Global Articles on what is going on...posted daily

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London, Toronto exchanges announce merger
London Stock Exchange, Canada's TMX Group announce merger


LONDON (AP) -- The London Stock Exchange and TMX Group, which operates the Toronto Stock Exchange, are merging.

The LSE and TMX on Wednesday said they would combine in an all-share merger of equals, creating one of the world's largest stock exchanges.

Both exchanges are heavily weighted with mining stocks and a combination would create the world's biggest exchange for mining and energy stocks.

The companies said they expect to realize annual savings of 35 million pounds ($56 million) by the second year of the merger.



finance.yahoo.com/news/London-Toronto-exchanges-apf-2231801405.html?x=0

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NYSE, Deutsche Boerse in advanced merger talks

On Wednesday February 9, 2011, 12:19 pm EST
By Jonathan Spicer and Edward Taylor

NEW YORK/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany's Deutsche Boerse is in advanced talks to buy NYSE Euronext, and the London Stock Exchange has agreed to buy Canadian stock market operator TMX, as exchanges globally look for ways to boost their markets and cut costs.

Together, Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext would dominate exchange trading in continental Europe. The companies said they could cut costs by 300 million euros ($408.7 million) a year.

The combined group would have headquarters in New York and Frankfurt, with Deutsche Boerse shareholders holding about 60 percent of the combined company and NYSE shareholders holding the rest. The companies disclosed their talks on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, LSE said it would buy TMX, forming the world's fourth-largest exchange and a top center for trading mining and energy shares, with $4.1 trillion of stock changing hands a year. The exchanges are looking to regain market share lost to upstart electronic trading platforms.

Other exchanges could face similar pressure to merge, analysts said.

"These mergers don't take place on a one-off basis; they come in clusters," said Thomas Caldwell, chief executive of Caldwell Securities Ltd in Toronto, which invests in exchanges.

One exchange seen as a possible acquisition target is CBOE Holdings Inc, experts said. Options exchanges have been growing fast, while stock market trading volume has been moving away from traditional exchanges and toward electronic trading venues like privately held BATS Global Markets. CBOE shares rose 9.6 percent to $26.88.

"The next logical step would be for the Nasdaq or CME Group or even the ICE to take out CBOE Holdings Inc," said Jon Najarian, a co-founder of web information site Optionmonster.com in Chicago.

LSE shares rose 9 percent after the TMX deal was announced, which is unusual; acquirers' share prices often fall. The rising price signals LSE could be getting a good deal, which in turn could mean another buyer might offer a higher price for TMX.

But some bankers dismissed such speculation.

"You would need to put a cash bid on the table and a premium, which might require cuts at TMX, and the Canadian regulators would not like that one bit," one banker said.

If the combination survives likely political opposition in Canada, a group will emerge with a market value of 4.3 billion pounds ($6.9 billion) based on Tuesday's prices, with LSE shareholders holding 55 percent.

(Writing by Douwe Miedema and Dan Wilchins; additional reporting by Victoria Howley and Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Andrew Callus, David Cowell, John Wallace)



finance.yahoo.com/news/D-Boerse-in-talks-with-NYSE-rb-2009243962.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=

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Chinese hackers infiltrated five energy firms: McAfee

By Diane Bartz Diane Bartz – 9 mins ago
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Hackers working in China broke into the computer systems of five multinational oil and gas companies to steal bidding plans and other critical proprietary information, the computer security firm McAfee Inc said in a report.

The report, which named the attacks Night Dragon, declined to identify the five known companies that had been hacked and said that another seven or so had also been broken into but could not be identified.

"It ... speaks to quite a sad state of our critical infrastructure security. These were not sophisticated attacks ... yet they were very successful in achieving their goals," said Dmitri Alperovitch, McAfee's vice president for threat research.

The three largest U.S.-based oil companies, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips, all declined to comment on whether they had been targeted, citing policies not to speak about their security measures.

The attacks are the latest computer-based invasions directed at western companies, and come a year after Internet giant Google and more than 100 companies were targeted by hackers that were traced to China.

Stock market owner NASDAQ OMX reported over the weekend that hackers appeared to have breached its systems, and new legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate that would strengthen cyber security.

In the attacks against the oil companies, the hackers got into the computers either through their public websites or through infected emails sent to company executives.

During the last two years -- and up to four years -- the hackers had access to the computer networks, focusing on financial documents related to oil and gas field exploration and bidding contracts, said Alperovitch.

They also copied proprietary industrial processes.

"That information is tremendously sensitive and would be worth a huge amount of money to competitors," said Alperovitch.

The hack was traced back to China via a server leasing company in Shandong Province that hosted the malware, another term for malicious software, and to Beijing IP addresses that were active from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Beijing time (0100-0900 GMT).

McAfee's report did not identify who was behind the hacking.

"We have no evidence that this is government sponsored in any way," said Alperovitch.

McAfee provided the data to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which did not respond to requests for comment.

"This is normal business practice in China. It's not always state sponsored. And they do it to each other," said Jim Lewis, a cyber expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.

Asked if Beijing normally agreed to arrest hackers, Lewis responded: "It's not impossible, but it hasn't happened very often."

The Chinese government often says their country is also a victim of hacking. But Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters at a regular press briefing on Thursday in Beijing that he was unaware of this case.

"I really have no grasp of this situation, but we frequently hear about these types of reports," Ma said.

Western governments and companies have long been concerned about corporate espionage based in China.

"We are aware of these types of threats, but we can't comment specifically about what's in the Night Dragon report," said FBI spokeswoman Jenny Shearer.

Washington believes that hacking attacks on Google Inc that briefly prompted the company to pull out of China were orchestrated by two members of the country's ruling body, according to U.S. diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks.

The French government is looking into a possible Chinese role in spying on carmaker Renault SA's and Nissan's electric vehicle program.

In 2007, a Chinese student working at car parts maker Valeo was sentenced to prison for obtaining confidential documents from the automaker. A French tribunal stopped short of an industrial espionage verdict, instead finding that she had "abused trust."

(Additional reporting by Michael Martina in Beijing and Matt Daily in New York; Editing by Andre Grenon, Yoko Nishikawa and Bernard Orr)

news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_energy_cyber_china

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Does the NYSE Symbolize America's Role in Global Finance?


Todd Harrison, On Thursday February 10, 2011, 12:00 pm EST

Guten Morgen, und wieder zum Flimmern Pack begrüßen zu dürfen.


Er, sorry. I mean, good morning, and welcome back to the flickering pack. I've got German on the brain today given the persistent headlines regarding the seemingly imminent marriage between Deutsche Boerse and the venerable NYSE (NYX). While this alliance is intuitive -- trading is a global dynamic and these institutions are technology companies as much as exchanges -- you can't help read between the lines.


The United States' role in world economic growth is very much akin to New York City as the world's financial center. It's every bit consistent with the "outside-in" recovery we've spoken about for many years, absent the "medicine," which looms large on the other side of the drugs. I once offered that our leaders -- political, business, or otherwise -- would need to demonstrate "humility over hubris" following the financial crisis for America to compete on a competitive world stage.


This, in my view, would be a good thing; a necessary step, if you will, begrudging or not. The trick to this trade will be psychology that manifests via the regulation that surrounds such a merger. Minyans will remember when China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CEO) made an $18.5 billion all-cash offer to buy Unocal Corp in 2005, and the pushback was palpable.


While that was China and this is Germany, the parallel warrants a mention as we monitor the mainstream social mood.


The Path vs. The Destination


The tape opened lower this morning after yesterday's late-day here-we-go-again Snapper. While some are pointing to the 12% drop in Cisco (CSCO) as the catalyst, I would argue that the four former horsemen (CSCO, Intel (INTC), Dell (DELL), Microsoft (MSFT)) stopped mattering long ago -- the leaders coming out of a crisis are rarely the same as those who enter.


That was true for the tech bubble, and it will be true for the current financial crisis. I know that tense seems strange given the recent rally, but we've got some navigating to do as we digest the unintended consequences of force-fed inflation and the cumulative bar tab that awaits. Remember, in a leveraged world, every action has more than an equal and opposite reaction.


Our stair-step assimilation continues as we collectively find our way, with S&P 1300 serving as initial support, and the banks (note Deutsche Bank (DB) and Barclay's (BCS)), tech (for reaction to Cisco), breadth, and commodities serving as real-time tells.


Good luck today Minyans, and be the ball.


R.P.


Nothing contained in this article is intended as a solicitation for business of any kind or for investment in the firm


finance.yahoo.com/news/Does-the-NYSE-Symbolize-minyanville-705217418.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=6&asset=&ccode=

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Treasury "intensely focused" on China's yuan


Thursday February 10, 2011, 2:04 pm
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury will remain "intensely focused" on correcting China's substantially undervalued yuan despite a decision not to name Beijing a currency manipulator, a senior Treasury official said on Thursday.

"We've made progress on the currency issue but that does not mean we are satisfied," Lael Brainard, the Treasury's Undersecretary for International Affairs, said in prepared remarks to the U.S.-China Business Council.

The Treasury last week in a long-delayed report declined to say that China manipulates its currency for trade advantage, citing a 3.7 percent rise in the yuan against the dollar since June and an even bigger change in the "real bilateral exchange rate", which is adjusted for higher inflation in China.

Brainard said that based on these adjustments and Chinese President Hu Jintao's commitments on intellectual property, government procurement and boosting domestic demand, the Treasury concluded that China did not meet the legal standard for currency manipulation.

"We will remain intensely focused on this issue to ensure accelerated progress to address the remaining substantial undervaluation of the RMB," Brainard said, referring to the yuan's other name, the renminbi.

She said the United States was also focused on China's priorities, which include access to high-technology U.S. products and greater investment opportunities in the United States and to be accorded the same access that market economies enjoy.

"We are wiling to make progress on these issues, but our ability to move on these issues will depend on how much progress we see from China," Brainard said.


finance.yahoo.com/news/Treasury-intensely-focused-on-rb-2556195204.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=4&asset=&ccode=

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Ron Paul Doesn't Want to Violently Overthrow the Fed, He Just Wants to See it Go Away
Posted Feb 10, 2011 12:03pm EST by Daniel Gross

Breaking: The New Chairman of the House Financial Services on Domestic Monetary Policy & Technology doesn’t really believe in monetary policy!

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), a principled libertarian who ran for President in 2008, held the gavel on his first Subcommittee hearings on Wednesday. He spoke to me and Aaron Task from the House, in the accompanying video, and in this Tech Ticker segment. Paul criticized Bernanke’s current policies of quantitative easing and stewardship of the Fed. “He’s supposed to give us full employment and stable prices, and we have neither.” (Like many of those questioning Bernanke yesterday, Paul seemed to be armed with super-secret inflation detectors that can sniff out rising price levels where the CPI doesn’t. Yes, commodity and food prices are rising. But prices of other things that consumers and businesses spend a lot of money on -- like labor and housing – have been flat or falling)

But he issue Paul has with Bernanke – or any Federal Reserve chairman – is more philosophical. Paul simply doesn’t think the Fed should be in the business of setting interest rates or regulating the supply of money in the economy. “It’s a banking monopoly, and they want to do central economic planning by rigging interest rates and what the money supply should be,” he said.
Paul says the Central Bank has nothing to fear from his Subcommittee -- “ I’m not calling for the violent overthrow of the federal reserve system.” Rather, he wants to use information and competition to bring the Fed to heel. “All I’m really wanting to do is expose them to what they’ve really been doing and have a real discussion on monetary policy,” he said. “The real reform that I want is competition.”

People who do business around the world have a choice of currencies they keep and accept – the yen, the euro, the dollar, the Swiss franc. But in the U.S., Americans can’t use what Paul believes to be the optimal currency: gold. “If you start using gold and silver coins as legal tender, you go to jail.”

Paul and other adherents of the gold standard believe that guaranteeing the convertibility of gold into dollars at a fixed price acts as a bulwark against inflation and the accumulation of excessive debt. When governments and the private sector take on a lot of fixed-rate debt, they find that inflation has the effect of lowering the burden of their liabilities. That mentality, Paul says, has led the Fed to debase the currency. “If you look at the dollar of 1913 [when the Fed came into being], now it is worth two cents on the dollar,” he said. And there’s the threat more devaluation to come. “ If you like paper money, and you want paper money and want to take care of your kids in 30 years, put your money in treasury bills, earn no interest at all and see what that will purchase for you in 30 years.”

Of course, adhering to the gold standard and limiting the money supply can prove to be an inflexible and counterproductive policy, especially in times of crisis. During the Great Depression, when the U.S. left the gold standard, developed countries that stuck to gold longer recovered more slowly. And if the Fed hadn’t been empowered to inject huge sums of cash into the financial system in the fall of 2008, a complete collapse would likely have ensued.

Without conceding the point, Paul counters that the gold standard and hard money policies function as better preventative measure. "It isn’t so much that the gold standard can automatically correct all the mistakes,” he says. “The gold standard keeps you out of trouble.” Much of the grilling Bernanke received yesterday on Capitol Hill was partisan in nature. When President Bush was in office, Democrats routinely charged that Federal Reserve Chairman appointed by Bush was tailoring policy to suit the elector and political needs of the White House. With President Obama in office, Republicans are now giving grief to Bernanke, who was reappointed by Obama, for doing the same.

But Paul’s critique of the Fed is more consistent. He routinely calls out Democrats and Republicans, and Fed chairman appointed by both parties. “There’s a collation here: the big government conservatives get together with the big government liberals, and they spend, spend, spend, and deficits run up. The Fed cries and screams, but then it keeps the interest rates low.” Paul doesn’t give much credence to Bernanke’s repeated calls for Congress to address the nation’s budget deficits. ”All he needs to do is quit buying treasury bills and the interest rates will go up and the Congress will quit spending.”

These are unorthodox views. Essentially, he’s saying that what the economy needs right now, with 9 percent unemployment, the housing market in a shambles and demand that is growing but still fragile, is sharply higher interest rates. At his first Subcommittee meeting, as Dana Milbank noted in the Washington Post, Paul called witnesses who have some highly unorthodox views – on monetary policy and Abraham Lincoln.

So here’s the uncomfortable Federal Reserve officials are facing for the next few years. The Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Monetary Policy doesn’t really believe the U.S. should be in the business of having much of a monetary policy. It’s a little like having a confirmed teetotaler overseeing the liquor licensing board. But of course, the metaphor of alcohol and central banking is an apt one – the Fed provides the punch bowl, the fuel for a big party that ends up out of control. And to a large degree, the Fed is getting what it deserves. If Bernanke and his predecessors had done a better job stopping the economy from blowing bubbles and binging on debt and cheap money, fewer people would questioning their methods




finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/ron-paul-doesn't-want-to-violently-overthrow-the-fed-he-just-wants-to-see-it-go-away-535916.html?tickers=gld,gdx,slv,%5Edji,%5Egspc&sec=topStories&pos=8&asset=&ccode=

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Warsh says he will leave Fed at the end of March
Fed's Warsh will leave at the end of March, played key role during the financial crisis


February 10, 2011, 12:23 pm EST
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve board member Kevin Warsh, who helped engineer the central bank's strategy during the financial crisis, will step down near the end of March.

Warsh has served at the Fed since 2006. President George W. Bush tapped him for the post when he was 35 years old, making him the youngest person to serve on the Fed's seven-member board.

Warsh has voted largely with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. Warsh supported the Fed's $600 billion bond-buying program despite reservations about how much it would help the economy and concerns that it could spur inflation.

His departure will create a second vacancy on the board, allowing president Barack Obama to enlarge his imprint.

Obama has appointed four of the board's seven members. The president has re-nominated Nobel Prize-winning economist Peter Diamond to fill the existing vacancy but Senate Republicans have blocked his confirmation.

Before joining the Fed, Warsh was a special assistant for economic policy to President Bush. Before that, he was an executive at Morgan Stanley & Co., in the mergers and acquisitions department.

His background on Wall Street and his knowledge of Washington were critical when the 2008 financial crisis hit. Warsh worked closely with Bernanke to formulate the Fed's response, which including new programs to make lending flow more normally again.

Warsh also helped arrange JPMorgan's takeover of failing investment firm Bear Stearns and the government's bailout of insurance giant American International Group, both in 2008. He was involved in negotiations over Lehman Brothers, whose failure caused a panic on Wall Street and financial markets around the globe. Fallout from the company's failure caused credit to virtually dry up and pushed the country deeper into recession.

"He worked energetically and effectively behind the scenes overseeing the operations of the board and the Federal Reserve System," Bernanke said. "I deeply appreciate his insights and wise counsel and, most especially, his fortitude and friendship during the difficult days, nights and weekends of the crisis."

Warsh submitted his resignation to Obama on Thursday.

"I am honored to have served at a time of great consequence," Warsh wrote the president.

Obama will be in charge of nominating Warsh's replacement, which requires Senate confirmation.

The president will need some Republican support for his pick, and he's likely to choose a candidate with a Wall Street background, to fill the void left by Warsh.

Obama ran into initial resistance in his effort to get Bernanke, a Republican, confirmed for a second term as chairman in late 2009. Republicans led the opposition, upset over the Fed's role in bailing out Wall Street firms during the financial crisis. In January 2010, the Senate confirmed Bernanke for a second term, though by the narrowest margin for any Fed chairman.

finance.yahoo.com/news/Warsh-says-he-will-leave-Fed-apf-2395573750.html?x=0

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Mubarak assets frozen by Swiss government

February 11, 2011: 1:44 PM ET


NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Switzerland's government moved Friday to freeze any assets in the country's banks that might belong to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak or his family, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said Friday.

Mubarak ended his 30-year reign Friday, stepping down following 18 days of protests against his rule.

An official statement from the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs said the Swiss cabinet had frozen all funds belong to Mubarak or "his circles."

"The [government] intends in doing so to avoid any risk of embezzlement of Egyptian state property," the statement read. "At the same time, the cabinet calls on responsible authorities in Egypt to comply with the justified demands of the Egyptian people in a quick, credible, participatory and transparent manner."

The government does not know what assets, if any, the banks have, said Norbert Baerlocher, a spokesman for the Swiss embassy in Washington.

It is widely believed that Mubarak and his family are extremely wealthy, but estimates as to his total net worth vary widely and haven't been confirmed.

On Tuesday, the Swiss finance minister had asked the banks to see what Mubarak assets they were holding. The banks do not yet have a "clear picture" of what is held, the spokesman said.

This is normal procedure when the Swiss government believes there might be assets of a foreign leader who is "politically exposed," Baerlocher said.

The Swiss banking system is known for its secrecy. But in recent years, the banks have made concessions in the interest of providing more transparency.

money.cnn.com/2011/02/11/news/international/swiss_banks_mubarak/

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Democracy protests bring down Egypt's Mubarak

Reuters/Emilio Morenatti

News – Crisis in Cairo: President Mubarak Steps Down
Slideshow:Anti-government protests in Egypt Play Video Video:First Person: On ground in Cairo, change begins AP Play Video Video:Fireworks in Tahrir Square Reuters AP – Egyptians celebrate the news of the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, who handed control of the … By PAUL SCHEMM and MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press Paul Schemm And Maggie Michael, Associated Press – 2 mins ago
CAIRO – Fireworks burst over Tahrir Square and Egypt exploded with joy and tears of relief after pro-democracy protesters brought down President Hosni Mubarak with a momentous march on his palaces and state TV. Mubarak, who until the end seemed unable to grasp the depth of resentment over his three decades of authoritarian rule, finally resigned Friday and handed power to the military.

"The people ousted the regime," rang out chants from crowds of hundreds of thousands massed in Cairo's central Tahrir, or Liberation, Square and outside Mubarak's main palace several miles away in a northern district of the capital.

The crowds in Cairo, the Mediterranean city of Alexandria and other cities around the country erupted into a pandemonium of cheers and waving flags. They danced, hugged and raised their hands in prayer after Vice President Omar Suleiman made the announcement on national TV just after nightfall. Some fell to kiss the ground, and others chanted, "Goodbye, goodbye" and "put your heads up high, you're Egyptian."

"Finally we are free," said Safwan Abou Stat, a 60-year-old protester. "From now on anyone who is going to rule will know that these people are great."

The success of the biggest popular uprising ever seen in the Arab world had stunning implications for the region, the United States and the West, and Israel.

Mubarak was the symbol of the implicit decades-old deal the United States made in the Middle East: Support for autocratic leaders in return for their guarantee of stability, a bulwark against Islamic militants and peace — or at least an effort at peace — with Israel.

The United States at times seemed overwhelmed throughout the 18 days of upheaval, fumbling to juggle its advocacy of democracy and the right to protest, its loyalty to longtime ally Mubarak and its fears Muslim fundamentalists could gain a foothold. Those issues will only grow in significance as Egypt takes the next steps towards what the protest movement hopes will be a true democracy — in which the Muslim Brotherhood will likely to be a significant political player.

Neighboring Israel watched with the crisis with unease, worried that their 1979 peace treaty could be in danger. It quickly demanded on Friday that post-Mubarak Egypt continue to adhere to it. Any break seems unlikely in the near term: The military leadership supports the treaty. While anti-Israeli feeling is strong among Egyptians and future ties may be strained, few call for outright abrogating a treaty that has kept peace after three wars in the past half-century.

Click image to see photos of protests, clashes in Egypt


Reuters/Dylan Martinez
From the oil-rich Gulf states in the east to Morocco in the west, regimes both pro- and anti-U.S. could not help but worry they could see a similar upheaval. Several of the region's authoritarian rulers have made pre-emptive gestures of democratic reform to avert their own protest movements.

The lesson many took: If it could happen in only three weeks in Egypt, where Mubarak's lock on power had appeared unshakable, it could happen anywhere. Only a month earlier, Tunisia's president was forced to step down in the face of protests.

Perhaps more surprising was the genesis of the force that overthrew Mubarak. The protests were started by a small core of secular, liberal youth activists organizing on the Internet who only a few months earlier struggled to gather more than 100 demonstrators at a time. But their work through Facebook and other social network sites over the past few years built a greater awareness and bitterness among Egyptians over issues like police abuse and corruption.

When the called the first major protest, on Jan. 25, they tapped into a public inspired by Tunisia's revolt and thousands turned out, beyond even the organizers' expectations. From there, protests swelled, drawing hundreds of thousands. The Muslim Brotherhood — Egypt's powerful Islamic fundamentalist movement — joined in. But far from U.S. fears the Brotherhood could co-opt the protests, the movement often seemed to co-opt the Brotherhood, forcing it to set aside its hard-line ideology at least for now to adhere to democratic demands.

Mubarak, a former air force commander came to power after the 1981 assassination of his predecessor Anwar Sadat by Islamic radicals. Throughout his rule, he showed a near obsession with stability, using rigged elections and a hated police force accused of widespread torture to ensure his control.

He resisted calls for reform even as public bitterness grew over corruption, deteriorating infrastructure and rampant poverty in a country where 40 percent live below or near the poverty line.

Up to the last hours, Mubarak sought to cling to power, handing some of his authorities to Suleiman while keeping his title.

But an explosion of protests Friday rejecting the move appeared to have pushed the military into forcing him out completely. Hundreds of thousands marched throughout the day in cities across the country as soldiers stood by, besieging his palaces in Cairo and Alexandria and the state TV building. A governor of a southern province was forced to flee to safety in the face of protests there.

Mubarak himself flew to his isolated palace in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, 250 miles from the turmoil in Cairo.

His fall came 32 years to the day after the collapse of the shah's government in Iran.

Vice President Suleiman — who appears to have lost his post as well in the military takeover — appeared grim as he delivered the short announcement.

"In these grave circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave his position as president of the republic," he said. "He has mandated the Armed Forces Supreme Council to run the state. God is our protector and succor."

Nobel Peace laureate Mohammed ElBaradei, whose young supporters were among the organizers of the protest movement, told The Associated Press, "This is the greatest day of my life."

"The country has been liberated after decades of repression," he said adding that he expects a "beautiful" transition of power.

The question now turned to what happens next after effectively a military coup, albeit one prompted by overwhelming popular pressure. Protesters on Friday had overtly pleaded for the army to oust Mubarak. The country is now ruled by the Armed Forces Supreme Council, the military's top body consisting of its highest ranking generals and headed by Defense Minister Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi.

After Mubarak's resignation, a military spokesman appeared on state TV and promised the army would not act as a substitute for a government based on the "legitimacy of the people."

He said the military was preparing the next steps needed "to acheive the ambitions of our great nation" and would announce them soon. He praised Mubarak for his contributions ot the country, then expressed the military's condolences for protesters killed in the unrest, standing at attention to give a salute.

Earlier in the day, the council vowed to guide the country to greater democracy. It said was committed "to shepherding the legitimate demands of the people and endeavoring to their implementation within a defined timetable until a peaceful transition to a democratic society aspired to by the people."

Abdel-Rahman Samir, one of the protest organizers, said the movement would now open negotiations with the military over democratic reforms but vowed protests would continue to ensure change is carried out.

"We still don't have any guarantees yet — if we end the whole situation now the it's like we haven't done anything," he said. "So we need to keep sitting in Tahrir until we get all our demands."

But, he added, "I feel fantastic. .... I feel like we have worked so hard, we planted a seed for a year and a half and now we are now finally sowing the fruits."

Sally Toma, another of the organizers, said she did not expect the military would try to clear the square. "We still have to sit and talk. We have to hear the army first," she said.

For the moment, concerns over the next step were overwhelmed by the wave of joy and disbelief.

Outside the Oruba presidential palace in northern Cairo, where tens of thousands had marched during the day, one man sprawled on the grass, saying he couldn't believe it. Protesters began to form a march toward Tahrir in a sea of Egyptian flags.

Thousands from across the capital of 18 million streamed into Tahrir, where protesters hugged, kissed and wept. Whole families took pictures of each other posing with Egyptian flags with their mobile phones as bridges over the Nile jammed with throngs more flowing into the square.

Abdul-Rahman Ayyash, an online activist born eight years after Mubarak came to office, said he would be celebrating all night, then remain in the square to ensure the military "won't steal the revolution."

"I'm 21 years old," he said. "This is the first time in my life I feel free."

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110211/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt

[sandi66]

Obama Hails Mubarak's Resignation: 'Egypt Will Never Be the Same'

Military Takes Over Country's Leadership, Crowds Celebrate Late into the Night

By CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, TERRY MORAN, NASSER ATTA and HUMA KHAN

CAIRO, Feb. 11,2011

President Obama hailed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's abrupt decision earlier today to step down, ending his 30-year-reign, as Egyptian armed forces took control of the country's leadership.

"The people of Egypt have spoken. Their voices have been heard and Egypt will never be the same," the president said. "By stepping down, President Mubarak responded to the Egyptian people's hunger for change, but this is not the end of Egypt's transition. It's the beginning."

Obama praised the protesters and their peaceful demonstrations that have rocked the country for the past 18 days.

"Over the last few weeks, the wheel of history turned at a blinding pace," he said.

The president called on Egypt's new leadership to lift the controversial emergency law that has been in place almost continuously since 1967 and gives the government far-reaching powers at the expense of judicial review and civil liberties. He also urged a peaceful and constructive transition to free and fair elections.

Egyptians celebrated late into the night. People streamed into Cairo's Tahrir Square dancing, honking car horns and waving flags. Fireworks were shot off in the square that has become the heart of the uprising.

As Mubarak's long-awaited announcement was made earlier byVice President Omar Suleiman, crowds erupted into loud cheers, chanting "Egypt is free, Egypt is free."

Watch a special, one-hour edition of "Nightline: Revolution Day," anchored by Terry Moran live from Cairo, at 11:35 p.m. ET.

"My fellow citizens. In this difficult time that the country is going through, President Mohamed Hosni Mubarak has decided to relieve himself of his position as president and the Supreme Military Council has taken control of the state's affairs. May God protect us," Suleiman said in a somber one-minute announcement.

The military's spokesman also went on state television to thank Mubarak for his service and said it is reviewing the situation. Saluting those who have died in the nearly three weeks of protests, the military hailed the "martyrs" and said the army will guarantee that the demands of the Egyptian people be met.

He reiterated that the army is not a substitute for the legitimacy the people want and that the military will announce concrete steps soon.

Mubarak's 30 Year Rule Is Over
Mubarak, who ruled for 30 years, is the second Arab leader forced to quit by a remarkable populist and largely peaceful uprising. Last month, Tunisia's president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali resigned and left the country in the face of massive street protests against his regime.

Egypt's high military council, which has taken over the country, is headed by Defense Minister Mohammed Hussein Tantawi. He was made deputy prime minister just two weeks ago in an effort to appease protesters, and visited Tahrir Square during the demonstrations.

"Welcome back Egypt," tweeted Google executive Wael Ghonim, who became the face of protests since he was detained by security forces last month.

Men, women and children -- many with tears in their eyes -- flooded Cairo's streets as the atmosphere turned from one of determination to pure ecstasy.

"The Egyptian people won," a thrilled Amr Hamadi said.

Hamadi, a 32-year-old factory worker who was celebrating with other protesters near the presidential palace, said, "Egypt will be in 10 years one of the best countries in the world."

"This is the greatest day of my life," Nobel Laureate and opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei said. "The country has been liberated."

The news has significant implications for the world and the United States. Egypt is one of the United States' closest allies in the region, a key economic partner and only one of two Arab states that recognize Israel.

Though the White House has distanced itself from Mubarak's administration over recent weeks, Mubarak was a close U.S. partner, helping broker peace deals between Israel and Palestine and supporting the U.S. in its wars against Iraq.

Mubarak's resignation was celebrated all over the Arab world.

In Gaza City, hundreds came out onto the streets firing weapons in the air in celebration. Fireworks erupted in Beirut as Mubarak's resignation was announced and people driving by the Egyptian embassy in Amman, Jordan, honked in celebration.

Mubarak Leaves Presidential Palace for Sharm el-Sheikh
Mubarak, 82, left the presidential palace in Cairo earlier today as the pressure to resign mounted.

Sources told ABC News that Mubarak had gone to an estate he owns in Sharm el-Sheikh, a resort town on the Red Sea about 250 miles from the protests in Cairo. Mubarak told ABC News last week he may eventually retire to the resort town, but vowed never to leave Egypt.

In a sign that the regime was crumbling, Hossam Badrawi -- who was appointed head of the ruling party just days ago -- resigned from his post this morning. Badrawi was widely cited by news outlets on Thursday as saying that Mubarak would step down.

The military also announced on state television that the regime's much hated emergency law will be lifted, but only when the security situation allows. The army also encouraged protesters to leave the streets and return to their homes.

But demonstrators were defiant, filling Tahrir Square again to demand Mubarak's ouster. Thousands more marched toward the state television building, a prime new target for today's protests.

Others converged on the presidential palace, blocking roads leading up to the president's residence. The mood was largely peaceful and celebratory, yet determined, as soldiers and protesters cheered and waved at each other.

Similar scenes played out in the port cities of Alexandria and Mansoura.

Mubarak Was Close U.S. Ally
The historic event in Egypt coincides with the 32nd anniversary of the Iranian Revolution which ended the long reign of the Shah. But experts say the two countries differ vastly and the many don't believe the Iranian experience will be relived in Egypt.

Today's celebrations were in sharp contrast to sullen anger that took over the protesters on Thursday night when Mubarak addressed the country, but stated that he would not step aside. Instead of accepting his announcement, protesters renewed their demonstrations today and the president was soon gone.

ABC News' Jake Tapper, Brian Hartman and Jim Sciutto contributed to this report.

abcnews.go.com/International/obama-hails-hosni-mubaraks-resignation-egypt/story?id=12891572&page=1

[sandi66]

Former Ambassador Djerejian Interview on Egypt, Mubarak

Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Edward Djerejian, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Syria, talks about the legacy of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the outlook for a transition of power in the nation and the political landscape of the Middle East. Mubarak resigned his position as president after more than two weeks of protests in the streets of Egypt. He handed over power to the military while a transitional structure is established. Djerejian speaks with Mark Crumpton on Bloomberg Television's "Bottom Line."

www.bloomberg.com/video/66674324/

[travelbugaz]

State TV: Arrest warrant for Pakistan's Musharraf

ISLAMABAD – An anti-terrorism court judge issued an arrest warrant Saturday for former Pakistani military ruler Pervez Musharraf in connection with the 2007 assassination of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto, state-run television reported.

The warrant is the latest legal trouble to face the retired general, a one-time U.S. ally who left Pakistan for Britain in 2008 after being forced out of the presidency he secured in 1999 military coup. Despite his promises to return to Pakistan and lead a new political party, court motions against the former ruler make it increasingly unlikely he will.

Along with issuing the warrant Saturday, Judge Rana Nisar Ahmad also ordered Musharraf to appear before the court on Feb. 19, Pakistan Television reported. Lawyers in the case could not immediately be reached for comment.

Bhutto was killed Dec. 27, 2007, in a gun and suicide bomb blast during a rally weeks after returning to Pakistan to campaign in new elections that Musharraf reluctantly agreed to allow after months of domestic and international pressure.

It was not immediately clear on what basis the arrest warrant was issued. But many of Bhutto's supporters accuse the former president of intentionally not doing enough to ensure her protection, and trying to cover up government ineptitude in the case afterward.

Musharraf spokesman Saif Ali Khan told a private channel that the former leader will defend himself before the court "at an appropriate time." He did not elaborate.

After her death, Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party rode a wave of public sympathy to garner the most seats in the February 2008 elections. Months later, the party forced Musharraf to quit the presidency by threatening impeachment. He left for London later in the year, and has since spent a good deal of time on the lecture circuit, including in the United States.

The U.S.-backed Musharraf for much of his military rule because he was, at least officially, an ally in the American-led war on global terrorism, and provided Washington assistance in pursuing militants who used Pakistan's soil as a hideout to prepare attacks in neighboring Afghanistan.

But domestic mistakes, including his attempts to fire the chief justice of the Supreme Court, pummeled his popularity, leading to mass protests that ultimately led Musharraf to allow the new elections.

The new Pakistani president and head of the ruling People's Party is Asif Ali Zardari, Bhutto's widower. He also supports the U.S. and has backed offensives against militants on Pakistani territory.

Also Saturday, a man detonated explosives as army troops prepared to storm his hideout in northwest Pakistan, killing himself and wounding at least three soldiers, a senior army official said.

The blast occurred outside the town of Bhat Khela in Khyber Pakhtunkwa province after troops acting on a tip from residents surrounded a militant hideout and told those inside to surrender, Brig. Saeed Ullah said. Soldiers killed a second militant in the shootout that followed the explosion.

Ullah said security forces detained five men from the area on suspicion of sheltering the militants, who he said were planning a suicide attack in the Swat Valley. Bhat Khela is located about 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Mingora, the main town in Swat.

The Pakistani army launched a major anti-Taliban offensive in 2009 in Swat, a one-time tourist haven largely overrun by militants beginning in 2007.

Though the monthslong offensive was hailed a success, militant activity is still reported in the picturesque region and concerns are growing that the insurgents could rise again.

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110212/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

[travelbugaz]

Joint Chiefs chairman to reassure Jordan, Israel


WASHINGTON – With Egypt's military leading a hoped-for drive to democracy, President Barack Obama's senior military adviser was heading to the Mideast on Saturday to reassure two key allies — Jordan, facing its own rumblings of civil unrest, and Israel, which sees its security at stake in a wider transformation of the Arab world.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was stopping first in Amman for meetings Sunday with senior Jordanian officials, including King Abdullah II. Jordan has seen five weeks of protests inspired by unrest in Tunisia and later Egypt, though the numbers of marchers has been decreasing.

Mullen was then scheduled to travel to Tel Aviv for meetings and ceremonies Sunday and Monday marking the retirement of his Israeli counterpart, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, and talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres. Mullen had no plans to visit Egypt on this trip.

Israel is deeply worried about the prospect that Hosni Mubarak's ouster could lead to the emergence of a government less friendly to the Jewish state.

Israel and Egypt fought four bitter wars before a peace treaty was reached in 1979. Mubarak, who gave up power Friday after 30 years of rule, steadfastly honored the peace deal after succeeding Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated by Egyptian extremists two years after signing it.

Netanyahu has warned that any new government in Cairo must maintain their peace deal — Israel's first with an Arab nation.

A great deal is at stake for the U.S. in the outcome of Egypt's drive to create a democracy out of the autocratic system over which Mubarak presided for three decades, with Washington a key political and financial supporter. Both Egypt and Jordan have played leading roles, along with the U.S., in seeking a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. Egypt also controls the Suez Canal, a key route for global oil shipments.

The U.S. has provided $1.5 billion a year to Egypt, largely in the form of military assistance, and the White House has said the possibility of changing that would depend on how the current crisis unfolds. The assistance has done more than buy tanks, planes and other weaponry for the Egyptian armed forces. It has built a tradition of close ties with the U.S. military establishment, with Egyptian officers attending American academies that emphasize the primacy of civilian control in a democracy.

The leading role that Egypt's military is expected to play in the transition to free elections is likely to make Mullen's and the U.S. military's Cairo connections of growing importance in the White House.

The reverberations from Cairo are already being felt in significant ways in other Arab countries that are key U.S. allies.

Jordan's new prime minister, Marouf Bakhit, promised Wednesday to continue political reforms demanded by protesters who forced King Abdullah II to reshuffle the Cabinet Feb 1. The changes in Amman followed protests by thousands of Jordanians who had demanded jobs, lower food costs and a change to an election law that they say gives government loyalists more seats in parliament.

U.S.-Jordanian military ties are among the strongest in the Arab world. And the revelation that a senior Jordanian intelligence officer was among the victims of a December 2009 suicide bombing in Afghanistan that also killed seven CIA employees pointed to the close and extensive cooperation on counterterrorism between U.S. and Jordanian intelligence agencies.

When he ascended to the throne in 1999, King Abdullah II vowed to press ahead with political reforms initiated by his late father, King Hussein. Those reforms paved the way for the first parliamentary election in 1989 after a 22-year gap, the revival of a multiparty system and the suspension of martial law, which had been in effect since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war.

But little has been done since then.

In Saudi Arabia, a traditional cornerstone of U.S. interests in the Mideast, a group of opposition activists said Thursday they asked the nation's king for the right to form a political party in a rare challenge to the absolute power of the ruling dynasty.

"You know well that big political developments and attention to freedom and human rights is currently happening in the Islamic world," the activists said in a letter to King Abdullah, who was one of Mubarak's staunchest supporters up until the end.

Last week, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh — a key U.S. ally in office for more than three decades — bowed to pressure from protesters and announced he would not seek re-election in 2013 and would not try to pass power to his son. Yemen, home to a branch of al-Qaida, is an important battleground in the U.S. fight against terrorists.

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110212/ap_on_re_us/us_us_mideast

[sandi66]

What Does the Egyptian Revolution Mean for the United States Government?
by Hillary Mann Leverett


Video is there... click on link below

The US has not supported democratization in Egypt, or really anywhere else in the Middle East, because US policymakers would not like the outcome of democratic processes. Policies made by governments that are freely elected by the people would not reflect, would not support, let alone enforce, the US polices that are unpopular, whether that's the siege of Gaza, whether that's the invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, the people in Egypt are not going to continue to support, let alone enforce, these very, very unpopular policies. . . . I think we need to really look at what President Obama has done, what he is responsible for on his watch, and how he is going to possibly . . . respond to this in a constructive way. . . . If he continues to pursue US policy as he has, he is going to be at odds with the people on the ground not only in Egypt but, I think, throughout the Middle East. . . . I think Barack Obama, Vice President Biden, and Secretary Clinton were on the phone, as much as they possibly could, with Omar Suleiman, trying to orchestrate his takeover after they realized that Mubarak wasn't going to be able to carry on. They wanted to have Omar Suleiman, the CIA's point man in Egypt, the person responsible for the rendition program that brought Egyptians home to be tortured; they did everything they could to orchestrate his continued rule over Egypt. . . .

I think [the Egyptian revolution] is a good situation for the American people. It certainly puts the American administration, President Obama, in a very difficult dilemma. He has to now deal with the fact that he would be dealing with a government, however this turns out, that is going to have to reflect more the will of the people, and the will of the people is not to support the blockade of Gaza, is not to support the unending occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, is not, potentially, to support the bombing of Iran.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hillary Mann Leverett is CEO of Strategic Energy and Global Analysis (STRATEGA), a political risk consultancy. She is also Senior Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs. With Flynt Leverett, she keeps a blog The Race for Iran: <www.raceforiran.com>. The video above compiles Al Jazeera's interviews with Hillary Mann Leverett on 11 February 2011. The text above is an edited partial transcript of the interview. Cf. Hassan Nasrallah, "On the Egyptian Revolution and the American Strategy" (7 February 2011); and "[T]he White House and the State Department were already discussing setting aside new funds to bolster the rise of secular political parties. . . . [O]ther officials have acknowledged privately that if Egypt turns into a noisy democracy that includes the Muslim Brotherhood, there will undoubtedly be political debate in Egypt about whether the 1979 peace accord with Israel should remain in force" (David E. Sanger, "Obama Presses Egypt's Military on Democracy," New York Times, 11 February 2011).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/leverett120211.html

[sandi66]

Updated: 2:25 PM Feb 12, 2011

George W. Bush Reacts to Egyptian Turnover of Power

George W. Bush's spokesman said the former president reacted positively to news of the departure of Hosni Mubarak after three decades of rule in Egypt.

Posted: 2:25 PM Feb 12, 2011
Reporter: Associated Press
Email Address: [e-mail]

George W. Bush's spokesman said the former president reacted positively to news of the departure of Hosni Mubarak after three decades of rule in Egypt.

David Sherzer said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that Bush "is heartened by tonight's events and congratulates the people of Egypt for taking an important and impressive first step toward freedom."

Celebrations were conducted across the Middle East on Friday after Mubarak stepped down as the Egyptian president.

The success of Egypt's protesters in ousting a long-time ruler came less than a month after a pro-democracy movement in Tunisia pushed dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali into exile in Saudi Arabia on Jan. 14.


www.kbtx.com/home/headlines/George_W_Bush_Reacts_to_Egyptian_Turnover_of_Power_116084074.html

[sandi66]

Germany's Central Bank Chief Resigns
Weber's Withdrawal Throws Succession for Top Job at Euro Bank Into Disarray, Complicating Plans to Solve Debt Crisis
By MARCUS WALKER and ALESSANDRA GALLONI
BERLIN—Germany's top central banker resigned, likely dashing Chancellor Angela Merkel's hopes of making a German the next head of the European Central Bank and complicating Europe's search for a way out of its debt crisis.

Bundesbank President Axel Weber will leave office on April 30, the German government said after Mr. Weber met Ms. Merkel on Friday. The resignation comes after Mr. Weber angered the chancellor this week by letting Bundesbank colleagues know he intended to leave central banking and no longer wanted to become ECB president.

Mr. Weber declined to comment to reporters as he left the Chancellery in Berlin.

Ms. Merkel had been counting on Mr. Weber to succeed ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet, when the Frenchman's term ends in October. Putting a German in charge at the ECB was part of Ms. Merkel's strategy for reassuring German voters and lawmakers that the euro will remain stable, after a year of crises in the euro zone's weaker nations that has forced Germany to lead unpopular taxpayer bailouts of Greece and Ireland.

But Mr. Weber has grown disillusioned with the prospect of leading an ECB where the majority of other euro-zone central bankers objected to his hardline views, especially his vocal opposition to the ECB's policy of supporting crisis-hit countries by buying their bonds, people familiar with the matter say.

The Bundesbank head's departure leaves Germany with no obvious candidate for the ECB job, and thrusts the issue of the ECB presidency onto the negotiating table just as European governments are haggling over a strategy to stem the euro zone's debt crisis.

Germany is the driving power behind the European talks over the creation of a permanent bailout system for struggling euro-zone countries, which Berlin has made conditional on other countries adopting tough fiscal rules and overhauling their economies. Ms. Merkel was hoping that having a German ECB president would make the permanent safety net for other countries more palatable for German voters.

Other European countries, however, are growing resentful at Germany's growing political dominance in the 17-nation euro zone. The recent export-driven economic surge in Germany, long the region's largest economy, have made it Europe's growth engine as well.

Berlin is starting to use the extra clout that comes with its renewed economic strength to demand sweeping changes to the governance of the currency bloc—proposals that critics say would force other countries to become more like Germany in economic matters. For many countries, especially those suffering under the strains of austerity in the wake of the region's debt crisis, the German demands go too far.

Some governments now worry that a power struggle over the nationality of the next ECB head will complicate the talks over the broader pact on the euro zone's rules.

French officials in particular are worried that a squabble over the ECB succession could hamper the bank—and its current head Mr. Trichet—at a time when it is playing a vital role in putting out the financial fires in Portugal, Spain and other countries on the region's periphery.

This week's confusion in Berlin about Mr. Weber's change of plans has baffled other European governments. "The key thing is not to destabilize the ECB. The later we discuss the ECB succession, the better," said one senior European official.

The reality, however, is that the ECB succession race—seemingly in German hands until this week—is now wide open, and could become a key negotiating tool as euro-zone leaders debate the bloc's future governance.

On Thursday, Italy's economy minister Giulio Tremonti said Mario Draghi—Italy's chief central banker, who was widely seen as Mr. Weber's main rival for the ECB post—would be an "optimal" next president.

But although Mr. Draghi is viewed internationally as experienced and competent, top Italian officials admit that his nationality is a handicap. Some euro-zone governments don't want an ECB president from Southern Europe, the epicenter of the debt crisis.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy's stance will be crucial in the negotiations over Mr. Trichet's successor, as well as over the wider euro-zone pact. France had tacitly accepted that the next ECB head would be a German, after the previous presidents came from the Netherlands and France.

Over the past year, Mr. Sarkozy has generally backed Ms. Merkel's proposals, viewing Franco-German consensus as vital for Europe in its hour of crisis.

Now that Mr. Weber has taken himself out of the running, France is still open to supporting a German candidate for the ECB, said one senior European official. But in a sign that France won't accept just any German candidate, a senior French official stressed this week that the individual's merits matter more than nationality.

Moreover, German officials admit they don't have another central banker or international-finance specialist with anything like Mr. Weber's clout.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble told reporters on Friday that Germany had never insisted on a German as ECB president.

The ECB president is formally nominated by euro-zone finance minister and needs the assent of the European Parliament, before the euro zone's 17 national leaders take a final decision by qualified majority vote.

As Mr. Trichet is due to retire in October, that vote could take place at a European Union summit in June, European officials say. Taking a decision as late as possible would help the widely respected Mr. Trichet to avoid being seen as a lame duck.

—Stephen Fidler
contributed to this article.
online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703786804576138154286387320.html


ty nalmann

[travelbugaz]

Press Release: Investors Hub Sued in $400 Million Dollar Libel Case brought by Attorney Kenneth Eade

Attorney Kenneth Eade sues Investorshub.com, Inc. for libel in federal court, alleging that it is not entitled to immunity under Communications Decency Act

Los Angeles, California (PRWEB) February 12, 2011

Attorney Kenneth Eade filed a lawsuit yesterday against Investorshub.com, Inc. and several John Doe defendants for libel in the federal Central District Court of California in Los Angeles, Case No. CV11-01315 PA. The complaint, which requests $400 million in damages, alleges that Investorshub.com, Inc. is run by Matthew Brown, a serial stock manipulator and convicted securities fraudster, who sold the company to ADVFN, PLC and still manages its administration, that Investors Hub hires individuals to post on their bulletin boards under aliases to either post positive comments to promote a stock they seek to manipulate and encourage trading in, or to post negative comments on a stock they seek to manipulate down in price to protect short positions of their clients. It further alleges that Investors Hub inserts meta tags into the postings, which result in links to the posts being picked up in the top 10 word searches on Google and Yahoo. It alleges that Investors Hub protects and will not divulge the true identity of any alias, and that each bulletin board is supervised by a moderator, who has the power to edit and remove any post made by any alias poster, subject to the permission of Investors Hub, who also has administrators who post their alias names in conjunction with the moniker, “ADMIN.” The lawsuit alleges that the primary role of these ADMIN posters are to eliminate messages that are contrary to Investors Hub’s agenda, and that any post expressing any adverse point of view to the one desired by Investors Hub is removed, whether it violates Investors Hub’s terms of service or not, and that anybody posting messages contrary to that agenda will be temporarily or permanently banned from posting on its site, and all such messages will be removed.

The lawsuit charges Investors Hub and several alias posters with publishing false libelous statements about Eade, which were distributed throughout the Internet on other web sites and on the search engines “Google” and “Yahoo,” and which injured Eade in his professional and personal reputation, charging him with being a criminal, being a thief, having engaged in securities frauds and scams, having engaged in illegal actions and being dishonest as a securities lawyer. It alleges that Investors Hub participated in the development and creation of the libelous publications and the elimination of any contrary points of view, as an Internet content provider in addition to being a service provider, thus coming within the exception to immunity under the Communications Decency Act.

# # #

www.americanconsumernews.com/2011/02/investors-hub-sued-in-400-million-dollar-libel-case-brought-by-attorney-kenneth-eade.html

ty Guru2

[sandi66]

"Less than 3% drop in asset values could wipe out Wall St"- Crisis Panel Says In Final Report


The Daily Bail


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"Less than a 3 percent drop in asset values could wipe out Wall Street" - Crisis Panel Says In Final Report


It's all about leverage. We've been waiting for this public quote for 2 1/2 years. It's very simple math. And it's also the key to understanding the crisis and why all of the banks are so deeply insolvent. You've heard it several times here before. Henry Paulson, when he was still CEO of Goldman in 2004, successfully lobbied the SEC to change the rules on capital ratios. Leverage exploded from a previous limit of 12:1 to beyond 40:1 for all 5 firms, and when you consider that a substantial portion of the assets were synthetics then the real leverage numbers were much higher.
---
Ratigan details Paulson's rarely mentioned role in the crisis...


Watch this from Dylan Ratigan and read the story below from the NY Times on Henry Paulson:

•Paulson SEC Rule Change -- The Secret Details


By the way, reinstating the pre-2004 rules of 12:1 would go a long way toward a financial fix and yet it was left undone by Dodd-Frank, which only required that the Federal Reserve undertake a study of capital ratios and report findings to Congress. That will certainly solve the problem.

Back to the math. In a world of 40:1, assets don't have much downside. Consider what this means in a simple example.

•If your collective assets drop in value from 100 to 97, you're done. Toast. Game over. At least that's how it's supposed to work.

Here's a further illustration.

Goldman Sachs could have $1 trillion in assets anchored by just $25 billion in capital. Assume Goldman's asset base loses 30% in value as happened in 2008, creating a paper loss of $300 billion, which if they were forced to mark honestly, would leave them insolvent to the tune of approximately $275 billion. This is what I mean when I've written before that the banks aren't just a little bit insolvent, instead their insolvency depth is a multiple (in this case 6x) of their original capital.

Adam Levitin testified last month to Congress that an honest accounting of JUST second lien loans - helocs and nothing else - not CMBS, not RMBS - just home equity loans - that this would instantly wipe out the entire capital base for each of the 4 largest banks - Citigroup, JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Bank of America. Poof, and gone. And I'll say it 1 more time - that's just for helocs.

Now remember 'insolvent by multiples' as you consider the $144 billion paid out in bonuses in 2010 by a collective of bailed-out, bankrupt banks.

But none of that matters anymore, not since the FASB rule change.

Now it's a game of super-galactic Texas bullshit as each and every bank survives by the foreskin of their mismarked assets, all with the blessing of Congress, CNBC, accounting regulators, Sheila Bair, Tim Geithner, Obama and the Ber-nank.

Now onto the story from Reuters, who got an advance look at the report from Phil Angelides and the Financial Crisis Commission due to be released later Thursday.

----
Source - Reuters

Financial Meltdown Was 'Avoidable,' Crisis Panel Finds
The financial crisis could have been avoided and was the result of poor decision making both in Washington and at top financial firms that fostered a culture of excessive risk taking, according to a draft report written by Democrats on a panel that investigated the meltdown and obtained by Reuters.

The Democratic majority of the 10-member Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission spreads the blame widely to regulators, politicians, financial firms and credit rating agencies.

The report will be officially released on Thursday but it has been endorsed only by the congressionally appointed panel's six Democratic commissioners. Three Republican members will release a separate minority report and a fourth Republican plans to unveil a report of his own that will focus on government housing policies.

Among regulators the report singles out former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and his successor Ben Bernanke. The report faults Greenspan and his allies for pushing the idea that financial institutions could "police themselves."

Bernanke and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson were criticized for not seeing the problems in the subprime mortgage markets earlier.

Clinton administration officials were rebuked for pushing to shield over-the-counter derivatives from regulation.

As for the corporate chieftains at the large financial firms that were either toppled or brought to their knees by the crisis, the panel says its examination found "stunning instances of governance breakdowns and irresponsibility."

Among those singled out are American International Group, mortgage giant Fannie Mae and Merrill Lynch.

The report faults investment banks Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley for "operating with extraordinarily thin capital" in 2007.

•"Less than a 3 percent drop in asset values could wipe out a firm," according to the report.

The report criticized credit rating agencies such as Moody's Corp, McGraw-Hill Cos' Standard & Poor's and Fimalac SA's Fitch Ratings for giving "their seal of approval" to securities that proved to be far more risky than advertised because they were backed by mortgages provided to borrowers who were unable to make payments on their loans.

The report also discussed the role played by "shadow banking," or unregulated financial firms, the securitization of private mortgage debt and over the counter derivatives.

dailybail.com/home/less-than-a-3-percent-drop-in-asset-values-could-wipe-out-wa.html


ty joye

[sandi66]

Is Your Cloud System Safe From the Law?

Source: by Gustaf Westerlund, CEO and Chief Architect, CRM-Konsulterna

Posted on: 13th February 2011

There are no legal precedents concerning transnational laws and trade agreements with respect to cloud computing.

Due to this lack of regulation, companies in smaller nations are vulnerable to foreign governments seizing their data when it’s hosted internationally in a cloud-based system.

While this shouldn’t encourage paranoia, companies should seriously consider where they host their data in the cloud.

A good solution is to host data on the same shores, or at least in a country with clear and trustworthy regulations.

Cloud computing introduces new levels of information globalization. For instance, a company in Sweden might use Salesforce.com, one of the leading cloud suppliers of CRM systems.

Most of that company’s data centers are in the U.S. As a result, the Swedish company will usually connect to U.S.-hosted servers via Internet lines running through a number of different countries.

When I connect to Salesforce.com from my current location, the data travels from Sweden to the UK, to the Netherlands, and finally to the U.S.

The image below shows how the system is accessed:




This process raises two main questions. First, which country’s laws apply to the stored data? And secondly, which country’s laws apply to the data being transferred?

Let’s say the company in question works with high-tech weapons manufacturing. The company uses Salesforce.com to store highly sensitive data concerning Cuba as a potential customer.

Sweden doesn’t have any trade restrictions with Cuba, but it’s another matter completely in the U.S. – especially with arms trade. Hence, the CIA, FBI, NSA, or Department of Homeland Security might suspect this relationship and subpoena the CRM database directly from SalesForce.com.

The recent events concerning the U.S. Department of Justice, Twitter, and Wikileaks shows that U.S. legislation can give the investigating authority very broad liberties.

Putting the court order under “seal,” for instance, wouldn’t even inform the Swedish company about the intrusion.

The Swedish company could be unknowingly placed in a threatened situation in which their entire CRM database, containing information about customers and other business opportunities, falls entirely into unknown hands.

Large deals in the high-tech weapons industry can give a country strategic advantages by helping the domestic arms manufacturer’s efforts in research and development (R&D).

Hence, in the nation’s “best interest,” the government could share the entire database with a U.S.-based competitor.

There’s no substantial evidence that this has ever happened and no country would admit to doing it, but it’s certainly possible. There are rumors of the Echelon project being misused for this very reason.

A single person overseas can cause huge amounts of damage as well. For instance, an individual conducting this investigation with the FBI could share it with his uncle at Lockheed Martin.

It’s illegal, of course, but this FBI employee has no incentive to safeguard the data; he has no interest in the commercial success of a Swedish high-tech arms manufacturer.

An employee working with this information could also find notes on bribes or other suspicious information and share it with Wikileaks, causing major damage to the company. It’s important to reduce the number of people with access to such information to reduce the risk of leaks.

Even when a cloud-based system is hosted in a country that respects the customer’s integrity, the data can still travel through other countries that could intercept and misuse it.

Much of this communication is based on SSL and other heavily-encrypted connections, but countries like the U.S. and UK have the resources to break most common encryption techniques.

Large amounts of resources have been spent on scanning the Internet and other communication channels, as in the Echelon project example. These resources would be wasted if there weren’t any decryption mechanisms.

Cloud computing holds tremendous promise, but there are some aspects of this model that must be considered before jumping on board. Hosting a system in the same country at least makes it clear which laws apply.

For companies within the European Union (EU), I suggest hosting within EU borders. Then there’s at least some common law for the EU that could be used in the courts.

Hosting in countries with strict views on data integrity, like Switzerland has in banking, might also be an option.

But when a company keeps its own data storage, it can at least be prepared when someone breaks down the door with a court order.

www.thegovmonitor.com/world_news/united_states/is-your-cloud-system-safe-from-the-law-46339.html

[sandi66]

Four more banks fail, raising the total for the year to 18
by Kevin O'Connor | February 13, 2011 4:51 PM


Regulators closed four more banks Friday, bringing the number of seizures so far this year to 18.

All four of the banks were located in different states. Both Wisconsin and Florida witnessed their second bank failures of the year, while Michigan and California each saw their first.

The most substantial bank to close its doors was Peoples State Bank of Hamtramck, Mich. First Michigan Bank, based in Troy, Mich., took over Peoples' 10 branches, along with its deposits and assets.
First Michigan entered into a loss-share transaction with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on $331.0 million of the failed bank's assets. It agreed to pay the FDIC a premium of 0.25 percent for Peoples' $390.5 million in deposits.
Pacific Premier Bank of Costa Mesa, Calif., absorbed Canyon National Bank, of Palm Springs, Calif. That three-branch bank had $205.3 million in deposits and $210.9 million in assets.
Earlier Friday, The Florida Office of Financial Regulation closed the Fort Orange-based Sunshine State Community Bank. Premier American Bank, N.A. of Miami purchased essentially all of the bank's $125.5 million in total assets and took over its five branches. Premier will also pay a 0.50 percent premium to assume all of Sunshine's $116.7 million in deposits.
Royal Bank of Elroy, Wis., assumed all deposits and purchased all the assets of the single-branch Badger State Bank of Cassville, Wis. Badger held approximately $78.5 million in deposits and $83.8 million in assets.
The FDIC estimated that the group of closings would cost its deposit-insurance fund approximately $144.9 million.

bailoutsleuth.com/news/2011/02/four-more-banks-fail-raising-the-years-total-to-18/

[sandi66]

Obama calls for end of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

Sun Feb 13, 2011 6:32PM

The Obama administration outlined three options Friday to change the way home loans are financed, calling for the slow death of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and jumpstarting the debate over the future role of government in helping borrowers secure mortgages.


If implemented, the proposals would likely make it more expensive for borrowers to buy a home and thus restrict the availability of mortgages. It also marks a significant departure from past government policies, which treated homeownership in America as a virtual right.


"The government must...help ensure that all Americans have access to quality housing that they can afford," the administration said in its report to Congress, delivered as part of last year's financial overhaul law. "This does not mean our goal is for all Americans to be homeowners."


The troubled housing market -- a legacy of the deep bust that followed a historic boom in which reckless lending and borrowing led to the most punishing downturn since the Great Depression -- led to calls for the federal government to radically reform the way home mortgages are financed. There's $10 trillion in outstanding home loan debt.


Policy makers, bankers and investors agree that taxpayer-owned Fannie and Freddie should be wound down. But there's no consensus on what should replace them.


The first option outlined in the report calls for a private system in which lenders and investors fund new mortgages, with a limited role for existing federal agencies to subsidize home loans for the poor and other special groups, like veterans. The second proposal calls for much of the same, but it includes a government backstop for mortgages during times of market stress. If credit markets froze -- like they did at the height of the crisis -- the government would step in and guarantee new home loans. The third option outlines a much broader government role. Under this alternative, taxpayers would insure securities backed by home loans, which is what Fannie and Freddie already do.


The administration's outline explained the benefits and costs of the various options, but stopped short of endorsing any of them. Critics will likely say the administration punted.


The 31-page outline says "very little that is surprising or market-moving as it lacks specific details or...any extreme views," mortgage bond strategists Greg Reiter and Jeana Curro at RBS Securities wrote in a note to clients. They were "mildly surprised" at the lack of details, though.


Analysts at Amherst Securities, led by Laurie Goodman, said in a report that the plan is "largely a non-event."


Along with federal agencies, taxpayer-owned behemoths Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guarantee more than nine of every 10 new mortgages. They were effectively nationalized in 2008. Delinquencies on home loans they back have thus far cost taxpayers more than $150 billion. Their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, estimates Fannie and Freddie could need up to $363 billion in taxpayer cash through 2013, it said in an October report.


"We are going to start the process of reform now," Geithner said in a statement. "But we are going to do it responsibly and carefully so that we support the recovery and the process of repair of the housing market."


Geithner said it will take another three years for the housing market to recover. It currently suffers from a high foreclosure and delinquency rate, low levels of homeowner equity, and an abundance of homes for sale without a corresponding number of interested buyers.


After that, it will likely take two to three years for policy makers to come to agreement on the government's role in funding home loans, Geithner said. The final step calls for new legislation. All told, Geithner said it will take between five to seven years to transition to a new system.


Steps to take during that time to slowly wean the market off total government support largely revolve around making Fannie- and Freddie-backed mortgages more expensive, which would make loans not backed by taxpayers more desirable. This includes increasing the fees Fannie and Freddie charge to guarantee home loans backing securities; pushing them to require homeowners to purchase additional mortgage insurance or put at least 10 percent down; and reducing the size of individual loans that Fannie and Freddie could guarantee.


But while the administration wants to decrease government's role in funding home loans, it wants to increase federal subsidies for rental housing. Shaun Donovan, the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said Friday that half of renters spend more than one-third of their income on housing, and one-quarter of renters devoted more than half, according to HUD research.


Reactions from lawmakers ranged from pleasant surprise to muted displeasure.


Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, praised in a statement the administration's support for increasing resources directed towards renters, but said it is "not clear" whether lenders and investors alone could support the market in a way that makes mortgages affordable to borrowers.


Rep. Ed Royce, a Republican from California who also serves on the financial services committee, said he was "pleasantly surprised" that the administration wants to wind down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.


"The 800-pound gorilla in the room remains the level of government support in the mortgage market going forward," Royce said in a statement. "On that front, [the Obama administration] decided to punt."


Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat and another financial services committee member, said she has "concern" that the administration's proposals "may radically increase the cost of homeownership, and housing in general."


The theme of the report and subsequent conversations with administration officials stressed the Obama team's desire to have a smaller government footprint in the mortgage market.


"The report's takeaway message is that the U.S. housing finance system is likely to undergo major changes going forward, and with the likely outcome being a significantly smaller role for the U.S. government," analysts at research firm CreditSights said in a note.


The reality is Democrats want continued government support of mortgages backing securities.


A fully privatized system would lead to higher costs for mortgages, but it would also nearly extinguish the risk posed to taxpayers and would enable resources currently devoted to housing to go to more productive channels, benefitting the economy in the long run, the administration noted in a nod to the predominant Republican position.


A hybrid approach that calls for increased government support during times of market stress would enable the government to lessen the social costs from contractions in credit to borrowers. Maintaining government backing of home loans at all times ensures cheap mortgages, thus artificially inflating home prices and allowing resources to continue flowing to housing. This proposal also puts taxpayers on the hook for losses.


But while observers say the administration appears to favor a robust government role -- analysts at RBS Securities say government-sponsored entities and federal agencies will likely end up supporting 50-65 percent of the market -- it's not clear that one is needed.


Firms would package home loans into bonds and Investors would buy them absent government guarantees, market participants said Friday. Mortgages would be more expensive, but only compared to today's historically-low prices. Over time, they'd moderate to average levels, they said.


In effect, Democrats' argument that the cost of mortgages would skyrocket lacks merit, they said.


"The notion that the cost of these products would be extraordinarily high is predicated on the notion that we continue to accept no down payments on loans," said Joshua Rosner, managing director at independent research consultancy Graham Fisher & Co. and one of the first analysts to identify problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.


Brett D. Nicholas, the chief investment and operating officer at Redwood Trust, a California-based real estate investment firm, said that with taxpayers backing 95 percent of new home loans "there is no room for the private sector."


"It's a circular argument to say that, 'Well, the private sector is not there so oh my God rates are going to go up hundreds of basis points,'" Nicholas said. "It's just not true." One basis point equals 0.01 percentage point.


"The fact is the private sector is there," Nicholas added. "We have capital. Lots of firms like us have capital. There's trillions of dollars of demand from life insurance companies, banks, [and] mutual funds."


Last year, his firm sponsored the only private-sector security backed by new home mortgages and sold to investors. The deal contained more than $200 million worth of jumbo mortgages, industry parlance for home loans too big to be backed by the Federal Housing Administration, a government agency, or Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.


"The dollars are there," Nicholas said. "There's just no loans to sell to [investors] because they're all going to Fannie, Freddie and FHA."


Rosner said that if borrowers start putting down 20 percent of the purchase price, investors would price in lower risks of default and snap up the securities.


He added that getting borrowers to put that much down is good for the economy because it gets consumers in the habit of saving more and only being willing to buy a home once they were sure they could afford it.


This would lessen the risk of a housing collapse and minimize costs to taxpayers, Rosner said, as opposed to the administration's preferred approach of a continued government role, which he argues simply continues the current system of privatized gains and socialized losses.


"The administration is still not thinking of ways to incent proper behavior," Rosner said. He added that the tax code could bring about many of his recommendations.

www.presstv.ir/usdetail/165103.html

[sandi66]

Chinese wary of Mae and Mac debt

From: NewsCore February 14, 2011 4:37AM

Action needed: U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner said "We need to wind down Fannie and Freddie substantially, and reduce the government's footprint in the housing market". Source: AFP

CHINA'S government, one of the biggest holders of debt from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, voiced confidence that Washington would continue to stand behind the US mortgage giants' obligations after the Obama administration outlined options for phasing them out.

The statement by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), the arm of China's central bank that manages foreign exchange reserves, reflected Beijing's continued concern about perceptions within China of the safety of its US investments.

Most of China's $2.85 trillion in reserves was invested in dollar assets and, while China does not disclose the size of its holdings of Fannie and Freddie securities, past records showed it owned hundreds of billions of dollars of debt from them and other US government-linked agencies.

Chinese officials raised concerns about the possible impact of US policy on the future value of China's dollar holdings, saying loose monetary policy could hurt the value of US assets.

But the government also rejected rumors that it has lost money on its existing holdings of Fannie and Freddie debt.

The Obama administration issued a white paper Friday on plans to reduce US government involvement in the mortgage market, including an eventual phase-out of Fannie and Freddie, which the government took over in 2008.

But the White House's report emphasized that it "will not waver from its commitment" to ensuring that the two "have sufficient capital to honor any guarantees issued now or in the future and meet any of their debt obligations."

SAFE's statement said the White House plan "has aroused widespread public interest and concern that our foreign exchange reserve investments could be damaged."

It said China has not had losses on its Fannie and Freddie holdings, adding it "took particular notice that the US government's commitment to support [Fannie and Freddie] hasn't changed."

Public concern in China about possible losses on its US investments has flared up repeatedly in China since the start of the global financial crisis.

Many Chinese seemed to believe that during the crisis the country lost vast sums on its US holdings.

www.news.com.au/business/chinese-wary-of-mae-and-mac-debt/story-fn7mjon9-1226005456763

[sandi66]

U.S. Two-Year Yield Near Eight-Month High Before Retail Sales

February 13, 2011, 8:27 PM EST

Feb. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Treasury two-year yields were near the highest level in eight months before reports this week that economists said will show gains in retail sales and industrial production.

U.S. government securities maturing in more than a year have handed investors a 1.3 percent loss this month, the worst performance of 26 sovereign bond markets tracked by the European Federation of Financial Analysts Societies and Bloomberg. The MSCI All Country World Index of stocks returned 2.1 percent in the period.

“Retail sales and medium and small companies are performing quite well,” said Hideo Shimomura, who helps oversee the equivalent of $72 billion in Tokyo as chief fund investor at Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co., a unit of Japan’s biggest bank. “It’s good news for equities and bad for Treasuries.

Two-year notes yielded 0.83 percent at 10:03 a.m. in Tokyo, according to BGCantor Market Data. The 0.625 percent security maturing in January 2013 traded at a price of 99 19/32. The rate climbed to 0.86 percent on Feb. 9, which was the most since May 28. Ten-year yields were little changed at 3.63 percent.

Improving Economic Data

Retail sales climbed 0.5 percent in January, extending a 0.6 percent increase in December, based on the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News before the Commerce Department reports the figure tomorrow. Federal Reserve figures on Feb. 16 may show production at factories, mines and utilities rose 0.5 percent in January from the month before, the surveys show.

While some of the lowest borrowing costs on record have helped the U.S. economy recover from its worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, bond yields are now rising as growth resumes. Net interest expenses will triple to an all-time high of $554 billion in 2015 from $185 billion in 2010, according to the government’s adjusted 2011 budget.

‘‘It’s a slow train wreck coming and we all know it’s going to happen,” said Bret Barker, an interest-rate analyst at Los Angeles-based TCW Group Inc., which manages about $115 billion. “It’s just a question of whether we want to deal with it. There are huge structural changes that have to go on with this economy.”

The amount of marketable U.S. government debt outstanding has risen to $8.96 trillion from $5.8 trillion at the end of 2008, according to the Treasury Department.

www.businessweek.com/news/2011-02-13/u-s-two-year-yield-near-eight-month-high-before-retail-sales.html

[sandi66]

Richard Altomare Sold Short In America's website is up...
www.soldshortinamerica.com/



The compelling real-life story of one man’s fight against corruption and injustice that led him to jail and taking on the United States Government.
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Exposing the corruption that’s fleecing America

Imagine you founded, developed and operated a public American company that thrived for over 17 years.

Now imagine along the way you discovered that counterfeiting naked short sellers (people who sell shares of stock they do not own, nor have the intent to purchase or deliver) were working illegally to take your company and your country down. In turning to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for protection against these "silent killers" you were not only denied assistance but told that naked short selling did not exist. After suing the SEC, your company and its six vibrant subsidiaries were seized, closed and liquidated; your request for a trial was denied; and you were actually sentenced to chained solitary confinement without a crime committed.
For Richard Altomare, founder and CEO of Universal Express, Inc. (USXP), he didn't have to imagine this scenario.
Altomare Speaks Out



On the Air
Click play to hear Richard's most recent Radio interview on Naked Short Selling.


Book Summary Posted on February 3, 2011
This book is a non-fiction, painfully true account of an American whistle-blower whose silencing was attempted by conflicted and vengeful bureaucrats. This work presents oversights within the regulatory Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), The U.S. Justice Department, and The Bureau of Prisons penal systems (BOP); as an innocent former US Marine and 60 year old [...]

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Author Summary Posted on February 3, 2011
Sold Short in America by Richard Altomare MODERN DAY “PROFILES IN COURAGE” DIARY FROM A JAIL CELL, EXPLORES THE UNJUST IMPRISONMENT OF A HEROIC AMERICAN WHISTLE-BLOWER WHO EXPOSED GOVERNMENTAL ABUSES AND INEPTNESS Imagine you founded, developed and operated a public American company that thrived for over 17 years. Now imagine along the way you discovered [...]

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Sold Short in America- MoneyTV with Donald Baillargeon
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mD3V_wihURU


On MoneyTV with Donald Baillargeon, Don talks with Richard Altomare about his new book.



ty joye

[sandi66]

Feb. 13, 2011 (Xinhua News Agency) -- Xinhua Middle East news summary at 2200 GMT, Feb. 13

SANAA -- Yemen's opposition on Sunday accepted a political reform initiative offered earlier this month by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in which he pledged not to seek another presidential term or hand over power to his son.

"We accept the political reform initiative offered by President Saleh on Feb. 2," the opposition coalition said in a statement, which was obtained by Xinhua. "We are ready to begin the national dialogue with the president's ruling party as of this week." ( Yemen-Reform)

- - - - BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi parliament approved on Sunday eight new ministers to fill vacant posts in the cabinet of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

The lawmakers voted in favor of candidates for the ministries of electricity, trade and municipality, and five state ministries, presented by Maliki during the parliament session. (Iraq-Cabinet)

- - - -

CAIRO -- Eight important pieces of ancient Egyptian artifacts were found missing from Egypt's National Museum in Cairo, Minister of State for Antiquities Zahi Hawass said Sunday.

The missing pieces include "a gilded wood statue of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun being carried by a goddess," and parts of another gilded wood statue of the king, Hawass said in a statement. (Egypt-Artifact)

- - - -

TUNIS -- Tunisian Foreign Minister Ahmed Ounaies has tendered his resignation, the official news agency TAP said on Sunday.

"Ahmed Ounaies, the Minster of Foreign Affairs, submitted his resignation from the interim government on Sunday," TAP quoted a foreign ministry statement as saying. (Tunisia-Resignation)

- - - -

CAIRO -- The Military Council of Egypt's armed forces announced Sunday to dissolve the parliament, suspend the constitution, and form a committee to draft a new constitution for the country, according to a statement read out on state TV.

The caretaker government will remain in place for a six month interim period. (Egypt-Parliament)

- - - -

TEHRAN -- In a decree issued by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday, ex-atomic chief Ali-Akbar Salehi was substituted by another nuclear scientist Fereidoon Abbasi Davani who had survived a terrorist bomb attack at the end of last year, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

Abbasi Davani was appointed by the president as the new head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and also as Iran's vice president. (Iran-Nuke-Appointment)

www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/4886179

[sandi66]

Betting on Arab revolution

Published on : 14 February 2011 - 2:24pm

No sooner had Hosni Mubarak's departure been announced than the bookmakers started taking bets on which would be the next country to experience an outbreak of social unrest. Bookmaker.com, the world's biggest online betting shop, has Yemen as favourite. A bet on a mass uprising in that country would win the punter 1.8 times the stake. You could double your money with Jordan, or triple it with Algeria. Saudi Arabia represents the jackpot, with winnings at 16 times the ante.

The bookies seem to be a decent political barometer, because over the weekend thousands of young people took to the streets of the Yemeni capital Sana'a, calling for the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. There was also unrest in the Algerian capital Algiers, where around 2000 protested demonstrated against the rule of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, under the watchful eyes of 30,000 police.

"Middle class crucial"
"Yemen and Algeria," former Radio Netherlands Worldwide Middle East expert Bertus Hendriks agrees. "That's where I'd be most worried if I was in charge." But there are also other candidates on the list, he says: Jordan, Syria, Iran and Morocco.

"What these countries have in common are very youthful populations where active young people have a university education, but nothing they can do with it. And a government that bans any possible form of political organisation, and isn't capable of offering people any prospects or sense of control over their own lives."

The role of the middle class is crucial, says Hendriks. "Lawyers and doctors are experiencing a constant loss of status. An elite of new rich around the president or king has taken a tight hold of the economic interests through corruption." This is true for Algeria, but not for poverty-stricken Yemen. "It's not just about poverty but also unshared wealth," he says.

Domino effect
An even more important factor affecting the chances of an uprising is the position and size of the army, says RNW editor Omar Elkeddi, who is originally from Libya."The army has to be larger than the police or security forces and prepared to side with the people," he says. "That could happen in Syria, but not in Libya or Algeria."

The possibility of a revolution domino effect in the Middle East depends on the way things pan out in Egypt, says Bertus Hendriks. The potential for unrest to spread shouldn't be underestimated, but first people will have to see the beginnings of a democratic process in Egypt. "Look at Iraq," he says. "There democracy was imposed from outside. But what do we see? A huge bloodbath. That's had a negative effect on the movements for democracy in the region."

On Monday it's the turn of anti-government protestors in Iran and Bahrain. In Iran, the opposition has called a demonstration in support of the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. And in the Gulf state Bahrain, the Shi'ite opposition is stirring. King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has hurried to surprise every Bahraini family with a 'bonus' of 1,000 dinar (around 1,965 euros). Major demonstrations aren't expected, though - at the bookmakers Bahrain is good for ten times the stake.

www.rnw.nl/english/article/betting-arab-revolution

[sandi66]

Negotiating with Raging Dirt Bags:Rational Choice in the Middle East

Feb. 13 2011 - 8:23 pm

Please be advised that you may now assume your bargaining partners are raging dirt-bags without hurting your negotiation strategy one bit.

What?

No trust-building?

No kumbya?

No marshmallows roasting over an open fire?

No empathy?

No sir!

Don’t trust the enemy.

And don’t bother cozying up to him either.

Whether we’re finagling with friends or scheming with Satan, our job as negotiators is not to make pals but to satisfy interests.

As Good Magazine’s profile of author and NYU Political Science Professor Bruce Bueno de Mesquita (The New Nostradamus) explained several years ago, in “the foreboding world view of rational choice, everyone is a raging dirtbag.”

When analyzing a problem in international relations, Bueno de Mesquita doesn’t give a whit about the local culture, history, economy, or any of the other considerations that more traditional political scientists weigh. In fact, rational choicers like Bueno de Mesquita tend to view such traditional approaches with a condescension bordering on disdain. . . His only concern is with what the political actors want, what they say they want (often two very different things), and how each of their various options will affect their career advancement.

Advising the CIA and the Defense Department about Korea’s nuclear ambitions, de Mesquita starts from the premise that Kim Jong Il cares most about his own political survival. Based on that assumption, de Mesquita concludes that Jong Il’s primary nuclear motivation is to deter the United States from deposing him, somewhat like Saddam Hussein was driven to fake his possession of WMDs to keep Iran from attacking Iraq.

The rational solution for the Korean nuclear problem? A “mechanism that guarantees us that he not use these weapons and guarantees him that we not interfere with his political survival.”

The Rational Decision for the Middle East

According to de Mesquita, the rational solution to the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict is self-interest. He has a solution born of the parties’ mutual economic well-being that you might want to check out at the Good Magazine link. A more nuanced analysis of present Israeli and Palestinian interests, however, is the subject of an important article in today’s New York Times entitled The Israel Peace Plan That Still Could Be.

The Peace Agreement that Almost Was

According to author Bernard Avisahi, the areas of agreement between negotiators for Israel and the Palestinians back in 2008, were unusually broad. There was also a surprisingly high degree of assent about matters most commentators would have considered non-negotiable, including “a border based scrupulously on the 1967 lines, a Palestinian capital in Jerusalem[,] ‘recognition of the problem’ of refugees[,]” and, a demilitarized Palestine. The parties were even close to agreement on control of the holy sites.

The incendiary issue of a Palestinian “right of return” was also close to resolution using a “constructively ambiguous” agreement that would permit the return of 5,000 Palestinians to Israel at the rate of 1,000 per year. The ambiguity permitting “stretch” and “spin” for each side would have been contained in a “signing statement” emphasizing that refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace should be permitted to do so as soon as possible.

So why didn’t the parties reach agreement?

The Lost Opportunity

Timing in peace negotiations is every bit as important as it is in our business affairs. The same year that the Middle East peace talks failed, Yahoo and Microsoft failed to close a deal because Yahoo’s three-month delay in responding to Microsoft’s offer was, according to CEO Steve Ballmer, “weird.”

The timing errors in the ‘08 Middle East peace talks were, naturally, more significant but still curable. As Avishai explains,

[Israel's] Olmert made his most comprehensive offer to [The Palestinian National Authority's Presdident] Abbas on . . . the opening day of the General Assembly in New York. Abbas then “went silent” (as Olmert puts it), weighing a response as the Gaza border was heating up, not sure which American presidency the Palestinian leadership would confront — and also questioning the point of continuing negotiations with [Olmert as] a lame-duck prime minister.

Yet negotiations were not formally suspended until [three months later] after Israel attacked in Gaza. [Condoleezza] Rice had invited the sides to meet in Washington. Olmert, facing political exile and preoccupied with the war, failed to send his chief diplomatic aide, Shalom Turgeman, to the meeting.

The Real Issue

When it came to dividing land, writes Avishai, the ”real issue” was which Israeli settlements would have to be removed.

From Olmert’s point of view, the problem was not helping settlers fulfill their dream of redeeming promised land but helping the Israeli military avoid the pain of removing them. Many settlers are fanatical, armed and contemptuous of Israeli democracy; some even like to call themselves Judeans. Israelis, Olmert implied, are loath to fight Judeans for the sake of Palestinians. . .

The timing impasse may well have been a welcome relief to Olmert, delaying the day of reckoning with the settlers. Now, however, is no time to simply regret the loss of past opportunities.

Most Israelis and Palestinians consider the opposition to be their existential enemy, intent on the other’s annihilation. Whatever the parties’ motives, demonization of the adversary should not prevent them from picking up where the 2008 peace negotiations left off. Bargaining with the devil does not mean embracing him or even trusting him. It just means learning what he needs, wants and fears and then making an effort satisfy as many of those interests and allay as many those fears as is necessary to each side’s own political survival.

As former Israeli Prime Minister Olmert wrote to Avishai for the purpose of today’s story,

“There is a danger that the events in Egypt will mislead some to lose hope in peace. I think the opposite, that there can be another way to challenge the events near us. This is the time to move forward, fast, take my peace initiative with the Palestinians and make a deal. This will be my advice to Prime Minister Netanyahu. Don’t wait. Move, lead and make history. This is the time. There will not be a better one.”

Let’s serve as the bridge we have provided these warring parties in the past with the hope that instability elsewhere in the region will not cause an outbreak of violent hostilities whose end no one can predict nor even wish to envision.

blogs.forbes.com/shenegotiates/2011/02/13/negotiating-with-raging-dirt-bagsrational-choice-in-the-middle-east/

[sandi66]

14 February 2011 Last updated at 08:27 ET

Iran opposition: Will Arab uprisings spread?

As Iranian opposition groups threaten to rally in Tehran in support of the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, the BBC's Mohsen Asgari asks whether the Middle East political contagion could spread to Iran - the first non-Arab country.

Iranian opposition leaders have issued a call for a peaceful rally in support of the Egyptian and Tunisian uprisings to be held later today in Azadi Square - Tehran's counterpart of Cairo's now-famous Tahrir Square.

"In order to show solidarity with the popular movements in the region and specifically the freedom-seeking movement by the Tunisian and Egyptian people against their autocratic governments, we hereby request a permit to call for a rally," Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi wrote in a letter to Iran's interior ministry last week.

As widely expected, the authorities refused the permit. Instead, they put both men under house arrest and detained about a dozen of their key advisers.

However, some opposition groups have vowed to defy the ban and to stage their rally in Tehran despite threats from officials that any protesters will be punished.

'Day of rage'

In recent days, there has been much talk of Egypt's political contagion wending its way through the Arab world and into Iran - the first non-Arab country to be caught up in the revolutionary fever.

"If Egypt and Tunisia can do it, why can't we?" you hear in hushed conversations at street corners, marketplaces and cafes across the capital.

Even Iranian internet sites have been buzzing with reports of the 14 February "Iranian day of rage", which takes its name and inspiration from the Egyptian uprisings which toppled President Hosni Mubarak after almost 30 years in power.

A Facebook page set up by young Iranian activists called 25Bahman - a month in the Iranian calendar - has invited all "freedom-loving" people to join in the peaceful rally on Monday.

The page has gathered more than 55,000 supporters.

Meanwhile, security has been stepped up in the capital: anti-riot police have once again appeared on the streets of Tehran and police are blocking all roads leading to Azadi (Freedom) Square.

There have also been widespread problems connecting to the internet in recent days, and reports of much slower internet speeds. Officials have denied that any such problems exist, and dismissed claims of an internet clampdown.

A dilemma

The possibility of homegrown protests pose a clear dilemma for the Iranian authorities, who have publicly backed the events in Cairo as an "Islamic awakening" similar to Iran's 1979 revolution.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - who has led Iran as either president or supreme leader for as long as Hosni Mubarak has been the man in charge in Cairo - has personally hailed the "Islamic" uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the country's main Islamic opposition group, has dismissed the characterisation, and the White House has instead likened Egypt's uprising to Iran's 2009 rebellion against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election.

The dilemma is summed up by a Mousavi supporter on the protest's Facebook page.

"If [the authorities] let the opposition rally in favour of the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, they cannot guarantee that people will go home again. And if they don't give permission, they will prove that they are supporters of Mubarak and [deposed Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine] Ben Ali."

Ardeshir Arjomand, an adviser to Mr Mousavi, says the "day of rage" is a test for the leaders of the Islamic Republic.

"If officials do not give permission for this demonstration, it will be a clear sign that they fear the people's true beliefs," he said.

Many observers in Iran say the Arab uprisings have breathed new life into the Iranian opposition.

The once-powerful movement that drew millions onto the streets after President Ahmadinejad's 2009 re-election, which they say was rigged, has all but disappeared.

Dozens of protesters were killed, and thousands arrested in the immediate aftermath of the street protests. Others were put on trial and sentenced to long jail terms.

But it is unclear whether the Iranian people are ready to put aside their fear of the regime and take to the streets once more.

"[Opposition leaders] Mousavi and Karroubi are asking authorities to let Iranians show their support for the fight against tyranny. This is exactly what Ayatollah Khamenei praised a couple of days ago," says Ali, a young English teacher.

He says he would like to go, then reconsiders.

"If I can be sure I won't be killed afterwards."

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12448627

[sandi66]

Mullen: US depends on military ties with Israel

Monday, February 14, 2011


(02-14) 05:35 PST JERUSALEM, Israel (AP) --

The top U.S. military officer says the relationship between the American and Israeli militaries is especially relevant while Mideast nations are steeped in unrest.

Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, discussed the instability in Egypt with Israeli President Shimon Peres on Monday. He said the American-Israeli alliance is "something we both depend on."

Following Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's resignation, Israel is fretting the future of its 1979 peace treaty.

Mullen also met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel's incoming chief of staff Benny Gantz.

The brief trip to reassure American allies of U.S. commitment to the region's stability also brought Mullen to Jordan, where he met with King Abdullah II.

www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fn%2Fa%2F2011%2F02%2F14%2Finternational%2Fi053549S66.DTL

[sandi66]

Mubarak Could Be the World’s Richest Man

Monday, February 14th, 2011

Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak is nowhere to be found in Forbes’ list of richest man in the world. Actually, the top spot is currently occupied by a Mexican business magnate Carlos Slim with an estimated wealth of about $54 billion. America’s Bill Gates occupies the second spot with total wealth that is $1 billion lower than what slim have.

However, there are reports that Egypt’s ex-president Hosni Mubarak has a larger amount of wealth compared to these two individuals. According to a popular newspaper known as British Guardian Mubarak‘s wealth together with his family is estimated to be around $40 to $70 billion and this figure came from the paper’s sources from the Middle East.

In connection to this, most finance experts would wonder how Mubarak accumulated such wealth. He is not even a businessman or a wealthy professional but a man involved in the military. So this means that Mubarak could have earned his wealth from any form of cash advance and perks from businesses operating in Egypt.

This could be possible since Mubarak had been in office for nearly three decades. In addition to this, he ruled a regime with a suspended constitution making him powerful to the point that he can demand any cash advance from almost all government projects.

Since he had been in the position and enjoys absolute powers, Mubarak has every opportunity to earn hefty amounts of kickbacks. Professor Amaney Jamal from Princeton University described Mubarak’s economic condition and made his own analysis stating that “He (Mubarak) was able to reach into the economic sphere and benefit from monopolies, bribery fees, red-tape fees, and nepotism. It was guaranteed profit.”

topwirexs.com/mubarak-could-be-the-world%E2%80%99s-richest-man/172046/