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Triple-A rating under threat as UK economy enters disaster zone

Larry Elliott and Nicholas Watt
The Guardian
Thu, 26 Jul 2012 04:10 UTC
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Zapped! 'Chancellor of the Exchequer' (the banker's man in the UK government) George Osborne is in the firing line after it emerged that the UK's tripe-A rating is set to be downgraded
George Osborne was coming under intense pressure from business, the City and the opposition on Wednesday to rethink his hardline austerity approach after news of a deepening double-dip recession dealt a severe blow to the government's deficit reduction strategy.

The Bank of England is expected to embark on further emergency measures to stimulate growth this autumn following the release of official figures showing a shock 0.7% contraction in economic activity in the three months to June.

Although the decline was almost certainly exaggerated by the extra bank holiday for the Queen's diamond jubilee, the City was left stunned by the data from the Office for National Statistics.
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Pistol

Anaheim officials scramble to contain public anger as protests escalate

Andrew Gumbel
The Guardian
Thu, 26 Jul 2012 03:56 UTC
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© Stuart Palley/APTensions are on a knife-edge once more in LA: Demonstrators gather on the steps of city hall on Tuesday to protest the death of Manuel Diaz, who was unarmed when killed.
Officials in Anaheim, the southern California home to Disneyland, are scrambling to contain public anger over a rash of police shootings of young Latino men and pleaded for calm following a fourth night of street demonstrations marred by vandalism and looting.

Members of a 1,000-strong crowd broke windows and set fire to garbage skips in downtown Anaheim on Tuesday night, leading to hours of clashes with police, who responded with pepper spray and rubber bullets and made at least 24 arrests. The demonstrators said they were expressing frustration at what is widely seen as indifference by the city's all-white leadership to the majority Latino population.

The immediate catalyst for the protests was the death of 25-year-old Manuel Diaz on Saturday afternoon. According to media reports, he was shot twice by police in a residential neighborhood - the first time in the leg and then, once he was on the ground, in the head. He was apparently unarmed.

Comment:
Selective Outrage and Empathy In The USA - The Anaheim and Colorado Shootings

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MIB

Libor Manipulation Was Known by US Government Since 2008

Gregg Robb
The Denver Post
Sat, 14 Jul 2012 02:00 UTC
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© atoast2toast.com
Washington - An unidentified employee of U.K. bank Barclays PLC told the New York Federal Reserve Bank more than four years ago that the bank was filing false reports on a key interest rate, according to documents released by the regional central bank Friday.

The documents show that a summary of this admission was quickly circulated throughout the U.S. government, including the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department, in 2008. The Libor rate is at the center of a sweeping industrywide, cross-border investigation into the setting of interbank lending rates.

United Kingdom bank Barclays was fined $450 million for fixing Libor. Other banks across the world including Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, the Royal Bank of Scotland and Deutsche Bank have said they also are being investigated.
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Sheriff

Police Fire on Protesters, Journalists During Demonstration over Recent Police Shootings in Anaheim, California

Arturo Garcia
The Raw Story
Wed, 25 Jul 2012 07:50 UTC
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Anaheim Police officers reportedly fired pepper balls and bean bags at demonstrators and journalists Tuesday night during the latest round of protests against last weekend's police shootings.

Freelance journalist Tim Pool posted a video of himself and another journalist, Amber Lyon, being fired upon, an incident he first mentioned while live-streaming the protests Tuesday night. Pool also said during his live-stream that he was fired at after identifying himself as a media member. Staff members at KFI-AM also reported via Twitter that they were fired upon.

A video posted by KPFK-FM reporter Amber Stephens shows protesters gathered outside Anaheim City Hall Tuesday afternoon, chanting "no justice, no peace" at the officers guarding the door. Riot police eventually emerged from the building. According to KNBC-TV, the crowd measured in the hundreds, with at least five people being arrested.
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Book

Conservatives Chastised over Calling Chief Justice a Traitor after Upholding Health Care Reform

David Edwards
The Raw Story
Wed, 25 Jul 2012 11:25 UTC
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Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on Wednesday said that it was "unfortunate" that some Republicans had called Chief Justice John Roberts a traitor to conservatives after he voted to uphold President Barack Obama's health care reform law.

During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on civics education, Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) noted that attacks on judges could be a "threat to judicial independence."

"I am concerned about some of the rhetoric about the chief justice," Leahy told O'Connor. "He's been called everything from a traitor to having betrayed President George W. Bush."

"It's unfortunate," O'Connor agreed. "Because I think comments like that demonstrate only too well a lack of understanding that some of our citizens have about the role of the judicial branch."

"I think the framers of our federal Constitution did a great job in understanding themselves that the judicial branch needed to be able to make independent decisions and the legitimacy - the lawfulness - of actions at the state and federal lever," she added.
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Pistol

Deadly Shooting by Dallas Police Causes Neighborhood Protest

Anna Merlin
Dallas Observer
Wed, 25 Jul 2012 07:09 UTC
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A southern Dallas neighborhood flooded the streets in outrage late yesterday, after a 31-year-old man was shot dead by a Dallas police officer during a chase from a suspected drug house.

Police say they believe the suspect-turned-victim, a veteran criminal named James "G-Code" Harper, was shot in the stomach and hand during a protracted physical fight with the officer, who, along with two others, had flushed Harper and three other suspects from the house after receiving a call about a possible kidnapping there.

But as the large crowd gathered on the street, and as police in riot gear swarmed in an effort to keep the peace, people on the street insisted that Harper had been shot in the back.
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Megaphone

South Floridians Turn To Sound Therapy For Healing


CBSMiami
Wed, 25 Jul 2012 18:57 UTC
Sound Therapy
© CBS4Sound therapy offering an alternative to traditional medicine.
Miami - The number of people trying alternative medicine has exploded in the past 10 years.

Now, about 35 percent of Americans try alternative medicine before traditional medicine.

People in South Florida are trying something called Sound Therapy. Believers said it brings out your positive energy.

How does it work? It works with the help of a didgeridoo, an ancient aboriginal Australian instrument, one of the oldest wind instruments in the world.

Harmonic healer, Joda Cook uses it to practice sound therapy also known as vibration healing.

"I put positive in and get the negative energy out of the body," said Cook.

He can sense where the tension is.

"Sometimes I get to a certain part of the body and it feels like there's a hand there holding it. Let's me know that body needs more attention," said Cook.

Sue Monuse suffers from depression and anxiety. She believes can feel the didgeridoo working on her different chakras and energy points.

"Relaxing and tingling. It balances my whole energy," Monuse said.
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Attention

Racist Joke from Greek Athlete Results in Being Kicked Off 2012 Olympic Team

Alex Groberman
Opposing Views
Wed, 25 Jul 2012 00:00 UTC
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Voula Papachristou was kicked off Greece's Olympic team on Wednesday for making a racist, derogatory comment on her Twitter account.

Why did her insensitive tweet bring about such a harsh punishment? Well, according to the Times Union, because she made " statements contrary to the values and ideas of the Olympic movement."

Papachristou, an unapologetic supporter Greece's extreme right Golden Dawn party, posted this controversial message last Sunday:
"With so many Africans in Greece, the West Nile mosquitoes will be getting home food!!!"
As you would expect, the joke was met with something of a negative reaction.That plus her affiliation with Golden Dawn (a party which rose to international infamy a few weeks ago when spokesperson Ilias Kasidiaris smacked a communist woman in the face) ultimately forced Greece to seriously reconsider her position on their national Olympic team.
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Beaker

Bath salts: Ban may do little to curb new drugs

Matthew Parrone & Vicki Smith
Associated Press
Wed, 25 Jul 2012 14:20 UTC
Legal chemicals mixed to mimic the dangerous effects of cocaine and amphetamines
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© Chris Knight/Associated PressBath salts, synthetic stimulants that mimic the effects of traditional drugs like cocaine and speed, sit on a counter at Hemp's Above in Mechanicsburg, Pa, on Jan. 26.

People are inventing so many new ways to get high that lawmakers can't seem to keep up.

Over the past two years, the U.S. has seen a surge in the use of synthetic drugs made of legal chemicals that mimic the dangerous effects of cocaine, amphetamines and other illegal stimulants.

The drugs are often sold at small, independent stores in misleading packaging that suggests common household items like bath salts, incense and plant food. But the substances inside are powerful, mind-altering drugs that have been linked to bizarre and violent behavior across the country. Law enforcement officials refer to the drugs collectively as "bath salts," though they have nothing in common with the fragrant toiletries used to moisturize skin.

President Barack Obama signed a bill into law earlier this month that bans the sale, production and possession of more than two dozen of the most common bath salt drugs. But health professionals say lawmakers cannot keep pace with bath salt producers, who constantly adjust their chemical formulations to come up with new synthetic drugs that aren't covered by new laws. Experts who have studied the problem estimate there are more than 100 different bath salt chemicals in circulation.
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Ambulance

Nigerian "Sexed" to Death By 5 Wives

Melissa Danielle Williams
Opposing Views
Wed, 25 Jul 2012 15:50 UTC
In bizarre story news, a businessman, Uroko Onoja of Nigeria, died after being forced to have sex with five of his wives.

Apparently, The Daily News reports Onoja was having sex with the youngest of his six wives when the other five wives decided they wanted some attention as well. They attacked him, while in the middle of the act, with knives and sticks, demanding sex.
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