Links to the News

Asahi Shimbun, October 10, 2008 Newseum Image

October 10, 2008: Page One from the Tokyo, Japan newspaper, Asahi Shimbun. Here is an excerpt from a story on the BBC News Web site:

Financial crisis: World round-up

A look at the regions of the world most affected by the financial crisis, and what governments are doing to try to alleviate the financial turmoil.

ASIA-PACIFIC

AUSTRALIA: Australia's central bank has cut its key interest rate from 7% to 6% - a much bigger-than-expected reduction. Observers had only expected a half-point cut as inflation is currently above target.

CHINA: China has also joined the interest rate offensive, cutting rates by 0.27 percentage points.

JAPAN: Prime Minister Taro Aso said he would call an emergency summit of the G8 if finance ministers meeting in Washington did not reach agreement to take action on the credit crisis.

He has said more action would need to be taken to boost the country's flagging economy, even after the lower house approved a 1.8 trillion yen ($18bn) stimulus plan and the Bank of Japan put 4.5 trillion yen ($45.5 billion) into the banking system.

SOUTH KOREA, HONG KONG, TAIWAN: The central banks of South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan have joined the growing number of countries to cut their interest rates.

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The Tennessean, October 8, 2008 Newseum Image

October 8, 2008: An excerpt from a story in The Tennessean:

Economy rules Nashville debate
Candidates repeat their main themes

By BILL THEOBALD 

Democrat Barack Obama promoted his plans to invest billions in federal spending to boost the failing economy during Tuesday night's presidential debate, while Republican John McCain said tax cuts and tightening federal spending are the cure to what has become the central issue in the campaign's final weeks.

The 90-minute town hall forum at Belmont University's Curb Event Center was tepid compared with the pre-debate hype that McCain would attack Obama's character and Obama would respond in kind.

Instead of going on the attack, the two repeated themes they have sounded throughout the campaign in response to questions submitted to debate organizers and those asked by a selection of 80 uncommitted Middle Tennessee voters who joined the candidates on the stage. And at times, it was Obama who was the more aggressive in his jabs at McCain.

"We are in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression," Obama said in response to the first question. "This is a final verdict on the economic policies of the last eight years."

"Americans are angry, upset and a little fearful," McCain said on a day when the Dow Jones industrial average hit its lowest level in five years.


(See also: Poynter's Links to the News page,
"Presidential Debate History.")
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St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 3, 2008 Newseum Image

October 3, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

They hit their marks

By JO MANNIES

Vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin and Joe Biden spent most of their time defending or attacking the two men at the top of their tickets — John McCain and Barack Obama — in a 90-minute debate Thursday night touted as a potential game-changer.

Whether the Biden-Palin confrontation will live up to its billing as the most consequential vice presidential debate in history may not be known for days, when analysts and public opinion polls weigh in.

Immediately after the debate, aides and activists in both camps praised their candidate's performance. Observers agreed that both avoided the kind of major gaffe that can send approval ratings plummeting.

Palin, the Republican governor of Alaska, repeatedly emphasized McCain's promise to keep most of the current federal income tax breaks in place, while challenging Obama's promise to raise taxes only on people who earn more than $250,000 a year.

Palin said Obama would end up hiking taxes on far more Americans.

Biden, a veteran U.S. senator from Delaware and a Democrat, defended Obama's tax proposals while hammering at McCain's plan to tax employer-provided health insurance and give families an annual $5,000 tax credit to buy their own coverage.

Biden said McCain's health-insurance plan amounted to a tax increase on many Americans and would leave millions of them without insurance coverage. Palin disagreed.

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The Miami Herald, October 1, 2008 Newseum Image

October 1, 2008: An excerpt from a story in The Miami Herald:

After 50 years, NASA is at a crossroads
For 50 years, the sky has been the limit for America's space agency. But the view of the future now looks cloudy

By EVAN S. BENN

Nearly half a century ago, Sam Beddingfield walked into the NASA office and asked for a job, confessing he didn't know a thing about rockets.

"'It's OK," they told him. "No one does."

Wednesday marks the 50th anniversary of the agency's birth, when President Dwight Eisenhower promised the United States would lead the race to space.

The vision for the next 50 years is just as clear -- revisit the moon, send astronauts to explore Mars and beyond -- but the bottomless supply of money that fueled the agency's early success is no more.

(See also: Poynter's Links to the News page,
"History of U.S. Space Flight.")
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Chicago Tribune, Sept. 30, 2008 Newseum Image

September 30, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the Chicago Tribune:

How low will it go?
Dow plunges 778, the biggest point drop ever, as bailout deal is rejected

By GREG BURNS and MARK SILVA 

Brace yourself for a wild time on Wall Street in the days ahead, after Monday's smackdown of a $700 billion bank bailout plan sent fearful investors racing for the exits.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 778, the biggest point drop ever, with financial companies leading the plunge amid partisan finger-pointing on Capitol Hill.

The rescue legislation fell 13 votes short of approval in the House, a stunning rank-and-file rebuke of the plan hammered out by congressional leaders days earlier, prompting top lawmakers and the Bush administration to push for a compromise later this week.

"What happened today cannot stand. We must move forward," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, "and our work will not be finished until that is done."
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The Advocate, Sept. 28, 2008 Newseum Image

September 28, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the Stamford, Connecticut newspaper, The Advocate:

He left his mark on all he touched

By BRIAN LOCKHART 

Paul Newman, whose cool blue eyes gazed from silver screens and supermarket shelves for decades, also will be remembered in Connecticut as a family man, philanthropist, liberal political voice and neighbor.

Newman, a 10-time Academy Award nominee, died Friday at 83, surrounded by family and close friends at his Westport farmhouse after a long battle with cancer, publicist Jeff Sanderson said Saturday.

His death came nine months after he and Joanne Woodward celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. During those five decades, Newman portrayed iconic film characters Fast Eddie Felson, Butch Cassidy, Cool Hand Luke and Hud Bannon; won an Academy Award for acting; raised daughters Elinor ("Nell"), Melissa and Clea; raced sports cars; and greeted neighbors who regularly spotted him in pizza parlors and supermarkets.

The neighbor

Newman and Woodward first came to Westport when "Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys" was filmed in the town. The 1958 comedy featured the couple as a suburban husband and wife on opposite sides when the government decides it is the perfect place for a nuclear missile base.

They settled in Westport after their Jan. 29, 1958, wedding. Woodward later said that when they moved to the town - spending $96,000 in 1960 for a house and two barns - they came for the same reason that drew so many to the suburbs in that era: They wanted a quiet place to raise their children. 
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Northeast Mississippi Journal Sept. 27, 2008, Newseum Image

September 27, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the Northeast Mississippi Journal:

The World Watches
In Oxford Debate, Candidates Spar Over War and Taxes

By BETH FOUHY (Associated Press)

OXFORD, Miss. -- John McCain accused Barack Obama of compiling "the most liberal voting record in the United States Senate" tonight in the first debate of their close campaign for the White House. The Democrat shot back, "Mostly that's just me opposing George Bush's wrong-headed policies."

Obama said his Republican rival has been a loyal supporter of the unpopular president across the past eight years, adding that the current economic crisis is "a final verdict on eight years of failed economic policies promoted by President Bush and supported by Sen. McCain."

The two men clashed over spending, taxes, energy and -- at length -- the war in Iraq during their 90-minute debate.

McCain accused his younger rival of an "incredible thing of voting to cut off funds for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan," a reference to legislation that cleared the Senate more than a year ago.

Obama disputed that, saying he had opposed funding in a bill that presented a "blank check" to the Pentagon while McCain had opposed money in legislation that included a timetable for troop withdrawal.

Obama opposed the invasion of Iraq in 2002, before he was a member of Congress, while McCain voted in the Senate to authorize the war.

"You were wrong" on Iraq, Obama repeated three times in succession. "John, you like to pretend the war began in 2007."

McCain replied that Obama has refused to acknowledge the success of the troop buildup in Iraq that McCain recommended and Bush announced more than a year ago.

The 47-year-old Obama is seeking to become the nation's first black president. McCain, 72, is hoping to become the oldest first-term chief executive in history -- and he made a few jokes at his own expense.
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The Washington Post, Sept. 25, 2008 Newseum Image

September 25, 2008: An excerpt from a story in The Washington Post:

Bush Calls Bailout Vital to Economy, Will Meet With McCain and Obama

By LORI MONTGOMERY and PAUL KANE 

President Bush said yesterday that the credit crisis that has seized world markets could devastate the U.S. economy unless Congress acts quickly to approve a $700 billion bailout plan for the nation's financial system, a message aimed at reluctant lawmakers as much as a deeply skeptical public.

"Our entire economy is in danger," Bush said in an address from the White House, emphasizing that the massive bailout was not targeted at "any individual company or industry. It is aimed at preserving America's overall economy."

Warning that "America could slip into a financial panic," Bush blamed the crisis on "easy credit" in the housing market and "the faulty assumption that home values would continue to rise." As mortgage loans went bad and borrowers defaulted, he said, investors have succumbed to a "widespread loss of confidence" that threatens to shut down consumer lending, decimate the stock market, cause businesses and banks to fail -- and cost millions of Americans their jobs.

"Ultimately, our country could experience a long and painful recession," Bush said. "Fellow citizens, we must not let this happen."
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Iltalehti, Sept. 24, 2008 Newseum Image

September 24, 2008: Page One from the Helsinki, Finland newspaper, Iltalehti. Here is an excerpt from a story on the BBC News Web site:

Finnish college gunman kills 10

A gunman has killed 10 people at a college in the town of Kauhajoki in Finland before shooting himself and later dying in hospital.

Media reports named the gunman as Matti Juhani Saari, 22, a trainee chef at the vocational college.

The suspect posted a video of himself on the internet last week firing a gun.

As a result of this, police interviewed him on Monday but decided they did not have enough evidence to revoke his licence, the interior minister said.

The minister, Anne Holmlund, said an investigation would now try to determine whether mistakes were made.

Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said this was a "tragic day" for Finland.

The attack echoed a shooting spree at a Finnish school last year which left nine dead, including the gunman, who had also posted an internet video.

 

(See also: Poynter's Links to the News page,
"School Shootings (1997-2008).")
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Philadelphia Daily News, Sept. 23, 2008 Newseum Image

September 23, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the Philadelphia Daily News:

You may be left holding the bag

By WILL BUNCH

It's the biggest government bailout package ever, some $700 billion to keep Wall Street and the American financial system afloat after a poorly regulated credit binge and a still-bursting housing bubble. Yet some four days after the massive federal intervention was proposed, only three things seem cast in stone.

1) Everybody hates it.

2) It's going to happen anyway.

3) You're going to pay for it, or at least certainly your children and their children will.

Public outrage spread yesterday as details of the Wall Street bailout package - in which the government would buy up billions of dollars of so-called "toxic debt" - leaked out. It was blasted by experts on the right ("It costs taxpayers money - don't do it," conservative tax fighter Grover Norquist told Politico.com) and on the left (said former Labor Secretary Robert Reich: "The public doesn't like a blank check.")

But what does it mean for you?
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Los Angeles Times, Sept. 22, 2008 Newseum Image

September 22, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the Los Angeles Times:

These Emmy Awards are not a popularity contest

By SCOTT COLLINS

When the 1960s period piece "Mad Men" won the Emmy for outstanding drama series at Sunday's 60th annual Emmy Awards, it made history in at least two ways. It became the first basic-cable program to take top series honors. But it also added a more dubious mark: Compared with previous Emmy series winners, "Mad Men" is by far the least-watched, with an average of fewer than 1 million viewers tuning in during its first season last year. That's a fraction of the audience of even NBC's ever-ratings-challenged "30 Rock," which again took the comedy prize this year.
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Daily News, Sept. 22, 2008 Newseum Image

September 22, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the New York Daily News:

Legends make last curtain call at Yankee Stadium

By MARK FEINSAND, OREN YANIV and BILL HUTCHINSON

It began 85 years ago when Babe Ruth christened Yankee Stadium with a home run to right field. It ended Sunday night as it should have, with wild applause for the greatest Yankees - past and present - who brought 26 World Championships to the historic baseball cathedral.

The grand finale had the feel of a World Series game with red, white and blue bunting hanging from the decks and was capped with a storybook 7-3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.

In a ceremony packed with cheers and tears and enough nostalgia to fill both the House That Ruth Built and the new ballpark across E. 161st St., fans screamed before the last game began as living legends Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford and Reggie Jackson, among other heroes, walked out onto the field for the final time.

"I hate to see it go. It will always be in my heart," said the 83-year-old Berra, decked out in vintage Yankee pinstripes. The greatest living Yankee, with 10 World Series rings, received a massive ovation.
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The Times, Sept. 22, 2008 Newseum Image

September 22, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the Johannesburg, South Africa newspaper, The Times:

Mbeki: 'Thank you and goodbye'

By Staff Reporters

Ousted President Thabo Mbeki yesterday denied that he interfered with the National Prosecuting Authority's decision to charge ANC leader Jacob Zuma, and he described as "gratuitous" claims that he abused his office.

Announcing his resignation as president last night, Mbeki defended his legacy, which suffered a major blow when a Pietermaritzburg High Court judge ruled that he and his cabinet had interfered with the work of the independent prosecuting authority.

"We have never done this and therefore never compromised the right of the NPA to decide whom it wished to prosecute or not to prosecute. This applies equally to the painful matter relating to the court proceedings against the president of the ANC, comrade Jacob Zuma," Mbeki said.

The ANC decided to "recall" Mbeki at its national executive meeting this weekend following a damning judgment by Judge Chris Nicholson a week ago suggesting that his government was involved in a political conspiracy against Zuma.

(See also: "On-the-Ground Resources for Covering South Africa." By Bill Mitchell, Poynter Online, Sept. 22, 2008.)
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DAG, Sept. 19, 2008 Newseum Image

September 19, 2008: Business news from the Amsterdam, Netherlands newspaper, DAG. Here is an excerpt from a BBC News story:

Shares surge on US bail-out plan

....News of a US bail-out emerged after a meeting with Congress members late on Thursday, when US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced plans to introduce new laws to buy hundreds of billions of dollars of bad debt from banks.

This, he said, was at the heart of the almost unprecedented malfunction of the banking system, which has caused havoc in world stock markets this week.

"We talked about a comprehensive approach that will require legislation to deal with illiquid assets on financial institutions' balance sheets," he said.

Mr Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke are expected to thrash out the details of the plan over the weekend.
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Financial Times Deutschland, Sept. 18, 2008 -- Newseum Image

September 18, 2008: Page One from the Hamburg, Germany newspaper, Financial Times Deutschland. Here is a story excerpt from a Financial Times Web site:

Central banks act to calm markets

By RALPH ATKINS and NORMA COHEN 

The world's main central banks on Thursday unveiled an emergency $180bn injection of dollar liquidity in the latest attempt to halt the escalating global financial market crisis.

The US Federal Reserve announced it was making available the extra funding to overnight and longer-term money markets. In a joint statement, the European Central Bank, the Bank of Japan, the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and Swiss National Bank pledged they would "continue to work closely together and will take appropriate steps to address the ongoing pressures."

Their action followed the dramatic escalation of financial market tensions following the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the rescue of the AIG insurer and the continuing crisis on Wall Street. By Wednesday, lending between banks in Europe and in the US had in effect halted.
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New York Post, Sept. 16, 2008 Newseum Image

September 16, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the New York Post:

THE NEW YORK SHOCK EXCHANGE
STOCKS PLUMMET 504 PTS. AMID LEHMAN CRISIS

By ERIC LENKOWITZ

The epic collapse of Wall Street titan Lehman Brothers, combined with the virtual demise of Merrill Lynch and fears for the world's largest insurance company, sent stocks into a frenzied freefall yesterday as Wall Street grappled with financial chaos not seen since the Great Depression.

The benchmark Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 504 points by the market close - a loss of nearly 4.5 percent - to 10,917.51, the sixth-largest drop in history and the worst since the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

A stunning $700 billion in investor wealth was erased - a direct hit on retirement plans, government pension funds and other investment portfolios.

The Standard & Poors 500, a broader stock market indicator, fell 59 points - or 4.71 percent - to 1,192.
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The Wall Street Journal, Sept. 15, 2008 Newseum Image

September 15, 2008: An excerpt from a story in The Wall Street Journal:

Crisis on Wall Street as Lehman Totters,
Merrill Is Sold, AIG Seeks to Raise Cash

By CARRICK MOLLENKAMP, SUSANNE CRAIG, SERENA NG and AARON LUCCHETTI

NEW YORK -- The American financial system was shaken to its core on Sunday. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection, and Merrill Lynch & Co. agreed to be sold to Bank of America Corp.

The U.S. government, which bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a week ago and orchestrated the sale of Bear Stearns Cos. to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in March, played much tougher with Lehman. It refused to provide a financial backstop to potential buyers. Without such support, Barclays PLC and Bank of America, the two most interested buyers, walked away. Barclays said Monday it pulled out of the potential deal after deciding it wasn't in the best interest of shareholders.

Early Monday morning, Lehman filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Lehman said none of the broker-dealer subsidiaries or other subsidiaries of LBHI will be included in the Chapter 11 filing and all of the broker-dealers will continue to operate. Customers of Lehman Brothers, including customers of its wholly owned subsidiary, Neuberger Berman Holdings LLC, may continue to trade or take other actions with respect to their accounts, Lehman said.

On Sunday night, Bank of America struck an all-stock deal to buy Merrill Lynch for $29 a share, or $50 billion.
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Houston Chronicle, Sept. 14, 2008 Newseum Image

September 14, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the Houston Chronicle:

A night of heroes, but hell for some who stayed

By LINDSAY WISE

After Hurricane Ike plunged Galveston into darkness Friday night, the residents of a small retirement community on 61st Street used flashlights to signal to each other across their small courtyard.

Ed Raymond started to worry when he didn't see an answering blink from his neighbor, Margaret Winters, 79. She uses a wheelchair and lives alone with her cat in a first-floor apartment.

By the time the waters started to rise, it was too late for Galveston emergency personnel to reach her. So Raymond, 66, marshaled forces with the handful of others who rode out the storm and mounted their own rescue.

"I told 'em they were going to have so many stars in their crowns, they wouldn't be able to hold up their heads," said a relieved Winters Saturday afternoon after escaping the flood that destroyed her home and most of her belongings.

All those who decided to stay on the Island come hell or high water found themselves doing just that as Hurricane Ike unleashed its wrath, relying on their own ingenuity and the kindness and bravery of others as a powerful storm surge flooded streets and homes.
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Daily News, Sept. 12, 2008 Newseum Image

September 12, 2008: An excerpt from a story in the New York Daily News:

McCain, Obama call truce on Sept. 11 Ground Zero visit

By MICHAEL SAUL and CORKY SIEMASZKO

Barack Obama and John McCain declared a brief truce in their fierce presidential battle Thursday and descended together into the crucible of America's pain to honor the Sept. 11 attack victims.

In an extraordinary show of unity 54 days from the election, Obama and McCain shook hands and then walked down a long ramp into the depths of Ground Zero.

Mayor Bloomberg and McCain's wife, Cindy, followed the candidates, whose smiles gave way to more somber expressions the deeper they went. Obama's wife, Michelle, was home in Chicago with their daughters.

The candidates were greeted at the bottom of the ramp by relatives of 9/11 victims. They gave Obama, the Democrat, a pink rose. They gave McCain, the Republican, a yellow rose.

Obama and McCain carried them to the reflecting pool, which was choked with hundreds of roses placed there earlier by the relatives of the 2,751 who died seven years ago.