Russia admits financial mistakes

Russia’s finance minister made a rare admission of responsibility Monday for the country’s severe economic crisis. The Russian government overspent its vast oil revenues in recent years, fueling inflation, and did not do enough to reduce the economy’s reliance on oil, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said in an exclusive CNN interview. “Of course, I too bear the responsibility for not managing to diversify the economy as much as we wanted,” Kudrin said

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Dodgers field almost 7,000 seekers for 500 part-time jobs

The long lines of parked cars outside Dodger Stadium could have been the typical sign of an afternoon game featuring the Boys in Blue. But the massive crowd of cars at the stadium during the weekend had more to do with income than infield plays. A two-day job fair to fill some 500 part-time jobs during the baseball season, from stadium security to hawking beer during the games, attracted nearly 7,000 applicants.

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EU pledges ‘appropriate’ aid to hurting members

European Union leaders have agreed to provide "appropriate" aid on a case-by-case basis to member nations battered by the global economic downturn, the union’s current president said Sunday. Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek called reports of a split over threats of protectionism an “artificial” controversy over-dramatized by news outlets, and said the EU would use its tools “to the full extent” to offset the impact of job losses among its 27 members. “There has been a clear decision that all member states will get the appropriate assistance in the cases where appropriate,” Topolanek said during an emergency summit in Brussels.

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EU leaders in emergency economic summit

European Union leaders were meeting Sunday for an emergency summit in Brussels amid growing fears that national protectionism will sabotage coordinated efforts to reverse the current economic decline. The summit, called by Czech Prime Minister and President of the European Council Mirek Topolánek and President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, will address the ways in which the individual member states implement their recovery plan and fight the impact of the financial crisis. The meeting follows French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s promise last week to bail out his country’s auto industry if it did not move jobs out of France.

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Elie Wiesel says he can’t forgive Bernie Madoff

Elie Wiesel, the Nazi concentration camp survivor who went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize, showed little inclination this week to make peace with accused swindler Bernie Madoff, whom he called "one of the greatest scoundrels, thieves, liars, criminals." “Could I forgive him No,” the 80-year-old told a panel assembled Thursday by Conde Nast’s Portfolio Magazine at New York’s 21 Club to discuss Madoff, whose alleged victims included Wiesel and his foundation, The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. “To forgive, first of all, would mean that he would come on his knees and ask for forgiveness,” the Auschwitz survivor said

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Woman answers ad for bird by offering kids as payment

Trading two children for a bird landed three people in jail in Louisiana, authorities say. Laura Pendergest-Holt, the third-ranking executive of the Houston-based Stanford Financial Group, was taken into custody by FBI agents and charged with obstruction of a government proceeding. The Justice Department late Thursday said Pendergest-Holt will appear before a federal magistrate in Houston Friday.

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