Emerging debt-Asian bond spreads flat ahead of econ data

HONG KONG, July 28 (Reuters) – Asian bond spreads were flat on Monday as better-than-expected U.S. consumer sentiment and housing data were offset by caution ahead of a slew of global earnings results and other economic data due out this week.

The iTRAXX Asia ex-Japan high-yield index , a key measure of risk aversion, tightened by a few basis points (bps) to 530/535, while the equivalent investment-grade index was steady at 136/138.

“A lot of people are just waiting for the economic data this week, especially the U.S. jobs data on Friday,” said a Hong Kong-based trader.

Doubts about the health of the U.S. economy have been a dominant factor in global markets this year.

Ancient fish provides clues for future body armor

BEIJING, July 28 (Xinhuanet) — A suit of armor first worn by an African fish almost 100 million years ago to withstand ancient carnivores is today providing clues to engineers designing body armor for soldiers of the future.

The armor of the fish, Polypterus senegalus, is so effective because it is a composite of several materials lined up in a certain way, the engineers state in a their analysis detailed in the July 27 issue of the journal Nature Materials.

“Such fundamental knowledge holds great potential for the development of improved biologically inspired structural materials,” said lead MIT researcher Christine Ortiz, “for example soldier, first-responder and military vehicle armor applications.”

Hollywood, not NASA, reveals alien truth

”THE craft was triangular in shape and had at least three white lights that alternated indiscernibly and perhaps one light in the middle.

“I know it was triangular because it would block out the stars that were illuminated behind it.

“It moved very slowly and made absolutely no sound and seemed to move in any direction in an indetectable fashion.

“It seemed to be ’searching’ or ’surveying’ the area around our land …”

That report was posted by Janet Hahn on ufoevidence.org as her description of what she saw in the sky over Port Angeles, Washington, US, in September 1990.

Let’s take her report – one of thousands of similar unsubstantiated reports that are available on the web – as truth.

The whole truth. Nothing but that same truth Mulder and Scully were looking for.

UFOs and aliens exist.

Confusion, dust mar Pemberton Festival

Complaints about ever-present dust, overflowing toilets, chaotic parking lots and lax security were as pervasive as talk about the music on Sunday, the third and final day of British Columbia’s inaugural Pemberton Festival.

From the very start, Canada’s largest outdoor summer concert in recent memory has not been without its birthing pains.

On Friday, more than 40,000 fans made the bumper-to-bumper trek up B.C.’s Sea-to-Sky Highway for the three-day rock music extravaganza. By Friday afternoon, the highway approaching the village of Pemberton was backed up, and fans were greeted with lineups, confusion and dust kicked up by crowds in the farmer’s field that has been converted into the festival site.