NEW YORK (Reuters) - "The dollar fell to a three-month low against a basket of currencies on Friday, weighed down by concerns the growing crisis in the subprime mortgage market could spread and curb economic growth.

      Sentiment on the greenback had soured overnight, with investors worried that weakness in parts of the housing sector could seep into other markets and the broader economy, particularly after former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned of such a risk on Thursday.

      "I believe that what is going on in the subprime lending market is just hurting the dollar too much," said Manfred Wolf, director of corporate FX sales at HVB Bank in New York..."

More:

Oil drops on U.S. economic worries

Stocks fall as Wall Street turns pessimistic about interest rates

Greenspan comments causing more stir in retirement then he did as Fed Chairman

      The bad news on the U.S. economy continues to pile up.  To be honest, I'm beginning to worry just a bit.  Being ready for a recession or even, dare I say it, a depression, is part of the overall mentality of being prepared.

· Putin signs deal for oil pipeline to Greece
· Concerns increased over dependency on Moscow

     MOSCOW (The Guardian) - "Russia yesterday consolidated its grip as the EU's main energy supplier by agreeing a deal to build a major oil pipeline across Bulgaria and Greece.

      The 175-mile, $1.2bn (£619m) pipeline will link Bulgaria's Black Sea port of Burgas with the Greek port of Alexandroupoli. The project will make it possible for the first time for Russian and Caspian oil to be transported directly to the EU, avoiding Turkey.

     Northern Hemisphere (BBC) - "Winter in the northern hemisphere this year has been the warmest since records began more than 125 years ago, a US government agency says.

       The combined land and ocean surface temperature from December to February was 0.72C (1.3F) above average.

       The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said El Nino, a seasonal warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean, had also contributed to the warmth.

       Weather experts predict that 2007 could be the hottest year on record.

      Then the article goes on to whine about "Greenhouse Gases".  Anyone who pays attention to solar activity or the Earth's magnetic field will tell you otherwise.  The amount of CO2 in the atmosphere now is only 1/4 of what it once was during the last "warm" age.  Someone needs to look at the history of the Earth and see the facts as more than just what is in front of their noses.

     TOKYO (Reuters) - "The dollar hit a 2-1/2-month low against the euro and fell against the yen on Friday, coming under pressure as a drop in Japanese shares kept market players nervous about investors further cutting back on risky positions.

      A 1 percent fall in the Nikkei share average kept traders on edge about a further unwinding of carry trades, where investors borrow funds in low-yielding currencies like the yen to buy higher-yielding currencies and assets.

      Investors are also worried about the outlook for the U.S. economy after signs of growing problems in the U.S. mortgage and housing sectors rattled financial markets this week.

      Data later in the session on U.S. consumer prices and sentiment could reinforce expectations that a slowing economy will prompt the Federal Reserve to trim interest rates later in the year, undermining the dollar's yield advantage..."

     MOSCOW (Reuters) - "Commodities investment guru Jim Rogers stepped into the U.S. subprime fray on Wednesday, predicting a real estate crash that would trigger defaults and spread contagion to emerging markets.

      "You can't believe how bad it's going to get before it gets any better," the prominent U.S. fund manager told Reuters by telephone from New York.

      "It's going to be a disaster for many people who don't have a clue about what happens when a real estate bubble pops.

      "It is going to be a huge mess," said Rogers, who has put his $15 million belle epoque mansion on Manhattan's Upper West Side on the market and is planning to move to Asia..."

      It's time to see the writing on the wall.  It's the 800lb Gorilla in the room.  You can't ignore it forever. 

      The mysterious whirlpool is 200 kilometres across and 1000 metres deep, reaching the ocean floor, CSIRO oceanographers say. The centre is 100 kilometres from the coast and could stay there for several months.

      And another eddy of similar proportions is sitting further off the coast.

      CSIRO satellite oceanographer Dr David Griffin said that, while cold-water eddies regularly appeared off Sydney, scientists knew very little about what causes them or the influence they have in the Tasman Sea ecosystem.

     NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- "Stocks slumped Tuesday, with the Dow losing 243 points, as worries about subprime lending, the economy and the weak dollar sparked the second-worst selloff of the year.

      The Dow Jones industrial average (down 242.66 to 12,075.96, Charts) and the broader S&P 500 (down 28.65 to 1,377.95, Charts) index both lost about 2 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq (down 51.72 to 2,350.57, Charts) composite sank over 2 percent and the Russell 2000 (down 19.88 to 769.12, Charts) small-cap index tumbled 2.5 percent.

      Treasury prices jumped as investors sought safety. The advance sent the 10-year note yield down below 4.5 percent. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

      Meanwhile, the dollar tumbled versus other major currencies..."

More Here, here, here and here.  Even more here.... and here too.  This does not look good.

      The funny noises the housing bubble was making have ceased.  Now it is bursting.  Looks like it may well bring down the U.S. Dollar as well.  My advice?  Buy gold or silver.  Save some extra food, for local grocery stores may find it a tad more difficult to fund the logistical requirements to ship food to their shelves.

     PARIS (Reuters) - "Environmental group Greenpeace launched a fresh attack on genetically modified maize developed by U.S. biotech giant Monsanto, saying on Tuesday that rats fed on one version developed liver and kidney problems.

      Greenpeace said a study it had commissioned that was published in the journal Archives of Environmental Contamination and Technology showed rats fed for 90 days on Monsanto's MON863 maize showed "signs of toxicity" in the liver and kidneys.

      "It is the first time that independent research, published in a peer-reviewed journal, has proved that a GMO authorized for human consumption presents signs of toxicity," Arnaud Apoteker, a spokesman for Greenpeace France said in a statement.

      Campaigners against Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) say that genetic modification technology is unproven and potentially dangerous and that GMO crops can contaminate other crops...."

     WEATHERFORD, Texas (Fox) —  "Officials reported all workers were accounted for and safe after a gas pipeline ruptured and exploded, touching off a spectacular super-heated inferno that ignited several small brush fires and cut power to about 30,000 people in the surrounding area.

      Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler said the contractor working the site reported all workers were accounted after initial reports said three were missing.

      Fowler also says fuel has been shut off to the lines and the fires will be allowed to burn themselves out..."

      Another reason to have your own altnerate power source.  Any place on the grid, at any given time for any given reason, can be "off the grid."  Are you ready for something like this?

     NEW YORK (Reuters) - "The volume of bond sales backed by subprime home equity loans has dropped and probably will keep sliding as investors demand more compensation for taking on risk.

     Subprime mortgage loans, or home equity ABS, helped push overall ABS issuance through the trillion-dollar mark for two years in a row through 2006, as consumers refinanced their homes at a dizzying pace.

     But an abrupt end to a multi-year housing boom slammed the brakes on home refinancings, sending delinquencies on loans made to the riskiest borrowers soaring and slowing new supply...."

     Canada (National Geographic) - "High in the Canadian Arctic, large tracts of tundra have given way to forests of spruce trees and bushes in response to a spike of warming temperatures nearly a century ago, according to a new study.

     The transition took place more quickly than scientists thought, suggesting that tundra could keep shrinking as temperatures continue to warm.


     "With the type of warming we are seeing now, the potential exists for real and rapid change," said Ryan Danby, a biologist at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.

     Danby and colleague David Hik made the findings by studying treeline, the transitional habitat where trees and bushes give way to tundra, a mixture of hardy shrubs, grasses, mosses, and lichens.

     This transition zone is sensitive to temperature, Danby explained.

     Danby and Hik used tree rings and other data to measure changes over the past 300 years in the density and altitude of treeline forests at six sites in the southwestern Yukon Territory (see Canada map).

     "From 1700 to 1925 we saw no change at all at treeline. It was a very stagnant, very stable environment," Danby said..."

      Yet the winters in Siberia and Mongolia are worse than ever...  Global Warming?  Or climate shift?  It doesn't matter what we call it.  The Earth is changing regardless of name or term.

     NEW YORK (Reuters) - "The strength of the yen and possible turbulence in the U.S. mortgage market will likely be the main concerns of emerging debt investors this week, as high-yielding bonds try to consolidate their recent recovery.

      The Japanese currency is right now the main source of uncertainty: should it keep erasing recent gains, short-term investors who take advantage of the carry trade may feel comfortable to fully return to the market, analysts say.

     WASHINGTON (AP) -- "The harmful effects of global warming on daily life are already showing up, and within a couple of decades hundreds of millions of people won't have enough water, top scientists will say next month at a meeting in Belgium.

     At the same time, tens of millions of others will be flooded out of their homes each year as the Earth reels from rising temperatures and sea levels, according to portions of a draft of an international scientific report obtained by The Associated Press.

     Tropical diseases like malaria will spread. By 2050, polar bears will mostly be found in zoos, their habitats gone. Pests like fire ants will thrive.

     For a time, food will be plentiful because of the longer growing season in northern regions. But by 2080, hundreds of millions of people could face starvation, according to the report, which is still being revised.

     The draft document by the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change focuses on global warming's effects and is the second in a series of four being issued this year. Written and reviewed by more than 1,000 scientists from dozens of countries, it still must be edited by government officials.

     But some scientists said the overall message is not likely to change when it's issued in early April in Brussels, Belgium, the same city where European Union leaders agreed this past week to drastically cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Their plan will be presented to President Bush and other world leaders at a summit in June.

     The report offers some hope if nations slow and then reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, but it notes that what's happening now isn't encouraging..."

      This sure paints a rosy picture, doesn't it?

      Fanning concerns about the sector that lends to home buyers with poor credit is this past week's precipitous slide in the stock of New Century Financial Corp. (NEW.N: Quote, Profile, Research) amid fears that the lender could file for bankruptcy protection.

      The subprime lender said on Thursday it had stopped accepting new loans. Even after saying it had lined up $265 million in funding, New Century disclosed it was negotiating for further relief..."