Sounds like a run on banks in Turkey to me. Makes sense, they're scared shit of the nukes in Ukraine and just came through two major disasters. The BOJ added another pile today. And a man in the Ukraine who worked at a Nuke plant there stole a key component needed to run the plant. He forced it's shutdown. The authorities say that he wanted to sell the parts. This is crappola. He wanted to shut it down. Also, freight rates have gone bonkers. Avails are nowhere. Rates are double from a month ago. Have a nice day pollies.

For educational and radiation sickness prevention purposes only: Turkish cb acts as cash squeeze grows at year-end > By Aydan Eksin > ISTANBUL, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Turkey's central bank on > Wednesday acted in several ways to meet heavy lira borrowing by > banks amid tightening liquidity which has sent overnight repo > rates to a 1999 high. > Bankers said the bank sold lira heavily for dollars on the > currency market and fed cash via one-week repos at 135 percent > on the repo market brokered by the Istanbul stock exchange, in > addition to its regular lending via overnight deals on the money > interbank market and repo auctions on the open market. > Despite the bank's efforts, the average overnight repo rate > brushed a 1999 high of 205 percent and banks' overnight lira > offer rates on the over-the-counter money market also hit a > yearly record of 130 percent. > "The cash squeeze was strong but such sharp rate rises were > unexpected. It was the result of a panic which broke out amid > concerns that the central bank's (cash) funding would remain > below the market's needs," said a private bank's treasurer. > The central bank met just 28 percent of a total 1,688 > trillion lira bid in the morning by extending banks 400 trillion > lira in a one-week repo auction and 76.1 trillion lira in a > two-week repo auction as part of its open market operations. > Bankers said the central bank was reluctant to fund by open > market operations as it wanted to meet its year-end balance > sheet targets. > The bank had fed an all-time high 1,040.4 trillion lira on > Tuesday, including 528.1 trillion lira in overnight deals at 70 > percent and 512.3 trillion in two open market repo auctions. > The central bank's frequent lira buying intervention, > sparked by banks' routine end-year dollar short-covering, has > further intensified a chronic cash squeeze, also aggravated by > tax payments earlier this week. > Turkish banks, which usually sell hard currencies to invest > in government bonds for better returns, are legally obliged to > reduce their short foreign exchange positions to 20 percent of > their capital bases by the end of this year. > A weekly liquidity requirement ratio for banks was raised on > December 24, also becoming a factor behind the swelling lira > demand, bankers said. > They said another reason was banks' fresh cash needs for the > approaching three-day holiday as currency in circulation usually > rises before holidays. > December 31 is an official holiday to allow banks, state > institutions and private companies to prepare for any Y2K > problems. > > FACTORS ADD UP > These factors resulted in overnight repos surging to a > yearly record of 440 percent on Wednesday, from 75 percent at > the opening. The average overnight repo rate also brushed a > year's high of 205 percent before closing at 194.73 percent, up > sharply from 100.71 on Tuesday and 84.47 on Monday. > Bankers said soaring repo rates prompted banks to sell > dollars and this in turn triggered central bank intervention on > the currency interbank market. > The lira finished easier at 540,500/541,100 per dollar after > the central bank bought dollars in the last half hour of trade, > compared to 538,800/539,250 on Tuesday. Its daily depreciation > was in line with the central bank's estimated target. > Bankers said the central bank bought some $200 million in > the intervention but they could give no estimate on the bank's > cash injection via one-week repos at 135 percent on the repo > market. The highest weekly repo rate was 300 percent while the > average rate stood at 142.32 percent. > The central bank's overnight lending at 70 percent totalled > 447.7 trillion lira at the end of the day. It also gave banks > 15.5 trillion lira on tomorrow/next at 70 percent and 18.9 > trillion for one week at 73 percent, in a rare form of funding. > Bond yields rose sharply in the cash-strapped market in the > afternoon but bankers said volume was too thin to indicate a > direction. > Benchmark August 23, 2000 bonds which brushed a high of 50 > percent ended at 47.86 percent average, compared to around 46 > percent at midday and 44.95 at Tuesday's close. > Share trading on the Istanbul stock exchange is closed > between December 28 and January 4 while the gold exchange will > also be closed on January 3 as a further precaution against > possible problems with the millennium rollover. > ((Istanbul newsroom, 90 212-275 0875, fax 90 212-267 2137, > istanbul.newsroom@reuters.com)) > > [M] [T] [D] [MD] [RNP] [TR] [MEAST] [EMRG] [EUROPE] [ASIA] [MMT] [DBT] > [FRX] [CEN] [INT] [LEN] [RTRS]

> Theft shuts down Ukrainian nuclear reactor > KIEV, Dec 29 (Reuters) - Ukrainian officials said on > Wednesday they shut down a nuclear reactor this week after a > worker stole a key power supply cable. > Nervousness remains high over Soviet-made nuclear reactors > at Ukrainian plants after the country's Chernobyl power station > was the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster in 1986. > Mykola Dudchenko, head of the state-run nuclear energy > company Energoatom, told a news conference that a worker at the > Pivdenno-Ukrayinska power plant stole the cable which controlled > the turbine of a nuclear reactor on Monday. > Dudchenko said engineers stopped the reactor, one of three > at the plant, and restarted it on Tuesday. He said the worker > would be taken to court for stealing the cable, which he planned > to sell as it contained valuable metals. > "This was the first such case," Dudchenko said. > International experts remain worried by safety at Ukraine's > five nuclear power stations and security around them. > The Pivdenno-Ukrayinska station was the site of a recent > incident when a mentally handicapped man tried to ram the > plant's gates with his car and was shot and wounded by guards. > The Chernobyl disaster was caused when one of the plant's > reactors exploded, contaminating vast areas in neighbouring > Russia and Belarus and sending radioactive clouds across Europe. > > [ELE] [O] [UA] [BY] [RU] [EEU] [EMRG] [MET] [ENR] [EUROPE] [TRD] [ODD] > [ELC] [LEN] [RTRS]

-- Gordon (g_gecko_69@hotmail.com), December 29, 1999

Answers

Link please?

-- rumdoodles (rumdoodles@yahoo.com), December 29, 1999.

"May you live in interesting times"......Gee, thanks...

snoozin'...

The Dog

-- The Dog (dogdesert@hotmail.com), December 29, 1999.