– Google blacklists entire internet (Guardian):
Glitch causes world’s most popular search engine to classify all web pages as dangerous
– Davos Delegates in ‘Denial’ as $25 Trillion of Wealth Vanishes (Bloomberg)
– Exclusive: Peers for cash investigation – new undercover footage (Times)
– Barack Obama to dilute ‘Buy American’ plan after Europe threatens US with trade war (Telegraph)
– Obama Proposes Defense Cut (To Above 2007 Levels): Wingnut Outrage (Crooks and Liars):
The Pentagon’s budget (not including expenditures for Iraq and Afghanistan) has grown from $316B in 2001 to $536B in 2009. This represents a 70% increase. So a 10% decrease is funding will take us from $536B to $483B, which is still more than the $463B the Pentagon had for 2007. All Obama is doing is preventing the budget from growing an average of 10% year after year when there’s no discernible advantage to doing so.
– Obama prepares to unveil plan to rescue US banking industry from from $2 trillion hole (Times Online): It is believed that President Obama has estimated that total losses among America’s lenders could cost the US (Taxpayers’) up to $2 trillion.
– €7bn to be pumped into Irish banks (Times Online)
– Exxon and Chevron made $6m an hour amid record profits (Telegraph):
Exxon Mobil and Chevron, the two biggest oil companies in the world, made a combined profit of almost $6m (£4.1m) an hour in the final quarter of 2008, despite a 56pc slump in the oil price during the period.
– Hedge fund to offer shares priced in gold (Telegraph):
A hedge fund is to offer its shares priced in ounces of gold rather than pounds or dollars to investors worried that inflation will take hold as a result of countries around the world printing more money.
– Sewage yields more gold than top mines (Reuters)
– Florida, Maryland, Utah Banks Shut as Financial Crisis Deepens (Bloomberg):
Jan. 31 (Bloomberg) — Banks in Florida, Maryland and Utah were closed yesterday as regulators wrapped up the busiest month for failures since the housing slump began in 2006.
– GlaxoSmithKline to slash 6000 jobs (Telegraph)
– Financed by the British taxpayer, brutal torturers of the West Bank (Daily Mail)
– Intervening to prop up pound is ‘recipe for failure’, says Brown (Independent):
(The Bank of England is ‘printing money’ which will destroy the pound. The pound is beyond help.)
– Russian newspaper mourns another murdered reporter (AP)
– Treasuries purchases will depend on risk – China’s Wen (Reuters):
(Looks like the Obama/Geithner strategy pays off already.) China is the single biggest foreign investor of U.S. Treasuries, with $681.9 billion as of November, according to U.S. data.
– Scientist see holes in glacier at Alaska volcano (AP):
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Geologists monitoring Mount Redoubt for signs of a possible eruption noticed that a hole in the glacier clinging to the north side of the volcano had doubled in size overnight — and now spans the length of two football fields.
– Fines fraud hits Italian drivers (BBC News):
Thousands of drivers in Italy are expected to seek compensation after it was revealed that a system to catch them jumping red lights was rigged.
– How the BBC’s stand on Gaza made a front-page protester out of me (Independent)
– Intervening to prop up pound is ‘recipe for failure’, says Brown (Independent)
– Americans’ saving more, spending less (AP)
– Joblessness Probably Rose to 16-Year High: US Economy Preview (Bloomberg)
– Rio Tinto in £6bn talks with China (Times)