USA - Do you want to know why it seems like good jobs are very rare in the United States today? It is because good jobs are very rare in the United States today. According to a paper that was just released by the Center for Economic and Policy Research, only 24.6 percent of all American jobs qualified as “good jobs” in 2010.
MOSCOW, RUSSIA - Amid the continued uprising in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry on Friday issued somewhat contradictory statements about a group of its naval warships steaming into the eastern Mediterranean. The first statement said the warships were not planning to call on Tartus, a naval base Russia maintains in Syria. The second, issued several hours later, said it was possible that service boats from the group might call on Tartus to replenish supplies “if the time period of the trip is extended.”
USA/EUROPE - Ben Bernanke and Mario Draghi, with words but not yet actions, demonstrated this week that they are on red alert about the global economy. Expectations are now high that Mr Bernanke's Federal Reserve and Mr Draghi's European Central Bank will act soon to address those worries. But both face immense tactical and political challenges and neither has a handbook to follow. Both appear to be on a path toward expanding their balance sheets with large-scale purchases of debt from private investors.
ARGENTINA - Ships flying the British ensign have been banned from docking in Argentina's largest province under a new law passed yesterday. The legislature of Buenos Aires province voted to prohibit vessels sailing under the British flag from “mooring, loading or carrying out logistical operations” in any of its ports. The law is designed to hinder British ships involved in oil exploration in waters belonging to the islands.
ITALY - "With Italy facing a potentially deeper and more prolonged recession than we had originally anticipated, we think Italian banks' vulnerability to credit risk in the economy is rising," S&P said in a statement. "In this context, the combined effect of mounting problem assets and reduced coverage of loan loss reserves makes banks more vulnerable to the impact of higher credit losses particularly in the event of deterioration in the collateral values of assets," it said. Among the rating agency's moves, S&P cut Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena to BBB-minus from BBB, just one notch above junk. Banca Carige fared less well, losing its BBB-minus investment grade rating in a cut to BB-plus.
USA - Improvised explosive devices have claimed the lives and limbs of thousands of American soldiers across Iraq and Afghanistan. And now officials say the devilish devices are posing a growing threat across the United States. The accused shooter in the Aurora, Colorado, movie theater massacre, James Holmes, allegedly deployed IEDs in his apartment, prompting federal law enforcement agencies to look into possible links to domestic or foreign-based terrorism.
SPAIN - Mariano Rajoy, Spain’s prime minister, steered the embattled nation towards a €300 billion (£237 billion) bailout yesterday as he said he was ready to act “in the best interests of the Spanish people”. Mr Rajoy, who is struggling to convince dubious markets that he can bring Spain’s deficit back under control, has already asked for €100 billion from Europe’s bailout pot for its debt-laden banking system.
MIDDLE EAST - The Palestinian Authority is planning to renew its bid for United Nations recognition as a state. Next month, the PA will ask the General Assembly to accept “Palestine” as a non-member state, PA minister Riad Maliki announced Saturday. The PA enjoys comfortable majority support in the General Assembly. PA leaders may hope that a General Assembly vote in favor of “state” status will pressure the UN Security Council to grant the PA state status as well.
GERMANY - The financial chess game in Europe is still being played out, but in the end it is going to boil down to one very fundamental decision. Is Germany going to allow the ECB to print up trillions of euros and use those euros to buy up the sovereign debt of troubled eurozone members such as Spain and Italy or not? Nothing short of this is going to solve the problems in Europe.
USA - The US government's only facility for handling, processing and storing weapons-grade uranium has been temporarily shut after anti-nuclear activists, including an 82-year-old nun, breached security fences, government officials said on Thursday.
LONDON, UK - Foiling attacks has occupied the police and security services for months, the BBC said, and the threat is very real. And this leads to another record: the most security-conscious, heavily guarded Olympics. The greatest mobilisation of military and security forces in the UK since the Second World War, with more troops deployed than in the war in Afghanistan, and the most heavily secured event in London’s history, are still more records.
USA - The exporting of US jobs to the third world that began with the never constitutionally ratified North American Free Trade Agreement enacted by the 103rd Congress, created the economic mechanism that, combined with another Clinton-era law orchestrated by then community-organizer [Mr] Barack Obama in Chicago, forced Illinois banks to make bad mortgage loans to minorities that Fannie Mae had agreed to underwrite.
USA - The homosexual lobby wants to outlaw Christianity. This is the real meaning behind the uproar over Chick-fil-A. The chicken sandwich franchise has become a lightning rod for the culture war. Liberals despise it; conservatives back it. Supporters of gay marriage want to prevent the Atlanta-based chain from expanding, demanding new restaurant permits be denied.
USA - The current hate campaign being waged by homosexual activists against fast-food chain Chick-fil-A, because of the firm's Christian values, may well turn out to be a bridge too far. The effort may prove to be a setback for homosexual activism. The vile attacks on the firm and its owners, the Cathy family, should make clear, finally, that the "gay rights" movement is not about refining and advancing American freedom. It is about rewriting American values and advancing not freedom, but the homosexual political agenda.
USA - The largest US trader of equities on Wall Street, Knight Capital Group Inc was fighting for its survival on Thursday after a trading glitch wiped out $440 million of the firm's capital, leaving it on the edge of bankruptcy. The massive capital loss has forced the $1.5 billion firm to seek new funding as its shares plunged 70 percent in two days. The company, one of the largest US market operators, said it is 'actively pursuing its strategic and financing alternatives,' raising the possibility Knight could be sold or even face bankruptcy.
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The views expressed in this section are not our own, unless specifically stated, but are provided to highlight what may prove to be prophetically relevant material appearing in the media.