Rising Risk of Epidemics Seen
“A good analogy to this is that we’re living through a mass extinction,” said Mark Woolhouse, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom. “As lots of species are dying off through human action, human pathogens seem to be going through a bit of a reverse.”

Culture of Fear Attempting to avoid all risk is a recipe for technological and economic stagnation.

Quick Overview

• The Conference Board's U.S. index of leading indicators rose by 1.1% in January, to a record high of 140.1.
  

• A high-ranking Japanese banker urged the Bank of Japan on Tuesday to end its ultraloose monetary policy as quickly as possible and return to a "more normal" stance.
  

• Moody's Investors Service lowered General Motors Corp.'s debt rating further into "junk" territory Tuesday, citing doubt the company can set up competitive wages and benefits without filing for bankruptcy protection.
  

• Canada's index of leading indicators rose by 0.5% in January to 211.4.
  

• In January the U.K. posted a monthly budget surplus of 12.6 billion pounds. This is the largest surplus in thirteen years .
  

• The USDA said that, on January 31st, there were 61.3 million pounds of frozen bellies in storage, down 3% YoY. Frozen pork totaled 528.5 million pounds, up 6% YoY.
  

• The USDA said that, on January 31st, there were 1.064 billion pounds of frozen orange juice in U.S. cold storage, down 32% YoY.
  

• Dow-Jones Newswires reported that because of strong ethanol demand, Brazil will reduce ethanol in its gasoline from 25% to 20%.
  

Senior Lawyer at Pentagon Broke Ranks on Detainees

U.S. Rejects U.N. Report on GitmoThe United States, which is a member of the commission, has criticized the body itself for including members with poor human rights records.

China Rushes to Complete $100B Deal With Iran
China is hastening to complete a deal worth as much as $100 billion that would allow a Chinese state-owned energy firm to take a leading role in developing a vast oil field in Iran, complicating the Bush administration's efforts to isolate the Middle Eastern nation and roll back its nuclear development plans, according to published reports.

Senate Rejects Wiretapping Probe

Iraq economy falls below pre-war levels
Senator Conrad, citing the special inspector general, said almost all economic indices showed Iraq was better off before the US had invaded. Republicans, too, are sceptical of administration claims of progress. Senator Chuck Hagel told Ms Rice on Wednesday he believed the situation was getting worse.

Sea levels likely to rise much faster than was predicted
Scientists have found that many of the huge glaciers of Greenland are moving at an accelerating rate - dumping twice as much ice into the sea than five years ago - indicating that the ice sheet is undergoing a potentially catastrophic breakup.

Quick Overview

• The U.S. producer price index rose 0.3% in January and up 5.7% YoY. Excluding food and energy, prices were up .4% in January.
  
  

• The United States should focus on its global trade shortfall with the rest of the world and not solely on the two-way trade gap with China, the president of the Asian Development Bank said on Friday.
  
  

• Class 8 truck orders in North America are off to a roaring start in 2006, with January’s total reaching an all-time monthly high of 43,100 units.
  
  

• The University of Michigan's index of consumer sentiment dropped from 91.2 to 87.4 in February.
  

• Google Inc. on Friday criticized the Bush administration's demand to examine millions of its users' Internet search requests as a misguided fishing expedition that threatens to ruin the company's credibility and reveal its closely guarded secrets.
  
  

• Dow-Jones Newswire reported that the Ag Secretary of Minas Gerais said that 15% of his state's coffee crop has been lost to dry weather. Half of Brazil's coffee crop comes from the state of Minas Gerais.
  
  

• The International Copper Study Group said that in the first eleven months of 2005, world copper demand exceeded production by 154,000 tons – this with demand down 1% YoY and production up 4% YoY.
  
  

• Japan's GDP increased 1.4% in the fourth quarter of 2005, more than expected. For calendar year 2005, real GDP was up 2.8%. Japan's latest economic growth figures show that prices, as measured by the GDP deflator, were still declining in the October-December quarter, prompting fresh calls for the Bank of Japan to weigh carefully any decision to end its ultraeasy policy.
  

• Wholesale sales in Canada were up 0.4% in December. For 2005, wholesale sales were up 5.4%. Retail sales at Canada's large retailers were up 1.4% in December and up 5.9% for all of 2005.
  

Australian bird flu vaccine on its way

Releasing early results of a clinical trial on a vaccine to combat the deadly virus, CSL (csl.ASX:) chief scientific officer Dr Andrew Cuthbertson said the company was confident it was safe and effective.

Japanese Putting All Their Energy Into Saving Fuel
"We're saving [$100] a day at city hall by shutting off the heat,"

EPA Revokes Gasoline-Additive Mandate
States no longer will have to add corn-based ethanol or MTBE to gasoline to fight pollution — a requirement that costs as much as 8 cents a gallon — under rules announced Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Amid China Threat US To Hold Mammoth Naval Operations In Pacific

Quick Overview

• The number of workers filing initial unemployment claims rose by 19,000 last week to 297,000, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
  
  

• U.S. Housing starts rose 15% in January, the biggest jump in 33 years, the Commerce Department reported Thursday.
  
  

• The price of imported goods rose 1.3% in January, but just 0.2% excluding oil prices, the Labor Department said Thursday
  
  

• The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's index of business activity increased from 3.3 to 15.4 in February, stronger than expected.
  

• Retail sales in the U.K. were down 1.3% in January, the biggest drop in over a year.
  

• Argentina's gross domestic product expanded 9.1 percent in 2005, its fastest in 13 years, as construction and agriculture led the economy to its third straight year of robust growth
  

• The DoE said that underground supplies of natural gas were down 102 billion cubic feet to 2.266 trillion cubic feet. Supplies are now up 24% from a year ago.
  

• The USDA Drought Monitor continues to show drought conditions in the south-central U.S., reaching up to South Dakota and Illinois.
  
  
  

• Up to 15 to 20% of the wheat belt (HRW) will be vulnerable Saturday morning to bitter arctic cold temperatures in areas where enough snow cover fails to develop. The main threat to the crop is in northern Kansas and southern Nebraska."
  

K Street keeps growing
Early returns on end-of-year revenues show strong growth all along Washington’s lobbying corridor

Congressional Probe of NSA Spying Is in Doubt
Congress appeared ready to launch an investigation into the Bush administration's warrantless domestic surveillance program last week, but an all-out White House lobbying campaign has dramatically slowed the effort and may kill it, key Republican and Democratic sources said yesterday.

Whistleblower says NSA violations bigger
A former NSA employee said Tuesday there is another ongoing top-secret surveillance program that might have violated millions of Americans' Constitutional rights.

Quick Overview

• Bernanke:
  Agrees some rate hikes may be needed.
  Inverted yield curve doesn't signal slowdown.
  Concerned about path of budget deficits.
  Economy less dependent on energy than in the past.
  Is in favor of using numeric inflation targets to improve the clarity and transparency of monetary policy.
  
  

• U.S. Industrial output fell 0.2 percent in January as warm weather slashed energy production at utilities by 10%.
  

• The New York Federal Reserve's index of regional manufacturing increased from 20.12 to 20.31 in February.
  
  
  

• Overall air cargo shipments rose 1.3% in December from a year earlier, but domestic shipments dipped, the Air Transport Association reported.
  
  

• The U.K.'s unemployment rate for October to December increased to 5.1% from 4.7%.
  
  

• The U.S. Department of Energy said that:
  Supplies of crude oil were up 4.9 million barrels last week to 325.6 million barrels.
  Supplies of unleaded gasoline were up 2.2 million barrels
  Supplies of heating oil were down 700,000 barrels
  
  

• The Green Coffee Association said that U.S. coffee stocks were 4.95 million bags – up 282,693 bags.

U.S. federal government will give away $7 billion
Projections in the Interior Department's new budget estimate the federal government will permit the royalty-free pumping of $65 billion of oil and gas from federal land over the next five years, saving companies $7 billion, The New York Times reported Tuesday.