Official: Gulf nations mull ‘stability’ fund CAIRO — Gulf Arab officials are considering setting up a fund that would help Bahrain and Oman deal with some of the economic issues that have helped stoke unrest in those two nations, an official with the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council said Sunday.
GCC finance ministers had met a day earlier in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh and expectations were that they would announce what officials, ahead of that gathering, had described as a Gulf “Marshall Plan” to help Manama and Muscat. The plan called for a hefty financial contribution by the four wealthier GCC member states that would target key economic issues such as a housing shortage and unemployment. — AP
Judge to take up Tribune bankruptcy case
A two-week hearing begins Monday to determine the fate of Tribune Co. more than two years after an ill-advised $8.2 billion buyout drove one of the oldest U.S. media companies into bankruptcy protection.
The hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., will affect the ownership of the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Sun of Baltimore, other daily newspapers and 23 television stations. The TV stations include Chicago-based WGN, which reaches more than 70 million homes nationwide, mostly through cable and satellite systems. — AP
Cameron unveils plan to boost growth in Britain
LONDON — Prime Minister David Cameron pledged Sunday to cut taxes and bureaucratic red tape to encourage business and growth in Britain.
The government will take on “the enemies of enterprise” in its budget due later this month, Cameron said, insisting that encouraging enterprise by eliminating bureaucratic hurdles is the only way forward for a country struggling to recover from recession.
Britain is facing $130 billion of public spending cuts from Cameron’s coalition government as it struggles to get the country’s large budget deficit under control. The government has already raised sales tax, but cuts on services like welfare and a rise in the retirement age are yet to come. — AP
