Good news!

GLOBAL MARKETS - Oil hits 7-week low and boosts stocks

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Oil prices fell to a seven-week low below $125 a barrel on Thursday amid a view U.S. energy demand has reached a tipping point, sending investors back into Asian stocks for the fourth consecutive day.

A retreat in oil prices and signs of improved confidence in the U.S. financial sector pushed the dollar to a one-month high against the yen.

More possible good news:

Arctic May Hold 90 Billion Barrels of Oil, U.S. Says (Update2)

July 23 (Bloomberg) -- The Arctic may hold 90 billion barrels of oil, more than all the known reserves of Nigeria, Kazakhstan and Mexico combined, and enough to supply U.S. demand for 12 years, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

One-third of the undiscovered oil is in Alaskan territory, the agency found in a study released today. By contrast, a geologic formation beneath the North Pole claimed by Russian scientists last year probably holds just 1.2 percent of the Arctic's crude, the U.S. report showed.

DRILL! DRILL! DRILL!


Meanwhile, what's going on with all those banks in trouble? Uncle Sam can't save them all, right?

If not, Uncle Mo will!

Dinars for Dollars: Arabs Buying Out Collapsing Western Banks

(IsraelNN.com) First it was Citibank. Now it's Barclay's and New York City's Chrysler Building skyscraper. Muslim Arabs are buying out collapsing Western banks and businesses and gaining growing international power, but some Arab investors are worried their investments may go down the drain with the American economy.

The current financial crisis in the United States has spread to other countries because of a massive debt that was not backed by enough real and liquid collateral. Banks and businesses gasping for financial breath are up for sale at basement prices, but no one is certain if the basement is the bottom.

"The possibility remains that more Arab white knights will be brought to rescue ailing financial institutions," wrote Dr. Mohammed Ramady, a former banker and Visiting Associate Professor at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in the Financial Adviser magazine. He said he fears that Arab investors will end up chasing their investments with more money to keep them from going under.

Beating high food prices becomes an adventure

Also known as salvage grocers, stores such as D&K and Amelia's Grocery Outlet work with manufacturers and wholesale distributors to stock name-brand and private-label products no longer sold by traditional supermarkets for a variety of reasons, including discontinued flavors, sizes, logos or promotional labels. The stores also stock discounted groceries close to their recommended sell-by date.

Sales are up 27 percent for the year to date in Amelia's 11 stores, and there has been a 12 percent increase in same-store sales, said Michael Mitchell, Amelia's president.

Army may go unpaid as sanctions dry up supply of paper for Zimbabwe banknotes

The Zimbabwean government is struggling to find enough cash to pay its workers, and more importantly the military, after it was forced to cut back on printing money because sanctions have severed its supply of banknote paper from Europe.

Officials involved in the printing say the regime fears the presses could be shut down altogether if further political pressure causes the withdrawal of software licences used to design and print notes.

Let me get this straight: things have gotten so bad there they're actually running out of paper to print money on?!?


'Advanced S-300 on the way to Iran'

Iran is likely to begin receiving advanced S-300 anti-aircraft systems by the end of the year, defense officials said Wednesday.

The S-300 is one of the best multi-target anti-aircraft-missile systems in the world today and has a reported ability to track up to 100 targets simultaneously while engaging up to 12 at the same time.

Iran has already procured several S-300 systems to protect its nuclear facilities although reports have differed as to whether the systems have already been supplied by Russia. The systems will likely be supplied to Iran via Belarus.

Spain Seeks to Arrest Israeli Minister and IDF Officers

(IsraelNN.com) The National Court in Spain has accepted a Palestinian Authority courtsuit that was filed less than a month ago, and orders the arrest of Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. The explanation: He oversaw the killing of arch-Palestinian terrorist Salah Shehada.

The Spanish court has also ordered the arrest of former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon and other IDF officials, both past and present, for the same reason.

The arrest orders are to be executed immediately upon the officials' setting foot on Spanish soil.

The Spanish government sympathizes with a terrorist and wants to arrest the guys who took him out? You'll pay, Spain. The LORD doesn't like it when you mess with His people.