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Your second place to come to for news of use to international Switzerland
The U.N.'s week ahead
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Headlines for Internationalists
Turkish parliament ratifies Finland's NATO accession as Sweden kept waiting — reuters — 30 March 2023 (LINK)
Four bankers at Gazprombank who helped Putin's friend concert cellist Sergey Roldugin set up Swiss bank account convicted and given suspended sentences plus fines totalling $809,000 — ground.news: 63 sources — 30 March 2023 (LINK)
— Judge Sebastian Aeppli said it was not possible to establish the real owner of the funds, but the bankers had failed in their duty to conduct due diligence and check. "It has been proven without doubt that Roldugin cannot be the beneficial owner," Aeppli said.The bank eventually closed the accounts in September 2016.
Top UN court rejects Iranian bid to free assets frozen by US — ground.news: 94 sources — 30 March 2023 (LINK)
Antarctic ocean currents headed for collapse, say scientists — dw — 30 March 2023 (LINK)
Bahrain sentences 3 to year in jail for questioning Islamic teachings — ground.news: 23 sources — 30 March 2023 (LINK)
Florida aquarium to release orca after more than 50 years in captivity — ground.news: 101 sources — 30 March 2023 (LINK)
'Hotel Rwanda' hero Paul Rusesabagina arrives back in US — cnn — 29 March 2023 (LINK)
WMO's hurricane committee retires Fiona and Ian from list of names for their death and destruction: Farrah will be used to replace Fiona in the lists of names, whilst Idris will replace Ian — wmo — 29 March 2023 (LINK)
— In total, 96 names have now been retired from the Atlantic basin list since 1953, when storms began to be named under the current system.
Breaking news: expect these to change
Donald Trump indicted by Manhattan grand jury on more than 30 counts related to business fraud: the first time in American history that a current or former president has faced criminal charges — source — 31 March 2023 (LINK)
— Trump released a statement in response to the indictment claiming it was "Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history."
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has vowed to launch an investigation into the matter, and congressional Republicans quickly rallied to Trump's defense, attacking district attorney Bragg on Twitter and accusing the DA of a political witch hunt.
"Outrageous," tweeted House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio, one of the Republican committee chairmen who has demanded Bragg testify before Congress about the Trump investigation. Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, called the indictment "completely unprecedented" and said it is "a catastrophic escalation in the weaponization of the justice system."
Alexei Moskalev: Father of girl who drew anti-war picture arrested on run in Minsk — ground.news: 42 sources — 30 March 2023 (LINK)
Russia arrests Wall Street Journal reporter for espionage — ground.news: 408 sources — 30 March 2023 (LINK)
Pope Francis has infectious bronchitis and is treated with antibiotics at the hospital — ground.news: 181 sources — 30 March 2023 (LINK)
Arrests made in deadly fire at Mexico detention center: warrants were issued against three immigration institute officers, two private security officers and the person who allegedly started the fire — ground.news: 15 sources — 29 March 2023 (LINK)
Ukraine roundup
Miscellaneous news
EU reaches deal on more ambitious renewable energy targets for 2030 — ground.news: 58 sources — 30 March 2023 (LINK)
— By 2030, 42.5 percent of energy consumption should come from renewable energies. However, the role of nuclear energy is causing criticism.
Gwyneth Paltrow wins ski collision case: Paltrow was also victorious in her counterclaim against the man who sued her: jury in the civil trial deliberated for a little over two hours — cnn — 31 March 2023 (LINK)
The Fed Loses Money For The First Time In 107 Years — seekingalpha.com — 31 March 2023 (LINK)
— The immediate reason for the losses is because Fed has an asset/liability mismatch on their balance sheet. The Fed's assets are primarily long-term fixed rate US Treasury Bonds and Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS,) while their liabilities are short term and variable rate. As the Fed has been tightening over the past year to combat inflation, the interest rate they earn on their fixed rate holdings in their System Open Market Account (SOMA) has remained constant, while the cost of their liabilities has increased with each Fed tightening move to raise the Fed Funds rate.
At year end the Fed had $8.4 trillion in fixed rate assets earning 1.85%. On the liability side the Fed had $5.6 trillion of reverse repurchase agreements and depository bank reserves, that they must pay interest on. The break-even rate for the Fed was when they had to pay 2.75% on their liabilities.
The irony of the Fed's situation is that they have the same exact asset/liability mismatch on their balance sheet that is roiling the banking industry causing the current banking crisis. The Fed is trying to douse the flames of a burning banking industry while their own house is on fire.
To put the Fed's unrealized loss position in perspective, their unrealized loss of $1.1 trillion at year end is nearly double that of the entire US banking system!
In a commercial bank, this would create insolvency, but the Fed operates by a different set of rules. Under Fed accounting, the losses have no impact on its capital. Instead, the losses are carried in a newly created deferred asset account called "Earnings Remittances Due to the Treasury," which is recorded as a negative liability on the balance sheet. Losses will continue to increase the deferred asset account until the Fed turns profitable again and those earnings will then be used to reduce the deferred asset. Such treatment causes the Fed to create new reserves to cover the losses.
