– Bailout Bank Blows Millions Partying in L.A. (TMZ):
Northern Trust, a Chicago-based bank, sponsored the Northern Trust Open at the Riviera Country Club in L.A. We’re told Northern Trust paid millions to sponsor the PGA event which ended Sunday, but what happened off the golf course is even more shocking. (!)
– Troops’ revolt rocks Bangladesh capital (Guardian):
Soldiers in the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, have revolted against senior officers apparently over rations and pay, with television reports claiming the troops killed a major general.
– FBI raids University of Florida nuclear power institute (Orlando Sentinel):
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Federal investigators are alleging that a University of Florida professor and three other members of his family fraudulently received millions of dollars from NASA and then allegedly funneled money to their personal bank accounts, court documents show.
– Big Brother spy planes that track the Taliban may soon hover over your home (Daily Mail):
Britain already has more CCTV cameras than the rest of Europe put together.
– Anti-terror fight ‘will need privacy sacrifice’ (Independent):
Citizens will have to sacrifice their right to privacy in the fight against terrorism, a former senior security official warned today. Sir David Omand, the Cabinet Office’s former security and intelligence co-ordinator, said in future the security services would need access to a wide range of personal data, including phone records, emails and travel information.
(The real enemy here is the New World Order and Big Brother.)
– Zimbabwe’s vice-president foiled in 3600kg gold deal (Times Online):
The Vice-President of Zimbabwe has been accused of trying to sell millions of dollars in gold nuggets and diamonds in defiance of international sanctions.
– Gold investors make 120pc return in four months (Telegraph):
Private investors who have bought exchange traded funds that track the performance of gold miners have more than doubled their money since October last year.
– Exxon drags its feet for 20 years to avoid paying damages to struggling Alaskans, while making record profits (BuzzFlash)
– Anti-Putin oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky transferred to Moscow to face new charges (Telegraph):
Khodorkovsky, Russia’s richest man until his arrest in 2003, will go on trial next month after being accused of fresh counts of embezzlement and theft. Human rights activists and defence lawyers said the new charges were a politically-motivated concoction to keep the tycoon behind bars.
– Obama to Seek $75.5 Billion More for Wars in 2009 (Bloomberg):
(MORE!)
– Wall Street sinks as Obama warns of oversight (Reuters):
The Dow is down 9.1 percent for the month and 17.2 percent year-to-date. “As we came close to the bell we got the curveball: our president came on TV,” he said.
– San Francisco Chronicle may shut down (Reuters):
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – San Francisco may lose its main newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, as owner Hearst Corp cuts a “significant” number of jobs and decides whether to shut or sell the money-losing daily.
– Miliband faces high court battle in UK over Gaza rights (Guardian):
Lawyers for Palestinian families claim foreign secretary’s failure to ban arms sales to Israel flouted international law
– Russian economy hit by 8.8% decline (Financial Times)
– Russia’s 2009 budget deficit to be 8% of GDP – economics minister (RIA Novosti)
– RUSSIA: Problems Rise With Falling Oil Prices (IPS):
MOSCOW, Feb 24 (IPS) – The Russian economy is plunging into a crisis as oil prices fall and the government digs deep into its reserve fund.
– A look at economic developments around the world (IHT)
– European banking bail-outs threaten common market, finance baron warns (Guardian):
European government efforts to shore up their national banking systems could end up as a “dismal failure” by backfiring on the “real” economy and aggravating and prolonging the current crisis.
– UK recession deepens as manufacturing wilts (Times Online)
– Corporate Bonds Are Next ‘Bubble,’ RBS’s Janjuah Says (Bloomberg)
– NYSE in talks to relax its $1 minimum rule (Financial Times):
NYSE Euronext is in talks with US regulators about relaxing its requirement that companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange maintain a share price of more than $1 to protect itself from a possible wave of delistings.
– Best hope is recovery in 2010, Ben Bernanke tells US Congress (Guardian):
(Best ‘hope‘? … at worst there will be a total collapse in 2009, at best best in 2010.
“We ‘believe‘ the effect of the troubles in the subprime sector on the broader housing market will likely be limited”
– Ben Bernanke, May 2007 – Hope = Believe = Don’t Know)
– Bernanke says recession to linger (Reuters)
– Bank of America fights to hide bonus payouts (Times Online)
– Pacific Brands: Shock as 1800 jobs vaporise (Daily Telegraph):
THE maker of iconic clothing brands including Bonds and King Gee will slash more than 1,800 jobs after the company announced it no longer has a future manufacturing in Australia.
– Tomkins cuts 2,500 more jobs (Financial Times):
Tomkins, the car parts maker that also supplies industrial belts and building products, is to shed a further 2,500 jobs and close 15 plants.
– US house prices fall back to 2003 levels (Times Online)
– Diebold ‘offices’ listed in yellow pages are mostly Wal-Marts (Raw Story):
Across the country, curious bloggers are calling up their local Diebold offices, and no one is answering. However, when calls were made to all of these offices, only one picked up the phone. And when the addresses of offices listed under Diebold in the White Pages were visited, the addresses turned out to belong to either a Wal-Mart, a Sam’s Club, or no building at all. In the end, 16 of the 18 Diebold offices in Utah listed in the White Pages were false listings.
– Man charged with sending terrorist material by email (Daily Mail)
– Five US soldiers, two Iraqi translators killed in Iraq (Monsters and Critics)
– Depleted Uranium Hazard Awareness – US Army Training Video:
STILL TODAY the vast majority of servicemen and women in the U.S. military, and likely in the armed forces of other countries which are developing or have obtained depleted uranium munitions, are unaware of the use and dangers of depleted uranium munitions, or of the protective clothing and procedures which can minimize or prevent serious short-term exposures.
– Excessive PlayStation gaming causes new skin condition (Telegraph)
– Long hours put workers at risk of dementia, according to research into damage to brain (Telegraph):
Millions of workers are being put at greater risk of dementia by Britain’s long working hours culture, research has found.
Extreme tiredness and stress could be as bad for the brain as smoking, according to the study.
– Worse than my darkest nightmare (Guardian):
I hope you will understand that after everything I have been through, I am neither physically nor mentally capable of facing the media on the moment of my arrival back to Britain. Please forgive me if I make a simple statement through my lawyer. I hope to be able to do better in days to come, when I am on the road to recovery.