US takes 36% stake in CitiGroup; US to remove most troops from Iraq in 19 months; Livni says Kadima will not join Netanyahu coalition…
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Related subjects: Africa, Economic Recovery, Gender Equality, Iraq, Middle East, Obama administration, Obama's 1st 100 days, Security & Surveillance, The Global Intercept, The Vote, U.S. Economy, U.S. Politics Comments Off
CitiGroup announces deal to let US government take 36% stake in firm, up from 8% stake, a move that will intensify regulatory scrutiny and possibly move firm toward solvency by way of nationalization. Move is third rescue in five months in ongoing effort to save massive banking operation.
Obama announces plan to remove most US combat forces from Iraq within 19 months. Plan would leave an estimated 50,000 US personnel in country to provide training, equipment, security and targeted counter-terrorism combat capacity.
Israel’s opposition Kadima party will not join Netanyahu government, says party leader Tzipi Livni after talks fail to yield viable program for governing from principles in line with Kadima platform. Netanyahu will have to turn to more extreme right-wing parties to form government, Livni says Kadima will form “responsible opposition” to Likud rule.
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Women’s rights group opens Morocco-based chapter, aims to combat abuse to women, raise awareness of need to protect women’s rights. VOA reports:
A French women’s rights group that led major marches to denounce violence to women in France’s immigrant heavy suburbs is opening its first formal chapter in the Muslim world – in Morocco. But the reception is mixed for the group, with some finding its name – as well as its existence, offensive.
Five years after it was launched, the rights group, Ni Putes Ni Soumises, or Neither Whores nor Submissive, has become a household name in France. It has fought hard against forced marriages and other abuses against women here, particularly immigrant women – many of whom live in poor income neighborhoods in cities and suburbs.
Obama’s budget, described by “ambitious” and seeking to protect against fallout from major economic faultlines, shifts tax incentives from 20th century energy priorities (i.e. fossil fuels) to cleaner technologies, innovation and entrepreneurship, in order to build greener, more sustainable market economy.
The FY2010 budget represents a significant increase over last year, but most of increase is accounted for by simply declaring war spending and other supplemental appropriations in the actual budget legislation. Republicans are gearing up for a major legislative fight, but the NY Times reports “Democrats are open to President Obama’s ambitious spending plan, saying it represents a new era of honesty in budgeting”.
Unemployment in the US soars, as a record 5 million are now collecting unemployment insurance. The Commerce Dept. has revised figures estimating annualized GDP output for the 4th quarter of 2008, saying it now believes the US economy shrank by 6% in the last three months of last year.
Pres. Obama has said he needs Americans broadly, Congress and the business world to recognize that there may be “things there would be nice to have” but that the economic emergency situation is dire enough that policy must be focused on what is responsible and what will create long-term growth and stability.
The US State Dept. has accused the regime of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe of murdering at least 193 people in 2008, for opposition to the authoritarian leader. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister in a power-sharing arrangement, toured a struggling Harare hospital and promised to come up with the cash necessary to improve the quality of treatment available.
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