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World News Once a Week |
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| Published Thursday, October 9, 2008 |
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| Reuters/Shamil Zhumatov: An officer shows off a military map in Kazakhstan. |
Issue 120
The latest dose of dire financial news comforted a small segment of the world's population: Americans tired of Europeans escaping the worst of Wall Street's problems.
This week, the credit crisis worsened and the US financial sickness spread rapidly across the pond like so much invasive algae.
You could almost hear the refrain: Take that, Nigel, Jacques, and Helga!
When schadenfreude is your only solace, it might be time to reach for the hard stuff — just don't call Hamid Karzai's brother. If you simply wanted to get a good night's sleep to forget your worries, you couldn't ask for a better sedative than Tuesday
night's snoozefest-cum-presidential debate. But for spicier political happenings, there were plenty of places to look: Thailand, where the country's president had to flee a riot in a helicopter; France, where an intrigue-laden arms-trafficking trial is just beginning; and even New York City, where Michael Bloomberg's bid to serve a third term as mayor could nab him a new award: the Nobel Prize for audacity.
- Benjamin Hart |
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 A Note on Our Sources |
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| Top Stories |
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Econo-meh: credit crisis goes global
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As world markets continue to wilt from the mortgage meltdown, the US Federal Reserve extended up to $900 billion in credit
to bolster faltering banks. This latest intervention follows last week's Congress-approved bailout package, which has done little so far to assuage panicky investors. The Dow has dropped more than 1,000 points since October 1, dipping
below 10,000 for the first time in four years.
After Capitol Hill spent two weeks haggling over America's response to the crisis, Wall Street's woes have spread to international
markets. Stocks tumbled in Europe and Asia, prompting EU lawmakers to propose a coordinated interest-rate cut. Meanwhile, California hinted that it may request a $7 billion loan just to stay in the black.
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Deep in the hole, McCain switches tacks
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To employ the preferred words of a talking head, John McCain "took the gloves off" this week. With Barack Obama leading in traditional swing states (Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida) and even making things competitive in dark-red territory (Indiana,
North Carolina), the Arizona senator attempted to shift focus from the ailing US economy — an issue that's played into Obama's
hands — and back to Obama's character and personal associations.
Helping McCain's cause are his now-almost-100% negative TV ads, as well as an aggressive Sarah Palin, whose recent speeches at rallies have played well to frenzied crowds. However, McCain did not play much offense in Tuesday
night's largely uneventful town-hall debate — leading pundits to wonder whether McCain's advisors are already shifting course on what appears to be a losing strategy.
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Thai government teeters as protests mount
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Violence escalated in Thailand after protesters returned to the streets of Bangkok this week, trapping newly elected prime minister Somchai Wongsawat in Parliament as he delivered his inaugural
policy speech. While the army attempted to disperse the crowd from its barricades with tear gas, Wongsawat managed to escape via helicopter. The debacle left 400 people injured.
Thailand's deputy prime minister resigned soon after, citing a failure of government. Meanwhile, protests have continued, led by the People's Alliance for Democracy
(PAD), which has spent weeks strengthening its opposition to the country's ruling party. The PAD alleges that Wongsawat is
a puppet of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
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| Newswire |
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| Politics |
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Afghan president's brother fights drug rap
Responding to a recent New York Times article, Afghan politician Ahmed Wali Karzai denied any connection to the country's booming heroin trade. Karzai called the
accusations "baseless," while his brother, President Hamid Karzai, condemned them as politically motivated smears.
| New York Times | Globe and Mail |
Legal hijinks shake Ted Stevens trial
Courtroom controversy marred US Senator Ted Stevens' corruption trial after a key witness, oil executive Bill Allen, appeared to have been coached by his attorney during questioning. The testimony
followed the release of tapes that feature Stevens discussing his plight with Allen.
| ABC News | Los Angeles Times |
Cross-border bombings target PKK
In response to recent attacks that left 15 soldiers dead, Turkey launched air strikes targeting 21 Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) strongholds along its
border with Iraq. Turkey has demanded that the Iraqi government take stronger measures to curb Kurdish forces.
| Washington Post | Al Jazeera |
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| Science & Technology |
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Nobel Prize revives HIV-discovery flap
Two French researchers won this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of HIV. However, the committee
pointedly excluded American scientist Robert Gallo, whose lab played a key — if supporting — role in identifying the AIDS-causing pathogen.
| MSNBC | Washington Post |
New tests provide safer prenatal diagnoses
Scientists at Stanford University and Sequenom, a San Diego biotech company, have developed two new methods for diagnosing Down syndrome and other genetic abnormalities in unborn fetuses. The new tests are noninvasive and will provide a safer alternative to
current procedures.
| New York Times | San Jose Mercury News |
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| Blogosphere |
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Tina Brown gets beastly
This week, aristocratic editrix Tina Brown launched the Daily Beast, a current-events website positioned somewhere between Drudge's spartan gossip and Huffington's lefty slant. The site — backed by billionaire media mogul Barry Diller — features an open letter from an Iraq vet to John McCain.
| Fresh Intelligence (Radar) | Gawker |
Term limits, shlerm limits
NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he would seek a third term, thus rewriting city rules. Some bloggers expressed fear and loathing, while the New York Times examined the checkered history of hizzoners who dared to serve for more than eight years.
| Daily Kos | City Room (New York Times) |
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| The Week in Pictures |
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Click to see the full-size image and caption.
 Reuters/Jonathan Ernst
 Reuters/Cheryl Ravelo
 Reuters/Roger Tsien
 Reuters/Luke MacGregor
 Reuters/Rene van Bakel
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*Unless otherwise noted, all photos are courtesy of Reuters.
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| Below the Fold |
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Sri Lanka hunts Tigers
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| Reuters/Stringer |
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Sri Lanka's rebel Tamil Tigers killed 25 people, including a former general, in a suicidal retaliation against an air strike that devastated their headquarters.
As the government closes in on the guerillas' stronghold, many hope their long-running conflict is nearing its final act.
| New York Times | Asia Times |
Ministers fired in mob-murder fallout
Croatian prime minister Ivo Sanader fired two high-ranking cabinet members and a police chief after a defense attorney's daughter was killed in downtown Zagreb. The murder — which Sanader termed a "mafia killing" — follows months of brazen
organized-crime activity in Croatia.
| BBC | Javno |
Elite on trial in Angolagate case
After a seven-year investigation, a tabloid-ready trafficking trial has begun in Paris. Two billionaire businessmen allegedly
engineered illegal arms deals with Angola, amid the country's bloody civil war in the 1990s. Dozens of others, including an ex-president's son, are implicated in the scandal.
| Telegraph | France 24 |
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| Masthead |
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Managing Editor
Benjamin Hart
Deputy Editor
Eli Dvorkin
Contributing Editors
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Nick Earhart
Doug Levy
Jessica Loudis
Production
Adda Birnir
Tom Starkweather
Andrew Steinmetz
Publishers
Mark Mangan
Sascha Lewis
Design
Groundwave Design Corp.
Production Design
Jonathan Rahmani
Cultural Partner
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