High-frequency trading distorts the markets. and it lets the big banks peek at what the real traders are buying and selling, and then trade on the insider information. Morgan Stanley has just shown (via the Financial Times) that the percentage of high frequency trading in the stock market has skyrocketed to 84%.

It’s not just the US. High frequency trading dominates in the UK as well. Given the dominance of the machines, do flesh-and-blood traders have a chance?

“Planning what kind of measures we will take if tens of thousands of people end up on our border is a requirement of being a big state,” he said. “This is not an intervention or warmongering as some claim.” Davutoglu did not specify what measures his government would take, but the mass influx of refugees fleeing the Syrian unrest has raised alarm in Ankara.

Different scenarios have been floated, including the setting up of a buffer zone on the Syrian side of the border to protect refugees, but opponents say such a measure would be a declaration of war. In response to criticism from opposition parties, Davutoglu said Turkey did not attempt to change the regime of any country in the region including Syria.

“It was not we who initiated the popular movement in Syria. We didn't call on anybody to rise up,” he said. “But we cannot and will not remain silent to the masses' appeal for democracy. Peace and stability can be restored in Syria, not with the Baath regime but with a new political system which takes its legitimacy from the people,” said Davutoglu.

No reason was given for the reformist's resignation, although a minister who declined to be identified told Reuters that Al-Khasawneh made the move while on a visit to Turkey following the extension of a parliamentary session in which he was expected to come under fire. Sources at the royal palace have told Al-Arabiya that former premier Fayez al-Tarawneh has been asked to form a new government.

Other creditor nations with large foreign exchange reserves and exposure to the dollar and the euro including Turkey and Kazakhstan also increased their holdings of gold according to the International Monetary Fund data. Mexico raised its reserves to 122.6 tons last month when gold averaged $1,676.67 an ounce. Turkey added 11.5 tons, Kazakhstan 4.3 tons, Ukraine 1.2 tons, Tajikistan 0.4 ton, and Belarus 0.1 tonnes, according to the IMF.

The perfect storm trifecta of bad political and economic news yesterday out of France, Holland and Germany led to risk off and falls in many markets. Gold performed well and was resilient considering the sell off seen in equity markets.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte speaks in parliament today after tendering his Cabinet's resignation to break a deadlock over further austerity. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande will face off in a 2nd round ballot on May 6th and the prospect of Hollande taking power is making European markets jittery. So far gold has not been a prime beneficiary of these risks but this will likely change soon - especially if financial conditions deteriorate which seems very likely.

The Defense Clandestine Service is supposed to work closely with its counterpart in the CIA, the National Clandestine Service, recruiting spies from the ranks of the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and deploying them globally to boost the flow of intelligence on perceived long-term threats to US national interests.

US military news website Insidedefense said the defence department had asked Congress for authority for spies to work undercover posing as businessmen when conducting covert operations abroad. The move by the defence secretary, Leon Panetta, emerged in briefings to US journalists. “You have to do global coverage,” a senior defence official said, according to the Los Angeles Times. The new service would seek to “make sure officers are in the right locations to pursue those requirements”, the Washington Post quoted the official as saying.

A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction. The economy shrank by 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2011. BBC economics editor Stephanie Flanders says it "adds to the picture that the economy is bumping along the bottom". She said economic output was slightly smaller now than it was in the autumn of 2010.

Wednesday's figure is an early estimate and is subject to at least two further revisions in the coming months. It is compiled using 40% of the data gathered for later revisions. The UK economy was last in recession in 2009.

In a rare concession, the German Chancellor admitted that austerity alone would not solve the crisis but she insisted that the wave of political opposition to fiscal discipline was wrong. "We're not saying that saving solves all problems," Ms Merkel said at a conference in Berlin. "But you can't spend more than you take in. You can't live your whole life this way. Everybody knows this."

Mark Rutte, the deposed Dutch prime minister, made a passionate plea to politicians to stick to his proposed budget cuts. "The problems are serious, the economy is stalling, employment is under pressure and government debt is growing faster than the Netherlands can afford," he said. "Those are the facts and nobody can run away from them. I'm standing here without pretences, it is up to parliament and the voters."

Mr Rutte said the Netherlands had to confirm its budget intentions in a letter to the European Commission by April 30. The Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders said the cuts were unnecessary and would be bad for the Netherlands. The message was repeated in Spain. Treasury minister Cristobal Montoro told parliament: "We are in an extremely delicate moment as a country, an extremely fragile moment as a country. This is the most austere budget since democracy, and it is aimed at being the most realistic that Spain needs to overcome this crisis situation."

In 2011, 53 percent of all Americans with a bachelor's degree under the age of 25 were either unemployed or underemployed. Millions upon millions of young college graduates feel like the system has totally failed them. They worked hard in school all their lives, they went into huge amounts of debt in order to get the college education that they were told they "must have" in order to get a good job, but after graduation they found that there were only a handful of good jobs for the huge waves of college graduates that were entering the "real world".

All over America, college graduates can be found waiting tables, flipping burgers and working behind the register at retail stores. Unfortunately, the employment picture in America is not going to get significantly better any time soon. "Middle class jobs" are being replaced by "low income jobs" and young college graduates are being hurt by this transition more than almost anyone else. Massive numbers of young college graduates are now working jobs that do not even require a high school degree.

Speaking on BBC's Newsnight, he said: "Let's think of a Europe of democratic nation states not being dominated by German economic policy or unelected bureaucrats in Brussels. People do not want to live under German-dominated austerity and we're seeing a democratic rebellion across the whole of Europe." The comments come after French President Nicolas Sarkozy was beaten in the first round by socialist Francois Hollande.

It is thought that if Hollande does come to power in France, then he will act along an anti-austerity path leaving Germany isolated in Europe. George Magnus, senior economist for UBS bank commented: "Many of those in Greece and Spain have been pushing for an Hollande victory so that France will ease on the austerity measures, It will leave the German government at risk especially with the fall of the Dutch government. Many countries are frightened about what austerity will actually lead to for governments."

The change in policy comes amid concerns that the struggling country may not be able to remain in the single currency for much longer. The EIB will also include a revised currency measure in new loans with Ireland and Portugal. And it is planning to extend it gradually to all eurozone countries.

MEP Godfrey Bloom, UK Independence Party’s economics spokesman, warned: “This act by the EIB shows that at least one institution of the European Union has raised its eyes above the parapet and seen what is going on in the real world. Of course, the EIB has to work in the markets. Not to factor in Greek withdrawal would make their balance book look decidedly dodgy.”

“That they are using English law to draw up the contracts also shows the EU, despite its bluster and transparent desire to rip chunks out of the City, recognises that London is still the place to do business.” But the EIB denied that the move indicated the bank was preparing for a Greek exit from the euro.

“Having a large and increasing level of government debt relative to national income runs the risk of serious economic consequences,” Bernanke told the Senate Budget Committee Tuesday. “Even the prospect of unsustainable deficits has costs, including an increased possibility of a sudden fiscal crisis. As we have seen in a number of countries recently, interest rates can soar quickly if investors lose confidence in the ability of a government to manage its fiscal policy.”

Bernanke said that while nobody knows when a fiscal crisis will come, it is surely “ever closer.” “Although historical experience and economic theory do not indicate the exact threshold at which the perceived risks associated with the US public debt would increase markedly, we can be sure that, without corrective action, our fiscal trajectory will move the nation ever closer to that point.”

Economists say the Government will have a tougher task meeting forecasts to reduce borrowing to £120 billion in the current financial year as the economy struggles and unemployment rises, which will hurt its tax revenues and increase benefits payments. Samuel Tombs, an economist at Capital Economics, said: "March's public finance figures suggest that the trend in the UK's fiscal position is continuing to worsen."

The fact that GE paid no taxes in 2010 was widely reported earlier this year, but the size of its tax return first came to light when House budget committee chairman Paul Ryan (Republican for Wisconsin) made the case for corporate tax reform at a recent townhall meeting. "GE was able to utilize all of these various loopholes, all of these various deductions - it's legal," Ryan said.

Nine billion dollars of GE's profits came overseas, outside the jurisdiction of US tax law. GE wasn't taxed on $5 billion in US profits because it utilized numerous deductions and tax credits, including tax breaks for investments in low-income housing, green energy, research and development, as well as depreciation of property.

"I asked the GE tax officer, 'How long was your tax form?'" Ryan said. "He said, 'Well, we file electronically, we don't measure in pages.'" Ryan asked for an estimate, which came back at a stunning 57,000 pages. When Ryan relayed the story at the townhall meeting in Janesville, there were audible gasps from the crowd. Ken Kies, a tax lawyer who represents GE, confirmed to The Weekly Standard the tax return would have been 57,000 pages had it been filed on paper. The size of GE's tax return has more than doubled in the last five years.

The isolated and impoverished state sacrificed the chance of closer ties with the United States when it launched the long-range rocket on April 13 and was censured by the UN Security Council, which includes the North's sole major ally, China. Critics say the rocket launch was aimed at honing the North's ability to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States, a move that would dramatically increase its military and diplomatic heft.

Now the North appears to be about to carry out a third nuclear test after two in 2006 and 2009. "Soon. Preparations are almost complete," the source told Reuters when asked whether North Korea was planning to conduct a nuclear test. This is the first time a senior official has confirmed the planned test and the source has correctly predicted events in the past, telling Reuters about the 2006 test days before it happened.

The rocket launch and nuclear test come as Kim Jong-un, the third of his line to rule North Korea, seeks to cement his grip on power.

Pakistan's Shaheen-1A is an intermediate range ballistic missile, capable of reaching targets in India. Military officials declined to specify the range of the missile. The missile's impact point was in the Indian Ocean. India and Pakistan have fought three full-scale wars since they were carved out of British India in 1947. They conduct missile tests regularly and inform each other in advance.