Global News (02/01/09)

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)


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