Week ending 21 January 2008

News from 17/01/08 to 21/01/08

Pakistan short of everything except crises


A Growing Foreign Stake in U.S. Banks


Russia could use nuclear arms pre-emptively: general

Russia's armed forces chief said on Saturday Moscow could use nuclear arms pre-emptively if under serious threat, his comments marking no change in defense policy but underlining a renewed military confidence.

Quality of nuclear devices questioned

Resting atop the Trident II missile, the W88 warhead is among the mainstays of the country's submarine-based nuclear arsenal. For years, however, testing the warhead's components to ensure the weapon produces the intended blast instead of a fizzle has been complicated by a lack of replacement plutonium triggers.

U.S. Hospitals Plagued by Ten Times More MRSA Superbug Infections than Previously Thought

Nearly five percent of patients in U.S. hospitals may have acquired a particular antibiotic resistant staph infection, according to a nationwide survey conducted by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

Experts fear superbug pandemic

A strain of the MRSA superbug caught in public places as opposed to hospitals could spread faster and wider than first thought, experts say.

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria which caused a global epidemic in the 1950s has evolved into a form of community-acquired MRSA (CA-MRSA), according to a new study.

The Peak Oil Crisis: We Are Starting To Dim.

China is the most interesting case. Growing at 11 percent a year, Beijing just announced that China’s electric generating capacity is now 700 gigawatts. This may not sound impressive, until you learn that they could be surpassing the U.S. in few years and last year they added more capacity than all of Britain’s power stations combined. Seventy-eight percent of this generating capacity comes from coal. To maintain this rate of growth, China, which used to export 100 million tons a year, has become a net-importer of coal with imports increasing 34 percent last year to 51 million tons. World coal prices increased 73 percent in 2007 because of this demand.

China Close To Becoming World’s Largest Internet Market By Users

New statistics released by the Chinese Government show that China is due to surpass the United States as the nation with the most internet users in the coming months.

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Also of interest:
7 More Abandoned Wonders of the World: Amazing American Abandonments
(Note: Check out the links just above the comments on the above linked page as well!)