Inhalt:

"It is important to note that the concentration of atmospheric CO2 is rising too rapidly for natural ... processes to maintain the pH of the ocean," the experts stated. "As a consequence, the average pH of the ocean will continue to decrease as the surface ocean absorbs more atmospheric CO2."

His testing used lab seawater with present-day CO2 ocean concentrations, as well as lab seawater that used higher CO2 levels that scientists say could occur by 2100.

In the higher CO2 environment, the larval shells at day 9 of their growth were 16 percent smaller than those reared in the present-day seawater conditions.

A week later, the difference was 41 percent and the smaller oysters never caught up.

"One and a half months after being transferred back to normal seawater, juveniles that had come from the high carbon dioxide environment were still 28 percent smaller than oysters reared for the entire experiment in control conditions," Gaylord said.

The floating garbage - hard to spot from the surface and spun together by a vortex of currents - was documented by two groups of scientists who trawled the sea between scenic Bermuda and Portugal's mid-Atlantic Azores islands.

The studies describe a soup of micro-particles similar to the so-called Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a phenomenon discovered a decade ago between Hawaii and California that researchers say is likely to exist in other places around the globe.

"We found the great Atlantic garbage patch," said Anna Cummins, who collected plastic samples on a sailing voyage in February.

But with shipping volumes up about 50 percent in the past 20 years, and now accounting for about 90 percent of global trade, that is a lot of CO2 emissions: 3 percent of the global total, comparable to the level of a major national economy, according to the International Chamber of Shipping.

Perhaps even more worrying, though, is the other nasty stuff contained in bunker fuel, like nitrogen, sulfur and particulate matter — tiny particles that can penetrate deep into the lung when inhaled. Academic studies have estimated that 15 percent of global nitrogen oxides and between 5 and 8 percent of global sulfur oxide emissions are attributable to oceangoing ships. Health experts have long linked such pollution to respiratory illnesses, cardiopulmonary disorders and lung cancers, particularly among people who live near heavy ship traffic.

Some have speculated that animal waste or pesticides are the cause: both emit ozone, a primary ingredient in smog. But a recent study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology suggests that the primary culprit is actually cattle feed.

Researchers found that animal feed is the largest emitter of ozone in the valley, at 25 tons per day, followed by motor vehicles at 14 tons.

The book finds that by 2005, between 112,000 and 125,000 liquidators had died.
[...]
Drawing upon extensive data, the authors estimate the number of deaths worldwide due to Chernobyl fallout from 1986 through 2004 was 985,000, a number that has since increased.

By contrast, WHO and the IAEA estimated 9,000 deaths and some 200,000 people sickened in 2005.

But no matter how many destroyers, frigates and accompanying helicopters are deployed, an estimated 1,500 pirates in hundreds of smaller craft are sailing circles around them.

Instead of decreasing, as expected, pirate attacks appear to be enjoying an unprecedented bonanza.

Today, as many as 200 commercial ships are being attacked each year, with up to 50 being hijacked along with all their crews.

Most shipping owners quickly pay up the demanded ransoms, which have earned pirates an estimated $150 million a year, according to international shipping authorities.

The admiral is right about the sheer vastness of the area now threatened. By using larger mother ships, the pirate carry their fast attack boats well beyond East African shores.

Recently there have been sea-hijackings close to India and as far south as Mozambique.

This month, a South Korean super-tanker, with $200 million worth of crude oil, was seized by pirates over 600 nautical miles off the coast of Africa.

The pirates themselves face relatively low risk if caught. As few countries want to try them and house them in their jails, they are generally released at sea. Little wonder there's no shortage of those willing to sign on.

Frustrated by the inability to destroy piracy, the U.S. is now calling on allies to go after the profits from the crime.

It believes there are seven large syndicates operating in Somalia, Kenya, Dubai and Lebanon, which organize these pirates. These syndicates have been buying up prime real estate in regional cities from Nairobi to Addis Ababa.

They have made repeated attempts to inflate their debt away in recent
years but have found it much more difficult than anybody would have
anticipated. The inescapable conclusion is that when you need inflation the
most, it is the hardest to engineer whereas, when you don’t want it, you can
have it in spades.

Die Deutsche Bank ist an dem 2,6-Milliarden-Dollar-Fonds, der unter anderem in Wolkenkratzer in Philadelphia und Büros im Silicon Valley investiert hatte, mit knapp zehn Prozent beteiligt. Das restliche Geld sammelte Rreef, die US-Anlagegesellschaft der Deutschen Bank, bei US-Pensionsfonds ein. Diese beklagen vereinzelt einen Verlust von bis zu 82 Prozent.

Von 1,8 Milliarden Dollar (1,3 Milliarden Euro) seien beim Whitehall Street International nur noch 30 Millionen Dollar übrig, berichtete die "Financial Times Deutschland" ("FTD"). Goldman Sachs als größter Anteilseigner habe 436 Millionen Dollar in den Fonds investiert. Ein Sprecher der Bank wollte den Bericht nicht kommentieren.

Der Grund sind die steigenden Risikoaufschläge auf spanische und portugiesische Staatspapiere, die auch die Kosten für Pfandbriefe und Anleihen der Banken in die Höhe treiben - so sehr, dass die Institute Neuemissionen von Schuldtiteln gar nicht erst wagen.

Selbst der Handel mit bereits umlaufenden Bankanleihen aus Spanien und Portugal stockt. "Der Handel ist zur Zeit extrem schwierig. Die Lage erinnert stark an die Situation, als der Markt von der US-Hypothekenkrise getroffen wurde", sagte Michael Arnold, Händler der BHF-Bank.

This was an entirely logical response to the twisted events that are unfolding. The rescue obliges countries in trouble to go deeper into trouble. Portugal must come up with €774m as its share of the EU's initial €30bn package. Ireland must find €491m, Spain €3.7bn.

SPIEGEL: You are exaggerating. In past years, it's happened again and again that a country couldn't pay its debts, and yet that hasn't led to a collapse of the global financial system. Why should this be different in Greece's case?

Schäuble: Because Greece is a member of the European monetary union. Greece's debts are all denominated in euros, but it isn't clear who holds how much of those debts. For that reason, the consequences of a national bankruptcy would be incalculable. Greece is just as systemically important as a major bank.

Schäuble: Not at all. We're talking about a loan, which will earn a decent rate of interest. If all goes well, the German state will even turn a profit.

SPIEGEL: You don't even believe that yourself. If Greece is unable to repay its debts in full, it will come at the taxpayers' expense.

Schäuble: The risk is manageable. The package will consist of loans issued by the (German state bank) KfW, which the federal government guarantees. We don't need a supplementary budget for that. However, we will introduce a law that will have to be ratified by (the German parliament) the Bundestag.

Die gesetzliche Grundlage für die Hilfen soll als Änderungsantrag an ein ganzes Bündel anderer Gesetze gehängt werden, die eigentlich in dieser Woche im Bundestag verabschiedet werden sollten. Zu diesen Gesetzen, die nun auf unbestimmte Zeit warten müssen, zählen die Härtefallregelungen für Hartz-IV-Empfänger und das Zukunftsinvestitionsgesetz, das den Ländern Investitionen aus dem Konjunkturpaket II erleichtern sollte.
[...]
Nun sollen alle Gesetzesvorhaben warten, bis Griechenland einen Antrag auf Hilfe stellt. Dies könnte möglicherweise noch Wochen dauern. Danach müsste auch zum Griechenland-Gesetz erneut eine Anhörung stattfinden und am Ende auch der Bundesrat zustimmen. Andererseits zeigen die Vorbereitungen der Bundesregierung auch, dass Hilfen für Griechen immer näher rücken.

The German government sold €2.458 billion of the 4.75% July 2040-dated bund at an average yield of 3.83%. Its €3 billion offer, however, attracted only €2.752 billion in bids.

The German debt agency played down the failure to get a full allotment, the first for any German government bond for more than a year. "Underbidding happens once in a while—we don't have a problem with it," Joerg Mueller, a spokesman at the agency, said. Mr. Mueller dismissed some speculation in the markets that higher inflation expectations may have generated disappointment in the yield on offer.

The ministry said in a statement that the problem is becoming more serious each year, which puts at risk the food security of the country.

"The desertification in Bolivia affects 41 percent of the national territory, 439,432 square km, where 77 percent of the national inhabitants live, some 6.4 million people," the ministry said.

The inflation rate, calculated using a harmonized European Union method, fell to 1 percent from 1.2 percent in March, the Federal Statistics Office in Wiesbaden said today. Economists had expected it to rise to 1.3 percent, the median of 23 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed.

Oil prices have risen 67 percent in the past year as the global economy pulled out of a recession. Still, growth in Europe remains muted as companies cut costs to bolster profits and higher unemployment makes consumers reluctant to spend. The earlier timing of Easter this year also made holiday-related services cheaper in comparison with April last year.

“The Easter bunny effect, when Germans went on holiday, was in March and now we’re seeing the absence of that,” said Carsten Brzeski, senior economist at ING Group in Brussels. “The broader picture is that this year is about deflationary, not inflationary, trends.”

Consumer prices fell 0.1 percent from March, today’s report showed.

The survey, conducted by a private U.S. contractor last December, covered Kandahar City and other districts in the province into which Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal is planning to introduce more troops in the biggest operation of the entire war. Those districts include Arghandab, Zhari, rural Kandahar and Panjwayi.

Afghan interviewers conducted the survey only in areas which were not under Taliban control.

"Corruption" is a term that is often understood to include not only demands for payments for services and passage through checkpoints but violence by police against innocent civilians.

    * 68%: Average amount of disposable income households in Vancouver spend on the cost of a home
    * 44%: Average in Toronto
    * 35%: Average in Calgary
    * 36%: Average in Montreal
    * 30%: Average in Ottawa
    * 21%: Percentage of Canadians who say they can’t manage their debt load
    * 147%: Debt-to-income ratio in Canada, a record high
    * 157%: Debt-to-income ratio in the United States
    * 70%: Percentage of debt held in mortgages in Canada

The industry group said a total of 43,621 homes changed hands on a seasonally adjusted basis in March, boosted by strong activity in the Toronto and Ottawa markets, which more than offset a decline in activity in Vancouver that was possibly due to the Winter Olympics.

The increase in listings has created less of a buying frenzy than last year when demand was high and supply was short -- which pushed prices higher and fed debate about whether there was a housing bubble in the making.

"After a blistering supply-starved recovery, Canada's housing market is gradually returning to balance," said Robert Kavcic, an economist at BMO Capital Markets.

Nearly 100,000 homes were listed during March, up 20 percent from a year ago, CREA said, bringing the total new listings to a first-quarter record of 233,402.

Several days ago I gave you the timetable for the next year. Two mortgage rate increases in as many weeks confirmed it. The listings avalanche cements it. Next week mortgage regulations tighten, knocking out a mess of first-timer newbies. In June the prime and variable rate loans jump. In July the new taxes hit. And by Christmas we`ll be feeling our vultch juices flowing.

The big question cannot be answered yet, however: Will this be a quick 15% or 20% market correction over 12 or 18 months? Or are Canadians starting into a Yankee-style slow real estate grind which can churn lower for the next five years, taking those areas where prices soared the most down as much as 70%?

Industrial production declined an unexpected 17.4 percent last month from March 2009, when Chile was suffering its deepest recession in a decade. Industrial sales fell 8.9 percent over the same period, the National Statistics Institute said today..

The decline in output was more than double the 7.3 percent median drop expected by economists in a Bloomberg survey. The February quake, the fifth-largest in a century, and a following tsunami killed more than 400 people and caused almost $30 billion of damage, President Sebastian Pinera said.

Apparent oil demand rose to 8.12 million barrels per day over the year ago March according to an analysis of official data by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

It was the seventh month in a row of double-digit increase in demand for China. But it was short of the all-time high in February of 8.5 million barrels per day.

Platts said the increase was helped by new refining capacity at state-owned companies like Sinopec, PetroChina and China National Offshore Oil Corp.

Also driving demand was the resurgence of the Chinese economy, which posted gross domestic product growth of 11.9 percent in the first quarter. Industrial production and gasoline demand were also up during that time.

About 1,300 people are being held in cramped conditions in towns across Puning county, in Guangdong Province, as officials try to put pressure on couples who have illegal children to come forward for sterilisation.

Das Kapital müsse stets mindestens 11,5 Prozent der risikogewichteten Aktiva ausmachen - und das angesichts geschätzter 15.000 Mrd. Yuan an neuen Darlehen, die die Banken in den nächsten fünf Jahren ausreichen würden, so Yang in dem am Dienstag veröffentlichten Beitrag. "Wir müssen einen neuen Weg für nachhaltiges Wachstum finden, dabei aber den Kapitalbedarf begrenzen."

Rows of half-completed apartment buildings rise over former farmland, each crowned with yellow construction cranes that seem to outnumber trees in parts of this dusty city of 5 million residents.

Taxi drivers boast of owning multiple flats for investment. Billboards hawk developments with names such as Villa Glorious and Rich Country. Frenzied crowds pack sales events with bags of cash, buying units that exist only on blueprints. Average home values in Hefei soared 50% last year.

China's real estate rush, once confined to a handful of leading cities, has spilled into the hinterlands with a ferocity reminiscent of American expansion into exurbs like the Inland Empire.

Property trading volume went down 64 percent last week from a week earlier in Shenzhen, down 45 percent in Beijing, down 38 percent in Shanghai, and down 2 percent in Guangzhou.

The plan, from China’s National Development and Reform Commission, will likely cover nine industries including information technology and new energy, the report said.

The phenomenon sent dam levels across Colombia to historic lows, are forcing officials to evaluate deficiencies in the natural gas sector.

As thermo power generators have increased demand for the clean burning fuel because of low hydrology, the country has faced widespread difficulty in coordinating supply.
[...]
Storage facilities are inadequate in Colombia and the internal and exports markets for both natural gas and thermo-fired power remain insufficient to increase investment.

“We are waiting for better conditions” on the market before selling the euro-denominated bonds, Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Fuksa said in an interview in Prague today.

Investor concern that a European Union-led bailout package won’t stop Greece’s debt crisis from spreading sent the euro toward its weakest level against the dollar in a year as emerging-market stocks plunged for a second day. Czech bonds fell the most in 11 weeks, lifting the yield on 3.8 percent koruna notes due 2015 by 15 basis points to 2.726 percent, from a five-year low of 2.556 two days ago.

The recent startup of the massive Perdido offshore drilling hub -- a joint-venture of Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSB), Chevron Corp. (CVX), and BP Plc (BP) -- even has some Mexicans fearful that oil from the Mexican side could seep over and get sucked up in what has been dubbed locally as "the drinking straw effect.

"Perdido is a floating complex 200 miles from the Texas coast that can be fed with oil and gas from nearby deposits. The first ones -- Great White, Silvertip, and Tobago -- are expected to reach average daily output of 100,000 or more barrels of oil equivalent.

As Pemex doesn't have the technology to drill anywhere near the depth of the deep-water experts, and under Mexican law can't share risk with them, government officials found themselves on the defensive as Perdido went on stream.

Perhaps the government underestimates the seriousness of the issue so it might be helpful to explain it in terms that they would understand. The PPP government seems to have accomplished a great deal politically in the first two years in office. However, if it hopes to have even the remotest chance of winning re-election in 2013, it must resolve the energy crisis.

While talking to various delegations, Neelam Jabbar Ch. said that the world was moving about new fuel technologies and Pakistan could not afford to lag behind and be continued on traditional energy sources.

She said that ethanol and bio-diesel could help in achieving import substitution and also enable to escape the hazards of oil price validity.

The policy has declared the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) would face a slash of 300MW to cope with the energy crisis currently prevailing across the country.

However, it is on the condition that they are given uninterrupted power supply for 4 hours before they close shops. According to the agreement, wedding halls will close at 10pm.

Russia will cut the natural-gas prices it charges Ukraine by 30 percent in a deal that obliges Ukraine to import more gas from its neighbor to the east. As part of the accord, Russia will keep its Black Sea Fleet base 25 years longer than the existing lease allows.
[...]
The $40 billion is to be considered “investment aid” in Ukraine’s economy, Yanukovych said. The lease on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet base on the Crimean peninsula was extended until 2042, with the possibility of a five-year extension.

“This is a geopolitical success,” said Fyodor Lukyanov, editor of Russia in Global Affairs magazine. “The naval base itself isn’t worth that much, but it’s a sign that Russia will remain the major power in the post-Soviet space.”

This deal illustrates how Russia deploys hard political and economic power in a way that the EU can never match. Economically speaking, Ukraine is on its knees right now. The prospect of cheaper gas was too enticing to refuse. The Kremlin spotted its chance and went for it.

The accord surely puts paid to any prospect that Nato might one day embrace Ukraine as a member. How on earth could Nato contain a country that hosts a foreign naval base - a base, moreover, that was used by Russia as recently as August 2008 to support its military incursion into Georgia?

"The demand in emerging economies will take time to peak but definitely it will peak maybe this decade or early next decade," he said.

Global oil exports from Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer alongside Russia, will start to wane in the coming years as domestic demand surges and spare capacity drops, warned Khalid al-Falih, chief executive officer of Saudi Aramco in a speech published on the company's website.

Domestic energy demand is expected to increase by almost 250%, from about 3.4 million barrels per day (b/d) in 2009 to about 8.3 million b/d by 2028, which will eventually affect the country's ability to export oil, he said.

According to the official data, between 2008 and 2009 coal and other solid fuel consumption fell by 14.2%, while consumption of oil and gas fell by 3.5% and 7.2%, respectively. Primary energy consumption fell for the fifth consecutive year, and at its fastest rate since 1980.
Coal production last year – including an estimate for slurry – was 1.0% down on 2008 at 17.9 million tonnes. Deep mined production was down 7.1% while opencast production was up 3.6%. Imports of coal in 2009 as a whole were 12.9% down on 2008 at 38.2 million tonnes.

Uruguay is a “model of macroeconomic stability,” World Bank Vice President Pamela Cox said.

In the agency’s “State of the Markets Report 2009,” only three of the 11 recessions in the past 60 years have resulted in a drop in electric demand, and officials said in the report “falling power demand is rare.”

Things are even worse for those under the age of 20. According to a new report based on U.S. Census Bureau data, only 26 percent of American teens between the ages of 16 and 19 had jobs in late 2009 which represents a record low since statistics began to be kept back in 1948.

*The Pew Research Center study also found that only 61% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 are covered by some form of a health plan.

*According to a National Foundation for Credit Counseling survey, only 58% of those in "Generation Y" pay their monthly bills on time.

*Not only that, but according to a November MetLife poll, nearly 70% of those in "Generation Y" are not building up a cash cushion, and 43% are accumulating too much credit card debt.

*According to Fidelity Investments, those in Generation Y have more than three credit cards on average, and 20 percent of them carry a balance of at least $10,000.

Hundreds of job-seekers did just that in Queens in the hopes of landing a coveted union job.
[...]
After three days of sleeping on the street, he left with one of just 750 job applications handed out for a position as an elevator technician apprentice -- a secure job with pension and benefits and an earning potential up to $40 an hour.
[...]
More than 1,000 eager applicants began lining up as early as Friday morning armed with a variety of skills -- and warm blankets.
[...]
The union plans to hire about 75 people -- and possibly more depending on the economy.

Farther south, water shortages are predicted for northern Arizona communities, including Flagstaff, by 2050. The Central Arizona Project, which provides water to Phoenix and Tucson, may run short of water as early as 2012.

And farther downstream, Mexico is looking at a disaster along its stretch of the river due to inadequate flows, prompting one Mexican official to declare, “We are clearly on a collision course with a catastrophe,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

In fact, a little over 20 basis points is now typical in overnight trade. That might be a small rise, in nominal terms, from the 10 bps or so seen earlier in the crisis – but it’s certainly a shift away from the zero interest rate policy.

AIG, which was rescued from collapse by the U.S. government, sold so-called Side A directors and officers’ coverage to New York-based Goldman Sachs, according to a person with knowledge of the policy.
[...]
“If it were a derivative suit against Goldman, defense costs would be covered, and I’d prefer not to be a primary on the policy,” said John Degnan, vice chairman and chief operating officer of AIG competitor Chubb Corp., while answering a question about Goldman Sachs on an April 22 earnings call.

These days it is far cheaper to get a date with a blue-blooded stallion. The top of the market for stallions like Dynaformer is $150,000, according to BloodHorse.com. Smarty Jones, who nearly swept the Triple Crown in 2004, once stood for $100,000, but today he can be had for $10,000.

The energy crisis outlined in a Joint Operating Environment report from the US Joint Forces Command, comes as the price of petrol in Britain reaches record levels and the cost of crude is predicted to soon top $100 a barrel.

"By 2012, surplus oil production capacity could entirely disappear, and as early as 2015, the shortfall in output could reach nearly 10 million barrels per day," says the report, which has a foreword by a senior commander, General James N Mattis.

It adds: "While it is difficult to predict precisely what economic, political, and strategic effects such a shortfall might produce, it surely would reduce the prospects for growth in both the developing and developed worlds. Such an economic slowdown would exacerbate other unresolved tensions, push fragile and failing states further down the path toward collapse, and perhaps have serious economic impact on both China and India."

Fritchey says Chicago has had 113 homicide victims this year. He says the police department has done a commendable job, but its resources are stretched thin.

That figure includes the Pentagon budget request of $708 billion, plus an estimated $200 billion in supplemental funding, called "overseas contingency funding" in euphemistic White House-speak), to fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, some $40 billion or more in "black box" intelligence agency funding, $94 billion in non-DOD military spending, $100 billion in veterans benefits and health care spending, and $400 billion in interest on debt raised to pay for prior wars and the standing military.

The 2011 military budget, by the way, is the largest in history, not just in actual dollars, but in inflation adjusted dollars, exceeding even the spending in World War II, when the nation was on an all-out military footing.

Military spending in all its myriad forms works out to represent 53.3% of total US federal spending.

In one case, a soldier found himself fighting against deployment to Iraq after re-enlistment papers with his signature on it appeared -- even though he never signed any such papers, reports Chris Ingalls at KING channel 5 news in Seattle.

And in another case, a sergeant who had signed up for a one-year tour of duty was shocked to discover his enlistment papers stated he had signed up for two years.

By the end of June 2010, analysts predict, the WPF will have no food to distribute to Yemen's millions of hungry.

There are fears that this will debilitate the nearly one in three Yemenis - over seven million people - who struggle daily to find enough food to live a healthy and productive life, leading to rates of malnutrition that are the third highest in the world.