Sunday, 15 June 2014

Headlines

## Global Ponzi meltdown/House of Cards ##

Plagued by delays and opposition at home, the World Cup in Brazil might be a turning point for sporting mega-events, forcing soccer's governing body and the International Olympic Committee to accept less ambitious bids to reduce the risk of public backlash.

## Airline Death Spiral ##
The government has decided to save PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines as the cost of its bankruptcy is huge.
Malaysia will unwrap plans to restructure loss-making Malaysian Airlines within six to 12 months, a state investor said, as a slump in business since the disappearance of Flight MH370 leaves the carrier set to exhaust its cash reserves by mid-2015.
As many as 13 planes flying over Europe vanish from radar screens in an "unprecedented" series of blackouts that lasted 25 minutes with claims air traffic control could have been hacked.

## Fault lines/flashpoints/powder kegs/military/war drums ##
If the US works with Iran to defend Iraq against the ISIS, then of course Iran will be the winner — for the second time. Note that the article does the reader a disservice by stating that "The history of the decades-long hostility between the two countries is well documented, starting with the occupation of the US embassy in Tehran following Iran’s Islamic revolution in 1979." It certainly doesn't start there. Try going back to 1953. -- RF

## Global unrest/mob rule/angry people/torches and pitchforks ##

## Energy/resources ##
So while the 2014 World Cup is going to be bigger than ever -- it’s shaping up to be the most watched, most lucrative and expensive tournament in soccer history -- it’s also going to be one of the biggest energy-consuming, greenhouse gas-spewing World Cups in history.
No backup plan is present should a Europe-wide power blackout occur, experts warned at a conference on "Sudden Blackout" in Vienna Thursday.

## Got food? ##

## Environment/health ##
Djibouti is suffering from a fourth straight year of drought, which has driven a huge exodus of people from rural areas to the capital and caused a surge in disease and malnutrition, the top U.N. official there said on Thursday.

## Intelligence/propaganda/security/internet/cyberwar ##

## Systemic breakdown/collapse/unsustainability ##
You ain't seen nothin' yet. -- RF

## Japan ##

## China ##
Xi told a meeting of Communist Party officials that China, already the world's largest energy-consuming nation, needed to "restrain irrational energy consumption" and impose controls on overall energy use, Xinhua said.
China's demand for oil and natural gas will be unrivaled within the next two decades, analysis from Wood Mackenzie finds.

## UK ##
More than 24,000 people die as a result of the cold each winter - three quarters of whom are over the age of 75


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