Tuesday 5 June 2012

Today's stories

Every day I peruse my little part of the world media for the stories that are relevant to the collapse of industrial civilisation with its financial, ecological crises and the march to war.

As well as bringing the mains stories as I have been doing I am also posting links to all the stories of the day





Today's stories

Breaking News

Five Armed US diplomats detained in Peshawar
Five US diplomats carrying heavy arms in their vehicles have been detained in Pakistan's northwestern provincial capital of Peshawar.
Confirmation

Global economy

Eurozone debt crisis and Spain's bank woes add to uncertainty caused by US report showing sharp job-creation slowdown.

 Slumping rouble: PM calls on Central Bank to jump in
Russia's Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has ordered the country’s Central Bank to take measures to stop the rouble's steep recent fall.
Portuguese bank demands 1.3bn euros in state bid amid crisis
The Portuguese bank BPI has reportedly asked for 1.3 billion euros in public aid to comply with the principles laid out by the European Banking Authority, as the financial crisis in the eurozone seems to be deepening.

Asian markets tumble over EU debt crisis, US jobs report
Asian shares have sharply tumbled following reports of a gloomy US employment situation as well as concerns over the possibility of a eurozone breakup.
Global fears wipe another $24b off market
Australian shares slumped to a six-month low today as investors joined a global flight out of risky assets, triggered by fresh concerns over a global economic slowdown after anemic US jobs figures and soft Chinese factory data.

China stock index evokes Tiananmen with a 64.89-point fall
In an unlikely coincidence certainly unwelcome to China's communist rulers, China's share benchmark fell 64.89 points on Monday, matching the numbers of the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in the heart of Beijing.
US STOCKS have closed mixed after a day of bumpy trade, as eurozone turmoil kept a shadow over the markets.

The global economy's foundations are weakening, one by one. Already hobbled by Europe's debt crisis, the world now risks being hurt by slowdowns in its economic powerhouses.
Hidden amongst the trivia - a tiny bit of truth --RW


Military/intelligence

THE United States is trying to return to a key Vietnamese port it last used during its war there as part of a push to expand the US naval presence in Asia.

Neil Clark, a contributor to Britain's Guardian newspaper, says Western states are using the recent tragedy in Houla as a pretext for a possible intervention – as they did in 1999 in Yugoslavia and in 2011 in Libya.

As many as 16 people have been killed and four others injured in an airstrike carried out by US assassination drones on the northwestern Pakistan tribal area of North Waziristan.

Britain is reportedly planning to set up refugee camps inside Syria under the pretext of saving civilian lives but in reality to help armed rebels fighting against the government.

The United States says any political solution in Syria should result in the overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

A Syrian rebel spokesman says they are no longer committed to Annan’s ceasefire. He has called for a UN-backed “peace enforcement mission” or a no-fly zone to replace the monitoring mission, demands the UN chief has rejected.

Will Julian Assange’s show make the Guinness Book of Records? Quite likely, especially if you think of all the people interrogated over their ties with the whistleblower before or after they talked to the WikiLeaks founder.
I would say that if they can get him to Swden it will be 'game over' for Julian Assange - RW
Syrian rebels are committed to taking up arms once again after moving to pull out of Kofi Annan’s UN-backed truce. But anti-war activist Don Debar told RT that without a peaceful solution, the bloodshed in Syria will make Libya “look like a picnic.
We all know this, but it doesn't hurt to hear it again --RW

Beijing expresses "strong dissatisfaction" at Washington's call for prisoners held since 1989 crackdown to be released.

Top European Union officials meet Putin in Saint Petersburg, with Kremlin's support for Damascus set to dominate agenda.

Reports of 18 people killed and up to 100 others injured in attack on Shia Endowment's headquarters in Baghdad.

Israel is arming submarines supplied and largely financed by Germany with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, influential German news weekly Der Spiegel reports in its issue to be published on Monday


Environmental/disasters









Energy/resources

China may buy into TNK-BP to get more Russian oil
China is looking at a stake in one of Russia’s top oil companies TNK – BP. This is after British shareholder – BP – opened up a bid for its key energy asset in Russia, saying it was ready to quit the consortium and sell its stake


Egypt

Egypt presidential candidate steps up criticism of Muslim Brotherhood rival
Ahmed Shafiq, prime minister under former president Hosni Mubarak, says Mohamed Mursi would drag Egypt into the 'dark ages,' threaten the rights of women, Christians and others.


Europe

Greek euro exit on agenda if bailout deal violated: France
French Finance Minister has warned that Greece’s exit from the eurozone will be on the agenda if Greek authorities do not respect the bailout deal after parliamentary elections in mid-June.
Greece given 30% chance of quitting eurozone: S&P
International ratings agency Standard & Poor's says there is a one in three chance Greece will leave the eurozone in the months following the June 17 election.

Merkel digs in as Spain, Cyprus hint at collapse
SPAIN'S ruling party has begun to crack under pressure, signalling for the first time that the country may need a European rescue to shore up its banking system.
Spain puts on the pressure for financial rescue
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is pressing for a direct European rescue for Spain's banks with moral support from the European Commission, but Germany appeared to rule out such a "bailout lite" for the euro zone's fourth biggest member.
I thought he was just saying Spain didn't need a bailout -- RW
If there was ever an article that should spark every British citizen to immediately shift their savings into physical gold this is it.

Greekfluenza: Athens to give Cyprus crisis contagion?
Cyprus could become the fourth country to seek financial help from its European neighbors as early as this month.

Less than two weeks before generel elections, Alexis Tsipras, the boss of Greece’s hard-left SYRIZA party, fended off accusations that his party is a threat to the troubled euro area as he once again vowed to cancel the terms of an international bailout.



USA

Europe needs to take further steps to convince financial markets that it has done enough to tackle a prolonged debt crisis that threatens the United States' own fragile economic recovery, the White House said yesterday.
The blame game -- RW



The 2012 Bilderberg Conference is officially over, but members of the elusive society may have made a big decision during this year’s event. One source is reporting that the top-secret meeting ended with a running mate picked for Mitt Romney.


Australia/NZ 

Home prices extend retreat nationally (Australia)
Home values fell the most in at least six years in May defying Reserve Bank efforts to spark a recovery in the nation's lacklustre housing market with interest rate cuts. Melbourne led declines.
THE Reserve Bank and other regulators have assured Wayne Swan that China will continue to underpin the global economy, as shaken investors reeled from another heavy sell-off on world financial markets.

In what is understood to be a legal first, protest groups including Greenpeace are trying to get the courts to block the Government permit granted two years ago for Brazilian oil giant Petrobras to look for oil off the East Cape.

Iwi are the Maori tribes - RW

Oil lobbyist - between bedrock and a hard place
The new head of a reinvigorated oil and gas lobby has a hard sell on his hands.
What a load of nonsense!  The lobbying groups have it in the bag with the government. --RW

Media/internet

Facebook will disappear in less than a decade - analyst
Facebook will go off the radar within five to eight years, according to an analyst. Eric Jackson, the founder of Ironfire Capital, told CNBC the social networking company will lose dominance.
Never mind Facebook - the internet will dispappear in less than a decade! -- RW

Megaupload has no rights? US broke its own rules by going after Internet giant
More than four months after federal agents shut-down the file-sharing service Megaupload and ordered a raid on the New Zealand mansion of its founder Kim Dotcom, attorneys are asking a US court to dismiss the case against the website.


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