Irish Economy 2013: Bad loans ratio at 25% in Ireland and Greece ...

Irish Economy 2013: The ratio of bad or non-performing loans as a percentage of total private sector credit in Ireland is at 25% - a similar level to Greece's and the ratio is at 11% in Spain.

However, the Irish ratio excludes the transfers to NAMA (National Assets Management Agency): NAMA acquired 12,000 toxic property loans (secured by approximately 56,000 individual property units) involving about 800 debtor connections. Par debt at acquisition was approximately ?74bn. It paid the Irish banks ?31.8bn -- a discount of 57%. ?Last month NAMA confirmed the sale of properties with an initial value at ?810m to a Starwood Capital-led consortium structured with just under 60% vendor finance provided by NAMA over five years. It was reported that the properties were sold for around ?200m, which would reflect a 75.3% discount. NAMA has a 20% interest in the consortium.

The IMF's latest review [pdf] says that at 24.8% of total loans, nonperforming loans are a drain on market confidence, cash flows, and a source of operational costs that hinder capacity to lend. "A lack of resolution progress also undermines the reliability of assessments of loan values."

We reported last April that half of all lending to Irish SME (small and medium enterprises) business are in arrears, according to the Central Bank. Fiona Muldoon, the director of credit institution supervision at the bank said that of the ?50bn lent to the sector by the domestic banks, some ?25bn was impaired.

The IMF said that the breadth of financial distress is evident in 15.8% of mortgages on primary dwellings being over 90 days in arrears, and? 26.9% of buy-to-let mortgages. "The SME sector is particularly hurt by domestic demand weakness with impaired loans rising to 25% of SME and corporate loans. Banks have largely responded with a combination of forbearance and rejections of SME loan applications -- the latter is the highest in the EU. Banks remained loss making in 2012 even before provisioning, and are only beginning to resolve NPLs (non-performing loans), now reported at a quarter of gross loans."

The Irish Central Bank said in April that loans issued to Irish residents were valued at ?327bn in January 2013; ?131bn was outstanding from non residents, giving a total value of ?458bn.

PricewaterhouseCoopers estimated the banks' coverage ratio for losses at 56% in 2011.

The IMF says that in 2012, Irish banks ran losses before provisions of ?0.8bn, or 0.2% of average assets. Benefiting from the phasing out of ELG (state guarantee) and improving interest margins, "by end 2013 PCAR (Prudential Capital Assessment Review) banks project ?1.1bn in profits before provisions or 0.4% of average assets. While this improvement is welcome, profitability would still fall short of covering normal provisioning, and would not build capital to support new lending. Tracker mortgages, at some 30% of net loans, are a key drag on bank profitability, and PTSB?s (PermanentTSB)? especially high exposure to these mortgages contributes to its inability to break even until 2016?17."

In the Eurozone, total NPLs (including property) as a percentage of banks? total loans increased from 5.6% in 2011 to 6.8% in 2012. This year, the Eurozone?s economy is expected to contract slightly, and, based on Oxford Economics research, NPLs will reach a euro-era high of ?932bn, amounting to 7.6% of total loans of ?12.2tn, according to Ernst & Young.? As economic conditions improve in 2014, NPLs are expected to drop to 5.6% of ?12.5tn of outstanding loans, or the same percentage as in 2011. However, the Eurozone?s growth is expected to be modest, averaging about 1.3% annually for the rest of this decade.

Non performing loans at Spanish banks are projected to rise further in the coming months as the economy continues to struggle, the IMF said on Wednesday.

"NPLs typically are lagging indicators. I wouldn't be surprised if they would continue to increase in the medium term," James Daniel, the head of the IMF mission in Spain, said at a news conference following the release of the fund's annual assessment of the Spanish economy.

Spanish banks' bad loans as a percentage of total credit rose to 10.9% in April from 10.5% in March, Bank of Spain data showed on Tuesday.

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Source: http://www.finfacts.ie/irishfinancenews/article_1026159.shtml

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LeBron leads Heat to second straight title

The Miami Heat's LeBron James holds the the Larry O'Brien NBA Championship Trophy after Game 7 of the NBA basketball championship against the San Antonio Spurs, Friday, June 21, 2013, in Miami. The Miami Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 to win their second straight NBA championship. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky

The Miami Heat's LeBron James holds the the Larry O'Brien NBA Championship Trophy after Game 7 of the NBA basketball championship against the San Antonio Spurs, Friday, June 21, 2013, in Miami. The Miami Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 to win their second straight NBA championship. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky

The Miami Heat's LeBron James (6) shoots against the San Antonio Spurs during the first half in Game 7 of the NBA basketball championships, Thursday, June 20, 2013, in Miami. (AP Photo/Steve Mitchell, Pool)

The Miami Heat's LeBron James (6) shoots against the San Antonio Spurs' Danny Green (4) during the first half in Game 7 of the NBA basketball championships, Thursday, June 20, 2013, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

The San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan (21) embraces Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade (3) as Miami Heat's LeBron James (6) looks on during the first half in Game 7 of the NBA basketball championship, early Friday morning, June 21, 2013, in Miami. The Miami Heat defeated the San Antonio Spurs 95-88 to win their second straight NBA championship. (AP Photo/Steve Mitchell, Pool)

Miami Heat s forward LeBron James (6) reacts after he was fouled during the second half in Game 7 of the NBA basketball championship against the San Antonio Spurs, Thursday, June 20, 2013, in Miami. The Miami Heat won 95-88. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

MIAMI (AP) ? LeBron James and the Miami Heat remain atop the NBA, and not even a proud push from the San Antonio Spurs could knock them down.

James led the Heat to their second straight title, scoring 37 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in a 95-88 victory Thursday night in a tense Game 7 that was tight until Miami pulled away in the final minute.

Winning the title they needed to validate their best season in franchise history ? and perhaps the three-superstar system they used to build it ? the Heat ran off with the second straight thriller in the NBA's first championship series to go the distance since 2010.

"It took everything we had as a team," Dwyane Wade said. "Credit to the San Antonio Spurs, they're an unbelievable team, an unbelievable franchise. This is the hardest series we ever had to play. But we're a resilient team and we did whatever it took."

Two nights after his Game 6 save when the Heat were almost eliminated, James continued his unparalleled run through the basketball world, with two titles and an Olympic gold medal in the last 12 months.

"I work on my game a lot, throughout the offseason," said James, who was MVP for the second straight finals. "I put a lot of work into it and to be able to come out here and (have) the results happen out on the floor is the ultimate. The ultimate. I'm at a loss for words."

He made five 3-pointers, defended Tony Parker when he had to, and did everything else that could ever be expected from the best player in the game.

The Heat became the NBA's first repeat champions since the Lakers in 2009-10, and the first team to beat the Spurs in the NBA Finals.

Players and coaches hugged each other after the game. The respect between the sides was obvious from the opening tipoff of Game 1 through the final buzzer.

Fans stood, clapped and danced as the clock ticked down, when every score was answered by another score, each stop followed by a better stop. The Heat pushed their lead to six points a few times midway through the fourth but San Antonio kept coming back.

The Spurs, a whisker away from a fifth title two nights earlier, couldn't find a way to win it all in what was perhaps the last shot Tim Duncan, Parker and Manu Ginobili will ever get together.

"In my case I still have Game 6 in my head," Ginobili said. "Today we played an OK game, they just made more shots than us. LeBron got hot. Shane, too. Those things can happen. But being so close and feeling that you are about to grab that trophy, and seeing it vanish is very hard."

They were trying to become the first team to win a Game 7 on the road since Washington beat Seattle in 1978, but those old guys ran out of gas just before the finish.

Duncan had 24 points and 12 rebounds for the Spurs, but missed a shot and follow attempt right under the basket with about 50 seconds left and the Spurs trailing by two.

James followed with a jumper ? the shot the Spurs were daring him to take earlier in the series ? to make it 92-88, sending San Antonio to a timeout as Glenn Frey's "The Heat Is On" blared over the arena's sound system.

He then came up with a steal and made two free throws for a six-point lead, and after Ginobili missed, James stalked toward the sideline, knowing it was over and that he was, once again, the last one standing.

Wade had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who overcame a scoreless Chris Bosh by getting six 3-pointers and 18 points from Shane Battier.

Streamers fell from the arena ceiling onto the fans for the second year in a row, but this one meant so much more. A narrow escape in Game 6 was still fresh in everyone's mind.

They were down 10 in the fourth quarter of that one before James led the charge back, finishing with a triple-double in Miami's 103-100 overtime victory. This one was nearly as tight, neither team leading by more than seven and the game tied 11 times.

Kawhi Leonard had 19 points and 16 rebounds for the Spurs, who had been 4 for 4 in the championship round. Ginobili had 18 points but Parker managed just 10 points on 3-of-12 shooting.

The Heat and coach Erik Spoelstra collected the Larry O'Brien trophy again from Commissioner David Stern, presiding over his final NBA Finals before retiring next February.

He couldn't have asked for a better way to go out.

James avenged his first finals loss, when his Cleveland Cavaliers were swept by the Spurs on 2007. That helped send James on his way to South Florida, realizing it would take more help to win titles that could never come alone.

He said he would appreciate this one more because of how tough it was. The Heat overpowered Oklahoma City in five games last year, a team of 20-something kids who weren't ready to be champions yet.

This came against a respected group of Spurs whose trio has combined for more than 100 playoff victories together and wanted one more in case this was San Antonio's last rodeo.

Duncan is 37 and Ginobili will be a 36-year-old free agent next month, the core of a franchise whose best days may be behind them.

Meanwhile, it's a potential dynasty along Biscayne Bay, but also one with a potentially small window. Wade's latest knee problems are a reminder that though he came into the NBA at the same time as James and Bosh, he's a couple of years older at 31 with wheels that have seen some miles.

James can become a free agent again next summer with another decision ? though hopefully not another Decision ? to make. He's comfortable in Miami and close with Wade, and the Heat have the leadership and commitment from owner Micky Arison and president Pat Riley to keep building a championship core around him.

Why would he want to leave?

San Antonio's most recent title came at James' expense. The Spurs exploited the weaknesses in James' game though knew someday they would be gone, Duncan telling him afterward that the league would someday belong to James.

And James simply isn't giving it back.

He came in averaging 33.8 points in Game 7s, already the best in NBA history, and was even better in this one.

He can't be defended the way he was six years ago, too strong inside and too solid from the outside. He drove Danny Green back like a tackling dummy to convert a three-point play in the second quarter, then knocked down a 3-pointer for the Heat's next score.

Heat fans, criticized over the last two days after many bolted before the finish Tuesday and then tried to force their way back in, weren't going anywhere early in this one. The game was too good.

And there was another celebration to watch.

The Heat had the classic championship hangover through the first few months of this season, too strong to lose at home but not committed enough to win on the road, where they were just 11-11 following a 102-89 loss in Indiana on Feb. 1.

They won in Toronto two nights later on Super Bowl Sunday and didn't lose again until well into March Madness, running off 27 straight victories before falling in Chicago on March 27 and finishing a franchise-best 66-16.

The small-market Spurs have always been a ratings killer, but interest grew throughout this series in their attempt to toppled the champs. Game 6 drew more than 20 million viewers, a total that Game 7 was expected to top.

And the games got better, too. Games 2-5 were all decided by double digits, neither team able to carry its momentum from one game to the next.

This one was back and forth for more than three quarters, with Mario Chalmers' 3-pointer at the buzzer giving Miami a 72-71 lead heading to the final 12 minutes of the season.

Game 6 could have shaken the Spurs, who were so close to holding the trophy that officials were preparing the championship presentation before Miami's rally. The Spurs held a team dinner late that night, figuring the company was better than having to dwell on the defeat alone in their rooms.

The pain of that game or the pressure of this one had little effect on their veterans but brought out a change in their leader, the subject of some rare second-guessing for his rotations near the end of the collapse.

The famously blunt Gregg Popovich was in a chatty mood pregame, actually preferring to stay and talk even when there were no more questions, saying the busier he was, the less he'd worry.

"It's torture," he said of Game 7s. "It's hard to appreciate or enjoy torture."

But it sure was beautiful to watch.

The sport's most pressure-packed game had a nervous start, each team making just seven baskets in the first quarter and combining for seven turnovers. The Spurs took an early seven-point lead, but a pair of 3-pointers by Battier during an 8-0 run helped Miami take an 18-16 lead.

The Heat nursed a narrow lead for most of the second quarter, and after San Antonio went ahead in the final minute of the period, James tipped in a miss before Wade knocked down a jumper with 0.8 seconds left to send the Heat to the locker room with a 46-44 edge.

Notes: Home teams are 15-3 in Game 7s of the NBA Finals. ... Miami improved to 5-3 all-time in Game 7s in the postseason and became the fourth team to win the final two games at home since the finals went to a 2-3-2 format in 1985, joining the Lakers in 1988 and 2010, and Houston Rockets in 1994. ... Green was just 1 for 12, going 1 for 6 behind the arc. He started the series by making 25 3s in the first five games, a finals record for an entire series.

___

Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-06-21-NBA%20Finals/id-ef3a6409a3a145548a5e3b1c7d57460f

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HBO GO and Watch ESPN come to AppleTV

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After what seems like months, if not years, HBO and Apple have announced that the HBO GO app is now available, natively, on the Apple TV. Despite the fact that Apple?s iPhone and iPad both had a healthy head start against competitors, Apple?s ?hobby? device seemed destined to go forever without the?

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Yankees top Dodgers in Mattingly's Bronx return

By HOWIE RUMBERG

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 5:02 p.m. ET June 19, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) - Yankees fans showed Don Mattingly the love from the moment he took the lineup card to home plate Wednesday. Hiroki Kuroda, though, wasn't feeling nostalgic when facing his old team.

Kuroda shut down Los Angeles into the seventh inning, Ichiro Suzuki homered and drove in three runs, and the New York Yankees spoiled Mattingly's return to the Bronx with a 6-4 victory over the sloppy Dodgers in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.

"Once the game started I didn't really focus too much on who I was facing," Kuroda said through a translator. "I was trying to contribute for the Yankees."

Lyle Overbay hit a two-run double against South Korean rookie Hyun-Jin Ryu (6-3) in the first game in New York between the old October rivals since Los Angeles clinched the 1981 World Series title with a win in Game 6 at the original Yankee Stadium. The teams that have met in a record 11 World Series - eight won by the Yankees - never faced off in interleague play at the Stadium before this week.

Baseball's two injury battered $200 million teams have to pack a two-game series into one day because rain postponed Tuesday night's opener. Los Angeles' Chris Capuano was activated off the disabled list after the first game and was scheduled to start the nightcap against New York's Phil Hughes.

Cuban rookie Yasiel Puig put on quite a show for a vocal contingent of Dodgers fans. He led off the eighth by daringly stretching a liner to left-center into a double - he got thrown out trying a similar play in the first. He also tried to throw a runner out at first on a single to right field in the second inning and struck out to end the game against Mariano Rivera.

"His talent's great and his aggressiveness we love, because you love the way he plays," Mattingly said. "But we've got to make sure that we continue to teach, and for him to understand the right times to take those chances."

Suzuki made a leaping catch at the wall in right field for the first out of the eighth before Hanley Ramirez connected for a two-run homer off Preston Claiborne for his fourth hit of the game to cut the lead to 6-4. The Yankees had scored three times in the seventh thanks in part to reliever Ronald Belisario's two errors on one play. The Dodgers made four errors overall.

David Robertson relieved Claiborne and walked his first two batters before ending the inning without further damage. Rivera was perfect in the ninth for his 25th save, ending hopes that Mattingly's return to the city where No. 23 starred from 1982-95 would be a success.

He may be wearing the wrong shade of blue now but Yankees fans still love Mattingly.

There was the "Donnie Baseball!" chant from the Bleacher Creatures for the 1985 AL MVP ahead of the bottom of the first and a video tribute for a career enshrined with a plaque in Monument Park before the Yankees scored twice in the second. Both times Mattingly answered the applause with a wave of the cap from the visitors' dugout.

"It means a lot. It's always been part of me," Mattingly said. "I played my whole career here, so it's obviously a good feeling when people appreciate the way you played and acted."

The Yankees quickly turned the attention back onto the field, scoring twice in the second against Ryu. After Neal and Suzuki led off with singles and advanced on David Adams' sacrifice, Overbay laced a line drive over center fielder Andre Ethier's head for the 2-0 lead.

Kuroda (7-5), who began his Major League career with the Dodgers in 2008 and won 41 games for them before coming to New York for 2012, limited Los Angeles to five hits and helped himself by catching a liner to start a double play with runners on second and third in the fourth before the seventh. He was lifted after giving up A.J. Ellis' sacrifice fly and former Yankees utilityman Jerry Hairston Jr.'s two-out, RBI pinch-hit single in the seventh.

Kuroda allowed eight hits overall and two runs.

The Yankees added three more in the bottom half of the seventh, helped when, with runners on first and second, Belisario let Vernon Wells' meek pop in front of the mound drop for an error. Jayson Nix advanced to third on the drop and scored when Belisario threw the ball into center field trying to get Robinson Cano at second base. Belisario hit Neal with a pitch, then Suzuki greeted Paco Rodriguez with a blooped two-run single to make it 6-2.

"It was just a combination of us not executing when we needed to make the plays," Ellis said of the loss.

Suzuki homered for the first time this season in the sixth off Ryu, who gave up three runs and five hits.

Suzuki had three hits for his fourth multihit game in his last six games, but is not sure he's finally done with a season-long slump.

"I have no idea," Suzuki said through a translator. "Ask a fortune teller."

NOTES: The Dodgers and Yankees split six games in two interleague series in Los Angeles. ... The Yankees acquired OF Fernando Martinez late Tuesday night from the Houston Astros for Class-A right-hander Charles Basford. Martinez, a former Mets prospect, will go to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. ... Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully will live tweet at (at)Dodgers for the second game of the doubleheader. It's his first foray into Twitter. ... Yankees SS Derek Jeter took on-field batting practice for first time since returning to the team's minor league complex in Tampa, Fla. He took 21 swings and hit balls to all fields.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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China astronauts float water blob in kids' lecture

BEIJING (AP) ? Astronauts struck floating martial arts poses, twirled gyroscopes and manipulated wobbling globes of water during a lecture Thursday from China's orbiting space station that's part of efforts to popularize the space program among young people.

Wang Yaping demonstrated principles of weightlessness and took questions live from among the 330 grade school kids gathered at a Beijing auditorium during the 51-minute class from aboard the Tiangong 1 space station. Her fellow crew members Nie Haisheng and Zhang Xiaoguang answered questions about living, working and staying fit in space.

"I want to know how you know which way is up," said one student.

During one playful moment, Nie adopted the mythical cross-legged lotus position familiar to all fans of Chinese martial arts films.

"In space, we're all kung fu masters," Wang remarked.

In a later demonstration resembling a magic show, Wang injected droplets into an increasingly larger suspended ball of water, drawing exclamations of "wow" and polite applause from the students, another 60 million of whom were watching the live TV broadcast in their classrooms. The astronauts also spun gyroscopes and swung a ball on its tether to show how weightlessness affects objects in motion.

The lesson was "aimed at making space more popular," Zhou Jianping, designer-in-chief of China's manned space program, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency. "The spirit of science among youth is an important drive for the progress of mankind," Zhou said.

China's second female astronaut, Wang smiled her way through the carefully rehearsed class, which more closely resembled a children's TV science program than Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield's recent free-wheeling YouTube videos from the International Space Station.

The lectures come as China's human space program enters its second decade, after going from a simple manned flight to space lab link-ups in a series of methodically timed steps in just 10 years. China launched its first crewed mission in 2003, becoming the third nation after Russia and the U.S. to achieve that feat.

The current Shenzhou 10 mission is the second crewed trip to the Tiangong 1, launched in 2011 and due to be replaced by the larger, three-module permanent station, Tiangong 2, seven years from now.

The future station will weigh about 60 tons, slightly smaller than NASA's Skylab of the 1970s and about one-sixth the size of the 16-nation International Space Station. China was barred from participating in the International Space Station, largely on objections from the United States over political differences and the Chinese program's close links with the military.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-astronauts-float-water-blob-kids-lecture-063822404.html

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