– Ryanair: “Lunatic bloggers can keep the blogosphere” (Guardian)
– Military to use new gel that stops bullets (Telegraph)
– Iraq hero goes on the warpath (Independent):
The Army’s most decorated serving war hero has accused the Government of failing soldiers suffering from mental trauma resulting from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.
– Bailout The United States Treasury: The Last Remaining Asset Bubble Is Cracking:
In the video, Santelli reports the price of US Treasury CDS have settled north of 100. For newcomers, this means that it now costs $100k to insure $10 million in US government bonds for 5 years. Twelve months ago this same insurance cost $2,000. (So many times I have warned about the bond bubble. I hope you are prepared. This will be the greatest economic collapse in history.)
– Buffett says US Treasury bubble one for the ages (Reuters)
– Buffett Says Economy Will Be ‘In Shambles’ for 2009 (Bloomberg)
– The Two Documents Everyone Should Read to Better Understand the Crisis (Huffington Post):
The FBI has been warning of an “epidemic” of mortgage fraud since September 2004. It also reports that lenders initiated 80% of these frauds.
– Give to the rich to help the poor? An idea worthy of Bono (Guardian):
Satire? No – a genius really has concocted a tax proposal to put our aid budget in the hands of the super-rich
– Denying our children rights (Guardian):
MPs should think twice before they vote for the retention of innocent young people’s DNA
– Economy moving in reverse faster than predicted (AP):
“Consumers are just hunkering down and saying ‘game over,’ and businesses in response are cutting back on investment and employment,” said Brian Bethune, economist at IHS Global Insight. “It’s a negative feedback loop.”
– Fear of global depression rises as US reveals true extent of decline (Times Online):
(And the crisis has only just begun.)
– Asian power on the rise amid global downturn (Telegraph)
– Adapting to water woes (Las Vegas Sun):
The southwestern United States is moving headlong toward an environmental catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions.
– £20bn bailout to defuse East Europe’s timebomb (Independent):
Three global development banks pledged more than £20bn yesterday to avert potential financial meltdown in eastern Europe, where plunging currencies, mounting job cuts and a deepening debt crisis have sparked riots, rocked governments and stoked fears of widespread social unrest.
– HSBC to launch record $20bn share issue (Telegraph):
Fundraising to offset deterioration in its core Asian markets and escalating losses in the US.
– Allen Stanford borrowed £1.6 billion from his investment empire (Times)
– Jobless Angry at Possibility of No Benefits (New York Times)
– Obama budget calls for major US student loan shift (Reuters)
– US government takes 36% stake in Citigroup (Independent)
– Drug Maker Is Accused of Fraud (New York Times):
The Justice Department charged the drug maker Forest Laboratories on Wednesday with defrauding the government of millions of dollars by illegally marketing the popular antidepressants Celexa and Lexapro for unapproved uses in children and teenagers.
– Judge overturns verdict against Iraq war contractor in fraud case (AP)
– Anti-tax movement holds ‘Tea Party’ to protest Obama policies (Raw Story):
Describing themselves as the spark of a “new conservative counterculture,” several thousand anti-tax protesters took to the streets in over thirty cities on Friday to object to President Obama’s plans to counter the growing economic crisis with government spending.
– Patients at risk as NHS staff refuse flu jabs (Telegraph):
Hospital patients are being put at risk because health workers are ignoring government advice to have flu jabs … (…that contain lethal stuff, destroy health and: Health Disaster: H5N1 DNA in Flu Vaccine)
– 13 Unsolved scientific puzzles (Times Online):
1. MOST OF THE UNIVERSE IS MISSING
We can only account for 4 per cent of the cosmos
– New Wave of Films Tackle Globalization Head on (Spiegel Online)