NEW YORK (Reuters) - "Retail stocks fell on Thursday as analysts said a proposed $150 billion U.S. economic stimulus package aimed at averting a recession will provide little relief for struggling retailers and cash-strapped consumers.

      The White House and Congress reached a tentative deal that would grant individuals a maximum rebate of $600 and married couples up to $1,200, plus $300 per child. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, vowed further action if needed to boost the economy.

      With consumers grappling with high debt, rising food and fuel costs, and negative savings, the proposed stimulus package would not do enough to spur flagging consumer spending, said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of New York-based retail consulting firm Davidowitz & Associates Inc.

      "Everybody recognizes that the stimulus is not going to do anything on a permanent basis. It's just a drop in the bucket," he said.

      "When you look at someone who's put nothing down on a house and now has negative equity, do you really think this addresses any of these issues?"

      Retail stocks, meanwhile, lost some of the gains made following the Federal Reserve's move on Tuesday to cut the fed funds rate by 75 basis points.

      The Dow Jones U.S. Retailers Index .DJUSRT fell 1.5 percent while the Standard & Poor's Retailing Industry Group Index lost 1.2 percent..."

Gold near historic high

US home sales 'see 25-year low'

      Whole colonies of bees are already being wiped out, with current methods of pest control unable to stop the problem.

      The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) said that if the crisis continued, honeybees would disappear completely from Britain by 2018, causing "calamitous" economic and environmental problems.

      It called on the Government to restart shelved research programmes and to fund new ones to try to save the insects.

      Tim Lovett, the association's president, said: "The situation has become insupportable and the Government is unwilling to take steps to avoid disaster.

      "We're increasingly unable to cope with threats as they arise. No bees means a huge cost to agriculture, without touching on the ecological and environmental issues. We're facing calamitous results."

      Last year, more than 11 per cent of all beehives inspected were wiped out, although losses were higher in some areas.

      In London, about 4,000 hives - two-thirds of the bee colonies in the capital - were estimated to have died over last winter. Of the eight colonies inspected so far this year, all have been wiped out..."

      NEW YORK (PRNewswire-USNewswire) -- "Some recent studies suggest that over-consumption of fluoride can raise the risks of disorders affecting teeth, bones, the brain and the thyroid gland," reports Scientific American editors (January 2008). "Scientific attitudes toward fluoridation may be starting to shift," writes author Dan Fagin.
 
      "Fluoride, the most consumed drug in the USA, is deliberately added to 2/3 of public water supplies theoretically to reduce tooth decay, but with no scientifically-valid evidence proving safety or effectiveness," says lawyer Paul Beeber, President, New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation.
 
      Fagin, award-wining environmental reporter and Director of New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program, writes, "There is no universally accepted optimal level for daily intake of fluoride." Some researchers even wonder whether the 1 mg/L added into drinking water is too much, reports Fagin.
 
      After 3 years of scrutinizing hundreds of studies, a National Research Council (NRC) committee "concluded that fluoride can subtly alter endocrine function, especially in the thyroid -- the gland that produces hormones regulating growth and metabolism," reports Fagin.

      Fagin quotes John Doull, professor emeritus of pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, who chaired the NRC committee thusly, "The thyroid changes do worry me."

      Fluoride in foods, beverages, medicines and dental products can result in fluoride over-consumption, visible in young children as dental fluorosis -- white spotted, yellow, brown and/or pitted teeth. We can't normally see fluoride's effects to the rest of the body.

      Reports Fagin, "a series of epidemiological studies in China have associated high fluoride exposures with lower IQ."
 
      "(E)pidemiological studies and tests on lab animals suggest that high fluoride exposure increases the risk of bone fracture, especially in vulnerable populations such as the elderly and diabetics," writes Fagin.
 
      Fagin interviewed Steven Levy, director of the Iowa Fluoride Study which tracked about 700 Iowa children for sixteen years. Nine-year-old "Iowa children who lived in communities where the water was fluoridated were 50 percent more likely to have mild fluorosis... than [nine-year-old] children living in nonfluoridated areas of the state," writes Fagin. Levy will study
fluoride's effects on their bones.

      Over 1200 professionals urge Congress to cease water fluoridation and conduct Congressional hearings because scientific evidence indicates fluoridation is ineffective and has serious health risks..."

      NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- "The sputtering U.S. economy has gotten everyone from the financial markets to the Federal Reserve to Congress in a panic.

      But here's a disheartening message for those already worried about economic growth -- it could get much worse.

      Most economists who believe a recession is already here or at least near are looking for a relatively short and mild downturn, perhaps lasting only two or three quarters.

      But many of those same economists say they also can envision a worse-case scenario where spending by consumers and businesses falls off sharply, unemployment heads higher than normal during a typical recession and housing and credit market problems worsen.

      "I can easily imagine [the economy] going into a free fall," said Dean Baker, the chief economist for the Center for Economic and Policy Research. "The danger is that housing prices continue to tumble and accelerate, people's ability to pull out equity will evaporate, and you'll see a serious downturn in consumption."

      We talked to three more leading economists to find out their biggest economic fears. Here's what they had to say.

      Greenback blues David Wyss, chief economist with Standard & Poor's, said that among his biggest concerns is that overseas investors could pull back on investing in the dollar and other U.S. assets.

      That could cause an even greater sense of fear among U.S. consumers and businesses, as stock prices fall and bond yields rise, which in turn would lift mortgage rates and be a bigger drag on the already battered housing market.

      "Americans could just get scared by a barrage of bad news," Wyss said. "The stock market could continue going down because of foreigners pulling money out, and between that and home values going through the floor, it could lead to a real pullback of spending, particularly by Baby Boomers who are getting close to retirement."

      Wyss said he's also concerned that oil prices could shoot higher, even if a recession cuts into global demand. He said supply disruptions in the Middle East could send oil prices up to $150 a barrel and help deepen any recession.

Fed cuts and stimulus package won't stem foreclosures

      Beijing (BBC) -- "China says it is facing serious power shortages as severe winter weather continues to cause unusually high demand for electricity.

      Thirteen regions have already started to ration power supplies, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

      It said coal reserves were down to emergency levels and stockpiles were only high enough to generate power for the whole country for eight days.

      China's economic boom has led to surging demand for electricity.

      The coal industry has struggled to keep up, partly because of the government's campaign to close many small mines on safety grounds.

Peak demand

      China's National Development and Reform Commission, which has control over energy issues, has called on coal suppliers and electricity providers to do their best to maintain output while promoting energy conservation.

      It said winter demand was at its peak, and that low water levels has caused hydroelectric output to fall, further driving demand for coal power.

      India (BBC) - "Officials in the Indian state of West Bengal say that the bird flu epidemic has spread to two more of the state's 19 districts, taking the total to nine.

       They say that the spread of the H5N1 virus means that even more chicken and duck will have to be killed than was originally estimated.

       On Monday officials said that around 2m birds would need to be culled - a figure that will now rise.

       Health experts have warned that the outbreak could get out of control.

       The H5N1 strain of bird flu is regarded as highly pathogenic and can also cause disease and death in humans.

       However, most human victims have contracted the disease through close contact with affected birds.

       There is little evidence that the virus can be transmitted easily between humans.

'Very serious'

       West Bengal's Minister for animal resources and development, Anisur Rehman, told the BBC there are currently 650 culling teams in the state who have killed about 430,000 birds with another 200,000 expected to be destroyed on Wednesday..."

    LONDON (AP) - "Stocks fell sharply worldwide Monday following declines on Wall Street last week amid investor pessimism over the U.S. government's stimulus plan to prevent a recession.

    U.S. markets were closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but the downbeat mood from last week's market declines there circled through Europe, Asia and the Americas. Britain's benchmark FTSE-100 slumped 5.5 percent to 5,578.20, France's CAC-40 Index tumbled 6.8 percent to 4,744.15, and Germany's blue-chip DAX 30 plunged 7.2 percent to 6,790.19.

    In Asia, India's benchmark stock index tumbled 7.4 percent, while Hong Kong's blue-chip Hang Seng index plummeted 5.5 percent to 23,818.86, its biggest percentage drop since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

    In Canada, the S&P/TSX composite index on the Toronto Stock Exchange fell 4.8 percent. Brazilian stocks plunged 6.6 percent on the main index of Sao Paulo's Bovespa exchange, and Argentina's benchmark Merval index fell 6.3 percent to close under 1,900 for the first time since August 2006.

    Investors dumped shares because they were skeptical that an economic stimulus plan President Bush announced Friday would shore up the economy that has been battered by problems in its housing and credit markets. The plan, which requires approval by Congress, calls for about $145 billion worth of tax relief to encourage consumer spending.

    "We've taken our lead from the Asian markets who have not been impressed by the U.S. There's debate if there's going to be a recession in the U.S. I don't think there's much chance of that though," said Richard Hunter, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown Stockbrokers Ltd. in London.

    Concerns about the outlook for the U.S. economy, a major export market for Asian companies, has sent the region's markets sliding in 2008. Just last Wednesday, the Hang Seng index sank 5.4 percent.

    "It's another horrible day," said Francis Lun, a general manager at Fulbright Securities in Hong Kong. "Today it's because of disappointment that the U.S. stimulus (package) is too little, too late and investors feel it won't help the economy recover."

    Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index slid 3.9 percent to close at 13,325.94 points, its lowest close in more than two years. China's Shanghai Composite index plunged 5.1 percent, partly on worries about mainland Chinese banks' exposure to risky U.S. mortgage investments.

    "People are certainly nervous about a potential recession in the U.S. spilling over to the rest of the world," said David Cohen, Director of Asian Economic Forecasting at Action Economics in Singapore.

    Cohen said there may be "still some wariness" about politicians being able to come up with a compromise and act sufficiently quickly on a stimulus package. "I think the impact would be marginal anyway," he said.

    Investors took cues from the negative reaction to the president's plan on Wall Street on Friday, when the Dow Jones industrial average slid 0.5 percent to 12,099.30, bringing its loss for the year so far to nearly 9 percent.

    Traders also have shrugged off assurances from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke that the U.S. central bank is ready to act aggressively—which means a likely big interest rate cut later this month—to help the sagging economy.

    Some analysts predict that Asia won't suffer dramatically from a U.S. recession because increased trade and investment within Asia has made the region less reliant on the United States than in the past. Excluding Japan, 43 percent of Asia's exports go to other nations in the region, Lehman Brothers calculates, up from 37 percent in 1995.

       But on Monday, uncertainty and pessimism reigned..."

    Montana (CNN) -- "Bitter cold gripped most of the United States on Monday, with temperatures dipping below normal from coast to coast.

    Temperatures in the Upper Midwest and Northern Plains were about 30 degrees below normal, CNN meteorologist Bonnie Schneider said.

      "It's very hard to find any part of the country that's warm," Schneider said.

    In Presque Isle, Maine, the overnight low dropped to 27 below zero, according to the National Weather Service. Monday's high in extreme northern Maine was not expected to make it up to zero, the service said, and the wind chill made it feel much colder.

     In Butte, Montana, the temperature at 10 a.m. (noon ET) was 20 below zero, up from an overnight low of 32 below.

    The cold hampered firefighting efforts in Lawrence, Massachusetts, where firefighters had to deal with frozen hydrants and frigid temperatures during a seven-alarm fire.

    The pre-dawn blaze destroyed a dozen homes and sent one person to a hospital, the city's fire chief said.

    Firefighters in Butler County, Pennsylvania, had a similar problem, CNN affiliate WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh reported. Water sprayed on a fire turned to ice as soon as it hit the ground, creating a slipping hazard, a fire official told the station.

    Icy temperatures in Fort Collins, Colorado, forced organizers to move their celebration of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday indoors, CNN affiliate KMGH-TV in Denver reported..."

      United Kingdom (guardian.co.uk) - "The west must be ready to resort to a pre-emptive nuclear attack to try to halt the "imminent" spread of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, according to a radical manifesto for a new Nato by five of the west's most senior military officers and strategists.

      Calling for root-and-branch reform of Nato and a new pact drawing the US, Nato and the European Union together in a "grand strategy" to tackle the challenges of an increasingly brutal world, the former armed forces chiefs from the US, Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands insist that a "first strike" nuclear option remains an "indispensable instrument" since there is "simply no realistic prospect of a nuclear-free world".

   The manifesto has been written following discussions with active commanders and policymakers, many of whom are unable or unwilling to publicly air their views. It has been presented to the Pentagon in Washington and to Nato's secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, over the past 10 days. The proposals are likely to be discussed at a Nato summit in Bucharest in April.

      "The risk of further [nuclear] proliferation is imminent and, with it, the danger that nuclear war fighting, albeit limited in scope, might become possible," the authors argued in the 150-page blueprint for urgent reform of western military strategy and structures. "The first use of nuclear weapons must remain in the quiver of escalation as the ultimate instrument to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction."

       The authors - General John Shalikashvili, the former chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff and Nato's ex-supreme commander in Europe, General Klaus Naumann, Germany's former top soldier and ex-chairman of Nato's military committee, General Henk van den Breemen, a former Dutch chief of staff, Admiral Jacques Lanxade, a former French chief of staff, and Lord Inge, field marshal and ex-chief of the general staff and the defence staff in the UK - paint an alarming picture of the threats and challenges confronting the west in the post-9/11 world and deliver a withering verdict on the ability to cope..."

   NEW YORK (Reuters) - "A heavy gloom hanging over Wall Street may deepen this week unless such bellwether companies as Apple and United Technologies provide investors with hope that the U.S. economy can avert recession.

     A slew of major corporations, also including Bank of America Corp, Microsoft Corp and AT&T Inc, will release quarterly earnings in a shortened trading week that has scant economic data scheduled for release.

     Markets will be closed on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr Day.

     "Earnings (this) week are the only thing that the market has to hang its hat on. With the market in such a fragile condition, those earnings better be good or we could see some severe selling," Richard Sparks, senior equities analyst with Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati, said on Friday.

     Investors took little solace this past week from a $150 billion White House rescue plan as stocks fell on enormous losses at Citigroup, the top U.S. bank, and Merrill Lynch, the world's largest brokerage, and economic data signaled the U.S. economy was headed for recession..."

      BEIJING (Reuters) - "From India to Indonesia, governments across Asia are scrambling for solutions as it dawns on them that sky-high food prices might not fall any time soon.

      With food accounting for a third of China's consumer price basket and even more in some other countries, the high prices are a ticking time bomb for the region, where fuel increases periodically touch off sometimes violent protests.

    "If the inflation problem gets out of hand, it could have devastating implications for not only economic but also political stability," said Yiping Huang, an economist with Citigroup in Hong Kong.

      In Pakistan, where the government has blamed a shortage of flour on smugglers and hoarders, paramilitary troops have begun escorting wheat trucks to deter thieves.

      Malaysia briefly rationed cooking oil this month before the government boosted supplies of subsidized oil.

       In China, where inflation is at an 11-year high, the government has taxed grain exports to boost local supplies and resorted to command economy-style price controls.

      India has been considering cutting import duties on edible oil, while in Indonesia the government has subsidized cooking oil refiners and suspended a 10 percent duty on imported soybeans.

      "Scrapping the tax is not sufficient. The government must ensure prices won't increase every day," said Sutaryo, who leads a group of tofu and soybean cake producers in Jakarta..."

      Detroit (energybulletin.net) - "THE world's biggest car maker, General Motors, believes the global oil supply has peaked and a switch to electric cars is inevitable.

      In a stunning announcement at the opening of the Detroit Motor Show yesterday, GM's chairman and chief executive officer, Rick Wagoner, said ethanol was an important interim solution to the demand for oil, until battery technology gave electric cars the range of petrol-powered cars.

      GM is working on an electric car, the Volt — due in showrooms in 2010 — but delays in battery technology have slowed its development.

      Mr Wagoner cited US Department of Energy figures that showed the world was using about 1000 barrels of oil every second and demand was likely to increase by 70% in the next 20 years.

      "There is no doubt demand for oil is outpacing supply at a rapid pace, and has been for some time now," Mr Wagoner said. "As a business necessity and an obligation to society we need to develop alternate sources of propulsion.

      "So, are electrically driven vehicles the answer for the mid- and long-term? Yes, for sure. But we need something else to significantly reduce our reliance on petroleum in the interim."

      GM has signed an agreement with a supplier who claims to have come up with a way of producing ethanol more cheaply and efficiently than refining oil. It has formed a partnership with a company that claims it can produce ethanol from materials such as agriculture and municipal waste, discarded plastics and old tyres.

      The car industry has had a love-hate relationship with ethanol, which is most commonly derived from grain-based crops such as corn, wheat and sugar cane. At first, car makers criticised ethanol-blended fuel because most vehicles were not compatible with it. Then they embraced ethanol-blended fuel after retuning engines.

    Most recently, ethanol has fallen out of favour with scientists and sustainability experts who have found that processing grain-based ethanol is not much more energy-efficient than refining crude oil.

      There is also a catch in GM's grand vision. Ethanol is about 30% less efficient than petrol (gasoline)..."