AP - Tropical Storm Hanna cruised toward the Carolinas on Friday, forecast to hit land overnight and promising to deliver gusty winds and heavy rain during a dash up the Eastern Seaboard that could wash out the weekend for millions of people.
AP - John McCain and Sarah Palin got a rousing welcome Friday to the final two months of the presidential campaign, stressing themes of a strong America and concern about the sinking economy. "Tough times all over America," McCain said.
AP - The United States and Libya sealed a historic turnaround after decades of terrorist killings, American retaliation, suspicions and insults with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's peacemaking visit Friday with Moammar Gadhafi, Libya's mercurial strongman.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government plans to put troubled mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under federal control, the New York Times and Washington Post newspapers reported on Friday.
CEDARBURG, Wisconsin (Reuters) - Presidential rivals John McCain and Barack Obama, back on the campaign trail after their party conventions, clashed over the ailing U.S. economy on Friday as unemployment hit its highest monthly rate in nearly five years.
NEW YORK/EVERETT, Washington (Reuters) - Boeing Co's 27,000-strong machinists' union declared it will strike at midnight Pacific time on Friday, as the plane maker failed to improve its contract offer after two days of emergency talks.
SALVO, North Carolina (Reuters) - Fierce Hurricane Ike weakened as it charged across the Atlantic on Friday and took aim at south Florida and the oil fields of the Gulf of Mexico, while Tropical Storm Hanna buffeted the Carolinas after killing at least 529 people in Haiti.
BP and its Russian partners in TNK-BP agreed on a plan to resolve a long-running dispute that has roiled the firm’s management. Three independent directors will be appointed to TNK-BP’s board, on which BP and AAR, the consortium of Russian investors in the joint venture, will have four representatives each. The firm’s 14-strong management committee, which oversees day-to-day business, will be reduced. The public may be offered 20% of the shares in a TNK-BP subsidiary. Bob Dudley will step down as TNK-BP’s chief executive. His replacement, to be nominated by BP, will be “a Russian-speaking candidate with extensive Russian business experience”. See article
In one of German banking’s largest mergers, Commerzbank agreed to take over Dresdner Bank in a deal worth €9.8 billion ($14.5 billion). Commerzbank is buying Dresdner from Allianz, Europe’s biggest insurer. Allianz paid €24 billion for Dresdner in 2001, but the business has dragged down profits. Some 9,000 jobs will be shed at the combined bank and operations will shrink at Dresdner Kleinwort, the investment-banking division that contributed to huge write-downs at Allianz. See article ...
More than 2m people were evacuated along the Louisiana coast ahead of Hurricane Gustav. New Orleans faced its first threat of serious flooding since Hurricane Katrina struck three years ago, but Gustav just missed the city. Some residents returned to their homes, though many were without electricity. Earlier the storm tore a destructive path through the Caribbean, killing 95 people, most of them in Haiti. See article
Gustav also wrought havoc at the start of the Republican convention in St Paul, Minnesota. The party cancelled the first day’s schedule in order, it said, to let administration officials concentrate on the emergency. John McCain was probably not too upset that George Bush missed the proceedings; the president, who has dismal approval ratings, spoke to the delegates via a satellite link instead. See article ...
Negotiations at the World Trade Organisation to shape an agreement on the Doha round of trade talks collapsed when the United States, India and China failed to resolve differences over protection for agricultural goods in developing countries. There seems to be no chance of finishing the round this year, if at all. See article
America’s Congress passed a housing bill that includes measures to shore up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two troubled mortgage giants. The bill also allows some 400,000 homeowners to refinance their bank mortgages with loans backed by the government. Supporters of the legislation say it will help stem foreclosures and provide a boost to a moribund housing market. Opponents argue the legislation is a taxpayer-funded bail-out of reckless borrowers. See article ...
I think it’s amazing that McCain picked an unknown that is currently under investigation. The investigation is scheduled to conclude just before the November election.
A few mores thoughts about Sarah Palin. At first I thought it was a shrewd move by McCain, but now I’m not so sure.
The obvious is her lack of experience, specifically in foreign affairs. Apparently, she was only issued a passport in 2007 and really comes from the backwoods (small town in Alaska) for real. In addition, it utterly destroys McCain’s “inexperience” and “celebrity” attack on Obama. I’ll be real curious what else he’s going to stick in his attack ads now that he’s lost that topic.
Another blow against her, assuming there are reasonable people out there, is that she was for teaching creationism along with evolution in the school system. I would think intelligent people would think that’s a bit off the deep end.
And last, the whole point of the selection was to appeal to the “evangelists” and “soured Hillary supporters(those that don’t care about issues)”. I think that was a serious mistake because both groups, although very vocal, are in fact a very small group of people. McCain thought that he was gaining a large voter base, but instead was alienating a very large group of moderate people.
Believe it or not this is an official advertisement from the McCain campaign. I’m no savvy political consultant, but my bet is that telling everyone how wonderful your opponent is, is not a particularly good idea.
The recent discussion of Russia’s invasion of Georgia has been somewhat bias in favor of Georgia. The extreme case being McCain saying “We are all Georgians now”. Sometimes a little input from the other side is helpful. Here is a link to an op-ed in the August 20, 2008 New York Times written by Mikhail [...]
Obama seems to have a pretty good handle on what’s needed to reform the financial markets. In a New York Times article on August 16, 2008 they mention that he outlined his 6 principles in a March 2008 address at the Cooper Union in Manhattan. The 6 principles are listed below and can be read [...]
That school out in North Hollywood that John McCain shameless exploited as his convention speech backdrop is calling foul. Meanwhile, the McCain camp, despite requests for comment from almost every media organization under the sun, is refusing all comment. (Remember,...
A leaked version of last month's draft of the proposed US-Iraq status of forces agreement (SOFA) suggests that the Iraqi parliament may not be consulted before it is signed, despite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's promises to do so. The pact would govern the future US presence in Iraq. The draft indicates no intent to set a deadline for withdrawal of "noncombat" troops from Iraq. It also grants immunity from Iraqi law to US military personnel, no matter where they are located.
The draft was translated and provided to Truthout by Raed Jarrar, Iraq consultant for the American Friends Service Committee.
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