Gates of Vienna News Feed 9/14/2011

The debt crisis in Italy has intensified, with spreads on five-year bonds reaching new highs. Several news articles report that the Chinese are about to intervene and buy Italian bonds to ease the situation. Inside sources say, however, that China is actually planning to make commercial investments rather than buy bonds.

Meanwhile, Russia is reportedly negotiating with Cyprus to ease the island’s debt crisis by extending a five-year loan for more than €2 billion. It is hoped that this emergency loan will help the Cypriots get through the immediate crisis.

In other news, the British Home Office has decided against pushing for a new law criminalizing forced marriages. The decision is a disappointment to Muslim women’s rights activists in Lancashire, who fear that more women will be forced into marriages against their will if the new law is not passed.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to An EDL buck, C. Cantoni, CSP, Egghead, Gaia, Insubria, JP, KGS, McR, Nilk, Rembrandt, Steen, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.