Week ending 29 January 2008

News from 22/01/08 to 29/01/08

The black box economy

As the derivatives business has grown more complex, it has also ballooned in scale. Broadly speaking, Das - author of a leading textbook on derivatives and complex securities - estimates that investors worldwide hold more than $500 trillion worth of derivatives. This number now dwarfs the global GDP, which tops out around $60 trillion.

CIA Admits Cyberattacks Blacked Out Cities


Hypothetical attack on U.S. outlined by China


Pre-emptive nuclear strike a key option, Nato told

"The first use of nuclear weapons must remain in the quiver of escalation as the ultimate instrument to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction."

China's growth could spark political tensions

The rapid industrialisation of China’s economy means that it is likely to consume a majority of the world’s supply of all the major metals and minerals, potentially leading to clashes with other countries over access to resources. Rio Tinto, the world’s second-largest miner, said last week that China already accounted for 47 per cent of all iron ore consumption, 32 per cent of aluminium and 25 per cent of copper.

China to build 97 new airports by 2020


Putin decided for a stealth bomber development

According to several sources near Russian Kremlin, president Vladimir Putin given some time ago green light to the development of a new stealth bomber aircraft to replace and modernize the Russian air force attack aircraft fleet.

Home Prices Fell in ’07 for First Time in Decades


Is plastic making us fat?

Researchers are exploring whether exposure to common chemicals during early development could set us up for a lifetime battle with the bulge

Plague a growing but overlooked threat: study

Plague, the disease that devastated medieval Europe, is re-emerging worldwide and poses a growing but overlooked threat, researchers warned on Tuesday.
While it has only killed some 100 to 200 people annually over the past 20 years, plague has appeared in new countries in recent decades and is now shifting into Africa, Michael Begon, an ecologist at the University of Liverpool and colleagues said.

Hospitals on alert as superbug C diff becomes resistant to key drug


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Also of interest:
A Cheaper Battery for Hybrid Cars
Colony collapse disorder in bees

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!)

Week ending 16 January 2008

News from 10/01/08 to 16/01/08

Bush takes distance from key Iran findings

US President George W. Bush on Tuesday appeared to distance himself from what he called an "independent" US intelligence finding widely seen as dousing the likelihood of armed confrontation with Iran.

Norovirus reaches epidemic levels


Australia Joins China In Censoring The Internet


It's Not 1929, but It's the Biggest Mess Since


Russia to have 50 silo-based Topol-M ICBM systems by end of 2008


Mysterious $100 ‘supernote’ counterfeit bills appear across world

It’s an illegal parallel print of a genuine note.” He claims that the supernotes are of such high quality and are updated so frequently that they could be produced only by a U.S. government agency such as the CIA.

Heat is on for power supply


Southern China Shuts Power Capacity on Coal Shortage

China has shut down more than 6 percent of the power generating capacity in its southern provinces because of a coal shortage, with the region bracing for the worst electricity shortage in at least five years.

Serbians prepare plan for Kosovo


‘Panic Buying’ in the Grain Markets


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Also of interest:
2007 Darwin Awards

Week ending 9 January 2008

News from 03/01/08 to 09/01/08

Military flags all-out onslaught in 'badlands'

PAKISTAN yesterday signalled it would launch a "massive military operation" into the al-Qa'ida- and Taliban-infested "badlands" of its North West Frontier Province, aimed at killing the jihadi militant leader blamed for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

Bush convenes Plunge Protection Team


What will we do if big two go bust?

They don't know it, but taxpayers stand to lose billions as the housing bubble bursts. And in a bipartisan effort to "do something" to save the housing market, President Bush and the Democratic Congress appear set to put taxpayers on the hook for billions more.

Iran to open oil bourse: Minister of Economy


China closes over 10,000 coal mines in last three years


Forget oil, the new global crisis is food


Helium supplies endangered, threatening science and technology


Solar activity threatens to mash up communications


No sign of the Higgs boson

The legendary particle that physicists thought explained why matter has mass probably does not exist. So say researchers who have spent a year analysing data from the LEP accelerator at the CERN nuclear physics lab near Geneva.

The elusive Higgs boson is so central to the standard model - the theory on which physicists base their whole understanding of matter - that it has been dubbed the "God particle". If there is no Higgs, they will be left totally unable to explain mass.

Week ending 2 January 2008

News from 24/12/07 to 02/01/08

Iran to Get Russian Anti-Missile Defense

Russia is preparing to equip Iran with a powerful new air defense system that would dramatically increase its ability to repel an attack, Iran's defense minister said Wednesday.

City shuts down after Benazir Bhutto's death

On the second day of official mourning for Bhutto, most people were unable to buy food or petrol, with all shops, service stations, banks and offices closed.

Australia's controversial national ID program hits the dumpster


Pope's exorcist squads will wage war on Satan


Americans 'walk' from loans


Credit loss could hit $US1trillion

THE US economy could be heading into its blackest year since the Great Depression as estimates of losses from the housing slump and sub-prime mortgage implosion reach unprecedented levels.

Crisis may make 1929 look a 'walk in the park'


Russia starts selling GPS-Glonass navigator


Key Pentagon strategist plots global war on terror


U.S. Soldiers Stage Mutiny, Refuse Orders in Iraq Fearing They Would Commit Massacre in Revenge for IED Attack