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To: regli who wrote (46472)	2/15/2006 12:57:42 AM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

Israeli Solar Startup Shines Solel is producing electricity at rates that rival gas-powered plants. Pretty soon, if it's technology keeps cooking, that figure could drop 40% businessweek.com

To: regli who wrote (46472)	2/15/2006 1:32:41 AM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 116555

From Pituophis on the FOOL I've been pressing a deadline and haven't even had time to read the boards lately so when I got on today I was 213 posts behind. No time to catch up now, but just wanted to comment on the Cheney shooting thingy. Btw, that happened about 10 miles from my house and Whittington was taken to a hospital about 3 miles from my house. Saturday afternoon before the shooting had been reported on the news we saw all kinds of planes and helicopters flying around - I even commented to my wife that the terrorist must be attacking, but I guess they were just up there protecting our VP. But who's gonna protect us from him, huh? One of the first things that really bothered me about the shooting incident was that a lot of the commentators were using the word "peppered" to describe what happened to Whittington. ABC News had it scrolling across the bottom of the screen Monday morning..."Cheney 'peppers' hunting buddy..." As someone who grew up bird hunting and who hunted most of my life (though I don't anymore), I have often used the word "peppered" and have in fact been "peppered" on many occassions. Being peppered is being hit by bird shot from a long distance. It might sting a little, but rarely penetrates the skin. Whittington WAS NOT "peppered." Whittington was SHOT in the face and chest by Cheney at close range. To get that kind of penetration with #8 bird shot, I'd say he would have to have been closer than 20 feet. So Cheney aimed his shotgun at a guys face 20 feet away and pulled the trigger. Can't get much more careless than that. In all my decades as a hunter, I never witnessed an accident with a shotgun as serious as that. The speculation is that Cheney was almost certainly drunk - he is well known to like a snort now and then while blasting quail. That explains why they avoided law enforcemnt for 24 hours - all the local LE had to go on was their word that they weren't drinking...and we all know how much Cheney's WORD is worth...oh, and they didn't even have the proper license to quail hunt in Texas anyway, but the game warden let them off with a warning. Then this afternoon I hear that the Whitehouse has decided to deal with the incident with "HUMOR". And to make it even funnier, at the same time that they're cracking jokes Whittington is having a heart attack because one of those bird shot that "peppered" him got a little close to his heart. You can't get much funnier than that, huh? Well, not unless he dies, that would really be scream. I bet Whittington's friends and family are really getting a good laugh. Can you say negligent homicide?

To: regli who wrote (46472)	2/15/2006 1:47:47 AM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

UN report calls for closure of Guantánamo · Prison breaks conventions on torture, say envoys · Violent force-feeding of hunger strikers criticised The effort to break the hunger strike has accelerated since the UN envoys produced their draft, with inmates strapped in restraint chairs for hours and fed laxatives so that they defecate on themselves. "The government is not doing things to keep them alive. It is really conducting tactics to deprive them of the ability to be on hunger strike because the hunger strike is an embarrassment to them," said Thomas Wilner, an attorney at the Washington firm Shearman & Sterlin, who represents several Kuwaiti detainees. guardian.co.uk

To: regli who wrote (46472)	2/15/2006 10:04:44 AM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

U.S. capital flows fall to $56.6 billion in December Wednesday, February 15, 2006 2:35:54 PM afxpress.com WASHINGTON (AFX) -- Capital flows into the United States fell to $56.6 billion in December after hitting a revised $91.6 billion in November, the Treasury Department said Wednesday. The decline reflected private investors pulling back on purchases of Treasury bonds and notes. Investors bought $12.7 billion of Treasurys to close out 2005, down from $50.8 billion in November. Official institutions bought $5.6 billion of Treasury bonds and notes in December, up from $3.7 billion in November. Net foreign purchases of long-term domestic securities were $74.2 billion. Private investors bought $63.8 billion in securities, while foreign official institutions accounted for $10.4 billion. Chinese and Japanese holdings of Treasury securities were higher in December. Japan held $685.0 billion in Treasury securities in December, versus $682.8 billion in November. China held $256.7 billion in Treasury bonds, bills and notes, compared to $249.8 billion in November. November's capital flows were revised higher, to $91.6 billion from a previously estimated $89.1 billion. Meanwhile, U.S. investors increased their purchases of foreign-issued securities in December, buying $17.6 billion in foreign bonds and equities, the Treasury said

To: regli who wrote (46472)	2/15/2006 10:21:08 AM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

Empire state factory index inches higher in Feb. Wednesday, February 15, 2006 1:45:37 PM afxpress.com WASHINGTON (AFX) -- Manufacturing activity in the New York area held steady in February, the New York Federal Reserve Bank said Wednesday. The bank's Empire State Manufacturing index rose to 20.3 in February from 20.1 in January Readings over zero indicate expansion. The pace of growth in February matches the average of the past several months. The increase was unexpected. Economists were expecting the index to slip to 18.1. In February, new orders, shipments and unfilled orders were essentially unchanged from January The new orders index inched lower to 26.5 from 27.2. Shipments slipped to 31.6 from 32.0 in January. Unfilled orders rose to 2.9 from 2.7 in the previous month. The employment index fell to 4.7 in February from 11.7 in January. Prices remained elevated in February. The prices paid index rose to 52.8 in February from 46.6 in the previous month Survey respondents expected business conditions to continue to improve over the next six months, although there was a slight decline of optimism. The future index for general business conditions fell to 37.9 in February from 47.6 in January. The Empire State index is of interest to traders primarily because it's seen as an early forecast of the national Institute for Supply management factory survey due out in two weeks. In January, the ISM manufacturing fell to 54.8% from 55.6% in the previous month

To: regli who wrote (46472)	2/15/2006 10:35:28 AM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116555

BoE´s King says recent developments have helped support domestic demand UPDATE Wednesday, February 15, 2006 11:54:24 AM afxpress.com BoE's King says recent developments have helped support domestic demand UPDATE (Updating to add further details) LONDON (AFX) - Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England, said developments since the November Inflation Report have helped support UK domestic demand Speaking after the BoE's latest economic projections, King said low long-term interest rates have contributed to a rise in asset prices, both at home and overseas, and noted that the housing market has picked up in terms of both prices and activity and that broad money growth has hit a 15-year high "These developments are likely to support domestic demand," he said. The slowing of consumption growth over the last year or two, he added, appears to have been "relatively short-lived" The BoE is projecting that UK GDP growth to "pick up slightly above" its historical average over the next 12 months as the weakness seen through most of 2005 drops out of the comparison. Most economic forecasters, however, still think the economy will grow below its long-run average this year Overall, King said today's Inflation Report contains a "benign" central view of steady economic growth and a flat inflation profile around the 2.0 pct target However, he urged sterling markets not to get carried away by the inflation projections and stressed the risks to the forecast, in particular domestic gas prices "Let me remind you that the chance that inflation will remain so close to the target throughout the forecast period is negligible," he said "As ever, there are risk to the outlook in both directions, and it is an assessment of those risks which determines the Committee's thinking about the policy decision," he added King also expressed concerns about the path of business investment, saying that he would have expected it to recover more quickly than it has He added that higher energy costs, in particular the spike up in domestic gas prices through last year, may have delayed company investment decisions and frittered away a large chunk of savings garnered from restructuring measures King noted that both survey and official data paint a relatively weak investment picture but added that the BoE still projects a "relatively modest recovery" over the coming forecast period The governor said a pick-up in business investment is necessary to rebalance the gap between the external and domestic sectors of the UK economy but stressed that it's not the job of the central bank to engineer that. The trade in goods and services deficit during 2005 accounted for 3.8 pct of UK GDP Though that's not as big as the shortfall in the US, King said it's "still pretty big" and "certainly not trivial" King believes the rebalancing will occur at some stage but ruled out cutting borrowing costs to spur investment as that would prompt a renewed burst in consumer spending

To: regli who wrote (46472)	2/15/2006 10:52:34 AM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

UK unemployment rises once more Wednesday, February 15, 2006 10:52:44 AM FXstreet.com FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - The number of UK unemployed rose by 108,000 to 1.54 million between October and December, its highest level in just over three years, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said. That pushed the unemployment rate up to 5.1% from 4.8% in the previous quarter, the ONS said. That is the highest unemployment level since October 2002. Over the year, unemployment has increased by 123,000. Nevertheless, the claimant count compute of unemployment showed a little improvement in January. The number claiming the job-seeker's allowance fell by 2,000 from the previous month to 904,200. That was the first monthly descend for a year, and was unanticipated. Analysts asked by AFX News had predicted an 8,000 rise.