Portuguese Bonds In Meltdown

Portuguese Bonds In Melt Down – Euro Gold Rises To €1,056/oz – 3% From Record Nominal High On Contagion Risk (ZeroHedge, July 6, 2011):

The Moody’s downgrade of Portugal has led to a brutal sell off in Portuguese debt in morning trade which has seen Portuguese 10 year bond yields surge from 11.02% to 12.23%. Yields on Portuguese two-year notes soared 212 basis points to over 15.14 percent. There is increasing speculation that another downgrading of Ireland is imminent and Ireland’s 10 year yield has surged to over 12%.

Portugal received a $112 billion loan package only two months ago. It was due to sell 1 billion euros of treasury bills today but     the Portuguese government debt agency IGCP said it sold 848 million euros of bills due in October.

Portugal is a reminder that Greece is just the tip of the iceberg and Portugal, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Hungary in Europe and the U.S. itself face similar challenges, of greater and lesser degrees.

NWO Financial Terrorist Attack On Greece: Max Keiser, Nigel Farage, Gerald Celente On Greek Austerity & Bailout

See also:

Former Goldman Sachs Managing Director Appointed European Central Bank President!

Former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: Revolution is the Only Answer (For Greece, Ireland etc.)



Added: 02.07.2011

A short video about what’s happening in Greece at the present and what has lead Greece to this state. Speaking in the clips are Max Keiser, Nigel Farage and Gerald Celente. The clips are from Russia Today, Aljazeera and EU parliament. Music by Corner Stone Cues – Requiem For A Tower Mvt II III IV.

REPORT: Europe Working On A ‘Plan B’ If The Greek Government Blows It

See also:

European Leaders Admit Preparing For A Greek Default


REPORT: Europe Working On A ‘Plan B’ If The Greek Government Blows It (Business Insider, June 27, 2011):

With the austerity vote potentially down to just a 1-vote cushion in the Greek parliament, the question suddenly becomes: What does Europe do if the vote fails, and therefore Greece becomes ineligible to receive further aide.

According to an article in today’s Financial Times Deutschland, a contingency plan is already being worked on.

Per our Google translated version it sounds like Plan B goes something like this: First, acknowledge that a vote failure would not represent instant bankruptcy. Perhaps some new deal could be worked out with conservative MPs to vote for something. That isn’t clear.

If that fails: ringfence Spain!

With Portugal and Ireland already out of the market (with government funded by the IMF for awhile), the focus then turns to the biggest country that’s in the market, and that’s obviously Spain. How you protect isn’t clear, but a country whose economy makes Greece the size of a gnat obviously becomes worry #1.

(via Megan Greene)

PIMCO, The World’s Biggest Bond Fund, Expects Greece And Other European Economies To Default – Allianz Global Investors Capital: Greek Default ‘Inevitable’

Greek cabinet approves austerity budget (Telegraph, June 22, 2011):

Pimco, the world’s biggest bond fund, shrugged off last night’s vote of confidence in the Greek government warning that it expects Greece and other European economies to default on their debts to resolve their problems.

“For the next three years, we’re going to see different economies work out different problems. For European economies, especially Greece, it would be through default,” Mohamed El-Erian, chief executive of Pimco, said in Taipei on Wednesday in a video conference.

“Nothing has been done to enhance growth,” he said. “No single (Greek) indicator has shown strength. They are afraid a restructuring would hurt European banks.”

However, he doubted a Greek default could trigger another global financial crisis: “Ireland, Portugal, Italy and Spain would have to be involved. But Greece is too small in terms of economic impact.”

Horacio Valeiras, chief investment officer of fund firm Allianz Global Investors Capital (AGIC), predicted that Ireland and Portugal, countries that also received financial bailouts in the wake of the global credit crisis, will have to restructure their debts.

“We are not investing in Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal,” he said at the press briefing. He sees default in Greece as “inevitable”.

California-based Pimco (Pacific Investment Management Company), is based in California and is the world’s biggest bond fund manager with nearly $1.3 trillion in assets under management.

‘Good Morning’ Europe: Greek, Portuguese and Irish CDS All At Record Wides

Greek, Portuguese and Irish CDS All At Record Wides (ZeroHedge, June 13, 2011):

Good morning Europe: do you know where you record wide PIIGS CDS are? From Reuters: “The cost of insuring Greek government debt against default rose to a record high of 1,600 basis points on Monday, hit by concerns that any second rescue of Greece will trigger a credit event or at least multi-notch rating downgrade of its debt. Five-year credit default swaps (CDS) on Greek government debt rose 58 bps on the day to 1,600 bps, according to data monitor Markit.  The Markit iTraxx index of western European sovereign CDS was up 9 bps on the day at 220 bps, near a record high of 221 bps hit on January 10. Portuguese CDS were up 40 bps at 773 bps, while Irish CDS were 33 bps higher at 745 bps, both at record highs. Spanish CDS were up 13 bps at 289 bps.” The slow motion European implosion is now accelerating as the reality that there is no spoon, nor rescue plan, is finally appreciated.

Eurozone Debt Crisis Deepens: Greece’s 10 year government debt has surged to 16.98%, Portugal’s to 9.6% and Ireland’s to a new record at 10.76%. The yield on Italian 10-year government debt is up 9bp to 4.85% after S&P cuts its rating outlook on Italy’s sovereign debt to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’. The Spanish 10 year bond has risen 11 basis points to 5.57%.

Eurozone Debt Crisis Deepens Sending Euro Lower And Gold To New Record At EUR 1,080/oz (ZeroHedge):

Eurozone Debt Crisis Deepens Sending Euro Lower and Gold to New Record at EUR 1,080/oz

The euro, global equities and bonds in peripheral Eurozone countries are all lower this morning on heightened concerns about the debt crisis in the Eurozone. The euro has fallen against all currencies and is now at a record low against gold at EUR 1,080.21/oz. Silver is lower against most currencies but is higher against the Australian dollar and the euro ( EUR 24.80/oz).

Greece’s 10 year government debt has surged to 16.98%, Portugal’s to 9.6% and Ireland’s to a new record at 10.76%. The yield on Italian 10-year government debt is up 9bp to 4.85% after S&P cuts its rating outlook on Italy’s sovereign debt to “negative” from “stable”. The Spanish 10 year bond has risen 11 basis points to 5.57%.
Equity markets in Europe have followed their Asian counterparts lower. Asian equities fell due to Eurozone debt concerns but also inflation concerns and the risk that the US economic recovery is faltering. Italy’s stock market (FTSE MIB) is down 3% while Spain’s IBEX is down 1.7%.

Besides sovereign debt risk, gold is also being supported by geopolitical risk as seen in the increasingly unstable nuclear armed Pakistan where armed militants attempted to take over Pakistan’s naval air force headquarters.

There is increasing tension between the U.S. and Pakistan after what the U.S regards as Pakistan’s failure or collusion regarding Osama Bin Laden.

China has increasing economic and military ties and interests in Pakistan and has vowed to standby Pakistan and has called on the world to respect Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Separately, in an interview with the Financial Times on Saturday, Henry Kissinger has warned of a world war involving Pakistan and India.

And for Gerald Celente ‘THE GREAT WAR’ has already started (and I totally agree with him):

The No.1 Trend Forecaster Gerald Celente’s Dire Warning For The World (Video – Must-see!)

Gerald Celente Special Trend Alert: The 1st Great War of 21st Century Has Begun!

Webster Tarpley:

US, Pakistan Near Open War; Chinese Ultimatum Warns Washington Against Attack

Wall Street Journal, May 23, 2011:

Pakistan: Beijing Agrees to Operate a Key Port (WSJ)

FKN NEWZ: IMF Raped Greece, Ireland, Portugal


Added: 20.05.2011

More FKN Newz:

FKN NEWZ: War is Peace – Freedom is Slavery – Ignorance is strength

FKN NEWZ: Osama Is Dead – Long Live Obama (05/06/2011)

FKN NEWZ: Royal Wedding Pre Crime Special – UK Fascism (04/30/2011)

FKN NEWZ: No End In Libyan, Iraq, Afghanistan etc.

FKN Newz: Party on Dude

FKN Newz: Fascists Love Ineffective Protest (01/04/2011)

FKN Newz: Earth Hour – The Least We Can Do (03/25/2011)

FKN Newz: Radioactive Bullshit Fallout – 03/19/2011

FKN Newz: NO LIE ZONE OVER LIBYA – 03/04/2011

FKN Newz: Hypocrisy Sweeps Middle East – 02/26/2011

FKN Newz: Happy Revolution Baby! – 02/18/2011

True Finns Party Chairman: Greece, Ireland and Portugal Ruined; Gangrene Spreads; Enron Looks Simple; Spain Next Zombie

However, Prof. Nouriel Roubini said neighboring Spain, Europe’s fourth-largest economy, is “too big to bail out.”

Prepare for collapse, because it’s coming.


True Finns party chairman, Timo Soini launched the most scathing and accurate attack yet against Jean-Claude Trichet, Jean-Claude Junker, and the ECB for its policy raping taxpayers of various countries to pay back German, French, UK, and US banks that made stupid loans for stupid reasons.

Please read the Wall Street Journal article Why I Won’t Support More Bailouts by Timo Soini. There is much more than this somewhat lengthy snip that follows.

When I had the honor of leading the True Finn Party to electoral victory in April, we made a solemn promise to oppose the so-called bailouts of euro-zone member states. These bailouts are patently bad for Europe, bad for Finland and bad for the countries that have been forced to accept them. Europe is suffering from the economic gangrene of insolvency—both public and private. And unless we amputate that which cannot be saved, we risk poisoning the whole body.

Read moreTrue Finns Party Chairman: Greece, Ireland and Portugal Ruined; Gangrene Spreads; Enron Looks Simple; Spain Next Zombie

Portugal: The Third Bailout

Now that it is game over for Portugal we hear the same assurances about Spain that we heard about Portugal before.

And remember that Spain is already ‘too big to bail out’:

Flashback:

Prof. Nouriel Roubini Tells Portugal To Seek Bailout, Spain ‘Too Big To Bail Out’:

Nouriel Roubini, the US economist, said Portugal should consider asking for a bailout before its financial plight worsens as the euro fell after the €85bn Ireland bailout failed to ease eurozone debt fears.

However, he said neighboring Spain, Europe’s fourth-largest economy, is “too big to bail out.”

Unless the ECB adjusts the (unconstitutional) printing press to Federal Reserve speed.


Portugal: The third bail-out (The Economist):

IT MAY have been inevitable, but it was a sad moment for Portugal: Europe’s oldest nation state brought low. In a prime-time television address on April 6th, after months of denial, Portugal’s caretaker prime minister, José Sócrates (pictured), at last admitted what had long been obvious to everyone else: his country needed a rescue loan from the European Union.

Portugal bailout: Who’s Europe rescuing, and by how much? (Christian Science Monitor):

Portugal announced today that it would seek a bailout from the European Union, becoming the fourth country in western Europe to request a financial rescue package. All eyes are now on Spain, the last of the so-called PIGS (an acronym for Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain, the least economically robust members of the eurozone) to not request a bailout.

Portugal Bailout Package May Be Ready In 2-3 Weeks; Up To EUR90B – Sources (Wall Street Journal):

LISBON (Dow Jones)–Portugal’s embattled government would need as much as EUR90 billion under a bailout package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund which could take two to three weeks to prepare, according to people familiar with the situation and euro-zone government officials. Terms of the rescue package for Portugal–which may require about EUR10 billion in June to help cover short-term liabilities–will be discussed in more detail at a meeting of EU finance ministers in Hungary beginning Friday. A formal request for aid will be submitted Thursday, said a Portuguese government spokesman.

Portugal may seek $129 bln bailout (Independent Online)

New Euro Crisis As Ireland And Portugal Plunge Deep Into Chaos

FRESH fears that British taxpayers will be forced to pay billions of pounds more cash into European Union emergency rescue schemes were raised last night after the euro crisis deepened.

Ireland’s fragile banking sector pleaded for an extra £21billion to stave off collapse yesterday while debt-stricken Portugal came under further pressure to accept a massive EU bailout.

The double blow to the troubled eurozone raised concern that the UK will have to pay more under a controversial agreement to protect the troubled currency.

Critics last night demanded that Britain refuse to pay any more into shoring up struggling eurozone economies.

Read moreNew Euro Crisis As Ireland And Portugal Plunge Deep Into Chaos

Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s Downgrade Portugal’s Credit Rating, Potugal Said to Require as Much as $99 Billion in Any European Bailout

Then come the other dominoes:  Spain, Italy, UK and France.

(Ireland and Greece have been totally destroyed.)

Spain is already ‘too big to bail out’:

Flashback:

Prof. Nouriel Roubini Tells Portugal To Seek Bailout, Spain ‘Too Big To Bail Out’:

Nouriel Roubini, the US economist, said Portugal should consider asking for a bailout before its financial plight worsens as the euro fell after the €85bn Ireland bailout failed to ease eurozone debt fears.

However, he said neighboring Spain, Europe’s fourth-largest economy, is “too big to bail out.”

Unless the ECB prints euros ‘until Europe runs out of trees’.


Mar. 25 (Bloomberg) A bailout for Portugal may total as much as 70 billion euros ($99 billion), two European officials with direct knowledge of the matter said, as credit-rating cuts threatened to deepen Portugal’s debt woes.

Preliminary calculations put the cost of a lifeline from 50 billion to 70 billion euros, said the officials, who declined to be named because the issue is confidential. Portugal continued to rule out a rescue after the parliament’s rejection of budget cuts led Prime Minister Jose Socrates to offer to quit.

Downgrades by Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s dealt a further blow, as European Union leaders called on Socrates and the opposition parties to unite behind belt-tightening measures that might spare Portugal from becoming the third euro country to tap emergency aid.

Read moreFitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s Downgrade Portugal’s Credit Rating, Potugal Said to Require as Much as $99 Billion in Any European Bailout

Portuguese Bonds Slump on Bets Government Will Request Bailout

Amid crisis, Portuguese Facebook youth takes to streets (AP):

LISBON, Portugal – Portugal’s disgruntled Facebook generation, inspired by a pop song, marched in a dozen cities Saturday to vent its frustration at grim career prospects amid an acute economic crisis that shows no sign of abating.

Some 30,000 people, mostly in their 20s and 30s, crammed into Lisbon’s main downtown avenue, called onto the streets by a social media campaign that harnessed a broad sense of disaffection. Local media reported thousands more attended simultaneous protests at 10 other cities nationwide.

A banner at the front of the Lisbon march said, “Our country is in dire straits.” Another said, “We are the future.” The Lisbon march was festive and raucous, featuring brass bands, drum combos and small children with balloons. Middle-aged parents also turned out.


(Bloomberg) — Portuguese 10-year bonds had their biggest weekly slump in four while Greek and Irish debt of similar maturity also fell on speculation European leaders won’t prevent a worsening of the region’s sovereign debt crisis.

The yield on Portugal’s five and 10-year bonds reached euro-era records this week on bets the nation is nearing a request for financial aid from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund. The declines widened the premium, or spread, that investors demand to hold five-year Portuguese notes instead of benchmark German bunds, by 66 basis points in the week to 548 percentage points. Spanish 10-year bonds fell after the nation’s credit rating was cut by Moody’s Investors Service.

“Portugal is clearly the most vulnerable of the peripheral nations in Europe at the moment — there’s no doubt about it,” said Nick Stamenkovic, an Edinburgh-based fixed-income strategist at RIA Capital Markets Ltd., a broker for banks and investors. “Some of these smaller peripheral nations are paying punitive rates, and the rates are going up.”

Read morePortuguese Bonds Slump on Bets Government Will Request Bailout

Moody’s Cuts Greece’s Credit Rating Again

See also:

With $5 Trillion In US And European Funding Needs Over The Next 3 Years, How Long Until The Global Monetization Tsunami Hits (Again)?

Portugal: Only €4 Billion In Cash Vs €20 Billion In Bond Maturity And Deficit Ouflows In 2011

Spain Is Still The Elephant In The European Room!

Happy currency reform!


• Ratings agency warns of more cuts if Greece pulls back from reforms
• EU leaders fear offering bailout to Portugal will leave Spain exposed


Moody’s has angered the Greek government, including finance minister George Papaconstantinou, by slashing its credit rating to B1. Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP

Portugal took a step nearer a humiliating multibillion-pound bailout by the European Union on Monday after Greece saw its credit rating slashed to a new low and speculation grew that eurozone leaders will fail this weekend to agree measures to prevent a repeat of last year’s sovereign debt crisis.

The ratings agency Moody’s cut Greece’s credit rating by three notches to B1, which analysts said was deep into “junk” territory, sending the cost of insuring the country’s debt soaring.

The downgrade, which was attacked as reckless and “completely unjustified” by the Greek government, highlighted the collapse in confidence among international investors who fear peripheral eurozone countries such as Greece, Portugal and Ireland cannot afford to repay their debts.

Greece, like Ireland, has already been forced to accept a rescue package put together by the EU and the International Monetary Fund. Portugal is widely regarded as the next country in need of a bailout as it struggles to refinance its debts while still in recession.

Read moreMoody’s Cuts Greece’s Credit Rating Again

S&P Warns of Further Credit Rating Downgrades on Portugal and Greece

LONDON (AP) — Leading credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s has warned that it could further downgrade both Portugal and Greece’s debt in the coming two months, depending on the outcome of a crucial European leaders’ summit later this month.

The agency said in a report Wednesday that it is maintaining its A- rating on Portugal and its BB+ rating on Greece but has kept both countries on so-called “CreditWatch with negative implications.”

Heavily indebted Greece accepted a bailout last year, as did Ireland, and ailing Portugal is widely expected to follow suit even though it managed to raise another euro1 billion ($1.38 billion) on Wednesday

S&P said it could lower the ratings on both countries within the next two months after analyzing an expected new European bailout mechanism. EU policymakers are set to decide later this month on the key features of the European Stability Mechanism, which is due to replace the current European Financial Stability Facility from 2013.

Read moreS&P Warns of Further Credit Rating Downgrades on Portugal and Greece

Portugal: Only €4 Billion In Cash Vs €20 Billion In Bond Maturity And Deficit Outflows In 2011

Flashback:

Prof. Nouriel Roubini Tells Portugal To Seek Bailout, Spain ‘Too Big To Bail Out’:

Nouriel Roubini, the US economist, said Portugal should consider asking for a bailout before its financial plight worsens as the euro fell after the €85bn Ireland bailout failed to ease eurozone debt fears.

However, he said neighboring Spain, Europe’s fourth-largest economy, is “too big to bail out.”


It seems there is just one market which the Fed is either unable, or unwilling to manipulate: that of Portuguese (and generally peripheral European) debt. And for good reason.

As the WSJ reports, Portugal started the year with about €4 billion in cash:

“Fresh borrowing and other public transactions suggest Portugal has this year likely increased that number to around €4 billion. The official said in an email that the figure had risen but didn’t elaborate.”

There is one small problem: the country has a €4 billion outflow on April 15… and has to pay down €20 billion worth of debt maturities and budget deficits through the end of this year!

Where the country will get this money… nobody knows. Just BTFD. But not in Portuguese bonds. As the charts below show that is still the only asset that can’t find a greater idiot.

Portuguese CDS:

From the WSJ:

Portugal’s leaders have said repeatedly that they don’t need a bailout, and that a program of economic reform and austerity the country has embarked upon will convince financial markets to lend it what it needs. Portugal has been able to issue both long- and short-term debt this year, albeit at high interest rates.

Read morePortugal: Only €4 Billion In Cash Vs €20 Billion In Bond Maturity And Deficit Outflows In 2011

Silver Lease Rates Rise Sharply – Bond Yields in Portugal Rise to Record

Gold and Silver Lease Rates Rise from Multi Year Lows

Gold, and particularly silver, lease rates (see chart) have been rising recently. The rate is found by subtracting the silver forward offered rate from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). This likely signals increasing tightness and illiquidity in the bullion markets (as recently said by Sprott Asset Management, and UBS yesterday).

The rise in silver has been very sharp, having gone from 4.29 basis points (0.0429%) to 77.65 basis points (0.7765%) since the start of the year (31 December 2010).

While the rise is very sharp, it is important to put it in context, and silver lease rates remain well below the levels reached after the Lehman Brothers systemic crisis in late 2008 when silver lease rates surged to 2.5%.

At the same time, the very small silver bullion market is clearly under strain as seen in the continuing backwardation. This clearly shows that demand for physical is robust, evident from retail demand in the US where there were record US Mint silver eagle sales last month. There are delays (3 to 4 weeks) to get branded LBMA silver bars (100 oz) in volume.

Strong demand is also seen in the import figures in Asia – particularly from China and India. This Asian demand is both for silver for industrial purposes, but also retail demand from Asians buying silver to protect themselves from surging inflation.


Gold Lease Rate – 12 Year (Monthly)

Gold lease rates have seen a more gradual rise so far in 2011. Similarly to silver, gold lease rates remain near historic lows, suggesting there are no major liquidity issues in the gold bullion market (London Good Delivery bars) market at this time.

The lease rates are important indicators and bear watching.

Highlights

Gold is down 0.32% against the US dollar which is higher against all major currencies today. Gold is marginally higher in euros, Swiss francs, and Aussie and Kiwi dollars. Silver is down 1% in US dollars and lower in all currencies.


Silver Lease Rate – 1 Year (Daily)

Asian equities were lower (except for 2% gain in the CSI 300) after the slight falls seen on Wall Street yesterday . European indices have followed their counterparts with the Spanish IBEX 35 particularly weak and the Euro Stoxx 50 is down 1.1%.


Portuguese 10 Year Government Bond – 5 Years (Daily)

Read moreSilver Lease Rates Rise Sharply – Bond Yields in Portugal Rise to Record

Portugal: 10 Year Bond Yield Hit Fresh Lifetime Highs

The real financial crisis has just begun.

Related information:

Top Bank Manager Stefan Törnqvist: The Euro Will Fail Within 2 Years

Spain Jobless Rate Surges To 20.33 Percent

Spain to rescue its banks (Remember that Spain itself is ‘too big to bail out.’)

Nigel Farage on the European Economy (European Parliament, 19 Jan. 2011 – Must see!)

And Now: ECB Allows Irish Central Bank to Counterfeit 51 Billion Euros

Italy: Youth Unemployment Hits Record 28.9 Percent

EU officials have been told to buy gold. Guess why?




With all the discussion over how “stable” Europe is in the past month, one might actually take the European bankercrats’ word at face value. And nothing could be more hazardous to one’s health than believing a corpulent gentleman from Brussels. Because while Herman Van Rompuy is literally sending out haikus via twitter, his continent continues to burn.

Today, the Portuguese 10 year hit a fresh lifetime high yield (and low price for those who failed bond math 101). One would think that with virtually everything backstopped by the ECB, Europe would show at least some resiliency.

No such luck. In fact, things are getting progressively worse as Germany continues to procrastinate on the one decision that has any hope of being at least a stop-gap interim solution, namely a united bond issuance authority. Instead, Europe continues to go all in on its failed EFSF contraption which will work for a few months, and then will have to be bailed out with an even bigger CDO: an EFSF3?

Read morePortugal: 10 Year Bond Yield Hit Fresh Lifetime Highs

Italy: Youth Unemployment Hits Record 28.9 Percent

Blessed with a government that really cares for its people:

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi bought $1850 rings for all of his 37 female MPs for Christmas:

Silvio Berlusconi buys 37 rings for his leading ladies (Telegraph)

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi remained also the godfather of sex scandals in 2010.

Cincin!


The fundamentals of the last PIG country, which has so far avoided the bond carnage of its peripheral peers, reported that while broad unemployment was 8.7%, the “highest since the beginning of the beginning of the time series in 2004” it is youth unemployment which, like in Spain, is becoming a few bigger issues.

Corriere Della Sera announced that youth unemployment has hit a record of 28.9%:

“Youth unemployment, however, did rise as the rate climbed to 28.9%, up 0.9 percentage points on October and 2.4 points higher than in November 2009. This, too, is the highest level since time series were introduced in January 2004.”

Yet even at these levels, this is still modest compared to countries like Spain, where the same metric was trending around 40% and is expected to remain there through 2011.

There is some good news though, especially for women workers in Italy:

Nevertheless, slightly more (50,000 or 0.2%) Italians were in employment in November compared with October, 0.1% (14,000) more than in November 2009. ISTAT’s estimate, based on deseasonalised figures and provisional estimates, notes that the increase is due to greater numbers of women employed, with legalisations of home helps and carers, and the presumed impact of part-time workers.

That said, with fundamentals no longer relevant, the only catalysts the market is concerned about for the next several days will be the plethora of bond auctions with Portugal coming to market tomorrow, followed promptly by Spain. Both are expected to price their issues at or near all time wide levels, which explains why the ECB has been in the market all day today, buying up every piece of paper available in an attempt to stabilize the market ahead of tomorrow.

Read moreItaly: Youth Unemployment Hits Record 28.9 Percent

EU: Contagion May Force Euro Leaders to Expand Arsenal to Counter Debt Crisis

See also:

Ireland Bailout Fails To Calm Nervy Markets – Prof. Nouriel Roubini Tells Portugal To Seek Bailout, Spain ‘Too Big To Bail Out’


Dec 1 (Bloomberg) — Investors’ no-confidence vote in the aid package for Ireland may force European policy makers to expand their arsenal to fight the debt crisis threatening to tear the euro apart.

Options outlined by economists at Societe Generale SA and Barclays Capital include: Boosting the 750 billion-euro ($975 billion) temporary rescue fund or turning it into an asset- buying program; cutting interest rates on bailout loans; issuing joint bonds for the 16 euro nations or flooding the economy with cash from the European Central Bank.

All would be unprecedented, and none of Europe’s political leaders — dominated by German Chancellor Angela Merkel — has indicated the steps are being considered. Earlier this year, they struggled to cobble together the measures that investors and economists now say are proving inadequate to safeguard the euro and keep speculators at bay.

“You’ve had repeated interventions, but the markets are still selling in response,” said Andrew Balls, London-based head of European portfolio management at Pacific Investment Management Co., which runs the world’s biggest bond fund. “Policy makers have to move beyond a country-by-country approach and think about the system-wide challenges.”

Read moreEU: Contagion May Force Euro Leaders to Expand Arsenal to Counter Debt Crisis

Ireland Bailout Fails To Calm Nervy Markets – Prof. Nouriel Roubini Tells Portugal To Seek Bailout, Spain ‘Too Big To Bail Out’

Roubini tells Portugal to seek bailout as markets slide (Telegraph):

Nouriel Roubini, the US economist, said Portugal should consider asking for a bailout before its financial plight worsens as the euro fell after the €85bn Ireland bailout failed to ease eurozone debt fears.

Mr Roubini, the economist who predicted the financial crisis, told daily paper Diario Economico it is “increasingly likely” Portugal will require international assistance.

He said the country is approaching “a critical point” due to it high debt load and weak growth and there were ample funds to shore up Portugal, one of the eurozone’s smaller countries which contributes less than 2pc to the 16-nation bloc’s gross domestic product.

However, he said neighboring Spain, Europe’s fourth-largest economy, is “too big to bail out.”


• FTSE 100 down 2%; Dow loses 1%
• Euro slides to two-month low against US dollar
• Cost of insuring Spanish and Portuguese debt hits record high


Irish prime minister Brian Cowen speaking to the media in Dublin yesterday after the EU approved the €85bn bailout. Photograph: Peter Muhly/AFP/Getty Images


Stocks fell on both sides of the Atlantic, the euro tumbled, and the cost of borrowing for Ireland, Spain and Portugal jumped today, as details of the republic’s €85bn (£72bn) bailout failed to quell anxiety that the crisis in the eurozone was deepening.

Amid speculation that the European authorities may be left with little option but to embark on large-scale quantitative easing to try to bolster sentiment, Ireland’s borrowing costs shot as high as 9.6% as the terms of its bailout by the International Monetary Fund and European Union were digested by investors.

“The bottom line is that the financial markets are unimpressed, and that’s the most generous description,” Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital told Associated Press. “The crisis rumbles on.”

Read moreIreland Bailout Fails To Calm Nervy Markets – Prof. Nouriel Roubini Tells Portugal To Seek Bailout, Spain ‘Too Big To Bail Out’

EU rescue costs start to threaten Germany itself

Criminal elite puppet governments all over the world are bankrupting their countries, funneling billions and trillions of  euros and dollars to their elite puppet bankster friends.

That money ends up into the hands of just a view elite criminals that planned all of this.

The perfect elitist government-bank robbery and the people are footed with an unpayable bill that completely destroys their financial future.

See also:

EU rescue costs start to threaten Germany itself


The escalating debt crisis on the eurozone periphery is starting to contaminate the creditworthiness of Germany and the core states of monetary union.


Chancellor Angela Merkel would risk popular fury if she had to raise fresh funds for eurozone debtors at a time of welfare cuts in Germany.

Credit default swaps (CDS) measuring risk on German, French and Dutch bonds have surged over recent days, rising significantly above the levels of non-EMU states in Scandinavia.

“Germany cannot keep paying for bail-outs without going bankrupt itself,” said Professor Wilhelm Hankel, of Frankfurt University. “This is frightening people. You cannot find a bank safe deposit box in Germany because every single one has already been taken and stuffed with gold and silver. It is like an underground Switzerland within our borders. People have terrible memories of 1948 and 1923 when they lost their savings.”

The refrain was picked up this week by German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble. “We’re not swimming in money, we’re drowning in debts,” he told the Bundestag.

While Germany’s public and private debt is not extreme, it is very high for a country on the cusp of an acute ageing crisis. Adjusted for demographics, Germany is already one of the most indebted nations in the world.

Reports that EU officials are hatching plans to double the size of EU’s €440bn (£373bn) rescue mechanism have inevitably caused outrage in Germany. Brussels has denied the claims, but the story has refused to die precisely because markets know the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) cannot cope with the all too possible event of a triple bail-out for Ireland, Portugal and Spain.

Read moreEU rescue costs start to threaten Germany itself

A Spanish Bailout Would Represent A Systemic Risk For The Euro

MADRID — Europe so far has survived the bailout of Greece. The financial rescue of Ireland also is manageable. Even if Portugal becomes the third country to succumb and seek aid, as many people widely predict, it is unlikely to push Europe to the financial brink.

But any bailout of Spain — with an economy twice the size of the other three combined — could severely stress the ability of Europe’s stronger countries to help the financially weaker ones, and spell deep trouble for the euro, Europe’s common currency. Even though Spain, like Ireland, has adopted an austerity plan to help it avoid the need for a bailout, it still could need aid if its banking system proves frailer than the government thinks it is, as was the case in Ireland.

This troubling possibility has unnerved lenders, with Spain’s borrowing costs rising even though Madrid has cut its deficit and the country’s banks maintain they have sufficient strength to absorb their bad real estate loans. “Europe can afford the collapse of Ireland, even perhaps that of Portugal, but not that of Spain, so Spain’s ultimate line of defense is in fact this knowledge that it’s too big to fail and that it represents a systemic risk for the euro,” said Pablo Vázquez, an economist at the Fundación de Estudios de Economía Aplicada, a research institute here.

Reflecting the worries of investors, the yield spread between Spanish 10-year government bonds and those of Germany continued to widen on Wednesday — to as high as 2.59 percentage points, the biggest gap since the introduction of the euro. Spreads typically widen when investors perceive greater risk of not being repaid.

Read moreA Spanish Bailout Would Represent A Systemic Risk For The Euro

Fluoride: A Chronological History

Fluoride is THE main ingredient in rat poison.

Fluoride is THE main ingredient in Sarin nerve gas.

Fluoride is THE main ingredient in Prozac.

Fluoride destroys the brain (accumulates the pineal gland), the bones, the organs and causes cancer.

Hitler and Stalin used it in concentration camps and gulags as mass control instrument to make the prisoners docile.

Guess why fluoride is really added to your drinking water?

Over 170 million people, or 67 percent of the United States population drink fluoridated water. 43 of the 50 largest cities in the country are fluoridated.

After reading this you will understand what water fluoridation and fluoride containing anti-depressants like Prozac are all about.

Also take a close look how many times it has been scientifically proven that fluoride damages DNA.

A MUST-READ!


Material Added on November 3, 1997
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A Chronology of Fluoridation

1855 Smelters in Freiburg, Germany first paid damages to neighbors injured by fluoride emissions. (See 1893)

1893 The smelters in Freiburg, Germany paid out 80,000 marks in damages for fluorine contamination injuries and 644,000 marks for permanent relief. (See 1855, 1900, 1907).

1900 The existence of the smelting industry in Germany and Great Britain is threatened by successful lawsuits for fluorine damage and by budensome laws and regulations.

1907 The smelters in Freiburg, Germany (see 1893) are identified as the cause of cripplied cattle in the area since 1877, and fluorides are identified as the culprit.

1916 The first evidence of brown mottling of teeth is reported in the United States, and would be eventually found to be caused by fluorides in water.

1922 Aluminum production (along with production of toxic by-product sodium fluoride) increases. Aluminum cookware is mass introduced in the US, beginning the gradual accumulation of aluminum in the brains of Americans. Additional aluminum is injected into society in “antacids” and toothpaste tubes, which aggrevate the action of toxic fluorides.

1928 The equivalent of the U.S. Public Health Service is under the jurisdiction of Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon, a founder and major stockholder of ALCOA aluminum, a major producer of toxic fluoride wastes. Mellon would step down from control of the Public Health in 1931.

1928 Edward L.Bernays, nephew to Sigmund Freud, writes the book Propaganda, in which he explains the structure of the mechanism which controls the public mind, and how it is manipulated by those who wish to create public acceptance for a particular idea or commodity. Says Bernays, “those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. Our minds are molded, our tastes are formed, largely by men we have never heard of.” Bernays represents another connection to Germany and would be essential in the fluoride campaign in the United States. Wrote Bernay’s, “if you can influence group leaders, either with or without their conscious cooperation, you automatically influence the group which they sway.” (See Bernay’s, 1947, and the fluoride campaign).

1930 Kettering Laboratory is founded from gifts from Ethyl Corporation, General Electric and DuPont (all who have interlocking relationships with I.G. Farben in Germany) to “investigate chemical hazards in American industrial operations” under contract, with provision that research “shall not be released to the public without the consent of the contracting company.” During the mid-20th century, Kettering dominated the medical literature on the toxicology of fluorides, but information was not released into the public domain.

1931 A considerable portion of Kettering Laboratory’s facilities are dedicated to the study of fluorides. Under contract, the studies are not releasable to the public. (See also 1939, Mellon Institute)

1931 Three independent groups of scientists determine that fluoride in the water is the cause of dental mottling. Research teams from ALCOA Aluminum (who have fluorides as a hazardous by-product of aluminum manufacture) and the University of Arizona. Also shown by North African investigators and others. Dr. Gerald Cox of the Mellon Institute, owners of ALCOA, would later solve the expensive disposal problem with toxic fluorides by convincing others that it could be dumped in the public water supply as a “preventative” for tooth decay.

1931 Under an agreement with I.G. Farben, ALCOA accepts a restriction on the production of magnesium in the U.S, hampering the war effort, while Germany itself stepped up production. Most of the U.S. production was shipped out of the country to Germany.

1931 Public Health Service dentist H. Trendley Dean is dispatched by ALCOA founder Andrew Mellon to certain remote towns in the Western U.S. where water wells have a naturally high concentration of calcium fluorides. Dean’s mission would be to find out how much fluoride people could physically tolerate before obvious visible damage to their teeth. Dean publishes a purposely skewed and deceptive study which purports to show that at 1ppm, flourides result in the “reduction of tooth decay”. (See Gerald Cox, 1939)

1931 The Mellon Institute is ALCOA’s Pittsburgh research lab.

1931 From 1931 to 1939, the U.S. Public Health Service seeks to remove fluorides from water supplies because of endemic mottled teeth. ALCOA’s fluoride proposals have not been bought into by the public or government yet.

1931 I.G. Farben and Alcoa Aluminum sign Alted Agreement pooling patents, which would continue through 1939 and beyond. I.G. Farben complex begins large contributions to fund Nazi cause.

1933 A study is published in which it is shown that fluorides inhibit the action relative to lipase on ethyl acetate in vivo 50 percent at a concentration of one part in 15 million. (McClure, F.J., “A Review of Fluorine and its physiological effects”, Physiological Review, 13: 295-297, July 1933).

1933 According to a study by Freni in 1994 (71), in 1933 and again in 1984 that fluorides produce cumulative generational effects on biological organisms.

1937 U.S. Public Health Service publishes material indicating that fluoride concentrations in many U.S. cities varied between 0.6 ppm to 8.0 ppm. A concentration of 0.9 ppm means that over 10% of children have mottled teeth and tooth deformities.

1937 A clinical hygienic study by K. Roholm in 1937, Fluoride Intoxication, published by H.K. Lewis, London. Roholm is convinced that fluorides cross the placental barrier into the fetus. (70). This realization is echoed in 1951 by an M.D. and chemist from the University of Oregon Medical School.

1938 Dr. Wallace Armstrong and P.J.Brekhus at the University of Minnesota Department of Biochemistry publish a study in which they claim that the enamel of sound teeth had a significantly greater fluoride content than the enamel of teeth with cavities. Armstrong was to admit that these results were false. In a followup study in 1963, Dr. Armstrong found no difference in the fluoride contents of the enamal of sound or decayed teeth.

1938 The University of Mexico Bulletin, August 1, 1938, in an article entitled “Menace of Fluorine to Health”, states “Solutions of sodium fluoride with a fluoride content as low as one part in 15 million may inhibit the action of the lipase (pancreatic juice) as much as 50 percent.”

1939 The ALCOA company, the world’s largest producer of sodium fluoride,transfers it technology under the Alted Agreement to Germany. Dow Chemical follows suit.

1939 ALCOA-sponsored bochemist Gerald J. Cox fluoridates rats in his lab and mysteriously concludes that “fluoride reduces cavities”. He makes a public proposal that the U.S. should fluoridate its water supplies. Cox begins to tour the United States, stumping for fluoridation.

1939 Scientists at I.G. Farben prepare the first sample of fluorinated nerve gas Sarin.

1939 On September 29, 1939, Mellon Institute scientist Gerald J. Cox plays a major role in the promotion of fluoridation by saying “the present trend toward removal of fluorides from food and water may need reversal. Water engineers had been recommending a maximum allowable fluoride contaminant level of 0.1 part per million (ppm), maintaining a tenfold margin of safety. (When fluorides were eventually added to water through corporate pressure, that safety factor would be thrown out and the level raised tenfold beyond the engineering recommendations in 1939, when fluoride was properly recognized as a toxic contaminant. Note: Mellon Institute was founded by Andrew and Richard Mellon, former owners of ALCOA Aluminum, plagued by disposal problems of toxic fluoride by products. ALCOA also had a relationship with I.G. Farben in Germany)

1939 U.S. Public Health Service regulations state “the presence of fluorides in excess of 1 ppm shall constitute rejection of the water supply.” (Yet, when water fluoridation is instituted, levels are set at a minumum of 1 ppm)

1939 Volume 9 Report to the House Un-American Activities Committee delves deeply into the alleged use of fluoridation to keep the American people docile, so they would accept the changing of their system of government to a socialist state.

1940 “Fluoride inhibits neuromuscular activity”. Ref: Russo, G. Att.Acad. Sci. Nat.., 1940.

1940 Soviet concentration camps maintained by fluoride administration to inmates to decrease resistance to authority and induce physical deteriorization.

1942 “Fluorine may cause anoxia in the newborn and shorten the period of their survival” Ref: Himwich, H.E., et al., American Journal of Physiology, 1942.

1942 Germany becomes worlds largest producer of aluminum (and Sodium Fluoride). Fluoride is used in the concentration camps to render the prisoners docile and inhibit the questioning of authority.

1943 Researchers from the US Public Health Service examine the health of residents of Bartlett, Texas to see if the 8ppm fluoride in the drinking water was affecting their health. It was checked again in 1953. They find that the death rate in Bartlett was three times higher than a neighboring town which contained 0.4 ppm fluoride.

1943 A special New York State Health Department Committee is appointed to study the advisability of adding fluoride to Newburg’s drinking water, chaired by Dr. Hodge, then chief of fluoride toxicity studies for the Manhattan Project.

1943 The Journal of the American Medical Association on September 18, 1943, contains an article, “Chronic Fluorine Intoxication”, which states, “fluorides are general protoplasmic poisons, changing the permeability of the cell membrane by inhibiting certain enzymes. The exact mechanism of such actions, it was said, are obscure. The sources of fluorine intoxication are drinking water containing 1ppm or more of fluorine, fluorine compounds used as insecticidal sprays for fruits and vegatables (cryolite and barium fluoro- silicate) and the mining and conversion of phosphate rock to superphosphate, which is used as a fertilizer. That process alone releases approximately 25,000 tons of pure fluorine into the atmosphere annually. Other sources of fluorine intoxication is from the fluorides used in the smelting of many metals, such as steel and aluminum, and in the production of glass, enamel and brick.”

1943 Environmental pollution by toxic metals, including fluorides, affects forests, livestock, and urban residents, but coverage remains on local levels.

1944 “Even at 1ppm, fluoride in drinking water poisons cattle, horses and sheep” (Moules, G.R., Water Pollution Research and Summary of Current Literature, 1944.

1944 The city manger of Grand Rapids, Michigan announces that the Michigan State Department of Health is planning a long range experiment with fluoridated water and that Grand Rapids was selected as the location for the experiment. The city commission approves a motion to fluoridate on July 31, and decides it is to begin in January 1945, despite the warning issued three months earlier, ironically, by the American Dental Association. Grand Rapids becomes the first city in the United States to conduct this experiment. It was to serve as the test city to be compared against un-fluoridated Muskegon for a period of ten years relative to tooth decay, “at which time it would be determined whether or not fluoride was “safe and effectiv.” Dr. H. Trendley Dean was put in charge of the project. The experiment was terminated early, after the control city was fluoridated, ruining the validity of the experiment, with the pronouncement that fluorides in public water supplies was “safe”.See 1945.

1944 The Pentagon Scientific Research and Development Group further pursued the project to fluoridate the drinking water of Newburg, New York. Members included Henry L. Barnett, a captain in the Manhattan Project medical section, John W. Fertig, SRDG, Dr. Hodge, and David Ast, chief dental officer of the New York State Health Department, who was placed in charge of the Newburg Project. The group sought information on cumulative effects, which was also a goal of the Manhattan Project. (See below)

1944 Through 1948. Previously classified documents from Manhattan Project which indicate the government knew the physiological and psycho-behavioral effects of fluorides, as a result of studies connected with determining the effect of uranium hexafluoride processing on workers, as well as studies in defense of litigation against the project by tree growers who experienced fluoride damage from airborne pollutants connected with the project. Ref: Declassified documents from the National Archives published in 1997.

1944 An April 29, 1944 Manhattan Project memo, released in 1997, states “Clinical evidence suggests that uranium hexafluoride may have a rather marked central nervous system effect, with mental confusion, drowsiness and lassitude as the conspicuous features… it seems that the fluoride component is the causative factor….since work with these compounds is essential, it will be necessary to know in advance what mental effects may occur after exposure, if workmen are to be properly protected. This is important not only to protect a given individual, but also to prevent a confused workman from injuring others by improperly performing his duties”. Ref: Previously classified SECRET Manhattan Project Memo, 29 April 1944, declassified and released from the National Archives.

1944 Oscar Ewing is put on the payroll of the Aluminum Company of America ALCOA), as an attorney, at an annual salary of $750,000. In 1947, Ewing was made Federal Security Agency Administrator, with the announcement that he was taking a big cut in salary. The US Public Health Service, then a division of the FSA, comes under the command of Ewing, and he begins to vigorously promote fluoridation nationwide. Ref: May 25-27 Hearings before the Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce. A by-product of aluminum manufacture is toxic sodium fluoride. Ewings public relations strategist for the fluoride campaign was the nephew of Sigmund Freud, Edward L. Bernays. Bernays conducts a public relations campaign to promote fluorine ingestion by applying Freudian theory to induce public acceptance. It was one of Bernays most successful campaigns.

1944 The October 1944 issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association cautions that “knowledge of the subject does not warrant the introduction of fluorine in community water supplies generally. Sodium fluoride is a highly toxic substance, and while its applications in safe concentrations, and under strict control by competent personnel, may prove to be useful therepeutically, under other circumstances it may definitely be harmful. To be effective, fluorine must be ingested into the system during the years of tooth development, and we do not yet know enough about the chemistry involved to anticipate what other conditions may be produced in the structure of the bone and other tissues of the body generally. We do know that the use of drinking water containing as little as 1.2 to 3.0 ppm of fluorine will cause such developmental disturbances in bones as osteosclerosis, spondylosis, and osteopetrosis, as well as goiter, and we cannot run the risk of producing such serious systemic disturbances in applying what is at present a doubtful procedure intended to prevent development of dental disfigurements among children … because of our anxiety to find some therapeutic procedure that will promote mass prevention of caries, the seeming potentialities of fluorine appear speculatively attractive, but, in the light of our present knowledge or lack of knowledge of the chemistry of the subject, the potentialities for harm far outweigh those for good.”

1945 An FDA Chief inspector discovers that fluorides are being added to beer by the Commonwealth Brewing Company of Massachusetts (the same state where they did experimental fluoride treatments on institutionalized children). The owner of the brewery was arrested and subjected to a Federal jury trial for poisoning the beer. The indictment charged that the beer contained “an added poison or deleterious poison, fluoride, which was unsafe within the meaning of the statute (Section 301a of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act), since it was a substance not required in the production of the beer, it could have been avoided by good manufacturing practice.” The fact was established that the fluoride was added in the concentration of 0.5 ppm. The jury was instructed that fluoride was established to be harmful and poisonous, and that it was unimportant to show how much beer it would take to demonstrate harmful effects. Beer was classified as a food and fluoride as a poison in 1945. The Commonwealth Brewery Company was slapped with a $10,000 fine, and Kaufmann, the owner, was given a 6 month suspended jail sentence and a three year probation period.

1945 Newburgh, New York has their water supply fluoridated in May 1945. Subsequent exams of the children by x-ray reveal that almost 14% have cortical defects in bone, compared to the nearby unfluoridated town of Kingston, where 7.5% have bone defects. The data is suppressed. In tandum, Project F (connected with the Manhattan Project) conducted their own studies of Newburg residents, focusing on the amounts of fluoride Newburg residents retained in the tissues and blood – key information sought by the bomb program, according to previously classified documents released in 1997. See 1956.

1945 The newspaper Philadelphia Record, 18 October 1945, reveals an article entitled “First Bomb Suit for Ruined Peaches filed by Salem County Growers for $400,000” details suits against chemical manufacturers connected with the Manhattan Atomic Bomb Project for hydrogen fluoride damage to peach groves. Companies involved were DuPont de Nemours (which has been interacting with I.G. Farben in Nazi Germany), the Sun Oil Company and the General Chemical Company.

1945 The government does a public test case of fluoridation, comparing fluoridated Grand Rapids with unfluoridated Muskegon, Michigan. The study is to last ten years. After one year, it becomes obvious to the government that fluorides do not conform to their public propaganda, and the study is terminated. The city of Muskegon is then fluoridated in 1947 to conceal the difference in effect. Other experiments are performed covertly on population areas, without the knowledge of the subjects.

1945 Covert experiments with fluorides are conducted in Massachusetts and in Connecticut between 1945 and 1946 on indigent, mentally retarded children at state-run schools. According to 1954 testimony of Florence Birmingham, a trustee of the Wrentham State School in Massachusetts, her schools administration learned only by accident that fluorides were being put in the drinking water.

1945 A study reveals that fluoride’s affinity for magnesium and manganese ions enables it to deplete their availability for vital enzyme functions. (Borei, H., “Inhibition of Cellular Oxidation by Fluoride”, Arkiv.Kemi,Mineral,Geol., 20A, No. 8, 1945).

1946 A letter from the U.S. Engineer Office, Manhattan District, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to Colonel Warren, Manhattan Project, 1 May 1946, regarding a trip to the DuPont plant, discusses the fluoride damage to the environment. The letter also states “Would there be any use in making attempts to counteract the local fear of fluoride on the part of residents of Salem and Gloucester counties through lectures on fluoride toxicology and perhaps the usefulness of fluoride in tooth health?” Letter signed by Harold C. Hodge, who was also involved in the Newburgh, New York experiments. Ref: Previously classified SECRET Manhattan Project Letter, 1 May 1946, declassified and released from the National Archives in 1997.

Read moreFluoride: A Chronological History

Portugal Elite Paedophile Prostitution Ring: Carlos Cruz Jailed For Seven Years

See also:

Pentagon Declined To Investigate Hundreds Of Purchases Of Child Pornography


Portuguese TV presenter among six convicted over child prostitution at Casa Pia state-run orphanages

paedophile-tv-presenter-carlos-cruz
Portuguese TV presenter Carlos Cruz, who paid for sex with a 14-year-old boy, the court was told. Photograph: Tiago Petinga/EPA

One of Portugal’s most famous television presenters and a former ambassador were among six men found guilty yesterday of involvement with a paedophile prostitution ring that exploited children from state-run orphanages.

The guilty verdicts handed down to TV presenter Carlos Cruz and the five others exposed the truth of more than three decades of rumours about systematic abuse of young boys at the 230-year-old Casa Pia network of orphanages.

It was only when Joel, a former orphanage boy, came forward in 2002 and accused some of the country’s best-known names of being involved that Portugal woke up to full horror of the scandal.

Members of Portugal’s media, civil service and professional elite were alleged to be regular abusers of the boys, some younger than 14. Even well-known politicians were involved, it was initially rumoured. A flood of accusations from boys who had passed through the Casa Pia system followed. Some 32 boys alleged at least 800 crimes.

The case pitted the orphanage boys against a group of well-educated, influential people – including a former ambassador to Unesco, a lawyer, a doctor and Cruz. Yesterday, eight years after they dared to speak out, the boys finally won their case.

The four men and two former orphanage employees received sentences of between just under six years and 18 years. Carlos Silvino, a 53-year-old Casa Pia worker who confessed to 600 crimes and gave evidence against other defendants was sentenced to 18 years.

“The court recognised that we were telling the truth,” said Bernardo Teixeira, one of the victims. “It’s a happy ending for us. The paedophiles are going to jail.”

Read morePortugal Elite Paedophile Prostitution Ring: Carlos Cruz Jailed For Seven Years