"We got that letter," said Jonathon Szykowny, owner and director of Szykowny Funeral Home. "I'm extremely upset by it... I would be very concerned that during extreme economic times that some families can't provide the necessary funds to bury their loved ones. Sometimes God doesn't call during the best economic times and families can't afford to pay for a funeral and need help"

In the past, the state has reserved about $13 million to help pay for an estimated 12,000 funerals for individuals who relied on public aid. Participating funeral homes were alloted $1,100 for funerals and $552 for the burial. The 2011 budget, however, accounts for just $1.9 million.

The Illinois Department of Human Services letter said it can only guarantee payments for pauper funerals through August 15. Funeral directors have been advised to look for money from city or county governments, and to advise families in morgues until funding can be secured. "Now the only viable option - I don't mean to make light of it - is to leave the body at the medical examiner's office," Szykowny said. "After 60 to 90 days they'll take the body to what's called a potter's field and bury it in a numbered grave."

The Corn Belt states of South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana saw drought develop quickly as the important corn-growing region got only spotty rainfall amid the high heat, according to the weekly US Drought Monitor, produced by a consortium of national climate experts. Abnormal dryness intensified to moderate drought over the last week, according to the report.

Texas remained the epicenter of unprecedented drought, with climate data showing the state suffering its driest 10 months ever in over a century of data. Levels of "extreme" and "exceptional" drought grew to 94.27 percent of the state from 91.73 percent over the last week, Drought Monitor reported. "This is unprecedented territory, as the precipitation deficits mount, and triple-digit temperatures continue to increase water demand," it said.

Since January, Texas has received only 40 percent of its normal rainfall, according to the National Weather Service. Oklahoma also saw conditions worsen, with extreme and exceptional drought now spread through 92.88 percent of the state, up from 88.10 percent. The deadly drought and triple-digit temperatures have broken numerous records and left the southern Plains and Mississippi Valley struggling to meet demand for power and water, while causing billions of dollars in damage to crops and livestock.

Broadwater Farm estate is again at the centre of the unrest in London. Mark Duggan, whose death last week sparked London's riots, was brought up here, and sent one of his sons to Stirling's football classes. On Wednesday, Stirling was making arrangements for his wake.

Struggling to make sense of the violence that has turned buildings on Tottenham High Road into smouldering piles of rubble, Stirling wondered whether weakened parental authority might have something to do with it. A chorus of establishment voices responded to pictures of school-age children looting late at night by reaching to blame the parents. MPs were urging them to make sure they knew where their children were, David Cameron was talking again about a broken Britain, and London's mayor said adults and teachers needed to be given back the right to impose authority.

Stirling's analysis is more nuanced - citing poverty, unemployment, failings of the education system, police harassment, among other triggers - but he believes parents have become afraid to discipline their own children, and warns this is at least part of the problem that has erupted across cities this week. "Bad behaviour and criminality has been glamorised on the streets. Teachers are scared to punish children. The modern child isn't frightened of their parents. They don't care if the police lock them up," he said.

"We envisage that banks operating on a more EU-wide basis, alongside an ECB with appropriate powers, would be an important part of a sustainable euro project," said Tony Silverman, a financial analyst at S&P. "This may mean peripheral countries should not necessarily expect to have their own domestic banks," he added.

Mr Silverman points out that about 50 per cent of eurozone deposits lent through the European Central Bank and the interbank market are to banks that have loans in excess of their deposits, adding there is a "conspicuous" absence of banks that are net lenders to the market. "We would question whether this is sustainable and indeed to what extent such funding can meaningfully be regarded as temporary," said Mr Silverman.

Banks in countries such as Greece, Portugal and Ireland have become dependent on ECB funds to remain in business and loans originally seen as short-term have become an integral part of their funding. The eurozone crisis has put a focus on these issues and there are now doubts as to whether many of these lenders remain viable as independent entities in the longer term. "Eurozone countries have as much right to their own banks as Northumberland," said Mr Silverman. However, Mr Silverman's analysis suggests that even these larger institutions will remain unsustainable in the long-term due to their domestic focus.

There is only one way for the world to go, said the Bank's Governor Sir Mervyn King: for the pent-up losses caused by the vast debts amassed in the boom to be "shared between creditors and debtors". This, he said, meant "in the world economy between creditors in the East and debtors in the West, and within the euro-area between creditors in the North and debtors in the South".

The problem is that there are two ways the problem can be resolved. Either voluntarily, as surplus countries like China let their currencies appreciate, or violently, "in the context of a downturn in the world economy". Given the lack of political leadership currently, an ugly denouement looks all too likely. The issue is, and has always been, "global imbalances". China and Germany export too much and plough their returns back into the financial system, creating bubbles of cheap credit and distortions in behaviour.

Trapped in the euro, Germany can not appreciate, but it can absorb losses through rescue schemes and writing off sovereign debt held by its banks. "2008 was not the end of the crisis - it was merely one stage in a bigger crisis," he said yesterday. "We are going through the next stage now."

The Iftar is the dinner that breaks the holiday's daily fast. The dinner became an annual White House tradition under President Bill Clinton and was continued by President George W Bush. The White House says invited guests include religious and grass-roots leaders in the Muslim-American community as well as leaders of other faiths and elected officials.

According to the survey, 65 percent of Jewish Americans approve of the job Obama is doing; 60 percent of atheists, agnostics, and those of no religion approve; 50 percent of Catholics approve; 37 percent of Protestants approve and 25 percent of Mormons approve. Although published this month, the survey of Muslim Americans was actually completed on April 9. (In Gallup's overall polling in the week that ended April 10, Obama's approval was at 45 percent, slightly higher than the 42 percent it hit last week.)

Obama's approval among Muslim Americans has declined since 2009 but still remains far higher than the approval President George W Bush's won among Muslim Americans in 2008. In that year, only 7 percent of Muslim Americans said they approved of the job Bush was doing. In 2009, 84 percent of Muslim Americans said they approved of the job Obama was doing. That dropped to 78 percent in 2010 and then rose to 80 percent this year.

The motive and circumstances surrounding the attacks that have resulted in numerous arrests around the country are being investigated - and law enforcement officials in at least one city are looking into a possible racial component to the crimes.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who recently imposed a stricter curfew in response to the city's latest attack, addressed black youths directly from the pulpit of his church on Sunday, reportedly saying, "You have damaged your own race."

"If you want ...anybody else to respect you and not be afraid when they see you walking down the street, then leave the innocent people who are walking down the street minding their own damn business. Leave them alone," Nutter told a mostly black congregation at Mount Carmel Baptist Church in West Philadelphia, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Nutter, the city's third black mayor, spoke after a mob attack July 29 in downtown Philadelphia during which 20 to 30 black youths allegedly beat and robbed innocent bystanders, according to law enforcement.

Similar attacks are also being investigated in cities likes Los Angeles, Chicago, Cleveland, Washington DC, and Milwaukee, where 30 people were arrested after alleged mob attacks erupted at the Wisconsin State Fair on August 4. At least 18 people were injured in or around the grounds, including seven police officers, authorities said. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn called the attacks "reprehensible," and some fairgoers, including Norb Roffers, said it appeared bystanders were targeted because of their race. "It looked like they were just going after white guys, white people," Roffers told Wisconsin's Newsradio 620.

But while some witness accounts suggest the attacks are race-based, law enforcement officials say they have no evidence to prove it. There was "no confession or anything else" to suggest the July 29 attacks in Philadelphia were "racially motivated," Philadelphia Police Department First Deputy Commissioner Richard Ross told FoxNews.com. "You can't just simply look at the race of the offender and the race of the victim and say it's ethnic intimidation. It may be, but we're not sure. Does it give us pause? Yes it does," Ross said.

Although there were also adults taking part in the disturbances, it was often youngsters who were taking part in the waves of destruction that shifted swiftly across London and other cities. Mr Lightman blames a toxic mixture of dysfunctional parenting and a consumer and celebrity culture which tells youngsters they should have whatever they want. He warns that too often schools are faced with pupils who have never had any boundaries in their home lives - where there has never been a sense of right and wrong.

"Parents are not willing to say 'no'. That short, simple word is an important part of any child's upbringing," says Mr Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders. "It's desperately important that children have a sense of right and wrong. But we often come across children who have never been told that something is wrong." Schools are often the only place where these youngsters have had boundaries put on their behaviour, says Mr Lightman. "Schools are the last havens of an orderly society for many young people," he says.

Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder of Kids Company which works with disturbed and excluded youngsters, says these are the actions of a "completely ignored underclass" who have developed a "perverse morality. They don't feel included in mainstream society, their role models... are the drug dealers and the drug dealers are their measure of powerful people. So when they're looking for heroes in their community they don't get the role models they need, what they're getting is people who've made it good through criminality."

James Treadwell, a criminologist from the University of Leicester, suggests that the argument over whether this is about a reaction to deprivation or the chaos of a "feral underclass", is missing what's actually happening. And that's looting. He says it's much less about riot and protest and much more about opportunistic theft, usually by young men. There are not the pitched battles between police and protesters that marked riots in the 1980s, or even the recent student protests, but are sporadic outbreaks of looting. "It's about the acquisition of goods, it's quite planned, it's about getting hold of a new laptop," he says, describing this as a kind of violent materialism. "This is where having a new pair of trainers is the most important thing, where success is measured by the mobile phone or the jacket you're wearing.."

Societe Generale bank, whose shares fell up to 20%, was also forced to deny it was under financial pressure. France's Cac share index ended down 5.5%. The UK's FTSE lost 3%, and Wall Street's Dow Jones had fallen 3.3%. The FTSE fell by 158 points to 5,007, taking 41 billion pounds off the value of the index. It has now lost almost 15% in the last nine trading sessions. Italy's FTSE MIB was down 6.7%.

Shares in Societe Generale ended 14.7% lower. UK banking shares were also hit, with Barclays down 8.7%, Royal Bank of Scotland 7.3%, and HSBC 5.3%. "The banks have all got exposure of some degree or another to sovereign debts," said David Buik, of BGC Partners. "And none of the banks are going to get away scot-free. There are going to be writedowns."

The French government's insistence that it will not lose its AAA credit rating was confirmed by the three main ratings agencies, Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch. But Lyn Graham-Taylor, fixed income strategist at Rabobank, said the markets were right to be concerned that France could lose its AAA credit rating: "We think from a fundamental perspective that France is due a downgrade," he told BBC News. "In essence, France is the country with a AAA credit rating that can least afford to pay into any future eurozone-wide bail-out scheme."

The incident occurred last Friday while Emma was visiting the town's Citizens Advice Bureau. When Aaron started crying, she asked if she could use an empty corner of the room to breast-feed him in, offering to face the wall.

But the receptionist told her it wasn't allowed as "some gentlemen had complained in the past" and suggested she use the public toilets nearby. Emma said: "You wouldn't eat your dinner in the toilets, so why should my son? She rang the manager who said 'You absolutely can't do that here'." A member of the complaints department then took her to a small room. Emma's friend Michelle Booth, 38, who was with her, said: "They were implying breast-feeding was offensive to Muslim sensibilities. It's political correctness gone mad."

Oldham Council yesterday apologised "unreservedly". Councillor Shoab Akhtar said: "We do not have dedicated breast-feeding facilities available. However, staff are now aware they should make every reasonable effort to assist a mother's need to breast-feed, whether she requests a private room or not."

Flames ripped through the historic building and spread to neighbouring businesses as firemen battled desperately to quell the inferno. But today it looked likely that the damage which was 'worse than the blitz' would force the ravaged building to be demolished and rebuilt.

Owner Trevor Reeves said: 'It has just provided (for) my family and the 15 or 20 staff and families that were supported, it's just completely destroyed. Words fail me. It's just gone, it's five generations. My father is distraught at the moment. It's just mindless thuggery.' His brother Graham told Sky News: 'Our lives are destroyed, it will probably be someone else next week. It's horrendous, 35 years I have been down here.'

He said the business was established in 1867, but he now had 'nothing', adding: 'Everything is just gone, we have just got nothing left. I was in the Brixton riots but this is worse. My life is destroyed.' One eye witness said: 'The building has survived the test of time. The damage last night was worse than the blitz. The area was known for the Reeves furniture store, and that part of the street had been named Reeves Corner.'

The escalating disorder in London began in Tottenham on Saturday evening. The iconic Carpetright building which had also survived the ravages of war and time was destroyed. Last night saw violence flare across the capital with Croyden being one of the worst towns to be hit.

A closer look at the extensive list of artificial preservatives, colourings and flavourings on its label suggests that the butter, which is entirely devoid of additives, is the healthier option after all. The margarine in question is a perfect example of a 'functional food' which, along with 'digestion-aiding' probiotic yogurts and 'brain-boosting' omega-3 eggs, claims to have fantastic, health-promoting properties.

Having investigated thoroughly, my opinion of these so-called 'super-healthy' products is that they are nothing more than a dangerous gimmick: Read the small print and you'll quickly discover just how jam-packed they are with sugar, sweeteners, artificial colours, flavourings and preservatives.

The problem is that they are marketed so effectively, it's easy to see why the 'worried well' of Britain are spending more money on them than ever before, in the hope of achieving better health. According to new figures from Mintel, we'll be buying a whopping 951 million pounds worth of functional foods every year by 2015 - but if it weren't for the convincing health claim on the box, they would look no different from any other highly processed junk.

I analysed ten products from the most successful brands on the market to find out what each of them really contains.

(Warning: my findings may shock you into changing your shopping habits for good.)

Article - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2024310/Actimel-Kelloggs-Optivia-Super-healthy-foods-simply-gimmick.html

The only thing that can be known about them is that if they are rating bonds at S&P, they can't possibly be good at rating bonds. The bond market is a multi-trillion market that is immensely lucrative. Bond trading is a great way to make a buck because there are unlimited bucks to be made - if, and only if, you know something useful about whether the bond in question actually has a lower or higher risk inherent in it than the level implied in the market's current pricing.

So if you are any good at all at rating the riskiness of debt instruments, you will not be working for a couple hundred thousand a year at S&P, you will be working for yourself, or for the bond trading desk of an investment bank or a bond hedge fund making tens of millions of dollars per year - or a lot more if you are running the hedge fund. Only if you are incapable of knowing something useful about the true risk profile of bonds will you take a job rating bonds at S&P. Or alternatively you actually know something useful but have no confidence whatsoever that you know do so you won't put any personal financial risk behind your opinions. In either case, the output is clear: because of the position you occupy, you are someone to whom no one should listen.

S&P is a subsidiary of publicly-traded corporation McGraw-Hill. S&P is driven to help McGraw-Hill march its quarterly earnings ever forward lest bad things happen to both subsidiary and parent. This is hardly the environment in which we are likely to find a huge agglomeration of public servants.

And remember the business model of S&P: it makes its money from charging those it rates lots of money to rate them. Prior to the crash of 2008, it was an awesome business because the use of its product was legislatively driven. That is to say, most institutional investors have regulatory fiduciary requirements that necessitate the use of credit ratings as part of their daily business. They may think that S&P really has no useful insights, but they still need to use its ratings. So this business is pretty much like any business that is given a legislative right to serve - like your local electric or gas utility: it doesn't need to worry much about being any good because the customer doesn't have much choice.

This is all theoretical, you might argue. OK then, let's go empirical. What is S&P's recent track record on understanding and rating debt instruments in the USA? Answer: disastrously bad. Three years ago it could not have possibly been more wrong on its ratings of US mortgage debt instruments. Chimps throwing darts would have been infinitely better than these so-called experts were.

So the question has to be asked again: Why on earth do we pay any attention whatsoever to S&P's downgrade of US government debt? It has a horrible track record and in fact helped enormously to get the US government into the crisis for which it now condemns the handling. Their raters wouldn't be rating bonds if they actually were any good at it. It operates in a protected industry that insulates it from the usual consequences of incompetence. And its business model is one big conflict of interest.

The US provided $47 million in "development aid" to China in 2010, even though the nation is already a military and economic giant and the world's only other true superpower. The aid helped rural Chinese get on the Internet and improve public infrastructure - including metro train service in Guangzhou. Much of the aid is also channeled through the US National Institutes of Health. "Here we are sending money to a nation that we are diametrically opposed to in a time when America is broke," said Andrea Lafferty, of the Traditional Values Coalition. "People are losing their homes and jobs, so why are we giving money to China?"

The Traditional Values Coalition completed a lengthy analysis of NIH funding to China. It found US taxpayers foot the bill for Chinese students to study retirement in Beijing, reproduction in Shanghai and prostitution in the Yunnan Province. The NIH also gave American university professors' millions to study in China, from why children lie to why the Chinese smoke tobacco.

"We are calling for a moratorium for all behavioral science and foreign aid grants out of NIH until some adult can oversee what is going on and monitor the craziness out of there," said Lafferty. Webb and Senator James Inofe also say it is time to cut China off from the taxpayer gravy train. Both the United Kingdom and Australia announced earlier this year they would no longer provide direct assistance to China.