– Hundreds of patients ‘died unnecessarily’ at flagship hospital (Guardian):
Appalling emergency care resulted in enormous suffering, says health watchdog in most damning report ever on an NHS hospital
– Mexican drug cartels’ new weaponry means war (MiamiHerald):
Narcotics traffickers are acquiring firepower more appropriate to an army — including grenade launchers and antitank rockets — and the police are feeling outgunned.
– AIG Budgeted $57 Million Retention Pay for Staff Facing Dismissal (Bloomberg):
March 17 (Bloomberg) — American International Group Inc., the insurer under fire for handing out bonuses after its $173 billion government bailout, budgeted $57 million in “retention” pay for employees who will be dismissed.
– Tenth Amendment Movement: Taking On the Feds (New American):
We Americans are expected to play by the rules — to obey traffic regulations, pay taxes, observe zoning ordinances — in short, to abide by the law. If we don’t, we may find ourselves fined or even jailed. Our federal government is also expected to abide by rules — in its case, the Constitution of the United States. The Constitution specifies which powers the federal government may exercise, and forbids any others. The Tenth Amendment to the Constitution is explicit: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”
– Florida legislator wants random drug tests for the unemployed (Raw Story):
– Central Banks Gorge on Dollars, Englander Sees Fall (Bloomberg):
“People are sitting there holding massive amounts of zero- yielding dollar assets,” said Englander, a Yale University Ph.D. who started his career at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and studied the currency markets for 25 years. “If there is any sort of good news, demand for dollars can drop off very, very quickly.”
– Bank of Japan May Increase Government Bond Purchases as Aso Eyes Stimulus (Bloomberg):
(The Zimbabwe school of economics rules.)
– More than 1m jobs to go in UK (Financial Times):
More than a million British workers will lose their jobs over the next two years as the recession takes an unexpected turn, hitting the north and Midlands as badly as the south, a leading economic forecaster has warned.
– Seattle Post-Intelligencer halts print edition (CNNMoney):
SEATTLE (CNN) — The Hearst Corp. announced Monday it will publish its last print edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Tuesday and shift the operation of Seattle’s oldest business wholly to the Internet.
– Mexico to impose sanctions on US exports (Financial Times):
A long-simmering trade dispute boiled over into sanctions on Monday after Mexico said it would raise tariffs on $2.4bn of US exports in retaliation for ending a pilot programme to allow Mexican trucks on American roads.
– Banks scramble to return bailout funds (Los Angeles Times):
A growing number of healthy bank chains across the country are bailing out of the $700-billion federal banking bailout program, saying it has tarnished the reputation of banks that took the money and tangled them in unwieldy regulations.
– Nokia to cut 1700 jobs in sinking phone market (Reuters)
– Taxes must rise to pay for climate change, MPs warn (Telegraph):
Taxes will need to rise to pay for the green revolution which is necessary to save the planet from global warming, MPs warn today.
– Voluntary code to make banks pay taxes could be made law (Independent):
The Chancellor will publish proposals with his Budget on 22 April for a voluntary code to ensure the banks obey “the spirit and letter of the law” on taxation. If they do not comply, he will enshrine the code in law. It is claimed that the state-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland tied up £25bn in tax-avoidance schemes while it was expanding, costing the British and US taxpayers more than £500m in lost revenue.
– Students tie £56 camera to balloon and send it to edge of space to capture stunning images of Earth (Daily Mail):
Teenagers with a £56 camera and latex balloon have managed to take stunning pictures from 20 miles above Earth. Proving that you don’t need Google’s billions or the BBC weather centre’s resources, the four Spanish students managed to send a camera-operated weather balloon into the stratosphere.Taking atmospheric readings and photographs, the Meteotek team of IES La Bisbal school in Spanish Catalonia completed their incredible experiment at the end of February this year.