The Basel III financial sector reforms have been controversial and this is the understatement of the year. The critics have been assaulting the plan from both directions – those who assert that the reforms will send the financial system crashing and those who assert that nothing substantial has even been attempted. The head of [...]
Out of curiosity, someone mentioned to me that they thought the sales of drugs to cope with stress were on the rise because of the economic recession and the toll that it is taking on people. So we did a little research.[This content is for MEMBERS ONLY. Please Subscribe to continue.]
This story really isn’t worth the headline, but there was an unexpected fire that broke out at the Fukushima Daini nuclear power plant – which is about 6 miles from the hard hit Fukushima Daiichi plant. The fire was quickly extinguished, and there is no expected risk of radioactive problems with the surrounding community. But, [...]
We wrote a story yesterday about the build up of Chinese missile batteries aimed at Taiwan. Just 12 hours after that story, a group of Senators pushed for Congress to approve a new round of advanced F-16 fighter jets to be sold to the country. [This content is for MEMBERS ONLY. Please Subscribe to [...]
It was not a surprise to those of us that have tracked such things, but getting a confession out of top Chinese military figures is a change of strategy – and one that is worth paying attention to. First the headline: a number of news agencies are reporting a comment made by Geng Yansheng, China’s [...]
The prevailing wisdom on earthquakes is that when the “big one” occurs, it relieves much of the systemic pressure on the fault, decreasing the risk of large earthquakes in the near future. However, scientists from the USGS and other international research organizations say that is not necessarily the case. Earthquakes and faults interact in ways [...]
There is an old saying that goes “don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” In the case of Venezuela and the U.S. it isn’t always clear which is the hand and which is being fed, but they both seem to enjoy biting the other. The U.S. has approved sanctions of PDVSA, the country’s state-run oil [...]
The African Swine Fever is an animal-only disease that affects pig populations – but is extremely virulent and deadly for the species. There have been outbreaks of the virus over the past twenty years, each time it created significant cost for the countries affected. [This content is for MEMBERS ONLY. Please Subscribe to continue.]
Brazilian farmers took a calculated risk and will probably lose in the process. Brazil (and the world for that matter) has benefitted in recent years by the countries ability to get two full planting seasons of corn to produce. However, the normal planting cycle deadline was somewhat ignored this year as farmers tried to extend [...]
Russia and France have made a deal for Russia to buy four French warships, which is a likely indicator of Russia’s desire to be a global power, rather than the regional power it has become. The deal has been in the making for two years, but has been derailed by various details along the way. [...]
