Home mortgage applications rose to the highest level in three months last week, reported Reuters.

The Mortgage Bankers Association says its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, a combination of refinancing and home purchase demand, rose 15.5 percent in the week ending March 4.

The MBA’s vice president of research and economics, Mr. Michael Fratantoni, feels this is a product of an economic uptick.

“An improving job market is beginning to pave the way for an improving housing market,” Fratantoni said.

However, certain questions remain. Exactly how much of this progress was from simple refinancing opportunities versus actual purchasing of housing units remains unaddressed. Meanwhile, homeownership rates remain well above the mean historical level, while high numbers of distressed homeowners continue.

That and a 15.5% increase during a period of exceptionally low levels of home sales isn’t necessarily an indication of recovery.

Qaddafi announced in an interview broadcast Wednesday that Libyans would fight Western nations, should they try to implement a no-fly zone in the country.

The announcement, broadcasted on Turkish television, follows weeks of turmoil since the uprising began on February 15.

“Such a situation would be useful,” Qaddafi said. “The Libyan people would understand their real aims to take Libya under their control, to take their freedoms and to take their oil and all Libyan people will take up arms and fight,” obviously underscoring the fact that he would use military operations by Western nations to attempt to create a national movement to reunite the people behind him.

Libyan forces loyal to Qaddafi have been fighting rebels both directly and through aerial bombing.

Qaddafi attempted to further stifle international pressure, claiming that the resistance movement he was fighting was Al Qaeda.

“If Al Qaeda seizes Libya, that will amount to a huge disaster,” Qaddafi said. “If they (Al Qaeda fighters) take this place over, the whole region, including Israel, will be dragged into chaos. Then, (Al Qaeda leader Usama) Bin Laden may seize all of north Africa that faces Europe.”

The prosecution of Rajaratnam began today, about an hour ago, with him ushering in an entourage of legal advice that would make OJ Simpson envious.

If you missed this, the man was guilty of pushing insider information, sometimes literally seconds after he found out about it.

Look, the guy is obviously guilty; I don’t think anyone in their right mind could possible defend this guy. Obviously, that statement is excused when talking about the seven lawyers who are even now attempting to do just that.

The real problem here is going to be the impact it has on the intelligence industry (and perhaps that includes the news). Having seen bits and pieces of the precursory raids up until now, it looks like the Feds are getting ready to try and charge every semblance of data sharing and intelligence gathering the hedge fund industry employs, which in my mind is not a far cry away from, “if it isn’t available on public sources, then you can’t know it.”

Perhaps this will be handled with tact and care; if this is just about crushing industry insiders who are front running their own announcements, or letting “special best friends” do the same, then so be it. But I have a hunch based on some of the hits before now, which have been including experts on hedge fund payrolls, that this is more about that rusted notion of a “level playing field.”

The US Government and supporting agencies have long had a peculiar public prejudice against hedge funds, which shows most vibrantly when the number of verdicts against hedge funds are compared alongside the number of allegations of wrongdoing. We’ll see if they can show some restraint, now that they seem to have an actual, real case to bring before the public.