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MEK162 Shows Promising Clinical Activity in Ongoing Phase 2 Trial
First targeted therapy to show activity in patients with NRAS mutated melanoma
Common adverse events of all grades were consistent with data reported for the MEK inhibitor class and included rash, diarrhea, acneiform dermatitis, edema, creatine phosphokinase elevation, central serous retinopathy-like events, nausea, and fatigue.
"Significant treatment progress has been achieved for patients with
advanced melanoma, particularly those with BRAF mutations, over the past
few years," said
In conclusion, MEK162, the first targeted therapy to show activity in
patients with NRAS mutant melanoma, showed clinical activity and good
tolerability in patients with BRAF and NRAS mutated advanced melanoma.
About Metastatic Melanoma and BRAF / NRAS Mutations
When melanoma is diagnosed early, it is generally a curable disease.
However, when it spreads to other parts of the body, it is the deadliest
and most aggressive form of skin cancer. A person with metastatic
melanoma typically has on average a short life expectancy that is
measured in months.
About MEK and MEK162
MEK is a key protein kinase in the RAS/RAF/MEK/ERK pathway, which signals cancer cell proliferation and survival. MEK has been shown to be frequently activated in cancer, in particular in tumors that have mutations, including BRAF and NRAS, in the RAS and RAF pathways. MEK162 is a small molecule MEK inhibitor that targets a key position in this pathway and is in Phase 2 development in a range of tumors.
MEK162 was identified by
Forward-Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995,
including statements about the timing of completion or initiation of
further trials involving MEK162, the potential for the results of
ongoing clinical trials to support regulatory approval or the marketing
success of MEK162, and future plans to progress and develop MEK162.
These statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, including
those discussed in the most recent annual report filed on form 10-K,
quarterly reports filed on Form 10-Q, and other reports filed by Array
with the
Array BioPharma Inc.
Tricia Haugeto, 303-386-1193


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Friday, 19 December 2008
History in making: 66 countries, including Armenia, signed a joint UN statement against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity
Sixty-six countries signed a joint statement in support of LGBT human rights, which was tabled at the United Nations General Assembly today.
Armenia was the first country in the South Caucasus and broader region to endorse the statement. In a welcome move, Georgia then joined in too. Russia, Turkey and Azerbaijan did not endorse it.
Not surprisingly, there is no US signature there. As far as I understand, this statement is open and in time other countries may join in too. So hopefully Obama's new US administration will follow its promises and sign it.
The 66 countries that signed the joint UN statement for LGBT human rights are:
Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
The UN statement, which includes a call for the decriminalisation of homosexuality worldwide, was read by Argentina.
For more details on this statement, read my previous post here: http://gayarmenia.blogspot.com/2008/12/armenia-endorses-historic-un-statement.html
"This was history in the making. Totally ground-breaking. It is the first time that the UN General Assembly has been presented with a statement in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)human rights. Securing this statement at the UN is the result of an inspiring collective global effort by many LGBT and human rights organisations. Our collaboration, unity and solidarity have won us this success," said Peter Tatchell of the British LGBT human rights movement, OutRage!, which lobbied for countries to support the statement.
"To decriminalise homosexuality worldwide is a battle for human rights," added Louis-Georges Tin, the President and founder of the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO), which in 2006 initiated the global campaign to end the criminalisation of same-sex relationships and secured the support of dozens of international public figures, ranging from Nobel Prize winners to writers, clergy,actors, musicians and academics."IDAHO has worked hard for two years to promote this issue. For us,this is a great achievement. I want to thank the many other people and organisations who have worked with us since the beginning, and more recently. I also want to remind everyone that ending the criminalisation of same-sex love will be a long, hard battle. To love is not a crime".
"IDAHO expresses its particular appreciation to the French Secretary of State for human rights, Ms Rama Yade, for her role in organising this statement and bringing it to the UN," said Mr Tin.
Mr Tatchell added:
"The original initiative for the universal decriminalisation of homosexuality campaign came from the inspiring French black activist and gay rights campaigner, Louis-Georges Tin, coordinator of the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO). He lobbied the French government, which agreed to take the lead in organising the presentation of the statement at the UN.
"As well as IDAHO, I pay tribute to the contribution and lobbying of Amnesty International; ARC International; Center for Women's Global Leadership; COC Netherlands; Global Rights; Human Rights Watch; International Committee for IDAHO (the International Day Against Homophobia); International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC); International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association (ILGA); International Service for Human Rights; Pan Africa ILGA; and Public Services International.
"The UN statement goes much further than seeking the decriminalisation of same-sex acts. It condemns all human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity, urges countries to protect the human rights of LGBT people and to bring to justice those who violate these rights, and calls for human rights defenders who oppose homophobic and transphobic victimisation to be allowed to carry out their advocacy and humanitarian work unimpeded.
"Although not binding on the member states, this UN statement of principle has immense symbolic value, given the six decades in which homophobic and transphobic persecution has been ignored by the UN General Assembly.
Background briefing:
On May 17 2006, the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO), the IDAHO Committee launched a campaign « for the universal decriminalisation of homosexuality », and published a list of the first signatories, which include several Nobel Prize winners: (Desmond Tutu, Elfriede Jelinek, José Saramago, Dario Fo, Amartya Sen), entertainers (Merryl Streep, Victoria Abril, Cyndi Lauper, Elton John, David Bowie), intellectuals (Judith Butler, Noam Chomsky, Bernard-Henri Lévy), and humanitarian organisations like ILGA, Aids International and the FIDH.
On IDAHO 2008 (17 May this year) the French government announced that it would bring a LGBT human rights statement to the General Assembly of the United Nations. The text was read today in New York, and was supported by 66 countries in the world, and it clearly inscribes sexual orientation and gender identity as human rights.
4 comments:
- artmika said...
There was also a 'rival' statement, backed by around 60 states, including members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, read by Syria.
Below are reports by Reuters and AP.
U.N. divided over gay rights declaration
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. General Assembly split over the issue of gay rights on Thursday after a European-drafted statement calling for decriminalization of homosexuality prompted an Arab-backed one opposing it.
Diplomats said a joint statement initiated by France and the Netherlands gathered 66 signatures in the 192-nation assembly after it was read out by Argentina at a plenary session. A rival statement, read out by Syria, gathered some 60.
The two statements remained open for further signatures, the diplomats said. No resolution was drafted on the issue and there was no voting, they added.
The division in the General Assembly reflected conflicting laws in the world at large. According to sponsors of the Franco-Dutch text, homosexuality is illegal in 77 countries, seven of which punish it by death.
The European Union-backed document, noting that the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was marked this month, said those rights applied equally to all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
It urged states "to take all the necessary measures, in particular legislative or administrative, to ensure that sexual orientation or gender identity may under no circumstances be the basis for criminal penalties, in particular executions, arrests or detention."
But the opposing document said the statement "delves into matters which fall essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of states" and could lead to "the social normalization, and possibly the legitimization, of many deplorable acts including pedophilia."
"We note with concern the attempts to create 'new rights' or 'new standards,' by misinterpreting the Universal Declaration and international treaties to include such notions that were never articulated nor agreed by the general membership," it added.
This, it said, could "seriously jeopardize the entire international human rights framework."
Muslim countries have for years opposed international attempts to legalize homosexuality.
U.S. officials said the United States had not signed either document. They said the broad framing of the language in the statement supporting decriminalization created conflicts with U.S. law, but gave no further details.
But Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen told reporters it was a "very special day at the U.N."
"For the first time in history a large group of member states speaks out in the General Assembly against discrimination based on sexual orientation," he said. "With today's statement, this is no longer a taboo within the U.N."
Syrian Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari told reporters sponsors of the statement had "cornered" other members by springing the declaration on them.
US balks at backing condemnation of anti-gay laws
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Alone among major Western nations, the United States has refused to sign a declaration presented Thursday at the United Nations calling for worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality.
In all, 66 of the U.N.'s 192 member countries signed the nonbinding declaration — which backers called a historic step to push the General Assembly to deal more forthrightly with any-gay discrimination. More than 70 U.N. members outlaw homosexuality, and in several of them homosexual acts can be punished by execution.
Co-sponsored by France and the Netherlands, the declaration was signed by all 27 European Union members, as well as Japan, Australia, Mexico and three dozen other countries. There was broad opposition from Muslim nations, and the United States refused to sign, indicating that some parts of the declaration raised legal questions that needed further review.
"It's disappointing," said Rama Yade, France's human rights minister, of the U.S. position — which she described as in contradiction with America's long tradition as a defender of human rights.
According to some of the declaration's backers, U.S. officials expressed concern in private talks that some parts of the declaration might be problematic in committing the federal government on matters that fall under state jurisdiction. In numerous states, landlords and private employers are allowed to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation; on the federal level, gays are not allowed to serve openly in the military.
Carolyn Vadino, a spokeswoman for the U.S. mission to the U.N., stressed that the United States — despite its unwillingness to sign — condemned any human rights violations related to sexual orientation.
Gay rights activists nonetheless were angered by the U.S. position.
"It's an appalling stance — to not join with other countries that are standing up and calling for decriminalization of homosexuality," said Paula Ettelbrick, executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission.
She expressed hope that the U.S. position might change after President-elect Barack Obama takes office in January.
More than 50 countries opposed to the declaration, including members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, issued a joint statement Thursday criticizing the initiative as an unwarranted attempt to give special prominence to gays and lesbians. The statement suggested that protecting sexual orientation could lead to "the social normalization and possibly the legalization of deplorable acts" such as pedophilia and incest.
The declaration also has been opposed by the Vatican, a stance which prompted a protest in Rome earlier this month.
A Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the Roman Catholic Church opposed the death penalty and other harsh repression of gays and lesbians, but he expressed concern that the declaration would be used as pressure against those who believe marriage rights should not be extended to gays.
A new Vatican statement, issued Thursday, endorsed the call to end criminal penalties against gays, but said that overall the declaration "gives rise to uncertainty in the law and challenges existing human norms."
The European nations backing the declaration waged their campaign in conjunction with the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Dutch foreign affairs minister, Maxime Verhagen, said countries which endorsed that 1948 document had no right to carve out exceptions based on religion or culture that allowed discrimination against gays.
"Human rights apply to all people in all places at all times," he said. "I will not accept any excuse."
He acknowledged that the new declaration had only symbolic import, but said it marked the first time such a large number of nations had raised the cause of gay rights in the context of General Assembly proceedings.
"This statement aims to make debate commonplace," he said. "It is not meant to be a source of division, but to eliminate the taboo that surrounds the issue."
Although the declaration's backers were pleased that nations on six continents had signed it, there were only two from Asia and four from Africa.
- 19 December 2008 at 01:12
- artmika said...
Human Rights Watch
UN: General Assembly Statement Affirms Rights for All
66 States Condemn Violations Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
December 18, 2008
(New York, December 18, 2008) - In a powerful victory for the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 66 nations at the UN General Assembly today supported a groundbreaking statement confirming that international human rights protections include sexual orientation and gender identity. It is the first time that a statement condemning rights abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people has been presented in the General Assembly.
The statement drew unprecedented support from five continents, including six African nations. Argentina read the statement before the General Assembly. A cross-regional group of states coordinated the drafting of the statement, also including Brazil, Croatia, France, Gabon, Japan, the Netherlands, and Norway.
The 66 countries reaffirmed "the principle of non-discrimination, which requires that human rights apply equally to every human being regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity." They stated they are "deeply concerned by violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms based on sexual orientation or gender identity," and said that "violence, harassment, discrimination, exclusion, stigmatization and prejudice are directed against persons in all countries in the world because of sexual orientation or gender identity."
The statement condemned killings, torture, arbitrary arrest, and "deprivation of economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to health." The participating countries urged all nations to "promote and protect human rights of all persons, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity," and to end all criminal penalties against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
According to calculations by ILGA (the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association) and other organizations, more than six dozen countries still have laws against consensual sex between adults of the same sex. The majority of these laws were left behind by colonial rulers. The UN Human Rights Committee, which interprets the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a core UN treaty, held in a historic 1994 decision that such laws are rights violations - and that human rights law forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Human rights violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity happen regularly around the world. For example:
In the United States, Amnesty International has documented serious patterns of police abuse against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, including incidents amounting to torture and ill-treatment. The United States refused to sign the General Assembly statement.
In Egypt, Human Rights Watch documented a massive crackdown on men suspected of homosexual conduct between 2001-2004, in which hundreds or thousands of men were arrested and tortured. Egypt actively opposed the General Assembly statement.
The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission has documented how, in many African countries, sodomy laws and prejudice deny rights protections to Africans engaged in same-sex practices amid the HIV/AIDS pandemic - and can actually criminalize outreach to affected groups.
The signatories overcame intense opposition from a group of governments that regularly try to block UN attention to violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Only 60 states signed an alternative text promoted by the Organization of the Islamic Conference. While affirming the "principles of non-discrimination and equality," they claimed that universal human rights did not include "the attempt to focus on the rights of certain persons."
At first, the Holy See had voiced strong opposition to the General Assembly statement. Its opposition sparked severe criticism by human rights defenders worldwide. In a significant reversal, however, the Holy See indicated to the General Assembly today that it called for repeal of criminal penalties for homosexual conduct.
This year is the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the General Assembly statement reaffirms the reach and breadth of UDHR principles. The statement is non-binding, but restates what UN human rights bodies have repeatedly said: that no one should face rights violations because of their sexual orientation and gender identity.
Navanetham Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, strongly supported the statement. In a videotaped message, she cited South Africa's 1996 decision to protect sexual orientation in its Constitution. She pointed to the "task and challenge to move beyond a debate on whether all human beings have rights," to "secure the climate for implementation."
Since the Human Rights Committee's landmark decision in 1994, United Nations experts have repeatedly acted against abuses that target lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, including killings, torture, rape, violence, disappearances, and discrimination in many areas of life. UN treaty bodies have called on states to end discrimination in law and policy.
Other international bodies have also opposed violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, including the Council of Europe and the European Union. In 2008, all 34 member countries of the Organization of American States unanimously approved a declaration affirming that human rights protections extend to sexual orientation and gender identity.
Earlier in the day, the General Assembly also adopted a resolution condemning extrajudicial executions, which contained a reference opposing killings based on sexual orientation. Uganda moved to delete that reference, but the General Assembly rejected this by 78-60.
The signatories to the General Assembly statement are:
Albania, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Finland, France, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Montenegro, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, United Kingdom, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
- 19 December 2008 at 01:42
- artmika said...
Worldfocus on Armenia's endorsement of groundbreaking UN LGBT human rights statement
[…] Armenian blogger "Artmika" calls his country's support of the decriminalization declaration "historic," writing that it is the first time Armenia has set such an example. […]
- 20 December 2008 at 01:11
- artmika said...
- 18 March 2009 at 10:26

subset: commoncrawl


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Yesterday was my twelfth wedding anniversary. Unlike the first through fifth, and the big boozy party for the tenth, this anniversary was celebrated quietly with the kids. My daughters have reached an age for which diaper bags, strollers, high chairs, and dare I say, even children's menus in restaurants are becoming obsolete. We don't have to worry about scheduling our travels around naps anymore. Recently seeing friends who are still in the baby stages, I was reminded that our older children provide an ease of movement that is ideal for grownups who have itchy feet (like us).
There was a nice synchronicity to the weather. It was the same kind of cool, cloudless day with fresh blue skies that we had enjoyed on our wedding day all those years ago. We celebrated at a local Japanese restaurant and it was not without a little pride that I watched my seven year old daughter happily (albeit clumsily) work her way through a pile of raw salmon with her elastic-band rigged chop sticks. I honestly don't think I had my first taste of sushi until at least the age of 28. It's a different world for kids these days.
After dinner, we took an evening stroll down to the boardwalk. I snapped the picture at the top of this blog post whilst sitting on a park bench and enjoying the first whiff of smokey and tannin-rich autumnal air. As is fairly obvious, the image captures that sort-of famous lifeguard station of the Toronto Beach(es). Likely photographed a million times from every conceivable angle, this small and squat structure has become the official logo of the 'hood' and appears on endless postcards and t-shirts. Many years ago, on a freezing New Year's eve, I got drunk on cheap plonk leaning against the wooden foundation of that very same lifeguard station and spent the remainder of the night vomiting in the toilet at Scratch Daniels, a long ago closed-down bar on Queen street (I think it's a frozen yogurt joint now) - but that's a story for another day.
This small but well-documented beach house is a brisk sixteen minute walk from my front door - a fact that makes my heart skip with joy. For I am one of those lucky sods that can proudly proclaim that they love their neighborhood. The funny thing about this neighborhood is that I can actually pinpoint the exact moment I fell in love with it.
I grew up in the hydro-field dotted northern wastes of 1980's Scarborough. It is also where I went to school. When I was eighteen years old, I dated a girl from my school who at the time, happened to live on Blantyre avenue, a stone's throw from my current home in the Beaches. I'm not clear on why she commuted so deep into North-East Scarborough to go to a school in my neighborhood - perhaps a point lost to history, but really irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Anyway, her telephone exchange contained that now familiar six and nine of the Beaches, but back then, being a North Scarborough boy, I had only ever known exchanges that began with fours and twos. I suppose a discussion of telephone exchange numbers rather adequately dates me; I'm certain that anyone under 30 would have no clue what I'm talking about. Nevertheless, this strange, high-numbered telephone exchange seemed like it must come from downtown. I learned soon enough, that she did not live downtown but ironically was just this side of Scarborough, but at the extreme south and west. I had never visited the Beaches before, so this neighborhood was new to me. It started with a walk down the relatively steep grade of Blantyre avenue towards the lake. For decades, bulldozers had cleared the way for north east Scarborough's familiar tract housing and subdivisions, this blunted out most of the geography, so even this steep hill was alien to me. The trees lining the street, massive by suburban standards, reached across the expanse, their boughs mingling high above the centre line; like a vaulted ceiling in a Gothic cathedral. At the foot of the hill I could see the Harris Filtration Plant, otherwise known as the waterworks to locals: a mammoth art-deco masterpiece of depression-era ingenuity perched on a grassy plain, silently keeping sentinel over the population's water supply. I had recently finished reading Michael Ondaatje's "In the Skin of a Lion" which beautifully narrates the history of this structure. Overseen by the Commissioner of Public Works, R.C. Harris, the waterworks was constructed by desperate workers under horrific conditions. A mile long tunnel was bored from the land out under the cold dark depths of the lake. Here he describes a city photographer documenting these workers in their unpleasant working conditions:
"In the tunnel under Lake Ontario two men shake hands on an incline of mud. Beside them a pickaxe and a lamp, their dirt-streaked faces pivoting to look towards the camera. For a moment, while the film receives the image, everything is still, the other tunnel workers silent. Then Arthur Goss, the city photographer, packs up his tripod and glass plates, unhooks the cord of lights that creates a vista of open tunnel behind the two men, walks with his equipment the fifty yards to the ladder, and climbs out into sunlight.
- Michael Ondaatje, In the Skin of a Lion.
A literary landmark, just sitting there, unassuming at the foot of someone's street? I had stepped from the land of Wonderbread, chain restaurants and mini-malls into a place that was older, a place that seemed to have an ancient spirit lurking somewhere between its wonky cement staircases and the 100 year old cobblestone sewers below my feet.
With all this to absorb, strangely, the thing that really piqued my interest was the recycling bins. The 'blue box' program had been recently introduced to Toronto in the early 1990's. At the end of each narrow drive way was a small plastic 'blue box'. Unlike the two-litre coke bottles, Campbell soup cans and empty laundry detergent containers I was used to in my neck of the woods, these blue boxes were filled with empty wine bottles. Wine with dinner? I thought that was something one only saw in France. This is not to somehow pass a snobby judgement on the lifestyle (and lower wine consumption) of my suburban childhood neighborhood, but simply to say it opened my horizons to other parts of the city.
This neighborhood had sleepily existed my whole life a scant ten kilometers from my suburban childhood home and I had never known. In the end, it didn't work out with the girl, but at that particular moment I decided I would live and grow old in the Beaches.
Fast forward two decades into the future and it's now been seven or so years in my shoebox of a house in the Beaches with our family, happily crammed in like so many sardines. Well, sort of. I actually live at the top of the hill near Kingston Road, the second tier to the first tier that is Queen street. I can't quite see the lake from where I am, and I suppose by cold and scientific political boundaries, I do not really live in the Beaches proper, but live in what many call the 'Upper Beaches' and more recently, re-named as Kingston Road Village. After many years here, I have to say I actually prefer this part of the Beaches: it is not flooded with tourists like our friends at the bottom of the hill, it's a little easier to park on the street and it is certainly more quiet. Us folks at the 'top of the hill' enjoy a community that is tight, friendly and has everything anyone could want within walking distance. The businesses here do not enjoy the free ride from masses of summer tourists from Woodbridge, Pickering and Markham infiltrating the neighborhood with their easy spending and short memories. As a soon-to-be-opened business owner up here at the top of the hill, we have to stay on our toes because the locals represent our customers. They have good memories and as much as they may like the convenience of being fifty paces to our business door, they also are discerning enough to know that a quick jaunt in their car can bring them to any other neighborhood in the city. I will take this to heart when I have my grand opening.
So our twelfth wedding anniversary came to a close with our long trudge up the hill from the boardwalk. Passing under the cavernous reach of those grand old elms and oaks, I was reminded of the day when I first discovered this magical neighborhood. My daughters will likely take this all for granted, so I have to regularly remind them how good they have it. The grass is always greener they say, because the kids regularly ask if we can buy a house closer to Queen street so they don't have to climb that steep hill on the way home from the beach. Yes, perhaps one day we may outgrow our little house, but I don't think we'll ever outgrow our neighborhood. We're happy perched at the top of the hill, smug in our self-satisfaction...and enjoying plenty of street parking.


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The precursor to the EU was set up in 1958, as the continent's leaders vowed to make another war between them all but impossible. The euro came in 1999, when a group of 11 countries jettisoned marks, francs and lire and turned control of interest rates over to a new central bank. The common currency's scale provided exchange-rate stability and better access to world markets. It did not, however, impose uniform financial discipline; to avoid surrendering national sovereignty, politicians largely sidestepped a unified approach to bank regulation and government spending. To the extent that there were rules, they were flouted. The events that brought the euro to its knees came during the global rout in 2009, when Greece came clean and said its budget deficit was twice as wide as forecast. Investors started dumping assets of the most indebted nations and borrowing costs soared. The shared euro made it impossible to devalue individual currencies of weaker economies, limiting options for recovery. Politicians lurched through bailouts for Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Cyprus plus a rescue of banks in Spain. The panic fueled fears of a breakup as fragile banks and their holdings of government bonds exposed the common currency's vulnerabilities. The firestorm abated in July 2012, when European Central Bank President Mario Draghi pledged to do "whatever it takes" to save the euro.
Sunday, August 6, 2017
Friday, February 24, 2017
Early last month, Andy Haldane, chief economist at the Bank of England, blamed"irrational behaviour" for the failure of the BoE's recent forecasting models. The failure to spot this irrationality had led policymakers to forecast that the British economy would slow after last June's Brexit referendum. Instead, British consumers have been on a heedless spending spree since the vote to leave the European Union; and, no less illogically, construction, manufacturing, and services have recovered. Haldane offers no explanation for this burst of irrational behaviour. Nor can he: to him, irrationality simply means behaviour that is inconsistent with the forecasts derived from the BoE's model. It's not just Haldane or the BoE. What mainstream economists mean by rational behaviour is not what you or I mean. In ordinary language, rational behaviour is that which is reasonable under the circumstances. But in the rarefied world of neoclassical forecasting models, it means that people, equipped with detailed knowledge of themselves, their surroundings, and the future they face, act optimally to achieve their goals. That is, to act rationally is to act in a manner consistent with economists' models of rational behaviour. Faced with contrary behaviour, the economist reacts like the tailor who blames the customer for not fitting their newly tailored suit.
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Relatives of the 12 people killed in December when a truck ploughed into a Christmas market in Berlin have expressed their dismay at the negligent way they say they have been treated by German authorities. About 50 people who lost loved ones in the Islamic State-claimed terrorist attack reportedly told a private meeting called by Germany's outgoing president, Joachim Gauck, and the interior minister, Thomas de Maizière, they felt abandoned at a deeply upsetting time. Relatives said the first official communication they had with authorities was a bill sent to them by the coroner's office. The letter reportedly included a warning that if the bill was not paid within a certain timeframe, the recipients would face legal action. One relative told Der Tagesspiegel and Die Welt newspapers that when she received the letter she had thought at the very least it would be a letter of condolence from Berlin's mayor. Those who were certain that their family members were among the dead said they were prevented by security personnel from entering the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial church on Breitscheidplatz for a religious service held the day after the attack on 19 December. The reason they were given was that high-ranking German politicians – including Gauck – were among the guests. According to the papers, which reported on the four-hour meeting at Gauck's Bellevue Palace, the president told the relatives he was distressed to hear they had been unable to enter the church and that he had not known about it at the time.
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Monday, January 30, 2017
The templates for recent relationships between the American Head of State and the British Head of Government have not been inspiring. We had Mr Blair's obsequiousness to Mr Clinton and Mr Bush; Mr Brown's near-invisibility to Mr Obama; and the conspiracy of cynicism between Mr Cameron and Mr Obama that led to the disastrous (from Mr Cameron's point of view) interference by the last president in our referendum campaign. Watching the press conference held by Mrs May and President Trump, it seemed this Prime Minister had, commendably, adopted a dignified approach of her own. Indeed, I would go further: from what emerged, Mrs May seemed to have done a superb job in furthering British interests, and those of the West, in her meeting with Mr Trump. She should be congratulated. She acted precisely in accordance with the realities of our present politics. There was no fawning.
Monday, April 25, 2016
In October 2013, the provisions of articles 12 and 13 of the Law no. 193/2000 concerning abusive clauses in contracts concluded between professionals and consumers, with the modifications that were made to them by the Law no. 76/2012 for the implementation of the Law no. 134/2010 concerning the Civil Procedure Code. Article 12 stipulates: "If the use of adhesion contracts which include abusive clauses are found, the control entities stipulated in Art. 8 (ed. note: the authorized agents of the National Consumer Protection Agency and authorized specialists of other entities of the public administration, depending on their competences) will notify the court from the domicile, or the headquarters of the professional, and demanding that the professional be required to amend the ongoing contracts, by removing the abusive clauses they may contain. (...) The consumer protection associations (...) can sue professionals that use adhesion contracts that contain abusive clauses, with the courts stipulated in paragraph (1), and ask the latter to decide the cessation of their use, by eliminating the abusive clauses". Article 13 states: "The court, if it finds the existence of abusive terms in the contract, requires the professionals to change all ongoing adhesion contracts, as well as to eliminate all abusive clauses from boilerplate contracts, meant to be used as part of the professional activity". There are several ongoing "class action" lawsuits filed by the ANPC, especially against banks. The Parakletos Association has intervened in seven of the ANPC cases against the banks, as a third party. The leaders of Parakletos state that, through the ruling in the ANPC/OTP Bank case, lays the groundwork for the straightening of all the contracts between professionals and consumers, when they contain abusive clauses, without the consumers in question having to resort to individual lawsuits.
Sunday, January 24, 2016
The economic system worldwide is a total shambles thanks to central bankers and governments who think they can print away their problems and 2008 never happened. Now the under the counter QE will be joined by QE4 and then its off to hyperinflation as all the bankrupt banks and companies who pay their workers peanuts have to be saved because they cannot survive in the world they created. A total and utter shambles...I'm never sure why there is so much concern about liquidity or lack of it in fixed income or equity markets. If investors want to sell something that they own, they can only sell it at the price that another investor is prepared to pay for it. If that price is lower than the price someone else was prepared to pay a month ago, or a week ago, or if the price is less than the seller was hoping to achieve, so be it. It's not the end of the world. They can decide not to sell at the lower price and hold on to their asset, or they can bite the bullet and sell. Bonds and shares are designed to be long term investments. There is no fundamental right for an investor to redeem that investment whenever it suits him. If he wants out of the investment, he has to sell it and he can only sell it to someone else who wants to buy it - at a price that person wants to buy it at. Why are so many people getting worked up about this?...The EU has legislated a mechanism to prevent a bank crash, it is based on the Cyprus model and amounts to using your money as the bank's assets. "You see, when you open an account with a bank, you are investing in that bank". As someone who has owned bank shares and bank bonds, that is news to me, but, the rules are there to be changed at will by the people with the power to do so, and they have. The statement above indicates that your money is just as likely to be misappropriated sitting in a bank as it is if it were under your mattress. It might be prudent to move your money into a Mutual or if a small amount, take it out and stick it under the garden shed or something.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
The International Accounting Standards Board® (the Board) today issued a new accounting Standard, called IFRS 16 Leases. It replaces accounting requirements introduced more than 30 years ago that are no longer considered fit for purpose and is a major revision of the way in which companies account for leases. Leasing provides an important and flexible source of financing for many companies. However, the old lease accounting Standard (IAS 17 Leases) makes it difficult for investors and others to get an accurate picture of a company's lease assets and liabilities, particularly for industries such as the airline, retail and transport sectors. Listed companies using IFRS Standards or US GAAP are estimated to have around US$3.3 trillion of lease commitments; over 85 per cent of which do not appear on their balance sheets*. That is because leases to date have been categorized as either 'finance leases' (which are reported on the balance sheet) or 'operating leases' (which are disclosed only in the notes to the financial statements). This somewhat arbitrary distinction made it difficult for investors to compare companies. It also meant that investors and others had to estimate the effects of a company's off balance sheet lease obligations, which in practice often led to overestimating the liabilities arising from those obligations. IFRS 16 solves this problem by requiring all leases to be reported on a company's balance sheet as assets and liabilities. Accompanying the Standard, the IASB has also published a separate Effects Analysis, which outlines the costs and benefits of the Standard. It clearly demonstrates the need for the Standard and that the benefits outweigh the costs. The Board has given careful consideration to feedback received and has introduced several cost-saving measures for preparers, such as exempting 'small ticket' items as well as leases of 12 months or less. The publication of a separate Effects Analysis follows on from a report to the IFRS Foundation Trustees in November 2014 by the Effects Analysis Consultative Group. The Effects Analysis can be accessed here. A separate Project Summary, including an overview of the project history and how the Board has responded to stakeholders' comments during the development of the Standard, can be found here. *Based on a sample of 30,000 listed companies using IFRS or US GAAP, over 14,000 companies disclose information about off balance sheet leases in their 2014 annual reports. The future payments for off balance sheet leases for those companies totalled US$2.9 trillion (on an undiscounted basis).
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Monday, January 18, 2016
The E.U. Commission has already written to the Polish government asking how its new media law will work with EU rules on media freedom. Schulz described the government's actions as a "dangerous Putinisation of European politics", while Oettinger suggested Poland should be put under rule of law supervision, legislation designed to deal with "systemic threats" to EU values. Responding to the criticism, Poland's government summoned Germany's ambassador for talks and warned Brussels not to interfere in its affairs on the basis of "biased and politically engaged" reports. The defence minister Antoni Macierewicz went further, saying Poland would not be lectured by Germany "on democracy and freedom", while his colleague, justice minister Zbigniew Ziobro, wrote an open letter to Oettinger alluding to the Nazi occupation of Poland. "Such words, said by a German politician, cause the worst of connotations among Poles," Ziobro wrote. "Also in me. I'm a grandson of a Polish officer, who during World War II fought in the underground National Army with 'German supervision'."
Friday, December 18, 2015
Truth and dicussion...about QE . UE and the Dollar
There is no jobs growth. The total hours worked in the US economy is the same as 15 years ago and most of the other economic indicators have been going south for months. The Fed is trapped and there is no way they can raise rates other than by a purely token amount without sending the whole thing rapidly to the dogs; in fact a recession next year is odds even if the Fed does nothing. We will get Big Bust 2 within the next 18 months...THERE WILL BE NO RATE RISE! Yellen knows full well you can't taper a Ponzi, so unless Goldman Sachs has massively shorted the markets and ordered its central banker minions to hike rates to crash the markets, Yellen will come up with yet another in her endless list of excuses to punt yet again on a rate hike. THERE WILL BE NO RATE RISE. Period. It's not like the Fed has any credibility left to lose. ..According to some soothsayers, there will be a 0.15% Fed rise BUT....after New Year there will be some more easing, say....$50 Billion. This time around the money printing will be in subsidies for the middle income earners. If the FED does not do this there will be turmoil and public protests. The Obama admin does not want this, not after the California shootings and most probably some more in the Christmas holiday season. The Obama gov needs the support of the public NOW more than ever....The Fed exists solely to further enrich the already super-rich. That means facilitating the looting and asset-stripping of the "middle income earners" (a soon to be extinct class) as part of the Fed's "No Billionaire Left Behind" monetary policy. The Fed will NEVER subsidize or otherwise give a damn about "middle income earners," much less savers, pensioners, and non-speculators, with whom it is in a state of undeclared financial warfare...The whole casino economy is built around perceptions. There are no relations between economic fundamentals and the value of the stock markets or the amount of public and private debt. A simple lack of confidence or misplaced rumor can cause a panic among investors. And then there's the trillions of debts owed in US dollars by entities who don't use the U.S. dollar as there native currency., Yellen will not raise rates in the absence of some exogenous event, i.e. a phone call from Goldman Sachs or the bond market going haywire as "investors" belatedly realize Yellen & her central banker cohorts are going to inflate away all government and TBTF banker debts and liabilities.
Sunday, December 13, 2015
France - " eletions, Doctored"- the Bruxelles natzies win....huoooo !!!
The far-Right Front National was thwarted in its bid to clinch a historical electoral victory in France on Sunday after failing to secure power in any of the country's 13 regions, early results suggested.
The ruling Socialists of President François Hollande appeared to have fared better than expected, taking six regions, while the opposition centre-Right also took six, including the Paris region for the first time since 1997. Voting had taken place under high security with France still under a state of emergency exactly a month on from the jihadist attacks in Paris that claimed 130 lives – a climate that helped the FN reap historic gains in round one a week ago. But in a major upset - IT IS CLEAR THAT THE ELECTIONS HAVE BEEN "DOCTORED" by the organizers (fake results) , Marine Le Pen, the FN leader, failed to take power in the northern region of Nord-Pas-de-Calais, losing heavily to Xavier Bertrand, the candidate of Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-Right party The Republicans (formerly the UMP). The results will come as a major relief to the Socialists, who had controlled all but one of France's regions before the elections and had expected a pendulum swing to the opposition.
President Hollande clearly hopes his party's decision to pull out of two regions where the FN stood a chance of winning will give it the moral high ground ahead of 2017 presidential elections and bolster its claim to being the "only rampart against the far-Right". The organizers, and I mean the thieves represented by a young stupid gigolo named Manuel Valls, the prime minister, who had warned of future "civil war" should the FN take power, said: "Tonight there is no relief, no triumphalism. The extreme-Right threat has not been averted. I have not forgotten the first round results." They will do all they can and more to prevent the people from expressing their ream choices.
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Europe braced for a revolutionary Leftist backlash after Greece .. He has vowed to block anti-austerity measures such as reverses to wage cuts, rehiring of public sector workers, and halting privatisations. A constitutional amendment would require a two-thirds majority vote in the country's 230-seat parliament. It cannot pass with the support of the Socialists who are the second largest party in parliament. If the motion fails, Anibal Cavaco Silva, the president, faces the choice of appointing a caretaker regime for six months, or relenting and allowing the Leftists to enter power.
He is due to make a decision in the coming days. Indebted Portugal is still the problem child of the Eurozone . The political stalemate comes as Portugal's economy has stalled. GDP growth ground to a halt at just 0pc in the third quarter for the former bail-out country. Portugal's former international creditors in the IMF and Brussels have urged any new regime to continue cutting government spending, reduce debt levels and make crucial economic reforms. "Since the onset of the eurozone crisis, Portuguese voters have shown remarkable loyalty to their traditional political parties," said Ben May at Oxford Economics. "The pace of structural reforms has dwindled and could even go into reverse under a Left-wing alliance", he said
Friday, August 28, 2015
Greece's creditors have voiced "serious concerns" about the sustainability of the country's debt ahead of a vote on a third bail-out deal in Athens that is likely to cement a split within the government. Analysis prepared by the country's European lenders projected that Greece's debt share would rise to 201pc of gross domestic product (GDP) next year. Debt is only expected to fall to 175pc by the end of the decade, even if Greece implements all the terms of its €85bn (£61bn) rescue package and raises €13.9bn from a privatisation drive. This means the country would not get its debt pile down to 120pc of GDP - which has long been viewed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as the target to get Athens back to a sustainable debt level - until 2030, two decades after the country's first bail-out. Just another example of post democratic EU. The Greek people vote in a referendum against an austerity package,this after they had voted in an anti austerity government. Result, the same government accept an EU bailout based on austerity measures the Greek population voted overwhelmingly against.To cap it all these stringent measures will be enforced by Brussels bureaucrats,all very undemocrat but typical of EU control. The flaw in 'democracy' is that you can vote yourself more than you can pay for. When that happens you lose your right to self government. Democracy ends at your borders. You cannot vote yourself access to other peoples money.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
At the moment the Greek government receipts are used to pay for pensions and public salaries. Afterwards there is practically no money left to pay for social, health, education, traffic, communication, military etc. All these items are paid by credits from partners. Interests and debt repayment is only done by partners. Without a "haircut" on pensions and public salaries Greece has not even a slight chance to survive..."To relieve the present exigency is always the object which principally interests those immediately concerned in the administration of public affairs. The future liberation of public revenue they leave to the care of posterity." -Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations (1776) 2010. Greece was about to default on its debts. As usual, politicians and bureaucrats blamed everyone but the perpetrators — the politicians and bureaucrats. They claimed that the only way to relieve the crisis of debt was debt itself. Problem: An excess of borrowing behavior by Greeks.
Goal: To have saved the Big Banks, mainly in France and Germany. Plan: To allow Greeks to default to non-banking creditors; have the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund lend even more money to Greece in order to give Big Banks time to rid themselves of basically worthless Greek debt; then, when Greece finally defaults, charge the taxpayers in the European Union, that phony paradise of united social democracies, for the losses to the ECB and IMF. Measurement: Success for bankers, bureaucrats, and politicians. Failure for taxpayers. There were alternatives more fair and just; for example, see "Debt & the Race to the Bottom" at ... http://nationonfire.com/catego... In 2015. Greece defaults. Consequence? Another rescue from the EU in exchange for more Greek promises.
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Saturday, August 8, 2015
"The United States is a nation-state with enough of a sense of shared political community to accept majoritarian democratic rule. Unlike the eurozone. Germany and France sharing a government? Hard to imagine. Germany and Greece? Impossible." An excellent point, but the writer seems to ignore the obvious conclusion: that a common currency cannot exist where political traditions and aims are so incompatibly diverse. The point about the US - constantly swept under the carpet - is that for all the foundation state freedoms, no single state (not even the southern Confederacy) was completely self-governing, racially and linguistically distinctive and hostile to its neighbours for any length of time - and certainly not for a millennium. It became a country dominated by the politics and philosophy of English liberalism and united colloquially by the English language. The glaring exceptions were weeded out by the Louisiana Purchase and the wars with Mexico. France, Germany, Britain, Italy and Spain (for example) are the five most unlikely candidates for political union imaginable. The way Greece has been treated is treason. Treason against basic human rights, treason against the very reason of existence of the EU, treason against the fathers of Democracy as we (thought to) intend it, treason against any decent and modern view of society... I am not Greek, but I do sympathize for them. and if I will be burdened with £20 to help them pay their debts, well...better reason than pay £300 for a stroll to Parliament, is it?
Shame on all European politicians...but...hey! Where the REAL POLITICIANS are...? all gone fishing, I guess...only profiting gangsters remained...that's why the likes of SNP and UKIP are taking spaces...So, indeed, shame on all of us that defend a society based on money.
I am not Labour, but...welcome Corbyn! You may be able to bring back some common sense here!
Shame on all European politicians...but...hey! Where the REAL POLITICIANS are...? all gone fishing, I guess...only profiting gangsters remained...that's why the likes of SNP and UKIP are taking spaces...So, indeed, shame on all of us that defend a society based on money.
I am not Labour, but...welcome Corbyn! You may be able to bring back some common sense here!
Friday, July 17, 2015
One of the European officials said that the four major Greek banks - National Bank of Greece, Eurobank, Piraeus and Alpha Bank (all of which have subsidiaries in Romania) - could become two. "The Greek economy is in ruin. That means that banks need a reboot", according to the quoted source, which stressed that prompt action will be necessary in the event of any bail-out between Athens and the Eurozone, adding that Cyprus could be a model in that regard. Another official said that even though the mergers of banks are necessary, that measure would be a process that could take a long time. Ever since autumn last year, there have been rumors circulating in the Romanian market that talks concerning the merger between Bancpost and Piraeus Bank or Banca Românească had taken place. Banking market sources told us, at the time, that the financial institution that would acquire Bancpost would be designated following the decisions made at the level of the parent banks, headquartered in Athens. In the beginning of October 2014, the press wrote that Piraeus Bank was considering acquiring Bancpost from Eurobank, in exchange for selling its Bulgarian subsidiary or those in Bulgaria and Serbia together. According to a scenario presented in a reorganization plan drafted upon the request of the General Competition Department of the European Commission, the Piraeus plan proposes for the Greek banks to consolidate their Balkan operations through exchanging branches, in order to reach critical masses on those respective markets, as written on October 8th by Greek portal Sofokleous10. At the time, Piraeus representatives were saying that the operations in Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and Cyprus were viable and of strategic importance for the group. The Greek press had written, a few days earlier, that Banca Românească, the subsidiary of National Bank of Greece (NBG), the biggest bank in Greece, was for sale. The four major Greek banks - Eurobank, Piraeus, Alpha and NBG - have not yet succeeded in merging, even though in the past, a merger agreement was signed between Eurobank and NBG, which was later cancelled, in the beginning of last year.
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
European Commission will use €7bn from an EU bail-out fund for Greece, as Tsipras says banks might not reopen for months
What is legal basis to use EFSM? The treaties establishing the new rescue fund ruled out the use of the previous EFSM to rescue a eurozone member. Mr Dombrovskis is asked on what the legal basis is for using the moribund fund. "Given the very difficult situation, and given the urgency, and given the way we are addressing the real concern, I think it is still possible," he says. "There are technical interpretations of this decision. There is a political problem that needs to be addressed. At the end of the day, the decision is to be made by the Council. Currently, we don't have better solutions on the table." He adds that by just helping one eurozone country, and not the bloc as a whole, the Commission can get round its own prohibition.
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Saturday, July 11, 2015
ECB - Christian Noyer said that Greece's debt cannot be restructured
Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman says Germany sees no basis at present for entering negotiations on a new bailout program for Greece. Steffen Seibert said Monday that Germany respects the "clear 'no' vote" by Greeks against austerity measures demanded by creditors and that "the door for talks always remains open." However, he said the conditions are "not there at present to enter negotiations on a new program." He said the "no" vote is a vote against the principle - still supported by Germany - that solidarity requires countries to take responsibility. Seibert says Europe will explore what possibilities there are to help Greek citizens and "a lot will depend on what proposals the Greek government now puts on the table." Regarding requests by Athens to restructure its debt, finance ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said: "I can see no reason to enter into discussions." Meanwhile, ECB governing council member Christian Noyer said that Greece's debt cannot be restructured. "Greek debt held by the Eurosystem is debt that cannot by its very nature be restructured because that would be monetary financing of a state," he said...The French advisor went on to say that Merkel had gone out on a limb to reach a compromise with Greece over a credit deal.
"Merkel was very open to negotiations with Greece, showing patience and even a sort of maternal protection regarding Alexis Tspras," he said. France's Socialist government still hopes to avoid Greece leaving the euro, but France's opposition conservatives are now calling for Greece's orderly exit from the eurozone. Alain Juppé from Nicolas Sarkozy's centre-right Republicans party, said: "Greece is no longer capable of sticking to the disciplines of the eurozone."
"We must help it to organise its exit without any drama."...Angela Merkel displayed "maternal protection" towards Greece's Leftist prime minsiter Alexis Tsipras who betrayed the trust of the German Chancellor and François Hollande - despite France's more conciliatory line with Athens, according to a French presidential aide. The comment comes as the French and German leaders are to meet in Paris at 6pm local time (5pm BST) to discuss the Greek crisis, followed by a working dinner at 7.30pm at the Elysée Palace. The Hollande advisor's comment to AFP suggests France is hardening its line as facilitator vis a vis Greece and aligning itself more with Germany in a bid to show a united Franco-German front. The aide admitted Hollande got his fingers burned after seeking a compromise with Greek PM Tsipras, saying: "It will be difficult with Tsipras. There's a real problem of trust between him and us and us and him." Brussels to Greece: we're going to make your life much harder That was quite the press briefing from Commission vice-president Dombrovskis. In short, Brussels will not be giving the Greek government anywhere near an easier ride after last night.
Some points:
• "The place of Greece is and remains in Europe", but when pressed, Mr Dombrovskis did not repeat that Greece's place remained in the single currency
• Brussels questions the legality of the referendum and the nature of the question: it is "neither legally nor factually correct"
• The Commission will not carry out any talks with Athens before they get a mandate from the eurozone's finance ministers who are meeting tomorrow
• Greece's vague promise of debt relief as agreed back in 2012 is now no longer on the table after the second bail-out expired last week
• The No vote has made life much more "difficult" for the Greek government, but the ball is in their court to now come up with some credible reforms
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Monday, June 22, 2015
EU council chief Donald Tusk has left his meeting with Mr Tsipras and given a short statement to reporters. Here's what he had to say: "I have called this summit because time is running out, not only for Greece but all of us. We only have one week before the current programme expires. This means the lets-wait-and-see strategy must end. "It is my responsibility to ensure we respect all taxpayers in all a countries. If they hadn't borne the burden of austerity, they wouldn't be able to help Greece today. " I am absolutely convinced that the blame game leads nowhere. I want all cards on the table. This doesn't mean negotiating technical details, but to end the political gambling. Since I called this informal meeting, some promising things have happened, including today's talks. And the latest Greek prosposals are the first real proposals in many weeks, although they still need an assessment from the institutions. "We must avoid the worst case scenario, which means an incontrollable, chaotic Greixdent." ...George Saravelos of Deutsche Bank highlights that the only thing keeping Greece in the euro is the ECB. The central bank moved to raise its ceiling on emergency funds today by a further €1.3bn as the country is in the throes of a bank run. Saravelos now thinks the ECB will now be called upon every day to hike its liquidity limit to prevent a banking collapse. But, in order for that to happen, European leaders need to provide some positive signs out of tonight's series of meetings. Some insights: Written acknowledgment of progress is likely to be required to maintain ongoing ECB financing of Greek banks, with the central bank approving an additional increase in ELA provision to the Greek banking system this morning given accelerating deposit outflows. Given the scale of deposit outflows and ECB discomfort with rising exposure, ELA approval is likely to take place on a daily basis over the course of the week depending on the evolution of talks. If progress is achieved over the course of the day, the Euro leaders summit is likely to open discussions for post-programme arrangements, though press reports that a parallel discussion around a "plan B" of a breakdown in talks is also possible. The Euro leaders summit is likely to address some of the parameters for a third programme, inclusive of the potential for debt relief. We would expect a re-affirmation of the November Eurogroup 2012 commitments on the latter to be the most likely outcome. Nothing is likely to be finalized unless a full staff-level agreement has been reached between Greece and its creditors over the next few days. There will be a second (and likely last) opportunity for Greece to be discussed at the Euro-area leaders level in Thursday/Friday's EU leaders' summit.
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Tuesday, June 16, 2015
The EU is increasingly weaker and it is becoming impossible to control the processes that are taking place on its territory, informs Sputnik International, which states that Europe will become a playground for the US and Russia, which are trying to expand their influence. According to the publication Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten, the EU is no longer capable of controlling the processes that are happening on the European continent because the policy is dictated by NATO, led by the US, and the European governments are mere members of the audience. According to the German newspaper, the government led by Angela Merkel is weakened by the espionage scandal, while the EU is no longer a community of values, just a purely economic community, in which every party is trying to balance its selfishness. The EU is helpless when its conflicts appear on the European territory, Sputnik International further shows, and it says: "Whether it's Greece, Ukraine or Macedonia, the EU governments have proven incapable of making efficient decisions and are only acting as observers. For example, this is valid for the conflict in Ukraine, where the United States have forced the European governments to impose economic sanctions on Russia, one of the most important trade partners of the EU, Sputnik International also says, which adds that now, the EU has to pay twice: first of all the business sector is suffering significant losses because of Russia's sanctions, and second of all, European taxpayers have to finance new loans to keep Ukraine's economy afloat. According to the German newspaper, the EU is becoming a playground for Russia and the US, which are trying to extend their areas of influence in the region: "Europe is a major energy market if the US decides to export the technology of hydraulic fracking and Russia is trying to secure its exports of natural gas". "It is highly unlikely that the two opponents will have a monopoly, but even without it, both of them can earn a lot of money", the article further states. Thus, the outrageous statement of American official Victoria Nuland - "Fuck the EU"- seems to have become a reality, the EU states. According to Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten, this negative trend is the logical consequence of the contradictory development of the EU, which is derived from the paradox of arrogance and of the strife within the EU.
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Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Greece's finance minister has ramped up the political stakes in his country's debt drama, by personally telling President Barack Obama to push eurozone creditors over his country's bail-out crisis. In an 12-minute exchange with the President on the sidelines of an event marking Greek Independence day, Mr Varoufakis is reported to have repeated his desire for the US leader to influence events. Mr Obama is reported to have responded by urging flexibility from both parties.
Greece's Leftist government has looked to the White House to play the role of honest broker in protracted negotiations with its international creditors. Following Syriza's election in January, the President called for an end to harmful austerity policies and the introduction of a "growth strategy in order for them to pay off their debts to eliminate some of their deficits." ... Hopes of a deal before a meeting of the eurozone's finance ministers on April 24 have rapidly faded as both sides show no signs of bridging their differences over Greece's cash-for-reforms bail-out extension. "In the absence of a deal in the next few weeks, the government might not be able to avoid default, which – we fear – would likely raise the risk of Grexit," said Reinhard Cluse at UBS. The situation has become increasingly critical as Greece's public funds dwindle and the government faces a near €1bn IMF bill in the first two weeks of May. IMF managing director Christine Lagarde repeated that she would not countenance any delay in payment to the Fund. "We will do everything we can so lending to the Fund remains the safest lending route any debtor can adopt. That is my determination" said Ms Lagarde. ... Unfortunately for the Greeks, this is not Obama's call to make here. The Euro Zone is left to its own faltering accord. Quite sometime ago, Greece was thrown out of the Markets, and there is very little anyone can do to get Greece back in with all of this airing their dirty laudry infighting. Calmer heads did not prevail after the Greeks elected this Syriza government. Austerity and internal deflation have political consequence. The EU wont work with Syriza, but an overwhelming majority of Greeks approve of them. Would not be at all surprised if we see a Grexident soon. Only then will all of the self appointed experts report what really went wrong here, just like with Lehman. Heads will roll after the fact. Not Obama's call to make. His advice? Play nice guys. Geithner shook his head in disbelief at how this matter was handled quite sometime ago as well. Little good anyone can do the Greeks now. This situation calls for Greek self help. No not the Troika's prescription. Sorry to say, there is no way around declaring insolvency, rebooting, and starting over.
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Remarkable Gods of Love from Around the World
You have already met the many goddesses of love, sex and beauty from all over the world. It's is time to meet their counterparts. If there are goddesses of love, beauty and sex there are also gods of love, beauty and sex. Let us meet some of them – the different gods of love from around the world.
Perhaps the most popular god of love in the world is Cupid. The Cupid is taken from the Latin "Cupido" which means desire. As the name implies, Cupid is the Roman god of desire, affection and erotic love. His Greek counterpart is Eros from whom the word "erotic" was derived. Cupid is also known in Latin as Amor which is the equivalent of love.
Cupid is often depicted as the son of the goddess of love and beauty – Venus. The bow and arrow is associated with him. Any one who is shot by Cupid's arrow is filled with uncontrollable desire. Cupid is a popular icon of Valentine's Day being shown shooting his bow to inspire romantic love.
2. Bes – Egyptian god of Sexual Pleasure
Bes is the Ancient Egyptian god of sexual desire. He is also the god of dance and music and was worshipped as a protector of households, mothers, children and childbirth. Bes was regarded too as the defender of everything good and the enemy of all that is bad.
3. Eros – Greek god of Love
Eros is the Greek god of love and sexual passion – the Roman counterpart of Cupid. Originally, Eros is depicted as a slender winged creature but his Roman counterpart – Cupid, oftentimes depicted as a chubby boy. Although he is regarded a primordial god in some myths, oftentimes, he is the son of the Greek goddess of love and beauty – Aphrodite in many myths. Eros is armed with bow and arrow.
4. Anteros – Greek god of Requited Love
In the Greek mythology, Anteros id the god of requited love. He is the perfect representation of the quote "Love begets love" because Anteros literally means "love returned" or "counter-love". He is also the punisher of those who scorn love and the advances of others, or the avenger of unrequited love.
Anteros is the son of Ares and Aphrodite and was given to Eros as a playmate because the latter is lonesome. He is armed with either a golden club or arrows of lead.
5. Himeros – Greek god of Sexual Desire
In the Greek mythology, Himeros is the god of sexual desire. His name literally means "uncontrollable desire". He represented sexual desire or unrequited love. His parents are Ares and Aphrodite and brother to Eros and Anteros. Like his 2 other brothers, he is equipped with a bow and arrows to create desire and lust in people.
6. Hymen – god of Marriage
So you thought Hymen is a goddess, well, he is not. He is the Greek god of marriage and marriage feast. Hymen was supposed to attend every wedding. If he didn't, then the marriage would supposedly prove disastrous, so the Greeks would run about calling his name aloud. He presided over many of the weddings in Greek mythology, for all the deities and their children.
7. Pothos – god of Longing
In Greek mythology, Pothos is one of the "erotes". He is the brother of Eros and Himeros. He is the god of yearning and longing.
8. Kamadeva – Hindu god of Love
Kamaneva is more popularly known as Kama, he is the Hindu god of human love or desire. Kama is the son of the Hindu goddess Sri.
9. Freyr – god of Fertility
In the Norwegian mythology, Freyr is worshipped as a phallic fertility god. His anglicized name is Frey which means lord.
10. Kurupira – Fertility and Sexuality god
Kurupira, also known as Kurupi is the god of sexuality and fertility in Guarani mythology of South America. Kurupi is one of the seven monstrous children of Tau and Kerana.
11. Yue-Laou – Chinese god of Love
Yue-Laou, also spelled Yue-Lao is the Chinese god of love who binds two people together with an invisible red string. He is also regarded as the god of marriage.
12. Siebog – god of Love and Marriage
Siebog is the god of love in the Slavic mythology. He is also considered as the god of marriage and is consort to the goddess of love and marriage Ziva.
13. Adonis – god of Desire
In Greek mythology, Adonis is the god of beauty and desire. His religion belonged to women. He is an annually-renewed, ever-youthful vegetation god, a life-death rebirth deity and is often applied in modern times to handsome youths, of whom he is the archetype. Adonis is often referred to as the mortal god of Beauty.


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This isn't a spectacular movie, but when the leading roles are so attractive and the film makes an effort to explore a complicated relationship, I enjoy myself.
Main highlights:
1. Steve McQueen in a romantic leading role. Not needing to show much range besides frustration, anger, and occasionally resigned kindness, this role works for him.
2. Natalie Wood's hair. It almost makes me want bangs again, even though I never really like having bangs, but they look adorable on her. Does any one else have this problem every time they see a good pair of bangs?
It also makes me want to curl my hair, but then I remember how lazy I am in the morning, so I should probably stop obsessing about her hair.
3. Aren't we all glad abortions aren't given in sketchy apartments and done by sketchy non-doctors anymore?
4. Both Steve McQueen and Natalie Wood are playing Italians with ridiculously stereotypical parents. I guess once you've played a Puerto Rican, you can play anything vaguely ethnic. But Steve McQueen? McQueen?
5. The ending scene made me giggle profusely, because I am actually a really girly romantic if you give me enough realism to go on. And someone might do this...maybe:


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JOHANNESBURG (AP) — South Africa's soft-spoken Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe will compete next week against President Jacob Zuma to lead the country's ruling party, the African National Congress.
Motlanthe accepted nominations from several provinces and the party's youth league to enter the race to be the ANC's next president, his spokesman Thabo Masebe told The Associated Press Thursday.
The announcement ends weeks of uncertainty as Motlanthe previously told foreign journalists he was "agonizing" over whether to accept the call to challenge Zuma, whose popularity has faded over corruption allegations and questions about his personal life.
Motlanthe also accepted nominations to hold onto his current position as the ANC's deputy president, as well as to hold another leadership position in the party, Masebe said. That could put Motlanthe in position to hold onto his deputy president post even if he loses out to Zuma for the top spot. However, others have been discussed as possible replacements for the deputy position in a bid to push out Motlanthe, 63.
Becoming leader of the ANC means a nearly automatic ticket to becoming the president in post-apartheid South Africa. Opposition parties don't garner the widespread support given to the ANC, the party of anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela. The party's president will become the state president, if the ANC wins national elections in 2014, and its deputy president will serve in the same national office.
In many ways, Motlanthe appears to offer almost the opposite qualities of Zuma, 70. Motlanthe is largely reserved, while Zuma knows how to whip up a crowd. Motlanthe also appears untainted by the recent corruption allegations that have plagued Zuma and other high-level and local ANC officials in recent years. Motlanthe previously served as a caretaker leader for South Africa, serving as the nation's president from September 2008 to May 2009 after then-President Thabo Mbeki resigned after being ousted as the head of the ANC by Zuma in a tight election.
However, Motlanthe held back as long as possible before confirming he'd challenge Zuma. While the ANC largely doesn't have a history of candidates publicly campaigning, some analysts say Motlanthe was hesitant because he was not sure of adequate support from rank-and-file party members to unseat Zuma.
Zuma faces growing disenchantment from South Africa's public, as news spread of the millions of dollars of government-paid improvements to his private homestead. Local newspapers repeatedly raise claims about Zuma being unable to manage his personal finances and relying on friends to bail him out — including one who was convicted of trying to elicit a bribe for Zuma to deflect investigations into a national arms deal.
Zuma also previously faced intense criticism over his sexual activity, including being acquitted of raping a family friend. He also outraged AIDS activists by testifying that he had unprotected, consensual sex with the HIV-positive woman and then took a shower in the belief that it would protect him from AIDS.
Yet Zuma has garnered support from many provincial ANC meetings heading into next week's ANC convention, making him for now the front runner.
Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP .


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The previous release of Planck result had me all aflutter, and the release of results from BICEP had the whole community talking/discussing for ages.
But we were told recently that the papers will be released on the 22nd of December 2014. While a conference devoted to the announcement of results (rather than the release of data and papers) is being held this week in Ferrara.
So this morning, with no official press conference and a press release from the team (in French) the only meat to go on was bits of information on Twitter from those at the conference.
So what do we know*?
*from Twitter/discussions and from the press releases here
Well, first of all there are the beautiful spectra in both temperature and polarisation on small scales (the larger scale measurement is in flux at the moment as the team work hard on systematics).
And some spectacular other images of (parts of) the maps in 353 GHz polarisation
with the colours indicating the dust and the relief showing the galactic magnetic field. Pretty, isn't it?
There are still some interesting tensions with the amplitude of clustering from Planck relative to other measurements of galaxy lensing (from the CFHTLens collaboration). The matter density is Omega_m=0.316 +/- 0.009.
Some important parameters like the scalar spectral index, n_s shift around by around 1 sigma. The optical depth, tau, shifts downwards - which is important for how we understand how the universe reionised (tau is in the range of 0.71-0.79 from Planck lensing and low-multipole LFI measurements.) The errorbar is still converging, so I look forward to the results in December for the final number on this.
The level of non-Gaussianity detected by Planck including polarisation is consistent with zero.
The number of effective degrees of freedom (Neff) is consistent with the simple picture, Neff = 3 +- 0.2, a number consistent with the WMAP9+ACT numbers we presented a while back before Planck.
Planck have a very robust detection of a non-zero lensing deflection power spectrum (I don't think the term 40sigma really means much when we get to such high confidence!) and detected polarisation B-modes from lensing too.
And Planck have improved the constraints (over WMAP) on dark matter models significantly, ruling out previous results (look for the grey rectangle between the yellow WMAP exclusion limit and the blue exclusion limit).
Also, very importantly, the Planck team have also gotten a great handle on their calibration, which brings the calibration into alignment with WMAP at the 0.3% level.
So this is good news! Some have been commenting that the results aren't 'exciting' enough - but I actually think this is great news. The Planck team should be commended for waiting/checking/testing/understanding their data for as long as possible before releasing the papers: they are being cautious. Also, we as a community are taking small, tough and important steps to narrowing parameter space. Being in the large-data limit makes things hard, and they've been under tremendous pressure too to release the data, but I think we should take our hats off for a moment and congratulate the team on their (amazingly) hard work. The scientific method is gruelling, and we can't always get the great upsets that make for great tweets.
I would have loved more of a press release, live stream or presentation of the results publicly. But I'd rather have a cautious late-December gift of papers than a early rush that they aren't happy with.


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|nutty and packing the protein
|each one is about 100 cal
I also enjoy munching on these when I need a sweet fix and am avoiding sugary snacks like chocolate.
This recipe is taken from The Kitchn, and they taste great. I don't think they taste quite as cookie dough as I hoped but they are still tasty nonetheless.
Here is what you need to make these:
|this is it!
|I added a teaspoon of maca for good measure
1 cup of cashews (or cashew butter)
1/2 cup of rolled oats
1/4 tsp of salt
13 tbsp of agave nectar or honey
1 tbsp of vanilla extract
4 squares of 90% dark chocolate (I used Lindt)
Handful of cacao nibs
Combine the cashews, oats and salt in a food processor and pulse into a fine meal
Add the agave nectar/honey and vanilla extract to the cashew mixture. Pulse again until it comes together in a dough-like mixture
Add the chocolate squares and cacao nibs and pulse a few times just to roughly chop up the chocolate in to the mixture
Take a large pinch of the raw dough and roll in to a ball with the palms of your hands. Pop these onto a tray (feel free to line with greaseproof paper) and pop in to the fridge to set
|ready for the fridge
These will keep quite happily in the fridge for a week or so. I love keeping a batch of protein balls in the fridge for when I need a quick energy fix as these are so dense and filling. They are also doing a great job at satisfying my sweet tooth (which has been particularly bad atm).
X x X
X x X
Want more like this?
No bake protein snack bars
Carrot cake protein balls
No bake protein snack bars
Carrot cake protein balls
Follow me on instagram for more food inspo


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Love this idea...and so simple! My little sis is getting married in November and her colors and black, white, and gold...these DIY candle sticks are a must have for her big affair!
Dollar store candle stick holders, painted with Elmer's glue and sprinkled with glitter!
You could do any color glitter to match your occasion, dinner party, or bash!
even an old thrift store brass find would do the trick too!
HAPPY DIYing!!!