F1 Analysis: Sport Fuelled By Money

Formula One racing and its host nations have a symbiotic financial relationship, brought into sharp focus by the latest events in Bahrain.

For six years Formula One and Bahrain had an uncontroversial partnership which benefited both the sport and the state.

In 2004 Bahrain became the first Middle Eastern country to host a motor racing grand prix, in a move overseen by the Crown Prince.

A brand new circuit was built at a cost of around £100m, and the event brought attention and prestige to the tiny but wealthy nation, which has a population of just 1.2 million. Read More

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Scientific UFO Evidence in Norway

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'Bahraini Protester Found Dead After Clashes' .... £25m to Stage the Event so doubt the killing of a protester is High on their list

An anti-government protester has been found dead after clashes overnight with police in Bahrain ahead of Sunday's grand prix, according to the opposition party Wefaq.

It said the body of Salah Abbas Habib, who was in his 30s, was found on the roof of a building in the village of Shakhoura.

Wefaq claimed Habib was part of a group who were beaten by police during the clashes, late on Friday night.

A spokesman for the government, which has deployed armoured vehicles onto the streets of the capital Manama, declined to comment.

Around 50,000 activists gathered in the capital Manama on Friday as Formula One drivers took to the track of Bahrain International Circuit, just 25 miles away. Read More

Bahrain: Facts

• :: Bahrain's royal family owns 40% of the McLaren F1 racing team.
• :: The F1 race is Bahrain's premier international event and it has cost the kingdom an estimated £25m to stage.
• :: The Grand Prix drew 100,000 visitors to the nation and generated $500m in spending when it was last held two years ago.
• :: The event is expected to draw a worldwide TV audience of about 100m in 187 countries.

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Bernie Ecclestone 'Go to Syria, it's more important than here'

In the wake of Force India personnel being caught up in a petrol-bomb incident en route to Manama from the Bahrain International Circuit on Wednesday, Sauber have now confirmed members of their staff also witnessed trouble last night.

However, both Ecclestone and the Bahraini authorities have insisted the race goes on.
A Sauber statement read: "Yesterday night at 20:30hrs a minibus of the Sauber team left the circuit to go back to the Novotel in Manama.

"At 20:50hrs the 12 mechanics on that bus noticed fire on the medial strip of the highway.

"The traffic was slow, cars had their hazard flashers on. On the opposite lane there was no traffic.

"The team members saw a few masked people running from there over to their lane where a bottle was burning as well.

"The minibus moved to the very right side of the highway and went past the situation. No-one from the Sauber team was hurt." Read More

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One NEW Food Bank Opening In UK Every Four Days...Let's give another £10bn to Prop up Failing Euro

Food banks were almost unheard of just a few years ago - now they are being opened in the UK at the rate of one every four days.

For Kenny and Leanne Jones, spiralling debts caused by rising utility bills and high rents led them to the St Andrew's Community Centre in north Liverpool.

The goods they will take home from the food bank there to their four children will mean, for a few days at least, there will be meals on the table.

"You develop a survival instinct when you're short of money," said Leanne.

"It's a really dark place you go into when you feel no one is there to help you, but just coming here today is like a weight off my shoulders. It gives me some breathing space."

Kenny, unable to work because of spinal injuries yet still acting as a carer for his wife, says sometimes the choices they have are brutally simple.

"You just put the children first, every time," he said. "If there's only enough food for the children, I'll always say let them have it, and I'll go without." Read More

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F1 Bahrain Violence: Protesters in the capital Manama began their 'three days of rage' on Friday

Tens of thousands of anti-government protesters are set to intensify demonstrations in Bahrain ahead of tomorrow's Grand Prix following a day of violent clashes in the Gulf state.

Around 50,000 activists gathered in the capital Manama yesterday as Formula One drivers took to the track of Bahrain International Circuit, just 25 miles away.

Thousands more are expected to take to the streets today calling for the cancellation of the controversial motorsport event.

The protesters started their so-called "three days of rage" yesterday against Bahrain's rulers.

Petrol bombs were hurled at security officials and anti-grand prix graffiti was daubed on walls, before the protesters were dispersed with tear gas and pepper spray.

Despite months of political unrest and the regime's crackdown on demonstrators, F1 organisers have refused to scrap the three-day event. Read More

Note: See how they justify the regime's crackdown? "The protesters are throwing petrol bombs at us"

Well in Syria the "protesters" took up arms, rocket launchers, grenades and Bombs, but the regime is not allowed to fight back. Why not?

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Chancellor Criticised Over £10bn IMF Pledge...Sure throw another 10 Billion at the Black Hole, it's only our Tax

George Osborne is facing criticism from Parliament for announcing that Britain will commit another £10bn to the International Monetary Fund.

Both Tory backbenchers and Labour MPs have accused the Chancellor of using more taxpayer's money to go towards further bailouts of the struggling eurozone.

They have also said he has dodged a potentially embarrassing parliamentary vote on the extra contribution.

If the increase had gone beyond £10bn, Mr Osborne would have required a fresh vote by MPs.

But the Chancellor has insisted the increased funding is vital to protect jobs and growth in this country.

Finance ministers and central bank governors struck the deal, which should boost the IMF's resources by $430bn, at a meeting in Washington. Read More

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UK Commits ANOTHER £10bn To IMF Bailout Fund to help Failing Euro

Britain is to commit a further £10bn to the International Monetary Fund's bailout war chest.

George Osborne has confirmed the UK will give the extra cash in the face of fresh fears about a new economic and financial crisis in Europe.

Although the loan is sizeable, the Chancellor will not have to seek Parliamentary approval because it narrowly falls within the headroom he already has to provide to the Fund.

It means that Britain's exposure to the IMF, which is deeply involved with the euro bail-outs, will rise from just under £30bn currently to around £40bn.

Mr Osborne said: "The UK sees itself as part of the solution to the global debt crisis rather than adding to it.

"We need a strong IMF. We can be one of the many countries that can support the IMF. We will be part of the global effort to increase the resources of the IMF. Read More

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Goldman Sachs faces new insider trading probe

(Reuters) - Federal prosecutors in California are investigating a Goldman Sachs employee for insider trading, according to prosecutors and defense lawyers who attended a hearing in U.S. federal court in New York on Thursday.

The employee is suspected of giving inside information on two public companies to former Galleon Group co-founder Raj Rajaratnam, who was convicted last year in one of the largest insider trading cases in Wall Street history.

The investigation of the Goldman employee was divulged during a hearing involving the insider trading case against former Goldman board member Rajat Gupta.

Gary Naftalis, the lawyer for Gupta, commenting on the newly disclosed investigation, said that Assistant US Attorney Reed Brodsky asked him not divulge details of the matter.

"Per Mr. Brodsky's request, I am not going to name his name," Naftalis said. Read More

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Petrol Prices Exceed Family Food Bills, UK

The price of petrol at the pumps has risen to a new high, exceeding the cost of an average family weekly food shop for the first time.

After a brief halt following weeks of increases, the average cost of petrol has gone up to 142.48p a litre, according to motoring group AA.

It means filling up a family car with a 50 litre tank now costs about £71, slightly more than the estimated £70 that two-children families spend on groceries each week.

Diesel, at 147.88p a litre on average, is just short of the record price which was set last week.

The AA said petrol had risen 10.23p a litre and diesel 7.32p a litre since pump prices began to climb at the start of the year, adding £21.72 to the monthly petrol cost of a two-car family. Read More

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Instagram users hit by virus-infected fake app which secretly runs up enormous bills

If you've downloaded the hit app Instagram for Android, you could be in for a huge mobile phone bill.

A 'clone' site offers an infected version of the Android app which sends SMS messages to premium services, running up enormous bills.

The app has millions of users around the world, and was recently acquired by Facebook for $1 billion.

Rather surreally, the app is also filled with pictures of a Russian 'mystery man' - apparently a cult joke on Russian websites, from a photo showing a casually dressed man at a Russian wedding.

Android users are at risk if they downloaded the app from sites other than the official Google Play market. Read More

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Kevin Leech became a dotcom billionaire 'vanishes in North Korea'

Fall from grace: Former undertaker and billionaire Kevin Leech lost an estimated £1.16bn from his interests in Companies G4Net and ML Labs in America.

Once named as the 17th richest man in Britain, Kevin Leech — the former undertaker who became a dotcom billionaire only to go bankrupt virtually overnight — faces a High Court battle with his former lawyers.

But the legal eagles may have difficulty in tracking down the man who once owned Land’s End, the Snowdon Mountain Railway and Reliant Robin cars.

For flamboyant Leech, 69, was last heard of in North Korea.

Leech, whose portfolio of companies has included caravan parks, restaurants and shares in fledgling technology firms, started out at his father’s Manchester funeral parlour at the age of 21.

By the Eighties, he had turned the business into a 38-strong chain of undertakers.

He sold up and moved to Jersey and then made a second fortune with a £50,000 investment in a medical research company, ML Laboratories.

The company’s stock soared as it made breakthroughs in kidney dialysis technology.

However, Leech’s investments collapsed as the dotcom bubble burst, and he went bankrupt in 2002. Read More

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Osborne urged to fork out MORE on IMF euro bailout fund....Looks like we will bow to their demands again....Which no doubt he will

George Osborne last night came under intense pressure to contribute to the International Monetary Fund’s bailout fund for Europe amid increasing fears it will fall far short of its $500billion (£310billion) target.

The IMF’s French managing director Christine Lagarde claimed ‘it was in Britain’s interests’ to provide more resources.

The Chancellor finds himself in a difficult position because of the fierce opposition on the Tory backbenches and among the public to taxpayers’ money being used to rescue failing nations in the eurozone at a time of national austerity.

British officials made it clear in Washington last night that although Mr Osborne was committed in principle to contributing £10billion to the emergency fund it would only participate if there is a ‘global deal’.

So far, Miss Lagarde has received£200billion of commitments to the IMF’s emergency loans scheme.

But a number of the most important nations – including the U.S., Canada, Australia and China – have yet to agree to participate. Read More

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Nigel Farage: There Are Going to Be Serious Banking Collapses

With escalating fears regarding the stability of the eurozone, today King World News interviewed former LBMA commodities broker and trader and current MEP Nigel Farage to get his take on the situation.

Farage had some very interesting comments regarding the Italians moving large quantities of gold to Switzerland, but when KWN asked about the chaos in Europe, Farage stated, “Well, so far, from all of the European officials and from the new IMF branch office in Washington, we’ve had unanimity that there was no prospect, at any stage, of the euro being under threat.”

Nigel Farage continues:

“Suddenly, a big shot from the IMF says, ‘There is a problem here, and there may be a breakup of the eurozone. It could come sooner than you think.’ I see that as a bit of a crack in the dam. They’ve always used the argument that the euro was inevitable and it was here to stay, and an individual from the IMF has just completely blown that out of the water.

(The breakup could be disorderly) because there have been no contingency plans. This is what makes me so angry. I’ve been saying to Barroso and that little Van Rumpuy character, ‘Come on, let’s have a Plan B.’ Let’s actually get ourselves ready in case it goes the other way.’ The point the IMF official made is that there have been no contingency plans whatsoever....Read More

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Europe’s Economic Honeymoon Is Over: Nouriel Roubini

The honeymoon for the ECB's new president Mario Draghi has turned out to be brief. The trouble is that the eurozone has an austerity strategy, but no growth strategy – and, without that, all it really has is a recession strategy that makes austerity self-defeating, because, if output continues to contract, deficit and debt ratios will continue to rise to unsustainable levels.

NEW YORK – Since last November, the European Central Bank, under its new president, Mario Draghi, has reduced its policy rates and undertaken two injections of more than €1 trillion of liquidity into the eurozone banking system. This led to a temporary reduction in the financial strains confronting the debt endangered countries on the eurozone’s periphery (Greece, Spain, Portugal, Italy , and Ireland), sharply lowered the risk of a liquidity run in the eurozone banking system, and cut financing costs for Italy and Spain from their unsustainable levels of last fall.

At the same time, a technical default by Greece was avoided, and the country implemented a successful – if coercive – restructuring of its public debt. A new fiscal compact – and new (Unelected) governments in Greece, Italy, and Spain. Read More

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UKIP Nigel Farage - Addres EU parliament and EURO failure 18th April 2012

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The Three Ways 'Old Money' Holds on to Its Riches

While America claims to be a class-free society, the opposite often seems to be the case. Americans are obsessed with social status in all its forms whether based on celebrity, artistic or athletic accomplishment, or just plain money. Although royalty is not legal in America, our economic royalty including Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are as highly regarded as any English duke or earl.

When it comes to status, we don't look just at the size of one's bank account, we make distinctions based on the nexus of money and social standing. This leads to contrasts such as "old money" and "new money" with the former connoting generations of life on country estates and Ivy League credentials while the latter is something flashier. The Astor family have been wealthy for over 200 years and practically define old money in America.

Yet as one goes abroad, there is an even older kind of money, true dynastic wealth that has existed in some families for 300 years or longer. This type of wealth has survived not only business cycles but also war, invasion, the collapse of empires, revolution, and natural disaster. In order for family wealth to persist through so many centuries and through such adversity, something more is needed than ordinary investment skill. This rare kind of success in wealth preservation requires a longer view, infused with a sense of history and a keen appreciation for worst-case scenarios that too frequently become real. Read More

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No longer the worst: Nevada ends 5-year run as nation's foreclosure leader

After posting the highest foreclosure rate in the nation for 62 straight months, Nevada fell to the No. 2 spot in March behind Arizona as stricter recording requirements sharply curtailed foreclosure-related filings in the state while raising concerns about shadow inventory.

Overall, foreclosure-related activity in Nevada fell to 3,899 filings in March, down nearly 70 percent from 12,900 filings during the same period last year, according to national foreclosure tracker RealtyTrac.

The decrease also was observed in Washoe County, where overall activity fell to 372 filings — down 71.3 percent from the 1,296 filings seen in March last year. The number includes notices of default, notices of trustee sale or auction and actual bank-owned foreclosures. Read More

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Struggle over the Middle East: Gas Ranks First

Targeting Syria has never been far away from the struggle over gas in the world in general and the Middle East in particular.

At a time in which there seemed to be a collapse in the Euro Zone accompanied with an extremely crucial economic crisis which led the U.S to be indebted for $ 14.94 trillion; i.e., 99.6% of the GDP, and at a time in which the global American influence reached a minimum in encountering emerging powers like China, India and Brazil, it has been so clear that searching for the potential of power no longer exists in the nuclear and non-nuclear military arsenal. That potential lies there, where energy harbours. This is the point which clearly manifests the Russian-American struggle.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russians began to feel that the struggle for armament has exhausted them, especially in the absence of the necessary energy sources needed by any industrial country. The American presence in the oil zones for some decades enabled them to grow and have control over the international political decision without much struggle. Therefore, the Russians turned towards energy sources, be them oil or gas. Read More

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George Soros and the Bundesbank’s Patriotic Putsch

George Soros has launched all-out war against the Bundesbank.

In his latest Le Monde interview he said that if he were still an active investor, he would now "bet against the euro", at least until there is a change in European leadership or policy.

The euro threatens to destroy the European Union and, with the best of intentions, the leaders are leading Europe to its ruin by trying to impose inappropriate rules.

The introduction of the euro has led to divergence instead of bringing about convergence. The most fragile countries of the eurozone have discovered that they are in a Third World situation, as if they were indebted in a foreign currency, with a crucial effect that there is a real risk of default. Trying to make them respect rules that don’t work just makes matters worse. Sadly, the authorities don’t understand this. Read More

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