Gates of Vienna News Feed 1/8/2011

The Swiss Central Bank has decided that Portuguese government debt is no longer safe enough to be accepted as a guarantee in cash transactions. Portuguese treasury bonds have been downgraded by the ratings agencies, and the Swiss are concerned about the risk of relying on them.

In other news, French President Nicolas Sarkozy says that the attacks on Christians in Iraq, Egypt, and other countries constitute “religious cleansing”.

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

Thanks to 4symbols, A. Millar, C. Cantoni, Diana West, Gaia, Insubria, KGS, Nick, Nilk, SF, TV, Vic, 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.