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 Leo Cendrowicz | TIME: Europe's single currency has come of age early. The euro turns ten on Jan. 1, a milestone for one of the most powerful symbols of European identity. It has already endured a rite of passage over the past few months, as the global financial crisis battered European markets yet failed to fluster the euro. And, like any debutante, it has its suitors: a string of countries lining up to dump their national currencies and join the euro zone.
It's a remarkable achievement for a currency whose only global rival is the U.S. dollar. The greenback has over two centuries of history behind it. But it wasn't until Jan. 1, 1999 that 11 E.U. countries locked their national currencies together into a fixed exchange rate. Three years later physical coins and notes became available, replacing national cash in a massive changeover operation.
The euro zone is now 15 members large and has a combined population of around 320 million. However, many more people are directly affected by the euro, from would-be members whose currencies are already pegged to it, to countries like Montenegro and Kosovo whose effective national currency is the euro. read more
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Kathy M. Kristof, LA Times: Natalie Hickey left her small hometown in Ohio six years ago and aimed her beat-up Dodge Intrepid for the West Coast. Four years later, she realized a long-held dream and graduated with a bachelor's degree in photography from Brooks Institute in Santa Barbara.
She also picked up $140,000 in student debt, some of it at interest rates as high as 18%. Her monthly payments are roughly $1,700, more than her rent and car payment combined. "I don't have all this debt because I was buying stuff," said Hickey, who now lives in Texas. "I was just trying to pay tuition, living on ramen noodles and doing everything as cheaply as I could."
Hickey got caught in an increasingly common trap in the nation's $85-billion student loan market. She borrowed heavily, presuming that all her debt was part of the federal student loan program. But most of the money she borrowed was actually in private loans, the fastest-growing segment of the student loan market.
Private loans have no relation to the federal loan program, with one exception: In many cases, they are offered by the same for-profit companies that provide federally funded student loans. The difference can be costly.
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Hickey got caught in an increasingly common trap in the nation's $85-billion student loan market. She borrowed heavily, presuming that all her debt was part of the federal student loan program. But most of the money she borrowed was actually in private loans, the fastest-growing segment of the student loan market.
Private loans have no relation to the federal loan program, with one exception: In many cases, they are offered by the same for-profit companies that provide federally funded student loans. The difference can be costly.
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The small city of Shawano, Wisconsin is home to a religious cult called the Samanta Roy Institute of Science and Technology, run by a man who has at various times been known as Dr. Samanta Roy, Rama Behera, or Avraham Cohen. This holiday season held a nasty surprise for local residents; the FBI has notified 60 Shawano residents that their names are on a hit list of people whom the cult wants killed. The list includes the town's mayor, who has gone into hiding. Ah, small town values.
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Ten-thirty p.m. in East Oakland. Sirens and gunshots, the soundtrack of this stretch of Fruitvale Avenue, punctuate the air. Dozens of homeless people are gathered beneath a street lamp - some in wheelchairs, some drunk, some ranting furiously to themselves.
Then the Preacherman appears.
Everything stops. read more
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EREZ CROSSING, Israel — Israel maintained its ban on foreign journalists entering the Gaza Strip Friday despite a recent Supreme Court order to allow a limited number of reporters to enter the territory.
The ban has been in place since a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas began to fray on Nov. 5. Israel eased the ban last month but tightened it again after launching its air offensive against Gaza's Hamas rulers a week ago.
A legal challenge by the Foreign Press Association, which represents foreign media in Israel, prompted the court ruling this week to allow groups of up to 12 foreign journalists to cross the border whenever the Erez crossing between Israel and Gaza is open for humanitarian cases.
That was the case on Friday, when Israel opened the crossing to allow nearly 300 Palestinians with foreign passports to leave Gaza. But authorities defied the court order and kept reporters out.
"We call on the Israeli government to immediately honor the will of the court and allow foreign journalists access to Gaza," the Foreign Press Association said in a statement. "The authorities' position that there was not enough time to coordinate and allow the journalists to enter does not seem reasonable." read more
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SloshSpot: While drafting the recent guide outlining the real dangers associated with combining different types of alcohol, I got to thinking about one of the most prominent and outspoken substance-mixers of our time, the late Hunter S. Thompson. A man who graciously documented the uncharted depths of the binge unlike any other in history, HST provided us with nuggets of wisdom and encouragement all along the way. So instead of merely sharing a list of my favorite quotes from the author, I have placed them in their proper environment, the pervasive motivational poster.
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From the site: Prosecute Cheney or Legalize Marijuana? Decide Today.
On December 15, Vice President Cheney admitted on national TV that he authorized torture, including waterboarding. That shocking confession makes Cheney a war criminal. But apart from Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, the Corporate Media barely noticed.
Under the Geneva Conventions, the United States must prosecute Dick Cheney for war crimes. So we submitted this question to President-elect Obama at Change.gov:
"Will you appoint a Special Prosecutor — ideally Patrick Fitzgerald — to independently investigate the gravest crimes of the Bush Administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping?"
— Bob Fertik, New York City
At the end of the first round on December 15, our Special Prosecutor question was #6 but Obama's team only answered the first five, including one on the legalization of marijuana.
The second round began on 12/30 and ends at midnight on 12/31. Once again, marijuana legalization is #1. We need your help to make our Special Prosecutor question #1! read more
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— Bob Fertik, New York City
At the end of the first round on December 15, our Special Prosecutor question was #6 but Obama's team only answered the first five, including one on the legalization of marijuana.
The second round began on 12/30 and ends at midnight on 12/31. Once again, marijuana legalization is #1. We need your help to make our Special Prosecutor question #1!">
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Denis Campbell, The Observer: Britain's parents will be accused this week of "killing their children with kindness", as the government embarks on a new campaign aimed at the growing and deadly problem of childhood obesity.
Graphic examples of children dying early from diabetes, heart disease and cancer will be publicised and the Department of Health will reveal "shocking" levels of ignorance and complacency among parents who are failing to accept responsibility for their children's health.
The campaign will be based on an unpublished DoH report, seen by the Observer, that has been sent to senior NHS managers. It says that three million families with young children need to be better informed to prevent their children becoming dangerously overweight.
In a section entitled "Killing with kindness", it says: "It's hard to say no to your kids, but if you give in every time you're not being kind, you're killing with kindness. Kids who eat the wrong sorts of food and sit around all day are more likely to get heart disease, cancer, diabetes and to die young. Some will die younger than their parents." read more
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Graphic examples of children dying early from diabetes, heart disease and cancer will be publicised and the Department of Health will reveal "shocking" levels of ignorance and complacency among parents who are failing to accept responsibility for their children's health.
The campaign will be based on an unpublished DoH report, seen by the Observer, that has been sent to senior NHS managers. It says that three million families with young children need to be better informed to prevent their children becoming dangerously overweight.
In a section entitled "Killing with kindness", it says: "It's hard to say no to your kids, but if you give in every time you're not being kind, you're killing with kindness. Kids who eat the wrong sorts of food and sit around all day are more likely to get heart disease, cancer, diabetes and to die young. Some will die younger than their parents."">
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Vanity Fair has pieced together a "sweeping draft" of an oral history of the history of the Bush White House--that is, the story of the last eight years as told through first-person quotes from the various people directly involved. It's fascinating but depressing stuff: "The threat of 9/11 ignored. The threat of Iraq hyped and manipulated. Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib. Hurricane Katrina. The shredding of civil liberties. The rise of Iran. Global warming. Economic disaster. How did one two-term presidency go so wrong?" Find out the answer from those who witnessed, and participated in, the debacle.
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Gawker: Hahahaha criminal Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich has exercised his right to make an appointment to the US Senate.
Former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris will be our new Senator from Illinois, filling out the remainder of Barack Obama's term. Burris was the first black man ever elected to statewide office in Illinois! He's lost races for Senator, Mayor of Chicago, and governor during his long and distinguished political career, despite being a well-respected civic leader, and one imagines that this appointment may not work out so well for him either.
Blagojevich, you see, is currently under investigation by the feds for being terribly corrupt, and the Illinois legislature was just recently looking at either impeachment or at least stripping Blago of his right to appoint an interim Senator (which may not be kosher according to the Illinois constitutional?). Meanwhile, Burris "stepped up his efforts to win the governor's support" after Blago was arrested. read more
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