Fukuda to Meet Bush to Discuss Alliance, North Korea, Beef Ban (Bloomberg.com) Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda will discuss a beef ban, security cooperation and disagreements over North Korea policy with President George W. Bush in Washington today, three issues troubling the U.S.-Japan alliance. [News Source]

Rules Make it Easier for Farmers to Dispose of Dead Animals (22 WSBT South Bend) ST. JOHNS, Mich. (AP) — Dairy farmer Ken Nobis reaches into a tall mound of what looks like topsoil and grabs a clump, which he looks over and quickly sniffs before crumbling it up. [News Source]

World overreacted to U.S. mad cow discovery: industry (Reuters via Yahoo! News) Major U.S. beef customers, including Japan and South Korea, overreacted to the United States' discovery of mad cow disease four years ago, the meat industry told an independent trade panel on Thursday. [News Source]

Subprime mortgages, subprime currency (Asia Times) Last week, US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke told the US Congress he would support raising the limit on the size of the individual loans eligible for securitization by the government-sponsored mortgage finance entities from US$417,000 to $1 million, on a temporary basis. [News Source]