Just Wright

Now coastal Queensland braces for 30-foot flood waters | Reuters

Australia has endured its wettest spring on record, causing six river systems in tropical Queensland to flood, as soaring temperatures in the states of Victoria and South Australia sparked warnings of devastating bushfires.

The rain has flooded coal mines and hit farming hard, with many roads still impassable, and prompted warnings of the dangers of crocodiles and snakes in flooded homes.

The inland sea that stretches

via www.reuters.com

The world over, weather is going wild. End of times, global warming, or natural cycle?

Venezuelans fret over prices after devaluation | Reuters

CARACAS, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Venezuelans worried on Friday that a second devaluation of their currency in 12 months would make life even harder as the socialist government of President Hugo Chavez struggled to turn the economy around.

Already suffering one of the world's highest inflation rates and the only major Latin American economy still in recession after the global financial crisis, they fear the New Year devaluation could hit their livelihoods more.

"It is a blow against the pockets of the workers, against the poorest people," said Robinson Calua, a 50-year-old security guard in downtown Caracas.

Officials say the devaluation announced on Thursday will increase spending and boost growth in South America's biggest oil producer, while easing the pressure on foreign reserves and freeing up dollars for imports.

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via www.reuters.com

Commodities News, Commodity Trading Prices & Data | Reuters.com

Gold's target modified to $1,421-technicals[ID:nL3E6NV01C]

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PRECIOUS-Gold higher on weak dollar, firm outlook

* Gold's target modified to $1,421-technicals[ID:nL3E6NV01C]

PRECIOUS-Gold inches higher on weak dollar, firm outlook

* Gold's target modified to $1,421-technicals[ID:nL3E6NV01C]

PRECIOUS-Gold steady, aided by weak dollar, firm outlook

SINGAPORE, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Spot gold held steady on Friday, on course for a 28 percent annual rise and its strongest in three years, as it was supported by the weakness in the dollar, while investors were expecting a further price rally next year.

PRECIOUS-Gold cuts gains after dollar recovery

* Palladium hits nine-year peak, silver around 30-year highs

» More Gold Market Report

via www.reuters.com

Apple still looks a bargain after $100 bln run | Analysis & Opinion |

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

NEW YORK — Large companies rarely grow fast due to their sheer size. Yet Apple increased sales by more than 50 percent in 2010. That sent the company’s value up by an astonishing $100 billion to nearly $300 billion. The odds of the tech firm led by Steve Jobs repeating this wondrous performance are low. The shares still look a good bet, though. Apple’s valuation looks oddly subdued once adjusted for its hulking cash pile.

Apple’s shares trade at about 19 times estimated earnings for fiscal 2011. By contrast, the forward multiple of the S&P 500 is just over 13. Yet Apple has more than $50 billion of cash and investments on its books, with zero debt. Subtract this cash, and Apple trades in line with the broader market.

That might make sense if Apple’s growth was sputtering.  Analysts predict, however, that sales will increase 35 percent this fiscal year, thanks to the popularity of the iPad and iPhone. That’s astonishing given that revenue growth for the market as a whole should be roughly equal to U.S. GDP. Moreover, Apple’s business has operating leverage, which means profits should grow faster than sales, meriting a substantial premium to the stock price.

True, Wall Street often trends toward inflexible optimism. Yet a gut check suggests continuing sunny times in Cupertino.

Let us count the ways. Sales of iPads are taking off sharply among big companies. Smartphone

via blogs.reuters.com

I learned long ago to never count Jobs out.

BBC News - Egypt bomb kills 17 at Alexandria Coptic church

Forty-three others were wounded in the attack, which happened during a new year's service at the al-Qiddissin (Saints) Church shortly after midnight.

Coptic Christians and Muslims clashed after the attack, but police moved in and used tear gas to restore order.

President Hosni Mubarak urged Egyptians to unite against "terrorism".

In a televised statement he blamed "foreign hands" for the bombing. "Wicked terrorists targeted the nation, Copts and Muslims," he said.

"It is a terrorist operation that is alien to us... We will all cut off the head of the snake, confront terrorism and defeat it."

Earlier, officials said the attack had been caused by a car bomb.

Foreign connection?

So far no group has said it carried out the attack.

The Islamic State of Iraq, a militant umbrella group that includes al-Qaeda in Iraq, had recently threatened Christians in Egypt.

It cited the case of two Egyptian Christian women who reportedly converted to Islam in order to divorce their husbands. The group said the women were being held against their will by the Coptic Church.

via www.bbc.co.uk

Egypt has long been one of the most stable countries wherein Christians have coexisted with Islam and other religions. In this case sugestions of Iraqi inflence has been posed.

BBC News - Not so happily ever as Indian divorce rate doubles

The pressures of the modern workplace make a bigger difference, she thinks, than whether it was a traditional arranged marriage, or a so-called "love marriage".

"I feel people are concentrating more on the careers and less on their personal lives," she said.

Like wedding henna, Indian marriages are not always permanent these days

"I also feel they lack patience and tolerance. They don't want to put more efforts into a relationship to fix the issues, and they feel that escapism is the solution."

India still has one of the lowest divorce rates in the world, with about one in 1,000 marriages collapsing, according to recent studies.

via www.bbc.co.uk

Grits for Breakfast: Police use of unmanned spy drones won't expand beyond Houston, yet

In addition to safety concerns, unmanned drones raise issues of modern technology bumping up against antiquated interpretations of the Fourth Amendment and American privacy rights. Current case law has a "plain sight" exception to the Fourth Amendment, but plain sight takes on a different connotation when, in an urban area, police fly unmanned spy drones over fenced backyards or conceivably even use zoom lenses to peer into windows. That's "plain sight" of a decidedly not so plain variety (or rather, of a "plane" variety"), which raises questions traditional search and seizure law finds itself particularly ill-equipped to answer.

via gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com

Are the food police using an techological Eye in the Sky for watching what you eat for btreakfast? It not soabsurd a question. Military technology is now being actively used to spy on private citizens. Is this just the beginning? What about those erie Google pix?

TV Crew Covering President Claims Mistreatment - Honolulu News Story - KITV Honolulu

At this point, journalist Sherri Kane looked into the camera and said, “Behind us we have the Secret Service following us now so this is kind of exciting.”

Exciting turned to scary after they pulled into a gas station. On their video, a police officer approached the car and said, “Stay in the car. Put that camera off of me.”

Producer Sativa Jones can be heard saying “OK.”

The women said police vehicles and up to five officers surrounded the car, demanded IDs and registration without explanation. Then without warning an officer reached into the car and grabbed Jones’ camera.

“He grabbed it out of my hand and then he slammed it on top of the car,” Jones said. She said the camera was damaged – the automatic lens cover no longer worked.

Jones’ fingers were gashed by the sharp edge on the camera mount. She said the officer appeared shaken by what he'd done and courteously showed her how to complain, writing his name and badge number on a card with contact information for the Honolulu Police Commission.

Kane said other officers on the scene would not let them make a criminal complaint against the officer who grabbed the camera.

“What went down was something that should not happen here in the United States of America,” Kane said. “You have all of these police officers that could be looking at legitimate or people who are really trying to harm the president. Instead, you have so many of them on us.”

via www.kitv.com

Should and is is quickly seeing a steep devide.

TRENDING: GOPer calls Obama administration ‘corrupt’ – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

(CNN) – The incoming House Oversight and Government Reform chairman on Sunday tried to clarify his recent remarks to Rush Limbaugh where he called President Obama "one of the most corrupt presidents in modern times."

Rep. Darrell Issa said

via politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com

G.O.P. Newcomers Set Out to Undo Obama Victories - NYTimes.com

House Democrats will get help from allies in the Senate, who can stop any repeal, and at the White House, where officials hope to transform the law from a political liability into an asset, a centerpiece of President Obama’s expected bid for re-election.

Health care is only one item on an aggressive agenda of Republicans eager to distinguish themselves quickly from the House that was run by Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Many seem to have latched on to “Undo It” the hit by the country singer Carrie Underwood, as the refrain for their planned attack against legislation that grew out of the 111th Congress, when the Democrats were at the helm in both chambers.

The health care law, entitlement programs, new limits on emissions of greenhouse gases from oil refineries and power plants, and other legislation that Republicans say cannot be justified by a strict interpretation of the Constitution — a document the new leaders plan to read on the House floor on Thursday — are all in the cross hairs.

While President Obama and Republicans were able to work together during last month’s lame-duck session — to the vocal consternation of the most partisan ends of each party’s base — to pass a tax package and a variety of last-minute legislation, including the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy and the ratification of the anti-nuclear proliferation treaty with Russia, such bipartisan consensus seems unlikely at the outset of the new House session.

Representative John

via www.nytimes.com