(Reuters) - Finance Minister Vittorio Grilli said Italy's government would overshoot its 2012 deficit goal because of worse-than-expected growth but planned no extra budget cuts because Italy was on target to meet its EU obligations, a newspaper reported.

"We know there will be a worsening of the nominal deficit," Grilli told Rome's la Repubblica in an article published on Sunday. "Nonetheless, our compass remains the structural deficit, and on that we are and we will be perfectly in line."

Italy plans to post a structural, or growth-adjusted, budget surplus in 2013, which is what European Union authorities have asked the country to do.

Its nominal deficit targets are 1.7 percent of gross domestic product this year, 0.5 percent in 2013, and 0.1 percent in 2014.

The European Commission is keeping a close eye on a new French purge on Roma camps to ensure expulsions are not arbitrary and discriminatory, a spokeswoman said on Friday.

 French authorities on Thursday dismantled two makeshift camps housing 200 people near Lille, and flew 240 Roma gypsies from Lyon to Romania in the

biggest repatriation of its kind since François Hollande succeeded Nicolas Sarkozy as president in May.

The office of European Union justice commissioner Viviane Reding -- who clashed with Sarkozy during similar deportations two years ago -- is in
contact with French authorities, Mina Andreeva told AFP.

Today again Reding's staff "are analysing the situation to make sure that European rules are respected," Andreeva said.

Economy Minister Philipp Rösler said he was disappointed with the efforts of debt-wracked Greece to implement reforms, while a senior conservative said Germany would block further aid if the country did not fall in line.

"I've lost my illusions," Rösler told Focus magazine. He is also vice chancellor and leads the pro-business Free Democrats in the ruling coalition.

"I proposed with German businesses a whole series of support measures for the Greek government. The Greeks have hardly responded to our offers," he said.

Germany will block any new aid to Greece if the government does not fully comply with the terms of previous rescue packages, even if other countries support unlocking funds, another senior lawmaker said on Sunday.

The deputy head of Chancellor AngelaMerkel's conservative parliamentary bloc, Michael Fuchs, told the Handelsblatt newspaper the government was ready to use its veto if it was unhappy with findings from the Greececreditors "troika".

German security services have recorded a leap in the number of radical Islamists traveling to Egypt, according to a report due to be published in Monday's Der Spiegel magazine.

Radical Salafists considered violent by Germany's security services have been leaving Germany in droves in the past weeks, wrote the magazine. But rather than traveling to the conflict zone in Pakistan and Afghanistan, they are increasingly heading for Egypt, a high ranking security official told Der Spiegel.

The Islamists are believed to be following in the footsteps of the Austrian hate-speech cleric Mohamed Mahmoud, 27, the leader of the Millatu Ibrahim network banned by authorities in June. Mahmoud left Germany in the spring, preempting his impending expulsion, wrote the magazine.

Vittorio Grilli says Italy will overshoot 2012 deficit target because of "worse than expected" economic growth; says structural deficit target remains on track; Fabrizio Viola, head of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, says Italian companies face credit crunch unless spreads were brought under control before the end of the year; a large number of German political leaders have come out in favour of a referendum on a European fiscal union; but defence minister Lothar de Maiziere says it is not wise to call a referendum one might not win; labour minister Ursula von der Leyen said the German constitution still has room for manoeuvre on European integration; Jacques Schuster says Germany should not rush into dumping the principle of a representative democracy; the French constitutional court rules that the new budget rules do not require a change in the French constitution; decision paves the way for a fast-track implementation of the fiscal pact in France; the Greek coalition government is internally divided over spending cuts and labour reforms; a Greek finance ministry official says the fight against tax evasion could reap greater benefits than further spending cuts; Greece hopes to raise €3.125bn in a T-bill auction tomorrow; Jyrki Katainen recommends that Italy and Spain back their bond issues by state property assets; Belgium's central bank governor says that Dexia may need to be recapitalised; El Pais has collected a list of companies and  banks that have actively prepared for a euro exit; Rainer Hank, meanwhile, argues that European integration was a cultural utopia.

(Reuters) - Swiss banks hoping to atone for decades of complicity in tax evasion may be left to sweat it out for months as the United States and Germany ponder the right level of punishment.

Switzerland has long dodged U.S. accusations of hiding money for wealthy Americans. But now eleven Swiss banks are under investigation in the United States and there is pressure too from Europe where burdened taxpayers want scalps after numerous banking scandals. The Swiss need a deal to remove the taint from their financial industry.

However, Washington must factor forthcoming elections into its thinking, and Germany is delaying ratification of a tax deal key to Switzerland's efforts to strike similar agreements elsewhere in Europe. So the Swiss may be in limbo for a while.

The wait is painful for a country which counts on banking for 7 percent of its economic output: until Swiss banks know how much information they need to share with foreign tax authorities they will struggle to attract new clients.

(Reuters) - Bank of England governor Mervyn King took a swipe at bankers on Sunday, saying they should take a lesson about fair play from the Olympic Games, which have shown that money is not the only motivator for success.

King, who has previously criticised banks for excessive pay and shoddy customer treatment, also called for international cooperation to ease a global economic crisis in a column in the Mail on Sunday newspaper on the final day of the London Games.

"As recent scandals have shown, banks could learn a thing or two about fair play from the Olympic movement," said King, a keen sports fan who is fond of using sporting analogies to clarify economic policy.

By Kathleen Brooks. The opinions expressed are her own.

Standard Chartered is the latest UK-based bank that seems to be getting it in the neck from our friends across the water. Firstly, there was Barclays and the Libor scandal, then there was HSBC which was fined for allowing drug-trafficked money from Mexico to go through its system and now there is Standard Chartered which is charged with "wilfully misleading" the New York Department of Financial Services and clearing $250 billion of Iranian transactions through its U.S. operation.

Two can be a coincidence, but three in as many months? Since the news on Standard Chartered broke there has been a torrent of investors, politicians and even some in the media who have queried whether this is just an attempt by Washington to discredit London and re-establish New York as the world's financial centre.

BERKELEY - However bad you think the global economy is today in terms of the business cycle, that is only one lens through which to view the world. In terms of global life expectancy, total world wealth, the overall level of technology, growth prospects in emerging economies, and global income distribution, things look rather good, while on still other dimensions - say, global warming or domestic income inequality and its effects on countries' social solidarity - they look bad.

Even on the business-cycle dimension, conditions have been far worse in the past than they are today. Consider the Great Depression and the implications of market economies' inability back then to recover on their own, owing to the burden of long-term unemployment.

But, while we are not at that point today, the Great Depression is no less relevant for us, because it is increasingly likely that long-term unemployment will become a similar impediment to recovery within the next two years.

Forget America's fiscal cliff, Europe's currency troubles or the emerging-markets slowdown. The most important story in the global economy today may well be some good news that isn't yet making as many headlines - the coming surge in oil production around the world.

Until very recently, our collective assumption was that oil was running out. That was partly a matter of what seemed like geological common sense. It took millions of years for the earth to crush plankton into fossil fuels; it is logical to think that it would take millions of years to create more. The rise of the emerging markets, with their energy-hungry billions, was a further reason it seemed obvious we would have less oil and gas in 2020 than we do today.

Obvious - but wrong. Thanks in part to technologies like horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracking, we are entering a new age of abundant oil. As the energy expert Leonardo Maugeri contends in a recent report published by the Belfer Center at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, "contrary to what most people believe, oil supply capacity is growing worldwide at such an unprecedented level that it might outpace consumption."

But next year is different. Next year is the year the fiscal deal has to be made. And if Bowles is Treasury Secretary, he'll be the guy making the deal. That's way better than leading a commission. It's even better than being well-liked by both sides. That's legacy material.

For the Obama administration, Bowles has a number of qualifications. For one thing, Republicans adore him. Ryan has called him "my favorite Democrat." Appointing Bowles to be Treasury Secretary would ensure a smooth confirmation, and it would be interpreted as a sign of goodwill and "seriousness" both by Republicans and by the media. Coming after a bitterly partisan election and at the outset of a hugely consequential series of negotiations, that could have real appeal to the White House.

One reservation you often hear when playing the "who will be the next Treasury Secretary" guessing game is, "but they have no market experience." For better or worse, it's considered crucial that the Treasury Secretary understand, and be capable of working with, markets. Bowles was an investment banker before he entered politics, and he currently serves on the board of directors for both Morgan Stanley and GE. He's also personally beloved by Wall Street, where "Simpson-Bowles" has deep and fervent supporters, including many who have no real idea what's in it. Appointing Bowles would be a signal to them that Washington is getting serious.

The Egyptian president has ordered the powerful head of the army and defence minister, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, into retirement and cancelled constitutional amendments issued by the military restricting presidential powers.

Mohamed Morsi announced through a spokesman on Sunday the dismissal of Tantawi and his appointment as a presidential adviser.

According to state television, Abdul-Fatah al-Sessi would replace Tantawi as defence minister and the general commander of the army.

Morsi also sent into retirement the chief of army staff, Sami Anan, and appointed him as a presidential adviser.

Lieutenant-General Sidki Sayed Ahmed was named as Anan's replacement.

Morsi further appointed a senior judge, Mahmoud Mekki, as vice-president. All decisions are effective immediately.

Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh, reporting from Cairo, said that would be no exaggeration to say that no one saw this one coming.

"After the June 5th attack on a border patrol left 16 soldiers dead, the country's leadership (both civilian and in uniform) was peculiarly quiet. Late and terse statements did not quench the public's thirst for answers," she said.

"But no one thought the price would extend to the head of the military and his deputy. After all, both Tantawi and General Sami Enan, the two most powerful members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), long appeared invincible - both during the period SCAF took control over the country and even after President Morsi's election in June.  

Rescue teams have stopped looking for survivors from two powerful earthquakes near northwestern city of Tabriz, state television said, adding all those trapped under the rubble had been located and saved.

At least 227 people have been killed and more than 2,000 wounded in the massive earthquakes that hit the towns of Ahar and Varzaghan on Saturday. Iran's Fars News Agency reports the number of dead to be 300.

"There are no people left to recover from under the rubble in any village, and all necessary aid is currently being distributed," an interior ministry official in charge of disaster management, Hossein Ghadami, told state television on Sunday.

Efforts are on to provide water and shelter to the affected people, as thousands of people huddled in makeshift camps or slept in streets after Saturday's quakes in fear of more aftershocks.

Officials said on Sunday that emergency shelters were distributed on Sunday and a field hospital was set up in Varzaghan, one of the hardest hit towns 60km from Tabriz, to treat the injured.

(Reuters) - For Tea Party activists uninspired by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, the choice of fiscally conservative Congressman Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate might allow them to vote in November without holding their noses.

Hours after Romney's announcement on Saturday, Tea Partiers' reactions ranged from "Wow!" to "a step up from Romney" to "this doesn't change a thing for me" - what one would expect from a notoriously fragmented coalition bound by a desire for smaller government.

Many hailed the selection of as a sign of fiscally conservative movement's growing influence on the Republican Party platform. Others said it will not eradicate the enthusiasm deficit among conservatives that has dogged the former Massachusetts governor's campaign.

"This absolutely brings excitement to the ticket," said Debbie Dooley, co-founder of the Atlanta Tea Party, who said she her reaction was "Wow!" when she heard the news. "This gives us something to vote for rather than voting against (incumbent Democratic U.S. President Barack) Obama."

NEW YORK, Aug 11 2012 (IPS) - The historic drought withering much of the United States this summer has revealed a need for strategies to better manage water supplies that could remain under severe pressure both this year and in the longer term.

On Friday, the U.S. Agriculture Department said that corn yields - which account for nearly 40 percent of the global harvest - would be 17 percent lower than expected, contributing to an overall rise in food prices of three to four percent next year.

Van Ayers, an agriculture and rural development specialist with the University of Missouri Extension in Bloomfield, predicts a continued expansion of irrigation systems.

"When I first moved to southeast Missouri over 20 years ago, there were approximately 300,000 acres with irrigation," he told IPS. "Now there is over one million. This trend will not change."

The Food and Drug Association has a problem. It knows it has to set rules for the use of antibiotics in meat production, but it doesn't wanna. Like a petulant teen, kicking at stones and moaning under its breath, the FDA is dragging its feet.

But a federal court in New York put its foot down yesterday, insisting once and for all that the FDA had to do its chores. ("Fine. I didn't want to be a federal agency anyway. See if I care.") The FDA now has roughly five years to get the job done, and it can't delay just because an appeal is pending.

Compared with open farmland, wooded "shade" plantations that produce coffee and chocolate promote greater bird diversity, although a new University of Utah study says forests remain the best habitat for tropical birds.

The findings suggest that as open farmland replaces forests and "agroforests" - where crops are grown under trees - reduced number of bird species and shifts in the populations of various types of birds may hurt "ecosystem services" that birds provide to people, such as eating insect pests, spreading seeds and pollinating crops.

"We found that agroforests are better overall for bird biodiversity in the tropics than open farms," says study author Çagan H. Sekercioglu (pronounced Cha-awn Shay-care-gee-oh-loo), an assistant professor of biology at the University of Utah.

"This doesn't mean people should farm in intact forests," the ornithologist adds. "But if you have the option of having agroforest versus open farmland, that is better for biodiversity, with shade coffee and shade cacao [the source of cocoa and chocolate] being the prime examples."

JAKARTA, Aug 10 2012 (IPS) - When four men were sentenced to eight months in jail in March for the `murder' of orangutans, it was the first time that people associated with Indonesia's booming palm oil industry were convicted for killing man's close relations in the primate family.

Conservationists were not happy with the `light' sentences handed down by the court in Kutai Kertanegara district, East Kalimantan, on Mar. 18, to Imam Muktarom, Mujianto, Widiantoro and Malaysian national Phuah Cuan Pun.

"As expected, the sentences were light, much lighter than what the prosecutors demanded. Such punishments will not bring any change to the situation of orangutans," Fian Khairunnissa, an activist of the Centre for Orangutan Protection, told IPS.

Indonesia's courts have generally looked the other way as the palm oil industry relentlessly decimated orangutans by destroying vast swathes of Southeast Asia's rainforests to convert them into oil palm plantations.

In April, a court in Banda Aceh, Sumatra, dismissed a case filed by the Indonesia Environmental Forum (WALHI) against PT Kallista Alam, one of five palm oil firms operating in Tripa, and Irwandi Yusuf, former governor of Aceh province, for the conversion of 1,600 hectares (3,950 acres) of carbon-rich peat forests into palm oil plantations.

The court admonished WALHI saying it should have sought an out-of-court settlement with PT Kallista Alam -  which never paused clearing its  1,600-hectare concession, granted in August 2011.  

Mysteriously, just before the WALHI case was to be heard in court, numerous fires broke out in the Tripa peat swamps, including in the concession granted to PT Kallista Alam.

PARIS, Aug 8 2012 (IPS) - Over a month has passed since the United Nations summit on sustainable development concluded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but the world still appears to be unaware of one of the most important statements made during the conference that drew some 50,000 delegates from all over the world.

Louise Kantrow, permanent representative of the International Chamber of Commerce, received thunderous applause when she told her audience on Jun. 19 that "businesses are taking the lead" in global negotiations on climate change and sustainable development.

For many observers, Kantrow's blunt words highlighted just how strong of a grip private multinational companies have upon supposedly democratic processes.

In a statement aptly titled `Reclaim the U.N. from corporate capture', the environmental organisation Friends of the Earth (FoE) complained that, "There are ... real concerns about the increasing influence of major corporations and business lobby groups within the U.N."

The report went on to detail the extraordinary level of businesses' influence over the positions of national governments in multilateral negotiations.

"Business representatives dominate certain U.N. discussion spaces and some U.N. bodies; business groups are given a privileged advisory role; U.N. officials move back and forth (from) the private sector; and - last but not least - U.N. agencies are increasingly financially dependent on the private sector."

One blatant example of this "corporate capture" of the U.N. is the Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell, which, thanks to senior executive representatives in several corporate lobbying groups, was omnipresent during the Rio+20 negotiations.

Pension managers eye megasolar plants as solid investment in light of feed-in tarrif

With the launch of Japan's feed-in tariff system, capital from pensions is about to flow into collective investment schemes for building and operating the country's large-scale megasolar plants, likely prompting further spread of the renewable power generation technology.

The feed-in tariff, which went into effect on July 1, requires utilities to buy power generated by energy producers using solar, wind and other renewable energy sources. Because the system sets energy prices high and offers 20-year contracts for energy producers in order to encourage investment by non-utility companies, it has appeal as a solid, long-term investment vouched for by the government.

Using capital collected from investors, investment funds will build megasolar plants and sell the energy generated by the plants to local power companies. Investors will be paid dividends once overhead costs are accounted for.

A fund set up by trading giant Mitsui & Co. and Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. will solicit 10 billion yen worth of investment as early as mid-July from corporate pensions to set up 12 megasolar plants across Japan. Orix Corp., a financial services group, is also planning to build several plants around the country. It aims to establish a pension fund by next summer and procure 30 billion yen within three years.

Experts had predicted earlier that the price of solar energy would be set at around 35 to 39 yen per kilowatt hour, but the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry set it at 42 yen per kilowatt hour. If an energy producer were to acquire a contract now, the tariff would remain unchanged for 20 years. This makes it "not highly profitable, but stable," which corporate pensions seek, according to Mitsui & Co.

Solar Power Business using agricultural facilities

The National Federation of Agricultural Co-operative Associations (JA ZEN-NOH) and Mitsubishi Corporation (MC?have reached an agreement to jointly promote the solar power business by using the rooftops of facilities owned by farmers around the country and JA group s shared facilities (such as large livestock barns, sorting stations, logistics facilities, and food and beverage plants). Established within the framework of the Feed In Tariff (FIT) enacted on July 1st, 2012, this initiative seeks to reactivate the agricultural sector and revitalize farming communities as well as to expand renewable energy options in the furure.

The JA they're talking about here is the omnipresent agricultural co-op union that basically runs all agriculture in Japan.  Most produce sold in Japan has a JA label, and their banks, credit entities, and stores are everywhere.

The biggest Burmese python ever caught in Florida's wild has been captured in the Everglades, US scientists say.

The snake measuring 17ft 7in (5.18m) and weighing 164lb (74kg) was found in Everglades National Park, the University of Florida announced.

The python - now dead - was pregnant with 87 eggs, also believed to be a record.

more revell-ations.

It's a fine line between homage, parody, and consumer opportunism. Jess Walter

MEXICO CITY, Aug 11 2012 (IPS) - "The United States should stop producing so many weapons, which cause us so much harm. That country also suffers from so much violence, as billions of dollars go into manufacturing guns."

That is the message that anti-crime activist Fernando Ocegueda will take to the public in the United States, during a one-month visit to that country by the Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity, made up of 70 family members of victims of violence in Mexico.

"We are feeling hopeless because we are ignored," said Ocegueda, who sells electronic goods. "Our mission is to raise awareness about the indiscriminate sales of (assault) weapons, which flow over the border into our country, where they generate so much violence."

Ocegueda, the founder of the human rights group Unidos por los Desaparecidos de Baja California (United for the Disappeared of Baja California), is still searching for his son Fernando Ocegueda, who was taken from his home in the Mexican border city of Tijuana in February 2007 by men wearing uniforms of the Agencia Federal de Investigaciones, a federal police agency.

SANTIAGO, Aug 10 2012 (IPS) - "We always dreamed of a `heroine' who would not only denounce violence against women, but would also represent us in other spheres," Kena Lorenzini, the director of Chile's first feminist publication, told IPS.

She was referring to the on-line daily La MansaGuman, created solely by women.

The new publication is aimed at shedding light on the inequality and discrimination suffered by so many women in a country where two companies, El Mercurio and Copesa, which belong to some of the country's richest and most powerful families, control 90 percent of the written and on-line press.

Against that backdrop, launching an independent, progressive media outlet was not an easy task.

The heavy concentration of the media also translates into an ideological monopoly of the political right, which has a direct effect on the editorial line of publications, and more specifically, on the sources consulted and the way the news is approached.

Economist Gloria Maira told IPS that La MansaGuman "fills a major vacuum with respect to the media and the news available to people.

(Reuters) - If the Mormon church were a business, wealthy adherents like Mitt Romney would count as its dominant revenue stream.

Its investment strategy would be viewed as risk-averse.

It would also likely attract corporate gadflies protesting a lack of transparency. They would call for less spending on real estate and more on charitable causes to improve membership growth - the Mormons' return on investment.

Those are a few of the conclusions that can be drawn from an analysis of the church's finances by Reuters and University of Tampa sociologist Ryan Cragun.

Relying heavily on church records in countries that require far more disclosure than the United States, Cragun and Reuters estimate that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints brings in some $7 billion annually in tithes and other donations.

A spectacular closing ceremony showcasing British music will draw the curtain on the 2012 London Olympics, hailed as "fabulous" by Games chiefs.

The finale, starting at 2100 BST, will feature about 4,000 performers alongside artists such as George Michael and the Spice Girls.

The 16 days of competition have been the most successful for Team GB in 104 years, with a tally of 29 golds.

The Queen said Team GB's "outstanding" performance had "inspired" the country.

In a special message, she congratulated all the British and Commonwealth athletes who had taken part and said they had "truly captured the public's imagination and earned their admiration".

The South needs roads, railways, air links and everything else that it has been denied up to now, because the South can do it as long as no one holds it back in order to stop it from taking off!
They must not be allowed to produce anything, the South must remain our Customer, not a competitor! Except for some brief periods in the History of United Italy, the entire economy is based on the belief that the South must continue to be a consumer, not a producer. Italy was built upon the destruction of the great companies of the South, even by means of armed attack and by shooting on the workers. The largest metallurgical enterprises in Italy at the time were in Calabria. The largest mechanical factory complex at the time, one that was copied by all the industrialised Countries, was situated in Pietrazza and it was the only one that was able to supply the entire railway industry with everything it needed, from railway tracks through to locomotives. However, as long as the Pietrazza plant continued to operate, there was no chance for Ansaldo to take off, so they sent in the Bersaglieri Unit to shoot at the workers in order to shut down the Pietrazza plant, and that's precisely what happened.
When Piedmont built its railway system they went to Naples to buy their locomotives and when Italy was united in 1861, 60 of the 75 locomotives built in Italy and running throughout the Country had in fact been built down in the South! That was the industrial scene in Italy at the time of unity. But the South had to be stopped from producing so when all the money in Italy was put into common coffers, Vincenzo Saverio Nutti, the first Prime Minister of the new United Italy rather than the pre-Unity states discovered that 66% of that money had come from the South, while the rest of the Italians had only contributed the remaining 34%!
But then we saw how the money was later distributed. Bombrini was the General Manager of the first National Bank, the forerunner of the Italian Central Bank that was privately owned at the time and whose shares Mussolini eventually bought at a laughable price in order to turn it into a public bank. Bombrini administered that money for the benefit of Italy as a whole, allocating "x" millions of Lire to the Liguria Region, which was his native Region of course, "x" millions of Lire to the Piedmont Region, "x" millions of Lire to the Lombardy Region, "x" millions of Lire to the Tuscany Region and zero Lire, not 10 Lire but literally zero Lire to the Lucania Region and 10-thousand Lire to the Calabria Region. This was Italy's money, gathered mainly from the South and then distributed in this way! And then we marvel at the fact that the South is so inefficient in this day and age? I don't see this as inefficiency but rather I marvel at how efficient they are given that they have no less than 1/3 less infrastructure when compared to the North.

Sweden's Prince Carl Philip was attacked on Saturday outside a nightclub in Cannes in southern France, according to a report in Aftonbladet.

The 33-year-old prince was punched in the head by an unknown assailant, the newspaper reported.

... The King and the Queen have been informed of the incident.

Ikemen Market

Translation - Stylish Man Market

This was an ad on Facebook.  The icon, a woman throwing a man into a shopping cart, was bizarre enough that I actually clicked through. The little flash video on their front page is . . . um . . .

Men!  Become standardized commodities!  Women!  Go Shopping!

...yes the FF update that purports to be so much faster than before, but now doesn't load tabs until you look at them, unlike before.

or is it my overpriced crap bandwidth?

It's a fine line between homage, parody, and consumer opportunism. Jess Walter