Shares plunged on Wall Street and the dollar fell sharply tonight after an increase in jobless claims and weak signals from industry prompted fears that the US is heading for a double-dip recession.
The Dow Jones index fell 200 points at one stage in morning trading in New York after the US labour department reported that 500,000 new claims for unemployment benefit were filed in the week ending 14 August – an increase of 12,000 on the previous week and the highest figure for nine months.
The already gloomy mood was compounded when the Philadelphia Fed, one of the Federal Reserve's 12 regional reserve banks, published its monthly health check on manufacturing in America's mid-Atlantic region. The survey, seen by Wall Street as a barometer of US industrial conditions, showed activity had contracted unexpectedly for the first time since July 2009.
President Barack Obama called on Congress to pass a bill providing support for small businesses, but Wall Street believes the threat to the world's biggest economy will also require action by the Federal Reserve to expand the money supply through its quantitative easing programme. James Bullard, president of the St Louis Fed, said tonight that the central bank would need to step up its purchases of bonds should the threat of deflation intensify.
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GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip—A France-based satellite provider is halting broadcasts of the Hamas TV channel to Europe and parts of the Arab world because of concerns that it spreads incitement, a station official said Tuesday.
The decision will deprive Gaza-based al-Aqsa TV of most of its viewers, said the channel's head, Hazem Sharawy.
The Hamas station -- best known for its children's programs glorifying violence against Israel -- is the centerpiece of a growing media operation of Gaza's Islamic militant Hamas rulers. Losing the satellite provider will hamper the group's attempts to spread its message and raise funds abroad.
The decision to cut off the Hamas station came six years after a similar move by France and the U.S. against al-Manar, the channel of Lebanese guerrilla group Hezbollah.
The group, National Priorities Project, conveyed the size of US war spending by highlighting other things that could have been bought with the money. For example, for the price of America's two wars, the US could give grants to all of America's 19 million college students for the next nine years. One trillion would also pay the annual salaries of 21 million policemen, the group says.
According to the report, the operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, which began in October 2001 and March 2003 respectively, are the most expensive military operations the US forces have ever conducted abroad since the end of the Second World War.
Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law on Thursday far-reaching new sanctions on Iran that aim to squeeze the Islamic Republic's fuel imports and deepen its international isolation.
Obama said the new sanctions were the toughest ever passed by the U.S. Congress and would make it harder for Iran to buy refined petroleum as well as goods and services to modernize its oil and natural gas sector, the mainstay of its economy.
While the door to diplomacy remained open, he said, Iran would come under even greater international pressure if it continued to defy international calls to halt its uranium enrichment program.
The United States and its European allies suspect Iran is trying to build an atomic bomb, despite Tehran's insistence that its nuclear program is for the peaceful generation of electricity.
(click here to read the full article)Maze Cartoon of the Afghanistan hand-off between Petraeus and McCrystal.
Cartoon maze sports analogy of an NFL football handoff between Petraeus and McCrystal as generals for the war in Afghanistan. Created by Yonatan Frimer
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WASHINGTON - US PRESIDENT Barack Obama yesterday removed his top US commander in Afghanistan following a public flap over the general's controversial remarks to a magazine.
The unceremonious exit of General Stanley McChrystal injected greater uncertainty into the troubled war effort, taking place just as the United States was about to launch a major offensive in and around the key southern Afghan city of Kandahar, the stronghold of the Taleban.
Gen McChrystal, who derided the Obama administration and its handling of the war in Afghanistan in a lengthy profile in the Rolling Stone magazine, was summoned to the White House yesterday to explain his remarks.
After a 30-minute face-to-face meeting, Mr Obama said he accepted the resignation of the petulant general and relieved him of his command of US forces in Afghanistan. 'It was a difficult decision, it saddens me to lose a soldier who I've come to respect and admire,' said Mr Obama, noting that the decision was not prompted by the 'personal insult'.
'But war is bigger than any one man or woman. Difficult as this is, it is the right decision for our national security.'
Maze cartoon of a motorcycle lableled, "middle east" speeding down a road in the direction of war, and away from the direction of peace. Created by Yonatan Frimer
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Turkey’s provocative flotilla—often described in Orwellian terms as a humanitarian mission—has set in motion a flurry of diplomatic activity, but if the Iranians send escort vessels for the next round of Turkish ships, it could present a casus belli.
It is also instructive that Syria is playing a dangerous game with both missile deployment and rearming Hezbollah. According to most public accounts, Hezbollah is sitting on 40,000 long-, medium- and short-range missiles and Syrian territory has served as a conduit for military material from Iran since the end of the 2006 Lebanon War.
Should Syria move its own scuds to (Click here to read the full article)
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Gulf residents outraged by BP CEO's yacht outingVENICE, La. (AP) - Just when it seemed Gulf residents couldn't get any more outraged about the massive oil spill fouling their coastline, word came Saturday that BP's CEO was taking time off to attend a glitzy yacht race in England.
Tony Hayward's latest public relations gaffe didn't sit well with people in the U.S. who have seen their livelihoods ruined by the massive two-month oil spill.
"Man, that ain't right. None of us can even go out fishing, and he's at the yacht races," said Bobby Pitre, 33, who runs a tattoo shop in Larose, La. "I wish we could get a day off from the oil, too."
As social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook lit up with anger, BP spokespeople rushed to defend Hayward, who has drawn withering criticism as the public face of his company's halting efforts to stop the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
Robert Wine, a BP spokesman at the company's Houston headquarters, said it's the first break Hayward has had since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and setting off the undersea gusher.
"He's spending a few hours with his family at a weekend," Wine said Saturday. "I'm sure that everyone would understand that."
Not Mike Strohmeyer, who owns the Lighthouse Lodge in Venice, on Louisiana's southern tip, who said Hayward was "just numb."
"I don't think he has any feelings," he said. "If I was in his position.....
Pictures of Tony Hayward yachting at the Isle of Wight billed as a PR nightmare and insulting to those affected by oil slick
Images of the beleaguered BP chief executive, Tony Hayward, attending a yacht race on the Isle of Wight, just 48 hours after a hostile interrogation by a US congressional committee on the Gulf Coast oil spill, have provoked sharp criticism on both sides of the Atlantic.
President Barack Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, condemned Hayward's attendance at the event as "part of a long line of PR gaffes and mistakes" on ABC television, adding: "I think that we can all conclude that Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting".
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NEW MILFORD -- On Monday, farmer Dean Schultz finished planting corn seeds that will eventually grow and be landscaped into a haunted corn maze.
Since it opened in 2000, the Larson's Farm Market corn maze has become a local tradition.
The corn maze may also be an integral part of saving Schultz's livelihood. He is hoping he can use agritourism, or bringing visitors to the farm, to sustain the business originally started by his grandfather.
Schultz sells sweet corn to a local farmers market and is getting ready to open his own produce stand in a couple of weeks, but his main focus is expanding the agritourism part of the business.
He plans to have two mazes next year and perhaps start a garden where people can pick their own produce.
Schultz tried to start a community supported agriculture program, commonly referred to as a CSA, at the beginning of the season to bring in income. In a CSA, community members buy shares of the crops before the season starts. In return, they are given part of the yield every week during the growing season.
Initial interest was strong, Schultz said. More than 300 people inquired about joining.
"But when it came time to sign on the dotted line, we didn't get enough of a response," Schultz said. Only 40 people made a commitment, so Schultz has had to scrap the CSA idea for now.
"I don't see how anyone could survive on crop sales alone," said Stephen Paproski, who owns the 100-acre Castle Hill Farm in Newtown. "A third of our income comes from agritourism."
Agritourism has been growing for the last 10 years and has become more popular in the past five years, said Jane Eckert, the president of St. Louis-based Eckert Agrimarketing.
Agritourism can include all types of activities, from pick-your-own crops to hunting, Eckert said.
"When people step into our personal properties, they're willing to pay for the experience," Eckert said. "There is a growing category of people who have their weddings or large group picnics on farms. Farms have large spaces that can accommodate large numbers of people."
Castle Hill Farm has a maze, a hay ride, a pumpkin patch and bonfires in the fall. Paproski is a third-generation farmer, but the first who has had to turn to agritourism to survive.
Schultz is also a third-generation farmer. His grandfather owned Larson's Farm, where New Milford High School was built. Schultz now leases land because it is too expensive to buy. He used to farm the cornfields on Junction Road in Brookfield, until that property was sold to the Steiner family for development.
He is hesitant to invest too much money in his current farm, out of fear it will be sold as well.
"This is my last shot, but if this piece goes I'm done for sure," Schultz said.
Contact Vinti Singh at vsingh@newstimes.com or 203-731-3331.
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Israel could see what was coming. Before the convoy set sail, Israeli leaders pleaded with Turkish officials to stop it; they offered to allow the supplies to be delivered through an Israeli checkpoint. But Erdoğan’s government let it go anyway. Thus, Israel had no choice but to intervene directly. And those on the boat made sure it turned violent.
Now, Turkey is milking the event for all it’s worth. It accused Israel of state-sponsored terrorism. It compared the psychological impact of the incident on Turks to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on Americans. Turkish President Abdullah Gül called the Israeli raid a crime against humanity and said Israeli-Turkish relations will never be the same. Erdoğan labeled it a massacre. Turkish armed forces announced several cutbacks in cooperation with Israeli forces. The government also offered to supply Turkish naval protection for the next “aid” convoy to Gaza; “This would be, in effect, an act of war,” wrote Mark Steyn, “—more to the point, an act of war by a nato member against the State of Israel.”
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The United Nations Security Council approved a new round of sanctions against Iran last week for its refusal to curb the country's nuclear program, which the U.S. and its allies suspect is aimed at producing weapons. Iran denies that.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran favors a dialogue with the West, but will announce its conditions soon. He said the carrot-and-stick approach doesn't work and Iran will not make "one iota of concessions" to the West.
"You showed bad temper, reneged on your promise and again resorted to devilish manners," he said of the powers that imposed sanctions. "We set conditions (for talks) so that, God willing, you'll be punished a bit and sit at the negotiating table like a polite child," he told a crowd during a visit to the central Iranian town of Shahr-e-Kord. His speech was broadcast live on state TV.
Click here to read the full AP article| Maze Of Monkeys jumping off a building in 3-D maze goodness Maze Kong - by Yonatan Frimer | Mushroom Maze Maze-a-delic by Yonatan Frimer |
Smugglers in Egypt and Gaza worry their trade will be adversely affected by returning Palestinians lugging goods bought for cheaper prices in Egypt. They know a total termination of the blockade will spell the end of their industry.
This feeling is a common (and, yes, somewhat scary) experience that a group of neuroscientists think they can better explain. In an experiment with rats, researchers at MIT identified two distinct neural circuits in the brain that show distinct changes when the rats were learning to navigate a maze and, later, after they mastered the task.
The rats were placed in a maze that had chocolate sprinkles at the end. The activity in specific parts of their brains was analyzed as they learned the maze, which included a T-juncture where they had to stop and choose to turn right or left. The rats performed the maze repeatedly until they had learned it.
The study showed that one specific neural circuit became stronger with practice. A second neural circuit showed high activity occurring at times when the rats had to make a decision in the maze. But as they learned the maze, activity in this circuit declined. The task had become habitual.
So, arriving at school in one piece wasn't just a matter of luck. "It is good to know that we can train our brains to develop good habits and avoid bad ones," the lead author of the study, Ann Graybiel, said in a news release.
Understanding how specific regions of the brain change through learning could help in developing new treatments for brain-based diseases. The study was published Thursday in the journal Neuron.
-- Shari Roan
Photo credit: Advanced Cell Technology Inc.
Shit My Dad Says will star William Shatner as the father with a penchant for saying some really funny and weird stuff, like "We didn't accidentally kill a hooker, we had dinner!"
Halpern started the Twitter account to showcase the things his father would say to him, and the experiences they shared while living together in the same house.
