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20130806
Swedish Left Party Chapter Wants To Make Urinating While Standing Illegal For Men
Swedish Left Party Chapter Wants To Make Urinating While Standing Illegal For Men
Take a stand -- and sit down for what you believe in.
Male representatives on the Sormland County Council in Sweden should sit rather than stand while urinating in office restrooms, according to a motion advanced by the local Left Party.
Known as a socialist and feminist organization, the party claims that seated urination is more hygienic for men -- the practice decreases the likelihood of puddles and other unwanted residue forming in the stall -- in addition to being better for a man's health by more effectively emptying one's bladder, The Local reported.
But not everyone agrees.
"Men scatter urine not so much during the actual urination as during the 'shaking off' that follows," John Gamel, a professor at the University of Louisville, wrote while addressing the issue in 2009. "As a result, forcing men to sit while emptying their bladders will serve little purpose, since no man wants to shake himself off while remaining seated on the toilet."
A representative from the party said he hopes to move toward sitting only bathrooms.
Take a stand -- and sit down for what you believe in.
Male representatives on the Sormland County Council in Sweden should sit rather than stand while urinating in office restrooms, according to a motion advanced by the local Left Party.
Known as a socialist and feminist organization, the party claims that seated urination is more hygienic for men -- the practice decreases the likelihood of puddles and other unwanted residue forming in the stall -- in addition to being better for a man's health by more effectively emptying one's bladder, The Local reported.
But not everyone agrees.
"Men scatter urine not so much during the actual urination as during the 'shaking off' that follows," John Gamel, a professor at the University of Louisville, wrote while addressing the issue in 2009. "As a result, forcing men to sit while emptying their bladders will serve little purpose, since no man wants to shake himself off while remaining seated on the toilet."
A representative from the party said he hopes to move toward sitting only bathrooms.
20130805
'Havoc' as HSBC prepares to close diplomatic accounts
'Havoc' as HSBC prepares to close diplomatic accounts
HSBC bank has reportedly asked more than 40 diplomatic missions to close their accounts as part of a programme to reduce business risks.
The Vatican's ambassadorial office in Britain, the Apostolic Nunciature, is among those said to be affected.
The head of the UK's Consular Corps told the Mail on Sunday the decision has created "havoc".
The Foreign Office has been in touch with HSBC, stepping in to help diplomats open other bank accounts.
HSBC said embassies were subject to the same assessments as its other business customers. They need to satisfy five criteria - international connectivity, economic development, profitability, cost efficiency and liquidity.
A spokesman said: "HSBC has been applying a rolling programme of "five filter" assessments to all its businesses since May 2011, and our services for embassies are no exception.
"We do not comment on individual customer relationships."
The Mail on Sunday reported that the High Commission of Papua New Guinea and the Honorary Consulate of Benin have also been asked to move their accounts within 60 days.
Bernard Silver, head of the Consular Corps, which represents consuls in the UK, told the paper: "HSBC's decision has created havoc.
"Embassies and consulates desperately need a bank, not just to take in money for visas and passports but to pay staff wages, rent bills, even the congestion charge."
John Belavu, minister at the Papua New Guinea High Commission, said: "We've been banking with HSBC for 22 years and for them to throw us off in this way was a bombshell."
Lawrence Landau, honorary consul of Benin, told the paper his mission had been having trouble finding a new bank.
He said: "We have been trying everyone but all the UK banks are clamming up."
Suspicious accounts
Embassies are treated like business customers by banks as they generally use services like cash and payroll management and can take out loans.
They also have to pay for ambassadorial accommodation and costs such as school fees for the children of diplomats - expenses that are difficult to meet without a valid UK bank account.
They are sometimes considered to be at risk of money laundering activities because of their political exposure and banks have been warned in the past for failing to flag up suspicious accounts.
The Riggs National Bank in Washington was fined and later sold off after a 2004 US Senate report revealed executives in its embassy business had helped Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet hide millions of dollars.
HSBC was fined $1.92bn (£1.26bn) by US authorities last year after it was blamed for alleged money laundering activities said to have been conducted through its Latin American operations by drug cartels.
The bank admitted at the time that it had failed to effectively counter money laundering.
HSBC bank has reportedly asked more than 40 diplomatic missions to close their accounts as part of a programme to reduce business risks.
The Vatican's ambassadorial office in Britain, the Apostolic Nunciature, is among those said to be affected.
The head of the UK's Consular Corps told the Mail on Sunday the decision has created "havoc".
The Foreign Office has been in touch with HSBC, stepping in to help diplomats open other bank accounts.
HSBC said embassies were subject to the same assessments as its other business customers. They need to satisfy five criteria - international connectivity, economic development, profitability, cost efficiency and liquidity.
A spokesman said: "HSBC has been applying a rolling programme of "five filter" assessments to all its businesses since May 2011, and our services for embassies are no exception.
"We do not comment on individual customer relationships."
The Mail on Sunday reported that the High Commission of Papua New Guinea and the Honorary Consulate of Benin have also been asked to move their accounts within 60 days.
Bernard Silver, head of the Consular Corps, which represents consuls in the UK, told the paper: "HSBC's decision has created havoc.
"Embassies and consulates desperately need a bank, not just to take in money for visas and passports but to pay staff wages, rent bills, even the congestion charge."
John Belavu, minister at the Papua New Guinea High Commission, said: "We've been banking with HSBC for 22 years and for them to throw us off in this way was a bombshell."
Lawrence Landau, honorary consul of Benin, told the paper his mission had been having trouble finding a new bank.
He said: "We have been trying everyone but all the UK banks are clamming up."
Suspicious accounts
Embassies are treated like business customers by banks as they generally use services like cash and payroll management and can take out loans.
They also have to pay for ambassadorial accommodation and costs such as school fees for the children of diplomats - expenses that are difficult to meet without a valid UK bank account.
They are sometimes considered to be at risk of money laundering activities because of their political exposure and banks have been warned in the past for failing to flag up suspicious accounts.
The Riggs National Bank in Washington was fined and later sold off after a 2004 US Senate report revealed executives in its embassy business had helped Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet hide millions of dollars.
HSBC was fined $1.92bn (£1.26bn) by US authorities last year after it was blamed for alleged money laundering activities said to have been conducted through its Latin American operations by drug cartels.
The bank admitted at the time that it had failed to effectively counter money laundering.
20130804
A 'Perfect Storm' Could Cause A Collapse In Oil Prices That Hits The Stock Market Too
U.S. Total Stocks of Crude Oil and Petroleum Products
A 'Perfect Storm' Could Cause A Collapse In Oil Prices That Hits The Stock Market Too
Oil Price Collapse Could Hit Stocks Too - Business Insider
Deutsche Bank strategists Rocky Fishman, Salil Aggarwal, and Lon Parisi are out with a note warning clients that a "perfect storm" of structural, demand, and supply-driven factors could conspire to cause a "major pullback" in oil prices, with the potential to derail the rally in the U.S. stock market as well.
"A major pullback in oil prices could have a concentrated effect on the S&P energy and industrials sectors, with perhaps further sentiment knock-on effects," write the strategists. "After WTI's brief pullback from its peak last month, it may be time to at least consider this possibility."
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil prices have rallied from a low of $84.05 a barrel on November 7 to $106.88 at Friday's close, returning 27.2% over the past nine months.
"Oil is now, according to our commodities team, the most richly traded commodity in the world in real terms after massive appreciation over a multi-year horizon," says the Deutsche Bank team. "However, structural, demand-driven, and supply-driven catalysts exist for a near-term pullback – and a 'perfect storm' of a multiple of these factors could cause an even more significant move."
Fishman, Aggarwal, and Parisi bullet the three factors that could come together to cause a perfect storm for oil prices:
Structural: Falling inventory levels in the Cushing complex start leveling off or even turning up – whether driven by increased Bakken-to-Cushing transport or infrastructure concerns. The huge net long speculative futures position also could set up downside volatility if unwound.
Demand: Another leg down in China growth impairs Brent pricing, or US economic data disappoint and limit demand for WTI. Low refining margins are indicative of weakening demand.
Supply: Most supply events would be bullish oil, but we wonder if resolution of one or more stress points (e.g. the incoming Iranian regime negotiates an end to its embargo) could materially drive up supply.
Deutsche Bank chief U.S. equity strategist David Bianco hiked his year-end price target for the S&P 500 in mid-July, citing "recent WTI oil price strength despite the climb in Treasury yields and the dollar."
Bianco also spelled out the logical inverse of his call: "A surge in yields or oil price collapse has long been the chief risks to our strategically bullish view."
Fishman, Aggarwal, and Parisi say Bianco "sees [the S&P 500] as always long oil."
"As a weak [S&P 500] ex-financials quarter unfolds, we are starting to believe further 'earnings power bad news' could make the market revisit its recent multiple expansion altogether," write the strategists. "This could doubly impact selected energy names, so we think that hedges in the energy complex – services, [exploration and production], integrateds – may be especially efficient going forward. In a sense, the [S&P 500's] overall multiple could start to be weakened by the oil complex’s earnings potential."
The Deutsche Bank team stresses that it is in fact bullish on oil in the near term, but says low price volatility in both oil and energy sector equities makes now a good time to hedge those bullish bets, given the structural, demand, and supply-driven factors highlighted in the note.
20130707
One in three babies in England now has a parent who was born abroad
One in three babies in England now has a parent who was born abroad
The statistics, obtained by Tory MP Nicholas Soames, show that some 131,288 children had two foreign-born parents – 18.1 per cent of the total number of births in 2011.
A further 12.9 per cent – a total of 93,655 – had one parent who was born outside the UK.
At the end of the year, immigration restrictions will be lifted on Romanians and Bulgarians – prompting concerns that the numbers will rise yet further.
Andrew Green, of MigrationWatch, said the figures were ‘astonishing’. He added: ‘This is the clear result of Labour’s mass immigration policy which is changing the nature of our society at a speed which is unacceptable to the public who of course were never consulted.’
The figures – obtained after a parliamentary question – show that 64.9 per cent of babies born in London in 2011 had either one or two parents born outside the UK.
Mixed capital: In London, 64.9 per cent of babies born in 2011 had either one or two parents born abroad
There were 27,403 births where one parent was foreign-born (20.6 per cent of the total), and 58,905 where both were born abroad (44.3 per cent).
The next highest percentages were seen in the West Midlands, where 28.7 per cent had at least one foreign parent; the South East, 27.7 per cent; and the East of England, which covers counties to the north and east of the capital, 26.9 per cent.
At the other end of the scale, the figure in the North East was 13.1 per cent, and 14 per cent in Wales. In Scotland, it was 18.3 per cent.
Shocking: The figures were obtained by Tory MP Nicholas Soames
David Green, from the centre-right think-tank Civitas, said: ‘The irresponsible actions of the last government have played havoc with public services, leading to serious harm especially in the NHS, and serious harm in the schools system.
‘Maternity units are in crisis, there are huge pressures on school places, and housing is under even more pressure that it otherwise would have been.’
A spokesman for the Office for National Statistics said that in 2000, the proportion of babies in England and Wales born to at least one foreign-born parent was 21.2 per cent.
It is the first time the figures have been released on both parents. The ONS usually only releases information on what proportion of mothers are foreign-born.
Last October, it was revealed that in 2011, there were 808,000 births, comprised of 612,000 births to UK-born women and 196,000 births to non-UK born women.
This meant that 24 per cent of births in 2011 were to non-UK born women – an increase of two percentage points since 2007.
The top five non-UK born mothers’ countries by number of births were Poland, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nigeria.
Not all births are necessarily to parents who live in Britain permanently, as some could be people who travel to the UK to take advantage of its free NHS.
Last month, a leading surgeon, Professor Meirion Thomas, said the UK was becoming the ‘world’s maternity wing’ as people travel here simply to give birth.
Years of high immigration levels have put intolerable pressure on maternity units because the number of births has been far higher than officials had predicted. There is currently a shortage of more than 3,000 midwives in the NHS.
The statistics, obtained by Tory MP Nicholas Soames, show that some 131,288 children had two foreign-born parents – 18.1 per cent of the total number of births in 2011.
A further 12.9 per cent – a total of 93,655 – had one parent who was born outside the UK.
At the end of the year, immigration restrictions will be lifted on Romanians and Bulgarians – prompting concerns that the numbers will rise yet further.
Andrew Green, of MigrationWatch, said the figures were ‘astonishing’. He added: ‘This is the clear result of Labour’s mass immigration policy which is changing the nature of our society at a speed which is unacceptable to the public who of course were never consulted.’
The figures – obtained after a parliamentary question – show that 64.9 per cent of babies born in London in 2011 had either one or two parents born outside the UK.
Mixed capital: In London, 64.9 per cent of babies born in 2011 had either one or two parents born abroad
There were 27,403 births where one parent was foreign-born (20.6 per cent of the total), and 58,905 where both were born abroad (44.3 per cent).
The next highest percentages were seen in the West Midlands, where 28.7 per cent had at least one foreign parent; the South East, 27.7 per cent; and the East of England, which covers counties to the north and east of the capital, 26.9 per cent.
At the other end of the scale, the figure in the North East was 13.1 per cent, and 14 per cent in Wales. In Scotland, it was 18.3 per cent.
Shocking: The figures were obtained by Tory MP Nicholas Soames
David Green, from the centre-right think-tank Civitas, said: ‘The irresponsible actions of the last government have played havoc with public services, leading to serious harm especially in the NHS, and serious harm in the schools system.
‘Maternity units are in crisis, there are huge pressures on school places, and housing is under even more pressure that it otherwise would have been.’
A spokesman for the Office for National Statistics said that in 2000, the proportion of babies in England and Wales born to at least one foreign-born parent was 21.2 per cent.
It is the first time the figures have been released on both parents. The ONS usually only releases information on what proportion of mothers are foreign-born.
Last October, it was revealed that in 2011, there were 808,000 births, comprised of 612,000 births to UK-born women and 196,000 births to non-UK born women.
This meant that 24 per cent of births in 2011 were to non-UK born women – an increase of two percentage points since 2007.
The top five non-UK born mothers’ countries by number of births were Poland, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nigeria.
Not all births are necessarily to parents who live in Britain permanently, as some could be people who travel to the UK to take advantage of its free NHS.
Last month, a leading surgeon, Professor Meirion Thomas, said the UK was becoming the ‘world’s maternity wing’ as people travel here simply to give birth.
Years of high immigration levels have put intolerable pressure on maternity units because the number of births has been far higher than officials had predicted. There is currently a shortage of more than 3,000 midwives in the NHS.
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