‘Dire’ economy shaking Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s new prime minister on Sunday called the country’s economic situation "dire and serious" and asked the international community for help. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said Zimbabwe will have to “borrow and beg” because it needs urgent attention. “Please, be in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe,” he said during a gathering marking the 10th anniversary of his Movement for Democratic Change party, held in Gweru, about 190 miles (300 kilometers) from Harare, the capital.

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Will the Recession Doom the Last Sunday Blue Laws?

A handful of state legislatures have declared it’s closing time for Sunday alcohol sales restrictions, saying an extra day of sales could give their foundering budgets a much-needed shot of revenue. Those states — Georgia, Connecticut, Texas, Alabama and Minnesota — enjoy overwhelming voter support for an extra day of sales, but face opposition from members of the Christian right, who say that selling on Sunday undermines safety and tears apart families. “During times of economic stress, our families are under enough pressure,” says Jim Beck, the president of the Georgia Christian Coalition

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NAACP calls for firing of N.Y. Post cartoonist

Leaders of the NAACP on Saturday called for the firing of the New York Post cartoonist whose drawing lampooning the federal stimulus bill has drawn charges that it’s racist and encourages violence toward President Obama. Speaking at the civil rights group’s annual meeting in New York, NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous said that if Sean Delonas is not fired, the group will call for protests of the paper and Fox television affiliates, which are owned by Post parent company News Corp. “There is consensus that if the Post does not ..

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BBC: Iran held ‘backroom’ talks with Western diplomats

Iran offered to stop attacking coalition troops in Iraq nearly four years ago in an attempt to get the West to accept Tehran’s nuclear program, a British diplomat told the BBC in an interview aired Saturday. “The Iranians wanted to be able to strike a deal whereby they stopped killing our forces in Iraq in return for them being allowed to carry on with their nuclear program — ‘We stop killing you in Iraq, stop undermining the political process there, you allow us to carry on with our nuclear program without let or hindrance,” said John Sawers, now the British ambassador to the United Nations, in the documentary, “Iran and the West: Nuclear Confrontation.” The United States and other Western nations believe Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons program, but Iran says it is developing nuclear capability to produce energy.

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Karzai, Pelosi talk counter-terrorism, reconstruction

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Afghan President Hamid Karzai America’s "new strategy" in Afghanistan will focus on reconstructing the war-battered country and maintaining strong counter-terrorism measures, his office said.

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With a New Budget, Now Californians Brace for the Pain

Thanks to the California state budget that was approved early Thursday morning, my husband and I — relatively new citizens of the Golden State — will help bridge the extraordinary $42 billion deficit next year by paying approximately $1,000 in additional taxes, fees and loss of dependent tax credits. And this figure will remain at that level only if we make no purchases for 12 months in an effort to avoid the new 1-cent-on-the-dollar increase in sales tax. It is, of course, a better option than getting laid off, not receiving our 2008 tax refund or being unable to drive through an abandoned highway repair project — the brutal realities of a state in freefall with no balanced budget

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Gitmo detainees treated humanely, U.S. report says

WASHINGTON (CNN) — A new Defense Department report concludes that the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, treats detainees humanely, to a department official with knowledge of the report. The conclusion comes in a Pentagon report prepared for President Obama, who has ordered the closing of the facility within a year.

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