The Federal Reserve called for growth of 3.4 percent to 3.9 percent this year, up from 3 percent to 3.6 percent, even though unemployment will remain painfully high.
Defector admits to WMD lies that triggered Iraq war
By Martin Chulov and Helen Pidd in Karlsruhe, guardian.co.uk, 15 February 2011
• Man codenamed Curveball 'invented' tales of bioweapons • Iraqi told lies to try to bring down Saddam Hussein regime • Fabrications used by US as justification for invasion
By Brian Murphy, Associated Press, February 15, 2011, 9:41am
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Thousands of protesters poured into a main square in Bahrain's capital Tuesday in an Egypt-style rebellion that sharply escalated pressure on authorities as the Arab push for change gripped the Gulf for the first time.
Security forces have battled demonstrators over two days, leading to the deaths of two protesters. In a clear sign of concern over the widening crisis, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa made a rare national TV address....
By Claire Cain Miller, New York Times, February 10, 2011
The Huffington Post has hired veteran journalists to beef up its news coverage. But a significant chunk of its readers come instead for articles like one published this week: “Chelsy Davy & Prince Harry: So Happy Together?"....
Dubai: A British woman and an American man have been fined Dh2,000 each for exchanging sexual insults on facebook, a court ruled on Sunday.
The Dubai Misdemeanour Court convicted the 35-year-old American engineer and the 44-year-old British businesswoman for exchanging insults in private chat rooms over the social networking website facebook....
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has declared multiculturalism a failure, echoing British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and confusing some French who say it was never tried anyway....
The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran called for the immediate release of dozens of journalists and dissidents who have been arbitrarily detained in an apparent effort to intimidate Iranians from participating in a 14 February rally in solidarity with the Egyptian pro-democracy movement.
By Paul Amar, Al Jazeera Opinion, February 10, 2011
Suleiman considers the business fraternity friendly, but it is the nation's women and youth who are driving the unrest.
Highly, highly, recommended analysis of who makes up the "revolution" in Egypt, who doesn't, and why. Well worth the time. Not the same-old-same-old that you've already read. That is all.
Under pressure to make deeper spending cuts and blindsided by floor defeats, House Republican leaders are discovering the limits of control over their ideologically driven majority.
For the second consecutive day, House Republicans on Wednesday lost a floor vote due to a mini-revolt...
By Abdul Basit, Khaleej Times Online, February 9, 2011
DUBAI — A majority of Gulf residents across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain wants to start their own business should they get a big prize money, a recent consumer survey finds.
Buying a house and spending on family are among the top three most important focus areas while spending on education and paying back debt come in least priority, according to the survey conducted by Western Union – a leader in global payment services....
By Walter Pincus, Washington Post, February 7, 2011
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak "seeks to avoid conflict and spare his people from the violence he predicts would emerge from unleashed personal and civil liberties. In Mubarak's mind, it is far better to let a few individuals suffer than risk chaos for society as a whole." ....those words were written almost two years ago in a May 19, 2009, cable - classified "secret" - from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
Among additional State Department cables released over the past week and a half by the anti-secrecy Web site WikiLeaks, the handful from Cairo show that U.S. diplomats for years have been aware of Mubarak's views and Egypt's problems. They also show the limited impact that U.S. diplomacy can have on a country when its leader, even a close ally, refuses to deal with what Washington perceives as legitimate failures of its government....
By Hugh Naylor and Chris Stanton, The National, February 8, 2011
CAIRO // The Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, yesterday approved a 15 per cent pay rise for six million government employees.
The move comes after the regime failed to make progress in landmark talks with Islamists, and with opposition leaders continuing to demand that he leave office immediately.
The decision, made during the first full meeting of Mr Mubarak's newly formed cabinet, appeared to be an attempt to shore up his support base....
Egypt’s main opposition party, the Muslim Brotherhood, have rejected calls by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei for an Islamic Revolution similar to the Iranian revolution of 1979 to be established in Egypt.
By Jeremy W. Peters and Verne G. Kopytoff, New York Times, February 7, 2011
...The two companies completed the sale Sunday evening and announced the deal just after midnight on Monday. AOL will pay $315 million, $300 million of it in cash and the rest in stock.....
