Tag: Docudharma Times

Wall Street Goes To K Street

There Goes The Neighborhood

Living on the frontline of the new cold war

Russians in Baltic enclave on EU’s doorstep endorse challenge to US missiles

Luke Harding in Kaliningrad

guardian.co.uk, Saturday November 8 2008 00.01 GMT

The Soviet-era radio station is visible from the road. Rising above a forest of tall pines and birches, the radio masts near the town of Bolshakova were a listening post during the cold war. Up the road is Lithuania. In the other direction is Poland.

Two decades later, the Soviet Union has gone. But the town with its pretty German cottages and gardens full of geese is now on the frontline of a new cold war. On Wednesday Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev, said he would deploy Iskander nuclear missiles in Kaliningrad – the small Baltic Sea chunk of Russian territory encircled by what are now Nato countries.

The Button Man of France obsesses in sets of 12

At Paris’ Puces de Vanves flea market, Eric Hebert offers a mind-boggling array of yellowing cards covered in vintage buttons. Please don’t ask how many he has.

By Geraldine Baum

November 8, 2008

Reporting from Paris — Her fingers ran over the smooth red buttons with flecks of gold and the wavy sea-green buttons and the black buttons with ridges that made them look like miniature fans. Yoshini Kondo admired them all — buttons sewn in lots of 12 on yellowing cards, buttons in every color and size, buttons in Bakelite, casein, ceramic, shell, wood, even silk thread.

But did she need old buttons in her life?

Does anybody need old buttons, or, for that matter, rusted old keys or 1930s posters advertising butter or tarnished brass cheese knives lined up in threadbare velvet boxes?

Kondo, a 40-year-old tourist from Japan, had come to the puces (literally, “fleas”) on the edge of Paris to poke around for old vases for her florist shop outside Tokyo, but she was distracted by the treasure-trove of the Button Man of France

USA

G.M. Says U.S. Cash Is Its Best Hope



By BILL VLASIC and NICK BUNKLEY

Published: November 7, 2008

DETROIT – The rapidly deteriorating finances of General Motors are forcing the federal government to decide whether to bail out the largest American automaker or face the prospect that it might go bankrupt.G.M. said Friday that its cash cushion had been dwindling by more than $2 billion a month recently and that it could run short of money by mid-2009 unless it got emergency federal assistance.

It also said it had suspended merger talks with Chrysler to focus on its own increasingly urgent problems, brought on by higher gas prices, a weakening economy and tight credit – a combination afflicting the entire auto industry, but hurting G.M. the most.

Republicans

Hit Each Other With The Shinkansen

That’s Gotta Hurt

Georgia Claims on Russia War Called Into Question



By C. J. CHIVERS and ELLEN BARRY

Published: November 6, 2008

TBILISI, Georgia – Newly available accounts by independent military observers of the beginning of the war between Georgia and Russia this summer call into question the longstanding Georgian assertion that it was acting defensively against separatist and Russian aggression.Instead, the accounts suggest that Georgia’s inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm.

The accounts are neither fully conclusive nor broad enough to settle the many lingering disputes over blame in a war that hardened relations between the Kremlin and the West.

Emanuel to Be Chief of Staff

Obama’s Choice Could Signal Rapid Succession of Cabinet Picks

By Anne E. Kornblut and Karen DeYoung

Washington Post Staff Writers

Friday, November 7, 2008; Page A01

President-elect Barack Obama made the first appointment of his new administration yesterday, choosing Rep. Rahm Emanuel to serve as White House chief of staff when he takes office in January.

The selection of the fellow Illinois Democrat, a close Obama friend who embraces a sharp-edged approach to politics, could signal a rapid succession of appointments. Obama is expected to announce in the coming days that he will place two senior campaign aides, David Axelrod and Robert Gibbs, in key roles.

USA

Retailers Report a Sales Collapse



By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM

Published: November 6, 2008

Sales at the nation’s largest retailers fell off a cliff in October, casting fresh doubt on the survival of some chains and signaling that this will probably be the weakest Christmas shopping season in decades.The remarkable slowdown hit luxury chains that sell $5,000 designer dresses as badly as stores that offer $18 packs of underwear, suggesting that consumers at all income levels are snapping their wallets shut.

Sales at Neiman Marcus, the luxury department store, dropped nearly 28 percent in October compared with the same month last year.

The Regional Republican Party

What A Shame

Not Really  

For Obama, No Day to Bask as He Starts to Build His Team for Transition



By PETER BAKER and JEFF ZELENY

Published: November 5, 2008

President-elect Barack Obama began moving Wednesday to build his administration and make good on his ambitious promises to point the United States in a different direction, as his commanding victory reordered the American political landscape and transfixed much of the nation and the world.

A day after becoming the first African-American to capture the presidency, Mr. Obama announced a transition team and prepared to name an ally as his White House chief of staff in his first steps toward assuming power. President Bush vowed to work closely with Mr. Obama to ensure a smooth transition in the first handover since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Critics alarmed as Medvedev reveals plan to extend Russian presidential term to six years

• Putin expected to benefit from constitutional reform

• New nuclear missile site to ‘neutralise’ US shield

Luke Harding in Moscow

The Guardian, Thursday November 6 2008

President Dmitry Medvedev moved yesterday to entrench the current Russian leadership’s grip on power by proposing a presidential term that would extend the stint in office from four to six years.

Medvedev said the extension was necessary to guarantee stability and help Russia deal with massive global challenges. But critics said the proposal was further evidence of Russia’s alarming and rapid drift towards authoritarianism.

In his first state of the nation address, Medvedev also said he was deploying nuclear missiles in western Russia to “neutralise” the Pentagon’s missile defence system – and lambasted the US for its “arrogant course” and “unilateralism”.

USA

U.S. to cut troop levels in Iraq this month

The cut to 14 brigades comes at least two months earlier than planned

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Spurred on by a continued decline in violence, the U.S. military will reduce its presence in Iraq to 14 combat brigades this month – at least two months earlier than originally planned.

Military officials say two brigades from the 101st Airborne Division will leave Iraq this month and only one will be replaced. A brigade is roughly 3,500 soldiers. Initially the 3rd Brigade, 101st Division, was scheduled to leave this month, and the 2nd Brigade, 101st Division, was to leave by February.

The Day Of Change Is Here

The ’08 Race: A Sea Change for Politics as We Know It



By ADAM NAGOURNEY

Published: November 3, 2008

The 2008 race for the White House that comes to an end on Tuesday fundamentally upended the way presidential campaigns are fought in this country, a legacy that has almost been lost with all the attention being paid to the battle between Senators John McCain and Barack Obama.It has rewritten the rules on how to reach voters, raise money, organize supporters, manage the news media, track and mold public opinion, and wage – and withstand – political attacks, including many carried by blogs that did not exist four years ago. It has challenged the consensus view of the American electoral battleground, suggesting that Democrats can at a minimum be competitive in states and regions that had long been Republican strongholds.

As China’s Losses Mount, Confidence Turns to Fear

Officials Use Bailouts to Forestall Unrest

By Ariana Eunjung Cha

Washington Post Foreign Service

Tuesday, November 4, 2008; Page A01

SHENZHEN, China — When Chong Yik Toy Co. went bankrupt, the bosses fled without meeting their payroll and angry workers took to the streets in protest. Less than 72 hours later, the local government came to the rescue.

Armed with bags full of cash totaling half a million dollars, accountants began distributing the money so the 900 former employees would have something to get by on. The Chinese officials who made the emergency payments on Oct. 21 called it an “advance,” part of a “back-pay insurance fund.”

USA

In Birmingham, Obama’s run is more than just politics



By Tony Pugh | McClatchy Newspapers

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – On the night before Tuesday’s historic presidential election, city leaders here summoned voters to the scene of one of the most appalling events of the civil rights movement.

From the pulpit of the 16th Street Baptist Church, where four young girls were killed in a 1963 bombing, speakers Monday night urged the mostly black crowd to make sure they vote.

It was a familiar appeal from a familiar venue.

At the height of Birmingham’s bloody civil rights struggle, 16th Street Baptist was a frequent meeting place for local black leaders, but Monday’s rally drew its energy and urgency from an unprecedented development – the chance to elect the nation’s first African-American president.

Hope And Change

Without Fear

One More Day

Republicans Scrambling to Save Seats in Congress



By CARL HULSE

Published: November 2, 2008

WASHINGTON – Outspent and under siege in a hostile political climate, Congressional Republicans scrambled this weekend to save embattled incumbents in an effort to hold down expected Democratic gains in the House and Senate on Tuesday.

With the election imminent, Senate Republicans threw their remaining resources into protecting endangered lawmakers in Georgia, Minnesota, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Oregon, while House Republicans were forced to put money into what should be secure Republican territory in Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Virginia and Wyoming.

Questions persist about Palestinian’s encounter at border crossing

Mohammed Omer says he was physically abused by Israeli security while returning from Europe. Israel An Israeli inquiry ruled his assertions to be false. The U.N. calls for further investigation.

By Ashraf Khalil

November 3, 2008

Reporting from Jerusalem — What exactly happened to Mohammed Omer?

The Gaza-based journalist walked into the Allenby Bridge border crossing between Jordan and the Israeli-controlled West Bank one day early this summer. There, the 24-year-old says, he was sexually humiliated and physically assaulted by Israeli security — while an escort from the Dutch Embassy waited for him outside.

The Israeli government released a statement soon afterward acknowledging that Omer and his luggage were searched “due to suspicion that he had been in contact with hostile elements.” It denies that Omer was ever forcibly disrobed and states that “at no time was the complainant subjected to either physical or mental violence.”

The report cites “doubts as to the sincerity of the situation” and concludes that all of Omer’s claims in the June incident were “found to be without foundation.”

USA

Effectiveness of AIG’s $143 Billion Rescue Questioned



By Carol D. Leonnig

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, November 3, 2008; Page A18

A number of financial experts now fear that the federal government’s $143 billion attempt to rescue troubled insurance giant American International Group may not work, and some argue that company shareholders and taxpayers would have been better served by a bankruptcy filing.

The Treasury Department leapt to keep AIG from going bankrupt on Sept. 16, and in the past seven weeks, AIG has drawn down $90 billion in federal bailout loans. But some key AIG players argue that bankruptcy would have offered more structure and greater protections during a time of intense market volatility.

AIG declined to comment on the matter.

Using McCarthy Era Tactics

And Racism

John McCain Is Unfit To Lead

Candidates Make Their Final Push on Reshaped Map



By ADAM NAGOURNEY

Published: November 1, 2008

Senators John McCain and Barack Obama began their final push for the White House on Saturday across an electoral map markedly different from four years ago, evidence of Mr. Obama’s success at putting new states into contention and limiting Mr. McCain’s options in the final hours.Mr. Obama was using the last days of the contest to make incursions into Republican territory, campaigning Saturday in three states – Colorado, Missouri and Nevada – that President Bush won relatively comfortably in 2004. In what seemed as much a symbolic tweak as a real challenge, Mr. Obama bought advertising time in Arizona, Mr. McCain’s home state.

Terrorism Financing Blacklists At Risk

Global System Faces Multiple Challenges

By Craig Whitlock

Washington Post Foreign Service

Sunday, November 2, 2008; Page A01

BRUSSELS — The global blacklisting system for financiers of al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups is at risk of collapse, undermined by legal challenges and waning political support in many countries, according to counterterrorism officials in Europe and the United States.

In September, the European Court of Justice threw the future of the United Nations’ sanctions program against al-Qaeda and the Taliban into doubt when it declared the blacklist violated the “fundamental rights” of those targeted. The Luxembourg-based court said the list lacked accountability and made it almost impossible for people to challenge their inclusion.

USA

Four big questions of the presidential election

Who wins, and where, will give clues about the nation’s feelings on race, the role of government and the hold of partisanship.

By Peter Wallsten and Janet Hook

November 2, 2008

Reporting from Washington — Iowa gave the first sign that the American political landscape had changed. ¶ Democrats in an overwhelmingly white state, many from small towns and farms, said an African American man from Chicago was the best choice for president — and by a convincing margin. ¶ Barack Obama went on to build a broader coalition than any previous black candidate, winning the Democratic nomination on an agenda of “change.” John McCain emerged as the GOP nominee, despite a history of breaking from Republican beliefs. He too promised “change” from the nation’s current course. ¶ On Tuesday, as results from the presidential election roll in, so will clues to what kind of change the nation wants, and to how much it has changed in the last four years. ¶ Who wins, and where, will shed light on the nation’s feelings on race, the role of government and the hold of partisanship on the public dialogue. Here are four big questions arising from the 2008 presidential campaign:

Has America’s racial divide narrowed?

Watch Obama on television, and he will often be framed by flags and furnishings reminiscent of the Oval Office. During his overseas trip this summer, Obama enjoyed warm banter with the likes of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the two men standing at twin lecterns beneath a crystal chandelier.

John McCain Approves This Message

One So Confused That Only Confusion Could Understand It

Specter of Deflation Lurks as Global Demand Drops



By PETER S. GOODMAN

Published: October 31, 2008

As dozens of countries slip deeper into financial distress, a new threat may be gathering force within the American economy – the prospect that goods will pile up waiting for buyers and prices will fall, suffocating fresh investment and worsening joblessness for months or even years.The word for this is deflation, or declining prices, a term that gives economists chills.

Deflation accompanied the Depression of the 1930s. Persistently falling prices also were at the heart of Japan’s so-called lost decade after the catastrophic collapse of its real estate bubble at the end of the 1980s – a period in which some experts now find parallels to the American predicament.

“That certainly is the snapshot of the risk I see,” said Robert J. Barbera, chief economist at the research and trading firm ITG. “It is the crisis we face.”

Is this troubled nation ready for change?

 US correspondent Rupert Cornwell examines the mood of America and asks if the young pretender can really defeat the combative McCain

Saturday, 1 November 2008

Who, back then, could have imagined what would follow? On the glacially cold morning of 10 February 2007, I stood shivering in the crowd outside the Old State House in Springfield, Illinois, as Barack Obama formally declared himself a candidate to be the 44th President of the United States.

The very thought that, for the first time, an African-American and a relative political newcomer to boot, had a small but realistic chance of entering the Oval Office made the moment fascinating enough. There was also a small personal conceit. Back in October 1991, I had travelled to Little Rock to watch a young governor of Arkansas make a similar announcement. Bill Clinton went all the way. So, would lightning strike twice – might I have stumbled on another winner?

USA

New Model Is Forged In Bank’s Wreckage

U.S. Reworking IndyMac Mortgages By the Thousands

By Renae Merle

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, November 1, 2008; Page A01

PASADENA, Calif. — Inside the stone-and-glass headquarters of IndyMac Federal Bank, regulators are carrying out an experiment that could change the course of the financial crisis by tackling the home foreclosures that are at its root.

With the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. at the helm of IndyMac, which was seized in July after it became one of the country’s largest bank failures, regulators are attempting to create a model for reworking mortgages and rescuing homeowners.

A few major banks are also trying to tackle the home foreclosure problem, a major impediment to the nation’s economic recovery.

HAPPY

HALLOWEEN

Mortgage Plan May Aid Many and Irk Others



By DAVID STREITFELD

Published: October 30, 2008

As the Treasury Department prepares a $40 billion program to help delinquent homeowners avoid foreclosure, it confronts a difficult challenge: not making the plan too tempting to people like Todd Lawrence.An airline pilot who lives outside Norwich, Conn., Mr. Lawrence has a traditional 30-year mortgage that he has no trouble paying every month. But, thanks to the plunging real estate market, he owes more on his house than it is worth, like millions of other people.

Robert Fisk: Scandal of six held in Guantanamo even after Bush plot claim is dropped

 No evidence that men living in Bosnia plotted attack on Sarajevo embassy

Friday, 31 October 2008

In the dying days of the Bush administration, yet another presidential claim in the “war on terror” has been proved false by the withdrawal of the main charge against six Algerians held without trial for nearly seven years at Guantanamo prison camp.

George Bush’s assertion in his 2002 State of the Union address – the same speech in which he wrongly claimed that Saddam Hussein had tried to import aluminium tubes from Niger – was that “our soldiers, working with the Bosnian government, seized terrorists who were plotting to bomb our embassy [in Sarajevo].” Not only has the US government withdrawn that charge against the six Algerians, all of whom had taken citizenship or residence in Bosnia, but lawyers defending the Arabs – who had already been acquitted of such a plot in a Sarajevo court – have found that the US threatened to pull its troops out of the Nato peacekeeping force in Bosnia if the men were not handed over.

USA

A Last Push To Deregulate

White House to Ease Many Rules

By R. Jeffrey Smith

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, October 31, 2008; Page A01

The White House is working to enact a wide array of federal regulations, many of which would weaken government rules aimed at protecting consumers and the environment, before President Bush leaves office in January.

The new rules would be among the most controversial deregulatory steps of the Bush era and could be difficult for his successor to undo. Some would ease or lift constraints on private industry, including power plants, mines and farms.

Those and other regulations would help clear obstacles to some commercial ocean-fishing activities, ease controls on emissions of pollutants that contribute to global warming, relax drinking-water standards and lift a key restriction on mountaintop coal mining.

Barack Obama Talks To America And Offers Hope And Change

John McCain Talks To America And Offers Fear

The Decided Go in Droves to Vote Early



By JENNIFER STEINHAUER

Published: October 29, 2008

HENDERSON, Nev. – At grocery stores across Las Vegas, voters are casting their ballots, and then shopping for bananas or hitting the slot machines a few feet away.

About 100 people have voted from the windows of their cars, A.T.M. style, in Orange County, Calif. Several busloads of voters pulled up to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in Cleveland on Sunday, did what they came to do, and then repaired to a church across the street for some fried chicken.

In all its forms, early voting has been an election year hit. Enormous lines in Florida led Gov. Charlie Crist to issue an executive order extending early voting hours statewide from eight hours a day to 12, while in Georgia an elderly woman in Cobb County stood in the sun so long to vote that she collapsed.

Chinese want a piece of movie ‘Action!’

 Thousands of would-be extras arrive at the gates of Beijing Film Studio each year, hoping to become stars or just to generate a little excitement in a tough life.

By Mark Magnier

10:41 PM PDT, October 29, 2008

Reporting from Beijing — When you have a movie calling for 700 eunuchs, it’s good to live in a country with a potential pool of more than 1 billion extras. And this is the place to find them: at the gates of a nondescript compound on the north Third Ring Road called the Beijing Film Studio.

It’s just after 6 on a recent morning, but a sizable crowd is already swarming the entrance to the studio, which has become a mecca for wannabe actors across China yearning for their big break. Most aren’t particularly ready for their close-up — migrant workers with dusty clothes and dirt-etched fingernails — but they’re hungering for a bit of celluloid to counteract a tough, often dull, existence.

By some estimates, 100,000 people land in front of these gates each year looking for infinitesimal roles as policemen, soldiers, pedestrians. The odds don’t favor wallflowers, which prompts many to toot their own horns, sometimes literally.

USA

Banks to Continue Paying Dividends

Bailout Money Is for Lending, Critics Say

By Binyamin Appelbaum

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, October 30, 2008; Page A01

U.S. banks getting more than $163 billion from the Treasury Department for new lending are on pace to pay more than half of that sum to their shareholders, with government permission, over the next three years.The government said it was giving banks more money so they could make more loans. Dollars paid to shareholders don’t serve that purpose, but Treasury officials say that suspending quarterly dividend payments would have deterred banks from participating in the voluntary program.

Those Oil Companies Are So Warm And Fuzzy

Just Like A Python

Central Banks Slashing Rates As Investors Flee

Global Pullback Could Affect Currency Markets

By Anthony Faiola and Neil Irwin

Washington Post Staff Writers

Tuesday, October 28, 2008; Page A01

Central banks around the world are moving to further slash interest rates as they seek to contain the damage from the bursting of the biggest credit bubble in history.

The Federal Reserve is poised to cut its benchmark rate for the second time in two weeks at a pivotal meeting in Washington on Wednesday, and the European Central Bank yesterday suggested that it would do the same next week. South Korea announced a dramatic rate cut yesterday, by three-fourths of a percentage point.

Governments worldwide have already approved massive bailouts and stimulus packages to halt financial meltdowns.

Kirkuk dispute threatens to plunge Iraq into Kurdish-Arab war

 Study warns dispute over territories and revenues in oil region could lead to violence greater than Sunni-Shia conflict

Julian Borger, diplomatic editor

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday October 28 2008 00.05 GMT

Iraq’s relative calm is threatened by a festering Kurdish-Arab conflict over the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and other disputed territories, that could explode into the worst sectarian war the country has suffered since the 2003 invasion, a new report says today.

The report by the International Crisis Group (ICG) says the territorial dispute is blocking political progress in Iraq, contributing to the delay in passing a law on sharing oil revenue, and threatening to put off critical provincial elections.

Pointing out that the Arab-Kurdish dispute dates back to Britain’s creation of modern Iraq after the first world war, the ICG report warns: “In its ethnically-driven intensity, ability to drag in regional players such as Turkey and Iran, and potentially devastating impact on efforts to rebuild a fragmented state, it matches and arguably exceeds the Sunni-Shia divide that spawned the 2005 – 2007 sectarian war.”

USA

White House Explores Aid for Auto Deal



By EDMUND L. ANDREWS and BILL VLASIC

Published: October 27, 2008

WASHINGTON – The Bush administration is examining a range of options for providing emergency financial help to spur a merger between General Motors and Chrysler, according to government officials.

People familiar with the discussions said the administration wanted to provide financial assistance to the deeply troubled Big Three Detroit automakers, possibly by using the Treasury Department’s wide-ranging authority under the $700 billion bailout program that Congress approved this month.

Bush Decides To Blackmail Iraq

Believing He Hasn’t Wrecked

The Country Enough

End of Battle Centers on Turf Bush Carried



By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JEFF ZELENY

Published: October 26, 2008

Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama are heading into the final week of the presidential campaign planning to spend nearly all their time in states that President Bush won last time, testimony to the increasingly dire position of Mr. McCain and his party as Election Day approaches.

With optimism brimming in Democratic circles, Mr. Obama will present on Monday what aides described as a summing-up speech for his campaign in Canton, Ohio, reprising the themes he first presented in February 2007, when he began his campaign for the presidency.

From here on out, Mr. Obama’s aides said, attacks on Mr. McCain will be joined by an emphasis on broader and less partisan themes, like the need to unify the country after a difficult election.

Asian stockmarkets crash again

apan’s Nikkei index falls 6.4% to its lowest level since 1982 amid panicky selling

Graeme Wearden

guardian.co.uk, Monday October 27 2008 07.58 GMT

Stockmarkets around the world crashed again today as the prospect of a deep worldwide recession continued to haunt investors.

Fears that the financial crisis is spreading to emerging nations sparked another day of panicky selling, despite speculation of another round of interest rate cuts to try to stimulate the global economy,

As the current crisis sparked by the failure of Lehman Brothers entered a seventh week, Japan’s Nikkei index fell 6.4% to its lowest level since 1982, extending its recent slump. It has now lost 20% of its value in the last week.

Hong Kong also saw shares routed, with the Hang Seng index plunging almost 12% in late trading – putting it on track for its biggest daily fall since 1997.

USA

Gun Sales Thriving In Uncertain Times



By Fredrick Kunkle

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, October 27, 2008; Page A01

Americans have cut back on buying cars, furniture and clothes in a tough economy, but there’s one consumer item that’s still enjoying healthy sales: guns. Purchases of firearms and ammunition have risen 8 to 10 percent this year, according to state and federal data.

Several variables drive sales, but many dealers, buyers and experts attribute the increase in part to concerns about the economy and fears that if Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois wins the presidency, he will join with fellow Democrats in Congress to enact new gun controls.

The Guns Of August

The Knives Of October

Spending Stalls and Businesses Slash U.S. Jobs



By LOUIS UCHITELLE

Published: October 25, 2008

As the financial crisis crimps demand for American goods and services, the workers who produce them are losing their jobs by the tens of thousands.

Layoffs have arrived in force, like a wrenching second act in the unfolding crisis. In just the last two weeks, the list of companies announcing their intention to cut workers has read like a Who’s Who of corporate America: Merck, Yahoo, General Electric, Xerox, Pratt & Whitney, Goldman Sachs, Whirlpool, Bank of America, Alcoa, Coca-Cola, the Detroit automakers and nearly all the airlines.

Financial Meltdown Worsens Food Crisis

As Global Prices Soar, More People Go Hungry

By Ariana Eunjung Cha and Stephanie McCrummen

Washington Post Foreign Service

Sunday, October 26, 2008; Page A01

SHANGHAI — As shock waves from the credit crisis began to spread around the world last month, China scrambled to protect itself. Among the most extreme measures it took was to impose new export taxes to keep critical supplies such as grains and fertilizer from leaving the country.About 5,700 miles away, in Nairobi, farmer Stephen Muchiri is suffering the consequences.

It’s planting season now, but he can afford to sow amaranthus and haricot beans on only half of the 10 acres he owns because the cost of the fertilizer he needs has shot up nearly $50 a bag in a matter of weeks.

USA

Campaign Finance Gets New Scrutiny

Obama’s Take Raises Questions About Web

By Matthew Mosk

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, October 26, 2008; Page A01

Sen. Barack Obama’s record-breaking $150 million fundraising performance in September has for the first time prompted questions about whether presidential candidates should be permitted to collect huge sums of money through faceless credit card transactions over the Internet.

Lawyers for both the Republican and Democratic parties have asked the Federal Election Commission to examine the issue, pointing to dozens of examples of what they say are lax screening procedures by the presidential campaigns that permitted donors using false names or stolen credit cards to make contributions.