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Purveyor's JournalU.S. Seizes Operator Accounts Of Major Japanese Bitcoin Exchange
Source: Agence France-Presse
US authorities seized the accounts of a Bitcoin digital currency exchange operator, claiming it was functioning as an “unlicensed money service business,” court documents showed Friday.
A warrant revealed by the Department of Homeland Security showed a judge signed the seizure order Tuesday for the accounts of Mutum Sigillum LCC, a subsidiary of Japan-based Mt. Gox, the world’s biggest Bitcoin exchange.
The warrant said the account based on the electronic payments platform Dwolla and held at Veridian Credit Union “was used to move money” as “part of an unlicensed money service” in violation of US law.
The US law enforcement action creates doubts about the future of Bitcoin, a mysterious digital currency which saw a flurry of interest this year which some called a bubble.
Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/17/u-s-seizes-operator-accounts-of-major-japanese-bitcoin-exchange/
Manufacturing In Philadelphia Fed Area Unexpectedly Contracts
By Jeanna Smialek - May 16, 2013
Manufacturing in the Philadelphia region unexpectedly contracted in May for the first time in three months as new orders retreated and factories cut back on employment and hours.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia’s general economic index declined to minus 5.2 from 1.3 the prior month. Readings greater than zero signal expansion in the area covering eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a gain to 2.
The data corroborate other figures this week showing manufacturing in the New York Fed region unexpectedly contracted as factories received fewer orders and sales stagnated. Another report from the Federal Reserve indicated output at factories, mines and utilities declined in April by the most in eight months, reflecting broad-based cutbacks at producers.
Economists monitor the Fed’s regional surveys for clues about the Institute for Supply Management national figures on manufacturing. The next ISM report is due June 3. Manufacturing makes up about 12 percent of the economy.
Estimates of 57 economists in the Bloomberg survey before the Philadelphia Fed’s factory index ranged from minus 5 to 5.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-05-16/philadelphia-fed-manufacturing-index-decreases-to-5-2-from-1-3.html
Jobless Claims in U.S. Jump to Highest Level in Six Weeks
Source: Bloomberg
By Shobhana Chandra and Alex Kowalski - May 16, 2013
More Americans than projected filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, which may raise concern the slowdown in economic growth is prompting an increase in firings.
Jobless claims jumped by 32,000 to 360,000 in the week ended May 11, exceeding all forecasts in a Bloomberg survey of economists and the most since the end of March, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. A Labor Department spokesman said no state provided information explaining the surge in applications which was the biggest since the aftermath of superstorm Sandy in November.
Job dismissals need to keep declining to lay the ground for a pickup in hiring once companies see growth in sales. The lack of bigger gains in employment, at a time Americans are faced with a higher payroll tax, will make it harder for households to sustain spending, the biggest part of the economy.
‘It’s possible that we could get a little bit more firing as the economy slows in the second quarter,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, a U.S. strategist at TD Securities Inc. in New York. “Volatility aside, the layoff part of the equation still looks positive. It looks more like employers aren’t very keen to fire workers but they are keen to reduce hours.”
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-16/jobless-claims-in-u-s-jump-to-highest-level-in-six-weeks.html
IDF: 'Forbidden Zone' In Gaza Three Times Larger Than Previously Stated
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories has clarified that the “forbidden” buffer zone in Gaza strip stretches 300 meters from the fence (the Israeli border), and not 100 meters as it previously announced.
Civilians who enter the area risk being shot by the army. In the past, the killing of Palestinians who wandered into the forbidden zone has led to retaliatory rocket launching from the Strip into Israeli territory.
The clarification was made following a request by the human rights organization Gisha. Gisha had noticed that the IDF Spokesperson’s messages stated a different distance than did the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, which claimed that Gazans are not allowed into an area stretching only 100 meters from the fence. Recently, the army notified Gisha that the forbidden zone is indeed three times larger than previously reported.
The army has refused to fully detail the methods it uses to warn farmers and other civilians from wandering into the forbidden zone it declared. A spokesperson for the army has told Gisha that such methods are part of “the opening fire procedures, and cannot be disclosed.”
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http://972mag.com/idf-forbidden-zone-in-gaza-three-times-larger-than-previously-stated/71282/
Hundreds Of Inmates Released Early In Colorado Prison Sentencing Mess
Colorado Department of Corrections officials are contacting state judges alerting them that an audit of the state’s prison system has revealed errors in the sentencing of more than 8,000 inmates, including hundreds who were released from prison early. According to the Denver Post, judges are currently reviewing the case files in an attempt to determine what individuals need to be returned to jail, and who among the individuals facing imminent release needs to have their sentence extended.
Colorado’s Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) ordered the audit last month when it was revealed that Evan Ebel, the white supremacist who allegedly shot and killed Colorado Department of Corrections director Tom Clements in March, was released from prison four years early because of a clerical error.
Ebel, a member of the 211 Crew, a “white power” prison gang, was released January 28 of this year because a court document ordered that his four-year sentence for striking a prison guard should be “concurrent” rather than “consecutive” to his original eight year sentence. On March 17, Ebel shot and killed pizza delivery driver Nathan Leon. Two days later, he murdered Clements and was himself killed in a shootout with Texas police on March 21.
The Post reported that so far, the audit has turned up “serious questions” about 349 individuals who are currently at large or slated for imminent release. Judges have modified and amended sentences in 56 cases.
The audit is still in its early stages. Some 8,415 people’s sentences need to be reviewed in all with an estimated 2,500 requiring intensive study and revision.
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/05/15/hundreds-of-inmates-released-early-in-colorado-prison-sentencing-mess/
Volcker Says U.S. Jobless Rate to Remain Above 6% for Two Years
By Julia Leite - May 15, 2013
Growth in the U.S. remains too sluggish to cut the jobless rate quickly, leaving it a “long way” from satisfactory levels, according to former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.
The unemployment rate may remain above 6 percent for at least another two years, Volcker said at a Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce event in New York.
The economy “is growing, but not fast enough to reduce the unemployment rate in the way we would like to see,” Volcker said. “It’s declining because the labor force is not rising, and we’re getting a little more employment, but it’s a long way from being satisfactory.”
The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 7.5 percent in April from 7.6 percent in March and 8.1 percent a year earlier. The rate was last below 6 percent in July 2008.
The Federal Reserve called the current jobless rate “elevated” in a May 1 statement. “Labor market conditions have shown some improvement in recent months, on balance, but the unemployment rate remains elevated,” the Fed said.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-05-15/volcker-says-u-s-jobless-rate-to-remain-above-6-for-two-years.html
Israel Row: The Bid To Defund Toronto LGBT Pride Is Straightforward Censorship
BY PETER TATCHELL PUBLISHED 15 MAY 2013 12:17
A group of Toronto city councillors will file a motion on 28 May to cut the grant to Toronto LGBT Pride unless the organisers agree to ban the participation of a pro-Palestinian activist group, Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QuAIA). They also want to ban the use of the phrase ‘Israeli apartheid’.
The funding cut of $123,807 would jeopardise the future of Toronto Pride, just four week’s before the annual one million-strong downtown parade and a year before it is due to host the global lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) festival, WorldPride 2014.
According to Toronto journalist Andrea Houston, the move to withdraw city money from Toronto Pride is being spearheaded by councillors David Shiner and James Pasternak - the latter is seeking to have the phrase “Israeli apartheid” banned.
This proposed ban is supported by Anita Bromberg, from the Jewish human rights organisation, B'nai Brith. She added that there is no place for such language because Pride is not political: "This is a city-wide celebration. I am deeply offended."
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http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/05/israel-row-big-defund-toronto-lgbt-pride-straightforward-censorship
Wholesale Prices in U.S. Decrease by Most in Three Years
By Alex Kowalski - May 15, 2013
Wholesale prices in the U.S. dropped in April by the most in three years, reflecting a decrease in fuel costs that is helping underpin profits.
The producer-price index declined 0.7 percent, the biggest decrease since February 2010, after falling 0.6 percent in March, according to a Labor Department report released today in Washington. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 73 economists projected the index would decline 0.6 percent. So-called core wholesale inflation, which excludes often-volatile food and energy prices, climbed 0.1 percent.
Slow growth in the U.S. and abroad is holding input-price gains in check for American factories. Absent a surge in inflation, policy makers at the Federal Reserve have the option of weighing whether the U.S. economic expansion needs more stimulus to pick up.
“For now, producers are in a pretty comfortable position,” said Jacob Oubina, a senior economist at RBC Capital Markets LLC in New York, who correctly forecast the April drop in prices. “Input costs are benign at the moment.”
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-05-15/wholesale-prices-in-u-s-fell-in-april-by-most-in-three-years.html
Homebuilder Confidence in U.S. Climbs as Outlook Improves
By Lorraine Woellert - May 15, 2013
Confidence among U.S. homebuilders improved in May for the first time in five months as buyers rush to take advantage of near record-low mortgage rates.
The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo index of builder confidence rose to 44 from a revised 41 in April, the Washington-based group reported today. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey called for an increase to 43. Readings below 50 mean more respondents said conditions were poor.
“Builders are noting an increased sense of urgency among potential buyers as a result of thinning inventories of homes for sale, continuing affordable mortgage rates and strengthening local economies,” said Rick Judson, chairman of the trade group and a builder from Charlotte, North Carolina. “This is definitely an encouraging sign.”
Low mortgage rates, a strengthening job market and limited inventories are benefiting builders including PulteGroup Inc. and Lennar Corp. as the housing market contributes to growth this year after emerging as a bright spot in 2012. Gains in housing will help the world’s largest economy move through a global slowdown that is hurting manufacturing.
Another report today showed industrial production declined in April by the most in eight months, reflecting broad-based cutbacks manufacturing that show factories will provide little support for the economy.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-05-15/homebuilder-confidence-in-u-s-rose-in-may-on-improving-outlook.html
Israeli Official Signals Possibility of More Syria Strikes
WASHINGTON – A senior Israeli official signaled on Wednesday that Israel was considering further military strikes on Syria to stop the transfer of advanced weapons to Islamic militants, and he warned the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, that his government would face crippling consequences if it retaliated against Israel.
The Israeli official said: “Israel is determined to continue to prevent the transfer of advanced weapons to Hezbollah. The transfer of such weapons to Hezbollah will destabilize and endanger the entire region.”
“If Syrian President Assad reacts by attacking Israel, or tries to strike Israel through his terrorist proxies,” the official said, “he will risk forfeiting his regime, for Israel will retaliate.”
The Israeli official, who has been briefed by high-level officials on the Syria situation in the past two days, declined to be identified, citing the need to protect internal Israeli deliberations. He contacted The New York Times on Wednesday.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/world/middleeast/israeli-official-signals-possibility-of-more-syria-strikes.html?_r=0
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