Greece is reluctantly coming to accept that paying taxes is among life's certitudes, Foreign Policy reported. The central Athens neighborhood of Kolonaki is the native habitat of Greece's moneyed elite. The streets here are lined with some of the world's most expensive brands -- Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Bulgari -- and pleasant cafes steaming up $6 coffees.

If you live in San Francisco you get used to the tremors. In banking, however, every shake and jerk still feels like it might herald another devastating earthquake. Investors are nervous and regulators are too. Monitoring risk in the financial system was once a job for officials thought to be too dull for monetary policy. Now financial seismology is where it’s all at, The Economist reported. When all three of the most-watched gauges of stability in banking deteriorate, as they did in Europe in the last week of May, there is naturally a rush to sound the alarm.

CLIENT ALERT
Supreme Court Upholds Right to Credit-Bid in 363 Sales Embedded in Reorganization Plans

CLIENT ALERT
Supreme Court Upholds Right to Credit-Bid in 363 Sales Embedded in Reorganization Plans

THE INTERNATIONAL SCENE: (citation: Karolina Niemirska-Fido and Richard A. Walawender, Poland’s Revised Bankruptcy, Reorganization Law, XXIX ABI Journal 5, 32-33, 41 June 2010) - Karolina Niemirska-Fido and Richard A. Walawender

Hedge fund regulations, a tax on financial markets, a ban on naked short selling. The EU's bid to rein in the speculators has the financial industry up in arms. Lobbyists are already preparing to systematically attack the new proposals, Spiegel Online reported. A day after the European Union outlined proposals to increase regulation of the financial markets, London's financial professionals are preparing a counter-attack.

When Europe’s finance ministers emerged in the early hours of May 10th to announce a €750 billion ($950 billion) rescue of the embattled euro zone, some joked that they had thrown everything at the problem “including the kitchen sink”. It turns out there are a few more implements left to hurl, The Economist reported. Germany this week announced a ban on the naked short-selling of euro-area government bonds and shares of some financial firms, and on the buying of sovereign credit-default swaps by investors who have not also bought the underlying bonds.

First came the real estate crisis. Then the financial system melted down. And now, skyrocketing public debt is threatening entire countries. Star economist Nouriel Roubini tells Spiegel that more crises will come and go before world leaders agree on true reform. He says breaking up huge banks would be a good place to start, Spiegel Online reported. SPIEGEL: You got your nickname, Dr. Doom, because you were predicting the financial crisis at a time when many other economists were still full of optimism.

An internal International Monetary Fund assessment paints a dour picture of Greece's path to economic recovery, with years of high unemployment rates, slow growth and political bickering threatening to undermine a recently approved international rescue program.

EUROPEAN UPDATE: (citation: Adam Gallagher, Stanford International Bank: UK Court of Appeal Clarifies Appropriate Test for COMI, XXIX ABI Journal 4, 38, 72-73, May 2010) - Adam Gallagher