(London Telegraph)
In a report entitled “Worst-case debt scenario”, the bank’s asset team said state rescue packages over the last year have merely transferred private liabilities onto sagging sovereign shoulders, creating a fresh set of problems.
Overall debt is still far too high in almost all rich economies as a share of GDP (350pc in the US), [...]

(Zero Hedge)
Deadly flu continues to spread across Ukraine, criminal World Health Organization lies to the public, MSM maintains radio silence.

There are many aspects to this story. It is impossible to know where to begin — let alone cover all the pertinent facts in just one article. Those who have followed my Zerohedge columns in the [...]

(AP)

The European Union has battled long and hard for this moment: the imminent choice of its first president.
To get there, the EU strong-armed Irish voters, brushed aside hostile French and Dutch ballots, and pressured the Czech president into agreeing to a single leader to give Europe a strong voice on the world stage.
Yet after all [...]

(Telegraph)
Tensions between the countries reached a new high after the Colombian military arrested four Venezuelan soldiers, just days after Mr Chavez told his army to “prepare for war” with Colombia.
The Venezuelan ambassador to Bogota, Gustavo Marquez, said that the seriousness of the situation could not be overstated and that “there is a pre-war situation in [...]

(Press TV)
Despite reports of the UK’s plan for peace talks with the Taliban, Premier Gordon Brown defends Britain’s military involvement in the Afghan war, saying his country must play a full role in ‘changing the world’.
“I believe that Britain can and must play its full part in changing the world,” the British prime minister said [...]

(Telegraph)
The unofficial jails, which have been found in the basements of hotels, hospitals and even government ministries, are guarded by privately-hired thugs and “retrievers” who are paid to abduct complainants before they reach senior officials in Beijing.
The New York-based rights group’s 53-page report , “An Alleyway in Hell”, is based on interviews with former black [...]

(Global Post)
In Japan, being thin isn’t just the price you pay for fashion or social acceptance. It’s the law.
So before the fat police could throw her in pudgy purgatory, Miki Yabe, 39, a manager at a major transportation corporation, went on a crash diet last month. In the week before her company’s annual health check-up, [...]

(Daily Express)
A cocktail of three flu viruses are reported to have mutated into a single pneumonic plague, which it is believed may be far more dangerous than swine flu. The death toll has reached 189 and more than 1 million people have been infected, most of them in the nine regions of Western Ukraine.
President of [...]

(Telegraph)
The leaked World Food Summit draft declaration falls short of a UN goal of eradicating hunger by 2025. Instead, leaders are expected to to sign a watered down declaration in Rome next week that calls for vague increases in aid for farmers in poor countries but sets no targets or deadlines for action.
Leaders are expected [...]

From Cathy Buckle
11-14-09
Dear Family and Friends,
If you think things are back to normal in Zimbabwe, just walk into a bank. Its something I haven’t done for many months and flipping through my last cheque book reminded me of the mayhem of our banks less than a year ago.
My cheque stubbs look like something from [...]