By Jo Adetunji and agencies, guardian.co.uk, 29 September 2012
A huge fire has destroyed parts of the medieval souks in Aleppo, Syria, following raging battles between rebels and government troops. The city is a Unesco world heritage site and the labyrinth of narrow alleys and shops was once a major tourist attraction and is one of Syria's largest commercial hubs.
By David Leonhardt, New York Times Sunday Review, September 29, 2012
WORKING out of cramped, bare offices in a downtown building here in Washington, President-elect Obama’s economic team spent the final weeks of 2008 trying to assess how bad the economy was. It was during those weeks, according to several members of the team, when they first discussed academic research by the economists Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff that would soon become well known.
By Juergen Baetz, Associated Press, September 28, 2012
BERLIN — The road to heaven is paved with more than good intentions for Germany’s 24 million Catholics. If they don’t pay their religious taxes, they will be denied sacraments, including weddings, baptisms and funerals.
A decree issued last week by the country’s bishops cast a spotlight on the longstanding practice in Germany and a handful of other European countries in which governments tax registered believers and then hand over the money to the religious institutions.
By James Kanter, New York Times/Global Business, September 28/29, 2012
BRUSSELS — The finance ministers of France and Germany united Friday to raise pressure on E.U. partners like Italy to back a tax on financial trades that could be used to help the economically disadvantaged.
Kenya's assistant minister for water, Fedinard Waititu, faces charges of incitement to violence after a speech this week. Kenya is trying to avoid a repeat of the 2007 election violence.
By Fredrick Nzwili, Christian Science Monitor, September 28, 2012
A U.S. judge handed an 11th-hour victory to Wall Street's biggest commodity traders on Friday, knocking back tough new regulations that would have cracked down on speculation in energy, grain and metals markets.
(MOGADISHU, Somalia) — Kenyan troops invaded al-Shabab’s last stronghold in Somalia, coming ashore in a predawn assault Friday. Other African Union forces were traveling overland to link up with the Kenyan forces in the port city of Kismayo.
By Annie Lowrey, New York Times Business Day, September 27/28, 2012
Both economists and the Romney campaign are puzzling over the same paradox: The recovery has flagged and yet the country’s mood appears to be improving.
Special Correspondent, The Nation (of Pakistan,) September 28, 2012
NEW YORK - Pakistan does not disagree what the deadly drone attacks inside the Pakistani territory were trying to achieve, but opposes the way they are being conducted, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said Thursday.
Speaking at the Asia Society in New York, she called the strategy “illegal, unlawful and counterproductive” as well as short-sighted. Asked why polls find that anti-American sentiment in Pakistan is among the world’s highest, she answered with one word: “Drones.”
A news post that I can't put in the news section because it requires both links to be given equal attention. These two stories are both atop the New York Times website right now:
By Rebecca Greenfield, The Atlantic Wire, September 24, 2012
[....] The service will link up the 70 million households worth of purchasing information that Datalogix has with Facebook profiles so they can see if the ads you see changes the stuff you buy and tell advertisers whether their ads are working [....]
Datalogix gets its information from retailers like grocery stores and drug stores who use loyalty discount programs to amass careful records of what their customers are buying [....]
By Thomas B Edsall, Campaign Stops Op Eds @ nytimes.com, September 23, 2012
[....]Pennsylvania demographics suggested that the state was fair game for Republicans. [....] By the end of August, however, ad buying stopped. The Romney campaign effectively conceded the state. [....]
By Paulo Cabral, BBC News, Sao Paulo, 24 September 2012
Next time you complain about being stuck in traffic, spare a thought for the drivers in Brazil's biggest city, which has some of the worst congestion problems in the world.
Friday evenings are a commuter's worst nightmare in Sao Paulo. That's when all the tailbacks in and out of the city extend for a total of 180km (112 miles), on average, according to local traffic engineers, and as long as 295km (183 miles) on a really bad day.
