– Suicide attack on Pakistan mosque kills 50 (Times Online):
A suicide bomb attack on a packed mosque in the volatile tribal regions of Pakistan has killed nearly 50 people and left dozens of others wounded, in the latest wave of violence to hit the country.
– US tent cities highlight new realities as recession wears on (Guardian)
– North Korea rocket launch: First pictures of launch pad (Telegraph)
– Japan’s guided-missile destroyers head for Sea of Japan ahead of DPRK’s rocket launch (Xinhua)
– China reacts with fury to US military report (Telegraph):
China has reacted with fury to a US government report on Beijing’s military power which claimed it was altering the military balance in Asia.
– Australia quashes China bid for Oz Minerals (Financial Times):
The Australian government on Friday cited national security concerns to block a A$2.6bn ($1.8bn) bid by China’s Minmetals for Oz Minerals, fuelling doubts about Beijing’s ability to secure backing for other deals in the resource-rich country.
– Britain sees 40 per cent rise in cash lost to Brussels, National Audit Office says (Telegraph):
The National Audit Office found that Britain’s net cash contribution to Brussels jumped by 40 per cent to more than £4billion between 2006 and 2007. In the same year, the total value of reported irregularities rose by 20 per cent to €1,392 million (£1.3billion) across all European Union countries, a report published today finds.
– Bank of England: It’s time to call a halt, Prime Minister (Telegraph)
– Mounties accused of ‘cooking up’ story (Toronto Star):
VANCOUVER–Four Mounties “collaborated to fabricate” their story to justify their conduct when Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski died while in their custody, a lawyer told a public inquiry yesterday.
– Madoff Liquidator Says $2.6 Billion Will Pay Victims of Fraud (Bloomberg):
March 27 (Bloomberg) — The agency liquidating Bernard Madoff’s brokerage says the $2.6 billion it has on hand is enough to satisfy all legitimate claims by victims of the money manager’s $65 billion Ponzi scheme.
– Two more quit AIG as depth of bonus anger emerges (Guardian):
Two senior European bosses have resigned from AIG citing a “hostile” environment as the insurer faces a public backlash over multimillion-pound bonus payouts.
– Most electronic voting isn’t secure, CIA expert says (Boston Herald)
– UK recession: ‘It’s even worse than we thought,’ says ONS (Guardian)
– Canadian Arab Federation takes Conservatives to court (National Post):
Mr. Kenney had threatened to pull $2-million in federal cash after the federation’s president Khaled Mouammar called him “a professional whore” for his support for Israel.
– Hope rising in US for national death penalty ban (AFP)
– Ashcroft: Some forms of waterboarding might be legal (Raw Story):
Is it any surprised that a man who spends free time making sculptures out of barbed wire still does not believe his approval of torturing prisoners was wrong?
– NZ hits 16-year low but currency climbs (Financial Times):
New Zealand’s economy contracted at its fastest rate in more than 16 years in the final months of 2008 but predictions the country is over the worst added to a string of gains for the New Zealand dollar on Friday.
– Britain to send more troops to Afghanistan (Telegraph):
Britain is preparing to send an extra 1,700 soldiers to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan, the head of the Army has indicated.
– At last we get it – this war is Vietnam for slow learners (Guardian):
Eight years of fighting has made no difference to the balance of power in Afghanistan. Only one word makes sense: exit
– Some jobless aren’t down and out enough to qualify for aid (Los Angeles Times)
– Victorian ‘ghost’ picked up by Google Street View ( Telegraph):
A ghostly figure dressed in Victorian clothes was filmed on Google Street View – before vanishing into thin air.
– Very hot tea and coffee linked to raised oesophagus cancer (Times Online):
(Nothing new.)
– Girl,14, faces child porn charges for posting nude pictures of HERSELF on MySpace (Daily Mail):
If convicted, she will have to register as a sex offender under Megan’s Law, which gives parents the right to know the identity of sex offenders in their area.