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Purveyor's JournalIsrael: Demand For Gas Masks Jumps As Public’s Anxiety Over Possible War Rises
Dozens of Israelis crowded in front of a storefront at a Jerusalem shopping mall yesterday to pick up new gas masks, part of civil defense preparations in case the military strikes Iran and the Islamic Republic or its allies retaliate.
“Our leaders seem to have gotten very hawkish in their speeches and this time it seems they mean what they say,” said Yoram Lands, 68, a professor of business administration, who was picking up new masks for himself and his wife at a distribution center in the mall.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Aug. 1 that time “is running out” for a peaceful solution to Iran’s atomic program. The Tel Aviv-based Haaretz newspaper reported Aug. 10 that Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are considering bombing Iran’s nuclear facilities before U.S. elections on Nov. 6. Mark Regev, Netanyahu’s spokesman, said government policy is not to comment on media speculation.
“It seems that Netanyahu and Barak are making a special effort now to prepare the Israeli public for an attack on Iran,” said Shlomo Brom, a former commander of the army’s Strategic Planning Division, who said any strike could come within the next six months. In the past, rhetoric was directed at pushing the international community to take stronger action against Iran, said Brom, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-14/israel-plans-for-iran-strike-as-citizens-say-government-serious.html
Retail Sales Bounce Back In July With Largest Gain In 5 Months
Source: Forbes
Americans spent more time in stores last month than expected, lessening some worries that a key part of the economy was slowing.
Retail sales in July climbed 0.8% from a month earlier to $403.9 million. Analysts predicted sales would rise only 0.3%. This was the largest increase since last February. The gain reverses a slide in retail sales, as consumers cut back on spending amid worrying economic signs. In June, for context, retail sales fell 0.5%.
The surge in shopping meant crowded stores across retail. Sales of building materials rose 1%. Receipts for autos gained 0.8%. And sales at sporting-goods retailers increased 1%.
Economists pay close attention to retail sales, hoping for a sense of emboldened consumers. When retail sales fell in the second quarter, GDP growth declined in tandem: consumer spending is by far the largest drive of economic growth in the U.S. Any signs that spending will strengthen will boost forecasts for third-quarter GDP.
Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/abrambrown/2012/08/14/retail-sales-bounce-back-in-july-with-largest-gain-in-5-months/
Egypt Military Signals It Won’t Contest Move on Generals
By Tarek El-Tablawy - Aug 14, 2012 11:49 AM ET
Egypt’s military council signaled it won’t oppose President Mohamed Mursi’s decision to retire the nation’s two top generals as he seeks to cement his authority after a power struggle with the army.
The leadership change was “natural” and responsibility has shifted “to a new generation of Egypt’s sons to begin a new journey” to protect the nation, according to a statement posted yesterday on a Facebook page affiliated with the council.
Mursi, who has been locked in a tug-of-war with the military council since he took office in late June with the backing of the Muslim Brotherhood, ordered the retirement of Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi and armed forces Chief of Staff Sami Enan. He also claimed legislative powers by voiding a constitutional decree enacted by the military on June 17, further asserting his authority in a nation whose population is growing increasingly disgruntled about power cuts, security lapses and a weak economy.
“This was probably the Brotherhood’s greatest tactical success, that it was able to build strong-enough links with some members of SCAF in order to exploit personal differences and tap into opportunism rather than ideology,” Hani Sabra, Middle East analyst with the Eurasia Group, wrote in an e-mailed note. Members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces “essentially want to benefit financially from advancing in military ranks.”
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-13/egypt-military-won-t-challenge-tantawi-enan-departures.html
Chinese Firms Leave US Stock Markets Amid Complaints About Price, Accounting Scrutiny
BEIJING (AP) -- Just a few years after Chinese companies lined up to sell shares on Wall Street, a growing number are reversing course and pulling out of U.S. exchanges.
This week, Focus Media Holding Ltd., announced its chairman and private equity firms want to buy back its U.S.-traded shares and take the Shanghai-based advertising company private. The deal would value Focus Media at $3.5 billion, according to financial information firm Dealogic.
Smaller companies also are withdrawing from U.S. exchanges. In a sign of official encouragement, a Chinese business magazine said a state bank has provided $1 billion in loans to help companies with listings abroad move them to domestic exchanges.
The withdrawals follow accusations of improper accounting by some companies and a deadlock between Beijing and Washington over whether U.S. regulators can oversee their China-based auditors.
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http://finance.yahoo.com/news/chinese-companies-pull-us-stock-095649722.html
Reagan Budget Director Attacks Paul Ryan’s Economic Policies
As Rep. Paul Ryan’s financial ideas garner more national scrutiny, a trio of stories this week show that they collide with past Republican policies, including those of one of the party’s icons.
In an op-ed piece for the New York Times Monday, David Stockman, who served as the Office of Budget and Management’s director under Ronald Reagan, slammed the vice-presidential candidate’s financial plan for lacking decisive policy measures.
“The Ryan Plan boils down to a fetish for cutting the top marginal income-tax rate for ‘job creators’ — i.e. the superwealthy — to 25 percent and paying for it with an as-yet-undisclosed plan to broaden the tax base,” Stockman wrote. “Of the $1 trillion in so-called tax expenditures that the plan would attack, the vast majority would come from slashing popular tax breaks for employer-provided health insurance, mortgage interest, 401(k) accounts, state and local taxes, charitable giving and the like, not to mention low rates on capital gains and dividends. The crony capitalists of K Street already own more than enough Republican votes to stop that train before it leaves the station.”
According to a post published at The Hill on Tuesday, Ryan (R-WI) has also worked to undo a part of Reagan’s economic legacy: the spousal protection clause under Medicaid. In each of the past two years, Scott Lilly wrote, Ryan has proposed gutting federal aid for state Medicaid programs, including the elimination of the 1988 mandate allowing patients’ spouses to protect their assets and income while receiving Medicare assistance.
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/14/reagan-budget-director-attacks-paul-ryans-budget/
Muslim Group: Republican ‘Islamophobia Machine’ Encouraging Violent Attacks
By Stephen C. Webster
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 11:01 EDT
Following an acid bomb being hurled at a Muslim school in the Chicago suburb of Lombard, a spokesperson for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) told Raw Story that the number of attacks on American Muslims has escalated recently due in part to the Republican Party’s “Islamophobia machine” encouraging a tiny minority of extremists toward increasingly violent behaviors.
About 50 people were inside the Lombard school building for Ramadan prayers when the acid bomb exploded, according to area media. The unknown attacker reportedly filled a 7-Up bottle with acid and other materials, then threw it at a window. Nobody was injured, but worshipers said they heard a loud explosion when the bomb went off. CAIR asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Tuesday morning to immediately begin searching for the individual responsible.
For Illinois Muslims, Monday night’s acid bombing marks the second attack on a Muslim-affiliated installation in less than a week. Police arrested 51-year-old David Conrad last weekend after he allegedly opened fire on a mosque in Morton Grove, Illinois, narrowly missing a security guard as worshipers prayed inside. The FBI said it would leave the investigation of the mosque shooting to local law enforcement.
“I don’t know what’s going on, other than it being the month of Ramadan with heightened activity at mosques nationwide,” Ibrahim Hooper, communications director for CAIR, told Raw Story. “I think most of these things are related to the rise of anti-Muslim sentiment in our society, generated by a well financed Islamophobia machine… The same kind of people cited by [Norway mass murderer] Anders Breivik in his manifesto.”
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/14/muslim-group-republican-islamophobia-machine-encouraging-violent-attacks/
Iran Confident Israel Won’t Launch ‘Stupid’ Attack
By Agence France-Presse
Tuesday, August 14, 2012 7:15 EDT
Iran on Tuesday said it is dismissing Israeli threats of an imminent attack against it, explaining that even some Israeli officials realized such a “stupid” act would provoke “very severe consequences.”
“In our calculations, we aren’t taking these claims very seriously because we see them as hollow and baseless,” foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters in a weekly briefing.
“Even if some officials in the illegitimate regime (Israel) want to carry out such a stupid action, there are those inside (the Israeli government) who won’t allow it because they know they would suffer very severe consequences from such an act,” he said.
Iran’s defence minister, General Ahmad Vahidi, was quoted by the ISNA news agency saying that Israel “definitely doesn’t have what it takes to endure Iran’s might and will.” He called the Israeli threats “a sign of weakness” by “brainless leaders.”
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/08/14/iran-confident-israel-wont-launch-stupid-attack/
GOP Concerned Ryan Could Cost Party House And Senate Seats
By Cameron Joseph and Alexandra Jaffe - 08/13/12 06:11 PM ET
Republicans strategists are worried that Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) addition to the presidential ticket will cost their party House and Senate seats this fall.
Their concern: Democrats will successfully demonize Ryan’s budget plan, which contains controversial spending cuts and changes to Medicare.
“There are a lot races that are close to the line we're not going to win now because they're going to battle out who's going to kill grandma first, ObamaCare or Paul Ryan's budget,” said one Republican strategist who works on congressional races. “It could put the Senate out of reach. In the House it puts a bunch of races in play that would have otherwise been safe. ... It remains to be seen how much damage this causes, but my first blush is this is not good.”
Many Republicans in tough races this year, especially in the House, voted for Ryan’s proposal, which makes it hard for them to distance themselves from it.
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http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/243473-gop-concerned-ryan-could-cost-party-house-and-senate-seats
Obama: Ryan ‘Standing In The Way’ Of Help For Farmers, Ranchers
Kicking off a three-day bus tour of Iowa, President Barack Obama accused newly minted Republican vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan of "standing in the way" of legislation meant to help farmers and ranchers struggling in the face of the worst drought in a half-century. Obama also unveiled a $170 million package to help the battered agricultural sector.
"I know things are tough right now," Obama told supporters in Council Bluffs, Iowa, underlining that the farm bill was "the best way" to help those hurt by the lack of rainfall.
"Unfortunately, right now, too many members of Congress are blocking the farm bill from becoming law," the president said to an audience of 4,300 people. "I am told Gov. Romney's new running mate, Paul Ryan, might be around Iowa these next few days. And he's one of those leaders of Congress standing in the way."
"So if you happen to see Congressman Ryan, tell him how important this farm bill is to Iowa and our rural communities. We've got to put politics aside when it comes to doing the right thing for rural America and for Iowa," Obama said.
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http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-ryan-standing-way-help-farmers-ranchers-170305921.html?_esi=1
U.S. Iran Sanctions Threaten Ties With Russia – Official
Source: RIA Novosti
MOSCOW, August 13 (RIA Novosti)
Relations between the United States and Russia may suffer as a result of new, wide-ranging U.S. sanctions introduced against Iran, a Russian Foreign Ministry official said on Monday.
“Washington should…be aware that our bilateral relations will be seriously affected if the applied American restrictions affect Russian economic players that interact with their Iranian counterparts in strict compliance with our legislation and UN Security Council resolutions,” Maria Zakharova, deputy director of the information and press department at the Foreign Ministry, said in a statement on the ministry's website.
U.S. President Barack Obama signed a fresh set of sanctions into law on Monday to pressure Iran over its nuclear program. The law strengthens current restrictions and applies extra penalties on countries working with Iran across a variety of sectors, from oil to insurance and shipping.
“This is about new restrictive measures directed not only against Iran, but against foreign companies and individuals who cooperate with it, including in the spheres of hydrocarbons, petrochemicals, financial and insurance sectors,” the Ministry statement said.
Read more: http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120813/175189517.html
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