Wall Street Lobbying for Loose Oversight, Despite Loan Woes
More than a year ago, when the markets were flying high, a chorus of alarm went up on Wall Street. Talk spread that the United States risked losing its edge in the financial world.
Cleric’s Order to End Fighting Creates Fragile Peace in Iraq
Militiamen with the Mahdi Army, the followers of the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, mostly vanished from the streets of Basra on Monday, a day after he ordered them to lay down their arms and also insisted that the Iraqi government grant a general amnesty for his followers and made other demands.
Clinton Treats Remarks From Obama’s Pastor Cautiously
Ever since Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., started running for president, her team has argued that she is more electable than Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.: more experience, as first lady and senator; more spine, after years fighting Republicans; and more popular with key voter blocs, like women, Hispanics and the elderly.
Chinese Crackdown in Tibet Echoes in Taiwan Before Vote
Violent unrest in Tibet has created shock waves in another volatile region on China’s periphery, shaking up the presidential election in Taiwan and sapping support for the candidate Beijing hoped would win handily.
Shorts (right)
Kofi Annan, the former secretary general, said Thursday that the United Nations was “overstretched” in conflict areas and should resist taking on new responsibilities as long as major powers proved unwilling to supply needed support.
U.S. Defends Use of Intrusive Tactics in Spitzer Investigation
The Justice Department used some of its most intrusive tactics against Eliot Spitzer, examining his financial records, eavesdropping on his phone calls and tailing him during its criminal investigation of the Emperor’s Club prostitution ring.
Facing Declining Markets, Lender Resorts to Emergency Financing
Even as financial shares led a stock market rally on Thursday, the crisis in the credit markets threatened to engulf one of the nation’s largest commercial finance companies.
Oil, Gold Prices Drop Sharply In Volatile Commodities Market
Oil, gold and other major commodities fell sharply on Thursday, capping their steepest weekly drop in a half-century, as investors fled what many had believed to be the last safe haven in turbulent markets.
Spring Roars In
Earlier this week, a slow-moving storm system dumped extremely heavy rain over a wide arc from northeast Texas to southern Indiana. Accumulated rainfall totals of over 6 inches (15 cm) in a 36 hour span were commonplace in this area, with scattered reports of up to 12 inches (30 cm) of rain. Some rivers with localized drainage basins in southern Missouri and northern Arkansas have experienced the highest water levels since record keeping began. Even portions of main-stem rivers like the Ohio and Mississippi are expected to see major flood conditions this weekend, as the rainwater continues to flow downhill toward the Gulf of Mexico.
Shorts (right)
Lt. Gov. David A. Paterson ascended to New York’s highest office on Monday, pledging civility and unity in government to an enthusiastic and palpably relieved gathering of state lawmakers and officials.
Dow’s Rise Masks Turmoil In Global Financial Markets
With the Dow Jones industrial average up slightly more than 21 points by the end of trading Monday on the New York Stock Exchange, it may have looked like a calm day on Wall Street.
Simmering Resentments Led To Tibetan Backlash at China
Chinese leaders have blamed “splittists” led by the exiled Dalai Lama for spurring violent protests in Tibet and orchestrating a public relations sneak attack on the Communist Party as it gears up to host the Olympics Games this summer.
The Day After Tomorrow
This St. Patrick’s Day brought a brief respite from the rain and wind, but another storm looms just beyond the horizon. A high pressure system keeps our afternoon relatively warm, but precipitation will roll in late tonight. What begins as light snow will gradually taper into a wintry mix of sleet and rain for most of Wednesday, continuing intermittently until Thursday morning.
Bush Supports Fed’s Actions, But Critics Quickly Find Fault
President Bush on Monday welcomed the Federal Reserve’s sweeping intervention in the nation’s financial markets as his administration faced accusations that it had supported the bailout of a prestigious investment bank while doing little to address the hardships of Americans facing foreclosures on their homes.
Dozens Hurt As Serbs Clash With NATO Peacekeepers in Kosovo
Serbs in the northern Kosovo city of Mitrovica fired weapons and threw grenades at international peacekeepers on Monday, wounding dozens of police officers and NATO troops. The clash was the worst violence since Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on Feb. 17.
Cheney’s Iraq Visit Eclipsed as 43 Killed in Shiite Holy City Bombing
A bombing on Monday evening killed 43 people near the Imam Hussein shrine in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, penetrating one of the most secure perimeters in Iraq, and Iraqi police officers at the scene and several witnesses said it had been carried out by a female suicide bomber.
Shorts (left)
A prime suspect in Saturday’s East Side crane collapse — a spectacular disaster across two Manhattan blocks that has claimed seven lives and is expected to cost millions — is a $50 piece of nylon webbing that investigators suspect may have failed while hoisting a six-ton piece of steel.
China Tightens Security on Tibetan Monks After Protest
Chinese security forces were reportedly surrounding three monasteries outside Lhasa, the Tibetan capital, on Thursday after hundreds of monks took to the streets this week in what are believed to be the largest Tibetan protests against Chinese rule in two decades.
Kidnapped Iraqi Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Found Buried
The body of a Chaldean Catholic archbishop who was kidnapped in the northern city of Mosul last month as he drove home after afternoon Mass was discovered Thursday buried in a southeastern area of the city.