Fed Cancels First POMO Auction Ever
FLASH: The Fed and World Central Banks Coordinate to Lower Pricing on U.S. Dollar Swap Arrangements; Futures Soar
FLASH: EFSF to Guarantee 20-30% Sovereign Bond Risk
EFSF to enter short term market,
Providing 20-30% of credit protection for sovereign debt
A co-investment fund will assist in support
Euro up slightly
Comments »
Norway Gunman “unfit to stand trial,” psychiatrists strike again
I’d like to make something very much clear; I think psychiatry is a bullshit field with zero findings that constitute a contribution to the “knowledge” of mankind. They run about, pretending they understand people, spouting off undless streams of psycho-babble, and at the end of the day accomplish little. Their books stand on shelves until they get discredited, decirculated, and burned.
The end.
This piece only confirms my theory, as now thanks to some idiot psychiatrists in Norway, the gunman that blew up one of their government buildings, then went to work slaughtering their children, has been found insane and therefore unfit to stand trial.
OSLO – A psychiatric report on Anders Behring Breivik found that the confessed gunman is insane and therefore not fit to stand trial over twin attacks that killed 77 people, Norway’s VG newspaper said Tuesday.
The VG report was published shortly before Norwegian prosecutors’ scheduled news conference to discuss the contents of the psychiatric evaluation.
The 240-page report, compiled by two psychiatrists, was delivered to the prosecutor’s office earlier Tuesday.
“We have no doubt when it comes to our conclusions,” one of the experts, Torgeir Husby, told reporters when the document was delivered.
Understand something; this man was not insane. What he is is extreme; he sought to preserve Norway culture and heritage, to push for a more conservative government, to cripple the labor party of Norway. Some of those causes like the opposition to labor movements I can even support which makes this a weird position to be in, but rather than go about the correct venues to affect that change, this guy grabbed some rifles and started murdering kids. He is very much sane and knew exactly what he was doing.
It was pre-meditated murder, and now it looks like Norway does not even have the ballsack to stand up and call him out on it.
Comments »BREAKING: IRANIAN PROTESTERS RAID BRITISH EMBASSY
FLASH: CHINA’S QUARRY, AUSTRALIA, UPGRADED TO AAA by FITCH
Australia is regarded as one of the world’s safest borrowers, after a global ratings agency upgraded the country to the highest possible rating for its overseas borrowings.
Fitch Ratings upgraded Australia’s foreign currency issuer default rating to AAA from AA+, joining Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s in giving Australia the highest possible rating.
Comments »FLASH: EUROPEAN COMMISSION SAID TO PROPOSE BANK DEBT GUARANTEE
Indeud.
Comments »FLASH: POWERFUL CONGRESSMAN BARNEY FRANK TO RETIRE
|
Carl Ichan Makes a Play For Commercial Metals; $CMC
BREAKING: IMF Drafting Up 517 Billion Fund to Save Europe
BREAKING: Pakistan Stops NATO Supplies After Raid Kills Up to 28
NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two military outposts in northwest Pakistan on Saturday, killing as many as 28 troops and plunging U.S.-Pakistan relations, already deeply frayed, further into crisis.
Pakistan retaliated by shutting down vital NATO supply routes intoAfghanistan, used for sending in just under a third of the alliance’s supplies.
The attack is the worst single incident of its kind since Pakistan uneasily allied itself with Washington in the days immediately following the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. targets.
Relations between the United States and Pakistan, its ally in the war on militancy, have been strained following the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by U.S. special forces in a raid on the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad in May, which Pakistan called a flagrant violation of sovereignty.
A spokesman for NATO-led troops in Afghanistan confirmed that NATO aircraft had been called in to support troops in the area and had probably killed some Pakistani soldiers.
“Close air support was called in, in the development of the tactical situation, and it is what highly likely caused the Pakistan casualties,” said General Carsten Jacobson, spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
He added that he could not confirm the number of casualties, but ISAF is investigating the “tragic development.”
“We are aware that Pakistani soldiers perished. We don’t know the size, the magnitude,” he said.
The Pakistani government and military brimmed with fury.
“This is an attack on Pakistan’s sovereignty,” said Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani. “We will not let any harm come to Pakistan’s sovereignty and solidarity.”
The Foreign Office said it would take up the matter “in the strongest terms” with NATO and the United States.
The powerful Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, said in a statement issued by the Pakistani military that “all necessary steps be under taken for an effective response to this irresponsible act.
“A strong protest has been launched with NATO/ISAF in which it has been demanded that strong and urgent action be taken against those responsible for this aggression.”
Two military officials said that up to 28 troops had been killed and 11 wounded in the attack on the outposts, about 2.5 km (1.5 miles) from the Afghan border. The Pakistani military said 24 troops were killed and 13 wounded.
EARLY MORNING ATTACK
It remains unclear what exactly happened, but the attack took place around 2 a.m. (2100 GMT) in the Baizai area of Mohmand, where Pakistani troops are fighting Taliban militants.
“Pakistani troops effectively responded immediately in self-defense to NATO/ISAF’s aggression with all available weapons,” the Pakistani military statement said.
The commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, General John R. Allen, said he had offered his condolences to the family of any Pakistani soldiers who “may have been killed or injured.”
The U.S. embassy in Islamabad also offered condolences.
About 40 Pakistani army troops were stationed at the outposts, military sources said. Two officers were reported among the dead.
“The latest attack by NATO forces on our post will have serious repercussions as they without any reasons attacked on our post and killed soldiers asleep,” said a senior Pakistani military officer, requesting anonymity.
Reflecting the confusion of war in an ill-defined border area, an Afghan border police official, Edrees Momand, said joint Afghan-NATO troops near the outpost on Saturday morning had detained several militants.
“I am not aware of the casualties on the other side of the border but those we have detained aren’t Afghan Taliban,” he said, implying they may have been Pakistani or other foreign national Taliban operating in Afghanistan.
The Afghanistan-Pakistan border is often poorly marked, and Afghan and Pakistani maps have differences of several kilometers in some places, military officials have said.
However Pakistani military spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas said that NATO had been given maps of the area, with Pakistani military posts marked out.
“When the other side is saying there is a doubt about this, there is no doubt about it. These posts have been marked and handed over to the other side for marking on their maps and are clearly inside Pakistani territory.”
The incident occurred a day after Allen met Kayani to discuss border control and enhanced cooperation.
“After the recent meetings between Pakistan and ISAF/NATO forces to build confidence and trust, these kind of attacks should not have taken place,” a senior military source told Reuters.
BLOCKED SUPPLIES
NATO supply trucks and fuel tankers bound for Afghanistan were stopped at Jamrud town in the Khyber tribal region near the city of Peshawar hours after the raid, officials said.
“We have halted the supplies and some 40 tankers and trucks have been returned from the check post in Jamrud,” Mutahir Zeb, a senior government official, told Reuters.
Another official said the supplies had been stopped for security reasons.
“There is possibility of attacks on NATO supplies passing through the volatile Khyber tribal region, therefore we sent them back toward Peshawar to remain safe,” he said.
The border crossing at Chaman in Baluchistan was also closed, Frontier Corps officials said.
Pakistan is a vital land route for nearly half of NATO supplies shipped overland to its troops in Afghanistan, a NATO spokesman said. Land shipments only account for about two thirds of the alliance’s cargo shipments into Afghanistan.
A similar incident on Sept 30, 2010, which killed two Pakistani troops, led to the closure of one of NATO’s supply routes through Pakistan for 10 days.
NATO apologized for that incident, which it said happened when NATO gunships mistook warning shots by the Pakistani forces for a militant attack.
U.S.-Pakistan relations were already reeling from a tumultuous year that saw the bin Laden raid, the jailing of a CIA contractor, and U.S. accusations that Pakistan backed a militant attack on the U.S. embassy in Kabul.
The United States has long suspected Pakistan of continuing to secretly support Taliban militant groups to secure influence in Afghanistan after most NATO troops leave in 2014. Saturday’s incident will give Pakistan the argument that NATO is now attacking it directly.
“I think we should go to the United Nations Security Council against this,” said retired Brigadier Mahmood Shah, former chief of security in the tribal areas. “So far, Pakistan is being blamed for all that is happening in Afghanistan, and Pakistan’s point of view has not been shown in the international media.”
Other analysts, including Rustam Shah Mohmand, a former ambassador to Afghanistan, said Pakistan would protest and close the supply lines for some time, but that ultimately “things will get back to normal.”
Paul Beaver, a British security analyst, said relations were so bad that this incident might have no noticeable impact.
“I’m not sure U.S.-Pakistan relations could sink much lower than they are now,” he said.
Comments »Flash: NBA Will Play (If You Happen to Care…)
Early this morning, NBA fans received their first Christmas gift: a tentative agreement to end the 149-day lockout.
One final, 15-hour marathon negotiating session brought together the final elements of a new collective bargaining agreement that fans have been yearning for since owners locked out the players July 1.
The deal will allow the league to begin its season on Christmas Day, with the season’s first tipoff to take place at Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks will play the Celtics at noon.
That game is part of a cross-country tripleheader that will include Miami at Dallas in an NBA Finals rematch before MVP Derrick Rose and Chicago close the day by facing off against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.
Read more: http://trade.cc/kka
Comments »Retailers Seem to be Experiencing am Awesome Black Friday
Reports have been coming out from all over the country that retailers are packed with people. Some claim that last nights midnight opening has brought more biz than last years entire black Friday results.
Comments »{SHOCK VIDEO} COLD FINGER WAR: Russian Anchorman Gives Obama the Middle Finger
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=E7jKKZTpzh4
Online footage of the incident, which occurred earlier this month during an afternoon news bulletin on the privately held REN TV channel, is being avidly viewed in both Russia and the United States.
In the footage, Tatyana Limanova, an award-winning senior newsreader at the channel, can be seen briskly reading out an item about how Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has just assumed the rotating chairmanship of the Asia Pacific Cooperation organisation.
She is then heard to say that the post “has (previously) been held by Barack Obama” before mechanically and unambiguously raising her left arm and showing the camera her raised middle finger in an offensive gesture that is sometimes known as “flipping the bird.”
The channel, which goes out to 120 million people across Russia, has declined to comment. But sources close to it have tried to defuse the row by claiming that the newsreader had believed she was off camera at the time and merely providing a voice-over for a report. According to the same storyline, the rude gesture was intended for studio technicians who had been trying to put her off her stride.
REN TV has traditionally been perceived as a more liberal channel in a country where TV content is tightly controlled by the state. But it is now controlled by structures owned by a close ally of Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, and has been criticised for allegedly becoming more slavish to the Kremlin.
The scandal comes at a time when US-Russia relations appear to be getting worse after President Obama’s much-heralded attempt to “reset” them.
The United States has announced it is to stop supplying the Kremlin with regular details about its military presence in Europe in retaliation for a similar Russian move four years ago. Moscow is also frustrated it is not being given a say in Nato’s nascent European missile defence system.
Sources at REN TV said Ms Limanova would not be punished for her slip-up despite the embarrassment it has caused the channel.
China November Factory Activity Slumps to 32-month Low
(Reuters) – Chinese factories battled with their weakest activity in 32 months in November, a preliminary purchasing managers’ survey showed, reviving worries that China may be skidding toward an economic hard landing and compounding global recession fears.
The HSBC flash manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI), the earliest indicator of China’s industrial activity, slumped in November to 48, a low not seen since March 2009.
The data showed the world’s growth engine is not immune to economic troubles abroad, and could further unnerve financial markets already roiled by Europe’s deteriorating debt crisis.
November’s flash reading is a sharp three-point fall from October’s final figure of 51 and indicated Chinese factory output shrank on the month in November. A PMI reading of 50 demarcates expansion from contraction.
The last time the PMI slipped below 50 was in September, when the index hit 49.9.
“Industrial production growth is likely to slow further to 11-12 percent year-on-year in coming months as domestic demand cools and external demand is set to weaken,” said Qu Hongbin, a HSBC economist.
In line with the dismal headline number, the flash output sub-index tumbled to a 32-month low of 46.7, a steep drop from October’s final reading of 51.4.
Read the rest here.
Comments »Merck to pay up $950 million to settle Vioxx dispute
Seriously either our drug industry is blatantly corrupt or the FDA demands more “protection” money than a prohibition mob boss.
Maybe both, actually?
Comments »NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice says Merck will pay $950 million to resolve investigations into its marketing of the painkiller Vioxx.
The agency says Merck will pay $321.6 million in criminal fines and $628.4 million as a civil settlement agreement. It will also plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge that it marketed Vioxx as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis before getting Food and Drug Administration approval.
Merck stopped selling Vioxx in 2004 after evidence showed the drug doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke. In 2007 the company paid $4.85 billion to settle around 50,000 Vioxx-related lawsuits.
Egypt breaks down, goes full ‘tard
Comments »CAIRO – Egypt’s ruling military moved up the date for transferring power to a civilian government to July next year and consulted Tuesday with political parties on forming a new Cabinet. But the major concessions were immediately rejected by tens of thousands of protesters in Cairo’s iconic Tahrir Square threatening a “second revolution.”
“We are not leaving, he leaves,” chanted the protesters, demanding that military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi and his council of generals immediately give up power to a civilian transitional authority. “The people want to bring down the field marshal,” they shouted in scenes starkly reminiscent of the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak nine months ago.
Aboul-Ela Madi and Mohammed Selim el-Awa, two politicians who attended a five-hour crisis meeting with the military rulers, said the generals accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Essam Sharaf’s government and will form a “national salvation” Cabinet to replace it.
Previously, the military rulers had floated late next year or early 2013 as the timetable for transferring power.
The military’s concession came less than a week before the first parliamentary election since the ouster nine months ago of longtime authoritarian ruler Mubarak. The elections are staggered over three months.
“Our demands are clear. We want the military council to step down and hand over authority to a national salvation government with full authority,” said Khaled El-Sayed, a member of the Youth Revolution Coalition and a candidate in the upcoming parliamentary election. The commander of the Military Police and the Interior Minister, who is in charge of the police, must be tried for the “horrific crimes” of the past few days, he added.
Chicago Sheister Tony Rezko Sentenced to 10.5 Years in Prison
Tony Rezko, former fundraiser and friend of President Barack Obama and Gov. Rod Blagojevish, was sentenced to ten and a half years in prison Tuesday for corruption.
Rezko, 56, has already served about 44 months of the 126 month sentence on his 2008 conviction for corruption — including fraud, money laundering and attempting to get $7 million in kickbacks from companies seeking to win deals during Blagojevich’s time as governor — the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Read more: http://trade.cc/jkv
The Spaniards Vote in the Peoples Party and Kick Out the Socialists
Rajoy and his peoples party took the majority vote over the socialists. In his acceptance speech he made clear that hey will ge to work right away to avoid becoming a bigger problem in the ongoing sovereign debt crisis.
This may spur a rally in equities as this is pretty much what markets were hoping for.
Comments »
