Slatest
With investors concerned that the yen, currently at a 15-year high, could have a negative impact on exporters, the Bank of Japan attempted to bring down the value of the currency by announcing plans to boost low-interest lending. In response, the Nikkei 225 index fell more than 3.5 percent to a 16-month low, sending global stocks spiraling down. Stocks fell across both Europe and Asia. “The main fear in the market is that we will have some sort of double-dip recession in the second half of this year and into 2011,” said Philippe Gijsels, head of research at BNP Paribas Fortis Global Markets in Brussels. With recent reports showing that home sales declined through the summer, some economists have expressed concerns that the U.S. economy could contract again. Employment reports due on Friday are expected to show that the job market in the country remains in terrible shape, with Gijsels predicting unemployment levels will climb from 9.5 percent to 9.7 percent. “Nonetheless, he said, poor employment data could actually bring a market bounce, as it would give Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, justification for embarking on a new round of monetary easing,” the New York Times reported.
Source: The New York Times
Ohio has some of the weakest restrictions on exotic pet ownership in the country and is one of the states with the highest number of deaths and injuries caused by those animals. The recent death of a caretaker outside of Cleveland at the hands of a bear has called those laws into question. “After a standoff between the Humane Society and agriculture interests, state officials are crafting restrictions on the ownership of dangerous wild pets,” the Associated Press reported. “It’s just a free-for-all in Ohio, and Sam Mazzola [the bear wrangler who died recently] is just an example of that,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States. “Tigers, wolves, bears in a suburban Lorain County community: It is a disaster waiting to happen.” Mazzola held the proper state permit to keep the black bear on his property. He also owned wolves, a lion, and tigers because Ohio, along with four other states, imposes few or no restrictions on the ownership of exotic animals kept as pets. Recent deaths in Connecticut and Florida have called attention to the patchwork of federal and state laws regarding exotic pets across the country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture only regulates animals that are shown to the public, while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doesn’t require permits for non-native, endangered species unless they are crossing state borders. New laws being considered have faced tough opposition from agriculture interests in Ohio, as they would regulate caging and treatment requirements on livestock. Exotic pet owners who believe that big cats and other predators are threatened in the wild are also fighting the proposed ban. “Of the overall amount of people who actually have snakes as pets, who actually have chimpanzees as pets, these incidents are a very small percentage,” said Cindy Huntsman, whose Stump Hill Farm houses 250 wild animals. With habitat loss and poaching threatening to wipe out predators, Huntsman and other exotic pet owners consider themselves conservationists. The proposed ban would exempt animals in zoos, research centers, and existing athletic mascot programs. Current owners would be able to keep their animals, but would not be allowed to breed them or replace them when they die.
Source: The Associated Press
Known as “La Barbie,” American-born Edgar Valdez Villarreal was arrested on Monday somewhere in the state surrounding Mexico City, according to federal officials. The arrest was the culmination of an intelligence operation that began in June 2009. “He is at least the third suspected high-ranking drug lord captured or killed by the Mexican police this year,” the New York Times reported. “But Mr. Valdez’s arrest was seen as particularly significant because he had been vying to take over the powerful Beltran Leyva organization and had once been allied with Mexico’s most wanted man, Joaquin Guzman Loera, known as ‘El Chapo,’ or Shorty.” Born in Laredo, Texas, Valdez faces an indictment in United States District Court in Atlanta, where he was charged in May for distributing thousands of pounds of cocaine across the eastern United States from Mexico. His arrest is a big win for President Felipe Calderon, who has recently redoubled efforts to win the drug war. The announcement came just hours after the government announced that about 10 percent of the federal police force had been fired for failing lie detector tests designed to root out corruption, according to the Associated Press.
Source: The New York Times
A two-week long strike by more than a million public sector workers has closed schools and hospitals across South Africa. In an attempt to renew reconciliation talks, President Jacob Zuma increased the government’s wage offer to the striking workers, but the offer is still below union demands. The unions, who want an 8.6 percent wage increase, are expected to vote Tuesday night on whether to accept the 7.5 percent increase offered by government representatives the night before. Before the offer was presented, Cosatu, South Africa’s main trade union federation, threatened a one-day union-wide strike on Thursday if the 8.6 percent demand was not met. While more than a million workers have been striking, Cosatu’s reach is double that, but it was unclear if the union planned to still go through with the general strike after the 7.5 percent offer was received. “Mr. Zuma’s call to revive talks was driven by politics as much as economics,” according to the BBC‘s correspondent in the region. “He has been stung by criticism from striking workers that he has been on a trade mission to China while nurses, teachers and other civil servants have been on the streets demanding more pay.” The correspondent believes that Zuma will do whatever is necessary to restore relations with the South African unions before the African National Congress meets for a policy conference in three weeks.
Source: BBC
In an effort to follow through with its pledge to demobilize all child soldiers in its ranks by the end of this year, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) has established a child protection unit. The United Nations children’s agency estimates that the army has already discharged more than 20,000 children, but still employs around 900. ”The SPLA by the end of this year will be child-free,” said William Deng, head of the south’s commission for disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration. “This army doesn’t lack manpower. If they wanted they could call millions now. But not children.” According to Deng, it is now the government’s responsibility to support and educate the discharged child soldiers. “We are fighting for our children so that they can enjoy their freedom in their own country, and our future lies with the children,” said SPLA chief of staff James Hoth, who added that he could not recruit child soldiers because the SPLA is not at war; Sudan’s civil war ended with a peace agreement in 2005. “Taking a liberation army and transforming it into a professional army is a long road to walk,” warned Lise Grande, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator, though she did celebrate the SPLA’s demobilization efforts and acknowledged “the impressive steps forward that the SPLA have taken.”
Source: BBC
Two men allowed to board a United Airlines flight last night at Chicago’s O’Hare airport were taken off a Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight in the Netherlands and charged with “preparation of a terrorist attack,” according to U.S. law enforcement officials. “This was almost certainly a dry run, a test,” said one senior law enforcement official. The two men—Ahmed Mohamed Nassar al-Soofi of Detroit and Hezem al-Muisi—were travelling with what appeared to be “mock bombs,” or cell phones and other devices taped to containers meant to hold liquids. The men also had a box cutter, three large knives, and watches that were taped together. Travelling with $7,000 in cash, they were initially referred to additional screening by airport security in Birmingham, Ala., because of concerns over “bulky clothing.” After landing in Chicago for a transfer, al-Soofi checked his luggage for a flight to Washington’s Dulles airport for connections to Dubai and Yemen even though he boarded the Amsterdam-bound flight. Customs and border officials realized this before the flight left the airport and removed al-Soofi’s luggage from the Washington-bound plane. Additional screening found no evidence of explosives, and the two men were allowed to board.
Source: ABC News
An executive order signed by President Obama on Monday gives the State and Treasury departments broad new authority to slap any individuals or entities doing business with or for North Korea with tough financial sanctions. “Stuart Levey, Treasury Department under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the new order ‘targets a wide range of illicit activities undertaken by the government of North Korea,’” CNN reported. Obama’s order specifically calls attention to—and targets—a number of individuals and groups that deal with money laundering, counterfeiting of goods, narcotics trafficking, bulk cash smuggling, trafficking in arms and related materials, and the procurement of luxury goods. The new order adds to limited U.S. sanctions on North Korea established by President Bush in 2008, which targeted the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction specifically. “North Korea’s government helps maintain its authority by placating privileged elites with money and perks such as luxury goods like jewelry, luxury cars and yachts,” said Levey. One group called out in the order was Office 39, a secretive branch of the Korean Workers’ Party, which is suspected of selling methamphetamine in China and South Korea. The group is also believed to be responsible for attempting to purchase two luxury Italian-made yachts for Kim Jong-Il, North Korea’s leader. Kim Yong-Chol, head of North Korea’s intelligence agency, was also called out in the executive order. Yong-Chol’s agency has been linked to the sinking of a South Korean warship earlier that year.
Source: CNN
While the president prepares for an address on the domestic economy, Vice President Biden is in Iraq, meeting with Iraqi and American officials as the point man on the administration’s biggest international priorities. In Baghdad, Biden is scheduled to meet both with outgoing American generals and Iraqi politicians who are nervous about the fact that the generals are leaving. American troops levels have already dipped below 50,000, down from more than 140,000 less than two years ago. Biden is expected to “commemorate the change of mission in Iraq” but also “urge Iraqi leaders to form a government.” The administration says Iraq’s lack of political stability is preventing it from forming long-term partnerships with foreign governments and making it more vulnerable to violene. While the vice president is in Baghdad, personnel at the U.S. embassy have been encouraged to wear “protective gear” while outside, even on the embassy compound. “The ability of terrorist acts to have an impact on the political life of this country is still a significant risk,” the American ambassador said last week. But Biden said that as authority in Iraq transfers from the military to the civilian government, “We are going to be just fine. They’re going to be just fine.”
Source: The Washington Post
