A court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard Madoff's assets announced on Friday he has reached a potential $15-million deal to sell a trading operation within the disgraced financier's firm.
The agreement with Boston-based Castor Pollux Securities leaves open the possibility that the operation could go to a higher bidder before the sale is finalised, trustee Irving Picard said in a statement. Picard called the deal "a successful outcome of the broadly marketed sales process". Castor Pollux had no immediate comment.
The trustee has been selling off Madoff's business assets -- including works of art in his midtown Manhattan office -- to cover thousands of claims brought by victims of the former Nasdaq chairperson's multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.
The market-making division managed by Madoff's brother and two sons was separate from the secretive investment advisory business central to the scam. At a forum last month for victims, Pickard said investigators had concluded the trading operation was legitimate and should be sold to the highest bidder.
Under the terms of the deal, Castor Pollux would take over office equipment and data of the business but not the employees, who were fired on Friday. The firm would pay $500 000 at closing and then payments of up to $15-million in revenues from trades until 2012.
"The structure of this transaction enables the Madoff victims to participate in future value derived from the assets acquired by Castor Pollux," Picard said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2009 00:00 ||
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An explosive video being shopped to media outlets has plunged the White House and Vice President Joe Biden into a cocaine scandal, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively.
The video shows a woman, who is represented by the seller and his attorneys to be Biden's daughter Ashley, snorting several lines of cocaine. The tape has been viewed by a RadarOnline.com freelance reporter who confirms the woman looks identical to Ashley Biden.
Tom Dunlap, an attorney for Dunlap, Grubb and Weaver in Washington D.C. is representing the seller of the tape in brokering a deal and several news organizations have seen the footage. In addition to RadarOnline.com, representatives for the New York Post, a large British newspaper and the National Enquirer have all viewed the tape.
The woman on the tape clearly resembles Ashley Biden, 27, who is a social worker employed with the Delaware Department of Children, Youth and Families. She is also a board member of the Delaware YWCA organization. The tape was shot this year.
On the tape a man cuts up five lines of what is said to be cocaine. The woman who the seller says is Ashley then jokes with the man that the lines aren't big enough. The man hands her a rolled-up dollar bill and she proceeds to walk a few steps to a table where the cocaine is cut. She pulls her hair back, bends down and snorts a line.
Four lines of white powdery substance are clearly visible on the table, which is in front of a computer. After she snorts the first line, the woman said to be Ashley lifts her head and wipes her nose. She then snorts a second and third line before the tape cuts off.
The tape was made without her knowledge. It is being shopped for $250,000.
The events on the tape are represented as taking place at a party in Wilmington, Delaware and the woman said to be Ashley is with a boyfriend.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2009 00:00 ||
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While it is too late to put this cat back in the bag, I really think that the children of pols should be left alone. All kids make mistakes. I didn't like it when they did it the Cheney's daughter, or the Bush twins. They aren't the ones in public office.
She's 27. Who among us wants to cast the first stone?
#5
she is democrat, she will not need to look for a new job.
Posted by: abu do you love ||
03/29/2009 5:29 Comments ||
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#6
And besides, everyone remembers that Palin's daughter's boyfriend's mother was in some sort of drug thing. So that makes this piece disgusting muck-raking by disgruntled neo-cons.
Neo-cons is sooo outdated. What are we, these days?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/29/2009 7:18 Comments ||
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#7
Snorting 3 lines means you are a frequent and probably heavy user.
Sorry, at 27 she is an adult and should fucking know better. Especially as the daughter of the FUCKING VICE-PRESIDENT!! The apples don't fall far from the tree and she is just as morally corrupt as her daddy and needs to be thrown in jail with the rest of 'em.
#12
If indeed this video shows Biden's daughter, let's see how the MSM deals with it. I'm guessing it will be buried in a firestorm of ... "it isn't important, and besides, it is merely an attempt to taint the adminstration of the annoited one". Just sayin', ya' know.
If it turns out to be her, I smell a book deal. All she has to do is write about how she's confused, trying to 'find' herself, blah, blah, blah. All will be forgiven.
#19
Biden is no more responsible for this than I am. She is 27 years old, let drugs into her life and only because he father is the VP she gets in the news. Otherwise she would be just another coke whore no one cares about. Just maybe she will get into rehab and straight from all this and not wind up some group pass around.
I have always said to leave the family out of it. We bitch about the handling of Panen's kids, lets hope they leave her alon.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/29/2009 11:44 Comments ||
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#20
I felt the same way about this story as i felt when the resturant owner called the cops because Jenna order a drink under age: Leave the kids out of it. Unless they are in the public spotlight (ie Ron Reagan Jr) or they are arrested for a REAL crime, leave them be.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
03/29/2009 12:02 Comments ||
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#22
This is what VP Biden said 2 weeks ago when introducing the new drug czar and commenting on the agency itself:
"And I should say -- note parenthetically, I've been a little disappointed the last eight years it hasn't gotten the attention that it should have gotten. But that's about to change."
#23
I had learned not to care, he wrote. I blew a few smoke rings, remembering those years. Pot had helped, and booze; maybe a little blow when you could afford it. Not smack, though.
Author and Punahou, HI High Graduate of 1979. Guess who!
#24
Wasn't this part of the plot of the movie Traffic, where Michael Douglas played the federal drug czar, and his teen aged daughter turned out to be an addict?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
03/29/2009 12:22 Comments ||
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#25
Let Ashley go down to Mexico and apologize for the US drug demand. She has more current credibility on the topic than the SoS.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/29/2009 13:17 Comments ||
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#26
It's like the guy said: History repeats itself - once as bad cinema and once as the Obama Administration. The fact that "National Lampoon's Presidential Administration" has not been filmed yet does not invalidate this thesis.
#27
"Ashley Biden, 27, who is a social worker employed with the Delaware Department of Children, Youth and Families."
Doesn't this make you want to trust her with your kids?
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
03/29/2009 13:40 Comments ||
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#28
While it is too late to put this cat back in the bag, I really think that the children of pols should be left alone. All kids make mistakes. I didn't like it when they did it the Cheney's daughter, or the Bush twins. They aren't the ones in public office.
If her Dad's administration's Sec. of State hadn't just got back from Mexico where she pushed the line that Mexico's problems were because of those meeean right-wingers in the US who won't ban guns... I might see the point in that.
I see no reason to respect the freedom of people who don't respect MY freedom. You want freedom? Fine, I want freedom too. MAYBE we can make a deal.
In the meantime, stop funding FARC, they aren't exactly shining lights of libertarian goodness.
#29
Isn't snorting against the law?
Will she be charged, will she do time, has she got priors?
Will Joe see to it that she is made an example of, to stop kids going down that path?
#30
Blow is sooooo much more upscale than CH3CH2OH, so the MSM will probably give her the equivalent of a "tut...tut" (not for abuse, mind you, but for getting CAUGHT.)...
#32
Users of additive substances automatically take their usual amount. Only later will they take more if they don't get the expected effect.
Or she had prior experience with this particular bag and knew it was crap. Something tells me though, that the Veeps daughter doesn't do cheap blow.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
03/29/2009 18:10 Comments ||
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#33
A humble prediction: This launches her political career.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
03/29/2009 18:11 Comments ||
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#34
Maybe Daddy's little girl intended to get caught. In social worker psychobabble: "defiance opposition disorder." But Im no expert.
Social workers and shrinks are notorious recreational drug users (proximity to pharmaceuticals and drug users makes it so easy). If theyre not "counseling" someone on how to clean up, theyre smacking their own arm and inserting the needle, or doing drugs vicariously by talking about drugs all day long with actual druggies who they feel "superior" to. The daughter probably did use, and not only is a huge hypocrite, but maybe intended to get caught on tape. She may be a 27 year old with a third grader mentality...but shes still old enough to go to jail. Veep, dont bother running for pres knucklehead.
You should have seen the CNN anchorlady's face crumble when she had to report *that* news. She was all set with her charts-n-graphs and Historic this and Unprecedented that. The CBS radio dude helpfully reminded us that the levees Could Fail At Any Time.
#1
they got lucky because of cold weather that delayed runoff in the basin (this may also have annoyed CNN because it doesn't go well with their global warming narrative)
next threat is a storm that will come Mon pm through Tues. to the area.
Winds could get up to 30 mph which could result in waves on top of the standing water (also another half foot of snow).
I like the fact that the sand bags are white. It blends in with the snow and looks charming in its own way.
#2
Too bad the Communist News Network clowns can't bother reporting the TRUTH that the Red River floods almost every year because it flows north and therefore the headwaters area often thaws first and the melt backs up against the ice/snow further downstream and - naturally - floods.
If they did, they could report from Atlanta with pictures from a local Fargo station and save the cost and the wasteful Gaia-destroying carbon expenditures of a trip to that backwater where you can't even get a proper bagel and latte and the people dress and talk funny Fargo.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/29/2009 10:06 Comments ||
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down to about 39'10" pm today
with luck it will go down another foot by the time the storm winds hit monday evening
The Madagascan military has resorted to tear gas to disperse thousands protesters loyal to former president Marc Ravalomanana in Antananarivo.
The demonstrators gathered on Saturday in the Indian Ocean island's capital to protest against opposition leader Andry Rajoelina's rise to power. Organizers had earlier called for a general strike on Monday and a tax boycott as part of the protest which has been going on for days.
The protests began after former disc jockey Rajoelina, backed by the army, unseated president Ravalomanana and took power as the interim head of state. Upon assuming power Rajoelina, who is two years too young to be president according to the country's constitution, promised to hold elections in two years.
Ravalomanana is currently in Swaziland, where the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will meet on Monday to discuss possible sanctions against Madagascar.
ADC has condemned Rajoelina's arrival to power as "unconstitutional" and is refusing to recognize him as interim president, as is much of the international community. The African Union has suspended Madagascar's membership.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2009 00:00 ||
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BERLIN - Qatar has plans to invest in Germany, and has not ruled out a possible stake in ailing carmaker Opel, the Amir of the Gulf state said in an interview published on Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Opel is going to produce a line of booming cars?
#2
Actually, the Amir of Qatar is one of the good guys : supports the War on Terror, stomps on Islamists, and recognizes that all Qatar has is a lot of sand and oil. The oil will run out eventually and the Amir is trying to diversify his investments for that day.
A brother of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has started a rare public debate over the succession by questioning the appointment of the kingdom's interior minister as second deputy prime minister--a position that would normally place him second in line to the throne.
The statement, by Prince Talal bin Abdul-Aziz, came after the Saudi royal court announced on Friday the appointment of Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz as second deputy prime minister, a promotion that means he will run the kingdom when the monarch and crown prince are away. The role would normally go to First Deputy Prime Minister Crown Prince Sultan, but he is convalescing in the United States after surgery earlier this year.
Prince Talal said the monarch needs to make sure the appointment served purely an "administrative purpose".
"I call on the royal court to clarify what is meant by this nomination and that it does not mean that he (Prince Nayef) will become crown prince," Prince Talal said in a faxed statement sent to Reuters. "The latest nomination of the second deputy prime minister will give the impression that he will automatically become crown prince," said Prince Talal, who is also the father of billionaire businessman Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.
The statement was authenticated by a personal assistant of Prince Talal, who like both King Abdullah and Prince Nayef is a son of the kingdom's founder, the late King Abdul-Aziz al-Saud.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2009 00:00 ||
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GORDON BROWN'S carefully laid plans for a G20 deal on worldwide tax cuts have been scuppered by an eve-of-summit ambush by European leaders.
Scuppered!
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, last night led the assault on the prime minister's "global new deal" for a $2 trillion-plus fiscal stimulus to end the recession. "I will not let anyone tell me that we must spend more money," she said.
The Spanish finance minister, Pedro Solbes, also dismissed new cash being pledged at Thursday's London summit. "In these conditions I and the rest of my colleagues from the eurozone believe there is no room for new fiscal stimulus plans," he said.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has insisted that "radical reform" of capitalism is more important than tax cutting.
The attacks on Brown's ambitions for the G20 to inject more money into the world economy come at the end of a week where the prime minister has travelled to three continents to build support for his proposals.
The likely deadlock at this week's meeting will kill any remaining hope that Alistair Darling's April 22 budget will offer significant tax cuts. The assault by European Union leaders also represents a defeat for President Barack Obama, who is desperate for other big economies to copy his $800 billion stimulus plan.
The leaders of Europe are not answerable to the Obamatons.
"There will be a very long communiqué, but there won't be much in it," said a Washington economist with a largely straight face.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I don't give a rat's ass who wrecks it, as long as it is well and truly DEAD.
Scratch a "global" anything, find a tranzi.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/29/2009 0:15 Comments ||
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#2
Back to the glowball carbon cap and trade get rich quick scheme. That's where the 'real' phoney money is anyway.
#3
Barbara, despite it's source, it's actually a good idea.
The main problem with the current stimulus packages is they direct money to the usual spongers, whiners and special interest groups, which makes them grow in size and means they will demand even more money in the future. The hardest thing for a government to do is to stop giving money to a special interest group.
Brown's plan cuts taxes, which means the stimulus comes from people who earned the money and is (much) more likely to result in longer term investments.
And when people talk about "radical reform" of capitalism, you should be seriously worried.
Years before this crisis erupted, it was common knowledge in the investment world (I was aware of this) that the cost of 'insuring' certain extreme risks was heavily discounted because it was assumed the government would bail out the party in trouble. And lo and behold thats' what happened.
#6
Read the other article Tipper found from the Atlantic. Tax cuts would certainly be useful, but the international order has indeed been living beyond its means. Whether that means you have to nationalize the banks to clean them out (and then re-privatize them), whether you have to change the actors in charge, etc., one root problem here is the lack of confidence. Nothing Bambi, Brown, Angie or Sark do will matter until that gets fixed.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/29/2009 11:38 Comments ||
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Thousands have taken to the streets of Berlin and Frankfurt to protest against measures taken to tackle the global financial crisis. "We will not pay for your crisis," was the motto of the campaign supported by the anti-globalization network Attac and including unions and environment groups.
Demonstrators said banks must be held to account for the crisis, rather than allowing employees and the world's poor to suffer as a result of the economic downturn.
A speaker for Attac (Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens) said roughly 15,000 people had come to the Frankfurt demonstration. Several hundred police officers protected the entrances to office blocks in Germany's banking capital. In Berlin, police estimated that several thousand people were taking part in the protest.
On pamphlets and placards, the demonstrators called for solidarity and an environmentally sustainable global economic system.
The protests came ahead of a meeting of the Group of 20 (G20) leading economies in London on April 2. The marches in Germany echoed a similar event in London on the same day, where thousands of people gathered from around the world to stage a mass protest.
The footage I saw from London had dudes in blue paint waving Tibetan flags.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2009 00:00 ||
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in London on the same day, where thousands of people gathered from around the world
Even though the cameramen tried to make the crowd look much bigger than it was, an aerial shot showed less than 400 people.
Jangipur (West Bengal): External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has said Arunachal Pradesh is an integral part of India and Chinas observations about the State are absolutely untenable.
Mr. Mukherjee said Chinas demands were unreasonable and untenable. We are not prepared to accept this.
He was talking to The Hindu here on Saturday after a hectic round of campaigning at interior villages in the Khragram Assembly segment of the Jangipur constituency, from where he is contesting.
Mr. Mukherjees comments gain significance in the background of reports that China has objected to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) granting a loan to Arunachal Pradesh for two projects. Media reports have it that Beijing blocked the loan on the ground that the State is part of China and therefore India cannot get that loan.
Mr. Mukherjees comments gain significance in the background of reports that China has objected to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) granting a loan to Arunachal Pradesh for two projects. Media reports have it that Beijing blocked the loan on the ground that the State is part of China and therefore India cannot get that loan.
While there is absolutely no reason why the ADB should stop a loan to Arunachal Pradesh, nevertheless, we would like to complete the projects in Arunachal Pradesh on our own, he said.
Asked whether India would take up this issue on any international forum, Mr. Mukherjee said: Why should I take it up at any other forum? There is a regular government in Arunachal Pradesh . Even in the coming elections two representatives are to be elected to Parliament from this northeastern State.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/29/2009 12:12 ||
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India has successfully test fired a BrahMos surface-to-surface missile at Pokhran in the Rajasthan desert northwest of the country.
"Today land attack version of BrahMos Block-II was tested from a mobile autonomous launcher at Pokhran test range by the Indian Army," the Indian army's military's research wing said in a Sunday statement. "The missile took off successfully and hit the desired target at bull's eye, meeting all mission parameters," the statement added.
New Delhi's test-launch was part of the test of a missile system which India is developing in collaboration with Russia. The surface-to-surface missile had failed to hit its target during an earlier test on January 20 due to what the Indian army described as a 'defect' in the missile's homing device software. It hit the target during a second test on March 4.
The BrahMos missile has a range of 290 km (180 miles) and can carry a conventional warhead of up to 300 kg (660 lbs). Experts estimate that India could purchase up to 1,000 BrahMos missiles for its armed forces over the next ten years.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/29/2009 08:21 ||
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Posted by: Large Snerong7311 ||
03/29/2009 14:34 Comments ||
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#5
It's a ramjet i think
The Muzzle's shape just doesn't make sense with a rocket engine since they don't need an air intake and this shape increases airb resistance. It only makes sense with a jet engine.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/29/2009 15:26 Comments ||
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#7
Why does India NOT have a permanent seat on the UN Security Council? It should.... It's clearly a world power of the first order. We can dump France which is not even as big as Texas.
The second address to the joint sitting of parliament was not smooth sailing for President Asif Ali Zardari as parliamentarians of the PML-Q staged a walkout, raising slogans against horsetrading in the Punjab.
The walkout ended after a few minutes when some federal ministers convinced them to return to the house.
The PML-N had announced that it would listen to the speech of President Zardari silently but members of the PML-Q turned up at the session with a different frame of mind.
Soon after the recitation of verses from the holy Quran, PML-Q parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat stood up to raise a point of order. However, National Assembly Speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza did not allow him to speak, saying that no point of order could be raised according to rules when the president was to address the joint sitting of parliament.
At this, PML-Q President Senator Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, Amir Muqam, Riaz Pirzada and all the party members also stood up. Some of them, including Awais Leghari, Riaz Pirzada, Marvi Memon and others, shouted slogans of "No to horsetrading and Lotacracy in the Punjab" while thumping their desks.
Dr Fehmida Mirza, time and again, requested the protesting parliamentarians to take their seats as slogans being raised by them would leave a bad impression on diplomats and other dignitaries who were watching the proceedings from the galleries.
The speaker said the concerns of the PML-Q members were true but it was not the proper way. However, they did not pay heed to the speaker's request.
In the meantime, the speaker invited President Zardari to address parliament. But, he delivered the first part of his speech amid an uproar created by the PML-Q parliamentarians. The PML-Q parliamentarians, however, walked out of the house after the speaker ignored their point of view.
Later, talking to newsmen outside the Parliament House at the end of the session, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said if the Punjab Assembly session was not convened by tomorrow, they would consider the last one month's confrontation between the PPP and the PML-N a sham (Noora Kushti).
PML-Q parliamentary leader Makhdoom Faisal Saleh Hayat said President Zardari did mention the history of 'Changa Manga' in horsetrading but no practical steps were announced to end this bad practice.
He said the politics of the forward bloc had been gaining momentum after the February 18 elections and their party's mandate was hijacked by the PPP and the PML-N, which formed Balochistan and the Punjab governments respectively.
He warned that if members of the PML-Q forward bloc did not return to the party, the leadership would move the court to apply the Defection Clause on these MPAs.
He said the PML-Q had forwarded a three-point formula for the formation of the Punjab government to end the evil of horsetrading, but now the party had decided to play a neutral role in the province.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2009 00:00 ||
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Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi on Saturday alleged that there were reasons to believe that the Home Ministry during the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime had "connived" with the Prafulla Kumar Mahanta-led Assam government to carry out 'secret killing' of family members of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) leaders and others in the State.
Mr. Gogoi told journalists here that the fact that the NDA government had not tried to stop the secret killings during the AGP rule gave rise to this suspicion.
Reacting to allegation by senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani that the Congress had ignored the infiltration problem by not including it in the poll manifesto, Mr. Gogoi said issues like development, unemployment, education, floods and health were the priorities for the Congress. "We are not giving topmost priority to infiltration," he said.
The Chief Minister said the entire focus of Mr. Advani's election campaign in the State was the infiltration problem as if there were no other issues.
Accusing the BJP of "communalising" the foreigners' problem, Mr. Gogoi said the party considered the Hindu foreigners as refugees. "A foreigner is a foreigner. He or she cannot be distinguished on the basis of religion," the Chief Minister said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Congress Party politicians have provided millions of illegal immigrants (mainly Muslim) from Bangladesh with voter ID and ration cards. They provide a huge vote bank.
Unfortunate for the residents of the affected states like Assam. The Assamese will soon be a minority in their own state.
During the last election campaign in India, the Congress attacked the 'India shining' campaign of the NDA. They even had a photo op in the middle of a huge Delhi slum ... 'the real India' they claimed. Ironically most of the residents of that Delhi slum are illegals from Bangladesh.
Posted by: john frum ||
03/29/2009 7:17 Comments ||
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Allegations of possible illegalities in a massive arms deal between Israel and India have surfaced over the weekend in the Indian media. The size of the deal between the Indian Ministry of Defense and Israel Aerospace Industries, estimated at $1.5 billion, had grown to allow for the payment of commissions, which is illegal in India, said the press there.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2009 00:00 ||
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Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu plans to hold private meetings with senior members of his Likud party and tell them whether he will appoint them to the cabinet.
Netanyahu is scheduled to swear in his new government by Wednesday; until then he will continue his efforts to draw United Torah Judaism into the coalition so he can expand his Knesset support base to 74 MKs. The Likud leader is holding three postings open for UTJ as part of a possible coalition agreement: deputy health ministry, the chairmanship of the Knesset Finance Committee, and another deputy minister position.
For the swearing in, Netanyahu will tell President Shimon Peres at the President's Residence that he has succeeded in forming a government.
The weekend, meanwhile, was particularly tense for many senior Likud figures who are unsure whether Netanyahu intends to appoint them to the cabinet. The prime minister-designate spent the weekend at home in Caesarea in an effort to resolve the shortage of portfolios for Likud. The main focus was MK Silvan Shalom.
In recent days Shalom has sent messages to Netanyahu in which he warned that unless he is appointed finance minister and vice premier, he will not be part of the government.
For his part, Netanyahu insists that he will not surrender to pressure. According to sources close to the prime minister-designate, he will not appoint a vice premier and will keep control of the Finance Ministry. Netanyahu has said he plans to serve as finance minister with the assistance of another appointee, who will hold the status of a minister but not be in control.
Shalom has so far avoided any public statements, even though his supporters in the party are outraged. Shalom has ordered them to avoid any public protest.
"Bibi really wants to find an appropriate position for Silvan if that is possible, and had no intention to humiliate him," a source close to Netanyahu said, using his nickname. "What Silvan does will be up to him. He will harm himself if he stays outside [the cabinet]. Now that Labor is in the coalition there is no fear that if Silvan votes against the coalition there will be no government."
When asked what is an appropriate position, Netanyahu's supporters said that "he is putting together something for him."
Other senior party figures who might be giving Netanyahu problems may be Moshe Ya'alon and Dan Meridor, both of whom had been promised senior posts. Ya'alon may be offered a revived Strategic Affairs Ministry. Meridor or Shalom may be offered Vice premier postings with added substance.
Meridor had been mentioned as a candidate for the Finance Ministry if Netanyahu decided not to keep it for himself.
MKs Shalom, Ya'alon, Meridor, Benny Begin, Gilad Erdan, Moshe Kahalon, Yisrael Katz, Limor Livnat and Yuli Edelstein know they will be appointed to ministries, but are worried they might receive minor positions. The Ministry Education has been promised by Netanyahu to MK Gideon Sa'ar.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2009 00:00 ||
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BANGKOK - FUGITIVE former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra on Saturday urged supporters to rise up against the government as protesters besieged the offices of the current prime minister for a third day. Thaksin also criticised Premier Abhisit Vejjajiva's economic policies, making an apparent attempt to tap into concerns about rising unemployment in an economy sliding towards recession as the global crisis bites.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/29/2009 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Madagascan military has resorted to tear gas to disperse thousands protesters loyal to former president Marc Ravalomanana in Antananarivo. 
A brother of Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has started a rare public debate over the succession by questioning the appointment of the kingdom's interior minister as second deputy prime minister--a position that would normally place him second in line to the throne.
GORDON BROWN'S carefully laid plans for a G20 deal on worldwide tax cuts have been scuppered by an eve-of-summit ambush by European leaders. 
Thousands have taken to the streets of Berlin and Frankfurt to protest against measures taken to tackle the global financial crisis. "We will not pay for your crisis," was the motto of the campaign supported by the anti-globalization network Attac and including unions and environment groups. 
The second address to the joint sitting of parliament was not smooth sailing for President Asif Ali Zardari as parliamentarians of the PML-Q staged a walkout, raising slogans against horsetrading in the Punjab.
Iraq''s national carrier, Iraqi Airways, has completed its first flight to Europe in 19 years, flying to Stockholm via Athens from Baghdad.
Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu plans to hold private meetings with senior members of his Likud party and tell them whether he will appoint them to the cabinet. 
