Russian Protest Against U.S.-Adoption Ban Draws Thousands

Thousands of protesters defied freezing weather to march through central Moscow today as a law banning the adoption of Russian children by U.S. citizens reinvigorated the opposition movement.

The rally, called the “March Against Scum,” follows a year of protests against President Vladimir Putin that began after disputed parliamentary elections in December 2011. More than 50,000 people joined the march, opposition leaders Sergei Udaltsov and Ilya Yashin said in postings on Twitter Inc. The Moscow police estimated as many as 9,500 people had participated before dispersing at about 4 p.m., according to their website.

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People carried posters with the word “Shame” written across photographs of politicians who supported the ban, while a large banner urged the dismissal of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament. Photographer: Kirill Kudryavtsev /AFP/Getty Images

Russia passed legislation last month barring U.S. adoptions in retaliation for American sanctions over the death of lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, who’d sought to expose corruption among Interior Ministry officers. Putin signed it into law on Dec. 28. Protesters called for Russia’s parliament to be disbanded.

“Nobody cares for these children, and no one needs them,” said Liza Kulkova, 71, a pensioner from Klin, Russia, who volunteers at an orphanage. “This is my first protest, and I don’t think it will make a difference but I came anyway. These kids are a living tragedy, and it’s outrageous to use them for a political end.”

‘Shame’ Posters

Protesters filled the stretch from Strastnoy Boulevard to Trubnaya Square, which runs about a kilometer, according to photographs and accounts posted by attendees on Twitter and Facebook Inc. pages. Police removed one person dressed as a bear from the march.

People carried posters with the word “Shame” written across photographs of politicians who supported the ban, while a large banner urged the dismissal of the State Duma, the lower house of parliament.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said the president is aware of the protest, while calls to dissolve parliament aren’t constructive, Interfax reported. Russia is streamlining procedures for its own citizens to adopt children and passing laws to improve orphans’ lives, the news service said, citing Peskov.

United Russia’s Ekaterina Lakhova, the deputy head of the State Duma’s social and religious organizations committee, said “not many people” showed up at the protest, according to the ruling party’s website after she spoke on the Echo Moskvy radio station.

Russia ‘Enemies’

“They don’t hear the government’s voice and are gathering not to defend children’s rights but to support American business,” Lakhova said.

United Russia members have accused opponents of the adoption legislation, called the Dima Yakovlev Law, after a Russian boy who died in the U.S. in 2008 after being left in a car on a hot day, of being unpatriotic.

“All enemies of Russian sovereignty have come out as passionate supporters of American adoption,” Andrei Isayev, deputy secretary of the party’s general council, said in an article posted on United Russia’s website on Jan. 11, which called the movement the “March of the Child-Sellers.”

Russia is under no obligation to allow adoptions by U.S. citizens to proceed under a treaty between the two nations after the ban took effect at the start of the year, the Foreign Ministry said Jan. 11.

‘Red Flag’

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-13/russian-protest-march-against-u-s-adoption-ban-starts-in-moscow.html

Apple CEO Cook Says China Will Overtake U.S. as Biggest Market

Apple Inc. (AAPL) Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said China will overtake the U.S. to become its largest market, as the iPhone-maker adds more stores and considers debuting new products in the country.

“I believe it will become our first,” Cook said in an interview with state-owned Xinhua News yesterday. No timeframe was given for the prediction. The Cupertino, California-based company had $5.7 billion of sales in China during the quarter ended September. U.S. revenue was about $14.4 billion, based on figures in an Oct. 25 earnings statement.

Cook also met the chairman of China Mobile Ltd. (941) while in the country, as he seeks to boost cooperation with a wireless operator that has 707 million customers and no agreement to sell iPhones. The CEO is making his second visit to the country in less than a year as Apple tries to reverse its shrinking share of the local smartphone market.

Apple intends to open “many more” outlets in China over the next several years, Cook said in the Xinhua interview. The company now has 11 stores in China and Hong Kong.

Cook also said he would also “love” to introduce new products in China first, according to the report. The iPhone 5 was released in China in December, almost three months after the U.S. introduction.

China Growth

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-01-10/apple-s-cook-discusses-cooperation-with-china-mobile-chairman.html

Bill Cara's Week in Review #3, 2013

January 13, 2013 by Bill Cara

[11:59 am ET Sunday] I stand by the enthusiasm expressed a week ago in these pages because (i) QE is now happening around the world, and (ii) any time over the past 45 years that I have been trading whenever equity prices boomed and bond prices plummeted to the extent they did over a two day period a week ago it happened that the broad equity market was higher and the bond market lower 90 days later.

So despite prices being high at present, as seen by the many RSI-7 levels exceeding 70 for the Daily and Weekly price series data, I am looking to the longer term. In that regard, I see room in the Monthly RSI-7 data for equity prices to continue higher.

Short-term, whenever you see elevated RSI-7 levels the only conclusion you can draw is that price risk is high, which means that stop orders and closer than usual portfolio monitoring procedures are essential.

But, as I opined a week ago, whenever the marketplace decides to move large investment positions from bonds to equities, it is a whole new ball game.

From this point forward, bonds will be dumped in favor of equities, and the central bankers will have increasingly more difficulty selling treasury issues at less than market rates. Since the yields will not explode overnight, precious metals will now rally, and rally hard – unless the Fed and ECB decide to sell large tonnage of their holdings into private market hands or, at lower than they could get from the private sector, to central banks in emerging economy countries.

I also opined as follows:

http://caracommunity.com/content/bill-caras-week-review-3-2013-0