Now the Democratic Charter held its first rally today, with some five thousand attending (the more genuine movement will hold its own in two weeks, I may attend). So the far-right usual suspects had to announce protests for the same day, too (insane motto: "Down with the hate of Hungarians"), and naturally, some hundreds went over to attack the Charter-ists.

What followed was the now all too usual routine: attacking opposed protesters, journalists; throwing stones and molotov cocktails at police; trying to stop police charges by demolishing everything on their way; police being caught with their pants down (this time weapons were taken from a police car; later recovered). One new twist was the standoff at the church of a well-known far-right Calvinist pastor, into which a hundred rioters fled.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

KfW, a government bank that administers federal shareholdings and passes out soft loans to home-owners, was dubbed "Germany's dumbest bank" by the mass-circulation newspaper Bild when the scandal broke.

The automated payment on Monday went out just hours before Lehman declared itself insolvent. Lehman did not settle the swap with the equivalent in US currency, 500 million dollars, leaving KfW in the queue as a creditor.

Quoting banking sources, the German weekly magazine Focus said KfW had asked a Frankfurt law firm, Clifford, to study if it could sack or bring a prosecution against executives responsible for the blunder.

The Turkish Interior Ministry has ordered an investigation into a multi-million-euro embezzlement scandal concerning Deniz Feneri, a German-Turkish charity with links to the ruling AK Party, it emerged late on Friday.

The order comes two days after a court in Frankfurt jailed two men convicted of embezzling 16 million euros that had been donated to the charity's German sister organization, intended as aid to poverty- stricken Muslims in Turkey, Pakistan and Palestine.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel dug her heels in Friday in a dispute with the European Union and Porsche about state influence over Europe's biggest carmaker, Volkswagen.

Her spokesman said Germany would not repeal legislation that grants the state of Lower Saxony veto powers at VW.

Only the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, home of luxury carmaker Porsche, has spoken up in favor of the EU. But on Friday it quietly dropped a challenge in the Bundesrat upper chamber to the German legislation.

Lower Saxony is currently headed by CDU man Christian Wulff, who at present seems to be the most likely man to eventually succeed Merkel.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

Some 20,000 anti-globalisation protesters are set to march in Sweden on Saturday in what is expected to be one of the biggest demonstrations ever held in the Scandinavian country, organisers and police said.

"This will probably be the biggest demonstration (in Sweden) since the end of World War II," organiser Peter Johansson told reporters at the European Social Forum in the southern Swedish town of Malmo.

The four-day forum has requested that police keep a discreet presence at the march, and only a few dozen officers will be visible along the demonstration route, Anders Svensson, who is in charge of protest security, told reporters.

"That is one of our demands to police," he said, adding that organisers wanted to avoid a repeat of the 2001 clashes between protesters and officers in the southwestern city of Gothenburg, when 250 people were injured, including three demonstrators shot by police.

Unlike in the case of the Budapest far-righters, methinks even if this is not all scare-mongering and there will be a riot, only a small minority of the protesting total will participate.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

Prime Minister promises 'whatever it takes' to save jobs as he brushes off talk of a challenge

The Labour party put on a show of closing ranks behind Gordon Brown today as it opened its annual conference in Manchester.

The Prime Minister received cheers and a 32-second standing ovation as he came onto the stage at the start of the conference.

More than 1,000 people have joined the families and friends of knife and gun crime victims in a protest march across London, converging on Hyde Park.

...

Prime Minister Gordon Brown sent a video message of support but it was met with jeers and people shouting "off".

Families hit by knife crime, including those of victims killed this year, are rallying for an end to the violence.

that's the kind of thing that make me proud to be european.. and from barcelona...... great people, great music, public transport open all day and all night....

In a word... the best of the cities...

And it did not cost 700 billion dollars!!!! only a  fraction

A taste of todays key altyernative groups....self-edited, self-organized and now, thanks to my city, paid and bringing humongous crowds.....

A pleasure

I therefore claim to show, not how men think in myths, but how myths operate in men's minds without their being aware of the fact. Levi-Strauss, Claude

Gordon Brown is set to lead Labour into an election bloodbath so crushing it could take his party a decade to recover, according to the largest ever poll of marginal seats which predicts a landslide victory for David Cameron.

Eight cabinet ministers, including the Home Secretary and the Justice Secretary, would be swept away in the rout as the Tories marched into Downing Street with a majority of 146, says the poll, conducted for PoliticsHome.com and exclusively revealed to The Observer. Seats that have been Labour since the First World War would fall.

The sheer scale of the humiliation is almost as bad as that endured by the Tories in 1997, suggesting it could take Labour a similar time to claw its way back to power. The party would be virtually extinguished in southern England and left with only its hardcore redoubts in northern England, the Welsh valleys and deprived inner-city areas.

And after selling out their base to the money-men in the City, they will deserve every bit of it.

Speaking in Austria on Saturday, Sept 20, Merkel said her government had tried in vain to win G8 support last year for tighter regulation of hedge funds and financial oversight of capital markets, hinting that she felt vindicated in her stance as a financial disaster unfolded on Wall Street in recent days.

 

"It was said for a long time 'Let the markets take care of themselves' and that there is 'no need for more transparency'," Merkel said at a rally in Linz, where she was campaigning on behalf of the Austrian conservative People's Party (OeVP).

 

"Today we are a step further because even America and Britain are saying 'Yes, we need more transparency, we need better standards for the ratings agencies'," Merkel said.

Opinion: Can a Government Lifeline Alone End the Crisis? | Business | Deutsche Welle | 19.09.2008

Greater regulation needed

So the state emerges as the savior. Initial news of the bailout led to a swift recovery. First, profits were privatized and now, losses are being socialized. With the banks saved, the whole game can start over again. That is, unless the government makes stricter regulations for the financial sector part of its rescue program.

 

The sector is always willing to be bailed out, but most unwilling to have regulations imposed on its business dealings. But without stricter monitoring and regulation, such a bailout will only plant the seeds for the next bubble on the financial markets to grow.

 

Karl Zawadzky is DW-RADIO's business editor (dc)

South African President Thabo Mbeki has agreed to resign after his African National Congress (ANC) party asked him to leave office. A statement from the presidency says that Mbeki will "step down after all constitutional requirements have been met."

A massive suicide truck bomb devastated the heavily guarded Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital Saturday, killing at least 40 people and wounding at least 250. Officials feared there were dozens more dead inside the burning building.

The blast targeting the U.S. hotel chain appeared to be one of the largest terrorist attacks ever in Pakistan, leaving a vast crater some 30 feet deep in front of the main building, where rescuers ferried a stream of bloodied bodies.

...

The bombing came just hours after President Asif Ali Zardari made his first address to Parliament and days ahead of the new leader's meeting with President Bush Tuesday in New York on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.

Prospective Israeli prime minister Tzipi Livni holds the last chance for peace in the country, senior Palestinian officials have warned.

Rafik Husseini, the top advisor to the Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, has told The Sunday Telegraph that Palestinian politicians may take the drastic step of disbanding the authority if a lasting agreement is not reached during the current peace negotiations.

Such a move would mark the end of the US-backed talks launched with much fanfare at Annapolis last November. and put day-to-day Palestinian governance back in Israeli hands, almost certainly igniting fresh violence in the process.

British Ambassador to the UN John Sawers said Friday that London was ready to support Zimbabwe's recovery but only if "genuine" power-sharing is fully implemented.

"We are ready to support Zimbabwe's recovery ... but we clearly have to see a commitment that the tragic policies pursued in Zimbabwe in recent years have come to an end and that there is a genuine effort to share power with those who were elected in the March election," he told reporters.

He spoke after attending a UN Security Council briefing by UN troubleshooter Haile Menkerios, who monitored the South African-mediated talks in Harare that produced the power-sharing accord.

Value written down to $1.35 billion because of market volatility

A bankruptcy judge today decided that Lehman Brothers can sell its investment banking and trading businesses to Barclays, the first major step to wind down America's fourth-largest investment bank.

...

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed the biggest bankruptcy in US history on Monday after Barclays plc declined to buy the whole of the investment bank. Barclays will take control of Lehman units that employ about 9,000 in the US. "Not only is the sale a good match economically, but it will save the jobs of thousands of employees," said Harvey Miller, a lawyer for Lehman.

Buffett in $4.7bn deal for Constellation

Warren Buffett has made his first move in response to the latest round of credit market turbulence by agreeing to buy $4.7bn Constellation Energy Group, a US power company whose shares have been hammered over fears of a lack of liquidity in its commodities trading business.

MidAmerican Energy, a holding company of energy assets that is majority-owned by Mr Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway, agreed on Thursday to buy Constellation for $26.50 a share - at less than half the company's market value a week ago.

But EdF holds 9,5 % of Constellation energy...

EDF set to launch bid for US group

EDF of France is planning to go on the offensive to protect its foothold in the US with an offer for Constellation Energy, the electricity utility that agreed on Thursday to a $4.7bn (€3.2bn) takeover by billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

The board of the French utility agreed in an emergency meeting on Friday to back a joint bid with a US partner, as required under US regulations.

No matter what this is a major league f*ck-up by the Constellation management who has lost one of the most promising companies in the US for chump change. All because of a stupid business model which resulted in a exposure of $120 million to commodities contracts with Lehman, which in turn led to rumors and violent speculation against the company.

Why the company didn't ask for a capital injection from its shareholders instead of selling it to Buffet I have no idea.

And imagine I did some research on this company a year or two ago to see if I should buy some shares because the generation portfolio is just beautiful. Thankfully I bought Exelon instead.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

Oktoberfest, the World's Biggest Beer Fest, Now Open | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 16.09.2008

This year, the event opens officially on September 20 with the traditional driving of a tap into the first cask of beer. By October 5, when the festivities end, around 6 million people will have enjoyed the alehouse joviality at the foot of the huge statue of Bavaria which towers over the venue which locals call the "Wiesn".

The people of Gdynia have a chunk missing from their history books. During the Second World War, Gdynia's population dropped from 127,000 to just 30,000. The city is now using a Web site to try to find out what happened to the missing people: Were they deported, killed, or did they escape abroad?

 

Ryszard Toczek, lawyer and head of the project, told DW-WORLD.DE that in the past, the city has received conflicting information about the number of residents killed during the war.

 

"Every now and then we receive information that many people were killed, and then other information that only a few were killed," he said.

Although some advice says that avoiding sunburn is crucial, researchers have concluded that any tan is risky, whether from sunshine or sunbed.

The UK and US scientists said there was solid evidence that tanning and cancer both start with DNA damage from ultraviolet (UV) rays.

They called for a ban on children using sunbeds, and any publicity claiming sunbeds were a safer option.

Senator John McCain, Republican candidate for the Presidency of the United States of America wrote an article in the Sept./Oct. issue of Contingencies, the magazine of the American Academy of Actuaries, in which he said:

Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation.

A delegation of Navajo, Hopi and Lakota warned Lehman Brothers stockholders of the dire consequences of their actions in 2001. In a rare move, censored by most media, the Navajo, Hopi and Lakota delegation warned Lehman Brothers, after it acquired the financial interests of Peabody Coal, of the spiritual consequences of mining coal on sacred Black Mesa and the aftermath of Peabody Coal's machinations that led to the so-called Navajo Hopi Land Dispute. Lehman Brothers is now in the midst of financial collapse, with its bankruptcy producing a rippling effect throughout the world's economy.

At the time of the Lehman Brothers stockholders meeting in 2001, Arlene Hamilton bought two shares of stocks in Lehman Brothers to pave the way for the delegation to address the stockholders. Hamilton said her life was threatened because of this action. Shortly afterwards, Hamilton was killed in a car crash. Longtime Navajo relocation resister Roberta Blackgoat died in San Francisco at Hamilton's memorial.

Did Physics PhDs cause current financial crisis?

So who is responsible for all the financial turmoil? Phil Gramm? Alan Greenspan? Republican congress? President Clinton? McCain? Obama?

Or maybe it was Physics PhDs who were hired to work on Wall Street in record numbers and were crucial in developing extremely complex securitization and other fancy financial tools - making accounting transactions far less transparent and more difficult to follow? So maybe it was not a republican congress circa 1999 that relaxed regulatory rules, but democratic congress of 1993 that killed SSC that is responsible?