Good Morning.
International Developments
? “Children in the Syrian War: Tortured by One Side, Recruited by the Other”.
? “A huge blast . . . reported in the western Mezzeh suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus”, said to be “a terrorist attempt to target . . . the military airport” in Mezzeh.
? “Iran will send 4,000 troops to aid Bashar al-Assad’s forces in Syria”. “US urges Britain and France to join in supplying arms to Syrian rebels [but UK fears] . . . a growing Sunni-Shia conflict.” UK Prime Minister David Cameron after meeting with Russian President Putin: We “‘can overcome Syria differences.'”
? White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough: “We’ve rushed to war in this region in the past. We’re not going to do it here.” Nonetheless, “‘the scope and scale’ of assistance to Syrian rebels will expand”.
? Moderate candidate, “Hassan Rouhani wins presidential election” in Iran. Update: Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu warns “international pressure on Iran must not be loosened” just because Rouhani won.
? “Turkish police storm protest camp using teargas and rubber bullets: Hundress of security forces move in with bulldozers during a concert for activists, leaving many wounded.” Update: Turkey “Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan rallied tens of thousands of his supporters in Istanbul”, 10 miles from Gezi Park. Update: “Government Targets Doctors Who Treated Injured Demonstrators“.
? “Day Two of the Rupbert Murdorch [sic]-Wendy Deng divorce story turned juicier when ex-British prime minister and Deng pal Tony Blair got dragged into it.”
International Finance
? Imagine the costs of protecting G8 leaders in Ireland: 6-mile “no-sail area”, Black Hawk attack helicopters, a “four-mile ring of steel with razor wire”, detention facilities, 7,000 police officers on high alert with an additional 600 providing backup, “260 temporary prison cells”.
? The British “GCHQ intercepted foreign politicians’ communications at G20 summits: phones were monitored and fake internet cafes set up to gather information from allies in London in 2009.”
? “France has lifted it’s [sic] objection to trade talks between the European Union and the United States, clearing the way for the world’s most ambitious free trade agreement.”
Money Matter USA
? Grrrrrrr. While saddling young people with huge education loans, the US Department of Education is raking in the dough, projecting “a record $50-billion profit on student loans this year.” That’s more than ExonMobil’s profit in 2012 ($44.9bn).
? The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has released “the most extensive collection of records on offshore accounts in history. Search here. What pops up if you type in ‘booz’.
? “The CEOs with the corporate lobby group ‘Fix the Debt’ are pushing a ‘tax reform’ that could almost instantly cost the federal treasury as much as $173 billion” and help sink Social Security and Medicare. Report on some of those CEOs and corporations with $1bn+ hidden offshore (Lloyd and Jamie included).
? “Six former Bank of America . . . employees have alleged that the bank deliberately denied eligible home owners loan modifications and lied to them about the status of their mortgage payments”. Sworn affidavit from one employee.
? Years after a house has been foreclosed upon, lenders are still taking some former homeowners to court.
? “Delays, technical glitches and huge cost overruns in the Air Force’s F-22 fighter jet program highlight the Pentagon’s broken procurement process.” They turned to the F-35 warplane instead, spent $400bn and it’s not working right, either.
? Kevin Orr, appointed by MI Gov. Rick Snyder (R) to be Emergency Manager of Detroit, announced the city “would not pay the $39.7b due . . . to holders of pension-related certificates of participation.” Orr’s going to cut back on “city worker and retiree healthcare and pension benefits”, too. [cont’d.]
Photo by Mickey** under Creative Commons license
