Eurozone collapse 'starts this year'?

Wrecked ship, panic over 4000 passengers 3 killed and 2 seriously injured: missing in 70

2012-01-14T09:02:00.000-08:00

This is a translation of the article from http://www.repubblica.it: first victims are identified, all links will lead to the text in Italian. There are speculations that the ship will continue to roll on a side, and eventually will sink on a bottom.

The victims were two French tourists and a Peruvian member of the crew. Thousands of the lifeboats. From the "Costa Concordia" inclined dozens of people in the water in search of help. Patches of at least 70 feet into the side of the ship. The cause of the accident probably the collision with a reef a few miles from the island that convinced the commander to approach the port. "That rock is not on the charts." But the crew accused him: "It 'was a serious human error"

PORTO SANTO STEFANO - A spur of rock that rises in the night "where there should not be" and "Costa Concordia" ¹ , the ship of Costa Cruises, begins to take on water when it is off the Tuscan coast, at the Island Giglio. Everything happened in a few minutes and the captain ordered an evacuation. Fear and lifeboats been lowered into the water. Passengers were ordered to wear jackets. On board, 4234 people, including travelers and crew. Shortly after midnight the "Concordia", the largest passenger ship in the world ever to have been shipwrecked, was resting on its side. The victims . The last budget of the Prefect of Grosseto speaks of three confirmed deaths: they are two French tourists and a Peruvian crew member. The bodies are found in the morgue of Orbetello and the prosecutor has ordered an autopsy. According to initial medical examinations would be drowned. Their bodies were "picked up at sea" by rescuers, confirms a source of the ASL of Grosseto, explaining that the three people arrived "already dead" on the island of Giglio. The wounded . There are 67 people in hospitals medicated Grosseto and Orbetello. For 42 of these, according to a source of Grosseto ASL, it was necessary to "shelter, even if only temporarily for observation, while others have reported, or fractures were treated for hypothermia." Only two are serious. This is a crew member, a citizen of Bangladesh Cook moved to Siena with a spinal injury and there had surgery while hospitalized in Grosseto is a young man with a facial trauma. The lost . Are about seventy people who are still missing. This figure is derived from data provided by the external relations of the General Command of the Harbour, that were surveyed 4,179 people in Porto Santo Stefano. People who are most definitely not on board the wreck. The inspection operations were completed shortly after the 12 fact that they were recovered without any other passengers in the Costa Concordia. "There's nobody from the island and all have been transferred to Porto Santo Stefano," says Lieutenant Colonel of the Italian Guardia di Finanza Spalvieri. Some of the people who are "missing" measures may not be landed in Santo Stefano. They are "all of which we are checking, is cautious, some have been transferred by helicopter," says the Head of External Relations Office of the Harbor, the Marine commander Philip. Also, remember the Prefect of Grosseto Michael Laratta, the number "is not absolutely sure as many people during the night, they had the hospitality of the inhabitants of Tuscany. We are going house to house looking for them, and surely the number decrease in the coming hours. " Earlier, six people were saved in one of the lower decks of the ship, one of them was suffering from hypothermia and had a compound fracture. Soon the checks on the suitability of aid on board. Monte Argentario, the welcome with tea and blankets ² surveys . In Porto Santo Stefano is now Director of the Costa Crociere President Gianni Onorato, who met the ship's captain, Francesco Schettino. The evacuation was long and complicated (so much so that at 3 am at least a hundred passengers were still on board) and many people are thrown into the sea to try to save themselves. The helicopters were illuminated from above the water all night to help the recovery operations. A Piece of 70 feet ³ The damaged ship ⁴ The causes of the disaster are all to be seen.The prosecutor has opened an investigation of Grosseto assuming the crimes of shipwreck, disaster and manslaughter. At the moment there would be investigated.Regarding the causes of the impact of the ship against the rocks, the most plausible hypothesis, according to the same intelligence sources, would be a "human error" or a fault in the instrument. Tgcom24 A, the commander said Schettino ⁵ : "We were sailing the coast, along a tourist route allowed when the ship hit a rock on one side not marked on the chart. In theory, there had to be that rock there. " Schettino has long been questioned at the headquarters of the harbor to the island of Giglio. The commander is required to state: "The crew were the last to abandon ship, making sure first to rescue the passengers." The Costa Concordia will have an impact in the rocks The Scole, an area less than a mile from the coast. Then he continued, reaching the place where it was beached. Before tilting, the stern is rotated 180 degrees.In a note of Costa Cruises, it is stated that the ship listed to different degrees for this course and the commander had decided to get closer to the coasts of the island of Giglio. According to sources of Costa Cruises, the ship could definitely pass between the island of Giglio and Porto Santo Stefano, the usual route when you want to show passengers the coast. The commander told investigators that Schettino was the route was correct and that the Costa Concordia would have a margin of 12 miles, between east and west, which allows the shift off the island, because, as we did tonight, into. "It is incorrect to say that the ship was off course - has also confirmed the general manager of Costa Cruises -. It 'was an unforeseeable event aggravated by an unpredictable angle of the ship." The ship was traveling "from Civitavecchia to Savona, like 52 times a year," added Onorato, "he stumbled over a rock, and following this event, the commander has assessed the damage early, decided to secure the ship and gave an evacuation order. Only technical analysis will tell us what happened. " "I think it is right - continued Honored - which is the competent authority to do this type of analysis. We can only help. The ship has sophisticated systems to track routes, both to understand what happened, thanks to systems that are something more than a black box. " The director defended the Commander Honored Schettino: "It 'been with us for 11 years. At the time of the collision was on the bridge." The Director General of Costa Cruises has ensured that the ship aground is now "safely" and the evening will be arranged "to isolate breakdown" as a precaution. As for possible fuel leaks, Onorato announced that "technicians from the Netherlands" are already operating reservoirs, suck from the Costa Concordia. Nothing to complain about the rescue operations. "The safety procedures in these cases were carried out in good time," said Director Honored again. And "proper" was also "the decision of the commander to evacuate the ship Concordia when it held that there were safety conditions." The crew charges: "Human Error" . So far the company position. But the crew has raised the allegation of a serious human error: "We were too close to the coast."Tmnews interviewed by one of the residences where they are housed in Grosseto, some crew members have openly pointed the finger at the captain Schettino. "It was definitely a serious human error - an officer said the crew - the route was the same as always, but when you surf the coast is no longer used, but the autopilot to manual. It is therefore at the discretion of the commander to choose the distance navigation from the coast and has gone too far this time. At that point there was nothing left to do. " harsh words for heaviest charge, which at this time investigators are trying to clarify. "We're hearing all the crew members that can help us to understand what happened," confirmed the prosecutor of Grosseto. Sources report that the investigation mentioned anxiety impact against the rock that has ripped the keel of the Costa Concordia is the case probably a few miles before the island of Giglio. The ship, while taking on water, he continued sailing until later reversed course and headed for the harbor Giglio. In the first report made to the Harbor, was, in fact, reported that the ship "take on water." The crew had probably imagined, at first, to be able to handle the emergency. When this has seemed impossible, he ordered the commander to change course and head towards the island of Giglio. Just the approach to the mainland, - according to many rescuers - has prevented the incident had even more tragic consequences and that the ship drops off. The alarm: "Perhaps other people on board" ⁶ The story of a witness: "Relief inadequate" ⁷ arrived on site are several boats and a ferry to the rescue of Toremar who was in Porto Santo Stefano, the Argentario. Where have meanwhile completed operations starting from the center of the castaways first reception held in local schools. There were more than 4 000 people who passed through the center, where they found it was possible medical care and refreshment, as announced by the Civil Defence of the Province of Grosseto. The Deputy Mayor: "Insufficient stocks of drugs" ⁸ The President of Tuscany Henry Rossi started early this morning to the island of Giglio directly to realize the situation, particularly as regards the activities of aid and assistance, following the accident involving the ship Costa Concordia. Rossi explains, has already had words of thanks for Civil Protection, "for the staff of health facilities for volunteers and for law enforcement officers who have been readily activated to handle the emergency, and for the people Giglio and Porto Santo Stefano, which have been activated for the reception of cruise passengers. " The President was also assured by the Head of Civil Protection Franco Gabrielli, who specialize in 3 / 2 have already been sent to prevent any environmental risks associated with leakage of oil contained in the vessel's tanks.

UP to 70 people remain unaccounted for after a cruise ship carrying more than 4000 people ran aground and keeled over off the Italian coast, killing at least three people.

2012-01-14T06:35:00.000-08:00

It is official now, the Herald Sun confirms the number of missing, just waiting conformation for 300 number.

Costa Concordia listing by the pier of of Isola del Giglio island, Italy.

European Titanic went down-how symbolic! More than 70 feared missing.

2012-01-14T05:30:00.000-08:00

Just in e few days after disgraceful downgrade of Italy to BBB+, "the boot" got in to the focus of the news again.

A giant cruise ship with a sticker price of 0.5 billion dollars ran aground in Mediterranean Sea. The divers began the rescue search in the cabins under water, more than 70 feared missing, according to Coastguards.

Some sources estimate that about 300 people are still trapped in their cabins.

The question is where Iranian warheads will fall

2012-01-14T05:11:00.000-08:00

I found interesting discussion on Wall Street Journal, actually Poles sincerely think that they will be the shooters not the victims of altercation:

“We don’t think nuclear weapons will be used in Europe”- you better do, Iranian warheads will be nuclear, and they will fall in Europe. It is either Russia, Ukraine or Poland where they will fall, depends on variations in route. It ain’t be Russia, because they will let it through for Americans to deal later, Ukraine is a hostage, and Polish are as usual- stuck in the middle for unknown cause."

Apparently Americans follow Hitler in their planning strategy: Eastern Slavs are the low breed and can be sacrificed for the Good of Great Germany (US).

http://blogs.wsj.com/emergingeurope/2012/01/12/u-s-likely-to-press-on-with-missile-defense-in-poland/tab/comments/#comment-16537

In other news, outgoing Russian representative in NATO Dmitrij Rogozin (or the hell who he is) planted two cottonwood trees (topol in Russian) on headquarters territory: he called them "Topol" and "Topol-M", after Russians ICBMs.

The picture is black and white because he did this heinous act under cover of dark.

List Of S&P Rating Action On 16 Eurozone Nations

2012-01-13T18:36:00.000-08:00


Source: Standard & Poor's

RATINGS LIST
                               To                   From

Austria (Republic of)          AA+/Negative/A-1+    AAA/Watch Neg/A-1+

Belgium (Kingdom of) (Unsolicited Ratings)
                               AA/Negative/A-1+     AA/Watch Neg/A-1+

Cyprus (Republic of)           BB+/Negative/B       BBB/Watch Neg/A-3

Estonia (Republic of)          AA-/Negative/A-1+    AA-/Watch Neg/A-1+

Finland (Republic of)          AAA/Negative/A-1+    AAA/Watch Neg/A-1+

France (Republic of) (Unsolicited Ratings)
                               AA+/Negative/A-1+    AAA/Watch Neg/A-1+

Germany (Federal Republic of) (Unsolicited Ratings)
                               AAA/Stable/A-1+      AAA/Watch Neg/A-1+

Ireland (Republic of)          BBB+/Negative/A-2    BBB+/Watch Neg/A-2

Italy (Republic of) (Unsolicited Ratings)
                               BBB+/Negative/A-2    A/Watch Neg/A-1

Luxembourg (Grand Duchy of)    AAA/Negative/A-1+    AAA/Watch Neg/A-1+

Malta (Republic of)            A-/Negative/A-2      A/Watch Neg/A-1

Netherlands (The) (State of) (Unsolicited Ratings)
                               AAA/Negative/A-1+    AAA/Watch Neg/A-1+

Portugal (Republic of)         BB/Negative/B        BBB-/Watch Neg/A-3

Slovak Republic                A/Stable/A-1         A+/Watch Neg/A-1

Slovenia (Republic of)         A+/Negative/A-1      AA-/Watch Neg/A-1+

Spain (Kingdom of)             A/Negative/A-1       AA-/Watch Neg/A-1+

     ** Market News International Washington Bureau: 202-371-2121 **

Current missile-defense plan will automatically trigger a full-blown nuclear war

2012-01-13T14:25:00.000-08:00

I just found this amazing diagram on internet, a Romanian website (media.hotnews.ro) published it to calm the population about the plan.

After deployment of the elements of missile-defense plan, Iran will get a trigger to a nuclear war between US and Russia, just look at the diagram beneath. Any dud missile would cause warheads to fall onto European Russia, I do not think they will tolerate that.

After that, Euro crisis will be like a nice wet dream.....

Italy falls 2 levels down to disgraceful BBB+

2012-01-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

There are speculations on a net that unnamed EU official states. Just yesterday, Merkel praised Italy for it's austerity measures, but US and Britain gives Europe no break, responding immediately with a smearing campaign.

After all, one has to mask the fact that Obama just requested a national debt sealing increase.

Italy PM Monti urges EU unity to fight debt crisis.

Debt crisis: France facing credit rating downgrade as markets slide

2012-01-13T09:39:00.000-08:00

Reports of an imminent downgrade by Standard & Poor's of several eurozone nations – including AAA-rated France – sees euro tumble, stock markets fall and eurozone borrowing costs spike.

The original of the article is in French "La France va être dégradée d'un cran par S & P" and not translated into English, but nevertheless here is the link:

http://www.lesechos.fr/economie-politique/monde/actu/0201841233930-la-france-va-etre-degradee-d-un-cran-par-s-p-274903.php

Translated: The main global rating agency, Standard & Poor's, is about to break down the rating of sovereign debt of most countries in the euro area, including France.

According to our information, France is lowered a notch such as Austria, to AA +.Italy, Spain and Portugal, they would be degraded by two notches.Slovakia could also be affected by a one notch downgrade, according to Reuters. The Netherlands, Germany and Luxembourg would be spared. The news initially is refluxed into the red European equity markets , which finally ended, however, close to equilibrium (the CAC 40 losing only 0.11%).

Reportedly, the new will be released that night after the close of U.S. markets to 22:30 Paris time. Widely expected, has long been anticipated by investors, the news should have no negative impact had been December 5, 2011 announcement by the same agency placed under review with negative implications 15 of the 17 countries that account the euro area. Cyprus and Greece had escaped when the measure but only because the first was already on negative watch with negative implications and the second categorized as highly speculative.

Thus, the European club popular with Triple A, the highest rating possible, would lose two of its six members. Such as France, Austria would lose their status as advantageous. Governments prepared their publics for this eventuality. The fact remains that France's decision by Standard & Poor's will weigh all his weight on the presidential campaign. Citigroup economists believe that the second rating agency Global, Moody's is expected to quickly follow the example of Standard. However, Fitch Ratings announced that it would probably not degrade in France in 2012 , said William Meuret, an economist at Citigroup. Fitch of French origin, has the largest shareholder holding French e Fimalac.

Looks like dominoes are falling.

Relief for Italy and Spain in bond auctions

2012-01-12T22:52:00.000-08:00

The borrowing costs for both countries were significantly lower than a similar sale last month. Italian 12-month bonds sold with a rate of 2.735 percent, down from nearly 6 percent last month, and Spanish three-, four- and five-year bonds fell below 4 percent.

Meanwhile 1-year Greek bond has 400% of return,- it is easy to see who is slotted for amputation.

Read more at http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15661239,00.html

China Advisor: Geithner Said No Tools Left For QE3

2012-01-12T19:27:00.000-08:00

Apparently, Timothy dropped a bomb in Beijing, when said that the Federal Reserve doesn't have "tools or ammunition" left for another round of quantitative easing.

Li Yang, vice-director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said he was told by the Treasury Secretary on Wednesday that recent coordinated action by global central banks amounted to some form of QE3.

A Treasury spokesperson said in response to Li's claims that "the Secretary doesn't comment on monetary policy. He made no such statement."

Li did not reveal where he was talking with Geithner during the Treasury Secretary's two-day trip to China but said he asked what the next round of quantitative easing may look like.

He said Geithner replied: "First, I am head of the Treasury Department and not in charge of the Federal Reserve, but I can make some comments," Li told a forum here Thursday.

Geithner "said they don't have tools or ammunition left. Then I asked if the currency swaps and liquidity injections by six central banks recently is some form of QE3?"

"Geithner said, 'You could say that.'"

Li appeared to be referring to November 30 coordinated action by the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank, the Federal Reserve, and the Swiss National Bank to lower the price of dollar swap arrangements by 50 basis points.

More to read on :https://mninews.deutsche-boerse.com/content/update-china-advisor-geithner-said-no-tools-left-qe3

Scotland will to join Euro as price of independence

2012-01-11T10:09:00.000-08:00

Scotland may be forced to join the Euro as the price of independence from the United Kingdom, Downing Street warned today.
Nice warning,- and Britain will lose all its social programs as part of sucking Scottish natural resources.

After all, Cameron may have to get a real job! Moving a dunk on a farm or waiting tables in historic part of London. Plus, if Scotts demand a compensation for hundreds years of oppression, rape and bigotry, - Tommy may forget about his pants as well, the kilt will be a privilage too.

More to read: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/scotland/scottish-politics/9007878/Scotland-warned-it-could-lose-the-pound-and-be-forced-to-join-Euro-as-price-of-independence.html

Euro Zone Crisis Ready to Return With a Vengeance

2012-01-09T06:26:00.000-08:00

Who knew! Americans think there was not enough news from Europe about the crisis. They were so busy flipping beef patties that lost a track of time. Apparently, some bad news a ready to come out from Washington.

An icon of American management Jack Welch just swing into Washington as a main obstacle to end the crisis.

Read more at: http://www.cnbc.com/id/45923443, http://www.cnbc.com/id/45924852

Swiss National Bank Chairman, Philipp Hildebrand, resigns with immediate effect

2012-01-09T06:20:00.000-08:00

This news come together with a news of another shakedown of yet another Swiss private bank by US officials. This time it is the oldest Swiss bank Wegelin. Apparently this was the leverage US used against the bank,and the private Swiss bank sector had enough.

Until recently, Swiss banks were famous for their banking privacy. US managed a shakedown of UBS bank last year, and continue to use all means, legal and barely, to gain insider information.

This hurt Swiss banking sector enormously and they showed the person who was suppose to protect them on exit.

More to read: http://www.snb.ch/en/mmr/reference/pre_20120109_1/source/pre_20120109_1.en.pdf

Merkozy's Men

2012-01-08T18:14:00.000-08:00

Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut and Xavier Musca are not household names, but the two are playing a crucial role in efforts in Paris and Berlin to find joint policies for saving the euro. As the main advisers to Merkel and Sarkozy for coordination between Germany and France in the crisis, the two are building a bridge between two vastly different political worlds.

Hedge Funds Bet against the Euro

2012-01-08T18:06:00.000-08:00

'Large Effort to Save the Country'

Greek government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis warned that the talks promise to be difficult. "The next three to four months are the most crucial, and that is why this government exists," he said.

His comments echoed those of Vasilis Rapanos, head of the country's National Bank, on Monday. "I hope that our political system understands how crucial these moments are," Rapanos said. Politicians must "put aside party interests, personal ambitions and support the government in this large effort being made to save the country."

Greece must roll over €14.5 billion in debt on March 20, which is adding urgency to the ongoing talks.

EU officials had been critical of Athens at the end of 2011 for its slow progress on reform and for not hitting its deficit targets for the year. Now, the country is faced with the prospect of having to slash its deficit from 9 percent of gross domestic product last year to below 5 percent in 2012. "We will see. There could be a need for extra (austerity) measures," Kapsis said.

2012-01-08T14:41:00.000-08:00

The European debt crisis will be a major focus of Merkozy meeting on Monday. Potential credit downgrades in the euro zone may press euro downward, the results of bond auctions in Italy and Spain are also ahead.

In the week ahead, US data are in focus, including important retail sales data, weekly jobless claims and consumer sentiment; but, most importantly, it is an Earnings Season.

Adding more than a half dozen Fed speeches we prescribed to hear on whether the Fed could consider more easing. The Fed meets in the following week and has already disclosed plans for a new communications strategy but is not expected to announce more quantitative easing.

“This is the first time in this recovery, we’re going to see earnings growth falling to single digits,” said Gina Martin Adams, institutional equity strategist for Wells Fargo Securities.

The case is mounting against Greece. “The numbers are not good” for Greece, Blanchard said on CNBC television. “There’ll have to be substantial haircuts.”

Read more at: http://www.cnbc.com/id/45906723.

Iran says it will close Strait of Hormuz if crude exports blocked

2012-01-08T14:20:00.000-08:00

Tehran’s leadership has decided to order a blockade of the strategic Strait of Hormuz if the country’s oil exports are blocked, a senior Revolutionary Guard Commander said as reported by Iranian press.

The strategic decision was made by Iran's top authorities, Ali Ashraf Nouri said, as cited by the Iranian Khorasan daily.

"The supreme authorities … have insisted that if enemies block the export of our oil, we won't allow a drop of oil to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. This is the strategy of the Islamic Republic in countering such threats," Nouri said.

Until now, there had been no official confirmation of Iran’s military having direct orders to block the Strait. However, Tehran has been threatening to block the strategic waterway – one of the world's most important oil routes – if the West slapped more sanctions on its oil exports or risked hostile military act of any kind.

U.S. would "not tolerate" the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz

2012-01-08T10:42:00.000-08:00

Defence Secretary Leon Panetta draws a red line on a sand when it comes to Iran in an interview on "Face the Nation" Sunday. He says the U.S. would not tolerate Iran to do two things: develop a nuclear weapon or to block the Strait of Hormuz.

The Strait of Hormuz is a strategic pathway out of the Persian Gulf of essentially all oil mined in in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Qatar.

Us may clank with their weapons, but the truth is the war would have a devastating effect on tepid recovery, and would benefit to no one. In case of the military conflict, the price of the oil would shoot up to 200 USD per barrel, at least temporary,- not a good news for rednecks before the elections.

More to read on: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3460_162-57354645/panetta-iran-cannot-develop-nukes-block-strait/?tag=stack

Confidential documents leaked from IMF indicate that IMF's leadership has little hope for Greece

2012-01-08T07:22:00.000-08:00

Der Spiegel (The Mirror) reports of gloom perspective for Greece in Eurozone. Privately, the IMF's leadership doesn't believe that Greece would be able to maintain the payments for its debt.

Indirectly, this is confirmed by the hopes of Greece to write off a lion share of their debt next week. No wonder any attempts to force private banks to buy European debt are futile. Meanwhile the Euro continued its free fall to new lows.

Germany, as a major vestor in Eurozone, has a little space to manoeuvre, as a scandal around the President of Federation is flaring, and society tolerance already wasted on that.

Royal Navy sends its mightiest ship to take on the Iranian show of force in the Gulf

2012-01-07T12:53:00.000-08:00

The truth is that in such static environment as Hormuz, all this stealth technology is not much of a use, which makes HMS Dauntless another shooting target for practice.

Oil prices go zigzag with concerns about Iran

2012-01-06T11:03:00.000-08:00

Oil prices went up and down after the market appeared confused over Iran’s threat to block the major oil shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz.

On Friday crude for February delivery was up 29 cents, 0.3%, to settle at $99.65 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after it fell to $98.30 earlier. Prices shed nearly 2% on Wednesday, a reversal after a six-session rally of more than 8%. Brent for February settlement added 13 cents to $108.14 a barrel on the

London-based ICE Futures Europe Exchange. It's headed for a 14 percent increase this year.

The prices began to rise on Tuesday as Iran threatened to block shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — a key shipping route that provides 15.5 million barrels a day or about 40% of the world’s oil export.

Britain left out in the cold by new European Union treaty draft

2012-01-06T09:54:00.000-08:00

France strikes back! After all, France and Germany have more in common than grumpy Empire.
David Cameron faces battle to protect UK in the single market after draft of new EU treaty shows British objections to decisions will carry no weight.

Read more at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/debt-crisis-live/8996463/Debt-crisis-live.html.

Soros says EU break-up would be catastrophic: report

2012-01-06T08:53:00.001-08:00

A collapse of the euro and break-up of the European Union would have catastrophic consequences for the global financial system, billionaire investor George Soros was quoted as saying.

"Today, the euro is potentially endangering the political cohesion of the European Union."

Wow, I think this guy is ready to take the profit from his bet against the Euro, and turn the ship around.

It is funny that half of those quotes is taken from an obscure Indian paper,- that where Soros is sitting right now and fewereshly spending his monies.

The moment is right, Bloomberg just reported that investors withdraw their funds from BRIC's- about time, suckers!- daddy take it all!

More to read: http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre805082-us-soros-europe/

Singapore Air, Qantas Repair ‘Small Cracks’ in Airbus A380 Wings

2012-01-06T08:44:00.000-08:00

This thing is big, and EADS resorted to use of traditional materials materials in design of A380. There was a reason WHY, no one build THAT big, probably because traditional aluminium alloys have their limits. Now the news wires are full with messages about the cracks,- but you know what is funny? - aFrench upbeat on the problem, and their confidence that this thing still can fly.

Euro plunges on fears of banking crisis as Italy's UniCredit spells out risk of eurozone collapse

2012-01-05T20:21:00.000-08:00

The anxiety about the banking sector and fears about the ability of eurozone governments to repay their debts drove the euro to its lowest level against the dollar since September 2010, an 11-year low versus the yen and a near 16-month low against sterling.

The City sources believed this was the first time the warning – inserted by the army of lawyers working for the 27 banks underwriting the cash call – had been carried in such a document but would not be the last.

Trading in the UniCredit shares was halted five times on Thursday because of huge falls as shareholders digested the terms on which it was trying to raise €7.5bn (£6.2bn) to plug a hole in its regulatory capital.

More to read in: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jan/05/euro-plunges-banking-crisis-eurozone/

Eurozone collapse 'starts this year'?

Wrecked ship, panic over 4000 passengers 3 killed and 2 seriously injured: missing in 70

This is a translation of the article from http://www.repubblica.it: first victims are identified, all links will lead to the text in Italian. There are speculations that the ship will continue to roll on a side, and eventually will sink on a bottom.

PHOTO

The castaways in Porto Santo Stefano

PHOTO

A Piece of 70 feet

PHOTO

Costa Concordia, the company's blog message

PHOTO

The sinking of the Costa Concordia

UP to 70 people remain unaccounted for after a cruise ship carrying more than 4000 people ran aground and keeled over off the Italian coast, killing at least three people.

European Titanic went down-how symbolic! More than 70 feared missing.

The question is where Iranian warheads will fall

List Of S&P Rating Action On 16 Eurozone Nations

Current missile-defense plan will automatically trigger a full-blown nuclear war

Italy falls 2 levels down to disgraceful BBB+

Debt crisis: France facing credit rating downgrade as markets slide

Relief for Italy and Spain in bond auctions

China Advisor: Geithner Said No Tools Left For QE3

Scotland will to join Euro as price of independence

Euro Zone Crisis Ready to Return With a Vengeance

Swiss National Bank Chairman, Philipp Hildebrand, resigns with immediate effect

Merkozy's Men

Hedge Funds Bet against the Euro

Iran says it will close Strait of Hormuz if crude exports blocked

U.S. would "not tolerate" the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz

Confidential documents leaked from IMF indicate that IMF's leadership has little hope for Greece

Royal Navy sends its mightiest ship to take on the Iranian show of force in the Gulf

Oil prices go zigzag with concerns about Iran

Britain left out in the cold by new European Union treaty draft

Soros says EU break-up would be catastrophic: report

Singapore Air, Qantas Repair ‘Small Cracks’ in Airbus A380 Wings

Euro plunges on fears of banking crisis as Italy's UniCredit spells out risk of eurozone collapse