Riots – Page 4 – Infinite Unknown

Cyber Riot: Greek Protesters Use Lasers to Dazzle Police, Then Attack Them With Catapults, Stones And Petrol Bombs

February 10, 2011 by Infinite

Targeted: Protesters use a laser pen to track a riot police officer during violent protests in Keratea, Greece, where locals are opposing a planned rubbish tip

Dazzling: The officers are caught in the beam as they attempt to protect the town’s police station

Explosive situation: A petrol bomb is thrown at riot police, who responded with tear gas

Defiant: A protester walks among the burning barricades

Laser-guided: A protester uses a beam to help aim his catapult

It looked like a scene from a science fiction film featuring forces of the future in an apocalyptic battle zone.

But these images were captured during a riot in Keratea, Greece, where residents opposing a decision to establish a new landfill rubbish tip nearby took to the streets.

They used laser pens to dazzle riot police officers and then attacked them with catapults, stones and petrol bombs.

Three people were arrested and two officers injured during the violent clashes which began when people in a crowd attacked the town’s police station.

They were objecting to the detention of a local man suspected of involvement in previous clashes.

Police responded with tear gas.

Residents of the town, 25 miles south east of the capital Athens, have clashed repeatedly over the past two months with riot police guarding the site of the planned rubbish dump.

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:46 AM on 9th February 2011

Source: Daily Mail

Food Prices to Rocket By 50% As Global Hunger Epidemic Causes Riots and Famines

January 26, 2011January 26, 2011 by Infinite

The same elite criminals that have intentionally caused famines and all kinds of disasters around the world (and the financial crisis) are now calling for GM food as the solution.

Problem – reaction – solution.

All think-tanks belong to the elite financed propaganda machinery.

We have the dirt-cheap technology to green the entire Sahara desert in almost no time.

And GM food is the solution? Sure!:

– Max Keiser: Monsanto And The Seeds Of Evil

– The GMO Catastrophe In The US, A Lesson For The World

– Monsanto: GM-Corn Harvest of 82,000 Hectares in South Africa Fails

– Exposed: the great GM crops myth (The Independent):

“Genetic modification actually cuts the productivity of crops, an authoritative new study shows, undermining repeated claims that a switch to the controversial technology is needed to solve the growing world food crisis.”

– Natural Farming: Farmer Doubles Production, Cuts Water Use By 30 Percent, Needs NO Fertilizer, Herbicides And Pesticides

Food prices are about to explode:

– ‘The World Is Only One Poor Harvest Away From Chaos’

– Australia Floods: Food Prices to Rise 30% – 50% of Crops Affected, With 20% Wiped Out

– India: Food Inflation Up Over 18 Percent In Just One Year

– Algerian Riots Continue Over Skyrocketing Food Prices And Unemployment

More on GM food at the end of the following elite propaganda article.

The coming global food crisis has been artificially created, like the financial crisis.

* ‘Perfect storm’ of issues will bring widespread starvation if nothing is done
* Food prices to rise by 50 per cent over the next decade
* GM crops will be needed to feed the world
* Global population to grow to 9billion by 2050

Food crisis: A leading Government think tank has warned scaremongering over GM farming is no longer acceptable

The cost of food will soar by 50 per cent over the next few decades as the world becomes racked by famine, mass migrations and riots, experts have warned.

The increase will be triggered by the exploding world population, rising cost of fuel and increased competition for water, according to a leading Government think-tank.

Spiralling food prices will push hundreds of millions of people into hunger, trigger mass migration and spark civil unrest, the report warned.

And in the UK, the price of basics such as bread, rice and milk will spiral to inflation-busting record prices within the next few decades.

The report, from Foresight, a think-tank set up to predict future crises, called for ‘urgent action’ to prevent food shortages, and said genetically modified crops may be needed to prevent famines.

Even a ‘modest’ rise in food prices could push 100million people into hunger, the report warned.

Food And Fuel Riots in Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Yemen And Jordan

January 17, 2011 by Infinite

The cost of flour and salad oil has doubled in recent months, reaching record highs. A kilogram of sugar, which a few months ago cost 70 dinars, is now 150 dinars (£1.28). Unemployment stands at about 10% percent, the government says; independent organisations put it closer to 25%.

Latest Inflation Riot Tally: Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Yemen And Jordan

The Fed chairman is 100% confident inflation can be contained. Rapidly spreading rioting (5 countries so far) would take the under on that.

Latest on Tunisia:

Twelve people were killed in overnight clashes in the Tunisian capital Tunis and the northeastern town of Ras Jebel, according to accounts from two medical sources and a witness on Friday.

Ten of the victims were killed after clashes in the capital, two sources from Charles Nicolle hospital told Reuters.

A witness from Ras Jebel, who identified herself as Narjes, said: “I saw two dead people with my own eyes after police fired at youth”.

Tunisian officials could not immediately be reached for a comment. It was not immediately clear whether the shootings took place before or after the country’s president ordered police to stop using lethal force against demonstrators.

And now the violence has spread to Jordan:

Food price protests sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East reached Jordan on Friday, when hundreds of protesters chanted slogans against Prime Minister Samir al-Rifai in the southern city of Karak.

The peaceful protest was held despite hastily announced government measures to curb commodity and fuel prices. Similar demonstrations were held in three other towns and cities across the country, witnesses said.

“We are protesting the policies of the government — high prices and repeated taxation that made the Jordanian people revolt,” Tawfiq al-Batoush, a former head of Karak municipality, told Reuters at the protest outside Karak’s Al Omari mosque.

Three days ago, after riots in Algeria and Tunisia over high prices, unemployment and falling living standards, Jordan announced a $225 million package of cuts in the prices of some types of fuel and of staple products including sugar and rice.

Other Arab countries have taken similar steps. Libya abolished taxes and customs duties on food products and Morocco offered compensation to importers of soft milling wheat to keep supplies stable after a surge in grain prices.

…Morocco (google translated)

Protests against price rises and unemployment moved from Tunisia to Morocco, where the streets of Rabat, yesterday, saw clashes between young protesters and police forces, which tried to prevent them from organizing a demonstration outside the Moroccan parliament, in protest against unemployment and high prices and the cost of living in Morocco

And Yemen:

In Yemen, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh fired Minister of Oil and Chief Executive, the Yemen Petroleum Company Omar Arhabi, yesterday, due to a lack in the supply of petroleum products, not available in the market, which led to bottlenecks in front of gas stations and the creation of indignation among the citizens.

Not like there is much to add here, but we would like to add that if a rising stock market was indiciative of “wealth” then the citizens of Zimbabwe have to be the richest people in the universe.

Tunisia: Rioters Burn The Capital’s Main Train Station To The Ground, Sack And Loot Shops

January 16, 2011 by Infinite

Tunisia continues descent into chaos

A supermarket is on fire after it was sacked and looted in Bizerte, Tunisia

Rioters burned the Tunisian capital’s main train station to the ground and sacked and looted shops in a wave of unrest after the North African nation’s president was forced from power by protesters.

The departure of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after 23 years of iron-fisted rule — demanded by protesters — appeared not to be enough to quell the unrest over soaring unemployment and corruption that has swept Tunisia for nearly a month.

An Associated Press photographer saw soldiers intervening this morning to try to stop looters from sacking a huge supermarket in the Ariana area, 20 miles north of the capital.

A helicopter circled low over the capital, apparently acting as a spotter for fires or pillaging. Gunfire was heard crackling anew in the mid-morning.

Overnight, public television station TV7 broadcast phone calls from residents of working-class neighborhoods on the capital’s outskirts, recounting attacks against their homes by knife-wielding assailants.

Bangladesh: Stock Market Plunge Sparks Riots

January 10, 2011 by Infinite

Added: 10. Januar 2011

Bangladesh suspended trading at its main stock exchange in the capital Dhaka on Monday, and security officials used batons to disperse thousands of angry investors upset over a market plunge. After the protesters began gathering on Monday morning, authorities used batons to try to break up the crowds, according to police officials. But protesters continued to demonstrate at several busy intersections in Dhaka’s Motijheel commercial district, where the stock exchange is located, smashing vehicles, burning tyres and chanting anti-government slogan

Second Moscow Riot In A Week, 1,000 People Arrested

December 17, 2010December 17, 2010 by Infinite

Nationalist youths storm through city, shouting racist slogans and calling for death of immigrants

Russian riot police officers on the streets of Moscow today. About 30 people were hurt during protests by nationalist youths. Photograph: Sergei Chirikov/EPA

Up to 1,000 people were arrested in Moscow today as nationalist youths rampaged throughout the city for the second time this week, shouting racist slogans and calling for the death of immigrants.

The unrest, four days after 5,000 rioters wrought carnage outside the Kremlin walls, upended the city as night descended. Riot police rode through Moscow in army trucks and took up positions at key railway stations and public squares, hoping to prevent the ethnic clashes that left dozens of men from the Caucasus and central Asia injured at the weekend.

About 30 people were reportedly injured, with five taken to hospital. Police confiscated airguns, knives and at least one samurai sword.

Nationalist blogs had called for Russians to gather at Kievsky railway station in central Moscow to continue protests over the death by shooting on 6 December of a Spartak supporter during a fight with men from the Caucasus.

Hundreds of nationalist youths, including many young women, gathered at the station while hundreds more spread across the city. A smaller number of men from the Caucasus met with the aim of fighting back. Several clashes were reported.

Italy: Berlusconi Opposition Claims That Some of The Rioters Were Police.

December 17, 2010December 17, 2010 by Infinite

Commentary:

The elite puppet governments use these tactics often:

Arrested undercover police officers:

The Quebec Provincial Police were then forced after three days of public outrage to admit that these three men were indeed their officers operating undercover.

– Rock-toting ‘protesters’ were cops: labour leader (Canada.com)

Protesters attack a policeman in the Via del Corso in Rome. Photograph: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty Images

Italy’s interior minister today agreed to address parliament on the rioting that broke out in Rome yesterday as Silvio Berlusconi won a controversial vote of confidence to keep his rightwing government alive .

Roberto Maroni of the Northern League gave the undertaking after opposition claims that some of the rioters were police. Anna Finocchiaro, leader in the Senate of Italy’s biggest opposition group, the Democratic party, said: “There were evidently people who had been infiltrated [among the rioters] and who put at risk the demonstrators and the police. Who commanded them? Who paid them? What were they meant to cause?”

Photographs taken during the disturbances have prompted not only suspicions but bitter memories of the 1970s when rogue members of the police and intelligence services lent themselves to a so-called “strategy of tension” aimed at raising the level of violence to the point at which it could be used to justify draconian repression or even a coup d’état.

Yesterday, groups of masked and hooded demonstrators rampaged through the capital attacking police, smashing windows, setting fire to vehicles and throwing up barricades. The mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, said first indications were that they had caused damage of about €20m. The disturbances were thought to be the most violent in Rome since 1977.

One of the participants in this week’s rioting was photographed hurling a dustbin at members of the revenue guard and wielding a long shovel. But in other shots, he appears to be standing with the guards raising a truncheon in one hand and holding a pair of handcuffs in the other.

One blog carried a photograph of a demonstrator being held on the ground by officers whose uniform boots are seemingly identical to his. Further controversy surrounded a revenue guard who was ambushed by rioters.

An official statement said he was rescued “thanks to the intervention of colleagues, some in uniform and others in civilian clothes”. But, according to Italian media reports, the revenue guard subsequently briefed reporters to the effect that it never deployed officers in civilian clothing in demonstrations or disturbances.

Greece: Hundreds of Protesters Clash With Riot Police Across Central Athens (Video)

December 15, 2010 by Infinite

Added: 15. December 2010

Hundreds of protesters clashed with riot police across central Athens on Wednesday, smashing cars and hurling gasoline bombs during a nationwide labour protest against the government’s latest austerity measures. The former Minister for Development Kostis Hatzidakis was attacked by protesters outside a luxury hotel. He was escorted, bleeding from the scene as his attackers yelled “thieves” at him.

Rome Burns as PM Berlusconi Survives (Video)

December 15, 2010 by Infinite

Dec 14 – Protesters set fire to cars and clash with police, paralyzing central Rome after Prime Minister Berlusconi narrowly survives a no-confidence vote.

Deborah Lutterbeck reports

Source: Reuters

Violent clashes erupt in Italy after Berlusconi survives no-confidence vote

Added: 14. December 2010

Italy: Riots over plans to build rubbish dump on slopes of Mt Vesuvius

September 25, 2010 by Infinite

Police and protesters clashed in Naples over plans to build a new rubbish dump on the slopes of Mt Vesuvius.

Italian policemen remove a protester from the road leading to a landfill in Terzigno Photo: EPA

Around 2,000 stone-throwing locals set fire to rubbish trucks and waste compactor machines into the early hours of Friday.

At least one protester was arrested and a senior police officer had to have stitches after being hit in the face by a rock, in the third consecutive night of violence.

Using tear gas and batons, police cleared a path through the demonstrators so that the rubbish trucks could reach the dump in the town of Terzigno, south of Naples.

23 Killed, 340 Injured in Kyrgyz Riots; Interim Government Declares State of Emergency, Imposes Curfew

June 11, 2010 by Infinite

More than 23 people have died and 340 been injured in ethnic fighting which broke out last night in the city of Osh in southern Kyrgyzstan.

Kyrgyz soldiers stand on an armoured vehicle in the streets of Osh Photo: AFP

Several buildings across Osh, the country’s second-largest city, were ablaze Friday morning, after witnesses reported hearing sustained gunfire beginning late Thursday. Gangs of young men armed with metal bars and stones attacked shops and set cars alight in the city.

Gunfire continued Friday, although it was not clear who was shooting, residents said.

The country’s provisional government, led by Roza Otunbayeva, has struggled to keep order in the volatile Central Asian state since seizing control during riots that ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev earlier this year. The central Asian country’s interim government declared a state of emergency, imposed a curfew, and sent in more than seven armoured cars to try to end the fighting between ethnic Kyrgyz and ethnic Uzbeks in the city.

Related Information:

– New Violence in Kyrgyzstan Leads to Troop Deployment (New York Times)

– In pictures: Kyrgyzstan unrest (BBC News)

– 23 Killed, 300 Wounded in Kyrgyz Riots (Voice of America)

Azimbek Beknazarov, the deputy Kyrgyz leader, said that apart from a few clashes, the situation now seemed under control.

“Everything began yesterday at about 11 pm, and, unfortunately, despite the curfew established, at present skirmishing is going on in the city,” he said.

More than 1000 young men came out onto the streets last night, many of them carrying guns or iron bars, and began to smash the windows of cafes and restaurants, and set fire to cars and buildings throughout the city.

Thailand: Stock Exchange on Fire; Power Blackouts; Red-Shirt Leaders Surrender; Bangkok Under Curfew

June 24, 2010May 19, 2010 by Infinite

– Thai stock exchange on fire, blackouts hit Bangkok (Reuters):

BANGKOK, May 19 (Reuters) – The Thai stock exchange was on fire and parts of Bangkok were hit by power blackouts on Wednesday as violence continued, even though anti-government protest leaders surrendered and troops said they were in control.

The stock exchange building was on fire, the exchange’s president told Reuters, while witnesses said major tourist hotels had lost power as black smoke billowed around buildings in the Thai capital.

The stock market had closed early due to the violence.

Thai Defence Minister General Pravit Wongsuwan said a curfew may be imposed on Bangkok to deal with continued unrest after troops dispersed anti-government protesters in a major offensive that killed at least four people and wounded 50 others.

– Bangkok burns as Thai Red Shirts run amok after leaders’ surrender (Times):

Bangkok was burning today after Thai protest leaders called a halt to months of anti-government demonstrations leaving their followers to wreak havoc in retreat.

The stock exchange and two shopping centres were set alight after a bloody army assault on the barricaded encampment forced the Red Shirts to surrender. Protesters have also set the offices of TV station Channel 3 on fire, trapping 100 staff in the building.

The dawn offensive left five dead, including an Italian journalist, and dozens more were wounded.

– Thai Government Declares Curfew in Bangkok (Voice of America)

Curfew comes into force in Bangkok

Smoke rises from burning fires in downtown Bangkok, Thailand, following the surrender of anti-government leaders to the police Wednesday, May 19, 2010. The Thai government is attempting to end the two month long standoff with Red Shirt protestors with a massive military crackdown. (AP)

BANGKOK — A night curfew has come into force in Bangkok, the first declared in the Thai capital since 1992.

The 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew was enforced Wednesday following an army assault on the anti-government protesters.

At least six people have been killed and nearly 60 injured in clashes.

The last such curfew was declared in 1992, when the army killed dozens of pro-democracy demonstrators seeking the ouster of a military-backed government.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

BANGKOK (AP) — Downtown Bangkok became a flaming battleground Wednesday as an army assault forced anti-government protest leaders to surrender, enraging followers who shot grenades and set fire to landmark buildings, cloaking the skyline in black smoke.

Using live ammunition, troops dispersed thousands of Red Shirt protesters who had been camped in the capital’s premier shopping and residential district for weeks. Five protesters and an Italian news photographer were killed in the ensuing gunbattles and about 60 wounded.

Protestors Storm Parliament in Greece, 3 Killed in a Firebombed Bank

May 5, 2010 by Infinite

Hmmh. I would like to know who really firebombed the bank. (Another Iceland?)

Greek police hit by molotov cocktail (Reuters)

– 3 dead after protesters torch Greek bank (ABC NEWS):

Three people died in a burning bank as tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Athens during a general strike over the Greek government’s planned spending cuts.

Some protesters tried to storm parliament while others threw petrol bombs at police and torched buildings in protest against new austerity measures and a decision to raise taxes to meet the conditions of its international bailout.

A petrol bomb hurled at an Athens branch of the Marfin Investment Bank killed two women and a man who were caught in the resulting inferno.

– 3 killed as rioters overrun streets of Greece (Los Angeles Times)

– Greek bank firebombing a ‘raw murderous act’ (Sydney Morning Herald):

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has condemned the killing of three people in a firebombed bank during protests in Athens as a “murderous act”, vowing to bring those responsible to justice.

In an address to parliament on Wednesday, Papandreou denounced “the unfair deaths of our citizens who fell victim to a raw murderous act” hours after the three died when petrol bombs thrown by demonstrators set the bank on fire.

“Nobody has the right to violence and particularly violence that leads to murder. Violence breeds violence,” Papandreou said.

A riot policeman falls after being hit with molotov cocktail near the Greek parliament in Athens. Photo: Reuters

– At least 3 killed as protestors storm parliament in Greece (InTheNews):

At least three people have been killed in Greece as protestors stormed parliament buildings in Athens amid the country’s debt crisis.

Striking workers set fire to a bank, possibly after being hit by petrol bombs, with fire services saying three bodies were found inside the burning building.

Police have responded to the unrest with pepper spray, tear gas and stun grenades.

Transport was at a standstill in the country as the angry protestors began their second day of strikes in the capital today over the government’s response to the country’s huge deficit.

Read moreProtestors Storm Parliament in Greece, 3 Killed in a Firebombed Bank

The No.1 Trend Forecaster Gerald Celente: The Terror And The Crash of 2010

December 28, 2009 by Infinite

Listen AMERICA! Listen WORLD! Listen!!!

Stop listening to elite puppets like Obama, Bernanke and Geithner or you are doomed!!!

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Greece: Riots break out on anniversary of teenager’s death

December 6, 2009 by Infinite

Clashes have broken out in the Greek capital Athens during a march to commemorate the first anniversary of the police shooting of a teenager, whose death sparked massive riots.

A policeman on fire in Athens during rioting Photo: getty

Rioting in Athens Photo: getty

Police fired tear gas at youths throwing rocks and firecrackers in central Athens, as several thousand demonstrators gathered to mark the death of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos.

About 3,000 mostly students, anarchists and leftists marched to parliament on Sunday and more protests were expected on Monday. An evening memorial service was planned in the Exarchia district, where the teenager was shot dead.

Athens University rector Christos Kittas was rushed to hospital with an irregular heartbeat and head injuries after protesters broke into the university’s central Athens offices to occupy them, police and media said.

A 55-year-old woman was also injured on central Syntagma Square after being struck by police. Four police officers were also hurt as hand-to-hand combat erupted with small groups of protesters around the square, a police source said.

Concern was heightened by reports that far-left groups and anarchists from other European countries have traveled to Greece to join the protests.

Violence also broke out in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, where youths threw petrol bombs at police and smashed the storefront of a Starbucks cafe.

Over 6,000 police were on duty in Athens alone. Another 3,000 were mobilised in Thessaloniki, local police said.

President Hu Jintao Quits G8 Trip; Military Police Patrols Urumqi

July 8, 2009 by Infinite

china-unrest
A young man who was mistaken for being a Uighur is chased by a mob of Han Chinese in Urumqi, China, on July 7, 2009. Photographer: Ng Han Guan/AP via Bloomberg News

July 8 (Bloomberg) — Hundreds of military police patrolled the western Chinese city of Urumqi, as the worst violence since last year’s uprising in Tibet prompted President Hu Jintao to cut short a trip to the Group of Eight summit in Italy.

Two days of rioting in the capital of Xinjiang, a province rich in oil and natural gas, left at least 156 people dead. At least 20 trucks of armed police assembled near the Hai De Hotel in Urumqi, where a press conference, scheduled for 1:30 p.m. local time, was postponed until 6:30 p.m.. The Xinjiang press office declined to confirm or deny that Hu will attend the event.

Hu’s decision to cancel participation in a gathering of leaders from the world’s biggest economies reflects how significantly China views internal challenges to its leadership. Hu had been expected to meet with U.S. President Barack Obama and others to discuss the global economic crisis.

Hu’s return “sends a message of seriousness,” said Phil Deans, a professor of Asia Studies at Temple University in Tokyo. “Some will certainly see it as a sign of weakness, and say that the Communist Party isn’t as strong as it used to be.”

Rioting in China: Hundreds Detained After Ethnic Violence Kills 156

July 6, 2009 by Infinite

July 7 (Bloomberg) — China’s government said more than 700 people were detained after ethnic rioting in the capital of Xinjiang province killed 156 people. Overseas Uighur groups were responsible for the violence, the government said.

A traffic blockade remained in effect in Urumqi, capital of the northwestern province, as police in riot gear stood guard in downtown areas, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said today. More than 200 “rioters” trying to gather at Id Kah Mosque, the largest in China, were dispersed by the police last night, Xinhua said.

China Central Television yesterday aired images of smoke billowing from vehicles, crowds overturning police cars and bloodied people slumped on sidewalks in Urumqi. More than 825 people were also injured after rioting broke out in the city late on July 5, and the toll is likely to rise, Xinhua cited Liu Yaohua, the region’s police chief, as saying.

The protest spread yesterday to a second city in the region, Kashgar, the Associated Press reported, citing witnesses, including one man who said there hadn’t been any clashes there.

The government said overseas separatists used the deaths of migrant Uighur workers in a factory brawl in southern China to fuel ethnic divisions. As many as 30 million migrant workers have lost their jobs during the global financial crisis, as demand from the U.S. and Europe vanishes, exacerbating already simmering social tensions.

The Obama Deception

March 14, 2009March 14, 2009 by Infinite

1:51:21 – 12.03.2009
Source: Google Video

WTO chief warns of looming political unrest

February 8, 2009 by Infinite

The head of the World Trade Organization Pascal Lamy, seen here in November 2008. The global economic crisis could trigger political unrest equal to that seen during the 1930s, the head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said in a German newspaper interview. (AFP/File/Nicholas Ratzenboeck)

BERLIN (AFP) – The global economic crisis could trigger political unrest equal to that seen during the 1930s, the head of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said in a German newspaper interview Saturday.

“The crisis today is spreading even faster (than the Great Depression) and affects more countries at the same time,” Pascal Lamy told the Die Welt newspaper.

Questioned about the risks of political instability, Lamy — who wraps up his four-year term as WTO director-general in September — responded that that was “the main danger”.

“This crisis weighs heavily on politics and puts peace in danger,” he said.

“Some democracies are old and sufficiently stable to overcome such problems, (but) others are going to be confronted by unrest and inter-religious and inter-ethnic conflicts.”

He went on to warn against protectionism, saying it would be “wrongly easy” for nations to throw up trade barriers in response to the economic and financial downturn.

Violent unrest rocks China as crisis hits

February 2, 2009 by Infinite

The collapse of the export trade has left millions without work and set off a wave of social instability, writes

China’s new year of the ox portends calm but there is little sign of it as workers in Shezhen protest over unpaid wages as factories shut

Bankruptcies, unemployment and social unrest are spreading more widely in China than officially reported, according to independent research that paints an ominous picture for the world economy.

The research was conducted for The Sunday Times over the last two months in three provinces vital to Chinese trade – Guangdong, Zhejiang and Jiangsu. It found that the global economic crisis has scythed through exports and set off dozens of protests that are never mentioned by the state media.

Related article:
40 Million Chinese Set to Lose Their Job as New Year Celebrations End (The Telegraph)

While troubling for the Chinese government, this should strengthen the argument of Premier Wen Jiabao, who will say on a visit to London this week that his country faces enormous problems and cannot let its currency rise in response to American demands.

The new US Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, has alarmed Beijing and raised fears of a trade war by stating that China manipulates the yuan to promote exports.

Gerald Celente: The Collapse of 2009; The Greatest Depression

January 25, 2009January 25, 2009 by Infinite

If Nostradamus were alive today, he’d have a hard time keeping up with Gerald Celente.
– New York Post

When CNN wants to know about the Top Trends, we ask Gerald Celente.
– CNN Headline News

There’s not a better trend forecaster than Gerald Celente. The man knows what he’s talking about. – CNBC

Those who take their predictions seriously … consider the Trends Research Institute.
– The Wall Street Journal

A network of 25 experts whose range of specialties would rival many university faculties.
– The Economist

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17. Januar 2009
Source: YouTube

China fears riots will spread as boom goes sour

January 25, 2009 by Infinite

Today millions will leave the cities to return to their rural family homes for the new year celebrations. But this year Beijing hopes the newly jobless revellers will stay there – to prevent a fresh wave of unrest in the cities

They surged into the grimy streets around the factory: first scores, then hundreds, then more than a thousand, as word spread and tension loaded the stale, grey air. The boldest overturned a police van and smashed up motorcycles, then tore through the building destroying computers and equipment. The mood was exhilarated, angry and frightened.

“It happened so quickly … There were maybe 500 involved and another 1,000 watching them. People were yelling: ‘It’s good to smash’,” said a witness.

But the riot late last year at the Kai Da factory in Dongguan, amid the grim industrial sprawl of the Pearl River Delta, was not an isolated incident. It was one of tens of thousands of protests, many erupting from the same mixture of economic grievances, resentment of police and swirling rumour.

The numbers have been climbing steadily for years. But as the Chinese New Year dawns and the global economic crisis deepens, the government fears that mass unrest could challenge its control of the country, threatening a communist regime that has embraced capitalism with spectacular results.

Global Economic Crisis Accelerating

January 22, 2009January 22, 2009 by Infinite

– 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)

World Agenda: riots in Iceland, Latvia and Bulgaria are a sign of things to come

January 21, 2009 by Infinite

Our third global political column explores the start of an age of rebellion over the financial crisis – beginning in Iceland

Icelanders vented their fury at the political class’s handling of the financial crisis by staging angry protests in Reykjavik (Halldor Kolbeins/AFP/Getty Images)

Icelanders all but stormed their Parliament last night. It was the first session of the chamber after what might appear to be an unusually long Christmas break.

Ordinary islanders were determined to vent their fury at the way that the political class had allowed the country to slip towards bankruptcy. The building was splattered with paint and yoghurt, the crowd yelled and banged pans, fired rockets at the windows and lit a bonfire in front of the main door. Riot police moved in.

Related article: Icelanders held over angry demo (BBC News)

Now in the grand sweep of the current crisis, a riot on a piece of volcanic rock in the north Atlantic may not seem to add up to much. But it is a sign of things to come: a new age of rebellion.

The financial meltdown has become part of the real economy and is now beginning to shape real politics. More and more citizens on the edge of the global crisis are taking to the streets. Bulgaria has been gripped this month by its worst riots since 1997 when street power helped to topple a Socialist government. Now Socialists are at the helm again and are having to fend off popular protests about government incompetence and corruption.

In Latvia – where growth has been in double-digit figures for years – anger is bubbling over at official mismanagement. GDP is expected to contract by 5 per cent this year; salaries will be cut; unemployment will rise. Last week, in a country where demonstrators usually just sing and then go home, 10,000 people besieged parliament.

Iceland, Bulgaria, Latvia: these are not natural protest cultures. Something is going amiss.

The LSE economist Robert Wade – addressing a protest meeting in Reykjavik’s cinema – recently warned that the world was approaching a new tipping point. Starting from March-May 2009, we can expect large-scale civil unrest, he said. “It will be caused by the rise of general awareness throughout Europe, America and Asia that hundreds of millions of people in rich and poor countries are experiencing rapidly falling consumption standards; that the crisis is getting worse not better; and that it has escaped the control of public authorities, national and international.”

Global Economic Crisis Accelerating

January 18, 2009 by Infinite

– Richest apartment block in US becomes a house of horrors (Guardian):
The lavish apartments of 740 Park Avenue are home to 30 of America’s wealthiest and most influential families. At least they were until the historic confluence of financial disasters struck, lopping billions of dollars off their combined net worth. Now the formerly untouchable denizens of this famous apartment building look like they could lose it all.

– French aristocrats the Wendels forced to put North Sea assets on the block (Times Online):
THE Wendel family, one of France’s most prominent industrial dynasties – which once made cannons for Louis XIV – has put its North Sea oil company up for sale in a desperate bid to raise cash after debt-fuelled investments soured, threatening to make it one of the most high-profile casualties of the global financial crisis.

– State employees stunned by request for $250 million in concessions (Cleveland.com):
COLUMBUS — The state has asked workers in its largest labor union to accept a 5 percent across-the-board pay cut, a shorter work week and unpaid holidays to help balance the state’s troubled budget, according to a document obtained by The Plain Dealer. The list of cuts and changes Gov. Ted Strickland’s administration has asked the workers to accept, which also includes mandatory furloughs and paying more for their health insurance, would amount to $250 million in concessions, according to a members-only e-mail from Ohio Civil Service Employees Association president Eddie L. Parks.

– Eastern Europe braced for a violent ‘spring of discontent’ (Guardian):
Riots and street battles are set to spread through Bulgaria, Romania and the Baltic states as inflation, unemployment and racism fuel tension, reports Jason Burke

– Obama team weighs government bank to ease crisis (Reuters):
(Obama team weighs government bank to loot taxpayers’ even more.)

– Obama Bank Rescue May Make New Effort to Resolve Toxic Assets (Bloomberg)

– VeraSun to put 7 plants up for auction (Forbes):
VeraSun Energy Corp., the nation’s second largest ethanol producer, is putting seven of its biorefineries up for auction as part of a bankruptcy court financing agreement.

– Brown’s fury at Royal Bank of Scotland’s £2.5bn loan to Russian oligarch (Daily Mail)

– Recession drills deep into oil and gas (Independent)

– Gulf Shares Fall on Concern That Earnings May Lag Expectations (Bloomberg)

– Oil demand to fall again in 2009 (BBC News):
(Oil demand dropped very little … compared to oil prices. This makes no sense whatsoever, unless what Lindsey Williams said is actually happening right now.)

– Monetary union has left half of Europe trapped in depression (Telegraph)

– Iraq reconstruction’s bottom-line (Asia Times)

– UK is in freefall, warns think-tank (Guardian)

– Florida’s Nadel Missing as FBI, SEC Investigate Funds (Bloomberg)