In no particular order tonight.

Boom nations to catch cold as west's financial disease strides the globe

The western financial crisis is turning global as capital-flows throughout the developing world have been transformed by the credit crunch into destructive riptides for scores of economies.

Many boom nations of eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America are among those abruptly stalling, leaving governments wrongfooted by an investment exodus. Economists have been drawing up a critical list of vulnerable countries - identifying those struggling with giant current account deficits, undercapitalised banks, overheated stockmarkets and exposures to short-term overseas borrowing.

"The three Baltic states along with Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Bulgaria and Romania - and of course Iceland - are at the top of the list," said Nick Chamie, of RBC Capital Markets. He singled out Hungary, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia as least able to mimic the recent western bank bail-outs that have helped more mature economies reduce some of the most damaging effects of the crunch.



Canadian accused of supplying Iran’s missile program: German report

OTTAWA - An Iranian-Canadian businessman who spied on Iran for Germany has been arrested in Frankfurt on suspicion of using his companies to support Iran's missile program, a German news magazine reports.

The magazine Der Spiegel says the 61-year-old man, identified only by his code name, "Sinbad," holds dual Canadian and Iranian citizenship and spied for the German foreign intelligence service, the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), for more than a decade.




Large-scale Iranian Air force exercise simulates attack on Israel

DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the drill beginning Thursday, Oct. 16 in northern Iran, is Tehran’s rejoinder to Israel’s big aerial maneuver last June.

Then, more than 100 Israeli fighter-bombers went through their paces over the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas, roughly the same distance from Israel as Iran.

Tehran’s media claim the exercise will test its air force’s ability to fly to Israel and back without refueling.

The exercise will also test the US-made FBX-T band anti-missile radar system delivered in September and installed at the IAF Nevatim air base in the Negev. The Iranians say they will be practicing their “state-of-the-art military equipment and flight tactics,” meaning an attempt to jam US and Israeli electronics and radar.




Tokyo rebounds, but Mumbai, Hong Kong battered


HONG KONG (MarketWatch) -- Asian markets ended mixed Friday, with Japanese shares rebounding as they found bargain buyers a day after being mauled, while the rest of the region finished mostly lower on concerns the financial crisis might evolve into a full-blown recession in the U.S. and Europe.

"People are naturally beginning to think about the world economy in 2009, and it's not looking very pretty," said Peter Eadon-Clarke, a strategist at Macquarie Research in Tokyo. "Once we stop worrying about the financial system, then we have to start worrying about a synchronized global slowdown and a G3 recession."




Iron ore price expected to be flat in 2009

Steelmakers and iron-ore mining firms are bracing for another round of fierce contract talks as weakening demand for steel and abundant supplies of iron ore dent chances of a hefty price rise in 2009.

The negotations are likely to be acrimonious and fiercely contested, analysts say, as steelmakers could ask for a price decline while producers will push to achieve a sizeable hike.




U.S. Attorney Expects 'Dramatic' Results Soon in Mortgage Probe

LOS ANGELES — The top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles indicated Thursday that charges will be filed in the coming months in a sweeping investigation of banks and subprime lenders for their role in the nation's mortgage crisis.

"I think we are going to see some fairly dramatic results in the near future," U.S. Attorney Thomas O'Brien told The Associated Press. "There are people who have made many millions of dollars preying on unsuspecting people. That's wrong. That's fraud in a tremendous amount."

A grand jury is investigating at least three mortgage lenders — Countrywide Financial Corp., New Century Financial Corp. and IndyMac Bancorp Inc. Prosecutors are looking at whether mortgage fraud and other white-collar crimes were committed.




OPEC left to its own devices
Commentary: Hedge fund redemptions lay bare the role in oil speculation

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Nations has called an emergency meeting for Oct. 24 aimed at halting a precipitous drop in oil prices.

Crude, despite an uptick Friday, has crumbled to $72 a barrel, half the price it fetched in July. See Futures Movers.

Funny how fast things can change.

Gone is the steady drone of peak-oil forecasts. Gone is the fear that we are in the pockets of "folks that don't like us very much." Prices are down at the pump, and talk radio has moved on, feasting now on banks, bailouts and rampant greed and corruption on Wall Street.

As the industrial world withdraws into a recessionary shell, it takes oil demand with it. China and India's insatiable thirst for oil looks meager now as factory output slows to a trickle.




U.S. Stocks Drop as Housing, Consumer Data Offset Buffett Buys

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks fell, capping a day that sent the Standard & Poor's 500 Index swinging between gains and losses at least 28 times, as worsening consumer confidence and housing data overshadowed Warren Buffett's advice to buy shares.




Spanish airline suspends flights

Spanish-based airline LTE International has suspended operations after telling Spanish authorities that it was in serious financial difficulty.

LTE's website stopped taking bookings late on Thursday after it said it could not cover costs for the next few days.

The company said several thousand passengers had been affected by the cancellation of flights, including some who were stranded in Spain.




Tajikistan Prosecutors, Religious Leaders Seek to Ban Salafi Movement

DUSHANBE (RFE/RL) -- The Office of the Khatlon Province prosecutor has called on the Tajik authorities today to officially ban the Salafi religious movement in the country.

Meanwhile, Tajikistan's Religious Council has called on Salafi followers to abandon their beliefs or to stay away from mosques.

The Salafi movement promotes a strict form of Sunni Islam and does not recognize Islam's other branches -- such as Shi'a and Sufism. It has reportedly been growing in Tajikistan in recent months with its leaders claiming they have over 20,000 supporters in the country.




Somali pirates free Asian sailors

The crew of a South Korean ship hijacked by pirates last month off the coast of Somalia has been freed.

A spokesman for the South Korean foreign ministry refused to say whether a ransom had been paid.

The captives included eight South Koreans and 14 Burmese nationals, all said to be unharmed.

The government in Seoul is considering sending naval vessels to the area, following recent decisions by Nato and the EU to send ships.



‘At gunpoint, we survived on bread and two cups of water’

Jeevan Kiran D’Souza cannot forget the 52 days he spent at gunpoint on hostile, alien waters, at the mercy of ruthless Somali pirates, surviving only on mouldy bread and strictly rationed water.

It was stuff that would beat Hollywood pirate stories hands down, says the 28-year-old who recently returned home to virtually a second life in Kerala’s Kasaragod district.



Pirates' deadline over, but Hijacked crew safe

MUMBAI: Crew members aboard the hijacked vessel, MT Stolt Valor, are safe but undergoing severe mental torture and surviving on leftovers and unfilte
red water, said Seema Goyal, wife of captain Prabhat Kumar Goyal, who spoke to them on Friday.



International flotilla to fight Somali pirates

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — U.S. warships watched a hijacked vessel laden with tanks while other gunboats patrolled the dangerous waters off Somalia, but pirates still seized another freighter this week — and now hold about a dozen despite the international effort to protect a major shipping lane.

Military vessels from 10 nations are now converging on the world's most dangerous waters, but analysts and a Somali government official say the campaign won't halt piracy unless it also confronts with the quagmire that is Somalia.

"World powers have neglected Somalia for years on end, and now its problems are touching the world, they have started on the wrong footing," said Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade, adviser to the president of Puntland, the semi-autonomous Somali region that is the pirates' base.





Zambia: Banda Woos Iranian Investors

ACTING President, Rupiah Banda, has invited Iranian investors to consider partnering with Zambians in the various business opportunities available locally and help better the lives of the people.

Mr Banda said in Lusaka yesterday that Zambia offered immense opportunities in the development of energy infrastructure to enable the country turn the wheels of industrial development.



Somali Islamists threaten Kenya

Somali Islamists say they will attack Kenya if it goes ahead with plans to train 10,000 government troops.

"We will order all our holy warriors to start the jihadi war inside Kenya," said spokesman Sheikh Muktar Robow.

Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula has been quoted recently offering the training to beleaguered government forces.

The warning comes as insurgents have again battled government troops and peacekeepers in the capital, Mogadishu.

At least five people have been killed, residents and doctors say.




3 Akko residents arrested on suspicion of damaging cars

Three Jewish Akko residents were arrested Friday morning on suspicion of vandalizing a number of vehicles during the clashes which broke out between Jews and Arabs in the northern city on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.

The Akko Magistrates' Court decided to place one of the suspects under house arrest and to extend the remand of the other two.

Although calm was restored in the city six days ago, the police continue to search for inciters and residents involved in the damaging of property.




Austria, Turkey Join UN Security Council; Iran Rejected

Japan topped Iran for the open Asian slot on the 15-seat council, while Austria and Turkey beat out financially ravaged Iceland for the European seats.

Mexico and Uganda, which ran uncontested for their slots, are also among the new member countries of the 2009-10 UN Security Council. They, along with Austria, Turkey and Japan, are officially to assume their two-year posts on Jan. 1, replacing Indonesia, Panama, South Africa, Italy and Belgium




9 Israelis freed in Caribbean taken to different island
Six Israeli nationals still being held hostage on isolated island by disgruntled Chinese laborers demanding their salaries

Nine of the 15 Israelis held hostage by Chinese laborers on the West Caicos island have been released and transferred to a different island, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Yossi Levy said Friday morning.

The affair began in the Caribbean several days ago and was first reported by Ynet on Thursday. Since then, talks have been held to secure the Israeli nationals' release.




Beirut mosque potent symbol of Lebanon troubles

BEIRUT, Oct 17 (Reuters) - The sky-blue dome and towering minarets of Beirut's Mohammad al-Amin mosque, which opened on Friday, are potent symbols of Lebanon's turbulent recent past.

The mosque financed by Rafik al-Hariri and built with stone from Saudi Arabia stands next to the grave of the former prime minister, whose 2005 assassination pitched Lebanon into three years of political crisis and sectarian strife.




Pursuit Of Elusive Peace Could Drive Afghan Government, Taliban To The Table

The brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai has returned from a visit to Saudi Arabia in which he met with Taliban leaders in a gathering brokered by King Abdullah.

Qayum Karzai has been vague about details of his recent trip to Saudi Arabia as a representative of the Afghan central government. But speaking on October 9, after returning to his hometown of Kandahar, Qayum Karzai said Kabul supported the idea of direct talks with the Taliban leadership in order to end the fighting. He also suggested that he had met with some Taliban in Saudi Arabia.

Karzai's government has been pushing for negotiations with the Taliban at the same time that Western and NATO military commanders have concluded that military action alone cannot bring an end to Afghan violence.




Belfast weapons cache found in dead man's home

DUBLIN, Ireland: Northern Ireland police have found more than 70 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition in the Belfast home of a dead Protestant extremist.

The accidental discovery of the weapons cache followed the death Sunday of the man, an alleged "quartermaster" of the outlawed Ulster Volunteer Force responsible for weapons supplies.




Bombings of Canadian pipelines spark ecoterrorism fears
Two explosions in one week cause no injuries, and only minor damage to pipes carrying dangerous hydrogen sulphide gas.

The National Post reports that police believe the explosions may be related to a letter sent last week to the Dawson Creek Daily News, which demanded "EnCana and all other oil and gas interests" leave Tomslake. "We will no longer negotiate with terrorists which you are as you keep endangering our families with crazy expansion of deadly gas wells in our home lands," the letter said.




Dutch abortion ship arrives in Spain

A Dutch boat offering to carry out abortions that circumvent Spanish laws arrived off the Mediterranean coast of Spain on Thursday.

The boat, run by the Dutch charity Women on Waves, docked in the southeastern port of Valencia on Thursday night, where it will shuttle women seeking abortions 12 miles out to sea in order to escape Spanish jurisdiction and perform the procedure.

The four-day mission is supported by more than 30 Spanish organisations, which hope it will serve to highlight the need for a reform of Spain's abortion laws.

On Friday morning three women seeking terminations - all less than seven weeks pregnant - boarded the yacht "Menina" and were taken out into international waters before being given an abortion pill.

"Women who want an abortion should be given one without them having to pay for it or seek medical permission," said Spanish gynaecologist Josep Lluis Carbonell. "We are fighting for a woman's right to choose and for the same respect to be given to her in Spain as it is already across Europe."


[Ugh. Culture of death meets culture of welfare. Psalm 94 be upon them.--Amanda]




China Blocking US Anti-Iran Efforts

TEHRAN (FNA)- China has hampered US efforts to convene permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany to discuss new sanctions against Iran.

For more than a week, US President George W. Bush's administration has been trying to hold a conference call on the Islamic Republic. But the efforts have been hampered by Beijing's refusal to join the talks, US officials and diplomats said.

The officials said China refuses to support US efforts against Iran in order to retaliate the American proposal to sell $6.5 billion worth of weapons to Taiwan. Beijing however has not provided any reason for blocking the talks.





Financial crisis: Future of Britain's biggest food firm Premier Foods in doubt

The future of Britain's biggest food company has been thrown into doubt, after it was forced to reassure the stock market about its financial health.

Premier Foods, which manufacturers a host of store cupboard favourites, from Branston pickles and Hovis bread to Bird's custard and Oxo gravy, saw its shares plunge by 54 per cent at one stage.

It has been hit hard by the economic downturn as shoppers ditch upmarket brands and "trade down" to supermarket own-label goods. It has also suffered from the dramatic increase in the cost of commodities, especially wheat prices.

The company was forced to issue a statement to the stock market saying it was not having problems paying back money it owes to its banks.




Fire kills 10 people in Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria: A fire in a commercial building in northern Syria killed 10 people and injured 15 others Friday, said the country's official news agency.

The fire broke out in a five-story building in the city of Aleppo, some 355 kilometers (220 miles) north of Damascus, said SANA.




French Bank Suffers Big Trading Loss

PARIS — A large French mutual bank, Groupe Caisse d’Épargne, said Friday that it had lost 600 million euros, or $807 million, as a result of unauthorized derivatives trading by a team on the bank’s own account.

The lender, which is in merger talks with a French rival, said in a statement that the loss was the result of “extreme market volatility” last week, and that the position had been closed.

The losses resulted from bad bets on derivatives linked to the direction of the CAC-40, the French equivalent of the Dow Jones industrial average, according to French officials.




Hamas: US economic turmoil divine punishment

America's current economic turmoil is "divine punishment" for Washington's treatment of the Palestinian people, a Hamas leader said during a Friday sermon.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip said God was penalizing the US for supporting an Israeli-led blockade of the Strip. Haniyeh said God's punishment would also extend to America's allies.

"This is divine punishment, because of America's embargo of the Palestinian people," said Haniyeh, who devoted much of his 45-minute sermon in a Gaza City mosque to attacking the US.


[ Well. The number of folks insisting it's divine punishment grows. And I suspect it is, as well. So far, the only folks getting the press are wackos being (mostly) ignored. Got a feeling if a conservative Christian says any such thing, the press will suddenly care. ]




Golden rice, red tape
Bio-fortified rice could save hundreds of thousands of lives a year, but opposition to GM crops is still preventing its approval

Biotechnology applied to crafting nutritional improvements in rice is on the verge of offering the kinds of public health benefits to Asia we haven't seen since the 20th-century's green revolution improved the nutrition and longevity of billions of people.

Last month, the Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry bestowed the prestigious Bertebos prize on Swiss plant biologist Ingo Potrykus. He is the co-inventor of "golden rice", a collection of new rice varieties biofortified, or enriched, by the introduction of genes that express beta-carotene, the precursor of vitamin A. (It is converted in the body, as needed, to the active form.)



In Nicaragua, political dissidents targeted

Managua, Nicaragua - Thirty years after legendary Nicaraguan newspaper publisher Pedro Joaquín Chamorro was gunned down in the streets of Managua, he's seen as a martyr for his relentless criticism of the ruling right-wing regime.

Today his son, Carlos Fernando Chamorro, lives under the new leftist regime that his father helped bring into power. Like his father, he's also become an investigative journalist who keeps a close eye on the government. Now Carlos says he's become the target of a similarly repressive regime.

Although Nicaragua's government has moved from the far right to the far left, it's remained consistently repressive, say its opponents. Political analysts say that the crackdown against Carlos and other critical voices is the latest step by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's government to move the country toward a totalitarian regime by limiting political and civic participation. His tightening control over other state institutions has resulted in an "institutional dictatorship," according to dissident leader Edmundo Jarquin from the Sandinista Renovation Movement (MRS).


[Far right and far left are the same: it's all about dictatorial control and hatred of the 'other', especially Jews and Christians. Lots of idol worship and occultism, too.]


Road-death politician got drunk in a gay bar hours before car crash... and may have been targeted by saboteurs

Austrian far-Right leader Jorg Haider's car may have been sabotaged before he crashed, it was claimed.
...
It has also been revealed that on the day of his death, Haider spent part of his last night drinking in a gay club called ‘Stadtkraemer.’
...
Despite being married with two daughters, Haider was “outed” years ago by the Austrian and German press for being homosexual.

He never helped his family man image by turning up at rallies and local events with an entourage of young blond men.

Newspapers in his homeland said they were reluctant to publish “full details” of his homosexuality fearing an outburst of hate towards the gay community would overtake hatred towards foreigners.

According to German daily Taz, many members of Vienna's gay scene claimed he regularly had sex with young men below the age of consent - 18 for homosexuals.

As a result Taz wrote: "These days he prefers to meet with boys from nearby Slovakia" (where the age of consent is 15).
...
Thousands of Right-wingers from across Europe are expected to descend on Klagenfurt tomorrow for his funeral. Thousands more leftist demonstrators threaten to protest the funeral.

All police leave in Austria has been cancelled in anticipation of clashes.