Shorts (right)
Belarus, which is often described as the last dictatorship in Europe, emerged from the diplomatic deep freeze Monday when the European Union temporarily lifted a travel ban on the country’s president, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko.
Obama Lays Out Costly Plans To Help Many With Fiscal Ills
Sen. Barack Obama proposed new steps on Monday to address the economic crisis, calling for temporary but costly new programs to help employers, automakers, homeowners, the unemployed, and state and local governments.
Fires in Southern California Leave Two People Dead
Fierce wildfires erupted in Southern California on Monday, leaving two people dead and heralding the start of the most intense period of the fire season here.
U.S. Investing Quarter Billion to Bolster Banks
Buoyed by the biggest intervention in the America’s banking system since the Depression, and similar dramatic moves in Europe, stock markets around the world staged one of the most powerful one-day rallies in history on Monday.
Government’s Taking Stakes In Banks Is Historic Shift
The government’s decision to take ownership stakes in America’s largest banks is a historic step that shifts power in the economy toward Washington and away from Wall Street.
Fronts, Friends, and Forecasting
There are all kinds of fronts in the weather world. The traditional ones are the cold and warm fronts. But there are also the occluded, stationary, polar, and arctic fronts. My favorite one is the so-called back-door cold front (yes, the words back and front are used to describe the same phenomena). What they all have in common is their depiction in separating two regimes. Its like an intervening friend who tells you not to go out with this person because he or she is simply trouble. In this case, the friend is the front, the one trying to separate the two parties.
Nations Weigh Options as Financial Chaos Spreads
The United States and Britain appear to be converging on a common solution for the financial chaos sweeping the world, one day before a crucial meeting of financial leaders begins in Washington that the White House hopes will result in a more unified response.
Shorts (right)
With security and economic conditions in Afghanistan already in dire straits, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday that the situation there would probably only worsen next year.
Good for You, Bad for Me
High pressure builds in from the west today, giving us a weekend of full of sunny weather. Temperatures will be slightly above normal with highs in the upper 60s°F and lows around 50°F. And while you are outside enjoying yourself this weekend (or maybe not if you have midterms and psets), meteorologists like me have very little to do.
Shorts (left)
Until 3 p.m. on Thursday, it seemed as if the stock market might escape another dark day.
Military Has Cause for Both Hope and Concern in Iraq
Market by market, square by square, the walls are beginning to come down. The miles of hulking blast walls, ugly but effective, were installed as a central feature of the surge of U.S. troops to stop neighbors from killing one another.
In Calls, Palin and Aides Pressed for Trooper’s Removal
The 2007 state fair was days away when Alaska’s public safety commissioner, Walt Monegan, took another call about one of his troopers, Michael Wooten. This time, the director of Gov. Sarah Palin’s Anchorage office was on the line.
Bogus Campaign Donors Raise Questions on Obama Fundraising
Last December, somebody using the name “Test Person,” from “Some Place, UT” made a series of contributions, the largest being $764, to Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign totaling $2,410.07.
Georgian Press Sees Many Restrictions on Its Freedoms
The cameras at Georgia’s main opposition broadcaster, Imedi, kept rolling Nov. 7, when masked riot police officers, armed with machine guns, burst into the studio. They smashed equipment, ordered employees and television guests to lie on the floor and confiscated their cell phones. A news anchor remained on-screen throughout, describing the mayhem. Then all went black.
Race’s Last Stage Has Appearance of a Grudge Match
Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama entered their general election contest this summer denouncing American politics as trivial and negative, and vowing to run campaigns that would address the concerns of voters during a difficult time.
Shorts (left)
Emerging markets took one of their biggest collective tumbles in a decade Monday as stock markets from Mexico to Indonesia to Russia were gripped by fears of a meltdown in Europe’s banking system and concern that a global recession could drag down the price of commodities, forcing a steep slowdown in emerging-market growth.
Lehman’s Chief Defends His Actions As Prudent for Time
Richard S. Fuld Jr. blamed the news media. He blamed the short-sellers. He blamed the government, as well as what he characterized as an “extraordinary run on the bank.”
Shorts (right)
The Alsace-Moselle region is the great French exception. Having been variously French and German in the last few centuries — annexed, presumably for the last time, by Hitler’s Germany before returning to France after World War II — Alsace-Moselle still has a German feel, with rounded edges.
Fed Weighs a Radical Intervention in Debt Market
As pressure built in the credit markets and stocks spiraled lower around the world on Monday, the Federal Reserve was considering a radical new plan to jump-start the engine of the financial system.
As Crisis Spreads, Investors Fear Worldwide Recession
When the White House rolled out its $700 billion rescue plan two weeks ago, its sheer size was meant to soothe the global financial system, restoring trust and confidence. Three days after the plan was approved, it looks like a pebble tossed into a churning sea.