Happy Friday, dear friends. I hope you all have a marvelous day, and an even better weekend when you can relax and do things that bring your heart joy.
Last night, I made some delicious sauce out of the two tomatoes I harvested from my late-season plants. The harvest was small, certainly, but it brought me great happiness to taste the summer bounty. It reminded me to make the best of little blessings in my life.
Today we look at news in international banking and then we bounce around from there, thanks to some amazing links shared by dear readers. So grab your coffee in a travel mug and let’s get started!
Big fines for international banks linked to currency rigging.
In the continuing saga of fines (but no criminal charges), regulators in the US, UK and Switzerland levied $4.25 Billion in penalties against banks involved in rigging the international currency markets.
The banks included in the action were UBS, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, HSBC, and the Royal Bank of Scotland. Barclays, in the UK, was also scheduled to be part of the settlement, but withdrew before the announcement, as they were unsure of their liability moving forward.
Industry sources say all regulatory groups are still deciding whether to take criminal action against the banks, but moves in that direction will come next year. In response to the issue, banks have made changes to their regulatory protocol, firing many traders who were involved in the rigging. It would be interesting to know if these massive fines will be used to pay restitution to investors who were scammed in the Group of 10 nations currency manipulation.
In a related article, the CEO of the Royal Bank of Scotland reacts to evidence gathered in the international investigation on traders who, seemingly, participated in rigging, independent of company policy. Note that 80% of RBS is owned by taxpayers.
RBS boss admits – I cringed when I read forex chat room messages by Kamal Ahmed for BBC News
Moving on…
Research skyscraper of the sea takes a step into reality.
Most miraculous advances in our world start with a dream. French architect Jacques Rougerie’s dream was to create the SeaOrbiter. He refined the plans for this sea craft for over a decade, and now it may move into development.
The SeaOrbiter is a giant craft that sits on the ocean surface, but like an iceberg, descends down to the depths. The craft has research stations set at every level, and would be piloted by both astronauts and marine scientists to explore the vast world under the waves.
Recently, a combination of public and private investment have moved the once imaginary vessel out of the conceptual phase and into development. One of its sponsors is the European Space Agency, which just landed a robot probe on a comet.
The SeaOrbiter project hopes to be circling the oceans continuously and making new discoveries at all depths of the sea. Scale-model experiments will now be evaluated in order to begin full size development as more funding becomes available.
Skyscraper of the Sea: Research Ship Sailed by Astronauts on Web Urbanist
Starting a new movement based on random acts of forgiveness.
Pam Grout is a world traveler and a writer who focuses on positivism, creativity and manifestation. She is a New York Times bestselling author of a number of books on New Age subjects.
In this article, she speaks about starting a new movement based on random acts of forgiveness. She discusses a young Muslim man who went to a local mosque to apologize for his unloving behavior, and how those at the mosque responded to him.
She believes that random acts of forgiveness are a bit more difficult than random acts of kindness, because we must evaluate our reasons for keeping others out of our hearts. Pam says we can all find instances where we have closed our hearts, and how good it would be to open up to love again.
Random acts of forgiveness: a new movement starting today by Pam Grout on Pam Grout.com
And finally…
Canadian homeless man shares his beautiful piano skills.
Roslyn Polard was walking through Churchill Square, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, when she heard music so beautiful she had to stop and turn around. She saw a piano sitting outside of a building, with a homeless man playing it.
She approached to listen more closely, and began to film the concert. She found out that the man’s name was Ray, and she was moved by his original piano pieces. When she went home, she put the video up on Youtube and it went viral.
She hopes to find Ray and give him the money his beautiful playing earned on the internet.
After the video went viral on Youtube, CNN tracked Ray down to interview him. His name is actually Ryan Arcand and he was taken from his parents and placed in foster care as a child. He did not begin playing piano until he was 8 years old.
Ryan Arcand CNN interview video on CNN News
That’s the news for today. Have a fantastic day. I hope to see you back here tomorrow for more news.
Be Well. Be Joy. Be Love!
Alex