“Eurozone banks have cut cross-border holdings of government and corporate bonds to such an extent they have wiped out all the progress towards the integration of the bloc’s debt markets achieved after the euro’s launch.
The striking “re-domestication” of eurozone bond markets is emerging as a significant side effect of six years of financial turmoil.”

Annuity rates down by 30pc since start of QE – Telegraph

Home sales hit three-year high as housing revival continues – Telegraph

Schäuble backs ECB’s monetary policy in court – FT.com

ECB to defend bond-buying plan in German courtroom duel | Reuters

German court says won’t be swayed by ECB bond-buying success | Reuters

Staatsschulden : Bund spart 100 Milliarden Euro durch Niedrigzinsen – Nachrichten Wirtschaft – DIE WELT

German federal government has saved 100 billion euros in interest costs because of the fall in yields since 2008. If you include state governments, the savings is even greater for German government.

Armut im Alter: Viele Renten reichen nicht zum Leben – manager magazin

In 2012, 48% of German seniors received less than the base amount amount due them under the Hartz IV program. This indicates that senior poverty in Germany is aproblem under these new rules.

BBC News – Turkey protests: Riot police storm Taksim Square

BBC News – Turkey protests: Erdogan rejects EU criticism

Exclusive: EU to seek WTO ruling against Chinese steel duties – sources | Reuters

El precio de la vivienda acumula un descenso del 37,4% desde 2007, según Tinsa | Economía | Cinco Días

The price of Spanish housing has dropped 37% since 2007 but the pace of decline is now moderating

United States

S&P revises U.S. credit outlook to ‘stable’ from negative | Reuters

TIPS yield turns positive on 10-year note for first time since 2012 – The Tell – MarketWatch

Amanda Renteria To Be Nominated CFTC Chief

Bitcoin among virtual currencies targeted in US crackdown on tax evasion – Telegraph

Elsewhere

BBC News – China banks on desalination to help ease water woes

Yen rallies as Japan holds fire on stimulus – Telegraph

NSA Scandal

Sworn Declaration of Whistleblower William Binney on NSA Domestic Surveillance Capabilities | Public Intelligence

“One of the most notable pieces of equipment identified in Mr. Klein’s declaration is the NARUS Semantic Traffic Analyzer. According to the NARUS website, each NARUS device collects telecommunications data at the rate of ten gigabits per second and organizes the data into coherent streams based on the protocol associated with a specific type of collected data. A protocol is an agreed-upon way for data to be broken down into packets for transmission over the Internet, for the packets to be routed over the Internet to a designated destination and for the packets to be re-assembled at its destination. Protocols exist at each layer of the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) 7-layer telecommunications model and are used for a wide variety of data, not just electronic communications. That means that NARUS can reconstruct all information transmitted through the peering network and forward all of the electronic communications to a database for analysis. The NARUS device can also select predetermined data from that path and forward the data to organizations having interest in the data. As I indicated above, the predetermined data would involve target addresses, locations, countries, and phone numbers, as well as watch-listed names, keywords, and phrases.”

The Massive Online Surveillance Program No One Is Talking About | ThinkProgress

Sen. Feinstein calls Snowden’s NSA leaks an ‘act of treason’ – The Hill’s DEFCON Hill

Tech Companies Tread Lightly in Statements on U.S. Spying – NYTimes.com

U.S. Relies on Spies for Hire to Sift Deluge of Intelligence – WSJ.com

What You Should Know About The Government’s Massive Domestic Surveillance Program | ThinkProgress

NSA spying scandal: what we have learned | World news | guardian.co.uk

The whistleblowers: ‘The truth sets you free’ | World news | The Guardian

How Edward J. Snowden Orchestrated a Blockbuster Story – NYTimes.com

How we broke the NSA story – Salon.com

How Glenn Greenwald Began Communicating With NSA Whistleblower Edward Snowden

Ook AIVD bespiedt internetter – Binnenland | Het laatste nieuws uit Nederland leest u op Telegraaf.nl [binnenland]

The Dutch are also using information obtained via PRISM. The British are known to do so on this front. Similar to the Echelon alliance years ago during cold war:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ECHELON

Opposition, privacy watchdog question spy agency’s metadata collection – The Globe and Mail

In Canada, there is also widespread surveillance

Majority Views NSA Phone Tracking as Acceptable Anti-terror Tactic | Pew Research Center for the People and the Press

Majority say NSA tracking of phone records “acceptable” – Washington Post-Pew Research Center poll – The Washington Post

Most Americans back NSA tracking phone records, prioritize probes over privacy – The Washington Post

European Parliament lashes out at “shocking” U.S. surveillance program — Tech News and Analysis