From the BBC:Rail services were paralysed from the north to the south, with nearly 80% of trains not running, and the national airline TAP cancelled most flights.....read on
This is the sleeper story of this decade, in a 100yrs time this event will feature prominently in the text "Rise and Fall of the American Empire". The exact same thing happened at the start of the fall of the Roman Empire, due to increasing levels of currency debasement (QE) the outlying Roman vassal states (UK, Ireland, etc) started to reject the coin of the empire and started trading in local currencies. Rome tried to stamp out the practice but it found it's mercenary army (contractors) rejected payment in debased Roman currency and went back to their farms. 
From the BBC:Mr Obama told ABC News that North Korea was "a serious and ongoing threat that needs to be dealt with".
The attack near a disputed sea border was also denounced by Russia, Japan and the European Union.
South Korea returned fire and threatened missile strikes if there were "further provocations".....read on
By Puru SaxenaBIG PICTURE - Lets face it, governments always try to 'kick the can down the road'. Rather than deal with economic issues in the here and now, they prefer to postpone the pain. Unfortunately, in their attempt to avoid painful economic recessions, the policymakers sacrifice the purchasing power of their currencies and they end up creating even bigger troubles for the future.
Look. The 'Great Recession' in the developed world was brought about by excessive debt and consumption. In the boom years, millions of Americans borrowed copious amounts of money to buy real-estate; they used their homes as a source of funding (home equity withdrawals) and spent way beyond their means. In those heady days, everyone was convinced that real-estate prices could not decline on a country wide basis. Unsurprisingly, the bankers gladly supported this misconception by providing cheap fuel to the raging speculative fire. The end result was that unworthy debtors were able to purchase several properties and real-estate prices appreciated considerably.....read on
Most recently, Geithner stated, "It is very important for people to understand that the United States of America and no country around the world can devalue their way to prosperity, to (be) competitive" and "It is not a viable strategy and we will not engage in it." His ability to voice these words with a straight face, admittedly, was most impressive yet the fact that the Federal Reserve has been employing this strategy for the past 97 years with the American people remaining oblivious, take a little away from his performance. Apparently Americans believe professional wrestling is the real deal also. Yet Geithner has every reason to remain optimistic because if the American people ever wise up Geithner's performance before Chinese college students should still give him hope. When Geithner proclaimed in a speech to Chinese university students that the US believes in a strong dollar policy they literally laughed him off the stage which bodes well for Geithner's possibilities as a comedic actor. He could easily be the next Steve Martin or John Candy. Maybe even Abbott & Costello as Bernanke has shown outstanding ability as a straight man......read on
In contrast, the Fed's new QE 2 announcement comes at a time when the consensus is that the US economy is recovering (I don't buy it, but most analysts/ commentators do) and other central banks have publicly declared they won't be engaging in additional easing (the ECB and UK) or are outright tightening credit and raising interest rates (China and Australia)........read on
