TOP STORIES:
Far
right in Europe sees opportunity after wave of terror in France - (www.washingtonpost.com) The wave of terror
that left 17 people dead in and around Paris has ushered in a new sense of
insecurity across Europe — but also what could be a defining moment for the
anti-immigrant, anti-Islam forces of the far right. Nationalist and populist
movements are surging across the region, most notably in France, where the
National Front — a party once linked to former Nazi collaborators — has become
the nation’s third-largest political force. Yet now it appears that the far
right sees an opening in the new atmosphere of angst that could help bolster
its long-standing critiques of Islam and calls for tighter security and immigration
caps. The terrorist violence is also fueling fears of a backlash against
Muslims, particularly among France’s community of 5 million, the largest
in Europe. Muslim leaders say the days after last week’s shootings have produced 54
“anti-Muslim attacks” – an unprecedented number that includes the beating of a
Muslim boy after a moment of silence for last week’s victims as well as
multiple arson attacks on mosques.
Inflation plunges to all-time low of 0.5pc - (www.telegraph.co.uk) Inflation has slipped
to a 14-year low of 0.5pc, lower than economists and the markets had expected.
The UK economy is in danger of falling into deflation, the Bank of England’s
Governor warned on Tuesday as data showed that inflation had fallen to a
14-year low. Price growth fell to 0.5pc in December, a bigger slump than
economists had anticipated. A poll of analysts before the numbers were release
predicted that inflation would ease from 1pc to 0.7pc. Mark Carney, the
Governor of the Bank of England, told BBC News: “We will expect it to fall
further, and inflation to continue to drift down in the coming months.” In a
separate interview, Mr Carney told ITV News that deflation was now
"possible". Inflation has now hit a level only once before recorded
by the Office for National Statistics - in May 2000. George Osborne, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, said that the data were “welcome news” with
“inflation at its lowest level in modern times”.
Oil
Drops Below $45; U.S. Stockpiles May Speed Collapse - (www.bloomberg.com) Oil fell below $45 a
barrel amid speculation that U.S. stockpiles will increase, exacerbating a
global supply glut that’s driven prices to the lowest in more than 5 1/2 years.
Crude inventories probably gained 1.75
million barrels last week, a Bloomberg News survey showed before government
data tomorrow. The United Arab Emirates, a member of the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, will continue to expand output
capacity, while shale drillers will probably be the first to curb production as
prices fall, according to Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei. The U.S. benchmark
crude briefly traded above Brent for the first time since July 2013.
Police
Drones Over Berkeley Trigger Backlash - (www.bloomberg.com)
A move
by police agencies in the San Francisco Bay
Area to deploy drones for the first time is provoking a
backlash from leaders and activists who fear the surveillance will allow
authorities to peer into private lives. “Berkeley and the Bay Area have a long
history of political discussion, protests and debate, and there’s a real
concern around the use of these drones under those circumstances, and the
broader privacy issues,” said Jesse Arreguin, a Berkeley city council member
who represents the downtown area near the University of California’s
flagship campus. UC Berkeley, the birthplace of the free speech movement of the
1960s and a hotbed of political activism, would be among places subject to the
police use of drones as local law-enforcement agencies
pursue the new technology to monitor crime in progress.
Turkish
President's Stunning Outburst: The French Are Behind The Charlie Hebdo
Massacre; Mossad Blamed - (www.zerohedge.com)
It was less than 48 hours ago
when Turkey’s prime minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, joined millions marching in
Paris to pay tribute to the 17 people killed by ISIS-supporting extremists.
Then, almost the moment he got back, things changed, and as the FT politely paraphrases what
transpired, the "country’s president struck a much more confrontational
tone." That's one way of putting it. Another is that the former PM and
current president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, of NATO-member Turkey did
the unthinkable: accused the west, and French citizens in particular, of
staging the Charlie Hebdo murder in order to blame Muslims, even as the mayor
of Ankara said "Mossad is definitely behind such incidents . . . it is
boosting enmity towards Islam." "The duplicity of the west is
obvious,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a press conference on Monday evening. “As
Muslims we have never sided with terror or massacres: racism, hate speech, Islamophobia are behind these massacres.” His
punchline: "The culprits are clear: French citizens undertook this
massacre and Muslims were blamed for it,” he added. The FT is confused:
"Although political leaders in Turkey have repeatedly condemned the
attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine, a Jewish supermarket and a policewoman,
a parallel narrative has emerged in the country, with conspiracy theorists
blaming the murders on foreign intelligence agencies rather than radical
Islamists."
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