How EU slump hits paper paupers

How the European debt crisis is making life even tougher for one of Hong Kong's estimated 10,000 paper scavengers.

HONG KONG — Tens of thousands of people marched in Hong Kong on the first day of 2013 to call for the city’s Beijing-backed leader to step down over allegations he was untruthful about illegal renovations at his mansion and to press for full democracy. Police said 26,000 people joined the march at its peak Tuesday while organizers said 130,000 took part.

Italy could issue its first 30-year benchmark bond in more than three years in 2013 after successfully selling a new 15-year bond this week, the head of the Debt Management Office said Wednesday. Rome, which has 2 trillion euros of public debt to refinance, shied away from selling longer-dated paper during the worst of the euro zone debt crisis, which pushed yields on its bonds and its borrowing costs higher across the curve.

By Simon Johnson For everyone struggling to get their arms around the debt crisis in Europe, Bill Marsh in today’s New York Times offers literally a compelling picture, with graphic illustration for the key issues. The picture is big, 18×21 inches. Either you need a very large computer screen or a hard copy of the paper (pp. 6-7 in the SundayReview section, “It’s All Connected: A Spectator’s Guide to the Euro Crisis).

GM Loses Global Car Sales Lead to Toyota Again Auto sales have recovered in the US, but GM once again has dropped out of the top spot globally. CNN Money reports GM loses global sales title to Toyota, again. General Motors fell to No. 2 in the global auto sales race, even as 2012 was its best year for sales since 2007.

Hong Kong is keen on hosting a Formula One race "one day", its industry groups reportedly said, as the city staged its first F1 exhibition run by world champion constructor Red Bull.More than 40,000 spectators were expected to turn up to see a Red Bull F1 car run on a 600-metre stretch in central Hong Kong, raising calls for the southern Chinese city to host its own grand prix."This is the first step in gaining the support of the people," the city's Automobile Association president Wesley Wan said, according to the South China Morning Post.

Belgian judges ruled invalid on Thursday truckloads of evidence seized by police in summer raids probing paedophile scandals within the country's Roman Catholic Church.An appeals court deemed the raids, on the church headquarters in Brussels and at the home of its former top cardinal, disproportionate, and ordered that the material -- on hundreds of individual investigations conducted by an internal church commission -- be returned with prosecutors unable to use it.