Sweden home to more than 48,000 millionaires

One of 200 Swedes is now a millionaire. In total, 48,300 people in Sweden had assets worth more than $1 million (7.74 million kronor) last year, excluding home and collectible values, according to an annual survey by Capgemini and Merrill Lynch.

In addition, the number of millionaires in US dollars increased 21.5 percent in Sweden last year, compared with 12.5 percent in Europe and 17.1 percent for global growth.

"The Swedes have a relatively high proportion of equities in their portfolios and growth on the Stockholm Stock Exchange was stronger than on the stock exchanges in many other countries," said Robin Segerfeldt, head of asset management at Capgemini.

"In Europe, it is more common with a higher proportion of fixed-income securities and a lower proportion of equities".

In 2009, the number of dollar millionaires increased around the world to 10 million people. Accordingly, the record-setting decline in 2008 has nearly recovered.

The majority of dollar millionaires continue to come from the US, with 3.1 million people. The US, Japan and Germany are home to 53.5 percent of the millionaires, a slight decrease from the 2008 share of 54 percent.

Germany, Britain and France agree to bank levy

Britain, France and Germany have agreed to introduce levies on banks to make them help pay for global recovery, the European heavyweights said in a joint statement Tuesday.

"The governments of France, the United Kingdom and Germany propose to introduce bank levies based on banks' balance sheets," they said, as Britain's finance minister announced a banking tax from next January.

The action is to that ensure banks "make a fair and substantial contribution towards paying for any burdens associated with government interventions to repair the banking system or fund resolution in a financial crisis," it added.

"The United Kingdom bank tax is announced today," the statement said, referring to Osborne's emergency budget, unveiled after Prime Minister David Cameron'sConservatives won elections last month.

It noted that Germany announced a framework for a national bank levy at the end of March "and will present draft legislation in the Cabinet in summer".

France "will present the details of its bank tax in the coming budget," due later this year, it added.

"All three levies will aim to ensure that banks make a fair contribution to reflect the risks they pose to the financial system and wider economy, and to encourage banks to adjust their balance sheets to reduce this risk," it said.

"The specific design of each may differ to reflect our different domestic circumstances and tax systems, but the level of the levy will take into consideration the need to ensure a level playing field".

The statement added that British, French and German leaders "look forward to discussing these proposals further with international partners" at a Group of 20 summit in Canada this weekend.

Drill sergeant leaders weigh in on competition, basic training changes

FORT EUSTIS, Va. (June 16, 2010) -- The Drill Sergeant of the Year competition has brought the Army's top drill sergeants together to contend for the active and Reserve title for decades, but this year marked the first time they would be evaluated by drill sergeant leaders.

Five drill sergeant leaders, selected by Command Sgt. Maj. Teresa King, the commandant of the Drill Sergeant School, came to the Army-level competition to grade the eight competing drill sergeants on Warrior Tasks and Battle Drills. 

"The [competitors] are doing a good job," said Sgt. 1st Class Darlene Sanders. "It's mentally tough, as well as physically. You can tell that the competition is doing what it's meant to do".

"There really are eight winners," said Sgt. 1st Class Racheen Douglas. "They're exhausted and nobody quit".

Drill sergeant leaders teach drill sergeants how to instruct new recruits at the Drill Sergeant School at Fort Jackson, S.C. There are currently 73 drill sergeant leaders in the Army. To become a drill sergeant leader, a noncommissioned officer must complete one year as a drill sergeant at a basic training unit, meet prerequisites, receive recommendation, and interview with the commandant of the Drill Sergeant School.

"If you're a top-notch drill sergeant, you should consider it. We need those expert drill sergeant leaders to get those NCOs ready to go and put out the best product," said Sgt. 1st Class John McHaney.

Protesters disrupt London oil conference

London, England (CNN) -- Protesters briefly disrupted a London oil conference Tuesday that BP boss Tony Hayward pulled out of a day earlier.

Just before the welcoming speech by BP Chief of Staff Steve Westwell, who was standing in for Hayward at the World National Oil Companies Congress, a woman got on stage and started shouting. Security quickly removed her.

The woman was Greenpeace campaigner Emma Gibson, who told the crowd that "because BP is incapable of telling you the truth, I'm going to tell you what you need to know".

Another Greenpeace campaigner, Katie Swan, got on stage with a banner reading "Go beyond petroleum," a take on BP's slogan.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we need to speed up progress and make a push to end the oil age," Gibson said on stage, according to Greenpeace.

Belarus to stop Russian gas deliveries to Europe

(CNN) -- Belarus' president has ordered the halt of Russian natural gas deliveries to Europe via Belarus, his office told CNN Tuesday.

The move comes as Russia is decreasing the amount of natural gas it sends to Belarus over what it says are unpaid debts. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said Russia owes Belarus $260 million for the natural gas it transports through the country, state news reported.

"I have ordered the government to close down the transit of gas via Belarus until Gazprom pays for it. They haven't paid us a penny for this in the past six months. This is a cynical and absurd situation when you owe me $260 million while I owe you $190 million, and you are closing the valve on me, Lukashenko said, according to the Belarus state-run news agency Belta.

Lukashenko's announcement came after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered energy giant Gazprom to restrict gas supplies to Belarus because of what he says are unpaid debts.

Alexander Medvedev, head of exports for the company, told reporters that Gazprom would protect its customers.

Man in burqa held in Pakistan

(CNN) -- A German national wearing a burqa was taken into custody by Pakistani security forces while trying to escape from a security check post in northwestern Pakistan, a government official told CNN Tuesday.

The German, two local tribesmen and a six-year-old girl were traveling in a car from Mir Ali, North Waziristan, to Bannu, Kyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Monday, said Zahir Shah, a senior government official in the Bannu district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Shah said the German was attempting to deceive security forces by giving the impression a tribal family was traveling in the car.

The German was wearing a full-body sewing cloth that Muslim women wear for cultural and religious reasons. He also was carrying the girl. He was sitting in the front seat of the car while two other local tribesmen were sitting in the back seat.

Security forces at the check post of the Bannu district examined the car and detained the German and the tribesmen.

Bus carrying Turkish military bombed in Istanbul, kills 5

Istanbul, Turkey (CNN) -- A remote-controlled roadside bomb ripped through a bus transporting Turkish military personnel and their families to a gendarmerie paramilitary base in Istanbul on Tuesday.

Turkish authorities say three gendarmerie sergeants and the 17-year-old daughter of a member of the security forces were killed in the attack.

A fourth wounded sergeant died in hospital hours after the bomb blast, an official at Istanbul's TEM Hospital told CNN, raising the death toll to five.

"It was a remote-controlled, fragmentation bomb that was left on the side of the road," said Huseyin Avni Mutlu, the governor of Istanbul, in a televised appearance broadcast live from the scene of the explosion. "This is a terrorist act".

The bomb attack took place in the western, European side of the city. Mutlu said the device hit the third and last of a three-bus convoy that was traveling to the Istanbul Province Gendarmerie Command Center.

At least 42 dead, 115,000 homeless in Brazil flooding

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil (CNN) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met Tuesday with his emergency Cabinet as flooding in two northeastern states killed at least 42 people and left more than 115,000 homeless or displaced, the Agencia Brasil state news agency and civil defense officials reported.

In Pernambuco state, 53 cities have declared a state of emergency, the nation's civil defense agency said. Thirteen people are dead and more than 42,000 are homeless there, the agency said.

In Alagoas state, 22 cities have declared an emergency. At least 29 people are dead, officials said. More than 73,000 residents are homeless or displaced, the national civil defense said.

More than 600 people have been reported missing in Alagoas.

Defense Minister Nelson Jobim traveled to Alagoas and Pernambuco to see the emergency measures that have been taken, Agencia Brasil said. Those measures include the construction of field hospitals.