As an engineer, and founder of a company where one of our core values is quantify everything, lack of numbers bothers me.
How bad are things really? Answers like really bad or worst since the Great Depression just dont do it for me. What does it mean in dollars and cents?
Get the low-down here:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/30/the-economy-according-to-mint/
Bloomberg is expected to call for a $900 million increase in the citys sales tax on Friday, as the city confronts a loss of revenue due to the economic downturn. New York City already has one of the highest sales taxes in the nation, at 8.375 percent, and retailers are likely to fight the increase.
Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/30/nyregion/30bloomberg.html
Japanese electronics giant NEC Corp. says it plans to slash at least 20,000 jobs worldwide in an effort to cut 80 billion yen ($895 million) in costs over the next two years.
It expects to report a loss for the full fiscal year through March.
Link:
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2009/01/30/ap5986739.html
The Israeli defence ministry has concealed information about the extent of illegal settlement-building in the West Bank, a leading newspaper reports.
The full story is here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7861076.stm
It's not that the GOP will disappear from politics as we know it, but certainly, it would take them a decade or more to claw their way back to the top of the electoral heap.
When the GOP lost the House in 1954, it took forty years to return to the majority. A third-straight round of losses in 2010 could push the GOP into a long term minority.
Is it just me, or does it seem like every retail establishment these days feel its necessary to send one of their low-level employees to dance around like an intoxicated hobo on the street corner holding a sign? What the hell is the going on with this, and when did awkwardly dancing and flailing your arms about become an acceptable advertising ...
The full story is here:
http://www.delsquacho.com/blog/2009/01/29/whats-with-all-the-people-holding-signs-on-the-street-corner/
In an ideas piece, Whitman expresses her fear that the GOP remains focused on the past - namely, big government social conservatism. She recommends the party focus on low taxes with balanced budgets, strong national defense, engaged foreign policy, protection of the environment, and less government interference in individual lives.
Get the low-down here:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0109/18090.html
A non-profit coalition of mainly liberal economists is planning a conference (Thinking Big, Thinking Forward) to argue for a bailout of around $1.2T, and has invited Vice President Biden to give the keynote address.
No word yet if he will accept. This is no fringe group " it is headed by John Podesta, an influential Obama adviser.
The first government collapse of the global economic crisis is about to yield the world's first openly-gay leader.
Johanna Sigurdardottir, a former air hostess, is expected to be sworn in as Iceland's Prime Minister by the end of the week.
Link source:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/world-gets-its-first-gay-head-of-state-1519068.html
The United Nations is to halve the food ration to millions of Zimbabweans, bringing it below what will keep an adult alive, as the numbers of people dependent on aid rises sharply and donations from foreign governments fall well short of demand.
Get the low-down here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/29/zimbabwe-starving-food-aid-cut
Two Japanese boys have brought a World War II bomb to class, flustering teachers on the island of Okinawa, which was the scene of the Pacific conflict's bloodiest battle.
Link:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/29/2477806.htm
Though few officers will confess to lying -- after all, it's a crime -- work by researchers and a 1990s commission appointed to examine police corruption shows there's a tacit agreement among many officers that lying about how evidence is seized keeps criminals off the street.
Get the low-down here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123319367364627211.html
The CIA's station chief at its sensitive post in Algeria is under investigation by the U.S.
Justice Department for allegedly raping at least two Muslim women who claim he laced their drinks with a knock-out drug, U.S. law enforcement sources tell ABC News. Officials say the 41-year old CIA officer, a convert to Islam, was ordered home by the U.S. A
Read the full story here:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/Story?id=6750266
What's the point of talking with adversaries if it doesn't yield diplomatic results.
A writer from Slate suggests that Obama has a "fetish" about "engagement" with other countries, even hostile ones, if only to differentiate himself from Bush. But will mere meetings be good for the U.S.?
The full story is here:
http://www.slate.com/id/2209894
This dude is unreal.
Get the low-down here:
http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoons/AnderN/2009/AnderN20090128_low.jpg
The accompanying map shows party strength by state for 2008, ranging from states that can be considered solidly Democratic (a Democratic advantage in party identification of 10 percentage points or more) to those that can be considered solidly Republican (a Republican advantage in party identification of 10 percentage points or more).
The full story is here:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/114016/State-States-Political-Party-Affiliation.aspx
"We have clear evidence," he said. "In our report that we sent to the United Nations, we made it clear that former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld clearly authorized torture methods and he was told at that time by Alberto Mora, the legal council of the Navy, 'Mr.
Secretary, what you are actual ordering here amounts to torture.'
Link:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/UN_official_Enough_evidence_to_prosecute_0126.html
They've been bailed out, but not kicked out.
At banks that are receiving federal bailout money nearly nine out of every 10 of the most senior executives from 2006 are still on the job, according to an Associated Press analysis of regulatory and company documents.
The full story is here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090127/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/meltdown_executives
ABC News has learned that Monday officials of the Obama administration called Citigroup about the company's new $50 million corporate jet and told execs to "fix it."
Get the low-down here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/27/obama-officials-tells-cit_n_161202.html
The Senate voted to confirm Timothy Geithner, President Barack Obama's pick for treasury secretary, Monday evening, after delaying a vote because Geithner failed to pay some of his federal taxes in 2001.
When Consumerist reader Eric Zissen's brother died in his Florida apartment, he made a big mistake.
He failed to give the landlord 60 days advance notice he was going to die. Or so it would seem judging from the fact that the Sun Harbour apartment complex jacked his security deposit and charged his estate rent for the remaining three months of the
From:
http://consumerist.com/5139168/sun-harbour-apartments-60-days-notice-required-before-dying
Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. issued a subpoena to Karl Rove requiring him to testify regarding his role in the Bush Administrations politicization of the Department of Justice, including the US Attorney firings and the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman.
Check it out here:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/CONYERS_SUBPOENAS_KARL_ROVE_0126.html
If I seem incredulous at that argument, that's because I am.
They never taught me that one in law school. "Look, your honor, we know my client committed this crime, we've already caught him and the victim is already dead. So, let's just move on already!"
The full story is here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cenk-uygur/the-move-on-defense-of-ge_b_160927.html
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The average price for a gallon of gasoline in the United States continued to rise over the last two weeks in January, according to the nationwide Lundberg survey on Sunday. The national average for self-serve, regular unleaded...
Check it:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/businessIndustry/idUKTRE50O1T120090125?rpc=64
Tony Benn to BBC: "If you wont broadcast the Gaza appeal then I will myself"- then does it!!! (via Reddit)
More explicitly than almost any inaugural in history, the 21-minute speech repudiated the attitudes and policies of a departing president.
The Bush administration's scorn for internationally stipulated rights of prisoners, its disregard for science, its high-handed foreign policy, and its blind veneration of the market " Obama disowned them all.
Link source:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/obama-a-breathtaking-beginning-1515177.html
Tens of thousands of children in the Gaza Strip returned to school Saturday, less than a week after Israel ended its military attack against the Hamas-ruled territory.
But some buildings are still housing refugees, and some parents said their kids were too afraid to return to class.
Link:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99839892
President Barack Obama on Saturday laid out more pieces of an economic plan he says would add 3,000 miles of electrical lines, increase security at 90 ports and double the United States' renewable energy capacity within three years.
The full story is here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28825558/
The hunt for Osama continues by Obama
Get the low-down here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/24/pakistan-barack-obama-air-strike
". . .
Did not Christ tell Pontius Pilate: 'My kingdom is not of this world' (John 18:36)? Which of these seven words is so hard to understand? Yet the clarity of Christ's statement hasn't stopped mankind from trying to bring heaven to earth ever since -- mostly through political tyrannies of the collectivist utopian variety. . ."
Read the full story here:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0418/p09s02-coop.html
France will offer all 18-year-olds a free daily copy of the newspaper of their choice, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Friday, announcing a package of measures to help the beleaguered press.
Check it:
http://ph.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090123/tls-france-media-industry-youth-aeafa1b.html
In his first weekly address since being sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, President Barack Obama discussed how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan will jump-start the economy. (This video is public domain per White House copyright policy.)
Read the full story here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDfpd8GV9dI
Police chiefs in China have been slammed for hiring actors to rob a bank as a training exercise - without telling anyone else.
Only the director and the deputy director of the Zhenzhou police department knew it was a drill - everyone else, including the bank, thought it was a real raid.
Link source:
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3171886.html
WASHINGTON -- Troubled financial institutions and the Detroit auto makers continue to spend heavily on lobbying Congress while accepting billions of dollars in U.S. government money
Read the full story here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123267702062508887.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us
Some Republicans are privately urging Sen.
Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) to step down at the end of his term amid growing concerns that he cant win reelection in 2010. According to two GOP sources, leading Republican fundraisers in Kentucky are hesitant to raise money for Bunning and have told him he should not seek a third term.
Gov.
David A. Paterson has selected Representative Kirsten Gillibrand, a 42-year-old congresswoman from upstate who is known for bold political moves and centrist policy positions, to fill the United States Senate seat vacated by Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to a person who spoke to the governor early Friday.
The Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board released Coast Guard footage today of the U.S.
Airways passenger plane as it conducted an emergency landing into the Hudson River Jan. 15, 2009.
The last thing that aging Japan can afford to lose is young people.
Yet as the global economic crisis flattens demand for Japanese cars and electronic goods, thousands of youthful, foreign-born factory workers are getting fired, pulling their children out of school and flying back to where they came from. Alarmed, new programs are in place to help.
Get the low-down here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/22/AR2009012204150.html
It has been over a year since we published our feature "The 25 Best Financial Blogs." A great deal has changed.
Some of the blogs on the list are gone or no longer have regular posts. Others have grown and become better.
Link:
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1873144,00.html
There are some jobs where one can work fewer than 40 hours per week and make more than average.
The hours may not be significantly less -- generally between 35 and 38 hours a week -- but these jobs offer more value in both time and money. They all pay salaries that exceed the $26,036 median U.S. income.
Check it out here:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/worklife/01/21/cb.work.less.earn.more/index.html
As debate over Iraq war policy grows, many are calling for alternatives to a planned increase in troops, but where will alternative plans come from? Who shapes the proposals that will influence US policy in Iraq and elsewhere?
The full story is here:
http://fora.tv/2007/03/23/Why_is_American_Foreign_Policy_Failing
A man murdered his estranged wife after becoming "enraged" when she changed her marital status on Facebook to "single".
Edward Richardson, 41, of Mayfield Road, Biddulph, was found guilty of stabbing 26-year-old Sarah Richardson to death.
The full story is here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/staffordshire/7845946.stm
The Palestinian Center for Human Rights released a final tally of the casualties of the 23-day war in Gaza.
They way 1284 Gazans were killed and 4336 were wounded, the vast majority civilians. Israel says these numbers are inflated. The two sides disagree on the death toll, particularly the ratio of combatants and civilians.
In just 60 minutes, you could earn enough to pay for a tank of gas, the cable bill, gym membership, or dinner out.
Thirty dollars still covers some of life's essential costs. Earn that much in just one hour on the job, and you have enough to build a comfortable life.
Read the full story here:
http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-10_careers_that_top_30_per_hour-626
Fidel Castro praised U.S.
President Barack Obama on Wednesday for his ''noble intentions'' but said in his first opinion column in five weeks that the new American leader had many questions to answer. Castro's prolonged silence after months of prolific column writing had contributed to speculation that the ailing 82-year-old was on his death bed.
Check it out here:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/globalNews/idUKTRE50L0Z020090122?rpc=64
House Republican leaders have asked for a meeting with President Obama on Thursday to offer major changes to the $825 billion economic recovery package urged by the president and proposed by House Democrats last week.
Get the low-down here:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/21/obama.gop/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
>...Kennedy cited "personal reasons," according to sources.
Her stunning move comes as sources revealed that Paterson had intended to appoint her to the now-vacant seat on Thursday......>>
Get the low-down here:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01212009/news/politics/caroline_kennedy_ends_senate_seat_bid_151234.htm
These sucky words are not of the four-letter variety.
These words are common. They are accepted. They litter the average resume with buzzword badness. Hiring managers can identify sucky words in seconds, leaving your resume work worthless.
Link:
http://www.squawkfox.com/2009/01/19/6-words-that-make-your-resume-suck/
Caroline Kennedy has withdrawn her name from consideration for Hillary Clinton's vacant Senate seat, citing "personal reasons".
Link source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/24/caroline-kennedy-clinton_n_148671.html
Whitehouse.gov before and after.
Literally happened when Obama became President.
Read the full story here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fimoculous/3213257378/sizes/o/
Placing his left hand on the Bible used by Abraham Lincoln for his first term in 1861, Obama took the oath of office at noon as millions packed the windswept Capitol to be an eyewitness to history.
Check it:
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/us_world/Inauguration_Day.html
Barack Obama takes over as President on Tuesday with hopes riding high he can conjure up a rescue that will jolt the world's biggest economy back to life and contain the financial crisis ravaging global markets.
Get the low-down here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSTRE4B70ME20090120?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews
The achievement of Captain Chesley Sullenberger in getting his plane down safely has astonished pilots and aviation experts.
Just Flight turned around the realistic simulation of the US Airways flight 1549 non-disaster over a weekend, giving us a pilot's eye view of the action.
Link source:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7834499.stm
"Judicially speaking, the United States has a clear obligation" to bring proceedings against Bush and Rumsfeld, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak said, in remarks to be broadcast on Germany's ZDF television Tuesday evening.
Read the full story here:
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Bush_Rumsfeld_should_be_pursued_for_01202009.html
CNN Proves Israel Started Gaza War, Broke Ceasefire In Nov
Read the full story here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDBiycEz12s&eurl=http://www.mangochico.com/cnn-blames-israel-for-breaking-the-ceasefire/
The Guardian has obtained vivid footage of the effect of white phosphorus allegedly used by Israel during a bomb attack on Gaza last week.
It shows clumps of the burning chemical on the ground as locals try to put it out by covering it with dust, mud and grass. The chemical, which locals describe as phosphorus, fails to go out and continues to burn
Read the full story here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/20/gaza-white-phosphorus
For the second time, the Israeli navy refuse access to an aid ship - this time threatening to shoot the unarmed civilians on board the 'Mercy' ship.
On the previous occasion, the 'Dignity' was rammed by the Israeli military. Israel broke international maritime law and a UN convention in the process.
From:
http://www.freegaza.org/en/home/688-israel-threatens-to-shoot-unarmed-civilians-aboard-mercy-ship
In these dour economic times, one complaint made by the people who didn't vote for Barack Obama is: why is the federal government spending so much money on his inauguration? As Tom "Hammer" Delay told Politico.
Link:
http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2009/01/19/why-will-obamas-inauguration-cost-so-much/
adios!
Get the low-down here:
http://growabrain.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2009/01/13/deez_teez.gif
One of the UK's largest hauls of Iron Age gold coins, which would have been worth in today's money up to 1m, has been found in Suffolk.
The 824 so-called staters were found in a broken pottery jar buried in a field near Wickham Market by a local man using a metal detector.
From:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/suffolk/7835228.stm
"Only a very small percentage of children can survive bullet wounds to the head," he said. "If we see three children here who have survived bullet wounds to the head, there are probably 97 still in Gaza who have not
Get the low-down here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/palestinianauthority/4279102/Bullets-in-the-brain-shrapnel-in-the-spine-the-terrible-injuries-suffered-by-children-of-Gaza.html
That's what Magistrate Judge John M.
Facciola told lawyers for the Bush administration at a hearing on Wednesday afternoon in the ongoing case over millions of missing White House emails.
Get the low-down here:
http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2009/01/11766_white_house_missing_emails_hearing.html
Indiscriminate kidnappings.
Nearly daily beheadings. Gangs that mock and kill government agents. This isn't Iraq or Pakistan. It's Mexico, which the U.S. government and a growing number of experts say is becoming one of the world's biggest security risks.
Check it:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/18/mexico-on-path-to-becomin_n_158879.html
At least 21,000 jobs were targeted for elimination yesterday as employers from Hertz Global Holdings Inc. to Advanced Micro Devices Inc. grappled with recession-choked demand.
Read the full story here:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087
The global economic crisis has cost Arab countries $2,500bn (1,690bn) in the last four months alone, according to Kuwait's foreign minister.
Italy tax office has fined fashion designer Valentino 33 million euros (aprox $43 million US), rejecting his claim that he had transferred residence to London 10 years ago, the weekly Diva reported.
Link:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24919813-23109,00.html
The debate over the controversial practice of child marriage in Saudi Arabia was pushed back into the spotlight this week, with the kingdom's top cleric saying that it's OK for girls as young as 10 to wed. "A girl aged 10 or 12 can be married.
Those who think she's too young are wrong and they are being unfair to her."
The full story is here:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/17/saudi.child.marriage/
When he delivers his historic inaugural address on Jan. 20, President-elect and noted public speaker Barack Obama will be continuing a 220-year-old oratorical tradition begun by George Washington.
Read the full story here:
http://www.livescience.com/history/090115-best-inaugurals.html
Businesses like salons and dog walkers are feeling the pinch as the economy makes more Americans self-reliant.
The full story is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/17/business/17services.html?hp
President Bush will leave office as one of the most unpopular departing presidents in history, according to a new CBS news/NY Times poll showing Mr.
Bush's final approval rating at 22 percent. His final approval rating is the lowest final rating for an outgoing president since Gallup began asking about presidential approval more than 70 years ago.
Check it out here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/16/opinion/polls/main4728399.shtml?tag=topHome;topStories
Phosphorus shells are legal to use as a battlefield obscurant, but are banned from use where civilians may be harmed.
Human Rights Watch says it has observed "dozens and dozens" of white phosphorus shells being fired by Israel at the Gaza Strip - a heavily populated civilian area where its use is prohibited.
Get the low-down here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7831424.stm
There's actually a lot that President-elect Barack Obama can learn from the troubled presidency of George W.
Bush. Over the past eight years, Bob Woodward interviewed President Bush for nearly 11 hours, spent hundreds of hours with his administration's key players and reviewed thousands of pages of documents and notes.
From:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/14/AR2009011402791.html
Zimbabwe's central bank will introduce a $100 trillion Zimbabwean banknote, worth about US $33 on the black market, to try to ease desperate cash shortages, state-run media said on Friday.
Bank of America's credit-loss provisions surged, while a preliminary loss of $15.31 billion at Merrill Lynch showed why BofA needed government help to support its acquisition.
Get the low-down here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123208924493289701.html
Seattle police officers shot and killed a knife-wielding man early Wednesday after twice trying to subdue him with a Taser.
The full story is here:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/395992_shooting15.html
A prominent fashion designer has sparked outrage in Chile by dressing up models like the Virgin Mary -- in some cases with ample, near-naked breasts.
Source:
http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSTRE50E7FB20090115?rpc=64
Captured by Flickr member grego! from a high-rise in Midtown Manhattan
Check it:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gregorylam/3200086900/sizes/l/
The court handles sins so grave only the pope can grant absolution
Link source:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28663430/
Under criticism for its oversight of the federal bailout program, the Treasury Department plans to examine more closely whether institutions that receive money use it to boost lending.
Link source:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28643949/
President-elect Obama's answer to a 1996 Outlines newspaper question on marriage was: "I favor legalizing same-sex marriages, and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages." There was no use of the phrase "civil unions".
Source:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/13/obama-once-supported-same_n_157656.html
Not sure how you'll survive the current economic crisis? Stick to these 29 money basics and you'll thrive anytime....
Israeli troops have fired on Gaza residents trying to escape the conflict area
Sen.
Bill Nelson's comments on the disappearance of Robert Levinson came during Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's secretary of state confirmation hearing in Washington.
The top Bush administration official in charge of deciding whether to bring Guantanamo detainees to trial, Susan Crawford, concluded that the U.S. military tortured a Saudi national who allegedly planned to participate in the Sept. 11 attacks. "His (Mohammed al-Qahtani) treatment met the legal definition of torture," said Crawford.
Get the low-down here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/13/AR2009011303372.html
No one in their right mind thinks the United States could fall victim to a Japanese-like lost decade.
After all, the argument goes, US policymakers have the advantage of knowing what their counterparts in Japan did wrong.
From:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e0b1d6ce-e184-11dd-afa0-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1
An air and sea search continues two days after a ferry sank off the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, with hopes slight for the 200 people still missing.
Get the low-down here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7825560.stm
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Golden Globes award ceremony reeled in the big stars, but not much of a television audience, viewership figures on Monday showed.
Read the full story here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/entertainmentNews/idUSTRE50B7OH20090113?rpc=64
Note to would-be criminals: Police can access the Internet, too.
Four Calgary teenagers found that out the hard way after taking photos of their alleged graffiti handiwork in the southeast community of McKenzie Lake. (Oops!)
Check it:
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2009/01/13/8004751-sun.html
A look at the major international and civil conflicts currently erupting around the world.
Source:
http://awesome.goodmagazine.com/transparency/014/014-politics-conflicts.html
Nobody can accuse the government and the Fed of inaction.
Check it:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123180502788675359.html?mod=unitedliberty.org
The authorities in Papua New Guinea have announced plans to toughen laws against sorcery-related murders, after a surge of them during the past year.
Check it:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7825511.stm
Automakers put on a brave face at the world's biggest auto show on Sunday, with the sales outlook bleak for the coming year and fabled firms struggling for survival despite massive government aid.
U.S. auto sales fell 18 percent in 2008 from the prior year to about 13.2 million vehicles.
The full story is here:
http://www.reuters.com/article/GCA-autos/idUSTRE50A2VM20090111
McCain campaign relic turned 'war correspondent' told the very people filming him during his trip to Israel that they shouldn't be allowed to do their job in wartime.
Check it:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Joe_Plumber_says_journalists_should_be_0111.html
Although Israel is sometimes described as an American client state, which receives huge financial subsidy from Washington, she is unique as a client state: she can do exactly as she likes in the knowledge that she will never be seriously restrained by her sponsor.
Read the full story here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/geoffrey-wheatcroft-how-israel-gets-away-with-murder-1299401.html
Hot women have always populated the business world in some shape or form.
We tasked ourselves with compiling a list of the hottest businesswomen we could think of, for your viewing pleasure. These women are accomplished both in the business and the looks departments.
Get the low-down here:
http://www.businesspundit.com/25-hottest-women-of-business/
Inside the Ford Motor Company, it was called Project M " to build a prototype of a totally electric, battery-powered car in just six months.
When it was started last summer, the effort was considered a tall order by the small team of executives and engineers assigned to it. After all, the auto industry can take years to develop vehicles.
Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/business/11electric.html
Harry made shock racist remarks on a video, the News of the World can reveal.
From:
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/123700/Watch-Prince-Harrys-racist-outbursts-on-video.html
News flash on Hamas TV - following a threatened air strike, Hamas calls all Gaza CHILDREN to gather near the house of Abu Hatai to form a human shield.
Car salesmen, real estate agents and investment bankers are among the most likely to lose their jobs this year, a new study says.
Source:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24897942-2,00.html
The U.S. recession will probably be the longest since World War Two and could worsen without heavy government spending, according to a closely-watched survey of economists released on Saturday.
Check it:
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5090QL20090110
The chain has managed to sustain its momentum even as the economy and the restaurant industry as a whole are struggling.
Month after month, McDonalds has surprised analysts by posting stronger-than-expected sales in the United States and abroad.
Check it:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/business/11burger.html
The crew of the supertanker Sirius Star are on their way home after their ordeal at the hands of Somali pirates was ended, the ship's owners say.
Get the low-down here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7821783.stm
On Friday I went back to the White House to throw one more metaphorical shoe at the president.
Luckily, Deputy Press Secretary Scott Stanzel was sitting in for Dana Perino. I asked why the White House thought the war on terror was a success -- when statistics clearly show an increase in attacks since the US invasion of Iraq.
Check it out here:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/White_House_Increase_in_terror_attacks_0110.html
The deepening recession took another bite out of Canadas labour market in December as the country shed 34,400 jobs " 70,700 full-time losses party offset by part-time gains " and the unemployment rate jumped three-tenths of a point to 6.6 per cent.
Get the low-down here:
http://money.canoe.ca/News/Economy/2009/01/09/7969181-cp.html
Guiyu, China breaks down much of the world's discarded electronics, slowly poisoning itself in the process
Check it out here:
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1870162_1822148,00.html
While most people were messing around in college, getting with as many people as they could and drinking as much as possible, there were a select few who actually made something of themselves.
The initial ideas for some of the most promising companies today originated in college.
Source:
http://www.collegeotr.com/college_otr/10_big_ideas_that_started_in_college_17773
In briefings senior [Israel Defense Forces] officers conducted for foreign diplomats, they admitted the shelling to which IDF forces in Jabalya were responding did not originate from the school.
UNRWA is demanding an objective investigation into whether the school shelling constituted a violation of international humanitarian law
After the column ran and his problem was resolved " Howard tallied up the expenses and sent One Communications a bill.
For $5,481.16. And the company agreed to pay it.
The full story is here:
http://consumerist.com/5127559/customer-bills-phone-company-for-time-wasted-gets-paid?skyline=true&s=x
Attorney General Michael Mukasey ruled Wednesday that aliens have no constitutional right to challenge the outcome of their deportation hearings based on their lawyers' mistakes.
Photo by Brooke Anderson.
A protest over the fatal shooting by a BART police officer of an unarmed man mushroomed in Oakland as protesters smashed storefronts and set cars on fire.
The full story is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/brooke_anderson/3178619109/in/set-72157612265375541/
Arguing that Bernard L.
Madoffs bail should be revoked, prosecutors cited more evidence that he was hiding assets.
Read the full story here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/09/business/09madoff.html?ex=1389157200&en=c4f7f517c521337b&ei=5124&partner=digg&exprod=digg
The United Nations suspended all activities in the Gaza Strip Thursday, accusing Israeli soldiers of firing on a marked UN vehicle during a three-hour humanitarian cease-fire initiated by Israel.
Check it out here:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0109/p25s14-wome.html
Chapter One: In the first of this three-part series, Journal reporters explain how the housing bubble inflated and burst, and why easy money led to the collapse of Wall Street's biggest financial institutions.
... after Obama had put in a request to stay there.
Not only is that incredibly mean spirited and spiteful, given the arrangements Obama needed to make for his girls, it also demonstrates an astonishing waste of government funds. Have you SEEN how many rooms Blair House has?
Get the low-down here:
http://thinkprogress.org/2009/01/07/howard-blair-house/
After Thirty-Five Years and $500 Billion, Drugs Are as Cheap and Plentiful as Ever: An Anatomy of a Failure.
Read the full story here:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/17438347/how_america_lost_the_war_on_drugs
Angry protests turned to rioting last night in response to the January 1st shooting of an unarmed man at a subway station in California's Bay Area.
Police made over 100 arrests, after cars were vandalized, store windows were smashed, and fires blazed out of control on the streets...
From:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/BART_cop_shooting_protests_escalate_turn_0108.html
As president-elect, one of Obama's first tech-related decisions has been to select the Recording Industry Association of America's favorite lawyer to be the third-in-command at the Justice Department.
Link:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10133425-38.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
Are they reasons why Obama should pick someone else to be Surgeon General?
Read the full story here:
http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/blogs/recycling-design-technology/sanjay-gupta-surgeon-general-460109
Dennis Blair played a critical role in backing the Indonesian occupation of East Timor during the 1990s.
At the height of a wave of ruthless attacks on Timorese that killed hundreds and displaced tens of thousands, Blair personally informed top Indonesian general, Wiranto, of unwavering US support. He continued to support the Indonesian military...
From:
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/1/6/dennis_blair_obamas_nominee_for_director
Shortly after taking the oath of office, Obama will climb into the Mother of All Hybrids -- part car, part truck and, from the looks of it, part tank.
Read the full story here:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/01/06/driving.obama/index.html?eref=rss_us
In a recent interview with the Financial Times, U.S.
Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson blamed the credit crisis on global imbalances. Specifically, he repeated a storyline popularized by Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke: that a global savings glut (otherwise known as an imbalance) pushed interest rates down around the world...
Oil prices soared again Monday - moving closer to the $50 mark - as the movement of Israeli forces into the Gaza Strip this weekend added to worries about Middle East supply disruption.
UCSF scientists tested and surveyed 2,157 female U.S.
Marine recruits with an average age of 19. Researchers found that the young women were more than twice as likely as non-military young women to be infected with venereal diseases. And the recruits were prone to engage in behaviors likely to get them sick again...
Link source:
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2009/01/us_marines_orgy_palace_of_ston.php
U.S. prosecutors asked a federal judge to imprison Bernard Madoff as he awaits trial, arguing his $10 million bail should be revoked because he transferred $1 million of valuables in violation of an asset freeze order.
From:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aSeYZyxlifQ0&refer=home
Democrats are touting grand plans as the new Congress sweeps into town.
But they face serious obstacles, starting with the party itself, which is hardly unified.
Link:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123120199307655729.html
German billionaire Adolf Merckle, who last year joined the ranks of investors who were caught on the wrong foot by an unprecedented surge in carmaker Volkswagen's shares, died after being hit by a train on Monday evening, Die Welt newspaper reported in its online edition, citing police.
Read the full story here:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/28521308
Looking for a job? The FBI is hiring 850 new people, its largest ever hiring spree since 9/11.
Maybe they'll catch all those shady mortgage crooksters before they Jenga the system! Oh wait, too late.
Read the full story here:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/05/fbi.hiring.binge/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
There are hundreds of George Bushes, scores of Fidel Castros, and dozens of Hugo Chvezes, all with prank profiles on the social networking website Facebook, but when someone tried to pass him or herself off as the president of Guyana the real president didn't see the funny side.
Read the full story here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/02/facebook-guyana-president-bharrat-jagdeo
The incoming Obama Administration says it wants to shut down the U.S. military prison at Guantnamo Bay.
But even if Guantnamo closes, it won't end the controversial U.S. practice of jailing suspected al Qaeda militants and other terrorists indefinitely.
Read the full story here:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1869519,00.html?iid=digg_share
Sen.
Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the just-departed chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, declared Sunday that Al Franken has won the Minnesota Senate recount against Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.). With the Minnesota recount complete, it is now clear that Al Franken won the election. The Canvassing Board will meet tomorrow to wrap up.
Source:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/0109/Schumer_Franken_is_the_winner.html
"They just shot him! They just shot him!" yelled 19-year-old Vargas, whose camera-phone had just captured the slaying of Grant by a San Francisco Transit officer. "...
I got you, mothaf--kers!" she exclaimed.
The full story is here:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Video_shows_police_shooting_man_laying_0105.html
Tory Johnson's tips and advice on GMA for starting your own business for $100 or less.
Interesting.
The full story is here:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/JobClub/Story?id=6574472
Mayor Michael Bloomberg arrived in Israel to show solidarity with Israelis threatened by Hamas.
During the visit to the embattled town of Sderot, Bloomberg and his party got a first hand feel of this threat as a missile siren went off and they were rushed to a bomb shelter.
Link:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01042009/news/regionalnews/bloomberg_in_israel_147188.htm
THOSE strapped for cash may be spending less on restaurants and entertainment during a downturn, but not necessarily on the quality of their sex lives.
Check it:
http://www.news.com.au/business/story/0,27753,24874631-5017672,00.html?referrer=email
Israeli ground troops and tanks cut swaths through the Gaza Strip early Sunday, bisecting the coastal territory and surrounding its biggest city as the new phase of a devastating offensive against Hamas gained momentum.
Check it out here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090104/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians;_ylt=AlYTslZB5J7OuXUfH6z8X.7Zn414
The Czech presidency of the European Union said Israel's action was "defensive, not offensive".
France, the outgoing president of the EU, has issued a conflicting statement and called for a cease fire.
Link:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/UKNews1/idUKTRE5021XK20090103
New Mexico Gov.
Bill Richardson, tapped in December by President-elect Barack Obama to serve as secretary of Commerce, has withdrawn his name for the position, citing a pending investigation into a company that has done business with his state.
Pfc.
Lynndie England became a focal point of the Abu Ghraib scandal when she was pictured in graphic photos, including one that showed her smiling and posing with nude prisoners stacked in a pyramid. "I wouldn't want to go back and change anything," she says. "We thought it was unusual, weird and wrong, but the example was already set."
The full story is here:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23676590/?pg=4#iraq_watn_060303
Obama is considering as much as $310 billion of tax cuts to individuals and businesses, a move aimed at attracting Republican support for a stimulus package. Tax cuts + more spending = disaster waiting to happen.
Get the low-down here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123111279694652423.html
tic of Gov.
Sarah Palin claimed the Alaska politician may have once again abused her power to obtain an apprenticeship for her soon-to-be son-in-law Levi Johnston.
Source:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Did_Palin_abuse_power_again_for_0103.html
The day after election day, Norm Coleman told America, "If I were trailing, I'd step back [and concede]." Now that all legally and properly cast votes have been counted and recounted--including challenges and absentees--Al Franken widens his lead to a probably insurmountable 225 votes. Hey, Norm, it's time to do the right thing and concede.
From:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-normoyle/coleman-should-concede-to_b_155041.html
