Archive for August, 2009
Piracy Off the Coast of Sweden?
August 13th, 2009Via: Bloomberg: Russia is using “all means of detection,” including satellites and naval vessels, to find a Maltese-flagged freighter that disappeared in the Atlantic Ocean after being attacked in Swedish waters. The Russian coast guard ship Ladny is leading the search effort, which also involves navy ships located in the Atlantic, the Defense Ministry said […]
Torture Inc.
August 13th, 2009Via: New York Times: Jim Mitchell and Bruce Jessen were military retirees and psychologists, on the lookout for business opportunities. They found an excellent customer in the Central Intelligence Agency, where in 2002 they became the architects of the most important interrogation program in the history of American counterterrorism. They had never carried out a […]
Pay Raises Are the Worst in 33 Years
August 12th, 2009Via: Time: Feel like your company has been particularly stingy on the raises this year? You’re not imagining it. For 2009, the typical non-hourly worker will see a 1.8% bump in salary, according to a survey by the human-resources consultancy Hewitt Associates. That increase, the smallest in at least 33 years, doesn’t even keep up […]
“They know which books you search for. They know which books you browse through, they know how long you spend on each page.”
August 12th, 2009Via: NPR: Google has been working on a monumental project to scan millions of library books and put them online. Many of those books are not yet readable, because of a copyright lawsuit filed by authors and publishers. That lawsuit has been tentatively settled, and if a judge approves the deal this fall, millions more […]
Americans Working Much Harder For Less Pay
August 12th, 2009Via: MSNBC: Feel like you’re working a lot harder these days, putting in longer hours for the same pay — or even less? The latest round of government data on worker productivity indicates that you probably are. The Labor Department said Tuesday that the American work force produced, at an annual rate, 6.4 percent more […]
The Cash “Magically Appeared on Their Electronic Benefit Cards”
August 12th, 2009What’ll it be? A $100 bonus to get the chip implanted early? Via: New York Daily News: A $200 back-to-school giveaway for needy kids sparked a mad rush for money on the streets of New York on Tuesday. “It’s free money!” said Alecia Rumph, 26, who waited in a Morris Park, Bronx, line 300 people […]
Brazil TV Host Turned Politician ‘Ordered Killings to Boost Ratings’
August 12th, 2009Via: Guardian: A Brazilian politician who fronts a popular television crime show is being investigated for allegedly ordering a series of executions in a bid to boost his ratings. Wallace Souza, a former police officer who used his lunchtime television slot to rail against the violence sweeping the jungle city of Manaus, is suspected of […]
Tamiflu Almost Killed Daughter of British Television Host
August 12th, 2009Via: Guardian: The health secretary, Andy Burnham, today defended giving the antiviral drug Tamiflu to children for swine flu as TV presenter Andrew Castle said his daughter “almost died” after taking it. Burnham was confronted by Castle on GMTV after researchers said the antiviral drug’s benefits did not outweigh its side-effects during the flu pandemic. […]
Soaring Deficit May Defy Forecasts
August 11th, 2009Via: USA Today: Stagnant unemployment, shrinking tax revenue and a struggling economy threaten to quadruple the size of last year’s federal budget deficit, raising more questions about the timing of costly proposals to overhaul health care. As the White House and Congressional Budget Office (CBO) prepare to release new deficit estimates this month, several economists […]
U.S. Treasury Will Attempt to Sell $75 Billion in Debt This Week
August 11th, 2009We learned how this works last week. Via: Financial Times: US bond investors are braced for a testing week, dominated by record $75bn in debt sales by the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting, which concludes on Wednesday. Treasury yields have been rising and are back at levels last seen in early June, […]
