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The chemical Bisphenol A, which has been used for years in clear plastic bottles and food-can liners, has been restricted in Canada and some U.S. states and municipalities because of potential health effects. The Food and Drug Administration will soon decide what it considers a safe level of exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA), which some studies have linked to reproductive abnormalities and a heightened risk of breast and prostate cancers, diabetes, and heart disease. Now Consumer Reports' latest tests of canned foods, including soups, juice, tuna, and green beans, have found that almost all of the 19 name-brand foods we...

Gibbs: Despite research dispute, 'climate change is happening' By Tony Romm - 11/30/09 03:21 PM ET The White House on Monday made exceptionally clear that it wants nothing to do with the furor over documents that global warming skeptics say prove the phenomenon is not a threat. Despite the incident, which rocked international headlines last week, climate science is sound, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs stressed this afternoon, and the White House nonetheless believes "climate change is happening." "I don't think that's anything that is, quite frankly, among most people, in dispute anymore," he said during Monday's press briefing. Climate change...

Students not worried about virus at their school May 5, 2009 MILTON — Monday was a perfect day for basketball: sunny and warm with a slight breeze. And junior Adam Johnson wasn't about to let a case of swine flu at Milton High School bring him down—especially when that case got him two unexpected days off school. "I think (the flu threat) is over exaggerated," Johnson said as he played basketball at Schilberg Park, defying the school's recommendation to avoid public places. Across the street, the parking lot at Milton High School was deserted but for a TV news crew....

The Government was urged today to make contingency plans for a freak solar flare that could 'knock out' the National Grid and create severe water and food shortages. Labour former minister Graham Stringer said Britain should be prepared for a repeat of the solar storm of 1859, which hit Earth and paralysed much of the telegraph system. In a Commons motion, Mr Stringer said such an event could now 'knock out the National Grid, which would lead to a loss of water supply,

The atmosphere is cooling, the ice is expanding, the seas are not rising -- even though carbon emissions are increasing. The evidence is now crystal clear to anyone with an unwashed brain that man-made global warming theory is sheer unadulterated bunkum. So how do the warmers react to the ever more embarrassing evidence that they have hitched their reputations to the biggest anti-scientific scam in history? By ratcheting up the hysteria to fever pitch and shrieking that their predictions about the impending irreversible environmental apocalypse have grievously underestimated the catastrophe which is going to be far, far worse. At the...

reports coming in of major damage from 1-2 inches of ice over the area..its still raining with temps below freezing in many areas. information is sketchy but major damage to infrastructure are trickling in. Damage to houses from falling trees, multiple power poles down, and widespread power outages Travel is impossible in many area because of 100's of downed trees blocking the roads. Fires are reported in some area widespread state of emergencies issued Northern AR, SE MO and western KY seems to the the hardest hit so far..but things are icing up fast now in the Louisville/Lexington areas too

The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits jumped by 30,000 to a 26-year peak last week, government data on Wednesday showed, as the country's year-long recession continued to chill the labor market. Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 586,000 in the week ended Dec 20 from a revised 556,000 the prior week, the Labor Department said. It was the highest since the week ended Nov. 27, 1982, when intial claims rose 612,000. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast 560,000 new claims versus a previously reported count of 554,000 the week...

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A recent study by the Multinational Council on Climate Research, a Washington-based think tank, found that global warming, the phenomenon that is causing average temperatures on Earth to rise, is actually nothing more than a collective figment of overactive left-wing imaginations across the country. “We were astonished by the results,” said Jacob Harcourt, managing director of the MCCR. “I had always thought the primary cause of global warming to be gases in our atmosphere that trapped the sun’s heat and caused an increase in surface temperatures. Turns out it’s nothing more than a penchant for foreign films...

U.S. employers axed payrolls by a shocking 533,000 in November for the weakest performance in 34 years, government data on Friday showed, as the recession inflicted a mounting toll on the U.S. labor market. The Labor Department said the unemployment rate rose to 6.7 percent last month in the highest reading since 1993, compared with 6.5 percent in October, after widespread losses across the country's major industry sectors. The number was far above analyst expectations. "The only time I've experienced this was the second quarter of 1980 where we had the credit crunch, so rather than an erosion, you have...

If you're planning this holiday season (perhaps even today) to become one of the tens of millions of people in the U.S. to buy a video game system, you may want to consider how the purchase of a Nintendo Wii, Sony PlayStation or Microsoft Xbox will impact your carbon footprint (or, at very least, your electric bill). The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a New York-based environmental organization, in a new report says that video game systems are huge energy wasters, mostly because people (read: kids) tend to leave them on even when they're not using them. The study, conducted...

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d336/status.html

The US stock market could suffer a devastating crash with shares losing a third of their value this week if Hank Paulson’s financial bailout plan fails, US Treasury officials have warned. ---- The financial system could face a meltdown of 1929 proportions unless US politicians succeed in their efforts for a $700bn rescue scheme, experts added. The warning came as Republicans and Democrats met in Washington for a rare weekend debating session to attempt to seal agreement on the contentious plan, aimed at preventing a long-lasting recession in the US.

(CNN) -- Summer is over in the northern hemisphere, but it's been another chilling season for researchers who study Arctic sea ice. "It's definitely a bad report. We did pick up little bit from last year, but this is over 30 percent below what used to be normal," said Walt Meier, a research scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado. This past summer, the Arctic sea ice dwindled to its second lowest level. Arctic sea ice is usually one to three meters, or as much as 9 feet thick. It grows during autumn and winter...

Antarctic winter ice gets bigger; Arctic shrinks 12 Sep 2008 13:56:24 GMT Source: Reuters By Alister Doyle, Environment Correspondent OSLO, Sept 12 (Reuters) - The amount of sea ice around Antarctica has grown in recent Septembers in what could be an unusual side-effect of global warming, experts said on Friday. In the southern hemisphere winter, when emperor penguins huddle together against the biting cold, ice on the sea around Antarctica has been increasing since the late 1970s, perhaps because climate change means shifts in winds, sea currents or snowfall. At the other end of the planet, Arctic sea ice is...

On a planet 4C hotter, all we can prepare for is extinctionThere's no 'adaptation' to such steep warming. We must stop pandering to special interests, and try a new, post-Kyoto strategy We need to get prepared for four degrees of global warming, Bob Watson told the Guardian last week. At first sight this looks like wise counsel from the climate science adviser to Defra. But the idea that we could adapt to a 4C rise is absurd and dangerous. Global warming on this scale would be a catastrophe that would mean, in the immortal words that Chief Seattle probably never...

Arctic sea ice is melting even faster than last year, despite a cold winter. Data from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) shows that the year began with ice covering a larger area than at the beginning of 2007. But now it is down to levels seen last June, at the beginning of a summer that broke records for sea ice loss. Scientists on the project say that much of the ice is so thin that it melts easily, and the Arctic may be ice-free in summer within five to 10 years. I think we're going to...

PANJIM, JUNE 16 (Agencies) — Manmade chemicals have damaged the ozone layer of the upper atmosphere that shields Earth from the harmful effects of the sun’s ultraviolet rays, each summer creating a hole over the South Pole that expands to nearly the size of Antarctica. But in 1996, an international treaty banned the chemical refrigerants and propellants (known as CFCs, or chlorofluorocarbons), and the hole has been shrinking. Scientists predict it may stop forming by the end of this century. But that’s not necessarily good news. A new study published in ‘Science’ says that the closing of the ozone hole...

Probably almost everyone is familiar with the hyperinflationary episode that engulfed Germany after the First World War. That nation’s economy was crippled by monetary problems that resulted in dreadful personal hardships, even though up to that time Germany had achieved one of the highest living standards in the world. The newly formed German government, named for the city where their constitution was drafted after the Kaiser’s abdication in 1918, kept pumping up the money supply. The process started relatively slowly, but quickly the pace of money creation accelerated. The Weimar government was paying its bills on credit – just like...

Confidence among U.S. consumers fell to a five-year low in April as they confronted the grimmest jobs market since autumn 2004, the Conference Board said. The private Conference Board's index of consumer sentiment fell to 62.3 in April, the lowest since March 2003, when the Iraq war was launched, from an upwardly revised 65.9 in March. Despite the fall, the result beat the median forecast of economists polled by Reuters, which projected a reading of 62.0. Reflecting worries about the labor market, the gauge of respondents' feelings that jobs are plentiful slid to 16.6 in April, the lowest since September...

By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer Fri Apr 11, 7:50 AM ET WASHINGTON - Americans' confidence in the economy fell to a new low, dragged down by worries about mounting job losses, record-high home foreclosures and zooming energy prices. According to the RBC Cash Index, confidence dropped to a mark of 29.5 in April, down from 33.1 in March. The new reading was the worst since the index began in 2002. It marked the fourth month in a row where confidence has fallen to an all-time low. "Consumers are very pessimistic," said Mark Vitner, economist at Wachovia. "There are not...

U.S. import prices rose by a more-than-expected 2.8 percent in March as petroleum prices jumped 9.1 percent, a Labor Department report showed Friday. U.S. export prices rose 1.5 percent during the month, also more than expected and the largest monthly gain on record, as prices for farm and food products continued to rise. Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a 2 percent rise in import prices in March after a 0.2 percent gain in February. They also forecast a 0.5 percent rise in export prices after a previously reported 0.9 percent gain in February, which the Labor Department revised to...

U.S. consumer confidence fell to its lowest in more than a quarter century in early April, diving deeper into recessionary territory on heightened worries over inflation and jobs, a survey showed Friday. The Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said its preliminary index of confidence fell to 63.2 in April from 69.5 in March. This was well below economists' median expectation of a reading of 69.0, according to a Reuters poll. The April result is the lowest since March 1982's level of 62.0, when the "stagflationary" period of low growth and high inflation was still fresh in the memory of...

WASHINGTON - The world economy will slow sharply this year, according to an International Monetary Fund forecast, with the United States sliding into a recession amid housing, credit and financial slumps. The IMF, in a World Economic Outlook released Wednesday, slashed growth projections for the United States — the epicenter of the woes — and the global economy as a whole. Economic growth in the United States is expected to slow to a crawl of just 0.5 percent this year, which would mark the worst pace in 17 years, when the country last suffered through a recession, the IMF said....

US employers cut payrolls by a bigger-than-expected 80,000 in March, adding more evidence that a housing downturn and credit crisis have pushed the economy into a recession. It was the third monthly decline in a row and the biggest in five years, according to the Labor Department. Adding to the bleak picture, the department revised the first two months of the year's job losses to a total of 152,000 from a previous estimate of 85,000. The March unemployment rate jumped to 5.1 percent from 4.8 percent, the highest since a matching rate in September 2005. The March job report was...

The number of U.S. workers applying for unemployment benefits soared by 38,000 last week, posting the highest reading since September 2005 and reinforcing fears that the U.S. economy has stalled, government data on Thursday showed. Meanwhile, a separate report showed the US service sector, which makes up 80 percent of U.S. economic activity, contracted less than expected in March, but overall activity for the month still shrank. A Labor Department official said there were no special factors to explain the increase in initial claims to 407,000 in the week ended March 29, but he said seasonal adjustments to the data...

America's web of housing and financial problems has no simple or quick fix, but one vital ingredient of progress appears to be on the rise: hope. A 3.6 percent surge of the Standard & Poor's stock index, as happened Tuesday, is hardly an all-clear signal. But the fact that the rally was led by some of the bank stocks at the center of the storm does point to some lessening of fears that neither markets nor policymakers can prevent an economic slowdown from becoming a deep recession. Among the encouraging signs: •Banks are raising fresh capital. The investment banks UBS...

Call to Action. We want to help our fellow activists in PA and send them a signal we are working on this too, and synergize our efforts down here in NC with PA Activists in this next set of Primaries and keep passing this torch from state to state.If savvy Activists had not stepped up in TX & OH, we wouldn’t be seeing this awesome situation! Activists in North Carolina - time is short! April 11 is your deadline to re-register. Don’t re-register as a Democrat - you don’t need to. Instead RE-register as an “Unaffiliated” (what NC refers to...

NEW YORK - Consumer confidence sank to a five-year low in March as tight credit markets, rising prices and worsening job prospects deepened worries that the economy has fallen into recession. The Conference Board, a business-backed research group, said Tuesday that its Consumer Confidence Index plunged to 64.5 in March from a revised 76.4 in February. The March reading was far below the 73.0 expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson/IFR. Meanwhile, a widely watched index of U.S. home prices fell 11.4 percent in January, its steepest drop since data for the indicator was first collected in 1987. The decline reported...

The Easter Bunny Hates You.

NEW YORK - A gauge of future economic activity dropped in February for the fifth consecutive month, suggesting that the weakening U.S economy could, indeed, be slipping into recession. The Conference Board said Thursday that its index of leading economic indicators fell 0.3 percent last month to 135.0 after dipping a revised 0.4 percent in January. The February reading was in line with the 0.3 percent decline expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/IFR. The index is designed to forecast where the nation's economy is headed in the next three to six months. Many economists believe rising gas prices, falling...

The number of US workers filing initial claims for unemployment aid climbed 22,000 last week, while the overall number on the benefit rolls hit a 3-1/2 year high a week earlier, the government said Thursday. The report suggested a further deterioration in the jobs market, although the department said increases in first-time claims last week and the week before reflected, at least in part, a strike by auto workers. The Labor Department said 378,000 initial claims for jobless benefits were filed in the week ended March 15, up from 356,000 in the prior week. Economists had expected a rise to...

It’s not the economy, stupid. It’s the credit crunch. The size of the Federal Reserve’s expected interest rate cut this afternoon may help stimulate a sluggish economy. But like the several cuts before, it is unlikely to unfreeze the credit markets, especially the mortgage one. And as the Fed continues to use its conventional fire-fighting equipment,there’s a growing sense that extraordinary--and somewhat controversial--measures may be needed. “The Fed by itself will not get us out of it," says John Irons, research director at the Economic Policy Institute. “We need to combine fiscal stimulus with monetary stimulus.” Among the ideas now...

To everyone who called me or emailed me over the weekend saying, "How could this happen? How could Bear Stearns go from $57 to $2 in two days?" I would offer the comment of one astute trader, who said, "When you are levered 30 times and have no access to finance it doesn't take a huge move on $400 billion in assets and $260 billion of debt to wipe out the equity." Two questions dominate the Street this morning: 1) What will Bear Stearns' shareholders--specifically Bear employees--do? The $2 per share deal is subject to shareholder approval, and Bear employees--many...

gauge of manufacturing in New York State tumbled to a record low in March, the New York Federal Reserve said in a report on Monday that will heighten concerns that the economy is mired in recession. The New York Fed's "Empire State" general business conditions index fell to minus 22.23 in March from minus 11.72 in February. Economists polled by Reuters had expected an improvement in March to minus 8.00. The March reading was the weakest since the index was launched in July 2001. The survey of manufacturing plants in the state is one of the earliest monthly guideposts to...

Symbol Name Last Trade Change Related Info ^AORD All Ordinaries 5,131.80 10:33PM ET 156.70 (2.96%) Components, Chart, More ^SSEC Shanghai Composite 3,873.54 9:59PM ET 89.14 (2.25%) Chart, More ^HSI Hang Seng 21,109.58 10:18PM ET 1,127.53 (5.07%) Components, Chart, More ^BSESN BSE 30 15,760.52 Mar 14 0.00 (0.00%) Chart, More ^JKSE Jakarta Composite 2,263.51 10:32PM ET 119.91 (5.03%) Components, Chart, More ^KLSE KLSE Composite 1,194.84 Mar 14 6.51 (0.54%) Components, Chart, More ^N225 Nikkei 225 11,726.99 10:00PM ET 514.61 (4.20%) Chart, More ^NZ50 NZSE 50 3,430.24 10:13PM ET 70.67 (2.02%) Components, Chart, More ^STI Straits Times 2,753.13 10:33PM ET 85.88...

The United States has entered a recession that could be "substantially more severe" than recent ones, former National Bureau of Economic Research President Martin Feldstein said Friday. "The situation is very bad, the situation is getting worse, and the risks are that it could get very bad," Feldstein said in a speech at the Futures Industry Association meeting in Boca Raton, Florida. NBER is a private sector group that is considered the arbiter of U.S. business cycles. Feldstein said the federal funds rate is headed for 2 percent from the current 3 percent. He added that lower short-term rates from...

So gasoline prices are at an all-time high. But after adjusting for inflation, rising incomes and better fuel efficiency, how bad are they really? The experts' answer: Bad. Nearly as bad as they've ever been, and not likely to get better anytime soon. Adjusted for inflation, gasoline at $3.227 a gallon, according to AAA, is still about 18 cents below its peak of $3.405, set in March 1981, according to the Energy Information Administration. And Americans are spending about 6% of their total disposable income on energy, down from about 8% in 1982. But prices are higher then they have...

Continued US Fed liquidity injections like the Fed's previous "Term Auction Facility" [TAF] and Tuesday's novel "Term Securities Lending Facility" [TSLF] will only serve to overdose the economy with exactly what ails it: too much credit. This will further boost the price of everything - and in particular, of gold and silver. The following headline and byline appeared Tuesday morning, March 11, 2008, on MarketWatch.com: Fed’s Latest Fix Does the Trick - Wall Street applauds as Fed intercedes, not with fresh rate cut but with a further push to inject funds into the economy. The headline was more appropriate than...

Oil rose to a fresh record high on Thursday, hitting new peaks for the seventh trading day, as a weak dollar overshadowed an increase in U.S. crude inventories. U.S. light, sweet crude for April delivery struck a new high of $110.70 a barrel. London Brent crude for April, which expires on Friday, also hit a new peak at $106.80. "We're looking at the U.S. dollar, we're looking at speculation, we're looking at geopolitical. Those three things tying together are defying fundamentals," said Peter McGuire, managing director of Commodity Warrants Australia. The dollar dropped to a 12-year low against the yen...

Nearly 60 percent more U.S. homes faced foreclosure in February than in the same month last year, with Nevada, California and Florida showing the highest foreclosure rates, a research firm said Wednesday. A total of 223,651 homes across the nation received at least one notice from lenders last month related to overdue payments, up 59.8 percent from 139,922 a year earlier, according to Irvine, Calif.-based RealtyTrac. Nearly half of the homes on the most recent list had slipped into default for the first time. Nevada had the nation's highest foreclosure rate, with one in every 165 households receiving at least...

.S. consumers clammed up on spending in February and the labor market continued to weaken as the economy teeters on the brink of recession, government data Thursday showed. Retail sales plunged 0.6 percent last month in a wide range of areas, the Commerce Department reported. Added to that, the ranks of workers remaining on jobless aid is at a level not seen in nearly 2 1/2 years, according to the Labor Department. "This is a downward spiral consistent with a recession," said Kurt Karl, chief economist at Swiss RE in New York. "Because consumer prices are so elevated, we're seeing...

Stocks plunged at the opening bell Thursday following news of the imminent collapse of Carlyle Capital and the dollar's 12-year low against the yen. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down about 200 points, or 1.6 percent, in the first half hour of trading. The Nasdaq and S&P 500 index also fell sharply. Netherlands-listed fund Carlyle Capital, an affiliate of U.S. buyout firm Carlyle Group, failed to make a deal with lenders and it's on the brink of collapse. Carlyle Capital's lenders have begun to force the sale of its assets as the unit has missed margin calls, is now...

The dollar plunged below 100 yen for the first time in over a decade Thursday and hit a record low versus the euro as worries deepened on Wall Street that the United States had entered a recession. The dollar also hit a record low against a basket of major currencies and oil and gold hit all-time highs. Data showing U.S. retail sales fell unexpectedly last month added to the concerns about the economy. "The slowdown that we know is happening in the banks has manifested itself on Main Street. These economic numbers are going to get much worse," said Joe...

Verbal bouquets are being thrown by presidential candidate Barack Obama at the ideals of bipartisanship, nonpartisanship, post-partisanship. You may want to consider some recent handiwork before buying in. Take last month's fuel-economy legislation, deemed "a nice little Christmas present" for the American people by Nancy Pelosi. President Bush wore himself out singing the bill's praises. Mr. Obama, who has been hell on the auto makers, practically called it America's salvation. But its only redeeming feature is that it's unlikely ever to take effect, at least in current form. We won't try to list all the built-in fudge factors. No two...

Despite potential tax and investment problems, more investors have been borrowing from their 401(k) plans or taking hardship withdrawals in recent months, some retirement plan providers say. Many in the field expect more borrowing in 2008, as consumers struggle with tighter credit and potentially higher mortgage payments. "I don't think it's a groundswell but it's enough to be noticed," said Rick Meigs, president of 401khelpcenter.com, which provides information on 401(k) plans. Increased borrowing on 401(k)s could be because of the credit crunch and slumping housing prices. To be sure, the indications are preliminary; it's too early to say why it's...

NEW YORK - The calculus of living paycheck to paycheck in America is getting harder. What used to last four days might last half that long now. Pay the gas bill, but skip breakfast. Eat less for lunch so the kids can have a healthy dinner. Across the nation, Americans are increasingly unable to stretch their dollars to the next payday as they juggle higher rent, food and energy bills. It's starting to affect middle-income working families as well as the poor, and has reached the point of affecting day-to-day calculations of merchants like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., 7-Eleven Inc. and...

Conveniently, the American media is largely ignoring a significant statement from a UK High Court judge who said Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” promotes “partisan political views” and the schools should treat it as such. As a result the British government was forced to rewrite their website and their “guidance” and will need to issue a warning before showing the film.As NewsBusters reported, truck driver, part-time school official and father of two Stewart Dimmock brought a High Court action to ban the film from UK schools, claiming it is “unfit for schools” because it contains scientific inaccuracies, “sentimental mush” and is politically biased....

European, Asian and Canadian companies are taking advantage of the weaker dollar to buy their U.S. counterparts at a record pace, increasing investment in the United States but also raising fears about a potential loss of jobs and autonomy. "We could be looking at the world's largest tag sale if we continue to see declines in the dollar," said Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist at DataCore Partners. In the latest large deal aided by a weak dollar, Commerce Bancorp, which is based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, agreed Tuesday to be acquired by Toronto-Dominion Bank of Canada in a cash-and-shares deal...

Most anybody in the mortgage business will tell you that August was a month that will live in infamy: The market was in turmoil, as doubts about the stability of subprime loans spread to other sectors of the mortgage world. How bad was it? A survey of mortgage brokers suggests that one in three consumers who recently signed purchase contracts canceled in August -- up from just 4 percent three years ago, according to the research firm that conducted the survey for Inside Mortgage Finance, a trade journal. The cancellation rate undoubtedly was fed by two scenarios playing out: Many...

An asteroid, discovered in 2004, could pose a threat to Earth in 2029, the director of the Institute of Astronomy said Monday. Boris Shustov said at an international space forum in Moscow that the Apophis asteroid, which is due to cross earth's orbit in 2029 at a height of 27,000 km (17,000 miles), could under certain conditions hit Earth in 2029. The explosion could surpass the famous Tunguska explosion of June 30, 1908, which affected a 2,150 square kilometer (830 sq miles) area of Russia felling over 80 million trees in the Krasnoyarsk Territory in Siberia. The meteoroid's air blast...