Iran to construct “Islamic Internet”, block Western influence

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New cyber regulations announced by Iran last week, including requiring Internet cafes to install surveillance cameras, could be just a precursor to the Islamic Republic’s “halal” network, many observers are saying.

That network, an “Islamically permissible” intranet that the nation’s telecommunications ministry publicized in early 2011, would disconnect Iran from the rest of the world and run a parallel internal service that would automatically censor material and block popular global sites and search engines, such as Facebook, Google and Wikipedia.

“I don’t think it’s a question of if, but a question of when,” said Austin Heap, executive director of the Censorship Research Center, who also works on developing technologies for increasing Internet freedom.

At the time of the announcement, Iranian authorities said the new infrastructure would be revealed soon, but did not give a specific time frame.

“They are taking the lessons of the 2009 uprisings and figuring out how to prevent that,” Heap said. “A halal network would be only what the regime would want you to see.”

Iran’s network could mirror what Burma, another nation with draconian cyber crackdowns, has done to isolate its people from the Web, limiting users to a national intranet at a high price that deters most potential users.

I believe that brings total aircraft carriers near Iran to 3, and any subsequent fleet ships that go with them.

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A new aircraft carrier strike group has entered the Arabian Sea and another is on its way, a Pentagon official said in a news briefing Wednesday — a shuffling of the U.S. fleet amid rising tensions with Iran.

Officials said there is no connection between the fleet movements and threats from Iran, however, the arrival of the USS Carl Vinson comes on the heels of Iranian military exercises in the Persian Gulf and threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil transit route.

And the killing of an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran on Wednesday further escalated tensions, as the Obama administration denied any role in the death.

The U.S. Navy announced Monday that the USS Vinson had arrived in the region to conduct missions in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts.

“We will work closely with our regional partners to demonstrate our commitment to security and stability in the region,” Rear Admiral Thomas Shannon said in a written statement.

Captain John Kirby, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Media Operations, on Wednesday denied U.S. involvement in the killing of the Iranian scientist and said the incident has not changed the U.S. position in the Gulf region.

And the number of carriers in the region “does go up and down, but it’s based on overall broad requirements in the region that the Central Command commander sets and establishes, [it’s] not necessarily … driven by a specific incident,” Capt. Kirby said.

The shift in naval assets in the region, Kirby said, is not linked to Iran’s recent threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, a threat made in response to the West’s sanctions on Iranian oil exports over the country’s contested nuclear program

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A former Oakland County Democratic party operative was sentenced to one year probation and ordered to pay more than $2,500 in fines and court costs for his role in creating “fake” tea party candidates in the 2010 election, in an effort to siphon off support for legitimate Republican candidates.

Jason Bauer, 31, of Waterford said nothing as Oakland County Circuit Court judge James Alexander, a former official with the county’s Republican party, told Bauer what he did was equivalent to murder.

“This is as heinous as someone who tries to kill somebody else,” Alexander said.

Bauer, in November, pleaded no contest to five felony counts of perjury and falsifying notarized documents. He and fellow Democratic official Michael McGuinness were indicted by a one man grand jury in March for attempting to put unknowing residents on the ballot as “tea party” candidates. Investigators said the ruse was an attempt to lure Republican votes, which would dilute the votes for authentic candidates.

McGuinness, like Bauer, pleaded no contest and was sentenced to probation in December.

In sentencing Bauer today, Alexander told him his political career was over for engaging in what Alexander called, “political shenanigans.”

“My sentence pales compares to what you’ve done to yourself,” Alexander said.

Bauer left without talking to reporters. Matt Frendewey, the communications director for the Michigan Republican Party, attended the hearing and said he was pleased.

“Justice has been served, and we are very pleased that these two have been held accountable,” he said

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Usually, trade shows are all about playing with prototypes and spotting future trends. But at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, which opened Tuesday in Las Vegas, what’s creating the most buzz is what’s not there.

Of course, there are thousands of devices being introduced this week in the desert.

Nokia is back with Windows-based smart phones and is vowing to slay the Android giant. There are connected cars and smart refrigerators (yes, again). And computers. Ultra laptops–small, svelte, near-instant-on computers–are being pushed with several manufacturers announcing slick devices.

But what’s not at the show are two components that could stifle the ultra yawns: Intel’s new mobile processors, which won’t appear until the spring, and Microsoft’s new Windows 8 operating system with touch features, which wasn’t ready in time for a CES debut.

Instead, the big Microsoft news has been that it’s abandoning CES. This will be its final appearance at the trade show, and CEO Steve Ballmer’s desultory final CES keynote didn’t exactly inspire the technorati. The Kinect gesture and voice recognition game controller will now (officially) work with PCs, and Windows 8 will be out later this year, according to Ballmer. The CEO also promised that current Windows 7 PCs will be able to run the new Window 8 software (translation: if it works on existing hardware, it’s not much of an upgrade).

Also failing to make an appearance are new gaming console models, updates to Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Sony’s PlayStation 3, or Nintendo’s Wii. Nintendo has promised a new model, and Microsoft and Sony are rumored to be preparing announcements for this summer.

However, it may be too little, too late as televisions continue to offer more features and power–including casual games and online entertainment.

Beijing (CNN) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met Chinese leaders on Wednesday with discussions expected to focus on cooperation between the world’s top two economies to bolster global growth as well as possible sanctions on Iranian oil exports.

Geithner held talks Wednesday with Vice President Xi Jinping — tipped to become China’s next president later this year— and Vice Premier Li Keqiang.

He was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Wen Jiabao later Wednesday.

Geithner met with his counterpart, Vice Premier Wang Qishan, on Tuesday night and pledged cooperation on global economic issues.

China and the United States “have a lot of issues to talk about in the areas of economy, finance, trade and investment,” Wang said at a news briefing on Tuesday.

While China has called on the United States to loosen export regulations, Washington has said that Chinese currency controls keep the yuan undervalued and give Chinese exporters an unfair advantage at a time when the global economy is suffering.

Damascus, Syria (CNN) — A French journalist died Wednesday in a mortar strike on a pro-government rally in Homs, the Syrian city that has become the symbol of grass-roots resistance against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The violence comes as international journalists and Arab League monitors viewed the tumult rippling across restive cities. A journalist who witnessed the incident told CNN that a civilian also died in the strike. A Dutch journalist and nine civilians were injured.

The dead journalist is Gilles Jacquier of the France 2 TV network, the network confirmed. There are different casualty figures filtering out of Homs. France 2 also said seven people died in the same place. Jacquier’s cameraman was lightly injured, France 2 said. It said they were there as part of a trip authorized by the government.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe expressed his condolences and condemned the “heinous act.”

“We are asking for an inquiry to be launched to shed all light on the circumstances of this tragedy,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

LONDON — Scottish leader Alex Salmond clashed with the British government Wednesday by insisting that the people of Scotland should set the terms of a referendum on independence, not British politicians.

British Prime Minister David Cameron’s government favors allowing the Scots a vote on whether their country should become independent, but suggested that Scotland should choose between total separation and the status quo.

But Salmond told the BBC Wednesday that the Scottish parliament should decide how to frame the question posed to voters. He said Scotland should also be allowed to decide if it did prefer a third option of more independence from Britain that stops short of total separation.

Salmond’s party has long campaigned for Scotland to leave the United Kingdom and go it alone. Scotland now has a legislature that governs its own internal affairs and social policies, but cedes control of foreign policy and defense issues to London.

Salmond has said he will hold a vote on Scottish independence in the fall of 2014. Cameron — who opposes any breakup of the United Kingdom, which also includes Wales and Northern Ireland — has urged Scotland to make its intentions clear “sooner rather than later,” arguing that a lengthy period of uncertainty would harm Britain’s economy.

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea said Wednesday that before Kim Jong Il’s death the United States offered to provide food aid if it halted its uranium enrichment program, and although Pyongyang blasted Washington for “politicizing” food shipments, it appeared to leave the door open for a deal.

Comments about the proposed deal, attributed to an unidentified Foreign Ministry spokesman in Pyongyang, carried an indignant tone, but the North’s statement also said it would wait and “see if the United States has a willingness to establish confidence” with North Korea.

The statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency offers an early look at how the government now led by Kim’s son, Kim Jong Un, will handle two of North Korea’s most pressing issues: a long-running food crisis and international pressure to end its nuclear program.

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After a second place finish in the New Hampshire primaries, Ron Paul will take his campaign to South Carolina, bypass the Florida primaries, and head to Nevada where he hopes to get a head start in the push to garner Latino support in one of the recession’s hardest hit states.

The Nevada Caucus on February 4th, and the Florida primary on January 31st, will mark the first time that Hispanic Republicans will get their shot to significantly weigh in on the race for the GOP nominee –a point that has not been lost on the Paul campaign – which launched its Hispanics for Ron Paul National Coalition in an effort to organize Latino volunteers in states like Nevada, Colorado, and Washington.

According to the Paul campaign, they reportedly will bypass Florida because of the huge cost of advertising and campaigning in the state – which his campaign estimated to be about $9 million to compete for the state’s winner-takes-all 50 delegates. Instead, Paul’s Hispanic Outreach campaign continues pushing hard to win Republican Latinos in Nevada. Just over 9% of Nevada’s voter population is Latino.

“We’ve been working with several newspapers in the area, English and Spanish language local affiliates, and are focused on bringing out the Hispanic vote in Nevada for Dr. Paul,” said Fernando Cortes, the Deputy Controller and Director of the Ron Paul campaign’s Hispanic Outreach Program. Cortes, 28, controls 5 staffers in the coalition and 20 “mostly bilingual” volunteers thus far who are set to meet on a Saturday afternoon in Henderson, Nevada on January 14th to put in place an outreach strategy directed specifically to Latino voters in Nevada.

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Mitt Romney stormed out of New Hampshire Wednesday with a historic achievement under his belt, having scored back-to-back wins in the first two nominating contests, and vowing to take that momentum into South Carolina.

The former Massachusetts governor was able to pull off a commanding victory in the New Hampshire primary, winning with 39 percent of the vote with 95 percent of precincts reporting.

Up next, South Carolina. The state is not the friendliest of territory for the candidate Newt Gingrich has branded as a “Massachusetts moderate.” Polls show Romney holding a modest lead in South Carolina, but Gingrich and Rick Santorum also are polling strong. However, Romney is rallying supporters on a message of creating opportunity and shaking the nation out of the doldrums represented, he claims, by the current president.

To that end, Romney scolded his opponents in New Hampshire for criticizing his record at investment firm Bain Capital over the last few days. He accused them of reading right out of the Democratic playbook.

The European high-yield market experienced two distinct halves in 2011 as increasing investor risk appetite in the first half was followed by the new issuance market effectively closing in the second half as concerns over European sovereigns dominated credit markets. As negative macro-economic trends persist in Europe, we anticipate a material increase in negative rating actions for high-yield non-financial corporates across the region in 2012…

WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Coast Guard cutter rescued six Iranian mariners from a vessel in distress in the Persian Gulf, the second time in less than a week that the American military has come to the aid of Iranians at sea, an official said Tuesday.

The incident was another reminder of U.S. efforts to demonstrate the humanitarian value of its naval presence in the Gulf, a strategic waterway that the Iranian government has threatened to close in retaliation for international sanctions over its nuclear program.

Last Thursday, the U.S. Navy rescued 13 Iranian fishermen who had been held captive by pirates in the northern Arabian Sea, just outside the Gulf, for more than 40 days. That happened just days after Tehran warned the United States to keep its warships out of the Gulf. The fishermen were sent on their way and the 15 pirates were taken aboard the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis.

In the latest incident, Pentagon press secretary George Little said the Iranians aboard a cargo dhow about 50 miles southeast of the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr used flares and flashlights to hail the cutter Monomoy at 3 a.m. local time Tuesday. The vessel’s master indicated that his engine room was flooding and “deemed not seaworthy,” Little said.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Reserve said Tuesday that it transferred $76.9 billion in profits to the Treasury Department last year, slightly less than its 2010 transfer but much more than in any other previous year.

The Fed is required by law to transfer its profits to the Treasury each year, a provision that has become increasingly lucrative as a byproduct of the central bank’s ongoing campaign to stimulate economic growth.

Almost 97 percent of the Fed’s income was generated by interest payments on its $2.5 trillion in holdings of Treasury securities and mortgage-backed securities, which it has amassed in an effort to reduce borrowing costs for businesses and consumers by reducing long-term interest rates.

Through those purchases, the central bank has become the largest single holder of federal debt, and of securities issued by the government-owned mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As a consequence, most of the money flowing into the Fed’s coffers comes from the pockets of taxpayers.

But Fed officials note that this recycling – payments flowing from Treasury to the Fed and then back to the Treasury – still saves money for taxpayers because those interest payments otherwise would be made to other investors.

“It’s interest that the Treasury didn’t have to pay to the Chinese,” the Fed’s chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, half-jokingly told Congress last year.

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As the euro zone gears up for yet more high-level meetings about its debt crisis, a fund manager advised investors to sell European shares in the wake of the series of planned summits.

“You should sell summits and wait for markets to go down again,” Stewart Richardson, partner at RMG Wealth Management, told CNBC Tuesday.

He believes that leaders should move their focus from austerity measures towards promoting growth.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s latest meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy focused on the problems facing Greece.

They put pressure on the euro zone’s most heavily indebted nation to make a deal with creditor banks on a bond swap and avoid defaulting on its debt repayments.

The lack of big announcements from the meeting highlighted how much there is still to be done to solve the euro zone debt crisis, analysts told CNBC.

“It’s really only now that people are starting to see how dangerous the first quarter of 2012 can be,” Simon Derrick, chief currency strategist, BNY Mellon, said. “Both the Greece and Italy stories are right on the agenda now.”

On Monday, yields on Italian 10-year debt, a key measure of market confidence in the country’s economic future, rose above the key 7 percent level which forced smaller euro zone countries to request bailouts.

They say we’re making (a) bomb. Fortunately, the majority of Latin American countries are alert. Everyone knows that those words … are a joke. It’s something to laugh at.
– Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iranian President

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sarcastically addressed America’s growing concern over Iran’s nuclear program referring to themselves as “devils” whose love for one another would fuel their “a-bomb.”

Ahmadinejad defended his country’s nuclear program as he began a four-nation tour of Latin America, joining his ally Chávez in accusing the U.S. and its allies of using the dispute to unjustly threaten Iran.

Both leaders dismissed U.S. concerns about Iran’s intentions in the Middle East and its growing diplomatic ties with Chávez and his allies in Latin America.

“They accuse us of being warmongers,” Chávez said. “They’re the threat.”

LONDON (Reuters) – Hedge funds are taking on the powerful International Monetary Fund over its plan to slash Greece’s towering debt burden as time runs out on the talks that could sway the future of Europe’s single currency.

The funds have built up such a powerful positions in Greek bonds that they could derail Europe’s tactic of getting banks and other bondholders to share the burden of reducing the country’s debt on a voluntary basis.

Bondholders need to give up some 100 billion euros ($130 billion) of their investment in the planned bond swap, drawn up in October, but many hedge funds plan to stay out of it.

They either prefer letting the country go under, which would trigger the credit insurance they have bought, or hope to get paid out in full if enough others sign up. That puts them in direct conflict with the IMF, which wants to force Greece’s cost of financing down to an affordable level.

“The play is purely ‘they’ll be forced to pay me’. Greece will want to avoid a wider default. so if it managed to restructure 80 percent of the deal and pay the rest that’s still better,” said Gabriel Sterne at securities firm Exotix.

That’s incredible, as I could have sworn just yesterday every expert knew an Iranian oil embargo would most definitely cause a price spike. Where do these news stations find their elusive “most experts” I wonder?

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Despite the uptick in oil prices thanks to Iran’s threats last week, experts don’t foresee a major oil price spike even as evidence mounts that tougher oil sanctions against the country are beginning to bite.

Crude prices have risen about 2% since Iran vowed to shut down the Strait of Hormuz last week. About a sixth of the world’s oil production passes through the Strait.

It is believed that Iran’s posturing is the result of ever tightening sanctions as Iran spars with the West over its nuclear program. Iran says its nuclear intentions are peaceful, but many experts suspect they are designed to produce weapons.

On Wednesday the noose around Iran’s economy tightened further. Reports said Europe may be close to enacting an outright oil embargo on Iran. About 15% of Iran’s oil exports go to Europe.

The European news comes after President Obama sanctioned Iran’s central bank last month in an attempt to restrict Iran’s oil exports and a similar, stronger move from England.

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Near-zero interest rates aimed at pushing investors out of bonds and into stocks appeared to gain some traction as 2011 drew to a close, raising hopes that investors are ready to take on more risk.

Flows into stock-based exchange-traded funds accelerated late in the year even as the broader market meandered and money moved out of stock-based mutual funds.

That was a sign to some strategists that late-year sellers for tax purposes were moving not to the safety of bond funds or cash but rather staying in stocks. Those sellers opted for ETFs, which are more flexible than mutual funds as they can be traded like stocks, but more diversified than equities as they provide exposure to entire sectors rather than just individual companies.

“This follows a trend several industry sources have noted recently; namely, that tax-loss selling of single-stock investments as well as mutual funds tends to get recycled into exchange-traded products,” Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx in New York, said in a note to clients.

Colas attributes the move in large part to low interest rates.

CNBC – Despite record low mortgage rates reported today and rising affordability in most U.S. housing markets, rent is the new reality for former home owners and new households alike.

For some it is post-traumatic stress from the housing crash, for others it is the inability to get financing to buy a home. Either way, the rental market continues on its tear.

In the last quarter of 2011, the apartment sector saw its largest quarterly increase in occupied stock of the year, according to Reis, Inc.

The vacancy rate dropped to 5.2 percent, the lowest since 2001 and lower than the last cyclical drop in 2006.

This bucks the historical seasonal weakness typical of the colder months of the year. The fourth quarter also tends to be a weaker leasing period, according to Reis, given that most households make moving decisions in the second and third quarters.

This surge in occupancy pushed asking and effective rents up 0.4 and 0.5 percent respectively, which Reis calls the only disappointing figures for the sector, missing expectations. Reis blames that on slow economic growth and still high unemployment.

“Higher quality properties in the most desirable locations posted rent gains in excess of 5-10 percent, while class B/C properties, catering to lower income tenants, found it relatively more difficult to raise rents,” notes Victor Calanog, head of research at Reis.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Doctors in America are harboring an embarrassing secret: Many of them are going broke.

This quiet reality, which is spreading nationwide, is claiming a wide range of casualties, including family physicians, cardiologists and oncologists.

Industry watchers say the trend is worrisome. Half of all doctors in the nation operate a private practice. So if a cash crunch forces the death of an independent practice, it robs a community of a vital health care resource.

“A lot of independent practices are starting to see serious financial issues,” said Marc Lion, CEO of Lion & Company CPAs, LLC, which advises independent doctor practices about their finances.

Doctors list shrinking insurance reimbursements, changing regulations, rising business and drug costs among the factors preventing them from keeping their practices afloat. But some experts counter that doctors’ lack of business acumen is also to blame.