The Global Economy Is a Time Bomb Waiting to Explode (Jeff C.)

Marshall Auerback of the Independent Media Institute is the latest to warn of economic darkness just around the corner. His premise? So-called collateralized debt obligations haven’t really gone away. In fact, they’re worse than they were in 2008.

Nuclear Power Industry Seeks Lighter Federal Oversight (Reader Steve)

The author writes, “the prospect of the Trump administration’s regulation-cutting mission reaching the [Nuclear Regulatory Commission] alarms some independent industry watchdogs, who say the words ‘nuclear safety’ and ‘deregulation’ don’t go together.”

Pentagon Pushes for Weaker Standards on Chemicals Contaminating Drinking Water (Chris)

The author writes, “How the administration resolves the fight has potentially enormous consequences for how the United States is going to confront what a top official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called ‘one of the most seminal public health challenges’ of the coming decades.”

Saudi Women Activists Face ‘Bogus’ Charges, Says Amnesty (Mili)

From Al Jazeera: “Detainees face charges including contacting foreign media [and] human rights campaigners.”

Rare Chinese Manuscript Found — Inside a Closet in Pennsylvania (Rebecca)

The author writes, “The fragile, yellowed, woodblock manuscript is in relatively good condition, remarkable considering its age and the location where it was found: in a dark, dank storage closet in the Beaver Falls Historical Museum in the bowels of the Carnegie Free Library on Seventh Avenue.”