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United States

A Hollywood Sequel for Michigan Workers A new job program in Michigan is training people to work in the film industry, which is experiencing a huge growth spurt.

Bell jury hears details of shooting Bryan Norwood, former head of the police detective bureau, returned to the city Friday to testify about witnessing the shooting of police Officer Robert Fumiatti.

56-year-old becomes 1st woman to swim Atlantic Jennifer Figge pressed her toes into the Caribbean sand, exhilarated and exhausted as she touched land this week for the first time in almost a month.

Subway will stand by bong-ripped Phelps: report

Exxon Valdez oil spill still taking toll on killer whales An already fragile population of killer whales that hunts Prince William Sound never recovered from the Exxon Valdez oil spill and is doomed to die off, biologists said this week.

Mexican laborers from WWII-era settle backpay case After years of political pressure and legal wrangling, a court settlement reached Friday allows Mexican laborers brought in to stem World War II-era labor shortages to collect on pension funds they earned decades

Few Crime Victims Helped by Visa Law OK'd in 2000 2000 law that offered illegal immigrants visas for reporting violent crime has rewarded few

Family of slain contractor sues Halliburton, KBR (AP)  A lawsuit against two military contractors claims the companies' mistakes led U.S. soldiers to believe an American truck driver working for the contractors might be an insurgent steering a bomb-laden truck onto a U.S. military base.

Sharpton calls for justice outside Madoff's home Saying Bernard Madoff enjoys a "gilded penthouse incarceration," civil rights activist Al Sharpton led a rally outside the accused swindler's Manhattan home on Saturday urging equal justice for the rich and poor.

Security Issues

White House mulls Pentagon oversight for nuke weapons: report The Obama administration is considering moving nuclear weapons production management from the Energy Department to the Pentagon, The New York Times reported on Saturday. The move would end more than 60 years of civilian control over nuclear bomb manufacture.

Biden: U.S. to act 'preventively, not pre-emptively' Vice President Joe Biden emphasized a "new tone" in Washington and around the world as he delivered his first major speech today in Munich, Germany. Biden told delegates at a security conference that the United States will work "preventively, not pre-emptively" whenever possible to avoid conflict, and will at the same time "vigorously defend" the nation's security

Politics

a billion in secret Congressional reports Open government lawmakers such as Senators John McCain (R-Arizona) and Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vermont) have fought for years make the reports public, with bills being introduced--and rejected--almost every year since 1998.

Senators Debate Stimulus in Rare Saturday Session

Congress Should Not Cap CEO Pay, But Look at the Deeper Problems of Corporate Governance

Congress Is Divided Over Competing Stimulus Bills The House version of the stimulus bill emphasizes helping states and localities avoid wide-scale cuts, while the Senate plan focuses more on tax cuts.

Did Clinton approve renditions like Bush?   CIA director Panetta said he would oppose 'extraordinary rendition,' the forced transfer of detainees to another country, in cases in which the suspects might be tortured" and that Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO) "noted that the Clinton administration had ordered dozens of renditions." However, the article did not note Panetta's response to Bond's statement that "during the Clinton administration there were approximately 80 renditions of terror suspects during your watch as chief of staff of the White House." In that response, Panetta differentiated between "extraordinary renditions" under the Bush administration "where I think the situation where we took a prisoner and sent him to another country for questioning and often times that questioning took place under circumstances that did not meet our test for human values" and renditions in which individuals were returned "to countries of jurisdiction" or "rendered back to this country for purposes of trial." Panetta called the latter type of rendition "an important tool."

U.S. bank plan to offer asset support, mortgage help The Obama administration's eagerly-awaited bank rescue plan will offer to insure some distressed assets held by banks, authorize the government to purchase others, and spend up to $100 billion to buy and modify troubled homeowner mortgages, a source with knowledge of the plan told Reuters on Friday.

Judicial Vacancies Are Opportunity for Obama On Inauguration Day, a total of 55 U.S. federal circuit and district court judgeships were vacant. By May, another dozen seats will probably open as judges resign or assume senior status, a form of semi-retirement.

 Economy

Regulators close 3 more U.S. banks Regulators closed banks on Friday in Georgia and California, bringing the total of U.S. bank failures to nine this year.

Iraq  Map of Iraq

Parliament void delays laws ratification Some Iraq lawmakers affirmed that delaying the ratification of a number of laws including constitutional amendments and political reform pact is due to the delay of Parliament speaker election.

Some to appeal Iraq election results Candidates endorsed by anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr will appeal the results of last weekend's election results in Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces because of alleged voting irregularities

Security developments in Iraq, Feb 7

Iraq's Sadrists complain of vote fraud  Iraqi politicians backed by the radical anti-US cleric Moqtada al-Sadr on Saturday said they would lodge an official complaint about votes being excluded during last weekend's provincial elections.

US soldier dies in northern Iraq

Ministry of Industry stops giving loans for little and medium industries A source in Iraq Industries Union said that the loans Ministry of Industry granted to small projects and medium industrial institutions were stopped without knowing the causes.

U.S. commanders favor slower Iraq pullout

U.S. Military Violated Security Agreement Twice in 2 Weeks, Iraqi Leaders Say Iraqi leaders charge that the American military attacked Iraqi criminal suspects without coordinating with Iraqi security forces.

Iraq ready to issue licences to foreign airlines (AFP)

Kurd PM criticizes troop movement in Iraqi north The prime minister of Iraq's Kurdish region accused the Arab-dominated national government Saturday of trying to use troops to seize control of the disputed city of Kirkuk, escalating tensions between Iraqi Kurds and the Arab leadership in Baghdad.

Middle East

Report: Iran behind attempt to funnel millions of dollars into Gaza from Egypt Iran is responsible for an attempt last week to funnel millions of dollars to Hamas in the Gaza Strip by way of Egypt, the Egyptian paper Al-Ahram reported on Saturday

Group blamed for Mumbai attack also operating in Mideast

Hamas strongman resurfaces  Gaza's top strongman emerged Saturday from six weeks in hiding, leading a Hamas delegation to Egypt for cease-fire talks and reiterating that the Islamic militant group is "flexible" over who should lead reconstruction in the devastated territory.

Palestinian Authority: Hamas used Gaza hospitals as detention centers

UN: Cargo of Iranian ship seized en route to Gaza violates resolution 1747 The sanctions department of the United Nations Security Council on Saturday informed Cyprus that the cargo of the Iranian ship seized en route to Gaza in late January violates UNSC resolution 1747, which forbids the trafficking of weapons with Iran

Israeli jets hit targets in Gaza Israeli warplanes attacked four tunnels and a weapons storage facility in Gaza late Friday evening, an Israeli Defense Forces spokesman said

Boycott of TL 50 bill turns into sexist campaign Fatma Aliye Hanım, the first Turkish female novelist and the first Turkish woman to be featured on a banknote, is facing harsh criticism -- just as she did when she was alive.

Saudi suspects seeking to revive al-Qaeda One of the men on the Saudi Arabia's new most-wanted list is married to Osama bin Laden's daughter

Afghanistan Map of Afghanistan

Afghan police, foreign soldiers kill 10 militants

Pakistan

Pak allowing banned outfits to operate: Sharma Accusing Pakistan of allowing proscribed terror groups to operate under different names, India on Saturday asked Islamabad to respect international limitations on such organisations. ''Individuals and masterminds have been named by the UN Security Council,'' Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma told reporters in an obvious reference to banned outfits Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamat-ud-Dawa. 

Baluch group says holds American hostage in Pakistan An unknown separatist group claimed responsibility Saturday for abducting an American working for the U.N. refugee agency in southwest Pakistan, a local news agency reported.

Asia

Raw Video: Ships Collide in Whaling Clash A boat with anti-whaling activists collides with a Japanese whaling vessel in the Antarctic Ocean. No one was injured.

China to rush aid to drought-hit areas

Europe

U.S. regrets Russia plan for bases in Georgia regions The U.S. government voiced regret on Friday at Russia's plan to set up military bases in separatist regions of Georgia, saying it violated ceasefire agreements between Moscow and Tbilisi.

Russia says it is ready for more arms cuts Russia is ready for more nuclear weapons cuts and welcomes President Barack Obama's push for talks on an arms reduction treaty, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in remarks broadcast Saturday

Berezovsky haunts Politkovskaya murder trial? One of the men on trial over the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya has said he was promised freedom if he gave evidence against exiled Russian

Criticized, Putin Says Europe Has Rights Abuses of Its Own Russian Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin said rights abuses occurred in Western Europe, citing the ill treatment of migrant workers.

Russia releases Japanese fishing boat crew Russian authorities on Saturday released all 10 Japanese crew members seized aboard a fishing boat in late January after allegedly straying into Russian waters, Japanese officials said.

Greek Farmers End Bulgarian Border Blockade

Africa

More than 30000 people flee homes in Darfur region

Rebels target new Somali president with mortars

The Americas

Ecuador's president orders US diplomat expelled President Rafael Correa on Saturday ordered the expulsion of a top U.S. diplomat he accused of suspending $340,000 in annual aid because Ecuador would not allow the U.S. to veto appointments to the anti-smuggling police.

The Point of this Website

This site is a collection of the previous days news from hundreds of domestic and international news sources. There is no celebrity nonsense, sports, or reliance on opinion and analysis. This site relies on you to do the analyzing. Only the most relevant news is allowed. Good news is hard to find, but I will do the searching for you. UPDATED DAILY!

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"One of the goals of party is to acquire influence, within particular districts, and misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart-burnings, which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those, who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty. "

 -General and President, George Washington-