A brief story in the Wall Street Journal neatly encapsulates the dilemma Japan is facing in the debate about the sales tax hime (the first leg of which is due in April 2014):
?It is extremely important to push ahead with fiscal reform while pursuing the goal of revitalizing the Japanese economy at the same time,? finance minister Taro Aso said in a speech delivered at a meeting of the ministry?s regional bureaus. ?While making efforts to defeat long-running deflation, Japan needs to revamp its finances to make them sustainable on a long-term basis.?
The last time an extra sales tax was imposed, consumer spending suffered and hence the economy. But not imposing the tax to gain extra revenue risks further ballooning of Japanese government debt.?A tough dilemma for the government.
Difficult to see how the yen doesn?t weaken further, IMO.
Japan Fin Min Aso: Important to Push Ahead With Fiscal Reform as Well as Econ Revitalization
(The Wall Street Journal is often gated, so if you?re unable to access the article try a search of Google news using the headline)
Furniture is really important in your home. ?It's also one of the biggest investments you will make in your home so it's important to choose your furniture wisely. Companies like Furniture for Modern Living offer high quality, beautiful furniture for your home so if you are looking for new furniture, they offer some great ideas to get you started. Oak furniture is a great option because it's not only beautiful but it's durable. When making an investment in furniture, you want to make sure you are getting a good quality so it will last and oak furniture is a great choice for that. ?It doesn't matter if you are going for a contemporary design or a more traditional look, oak furniture is a great choice all the way around. ?Solid oak costs more than other materials used to make furniture but it lasts for generations so you really can't go wrong with it.?
If you have been following our site, you know we have been posting a lot about home improvement lately. That's because we still have several rooms in our home to remodel. We are down to the den, kitchen, master bedroom and bathroom and then we will finally be finished. We are working on the den now and we should be done with it in the next week or so. We currently have an old, traditional looking oak desk that we plan to update with a new, more modern type table to take its place. We are also on the lookout for a nice accent chair and side table to complete the overall look of the room and I am so excited for it to be finished. We are taking our den from a deep red to a light gray so I know it's going to look completely different when it's finished. It makes me both excited and nervous making such big changes but hopefully when it's finished we will have a space that we are really happy with. We have everything we need to complete the project now except for the accent chair so hopefully I can find that this week. I am hoping to find something like this that will go good with our new theme.?
If you are planning any updates in your home, I would definitely consider updating your furniture if yours has seen better days. I always said we should wait until our kids get older because they are so hard on things but the more oak furniture I look at, the more I consider just doing it now. I know if we go with solid oak, it will be durable enough to withstand our crazy kids and we can enjoy it for years to come.?
It?s kind of like that song lyric, ?Do a little dance, make a little love/get down tonight.? Except in this case the little dance is Amazon?s tricky runaround of Apple?s app restrictions, the love-making is a free sample of an e-book and getting down tonight is well, reading, I suppose. Amazon has pulled off a neat trick with its latest update to the Kindle iOS app in order to skirt Apple?s rules about in-app purchases.
As the rules stand now, Apple doesn?t let any apps sell products within the program unless that company ? Amazon in this case ? doles out a 30% cut of the profits, as explained by The Next Web. Why would Amazon want to do that when it?s already paying book publishers?
It doesn?t want to do that, but rules are rules. Instead of having customers have to jump out of the app to the Amazon site to get a book on their phones, Amazon?s little wiggle dance now includes the ability to search for free samples of books in the app. Once you?ve finished reading the sample, a ?Before you go?? option pops up like it would on a Kindle and gives users the option to email themselves a link to purchase the full book.
Previously, the app would only allow readers to search through their own libraries. If you wanted to buy a book, off you?d go to the web browser and type in the name of the book on Amazon?s site. This way is a lot more streamlined.
So there you have it. Apple is outwiggled, Amazon is free of any 30% tithes, and you?re on your way to reading that new book by that one writer everyone is talking about.
At least for now ? Apple hasn?t spoken up on whether this actually is a violation of its rules, but we?ll update this story if it issues a response to Amazon?s smooth moves.
*Thanks for the tip, Ed!
Amazon dances around Apple restrictions with ?free sample? search inside Kindle for iOS app [TheNextWeb.com]
TAVARES, Fla. (AP) ? A series of explosions rocked a central Florida propane gas plant and sent "boom after boom after boom" through the neighborhood around it. Eight people were injured, with at least four in critical condition.
John Herrell of the Lake County Sheriff's Office said early Tuesday that no one died despite massive blasts that ripped through the Blue Rhino propane plant late Monday night. Officials initially scrambled to find more than a dozen employees after the explosions.
"Management is comfortable saying all of those they knew were there tonight have been accounted for," he said.
Tavares Fire Chief Richard Keith said possible causes of the explosion may be either equipment malfunction or possibly human error. Sabotage was not suspected.
One person injured in the explosion was listed in critical condition at University of Florida Health Shands Hospital and three others were listed in critical condition at Orlando Regional Medical Center. Herrell said some others drove themselves to area hospitals.
Tavares Battalion Commander Eric Wages said five workers walked up to a command center firefighters set up near the plant Monday night with skin hanging off their arms, torso and faces. He said their arms were outstretched and they were in complete shock.
The Blue Rhino plant, which is northwest of Orlando, refilled propane tanks typically used for barbecues and other uses. There were some 53,000 20-gallon tanks at the plant on Monday.
Tuesday morning, smoke still billowed from a storage container on the property, which consists of a couple of warehouses next to each other. The parking lot was littered with thousands of blackened 20-gallon propane containers.
Nearby, three 33,000-pound tanks of propane sat untouched. Lake County Battalion Chief Chris Croughwell said the hoses designed to spray water on the large tanks in case of fire, did not go off as planned because they had to be manually activated. "Most sane people don't stick around for an event like this," he added.
Tavares Mayor Robert Wolfe said Tuesday that he was surprised to learn the hoses at the plant had to be manually activated. If Blue Rhino reopens the plant, Wolfe said he plans to raise the safety issue. "That way, it's fail safe," Wolfe said. "We're lucky those tanks didn't explode."
The Florida Division of Emergency Management responded overnight and briefed Gov. Rick Scott.
Gene Williams, a third-shift maintenance worker at the plant, said he was at the back of the warehouse when he heard two loud explosions. Most of the workers were inside the facility, but there were about five in the parking lot.
When he went to look outside, there was a fireball about 20-feet-by-20-feet about 100 yards from the plant's loading dock.
After that, a forklift driver stumbled into the building. He had flesh hanging off his hands, and his legs and face were burned. Williams said he got the man in a van as the cylinders from the 20-pound tanks starting falling down around them.
He said they were doing repairs and painting the tanks when one of the paint lines had broken, but it was repaired. The workers were getting ready to go home when the explosion happened.
Based on what the forklift operator told him, the explosion was likely caused by a "combination of human error and bad practices, possibly. I don't want to speculate any further, that's what the forklift driver was telling me."
Williams said the forklift driver told him, "'I did what they told me to do, I did what they told me to do, and then this happened.'"
"Something in that area must have triggered it. I don't know if he did something or something else triggered it," Williams said.
Williams said they were able to cut off propane to the three big tanks. But they weren't able to get to the switch for the cooling hoses.
"It was too violent, too hot, to get in there and turn them on," he said.
Williams said one of the injured people was hit by a car trying to run across the road.
The Florida Highway Patrol confirmed that 29-year-old Leesburg resident Kaghy Sam was struck by an SUV driven by 72-year-old Gene Batson on a road near the Blue Rhino plant.
A statement from the FHP to The Associated Press said that Sam was running on the road "due to a large fire and several explosions" just before 11 p.m. Monday and "ran into the direct path" of Batson's vehicle.
Sam was flown to Ocala Regional Medical Center with serious injuries.
No charges were filed in the accident.
Blue Rhino is a subsidiary of Kansas-based national propane provider Ferrellgas. Spokesman Scott Brockelmeyer said Tuesday he didn't have information available about the safety water hoses.
"It's as sobering a situation as you can possibly imagine," Brockelmeyer said. "We have folks who are injured, and we've got Blue Rhino and Ferrellgas employees across the country who are keeping them in their prayers and sending good vibes their way."
Brockelmeyer said there were 14 full-time employees and 10 part-time workers in the plant when the explosions occurred Monday night.
Ferrellgas did pay a $2,295 fine in November 2011 following an Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection that found a component at the end of an air hose used in the consumer tank refurbishing process was not present.
Brockelmeyer said the company corrected the issue and added that "the process is performed in area away from where the tanks are filled....so no product was being processed in that area."
Croughwell said firefighters who responded to the initial fire had to wait to enter plant site because conditions were so dangerous. Just as they were finally about to go in, four tractor-trailers parked next to the large propane tanks caught fire.
If the large tanks exploded, Croughwell said, "it would have wiped us out."
Video footage on WESH-TV in Orlando showed fires burning through trucks used to transport propane tanks, which were parked at the plant. The fire sent plumes of smoke into the air hours after the blast.
Keith said the explosions shook his house several miles from the plant. "It truly sounded like a car hit our house," he said.
Herrell said about 50 homes were evacuated Monday night but residents were allowed back in about four hours later.
Marni Whitehead, 33, who lives less than a mile from the plant, said she was in bed ready to go to sleep when she heard a loud boom.
She ran outside and saw other neighbors outside and then they saw the explosions.
"We knew right away it was the plant, the propane plant," Whitehead said. "After that, it was just sort of panic."
Whitehead likened the explosions to Fourth of July fireworks. "And it was just boom after boom after boom," she said.
Herrell said officials believe the fire was contained and wouldn't spread to another part of the plant.
According to the Leesburg Daily Commercial, the plant was built in 2004 and employs fewer than 50 people.
___
Associated press writers Kyle Hightower in Orlando and Freida Frisaro in Miami contributed to this report.
FILE - In this Monday, Dec., 1, 2008, file photo, an Amazon.com employee grabs boxes off the conveyor belt to load in a truck at their Fernley, Nev., warehouse. Amazon.com Inc. says it is adding 7,000 jobs in 13 states, beefing up staff at the warehouses where it fills orders, and in its customer service division. The company says it will add 5,000 full-time jobs at its U.S. distribution centers, which currently employ about 20,000 workers who pack and ship customer orders. (AP Photo/Scott Sady, File)
FILE - In this Monday, Dec., 1, 2008, file photo, an Amazon.com employee grabs boxes off the conveyor belt to load in a truck at their Fernley, Nev., warehouse. Amazon.com Inc. says it is adding 7,000 jobs in 13 states, beefing up staff at the warehouses where it fills orders, and in its customer service division. The company says it will add 5,000 full-time jobs at its U.S. distribution centers, which currently employ about 20,000 workers who pack and ship customer orders. (AP Photo/Scott Sady, File)
File-In this Monday, Nov. 16, 2009 file photo, a view inside the 800,000 sq. ft. Amazon.com distribution and fulfillment center warehouse in Goodyear, Ariz. Amazon.com Inc. says it is adding 7,000 jobs in 13 states, beefing up staff at the warehouses where it fills orders, and in its customer service division. The company says it will add 5,000 full-time jobs at its U.S. distribution centers, which currently employ about 20,000 workers who pack and ship customer orders. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Amazon.com Inc. says it is adding 7,000 jobs in 13 states, beefing up staff at the warehouses where it fills orders, and in its customer service division.
The company says it will add 5,000 full-time jobs at its U.S. distribution centers, which currently employ about 20,000 workers who pack and ship customer orders.
The world's largest online retailer has been spending heavily on order fulfillment, a strategy meant to help the business grow, but one that has also weighed on profit margins. The company said last week that it lost money in the second quarter, even as revenue increased.
Distribution center jobs are available in Phoenix; Middletown, Del.; Patterson, San Bernardino and Tracy, Calif.; Indianapolis and Jeffersonville, Ind.; Hebron, Ky.; Breinigsville, Pa.; Charleston and Spartanburg, S.C.; Chattanooga and Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Coppell, Haslet and San Antonio, Texas and Chester, Va.
President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit the Chattanooga facility on Tuesday, according to the White House.
The company is also adding 2,000 jobs in customer service, including full-time, part-time and seasonal. Jobs are available in Winchester, Ky.; Grand Forks, N.D.; Kennewick, Wash. and Huntington, W.Va. Work from home positions are available in Oregon, Washington and Arizona.
More information is at www.workatamazonfulfillment.com and www.amazon.com/csjobs.
WOODHULL, N.Y. -- The confirmed EF1 tornado took a serious toll on one house in Woodhull.
?We heard this noise, and my husband says what is that?? I, said I think it's the wind,? says Sharon Baker. ??So I opened the door, and I said oh, it is the wind.? It sounded like a freight train coming right through the house.?
Sharon and Ron Baker have lived on County Route 102 near the Woodhull Raceway for more than 40 years, but Ron says he's never seen anything like this.
When the tornado hit their property Saturday night, they lost eight trees, one right on their house, which destroyed their back porch and caused cracks in their ceilings.
?We tried to go to bed, but neither of us really slept,? Sharon says.
Behind their property, a path of flattened crops is more than enough evidence for National Weather Service Meteorologist Dave Nicosia.
?It has all the signatures, you could see the way the winds were swirling into the tornado,? he says.? ?I have winds in some places up to 100 miles per hour, which ranks at an EF 1 category, so a pretty significant tornado.?
When we checked in with the Bakers, they were going on more than 16 hours without power.
NYSEG shut it off because of wires caught in the tree that fell on their house.
The Bakers might be most upset by the loss of one oak tree in particular.
?My kids grew up with a tire swing on this, it was probably 225 year old? and now it's gone,? Sharon says.
The Bakers' insurance will take care of the tree on their house and the damage it suffered, but they are financially responsible for clearing up the other trees.
July 29, 2013, 8:26 PM ? Sony and Panasonic Monday announced a joint effort to develop a next-generation standard for optical disks for professional users.
The companies also said they intend to build a 300GB disc by 2015.
Sony and Panasonic plan to use technologies each developed separately in the new standard. The companies will continue to hold discussions regarding the specifications and other items related to the new standard.
"Optical disks have excellent properties to protect them against the environment, such as dust-resistance and water-resistance, and can also withstand changes in temperature and humidity when stored," the companies said in a statement. "They also allow inter-generational compatibility between different formats, ensuring that data can continue to be read even as formats evolve. This makes them a robust medium for long-term storage of content."
Both Sony and Panasonic have developed products based on the Blu-ray format, but have said they also recognize that optical disks will need to accommodate much larger volumes of data in years to come given the expected future growth in the archive market.
In 2012, Sony commercialized a file-based optical disk archive system in for its XDCAM series of professional broadcasting products, which houses twelve 25GB optical discs in a single cartridge.
Earlier this month, Panasonic launched the 'LB-DM9 series' of optical disk storage devices, which can house twelve 100GB optical disks. A maximum of 90 magazines can be stored, providing a total storage capacity of 180TB.
Lucas Mearian covers storage, disaster recovery and business continuity, financial services infrastructure and health care IT for Computerworld. Follow Lucas on Twitter at @lucasmearian, or subscribe to Lucas's RSS feed . His email address is lmearian@computerworld.com.
Read more about data storage in Computerworld's Data Storage Topic Center.
The PC market is in poor health, and consumers love tablets. When do those two trends cross? No prediction is perfect, but given simple trend analysis, it appears that by the second quarter of 2014, tablets will likely outsell the PC market. That said, current market dynamics could accelerate, pushing us over that mark a bit sooner. Let's get into the figures to untangle just where we stand.
(Excerpted from Chapter 4: Nicaraguan Contraband: Big Oil & Their Bankers?)
?
During the Nicaraguan contra war, the CIA ran a guns-for-drugs operation out of Belize.? One note in Oliver North?s diaries read, ?Proceed on White House project in Belize?.? Another read, ?wants to contact drug people in Belize camps?.? In 1984 Walter Mischer, a Houston business man with mob connections started a shrimp business in Belize that was a carbon copy of the one John Hull cohort Paco Chanes had started in Costa Rica to move Columbian cocaine.?
Mischer was a close friend of Vice-President George Bush and Secretary of Treasury James Baker III.? He bought 700,000 acres of land in Belize with help from investment partners Coca Cola and Paul Howell ? an ex-director of the Houston Federal Reserve Bank.
Mischer?s land was utilized by CIA agent Carl Jenkins, who began training contras there.? Jenkins was Rafael Quinteros? CIA case officer during the Cuban Bay of Pigs invasion and later ran the CIA base in Laos from 1970-73 where North, Richard Secord, Quintero, Thomas Clines, Ted Shackley and John Singlaub all served.
Jenkins owned Helicopteros de Guatemala.? During the 1970?s Alberto Sicilia Falcon ? the Mexican drug kingpin with CIA connections ? talked of taking Belize over for the ?business?. [151]? The tiny Caribbean nation, greatly influenced by the British Crown, is a major transshipment point for Columbian cocaine.
In 1962 OSS Detachment 202 veteran and Sea Supply proprietor Paul Helliwell returned to Miami from heroin-infested Kunming, China to found Castle Bank of the Bahamas.? The bank had only 300 depositors, but they included Richard Nixon, Chiang Kai-Shek?s daughter, Howard Hughes and Tony Curtis.? The financial backbone of the bank was the Chicago Pritzker family ? owners of the Hyatt Hotel chain.
Castle Bank served as a bridge between Santos Trafficante?s Florida mafia and KMT/Vietnamese Opium Monopoly heroin traffic.? Helliwell was on CIA payroll and used Castle Bank as ?paymaster? for the Ted Shackley-directed operation aimed at Fidel Castro.
During the Nicaraguan contra war, the CIA ran a guns-for-drugs operation out of Belize.? One note in Oliver North?s diaries read, ?Proceed on White House project in Belize?.? Another read, ?wants to contact drug people in Belize camps?.?
Helliwell organized an entire Caribbean banking circuit and numerous Panamanian shell companies.? He continued to operate Sea Supply and became Thai consul in Miami, operating out of the American Bankers Insurance (ABI) building.? ABI board member James King sat on the board of Miami National Bank, which Meyer Lansky?s mob syndicate used to funnel millions of dollars in drug proceeds to the Swiss Exchange & Investment Bank.
Helliwell served as legal counsel to Lansky prot?g? Santos Trafficante, Resorts International, and Intercontinental Hotels.? He later became an adviser to Lyndon Johnson. [152]
The Cayman Islands played a key role in Helliwell?s Caribbean offshore banking network after the IMF helped the islands gain offshore status.? A nation of 13,500 residents and 14,000 telex numbers for banks, sometimes no more than tiny offices, the Caymans offer super-secretive bank accounts for the global elite.? International intelligence agencies and drug traffickers find this secrecy quite convenient as well.
Helliwell?s Castle Bank was joined in the Caymans by a branch of Nugan Hand Bank and the World Finance Corporation.? All three dealt with both the CIA and mob boss Santos Trafficante.
Walter Mischer?s Belize land deal was financed by the Bank of Nova Scotia, one of five huge Canadian banks and four large British banks that dominate the Caribbean Silver Triangle ? a drug smugglers haven in which Belize and the Cayman Islands play key roles.? The other Canadian banks are the Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto Dominion Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.? The British banks are National Westminster, Barclays, Lloyds and Midland Bank.
Midland was bought by HSBC and owns 20% of Standard Chartered Bank. These latter two banks print Hong Kong?s money.? Midland?s board is loaded with ex-Pentagon officials who specialize in recycling petrodollars into CIA covert operations. [153]
The Bank of Nova Scotia is the leading gold dealer in the Caribbean and the leading handler of capital flight out of the Caribbean.? It is the banker of Noranda, a huge Canadian mining company that is the second largest dealer of gold in the Caribbean.? Gold is the preferred currency of drug traffickers and Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaican subsidiary Scotiabank plays a huge role in the Caribbean drug trade. [154]? The 200 tons of gold recovered from vaults beneath the World Trade Center in the cleanup effort following the 911 terror attacks belonged to Bank of Nova Scotia.
Royal Bank of Canada has more off-shore subsidiaries than any other bank in the world.? It bailed out the government of Guyana in 1976 after a CIA coup brought down the socialist government of Cheddi Jagan.? Royal launched the business career of Venezuela?s most powerful Cisneros family, which overseas Rockefeller interests in that country.? It has a joint venture in the Bahamas with National Westminster called RoyWest.
Both the Bank of Nova Scotia and Royal Bank of Canadaare controlled by Canada?s most influential family ? the Bronfmans.? The Bronfmans control DuPont, which spun off Conoco, as well as Seagrams, Vivendi and Eagle Star Insurance.
Eagle Star is the Bronfman holding company and a joint venture with British powerhouses Barclays, Lloyds, Hill Samuel and N. M. Rothschild & Sons.? Eagle Star combined with Allianz Versicherung ? a German company controlled by the von Thurn and Taxis and Wittelsbach families ? to become a global financial titan.
The von Thurn and Taxis ? Germany?s deposed royal family ? funded Tradition, Family and Property - the fascist movement responsible for right-wing death squad genocide throughout South America.
Eagle Star is close to British intelligence.? Two directors, Sir Kenneth Strong and Sir Kenneth Keith, were #1 and #2 at British Intelligence during WWII.? Keith is a director at Bank of Nova Scotia and chairman of Hill Samuel, where HSBC?s Sir Philip de Zulueta joins Keith on the board.? Keith is an influential member of the Canadian Institute for International Affairs (CIIA), the sister organization of London?s powerful Royal Institute of International Affairs and the US Council on Foreign Relations. [155]? The official leader of Canada, by virtue of its Crown affiliation, is Britain?s Queen Elizabeth II, whose mandates are carried out by a governor-general.
The Bank of Montreal has interlocking directorates with Seagrams and Hudson Bay Company.? Hudson Bay is tight with Lord Inchcape?s Peninsular & Orient Navigation Company (PONC) and the Hong Kong Keswick family that controls Jardine Matheson.? PONC?s Sir Eric Drake sits on the board at Hudson Bay.? He and William Johnston Keswick also sit on the board of BP Amoco.? Drake sits on the board of Kleinwort Benson, whose Sharps Pixley subsidiary runs 49% of the Hong Kong gold market.? Keswick?s son Henry Neville Lindley Keswick is a director at HSBC, Jardine Matheson and the Canadian paper giant MacMillan Bloedel, which merged with the largest US paper and timber company Weyerhaeuser in 1999.
MacMillan Bloedel took off when British Prime Minister Harold MacMillan married the daughter of Canadian Governor General Victor C. W. Cavendish ? the 9th Duke of Devonshire.? Canadian Pacific owns a controlling interest in MacMillan Bloedel.
Vancouver is a favorite drop point for SE Asian heroin on the way to the US.? In 1978 Canadian intelligence officials were forced to admit in a Vancouver courtroom that Canadian Pacific Air flies most of Vancouver?s heroin into the US. [156]? Canadian Pacific Railways is also involved.
All of these Canadian Silver Triangle interests have members of Queen Elizabeth II?s secret modern-day roundtable, the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, on their boards.? At Canadian Pacific, board members J.C. Gilmar, J.P.W. Ostiguy, Charles Bronfman and W.E. McLaughlin are all Knights of St. John.? McLaughlin also chairs Royal Bank of Canada.
Barclays has five Knights of St. John on its board, while Bank of Nova Scotia and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce have three Vatican-controlled Knights of Malta members each on their respective boards.? Another Knight of Malta is Canadian Pacific board member M. G. Sandberg, who once chaired HSBC.? Each of the big five Canadian banks have at least one Knight of Malta on their boards.
The CIIA is loaded with Knights of St. John as well.? The CIIA?s Honorary Chairman for life is Walter Lockhardt Gordon, whose father founded Clarkson & Gordon ? the accounting firm that audits Toronto Dominion Bank, Bank of Nova Scotia and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.? CIIA board member Henry R. Jackman is a board member of the Italian Knights of St. John and the Order of Lazarus.? Roland Michener, a former Canadian Governor General who chairs the CIIA, is a Knight of Malta.
During the Crusades, the Knights of St. John, also known as the Hospitallers, escorted European pilgrims into Jerusalem where King Solomon had built his Temple on Mount Moriah.? The site is said to have housed the Ark of the Covenant and other sacred objects and secret documents.? What remains of Solomon?s Temple is housed today within the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Dome of the Rock, where the latest intifada began and always at the epicenter of Israeli/Palestinian tensions.
Barclays has five Knights of St. John on its board, while Bank of Nova Scotia and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce have three Vatican-controlled Knights of Malta members each on their respective boards.? Another Knight of Malta is Canadian Pacific board member M. G. Sandberg, who once chaired HSBC.? Each of the big five Canadian banks have at least one Knight of Malta on their boards.
When the Dead Sea scrolls were discovered in 1947 at Qumran, one document etched in copper mentioned a huge treasure of gold buried beneath Solomon?s Temple.? This booty may explain why the Knights of St. John?s brother organization ? the Knights Templar ? turned over their pilgrim protection racket to the former group and focused their Crusade-era activity on excavating beneath the Temple.? It would also explain how the Templars suddenly became the richest organization in the world.
Following their defeat by Muslim Saracens during the Crusades, the Knights of St. John fell back to the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, but in 1522 the Turks invaded and the twice-defeated Knights relocated to Malta where the Roman Catholic faction became known as the Knights of Malta, today recognized as a sovereign nation by more than 40 countries.? They are headquartered in Rome and answer to the Pope.
The protestant faction based in Britain is the Knights of St. John Jerusalem who answer to the Grand Prior of the Order the Duke of Gloucester ? cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. [157]
Dean Henderson is the author of four books: Big Oil & Their Bankers in the Persian Gulf: Four Horsemen, Eight Families & Their Global Intelligence, Narcotics & Terror Network, The Grateful Unrich: Revolution in 50 Countries, Stickin? it to the Matrix and Das Kartell der Federal Reserve. To subscribe to Dean?s weekly blog, Left Hook, go to www.deanhenderson.wordpress.com
Footnotes:
[1] The Mafia, CIA and George Bush: The Untold Story of America?s Greatest Financial Debacle. Pete Brewton. SPI Books. New York. 1992
[2] In Banks We Trust. Penny Lernoux. Anchor Press/Doubleday. Garden City, NY. 1984. p.79
[3] Editors of Executive Intelligence Review. p.250
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid
[6] Ibid
[7] Rule by Secrecy: The Hidden History that Connects the Trilateral Commission, the Freemasons and the Great Pyramids. Jim Marrs. HarperCollins Publishers. New York. 2000
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BRIARCLIFF MANOR, N.Y. -- Samantha Muratori, of Briarcliff Manor, was chosen as one of Union College's Summer Research Fellows.
The nine-week fellowship gives Muratori, along with two other of the Schenectady, N.Y., college's students, the opportunity to examine the tension that exists between economic development and environmental protection. They will participate in workshops and seminars and meet with representatives of organizations involved with Adirondack advocacy and policy. They also will meet with residents and business owners, and visit area schools and government buildings.
So far, Muratori and her colleagues have visited the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake and The Wild Center in Tupper Lake. "It was an amazing experience," Muratori said in a prepared statement.
The program is based out of Union College's new Kelly Adirondack Center. The students are required to write a series of op-eds related to a specific topic that will be submitted to outside news organizations. At the end of the program, they must submit a research paper and give a public presentation on the topic.
The students, who all will be seniors this fall, were selected through an application process, as well as their ability to conduct independent research. Each receives a stipend.
Muratori has an extensive familiarity with the Adirondacks. The political science major (and anthropology minor) spends every summer with her family on Lake George. With an interest in journalism, she saw the fellowship as an opportunity to strengthen her research skills and writing. She will focus on the economic development in Tupper Lake, a former logging town in Franklin County.
"This fellowship has been a good way to introduce us to the center," Muratori said. "It's still fairly new, but I think the more it gets used, it will really catch on with people on campus. There is a lot of history in this building."
Ya gotta love it. Knight of Malta, Cardinal Dolan gumba, Roger Ailes' Consigliore, and Fox News host Peter Johnson Jr. (Per Colbert, a name that's three euphemisms for penis) is having a fit of the vapors about Anthony Weiner and wants more Democrats to urge him to quit the mayoral race. Yet, as far as I know, Johnson didn't have the same reaction to Republicans who got caught doing more than just sending pictures of their junk. I don't recall Johnson being outraged about the congressional candidacy of Mark Sanford who, when he was the SC governor, lied about being on a hike when, at taxpayer expense, he was visiting his Argentinean mistress. I don't think Johnson had a problem when David Vitter, after having been exposed as the diaper clad client of a Washington DC prostitute, ran for re-election to the US Senate. I don't remember if Johnson exhorted Republicans to urge these fine fellows to get out of their races. Oh, right, the two aforementioned politicians are conservative, Christian, pro-life, family values Republican men who were saved by Jesus. Right...
On yesterday's Fox & Friends, the Weiner bashing segment began with video of Weiner speaking about how he's going forward with his campaign. While other networks had some polling data from after Weiner's presser, which showed a steep decline in his numbers, the Fox & Friends data was older and showed Weiner in the lead - a fact that elicited a "wow" from Brain Brian Kilmeade who asked why more Democrats aren't calling for him to quit. He asked Johnson if he was surprised that there isn't more outrage. Johnson, who noted that he is supporting the candidacy of Bill Thompson, said that he wasn't surprised.
Johnson pontificated: "It's not private conduct, it's public conduct. We know what politicians do in public they get up and make pronouncements and give speeches. What we should be concerned about is what they're doing in private." He spoke about how mayors need to make important decisions. After asking "is that person worthy of our trust" because Weiner has become a joke, he said, the answer is "absolutely not."
Brain Kilmeade could barely contain his anger as he snarled "what does it say about New York" if the present Weiner polls stay in place. Johnson described politics as a "craven sport" in which leaders "are more concerned about winning elections than setting a tone for the electorate and the public. Johnson seemed to almost take pleasure in citing Weiner's "infidelity" and "perverted behavior." He then said - wait for it- "If you can't be loyal to the person that you pledge your entire life to, how can you be loyal to a principal, or oath of office, or to an anonymous public who are pulling the levers to elect you." He described it as a "sick, diabolical situation."
So did Johnson hold Sanford and Vitter to the same "loyalty" standards? And if not, is this a classic case of different strokes for different folks. (Pun intended!) I report, you decide.
[unable to retrieve full-text content]A new study reveals for the first time how the mixing of cold, deep waters from below can change sea surface temperatures on seasonal and longer timescales.
Valencia College trustees today gave the school's president a small raise ? even though he asked multiple times during the meeting that his pay remain the same.
Trustees said President Sandy Shugart, who has not accepted a salary increase in several years, deserved at least the same increase offered to other employees. Full-time faculty and all staff members were given raises averaging 1.85 percent for the 2013-14 fiscal year.
Shugart's base salary will increase by about $5,400 to $298,466.
"I think the college has benefited enormously from his performance," said Lew Oliver, vice chairman of the board of trustees.
Oliver was the first trustee to say Shugart deserved more pay, and his colleagues agreed. Last year, Oliver also had protested Shugart's opposition to a raise.
Earlier Tuesday, trustees had praised Shugart during a discussion about his annual performance evaluation. He was rated "excellent" in all areas.
Shugart thanked the board for the additional money, but said he plans to donate it back to the college.
"Robot Vacuum Simulator 2013" offers players the thrilling opportunity to truly become a housecleaning appliance.
Video games offer players many fantastical departures from real life. But after killing endless hordes of zombies, Nazis, and dragons in countless video games, do you ever dream of something more ... down to Earth?
Well, you can't get much more grounded than "Robot Vacuum Simulator 2013," a new game from the mysterious developer Stolidus Simulations. As the name of the game implies, "Robot Vacuum Simulator 2013" is a follow up to last year's "Robot Vacuum Simulator 2012." But while the 2012 edition was a 2-D top-down living room maintenance affair, this year's version really pulled out all the stops. Powered by the freely available and thus indie-friendly Unity engine, "Robot Vacuum Simulator 2013" gives players a fully realized 3-D world to roam around in and pick up bits of fuzz and dust as, yes, their very own Roomba.
As the launch trailer shows, Stolidus Simulations took the "simulator" part of "Robot Vacuum Simulator" pretty seriously. The Roomba moves at roughly the same pace and does things that are roughly as exciting as a real-world self-actualizing vacuum cleaner would. In an upgrade from the 2012 version, the game now offers a competitive multiplayer mode in which two Roombas race (in a manner of speaking) around the house, each trying to suck up more dust than the opponent.
A representative from Stolidus Simulations was not immediately available for comment on the game. But judging by the information on the company's website, it seems like the creators like to keep a low profile about their work. Stolidus describes itself as "a world leading company in the field of robotic vacuum simulators," after all ? notice that Stolidus says that it's a leading company, not the leading company. It's rare that you see tech companies exercising humility and deference quite this gracefully.
The game is currently freely available for download to the PC or Mac. No word yet on a possible next-generation port to the Xbox One or PlayStation 4, but we'll keep our fingers crossed. Watch the launch trailer below.
? via Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Yannick LeJacq is a contributing writer for NBC News who has also covered technology and games for Kill Screen, The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic. You can follow him on Twitter at @YannickLeJacq and reach him by email at: ylejacq@gmail.com.
Venezuela?s President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a military promotion ceremony at the 4F military museum in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, July 5, 2013. Venezuela marks on Friday the 202 anniversary of independence from Spain. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Venezuela?s President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a military promotion ceremony at the 4F military museum in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, July 5, 2013. Venezuela marks on Friday the 202 anniversary of independence from Spain. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega speaks during a ceremony marking the 34th anniversary of the withdrawal to Masaya, a tactical move by the Sandinistas that was critical in the overthrow of Anastasio Somoza's dictatorship in 1979, in Managua, Nicaragua, Friday, July 5, 2013. The presidents of Nicaragua and Venezuela offered Friday to grant asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden, one day after leftist South American leaders gathered to denounce the rerouting of Bolivian President Evo Morales' plane over Europe amid reports that the American was aboard. (AP Photo/Lucia Silva)
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, left, speaks with Defense Minister Admiral Diego Molero, right, during an Independence Day parade at Fort Tiuna in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, July 5, 2013. Standing at center is Venezuela's first lady Cilia Flores. The presidents of Venezuela and Nicaragua offered Friday to grant asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden, one day after leftist South American leaders gathered to denounce the rerouting of Bolivian President Evo Morales' plane over Europe amid reports that the American was aboard. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
Venezuela's Defense Minister Admiral Diego Molero, far left, Venezuela?s President Nicolas Maduro, second from left, and Chief of Strategic Command Gen. Wilmer Barrientos, center, attend a military promotion ceremony at the 4F military museum in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, July 5, 2013. On Friday Venezuela marks its 202 independence anniversary from Spain. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega, right, speaks as his wife Rosario Murillo gestures during a ceremony marking the 34th anniversary of the withdrawal to Masaya, a tactical move by the Sandinistas that was critical in the overthrow of Anastasio Somoza's dictatorship in 1979, in Managua, Nicaragua, Friday, July 5, 2013. The presidents of Nicaragua and Venezuela offered Friday to grant asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden, one day after leftist South American leaders gathered to denounce the rerouting of Bolivian President Evo Morales' plane over Europe amid reports that the American was aboard. (AP Photo/Lucia Silva)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? The presidents of Nicaragua and Venezuela offered Friday to grant asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden, one day after leftist South American leaders gathered to denounce the rerouting of Bolivian President Evo Morales' plane over Europe amid reports that the American was aboard.
Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua made their offers during separate speeches in their home countries Friday afternoon. Snowden, who is being sought by the United States, has asked for asylum in numerous countries, including Nicaragua and Venezuela.
"As head of state, the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young American Edward Snowden so that he can live in the homeland" of independence leader Simon Bolivar and the late President Hugo Chavez without "persecution from the empire," Maduro said, referring to the United States.
Chavez often engaged in similar defiance, criticizing U.S.-style capitalism and policies. In a 2006 speech to the U.N. General Assembly of world leaders, Chavez called President George W. Bush the devil, saying the podium reeked of sulfur after the U.S. president's address. He also accused Washington of plotting against him, expelled several diplomats and drug-enforcement agents and threatened to stop sending oil to the U.S.
Maduro made the offer during a speech marking the anniversary of Venezuela's independence. It was not immediately clear if there were any conditions to Venezuela's offer. He added that several other Latin American governments have also expressed their intention of taking a similar stance by offering asylum for the cause of "dignity."
But his critics said Maduro's decision is nothing but an attempt to veil the current undignified conditions of Venezuela, including one of the world's highest inflation rates and a shortage of basic products like toilet paper.
"The asylum doesn't fix the economic disaster, the record inflation, an upcoming devaluation (of the currency), and the rising crime rate," Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles said in his Twitter account. Maduro beat Capriles in April's presidential election, but Capriles has not recognized defeat and has called it an electoral fraud.
Asked earlier this week about the possibility that any countries in the region would offer Snowden asylum, Geoff Thale, program director at the Washington Office on Latin America think tank, said that he thought Ortega would be careful not to damage his country's relationship with the U.S.
"Ortega has been tremendously successful at exploiting both the ALBA relationship and the U.S. relationship," Thale said, referring to the ALBA leftist trade bloc that provides Nicaragua with petroleum subsidies. Although Ortega is publicly seen as anti-American, "Nicaragua and the U.S. cooperate very closely on drug interdiction and the U.S. and Nicaraguan militaries work very closely, too," Thale said before the asylum offer was made.
Ortega said Friday he was willing to make Maduro's same offer "if circumstances allow it," although he didn't say what the right circumstances would be when he spoke during a speech in Managua.
He said the Nicaraguan embassy in Moscow received Snowden's application for asylum and that it is studying the request.
"We have the sovereign right to help a person who felt remorse after finding out how the United States was using technology to spy on the whole world, and especially its European allies," Ortega said.
The offers came one day after Maduro joined other leftist South American presidents Thursday in Cochabamba, Bolivia, to rally behind Morales and denounce the incident involving the plane.
Spain on Friday said it had been warned along with other European countries that Snowden, a former U.S. intelligence worker, was aboard the Bolivian presidential plane, an acknowledgement that the manhunt for the fugitive leaker had something to do with the plane's unexpected diversion to Austria.
It is unclear whether the United States warned Madrid about the Bolivian president's plane. U.S. officials will not detail their conversations with European countries, except to say that they have stated the U.S.'s general position that it wants Snowden back.
President Barack Obama has publicly displayed a relaxed attitude toward Snowden's movements, saying last month that he wouldn't be "scrambling jets to get a 29-year-old hacker."
But the drama surrounding the flight of Morales, whose plane was abruptly rerouted to Vienna after apparently being denied permission to fly over France, suggests that pressure is being applied behind the scenes.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo told Spanish National Television that "they told us that the information was clear, that he was inside."
He did not identify who "they" were and declined to say whether he had been in contact with the U.S. But he said that European countries' decisions were based on the tip. France has since sent a letter of apology to the Bolivian government.
Meanwhile, secret-spilling website WikiLeaks said that Snowden, who is still believed to be stuck in a Moscow airport's transit area, had put in asylum applications to six new countries. He had already sought asylum from more than 20 countries. Many have turned him down.
Wikileaks said in a message posted to Twitter on Friday that it wouldn't be identifying the countries involved "due to attempted U.S. interference."
Icelandic lawmakers introduced a proposal in Parliament on Thursday to grant immediate citizenship to Snowden, but the idea received minimal support.
____
Galeano reported from Managua, Nicaragua. Associated Press Writer Olga R. Rodriguez contributed to this story from Mexico City.
MUMBAI/LONDON (Commodity Online): Tensions in Egypt have pushed up crude oil prices to 14-month high levels and US Energy Department data recently showed a fall in crude oil supplies. While market continued to act and react to such developments, elsewhere in the world, many interesting things are happening in the energy sector:
More women enter Oil and Gas industry in USA More women are entering oil and gas industry in USA according to Rigzone as they accounted for 46% of the 3900 new recruitments in first quarter of 2013. More pay and allowances were attracting the fair sex to this industry that was previously seen as a male dominion. The rise of single mothers, and a significant number of families have women earning more than their husbands, are all new phenomenon seen in the country. BP has in its sustainability report said that it targets to have 25% of leaders to be women by 2020. At present the rate is 17%.
World Oil demand to rise in H2 2013: OPEC has estimated that world oil demand will reach 90.5 mn barrels per day in second half of 2013, higher than the estimated 88.8 mn barrels per day in first half of the year. Expected global economic recovery could push demand higher. Growth in second half is projected to increase by 0.9 mn barrels per day compared to 0.7 mn barrels over the first two quarters.
Cash strapped Greece is prospecting for Oil Cash strapped Greece is prospecting for oil in the Western part of the country in the hope that it could reduce its dependence on imported oil and natural gas. It now produces next to nil oil and natural gas.
Nothing unusual about OPEC sea borne exports Seaborne exports from OPEC excluding Angola and Ecuador will rise by 540,000 barrels per day in the four weeks to July 20. It is a seasonal phenomenon and maintanence in the previous quarter had curtailed supplies . Exports are expected to reach 24.18 mn barrels per day.
Nymex WTI Crude oIl once again takes center stage Nymex WTI crude oil has once again come to the forefront after trailing North Sea Brent Crude for the first time in 15 months as price differential narrowed between the two contracts.The NYMEX U.S. crude oil contract, known as West Texas Intermediate or WTI , traded more than 13.1 million lots in June, data from the CME Group showed. At the same time, ICE data shows Brent traded 11.6 million lots, falling below WTI for the first time since March 2012, Reuters reported.
India China ?natural gas prices hike to boost local production, LNG imports India has doubled the price for natural gas from $4.20 mmbtu to $8.40 to incentivise domestic exploration of energy resoruces and this will take effect from April 1, 2014 while China raised non-residential natural gas prices by 15%. Both these moves may lead to increased LNG imports which now becomes cheaper.
TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) -- France's president proposed Friday taking at least some of Tunisia's one billion euros ($1.3 billion) in debt to his country and using it for development projects.
Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring pro-democracy movement, has been hard hit economically since the revolution and has been forced to borrow from the International Monetary Fund.
Speaking to Tunisia's elected assembly, Francois Hollande promised to also mobilize fellow G-8 countries and the European Union to help the ailing economy.
On the second day of his first official visit to this North African country he also announced 500 million euros ($644.15 million) in aid and investment for Tunisia during the 2013-2014 period.
At the G-8's 2011 meeting in Deauville, France, some $40 billion in aid and investment were promised to the countries involved in the Arab Spring, including Tunisia. However, little of the funding has materialized so far.
Hollande's two-day visit is aimed at repairing relations with Tunisia. His predecessor, Nicolas Sarkozy, had close ties with dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was overthrown in January 2011.
Hollande added that Tunisia, which is ruled by moderate Islamists elected after the revolution, showed Islam and democracy were compatible. He said the country was a symbol of hope for the region.
Xbox is a household name today, but a recently unearthed EDGE interview with Seamus Blackley has revealed that this name almost didn't make the early cut. Microsoft asked Blackley's team for a name change due to legal reasons, and it suggested a wave of cringe-worthy acronyms that included MARZ (Microsoft Active Reality Zone) and VERV (Virtual Entertainment & Reality Venture). We all know who won the debate, but it's entertaining to think of what might have been. Check the full list of rejected names at the source link -- and be glad that you're not lining up to buy the latest Halo game for your Microsoft Entertainment & Gaming Attendant.
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa gestures during an interview with Reuters in Portoviejo June 30, 2013.
Ecuador is not considering Edward Snowden's asylum request and never intended to facilitate his flight from Hong Kong, president Rafael Correa said as the whistleblower made a personal plea to Quito for his case to be heard.
Snowden was Russia's responsibility and would have to reach Ecuadorean territory before the country would consider any asylum request, the president said in an interview on Monday.
"Are we responsible for getting him to Ecuador? It's not logical. The country that has to give him a safe conduct document is Russia."
The president, speaking to the Guardian at the presidential palace in Quito, said his government did not intentionally help Snowden travel from Hong Kong to Moscow with a temporary travel pass. "It was a mistake on our part," he added.
Asked if he thought the former NSA contractor would ever make it to Quito, he replied: "Mr Snowden's situation is very complicated, but in this moment he is in Russian territory and these are decisions for the Russian authorities."
Asked if he would like to meet him, he said: "Not particularly. He's a very complicated person. Strictly speaking, Mr Snowden spied for some time."
The comments clashed with expressions of gratitude the 30-year-old fugitive issued hours later, before Correa's views had been published.
"I must express my deep respect for your principles and sincere thanks for your government's action in considering my request for political asylum," said a letter, in Spanish and attributed to Snowden.
"There are few world leaders who would risk standing for the human rights of an individual against the most powerful government on earth, and the bravery of Ecuador and its people is an example to the world."
Snowden contrasted the silence of governments afraid of US retaliation with Ecuador's help in his flight to Moscow on 22 June. A temporary Ecuadorean travel document substituted for his cancelled US passport.
"The decisive action of your consul in London, Fidel Narvaez, guaranteed my rights would be protected upon departing Hong Kong ? I could never have risked travel without that. Now, as a result, and through the continued support of your government, I remain free and able to publish information that serves the public interest."
The letter will boost Ecuador's reputation with Snowden's supporters but sat awkwardly with the president's attempt to distance Quito from the saga. Correa said Quito respected the right of asylum and appreciated Snowden exposing the extent of US spying, but would not consider an asylum request unless he made it to an Ecuadorean embassy or the country itself ? a remote possibility while he remains reportedly marooned in Sheremetyevo airport's transit lounge. "He must be on Ecuadorean territory," the president said.
Correa said his government had not, and would not, give Snowden an authorised travel document to extract himself from the airport. "The right of asylum request is one thing but helping someone travel from one country to another ? Ecuador has never done this. "
He said the temporary travel document issued by his London consul on 22 June ? and publicly disowned five days later ? was a blunder.
"It was a mistake on our part. Look, this crisis hit us in a very vulnerable moment. Our foreign minister was touring Asia. Our deputy foreign minister was in the Czech Republic. Our US ambassador was in Italy."
Narvaez and the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who has sheltered at Ecuador's London embassy for the past year to escape extradition, took matters into their own hands because they feared Snowden risked capture, Correa said.
"The consul, in his desperation, probably he couldn't reach the foreign minister ... and he issued a safe conduct document without validity, without authorisation, without us even knowing."
Correa said the consul was a "cultured" man and cited the example of Ecuadorean diplomats in Czechoslovakia giving Jews visas in defiance of their foreign ministry during the second world war.
"Look, he [Assange] is in the embassy, he's a friend of the consul, and he calls him at four in the morning to say they are going to capture Snowden. The [consul] is desperate ? 'how are we going to save the life of this man?' ? and does it.
"So I told him: OK, if you think you did the right thing, I respect your decision, but you could not give, without authorisation, that safe conduct pass. It was completely invalid, and he will have to accept the consequences."
Narvaez would be "sanctioned", the president said, without elaborating.
Some Ecuadorean diplomats have complained that Assange appeared to usurp Quito but the president said there was no rupture. "Mr Assange continues to enjoy our total respect and is under the protection of the Ecuadorean state."
Correa, a standard bearer for the left in Latin America, has joined European and other Latin Americans leaders in denouncing US espionage.
However he softened his tone over the weekend and praised vice-president Joe Biden for a gracious phone call, saying he would consider Washington's request to refuse any asylum claim from Snowden while retaining Ecuador's sovereignty.
This article originally appeared on guardian.co.uk
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania- (Reuters) - Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett signed a nearly $28.4 billion budget for fiscal 2014, which starts on Monday, but lawmakers declined to take action Sunday on a controversial public pension bill until fall.
The inaction on Corbett's plan to reduce the state's $47 billion-and-growing public pension shortfall is expected to lead to credit rating downgrades and higher borrowing costs.
A report by Moody's Investors Service last week ranked Pennsylvania the eighth-worst among all U.S. states as measured by pension liabilities to revenues, while the so-called yield spread over triple-A-rated bonds paid on Pennsylvania bonds rose about a third since January.
Moody's rates Pennsylvania at Aa2 with a stable outlook. Fitch Ratings said in April that it would decide whether to cut its AA-plus rating on Pennsylvania after reviewing the budget enacted for fiscal 2014.
The legislature also did not pass Corbett's proposals to privatize state-run liquor stores and hike taxes and fees to fund a $2 billion transportation package, two items that lawmakers are also expected to reconsider in the fall.
For Corbett, a Republican up for re-election in 2014 who has trailed potential Democratic challengers in recent polls, the apparent failure of his three-pronged agenda in a legislature led by his own party is a test of his leadership.
"We made progress on all these things. Things are grinding ahead, just couldn't pull them all together," House Speaker Sam Smith told the Pennsylvania Independent.
The 111-92 budget vote in the Pennsylvania House ended three hours before the beginning of the new fiscal year.
House Majority Leader Mike Turzai called it a "compassionate budget" that was responsible to both taxpayers and those who receive state funding.
The budget for fiscal 2014 is a 2.3 percent, or $645 million, increase over the current year's spending plan. It was also $64 million less than Corbett proposed in February.
(Reporting by Michael Sadowski in Harrisburg and Hilary Russ in New York; Editing by Stacey Joyce)
The PC market is in poor health, and consumers love tablets. When do those two trends cross? No prediction is perfect, but given simple trend analysis, it appears that by the second quarter of 2014, tablets will likely outsell the PC market. That said, current market dynamics could accelerate, pushing us over that mark a bit sooner. Let's get into the figures to untangle just where we stand.
by 
Walter Mischer?s Belize land deal was financed by the Bank of Nova Scotia, one of five huge Canadian banks and four large British banks that dominate the Caribbean Silver Triangle ? a drug smugglers haven in which Belize and the Cayman Islands play key roles.? The other Canadian banks are the Bank of Montreal, Royal Bank of Canada, Toronto Dominion Bank and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.? The British banks are National Westminster, Barclays, Lloyds and Midland Bank. 
