Weeks ending 03 September 2008

News from 17/08/08 to 03/09/08

Violence in NW Pakistan triggers exodus


US to take over Afghan mission

Plans are being drawn up to send as many as 15,000 extra troops to Afghanistan with a single US general always in command, as in Iraq, defence sources said.

Pentagon Plans to Send More Than 12,000 Additional Troops to Afghanistan


Russia’s new nuclear challenge to Europe


The Great Consumer Crash of 2009


Oceanic Dead Zones Continue to Spread


US and Poland seal missile deal


Russia recognises Georgian rebels

President Dmitry Medvedev has declared that Russia formally recognises the independence of the breakaway Georgian regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Ukraine in crisis as ruling coalition collapses


Russia may push forward with S-300 sales to Iran


Russia may eventually retrieve its military presence in Cuba and Vietnam


Also of interest:
Tallest Skyscraper in the World Almost Completed, Defies Belief

Weeks ending 16 August 2008

News from 04/08/08 to 16/08/08


Georgia forced to accept a Russian occupation


Georgia crisis: Medvedev promises to guarantee any vote by rebel states to break with Tbilisi


US and Poland sign defence deal


Russia: Poland risks attack because of US missiles


'2 US aircraft carriers headed for Gulf'


The next wave of mortgage defaults


Hundreds of banks will fail, Roubini tells Barron's


US junk-bond defaults may quadruple

Defaults on American corporate junk bonds could more than quadruple in the next year as the declining economy in the United States severely restricts companies' ability to repay their debts, the Standard & Poor's ratings agency has said.

One Third of New Owners Owe More Than House Is Worth


Indonesia warns oil output to finish in 10 years’ time


Violence in NW Pakistan triggers exodus

About 100,000 Pakistani villagers have fled clashes between security forces and militants in a northwestern region raising the danger of a big humanitarian problem, a government official said on Friday.

ECB slammed as Europe crumbles

The economies of Germany, France and Italy all contracted in the first quarter and may now be in full recession, shattering assumptions that Europe would prove able to shrug off the effects of the credit crunch.

Weeks Ending 03 August 2008

News from 20/07/08 to 03/08/08


'Nuclear bomber base' raises fears of a new Cuban crisis

The Russian military, furious at American plans to install a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe, is talking up the prospect of turning Cuba into a base for its long-range nuclear bombers.

NAB sends a bleak message to the world

NAB's decision to book an $830 million charge against $1.2 billion of US home loan exposure to carry write-downs to 90% of the original value sends an extremely gloomy message to the global banking system and the world's sharemarkets.
...The mortgages concerned are not subprime junk. In fact, they had received an AAA credit rating originally, which as Stewart said yesterday, implied a one in 10,000 chance of default.

The huge threat to the US economy


Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Congress backs rescue package


America's house price time bomb

"This is becoming a tsunami of voluntary defaults," Professor Roubini says.
"The losses for the financial system from people walking away could be of the order of one trillion dollars when the entire capital of the US banking system is only $1.3 trillion."

Russian Navy prioritizes construction of nuclear submarines


Britain plans to spend £3bn on new nuclear warheads


U.S. biofuel plants go bankrupt on feedstock costs


Zimbabwe runs short of paper to mint money


Zimbabwe slashes ten zeros off its currency


Sexual assault in [U.S.] military 'jaw-dropping,' lawmaker says


Iran says OPEC to consider oil rationing


Haiti: Mud cakes become staple diet as cost of food soars beyond a family's reach


China’s Guerrilla War for the Web


Fuel cell cars still 15 years away at best-study


Graph of Total Borrowings of Depository Institutions from the Federal Reserve


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Also of interest:

Photos of the Large Hadron Collider

Photos of current and future developments in Dubai

Week Ending 19 July 2008

News from 10/07/08 to 19/07/08


Crisis wipes $1 trillion from financial stocks


'Bush gave Israel amber light to attack'


Saudis offer Moscow billions to break with Tehran


IndyMac Bank seized by federal regulators


US moves to bolster lending firms

The US government has announced sweeping measures to shore up the nation's two largest mortgage finance companies, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
The two firms own or guarantee almost half of all US home loans - more than $5 trillion (£2.5 trillion) of debt.

The Fannie and Freddie doomsday scenario
It's time to wonder what would happen if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed.


Chinese Government is Top Foreign Holder of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Bonds


OPEC warns against military conflict with Iran


Drought devastates Iraq's wheat crops


Russia and China veto U.N. Zimbabwe sanctions


Russian customs bid to break the BNY


Housing Market Meltdown Will Cause Massive Losses in Household Wealth


China on brink of electricity shortfall

Week ending 9 June 2008

News from 30/06/08 to 09/07/08


US planned nerve gas tests on Australian soldiers


U.S. escalating covert operations against Iran: report


The Shrinking Influence of the US Federal Reserve

Officials with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have informed Bernanke about a plan that would have been unheard-of in the past: a general examination of the US financial system. The IMF's board of directors has ruled that a so-called Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP) is to be carried out in the United States. It is nothing less than an X-ray of the entire US financial system.

BMD Focus: Medvedev's missile pledge

Russia's new President Dmitry Medvedev has pledged to maintain the top-priority modernization of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces designed to be able to swamp America's ballistic missile defense systems.

[UK] Government asks stores to stockpile food to overcome hauliers strike


Unprecedented capital inflows test Chinese regulators

According to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), as of the end of May, forex reserves stood at 1.797 trillion U.S. dollars.

Dow ends flat but suffers worst 1st half since '70


Russia says Georgia could spark new war in Abkhazia: agency

Weeks ending 29 June 2008

News from 15/06/08 to 29/06/08

Dow Chemical hiking prices 25%
Chemical company cites soaring energy costs for new price boost, following a 20% jump three weeks ago.


Scientists warn of lack of vital phosphorus as biofuels raise demand


A Pretty Stunning Graph of World Cement Production


RBS issues global stock and credit crash alert

The Royal Bank of Scotland has advised clients to brace for a full-fledged crash in global stock and credit markets over the next three months as inflation paralyses the major central banks.

U.S. Says Israeli Exercise Seemed Directed at Iran

Israel carried out a major military exercise earlier this month that American officials say appeared to be a rehearsal for a potential bombing attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Pentagon ‘three-day blitz’ plan for Iran

Alexis Debat, director of terrorism and national security at the Nixon Center, said last week that US military planners were not preparing for “pinprick strikes” against Iran’s nuclear facilities. “They’re about taking out the entire Iranian military,” he said.

'US builds 4 bases on Iraq-Iran border'


French army falling apart, documents show


Iraqi refugee crisis grows as West turns its back


Taliban Destroying Bridges, Planting Mines In Prep For Battle With Afghan Troops


Efforts to train Afghan troops slump

Only two of the 105 Afghan army units are capable of performing their primary mission, the Government Accountability Office reported.

Drugs cartel led by woman turns Mexican town into shooting gallery

[The] United States’ seemingly insatiable demand for cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine...has sparked the bloodiest drugs war in the Americas and cost more than 4,000 lives in the past 18 months.

Honey Bee Crisis Could Push Food Prices Even Higher


US nuclear weapons 'leave British soil at last' after half a century of controversy


An Epidemic of Psychological Wounds


Poll: 44% of Americans favor torture for terrorist suspects


Global military spending soars 45 pct in 10 years

Month ending 14 June 2008

News from 17/05/08 to 14/06/08

Today's food crisis isn't a blip

For anyone wondering where food prices are really headed, the news that Beijing has begun buying up farmland in Africa and South America offers a troubling hint.

US Warns Tourists of 'Small-Unit Combat' at Mexico Border


13,000 displaced by SAfrica mobs as Mbeki urges calm


Fight to save wheat falters

In the face of a devastating new plant disease that threatens the world's wheat crops, the U.S. government has cut the budget for research that might head off the infestation.

Abkhazia: the frozen conflict that is thawing rapidly


Heavy gunfire breaks out along border between Georgia, Abkhazia


George Soros: 'We face the most serious recession of our lifetime'


Energy Watchdog Warns Of Oil-Production Crunch


Nine meals from anarchy - how Britain is facing a very real food crisis

It was Lord Cameron's estimation that it would take just nine meals - three full days without food on supermarket shelves - before law and order started to break down, and British streets descended into chaos.

US property foreclosures up 65%


The Financial Tsunami has not reached its Climax
Credit Default Swaps: Next Phase of an Unravelling Crisis


US rail network facing congestion 'calamity'


China’s Cyber-Militia


Worries Mount as Farmers Push for Big Harvest

At a moment when the country’s corn should be flourishing, one plant in 10 has not even emerged from the ground, the Agriculture Department said Monday.

Surgeon: one in three [UK] trauma patients has been knifed


Pentagon says AFRICOM Will Be Ready for Full Operations October 1


Rate of Violence Skyrocketing in Afghanistan

In terms of enemy fire, May 2008 was the second deadliest month of the war since hostilities began in Afghanistan shortly after 9/11. This also marked the end of the deadliest 12-month period for U.S. troops in combat in Afghanistan since the war began nearly seven years ago.

Through the floor
America's house prices are falling even faster than during the Great Depression


Home price drop means $4 trillion in lost capital


Zimbabwe faces worst harvest on record as Robert Mugabe stops charity food handouts


Opposing Robert Mugabe is now 'treason' in Zimbabwe


Traders predict [UK] house prices will fall by 50% in four years


Surging inflation will stoke riots and conflict between nations, says report


Apocalypse in the Oceans