NSA Shooting: 3 in Custody, Officer Injured After SUV Stopped at Fort Meade Security Gate
February 14th, 2018Via: Baltimore Sun:
FBI officials said they are continuing to investigate an incident at Fort Meade early Wednesday that left three people injured when the driver of an SUV attempted to make an unauthorized entry into the National Security Agency’s compound.
Dave Fitz, a spokesman at the FBI’s Baltimore field office, said late Wednesday investigators are looking into the possibility that the driver made a wrong turn at the complex, but said it is not the only theory officials are examining.
Those injured included an NSA police officer, a civilian onlooker and the driver of the black SUV, said Gordon B. Johnson, special agent in charge for the FBI’s Baltimore office. He said the SUV had a total of three occupants.
At a news briefing at Fort Meade, Johnson described the encounter as “an isolated incident.”
“I cannot emphasize enough that we believe there is no indication that this has a nexus to terrorism,” Johnson said.
The FBI took the lead in the investigation, and at the news conference Johnson said only limited information was available to be shared.
Whistleblower: VIX Being Rigged
February 13th, 2018Via: MarketWatch:
One of the most popular measures of volatility is being manipulated, charges one individual who submitted a letter anonymously to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The letter makes the claim to regulators that fake quotes for the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.26% are skewing levels of the Cboe Volatility Index VIX, -2.50% which reflects bearish and bullish options bets 30-days in the future on the S&P 500 to gauge implied stock-market volatility (see excerpt from the letter below).
The flaw allows trading firms with sophisticated algorithms to move the VIX up or down by simply posting quotes on S&P options and without needing to physically engage in any trading or deploying any capital. This market manipulation has led to multiple billions in profits effectively taken away from institutional and retail investors and cashed in by unethical electronic option market makers.
The whistleblower’s claims are consistent with those documented by John Griffin, professor of finance at the University of Texas and Ph.D. candidate Amin Shams in May 2017 in research that says the cost of manipulating less-liquid SPX options would be more than paid for by a successful bet on the direction of the VIX. The paper is consistent with the whistleblower’s conclusion—that manipulators are moving prices of the SPX options by spoofing at settlement—entering quotes for trades that are never executed—to “paint the tape” and, therefore, influence the value of expiring VIX derivatives.
Related: The Economist: It Appears Market Conspiracy Theorists Were Right
Total U.S. Household Debt Soars to Record Above $13 Trillion
February 13th, 2018Via: CNBC:
The American consumer is loading up on debt.
Total household debt rose by $193 billion to an all-time high of $13.15 trillion at year-end 2017 from the previous quarter, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Center for Microeconomic Data report released Tuesday.
Israeli Police Recommend Bribery Charges Against Netanyahu
February 13th, 2018Wake me up when this monster is prosecuted for war crimes.
Via: Reuters:
Israeli police on Tuesday recommended indicting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for bribery, opening the way for what could be the biggest challenge yet to the right-wing leader’s political survival.
…
In a detailed statement, police named Arnon Milchan, a Hollywood producer and Israeli citizen, and Australian businessman James Packer, saying that for nearly a decade, from 2007 to 2016, they gave gifts that included champagne, cigars and jewelry to Netanyahu and his family.
In all, the merchandise was worth more than one million shekels ($280,000), the statement said. Any legal proceedings would likely focus on whether political favors were sought or granted.
Netanyahu’s lawyers said the presents were simply tokens of friendship.
Hey Buddy, Can You Give Me a Hand?
February 12th, 2018Via: Boston Dynamics:
German Court Rules Facebook Use of Personal Data Illegal
February 12th, 2018Via: Reuters:
A German consumer rights group said on Monday that a court had found Facebook’s use of personal data to be illegal because the U.S. social media platform did not adequately secure the informed consent of its users.
The verdict, from a Berlin regional court, comes as Big Tech faces increasing scrutiny in Germany over its handling of sensitive personal data that enables it to micro-target online advertising.
The Economist: It Appears Market Conspiracy Theorists Were Right
February 12th, 2018I wasn’t going to post this. It might have been newsworthy 20 years ago, but since people are submitting it, here you go.
Via: ZeroHedge:
Three new recently published scientific papers seem to confirm what many have claimed for years: the “efficient markets” are not only inefficient – from an informational standpoint – they are also badly rigged. Of the three papers, the Economist reports, one argues that well-connected insiders profited even from the financial crisis, while the other two go so far as suggesting the entire share-trading system is rigged.
Unlike conventional insider trading cases – which traditionally require fortuitous tip-offs and extensive, expensive investigations, involving the examination of complex evidence from phone calls, e-mails or informants wired with recorders – the papers make imaginative use of pattern analysis from data to find that insider trading is probably pervasive, according to the Economist.
The 11 Cities Most Likely to Run Out of Drinking Water – Like Cape Town
February 11th, 2018Via: BBC:
Cape Town faces the unenviable situation of being the first major city in the modern era to run out of drinking water.
However, the plight of the drought-hit South African city is just one extreme example of a problem that experts have long been warning about – water scarcity.
Foxconn Unit to Cut Over 10,000 Jobs as Robotics Take Over
February 10th, 2018Via: Nikkei:
Foxconn’s panel arm Innolux is planning to slash more than 10,000 jobs this year as part of the company’s aggressive efforts to increase the use of automation in manufacturing, said Honorary Chairman Tuan Hsing-Chien on Tuesday.
“We will reduce our total workforce to less than 50,000 people by the end of this year, from some 60,000 staff at the end of 2017,” Tuan said in a press conference.
Innolux is a liquid crystal display-making affiliate of major iPhone assembler Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn Technology Group. Tuan is also a technology adviser to Foxconn, Sharp and Innolux.
Israeli Jet Shot Down After Bombing Iranian Site in Syria
February 10th, 2018Via: Reuters:
Anti-aircraft fire downed an Israeli warplane returning from a bombing raid on Iran-backed positions in Syria on Saturday in the most serious confrontations yet between Israel and Iranian-backed forces based across the border.
The F-16, one of at least eight Israeli planes despatched in response to what Israel said was an Iranian drone’s incursion into its airspace earlier in the day, was hit by a Syrian anti-aircraft missile and crashed in northern Israel, an Israeli official told Reuters.
Both pilots ejected and were injured, one critically.
Israel then launched a second and more intensive air raid, hitting what it said were 12 Iranian and Syrian targets in Syria, including Syrian air defense systems.
Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group said the downing of the plane marked the “start of a new strategic phase” that would limit Israel’s ability to enter Syrian airspace.
