Sunday 24 June 2012

More Airport Madness - Isreali Airport Security now demands personal email accounts.

More Airport Madness - Isreali Airport Security now demands personal email accounts.

Israel airport security demands access to tourists' private email accounts


Several U.S. tourists report being asked by airport security personnel for access to their personal email accounts; Israel's Shin Bet security service says it acted within the law.

Link to Haaretz Article

Israel's Shin Bet security service has been demanding access to personal email accounts of visiting tourists with Arab names, according to the testimony of three U.S. citizens who were interrogated at Ben Gurion Airport and subsequently refused entry into Israel in May.

Najwa Doughman, a 25-year-old architect from New York, landed in Israel on May 26. Doughman, who had already visited Israel three times in the past, planned to tour the country for ten days with a friend, Sasha Al-Sarabi, 24, who was visiting Israel for the first time. Both women were born to Palestinian families who were expelled from Haifa and Akko in 1948.

Around 5 P.M., approximately an hour after landing, Doughman's interrogation began. She was questioned by a female security guard who did not divulge her name or position. Another female questioner was also present.

Wednesday 13 June 2012

The Wisdom of the FX Market



This was sent to me by a good friend and it captures a number of things that have been going through my mind about the FX market recently.

I post it here for you edification. =)

Christopher Carrion
  
Top Education  


Boris Schlossberg


On trading FXMy last night in London I was having dinner with David Aranzabal and Ashraf Laidi at a very posh restaurant in Mayfair (I was with Asharf after all) and conversation turned to stories about many wealthy clients that each one of encountered over the years that managed to blow up tens of millions of dollars trading FX. 
Most of these people were extremely successful entrepreneurs, often self made men who started with literally nothing, to accumulate vast fortunes in shipping, real estate, construction and other business endeavors. Clearly these were capable, talented men (and they were uniformly male) yet they managed to blow up their massive accounts with alarming speed.

Why?


The Safety of Bullion

Well, it's been a turbulent last couple of months in the markets to be sure, with the eurozone countries being picked off one by one until they are forced into fiscal union via the eurobond. Of course, as soon as the crisis in the EU is resolved, all eyes will once again swing back to the USA, which is in an even worse position than Greece. Needless to say, the Americans have a vested interest in keeping the focus on the "Euro Crisis"

However, apart from all that, the first thing I wanted to look at is the recent activity of the AUD.



Ok, now this is the daily chart for the AUD/USD pair, with a line highlighted where the AUD reaches Parity with the USD. Notice that after falling though that line half way through May, they are now nearly back at parity. In my opinion, this is because of currency inflows from foreign countries, since the AUD is seen as more secure than either the EUR or the USD.
However, the RBA, after announcing it's rate cut (which was probably responsible for the rise again back towards parity) have said that it is the AUS Govt's policy to let the dollar drift lower to make their exports cheaper.