Some 780 million litres of crude oil - 4.9 million barrels - had poured onto the Gulf. The reddish-brown fluid lapped onto more than 1,000 kilometres of fragile coastline, killing thousands of fish, pelicans, tortoises, whales and dolphins. Officials closed beaches and fishing grounds. Tourism and the fishing industry, major keys to the local economy, collapsed.
Damage compensation payouts have been slow, despite the 20- billion-dollar fund that BP set up after some arm-twisting from US President Barack Obama. The Gulf Coast Claims Facility (GCCF) said this week it has paid out 3.8 billion dollars - a small drop of available money - representing 300,000 claims.
10 big companies teetering towards bankruptcy from business insider: A new report by Audit Integrity identifies some high-profile names "that have the highest probability of declaring bankruptcy among publicly traded firms." ...
1. Hertz: When you have tons of debt financing your fleet of cars, falling rental demand really hurts. 2. Textron:What a tough time to be selling business jets. 3. Sprint/Nextel: Sprint Nextel is bleeding customers, and could lose as many as 4.4 million net post-paid subscribers this year. 4. Macy's: Does anyone even shop at department stores anymore? 5. Mylan: In a classic case of management empire building, Mylan overpaid big time when it bought Merck’s generic business back in 2007 and is now stuck with $5 billion of long-term debt as a result. 6. Goodyear: Demand for Goodyear tires has sunk, and the company is saddled with massive debt and pension obligations. 7. CBS: Weak advertising and falling license fees have sent CBS's earnings off a cliff in 2009. 8. Advanced Micro Devices: When will AMD actually make money again? The question is becoming more important by the day since it carries over $5 billion in long-term debt. 9. Las Vegas Sands: Las Vegas Sands over-expanded and over-levered in the last few years and now has over $10 billion in debt to deal with. 10. Interpublic Group: As one of the largest advertising and marketing companies in the world, IPG was slammed by the global recession.
1 in 8 US homeowners late paying or in foreclosure from reuters: About one in eight U.S. homeowners with mortgages, a record share, ended 2008 behind on their loan payments or in the foreclosure process as job losses intensified a housing crisis spawned by lax lending practices, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Thursday. With unemployment at a 16-1/2-year high and expected to continue rising until mid- to late 2010, more borrowers will pay late or fall into foreclosure this year, said the group's chief economist. "While California, Florida, Nevada, Arizona and Michigan continue to dominate the delinquency numbers, some of the sharpest increases we saw last quarter in loans 90 days or more delinquent were in Louisiana, New York, Georgia, Texas and Mississippi, signs of the spreading impact of the recession," said Jay Brinkmann.
mi5 alert on bank riots from daily express: Top secret contingency plans have been drawn up to counter the threat posed by a “summer of discontent” in Britain. The “double-whammy” of the worst economic crisis in living memory and a motley crew of political extremists determined to stir up civil disorder has led to the extraordinary step of the Army being put on standby. MI5 and Special Branch are targeting activists they fear could inflame anger over job losses and payouts to failed bankers. One of the most notorious anarchist websites, Class War, asks: “How to keep warm during the credit crunch? Burn a banker.” Such remarks have rung alarm bells in Scotland Yard and the Ministry of Defence. Intelligence sources said the police, backed by MI5, are determined to stay on top of a situation that could spiral out of control as the recession bites deep. The chilling prospect of soldiers being drafted on to the streets has not been discounted, although it is regarded as a last resort.
cnbc analyst: global bank & global currency within 15yrs from paul joseph watson: Head of market analysis for Schneider Foreign Exchange Stephen Gallo told CNBC yesterday [feb25] that the financial crisis will lead to the creation of a global central bank and a global single currency within 15 years, echoing the call of top globalists who have exploited the problems they created to push for a new world financial order. Highlighting the significance of the introduction of the Euro, Gallo said that the single currency was “where we are headed globally on a monetary basis over the course of the next 10 to 15 years.” ... As we have highlighted before, the elite have exploited the problem that they created to push for increased centralization and regulation of the world economic system in the pursuit of a de-facto global financial dictatorship.
from raw replay: ABC’s Neil Karlinsky reports that as the economy sours, Nevada brothels are seeing a surge in job applications. ABC News has more details here. This video is from ABC’s Nightline, broadcast Nov. 21, 2008.
from raw replay: KVBC News 3 reported: “At Nellis Air Force Base, military officials had some explaining to do Wednesday afternoon. News 3’s Anita Roman reports that a dummy bomb fell from one of their jets and hit a truck below.”
ron paul places 2nd in nevada from cbs: Ron Paul's fervent supporters have something to crow about: With nearly all precincts reporting, the Texas representative is sitting in second place in the Nevada caucuses... “Ron Paul has once again topped multiple media-anointed ‘frontrunners’ with his poll-defying second place showing in Nevada,” Paul campaign chairman Kent Snyder said in a statement. “We’re in this race to win, and we’re going to battle for every delegate in this wide-open race for the Republican nomination.”
ron paul has sticking power, but how much? from c.j. anderson: Paul won second in Nevada! excellent, and he will have a good showing in the future (even if he just wins Alaska he has succeeded in getting his message out). He has tons of cash, and another donation day on the way (freeatlast2008.com). What does all this mean? It means he has enough support and enough money to last until the convention in September, but is that good enough? No, it's not. He needs longer lasting power. The Libertarian boost seen in this election, thanks to Paul, needs to go on past November and on into the next presidency... I realize my last article was put up on the Alex Jones Info Wars website and I'll take this opportunity to state I think 9/11 truthers are insane and couldn't be farther from the truth. In my personal opinion I would have no objection to vigilante justice in response to their sign waving events.
video: msnbc on paul's nevada 2nd place from vegasbd: "...Ron Paul is someone to watch..."
video: ron paul interviewed by russia today from russia today: Ron Paul, 2008 U.S. Republican presidential hopeful, is critical of America's current policy towards Russia. He commented to RT on his political views.
new york times censors ron paul from charlotte conservative voice: Ron Paul finished second today beating McCain, Thompson, Giuliani and Huckabee in Nevada. Yet the rag newspaper New York Times found a way to continue to ignore Ron Paul. The “official results page” on the New York Times website does not even list Ron Paul as a candidate... But the New York times thinks this isn’t worth their ink to print. Ron Paul out performed Senator Edwards today 3 to 1 in percentage points but still they dont even print his name.
nevada gop dismisses paul complaint from boston globe: Ron Paul, other than Mitt Romney the only Republican actively campaigning for Saturday's Republican caucuses in Nevada, called this afternoon for the state party to consider postponing the contest due to "multiple inconsistencies." But the state Republican Party immediately dismissed the allegations and said the caucus would go on as planned.
video: 'the name i keep hearing in vegas is ron paul' from raw replay: Nightline takes a closer look at Las Vegas a different kind of electorate. The following video is from ABC’s Nightline, broadcast on January 18, 2008
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from guardian: Moments before he was put to death, Troy Davis lifted his head from the gurney to which he was strapped and looked the family of Mark MacPhail, the police officer for whose murder he was convicted, directly in the eyes. "I want to talk to the MacPhail family," he said. "I was not responsible for what happened that night. I did not have a gun. I was not the one who took the life of your father, son, brother." He then appealed to his own family and friends to "keep the faith", said to the medical personnel who were about to kill him "may God have mercy on your souls", and laid his head down again. He was administered with a triple lethal injection of pentobarbital, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride, and at 11.08pm he was pronounced dead.
