Wall Street steels itself for rough ride in coming week as mixed earnings postings, news of more job losses , Fed's dithering and fear dispute with Iran will escalate conspire to undermine confidence.
Tax returns made available by Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton and her husband, ex-President Bill Clintons show that the couple earned $110m since the year 2000
Almost half of the income was made from the former president's speeches.
Senator Clinton had been under pressure to release her returns since rival Barack Obama disclosed his for 2000-2006.
The Clintons paid around $34m in taxes between 2000 and 2007.
The last time the Clintons publicised their finances was in 2000 - the year they left the White House. In that year they reported a gross income of $416,000.
Since leaving office, though, Bill Clinton has given speeches around the world and got involved in numerous business ventures.
He has also made $30m from his two books, My Life and Giving.
For her part, Mrs Clinton made more than $10m from her book Living History.
The Clinton household clearly isnt going to be struggling with its grocery bills any time soon.
Anger over rising living costs spilled over into violence in the southwestern Haitian town of Les Cayes, as demonstrators took to the streets burning shops, shooting at peacekeepers and looting containers in a U.N. compound, the United Nations reported Friday.
Les Cayes was still tense after the riots on Thursday and the U.N. sent 100 peacekeepers as reinforcements.
Food prices in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, have soared in recent months, fuelling anger and resentment against the government of President Rene Preval.
Preval's election in 2006 raised expectations that Haiti would finally start on the path to stability after decades of turbulence, culminating in the February 2004 ouster of former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
Rising food and fuel prices are creating tension and instability around the world
Journalist Beate Lakotta and photographer Walter Schels sought and gained permission from 24 terminally ill people to accompany them during their last days. From this intimate contact came a series of insightful narratives and photographic portraits taken before and after death.
Far from being gloomy, these intimate concerns of the dying reveal the preciousness and transience of life, and make us question what we often take for granted. These images are taken from the Wellcome Collection Life Before Death exhibition - see details below - and are currently displayed on the BBC news website and other web sites. The Wellcome Collection is also hosting a series of talks with Beate Lakotta , Walter Schels and others on the subject of living with dying and death .
They're all scared'
Heiner Schmitz, 52, realised he had little time left when he was shown a scan of his brain.
"No one asks me how I feel", he said. "Because they're all shit scared. I find it really upsetting the way they desperately avoid the subject, talking about all sorts of other things. Don't they get it? I'm going to die!"
First portrait taken: 19 November 2003, died 14 December 2003.
A test of maturity
Edelgard Clavey, 67, said: "Death is a test of one's maturity. I've always worked hard, following a similar path to a nun: poverty, chastity, obedience.
Now, I am no longer able to contribute anything to society and this pains me terribly."
First picture taken: 5 December 2003, died 4 January 2004.
A mother's fight
Jannik Boehmfeld was just four when doctors detected a rare type of brain tumour. Four months later his mother, Silke was diagnosed with breast cancer.
She was determined to stay strong for the sake of Jannik and his little brother Niklas, but her prognosis was bleak. She survived her son, who died at the age of six, by just 25 days.
First picture taken: 10 January 2004, died 11 January 2004.
Pain relief problem
Elly Genthe, 83, needed morphine to combat the pain of cancer, but because her kidneys were ravaged by disease the effect of the drug on her body was difficult to predict.
Until the latter stages of her illness she had been a tough, resilient woman who had always managed on her own.
But towards the end she found herself wishing death could come quickly.
First picture taken: 31 December 2002, died 11 January 2003.
Spiritual guru
Maria Hai-Anh Tuyet Cao, 52, relied on the teachings of her spiritual guru, Supreme Mistress Ching Hai, during her final illness.
"Death is nothing," she said. "I embrace death. It is not eternal. Afterwards, when we meet God, we become beautiful."
First picture taken: 5 December 2003, died 15 February 2004.
Robbed of retirement
Gerda Strech, 68, could not believe that cancer was cheating her of her hard-earned retirement.
She was employed on the assembly line in a soap factory, and brought up her children single-handedly.
"My whole life was nothing but work, work, work," she said. "Does it really have to happen now? Can't death wait?"
First picture taken: 5 January 2003, died 13 January 2003.
Government figures published today show the U.S. economy bled 80,000 jobs in March , the biggest monthly loss in 5 years, as U.S. employers cut payrolls for a third month in a row.
The Labor Department also revised figures for January and Febuary to a total of 152,000 from a previous estimate of 85,000. The March unemployment rate jumped to 5.1 percent from 4.8 percent, the highest since a matching rate in September 2005.
The March job losses figure is bleaker than expected. Economists forecast a decline of 60,000 in non-farm payrolls and a rise in the unemployment rate to 5 percent.
During the first quarter of this year job losses averaged 77,000 a month, compared to average monthly gains of 76,000 in the last half of 2007, according to Keith Hall, Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner.Job losses were widespread during the month, with the biggest losses in the construction and manufacturing sectors. It's only a matter of time before losses of this magnitude negatively impact on the U.S's huge services sector.
This is all bad news for Americans on middle to low incomes who are already struggling with spiralling food and energy prices against a backdrop of mortgage defaults, falling house prices and - a reality inescapably rammed home by the latest payroll figures - increasing job insecurity. A Reuters survey of shopping habits showed that families were struggling to pick up the grocery tab between paychecks.
It's probably time for people to downsize their expectations and huddle together as best they can for more animal-like security.
Spiralling food and energy costs has pushed inflation in India to a 3 year high and the Indian Government has taken steps to control prices, banning exports of non-basmati rice and getting rid of import duties on cooking oil and maize.
India's Economic Times says the government is considering a price ceiling on commodities if all other measures fail to bring down inflation - a law last used in the 1970s..
Record prices of rice, wheat and other foodstuff, along with the sky-high oil price, have fanned inflation worldwide.
This has prompted many governments to impose price controls and curb exports of essential goods , effectively a ' starve thy neighbour ' to get ahead policy.
India still has one of the worlds most rapidly growing economies however a significant number of Indians still live at or just above subsistence level and the spiralling food and energy prices coupled with the increasing gulf between the sub-continents rich and poor could easilly slip over into political unrest.
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