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Some $597.5bn was lost to the banks in the last quarter of last year alone, after a modest positive inflow in the summer, but a massive $682.5bn haemorrhaged in the second quarter of 2008 – a record. About 15 per cent of the monies held by foreigners in the UK were withdrawn over the period, leaving about $6 trillion. This is by far the largest withdrawal of foreign funds from the UK in recent decades – about 10 times what might flow out during a “normal” quarter.

The revelation will fuel fears that the UK’s reputation as a safe place to hold funds is being fatally comp-romised by the acute crisis in the banking system and a general trend to financial protectionism internat- ionally. This week, Lloyds became the latest bank to approach the Government for more assistance. A deal was agreed last night for the Government to insure about £260bn of assets in return for a stake of up to 75 per cent in the bank. The slide in sterling – it has shed a quarter of its value since mid-2007 – has been both cause and effect of the run on London, seemingly becoming a self-fulfilling phenomenon. The danger is that the heavy depreciation of the pound could become a rout if confidence completely evaporates.

Colin Ellis, an economist at Daiwa Securities, commented: “The outflow of overseas banks’ UK holdings is not surprising – indeed foreign investors in general will still be smarting from the sharp fall in the exchange rate last year, as many UK liabilities are priced in sterling terms. That raises the question of what could possibly tempt overseas investors to return to the UK. Further heavy outflows of funds are probably a given.”

The Bank of England said that there had been a large fall in deposits from the United States, Switzerland, offshore centres such as Jersey and the Cayman Islands, and from Russia.

Paranoia that the UK could follow Iceland into effective national insolvency and jibes about “Reykjavik on Thames” will find an unwelcome substantiation in these statistics – which also show that stricken British banks are having to repatriate similar sums back to Britain. This is scant consolation for the authorities, however, as it means the UK and sterling are, like some emerging markets and currencies, suffering from a flight of capital. By contrast some financial centres and currencies – notably the US dollar and the Swiss franc – are enjoying a boost as “safe havens” in a troubled world.

The sudden international trend towards financial deglobalisation and the flight of money to “home” bases has nonetheless been dramatic. The Prime Minister has already warned about this drift to “financial protectionism” – even though UK banks brought back almost $600bn in the last months of 2008, as they attempted to repair fragile balance sheets. Mr Ellis added: “These data are consistent with UK banks reducing their overseas holdings, at the same time as overseas banks scale back their presence in the UK. That is not surprising, given that governments around the world are having to prop up their banking sectors, and in turn demanding that national institutions focus on domestic markets. But it does run the risk of being financial protectionism by the back door.”

Investment from the West into developing countries has fallen from the level of about $1 trillion a year seen earlier this decade to about $150bn last year. Economies in eastern Europe such as Hungary and the Baltic republics, some in Asia such as Pakistan and developed nations such as Iceland have been severely hit by the collapse in foreign investment.

The Japanese business daily said the British government would host the meeting on March 24, after a Group of 20 (G20) finance ministers meeting in London next weekend and ahead of a summit of G20 leaders there on April 2.

The G20 summit of big developed and developing countries in London aims to put the world economy on a path to recovery with banks facing strong calls for new regulations ranging from increased supervision of the financial sector to limits on executive bonuses.

Invitations to the meeting of bankers had been sent to leading institutions including JPMorgan Chase and HSBC, the newspaper said, without naming any sources.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group president Nobuo Kuroyanagi would attend the meeting, which the paper said would discuss regulations to prevent further crises similar to the meltdown of the subprime mortgage market.

The London summit will follow last November’s G20 crisis meeting in Washington and aims to agree on coordinated actions to revive the global economy, regulate the financial sector and principles for reforming international financial institutions.

In the lead up to the summit, European leaders have called for tighter global banking supervision while U.S. President Barack Obama has urged a sweeping overhaul of Wall Street regulations.

The European Commission’s proposals range from tougher bank capital rules to streamlining supervision, more transparency in derivatives markets and proposals to penalise banks whose remuneration policies encourage excessive risk-taking.

Douglas Nazarian, chairman of the state’s Public Service Commission called the situation facing consumers a “potential tsunami,” as many residents have seen their utility bills rise, and in some cases double. In all of last year, about 36,000 BGE customers had their service terminated.

“April will be a disaster if we don’t start looking into this,” Nazarian said. “The problem is going to grow.”

Lack of work.

How hungry are people for work in today’s sinking economy?

Nearly 700 people have applied for a single job as a school custodian.

Perry Local Schools have an open position — full time with benefits — at Edison Junior High School after its afternoon janitor retired. It pays $15 to $16 an hour.

The job opened last Saturday, and district officials say the stack of applications continues to expand daily.

So much so, the deadline to apply for the position was moved from yesterday to 3:30 p.m. Monday to give potential hires more time.

Many of those who have applied say they lost their previous job due to budget cutbacks by their former employer.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, he said the government had “blood on its hands” over the “unnecessary” deaths of four soldiers.

BBC defence correspondent Caroline Wyatt said many on the ground felt the campaign has been under-resourced”.

But the MoD insisted the security challenge was “manageable”.

The former SAS commander resigned after Cpl Sarah Bryant and three of her colleagues died when their Snatch hit a mine in June 2008.

Cpl Bryant was the first female soldier to die in Afghanistan when a Snatch carrying her and her male colleagues struck an anti-tank mine in Helmand province.

Maj Morley, 40, said he was compelled to stand down after Quentin Davies, the Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, told an “unacceptable lie” in the wake of the deaths.

Mr Davies had said commanders had a choice of vehicles, although he has subsequently said he had not meant to cause any offence.

Speaking for the first time since his resignation, Maj Morley launched a scathing attack on the state of the military campaign as a whole.

“This is the equivalent to the start of the Vietnam conflict, there is much more to come.

“We hold tiny areas of ground in Helmand and we are kidding ourselves if we think our influence goes beyond 500 metres of our security bases.

Authorities said the four men are members of the Sovereign Movement, a group that attempts to overthrow the government and defy authority with “paper terrorism.” The arrests in Las Vegas on Thursday capped a three-year investigation into the group’s activities led by the Nevada Joint Terrorism Task Force, Brower said.

A grand jury indictment in federal court in Las Vegas names Samuel Davis, 54, of Council, Idaho; Shawn Rice, 46, of Seligman, Ariz.; Harold Call, 67, of Las Vegas; and Jan Lindsey, of Henderson.

Davis and Rice are accused of laundering roughly $1.3 million for undercover FBI agents, who described the money as loot from a bank fraud scheme. Davis and Rice are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and 30 counts of money laundering. If convicted, they face up to 20 years in prison and a $500,000 fine on each count.

Davis was described by prosecutors as a national leader in the Sovereign Movement, whose members believe government licenses, taxes and currency are invalid. Rice described himself as a lawyer and rabbi devoted to anti-government teaching, authorities said.

Davis and Rice pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas late Friday. Call and Lindsey also were due to appear court. Authorities did not know if the four had lawyers.

Brower’s office said Call and Lindsey, a retired FBI agent, are leaders of the Nevada Lawmen Group for Public Awareness, a group affiliated with the Sovereign Movement.

Call is accused of possessing an unregistered machine gun, as well as parts designed to covert manual firearms into automatic weapons.

He faces two counts of possession and transfer of a machine gun and three counts of possession of an unregistered machine gun. If convicted, he could get up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count.

I completely disagree.

The financial system is working for the first time since Bob Rubin and his colleagues created the “strong dollar policy” complete with gold market manipulation and mortgage bubble. It is working because a wide group of market participants do not want to invest capital in unproductive activities or banks, lawyers and accounting firms that intentionally engage in criminal fraud.

To date, the Fed and Treasury theory is that $10 trillion of central bank and government guarantees and subsidies will permit a fraudulent system to continue to function. The answer is, of course, no it won’t. Hence, the proposal for a new initiative to make sure markets are not allowed to work.

I got my MBA at Wharton. I have heard it all my life and I know it is true. When something is unproductive, overpriced or unhealthy, markets shift capital away. That is a good thing.

A market is like a human body in trauma. It moves the blood away from the toes and preserves it for the heart, brain and lungs.

However, the institutions that made this mess—the likes of Goldman Sachs, Sullivan & Cromwell, The Carlyle Group, and the academic institutions that give them air cover and many more—are now persuaded that a financial system that no longer trusts them needs “fixing” and they are the men for the job. They want to show us how we can shift more blood out of the heart, lungs and brain and into the them and their fellow toes.

This conundrum of keeping the unproductive in control is why the Administration is proposing a massive defense and enforcement budget. Only financial totalitarianism can keep something this expensive and destructive going.

Such arrogance proves that we do indeed need markets to continue to work. We need those who need $10 trillion of bailouts (and counting) to fail and, as legendary investor Jim Rodger suggests, learn how to drive a taxi, or better yet a tractor.

Out of 72 drinks tested, 69 were found to contain BPA at levels below what Health Canada says is the safe upper limit. However, studies in peer-reviewed science journals have indicated that even at very low doses, BPA can increase breast and ovarian cancer cell growth and the growth of some prostate cancer cells in animals.

“There is no risk to Canadians,” Health Canada spokesman Stéphane Shank told CBC News. “The average adult weighing approximately 60 kilograms would have to consume over 900 cans per day” to reach the department’s safety threshold, he said.

The canned pop Health Canada scientists tested all came from stores in Ottawa in April 2007 and included diet, non-diet, fruit-flavoured and energy drinks. These drinks represent at least 84 per cent of the market share of soft drinks sold in the country.

The federal department’s study was published in January in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry and was posted on Health Canada’s website. When asked why the study was not widely publicized, Shank said “it wasn’t our intent” to hide it.

The study did not find detectable levels of BPA in two types of tonic water, likely the result of a bittering agent used in tonic drinks that could interfere with BPA extraction. It also found no traceable levels in one energy drink, but did not suggest why that might be.
‘Significant biological effects’

Bisphenol A is a chemical compound found in some hard, clear, lightweight plastics and resins. The materials are used in the production of various types of food and drink containers, compact discs, electronics and automobile parts, and to line some metal cans, including pop cans.

While Health Canada’s position is that there is no health risk in drinking canned pop because the levels of BPA are so far below the safe threshold, critics say BPA — like estrogen — is active in very small amounts.

“The chemical is known to cause significant biological effects at incredibly low levels,” Rick Smith, executive director of Environmental Defence, told CBC News. “And this is not the only source of this chemical in our daily lives. If it was the only source, Health Canada might have a leg to stand on.”

The beverage industry, on the other hand, questions whether BPA has the impact some studies say it has. “It’s asserted this is an estrogen mimicker,” Justin Sherwood, president of Refreshments Canada, told CBC News. “We as an industry take our cue from Health Canada.”

In October 2008, Canada became the first country in the world to ban the import and sale of polycarbonate baby bottles containing bisphenol A. The federal government also announced it would devote $1.7 million over three years to study the chemical.

Both figures were worse than analysts expected and the Labor Department’s report shows America’s workers being clobbered by a relentless wave of layoffs unlikely to ease anytime soon.

The net loss of 651,000 jobs in February came after even deeper payroll reductions in the prior two months, according to revised figures released Friday. The economy lost 681,000 jobs in December and another 655,000 in January.

Employers are shrinking their work forces at alarming clip and are turning to other ways to slash costs — including trimming workers’ hours, freezing wages or cutting pay — because the recession has eaten into their sales and profits. Customers at home and abroad are cutting back as other countries cope with their own economic problems.

Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost an astounding 4.4 million jobs, more than half of which occurred in the past four months.

With employers showing no appetite to hire, the unemployment jumped to 8.1 percent from 7.6 percent in January. That was the highest since December 1983, when the jobless rate was 8.3 percent.

All told, the number of unemployed people climbed to 12.5 million. In addition, the number of people forced to work part time for “economic reasons” rose by a sharp 787,000 to 8.6 million. That’s people who would like to work full time but whose hours were cut back or were unable to find full-time work.

Meanwhile, the average work week in February stayed at 33.3 hours, matching the record low set in December.

Job losses were widespread in February.

Construction companies eliminated 104,000 jobs. Factories axed 168,000. Retailers cut nearly 40,000. Professional and business services got rid of 180,000, with 78,000 jobs lost at temporary-help agencies. Financial companies reduced payrolls by 44,000. Leisure and hospitality firms chopped 33,000 positions.

The few areas spared: education and health services, as well as government, which boosted employment last month.