Paul Julius Reuter noticed that, with the electric telegraph, news no longer required days or weeks to travel long distances. In the 1850s, the 34-year-old Reuter was based in Aachen — then in the Kingdom of Prussia, now in Germany — close to the borders with the Netherlands and Belgium. He began using the newly opened Berlin–Aachen telegraph line to send news to Berlin. However, there was a 76-mile (122 km) gap in the line between Aachen and Brussels, Belgium’s capital city and financial center. Reuter saw an opportunity to speed up news service between Brussels and Berlin by using homing pigeons to bridge that gap.

Few U.S. traders pledge allegiance to Nasdaq’s NYSE bid

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. stock traders rejected a patriotic pitch from the Nasdaq and IntercontinentalExchange to keep the New York Stock Exchange in American hands and saw greater benefits from a tie up with Germany’s Deutsche Borse.

Nasdaq OMX and IntercontinentalExchange on Friday bid $11.3 billion to buy NYSE Euronext, trumping an earlier offer by German exchange operator Deutsche Boerse.Traders said a tie-up with Deutsche Borse was better in part because of its reach into other securities markets.Many traders expect Deutsche to make a counter-offer.”My sense from a twenty-first century point of view is that I think the Deutsche Boerse merger creates much more of a true global stake than Nasdaq and the NYSE does,” said Kenneth Polcari, managing director at Icap Corporates, who trades on the NYSE floor. “From a true global perspective the Deutsche Boerse is probably the better option.”Nasdaq Chief Executive Robert Greifeld and ICE’s Jeffrey Sprecher backed their bid with an appeal that the United States remain the world’s financial center.Traders were less clear on the benefits of a domestic partnership in a globalized economy and an industry where consolidation is considered inevitable.”The DB deal may be better because of the higher degree of derivatives trading there,” said Todd Schoenberger,Ex-IBM exec in Galleon case repentant- report_7506, managing director at LandColt Trading in Wilmington, Delaware. “For creating a complete global trading technology, the DB deal would be better.”For Nasdaq, the deal would expand its core, albeit low-margin, stock-trading business and could dominate other U.S. options markets. But it could raise questions for shareholders aware that the other exchange mergers are driven largely by a desire to diversify into more profitable derivatives trading.Some in the financial sector did not want a foreign stake in the New York Stock Exchange.”As a trader here in the U.S. I’m all for keeping things domestic,” said Michael Nasto, senior trader at U.S. Global Investors Inc, which manages about $3 billion in San Antonio.There is an emotional component to the prospect of Deutsche Boerse buying the venerable Big Board, an iconic symbol of the U.S. economic system.Investors, regulators and U.S. lawmakers expressed dismay at the idea of the exchange being enveloped by a foreign company when that offer was first announced in February. Even Duncan Niederauer, the CEO of NYSE Euronext, said it’s “an emotional decision for everyone” when the offer was unveiled.But traders used to dealing with customers across borders didn’t seem swayed by remarks from ICE’s Jeffrey Sprecher, who said this tie-up could help the U.S. “change its current course.”"The idea that it would be patriotic to have the Nasdaq deal is mostly window dressing, in my view. I don’t think it’s really impacting the way people think about the deal,” said Schoenberger, who said the Nasdaq offer would be viewed by traders as “more a hostile takeover.”Joseph Cangemi,Coach Embossed Handbags, chairman of the Security Traders Association in New York and a shareholder and member of NYSE Euronext, said from a “trading standpoint and a nationalistic standpoint, I’d look to a domestic entity that could provide overall market coverage as more advantageous.”However, he said such a combination would “dramatically reduce competition…which I’m concerned about from a Security Traders Association standpoint.”Nasto added that while he would prefer a Nasdaq deal over a Boerse one, as a trader either would be preferable over no deal.”With any kind of merger there will be greater transparency,” he said, “and the more transparency for trading,Coach Button Purses, the better it will be for me.”(Additional reporting by Ed Krudy; Editing by Andrew Hay)

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Reuters employs several thousand journalists, sometimes at the cost of their lives. In May 2000, Kurt Schork,EU claims victory in WTO case versus Boeing_4994, an American reporter,cheap Abercrombie and fitch mens, was killed in an ambush while on assignment in Sierra Leone. In April and August 2003, news cameramen Taras Protsyuk and Mazen Dana were killed in separate incidents by US troops in Iraq. In July 2007, Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh were killed when they were fired upon by a US military

Paul Julius Reuter noticed that, with the electric telegraph, news no longer required days or weeks to travel long distances. In the 1850s, the 34-year-old Reuter was based in Aachen — then in the Kingdom of Prussia, now in Germany — close to the borders with the Netherlands and Belgium. He began using the newly opened Berlin–Aachen telegraph line to send news to Berlin. However, there was a 76-mile (122 km) gap in the line between Aachen and Brussels, Belgium’s capital city and financial center. Reuter saw an opportunity to speed up news service between Brussels and Berlin by using homing pigeons to bridge that gap.

China hits back at U.S. rhetoric on yuan

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s foreign ministry told the United States on Tuesday to stop pointing its finger at Beijing and pushing for a stronger yuan, saying Washington should focus on spurring its fragile economy.

The strong-worded statement by the ministry came as President Barack Obama kept up tough American rhetoric ahead of mid-term U.S. congressional elections in November and as the yuan extended gains to a ninth day — its longest rally since it was revalued in July 2005.”Recently, there are some discordant voices in the U.S. criticizing the yuan exchange rate, and saying it (the U.S.) would adopt any possible means to press for yuan appreciation. It is unwise and also near-sighted,” the ministry said in a statement on its website.”The trade imbalance between China and the U.S. is not decided by exchange rate but by globalization. Yuan appreciation cannot solve the U.S. trade deficit, on which the Americans have also reached consensus.”U.S. lawmakers maintain that China keeps its yuan currency undervalued by as much as 25 percent to 40 percent, giving its manufacturers an unfair advantage against imports and making Chinese exports cheaper.On Monday, President Barack Obama weighed in,Brazil M&A deals to recover after 27 percent drop in Q1_9017,Coach Crossbody Bags Outlet, saying that Beijing had not done enough to raise the value of its currency.U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner vowed last week to rally world powers ahead of a G20 meeting in South Korea in November to push China for trade and currency reforms.The Chinese foreign ministry said the United States, a major currency issuer, should instead focus on its own economic recovery and put its fiscal house in order to help maintain stability of its own currency.China has been trying to boost its imports from the United States, but the latter must relax its restrictions on high-tech sales to China, it said.Beijing’s policy to boost domestic demand to reduce the economy’s reliance on exports were working,Coach Business Bags Outlet, it said.The ministry added that domestic expectations for yuan appreciation were not strong, and that a stronger currency would do little to resolve the Sino-U.S. bilateral trade imbalance.The yuan rose on Tuesday for a ninth straight day — its longest string of gains since its landmark revaluation in July 2005 — and broke through key resistance at 6.70 per dollar for the first time since its revaluation.However, a senior Chinese government economist warned that the rise in the yuan, which has gained 1.35 percent since September 9, could soon hit a speed bump.Chinese officials have repeatedly warned that any sharp currency appreciation could hit exporters and trigger job losses.(Editing by Susan Fenton)

Reuters employs several thousand journalists,Coach Backpacks Outlet, sometimes at the cost of their lives. In May 2000, Kurt Schork, an American reporter,China may probe BHP’s bid for Potash- report_5443, was killed in an ambush while on assignment in Sierra Leone. In April and August 2003, news cameramen Taras Protsyuk and Mazen Dana were killed in separate incidents by US troops in Iraq. In July 2007, Namir Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh were killed when they were fired upon by a US military

Syria lifts hated law, but protesters unimpressed

BEIRUT – Syria did away with 50 years of emergency rule Tuesday, but emboldened and defiant crowds accused President Bashar Assad of simply trying to buy time while he clings to power in one of the most repressive regimes in the Middle East.
Repealing the state of emergency, which gives authorities almost boundless powers of surveillance and arrest, was once the key demand of the monthlong uprising. But the protest movement has crossed a significant threshold, with increasing numbers now seeking nothing less than the downfall of the regime.
“They don’t want to admit there’s a Syrian revolution,” said one protester in the city of Banias, among thousands who took to the streets in several cities and towns across Syria. “The people are not interested in small changes here and there anymore,” he said, asking that his name not be published out fear for his personal safety.
Instability in Syria has repercussions beyond its borders. Closed-off Syria punches above its weight in terms of regional influence because of its alliances with militant groups like Lebanon’s Hezbollah and with Shiite powerhouse Iran. That has given Damascus a pivotal role in most of the flashpoint issues of the Middle East, from the Arab-Israeli peace process to Iran’s widening influence.
If the regime in Syria wobbles, it could both weaken a major Arab foe of the West and exacerbate fearsome tendencies toward sectarianism and chaos in the Middle East. Instability in Syria also throws into disarray the U.S. push for engagement with Damascus, part of Washington’s plan to peel the country away from its allegiance to Hamas, Hezbollah and Tehran.
The rejection by protesters of the lifting of emergency rule could pose a make-or-break moment for Assad, a British-trained eye doctor who took power 11 years ago but has failed to fulfill early promises of reform. He has said that after this concession, there would be no further “excuse” for demonstrations. That could mean that the uprising — in which more than 200 have already been killed — could take an even bloodier turn.
The announcement signaling the end of the emergency rule Tuesday came just hours after a violent show of strength by authorities. Security forces raided a sit-in in Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, where organizers hoped to create the mood of Cairo’s Tahrir Square during the Egyptian revolution.
At least one person was killed, witnesses said.
Authorities then issued a stern warning on national TV for the protesters to back down.
The window for reconciliation in Syria is rapidly shrinking, said Bilal Saab, a Middle East expert from the University of Maryland at College Park who regularly briefs U.S. officials on Syria. He raised the potential for an insurgency — hauntingly familiar in Syria from the bloody scenes in neighboring Iraq.
“Insurgency is highly likely in Syria due to the country’s low per-capita income, the Syrian government’s weak capacity, the existence of foreign sanctuaries in Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan, and deep grievances on the part a growing number of the Syrian public,” Saab told The Associated Press.
Most of Syria’s 23 million people were born or grew up under the strict control of the state of emergency, which gives the regime a free hand to arrest people without charge, control on the media and eavesdrop on telecommunications.
But repealing the law will not change much because Syria is not governed by the rule of law. Power begins and ends with Assad and a small coterie of his family and advisers. Other laws maintain Assad’s dominance as well, including measures that guarantee immunity for the secret police for crimes committed in the line of duty.
A prominent Syrian writer, Yassin Haj Saleh, who spent 16 years in jail for his links to a pro-democracy group,Abercrombie And Fitch outlet uk, claimed Assad was looking for a “maneuver to gain time” by removing emergency rule.
“They are basically telling the people, ‘We have fulfilled your demands, so go home and if you don’t we will break your head,’” he told The Associated Press by telephone from Damascus. “But in reality nothing will change.”
So far, Assad’s strategy has been to couple dry promises of reform with a relentless crackdown. In addition ending the state of emergency, he fulfilled a decades-old demand by granting citizenship to thousands among Syria’s long-ostracized Kurdish minority, fired local officials, released detainees and formed a new government.
Protesters say Assad has unleashed his security forces along with shadowy, pro-government thugs known as “shabiha” to brutalize and intimidate them. Authorities have also played on fears of sectarian strife — so clearly destructive in neighboring Iraq and Lebanon — trying to persuade the broader public that the protests by tens of thousands will bring nothing but chaos.
Syria has multiple sectarian divisions, largely kept in check under Assad’s heavy hand and his regime’s secular ideology. Most significantly, the majority of the population is Sunni Muslim, but Assad and the ruling elite belong to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiism.

Assad’s actions have only emboldened the protesters.

“The people know that once you hit the streets you cannot go back, or it’s finished,” said David Schenker,Cheap Abercrombie And Fitch outlet uk, director of the Program on Arab Politics at The Washington Institute.

Assad’s regime has labeled the protest movement as an “armed insurrection” and a power grab by Islamic extremists — descriptions that could give authorities the cover to continue the crackdown.

Syria’s official news agency SANA said Tuesday the Cabinet also approved abolishing the state security court, which handled the trials of political prisoners, and approved a new law allowing the right to stage peaceful protests with the permission of the Interior Ministry.

The changes need parliament approval, but no objections are expected at its next session planned for May 2.

U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner expressed skepticism about Assad’s claims of reform.

“He has cast himself for a while now as a reformer,” Toner said. “We’ve seen a lot of words and not a lot of action. But ultimately it’s really for the Syrian people to decide if he said enough, or if he’s done enough.”

Syria’s descent is an astonishing turn because it has been one of the region’s most tightly controlled nations for decades, under Assad and under his father and predecessor, Hafez Assad.

As uprisings swept across the Arab world in January, Bashar Assad told the Wall Street Journal that his country was immune to such unrest because he is in tune with his people’s needs.

Assad has indeed maintained a level of popular support during his 11 years in power, in no small part because of his anti-Israel policies, which resonate with his countrymen. And unlike leaders in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Jordan, Assad is not allied with the United States, so he has been spared the accusation that he caters to American demands.

But the mood over the past four weeks has changed markedly.

Enraged by a mounting death toll, Syrians are joining the protest movement in growing numbers and from a broader cross-section of society. Assad is now dealing with a cycle driven by rage and vengeance that has all but eclipsed the political aspirations of the original calls for reform.

The crackdown also has altered a view held by many people — in Syria and abroad — that Assad is a reformer at heart who was constrained by members of his late father’s old guard who are clinging to power, fearing an end to their privileges.

Despite the range of opinions about Assad’s motivations,Abercrombie And Fitch Mens For UK, his road to power followed a path taken by dictators the world over: He inherited power from his father after winning a sham election.

Assad gave up an ophthalmology practice in Britain to enter Syrian politics when his brother Basil, widely regarded as his father’s chosen heir, died in a 1994 car crash. To mesh into the military-dominated power structure, he brushed up on military training and became an army colonel.

After his father’s death, Parliament quickly lowered the presidential age requirement from 40 to 34 so that the ruling Baath party could nominate him. His appointment was sealed by a nationwide referendum, in which he was the only candidate.

______

Kennedy reported from Cairo.

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Banks brace for Fed’s debit fee crackdown

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – U.S. banks could lose billions of dollars of annual revenue as new regulations cut into debit card fees, and lenders will likely be fighting regulators for years for the right to charge new fees to make up for lost profit.

The Federal Reserve is due to unveil curbs to so-called debit “interchange” fees on Thursday, as part of the sweeping Dodd-Frank financial reform bill signed into law in July.Banks and transaction processors Visa Inc and MasterCard Inc collect the fees from retailers every time a customer buys something with a debit card.The Fed has provided little indication of how it plans to restrict interchange fees, and banks and networks say they are uncertain about what to expect.The stakes are high, and detail on the Fed’s proposed limits could dent the share prices of the biggest banks and credit card lenders, including Bank of America Corp and JPMorgan Chase & Co.Lobbyists following the issue have said the Fed is tightly holding information about the rule and it is not clear whether the agency on Thursday will spell out exactly what the fee limit will be, or whether it will seek comments on two or three proposals for how limits could be set.The U.S. banking industry overall could lose $9 billion out of the $22.8 billion in debit card fees banks collect each year, according to credit card comparison web site CardHub.com. But most bank investors and analysts are bracing for worse.”If it’s a 50 percent reduction or less, that’s better or as good as the market is expecting,” said Evan Staples, equity analyst with First American Funds, which owns shares of U.S. banks and networks Visa and MasterCard.Bank of America, the largest U.S. retail bank, spooked investors in July when it said the law could cost it between 60 percent to 80 percent of its annual debit fee revenues – or $1.8 billion to $2.3 billion – alone. The company’s shares sold off nearly 12 percent in the days following its warning.WHACK-A-MOLEBanks and networks are weighing ways to make up for the lost debit revenue. They may reduce services, or charge new fees, or both.”No business is going to offer a service that loses money,” said Trish Wexler, a spokeswoman for the Electronic Payments Coalition, which is made up of banks and credit card companies.New fees could clash with another provision of Dodd-Frank — the creation of a new consumer protection bureau, which will have the ability to write and enforce rules on consumer financial products. Some industry members expect the agency to take an unfavorable view of any new fees that banks add to debit cards in order to make up for lost interchange revenue.”It is going to be a bit of a game of whack-a-mole,” said Intrepid Ventures payments consultant Eric Grover,Abercrombie And Fitch Outlet online, referring to a popular carnival game in which mechanical moles are whacked, only to pop up elsewhere.”Any fees on financial services products are potentially at risk with this agency,” Grover said.But Robert Hunt, director of the Philadelphia Fed’s payment cards center, a research unit, said problems may arise more from disclosures than any new fees themselves.”The challenge will be, if you start charging a new price you have to disclose it,” he said in an interview in Philadelphia on Tuesday. “If you’re not good at those disclosures, that could create some issues in the long run.”LOST IN THE SHUFFLEAnalysts expect Visa and MasterCard, which process debit transactions but pass most of the fees on to the banks, to be less directly affected by the Fed’s rules.But a cut in debit interchange could ultimately reduce the fees that banks are willing, or able, to pay Visa and MasterCard for processing transactions.Shares of both networks fell over 20 percent after the provision limiting debit interchange was introduced in May, but have largely rebounded this fall. As investors await more certainty on how the networks will be affected by the Fed’s curbs, they said that any news would be good news.”The credit card companies are definitely in a preferred position,” said Michael Holland, chairman of money manager Holland & Co, which owns shares of U.S. banks and Visa.Although the banks may ultimately feel more of an impact from the Fed rules than the card networks,Abercrombie And Fitch discount Outlet, some investors expect the impact of debit interchange reductions to pale in comparison to the other effects of Dodd-Frank — not to mention more recent industry concerns about potential massive losses on mortgage bonds.The interchange provision “is less of an overhang on the big banks than some of the other provisions of the bill and less of an overhang than this mortgage putbacks issue,” First American’s Staples said.(Reporting by Maria Aspan in Philadelphia and New York; additional reporting by Dave Clarke in Washington; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)