• Japan: Honda Motor considers exporting home-use solar panels
• June wholesale trade in Canada beats expectations on boost from auto sales
• South Africa nature reserve to be given World Saver award

• US: Maryland building constructed in harmony with universe
• USA: Washington, DC home to world's largest Maharishi Vedic Architecture building
• Grenada: New products to help support education and world peace

• US: Wholesale prices rising at fastest pace since 1981
• Large US bank collapse ahead, says ex-IMF economist
• US: Home foreclosure filings up 55 per cent in July

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Positive Trends
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

Japan: Honda Motor considers exporting home-use solar panels
20 August 2008 - Honda Motor Co, Japan's second-biggest auto maker, said on Wednesday it is considering exporting solar cells as it plans to expand the annual capacity of a solar cell factory to 27.5 mega watts by the year-end. Production of solar panels is part of the company's drive towards a home-use energy business. Unlike conventional solar cells made from silicon, Honda uses copper, indium, gallium, and selenium, and the production process requires less energy and emits less carbon dioxide, a company spokesman said. (more)

June wholesale trade in Canada beats expectations on boost from auto sales
20 August 2008 - A surge in auto sales helped Canadian wholesale trade rise by 2.0 per cent in June -- the largest margin since February -- and beat market expectations, according to Statistics Canada data on Tuesday. Market analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast a monthly rise in wholesale trade of only 0.7 per cent. It was the fifth increase in six months and left sales 5.0 per cent higher than a year earlier. (more)

South Africa nature reserve to be given World Saver award
20 August 2008 - Phinda Private Game Reserve has been honoured as a leader in social responsibility in the 2008 Conde Nast Traveler World Saver Awards. The US travel magazine named Phinda a World Saver in the Wildlife Conservation category for its commendable wildlife programmes. (more)

US: Group says climate resolutions increase
20 August 2008 - Support for climate-change proposals may be growing among investors in big US companies. Shareholder resolutions related to climate change more than doubled over the past five years, according to statistics gathered by a coalition of public interest groups, environmental organizations and pension funds. Moreover, the coalition, Boston-based Ceres, says support for those measures averaged more than 23 percent in 2008, a new high. (more)

US: New York City mayor calls for wind turbines atop skyscrapers
20 August 2008 - Wind turbines would top New York City skyscrapers and bridges and dot the city's shorelines, while the mighty tides that drive the Hudson and East Rivers would also generate power under a new plan Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented on Tuesday. Geothermal plants and rooftop solar panels are also options, said the billionaire mayor. (more)

Indonesia tapping into the fast growing Islamic finance market to fund infrastructure needs
19 August 2008 - Indonesia's finance ministry has appointed three banks -- HSBC, Standard Chartered, and Barclays Plc -- to handle the government's planned global Islamic bonds, a source close to the deal said on Tuesday. The Indonesian government is trying to tap into the fast growing Islamic finance market to fund its huge infrastructure needs. (more)

Solar Energy: Germany's Solon doubles operating profit on demand in Spain and Italy
19 August 2008 - German solar module maker Solon doubled its first-half operating profit thanks to strong demand in Spain and Italy, it said on Tuesday, confirming its outlook for this year and next. (more)

38 resorts recognized for doing good
18 August 2008 - A solar-powered safari camp in Kenya and an environmentally conscious Amazon resort were awarded annual travel prizes on Monday for giving back to their communities while also providing luxurious lodgings. The resorts were among 38 recognized by magazine Conde Nast Traveler for doing good, while at the same time doing well themselves, with its second annual World Savers Awards. (more)

Denmark: Living a green dream on the island of Samso
18 August 2008 - Concerns about energy security may run high elsewhere in Europe, but on the windswept Danish island of Samso the inhabitants have achieved a decade-long target of self-sufficiency in renewable power. The islanders have shown that where there's a wind, there's a way -- and in the process mounted a global showcase for one of the prize export industries in Denmark, which is home to the world's largest wind-turbine maker, Vestas. (more)

India: JPMorgan India plans first globally-invested fund
18 August 2008 - The Indian fund unit of JPMorgan plans to launch a fund investing in Middle East, Africa, and emerging Europe, joining the likes of ING and Mirae, who are looking to offer global diversification to domestic investors. After years of restricting fund investment abroad, India relaxed norms in 2006, allowing the industry to collectively invest up to $2 billion overseas. India has gradually raised the industry limit. (more)

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Success of Maharishi's Programmes
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

US: Maryland building constructed in harmony with universe
5 August 2008 - The Tower Companies' new building in Rockville, Maryland is designed using Vedic architectural principles, which are in harmony with the flow of the universe. (more)

USA: Washington, DC home to world's largest Maharishi Vedic Architecture building
20 July 2008 - Speaking on the Maharishi Global Family Chat, Dr Bevan Morris, Prime Minister of the Global Country of World Peace, reported highlights of his recent trip to the United States, which included a visit to the largest building in the world constructed according to the principles of Maharishi Vedic Architecture. (more)

Grenada: New products to help support education and world peace
15 July 2008 - Speaking 9 July 2008 on Maharishi's Global Family Chat, Raja Graham de Freitas, Raja of Invincible Grenada for the Global Country of World Peace, reported progress in developing a line of agricultural products in Grenada, the proceeds of which will help support educational and peace-creating initiatives on the island. (more)

'World's Healthiest Building' inaugurated in Washington DC, USA
29 June 2008 - Real estate developer Jeffrey Abramson presented news about the opening of his Maharishi Sthapatya Veda Architecture office building in Washington, DC, USA christened 'Tower II'. The building was inaugurated on 20 June 2008 in the presence of members of the Washington brokerage community who had come for the unveiling of the 'Healthiest Building in Washington'. Attending members of the press renamed Tower II 'The World's Healthiest Building'. (more)

Announcing a new programme for businesses, organizations, and clubs to learn Transcendental Meditation
6 June 2008 - In a recent Global Family Chat, Raja Steven Rubin, Raja of Invincible China for the Global Country of World Peace, spoke about special new group programmes for learning Transcendental Meditation in clubs, businesses, and organizations. (more)

All-green Maharishi Sthapatya Veda office tower to open in Washington DC
2 June 2008 - Real estate developer Dr Jeffrey Abramson presented details of his newly constructed all-green, non-toxic office building in Washington, DC, USA, called 'Tower II', which is built according to principles of Maharishi Sthapatya Veda architecture in accord with Natural Law. Dr Abramson, a major partner in The Tower Companies, noted that in the real estate industry, builders of commercial buildings are responsible for 40% of the energy used in the United States. (more)

Estonia: Rising coherence promotes invincible economy
1 June 2008 - Dr Jaan Suurkula, National Director of Estonia for the Global Country of World Peace, reports that a well-known source for credit ratings of businesses and countries has in its latest evaluation shown confidence in Estonia, in spite of decreases in the Estonian economy during the spring. Dr Suurkula attributes the continuing stability of the economy to the large number of Yogic Flyers and practitioners of Transcendental Meditation creating invincibility for the nation. (more)

Washingtonian Magazine and Washington Business Journal present first Green Awards to The Tower Companies
15 May 2008 - Washingtonian Magazine has given The Tower Companies (based in North Bethesda, Maryland, near Washington, DC, USA) its first Washingtonian Green Awards for being green-building pioneers in the design and construction of the world's largest Vedic office building. In addition, the Washington Business Journal has given the company a Green Company of the Year Award. Tower Company partner, Jeff Abramson, is a well-known practitioner of the Transcendental Meditation technique. (more)

Stockroyalty.com interviews successful investment manager, long-time practitioner of Transcendental Meditation
5 May 2008 - Successful and knowledgeable investment manager Monty Guild's company has been operating continuously for nearly four decades. He and business partner Tony Danaher are long-time practitioners of Transcendental Meditation. (more)

Raja Willem Meijles reports on the strength of the Dutch economy
1 April 2008 - Raja Willem Meijles, Administrator of Invincible Holland for the Global Country of World Peace, spoke about the nation's achievement of invincibility as reflected in the news reports that Holland's economy is doing very well, especially compared with other European countries. (more)

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Flops
10 Short Summaries of Top Stories

US: Wholesale prices rising at fastest pace since 1981
20 August 2008 - US Wholesale inflation soared in July, leaving prices rising at the fastest pace in nearly three decades. While recent declines in oil and other commodity prices raise hopes inflation may have peaked, some economists worry about the widespread nature of the July price surge and caution it will take more time for that pressure to ease on Wall Street and Main Street. The increase was more than twice the 0.5 per cent gain that economists expected and left prices rising over the past 12 months by 9.8 per cent. That marked the biggest annual increase since the 12 months ending in June 1981, a period when the Federal Reserve was driving interest rates to the highest levels since the Civil War in an effort to combat a decade-long bout of inflation. (more)

Large US bank collapse ahead, says ex-IMF economist
19 August 2008 - The worst of the global financial crisis is yet to come and a large US bank will fail in the next few months as the world's biggest economy hits further troubles, former IMF chief economist Kenneth Rogoff said on Tuesday. Rogoff's comments come as investors dumped shares of the largest US home funding companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Monday after a newspaper report said government officials may have no choice but to effectively nationalise the US housing finance titans. Mr. Rogoff also said the US Federal Reserve was wrong to cut interest rates as 'dramatically' as it did. 'Cutting interest rates is going to lead to a lot of inflation in the next few years in the United States.' (more)

US: Home foreclosure filings up 55 per cent in July
14 August 2008 - US foreclosure activity in July rose 55 per cent from a year earlier as a slump in once-sizzling housing markets forced yet more borrowers to default on their mortgages, according to a monthly report. Foreclosure filings -- default notices, auction sale notices, and bank repossessions -- rose 8 per cent from June and 55 per cent from July 2007, according to RealtyTrac, which records property in various stages of foreclosure. (more)

Africa: Children working in gold mines
12 August 2008 - A report prepare by The Associated Press shows that thousand of children work long hours at often dangerous jobs in hundreds of primitive gold bush mines scattered through West Africa. Some are as young as 4 years old. The Associated Press conducted a year-long investigation of these mines, interviewing the children, their employers, the merchants who buy their gold, and numerous experts, over 11 months in Senegal, Mali, Guinea and Switzerland. The conclusion of the report is that wherever there are bush mines, there is child labour. Anyone who wears a gold ring, writes with a gold-tipped fountain pen, or has gold in an investment portfolio, has most likely connected his or her life to these children. (more)

Mexico's annual inflation hits 3-year high
11 August 2008 - Mexico's central bank says rising food and gasoline prices have pushed inflation to its highest level in three years. The bank says annual inflation rose to 5.39 per cent in July, the highest since November 2004. The soaring cost of foods such as eggs and apples, and of gasoline, electricity, and public transportation contributed to the spike. (more)

US: Jobless claims rise to highest since March 2002
7 August 2008 - The number of newly laid off people signing up for jobless benefits in the US last week climbed to its highest point in more than six years, as the faltering economy forced companies to cut back. The data disappointed Wall Street and the White House. The four-week moving average of unemployment benefits claims, rose to 419,500 last week, the highest since mid-July 2003. Economists expect another half million jobs to be eliminated this year alone. The jobless rate could hit 6.5 per cent by the middle of next year. 'The country is getting pounded by many negative forces,' the Federal Reserve said. A programme to locate people eligible for jobless benefits played a role in the increase, a Labor Department analyst said. However, the analyst couldn't say how much of a role. The outreach programme notifies people that they could qualify for additional benefits under a new law. (more)

Spain: Corporate defaults soar 172 per cent as boom collapses
1 August 2008 - Spanish corporate debt defaults soared 172 per cent between April and June from a year earlier to hit a record high as dozens of building and property firms collapsed at the end of a decade-long housing boom, the government reported on Friday. Some 206 firms and individuals suspended debt payments during the second quarter amid a severe slowdown in what was previously one of Europe's hottest real estate markets, National Statistics Institute (INE) data showed. (more)

US: Jobless rate highest in four years
1 August 2008 - The US unemployment rate hit its highest level in four years during July as employers cut jobs for a seventh straight month, though less severely than predicted, a Labor Department report showed on Friday. The jobless rate climbed to 5.7 per cent from 5.5 per cent in June as 51,000 jobs were eliminated in July, bringing losses for the year to 463,000. Economists had expected 75,000 jobs would be cut last month but had forecast the unemployment rate would rise only to 5.6 per cent. (more)

Biofuels major driver of food price rise: World Bank
29 July 2008 - Large increases in biofuels production in the United States and Europe are the main reason behind the steep rise in global food prices, a top World Bank economist said in research published on Monday. World Bank economist, Don Mitchell, concluded that biofuels and related low grain inventories, speculative activity, and food export bans pushed prices up by 70 per cent to 75 per cent. The remaining 25 per cent to 30 per cent was due to a weaker US dollar, higher energy costs, and related rises in fertilizer and transport costs, he wrote. (more)

Rising inflation hits German confidence
29 July 2008 - Consumer confidence in Europe's biggest economy slid for a third straight month, falling to a more than 5-year low as higher energy prices, growing fears of a recession, and concern about the global economy bothered German shoppers. The forward-looking GfK consumer climate forecast index dropped to 2.1 points for August from a revised 3.6 points in July and its lowest level since June 2003 as inflation in Germany continued to rise, reaching 3.4 per cent last year. (more)