Greece's hopes of averting default dimmed on Saturday as fears grew the country may have missed fiscal targets set by its lenders while euro zone policymakers bickered on how to respond to the deepening crisis.
The country's finance minister denied a report in German weekly magazine Spiegel that international inspectors will report that Greece failed on all its fiscal targets, a condition for getting a key, fifth tranche of a 110 billion euro bailout.
"Negotiations continue and will be completed in the next few days. We have every reason to believe the report will be positive for the country," George Papaconstantinou told Greek Mega TV.
But pressure continued to pile on the socialist government, which saw its popularity fall behind its conservative opposition for the first time since 2009 elections in the wake of harsh austerity measures to exit the debt crisis.
Echoing earlier views from the IMF, ECB board member Juergen Stark said Greece's privatisation programme could raise six times more than the 50 billion euros planned.
"The Greek government has shares in listed companies, it owns real estate. Experts estimate the sales potential (from privatisations) at up to 300 billion euros," Stark told German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.
The ailing euro zone state, whose debt burden stands at around 330 billion euros, needs to secure support from opposition parties for fiscal reforms before the European Union and International Monetary Fund will free up more cash to plug funding gaps in the next two years.
EU officials have asked Athens to step up privatisations urgently and suggested setting up a trustee institution to help oversee the process, similar to the body that privatised East German companies after the fall of communism.
But the EU has not asked to play a major role in the asset sales and is only offering its expertise, Papaconstantinou said on Saturday.
The IMF's European department director, Antonio Borges, said earlier this month the 50 billion euros cited as a figure for proceeds represented "probably less than 20 percent of all the assets the Greeks could privatise."
The head of Germany's economic advisors said on Saturday a Greek debt restructuring may be necessary and, if so, he would favour a haircut—or valuation discount—on Greek bonds.
"Possibly, a debt restructuring would be necessary and in this case I am in favour of a haircut," the chairman of the 5-member panel of 'wise men' advising the German government told the Greek Real newspaper.
A eurogroup working committee has been tasked to research how a 'soft' Greek debt reprofiling might work and whether it is possible to have one without triggering a credit event, Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees De Jager said on Saturday.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso also weighed in on Saturday, telling Greece the only way it can exit its debt crisis is through fiscal consolidation and by improving competitiveness.
"If there was an easier way out of the crisis, we would have chosen it," Barroso said in an article in Kathimerini newspaper. "But there isn't."
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou said there was still common ground with opposition parties on austerity policies after failing on Friday to broker a consensus for the government's austerity programme and reforms.
"I believe there are several points we converge on," he told reporters, a day after opposition parties rejected his call for backing. "I will not stop seeking consensus. I hope several political forces respond so that we help ourselves exit this crisis in a faster and stronger way."
The opposition has rejected proposed tax increases to help reduce the budget deficit, arguing instead for tax cuts to revive economic growth.
( Source: Reuters )
Major International Political Scandals Summary:
1) On April 6, 2011, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is scheduled to stand trial for charges stemming from his relationship with Karima el-Mahroug, a nightclub dancer who performs under the name Ruby Heart-Stealer.
According to the charges, he paid el-Mahroug for sex while she was still underage, and when she was arrested for theft, he used his political muscle to have her released from police custody. Berlusconi has been in this type of trouble before, but it’s widely speculated that this may be the scandal that finally ends his career.
Berlusconi’s activities may be colorful, but they’re nothing that politicians haven’t engaged in before. World political history is rife with figures who have been involved in abuse of power, fraud and substance abuse, as well as the old standby, the extramarital affair.
2) The State Duma is the lower house of Russian parliament, and it has been criticized in the past as being nothing more than a rubber stamp for President Dmitry Medvedev’s initiatives. This perception was reinforced in May 2010 when a new law regarding drunk driving passed the house on its first reading with 440 out of 450 votes. A landslide! However, there was one small problem. Only 88 deputies had shown up for work that day.
A video made the Ren TV news that showed the deputies running from vacant seat to vacant seat, pushing the voting buttons of their absent colleagues. The report claimed that in the twenty seconds in which ballots were cast, it was possible that deputies could have voted as much as nine times. The video was also immortalized on YouTube, allowing millions of people to view the flagrant abuse of Russian parliamentary procedure.
3) Silvio Berlusconi (Italy)
Silvio Berlusconi is the Prime Minister of Italy, a former cruise ship lounge singer and no stranger to the legal system. He has been charged multiple times for fraud, bribery and corruption, but those allegations are all overshadowed by his sex scandals.
One involved an escort named Patrizia D'Addario, who claimed that Berlusconi had been her client on three occasions. He denied the allegation, telling Corriere della Sera, "I have never paid a woman … I have never understood what satisfaction there is if the pleasure of conquest is absent."
He was also linked to Noemi Letizia, who was still a minor while they were together. Berlusconi denied these allegations as well, telling Corriere della Sera, "I never had spicy relations with Noemi. I swear on my children.” The Prime Minister is scheduled to stand trial in April 2011 for allegations that he hired a 17-year-old dancer as an escort.
4) John Major (UK)
Matrix Churchill was a UK machine tools company purchased by the Saddam Hussein regime in the 1980s. It was revealed that the company was selling weapon components to Iraq, and members of the British Ministry of Defense had coached them on how to get the export licenses. The findings of an investigation into the matter were published in 1996, and they were extremely damaging to the Conservative Party, which had sitting government ministers named in the scandal.
Although he wasn’t named in the report, Prime Minister John Major was leader of the already unpopular and scandal-plagued Conservative Party, which was defeated in 1997 by Tony Blair’s Labour Party in a decisive landslide. Afterwards, when Major announced that he was stepping down as Prime Minister, he stated that, "When the curtain falls, it is time to get off the stage." He then informed the press that he was going to watch a cricket match with his family.
5) Chen Shui-bian (Taiwan)
In 2000, Chen Shui-bian was elected president of Taiwan and held the post for eight years. His presidency was first tarnished when his son-in-law, Chao Chien-ming, resigned from the president’s political party following allegations of insider trading. The scandal severely damaged the Taiwanese president’s reputation, and The China Post reported his approval ratings at a shockingly low 5.8%. However, after hitting bottom so decisively, he could at least take some solace in the fact that there was nowhere to go but up.
Unfortunately, his problems had just begun. In 2008, his wife, son and daughter-in-law were accused of embezzlement, misappropriation of funds and money laundering. Worse yet, the president was also named in the crime. In just one of the charges against him, he stood accused of wiring $20 million to multiple bank accounts under fraudulent identities. In the end, he and his wife were both fined over $15 million and sentenced to life in prison, although that sentence has now been reduced to 20 years.
6) Francois Mitterand (France)
Francois Mitterand was president of France from 1981 to 1995. He was married to his wife Danielle for over 50 years, but he had engaged in several extramarital affairs, most notably with Anne Pingeot, who got an apartment and the protection of a presidential security team, all at taxpayer expense. The affair endured for many years and produced a daughter named Mazarine, who was kept a secret from the press thanks to illegal wiretapping that Mitterand had ordered as part of his campaign against terrorism.
In 1994, Mazarine Pingeot turned 20 years old and could no longer be protected as a minor. The identity of her father became public knowledge and a media circus ensued. Mitterand died of prostate cancer in 1996, but he made gossip headlines even in death when Anne and Mazarine Pingeot showed up at his funeral. They had been invited by none other than Danielle Mitterand, who seated them next to the legitimate family.
7) Valentin Kovalev (Russia)
Valentin Kovalev was the Russian Minister of Justice. He was forced to step down from his position in 1997 when videos surfaced showing him cavorting with women in a nightclub bathhouse owned by Solntsevskaya Bratva, one of Russia’s notorious organized crime rings. The video substantiated longstanding rumors that Kovalev was linked to the criminal organization, and it has been alleged that the Russian government allowed the video to surface in order to embarrass Kovalev into resigning.
Kovalev’s problems didn’t end when he joined the ranks of the unemployed. In 1999, the disgraced former minister was arrested and charged with misappropriation of charity funds and receiving bribes amounting to tens of thousands of dollars. However, due to Kovalev’s poor health, a judge gave him a relatively lax sentence of nine years’ probation.
8) Iris Robinson (Northern Ireland)
A Northern Ireland scandal took on cinematic overtones when a 19-year-old man had an affair with a woman 40 years older than him, a woman named Mrs. Robinson. Iris Robinson was a member of parliament and wife of Northern Ireland's government leader, Peter Robinson, and the extramarital affair was scandalous enough on its own. However, it was made worse by the fact that she had solicited $80,000 from local property developers so that her lover, Kirk McCambley, could open a restaurant.
None of the money had been disclosed to the Northern Ireland Assembly, which constituted a violation of the law. The scandal irrevocably tarnished Iris Robinson’s credibility, but it also damaged her husband’s political career. Despite his efforts to pressure her to return the money, he had breached his duties as First Minister by failing to turn in his wife as soon as he learned of the improprieties. One week after the allegations came to light, Iris Robinson retired from politics.
9) Tony Blair (UK)
When the UK’s Labour Party campaigned in 1997, they pledged to support a European Union Directive banning tobacco company sponsorship and advertising. Bernie Ecclestone, the president and CEO of Formula One Management, was not happy with the pledge, since all of the leading Formula One teams had tobacco company sponsorship. After the Labour Party had won the election, Ecclestone met with Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's chief of staff, and walked away with an exemption from the ban for Formula One.
When the exemption came to light, three newspapers launched an inquiry, and after some sleuthing, they found that Ecclestone had donated £1 million to the Labour Party. The money was returned and Blair apologized, although he told BBC News that the exemption had nothing to do with the meeting and had been decided two weeks later. However, one year after Blair stepped down as Prime Minister, internal memos emerged that showed that the exemption was agreed upon at the meeting.
10) Kremlin Critics (Russia)
At the height of the Cold War, the KGB entrapped CIA officers by luring them with a “honey trap,” a beautiful Soviet woman used as a sexual lure to compromise US intelligence. The Iron Curtain has since fallen, but the technique remains in place, and it’s been used by the Kremlin to discredit Russian critics of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The trap involved a Moscow model known as “Katya,” who has been videotaped in throes of sexual and drug-fueled escapades with Putin critics in an effort to disgrace them.
One person caught on video was Ilya Yashin, leader of the anti-Putin Solidarity Party, who suspected that something was awry when “Katya” offered him cocaine. He quickly left the premises, but the damage was done, and the video aired relentlessly. Eduard Limonov of the National Bolshevik Party suffered the same fate. However, “Katya” didn’t just tarnish the reputations of political figures. She also seduced Viktor Shenderovich, a writer for a television show that satirized the Putin government, and Yury Shevchuk, the singer for DDT, an anti-Putin rock group.
11) Gordon Brown (UK)
In April 2010, British Prime Minister and Labour Party leader Gordon Brown was fighting for his political life. The man who had succeeded Tony Blair was one month away from a tough election and he needed everything to go right. On April 28, he engaged in a televised discussion with Gillian Duffy, a 65-year-old retiree and Labour voter. Brown was all smiles throughout, and then when the discussion was over, he was driven away in his car. He immediately began venting about the experience, referring to Duffy as a “bigoted woman” whom he should never have had to talk to.
Unfortunately, Brown didn’t realize that he was still wearing a live microphone supplied to him by Sky News, who picked up and rebroadcast every word, as did every other station that got a hold of it. The clip went viral, and Brown was forced to apologize to Duffy on BBC Radio, then visit her house for 43 minutes to apologize to her in person. Duffy was unimpressed, refusing to shake hands with him and saying that the experience had left her unlikely to vote. When the day of the election came, the Labour Party lost 91 seats, their biggest defeat since 1931, and Brown stepped down both as party leader and Prime Minister.
11) Jean Tiberi (France)
Jean Tiberi has long served the people of Paris. Apart from six years spent as the city’s mayor, he has also served as mayor of Paris’s 5th administrative district since 2007, and sits on the National Assembly of France. However, both he and his wife Xaviere have seen more than a few brushes with scandal. In 1998 a judge ordered a search of their apartment that found the couple in possession of numerous illegal guns, which they were forced to destroy in exchange for having the charges dropped.
In 2005, the Tiberis were investigated for fraudulently registering over 7,000 voters, 3,315 of whom delivered a 1997 election to him. But lest anyone think that Xaviere Tiberi was simply standing by her man, she has been characterized in the French press as the more belligerent of the two, a view based in part on a 2004 incident in which she got into a physical altercation with Aurielle Filipetti of the French Green Party after a district council meeting, an altercation which left Tiberi with head trauma.
( Source: CNBC )
( Source: CNBC )
NYSE Euronext, Nasdaq OMX Group and London Stock Exchange Group have made offers for European clearinghouse LCH.Clearnet, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.
The exchange operators made the bids in the last two weeks after LCH, Europe's largest independent clearinghouse, decided to consider its strategic alternatives, said the source, who was not authorized to talk to the press about the matter.
Earlier on Friday, the Financial Times reported on its web site that the bids ranged from 350 million euros to 1 billion euros (about $500 million to $1.43 billion), and were made at a board meeting, citing three sources familiar with the matter.
LCH — owned by a wide swath of banks and other market participants, and the target of bids in the past — has made no final decision on selling, the first source said.
LCH and the three exchanges declined to comment.
Clearinghouses, which stand between parties to a trade to guarantee obligations if there is a default, have entered the spotlight since the 2007-2009 financial crisis. Legislators and regulators want to run as many private derivatives as possible through the clearers to stabilize the financial system.
Meanwhile the exchanges are in the midst of perhaps the industry's largest consolidation wave ever, with NYSE Euronext set to merge with Germany's Deutsche Boerse and LSE planning to combine with Canada's TMX Group. Nasdaq's counteroffer for NYSE failed earlier this month.
While NYSE Euronext has a stake in LCH, its merger partner, Deutsche Boerse, already runs its own clearinghouse called Eurex.
The Big Board parent teamed with privately-held financial information company Markit to bid nearly 500 million euros for LCH, the first source said.
LSE's offer is valued at 1 billion euros, while Nasdaq's offer is worth 350 million euros, the FT report said, citing separate sources.
Nasdaq OMX shares jumped 4.1 percent to $25.37 while NYSE Euronext rose 0.4 percent to $35.67, ahead of a long weekend. LSE shares fell 3 percent after hours after closing up 4.3 percent in London, according to Reuters data.
In the last few years, exchanges such as NYSE Euronext's Liffe derivatives venue have said they are cutting ties with LCH in an effort to launch their own operations. Even the LSE has been working behind the scenes on its clearing strategy, which could reduce its reliance on LCH.
"LCH should sell, otherwise it could face implosion," said Diego Perfumo, analyst at Equity Research Desk, a Connecticut-based advisory firm specializing in exchanges.
The clearinghouse also likely needs to adapt its structure as regulators in Brussels restrict the ownership levels of dealers, Perfumo said.
LCH dominates the clearing of European interest rate swaps with its valuable SwapClear unit, which aims to ramp up business in the United States.
But Eurex entered the market earlier this year, adding to pressure in other asset classes from CME Group Inc (CME.O), which is targeting Europe for clearing. LSE and U.S.-based IntercontinentalExchange Inc (ICE.N) could also ramp up clearing there.
In 2009, giant U.S.-based clearinghouse Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) backed away from its nearly $1 billion offer for LCH after a consortium of LCH users made a counteroffer.
( Source: Reuters )
Unknown hackers have broken into the security networks of Lockheed Martin and several other U.S. military contractors, a source with direct knowledge of the attacks told
Reuters.
They breached security systems designed to keep out intruders by creating duplicates to "SecurID" electronic keys from EMC's RSA security division, said the person who was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.
It was not immediately clear what kind of data, if any, was stolen by the hackers. But the networks of Lockheed and other military contractors contain sensitive data on future weapons systems as well as military technology currently used in battles in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Weapons makers are the latest companies to be breached through sophisticated attacks that have pierced the defenses of huge corporations including Sony, Google and EMC. Security experts say that it is virtually impossible for any company or government agency to build a security network that hackers will be unable to penetrate.
The Pentagon, which has about 85,000 military personnel and civilians working on cybersecurity issues worldwide, said it also uses a limited number of the RSA electronic security keys, but declined to say how many for security reasons.
The hackers learned how to copy the security keys with data stolen from RSA during a sophisticated attack that EMC disclosed in March, according to the source.
EMC declined to comment on the matter, as did executives at major defense contractors.
Rick Moy, president of NSS Labs, an information security company, said the original attack on RSA was likely targeted at its customers, including military, financial, governmental and other organizations with critical intellectual property.
He said the initial RSA attack was followed by malware and phishing campaigns seeking specific data that would link tokens to end-users, which meant the current attacks may have been carried out by the same hackers.
"Given the military targets, and that millions of compromised keys are in circulation, this is not over," he said.
Lockheed, which employs 126,000 people worldwide and had $45.8 billion in revenue last year, said it does not discuss specific threats or responses as a matter of principle, but regularly took actions to counter threats and ensure security.
"We have policies and procedures in place to mitigate the cyber threats to our business, and we remain confident in the integrity of our robust, multi-layered information systems security," said Lockheed spokesman Jeffery Adams.
Executives at General Dynamics, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and other defense companies declined to comment on any security breaches linked to the RSA products.
"We do not comment on whether or not Northrop Grumman is or has been a target for cyber intrusions," said Northrop spokesman Randy Belote.
Actions Prevented Widespread Disruption
Raytheon spokesman Jonathan Kasle said his company took immediate companywide actions in March when incident information was initially provided to RSA customers.
"As a result of these actions, we prevented a widespread disruption of our network," he said.
Boeing spokesman Todd Kelley said his company had a "wide range" of systems in place to detect and prevent intrusions of its networks. "We have a robust computing security team that constantly monitors our network," he said.
Defense contractors' networks contain sensitive data on sophisticated weapons systems, but all classified information is kept on separate, closed networks managed by the U.S. government, said a former senior defense official, who was not authorized to speak on the record.
SecurIDs are widely used electronic keys to computer systems that work using a two-pronged approach to confirming the identity of the person trying to access a computer system. They are designed to thwart hackers who might use key-logging viruses to capture passwords by constantly generating new passwords to enter the system.
The SecurID generates new strings of digits on a minute-by-minute basis that the user must enter along with a secret PIN (personal identification number) before they can access the network. If the user fails to enter the string before it expires, then access is denied.
RSA and other companies have produced a total of about 250 million security tokens, although it is not clear how many are in use worldwide at present, said the former defense official.
The devices provided additional security at a lower cost than biometrics such as fingerprint readers or iris scanning machines, said the official, noting that the RSA incident could increase demand for greater use of biometric devices.
The RSA breach did raise concerns about any security tokens that had been compromised, and EMC now faced tough questions about whether "they can repair that product line or whether they need to ditch it and start over again," he said.
EMC disclosed in March that hackers had broken into its network and stolen some information related to its SecurIDs. It said the information could potentially be used to reduce the effectiveness of those devices in securing customer networks.
EMC said it worked with the Department of Homeland Security to publish a note on the March attack, providing Web addresses to help firms identify where the attack might have come from.
It briefed individual customers on how to secure their systems. In a bid to ensure secrecy, the company required them to sign nondisclosure agreements promising not to discuss the advice that it provided in those sessions, according to two people familiar with the briefings.
( Source: Reuters )
Reuters.
They breached security systems designed to keep out intruders by creating duplicates to "SecurID" electronic keys from EMC's RSA security division, said the person who was not authorized to publicly discuss the matter.
It was not immediately clear what kind of data, if any, was stolen by the hackers. But the networks of Lockheed and other military contractors contain sensitive data on future weapons systems as well as military technology currently used in battles in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Weapons makers are the latest companies to be breached through sophisticated attacks that have pierced the defenses of huge corporations including Sony, Google and EMC. Security experts say that it is virtually impossible for any company or government agency to build a security network that hackers will be unable to penetrate.
The Pentagon, which has about 85,000 military personnel and civilians working on cybersecurity issues worldwide, said it also uses a limited number of the RSA electronic security keys, but declined to say how many for security reasons.
The hackers learned how to copy the security keys with data stolen from RSA during a sophisticated attack that EMC disclosed in March, according to the source.
EMC declined to comment on the matter, as did executives at major defense contractors.
Rick Moy, president of NSS Labs, an information security company, said the original attack on RSA was likely targeted at its customers, including military, financial, governmental and other organizations with critical intellectual property.
He said the initial RSA attack was followed by malware and phishing campaigns seeking specific data that would link tokens to end-users, which meant the current attacks may have been carried out by the same hackers.
"Given the military targets, and that millions of compromised keys are in circulation, this is not over," he said.
Lockheed, which employs 126,000 people worldwide and had $45.8 billion in revenue last year, said it does not discuss specific threats or responses as a matter of principle, but regularly took actions to counter threats and ensure security.
"We have policies and procedures in place to mitigate the cyber threats to our business, and we remain confident in the integrity of our robust, multi-layered information systems security," said Lockheed spokesman Jeffery Adams.
Executives at General Dynamics, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and other defense companies declined to comment on any security breaches linked to the RSA products.
"We do not comment on whether or not Northrop Grumman is or has been a target for cyber intrusions," said Northrop spokesman Randy Belote.
Actions Prevented Widespread Disruption
Raytheon spokesman Jonathan Kasle said his company took immediate companywide actions in March when incident information was initially provided to RSA customers.
"As a result of these actions, we prevented a widespread disruption of our network," he said.
Boeing spokesman Todd Kelley said his company had a "wide range" of systems in place to detect and prevent intrusions of its networks. "We have a robust computing security team that constantly monitors our network," he said.
Defense contractors' networks contain sensitive data on sophisticated weapons systems, but all classified information is kept on separate, closed networks managed by the U.S. government, said a former senior defense official, who was not authorized to speak on the record.
SecurIDs are widely used electronic keys to computer systems that work using a two-pronged approach to confirming the identity of the person trying to access a computer system. They are designed to thwart hackers who might use key-logging viruses to capture passwords by constantly generating new passwords to enter the system.
The SecurID generates new strings of digits on a minute-by-minute basis that the user must enter along with a secret PIN (personal identification number) before they can access the network. If the user fails to enter the string before it expires, then access is denied.
RSA and other companies have produced a total of about 250 million security tokens, although it is not clear how many are in use worldwide at present, said the former defense official.
The devices provided additional security at a lower cost than biometrics such as fingerprint readers or iris scanning machines, said the official, noting that the RSA incident could increase demand for greater use of biometric devices.
The RSA breach did raise concerns about any security tokens that had been compromised, and EMC now faced tough questions about whether "they can repair that product line or whether they need to ditch it and start over again," he said.
EMC disclosed in March that hackers had broken into its network and stolen some information related to its SecurIDs. It said the information could potentially be used to reduce the effectiveness of those devices in securing customer networks.
EMC said it worked with the Department of Homeland Security to publish a note on the March attack, providing Web addresses to help firms identify where the attack might have come from.
It briefed individual customers on how to secure their systems. In a bid to ensure secrecy, the company required them to sign nondisclosure agreements promising not to discuss the advice that it provided in those sessions, according to two people familiar with the briefings.
( Source: Reuters )
Earlier, The filmmakers behind the war-on-terror drama "The Hurt Locker" announced to make a movie action thriller about the hunt of Osama bin Laden."The Hurt Locker," which centered on a U.S. bomb-disposal unit in Iraq, won best picture at the Academy Awards last year and earned the best-directing Oscar for Bigelow, the first woman to receive that honor.
The film won a total of six Oscars, including the prize for original screenplay for Mark Boal.
 |
| Osama bin Laden |
Co-Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment Amy Pascal says Bigelow and Boal "have an outstanding perspective on the team that was hunting the most wanted man in the world."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
U.S. dollars for OPEC oil help fund terrorists and the Taliban, T. Boone Pickens told CNBC Friday.
"I am trying to get away from the terrorists," he said. "I think the money we pay to OPEC gets in the hands of the Taliban."
The U.S. is sitting on top of a huge supply of natural gas, he said — so much that American companies are selling it to China and other countries.
"So here we are, we’re exporting our clean-burning fuel and importing dirty oil from the enemy," he said. "We’re gonna go down as the dumbest crowd in history that’s ever come to town."
Pickens, chief executive of BP Capital Management, is a longtime natural gas operator and backer of federal legislation to encourage more natural gas development. He said he is pleased the Obama administration has said it backs using domestic resources for federal fleets in the future.
"You’ve got to have direction from the White House" in order to spur natural gas development and get off OPEC oil dependence faster, rather than just leaving it to market forces, he said.
On that point, he strongly differs from the billionaire Koch brothers, who run privately-held Koch Industries. Charles Koch declined to be interviewed with Pickens on CNBC.
However, the company said in a statement it "has consistently opposed subsidies that distort markets. We maintain that the marketplace, while not perfect, is the best mechanism for allocating resources to consumers…We also consistently oppose subsidies for all other fuels whether or not we benefit from them."
To which Pickens responded: If you don't like the subsidies, don't take them.
"They import over 60,000 barrels a day of OPEC crude and pay OPEC $2 billion a year, and he may be the largest in subsidies for ethanol," Pickens said of Charles Koch.
"I'm asking for $1 billion a year" for five years for natural gas development, Pickens said.
"We have cheap natural gas and an opportunity to use it for transport fuel, and all I’ve asked for is the eight million 18-wheelers," he said. "With that I can cut OPEC in half...The subsidies for ethanol are vastly different from that, $6 billion a year. I’m asking for $1 billion a year.
"Mine is either a good idea and it’ll all happen in five years, or it was a bad idea and just forget it."
( Source : CNBC )
A few weeks ago, Obama administration try to warn China over its policy to let the Yuan rise and criticized its foreign policies but China was not manipulating Yuan to gain unfair trade advantage,according to a statement from US department of Treasury on Friday. Department also, supported that Chinese government should let the Yuan rise faster pace to tame inflation.
Treasury department said China did not meet the U.S legal definition of currency manipulator due to allowing its currency to rise faster pace known as the yuan or renminbi since June 2010 and recent Chinese statements that it would continue to promote exchange rate flexibility.
But a number of factors, including China's continued rapid accumulation of dollar reserves and a projected widening of its current account surplus, "all indicate that the real effective exchange rate of the renminbi remains substantially undervalued," the department said.
"Treasury's view ... is that progress thus far is insufficient and that more rapid progress is needed," the department said in the report.
 |
| Chinese Yuan |
The yuan closed at 6.4917 to the dollar on Friday, little changed on the day, but up 5.15 percent since it was loosened from a peg to the dollar in June 2010.
Treasury's decision came as no surprise, even though the U.S. trade gap with China hit a record $273 billion in 2010.
President Barack Obama's Democratic administration has declined to name China as a currency manipulator in five consecutive reports now, following the pattern set by the Republican administration of former President George W. Bush.
Many U.S. lawmakers and import-sensitive manufacturers, such as steel and textiles, claim that China's currency is undervalued by as much as 40 percent, giving Chinese companies an unfair price advantage in international trade.
But Erin Ennis, vice president of the U.S.-China Business Council, which represents roughly 230 American companies that do business in China, said Treasury made the right call.
"While USCBC has advocated repeatedly that China should allow its exchange rate to better reflect market forces, designating China as a 'manipulator' would achieve nothing," Ennis said.
Congress has threatened for years to pass legislation to pressure China to revalue its currency, but so far no bill has reached the president's desk.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, tapped to be the next U.S. envoy to China, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday that a more flexible Chinese currency was key to U.S.-China economic rebalancing.
"We are seeing movement on the currency," he said, referring to a roughly 5 percent increase since China slightly loosened the yuan peg to the dollar in June 2010.
"We believe it should float more and faster," Locke said.
By preventing the yuan from rising more rapidly, China imposes an unfair burden on other emerging economies with more flexible exchange rates and eliminates a tool it could be using to counter domestic inflation, Treasury said.
Derek Scissors, a research fellow with the Heritage Foundation, said he agreed with Treasury's decision not to cite China because it should be focused on other Chinese policies that are much more damaging to the United States.
However, the department has turned the report into a "minor joke" by repeatedly delaying its release, he said.
"It is no longer ever issued when scheduled because that time is always wrong for some reason. ... At this point no one should take the report seriously," Scissors said.
Altogether, Treasury reviewed the exchange rate practices of 10 major trading partners in the semi-annual report. It concluded none was manipulating their currency to gain an unfair trade advantage or to prevent an effective balance of payments adjustment.
( Source: Reuters )
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• Medicago, Inc. Announces Research Collaboration for the Development of a VLP Vaccine Candidate for the Prevention of Ebola With the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) More...
• Roche (RHHBY) and TeaRx Ltd. Sign License Agreement for Innovative Drugs Fighting Thrombosis, Stroke, and Embolism More...
• Affymetrix (Santa Clara, California) (AFFX) Selects BioDiscovery, Inc. as OncoScan(TM) FFPE Express Preferred Software Provider More...
• Dr. Joseph Sinkule Named as President and Chief Operating Officer of Compass Biotechnologies, Inc. More...
• Nuvo Research Inc. (NRI.TO) Announces 2011 First Quarter Results More...
• InSite Vision (ISV) Announces Joint Patent Infringement Lawsuit with Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) Against Sandoz, Inc. More...
• IntelliPharmaCeutics Provides Update on Activities Related to Generic Seroquel XR( More...
• American Scientific Resources Inc. (ASRO.PK) Announces Dismissal of Sanomedics International Holdings Inc.. Lawsuit More...
• New England Biolabs, Inc. Opens New Subsidiary Office in France More...
• 4SC AG (VSC.DU)'s $1.4 Billion Promise Hinges on Study More...
• Avastin Likely Will be Approved for Ovarian Cancer, Roche Holding AG (RHHBF.PK) Says More...
• Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) Looks to Shine at American Society of Clinical Oncology, Plans for a RNAi Resurgence More...
• UCB Group (UCBJF.PK) Release: New Data for Cimzia® (Certolizumab Pegol) Showed a Rapid Clinical Response Across a Broad Population of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) Patients More...
• Neurologix, Inc. Presents One-Year Follow-Up Data From Phase 2 Study of NLX-P101 in Parkinson's Disease at International Neuromodulation Society 10th World Congress More...
• Labeling and Script Use May Cause Problems For Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OPTR)'s New Drug More...
• MAP Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (MAPP) Submits New Drug Application to FDA for LEVADEX® Orally Inhaled Migraine Drug More...
• Skin Cells 'Turned into Neurons' by US Scientists, Study in Nature More...
• Human Brain's 'Bat Sight' Found, Study in PLoS ONE More...
• Drug to Reduce Stress Hormone Levels May Limit Impact of Bad Memories: University of Montreal Study More...
• Is a Repeat Flu Shot Needed? This Fall, Maybe Not More...
• New Prostate Cancer Treatments Today: Zytiga And The Yunzi Mushroom? National Institutes of Health (NIH), The New England Journal of Medicine Findings More...
• VertiFlex Nabs Another $14 Million In Venture Money for Spine Device More...
• Solazyme, Inc. IPO Nets up to $227 Million More...
• Pharmascience Inc. Acquires Aegera Therapeutics; Aegera's Employees to Retain Their Jobs More...
• Nkunzi Pharmaceuticals Buys Merck SA's Pharmaceuticals Operations More...
• Cerecor Acquires FP01 From Fells Laboratories More...
• Medicago, Inc. Announces Research Collaboration for the Development of a VLP Vaccine Candidate for the Prevention of Ebola With the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) More...
• Roche (RHHBY) and TeaRx Ltd. Sign License Agreement for Innovative Drugs Fighting Thrombosis, Stroke, and Embolism More...
• Affymetrix (Santa Clara, California) (AFFX) Selects BioDiscovery, Inc. as OncoScan(TM) FFPE Express Preferred Software Provider More...
• Dr. Joseph Sinkule Named as President and Chief Operating Officer of Compass Biotechnologies, Inc. More...
• Nuvo Research Inc. (NRI.TO) Announces 2011 First Quarter Results More...
• InSite Vision (ISV) Announces Joint Patent Infringement Lawsuit with Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) Against Sandoz, Inc. More...
• IntelliPharmaCeutics Provides Update on Activities Related to Generic Seroquel XR( More...
• American Scientific Resources Inc. (ASRO.PK) Announces Dismissal of Sanomedics International Holdings Inc.. Lawsuit More...
• New England Biolabs, Inc. Opens New Subsidiary Office in France More...
• 4SC AG (VSC.DU)'s $1.4 Billion Promise Hinges on Study More...
• Avastin Likely Will be Approved for Ovarian Cancer, Roche Holding AG (RHHBF.PK) Says More...
• Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY) Looks to Shine at American Society of Clinical Oncology, Plans for a RNAi Resurgence More...
• UCB Group (UCBJF.PK) Release: New Data for Cimzia® (Certolizumab Pegol) Showed a Rapid Clinical Response Across a Broad Population of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) Patients More...
• Neurologix, Inc. Presents One-Year Follow-Up Data From Phase 2 Study of NLX-P101 in Parkinson's Disease at International Neuromodulation Society 10th World Congress More...
• Labeling and Script Use May Cause Problems For Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OPTR)'s New Drug More...
• MAP Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (MAPP) Submits New Drug Application to FDA for LEVADEX® Orally Inhaled Migraine Drug More...
• Skin Cells 'Turned into Neurons' by US Scientists, Study in Nature More...
• Human Brain's 'Bat Sight' Found, Study in PLoS ONE More...
• Drug to Reduce Stress Hormone Levels May Limit Impact of Bad Memories: University of Montreal Study More...
• Is a Repeat Flu Shot Needed? This Fall, Maybe Not More...
• New Prostate Cancer Treatments Today: Zytiga And The Yunzi Mushroom? National Institutes of Health (NIH), The New England Journal of Medicine Findings More...
• VertiFlex Nabs Another $14 Million In Venture Money for Spine Device More...
• FDA Needs More Data From Cardica, Inc. (CRDC) More...
• EMIT Corporation Receives FDA 510(k) Clearance for HypothermX Blood and Fluid Warmer More...
• Roche (RHHBY) Signs Exclusive Agreement with IT-IS Life Sciences Ltd on the New LightCycler(R) Nano Instrument More...
• David A. Battat Named Atrion (ATRI) CEO More...
( Source: Biospace.com )
 |
| Daily Digest Stockinvestips |
1) Babcock & Wilcox ( NYSE: BWC ) upgraded from hold to buy by KeyBanc Capital Mkts.
2) Concho Resources ( NYSE:CXO ) upgraded from hold to buy by Wunderlich.
2) Sony ( NYSE: SNE) upgraded from hold to buy by Maxim Group.
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Downgrades for May 27 2011 Friday:
1) Advanced Analogic Tech ( NASDAQ: AATI ) downgraded from buy to hold by Stifel Nicolaus.
2) Blue Coat ( NASDAQ : BCSI) downgraded from outperform to neutral by Wedbush.
3) Gushan Environmental Energy ( NYSE : GU) downgraded from accumulate to hold by Ardour Capital.
4) Itron ( NASDAQ : ITRI ) downgraded from neutral to underperform by Robert W. Baird.
5) UIL Holdings ( NYSE : UIL ) downgraded from buy to hold by Argus.
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Coverage Initiated for May 27 2011 Friday:
1) Cost Plus ( NASDAQ: CPWM ) coverage initiated with hold by BB&T Capital Mkts.
2) Cubist Pharma ( NASDAQ: CBST ) coverage initiated with neutral by Global Hunter Securities.
3) HEICO ( NYSE: HEI) coverage initiated with hold by KeyBanc Capital Mkts.
4) Hewlett-Packard ( NYSE: HPQ) coverage initiated with neutral by Ticonderoga.
5) Lexicon Pharma ( NASDAQ: LXRX ) coverage initiated with buy by Needham.
6) Mercury Computer ( NASDAQ: MRCY ) coverage initiated with buy by KeyBanc Capital Mkts.
7) Pharmacyclics ( NASDAQ: PCYC) coverage initiated with buy by Global Hunter Securities.
8) STAG Industrial ( NYSE: STIR) coverage initiated with neutral by UBS.
Tech Five: Technology Headlines for March 27 2011 ( Friday ) !!
1. No sooner Google reveals Wallet, than a lawsuit about mobile selling pops up. It's from PayPal, complaining that Google's mis-appropriated secrets form inside PayPal's own mobile payments business, secrets it gained by hiring two former PayPal executives: Stephanie Tilenius (head of Mobile payments at Google, and the person who presented Wallet) and Osama Bedier. It's a more serious accusation than the usual patent-violation suits.
2. Intel has hinted it could use its enormous chip-fabrication factories to produce CPUs based on non-Intel designs--an amazing suggetion that in order to keep profitable, Intel could acknowledge the runaway success of newer-tech chips like those from ARM. Intel would be happier building chips for Apple or Google with some of its IP and some proprietary designs rather than merely accepting the manufacturing margin...but it's a sign the times are changing.
3. Microsoft has a plan for its Windows Phone 7 platform, particularly regarding Nokia phones and Symbian developers: It wants to sell them for more money than the 99-cents or free prices you'll find elsewhere (iOS and Android, mainly). This may sound odd, because what's attractive about this from an end-user point of view? MS is hoping it's all about quality and is suggesting it'll let developers have more control over marketing than they have elsewhere.
4. Not a huge move, indicating a tiny change of direction for Twitter it's added a "stumble" button to its web interface, which at one click shuffles through the updates in your status feed and takes you to a random one. The idea is that as Twitter gets bigger, everyone's feeds are filling up to the point you may miss something interesting. Twitter is essentially realizing its core model needs to evolve as it gets more successful. Expect more of this.
5. How rich is Google? Hugely so. So much so that it's actually giving everyone $10 to test out its new Google Wallet digital payments system. You have to activate its special pre-paid Google "credit" card which was also unveiled at the Wallet presentation, which means you have to be in the U.S. and it'll only work at the short list of launch partner retailers...but it's a sign of how serious Google is about the new system--which will ultimately earn it more ad money.
( Source: Fast Company )
