Tag: Docudarma Times

Docudharma Times Thursday February 19

Bond Kit Bond

Boasting About The Stimulus

Which He Voted Against

While Touting Missouri

 




Thursday’s Headlines:

Border drug war is too close for comfort

Corruption and incompetence cripple reconstruction effort, say aid workers

Charm offensive: Why India’s snake men (and their serpents) are taking to the streets

Israel demands release of captured soldier in return for Gaza deal

Europe opens covert talks with ‘blacklisted’ Hamas

Russia and Ukraine at odds after ambassador’s ‘unfriendly’ remark

Britain has most expensive train fares in Europe

Zimbabwe state employees to be paid in US dollars

Kenyan school offers Somali refugees a modern – and moderate – education

Colombia militia leader confesses to milking public treasuries

A Swiss Bank Is Set to Open Its Secret Files



By LYNNLEY BROWNING

Published: February 18, 2009


In the hush-hush world of Swiss banking, the unthinkable is happening: secrets are spilling into the open.

UBS, the largest bank in Switzerland, agreed on Wednesday to divulge the names of well-heeled Americans whom the authorities suspect of using offshore accounts at the bank to evade taxes. The bank admitted conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and agreed to pay $780 million to settle a sweeping federal investigation into its activities.

It is unclear how many of its clients’ names UBS will divulge. Federal prosecutors have been examining about 19,000 accounts at the bank, but UBS ultimately may disclose the identities of only a few hundred customers.

Pakistani Accord Appears Stalled

Government, Extremists Make No Move To Formalize Their Pact on Islamic Law

By Pamela Constable, Karen DeYoung and Haq Nawaz Khan

Washington Post Foreign Service

Thursday, February 19, 2009; Page A09


ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Feb. 18 — A controversial, closely watched peace agreement designed to end Taliban violence in the scenic Swat Valley hung in limbo Wednesday amid criticism in Pakistan and rising concern in Washington.

Neither the Pakistani government nor the Islamist extremists were willing to formalize the accord, announced by Pakistani officials Monday. The proposed pact marks an unprecedented and risky attempt to disarm about 2,000 Taliban fighters, who have invaded and terrorized a once-bucolic area of 1.5 million people in northwestern Pakistan, by offering to install a strict system of Islamic law in the surrounding district.

 

USA

Obama Proposes Package To Stave Off Foreclosures

Multibillion-Dollar Plan Aims to Help Modify Mortgages

By Michael D. Fletcher and Renae Merle

Washington Post Staff Writers

Thursday, February 19, 2009; Page A01


MESA, Ariz., Feb. 18 — President Obama unveiled a foreclosure-prevention package Wednesday that would pour more than $75 billion into arresting one of the root causes of the nation’s economic spiral by helping as many as 9 million homeowners obtain more affordable mortgage terms.The package, part of the Obama administration’s multibillion-dollar effort to jolt the nation out of its deepening recession, goes beyond what some analysts had expected and was welcomed by many of the nation’s top lending institutions. But it also drew criticism from some housing experts and consumer advocates, who argued that it does not go far enough in addressing some critical aspects of the foreclosure crisis. Many key details of the plan will not be released until early next month.