Seymour Hersh: Secret US Forces Carried Out Assassinations in a Dozen Countries, Including in Latin America
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh created a stir earlier this month when he said the Bush administration ran an “executive assassination ring” that reported directly to Vice President Dick Cheney. “Under President Bush’s authority, they’ve been going into countries, not talking to the ambassador or to the CIA station chief, and finding people on a list and executing them and leaving,” Hersh said.
There’s more—at least a dozen countries and perhaps more. The President has authorized these kinds of actions in the Middle East and also in Latin America, I will tell you, Central America, some countries. They’ve been—our boys have been told they can go and take the kind of executive action they need, and that’s simply—there’s no legal basis for it.
for complete articles:
Seymour Hersh: Secret US Forces Carried Out Assassinations in a Dozen Counties, Including in Latin America
March 31, 2009
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/31/seymour_hersh_secret_us_forces_carried
Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh describes 'executive assassination ring'
March 11, 2009
http://www.minnpost.com/ericblackblog/2009/03/11/7310/investigative_reporter_seymour_hersh_describes_executive_assassination_ring
31 March 2009
Vast Spy System Infiltrates and Controls Computers in 103 Countries
Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries
A vast electronic spying operation [called GhostNet] has infiltrated computers and has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama, Canadian researchers have concluded.
In a report to be issued this weekend, the researchers said that the system was being controlled from computers based almost exclusively in China, but that they could not say conclusively that the Chinese government was involved.
While one of the reports remains mute on the identity of the perpetrators, the other has no such qualms, warning that the Chinese government ran a series of cyber attacks on Tibetan exile groups. The Chinese foreign ministry could not be reached for comment...But the authors of Tracking GhostNet argue that things may not be as they seem in the world of electronic espionage. "We're a bit more careful about it, knowing the nuance of what happens in the subterranean realms," said Ronald Deibert from the University of Toronto. "This could well be the CIA or the Russians. It's a murky realm that we're lifting the lid on."...
Their sleuthing opened a window into a broader operation that, in less than two years, has infiltrated at least 1,295 computers in 103 countries, including many belonging to embassies, foreign ministries and other government offices, as well as the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan exile centers in India, Brussels, London and New York...The 10-month investigation also detected bugged computers in the foreign ministries of several countries, including Iran and Indonesia, and in the embassies of India, South Korea, Taiwan, Portugal, Germany and Pakistan...
The malware is remarkable both for its sweep — in computer jargon, it has not been merely “phishing” for random consumers’ information, but “whaling” for particular important targets — and for its Big Brother-style capacities. It can, for example, turn on the camera and audio-recording functions of an infected computer, enabling monitors to see and hear what goes on in a room. The investigators say they do not know if this facet has been employed.
for complete articles:
Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries
March 28, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/technology/29spy.html?ref=asia
China accused over global computer spy ring
March 30, 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/30/china-dalai-lama-spying-computers
A vast electronic spying operation [called GhostNet] has infiltrated computers and has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama, Canadian researchers have concluded.
In a report to be issued this weekend, the researchers said that the system was being controlled from computers based almost exclusively in China, but that they could not say conclusively that the Chinese government was involved.
While one of the reports remains mute on the identity of the perpetrators, the other has no such qualms, warning that the Chinese government ran a series of cyber attacks on Tibetan exile groups. The Chinese foreign ministry could not be reached for comment...But the authors of Tracking GhostNet argue that things may not be as they seem in the world of electronic espionage. "We're a bit more careful about it, knowing the nuance of what happens in the subterranean realms," said Ronald Deibert from the University of Toronto. "This could well be the CIA or the Russians. It's a murky realm that we're lifting the lid on."...
Their sleuthing opened a window into a broader operation that, in less than two years, has infiltrated at least 1,295 computers in 103 countries, including many belonging to embassies, foreign ministries and other government offices, as well as the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan exile centers in India, Brussels, London and New York...The 10-month investigation also detected bugged computers in the foreign ministries of several countries, including Iran and Indonesia, and in the embassies of India, South Korea, Taiwan, Portugal, Germany and Pakistan...
The malware is remarkable both for its sweep — in computer jargon, it has not been merely “phishing” for random consumers’ information, but “whaling” for particular important targets — and for its Big Brother-style capacities. It can, for example, turn on the camera and audio-recording functions of an infected computer, enabling monitors to see and hear what goes on in a room. The investigators say they do not know if this facet has been employed.
for complete articles:
Vast Spy System Loots Computers in 103 Countries
March 28, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/technology/29spy.html?ref=asia
China accused over global computer spy ring
March 30, 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/30/china-dalai-lama-spying-computers
24 March 2009
One-Third of U.S. Birds Are Endangered
One-third of US birds are endangered, says conservation report
Energy production deriving from wind, ethanol and mountain-top coal mining contributing to steep drops in bird populations
Nearly one-third of US birds are endangered, threatened or in significant decline, according to a government conservation report.
It says the findings are "a warning signal of the failing health of our ecosystems" and reports that birds in Hawaii, the most bird-rich state, are "in crisis".
The authors say that energy production deriving from wind, ethanol and mountain-top coal mining is contributing to steep drops in bird populations.
The State of the Birds report chronicles a four-decade decline in many of the country's bird populations and provides many reasons for it, from suburban sprawl to the spread of exotic species to global warming.
In the last 40 years, populations of birds living on prairies, deserts and at sea have declined between 30-40%.
But in almost every case, energy production has also played a role.
March 20, 2009
For complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/20/america-endangered-birds
Energy production deriving from wind, ethanol and mountain-top coal mining contributing to steep drops in bird populations
Nearly one-third of US birds are endangered, threatened or in significant decline, according to a government conservation report.
It says the findings are "a warning signal of the failing health of our ecosystems" and reports that birds in Hawaii, the most bird-rich state, are "in crisis".
The authors say that energy production deriving from wind, ethanol and mountain-top coal mining is contributing to steep drops in bird populations.
The State of the Birds report chronicles a four-decade decline in many of the country's bird populations and provides many reasons for it, from suburban sprawl to the spread of exotic species to global warming.
In the last 40 years, populations of birds living on prairies, deserts and at sea have declined between 30-40%.
But in almost every case, energy production has also played a role.
March 20, 2009
For complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/20/america-endangered-birds
23 March 2009
Perfect Storm of Environmental and Economic Collapse Closer Than You Think
Perfect Storm of Environmental and Economic Collapse Closer Than You Think
Green measures have to be at the heart of any financial rescue packages if we are to avoid catastrophe
A "perfect storm" of food shortages, scarce water and high-cost energy will hit the global economy before 2030, said the [UK] government's chief scientific adviser, John Beddington, last week. Factor in accelerating climate change and this lethal cocktail leads to public unrest, cross-border conflict and mass migration – in other words, an economic and political collapse that will make today's economic recession seem very tame indeed. But though I totally agree with John Beddington's analysis, I think he's got the timing wrong. This "perfect storm" will hit much closer to 2020 than 2030.
...people seem blind to the fact that the causes of the economic collapse are exactly the same as those behind today's ecological crisis – and behind accelerating climate change in particular. As Adair Turner's first report as chair of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) demonstrates, the neo-liberal obsession with deregulation has done untold damage to capital markets. But people should understand that the same deregulatory fervour has caused untold damage to the natural environment, all around the world, for the past 20 years or more.
It's exactly the same when one looks at the unholy trinity that has made today's capital markets so spuriously dynamic: mispricing of risk, misallocation of capital, and misalignment of incentives. Catastrophic impacts on markets; catastrophic impacts on the environment.
There is a simple conclusion here: the self-same abuses of debt-driven "casino capitalism" that have caused the global economy to collapse are what lie behind the impending collapse of the life-support systems on which we all ultimately depend.
As regards appropriate remedies, the link between today's recession and the perfect storm that awaits us in 2020/30 couldn't be clearer: sort out today's calamity by investing in infrastructure and technologies to help avoid tomorrow's infinitely worse calamity. In other words, a massive "green recovery package" along the lines we are now seeing in the US, South Korea and other European countries, focusing on energy efficiency, renewables, smart energy grids, new transportation solutions and so on.
March 23, 2008
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/23/jonathon-porritt-recession-climate-crisis
Green measures have to be at the heart of any financial rescue packages if we are to avoid catastrophe
A "perfect storm" of food shortages, scarce water and high-cost energy will hit the global economy before 2030, said the [UK] government's chief scientific adviser, John Beddington, last week. Factor in accelerating climate change and this lethal cocktail leads to public unrest, cross-border conflict and mass migration – in other words, an economic and political collapse that will make today's economic recession seem very tame indeed. But though I totally agree with John Beddington's analysis, I think he's got the timing wrong. This "perfect storm" will hit much closer to 2020 than 2030.
...people seem blind to the fact that the causes of the economic collapse are exactly the same as those behind today's ecological crisis – and behind accelerating climate change in particular. As Adair Turner's first report as chair of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) demonstrates, the neo-liberal obsession with deregulation has done untold damage to capital markets. But people should understand that the same deregulatory fervour has caused untold damage to the natural environment, all around the world, for the past 20 years or more.
It's exactly the same when one looks at the unholy trinity that has made today's capital markets so spuriously dynamic: mispricing of risk, misallocation of capital, and misalignment of incentives. Catastrophic impacts on markets; catastrophic impacts on the environment.
There is a simple conclusion here: the self-same abuses of debt-driven "casino capitalism" that have caused the global economy to collapse are what lie behind the impending collapse of the life-support systems on which we all ultimately depend.
As regards appropriate remedies, the link between today's recession and the perfect storm that awaits us in 2020/30 couldn't be clearer: sort out today's calamity by investing in infrastructure and technologies to help avoid tomorrow's infinitely worse calamity. In other words, a massive "green recovery package" along the lines we are now seeing in the US, South Korea and other European countries, focusing on energy efficiency, renewables, smart energy grids, new transportation solutions and so on.
March 23, 2008
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/23/jonathon-porritt-recession-climate-crisis
Jeffrey Sachs: World Economy Needs Overhaul Toward Sustainability to Avoid Worse Crisis
Dig for Victory
by Jeffrey Sachs
The global economic crisis will be with us for a generation, not just a year or two, because it is really a transition to sustainability. The scarcity of primary commodities and damage from climate change in recent years helped destabilise the world economy and gave rise to the current crisis. Soaring food and fuel prices and major natural disasters played an important role in undermining financial markets, household purchasing power, and even political stability.
So an essential policy that developed and developing countries should pursue in overcoming the crisis is to build infrastructure suitable for the 21st century. This includes an efficient electricity grid fed by renewable energy; fibre and wireless networks that carry telephony and broadband internet; water, irrigation, and sewage systems that efficiently use and recycle fresh water; urban and inter-city public transit systems; safer roads; and networks of protected natural areas that conserve biodiversity and the habitats of threatened species.
These investments are needed in the short term to offset the decline in worldwide consumption spending that underlies the global recession. More importantly, they are needed in the long term, because a world of 6.8bn people (and rising) simply cannot sustain economic growth unless it adopts sustainable technologies that economise on scarce natural resources.
...every part of the world has a huge backlog of vital infrastructure investments. It is time for a concerted global effort to bring those projects on line...
...American and European economic advisers generally believe that a short sharp stimulus will be enough to restore economic growth. This is wrong. What will be needed is an overhaul of the world economy towards sustainability.
...policymakers in the rich world believe that they can continue to neglect the developing world or leave it to its fate in global markets. This is also a recipe for global failure, and even future conflict. Developed countries will have to do far more to help poor countries through the transition to sustainability. Whereas most of the"stimulus" legislation to date has been short term and inward-looking, increased funding for sustainable infrastructure in poor countries would provide a powerful boost to richer economies...
The G20 meeting in London on 2 April offers hope for a true global effort to repair the failing world economy. This is the time and place to launch the global drive toward sustainability. If we fail to meet the challenge, the global crisis will endanger the world for years to come.
March 23, 2008
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/20/g20-globalrecession
by Jeffrey Sachs
The global economic crisis will be with us for a generation, not just a year or two, because it is really a transition to sustainability. The scarcity of primary commodities and damage from climate change in recent years helped destabilise the world economy and gave rise to the current crisis. Soaring food and fuel prices and major natural disasters played an important role in undermining financial markets, household purchasing power, and even political stability.
So an essential policy that developed and developing countries should pursue in overcoming the crisis is to build infrastructure suitable for the 21st century. This includes an efficient electricity grid fed by renewable energy; fibre and wireless networks that carry telephony and broadband internet; water, irrigation, and sewage systems that efficiently use and recycle fresh water; urban and inter-city public transit systems; safer roads; and networks of protected natural areas that conserve biodiversity and the habitats of threatened species.
These investments are needed in the short term to offset the decline in worldwide consumption spending that underlies the global recession. More importantly, they are needed in the long term, because a world of 6.8bn people (and rising) simply cannot sustain economic growth unless it adopts sustainable technologies that economise on scarce natural resources.
...every part of the world has a huge backlog of vital infrastructure investments. It is time for a concerted global effort to bring those projects on line...
...American and European economic advisers generally believe that a short sharp stimulus will be enough to restore economic growth. This is wrong. What will be needed is an overhaul of the world economy towards sustainability.
...policymakers in the rich world believe that they can continue to neglect the developing world or leave it to its fate in global markets. This is also a recipe for global failure, and even future conflict. Developed countries will have to do far more to help poor countries through the transition to sustainability. Whereas most of the"stimulus" legislation to date has been short term and inward-looking, increased funding for sustainable infrastructure in poor countries would provide a powerful boost to richer economies...
The G20 meeting in London on 2 April offers hope for a true global effort to repair the failing world economy. This is the time and place to launch the global drive toward sustainability. If we fail to meet the challenge, the global crisis will endanger the world for years to come.
March 23, 2008
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/20/g20-globalrecession
Dalai Lama Banned in South Africa Conference Due to Chinese Pressure Causes Protest
Dalai Lama's South Africa conference ban causes uproar
Nobel winners Desmond Tutu and FW de Clerk to boycott anti-racism conference in World Cup run-up after Chinese pressure forces ban on Tibetan spiritual leader
Two of South Africa's Nobel peace prize winners, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and FW de Klerk, have pulled out of a Johannesburg conference to fight racism after what they branded as Pretoria's "disgraceful" decision to ban the Dalai Lama from attending following Chinese pressure.
The Nobel peace prize committee also said it would boycott this Friday's conference, which is dedicated to tackling racism ahead of the 2010 World Cup.
The row threatens to draw in Nelson Mandela, who, with his fellow South African laureates, invited the Tibetan spiritual leader, and further embarrasses South Africa, which has been accused of squandering its moral authority since ending apartheid by blocking UN security council moves to pressure rogue governments in Burma and Zimbabwe.
"South Africa is a sovereign constitutional democracy and should not allow other countries to dictate to it regarding who it should and should not admit to its territory," the [FW de Klerk Foundation] said in a statement.
The Tibetan government in exile in India today blamed "intense pressure" from China, which has become one of South Africa's largest trading partners. The claim was apparently confirmed by the Chinese embassy in Pretoria, where the minister counsellor, Dai Bing, was quoted as telling the South African media that his government had warned that allowing the Tibetan spiritual leader to attend the conference would damage bilateral relations.
But the South African government denied its decision had anything to do with Beijing. It said the Dalai Lama had been refused a visa because his presence would draw attention away from the World Cup preparations.
March 23, 2008
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/23/dalai-lama-south-africa-world-cup-ban
Nobel winners Desmond Tutu and FW de Clerk to boycott anti-racism conference in World Cup run-up after Chinese pressure forces ban on Tibetan spiritual leader
Two of South Africa's Nobel peace prize winners, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and FW de Klerk, have pulled out of a Johannesburg conference to fight racism after what they branded as Pretoria's "disgraceful" decision to ban the Dalai Lama from attending following Chinese pressure.
The Nobel peace prize committee also said it would boycott this Friday's conference, which is dedicated to tackling racism ahead of the 2010 World Cup.
The row threatens to draw in Nelson Mandela, who, with his fellow South African laureates, invited the Tibetan spiritual leader, and further embarrasses South Africa, which has been accused of squandering its moral authority since ending apartheid by blocking UN security council moves to pressure rogue governments in Burma and Zimbabwe.
"South Africa is a sovereign constitutional democracy and should not allow other countries to dictate to it regarding who it should and should not admit to its territory," the [FW de Klerk Foundation] said in a statement.
The Tibetan government in exile in India today blamed "intense pressure" from China, which has become one of South Africa's largest trading partners. The claim was apparently confirmed by the Chinese embassy in Pretoria, where the minister counsellor, Dai Bing, was quoted as telling the South African media that his government had warned that allowing the Tibetan spiritual leader to attend the conference would damage bilateral relations.
But the South African government denied its decision had anything to do with Beijing. It said the Dalai Lama had been refused a visa because his presence would draw attention away from the World Cup preparations.
March 23, 2008
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/23/dalai-lama-south-africa-world-cup-ban
22 March 2009
London Braces for Crippling Mass G20 Protests
Office staff warned of confrontation as City braces for mass G20 protests
Police forecast transport paralysis in capital as campaigners insist demonstrations against globalisation and climate change will be peaceful.
There are growing fears for the safety of people making their way to work on 1 and 2 April. A spokesman for the London Chamber of Commerce said: "Businesses might want to consider asking their staff not to dress in a suit and tie as a lot of the protesters say they're going to target bankers. Staff should check they have their security passes and think about staggering their start and finish times. They might want to postpone for a few days meetings which aren't absolutely necessary."
Transport could also be paralysed as anti-globalisation and climate change groups stage a coordinated series of demonstrations, gathering at railway stations and marching on the Square Mile for what has been dubbed "Financial Fools Day", the biggest public show of anger at bankers since the credit crisis began. They have already been undertaking practice runs and "recces" around the City in recent days.
Anti-capitalism groups believe the recession and spiralling unemployment will encourage an uprising not seen since the poll tax riots, causing embarrassment to Gordon Brown as he hosts world leaders. Chris Knight, of the leading protest group Government of the Dead, warned: "The revolution is coming. This is our time, and I honestly believe that the army, the police, will be so intent on keeping the ExCeL centre they will lose the City of London."
Businesses are braced for losses worth millions of pounds as commuters find themselves unable to reach offices or decide to stay at home. It will be the third major disruption in recent months following the extended Christmas break and the snowfall that wrought havoc.
A police operation involving more than 3,000 extra officers from six forces will cost an estimated £7.2m. Its leader, Commander Bob Broadhurst, said last week that activists are planning in an "unprecedented" way and are determined to "stop the City". He added that groups active in the late Nineties were re-emerging and forming new alliances. They are using technology such as Twitter feeds to mobilise in ways unthinkable only a decade ago.
"There will be a lot of people out there for whom this is the first opportunity to express their anger and look for another way of doing things. The anti-globalisation movement last time was doing it in the teeth of a boom. Now capitalism has floundered and people want an alternative to what we've had."
March 22, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/22/g20-anti-globalisation-protests
Police forecast transport paralysis in capital as campaigners insist demonstrations against globalisation and climate change will be peaceful.
There are growing fears for the safety of people making their way to work on 1 and 2 April. A spokesman for the London Chamber of Commerce said: "Businesses might want to consider asking their staff not to dress in a suit and tie as a lot of the protesters say they're going to target bankers. Staff should check they have their security passes and think about staggering their start and finish times. They might want to postpone for a few days meetings which aren't absolutely necessary."
Transport could also be paralysed as anti-globalisation and climate change groups stage a coordinated series of demonstrations, gathering at railway stations and marching on the Square Mile for what has been dubbed "Financial Fools Day", the biggest public show of anger at bankers since the credit crisis began. They have already been undertaking practice runs and "recces" around the City in recent days.
Anti-capitalism groups believe the recession and spiralling unemployment will encourage an uprising not seen since the poll tax riots, causing embarrassment to Gordon Brown as he hosts world leaders. Chris Knight, of the leading protest group Government of the Dead, warned: "The revolution is coming. This is our time, and I honestly believe that the army, the police, will be so intent on keeping the ExCeL centre they will lose the City of London."
Businesses are braced for losses worth millions of pounds as commuters find themselves unable to reach offices or decide to stay at home. It will be the third major disruption in recent months following the extended Christmas break and the snowfall that wrought havoc.
A police operation involving more than 3,000 extra officers from six forces will cost an estimated £7.2m. Its leader, Commander Bob Broadhurst, said last week that activists are planning in an "unprecedented" way and are determined to "stop the City". He added that groups active in the late Nineties were re-emerging and forming new alliances. They are using technology such as Twitter feeds to mobilise in ways unthinkable only a decade ago.
"There will be a lot of people out there for whom this is the first opportunity to express their anger and look for another way of doing things. The anti-globalisation movement last time was doing it in the teeth of a boom. Now capitalism has floundered and people want an alternative to what we've had."
March 22, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/22/g20-anti-globalisation-protests
G20 Warned Unrest and Poverty Will Sweep Globe
G20 warned unrest will sweep globe
A wave of social and political unrest could sweep through the world's poorest countries if G20 leaders fail to come to their aid, the World Bank warns today, as new research says the credit crunch will cost developing countries $750bn (£520bn) in lost output and drive millions more into poverty.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, managing director of the World Bank, is urging G20 leaders to use the London summit in less than a fortnight's time to help protect the developing world against the worst effects of the financial crisis.
"We have to look at the impact of this on low income countries. Otherwise, without wanting to sound alarmist, social unrest and political crisis could be the result. It's in the self-interest of everyone to prevent that," she told the Observer
Her stark warning came as a new report from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) said the collapse of the global economy would cost 90 million lives, lead to an increase to nearly a billion in the number of people going hungry and cost developing countries $750bn in lost growth.
"Tens of millions of people will be forced back below the poverty line. There will be irreversible effects on the very poorest," said Simon Maxwell, the ODI's director.
March 22, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/22/g20-global-economy
A wave of social and political unrest could sweep through the world's poorest countries if G20 leaders fail to come to their aid, the World Bank warns today, as new research says the credit crunch will cost developing countries $750bn (£520bn) in lost output and drive millions more into poverty.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, managing director of the World Bank, is urging G20 leaders to use the London summit in less than a fortnight's time to help protect the developing world against the worst effects of the financial crisis.
"We have to look at the impact of this on low income countries. Otherwise, without wanting to sound alarmist, social unrest and political crisis could be the result. It's in the self-interest of everyone to prevent that," she told the Observer
Her stark warning came as a new report from the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) said the collapse of the global economy would cost 90 million lives, lead to an increase to nearly a billion in the number of people going hungry and cost developing countries $750bn in lost growth.
"Tens of millions of people will be forced back below the poverty line. There will be irreversible effects on the very poorest," said Simon Maxwell, the ODI's director.
March 22, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/mar/22/g20-global-economy
18 March 2009
UK Colluded With US in Extraordinary Rendition of Suspects in Iraq
Hutton admits Iraq suspects were handed to US
[Members of Parliament] were given inaccurate information regarding the extraordinary rendition of terror suspects, the defence secretary, John Hutton, admitted yesterday as he confirmed for the first time that UK forces in Iraq handed over individuals to the US, which flew them to a prison in Afghanistan.
He said British forces in Iraq had undertaken operations "to capture individuals who were subsequently detained by the US". Specifically, he revealed that in February 2004 British soldiers - known to be SAS troops - handed over two terrorist suspects captured outside the UK-controlled zone covering south-eastern Iraq.
...the admission is deeply embarrassing to the government coming in the wake of the dispute over the suppression of evidence of UK collusion in the alleged torture of former British residents, including Binyam Mohamed released last week after more than four years in Guantánamo Bay.
Reprieve, the human rights group, said the government had confirmed what its investigators uncovered many months ago - "that the UK has colluded with the US in the illegal practice of extraordinary rendition". Its executive director Clare Algar said: "This government has misled us again and again.".
February 27, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/27/hutton-extraordinary-rendition
[Members of Parliament] were given inaccurate information regarding the extraordinary rendition of terror suspects, the defence secretary, John Hutton, admitted yesterday as he confirmed for the first time that UK forces in Iraq handed over individuals to the US, which flew them to a prison in Afghanistan.
He said British forces in Iraq had undertaken operations "to capture individuals who were subsequently detained by the US". Specifically, he revealed that in February 2004 British soldiers - known to be SAS troops - handed over two terrorist suspects captured outside the UK-controlled zone covering south-eastern Iraq.
...the admission is deeply embarrassing to the government coming in the wake of the dispute over the suppression of evidence of UK collusion in the alleged torture of former British residents, including Binyam Mohamed released last week after more than four years in Guantánamo Bay.
Reprieve, the human rights group, said the government had confirmed what its investigators uncovered many months ago - "that the UK has colluded with the US in the illegal practice of extraordinary rendition". Its executive director Clare Algar said: "This government has misled us again and again.".
February 27, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/27/hutton-extraordinary-rendition
UK Ministers Refuse to Answer Torture Questions
Ministers Refuse to Answer Torture Questions
Miliband and Smith snub human rights committee
MPs want head of MI5 to explain conduct of officers
The full extent of the complicity of the UK government in the US "war on terror" policy of torture and extraordinary rendition is now fast being uncovered. The foreign secretary, David Miliband, has exposed himself to allegations of lying to the high court about a threat from the US to withdraw co-operation in intelligence matters if documents about Binyam Mohammed were disclosed.
David Miliband and Jacqui Smith have both refused to appear before Parliament's human rights committee to answer questions about allegations of British collusion in the torture of British citizens and residents detained during counter-terrorism operations in Pakistan.
In a move that dismayed members of the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR), a joint letter from the foreign secretary and home secretary is also said to have failed to answer any of the eight questions that the committee asked about legal provisions offering MI5 officers immunity in the UK for crimes committed overseas.
A number of other Britons detained in Pakistan, who say they were questioned by British intelligence officers after being tortured by the ISI have been subsequently prosecuted, or deported to the UK and subjected to control orders.
Binyam Mohamed was detained in Pakistan in 2002 and questioned by MI5 officers before being "rendered" by the United States to Morocco, where his lawyers claim he suffered appalling torture, including having his genitals slashed with a razor. It emerged in court that MI5 passed material to the CIA that was used during his interrogation.
The ministers' refusal comes just weeks after Miliband moved to prevent the release of information from 42 US intelligence documents that the high court says contain "powerful evidence" of the torture of Binyam Mohamed and which may have revealed what British ministers knew of his treatment.
for complete articles:
Ministers refuse to answer torture questions
February 28, 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/feb/28/terrorism-human-rights
Governments must not escape public scrutiny on torture
February 17, 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/17/torture-whitehall
Miliband and Smith snub human rights committee
MPs want head of MI5 to explain conduct of officers
The full extent of the complicity of the UK government in the US "war on terror" policy of torture and extraordinary rendition is now fast being uncovered. The foreign secretary, David Miliband, has exposed himself to allegations of lying to the high court about a threat from the US to withdraw co-operation in intelligence matters if documents about Binyam Mohammed were disclosed.
David Miliband and Jacqui Smith have both refused to appear before Parliament's human rights committee to answer questions about allegations of British collusion in the torture of British citizens and residents detained during counter-terrorism operations in Pakistan.
In a move that dismayed members of the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR), a joint letter from the foreign secretary and home secretary is also said to have failed to answer any of the eight questions that the committee asked about legal provisions offering MI5 officers immunity in the UK for crimes committed overseas.
A number of other Britons detained in Pakistan, who say they were questioned by British intelligence officers after being tortured by the ISI have been subsequently prosecuted, or deported to the UK and subjected to control orders.
Binyam Mohamed was detained in Pakistan in 2002 and questioned by MI5 officers before being "rendered" by the United States to Morocco, where his lawyers claim he suffered appalling torture, including having his genitals slashed with a razor. It emerged in court that MI5 passed material to the CIA that was used during his interrogation.
The ministers' refusal comes just weeks after Miliband moved to prevent the release of information from 42 US intelligence documents that the high court says contain "powerful evidence" of the torture of Binyam Mohamed and which may have revealed what British ministers knew of his treatment.
for complete articles:
Ministers refuse to answer torture questions
February 28, 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/feb/28/terrorism-human-rights
Governments must not escape public scrutiny on torture
February 17, 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/feb/17/torture-whitehall
07 March 2009
Baxter International Inc. Sent Bird Flu Virus to European Labs by 'Error'
Baxter International Inc. Sent Bird Flu Virus to European Labs by 'Error'
Virus mix-up by lab could have resulted in pandemic
[Baxter International Inc.] released contaminated flu virus material from a plant in Austria confirmed Friday that the experimental product contained live H5N1 avian flu viruses.
“At this juncture we are confident in saying that public health and occupational risk is minimal at present,” medical officer Roberta Andraghetti said from Copenhagen, Denmark.
“But what remains unanswered are the circumstances surrounding the incident in the Baxter facility in Orth-Donau.”
The contaminated product, a mix of H3N2 seasonal flu viruses and unlabelled H5N1 viruses, was supplied to an Austrian research company. The Austrian firm, Avir Green Hills Biotechnology, then sent portions of it to sub-contractors in the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Germany.
The contamination incident, which is being investigated by the four European countries, came to light when the subcontractor in the Czech Republic inoculated ferrets with the product and they died. Ferrets shouldn’t die from exposure to human H3N2 flu viruses.
Public health authorities concerned about what has been described as a “serious error” on Baxter’s part have assumed the death of the ferrets meant the H5N1 virus in the product was live. But the company, Baxter International Inc., has been parsimonious about the amount of information it has released about the event.
Accidental release of a mixture of live H5N1 and H3N2 viruses could have resulted in dire consequences.
While H5N1 doesn’t easily infect people, H3N2 viruses do. If someone exposed to a mixture of the two had been simultaneously infected with both strains, he or she could have served as an incubator for a hybrid virus able to transmit easily to and among people.
Baxter hasn’t shed much light — at least not publicly — on how the accident happened. Earlier this week Bona called the mistake the result of a combination of “just the process itself, (and) technical and human error in this procedure.”
He said he couldn’t reveal more information because it would give away proprietary information about Baxter’s production process.
The H5N1 strain of avian flu has been monitored by health officials around the world for more than a decade for signs it could mutate into a form that is easily spread among humans. Currently, it passes mainly among infected poultry.
A flu pandemic of avian or other origin could kill more than 70 million people worldwide and lead to a “major global recession” costing more than $3 trillion, according to a worst- case scenario outlined by the World Bank in October.
H5N1 has infected at least 408 people in 15 countries since 2003, killing 63 percent of them, according to the Web site of the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO).
In March, 2007, Indonesia, which has had more human cases of avian flu than any other country, has stopped sending samples of the virus to the World Health Organization, apparently because it has reached a deal to sell the samples to an American vaccine company [Baxter International Inc.], an official with the WHO said.
Celvapan, the first cell culture-based H5N1 (avian flu) pandemic vaccine, which is produced by Baxter, is to be used if the WHO officially declares a pandemic.
In November, 2005, among President G. W. Bush's list of pandemic emergency measures was a call for Congress to appropriate $1 billion explicitly for Tamiflu. Some question the motives of the U.S. government's endorsement and planned purchase of Tamiflu, noting Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's close ties to Gilead Sciences, rightsholder to the oseltamivir (Tamiflu) patent. Rumsfeld is a former chairman of Gilead, and federal disclosure forms indicate that he owns between USD$5 million and USD$25 million in Gilead stock.
for complete articles:
Baxter Sent Bird Flu Virus to European Labs by 'Error'
February 24, 2009
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aTo3LbhcA75I#
Baxter: Product contained live bird flu virus
February 27, 2009
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/02/27/8560781.html
Virus mix-up by lab could have resulted in pandemic
March 6, 2009
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Science/Virus-mix-up-by-lab-could-have-resulted-in-pandemic/articleshow/4230882.cms
Bird Flu: A Corporate Bonanza for the Biotech Industry
November 6, 2005
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=ENG20051106&articleId=119
Indonesia sells its avian flu samples to U.S. company
February 7, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/07/news/flu.php
Baxter Receives EMEA Positive Opinion for CELVAPAN, The First Cell Culture-Based Pandemic Flu Vaccine
December 23, 2008
http://www.fiercebiotech.com/press-releases/baxter-receives-emea-positive-opinion-celvapan-first-cell-culture-based-pandemic-flu-
Virus mix-up by lab could have resulted in pandemic
[Baxter International Inc.] released contaminated flu virus material from a plant in Austria confirmed Friday that the experimental product contained live H5N1 avian flu viruses.
“At this juncture we are confident in saying that public health and occupational risk is minimal at present,” medical officer Roberta Andraghetti said from Copenhagen, Denmark.
“But what remains unanswered are the circumstances surrounding the incident in the Baxter facility in Orth-Donau.”
The contaminated product, a mix of H3N2 seasonal flu viruses and unlabelled H5N1 viruses, was supplied to an Austrian research company. The Austrian firm, Avir Green Hills Biotechnology, then sent portions of it to sub-contractors in the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Germany.
The contamination incident, which is being investigated by the four European countries, came to light when the subcontractor in the Czech Republic inoculated ferrets with the product and they died. Ferrets shouldn’t die from exposure to human H3N2 flu viruses.
Public health authorities concerned about what has been described as a “serious error” on Baxter’s part have assumed the death of the ferrets meant the H5N1 virus in the product was live. But the company, Baxter International Inc., has been parsimonious about the amount of information it has released about the event.
Accidental release of a mixture of live H5N1 and H3N2 viruses could have resulted in dire consequences.
While H5N1 doesn’t easily infect people, H3N2 viruses do. If someone exposed to a mixture of the two had been simultaneously infected with both strains, he or she could have served as an incubator for a hybrid virus able to transmit easily to and among people.
Baxter hasn’t shed much light — at least not publicly — on how the accident happened. Earlier this week Bona called the mistake the result of a combination of “just the process itself, (and) technical and human error in this procedure.”
He said he couldn’t reveal more information because it would give away proprietary information about Baxter’s production process.
The H5N1 strain of avian flu has been monitored by health officials around the world for more than a decade for signs it could mutate into a form that is easily spread among humans. Currently, it passes mainly among infected poultry.
A flu pandemic of avian or other origin could kill more than 70 million people worldwide and lead to a “major global recession” costing more than $3 trillion, according to a worst- case scenario outlined by the World Bank in October.
H5N1 has infected at least 408 people in 15 countries since 2003, killing 63 percent of them, according to the Web site of the Geneva-based World Health Organization (WHO).
In March, 2007, Indonesia, which has had more human cases of avian flu than any other country, has stopped sending samples of the virus to the World Health Organization, apparently because it has reached a deal to sell the samples to an American vaccine company [Baxter International Inc.], an official with the WHO said.
Celvapan, the first cell culture-based H5N1 (avian flu) pandemic vaccine, which is produced by Baxter, is to be used if the WHO officially declares a pandemic.
In November, 2005, among President G. W. Bush's list of pandemic emergency measures was a call for Congress to appropriate $1 billion explicitly for Tamiflu. Some question the motives of the U.S. government's endorsement and planned purchase of Tamiflu, noting Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's close ties to Gilead Sciences, rightsholder to the oseltamivir (Tamiflu) patent. Rumsfeld is a former chairman of Gilead, and federal disclosure forms indicate that he owns between USD$5 million and USD$25 million in Gilead stock.
for complete articles:
Baxter Sent Bird Flu Virus to European Labs by 'Error'
February 24, 2009
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aTo3LbhcA75I#
Baxter: Product contained live bird flu virus
February 27, 2009
http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2009/02/27/8560781.html
Virus mix-up by lab could have resulted in pandemic
March 6, 2009
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Health--Science/Science/Virus-mix-up-by-lab-could-have-resulted-in-pandemic/articleshow/4230882.cms
Bird Flu: A Corporate Bonanza for the Biotech Industry
November 6, 2005
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=ENG20051106&articleId=119
Indonesia sells its avian flu samples to U.S. company
February 7, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/07/news/flu.php
Baxter Receives EMEA Positive Opinion for CELVAPAN, The First Cell Culture-Based Pandemic Flu Vaccine
December 23, 2008
http://www.fiercebiotech.com/press-releases/baxter-receives-emea-positive-opinion-celvapan-first-cell-culture-based-pandemic-flu-
UK Government Plans to Keep DNA Samples of Innocent
Government plans to keep DNA samples of innocent
DNA samples of innocent to be kept on file
The government is planning to get around a European court ruling that condemned Britain's retention of the DNA profiles of more than 800,000 innocent people by keeping the original samples used to create the database, the Guardian has learned.
A damning ruling last December criticised the "blanket and indiscriminate nature" of the UK's current DNA database - which includes DNA from those never charged with an offence - and said the government had overstepped acceptable limits of storing data for crime detection.
Since its foundation in 1995, the database has become the world's largest. Of its 5 million entries, more than a million are children and 857,000 innocent people.
February 27, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/feb/27/dna-database-justice
DNA samples of innocent to be kept on file
The government is planning to get around a European court ruling that condemned Britain's retention of the DNA profiles of more than 800,000 innocent people by keeping the original samples used to create the database, the Guardian has learned.
A damning ruling last December criticised the "blanket and indiscriminate nature" of the UK's current DNA database - which includes DNA from those never charged with an offence - and said the government had overstepped acceptable limits of storing data for crime detection.
Since its foundation in 1995, the database has become the world's largest. Of its 5 million entries, more than a million are children and 857,000 innocent people.
February 27, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/feb/27/dna-database-justice
Police Databank on Thousands of Protesters in UK
Revealed: police databank on thousands of protesters
Films and details of campaigners and journalists may breach Human Rights Act
Shocking footage shot by police, accompanied by their own critical commentary, shows how their officers monitored campaigners and the media – and demanded personal information – at last August's climate camp demonstration in Kent Link to this video.
Police are targeting thousands of political campaigners in surveillance operations and storing their details on a database for at least seven years, an investigation by the Guardian can reveal.
Photographs, names and video footage of people attending protests are routinely obtained by surveillance units and stored on an "intelligence system". The Metropolitan police, which has pioneered surveillance at demonstrations and advises other forces on the tactic, stores details of protesters on Crimint, the general database used daily by all police staff to catalogue criminal intelligence. It lists campaigners by name, allowing police to search which demonstrations or political meetings individuals have attended.
Disclosures through the Freedom of Information Act, court testimony, an interview with a senior Met officer and police surveillance footage obtained by the Guardian have established that private information about activists gathered through surveillance is being stored without the knowledge of the people monitored.
Police surveillance teams are also targeting journalists who cover demonstrations, and are believed to have monitored members of the press during at least eight protests over the last year.
for complete articles:
Revealed: police databank on thousands of protesters
March 6, 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/06/police-surveillance-protesters-journalists-climate-kingsnorth
Caught on film and stored on database: how police keep tabs on activists
Police footage obtained by the Guardian has revealed the crude monitoring methods deployed across the country against protesters, thousands of whom have their personal details stored on criminal intelligence systems for up to seven years
March 6, 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/06/police-surveillance-database-activists-intelligence
Police surveillance: 'They're focusing on the press more than the protesters'
Videographer Jason Parkinson and photographer Jess Hurd describe to Paul Lewis how they are followed by police and questioned under terrorism legislation
March 6, 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/audio/2009/mar/06/surveillance-justice
Films and details of campaigners and journalists may breach Human Rights Act
Shocking footage shot by police, accompanied by their own critical commentary, shows how their officers monitored campaigners and the media – and demanded personal information – at last August's climate camp demonstration in Kent Link to this video.
Police are targeting thousands of political campaigners in surveillance operations and storing their details on a database for at least seven years, an investigation by the Guardian can reveal.
Photographs, names and video footage of people attending protests are routinely obtained by surveillance units and stored on an "intelligence system". The Metropolitan police, which has pioneered surveillance at demonstrations and advises other forces on the tactic, stores details of protesters on Crimint, the general database used daily by all police staff to catalogue criminal intelligence. It lists campaigners by name, allowing police to search which demonstrations or political meetings individuals have attended.
Disclosures through the Freedom of Information Act, court testimony, an interview with a senior Met officer and police surveillance footage obtained by the Guardian have established that private information about activists gathered through surveillance is being stored without the knowledge of the people monitored.
Police surveillance teams are also targeting journalists who cover demonstrations, and are believed to have monitored members of the press during at least eight protests over the last year.
for complete articles:
Revealed: police databank on thousands of protesters
March 6, 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/06/police-surveillance-protesters-journalists-climate-kingsnorth
Caught on film and stored on database: how police keep tabs on activists
Police footage obtained by the Guardian has revealed the crude monitoring methods deployed across the country against protesters, thousands of whom have their personal details stored on criminal intelligence systems for up to seven years
March 6, 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/06/police-surveillance-database-activists-intelligence
Police surveillance: 'They're focusing on the press more than the protesters'
Videographer Jason Parkinson and photographer Jess Hurd describe to Paul Lewis how they are followed by police and questioned under terrorism legislation
March 6, 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/audio/2009/mar/06/surveillance-justice
UK Government 'Using Fear as a Weapon to Erode Civil Liberties'
Government 'using fear as a weapon to erode civil liberties'
Britain on brink of becoming database police state, speakers tell Convention on Modern Liberty.
"There is a general feeling that in creating a climate of fear people have been writing a blank cheque to government. People feel the fear of terrorism is being used to take away a lot of rights." [said the human rights lawyer, Helena Kennedy].
[Kennedy] said voters were anxious that their communities were "being alienated" by the use of powers that were originally designed to protect national security but were now being used outside that remit. Now was the time for the electorate to make its feelings known to government, before the next election.
She said: "People are fearful of the general business of collecting too much information about individuals".
High on the list of concerns of many at the convention were the recent allegations against the British security services by the Guantànamo Bay torture victim Binyam Mohamed, plans for ID cards, DNA databases and surveillance powers being used by civil servants as well as the government.
February 28, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/28/civil-liberties-government-law-courts
Britain on brink of becoming database police state, speakers tell Convention on Modern Liberty.
"There is a general feeling that in creating a climate of fear people have been writing a blank cheque to government. People feel the fear of terrorism is being used to take away a lot of rights." [said the human rights lawyer, Helena Kennedy].
[Kennedy] said voters were anxious that their communities were "being alienated" by the use of powers that were originally designed to protect national security but were now being used outside that remit. Now was the time for the electorate to make its feelings known to government, before the next election.
She said: "People are fearful of the general business of collecting too much information about individuals".
High on the list of concerns of many at the convention were the recent allegations against the British security services by the Guantànamo Bay torture victim Binyam Mohamed, plans for ID cards, DNA databases and surveillance powers being used by civil servants as well as the government.
February 28, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/28/civil-liberties-government-law-courts
03 March 2009
Thousands Rally in U.S. for New Climate Change Law
Thousands Rally in US for New Climate Change Law
Several thousand demonstrators urged Congress on Monday to pass legislation to reduce greenhouse gases, and they targeted the government's own Capitol power plant as a symbol of the problem.
In Washington, D.C., more than 2,000 activists blocked the gates of a coal-fired power plant on Capitol Hill Monday in what was described as the largest display of civil disobedience on the climate crisis in US history. Police made no arrests. Days before the protest, congressional leaders said they want the Capitol Power Plant to drop coal and convert to natural gas. Protesters at the plant on Monday included NASA scientist James Hansen, the writer Wendell Berry and over 1,000 students who had attended the Power Shift conference on climate change.
for complete articles:
Anti-Coal Protesters Block Gates to Capitol Power Plant
March 2, 2009
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2009/2009-03-02-03.asp
Thousands rally in US for new climate change law
March 3, 2009
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/03/03/america/NA-US-Congress-Power-Plant.php
Climate Activists Block Gates to D.C. Coal Plant
March 3, 2009
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/3/headlines#5
Several thousand demonstrators urged Congress on Monday to pass legislation to reduce greenhouse gases, and they targeted the government's own Capitol power plant as a symbol of the problem.
In Washington, D.C., more than 2,000 activists blocked the gates of a coal-fired power plant on Capitol Hill Monday in what was described as the largest display of civil disobedience on the climate crisis in US history. Police made no arrests. Days before the protest, congressional leaders said they want the Capitol Power Plant to drop coal and convert to natural gas. Protesters at the plant on Monday included NASA scientist James Hansen, the writer Wendell Berry and over 1,000 students who had attended the Power Shift conference on climate change.
for complete articles:
Anti-Coal Protesters Block Gates to Capitol Power Plant
March 2, 2009
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2009/2009-03-02-03.asp
Thousands rally in US for new climate change law
March 3, 2009
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2009/03/03/america/NA-US-Congress-Power-Plant.php
Climate Activists Block Gates to D.C. Coal Plant
March 3, 2009
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/3/headlines#5
Fed Chief Warns Congress to Act Quickly on Economic Crisis
Fed chief warns Congress to act quickly
The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, told lawmakers Tuesday that the United States could be in for "a prolonged episode of economic stagnation" if they did not forcefully address the nation's financial crisis, but he quickly encountered deep anger, particularly over government support for American International Group.
Bernanke told the Senate Budget Committee that the worst outlook, should action on the crisis come too slowly, would be "further deterioration in the fiscal situation" and probably "lower output, employment and incomes for an extended period."
Bernanke's testimony came as Congress began on Tuesday the long process of considering Obama's spending plan, which envisions a deficit of $1.8 trillion this year and trillion-dollar deficits only slowly coming under control in future years.
While the Fed would normally look askance at numbers like that, the testimony on Tuesday seemed intended to give a green light, as part of a no-holds-barred economic recovery program.
Bernanke said the consequence might well be an increase in public debt to the equivalent of 60 percent of economic output, compared with 40 percent before the economic crisis began - and reminiscent of the levels after the gigantic borrowing of World War II.
March 3, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/03/business/fed.php
The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben Bernanke, told lawmakers Tuesday that the United States could be in for "a prolonged episode of economic stagnation" if they did not forcefully address the nation's financial crisis, but he quickly encountered deep anger, particularly over government support for American International Group.
Bernanke told the Senate Budget Committee that the worst outlook, should action on the crisis come too slowly, would be "further deterioration in the fiscal situation" and probably "lower output, employment and incomes for an extended period."
Bernanke's testimony came as Congress began on Tuesday the long process of considering Obama's spending plan, which envisions a deficit of $1.8 trillion this year and trillion-dollar deficits only slowly coming under control in future years.
While the Fed would normally look askance at numbers like that, the testimony on Tuesday seemed intended to give a green light, as part of a no-holds-barred economic recovery program.
Bernanke said the consequence might well be an increase in public debt to the equivalent of 60 percent of economic output, compared with 40 percent before the economic crisis began - and reminiscent of the levels after the gigantic borrowing of World War II.
March 3, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/03/business/fed.php
Eastern European Currencies Tumble After EU Leaders Reject Rescue
Eastern European Currencies Tumble After EU Leaders Reject Rescue
Currencies across Eastern Europe plunged Monday after European Union leaders rejected a huge rescue package for its newest members.
EU officials in Brussels rejected suggestions that the foreign exchange markets were reacting to decisions made at a summit meeting Sunday, where leaders agreed only to consider any bailouts on a case-by-case basis.
The EU monetary affairs commissioner Joaquín Almunia told reporters in Brussels that the EU was providing a huge amount of support to its eastern members. But he conceded more may be needed for some countries.
The hardest hit was Hungary, whose prime minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany, had unexpectedly asked for up to €180 billion, or $226.3 billion, to prop up the eastern economies. The Hungarian forint fell 2.9 percent against the euro, which was worth more than 308 forints.
In Poland, which is in relatively better shape, the zloty was down 2.9 percent, with the euro at almost 4.48 forints.
Along with Hungary, several countries in the region - notably Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania - are experiencing the impact of a very tight squeeze on credit, rapidly weakening currencies, layoffs and a potential loss of foreign investment in the coming months.
March 2, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/02/business/forint.php
Currencies across Eastern Europe plunged Monday after European Union leaders rejected a huge rescue package for its newest members.
EU officials in Brussels rejected suggestions that the foreign exchange markets were reacting to decisions made at a summit meeting Sunday, where leaders agreed only to consider any bailouts on a case-by-case basis.
The EU monetary affairs commissioner Joaquín Almunia told reporters in Brussels that the EU was providing a huge amount of support to its eastern members. But he conceded more may be needed for some countries.
The hardest hit was Hungary, whose prime minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany, had unexpectedly asked for up to €180 billion, or $226.3 billion, to prop up the eastern economies. The Hungarian forint fell 2.9 percent against the euro, which was worth more than 308 forints.
In Poland, which is in relatively better shape, the zloty was down 2.9 percent, with the euro at almost 4.48 forints.
Along with Hungary, several countries in the region - notably Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania - are experiencing the impact of a very tight squeeze on credit, rapidly weakening currencies, layoffs and a potential loss of foreign investment in the coming months.
March 2, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/02/business/forint.php
02 March 2009
Water 'More Important Than Oil' Businesses Told
Water 'More Important Than Oil' Businesses Told
Looming water crisis could unravel world economy without radical action, investors told
Dwindling water supplies are a greater risk to businesses than oil running out, a report for investors has warned.
Among the industries most at risk are high-tech companies, especially those using huge quantities of water to manufacture silicon chips; electricity suppliers who use vast amounts of water for cooling; and agriculture, which uses 70% of global freshwater, , says the study, commissioned by the powerful CERES group, whose members have $7tn under management. Other high-risk sectors are beverages, clothing, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, forest products, and metals and mining, it says.
"Water is one of our most critical resources – even more important than oil," says the report, published today . "The impact of water scarcity and declining water on businesses will be far-reaching. We've already seen decreases in companies' water allotments, more stringent regulations [and] higher costs for water."
Droughts "attributable in significant part to climate change" are already causing "acute water shortages" around the world, and pressure on supplies will increase with further global warming and a growing world population, says the report written by the US-based Pacific Institute.
"It is increasingly clear that the era of cheap and easy access to water is ending, posing a potentially greater threat to businesses than the loss of any other natural resource, including fossil fuel resources," it adds. "This is because there are various alternatives for oil, but for many industrial processes, and for human survival itself, there is no substitute for water."
February 26, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/feb/26/water-drought
Looming water crisis could unravel world economy without radical action, investors told
Dwindling water supplies are a greater risk to businesses than oil running out, a report for investors has warned.
Among the industries most at risk are high-tech companies, especially those using huge quantities of water to manufacture silicon chips; electricity suppliers who use vast amounts of water for cooling; and agriculture, which uses 70% of global freshwater, , says the study, commissioned by the powerful CERES group, whose members have $7tn under management. Other high-risk sectors are beverages, clothing, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, forest products, and metals and mining, it says.
"Water is one of our most critical resources – even more important than oil," says the report, published today . "The impact of water scarcity and declining water on businesses will be far-reaching. We've already seen decreases in companies' water allotments, more stringent regulations [and] higher costs for water."
Droughts "attributable in significant part to climate change" are already causing "acute water shortages" around the world, and pressure on supplies will increase with further global warming and a growing world population, says the report written by the US-based Pacific Institute.
"It is increasingly clear that the era of cheap and easy access to water is ending, posing a potentially greater threat to businesses than the loss of any other natural resource, including fossil fuel resources," it adds. "This is because there are various alternatives for oil, but for many industrial processes, and for human survival itself, there is no substitute for water."
February 26, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/feb/26/water-drought
U.S. Economic Crisis: GDP Shrinks 6.2 Percent; Housing Prices Plummet 10 Percent
GDP Shrinks 6.2 Percent; Housing Prices Plummet 10 Percent
[M]ore signs have emerged that the financial crisis is worsening. The Commerce Department has announced gross domestic product shrank at a 6.2 percent annual pace from October through December, the most since 1982. The Census Bureau is reporting that the median price of new homes fell by a staggering ten percent between December and January. The FDIC says 250 banks are now on the agency’s list of banks that could fail. Sixteen banks have already failed this year compared with twenty-five in all of 2008. In California, the unemployment rate has topped ten percent for the first time in a quarter century.
March 02, 2009
for complete article:
GDP Shrinks 6.2 Percent; Housing Prices Plummet 10 Percent
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/2/headlines#1
see also:
Dow closes below 6,800 for the first time since '97
March 02, 2009
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/02/business/03marketsD.php
[M]ore signs have emerged that the financial crisis is worsening. The Commerce Department has announced gross domestic product shrank at a 6.2 percent annual pace from October through December, the most since 1982. The Census Bureau is reporting that the median price of new homes fell by a staggering ten percent between December and January. The FDIC says 250 banks are now on the agency’s list of banks that could fail. Sixteen banks have already failed this year compared with twenty-five in all of 2008. In California, the unemployment rate has topped ten percent for the first time in a quarter century.
March 02, 2009
for complete article:
GDP Shrinks 6.2 Percent; Housing Prices Plummet 10 Percent
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/3/2/headlines#1
see also:
Dow closes below 6,800 for the first time since '97
March 02, 2009
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/02/business/03marketsD.php
Ukraine Struggles With Economic Crisis As Its Citizens Blame Banks and Government
Ukraine teeters as its citizens blame banks and government
In Independence Square in Kiev, protesters have set up a tent city to demand the government's resignation. Signs read, "Everyone out." (Joseph Sywenkyj for The New York Times)
Ukraine, once considered a worldwide symbol of an emerging, free-market democracy that had cast off authoritarianism, is teetering. And its predicament poses a real threat for other European economies and former Soviet republics.
The sudden, violent protests that have erupted elsewhere in Eastern Europe seem imminent here now, too. Across Kiev last week, people spoke of rising anger about the crisis and resentment toward a government that they said was more preoccupied with squabbling than with rallying the country.
The sign held by Vasily Kirilyuk, an unemployed plumber camped out with other antigovernment demonstrators here in the past week, summed up the pervasive frustration: "Get rid of them all," it said.
It is not hard to understand why world leaders are increasingly worried about the discontent and the financial crisis in Ukraine, which has 46 million people and a highly strategic location...a collapse in Ukraine could wreck what little investor confidence is left in Eastern Europe, whose formerly robust economies are being badly strained.
All over Kiev have been signs that tensions are building.
On the city's outskirts, more than 200 tractor-trailer rigs were parked Thursday, their drivers threatening to block roads if the government did not help them with their debts, which they said were caused in part by the drop in the value of Ukraine's currency, the hryvnia.
The truckers dispersed Friday, only after the government said it would try to address their demands, but they said they would be back soon if they were ignored.
At a branch of the Rodovid Bank across town, a tense crowd gathered Friday morning. The bank, close to failing, was allowing withdrawals of only $35 a day. And so people, some of them pensioners fearful for their life savings, have been trooping each day, ever more aggravated, to try to get what they can.
March 2, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/02/europe/02ukraine.php
In Independence Square in Kiev, protesters have set up a tent city to demand the government's resignation. Signs read, "Everyone out." (Joseph Sywenkyj for The New York Times)
Ukraine, once considered a worldwide symbol of an emerging, free-market democracy that had cast off authoritarianism, is teetering. And its predicament poses a real threat for other European economies and former Soviet republics.
The sudden, violent protests that have erupted elsewhere in Eastern Europe seem imminent here now, too. Across Kiev last week, people spoke of rising anger about the crisis and resentment toward a government that they said was more preoccupied with squabbling than with rallying the country.
The sign held by Vasily Kirilyuk, an unemployed plumber camped out with other antigovernment demonstrators here in the past week, summed up the pervasive frustration: "Get rid of them all," it said.
It is not hard to understand why world leaders are increasingly worried about the discontent and the financial crisis in Ukraine, which has 46 million people and a highly strategic location...a collapse in Ukraine could wreck what little investor confidence is left in Eastern Europe, whose formerly robust economies are being badly strained.
All over Kiev have been signs that tensions are building.
On the city's outskirts, more than 200 tractor-trailer rigs were parked Thursday, their drivers threatening to block roads if the government did not help them with their debts, which they said were caused in part by the drop in the value of Ukraine's currency, the hryvnia.
The truckers dispersed Friday, only after the government said it would try to address their demands, but they said they would be back soon if they were ignored.
At a branch of the Rodovid Bank across town, a tense crowd gathered Friday morning. The bank, close to failing, was allowing withdrawals of only $35 a day. And so people, some of them pensioners fearful for their life savings, have been trooping each day, ever more aggravated, to try to get what they can.
March 2, 2009
for complete article:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/02/europe/02ukraine.php
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