World News!

Australia

• In "I thought this only happened in the cartoons" news, a RAAF airman was seriously burnt when a portable toilet exploded after he lit a cigarette while using the facilities.  The airman is in serious but stable condition.

China

• The Chinese government has ordered any and all companies that have issued bonds to submit any asset restructuring plans to bond holders for approval.
• China has "unofficially" weighed in on the US debt ceiling problem, using the state-run media to state that "Given the United States' status as the world's largest economy and the issuer of the dominant international reserve currency, such political brinkmanship in Washington is dangerously irresponsible."

Egypt

• Tens of thousands of people turned out in Cairo's Tahrir Square to call for political change - specifically, a change to a theocratic Islamic state ruled by Sharia law.

The Oceans

• A panel of 27 leading marine scientists have concluded that the Earth's oceans stand on the brink of a sixth great extinction due to climate change.  They cite "increasing hypoxia and anoxia, combined with warming of the ocean and acidification," which "are the three factors which have been present in every mass extinction event in Earth's history."

South Korea

• The most intense rains in a century have caused flooding and mudslides that have left at least 50 dead.  Possibly worse, however, is the mudslides have swept through arms depots along the northern border, scattering weapons and munitions.  Everything is accounted for except 10 landmines, believed to be somewhere near Seoul.

Space

• Astronomers have found a cloud of water, 40 billion times the mass of Earth, orbiting a quasar 12 billion light-years away.  To put that in a little perspective (but not really, because these are huge numbers), the cloud could fill Earth's oceans 140 trillion times.  Astronomers are excited, because this means that massive amounts of water were forming in the universe less than 2 billion years after the big bang.
• Closer to home, astronomers have also found a 300 meter diameter asteroid in one of Earth's Trojan points, making it the first of its type to be found in the inner Solar System.

Spain

• Moody's has put Spain on review for a possible sovereign debt rating downgrade, based on concerns over growth, because funding costs likely to continue to rise, and because many of Spain's regional governments are beginning to lose control of their municipal debts.

Syria

• Saboteurs have blown up an oil pipeline near Homs for the second time this month.  The Syrian government is calling it a terrorist operation, but did not say anything about casualties or the impact on oil production.

Ukraine

• 16 miners are dead and 9 more missing in the wake of an apparent methane explosion in a coal mine.

United Kingdom

• Virologists have discovered an antibody that, in flu-infected mice, appears to fight all known forms of the influenza A virus.  The researchers are cautious, but are hopeful that it could be eventually used in humans.

United States

• In "there's nothing like watching justice prevail" news, a coalition of 50 state Attorneys General are in negotiation with Bank of America, Wells Fargo, CitiGroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Ally Financial to grant them immunity to civil lawsuits by the states over "irregularities" in how they handle forclosures[1].  The banks would be required to pay up to $25 billion in penalties and commit to follow new rules in the future.  I'm sure this will work.  They already promised to halt such practices in the past, and surely we can trust them.  This time.  Right?
• A paper published in the journal Physical Review E demonstrates that once you hit a threshold of only 10% of a group believing an idea, that idea will begin to rapidly shift the majority opinion.  Regardless of what sort of network the opinion holders are working in, or how the idea is transmitted.
• The cost of five-year credit default swaps on Treasury debt rose 67 bps, hitting the highest level since March 2009, on concerns about the ongoing lack of resolution for the debt ceiling.

[1]  Such as foreclosing on houses that aren't late on their mortgage payments for the simple reason that they didn't have mortgages.  Or issuing promissory notes without proof of ownership.  Or robo-signing.