U.S. and the World
Bailout of Ireland Smaller than Bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
The European Union’s bailout of bankrupt Ireland is pricey, coming in at 85 billion euros, or about $111 billion. But the rescue of an entire European country is still less than just one segment of the American bailout from 2008.
In addition... read more
Did Obama Offer Israeli Ruling Party $3 Billion for 90-Day Halt to Settlement Building?
Suspicion has surfaced over the timing of a multi-billion-dollar arms sale to Israel following the country’s tacit agreement to a temporary halt of new settlements in the West Bank.
A week after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton worked out ... read more
Pakistani Christian Sentenced to Death for Allegedly Saying Insects Feasted on Muhammad’s Ear
Aasia Bibi, a 45-year-old Christian mother of five children, has spent a year-and-a-half in a Pakistan jail on charges of insulting the prophet Muhammad and the Quran, and faces the possibility of being executed. An aide to President Asif Ali Za... read more
U.S. and World Leaders Brace for Embarrassing WikiLeaks Document Release: Gossip and Corruption?
WikiLeaks, the whistleblower website that has embarrassed both the Obama and Bush administrations twice before, is about to drop another bomb, and this time several U.S. allies may also suffer from the fallout.
WikiLeaks is preparing to rele... read more
U.S. Presence in Afghanistan Now Longer than Soviet Occupation
The United States has passed an unfortunate landmark…U.S. troops have now been stuck in Afghanistan longer than was the Soviet Union. As of November 26, the American military matched the length of time that the once mighty Red Army spent in Afgh... read more
Mumbai Terror Victims’ Families Sue Pakistani Intelligence Agency
In what plaintiffs are calling the first of its kind, a lawsuit filed in U.S. court accuses Pakistan’s intelligence service of helping carry out the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India. Five families of those injured or killed in th... read more
U.S. Launches World’s Largest Spy Satellite
United Launch Alliance, a joint partnership involving Boeing and Lockheed Martin, sent a Delta 4-Heavy rocket into space over the weekend on behalf of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), keeper of the United States’ spy satellites. Little ... read more
Saudi Journalist Sentenced to Public Lashing for Writing about Electricity Cut Protests
Journalist Fahd al-Jukhaidib is facing a punishment of 50 lashes and two months in prison for writing about protests over electricity cuts in Saudi Arabia. Al-Jazira, a daily national newspaper, published a story by al-Jukhaidib in September 200... read more
5 Nordic Countries Investigate Alleged Illegal Spying by U.S.
What began in Norway has spread to four other European countries, each of which is now investigating whether the U.S. embassy has been spying on local citizens.
A Norwegian television news station first reported how American officials in the... read more
Political Asylum Seeker Faces Deportation for being 40 Minutes Late…15 Years Ago
Anton Camaj, formerly of Montenegro when it was part of Yugoslavia, is fighting to remain in the United States, where he has lived for the past 16 years.
Camaj was ordered to attend three immigration hearings back in 1995, the last of which ... read more
Not in America: British Legislator Loses Seat over False Campaign Leaflets
Misrepresenting a campaign opponent’s position may be standard operating procedure in the United States, but in the United Kingdom it has cost a member of the British parliament his seat. Phil Woolas was removed from office by an election court ... read more
U.S. to Spend $511 Million on Embassy in Afghanistan
American diplomatic operations in Afghanistan are proving expensive and not necessarily all that efficient.
On the cost front, the U.S. embassy in Kabul is being expanded, at a price of more than half a billion dollars. The $511 million proj... read more
U.K. Anti-Death Penalty Group Sues to Halt Export of Execution Drug to U.S.
Reprieve, a United Kingdom-based organization opposing capital punishment, has filed suit in British court to stop the government from exporting death penalty drugs to the United States, which is experiencing a shortage. The legal challenge was ... read more
Born in Famine, More Prone to Obesity
Infant survivors of the Biafra famine in Nigeria during the late 1960s are more likely to be obese and susceptible to certain health problems than other Nigerians, according to a new study published omline by PLoS One. Researchers from the Karol... read more
U.S. Army Scanning Eyeballs in Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, the American military is using handheld high-tech devices to scan the irises and record the fingerprints of Afghans to store in a database that allows soldiers to identify and capture insurgents.
The U.S. Army reportedly has ... read more
U.S. Judge Okays Terrorism Lawsuit against Bank of China
Judge Royce Lamberth of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia has allowed a lawsuit to proceed against one of China’s largest banks for allegedly helping finance the terrorist group Islamic Jihad.
The case was brought by the p... read more