Friday, 03 December 2010 09:18 Friday, 03 December 2010 08:47 'Fears were growing over shop shelves being emptied by panic buyers last night as it emerged that Scotland has suffered its worst early snowfall in 45 years. Retailers reported a “siege mentality” among shoppers flocking to buy basics such as bread and milk, with lorries struggling to make deliveries in atrocious conditions across the UK. Transport chaos continued with airports shut, more white-out conditions on major roads and the Forth Road Bridge closed because of snow for the first time since it opened in 1964. Temperatures overnight plummeted to minus 21C in Altnaharra in the Highlands, one of the coldest temperatures on record for December 1.' Read more: Fears Over Panic Buying as Transport Chaos Continues 'WMO Secretary General Michel Jarraud said on Thursday that this year's temperatures through October were at near-record levels, adding that 2010 is "almost certain" to rank among the three hottest years on record.' Friday, 03 December 2010 08:39 'The news about the potential health dangers of the TSA's naked body scanners just keeps getting worse. An increasing number of doctors and scientists are going public with their warnings about the health implications of subjecting yourself to naked body scanners. These include Dr Russell Blaylock (see below) as well as several professors from the University of California who are experts in X-ray imaging. At the same time, some internet bloggers are insisting that the TSA's naked body scanners pose no health risks because air travelers are subjected to higher levels of radiation by simply enduring high-altitude flights where cosmic radiation isn't filtered out by the full thickness of the Earth's atmosphere. This comparison, however, is inaccurate: The TSA's body scanners focus radiation on the skin and organs near the skin whereas cosmic radiation during high-altitude flights is distributed across the entire mass of your body.' Friday, 03 December 2010 08:33 The City of New York recently launched a new emergency services pilot program that seems more like something out of a science fiction movie than a real-life initiative. According to a recent New York Times report, the city has begun deploying two emergency ambulances in response to 911 calls -- one to try to save the lives of those involved, and the other to harvest their vital organs should the rescue efforts fail or be deemed likely to fail. The city's new ambulances are emblazoned with the words "Organ Preservation Unit" (OPU), and they now trail behind primary rescue vehicles headed to situations where there could be valuable organs involved. And city officials insist that the whole procedure is perfectly ethical because the first rescue vehicle is unaware that the second one is there until a supervisor decides to stop the rescue efforts and make the announcement, which allegedly eliminates the possibility that rescuers will purposely allow a victim to die in order to gain access to the valuable organs.' Read more: New York City to Deploy More Emergency Ambulances to Harvest Victims' Organs Friday, 03 December 2010 08:16 'The company that Dick Cheney ran prior to becoming Vice President of the United States was atop the tongue of liberals each time his company was awarded a contract in Iraq. Now the company's name, Halliburton, is being spoken somewhere else: Nigeria. According to a story filed late Wednesday, Cheney will be indicted in a Nigerian bribery case as part of an investigation into an alleged $180 million bribery scandal.' Read more: Nigeria to Charge Dick Cheney in $180 Million Bribery Case, Issue Interpol Arrest Warrant Friday, 03 December 2010 08:09 'On Wednesday, 800,000 unemployed US workers woke up in the morning having lost for most what is their only source of income—jobless benefit checks that average about $300 per week. By Christmas, another 1.2 million workers will follow them into the cashless economy, where they will join the far larger number of jobless workers who receive no benefits at all. Millions more will follow next year. The cutoff came after Congress failed to reauthorize a program that extends jobless benefits beyond the 26 weeks afforded by most states. Leading Congressional Democrats have indicated that the benefits might not be restored for months, if ever. The tossing of millions of workers—and through them millions more children—into abject desperation is by any measure a social catastrophe. Hunger, which preyed on 50 million Americans last year, will rise sharply. It is reported that soup kitchens and food pantries, already strained to the breaking point, are bracing for record demand. Homelessness and the foreclosure crisis will be exacerbated. Hundreds of thousands more families will lose their utilities in the midst of the winter heating season.' Thursday, 02 December 2010 12:01 Thursday, 02 December 2010 11:43 'The United States would be ready to support the extension of the European Financial Stability Facility via an extra commitment of money from the International Monetary Fund, a U.S. official told Reuters on Wednesday. “There are a lot of people talking about that. I think the European Commission has talked about that,” said the U.S. official, commenting on enlarging the 750 billion euro ($980 billion) EU/IMF European stability fund. “It is up to the Europeans. We will certainly support using the IMF in these circumstances.” “There are obviously some severe market problems,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “In May, it was Greece. This is Ireland and Portugal. If there is contagion that’s a huge problem for the global economy".' Read more: US Gets Ready To Bail Out Europe Through IMF Funds
Meanwhile...
World Meteorological Organisation: 2001-2010 Warmest Since 1850
Friday, 3 December 2010
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