By Giles Tremlett in Madrid, The Guardian, 23 September 2012
Recession-hit Spaniards will this week be told to swallow yet more austerity as the government prepares a fresh round of reforms and another budget filled with spending cuts and tax increases that will allow it to seek a bailout from eurozone partners.
By James Glanz, New York Times, September 22/23, 2012
The Cloud Factories: This is the first article in a series about the physical structures that make up the cloud, and their impact on our environment.
[....] A yearlong examination by The New York Times has revealed that this foundation of the information industry is sharply at odds with its image of sleek efficiency and environmental friendliness.
By David D Kirkpatrick and Steven Erlanger, New York Times, September 22/23, 2012
CAIRO — On the eve of his first trip to the United States as Egypt's new Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi [....] sought in a 90-minute interview with The New York Times to introduce himself to the American public and to revise the terms of relations between his country and the United States after the ouster of Hosni Murbarak, an autocratic but reliable ally.
By Marc Lynch, ForeignPolicy.com, September 21, 2012
[....] a funny thing happened on the way to the apocalypse: almost nothing. There were a few tiny demonstrations, but most Arab countries (in contrast to Pakistan and Lebanon) saw no mass rallies, no burning embassies, no screaming for the television cameras.
By Benjy Sarlin, Talking Points Memo, September 21, 2012
Mitt Romney will release a copy of his 2011 tax returns at 3 p.m. Friday as well as a summary of his tax rates -- but not, as requested by Democrats, copies of his actual returns -- for the years 1990-2009 [....]
The campaign's description of Romney's taxes are below, from Romney's trustee R. Bradford Malt: [....]
By Chris Cook, Asia Times Online, September 21, 2012
Home page lede:
The players behind this week's sharp tumble in oil prices remains a mystery. The trigger for the sell-off less so - that is, the willingness of Catherine Ashton, lead negotiator in talks with Tehran over its nuclear policy, literally to step over the Iranian diplomatic threshold implies a deal in the offing that could slash US pump prices before Barack Obama's last re-election drive. Insider dealing? Of course not.
By Ian McCarthy in New York, guardian.co.uk, 20 September 2012
A new political ad produced by a fringe nonprofit group uses footage of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning about Iran's nuclear program in order to attack President Barack Obama.
The group, Secure America Now, has spent $400,000 to air the ad in heavily Jewish districts in south Florida, including Miami, West Palm Beach and Fort Myers, Politico reported.
By Clarke Canfield, Associated Press, September 19, 2012
PORTLAND, Maine — The U.S. seafood catch reached a 17-year high last year, with all fishing regions of the country showing increases in both the volume and value of their harvests.
NEW YORK -- The U.S. housing industry -- crucial to any jobs recovery -- showed more signs of strength, according to two reports issued Wednesday.
The Census Bureau said housing starts and permits rose substantially in August. Separately, sales of previously occupied homes climbed 7.8% from a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors.
By Matt Flegenheimer, New York Times, Sept. 18/19, 2012
[...] New Yorkers will soon encounter another potentially inflammatory rendering of Islam: an advertisement in the transit system that reads, “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man.” It concludes with the words, “Support Israel. Defeat Jihad,” wedged between two Stars of David.
By Nate Silver, New York Times Sunday Magazine, online September 18, in print September 23, 2012
[....] Obama and Romney can hope for good jobs numbers or terrible ones, and for calm in the Middle East or an eruption that hurts the administration. But one thing they can definitely control is how to allocate their resources for the best chance at 270 electoral votes.
