Docudharma Times Saturday November 7

Broader Measure of Unemployment Stands at 17.5%



By DAVID LEONHARDT

Published: November 6, 2009

For all the pain caused by the Great Recession, the job market still was not in as bad shape as it had been during the depths of the early 1980s recession – until now.

With the release of the jobs report on Friday, the broadest measure of unemployment and underemployment tracked by the Labor Department has reached its highest level in decades. If statistics went back so far, the measure would almost certainly be at its highest level since the Great Depression.

In all, more than one out of every six workers – 17.5 percent – were unemployed or underemployed in October. The previous recorded high was 17.1 percent, in December 1982.

Chinese Agencies Struggle Over Video Game



By MICHAEL WINES

Published: November 6, 2009

BEIJING – It could almost be a World of Warcraft game session – two competing titans, plotting against each other, swapping blows, embarked on a quest for a single prize that only the stronger of them will claim.But this is not virtual reality. The titans are two agencies of the Chinese government. And their quest, during which they have traded a few blows in the past week, is for a potentially rich prize: the power to regulate the real World of Warcraft, among the most popular online games in China.

USA

‘I could hear the bullets going past me’

Shootings at Fort Hood

By Greg Jaffe and Philip Rucker

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, November 7, 2009

The first frantic 911 calls had come just four minutes earlier. Kimberly Munley, a civilian police officer for the Army, rounded the corner of a squat, one-story building at 1:27 p.m. Thursday and came face to face with Army Maj. Nidal M. Hasan.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, had already killed or wounded dozens of soldiers, having fired more than 100 rounds, according to Army officials. He was still shooting at unarmed troops who were dragging away their bleeding colleagues when he locked his eyes on Munley, raised his pistols, and charged her.

New study may deal final blow to acne drug Accutane

The study bolstered evidence of a link between the drug, pulled from the market in June, and inflammatory bowel disease. No medication is as effective in treating severe cases of acne.

By Shari Roan

November 7, 2009

Teenagers and young adults suffering from severe, scarring acne may ultimately lose the most effective treatment for the condition.

Swiss-based Roche Holding quietly pulled its blockbuster drug Accutane off the market in June amid early signs that the drug may be linked to inflammatory bowel disease. And last week, a study was released that quantified those risks, finding that users of the medication have almost twice the odds of developing a serious bowel disorder as nonusers.

For now, generic versions are still available, but the latest troubles could lead to the withdrawal of the controversial medication considered the treatment of last resort for acne so damaging it can lead to pitting of the face and a lifetime of anguish.

Asia

Last Taliban stronghold captured by Pakistan army

House of slain militant commander demolished in symbolic revenge

By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent

Saturday, 7 November 2009

Pakistani troops pushing deeper into South Waziristan yesterday razed the house of the militant leader Baitullah Mehsud, killed by a US drone strike this summer, as they assaulted the last of three Taliban strongholds.

Troops struck the village of Makeen, a major militant base and home town of the former Taliban leader. Officials said his house was destroyed in symbolic revenge for the hundreds of people killed by the Taliban. The soldiers are said to have met little resistance.

Dalai Lama caught in the middle as China-India border dispute comes to the boil

From The Times

November 7, 2009

Jeremy Page in Guwahati, Assam

Anyone over the age of 62 in the town of Tawang has a unique claim to fame: they have lived under four national flags – British, Tibetan, Indian and Chinese.

The tiny outpost in northeastern India repeatedly changed hands in the chaos that accompanied the birth of Communist China and independent India. The last time was in 1962, when Chinese troops briefly overran the Himalayan town and the surrounding area, known today as the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Today Tawang is once again the focus of a border dispute between the world’s two most populous countries, now both nuclear armed, and competing for superpower status.

Europe

Security van driver leaps to celebrity after speeding off with £10m

From The Times

November 7, 2099

Charles Bremner in Paris

The biggest French cash robbery in recent years was a non-violent affair: Tony Musulin, a security guard, simply drove off with the money while his two colleagues were inside their office.

Police found the empty vehicle, which belongs to the Swedish security firm Loomis, two hours later. Its satellite tracking system and telephone link had been switched off and its contents, 49 large sacks of banknotes totalling € 11 million (£10 million), were missing.

Poland demands US troops be based on Polish soil ‘

Poland has demanded that US troops be based on Polish soil in the wake of Russian war games which simulated a nuclear attack and invasion.

By Andrew Osborn in Moscow and Matthew Day in Warsaw

Radek Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, said he was alarmed by recent military exercises conducted by the Russian army in Belarus, a country that borders Poland, and wanted the US military as a counterweight.

“We would like to see US troops stationed in Poland to serve as a shield against Russian aggression,” he said.

“If you can still afford it, we need some strategic reassurance.” Despite assurances given by US Vice President Joe Biden last month that Washington would stand by its Central-European ally there is growing unease in Poland that its interests have been sacrificed by an America eager to curry favour with Moscow.

Earlier this year, the US cancelled a missile defence shield that Poland was due to host, and details of its replacement remain scarce.

Middle East

Lebanon government accord reached

Lebanon’s political opposition has agreed to join a unity government under Prime Minister designate, Saad Hariri.

The BBC  Saturday, 7 November 2009

Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement says its alliance of opposition groups agreed to the move after talks on Friday.

Hezbollah is expected to officially inform the Western-backed prime minister of its decision on Saturday.

Relations between Saudi Arabia, which supports Mr Hariri, and Hezbollah’s backer Syria have improved – leading to the breakthrough, correspondents say.

Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri – who is backed by the United States and Saudi Arabia – led what many described as an anti-Syrian coalition to victory in parliamentary elections in June.

Israel up in arms over weapons seizure



 By Sami Moubayed

DAMASCUS – Ambassadors and diplomats from 44 countries, along with military attaches from 27 nations, were taken to a base in central Israel on Thursday evening to see for themselves the weapons and ammunition seized from the ship Francop in international waters off Cyprus on Wednesday.

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gabriela Shalev, complained to the UN on Thursday after Israeli commandos seized the Francop, carrying tonnes of what are said to be Iranian-supplied arms, including rockets and anti-tank weapons, destined for Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Clearly, Israel is not going to let this matter lie, and if history is any guide, it could be used as a pretext for waging another war on Hezbollah, or even a strike against Iran.

Africa

UN attempts to slow the new scramble for Africa

Alarm over scale of foreign holdings and secretive land deals by wealthy nations

By Daniel Howden, Africa Correspondent

Saturday, 7 November 2009

More than 50 heads of state will gather for a summit later this month to look at ways of policing the extraordinary “land grab” that has seen richer countries buy up at least 20 million hectares of farmland in Africa in the last 18 months. The United Nations is drawing up a “code of conduct” in an effort to slow what’s been described as a new scramble for Africa, while agriculture experts are calling for a new global watchdog and aid agencies are appealing for a moratorium on new deals.

Countries including the Gulf States, China, South Korea and a host of private investors and sovereign wealth funds have provoked serious concerns internationally with a string of aggressive and often secretive deals for large tracts of arable land on the world’s hungriest continent.

Madagascar rivals reach agreement

Madagascar’s rival political leaders have agreed to form a power-sharing government after months of wrangling.

The BBC Saturday, 7 November 2009

Current leader Andry Rajoelina said the four leaders agreed at talks in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that he would continue as president until elections next year.

He said that instead of vice-presidents there would be two co-presidents representing other political groups.

Mr Rajoelina replaced Marc Ravalomanana in March, but failed to win international backing.

Mr Rajoelina and his allies, who accused Mr Ravalomanana of being a tyrant who misspent public money, were themselves accused by the African Union of taking power through a coup and foreign aid was frozen.

Latin America

Honduras’ ousted leader declares pact ‘totally dead’

  Manuel Zelaya says the accord to end the national crisis collapsed after the de facto rulers formed a new ‘reconciliation government’ without him.

By Tracy Wilkinson

November 7, 2009

Reporting from Mexico City – The political crisis in Honduras deepened Friday after ousted President Manuel Zelaya declared “totally dead” a U.S.-brokered agreement that he had believed would restore him to power.

Zelaya, deposed in a military-backed coup four months ago after ignoring a court order to stop efforts to hold a referendum on revising the nation’s constitution, said the accord collapsed after the de facto rulers formed a new “reconciliation government” without him.

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