Balanced News Blog

Job growth is faltering, consumer confidence plunging. The fallout from the worst housing slump in a quarter-century grows. Wherever you look, the signs are unmistakable that the economy is in trouble.

Because of all the bad news, more and more economists foresee the country falling into a recession, according to the latest survey by the National Association for Business Economics.

The group said in a report being released Monday that 45 percent of the economists on its forecasting panel expect a recession this year. In September, only one …

Fidel Castro‘s nearly five decades of rule ended Sunday when Cuba‘s National Assembly chose his younger brother Raul to be the country’s new president.

The lawmakers’ selection, which had been widely expected, came five days after Fidel Castro, 81, announced his resignation in a letter published in the state-run newspaper Granma.

In his address to the National Assembly, the 76-year-old Raul Castro proposed that “we consult Fidel” on important decisions. The 614 members of the legislative body passed that motion unanimously.

The lawmakers also announced that Jose …

Ralph Nader is launching a third-party campaign for president.

The consumer advocate made the announcement Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He says most Americans are disenchanted with the Democratic and Republican parties, and that none of the presidential contenders are addressing ways to stem corporate crime and Pentagon waste and promote labor rights.

Nader also ran as a third-party candidate in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. He is still loathed by many Democrats who call him a spoiler and claim his candidacy in 2000 cost the party the …

Has Amy Winehouse slipped jumped wholeheartedly off the wagon?

This from the NY Post:

It looks like rehab didn’t have much effect on Amy Winehouse, who is once again spiraling out of control. The British pop sensation spent the hours before the Brit Awards in London the other day trashing her room at the Riverbank Plaza Hotel, causing thousands of dollars worth of damage, according to The Sun. Management found spilled liquor, cigarette butts, empty Champagne bottles and underwear strewn on the floor. “The bed hadn’t been changed since

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Peter Allen in Paris
The Observer

French vineyard owners are returning to a slower pace of life by starting to export their wine by sailing boat – a method last used in the 1800s – to reduce their carbon footprint.

Later this month 60,000 bottles from Languedoc will be shipped to Ireland in a 19th-century barque, saving 18,375lb of carbon. Further voyages to Bristol, Manchester and even Canada are planned soon afterwards.

The three-mast barque Belem, which was launched in 1896, the last French merchant sailing vessel to be …

Britain‘s biggest windfarm, inaugurated on the site of an old coal mine, will help Scotland become a “powerhouse” of renewable energy, it has been claimed.

The forecast came from Deputy First Minister Nicol Stephen when he officially opened the Black Law windfarm, created on the site of an abandoned opencast mine at Forth in Lanarkshire.

The windfarm’s 42 turbines will deliver 97 megawatts – enough to power 70,000 homes or a town bigger than Paisley.

Mr Stephen said: “This remarkable project has helped regenerate this

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