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Wednesday, December 31, 2008

US blames Hamas for Gaza bloodshed

WORLD powers called for an immediate end to violence after massive Israeli air strikes on Gaza and rocket attacks by Palestinian militants, but the US said it "holds Hamas responsible"……..

Read more US blames Hamas for Gaza bloodshed


Source: world news

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Terror, chaos grip Gaza, U.N. official says

Palestinians in Gaza's densely populated capital are in a state of panic as Israel continues its air assault and readies tanks at the border, a United Nations humanitarian spokeswoman told CNN on Monday....

Read more Terror, chaos grip Gaza

Source: cnn

UK dire warning over 2009 job cuts

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development says even those who escape redundancy face pay freezes.

It says that while total unemployment will not hit three million, the time between New Year and Easter will be the worst for job losses since 1991....

Read more warning over 2009 job cuts


Source: bbc news

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Pope Benedict XVI under-fire for 'negative' statements

Pope Benedict XVI has come under fire from a leading Vatican watcher as "The Pope who says No" following a series of "negative" Vatican statements on homosexuality, the disabled and bio-ethics….

Read more Pope still under-fire for statements


Source: times online

Friday, December 26, 2008

Pope's gay edict gets spirit of the season all wrong

For, apparently, gay people threaten the planet in a comparable way to the destruction of the rainforest. I guess the idea is that if we all were gay, then we wouldn't be making any babies.

Yes, it's a bit like saying that if we all were to become celibate priests we wouldn't be making any babies either. Except that would mean the Catholic church has itself become a threat to the planet. OK, that's a cheap shot....

Read more Pope's gay edict all wrong

Source: canberra times

Queen to deliver somber message to crisis-hit nation

The Queen will use her Christmas Day message to voice her concern at the "insecurity" millions are feeling in recession-hit Britain.

Read more Queen to deliver somber news


Source: gulfnews

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Mortgage activity surges at US banks

Applications for home loans more than doubled in the two weeks after the Federal Reserve said it would buy mortgage bonds to help stabilise the market, prompting mortgage rates to fall by more than three-quarters of a percentage point….

Read more Mortgage activity surges


Source: ft.com

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The crisis spreads to East Asia

The global credit crunch set off by Wall Street’s collapse is spilling over into domestic banking systems and squeezing capital resources for corporate investment…..

Read more The crisis spreads to East Asia

Source: manila times

Monday, December 22, 2008

Medicaid applicants increases

Since the recession began a year ago, many states have seen increases in the Medicaid rolls just as tax revenues are falling below projections.

Governors have lobbied President-elect Barack Obama and Congress to help them weather the downturn by increasing the federal government's share of Medicaid spending for at least two years…

Read more Medicaid applicants grow as recession widens

Source: sfgate

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Schwarzenegger Orders Unpaid Leave for State Workers

The furloughs will begin in February and will last through June 2010, Schwarzenegger said in an executive order. He also ordered all departments to cut 10 percent of their workforce costs, through firings if necessary…

Read more Unpaid Leave for Cal State Workers


Source: Bloomberg

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Will War Crimes Be Outed?

There are many reasons to anticipate that the incoming Obama administration and the new Congress will let sleeping dogs lie.

Attention to criminal acts by the former administration would probably anger Republicans, whose support Obama is hoping to win for his first priority, his economic program...

Read more Iraq War Crimes Be Outed


Source: truthout.org

Friday, December 19, 2008

Federal spending soars 25% before bailout

A joint report by the White House budget office and Treasury Department said that much of the increase in obligations came from an unexpected jump in veterans benefits liabilities, while revenues remained mostly flat because of the recession that began a year ago…..

Read more Federal spending soars


Source: Washington times

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Gay leaders Angry with Obama

“Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans,” the president of Human Rights Campaign, Joe Solomonese, wrote Obama Wednesday. “[W]e feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination.”

Read more Gay leaders furious with Obama


Source: politico

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Obama named 'Person of the Year'

"He has come to dominate the public sphere so completely that it beggars belief to recall that half the people in America had never heard of him two years ago.

"He hit the American scene like a thunderclap, upended our politics, shattered decades of conventional wisdom and overcame centuries of the social pecking order."

Read more Obama, 'Person of the Year'


Source: bbc news

Madoff's kiss of death for hedge funds

The Madoff situation is, at a time of mass redemptions and dwindling returns, what hedge funds needed least. A spectacular scandal causing huge losses that undermines trust in the industry. The financier's apparent scam, which may have cost investors $50bn....

Read more Madoff's kiss of death ..


Source: the independent

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Caroline Kennedy seek's Clinton's Senate seat

The decision came after a series of deeply personal and political conversations, in which Kennedy, whom friends describe as unflashy but determined, wrestled with whether to give up what has been a lifetime of avoiding the spotlight...

Read more Caroline Kennedy run's for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat


Source: international herald tribune

Monday, December 15, 2008

Playboy lays off 14% staff; eyes India for expansion


In an investor presentation, it said that as part of measures to cut costs in "corporate and other overhead, the company has slashed its headcount by 14%," in addition to which finance, HR and IT staffing have also been reduced...

Read more Playboy lays off 14% staff


Source: times of india

Sunday, December 14, 2008

Bush gets' 'shoed' during Iraq visit

Bush appeared at a Baghdad news conference yesterday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki and said there is more work to be done with the war now in its sixth year...

Read moreBush 'shoed' in Iraq


Source: arab news

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Welcome To Financial Ruin 101


“It’s over with,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor in Washington last night. “I dread looking at Wall Street tomorrow. It’s not going to be a pleasant sight.”..

Read more Bye,Bye: Global Stocks and Dollar Tumble as Auto Bailout Fails; GM Slumps


Source: dontfear65.com

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Obama to offer Israel "nuclear umbrella"

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama plans to offer Israel a strategic pact designed to fend off any nuclear attack on the Jewish state by Iran, an Israeli newspaper reported on Thursday.

Quoting an unnamed American source close to Obama's administration, the Haaretz daily said Washington would pledge under the proposed "nuclear umbrella" to respond to any Iranian nuclear strike against Israel with a U.S. retaliation in kind...

Read more Obama to offer Israel "nuclear umbrella" - newspaper


Source: the star online

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

New Nobel peace laureate wants stronger U.S. role in Mideast

Nobel peace laureate Martti Ahtisaari said Wednesday that the United States and other powers can no longer sit back and watch Israel and Palestinians destroy each other if the goal is to achieve Middle East peace. ..

Read more Nobel peace laureate wants stronger U.S. role


Source: chron.com


Tuesday, December 9, 2008

One billion people hungry: UN report

High food prices have pushed the number of hungry people in the world close to 1 billion, a United Nations agency said yesterday...

Read more One billion people hungry


Source: nzherald.co.nz

Monday, December 8, 2008

China takes lead on N Korea draft

On Saturday North Korea said it would not recognise Japan as a member of the talks at all, following Japan's refusal to provide aid to North Korea until a dispute with Pyongyang over North Korea's kidnapping of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s is resolved....

Read more China takes lead on N Korea


Source: bbc news

Sunday, December 7, 2008

HSBC creates $5 billion fund for businesses

HSBC Holdings has created a $5 billion global working capital fund for small and medium-sized businesses to help them weather the credit crisis, the bank said on Sunday.

One billion pounds ($1.47 billion) of the fund has been earmarked for customers in the United Kingdom, HSBC, Europe's biggest bank, added in a statement. Businesses in Hong Kong would also be targeted in the first phase of operations...

Read more SBC creates $5 billion fund


Source: guardian.co.uk

Thursday, December 4, 2008

US November retail sales drop

Many US retailers posted sharply lower November sales at stores open at least a year, prompting some investors to pour into the sector on hopes the dismal results signaled a bottom for share values...

Read more US retail sales drop


Source: business inquirer

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Rice flies to India to help ease tension

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was flying to New Delhi on Tuesday to try to ease tension between India and Pakistan that has surged over the Mumbai attacks and put at risk U.S. counterterrorism efforts in the region...

Read more Rice flies to India


Source: international herald tribune

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Pakistan is global migraine

“...My own sense is Pakistan has everything that gives you an international migraine. It has nuclear weapons, it has terrorism, extremists, corruption, very poor and it’s in a location that’s really, really important to us. And now with this issue with India. So, I think that president Bush and the secretary of state, who’s on her way to India now, have a very big job ahead of them,” said Ms Albright...

Read more Pakistan is global migraine: Albright


Source: the economic times

Monday, December 1, 2008

HIV testing can save newborns

"Without appropriate treatment, half of children with HIV will die from an HIV-related cause by their second birthday," Ann Veneman, executive director of the U.N. children’s agency, UNICEF, said in a statement....

Read more HIV testing


Source: boston herald

Sunday, November 30, 2008

US carmakers to present recovery plan

They will be armed with proof that they are working to restructure their stumbling businesses and will be able to emerge from the current deep slump as viable companies focused on developing new technology to build more environmentally friendly vehicles....

Read More US carmakers to present plan


Source: the australian business /wall street journal

Saturday, November 29, 2008

U.S. fears Pakistani role in India attacks

FBI agents were preparing to fly to India to investigate the bloody attacks in the Indian financial capital as the State Department warned U.S. citizens still in the city that their lives remain at risk...

Read more U.S. fears Pakistani role in attacks


Source: the news and observer

Friday, November 28, 2008

The Real Fear in Mumbai

The lack of knowledge is paralyzing. The images of a police van firing at its citizens flooded all our minds. The people we trust the most to keep us safe may not be who we think....

Read more Fear in Mumbai


Source: online wsj

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Bush: Eight years is more than enough

As the sun sets on the Bush administration, the survival rite known as burrowing is under way. Burrowing is when favored political appointees are transformed into civil servants and granted instant tenure on the federal payroll...

Read more Eight years is enough


Source: international herald tribune


Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Leading candidate to head CIA under Obama withdraws from running

...Meanwhile, two widely reported choices for Obama's national security team were confirmed by ABC news: Robert Gates is said to be staying on temporarily as defence secretary, and former Nato commander James Jones is tipped to become the national security adviser...

Read more Leading candidate to head CIA under Obama withdraws


Source: guardian.co.uk

Monday, November 24, 2008

I Flushed Newborn Down Toilet By Accident, Says Mom

Claire Jones said she knew she was pregnant from an affair with a colleague but thought the pain she suffered in the early hours of December 28 was from diarrhoea...

Read more I flushed newborn down toilet by accident


Source: smh.com.au

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Obama Reveals Plan To Create 2.5m Jobs

Barack Obama has outlined his plan to create 2.5m jobs in his first two years in office with an ambitious spending programme on roads, schools and and renewable energy....

Read more Barack Obama reveals two-year plan to create 2.5m jobs


Source: guardian.co.uk

Friday, November 21, 2008

Citigroup shares plunge 18% as board meets

Shares in Citigroup fell by nearly 18 per cent in early trading as the US bank called a board meeting to discuss its future stability, including whether to find a merger partner or sell-off some of its assets.....

Read more Citigroup shares plunge 18% as board meets


Source: the times online

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Pakistan warns U.S. over missile strike

Pakistan's foreign ministry summoned U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson on Thursday to lodge a formal protest against another suspected U.S. missile strike on its territory, an act the country's prime minister called a violation of his nation's sovereignty...

Read more Pakistan warns U.S. over missile strike


Source: cnn.com/asia

Monday, November 17, 2008

The New War On Illegal Immigrants

Thousands of inmates admit they're in the U.S. illegally, but even those convicted of violent crimes are often released right back onto Houston's streets... The Story

Read more The Comments: Illegals In Texas


Source: chron.com

More "Bad" News for the 'King of Pop'

Now more bad news for the "King of Pop" Michael Jackson. The downfall continues...

Bahrain's Shaikh Abdullah Bin Hamad Al Khalifa is seeking $7 million from the troubled singer at London's Royal Courts of Justice.

Read more Michael Jackson Sued, again


Source: gulfnews

Sunday, November 16, 2008

State of Emergency Declared in L.A.

A state of emergency has been declared in Los Angeles, where wildfires are threatening the power supply. Around 10,000 residents have been placed under mandatory evacuation orders...

Read more State of emergency declared in L.A.


Source: l.a. times

Thousands Rally For Gay Marriage

Similar demonstrations across the country — in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., and even in hinterlands like Fargo, North Dakota. Advocates said the time for change had come, as it has already in Massachusetts and Connecticut, the only states now that allow gay marriages.

Read more Thousands march for gay rights


Source: bnf online news

Friday, November 14, 2008

George Soros Says Recession Inevitable

Said "a deep recession is now inevitable and the possibility of a depression cannot be ruled out. Recent IMF credit facility not large enough to stabilize markets...."

Read more Soros says deep recession inevitable...


Source: reuters

Thursday, November 13, 2008

What Everybody Ought to Know About Same Sex Marriage

Marriage, as defined by the civil law, is currently available to same-sex couples in six countries, and parts of a seventh (but not at the national level in that country). The Netherlands was the first country to allow same-sex marriage in 2001. Same-sex marriages are also legal in Belgium, Canada, Norway, South Africa and Spain, along with two states in the United States: Massachusetts and Connecticut.

From May 2008, California allowed for same sex marriages, though Proposition 8 has overturned that right as of November 2008. In 2005, Spain became the first country in the world to recognize same-sex marriage (including adoption rights) on equal terms and under the same law.


In 1996, the United States Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman amongst other stipulations.

As of May 2007, twenty-six states have passed constitutional amendments explicitly barring the recognition of same-sex marriage, eighteen of which prohibit the legal recognition of any same-sex union. Nineteen additional states have legal statutes that define "marriage" as a union of two persons of the opposite-sex. The territory of Puerto Rico ratified a similar statute in 1998.

Nonetheless, some states are beginning to offer legal recognition to same-sex couples, whether in the form of marriage or as civil unions or domestic partnerships.

The states of Vermont, New Jersey and New Hampshire offer civil unions. Also, Oregon has domestic partnership laws that grant some of the rights and responsibilities of marriage. Maine, Washington, Maryland, and the District of Columbia grant certain limited benefits through domestic partnerships, and Hawaii has reciprocal beneficiary laws.

Source: wikipedia

This Song Will Make Her Fall In Love With You!



"Castles in the Air" Don McLean

Germany Hits Recession

European markets opened lower Thursday following earlier sell-offs across Asia, while new figures showed that the German economy -- Europe's biggest -- has slipped into recession in the third quarter....

Read more Germany hits recession


Source: infowars.net

The Bad News: 500,000 Jobs Lost

The figure outstripped forecasts, with analysts polled by Reuters expecting initial claims to be only 484,000. The claims were last at this high a level in the week ended Sept. 29, 2001, when they were 517,000...

Read more The Bad News: 500,000 Jobs Lost

Source: cnbc

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

NEW Robert Pattinson "Twilight" Intervew!


America's new teen idol!

Robert Pattinson Interview

On The Set of "Who's Nail'in Pay'lin"


 TMZ On The Set

(TMZ doesnt do sex/nudity, their owned by AOL/Time Warner) 

Lisa Ann star's in "Who's Nail'in Paylin"

So who is "Lisa Ann"?

Lisa Ann began erotic dancing in about 1990 to pay her way through college, where she became a certified dental assistant.

In July 1994, she became an adult actress, but quit in 1997 due to an AIDS scare. She spent several years touring as a feature dancer at strip clubs around the country, before returning to the sex industry as an agent, and later also as a performer.

Larry Flynt has announced that he hopes to complete and release this political parody movie prior to the presidental elections on November 4, 2008.

Keith Olbermann Supports Gay Marriage

"The world is barren enough... with so much hate in the world, so much meaningless division... this is what your religion tells you to do?... this is what your heart tells you to do?... You are asked to stand now on a question of love." ...keith olbermann




Source: msnbc / huffington post

Monday, November 10, 2008

The Long Road To Obama

When Ann Dunham, a quiet 18-year-old college freshman from Kansas, married a brilliant, charismatic Kenyan economics student named Barack Hussein Obama in 1961, mixed-race marriages were illegal in 16 of the United States, including Texas.

When her son, Barack Jr., was born in Hawaii later that year, only 22,000 of Mississippi's 915,000 African-American citizens were registered to vote...

Read more The long road to Obama


Source: cron.com

First Chance For Black Congregations To Celebrate Obama Election


Jubilation, pride and relief permeated pews and pulpits at predominantly black churches across the country on the first Sunday after Barack Obama's election, with congregants blowing horns, waving American flags and raising their hands to the heavens...

Black churches exult over Obama


Source: seattle pi

Sunday, November 9, 2008

DRESS TO THE NINES: Palin Spent $40,000 On Husband Todd

Palin spent "tens of thousands of dollars" on additional clothing, makeup and jewelry for herself and her family, including $40,000 in luxury goods for her husband....

Read more Sarah Palin Spent $40,000 On Luxury Goods For Todd


Source: huffingtonpost

Friday, November 7, 2008

More Gay Fury In California At Wedding Ban


In West Hollywood, police and demonstrators clashed after roughly 500 protesters veered off the permitted route for their impromptu march. Arrests were made but officials said most of the 2,500-strong crowd had been largely law-abiding. ..

Read more More Gay Fury...


Source: belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

US Supreme Court Weighs In On The 'F-word' On TV


No one would say the word in court, but a four-letter obscenity muttered on US television by the likes of Cher and Bono was the focus of attention in the Supreme Court Tuesday as lawyers argued whether it was too crude for broadcast.

WARNING: Article contains adult words
Read more US Supreme Court weighs in on the 'F-word' on TV


Source: yahoo! news

Barack Obama Elected New U.S President



Barack Obama, the son of a father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, was elected the nation's 44th president Tuesday, breaking the ultimate racial barrier to become the first African American to claim the country's highest office...

Read more Obama Wins Presidential Race


Source: la times / mark z. barabak