The Idiot’s Parade Down Wall Street

HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Update 2008 Washington, D.C., Department of Health 82 pages The Gist: There are few who still shrug off HIV and AIDS as exotic calamities that befall only specific segments of the world’s population. But many of us are probably oblivious to just how badly the virus is ravaging our nation’s capital

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HIV/AIDS: A Surging Epidemic in Washington, D.C.

HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Update 2008 Washington, D.C., Department of Health 82 pages The Gist: There are few who still shrug off HIV and AIDS as exotic calamities that befall only specific segments of the world’s population. But many of us are probably oblivious to just how badly the virus is ravaging our nation’s capital. According to a city report, 3% of Washington, D.C., residents suffer from HIV or AIDS — a figure that ranks as the highest in the nation and far outstrips the 1% benchmark at which a health issue becomes a “generalized and severe” epidemic

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Austria’s Sex-Slave Father Tells His Side of the Story

Ever since Josef Fritzl, the authoritarian patriarch of a sprawling family in the north Austrian town of Amstetten, was discovered to have imprisoned his daughter as a sex slave in a cellar for 24 years and fathered seven children with her, Austria has been locked in an emotional debate over what could cause such a crime. Some have claimed Fritzl’s sadism to be a vestige of Nazism’s moral corruption, others that the psychological strain of living for years under the threat of nuclear destruction was to blame.

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Anger over Northern Ireland ‘reconciliation’

Protesters disrupted the launch of a report Wednesday that focuses on dealing with the legacy of the Northern Ireland Troubles. Bereaved relatives — of both republican and loyalist paramilitaries — stood head-to-head pointing fingers at one another and trading accusations over the deaths of their loved ones, the British Press Association said. The clashes took place as officials and relatives gathered in Belfast for the launch

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Proof of ancient Malaysian civilization found

Researchers with a Malaysian university said they have uncovered evidence of an iron industry that dates to the 3rd Century, A.D., and proves that ancient civilizations in Southeast Asia were more advanced than once thought. In its annual report on human rights, the U.N. warned conditions were deteriorating in the war-ravaged country despite U.S.-led efforts after the 2001 removal from power of the hardline militia.

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FDIC Reports That Bank Failures Are Rising

Sheila Bair, head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation , is working hard to reassure everyone that her banks, all 8,305 of them, are safe. Repeating her familiar mantra Wednesday on the CBS Morning Show, Bair said of FDIC-protected accounts, “Nobody’s ever lost a penny of insured deposits.” Bair had good reason to be out on the stump

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Guantanamo detainees treated humanely, Pentagon report says

A new Defense Department review of detainee operations at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, concludes that the operation does not torture detainees but rather treats them humanely and in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. The report, released to the public Monday, was prepared for President Obama, who has ordered the closing of the facility within a year.

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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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