Some energy companies in the Gulf of Mexico were evacuating workers from offshore platforms, but so far oil and gas output had not been affected.
The Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, the only terminal in the United States capable of handling the largest tankers, said it would stop unloading ships due to stormy seas.
In El Salvador, rains left over from the hurricane continue to cause flooding and death. "The weather continues to be bad... We are worried things will get worse if the rains continue," said a Verapaz police officer.
Stay tuned...
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, under indictment from the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity, has canceled his plans to attend an Islam Conference in Istanbul, Turkey.
Originally, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan welcomed Bashir to the conference, but has possibly bowed to pressure from the European Union -- an organization which Turkey is eager to join.
In denying that it was his own country to revoked the invitation, Erdogan disclaimed the possibility that Bashir could possibly be responsible for genocide in Darfur. "No Muslim could perpetrate a genocide," he claimed, "If there was such a thing, we could talk about it face to face with President Bashir."
The ICC arrest warrant accuses Mr Bashir of running a campaign of genocide that killed 35,000 people outright, at least another 100,000 through a "slow death" and of forcing 2.5 million to flee their homes in Darfur.
While Bashir will not attend the summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), he has been welcome in several Islamic capitals throughout the Muslim world.
Blaming Columbia's close ties to the United States for tension between their two nations, Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez is preparing his military for war.
"Let's not waste a day on our main aim: to prepare for war and to help the people prepare for war, because it is everyone's responsibility," he told his captive television and radio audience on state run media.
Mr Chavez has also ordered 15,000 troops to the border, citing increased violence by Colombian paramilitary groups.
The BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Bogota, Colombia, says that normally such declarations would not cause alarm, but because of the current tensions there are fears of a possible spark on the border which could lead to further violence.
Chavez has racheted up the rhetoric against Columbia, angered by American military forces working in Columbia with the government to combat drug traffickers. While Chavez threatens war, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has turned toward the United Nations and the Organization of American States to quiet the situation.
"Colombia has not made nor will it make any bellicose move toward the international community, even less so toward fellow Latin American nations," Uribe said in a prepared statement.
Five banks in five different states were shut down by regulators on Friday, bringing the total of banks that have failed to 120 for the year. The week before, regulators closed closed nine banks in one day, setting a record since the financial crisis began more than a year ago.
As the economy has soured, with unemployment rising, home prices tumbling and loan defaults soaring, bank failures have cascaded and sapped billions out of the federal deposit insurance fund. It has fallen into the red.
Depositors' money -- insured up to $250,000 per account -- is not at risk, with the FDIC backed by the government. The FDIC still has billions in loss reserves apart from the insurance fund. It can also tap a Treasury Department credit line of up to $500 billion.
While the federal government infused billions of dollars into a handful of mega-banks, to prevent a financial meltdown of epic proportions, smaller regional and local banks are feeling the brunt of the mortgage foreclosure crisis and the now attendant commercial foreclosure wave that has resulted from high unemployment and plummeting consumer spending.
If the economic recovery falters, defaults on the high-risk loans could spike. Many regional banks, especially, hold large concentrations of these loans. Nearly $500 billion in commercial real estate loans are expected to come due annually over the next few years.
With the economic policies coming out of Washington, DC -- including Cap-and-Trade and Health Care Reform -- count on it!
The Iranian government has warned Russia that delays in shipments of S-300 surface-to-air missiles could damage relations between the two nations.
Russia signed an agreement with Iran more than two years ago to supply Tehran with the missiles that are capable of shooting down aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles at up to 90,000 feet altitude and a range of 145 miles.
The United States and the United Nations fear that the Iranians will fit their S-300s with nuclear warheads and blackmail other nations in their region.
"If they do not fulfill their promise, this will be a negative point in relations between the two countries," said an Iranian official.
British lawmakers are expected to okay as many as eleven new nuclear power plants as a way of preventing future power shortages, and to combat global warming.
The British Energy and Climate Change Secretary, Ed Miliband, has warned that unless Britain builds more nuclear power plants the country will experience power shortages by the year 2015.
Nine of the 11 on the shortlist are next to existing reactors, including two at Sellafield in Cumbria, Sizewell in Suffolk, Wylfa in North Wales and Dungeness in Kent.
In each instance the communities concerned are believed to support expansion because it will create jobs.
"Ed will make it clear that we can't tackle climate change without nuclear power. We need an energy infrastructure that's fit for the future."
In a survey of of 29,000 people across 27 countries, only 11 percent of the people surveyed believe free market economies are the answer, with a clear majority of those surveyed believing that government regulation was the answer.
In only two countries, the United States and Pakistan, did more than one in five people feel that capitalism works well as it stands.
Almost a quarter - 23% of those who responded - feel it is fatally flawed. That is the view of 43% in France, 38% in Mexico and 35% in Brazil.
And there is very strong support around the world for governments to distribute wealth more evenly. That is backed by majorities in 22 of the 27 countries.
Freedom is always an uphill battle.
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