Message of the day: The Oil Age is Over

The BP Deepwater Disaster, one month later: Greenpeace oil specialist and marine biologist Paul Horsman visits the Mississippi Delta to see first hand the oil which is beginning to wash onto the shores of delicate coastal ecosystem.

Apple Issues Advice to Avoid iPhone 4 Flaw

According to BBC:

Apple has released official advice for iPhone 4 owners to overcome the problem of the device losing signal when held by the lower left corner.

Steve Jobs responded to a query about the problem from one owner by saying: "Just avoid holding it in that way."

The official advice is to "avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band".

I am still quite happy with the functionality of my 3G phone. No need to folk out hard-earned money for the new version of the same gadget.

Euro Could Collapse, Says George Soros

News: Soros warns that German economic policy could destroy eurozone

As the credit outlook of southern European high-deficit countries worsened, Soros said Berlin needed to switch its economic policy from deep austerity measures to a more pro-growth agenda. Chancellor Angela Merkel announced plans this month for €80bn (£66bn) in budget cuts.

Soros said: "German policy is becoming a danger for Europe, it could destroy the European project. Right now the Germans are dragging their neighbours into deflation, which threatens a long phase of stagnation. And that leads to nationalism, social unrest and xenophobia. Democracy itself could be at risk."

Ground Zero for the Next Disaster

Robert Kiyosaki wrote in his latest article "Think the Gulf Spill Is Bad? Wait Until the Next Disaster":

While in London, I decided to go to dinner at London’s Canary Wharf, ground zero for the next BP. Only a few years ago, Canary Wharf was one of the centers of the financial universe. Condo prices were sky high, offices were packed, and high-paid bankers filled Canary Wharf with wealth and excitement. Today Canary Wharf seems to be dying. It has lost its vibrancy. Many restaurants and offices were nearly empty and there were few lights to be seen in those once high-priced condos.

Canary Wharf will be the next BP, and its BP stands for Bomb Production. Canary Wharf is much like AIG, a factory for exotic financial products known as derivatives. The problem is that most people do not know what these murky and mysterious products are -- and that includes the people who make or buy them. It’s why Warren Buffett has called derivatives “weapons of mass financial destruction.” That is how powerful they are.

Back in 1966, when I was a student training to be a ship’s officer, my ship carried bombs from California to Vietnam. During World War II, a ship exploded while loading bombs at Port Chicago, California, the port where the bombs were loaded onto ships. The explosion flattened everything for miles. It is said that the ship’s anchor, which weighed tons, was found more than 60 miles away. Derivatives -- financial bombs -- have the same power if they accidently detonate inside a bank’s balance sheet.

World's Rich Got Richer Amid '09 Recession

Reuters has just reported this:

The rich grew richer last year, even as the world endured the worst recession in decades.

A stock market rebound helped the world's ranks of millionaires climb 17 percent to 10 million, while their collective wealth surged 19 percent to $39 trillion, nearly recouping losses from the financial crisis, according to the latest Merrill Lynch-Capgemini world wealth report.

Stock values rose by half, while hedge funds recovered most of their 2008 losses, in a year marked by government stimulus spending and central bank easing.

Read the full article here.