Emerging-market telecom buyers get picky (MarketWatch): As international telecommunications operators shelve expansion plans to preserve cash and the myth collapses that emerging-market economies are independent from their western counterparts, the face of dealmaking in telecom is changing rapidly.

Emerging markets face capital squeeze, action needed: IIF (Reuters): Private capital flows to emerging markets are set to drop by nearly two thirds in 2009 as the global economy makes its most extreme downturn since World War Two, the Institute of International Finance said on Tuesday.

The IIF is an association of financial services firms with 400 members worldwide.

OPEC Calls for Curbing Speculators, Blames Hedge Funds for Rout (Bloomberg): OPEC wants U.S. regulators to curtail oil trading by hedge funds and speculators who helped make last year the most volatile in crude oil trading.

You can blame hedge funds for anything.