Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/02/detroit-homes-mortgage-foreclosures-80

Some might say Jon Brumit overpaid when he stumped up $100 (£65) for a whole house. Drive through Detroit neighbourhoods once clogged with the cars that made the city the envy of America and there are homes to be had for a single dollar.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/03/201032744494334.html

The release of a key review of US policy on nuclear weapons has again been delayed as Barack Obama, the US president, pushes officials to back "dramatic reductions" in his country's arsenal of nuclear weapons.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/02/tea-party-coffee-party

Just when the Tea Party movement appeared to be spreading across the US, a radically different vision of America has emerged, courtesy of Facebook. Its title might not be imaginative, but the Coffee Party USA is making waves. In just a month its Facebook page has acquired more than 50,000 fans; and supporters of this left-of-centre alternative were logging their interest at a rate of a thousand an hour today.

Link: http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/319.php

Most people don't pay much attention to electricity, except when the lights are out or when they get their bill. But, they soon will. The most valuable asset in virtually every Ontario municipality is its hydro utility. For 90 plus years, local municipal hydro utilities ran at cost and returned ‘profits’ to residents in the form of lower and stable rates. They were well run and virtually debt free.

Link: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/536227/calling_ron_paul_calling_ron_paul_fed_alert_fed_alert

The word on Capitol Hill is that Senators Chris Dodd, D-Connecticut, and Bob Corker, R-Tennessee, are scheming to lose the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA) -- the office that President Obama and progressive reformers have proposed to protect Americans from the rapacious abuses of big banks and credit card companies -- within the Federal Reserve bureaucracy.

Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6214TT20100302

Dubai's police chief plans to seek the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of Israel's spy agency over the killing of a Hamas leader in the emirate, Al Jazeera television reported.

Link: http://www.henrymakow.com/finding_wholesome_refuge_in_ch.html

As I settled in, my brain unwound. I slowly realized that British people are under the most sophisticated and complete form of psychological terrorism waged in history. An informational atom bomb is dropped every day, dizzying us with mindless trivia, sensationalism and political farce. We are ordered how to act and think down to the smallest detail, manufacturing all-consuming feelings of paranoia and worthlessness. When securely locked into this state of paralysis, our society is easily altered around us.

Link: http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=12264

Whether it's textiles in the Carolinas, paper in New England or steel in the Midwest, most industrial cities and mill towns "are on pins and needles," says Donald Schunk, an economist at Coastal Carolina University. "Day to day, week to week, any manufacturing facility seems vulnerable. People don't know if they'll be there."

Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=50522

As the 11th anniversary of the Mine Ban Treaty entering into effect came and went Monday, the United States remained one of only 37 countries to have yet to sign on to the agreement. The U.S. does, however, comply with many of the provisions of the international treaty, which prohibits the use, stockpiling, production and export of anti-personnel mines.

Link: http://www.newsmeat.com/news/meat.php?articleId=70775458&channelId=2951&buyerId=newsmeatcom&buid=3281

Contractor under fire for faulty electrical work in Iraq awarded contract worth up to $2.8B Military authorities say defense giant KBR Inc. has been awarded a contract potentially worth $2.8 billion for work in Iraq as U.S. forces continue to leave the country.

Link: http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17875

We owe Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney an apology. They were right about Barack Obama. They were right about the corporate state. They had the courage of their convictions and they stood fast despite wholesale defections and ridicule by liberals and progressives.

Link: http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2010/03/raise-taxes-and-cut-spending-why-not.html

The United States must embrace a blend of tax increases and spending cuts to rein in its deficit or face a potentially crippling debt crisis like the one in Greece, a top US lawmaker warned Monday.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/mar2010/tran-m02.shtml

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority is preparing to adopt a savage round of service cutbacks and new attacks on the jobs and wages of transit workers, adding to the suffering in the midst of the biggest economic slump since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Link: http://wsws.org/articles/2010/mar2010/teac-m02.shtml

In a speech before the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington, DC on Monday President Obama hailed the decision by school authorities in Rhode Island to fire the entire teaching and support staff at Central Falls High School. The mass firings ordered by state school officials were part of a national plan developed by the Obama administration to deal with so-called “failing schools.” Seventy-four teachers and 19 other school employees were dismissed after they rejected a “turnaround” plan—authored by Obama’s education secretary Arne Duncan—which would have torn up their contract and forced them to work longer hours without additional pay.

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article7044936.ece

One of the rarest animals in the world has been found trapped in a farmer’s woodpile in snowbound northeastern China. The Siberian tiger cub is the first to be seen in its mountainous home in the 60 years since the Communists took power in China and the discovery of evidence that the endangered animal is reproducing in the wild has delighted experts. Only about 20 Siberian, or Amur, tigers, still roam wild in forests and mountains along the China-Russia border.

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7046044.ece

When the earthquake struck the dirt-poor coastal town of Constitución, José Carrasco was sleeping in the cab of his truck by the beach. “It was really strong, shaking,” he said. Forty-five minutes later he saw the first tsunami wave coming towards him. “The sea came and covered everything. It was 30 metres high. There were two waves. When we saw the sea coming in, everybody ran. I climbed up the hill.”