Secret Banking Cabal Emerges From AIG Shadows
Commentary by David Reilly Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) — The idea of secret banking cabals that control the country and global economy are a given among conspiracy theorists who stockpile ammo, bottled water and peanut butter. After this week’s congressional hearing into the bailout of American International Group Inc., you...
‘Nobel Peace Prize-winner Barack Obama ups spending on nuclear weapons to even more than George Bush’
President Obama is planning to increase spending on America’s nuclear weapons stockpile just days after pledging to try to rid the world of them. In his budget to be announced on Monday, Mr Obama has allocated £4.3billion to maintain the U.S. arsenal – £370million more than George Bush spent on nuclear weapons...
IMF Chief Urges Coordinated Finance Rules
By MARCUS WALKER and STEPHEN FIDLER DAVOS, Switzerland—The head of the International Monetary Fund warned the U.S. and European countries against launching separate initiatives to beef up the regulation of banks, urging governments to pursue multilateral agreements instead. “I’m worried about the possible inconsistency...
Game Over for the American Middle Class
The struggle for average Americans to keep up is largely becoming an act of will power and force in this current grand recession. Now you wouldn’t think that there is a definite war raging against the middle class if you simply follow the mainstream media but the facts speak to a more distilled and corporatized method of...
Bankers in favour of paying global fee
Some of the world’s most prominent bankers have come out in favour of a global bank wind-down fund, a concession from the industry after weeks of fighting proposals for new taxes in the US and Europe. Government rescue packages for banksJosef Ackermann, chief executive of Deutsche Bank, told the Financial Times on Friday :...
White House lists some proposed cuts in 2011 budget
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama will propose cutting or changing some 120 items in his budget for fiscal 2011 that will help save $20 billion this year, the White House said on Saturday. Obama, who on Monday presents his budget proposals for the fiscal year starting October 1, has promised to tackle record...
Americans arrested taking children out of Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Haitian police have arrested 10 U.S. citizens caught trying to take 33 children out of the earthquake-stricken country in a suspected illicit adoption scheme, authorities said on Saturday. The five men and five women were in custody in the capital, Port-au-Prince after their arrests on Friday...
3 Americans now held in Iran for half of a year
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The mother of one of three Americans jailed in Iran for six months says even hiring an attorney in Iran has brought no new information about the welfare of her son or his friends. Cindy Hickey of Pine City, Minn., is the mother of Shane Bauer. He and his friends Sarah Shourd (SHORD) and Josh Fattal were...
Roubini Calls U.S. Growth ‘Dismal and Poor,’ Predicts Slowing
By Simon Kennedy and Erik Schatzker Jan. 30 (Bloomberg) — New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini, who anticipated the financial crisis, called the fourth quarter surge in U.S. economic growth “very dismal and poor” because it relied on temporary factors. Roubini said more than half of the 5.7 percent expansion...
Nasa mission to unravel sun’s threat to Earth
NASA is to embark on one of its most ambitious missions in an attempt to unlock the secrets of the sun. Following its launch in nine days’ time, the US space agency’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) will spend five years in orbit trying to discover the causes of extreme solar activity, such as sun spots and solar winds...
Climate chief was told of false glacier claims before Copenhagen
The chairman of the leading climate change watchdog was informed that claims about melting Himalayan glaciers were false before the Copenhagen summit, The Times has learnt. Rajendra Pachauri was told that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change assessment that the glaciers would disappear by 2035 was wrong, but he waited...
Messiah to heal BCS! Hope & Change Is ALIVE!
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is considering several steps that would review the legality of the controversial Bowl Championship Series, the Justice Department said in a letter Friday to a senator who had asked for an antitrust review. In the letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch, obtained by The Associated Press, Assistant...
Official US policy: kill American citizens when President/Fuhrer declares them “terrorists”
By Carl Herman I had previously reported that US citizens are being tortured by our own government when the executive branch says the magic word: ”terrorist.” Under the 2006 Military Commissions Act (MCA), such Americans can be detained forever without legal right of habeas corpus. If those Americans are brought...
UK Motorist fined for blowing nose
Michael Mancini, a father of two, said he put the handbrake on before wiping his nose but was asked to pull over by officers who were standing nearby. He was told he was not in control of his vehicle and was handed a £60 fixed penalty and three points on his licence. The 39-year-old, who runs a furniture restoration business...
Foreclosures new hot spot – Boise, Idaho
Foreclosure rate: One in every 21 homes Percent increase from 2008: 103% National rank: 24th Unemployment rate: 10.1% Boise’s population has more than doubled since 1980, and its economy has diversified over the past half century. Tech industries have come into the mix, and Micron Technology is now the city’s largest...
Polish priest checks fingerprints for mass attendance
WARSAW (Reuters) – A Polish priest has installed an electronic reader in his church for schoolchildren to leave their fingerprints in order to monitor their attendance at mass, the Gazeta Wyborcza daily said on Friday. The pupils will mark their fingerprints every time they go to church over three years and if they attend...
Obama unveils 33-billion-dollar jobs package
US President Barack Obama unveiled a 33-billion-dollar package of tax cuts Friday to encourage small businesses to hire new workers, as he takes aim at 10 percent unemployment. Obama, who has made job creation the top priority of his administration, spoke as the White House got a rare economic boost when GDP data showed growth...
Poll: Americans pretty clueless about politics, world
By John Byrne Only one in four Americans know how many votes a Senate filibuster requires. One in three know the name of the chairman of the Republican Party. One in two know the Democratic leader of the US Senate. Health care? Fewer than one in three Americans even know that no Republicans voted for the Senate health care overhaul. Americans’...
Senators seek ‘crippling’ Iran sanctions
By Eric Zimmermann A bipartisan group of senators is asking President Barack Obama to impose “crippling sanctions” against Iran. In a letter to the president, the group reminds Obama that the year-end deadline he had imposed for “serious improvement” in the standoff with Iran has passed. “Now that...
