The manufacturer warned that the product could explode "like a small bomb." More than 80,000 of the upmarket ready meals have been distributed in mainland Europe. JMRTE. Jiihad Meals Ready to Explode.
There is now a threat that domestic appliances will be damaged and buyers will suffer personal injuries.
The "Couscous Royal' range is made by frozen food manufacturers Garbit in their factory at Pouilly-sur-Serre, in the Aisne department of northern France. The products at the centre of the scare were produced in June. "We would prefer to recall the product to avoid explosions in people's kitchens," said a spokesman. I would rather not like small explosions in me galley, popcorn excepted.
"They could go off like a small bomb, wounding consumers or causing damage to kitchens. "INCOMING!!!"
"Three months after they were made, a bomb like effect was observed in stores, and we have also have complaints from consumers. "Me microwave is toast, and it's yer fault. Yer gonna pay!"
"We would warn anyone who has one of these couscous dishes at home to return it to the store where it was originally bought immediately." Or call the bomb squad.
The product consists of relatively harmless ingredients - including semolina wheat, chicken and Merguez spicy sausages.
Last year an airline stewardess caused £20,000 of damage to a British Airways jumbo jet when her ready-made curry exploded in a microwave at 35,000ft. THAT would get your attention at FL350!
The transatlantic flight from Heathrow carried on to Miami after cabin crew grabbed a fire extinguisher to douse the blazing oven. "Crikey! The couscous exploded, but we are still airborne, by Gawd! If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going."
Couscous is a north African Berber dish consisting of spherical granules made by rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat and then coating them with finely ground wheat flour. It is particularly popular in countries like Britain and France, which both have large Arabic communities.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/10/2008 19:22 ||
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1. DURING THE SUMMER OF 1982, IN THE WAKE OF A
PRESIDENTIAL DIRECTIVE, MARINES WENT ASHORE AT BEIRUT, LEBANON.
FIFTEEN MONTHS LATER, ON 23 OCTOBER 1983, EXTREMISTS STRUCK THE
FIRST MAJOR BLOW AGAINST AMERICAN FORCES - STARTING THIS LONG WAR ON
TERRORISM. ON THAT SUNDAY MORNING, A SUICIDE BOMBER DROVE AN
EXPLOSIVE-LADEN TRUCK INTO THE HEADQUARTERS OF BATTALION LANDING
TEAM 1/8, DESTROYING THE BUILDING AND KILLING 241 MARINES AND
CORPSMEN.
2. EXTREMISTS HAVE ATTACKED OUR NATION, AT HOME AND ABROAD,
NUMEROUS TIMES SINCE THAT FATEFUL DAY IN BEIRUT. THEIR AIM HAS
ALWAYS BEEN THE SAME - TO KILL AS MANY INNOCENT AMERICANS AS
POSSIBLE. THE ATTACKS OF 11 SEPTEMBER 2001 CHANGED OUR NATION
FOREVER, AND OUR PRESIDENT HAS RESOLVED THAT THIS NATION WILL NOT
STAND IDLE WHILE MURDEROUS TERRORISTS PLOT THEIR NEXT STRIKE.
MARINES WILL CONTINUE TO TAKE THE FIGHT TO THE ENEMY - HITTING THEM
ON THEIR OWN TURF, CRUSHING THEM WHEN THEY SHOW THEMSELVES, AND
FINDING THEM WHERE THEY HIDE.
3. ONLY A FEW AMERICANS CHOOSE THE DANGEROUS, BUT NECESSARY, WORK
OF FIGHTING OUR NATION'S ENEMIES. WHEN OUR CHAPTER OF HISTORY IS
WRITTEN, IT WILL BE A SAGA OF A SELFLESS GENERATION OF MARINES WHO
WERE WILLING TO STAND UP AND FIGHT FOR OUR NATION; TO DEFEND THOSE
WHO COULD NOT DEFEND THEMSELVES; TO THRIVE ON THE HARDSHIP AND
SACRIFICE EXPECTED OF AN ELITE WARRIOR CLASS; TO MARCH TO THE SOUND
OF THE GUNS; AND TO ABLY SHOULDER THE LEGACY OF THOSE MARINES WHO
HAVE GONE BEFORE.
4. ON OUR 233RD BIRTHDAY, FIRST REMEMBER THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED AND
THOSE "ANGELS" WHO HAVE FALLEN - OUR REPUTATION WAS BUILT ON THEIR
SACRIFICES. REMEMBER OUR FAMILIES; THEY ARE THE UNSUNG HEROES WHOSE
SUPPORT AND DEDICATION ALLOW US TO ANSWER OUR NATION'S CALL.
FINALLY, TO ALL MARINES AND SAILORS, KNOW THAT I AM PROUD OF YOU AND
WHAT YOU DO. YOUR SUCCESSES ON THE BATTLEFIELD HAVE ONLY ADDED TO
OUR ILLUSTRIOUS HISTORY. GENERAL VICTOR H. "BRUTE" KRULAK SAID IT
BEST WHEN HE WROTE, "... THE UNITED STATES DOES NOT NEED A MARINE
CORPS ... THE UNITED STATES WANTS A MARINE CORPS." YOUR ACTIONS, IN
IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN, AND ACROSS THE GLOBE, ARE AT THE CORE OF WHY
AMERICA LOVES HER MARINES.
5. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MARINES AND SEMPER FIDELIS! JAMES T. CONWAY,
GENERAL, U.S. MARINE CORPS, COMMANDANT OF THE MARINE CORPS
A multinational force of warships has carved out a narrow shipping corridor off the coast of Somalia that is helping protect merchant vessels from pirate attacks, the force's commander said Monday.
Ninety percent of ships transiting the perilous Gulf of Aden are using the guarded corridor and there have been no hijackings inside the zone since it was set up on Aug. 22, said Danish Commodore Per Bigum Christensen.
In a telephone interview from his East African base in Djibouti, Christensen said coalition naval forces were also having success using planes, helicopters and drones to find and track suspect vessels until they can be boarded and searched.
Pirate attacks off the Somali coast have surged 75 percent this year, as bandits lured by million-dollar ransoms have pushed farther out to sea in search of bigger prey among the 20,000 oil tankers, freighters and merchant vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden each year.
There have been 81 attacks this year, and 32 ships have been hijacked, according to the International Maritime Bureau. Eleven vessels remain in the hands of pirates along with more than 200 crewmost notably the Ukrainian freighter, the MV Faina, loaded with tanks and weapons, seized Sept. 25.
The multinational force created the shipping channel to better focus its patrols in the vast area. The zone is about 600 miles long and just three to six miles wide. It runs roughly north-south, allowing ships to safely bypass the Somali coast on their way to and from the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
Most commercial ships enter the zone on their own, but others group together in convoys with a warship escort.
A few larger and faster Q-ships ships less vulnerable to attack still move outside the zone, as do "some crazy yachters," Christensen said. Luxury yachts have been among the pirates' targets this year.
Aboard stolen fishing trawlers and other "mother ships" loaded with food, diesel and water, pirates can loiter several hundred miles offshore for days. Hiding among clusters of fishing boats, the bandits launch armed skiffs with powerful outboard engines as attack craft when a target is spotted, often clambering aboard a ship by ladder or grappling equipment in a matter of minutes.
The bandits have already shifted their tactics in response to the patrols, positioning attack teams on the northern and southern ends of the shipping zone to stretch the already thin naval forces, Christensen said.
The naval forces have captured six pirate attack teamsaround 60 peoplesince October, Christensen said. But after seizing their weapons and equipment, the sailors must release the bandits at sea to sail back to Somalia because no country has been willing to bring them to trial.
Somalia has no reliable central government to put them on trial or imprison them.
The naval task force that Christensen commands was initially set up under the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan to patrol the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean. But earlier this year it was diverted to concentrate almost solely on fighting piracy. Known as Combined Task Force-150, it has anywhere from three to 15 ships on patrol at a time.
Besides Denmark, the nations that have been part of the task force are the United States, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Britain, Pakistan and Canada.
Separately, ships from the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet have been deployed to surround the Faina until a resolution to the standoff over the freighter is reached.
A NATO flotilla of seven vessels is also patrolling the area. European Union foreign ministers gave their final approval Monday to send four to six ships to replace the NATO force in December.
The use of military power, Christensen acknowledged, is limited in what it can do to stop a problem driven by lawlessness and poverty in Somalia, a nation at war with itself for most of the past 17 years.
"We can be there and suppress the piracy," Christensen said, "but the problem is on shore, it's named somalia."
BRUSSELS (AFP) -- The European Union launched Monday a security operation off the coast of Somalia -- its first-ever naval mission -- to combat growing acts of piracy and help protect aid ships. Dubbed Operation Atalanta, the mission, endorsed by the bloc's defence ministers at talks in Brussels, will be led by Britain, with its headquarters in Northwood, near London.
"Britain is a great military power, it's a nice symbol that this operation be commanded by a British officer and from a British headquarters," French Defence Minister Herve Morin said, after chairing the meeting. "It is a great symbol of the evolution in European defence, and I would say, of its coming of age," he told reporters.
The so-called EUNAVOR operation will be made up of at least seven ships, three of them frigates and one a supply vessel. It will also be backed by surveillance aircraft. It will include contributions from eight to 10 countries including France, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and Spain, with Portugal, Sweden and non-EU nation Norway also likely to take part.
Seven ships, ten countries. I never was much good at math ...
"Our participation in the Somalia project is an important one," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters. "This is obviously a very challenging project but one that European leaders are approaching with real humility as well as determination," he said.
The EU initiative was taken after Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed urged Somalis and the international community to combat rising piracy off the lawless nation's waters. Last month, a maritime watchdog said Somali pirates were now responsible for nearly a third of all reported attacks on ships, often using violence and taking hostages.
Meanwhile, the Danish operator of a cargo ship seized off the Somali coast by pirates last week with 13 crew members on board said it had received demands from the hijackers Monday."We have been contacted by the pirates who spelt out their demands. I do not want to say anything else at the current time for the security of the crew," the head of Clipper Projects, Per Gullestrup, told AFP. He added that the crew members, who include 11 Russians, a Georgian and an Estonian, are doing well and have been allowed to contact their families by telephone.
Despite its country's involvement in the latest pirate attack, Denmark is prevented from contributing to the mission because of a joint defence agreement signed in 1992.
NATO warships recently arrived in the region in a bid to secure the maritime delivery of food aid to the civilian population of Somalia, where a deadly civil conflict continues to rage. India and Russia have also sent ships to the area on anti-piracy duties.
The International Maritime Bureau said 63 of the 199 piracy incidents recorded worldwide in the first nine months of this year occurred in the waters off Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden. The Somali figure is almost double that of the same period last year.
France, which has a major military base in neighbouring Djibouti, is so far the only country to have used its firepower against the pirates, in April and September operations following hostage-takings. Under the mission's rules of engagement, EU nations that capture any pirates will not be allowed to hand them over to a state where suspects could face the death penalty, torture or degrading treatment. So...are they going to Disneyworld?
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Southern African leaders said on Sunday that Zimbabwe's political rivals must split the leadership of a key ministry, a move rejected by the opposition in a further sign that power-sharing talks were unraveling. The 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) said in a resolution Zimbabwe's squabbling political parties should form a unity government immediately to end a stalemate over the allocation of ministries.
But opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said he was "shocked and saddened" by the outcome of a summit, which brought together leaders and ministers of SADC countries for more than 12 hours of talks on Zimbabwe's political impasse and the violence in eastern Congo. "The MDC is shocked and saddened that SADC summit has failed to tackle these key issues ... a great opportunity has been missed by SADC to bring an end to the Zimbabwean crisis," Tsvangirai said at a post-summit news conference.
SADC said Tsvangirai did not agree with SADC's call for his Movement for Democratic Change to co-manage Zimbabwe's Home Affairs Ministry with President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF.
The resolution calling for joint control of the ministry -- which controls Zimbabwe's police and is the main sticking point in the talks -- was backed by all 15 members of SADC, said Arthur Mutambara, leader of a breakaway MDC faction.
The SADC said a unity government must be formed. "We need to form an inclusive government, today or tomorrow," SADC Executive Secretary Tomaz Salamao told reporters late on Sunday night after the summit in South Africa. "... SADC was asked to rule and SADC took a decision and that's the position of SADC. Now it's up to the parties to implement," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Doctors struggled yesterday to contain an outbreak of cholera in a sprawling refugee camp near Congo's eastern provincial capital of Goma, as new fighting ignited fears that infected patients could scatter and launch an epidemic.
At the Kibati camp and in Goma, thousands packed church services Sunday to pray for peace after rebels and pro-government militiamen executed civilians in two waves of terror that the top UN envoy to Congo has called war crimes.
The killings highlighted the inability of UN peacekeepers to protect civilians or halt a 10-week-old rebel offensive that has convulsed eastern Congo and forced more than 250,000 people from their homes.
The fighting in Congo is fueled by ethnic hatred left over from the 1994 slaughter of 500,000 Tutsis in Rwanda. Rebel leader Laurent Nkunda claims to be fighting to protect minority Tutsis from Rwandan Hutu rebels who participated in the genocide and then fled to Congo. He wants direct talks with President Joseph Kabila's government to end the fighting, and a rebel-declared cease-fire around Goma has mostly held.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/10/2008 00:00 ||
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The Court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's (CMM) in Barisal yesterday issued show cause notice to two officials of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and police about delay in presenting arrested Babuganj upazila BNP Secretary Shamsul Alam Fakir before the court and physical torture on him and his family members.
Sheikh Ahmed Ali, assistant deputy director of Rab-8, and SI Anwar, complainant of the case, will have to show cause appearing in person before the court on November 16 about delay in presenting Shamsul before the court (at 3:00pm on November 7) after his arrest at 11:35pm on November 5.
If only they had arrested Shamsul at 3 am all this could have been avoided ...
The CMM, Mainuddin Islam fixed November 16 for hearing the prayer for remand against Shamsul and also for the bail prayer submitted on behalf of Shamsul.
No problem guys, that's plenty of time for Shamsul to get caught in a crossfire will attempting to escape ...
The court also ordered to present the 'recovered' shutter gun firearm and explain the cause of alleged physical torture on Shamsu Fakir and family members including his wife and children during his arrest and further torture on Shamsul under custody.
The CMM also asked the complainant and IO of the case to explain why previous 10 cases against Shamsul Islam Fakir were mentioned in the present case despite the fact that police failed to frame any charge for starting trial in those cases.
Pro'ly cause they were too busy beating the stuffing out of Shamsul ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/10/2008 00:00 ||
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The CMM, Mainuddin Islam fixed November 16 for hearing the prayer for remand against Shamsul and also for the bail prayer submitted on behalf of Shamsul.
A special court yesterday sentenced former prime minister Khaleda Zia's assistant personal secretary M Shamsul Alam to 13 years' imprisonment for amassing wealth worth Tk 1.79 crore illegally and concealing information about wealth worth Tk 1.48 crore from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Posted by: Fred ||
11/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Myanmar withdrew its warships, the oil and gas exploration rig and the fossil fuel exploration vessels from Bangladesh waters yesterday but tension between the two countries still exists as both the nations mobilised more troops along their border. "Shwe, I been thinking about this whole 'war with Bangla' thing."
"Yeah?"
"When was the last time us Burmese won a war?"
"You mean against another country? Not against monks or students or something?"
"Right."
"Ummm... Lemme see, here... Didn't we fight a war with the Thais in... uhhh... sometime in the 1800s?"
"Right. Did we win it?"
"I don't think so."
"How about the one before that?"
"Nope."
"Bangla used to be part of Pakistain."
"Pakistain's never won a war, either."
"But the Banglas threw the Paks out."
"Oh. I see what you mean. But they had help from India."
"Took a lotta prisoners, too."
"Not officers, though?"
"Officers, too."
"Maybe we should negotiate."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Bangladesh vs. Myanmar. Geez, who do we root for?
Lotp will love that one... (cf. STREET GANGS- THE NEW URBAN INSURGENCY - pdf)... rooters puts it in "oddly enough", why, it's no big deal, just funny stuff.
RIO DE JANEIRO (Rooters) - A group of men used dynamite to blow up a police station in a town in Brazil's Sao Paulo state on Monday, after seizing machine guns and a large cache of confiscated drugs from the building.
Globo TV network showed images of the wrecked building with its roof blown off and patrol cars nearby covered in rubble after the attack, which took place in Botucatu around 150 miles west of Sao Paulo city at about 5 a.m.
"I opened my window and saw a fire, the wall falling down, there was a lot of noise from things falling, one explosion after another," Neide Albertini, a cook who lives next door to the station, told Globo.
Witnesses said the men arrived at the station in a small truck and broke down the station's front door.
They took pistols, machine guns, bullet-proof vests, 220 pounds (100 kg) of marijuana and 50 pounds (23 kg) of cocaine paste and cocaine and then set fire to all the files in the building, police said.
"It was a very audacious act," said police chief Carlos Antonio Juliao Filho. "The station was completely destroyed."
Violence by organized crime groups funded by illegal drugs is a major problem in Brazil. A wave of attacks by a prison gang against police in the financial capital Sao Paulo shocked the country in 2006, but there has been no repeat of such large-scale organized violence.
#1
They took pistols, machine guns, bullet-proof vests, 220 pounds (100 kg) of marijuana and 50 pounds (23 kg) of cocaine paste and cocaine and then set fire to all the files in the building, police said.
No doubt stocking up for the Obama celebration, Chicago style.
Posted by: ed ||
11/10/2008 19:11 Comments ||
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Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told international finance ministers Saturday that developing countries must be given a greater role in finding solutions to the world's financial crisis. I'm kinda hazy on the "why" of that. If they were real good at finding solutions they'd be "developed" countries, wouldn't they?
Posted by: Fred ||
11/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Gee, there seems to be quite a lot of globalism in the talk of various leaders around the world since the Zero has been elected, don't you think... seems like the USA will have to be reformed (and they will be reformed) to fit better into that global New World Order (if you pardon me the pun).
China on Sunday announced a massive $586 billion stimulus package aimed at boosting domestic spending over the next two years in its most aggressive response so far to the spreading global financial crisis.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Let me guess...
Ummm...
Infrastructure, roads & bridge building with community involvement?
German riot police tried Monday to break up a human blockade of a radioactive waste disposal site in the country's biggest anti-nuclear protests since 2001.
In a sign of the fierce popular opposition to nuclear power in Germany, security forces in riot gear began extracting and carrying one-by-one some of the roughly 1,000 demonstrators away from the entrance to the Gorleben waste dump in northern Germany, a police spokesman said. The demonstrators, many of whom had braved cold, damp conditions to camp outside the site for several days, were seeking to block the arrival at the site of 11 trucks containing between them 123 tonnes of radioactive waste.
The shipment had already seen the biggest and most violent anti-nuclear protests for years as it made its way by train from France over the weekend, with 16,000 police deployed against some 15,000 protestors along the route. Police had used truncheons to disperse protesters and used water cannon to put out barricades set on fire by activists.
As a result the train, which left a retreatment centre in western France on Friday, made it to the town of Dannenberg almost 14-and-a-half hours behind schedule, police said. There it was transferred onto lorries on Monday morning and was due to embark on the final 20-kilometre (12-mile) journey by road -- but not until the blockade at Gorleben had been cleared, authorities said.
Police said they expected this to happen by the end of the day but the protesters were not leaving without a struggle, with activists doing everything they could to hinder the authorities.
A few kilometres from Gorleben, activists built two tall cement pyramids, chaining four demonstrators to each, and parked 37 tractors along the route. "We will stick it out," one young female protester said on rolling news channel N-TV.
Environmentalist groups have for years demanded that the shipments be stopped due to possible radiation leaks and security risks. In March 2001, 30,000 police were deployed to halt protests in the largest single security operation in postwar Germany.
Environmental pressure group BI Umweltschutz said Monday that the containers were emitting stronger radioactive rays than is allowed on public roads, calling it "irresponsible" to subject police and demonstrators to such a health risk.
The German government has approved plans to mothball the last of its 17 reactors by about 2020, and polls show a majority of people in Western Europe's most populous country oppose nuclear power.
But Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for the process to be slowed down over fears it will be impossible to slash greenhouse gas emissions without nuclear energy, which produces a quarter of the country's electricity. Skyrocketing energy costs have also sparked the calls to reconsider the phase-out.
The head of Germany's Green Party, which was in government with Gerhard Schroeder's SPD when the decision to phase out nuclear energy was taken, said that opposition to nuclear power had been less visible in recent times.
"But when it comes to it, it can be mobilised," Reinhard Buetikofer said. "The peaceful protest by 16,000 people on Saturday and the numerous actions along the route have shown that people are firmly opposed to nuclear power," the head of the Greens' parliamentary fraction Volker Beck said.
The lawmaker called the protests a "huge success."
#2
Putin must be laughing his ass off. Gots em right where he wants em. When that solar and wind power doesn't work out, Russian gas will be their only source of power. Idjits.
A complete set of original plans for construction of the Nazi death camp Auschwitz have been found in a flat in Berlin, according to a report in Bild newspaper. The 28 yellowing blueprints show an 11.66 metre by 11.20 metre room marked "Gaskammer" (gas chamber). The plans also include a crematorium and a room marked "L. Keller" - an abbreviation for "Leichenkeller", or corpse cellar.
Hans-Dieter Kreikamp, head of the federal archives office in Berlin, told Bild that the blueprints offered "authentic evidence of the systematically planned genocide of European Jews".
The plans also offer evidence that the Nazis planned the Holocaust from an earlier date than previously believed.
The decision to kill Europe's 11 million Jews has historically been dated to the Wannsee Conference in January 1942. A copy of the minutes, known as the "Wannsee Protocol", is generally regarded as one of the most important documents from the war.
But the newly discovered Auschwitz plans, published ahead of the 70th anniversary of the Kristallnacht purge against Jews, are dated Oct 23, 1941, offering evidence that the Nazis had developed plans to kills Jews on a mass scale earlier than previously thought, the newspaper said. The plans of the death camp, which was built near Krakow, in Poland, were drawn by SS technicians and inmates.
Dr Kreikamp said one green ink sketch on the plans appears to be in the hand of SS chief Heinrich Himmler. Dr Kreikamp said he attached "extraordinary meaning to the documents".
He added; "The documents reveal that everyone who was concerned with the planning and building of the extermination camp would have known that human beings were to be put to death here on an industrial scale.
"The documents disprove beyond all doubt that which Holocaust deniers claim - that Auschwitz was nothing more than a labour camp where no gassing took place."
The planning documents are to undergo further research at the federal archive before being turned over to scholars interested in using them.
Posted by: john frum ||
11/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Eh...'they' will just say the Jews forged the perfect instrument to prove their point, and 'they' will believe it just because 'they' want them to and, simply, 'they' also WANT to believe it...
What species is the only one to have effectively neutralized the law of natural selection?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
11/10/2008 6:05 Comments ||
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I'll bite:
They were 'Yellowing'...
Seriously, though, have you ever met a person that saves EVERYTHING? You should have seen my grandmother's house by the time she was moved into hospice with Alzheimers. No surprise it happens in other countries, too.
My bet: Relatives were clearing out the 'junk' & salvaging familial items. If it were the property owner, they might have been tossed as 'garbage'.
#4
It's 11 million now?
I thought it was 6 million just a few years ago, at this rate they will have gone extinct 60 years ago by next year. I don't know if there is anything in the media that I would believe anymore, but if these prove to be real they will certainly give the arabs someting to squeal about for a while.
#5
i think they meant there where 11millionn jews in europe. 6 million were killed
Posted by: chris ||
11/10/2008 11:37 Comments ||
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"The decision to kill Europe's 11 million Jews has historically been dated to the Wannsee Conference in January 1942"
The decision was well made before that date. What was decided at the Conference were the exact measures and organization. One of the most important "technicalities" was about how to deal with people who were only partly Jewish.
The documents are certainly interesting but "prove" nothing new. There is probably no single historic event (and atrocity) better documented and proven without any doubt than the holocaust including the gas chambers.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
11/10/2008 16:42 Comments ||
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Approximately 11 million people were killed in the death camps. 6 million were Jews.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
11/10/2008 19:14 Comments ||
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BEIJING (Reuters) - China's President Hu Jintao told U.S. President-elect Barack Obama in a telephone conversation that proper handling of the Taiwan issue would help improve Sino-U.S. ties, state media reported on Sunday.
Both countries should respect and accommodate the other's concerns and properly handle sensitive issues to promote Sino-U.S. relations to an even higher level, Hu was quoted as saying. "Particularly the Taiwan issue," said Hu.
"The relationship between the United States and China is the most vital relationship on today's international stage," Obama said to Hu, according to the reports.
The exchange mirrors the message China issued to Obama after his election victory, which also urged him to halt $6.5 billion worth of arms sales to the self-ruled island. China denounced last month a U.S. plan to sell the arms, including attack helicopters and missiles, to Taipei, and demanded Washington halt all military exchanges with Taiwan.
Obama, who enters the White House in January 2009, expressed support for the arms sales during his election campaign.
Hu will travel to Washington to attend a November 15 summit with other world leaders from the G-20 grouping of nations to discuss ways to fight a downturn in economic growth amid the global financial crisis. Hu would attend bilateral meetings during the summit, but a meeting with Obama had not yet been fixed, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman has said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/10/2008 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Steve White ||
11/10/2008 10:31 Comments ||
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Christ, I didn't even think about that one. Sellout of Taiwanese democracy in 1...2...3...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
11/10/2008 10:34 Comments ||
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Reminds me of the episode of M*A*S*H where Hawkeye and BJ have a NKor soldier surrender to them and they escort him back to camp. The NKor surrenders to everyone he meets on the way, so Hawkeye tells him: "C'mon Fred, there's a whole camp full of people you haven't surrendered to yet."
I recall the Clinton to Bush transition and marveled that a bunch of Democrats could be so .. petty. Taking the 'W' keys off the computer keyboards? Luckily the current President is far more honorable and decent.
Faced with one of the most important transfers of presidential power in American history -- amid wars on two fronts, the looming threat of terrorism at home and a full-blown economic crisis -- the outgoing Bush administration and the incoming Obama team have responded with exceptional cooperation on those issues, aides and outside experts say.
Serious decisions, and potentially divisive ones, still remain for the politically and ideologically divided camps, such as access to classified information and, in particular, battles over the regulations and executive orders that will define the policy of the two administrations.
But the days since Tuesday's election have shown a striking level of comity following the rancor of the campaign, enhanced by President Bush's months-long efforts to pave the way for a smooth transition and President-elect Barack Obama's preelection determination to move quickly.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/10/2008 00:00 ||
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It's the usual thing: we're nice to them, they bash us as hard as they can. The stupid bastards that voted this POS in are going to bitterly regret it, but they got what they wanted. Now let's see how long it takes for buyer's remorse to kick in. It's already starting with the press, not that I'd ever again believe anything those cretinous shills said or wrote.
We're going to miss George W. Bush, not because he was so good but because his successor will be so terribly bad. The only saving grace about this election is that it drove a stake through the heart of the MSM. They won't be believed again under any circumstances and hopefully they'll soon go under.
Barack, if you and I could have a very private word please. Barack, over the past few days I've been watching and listening to you very closely. Quite frankly Barack, you have not been living up to your statement "America can only have one president at a time." As a Texan, I take a man at his word. It's a personal thing Barack. It's personal, let me try to put it in context. It would be like me telling you how ugly that red and black dress is that your wife wears. You understand personal don't you Barack. Great!
I've been attempting to be a gentleman, play ball, etc. You understand sports, the game, sportsmanship, doing the right thing by your opponent. Now listen and listen closely you SOB. I've got a lot of sick leave built up and my stomach is really upset. The very next time I hear or read of you making or releasing any statement even remotely executive, of an international nature, or presidential... I am outta here and back in Crawford on permanent holiday. No transition, No briefings, No access, No staff, No back to D.C. for inaugeration hand-off, nada, zipp. You'll start like I started. If you want it ugly, I can make it very ugly. Do you understand me young man? It's your choice cowboy. Now, get the phuech outta my office and give me a call tomorrow with your decision.
NEW DELHI: It seems there are simply no full-stops in the Indo-Israeli strategic partnership despite geopolitical sensitivities as well as allegations of kickbacks in defence deals. All set to further ramp up the already expansive defence ties, a top Indian delegation will leave for Israel on Sunday to discuss joint R&D projects, missile defence, procurements, intelligence-sharing and counter-terrorism strategies, said sources.
Led by defence secretary Vijay Singh, the Indian delegation will hold talks with the Israeli side under the joint working group on defence cooperation from November 10 to 12. The Indian side will be represented by IAF deputy chief Air Marshal N A K Browne, Army deputy chief (planning and systems) M S Dadwal, Navy assistant chief (policy and plans) Rear Admiral Girish Luthra and DRDO chief controller Prahlada, among others.
During the talks, India will also seek Israel's assurance that there will be no further delay in the delivery schedule of the much-awaited three Israeli Phalcon AWACS (airborne warning and control systems) to IAF. As per the revised timeframe, the first AWACS, initially slated to be delivered in November 2007 under the $1.1 billion deal signed in March 2004, is to be delivered in February 2009, with the second and third ones coming in September 2009 and April 2010.
The robust defence engagement between the two countries, which saw India buy military hardware and software from Israel worth around $8 billion since the 1999 Kargil conflict, has continued despite Delhi's foreign policy sensitivity to the Muslim Middle-East. The only difference has been that while the previous NDA regime had brought the relationship out of the closet, the UPA government has pushed it back in, eager to keep it away from prying eyes.
There is, of course, also the shadow of the CBI probe into the kickbacks in the Rs 1,160-crore Barak-I deal hanging over the relationship, with Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Rafael being named in the case. The defence ministry, on its part, has decided that since the Barak-I case is under CBI investigation, the final clearance for a new project or deal involving the two Israeli firms will be taken from the Cabinet Committee on Security and the "competent financial authority" before it is actually inked. The ongoing joint DRDO-IAI project to develop a supersonic 70-km-range Barak-2 missile defence system at a cost of Rs 2,606 crore for Navy, for instance, has not been rolled back.
The UPA government has also cleared the mammoth Rs 10,000 crore project with Israel to develop a new-generation surface-to-air missile system, capable of detecting and destroying hostile aircraft and spy drones at a range of 120-km, to boost IAF's air defence capabilities. Under this, IAF plans to induct nine air defence squadrons initially.
Then, of course, India is on course to buy 18 low-level quick-reaction missile systems SpyDer systems for around Rs 1,800 crore, and four more EL/M-2083 Aerostat radars for around Rs 145 crore in the near future.
Posted by: john frum ||
11/10/2008 05:31 ||
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LONDON (Reuters) - The international financial crisis has given world leaders a unique opportunity to create a truly global society, Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown will say in a keynote foreign policy speech on Monday.
In his annual speech at the Lord Mayor's Banquet, Brown -- who has spearheaded calls for the reform of international financial institutions -- will say Britain, the United States and Europe are key to forging a new world order.
"The alliance between Britain and the U.S. -- and more broadly between Europe and the U.S. -- can and must provide leadership, not in order to make the rules ourselves, but to lead the global effort to build a stronger and more just international order," an excerpt from the speech says.
Brown and other leaders meet in Washington next weekend to discuss longer term solutions for dealing with economic issues following a series of coordinated moves on interest rates and to recapitalize banks in the wake of the financial crisis.
"Uniquely in this global age, it is now in our power to come together so that 2008 is remembered not just for the failure of a financial crash that engulfed the world but for the resilience and optimism with which we faced the storm, endured it and prevailed," Brown will say in his speech on Monday evening.
"...And if we learn from our experience of turning unity of purpose into unity of action, we can together seize this moment of change in our world to create a truly global society."
According to a summary of the speech released by his office, Brown will set out five great challenges the world faces.
These are: terrorism and extremism and the need to reassert faith in democracy; the global economy; climate change; conflict and mechanisms for rebuilding states after conflict; and meeting goals on tackling poverty and disease.
Brown will also identify five stages for tackling the economy, starting with recapitalizing banks so they can resume lending to families and businesses, and better international co-ordination of fiscal and monetary policy.
He also wants immediate action to stop the spread of the financial crisis to middle-income countries, with a new facility for the International Monetary Fund, and agreement on a global trade deal, as well as reform of the global financial system.
"My message is that we must be: internationalist not protectionist; interventionist not neutral; progressive not reactive; and forward looking not frozen by events. We can seize the moment and in doing so build a truly global society."
#3
Socialism can only exist by leeching off of capitalism. They see the writing on the wall and know the only place left to keep the dying carcass alive a wee bit longer is to get its teeth into the American body while its wounded and stunned now.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has said that the Obama administration in the United States needs far-reaching 'perestroika' reforms to overcome the financial crisis and restore balance in the world.
Look how well it worked in the Soviet Union...
The term perestroika, meaning restructuring, was used by Gorbachev in the late 1980s to describe a series of reforms that abolished state planning in the Soviet Union.
And look how well that turned out ...
In an interview with Italy's La Stampa published on Friday, Gorbachev said President-elect Barack Obama needs to fundamentally change the misguided course followed by President George W. Bush over the past eight years. Gorbachev said that after transforming his country in the late 1980s, he had told the Americans that it was their turn to act, but that Washington, celebrating its Cold War victory, was not interested in "a new model of a society, where politics, economics and morals went hand in hand."
Oh good, a communist is lecturing us on morals ...
Certainly the former Soviet Union represents a model for all the world to follow... Oh. Wait. Never mind.
He said the Republicans have failed to realize that the Soviet Union no longer exists, that Europe has changed, and that new powers like China, Brazil and Mexico have emerged as important players on the world stage.
Turns out Mike that we've seen the changes. The Soviet Union doesn't exist but it's been replaced by something only a little less odious. Europe in fact hasn't changed so much as it has continued to devolve. We saw the emergence of China forty years ago, back when we cut deals with them to stifle your ambitions. Mexico, a country we know well, is a basket case.
He told the paper that the world is waiting for Obama to act, and that the White House needs to restore trust in cooperation with the United States among the Russians. "This is a man of our times, he is capable of restarting dialogue, all the more since the circumstances will allow him to get out of a dead-end situation. Barack Obama has not had a very long career, but it is hard to find faults, and he has led an election campaign winning over the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton herself. We can judge from this that this person is capable of engaging in dialogue and understanding current realities."
Just what Bambi needs, an endorsement from a washed up commie. Thought he already had that in William Ayers.
Former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, founder of now defunct Yukos oil giant, who is in prison on fraud and tax evasion charges, also used the word perestroika in discussing the future course of the Obama administration. In an article published in the business daily Vedomosti on Friday, Khodorkovsky said Obama's election win was not merely another change of power in a separate country, but was important for all states. He said that, "being a liberal himself, he thinks that the world will take a left turn," and that "a global perestroika would be a logical response to the global crisis."
"The paradigm of global development is about to change. The era inaugurated by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher 30 years ago is over."
He said decisions in neoliberal economies had been made mainly by supranational institutions and transnational corporations. Khodorkovsky predicted: "Globalization will slow to a crawl, but will not stop. The 'golden billion' of the world's richest people will have to abandon hopes of increasing their wealth, but high consumer standards which developed at the end of the 20th century will be unaffected by the change. The striving for political freedom and open competition of personalities and ideas will not disappear."
#2
was not interested in "a new model of a society, where politics, economics and morals went hand in hand."
Big BS alert: gorby was and most probably still is (though he's now a watermelon) a bona fide commie.
Perestroika & glasnost were no reforms "where politics, economics and morals went hand in hand" aimed at abolishing the communist state apparatus, in fact, it was quite the opposite, they were aimed at making it sustainable, so it could go on. Make some changes at the margins and make it more efficient, so to prevent collapse (didn't work out, thanksfully).
And gorby was no liberal neither, his goal was to have a convergence with the then EEC (cf. Bukosky's claim) and so expel US influence fom the so-called "european home".
So, really, having a real-life, unreformed commie apparatchik lecture the USA about "morals" and political reform is pretty funny, should be infuriating, but, well, we ARE living in bizarro world, aren't we?
#3
and that the White House needs to restore trust in cooperation with the United States among the Russians.
IIUC, reading and listening to people I trust like Françoise Thom, not the putin-zombies of the french right, my understanding is that the new deal in russia is a massive and concerted effort by the power through the various media, academia, entertainment, paramilitary youth movements,... to :
1) re-abilitate stalin's memory as one of the greatest russian leaders (second to czar putin, of course), and whitewash and excuse his crimes against the russian people among others by
2) painting foreign powers, and most notably the West and the USA in particular (western Europe is depicted as africanized and decadent, which actually is pretty accurate) as perennial ennemies o the Motherland, always plotting and scheming against it, and so entities to be hated and feared (thank god the Fearless Leader is here to protect the russian people).
The national-communist-imperialist russia of putin is gearing up for war, if not in the armed forces, at least in the massification of the public opinion (apparently, there is a much more uniformized hatred of the West and the USa now than during the soviet era, when the official propaganda was not believed by most). Remember, the collapse of th eUSSR was the "greatest tragedy of the 20th century", russia has been "humiliated" (by the collpase of the communist mepire, think about it), russia has a natural "vital space" and "spheres of influence" which are being trampled on by the USA, which are trying to "surround it" (notably through the Color Revolutions, all Cia-plots),...
And the America-hating wingnuts in France are eating it up like candy, by the way.
So, this really is doubletalk, as russia itself is not interested at all by "restoring trust", quite the opposite.
#4
"a new model of a society, where politics, economics and morals went hand in hand."
Sounds like Russia today, but not in the way he means, I'm sure.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
11/10/2008 5:19 Comments ||
Top||
#5
but high consumer standards which developed at the end of the 20th century will be unaffected by the change.
Brought about by free trade, but by the means of Obama magic, can be continued by protectionism.
The striving for political freedom and open competition of personalities and ideas will not disappear."
I'm sure in some alternative reality that makes sense. Former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, founder of now defunct Yukos oil giant, who is in prison on fraud and tax evasion charges,
#7
Putin's big mistake is the classic Russian argument of beans vs. bullets. Putin assumed that capitalism would take care of the beans argument, so he could concentrate on bullets. But in this he was mistaken.
The end result is that he is trying to built a steel superstructure on a wooden hull. Instead, he should have applied himself to first and foremost, encouraging more Russians to have a lot of children.
And while every Russian leader tries to do this, usually it is in ineffectual ways, like giving prizes or awards for having children. Instead he should have built new cities just for young couples, to make a baby boom.
#10
Gorbachev hasn't drunk himself to death yet? And a unity of politics, economics and morality sounds like the classic definition of fascism to me...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
11/10/2008 10:33 Comments ||
Top||
#11
By 'Perestroika', he means 'weaken'. Don't worry Gorbi, Obama will weaken the US plenty before he is done.
#12
To me, the furthest separation of all three is better.
They are making a place where there is no way you can "agree to disagree", no choice, and no freedom. Political control of the economy will be a disaster (see 100 million murdered by Marx worshippers). Political control of "morality" is a disaster (see the War on Drugs, the Taliban, and the Kingdoms Morality police).
#13
Gorby's what you might call a useful idiot except he was useful to us, not them. But now that he's served his purpose it's important to remember that he is still an idiot.
One nasty (and usually fatal) consequence of infection with bird flu (influenza A/H5N1) in humans is that the virus doesn't just infect the lungs but becomes disseminated to many different organs. We know that a bird-like receptor that the virus can use to get into cells is found in several other organs, including the lining of blood vessels and neural tissues.
Central nervous system involvement is frequently a hallmark of fatal bird flu cases. The virus probably gets to a lot of other organs, as well. But how? An examination of the blood of a fatal case in a pregnant woman suggests answer -- white blood cells:
In the present study, we investigated organs obtained at autopsy from an H5N1 virus-infected pregnant woman and from her fetus in an attempt to study the mechanism of systemic dissemination of H5N1 virus. Neutrophils were abundant in the placenta, and therefore, we evaluated blood cells in the placental villi obtained at autopsy to determine whether neutrophils were infected by H5N1 virus.
[snip]
The unequivocal evidence of H5N1 viral proteins and nucleotide sequences in the nuclei and cytoplasm of neutrophils of patients with avian influenza indicates novel mechanisms of pathogenesis. These cells may serve as a viral carrier in systemic circulation and may cause multiple organ infection, as was reported elsewhere.
What this means is that viral proteins and viral genetic material was found inside the kind of white blood cells (neutrophils) that make up the majority of white cells in our blood and that constitute the vanguard of our innate (non-specific) immune response.
The neutrophils are like wandering policemen, engulfing foreign particles, bacteria, viruses and whatnot, and digesting them so they are no longer harmful. In this case it seems they have somehow internalized H5N1 virus, either by their normal "gobbling" process or because they have receptors on their surfaces that allow the virus to enter the cell and infect it.
Once inside the neutrophil we don't know if the virus becomes disabled or remains infective. If the former, it may still cause the neutrophil to die, thus imparing the immune response, and if the latter, it may be the way the virus gets around the body, inside a cell and protected by antibodies in the serum.
Iran's Parliament has set new strict limits for people wishing to run for president in the country's upcoming presidential election. "And what are those rules?"
"Y'gotta be named Mahmoud."
Under the new electoral law, applicants must be aged between 40 and 75 and hold the equivalent of a master's degree. How about an honorary doctorate from Oxford? Will that do?
The amendment comes after Interior Minister Ali Kordan failed to win Majlis support in an impeachment session over his forged Oxford University Ph.D degree and was removed from his post. Oops. Guess not.
The new law also requires candidates to have already served in a national post such as president, vice-president, minister, judiciary, military or broadcasting official, or as mayor of a major city. Faculty members ranked assistant professor and above, lawyers with more than 10 years' experience, the leaders of recognized political parties, directors and editors of newspapers and private company directors are also eligible to register.
The tightening of electoral rules is expected to prevent frivolous candidacies ahead of Iran's presidential election scheduled for June 12, 2009. "Frivolous candidacies" being candidacies by anybody not named Mahmoud?
Iran's incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is also expected to seek a second term. No! Reeeeeally?
Former Iranian president Seyyed Mohammad Khatami, Head of the Iranian Expert Assembly's Center for Strategic Research, Hojjatoleslam Hassan Rowhani, and the secretary general of Iran's National Confidence Party Mehdi Karroubi are also among expected candidates in the country's 2009 presidential election.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/10/2008 00:00 ||
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On November 9, 2008, the London daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported, citing "a source close to the Al-Qaeda leadership in Yemen," that Osama bin Laden had ordered a new attack on the U.S. which will be "far greater than the 9/11 attacks."
The paper said the source was "a former Al-Qaeda commander who is still in touch with... the organization leadership, and who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons."
According to the source, the attack is meant "to change the world [both] politically and economically," and is planned for the near future.
#4
Face it - if the attack actually occurs - say on September 11, 2009, people will not blame Obama, the way everyone blamed Bush for 9/11/2001. They will blame Bush.
Of course, some people blame Bush for every bad thing that has happened since the beginning of time.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/10/2008 18:11 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Good thing Obama's new AG Jamie Gorelick will work tirelessly to protect us from attack.
NEW YORK (Rooters) - Fannie Mae said on Monday it is losing money so fast it may have to tap government cash to avoid shutting down after the largest source of funding for U.S. homes posted a record $29 billion quarterly loss.
Fannie Mae, which along with rival Freddie Mac owns or guarantees about half of U.S. mortgages, reported its fifth consecutive quarterly loss. The government forced the two companies into conservatorship in September.
The Washington-based company warned that the worst housing crisis since the Great Depression could wipe out its net worth by year-end, forcing it to seek funding from the Treasury in order to avoid the government putting it into receivership and closing down.
The company's loss stemmed largely from the write-down of the value of deferred tax breaks, which amounts to an admission it will continue to report losses. Deferred tax assets can be used to offset future taxes, but only if the company can show it will return to profitability.
Credit expenses also soared to $9.2 billion in the quarter due to deteriorating mortgage credit conditions and as home prices declined, the company said in a statement. Fannie Mae also took big hits on exposure to other financial institutions, including $811 million in losses following the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Fannie Mae's loss was equivalent to $13 per share, compared with a loss of $1.4 billion, or $1.56 per share a year earlier. The company warned of a big loss for the fourth quarter if the current downward trends in U.S. housing and financial markets continue.
Further losses this quarter may wipe out shareholder equity, which fell to $9.3 billion in the third quarter from $44 billion at the end of 2007. Negative shareholder equity would require Fannie Mae to tap a $100 billion capital backstop from the U.S. Treasury to help the company maintain operations that support the bulk of U.S. mortgages.
Formed as a government agency in 1938, the company is an important crutch to housing because it purchases of loans and securities, and stamps its guarantee on loans it pools into mortgage-backed securities.
The Treasury has already injected cash into other financial institutions, and on Monday boosted a bailout for American International Group Inc as the giant insurer reported a record $24.47 billion loss.
"It's a glaring symptom of what we face in the financial markets," said Andrew Harding, head of taxable bonds at Allegiant Asset Management in Cleveland, Ohio. "The Treasury has to finance this."
Overall core business losses are "not so imposing" to traders and investors, who might have worried if the Treasury backstop was enough, said Jim Vogel, a strategist at FTN Financial Capital Markets in Memphis, Tennessee.
However, accepting capital from the Treasury under current terms could raise costs and make it harder for Fannie Mae to return to profitability, the company said in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Equity investors, while nearly wiped out under the conservatorship, have been eager to see if the regulator will instruct the companies to sacrifice profit for bigger volumes in their mortgage guarantee and investment businesses.
Both have been given the room to expand portfolios by a combined $200 billion through 2009, but they have been slow to follow through as waning demand for their securities has inflated funding costs.
On top of restrictive debt costs, Fannie Mae said that it cannot issue securities in excess of 110 percent of its total indebtedness as of June 30, based on the Treasury's senior preferred stock purchase plan negotiated in September. That "likely will prohibit us from increasing the size of our mortgage portfolio to $850 billion, unless Treasury elects to amend or waive this limitation," Fannie Mae said in its filing. The portfolio was $761 billion in September.
Fannie Mae said it was just $12 billion under its estimated debt limit as of October 31.
Provisions for loan losses and other charges more than offset a 53 percent rise in revenue to more than $4 billion in the third quarter from a year earlier, as lower short-term borrowing rates boosted interest income from the portfolio.
Shares of Fannie Mae were little changed near 73 cents in early afternoon in New York. Yield spread premiums on Fannie Mae five-year notes used to fund the portfolio narrowed about 0.05 percentage point to 1.115 percentage point.
"They have to tap into Treasury funding," Harding said. "Fannie Mae is mandated to buy mortgage-backed securities. How are they going to do that if they have a negative net worth?"
Deutsche Bank views GM shares as worthless
By Simon Kennedy
Last update: 8:09 a.m. EST Nov. 10, 2008
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LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Deutsche Bank downgraded General Motors Corp. (GM:
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GM 3.36, -1.00, -22.9%) to sell from hold, with a price target of $0, saying the car maker may not be able to fund its U.S. operations beyond December without government intervention. Deutsche Bank said it believes the U.S. government will be compelled to intervene through a capital infusion or loan. "Without government assistance, we believe that GM's collapse would be inevitable, and that it would precipitate systemic risk that would be difficult to overcome for automakers, suppliers, retailers, and sectors of the U.S. economy," the broker said. Even if GM avoids bankruptcy, equity shareholders are unlikely to get anything back, it added.
President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff says something should be done to save the auto industry amid low sales and massive layoffs. "Washington needs to look at fast-forwarding the 25 billion dollars that has been provided for retooling the factories for basically a more fuel-efficient auto fleet," Congressman Rahm Emanuel told ABC on Sunday, AFP reported. Good idea. Loan them as much money as they need to get competetive again. Relax CAFE restrictions. Subsidize sales for a period of years if need be. But only do it on condition they break up into smaller, self-sufficient, competing companies. Rather than a single point of failure, build a net that can be repaired when something breaks.
Emanuel said the President-elect has asked his team to consider ways aimed at rescuing the US car industry. "As president-elect Obama has said throughout the campaign and as I think as recently as Friday ... the auto industry is an essential part of our economy and an essential part of our industrial base," he said.
Earlier House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid also urged congress to allocate a bigger share of the 700 billion dollar US aid plan to the auto sector. Emanuel declined to say whether Obama backed the appeal. "President-elect Obama has repeated that there's one president, one administration at a time and so you don't want to get in front of that," he said, as Obama's transition team prepared to take over from President George W. Bush on January 20.
However, he said, "there are existing authorities within the government today that the administration should tap to help the auto industry."
According to statistics collated by outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the US automotive industry has laid off 94,900 workers in the nine months through September this year. The US auto giants have announced new rounds of job cuts nearly every day over the past weeks. Chrysler recently revealed that 25 percent of its salaried employees would be sacked before the end of the year, and that further restructuring will be seen "in the near future".
Ford Motor Co. also reported heavy financial losses and plans to slash an additional 10 percent from its salaried North American worker costs, citing the impact of a global slowdown that has already gravely weakened the US auto industry.
Experts believe that the layoffs are a mere foretaste of the tens of thousands of job cuts that will accompany a finalized merger involving the major auto companies.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/10/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
"Washington needs to look at fast-forwarding the 25 billion dollars that has been provided for retooling the factories for basically a more fuel-efficient auto fleet"
Retooling? I thought it was going into the UAW-administered Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA)?
I believe this is done annually in the auto industry in preparation for the roll-out of the upcoming year's new models. Seems to me it used to be done in the Summer time, lasted from 2-6 weeks and was referred to as "changeover." Is the gummit now going to fund model changeovers?
What is really being "retooled" is the taxpayer's arss and all it's fixtures.?
#4
this shit has got too stop somewhere and it either need too be here or not give AIG another dime. Sorry but a bailout of the US carmakers is not gonna help. the cars suck the employees are overpaid so handing the big men of the companies too piss away is not gonna help.
Posted by: chris ||
11/10/2008 11:34 Comments ||
Top||
#5
This bailout should only be considered if the UAW is forced to make very major and long-lasting concessions. I don't see that happening with the in-coming administration.
#6
If "card-check" becomes law, what are the odds that the UAW walks into Toyota or Honda?
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
11/10/2008 13:21 Comments ||
Top||
#7
Sorry, Fred, I don't think your social engineering is desirable, even though it's ten thousand times smarter than the sort we'd actually see out of this crowd of idiots.
It is to puke to see how the public square in the US almost excludes any intelligent discussion of economic issues. And now, thanks to Dubya, we're off to the races. The races to mediocrity, avoidable problems, deepened national insolvency, and galactic-sized opportunity costs unseen by the slowly boiling frogs.
As I noted once before, the radio ads for Fred G's and my new congresscritter, Duncan Hunter the Younger, included bigoted nonsense about "Wall Street greed" that Huey Long would have felt comfortable with. My sense of connection to others in this country, and concern for their futures, grows more tenuous by the day.
#8
how do you sign up for these bailouts? i need one too at a fraction of 1% of what they are giving these guys and would prob go too better use
Posted by: chris ||
11/10/2008 15:02 Comments ||
Top||
#9
Fred G? I still have hair!
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/10/2008 16:07 Comments ||
Top||
#10
NEW YORK (AFP) General Motors shares plunged more than 30 percent Monday after an analyst forecast their price would fall to zero, saying that even if there is a government bailout of the auto giant, shareholders would not benefit.
"We are lowering our target on GM equity to zero dollars," the Deutsche Bank report said. "Even if GM succeeds in averting a bankruptcy, we believe that the company's future path is likely to be bankruptcy-like," it said.
"While we believe that GM's secured creditors may get a par recovery, unsecured creditors may get very low recovery. Equity shareholders are unlikely to get anything."
#11
If "card-check" becomes law, what are the odds that the UAW walks into Toyota or Honda?"
Followed shortly thereafter by Japan, Inc. walking out of the U.S.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
11/10/2008 19:03 Comments ||
Top||
#12
I recommend we ask the Rahm Emanuel and Amy Rule Charitable Foundation to bail out GM. Since they don't pay retail property taxes.....
"According to the Cook County Assessor's website, the Chicago home of four-term Democrat Congressman and likely new White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, doesn't exist. While the address of 4228 North Hermitage is listed as Emanuel's residence on the Illinois State Board of Elections' website, there seems to be no public record of Emanuel ever paying property taxes on this home... Why wouldn't 4228 North Hermitage property owners Rahm Emanuel and wife Amy Rule not pay property taxes?
One reason may be because Emanuel and Rule declared their 4228 North Hermitage home as the office location for their non-profit foundation appropriately called the "Rahm Emanuel and Amy Rule Charitable Foundation". As a non-profit headquarters, they may consider their home as exempt from paying taxes."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A multinational force of warships has carved out a narrow shipping corridor off the coast of Somalia that is helping protect merchant vessels from pirate attacks, the force's commander said Monday. 
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Southern African leaders said on Sunday that Zimbabwe's political rivals must split the leadership of a key ministry, a move rejected by the opposition in a further sign that power-sharing talks were unraveling. The 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) said in a resolution Zimbabwe's squabbling political parties should form a unity government immediately to end a stalemate over the allocation of ministries.
Doctors struggled yesterday to contain an outbreak of cholera in a sprawling refugee camp near Congo's eastern provincial capital of Goma, as new fighting ignited fears that infected patients could scatter and launch an epidemic.
China on Sunday announced a massive $586 billion stimulus package aimed at boosting domestic spending over the next two years in its most aggressive response so far to the spreading global financial crisis.
German riot police tried Monday to break up a human blockade of a radioactive waste disposal site in the country's biggest anti-nuclear protests since 2001. 
LONDON (Reuters) - The international financial crisis has given world leaders a unique opportunity to create a truly global society, Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown will say in a keynote foreign policy speech on Monday.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has said that the Obama administration in the United States needs far-reaching 'perestroika' reforms to overcome the financial crisis and restore balance in the world. 
NEW YORK (Rooters) - Fannie Mae said on Monday it is losing money so fast it may have to tap government cash to avoid shutting down after the largest source of funding for U.S. homes posted a record $29 billion quarterly loss.
President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff says something should be done to save the auto industry amid low sales and massive layoffs. "Washington needs to look at fast-forwarding the 25 billion dollars that has been provided for retooling the factories for basically a more fuel-efficient auto fleet," Congressman Rahm Emanuel told ABC on Sunday, AFP reported. 
