• Wiretapping Compromise The House of Representatives indicated they may be near a compromise on the bill to reauthorize the controversial expired wiretapping law. The House objected to the bill passed in the Senate that granted telecoms immunity for their previous cooperation in tapping telephone conversations involving a US citizen without a warrant, and President Bush promised to veto the bill unless the House agreed to the immunity provision. The House is signaling it will likely agree to grant telecoms the protection.
• WMD in Vegas A man is in a coma in a Las Vegas hospital after he apparently poisoned himself with the deadly poison ricin, a powerful agent that is best known as a chemical weapon that has no known antidote. It does not appear the man intentionally poisoned himself, and while authorities have not yet divulged his motive in making the poison, they said there is no evidence it’s terror-related. The man has been hospitalized since mid-February and the ricin was discovered last week when a relative was moving the man’s belongings out of his apartment after he was evicted; a day earlier, the same relative called police to come remove firearms he found in the apartment. People who knew the man claimed he “struggled to get by” in life.

• Chavez Threatens War Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez ordered thousands of troops, tanks, and the air force to the Venezuela-Columbia border and withdrew all embassy personnel from Bogota; Chavez’s ally Ecuador also sent troops to their border with Colombia. Chavez claims Columbia is provoking a war after it attacked a camp of FARC rebels – a leftist group terrorizing Columbia for the past two decades - who had crossed the border into Ecuador. Siding with FARC, Chavez called Columbia a “terrorist state” and a puppet of the “US empire” that is trying to rule Latin America, and promised to soon “liberate” Columbians from American tyranny. US and Columbian officials had a muted response. Chavez has been attempting to antagonize the US for years, trying to build a Socialist political and military alliance in Latin America (and allied with Iran) to “fight” the US.

• Genocide is Back The “scorched-Earth” tactics of the janjaweed Arab militias are back in Darfur, where villages are being looted and burned to the ground and citizens being slaughtered. The militias are being backed by Sudanese government troops, tanks, and air power, with the government claiming they are only going after armed rebels who are attacking towns, despite residents claiming otherwise. The escalation in violence comes as the peace talks between the government and rebels unravel. A simplification is that the conflict is primarily driven by climate change and overpopulation in Darfur, pushing Darfur’s African population south and east into Arab-dominated lands where the two populations compete for resources.
• US Played Role in Kenya After being criticized for initially doing too little to help resolve the disputed presidential elections in Kenya and condemn the rigged vote, the Bush Administration is now being credited for helping push the two sides into the power-sharing compromise that was announced last week.
• US Bombs Somalia US warplanes bombed a suspected terrorist hideout in Somalia last night. 

• Europe to Build Tankers For the Pentagon In a striking move, the Pentagon awarded a $40 billion air tanker contract to a consortium of companies led by Northrop Grumman and the European parent of Airbus, ending Boeing’s lock on supplying tankers. The consortium stresses that while some major components will be manufactured in Europe, the bulk of work and final assembly will occur in the US, eventually creating as many as 25,000 new American jobs.
• Oil Up, Dollar Down, OPEC Reconsiders The The Dollar closed last week at another all time low against the Euro ($1.53), while oil closed just under a record high (about $102). With oil prices taking their toll on the US economy, OPEC is reconsidering a plan to cut production this week. In an outrageous move, OPEC had previously announced they would be cutting production to keep oil prices in the $80-$100 range.
• Wall St. Fleecing Main St. In yet another case of Wall Street fleecing the US consumer, municipalities are increasingly complaining that credit rating agencies are giving them unfairly low credit ratings, which ultimately result in taxpayers paying more for municipal debt than is justified, with billions in excessive profits going to the Wall Street investors buying the bonds. Municipalities are claiming a double standard, showing how the same municipality with a fifth-best rating (A1) would receive the top rating (AAA) if they were a corporation. The other major recent development that benefits Wall St. at the expense of the consumer is the credit market bailout.
• Student Credit Crunch The Washington Post is reporting college students will start facing higher interest rates and fees on student loans as the credit market meltdown starts to be felt in the sector.
• Gas Guzzlers Sip Oil prices are starting to have an effect on US gas consumption, which has fallen by just over 1% since last year – the biggest and longest drop in 16 years. Consumers are starting to alter behavior and increasingly making fuel economy a factor in car purchasing decisions.

• Another Chinese Recall The FDA announced they are raising the number of patients who may have died from tainted herapin, a blood thinner manufactured by Baxter, to 21 from 4. The agency found “potential deficiencies” at a Chinese plant that manufactures a key ingredient. Baxter is recalling nearly all of its herapin products. This is one incident in a string of product recalls due to poisoned or tainted products coming out of China, including poisoned pet food, lead-bearing toys, and small toy parts that when ingested broke down into the date rape drug. China’s economic growth has been prioritized by the government over all costs and subsequently there is widespread corruption, intellectual property theft, workers rights abuse, long-term environmental damage, and lack of government standards and oversight.
• Earth to Bush Subscribing to the political theory that saying something makes it so, without much supporting justification, President Bush announced the US economy is not “headed” for recession and the fundamentals are in place for a strong Dollar. To Bush’s credit, only about half of the leading economists in the US believe the economy is heading for recession, but the underlying fundamentals do not support Bush’s upbeat assessment. Banks likely have tens of billions of more writedowns coming as the credit markets continue to suffer, the real estate market continues to spiral down, the Fed’s ongoing interest rate cuts only add fuel to the already rising inflationary forces of higher oil / commodity prices, and unemployment is up.
• FBI Probes Rocket Responding to a request from Congress, the FBI has opened a probe into whether Roger Clemens committed perjury when he testified before Congress that he never took steroids. Apparently there aren’t more pressing priorities for Congress and the FBI.
  
• US Wins Prison Contest A report found the US incarcerates more of its citizens than any other nation, both in terms of sheer numbers and proportion of population. Currently 1 in 100 American adults are in prison, which translates to 2.3 million people. This compares to China’s 1.5 million and Russia’s 900,000. The high numbers stem from tough sentencing laws, rising crime rates, and the high number of drug offenders being caught.

• Peace in Kenya After months of conflict that occasionally spilled over into violence that killed over 1,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands, Kenya’s warring political leaders reached a power-sharing agreement that is expected to bring peace back to what has long been considered one of Africa’s most stable countries. The conflict arose after the opposition party accused the incumbent president of rigging last December’s elections. The impasse devolved into tribal violence on several occasions that were marked by roving mobs hacking opponents with machetes.

• GDP Growth Slumps The Commerce Department reported GDP growth had slowed to 0.6% in the fourth quarter of last year. Some estimates see growth of 0.4% in the first quarter of this year, while others see the economy beginning to retract in the period. The Fed has said growth is its priority right now, and has consequently been cutting interest rates at a pace not seen for 25 years, despite the fact inflation is suddenly on the rise. The Fed is taking a risk that restarting growth will occur before stagflation sets in, where the economy isn’t growing yet prices are still rising. The US economy was mostly paralyzed by stagflation in the 70s.
• Bernanke: No Stagflation, But Still Bad Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the US economy is nowhere near heading towards stagflation, despite data that suggest the contrary (rising inflation and declining GDP growth, the definition of stagflation). He reiterated his position that growth is the most important factor in the economy, all but telegraphing further interest rate cuts. Pointedly, the Chairman said the US is in a worse position today to deal with an economic downturn than eight years ago since then the government was running large surpluses, inflation was low, and the world’s credit markets were strong. He also predicted the combination of the downturn in the economy and the collapse of portions of the credit market will cause some small banks to close.
• Sprint Loses $30B Sprint / Nextel reported an astounding nearly $30 billion fourth-quarter loss caused by further write-offs from Sprint’s purchase of Nextel and from customers abandoning the carrier, mostly because they can’t pay their bills, which is not surprising the company’s drive last year to sign-up customers with poor credit in order to boost subscription numbers.
• Dollar Hits New Low The Dollar hit another new low against the Euro for the fourth day in a row and hit a three-year low against the Yen.

• Conservative Giant Dies William F. Buckley, 82, was found dead at his home in Connecticut after a lengthy battle with emphysema. Buckley is widely credited with being one of the intellectual and political fathers of the modern conservative movement and royalty among the New York / Boston / Washington intellectual community. Among other things, he was known for his acerbic wit, mastery of the English language, founding the National Review and serving as its most prolific writer, writing a slew of fictional and political books, hosting a popular television show, participating in many televised debates,  and agitating the political discourse in general. He got his start as a provocateur at age 8 when he wrote to the King of England, demanding payment of the war debt.
• Rocket’s ‘Roids Congress has asked the Justice Department to open an investigation into whether Roger Clemens committed perjury when he testified before a House committee on Feb. 13 that he never took steroids.
• Killer Cop Sentenced Ex-cop Bobby Lee Cutts was spared the death penalty and instead sentenced to life in prison for killing his pregnant girlfriend. His trial was notable for the over-dramatic testimony from Cutts that led to the prosecutor asking him if he had a cold because he “heard a lot of sniffling but don’t see any tears”.

 

• Kenya Protests Called Off Kenya’s opposition leader called off mass protests scheduled for tomorrow, which were likely to lead to tribal violence as they have in the past, killing over 1,000 people since December’s contested elections. This comes a day after former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called off peace talks due to a lack of progress and “leadership”, though Annan has been meeting privately and separately with both sides. The conflict was sparked by an election that was allegedly rigged by the incumbent president and has paralyzed what was previously regarded as one of Africa’s most stable countries.

• The Fed to Keep Slashing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke testified to the House Financial Services Committee that the Fed is prepared to further cut interest rates since it prioritizes market stability and growth over controlling inflation. The Fed has recently made dramatic interest rate cuts, the advisability of which are questioned by some at a time where the Dollar is hitting all-time lows and inflation is rising at the fastest rate in decades.
• Europe Slaps Microsoft, Again The European Commission slapped a $1.35 billion fine on Microsoft for failing to comply with a 2004 antitrust ruling that determined Microsoft was over-charging developers for access to its technical documentation. This is the first time the commission has had to fine a company for non-compliance with a ruling.
• Golden Gold In a reflection of the falling Dollar and uncertainty in the economy, Gold is trading at nearly $1000 an ounce, a price its never reached before.
• Exxon Fighting Valdez Fine Exxon Mobil is asking the US Supreme Court to cut down as excessive the $2.5 billion it was ordered to pay in damages for the 1994 Valdez oil spill in Alaska. The company has already paid nearly $3.5 billion in other fines, costs, and payments to affected individuals and businesses. To put the fine in perspective, it represents less than three weeks of profits for the company that earned nearly $12 billion in the first quarter of this year.
• More Mortgage Mess Fannie Mae announced a $3.6 billion loss for the fourth quarter due to higher default rates and falling home prices. Regulators are considering loosening rules to allow Fannie and its competitor Freddie Mac to buy more mortgages and help prop up the mortgage market.
• Japan’s Output Slumps Japan’s manufacturing production fell by more than twice what was expected, apparently due to a cooler American market, the falling Dollar, and the economic slowdown ripple effect starting to be felt in other markets.

• Florida Blackout As many as 6 million Floridians were affected by a power outage that hit most of the state for up to several hours yesterday. The outage was sparked by a switch that failed and a voltage regulator that subsequently caught on fire in a Miami substation. The failure kicked off a rapid sequence of events that led to the automatic shutdown of numerous power plants throughout the state, including two nuclear plants. Service was rapidly restored throughout the state with only a few thousand households still without power Tuesday night. Authorities are investigating why the system failed to handle what should have been routine equipment problem.
• Village Sues Over Global Warming A coastal Alaskan village that is being forced to relocate due to rising sea levels is suing a slate of energy companies, including BP and Exxon Mobil, for causing global warming.
• Killer Organ Farming Surgeon A California surgeon is being charged with hastening the death of a disabled and brain damaged man in order to harvest his organs.
• Jacko’s Whacko Ranch Michael Jackson’s “Neverland” ranch may be put up for auction next month unless he pays the $24 million he owes on the property.

Africa

Middle East

• US Eyes & Ears in Pakistan Due to rising public anger over recurring suicide bombing attacks, the Pakistani government is allowing the US to quietly expand its “eyes and ears” on the ground in the tribal areas that serve as havens for the Taliban and al-Qa’ida. The US is setting up centers in which US agencies will cooperate with the Pakistani Army and intelligence service, deploying up to 30 counterinsurgency trainers, and launching a $500 million program to develop roads, schools, and other infrastructure in the region.
• Sudan Bans Danish Sudan has announced a ban on all Danish imports after Danish newspapers reprinted this month political cartoons critical of the Prophet Muhammad that caused riots and triggered death threats from the Muslim world when they were originally printed in Denmark in 2006. This comes the day after the Sudanese government resumed bombing in Darfur.
• Saudi Flirting Crimes Saudi officials have begun investigating 57 men arrested last week for flirting with girls. Their crimes include improper dress, playing music, and dancing to get the attention of the girls.

Asia

• Choking Olympics China is desperately trying to cut down on pollution before the Olympics through a host of temporary means, such as restricting car usage and seeding rain clouds to “flush” pollution from the air. The country is literally choking on its rampant growth, with water sources drying up and / or becoming toxic, soaring pollution-related disease, and some of the most toxic air in the world. The air in Beijing is so bad that Olympic teams around the world are designing special breathing masks for their athletes and staging teams just outside of China so they don’t have to spend any additional time breathing Beijing’s air.
• Rousing N. Korea Sendoff The New York Philharmonic’s visit to North Korea culminated with a rousingperformance in Pyongyang. The performance opened with the North Korean and American national anthems - unprecedented for a member of the “Axis of Evil” – and ended with a five-minute standing ovation after an emotional performance of a Korean folk song that left both the audience and orchestra in tears. The White House downplayed the significance of the event saying it didn’t change anything diplomatically and that North Korea still has questions to answer about their nuclear weapons program.

Business & Economics

• In Their Last Throes?An AP poll shows Obama catching Hillary in every demographic, while a CBS poll shows Obama opening up a 16-point national lead among registered Democrats.

• Getting Desperate The Clinton campaign took another turn for the nasty, leaking to the Drudge Report this photo of Obama in traditional Somali dress from a 2006 visit to Kenya. Obama’s campaign called it a dirty trick, and Clinton responded in classic form saying, “I know nothing about it… Why is anybody concerned about this?” No doubt this was leaked with the upcoming Texas primary in mind, where being seen in Muslim-looking dress will not win any votes. The New York Times is calling this one prong of a new “5-point” attack on Obama – the others being intensified attacks on his lack of experience, comparing his to Bush’s in 2000 – launched partially in the hopes of throwing him off-balance for tonight’s debate in Cleveland and partially as a Hail Mary since the March 4 primaries in Ohio and Texas are her last hope of salvaging her campaign. The Washington Post has a brief piece that summarizes the desperation being shown by the Clinton camp, saying ridiculous things like, “We’re on our way to locking this nomination down.” Increasingly they are being called things such as “out of touch” and “delusional” by non-aligned Democrats and pundits.
• You’re Still Here? Mike Huckabee continues to insist on staying in the race, despite the fact that it’s a mathematical impossibility for him to win the nomination. He is pointing to the New York Times hit piece that insinuated McCain had an affair as an example of how anything can happen before this summer’s Republican convention in Minneapolis. Huckabee appeared as himself in a hilarious SNL skit over the weekend in which he refused to leave the set of Weekend Update after his “weclome was up.”
• Gennifer Flowers Tapes for Sale The Las Vegas Review-Journal is reporting that “Gennifer Flowers is putting the tapes of her recorded conversations with Bill Clinton during their 12-year affair on the auction block.”
• Obamio & Hillariette? A man in Pennsylvania stabbed his brother-in-law over an argument about the Democrat primary race. The stabber was a Clinton supporter while the stabee was an Obama supporter.

• Health Care Costs Break Bank A new study indicates government spending on health care could double by 2017 to more than $2 trillion, which would represent over 20% of all US government spending. Overall health care spending may hit $4.3 trillion the same year, which represents about 20% of projected GDP.
• Bush Agrees to Climate Cuts The Bush Administration has committed to binding international climate emission cuts if other nations – particularly China and India – will do so as well. They are hoping to make a leaders declaration by July’s G8 summit.
• Cuban-Americans Easing Views The LA Times reports younger generations of Cuban-Americans are increasingly more open to relaxing the travel and trade restrictions on Cuba.
• Death in the Air After reviewing the incident, American Airlines says procedures were followed and their equipment was functional in the case of a 44 year old woman who died on a flight from Haiti to New York on Friday. The woman’s family, who were traveling with her, claim the flight crew initially refused her requests for oxygen, and when they finally did try to provide it, both oxygen tanks were non-functional. The airline insists they were working and oxygen was administered to her.
• NIU Classes Resume Students returned to classes at Northern Illinois University for the first time since the Feb. 14 shootings that killed five students. Some were relieved to take a step back towards normalcy, while many were still shaken by the events.
• Sorry, Oscar Sunday night’s Oscars were the lowest rated in history.
• Boxing Champ Jumps into Wrestling If you’re wondering why the unbeaten, 5′ 8″, 150-pound welterweight boxing champion Floyd Mayweather is wrestling in the WWE next month against the 7′, 430-pound Paul “Big Show” Wight, here’s why – the WWE is paying him $20 million for the fight.

Middle East

• Turkey-Iraq Battle Intensifies The battle between Turkish forces and PKK rebels in Northern Iraq has intensified, with Turkey claiming over 150 PKK fighters killed along with 17 of its own soldiers. Turkey invaded Northern Iraq last week in an ongoing battle against the Kurdish separatist forces who want to carve out a portion of Turkey and have been waging an ongoing insurgency. Turkey invaded with the tepid approval of the US while the Iraqi government has demanded an end to the fighting as they fear it could end up drawing the Iraqi Kurdish forces into the conflict. Northern Iraq is highly autonomous dating back to the first Gulf War, dominated by Kurds, and used as a base for the Turkish PKK rebels.
• More Iran Nuclear Evidence Documents disclosed yesterday by the International Atomic Energy Agency represent possible evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program existing after 2003, the year in which a recent US national intelligence estimate concluded Iran suspended nuclear weapons design work (but not necessarily their overall weapons program). Naturally, Iran claims the documents are forgeries, just as they’ve claimed all past evidence was forged. This week the same dissident group that initially exposed Iran’s secret nuclear program claims to have evidence the government has started a new, accelerated nuclear weapons program near Tehran. The US promised a Security Council vote “soon” on a third round of sanctions after a meeting at the State Department with the other permanent members. Iran reiterated that sanctions will not stop them from refining Uranium, while European countries announced they are working on a new set of incentives for Iran to halt the work.
• Pakistan Surgeon General Killed The Pakistani Army’s Surgeon General was killed yesterday in a suicide bombing, while a separate bombing killed three Pakistani employees of a British aid agency. Both attacks are suspected to be carried out by militants sympathetic to the Taliban and al-Qa’ida.

Asia

• Symphony’s N. Korea Welcome The New York Philharmonic was greeted in Pyongyang with a lavish ceremony of traditional North Korean music and dance and a lavish banquet. This is a stark contrast to life in Pyongyang and beyond, which entails daily rolling blackouts and famine. In addition to performing, the Philharmonic is giving master classes to North Korean musicians and touring parts of the country in a 400-person entourage that includes journalists and private citizens who have paid $100,000 – the largest number of Americans to visit the country since the Korean War. Similar exercises in “orchestral diplomacy” were conducted with the Soviet Union and China during the Cold War.
• Muslims Reject Terror A group of influential Muslim scholars made a statement saying terrorism runs completely contrary to the teachings of Islam. The statement was made during a conference attended by over 6,000 scholars at a Muslim school in India regarded as the “most influential Muslim religious school in south and south-east Asia”.

Business & Economics

• Ralph Nader announced he is running for President for the fourth time in a row. Democrats were upset by the move since they widely believe he caused Al Gore to lose the 2000 election to Bush.
• DNC Sues McCain The DNC is filing a lawsuit against the McCain campaign, saying they are breaking election law by backing out of public financing for the primaries, after using it as collateral for a campaign loan. This is a potentially dangerous move since the Obama campaign is now backing away from its own promises to use public financing. Context: What is Public Financing?
• Hillary Goes Nuclear Hillary Clinton is going nuclear as her campaign continues to implode leading up to the “do or die” March 4 primaries in Ohio and Texas. She is now outright mocking Obama’s campaign platform of “hope” and “change”, saying he will not “open the sky” to “celestial choirs” and be able to change Washington with a “magic wand”. While his message is arguably light on details and his resume light on experience, this has to be one of the first times in history that a major, viable candidate borders on attacking optimism. This is particularly astonishing given 1) Bill owes much of his political success to his unshakeable optimism, and 2) the Clintons should be savvy enough to realize she’s taking on the role of Carter while Obama is playing Reagan. She also slammed him in Ohio for campaign mailings that distort her health care policies.
• Dem Flip-Floppers Obama and Hillary are slamming each other for flip-flopping on policies. Clinton points out Obama used to call for an immediate end to the Cuba trade embargo, but he now says the country needs to first show progress in human rights. In trademark Obama form, he dodged the issue and shot back saying she flip-flopped on immigration.
• More Flipping Speaking of flip-flopping, the Washington Post has an interesting story on how people / politicians come to believe what they say, even if they initially were being insincere.
• NYT McCain Sex Story The New York Times continues to get blasted with criticism – from the Washington Post, it’s own ombudsman, the LA Times – over last week’s McCain hit-piece, in which it not-so-subtly suggested he may have had an affair with a lobbyist, despite a complete lack of evidence except for anonymous “disillusioned” former aides.

• $1.2B Crash The Air Force lost a $1.2 billion B-2 stealth bomber when one crashed at a base in Guam – both pilots safely ejected. It’s the first time one of the fleet’s 21 B-2s have crashed. The Air Force is not disclosing the bomber’s mission and the cause of the crash is under investigation.
• Passenger Dies A woman died on an American Airlines flight from Haiti to New York after being refused oxygen by the flight crew and later treated with equipment that didn’t work.

• New Castro President Fidel Castro’s brother, Raul, officially took over as President of Cuba on Sunday when the National Assembly elected him to the office. While the official line is that the government will continue pursuing Fidel’s policies, Raul has shown signs that he plans some reforms, specifically with regards to the economy, which has long suffered under a US trade embargo, and has recently been propped up with Venezuelan oil money from Hugo Chavez. Some in the US, including Obama, have called for a reevaluation of the embargo, while others point out real change will not occur in Cuba until Fidel dies.

Darfur

• Bombing Resumes The Sudanese government resumed bombing in Darfur, raising the prospects of more mass civilian deaths. A Chinese envoy arrived in the country to help “resolve” the crisis. China has close economic ties to Sudan and is under increasing international pressure to use their influence to end the fighting. Steven Spielberg announced last week that he was no longer going to serve as the creative director for the Olympics in Beijing this summer due to their lack of action in Darfur.

Middle East

• New Iran Nuclear Weapons Program The same dissident group that initially exposed Iran’s secret nuclear program now claims to have evidence the government started a new, accelerated nuclear weapons program near Tehran. A Feb. 22 report from the International Atomic Energy Agency indicated Tehran still has questions to answer about their nuclear program. A recently released US national intelligence estimate concluded Iran had stopped work on weapons design. The Iranian government has seized on the report, calling it a “victory” for them, and demanding an apology from the US – a claim renewed by President Ahmadinejad over the weekend.
• Iraq Ceasefire Muqtada al-Sadr announced he was extending the ceasefire for his Mahdi Army by another six months. Six months ago he agreed to the temporary ceasefire to help make national reconciliation possible. There were fears he was not going to extend the ceasefire since his influence in the country has waned since it began.
• Shia Bombing Over 40 Shia pilgrims were killed in a suicide bombing in Karbala, Iraq.
• YouTube Blackout Pakistan blocked access to YouTube because of content “offensive to Islam”, and in doing so, set off a cascade of events that led to the site being blocked around the globe. The incident appears to be an accident caused by a miscommunication between engineers at Internet Service Providers who thought the site’s IP address was being hijacked by hackers.

Asia

• New S. Korea President Lee Myung-bak was inaugurated as South Korea’s 17th President. The ex-Hyundai Construction CEO promises to be more pro-business, less anti-American, tougher on North Korea, and more pragmatic than his predecessor.
• Symphony Visits N. Korea In preparation for the historic visit from the New York Philharmonic, North Korea was tearing down anti-American propaganda in Pyongyang. The purpose of the concert is to help start building relations between the peoples of the two countries.

Europe

Business & Economics