UK Daily Mail: "Iceland's banking system is £35billion in debt - the equivalent of an incredible £116,000 for every man, woman and child on the island, it was revealed today. With a population of just over 300,000 - less than that of Norwich - a miniscule economy and banks deeply involved in global markets before the meltdown, Iceland is on the bring of national bankruptcy. It will cost Britain too. British taxpayers are likely to have to pay out at least £2.4 billion to compensate hundreds of thousands of account holders at Landsbanki, the Icelandic lender."

• OIG-08-94 - Evaluation of DHS' Information Security Program for Fiscal Year 2008 (PDF, 43 pages)
• EPA OIG, 08-P-0280, Fiscal Year 2008 Federal Information Security Management Act Report [Report PDF], September 26, 2008

News release: "The U.S. Census Bureau today released the most extensive estimates it has ever published on county-level demographic characteristics of people with and without health insurance coverage. The 2005 estimates cover all states and counties across gender, age and income as well as race and Hispanic origin (for states only)."

The Open House Project: "Fulfilling one of the recommendations of the Open House Project report, The Library of Congress has published on their THOMAS web page directions for creating permanent links."

• Veterans' Disability Benefits: Better Accountability and Access Would Improve the Benefits Delivery at Discharge Program, GAO-08-901, September 09, 2008
• Food Labeling: FDA Needs to Better Leverage Resources, Improve Oversight, and Effectively Use Available Data to Help Consumers Select Healthy Foods, GAO-08-597, September 09, 2008
• FDA Advisory Committees: Process for Recruiting Members and Evaluating Potential Conflicts of Interest, GAO-08-640, September 30, 2008
• Information Technology: Management Improvements Needed on the Department of Homeland Security's Next Generation Information Sharing System, GAO-09-40, October 08, 2008

Follow up to September 17, 2008 posting, Congress Passes ADA Amendments Act, this America.gov article, Protections for America’s Disabled Workers Expanded Under New Law: "A new law restores workplace protections for the disabled that had eroded as a result of several Supreme Court decisions issued since the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990. The ADA Amendments Act of 2008, passed by Congress and signed by President Bush on September 25, clarifies and broadens the definition of disability and expands the population eligible for protection under the ADA. The ADA prohibits discrimination against people with physical and mental disabilities in such areas as employment, public accommodations and transportation. It mandates that employers make "reasonable accommodations" for disabled individuals unless those accommodations impose an "undue hardship" on the employer."

• October 08, 2008 - Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies: FY2009 Appropriations
• October 06, 2008 - Supreme Court Appellate Jurisdiction Over Military Court Cases
• October 03, 2008 - Presidential Succession: Perspectives, Contemporary Analysis, and 110th Congress Proposed Legislation
• October 03, 2008 - Income and Poverty Among Older Americans in 2006
• September 30, 2008 - The Federal Workforce: Characteristics and Trends
• September 30, 2008 - Oil Industry Financial Performance and the Windfall Profits Tax

News release: "The United States tops the overall ranking in The Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009, released today by the World Economic Forum. Switzerland is in second position followed by Denmark, Sweden and Singapore. European economies continue to prevail in the top 10 with Finland, Germany and the Netherlands following suit. The United Kingdom, while remaining very competitive, has dropped by three places and out of the top 10, mainly attributable to a weakening of its financial markets. The People’s Republic of China continues to lead the way among large developing economies, improving by four places this year and joining the top 30. All of the BRIC economies figure in the top half of the ranking, with China followed by India, Russia and Brazil.Several Asian economies perform strongly with Japan, Hong Kong SAR, Republic of Korea and Taiwan, China in the top 20. In Latin America, Chile is the highest ranked country, followed by Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico."

Treasury IG for Tax Administration: Individual Retirement Account Contributions and Distributions Are Not Adequately Monitored to Ensure Tax Compliance, March 28, 2008, Reference Number: 2008-40-087

News release: "All U.S. agencies with counterterrorism programs that collect or "mine" personal data -- such as phone, medical, and travel records or Web sites visited -- should be required to systematically evaluate the programs' effectiveness, lawfulness, and impacts on privacy, says a new report from the National Research Council. Both classified and unclassified programs should be evaluated before they are set in motion and regularly thereafter for as long as they are in use, says the report. It offers a framework agencies can use to assess programs, including existing ones. The report also says that Congress should re-examine existing law to assess how privacy can be protected in such programs, and should consider restricting how personal data are used. And it recommends that any individuals harmed by violations of privacy be given a meaningful form of redress."

New York Times: "Having tried without success to unlock frozen credit markets, the Treasury Department is considering taking ownership stakes in many United States banks to try to restore confidence in the financial system, according to government officials...The proposal resembles one announced on Wednesday in Britain. Under that plan, the British government would offer banks like the Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and HSBC Holdings up to $87 billion to shore up their capital in exchange for preference shares. It also would provide a guarantee of about $430 billion to help banks refinance debt."

• OPEC Revenues Factsheet (10/08/2008): "Based on projections from the EIA October 2008 Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO), members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) could earn $1,084 billion of net oil export revenues in 2008, and $1,084 billion in 2009. Through September, OPEC has earned an estimated $821 billion in net oil export earnings in 2008. Last year, OPEC earned $671 billion in net oil export revenues, a 10 percent increase from 2006. Saudi Arabia earned the largest share of these earnings, $194 billion, representing 29 percent of total OPEC revenues. On a per-capita basis, OPEC net oil export earning reached $1,137, a 8 percent increase from 2006."
• International Petroleum Monthly - September 2008 (10/07/2008): "This report contains world petroleum production data through July 2008; and OECD country petroleum demand, imports, and stocks data through June 2008 and the Second Quarter of 2008. Also included are international oil balance data for 2004-2008 and annual petroleum data series for 1970-2007."
• Short-Term Energy and Winter Fuels Outlook October 2008 (10/07/2008): "Short-term energy projections for supply, demand, and price for the major fuels through 2009 for the U.S. This report provides an emphasis on heating fuels. International oil forecasts are included."

Financial support to the banking industry: "After consultation with the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority, the Government announces that it is bringing forward specific and comprehensive measures to ensure the stability of the financial system and to protect ordinary savers, depositors, businesses and borrowers. In summary the proposals announced today are intended to:

• Provide sufficient liquidity in the short term;
  
• Make available new capital to UK banks and building societies to strengthen their resources permitting them to restructure their finances, while maintaining their support for the real economy; and
  
• Ensure that the banking system has the funds necessary to maintain lending in the medium term."
  
• Statement by the Chancellor on financial stability - Check against delivery
  
• Financial stability and depositor protection responses
  
• Related postings on financial system

News release: "With financial markets worldwide facing growing turmoil, internationally coherent and decisive policy measures are required to restore confidence in the global financial system, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says in a new report. "Failure to do so could usher in a period in which the ongoing deleveraging process becomes increasingly disorderly and costly for the real economy," it said in its Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR), released on October 7. Financial institutions have been shedding bad assets, reducing borrowing and seeking new capital, but strains on the system intensified dramatically in mid-September following the collapse or near-collapse of several key institutions."

News release: "Biofuel policies and subsidies should be urgently reviewed in order to preserve the goal of world food security, protect poor farmers, promote broad-based rural development and ensure environmental sustainability, FAO said today in a new edition of its annual flagship publication The State of Food and Agriculture (SOFA) 2008, BIOFUELS: prospects, risks and opportunities."