Storm Fallout: A Florida Exodus?

After the 2000 presidential election debacle, a friend of mine in New York voiced a snide but widely shared sentiment: “The best thing about Florida,” he told me, “is that it’s a place to keep Floridians.” I’ve often said the same thing about Manhattan. But I’m recalling my friend’s remark now as I look east and see hurricanes lining up in the Atlantic like bombers on an aircraft carrier, threatening to blow mango trees into my Miami living room from now until Halloween.

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Report: Domestic surveillance program relied on flawed analysis

The highly controversial no-warrant surveillance program initiated after the September 11 terrorist attacks relied on a "factually flawed" legal analysis inappropriately provided by a single Justice Department official, according to a report to Congress on Friday. The report was compiled by the inspectors general of the nation’s top intelligence agencies, the Pentagon and the Justice Department. The report, mandated by Congress, provides fresh context to information previously leaked in press accounts and buttressed by both congressional testimony and books written by former officials involved in the surveillance effort

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Obama at G-8: Full recovery ‘still a ways off’

President Obama said Friday that leaders of the industrialized nations have agreed to continue fueling economic growth while strengthening regulatory measures but they also realize that full recovery is "still a ways off." Obama listed some of the achievements of the Group of Eight summit this week in Italy as the conference neared the end, and he stressed the need for collective action. In addition, the G8 nations agreed to stop the spread of nuclear weapons, set goals for reducing carbon monoxide emissions and invest $20 billion in food security

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Zimbabwe military blamed for bloodshed in diamond mining

Illegal diamond mining by Zimbabwean troops is leading to bloodshed and attacks against civilians, said a global watchdog group formed to cut the flow of so-called "blood diamonds." Residents and workers contributed accounts of attacks detailed by the interim findings of the Kimberley Process after a weeklong investigation in Zimbabwe. The probe started days after a Human Rights Watch report accused the nation’s armed forces of violently taking over the diamond fields in Marange district and killing about 200 people since last year.

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