http://www.youtube.com/v/MYcPs576OTw?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata Source: Jesse Ventura talks about CIA implanted in State Government, his CIA interrogation and trip to Cuba
Eastern Attraction: Australia to buy $2.1mn in Chinese bonds
RBA Deputy Governor Phillip Lowe went public with the People’s Bank of China approval in front of a business audience in Shanghai on Wednesday.”Our current intention is to hold around 5% of Australia’s foreign currency assets in China,” Mr. Lowe said, and hinted the switch would be completed by the end of the year.According to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, in 2012 71.1% of exports went to Asia, about 30% to China, only 7.8% to Europe and 5.6% to the US. A switch to the yen is a tactical business move for Australia, since their business fulcrum is in the east.The RBA currently allocates 45% of its foreign reserves to the US, 45% to Europe, 5% to Japan, and 5% to Canada.The move is an “important milestone in deepening our financial and economic linkages with China,” Australia’s Treasurer Wayne Swan said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg.The RBA’s announcement comes shortly after their agreement with China to make the Australian dollar and yuan directly convertible.The convertibility and the bond reserves will encourage more Australian-Chinese business, as Australian businesses will no longer have to change foreign currency earnings into dollars first. Conducting business in yuan will give import/export industries a competitive advantage.Australia is the fifth largest importer of Chinese goods. Between 2011-2012 it imported $15.1 AU ($15.4 million) of telecom equipment, computers, clothing, and furniture from the world’s second largest economy.According to its website, as of March, the RBA holds currency assets of $39.2 billion.Australia’s top exports in 2012 were iron ore (26%), coal (17%), and gas (6%).Dollar in declineOn Monday, China’s currency hit a record high against the US dollar, which confirmed currency analysts’ speculation of a dominance shift from the West to the East.Treasurer Swan, in his email to Bloomberg, confirmed Australia’s currency allegiance.“Strong financial linkages between our economies will ensure that Australia is even better positioned to benefit from the shift in global economic growth towards Asia,” said Swan.The Wall Street Journal published an article in April entitled, “Why the Dollar’s Reign Is Near An End,” by a University of California, Berkeley economics professor.Barry Eichengreen wrote, abolishing the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency will open up opportunities for European and Asian companies.“The same will be true of companies in other countries that do most of their business with China or Europe,” wrote Eichengreen. “It will be a considerable convenience—and competitive advantage—for them to be able to do that business in yuan or euros rather than having to go through the dollar,” Eichengreen wrote.However, it’s not necessarily an end-sum game – just because China prospers doesn’t mean the US must suffer. Our financial system is far too mature for such rationale, and the diversification in reserve funds is a reflection of this maturity. … Read More
Eastern Attraction: Australia to buy $2.1bn in Chinese bonds
RBA Deputy Governor Phillip Lowe went public with the People’s Bank of China approval in front of a business audience in Shanghai on Wednesday.”Our current intention is to hold around 5% of Australia’s foreign currency assets in China,” Mr. Lowe said, and hinted the switch would be completed by the end of the year.According to the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, in 2012 71.1% of exports went to Asia, about 30% to China, only 7.8% to Europe and 5.6% to the US. A switch to the yen is a tactical business move for Australia, since their business fulcrum is in the east.The RBA currently allocates 45% of its foreign reserves to the US, 45% to Europe, 5% to Japan, and 5% to Canada.The move is an “important milestone in deepening our financial and economic linkages with China,” Australia’s Treasurer Wayne Swan said in an emailed statement to Bloomberg.The RBA’s announcement comes shortly after their agreement with China to make the Australian dollar and yuan directly convertible.The convertibility and the bond reserves will encourage more Australian-Chinese business, as Australian businesses will no longer have to change foreign currency earnings into dollars first. Conducting business in yuan will give import/export industries a competitive advantage.Australia is the fifth largest importer of Chinese goods. Between 2011-2012 it imported $15.1 AU ($15.4 million) of telecom equipment, computers, clothing, and furniture from the world’s second largest economy.According to its website, as of March, the RBA holds currency assets of $39.2 billion.Australia’s top exports in 2012 were iron ore (26%), coal (17%), and gas (6%).Dollar in declineOn Monday, China’s currency hit a record high against the US dollar, which confirmed currency analysts’ speculation of a dominance shift from the West to the East.Treasurer Swan, in his email to Bloomberg, confirmed Australia’s currency allegiance.“Strong financial linkages between our economies will ensure that Australia is even better positioned to benefit from the shift in global economic growth towards Asia,” said Swan.The Wall Street Journal published an article in April entitled, “Why the Dollar’s Reign Is Near An End,” by a University of California, Berkeley economics professor.Barry Eichengreen wrote, abolishing the US dollar as the world’s reserve currency will open up opportunities for European and Asian companies.“The same will be true of companies in other countries that do most of their business with China or Europe,” wrote Eichengreen. “It will be a considerable convenience—and competitive advantage—for them to be able to do that business in yuan or euros rather than having to go through the dollar,” Eichengreen wrote.However, it’s not necessarily an end-sum game – just because China prospers doesn’t mean the US must suffer. Our financial system is far too mature for such rationale, and the diversification in reserve funds is a reflection of this maturity. … Read More
Opposition leader Navalny on trial for fraud
The new round of hearings started in the provincial town of Kirov on Wednesday, one week Navalny’s lawer requested an adjournment for more time to study the case.At the very beginning of the Wednesday session the defense again asked for a similar adjournment but the judge turned down the request.Then, the defense lawyers asked for the case to be returned to prosecutors as it allegedly lacked the full list of evidence and some figures were mixed up in the sum of the material damages. The judge turned down this appeal as well.After a break the defense demanded the judge to be replaced saying that the current judge is not free and independent.Like a week ago the court building is surrounded by reporters and supporters of the suspect. Also about 30 people held a rally against Navalny nearby which ended without incident.Navalny is suspected in defrauding the Kirovles state owned timber company of 16 million roubles (over $500,000) in 2009 when he worked as a voluntary aide to regional governor Nikita Belykh. The charges are mostly based on the confession of the former head of Kirovles who had already been tried for embezzlement but entered a plea deal and received a four years suspended sentence.One more person is a suspect in the case – Petr Ofitserov who was heading the company that was allegedly signing false contracts with Kirovles on Navalny’s instructions.Navalny is a trained lawyer (though his opponents question the attorney record that he presented to officially receive this status) with a long history of political work. His allegiances included the veteran pro-democracy Yabloko party, nationalist movements (he himself founded one) and modern pro-market liberals, such as governor Nikita Belykh.The People’s Alliance political party is claiming Navalny as their leader. The party is currently undergoing registration and Navalny says he is neither the official leader nor even a member of the group.Despite intensive media coverage of the process Navalny’s popularity among ordinary people is still average – he is not even the most well known of the opposition figures.According to the latest poll conducted by the VTSIOM public opinion center only 53 percent of Russians know about Navalny and 47 percent admitted that the name did not ring any bells.Of those who know about Navalny 51 percent said they disliked him and only 19 percent told the pollsters they approved of the opposition blogger and his activities.Other opposition leaders appear to be more known to the public with former Nizhny Novgorod governor Boris Nemtsov claiming the highest popularity at 78 percent. Nemtsov outpaced even grandmaster Gary Kasparov and former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov – with only 76 and 68 percent of Russians saying they knew their names.When the pollsters asked the Russian public what they thought about the possible motives behind Navalny’s relentless activism, 13 percent said that it was a thirst for power, 10 percent named the discontent with the existing Russian authorities, 6 percent said Navalny was driven by his own urge for justice, and 3 percent agreed that the blogger was fighting corruption. Another 3 percent suggested that Navalny was working on orders from the West. … Read More
Opposition leader Navalny goes on trial, claims case ‘politically motivated’
The new round of hearings started in the provincial town of Kirov on Wednesday, one week after Navalny’s lawyer requested an adjournment for more time to study the case.At the very beginning of the Wednesday session the defense again asked for a similar adjournment but the judge turned down the request.Then, the defense lawyers asked for the case to be returned to prosecutors as it allegedly lacked the full list of evidence and some figures were mixed up in the sum of the material damages. The judge turned down this appeal as well.The defense demanded the judge to be replaced saying that the current judge is not free and independent.The judge, who had to decide on his own replacement ruled not to agree the appeal as the listed reasons were badly founded.Navalny pleaded not guilty and claimed the charges against him were the authorities’ revenge for disclosures made during his anti-corruption campaign. “The case is absolutely political and it is fabricated. I am confident that my innocence will be proved and clear to everyone present in this hall, and also to all citizens who find it interesting to understand the case”.However, the blogger said that he had no doubt that the process would end in a conviction.If convicted Navalny could face up to 10 years in prison. Judge Sergey Blinov has scheduled the court hearings up to May 30 which suggests there will not be a verdict before June.Like a week ago the court building is surrounded by reporters and supporters of the suspect. Also about 30 people held a rally against Navalny nearby which ended without incident.Navalny is suspected in defrauding the Kirovles state owned timber company of 16 million roubles (over $500,000) in 2009 when he worked as a voluntary aide to regional governor Nikita Belykh. The charges are mostly based on the confession of the former head of Kirovles who had already been tried for embezzlement but entered a plea deal and received a four years suspended sentence.One more person is a suspect in the case – Petr Ofitserov who was heading the company that was allegedly signing false contracts with Kirovles on Navalny’s instructions.Navalny is a trained lawyer (though his opponents question the attorney record that he presented to officially receive this status) with a long history of political work. His allegiances included the veteran pro-democracy Yabloko party, nationalist movements (he himself founded one) and modern pro-market liberals, such as governor Nikita Belykh.The People’s Alliance political party is claiming Navalny as their leader. The party is currently undergoing registration and Navalny says he is neither the official leader nor even a member of the group.Despite intensive media coverage of the process Navalny’s popularity among ordinary people is still average – he is not even the most well known of the opposition figures.According to the latest poll conducted by the VTSIOM public opinion center only 53 percent of Russians know about Navalny and 47 percent admitted that the name did not ring any bells.Of those who know about Navalny 51 percent said they disliked him and only 19 percent told the pollsters they approved of the opposition blogger and his activities.Other opposition leaders appear to be more known to the public with former Nizhny Novgorod governor Boris Nemtsov claiming the highest popularity at 78 percent. Nemtsov outpaced even grandmaster Gary Kasparov and former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov – with only 76 and 68 percent of Russians saying they knew their names.When the pollsters asked the Russian public what they thought about the possible motives behind Navalny’s relentless activism, 13 percent said that it was a thirst for power, 10 percent named the discontent with the existing Russian authorities, 6 percent said Navalny was driven by his own urge for justice, and 3 percent agreed that the blogger was fighting corruption. Another 3 percent suggested that Navalny was working on orders from the West. … Read More
Maryland prison guards helped gangs smuggle drugs, fathered inmate’s children
The guards were charged by the Maryland US Attorney’s Office after the indictment was unsealed in federal court on Tuesday, according to the Washington Post. The guards are accused of smuggling cell phones, prescription pills and other contraband into Baltimore City Detention Center at the behest of Tavon White, the alleged leader of the Black Guerilla Family gang, or BGF. White and six other inmates as well as five “outside suppliers” were also indicted. Prosecutors claimed White had sexual relations with at least four of the guards and had fathered five children with them since he was incarcerated in 2009 after an attempted murder conviction. “Correctional officers were in bed with BGF inmates, in violation of the first principle of prison management,” US Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein told reporters. “Preventing prison corruption requires intensive screening at prison entrances and punishment for employees who consort with inmates or bring cell phones and drugs into correctional facilities.” Two of the accused guards had tattoos reading “Tavon” and at least four were given gifts including luxury cars and diamond rings. Marijuana, Oxycodone, Xanax, Klonopin and Vicodin were among the drugs brought into the prison, reported Baltimore CBS affiliate WJZ. Prosecutors also included a transcript of a wiretapped phone call from January 5, 2013, in which White brags of making roughly $16,000 from black market activities in the prison in a month, among other implicating details. “This is my jail. You understand that? I’m dead serious,” White is quoted as saying in the documents. “I make every final call in this jail and nothing go past me, everything come to me. Any of my brothers that deal with anybody, it’s gonna come to me…” State Sen. Joseph M. Getty said the charges are a “pretty harsh indictment” of the prison policies set forth by Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. “This is frightening to us as legislators, the level of collusion that has existed between the correction officers and inmates,” Getty said. Since the gang’s inception at the San Quentin California state prison in 1966 the Black Guerilla Family has spread throughout the US correctional system while engaging in homicide, drug trafficking, racketeering and other offenses. The BGF’s influence has been particularly evident in Baltimore, where a 2009 indictment claimed that one gangster dined on shrimp and expensive vodka from his prison cell. … Read More
Nevada psych hospital accused of sending patients on one-way trips to nowhere
The reports, which are part of a Sacramento Bee investigative series, indicate that 1,500 patients were discharged by the Rawson Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas since 2008 with one-way bus tickets to out-of-state locations, with one third sent packing to California. However, other evidence indicates that the hospital sent at least one person to every state in the contiguous United States between July 2008 and early March 2013. According to the Bee’s investigation, in one example the Las Vegas hospital discharged James Flavy Coy Brown, a 48-year-old suffering from schizophrenia, depression and anxiety, with a one-way Greyhound Bus ticket for a 15-hour ride to Sacramento, California, providing him with three days’ worth of medication. According to Brown, a doctor at Rawson Neal suggested a trip to “sunny California” as the state offers superior health care. The Sacramento Bee reports that Brown eventually turned up both suicidal and in a confused mental state at a homeless services center in Sacramento – where he knew no one, and had no conceivable arrangements for housing or treatment.According to San Francisco city attorney Dennis Herrera, the evidence uncovered by the newspaper’s investigation is beyond disturbing.“Assuming the reports are true, Nevada’s practice of psychiatric ‘patient dumping’ is shockingly inhumane and illegal,” Herrera said via a statement. Herrera opened a formal investigation on Monday, and dispatched a letter to Nevada’s director of Health and Human Services, demanding that the state disclose records regarding its practice of discharging patients to cities across the country.That letter includes further evidence provided by the Sacramento Bee, such as patients sent to dozens of US states. Copies of the letter were also sent to Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval and the state’s Attorney General, Catherine Cortez Masto.According to the Bee’s extensive investigation on the alleged patient dumping, between 2009 and 2012 the state of Nevada slashed its mental health budget to address deficits. In that same period, the number of patients sent on one-way trips from the Rawson Neal mental hospital ballooned by 66 per cent. By 2012, the facility was bussing patients at a pace of more than one per day, sending 400 of them to 45 US states.In response to Herrera’s official inquiry, Nevada’s director of health and human services, Mike Willden, responded via email that his department was presently reviewing the 1,500-some discharges which involved suspected interstate dumping. Willden suggested that a “documentation error” was behind hospital staff’s failure to properly document discharge and out-of-state travel for patients.If the allegations are found to be true, the Las Vegas mental hospital could lose its Medicare funding, as it would be in violation of federal laws requiring such facilities to treat their patients until their conditions are stabilized, and with proper arrangements for continuing care beyond discharge. … Read More
