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For release at 2:00 a.m. EDT Central banks have been employing coordinated measures designed to address the pressures in global money markets. Most recently, central banks have acted together to inject dollars into the overnight markets. Using their reciprocal currency arrangements (swap lines) with the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank (ECB), and the Swiss National Bank today are announcing the introduction of operations to provide U.S. dollar liquidity with a one-week maturity. These operations are designed to address funding pressures over quarter end. Central banks continue to work together closely and are prepared to...

In 2007, "remittances," money sent back by Mexican workers to families in Mexico, beat out tourism as the second largest source of foreign money into the country. Only oil exports accounted for more. That is $24 billion that was taken out of the American economy. It was not spent in American stores. Best Buy sold fewer televisions. Ford sold fewer cars and trucks. Winn Dixie and Safeway sold fewer groceries. U.S. Steel sold less steel. And yes, even Exxon/Mobil sold less gasoline than it could have. Those fewer sales curtailed the growth of jobs for Americans in those companies. It...

Few Americans have heard of credit default swaps, arcane financial instruments invented by Wall Street about a decade ago. But if the economy keeps slowing, credit default swaps, like subprime mortgages, may become a household term. Credit default swaps form a large but obscure market that will be put to its first big test as a looming economic downturn strains companies’ finances. Like a homeowner’s policy that insures against a flood or fire, these instruments are intended to cover losses to banks and bondholders when companies fail to pay their debts. The market for these securities is enormous. Since 2000,...

Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, may use the Russian ruble in trading on its new oil exchange, the country's ambassador to Moscow said. "Big energy producers like Iran and Russia should try to free the world of dollar slavery," Ambassador Gholamreza Ansari said on Moscow's Ekho Moskvy radio station today. The two nations already cooperate in nuclear energy and may start closer coordination of natural-gas production. Russia holds the world's largest gas reserves, followed by Iran, and together they produce of almost a fifth of the world's oil. The two share the goal of finding...

January 28, 2008 - - The Granholm administration today announced that nine Michigan elementary and middle schools will receive more than $1.6 million in federal "Safe Routes to School" funding for safety improvements and education programs that will encourage students to travel safely between home and school. "We want to protect the health and safety of our Michigan children," said Governor Jennifer M. Granholm. "This program offers our children encouragement and opportunities to walk or bike to school. These schools are to be commended for the neighborhood and community-building efforts they accomplished in developing action plans and pursuing these grants...

The weak dollar is threatening the survival of European planemaker Airbus, chief executive Tom Enders told workers in Hamburg on Thursday. And the firm once again warned that its cost saving plan would have to cut deeper to counter the impact of the weakening US currency. Airbus is owned by European aerospace and defence group EADS. "The dollar's rapid decline is life-threatening for Airbus," Mr Enders said in the speech to employees.

SIERRA VISTA — Sunday’s protest at the Fort Huachuca Main Gate called for 25 off-duty Sierra Vista police officers to clock in for overtime. A total of 32 officers worked the event, of which 25 were on overtime, for the approximate seven-hour detail, city Lt. Adam Thrasher said. Officers’ time sheets aren’t due until Monday morning, so exact numbers are not yet available. The city will spend an estimated $7,000 in overtime pay as a result of the approximate 175 man-hours used during the event, Thrasher said. For events that may occur in city right of way but are not...

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has suggested an end to the trading of oil in US dollars, calling the currency "a worthless piece of paper". The call came at the end of a rare Opec summit, and was opposed by US ally Saudi Arabia. The Iranian president had wanted to include the attack on the dollar in the summit's closing statement.

LONDON (AFP) - Oil prices jumped to fresh historic highs on Monday, breaching 93 dollars for the first time on mounting concerns about tight energy supplies worldwide, analysts said. Investors pushed up crude futures to new peaks as more bad news in the shape of Mexican production cutbacks came on top of already serious tensions in the Middle East. Also supporting oil prices Monday was a weak dollar and OPEC's reluctance to increase output ahead of the northern hemisphere winter when demand for heating fuel spikes. "There are supply concerns around," CMC Markets trader Nas Nijjar said. New York's main...

WASHINGTON, Oct 23 - Top Chinese oil and gas producer China National Offshore Oil Corp has no plans to bid on future drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico that are offered by the U.S. government, a top company official said on Tuesday. "We today are not interested in the Gulf of Mexico because we are a smaller company," Yang Hua, CNOOC's chief financial officer and executive vice president, told reporters after speaking to a China-U.S. conference in Washington.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2007 – President Bush will ask Congress for another $42 billion to fund operations in the war on terror in fiscal 2008, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates told the Senate Appropriations Committee today. (Video) Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates testifies on supplemental war funding before the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sept. 26, 2007. Photo by Cherie A. Thurlby  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Gates; Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte; Marine Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Defense Department Comptroller Tina W. Jonas testified before the committee. The request...

The dollar fell to a record low versus the euro on Tuesday after the Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by an aggressive half a percentage point to prevent the U.S. economy from weakening further on turmoil in the credit and housing markets. Policy-makers reduced the benchmark lending rate between banks by the most since November 2002 to 4.75 percent, the lowest level since May last year. It was the first rate cut in four years. The Fed also lowered the discount rate it charges for direct loans to banks by a half-point. Traders sold the dollar as lower...

Staff at a hotel in western Sweden have received what must be their best-ever tip: shares worth 1.5 million kronor ($225,000). The shares have been given to the staff of the Laholmen Hotel in Strömstad, on the Norwegian border, by 93-year-old Stockholmer Matts O Westerberg. He has been a regular guest at the hotel since 1986. The dividends from the shares are to be given to the hotel's employee of the year. "I was given such a fantastic welcome from my very first visit that I have been back for a couple of weeks in the spring and a couple...

WASHINGTON, April 27, 2007 – About 120 fourth- and fifth-grade students and their chaperones representing J.W. Alvey Elementary School in Haymarket, Va., presented a check for $20,000 to the Pentagon Memorial Fund today during a ceremony at the Pentagon. Jim Laychak (right), the president and chairman of the Pentagon Memorial Fund’s board of directors, helps hold an over-sized donation check presented to him by Candace Rotruck (seated), the principal at J.W. Alvey Elementary School, April 27, at the Pentagon. As this year’s service project, the school’s students held a walk-a-thon that raised $20,000 for the Pentagon Memorial Fund. Photo...

February 6, 2007 Tax dollars support sickness masquerading as art at Sundance Film Festival Recently I sent you information on two films featured at the Sundance Film Festival. One, "Hounddog," featured a scene where a 12-year-old girl was raped. The other film, "Zoo," was about a man having sex with a horse. AFA has learned that your tax dollars were used to support the Sundance Film Festival. The National Endowment for the Arts gave between $100,000 and $249,000 to help underwrite the festival, and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) gave between $50,000 and $99,999. The National Endowment for the Arts...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 5, 2007 – In the fiscal 2008 defense budget request, submitted to Congress today, President Bush is requesting $235.1 billion to fight the global war on terror through 2008. Part of that total is a $93.4 billion emergency supplemental measure to cover the cost of operations in the war on terror for the remainder of fiscal 2007. This supplemental request is in addition to the $70 billion previously provided by Congress. The supplemental budget provides $39.3 billion to sustain warfighting operations, including supplies, support and maintenance, according to documents released by the Defense Department. It also includes:...

Some very worrisome news came out of China this Saturday — but it got a little more than a blip in the U.S. press. At a high-level financial conference this past weekend, China’s Premier Wen Jiabao said, “China would actively explore and expand the channels and methods for using [its] foreign exchange reserves.” Considering that the bulk of China’s reserves are in U.S. dollars, it should send tremors about the future of the greenback. The dollar has been reeling in recent years. A shift by China out of dollars — as Wen is hinting — could be catastrophic. China’s reserves...

Minorities are starting to fight employers over the use of credit history in hiring. Lisa Bailey worked for five months at Harvard University as a temp entering donations into a database. When the university made the job a salaried position, Ms. Bailey, who is black, saw a chance to lift herself out of dead-end jobs. Bailey's superiors encouraged her to apply, she says, but turned her down after discovering her bad credit history. Bailey, with her lawyer, has lodged a complaint against Harvard charging racial discrimination. The reason: Studies show that minorities are more likely to have bad credit, but...

TEHRAN: Iran announced Monday it has ordered the central bank to use euros for foreign transactions and transform the state's dollar-denominated assets held abroad into the single European currency. "The government has ordered the central bank to replace the dollar with the euro to limit the problems of the executive organs in commercial transactions," government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters. "We will also employ this change for Iranian assets in dollars held abroad." Elham implied that the move would apply to oil revenues from the world's number four crude producer, although it remains to be seen how the market...

A torturous debate left the Los Angeles City Council sharply divided by race Tuesday as members weighed whether to restore a settlement offered to a black firefighter whose dinner had been laced with dog food... ... At their lawyer's recommendation, council members initially voted to pay $2.7 million to keep it from going to trial. But last week — amid a storm of public reaction — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa vetoed the action, setting the stage for Tuesday's council session. ...With a decision expected today, all three black members — Bernard C. Parks, Jan Perry and Herb Wesson — said they...

Source say country intends to switch foreign currency surplus from dollars to euros, in order to pay external debts and combat US economic sanctions Roee Nahmias A Syrian source told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that Syria has begun taking a number of significant steps to deal with US sanctions barring trade between the two countries. According to the report, Syria has decided to exchange its foreign currency surplus - some USD 20 million - to Euros, and use the sum to pay off external debts. Furthermore, Euros were used as the currency in recent agreements with a number of countries,...

Nation's economic growth leaves some areas behindBy Liz Sidoti Associated Press Unemployment rates in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virgiria are higher than the national average. Kentucky - 6.3 percent Ohio - 5.8 percent Indiana - 5.7 percent West Virginia - 5.4 percent FALMOUTH, Ky. - Used boots fetch $3 and old salt-and-pepper shakers bring in a buck at a makeshift flea market along U.S. 27, presumably not what President Bush and Republicans have in mind when they herald a vibrant economy. Times are "very good for the rich and very, very bad for the poor" who "can't afford to...

<p>Normally a person’s religious beliefs are no one else’s business.</p> <p>Unless, of course, it leads to the terrorist act that kills thousands of people in the collapse of two skyscrapers, or in the killing of dozens of others in subway bombings, hotel bombings, railroad bombings and international wars.</p>

USA Citizens Day - July 1st Immigration Control Rally Nationwide Rally on Saturday, July 1st, at noon, at your City HallMay 1st - Million of Illegal Aliens Marched in our StreetsTwelve million illegal aliens demonstrated their political power, and declared May 1st to be A Day Without Undocumented Workers ( illegal aliens ). They boycotted the USA, all US businesses and institutions. Millions of them marched in our streets, carried Mexican flags, shouted "Si se puede!", and demanded new laws from our Congress. July 1st - U.S. Citizens Nationwide Rally for Immigration ControlRally to stop our continuous invasion by...

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C.-- (March 7, 2006) -- Active duty and reserve service members who are legal residents of the state of Massachusetts may be eligible to receive a chunk of change from their state government. According to the state’s official website, www.mass.gov, the ‘Welcome Home’ Bonus program is administered by the state Treasurer’s office. It provides a one-time $500 or $1000 tax-free payment to service members activated since September 11, 2001. Those who have served in Afghanistan or Iraq will receive $1000, and those who have served domestically or in other foreign countries for a period of...

TEHRAN, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Iran has reportedly begun moving its assets from European banks in an effort to protect its supplies of foreign exchange from sanctions. "We transfer foreign currency reserves related to all sectors including oil foreign exchanges to wherever it is good for us and we have started this transfer," Ebrahim Sheibani, governor of Iran's central bank, told the Iranian Student News Agency. The International Atomic Energy Authority has scheduled a meeting Feb. 2 to discuss whether to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council. The country could face sanctions for re-starting its uranium enrichment program.

FRIENDSWOOD — We were told Friendswood school district voters overwhelmingly voted to pass an $8.2 million school district bond package Tuesday. Then we get the numbers Prop 1 For: 533 — 83 percent Against: 108 — 17 percent Prop 2 For: 520 — 82 percent Against: 112 — 18 percent. Is it just me or are these numbers weird. How many eligible voters are in this district? Did anyone know a Bond Election was taking place ? Here are the number of those who voted in the School Board Election a few weeks ago: Results Position 3: Rebecca Hillenburg 2,154,...

BEIJING - North Korea is financing illicit activities by printing up bogus U.S. $100 bills and passing them abroad to banking centers such as Macau, the former Portuguese colony now under China's control, a senior U.S. Treasury official charged Friday. The counterfeit bills are of such good quality that they've come to be called "super notes," said Stuart Levey, the Treasury undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

NEW ORLEANS - Searing heat and lack of electricity throughout New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina ruined hundreds of thousands of bottles of rare wines by degrading corks and cooking the contents. Owners fear that even those bottles that appear to have survived the hurricane may hold spoiled wine. This city's once-vibrant culinary industry, already beaten back by disaster, has been further injured by damage to its wines. Losses are estimated to be as much as tens of millions of dollars. Private collectors, restaurants and distributors are preparing to destroy much of their stock. Insurance companies are just...

Sunday, 10/23/05. Destination America, part one, is about the history of different people(s) coming to America. During the Mexican segment, and while showing the happy documented and undocumented people as a group who are celebrating a festival-mexicali-event in a city park in Chicago, the narrator states that although some only make $100.00 per week, they manage to always send money back home to their family and ... Here, I lost something in the translation. Although the narrator was, speaking perfect english. ......"they send back a total of $14 Billion a year, to Mexico." (and then:) "with that money the Mexican...

WASHINGTON (AP) - California will get nearly $23 billion to improve highways, roads and public bus and rail systems under a six-year transportation bill approved by Congress. The measure will send some $6 billion more to California than the previous, six-year federal highway bill, which expired nearly two years ago. Congress had to approve a series of temporary extensions of the old act before the House and Senate approved the new bill on Friday. The bill will send jobs and construction to nearly every corner of the state. Among the hundreds of projects: $59 million for seismic upgrades to the...

Every so often, in the hushed galleries of Congress, history unfolds in a manner that casts the momentous business of Capitol Hill in stark, even humbling relief. Then there are moments spent discussing the Whizzinator. Yesterday morning in Room 2123 of the Rayburn Building, Rep. Bart Stupak, a sober-voiced Democrat from Michigan, held up an advertisement for the "drug-test subversion device," which received national attention last week when it was learned that an NFL player had been detained at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport after authorities found the state-of-the-art prosthetic in his luggage (with a packet of dehydrated urine). The player...

Under the Hammer-May 5, 2005 By John Hammer This news is so shocking that it made the front page of The New York Times. The Public Broadcasting System has a liberal bias. It’s hard to believe, but according to the new Republican chairman of the board of the Public Broadcasting Corporation, National Public Radio and Television have a decidedly liberal point of view. It has shocked the employees at the national broadcasting system that a Republican would accuse them of not being nice to Republicans. According to a rumor, one senior producer even said he had invited a Republican over...

Bishop Jenkins in Louisiana isn’t the only Episcopal Bishop reduced to begging. This letter, from Bishop Dorsey Henderson of the Diocese of Upper South Carolina to each and every communicant of the Diocese reveals a dire financial situation. Due to the decisions of 13 churches to withhold funds, says the Bishop, the Diocese is staring a nearly $500,000 deficit in the face. That's just about a sixth of their total budget. Bishop Henderson, in his wisdom, goes on to include some interesting comments about the situation he faces. You can see that the consequence of reduced giving is suffering which...

As first reported by Tim Carney on March 2, the U.S. government's Export-Import Bank has given preliminary approval to $5 billion in direct loans or loan guarantees to the China National Nuclear Corp., a Chinese government agency with a history of proliferating nuclear-weapons technology to Iran and Pakistan. In response to follow-up inquiries by HUMAN EVENTS, the White House has been coy about the issue. White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan on March 14 said, "If you're talking about peaceful civilian purposes, that's one matter. If you're talking about proliferation, that's another matter." When asked specifically about the CNNC's reported...

WASHINGTON (AP) - California would get more than $25 billion in highway and public transportation money under a giant transportation bill that passed the House of Representatives this week. Hundreds of projects would be funded - from $400 million to extend Los Angeles' light-rail Gold Line through East Los Angeles, to $11 million for a seismic retrofit of the Golden Gate Bridge, to $153 million for the Mission Valley East light-rail extension in San Diego. The bill also includes language to allow California's law letting hybrid cars into carpool lanes to take effect. All 53 California House members voted Thursday...

A Castroite state-controlled media organ reports that El Barbudo is incensed about Cuba not having enough doctors in Cuba in this news item here. Oh really? It's enough to make me wonder if he's almost as oblivious to economics as El Supremo. Of course there aren't enough Cuban doctors, Castro! You sent them off to be spies in Venezuela! Cubans have noticed this. And so have Venezuelans! Daniel researched that Misión Barrio Adentro program and found quite a bit of evidence of such shenanigans here. You've got plenty of Cuban doctors, Castro. It's just that when you send them to...

WASHINGTON - President Bush's second inauguration will cost tens of millions of dollars — $40 million alone in private donations for the balls, parade and other invitation-only parties. With that kind of money, what could you buy? _200 armored Humvees with the best armor for troops in Iraq. _Vaccinations and preventive health care for 22 million children in regions devastated by the tsunami. _A down payment on the nation's deficit, which hit a record-breaking $412 billion last year. _Two years' salary for the Mets' new center fielder Carlos Beltran, or all of pitcher Randy Johnson's contract extension with the New...

The U.S., as usual, is providing the lion's share of relief to the tsunami victims. The first major international help to arrive in Thailand came in 9 USAF C-130s laden with emergency supplies from Yokota AFB in Japan. Two U.S. Navy battle groups are speeding to the region. This military assistance is not counted as part of the $35 million in aid the U.S. government has so far pledged, which is more than any other country. Total U.S. government aid eventually will exceed $1 billion, Secretary of State Colin Powell said. My wife is Jewish, but she insisted we make...

They say that if you stack the US Tax Code one page upon another, the pile of paper will reach into the heavens. I’m sure that’s true, for two very simple reasons. First, like most laws written in Washington, those seeking special consideration in the code have lobbied for language that addresses their individual concerns, and nearly everyone is seeking special consideration these days. Second, if “we the people” knew exactly what Washington was doing with all of our hard earned money, there would be a lynch mob on the steps of congress before sundown…so keeping the details buried in...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

It seems folks or sort of pessimistic in the Diocese of Missouri. Although they passed a "wishful thinking" budget at their convention, they don't think they'll ever see the money. The Diocesan Council is anticipating a shortfall of $87, 850 for the year. So what's on the chopping block? International missions and youth programs, for starters. I'm starting to sound like a broken record but didn't I read somewhere, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also"? Hat tip, Christopher Johnson!

Frédéric Desagneaux, consul general of France for San Francisco, is not happy with the light being shown on his country’s involvement with U.N. corruption in Iraq. Poor thing. Yesterday, the independent committee investigating corruption in the U.N.’s “oil-for-food” program for Iraq made public the names of 3,545 companies that sold goods to Saddam. Also published were the names of 248 companies which received Iraqi oil under the program. Through oil-for-food, Saddam stole “$10.1 billion through oil smuggling and kickbacks from suppliers.” Leave it to the U.N. to pull off one of the biggest scandals in world history. Evidence is emerging...

A Very Real Conspiracy… Written by JB Williams ©2004-10-07 As an answer to every Bill Clinton indiscretion or any democratic anti-American policy blunder, Hillary Clinton made famous the phrase “right wing conspiracy”. There never was one of course, but it always accomplished the much needed diversion from the endless stream of Clinton scandals by shifting focus off of the immediate scandal, onto the imaginary conspiracy. However, a very real conspiracy is underway in America today, it isn’t coming from those “nasty right wingers”, and the proof is all around us. The Democratic Party has been promoting the idea that Republicans...

Many on the left, most visibly Presidential contender John Kerry, often claim that the "coalition of the willing" is weak and that participation from the international community has been minimal if anything. Opponents of President Bush use such claims in order to discredit the legitimacy of this noble endeavor for freedom. It may not be such a bad idea to look at the state of our coalition, not in an effort to attack President Bush, but rather to conduct a healthy reassessment and critique of the coalition and our allies. Several weeks ago, Michael Rubin returned from the Coalition Provisional...

/begin my translation N. Korean Situations(1 bn dollars in circulation) Although many S. Korean figures visit N. Korea, they are always escorted by N. Korean minders. Essentially, they cannot stray from showcase locations. They have no choice but sanitize their account of travel since their livelihood depends on maintaining fair relationships with N. Korea. In contrast, the accounts of N. Korean defectors now residing in S. Korea, who make frequent visits to Sino-N. Korean border, are refreshing. N. Korea drastically beefed up border guards. However, guards are rather interested in finding people they help to cross the border because they...

HAVANA – Stores selling everything from cigarettes to refrigerators for dollars reopened Monday, two weeks after Cuba's communist government abruptly shut them down to raise prices because of U.S. measures squeezing the island's economy. The government imposed price increases of up to 25 percent for alcohol, 22 percent for gas and 15 percent for electrical goods in the island's 5,000 dollar-only stores. The opening of the stores and the price increases were announced in a front-page article in the Communist Party daily Granma. "Oh my, the prices have really risen," said Gracie Zaeta, 46, who went to the Plaza Carlos...

ESPN.com news services The "bridge is burned." All-Pro cornerback Ty Law does not want to play another game for the Patriots. Citing "irreconcilable differences," Law said he has told Patriots coach Bill Belichick and vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli his desire to play somewhere else after being "lied to" about their intentions, according to the Boston Globe. "Right now, it's not about money," Law told the Globe this week. "That bridge is burned. I no longer want to be a Patriot. I can't even see myself putting on that uniform again, that's how bad I feel about playing...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryJanuary 3, 2004 President's Radio Address      Audio THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Two years ago this month, I signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act, the most important reform of public education in a generation. In that landmark law, we made our expectations clear: every child in America will learn to read, write, add and subtract at grade level. Schools are now required to test children regularly to make sure students are learning and that schools are teaching well. And when schools do not show progress toward high standards, we're giving parents better...

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryDecember 6, 2003 President's Radio Address      Audio THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This week we received additional reports that America's economy is gaining strength. In November, our nation added 57,000 new jobs and the unemployment rate fell to 5.9 percent. In the past four months, 328,000 Americans started work at new jobs. In the third quarter of 2003, worker productivity rose at a 9.4 percent annual rate -- the fastest pace since 1983. Rising productivity means rising wages. And productivity gains help companies keep prices low, which allows American families to stretch their paychecks further....