Oct 21, 2010
UK Banks May Launch Large Small Biz Fund | SmallBusinessNewz
A very large investment fund, created by a number of important banks for the sole purpose of providing loans to small businesses, may be on the way. Rumor has it UK banks could even launch the fund next week.
Diarrhea outbreak kills nearly 50 in central Haiti
(Reuters) - An outbreak of severe diarrhea in central Haiti has killed nearly 50 people in recent days and more than 450 have been hospitalized, a senior Haitian health official said on Thursday.
Activity detected at North Korea nuclear test site
A satellite image of Yongbyon, North Korea, released by DigitalGlobe in May 2009.
Credit: Reuters/DigitalGlobe/Handout
By Jeremy Laurence
SEOUL | Thu Oct 21, 2010 8:30am EDT
SEOUL (Reuters) - A U.S. satellite has detected increased activity at a North Korean nuclear weapons test site, suggesting it could be preparing for a third test, a South Korean government source was quoted as saying on Thursday.
Credit: Reuters/DigitalGlobe/Handout
By Jeremy Laurence
SEOUL | Thu Oct 21, 2010 8:30am EDT
SEOUL (Reuters) - A U.S. satellite has detected increased activity at a North Korean nuclear weapons test site, suggesting it could be preparing for a third test, a South Korean government source was quoted as saying on Thursday.
Spanish smoking ban goes into effect
MADRID, Spain — Spanish smokers faced a wrenching change New Year’s Day as a nationwide ban on tobacco in the workplace came into force in a country known for its smoky bars.
It became illegal to smoke in office buildings, shopping malls, cultural centers and public transportation, among other indoor spaces. Bars and restaurants with more than 1,100 square feet of floor space now must have nonsmoking areas, the first step in a process that will eventually require the areas to be physically sealed off from the rest of the establishment.
Appeals court stays ruling on gays in military
SAN FRANCISCO | Thu Oct 21, 2010 3:49am EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday that the Pentagon may temporarily reinstate a ban on openly gay men and women in uniform while a lengthier stay in favor of the "don't ask, don't tell" policy is considered.
Afghan peace council to offer concessions to Taliban
KABUL | Thu Oct 21, 2010 1:19pm EDT
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's new peace council said on Thursday it would be willing to make concessions to bring insurgents to the negotiating table, and called for Saudi Arabia's help in mediating peace talks.
French unions call two more days of protests
A French high school student shouts slogans during a demonstration over pension reform in Paris October 21, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Charles Platiau
PARIS |
PARIS (Reuters) - France's main unions called for two more days of protests against a government pension reform bill that is due for a final vote in the Senate this week.Protests would take place on October 28 and November 6, they said.
(Reporting by Jean Baptiste Vey; Editing by Peter Graff)
Thousands of Germans opt out of Google Street View
Almost 250,000 Germans have told Google to blur pictures of their homes on the Street View service.
Money Morning Mailbag: When Investing in Precious Metals, 'Physical Metal' Isn't Always Better
If there's one thing that I've discovered in my careers as a hedge-fund manager, investment advisor and financial columnist, it's this: Whenever you pitch a stock that has something to do with mining or metals, you'll always hear the argument that "physical metal is better."
The Peoples Voice News
What the U.S. Undid for Women in Iraq
The U.S.-led invasion and then occupation of Iraq brought a sharp setback to the rights of women in that country, UNFPA head Thoraya Obaid tells IPS in an interview. The view that Muslim societies are necessarily backward on the position of women arises from stereotyping, she says. And she speaks of herself as a Muslim woman who does not fit the stereotype.
France Erupts Sarkozy Under Siege
The French are deeply unhappy with the way they have been governed, but their main grievance is about pension reform, which is seen as a cynical ploy to make ordinary people work more for inferior entitlements, while bailed-out bankers and the rich get tax rebates and continue to enjoy the high life.
US-trained cartel terrorises Mexico
Founders of the Zetas drug gang learned special forces techniques at Ft. Bragg before waging a campaign of carnage. Despite the deployment of 50,000 troops, Mexico seems to be losing the 'war on drugs' It was a brutal massacre even by the gruesome standards of Mexico’s drug war: 72 migrant workers gunned down by the "Zetas" - arguably the country’s most violent cartel - and left rotting in a pile outside a ranch in Tamaulipas state near the US border in late August.
UK announces 490,000 job cuts
Harshest austerity measures since second world war unveiled as public spending is slashed to deal with country's debts. Osborne said that the job losses were 'unavoidable when the country has run out of money'. Britain will cut 490,000 public sector jobs over four years under austerity measures designed to reduce the country's record deficit. George Osborne, the finance minister, told parliament on Wednesday that the job losses were "unavoidable when the country has run out of money". "Today is the day that Britain steps back from the brink. It is a hard road but it leads to a better future," he said.
Showcasing the Crude, the Violent and the Aberrant The Media and the Far Right
Last Sunday in the October 10, 2010 New York Times, two very lengthy features appeared on the rancid Ann Coulter and the blogger Pamela Geller—a grotesque anti-Semite against Arabs who flaunts her sweeping bigotry as a badge of pride. Geller even called herself a ‘racist-Islamophobic-anti-Muslim-bigot’. One veteran reporter called the sprawling two page feature, with all of twenty color photos “an advertisement.”
A new stage in the war on dissent
Michael Ratner is the president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a leading organization in opposing the dismantling of civil liberties under the Bush, and now Obama, administrations. He spoke with Nicole Colson about the recent raids on the homes and offices of antiwar and socialist activists in Chicago, Minneapolis and North Carolina--and why the Obama administration, despite claims to the contrary, has been disastrous when it comes to promises to protect our civil liberties.
The French strike wave: A new stage in the class struggle
The strikes and mass demonstrations in France against pension cuts are the latest and most developed expression of a new stage in the class struggle—the entry of the international working class into mass opposition against the ruthless assault on jobs and living standards being carried out by the capitalists. These events deal a shattering blow to all claims that the working class is a spent force and the class struggle is a relic of the past. Once again, the immense social power of the working class is beginning to find expression. The basic division of modern society, between the bourgeoisie and the working class, is asserting itself under conditions of a historic breakdown of world capitalism.
Major FAIR Exposé of PBS: Taking the 'Public' Out of Public TV
A multi-part FAIR exposé of PBS's most prominent news and public affairs programs demonstrates that public television is failing to live up to its mission to provide an alternative to commercial television, to give voice to those "who would otherwise go unheard" and help viewers to "see America whole, in all its diversity," in the words of public TV's founding document. What PBS Thinks You Need to Know
Geithner Weak Dollar Seen as U.S. Recovery Route
For U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, a weaker dollar may now be in the national interest. The dollar has dropped more than 7 percent since Aug. 27, when Chairman Ben S. Bernanke signaled the Federal Reserve is prepared to ease monetary policy. Where once such a decline may have been met with resistance from the U.S., Geithner may now be tolerating it as a way of bolstering the recovery.
Obama spending stimulates the national debt by $3,039,000,000,000
No wonder the president's wife is passing the hat to his supporters asking for $3 campaign donations. Have you seen the size of the national debt? It's a new record. The United States of America now owes someone(s) $13,665,000,000,000. By 2012, when Hillary Clinton next challenges Barack Obama for their party's presidential nomination, the national debt will be even larger than today's record -- $16,500,000,000,000, according to current federal estimates. That's more money than the entire United States economy produces in a complete year.
AWAKENING OF THE COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS
Please, be so kind to listen to me; I am not going to speak long. Wise persons do not need long speeches, what they need is a short, but sensible and comprehensible talk. With all my compliments and respect to you I would like to speak to you concisely and clearly, the way I would speak to intelligent people.
Who do you think you're kidding Mr Geithner?
There’s a race going on right now. A "war" if you take the words of Brazil’s finance minister, Guido Mantega, to devalue currency. The reason is simple: by keeping your currency low against your competitor you will export more. Timothy Geithner, the US treasury secretary, says his country is not involved in currency manipulation. On the other hand, the US accuses China of being a currency manipulator and has delayed publishing a report to this effect.
Workers Without Status in France
At the end of the afternoon of May 27, a mass demonstration marched into the Place de la Bastille in Paris. The march itself represented what can now be viewed as a low point in the national union mobilizations to challenge the proposed weakening of France's public pension regime and other reactionary responses of Nicholas Sarkozy's government to the world economic crisis. But despite the rain, despite the niggling worry that fatigue was overtaking the movement and apathy the French public, a group of marchers went to work making sure it was a day the French labour movement won't soon forget.
Penthouse founder Bob Guccione dies of cancer
(CNN) -- Penthouse magazine founder Bob Guccione died Wednesday of cancer at a Plano, Texas, hospital, his family said Wednesday night.
Guccione, 79, died at Plano Specialty Hospital, with his wife, April Dawn Warren Guccione and two of his children, Bob Jr. ..
Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth are not engaged -- yet
Despite reports suggesting the couple are ready to take their relationship to the next
Inter survive Spurs fightback as Bale scores San Siro hat-trick
(CNN) -- Titleholders Inter Milan gave newcomers Tottenham a Champions League lesson on Wednesday night before the English club's young winger Gareth Bale underlined his status as one of football's most promising prospects.
French protesters march in Paris as lawmakers vote
Galaxy is most distant object yet
A tiny faint dot in a Hubble picture has been confirmed as the most distant galaxy ever detected in the Universe.
Russia earmarks 900 state firms for public sale
Russia has announced further details of plans for its biggest privatisation since the 1990s - which could raise up to 1.8 trillion roubles ($60bn; £38bn)
Gene linked to depression 'fixed' in mice
Gene therapy in mice appears to be able to "correct" a gene defect strongly linked to depression in people.
Abnormal behaviour in mice lacking a gene in a specific brain region was reversed after injections of a modified virus.
India malaria deaths hugely underestimated, says report
The number of people dying from malaria in India has been hugely underestimated, according to new research.
The data, published in the Lancet, suggests there are 13 times more malaria deaths in India than the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates.
Settlers start 600 new homes after ban ends: watchdog
Jewish settlers have started building more than 600 homes in the West Bank since a building freeze expired last month, an Israeli pressure group says.
Toyota to recall over a million cars in US and Japan
Toyota has announced a recall of more than 1.5 million cars worldwide over brake and fuel pump defects.
French workers vow to step up pension protests
French workers will step up their protests against pension reforms next week, a top trade union leader says.
Bernard Thibault, head of the CGT workers' confederation, made the statement as union leaders prepared to discuss plans to hold a seventh day of national protests across FranceBBC News - Spending Review: Osborne defends 'fairness' of cuts
George Osborne said some call his cuts too harsh, while others say they don't go far enough
Chancellor George Osborne has defended the "fairness" of his UK spending cuts after Labour claims they were reckless and would hit the poorest hardest.
He told the BBC that, including Budget measures, the top 10% of earners would be hit hardest but everyone was making a contribution to cutting the deficit.He said "the path to economic ruin" lay ahead if the deficit was not tackled.
BBC News - UN drops award sponsored by Equatorial Guinea's Obiang
A United Nations agency has suspended plans to grant a prize sponsored by Equatorial Guinea President Teodor Obiang Nguema after lobbying by human rights groups.
BBC News - Court allows Pentagon to re-instate ban on gay soldiers
An appeals court has ruled the US military can temporarily reinstate a ban on openly gay people serving, in a move adding to disarray on the issue.
Gunbattles stir panic in 2 Mexican border cities
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico – Mexican soldiers battled gunmen in two cities across the border from Texas on Wednesday, prompting panicked parents to pull children from school and factories to warn workers to stay inside. Assailants in a third city threw a grenade at an army barracks.
Young woman decapitated in Ciudad Juarez
20-year-old woman becomes top cop in violent Mexican municipality
Israel marks 15th anniversary of Rabin's assassination
Yahoo News
- Obama's 4-day campaign swing is his longest yet (AP)
- GOP leader hopes to work with Obama on some issues (AP)
- Report faults state prisons' treatment of mothers (AP)
- Study: Women give more to charity than men (AP)
- Israeli settlers building 544 new homes after building ban lifted (AP)
- Appeals court keeps military gay policy for now (AP)
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