The biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history lies at anchor east of Singapore. Never before photographed, it is bigger than the U.S. and British navies combined but has no crew, no cargo and no destination – and is why your Christmas stocking may be on the light side this year […]
With no machines and all the livestock eaten, quiet lingers in rural areas of nation where 8.7 million face hunger By MARK MacKINNON, HYANGSAN, NORTH KOREA In a country where citizens are subjected to ceaseless propaganda telling them that they live in a socialist paradise, it’s the silence that tells the other side of the […]
From Calculated Risk: This graph shows the year-over-year (YoY) change in consumer credit. Consumer credit is off 4.2% over the last 12 months. The previous record YoY decline was 1.9% in 1991. Here is the Fed report: Consumer Credit. Consumer credit declined from $2,493.6 billion in June to $2,472.1 in July. Note: The Fed reports […]
Evidence suggests that the morbidity associated with obesity may increase with longer duration of obesity (7,8,10). Therefore overweight and obesity trends among young adults and children may signal future morbidity. Although young adults (18–29 years, and the topic of this year’s Special Feature) have lower prevalence of obesity (24%) compared with persons 30 years […]
From Calculated Risk: The DOL report showed seasonally adjusted insured unemployment at 6.2 million, down from a peak of about 6.9 million. This raises the question of how many unemployed workers have exhausted their regular unemployment benefits (Note: most are still receiving extended benefits, although this is about to change). The monthly BLS report provides […]
By Dan Box We are entering hurricane season again. As I write, the first of this year’s crop are working out their fury over the Atlantic and Pacific oceans while, in New Orleans, anniversary ceremonies are being held to mark the harvest claimed by Hurricane Katrina four years ago. … Catastrophe bonds are, depending on […]
By James Chapman Britain faces the first widespread power blackouts since the 1970s because of looming energy shortages, Government documents reveal. For the first time, ministers are expecting that the supply of electricity will fail to meet demand at peak times. The Government is forecasting that by 2017 there will be power cuts of around […]
By AP / JUDY LIN (SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is hoping that the “Great California Garage Sale” will turn government clutter like surplus prison uniforms and office furniture into cash to bulk up the state’s depleted finances. On offer as the state clears out clutter are nearly 600 state-owned vehicles and thousands of […]
By John Letzing, MarketWatch SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Japan issued sobering July economic data on Friday, including a record unemployment rate and the biggest decline in consumer prices in roughly 38 years. Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said the country’s unemployment rate rose to 5.7% in July from 5.4% in the previous month. […]
The eighth largest oil field in the world will be dead by the end of next year. Shall I repeat that, or did you get it the first time? Like the “Time to Die” speech of Rutger Hauer at the end of Blade Runner, the Cantarell complex has surely seen its share of ocean storms, […]
