The European Commission condemned the cuts as "completely unacceptable". In an unusually strongly worded statement, it demanded that Russia restore supplies "immediately".
Russia ordered a reduction in gas flow to Europe via Ukraine on Monday, a measure it said was to stop its neighbour from stealing fuel. Ukraine said the move would jeopardise supplies to the rest of Europe, which is facing freezing temperatures.
In response to public outcry, the ambitious proposal to create the Trans-Texas Corridor network has been dropped and will be replaced with a plan to carry out road projects at an incremental, modest pace, a state transportation official announced today.
"The Trans-Texas Corridor, as it is known, no longer exists," said Amadeo Saenz Jr., executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation, at the agency's annual forum in Austin.
Now the people just have to make sure that this project is not restarted under a new name.
Source: Houston Chronicle
A stove that uses acoustic technology to cook and cool, and generates its own electricity, is being designed for developing communities in Africa and Asia.
The Stove for Cooking, Refrigeration and Electricity, or SCORE, could help improve the health and quality of life for the 2 billion or so people in the world who cook over open fires, its developers say.
The current economic “crisis” is the tool, the highly planned and patient tool, to set up the global governing bureaucracy for real and for certain with the second convening of the Constitutional Convention in the wings. The big wigs tried it before in 1976, and they are trying again, but this time having manufactured national bankruptcy as public fear-based appeasement.
In 1964, the Ford Foundation funded an outfit called the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions to write a new constitution for our nation. After 40 drafts, a staff of 100+ people, and at a cost of 2.5 million dollars a year, a decade later (1974) the Proposed Constitution for the Newstates of America was finished.
U.S. retailers will face a Darwinian fight for survival next year as they run out of cash as early as January and competition forces thousands of store closings, according to private-equity buyers and restructuring experts.
Probably 50,000 stores could close without any effect on consumer choice, Gregory Segall, a managing partner at buyout firm Versa Capital Management Inc., said yesterday during a panel discussion held at Bloomberg LP’s New York offices.
But a panel of economists surveyed by msnbc.com says that — maybe, if all goes well — we could be closer to the end of this recession than the beginning. Now 12 months into a downturn that appears to be deepening, there are early signs that the elements may be coming into place for a convincing recovery. That “best case” forecast calls for the worst of the downturn easing by the middle of next year, with slow but steady growth in the second half of 2009. “We do have a number of forces that could come together to produce what could be a fairly strong recovery,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at Global Insight.
One of the major forces pushing the economy back on a growth track is a historic series of moves by the Federal Reserve to pump trillions of dollars into the financial system. Another is the huge package of tax cuts and government spending — some believe it could approach $1 trillion — that the incoming Obama administration could have in place by early next year.How do you pump trillions of dollars into a financial system without some type of equivalent production (i.e., incomes earned for goods produced and services provided) for the amount pumped into the financial system? If you do not have some type equivalent production, then the pumped money is a fiction. It might as well be Monopoly money.
Another is the huge package of tax cuts and government spending — some believe it could approach $1 trillion — that the incoming Obama administration could have in place by early next year.
Cheney explained that the president's 24/7 access to nuclear codes in the event of an nuclear attack against the United States exemplifies the "nature of the world we live in."
"He could launch the kind of devastating attack the world has never seen," Cheney said. "He doesn't have to check with anybody, he doesn't have to call Congress, he doesn't have to check with the courts, he has that authority."
After days of speculation, the Arena Football League announced Monday that it will suspend the 2009 season in hopes of returning in 2010.
The decision was made by the league’s board of directors during a conference call Sunday night.
“Owners … recognize that, especially in light of the current unprecedented economic climate, the AFL, as a business enterprise, needs to be restructured if it is to continue to provide its unique brand of this affordable, fan-friendly sport,” acting commissioner Ed Policy said in a statement.
The major pro leagues are in still business and show no signs of effects from the economy on the surface. Teams are still signing players to record contracts. Nevertheless, there may be some cracks in the foundation as the NBA has issues this year with attendance.
Over all, N.B.A. attendance is flat — about a half-percent higher than at this point last season on a per-game basis. Cumulatively, arenas are at about 89 percent of capacity, on par with last season.
Also, what happens when corporations can no longer sign leases for luxury boxes due to lack of corporate funds and income? What happens when the corporation cannot buy the naming rights for the local sports arena? What happens when the television rights for the league are actually lower than previous deals? Will it ever happen? I do not know. The NFL will likely be the most immune to any economic effects, because it continually sets paid attendance records.
The NFL set a regular-season attendance record for the fifth year in a row, averaging more than 67,000 fans per game for the second consecutive year, the NFL announced.
However, if we start seeing teams cease operations, teams consolidate operations, decreased television licensing rights fees and/or cancellation of games in any one of the major professional sports leagues, then those particular things will be the proverbial canary in the mine to tell you the economy is indeed in freefall, because we love our sports!
Source: Kansas City Star; New York Times; NFL.com
In the early months of next year, when the official data are published, the United States will run a serious risk of insolvency. This would involve, in the first place, a valuation crisis for the dollar. After this, the United States could face a social crisis like that in Argentina in 2001. A crisis in U.S. public debt would likely have a severe impact on the Asian countries that are the main exporters to the United States, China first among them.
A band of demonstrators, many wearing black masks, stormed a bustling San Francisco mall Saturday evening, upending garbage cans and foliage and damaging crystal merchandise at one kiosk.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday ordered a state hiring freeze and payroll cuts to conserve cash as California struggles to deal with a $42 billion budget deficit.The governor issued an executive order that requires state agencies to reduce payroll by 10 percent, which could lead to massive layoffs. He also ordered the state's 235,000 employees to take two days off a month without pay, starting Feb. 1.
Reports reaching the Solomon Star say the Atolls of Ontong Java have been badly hit and people there are now running out of food. Reports from the two affected villages say since Monday last week they have been experiencing rough seas that eventually turned into a tidal wave.
Chief Peter Kalali from the House of Chiefs of Luaniua and Pelau in a letter dated 11th December 2008 to the Ministry of Home Affairs and the National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) said the situation had affected the livelihood of the people.
Russian warships pulled into Havana yesterday (December 19, 2008) for the first time since the end of the Soviet era in the last port of call on an expedition designed to send a message to Washington about the military reach of Moscow.
The report by the U.S. Army College's Strategic Institute, said that a defense community paralyzed by conventional thinking could be unprepared to help the United States cope with a series of unexpected crises that would rival the Al Qaida strikes in 2001, termed a "strategic shock."The report cited the prospect of the collapse of a nuclear state leading to massive unrest in the United States, Middle East Newsline reported.
"Widespread civil violence inside the United States would force the defense establishment to reorient priorities in extremis to defend basic domestic order and human security," the report, authored by [Ret.] Lt. Col. Nathan Freir, said.
Agents began rifling through all of the family's possessions, a task that lasted hours and resulted in a complete upheaval of every private area in the home. Many items were taken that were not listed on the search warrant. The family was not permitted a phone call, and they were not told what crime they were being charged with. They were not read their rights. Over ten thousand dollars worth of food was taken, including the family's personal stock of food for the coming year. All of their computers, and all of their cell phones were taken, as well as phone and contact records. The food cooperative was virtually shut down. There was no rational explanation, nor justification, for this extreme violation of Constitutional rights.
Presumably Manna Storehouse might eventually be charged with running a retail establishment without a license. Why then the Gestapo-type interrogation for a 3rd degree misdemeanor charge? This incident has raised the ominous specter of a restrictive new era in State regulation and enforcement over the nation's private food supply.
Source: World Prout Assembly
Khalin had been fighting a cold, so her father put a bag of Halls Defense Vitamin C cough drops in her backpack. When two of Khalin's classmates asked for one of those cough drops at school, she says she handed them over. But her friend insisted on paying her for the drops. "She felt guilty taking the cough drop or whatever, so she gave me a dollar. I didn't want to accept it, but she had me take it," Khalin said.
That's when things turned ugly. Khalin says her teacher witnessed the transaction and came down hard. "She saw me with the cough drops out and I guess she saw me give it to one of my friends, and then like, 'Oh, I see this good business going on around you,'" Khalin said. "She said, 'You're selling drugs.' (I said) 'No I'm not.'" Khalin and her classmates are now facing possible punishment over the incident.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. may be implementing what is effectively a ban on new banks in metro Atlanta and other distressed areas nationwide, as the financial industry’s and broader economy’s deterioration accelerates.
The FDIC, the nation’s bank deposit guarantor, has increased scrutiny of new banks applying for deposit insurance in select areas of the Southeast and other regions, including Western states, industry insiders said.
The new reviews, insiders said, make approval difficult in practice, if not impossible.
“It is a de facto ban,” said Stephen Johnson, CEO of Alpharetta-based consultant T. Stephen Johnson & Associates Inc. “I’ve never seen a time this difficult to get a charter.”
Infowars.com has a great picture of a Kroger beef package from one of its viewers. Typically, these packages would have ONE country of origin on it (e.g., Product of the USA). Strangely, this meat package has THREE countries of origin on the package (Product of US, Canada, Mexico). How in the world can meat come from three different countries? I can think of only three possibilities:"Guns in America" would have you believe that the guns in your home are 22 times more likely to kill a family member than to protect you. This statistic can (surprise, surprise!) be found on the Brady Campaign website, but its source has been highly discredited. The factoid originates with Arthur Kellerman, who has generated multiple studies claiming that guns are a net liability. But Kellerman has been found guilty of fudging his data, and even the National Academy of Sciences has stated that his "conclusions do not seem to follow" from his data.
