WORLD NEWS
14 Americans Die in Afghan Helicopter Crash
Fourteen Americans were killed in Afghanistan on Monday in two separate incidents involving helicopters. Seven soldiers and three civilian employees of the United States embassy — all of them Americans — were killed in a helicopter crash in western Afghanistan, military officials said. And in southern Afghanistan, the midair collision of two coalition helicopters resulted in the deaths of four American soldiers. A spokeswoman said gunfire from insurgents was not to blame for the collision.
ECONOMY
Retail gas prices are spiking to levels last seen in the heat of summer driving season, raising fears that consumers could cut back on holiday spending.
The average price for a gallon of regular gasoline rose for the 13th straight day, adding sixth-tenths of a cent overnight to $2.671, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.
Cost Cutting CEO Slices ING in Two
Jan Hommen, the veteran cost-cutter who earlier this year took the reins at ING Group NV, the Dutch bancassurer bailed out by the government, has made the ultimate cut.
ING said on Monday it would split itself in two, disposing of its insurance operations over the next four years and raising 7.5 billion euros ($11.3 billion) in a rights issue.
Merkel Says Saving Won’t Pull German Out of the Slump
Chancellor Angela Merkel said that spending is necessary to pull Germany out of its worst recession in modern history, justifying her government’s focus on tax cuts to generate economic growth.
Merkel, in a speech to a convention of her Christian Democratic Union in Berlin today, stood by tax cuts worth 24 billions euros ($36 billion), more than the 15 billion euros she had pledged before the Sept. 27 elections. Delegates approved the coalition’s policy platform for the next four years, after the Free Democrats backed the program yesterday. The Christian Social Union, Merkel’s Bavarian ally, approved it at a meeting in Munich, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported.
Considering how the story of the balloon boy was all over the news and the Twitter community yesterday, we are going to break from some of our traditional news reels and add a bonus link to the “balloon boy” story. Thankfully the six-year-old was at home and safe while the world feared the worst.
‘Balloon boy’ dad: It wasn’t a stunt
Upset that anyone would think he would stage a stunt involving his own son and a homemade flying-saucerlike balloon, and struggling with still-raw emotions, Richard Heene called Thursday’s riveting drama played out in the skies over northern Colorado a “horrible moment.”
ECONOMY
Bank of America Posts Third-Quarter Loss on Defaults (Update3)
Bank of America Corp., the biggest U.S. lender, posted its second quarterly loss in less than a year, unable to shake off effects of the economic contraction that drove the company to take two taxpayer bailouts.
Production in U.S. Increases More Than Anticipated (Update2)
Industrial production in the U.S. rose more than three times as much as anticipated in September, putting manufacturing at the forefront of the emerging economic recovery.
THE WORLD
Pakistan faces new wave of Taliban attacks
Pakistan’s army chief briefed the country’s top leaders Friday on the tenuous security situation as the government combats a new wave of attacks believed to have been orchestrated by Taliban militants.
HEALTH
Local people, agencies prepare for H1N1 outbreak
It’s October and flu season’s here. But along with concerns about the seasonal flu that typically occur this time of year, health agencies are warning people about the H1N1 flu virus.
H1N1 was originally called “swine flu” because tests showed that many of the virus’ genes were similar to ones that normally occur in pigs in North America. But further study showed that the new virus is very different, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
During this episode of McCuistion Television’s, “How America Is Seen in the Arab and Muslim World,” Dennis McCuistion is joined by Fawaz Gerges, Ph.D. Fawaz Gerges is the author of Journey of the Jihadist: Inside Muslim Militancy and the Christian A. Johnson Chairholder in International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Sarah Lawrence College.
In the wake of 9/11, Americans were seen favorably by most people in the Middle East. Dr. Gerges, a Middle East scholar, who spends time researching how America is viewed in the Arab and Muslim world has traveled from Lebanon, to Yemen, Syria to Jordan and Algeria. He believes that today the feeling against America has both consolidated and hardened. According to Dr. Gerges,
“There is a deep anger and rage, some of which has come about as a result of the Iraq war… There is a problem. We are losing the average Muslim, the floating middle ground, and this is a red flag.”
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Dr. Gerges, who spent over 16 months in the region, interviewed hundreds of policy makers, opinion makers and Jihadists. He talks about his work as, “a book of voices. I let militants and Jihadists tell their own stories.”
Join us and Dr. Gerges as he shares his ideas as to why America was attacked on 9/11 and illuminates the differences between Jihadists and Islamists. He talks about why we should care about not alienating Muslim public opinion and why we are seen as a colonial power.
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