Today's News Update 26 September 2008

Update as of 0900 Eastern Time:

Normally I don't delve into the financial world's dealings, but I believe this has reached a point where it is imperative news and effects national security. So with that being said you will be seeing more about this situation within my news updates and my commentaries on them.

Bottom Line Up Front:
1. Bailout Talks
2. WaMu
3. Pakistan
4. Somali Pirates Sieze Ship with Tanks
5. Russia / Venezuela

From Fox News (Bailout):

The fate of the Bush administration's $700 billion Wall Street's bailout package was thrown into doubt Thursday evening, after congressional leaders left a landmark White House summit on the economy hurling accusations at each other and declaring there was no deal.

Congressional leaders continued into the evening negotiating the proposed bailout of the financial industry with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's participation, but the negotiators ended the night without a deal.

The summit at the White House, which included Barack Obama and John McCain, was intended to be a consensus-building exercise — one of the final stops on the rocky road to approving the controversial rescue package. Congressional leaders just hours earlier had announced they had reached an agreement in principle on the rescue package.

But as Obama and McCain left, officials and aides who had attended the meeting said the summit ended on a very low note.

"This meeting ended bad — real bad," one source told FOX News. Others described the tone as "angry" and "heated," saying Democrats were upset with House Republicans in particular who would not drop their opposition to the administration's proposal.

"We may have gone backward," another source said.

From CNN (WaMu):

JPMorgan Chase acquired the banking assets of Washington Mutual late Thursday after the troubled thrift was seized by federal regulators, marking the biggest bank failure in the nation's history and the latest stunning twist in the ongoing credit crisis.

Under the deal, JPMorgan Chase will acquire all the banking operations of WaMu, including $307 billion in assets and $188 billion in deposits.

To put the size of WaMu in context, its assets are equal to about two-thirds of the combined book value assets of all 747 failed thrifts that were sold off by the Resolution Trust Corp. - the former government body that handled the S&L crisis from 1989 through 1995.

In exchange, JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) will pay approximately $1.9 billion to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Separately, JPMorgan announced plans to raise $8 billion in additional capital through the sale of stock as part of the deal.

The acquisition is JPMorgan Chase's second major purchase this year following the mid-March acquisition of investment bank Bear Stearns, a deal that was also engineered by the government.

"We think it is a great thing for our company," JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said in a conference call with investors late Thursday night.

From Fox News (Pakistan):

Pakistan warned U.S. troops not to intrude on its territory Friday after the two anti-terror allies traded fire along the Afghan border, straining already tense ties.

Thursday's five-minute clash came at a time the United States is stepping up cross-border operations in the frontier region, known as a haven for Taliban and Al Qaeda militants.

The clash — the first serious exchange with Pakistani forces acknowledged by the U.S. — follows a string of other alleged border incidents and incursions that have angered many Pakistanis.

Speaking in New York, Pakistan's president tried to play down the incident, saying only that "flares" were fired at foreign helicopters that he said strayed into his country from Afghanistan.

U.S. and NATO military officials said the ground troops and helicopters were in Afghan territory.

Pakistani government spokesman Akram Shaheedi urged U.S.-led coalition forces "not to violate territorial sovereignty of Pakistan as it is counterproductive to the war on terror."

"It has been Pakistan's policy that we will not allow anyone to violate our sovereignty, and we will continue to defend our territorial sovereignty," he said Friday.

From NY Times (Somali):

A Ukrainian ship captured by Somali pirates en route to Somalia is carrying at least 30 tanks, a regional maritime organisation said on Friday.

Ukrainian news agency Interfax-Ukraine also said the ship, operating under a Belize flag, had a military cargo "including about 30 T-72 tanks".

That would be a significant and potentially dangerous seizure in Somalia, where Islamist insurgents have been battling the government and its Ethiopian military allies for nearly two years.

Although the subject of a U.N. arms embargo, the Horn of Africa nation is awash with arms.

Reports that tanks had been taken by pirates also raised questions about their original planned destination.

"Some say it was carrying about 38 tanks, others say 30," said Andrew Mwangura, of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme.

"In the past, military equipment has come through Mombasa on its way to south Sudan, but we have not seen any south Sudanese officials at the port waiting. And anyway, there is an arms embargo for Sudan."

From Fox News (Russia / Venezuela):

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says relations with Latin America will be a foreign policy priority for the Russian government.

Putin, who is meeting with visiting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, says Russia is willing to discuss further military contacts with Venezuela and help it develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

Chavez said during Thursday's meeting that close ties between Venezuela and Russia would strengthen a multi-polar world.

Chavez' visit takes place as a Russian naval squadron sails to Venezuela, across the Caribbean Sea from the United States, in a pointed response to what the Kremlin portrays as threatening U.S. encroachment near its own borders.

From NY Times (Russia / Venezuela):

Russia will loan Venezuela $1 billion for arms purchases and military development, a Kremlin spokesman said Friday, the second day of a visit here by resident Hugo Chávez aimed at tightening a relationship that has caused increasing discomfort in the West.

Mr. Chávez , who is on his second visit to Russia in two months, met with Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin on Thursday, and on Friday traveled to the southern city of Orenburg near the border with Kazakhstan to meet with President Dmitri A. Medvedev.

A Kremlin statement released Thursday night said Mr. Putin and Mr. Chávez had spoken on enhancing economic cooperation and trade in commercial goods as well as military technologies.

The $1 billion loan will help finance programs related to military-technical cooperation, the statement said. The Kremlin spokesman, who spoke anonymously under normal diplomatic ground rules, would not elaborate on the details of the deal.

More to Follow:

God Bless America

Bryan Sphere: Related Content