• Tree-Sitters Climb Down:
  After a 21-month occupation, four remaining tree-sitters in an oak grove on the UC Berkeley campus, climbed down and into police custody [1]. School officials had cut off food and water supplies Monday and were prepared to remove the activists using force. The tree-sitters were trying to stop the construction of a $125 million sports center which threatened 42 trees on campus.



• Quake Shakes Iran:
  A 6.1 magnitude earthquake has hit southern Iran [2] near the site of a large Iranian oil refinery, injuring 22 and killing three. Officials fear the quake damaged older parts in the refinery. Iran is the world's fourth largest oil exporter, the refinery struck processes 320,000 barrels a day.




• More Calling Suicide Hotline:
  More Americans are calling the government's suicide hotline, 47,000 of them in the last month alone. The line receives a 10 percent increase every month [3], which the staff attributes to more people knowing about it, than an increase in the suicidal. In 2005, the last year of the data, there were more than 32,600 suicide deaths.
• US Deficit at $438 Billion:
  The US budget deficit is set to reach $438 billion [4] in 2009 according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. The figure doesn't take into account government costs associated with taking over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The previous record for deficit was $413 billion in 2004. Last year's deficit was $161 billion.

Source [5]