At least one person has been killed and 10 others wounded after an attack on two US consulate vehicles in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.
Pakistani police said a roadside bomb struck two vehicles carrying foreigners on Friday, killing a Pakistani passer-by.
The US embassy later confirmed that two of its consulate vehicles had been targeted, and that one of them was badly damaged.
"Two vehicles of the US consulate were on their way to the consulate when they were attacked," US embassy spokesman Alberto Rodriguez said.
"One vehicle was damaged. There is no death among our personnel and there are no serious injuries," he added.
"Only one car was hit. In that car there were US citizen diplomats and a Pakistani driver."
Ijaz Khan, a police superintendent, told the Reuters news agency that two American security guards were slightly wounded, and were being treated at a US medical facility.
Puppet Masters
© Ali Ali/EPA
Campaign group Breaking the Silence has met with a hostile response from Israel, especially after it published testimony by soldiers who took part in the war on Gaza in 2008-09.
Campaign group Breaking the Silence has met with a hostile response from Israel, especially after it published testimony by soldiers who took part in the war on Gaza in 2008-09.
Video testimonies by around two dozen ex-soldiers - some of whom are identifying themselves for the first time - will be posted on YouTube. The campaign by Breaking the Silence, an organisation of former soldiers committed to speaking out on military practices, launches with English subtitles on Monday.
Comment: Additional testimonies can be found here.
Like this one, for example, about a commander who came up with all sorts of "games" to play to "enliven the atmosphere" at the checkpoint.
More than 4 million seriously delinquent borrowers are at risk
If the national foreclosure crisis were a baseball game, we would be in about the top of the sixth. And we may have to go to extra innings.
Since the housing market peaked in 2006, some 6.5 million homes have been lost to foreclosure. There are likely another 4.3 million more homeowners who are "seriously delinquent," meaning they are more than three months behind in their payments, according to data released by the Mortgage Bankers Association this week. Many of those homeowners will soon enter the foreclosure pipeline.
Though the pace of new foreclosures has fallen recently, that is largely the result of lenders choking on the torrent of paperwork created by the millions of foreclosures already in progress.
After lenders tried to speed the process and cut corners by "robo-signing" documents, bank regulators last month ordered them to clean up their act - saying those practices had jeopardized the "safety and soundness" of the banking system. Some 14 of the biggest mortgage lenders were ordered to come up with a plan to fix the problem within 60 days. When they do, analysts expect the pace of foreclosures to pick up again.
© Unknown
Since the housing market peaked in 2006, some 6.5 million homes have been lost to foreclosure. There are likely another 4.3 million more homeowners who are "seriously delinquent," meaning they are more than three months behind in their payments, according to data released by the Mortgage Bankers Association this week. Many of those homeowners will soon enter the foreclosure pipeline.
Though the pace of new foreclosures has fallen recently, that is largely the result of lenders choking on the torrent of paperwork created by the millions of foreclosures already in progress.
After lenders tried to speed the process and cut corners by "robo-signing" documents, bank regulators last month ordered them to clean up their act - saying those practices had jeopardized the "safety and soundness" of the banking system. Some 14 of the biggest mortgage lenders were ordered to come up with a plan to fix the problem within 60 days. When they do, analysts expect the pace of foreclosures to pick up again.
© Unknown
Now, the same federal agency that helped Jordan and his family members get back on their feet is asking for its money back.
According to the Associated Press, Jordan is one of more than 5,000 Americans who have been sent letters by the Federal Emergency Management Agency requiring repayment of financial assistance offered them during disasters dating back as far as 2005.
"I thought they were there to help people, not hurt them," said Jordan, who shared a home with his wife and five children at the time of the tornado in March 2007. "We stayed homeless for a year and a half (after the tornado). I had to work and save to get us a new home. We used FEMA money and what little was left over from insurance, and it took about all of it for debris removal. We're stuck now with a high mortgage payment. We're barely getting by, and now they're asking for money we can't pay back."
The International Monetary Fund's director, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was arrested last Sunday in New York City on the allegation of an immigrant hotel maid that he attempted to rape her in his hotel room. A New York judge has denied Strauss-Kahn bail on the grounds that he might flee to France.
President Bill Clinton survived his sexual escapades, because he was a servant to the system, not a threat. But Strauss-Kahn, like former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, was a threat to the system, and, like Eliot Spitzer, Strass-Kahn has been deleted from the power ranks.
Strauss-Kahn was the first IMF director in my lifetime, if memory serves, who disavowed the traditional IMF policy of imposing on the poor and ordinary people the cost of bailing out Wall Street and the Western banks. Strauss-Kahn said that regulation had to be reimposed on the greed-driven, fraud-prone financial sector, which, unregulated, destroyed the lives of ordinary people. Strauss-Kahn listened to Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz, one of a handful of economists who has a social conscience.
President Bill Clinton survived his sexual escapades, because he was a servant to the system, not a threat. But Strauss-Kahn, like former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, was a threat to the system, and, like Eliot Spitzer, Strass-Kahn has been deleted from the power ranks.
Strauss-Kahn was the first IMF director in my lifetime, if memory serves, who disavowed the traditional IMF policy of imposing on the poor and ordinary people the cost of bailing out Wall Street and the Western banks. Strauss-Kahn said that regulation had to be reimposed on the greed-driven, fraud-prone financial sector, which, unregulated, destroyed the lives of ordinary people. Strauss-Kahn listened to Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz, one of a handful of economists who has a social conscience.
© AFP/File, Joel Saget
A French soldier has been killed and four others injured in an "accidental explosion" in eastern Afghanistan
A French soldier has been killed and four others injured in an "accidental explosion" in eastern Afghanistan
The blast occurred in the south of Kapisa province, Longuet said in a statement.
The victim was the 58th French soldier to die since Paris deployed troops to join the NATO international force in Afghanistan in 2001.
Injuries to the four other soldiers were not life-threatening, the statement added.
The statement said that on Wednesday "an accidental explosion of a munition mortally wounded one soldier and injured four others of the same regiment who were getting ready to board an armoured vehicle in the south of Kapisa."
The injured were treated in a military hospital in Kabul, it added.
Around 4,000 French soldiers are deployed to Afghanistan mainly in the district of Surobi and Kapisa province in the east of the country.
© afriqueavenir.org
Organic farming provides a development model for Africa as it respects the environment and prevents food crises. By integrating traditional farming practices and using local resources, organic farming is particularly suitable for African farmers as they produce their own food and sell their products on the local markets.
Organic farming provides a development model for Africa as it respects the environment and prevents food crises. By integrating traditional farming practices and using local resources, organic farming is particularly suitable for African farmers as they produce their own food and sell their products on the local markets.
But a local agricultural policy expert Roger Mpande says this has turned out to be a false start and Zimbabwe's best bet is to stick to local knowledge systems and resources.
He says the health, environmental and social impact of GMOs cannot be underestimated.
Mpande - who spoke during a Humanitarian Information Facilitation Centre knowledge brief for journalists in Harare last week on why Zimbabwe should refuse to license the commercialization of GMOs - says a look at the GM products leaves a lot to be desired.
"I tend to consider the degree to which papers have demonstrated to covering the White House regularly and fairly in determining local pool reporters," White House spokesman Matt Lehrich wrote in response to a Herald request for full access to the presidential visit.
© AP / Pablo Martinez Monsivais
President Obama shakes hands with Princeton University professor Cornel West after speaking at the National Urban League’s 100th Anniversary Convention in Washington in July 2010.
President Obama shakes hands with Princeton University professor Cornel West after speaking at the National Urban League’s 100th Anniversary Convention in Washington in July 2010.
Perhaps there was never much of a struggle in Obama's heart. Perhaps West only provided a moral veneer. Perhaps the dark heart of Emanuel was always the dark heart of Obama. Only Obama knows. But we know how the play ends. West is banished like honest Kent in "King Lear." Emanuel and immoral mediocrities from Lawrence Summers to Timothy Geithner to Robert Gates - think of Goneril and Regan in the Shakespearean tragedy - take power. We lose. And Obama becomes an obedient servant of the corporate elite in exchange for the hollow trappings of authority.
Wondering about the fate of your pets after Judgment Day? Well, for $135, a loving atheist will care for your animal if you're not around anymore.
Eternal Earthbound Pets offers a service to rescue and take care of pets once their owners have been taken away to the heavenly realms. Though doomsayers say this Saturday will be the latest day of reckoning that's not expected to leave animals behind either.
Bart Centre of New Hampshire, co-owner of the pet business, launched it in June 2009. He has zero belief in Judgment Day, but began to see an increase in sales inquiries in December, which, he believes, is related to Family Radio's heavy marketing campaign around the May 21 date.
The retired retail executive said he has sold 258 contracts so far.
"That's out of 40 million targeted 'rapture' believers, so it's not like we're making a billion dollars," he said.
Comment: If you were angry with another country, would you murder your fellow citizens and make your primary target your own country?