PUMABydesign001's Blog

By Patrick Hosking

Citigroup is believed to be selling NikkoCiti Trust and Banking Corporation, one of its businesses in Japan, in its latest move to raise capital. Last month, Citigroup was forced to beg for emergency funds from Washington to bolster its balance sheet. It is thought that Citigroup will start an auction process for the Japanese clearing and settlement business today. The bank – which was once the world’s biggest – has been trying to cut costs significantly after the US Government agreed to take on as much as $249 billion (£162 billion ) in potential losses from its mortgage-backed securities. Citigroup still has significant business operations in Japan, including a retail bank, broking and investment-banking divisions.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article5263773.ece

General Motors held emergency discussions this weekend with its lenders over a multibillion dollar debt for equity deal that would hopefully save financially strapped institution.

Rick Wagoner, CEO, General Motors is scrambling to secure a deal by Tuesday, when he will attempt to secure up to $12 billion in financial aid from the federal government.

Wagoner is trying to persuade some of his debt-holders to exchange part of the company’s $43 billion debt pile for shares, in a move that would shore up the balance sheet and reduce its crippling interest costs.

LINK

India’s Home Minister resigned yesterday as the government faced public outrage at home and abroad over its failure to prevent just 10 gunmen from turning the country’s financial capital into a virtual war zone for three days.

Shivraj Patil, 74, said he took “moral responsibility” for the attack by heavily-armed Islamic militants, which began on Wednesday night and had claimed at least 174 lives by the time it finished on Saturday morning.

M.K. Narayanan, India’s powerful national security adviser, also submitted his resignation yesterday, but it was not clear if it had been accepted by Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister.

The resignations came as the coalition government, already faced with slowing economic growth, struggled to contain the political fallout from the attacks ahead of national elections due by May.

The government announced that it would set up a federal crime-fighting agency modeled on the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, and replace Mr Patil with P. Chidambaram, formerly Finance Minister.

Even before the Mumbai attacks, Mr Patil had been widely criticized for failing to prevent a series of bombings in Indian cities this year. In September, he was ridiculed for changing his clothes several times in the hours immediately after a bomb attack on Delhi.

Many are now incensed that it took his Home Ministry’s counter-terrorist National Security Guards (NSG) seven hours to reach Mumbai after the attacks began. By the time they reached the attack sites, the militants had overwhelmed the poorly trained-Mumbai police, taken up defensive positions inside buildings and trapped hundreds of people.

The NSG was set up in 1985 as a counter-terrorist rapid response unit, modelled on the SAS, following security forces’ poorly executed assault on Sikh separatists in the Golden Temple in Amritsar. But 23 years later, it still does not have its own fixed wing aircraft and all of its 14,500 commandos are based at its headquarters in the northern state of Haryana, near Delhi. Many are also used to protect Indian politicians.

J.K. Dutt, the NSG Director General, admitted yesterday that his men had not arrived in Bombay until 5 a.m. on Thursday because they had to wait to commandeer a Russian-made IL 76 transport plane from the northern city of Chandigarh. “Nobody was thinking that an incident like this or the need would arise,” he said.

Vilasrao Deshmukh, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra state, of which Mumbai is capital, has also been criticized for failing to ask the Home Ministry for NSG commandos until 90 minutes after the attack began.

Israeli experts have been especially harsh in their criticism of Indian forces, especially over their storming of the Jewish centre where six Israeli hostages were killed. The 12-hour battle to rescue the hostages was “unreasonable”, said Major General David Tzur, a former commander of Israel’s counter-terrorist military unit.

“There is not chance in the world that captives will survive an incident that doesn’t end within minutes of the break-in,” he said. He added that the lack of prior intelligence was “a colossal failure”.

Colonel Lior Lotan, a senior officer in Israel’s elite commando unit, said Indian forces had conducted their operation as though there were no hostages.

“When you’re rescuing captives, you enter fast, with maximum force, and try to reach the hostages as quickly as possible, even at the price of casualties,” he said. “Here, they operated much more cautiously.”

Reviewing television footage of the operations, the Israeli experts wondered why other basic steps had not been taken, such as clearing the area of bystanders.

Indian counter-terrorism experts praised the NSG commandos, two of whom were killed in the operations, but panned their political masters. “They do not realise the imperatives of terrorism,” said Ajay Sahni, executive director of the Institute of Conflict Management. “No one understands how infirm India’s security systems are.”

India has suffered 11 serious terror attacks in the past year, according to the Institute, which says that the country’s economic development is now being endangered by gaping security holes.

Last year, India came second only to Iraq in terms of people killed in terrorist strikes.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5260632.ece

Six members of the Congressional Black Caucus attended the 13th annual Caribbean Multi-National Business Conference (November 6-9)  in St. Maarten, including embattled Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel and New Jersey Rep. Donald Payne.

Three New York City officials attended, including Comptroller William Thompson and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion Jr., and Gov. Paterson, who was the keynote speaker at a luncheon on the second day of the gathering. Adolfo Carrión is a possible candidate for secretary of housing and urban development in the Obama administration. LINK

A spokesperson from the Governor’s office reported that Paterson paid for his own travel and lodging during his visit. Yet other legislators enjoyed free airfare, meals and hotel rooms covered by the trip’s organizer – and paid for by donations from corporations such as IBM, AT&T, Verizon, Citigroup, Pfizer, Macy’s and American Airlines, a Post investigation discovered.  

“Officials with those companies were observed at the conference – sometimes acting as featured speakers at daily seminars and freely mingling among the pols at social events. Citigroup – which just last week received a massive bailout from the federal government – was one of the conference’s biggest sponsors, ponying up $100,000 to help finance the event, according to one of the lobbyists at the gathering.

A spokesman for Citigroup told The Post the company has financially supported the conference for several years, but would not reveal an amount.

Phone giant Verizon gave $35,000, according to spokesman Brian Malina. The yearly event – always held in a Caribbean country – is a big draw for black politicians, as well as for community activists, lobbyists and special-interest groups looking to promote their agendas.”

Some laws may have also been broken by the Democrats who attended this event. 

“According to the House ethics rules, members of Congress and their staffs cannot accept multiday trips from a corporation that “employs or retains a registered lobbyist. Included in this limitation are companies, firms, non-profit organizations (including charities), and other private entities that retain or employ a lobbyist.”

…according to House rules, members of Congress must seek prior written permission from the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to take free multiday trips. They must also file reports with the Clerk of the House of Representatives listing all financial sponsors within two weeks of each trip.

The filings for the St. Maarten trip were due last Monday. But as of that date, only Rep. Payne’s filings were available.

A spokesman for Rangel said his disclosure forms were submitted last Monday – but by the end of the week his filing hadn’t turned up in the database of the Clerk of the House.

According to the filing submitted by Payne, a Democrat who represents northern New Jersey, his airfare, meals and lodging were paid for by Carib News, which spent up to $1,000 per participant.

But Payne’s disclosure didn’t list any of the corporations that gave money to Carib News for the trip, even though their banners were prominently displayed behind a podium in the conference room of the hotel, listed on the glossy program and visible on items inside a Macy’s gift bag distributed to participants.”

So much for getting rid of the lobbyists. 

See article, SHADY ISLAND ‘HOUSE’ PARTY By Ginger Adams Otis In St. Maarten And Isabel Vincent In New York, NY Post, 11/30/08, http://www.nypost.com/seven/11302008/news/regionalnews/shady_island_house_party_141513.htm

©November 2008, pumabydesign001.

The death Friday of a Walmart employee being trampled to death as he opened the doors to Walmart by over zealous shoppers is a catastrophe for Walmart and tragedy for the family of Jdimytai Damour.

Since when did it become okay to trample a man to death just so you could catch a bargain?

Anyone who stood on that line Friday morning and began pushing and shoving to get through Walmart’s doors are all responsiblle for Mr. Damour’s death.

Walmart is equally responsible for the death of this 34-year old.  I have shopped three times at most on Black Friday.  I simply refuse to bring myself down to the level of the people you come in contact with on this day, those who feel that there is no harm being done when you  push, shove, slap, kick and fight for a sale.

Walmart as well as other department stores are familiar with the atrocities that come with Black Friday and owe it to their employees and customers to control the environment and its customers. 

I will stick to shopping online, it’s safer.

The chaos that led to a rampaging mob storming a Long Island Wal-Mart – and trampling a worker to death – erupted just after a pair of police cruisers pulled from the parking lot, witnesses said yesterday.

“Once they left, it started getting rowdy,” said Jason Ortiz, 32, who came from East Flatbush in Brooklyn to get an early jump on post-Thanksgiving Day shopping. “The crowd got restless.”

Worker Jdimytai Damour, 34, of Queens – who had been hired from a temp agency just for the holiday rush – went to open the door, but hesitated when he saw how unruly the crowd had become, police said.

Then he opened it anyway, and the frenzied horde stormed through, knocking the door off its hinges and crushing him.

The deadly stampede had been building for several hours. At 9 p.m. Friday, 70 people were already lined up, standing next to signs that read “Blitz Line Starts Here” outside the store at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream.

By midnight, that number had doubled, police said, and when the store prepared to open at 5 a.m., an estimated 2,000 were restlessly waiting.

Law-enforcement officials said police had patrolled the mall throughout the night, but that shopping lines are “not something we would normally police.”

“You have to remember that this is private property,” Nassau County Police Detective Lt. Kevin Smith said. “The onus is on the store to provide security.”

Officials with Wal-Mart say they did just that, adding additional security personnel and erecting barricades, but now admit it wasn’t enough.

“Despite all of our precautions, this unfortunate event occurred,” said Hank Mullany, president of the chain’s Northeast division.

Jordan Hecht, a lawyer hired by Damour’s sisters, said the family was mulling a negligence suit.

“It was certainly avoidable. How do you have 2,000 people trying to get in a store without having proper restraint? Other stores do this, and things like this don’t happen,” he said.

Damour’s father, Ogera Charles, a 66-year-old school-bus driver, said he had yet to hear from Wal-Mart officials.

“Somebody should be outside checking how many people are there. This [Black] Friday happens every year . . . They should have more security outside to calm the crowd,” he said.

He was most appalled by shoppers who stepped over his son’s lifeless body to get inside.

“Why, why – looking for bargains? Money doesn’t help you. We are human beings,” he said.

SHOPPING MAUL: Cops Left Wal-Mart Just Before Tragedy By Taylor K. Vecsey, Carolyn Salazar And Lukas I. Alpert, NY Post, 11/30/08, http://www.nypost.com/seven/11302008/news/regionalnews/shopping_maul_141562.htm

©November 2008, pumabydesign001.

President vows ’strictest’ action if any Pakistani group proved involved
* Says ISI chief is too senior to be involved in probe

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday went all out to deny any Pakistani role in the Mumbai attacks and pledged action against any group found to be involved, while advising New Delhi not to ‘over-react’.

“Whoever is responsible for the brutal and crude act against the Indian people and India are looking for reaction,” Zardari said in an interview with Indian CNN-IBN television.

“We have to rise above them and make sure ourselves, yourself and world community guard against over-reaction,” he said according to an interview transcript issued by the Press Trust of India.

Strictest action: Zardari promised that he would take immediate and strong measures if proof of Pakistani involvement was provided.

“Let me assure you that if any evidence points to any individual or any group in this part of the world, I shall take the strictest of action in the light of this evidence and in front of the world,” he said. Zardari argued that reducing the Mumbai attacks to an India-Pakistan problem was counter-productive.

“This is a world threat and all the more reason we have to stand up against this threat together,” he said. Zardari said there was miscommunication with India over sending the ISI director general to India.

“We had announced that a director will come from my side. That is what was requested by the [Indian] prime minister and that is what we agreed,” he said.

“It is too early for the director generals to meet at the moment. Let the evidence come to light, let the investigation take its course. Then perhaps there is a position where the directors general could meet,” Zardari said.

Too senior: “The DG is too senior a person to get into the investigation. He is a person who overall looks into the investigation,” the president said. agencies.

INDIA SHOULD NOT OVER-REACT, SAYS ZARDARI, Daily Times Pakistan,http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\11\30\story_30-11-2008_pg1_1

The lone alleged assailant captured during a campaign that left at least 156 dead and 300 wounded in Mumbai has told Indian investigators he is a member of the Pakistani militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, a senior police officer told the Associated Press today.

For years the group, whose name means “army of the righteous,” has been trying to start a war between India and Pakistan over the disputed Himalayan province of Kashmir.

Even before the claim, anger over the coordinated terrorist attacks were exacerbating tensions between India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed states, as investigators try piece together how so few attackers could have wreaked such a large amount of carnage in India’s largest city.

Some fault Pakistan, claiming it harbored some of the terrorists, and Indian officials continue to beat the drum about their neighbor’s involvement.

Pakistan has been firm in its denial that its government had any connection to the men at the center of the 60-hour siege.

Husain Haqqani, the Pakistani ambassador to the United States, told ABC News’ “This Week” that while the gunmen may have come from Pakistan, its government had no ties to the assailants.

“That they are harbored by Pakistan is plain wrong,” Haqqani said. “The important thing is that the government of Pakistan, the state of Pakistan, the military of Pakistan and even the intelligence services are not directly involved.”

Haqqani said the Pakistani government was going the extra mile to let India know “we feel their pain.”

“The point we must remember is that we should not see this heinous act in the context of India-Pakistan relations,” Haqqani said. “We should see it in the context of international terrorism. There are terrorists that have trained in all countries of the world, secretly. They are non-state actors. I don’t think that this is the time for India, or anybody in India to accuse Pakistan. It’s time to work with Pakistan.”

Haqqani added that Indians should question their own government about whether the Mumbai attack could have been prevented.

“Intelligence failure? I think people have to look closer to home for that,” he said.

In fact, culpability hasn’t escaped the Indian government either. It is being criticized for failing to stop the attacks and being too slow to respond. As a result, two top government officials including India’s top security official, Home Minister Shivraj Patil, have resigned.

Today, residents protested outside the historic Taj Mahal Hotel, and some carried signs saying they wished the politicians had been killed in the attacks. Area publications also have taken a critical view saying the politicians killed innocent people with their inability to move quickly.

“Our Politicians Fiddle as Innocents Die,” one newspaper said.

The War on Terror

The broader intelligence value of the captured suspect, a 21-year-old Pakistani man with a fourth-grade education, remains unclear, but he could bolster arguments from within India that the plot had Pakistani roots.

India hasn’t outright blamed Pakistan for what happened, but one official said the government plans to increase security along its border. It remains unclear what that means and so far there have been no reports that it’s occurred.

If India posts military troops along its border with Pakistan, Haqqani said Pakistan will be forced to do the same.

It could be damaging to the United States if Pakistan turns its attention and troops to India, distracting it from Afghanistan, al Qaeda and the war on terror. Militants recently have gained strength in Pakistan.

“Pakistan and Afghanistan became the focus of jihad central many, many years when they were all fighting the Soviets,” Haqqani said. “So these people have roots in some remote parts of our country. They have spread those roots. Some of the efforts in the war on terror have not been successful. Our dictator, Gen. Musharraf did not do the right thing to eliminating the terrorists. But the new government is making it’s effort and our intelligence services are far better prepared.

“Pakistan is a victim of terrorism,” Haqqani said. “India is a victim of terrorism. The victims need to get together. Forget about our bitter history.”

ATTACKS STRESS INDIA-PAKISTAN’S ALREADY TENSE RELATIONS By IMAEYEN IBANGA, http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=6361390&page=1