Apocalypse 2010: Signs of the end in Current Events: Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Greece now in "Great Depression", PM says / (Reuters) - Greece is in a "Great Depression" similar to the American one in the 1930s, the country's Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Sunday. Read More
ECB tightens the screws on Greece – cuts off funding / (Reuters) - The European Central Bank turned up the heat on Greece on Friday ahead of a review of its bailout program, saying it would stop accepting Greek bonds and other collateral used by Greek banks to tap ECB funding, at least until after the review. The ECB move, which analysts said was aimed at stepping up pressure on Athens to adhere to the commitments of its EU/IMF bailout, will force Greek banks to turn to their national central bank for Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) funds. Those funds will be more expensive than funds available in the ECB's regular liquidity operations. Read More

U.S. Retail Collapse Accelerates / Less than two weeks ago I wrote "Crash Warning." It outlined the current economic parameters of the global economy and explained that we were careening toward a particular form of economic Armageddon which I believe was first described by John Williams of Shadowstats.com, when he coined the phrase "hyperinflationary depression" nearly a decade ago. The debt-laden, fraud-saturated paper Ponzi-schemes of Western bankers are now all about to implode in a deflationary (debt-default) collapse – most notably all their fraud-bonds. Simultaneously, the rabidly excessive money-printing of these reckless gamblers is causing (and will cause) the prices for hard assets (i.e. assets which actually have value) to spiral upward, with the most likely final destination being hyperinflation. Read More

Wheelchair-bound IDF vet latest Israeli to set himself on fire / A disabled Israeli Defense Forces veteran has self-immolated, sustaining burns to 80 per cent of his body. The incident follows the death of IDF veteran Moshe Silman, who sparked a series of similar protests by setting himself ablaze last week. Around noon, people at a bus stop near the central city of Yehud saw a man in a wheel-chair take out a bottle and start soaking himself with its contents. "I immediately understood that it was gasoline and not water," Mahmoud Gdir, an eyewitness, told Agence France Presse. "I saw him holding a lighter and pleaded with him not to do it, but he did. I ran to my car to get a small fire extinguisher. It lasted about 2-10 seconds." The disabled man, aged 45, was later recognized as an IDF veteran. Sustaining massive burns, he was rushed to a hospital where he was induced into a coma and put on life support. Read More

Typhoon Vincente slams Hong Kong / The strongest storm in 10 years has hit Hong Kong, with dozens in hospitals and hundreds seeking refuge in shelters. Typhoon Vincente, given the highest category 10 rating by the Hong Kong Observatory, slammed the territory on Tuesday, injuring more than a 100 people, 72 of whom were hospitalized. Read More

Dirty Deeds: Iranian nuclear program Cyber-attacked by 'AC/DC virus'? / Iranian nuclear facilities have been reportedly attacked by a “musical” virus, turning personal computers in laboratories on at nighttime and starting playing AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” out loud. The Chief Research Officer of Finnish company F-secure, Mikko Hypponen, has made public a letter he received over the weekend from an unknown Iranian scientist from the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI). The Iranian claims that another virus has struck AEOI’s facilities in the Natanz Uranium enrichment facility in central Iran and secret bunker research facility in Fordo, southwest of Tehran. The unknown Iranian respondent reports that the virus has turned off automated system operations at both abovementioned research centers. The equipment, supplied by Germany’s Siemens Corporation, has reportedly also been taken out of operation. Read More
Canadian Economy not bulletproof! / Danger Signs

Household debt. “We’ve had a great run in our markets, fuelled by consumer spending,” Adatia told me. “Consumers have added a ton of debt to their balance sheets.” Indeed, we learned on June 15 that Canada’s household credit market debt (consumer credit, mortgage and loan debt), measured as a percentage of personal disposable income reached 152% in the first quarter of this year. That’s a new record. Actual borrowing has slowed, but income has too. According to the Bank of Montreal (BMO), the percentage of Canadian households with debt-service ratios above 40% of income – a level considered to be vulnerable by lenders – has risen over 6%. That’s “slightly above the past decade norm,” reports BMO.
Housing prices. Adatia thinks a double-digit drop in prices is possible. “We think there’s going to be a pullback across the board,” he said. “Some regions may be hit harder than others, but I think a 5%-to-15% drop is definitely in the cards.” That may be a conservative call. Across Canada, home prices are up 12% relative to where they were before the most recent recession. Read More

Latest solar flare dazzling but not dangerous (1:16) / July 20 - The Sun has hurled another giant burst of radiation into space, producing a spectacular solar flare that leapt from its surface on Thursday (July 19). The flare was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection, although scientists say the cloud of charged particles is not heading towards Earth. Kilmeny Duchardt reports.

TECH NEWS: BLADE RUNNER BECOMES REALITY? 'Emotional' android shows new face of robotics (1:14)

July 18 - Italian scientists have created a robot face that can mimic real muscle activity, blurring the boundaries between humans and androids. The FACEteam robot 'skull' and torso contain 32 motors that help recreate the activity of the 100-plus facial muscles in the human face responsible for expressing emotions. Jim Drury reports.