TURKISH DRONE SHOT DOWN OVER SYRIA

Syria under attack from Turkey

"The Turkish Aydinlik Dayly (AD) cites Mehmed Ali Ediboglu, an MP for Turkey’s largest opposition party CHP, as saying that the Syrian armed forces have shot down a Turkish drone over the Syrian city of Kassab. The downing of a Turkish drone has international implications, considering that Turkey is a core NATO member state."

OMAN: CONCERN OF RISING COST OF OIL PRODUCTION

FEBRUARY 25, 2014 , 9 : 56 AM GST

Muscat: Technical challenges facing the oil and gas sectors inOman were discussed at the Majlis Al Shura on Monday.

The Majlis Al Shura held its meeting, headed by Khalid bin Hilal Al Maawali, Chairman of Majlis Al Shura. The Majlis hosted Dr Mohammed bin Hamad Al Rumhy, Minister of Oil and Gas.

The meeting started with a speech by the Chairman of Majlis Al Shura in which he said the Majlis Al Shura hoped, through this meeting, to be briefed on the results of new oil discoveries, the added value of petroleum refineries, the sector's contribution to the state's revenue and its reflection on the GDP.

Salim bin Nasser Al Aufi, undersecretary at the Ministry of Oil and Gas, gave a presentation about the oil and gas sectors in the Sultanate. He highlighted the new oil discoveries, areas of investment, and the volume of the daily production of oil, gas and petroleum refineries.

He also focused on investment support and the challenges facing oil and gas exploration and extraction, the techniques used to promote efforts to increase daily production rates of oil and gas, and raise the reserve rates to ensure the sustainability of the growth of the national economy and diversity of resources.

CHINA OVERSUPPLY OF IRON ORE: INDUSTRIAL SLOWDOWN IN CHINA

FILE: Workers walk past an iron ore storage site at Yingkou Port, one of China's biggest ports for the import of the commodity, Liaoning province. (Reuters)China imported iron ore stockpiles clog ports

" 24-Aug-2012 Intellasia | Caixin | 7:01 AM Print This Post Imported iron ore is piling up at China’s ports, burying the potential for profits at state-owned and private commodities trading companies alike. Demand for ore bought overseas to sell domestically has declined over the past year while the nation’s steelmakers – the traders’ primary customers – work through their own inventories in a weak business environment. Traders are also getting squeezed by a decline in ore prices tied to market adjustments imposed by the world’s major suppliers in Australia, Brazil and India. Traders ranging from the privately held Shandong Huaxin Industry Co. to the sector’s state-owned leader, China Minmetals Corp., are struggling. FILE: Workers walk past an iron ore storage site at Yingkou Port, one of China's biggest ports for the import of the commodity, Liaoning province. (Reuters) “Today, whether large or small, domestic or international, all traders are having business difficulties,” Shandong Huaxin Chair Bai Wenhui said. “Most are posting losse"

BITCOIN VS.GOLD

[LINK]

[LINK]

Housing bubble-era loans principle starting to be due

‘Wave of disaster’ brewing in U.S. as more borrowers miss payments on housing bubble-era loans

"U.S. borrowers are increasingly missing payments on home equity lines of credit they took out during the housing bubble, a trend that could deal another blow to the country’s biggest banks. The loans are a problem now because an increasing number are hitting their 10-year anniversary, at which point borrowers usually must start paying down the principal on the loans as well as the interest they had been paying all along. More than US$221 billion of these loans at the largest banks will hit this mark over the next four years, about 40% of the home equity lines of credit now outstanding."

Subprime 2.0: Big Banks Exposed To $60 Bil In Bad Gov't Loans

"Bank of America has on its books $21.4 billion in toxic FHA mortgages 90 days or more past due, while Wells Fargo has $19 billion, according to American Banker. Citigroup has $4.2 billion and JPMorgan Chase has $3.3 billion. Also on their books: $8.6 billion of "non-accrual" delinquent loans on which FHA is no longer covering interest."

BITCOIN @ $395

[ten day]

[1 year]

NSA protest Utah

Bluffdale • "Only a handful of Utahns showed up to protest government snooping into telephone calls and emails, but they probably had the biggest, most relevant backdrop among those who came out in different parts of the country. The five Utahns who showed up for the local version of protests did so on the side of the highway next to the concrete buildings that make up the huge new data center operated by the National Security Agency in Bluffdale."