Spain's banking crisis continued to weigh heavily on markets. Bankia, the country's fourth-largest lender, requested a €19 billion ($24 billion) bail-out from the state, raising questions about how much help other lenders might need. Spain was the central focus of the euro-zone crisis this week. The yield on Spanish ten-year government bonds reached 6.65% and the spread over German Bunds hit new highs. There was not much appetite for an auction of Italian ten-year bonds either, and yields rose above 6% for the first time since January. The clamour for safe assets drove yields on Treasuries to their lowest level since 1946. Ever closer union The European Commission outlined proposals that would allow the euro-zone's rescue mechanism to bail out banks directly in addition to lending to governments. The European Union's executive body also said that the 17 countries that use the euro should consider setting up a "banking union." Markets were spooked by the threat of a calamity in the euro zone. With the prospect of dampening demand in the world economy, oil prices fell to their lowest levels this year; Brent crude hurtled towards $100 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was below $90. Graff Diamonds, a high-end jeweller founded in London in the 1960s, pulled its $1 billion initial public offering from the Hong Kong stock exchange because of limited enthusiasm from investors. Brazil's central bank cut its main interest rate to 8.5%. The rate has come down by four percentage points over the past year as part of a series of official measures to try to fire up what used to be one of the world's hottest economies. The cuts have reduced the value of the real by about 20%, which should help exports. India's economy fared worse than expected in the first quarter, growing by 5.3% compared with the same period a year earlier. It was the slowest rate of growth in almost eight years, falling far short of the government's target of 9%. Many blame political infighting (as well as a haughty attitude towards foreign investment) for the slowdown. Repsol, a Spanish oil company, gave its first strategy outlook since the Argentine government's nationalisation of its 51% stake in YPF in April. It is to invest €19 billion ($24 billion) over the next four years, mostly in exploring new energy sources, and is cutting its dividend-payout ratio to preserve cash. YPF accounted for 20% of Repsol's profit and almost half of its proven reserves before Argentina seized it. Repsol is seeking $10 billion in compensation. TNK-BP, BP's Russian joint venture, was faced with fresh difficulties when Mikhail Fridman abruptly resigned as chief executive. Mr Fridman heads the consortium of Russian investors that owns the other half of the venture. BP has had a rocky relationship with its Russian partners over the years that led to the ousting of Bob Dudley as TNK-BP's boss in 2008. Mr Dudley is now BP's chief executive. Dewey & LeBoeuf, a respected law firm in New York, filed for bankruptcy protection after racking up $315m in debt. The speed of its decline has surprised the legal world. Michael Woodford, who was sacked as chief executive at Olympus after he brought to light an accounting scandal at the Japanese camera-maker, reached an out-of-court settlement with his former employers for unfair dismissal. It is thought that Mr Woodford will receive £10m ($16m). A lot of speculation Facebook's share price continued to slide, dropping by 10% in a single day to below $29. The social network priced its shares at its IPO on May 18th at $38. Trading started this week in Facebook's stock options, through which investors bet on future movements in share prices. The volume of trading in Facebook's options was reported to be unprecedented for a new stock; the biggest trades were betting that the share price would fall further. Research In Motion, the struggling maker of the BlackBerry, said that it had employed two banks to assess its strategic options, which many think could include selling the company to a bidder. RIM also warned that it would report its first quarterly operating loss for eight years in the current quarter. Its share price fell to a little over $10; four years ago it stood at almost $150. To boldly go SpaceX, a private company, successfully docked its Dragon spacecraft with the International Space Station 390km (240 miles) above the Earth, ushering in a new era in transporting space cargo. Set up by Elon Musk, an internet entrepreneur, SpaceX is under contract with NASA to begin shuttling supplies to the ISS, and also has orders on its books from governments and businesses to launch satellites.