News of bank's agreement comes hours after Standard Chartered admitted settlement with US regulator over Iran

HSBC is expected to admit on Tuesday it has settled allegations of running money for Mexican drug barons for a larger than expected $1.9bn (£1.2bn), barely 24 hours after close rival Standard Chartered admitted paying $670m (£415m) in penalties to US regulators to settle allegations it broke sanctions on Iran.

The $1.9bn that HSBC will pay to the US authorities exceeds the $1.5bn it had warned it could cost to settle the allegations raised in a damning US Senate report in the summer which came amid a wave of scandals to hit the banking sector.

HSBC is expected to confirm it has struck the agreement which has already led to the departure of compliance head David Bagley and put pressure on former chairman Lord Green, now a trade minister.

The bank is expected to admit violating US laws meant to prohibit money laundering including the Bank Secrecy Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act. The deal is expected to include a settlement with the powerful Manhattan district attorney's office and a deferred prosecution agreement with both the Justice department and Treasury department.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by the maid who accused him of trying to rape her, resolving a legal saga that ended his term as head of the International Monetary Fund and derailed a potential French presidential bid.

Lawyers for Strauss-Kahn and the hotel maid, Nafissatou Diallo, told New York State Supreme Court Justice Douglas McKeon in the Bronx today that they have reached an agreement to end the suit, which accused the former IMF head of "violent and deplorable acts" during an encounter at the Sofitel in midtown Manhattan.

Iran on Monday once again lambasted the NATO forces in Afghanistan for increasing drug cultivation, production and trafficking in Afghanistan, saying almost all the world opium production is done in front of the eyes of the foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Deputy Head of Iran's Anti-Narcotics Headquarters Babak Dinparast on Monday deplored the weak performance of NATO and US forces in Afghanistan in combating narcotics.

He referred to the seizure of 12 tons of narcotics in Eastern Iran in recent days, and said, "These seizures have been made as we are witnessing production of 95 percent of the world's opium in Afghanistan despite the presence (of the forces) of 48 countries in there."

Dinparast further reminded that war on narcotics was one of the reasons mentioned by the US-led western countries for their 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, while their soldiers have refused to take any measure to help combat drugs in practice.

Americans would benefit from less outrage at anti-US sentiment and more energy toward understanding why it's so widespread

Which of these two stories is causing more controversy and outrage in the US?

New York Daily News, Friday:

"Fiercely anti-American lyrics from Korean rapper Psy have been unearthed just two weeks before the star is scheduled to perform for President Obama.

"The 'Gangnam Style' singer calls for US soldiers to be killed in one song, prompting a short-lived petition to ax Psy from the bill at the Christmas in Washington celebration.

"In 2004, Psy rapped on a South Korean metal band's song, 'Dear American', at a protest concert, The Washington Post reported. 'Kill those f---ing Yankees who have been torturing Iraqi captives', he said. 'Kill those f---ing Yankees who ordered them to torture. Kill their daughters, mothers, daughters-in-law and fathers. Kill them all slowly and painfully.'

"Two years earlier, after a pair of Korean schoolgirls were mowed down by a U.S.-operated armored vehicle, Psy again expressed vitriol toward America. Onstage, he smashed a plastic model of a U.S. tank into pieces as the crowd cheered, The Korea Herald reported.

"Psy apologized in a statement to the Daily News, adding that the song in question is from nearly a decade ago, and was 'part of a deeply emotional reaction to the war in Iraq and the killing of two Korean schoolgirls.'"

The Guardian, Friday:

"The US military is facing fresh questions over its targeting policy in Afghanistan after a senior army officer suggested that troops were on the lookout for 'children with potential hostile intent'".

"In comments which legal experts and campaigners described as 'deeply troubling', army Lt Col Marion Carrington told the Marine Corp Times that children, as well as 'military-age males', had been identified as a potential threat because some were being used by the Taliban to assist in attacks against Afghan and coalition forces. . . .

"In the article, headlined 'Some Afghan kids aren't bystanders', Carrington referred to a case this year in which the Afghan national police in Kandahar province said they found children helping insurgents by carrying soda bottles full of potassium chlorate.

"The piece also quoted an unnamed marine corps official who questioned the 'innocence' of Afghan children, particularly three who were killed in a US rocket strike in October. Last month, the New York Times quoted local officials who said Borjan, 12, Sardar Wali, 10, and Khan Bibi, eight, from Helmand's Nawa district had been killed while gathering dung for fuel.

"However, the US official claimed that, before they called for the strike on suspected insurgents planting improvised explosive devices, marines had seen the children digging a hole in a dirt road and that 'the Taliban may have recruited the children to carry out the mission'. . . .

"'When you get to the suggestion that children with potentially hostile intent may be perceived to be legitimate targets is deeply troubling and unlawful,' [said Pardiss Kebriaei, senior attorney of the Center for Constitutional Rights and a specialist in targeted killings]."

Whatever else one wants to say, the US is a country that, for more than a decade, has loudly and continuously declared itself to be a "nation at war". It's not "at war" in any one county, but in many countries around the globe.

Iskanders carry 1,500-pound warhead at 1.3 miles per second

Hours after NATO agreed on Tuesday to send Patriot missiles to Turkey because of the crisis in Syria, Russia delivered its first shipment of Iskander missiles to Syria.

The superior Iskander can travel at hypersonic speed of over 1.3 miles per second (Mach 6-7) and has a range of over 280 miles with pinpoint accuracy of destroying targets with its 1,500-pound warhead, a nightmare for any missile defense system.

According to Mashregh, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard media outlet, Russia had warned Turkey not to escalate the situation, but with Turkey's request for Patriot missiles, it delivered its first shipment of Iskanders to Syria.

Reporting today, Mashregh said the handover occurred when Russian naval logistic vessels docked at Tartus in Syria.

The Iskandar is a surface-to-surface missile that no missile defense system can trace or destroy, Mashregh said. Russia had earlier threatened that should America put its missile defense system in Poland, it would retaliate by placing its Iskander missiles at Kaliningrad, its Baltic Sea port.

David Cameron personally vetoed plans for a new property tax after donors threatened to ban Tory party fund-raising events from their mansions.

Super-rich donors warned the Prime Minister that if he taxed their London townhouses and sprawling country estates they would refuse to host dinners to boost the Conservative Party's coffers.

A senior insider revealed: "The message went out - tax our mansions and you can forget us ever holding another black tie event for you at our homes ever again.

"Cameron could not have funded the party without these events so he had no choice.

"It was all highly embarrassing." The revelation will pump up the pressure on Cameron after the outcry over last week's autumn statement failing to bring in a wealth tax while poorer people were being hit hard with a tough benefits freeze.

The US economy is sluggish with fears of a new recession. The Democrats and Republicans once more cannot agree on what to do about the alleged "fiscal cliff" that threatens to further unravel the economy, even as analysts say that the whole notion of going over the "cliff " has been fabricated by the right to force more cuts in social benefits.

Consumer confidence is dipping in this festive season of global shopping - not a good sign, since consumption and spending at the malls is an economic driver with 70% of economic activity based on getting consumers to buy even when it means they must go deeper and deeper in debt using credit cards and loans.

What can the Obama government do? The political stalemate has blocked new jobs and stimulus programs so reliance on Federal Reserve Bank interventions has grown, but they are not printing enough money to turn things around.

This is what's behind the pressure for new wars that primes the spending pump with national security always used as the pretext. Largely unreported has been a quite escalation of selling arms and advanced weaponry, using threats from terrorists and Iran as the way to get a nervous public on board.

The Pentagon on Monday identified the U.S. Navy SEAL who was killed in the rescue of an American doctor in Afghanistan as a highly-decorated 10-year veteran from Pennsylvania.

Twenty-eight-year-old Petty Officer 1^st Class Nicolas D. Checque, of Monroeville, died Sunday of combat-related injuries sustained while supporting operations in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said in a release.

Checque was assigned to an East Coast-based Naval Special Warfare command, the statement said. Checque had been awarded the Bronze Star, among many other commendations, the release said.

The rescue operation was launched when coalition forces reported that Dr. Dilip Joseph was in imminent danger.

Joseph, who worked with the non-profit Morning Star Development of Colorado Springs, was kidnapped Wednesday along with two Afghan staff members -- one is part of the medical team, the other part of the support team. Joseph has been the non-profit's medical adviser for three years.

Morning Star said the team of three had been returning from a visit to one of its rural medical clinics when the kidnappers stopped their vehicle. The three were then taken to a mountainous area about 50 miles from the Pakistan border, Morning Star said.

Hey readers, I've got a scoop. It's the text of a letter - don't ask me how I got it - from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to Hamas leader Meshal.

It was hand delivered in Gaza by one of Israel's many Palestinian collaborators who lives there.

Like most if not all others of his kind, the poor man didn't volunteer to spy for Israel. He was "recruited" after being told that his wife would be raped if he didn't provide information for Israel.

© Columbus Dispatch

Chemical Weapons, Russian Warships and Terrorists

We reported yesterday:

• 10,000 U.S. troops - as well as French, British and Nato troops - are amassing off the coast of Syria for a potential invasion

• "Anonymous U.S. sources" are claiming that Syria is mixing chemical weapons ... but that claim is ridiculous ... and could be part of a long-contemplated false flag attack in Syria

• War against Syria could lead to WWIII