Docudharma Times Tuesday December 2

Told In 2006 That

Banks Were In Trouble

Bush Did What He Does Best

Ignored It  

Officials Vow to Act Amid Forecasts of Long Recession



By EDMUND L. ANDREWS

Published: December 1, 2008

WASHINGTON – The United States economy officially sank into a recession last December, which means that the downturn is already longer than the average for all recessions since World War II, according to the committee of economists responsible for dating the nation’s business cycles.In declaring that the economy has been in a downturn for almost 12 months, the National Bureau of Economic Research confirmed what many Americans had already been feeling in their bones.

But private forecasters warned that this downturn was likely to set a new postwar record for length and likely to be more painful than any recession since 1980 and 1981.

Rice urges Pakistan to cooperate fully with investigation

US secretary of state adds to global pressure on Islamabad as India claims to have evidence of link to deadly attacks

Julian Borger and Vikram Dodd in Mumbai

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday December 2 2008 00.01 GMT

Condoleezza Rice yesterday called on full Pakistani cooperation with the investigation into the Mumbai attacks, saying they represented a “critical moment” in the new civilian government’s efforts to wrest control of Pakistan’s security services.

The outgoing US secretary of state said she did not want to “jump to conclusions”, but made it clear during a visit to London yesterday that she expected Islamabad would have to answer for the attacks which left nearly 200 people dead last week.

Rice, who is due to arrive in India tomorrow, urged its government to focus on the investigation of the attacks, and to avoid actions that might have “unintended consequences”, such as troop manoeuvres.

USA

A Pragmatic Pair Chosen to Confront Terrorism Threat



By Carrie Johnson and Spencer S. Hsu

Washington Post Staff Writers

Tuesday, December 2, 2008; Page A11

In nominating former federal prosecutors to lead the departments of Justice and Homeland Security, President-elect Barack Obama yesterday selected two Democrats with sterling law-and-order credentials but less experience in detecting threats and gathering intelligence in the age of international terrorism.

Eric H. Holder Jr., the candidate to lead the Justice Department, served as the law enforcement agency’s second in command during the waning years of the Clinton administration, overseeing pursuits of violent crime, drug cartels and public corruption offenses. Janet Napolitano, who will run the sprawling Homeland Security bureaucracy, has served since 2003 as governor of Arizona, a border state at the forefront of the nation’s immigration debate.

Governors to press Obama for help with shortfalls



By ANDREW TAYLOR

ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON — The nation’s governors are meeting with President-elect Barack Obama on Tuesday to press their case for at least $40 billion to help pay for health care for the poor and disabled and even more for infrastructure projects like road and bridge repair.

They’re likely to get a sympathetic ear.

The meeting in Philadelphia comes as Obama and Democrats controlling Congress are fashioning economic recovery legislation that could cost $500 billion or so. The measure is virtually certain to contain help for states struggling with slumping revenues and difficult budget cuts as the recession deepens.

National Governors Association Chairman Ed Rendell, D-Pa., said the governors are also pressing for perhaps $136 billion in infrastructure projects like road and bridge repairs in the legislation, which Democrats hope to have ready for Obama’s signature as soon as he takes office.

Asia

For Heroes of Mumbai, Terror Was a Call to Action



By SOMINI SENGUPTA

Published: December 1, 2008

MUMBAI, India – On any ordinary day, Vishnu Datta Ram Zende used the public-address system at Mumbai’s largest railway station to direct busy hordes of travelers to their trains.

But last Wednesday just before 10 p.m., when he heard a loud explosion and saw people running across the platform, he gripped his microphone and calmly directed a panicked crowd toward the safest exit. The station, Victoria Terminus, it turned out, was suddenly under attack, the beginning of a three-day siege by a handful of young, heavily armed gunmen.

Thailand court dissolves governing party, sanctions premier

The political crisis deepens as the People’s Power Party is found guilty of fraud in the December elections. Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat must stay out of politics for five years.

By Paul Watson

December 2, 2008

Reporting from Bangkok, Thailand — Thailand’s Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of the governing party and banned Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat from politics for five years today, plunging the country deeper into political crisis.

Somchai’s People’s Power Party and two others in the governing coalition must be shut down because they were guilty of fraud in December elections, the court ruled.

Somchai is expected to step down soon, but his party and its allies already have a list of 20 possible successors, according to local reports.

So any victory is likely to be short lived for the opposition People’s Alliance for Democracy, or PAD, which seized the country’s main airport a week ago.

The court decision left Thais wondering if anyone can emerge to lead a country dangerously adrift as an occupation of two airports cripples the once-lucrative tourism industry, rival camps of protesters threaten each other, and rumors circulate of a looming military coup.

Europe

Sons of Mafia boss plead for private life

• Police and media intrusion ruining lives, say brothers

• Defence of jailed mob leader angers victims

John Hooper in Rome

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday December 2 2008 00.01 GMT

The sons of the Sicilian mafia’s jailed “boss of all bosses”, Bernardo Provenzano, yesterday made an emotional appeal for what one called “the right to live like any other member of the public”.

“We have lived, and continue to live, as if we were Big Brother contestants,” said Angelo Provenzano. “We have been actors in the biggest reality show on Cosa Nostra.”

He complained bitterly of police surveillance and media pressure. His younger brother, 26 year-old Francesco, said: “Every activity I get ready to set up is scotched because it is [defined by the law as] a ‘product of the laundering of illicitly obtained assets’. I ask myself, when will I be able to have a life of my own.”

President Yushchenko seeks warmer links with Moscow as Nato hopes cool



From The Times

December 2, 2008

Tony Halpin in Moscow and Michael Evans, Defence Editor

Ukraine is moving to soothe relations with Russia as Nato loses interest in offering rapid membership of the alliance.

The reappraisal comes amid debate in Kiev about the wisdom of antagonising the Kremlin, particularly after the confrontation between Russia and Georgia in the summer.

President Yushchenko of Ukraine has ordered a policy review in an effort to defuse tensions with Russia over his country’s pro-Western leanings. The shift is an acknowledgement that friction between Kiev and Moscow has made it harder for the European Union and Nato, particularly members such as Germany and France, to embrace Ukraine.

Middle East

The Queen of Campaigns

Rania, the consort of Jordan’s King Abdullah, is a very modern royal who is using the internet to fight for women’s rights in the Muslim world. Simon Usborne reports

Tuesday, 2 December 2008

When Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956, becoming Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, she famously abandoned the silver screen. It was deemed indecorous for a royal consort to continue with such a public career, so when Alfred Hitchcock offered Kelly a role in Marnie the actress was obliged to say no (Hitchcock quipped that he was “very happy that Grace has found herself such a good part”).

Queen Rania of Jordan is no Grace Kelly. She has the Hollywood looks but, since becoming consort of King Abdullah II, the Palestinian has held court at Davos, been voted third most beautiful woman in the world by Harpers & Queen, granted a half-hour interview to Oprah Winfrey, appeared alongside Bono on the cover of Vanity Fair, teamed up with John Legend and Scarlett Johansson to front an “end poverty” campaign, and featured in Forbes’ “most powerful women of the world” list.

Rumour sparks Hebron settler riot>

 Jewish settlers in the West Bank city of Hebron have rioted for several hours. Reports say several Palestinians were injured.

The BBC

Violence broke out as rumours spread that Israeli forces were about to evict the settlers from a disputed building in the mainly Palestinian city.

Settlers and their supporters threw stones at Palestinians and Israeli police, damaging homes and cars.

Similar incidents were reported in several other parts of the West Bank.

The eviction was ordered by the Israeli supreme court in November.

The settlers have been involved in several clashes since the eviction order was issued, and have desecrated a mosque and a Muslim cemetery.

Africa

Mob runs riot as Zimbabwe runs out of water



From The Times

December 2, 2008

Jan Raath in Harare

Water supplies to residents in Harare were cut by the authorities yesterday as Zimbabwe’s cholera epidemic tightened its grip and the city witnessed its worst unrest for a decade.

The Zimbabwe National Water Authority turned off the pumps in the capital after it ran out of purifying chemicals. With cholera cases soaring above 11,000 across the country, and an anthrax outbreak ravaging the the countryside, David Parirenyatwa, the Health Minister, urged Zimbabweans to stop shaking hands to avoid spreading disease.

Companies and government offices, especially those in high-rise buildings, were sending workers home by midday as lavatories became blocked. “My office stinks and the toilet is a disgusting site,” said Mary Sakupwene, a secretary. “I won’t go back until the water’s on again.”

Latin America

Brazil goes high-tech in bid to protect vulnerable Amazon tribes

The military will use radar, satellite, and infrared technology to locate communities that may face threats from loggers and farmers.

By Andrew Downie | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor

from the December 2, 2008 edition

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – The Brazilian government’s National Indian Foundation (Funai) recently said it would conduct flyovers in Amazonia, where it suspects Indians might be in danger from encroaching farmers, loggers and miners.

Military planes flying at high altitude will use radar, satellite, and infrared technology that can identify humans and their communities through their body heat, Funai and military officials said.

If pilot programs scheduled for next year are successful, the high-tech equipment could prove an indispensable weapon in protecting vulnerable tribes.

“This is one of the tools to help us find and confirm the existence of isolated Indians,” says Antenor Vaz, coordinator of the isolated Indians division at Funai and an experienced Amazonian explorer. “It will let us know where they are and what kind of environment they are in. We can determine if they are in danger; if there are ranchers or miners close to them.”