News of the Americas
- Kansas and Vermont Are the Latest Unemployment Insurance Debtors
by Olga Pierce, ProPublica –
Kansas and Vermont have become the two latest casualties of record unemployment insurance claims. Both states have exhausted their unemployment insurance trust funds and have turned to borrowing from the federal government to keep unemployment benefits flowing.
The 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands operate [...] - US reports record budget deficit
The US government records a budget deficit of 1bn (£147.6bn) in February – the largest monthly deficit in its history.
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- Mexican shakes up world rich list
Mexican Carlos Slim overtakes Bill Gates as the world’s richest man, according to the Forbes “rich list”, with a fortune of .5bn.
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- Haiti situation ‘dire’, Obama says
Barack Obama warns that the crisis in quake-hit Haiti is not over, as he meets the country’s President, Rene Preval.
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- Biden steps up pressure on Israel
The US vice-president renews criticism of Israel over an East Jerusalem building project and calls for bold steps for peace.
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- Higher Corporate Spending on Election Ads Could Be All but Invisible
by Chisun Lee, ProPublica –
The Supreme Court recently freed corporations to spend more money on aggressive election ads. But if businesses take advantage of this new freedom, the public probably won’t know it, because it’s easy for them to legally hide their political spending.
Under current disclosure laws for federal elections, it’s virtually impossible for [...] - Iran attacks US over Afghanistan
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says it is the US, not Tehran, that is playing a “double game” in Afghanistan.
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- US ‘hid terror suspect treatment’
A former UK spy chief says she did not know US intelligence services were mistreating terror suspects until after she retired.
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