Japan Industrial Output Hit Hard

Japan's industrial production fell by 10% in January - the biggest monthly drop since records began more than half a century ago, the government says...

Read more japan takes a dive....

Source: bbc news

California in Drought Mode

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Friday because of three years of below-average rain and snowfall in California, a step that urges urban water agencies to reduce water use by 20 percent.

"This drought is having a devastating impact on our people, our communities, our economy and our environment, making today's action absolutely necessary," the Republican governor said in his statement....

Read more Cal needs more water...

Source: breitbart

Unpaid furloughs a trend for U.S. white-collar jobs

U.S. newspapers have done it. California police have too. Governments in California, New Jersey and Ohio say it will save the budget. Forcing workers to take unpaid time off is a new version of the American layoff…..

Read more furloughs a trend for U.S. white-collar jobs


Source: reuters

3 men set themselves on fire

Self-immolations have happened occasionally in recent years in Beijing, usually as a last-ditch protest by people upset that the government has not addressed their complaints or as political protests. This June marks 20 years since Chinese authorities' 1989 crackdown on student protests in the square.

The report said the three started the fire as they sat in a vehicle at an intersection just east of Tiananmen Square in the center of the Chinese capital...

Read more 3 men set themselves on fire

Source: el paso times

Australian Fires Were Fueled By Climate Change: Experts

Australia may be getting a glimpse of its globally warmed future. Experts agreed Tuesday that no one drought, flood or wildfire can be attributed to global warming, but they stressed...

Read more Australia is becoming warmer, drier and more prone to fire

Source: world news

U.S. Stocks tumble to 1997 levels

US stocks pushed to levels not seen in more than a decade as complete risk aversion and the weight of a global recession led investors to either get out or bet against equities once again. Industrials and materials.....

Read more wall street stocks tumble, again..

Source: world news

The Ku Klux Klan is alive and kicking in 2009

The USA has a new president but an old problem - and nothing typifies it like today’s Ku Klux Klan. The photographer Anthony Karen gained unprecedented access to the ‘Invisible Empire’..

Read more Ku Klux Klan is alive and kicking...

Source: independent.co.uk

When is a housing crisis like venereal disease?

“Preventing foreclosures has a lot in common with treating syphilis. In both cases, you help some who are undeserving, but – in an economic collapse or a public-health emergency – one acts nonetheless. ”

Just as in an serious epidemic, you’d take care of the problem and leave moral judgements to others, the right course of action is to take action to halt the housing crisis and leave the debate about moral hazard to economists, she wrote in a note to clients on Friday....

Read more housing crisis like venereal disease...

Source: reuters

Soros sees no bottom for world financial "collapse"

Soros said the turbulence is actually more severe than during the Great Depression, comparing the current situation to the demise of the Soviet Union. He said the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September marked a turning point in the functioning of the market system.

"We witnessed the collapse of the financial system," Soros said at a Columbia University dinner. "It was placed on life support, and it's still on life support. There's no sign that we are anywhere near a bottom."

Read more Soros sees no bottom for world financial "collapse"

Source: reuters

Los Angeles nears water rationing

With a recent flurry of winter storms doing little to dampen California's latest drought, the nation's biggest public utility voted on Tuesday to impose water rationing in Los Angeles for the first time in nearly two decades...

Read more water rationing

Source: reuters

Chrysler Needs $5 billion more

Chrysler LLC on Tuesday told the U.S. government it needs even more taxpayer money to survive. General Motors is expected to do the same. Acknowledging that industry conditions are worse than expected when it made the case in December for a government bailout, Chrysler requested an additional $5 billion in government loans.

It originally said it would need $3 billion more. The company had previously received $4 billion from the Treasury Department....

Read more Chrysler needs more cash...

Source: ap news

Another Octuplet Mom in Los Angeles?

The doctor who helped Nadya Suleman get pregnant with octuplets has reportedly transferred at least seven embryos to another patient.

According to the Los Angeles Times , a woman in her late 40s went to Dr. Michael Kamrava hoping to become pregnant with one baby...

Read more Another Octuplet Mom?

Source: my fox ny

Experts warn against self-diagnosis on internet

A growing trend for people to self-diagnose and self-medicate their health conditions using the internet has medical experts sounding a warning...

Read more Experts warn against self-diagnosis

Source: nzherald.co.uk

'Pedophile protection racket' still going strong

Despite widespread condemnation for performing abortions on underage girls while protecting the statutory rapists involved by not reporting them to authorities, Planned Parenthood is continuing the practice big-time – with many new cases of underage girls – according to an investigation of violations of state criminal reporting laws.

Critics of Planned Parenthood characterize the practice as a "pedophile protection racket." ...

Read more 'Pedophile protection racket'..

Source: www.wnd.com

Developer offers buyers a refund if they lose their job

The Brownstone Group of Companies is offering buyers of stacked townhouses at Davenport Village, now under construction at Landsdowne and Davenport avenues near Corso Italia, a “Worry Free Purchase Program.”..

Read more buyers a refund if they lose their job

Source: network.national.com

US Must Pay Reparations to Victims of Slavery

There has been a number of voices in America, Europe the Caribbean, Latin America, Australia and Africa that the US and European nations should pay reparations to Africa Americans, Africa and the Caribbean Islands for the sufferings they endured under slavery and colonialism.....

US and Europe Must pay Reparations to Victims of Slavery..

Source: article.wn.com

GM to Cut Salaried Staff by 14%

General Motors Corp. said Tuesday it will cut 10,000 white-collar jobs world-wide this year, a move that could help prod the company's main union and bondholders into making concessions as required by GM's $13.4 billion federal loan package...

Read more Cut Salaried Staff by 14%

Source: wsj online

California Judges back a one-third reduction in state prison population

A panel of three federal judges, saying overcrowding in state prisons has deprived inmates of their right to adequate healthcare, tentatively ruled Monday that the state must reduce the population in those lockups by as many as 57,000 people…

Read more one-third reduction in state prison population

Source: la times

Mexico Drug Suspect Dissolved 300 Bodies

For the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of families of people who have vanished amid Baja California's drug wars, the search for justice has been lonely and fruitless.

But their hopes have been buoyed recently by the Jan. 22 arrest of a man Mexican authorities believe is behind the gruesome disposal of bodies in vats of industrial chemicals...

Read more man who says he dissolved 300 people

Source: la times

Undercapitalized Bank List Grows

The number of banks considered undercapitalized per regulatory guidelines rose to 45 as of Dec. 31 from 38 in September, according to Highline Financial.

While that might not seem like a significant increase for this environment, there were 12 bank or thrift failures in the fourth quarter alone….

Read more Undercapitalized Banks

Source: the street

Fury over sex games at Cambridge University...

Hospital consultant Adrian Boyle said: “In the last ten years the number of female students coming in extremely drunk and incapable has shot up. More are being assaulted too.”...

Rewad more sex games at Cambridge University...

Source: the sun

Recession will end soon - or maybe not

Experts have wildly differing opinions on when the current economic clouds will clear away….

Read more Recession will end soon?

Source: startribune.com

Man Arrested Fondling Blow-up Dolls

A Florida man was arrested yesterday after he was spotted fondling and making out with a pair of blow-up dolls in a supermarket parking lot...

Read more arrested for fondling blow-up dolls

Source: the smoking gun

US Republicans push own stimulus plans

US Senate Republicans on Tuesday offered their own, cheaper economic stimulus plans focused on tax cuts, pushing back against a nearly $900-billion Democratic plan they say encourages too much new spending…

Read more Republicans push own stimulus plans

Source: business inquirer net

US govt works on pay restrictions

``One of the things that that we're going to do tomorrow is talk about the need to control executive compensation for companies that are taking money from the federal government,'' President Barack Obama said in an interview Tuesday....

Read more US govt works on pay restrictions

Source: the times of india

Scientist See Holes in Glacier at Alaska Volcano

Scientists with the Alaska Volcano Observatory on Friday flew close to Drift Glacier and spotted vigorous steam emitted from a hole on the mountain. By Saturday, they had confirmed the area was a fumarole, an opening in the earth that emits gases and steam, that was increasing in size at an alarming rate...

Read more Scientist see holes in glacier

Source: my way news

OPEC: Oil Price Should Be Doubled

A "fair price" for oil is between $60 and $80 a barrel, the secretary general of OPEC, Abdullah al-Badri, told participants at the World Economic Forum yesterday, up to twice as high as the current price in the market…

Read more Oil Price Should Be Doubled

Source: business week

Wall Street slumps as US cuts 100,000 jobs in a week

The Wall Street slumped to its worst January ever as investors eyed abysmal reports on economic growth and several companies across various industries announced more job cuts…

Read more Wall Street slumps

Source: the economic times