USGS claims Venezuela sits on Earth’s largest oil reserves

(RawStory) – Venezuela may have just become the center of an energy-starved world.
The Orinoco Belt, situated squarely underneath the South American nation, may hold some 513 billion barrels of crude oil, according to a new report by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Shuttered factories, shattered lives in US rust belt

(RawStory) – Weeds have not had time to overtake factories shuttered in the wake of recent bankruptcies at General Motors, Chrysler and a host of suppliers, but the signs of shattered lives are spreading as the economically devastated region, dubbed “the rust belt” after its steel industry, fails to absorb the collapse of the auto industry.