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Germany’s finance minister says he is confident that Europe’s politicians will manage to stabilize the eurozone in 2012 and keep the continent’s common currency together.

Wolfgang Schaeuble acknowledged in an interview with business daily Handelsblatt published Friday that major problems that have built up over a long time remain to be tackled in some countries.

However, he added, “I think we will be far enough along in the next 12 months that we will have banished the dangers of contagion and stabilized the eurozone.”

Asked whether he could rule out the 17-nation eurozone breaking up, Schaeuble was quoted as saying: “According to everything that I know at the moment, yes.” He insisted that Europe’s politicians “are doing everything to prevent the common currency falling apart.”

“Of course, the European Union cannot force anyone to stay in if they don’t want to belong any more,” he added. “But no such development can be seen at the moment.”

Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, is a key player in the long-running battle to stem the eurozone debt crisis. It has backed the strategy of getting governments to embark on often-savage austerity measures to reduce deficits.

But it has opposed measures such as issuing jointly backed eurobonds and argued that there is no quick fix to the crisis, expressing great skepticism about the wisdom of a major government bond-buying drive by the European Central Bank that is advocated by many as a way of forcing down struggling countries’ borrowing costs guaranteed fast personal loans.

“The talk of bazookas and the like only leads to us not tackling sustainably the causes of the crisis,” Schaeuble was quoted as saying.

The eurozone will quickly face new challenges in 2012, with both Italy and Spain needing to borrow large amounts of money early in the new year. Both countries face high borrowing costs.

Schaeuble acknowledged that Europe’s refinancing needs in early 2012 are “not trivial.”

“But the more we win back confidence on the markets, the more investors … will invest in the eurozone, and not just in German bonds,” he said. “There is no shortage of money worldwide.”

“In case of doubt, a somewhat higher interest rate has to be paid for some government bonds,” Schaeuble said. “That is not damaging per se and also can encourage the understanding that we have to tackle the actual causes of the crisis: overly high debts and a lack of competitiveness.”

Schaeuble said he sees no sign of a credit crunch in Germany. Asked about other countries, he pointed to the ECB’s moves to provide massive long-term loans to banks.

“Given the measures the ECB has taken to provide banks with liquidity, it is hard to imagine that banks would not be in a position to provide sufficient loans to business,” he said.

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Applause and cheers rang out after Unionized Boeing Machinists voted overwhelmingly to approve a four-year contract extension _ a deal that grants the company labor peace and likely ends a federal complaint that had become a hot topic for Republican presidential candidates.

Boeing promised that if workers approved the pact, the company would build the new version of the popular 737 in the Puget Sound region, while the Machinists said they’d drop their allegations that Boeing opened a nonunion assembly plant in South Carolina in retaliation for previous strike.

“This contract signifies jobs throughout the Northwest, throughout the region,” said the union’s aerospace coordinator, Mark Blondin. “The message of this contract is … Boeing is acknowledging we have the deepest pool of skilled aerospace workers in the country.”

Dozens union members sounded their approval with cheers Wednesday night as Tom Wroblewski, president of Machinists District Lodge 751, announced that 74 percent of voting members chose to approve the deal.

The union represents 28,000 workers in Washington, Oregon and Kansas.

Machinists went on strike in 2005 and 2008. The latter strike helped delay delivery of Boeing’s first 787, costing the company dearly.

“This contract will help secure a better future for our employees, our customers, our communities and our company,” said Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes. “It reflects an effort on the part of the company and the union to find a better way to work together and achieve common ground.”

The deal guarantees Chicago-based Boeing a stretch of labor peace at a time when it badly needs it. Competition with European rival Airbus is tight, and looming budget cuts at the Defense Department are likely to cut into the company’s defense business.

In a lawsuit filed this year, the National Labor Relations Board claimed Boeing violated labor laws by opening the South Carolina line. The case became a political issue, with Republican presidential candidates using it to bash the Obama administration. South Carolina Gov cash advance. Nikki Haley and the state’s congressional delegation said the NLRB lawsuit threatened thousands of jobs and millions of dollars invested in the new Boeing facility in Charleston.

The labor board is an independent agency dominated by the president’s appointees. As part of the deal, the Machinists said they’d drop the matter. If the NLRB follows suit, it would remove a potentially damaging element for Obama in the 2012 campaign.

The deal extends the Machinists’ contract to September 2016. It calls for annual wage increases of 2 percent, cost-of-living adjustments, an incentive program intended to pay bonuses between 2 percent and 4 percent, a ratification bonus of $5,000 for each member, and improvements in the pension program. But it also would raise workers’ share of health costs.

Blondin said Boeing’s pension is the most generous in the country, and he hoped the fact that Boeing is retaining it for new hires would prompt other companies to do likewise: “As we all know pension plans have gone away,” he said. “We can get pensions back. They are affordable.”

Crucially for the union, it would ensure that jobs for Boeing’s updated 737 line _ the 737 Max _ stay in the Puget Sound region. Boeing said in July it was studying other locations for the new 737.

“It’s jobs for the people and not having to worry about a strike _ it’s beautiful,” said Gabrielle Rogano, a third-generation Boeing employee who works at a shipping and receiving center in SeaTac.

Wilson Ferguson, a delivery mechanic, wore a Santa suit as he helped count votes Wednesday night _ having come straight from volunteering to pose for photos with children of union members. The 24-year Boeing veteran has participated in the last four strikes, and said it’s a huge relief not to face another.

“Nobody wins, you never recover,” he said. “With this economy, it’s not the time to go on strike.”

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A string of bombings in a southern oil city killed 19 people Thursday evening and injured dozens more, a grim sign of the security challenges Iraq will face after American troops go home.

The U.S. military is drawing down its troops ahead of an end-of-December deadline to have all American forces out of the country. Incidents like Thursday’s triple bombing in a city seen as key to Iraq’s economic development show the dangerous prospects awaiting Iraqis next year.

Three bombs went off in a popular open-air market in Basra, police and health officials said.

The third bomb exploded a few minutes after Iraqi army and police forces arrived on the scene in response to the earlier blasts, officials said. The third blast caused all the fatalities and almost all of the injuries, the officials said.

Among the dead and wounded were many policemen and Iraqi army soldiers.

The police officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

Kamal Ali was working at a clothing shop across the street when the blasts went off. He said after the first explosion, bystanders rushed to help the victims. When another blast went off about five minutes later, the terrified people ran to escape.

Then police and soldiers rushed to the scene before the third and most deadly bomb went off.

“Most of the casualties are police and Iraqi troops who rushed to help the victims and cordoned off the scene no fax pay day loan. They sacrificed their lives for the poor people,” Ali said.

The head of the Basra provincial council, Ahmed al-Sulaiti, confirmed the incident.

“We can’t blame the security forces for this act. They were the people most hurt,” he said by telephone from Basra.

Basra is about 340 miles (550 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad It is considered the center of Iraq’s burgeoning oil sector.

Many foreign oil companies have offices there. The country is relying on foreign companies to bring the money and expertise needed to develop Iraq’s vast oil sector, which has been ravaged by war, sanctions and neglect.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombings, and it was not clear whether it was the work of Sunni extremists like al-Qaida, or by Shiite militias. Sunni militants often stagger their blasts in order to cause the most carnage, and they often target security officials, whom they see as propping up the Shiite-led government.

The area where the blasts occurred is also a stronghold for Shiite militia members, who have been known to use violence as they jockey for power and control.

__

Associated Press writers Mazin Yahya and Rebecca Santana in Baghdad contributed to this report.

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Stock futures rose Wednesday on hopes that Europe will finally take the bold steps needed to stem its financial crisis.

The European Union is expected to present a new plan Wednesday to strengthen weak banks and lower Greece’s debt burden. The plan is considered the boldest yet to stem the debt crisis that threatens to push the global economy into another recession.

The plan comes a day after Slovakia rejected a bill that would have given more power to Europe’s financial rescue program. Sixteen other countries that use the euro have already approved the bill, but the measure requires unanimous support. Still, there are ways around Slovakia’s opposition, and investors predict the bill will ultimately pass.

Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 95 points, or 0.8 percent, to 11,425 about 45 minutes before the opening bell.

Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 10, or 0.8 percent, to 1,199. Nasdaq 100 index futures rose 26, or 1.1 percent, to 2,314.

Earnings season is under way, and so far results are mixed. PepsiCo Inc. rose 1.4 percent in premarket trading after the company said its profit rose because of stronger sales of its snacks and beverages, particularly in overseas markets.

Yet Alcoa Inc. dropped 4.1 percent ahead of the opening after the aluminum maker reported earnings that were weaker than analysts expected. A 12 percent drop in aluminum prices in the third quarter dragged down results.

Host Hotels & Resorts Inc. fell 3.2 percent after the lodging real estate investment trust lowered its full-year forecast for funds from operations, a key measure of its financial performance.

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Young people have always struggled to find work, but in difficult economic times, it becomes more pronounced.

The barriers pile up. Mandatory retirement has been eliminated, baby boomers are choosing to hang on to their jobs, and workers who have been laid-off are competing with new graduates for a smaller pool of jobs.

Ford’s chief executive says the growth of China’s auto market is sustainable as the company looks to launch 15 new vehicles by 2015 in the country.

Alan Mulally said Monday that China is a sustainable market with the country’s leadership focused on keeping inflation in check without derailing economic growth.

Ford made a comeback last year with $6.6 billion in profit, its biggest in 11 years. Now the company is looking to invest further in Asia personal loans for people with bad credit. Last weekend it broke ground for the construction of a $350 million transmission plant in the southern Chinese megacity of Chongqing.

China is the largest car market in the world. Last year, sales of passenger vehicles in China, excluding large buses, jumped by a third to 13.7 million vehicles.

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There is a certain curmudgeonly segment of the population that seems to despise new, attention-grabbing technologies, particularly those that hold the potential to make the world a better place.

Electric vehicles fit all three categories, and this is probably why they have been criticized so much over the past two years

A prominent Hong Kong business family has set up a think tank to look at global economic issues in the latest attempt at developing a world class research institute in Asia that can compete with those in North America or Europe

The Fung Global Institute was established on Thursday and will look at global issues from an Asian perspective as economic power increasingly shifts to the East.

As Asian economies have grown, new think tanks have sprouted in the region. But limits on democracy and free speech in many Asian countries mean few have produced research comparable in quality and influence to counterparts such as the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution, Canada’s Fraser Institute or Britain’s Chatham House.

The Fung Global Insitute said it is recruiting experts from around the globe to provide business leaders and policymakers with research that aims to “help shape and advance international dialogue on Asia’s growing influence on the world economy cash advance payday loan.”

Michael Spence, a 2001 Nobel laureate in economics, will chair the think tank’s academic board.

The institute is set up with an endowment from the Victor and William Fung Foundation _ a charity funded by and named for the two brothers behind trading company Li & Fung Ltd.

The new think tank will look at four main themes, including global supply chains.

Li & Fung Ltd. is one of the biggest suppliers of clothing and other consumer goods sourced in Asia for Western consumers.

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French police investigators have taken a statement from a French writer who contends former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her.

Tristane Banon brought a criminal complaint last week, and the Paris prosecutor’s office has opened a preliminary investigation into the allegations. Banon contends Strauss-Kahn attacked her in an empty apartment during a 2003 interview.

A judicial official speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with French judicial regulations said police heard from Banon on Monday bad credit pay day loans.

Strauss-Kahn left the IMF after his May arrest in New York over allegations he assaulted a hotel maid there. He denies wrongdoing and was released without bail after prosecutors said the maid has a history of lying.

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