus say this: If it is genetically mostly porcine and its parents are pig viruses, it smells like swine flu to them.

Six of the eight genetic segments of this virus strain are purely swine flu and the other two segments are bird and human, but have lived in swine for the past decade, says Dr. Raul Rabadan, a professor of computational biology at Columbia University.

A preliminary analysis shows that the closest genetic parents are swine flu strains from North America and Eurasia, Rabadan wrote in a scientific posting in a European surveillance network.

"Scientifically this is a swine virus," said top virologist Dr. Richard Webby, a researcher at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis. Webby is director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza Viruses in Lower Animals and Birds. He documented the spread a decade ago of one of the parent viruses of this strain in scientific papers.

"It's clearly swine," said Henry Niman, president of Recombinomics, a Pittsburgh company that tracks how viruses evolve. "It's a flu virus from a swine, there's no other name to call it."

Dr. Edwin D. Kilbourne, the father of the 1976 swine flu vaccine and a retired professor at New York Medical College in Valhalla, called the idea of changing the name an "absurd position."

The name swine flu has specific meaning when it comes to stimulating antibodies in the body and shouldn't be tinkered with, said Kilbourne, 88.

That's not what government health officials say.

"We have no idea where it came from," said Michael Shaw, associate director for laboratory science for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "Everybody's calling it swine flu, but the better term is 'swine-like.' It's like viruses we have seen in pigs, it's not something we know was in pigs."

On Wednesday, U.S. officials not only started calling the virus 2009 H1N1 after two of its genetic markers, but Dr. Anthony Fauci the National Institutes of Health corrected reporters for calling it swine flu. Then on Thursday, the WHO said it would stop using the name swine flu because it was misleading and triggering the slaughter of pigs in some countries.

Another reason the U.S. government wants to ditch the swine label is that many people are afraid to eat pork, hurting the $97 billion U.S. pork industry. Even the experts who point to the swine genetic origins of the virus agree that people can't get the disease from food or handling pork, even raw.

"Calling this swine flu, when to date there has been no connection between animals and humans, has the potential to cause confusion," Chris Novak, chief executive officer of the National Pork Board, said in a news release.

One top flu expert, doesn't like the swine flu name either, but for a different reason. Traditional swine flu doesn't spread easily among people, although this one does now, said Dr. Paul Glezen, a flu epidemiologist at Baylor University.

Columbia's Rabadan said sometimes when he talks to other scientists, he uses the name "swine" or the name "Mexican flu." And that name only adds another case of political incorrectness.

Mexico Health Secretary Jose Angel Cordova said it's wrong to call it "North American flu" and flatly rejects the idea of calling it "Mexican flu." He pointed to WHO information that the swine genes in the virus are from Europe and Asia. Rabadan and others say four of the six pure swine genetic markers are North American.

"I don't think it's fair for someone to blame Mexico for this. You can't blame any country; you can't blame a person or an institution. The recombination of genes in the virus is something that happens naturally," Mexico's chief epidemiologist, Miguel Angel Lezana said Wednesday.

And while the U.S. government and WHO are dropping "swine flu" as the name, someone hasn't told their Webmasters.

On Thursday afternoon, the phrase "swine flu" was still in the Internet addresses for the WHO, Homeland Security and CDC pages on the disease and the question-and-answer page on the U.S. government's pandemic flu Web site.

___

Medical Writers Lauran Neergaard in Washington and Mike Stobbe in Atlanta and reporters Rita Beamish in San Mateo, Calif., and E. Eduardo Castillo in Mexico City contributed to this report.

Keluarga Kerajaan Belanda Diserang, 5 Tewas

BELANDA - Seorang pria mencoba menyerang keluarga Kerajaan Belanda yang tengah mengikuti perayaan Queen's Day pada Kamis waktu setempat, dengan cara menabrakan mobilnya ke bus yang ditumpangi keluarga kerajaan. Lima orang tewas dalam peristiwa itu.

Selain itu, 12 orang dilaporkan mengalami luka -luka dalam peristiwa yang terjadi di Kota Apeldoorn, yang berjarak 45 mile timur Amsterdam.

Seperti dilaporkan CNN, Jumat (1/5/2009), peristiwa terjadi saat massa memadati sepanjang jalan di jalur yang dilalui Ratu Beatrix dan keluarganya yang menaiki bus dengan kap terbuka dalam karnaval itu.

Saat bus melaju peralahan, sebuah mobil melaju dengan kecepatan tinggi dari belakang bus. Kerumunan penonton berada di pinggir jalan yang telah dipasangi pembatas, sementara para petugas keamanan termasuk jurnalis berada di tengah jalan.

Mobil itu lalu menabrak sejumlah orang yang berada di belakang bus tersebut dan berhenti setelah menerobos pagar dan menabrak sebuah tugu di pinggir jalan. Mobil tersebut terlihat sudah mengalami kerusakan parah, meskipun belum terjadi tabrakan. Polisi belum dapat menjelaskan faktor apa yang membuat mobil itu mengalami kerusakan.

Suasana pun mendadak penuh kepanikan, karena sejumlah orang terlihat sudah terkapar di tengah jalan. Para petugas dan pengawal pun langsung memberikan pertolongan.

Para penumpang bus tersebut pun terlihat panic, setelah mereka diminta duduk kembali, pengemudi bus pun mempercepat laju kendaraannya meninggalkan lokasi.

Sampai saat ini pihak kepolisian masih merahasiakan identitas pelaku, dan belum mengetahui motif penyerangan tersebut.