Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate - already the world's highest - has soared to 231,000,000%, newly released official figures for July show.
The rise - from 11,200,000% last month - was largely due to increases in the prices of bread and cereals.
A landmark power-sharing deal between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has failed to ease the country's economic crisis.
Meanwhile, the UN says it needs $140m for food aid over the next six months.
Supermarkets urged to reduce choice and meat sales
Shops should axe environmentally damaging foods such as meat, dairy and air freighted products, says Food Ethics Council
The Food Ethics Council study says improvements in efficiency of the food supply chain have been overtaken by growth in consumption, and also fail to tackle the huge impact of customers driving to shops and growth in emissions overseas.
Emissions from the food industry are still growing, despite calls from the United Nations, and this week from the UK's independent Climate Change Committee for rich nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 80% by 2050, it says.
The report calls for a radical reform of the industry including two "sacred assumptions" that "consumers are king" and that "the economy must grow to survive".
It also backs calls by the UN's head of climate change to eat less meat, warning that the biggest cuts to greenhouse gas emissions will come from changes to diet by eating less meat and more fruit and vegetables, rather than cutting food-miles.
Sign of the Times: National Debt Clock in Times Square Runs Out of Digits
The National Debt Clock situated near Times Square ran out of numbers as the federal government's debt soared to $10.2 trillion. The billboard style clock, which was erected in 1989 by late Manhattan real estate developer Seymour Durst, was only equipped to handle a debt of up to $9,999,999,999,999.
The current economic crisis helped push the clock over that mark. As a temporary solution, the space that formerly held the dollar sign is now the number 1. The clock's owners plan to make room for two additional digits on the board next year.
South Korea, Taiwan and HK cut rates to spark growth
South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong cut interest rates a day after reductions by the US, Europe and China to stem damage from the global financial crisis.
The Bank of Korea and Taiwan's central bank lowered their rates by a quarter of a percentage point and Hong Kong cut its benchmark to 2%. The Bank of Japan, which kept its policy rate at 0.5% this week, pumped 2 trillion yen ($30 billion) into the financial system.
Stocks in China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong all rose after the rate cuts, snapping market declines that have helped wipe more than $US5 trillion ($7.5 billion) off stocks globally this month. The International Monetary Fund forecast yesterday the world's advanced economies will expand at the weakest pace since 1982 next year, sapping growth in emerging nations.
Dow Plunges 679 to Fall to Lowest Level in 5 Years
Dow plunges 679 points to trade below 9,000 for the first time in 5 years in afternoon
Stocks plunged Thursday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average down 679 points — more than 7 percent — to its lowest level in five years. Stocks took a nosedive after a major credit-rating agency said it might cut its rating on General Motors and Ford, further rattling investors already fretting over the impact of tight credit on the economy.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index also fell more than 7 percent.
The declines came on the one-year anniversary of the closing highs of the Dow and the S&P. The Dow has lost 5,585 points, or 39.4 percent, since closing at 14,164.53 on Oct. 9, 2007. It's the worst run for the Dow since the nearly two-year bear market that ended in December 1974 when the Dow lost 45 percent. The S&P 500, meanwhile, is off 655 points, or 41.9 percent, since recording its high of 1,565.15.
Iceland Takes Over Kaupthing as Biggest Banks Fail
Oct. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Iceland's government seized control of Kaupthing Bank hf, the nation's biggest bank, completing the takeover of a financial industry that collapsed under the weight of foreign debt.
Iceland is guaranteeing Kaupthing's domestic deposits and helping manage the banks to provide a "functioning domestic banking system,'' the country's Financial Supervisory Authority said in a statement on its Web site today.
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"This looks like a total collapse,'' said Thomas Haugaard Jensen, an economist at Svenska Handelsbanken AB in Copenhagen. ``It'll take several years before the economy can start to return to growth.''
All trading in Iceland's equity markets is suspended until Oct. 13 due to "unusual market conditions,'' the country's exchange said today. The FSA said it planned to form a new bank with Landsbanki's domestic operations, keeping open branches, call centers and cash machines.
Iceland is all but officially bankrupt
REYKJAVIK: People go bankrupt all the time. Companies do, too. But countries?
Iceland was on the verge of doing exactly that on Thursday as the government shut down the stock market and seized control of its last major independent bank. That brought trading in the country's currency to a halt, with foreign banks no longer willing to take Icelandic krona, even at fire-sale rates.
As the meltdown in the Icelandic financial system quickened, with the government seemingly powerless to do anything about it, analysts said there was probably only one realistic option left: for Iceland to be bailed out by the International Monetary Fund.
"Iceland is bankrupt," said Arsaell Valfells, a professor at the University of Iceland. "The Icelandic krona is history. The IMF has to come and rescue us."
Prime Minister Geir Haarde, who had warned this week of the threat of "national bankruptcy," said Thursday that Iceland's finance minister, Arni Mathiesen, would be in Washington this weekend for the autumn IMF/World Bank meetings. He declined to say whether Iceland was seeking a rescue package from the international lender.
Gordon Brown considers legal action against Iceland
PM says he is freezing assets of Icelandic companies in the UK in response to 'illegal action they have taken
Gordon Brown has told the Icelandic prime minister that he is considering legal action against the country over the collapse of its national banks.
The prime minister said tonight that Iceland's decision not to recompense those with savings in the bank was "completely unacceptable" and the British government would do "whatever is necessary to recover the money".
"I've spoken to the Icelandic prime minister, I have told him this is effectively an illegal action that they have taken. We are freezing the assets of Icelandic companies in the UK where we can. We will take further action against the Icelandic authorities where necessary to recover the money.
"We are talking to the local authorities to see what we can do to help them."
Financial crisis: IMF draws up emergency bail-out plans for countries
The International Monetary Fund has drawn up emergency plans to bail out governments affected by the financial crisis, after warning yesterday that no country would be immune from the ripple effects of the credit crunch.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the Fund's managing director, said it could make "hundreds of billions of dollars" available to either rich countries in the west, or to developing nations.
Amid fears that the extreme turbulence of the past month will push governments to the brink of financial collapse, Strauss-Kahn said he had asked the Fund's board to activate its fast-track loan procedure.
Strauss-Kahn said, "we are ready to answer any demand from a country facing problems."
Europe's Troubles Take Toll On Single Currency
Earlier this year, worries about the U.S. economy faltering due to a severe housing slump helped push the dollar to an all-time low against the euro.
But since the euro's mid-July peak, Europe's single currency has lost some 14 percent of its value against the dollar.That trend accelerated once the financial storm sweeping from the United States landed with a crash in Europe last month.
But even before European banks began to fall like dominoes, the euro had been taking a battering.
"It partly reflects a belief on the part of investors that the U.S., for all of its problems, might come out of this crisis more quickly than Europe," says Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Center for European Reform in London. He says it's not a perception he shares.
Bernanke running out of ammo
A well-worn bit of wisdom from rural America advises one that it is pointless to "close the barn door after the cows have escaped". By participating in yesterday's global round of short-term interest rate cuts, US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke cannot be said to have been guilty of this offense. Instead, what he has done is to close the barn door after the cows have escaped, been captured down the road by cattle rustlers, then sold, slaughtered and ground up into dog food chunks.
For the 10th time since August, 2007, the Federal Reserve has engineered an interest rate cut in order to counter the spreading effects of the now global financial and credit crisis. With twin 50 basis point cuts in both the Discount Rate, to 1.75%, and the Federal Funds Target Rate, to 1.5%, the Fed has now just about emptied its magazine of possible interest rate cuts.
Yesterday's cuts, coordinated across the globe with the Bank of England, the European Central Bank, the Swiss Central Bank, and the Riksbank of Sweden, with the Bank of China participating independently with cuts of its own, are the latest policy initiatives employed by desperate and besieged world economic officials to contain a truly awesome fire-breathing ogre that goes by the name of deleveraging, a monster that seems to get worse, and more importantly, laugh away all attempts to contain it, with every passing day.
Syria releases American reporters
Two American journalists arrested for entering Syria illegally have been released into US custody, the US state department said.
Holli Chmela, 27, and Taylor Luck, 23, are now at the US embassy in Damascus and were said to be in "good shape".
The pair were detained after trying to cross the border from Lebanon aided by smugglers, Syrian officials said.
Russia: A Future Radical Muslim Superpower?
The second wave of radicalization started at the turn of the century. Some people claim that it was a result of the American War on Terror, which many Muslims interpret as the American War on Islam, but in reality the reason is skyrocketing oil revenues of Wahhabi states.
Centuries-old local mosques are being replaced by modern, Wahhabi-built mosques. Old imams who survived the communists are being replaced by Wahhabi clerics. This is not only true for predominantly Muslim countries like Tajikistan, but also for autonomous regions inside of Russia like Bashkiria and Tatarstan, where most people consider themselves more Russian than Muslim. You can see similar developments in former Yugoslavia, where moderate imams with little financial backing are being replaced by radicals with virtually unlimited financing.
If current demographic trends hold, Muslims in Russia may become a majority by the mid-century. And if current radicalization trends hold, Russia may become a war theatre comparable to Chechnya or Lebanon, but on a much larger scale.
Germany raids sites linked to rightist youth group
BERLIN: The German authorities carried out nationwide raids Thursday as part of an investigation into a youth group accused of indoctrinating children and teenagers with neo-Nazi ideals.
The early morning raids were carried out in all but two of the 16 states in Germany, with the authorities searching the offices and homes of about 100 people.
The Interior Ministry said no arrests had been made, but the authorities sought to obtain evidence against the Homeland-Faithful German Youth - who go by the German abbreviation HDJ, for Heimattreue Deutsche Jugend, and are loosely linked to the far-right National Democratic Party.
The police confiscated documents, computers, digital storage devices and other items. They will be turned over to the domestic intelligence agency, which tracks extremists, for analysis.
"An anti-Semitic and racist tenor can be seen in HDJ publications," the Interior Ministry said in a statement after the raids. "The HDJ's self-image is near in spirit to the ideology, historically, of the Nazis."
Police Release Terror Suspects in Bonn
Citing insufficient evidence, officials have released two terror suspects in Bonn who were arrested after boarding a KLM flight at the Cologne airport just over a week ago. The investigation, however, is continuing.
Suicide blast at Pakistan police HQ as violence mounts
ISLAMABAD (AFP) — A suicide attack struck a police complex in Islamabad and a roadside bomb killed 10 people in Pakistan's northwest on Thursday, underscoring the growing threat posed by Islamist militants.
The blasts happened as intelligence chiefs held a rare briefing for parliamentarians in Islamabad on the fight against Al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists who are launching attacks from hideouts near the Afghan border.
In Islamabad, seven people were injured when a suspected militant blew up a car bomb outside an anti-terrorist squad building. The blast ripped off the facade of the red-brick building, an AFP correspondent said.
IAF jets scrambled to northern border
Thirty-five years after the Yom Kippur War erupted, the Israel Air Force scrambled fighter jets to the border with Lebanon after a suspicious aircraft was detected approaching Israeli airspace.
Two jets and an attack helicopter were scrambled to the border one hour before the fast ended after an unidentified aircraft was spotted flying very close to the border. The aircraft, together with ground forces, conducted searches on the ground and shortly later returned to base after the plane turned around and flew back north into Lebanon.
North Korea said to be deploying missiles
VIENNA/SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea deployed more than 10 missiles on its west coast apparently for an imminent test launch, a South Korean newspaper said on Thursday, and Pyongyang halted U.N. monitoring of its nuclear complex.
The potentially destabilizing moves followed reports that the United States had offered to remove North Korea from its terrorism blacklist this month in an effort to keep a nuclear disarmament pact from falling apart.
Peru's government poised to quit
Peruvian cabinet ministers are poised to tender their resignation to the country's president over an alleged scandal over oil concessions.
Prime Minister Jorge del Castillo said that he and his cabinet were ready to put their fate in the hands of President Alan Garcia Perez.
The move follows a frustrated attempt by the cabinet to explain its decisions before parliament.
Congress is to investigate alleged bribe-taking by politicians.
Shiite Politician Assassinated in Iraq; Mourners Blame U.S. and Iraqi Forces
BAGHDAD — A roadside bomb killed a prominent member of Muqtada al-Sadr's political movement Thursday, raising fears of new internal Shiite bloodshed ahead of regional elections expected in January.
The victim's allies blamed U.S. and Iraqi forces for the blast, which occurred near an Iraqi army checkpoint in mostly Shiite eastern Baghdad. Suspicion also fell on Shiite splinter groups — some with suspected links to Iran, which has sheltered al-Sadr for nearly 18 months.
Saleh al-Auqaeili, considered a moderate within al-Sadr's movement, was traveling in a convoy with other Shiite lawmakers when the blast occurred about 200 yards from the Iraqi army checkpoint, a colleague said.
Sri Lankan Minister’s convoy attacked
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka Minister of Agricultural Development and general secretary of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Maithripala Sirisena escaped death narrowly as a suspected female LTTE cadre blew herself up targeting his convoy on Thursday afternoon.
The unsuccessful bid for his life was made as the convoy reached Pirivena Junction, Boralasgamuwa around 1.15 pm on the outskirts of the national capital.
One person died and seven persons, including Deputy Minister of Agrarian Services Siripala Gamlath, who were part of the entourage sustained injuries.
8 houses burnt near Kandhamal
Unable to create trouble in Orissa's riot-hit Kandhamal for about a week due to tight security, rioters sneaked into neighbouring Boudh district and set afire eight houses, the police said today.
Miscreants from Gochhapada area in Kandhamal entered the adjoining Kantamal police station area of Boudh late last night and torched eight houses at Lamsaripali village, Deputy IGP RP Koche said.
China Demands Repatriation of Uighur Detainees Held at Guantanamo
China is repeating calls for 17 Uighurs in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to be repatriated to China. The Uighurs are from a Muslim minority group thatlives in far northwestern China. U.S. authorities have cleared them of being enemy combatants, but they are now embroiled in a dispute over where to send them once they are released. Stephanie Ho reports from Beijing.
U.S. authorities picked up the Uighurs in Afghanistan and Pakistan more than seven years ago, along with other suspected terrorists.
Now, the 17 Uighurs have been cleared of being enemy combatants and U.S. authorities want to free them. But the sticking point is where they should go once they are released.
Jail riot caused by cancelled oval time
A cancelled recreation session may have sparked a riot at a prison in South Australia's north.
Correctional Services chief executive Peter Severin said an oval session for inmates at the Port Augusta Prison was cancelled on Thursday when jail officials had to send extra staff to the infirmary at short notice.
Soon after, between 30 and 40 inmates from the jail's high security Bluebush division rioted over conditions at the jail.
Some damage was caused and prisoners were seen wielding makeshift weapons while standing on the prison roof.
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'Yom Kippur riot' in Israeli city
Riots have broken out in the mixed city of Acre, reportedly triggered when an Israeli Arab man drove his car during the Yom Kippur religious holiday.
Dozens of cars and shops were damaged as hundreds of people took to the streets, Haaretz newspaper reported.
For Jews, Yom Kippur is a sombre day of fasting, during which it is considered offensive to drive in much of Israel.
The Arab man was reportedly attacked by youths who said he was making noise intentionally, Haaretz said.
The Arab man is reported to have said he was simply driving to a property he owned in the eastern part of the city.
Hundreds of Jews, Arabs clash with police in Akko
VIDEO - Hundreds of Jewish and Arab demonstrators were clashing with police forces Thursday night in Akko's Wolfson neighborhood, this after Yom Kippur saw fierce clashes between the northern city's residents that erupted after an Arab motorist entered a predominantly Jewish area on the holiest of Jewish days.
Police were trying to contain the demonstrators with crowd-dispersing apparatus, including water hoses, stun grenades and gas grenades.
Acre sees worst violence in years as Jews and Arabs resume clashes
Jewish and Arab residents of the northern town of Acre resumed violent riots Thursday evening, after an Arab man drove through a prominently Jewish neighborhood during the high holiday of Yom Kippur Wednesday night, sparking a quarrel that deteriorated into some of the worst clashes the city has seen in years.
Police warded off hundreds of Jewish rioters, chanting "death to Arabs" and trying to storm the city's main road. Border Police officers and horse-back officers were trying to prevent the rioters from reaching the center of town. Meanwhile hundreds of Arab rioters gathered in the heart of the city.
The violence resumed at the city's train station with Arabs and Jews hurling rocks at each other. Police employed protest dispersal measures, such as water hoses, in efforts to quell the violence. Riots then continued in Acre's Old City, where hundreds of Arab residents threw stones and burned tires.
Several people were arrested, but there were no reports of serious injury.
MK Eitam slams 'anti-Semitic pogrom in heart of Israel'
Riots in Akko spark political clashes as well: Rightist and leftist Knesset members traded harsh statements Thursday, with most of them slamming the police, in the wake of the Yom Kippur riots in Akko.
Knesset Member Effie Eitam referred to the riots as an "anti-Semitic pogrom at the heart of Israel on the holiest day to the Jewish people." However, MK Ahmad Tibi apparently saw things differently, referring to a "pogrom perpetrated by Jewish thugs against Arabs."
Likud Knesset Member Yuval Steinitz urged the internal security minister and police chief to resign in the wake of what he characterized as a failure.
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