Banks need the confidence of the public to survive and they have lost it for years to come. The danger is that if governments take on their role, they too will lose the trust of the people

We are witnessing the collapse of the world financial system. To have said that even a month ago would have been to invite ridicule, but now it seems only a statement of the obvious as banks implode, governments panic and investors run. The initial liquidity crisis that broke in August 2007 and drove Northern Rock to the wall has evolved into a crisis of insolvency and finally into a crisis of confidence in the entire financial system.
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Israelis cross religious divide to shelter olive farmers from settlers' attacks

In the shade of the trees where they have been picking olives all morning, in this wadi, south-east of Nablus, a Palestinian farmer, Jamal Otman Koarik, and two of his daughters share a lunch of home-baked bread, zatar, oil, courgettes and salad with three visitors. It's a bucolic scene that could have happened any time in the past century.

But what makes it notable in 2008 is that the guests who have been helping Mr Koarik pick the olives are Israeli Jews: a rabbi, an anthropologist and a youth worker, Hellela Siew.
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Geckos have long inspired scientists and super-hero fans alike with their ability to scamper up vertical walls and cling to ceilings with a single toe. In recent years, people have attempted to create materials that match those spectacular abilities, in the hope of creating new advanced adhesives, or even car braking systems.

Now US chemists claim to have made one based on nanotubes that it is 10 times stickier than some gecko feet. Even more impressively, like a real gecko foot, it can also be easily unstuck with a tug in the right direction.
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Politicians must stop "quibbling" about bonuses for Britain's failed bank bosses and sack those responsible for the financial crisis, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable said.

"The immediate issue here is that the people who have run their banks into the ground should be removed," he said. "There has to be a clear-out of failed executives."

The Government this week pledged to provide an unprecedented £450bn of desperately-needed funding to the banks and inject as much as £50bn of new capital into the industry to restore its financial strength and rebuild confidence.
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As the advert says, it's a "unique opportunity to buy a Northern European country", albeit one in a "somewhat sketchy financial situation".

The auction started at 99p but has already jumped to £10,000,000, which would still be a bit of a bargain, apart from that:
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A chemical widely used in hard plastic drinking bottles and the lining of food cans may reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatment, a new study shows.

The findings, reported in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, adds to the growing list of concerns about bisphenol-a, or BPA, a chemical used to make the hard, clear and nearly unbreakable plastic called polycarbonate. The plastic is also found in the lining of nearly every soft drink and canned food product.

Most of the concern about BPA has focused on children, who are exposed to the chemical when trace amounts leach from polycarbonate baby bottles and the linings of infant formula cans. The worry is based on data from animal studies. Rat pups exposed to BPA, through injection or food, showed changes in mammary and prostate tissue, suggesting a potential cancer risk.
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The government may have no concrete plans about how it will rein in the pay of bank bosses - and curbing the cash paid out to those below the most senior levels will be even more challenging.

In all publicly quoted companies, such as Lloyds TSB and Barclays, directors' pay has to be spelled out in an annual report on which shareholders can vote, and in most businesses the best-paid member of staff is the chief executive.

But bank bosses and board directors can be surrounded by staff making far more money. Even relatively junior traders, well down the pecking order but still taking big risks, expect six-figure bonus payouts.
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UV emissions could be danger

The Health Protection Agency is warning that low-energy light bulbs could give enough ultraviolet radiation to cause damage to your skin.

You'd need to be closer than 30 cm from the bulb for more than an hour a day and it would need to be an open type light bulb - the whirly ones (see pic).

The Agency recomends lamps or lights used for close work should be replaced with double envelope bulbs - which look like traditional light bulbs.
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The revelation is not only of interest to rights groups that monitor Internet censorship. The discovery also likely intrigues law enforcement and intelligence agencies in other countries, because they have been bothered by the growing use of Skype, which claims 338 million users across the world.
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Scientists using DNA testing have confirmed the second-known instance of "virgin birth" in a shark -- a female Atlantic blacktip shark named Tidbit that produced a baby without a male shark.

The shark came to the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach not long after being born in the wild and lived there for eight years with no males of the same species, said Beth Firchau, the aquarium's curator of fishes.
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How do politicians get away with bending the truth? The answer may lie with a fundamental psychological tool that we use to make sense of the world.

The current US presidential campaigns have featured untruths on both sides that have been notable for their durability. Politicians have been exposed for misrepresenting their position and then kept at it anyway, making the same misleading statements again and again.
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Dominique Boudier, who runs a printing business outside Paris, received a letter from a key supplier a week ago that her €20 million credit line was being cut in half, effective immediately. When Boudier picked up the phone to find out why, she was told that the supplier's credit insurance company had ordered the clampdown.

On Monday, Boudier's main supplier followed suit, effectively paralyzing her business.

"We can't do our job and it has nothing to do with order books," Boudier said. "Clients pay on average with a 60 day delay. We just haven't got the cash-flow to pay our suppliers immediately."
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One of our favorite finds at this year’s West Coast Green were these other-wordly and eco-friendly dome homes from Solaleya. Imagine a circular loft with plenty of skylights and a solar array on top, gently rotating to orient itself towards the sun, and you have the basic idea.

It’s like an eco-friendly update to the Chemosphere in LA. The durable domes are constructed using only FSC-certified wood and have been proven to withstand category 5 hurricanes and earthquakes up to magnitude 8 on the MSK scale.
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A federal appeals court temporarily blocked the release of 17 Chinese-born Muslims detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a day after a landmark decision required them to be shipped to the U.S.

The move Wednesday night by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit sets the stage for a protracted court battle over the fate of the men, who've been held for nearly seven years despite being cleared for release by the U.S. military. Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina had ordered the Bush administration to transfer the men to the U.S. by Friday.
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A tiny piece of plastic is making software theft simple – and it's costing the games industry a fortune

Think of a pirate and it's likely that an image of a bandanna-clad, eye-patch sporting villain springs to mind. But these days, piracy has moved out of the high seas and into our homes. For millions of people, downloading an album for free or buying knock-off DVDs in the pub is a normal part of life, with no yo ho ho-ing required.
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