Titles:

• More than 400 US Banks Will Fail: Roubini
• Mullen visit aims to paper over US-Turkey differences
• US expects to spend big in Afghanistan for years
• Pakistan: US and foreign aid linked to structural reforms
• Malaysian Eid advert axed for resembling Christmas
• Indonesian Muslims Protest Plans to Burn Quran on September 11

News Details:

More than 400 US Banks Will Fail: Roubini
Even if the US and European economies manage to avoid a double dip, it will still feel like a recession, while more than half of the 800-plus US banks on the "critical list" are likely to go bust, according to renowned economist Nouriel Roubini of Roubini Global Economics.  The second half of the year will remain weak as tailwinds become headwinds, Roubini told CNBC on the shores of Lake Como, Italy at the Ambrosetti Forum economics conference. Roubini recently said the chance of a double-dip recession in the US was now more than 40 percent. "The big risk is that there will be a downturn in markets that could impact the bond, the equity and the credit markets," he said.  "Job losses have been higher, the US jobs number will show that. There is no private sector jobs growth," he said. "Consumption is weak, exports are weak and housing is weak."  "If there is no final sales and no final demand, companies will not invest," he added.  "Policy makers are running out of bullets, the problem is we need fiscal consolidation, fiscal policy is constrained by the debt problem, monetary policy is becoming ineffectual," he said.

Mullen visit aims to paper over US-Turkey differences
Turkey and the United States are "not just allies" but "good friends", the US military's top commander said after a visit to Ankara aimed at papering over the cracks in an increasingly fractious relationship. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said military co-operation was unaffected by Turkey's recent breach with Israel and opposition to UN sanctions against Iran. "I have not come to question or in any way rebut Turkey's decision [to oppose] UN sanctions in Iran, though I note with gratitude the government's decision to enforce those sanctions," he said. Shared military interests have long formed the bedrock of the US-Turkish alliance. Admiral Mullen told reporters on Saturday his visit, en route from Baghdad and Kabul, was meant to "reaffirm the commitment of the American military to continuing, indeed strengthening, our already close relationship."  He said the programmer of arms sales "continues to flourish", and denied his visit - framed as a courtesy call on Isik Kosaner, Turkey's new chief of general staff - was designed to press Turkey to play a bigger role in Afghanistan, or to brave domestic controversy by letting US troops leave Iraq through its territory.

US expects to spend big in Afghanistan for years
The U.S. government's financial commitment to Afghanistan is likely to linger and reach into the billions long after it pulls combat troops from the country, newly disclosed spending estimates show. The United States expects to spend about $6 billion a year training and supporting Afghan troops and police after it begins withdrawing its own combat troops in 2011. The estimates of U.S. spending through 2015, detailed in a NATO training mission document, are an acknowledgment that Afghanistan will remain largely dependent on the United States for its security. That reality could become problematic for the Obama administration as it continues to seek money for Afghanistan from Congress in a time of increasingly tight budgets. The Obama administration has boosted the training mission in preparation for next year's drawdown. The United States spent over $20 billion on training between 2003 and 2009 and expects to spend about the same this year and next alone.

Pakistan: US and foreign aid linked to structural reforms
The United States and the Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP) have linked their investments in Pakistan's energy, reconstruction and water sectors to implementation of key reforms to achieve self-sufficiency in the areas in a three-year transition period.  According to sources, the government has requested international lenders to provide about $7.7 billion to implement reforms in the public sector over the period, although total requirement for infrastructure projects in the energy sector and reconstruction of areas affected by the war against terror in the tribal areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been estimated at $15 billion.  Officials said the government had agreed to a set of policy reforms in consultation with the Asian Development Bank.  They said US President Barack Obama's Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke, who had participated in FoDP deliberations a few weeks ago, had told the authorities that the policy and management reforms were a crucial complement to the investments.  "The key to progress will be the government's commitment to implement badly needed reforms and the commitment of the FoDP to help facilitate both public and private international investments in the energy sector," Mr Holbrooke was quoted as saying.  The government has given an undertaking to the FoDP to withdraw the subsidy being given to oil refineries and rationalize ex-refinery prices of products, besides a phased introduction and maintenance of cost recovery tariffs. It has envisaged elimination of cross-subsidies from the industrial and commercial sectors to the domestic sector.

Malaysian Eid advert axed for resembling Christmas
A Malaysian television advert for the Muslim holiday of Eid has been scrapped after viewers said it resembled a promotion for Christmas.  Malaysia's TV3 has apologised for airing the festive clip, which wished Muslims a happy Eid al-Fitr, the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. The advert showed an elderly man taking children aboard his flying carriage and travelling across a star-filled sky. Critics said it was too akin to the tale of Santa Claus and his sleigh. The clip provoked considerable criticism, much of it from internet and blogging sites, which deemed it insensitive and in poor taste. It also depicted lotuses, which some complained have links to Buddhism and Hinduism. The station announced in a Sunday prime-time broadcast that it had removed the one-minute clip and would not show it again. Muslims, who make up about 60% of Malaysia's 27 million people, are preparing to celebrate Eid al-Fitr this week.

Indonesian Muslims Protest Plans to Burn Quran on September 11
Thousands of mostly Muslim protesters rallied around Indonesia Saturday in opposition to an American church's plan to burn copies of the Koran on September 11. During the weekend rallies in Indonesia, cities protested an event planned by a small Florida church to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks in the United States. Religious leaders of all denominations have condemned the plan by the Dove World Outreach center in Gainesville, Florida, whose pastor, Terry Jones, has written a book called Islam is of the Devil.  The phrase also appears on t-shirts and a Facebook page promoting the event at the church estimated to have about 50 members. The chairman of the Islamic group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia that planned the protests, Rokhmat Labib, says the plan to burn the Islamic holy book is a provocation. Labib says Muslims do not have any problem with Christians as long as they do not spread their beliefs in Muslim areas.  And since Muslims are not forcing their beliefs on Christians, he says there is no reason why they should feel threatened.