GERMANY - In the old Death Strip between East and West Berlin, which runs through the centre of the city, there is a graveyard full of German war heroes and a few war criminals too. From the Red Baron to Reinhard Heydrich, the best and worst of the German military are buried here. There’s also a mass grave full of civilians, killed by Allied air raids, and a memorial to the 136 East Berliners who died trying to cross the Berlin Wall — which ran through this cemetery. The Death Strip is still an empty space.
UK - Barclays and Deutsche Bank may have programmed automated trading platforms to systematically rig the currency markets, a US regulator has alleged. New York’s Department of Financial Services (DFS), led by Benjamin Lawsky, has uncovered evidence suggesting the banks may have developed algorithms to manipulate foreign exchange markets, according to multiple reports.
EUROPE - France is sliding into a deflationary vortex as manufacturers slash prices to keep market share, intensifying pressure on the European Central Bank to take drastic action before it is too late. France's price slide comes at a delicate juncture - as many firms have been going bankrupt over recent months, as occurred during the Lehman crisis. The Bank of Italy warns that any further falls in prices at this stage could have 'extremely grave consequences for economies with very high public debt levels'.
USA - We noted in 2013 that the British economy is worse than during the Great Depression. The Washington Post’s Wonkblog pointed out in August that Europe is stuck in a “Greater Depression” … worse than the Great Depression. Well-known economist Brad DeLong agrees. As does Paul Krugman.
RUSSIA - Russia’s Rossiya and SMP banks, which fell under Western sanctions, are among the eight lenders that will start testing the country’s new national payment system on December 15. "The pilot project involves SMP Bank and Rossiya Bank, those for which the story is very critical and important. These are quite large banks,” the head of the Russian National payment system (NPS) Vladimir Komlev said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV. The move comes as a part of Russia’s ambitious initiative to move away from the Western dominance of its financial markets. Last month the Russian Central Bank said it would have its own international inter-bank payment system, an alternative to the global SWIFT network up and running by May 2015.
CHINA - In late 2015, the IMF will conduct its next twice-a-decade review of the basket of currencies its members can count toward their official reserves. Including the yuan in this so-called Special Drawing Rights system would allow the IMF to recognize the ascent of the world’s second-biggest economy while aiding China’s attempts to diminish the dollar’s dominance in global trade and finance.
UK - Global recession, a hard-landing of the Chinese economy and “premature tightening” by the US Federal Reserve all have the potential to “upset the applecart” next year, according to HSBC. Chief among these was the threat of a world recession “at a time when central bankers have little ammunition left to revive growth”, they said.
VATICAN - Pope Francis has given hope to gays, unmarried couples and advocates of the Big Bang theory. Now, he has endeared himself to dog lovers, animal rights activists and vegans. During a weekly general audience at the Vatican last month, the pope, speaking of the afterlife, appeared to suggest that animals could go to heaven, asserting, “Holy Scripture teaches us that the fulfillment of this wonderful design also affects everything around us.”
USA - Technically, we lost. By about 800 votes. A fraction of a percentage point. But we’ll never really know. Because this week, a judge in Oregon ruled against a lawsuit filed this week by our YES on 92 Campaign. The suit would have required the state to count the 4600 votes that election officials threw out — because they said the signatures on the ballot envelopes didn’t match the signatures on the voters’ registration cards. Monsanto and Big Food will claim victory.
UK - As Karl Marx was one of the earliest to point out, economics (though so much less interesting) is far more important than politics. Marx considered all political events as epiphenomena. He viewed great men as blind instruments of irresistible forces which they themselves could hardly comprehend.
USA - The Pentagon is considering the re-deployment of nuclear cruise missiles in Europe in response to a new Russian cruise missile that the United States has charged violates a 1987 nuclear treaty, a senior Pentagon official told Congress on Wednesday. Brian P McKeon, deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, said US cruise missile deployments are among a range of options being considered if Russia fails to return to compliance with the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty. McKeon did not provide details of the military options being studied but said they ranged from “reactive defense, to counterforce, to counter value defense measures.” “We don’t have ground-launched cruise missiles in Europe now obviously because they’re prohibited by the treaty,” McKeon said. “But that would obviously be one option to explore.”
USA - According to Congressman Justin Amash, Congress just passed a bill which grants the government and law enforcement “unlimited access to the communications of every American”. When the Michigan lawmaker discovered that the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2015 had been amended with a provision that authorizes “the acquisition, retention, and dissemination” of all communications data from US citizens, he desperately attempted to organize a roll call vote on the bill.
USA - The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee has released new information claiming the Bush administration misled the American people in the run-up to the war in Iraq. Senator Carl Levin (Democrat for Michigan) said on Thursday that a 2003 CIA cable warns the administration of former President George W Bush against making reference to claims that Mohammad Atta – the leader of the 9/11 hijackers – had met with an Iraqi intelligence officer in the Czech Republic before the attacks.
UNITED NATIONS - Adama Dieng, UN Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Prevention of Genocide, on Tuesday emphatically stated that Iran’s genocidal threats to “wipe Israel off the earth” are “totally unacceptable.” Dieng was at the UN’s headquarters in New York to commemorate the Anniversary of the Genocide Convention that was first adopted on December 9, 1948.
BRAZIL - Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo, was hit by heavy rain on Wednesday after months of drought. Drivers had to abandon their vehicles and some residents were forced to seek shelter as some parts of the city were inundated. According to local authorities, there have been no reports of deaths or injuries so far.