Sunday, November 29, 2009

Dubai debt woes may hit US property market

Cloudy future? Heavy fog rolls by early in the morning near the Dubai Marina. — Reuters pic

NEW YORK, Nov 28 — Dubai’s debt woes could further unhinge an already fragile US commercial real estate, as it illustrates the importance of that tiny country to global investors in an increasingly interconnected world.

A state-owned investment conglomerate Dubai World, with US$59 billion (RM200 billion) of liabilities, set off a global stock market selloff this week after it said it wants to restructure its debt, including at its property subsidiary Nakheel.

“This downturn has had more of a global impact,” said Tony Ciochetti, chairman of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Center for Real Estate in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“As I try to explain to my students, with a global economy, we’re all attached at the hip financially in some way, shape or form,” he added.

The Dubai news also cast doubt over the strength of the fledgling US economic recovery, and the prospects for a bottoming of property prices.

Yesterday alone, the Dow Jones US Real Estate Index fell 2.9 per cent, nearly twice the decline of broader US market indexes.

“Dubai may have to unload some very prestigious properties at distressed prices and this will drive the price of all commercial real estate lower,” wrote Richard Bove, a banking analyst at Rochdale Securities in Lutz, Florida.


PRESTIGIOUS PROPERTIES

In the United States, Dubai World’s portfolio includes several well-known properties, and the fallout could have a larger impact on the entire real estate market.

The company is a partner with casino operator MGM Mirage in the US$8.5 billion CityCentre project, which would add 6,000 rooms to a Las Vegas Strip gambling corridor already saturated with unoccupied hotel rooms.

Nakheel, perhaps best known as the developer of Dubai’s palm-shaped islands, also carries the Mandarin Oriental and W hotels in New York in its portfolio, and has a 50 per cent stake in the Fontainebleau Miami Beach resort.

And, through its Istithmar affiliate, Dubai World controls the upscale retailer Barneys New York Inc.

The main threat to US commercial property from Dubai World woes may be “potential for contagion,” said Sam Chandan, chief economist at Real Estate Econometrics LLC in New York.

“It has the potential to spill over into the broader perception of real estate development and real estate as being a very risky area for exposure,” Chandan said.

Many have already been burned.

US commercial real estate values have already fallen 42.9 per cent from their 2007 peak, Moody’s Investors Service said.

Last month, delinquencies on US commercial real estate loans that were packaged into commercial mortgage-backed securities reached 4.8 per cent, more than six times the year earlier level, according to Trepp LLC in New York.

In a November 23 report, Moody’s analyst Nick Levidy said prices could bottom at 45 per cent to 55 per cent below their peak, implying an additional 5 per cent to 28 per cent decline, but in a “stress case” could drop 65 per cent from their peak.


CURRENCIES AND SUBMARINES

Like US investors, foreign investors were enticed through much of this decade to buy US real estate aided by cheap credit and the hope that property prices would steadily rise for a long time.

Currency fluctuations also provided a boost.

And the US dollar lost about one-third of its value against a basket of currencies since late 2002, making it easier for foreign investors to scoop up US real estate even when valuations grew too rich for investors at home.

Dubai World’s holdings go far beyond real estate. It has a 20 per cent stake in Canada’s Cirque du Soleil, and also invests in the global bank Standard Chartered Plc and New York boutique investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners.

Other investments go farther afield — or under water. Dubai World is suing a former executive in a case arising from a wayward foray into submarine financing.

But Ciochetti suggested it is premature to quantify Dubai World’s impact on US commercial real estate.

“It is hard to focus on any one particular participant and then generalise about the whole market,” he said. “It illustrates that very few places and participants in the commercial real estate market are totally exempt from the global economic crisis.” — Reuters

How the Bank of England made £62bn 'disappear'

How easy is it to hide £62 billion? That is the question that has been flummoxing the City today. For it transpires that last autumn, to the almost complete ignorance of most of the City (and, I admit, most of the journalists who, like myself, keep a pretty close eye on the UK economy), the Bank of England lent a staggering amount of cash to Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS.

I was dumbfounded when I found out. Not because there was any surprise about RBS or HBOS needing the cash – we know now from the fact that they had to be semi-nationalised. In the event, as Paul Tucker admitted at the Treasury Select Committee, the £61.6bn (it was actually a moving sum, and peaked at this level around 17 October) was only good to buy them time, in HBOS’s case for a snap merger, in RBS’s for nationalisation. We knew that they and most of the other British banks were in dire straits.

No, the reason I was surprised is that it ought not to be so easy to hide such an enormous loan from the general public. This was not merely my conclusion: the Northern Rock episode (with the details of its emergency loan being leaked to the BBC) had convinced some in authority, and some in the Bank, that it was nigh on impossible to get away with a properly covert lender of last resort operation in the modern world, with 24 hour news, markets that are extremely sophisticated and a democracy that demands instant disclosure. How wrong we all were.

This is an important issue for all of us. For a period of time in late ‘08 and early ‘09, British taxpayers’ cash was at a significant risk (although the money lent out by the Bank was not backed up by its own debt so this was rather more like quantitative easing than Government debt). But hardly anyone in Government, Parliament, the City or the general public had a clue. For the conspiracy theorists out there this information will prove extremely worrying (or exciting, depending on whether these things make you tick).

But none of this answers the question of how the Bank managed to keep the details a secret. Although those I have spoken to about it today are painfully tight-lipped about the whole thing (as one would expect), I have a few hunches about where they squirrelled away these numbers.

The first thing to remember that in the wake of the Northern Rock fiasco the Government enacted a number of laws which allowed the Bank to withhold certain information about the constitutent parts of its balance sheet if it judged that this would help it improve financial stability. This meant that it could legally be rather more discrete about where in the balance sheet these sums would show up. However, as it pointed out in its Annual Report last year, it is still obliged to disclose the overall picture of its balance sheet, and this would not be complete without including the £61.6bn of cash it lent to these two banks. The money could not simply disappear into a black hole of its own making.The first thing to remember that in the wake of the Northern Rock fiasco the Government enacted a number of laws

The likelihood instead is that it was helped in its effort to disguise the cash by the fact that there was an awful lot else going on with its balance sheet at that particular time. Whereas Northern Rock occurred before the crisis had reached a fever pitch, these loans happened when central banks around the world were doing everything they could to stem the pain in financial markets. Among those measures were special currency swap operations in which the Bank swapped cash with the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank. These operations helped swell the Bank’s balance sheet.

In order to hide the emergency loan, all it had to do was, when printing the details of its balance sheet, to plop the loans in the same category as these currency swaps. Voila, no-one could be sure that all that fizzing in the Bank’s accounts wasn’t just due to those volatile currency swaps.

You can see the results in these graphs, which show the make-up of the balance sheet in recent years.

liabilities_assets

I’ve used my elementary Photoshop skills to add those blue lines that mark where the emergency loans for the banks began and ended. Look at the right hand graph – the assets side of the balance sheet – and in particular the purple bit that denotes “other assets”. That includes the currency swaps and, according to Simon Ward of Henderson (the City’s big expert on these complex central bank balance sheets), most likely the emergency loans as well. And, indeed, note how there is a pretty big bulge between October 08 and late January 09 – the precise period when the loans were being issued.

So the answer is that hiding this much money is actually pretty damn easy when there’s all manner of financial chaos going on. It is a finding that will definitely cheer the Bank of England, which rather likes the idea that it can step in and save a bank without anyone finding out and causing another Northern Rock. Not that RBS or HBOS ended up in a much better state in the end, but that’s another story.

Incidentally, as a footnote I should add that this deduction is the author’s own and not from the Bank of England themselves: they have been as evasive as possible when it comes to this, which given the circumstances is pretty understandable.

The Gasification of Indiana

When the Indiana Gasification plant was first proposed for Rockport by the Daniels administration in November 2006, the price of natural gas was on the rise at around $9/mmbtu. Suddenly taking coal's hydrocarbons and converting them to usable "syngas" seemed to make sense, at least until you got to the details.

That is presumably why the legislature passed a law telling the state's gas utilities that they had to negotiate thirty year contracts with Indiana Gasification on a "take or pay" basis that forced Indiana ratepayers to use syngas no matter what the cost.

Then, Indiana Gasification trotted before the Indiana utility Regulatory Commission with their proposal while negotiations were taking place. Sadly for them, the utilities soon discovered that even with prices for natural gas on the rise, that the required price for syngas was just too high to be competitive with even volatile natural gas, which by early 2008 had risen to $13.

The something big happened. New drilling technology, called hydro fracturing quickly developed for securing natural gas. The result was huge "discoveries" of natural gas in both the west and the eastern regions of the US.

Gas producers found they could produce nearly unlimited supplies of natural gas if the price remained somewhere between $4 and $5/mmbtu.

Indiana Gasification had a problem. The cost just to produce their inferior "syngas" which ultimately emits far more CO2 than natural gas when consumed was at least 50% higher than natural gas and that price did not include capturing and sequestering the enormous carbon emissions the use of coal as feedstock cause or retiring any of the massive multi billion dollar debt to build such a facility.

Indiana gas utilities ultimately walked away from the venture and soon thereafter, Indiana Gasification withdrew their IURC petition knowing they had another plan.

In short order, IG had secured support from State Rep, Russ Stilwell and Senator, Brandt Hershman for a bill that more resembled the business model of communist China than the US.

Since they could not gain utility approval for their project, they decided that legislative fiat forcing the State to purchase their more expensive syngas was in order. Our pro coal legislature readily agreed with a measure that puts the state in the business of buying all the syngas output of the plant and forces gas utilities to pass it along to Hoosier gas customers, who would then pay a hefty premium for the privilege of using coal derived gas instead of natural gas.

But IG was not done with the financial screw they were inserting into the public trough. They also sought to incur nearly zero risk in their project by securing a “loan guarantee” from the federal government so that they were protected both from the risk of building an ill fated venture as well as forcing Indiana customers to buy their product at a premium.

On December 3, the US Department of Energy is holding a hearing in Rockport (pop. 2068), a community that already emits more toxic pollution that New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Seattle, Los Angeles and San Diego, (pop.34 million) combined. The purpose of the hearing is to take public comment on what should be included in the Environmental Impact Statement required before the Federal Government issues the dubious loan guarantee.

So here we have a company that wishes to take zero risk to develop a technology that has never been competitive since its first use in the 19th Century. They want to do it in one of the most polluted small towns in America and of course they hope to make millions for themselves on the backs of Hoosier gas customers who will pay considerably more for their product than the “free market” would allow.

The sad thing is that this is being done with the blessings of state politicians like Mitch Daniels who like to call themselves conservatives and oppose any sort of effort to help clean, renewable energy by saying those sources should make it in the private sector instead of relying on what they call “socialized” energy.

There is obviously something terribly wrong with this picture.

Unfortunately, citizens remain n the dark as to what exactly is being proposed. IG has yet to file a construction permit application with IDEM and a Freedom of Information Act request that Valley Watch and Sierra Club filed with DOE in back in June regarding IG’s loan guarantee application has gone unanswered although DOE is required by Federal Law to respond within ten working days.

We suspect the secrecy is due to the fact that both DOE and IG know that this project is not viable economically unless they can find a “patsy” like the state of Indiana to take their risk for them.

However, several groups are determined to keep this atrocity from happening. Valley Watch, Sierra Club, Citizens Action Coalition and a newly formed Spencer County Citizens for Quality of Life are and will continue to stand in their way, in an effort to bring both environmental and health justice to the region as well continually seeking to hold a line on rates Hoosiers must pay for their electricity and gas.

Please join us by contacting us at: http://valleywatch.net.

John Blair is a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer who serves as president of the environmental health advocacy group Valley Watch in Evansville, IN. He is a contributor to Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots Resistance from the Heartland, edited by Jeffrey St. Clair and Joshua Frank. (AK Press) His email address is ecoserve1@aol.com
Source

Audit would hurt US economic prospects, says Bernanke

WASHINGTON, Nov 28 — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said yesterday congressional proposals to audit the Fed and strip it of regulatory powers as part of post-crisis reforms could damage prospects for economic and financial health in the future.

“These measures are very much out of step with the global consensus on the appropriate role of central banks, and they would seriously impair the prospects for economic and financial stability in the United States,” Bernanke wrote in a column posted on the Washington Post’s website.

The rare newspaper column by a Fed chairman comes shortly before Bernanke testifies before a Senate panel on his re-nomination to serve a second four-year term at the helm of the central bank and answers a series of steps on Capitol Hill that could diminish the central bank’s role.

Lawmakers are angry with the Fed over its emergency bailouts of major financial firms and its failure to prevent the contagion of mortgage delinquencies that crashed the financial system. A proposal to audit the Fed’s monetary policy deliberations won a committee vote recently over the objections of House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank.

Frank’s Senate counterpart, Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, is himself the author of a proposal to consign the Fed solely to making decisions about setting benchmark interest rates.

Bernanke, in his column, conceded the Fed had missed some of the riskiest behavior in the lead up to the crisis. But he said the Fed had helped avoid an even more damaging economic meltdown and has stepped up its policing of the financial system.

“The Fed played a major part in arresting the crisis, and we should be seeking to preserve, not degrade, the institution’s ability to foster financial stability and to promote economic recovery without inflation,” he said.

Bernanke acknowledged that lawmakers are responding to public anger over the government’s response to the turmoil.

“The Federal Reserve, like other regulators around the world, did not do all that it could have to constrain excessive risk-taking in the financial sector in the period leading up to the crisis,” he said.

However, the central bank has moved “aggressively” to fix the problems, Bernanke said. The Fed’s knowledge of complex financial institutions is invaluable in supervising them, he said.

The Fed’s ability to slash interest rates to combat a recession without fuelling inflation depends on its political independence he said. Allowing audits of its monetary policy — as proposed legislation would do — would increase the perceived influence of Congress on interest rate decisions, he said.

That, in turn “would undermine the confidence the public and the markets have in the Fed to act in the long-term economic interest of the nation,” Bernanke wrote.

Frank has said the audit provision is likely to be revisited as legislation winds through both houses of Congress.

Dodd has said his proposal is a starting point for debate. — Reuters

Tax Court Awards $323k in Attorneys' Fees to Two Kersting Tax Shelter Investors Because of IRS Misconduct

The Tax Court on Wednesday awarded $322,693 in attorneys' fees (after a 33.3% reduction for "overlawyering") and $15,290 in expenses under § 6673(a)(2)(B) to two Kersting tax shelter investors (Kersting v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 1999-197 (June 17, 1999)) for expenses incurred during the remand proceedings stemming from IRS misconduct. Hongsermeier v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2009-273 (Nov. 25, 2009). Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

Three Trillion Dollars

The Hidden Cost of War

In 2003 Donald Rumsfeld estimated a war with Iraq would cost $60 billion. Five years later, the cost of Iraq war operations is over 10 times that figure. So what's behind the ballooning dollar signs? Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilme's exhaustedly researched book, "The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict," breaks down the price tag, from current debts to the unseen costs we'll pay for years to come.

Video Posted November 27, 2009

Time to Stick the Knife In

K, time to stick the knife in.

In two recent posts, "Remarkably Naïve" and "Economists: Wrong Again," I derided claims by Paul Krugman and other economists with a dilettante's knowledge of how financial markets work that low yields on U.S. government bonds "can be seen as validation of Washington's aggressive policy of spending and borrowing to 'rescue' the crisis-hit U.S. economy."

For another (almost real time) example of the spuriousness of such logic, I present the following snippet from a report in today's New York Times, "Dubai Debt Woes Raise Fear of Wider Problem" [italics mine]:

For now, most of the pain from Dubai is being felt by the holders of the Islamic bonds of Nakheel, the developer owned by Dubai World that is known for the palm-themed islands it built.

On Dec. 14, $3.52 billion in Nakheel bonds come due. One of the largest Islamic group of bonds issued, the deal was snapped up by Western and regional investors. In a reflection of how sure investors were that Dubai would meet these payments, the bonds were trading at a 10 percent premium to face value earlier this week. They are now trading at around half of face value.

For the sake of your fellow men (and women), l kindly request that economists -- Nobel prize winners or otherwise -- keep their ignorance about financial markets (and whatever other ivory tower nonsense about how the world works they've acquired through the years) to themselves.

More on this topic (What's this?)
406 Days Until This Market Crashes…

China Losses Inevitable as Dollar Weakens, Ex-PBOC Adviser Says

Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- China’s foreign-exchange reserves face a “triple whammy” as inflation, oversupply and the “inevitable” decline of the dollar threaten to erode the value of its holdings of U.S. Treasuries, said Yu Yongding, a former adviser to the Chinese central bank.

China needs to divert its trade and investment surpluses away from U.S. debt if it is unable to reduce them, Yu, a member of the central bank’s monetary policy committee from 2004 to 2006, said in a speech in Melbourne last night. The nation, with the world’s largest foreign-exchange reserves of $2.3 trillion, is the U.S.’s biggest creditor, holding $798.9 billion of Treasuries as of September.

“Capital losses -- let alone obtaining decent returns -- seem inevitable,” said Yu, a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. “There is no question whatsoever that the U.S. dollar will go south, which started in April 2002 and, after a short interval, restarted in March 2009.”

The dollar traded near a 14-year low against the yen as the Federal Reserve signaled it will tolerate a weaker greenback and Russia’s central bank announced plans to add Canadian dollars to its reserves to reduce its reliance on the U.S. currency. Russia, holder of the world’s third-largest foreign currency reserves, and China this year suggested the world economy would perform better with an alternative reserve currency to the greenback.

A 10 percent slide in the greenback would cut the value of China’s dollar-denominated assets by about 1.5 trillion yuan ($220 billion), exceeding Chinese central government spending under the nation’s $586 billion stimulus plan, Yu said Oct. 28 at a forum in Beijing.

The U.S. dollar has declined against all 16 of the most- traded currencies this year. It traded at $1.5125 per euro as of 9:22 a.m. in Tokyo and has weakened 8.3 percent against the currency this year.

By Candice Zachariahs

US food charities overwhelmed by demand

As the holiday season begins, charities across the US are reporting unprecedented demand for food assistance. Driving the increased demand is the unemployment crisis, the charities say. They also cite state budget cuts, the foreclosure crisis, and the ineffectiveness of the federal-state food stamp program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Feeding America, a national food assistance organization, recently released details of an economic impact survey of some of its 63,000 member food charities. It found that between summer 2008 and summer 2009, demand for food assistance increased by over 30 percent nationally. Ninety-nine percent of participating charities reported an increase in demand and 92 percent witnessed an increase of newly unemployed workers seeking assistance.

Food banks and food pantries are reporting that those seeking assistance describe themselves as “middle class” or say that “never thought they would have to ask for help.”

“We’re hearing from more and more middle class who have never in their life gone to a food pantry,” Diane Doherty, director of the Illinois Hunger Coalition told the Associated Press. “They’re very, very frustrated and angry.”

Ninety-one percent of food banks report unemployment as a primary cause in rising demand, while another 79 percent report underemployment—those working short hours—as a contributing factor to increased hunger, the survey reveals. In contrast, in May 2008 43 percent of food charities reported unemployment as a critical factor, while 90 percent reported the high price of fuel and food.

The survey concludes that the nation’s food charities are not able to meet the needs of the hungry. Fifty-five percent of surveyed charities report that within the last year they have had to turn away those seeking help, and one in five did so “frequently.” Over three fourths say that they have had to reduce the quantity of food they give away, and about a third report that they did so often.

The shortfall comes in spite of a record number of volunteers and a record distribution of food between July of 2008 and July 2009. Feeding America’s network distributed 2.63 billion pounds of food in that time span, an increase of about 21 percent over the previous year.

Feeding America reported a similar 30 percent increase in demand one year ago.

The new report comes on the heels of a recent US Department of Agriculture (USDA) study revealing a record 49.1 million Americans in 17 million households lacked dependable access to adequate food in 2008—even before the full onset of the economic crisis. The Feeding America report suggests that the level of hunger in the US has risen rapidly since then. (See: A record 49 million Americans faced hunger in 2008.)

The Obama administration has responded to the mounting evidence of mass malnourishment in the US by calling on Americans “to help feed their neighbors.”

Obama will modestly increase the appropriation for the food stamp program by $4.3 billion and that for school lunches by $1.9 billion this year. These sums, which no one expects to reverse the growth in hunger and malnourishment, are minuscule compared to the trillions of dollars Obama has doled out to the finance industry and the estimated $1 trillion his proposed “surge” in Afghanistan will cost over the next ten years.

“[T]he money is just part of it,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack sanctimoniously declared. “It is important for people in communities across the country to understand that this is a problem in their community.”

Responses to the Feeding American survey from local charities make clear that the scourge of hunger has spared no region of the country. They paint a portrait of a nation in the throes of a social crisis without parallel since the Great Depression.

The Harry Chapin food bank of Fort Myers, Florida, reported that it is serving 130 percent more people than two years ago. “Most of these clients are what the media describes as the ‘new poor,’ people that never had to ask for help before,” it reports. It blamed unemployment and the inadequacy of the joint federal-state food stamp program for the increase.

“Our pantries report they are serving more ‘working’ people,” a Peoria, Illinois food charity wrote. “The problem is by the time they pay their basic bills, such as gas bill, electric, clothing, etc., there is no money left for food.”

An Oklahoma food charity reported a 50 percent increase in demand. “Our rural areas are being particularly hard hit because of plant closings, layoffs, downturn in drilling in the energy sector and crop prices,” it wrote. “People are teaching each other how to build fire pits in their back yards to cook because their utilities are turned off. Families are finding themselves needing food for the first time in their lives and our partner agencies’ resources are being stretched to their limits.”

Gleaners Community food bank of Detroit described a desperate situation. It calculates that a staggering 600,000 residents of Southeast Michigan “are believed to be at risk” of hunger, and fears that 250,000 children will go hungry next summer after the school year ends—and with it free and reduced-price lunch programs. Gleaners estimates that area charities can now feed fewer than 90,000 of these children. “To compound the crisis, in December an estimated 90,000 residents in Southeast Michigan will see their unemployment benefits expire,” it added. “The non-profit sector is asked to be the safety net for increasing numbers of people in crisis.”

Second Harvest food bank of Duluth, Minnesota said unemployment was the biggest factor in increased demand for its services. “The Iron Mines throughout Northeast Minnesota have laid of hundreds of workers,” it explained. “Duluth based companies such as an aircraft design company and those working with them have also laid off workers. Our increase is primarily unemployment and underemployment.”

A similar report came from a food charity in Maine. Describing the cause of increased hunger, it listed “Mill layoffs in Millinockett, Ashland closure, Marsadis layoffs, Baileyville layoff, Old Town layoffs, Washington County has high unemployment rate and no new jobs.”

And this from Montana: “Several lumber mills, railroads and oil refineries [have closed] since January of 2009. Many of the families displaced by the closure of those businesses are new to the emergency food system in Montana. All three industries provided decent living wages to families and have left them with nothing. Due to the vast area of our state and our relatively low population, individuals and families find it difficult to relocate or seek alternative forms of employment. It was only recently that minimum wage was raised from $6.15 to $6.90. This is what most individuals can expect to earn, if they are fortunate enough to secure employment at this time.”

A food bank in Elizabethtown Kentucky reported it was struggling to feed the hungry in its area, citing unemployment and a 66 percent falloff in corporate donations. “Agency managers report daily how their demand is increasing every day; a demand that they are not able to satisfy with the dwindling food bank product we have available to provide them,” it wrote.

Demand for food relief increased sharply in California and Nevada, where local charities coupled joblessness with the foreclosure crisis as the main culprits.

Food charities in Los Angeles and Orange country reported 30 percent increases in demand. Further down the coast in San Diego, the increase was more marked. “In Summer 2008 we served 46,000 individuals,” Feeding America San Diego wrote. “In Summer 2009 we are serving 109,822 individuals, this is a 138% growth.”

A Fresno, California, food bank saw a doubling of its clients. “We are experiencing higher than national average unemployment, nearing Depression era rates upwards of 40 percent,” it wrote. “This year a severe drought impacted the West side of Fresno County where over 600,000 acres were left fallow as a result. Thousands of our clients each week stand in line for hours at a time in triple digit weather just so they can have something to feed their families because their agriculture related jobs have disappeared and their communities lack meaningful employment alternatives.”

Las Vegas saw an increase in demand for food assistance of between 121 and 168 percent. A local charity described the situation in the following terms:

“Las Vegas has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation, and Nevada now has the third highest unemployment rate of all the states...Much of the housing assistance that has been passed doesn’t help homeowners here...For a family to lose a job, then not be able to pay for the mortgage, then lose the house...all these factors can be crippling to families who otherwise would be getting by...The situation is just very bad here. Unemployment continues to rise, property tax values are poised to go down (reducing revenue for county social services), the expected wave of commercial property foreclosures has yet to hit, construction will soon be finished on the last major Strip property undergoing work, there’s talk of a special State Legislative Session to cut the budget yet further.”

The Fredericksburg Area Food Bank of Virginia noted the foreclosure crisis as a prime cause of hunger, and pointed out that the Obama stimulus package had done nothing to help. “Challenges include foreclosures, unemployment, and homelessness,” it said. “Some people are just trying to keep the roof over their heads and need food to make ends meet. School just started and agencies are getting calls all the time for everything, including school supplies. Foreclosures are still very much on the rise and people are being forced into hotels and whole families, even employees, are living in one hotel room. There is no help for these people in the economic stimulus package, no one is helping these people to keep their homes.”

A New York City food charity, the Community Kitchen and Food Pantry of West Harlem, reported that 250 of the 1,000 people who come each day are first time users. “The line has grown so long that when you walk outside, it’s overwhelming,” said Jesse Taylor, senior director at the pantry, told the Associated Press. “A lot of people are coming out in suits, they’re carrying brief cases.”

Thanksgiving, a holiday associated with food bounty, saw reports from across the US of long lines outside food pantries.

Hundreds lined up at food banks in the central Washington towns of Richland and Kennewick. “If this is any indication of the volume of individuals we’ll have during Christmas, it’s going to be a real challenge,” John Neill, deputy executive director for the Tri-Cities Food Bank told the tricityhearld.com.

A Hartford, Connecticut soup kitchen, Loaves and Fishes, was full ten minutes after it opened its door on Thanksgiving, with a line outside. “Everyone is feeling the effects,” Cynthia Hudson, who was at the soup kitchen with her brother, told the Hartford Courant. “It’s bad. It’s really bad on the poor.”

“We’re seeing people come in who normally wouldn’t be using our services,” said Judy Hart, Hartford coordinator for the Salvation Army. “It’s getting to a point where this is their survival.”

In west Texas, the Andrews Food Pantry was able to provide a Thanksgiving meal box for all comers. Some in nearby towns were not so fortunate.

“We have one agency that had to close because they couldn’t handle the need, they served 21 in January, and it went up to 92 in August,” Executive Director for the West Texas Food Bank, Hyta Folsom told a local news station. “Need has exploded this year.”

Woman's leg amputated by mistake following false cancer diagnosis

(NaturalNews) Word to the wise: Be careful of what doctors tell you to cut off following a cancer diagnosis. Submitting to cancer surgery can cost you an arm... or a leg.

Increasingly, cancer surgeons are recommending that woman have their healthy breasts surgically removed as a way to prevent cancer -- even when those women have no cancer! But recently, an even more bizarre story surfaced: According to a BBC report (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/...), a UK woman had her leg amputated by a cancer surgeon who claimed her leg showed signs of a malignant cancer tumor. She naively agreed to undergo the surgery and awoke with quite a shock: Not only was her leg missing, but the doctor told her she never had cancer in the first place.

I'm trying to figure out who made the bigger goof here: The doctor who claimed there was cancer, or the patient who agreed to let a doctor amputate her leg without getting a second opinion...

Here's what the doctor reportedly said upon her regaining consciousness: "I've got a bombshell to tell you - I'm very sorry, but we shouldn't have taken the leg off."

At that point, I think the patient should have picked up that amputated leg and beat the snot out of the surgeon with it. But that's just me...

The finest medical care in the world

The leg amputation patient was offered a settlement of roughly US$158,000, much of which ended up being used to buy a prosthetic leg. This is how the medical system generates business these days: First they harm patients with one procedure (drugs, chemo or surgery), then they make even more money treating the harm they caused in the first place. It's quite a clever system for repeat business.

The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, where this surgery took place, denied it had been negligent. (That must be some creative excuse-making.) The leg amputation was approved by "a group of clinical experts - three of them world-renowned in their particular fields," according to statements published by the BBC. (None of them lost their jobs over the incident.)

Is that a relief? It would be far more comforting to think this was a mistake made by bumbling idiots who had no idea what they were doing. But no, this leg amputation error was made by the best doctors and surgeons around! These are the smart ones!

I'd hate to think what some lesser-educated members of the medical profession might have done. Perhaps they would have resorted to the tactics of masochistic U.S. breast cancer surgeons and recommended that the women remove both legs just to make sure she never gets cancer there in the future.

And why stop at that? Chop off the arms, legs, testicles, breasts, colon and reproductive organs -- all just to make sure no cancer appears there. Soon, you're left with the Black Knight from Monty Python, a wiggling torso with an animated head that insists he's just fine and can still fight.

You gotta wonder, by the way, why this victim settled for a mere $158,000. Isn't your leg worth much more? I don't know about you, but I need both legs because there are still too many practicing cancer surgeons who need a good swift boot to the head!

Need a CT scan? Here's the "Hiroshima special..."

Oh, and just in case you think the craziness of modern health care is limited to surgeons who remove the wrong body parts, here's something else you need to know. As the LA Times reports

俄羅斯:火車出軌.貨機墜毀.渡輪沉沒‧俄中孟海陸空災難79死

(莫斯科、上海、達卡)俄羅斯、中國和孟加拉在週五(11月27日)和週六(11月28日),分別發生海陸空災難事故,共造成至少79人死亡、百多人受傷,以及數10人失蹤。

莫斯科時間晚上9時34分(大馬時間週六凌晨2時34分),一列載有661名乘客,從莫斯科開往聖彼得堡的“涅瓦特快號”快車,在距首都以北350公里的特維爾州和諾夫哥羅德州交界區段發生出軌事故,3至4節車廂出軌。事故造成至少39人死亡,近百人受傷。

逾百人受傷
數10人失蹤

在事故現場指揮救援的俄國緊急事務部長蕭依古表示,目前還有18名乘客生死未卜,損毀的車廂下可能還埋壓著乘客,因此,死亡人數可能會上升。

另一方面,一架津巴布韋貨機週六上午在上海浦東國際機場起飛失敗解體,並引發跑道大火,釀成3死4傷,機上3死1人重傷,有數10班航機一度受影響。

貨機屬津巴布韋Avient航空公司,原定從上海飛往吉爾吉斯的比什凱克。

此外,孟加拉在回教徒歡慶哈芝節當天發生沉船慘劇。

一艘載有超過1500人的渡輪因超載導致沉沒,造成至少37人死亡、數10人下落不明。

俄火車遭恐襲出軌

俄羅斯調查人員週六證實,週五晚上發生的客運火車出軌是炸彈造成的“恐怖襲擊”。

相互傳真通訊社引述俄羅斯聯邦調查委員會發言人馬爾京說:“們確實這是一起恐怖襲擊。”

調查人員在火車出軌地點發現爆炸裝置,並將之拆除。

較早時,俄羅斯鐵路公司總裁亞庫寧指出,調查人員相信出軌事件肇因於恐怖襲擊行徑。

亞庫寧在事故現場向國營電視台表示,在現階段,事故的調查專家都認為,“恐怖襲擊”是最可能的原因。

俄羅斯總檢察長辦公室週六宣佈,以恐怖襲擊為名對列車出軌事件展開刑事調查。

在事故發生後,總統梅德韋傑夫立即責成有關部門負責人徹查原因,並做好救護和善後工作。

發生事故的“涅夫斯基”特快列車,為商務旅客和官員經常乘坐的列車,因此一些人認為這列豪華列車成為了襲擊目標。

路基旁發現炸彈坑洞

警方在事發鐵路路基旁發現了一個據信是炸彈造成約1米的坑洞,警方和檢察官正在這個封鎖地區進行調查。

同時媒體報導,有乘客表示,事故發生時刻曾聽到類似爆炸的巨大聲音。

另有報導說,爆炸是發生在第9節車廂。警方據此懷疑是恐怖爆炸襲擊。

由於事發地段屬於偏遠的森林洼地,交通通訊不便,給搜救工作帶來不小困難。

俄羅斯鐵路公司當晚公佈了這輛次列車661名乘客的名單。驚魂未定的乘客和部份傷員已抵達聖彼得堡,另有部份傷員就近入醫。部份取消或晚點的旅客列車正在恢復通車或繞行。

在華盛頓,白宮發言人吉布斯稱,對這起造成嚴重人命傷亡的事件表示哀悼。

俄近年來最嚴重火車事故

今次列車出軌,是俄羅斯近年來最嚴重的火車事故。恐怖襲擊的說法讓人們對北高加索地區的回教叛軍活動再度猖獗感到擔憂。車臣週邊衝突不斷,是俄羅斯最大的不定時炸彈。

從莫斯科到聖彼得堡的線路是俄羅斯最重要的鐵路線之一。2007年,該鐵路線曾發生過爆炸,導致一列火車出軌,60人受傷。1997年該線路上還曾發生火車浴室爆炸,導致5人死亡。

或有數中國旅行團

據鳳凰衛視消息,俄羅斯出軌列車上,可能有數個中國旅行團。

中國駐俄羅斯大使館啟動緊急預案,目前正與俄方進行密切的聯繫,以求證是否有華人受傷的消息。

疑起飛時起落架未收起
津國貨機上海機場墜毀

一架津巴布韋貨機週六上午在上海浦東國際機場起飛失敗解體,並引發跑道大火,釀成3死4傷,最少數10航班受影響。在下午,浦東機場的跑道已重開。

事發於早上7時40分許。新華社指,貨機在起飛時衝出跑道,隨即解體起火。機身斷成多截,散成碎塊,跑道上濃煙滾滾。

東方衛視指,飛機可能是在起飛時,機尾碰擦到地面,因而墜落。新浪網引述機場的工作人員指,看到貨機的起落架沒有收起,速度明顯不夠,之後就發生墜機。

目前確切原因,還在進一步調查當中。

3死4傷

該架貨機載有7名外籍機組人員,其中2人國籍已證實是美國人和印尼人。事故造成3人死亡,3人蒙受輕傷,1人重傷。

事故發生後,上海市副市長艾寶俊、沈駿趕往上海浦東機場現場指揮處置,公安、消防、安監、外辦等部門均在現場處置。

至少超過50輛消防車在現場進行撲救,至9時已經控制火勢,但現場仍冒濃煙。

4000旅客受影響

浦東機場事後關閉第1跑道。受事件影響,浦東機場68架航班延誤,11時以後航班秩序陸續恢復,目前仍有23架航班延誤。其中,有約4000名旅客受影響。

不過,跑道已在下午重開,機場運作逐漸恢復正常。

較早時有中國傳媒指,火警波及東航倉庫;不過新華社核實後稱,雖然貨機解體時的確撞到了機場一些設施,但東航倉庫沒有著火。

中國近年來的空中意外

2008年
空軍直升機相撞

中國上一次發生空中意外是在2008年6月,2架中國空軍直升機在內蒙古相撞,但機員都成功透過降落傘逃生。

2006年
軍機墜毀

2006年6月,一架中國軍機在安徽省墜毀,機上40名機組人員全部罹難。

孟加拉‧37人死亡‧數十人失蹤‧孟渡輪超載沉沒

(孟加拉‧達卡)孟加拉南部週五(11月27日)發生嚴重船難,一艘載有超過1500人的渡輪因超載導致沉沒,造成至少37人死亡、數十人下落不明。據指出,船上的乘客是要回鄉過哈芝節。

警長霍賽因表示,肇事渡輪“MVCoco-4”號是孟加拉最大的內陸渡輪,當時正往博拉島的碼頭靠岸。

他說:“船上載有超過1000名乘客,以致船身無法承載超載的重量,在納茲爾普爾碼頭附近發生傾側然後沉沒。”

事發後,警方、消防員以及當地居民馬上趕往距離達卡以南約250公里的事發現場,將落水的乘客救起。

警官伊斯蘭姆表示,搜救人員利用工具打開下層船艙,救起超過50名生還者。他們被送往當地醫院救治,其中7人的況危急。但仍有部份乘客被困在船艙。

他表示,渡輪沉沒後,大多數的乘客都自行游上岸。生還者透露,他們聽見底層傳來嘈雜聲後感到惶恐,許多人都爭先恐後地逃生。

阿拉伯‧拒全數承擔逾2000億債務‧阿布扎比“選擇性”救迪拜

(阿拉伯‧迪拜)迪拜爆發債務危機,作為阿聯酋另一裕之邦的阿布扎比,上週六(11月28日)終打破緘默,表明會選擇性協助迪拜渡過難關,但絕不會開出空白支票,全數承擔迪拜的800億美元(約馬幣2690億令吉)債務。

英國《週日泰晤士報》報導,阿聯酋各成員上週六在阿布扎比召開閉門會議,迪拜等波斯灣國家高級官員及金融主管出席閉門會議,商討如何挽救面臨破產的迪拜世界,以紓緩環球市場的恐慌緒。


世界唯一的七星級酒店──Burj Al-Arab酒店是迪拜的地標。迪拜世界的債務違約危機,宣告了“迪拜新話”的破滅。(圖:法新社)


中東市場週一(11月30日)在假期後重開,外界預計迪拜政府會在當天公佈實際財務情況。

阿布扎比一名匿名官員向路透社表示,阿布扎比將視迪拜方面的承諾,“選擇性地”處理,至於如何援助,要看迪拜能否清楚交代債務。

研究債務方決定援助方法

官員說:“迪拜的投資項目,一些是商業或半官方持有,們將研究迪拜的債務情況,對每一個案作出考慮。這並不意味阿布扎比將為他們的所有債務包底。”

阿布扎比盛產石油,油元充足。雖然阿布扎比對迪拜沒有義務,由於在當地有不少投資,阿布扎比一定會拯救迪拜這個兄弟邦,問題只是出多少錢打救。

阿聯酋是全球第3大石油供應國,當中有90%石油正是由阿布扎比泵出。阿布扎比之前已透過中央銀行和兩間境內銀行,間接向迪拜提供了150億美元(約馬幣504億3800萬令吉)支持。

不過,路透社的報導指出,阿布扎比官員今次表明只會選擇性拯救,無疑提醒了投資者,不要將包底拯救視為必然。

根據阿聯酋憲法,7個酋長國在這個鬆散的聯邦內擁有獨立的司法權,掌控自己的天然和財政資源。聯邦政府不一定能使用這些資源,也沒有義務為任何一個酋長國承擔債務。

阿布札比“選擇性”拯救
迪拜仍須賤賣資產

阿布札比只會“選擇性”拯救迪拜,意味著迪拜政府仍須出售,甚至賤賣資產來還債,如此一來,英國將首當其衝,因為英國銀行是迪拜世界的最大債主,而迪拜世界在英有很多資產,賤賣資產勢必令很多英國人失業。

英國銀行等銀行本已受到金融海嘯重挫,元氣未復,英國媒體擔心,迪拜危機將令英國經濟和失業情況再度惡化,陷入雙底衰退。

據統計,外資銀行有1300億美元(約馬幣4410億令吉)貸款及債券涉及阿聯酋,當中英國銀行份額最大,達510億美元(約馬幣1715億令吉),美國銀行僅為130億美元(約馬幣441億令吉)。

物價穩定房租下挫
迪拜危機未波及華商

迪拜債務違約危機導致全球股市出現恐慌性拋盤,但在迪拜生活的華人卻認為當地經濟未出現問題,物價亦沒有顯著變化,反而覺得房租更便宜了。

他們樂觀地認為,“迪拜危機”並非沒有解決辦法,因為資金實力雄厚且相對保守的阿布扎比可以幫迪拜一把。

阿里巴巴商務電視的首席執行員高度認為,“迪拜危機”有些言過其實,因為他感覺老百姓的生活仍然照常,至少危機還沒有傳導到日常生活上,迪拜表面仍然是繁榮景象。

他說,按常理出現危機應該反映到物價上,但迪拜物價近來一直很穩定,日常用品和食品價格也沒有變化。

房價或繼續下挫

迪拜房地產資訊網的公關經營經理胡衛東認為,“迪拜危機”根源在金融、房地產領域,新的負面消息爆出後,才剛啟穩的當地房價可能繼續下挫。

他指出,金融危機前,當地大約有10多家華人房地產經紀公司,而危機發生3個月左右,大約28家倒閉。

在迪拜從事旅遊生意的歐陽表示,迪拜物價沒有顯著變化,不過租房價格出現下降。原來租一套2居室一年需要7萬美元(約馬幣24萬令吉),現在只要5萬美元(約馬幣17萬令吉)。

華商多從事傳統貿易

他分析,“迪拜危機”多指金融、房地產等暴利行業,而當地華商大多從事傳統貿易,本身又很少與銀行打交道,因此他認為華商受到危機影響的可能性不大。

不過歐陽還提到,當地部份中資企業可能會受到波及,特別是承建迪拜房地產專案的建設公司,以及相關建材公司和機械設備公司。

分析師:迪拜倒債
不會拖垮全球經濟

迪拜的債信危機,是否會將全球經濟帶向另一波谷底,引起全球關注?但大部份分析家都持否定看法。

倫敦Cantor Fitzgerald的全球股票首席分析家波普指出,迪拜倒債危機雖會減緩復甦力道,但不至於像雷曼兄弟倒閉引發全球股市如墜深淵,或讓經濟再次陷入衰退。

可在數日內明朗化

BGC資深分析師威爾登也說,迪拜世界債務危機引發的衝擊應可在數日內明朗化,不會拖上數週。

一些評論家認為,近日因迪拜危機而引發的全球恐慌大跌市,反應過度,甚至有可能是一些投資者在年關來臨前,借勢沽貨獲利離場。

或是入市良機

有評論更稱,迪拜危機反而令到各國央行更不敢貿然退市,甚至會加強放鬆貨幣政策,鼓勵市場新一浪的高風險投資,故此現在是入市良機。

儘管多位分析家認這只是一個戲劇性事件,但仍有人擔心全球經濟體可能還隱含許多未爆彈,包括希臘、英國、新興市場及歐美多家銀行,因為它們皆面臨沉重的債務問題。

最糟糕的發展莫過於發生主權債務違約風險,重演2001年阿根廷、1998年俄羅斯等主權國家違約的風潮。

有專家指出,阿聯酋政府不願無條件給迪拜“包底”拯救,提醒了投資者不要以為各國政府甚麼事都願意或能夠用印鈔票的方法解決,仍有很多信貸市場存在爆煲危機。

新加坡‧受迪拜債務危機影響‧股市或下挫2至3%

(新加坡)受迪拜要延遲攤還債務事件影響,新加坡股市明開盤或下挫2%至3%。

亞洲股市下瀉2.5%至4%

上週四(11月26日),迪拜世界宣佈需要延遲半年償還810億元(馬幣約1944億令吉)的債務,導致亞洲股市隔天下瀉2.5%至4%。

歐洲股市也無法“幸免於難”,倫敦股市上週四遭遇3月來最大的單日跌幅,但上週五(11月27日)稍有回彈。

受訪的金融專家認為,新加坡股市週一(11月30日)開盤後會受到賣壓,海峽時報指數或下探2%至3%;但預料不會遭遇再一波崩盤。

聯昌國際(CIMB-GK)區域經濟師宋生文說,股市會出現小波瀾,但不會像上一波金融危機時遭受沉重打擊。

專家:影響力比金融海嘯小

華僑銀行財管理部副總裁Vasu Menon認為,香港上週五狂瀉4%,新加坡週一早上開盤會疲軟,可能掉2%。

專家認為,迪拜的地產不能同美國的同日而語,影響力也不會像上次金融海嘯時來得那麼大。

股市評論員王金福今日(週日,11月29日)早上受詢時認為,新加坡週五因哈芝節閉市一天,等於緩和了這波衝擊。銀行股週一會受到賣壓,尤其是星展銀行股價,或面對下幅壓力。

新加坡‧為吸引阿兵哥看《國鋒報》‧美女軍官當封底女郎

(新加坡)為吸引更多阿兵哥看《國鋒報》,美女軍官當封底女郎!

《國鋒報》的讀者群向來是國民服役人員、戰備軍人和正規軍人,儘管每月發行量高達16萬3000份,不過雜志編輯部發現有些人收到雜志後,連塑料封套都沒拆就放一邊,因此從2007年起開始進行改革。

最新一輪的改革令人“驚艷”,從8月起開始出現妙齡封底女郎。

這些封底女郎都是現任軍官,如第35工兵營的連長李藝珊上尉(27歲)和國防部應用行為科學部門的心理醫生薄麗薇少校(28歲)等。兩位美女軍官將分別擔任明年1月和5月《國鋒報》的封底女郎,而薄麗薇曾在19歲從軍,加入武裝部隊。

《國鋒報》編輯郭華泉(30歲)坦言,雜志採取“軟性策略”是為了吸引更多讀者。“《國鋒報》今年40歲,是時候賦予它新的生命,讓它看起來更年輕和更具可讀性。”

封面採用更搶眼字體

他指出,除了封底女郎,《國鋒報》的封面也改頭換面,包括採用更搶眼的字體,使它看起來像一本全新的雜志。此外,過去多達6頁的新聞已減至2頁,取而代之的是更多人物和武裝力量的深入報導,以及生活方面的資訊。

他打趣地說︰“推出封底女郎,因為們有必要讓大家知道,軍隊中也有美女。”

金馬雙影帝破天荒‧網友批不公平

(台灣‧台北)今年金馬獎影帝得主,居然出現破天荒雙影帝!被《證人》裡的張家輝和《鬥牛》的黃渤並享影帝榮耀。這樣從未出現的狀況,雖然得獎者有2位,但對於台下另外沒拿獎的吳彥祖與陳文彬來說,似乎顯得不太公平,難怪2人在台下格外寂寞。


李冰冰( 中) 封后情緒激動,黃渤(右)和張家輝並列影帝感言幽默。( 圖:法新社)


評審虞戡平表示:“由於評審極度支持黃渤和張家輝,不斷地投票翻案,經過3次翻案才達成協議,支持雙影帝的結局。雖然海外3大影展常出現雙影帝后,甚至金球獎也同時出現過3位影后,但對金馬獎還真是頭一次。

雙料新科影帝經3次翻案才並列,他們在後台互褒對方演技好,張家輝稱黃渤是“最大威脅”,黃渤回:“他的演出肯定是大突破。”如今讓2人都拿獎,張家輝說:“覺得這個結局是最完美的。”他第1時間打電話給老婆關詠荷,她開心尖叫,他說:“她很激動、開心。”

黃渤說:“這是我拍過時間最長、最苦的一部片,我看過歷屆得主劉德華、梁朝偉,可以跟他們拿一樣獎座,特別開心。”還開玩說:“回去我要給大奶牛(片中與他對戲的牛)加菜了!”

影帝台上互讚

雖然張家輝對這給獎狀況感到滿意,但許多網友在第1時間就紛紛上網抱怨,直接拿陳文彬在“不能沒有你”的台詞“社會不公平”代表網友支持陳文彬心聲。

另一位得獎黑馬影帝黃渤,他在台上開心地說:“女怕嫁郎,男怕入錯行。看來今日我選對行了。”黃渤更逗趣道:“我看過《證人》,我知道張家輝很努力,和我一樣。”

黃渤在《鬥牛》飾演一個憨厚的養牛男,他在日軍攻打時間仍努力養村落託管給他養的乳牛,他扮醜還要把牙齒弄黃,完全不計形象。黃渤還笑說:“我當初考上北京電影學院時,同學還笑說連我都考上,看來學校的標準放鬆了。”

受虐戲精彩
影后哭著上台

李冰冰賽前就是大熱門,評審投票依序刪去袁泉、周迅,最後李冰冰以10票擊敗5票的張榕容。金馬執委會執行長聞天祥表示,《陽陽》為張榕容量身訂做,但李冰冰《風聲》角色有難度,她駕馭起來卻內斂不露痕跡勝出。

她從揭曉那刻,一路哭著上台,在台上鞠躬謝評審;再哭著到新聞中心,不斷重覆表示“不知道該說甚麼”。

她在《風聲》中的受虐戲極精彩,“拍這部戲,心理和精神上的痛苦壓抑又強烈,但我很享受”,並2次感謝“在我身上發生的戲劇性故事”,但未提及是否指緋聞。對於同片演出的周迅,李冰冰說:“她也演得非常好,早就是金馬影后了。

評審說:戴立忍導演1票險勝蔡明亮

今年金馬獎決選會議早前早上9點持續到下午5點,之後由金馬獎執委會執行長聞天祥和評審團主席虞戡平,一同入闈直到典禮結束,再解釋評審過程和得獎理由。

今年影帝廝殺激烈,黃渤在《鬥牛》演出掌握節奏,推演劇張力,少了他該片便不出色;張家輝在《證人》雖飾演反派,卻讓觀眾進入角色、看到人性的另一面,層次豐

2人3度投票在8票、7票中拉鋸,再經各自支持的評審3次翻案,耗時50分鐘,最後由評審之一中國導演吳天明提出並列影帝、經10位評審同意產生。這也是繼第28屆金馬獎王萊和潘迪華各以《推手》、《阿飛正傳》同列女配角,再呈現雙得獎者。

導演項目是另一戰場,支持蔡明亮的評審有7位從頭到尾沒跑票,大讚他在《臉》片尋找藝術新形式的勇氣。而戴立忍一派則點出他處理《不能沒有你》感情戲節制卻很深刻、同時還有強烈人文關懷。2邊辯論半小時,戴立忍以8比7險勝,輸的一派企圖翻案失敗。

最佳影片《不能沒有你》,第1輪投票就以10票領先4票《鬥牛》、1票《如夢》,火速得獎。聞天祥表示,該片深獲香港、中國評審的肯定,證明了台灣電影藝術高度與華語電影的需要。

女主角經過4輪投票才產生,第1輪淘汰《如夢》的袁泉,第2輪淘汰《風聲》的周迅,之後就是《風聲》李冰冰、《陽陽》張榕容之戰,最後李冰冰以10票勝過5票的張榕容。

最佳新演員第1輪投票就出現《梅蘭芳》余少群8票和《聽說》陳妍希6票之爭,討論半天,想翻案沒成功。虞戡平引用評審吳興國的話,余少群演的梅蘭芳是真實人物,承受更大壓力,演到令大家心服口服。

最佳女配角惠英紅,最佳男配角王學圻,都被評審認為無懈可擊。入圍9項的《如夢》,只有在原著劇本項目與《不能沒有你》稍比了一下,最後全部落空。

戴立忍認了桂綸鎂

銀色情侶戴立忍、桂綸鎂在金馬獎頒獎典禮上認了、也抱了!《不能沒有你》獲最佳原著劇本獎,桂綸鎂頒獎給戴立忍,還主動抱抱他,後台媒體區尖叫聲不斷,不斷有人大叫:“告白!”、“求婚!”

以往不願提戀情的戴立忍因新片入圍8項,和桂綸鎂無可避免成為金馬盛會上的焦點,但這回他笑說:“躲不掉了。”

“雙黃蛋”今年特別多

今年金馬獎影帝,首次揭出“雙黃蛋”,相當特別。

過去金馬獎出現“雙黃蛋”,是2004年由《擁抱大白熊》的洪顥瑄和《17歲的天空》楊祐寧共獲最佳新演員,1991年也曾出現由《推手》王萊和《阿飛正傳》潘迪華共得最佳女配角獎。

剛巧之前今年中國影壇頻下“雙黃蛋”,先有華表獎,《集結號》張涵予和《袁隆平》小牌男星果靜林並得影帝,《梅蘭芳》章子怡和《突發事件》小牌女星范志博並得影后。

之後再有金雞百花獎,出現“立春”的蔣雯麗和《李米的猜想》周迅,共得影后,又被中國媒體狂報主辦單位已預言會出現“雙黃蛋”。預言成真後,金雞百花頒獎典禮主持人張國立幽默說:“雙黃蛋好啊,會下雙黃蛋的雞,才珍貴嘛。”

陶子主持走極簡風
頒獎人沒廢話

金馬獎主持人陶晶瑩今年背負重任,如果超時要扣錢(4小時為上限),她一開場就走精簡風,話少 卻很中肯,指台下蘇有朋“看乖乖虎已變成大腕級演員了”,瘦身有成的她還大開美嗓唱開場《historia de un amor》,接下來各組頒獎人都遵循她的模式,致詞精簡扼要,戴立忍和張榕容幾乎沒有廢話,一上台就頒獎。得獎人也很配合,每一組都很節制,進度感覺還有 點超前。

《第46屆金馬獎》得獎名單:

最佳劇情片:《不能沒有你》
最佳導演:戴立忍《不能沒有你》
最佳原著劇本:戴立忍、陳文彬《不能沒有你》
最佳改編劇本:管虎《鬥牛》
最佳男主角:張家輝《證人》、黃渤《鬥牛》
最佳女主角:李冰冰《風聲》
最佳男配角:王學圻《梅蘭芳》
最佳女配角:惠英紅《心魔》
最佳新演員:余少群《梅蘭芳》
最佳攝影:曹郁《南京!南京!》
最佳視覺效果:王建雄、陳京民、李麗萍《瘋狂的賽車》
最佳美術設計:李天爵、Patrick Dechesne、Alain-Pascal Housiaux《臉》
最佳造型設計:克利斯瓊拉夸、王佳惠、Anne Dunsford《臉》
最佳動作設計:洪金寶、梁小熊《葉問》
最佳創作短片:溫知儀《片刻暖和》
最佳紀錄片:《音樂人生》
最佳動畫長片:從缺
最佳剪輯:張經緯《音樂人生》
最佳音效:張經緯《音樂人生》
最佳原創電影音樂:竇唯、畢曉笛《李米的猜想》
最佳原創電影歌曲:陶紅、譚維維《遇見》(電影《米香》)
年度台灣傑出電影:《不能沒有你》
年度台灣傑出電影工作者:李龍禹
終身成就獎:明驥
特別貢獻獎:王玨

Hundreds of icebergs drifting toward New Zealand

23 Nov 09 - More than 100, possibly hundreds, of Antarctic icebergs are floating toward New Zealand, prompting a maritime alert to ships in the south Pacific Ocean.

16 Nov 09 photo released by the Australian Antarctic Division

The alert comes three years after cold weather and favorable ocean currents brought dozens of icebergs to within 25 km (15.5 miles) of New Zealand's southern coast for the first time since 1931.

“Measuring up to 200 meters (650 feet) across and 30 yards (meters) tall, the icebergs are part of a "flotilla" of icebergs that can be seen on satellite images, said Australian glaciologist Neal Young.

“It is rare for whole icebergs to drift so far north before melting,” said this article on Yahoo, "but a cold snap around southern New Zealand and favorable ocean currents have again combined to push the towering visitors to the region intact.”

“Icebergs are formed as the ice shelf develops. Snow falls on the ice sheet and forms more ice, which flows to the edges of the floating ice shelves. Eventually, pieces around the edge break off.”

Young said that having the icebergs end up near New Zealand is not necessarily linked to global warming … and then went on to link them to global warming.

I wonder if the 1931 icebergs were also a result of global warming?
And if New Zealand becomes entirely surrounded by icebergs, will
that be even more proof of global warming? How about if all of New
Zealand's glaciers should double in size? More proof?

See entire articles:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091124/ap_on_re_as/as_new_zealand_icebergs

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091123/ts_afp/australianzealandantarcticaclimateiceberg

Keiser Report: Markets! Finance! Scandal! - November 26, 2009

Click this link ..... http://eclipptv.com/viewVid...

Senator Wants to Know if the Dead Osama will be Read Miranda Rights

New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez wants to put a dead man on trial in a U.S. civilian court. Menendez has told CNSNews that Osama bin Laden should be brought to justice and prosecuted in civilian court, where he will most certainly be convicted.

“When we catch bin Laden, should he be Mirandized? Should he be read his Miranda rights? If there’s going to be a civil proceeding, the attorney general said it wouldn’t matter,” Matt Cover of CNSNews asked Menendez.

“As far as I’m concerned he should be prosecuted, brought to justice, and hopefully – and I fully expect – convicted,” declared Menendez.

CNSNews asked the question after Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina grilled Obama’s attorney general on how the administration would handle terrorists caught in the future. “If we captured bin Laden tomorrow, would he be entitled to Miranda warnings at the moment of capture?” said Graham.

Eric Holder wasn’t sure how to answer Graham’s question. He said it “all depends” if Osama bin Laden would be read his Miranda rights. Holder’s apparent confusion is rather perplexing coming from the top cop in the country.

Graham understands the law better than Obama’s attorney general. “Well, it does not depend,” Graham replied. “If you’re going to prosecute anybody in civilian court, our law is clear that the moment custodial interrogation occurs, the defendant – the criminal defendant – is entitled to a lawyer and to be informed of their right to remain silent.”

Not that Graham believes accused terrorists deserve a day in court. He believes Holder is guilty of “making bad history” in his decision to send Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his supposed co-conspirators to New York for trial in civilian court.

“We’re making bad history here,” Graham said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on November 18. “The big problem I have is that you’re criminalizing the war…. I think you’ve made a fundamental mistake here.”

Holder’s “bad history” fits in the larger context of an invented history. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his cohorts are prized patsies for the official 9/11 fairy tale used to launch the global war on terror and turn the United States into a surveillance and police state.

Osama bin Laden was a CIA asset who died in December, 2001. “Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader,” Fox News reported on December 26, 2001. “Bin Laden, according to the source, was suffering from a serious lung complication and succumbed to the disease in mid-December, in the vicinity of the Tora Bora mountains. The source claimed that bin Laden was laid to rest honorably in his last abode and his grave was made as per his Wahabi belief.”

On October 26, 2002, CNN reported on a London-based Arab news magazine publishing Osama’s will. “He did write the will as someone saying good-bye,” Hani Nakshabandi of the Arab news magazine Al Majalla told CNN.

According to the former dictator of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, Osama died because he was unable to get treatment for a kidney disease. “I think now, frankly, he is dead for the reason he is a … kidney patient,” Musharraf told CNN on January 18, 2002. “I don’t know if he has been getting all that treatment in Afghanistan now. And the photographs that have been shown of him on television show him extremely weak.”

In February of 2002, CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen said Osama bin Laden had “aged enormously between ‘97 and October” of 2001. “This is a man who was clearly not well. I mean, as you see from these pictures here, he’s really, by December he’s looking pretty terrible.”

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN medical correspondent, concurred. “You can look [at pictures from a December 2001 video] and notice that he has what some doctors refer to as sort of a frosting over of his features—his sort of grayness of beard, his paleness of skin, very gaunt sort of features. A lot of times people associate this with chronic illness. Doctors can certainly look at that and determine some clinical features…. The sort of frosting of the appearance is something that people a lot of times associate with chronic kidney failure, renal failure, certainly someone who is requiring dialysis would have that,” said Gupta on January 21, 2002.

“Of course, by the time Gupta had made his prognosis, the CIA asset bin Laden was dead and buried, as patients with chronic kidney failure do not fare well in the Afghan outback without a kidney dialysis machine, unless we are to believe Osama’s helpers ferried one in, or maybe the ISI did by way of the CIA’s Air America transport,” this correspondent wrote with a measured degree of sarcasm on September 9, 2007, after a spate of supposed Osama videos appeared, more than a few with the assistance of the SITE Institute, a documented Mossad propaganda front (SITE shares an IP address with another Israeli intelligence front, MEMRI).

In September of 2007, a revitalized Osama appeared in a video complete with a Grecian Formula makeover. The new Osama was a stark contrast to the sickly Osama and the fat Osama supposedly confessing to the 9/11 attacks in a video made public on December 13, 2001.

Hamid Karzai, the former employee of the oil company Unocal and current handpicked president of U.S. occupied Afghanistan, told CNN in October of 2002 that Osama bin Laden was “probably dead.”

“The more we don’t hear of him, and the more time passes, there is the likelihood that he probably is either dead or seriously wounded somewhere,” said Karzai seven years ago.

Dale Watson, the head of the FBI’s counter-terrorism unit, said in July of 2002 that Osama was “probably” dead. “It is thought to be the first time a senior US law-enforcement official has publicly offered an opinion on whether Bin Laden, the prime suspect believed to be behind the 11 September attacks, is dead or alive,” the BBC reported.

Israeli intelligence said Bin Laden died in the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan in December. The Israelis went so far as to declare the purported Osama videos that have appeared since December, 2001, are fabrications.

Sen. Robert Menendez and the neocon Sen. Lindsey Graham have a vested interest in keeping the dead nemesis Osama bin Laden alive. The trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be an orchestrated and highly controlled farce that will perpetuate the contrived war on terror.

It remains to be seen if the notorious KSM will be asked about his dubious confession via waterboard, in particular his assertion that he planned the bombing of the Plaza Bank.

“Khalid Shaikh Mohammed’s alleged confession testimony has been thoroughly discredited after it emerged that one of the targets he identified, the Plaza Bank, was not founded until 2006, four years after the alleged Al-Qaeda mastermind’s arrest,” Paul Joseph Watson wrote on March 16, 2007.

by Kurt Nimmo

World Wide Military Expenditures

CountryMilitary expenditures - dollar figure Budget Period
World$1100 billion 2004 est. [see Note 4]
Rest-of-World [all but USA]$500 billion 2004 est. [see Note 4]
United States $623 billion FY08 budget [see Note 6]
China $65.0 billion 2004 [see Note 1]
Russia $50.0 billion [see Note 5]
France $45.0 billion 2005
United Kingdom $42.8 billion 2005 est.
Japan $41.75 billion 2007
Germany $35.1 billion 2003
Italy $28.2 billion 2003
South Korea $21.1 billion 2003 est.
India $19.0 billion 2005 est.
Saudi Arabia $18.0 billion 2005 est.
Australia $16.9 billion 2006
Turkey $12.2 billion 2003
Brazil $9.9 billion 2005 est.
Spain $9.9 billion 2003
Canada $9.8 billion 2003
Israel $9.4 billion FY06 [see Note 7]
Netherlands $9.4 billion 2004
Taiwan $7.9 billion 2005 est.
Mexico $6.1 billion 2005 est.
Greece $5.9 billion 2004
Singapore $5.6 billion 2005
Sweden $5.5 billion 2005 est.
North Korea $5.0 billion FY02
Iran $4.3 billion 2003 est.
Pakistan $4.3 billion 2005 est.
Belgium $4.0 billion 2003
Norway $4.0 billion 2003
Chile $3.9 billion 2005 est.
Colombia $3.5 billion 2005
Poland $3.5 billion 2002
Portugal $3.5 billion 2003
South Africa $3.5 billion 2005 est.
Denmark $3.3 billion 2003
Vietnam $3.2 billion 2005
Algeria $3.0 billion 2005 est.
Kuwait $3.0 billion 2005 est. [see Note 2]
United Arab Emirates $2.7 billion 2005
Egypt $2.5 billion 2005
Malaysia $2.5 billion 2005
Switzerland $2.5 billion 2005 est.
Morocco $2.3 billion 2005 est.
Czech Republic $2.2 billion 2004
Qatar $2.2 billion 2005
Thailand $2.0 billion 2005
Angola $2.0 billion 2005 est.
Finland $1.8 billion FY98/99
Argentina $1.8 billion 2005
Venezuela $1.6 billion 2005 est.
Austria $1.5 billion FY01/02
Romania$1.5 billion 2005
Jordan $1.4 billion 2005 est.
Indonesia $1.3 billion 2004
Iraq $1.3 billion 2005 est.
Hungary $1.1 billion 2002 est.
New Zealand $1.1 billion 2005 est.
Bangladesh $1.0 billion 2005 est.
Yemen $992 million 2005 est.
Syria $858 million N/A [see Note 3]
Philippines $837 million 2005 est.
Peru $829 million 2005 est.
Nigeria $738 million 2005 est.
Ireland$700 million FY00/01
Cuba $694 million 2005 est.
Serbia and Montenegro$654 million 2002
Ecuador $650 million 2005 est.
Bahrain $628 million 2005 est.
Croatia $620 million 2004
Ukraine $618 million FY02
Sri Lanka $606 million 2003 est
Libya $590 million 2005
Sudan $587 million 2004
Lebanon $541 million 2004
Tunisia $440 million 2005
Belarus $421 million 2006
Slovakia$406 million 2002
Uruguay $371 million 2005 est.
Slovenia $370 million 2005 est.
Bulgaria $356 million FY02
Madagascar $329 million 2005 est.
Botswana $326 million 2005 est.
Azerbaijan $310 million 2005
Ethiopia $296 million 2005 est.
Brunei $291 million 2003 est.
Kenya $281 million 2005 est.
Cyprus $280 million 2005
Gabon $254 million 2005 est.
Oman $253 million 2005 est.
Cote d'Ivoire $247 million 2005 est.
Bosnia and Herzegovina $234 million FY02
Luxembourg $232 million 2003
Lithuania $231 million FY01
Cameroon $230 million 2005 est.
Kazakhstan $222 million FY02
Eritrea $220 million 2005 est.
Uganda $193 million 2005 est.
New Caledonia $192 million FY96
Dominican Republic $191 million 2005
Turkmenistan $173 million 2005
Guatemala $170 million 2005 est.
El Salvador $162 million 2005 est.
Estonia $155 million 2002 est.
Equatorial Guinea $152 million 2005 est.
Panama $150 million 2005 est.
Namibia $150 million 2005 est.
Armenia $136 million 2005
Bolivia $130 million 2005 est.
Macedonia, FYR $130 million 2005
Zimbabwe $125 million 2005 est.
Afghanistan $122 million 2005 est.
Zambia $122 million 2005 est.
Guinea $120 million 2005 est.
Senegal $117 million 2005 est.
Nepal $105 million 2005 est.
Congo, Democratic Republic of the $104 million 2005 est.
Benin $101 million 2005 est.
Latvia $87 million FY01
Congo, Republic of the $85 million 2005 est.
Ghana $84 million 2005 est.
Costa Rica $83 million 2005 est.
Mozambique $78 million 2005 est.
Burkina Faso $75 million 2005 est.
Cambodia $74 million 2005
Chad $69 million 2005 est.
Liberia $67 million 2005 est.
Trinidad and Tobago $67 million 2003
Albania $57 million FY02
Uzbekistan $55 million 2005
Rwanda $54 million 2005 est.
Honduras $53 million 2005 est.
Paraguay $53 million 2003 est.
Mali $50 million FY01
Maldives $45 million 2005 est.
Malta $45 million 2005 est.
Niger $45 million 2005 est.
Burundi $44 million 2005 est.
Swaziland $42 million FY01
Lesotho $41 million 2005 est.
Burma $39 million FY97
Fiji $36 million 2004
Tajikistan $35 million FY01
Bahamas, The $32 million 2005
Nicaragua $32 million 2005 est.
Jamaica $31 million 2003 est.
Togo $30 million 2005 est.
Djibouti $29 million 2005 est.
Haiti $26 million 2003 est.
Georgia $23 million FY00
Mongolia $23 million FY02
Somalia $22 million 2005 est.
Tanzania $21 million 2005 est.
Belize $19 million 2005 est.
Kyrgyzstan $19 million FY01
Mauritania $19 million 2005 est.
Guyana $17 million 2005
Papua New Guinea $17 million 2003
Central African Republic $16 million 2005 est.
Malawi $16 million 2005 est.
Seychelles $15 million 2005 est.
Sierra Leone $14 million 2005 est.
Comoros $13 million 2005 est.
Mauritius $12 million 2005 est.
Laos $11 million 2005 est.
Guinea-Bissau $9.5 million 2005 est.
Moldova $8.7 million 2004
Bhutan $8.3 million 2005 est.
Suriname $7.5 million 2003 est.
Cape Verde $7.2 million 2005 est.
East Timor$4.4 million FY03
Bermuda $4.0 million 2001
Gambia, The $1.6 million 2005 est.
San Marino$700,000 FY00/01
Sao Tome and Principe $580,000 2005 est.
Iceland0
Antigua and Barbuda$NA N/A
Barbados$NA N/A
Dominica$NA N/A
Falkland Islands [Islas Malvinas] $NA N/A
Faroe Islands$NA N/A
French Guiana$NA N/A
Gaza Strip$NA N/A
Grenada$NA N/A
Kiribati$NA N/A
Marshall Islands$NA N/A
Nauru$NA N/A
Palau$NA N/A
Saint Kitts and Nevis$NA N/A
Saint Lucia$NA N/A
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines$NA N/A
Samoa$NA N/A
Solomon Islands$NA N/A
Tonga$NA N/A
Tuvalu$NA N/A
Vanuatu$NA N/A
West Bank$NA N/A
Western Sahara$NA N/A
SOURCE [unless otherwise noted]:
  • Field Listing - Military expenditures CIA - The World Factbook 2002 -- The Military expenditures dollar figure entry gives current military expenditures in US dollars; the figure is calculated by multiplying the estimated defense spending in percentage terms by the gross domestic product (GDP) calculated on an exchange rate basis not purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. Dollar figures for military expenditures should be treated with caution because of different price patterns and accounting methods among nations, as well as wide variations in the strength of their currencies.
  • Field Listing - Military Expenditures CIA - The World Factbook 2006
  • World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers (WMEAT) The 28th edition of "World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers" (WMEAT), released on February 6, 2003, is the second published by the Department of State following integration with the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the previous publisher. The report covers the years 1989 through 1999 -- that is, the end of the Cold War and its aftermath.
  • SIPRI data on military expenditure
  • IISS - The Military Balance 2006
  • Note 1 - The officially announced figure is $24.6 billion, but actual defense spending more likely ranges from $45 billion to $85 billion for 2004
    Note 2 - Kuwait has changed its fiscal year; the above figure is for be April-March 2005.
    Note 3 - based on CIA Factbook data that may understate actual spending
    Note 4 - Non-US aggregate real expenditure on military worldwide in 2007 remained at approximately the 1998 level, about half a trillion dollars. US spending increased from about $280 billion to about $625 billion.
    Note 5 - CIA & SIPRI provide no estimates
    Note 6 - The FY2008 budget requests $481.4 billion in discretionary authority for the Department of Defense base budget, an 11.3 percent increase over the projected enacted level for fiscal 2007, for real growth of 8.6 percent; and $141.7 billion to continue the fight in the Global War on Terror (GWOT)

    The fiscal year (FY) 2004 Department of Defense (DoD) budget request was $379.9 billion in discretionary budget authority -- $15.3 billion above FY 2003. The fiscal 2004 National Defense Authorization Act, passed by Congress 07 November 2003, authorizes DoD to spend $401.3 billion. The fiscal 2004 Defense Appropriations Act, which actually provides the money, became law 30 September 2003.

    On April 16, 2003 President Bush signed the FY2003 $79 billion wartime supplemental to cover the needs directly arising from Operation Iraqi Freedom and the reconstruction of Iraq. The Defense Department received $62.6 billion as a result of the emergency supplemental bill.

    On Nov. 6, 2003 President Bush signed the FY2004 $87.5 billion supplemental appropriations bill for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill provides $64.7 billion for military operations in Iraq, in Afghanistan and elsewhere, including about $51 billion is for Operation Iraqi Freedom, and $10 billion for Operation Enduring Freedom. The remaining $22.8 billion in non-DOD monies will cover costs with Operation Noble Eagle and support for allies in the war on terror.
    Note 7 - 2006, $7.2 B national budget + $2.2B US assistance