WASHINGTON — Mixing politically moderate proposals with a punchy tone, President Obama challenged lawmakers on Thursday to “pass this jobs bill” — a blunt call on Congress to enact his $447 billion package of tax cuts and new government spending, designed to revive a stalling economy and his own political […]
By Khaled Neimat, JORDAN TIMES AMMAN – The government will continue to subsidise bread for all social segments, according to a senior official. In a meeting with the editorial staff of Al Rai and The Jordan Times dailies on Wednesday, Prime Minster Marouf Bakhit dismissed as “baseless” reports that the […]
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — With job creation taking center stage in American politics, the oil industry Wednesday made a pitch for drilling more widely. With looser restrictions, the industry says it could deliver 1.4 million new jobs, boost tax rolls by $800 billion, and increase domestic energy production almost 50%. […]
Source: The New York Times Author: Christine Hauser Stocks in the United States staged a relief rally Wednesday, with the broader market rising almost 3 percent on momentum from a court ruling in Germany backing euro-zone bailouts and market rebounds in Europe and Asia. Bank stocks in particular, which had […]
Coutesty: The Earth Institute, Columbia University When El Niño Warmth Hits, Tropical Conflicts Double 2011-08-24 The long war leading to South Sudan’s recent independence began during the powerful El Niño drought of 1983. In continuing hostilities, southern fighters display a grenade launcher captured from northern Sudanese, July 2011. (Trevor Snapp/Global […]
Courtesy: Thestreet.com NEW YORK (TheStreet) — The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Friday afternoon that it had sued 17 large banks, alleging violations of federal securities laws in the sale of mortgage-backed securities to government-sponsored enterprises, including Fannie Mae (FNMA_), Freddie Mac (FMCC_). . Ally Financial, for $6 billion in […]
Switzerland remains the most competitive country, according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report for 2011-2012. The report, published on Wednesday, cited Switzerland’s technological capabilities and the effectiveness of its labour market as reasons for its good results in the overall rankings. It also said that Swiss scientific research […]
PARIS — As the stock and bond markets seem eerily similar to the dark days of 2008, Jean-Claude Trichet and Mario Draghi, the current and incoming chiefs of the European Central Bank, pointedly urged European leaders to move quickly to ensure that the euro zone’s debt crisis does not become […]
AMMAN (Jordan Times) – Around 1.7 million students from across the Kingdom will head to schools today, including 500,000 in private and UNRWA schools. The Ministry of Education has completed preparations for the 2011-2012 scholastic year, including opening 35 new schools, in addition to renovating 60 schools. With around 16,000 […]
by Samuel Jaberg in Madagascar, swissinfo.ch Each year, 200,000 hectares of forest vanish in Madagascar as trees are cut down to provide wood for heating and charcoal for cooking. One Swiss organisation is trying to turn the tide, backing the production of solar cookers as a more eco-friendly alternative to […]
The economy failed to add new jobs in August, the first time there has been no increase in net jobs in the United States in 11 months. The flat performance was down sharply from a revised 85,000 gain of jobs in July, the Labor Department said Friday, and was far […]
Washington (CNN) – Only a third of all Americans approve of how President Barack Obama is handling the economy, according to a new national survey. And with a CNN/ORC International Poll also indicating that more than three-quarters of the public say the country is in bad shape right now, there’s […]
Coin World reports that the feds are looking to seize liberty dollars from collectors and those using the coins instead of inflation-ridden Federal Reserve notes. Officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office said on August 24 that the coins are contraband. The Secret Service, the federal agency responsible for confiscating counterfeit […]
BY REZA MAARASHI, ALJAZEERA ENGLISH International sanctions have exacerbated the pain of the middle class struggling with high levels of unemployment. Iranians’ displeasure with their government is palpable and transcends demographics. Before the contested 2009 presidential election, few were satisfied with the government’s performance. Since then, this displeasure has only […]
Warren Buffett comes to the rescue, again. On Thursday, Berkshire Hathaway, run by Mr. Buffett, announced plans to invest $5 billion in Bank of America, a vote of confidence for the beleaguered financial firm. The conglomerate has agreed to buy 50,000 preferred shares that will pay a 6 percent annual […]
by Pierre-Francois Besson, swissinfo.ch Gold, a safe haven just like the Swiss franc, is breaking records and should continue on its upwards spiral, expert Frédéric Panizzutti tells swissinfo.ch. Panizzutti, vice president at Geneva-based gold trading group MKS Finance, says gold’s advantage is that it can be exchanged all over the […]
Seven weeks after it was put on sale, Hewlett-Packard killed its TouchPad tablet, the company’s competitor to Apple’s iPad. Last year, Microsoft pulled the plug on its Kin mobile phonesonly 48 days after they went on sale. In recent years, technology companies have been cutting their losses with increasing speed. […]
Citigroup Inc. (C) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC) were the reigning champions of finance in 2006 as home prices peaked, leading the 10 biggest U.S. banks and brokerage firms to their best year ever with $104 billion of profits. By 2008, the housing market’s collapse forced those companies to […]
DEARBORN, Mich. — Ford Motor Company and Toyota Motorsaid on Monday that they would jointly develop a gas-electric hybrid fuel system for pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles aimed at keeping larger models affordable as the automakers work to meet stricter fuel-economy standards. The companies said they did not plan […]