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Assuming that the climate in the coming century will be three degrees warmer, the new model predictions indicate that the ocean will rise between 0,9 and 1,3 meters. To rise so much so quickly means that the ice sheets will melt much faster than previously believed. But it has already been observed that the ice sheets react quicker to increases in temperature than experts thought just a few years ago. And studies from the ice age show that ice sheets can melt quickly. When the ice age ended 11.700 years ago, the ice sheets melted so quickly that sea level rose 11 millimeters per year – equivalent to a meter in 100 years. In the current situation with global warming, Aslak Grinsted believes, that the sea level will rise with the same speed – that is to say a meter in the span of the next 100 years.

Shipping journal Lloyd's List said brokers in Singapore are now waiving fees for containers travelling from South China, charging only for the minimal "bunker" costs. Container fees from North Asia have dropped $200, taking them below operating cost.

However, the latest phase of the shipping crisis is different. It has spread to core trade of finished industrial goods, the lifeblood of the world economy.

"This is no regular cycle slowdown, but a complete collapse in foreign demand," said Lindsay Coburn, ING's trade consultant.

Idle ships are now stretched in rows outside Singapore's harbour, creating an eerie silhouette like a vast naval fleet at anchor. Shipping experts note the number of vessels moving around seem unusually high in the water, indicating low cargoes.

It became difficult for the shippers to obtain routine letters of credit at the height of financial crisis over the autumn, causing goods to pile up at ports even though there was a willing buyer at the other end. Analysts say this problem has been resolved, but the shipping industry has since been swamped by the global trade contraction.

Mr de Trenck predicts Asian trade to the US will fall 7pc this year. To Europe he estimates a drop of 9pc – possibly 12pc. Trade flows grow 8pc in an average year.

He said it was "illogical" for shippers to offer zero rates, but they do whatever they can to survive in a highly cyclical market.

The company plans to reduce the value of its equity investment in Russia’s Lukoil by $7.3 billion, Houston-based ConocoPhillips said today in a statement. Other asset writedowns totaling $1.3 billion will be recorded.

The biggest writedown, a $25.4 billion impairment charge in the oil and gas business, amounts to 87 percent of all the goodwill the company had on its balance sheet as of Sept. 30, according to Bloomberg data. The company plans to report its actual fourth-quarter results Jan. 28.

The Sirius Star, which was released Jan. 10, is currently off the coast of the United Arab Emirates near the Strait of Hormuz, according to the ship-tracking data. The Saudi Gazette reported Jan. 11 that the vessel was bound for Dammam.

The vessel and its cargo of about 2 million barrels of crude oil was hijacked 420 nautical miles (780 kilometers) off the coast of Somalia on Nov. 15. It was released after its owner paid a $3 million ransom, the Associated Press reported. All crew members were freed unharmed.

Abu Dhabi’s fund was managing an estimated $328 billion at the end of 2008 compared with $453 billion a year earlier, said the report, which examined the four largest Gulf Arab sovereign funds. “The size of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority has been overstated, sometimes by as much as 100 percent.”

The Council on Foreign Relations, founded in 1921, is an independent organization that promotes understanding of foreign policy and America’s role in the world.

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency had $501 billion under management at the end of last year, up from $385 billion in 2007, the report said. The Kuwait Investment Authority and the Qatar Investment Authority at the end of last year managed $228 billion and $58 billion, respectively.

Nakheel PJSC, a state-owned company that’s considering an initial public offering, will resume work on the building in 12 months, according to an e-mailed statement today. The tower, comprising office space and homes, will have a height of 1 kilometer (3,280 feet).

Nakheel changed its plan “to better reflect the current market trends and match supply with demand,” according to the statement. “The foundation works are likely to take approximately three years to complete.”

“The project was at an early stage, so it’s not difficult to put on hold,” said Sana Kapadia, an analyst at EFG-Hermes Holding SAE in Dubai. “Even 12 months may be too short a delay.”

“Al Reem Island has seen quite a harsh reality check, because that was a real speculative market,” Mr Easton said. “You had actually 95 per cent speculators who had no intention of doing further payments. Residential properties in some cases [are now put into the market] at minus 15 per cent premium.”

According to Susan Cronin, the general manager of Aljar Properties, a broker based in Abu Dhabi, only prices involving bulk deals have decreased. “A floor of offices that was offered in Al Shams Abu Dhabi at Dh2,500 per sq ft three weeks ago is now being offered at Dh2,100,” she said.

Investors who bought properties on Reem Island at up to Dh2,700 per sq ft during Cityscape in May are expected to be the hardest hit if they intend to resell now. “Someone who is looking to exit today will have no choice than resell at around Dh1,800 per sq ft,” Mr Easton said. “The best thing people should do if they can is to hold.”

The violence followed a peaceful protest calling for early elections
Many Latvians frustrated by rising unemployment and tax hikes blame the centre-right governing coalition of Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis for their country's economic woes.

Their goal is to stop some coalition reforms. People arrived with special buses and currently there are nearly 7000 of them.

The crowd demanded Saeima's chairperson Arūnas Valinskas to report them, but only Artūras Zuokas, the head of Liberal Union came out. People threw egg at him.
Valiskas' representatives said he can't come to the meeting for he is having a lunch with the President of Norwegian Parliament Thorbjørn Jaglandiga.
Police has strenghtened duties to avoid possible riot.
Couple of days ago a peaceful protest in Latvian capital Riga grew into riot.
Some protestors tried to break into the Parliament building, but police stopped them. People went behind Saeima and started to throw snowballs, rocks, bottles, eggs and smoke bombs at the building. They scream "Lithuania" and "Down with Saeima".

Government regulators say the five funds now total $69 billion.

The country's pioneering system lets workers choose funds in Chile and abroad to deposit retirement funds withheld from their salaries.

The most risky fund lost nearly 40 percent while the most popular one dropped by 19 percent.

Regulatory agency chief Solange Berstein said Monday that "the world crisis has an important impact on the pension funds."

The private pension system was established in 1981 and has been emulated by several countries.

Danach besitzen diese Institute "toxische Wertpapiere" im Volumen von knapp unter 300 Mrd. Euro, von denen erst rund ein Viertel abgeschrieben worden sei. Der Rest stehe noch immer in den Büchern, schreibt der "Spiegel" weiter. Sowohl die Bafin als auch das Ministerium waren am Samstag zunächst nicht zu erreichen.

At a time when the financial crisis has brought private-equity deals to a near standstill, Goldman has expressed interest in taking a stake in HeidelbergCement, possibly in partnership with U.S. buyout firm TPG, these people said. PAI Partners, the French buyout house, is considering a separate investment, they said.

In a presentation that drew several collective intakes of breath, Mr Kelly predicted that house prices would fall by 80 per cent from peak to trough in real terms.

The global financial crisis may have been positive for the Irish economy as it “stopped us dragging ourselves even deeper into our hole,” he said. “If it had taken another year or two, we would have ended up in an Icelandic-shaped hole, which is not to say that we won’t end up in one.”

Mr Kelly said the Government should abolish stamp duty on property, compile proper price and quantity statistics and restore competitiveness through a public sector pay cut of 10 per cent.

Pension funds lost 11.6 percent on average in October-December as the plunge in global share prices and stronger yen hurt their overall performance, an official at Watson Wyatt's Japanese subsidiary said.

Watson Wyatt surveys about 120 pension funds in Japan on a quarterly basis.

The average return in the six months ended September was minus 5.6 percent.

Die Nortel-Networks-Aktie verlor in New York vorbörslich mehr als 70 Prozent und wurde dort später vom Handel ausgesetzt. An der Börse in Toronto knickte das Papier um mehr als 60 Prozent ein. Das größte nordamerikanische Unternehmen dieser Branche litt zuletzt unter einem Auftragseinbruch der Telefongesellschaften.

Nortel kämpft bereits seit Jahren mit massiven Problemen. Die weltweite wirtschaftliche Entwicklung habe die Lage nun weiter verschärft, hieß es. Noch habe Nortel flüssige Mittel von 2,4 Mrd. $. Der Gläubigerschutz solle dem Konzern den Weiterbetrieb und die Sanierung ermöglichen.

City council this week requested that the province authorize the borrowing of more than $450-million by the city, which would provide Vancouver with a stronger position as it negotiates with the lender, Fortress Investment Group.

Standard & Poor's on Tuesday issued a bulletin about the city's finances, saying the impact on the city's debt could be significant if it borrows money to fund the remaining construction of the village.

"We believe that there's going to be an event in the next three months that will have a negative impact on the city's credit profile," Stephen Ogilvie, an analyst with the agency, told CBC News.

Of these housing units, 730 are to be sold to the public after the Games, 120 will be used as rentals, while 250 will be set aside for social and affordable housing.

"As a partner, they have kept us informed every step of the way," said Chapin. "Most of Nortel's commitments to the Games have been delivered and will be in place by May."

The marketing strategy by Onni Group of Companies is aimed at selling off hundreds of condos in its inventory.

About 375 unsold condominiums in cities such as Richmond and New Westminster will be offered at 20 to 40 per cent off, a real estate insider told CBC News.

Home prices in the Vancouver real estate market dropped almost 11 per cent between December 2007 and the end of 2008, according to a special price index updated earlier this month by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

And the number of homes sold in 2008 fell more than 35 per cent from 2007 sales of more than 38,000 homes.

China and the U.S. are Taiwan’s two biggest markets. Exports are equivalent to about 70 percent of the island’s gross domestic product.

Meanwhile, up to 80 per cent is tied up in loans to foreign nationals and companies, bond issues and other investments.

Ausschlaggebend für den starken Rückgang ist vor allem die Reszession in der Eurozone. Ungarn exportiert rund 57 % seiner Waren dorthin. Mit Beginn der Rezession im dritten Quartal ist dort die Nachfrage deutlich zurückgegangen.

For all of 2008, U.S. petroleum deliveries -- a measure of demand -- fell 6 percent to 19.4 million barrels a day, with declines for all major products made from crude, according to a report released Thursday by the American Petroleum Institute, the industry's trade association.

Jet fuel deliveries fell 6.1 percent, distillate fuel oil, including diesel, was down 5.8 percent and gasoline deliveries slid 3.3 percent -- the lowest level in five years, API said.

"Negative absorption" are two words no developer ever wants to hear.

Inbound traffic was 19% below last December. This slowdown in exports (inbound traffic to the U.S.) is hitting Asian countries hard.

But even more shocking and important for the U.S. economy is that export traffic has collapsed. For the LA area ports, outbound traffic continued to decline in December, and was 30% below the level of December 2007. Export traffic is now at about the same level as in late 2005. So much for the export boom!

Now it is the export bust.

The unemployment rate rose to 7.2 percent; the highest level since January 1993.

Year over year employment is now strongly negative (there were 2.6 million fewer Americans employed in Dec 2008 than in Dec 2007). This is another extremely weak employment report ...

Not only has the unemployment rate risen sharply to 7.2%, but the number of workers only able to find part time jobs (or have had their hours cut for economic reasons) is now over 8 million.

Of course the U.S. population is significantly larger today (about 305 million) than in the early '80s (about 228 million) when the number of part time workers almost reached 7 million, but the rapid increase in part time workers is pretty stunning.

Bloomberg: GE Capital May Cut as Many as 11,000 Jobs This Year

WSJ: Pfizer to Cut Up to 2,400 Jobs

WSJ: Google Plans 100 Layoffs of Recruiters

AP: AMD to cut 1,100 workers, 9 pct of staff

Reuters: Hertz to cut more than 4,000 jobs

Bloomberg: WellPoint Cuts 1,500 Jobs, Blames ‘State of Economy’

AP: Blue Cross Blue Shield to cut up to 1,000 jobs

Tampa Bay Business Journal: Report: Layoffs looming at Clear Channel

I'm sure I missed a few ...

Assets for 109 state funds declined 37 percent to $1.46 trillion over the 14 months ended Dec. 16, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

Chiang said he had no choice but to stop making some $3.7 billion in payments in the absence of action by the governor and lawmakers to close the state's nearly $42-billion budget deficit. More than half of those payments are tax refunds.

"It pains me to pull this trigger," Chiang said at a news conference in his office. "But it is an action that is critically necessary."

The payments to be frozen include nearly $2 billion in tax refunds; $300 million in cash grants for needy families and the elderly, blind and disabled; and $13 million in grants for college students.

The Congressional Budget Office forecasts that US output will be 7 per cent below potential over the next two years, on unchanged policies. If so, the actual deficit should now be much larger than the structural one. It is easy to see, therefore, why the critics argue that the Obama plan for an additional fiscal stimulus of 5 per cent of GDP over two years is too small, even though the CBO forecasts a baseline deficit of 8.3 per cent of GDP this year. It is also easy to understand why many object strongly to tax cuts, since the more likely cuts are to be saved the larger the package must be – and, in addition, taxes will clearly have to rise in the longer term.

So to get where we need to get (if you buy the logic of this sort of exercise) is an additional 6.3% PER ANNUM deficit as a % of GDP. Remember, Obama's plan is roughly 2.5% per year. 6.3/2.5= 2.5 times.

Read that again, If you believe the math, Obama's program would need to be 2.5 times bigger to live up to its billing. And that is before you get into details like "tax cuts are likely to be less effective than other measures".

Until recently, Mr. Chávez had pushed foreign oil companies here into a corner by nationalizing their oil fields, raiding their offices with tax authorities and imposing a series of royalties increases.

But faced with the plunge in prices and a decline in domestic production, senior officials have begun soliciting bids from some of the largest Western oil companies in recent weeks — including Chevron, Royal Dutch/Shell and Total of France — promising them access to some of the world’s largest petroleum reserves, according to energy executives and industry consultants here.

Their willingness to even consider investing in Venezuela reflects the scarcity of projects open to foreign companies in other top oil nations, particularly in the Middle East.

But the shift also shows how the global financial crisis is hampering Mr. Chávez’s ideological agenda and demanding his pragmatic side. At stake are no less than Venezuela’s economic stability and the sustainability of his rule. With oil prices so low, the longstanding problems plaguing Petróleos de Venezuela, the national oil company that helps keep the country afloat, have become much harder to ignore.