MidnightWatcher – Prophecy in Motion

By Ben Rooney – “NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — European leaders insist they are making progress on a comprehensive plan to tackle the eurozone’s debt and banking crisis.

But the details are foggy and last-minute delays suggest that significant disagreements remain unresolved.

On Wednesday, government heads from all 27 members of the European Union will gather for a second time, following a summit over the weekend.

EU politicians have promised to deliver an ambitious and durable solution to a crisis that poses the biggest threat to the euro since the common currency was launched over a decade ago.

‘The sovereign debt crisis threatens the very existence of the eurozone,’ said Howard Archer, chief European economist at IHS Global. ‘It is therefore absolutely imperative that European policymakers finally deliver a major package.’

The latest talks have focused on a three challenges: restructuring the Greek government’s crushing debt load, strengthening European banks and boosting the effectiveness of a limited rescue fund.

While the stakes are high, expectations are dim. It took three months for comparatively modest crisis measures announced in July to be approved by all 17 euro area governments.” Read more.

Italy in danger of collapsing over European Union demands – “Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right coalition government in Italy appears in danger of collapsing over European Union demands for a demonstration of concrete action on economic reform by Wednesday’s summit of eurozone leaders. The EU ultimatum delivered to Mr Berlusconi in Brussels on Sunday risks breaking his coalition instead of giving it an external impetus to move ahead on measures to cut Italy’s debt and promote economic growth.” Read more.

Troubling questions over euro banks – “Europe’s banks will need to find at least €100-billion of new capital by next summer under a new plan to help stabilize their operations, raising troubling questions about where that money is going to come from. The tools those banks would normally have at their disposal to raise capital – selling off assets or issuing more shares – are fraught with problems as Europe struggles to prevent a sovereign debt crisis from crippling its banking system.” Read more.

Unresolved debt crisis sets off political shock waves – “Europe’s debt problems are erupting into a full-blown political crisis that that could go from merely damaging economic confidence to shattering the euro zone if it intensifies. Since the European Union summit on fixing the debt crisis ended Sunday night in Brussels, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been humiliated, British Prime Minister David Cameron has scrambled to defuse a Tory rebellion on EU membership and German Chancellor Angela Merkel has decided to risk the future of the new European bailout fund on a full parliamentary vote.” Read more.

By Robert Nisbet – “After meeting the European Commission President Jose Barroso at the EU summit in Brussels, George Papandreou said the problem wasn’t ‘simply a Greek one’.

He said his government ‘again and again made decisive moves’ suggesting that it was now the turn of European leaders to make ‘historical’ decisions.

The socialist government has implemented a series of measures to cut spending and raise revenue, which has provoked fury on the streets.

In violent protests this week outside the Greek Parliament one person died and 200 were injured.

It is clear the austerity measures are having a dramatic effect on the middle class: wages have shrunk, pensions hacked back and thousands of civil servants put on notice.

Pensioner Sotoris Grizas helped found the socialist PASOK party which is now in power.

His pension has already been slashed, now he faces another losing another 20%. Tax increases and rising prices in the shops are adding to the squeeze.

‘The government didn’t predict this crisis, they didn’t plan well, and they failed the Greek people with their negotiations. I will fight to remove them from power,’ he told Sky News.” Read more.

By Joe Weisenthal – “In an analyst note, Bofa/ML Ethan S. Harris drops a bit of a bombshell prediction:

We expect a moderate slowdown in the beginning of next year, as two small policy shocks—another debt downgrade and fiscal tightening—hit the economy. The ‘not-so-super’ Deficit Commission is very unlikely to come up with a credible deficit-reduction plan. The committee is more divided than the overall Congress. Since the fall-back plan is sharp cuts in discretionary spending, the whole point of the Committee is to put taxes and entitlements on the table. However, all the Republican members have signed the Norquist ‘no taxes’ pledge and with taxes off the table it is hard to imagine the liberal Democrats on the Committee agreeing to significant entitlement cuts. The credit rating agencies have strongly suggested that further rating cuts are likely if Congress does not come up with a credible long-run plan. Hence, we expect at least one credit downgrade in late November or early December when the super Committee crashes.

This is quite a stunning prediction, mainly because nobody is talking about this. And though the experts were 100% wrong in thinking that a downgrade would increase borrowing costs, it did cause a major market jolt when it happened, leading to a major blow to confidence in August and September.” Read more.

By Louise Armitstead and Bruno Waterfield – “Plans to ‘decisively address’ the debt crisis this weekend were plunged into chaos on Thursday night as European leaders were forced to announce another ‘summit’ next week amid political deadlock between France and Germany.

A statement released by the Elysee Palace said that Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel would meet to discuss their “ambitious and comprehensive response” to the crisis ahead of the European Council summit on Sunday.

But in a tacit admission of the gulf between them, the statement added that resolutions would be ‘finally adopted’ at a ‘second meeting no later than Wednesday’.

Insiders said the weekend’s summit of European leaders came close to being cancelled altogether, with the French president Mr Sarkozy having to beg German Chancellor Mrs Merkel not to pull the plug during frantic telephone calls.

The news came as US President Barack Obama praised Mr Sarkozy and Mrs Merkel for working ‘diligently’ for a ‘politically sustainable’ solution to the eurozone crisis in a video conference with the two leaders and UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

The second summit delay sent shockwaves around the world. Politicians and financiers have been banking on repeated pledges from France and Germany to ‘decisively address’ the crisis by Sunday.” Read more.

Merkel rebuffs Sarkozy on euro zone solution – “France’s push to use more European Central Bank money to fight the euro zone debt crisis ran into strong resistance from Germany and other EU partners on Friday, leaving Paris increasingly isolated before a crucial summit. The rift between Europe’s two biggest powers has already forced leaders to tack on an extra summit in the coming week. They will now meet twice — on Sunday and Wednesday — to adopt a comprehensive strategy to fight the crisis that began in Greece, spread to Ireland and Portugal and is now threatening to engulf bigger economies in the 17-nation currency area.” Read more.

By Alex Roslin – “After the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, Soviet officials were vilified for hiding the impacts from the public.

But when Japan’s Fukushima nuclear accident took place last March, public officials in Japan and Canada alike jumped straight into Chernobyl-style damage-control mode, dismissing any worries about impacts.

Now evidence has emerged that the radiation in Canada was worse than Canadian officials ever let on.

A Health Canada monitoring station in Calgary detected radioactive material in rainwater that exceeded Canadian guidelines during the month of March, according to Health Canada data obtained by the Georgia Straight.

Canadian government officials didn’t disclose the high radiation readings to the public. Instead, they repeatedly insisted that fallout drifting to Canada was negligible and posed no health concerns.

In fact, the data shows rainwater in Calgary last March had an average of 8.18 becquerels per litre of radioactive iodine, easily exceeding the Canadian guideline of six becquerels per litre for drinking water.

‘It’s above the recommended level [for drinking water],’ Eric Pellerin, chief of Health Canada’s radiation-surveillance division, admitted in a phone interview from Ottawa. ‘At any time you sample it, it should not exceed the guideline.’

Radioactive-iodine levels also spiked in March in Vancouver (which saw an average of 0.69 becquerels per litre), Winnipeg (which saw 0.64 becquerels per litre) and Ottawa (which saw 1.67 becquerels per litre), the data shows.

These levels didn’t exceed the Canadian guidelines, but the level discovered in Ottawa did surpass the more stringent ceiling for drinking water used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is 54 times less than the six becquerels per litre of iodine-131 (a radioactive isotope) allowed in this country.

Health Canada provided the data only after repeated requests from the Straight. It isn’t posted on Health Canada’s web page devoted to the impacts of Fukushima.” Read more.

Flashback: Toronto: High Radiation Levels Being Measured in Rain Water Just North of the GTA – “This is part 3 of my measurements of the radioactivity falling on the north of GTA (Greater Toronto Area), Canada on August 14th 2011 at 17h55. Aprox. 1 square meter of smooth surface wiped (glass, solar panels). Measured with a Eberline HP-260 Pancake Probe and with a Eberline E-140 counter… I measured 20 000 cpm per square meter of wipe today!!! This is the all time record since I have been taking measurements since March 14th 2011 . Previous record was 10 000cpm (counts per minute).” Read more.

Flashback: Canadian Gov’t Now Admits: Japan’s Fukushima Catastrophe Bringing Massive Radiation Spikes Over Canada – “After Japan’s Fukushima catastrophe, Canadian government officials reassured jittery Canadians that the radioactive plume billowing from the destroyed nuclear reactors posed zero health risks in this country. In fact, there was reason to worry. Health Canada detected massive amounts of radioactive material from Fukushima in Canadian air in March and April at monitoring stations across the country. The level of radioactive iodine spiked above the federal maximum allowed limit in the air at four of the five sites where Health Canada monitors levels of specific radioisotopes.” Read more.

Flashback: Canada: Fukushima Fallout Causing Highly Radioactive Rain to Fall in British Columbia – Watch Video.

By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard – “Standard & Poor’s (S&P) is to warn that a double-dip recession in Europe would imperil France’s AAA rating and set off a string of downgrades across Southern Europe, undermining the EU’s debt crisis strategy.

The EU-IMF bail-out machinery would require an extra €250bn or more to stabilize eurozone debt markets, forcing Germany and EU’s creditor states to vastly increase rescue commitments.

The report, due Friday, said a double-dip recession would lead to a downgrade of ‘one or two notches’ for France, Spain, Italy, Ireland and Portugal, both because of tumbling tax revenues and the extra costs of propping up banks.

The scenario looks increasingly likely after Germany slashed its growth forecast from 1.8pc to 1pc for 2012. Greece and Portugal are contracting at alarming speeds. Italy and Spain are already in industrial recession.

‘Confidence surveys have fallen off a cliff over past three months,’ said Marchel Alexandrovich from Jefferies Fixed Income. ‘The lagged effects of fiscal and monetary tightening are still working their way through the system so it looks highly likely that we are in recession now.'” Read more.

By Hugh Carnegy, Peter Spiegel and David Oakley – “France warned on Tuesday that European unity would be at risk if eurozone leaders failed to take bold action to tackle its sovereign debt crisis at a crucial summit this weekend.

In sharp contrast to signals from Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, playing down the chances of a breakthrough, President Nicolas Sarkozy said that ‘an unprecedented financial crisis will lead us to take important, very important decisions in the coming days’.

Raising the sense of urgency, the French president added: ‘Allowing the destruction of the euro is to take the risk of the destruction of Europe. Those who destroy Europe and the euro will bear responsiblity for resurgence of conflict and division on our continent.’

As Moody’s, the US rating agency, warned that France could see its credit outlook cut as a result of the growing sovereign debt emergency, Mr Sarkozy alluded to his country’s vulnerability were the eurozone to fall apart. ‘France on its own cannot cope.’

Prime minister François Fillon echoed the need for a rapid breakthrough on Sunday: ‘If we don’t succeed, Europe will be at great risk.'” Read more.

EU bank failures will crash Wall Street – “So listen closely to his ‘7 Major Advance Warnings,’ which are ‘the most important in the 40-year history of my company.’ Many will dismiss them, distracted by today’s campaign noise. Others will dismiss them as ‘over there,’ problems for Europeans. Weiss warns: EU banks problems are ‘bound to have a life-changing impact on nearly all investors in the U.S. and around the globe.’ So listen and discount what Wall Street is selling you. Protect your portfolio. Here are edited highlights: 1. Greece will default very soon … ” Read more.

“Paris: Head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, said on Saturday that the global economic outlook ‘is more likely to have worsened than improved in the last three weeks’ and that emerging markets feared ‘contagion from advanced economies.’

‘If anything, the situation is more likely to have worsened than to have improved over the last three weeks and if markets have straightened up a bit in the last few days, certainly the overall economic situation has not improved. We heard loud and clear that the emerging markets in particular were very concerned about the risk of contagion from advanced economies to emerging markets and to low income countries,’ Lagarde said.” Read more.

S&P downgrades 24 Italian banks, financial firms – Reuters – “Standard & Poor’s on Tuesday downgraded 24 Italian banks and financial institutions, citing renewed ‘market tensions’ and lower economic growth prospects. The action was taken after a review of the implications of a tougher-than-previously-anticipated macroeconomic and financial environment for the Italian banks, the credit rating agency said. ‘In our opinion, renewed market tensions in the euro zone’s periphery, particularly in Italy, and dimming growth prospects have led to further deterioration in the operating environment for Italian banks,’ it said in a statement.” Source.

Moody’s warns France on its triple-A rating – “Ratings agency Moody’s warned France that it may place a negative outlook on its cherished top ‘Aaa’ credit rating in the coming months as the government’s financial strength ‘has weakened.’ The annual credit report is a shot across the bows for the second largest economy in the eurozone and came as Germany dampened expectations that an upcoming EU summit will finally provide a solution to the eurozone debt crisis.” Read more.

Berlin experts fear euro break-up from bail-out escalation – “Berlin’s DIW institute, one of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s five official advisers, said attempts to boost the €440bn (£384bn) EFSF bail-out fund – possibly to €2 trillion – with guarantees to shore up southern Europe would be ‘poisonous’ for France’s credit worthiness. Dr Ansgar Belke, the group’s research chief, said the leverage proposal emerging as part of the EU’s ‘Grand Plan’ to restore confidence is self-defeating. ‘It counteracts efforts made so far to stabilise the eurozone debt crisis, which are premised on the AAA rating of a sufficiently large number of strong economies. In extremis, it would probably cause the break-up of the eurozone’, he told newspaper Handelsblatt.” Read more.

By Kiyoshi Takenaka – (Reuters) – “In the Japanese city of Ohtawara, more than 100 km (62 miles) southwest of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, 400 tones of radioactive ash have piled up at a garbage incineration plant, which will run out of protected storage space in two weeks.

Further south, the city of Kashiwa has been forced to temporarily shut a high-tech incinerator because its advanced technology that minimizes the amount of ash produced has the side-effect of boosting the concentration of radiation.

Ohtawara and Kashiwa are just two of a growing number of municipalities across northern Japan that face similar problems after the Fukushima Daiichi atomic power plant, devastated by a huge March quake and tsunami, began spewing radiation into the atmosphere in the world’s worst nuclear accident in 25 years.

Although the government aims to bring the Fukushima crisis under control by December, researchers say that problems arising from the radiation, scattered over mountains, rivers and residential areas, are set to persist for years.” Read more.

Fukushima Government to Push Fukushima Rice in Restaurants and Schools – “Now that the rice from all districts and cities in Fukushima Prefecture are declared ‘safe’ (i.e. below the provisional safety limit of 500 becquerels/kg of radioactive cesium), the Fukushima prefectural government is gearing up for the PR campaign it plans to mount to promote Fukushima rice in restaurants and school lunches and to consumers in the Tokyo metropolitan area… The NHK article has an accompanying news clip, where you get to see how the ‘testing’ was done at the Fukushima prefectural government. A government worker is waving a scintillation meter over a plastic bag that contains a small amount of brown rice. He spends about 2 seconds at most for each bag. If you recall, waving a scintillation meter over the meat cow was how they were testing the meat for radiation at first. We know how that ended up.” Read more.

Radioactive roadside mud in Tokyo measured at 3.60 uSv/hr – “On 16 Oct., 2011, I measured radiation in MIZUMOTO PARK, in Katsushika ward, Tokyo, Japan. The monitoring place is only 15 km from the center of Tokyo, 220 km from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear power plant. The monitor indicates 0.29 or 0.30 micro Sievert per hour in air at chest hight, 3.60 micro Sievert per hour at ground level, on roadside mud. Measuring instrument is made of Ukraine, ECOTEST MKS-05.” Source.

“High concentrations of radioactive cesium have been found in plankton from the sea near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.

Researchers from Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology collected plankton in waters up to 60 kilometers from the coast of Iwaki City in July. They found 669 becquerels per kilogram of radioactive cesium in animal plankton from waters 3 kilometers offshore.

They say a wide range of fish feed on animal plankton and that the contamination could accumulate in the food chain and have a more serious impact when it gets into relatively large fish.

The research group’s leader, Professor Takashi Ishimaru, says the plankton were so heavily contaminated because sea currents continuously carried contaminated water southward from the nuclear plant. He says detailed studies are needed to determine how long the effect on fish will continue.” Source.

Citizens’ Testing Finds 20 Hot Spots Around Tokyo, Some Readings As High As Contaminated Areas Around Chernobyl – “TOKYO — Takeo Hayashida signed on with a citizens’ group to test for radiation near his son’s baseball field in Tokyo after government officials told him they had no plans to check for fallout from the devastated Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Like Japan’s central government, local officials said there was nothing to fear in the capital, 160 miles from the disaster zone. Then came the test result: the level of radioactive cesium in a patch of dirt just yards from where his 11-year-old son, Koshiro, played baseball was equal to those in some contaminated areas around Chernobyl.” Read more.

Radioactive Strontium Detected in Yokohama south of Tokyo – “Radioactive strontium exceeding normal quantities has been detected in sediment from atop an apartment building in Yokohama,  south of Tokyo, and radiation levels as high as 2.707 microsieverts per hour have been detected on a local sidewalk in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward, Japanese media reported. The strontium 90 was detected in Yokohama, some 250 kilometers from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, by a private agency that conducted the test upon the request of a resident. This is the first time strontium at a concentration of over 100 becquerels per kilogram has been found beyond 100 km from the Fukushima plant.” Read more.