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.

Quick Overview

• (Bloomberg) -- China's retail sales rose 14.2 percent in May as higher incomes spurred consumer spending in the world's fastest-growing major economy.

• Foreclosures rising with debt, job losses
  Michigan and Ohio, battered by automotive-related job losses, together recorded 45,000 mortgages entering some stage of foreclosure in the first quarter. Those are increases of 91 percent and 39 percent, respectively
  
  

• U.S. deficit is a global risk, G-8 warns
  
  

• YoY Japan's GDP increased by 3.1% in the first quarter of 2006.

• Ethanol production averaged 301,000 barrels per day in the U.S. in March, that is nearly 60,000 barrels above March, 2005. Stocks increased 1.3 million gallons.

Rare counting ability induced by temporarily switching off brain region
A minority of people with autism have one or more extraordinary intellectual talents, such as the rapid ability to calculate the day of the week for a given date, or to count large numbers of discrete objects almost instantaneously - they're often called 'autistic savants' or 'idiot savants'. Now Allan Snyder and colleagues have shown that by placing a pulsing magnet over a specific area of the brain, these kind of abilities can, to some extent, be induced in people who aren’t autistic.

A Dose Of Genius
There are lots of the first-generation drugs around. Total sales have increased by more than 300 percent in only four years, topping $3.6 billion last year, according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical information company. They include Adderall, which was originally aimed at people with attention-deficit disorder, and Provigil, which was aimed at narcoleptics, who fall asleep uncontrollably. In the healthy, this class of drugs variously aids concentration, alertness, focus, short-term memory and wakefulness -- useful qualities in students working on complex term papers and pulling all-nighters before exams. Adderall sales are up 3,135.6 percent over the same period. Provigil is up 359.7 percent.

House backs easier phone-TV rules
Meanwhile, the House defeated an amendment offered by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., designed to ensure so-called Net neutrality -or the right of any company to deliver services over the Web free of discrimination. The measure lost on a 262-159 vot
. Without the Markey amendment, telecom and cable companies "are now able to create toll lanes on the information superhighway, essentially permitting new, discriminatory fees - a new broadband bottleneck tax - on Web-based businesses to reach consumers," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Cali

Quick Overview

• The trade shortfall is rising again after two months of declines, pushed by oil prices and a flood of imports from China. U.S. exports were down $0.2 billion to $115.7 billion in April, while imports were up $1.4 billion to $179.1 billion.
  

• Canada's unemployment rate improved from 6.4% to 6.1% in May, the lowest in 31 years.
  Canada's exports were down 2.3% to C$37.1 billion in April, while imports were up 1.2% to C$33.1 billion.
  

• Machinery orders in Japan were up 10.8% in April, stronger than expected. Late yesterday,
  

• The USDA's 2006-2007 U.S. ending stocks estimate for:
  Corn was reduced from 1.141 to 1.091 billion bushels.
  Soybeans were increased from 650 to 655 million bushels.
  Wheat was reduced from 447 to 416 million bushels.
  Cotton remained at 4.90 million bales.
  Sugar was reduced from 870,000 to 822,000 tons.
  

• The USDA's 2006-2007 world ending stocks estimate for:
  Corn was 92 million tons, down from 130 million tons the previous year.
  Soybeans were 58 million tons, up from 55.5 million tons the previous year.
  Wheat was 128 million tons, down from 144 million tons the previous year.
  Cotton was at 47 million bales, down from 53 million bales the previous year.
  
  

• The USDA estimates the Florida orange crop at 153 million boxes, the USDA increased the projected juice yield from 1.62 to 1.62 gallons per box at 42.0 degrees Brix.
  
  
  

• The USDA estimated that 2006-2007 world ending coffee stocks would increase 1.27 million bags, to 21.75 million bags. Resulting in ending stocks to use ratio of 18%.
  
  

Congressman concerned about superintelligence
Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) did not propose an amendment, but wanted further discussion and perhaps a report on a particular aspect of future supercomputing research. Sherman said that, based on the opinions of experts, there is reason to believe that in about 25 years a supercomputer will be built that “exceeds human intelligence.” Sherman said he hopes that some of the future researchers that the bills would cultivate will be steered toward the potentially emerging field of making sure that the super-intelligent computers “avoid self-awareness … and ambition,” he said.

To which Boehlert responded: “My grandson has a Gameboy that exceeds my intelligence.”

Quick Overview

• Investors pulled a net $1.87 billion from stock funds in the week ended June 7, TrimTabs Investment Research estimated on Thursday.
  

• U.S. Jobless claims were down 35,000 last week to 302,000, less than expected.
  

• U.S. Wholesale sales were up 1.3% in April, inventories increased 0.9%.
  

• South Korea's central bank raised its rate from 4.00% to 4.25%.
  

• The Japanese government's June report on the economy will say deflation remains but there have been improvements, sources said on Friday.
  
  

• The European Central Bank increased its interest rate by a quarter percent to 2.75%.
  

• Australia's unemployment rate improved to 4.9% in May, the lowest in thirty years.
  

• Labor productivity in Canada was up 0.5% in the first quarter of 2006 and up 2.1% YoY.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that underground supplies of natural gas were up 77 billion cubic feet to 2.320 trillion.

Quick Overview

• Australia's GDP rose 09% in the first quarter of 2006 and up 3.1% YoY.
  

• Japan's index of leading indicators was unchanged in April, at 50.0.
  
  

• The Energy Department said:
  Crude-oil stocks grew last week by 1.1 million barrels to 346.6 million barrels, or 4 percent above year ago levels.
  Gasoline inventories grew by 1 million barrels to 210.3 million barrels, or 2.5 percent below year ago levels.
  Heating oil supplies were up 100,000 barrels.
  
  

• Over the past four weeks gasoline demand is 0.7 percent higher than it was during the same period a year ago.
  
  

• Retail diesel fuel prices this summer are expected to average $2.79 per gallon, 38 cents higher than last year, the Energy Department said.

Bankrupt Logic About China's Debts
..the massive problems facing Chinese banks, whose nonperforming loans total an estimated $700 billion, drew some strong responses. Before getting into one in particular, let me explain the issue in a nutshell. China isn't acting quickly enough to clean up the bad debts that have made its biggest banks technically insolvent.

Fed's Poole: Slowing economy won't reduce inflation
"If inflation turns out to exceed our expectations, our target range, I do not believe we can count on a slowing economy to bring inflation down, by itself, quickly," Poole, said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal published on Tuesday.

Quick Overview

• Merrill economist David Rosenberg says “if the Fed hikes after the raft of soft data posted in recent weeks, then we can only draw the conclusion that in the name of rebuilding anti-inflation credibility, the central bank is willing to sacrifice the economy”
  
  
  

• YoY Brazil's industrial output fell 1.9% in April.
  
  

• Index of services in the Euro zone increased from 58.3 to 58.7 in May, the highest in five years.
  

Distracter in Chief
What uncharted realm lies beyond brazen cynicism? A wasteland of utter shamelessness, perhaps? A vast Sahara of desperation, where principle goes to die? Someday George W. Bush and the Republican right will be able to tell us all about this barren terra incognita, assuming they ever find their way home.

G-7's Push for Stronger Asian Currencies May Not Cut Trade Gap

Army Manual to Skip Geneva Detainee Rule
The Pentagon has decided to omit from new detainee policies a key tenet of the Geneva Convention that explicitly bans "humiliating and degrading treatment," according to knowledgeable military officials, a step that would mark a further, potentially permanent, shift away from strict adherence to international human rights standards.

Quick Overview

• Even though the U.S. economy is now slowing down, Bernanke on Monday called recent increases in inflation unwelcome and pledged to make sure surging energy prices don't make things worse.
  
  
• Japan's Ministry of Finance said that YoY corporate profits were up 4% in the first quarter.
  

• YoY Japan’s capital spending was up 13.9% in the first quarter.

Bush approval ratings hit new low in California
Poll reflects growing discontent with president, Congress
"We're in uncharted waters," said Mark DiCamillo, director of the Field Poll. "All previous presidents who have dipped this low either resigned from office shortly thereafter or were voted out of office. Here we have a president who will be with us for 2 1/2 more years.

Invoking Secrets Privilege Becomes a More Popular Legal Tactic by U.S.
Facing a wave of litigation challenging its eavesdropping at home and its handling of terror suspects abroad, the Bush administration is increasingly turning to a legal tactic that swiftly torpedoes most lawsuits: the state secrets privilege.

More, Lots More
JUST in case your Uncle Bob or Aunt Sophie has been asking you "Exactly what the hell is going on in Iraq?" and you're looking for hard facts to help them get off the fence, here you are.

Ethanol dazzles Wall Street, White House Ethanol production in the United States is growing so quickly that for the first time, farmers expect to sell as much corn this year to ethanol plants as they do overseas.

"It's the most stunning development in agricultural markets today — I can't think of anything else quite like this," says Keith Collins, the U.S. Agriculture Department's chief economist.

The amount of corn used for ethanol, estimated at 2.15 billion bushels this year, would amount to about 20 percent of the nation's entire crop, according to department projections.

Even as ethanol devours corn and pushes prices higher, the president and Congress are calling for even greater ethanol use. Wall Street cannot seem to get enough of ethanol-related investments. Automakers are speeding ethanol-capable vehicles onto the road.

Is It Raining Aliens?
Stranger still, dozens of his experiments suggest that the particles may lack DNA yet still reproduce plentifully, even in water superheated to nearly 600˚F. (The known upper limit for life in water is about 250˚F.)

Why Hank Paulson?
And now, we are in a new stage. We have not a productive economy, but a speculative economy. We have a Treasury secretary to go with it. Goldman's first-quarter earnings report shows that of the firm's total intake of $10.34 billion, $6.88 billion was made largely from proprietary trading and investments. In effect, the firm is a hedge fund crossed with an investment bank. As CEO, Paulson's share of the take was $38.3 million in salary, stock, and options last year alone. And his net worth is estimated at $500 million. But we do not grudge the man or the cream he has licked off the platter. As leader the speculative economy, who else would you want except the leading speculator?

Onus is on US, EU to save WTO talks: China
China has turned the tables on Washington by demanding that the United States and Europe do more to cut farm subsidies and tariffs to break a deadlock in global trade talks.

Quick Overview

• U.S. Inflation will likely stay contained but is at the top end of a price-stability zone and interest-rate policy should aim to move it down, Chicago Federal Reserve President Michael Moskow said on Friday.
  

• U.S. Employers added only 75,000 new jobs in May, the Labor Department said in a report that signaled slower economic growth and led financial markets to slash bets on further interest-rate increases. Average hourly earnings were up just 0.1%.
  
  

• U.S. Factory orders were down 1.8% in April.
  

Quick Overview

• First-quarter worker productivity jumped to 3.7% from 3.2% (annual rate) the Labor Department said Thursday
  

• The Labor Department revised Unit labor costs lower, from an annual rate of 2.5% to 1.6% in the first quarter. In the fourth quarter, unit labor costs were revised lower, from a 3.0% annual rate of gain, to a 0.6% decline.
  

• The Institute of Supply Management's index of U.S. manufacturing dropped from 57.3 to 54.4 in May, weaker than expected, but still a sign of expansion.
  

• Construction spending declined 0.1% in April, the first decline in almost a year, the Commerce Department said Thursday
  

• The number of Americans filing first-time unemployment claims rose by 7,000 last week to 336,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.
  

• The U.S. government should confront Tokyo about the unfairly low value for the yen that gives Japanese car makers an advantage of up to $3,000 per car sold in the United States, Chrysler Group Chief Executive Tom LaSorda said on Thursday.
  

• Bank of Japan board member Hidehiko Haru said on Thursday the central bank needs to keep supporting the economy with an easy monetary policy and is in no rush to end its zero interest rate policy.
  

• GDP in the Euro zone increased 1.9% in the first quarter YoY.
  

• U.K. Manufacturing index dropped from 54.0 to 53.2 in May.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) said that:
  Supplies of crude oil were up 1.6 million barrels at 345.5 million barrels.
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were up 800,000 barrels
  Supplies of heating oil were up 1.0 million barrels.
  Supplies of underground natural gas were up 80 billion cubic feet to 2.243 trillion cubic feet, up 27% from a year ago
  

• OPEC, pumping almost as much as it can amid soaring oil prices, decided Thursday to keep its output steady, rejecting suggestions by Venezuela to cut production.
  

Quick Overview

• Worried about inflation, Federal Reserve policymakers at their May meeting considered raising a key interest rate by half a percentage point before opting for a quarter-point increase.
  

• The National Association of Purchasing Management's Chicago index of business activity increased from 57.2 to 61.5 in May, stronger than expected.
  

• Brazil's central bank lowered its benchmark lending rate on Wednesday to 15.25 percent from 15.75 percent, the eighth straight cut.
  

• Canada's GDP was up 0.1% in March and up 3.2% YoY
  

• Retail sales in Germany were up 2.8% in April, more than expected.
  

• Eurostat estimated 2.5% inflation in the Euro zone in May.
  

• YoY India's GDP was up 9.3% in the first quarter of 2006
  

• YoY Malaysia's GDP increased 5.3% in the first quarter.
  

Quick Overview

• U.S. consumer confidence dropped from 109.8 to 103.2 in May by the most since Hurricane Katrina last fall, the Conference Board said.
  

• Retail sales in Japan were down 0.6% in April and down 2.4% YoY.
  

• Australia's retail sales were up 1.4% in March, more than expected.
  

Americans Living Abroad Get a Nasty Tax Surprise
He said rough calculations showed that a married couple paid $300,000, of which $20,000 was a housing allowance, would see their income tax bill rise by about $20,000 and their employer's cost by about $40,000. Most countries exempt their citizens overseas from income taxes, so the law will give companies an incentive to hire Australians, Britons, Canadians and other nationalities for whom they do not have to pay additional taxes.

Bush and Rove May Find `It's the Economy, Stupid' Won't Work One explanation for the public malaise may be the distribution of prosperity. Total compensation for Americans fell to 65.4 percent of national income in 2005, down from 66.2 percent in 2001, Federal Reserve figures show. At the same time, corporate profits rose to 12.3 percent of national income, up from 8.5 percent in the year Bush took office.

Neo-cons question Bush’s democratisation strategy
Short-term economic costs of the empire have been bearable, says Mr Fuller, but long-term indicators show it is not sustainable – massive domestic debt, growing trade imbalances, an extraordinary gap in wealth between rich and poor Americans, the growing outsourcing of jobs.

To provide for the common defense by requiring all persons in the United States, including women, between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes.


IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

February 14, 2006

Easy-to-get loans cause thousands to lose homes
What is known is that, rich and poor alike, South Florida homeowners are on a collision course with the fast-money mortgages and loose state regulation that injected extra risk into a region ripe for exploitation.

As the state's red-hot real estate market grew hotter, thousands of new brokers and brokerages obtained licenses to operate in Florida. That coincided with the availability of new types of loans, which gave far too many middle-income buyers who couldn't afford it a shot at living in a half million-dollar home.

Bush 'planted fake news stories on American TV'
"The public obviously expects their news reports are going to be based on real reporting and real information. If they are watching an advertisement for a company or a government policy, they need to be told."

Congress reveals its double standard
But if one of their own – no matter what party or what wrongdoing is suspected – is the recipient of a little intrusion from the executive branch, well, then, something must be done.

Mike Farrell on "Baghdad ER"

John F. Kennedy said America would never start a war. Well, it has now, and its architects have damaged our character, poisoned our standing in the world and soiled the soul of what was once the greatest nation in the history of the world.

What May Come of the Haditha Massacre?
We ought to set our sights a bit higher, and begin in a serious way to politically destroy those people in Washington who placed our young men and women in Iraq, on such a frivolous and insincere mission. Those worthy of a criminal punishment include much of the Senate, many in the House, and of course, our great decider, his untrustworthy Vice President, and their Pentagon senior staff.

Apple Loses Bid to Unmask Bloggers' Sources
A California appeals court has smacked down Apple's legal assault on bloggers and their sources, finding that the company's efforts to subpoena e-mail received by the publishers of Apple Insider and PowerPage.org runs contrary to federal law, California's reporter's shield law, and the state Constitution.

Retiree benefits grow into 'monster'
Taxpayers owe more than a half-million dollars per household for financial promises made by government....Federal, state and local governments have added nearly $10 trillion to taxpayer liabilities in the past two years, bringing the total of government's unfunded obligations to an unprecedented
$57.8 trillion.

Tony Blair Will Make Britain Look Like It Lost To The Nazis
A government engaging in escalating criminal actions and becoming more and more secretive should not be watching and tracking us as if we're all criminals. A full run down of why the 'so what if you have nothing to hide?' argument is a total fraud can be found here.

Report: Jet stream shift is expanding the Earth's tropics and deserts

Quick Overview

• Consumer personal spending rose 0.6% in April, while personal incomes were up 0.5%. The core rate of personal consumption spending was up 2.1% YoY up from 2.0% in March.
  

• The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index dropped from 87.4 to 79.1 in May, about as expected.
  
  

• Consumer prices in Japan were up 0.3% in April and up 0.4% from a year ago. Finance Minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said that Japan's economy remains in deflation, although price conditions are improving.
  

• The Barclays silver ETF posted its first decline in holdings.

• The National Weather Service's 6 to 10-day forecast is expecting above average temperatures and below average rain for the winter wheat states of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.
  
  

Quick Overview

• The U.S. economy grew at a revised 5.3% annual rate in the first quarter, a half-percentage point higher than previously reported, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
  

• The Commerce Department said the core rate of personal consumption spending, was up 2.0% in the first quarter from a year ago, down from a 2.4% gain in the fourth quarter.
  
  

• Existing home sales dropped 2% in April, the National Association of Realtors said.
  

• The U.S. Labor Department said that jobless claims were down 40,000 last week to 329,000.
  

• Truck makers sold 24,297 heavy-duty trucks in April, a 19.2% increase over April 2005, marking the 30th-straight month of YoY expansion.
  
  
  

• The USDA said that 2006-2007 world sugar ending stocks are expected to fall, from 30.97 to 30.92 million tons, 21% of annual use, matching the lowest stocks to use ratio in nine years. Brazil is expected produce 30.34 million tons, up from 27.1 million tons last year.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that underground supplies of natural gas were up 83 billion cubic feet last week to 2.163 trillion cubic feet, up 29% YoY.

• GDP in the U.K. was up 0.6% in the first quarter and up 2.2% YoY.

Quick Overview

• Federal Reserve Board Governor Randall Kroszner said on Wednesday the U.S. central bank must consider the lags with which interest rate changes affect the economy, saying it looked set to slow.
  

• U.S. Durable goods orders were down 4.8% in April, weaker than expected. Excluding transport, orders were down 1.1%.
  

• U.S. New home sales were at an annual rate of 1.198 million units in April, up 4.9%. For 2006, new home sales are down 11% YoY.
  

• The Bank of Canada increased its key interest rate from 4.00% to 4.25% and suggested that it may pause a while before needing to increase rates any further.
  

• Canada's composite index of leading indicators was up 0.5% in April
  

• Japan's service index, was down 0.6% in March, weaker than expected.
  Japan's trade surplus fell 31.8 percent in April from a year earlier to 646.2 billion yen as a surge in the cost of imports prompted by high oil prices offset a steady rise in exports, government data showed on Thursday.
  

• The head of the International Monetary Fund on Wednesday renewed his call for greater currency flexibility in some Asian countries even though recent trends in exchange rates were moving in the right direction.
  
  

• Members of an Indonesian family who died of bird flu may have infected one another and health experts are tracing anyone who had contact with them, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday.
  
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
  Supplies of crude oil were down 3.0 million barrels last week to 343.9 million barrels.
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were up 2.1 million barrels
  Supplies of heating oil were up 1.0 million barrels.

• The World Gold Council said that 2005 world gold demand totaled 836 tons, down 16% YoY. Mine production totaled 607 tons, up 5% YoY.
  

• The Silver Institute said today that silver mine production totaled 642 million ounces in 2005, up 3.4% YoY. Total demand totaled 864.4 million ounces, up 3.0% YoY
  

• The International cocoa Organization increased its estimate of the world production shortfall in 2005-2006 from 87,000 tons to 161,000 tons, or 37% of annual use.
  

Why Does the NSA Engage in Mass Surveillance of Americans When It's Statistically Impossible for Such Spying to Detect Terrorists?
No matter how sophisticated and super-duper are NSA's methods for identifying terrorists, no matter how big and fast are NSA's computers, NSA's accuracy rate will never be 100% and their misidentification rate will never be 0%. That fact, plus the extremely low base-rate for terrorists, means it is logically impossible for mass surveillance to be an effective way to find terrorists.

April durable goods orders tumble 4.8 percent
Even when transportation orders were stripped out, orders for goods meant to last three years or longer unexpectedly fell 1.1 percent.

Iran Requests Direct Talks on Nuclear Program
"You know, two months ago nobody would believe that Mr. Khamenei and Mr. Ahmadinejad together would be trying to get George W. Bush to begin negotiations,"


For telecoms, a storm of lawsuits awaits
"Having been blacklisted from working in television during the McCarthy era, I know the harm of government using private corporations to intrude into the lives of innocent Americans,"

Think tank's immigration study challenged by critics

Quick Overview

• U.S. Consumer confidence hit a six-month low in the latest week, pushed down by high gasoline prices and a rise in broader inflation, ABC News and the Washington Post said on Tuesday.

• The Bank of Japan should stick to its policy of guiding key short-term rates near zero percent until inflation is sufficiently high to avoid the risk of renewed deflation, the OECD said in a semi-annual report on Tuesday.
  

• Standard & Poor's raised its outlook on Japan's long-term sovereign rating to positive from stable on Tuesday, citing improved economic and fiscal prospects.
  

• YoY Hong Kong's GDP was up 8.2% in the first quarter.
  

• Chile's economy grew at an annual pace of 5.1 percent during the first quarter.

Quick Overview

• Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher on Monday said U.S. inflation was running too high for comfort, but the central bank had until the end of June to decide how that might impact interest rates.
  

• Venezuela will recommend cutting oil production at an OPEC meeting on June 1, Venezuela's oil minister said Monday.
  

• Mainichi News reported that seven of ten prominent economists expect the Bank of Japan to raise the interest rate in July. However Vice Finance Minister Koichi Hosokawa said the Bank of Japan should keep interest rates at zero to support the economy.