Slow day in the Whore House...
A mysterious new fund called the Arabic Finance Circle is preparing to acquire "substantial" stakes in German and Austrian companies. But the fund's little-known origins, as well as its stated interest in buying out majority shareholders, provoked defensive reactions.
Three German nationals have been killed in a bomb attack on a convoy on the outskirts of Kabul, police have said. The German Defence Ministry denied the dead were soldiers and sources say they were either security guards or federal policemen attached to the embassy. Germany has about 3,000 troops in Afghanistan.
A proposal by a German government spokesman to include moderate Taliban representatives in the Afghan peace process has been criticized by a conservative foreign policy expert in parliament.
In spite of being a full member of both NATO and the EU, Poland does not yet feel secure, nor has it completed the revolution that ended Communist rule in 1989, according to the country's top diplomat.
President Putin takes Monaco's Prince Albert II on a fishing trip to Siberia - where the intrepid Russian leader strips to the waist.
Binyamin Netanyahu has been re-elected as leader of the main right-wing opposition party, Likud.
"If you are thinking of going to war with Lebanon – I promise you a big surprise that will change the fate of the war and the region," he warned Israel and the US, adding "if there will be a war – even though we do not want there to be – the resistance is standing at the Lebanese army's side, shoulder to shoulder."
Syria's vice president said that his country was preparing to defend itself against a war launched against it by Israel. "Syria doesn't want war and Israel knows this but (Syria) is preparing for it because it knows and feels that Israel wants a pretext for a war as happened in 2006 (war in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah)."
Prime Minister Olmert yesterday directed Israel's military against taking actions on the country's border with Syria that could be misinterpreted by Damascus as signaling the start of a major confrontation. He is said to be concerned a war could break out due to Syrian misunderstandings of Israel's intentions. "Israel is not interested in war with Syria. But we are preparing for any possibility."
Indians are celebrating 60 years of independence from Britain.
India marks the 60th anniversary of its independence from British rule today in an ebullient mood. Neighboring Pakistan is not having as good a time. The 2 nations may have been riven by a bloody partition 60 years ago, but today, more than ever, the future of each depends on the stability of the other.
President Ahmadinejad in a meeting with the Afghan religious leaders said that the world is on the threshold of a big change. He said that "in such conditions the main responsibility of religious leaders is to introduce the genuine Islam to the world. The world nations are searching for a new way towards happiness and the way is nothing but Islam."
Iran has not started a war in over 1,000 years, a leading German Mideast scholar and journalist said. "The last offensive Iranian war dates back to over 1,000 years." He also pointed out that contrary to US and Israeli claims there has been no "substantiated proof" that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons.
The obvious reason for the rise in Shi'ite-related US casualties – ignored in US media coverage of Lt. Gen. Raymond Odierno's charge – is that the Mahdi Army of Moqtada al-Sadr was defending itself against a rising tempo of attacks by US forces at the same time attacks by al-Qaeda forces had fallen.
The US has decided to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country's 125,000-strong elite military branch, as a "specially designated global terrorist," according to US officials, a move that allows Washington to target the group's business operations and finances. The Revolutionary Guard would be the first national military branch included on the list - a highly unusual move because it is part of a government, rather than a typical non-state terrorist organization.
President Ahmadinejad used a provocative visit to Afghanistan yesterday to repudiate British and US charges that his government has begun covertly supplying arms to the Taliban. "I doubt if there is any truth in it. With all our force, we support the political process in Afghanistan."
German press...
Karl Rove, Bush's most important advisor and often called 'Bush's Brain,' has announced his resignation. He leaves behind over a decade of success as a Republican strategist - and a number of enemies. German commentators take a look.
Rove was fired to protect the President because of the US attorneys scandal. He was told to "git" out of town, in the hope that his removal from executive premises will remove the liability which Rove represents to the President.
Bush and Cheney have little to lose from spreading the war, but the Republican Party has very much to lose. Its only way out is to impeach Cheney. That would bring Bush back to reality and alleviate the main pressure upon him to expand the wars. Much evidence points toward administration plans to extend the war to Iran. The risk of such a war getting out of hand and destroying or blockading much of the world's oil supplies is enormous.
The American people may want to get rid of Bush, but they in no way want to risk losing the war on terror. The consequences: America's Democrats are seeking to position themselves as being more hawkish than the Republicans and Congress has just approved the biggest military budget ever.
Is America going the way of Rome? David Walker, the comptroller general of the US, has issued a report that basically answers in the affirmative: "The US government is on a 'burning platform' of unsustainable policies and practices," Walker avers, including "fiscal deficits" and "overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon." If we continue on our present course, he warns, we are in for "dramatic" tax hikes, a radical reduction in government "services," and "the large-scale dumping by foreign governments of holdings of US debt."
Renewed turmoil in global money markets sent stock prices falling around the world on Tuesday as traders ignored a declaration by Jean-Claude Trichet, European Central Bank president, that conditions were returning to normal. "We are in a minefield. No one knows where the mines are planted and we are just trying to stumble through it."
Global shares have fallen again as concerns about world credit conditions - driven by problems in the US mortgage sector - continue to worry investors.
Panic is in the air! Jim Cramer declares on CNBC that "Armageddon" is here. His rant that the Fed "has no idea how bad it is out there. None!"—is indicative of the fear which has gripped the financiers and bankers of Wall Street and beyond, as they begin to realize that their financial system is disappearing as fast as darkness exposed to light. As the level of panic rises, the central banks will be inundated with calls to bail out the markets, to stop the losses. The markets are panicked, the banks are panicked, the central banks are panicked, and the system is out of control. This game is over.
An imminent interest rate increase is now "out of the question", economists have said, after the Bank of England said its Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to leave borrowing costs on hold this month.
The chief political economist at Germany's DekaBank, said the US Federal Reserve Bank is partly to blame for the American subprime mortgage crisis and its international effects.
Dominos falling...
The world's biggest retailer joined the largest home improvement chain yesterday to give warning of a sharp slowdown as Americans tightened their belts amid the growing debt crisis. Consumer demand is the key driver for economic growth in the American economy.
(LX op-ed: If the Americans stop shopping, then panic)
Staring closely at yourself in the mirror may seem vain, but it could be good for your health. Experts believe our faces reflect our state of wellbeing, and that problems often dismissed as trivial, such as bloodshot eyes, could be a sign of something more serious. Here, with the help of leading medical practitioners, we look at the hidden health problems which may be revealed in the mirror.
Physicians rarely promote the curative properties of H2O, but Dr. Batmanghelidj has studied water's effect on the human body and has found it to be one of the best pain relievers and preventative therapies in existence.
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