The Fed is About to Make Life Harder For Big Banks … It's considering changes to its annual stress test. The Federal Reserve administers stress tests to the largest U.S. banks each year to see how they would fare in a hypothetically turbulent economy. The regulator is expected to make those tests more difficult to pass. No changes have officially been proposed but, as the New York Times...Read More

NATO urges calm after Turkey downs Russian jet … NATO and UN urge a de-escalation in tensions between Ankara and Moscow after Turkish planes shot down Russian jet. … NATO has called on Turkey and Russia to show restraint as tensions rise in the wake of the downing of a Russian jet near the Turkey-Syria border. The Russian warplane was shot down for violating Turkish airspace on Tuesday...Read More

More than 30 "White Student Union" pages created on Facebook in last week … The creation of an "Illini White Student Union" Facebook page that surfaced Nov. 18 in response to a "Black Student Solidarity Rally" at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign gained national attention, but apparently it's just the tip of the iceberg. Over the last week, at l...Read More

The United States Has To Lead … Former Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta thinks the United States has not provided strong enough leadership in the battle to defeat ISIS. "I think the U.S. has to lead in this effort because what we've learned a long time ago is that if the United States does not lead, nobody else will," Panetta told Chuck Todd on NBC's "Meet the Press.&...Read More

Syrian refugees are not a threat to U.S. … The fact that one of the Paris terrorists was posing as a Syrian refugee has caused some to ask whether one of the lessons of the Paris attacks is either to end or to "pause" accepting Syrian refugees into the States. The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill Thursday to pause the relatively small number of Syrian refu...Read More

'Spider in web' mastermind of Paris attacks killed in raid … The suspected Islamic State mastermind of the Paris attacks was among those killed in a police raid north of the capital, France confirmed on Thursday, bringing an end to the hunt for Europe's most wanted man. Authorities said they had identified the mangled corpse of Belgian national Abdelhamid Abaaoud from fingerprint...Read More

Legendary investor Jim Rogers joins EM's Global Advisory Board … Iconic founder of the Quantum Fund to advise leading emerging markets focused financial and corporate communications agency. EM, the leading emerging markets focused financial PR and IR consultancy, is delighted to announce that world-renowned investor Jim Rogers has agreed to join its Global Advisory Board … Tom Blac...Read More

French President François Hollande was quick to declare a state of emergency in the wake of Friday's bloody terror attacks in Paris. But what does the "etat d'urgence" mean for the country and its citizens as they go about their daily lives? The state of emergency measures are set out in a 1955 law and are designed to be used in "cases of imminent danger resulting fro...Read More

Saudi Wahhabi dilemma in spotlight after Paris attack … Saudi Arabia's harsh religious tradition is seen by many outsiders – and some Saudi liberals – as a root cause of the international jihadist threat that has inflamed the Middle East for years and struck in Paris last week. However, while Riyadh has cracked down hard on jihadists at home, jailing thousands, stopping hundr...Read More

US Fed likely to tighten before year end … The US Federal Reserve is on track to raise rates before year end, with a pick-up in economic activity and positive dialogue emerging from the central bank – Investor DailyDominant Social Theme: The economy is booming. Hike, hike, hike. It's all we can do.Free-market Analysis: The tightening talk is picking up. Principal Global Investors m...Read More

France identifies Paris attacks mastermind, seeks coalition to fight ISIS … France identified a 27-year-old Belgian who once boasted about killing "infidels" and fought for the Islamic State group in Syria as the mastermind of the Paris attacks, and President Francois Hollande vowed Monday to forge a united coalition capable of defeating the jihadists at home and abroad. – Ch...Read More

Paris attacks: Islamic State claims responsibility, French president Francois Hollande calls it 'act of war' … In a statement posted online, IS said the attacks were a response to France's campaign against its fighters and insults against Islam's prophet. It said "eight brothers wearing explosive belts and carrying assault rifles" conducted a "blessed attack on...Read More

Catalonia rejects pro-secession leader for 2nd time … Regional Catalan lawmakers are debating whether to re-elect acting regional President Artur Mas, leader of a secessionist alliance promising to break away from Spain and form a new Mediterranean nation by mid-2017. Spain's Constitutional Court on Wednesday ordered the secession resolution temporarily suspended and warned Mas and his a...Read More

State Investigates Why Cops Killed Idaho Rancher Who Was Trying to Put Down a Bull … Idaho State Police and the Idaho Attorney General's Office are investigating the puzzling shooting of 62-year-old rancher Jack Yantis by Adams County sheriff's deputies on November 1. The shooting followed a traffic accident in which one of Yantis' bulls was injured, but it remains unclear exactl...Read More

The Link Between Europe's Migrant Crisis and the Climate Change … There's a lot both sides could learn. One of the predominant news stories over the past few months has been the migrant crisis in Europe. Driven by civil wars, refugees from the Middle East and beyond are flowing into the European Union. Over the next 18 months, the UN is expecting more than 1.4 million refugees to arr...Read More

C2 FOR HYBRID WAR: THE MARINES PREPARING FOR COMBAT … Counter-insurgency warfare has been the dominant template dominating U.S military engagements for more than a decade. Joint warfare has been largely defined in terms of the air and naval services supporting the ground forces doing COIN … In a recent article by Francis Tusa, the age of COIN has been decisively replaced by the demands...Read More

The Federal Reserve's Shifting Makeup … The professional background of the Federal Reserve's leadership has moved from one that was dominated by bankers to one that is heavily academic … Fed research economists are Ph.D.s by training who worked in the Fed's economic research divisions and typically publish academic research; Fed administrators worked as managers in other as...Read More

Chris Christie calls for Federal Reserve to be audited during GOP candidate debate … Several Republican presidential candidates on Tuesday accused the Federal Reserve of keeping U.S. interest rates low for political reasons, and one called for replacing Fed Chair Janet Yellen. "The Fed should be audited and the Fed should stop playing politics with our money supply," New Jersey Gov...Read More

OECD cuts global growth forecasts amid 'deep concern' over slowdown .. A "deeply concerning" slowdown in trade, particularly with China, will lead to lower global economic growth this year, says the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Global GDP is now expected to grow by 2.9%, down from 3% forecast in September, but will hit 3.3% in 2016 … The OECD call...Read More

Putin sends 4,000 troops to Syria as he steps up bid to WIPE OUT the evil Islamic State …Vladimir Putin has sent 4,000 troops to Syria to fight ISIS The figure has doubled since Moscow began airstrikes against the notorious terror group at the end of September, according to US officials. They also claimed the number of bases used by Mr Putin's men in the war-torn nation has grown. Hundre...Read More