Quick Overview

• The Federal Reserve kept the federal funds rate unchanged at 5.25%, as expected.
  

• Japan's trade surplus widened 95.5 percent to 200.5 billion yen as exports to the United States grew 19.3 percent and exports to China rose 20.0 percent YoY.
  
  

• Canada's composite index of leading indicators increased 0.2%.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
  Supplies of crude oil were down 2.8 million barrels at 324.9 million barrels.
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were up 600,000 barrels
  Supplies of heating oil were up 600,000 barrels.
  
  

• Hedge fund Amaranth, agreed to sell its energy trading positions to JPMorgan Chase and Citadel, and entering talks to sell nonenergy assets to Citigroup .

Quick Overview

• The net worth of U.S. households increased 0.1% in the second quarter to $53.3 trillion, the slowest gain in nearly four years, the Federal Reserve said Tuesday.
  
  
  

• U.S. Housing starts fell 6% more than expected to the lowest rate in more than three years.
  
  

• U.S. Producer prices rose 0.1% in August up 3.7% YoY.
  

• China's central bank governor, admitting the challenge posed by China's trade surplus, on Tuesday described currency reforms so far as important and said their impact would be felt over time.
  

• Canada's consumer prices increased 2.1% YoY
  

• Australia's Bureau of Agricultural said the country will harvest 16.4 million tons of wheat, down 35% YoY.
  
  

Bush owes us an apology
Sept. 18: “Countdown” host Keith Olbermann offers a special comment on George Bush’s Rose Garden

The President of the United States owes this country an apology.

Quick Overview

• The U.S. current-account deficit widened more than forecast last quarter to the second-largest on record as the trade gap expanded and the Treasury paid more interest to overseas investors. Foreign purchases of U.S. securities totaled $54.5 billion in July, while U.S. purchases of foreign securities totaled $21.6 billion.
  

• Canadian investors bought C$6.3 billion of foreign securities in July while foreign investors bought C$3.2 billion of Canadian securities.
  

Keillor: Coffee, tea or TATP
The way to stop terrorists on planes is to encourage passengers to bring loaded firearms aboard: guys in orange vests sitting in exit rows with deer rifles on their laps, ladies with Mr. Colt in their purses, kids with peashooters. Somebody wake up the NRA. Does the Second Amendment say ''The right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed except on commercial airliners''? Where is the right wing when you really need them?

ECB Officials Say Inflation Pressures May Persist
European Central Bank officials said inflation pressures may persist beyond 2007, indicating they'll keep raising interest rates into next year.

U.S. war prisons legal vacuum for 14,000
"If you, God forbid, are an innocent Afghan who gets sold down the river by some warlord rival, you can end up at Bagram and you have absolutely no way of clearing your name," said John Sifton of Human Rights Watch in New York. "You can't have a lawyer present evidence, or do anything organized to get yourself out of there."

The U.S. government has contended it can hold detainees until the "war on terror" ends — as it determines.
"I don't think we've gotten to the question of how long," said retired admiral John D. Hutson, former top lawyer for the U.S. Navy. "When we get up to 'forever,' I think it will be tested" in court, he said.

Quick Overview

• The U.S. Labor Department said that consumer prices were up 0.2% and up 3.8% YoY. Excluding food and energy prices were up 0.2% and up 2.8% YoY.
  

• U.S. Industrial production was down 0.1%.
  

• The New York Federal Reserve's regional manufacturing index increased from 11.0 to 13.8.
  

• China announced a cut in its export tax rebates reducing advantages it provides to Chinese exporters in order to curb its trade surplus which hit a record high of $18.8 billion in August. The export rebates were cut on steel, coal, natural gas and textiles.
  

• In the EU-12 consumer prices were up 2.3% YoY.
  

• China and India must move to curb corruption or else their booming economies will likely falter, a senior World Bank official said on Friday.
  

• Japan’s publicly traded real estate investment trusts and unlisted property funds saw their aggregate assets increase about 80% YoY to nearly 8 trillion yen (US$68.4 billion)
  
  

• The International Monetary Fund warns that Britain's overvalued housing market is vulnerable to further increases in interest rates.

Hacker's delight
The Bush administration’s flagship missile defense program relies on a complex communications network crossing eleven time zones to detect and intercept incoming missiles. One would think such a system would have top-notch security—but it doesn’t. According to the Defense Department’s own Office of Inspector General, poor planning and human error has rendered the communications network extremely vulnerable to hackers.

County foreclosures quadruple U.S. rate
Statewide, 16,533 homes entered some stage of foreclosure in August, more than any other state in the country and a jump of more than 50 percent over July, RealtyTrac said. On a year-over-year basis, considered the most accurate comparison because it eliminates seasonal differences, the 16,533 foreclosures statewide in August represented a 62 percent increase over the previous August, when there were 10,175, the report shows.

Americans More Likely to be Shot by Law Enforcement than Killed by Terrorists

Clooney, Wiesel tell UN time running out in Darfur
"In many ways it is unfair but it is nevertheless true that this genocide will be on your watch. How you deal with it will be your legacy," Clooney said. "Your Rwanda, Your Cambodia, your Auschwitz."

Quick Overview

• U.S. retail sales jumped 0.2% in August, the Commerce Department reported Thursday
  

• U.S. Business sales were up 0.6% in July, the same as inventories.
  

• The U.S. Labor Department said that jobless claims were down 5,000 last week to 308,000.
  

• Retail sales in the U.K. were up 0.3% in August.
  

• The Swiss National Bank increased its interest rate from 1.50% to 1.75%.
  

• The IMF raised its global GDP growth forecasts to +5.1% for 2006 and to +4.9% for 2007, both up by 0.2 percentage points.
  

• The IMF reduced its forecast for US GDP growth for 2007 to +2.9% from +3.3%.
  

• China's M2 money supply growth eased to +17.9% in August.
  

• Argentina's economy grew 7.9 percent in the second quarter compared with the same period of 2005, outpacing expectations but reflecting a slowdown from the first quarter.
  
  

• Goldfields Mineral Services said that world gold mine production in the first half of 2006 was down 1.5% YoY.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that underground supplies of natural gas were up 108 billion cubic feet to 3.084 trillion cubic feet. Supplies are up 12% YoY.

The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism"The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight against terrorism," said Powell, who served under Bush and is a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "To redefine Common Article 3 would add to those doubts. Furthermore, it would put our own troops at risk."



U.N. Inspectors Dispute Iran Report By House Panel
"This is like prewar Iraq all over again," said David Albright, a former nuclear inspector who is president of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security. "You have an Iranian nuclear threat that is spun up, using bad information that's cherry-picked and a report that trashes the inspectors."

Ice caps are melting even in winter, global warming evidence mounts
NASA has measured sea ice since 1978, compiling an average of wintertime melt. In the last two winters -- 2005 and 2006 -- an extra 6 percent has melted.

Quick Overview

• MBA mortgage applications rose 3.2% to a 4-month high. 30-year mortgage rates are currently at 6.47%, down by 33 bp from the 4-year high of 6.80% in July.
  
  

• China's Aug industrial production rose 15.7% a 1-1/2 year low.
  
  

• UK unemployment claims fell by 3,900 to 950,100 and the unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.0%.
  
  

• Consumer confidence in Australia rose from 90.0 to 101.2 in September.
  
  
  
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that::
  Supplies of crude oil were down 3.9 million barrels last week to 327.7 million barrels.
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were up 100,000 barrels.
  Supplies of heating oil were up 1.4 million barrels.
  

Air Force chief: Test weapons on testy U.S. mobs
Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before being used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday.
The object is basically public relations. Domestic use would make it easier to avoid questions from others about possible safety considerations, said Secretary Michael Wynne.

Quick Overview

• The U.S. trade deficit rose to a record $68 billion in July on declining exports and soaring imports, the Commerce Department said Tuesday.
  

• The confidence of American consumers edged higher last week on falling gasoline prices, ABC News and The Washington Post said on Tuesday.
  

• Industrial production in India increased 12.4% YoY
  
  

• Consumer prices in the U.K. were up 2.5% in August.
  

• Canada's exports totaled C$38.5 billion in July, up 2.1% MoM, imports gained 3.1% to C$34.6 billion.
  

• YoY retail sales in China were up of 13.8% in August, more than expected.
  China's fixed-asset investment in August slowed to +21.5% YoY from +27.4% in July. In the year through August, fixed-asset investment rose +29.1% which was less than the consensus expectation of +30%.
  

• The USDA's 2006-2007 U.S. ending stocks estimate for:
  Corn was reduced from 1.232 to 1.220 billion bushels.
  Soybeans were increased from 450 to 530 million bushels.
  Wheat was reduced from 434 to 429 million bushels.
  Sugar was increased from 1.609 to 1.756 million tons.
  Cotton was reduced from 4.70 to 4.60 million bales.
  

• The USDA's 2006-2007 world ending stocks estimate for:
  Corn was reduced from 93 to 92 million tons.
  Soybeans were increased from 50 to 52 million tons.
  Wheat was reduced from 128 to 126 million tons.
  Cotton was reduced from 48 to 47 million bales.
  
  

• Canada’s canola stocks totaled 2.02 million tons, up 27% YoY.
  Canada's wheat stocks totaled 9.74 million tons, up 23% YoY.
  

How US merchants of fear sparked a $130bn bonanza
Five years after the World Trade Centre fell, a highly lucrative industry has been born in America - homeland security. There has been a goldrush as companies scoop up government contracts and peddle products that they say are designed to make America safe.

The figures are stunning. Seven years ago there were nine companies with federal homeland security contracts. By 2003 it was 3,512. Now there are 33,890. The money is huge. Since 2000, $130bn (£70bn) of contracts have been dished out. By 2015 annual federal spending on the industry could be $170bn.

Quick Overview

• The U.S. economy is growing strongly despite a slowing housing sector, even though inflation remains above the central bank's comfort level, two top Federal Reserve officials said.
  

• Japan's government changed its estimate of GDP growth for the April to June quarter from 0.8% to 1.0%.
  

• Japan’s machinery orders were down 16.7% in July, the biggest drop in some 20 years.
  

• (Bloomberg) -- Japan's producer prices rose at the fastest pace in 25 years, increasing pressure on profits as companies try to pass on rising oil and commodity costs.
  

• Canada's housing starts were down 9.6% MoM and weaker than expected.
  

• England: House prices have doubled in just four years with the average home in England now topping the 200,000 barrier. Annual house price growth is running at its fastest rate for 14 months.
  
  

• Exxon Mobil Australia chief executive Mark Nolan said the theory that oil supplies had peaked and would dwindle over the next 20 years was of 'no value', having surfaced regularly since the 1920s during times of high oil prices.
  
  

• Mexico's economic growth will slow to an "inadequate" rate of about 3.5 percent next year, the central bank said on Monday.

Top soldier quits as blundering campaign turns into 'pointless' war
“All those people whose homes have been destroyed and sons killed are going to turn against the British,” he said. “It’s a pretty clear equation — if people are losing homes and poppy fields, they will go and fight. I certainly would.
“We’ve been grotesquely clumsy — we’ve said we’ll be different to the Americans who were bombing and strafing villages, then behaved exactly like them.”

Slipped His Moorings
by Charley Reese

Let's not play around. Am I saying the president is crazy? No, not in the clinical sense. But, if he believes that bin Laden, Hitler, Stalin and Lenin are comparable, if he truly believes he is leading the free world in the great ideological war of the 21st century, then he has cut his anchor chain and drifted off into the Sea of Delusion.

Quick Overview

• The global economy continues to grow briskly but the risks of an economic downturn have increased since April, the head of the International Monetary Fund Rodrigo Rato said on Friday.
  

• The USDA said that U.S. 2005-2006 exports of:
  Corn finished the year up 20% YoY.
  Soybeans finished the year down 15% YoY.
  

• Canada's unemployment rate increased from 6.4% to 6.5% in August,
  

• The Conference Board's index of leading indicators for Japan showed a decline of 0.5% in July to 101.1. The Bank of Japan kept its interest rate unchanged at 0.25%.
  

• SHANGHAI China on Friday launched its first financial derivatives exchange.
  

• Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and fellow OPEC producers signaled on Saturday they would keep output near a 25-year high for now, satisfied the policy is easing pressure on consumer economies.
  

• Czech economic growth slowed to 6.2% in second quarter Gross Domestic Product grew by 6.1 in the second quarter of 2005 and by 6.1 percent during the year.
  

• South Korea yesterday lifted its ban on US beef imposed in 2003 because of fears of mad cow disease.

Humans 'hardwired for religion'

"They have basically said there are two types of people in the world," he said - "those who believe in the supernatural and those who do not. But almost everyone entertains some form of irrational beliefs even if they are not religious.

Quick Overview

• U.S. Labor Department said that jobless claims were down 9,000 last week to 310,000
  

• U.S. Wholesale inventories rose 0.8% in July, the Commerce Department said Thursday.
  

• The National Association of Realtors said they expect U.S. existing home sales to be down 7.6% in 2006 and new home sales to be down 16.1%.
  

• The unemployment rate in Australia increased from 4.8% to 4.9%
  

• Industrial production in Germany was up 1.2% in July.
  

• It could take several years for a key measure of inflation to ease from current high levels. Meanwhile the Federal Reserve must be biased toward more interest rate increases, the head of the San Francisco Fed said on Thursday.
  

• Assets of the nation's retail money market mutual funds rose by $5.17 billion in the latest week to $922.87 billion, the Investment Company Institute said Thursday.
  
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that :
  Supplies of crude oil were down 2.2 million barrels to 330.6 million barrels.
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were up 700,000 barrels.
  Supplies of heating oil supplies were up 400,000 barrels.
  
  

The Pro-War Media's Re-Positioning Problem
by Gary North
The cost of war rises. A fundamental law of economics then asserts itself: "When the cost of anything rises, less of it is demanded."
Simultaneously, the promised benefits of the war retreat into the distance. Another law of economics reasserts itself: "Future benefits are discounted compared to present benefits." There are no present benefits, except for the defense industry.
Costs today are rising relentlessly. Benefits are being pushed into the distant future relentlessly. We have passed the turning point. Estimating the cost-benefit ratio, voters have begun to cut and run.

War turns southern women away from GOP
A recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that three out of five Southern women surveyed said they planned to vote for a Democrat in the midterm elections.

Wheat imports seen as sign of reversal in India's food security
"In 1981, the growth rate of agricultural output was three-four percent. Today it is one percent. But the rate of population growth is almost two percent now..Even rats eat away a million tonnes a year..

Quick Overview

• Worker productivity rose at a revised 1.6% annual rate in the second quarter, up from an initially reported increase of 1.1%, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.
  

• The Institute of Supply Management's U.S. index of service activity increased from 54.7 to 57.0 in August.
  

• Australia's GDP was up 0.3% in the second quarter and up 1.9% YoY.
  

• Manufacturing in the U.K. increased 0.2% in July.
  

• Germany's factory orders were up 1.8% in July.
  

• The European Commission raised its economic growth and inflation forecasts for the Euro zone for this year, and said it may also revise up 2007 growth projections in November.

IMF warns of ‘severe global slowdown’
The IMF warns slower growth could be triggered by a sharp US housing market slowdown or by surging inflationary expectations that forced central banks to raise interest rates.

Pakistan signs peace deal with pro-Taliban militants
The Pakistani government and pro-Taliban militants announced that they signed a peace accord Tuesday aimed at ending five years of violent unrest in a tribal region bordering Afghanistan

IRS sends collection agencies calling for back taxes
Beginning this week, thousands of Americans who owe taxes to the federal government will start getting phone calls to pay up — from private collection agencies, not the IRS.
Despite congressional opposition and criticism from a federal employee union and a taxpayer advisory panel, the IRS is giving three collection agencies information on 12,500 taxpayers who owe less than $25,000 and have not disputed the debt.

Quick Overview

• The confidence of American consumers strengthened in the latest week, possibly due to lower gasoline prices, ABC News and The Washington Post said on Tuesday.
  

• Japan's Finance Ministry said that YoY private capital spending was up 16.6% in the second quarter.
  

• The Euro zone purchasing managers service-sector index fell by -0.8 points to 57.1 from 57.9 in July, which was a 7-month low.
  
  

• South Africa's Chamber of Mines said the country produced 68.7 tons of gold in the second quarter, down 6.4% YoY.

Fears of 'extreme' TB strain
Among the areas found to have been affected by extreme drug-resistant TB are Latvia and South Africa. Scientists discovered the strain last month among HIV-infected patients in the Kwazulu-Natal region. 'Fifty two of the 53 infected people are already dead, and the last may well have died by now,' added Nunn.

Nightmare Mortgages
Now the signs of excess are crystal clear. Up to 80% of all option ARM borrowers make only the minimum payment each month, according to Fitch Ratings. The rest of the money gets added to the balance of the mortgage, a situation known as negative amortization. And once balances grow to a certain amount, the loans automatically reset at far higher payments. Most of these borrowers aren't paying down their loans; they're underpaying them up.

Can't Rule Out China Hard Landing: Bernanke
"Although the banking sector is burdened with an enormous and probably growing stock of problematic loans, the government possesses sizable resources and is unlikely to allow the banking system to fail," Bernanke told the Alabama Republican. He also said Beijing's large foreign exchange reserves made a currency crisis unlikely.

Quick Overview

• Bernanke said the boom in US productivity that began a decade ago is likely to continue.
  

• The International Monetary Fund is set to increase its forecast for 2006 global economic growth to 5.1 percent from a previous estimate of 4.9 percent, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
  

• The U.S. unemployment rate improved from 4.8% to 4.7% in August. Average hourly earnings were up 0.1% on the month.
  

• The University of Michigan's index of consumer sentiment dropped from 84.7 to 82.0 in August.
  

• The index of U.S. manufacturing dropped from 54.7 to 54.5 in August.
  

• U.S. Construction spending was down 1.2% from June's pace.
  

• GDP in the Euro zone was revised higher, increasing 0.9% in the quarter and 2.6% YoY.
  

• The Euro zone unemployment rate was unchanged in July at 7.8%.
  

• The International Sugar Organization estimated 2006-2007 world sugar production at a record high 154.7 million tons with 152.5 million tons of world consumption.

Quick Overview

• U.S. Personal consumption expenditures rose 0.1% in July, less than expected. YoY it is up 2.4%.
  

• U.S. personal incomes rose 0.5% in July,
  

• Consumer personal spending rose 0.8% in July, the largest gain since January, the Commerce Department said Tuesday
  

• U.S. Factory orders fell in July, declining 0.6%, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
  
  

• U.S. Jobless claims fell 2,000 last week to 316,000.
  

• The Chicago National Association of Purchasing Managements' index fell from 57.9 to 57.1
  

• Canada's GDP is up 2.9% YoY.
  

• The European Central Bank kept interest rate unchanged at 3.0%,
  

• Germany's retail sales were down 1.5% in July.
  

• The DoE said that underground supplies of natural gas were up 48 billion cubic feet to 2.905 trillion cubic feet. YoY supplies are up 11%
  

• The Brazilian government increased its estimate of the sugarcane crop to 471 million tons.
  

• Silver futures surged to their highest level in three months Thursday, as analysts cited good investment demand a day after the amount of metal held by an exchange-traded fund climbed above 100 million ounces.

Can you really not see?

Nations scour for wheat as drought shrivels supply
World wheat stocks are expected to decline to 117 million tonnes this year from 135 million a year ago, but some traders said stocks were enough to cap the price rally.
"Supplies will be a concern but will not be a huge problem this year," Moraza said. "But it can be a big issue if we see production shortfalls in subsequent years."

Quick Overview

• The Department of Commerce said that real GDP increased 2.9% in the second quarter, up from the previous estimate of 2.5%. YoY real GDP is up 3.6%.
  

• Mortgage application dropped from 561.5 to 556.5 last week, down 23% YoY.
  

• China's economic growth for 2005 was revised from 9.9% to 10.2%.
  

• Retail sales in Australia were up .6% in July. The September Australian dollar was down .06 at 76.30.
  

• Japan's retail sales were down 1.7% in July.

• MoM Japan's industrial production fell in July due partly to a slowdown in exports, pushing down the yen and bond yields.
  
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that :
  Supplies of crude oil were up 2.4 million barrels to 332.8 million barrels
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were up 400,000 barrels
  Supplies of heating oil were up 2.3 million barrels.
  

The Five Morons Revisited

Now I get it. When Fox News’ Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilley assured us that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction that would be used against us if we didn’t strike first, they were being manipulated by Osama bin Laden, who used America to get rid of the secular Saddam Hussein and to create a new training and recruitment ground for al Qaeda and fundamentalist fanatics.

It's Cheaper to Go DutchThe Dutch are, no argument, the world's experts. Which raises a question as U.S. politicians and bureaucrats dicker over whether and how to fortify New Orleans against future storms: why not hire the Dutch?

Quick Overview

• U.S. Consumer confidence index dropped from 107.0 to 99.6 in August, the lowest in nine months.
  

• The Federal Reserve is not "behind the curve" in battling inflation after its decision to not raise interest rates in August, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Richard Fisher said.
  

• The Renewable Fuels Association said the U.S. produced 318,000 barrels of ethanol a day in June, up 28% YoY.
  

• Japan’s unemployment rate improved from 4.2% to 4.1% in July.

• Germany's consumer confidence index rose to a 5-year high at 8.6 from 8.5
  

Selective Prosecution of War Crimes Saddam Hussein's attorneys do not deny that innocents were killed in the gassing of Kurdish villages in the 1988 "Anfal" campaign, but they argue that those deaths were not deliberate; rather, they were unintended consequences of Iraq's combat with Iranian and Kurdish belligerents during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Although this defense might not save Saddam at his war crimes trial, Israel's supporters make a similar argument in defending its invasion of and attacks on Lebanon that have left more than a thousand innocents dead, according to Ivan Eland, Senior Fellow and Director of the Independent Institute's Center on Peace and Liberty, writing in his latest op-ed.

Quick Overview

• China will invest some $5 bln in energy projects in Venezuela by 2012.
  
  

• The Indian government has allowed import of an additional 2 million tons of wheat at zero customs duty as part of measures to meet the shortfall in procurement. The Indian Government wants to boost stocks currently at some 8.2 million tonnes to 17.1 million tonnes.
  
  From Barron’s 8/21/06
  
• 32.6% of new mortgages and home-equity loans in 2005 were interest only, up from 0.6% in 2000
  
• 43% of first-time homebuyers in 2005 put no money down
  
• 15.2% of 2005 buyers owe at least 10% more than their home is worth
  
• 10% of all homeowners with mortgages have no equity in their homes$
  
• 2.7 trillion dollars in loans will adjust to higher rates in 2006 and 2007

Experts warn U.S. is coming apart at the seams
A pipeline shuts down in Alaska. Equipment failures disrupt air travel in Los Angeles. Electricity runs short at a spy agency in Maryland.

None of these recent events resulted from a natural disaster or terrorist attack, but they may as well have, some homeland security experts say. They worry that too little attention is paid to how fast the country's basic operating systems are deteriorating.

Quick Overview

• YoY consumer prices in Tokyo were up 0.9% in August. In Japan overall prices were up 0.3% YoY. Less than expected.
  

• Statistics Canada estimates Canada's 2006 wheat crop at 25.9 million tons, down 3% YoY.
  Statistics Canada estimates 2006 canola crop at 8 million tons, down 17% YoY.
  

• The Brazilian government raised its estimate of the coffee crop from 40.6 to 41.6 million bags. The USDA's estimates the Crop at 44.8 million bags.
  

• Chad ordered U.S. energy giant Chevron and Malaysia's Petronas on Saturday to leave the country within 24 hours for failing to honor tax obligations, a move seemingly aimed at increasing control over its oil output.

Freedom in a Cage
In his most recent news conference Mr. Bush said: "if we ever give up the desire to help people who live in freedom, we will have lost our soul as a nation, as far as I'm concerned." Thanks to Mr. Bush the Uighurs now live in freedom in a barbed wire enclosed refugee camp in Albania where no one speaks their language. They get free room and board and 40 Euros a month. In addition to his brain, it would appear that Mr. Bush has also lost his soul. That news will not surprise the Albanian Uhguirs. No one else will be surprised.

Israel may 'go it alone' against Iran
He said there was a need to understand that "when push comes to shove," Israel would have to be prepared to "slow down" the Iranian nuclear threat by itself.

Having said this, he did not rule out the possibility of US military action, but said that if this were to take place, it would probably not occur until the spring or summer of 2008, a few months before President George W. Bush leaves the international stage. The US presidential elections, which Bush cannot contest because of term limits, are in November 2008.

Quick Overview

• New home sales fell 4.3% in July, the Commerce Department said Thursday. For 2006, new home sales were down 14% YoY.
  

• First-time U.S. jobless claims fell by 1,000 to 313,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday
  

• The U.S. Commerce Department said that durable goods orders were down 2.4% in July, weaker than expected. Excluding transport, orders were up 0.5% on the month.
  

• The Ifo index of business confidence in Germany dropped from 105.6 to 105.0 in August, less than expected.
  

• The International Grain Council estimated Wheat 2006-2007 ending world stocks at 117 million tons, less than the USDA's 128 million tons estimate.
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that supplies of natural gas were up 57 billion cubic feet to 2.857 trillion cubic feet.