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Daily Archives: 13 February 2013
The ECB Worries About Competition From Bitcoins
This reminds me of how the Post Office sued the Cub Scouts because it feared competition.
Here is another one from the “you couldn’t make this up” department (the ECB is a rich fount of those). The ECB is apparently worried that the digital currency bitcoins could ruin the reputation of central banks. Seriously. At least that is what they are saying.
According to Bloomberg:
An increase in the value of bitcoin, the world’s largest online currency, may fuel concerns that virtual money could undermine the role of central banks.
The CHART OF THE DAY shows that bitcoin has more than doubled in the past 12 months, strengthening to $16.37 from $5.88, according to data from Mt. Gox, the world’s largest bitcoin exchange. The money, issued by a decentralized network of computers, has recovered after falling to $2.14 in November 2011 from a high of $29.58 five months earlier.
Israel’s Education Ministry rejects findings of a study that determined that Arab texts rarely demonize Israel or incite hatred against Jews
Israel’s Education Ministry has rejected the findings of a study funded by the U.S. State Department that determined that Palestinian textbooks rarely demonize Israel or incite hatred against the Jewish people and that both sides use the texts to present children and students with a one-sided view of their conflict.
“Dehumanizing and demonizing characterizations of the other are rare in both Israeli and Palestinian books,” according to the study, titled ”Victims of Our Own Narratives?,” funded by the U.S. State Department and carried out by Palestinian, Israeli and American academics.
(Read more)