Archive for January, 2011
California May Close Some State Parks and Eliminate Funding for Public Libraries
January 27th, 2011And these measures are like spitballs against the $25 billion deficit. Via: Sacramento Bee: After spending a century building the nation’s largest and most majestic state park system, Californians are poised to do something unprecedented: Retreat from that legacy and start closing parks. Years of budget cuts in the California State Parks system have resulted […]
Karzai’s Pick for Parliament Speaker Accused of Atrocities
January 27th, 2011Via: McClatchy: An Afghan warlord who’s accused of gross human rights violations and was once close to Osama bin Laden has received the backing of President Hamid Karzai for the important post of speaker of the new parliament, which was inaugurated Wednesday. To the dismay of diplomats and many lawmakers, especially women and those from […]
Egyptian Stock Market Halted; Losses Deepen After Re-Open
January 27th, 2011Via: Daily News Egypt: Trading resumed on Egypt’s stock market after a 40-minute suspension early Thursday, and had fallen 10.587 percent on the day as of 1:20 pm Cairo local time. The broader EGX 70 was down more than 16 percent. A spokesperson at the Egyptian Exchange told Daily News Egypt that the trading session […]
Utah: Dugway Proving Ground, a U.S. Army Chemical and Biological Warfare Facility, Was Locked Down ‘To Resolve a Serious Concern’
January 27th, 2011Update: A Missing Vial of VX Via: Salt Lake Tribune: An overnight lockdown, triggered when vial of the deadly VX nerve agent went temporarily missing, was lifted early Thursday morning at Utah’s sprawling, 801,000-acre Dugway Proving Ground. —End Update— Update: Mystery Emergency Triggered Dugway Lockdown; Base Reopened Now Via: Salt Lake Tribune: An overnight lockdown […]
Canadian Authorities Arrest Former Guatemalan Special Forces Commander Who Participated in Dos Erres Massacre
January 27th, 2011Via: Los Angeles Times: A Moreno Valley martial arts instructor suspected of belonging to the Guatemalan military unit that killed more than 150 civilians, including children, in the country’s infamous Dos Erres massacre in 1982 has been arrested on immigration fraud charges after fleeing from federal authorities last year. Jorge Sosa, 52, was arrested by […]
E-mails Suggest Bear Stearns Cheated Clients Out of Billions; Sold Investors ‘A Sack of Shit’
January 27th, 2011Via: The Atlantic: Former Bear Stearns mortgage executives who now run mortgage divisions of Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Ally Financial have been accused of cheating and defrauding investors through the mortgage securities they created and sold while at Bear. According to e-mails and internal audits, JPMorgan had known about this fraud since the […]
DOJ Seeks Mandatory Data Retention Requirement for ISPs
January 26th, 2011Via: Computerworld: The U.S. Department of Justice and an organization representing police chiefs from around the country renewed calls on Tuesday for legislation mandating Internet Service Providers (ISP) to retain certain customer usage data for up to two years. The calls, which are stoking long standing privacy fears, were made at a hearing convened on […]
Police and Protesters Clash in Egypt
January 26th, 2011Video from Russia Today: Via: Reuters: Police fought with thousands of Egyptians who defied a government ban Wednesday to protest against President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year-old rule, firing tear gas at the crowds and dragging away demonstrators. Protesters burnt tyres and hurled stones at police as groups gathered at different parts of the capital Cairo. The […]
Largest Soybean Sale Ever Between U.S. and China
January 26th, 2011Via: Grainnet: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack issued Jan. 25 the following statement on the reported sale of 2.74 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans to China in the 2011-12 marketing year: “Today’s sale of 2.74 million tons of U.S. soybeans to China is the single largest daily soybean sale since USDA began issuing daily sales […]
China to Create Largest Mega City in the World with 42 Million People
January 26th, 2011Via: Telegraph: China is planning to create the world’s biggest mega city by merging nine cities to create a metropolis twice the size of Wales with a population of 42 million. City planners in south China have laid out an ambitious plan to merge together the nine cities that lie around the Pearl River Delta. […]
