Stay true to the dreams of thy youth

• Turkey's Cleavage Crackdown Goes to College - Bloomberg

  "I hate to admit it, but the paranoid secularists who for a decade have been saying Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan harbored a secret agenda are being proved right. For years I've been gently pointing out to those paranoid secularists that Erdogan has been in power a long time already, and if he was really hiding an Islamist master plan -- as opposed to his declared conservative agenda -- he was doing a good job."

  tags: turkey erdogan europe democracy islam politics

• Shale gas boom to fuel US lead over Europe and Asia for decades - FT.com

  "The shale gas boom will boost US manufacturing and jobs until at least 2035, the world’s most respected energy body predicted yesterday, reinforcing America’s economic edge over Asia and Europe for the next two decades. "

  tags: unitedstates shale oilandgas energy europe competitiveness

• Strike by rubbish collectors leaves Madrid a stinking mess - FT.com

  "A strike by 6,000 rubbish collectors and street cleaners in Madrid has left dustbins overflowing and tempers fraying in the Spanish capital, amid bitter recriminations over who is to blame for the foul-smelling mountains of trash piling up. "

  tags: spain trash workersrights unions europeanunion

• Iran’s Arak plant reveals depth of distrust - FT.com

  "A decade of exhaustive talks over Iran’s nuclear programme have focused largely on its efforts to enrich uranium, especially the advanced centrifuges it has installed in its fortified underground facilities. But at the weekend negotiations in Geneva, which raised hopes but ultimately failed to deliver a deal, it was the second string of Iran’s programme that caused many of the biggest problems, the heavy water reactor at Arak."

  tags: iran nuclear plutonium discussions talks unitedstates middleeast balanceofpower israel

• Israel’s plan for new settler homes angers Palestinians - FT.com

  "Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas threatened to quit peace talks with Israel and the US government said it was “deeply concerned” after long-term plans surfaced on Tuesday for the construction of nearly 24,000 new settler homes in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem. "

  tags: colonialism zionism racism imperialism lobby israel palestine

• Qatar: what next for the world’s most aggressive deal hunter?

  "n a visit last year to Qatar Holding’s headquarters, a Gulf banker stepped inside a boardroom, intrigued by what he glimpsed as he walked past. His attention fixed on a set of whiteboards, each scrawled with the names of an array of global companies. This, he suspected, was a shopping list. "

  tags: qatar swf investment gcc middleeast london uk paris france harrods

• International Energy Agency warns of future oil supply crunch - FT.com

  "The International Energy Agency has sounded the alarm about a potential oil supply crunch and higher prices as key Gulf producers delay investment in the face of surging US shale output. "

  tags: oil gas oilandgas energy iea middleeast infrastructure

• Settlement unlocks US Airways-AMR $11bn deal - FT.com

  "US Airways expects to go ahead with its $11bn merger with American Airlines’ bankrupt parent company as early as next month, after the pair agreed a series of divestments to settle an antitrust case that threatened to crash the deal. "

  tags: usairways americanairlines transportation m&a unitedstates airlines

• EU overrides objections to agree €135.5bn budget for 2014 - FT.com

  "The EU overrode objections of four northern countries, including the UK, to agree a new €135.5bn budget for next year, with holdouts complaining that even Brussels’ reduced spending plans were too big in a time of economic austerity. "

  tags: eu investment trade intergovernmental europe

• South Korea and Russia launch $500m fund to boost economic ties - FT.com

  "South Korea and Russia will on Wednesday announce a $500m joint fund to stimulate trade and investment links between the two countries, as Vladimir Putin arrives for a one-day visit to Seoul. "

  tags: trade southkorea russia investment

• Former BP Chief's New Quest: Wildcatting on the Edge of Danger - WSJ.com

  "When London's Genel Energy GENL.LN -1.34% PLC decided last year to search for oil in Somalia, it didn't negotiate with the country's internationally recognized government in Mogadishu. Instead, Genel Chief Executive Tony Hayward flew to a city about 500 miles north: Hargeisa, the dusty capital of breakaway Somaliland. He visited the separatist president at home and told the resources minister that Genel could spend about $100 million prospecting there."

  tags: oil gas somalia energy oilandgas africa

• Starbucks ordered to pay Kraft $2.7bn - FT.com

  "Starbucks has been ordered to pay $2.7bn in compensation to Kraft Foods – a charge equal to the coffee chain’s entire net income since the start of 2012 – for terminating a deal to let the food group distribute its coffee. "

  tags: starbucks kraft business trade distribution

• Stop Worrying About Making the Right Decision - Ed Batista - Harvard Business Review

  "Difficult decisions like this remind me of a comment made by Scott McNealy — a co-founder of Sun Microsystems and its CEO for 22 years — during a lecture I attended while I was in business school at Stanford: He was asked how he made decisions and responded by saying, in effect, It’s important to make good decisions. But I spend much less time and energy worrying about “making the right decision” and much more time and energy ensuring that any decision I make turns out right. "

  tags: business careers decisionmaking success

• Google's Motorola Mobility division files patent for lie-detecting neck tattoo.

  "Did you hear? The Register reported late last week that Google wants to hold us all down and tattoo electronic microphones on our necks. Even better, the tattoos will double as lie detectors! Just wait until the Scroogled guys get a hold of this one. "

  tags: random technology google motorola innovation conspiracy

• Is This the Tavern Where Washington Drank After Beating the British? - The Daily Beast

  "Pity the poor developers. Chu and Associates were planning to build a 20-story, 220 room hotel at 50-52 Bowery near the Manhattan Bridge. But there’s a problem:  Apparently the old Bull’s Head Tavern, New York City’s oldest pre-Revolutionary structure and the site of a visit by Gen. George Washington, is still in the basement. The developers knew the existing buildings were old. They just may be older than they thought. "

  tags: bars washington realestate newyork revolutionarywar

• The Iranian Sanction Paradox  - Bloomberg

  "Lifting sanctions on Iran prematurely is a bad idea. Hitting Iran with more sanctions is also a bad idea. A conundrum! "

  tags: goldberg israel iran nuclear sanctions balanceofpower

• NYC’s World Trade Tower Opens 40% Empty in Revival - Bloomberg

  "The first skyscraper at lower Manhattan’s World Trade Center is set to open with two days of ceremonies to mark the renewal of the area after its destruction by terrorists. When the fanfare subsides, the task will be filling the 40 percent of the tower that’s empty. "

  tags: realestate newyork vacancy nationalism towers unitedstates 911

• Malbec-Loving Foreign Tourists Turn to Crime: Argentina Credit - Bloomberg

  "Eric Francos, a French doctor on a three-week vacation with his wife and two children, was huddled off to one side of a pedestrian thoroughfare clogged with shoppers in downtown Buenos Aires, taking $100 bills out of his money belt as illegal money-changers beckoned with calls of “dollars, euros, exchange.” "

  tags: wine argentina tourism money exchange food

• Israel’s gains from the death of Arafat cannot be ignored | The National

  "Israel’s interests in killing Arafat were evident after his death. Not only did the Palestinian national movement collapse, but the Palestinian leadership got drawn back into a series of futile peace talks, leaving Israel clear to concentrate on land grabs and settlement building. Contemplating the matter of whether Israel benefited from the loss of Arafat, Palestinian analyst Mouin Rabbani observed: “Hasn’t Abu Mazen’s [Abbas] exemplary commitment to Oslo over the years, and maintenance of security cooperation with Israel through thick and thin, already settled this question?” "

  tags: israel palestine arafat assassination conspiracy

• Gunman kills Pro-Hezbollah Tripoli Sheikh | News , Lebanon News | THE DAILY STAR

  " BEIRUT/TRIPOLI, Lebanon: A pro-Hezbollah Sunni Sheikh was shot and killed Tuesday by a masked gunman in the northern city of Tripoli, security sources said. The sources told The Daily Star that one of two gunmen on a motorcycle shot Sheikh Saadeddine Ghiyyeh in the head, neck, shoulder and chest."

  tags: beirut lebanon hezbollah civilwar balanceofpower proxy sham

• Bloody End for Iranian Rockers Seeking Musical Freedom in U.S. - NYTimes.com

  "For their music they had risked the wrath of Iran’s government, practicing American-style rock in makeshift soundproof studios and performing it in underground clubs and parking lots, despite the threat of fines, detention or arrest. Growing up together in Tehran, they had found a sound: part punk, part garage rock, part their own invention. "

  tags: music iran tragedy guns newyork

• Huckabee, Adelson: 2016 Talk? - Bloomberg

  "Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who is considering another run for the White House, is getting an early chance to cozy up to one of the top Republican campaign donors. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson, who spent $93 million in a largely unsuccessful attempt to elect Republicans in 2012, are to present Huckabee with the Adelson Defender of Israel Award at the Zionist Organization of America’s annual dinner in New York City Nov. 24. The Adelsons, though their foundation, have given more than $750,000 to ZOA over the last three years, Internal Revenue Service filings show."

  tags: huckabee adelson zionism shady lobby aipac money politics republicans teabaggers

• Germany Says 590 Artworks in Munich Haul May Be Nazi Loot - Bloomberg

  "The German government said some 590 artworks discovered in a Munich apartment may have been looted by the Nazis from Jewish collections and pledged to research and publish their ownership history. Authorities seized Cornelius Gurlitt’s cache of 1,406 artworks, including pieces by Max Beckmann, Pablo Picasso, Oskar Kokoschka and Max Liebermann as evidence in an investigation on suspicion of tax evasion and embezzlement in March 2012."

  tags: art theft history germany nazis europe

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.