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Friday, November 26, 2010

Palin's Korea mixup


Sarah Palin: “We Gotta Stand With Our North Korean Allies”
 Sarah Palin’s recent media appearances -- her TV show, her daughter’s Dancing With the Stars run, and her new book tour -- have whipped perennially high media interest in Palin to a froth. That all provides a pretty pleasant position for the former Alaska governor to be sitting in the week that her new book hits stores at the opening of the holiday shopping season. But, as always, the spotlight – and her recent spate of slaps at her critics – has its pitfalls for Palin.
Combine the extra publicity (including today’s new developments in the back and forth between Palin and the ‘blue blood’ Bush family, as she described it) with a pre-holiday week that’s notorious for its political news blackout, and an unintentional-but-fairly-glaring geopolitical tongue twister garners national headlines.
That’s what happened in a radio interview with Glenn Beck Wednesday, when Palin briefly mixed up North and South Korea in discussing the boiling tensions in the region.
“Obviously we gotta stand with our North Korean allies," she said, after expressing her concern that the White House would fail to react aggressively enough to the situation.
Beck quickly corrected the former Alaska governor, who had previously correctly identified North Korea as the aggressor, and the interview moved along.
The mixup certainly doesn’t help Palin’s efforts (see: her recent tackling of fiscal policy) to be perceived as an informed and serious leader on policy issues as she mulls a possible run at the White House.
That said, had 2012 possibles Mitt Romney or Mike Huckabee (who memorably developed a reputation for a hazy understanding of some foreign policy issues back when he was making his first run at the White House) made the same slip, it’s unlikely anyone would have paused from their Turkey Day festivities to notice.

Portugal Bailout Rumors Denied By EU

First Posted: 11-26-10 08:59 AM 




BERLIN/LISBON: European officials denied "absolutely false" reports Portugal was under pressure to seek a bailout and Spain ruled out on Friday needing help to manage its finances, despite fears of a spreading euro debt crisis.
The Financial Times Deutschland quoted unidentified sources as saying some euro zone states wanted Portugal to seek aid in order to avoid Spain, the fifth largest EU economy, from having to follow suit.
"If Portugal were to use the fund, it would be good for Spain, because the country is heavily exposed to Portugal," the paper quoted a source in Germany's finance ministry as saying.
EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso dismissed the FT report, echoing a vehement denial by Portugal.
"I can tell you that it's absolutely false, completely false," Barroso said, adding that an aid plan for Portugal had neither been requested nor suggested.
A German government spokesman said Berlin was not pressuring anyone to request financial help and said it expected Portugal's austerity measures -- due to be passed later on Friday -- to work.
A Spanish government source told Reuters that neither was Madrid pushing Lisbon to seek help.

Ireland, which agreed to seek an EU/IMF rescue under heavy pressure from European partners keen to stem the contagion risk, will likely agree terms on aid deal on Sunday, euro zone sources told Reuters.
The rapid public denials of the FT report suggested some alarm among euro area leaders at the prospect of the debt crisis engulfing ever more of its members.
A Reuters poll this week showed 34 out of 50 analysts surveyed believe Portugal will be forced to ask for help although only four thought Madrid would seek aid.
The cost of borrowing rose again on Friday for Ireland, Portugal and Spain as markets demanded a premium for holding their debt.
Spain has already passed its own austerity budget and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero "absolutely" ruled out that Madrid would have to follow Ireland and Greece and seek financial assistance.
"Those who are taking short positions against Spain are going to be mistaken," he told RAC1 radio.
A rescue aimed at meeting Spain's financing needs for 2-1/2 years would cost 420 billion euros ($557 billion) according to a Capital Economics estimate, the lion's share of the 440 billion euro European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) reserve set up by the euro zone after the Greece bailout.
But two separate EU funds, augmented with International Monetary Fund backing, could provide loans worth 750 billion euros in total.
German Bundesbank chief Axel Weber, a powerful member of the European Central Bank's governing council, said this week that the EFSF and other EU rescue funds had enough money, if needed, to cover the borrowing needs of stretched euro zone members Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain.
But he added: "If that is not enough, I am convinced euro zone states will do what is necessary to protect the euro."
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble dismissed calls for the rescue fund to be topped up.
"I hope the necessary decisions in the case of Ireland will be made next week so that calm returns to the markets and these completely exaggerated speculations are ended," Schaeuble said.
Markets are concerned the 16-nation group is split on how to handle the debt and deficit crisis that has seen the euro fall sharply against the dollar since May.
They remain acutely worried by the threat of debt crises in Greece and Ireland spreading further and have pushed the borrowing costs of Portugal and Spain to record highs.
"I think Portugal has already crossed the point of no return. Its bond yield has gone beyond a sustainable level. The market is now watching whether Spain will need a rescue," said a Japanese bank foreign exchange trader.
NO EURO ZONE BREAKUP RISK
On Thursday, top EU officials stressed that there was no risk of the euro zone breaking up after Ireland caved into pressure and requested a bailout.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who unsettled markets by her comment this week that the euro was in an "exceptionally serious" situation, said she was confident the euro area would emerge stronger from the crisis.
And Klaus Regling, chief of the euro's financial safety net, said: "There is zero danger. It is inconceivable that the euro fails."
Merkel agreed with French President Nicolas Sarkozy late on Thursday that the mechanism set up to protect the euro should not be changed before it expires in mid-2013 -- another attempt to convince spooked investors they would not be made to share the cost of any sovereign default before then.
German proposals for so-called "haircuts" for bond holders have raised peripheral euro zone states' borrowing costs yet higher.
In another effort to shore up confidence, ECB policymakers on Thursday brushed off the flare-up in debt market turmoil and said the bank's plans to scale back its crisis support remained on track.
The Irish government said it was confident it would be able to pass the toughest budget in the country's history next month to meet the terms of an 85 billion euro EU/IMF rescue which euro zone sources told Reuters was likely would be announced on Sunday.
However, results on Friday are expected to show Prime Minister Brian Cowen will lose a by-election, further weakening his ability to pass an austerity budget of 15 billion euros in spending cuts and tax increases on which the bailout depends.
(Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski in Brussels; Axel Bugge in Lisbon; Writing by Jon Boyle, editing by Mike Peacock)

WikiLeaks Release: US Briefs Allies About Upcoming Revelations

JILL LAWLESS | 11/26/10 05:06 PM | AP
LONDON — U.S. allies around the world have been briefed by American diplomats about an expected release of classified U.S. files by the WikiLeaks website that is likely to cause international embarrassment and could damage some nations' relations with the United States.
The release of hundreds of thousands of State Department cables is expected this weekend, although WikiLeaks has not been specific about the timing. The cables are thought to include private, candid assessments of foreign leaders and governments and could erode trust in the U.S. as a diplomatic partner.
In Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman, Steve Field, said Friday that the government had been told of "the likely content of these leaks" by U.S. Ambassador Louis Susman. Field declined to say what Britain had been warned to expect.
"I don't want to speculate about precisely what is going to be leaked before it is leaked," Field said.
In Washington, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said U.S. diplomats were continuing the process of warning governments around the world about what might be in the documents. Many fear the cables will embarrass the United States and its allies, and reveal sensitive details of how the U.S. conducts relations with other countries.
"We are all bracing for what may be coming and condemn WikiLeaks for the release of classified material," he said. "It will place lives and interests at risk. It is irresponsible."
The Obama administration on Friday warned that the WikiLeaks release would endanger "lives and interests."
Italy's foreign minister, Franco Frattini, said he spoke Friday with the U.S. State Department, which told him that there would be documents regarding Italy in the leak, "but the content can't be anticipated."
"We're talking about thousands and thousands of classified documents that the U.S. will not comment on, as is their custom," Frattini said.
The governments of Canada and Norway also said they had been briefed by U.S. officials. Israel's Foreign Ministry declined to comment on a report that it, too, had been informed.
In Iraq, U.S. Ambassador James F. Jeffrey told reporters that the leaks represent a serious obstacle to international diplomacy.
"We are worried about additional documents coming out," he said. "WikiLeaks are an absolutely awful impediment to my business, which is to be able to have discussions in confidence with people. I do not understand the motivation for releasing these documents. They will not help, they will simply hurt our ability to do our work here."
In Norway, U.S. officials released a statement from the ambassador to the newspaper Dagbladet with the understanding that it would not be published until after the WikiLeaks material came out, but the newspaper published the material ahead of time.
It quoted U.S. Ambassador to Norway Barry White saying that, while he could not vouch for the authenticity of the documents, he expected them to contain U.S. officials' candid assessments of political leaders and political movements in other countries. He said diplomats had to be able to have private, honest discussions to do their jobs.
The Obama administration said earlier this week that it had alerted Congress and begun notifying foreign governments that the whistle-blowing website is preparing to release a huge cache of diplomatic cables whose publication could give a behind-the-scenes look at American diplomacy around the world.
"These revelations are harmful to the United States and our interests," U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said. "They are going to create tension in relationships between our diplomats and our friends around the world."
Diplomatic cables are internal documents that would include a range of secret communications between U.S. diplomatic outposts and State Department headquarters in Washington.
WikiLeaks has said the release will be seven times the size of its October leak of 400,000 Iraq war documents, already the biggest leak in U.S. intelligence history.
The U.S. says it has known for some time that WikiLeaks held the diplomatic cables. No one has been charged with passing them to the website, but suspicion focuses on U.S. Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst arrested in Iraq in June and charged over an earlier leak.
Frattini, the Italian foreign minister, said Friday that he had been "told that the person responsible for this leak has been arrested." The Italian Foreign Ministry later said Frattini was talking about Manning.
WikiLeaks, which also has released secret U.S. documents about the war in Afghanistan, was founded by Julian Assange.
The Australian former computer hacker is currently wanted by Sweden for questioning in a drawn-out rape probe. Assange, 39, is suspected of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion. He has denied the allegations, which stem from his encounters with two women during a visit to Sweden.
___
AP writers Rebecca Santana in Baghdad, Matthew Lee in Washington, and Bjoern H. Amland in Oslo contributed to this report.

Homeland Security seizes domain names


By Sara Jerome 11/26/10 04:25 PM ET
The investigative arm of the Homeland Security Department appears to be shutting down websites that facilitate copyright infringement.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has seized dozens of domain names over the past few days, according to TorrentFreak

ICE appears to be targeting sites that help Internet users download copyrighted music, as well as sites that sell bootleg goods, such as fake designer handbags.

The sites are replaced with a note from the government: "This domain named has been seized by ICE, Homeland Security Investigations."
For instance, 2009jersey.com, 51607.com, and amoyhy.com have each been seized. 

One of the site owners told TorrentFreak that his site was shut down without any notice or warning.

The effort come as Congress considers the Combatting Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act (COICA). Critics, including Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) say it is too heavy-handed. He has vowed to put a formal hold on the bill. 



U.S. Government Seizes BitTorrent Search Engine Domain and More

Written by enigmax on November 26, 2010 
Following on the heels of this week’s domain seizure of a large hiphop file-sharing links forum, it’s clear today that the U.S. Government has been very busy. Without any need for COICA, ICE has just seized the domain of a BitTorrent meta-search engine along with those belonging to other music linking sites and several others which appear to be connected to physical counterfeit goods.
While complex, it’s still possible for U.S. authorities and copyright groups to point at a fully-fledged BitTorrent site with a tracker and say “that’s an infringing site.” When one looks at a site which hosts torrents but operates no tracker, the finger pointing becomes quite a bit more difficult.
When a site has no tracker, carries no torrents, lists no copyright works unless someone searches for them and responds just like Google, accusing it of infringement becomes somewhat of a minefield – unless you’re ICE Homeland Security Investigations that is.
This morning, visitors to the Torrent-Finder.com site are greeted with an ominous graphic which indicates that ICE have seized the site’s domain.
The message below is posted on the seized sites
Seized Servers
“My domain has been seized without any previous complaint or notice from any court!” the exasperated owner of Torrent-Finder told TorrentFreak this morning.
“I firstly had DNS downtime. While I was contacting GoDaddy I noticed the DNS had changed. Godaddy had no idea what was going on and until now they do not understand the situation and they say it was totally from ICANN,” he explained.
Aside from the fact that domains are being seized seemingly at will, there is a very serious problem with the action against Torrent-Finder. Not only does the site not host or even link to any torrents whatsoever, it actually only returns searches through embedded iframes which display other sites that are not under the control of the Torrent-Finder owner.
Torrent-Finder remains operational through another URL, Torrent-Finder.info, so feel free to check it out for yourself. The layouts of the sites it searches are clearly visible in the results shown.
Yesterday we reported that the domain of hiphop site RapGodFathers had been seized and today we can reveal that they are not on their own. Two other music sites in the same field – OnSmash.com and DaJaz1.com – have fallen to the same fate. But ICE activities don’t end there.
Several other domains also appear to have been seized including 2009jerseys.com, nfljerseysupply.com, throwbackguy.com, cartoon77.com, lifetimereplicas.com, handbag9.com, handbagcom.com and dvdprostore.com.
All seized sites point to the same message.
Domain seizures coming under the much debated ‘censorship bill’ COICA? Who needs it?
Update: Below is an longer list of domains that were apparently seized. Most of the sites relate to counterfeit goods. We assume that the authorities had a proper warrant for these sites (as they had for RapGodFathers yesterday), but were unable to confirm this.
2009jerseys.com
51607.com
amoyhy.com
b2corder.com
bishoe.com
borntrade.com
borntrade.net
boxedtvseries.com
boxset4less.com
boxsetseries.com
burberryoutletshop.com
cartoon77.com
cheapscarfshop.com
coachoutletfactory.com
dajaz1.com
discountscarvesonsale.com
dvdcollectionsale.com
dvdcollects.com
dvdorderonline.com
dvdprostore.com
dvdscollection.com
dvdsetcollection.com
dvdsetsonline.com
dvdsuperdeal.com
eluxury-outlet.com
getdvdset.com
gofactoryoutlet.com
golfstaring.com
golfwholesale18.com
handbag9.com
handbagcom.com
handbagspop.com
icqshoes.com
ipodnanouk.com
jersey-china.com
jerseyclubhouse.com
jordansbox.com
lifetimereplicas.com
louis-vuitton-outlet-store.com
lv-outlets.com
lv-outlets.net
lv-outletstore.com
massnike.com
merrytimberland.com
mycollects.com
mydreamwatches.com
mygolfwholesale.com
newstylerolex.com
nfljerseysupply.com
nibdvd.com
odvdo.com
oebags.com
onsmash.com
overbestmall.com
rapgodfathers.com
realtimberland.com
rmx4u.com
scarfonlineshop.com
scarfviponsale.com
shawls-store.com
silkscarf-shop.com
silkscarfonsale.com
skyergolf.com
sohob2b.com
sohob2c.com
storeofeast.com
stuff-trade.com
sunglasses-mall.com
sunogolf.com
tbl-sports.com
throwbackguy.com
tiesonsale.com
timberlandlike.com
topabuy.com
torrent-finder.com
usaburberryscarf.com
usaoutlets.net

Iceland Is No Ireland as State Free of Bank Debt, Grimsson Says


By Jonas Bergman and Omar R. Valdimarsson - Nov 26, 2010

Iceland's President Olafur R. Grimsson
Olafur R. Grimsson, president of Iceland. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Iceland's President Olafur R. Grimsson talks about the country's progress since receiving a $4.6 billion International Monetary Fund-led loan. He speaks with Mark Barton on Bloomberg Television's "On The Move." (Source: Bloomberg)



Iceland’s President Olafur R. Grimsson said his country is better off than Ireland thanks to the government’s decision to allow the banks to fail two years ago and because the krona could be devalued.
“The difference is that in Iceland we allowed the banks to fail,” Grimsson said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Mark Barton today. “These were private banks and we didn’t pump money into them in order to keep them going; the state did not shoulder the responsibility of the failed private banks.”
Ireland’s Prime Minister Brian Cowen said this week his government has discussed an 85 billion-euro ($112 billion) bailout with the European Union and International Monetary Fund after the country’s banks threatened to bring the euro member to the brink of bankruptcy. Iceland’s banks, which still owe creditors about $85 billion, were split to create domestic units needed to keep the financial system running, while foreign liabilities remained within the failed lenders.
As a consequence, “Iceland is faring much better than anybody expected,” Grimsson said. The Icelandic state’s liability on foreign depositor claims stemming from Icesave accounts at failed Landsbanki Islands hf should be put to a national referendum, he said.
“How far can we ask ordinary people -- farmers and fishermen and teachers and doctors and nurses -- to shoulder the responsibility of failed private banks,” said Grimsson. “That question, which has been at the core of the Icesave issue, will now be the burning issue in many European countries.”
Accept Losses
Iceland is relying on a $4.6 billion IMF-led loan to rebuild its economy. Grimsson said today the government may not need the entire amount.
Bondholders of European banks should be prepared to accept losses because voters are becoming increasingly unwilling and unable to fund bailouts, FXPro Financial Services Ltd. said in a Nov. 24 note.
“The taxpayer has no realistic prospect of being able to save their banks, such is the magnitude of their bad loans and their extraordinary dependence on central bank support,” wrote Michael Derks, chief strategist in London at foreign-exchange firm FXPro. “Both junior and senior bondholders in these insolvent banks need to suffer huge haircuts,” he said.
Forcing bond holders to “share the burden,” may help the euro region remain intact, Derks wrote.
Junk
Grimsson, who said Iceland’s talks to join the European Union are ongoing, in January this year blocked a $5.2 billion deal to cover British and Dutch depositor claims stemming from Icesave accounts. The move prompted Fitch Ratings to downgrade the island’s debt to “junk” as a normalization of international relations grew more remote. Iceland’s Finance Ministry on Nov. 16 said the country may now be weeks away from a “final resolution” to the Icesave dispute as it secures broad lawmaker backing for a new accord.
Kaupthing Bank hf, Landsbanki and Glitnir Bank hf failed within weeks of each other in October 2008 after they were unable to secure short-term funding. The banking crisis led to an 80 percent slump in the krona against the euro offshore, until the slump was stemmed by the introduction of capital controls at the end of 2008.
Kaupthing’s winding-up committee today said it finished dealing with claims lodged against it. The bank is dealing with a total of 28,167 claims filed by creditors across 119 countries totaling 7.32 trillion kronur ($63 billion), it said in a statement today.
To contact the reporter on this story: Omar Valdimarsson in London at valdimarsson@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tasneem Brogger at tbrogger@bloomberg.net