Link: http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,15935446,00.html

Mankind may face extinction if it fails to change its ways, the Club of Rome think tank has said. Short-sighted political and economical models are the problem, according to a new report by the group.

Link: http://thiscantbehappening.net/node/1153

The latest PR catch phrase from business, administration, military, state and local officials after some atrocity or other is that whatever happened, it is certainly “not who we are,” a phrase appropriately initially uttered by the Vietnam War commander, Gen. William Westmoreland, with reference to the My Lai slaughter of 400 women, children and old men, all civilians, by a group of US soldiers. Yet if all these abominations are not “who we are,” then why do our business, police and military and government institutions generate so many examples of obscene, horrific or criminal behavior?

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/ukec-m05.shtml

Britain is back in recession. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the economy shrank by 0.2 percent over the first three months of 2012, following a 0.3 percent contraction at the end of 2011. It has now entered a double-dip recession, the first since the 1970s.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2012/may2012/jobs-m05.shtml

Only 115,000 jobs were added in the US in April, according to Friday’s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This was significantly below expectations, and was the smallest gain in six months. It was well below the revised figure of 154,000 jobs added in March.

Link: http://enenews.com/doomsday-like-radiation-release-if-fukushima-no-4-catches-fire-it-would-be-a-global-catastrophe-it-already-has-been-but-it-would-dwarf-whats-already-happened-nuclear-waste-expert

‘Doomsday-like’ radiation release if fire in pool at unit 4 — “It would be a global catastrophe… it already has been, but it would dwarf what’s already happened” -Nuclear Waste Expert

Link: http://presstv.com/detail/239682.html

Israel is the only regime that has threatened to obliterate all world countries in a “nuclear Armageddon,” if its existence is put in jeopardy, a political analyst tells Press TV. In a Friday interview, Mark Glenn, from The Crescent and Cross Solidarity movement, lashed out at Israel for its nuclear stockpile, sayingTel Aviv is the only regime that “has threatened to take the entire world down in a nuclear Armageddon in the instance that her precious experiments in Jewish self-rule in the Middle East ceases to materialize.” “There is no other country in existence today that has basically told the entire world that if we are going to go down we are going to take the rest of the world down with us,” he added.

Link: http://zen-haven.dk/space-weather-expert-has-ominous-forecast/

A stream of highly charged particles from the sun is headed straight toward Earth, threatening to plunge cities around the world into darkness and bring the global economy screeching to a halt. This isn’t the premise of the latest doomsday thriller. Massive solar storms have happened before — and another one is likely to occur soon, according to Mike Hapgood, a space weather scientist at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford, England.

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/05/05-3

Argentina's record levels of employment and massive reductions in poverty have little to do with exports. One of the great myths about the Argentine economy that is repeated nearly every day is that the rapid growth of the Argentine economy during the past decade has been a "commodity export boom". For example, the New York Times reported last week:

Link: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/05/05

Which federal program took in more than it spent last year, added $95 billion to its surplus and lifted 20 million Americans of all ages out of poverty? Why, Social Security, of course, which ended 2011 with a $2.7 trillion surplus.