2 IMF says stimulus needed to aid 'nascent' recovery
by Ben Perry, AFP
22 mins ago
| ST ANDREWS, Scotland (AFP) - The International Monetary Fund on Saturday said emergency stimulus measures must remain to avoid endangering a "nascent" economic recovery, as the G20 agreed here to maintain support.
"An overarching risk is that the recovery stalls" owing to early exits from record-low interest rates and massive state cash injections, the IMF said in a report to coincide with a meeting of G20 finance ministers in St Andrews.
"Premature exit from accommodative monetary and fiscal policies could undermine the nascent rebound, as the policy-induced rebound could be mistaken for a strong and durable recovery," the IMF said. |
3 NATO strike kills 7 Afghan security forces: Kabul
by Waheedullah Massoud, AFP
Sat Nov 7, 9:27 am ET
| KABUL (AFP) - Seven members of the Afghan security forces were killed in a NATO air strike that also injured international forces in remote western Afghanistan, the Afghan defence ministry said on Saturday.
The Afghan statement comes as NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it was investigating an incident in Badghis province Friday in which more than 25 international and Afghan forces were wounded.
Five of the 25 wounded were US soldiers injured in what a Western military official, speaking anonymously, said was friendly fire. Injuries as troops seek lost paratroopers |
4 Obama to push lawmakers on health care vote
by Olivier Knox, AFP
Sat Nov 7, 11:16 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - President Barack Obama, his top domestic priority in the balance, was to make a rare in-person plea Saturday for wary lawmakers to cast an historic vote for legislation to remake US health care.
Obama, who wooed skittish fellow Democrats by telephone Friday, hoped to bring the full persuasive power of the presidency to bear in an 11th-hour push to secure the 218 votes needed to prevail in the House of Representatives. Key facts: US health care bill
"The sales pitch is simply that we're on the cusp of the type of health care reform that this country has been talking about for decades," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs. "Do this for the country. Do this for your constituents." |
Now that it's nothing but Corporate Welfare and takes away Women's Reproductive Freedom.
Thanks for nothing Barack.
5 Zelaya calls for more protests after crisis deal collapses
AFP
Fri Nov 6, 3:43 pm ET
| TEGUCIGALPA (AFP) - Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, ousted in a military-backed coup four months ago, called for fresh protests Friday after the collapse of a US-brokered deal to end the crisis.
Zelaya said last week's deal was no longer valid after de facto leader Roberto Micheletti formed a new "national unity" government without his participation.
"Now I have no commitment to dialogue," Zelaya said Friday on Globo radio, calling his supporters onto the streets. |
6 Ten percent jobless rate adds to pressure on Obama
by Rob Lever, AFP
Sat Nov 7, 5:14 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - The jump in US unemployment above 10 percent for the first time since 1983 will pressure President Barack Obama to find additional stimulus to keep a fragile economic recovery on track, analysts say.
The weaker-than-expected Labor Department report Friday showing an official jobless rate of 10.2 percent also suggests the Federal Reserve will maintain near-zero interest rates and other efforts to pump up credit to spark growth, say economists.
The Labor Department report, seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum, showed job losses narrowed last month to 190,000. Revisions also showed fewer job losses in August and September. |
7 UK joins G20 push for world levy on banks
By Sumeet Desai and Huw Jones, Reuters
2 hrs 10 mins ago
| ST ANDREWS, Scotland (Reuters) - Britain threw its weight on Saturday behind proposals to impose a global levy on banks to fund future bailouts but failed to make much progress on securing a G20 deal to meet the cost of climate change.
Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20, did commit, however, to a timetable for a new system of keeping an eye on each others' economies that would see countries present national and regional plans by the end of January.
They also agreed it was too early to pull the plug on the economic life-support packages in place as the global recovery was still uneven and dependent on ultra-low interest rates and the billions of dollars thrown into economies everywhere. |
8 Jobless: 10 percent is tougher than it used to be
By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer
31 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - It hurts more to be unemployed now than the last time the jobless rate hit 10 percent.
Americans have more than triple the debt they had in 1982, and less than half the savings. They spend 10 weeks longer off the job. And a bigger share of them have no health insurance, leaving them one medical emergency away from financial ruin.
For these reasons, the unemployed are more vulnerable today to foreclosure and bankruptcy than they were a generation ago. |
9 Afghan ministry: NATO strike kills Afghan forces
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer
5 mins ago
| KABUL - U.S. and Afghan authorities investigated Saturday whether a botched NATO airstrike was to blame for the death of Afghan soldiers and police during a search for two American paratroopers missing in a Taliban-infested area of the country's west.
The probe into a possible friendly fire incident further aggravates already strained relations between Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the international community, which holds his enfeebled government partly responsible for rising instability.
After enduring a drumbeat of criticism from world leaders in recent days, the Afghan government struck back on Saturday, saying it viewed a U.N. official's prescription for ridding the country of corruption and warlords as an infringement on its national sovereignty. |
Can you say Tilman McChrystal?
10 Another attack leaves US Muslims fearing backlash
By ERIC GORSKI, AP Religion Writer
2 hrs 6 mins ago
| As word spread that a gunman had opened fire at Fort Hood leaving a trail of carnage, a chilling realization swept across the U.S. Muslim community: He has an Islamic name.
From a professor who just testified in Congress, to a White House adviser appearing before a Jewish group and a former Marine driving home from work, Muslims across the country were shocked, angry and afraid that the attack would erode efforts to erase anti-Islamic stereotypes.
Many Islamic leaders said the Fort Hood tragedy that left 13 dead and 30 wounded including the alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, could likely pose the sternest test for U.S. Muslims since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. |
11 Pakistan's fashionistas defy Taliban
By CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 7, 7:36 am ET
| KARACHI, Pakistan - Some women strode the catwalk in vicious spiked bracelets and body armor. Others had their heads covered, burqa-style, but with shoulders - and tattoos - exposed. Male models wore long, Islamic robes as well as shorts and sequined T-shirts.
As surging militant violence grabs headlines around the world, Pakistan's top designers and models are taking part in the country's first-ever fashion week. While the mix of couture and high-street fashions would not have been out of place in Milan or New York, many designers reflected the turmoil, contradictions and tensions coursing through the society.
The four-day event, which was postponed twice due to security fears and amid unease at hosting such a gathering amid an army offensive in the northwest, is aimed at showing the world there is more to Pakistan than violence and helping boost an industry that employs hundreds of thousands of people, organizers said. |
12 Spat over 'terrorists' halts Conn. 9/11 memorial
By DAVE COLLINS, Associated Press Writer
19 mins ago
| HARTFORD, Conn. - A memorial to honor a Sept. 11 victim from a small northwestern Connecticut town has been halted by the unexpected conflict arising from his father's insistence it say his son was murdered by "Muslim terrorists."
Town officials in Kent are balking, saying it would be inappropriate to single out a religious group in a project on town property and paid for with taxpayers' money. The memorial plaque to be erected outside the town hall is on indefinite hold.
Peter Gadiel is criticizing town leaders for being too politically correct, and says he's frustrated about what he calls a growing trend across the country to soften the reality of the Sept. 11 attacks by not mentioning a word about terrorism on victims' memorials. |
In case you think Stars Hollow is doesn't have it's fair share of teabagging wingnuts and Masters of the Universe.
13 NY case spotlights Dead Sea Scrolls, fake e-mails
By JENNIFER PELTZ, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 23 mins ago
| NEW YORK - Students and university officials started getting e-mails last year in which a prominent Judaic studies scholar seemed to make a startling confession: He had committed plagiarism.
The messages, it turned out, were a hoax. Prosecutors filed criminal charges, saying a lawyer sent the messages to tarnish the professor, his father's rival.
The court case has drawn attention to issues both ancient (the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls) and decidedly modern (phony online identities). |
Fucking Hypocrites File-
14 Alabama county celebrates official Obama holiday
By BOB JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 57 mins ago
| MARION, Ala. - The sign going on the front door at the Perry County courthouse reads: "Closed for the Obama Holiday."
The rural, mostly black county has proclaimed Monday as an official holiday celebrating the election of the nation's first black president, Barack Obama. It's one of Alabama's poorest counties, but it's sparing little during five days of festivities.
County employees, as well as city workers in Marion and Uniontown, will get a paid holiday Monday as government offices close, culminating a series of events including an old-fashioned civil rights rally and march, a golf tournament, a weekend carnival and a parade Monday through Marion. |
Five, four, three, two, one...
15 After immigrant killed in NY, others tell of abuse
By FRANK ELTMAN, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 7, 3:44 am ET
| PATCHOGUE, N.Y. - The high school buddies who trolled the streets looking for Hispanics to attack called it "beaner hopping."
"Jose, Kevin and I started popping and Jose punched him so hard he knocked him out," Anthony Harfford told police.
Harfford said he didn't do it often: "Maybe only once a week." |
16 NY village gets new voting system to aid Hispanics
By JIM FITZGERALD, Associated Press Writer
Fri Nov 6, 5:36 pm ET
| WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - A federal judge imposed an unusual election system on a suburban village Friday, nearly two years after finding that the existing system was unfair to Hispanics.
The village, Port Chester, is run by a mayor and six trustees. Under the new system, called cumulative voting, residents will be allowed to cast as many as six votes for one trustee candidate.
No Hispanic had ever been elected trustee or mayor in the village 25 miles northeast of New York City, although the population of 28,000 is about half Hispanic. The ruling is likely to mean that the village will have trustee elections next year for the first time since 2006. |
17 UN urges Karzai to fight corruption
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 7, 12:30 am ET
| UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council joined calls Friday on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to fight corruption, with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling the country's political situation "delicate" following deeply flawed elections.
In a tepid statement, the Council "acknowledged" - rather than welcomed - the conclusion of the tumultuous electoral process where Karzai was declared the winner after challenger Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from a runoff race saying it could not be free or fair.
Abdullah on Wednesday called Karzai's victory illegal and his government a failure, saying the president's tainted administration would not be able to check corruption or fend off the Taliban. |
18 Goldstone report: UN votes for probe into Gaza war crimes
By Howard LaFranchi, The Christian Science Monitor
Thu Nov 5, 4:00 am ET
| New York - The United Nations General Assembly approved Thursday afternoon a resolution that calls on both Israel and the Palestinians to investigate the accusations of war crimes in last winter's Gaza incursion as described in a UN-commissioned report.
The resolution - approved 118-14, with much of the developing world and Arab countries in favor, and the US and Israel notably opposed - underscores the broad support for the Goldstone report, the investigation commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council to look into alleged war crimes committed during the three-week-long Gaza war.
Forty-four countries, including France and Britain, abstained. |
19 Medvedev: Arms control deal with US can be reached
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer
8 mins ago
| MOSCOW - Russia and the United States have a good chance of reaching a new nuclear arms reduction deal before year's end, but other nuclear powers must join disarmament efforts, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said in remarks released Saturday.
Medvedev also told Germany's Der Spiegel magazine he has been working well with his predecessor Vladimir Putin, and predictions of a rift between him and Putin - widely seen as pulling the strings in Russia - are overblown. The Kremlin released a transcript of the comments.
"No one must have any doubts that our 'tandem' has been working quite harmoniously," Medvedev said. "As you can see, predictions that we will have a falling out so far have failed to materialize." |
20 West Africa's last giraffes make surprise comeback
By TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 51 mins ago
| KOURE, Niger - A crisp African dawn is breaking overhead, and Zibo Mounkaila is on the back of a pickup truck bounding across a sparse landscape of rocky orange soil.
The tallest animals on earth are here, the guide says, somewhere amid the scant green bush on one side, and the thatched dome villages on the other.
They're here, but by all accounts, they shouldn't be. |
21 Saudi won't bar hajj pilgrims over swine flu fears
By DONNA ABU-NASR, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 55 mins ago
| RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - The Saudi health minister said Saturday that the kingdom will not bar anyone considered high-risk for swine flu from performing the hajj pilgrimage this year, though he urged countries where pilgrims set out from to take precautions.
The hajj, required of all able-bodied Muslims at least once in their lifetime, has become a concern for world health officials because the density of pilgrims - with shoulder-to-shoulder contact as they pray - has raised fears of a massive spread of swine flu.
The pilgrimage attracts about 3 million people from 160 countries annually and begins this year on Nov. 25, as the winter flu season approaches in the Northern Hemisphere. |
22 To defang Taliban, some look to private schools
By NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 7, 11:35 am ET
| QUTBAL, Pakistan - The schoolhouse is so tiny that dozens of pupils have to sit outdoors. They're lucky if their teachers have more than a basic education. And the chanting of math equations and Quranic verses gets so loud that the children have a hard time hearing themselves.
Yet the pupils love the Islamia Model School, one of thousands of private schools popping up in Pakistan. Unlike at area public schools, Islamia's seven teachers show up regularly to work. Unlike at religious schools, its curriculum extends well beyond Islam.
Plus, it has desks and chairs - no small thing to the many poor families who enroll their children here. |
23 Afghan gov't says UN representative out of line
By HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writer
Sat Nov 7, 10:18 am ET
| KABUL - Pushing back against international criticism, Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry said Saturday that the top U.N. official in the country overstepped his authority by giving instructions on how to rid the government of corruption and warlords.
Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide joined a host of international figures, including President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who have called on the Afghan government to take concrete steps to clean up the government following a presidential election that was marred by fraud.
But the comments of Eide, head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, prompted the foreign minister to issue a weekend statement saying the U.N. official "exceeded international norms and his authority as a representative of an impartial organization." |
24 Britain rallies G20 on climate change
by Katherine Haddon, AFP
Sat Nov 7, 9:00 am ET
| ST ANDREWS (AFP) - Hosts Britain urged G20 finance ministers to put aside their differences and strike a deal on climate funding on Saturday despite fading hopes for an accord at key UN talks next month.
As ministers and central bankers also debated how best to firm up the world economic recovery, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown urged them to consider a tax on global financial transactions, known as a Tobin Tax.
The move would be one way of reflecting the "global responsibilities" which financial institutions have to society, said Brown, whose country is hosting the meeting in the Scottish golfing town of St Andrews. |
25 Obama delays Japan visit following Texas shooting: Tokyo
by Shingo Ito, AFP
Sat Nov 7, 3:13 am ET
| TOKYO (AFP) - US President Barack Obama has delayed his visit to Japan next week by one day following a deadly shooting at a military base in Texas, according to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
Japanese national broadcaster NHK and Jiji Press reported that Washington had asked Tokyo to change the schedule for the two-day visit to allow Obama to attend a memorial service for the 13 people killed in Thursday's shooting.
Obama had been due to arrive for his first trip to Japan on Thursday for talks with Hatoyama and to meet Emperor Akihito. |
26 Honduras crisis deepens after collapse of deal
AFP
Fri Nov 6, 9:58 pm ET
| TEGUCIGALPA (AFP) - Honduras sunk into further disarray after President Manuel Zelaya, ousted in a military-backed coup, said a US-brokered deal to end the nation's four-month crisis had collapsed.
Presidential elections due on November 29 were in jeopardy as Zelaya called on his supporters to boycott them and return to the streets of the polarized nation.
Hundreds marched from the Congress to the Brazilian embassy, where Zelaya has been holed up since September 21, in a protest in the capital Friday. |
27 Shooting reveals tensions over Muslims in the military
By Nancy A. Youssef and Leila Fadel, McClatchy Newspapers
Fri Nov 6, 8:59 pm ET
| WASHINGTON - The killings of 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas , by an Army psychiatrist who also was a Muslim set off a rancorous debate Friday that once again spotlighted the fear among Muslims in America that they'll be collectively found guilty for the actions of one man.
Vitriolic exchanges filled Internet sites devoted to military affairs, with some posters arguing that Muslims should be barred from the armed services.
News reporters deluged the Silver Spring, Md. , mosque where the Fort Hood shooting suspect once worshipped, demanding to know what the Quran, Islam's holy book, has to say about such events. One even asked if the suspect, Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan , who was born in Virginia and lived his whole life in the U.S., spoke with an "accent." |
28 Obama nearing decision to send more troops to Afghanistan
By Jonathan S. Landay, John Walcott and Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers
1 hr 21 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is nearing a decision to send more than 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan next year, but he may not announce it until after he consults with key allies and completes a trip to Asia later this month, administration and military officials have told McClatchy .
As it now stands, the administration's plan calls for sending three Army brigades from the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky. and the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, N.Y. and a Marine brigade, for a total of as many as 23,000 additional combat and support troops.
Another 7,000 troops would man and support a new division headquarters for the international force's Regional Command (RC) South in Kandahar , the Taliban birthplace where the U.S. is due to take command in 2010. Some 4,000 additional U.S. trainers are likely to be sent as well, the officials said. |
| From Yahoo News U.S. News |
29 Big California bank fails, has China branches
Reuters
Sat Nov 7, 1:19 am ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - United Commercial Bank, a big San Francisco bank with branches in China, was closed by state regulators on Friday and its banking operations were acquired by East West Bancorp Inc, also active in both nations.
East West said the transaction made it the second-largest independent bank in California. Based in Pasadena, East West has 137 U.S. branches, including offices in New York, Atlanta, Boston and Seattle, and four in China.
United Commercial Bank, with assets of $11.2 billion, was the 120th U.S. bank to fail this year. Regulators closed four other banks on Friday, in Georgia, Michigan, Missouri and Minnesota. Failures already were the highest since 1992. |
30 Wall St. trial summations hone in on "toast" email
By Grant McCool, Reuters
Fri Nov 6, 6:50 pm ET
| NEW YORK (Reuters) - The trial of two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers on fraud charges ended on Friday with sharp arguments over the meaning of the word "toast" in one defendant's email about the subprime mortgage market.
Ralph Cioffi, 53, and Matthew Tannin, 48, have denied allegations that made them the first high-profile Wall Streeters to be criminally charged in a case stemming from problems with subprime mortgage-backed securities in 2007 that fueled the market meltdown.
Central to the government's case in a New York court is an April 22, 2007 email by Tannin to his boss Cioffi, who worked for Bear Stearns for 25 years. In it, Tannin refers to another colleague's report on collateralized debt obligations, securities backed by a pool of debt such as mortgages. |
31 Nabokov's unfinished -- and unburned -- novel reappears
by Paola Messana, AFP
2 hrs 8 mins ago
| NEW YORK (AFP) - Vladimir Nabokov wanted it burned on his death, but "The Original of Laura" survived and now, 32 years later, the unfinished novel is about to be published for the first time.
Despite Nabokov's dying wish, publication of the manuscript, which was compiled on index cards, is set for November 17 in New York and London, giving what many hope will be an unexpected glimpse of his genius.
The Russian-born writer's widow Vera had already saved his most famous work, "Lolita," from the flames, and their son Dmitry, 75, followed suit by preserving "Laura." |
32 Wall Street rally gets second wind
AFP
Sat Nov 7, 12:22 pm ET
| NEW YORK (AFP) - Wall Street's gravity-defying rally found new life over the past week, providing optimism for investors heading into what has historically been one of the best periods of the year.
The markets were able to shake off a disappointing report on the US labor market that sparked renewed doubts about the economic recovery.
Some analysts say the market is gaining confidence slowly that an economic recovery will take root soon. Others say the rally, like the recovery, remains fragile. |
Idiots.
33 Bluebeat to battle EMI over Beatles songs
by Glenn Chapman, AFP
Fri Nov 6, 11:06 pm ET
| SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - US online music service Bluebeat said it plans to fight British recording label EMI over rights to stream and sell versions of Beatles songs.
Bluebeat.com and sister website Basebeat.com were shuttered on Friday, a day after a judge in Los Angeles granted a request by EMI to bar Beatles tunes from the online venues.
"We are going to come back and fight another day," Bluebeat co-founder and chief executive Hank Risan told AFP. "We think we are going to win in court." |
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Reform Immigration -
March on Washington
