NEW YORK (Reuters) - "U.S. stocks tumbled on Tuesday, driving the Dow Jones industrial average down in its worst slide since the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, as a sell-off in China's stock market raised concerns that equity valuations may be too high.

      It was only a matter of time.

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     HONG KONG (Reuters) - "Investors dumped Asian shares and emerging market bonds on Wednesday as a global sell-off that started in China gathered steam after Wall Street stocks shed more than 3 percent overnight.

     Spooked by a collapse in Chinese stocks and weak U.S. manufacturing data, investors fled to safety, pouring money into less-risky bonds and sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average down in its worst slide in point terms since the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

     Asian indices mirrored, and in some cases, exceeded the U.S. decline, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index opening 3.58 percent lower and the H-share index of Chinese shares listed in Hong Kong starting nearly 6 percent lower before trimming some of those losses..."

• Residents of densely populated area face limited water supplies
• Low water levels have left more than 10 ships stuck
• Southwest China still recovering from last summer's drought

      BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- "Drought in southwestern China is threatening the drinking water supplies of 1.5 million people and authorities are considering seeding clouds to make it rain, state media said on Tuesday.

      The problem has been compounded by last summer's heat wave in the densely populated municipality of Chongqing, as water supplies have still not recovered, the Beijing News said.

      More than 10 ships that ply the Yangtze River have been stranded by the low water levels, it added.

      Some parts of Chongqing -- home to some 30 million people -- have started limiting water supplies to residents and are drilling new wells to find underground sources of water, the report said.

      As the world's No. # 1 consumer of food (1.3 Billion people and climbing), China may need to seek elsewhere for food.  Maybe the U.S. midwest, the most fertile soil on the planet, can be of help.  I doubt it'll be fair trade, however.  Gotta love this Climate Change.

      NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Their products range in size from a tiny bearing in a dentist's drill to earth-moving machines the size of buildings.

      U.S. manufacturers are all over the map in terms of product lines, business strategies and size -- and they are all over the map geographically, too.

      But they have one thing in common: the past few years have been boom times, as demand for those machines has soared in markets as diverse as oil drilling, aerospace and mining, and companies have extended their geographic reach to profit from fast-growing markets in India, China and Eastern Europe.

     Canada (CBC) - "H5N1. A string of numbers and letters that has the World Health Organization deeply concerned.

     It's one of 16 varieties of avian influenza or bird flu. So far, it's the only one that's shown any ability to directly pass from one human to another. It has spread from Southeast Asia to China, Russia, and Europe. The H5 strain of avian flu has hit Canada, in British Columbia and P.E.I., but, it is the not the dangerous variety of bird flu.

     American researchers now say the deadly H5N1 form of bird flu has split into two distinct strains, a development that could make it harder to develop vaccines to stop the spread of the disease..."

      This is a very real threat.  I hope you are taking it seriously, and are taking the necessary precautions.

     NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Stocks fell for a third straight session on Friday as concern over rising defaults in the subprime mortgage industry drove down financial services shares and the price of oil hit a 2007 high.

     Shares of NovaStar Financial Inc. (NFI.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and New Century Financial Corp. (NEW.N: Quote, Profile, Research), two of the major names in the business of making home loans to Americans with shaky credit, extended declines from earlier in the week. That trend spilled over to bigger names in the home loan business like Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and even blue-chip JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM.N: Quote, Profile, Research)

     Shares of Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) were the top-weighted drag on the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite after a U.S. federal jury found the software maker infringed on audio patents held by Alcatel-Lucent and should pay $1.52 billion in damages..."

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Subprime mortgage companies' shares dropped on Friday, extending more than two weeks of declines and triggering slumps in many finance companies' shares, sending investors to the perceived safety of U.S. Treasuries.

     The decline came after Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc. (IMH.N: Quote, Profile, Research) posted a $54 million quarterly loss amid defaults and write-downs.

• 200 flights at Chicago's O'Hare Airport canceled
• New York prepares for oncoming storm
• Seven traffic deaths blamed on storm in Wisconsin
• Roads treacherous across Michigan 

      Eight traffic deaths were blamed on the storm, seven in Wisconsin and one in Kansas.

     DUMAS, Arkansas (CNN) -- "A possible tornado shredded several businesses and homes in a small Arkansas town Saturday, injuring about a dozen people, some of them seriously, police told a local TV station.

      Bobbie Thomas, an employee at Fred's department store in Dumas, told CNN affiliate KTHV she was inside the building when the winds struck.

      "But it's not Tornado Season!" They say.  Mother Nature says otherwise.  Be ready for anything at any time.  This is another reason to keep your Readiness Kit in a tough, durable container.  If a tornado rips your house apart without warning, but you survive, and if you find your kit, it is more likely to survive the mass of debris falling on it.

      The special planning group was established within the office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in recent months, according to an unidentified former U.S. intelligence official cited in the article by investigative reporter Seymour Hersh in the March 4 issue.

      The panel initially focused on destroying Iran's nuclear facilities and on regime change but has more recently been directed to identify targets in Iran that may be involved in supplying or aiding militants in Iraq, according to an Air Force adviser and a Pentagon consultant, who were not identified.