Foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday (14 December) gave a lukewarm reception to EU Commission plans for a new EU border and coast guard force.    The bloc’s executive is to propose, on Tuesday, that the border force be deployed on EU external borders if frontline member states fail to protect the EU boundary.    EU leaders will, at a summit on Thursday, agree to “rapidly” examine the plan, according to the latest draft conclusions, seen by EUobserver. The most controversial part of the proposal is that the force can be deployed even if the target member state doesn’t want it. The commission says deployment can only be blocked if they gather enough support - two thirds of EUCouncil votes - to form a “reversed qualified majority.” Luxembourg foreign affairs minister Jean Asselborn, whose country holds the EU presidency, echoed EU Council chief, Donald Tusk, in saying that uncontrolled migration has the potential to undermine EU free movement in the so called Schengen zone.  “Tusk is right, if we don’t protect our external borders, Schengen will fail,” Asselborn said on Monday.  “The question is how to deal with the sensitivity of member states, such as Italy or Greece. Does it [deployment] happen upon request or can it be triggered if Frontex [the EU border control agency] sees danger on the external border?”, he added. “Every country, which is on the external border and does not want to build a fence, needs to accept a European mechanism,” he said, alluding to Greece, which has waved through more than 700,000 asylum seekers en route to Germany and which put up resistance to EU intervention.

Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has been charged with "negligence" by a French court over her role in a €403m (£293m) sum handed over to a French businessman. Ms Lagarde, the fund’s managing director, has been ordered to stand before the court over her involvement in the Bernard Tapie scandal. The saga extends back over more than two decades, and is rooted to decisions made during her tenure as France's finance minister. Her part in the settlement paid to the tycoon has been played out through the courts for years. Mr Tapie claimed he was shortchanged by Credit Lyonnais bank after its sale of the Adidas sportswear empire in 1993, of which he was head. Despite a French court recommending that Ms Lagarde be acquitted in September, France’s Court of Justice of the Republic has decided that she should face charges. The court exists to deal with the crimes of French ministers while in office. The IMF chief’s lawyer, Yves Repiquet said on Thursday that the court’s decision was “incomprehensible”. Speaking on French television, he said that he would “recommend Ms Lagarde appeal this decision”. In a statement, Ms Lagarde said that she shared “the prosecutors’ view that there is no basis for any charge” against her. She reaffirmed “that she acted in the best interest of the French state, and in full compliance with the law”.  Gerry Rice, the IMF’s communications director, said: “The executive board continues to express its confidence in the managing director’s ability to effectively carry out her duties.” France’s current finance minister, Michel Sapin, said that the court’s decision should not interfere with the IMF’s operations, which see it provide financial assistance to economies in dire straits. “She's innocent until proven guilty, so I don't see how this should prevent her from carrying out her current duties,” he said. Mr Tapie is a controversial figure in French public life. The former president of the Marseille football club has spent a spell in prison for match fixing, and has been convicted for tax fraud.

"Transnational criminal networks can be effectively combatted through strategic cooperation at international level. The European Union cannot even imagine tackling terrorist threats without cooperating with international partners", said Alessandra Mussolini MEP, European Parliament Rapporteur on the Council implementing decision approving the conclusion of the Agreement on Strategic Cooperation in the fight against serious crime and terrorism between the United Arab Emirates and Europol, after today's vote in plenary.  According to the Agreement, the cooperation will include exchange of information on results of strategic analyses, criminal investigation procedures, specialist knowledge, general situation reports, training activities, information on crime prevention methods and the provision of advice and support in individual criminal investigations.

The Rapporteur continued: "This Agreement is more necessary than ever today due to the fact that the United Arab Emirates is becoming a growing hub for economic and financial crime. Structured cooperation with this country will benefit the safety of European citizens who deserve our absolute support at this really critical time." "After the tragic events in Paris, the political Groups which were initially against this Agreement have understood that ideological prerequisites and matters of principle cannot compromise the European responsibility to guarantee the highest standards of security for our citizens. The European Parliament has not missed this chance to support an Agreement whose implementation will improve the safety of our citizens", she concluded.

"We have a clear aim with the Energy Union. It is to strengthen the security of energy supply and increase energy efficiency at an affordable cost", said András Gyürk MEP, the EPP Group Shadow Rapporteur, after the adoption of the European Parliament initiative Report on the Energy Union. "It is up to economic actors to decide which projects make economic sense and what could be the potential of extraction projects in the area of energy. The European Parliament must do its best to provide a sound regulatory environment that includes strict standards with regards to climate, health and environment", Gyürk said. An important brick in the construction of the Energy Union is the plan to achieve a goal of 10 percent cross-border interconnectivity in the internal EU electricity grid.  "Increased interconnectivity is a crucial step towards achieving a true internal electricity market in EU. It must be achieved by more infrastructure as well as better access to the existing infrastructure", said Bendt Bendtsen MEP, the EPP Group Shadow Rapporteur, after the adoption of the initiative Report 'Making Europe's electricity grid fit for 2020'. "It will enable the EU to make better use of the electricity produced in Europe and thus lower dependence on imports, resulting in better energy security and lower electricity prices, to the benefit of European businesses and citizens", Bendtsen concluded.

In a large room in a nondescript modern office block in Seoul, staff from a recruitment company are staging their own funerals. Dressed in white robes, they sit at desks and write final letters to their loved ones. Tearful sniffling becomes open weeping, barely stifled by the copious use of tissues.  And then, the climax: they rise and stand over the wooden coffins laid out beside them. They pause, get in and lie down. They each hug a picture of themselves, draped in black ribbon. As they look up, the boxes are banged shut by a man dressed in black with a tall hat. He represents the Angel of Death. Enclosed in darkness, the employees reflect on the meaning of life.  The macabre ritual is a bonding exercise designed to teach them to value life. Before they get into the casket, they are shown videos of people in adversity - a cancer sufferer making the most of her final days, someone born without all her limbs who learned to swim.    All this is designed to help people come to terms with their own problems, which must be accepted as part of life, says Jeong Yong-mun who runs the Hyowon Healing Centre - his previous job was with a funeral company. The participants at this session were sent by their employer, human resources firm Staffs. "Our company has always encouraged employees to change their old ways of thinking, but it was hard to bring about any real difference," says its president, Park Chun-woong. "I thought going inside a coffin would be such a shocking experience it would completely reset their minds for a completely fresh start in their attitudes."(BBC news)

I dont think Yellen made a mistake , she knows she had to raise rates because she knows that most American pension funds were modeled on an interest rate of about 6 to 8% which they have been unable to achieve for the last ten years. This would have forced pension funds to take more riskier positions. It is also compulsory for pension funds to have a % in government bonds. If these pension funds come under pressure and they have to liquidate, this could put government bonds under pressure. Most European Nations are bankrupt so if their bonds become under pressure we are looking at a very large problem GLOBALLY. There is 200 trillion in the bond market and for the large movers whom might be looking for a bid on 500 billion of bonds and not receive a bid would cause panic.  Differentials in spreads between the USA and Europe because of negative interests rates will cause large capital inflows into the USA, this will cause equity and asset inflation in the USA which will necessitate even higher interest rates, which will cause the USA dollar to soar, That means all of those countries that borrowed in USA dollars at cheap interest rates will find it harder to make payments, USA rising, there currency in decline.  Then you have to look at the west, socialism has only been born from WWII, we had the population explosion (the bubble) and now we are all coming up to retirement, which has not been funded because politicians thought that we would reproduce at the same rate but we didn't, I come from a family of seven and I have two children, which does not even replace the population. Western nations are in decline. Japan demographics are terrible and so is Germany. If you think Merkel is a nice lady letting in 800 thousand refugees from Syria.... think again. She needs these people to pay taxes to pay for her older generations pensions.

Get ready for a very bumpy ride...

Even in recent weeks, Fed policymakers remained split over whether the economy is finally ready for higher rates. On the one hand, the unemployment rate has fallen sharply from 10% in 2009 and monthly job growth has averaged well over 200,000 the past two years, developments that led Fed Chair Janet Yellen to state that a rate increase was likely before the end of 2015. Still, many Americans continue to work part-time even though they prefer full-time jobs or have given up looking for work, though the ranks of such Americans have fallen. Partly as a result of this surplus labor supply, wage growth has only recently shown signs of accelerating beyond the tepid 2% annual pace that has prevailed throughout the recovery.  Broader inflation has been stuck well below the Fed's annual 2% target, both because of meager pay gains as well as low oil prices and a strong dollar that has kept imports cheap for U.S. consumers. The Fed reiterated Wednesday that it expects energy prices and the dollar to stabilize. In September, global economic troubles, which has combined with the rallying greenback to clobber exports, and related market turbulence stayed the Fed's hand.  Citing those forces and feeble inflation, Fed board members Daniel Tarullo and Lael Brainard were among those who have argued for caution, saying the risks of moving too soon and derailing a still-vulnerable recovery outweighed the hazards of waiting and possibly having to raise rates more rapidly to catch up to inflation.  Since October, though, the mood has shifted. China's economic troubles eased somewhat and failed to spread to other emerging markets, stock markets rallied, and U.S. job growth rebounded strongly in October and November from a late-summer slump. As result, momentum for a rate hike began building, both among some Fed policymakers and in financial markets.