Krauthammer Warns Against Defunding Health Law: Will Lead To Chaos And Incoherence

Iran sidesteps trade sanctions with help from Chinese firms
Reporting from Tehran — Iranian officials say international sanctions haven't kept them from continuing to do business with much of the world. At the Tehran International Industry Fair this month, leaders boasted in a brochure that 25 countries were taking part. But on a visit to the fair, one country stood out: China . Get dispatches from Times correspondents around the globe delivered to your inbox with our daily World newsletter. Sign up » Trade specialists say that Beijing,...

The Rise of China Looms Large as Hillary Clinton Heads for Meetings With Asian Allies
Monday, October 25, 2010 By Patrick Goodenough Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, accompanied by U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, arrives in Beijing during a regional tour in May 2010. Shes returning to Asia this week. (Photo: State Department/AP) (CNSNews.com) - As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton begins a visit to Asia this week, she will meet first with her Japanese counterpart, at a time when tensions between Japan and China show no sign of abating. Clinton will hold talks...

Anti-Japan demonstrations spread to more cities, withstand China's suppression efforts
Beijing — China's authoritarian leaders are scrambling to contain anti-Japan Protests that flared in at least a half-dozen cities over the weekend, with more planned for Tuesday despite attempts to kill discussion of the rallies online. The Protests were sparked by a collision last month between a Chinese fishing boat and Japanese government patrol vessels near a chain of disputed islands — which set off a diplomatic tussle between the two Asian powers that has now subsided. But...

U.S. Navy Exercise in Waters Near China Reportedly Canceled
Monday, October 25, 2010 By Patrick Goodenough U.S. sailors carry out a vertical replenishment exercise on the flightdeck of the USS George Washington in the Western Pacific on October 20, 2010. (U.S. Navy photograph by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class David Cox) (CNSNews.com) - The U.S. and South Korea have called off plans for joint naval exercises in the coming days involving a U.S. Aircraft Carrier in the Yellow Sea, according to South Korean media reports. Korean defense...

Geithner in China to discuss economic tensions
Beijing (CNN) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met China's Vice-Premier Wang Qishan on Sunday and "exchanged views" about Economic relations between their countries, both sides said. The meeting came shortly after Geithner publicly hammered China over its currency, which Washington says Beijing keeps at artificially low levels to boost exports. Geithner had urged the world's leading Finance Ministers to take strong action to ensure Emerging Markets nations allow their...

Japan and China fishing clash heats up with formal protest
Tokyo: Japan has lodged a formal Protest with China after spotting two fisheries patrol boats near a disputed island chain at the centre of a bitter row between the two nations. ''Our coastguard sighted them and afterwards the two [Chinese ships] left and sailed north towards China,'' Japan's top government spokesman, Yoshito Sengoku, said. ''After the incident we launched a Protest through diplomatic channels,'' Mr Sengoku, the chief cabinet secretary, told a Press Conference. Advertisement:...

UK's Cameron promises 'economic dynamism' to replace jobs lost because of spending cuts
London — British Prime Minister David Cameron promised Monday to drive exports higher and Cut regulatory red tape to encourage Private Sector innovation as his government seeks to replace tens of thousands of Jobs lost because of harsh Public Spending Cuts. Cameron used his Speech to the annual conference of the country's leading business lobby group, the Confederation of British Industry, to strike an upbeat note for The Economy after a week dominated by the Cuts — the deepest...

Stocks start the week sharply higher
NEW YORK(CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks started the week strong Monday ahead of a busy schedule of earnings and economic reports, including housing Sales that came in much better than expected. The Dow Jones industrial average ( INDU ) added 64 points, or 0.6%, about 2-1/2 hours into the trading session. The S&P 500 ( SPX ) increased 6 points, or 0.5%, and the NASDAQ ( COMP ) was up 17 points, or 0.7%. All three indexes had been up nearly 1% earlier in the session after the release of a strong...

Toyota's global output falls for first time in year, but Honda, Nissan increase production
Tokyo — Toyota's global production fell in September for the first time in a year, while rivals Honda and Nissan increased output thanks to strong demand in China. Toyota Motor Corp. said Monday its worldwide production dropped 1.3 percent to 672,604 vehicles, marking the first year-on-year decrease in 12 months. The world's No. 1 automaker said the fall was due to weak production in Europe and North America. Toyota's production in Europe sank 29.7 percent to 40,630 vehicles due to...

Washington Threw A Dollar Across The Potomac To Help Pay For Social Programs
… what else would Obama say to try and rewrite a Socialist history for America? He did it yesterday. He made Lincoln into a Marxist, and bastardized what he said in the process. From Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit: ht. Claudia After two years of watching this guy are you really surprised by this? Its like every time he opens his mouth about history or Health Care or shovel projects its a complete lie. Honest Abe he is not. Obama twisted Abraham Lincolns words the other day in...

Some Required Reading On The Chinese Rare Earth Metals Question (MCP, REE)
There's a lot of hysterical handwringing about China and its grip on the world's supply of so-called rare-earth metals -- rare substances used in electronics, defense, alt-energy and other High-tech. For a sane description of what's going on, and what's at stake, head on over to Elizabeth C. Economy's summation at the CFR blog . In short, there is bad news: China is definitely dropping its exports, as it has been for awhile. Part of it is hoarding, but there's also an environmental aspect to it...

Netflix subscribers cut off from video streaming on same day shareholders celebrate new high
San Francisco — While Netflix shareholders celebrated Thursday, the video subscription service's customers griped about a website outage that prevented them from streaming movies and TV shows over the Internet. The breakdown occurred just a few hours after Netflix's stock Price reached a new high in an ebullient reaction to the company's Third-quarter results. The report was highlighted by the addition of 1.9 million subscribers and a projected gain of at least 2.1 million more customers...

Silly Bandz, Monster.com, Dippin' Dots founders speak
Las Vegas — Robert Croak, Curt Jones and Jeff Taylor have dramatically different personalities, lifestyles and professional backgrounds. Yet this trio have one major attribute in common: They're each intimately familiar with the triumphs and tribulations that come with building national brands. BCP Imports founder Croak is the guy behind the in-demand Silly Bandz. The brightly colored Fashion accessory, which holds the shapes of items such as cats, palm trees and princesses, can be seen on...

China's Hu in state visit to France
AFP President Hu Jintao of China will make a state visit to France between November 4 and 6 and hold talks with his counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy, diplomatic officials in Paris said on Monday. Ties between China and France had been tense in recent years following a number of diplomatic incidents, but Sarkozy visited Beijing in April to "turn a new page" and the countries now talk of enjoying a "global partnership". France sees China as a huge potential market for its engineering expertise, and...

EXCHANGE: Ill. company wants to cash in on carp
It's a question of supply and demand. In this case, supply is not the problem. For years, invasive silver and bighead Carp have choked the Illinois River and its tributaries, becoming so numerous they outweigh all other fish in the River combined. Asian Carp have been reproducing exponentially ever since they escaped from fish-rearing ponds in the southern United States and began their invasion of the Mississippi River and then the Illinois. Asian Carp are prolific breeders that filter...

China paper condemns US on rights
AFP China's state media on Monday said the revelations in Iraq War documents published by Wikileaks has tarnished the credibility of the United States as a protector of Human Rights. The comments in the China Daily come after Beijing criticised a report by a commission of US lawmakers and government officials that condemned an "increasingly harsh" crackdown by Beijing on Rights Activists and lawyers. The issue of Human Rights is always a sensitive one in Sino-US relations. Earlier this month...

Apple won't buy Facebook
Why Apple won't buy Facebook Posted by Philip Elmer-DeWitt October 25, 2010 7:26 AM Or Disney, Yahoo, Adobe, TiVo, Netflix, EA or any of the big names tossed out last week Source: Asymco The $51 Billion in cash and marketable securities that Apple ( AAPL ) reported last Monday -- double its holdings two years ago (see chart) -- has been burning a hole ever since in everybody's pocket but Steve Jobs'. The next day, the business press was full of stories quoting Jobs' answer about why...

Late-night joke collection starring Joe Biden, NPR, Osama bin Laden and Charlie the chimp
As The Ticket's 54,000 Twitter followers here and 6,100+ Facebook fans here know, we regularly share our pick of the late-night jokes of interest. Here's collection No. 2: SNL: Fox News, on Thursday, hired News analyst Juan Williams just one day after National Public Radio fired him for making disparaging comments about Muslims. Marking the first time someone has been fired and hired for the same comment. Letterman: Osama bin Laden keeps sending out audio rants because he wants to...

Could a Bloomberg Presidential Run Mean President Palin?
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks to supporters at a Republican National Committee rally in Orlando, Fla., Saturday, Oct. 23, 2010. (Credit: AP) Sarah Palin's best shot at the presidency could come as a result of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg entering the 2012 fray as an Independent Candidate, according to New York Magazine's John Heilemann. Heilemann contends that Bloomberg, who flirted with the idea of a presidential bid in 2008 (and is said to be considering one for 2012),...

Frank Caprio: Obama Can Take His Endorsement and "Shove It"
(Credit: CBS/ AP) Updated at 4:20 p.m. ET Rhode Island's Democratic Candidate for Governor Frank Caprio on Monday dissed President Obama for refusing to endorse him, telling a Talk Radio host that Mr. Obama "can take his Endorsement and really shove it as far as I'm concerned." Mr. Obama travels to the Ocean State today for a set of Democratic Fundraisers, as well as a visit to a factory. The White House told reporters yesterday, however, that Mr. Obama will not endorse Caprio or any...

Rare earth metals will be mined in Vietnam by the Japanese
Rare earth metals, crucial in advanced Manufacturing such as computer disk drives, Mobile Phones and Hybrid car components are produced mainly in China.

World stock markets rise, dollar slumps after G-20 finance meeting vows to avoid currency war
LONDON — World Stocks rose and The Dollar slumped Monday after global Finance chiefs vowed to avoid a currency war that could derail the global Recovery. With no concrete guidelines to go by, however, investors are wary that this may only prove a temporary truce. Finance Ministers from the Group of 20 developed and emerging Countries promised to avoid competitive devaluations — weakening a national currency to help exports and sustain Economic Recovery — but offered no...

Hemp may be the real reason marijuana is illegal
Hemp is the far bigger economic issue hiding behind legal marijuana. If the upcoming pot legalization ballot in California were decided by hemp farmers like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, it would be no contest. For purely economic reasons, if you told the Constitutional Convention in 1787 that the nation they were founding would someday make hemp illegal, they would have laughed you out of the room. If California legalizes pot, it will save the state millions in avoided legal and...

Singapore exchange making $8.3 billion takeover offer for Australian stock exchange operator
Singapore — The Singapore Exchange Ltd. said Monday it is making a $8.3 Billion cash and shares takeover offer for the operator of the Australian bourse, aiming to vault from Second-tier Stock Market to leading Asian finance center. The combined Exchange company would be the world's fifth-largest by Market value and rank as the Second-largest Stock Market in Asia by number of listed companies, the two Exchanges said in a joint statement. By other measures it would still rank behind...

Could Common Design Standards Bring Back U.S. Transit Manufacturing?
The Portland area is the only place in the country that manufactures streetcars these days. United Streetcar , in the suburb of Clackamas, opened last year to build Portland’s streetcars — and to serve as a lesson, perhaps, that rail transit Manufacturing doesntallneed to happen overseas. This streetcar was made in the USA. Could the USA make more? Doug Beghtel/The Oregonian Ray LaHoods deputy, John Porcari, said as much at Rail~volution . His idea for reviving the...