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Global financial market losses $50 trillion: ADB study...FACTBOX:
How far world stocks have actually fallen
$5 Billion in Lobbying for 12 Corrupt Deals Caused the Multi-Trillion Dollar Financial Meltdown $5 billion in lobbying to Congress got the finance industry lucrative legislative favors that paved the way for Wall Street's devastating collapse. Must Watch Video The "dirty bomb" that disappeared It has all the makings of a great story. But outside of the US state of Maine and select counter-terrorism circles, you won't have heard about it. For this is a story with all the right ingredients but one wrong ingredient.On the right side is a leaked FBI intelligence report, Obama's inauguration, a trust fund, a millionaire, a woman, a basement lab, uranium, thorium, and the first attempt to build a "dirty bomb" on US soil. On the wrong is the body of James G. Cummings, white supremacist millionaire, found in his Belfast home on December 9, shot to death. |
Buffett
Opposes EFCA: "I'm Against Card Check" (VIDEO)
Labor representatives, when asked about the comments, noted that
Buffett went on to say that unions and the workers that make up their
forces have "not been well-treated by the tax code that we've had over
time." They also noted that he misrepresented the crux of the
legislation, claiming it would end the secret ballot when, in actuality,
it would provide workers a choice between using a secret ballot or
majority sign-up in their efforts to unionize. The Lazy Man’s Guide to the Economic Crisis Although the money masters tend to obfuscate the facts (like that famous wizard hiding behind the curtain), the economic disaster we are experiencing is really pretty simple to comprehend. For the lazy man, here is your down-and-dirty primer to the economic crisis Part Two: The Lazy Man’s Guide to the Economic Crisis |
| Connecticut | |
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Sen. Joe Lieberman now sings Obama's praises Sen. Joe Lieberman has
changed his tune on Barack Obama. After campaigning across the country
for Republican John McCain in 2008 and attacking Obama as naive,
untested and unwilling to take on powerful special interests, Lieberman
now showers praise on the popular new Democratic president. Conn. Catholic bishops condemn bill on finances Connecticut's Catholic bishops are condemning a bill that they claim would strip the church over control of its finances. |
Conn. group files to back Palin for president A Connecticut group
says it is the first in the nation to register to raise money to draft
Sarah Palin for president. Connecticut's Chris Dodd Faces a Backyard Rebellion After enduring eight years in the political wilderness, the Connecticut Democrat is one of his ascendant party's senior statesmen. Yet Dodd is facing his toughest re-election fight ever |
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United States |
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Court refuses to reconsider state ballot rules The Supreme Court is
letting stand a decision that invalidated state laws regulating the ways
independent presidential candidates can get on state ballots. Protesters target U.S. foreclosed-homes auctioneer An auction of foreclosed homes in New York City on Sunday drew protesters who blamed banks for an epidemic of home losses and called for a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures. U.S. Bank Rescinds Job Offers To Foreign MBAs The Financial Times reports that Bank of America has become the first U.S. bank to withdraw job offers to MBA students, who require a special visa known as the H1-B. The bank cites rules in the stimulus plan. Those rules prevent financial institutions that have received government money from applying for these visas if the bank has recently laid off American workers. The "dirty bomb" that disappeared It has all the makings of a great story. But outside of the US state of Maine and select counter-terrorism circles, you won't have heard about it. For this is a story with all the right ingredients but one wrong ingredient.On the right side is a leaked FBI intelligence report, Obama's inauguration, a trust fund, a millionaire, a woman, a basement lab, uranium, thorium, and the first attempt to build a "dirty bomb" on US soil. On the wrong is the body of James G. Cummings, white supremacist millionaire, found in his Belfast home on December 9, shot to death. |
'Not on My Watch': Birth Control Refused What would you do if you
saw a pharmacist refuse to give a teen contraceptives?
More Americans say they have no religion A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all. Biofuels industry wants to put more ethanol in your fuel The struggling biofuels industry is pushing to dramatically raise the legal limit for ethanol blends in gasoline for cars, trucks and power equipment such as lawn mowers. Court refuses to expand minority voting rights The Supreme Court ruled Monday that electoral districts must have a majority of African-Americans or other minorities to be protected by a provision of the Voting Rights Act.... Court rules for consumer in dispute with Discover The Supreme Court has ruled that consumers can sometimes resist credit card companies' push to move their dispute over finance charges and late fees to arbitration The US housing bubble started with Asia's 1997 financial crisis Following the 1997 financial crisis, Asia got screwed by the US-led IMF. With the housing bubble, Asia returned the favour Mexican cartels plague Atlanta In a city where Coca Cola, United Parcel Service and Home Depot are the titans of industry, there are new powerful forces The Lazy Man’s Guide to the Economic Crisis Although the money masters tend to obfuscate the facts (like that famous wizard hiding behind the curtain), the economic disaster we are experiencing is really pretty simple to comprehend. For the lazy man, here is your down-and-dirty primer to the economic crisis Part Two: The Lazy Man’s Guide to the Economic Crisis |
| Madoffed | |
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Swiss bank won’t cooperate? Bar U.S. access It’s tax time and
once again the rich are complaining that the poor are not paying their
fair share. SEC charges money manager invented big accounts U.S. regulators charged a money manager with fabricating several large client accounts in order to lure legitimate investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Monday. |
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Science |
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| Chimp 'Planned' Hundreds Of Stone Attacks On Zoo Visitors | |
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Politics |
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More Ask: Why Are Banks Too Big to Fail? The let-them-die mantra
gains more support, but what are the risks?
$5 Billion in Lobbying for 12 Corrupt Deals Caused the Multi-Trillion Dollar Financial Meltdown $5 billion in lobbying to Congress got the finance industry lucrative legislative favors that paved the way for Wall Street's devastating collapse. Must Watch Video Growing Furor Over Undocumented Immigrants Getting Stimulus Jobs Illegal immigrants could get up to 300,000 construction jobs financed by the federal stimulus, reports USA Today. Based on studies conducted by two conservative think tanks, whose numbers are based on the U.S. census, article reports that some 15 percent of the 2 million new construction jobs could go to immigrants without working papers. |
Four
largest TARP recipients squandered billions: memo
Fear of Lost Jobs Is Hurdle to Reining In
Defense Contracts Experts say President
Obama will inevitably clash with members of
Congress who are concerned about protecting jobs
that weapons programs provide.
Buffett Opposes EFCA: "I'm Against Card Check" (VIDEO) Labor representatives, when asked about the comments, noted that Buffett went on to say that unions and the workers that make up their forces have "not been well-treated by the tax code that we've had over time." They also noted that he misrepresented the crux of the legislation, claiming it would end the secret ballot when, in actuality, it would provide workers a choice between using a secret ballot or majority sign-up in their efforts to unionize. |
| Obama | |
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Salazar calls for solar, wind energy zones
Salazar calls for solar, wind energy zones Obama Is Leaving Some Stem Cell Issues to Congress While lifting restrictions on embryonic stem-cell research, President Obama is avoiding the question of whether tax dollars should be used to experiment on embryos themselves. Obama orders review of signing statements (AP) President Barack Obama has ordered a review of his predecessor's signing statements which often told officials how to implement laws. BUSH SIGNING STATEMENTS TOPPLED |
Pres. Obama Announcement on Stem Cell Research Pres. Obama signed a
Presidential memorandum that will bring an end to a ban on federal
funding for embryonic stem cell research. The president's order gives
the Nat'l Institutes of Health 120 days to develop ethical guidelines
for the research. The Ramzi Yousef Case and Obama’s Potential Renditions I think the situation Obama is describing is the Ramzi Yousef case. No extradition treaty with Pakistan, snatched in Islambad [and taken] back to the U.S. Or am I missing something? |
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Economy |
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'Fell off a Cliff'? Even This Guy's Concerned One of the world's
most successful investors Warren Buffett sounds a dismal note
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GE Capital to sell U.S. guaranteed bonds: source U.S. Stocks Decline on Buffett's Remarks, World Bank Warning About Economy U.S. stocks fell, extending the worst weekly slump in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index since November, after Warren Buffett said the economy “has fallen off a cliff” and the World Bank predicted a global contraction. |
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Iraq |
Map of Iraq |
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Blast targets Iraq police recruits At least
28 killed and scores wounded in suicide attack
on Baghdad recruitment centre
Turkey to help rebuild Iraq Army Turkish military sources reported that Baghdad and Ankara have finalized a deal according to which Turkey supports Iraq in rebuilding Iraq Army and training on military skills in addition to extending logistics support. Two anti-Qaida militants killed in Baghdad Security developments in Iraq, March 9 |
Sunday:
1 US Contractor, 61 Iraqis Killed; 84 Iraqis Wounded Two militiamen shot dead in Iraq (AFP) Sadrist MP demands immediate US troop pullout (AFP) A senior MP from radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr's party on Monday called for the immediate withdrawal of US troops, a day after plans for a major drawdown was announced. |
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Middle East |
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Turkey probes possible Kurdish killings US State department calls Iran to help locating former FBI agent missing on an island in the Gulf US State Department reiterated its call to Iranian authorities to help locate Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who went missing on the Iranian island of Kish in the Gulf. US State Department said it believes that Mr. Levinson is in Iran. Israel must halt mining West Bank quarries, says rights group Israel is violating international law by exploiting the West Bank's mineral resources for its own benefit, Obama won't use ‘g'-word, pro-Armenian congressman says A member of the US Congress has cautioned Armenian-Americans not to be very optimistic for either approval of a resolution for the official recognition of Armenian genocide allegations or the US president's affirmation of those allegations. Syria leader: Site bombed by Israel built over (AP) The Syrian president said a facility bombed by Israel two years ago that the U.S. claims was a nearly finished nuclear reactor has been built over, but in comments published Monday denied it was a nuclear facility. |
Israel imposes West Bank closure during festival The Israeli
military has imposed a three-day closure on the West Bank, banning
Palestinians from entering Israel during a Jewish festival. 'Barak showed Gaza op was valueless' PM blasts defense minister for willing to accept same conditions offered by Hamas before Gaza op. Saudis order lashes for elderly woman Court orders 40 lashes, prison, deportation for woman who 'mingled.' Hamas makes Islamic Jihad vow not to fire rockets (AFP) Security forces of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza detained several Islamic Jihad activists and made them sign an agreement not to fire rockets at Israel, a Jihad leader said on Monday. Kurdish 'grave site' digs begin Turkish authorities begin excavations where it is thought the bodies of Kurds killed in the 1990s may have been left. |
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Afghanistan |
Map of Afghanistan |
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Jihadis suffocate our voices’ Afghanistan has one of the highest
percentages of female lawmakers in the world but their voices are rarely
heard. A new political party, National Need, devoted to women’s rights,
has announced plans to run for the next parliamentary polls. Obama bid to turn to moderate Taliban 'will fail' "Part of the success in Iraq involved reaching out to people that we would consider to be Islamic fundamentalists but who were willing to work with us because they had been completely alienated by the tactics of al-Qaida in Iraq," Obama said in an interview published yesterday. "There may be some comparable opportunities in Afghanistan and the Pakistani region." Coalition deaths from IED attacks up 300% Rise in first two months of 2009; 146 percent increase in wounded. Former warlord to fight Karzai in Afghanistan polls Roadside Afghan bomb kills one Canadian, injures four GAO reports spike in attacks against Afghan police Attacks on Afghan security forces increased nearly threefold last year as U.S. officials struggled to find enough military staff to train them, according to a report that details the challenge President Barack Obama faces to stabilize the troubled nation. |
Ex-UK commander: Afghan op 'worthless' Former SAS commander says
British government has 'blood on its hands.'
Three plead guilty to equipping terrorists on Afghan-Pakistani border Balaclavas, thermal clothing and night vision binoculars among supplies shipped by Islamist terror cell in Birmingham US casualties in Afghanistan and Iraq, by state Pakistan urges Iran to help stabilise Afghanistan Building Democracy in Afghanistan Troops in Afghanistan asked to do too much with too little for too All-female Marine Team Conducts First Mission in Southern Afghanistan Violence Flares Near Pakistan, Afghan Border Intelligence failures crippling fight against insurgents in Afghanistan, says report Based on scores of interviews with British, US, Canadian and Dutch military, intelligence and diplomatic officials - and marked for "official use only" - the book-length report is damning of a US military often unwilling to share intelligence among its military allies. It depicts commanders in the field being overwhelmed by information on hundreds of contradictory databases, and sometimes resistant to intelligence generated by its own agents in the CIA. |
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Pakistan |
Map of Pakistan |
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Pakistan ruling on terror suspect A Pakistani court directs the
government to speed up efforts to repatriate al-Qaeda suspect Aafia
Siddiqui from US.
Pakistani government eyes sedition charges against Sharif The Pakistani government threatened on Monday to prosecute opposition leader Nawaz Sharif for sedition if violence erupts at an anti-government protest campaign due to begin later this week. Pakistan sets roadblocks in U.S. hunt for extremists, officials say U.S. efforts to identify and thwart the growing threat posed by Pakistani extremists who enjoy easy access to the United States -- and already have a significant presence here -- are being undermined by the government of Pakistan, according to current and former U.S. and Western counter-terrorism officials. Taliban kill three Pakistan US 'spies': security official Taliban militants shot dead three men in Pakistan's restive northwest tribal belt after filming them confessing to spying for the United States, officials said Monday. Taliban kill Pakistan US 'spy': security official Taliban militants shot dead a man in Pakistan's restive northwest tribal belt after filming him confessing to spying for the United States, an official said Monday Pakistan-China to jointly produce JF-17 fighter jets Pakistan provincial official signs document on implementation of Islamic law The top official in northwestern Pakistan's provincial government has signed the summary of Nizam-e-Adl, a system of Islamic justice, on Monday, a major step for implementing Islamic law in the restive Swat valley. |
Violence flares on Pakistani border with Afghanistan Pakistani
forces killed four militants in a strategically important region on the
Afghan border on Monday in the most serious incident in the area since
militants declared a ceasefire two weeks ago Pak authorities produce LeT chief before court Hafiz Saeed was produced for the first time in connection with Mumbai attacks. Pak's N-bomb prevented Indian attack: Ex-Army chief Pakistan's possession of nuclear weapons prevented India from attacking that country after the terror strikes in Mumbai and the attack on Parliament, former army chief Shankar Roychowdhury has said. Pakistan's Army chief reportedly warns President to restore order Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff has reportedly asked President Asif Ali Zardari to restore order in the country in a week, instead of being embroiled in political-wranglin Pakistan extends detention of Lashkar-linked charity chief (AFP) Pakistan on Monday extended the house arrest of the head of a charity widely viewed as a front for the banned Islamist group that India blames for the Mumbai attacks. India-Pakistan trade to decline by 60% Pakistan 'bigger problem' than Afghanistan: US diplomat The top US diplomat in Kabul warned that Pakistan posed a bigger security problem for the rest of the world than Afghanistan, in a newspaper interview published on Thursday. |
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Asia |
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FBI to aid Bangladesh mutiny probe US agents to help police in
probing last month's revolt by border guards. Dhaka bans Youtube over mutiny tape Dhaka bans Youtube over mutiny tape Increasing aggression by Chinese ships Pentagon: 5 Chinese ships harassed an unarmed US Navy ship in S. China Sea Chinese state media says blasts damage police cars Chinese state media says two police cars have been damaged by explosive devices in western Qinghai province. India not involved in Lahore attack: Lanka Sri Lanka on Monday insisted that India is not involved in the recent attack on its cricket team in the Pakistani city of Lahore, but did not rule out the possibility of the LTTE link to the audacious gun and grenade strike that left seven players injured and eight people dead. India does not want Pakistan to get insight into its intelligence through Interpol India is reluctant to provide further evidence to Interpol on Mumbai terror attacks fearing it might result in Pakistan gaining insight into its intelligence operations, a senior government official said on Monday. "India doesn't want Pakistan to gain knowledge of its intelligence operations," the official said, on condition of anonymity. India has already shared evidence of the Mumbai terror |
Japan's Stock Market Hits 26 Year Low China 'will not have democracy' China will never adopt Western-style democracy and introduce a multi-party system, its top legislator says. Bangladesh army helicopter crashes Incident leaves two army commanders dead and a third injured. Court rejects Mumbai gunman's translation request An Indian court rejected a request Monday by the only gunman charged in last year's deadly attacks on Mumbai to translate court documents, including the charges against him, into his native language. NKorea puts troops on alert, warns of war danger Bombs thrown amid Tibetan crackdown State media reports explosives damaged police and fire trucks by crowd in western China S Korea, U.S. kick off joint military exercise Thai judge to end "Merchant of Death" hearing soon The Thai judge presiding over an extradition hearing for alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, wanted by the United States, said on Monday he aimed to end the hearing this month. |
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Europe |
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Group 'claims' N Ireland attack Real IRA reportedly says it carried
out shooting outside British army base. Icelandic bank loses independence The last major independent Icelandic bank is taken over by the country's financial authorities and closes for business.
Fight Over Internet Filtering Has a Test Run in Europe American
telecommunications and Internet companies are lobbying lawmakers in
Brussels before network neutrality battles play out back home. |
Bomb explodes outside Athens bank Blast hits Citibank offices in
Greek capital damaging building and nearby cars. Self-Exiled Oligarch Still a Top Scientist Self-exiled businessman and fervent Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky has been vilified in almost ever corner of Russian officialdom. Policeman shot in Northern Ireland A policeman was shot dead in Northern Ireland late on Monday, a senior politician said, just hours after Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the shooting of two British soldiers would not derail the peace process |
| Africa | |
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Sudan frees opposition leader Critic who urged president to hand
himself in to international court returns home.
UN 'protecting' Madagascar rival United Nations staff in Madagascar say they are giving protection to opposition leader Andry Rajoelina. Tsvangirai: Crash was an accident Zimbabwe prime minister rules out foul play in collision that killed his wife. |
Murder in Nairobi: Wikileaks related human rights lawyers assassinated On Thursday afternoon, Oscar Kamau Kingara, director of the Kenyan based Oscar legal aid Foundation, and its programme coordinator, John Paul Oulo, were shot dead at close range in their car less than a mile from President Kibaki's residence. The two were on their way to a meeting at the Kenyan National Commission on Human Rights |
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The Americas |
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Catch As Catch Can: Salvadoran General Who Oversaw Torture is Indicted
... for Passport Fraud On Monday February 23, 2009, U.S. authorities
indicted General José Guillermo García -- a former defense minister for
El Salvador -- on two felony counts of immigration fraud. At first
glance, two measly immigration charges for a man who presided over years
of horror and human rights abuse in the early 1980s hardly seems just.
We should rejoice nonetheless. Bolivia orders US diplomat to go Bolivian President Evo Morales has ordered the expulsion of a US diplomat he accused last week of colluding with opposition group |
US wants Canadian minister to head NATO: report Canada's Defense
Minister Peter MacKay expressed surprise Monday that the United States
would reportedly promote him to European allies to become the next NATO
chief. Chávez announces launch of consolidated state aluminum company Thirty-seven Colombians deported for alleged complot against Chávez |