SPY

Following the humiliation of having a US ambassador summoned so he would explain the spying conducted by the US government, in liberated Paris of all places (because while the NSA spying on your own citizens is an absolute travesty and trampling of basic human rights and smacks of Stalingrad circa 1960, spying abroad is permitted, accepted and largely forgiven by all the developed nations - after all everyone does it) the US has struck back in the most poetic way imaginable: it said that whatever phone records the NSA acquired were passed on to it by the local spy agencies of none other than France and Spain. The implication is simple: the local people understandably furious at the US and screaming blood, have just been given a far more convenient target at which to fume: their own governments.

Demonstrated concisely with four pictures...

• U.S. spy chiefs face Congress amid spying rift with Europe (Reuters)
• Deutsche Bank income hit by €1.2bn of legal provisions (FT)
• China's second tapering attempt fails: China central bank seeks to reassure money markets after rate spike (Reuters)
• UBS Takes Action Against Staff in Foreign-Exchange Probe (WSJ)
• Saudi Arabia frees man jailed for Mohammad tweets (Reuters)
• Tax Revolts Hit Hollande as Farmers, Soccer Clubs Protest (BBG)
• German parliament to meet over U.S. spying scandal (Reuters)
• Google Nears Smartwatch Launch (WSJ)
• How to end gridlock in DC? Pork projects (Reuters)
• UBS ordered to increase capital reserves (FT)

The world's first Bitcoin ATM will be ready for use this week at a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. Created by Las Vegas based Robocoin, the new ATM in Vancouver will allow users to turn bitcoins directly into Canadian dollars, or turn Canadian dollars into bitcoins. As The Telegraph reports, the ATM first scans the user's palm to ensure security and transfers are limited to CAD$3,000 per day. Until now, the currency existed only on the web but the introduction of these ATMs brings bitcoin-as-cash usage closer. The RoboCoin kiosks are expected to make the process of buying and selling Bitcoins much easier says Jordan Kelley, the company's chief executive. "Our goal is to make Bitcoin truly grandma-friendly," says Kelley. This is especially notable in light of President Obama asking Eric Schmidt if "Bitcoin is anything he has to worry about?"

Continuing to play Obama like a fiddle, the Snowden revelations have done more to change US foreign policy in a few short months, than all laws passed since the advent of the Patriot Act. In the latest example of just this, moments ago, USA Today first and the WSJ and others subsequently, reported that according to Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee and an NSA supporter, the National Security Agency has stopped gathering intelligence on allied political leaders, a practice that has drawn global criticism. "The White House has informed me that collection on our allies will not continue, which I support," according to Feinstein. It was not immediately clear if this is an implicit admission that the White House actually did know about the NSA's spying on foreign leaders over the past decade, and lied about being unaware. Recall that Obama denied just this last night, but at this point the pit of lies is so deep, few actually care or are keeping track.

Radiation Levels Will Concentrate in Pockets at Certain  West Coast Locations

While the "indignation" by America's allies will come and go, the punchline in the overnight response to NSA's ongoing reputational hammering came not from Europe, but from China.

• CHINA FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN HUA CHUNYING COMMENTS ON NSA
• CHINA SAYS NSA PHONE TAPS VIOLATE LEADERS' PRIVACY

Because when even China makes fun of your spying practices, it's probably time to call it a ballgame.

• Budget deficit priorities people: U.S. NSA spied on 60 million Spanish phone calls in a month (Reuters)
• Stuck in countless scandals, Obama does what he does best: speak. Obama To Speak At Installation Of FBI Director James Comey (TPM)
• Five killed as car ploughs into crowd in Beijing's Tiananmen Square (Reuters)
• U.K. Storm Brings Power Cuts, Snarls Transport in South (BBG)
• China Signals ‘Unprecedented’ Policy Changes on Agenda at Plenum (BBG)
• Sandy's Legacy: Higher Home Prices (WSJ)
• Merkel Enters Concrete SPD Talks as Finance Post Looms (BBG)
• Keep arming those Syrian al-qaeda rebels: Car bombs kill scores in Baghdad, in sign of crisis in Iraq (WaPo)
• J.P. Morgan's Mortgage Troubles Ran Deep (WSJ)
• Detroit’s public library contains story of city’s decline (FT)
• Argentina elections: President loses in Buenos Aires province (BBC)
• Phone-hacking: trial of Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks to begin (Guardian)

• NSA boss Keith Alexander personally informed Obama in 2010 about secret operations targeting German chancellor and president didn’t demand to stop it, Bild am Sonntag reported, citing unidentified U.S. intelligence sources: Bild
• US denies Obama knew of Merkel spying: AFP
• Merkel to seek 'no spy deal' within EU as well as with US: Reuters
• Merkel Violated Rules With Use of Party Mobile Phone, Welt Says
• NSA spied on Merkel’s text messages, mobile phone calls: Bild
• NSA specialists didn’t tap Merkel’s specially secured landline
• Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich says tapping phones is crime and needs to be prosecuted, says trust has evaporated: Bild

• Contractors describe scant pre-launch testing of U.S. healthcare site (Reuters)
• Carney Says BOE Revamp Offers Wider Access to Cheaper Funds (BBG)
• Help wanted in Fukushima: Low pay, high risks and gangsters (Reuters)
• Merkel and Hollande to change intelligence ties with US (FT)
• Twitter IPO pegs valuation at modest $11 billion (Reuters)
• NSA monitored calls of 35 world leaders after US official handed over contacts (Guardian)
• Officials alert foreign services that Snowden has documents on their cooperation with U.S. (WaPo)
• Scottish Nationalists Lose Vote After Plant Threatened With Axe (BBG)
• Fernández contemplates a train wreck in Argentine elections (FT)
• Irish Government will consider ‘best options’ for bailout exit (Irish Times)

Charts Show that U.S. Policy Has Increased Terror Attacks

The Spying Has Been Going On For DECADES

It was only two months ago that France's socialist president, Francois Hollande, in his quest to show just how great his allegiance was to the eat tax the rich "fairness doctrine" and socialist causes espoused by the glorious leader on the other side of the Atlantic, and to said glorious leader himself, that France was prepared to almost singlehandedly invade Syria (and surrender shortly thereafter) on the basis of several fabricated YouTube clips. So strong was the socialist bond. Less than 60 days later, how quickly the alliances within the second coming of the Comintern have changed: over the weekend, Spiegel and Le Monde revealed that the US NSA secretly monitored tens of millions of phone calls in France and hacked into former Mexican President Felipe Calderon's email account. The spy agency monitored 70.3 million phone calls in France over a 30-day period between December 10 and January 8 this year, Le Monde reported in its online version, citing documents from Snowden. And so, recently demoted to B-grade economic status in Europe, France - America's European lap dog in virtually everything - is suddenly apopleptic and shocked, shocked, that spying went on here.

How Many Constitutional Freedoms Have We Lost?

Debunking Government’s Justification for Mass Surveillance