Footage posted online appears to show one official saying he had seen government snipers on rooftops and calling for them to be withdrawn.
However in a BBC interview, the chief of the Arab League mission later denied that the official had seen the snipers.
Violence in Syria has continued unabated despite the monitors' mission.The latest footage posted on the internet cannot be verified, but it shows what appears to be an Arab League observer complaining about snipers shooting at demonstrators in Deraa.
For more: BBC News - Dispute among Arab League observers over Syria snipers
12/31/11
France's future hangs in balance in 2012: Sarkozy
France's future will hang in the balance in 2012, President Nicolas Sarkozy warned on Saturday, four months before he faces a tough battle for re-election.
With the economy and eurozone debt crisis set to take centre stage in the vote and recent figures showing unemployment at a 12-year high, Sarkozy promised "important decisions" in January to tackle joblessness.
And with Socialist challenger Francois Hollande leading in the polls, Sarkozy vowed that financial markets and credit ratings agencies would not be the ones deciding French policy.
For more: AFP: France's future hangs in balance in 2012: Sarkozy
With the economy and eurozone debt crisis set to take centre stage in the vote and recent figures showing unemployment at a 12-year high, Sarkozy promised "important decisions" in January to tackle joblessness.
And with Socialist challenger Francois Hollande leading in the polls, Sarkozy vowed that financial markets and credit ratings agencies would not be the ones deciding French policy.
For more: AFP: France's future hangs in balance in 2012: Sarkozy
The year of dissent: Battling Europe
The European community bids farewell to the worst year for the eurozone, which saw the toughest economic crisis in decades. The battle to save the single currency left boardrooms and flooded European streets - most commonly and violently in Athens.
For Greece, the country most severely affected by the financial disaster, 2011 was a year of despair and discontent. Greek debt became the centerpiece of the euro crisis. Protests in the country have become a common occurrence against desperate austerity cuts to qualify for IMF bailouts and unemployment crippling record high. The financial crisis in Greece has migrated to other European countries, including Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Italy.
Autumn in Europe brought about the fall of several leaders across the EU – Italy, Greece and Spain – all of these countries saw governments change within a two-week period.
For more: The year of dissent: Battling Europe — RT
For Greece, the country most severely affected by the financial disaster, 2011 was a year of despair and discontent. Greek debt became the centerpiece of the euro crisis. Protests in the country have become a common occurrence against desperate austerity cuts to qualify for IMF bailouts and unemployment crippling record high. The financial crisis in Greece has migrated to other European countries, including Portugal, Spain, Ireland and Italy.
Autumn in Europe brought about the fall of several leaders across the EU – Italy, Greece and Spain – all of these countries saw governments change within a two-week period.
For more: The year of dissent: Battling Europe — RT
US economy: The Year of the Treasury - by Bradley Davis
Mark it in the history books: 2011 was the year of the U.S. Treasury.
Investors stampeded into U.S. debt, sinking the 10-year benchmark yield to end the year below 2% for the first time on record. Earlier in the year, the yield fell to its lowest level since the 1940s.
But what was it about Treasuries that attracted investors? Certainly not the domestic political situation, wherein fighting over a routine raising of the so-called "debt ceiling" led to an unprecedented downgrade of the U.S.'s top credit rating.
For more: The Year of the Treasury - Barrons.com
Investors stampeded into U.S. debt, sinking the 10-year benchmark yield to end the year below 2% for the first time on record. Earlier in the year, the yield fell to its lowest level since the 1940s.
But what was it about Treasuries that attracted investors? Certainly not the domestic political situation, wherein fighting over a routine raising of the so-called "debt ceiling" led to an unprecedented downgrade of the U.S.'s top credit rating.
For more: The Year of the Treasury - Barrons.com
12/30/11
The “American Century” has ended
In every aspect of human existence, change is a constant. Yet change that actually matters occurs only rarely. Even then, except in retrospect, genuinely transformative change is difficult to identify. By attributing cosmic significance to every novelty and declaring every unexpected event a revolution, self-assigned interpreters of the contemporary scene — politicians and pundits above all — exacerbate the problem of distinguishing between the trivial and the non-trivial.
Did 9/11 “change everything”? For a brief period after September 2001, the answer to that question seemed self-evident: of course it did, with massive and irrevocable implications. A mere decade later, the verdict appears less clear. Today, the vast majority of Americans live their lives as if the events of 9/11 had never occurred. When it comes to leaving a mark on the American way of life, the likes of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg have long since eclipsed Osama bin Laden. (Whether the legacies of Jobs and Zuckerberg will prove other than transitory also remains to be seen.)
Anyone claiming to divine the existence of genuinely Big Change Happening Now should, therefore, do so with a sense of modesty and circumspection, recognizing the possibility that unfolding events may reveal a different story.
All that said, the present moment is arguably one in which the international order is, in fact, undergoing a fundamental transformation. The “postwar world” brought into existence as a consequence of World War II is coming to an end. A major redistribution of global power is underway. Arrangements that once conferred immense prerogatives upon the United States, hugely benefiting the American people, are coming undone.
For more: The “American Century” has ended - Salon.com
Did 9/11 “change everything”? For a brief period after September 2001, the answer to that question seemed self-evident: of course it did, with massive and irrevocable implications. A mere decade later, the verdict appears less clear. Today, the vast majority of Americans live their lives as if the events of 9/11 had never occurred. When it comes to leaving a mark on the American way of life, the likes of Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg have long since eclipsed Osama bin Laden. (Whether the legacies of Jobs and Zuckerberg will prove other than transitory also remains to be seen.)
Anyone claiming to divine the existence of genuinely Big Change Happening Now should, therefore, do so with a sense of modesty and circumspection, recognizing the possibility that unfolding events may reveal a different story.
All that said, the present moment is arguably one in which the international order is, in fact, undergoing a fundamental transformation. The “postwar world” brought into existence as a consequence of World War II is coming to an end. A major redistribution of global power is underway. Arrangements that once conferred immense prerogatives upon the United States, hugely benefiting the American people, are coming undone.
For more: The “American Century” has ended - Salon.com
Chris Huhne attacks Tory Eurosceptics over 'semi-detached' stance on Europe - by Hélène Mulholland
Liberal Democrat cabinet minister Chris Huhne has urged David Cameron to stand up to Conservative Eurosceptics intent on making the UK "semi-detached" from the European Union.
In an interview in the Independent, the energy secretary warned that the isolationist approach being pursued by Tory Eurosceptics would be disastrous for British jobs and trade.
Huhne's comments are likely to resurrect tensions between the two coalition parties over Cameron's recent decision to use the veto over a new EU treaty.
For more: Chris Huhne attacks Tory Eurosceptics over 'semi-detached' stance on Europe | Politics | guardian.co.uk
In an interview in the Independent, the energy secretary warned that the isolationist approach being pursued by Tory Eurosceptics would be disastrous for British jobs and trade.
Huhne's comments are likely to resurrect tensions between the two coalition parties over Cameron's recent decision to use the veto over a new EU treaty.
For more: Chris Huhne attacks Tory Eurosceptics over 'semi-detached' stance on Europe | Politics | guardian.co.uk
Why Putin failed and the Russian democrats may too: The Sources and Risks of Russia’s White Revolution
It is yet unclear what the exact outcome of the current upheaval in Moscow will eventually be. Yet, it seems already obvious that Russian politics will change substantially, in 2012. To be sure, whether Russia indeed becomes more democratic and free as a result of the growing protests remains open. Nonetheless, speaking of an – at least, attempted – Color Revolution is already justified. To be sure, neither will Russia’s possible White Revolution become a real revolution, nor were the other Color Revolutions fully fledged revolutionary upheavals. Yet, we have now, in Russia, the typical pattern of mass protests after a falsified election that partly delegitimizes the incumbent leadership – a sequence similar to, though not (yet) identical with, what we observed in Serbia in 2000, Georgia in 2003, Ukraine in 2004 and Kyrgysztan in 2005 – as well as, perhaps, the Arab world, more recently. Why is the Putin system which looked stable as recently as a year ago currently failing? And what are the risks for the re-emerging democratic movement in Russia?
Arguably, Putin made – within the logic of his own system that could have survived longer – one major strategic and one crucial tactical mistake. Strategically, Putin’s preeminent failure was that his “vertical of power” did not fulfill one of its major purposes: to end or, at least, limit corruption in post-Soviet Russia. Instead, of producing a modernizing authoritarianism along the lines of post-war South Korea, Taiwan or Singapore, Putin’s rule deepened rather than erased certain pathologies of late Soviet and early post-Soviet society. Above all, it did not reduce the massive bribe-taking and -giving that goes on in all spheres of Russian public life. Corruption seems to have become even a major problem for the security organs that grew out of the KGB, from where Putin once came. It has thoroughly discredited the entire rationale of Putin’s contract with society: Instead of trading political freedom for effective governance, the “national leader” took away Russians’ civil and political rights without, however, delivering what he had promised, in exchange. It is no accident that one of the leaders of the current protest movement, the nationalist Alexei Navalnyi, made himself initially a name by blogging about prominent corruption cases in Russia’s elite.
USA - The dysfunction of America : The rule of greed - by Peter Blaikie
The U.S. economy remains the most powerful, creative and dynamic in the world, but it faces major difficulties. No longer is it a true capitalist free-market system. It has become a gigantic welfare state whose prime beneficiaries are the rich and major corporations.
Think of the legions of millionaire lobbyists in Washington; the shuttle-bus-type ferrying of people back and forth between senior Washington positions and executive suites in the business world; the enormous subsidies paid to myriad industries, including agriculture; the complex loopholes that render the tax code incomprehensible to all but the beneficiaries; the deregulation of the financial system that led to the crisis of 2007 and 2008, followed by the trillion-dollar bailouts; and that's to say nothing of the dramatically increasing inequality of income distribution.
For more: The dysfunction of America (i): The rule of greed
Think of the legions of millionaire lobbyists in Washington; the shuttle-bus-type ferrying of people back and forth between senior Washington positions and executive suites in the business world; the enormous subsidies paid to myriad industries, including agriculture; the complex loopholes that render the tax code incomprehensible to all but the beneficiaries; the deregulation of the financial system that led to the crisis of 2007 and 2008, followed by the trillion-dollar bailouts; and that's to say nothing of the dramatically increasing inequality of income distribution.
For more: The dysfunction of America (i): The rule of greed
Hungary Approves Central Bank Law in Showdown With IMF, EU
Hungary’s chances of obtaining a bailout receded after lawmakers approved new central bank regulations that prompted the International Monetary Fund and the European Union to break off talks this month.
Parliament in Budapest stripped central bank President Andras Simor of his right to name deputies, expanded the rate- setting Monetary Council and created a position for a third vice president. A separate law approved earlier today makes it possible to demote the central bank president if the institution is combined with the financial regulator.
For more: Hungary Approves Central Bank Law in Showdown With IMF, EU - Businessweek
Parliament in Budapest stripped central bank President Andras Simor of his right to name deputies, expanded the rate- setting Monetary Council and created a position for a third vice president. A separate law approved earlier today makes it possible to demote the central bank president if the institution is combined with the financial regulator.
Hungary received its second sovereign credit downgrade to junk in a month when Standard and Poor’s followed Moody’s Investors Service in taking the country out of its investment grade category on Dec. 21. The forint has fallen 15 percent against the euro since June 30, making it the world’s worst- performing currency in the period.
Germany: EU mulls new powers for piracy mission
German officials say the European Union is considering expanding the scope of its anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa to allow the destruction of pirates' equipment on the beaches of Somalia.
The EU's anti-piracy force patrols the seas off the coast of the country. Somalia has been mired in violence since 1991 -- plunging it into a chaos that sprouted militants and piracy.
German Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke said Friday that the "limited destruction of piracy logistics on the beach" is under discussion but "no deployment on land." He stressed that discussions are ongoing and no decision has been made.
For more: Germany: EU mulls new powers for piracy mission - Boston.com
12/29/11
Brazil surpassed UK in the world’s largest economies ranking
Brazil has surpassed the UK in terms of GDP and is the world’s sixth largest economy, according to experts from the UK Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR), The Guardian reports. Brazil was able to rise due to an increase in exports to China and other East Asian countries, while the UK was still experiencing the negative consequences of the 2010 banking crisis.
China will again demonstrate the highest economic growth in the coming decade. According to the baseline scenario, the Chinese economy will be increasing by an average of 7.6 percent annually up until 2020.
For more: Brazil surpassed UK in the world’s largest economies ranking
China will again demonstrate the highest economic growth in the coming decade. According to the baseline scenario, the Chinese economy will be increasing by an average of 7.6 percent annually up until 2020.
For more: Brazil surpassed UK in the world’s largest economies ranking
E-Books: Why buy an expensive Tablet? Read e-books on your PC, laptop, or notebook
No need to purchase an expensive Tablet to read your e-books. You can download it for free on your own PC, Laptop or notebook. For more info go to MobiPocket or Amazon where you can download free Kindle software for your PC.
EU-Digest
EU-Digest
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Proceeds from Angelina Jolie's "In the Land of Blood and Honey" Soundtrack to Benefit SOS Children's Villages
Angelina Jolie, Graham King Films and Varese Sarabande Records today announced that a portion of the proceeds from the In the Land of Blood and Honey soundtrack will be donated to SOS Children’s Villages in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The donation is given in support of the critically needed programs that SOS Children’s Villages provides in Bosnia and Herzegovina to children, youth and families still suffering from lingering effects of the 1990s war in the Balkans. In her directorial debut, Ms. Jolie worked with actors from the region whose personal experiences during the war helped inform and shape the film.
For more: Proceeds from Angelina Jolie's "In the Land of Blood and Honey" Soundtrack to Benefit SOS Children's Villages in Bosnia and Herzegovina
The donation is given in support of the critically needed programs that SOS Children’s Villages provides in Bosnia and Herzegovina to children, youth and families still suffering from lingering effects of the 1990s war in the Balkans. In her directorial debut, Ms. Jolie worked with actors from the region whose personal experiences during the war helped inform and shape the film.
For more: Proceeds from Angelina Jolie's "In the Land of Blood and Honey" Soundtrack to Benefit SOS Children's Villages in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Plastic Surgery - Miami the most vain city in the world ?
If you find people who haven’t had tummy tucks, laser facial hair removal and botox to be gruesomely ugly and unkept you might want to consider moving to Miamia, Fl., the area that was most recently called the most “vain” of all U.S. based cities and probably also of the world.
According to a LivingSocial.com survey Miami is the worst city and is then followed by Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Phoenix. Surprisingly Los Angeles didn’t manage to make the Top 5 list.
In Miami 53% of respondents said women are more beautiful in their city while 38% said men were more handsome. According to one female Miami resident: “It’s all about your image, it’s what you’re wearing, the bag that you’re carrying, and the car you’re driving.”
According to a LivingSocial.com survey Miami is the worst city and is then followed by Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Phoenix. Surprisingly Los Angeles didn’t manage to make the Top 5 list.
In Miami 53% of respondents said women are more beautiful in their city while 38% said men were more handsome. According to one female Miami resident: “It’s all about your image, it’s what you’re wearing, the bag that you’re carrying, and the car you’re driving.”
Some France makers of wine go natural, and fight the system - by Devorah Lauter
Standing by the wood-burning oven in their kitchen, Claire Cousin rips apart the frame around a photo of her husband, Olivier, kneeling beside Romeo, the lazy draft horse he uses to plow his small vineyard in France's Anjou region.
In an industry and a country that fears losing itself to the spread of globalized sameness, Cousin is part of an increasingly popular, often rebellious movement of "natural" winemakers.
"Making wine this way is the story of humanity," Cousin says. "You have to defend it. Otherwise, you might as well make wine on a computer. And in 50 years, if we continue making industrial wine, it won't interest anybody.
"When you make something naturally, it has a magic to it."
For more: Some France makers of wine go natural, and fight the system - latimes.com
In an industry and a country that fears losing itself to the spread of globalized sameness, Cousin is part of an increasingly popular, often rebellious movement of "natural" winemakers.
"Making wine this way is the story of humanity," Cousin says. "You have to defend it. Otherwise, you might as well make wine on a computer. And in 50 years, if we continue making industrial wine, it won't interest anybody.
"When you make something naturally, it has a magic to it."
For more: Some France makers of wine go natural, and fight the system - latimes.com
12/28/11
Multinational Corporations: Samsung, Sharp, Hitachi, Epson, among 7 Asian companies who conspired to inflate prices liquid crystat display screens
Seven companies based in Asia will pay $553 million US to settle allegations by prosecutors in eight U.S. states that they conspired to inflate prices for liquid crystal display screens used in televisions and computer monitors, said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
The agreement provides $501 million US for partial refunds for consumers in 24 states and the District of Columbia who purchased products with the companies' panels from 1999 through 2006.
The attorney general had alleged that the Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese companies, which make the thin film transistor LCD panels, conspired to keep prices high.
For more: Business - CBC News
The agreement provides $501 million US for partial refunds for consumers in 24 states and the District of Columbia who purchased products with the companies' panels from 1999 through 2006.
The attorney general had alleged that the Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese companies, which make the thin film transistor LCD panels, conspired to keep prices high.
For more: Business - CBC News
China using mental hospitals to quiet dissent - by Calum MacLeod
The electric acupuncture needles stung her scalp and the drugs bloated her weight, gave her heart palpitations and brought on premature menopause. But Wu Chunxia consented to the treatments at the psychiatric hospital because if she didn't, she knew she would be strapped to her bed and left vulnerable to assaults from violent inmates.
Wu was not at the hospital for reasons of mental health. She was committed there in 2008 by the Chinese government for 132 days as punishment for protesting about local injustice to higher authorities.
For more: China using mental hospitals to quiet dissent – USATODAY.com
Wu was not at the hospital for reasons of mental health. She was committed there in 2008 by the Chinese government for 132 days as punishment for protesting about local injustice to higher authorities.
For more: China using mental hospitals to quiet dissent – USATODAY.com
12/27/11
Literature: - Britain -The dark heart of Dickens: How writer was an abusive husband who seduced a woman 26 years his junior - by Simon Heffer
Look at some Christmas cards and one feature will link many of them: a scene with snow, in the England before the railways, with a coach and horses charging up to a cosy house or inn, and red-faced men in top hats sitting inside and on top of the vehicle.
If it is not Mr Pickwick arriving at Dingley Dell on the Muggleton coach, with his codfish and his six barrels of oysters, and fortified by hot brandy and water, it is inspired by the idea of it.
Charles Dickens’s novel of 1836, like his Christmas Carol of 1843, has in 175 years lost none of its power to describe the perfect English festivities. As Dickens wrote: ‘How many old recollections, and how many dormant sympathies, does Christmas time awaken?’
It is not the least of Dickens’s achievements that millions who have never read a word of his novels know so much about his world.
Yet, as we near his bicentenary, we should remember that this was a man tortured by the memory of poverty as a child, thin-skinned, cruel to his wife, dismissive of his children, a slave to overwork and, ultimately, victim of an early death, worn out not least in the effort to support himself, his estranged wife, and his mistress and her family.
For more: The dark heart of Dickens: How writer was an abusive husband who seduced a woman 26 years his junior | Mail Online
If it is not Mr Pickwick arriving at Dingley Dell on the Muggleton coach, with his codfish and his six barrels of oysters, and fortified by hot brandy and water, it is inspired by the idea of it.Charles Dickens’s novel of 1836, like his Christmas Carol of 1843, has in 175 years lost none of its power to describe the perfect English festivities. As Dickens wrote: ‘How many old recollections, and how many dormant sympathies, does Christmas time awaken?’
It is not the least of Dickens’s achievements that millions who have never read a word of his novels know so much about his world.
Yet, as we near his bicentenary, we should remember that this was a man tortured by the memory of poverty as a child, thin-skinned, cruel to his wife, dismissive of his children, a slave to overwork and, ultimately, victim of an early death, worn out not least in the effort to support himself, his estranged wife, and his mistress and her family.
For more: The dark heart of Dickens: How writer was an abusive husband who seduced a woman 26 years his junior | Mail Online
Literature - "A Gentleman's Homecoming" - by Ruth Axtell Morren
"It's been six years since Luke Travis has seen his native England…and his son, Sam. But his hopes for a joyful reunion are shattered when he learns that Sam wants nothing to do with him. There's one ray of hope—Luke's former sister-in-law, Bobbie Gardner. The kindhearted woman has been a mother to Sam for all these years, and she promises to help mend the breach between father and son. But can Luke trust another Gardner? His wife betrayed and abandoned him, and his father-in-law took his son away. Bobbie must prove to him that she is not her sister, or her father, but a woman who is all that Luke could wish for in a wife."In a review, Patricia R.Gaddis writes about A Gentleman's Homecoming : "What I like best about Ruth Morren's stories is that they are so unique. She incorporates historical occurrences that I find very interesting and informative. In this case how one of the first underground train lines came to be. Also, how difficult it was for a woman to establish her ability as a civil engineer in a time when it was considered a "man's" job and a "women's place" was in the home. The romance between the hero and heroine comes across as very real and believable. The conversation flow in all Ruth's books feels very natural and flows nicely. I highly recommend Ruth Axtell Morren as an author. I've not read anything by her yet that I haven't enjoyed."
Interested in buying A Gentleman's Homecoming go to Amazon
EU-Digest
European Union Close to Deal for $40.5 Million Manhattan Lease
The European Union is negotiating a $40.5 million lease in midtown Manhattan to replace office space it must vacate by late July.
The Brussels-based alliance is close to an agreement for its United Nations delegation to take about 45,000 square feet (4,200 square meters) at 666 Third Ave., known as the Chrysler East tower, said Christopher Matthews, an EU spokesman. The 32- story property and its neighbor, the iconic Chrysler Building, are controlled by Tishman Speyer Properties LP.
The EU seeks to complete the deal so it can move from its current home, two blocks away at 222 E. 41st St., before it has to pay holdover fees, according to two people with knowledge of the plans. Those costs could be substantial, said the people, who asked not to be named because the talks are private
.
For more: European Union Close to Deal for $40.5 Million Manhattan Lease
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