Petrol expected to fuel inflation

Telegraph- Price pressures in Britain are intensifying with annual inflation expected to rise further above the 2pc target when the latest figures are published on Monday. more

Detroit's Unemployment Rate is 50%

The Coming Depression- Officially, Detroit's unemployment rate is just under 30 percent. But the city's mayor and local leaders are suggesting a far more disturbing figure -- the actual jobless rate, they say, is closer to 50 percent. more

Oil is sinking amid 'oceans of public debt'

Telegraph- As 5,000 barrels of oil gush into the Gulf of Mexico from BP’s leaking Macondo well each day, you might expect the price of crude to be rising on concerns about higher costs and tighter regulation for the energy majors. more

A 'Quantum Leap' in Governance of the Euro Zone Is Needed

Der Spiegel-In a SPIEGEL interview, Jean-Claude Trichet, the 67-year-old president of the European Central Bank, discusses the largest financial rescue package in the history of Europe, the role and importance of speculators in the euro crisis and the weakness shown by politicians in the euro zone member states. more

Redshirts warn of civil war as Thai troops told to shoot on sight

Guardian- As Bangkok suffers its worst political unrest for two decades, the Thai army has declared parts of the city "live-fire zones", warning that anyone found entering certain roads in the capital will be shot on sight.

The move came as one of the leaders of the redshirt protesters said that there would be "civil war" if the army did not pull back and declare a ceasefire. more

Gulf Oil Leaks Could Gush for Years

National Geographic-If efforts fail to cap the leaking Deepwater Horizon wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico, oil could gush for years—poisoning coastal habitats for decades, experts say. more

Oil spill: BP accused of using Gulf of Mexico as 'toxic testing-ground'

Telegraph- Louisiana officials have accused BP of turning the Gulf of Mexico into a toxic testing-ground after winning permission for experimental chemical methods of fighting the oil slick. more

The Policies of Insolvency, part II

Goldseek- As the currency and financial systems of the developed world’s social-welfare-states head towards their doom, the battles between King Kong (Mother Nature and Darwin) versus Godzilla (public servants and banksters) continue. After generations of defying the reality that you must produce more than you consume, the social welfare states are being presented with the bill for their unpayable social obligations. more

Scramble! RAF warplanes are intercepting Russian nuclear bombers at least once a month

Daily Mail- Streaking across the sky in front of a rising sun, the huge Russian jet heads towards Britain.
Capable of carrying nuclear weapons at supersonic speeds, it is a potential threat the RAF must tackle - and fast. more

Labour hid ‘scorched earth’ debts

Times- THE government last night accused Labour of pursuing a “scorched earth policy” before the general election, leaving behind billions of pounds of previously hidden spending commitments.

The newly discovered Whitehall “black holes” could force even more severe public spending cuts, or higher tax rises, ministers fear.

Vince Cable, the business secretary, said: “I fear that a lot of bad news about the public finances has been hidden and stored up for the new government. The skeletons are starting to fall out of the cupboard.” more

£40BILLION WIPED OFF SHARES AS DEBT FEARS OVER EUROZONE RETURN

Express- SHARES plummeted by more than £40billion yesterday and the euro slumped to an 18-month low amid fears that the currency was in danger of collapse. more

Obama Administration: Goldman Sachs from Top to Bottom

Infowars- Two articles on the FDL website detail the intimate and incestuous relationship between the Barry Obama administration and Goldman Sachs. FDL names names and provides expansive detail on the Goldie administration. more

SAVAGE PAY CUTS FOR BBC FAT CATS

Express- BBC STARS and top executives face big salary cuts as part of controversial new Government plans to overhaul the running of the corporation. more

UK vows to back US against Iran

Press TV- Days after the establishment of a new British government, Foreign Secretary William Hague vows to work with the US against Iran, going so far as to consider military action against Tehran.

In his first official visit to the US, Hague pledged support for a new round of UN Security Council resolutions against Iran over its nuclear work. more

Scientists Find Giant Plumes of Oil Forming Under the Gulf

New York Times- Scientists are finding enormous oil plumes in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, including one as large as 10 miles long, 3 miles wide and 300 feet thick in spots. The discovery is fresh evidence that the leak from the broken undersea well could be substantially worse than estimates that the government and BP have given. more

Parents 'pimp' kids for swine flu test

News AU- PARENTS are enrolling children as young as nine months in drug trials in exchange for hundreds of dollars.
The cash payments, which could breach national ethical guidelines, will ignite debate over how much should be paid to cover "reasonable expenses" of trial participants. more

The holes in pension funds are now so huge they're swallowing up buildings

Guardian- Sainsbury's and M&S are plugging deficits in their retirement schemes by signing corporate property assets over to them. How much longer can such expensive plans be kept going? more

Haiti... The Massive Red Cross Scam!!!

Know the Lies- The Red Cross raised over $450 million on behalf of victims of the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti. They say they've spent $106 million. What about the other $344 million?... more

Outrage at secret probe into 47,000 innocent flyers

Daily Mail- Police secretly investigated the travel habits, family, friends and backgrounds of 47,000 innocent people last year after they bought plane tickets to fly into and out of Britain.

The intrusiveness has provoked fury among civil liberties campaigners and now may be stopped by Britain’s new coalition Government. more

Loss of American Citizenship and Assassinations

Campaign for Liberty-Imagine you are sitting home on a quiet Sunday afternoon in conversation with your beloved spouse. Suddenly your husband slumps over, blood draining from his head as a sniper's bullet shatters your living room window. Your husband has just been assassinated by a government agent and it is later discovered -- after ten years of painful inquiries carried out under the threat of your own assassination -- that your husband was targeted as an enemy combatant and a terrorist. Just as easily, you and your entire family could have been killed in a home invasion in an attempt to cart off your husband for weeks of torture and lifetime detention or execution in an unknown Federal facility. Your investigation might also reveal that your loved one was targeted mistakenly by a bureaucrat or was a political enemy of officials in the government or their corporate allies. more

Do healing foods work better than Big Pharma's drugs? The results speak for themselves

Natural News- The drug industry is constantly trying to convince you that drugs are good for your health while nutritional supplements and healthy foods are somehow bad for you. This same line of nonsense is also repeated by the FDA, which goes out of its way to censor the truth about the healing properties of natural foods like walnuts, cherries and berries. more

Sacked and fined £1,000 for a joke about an airport? You cannot be serious

Guardian- We live in serious times. Humanity is facing terrifying threats to its future, as usual. Most of them are self-induced, as usual. Britain feels itself to be on a precipice, about to plunge into a new canyon of mediocrity and self-chastisement, as usual. There are serious fears about disruption to people's holiday plans over the half-term break, as usual. more

The voices of liberty have triumphed and Britain is better for it

Guardian-One of the great pleasures of last week was hearing Jack Straw speaking on the Today programme in that patient, reasonable way of the true autocrat, and suddenly realising that I never have to pay attention to him again. Nor for a very long time will I have to listen to Mandelson, Campbell, Clarke, Smith, Reid, Falconer, Blunkett, Woolas or Blears: they're history and the New Labour project to extend state control into so many areas of our lives is incontestably over. more

4 Economic Predictions: What Remains when you Scrape Away the Hype

Oil Price- The Mainstream Financial Media (MFM) is famously (or infamously) deficient in any context other than the day's swirl of data, rumor and response. Markets have been swinging wildly as players (and manipulators) attempt to predict the market's response to "news" and the emotions that the "news" may spark.

Rather than play the pointless game of parsing what amounts to signal noise, we would be better served to establish a longer-term context within which "news" can be properly placed and understood. more

10 Geopolitical Predictions for 2010 & Short Term Strategic Outlook

Oil Price-A great - and still growing - divergence appeared in 2009 between public statements by leaders and their public performance. The politicized, romanticized theater of increasingly populist “democratic” leaders and media seemed to be of a different planet from activities taking place in the real world. more

Another War in the Falklands? British Fleet on Standby, New Maps Highlight Disputed Territory With Oil and Gas Reserves

Before it's News- Researchers at Durham University have drawn up new maps to show the competing claims of Argentina and the UK for resources in the South Atlantic and Southern Oceans. At stake are a potential 60 billion barrels of oil and nine trillion cubic feet of natural gas. more

Suggestion for Prepandemic Vaccine Ignites Debate

Top News- An influenza specialist who previously led the World Health Organization's (WHO's) flu program and now works for Novartis, has recommended that developing a prepandemic vaccination to get a grip on the next flu endemic, a thought that other experts are welcoming with concern or cynicism. more

The task facing British workers

WSWS- Workers in Britain face the biggest struggles in generations against a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition set on imposing budget cuts, the likes of which have not been seen since the 1930s. more

Tax rises could prompt 'fire sale' of second homes and shares

Telegraph- A 'fire sale' of second-homes, shares and fine art is expected as investors try to beat widely-expected leaps in capital gains tax (CGT) and VAT. more

The "War on Terrorism" for Oil: Folly of the Imperial Oil Adventure. Tolling Bells for Humanity

Global Research- Faced with the end of the age of oil and systemic collapse, the leaders of the Anglo-American empire have engaged in increasingly violent and transparently futile zero-sum games to salvage what is left of a corrupt governmental and economic milieu. more

Facebook founder called trusting users dumb f*cks

The Register- Loveable Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg called his first few thousand users "dumb fucks" for trusting him with their data, published IM transcripts show. Facebook hasn't disputed the authenticity of the transcript.more

FDA: Pig Virus OK for human vaccine!

Reuters- Rotavirus vaccines made by GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Merck & Co Inc are safe to use despite being contaminated with a pig virus, U.S. health regulators ruled on Friday. more

Landmark study set to show potential dangers of heavy mobile phone use

Telegraph- A landmark study will include some evidence that those who regularly hold long conversations on handsets are at increased risk of developing potentially fatal brain tumours. more

Revealed: The very unappetising truth about McDonald's chicken meals (Jamie Oliver, look away now)

Daily Mail- A chicken squats in a shed the size of a football pitch somewhere in the outback of Brazil. And it's not alone.

One of tens of thousands, each bird is allowed the floor space equivalent to a sheet of A4 paper and will live for just 40 days before it hits its genetically-engineered slaughter weight. That's if it doesn't perish along the way.
Five per cent or so will be unable to cope with the conditions and die even before then.
Those that survive will be plucked and butchered in an industrial process the like of which this planet has never before seen. more

U.S. Government Can Execute Its Own Citizens With No Judicial Process And Based On Secret Intelligence

New York Times- The Obama administration’s decision to authorize the killing by the Central Intelligence Agency of a terrorism suspect who is an American citizen has set off a debate over the legal and political limits of drone missile strikes, a mainstay of the campaign against terrorism. more

Has The World Had Enough Of Governments?......Market Has!....

Market Oracle- When Governments start to intervene on everything maybe it's time for them to stop. Maybe the stock market is sending a message that it has had enough of their constant interference. The Government is trying to make the world pay for others discretions. How many more taxes can they create so we can pay for their bail outs for those who deserve to fail? How many innocent people have to lose their jobs because the Government puts undue tax burdens on corporate America and corporations around the world that will force these corporations to fire employees? At what point does the pot runeth over and we have more than we asked for? Will there be blood on the streets? Riots such as those that we saw in Greece right here in our back yards! more

Tension Rises In UK -EU Relatiosnhip Over Euro Bailout And Hedge Fund Regulation

E Gov Monitor- Tension Rises In UK -EU Relatiosnhip Over Euro Bailout And Hedge Fund Regulation.more

Google admits harvesting Wi-Fi data with Street View cars

V3- Google has admitted that it has been recording data transmissions on Wi-Fi networks using its Street View cars.

In a blog posting Alan Eustace, senior vice president of Engineering and Research explained that while Google routinely collected some wireless information in the cars, such as network names, it appeared for the last four years it had also been collecting payload data from open Wi-Fi points. more

VAT should be imposed on food and children's clothes, says IMF

Telegraph- David Cameron should use this summer's emergency Budget to raise VAT on a host of excluded products, including food and children's clothes, the International Monetary Fund signalled yesterday. more

The Vicious Circle of Debt and Depression

Aletho News- Never before has so much debt been imposed on so many people by so few financial operatives—operatives who work from Wall Street, the largest casino in history, and a handful of its junior counterparts around the world, especially Europe. more...

Woman charged with attempted murder of Labour MP

A woman was charged today with the attempted murder of Labour MP Stephen Timms, who was stabbed during a constituency surgery in east London.

Unemployed Roshonara Choudhary, 21, will appear before Stratford Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

More......

Genetically Modified Foods: 80% of What’s In Your Grocery Cart

The Doctor Within- “As a scientist, actively working in the field[of GMO] I find that it is very, very unfair to use our fellow citizens as guinea pigs.”
– Arpad Pusztai, PhD

Since the 1990s world agriculture and food production has undergone the most radical transformation in history. With very little public awareness, in just a few short years genetically modified foods have come to dominate both global agriculture and supermarket shelf space. more

Finance 202: How We Became Debt Slaves and learned to love it

Info Clearing House-Who is in charge of these United States?

If you guess that it’s the people with the money, then you are correct. Not the elected representatives of the people. Not the men and women in uniform, not the factory workers, or farmers, or teachers, or bus drivers and pilots. Just the guys and gals with the moneybags. more

Pakistani Taliban say America will "burn"

Yahoo News- Pakistani Taliban militants have warned America that it will soon "burn" while calling for Pakistan's rulers to be overthrown for following "America's agenda". more

Cartwright: Expect war for 5-10 more years

Army Times-For the next “five to 10 years,” the military likely will remain engaged in the same kinds of conflicts it has been fighting since 2001, said Marine Corps Gen. James Cartwright.

The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs on Thursday told a conference in Washington that “no one I know thinks we’ll be out of” these kinds of conflicts any time soon.
more

10 Reasons to Be Alarmed About Our Catastrophic Oil Addiction

Alternet- War, terrorism, economic instability -- these are just a few of the reasons to be concerned about our addiction to oil. Here's a list of 10 reasons to be concerned. more

US faces one of biggest budget crunches in world – IMF

Telegraph-Earlier this week, the Bank of England Governor, Mervyn King, irked US authorities by pointing out that even the world’s economic superpower has a major fiscal problem -“even the United States, the world’s largest economy, has a very large fiscal deficit” were his words. They were rather vague, but by happy coincidence the International Monetary Fund has chosen to flesh out the issue today. Unfortunately this is a rather long post with a few chunky tables, but it is worth spending a bit of time with – the IMF analysis is fascinating. more

PETROL TO HIT £1.30 A LITRE

Express-MOTORISTS face a relentless rise in petrol prices while European drivers enjoy falling fuel costs.

Unleaded soared to a record average high of 121.6p a litre this week and experts warn that it could rocket to 130p within months in Britain’s great petrol pump rip-off. more

Police loading up on military technology

Vancouver Sun- From New York and London to the mountains of Afghanistan, the gizmos used by special forces and police to try to solve terrifying dilemmas such as these are increasingly similar, a trend driven in part by security companies seeking new markets.

While the crossover of gadgetry between military and civilian authorities is not new, its greatly expanded scale and variety is. Some emerging technologies with such dual use, according to industry executives, include: more

New terror monitors: parking attendants

MSNBC-LAS VEGAS - Parking attendants and meter maids could be the nation's latest line of defense against terrorist attacks.

A new government program aims to train thousands of parking industry employees nationwide to watch for and report anything suspicious — abandoned cars, for example, or people hanging around garages, taking photographs or asking unusual questions. more

Mervyn King: "World's Worst Financial Crisis Ever"

Washingtons Blog- Bank of England Governor Mervyn King says:
We are still halfway through the world's worst financial crisis ever.He is in good company.The following experts have said that the economic crisis could be worse than the Great Depression: more

Debt Crisis and the Euro Blood Bath, ConDem Death Embrace

Market Oracle- The coalition government parties have publically locked themselves into a 5 year death embrace. They had no choice, as their honey moon period will soon evaporate as the government has no choice but to implement swinging spending cuts and mega-tax rises such as VAT to 20% to fill the 25% black hole between what the government spends and what it earns in revenue which will soon ensure that the ConDem government is destined to become the most hated government of the past 50 years! more

£1,200 tax shock for Middle England: How families will bear brunt of new coalition's drive to slash Britain's deficit

Daily Mail- Middle-class families face a bill of up to £1,200 a year under the Government's plans to slash the deficit.
Rises in national insurance, the loss of tax credits and what experts say is an inevitable rise in VAT are all set to hit them the hardest. more

NATO In Afghanistan: World War In One Country

Stop NATO- Since the North Atlantic Treaty Organization took control of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan in 2003 the amount of troops serving under that command has grown from 5,000 to over 100,000.

There are currently 134,000 foreign troops in the nation counting U.S. soldiers serving separately with Operation Enduring Freedom, although the aggregate number is to reach 150,000 by the summer and most American troops not now under NATO command will soon be. There are 47,000 troops from NATO member and partner countries in the nation. more

European Council On Foreign Relations: EU Needs To Use Crisis For Greater Power

Dprogram- Several more autocratic international voices have added their weight behind proposals to vastly empower the EU with greater authority to govern over nation states in Europe, in the wake of the sovereign debt crisis. Meanwhile, one leading commentator has described the move as “fiscal fascism”. more

Big Brother wants to watch you more closely. Especially how you spend your money.

OC Register- The bill sets up two new supersnooping federal agencies to collect data on ordinary Americans: more

Autistic Boy Charged With Making Terrorist Threats Over Stick-Figure Sketch

Fox News- A fourteen-year-old autistic boy is facing terrorist charges after a sketch he made in school.

The sketch shows two stick-figures. One of them is labeled ‘Me’ and is shown shooting a gun at another with a teacher’s name above it. more

Detroit to destroy 10,000 houses

Wall St Journal- DETROIT—Wrecking crews are preparing to tear down a landmark 5,000-square-foot house in the posh neighborhood of Palmer Woods in the coming weeks, a sign that Detroit is finally getting serious about razing thousands of vacant and abandoned structures across the city. more

Euro Breakup Talk Increases as Germany Loses Proxy

Bloomberg- The consequences are an 860 billion-euro ($1 trillion) bill for a debt binge led by Greece, sagging confidence in the European Central Bank’s independence and mounting speculation that a currency designed to last forever might break apart. more

Obama’s torture loophole

Aletho News- What’s the difference between a US-military-run detention facility and an intelligence gathering facility? For one thing, Red Cross officials are being prevented from seeing how prisoners are treated when held at Bagram’s intelligence gathering facility. Is that so that they can be tortured in secret?

Two days after taking office, Barack Obama signed an executive order banning torture. The era of secret detention facilities and CIA-administered waterboarding were over. Or so we thought. more

Euro: The Worst is Yet To Come

Safe Haven- The austerity measures, pledged in return for 110 billion euros ($139.7 billion) in emergency aid from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, are expected to keep the economy in recession through 2011."The IMF will not stop thirsting for workers' blood," said Yannis Panagopoulos, chairman of Greece's main private sector labor union GSEE. "Its recipes are a disaster and the government must turn them down." more

The Road To Destruction

Safe Haven- For years numerous writers and advisers have been predicting that some form of great reckoning was coming. (The Great Reckoning was a book by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Moog.) The premise is that every credit-led expansion in recorded history has ended in a dramatic "credit crunch" and economic catastrophe. more