“General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) and Clean Energy Fuels Corp. (NASDAQ: CLNE) have announced a collaboration to expand the infrastructure for natural gas transportation. As it turns out, the agreement was signed on November 7 as part of a credit agreement for Clean Energy to borrow up to $200 million to finance the development, construction and operation of two liquefied natural gas production facilities with an expected production capacity of approximately 250,000 LNG gallons per day at each facility.”

Full article

“The European Union is closer to settling how to apply Basel bank capital rules to its lenders after officials and lawmakers drafted potential compromises on parts of the regulatory overhaul.

Officials and lawmakers said a deal on the legislation was in sight following negotiations in Brussels. The measures, known as Basel III, would more than triple the core capital that lenders must hold as a buffer against insolvency, and require banks to meet minimum liquidity rules. The European Parliament has called for curbs on banker bonuses, too.

There “was a good atmosphere and a political willingness to solve the problems,” said Othmar Karas, the EU Parliament lawmaker leading the work on the draft rules. “I think we’ve done a good job today.”

Full article

“Best Buy Co. (BBY) is hiring Sharon McCollam, the former chief financial officer of Williams-Sonoma Inc. (WSM), as its CFO, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The appointment of McCollam will be disclosed publicly today, the person, who asked not to be named as the announcement isn’t public, said yesterday. McCollam retired from home-goods retailer Williams-Sonoma in March. The Wall Street Journal reported the appointment yesterday.

The electronics chain is revamping operations under new Chief Executive Officer Hubert Joly, who is accelerating the introduction of smaller stores and closing big-box locations. Joly plans to discuss his strategy with analysts at a meeting in New York on Nov. 13.”

Full article

You are awakened every morning at 6:00 sharp.

No rolling over and catching a few extra minutes of sleep. The lights are on, bright and unrelenting, and you can’t turn them off.

You could use the extra sleep, though, because you never — ever — get a good eight hours. Every night, without fail, you are awakened at midnight, 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. Every single night.

But there is no time to dwell on that this morning, or any morning.

You have exactly 90 minutes to shower, get dressed, make your bed — no, you can’t let that go for today, or any day for that matter — get some breakfast and get to your job, where the most you will ever hope to make is $1.15 an hour.

Welcome to life at the Federal Correctional Institution at Sandstone, the low-security federal prison in Northern Minnesota where Marc Dreier is serving a 20-year sentence for conspiracy, fraud and money laundering.

Read here:

Investment vehicles  is the new game for scams according to the SEC.

Full article

“HCA Holdings Inc. (HCA) and other hospitals will get more paying customers while insurers likeUnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) will see profits squeezed as U.S. President Barack Obamamoves to preserve the health-care overhaul he championed.

Obama’s re-election rallied shares of HCA Holdings Inc., the largest for-profit hospital company, by 9.2 percent at 12:17 p.m. while Community Health Systems Inc. (CYH) and Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) also gained on prospects for millions of newly insured patients being added to their admission rolls. UnitedHealth, the largest U.S. medical insurer, fell 4.6 percent, and WellPoint Inc. (WLP) and Humana Inc. (HUM) declined as the industry faces profit limits and new taxes to help pay for the coverage expansion.”

Full article

Rumored damages awarded is $368 million.

In a move by China to satisfy its voracious energy appetite Sinopec has applied to build a coal to gasoline carbon capture plant in a tiny town in Wyoming…

Full article

In Play ,

On the Wires 

OUCH !

“TOKYO (Reuters) – Sony Corp said it will cut staff in its headquarters by a fifth and shutter a factory making camera lenses and mobile phones in Japan, providing new details of a previously announced plan to trim its global headcount by 10,000 by end-March.

In addition to 1,800 at a chemical business it sold to a state-run bank in Japan, Sony will let go roughly another 2,000 people from its head office and plant in Gifu, central Japan, Sony said in a statement on Friday.

Around another 2,000 workers will be trimmed in Europe, half at a joint mobile phone venture with Ericsson it recently ended. The remaining job losses will be at other factories around the world, the company said.

The maker of PlayStation and Bravia TVs expects the job cuts to save about 30 billion yen ($378.6 million) a year, funds the company needs as it struggles to stem losses in televisions and other consumer electronics operations.”

Read more

In Play ,

On the Wires 

This is nuts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciGRzcg6NzA

While Obama’s connection to his Muslim family in Kenya is an acceptable topic for discussion in the Arab world, it is viewed as a ‘great taboo’ in the United States.

Why is that so? This ‘taboo’ should be considered unfair at best, purely prejudiced at worst. Is it fair that we censor such discussions just because Obama’s relatives are ‘Muslim’?

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) should condemn the media for keeping a tight lid on the subject. Isn’t it time to go beyond what is disclosed by President Obama in his Dreams from My Father or Wikipedia’s limited information, which includes the only photo released by the Obama family?
We will cover only three of the closest Kenyan relatives to president Obama:

1. Sarah, Barack’s beloved and benevolent grandmother
2. Sayid Obama, his closest favorite uncle
3. Musa Ismail Obama, his first cousin and Sayid’s main sidekick.

After President Obama was inaugurated, the Muslim side of the Obama family in Kenya boomed; it went from rags to riches overnight. They became one of the most influential families in western Kenya and even extended their sphere of influence to Saudi Arabia. When Sarah, president Obama’s grandmother (step-grandmother), decided to go to the Hajj, an obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca with Musa, president Obama’s first cousin, they were welcomed with open arms and were provided a special escort with full security detail and first-class treatment at the Saudi royal court:

His Royal Highness Prince Mamdouh bin Abdul Aziz accompanied the family of U.S. President Barack Obama in his palace in Jeddah after the performance of the Hajj this year. The event was attended by His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Thamer bin Abdul Aziz, and His Royal Highness Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Mamdouh Bin Abdul Aziz, and his HRH Prince Abdullah bin Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, and a number of other princes and officials.

The reason for such treatment—as explained in an exclusive interview with Musa Ismail Obama on Al-Jazeera—is that a close relationship was built with Saudi royals. Like president Obama’s call for education in the United States, the Kenyan Obamas embarked on a similar project.

Full Article

A recommendation of mine a while back that helped me bank some serious coin. Looks like this company is doing better than i thought for the long term investment. After a recent earnings stumble the stock is back to the levels where i first found interest. I’ll be buying over time and not price for another moon shot down the road.

Full article 

Apple Inc. is anticipating a smash hit with the iPad mini. They have ordered 10mn units from suppliers according to sources.

Full article  

“A Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) unit was accused in a lawsuit by a U.S. credit union regulator of selling faulty mortgage-backed securities to three credit unions, causing them to collapse.

Credit Suisse Securities misrepresented the securities’ risks, leading the credit unions to believe there was little chance of losing money when they bought $715 million worth of them, the National Credit Union Administration said in a complaint filed yesterday in federal court in Kansas City, Kansas.”

Full article

“The boards of Deutsche Telekom AG and MetroPCS Communications Inc. have approved a deal to merge MetroPCS with the German operator’s U.S. subsidiary, T-Mobile USA, people familiar with the matter said Wednesday, a deal that would give the fourth-largest U.S. wireless carrier more scale as it tries to compete with the industry’s leaders.”

Source