world news thread

[Mrs. B.]

Hi RoughN,

Yup, it seems so, I think I even read somewhere that you answered somebody in Arabic. Very international!

Thanks for the info regarding the buttons, I will be doing exactly that.

(Sa Manila ho, kayo ho, taga-saan?

[Rough Neighbor]

I'll PM you when I got home. Thanks.

[mike_2007]

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Federal Reserve slashed two key interest rates by three-quarters of a percentage point Tuesday following an unscheduled meeting, citing continued concerns about a weakening economy and turmoil in the financial markets.

The Fed lowered its federal funds rate, which impacts how much consumers pay on credit card debt, home equity lines of credit and auto loans, to 3.5 percent from 4.25 percent.

The rate cut came more than a week before the Fed's next regularly scheduled meeting, a two day session that concludes on Jan. 30. Some market observers think the Fed will cut rates again at this meeting.

The Fed also lowered its discount rate, which is what it costs banks to borrow directly from the central bank, by three-quarters of a point, to 4 percent.

This was the biggest rate cut by the Fed since October 1984. And it was the first cut between regularly scheduled meetings since a half-point cut on the day the market reopened following the September 2001 terrorist attacks

"Broader financial market conditions have continued to deteriorate and credit has tightened further for some businesses and households. Moreover, incoming information indicates a deepening of the housing contraction as well as some softening in labor markets," the Fed said in a statement.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington Tuesday morning, said that he hoped the rate cut would restore some confidence in the financial markets and U.S. economy.

"I think it's very constructive and what I think it shows to this country and to the rest of the world [is] that our central bank is nimble and able to move quickly," he said.

Investors didn't appear to share this sentiment. Stocks plunged at the open Tuesday morning, following two straight days of massive selloffs abroad. But stocks bounced off their lows as the morning progressed.

"You can get into a debate as to whether we're in a recession or not, but it's a really turbulent period right now and that makes it difficult for investors to figure out what to do," said Phil Dow, director of equity strategy with RBC Dain Rauscher.

Dow said the rate cuts are a welcome sign that should eventually help to stabilize the markets but he cautioned that stocks, particularly beaten down financial services companies, could still see more pain.

Along those lines, Rich Yamarone, chief economist with Argus Research, added that the Fed may be hitting the panic button, "There is no economic reason that the Fed couldn't wait until next week to cut rates," he said. "Something bigger is looming."

Yamarone suggested that the Fed might be worried that the problems facing banks and mortgage lenders are going to get worse very soon.

More aggressive action
Before Tuesday, the Fed had cut the fed funds rate by a full point since September. Investors have been clamoring for more - and bigger - rate cuts hoping that they would kick-start a moribund economy and encourage businesses and consumers to spend.

More cuts: And the Fed is still widely expected to aggressively cut rates again at its Jan. 30 meeting. According to futures listed on the Chicago Board of Trade, investors are pricing in an 66 percent chance that the Fed cut another half-point.

"This was a big step but there is still more to go," said Keith Hembre, chief economist with First American Funds. Hembre thinks that the Fed will cut the fed funds rate to at least 2.5 percent within the next few months.

Fed lending has helped: The Fed has also loaned $70 billion to banks through a series of three auctions since December to help mitigate the effects of the credit crunch on Wall Street. That appears to be working as the Fed said Tuesday that "strains in short-term funding markets have eased somewhat."

Government "stimulus" plan: President Bush and Congress are also working on an economic stimulus package to help beleaguered consumers. The plan is widely expected to include payments to consumers, and tax breaks to spur investments by businesses.

Too little, too late? Despite these efforts, markets have plunged so far in 2008. At this point, Hembre said, it's probably too late for the Fed to prevent a recession - he said it takes several months for rate cuts to have an impact. But he added the Fed's efforts could help to make a recession brief.

"This rate cut certainly leads to a better outlook in 2009, but it may not have any effect on the first quarter or even first half of this year," Hembre said.

Or too much? Still others think the Fed needs to proceed cautiously, especially since it's fair to argue that aggressive rate cuts during 2001 may be the reason why banks are in the subprime mortgage mess they are in now.

William Poole, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, voted against the current rate cut. According to the Fed's statement, Poole did "not believe that current conditions justified policy action before the regularly scheduled meeting next week."

Fed board member Frederic Mishkin did not participate in the emergency meeting.

In addition, high prices of oil, gold and other commodities, coupled with a weak dollar, are a sign that inflation is not necessarily dead. One market strategist said he thinks the Fed made a mistake by cutting rates so drastically since it could lead to bigger inflation worries down the road.

"The Fed is sacrificing the U.S. dollar, which may well compound our problems in the future. I think the auctions are a more precise way to alleviate credit issues," said Haag Sherman, managing director of Salient Partners, an affiliate of investment firm Sanders Morris Harris

[mike_2007]

Jury selection began Tuesday in the retrial of six of the seven men charged with allegedly conspiring to bomb the FBI headquarters in Miami and the Sears Tower in Chicago. The seven men first went to trial last year, but in December one man was acquitted and a mistrial was declared for the other six after the case ended in a hung jury. If convicted, each defendant faces up to 70 years in prison.

The seven were indicted in 2006 on charges of conspiring to provide material support to al Qaeda; conspiring to provide material support, training, and resources to terrorists; conspiring to maliciously damage and destroy by means of an explosive; and conspiring to levy war against the government of the United States. The indictment alleges that ringleader Narseal Batiste recruited the six other defendants to "organize and train for a mission to wage war against the United States government," and that they pledged an oath to al Qaeda in an attempt to secure financial and logistical backing. Lawyers for some of the men said that their clients were entrapped by an FBI informant posing as an al Qaeda operative.

[mike_2007]

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Tuesday ruled that France violated the rights of a ******* woman by refusing her application to adopt a child because of her sexual preference. The French officials rejected the woman's application on the grounds that she and her partner were not able to present a male "referent," even though French law permits single adults over the age of 28 to adopt children. The ECHR ruled that France violated the petitioner's rights under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights , which guarantees respect for private and family life, and under Article 14, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The ECHR ordered the French government to pay €24,528 in non-pecuniary damages, costs and expenses.

[mike_2007]

The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) on Monday released internal Canadian government documents detailing evidence of continued mistreatment and abuse of detainees transferred by Canadian forces to Afghan authorities. The documents, originally distributed to senior officials of the Canadian government and officers of the Canadian military, detail an investigation conducted by Canadian officials last November which found circumstantial evidence that detainees were abused at a facility belonging to the Afghan National Directorate of Security in Kandahar.

Last November, the Federal Court of Canada ruled that Amnesty International and the BCCLA should be granted public interest standing to seek judicial review of actions or potential actions of Canadian military personnel deployed in Afghanistan, rejecting the Canadian government's motion to strike the groups' application on the grounds that they lacked standing and the issue was political in nature. The rights groups allege that Canadian forces deployed in Afghanistan are bound by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and that Canadian personnel transferring Afghan prisoners at risk of torture by Afghan authorities have violated the Charter's prohibition against the deprivation of life, liberty, and security. Also in November, Canadian opposition parliamentarians called for the government to stop detainee transfers, after documents released by the Canadian government appeared to confirm allegations that transferred suspects had been subjected to abuse. Last May, Canada and Afghanistan entered into an agreement allowing for the monitoring of prisoners transferred from Canadian to Afghanistan custody.

[Beverly]

Police in 3 Mexico cities disarmed

Officers in the border towns are removed from duty by troops and searched for evidence that might link them to drug cartels.

By Héctor Tobar, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 23, 2008

MEXICO CITY -- Local police were relieved of duty Tuesday in the border cities of Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros and Reynosa as army troops disarmed the officers and searched for evidence that might link them to drug traffickers.

In Nuevo Laredo, soldiers surrounded police headquarters at 8 a.m. and ordered officers to remain inside. Federal troops conducted a similar operation in Tijuana last January, at the beginning of an offensive against Mexico's drug cartels and their allies in the police.

During the first 14 months of his rule, President Felipe Calderon has sent federal troops to at least half a dozen states, including Michoacan in the south and Veracruz on the Gulf. Calderon has vowed to break the power of the traffickers, who wield wide influence over local authorities and intimidate local news media.

At least two drug-trafficking organizations are fighting for control of Nuevo Laredo and its border crossings, a lucrative source of income for smugglers. President Vicente Fox, Calderon's predecessor, sent army troops there in 2005.

But the violence has continued unabated. Several observers in Nuevo Laredo say it is an open secret that many police officers cooperate with traffickers.

In an interview this month with the Spanish newspaper El Pais, Atty. Gen. Eduardo Medina Mora acknowledged that the Calderon government's purges of federal, state and local police were only the beginning.

"There are municipal police forces that have collapsed and that function more as support staff to organized crime rather than as guardians of public safety," Medina Mora said.

Last week, federal police arrested 11 men in Nuevo Laredo, including four police officers, who were said to be operatives for the so-called Gulf cartel.

On Tuesday, all on-duty police officers were confined to their stations and none patrolled the city, according to news reports. About 300 troops of the army's elite Airborne Special Forces Group established checkpoints throughout the city.

"This is an action that is taking place with the full cooperation of the mayor," said Alberto Rodriguez, a spokesman for the Nuevo Laredo city government.

Mexican military officials said the army would patrol the city with the assistance of state and federal police but declined to comment further.

In Matamoros, 600 police officers were confined to stations and were being questioned by federal authorities, according to media reports.

The similar operation last year in Tijuana lasted three weeks, with more than 3,500 soldiers and federal agents sent into the city. Many police patrolled unarmed, and a few were seen with slingshots until their weapons were returned.

In the months since, violence there related to drug trafficking and organized crime has continued unabated.

At least 17 people were killed in the border city last week, including three senior police officials, one of whom was shot in his home alongside his wife and two daughters.

Federal officials have said privately that many of their most recent shootouts have been with operatives of the Gulf cartel, based in the state of Tamaulipas, which includes Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa and Matamoros. The cartel has been the most aggressive in efforts to conquer territory from rivals, officials say.

Army special forces troops Tuesday confiscated two dozen assault rifles in a Reynosa "safe house" said to belong to the Gulf cartel and its band of hit men, the Zetas.

A day earlier, federal agents arrested Alfredo Beltran Leyva, allegedly a leader in the so-called Sinaloa cartel, also known as the cartel of the Pacific. And 11 suspected hit men allegedly linked to Beltran Leyva were arrested Tuesday in two mansions on the southern edge of Mexico City.

The suspected cartel operatives were lined up in the living rooms of the two homes. Federal drug officials presented the men to local reporters alongside a small arsenal of seized weapons, including machine guns and grenades.

hector.tobar@latimes.com
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg...n&ctrack=8&cset=true

[Beverly]

A Deadly Turf War Over Cuban Illegals

Friday, Jan. 18, 2008 By IOAN GRILLO/MEXICO CITY

Policemen hold a suspected gunman who was injured after a shootout in Cancun, Mexico, January 12, 2008.


EFE / ZumaArticle ToolsPrintEmailReprintsSphereAddThisRSS

Juan Carlos Reyna had been driving a Jeep Liberty through Cancun's wealthiest neighborhood on a sweltering December afternoon when he was surrounded by three cars. A masked man bearing a Kalashnikov rifle leaned out of the car in front of him and shot Reyna in the head. Against all odds, the Cuban-American survived and was airlifted from Mexico's Caribbean resort to a U.S. hospital, where he is fighting for his life.

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Others have been less fortunate. Since June, at least four Cuban-Americans, including Reyna's brother Maximiliano, have been shot dead on Cancun's glitzy boulevards in gangland-style hits. Mexican officials allege that these killings, and those of at least five Mexicans, stem from what they say is a turf war over lucrative human smuggling routes of Cubans via Mexico to the United States.

The blood being spilled in broad daylight in Mexico's most popular international tourist spot has raised the pressure on a police force already struggling against heavily armed drug cartels.

Senior Mexican officials blame the violence on Washington's "Wet Feet, Dry Feet" policy, in which Cubans caught at sea trying to enter the U.S. are turned back but those apprehended on U.S. soil after entering the country illegally are allowed to apply for asylum.

"This has to do with U.S. policy toward Cubans, that those who make it to [U.S.] territory by their own means can get automatic refugee status," Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said in a recent news conference. "People of Cuban origin who are citizens of the United States are involved, financing these people-smuggling operations, obviously with the complicity of Mexicans," he said.

Since the "Wet Feet, Dry Feet" policy was introduced in a 1995 revision to the U.S. Cuban Adjustment Act, smuggling networks taking Cubans from the communist-controlled island to Mexico's Caribbean coast have mushroomed.

Crossing the 130-mile stretch of sea in speedboats that can out-run Mexican navy vessels, the Cubans are kept in Cancun safe houses until relatives in the United States have paid the smugglers in full, according to Mexican investigations. The migrants then cross the U.S.-Mexico border by land or plane.

Mexico certainly appears to have become the most popular route for Cubans seeking to reach the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 11,487 Cubans entered the U.S. over the Mexican border in the fiscal year 2007. Over the same period, 4,825 Cubans successfully crossed the Florida Straits, while 2,861 were caught by the Coast Guard and turned back.

A Mexican official not authorized to speak on the record explained that gangs running the lucrative Cuban smuggling route into the U.S. charge between $10,000 to $12,000 per head, compared to the $2,000 Mexicans pay "coyotes" to take them over the desert into the U.S. And it is the high profits have driven the killings, officials say, with rival groups allying with Mexican gangsters to fight over the spoils of the trade.

"We will have no cease-fire in the battle against organized crime," said Gov. Felix Gonza*** of Quintana Roo state, in announcing an increase in Cancun's police after the December shooting. "The security of residents and tourists is the priority of this government."

The Cuban government is also pressing Mexico to curb the smugglers. Cuba nabbed three Mexican fishermen heading to pick up migrants in 2006 and sentenced them to 10 years in prison. Throughout 2007, Mexican police rounded up growing numbers of undocumented Cuban migrants, sticking them in overcrowded detention centers near the Caribbean coast before they were deported to Havana or released.

In December, three Cubans protested poor conditions in one center by going on a hunger strike until they were hospitalized for dehydration. Many Mexicans, however, identify with the Cubans' desire to find a better life by sneaking over borders. A group of lawmakers, led by Rep. Fernel Galvez of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, is lobbying for easing the treatment of Cubans and other Latin Americans caught on Mexican soil while heading for the United States.

"Even though our party shares a leftist ideology with Cuba, we have to respect these migrants' human rights. We are not in a position to call them traitors for leaving Cuba," said Galvez, who has three brothers working north of the border. "They are just looking for the American Dream like many Mexicans."

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...,00.html?imw=Y


OF COURSE ITS AMERICA'S FAULT THAT MEXICO IS A CULTURALLY EMBEDDED CESSPOOL OF CORRUPTION FULL OF THUGS AND MURDEROUS DRUG RINGS. TYPICAL 3RD GRADE MENTALITY RESPRESENTATIVE OF THEIR LACK OF RESPONSIBILITY AND WHY THEY REMAIN A PATHETIC EXCUSE FOR A COUNTRY. NOTHING IS EVER THEIR FAULT.

I GUESS THEY STILL HAVEN'T GOTTEN THE MEMO, ILLEGAL ALIENS KILLED AMERICA AND ALL IT'S DREAMS . . .

[ProudUSC]

Stowaways Found at Dulles International Airport
Two Ethiopians Found Hiding in a Plane, Raising Security Concerns


Two stowaways hid in an airplane at Washington's Dulles International Airport.

(Jim Young/Reuters) By PIERRE THOMAS and SCOTT MICHELS
Jan. 24, 2008

Share Law enforcement sources told ABC News of a security breach that raises major questions about the ability of foreign governments to secure airplanes.

Two Ethiopian maintenance workers apparently stowed away in the ceiling of a trans-Atlantic flight that landed at Dulles International Airport, outside Washington, D.C., at 7 a.m. Wednesday.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman Lynn Hollinger, Ethiopian Airlines officials contacted CBP at about 9 a.m. Wednesday, reporting that the two stowaways claimed to have made the journey while hiding in an overhead luggage compartment.

The compartment was located above the ceiling of the kitchen galley, out of sight of passengers.

Hollinger said the two men were both wearing Ethiopian Airlines uniforms, including identification badges. A contract security guard discovered them after the passengers disembarked.

The stowaways were taken by ground crews to a CBP inspection area at the airport, where they were interviewed by customs agents. They are seeking asylum and are currently in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.

The discovery of the stowaways has security officials asking if people can stow away on a plane, how easy would it be to place a bomb on a plane.

[4now]

Good article Proud

At least these two survived.

Earlier last year, a couple of them hid in the wings. and froze to death. Now the airlines have been on the lookout for this, but somehow they keep doing it and getting away with it... dead or alive.

and yes they should be worried about security.. they just dont seem to get it.

[ProudUSC]

Thanks, 4Now. It caught my eye since I travel via that airport - lol!

I was glad to know they survived too. I'll bet anything, CBP put them right on the next flight to Ethiopia. Stay tuned . . . I will try to follow this one and post updates.

[Mrs. B.]

Hi ProudU,

That's good that they caught those two, and that those 2 person survived. It got me a bit worried though, 'coz that shows the laxity of security despite the 9/11. (I've no complaints about living here in the USA but then, until that Bin Laden is captured, there is no room for complacency.)

[ProudUSC]

Hi Mrs. B.,

I agree with you regarding the security issue. These two could have been terrorists with a bomb and we would be reading about it on the front page of every national newspaper. Thankfully, that didn't happen, but I hope this airline (and others) will work to tighten the existing gaps that allowed these two to become stowaways in the first place.

[mike_2007]

The US Senate on Thursday voted 60-36 against an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Bill which would have incorporated several changes to the legislation that were previously approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The bill is designed to revise and extend the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) so as to - among other things - expand the oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) , giving it greater powers to monitor the government's use of eavesdropping on American citizens. Currently, the temporary Protect America Act expands FISA to allow the US government to eavesdrop inside of the US without court approval as long as one end of a telephone or computer conversation is reasonably perceived to have been outside of the US. That act is set to sunset on February 1 and both President George W. Bush and Vice President **** Cheney have recently called for Congressional action to do away with the need for future renewals by making FISA permanent. They have also urged Congress to amend FISA to grant immunity to telecommunications companies from lawsuits related to their participation in the NSA warrantless surveillance program , saying that government agencies did not have the resources to fight terror without cooperation from private telecom providers. Bush has threatened to veto any revised surveillance bill that does not include the immunity provisions. The version of the legislation rejected by the Senate Thursday did not contain an immunity provision

Meanwhile, congressional leaders announced Thursday that the White House has agreed to release documents pertaining to the government's warrantless domestic surveillance program to members of the House of Representatives Judiciary and Intelligence Committees. The announcement ends months of heated discussion between Congress and the White House regarding the government's use of secret wiretapping, which culminated last fall when the White House refused to comply with subpoenas demanding the release of the FISA documents. Bush had agreed in October to allow Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and ranking Republican Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) to see the documents.

[mike_2007]

US Marine 1st Lt. Andrew Grayson will face court-martial in May on charges of making false official statements and obstruction of justice in connection to the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians at Haditha in November 2005. During Grayson's Wednesday arraignment at Camp Pendleton, a military judge set a trial date of May 28. Grayson did not enter a plea on the charges , which also include attempting to fraudulently separate from the Marine Corps.

A defense lawyer for Grayson, an intelligence officer accused of mishandling an investigation into the killings, said in September 2007 that Grayson rejected a plea offer from military prosecutors requiring him to admit attempting to cover up the killings in exchange for prosecutors dropping all charges. He is accused of allegedly ordering a subordinate to delete photographic evidence taken hours after the killings to keep it out of a report being prepared for top-ranking officers and a reporter. Eight Marines were initially charged in connection to the Haditha incident, though charges have since been dropped against four. Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich , leader of the squad implicated in the killings, will face court-martial in February