Today's main stories

Greece’s Notes Slide on Collateral Demands; ECB Purchases Italian Bonds

Bloomberg

Greek two-year notes slumped after some of the nation’s euro-region partners said they would seek collateral in exchange for new loans, fueling concern attempts to resolve the currency union’s debt crisis will be derailed.

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Stocks End Week on a Sour Note

Wall Street Journal

Another week, another bruising for U.S. stock investors.

For the fourth consecutive week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended in the red after another volatile ride.

In the final two days alone, the Dow dropped 5.2%. On Friday, the index declined 172.93 points, or 1.6%, to 10817.65. It is now down 11% for the month of August and 6.6% for the year.

Friday was a day of relatively few bad-news headlines for U.S. stock investors. But they sold anyway.

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Dollar hits postwar low of 75.94 against yen

Japan Today

NEW YORK —

The dollar hit a new post-World War II low against the Japanese yen Friday as investors flocked toward safety.

The dollar fell as low as 75.94 yen in trading Friday in New York, rebounding to 76.48 later but still down from its rate of 76.54 yen late Thursday. The dollar fell to 0.7879 Swiss franc from 0.7924 franc.

  

Because the dollar is still a comparative safe haven, it was only slightly weaker against other major currencies.

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British troops' supply chain could fail, MPs warn

BBC, 18 August 2011 

Front-line troops in Afghanistan could be hit by shortages of vital equipment within 30 days if the system responsible for sending supplies to them breaks down, MPs have warned.

The supply chain for British troops is at "critical risk of failure", the Commons public accounts committee said.

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Corn Climbs in Chicago on Falling Stockpiles; Wheat, Soybeans Also Advance

Bloomberg

August 20, 2011

Corn climbed for the first time in three sessions as falling stockpiles revived speculation that supplies aren’t enough to meet demand. Wheat and soybeans rose.

Global corn stockpiles may fall 6.8 percent in the 2011-12 marketing year to 114.5 million metric tons, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a report on Aug. 11. The USDA lowered its global production forecast 1.4 percent to 860.5 million tons and its U.S. output estimate 4.1 percent to 328 million tons.

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Hackers breach BART union site

UPI

Aug. 19, 2011 at 12:41 AM

Hackers cracked into the BART Police Officers' Association Web site and released the names of 102 BART officers online, authorities say. The hack, carried out Wednesday, was in response to the temporary disabling of underground cellular and WiFi service at downtown San Francisco BART stations, the San Francisco Chronicle reported

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Half of children in Fukushima test positive for radiation

the Telegraph

8:00AM BST 19 Aug 2011

Radioactive elements were detected in the thyroid glands of 45 per cent of more than 1,000 children aged up to 15 who were tested around two weeks after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. 

The results of the tests, conducted by the government's nuclear accident taskforce, were not considered alarming in terms of the health impact on the children, according to officials.

"The government's official position is that none of the children showed radiation levels that would be problematic," said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

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Wall Street firms donated $11.2 million to members of debt ‘super committee’

the Raw Story

Thursday, August 18th, 2011 -- 8:39 pm

The bipartisan "super committee" created by the debt ceiling deal is comprised of lawmakers who have received big bucks from special interest groups, according to a report by MapLight.

The committee is tasked with finding at least $1.2 trillion in deficit cuts over ten years.

In total, the twelve members appointed to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction got nearly $64.5 million from special interests groups over the past decade, with legal firms donating about $31.5 million and Wall Street firms donating about $11.2 million.

Of that $11.2 million, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase donated approximately $2 million combined.

For article GO HERE