Sun, sea and sewage in the playground of the rich in Dubai

A noxious tide of toilet paper, raw sewage and chemical waste has transformed Dubai’s most prestigious stretch of shoreline into a foul-smelling health hazard.

A stretch of the exclusive Jumeirah Beach – a magnet for Western tourists and home to a string of hotels – has been closed.

“It’s a cesspool. Our tests show too many E. coli to count. It’s like swimming in a toilet,” said Keith Mutch, the manager of the Offshore Sailing Club, which has posted warnings and been forced to cancel regattas.

Related articles:
Arab countries have lost $2.5 trillion in the past four months
Once Booming Dubai Goes Bust
Gulf stocks plummet in turbulent year; Dubai shedding almost three quarters of its value

The pollution is a blow to Dubai’s reputation as an international holiday destination offering almost guaranteed sunshine and clear seas.

Read moreSun, sea and sewage in the playground of the rich in Dubai

Soros cashes in again on the collapse of the pound

One of the world’s leading investors and the man famed for “breaking the Bank of England” in 1992, George Soros, told the World Economic Forum yesterday that the current financial crisis is even worse than what was experienced during the Great Depression of the 1930s. Mr Soros also revealed that he has once again been selling sterling short, though he has now stopped betting against the pound. In a pessimistic tour d’horizon of global prospects, Mr Soros added that he did not think that America would return to robust 3 per cent growth for a decade.

Read moreSoros cashes in again on the collapse of the pound

Gerald Celente: The Greatest Depression in History

Lew Rockwell interviews Gerald Celente:


Gerald Celente: The Greatest Depression in History (MP3)

[To download this audio file to your computer, right click at this link and select “save”, “save as” or “save file as” (depending upon your browser).]

If Nostradamus were alive today, he’d have a hard time keeping up with Gerald Celente.
– New York Post

When CNN wants to know about the Top Trends, we ask Gerald Celente.
– CNN Headline News

There’s not a better trend forecaster than Gerald Celente. The man knows what he’s talking about. – CNBC

Those who take their predictions seriously … consider the Trends Research Institute.
– The Wall Street Journal

A network of 25 experts whose range of specialties would rival many university faculties.
– The Economist

Related interviews:
Gerald Celente: The Collapse of 2009; The Greatest Depression
Gerald Celente on The Alex Jones Show: The Coming Revolt

Source: Lew Rockwell

Global News (01/29/09)

Officials: Army suicides at 3-decade high (AP):
WASHINGTON – Suicides among U.S. soldiers rose last year to the highest level in decades, the Army announced Thursday. At least 128 soldiers killed themselves in 2008. But the final count is likely to be considerably higher because 15 more suspicious deaths are still being investigated and could also turn out to be self-inflicted, the Army said.

Army orders recall of body armor (AP)

Erdogan storms out of Davos debate (Financial Times)

Erdogan Clashes With Peres, Storms Out of Davos Panel on Gaza (Bloomberg)

Blockade thwarts postwar building boom in Gaza (Reuters)

Britain faces worst year since 1930s, warns IMF (Guardian)

UK ‘must cut spending or raise taxes,’ say experts (Independent)

The peers who work for their own consultancy firms (Telegraph)

Spanish police arrest six over massive ‘£420m London Stock Exchange fraud’ (Daily Mail)

Iraq bars Blackwater, tarnished by civilian deaths (AP)

Thursday job cuts could exceed 13000 (CNN Money)

Americans receiving jobless benefits hits record (AP)

Jobless claims hit record peak, orders plummet (Reuters)

Home sales fall to record lows (Reuters)

Bitter end for 6700 staff as coffee retailer Starbucks shuts shops (Telegraph)

Starbucks to Cut 6700 Jobs After Earnings Fall 69% (Bloomberg)

Ford reports $5.9B fourth-quarter loss (USA Today)

Ford to draw bank credit of $10.1bn (Financial Times)

Almost 24 million adults with poor numeracy skills, say MPs (Telegraph)

Five years on from Hutton and we STILL haven’t been told the truth about the war based on lies (Daily Mail)

Citigroup will not take possession of new aircraft (AP)

CLIMATE CHANGE: Tropical Forests Fight for Survival (IPS)

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: “Wake Up, World!” – SOS from the Amazon (IPS)

Boy, 5, forced into adoption with gay couple pleads: ‘We want to stay with our gran and grandad’ (Daily Mail)

Have we all BIN conned? Recycling’s the new state religion but once again it’s been exposed as a sham (Daily Mail)

£20 broadband charge to fight online music and film piracy (Times)

Icy blast from Siberia set to bring snow and give Britain its coldest winter for 13 years (Daily Mail)

Is It Time to Bail Out of the US?

Paul Craig Roberts [email him] was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during President Reagan’s first term. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal. He has held numerous academic appointments, including the William E. Simon Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Georgetown University, and Senior Research Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University.


By Paul Craig Roberts

California State Controller John Chiang announced on January 26 that California’s bills exceed its tax revenues and credit line and that the state is going to print its own money known as IOUs. The template is already designed.

Instead of receiving their state tax refunds in dollars, California residents will receive IOUs. Student aid and payments to disabled and needy will also come in the form of IOUs. California is negotiating with banks to get them to accept the IOUs as deposits.

Don’t miss:
Paul Craig Roberts: Another real estate crisis is about to hit
Paul Craig Roberts: Our Collapsing Economy
Paul Craig Roberts On The U.S. Leadership: “They Are Criminals” – The Potential Here Is Far Worse Than The Great Depression
Paul Craig Roberts: The American Puppet State

California is often identified as the world’s eighth largest economy, and it is broke.

A person might think that California’s plight would introduce some realism into Washington, DC, but it has not. President Obama is taking steps to intensify the war in Afghanistan and, perhaps, to expand it to Pakistan.

Obama has retained the Republican warmongers in the Pentagon, and the US continues to illegally bomb Pakistan and to murder its civilians. At the World Economic Forum at Davos this week, Pakistan’s prime minister, Y. R. Gilani, said that the American attacks on Pakistan are counterproductive and done without Pakistan’s permission. In an interview with CNN, Gilani said: “I want to put on record that we do not have any agreement between the government of the United States and the government of Pakistan.”

How long before Washington will be printing money?

Read moreIs It Time to Bail Out of the US?

Greenlight Capital Founder Takes Grandfather’s Advice on Gold

“The Federal Reserve’s policy of taking unorthodox steps to boost the supply of credit is essentially “printing money,” Greenlight said.”

Don’t miss:
Bernanke Risks ‘Very Unstable’ Market as He Weighs Buying Bonds
Ron Paul on Glenn Beck: Destruction of the dollar


Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) — Greenlight Capital Inc. founder David Einhorn is finally taking his grandfather’s advice. The $5.1 billion hedge fund is buying gold for the first time amid the threat of inflation from increased government spending.

Since Einhorn was 10 years old, his grandfather has warned him that investing in bullion and gold-mining stocks was the only “sensible” thing to do given the threat of inflation and the risks of so-called fiat currencies, New York-based Greenlight said in a Jan. 20 letter to clients. The firm had never before considered buying bullion or mining-company shares.

“To everyone’s dismay, we believe some of Grandpa Ben’s predictions are playing out,” Greenlight said in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News. “The size of the Fed’s balance sheet is exploding, and the currency is being debased.”

Read moreGreenlight Capital Founder Takes Grandfather’s Advice on Gold

Hundreds of thousands protest in France


Demonstrators in Nice, France, on Thursday. (Lionel Cironneau/The Associated Press)

PARIS: A nationwide protest against Nicolas Sarkozy’s economic policies drew more than one million demonstrators into the streets of France on Thursday, in the biggest popular challenge to the president since he took office in 2007.

Related article: Huge crowds join French strikes (BBC News)

Read moreHundreds of thousands protest in France

Obama promised that lobbyists “won’t find a job in my White House”, but here they are again


US President Barack Obama arrives to speak on his economic stimulus proposal from the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC. The divided US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved an 819-billion-dollar stimulus package touted by Obama as a vital remedy to revive the ailing US economy. (AFP/Saul Loeb)

President Obama promised during his campaign that lobbyists “won’t find a job in my White House.”

Here are former lobbyists Obama has tapped for top jobs:

Eric Holder, attorney general nominee, was registered to lobby until 2004 on behalf of clients including Global Crossing, a bankrupt telecommunications firm.

Tom Vilsack, secretary of agriculture nominee, was registered to lobby as recently as last year on behalf of the National Education Association.

William Lynn, deputy defense secretary nominee, was registered to lobby as recently as last year for defense contractor Raytheon, where he was a top executive.

William Corr, deputy health and human services secretary nominee, was registered to lobby until last year for the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, a non-profit that pushes to limit tobacco use.

David Hayes, deputy interior secretary nominee, was registered to lobby until 2006 for clients, including the regional utility San Diego Gas & Electric.

Mark Patterson, chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, was registered to lobby as recently as last year for financial giant Goldman Sachs.

Ron Klain, chief of staff to Vice President Joe Biden, was registered to lobby until 2005 for clients, including the Coalition for Asbestos Resolution, U.S. Airways, Airborne Express and drug-maker ImClone.

Mona Sutphen, deputy White House chief of staff, was registered to lobby for clients, including Angliss International in 2003.

Melody Barnes, domestic policy council director, lobbied in 2003 and 2004 for liberal advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the American Constitution Society and the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Cecilia Munoz, White House director of intergovernmental affairs, was a lobbyist as recently as last year for the National Council of La Raza, a Hispanic advocacy group.

Patrick Gaspard, White House political affairs director, was a lobbyist for the Service Employees International Union.

Michael Strautmanis, chief of staff to the president’s assistant for intergovernmental relations, lobbied for the American Association of Justice from 2001 until 2005.

Full article here: Obama finds room for lobbyists (Politico)

UN nuclear chief boycotts BBC over Gaza appeal


Watch the Gaza aid appeal by the Disasters Emergency Committee rejected by the BBC and Sky

The head of the UN”s nuclear watchdog has cancelled planned interviews with the BBC in protest at the corporation’s decision not to air an emergency appeal for Gaza on behalf of the Disasters Emergency Committee.

In a statement to the Guardian, Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel peace prize winner, unleashed a stinging denunciation of the BBC, deepening the damage already caused by the controversy.

[ BBC accused of fakery over Barack Obama inauguration speech (Telegraph) ]

The statement, from his office at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the BBC decision not to air the aid appeal for victims of the conflict “violates the rules of basic human decency which are there to help vulnerable people, irrespective of who is right or wrong”.

It said the IAEA director had cancelled interviews with BBC World Service television and radio, which had been scheduled to take place at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Saturday.

Read moreUN nuclear chief boycotts BBC over Gaza appeal

40 Million Chinese Set to Lose Their Job as New Year Celebrations End

As many as 40 million Chinese who moved from the country to the city to find work are expected to lose their jobs this week as the New Year celebrations come to a close.


Chinese visitors celebrate the first day of the Lunar New Year festival at a park carnival in Beijing Photo: AFP

Instead of returning to work after the public holiday, many will remain in their remote rural homes, having been told not to come back.

Others will make the long journey to China’s economic heartlands only to find their source of income has evaporated.

The gloomy prediction came from an official at the Central Communist Party School, who estimated that between 20 and 30 per cent of the 130 million provincial Chinese who moved to the city for employment would find themselves obsolete.

To make matters worse, they will find no guarantee of work at home as sophisticated farming methods reduce the need for labourers and agricultural hands.

In Shanghai, the New Year was ushered in with an unparalleled pyrotechnic display as the population let off steam.

Firework sales rose by a third from last year, and it took more than 30,000 street sweepers to clear the 1,200 tonnes of debris from the streets.

Read more40 Million Chinese Set to Lose Their Job as New Year Celebrations End

Liberia declares state of emergency as caterpillar plague wrecks crops

Insect invasion is worst in the African country in 30 years

Liberia has declared a state of emergency over a plague of caterpillars that has destroyed plants and crops and contaminated water supplies, threatening an already fragile food situation.

Tens of millions of marching caterpillars have invaded at least 80 towns and villages in central and northern Liberia, preventing some farmers from reaching their fields and causing others to flee their homes. The inch-long pests – the caterpillar life stage of the noctuid moth – have spread to neighbouring Guinea and are threatening Sierra Leone, which has set up monitoring teams along its border.

Liberia’s president, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, said in a televised speech on Monday night that the country’s worst plague of caterpillars in three decades had “the potential to set back our progress in the production of food and export crops”.

Read moreLiberia declares state of emergency as caterpillar plague wrecks crops

How top financiers paid themselves £1bn before the wheels fell off

A dozen senior bankers whose influence has shaped the financial world gave themselves pay awards valued at more than £1bn before the credit crunch spectacularly exposed the fragility of the profits they appeared to have secured for shareholders.

Although seemingly profitable during the boom, these same banks have since revealed losses, write-downs and emergency capital injections totalling more than £300bn.

In Britain, they include Barclays executives John Varley and Bob Diamond, who between them took more than £50m of awards in the past four years.

But the biggest winners were on Wall Street where Stan O’Neal – who was pushed out of Merrill Lynch in 2007 after shock losses from sub-prime mortgage investments made him one of the first high-profile casualties of the crisis – received pay, bonuses, stock and options totalling $279m (£196m) for less than nine years’ service. This is the highest amount for any Wall St executive in the Guardian’s study.

The figures are based on annual proxy statement filings in the case of US bank executives. These include a projection by the banks of the likely future value of stock and option awards. If such awards have not been cashed in they will have depreciated in value along with relevant bank share prices. Data for UK bank directors only values share-based awards that have been cashed in and therefore makes comparisons difficult.

The US bankers include Dick Fuld who presided over the collapse of Lehman Brothers – the world’s biggest ever corporate failure, which sent shockwaves throughout the global banking system last September. Fuld received annual awards totalling $191m from 1999 to 2007. The tally includes stock and options valued at the time at $111m.

Jimmy Cayne, the long-serving boss of Bear Stearns, also makes the list. Cayne received pay awards valued at $233m before Bear Stearns became the first big Wall Street investment bank to effectively fail, when it was forced to seek an emergency Federal Reserve loan in March last year.

Former US treasury secretary Hank Paulson, charged by George Bush with marshalling the $700bn taxpayer bailout efforts, had been another central Wall St figure – chairman and chief executive of Goldman Sachs – until joining the US government three years ago. Paulson’s taxpayer-funded troubled assets relief programme is in the process of handing out tens of billions of dollars each to firms including Goldmans, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup. Paulson’s pay awards from Goldmans totalled $170m over eight years.

His successor Lloyd Blankfein took home $231m over eight years. Fellow Goldman executive and later Merrill Lynch boss John Thain received $94.9m over six years, while Citigroup boss Sandy Weill and his successor Chuck Prince received $173m and $110m respectively over seven years.

Britain’s top five banks made two-year pre-tax profits of £76bn for 2006 and 2007 after credit and housing boom years combined with ever more exotic financial instruments to push their earning power to unprecedented heights.

Wednesday 28 January 2009
Simon Bowers

Source: The Guardian

Thousands stuck in property funds as Standard halts exits

Investors wishing to remove their money may have to wait six months

Standard Life became the latest insurer to close the doors of its commercial property funds to immediate withdrawals yesterday, forcing more than 200,000 investors to wait as long as six months to get their hands on their money.

The Scottish insurer implemented the emergency measures yesterday morning after liquidity in six of its life and pension property funds fell to very low levels. As a result, investors who want to remove their money from Standard Life’s property funds – which have assets totalling just under £2.7bn – will be placed in a queue, and told they may have to wait as long as six months for the transaction to be processed.

Read moreThousands stuck in property funds as Standard halts exits

Global News (01/28/09)

House passes Stimulus without GOP help (San Francisco Chronicle):
President Obama won his first legislative victory as the House passed a $819 billion economic stimulus package Wednesday night, but his bid to woo Republicans failed to convince even a single GOP member to join Democrats to back the bill. Eleven Democrats joined the entire 177-member House GOP caucus in voting “no”…

UBS Cuts Bonus Pool for 2008 by More Than 80% to SF2 Billion ($1.75 billion)
(After having received $59.2 billion from the government the banksters are still paying themselves bonuses.)

Men who made £1bn as banks were bailed out (Guardian)

IMF predicts lowest global growth in 60 years (Financial Times)

Obama Picks Geithner And Lynn Aren’t ‘Change’ (CBS News):
The Obama administration made an exception to its ban on hiring lobbyists in nominating William Lynn, who lobbied for Raytheon, one of the military’s top contractors.

It seems exceptions are now the rule:
Geithner’s New Chief of Staff is Former Bank Lobbyist (Wall Street Journal):
WASHINGTON — The new chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was a top lobbyist for Goldman Sachs Group Inc. until last year, and will have to recuse himself from some government duties under new White House ethics rules.

Fed Keeps Rate as Low as Zero, Says Prepared to Buy Treasuries (Bloomberg):
Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve left the benchmark interest rate as low as zero and said it’s prepared to purchase longer-term Treasury securities to resuscitate lending and the economy. (…to create inflation, destroy the dollar and create the greatest depression.)

Tax Refunds Now on Hold in California (ABC News):
ABC News has learned that tax refunds are now on hold in California for the first time in state history, according to the state controller’s office.

Bleeding banks prompt talk of new big US bailout (Reuters):
WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Major U.S. banks are still hemorrhaging red ink, despite massive taxpayer aid, and President Barack Obama is under pressure to take a high-stakes political gamble — asking for another bailout.

Warning over collapse in capital flows (Telegraph)

Wells Fargo takes $294m Madoff hit (Financial Times)

US houses sink at fastest rate on record (Times Online)

Soros closes sterling shorts (Financial Times)

Lilly May Spend $2 Billion More on Zyprexa Lawsuits (Bloomberg)

Santander offers €1.38 bn to compensate clients hit by Madoff (Times Online)

Pakistan predicts growth of up to 4% (Financial Times)

ALEX BRUMMER: British taxpayers are bailing out an Indian car giant in a deal that may pleaso no one (Daily Mail)

Japan joins world bail-out race (Financial Times)

Car industry to fight Barack Obama’s green proposals (Telegraph):
Car industry groups are gearing up for a long fight and the likelihood of legal action against proposals by President Barack Obama to allow California and other states to set their own regulations on greenhouse gas emission from vehicles.

Interfax: Russia suspends Kaliningrad missile plan (IHT)

Russian stability threatened by anger over economy (Telegraph)

Russia defence spending soars (Telegraph)

Ahmadinejad says Obama must apologise to the Iranian people for Bush (Times Online)

Canada set to unveil stimulus package (Financial Times)

First Reports of MRSA Isolation in US Swine and Hog Farmers (MedPage)

Israeli warplane bombs Gaza’s smuggling tunnels (Telegraph)

Chief Rabbinate of Israel cuts ties with Vatican over Holocaust bishop (Times Online)

Israeli strikes leave Blair project with major repairs (Independent)

Co-op bans eight pesticides after worldwide beehive collapse (Guardian)

Gates: Cash Cows of War Running Dry (Wired News)

Study Finds High-Fructose Corn Syrup Contains Mercury (Washington Post)

Warning over collapse in capital flows

The world economy will shrink this year for the first time since the Second World War, warns the gloomiest forecast yet delivered by a major international institutional.

The Institute of International Finance, the global organisation of major banks, predicted an almost unprecedented collapse in world economic growth and capital flows.

It became the first major global institution to forecast a full-scale global contraction in 2009, predicting that the economy would shrink by 1.1pc.

IIF chief economist Philip Suttle said: “This is the worst period since the interwar years. The global growth backdrop is very difficult. We foresee a contraction in 2009 in the global economy of over 1pc.”

He also expects rich economies to contract by 2.1pc – the worst peacetime output since the 1930s.

Private flows of capital into the emerging world are set nearly to dry up in the next year, the IIF predicted, dropping from $928.6bn in 2007 down to $465.8bn in 2008 and then to $165.3bn the following year.

Read moreWarning over collapse in capital flows

Boeing Plans to Cut 10,000 Jobs as Demand Weakens

The first Boeing Co. 787 airplane is assembled at the company’s manufacturing plant in Everett, Washington on May 19, 2008. Photographer: Kevin P. Casey/Bloomberg News

Jan. 28 (Bloomberg) — Boeing Co. said it plans to cut 10,000 jobs, or about 6 percent of its workforce, after a strike and program delays led to a fourth-quarter loss and a global recession began to erode demand for aircraft.

The job reductions, disclosed on a conference call today, include 4,500 that were previously announced in the commercial- plane half of Boeing’s business. Earlier the Chicago-based company reported a net loss of $56 million, or 8 cents a share, after a year-ago profit.

Boeing faces a potential increase in canceled or deferred orders this year as airlines cope with a drop in travel demand and tight credit. Almost a third of the world’s carriers are likely to defer deliveries this year, up from 8 percent three months ago, a survey released last week by UBS Investment Research showed.

The planemaker also must carry development costs on the delayed 787 Dreamliner, which is now due to reach the first customer in early 2010, about two years later than planned. An eight-week machinists strike that ended Nov. 2 added to the delays and stripped $1.8 billion from full-year earnings.

The company delivered 50 aircraft in the quarter, 70 fewer than planned, hurting revenue by $4.3 billion and setting it further behind rival Airbus SAS, the only larger commercial-plane maker. Boeing is also the second-largest defense contractor.

Read moreBoeing Plans to Cut 10,000 Jobs as Demand Weakens

Army rabbi gave out hate leaflet to troops


The Israeli army has been urged to sack Rabbi Avi Ronzki over the booklet

The Israeli army’s chief rabbinate gave soldiers preparing to enter the Gaza Strip a booklet implying that all Palestinians are their mortal enemies and advising them that cruelty is sometimes a “good attribute”.

The booklet, entitled Go Fight My Fight: A Daily Study Table for the Soldier and Commander in a Time of War, was published especially for Operation Cast Lead, the devastating three-week campaign launched with the stated aim of ending rocket fire against southern Israel. The publication draws on the teachings of Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, head of the Jewish fundamentalist Ateret Cohanim seminary in Jerusalem.

(“My Fight” can be literally translated into German as “Mein Kampf” (Adolf Hitler).


Related article: UN council urged to look at Israel’s conduct in Gaza (Reuters):
Richard Falk, a special U.N. investigator sent to the Middle East by the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Council, has said there was evidence that Israel committed war crimes in the Gaza Strip and there should be an independent inquiry.

Falk, who is Jewish, has compared the situation in Gaza to that of the Warsaw Ghetto during the World War Two, where the Nazis systematically starved and murdered Jews. Israel denies committing any war crimes during its assault on Gaza.


In one section, Rabbi Aviner compares Palestinians to the Philistines, a people depicted in the Bible as a war-like menace and existential threat to Israel.

In another, the army rabbinate appears to be encouraging soldiers to disregard the international laws of war aimed at protecting civilians, according to Breaking the Silence, the group of Israeli ex-soldiers who disclosed its existence. The booklet cites the renowned medieval Jewish sage Maimonides as saying that “one must not be enticed by the folly of the Gentiles who have mercy for the cruel”.

Read moreArmy rabbi gave out hate leaflet to troops

Boeing: We zapped a UAV with a laser


There’s still a lot of blue sky in Boeing’s plans for directed-energy weapons like the Laser Avenger. (Credit: Boeing)

Updated 2:40 p.m. with details on how the laser damaged the UAV and on the Laser Avenger’s targeting system.

Boeing is seeing a glimmer of progress in its work toward fielding laser weapons.

The defense industry giant on Monday said tests of its Laser Avenger system in December marked “the first time a combat vehicle has used a laser to shoot down a UAV,” or unmanned aerial vehicle. In the testing, the Humvee-mounted Laser Avenger located and tracked three small UAVs in flight over the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and knocked one of the drone aircraft out of the sky.

Boeing didn’t go into much detail about the shoot-down. In response to a query by CNET News, it did say this much about the strike by the the kilowatt-class laser: “A hole was burned in a critical flight control element of the UAV, rendering the aircraft unflyable.”

While decades of Hollywood imagery may conjure up a vision of a target disintegrating in a sparkle of light, the actual workings of the laser beam are probably more prosaic. For instance, the beam from Boeing’s much, much larger Airborne Laser, which is intended to disable long-range missiles in flight, uses heat to create a weak spot on the skin of the missile, causing it to rupture in flight. Boeing hopes to conduct the first aerial shoot-down test with the much-delayed 747-based Airborne Laser later this year.

Read moreBoeing: We zapped a UAV with a laser

Nations turn to barter deals to secure food

Countries struggling to secure credit have resorted to barter and secretive government-to-government deals to buy food, with some contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

In a striking example of how the global financial crisis and high food prices have strained the finances of poor and middle-income nations, countries including Russia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Morocco say they have signed or are discussing inter-government and barter deals to import commodities from rice to vegetable oil.

Related article: Credit Crisis Hits Poorer Nations Harder As They Barter for Food (Washington Independent)

The revival of these trade practices, used rarely in the last 20 years and usually by nations subject to international embargoes and the old communist bloc, is a result of the countries’ failure to secure trade financing as bank lending has dried up.

Read moreNations turn to barter deals to secure food

We will never work for the BBC again – actors and directors in Gaza protest

ACTORS and directors have warned the BBC they will not work for the corporation again if it does not broadcast the Gaza charity appeal.

In a letter written to Mark Thompson, the BBC’s director-general, the actors Tam Dean Burn and Pauline Goldsmith, and the directors Peter Mullan and Alison Peebles, said they were “appalled” by the refusal to show the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal.

Their ultimatum came as the satellite broadcaster Sky also decided yesterday it would not screen the DEC film. Like the BBC, it said it wanted to protect the impartiality of its news reports.

Related article: Tony Benn to BBC: If you won’t broadcast the Gaza appeal then I will myself

Gaza is in the grip of a humanitarian crisis, with its 1.5 million population urgently needing food, water, medicine and shelter, after Israel’s three-week assault.

The BBC said yesterday it had received about 15,000 complaints about its decision not to screen the appeal for the DEC, which represents several charities.

Read moreWe will never work for the BBC again – actors and directors in Gaza protest

Global News (01/27/09)

President Obama leads US drive to topple Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe (Times Online)

Halliburton to pay record $559m to settle bribery case (Times Online)

Citigroup going through with $50 mln plane order-source (Reuters):
NEW YORK, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc (C.N), which has received $45 billion of capital from the U.S. government, is going through with plans to buy a $50 million jet but a U.S. senator called the deal absurd and wants the Obama administration to block it.

OBAMA & CONGRESS BLAST CITI OVER JET (New York Post)

Week of mass strikes set to paralyse France in protest against against Sarkozy’s reforms (Guardian):
Nicolas Sarkozy this week faces the first mass-protests over his handling of the financial crisis as unions prepare to paralyse France in a general strike uniting train-drivers, air traffic controllers, journalists, bank staff and even ski-lift operators. “Black Thursday” is the first general strike since the French president’s election in 2007. All the leading unions have joined forces to protest that the government’s stimulus plans should focus less on companies and more on workers’ job-protection and purchasing power.

AP IMPACT: US bets execs can save banks, this time (AP):
WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s one of the ironies of the U.S. financial bailout: The banking executives now managing billions in taxpayer money are the same ones who oversaw the industry’s near collapse.

A Russian billionaire who apparently fell out with the Kremlin over his tax bill has become the latest oligarch to flee Russia and start a new life of exile in Britain.

Mobile phone oligarch flees Russia for new life in Britain (Guardian):
A Russian billionaire who apparently fell out with the Kremlin over his tax bill has become the latest oligarch to flee Russia and start a new life of exile in Britain.

Nomura posts $3.8bn fourth quarter loss (Financial Times)

Tata’s Corus to Cut 3500 Jobs in UK, Netherlands (Bloomberg):
Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) — Corus, Europe’s second-largest steelmaker, will cut 3,500 jobs as it reduces production following a collapse in demand from builders and carmakers.

Corning slashes 3500 jobs (CNN Money):
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — High-tech glass and ceramics maker Corning Inc. announced Tuesday it will cut 3,500 jobs, or 13% of the company’s workforce, by the end of 2009.

IBM cutting over 2800 jobs, labor group says (MarketWatch)

South Carolina unemployment rate rises to 9.5 percent in Dec. (Forbes)

NY financier Cosmo held on Ponzi scheme charge (Reuters)

UN crime chief says drug money flowed into banks (Reuters)

UN Official Wants to Prosecute Bush, Rumsfeld for Torture (The New American)

Police report crime spikes related to economy (USA Today)

Google plans to make PCs history (Guardian):
Google is to launch a service that would enable users to access their personal computer from any internet connection, according to industry reports. But campaigners warn that it would give the online behemoth unprecedented control over individuals’ personal data.

93-year-old froze to death, owed big utility bill (AP):
BAY CITY, Mich. – A 93-year-old man froze to death inside his home just days after the municipal power company restricted his use of electricity because of unpaid bills, officials said. Marvin E. Schur died “a slow, painful death,” said Kanu Virani, Oakland County’s deputy chief medical examiner, who performed the autopsy.

Forecasters see historic drop in retail sales (MSNBC)

Pelosi says birth control will help the US economy (Telegraph)

IMF chief turns up heat on China over yuan (Times Online):
The head of the International Monetary Fund turned up the heat on China over its exchange rate policies yesterday, arguing that it was clear that the Chinese yuan was “significantly undervalued”.

Global recession costs 80,000 jobs a day (Guardian)

Israeli soldier and Palestinian killed (Guardian)

Tony Benn:Liberty is crucial to democracy (Guardian):
This is not an issue of left or right – we must all ensure that government doesn’t rule over people but serves them

Turritopsis nutricula: the world’s only ‘immortal’ creature (Times Online)

Fannie, Freddie may tap U.S. Treasury for $51 bln


The headquarters of mortgage lender Fannie Mae is shown in Washington September 8, 2008. REUTERS

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could tap the government for up to $51 billion in coming weeks, exceeding some Wall Street estimates, so they can continue to operate as the largest providers of funding for U.S. residential mortgages.

The storm of rising delinquencies and falling securities values that led to the government’s seizure of the companies in September accelerated in the last quarter, requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to seek more of the stop-gap measures organized by the U.S. Treasury and their regulator. Analysts predicted more capital needs from Treasury through 2009.

Fresh losses in the most recent quarter will probably be the harshest on Freddie Mac, which holds a larger portfolio of risky mortgage securities, including subprime bonds. The McLean, Virginia-based company said on Friday it may have to seek $30 billion to $35 billion in capital from the Treasury in the form of senior preferred stock.

Washington-based Fannie Mae said late on Monday that the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the regulator, may request $11 billion to $16 billion, based on estimates for fourth-quarter results.

Read moreFannie, Freddie may tap U.S. Treasury for $51 bln

Israeli troops were told to kill themselves to avoid capture

ISRAELI soldiers fighting in the Gaza Strip offensive this month were ordered to kill themselves rather than be captured, and if necessary to kill any Israeli soldier they saw being taken into captivity, the Yediot Achronot newspaper has reported.

“No matter what happens, no one will be kidnapped,” the paper quotes one company commander telling his troops before the fighting began. “We will not have a Gilad Shalit 2.”

Corporal Shalit, the Israeli soldier taken prisoner three years ago, is being held by Hamas, which is demanding the release of more than 1000 Palestinian prisoners, including hundreds convicted of terrorism, in exchange for his release.

The newspaper quotes similar orders given in different Israeli field units, which reportedly reflect a new army policy.

In the past, there were standing orders, known as “Hannibal mode”, for firing at a vehicle taking Israeli troops into captivity to disable it and permit a rescue team to reach it, even at risk to the captive soldiers inside the vehicle. The new orders tighten those instructions, reportedly by permitting the vehicle to be blown up.

A soldier in a commando unit that operated behind Hamas lines said his unit was equipped with “special weapons”. “We were instructed to use them also against any vehicle carrying a kidnapped soldier,” he said.

And an Israeli company commander told the newspaper he had instructed his men to resist being taken prisoner “even if this costs you your life”.

Israel’s Channel Ten television station broadcast a recording of a battalion commander instructing his men just before they invaded the Gaza Strip, in which he says one of Hamas’s main goals was to capture soldiers to exchange for imprisoned terrorists. “No soldier from the battalion will be kidnapped, even if that means he blows up on his own grenade together with whoever wants to take him,” the commander says.

Read moreIsraeli troops were told to kill themselves to avoid capture

California will run out of cash within days – Schwarzenegger

Source: San Jose Mercury News

Posted: 01/26/2009 08:00:00 PM PST

Deadline is real: 5 days to fix California’s budget

Five days are left to cut a deal on the state budget. If not, on Sunday, California, the world’s eighth-largest economy, will become the world’s biggest deadbeat.

Related article: California prepares to stop paying bills (WorldNetDaily)

Having raided every state fund and borrowed the max, the state will start issuing IOUs. College students won’t get Cal Grants. Counties will borrow from reserves to cover social services. State contractors won’t get paid, and taxpayers won’t get refunds. The state already has shut down billions of dollars worth of construction projects. By April, as bills mount up, California, for all practical purposes, will stop functioning as a state.

It’s shameful that things have come this far, but there’s still time to stop things from getting worse – if enough Republicans, at least three in the Assembly and three in the Senate, agree to balance severe cuts to state services with new or higher taxes. Doing so, however, will risk retribution from the rabid right of their party.

All is not totally bleak. House Democrats’ version of President Barack Obama’s $825 billion stimulus includes $10 billion in immediate relief to California, in Medicaid payments for the poor and education aid. That would lop off a quarter of California’s $40 billion deficit. It pays to have friends, like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in high places.

But $10 billion won’t necessarily translate into fewer cuts or taxes. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s proposed budget included $10 billion in phantom solutions: an improbable $5 billion in borrowing against future lottery proceeds and $5 billion in money shifting that’s probably unconstitutional.

So $30 billion in hard choices remains regardless – and less than a week to make them.


Source: Bloomberg

Schwarzenegger Says Deal Is Close as Cash Runs Short


Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California attends the inauguration ceremony of U.S. President Barack Obama at the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 20, 2009. Photographer: Ken Cedeno/Bloomberg News

Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) — California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said legislative leaders are closing in on an agreement to eliminate the $42 billion budget shortfall threatening to leave the state out of cash as soon as next week.

“We are getting closer and closer,” he said during a press conference. “We’re getting there, but it will still take a few more days to get there.”

Schwarzenegger, a Republican, told reporters in Sacramento the state won’t have enough money to pay for all of its bills “within the next week or 10 days.” With that in mind, Schwarzenegger said he and lawmakers were working.

Read moreCalifornia will run out of cash within days – Schwarzenegger

US house price freefall continues

Home prices in big US cities fell at a record 18.2 per cent in the year to November as the stricken housing market showed no signs of bottoming out.

The drop followed an 18 per cent year-on-year decline in the prior month, itself a record, as prices fell more steeply in a wider array of cities including Boston and New York, according to the closely watched Case-Shiller index released on Tuesday.

At the same time, US consumer confidence fell to a new low in January, falling to 37.7 from 38.6 the prior month.

Read moreUS house price freefall continues