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Between 1947 and 1953, Australia received over 170,000 Displaced People from Europe including widows and unmarried mothers. These refugees were expected to conform to the policies and expectations of the State, in particular the adherence to a 2-year work contract. This was an impossibility for many mothers who could not find work or accommodation outside of the government supplied migrant accommodation centres, and who, as a consequence, resorted to placing their children, either temporarily or permanently, in institutions or for adoption. Through an examination of archival documents, this paper examines the policies that resulted in migrant child placement and adoption and considers the role played by Department of Immigration social workers. It asks why, when migrant children were considered amongst the most desirable of new arrivals, were many fated to become orphans? [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many companies have posted impressive top-line growth over the past two decades in their respective economic regions- for instance, Wal-Mart in North America, BP in Europe,Toyota in Asia, and News Corporation in the Southern Hemisphere. But which were the best at converting all of that revenue growth into shareholder value? Harvard Business Review asked C. Bennett Stewart 111, the senior partner of the consulting firm Stern Stewart & Company, and his colleagues to come up with the answer. For the period 1983 to 2003, they assembled a list of the top 20 high-growth value adders (and laggards) in each of the four regions cited above. Their calculations gave equal weight to companies'revenue growth and market-value-added scores, revealing the important effect of region on the performance of companies in the same industry. For instance, while automakers are positioned high on the Asian list of high-growth value adders, U.S. carmakers CM and Ford--each of which reported revenue growth in excess of $100 billion between 1983 and 2003--are among the value laggards on the North American list, as are DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen on the European list. The Japanese win through better efficiency, higher quality, and narrower product mixes, the author says. And while there are four telecom companies represented among the European high-growth value adders, there are none on the North American list. That's probably because the European telecoms enjoyed more protective regulation, made fewer high-priced acquisitions, and didn't bet as big on the overblown dot-com economy, the author says. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the first covered bond launched in Australia by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) against a difficult market backdrop. ANZ, Citi, Nomura and UBS set the price guidance for the covered boned. A syndicate official on the trade agreed with the inclusion of Nomura as lead manager. Syndicate officials noted the strong bookbuild of the issuance despite the European sovereign crisis.

Deutsche Bank will meet with investors in London later this month to gauge interest in a new issue from Australian lender Suncorp's APOLLO Australian Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the introduction of the hybrid capital market to the Japanese corporate sector. Bankers hope that the experiences companies in the U.S., Europe and other areas such as Australia have had will give Japanese corporates the confidence to take their first steps into the hybrid market. The advantage to issuers of including the mechanism is that it can make the hybrid more equity-like in the eyes of the rating agencies.

In the last few decades, product liability has established itself as a subject in its own right in many parts of the world. This is well-known for the United States and Western Europe but it is also true in Central and Eastern Europe, on the Pacific Rim (including Australia), parts of Latin America, and elsewhere. Surprisingly, the numerous countries which have recently adopted special product liability rules have sought guidance not from American law but from the European model, especially from the EC Directive of 1985. This Directive has become something like an internationally leading blueprint so that globally speaking, the American approach has become almost an outsider. Yet, while the European model has had great worldwide influence on the law on the books, it has had very little impact on the law in action. In most countries, the European influence has neither significantly affected the nature nor the frequency of suits for damages caused by defective goods. This discrepancy between the Directive's influence in theory and its impotence in practice illustrates how deceptive and ineffective mere blackletter law harmonization can be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the deals offered by European investors in Australian mortgage backed securities (MBS). MBS launched by ABN Amro for its non-ban subsidiary, Australian Mortgage Securities Ltd.; Tranches of bonds issued by Australian Mortgage Securities; Securitizations issued by Colonial State Bank in the domestic market.

The article reports that regulatory bodies including the European Food Safety Authority, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) and 700 scientists have signed petitions calling on Gilles-Eric Seralini and colleagues at the Committee for Research & Independent Information on Genetic Engineering (CRIIGEN) to release data behind health claims associated with biotechnology crops. The petitioners urge transparency in the promotion of sound science on important issues of public health.

The article reports on the latest developments in the impending issuance by the European Banking Authority (EBA) of a common term sheet on contingent capital instruments as of November 2011. The term sheet will provide guidelines over the hybrid instruments that could be used by banks to comply with the 9% core capital requirement mandated by the EBA starting June 2012. The move by Australian regulators concerning the issue is also cited.

The article reports that domestic investor participation in Australian financial deals has declined due to concerns over a possible second bailout for Greece. It states that sovereign supranational and agency (SSA) Australian dollar supply had suffered from the volatile condition of the financial market caused by the Greek problem. It reports that the European Investment Bank and the Council of Europe Development Bank are the only SSA issuers that braved the market.

The article reports on the emergence of new iron ore mines worldwide. It notes on iron ore mine exploration in Africa offering an alternative to fines shipped from Brazil and Australia. Mines are also reportedly emerging to supply local steelmakers in northern Europe. Also noted is the iron ore mining opportunities in Afghanistan.

The article presents an analysis of the performance of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) markets in Europe and Australia, as of February 18, 2008. Despite widening slightly over the last months, residential mortgage-backed securities spreads in Germany and the Netherlands are still the lowest in Europe. Australian and Dutch spreads are said to be very close due to the good credit quality of borrowers in both countries and the fact that expected default and delinquency rates are coming in at similar levels.

The article offers tips for Canadian investors on how to navigate the global fixed income opportunities. Europe, Australia and Asia have the most developed and diversified bond markets. Emerging markets (EM) have been a hot spot and have outperformed other destinations. Rather than committing a fixed portion of an investor's assets to EMs, he or she should invest a small allocation as part of a global mandate.

The article offers news briefs on the Eurobond market. A 400 million eurobond was issued by Danica Pension via Citigroup, Danske Bank and Union Bank of Switzerland. The National Australia Bank has launched its perpetual non-call 10 year floating rate note led by Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan.