Purveyor
Purveyor's JournalFiat Threatens Chrysler Pullback With Union-Pushed IPO
By Tommaso Ebhardt and Lee Spears - Sep 24, 2013
Fiat SpA, the majority owner of Chrysler Group LLC, threatened to pull back from future commitments to the American carmaker if a health-care trust succeeds in selling its stake in an initial public offering.
“Fiat has informed us that it is reconsidering the benefits and costs of further expanding its relationship with us,” Chrysler said in the filing for the share sale. “This could include decisions on capital preservation and allocation, investments and locations of production facilities.”
Realigning the partnership would be a worst-case scenario for Sergio Marchionne, who runs both automakers and is looking to use the sale process to get investors to weigh in on Chrysler’s value and end the stalemate preventing a full merger.
The warning to the United Auto Workers retiree trust, which owns the 41.5 percent of Chrysler not held by Fiat, is ultimately meant to prevent the trust from selling shares on the market and instead force an agreement with the Italian automaker on the price. Marchionne is offering at least $1 billion less than what the trust wants and banking on investors being uneager to pay a premium in an IPO opposed by Fiat.
“Marchionne is laying his cards on the table and very clearly explaining that a Chrysler IPO is not in Fiat’s interest as the ownership of Chrysler is crucial,” Giuliano Noci, a marketing professor at Milan Polytechnic, said by phone. “He doesn’t hide his real intentions.”
MORE...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-23/chrysler-files-for-ipo-as-fiat-seeks-deal-to-merge-automakers.html
US Consumer Confidence Dips As Jobs Outlook Dims
WASHINGTON — Americans’ confidence in the economy fell slightly in September from August, as many became less optimistic about hiring and pay increases over the next six months.
The Conference Board, a New York-based private research group, said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index dropped to 79.7 in September. That’s down from August’s reading of 81.8, which was slightly higher than previously estimated.
Consumers’ confidence is closely watched because their spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity. The September reading was only slightly below June’s reading of 82.1, the highest in 5 ½ years.
While confidence has bounced back from the depths of the Great Recession, it has yet to regain a reading of 90 that typically coincides with a healthy economy.
In September, confidence fell on a dimmer outlook for the next few months. Lynn Franco, who oversees the survey, said that reflected concerns about the job market and wages. Consumers were actually more optimistic about present conditions.
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http://www.app.com/viewart/20130924/NJBIZ/309240046/US-consumer-confidence-dips-jobs-outlook-dims
Home Prices in U.S. Cities Increase by Most in Seven Years
Source: Bloomberg
By Shobhana Chandra - Sep 24, 2013
Home prices in 20 U.S. cities rose in the 12 months through July by the most in more than seven years, helping boost owner equity.
The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values in 20 cities increased 12.4 percent from July 2012, matching the median projection of 31 economists surveyed by Bloomberg and the biggest year-to-year advance since February 2006, a report from the group showed today in New York. On a month-to-month basis, price appreciation slowed.
Gains in home and stock values are contributing to increases in household wealth that are helping bolster consumer spending, the biggest part of the economy. Nonetheless, the appreciation in property values may cool over the rest of the year as mortgage rates close to a two-year high temper demand.
Price increases “will start to slow down to a fairly sustainable pace,” said Brian Jones, a senior U.S. economist at Societe Generale in New York and the best home-price forecaster over the past two years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. “The increase in mortgage rates will slow things down a bit at the margin. As the economy does better, people will be in a better position to weather the higher rates.”
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-24/home-prices-in-u-s-cities-rose-in-july-by-most-in-seven-years.html
Between Violent Reprisal And Random Police Brutality
M., a resident of the West Bank village of Al-Ma’asara, was attacked by Border Policemen solely for living in a village that actively opposes the occupation.By Yesh Din (written by Yossi Gurvitz)
One morning in early August, M., a resident of the West Bank village of Al-Ma’asara, went to Ramallah for medical treatment. He took a public taxi back home. At one point, the taxi reached the Container Checkpoint, which was manned by a Border Policeman.
The cop asked for the Palestinian’s ID card, as per protocol. He took a long time examining M.’s card, then ordered him off the vehicle. As M. climbed down, the policeman slapped him without any provocation. He tried to slap him again but M. blocked the blow. Then another Border Policeman arrived, and according to M.’s testimony, the two of them dragged him aside and beat him repeatedly. When the taxi driver tried to intervene, he was informed it would better for him to return to the vehicle, or he would get a beating as well.
The reason for the beating? Nobody told M. anything, but the goons who assaulted him used the name “Ma’asara” time and time again. Al-Ma’asara is one of the villages that holds a rather peaceful demonstration every Friday. These protests must be dispersed by Israeli forces, which hinders their going home for the weekend. M. noted that Border Policemen regularly take part in dispersing the demonstrations, which led him to believes that this was the reason why the picked him as a victim.
It is important to note that M. was not arrested or suspected of anything. He merely became a victim of random police brutality. Had there been any evidence against him, he would have been detained, held for a time without seeing a lawyer, then asked to sign the usual Faustian deal by which he would be released without waiting for the end of the legal process, but would do so by confessing to something which he is not at all clearly guilty of.
more...
http://972mag.com/between-violent-reprisal-and-random-police-brutality/79270/
Netanyahu's Lesson From Killing Of Israeli Soldier In Hebron: Fortify Occupation
Just hours after an Israeli soldier was shot to death by a Palestinian sniper in Hebron Sunday, while the body was still warm, Prime Minister Netanyahu declared that settlers should inhabit more and more of the occupied West bank city. As Haaretz reported, Netanyahu said:
Anyone who tries to uproot us from the city of our patriarchs will achieve the opposite. We will continue to fight terrorism… with one hand, while strengthening the settlement with the other.
And in that one paradoxical statement lies most of the problem. How and why does Israeli leadership seek to continue strengthening the settlements – which necessarily means increasing military control and violence that further entrenches the repression of Palestinian civilians – and expect to bring safety to Israeli citizens, much less to Israeli soldiers guarding this reckless and unsustainable way of life?
Am I, or any rational citizen, supposed to feel comforted, at ease or safer by Netanyahu’s statement? Is this really the lesson that should be learned from the killing? Will this prevent the next soldier from being killed?
more...
http://972mag.com/netanyahus-lesson-from-killing-of-israeli-soldier-in-hebron-more-occupation/79234/
Russian Lawmaker Wants Proof US Will Not Store iPhone Prints
MOSCOW, September 23 (RIA Novosti) – A St. Petersburg city lawmaker known for his conservative views cautioned Russian officials Monday against using Apple’s new iPhone until there is proof that the advanced technology is safe from US spying.
Vitaly Milonov, who helped mastermind Russia’s controversial legislation against the promotion of homosexuality to minors, said he planned to ask Russia’s Federal Agency of Government Communications and Information (FAPSI) to find out whether there is a guarantee that “the [iPhone] 5S fingerprints will not appear in the US special services database.” (FAPSI, once responsible for communications security and signals intelligence, was disbanded 10 years ago and its functions were reassigned to other agencies; it was not immediately clear whether Milonov in fact intends to appeal to one of its successors.)
“If it turns out that there is no guarantee against the theft of fingerprints, then the use of the 5S could be restricted for state officials at work,” Milonov wrote on Twitter.
Apple's new iPhone allows users to register their fingerprints on their device as a security measure to enable them to unlock it. The US tech giant said earlier this month that “information about the fingerprint is stored on the device and not uploaded to company networks – meaning it wouldn’t be in data batches that may be sent to or collected by US intelligence agencies under court orders,” according to Bloomberg.
more...
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130923/183666025/Russian-Lawmaker-Wants-Proof-US-Will-Not-Store-iPhone-Prints.html
Russia Gives Iran Control of Bushehr Nuclear Plant
MOSCOW, September 23 (RIA Novosti) – Russia on Monday handed over operational control of the Russian-made Bushehr nuclear power plant to Iran in the country’s south, said a spokesman for Russia’s state nuclear corporation, Rosatom.
“Today, in Bushehr, Iran’s first nuclear power plant has been transferred to the customer,” the spokesman said.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in a statement for the event that Tehran was open to nuclear energy collaboration and ready to establish a base for such collaboration with all countries interested in doing that, the IRNA news agency reported.
Rouhani expressed hope that all countries would make efforts to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
“As in the past, the Islamic Republic of Iran will be a pioneer in achieving this magnificent goal,” he said.
more...
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130923/183669774/Russia-Gives-Iran-Control-of-Bushehr-Nuclear-Plant.html
US Edges Closer To High-Level Talks With Iran; An Obama Meeting With Rouhani At UN Is Possible
By JULIE PACE | ASSOCIATED PRESS | 1 hour, 17 minutes ago in Politics
The Obama administration edged close to direct, high-level talks with Iran's new government on Monday, with Secretary of State John Kerry slated to meet his Iranian counterpart this week and the White House weighing the risks and rewards of an encounter between President Barack Obama and Iran's president, Hasan Rouhani.
An Obama-Rouhani exchange on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly would mark the first meeting at that high level for the two nations in more than 30 years. Such talks could signal a turning point in U.S.-Iranian relations _ but also could be seen as a premature endorsement for a new Iranian government that has yet to answer key questions about the future of its disputed nuclear program.
Obama advisers said no meeting was scheduled. But they added that the U.S. planned to take advantage of diplomatic opportunities while in New York and indicated they were not leaving a possible encounter between Obama and Rouhani to chance.
"I don't think that anything would happen by happenstance on a relationship and an issue that is this important," Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, told reporters traveling with the president to New York.
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http://www.newser.com/article/da90bek80/us-edges-closer-to-high-level-talks-with-iran-an-obama-meeting-with-rouhani-at-un-is-possible.html
If you hear 'popping sounds' tomorrow, it will be zionista heads exploding as the meeting takes place...
White House Troubled By Al Shabaab Recruitment In U.S.
Source: REUTERS
WASHINGTON | Mon Sep 23, 2013 12:39pm EDT
(Reuters) - U.S. officials are closely watching efforts by Somalia's Al Shabaab group to recruit in the United States, but have no direct information that Americans were involved in the attack on a Nairobi shopping mall, a U.S. official said on Monday.
"All we've seen are the same reports coming out of Al Shabaab ... but we have to run those to ground," White House deputy national security advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters, when asked whether any Americans took part in the assault.
"We do monitor very carefully and have for some time been concerned about, efforts by Al Shabaab to recruit Americans or U.S. persons to come to Somalia," Rhodes told reporters traveling with the president to the United Nations.
"So this is an issue that has been tracked very closely by the U.S. government and it's one that we'll be looking into in the days ahead," he added.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/23/us-kenya-attack-americans-idUSBRE98M0VO20130923
'Family Glitch' In Health Law Could Be Painful
WASHINGTON — A so-called "family glitch" in the 2010 health care law threatens to cost some families thousands of dollars in health insurance costs and leave up to 500,000 children without coverage, insurance and health care analysts say.
That's unless Congress fixes the problem, which seems unlikely given the House's latest move Friday to strip funding from the law, which is also called the Affordable Care Act.
Congress defined "affordable" as 9.5% or less of an employee's wages, mostly to make sure people did not leave their workplace plans for subsidized coverage through the exchanges. But the "error" was that it only applies to the employee — and not his or her family. So, if an employer offers a woman affordable insurance, but doesn't provide it for her family, they cannot get subsidized help through the state health exchanges.
That can make a huge difference; the Kaiser Family Foundation said an average plan for an individual is about $5,600, but it goes up to $15,700 for families. Most employers help out with those costs, but not all.
"We saw this two-and-a-half years ago and thought, 'Has anyone else noticed this?'" said Kosali Simon, a professor of public affairs at Indiana University who specializes in health economics. "Everyone said, 'No, no. You must be wrong.' But we weren't, and that's going to leave a lot of people out."
MORE...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/09/23/aca-family-glitch-issues/2804017/
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