March 2009 – Page 2 – Infinite Unknown

Geithner’s Toxic Debt Plan So Good, Citi and BofA Can’t Wait to Get Started

March 27, 2009 by Infinite

A “funny” thing is happening just as Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner seems to have finally found a scheme to deal with banks’ toxic debt: Some big banks are aggressively bidding for toxic debt in the open market.

Specifically “Citigroup and Bank of America have been aggressively scooping up those same securities in the secondary market,” Mark DeCambre of The NY Post reported earlier this week.

Friday, DeCambre joined Henry and me to discuss the story in the accompanying video.

The banks contend they are helping to bring liquidity to the “frozen” mortgage-backed-securities market, as per their “marching orders” under the TARP program, DeCambre notes.

Furthermore, the banks’ buying of toxic assets may be on behalf of clients rather than for their internal accounts.

A less generous interpretation is that Citi and BofA (among others, no doubt) are attempting to “front run” Geithner’s program, which presumably will result in banks being able to unload these assets at prices above the current “depressed” market levels – leaving taxpayers on the hook for future losses.

Furthermore, having put their franchises – if not the entire global economy – in jeopardy by gorging on MBS securities the first time around, do Citi, BofA and other TARP recipients have any business jumping back into that (still) toxic pool?

Posted Mar 27, 2009 12:24pm EDT
by Aaron Task in Investing

Source: Yahoo Finance

G20 Summit: university professor suspended over bankers ‘hanging from lampposts’ comment

March 27, 2009 by Infinite

An organiser of G20 protests, Chris Knight, was suspended from his job as a university professor after he warned bankers could be “hanging from lampposts”, it was reported.

Chris Knight, the professor of anthropology at the University of east London Photo: JANE MINGAY

Mr Knight, the professor of anthropology at the University of east London who is organising protests under the banner G20 Meltdown, told BBC Radio 4’s PM on Wednesday: “We are going to be hanging a lot of people like Fred the Shred from lampposts on April Fool’s Day and I can only say let’s hope they are just effigies.

“To be honest, if he winds us up any more I’m afraid there will be real bankers hanging from lampposts and let’s hope that that doesn’t actually have to happen.

“They should realise the amount of fury and hatred there is for them and act quickly, because quite honestly if it isn’t humour it is going to be anger.

“I am trying to keep it humorous and let the anger come up in a creative and hopefully productive and peaceful way.

“If the other people don’t join in the fun – I’m talking about the bankers and those rather pompous ministers – and come over and surrender their power obviously it’s going to get us even more wound up and things could get nasty. Let’s hope it doesn’t.”

Global News (03/27/09)

March 27, 2009March 27, 2009 by Infinite

– Suicide attack on Pakistan mosque kills 50 (Times Online):
A suicide bomb attack on a packed mosque in the volatile tribal regions of Pakistan has killed nearly 50 people and left dozens of others wounded, in the latest wave of violence to hit the country.

– US tent cities highlight new realities as recession wears on (Guardian)

– North Korea rocket launch: First pictures of launch pad (Telegraph)

– Japan’s guided-missile destroyers head for Sea of Japan ahead of DPRK’s rocket launch (Xinhua)

– China reacts with fury to US military report (Telegraph):
China has reacted with fury to a US government report on Beijing’s military power which claimed it was altering the military balance in Asia.

– Australia quashes China bid for Oz Minerals (Financial Times):
The Australian government on Friday cited national security concerns to block a A$2.6bn ($1.8bn) bid by China’s Minmetals for Oz Minerals, fuelling doubts about Beijing’s ability to secure backing for other deals in the resource-rich country.

– Britain sees 40 per cent rise in cash lost to Brussels, National Audit Office says (Telegraph):
The National Audit Office found that Britain’s net cash contribution to Brussels jumped by 40 per cent to more than £4billion between 2006 and 2007. In the same year, the total value of reported irregularities rose by 20 per cent to €1,392 million (£1.3billion) across all European Union countries, a report published today finds.

– Bank of England: It’s time to call a halt, Prime Minister (Telegraph)

– Mounties accused of ‘cooking up’ story (Toronto Star):
VANCOUVER–Four Mounties “collaborated to fabricate” their story to justify their conduct when Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died while in their custody, a lawyer told a public inquiry yesterday.

– Madoff Liquidator Says $2.6 Billion Will Pay Victims of Fraud (Bloomberg):
March 27 (Bloomberg) — The agency liquidating Bernard Madoff’s brokerage says the $2.6 billion it has on hand is enough to satisfy all legitimate claims by victims of the money manager’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme.

– Two more quit AIG as depth of bonus anger emerges (Guardian):
Two senior European bosses have resigned from AIG citing a “hostile” environment as the insurer faces a public backlash over multimillion-pound bonus payouts.

– Most electronic voting isn’t secure, CIA expert says (Boston Herald)

US deploys warships as North Korea prepares to launch missile

March 26, 2009 by Infinite

The US has deployed two warships with anti-missile capabilities in the waters off Japan as tensions mount over North Korea’s plans to test-fire a long-range ballistic missile capable of striking Alaska.

USS Chafee:The US Navy spokesman said the two destroyers, the USS McCain and USS Chafee, had left Sasebo port in southwestern Japan Photo: AP

The deployment comes as America, Japan and South Korea threaten North Korea with ‘serious consequences’ if it proceeds with plans to conduct the missile test in defiance of a 2006 UN resolution.

North Korea, which has informed international agencies of its plan to fire the missile between April 4 and 8, says the launch is a “satellite test” which it is entitled to make under international law.

Recent satellite imagery has shown that the North Korea has now assembled two stages of the three-stage Taepodong-2 missile on a launch pad in the country’s northeast. Experts estimate that missile could be ready to fire within four days.

Japan has threatened to shoot down the missile if it crosses over Japanese territory, a move which Pyongyang has already said it would consider an “act of war”.

Japan Gives Order to Destroy Any North Korean Missile

March 26, 2009 by Infinite

A file photograph shows Yasukazu Hamada, Japan’s defense minister speaking during a news conference at the premier’s official residence in Tokyo. Photographer: Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/ Bloomberg News

March 27 (Bloomberg) — Japan’s Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada ordered the shooting down of any North Korean missile or falling debris that enters its “airspace, waters or soil.”

“We will take every effort to protect the safety of Japanese people,” Hamada told reporters in Tokyo today.

Hamada is preparing the first response to a North Korean rocket launch after a Taepodong 1 missile flew over Japan in 1998. Japan has subsequently honed a defense network that includes anti-missile batteries around Tokyo and destroyers at sea capable of intercepting ballistic missiles.

Japan, along with the U.S., China, South Korea and Russia want to forestall North Korea’s plans to launch what it calls a “peaceful” satellite, and re-focus on joint efforts to end the Stalinist nation’s nuclear program.

Global News (03/26/09)

March 26, 2009 by Infinite

– Emanuel’s profitable stint at mortgage giant (Chicago Tribune):
Short Freddie Mac stay made him at least $320,000

– Why secretly funded DEA surveillance planes aren’t flying (McClatchy)

– G20 rioters to hang banker effigies from lampposts as city staff are told to wear disguises (Daily Mail):
Thousands of City staff told to stay at home next week, Bankers told not to wear suits and ‘dress down’,Additional 2,500 police deployed at cost of £10million

– ‘I’m having a very good crisis,’ says Soros as hedge fund managers make billions off recession (Daily Mail):
A hedge fund manager who predicted the global credit crunch has said the financial crisis has been ‘stimulating’ and the culmination of his life’s work.

– Top hedge fund managers still raking in the money (CNN Money):
LONDON (CNNMoney.com) — Despite turbulence in the financial markets and the global economic downturn, the world’s 25 top-earning hedge fund managers raked in a staggering $11.6 billion last year, according to a ranking released Wednesday.

– Why Gold Prices Didn’t Really Rise Last Week (Seeking Alpha)

– Stimulus? U.S. to buy Chinese condoms, ending Alabama jobs (McClatchy)

– IMF rescues Romania with €20bn aid while Serbia handed €4bn (Telegraph):
Romania is the seventh country in the region to need IMF help along with Hungary, Ukraine, Latvia, and Belarus. Serbia on Wednesday secured a €4bn bail-out and Bosnia said it was starting rescue talks.

– Revised Rate Shows G.D.P. Is Falling at a Faster Pace (New York Times):
And what says Obama: Barack Obama trumpets ‘signs of economic progress’ (Telegraph)

Israel Accused Of Air Strike On Sudan Convoy By US Officials

March 26, 2009 by Infinite

The Israeli government is refusing to comment on reported American claims that its air force carried out a long-range air strike in Sudan.

Israel Accused Of Air Strike On Sudan Convoy

CBS News reports claims by US officials that Israeli aircraft attacked a 17-truck convoy, believing it to be carrying Iranian weapons supplies bound for Hamas in Gaza.

Some 39 people are said to have died during the raid, which allegedly happened in January during the war in Gaza.

It sounds far-fetched – an Israeli air strike on a hostile country 900 miles from home and one that remains a secret for two months.

Expanded Americorps has stench of authoritarianism

March 26, 2009 by Infinite

With almost no public attention, both chambers of Congress in the past week advanced an alarming expansion of the Americorps national service plan, with the number of federally funded community-service jobs increasing from 75,000 to 250,000 at a cost of $5.7 billion. Lurking behind the feel-good rhetoric spouted by the measure’s advocates is a bill that upon closer inspection reveals multiple provisions that together create a strong odor of creepy authoritarianism.

The House passed the measure overwhelmingly, while only 14 senators had the sense and courage to vote against it on a key procedural motion. Every legislator who either voted for this bill or didn’t vote at all has some serious explaining to do.

Last summer, then-candidate Barack Obama threw civil liberties to the wind when he proposed “a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded” as the regular military. The expanded Americorps is not quite so disturbing, but a number of provisions in the bill raise serious concerns.

To begin with, the legislation threatens the voluntary nature of Americorps by calling for consideration of “a workable, fair and reasonable mandatory service requirement for all able young people.” It anticipates the possibility of requiring “all individuals in the United States” to perform such service, including elementary school students.

Roubini Says Stocks Will Drop as Banks Go ‘Belly Up’

March 26, 2009 by Infinite

Yes, this is a bear-market rally and it will end.

Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics at New York University, pauses during an interview in Hong Kong, on March 3, 2009. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg News

March 26 (Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks will fall and the government will nationalize more banks as the economy contracts through the end of 2009, said Nouriel Roubini, the New York University professor who predicted last year’s economic crisis.

“The stock market is a bit ahead of the real macroeconomic and financial news,” Roubini, a professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business and the chairman of consulting firm Roubini Global Economics, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television in London today. “We’ll have some major banks going belly up that will need to be taken over.”

The global equity rebound in March that sent the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index to its best monthly advance in 17 years is a “bear-market rally” and U.S. Treasury yields will “remain relatively low” as investors flock to the safest assets, Roubini said. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s new plan to remove toxic debt from financial companies won’t be enough for insolvent banks, he said.

Geithner Calls for ‘New Rules of the Game’ in Finance

March 26, 2009 by Infinite

Wow.

Timothy Geithner, U.S. treasury secretary, testifies at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, March 26, 2009. Photographer: Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg News

March 26 (Bloomberg) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said regulation of the U.S. financial system needs a broad overhaul to heal a crippling lack of confidence caused by the credit crisis.

“To address this will require comprehensive reform,” Geithner said at a House Financial Services Committee hearing. “Not modest repairs at the margin, but new rules of the game.”

Geithner’s proposals would bring large hedge funds, private-equity firms and derivatives markets under federal supervision for the first time. A new systemic risk regulator would have powers to force companies to boost their capital or curtail borrowing, and officials would get the authority to seize them if they run into trouble.

Do the Secret Bush Memos Amount to Treason? Top Constitutional Scholar Says Yes

March 26, 2009 by Infinite

In case you have missed this: G. W. Bush and Adolf Hitler signed a Directive 51

Legal expert Michael Ratner calls the legal arguments made in the infamous Yoo memos, “Fuhrer’s law.”

In early March, more shocking details emerged about George W. Bush legal counsel John Yoo’s memos outlining the destruction of the republic.

The memos lay the legal groundwork for the president to send the military to wage war against U.S. citizens; take them from their homes to Navy brigs without trial and keep them forever; close down the First Amendment; and invade whatever country he chooses without regard to any treaty or objection by Congress.

Swiss banks ban top executive travel, because of fears they will be detained

March 26, 2009 by Infinite

Switzerland’s private banks have started to ban their top executives from travelling abroad, even to neighbouring France and Germany, because of fears they will be detained as part of a global crackdown on bank secrecy.

The head of one leading private bank in Geneva said the growing determination of countries such as the US and Germany to tackle tax evasion and secrecy meant banks felt they had to take extra measures to protect employees.

“Some banks have taken this precaution,” he said. “If today I go to Germany to visit two banks I deal with…German customs can take me in and question me.”

The travel bans, which have not been brought in by all banks, have focused on those visiting the US, following the detention there last year of a senior private banker from UBS, Switzerland’s biggest bank, as part of a federal tax investigation.

The head of the private bank, which itself has no travel restrictions, said: “Today if you are a banker from Switzerland going to the US you have to fear you will be taken in for questioning. I am thinking twice about going to America.”

However, four people in the private banking industry in Geneva told the Financial Times of banks bringing in total travel bans for staff, even for adjoining European countries.

“Private bankers aren’t even travelling to France. The partners are not leaving Geneva at all,” said a senior industry figure close to several private banks. No bank contacted by the Financial Times wanted to discuss the matter publicly.

The restrictions come ahead of next week’s Group of 20 summit where a clampdown on tax havens is set to be discussed.

Now Big Brother targets Facebook

March 25, 2009 by Infinite

Minister wants government database to monitor social networking sites

Millions of Britons who use social networking sites such as Facebook could soon have their every move monitored by the Government and saved on a “Big Brother” database.

Ministers faced a civil liberties outcry last night over the plans, with accusations of excessive snooping on the private lives of law-abiding citizens.

Pentagon exploring robot killers that can fire on their own

March 25, 2009 by Infinite

“We are sleepwalking into a brave new world where robots decide who, where and when to kill,” said Noel Sharkey, an expert on robotics and artificial intelligence at the University of Sheffield, England.

WASHINGTON — The unmanned bombers that frequently cause unintended civilian casualties in Pakistan are a step toward an even more lethal generation of robotic hunters-killers that operate with limited, if any, human control.

The Defense Department is financing studies of autonomous, or self-governing, armed robots that could find and destroy targets on their own. On-board computer programs, not flesh-and-blood people, would decide whether to fire their weapons.

“The trend is clear: Warfare will continue and autonomous robots will ultimately be deployed in its conduct,” Ronald Arkin, a robotics expert at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, wrote in a study commissioned by the Army.

“The pressure of an increasing battlefield tempo is forcing autonomy further and further toward the point of robots making that final, lethal decision,” he predicted. “The time available to make the decision to shoot or not to shoot is becoming too short for remote humans to make intelligent informed decisions.”

Despite Obama’s Vow, Combat Brigades Will Stay in Iraq

March 25, 2009 by Infinite

WASHINGTON, Mar 25 (IPS) – Despite President Barack Obama’s statement at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina Feb. 27 that he had “chosen a timeline that will remove our combat brigades over the next 18 months,” a number of Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs), which have been the basic U.S. Army combat unit in Iraq for six years, will remain in Iraq after that date under a new non-combat label.

A spokesman for Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates, Lt. Col. Patrick S. Ryder, told IPS Tuesday that “several advisory and assistance brigades” would be part of a U.S. command in Iraq that will be “re-designated” as a “transition force headquarters” after August 2010.

But the “advisory and assistance brigades” to remain in Iraq after that date will in fact be the same as BCTs, except for the addition of a few dozen officers who would carry out the advice and assistance missions, according to military officials involved in the planning process.

Gates has hinted that the withdrawal of combat brigades will be accomplished through an administrative sleight of hand rather than by actually withdrawing all the combat brigade teams. Appearing on Meet the Press Mar. 1, Gates said the “transition force” would have “a very different kind of mission”, and that the units remaining in Iraq “will be characterised differently”.

“They will be called advisory and assistance brigades,” said Gates. “They won’t be called combat brigades.”

Mexico drugs war: Cartels recruit child assassins

March 25, 2009March 25, 2009 by Infinite

Special Report: In Ciudad Juarez, North America’s most dangerous city, the warring drug cartels have found a new weapon even more effective than rocket launchers or grenades.

Army soldiers arrive to patrol Ciudad Juarez, Mexico Photo: AP

The new addition to the world’s most bloodthirsty gangs are sicaritos, or child assassins.

As guerrilla forces have discovered in Africa, 13 and 14-year-old children on the margins of society make fearless killers. In Juarez, now Mexico’s drug addict capital, they are almost certain to be high on crack cocaine.

Around 80 per cent of the 2,000 people killed in the past 14 months in this border city have been aged under 25.

The city of 1.8 million people, separated by just a bridge over the Rio Grande from El Paso in Texas, sits on a major drug route and has been the epicentre of the brutal drug violence gripping Mexico and increasingly creeping over the border into the United States.

Related article: FBI deployed by US to fight Mexican drug lords (Guardian)

In a city now empty of the Americans who used to flock here for the lively bars and flea markets, taxi drivers can instead offer visitors a macabre tour of the many murder spots as well as streets where drug deals can be seen being conducted within yards of the local police.

In one street alone, home to a strip of non-descript, cartel-owned bars, 16 people have been killed in the past two months.

Usually, the gunmen – teenagers among them – will saunter in and spray indiscriminately with AK-47 assault rifles, hitting both their targets and innocent bystanders. Few suspects are ever arrested as the local police are often working for the same cartels.

Global News (03/25/09)

March 25, 2009March 25, 2009 by Infinite

– Straight from the teapot, a golden anti-cancer brew (Daily Mail):
Teapots could be used to brew ‘golden’ anti-cancer drugs, scientists believe. Researchers have used a pot of Darjeeling to turn gold salts into tiny particles of gold, capable of easing their way into cancerous cells. The golden nanoparticles, each thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair, could be used to zap tumours, the U.S. researchers say.

– “Reclusive” Ex-CIA Contractor Killed on Loudoun County Trail (NBC):
A man killed while apparently exercising with his wife on a trail in Loudoun County over the weekend had worked for the CIA until 2000, sources said. Early Sunday morning, deputies found William Bennett’s body in a grassy area next to Riverside Parkway in the Lansdowne area. His wife, Cynthia Bennett, was found injured nearby. She was airlifted to an area hospital, where she remains in critical condition, unable to talk.

– Police raid home of Wikileaks.de domain owner over censorship lists (WikiLeaks)

– Double atomic bomb survivor found in Japan (Telegraph):
A 93-year-old Japanese man has become the first person to be officially recognised as a survivor of both atomic bombs dropped on Japan by the United States at the end of the Second World War.

– Oxford pupils to text school nurse for morning-after pill (Times Online):
Schoolgirls will be able to request the morning-after pill by text message to their school nurse as part of a scheme being introduced this year.

– Police uncover ‘Aladdin’s cave of criminality’ (Independent):
A police raid on three safe deposit vaults in salubrious London neighbourhoods has uncovered an “Aladdin’s cave of criminality” including ivory smuggling, child pornography and murder that has sparked more than 1,000 inquiries around the world, Scotland Yard has said.

– Czech Government’s Collapse Hits the EU (TIME)

– Czech Republic joins East Europe’s falling dominoes (Times):
The economic crisis sweeping Central and Eastern Europe has claimed a third victim in a month after the Czech government lost a vote of no confidence on Tuesday night in a drama that risks setting off a fresh round of investor flight from the region.

– Fears of unrest in eastern Europe grow as Czech government collapses (Independent):
The collapse of the Czech government sent shivers through financial markets in eastern Europe yesterday fanning fears about the growing political unrest that appears to be sweeping through the EU’s eastern fringes.

– Russia ‘Concerned’ About Safety of Pakistan’s Nuclear Arsenal (Bloomberg)

– US willing to look at China currency proposal (Financial Times):
“It’s been a tough few weeks for Mr Geithner, but if there is a lesson from today, it is that the dollar is on thin ice and any loose talk will be quickly punished,” said Chris Turner, a strategist at ING Capital Markets.

– UN urges $1,000bn for developing world (Financial Times):
Ban Ki-moon, United Nations secretary-general, on Wednesday called on Group of 20 leaders to support a $1,000bn stimulus package for developing countries threatened by the global financial crisis.

Sir Fred Goodwin attack: Bank Bosses Are Criminals group claims responsbility

March 25, 2009 by Infinite

Sir Fred Goodwin is just a small pawn in the chess game of money, power and control.

A group calling itself Bank Bosses Are Criminals has claimed responsibility for vandalising the Edinburgh home of Sir Fred Goodwin, the disgraced former chief executive of RBS bank.

In an email sent to local newspapers, the group called for bank bosses to be jailed and warned: “This is just the beginning”.

The attack saw the windows of Sir Fred’s home, in Edinburgh’s upmarket Morningside area, smashed, along with those of a dark-coloured Mercedes S600 saloon parked in the driveway.

UK Baroness: “The constant accusation of Anti-Semitism to silence Israels critics is vindictive”

March 25, 2009 by Infinite

16. März 2009
Source: YouTube

AIPAC rules not only America

EU presidency: US and UK economic recovery plans are a way to hell

March 25, 2009 by Infinite

Barack Obama and Gordon Brown’s plans to increase spending on economic recovery have been described as “a road to hell” by the European Union presidency.

Mirek Topolanek: Mr Topolanek warned the European Parliament that the Obama administration’s stimulus package and financial bail-out ‘will undermine the stability of the global financial market’ Photo: GETTY

Internal European divisions are growing over the Prime Minister and US President’s strategies to fight the economic crisis just one week before a critical G20 summit in London.

Mirek Topolanek, the Czech prime minister who is running a caretaker EU presidency after the collapse of his government on Tuesday, highlighted European splits over fiscal stimulus plans promoted by Mr Obama, with Mr Brown’s support.

Mr Topolanek warned the European Parliament that the Obama administration’s stimulus package and financial bail-out “will undermine the stability of the global financial market”.

“All of these steps, these combinations and permanency is the way to hell,” he told Euro-MPs in Strasbourg

“We need to read the history books and the lessons of history and the biggest success of the EU is the refusal to go this way.”

His comments reveal European disunity just eight days ahead of the G20 summit of the world’s industrialised countries in London next Thursday.

Deflation? Not if you’re buying food

March 25, 2009 by Infinite

Some grocery prices have almost doubled in the past year, despite the Retail Price Index falling to zero.

See the whole table (pdf)

Anyone shopping at their supermarket today will be tempted to scoff at the revelation that prices have not risen at all over the past year, according to the Retail Price Index (RPI).

Some foods have almost doubled in price since this time last year, figures from The Telegraph’s Real Cost of Living Index (RCLI) show. Cucumber portions, for example, have risen by 88pc, while staples such as mince beef (up by 48pc) and Basmati rice (43pc higher) have also become much more expensive.

Other foodstuffs to have risen sharply in price include strawberry jam (up by 34pc), baked beans (32pc), Golden Delicious apples (29pc) and bolognese sauce (27pc), according to the index.

But the RCLI overall shows that the cost of living has fallen by 4.3pc since this time last year. The difference is explained by the other constituents of the index, household bills and transport costs, which fell by 8pc and 11pc on average over the same period.

U.K. Bond Auction Fails for First Time Since 2002

March 25, 2009 by Infinite

March 25 (Bloomberg) — The U.K. failed to find enough buyers for 1.75 billion pounds ($2.55 billion) of bonds for the first time in almost seven years as debt investors repudiated Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s plan to stem the worst economic crisis in three decades.

Gilts slumped after the London-based Debt Management Office, which manages bond auctions on behalf of the Treasury, said investors bid for 1.63 billion pounds of the 40-year securities. The last time the U.K. government was unable to attract enough investors was in 2002 when it tried to sell 30- year inflation-protected bonds. The yield on the 4.25 percent gilt due 2049 rose 10 basis points to 4.55 percent.

Brown’s government aims to sell a record 146.4 billion pounds of debt this fiscal year and as much as 147.9 billion pounds in 2010 as he tries to pull Europe’s second-largest economy out of its worst recession since 1980. The prime minister’s plan drew criticism yesterday when Bank of England Governor Mervyn King told lawmakers in Parliament in London the government should be “cautious” about spending and deficits.

“This is a warning signal investors are sending to the government,” said Neil Mackinnon, chief economist at hedge fund ECU Group Plc in London, who helps manage about $1 billion in assets and is a former U.K. Treasury official. “Investors are giving the thumbs down to the gilt market.”

Japan Exports Drop Record 49% as Global Slump Deepens

March 24, 2009 by Infinite

Vehicles bound for shipment wait in a lot in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan on Jan. 16, 2009. Photographer: Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/Bloomberg News

March 25 (Bloomberg) — Japan’s exports plunged a record 49.4 percent in February as deepening recessions in the U.S. and Europe sapped demand for the country’s cars and electronics.

Shipments to the U.S., the country’s biggest market, tumbled an unprecedented 58.4 percent from a year earlier, the Finance Ministry said today in Tokyo. Automobile exports tumbled 70.9 percent.

The collapse signals gross domestic product may shrink this quarter at a similar pace to the annualized 12.1 percent contraction posted in the previous three months, the sharpest since 1974. Prime Minister Taro Aso is compiling his third stimulus package as companies from Toyota Motor Corp. to Panasonic Corp. fire thousands of workers.

US tried to gag British man tortured in Guantanamo

March 24, 2009 by Infinite

Captive told he would be freed if he pleaded guilty and agreed not to speak to media

‘The facts reflect the way the US government has tried to cover up… the torture’ said Clive Stafford Smith, Director of legal group Reprieve

The American government tried to force a British resident held at Guantanamo Bay to drop allegations of torture in return for his release, court documents published yesterday revealed.

Binyam Mohamed, 30, held by the US for nearly seven years, was told by the American military that he could win his freedom if he pleaded guilty to terrorism charges, ended his High Court case to prove his claims of torture and agreed not to speak to the media about his ordeal. He rejected the deal.

Details of the extraordinary plea bargain were seized on by Mr Mohamed’s lawyers as further evidence to support his allegations that he was illegally detained and brutally tortured after his capture by Pakistani and US security agents in 2002.

The document released by the High Court in London reveals that the plea bargain was offered last year while Mr Mohamed was held in the US naval base in Cuba, but after terrorism allegations against him had been dropped. Mr Mohamed was eventually released from Guantanamo Bay this year and allowed to return home.

U.S. fund for developing electric cars is untouched

March 24, 2009 by Infinite

WASHINGTON: The future of the American auto industry is getting off to a slow start.

The U.S. Energy Department has $25 billion to make loans to hasten the arrival of the next generation of automotive technology – electric-powered cars. But no money has been allocated so far, even though the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan program, established in 2007, has received applications from 75 companies, including start-ups as well as the three Detroit automakers.

With General Motors and Chrysler making repeat visits to Washington to ask for bailout money to stave off insolvency, some members of Congress are starting to ask why the Energy Department money is not yet flowing. The loans also are intended to help fulfill President Barack Obama’s campaign promise of putting one million electric cars on American roads by 2015.

“Politicians are breaking down the door asking why the money isn’t being sent out,” said Michael Carr, counsel to the Senate Energy Committee, which oversees the Energy Department.