crisis looming

NEWS ALERT
from The Wall Street Journal

Aug. 10, 2007

The Federal Reserve, in a statement that underscores the deepening severity of developments in credit markets, said it is “providing liquidity to facilitate the orderly functioning of financial markets,” and will pump enough money into credit markets to keep the Fed’s target for the federal funds interest rate at 5.25%. U.S. federal-funds futures early Friday priced in about a 100% chance that the Federal Reserve will reduce its key lending rate by a half-percentage point to 4.75% by the next policy meeting on Sept. 18.

Full article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118673195378094167.html?mod=djemalert

Read the Fed’s statement:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118675254324894252.html?mod=djemalert

About one-quarter of America’s 577,000 bridges were rated deficient in 2004

Bridge collapse spotlights America’s deferred maintenance

By Ron Scherer | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the August 3, 2007 edition

Page 1 of 2

The tragic rush-hour collapse in Minneapolis of the I-35W Bridge over the Mississippi River is again forcing a reexamination of the nation’s approach to maintaining and inspecting critical infrastructure.

According to engineers, the nation is spending only about two-thirds as much as it should be to keep dams, levees, highways, and bridges safe. The situation is more urgent now because many such structures were designed 40 or 50 years ago, before Americans were driving weighty SUVs and truckers were lugging tandem loads.

It all adds up to a poor grade: The American Society of Civil Engineers gave the nation a D in 2005, the latest report available, after assessing 12 categories of infrastructure ranging from rails and roads to wastewater treatment and dams.

“One of America’s great assets is its infrastructure, but if you don’t invest it deteriorates,” says Patrick Natale, executive director of ASCE.

Among scores of recent examples:

•Last month, a 100-year-old steam pipe erupted in midtown Manhattan, killing one man and causing millions of dollars in lost business.

•The inadequacies of levees in New Orleans became horrifyingly clear in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. The city is still recovering.

•In 2003, the Silver Lake Dam in Michigan failed, causing $100 million in damage.

America’s 577,000 bridges are of particular concern because they are subject to corrosion. According to the website of Nondestructive Testing (NDT), which advocates not damaging structures during testing, the average lifespan of a bridge is about 70 years. Bridges are inspected visually every two years. However, NDT notes, “it is not uncommon for a fisherman, canoeist, and other passerby to alert officials to major damage that may have occurred between inspections.”

In the federal government’s rating system, any bridge that scores less than 80 – on a scale of 1 to 100 – is in need of rehabilitation. A bridge scoring below 50 should undergo reconstruction under federal guidelines. In 2004, 26.7 percent of US bridges, urban and rural, were rated deficient, down from 27.5 percent in 2002, according to the US Department of Transportation (DOT).

Minnesota’s record is far better, with only 12.2 percent of its bridges falling into the deficient or obsolete categories.

Bridges down, foes weapons up

Last Updated: Monday, 6 August 2007, 09:35 GMT 10:35 UK E-mail this to a friend Printable version 190,000 weapons ‘missing in Iraq’ AK-47 assault rifles might have ended up in insurgents’ hands The US military cannot account for 190,000 AK-47 assault rifles and pistols given to the Iraqi security forces, an official US report says.The Government Accountability Office (GAO) says the Pentagon cannot track about 30% of the weapons distributed in Iraq over the past three years. The Pentagon did not dispute the figures, but said it was reviewing arms deliveries procedures. About $19.2bn has been spent by the US since 2003 on Iraqi security forces. GAO, the investigative arm of the US Congress, said at least $2.8bn of this money was used to buy and deliver weapons and other equipment. Correspondents say it is now feared many of the weapons are being used against US forces on the ground in Iraq. Discrepancies The GAO said weapons distribution was haphazard and rushed and failed to follow established procedures, particularly from 2004 to 2005. MISSING IN IRAQ AK-47 rifles: 110,000 Pistols: 80,000 Body armour pieces: 135,000 Helmets: 115,000 During this period, security training was led by Gen David Petraeus, who now commands all US forces in Iraq. The GAO reached the estimate – 111,000 missing AK-47s and 80,000 missing pistols – by comparing the property records of the Multi-National Security Transition Command for Iraq against records maintained by Gen Petraeus of the arms and equipment he ordered. Deputy Assistant Defence Secretary Mark Kimmitt told AFP the Pentagon was “reviewing policies and procedures to ensure US-funded equipment reaches the intended Iraqi security forces under the Iraq program”. Weapons delay The report comes as a political battle rages in Washington over the progress of the war in Iraq. Gen Petraeus and US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker are scheduled to report to Congress by mid-September on the success of efforts to halt sectarian violence and return Iraq to viable self-governance. Meanwhile, at the end of July, the US Defence Department admitted that the US-led coalition in Iraq had failed to deliver nearly two-thirds of the equipment it promised to Iraq’s army. The Pentagon said only 14.5m of the nearly 40m items of equipment ordered by the Iraqi army had been provided. The US military commander in charge of training in Iraq has asked for help in speeding up the transfer of equipment. Iraq’s ambassador to the US said the delays were hindering the fighting capacity of its armed forces.

Small Finland can do

Nokia Corp.’s second-quarter net income more than doubled to 2.83 billion euros, beating analysts’ expectations, as the world’s largest mobile-phone maker took a 38% share of the global phone market. Handset shipments jumped 29% to 100.8 million. Shares rose sharply in European trading.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, please see: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118354409527857284.html?mod=djemalert

wetbacks bucks

Hispanic Ad Spending Still Climbing
Ad spending in Spanish-language media is growing twice as fast as the general market, a report says. But what about Hispanic Americans who visit English-language sites?
Full Article

IBM tells employees to behave in Second Life

Big Blue guidelines say don’t discriminate, harass or use inappropriate avatars

By Jon Brodkin, Network World, 07/27/07

 

chicken brains

Wary diners ask: Is fish from China?

After the FDA voices safety concerns about certain Chinese exports, some Americans are beginning to look more closely at restaurant selections.

By Ron Scherer | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the July 25, 2007 edition

Finding the found

Spotting Bias In The News From The Bush Administration. A Really Really Serious Skill…

Seldom do you come across a story with such blatant bias that even a mainstream news reporter can spot it. Such is the case with a story in the Globe today headlined “Study says 95% of Guantanamo detainees had posed a threat”. The story was nicely written by William Glaberson of the New York Times News Service.

Is there an strategy other than making money for Haliburton?

Iran’s growing presence in Iraq

The US, Iran, and Iraq agreed Tuesday to form a subcommittee on stability in Iraq.

By Sam Dagher | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

International Development Design Summit

Making a Difference in the Developing World
MIT News (07/13/07) Manning, Heather