Unlike Monday's global PMI deterioration (which sent markets around the globe soaring), there was little in terms of macroeconomic data overnight (German IFO earlier missed on expectations and business climate but beat on current assessment) so the "market made the news." These came most from the USDJPY which has continued to fall, sliding to 111.85 overnight, and dragging the Nikkei to a -0.4% drop.
Bill Gates has urged Apple to grant the U.S. government permission to have backdoor access to their iPhone devices, saying that he agrees with the FBI’s demand to Apple to unlock the phone of one of the San Bernardino perpetrators. “This is a specific case where the government is asking for access to information. They are not asking for some general thing, they are asking for a particular case,” Gates told the Financial Times.
The San Bernardino County government put out a tweet on Friday, saying that the FBI told their staff to reset the iCloud password of Syed Farook’s Apple account. Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, were implicated in the San Bernardino shootings of December 2015 in which 14 people lost their lives. If true, then it means that the FBI was not honest for its reasons for wanting backdoor access to Apple iPhones, by forcing the company to compromise its encryption security.
Submitted by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,
Years ago back in my days at the academy and in the military, I used to hear this phrase “freedom isn’t free” over and over again.
It was almost a sort of motto for a lot of military units– a self-motivating expression that freedom came at a price, and it was our solemn responsibility to pay that price.
It’s a true statement. Freedom is NOT free.