UK - A former adviser to Gordon Brown has urged people to stock up on canned goods and bottled water as stock markets around the world slide. Damian McBride appeared to suggest that the stock market dip could lead to civil disorder or other situations where it would be unreasonable for someone to leave the house.
USA - After last week’s stock market plunge, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped an astonishing 1000 points in the minutes following Monday’s opening bell. 30 minutes later, the market index rebounded to around -500, before dropping back down to -700. The record for all-time greatest drop by the day’s end was a 777 point drop in August 2008. Among the companies with the largest initial drop in prices were Apple (which also had a disastrous product recall over the weekend) by 10% and Facebook by 14%. The silver lining for consumers is that oil prices have also taken a major hit, which may or may not translate to lower prices at the pump.
USA - Two separate US government watchdogs are outlining problems with the engines used in their F-35 jet fighters - one finding the systems unreliable and another citing dozens of violations in its quality assurance inspection.
USA - Isn't it all supposed to be about LOVE? The corporations who profess to care about love and equality don't extend that kindness towards unborn children. Why do these companies support people's right to love whomever they want while denying infants the right to live?
UK - Dozens of documents which could finally reveal the truth about Tony Blair’s reasons for invading Iraq have been suppressed by the White House after a year-long fight for their release by The Mail on Sunday. A cache of more than 80 files detailing discussions between Mr Blair and George W Bush in the run-up to the 2003 war have been found by the US Government – but classified on the grounds of ‘national security’.
USA - That hamburger you're grilling could contain harmful bacteria, and unless you cook it thoroughly, it could make you sick. New lab tests conducted by Consumer Reports found that of the 300 packages of ground beef purchased in stores across the country, almost all contained bacteria that signified fecal contamination.
CHINA - In 1997, Asia was practically crippled by an enormous financial crisis. This problem has risen from the grave, and it could get much worse than the current economic conditions in Greece. Nations such as Indonesia and Malaysia are really hurting right now, but China’s financial woes are poised to create an even larger negative ripple effect throughout the entire Asian region.
USA - Wildfires picked up their relentless charge across the west this weekend, forcing more evacuations, while leaving authorities to struggle for additional resources. Wildfires are raging almost unchecked in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Colorado and California today as firefighters struggle to bring them under control. Strong winds carried smoke from fires in Eastern Oregon and Washington on Saturday into Oregon's Willamette Valley, home to 70 percent of the state's population, prompting numerous air-quality alerts and a number of 911 calls by worried residents. The giant fire covers 355 square miles. Civilians are being trained in operating heavy equipment like backhoes and bulldozers to dig fire lines, according to Fox News.
EUROPE - The unwillingness of most European Union states to accommodate a surge in refugees amassing at the trade bloc’s southern fringes is a “huge disgrace,” German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said. Speaking on the country’s ARD television Sunday, Gabriel said just three countries - Germany, Sweden and Austria - were taking on more refugees, with most states snubbing their plight. By closing the door to people fleeing wars, the EU puts its internal open-border policy at risk, Gabriel said. “I find it a huge disgrace when the majority of member states say, ‘that’s got nothing to do with us’,” said the Social Democrat chairman, whose party co-rules with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats. “Returning to a Europe without open borders will have catastrophic economic, political and cultural consequences.”
USA - Satan worshipers launched a counter-protest against pro-lifers outside the Detriot and Ferndale, Michigan Planned Parenthood locations Saturday. Clad in black robes, members of the Satanic Temple of Detriot drenched bound women with milk, simulating water-boarding to "illustrate the theocratic agenda imposed upon female bodies." The milk symbolized breast milk, one of the protest organizers explained on Facebook. The group attached a symbol of their temple to the American flag and held up a sign that read, "America is not a theocracy. End forced motherhood."
NEW ZEALAND - A leading Kiwi food campaigner has slammed calls to increase the limit of a sweetener - which health advocates claim is linked to kidney and liver problems - in popular chewing gum brands.
USA - The gas station's ground was covered with the small winged bugs. Piles of carcasses, inches deep, sat swept to the sides. On the road, they rained onto car windshields. They flew by the thousands toward even the smallest sources of light, and crept along windows and kitchen tables.
CHINA - While examining Eastern press reports of the recent St Petersburg International Economic Forum for news that went largely unnoticed in the West, I came across a Greek Reporter article titled Greek PM Tsipras Meets with Gazprom Chief, BRICS Delegation in St Petersburg. In the Western news reports of the time, I saw it mentioned that Tsipras met with Putin, but I heard nothing about him meeting with the head of the BRICS Bank, KV Kamath…
USA - Federal officials with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have kicked off an investigation into what they term a mysterious mass death of whales, saying the 30 or so carcasses that have washed up on the beach in the last four months is a highly unusual occurrence. Since May, 11 fin whales, 14 humpbacks, one gray and four unidentified types have washed onto the shores of islands in the western Gulf of Alaska and the southern portion of the Alaska Peninsula, the NOAA said. And the agency’s calling it an “unusual mortality event” of mystifying proportions, the Hill reported.
USA - Apparently, Catholics for Choice want their friends at Planned Parenthood to know how appreciated they are since they will be “harassed” tomorrow at the protests across the country regarding their organ harvesting business.