In the Federal Reserve’s battle to keep the U.S. economy from a severe downturn, the beleaguered
That is going to worsen the sticker shock for Americans headed overseas or buying some of their favorite imported goods. for more click here
The European Commission has fined US computer giant Microsoft for defying sanctions imposed on it for anti-competitive behaviour. Microsoft must now pay a record 899m euros ($1.4bn; £680.9m) after it failed to comply with a 2004 ruling that it abused its position. for more click here
Germany’s highest court has ruled that spying on personal computers violates privacy, but governments across Europe are under pressure to help their security services fight terrorism and organised crime. for more click here
While some cynics still view Barack Obama’s appeal for “change” as empty rhetoric, it’s starting to dawn on Washington insiders that his ability to raise vast sums of money from nearly one million mostly small donors could shake the grip that special-interest money has long held over the U.S. government. for more click here
Video footage purporting to show one of the five Britons kidnapped from an Iraqi government building in Baghdad eight months ago has been shown by al-Arabiya television station today.
The five civilians were abducted from the Iraqi Finance Ministry in May last year. They are believed to be four security guards who were working for a private firm and a financial expert who was advising the Iraqi government. for more click here
US consumer confidence slumped to its worst in five years this month as a tough job market helped produce the grimmest future outlook in 17 years, while soaring inflation among producers at the year’s start stoked fears of stagflation. for more click here
Information Ministers’ New ‘Principles’ Would Extend Repression of Free Speech
(New York, February 26, 2008) – Arab governments should publicly reject those elements of a proposed regional policy on satellite television broadcasting that would seriously restrict freedom of expression and information, Human Rights Watch said today.
During their meeting in Cairo on February 12, Arab ministers of information adopted “Principles for Organizing Satellite Broadcast and Television Transmission and Reception in the Arab Region.” The document, introduced by Egypt and Saudi Arabia, calls on the regulatory bodies in Arab League member states to ensure that satellite channels broadcasting from their jurisdictions do not “negatively affect social peace, national unity, public order, and public morals” or “defame leaders, or national and religious symbols [of other Arab states].”
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RABAT, MOROCCO — They are politicians and businessmen, bureaucrats and pharmacists, a police commander and a TV journalist.
Police arrested them and seized an arsenal in nationwide raids this month, the biggest crackdown in Morocco since suicide bombings killed 45 people, including the 12 bombers, in Casablanca five years ago. for more click here
You may not have realised it, but one commodity is currently seeing the greatest bull market in its entire history. Not gold, not oil – but wheat.
From its low of $2.40 in late 1999 to yesterday’s high above $12 is an eight-year, near-400% move. Wheat has never moved up so much.
I don’t mean to sound like a harbinger of doom, or perhaps I should say Grim Reaper, but the whole grains sector – whether it’s wheat, corn, soybeans, barley, whichever – has become worryingly reminiscent of uranium this time last year.
The shorting opportunity of a lifetime may be just around the corner…
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Hamas’s latest children’s TV program features a rabbit named Assud, who threatens to “bite and eat” the Danish for their cartoons of Mohammed. for more click here