Nokia

Torture In Bahrain Aided By Nokia Siemens (Bloomberg)

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All to protect civilians, right?

– Pentagon’s Secret War: U.S. Special Operations Forces To Be Deployed in 120 Countries By The End Of This Year (Counterpunch)

– Bahrain Seeks Mercenaries From Indonesia, Malaysia And Pakistan (ABC Radio Australia)

– Bahrain Doctors Tortured Into Confessing, Say Families (BBC News)

– UK Training Saudi Forces Used To Crush Arab Spring (Guardian)

– Blackwater Hired To Set Up A 800-Member Mercenary Battalion For The United Arab Emirates (Reuters)

– Exposed: The US-Saudi Libya Deal: You Invade Bahrain. We Take Out Muammar Gaddafi In Libya (Asia Times)

– Torture in Bahrain Aided by Nokia Siemens (Bloomberg, Aug 23, 2011):

The interrogation of Abdul Ghani Al Khanjar followed a pattern.

First, Bahraini jailers armed with stiff rubber hoses beat the 39-year-old school administrator and human rights activist in a windowless room two stories below ground in the Persian Gulf kingdom’s National Security Apparatus building. Then, they dragged him upstairs for questioning by a uniformed officer armed with another kind of weapon: transcripts of his text messages and details from personal mobile phone conversations, he says.

If he refused to sufficiently explain his communications, he was sent back for more beatings, says Al Khanjar, who was detained from August 2010 to February.

“It was amazing,” he says of the messages they obtained. “How did they know about these?”

The answer: Computers loaded with Western-made surveillance software generated the transcripts wielded in the interrogations described by Al Khanjar and scores of other detainees whose similar treatment was tracked by rights activists, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its October issue.

The spy gear in Bahrain was sold by Siemens AG (SIE), and maintained by Nokia Siemens Networks and NSN’s divested unit, Trovicor GmbH, according to two people whose positions at the companies gave them direct knowledge of the installations. Both requested anonymity because they have signed nondisclosure agreements. The sale and maintenance contracts were also confirmed by Ben Roome, a Nokia Siemens spokesman based in Farnborough, England.

Read moreTorture In Bahrain Aided By Nokia Siemens (Bloomberg)

Global Economic Crisis Accelerating

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– Obama administration considers launch of ‘bad bank’ (Telegraph)

– US Initial Jobless Claims Match Highest Since ’82 (Bloomberg)

– Barack Obama inauguration: this Emperor has no clothes, it will all end in tears (Telegraph)

– Despite billions, banks still teeter on the brink (MSNBC)

– Microsoft to shed 5,000 jobs (Financial Times)

– Intel to Cut at Least 5000 Jobs (New York Times)

– GM Gets $5.4 Billion Loan Installment From Federal Government (CNNMoney)

– US jobless claims surge, housing start tumble (Forbes)

– Housing Starts, Permits in US Slump to Record Low (Bloomberg)

– Banks Foreclose on Builders With Perfect Records (New York Times)

– Jim Rogers: Now it’s time to emigrate, says investment guru (Independent)

– Saudi prince’s firm loses $8.3B in 4Q (AP)

– Investors flee after brutal losses at global markets (Emirates Business)

– Indians Flee Dubai as Dreams Crash – Fall out of Economic Crisis (Daijiworld):
It’s the great escape by Indians who’ve hit the dead-end in Dubai.

– China growth slows, Bank of Japan sees deflation (Forbes):
(Reuters) – China’s economy slowed sharply in the fourth quarter and Japan’s central bank on Thursday predicted two years of deflation as Asia’s largest economies buckle under the strain of the financial crisis.

– Roubini Sees China Recession Despite ‘Massaged’ GDP (Bloomberg)

– Asian economic woe grows as China slows and Japanese exports plunge (Telegraph):
China’s economy may have ground to a halt entirely between the third and fourth quarters of last year and Japanese exports plunged 35pc in December, underlining the scale of the slowdown in Asia.

– ZIMBABWE: Inflation at 6.5 quindecillion novemdecillion percent (IRIN)

– Sony forecasts $2.9bn operating loss (Financial Times)

– Hedge funds’ $400bn withdrawals hit (Financial Times)

– Google income drops 68% on one-time charges (IHT)

– Is Britain facing bankruptcy? (Guardian)

– Manufacturing outlook plummets (Financial Times)

– Car production plummets as pressure for industry bail-out grows (Telegraph)

– London’s Evening Standard sold to ex-KGB agent (Reuters)

– AIG starts $20bn auction of Asian unit (Financial Times):
AIG, the stricken insurance giant, on Wednesday kicked off the sale of its Asian life assurance unit – one of its most prized assets – in the hope of raising up to $20bn to help repay the $60bn US government loan that is keeping the group alive.

– UBS to Cut Securities Jobs, Close More Debt Units (Bloomberg)

– Japanese Housewives Desperate After Currency Scheme Collapses (Bloomberg)

– New age of rebellion and riot stalks Europe (Times Online)

– Increase in burglaries shows effect of recession (Guardian)

– Chinese media issues stinging attack on Barack Obama and George W Bush (Telegraph)

– Barclays may lose control to Gulf investors (Telegraph)

– Cars to be crushed in insurance crackdown (Scotsman)

– Investors say jailed pilot swiped money for years (Washington Post)

– Capital One Reports $1.42 Billion Loss on Charges (Bloomberg)

– Nokia reports sharp fall in profits (Financial Times)