Google Seach Fault
BBC NEWS | Technology | Fault hits Google search service: "Google's search service has been hit by technical problems, with users unable to access search results. For a period on Saturday, all search results were flagged as potentially harmful, with users warned that the site 'may harm your computer'. Users who clicked on their preferred search result were advised to pick another one." This hit me. I thought I had the worm. This shows how reliant we are on Google
MUST READ: The List: The Next Iceland
Foreign Policy: The List: The Next Iceland: "The List: The Next Iceland" Top 5 here: UK Latvia Greece Ukraine Nicaragua There would be lots of fallout in the UK that is for sure.
Collapse in capital flows
Warning over collapse in capital flows - Telegraph: "The world economy will shrink this year for the first time since the Second World War, warns the gloomiest forecast yet delivered by a major international institutional."
BBC NEWS | Europe | Untouched East Germany flat found
BBC NEWS | Europe | Untouched East Germany flat found: "A flat apparently untouched since before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 has been discovered in the German city of Leipzig, German media report."
China fears riots will spread as boom goes sour | World news | The Observer
China fears riots will spread as boom goes sour | World news | The Observer: "Today millions will leave the cities to return to their rural family homes for the new year celebrations. But this year Beijing hopes the newly jobless revellers will stay there - to prevent a fresh wave of unrest in the cities"
balticbusinessnews.com - EU states monitor spread of civil unrest
balticbusinessnews.com - EU states monitor spread of civil unrest: "EU member states are 'intensively' monitoring the risk of spreading civil unrest in Europe, as riots over the economic crisis erupt in Iceland following street clashes in Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Greece, EU Observer writes. The worst street disturbances for 50 years struck Reykjavik on 22 January, as police streamed a hardcore of a few hundred anti-government protesters in the early morning with pepper spray and then tear gas after an earlier crowd of around 2,000 gathered outside the Althingi, the country's parliament, to demand the government resign."
U.K. Pound Serves as Omen for Dollar - WSJ.com
U.K. Pound Serves as Omen for Dollar - WSJ.com: "As the British pound continues to sink, its travails are a cautionary tale for the U.S. dollar. The U.S. and the U.K. face very similar predicaments, from a deepening recession to a damaged financial system. Both are orchestrating massive bank bailouts and attempting to assist struggling homeowners. Both are ramping up government spending even as they rely on financing from overseas investors. And both countries have central banks that have slashed interest rates and opened the door to unconventional ways of stimulating the economy."
Shopping Strategy Of Millionaires: Buy Used Or High Quality
Shopping Strategy Of Millionaires: Buy Used Or High Quality: "Defensive Money Strategies from Real Millionaires 1. House Purchases. Real Millionaires do not get houses custom built, nor do they move into new developments. They live in clusters with each other in OLD neighborhoods, in OLD houses. Most are 15 years old and they often triple in price since their purchases. 2. Clothing Purchases. They aren't going to buy really expensive clothes. They may frequent thrift shops or even Walmart to get their clothes. So don't be embarrassed to go cheap, just think of it as acting like a millionaire. They will buy really expensive shoes, and resole them when necessary. Since they'll wear them for a couple of decades the cost per wear will be marginal compared to constantly replacing a cheap pair. 3. Furniture Purchases. Real millionaires do not buy the latest styled furniture. They'll go out and buy a $10,000 antique table made from REAL wood, not modern saw dust. They'll repair and refinish this table when needed. They can keep it for a lifetime, pass it on to their children, and not worry about upgrading to the latest. Guess what? Antiques raise in value, so their net worth doesn't take a hit at all! As far as other furniture goes, they re-upholster it a couple of times in their life time, which is way cheaper than buying new again. 4. Vehicle Purchases. Re"
Four More Reasons to Drink Red Wine | Newsweek Health | Newsweek.com
Four More Reasons to Drink Red Wine | Newsweek Health | Newsweek.com: "It's common knowledge that a glass or two of red wine a night will do more than enhance a great meal or put you to sleep: it can reduce production of 'bad' cholesterol, boost 'good' cholesterol and reduce blood clotting, all of which will help reduce the risk of heart disease. But recent studies are showing that wine aficionados may also reap even more benefits, from inhibiting tumor development to helping form nerve cells. Here's a roundup of four recent studies that might encourage you to uncork that bottle of merlot:"
Foreign Affairs - The End of National Currency - Benn Steil
Foreign Affairs - The End of National Currency - Benn Steil: "Summary: Global financial instability has sparked a surge in 'monetary nationalism' -- the idea that countries must make and control their own currencies. But globalization and monetary nationalism are a dangerous combination, a cause of financial crises and geopolitical tension. The world needs to abandon unwanted currencies, replacing them with dollars, euros, and multinational currencies as yet unborn." " But the dollar's privileged status as today's global money is not heaven-bestowed. The dollar is ultimately just another money supported only by faith that others will willingly accept it in the future in return for the same sort of valuable things it bought in the past. This puts a great burden on the institutions of the U.S. government to validate that faith. And those institutions, unfortunately, are failing to shoulder that burden. Reckless U.S. fiscal policy is undermining the dollar's position even as the currency's role as a global money is expanding. Four decades ago, the renowned French economist Jacques Rueff, writing just a few years before the collapse of the Bretton Woods dollar-based gold-exchange standard, argued that the system "attains such a degree of absurdity that no human brain having the power to reason can defend it." The precariousness of the dollar's position today is similar. The United States can run a chronic balance-of-payments deficit and never feel the effects. Dollars sent abroad immediately come home in the form of loans, as dollars are of no use abroad. "If I had an agreement with my tailor that whatever money I pay him he returns to me the very same day as a loan," Rueff explained by way of analogy, "I would have no objection at all to ordering more suits from him." With the U.S. current account deficit running at an enormous 6.6 percent of GDP (about $2 billion a day must be imported to sustain it), the United States is in the fortunate position of the suit buyer with a Chinese tailor who instantaneously returns his payments in the form of loans -- generally, in the U.S. case, as purchases of U.S. Treasury bonds. The current account deficit is partially fueled by the budget deficit (a dollar more of the latter yields about 20-50 cents more of the former), which will soar in the next decade in the absence of reforms to curtail federal "entitlement" spending on medical care and retirement benefits for a longer-living population. The United States -- and, indeed, its Chinese tailor -- must therefore be concerned with the sustainability of what Rueff called an "absurdity." In the absence of long-term fiscal prudence, the United States risks undermining the faith foreigners have placed in its management of the dollar -- that is, their belief that the U.S. government can continue to sustain low inflation without having to resort to growth-crushing interest-rate hikes as a means of ensuring continued high capital inflows."
Spy satellites turn their gaze onto each other - space - 24 January 2009 - New Scientist
Spy satellites turn their gaze onto each other - space - 24 January 2009 - New Scientist: "SPY satellites have a new role: as well as watching us they are now spying on each other. The Pentagon admitted last week that it is using two covert inspection satellites developed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to assess damage to a failed geostationary satellite - something no one suspected the US could do. If such satellites can get that close to a target, they could probably attack it."
Why some people can't put two and two together - science-in-society - 24 January 2009 - New Scientist
Why some people can't put two and two together - science-in-society - 24 January 2009 - New Scientist: "JILL, 19, from Michigan, wants to go to university to read political science. There is just one problem: she keeps failing the mathematics requirement. 'I am an exceptional student in all other subjects, so my consistent failure at math made me feel very stupid,' she says. In fact, she stopped going to her college mathematics class after a while because, she says, 'I couldn't take the daily reminder of what an idiot I was.' Last November, Jill got herself screened for learning disabilities. She found that while her IQ is above average, her numerical ability is equivalent to that of an 11-year-old because she has something called dyscalculia. The diagnosis came partly as a relief, because it explained a lot of difficulties she had in her day-to-day life. She can't easily read a traditional, analogue clock, for example, and always arrives 20 minutes early for fear of being late. When it comes to paying in shops or restaurants, she hands her wallet to a friend and asks them to do the calculation, knowing that she is likely to get it wrong."
Lights go out across Britain as recession hits home | Business | The Guardian
Lights go out across Britain as recession hits home | Business | The Guardian: "Britain's days as the fastest growing economy in Europe were officially declared over yesterday as the deepest recession in a generation saw consumers turning off the lights and Poles returning home. While official figures showed the economy contracting at its fastest since 1980, National Grid said demand for electricity had fallen over Christmas at homes and factories across the land, and Poland confirmed that thousands of its citizens were coming home from Britain and Ireland"
reportonbusiness.com: Rule change would allow Ottawa to buy bank stock
reportonbusiness.com: Rule change would allow Ottawa to buy bank stock: "Ottawa is looking at changing little-known rules that prevent governments from owning shares of Canadian banks and insurers, according to sources. Doing so would not only allow the government to inject capital into banks if that ever became necessary, it could also make it easier for Canadian financial institutions to pull off foreign takeovers, and ease the way for sovereign wealth funds to invest in institutions here." Not sure if I should be concerned on this?
D A I J I W O R L D
D A I J I W O R L D: "Ratnakar, Kasaragod/ Dubai Friday, January 16, 2009 What one observes today is just a trickle. At present only the building designers and real estate people are affected. Once the major ongoing projects gets completed in a few months, there will be an exodus of tens of thousands of construction workers. The Indian government must wake up to this reality and the social problems associated with it." Interesting comment on this news article
The Associated Press: No credible terror threats seen for Super Bowl
The Associated Press: No credible terror threats seen for Super Bowl: "WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. intelligence officials have found no credible threat of terrorist attacks at the Super Bowl scheduled Feb. 1 in Tampa, Fla., but they are nevertheless raising security concerns. A joint FBI and Homeland Security intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday cautions that Raymond James Stadium, the Super Bowl site, does not have the typical security features of permanently secure buildings and arenas. The report, dated Tuesday, says possible attackers could be deterred by the posting of hundreds of visible security officials, barriers and other measures." This is good news
RISK Mismanagement - What Led to the Financial Meltdown - NYTimes.com
RISK Mismanagement - What Led to the Financial Meltdown - NYTimes.com: "THERE AREN’T MANY widely told anecdotes about the current financial crisis, at least not yet, but there’s one that made the rounds in 2007, back when the big investment banks were first starting to write down billions of dollars in mortgage-backed derivatives and other so-called toxic securities. This was well before Bear Stearns collapsed, before Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the federal government, before Lehman fell and Merrill Lynch was sold and A.I.G. saved, before the $700 billion bailout bill was rushed into law. Before, that is, it became obvious that the risks taken by the largest banks and investment firms in the United States — and, indeed, in much of the Western world — were so excessive and foolhardy that they threatened to bring down the financial system itself. On the contrary: this was back when the major investment firms were still assuring investors that all was well, these little speed bumps notwithstanding — assurances based, in part, on their fantastically complex mathematical models for measuring the risk in their various portfolios."
Cash-rich companies list - Forbes.com
Cash-rich companies list - Forbes.com: This could be a good investment list. The entire list is 163 companies, but here are top 20 ranked by free cash flow (operating cash flow minus capital expenditures). The list shows company name, ticker symbol, industry, free cash flow. Tokyo Dome, TKDOY, business support, $39.8 billion Volkswagen AG, VLKAY, auto maker, $19.5 billion Hennes & Mauritz AB, HNNMY, specialty retail, $11.8 billion Arcelor Mittal, MT, steel/iron, $11.1 billion BHP Billiton Ltd., BBL, mining, $9.3 billion Apple Inc., AAPL, computer equipment, $8.5 billion Oracle Corp., ORCL, business applications, $7.6 billion Nestle SA, NSRGY, food manufacturing, $7.1 billion MMC Norilsk Nickel, MMC, metal products, $6.2 billion United Technologies, UTX, diversified-industrial materials, $4.9 billion Google Inc., GOOG, business/online services, $4.8 billion SAP Corp., SAP, business applications, $3.3 billion Bank of Nova Scotia, BNS, international bank, $3.3 billion Bayer AG, BAYRY, chemicals, $3.2 billion Imperial Oil, IMO, imperial/gas services, $3.2 billion Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., BMY, drugs, $3 billion General Dynamics, GD, aerospace/defense, $2.9 billion BCE Inc., BCE, telecom services, $2.9 billion Emerson Electric Co., EMR, electric equipment, $2.6 billion eBay, Inc., EBAY, online retail, $2.5 billion Source: Morningstar Inc.
FT.com / Markets - German bond sale’s fate signals trouble ahead
FT.com / Markets - German bond sale’s fate signals trouble ahead: "A German sovereign bond auction failed on Wednesday as investors shunned one of the most liquid and safe assets in the world in a warning for governments seeking to raise record amounts of debt to stimulate slowing economies." Crikey, this is big news and for a soild economy like Germany too.
The Simple Dollar » The Selling of Gold
I agree. There has been a rush of gold sellers in the market these days. How much is just salesmanship I don’t know, it does somehow feel dodgy. Diversify your assets (inc gold, housing, cash) and spend time and money on what is most important, friends and family. The Simple Dollar » The Selling of Gold: "Over the last several months, I’ve seen a continuous increase in the number of advertisements out there for gold. For me, this reached a fever pitch yesterday, when a local radio station I often listen to apparently sold a one hour infomercial in which two pitchmen were incessantly talking about how great an investment gold is in the current marketplace - and, obviously, talking about their own business from which you could buy gold."
Jobs: Big December Loss Coming - BusinessWeek
Jobs: Big December Loss Coming - BusinessWeek: "The December jobs report, out Jan. 9, should show more massive payroll declines as the U.S. economy continues its downward spiral"
reportonbusiness.com: Desperate for credit
reportonbusiness.com: Desperate for credit: "For Rick Jamieson, CEO of a 135-employee maker of brake pads, the credit slowdown couldn't be starker. “Fourteen years ago when we started up in business, the banks lent us huge sums of money, really just on a business plan,” says Mr. Jamieson, a chartered accountant who co-founded ABS Friction Inc. in Guelph, about 100 kilometres west of Toronto. “Now, we're a solid, long-term player in the business, and it's really difficult to get funds out of the banks.”"
Consumer Credit Conditions Worsen Markedly In December
Stocks To Watch Today : Consumer Credit Conditions Worsen Markedly In December: "The equities market may have shown some dramatic improvement off the November lows, with market averages rising as much as 25%, but it wasn’t because the consumer credit situation got any better. In fact, consumer credit conditions deteriorated dramatically last month, sending most of the measures of those credit conditions to four-year lows."
ASIA - CHINA - U.S. Chinese yuan set to replace dollar - Asia News
ASIA - CHINA - U.S. Chinese yuan set to replace dollar - Asia News: "Beijing has launched the experiment of using the yuan as a reserve currency in relations with 8 countries. Chinese exporters are asking to charge in yuan instead of dollars, because the U.S. currency is losing value. But China needs to revise its model of development, too much inspired by eighteenth century mercantilism."
USA needs nuclear explosion to turn the world into dictatorship - Pravda.Ru
USA needs nuclear explosion to turn the world into dictatorship - Pravda.Ru: "Is the United States going to put dictatorship into effect under the guise of the anti-terrorist struggle? What may trigger another major transformation in 2009? The answer is obvious: another 9/11 in the USA."
Foundation for Economic Education: Home to freedom and prosperity, and free-market education for over 50 years
Foundation for Economic Education: Home to freedom and prosperity, and free-market education for over 50 years: "Many volumes have been written about the Great Depression of 1929-1941 and its impact on the lives of millions of Americans. Historians, economists and politicians have all combed the wreckage searching for the “black box” that will reveal the cause of the calamity. Sadly, all too many of them decide to abandon their search, finding it easier perhaps to circulate a host of false and harmful conclusions about the events of seven decades ago. Consequently, many people today continue to accept critiques of free-market capitalism that are unjustified and support government policies that are economically destructive." Boom and bust economy?
Terrorism drill to be part of passing torch - USATODAY.com
Terrorism drill to be part of passing torch - USATODAY.com: "What would happen if terrorists attacked the United States at the start of Barack Obama's presidency? The Bush administration doesn't want to wait to find out. It's planning to test the incoming government's readiness next month in a series of tabletop exercises involving top Bush and Obama officials."
Japan sent uranium to U.S. in secret | The Japan Times Online
Japan sent uranium to U.S. in secret | The Japan Times Online: "Enough highly enriched U.S. uranium to make about 20 nuclear weapons was sneaked back to the United States from Japan over a 12-year period until last summer in a secret operation aimed at keeping it out of terrorists' hands, a senior U.S. official and Japanese specialists recently revealed."
American Express, CIT get approval for TARP funds | Reuters
American Express, CIT get approval for TARP funds | Reuters: "American Express Co and CIT Group, received approval to get $5.72 billion (3.8 billion pounds) under the government's financial bailout program on Tuesday. Both companies, struggling with mounting credit losses and higher financing costs, morphed into bank holding companies in order to qualify for funds under the $700 billion U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program."
BBC NEWS | Technology | How an old phone can make money
BBC NEWS | Technology | How an old phone can make money: "It is unlikely that the global recession has completely dampened people's enthusiasm for new gadgets this Christmas. But for cash-strapped consumers with a shiny new mobile in their hands, there is a way of making money from their old, unwanted handsets."
Lashkar-i-Jhangvi carried out Marriott attack: Malik -DAWN - Top Stories; December 23, 2008
Lashkar-i-Jhangvi carried out Marriott attack: Malik -DAWN - Top Stories; December 23, 2008: "Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik revealed on Monday that the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi organisation carried out the terrorist attack on the Marriott hotel in Islamabad."
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan - Stratfor warns on dangers of doing business in India
Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan - Stratfor warns on dangers of doing business in India: "A US-based geopolitical security and intelligence service – which recently claimed that an Indian deadline for Pakistan to crack down on terrorists expires on Friday – on Thursday warned multinational corporations on the dangers of doing business in India. “And if military confrontation between India and Pakistan erupts in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, multinational corporations quite possibly could face a number of new threats from terrorist groups, in addition to more traditional security problems,” according to the latest weekly report of Stratfor in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks." This is a interesting report, although it is from a Pakistan newspaper, however it seems like the concerns should be valid.
Earthquake strikes northern Italy
This is the one I was in. A new experience. BBC NEWS | Special Reports | Earthquake strikes northern Italy: "Northern Italy has been rocked by a magnitude 5.2 earthquake, Italian officials have said. The quake struck near the city of Parma, north of Bologna, but was felt in cities from Milan to Florence."
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