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Good Morning!
The ceiling in an Indian restaurant in lower Manhattan.
August 24, 2011. Photo credit: joanneleon
News
Occupy Wall Street Protestors Take Fight to Broadway; 80 arrested [ VIDEO ]
At least 80 protestors involved with the movement were detained near Union Square in Manhattan; some accusing the police officers of using overly-aggressive tactics as they fought to control the demonstrators who left their camp near Wall Street to march up Broadway. Police say the arrests were mostly for blocking traffic; charges included disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Protest spokesman Patrick Bruner criticized the police response as "exceedingly violent" and said the protesters sought to remain peaceful.
Other protestors were yelling, "Banks got bailed out, we got sold out," and called on shoppers to join them in their march.
Al Jazeera English:
Protesters arrested in anti-Wall Street rally
Police crack down on 'Occupy Wall Street' protests
Police have been accused of heavy-handed tactics after making 80 arrests on Saturday when protesters marched uptown from their makeshift camp in a private park in the financial district.
Footage has emerged on YouTube showing stocky police officers coralling a group of young female protesters and then spraying them with mace, despite being surrounded and apparently posing threats of only the verbal kind.
[ ... ]
The scenes are showing signs of attracting high-profile criticism. Anne-Marie Slaughter, who was director of policy planning, at the State Department from 2009 to 2011, said on Twitter: "Not the image or reality the US wants, at home or abroad," linking to a picture of a police officer kneeling on a protester pinned to the ground.
EU given six weeks to protect itself against 'inevitable Greek default'
European Union governments will spend the next six weeks building a financial firewall to protect their fragile banking systems against what is now seen as an inevitable Greek default.
G20 sources said that up to 50% was likely to be wiped from the face value of Greece's €350bn debt – but not until Europe had put into place a war chest to prevent the contagion spreading.
[ ... ]
Europe came under ferocious pressure at this weekend's IMF meeting in Washington to contain the spiralling crisis, which is blamed for dragging the global economy to the brink of a double-dip recession. The IMF is reportedly willing to continue bailing out Greece in the short-term, provided that Europe uses the time to tackle the issue of debt once and for all. The Washington-based lender believes the 18-month delay since Greece was first bailed out last spring has exacerbated the crisis.
Tim Geithner, the US treasury secretary, said: "The threat of cascading default, bank runs and catastrophic risk must be taken off the table, otherwise it will undermine all other efforts, both within Europe and globally.
As children's hospitals expand, costs and questions rise, too
WASHINGTON — Rising from a 60-acre field of old cypress swamp and cattle pasture near the Orlando airport, the seven-story Nemours Children's Hospital will be a monument to "best-in-class" care, its leaders boast.
That may be the case. But at a cost of about $400 million, the equivalent of $4.2 million for each of its 95 beds, Nemours also will rank among the more expensive children's hospitals ever built when it is completed next year. Some people believe construction never should have begun.
Florida health planners twice rejected Nemours' applications for a new hospital, noting that Orlando already had two children's hospitals; most cities have only one. A third hospital could duplicate existing services, driving up costs for insurers, employers and policyholders.
The regulators reversed themselves in 2008, however, after Nemours, a wealthy Jacksonville-based foundation, mounted an extensive marketing campaign and lined up scores or politicians and civic boosters, including former Gov. Jeb Bush.
Obama to host online town hall about jobs
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Less than six months after President Barack Obama visited Facebook, the president will use another Silicon Valley social network, LinkedIn in Mountain View, Calif., to host an online discussion about jobs on Monday.
"During the town hall, the president will answer questions about job creation and the economy from members across the country and hear directly from LinkedIn users who range from small business owners and employees to community college students to veterans," the White House announced in a posting Tuesday on LinkedIn. The president will speak from the Computer History Museum, near LinkedIn's headquarters.
Obama considers military commission in US for Hezbollah commander held in Iraq since 2007
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is considering a military trial in the United States for a Hezbollah commander now detained in Iraq, U.S. counterterrorism officials said, previewing a potential prosecution strategy that has failed before but may offer a solution to a difficult legal problem for the government.
While the U.S. hasn’t made a decision, officials said a tribunal at a U.S. military base may be the best way to deal with Ali Mussa Daqduq, who was captured in Iraq in 2007. He has been linked to the Iranian government and a brazen raid in which four American soldiers were abducted and killed in the Iraqi holy city of Karbala in 2007.
No military commission has been held on U.S. soil since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. President George W. Bush tried holding a few suspected terrorists at military bases inside the U.S., but each detainee ultimately was released or transferred to civilian courts.
Cartoon of the week selected by McClatchy:
Joel Pett / Lexington Herald-Leader (September 23, 2011) | McClatchy cartoons for the week of 9/18/11