Smáís rennur á rassinn með vonlaust mál sitt

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Máli gegn Istorrent vísað frá
Innlent | mbl.is | 27.3.2008 | 16:54
Héraðsdómur Reykjaness hefur vísað frá máli, sem myndrétthafar, tónskáld og hljómplötuútgefendur höfðuðu gegn Istorrent ehf. og forsvarsmanni félagsins.
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Máli gegn Istorrent vísað frá

Psychopath Bush: Iraq violence is a 'positive moment'

Tom Baldwin in Washington

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article3628928.ece

President Bush gave warning yesterday that Iraq’s “fragile situation” required the US to maintain a strong military presence there, even as he defended the withdrawal of British troops from Basra, the scene of heavy fighting in recent days.

In an interview with The Times, he backed the Iraqi Government’s decision to “respond forcefully” to the spiralling violence by “criminal elements” and Shia extremists in Basra. “It was a very positive moment in the development of a sovereign nation that is willing to take on elements that believe they are beyond the law,” the President said.

Asked if British troops had retreated to the relative safety of the Basra airbase too hastily last year, Mr Bush said that the pullback had been “based upon success” in quelling violence, adding that he remained grateful for the contribution made by British Forces from “day one” of the war.

Mr Bush, who had spent the morning being briefed on Iraq by the Pentagon before an imminent announcement on US troop levels, said that despite “substantial gains” since the US military surge began last year, much work was needed to “maintain the success we’ve had”.

Iraq timeline: five years of conflict

From accusations that the weapons of mass destruction dossier had been sexed-up to withdrawal of British troops from Basra

Multimedia

• Poll: Was Iraq war worth the sacrifice?

• Audio slideshow: Iraq conflict explained

• Pictures: Iraq, war and aftermath

Related Internet Links

• Read the Inside Iraq blog from our team in Baghdad

Related Links

• Iraqi PM issues ultimatum to militias

• SAS man killed in Baghdad gunfight

• Iraqi troops take on Shia militia in Basra clash

Multimedia

• Iraq: five years on

There has been speculation that he plans to hold the current level of troops at about 140,000 through the autumn and possibly beyond in the hope he can bind in his successor — be it a Democratic or Republican president — to his Iraq strategy.

Mr Bush insisted yesterday that decisions would not be made by those who “scream the loudest” in calling for troops to come home. Instead, in his interview with four international journalists, including The Times, he said: “I understand people here want us to leave, regardless of the situation, but that will not happen so long as I’m Commander-In-Chief.”

His comments came before a visit next week to Eastern Europe and the final Nato summit of his presidency, being held in Bucharest. Despite being hobbled by unpopularity abroad and at home — where attention is focused on the race to succeed him — Mr Bush appears determined to shape his legacy in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The President gave a glimpse of some of the resentment felt by Washington towards other Nato allies whom he said needed to be “encouraged” to take obligations in Afghanistan seriously. The definition of the summit’s success, he added, would be to ensure Nato stayed relevant.

But he heaped praise on President Sarkozy of France, who has announced his intention to send another 1,000 troops to the Afghan battlefields. It was notable, perhaps, that he avoided expressing similar sentiments about Gordon Brown after a period, since Tony Blair’s departure from Downing Street, in which differences of tone, if not substance, have emerged between Britain and the US.

Asked if Mr Sarkozy now represented America’s most important bilateral partner, Mr Bush replied that the relationship with Britain was “never as special” as during times of war, before citing the alliance between Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as “the current relationship — the more modern relationship — between Tony Blair and myself”.

He added: “It’s going to be hard for any nation to trump the United Kingdom as our greatest ally. Having said that, no question that the relationship \ is changing for the better.” President Sarkozy — whom he described as a “highly energetic and decisive” leader — deserved credit, he said, for not being “interested in creating divisions in the transatlantic relationship”.

France’s offer of an additional 1,000 troops “pretty much ensured” next week’s summit would be a success, he said, adding that the British, French and Canadian troops who “will be in harm’s way” represented a strong statement that Nato was ready to rise to the challenge in Afghanistan.

Mr Bush ended the interview by announcing that he was accepting an invitation to meet President Putin of Russia after the Nato summit at the Crimean resort of Sochi. It will be the last opportunity for talks between the two leaders before Dmitri Medvedev becomes president in May.

He said that matters to be discussed would include the dispute over the proposed American missile defence system to be based in Central Europe, as well as measures to counter Iran’s uranium enrichment programme, which Washington still fears may lead to Tehran acquiring nuclear weapons.

Moscow remains vehemently opposed to the missile defence system, fearing it will be used to undermine Russia’s nuclear deterrent. Mr Bush said yesterday that it would take only a fraction of Russia’s enormous arsenal to destroy the system and insisted once more that it was designed to protect Europe against a potential attack from the Middle East.

Recent talks in Moscow between Russian officials and Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, and Robert Gates, the Defence Secretary, brought no immediate breakthrough.

But the President said: “Hopefully we could advance our dialogue so that at some point in time we could reach agreement on this important matter. A lot of people in Europe will heave a sigh of relief if we are able to reach an accord on missile defence.”

Mr Bush said that he looked forward to meeting Mr Medvedev for face-to-face talks and had been impressed by his comments on the need for transparency and the rule of law.

Saving Iceland

Saving Iceland

By Robert Shrimsley

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e006c43a-fb9f-11dc-8c3e-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

Published: March 27 2008 02:00 | Last updated: March 27 2008 02:00

The European Central Bank on Wednesday tore up its own rulebook to bail out Iceland, the giant hedge fund off the west coast of Norway that owns large parts of Britain's high streets.

Although central bankers did not actually believe Iceland was too big to fail, they feared it was too interconnected to be allowed to go down. One official said that top of the ECB's mind was the fear that a fire sale of Iceland would spread contagion across Scandinavia and right into the Woolworths.

As a fund operating outside the eurozone, Iceland would not normally qualify for ECB help but officials have changed the rules to save Europe's financial system.

Iceland's three biggest funds - the Baugur Opportunity Fund; the Glitnir Worth A Punt Fund and the Kaupthing Let's Have a Go Fund - were all highly leveraged, sitting on debt several times larger than Iceland's gross domestic product. As liquidity tightened, Iceland embarked on a desperate search for cash. Its prime minister travelled to China with a bold plan to sell its sovereign wealth fund a 20 per cent stake in the women's wear department of Debenhams.

The signs of distress were already evident; the currency had plummeted in value; credit default swaps had widened sharply on the country's banks and Whittard of Chelsea had all but run out of Café Français.

The ECB therefore opened its discount window to Iceland, allowing it to borrow funds posted against German collateral. As part of the deal Germany gets to annex Iceland for the knockdown price of 2 krona a share - giving it an equity value of $250m - and all but wiping out the country's shareholders.

Investors are said to be furious, claiming that Reykjavik alone is worth $10bn. The deal is an attractive one for Germany, which has long wanted its own pure fish play and now acquires Iceland's prime fisheries unit for next to nothing.

However, the move has enraged Denmark, which claims pre-emption rights over the Iceland fund it ran until 1944. It has threatened legal action unless it is given first refusal over the isle. Officials are now trying to broker a sale and leaseback arrangement under which Denmark leases Iceland to Germany for a nominal sum while retaining its claim.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

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Íslandi bjargað!

Næstu vaxtahækkanir Seðlabankans á árinu

Seðlabankinn getur ekki lækkað vexti það sem eftir er ársins vegna þess að hann er ennþá í vaxtahækkanaferli. Peningamálaaðgerðir þurfa ákveðinn tíma til að virka og eru fremur hægvirkar. Til dæmis má reikna með að full áhrif vaxtahækkunar gærdagsins verði ekki komin fram á hagkerfinu fyrr en eftir amk. 9-12 mánuði og næst síðasta vaxtahækkunin (frá í nóvember) hefur því ekki enn skilað fullum áhrifum enn.

Þetta felur síðan í sér að amk. 9-12 mánuðir þurfa að jafnaði að líða frá síðustu vaxtahækkun til fyrstu vaxtalækkunar (það er út í hött að gefa inn bensín um leið og hemlað er) og því er spurningin bara hvenær og hversu mikið seðlabankinn muni hækka stýrivextina næst. Ég geri sjálfur ráð fyrir að þeir hækki þá um eitt prósentustig í næsta mánuði og verði í amk. 18% um áramót. Hugsanir?

Núverandi stýrivextir í helstu ávaxtalýðveldum - Heimild: The Economist

Tyrkland - 16.73%

Ísland - 15.00%

Suður Afríka - 11.45%

Brasilía - 11.18%

Argentína - 10.38

Rússland - 10.25%

Pakistan - 10.24%

Kólumbía - 9.75%

Ungverjaland - 8.22%

Indónesía - 8.10%

Á lista Economist yfir 55 lönd eru þetta þau sem eru yfir 8% ...

Seðlabankinn hækkar vexti um 1,25% - Sem sagt algjör paník í dvergasteininum við Arnarhól.

Frétt af mbl.is

  Seðlabankinn hækkar vexti

Viðskipti | mbl.is | 25.3.2008 | 9:01
Seðlabankinn hefur ákveðið að hækka stýrivexti bankans um 1,25 prósentur í 15%. Segir bankinn, að forsendur verðbólguspár sem birtist í Peningamálum í nóvember sl. og fól í sér óbreytta stýrivexti fram á síðari helming þessa árs, hafi brugðist.
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Hefur verið fyrirsjáanlegt nokkuð lengi. Ég taldi sjálfur hérna á blogginu fyrir eitthvað mánuði að þeir myndu ákveða þetta á neyðarfundi 15. mars.

Stýrivextir hækka í 15%

97 percent of US death toll came after Bush's 'Mission Accomplished'

Agence France-Presse
Published: Monday March 24, 2008

 

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BAGHDAD (AFP) — The death toll of US soldiers in the five-year Iraq conflict has hit 4,000 in what the US military said Monday was a "tragic" loss of lives after four troops were killed in a Baghdad bombing.

The four soldiers died when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb while on patrol late Sunday in southern Baghdad, bringing the overall toll to 4,000, according to an AFP tally based on independent website.

Another soldier was wounded in the attack, a military statement said.

The chaotic and brutal conflict which is now in its sixth year has also wounded more than 29,000 American soldiers, according to icasualties.org.

At least 97 percent of the deaths occurred after US President George W. Bush announced the end of "major combat" in Iraq on May 1, 2003, as the military became caught between a raging anti-American insurgency and brutal sectarian strife unleashed since the toppling of Saddam.

140 American servicemembers died before May 1, 2003, out of a total 4,000.

Despite the losses, Bush on the eve of the war's fifth anniversary defended his decision to invade Iraq, vowing no retreat as he promised American soldiers would triumph despite the "high cost in lives and treasure."

US military spokesman in Baghdad, Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, said the loss of every soldier was "tragic".

"No casualty is more or less significant than another; each soldier, marine, airman and sailor is equally precious and their loss equally tragic," Smith told AFP.

"Being in the military means we are willingly in harm's way to protect others in order to bring hope and a sustainable security to the Iraqi people."

According to icasualties.org, 81.3 percent of the soldiers killed have died in attacks by Al-Qaeda in Iraq fighters, Sunni insurgent groups loyal to Saddam and radical Shiite militias.

The remainder died in non-combat related incidents.

Roadside bombs caused most of the casualties, with small arms fire the second biggest killer.

Around 40 percent of those killed were struck by roadside bombs, according to the website, making these weapons the main cause of fatalities.

Others died variously in car bombings, small arms fire, helicopter crashes, ambushes, rocket attacks and suicide bombings.

American soldiers interviewed by AFP in Iraq expressed sorrow over the casualties but insisted the conflict was justified.

"It's sad that the number is that high. It makes you wonder if there is a different way of approaching things. Nobody likes to hear that number," said senior Airman Preston Reeves, 26, from Birmingham, Alabama.

"Everyone of those people signed up voluntarily and its a shame that that happens, but tragedies do happen in war."

Reeves said it was depressing that the support back home was receding.

"It's a shame you don't get support from your own country, when all they want you to do is leave Iraq and all these people will have died in vain," he told AFP.

The military death toll is one of the key elements of the US 2008 presidential elections for Democrat candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who are calling for the withdrawal of troops.

The deadliest war for the US military, aside from the two world wars, has been Vietnam, with 58,000 soldiers killed between 1964 and 1973, an average of 26 a day. On average, just over two US soldiers die every day in Iraq.

The icasualties.org statistics reveal that the deadliest year for the military in Iraq was 2007 when it lost 901 troops on the back of a controversial "surge", which saw an extra 30,000 soldiers deployed in a bid to break the stranglehold of violence that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis.

This figure compares with 486 deaths in 2003, the first year of the conflict, 849 in 2004, 846 in 2005 and 822 in 2006.

Since the start of 2008, 96 soldiers have died.

US military commanders in Iraq acknowledge that putting extra troops on the ground also exposed them to more attacks.

In recent months the military has begun withdrawing the surge troops as violence levels fall across the country, with US and Iraqi officials reporting a 60-percent drop in attacks since June.

Most of the attacks in the past five years have been staged in four of Iraq's 18 provinces.

The western Sunni province of Anbar witnessed most overall casualties, with 1,282 losses since the US-led invasion, according to icasualties.org, followed by Baghdad with 1,255, Salaheddin with 376, and Diyala with 238.

In Anbar and Salaheddin the military faced a strong anti-American insurgency, while in Baghdad and Diyala it has been caught in a three-way fight involving Al-Qaeda, Sunni groups loyal to Saddam and Shiite militias.

But for the past year attacks against US troops have fallen sharply in Anbar after local Sunni Arab groups joined forces with the US military to fight Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

According to the website, November 2004 remains the deadliest month for the US military in Iraq.

It lost 137 troops that month when it launched a massive assault to take back the Anbar city of Fallujah, then a Sunni insurgent bastion.

The US state of California has borne the brunt of American losses, with at least 426 soldiers killed in the conflict.

The US military is also searching for four of its soldiers missing in Iraq.

Two of them were captured in May last year after insurgents ambushed their patrol south of Baghdad in an attack which killed four other soldiers and their interpreter.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq in a later Internet message said it had kidnapped and killed the soldiers. The military says it is still searching for them.

Apart from deaths due to hostile fire, 145 soldiers have died due to "self-inflicted wounds," the website said, indicating a large number of suicides.

The death toll also includes 102 female service members.

 

Hvers vegna FL Group var tekið af markaði

Heimildir mínar segja mér að það sé ekki hægt að tilkynna fjármálaeftirlitinu um einhverja samninga sem voru gerðir í kringum krísureddingar FL Group í vetur. Þá var talið að staða þessa félags gæti sett bankakerfið eða hluta þess í hættu. Einhverjir samningar voru því frekar desperat og það svo að það er víst nauðsynlegt að taka félag þetta af markaði til að losna við að þeir líti dagsins ljós.

Fjármálakrísan: Nánast öruggt að Federal Reserve lækki nú stýrivexti um 100 punkta

Þeir fara þá úr 3% í 2%, sem er hlutfallslega mjög stór hreyfing. FR hefur ekki lækkað vexti um heilt prósentustig síðan á níunda áratugnum og þá voru stýrivextir miklu hærri en nú.

Þetta sýnir mikla örvæntingu en hvað geta þeir gert? Þeir eru eiginlega þvingaðir til að sýna að þeir séu í paník og verða að láta eins og þeir hafi einhver teljandi áhrif á tröllvaxið fjármálakerfi sem enginn ræður í rauninni við lengur hvorki ríkisstórnir né seðlabankar og varla stjórnendur þessa kerfis heldur.

Verðbólgan í 15-20%.

Skv. Hagstofunni

http://hagstofa.is/Pages/95?NewsID=3164

var hækkun neysluverðsvísitölunnar í febrúar á ársgrundvelli 17,9% miðað við síðasta mánuð, 9,3% miðað við síðustu þrjá mánuði, 9,8 miðað við síðustu sex mánuði og 6,8% miðað við síðustu 12 mánuði. Jafnvel hin opinbert hannaða verðbólga er því á hraðri uppleið eins og sjá má og stefnir að fótfestu í tveggja stafa tölu. Gengi krónunnar hefur hrunið mjög hratt í þessum mánuði sem bætist við stöðugt gengisfall frá í byrjun nóvember (evran hefur hækkað um 40% síðan þá og jenið um 50%) sem augljóslega flytur inn mikla verðbólgu. Þetta er í meira lagi skuggaleg staða fyrir hagkerfi hvers langmikilvægasta starfsemi er framleiðsla skuldapappíra.