Brazil sees doubts about WTO farm deal in June
A key condition was that the United States came up with a "more courageous move" on cutting farm subsidies.

Pentagon lists homosexuality as a mental disorder

Aaugh!
Aaugh! The last time a nation’s civilian and military leadership was this incapable of learning from experience was under the Ching dynasty.

Enigmatic object baffles supernova team
The object's behaviour doesn't match any known quasar. The team is not convinced the object is outside our galaxy, but nothing like it is known inside the galaxy.

Waste Oil Dumps Threaten Towns in Northern Iraq As much as 40 percent of the petroleum processed at Iraq's damaged and outdated refineries pours forth as black oil, the heavy, viscous substance that used to be extensively exported to more efficient foreign operations for further refining. But the insurgency has stalled government-controlled exports by taking control of roadways and repeatedly hitting pipelines in the area, Iraqi and American officials have said.

So the backed-up black oil — known to the rest of the world as the lower grades of fuel oil — was sent along a short pipeline from Baiji and dumped in a mountainous area called Makhul.

Japan seizes control of whaling group after historic vote
In a stunning diplomatic coup, Japan and its allies, including Norway and Iceland, won a voting majority in the IWC for the first time, as a result of a remorseless 10-year Japanese campaign to secure the votes of small African and Caribbean countries in exchange for multimillion-dollar foreign aid packages.

Quick Overview

• Late payments and new foreclosures on U.S. homes declined in the first quarter of 2006 compared with the last quarter of 2005, reflecting an improving economy and job creation, the Mortgage Bankers Association said on Monday.
  
  

• Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Jack Guynn urged U.S. elected officials to face up to long-term fiscal problems and said the world will have to get used to higher oil prices.
  
  

• The International Monetary Fund said on Monday that Brazil's economy was less vulnerable amid lower external and domestic debt and foreign reserves that are at more comfortable levels.
  
  

• Russia's GDP increased 5.5% in the first quarter of 2006, more than expected.
  
  

• Bloomberg news reported that sentiment among homebuilders dropped from 46 to 42 in June, the most dire outlook in eleven years.
  

• International apprehensions increased again after North Korea announced that they are going to test-launch a long-range ballistic missile
  

• The Chairman of China’s Cereals and Oils Association says China’s growing
  industrial use of Corn will force the country to import 10 mmt. of Corn by 2010.
  
  

The No-Knock State
The poorest man may in his cottage bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail – its roof may shake – the wind may blow through it – the storm may enter – the rain may enter – but the King of England cannot enter – all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement!
~ William Pitt

Lost in translation
My recent comment piece explaining how Iran's president was badly misquoted when he allegedly called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" has caused a welcome little storm. The phrase has been seized on by western and Israeli hawks to re-double suspicions of the Iranian government's intentions, so it is important to get the truth of what he really said.

Quick Overview

• The U.S. current account deficit totaled $208.7 billion in the first quarter of 2006, smaller than expected.
  

• The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index increased from 79.1 to 82.4 in early June, stronger than expected.
  
  
  

• YoY industrial production in Argentina rose 7.3 percent in May.
  
  
  

• China's central bank is raising the reserve requirements by one-half of a percent slow the economy.
  

5-4 Decision Narrows Exclusionary Rule in Police Searches
As a result of Thursday’s opinion, it’s likely that police across the nation will stop knocking and announcing before entering, says David A. Moran, who represented Hudson on appeal.
"I suspect the knock-and-announce rule will become a joke," says Moran, a law professor at Detroit’s Wayne State University. "No longer can Americans expect that they will have the chance to answer the door in a dignified manner."

Judge Rules That U.S. Has Broad Powers to Detain Noncitizens Indefinitely
"This decision is a green light to racial profiling and prolonged detention of noncitizens at the whim of the president," said Rachel Meeropol, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represented the detainees. "The decision is profoundly disturbing because it legitimizes the fact that the Bush administration rounded up and imprisoned our clients because of their religion and race."

Reducing Night Flights May Ease Winter Global Warming, Report Says
We get one-half of the climate effect from one-quarter of the year, from less than one-quarter of the air traffic," said meteorologist Nicola Stuber, who led the English research team. "If you get rid of the night flights, you can reduce the climate warming effect of the contrails."

Quick Overview

• The U.S. Labor Department said that jobless claims were down 8,000 last week to 295,000, less than expected.
  

• Industrial production unexpectedly fell 0.1% in May, reflecting weakness in manufacturing.
  

• The U.S. Treasury said that net foreign purchase of U.S. securities totaled $58.5 billion in April while U.S. residents bought $11.9 billion of foreign securities.
  

• Investors pulled a net $6.39 billion from stock funds in the week ended June 14, TrimTabs Investment Research estimated on Thursday.
  

• The Bank of Japan voted to keep the interest rate near zero for now.
  

• YoY consumer prices in the Euro zone were up 2.5% in May.
  
  

• The Green Coffee Association said that U.S. coffee stocks were up 60,391 bags in May to end the month at 5.26 million bags, down 10% YoY.
  
  

• The DoE said underground supplies of natural gas were up 77 billion cubic feet to 2.397 trillion cubic feet.
  

The Price of Madness
How did an America of H.L. Mencken, Mark Twain, Thomas Edison, James J. Hill, Henry David Thoreau, and Anne Hutchinson, manage to become a nation of Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Halliburton, and Condoleezza Rice? How did the spiritual voice of a Ralph Waldo Emerson get replaced by Pat Robertson? What epidemic of pests has eaten away at the timbers of the White House since the days of Thomas Jefferson, producing an infestation of such anti-social insects as the Clintons and the Bushes? How was Tom Paine toppled as the all-time best-selling author by the likes of such scrawlers as Al Franken and Ann Coulter?

Bell Labs To Be Demolished
The vaunted Bell Labs, whose scientists invented the laser and developed fiber optic and satellite communications, touch-tone dialing and cellphones, modems and microwaves, was housed in the glass building...

At one time, Lucent employed 5,600 people in Holmdel. The company plans to move the approximately 1,000 who remain to offices in Murray Hill and Whippany by the summer of 2007.

House Accepts $3,300 Raise
Despite record low approval ratings, House lawmakers Tuesday embraced a $3,300 pay raise that will increase their salaries to $168,500.

Global Image of the U.S. Is Worsening
Although strong majorities in several countries expressed worries about Iran's nuclear intentions, in 13 of 15 countries polled, most people said the war in Iraq posed more of a danger to world peace. Russians held that view by a 2-to-1 margin.

Quick Overview

• The U.S. Labor Department said the CPI was up 0.4% in May and up 4.2% YoY. Excluding food and energy costs, the price index was up 0.3% in May and up 2.4% YoY.
  

• The Federal Reserves Beige Book showed continuing economic activity in all twelve districts in the past month, but four districts said that activity was slowing - Atlanta, Kansas City, Richmond, and San Francisco.
  

• The unemployment rate in the U.K. increased to 5.3%, up from 5.2%.
  

• Canada's manufacturing shipments were down 1.5% in April.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
  Supplies of crude oil were down 900,000 barrels to 345.7 million barrels.
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were up 2.8 million barrels
  Supplies of heating oil supplies were up 1.8 million barrels.
  

• The U.S. Commerce Department raised the tariff on Canadian lumber from 10.8% to 14.7%.
  

• Brazil's government will likely remove a 10% import tax on wheat in August in response to concerns the country's No. 1 supplier, Argentina, will restrict wheat exports.

• China's industrial consumption of corn will total 27.5 million tons in 2006-07, an increase of 25% YoY, said Xubo Yu, vice president of China's COFCO.

• Engine and heavy-equipment manufacturer Caterpillar Inc.’s board of directors voted to raise the company’s quarterly cash dividend 5 cents to 30 cents per share, a 20% increase, the company said .
  

Quick Overview

• The U.S. Department of Labor said the producer price index was up 0.2% in May and up 4.5% YoY. Excluding food and energy costs, prices were up 0.3% in May and up 1.5% YoY.
  

• U.S. Retail sales were up 0.1% in May, as expected, and up 0.5%, excluding autos.
  

• YoY consumer prices in the U.K. were up 2.2% in May.
  

• Retail sales in New Zealand were down 0.1% in April.
  

• Gold had its biggest plunge in 15 years, and copper tumbled to a seven- week low as investors bailed out of commodities and equities on concern about rising global interest rates.