Ecuador's Correa says Congress should be dissolved

(Reuters) - Since he took office in January, Correa has maneuvered to
control Congress, but lawmakers have watered down or rejected
some of the government's key legislation.




"Given the quality of this Congress ... I think the
assembly will have to dissolve it," Correa said during his
weekly radio broadcast. "With this kind of Congress you can't
do anything."


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Fed meeting, subprime jitters on tap

(Reuters) - Stocks closed out their worst week in more than three months on fears that trouble at two Bear Stearns hedge funds may signal bigger problems ahead for credit markets.




Whether investors worry through the weekend and remain in a selling mood on Monday remains to be seen after the main stock indexes all fell by more than 1 percent Friday.


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UPDATE 1-London Stock Exchange to buy Borsa Italiana

(Reuters) - The pair said they planned to become "the world's capital
market" and that together they accounted for 48 percent of the
FTSE Eurofirst 100 index of companies by market value.




They would also be Europe's leading market for electronic
trading of Exchange Traded Funds and securitized derivatives,
and Europe's leading fixed income market thanks to Borsa's
interest in the MTS platform.


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US tries to see positives in trade talks collapse

(Reuters) - The Bush administration is billing the collapse of world trade talks this week as good news for its drive to renew negotiating powers in Congress, but it is not clear that U.S. lawmakers will see things that way.

"By walking away from a bad deal, we are once again able to show the Congress that we can be trusted," U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab said on Thursday after U.S., European, Brazilian, and Indian negotiators abandoned talks in the troubled Doha round of trade negotiations.


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Venezuela says some oil majors reject takeovers

(Reuters) - Exxon Mobil , ConocoPhillips , Chevron Corp. , Norway's Statoil , Britain's BP Plc and France's Total are the targeted companies in projects valued above $30 billion and capable of producing 600,000 barrels per day.




"It seems there are some transnational companies that do not want to accept ," said Chavez, who met his energy minister to review the progress in negotiations earlier on Friday.


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UPDATE 1-Jones Apparel agrees to sell Barneys for $825 mln

(Reuters) - PHILADELPHIA, June 22 - Jones Apparel Group Inc. said on Friday it has agreed to sell Barneys New York, the luxury department store chain, for $825 million to a Dubai-based private equity firm while considering other offers for the chain or entire company.



Under the agreement with Istithmar, Jones Apparel can weigh other offers made for Barneys by July 22, and it can explore bids for the whole company through August 11.


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Chile stocks eke out new record high, peso falls

(Reuters) - The all-market IGPA index gained 0.48 percent to
14,892.61 points, while the trade weighted blue-chip IPSA index
rose 0.47 percent to 3,447.45 points.




The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.37 percent
on Friday amid concerns about credit markets, but the Chilean
bourse turned positive in late trade, led by steel and iron ore
producer CAP and shipping company Vapores.


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