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Fed workers told: Stay away from those leaked cables Directive notes the content 'remains classified'; Columbia U. also warns future diplomats msnbc.com staff and news service reports NEW YORK - With tens of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables still to be disclosed by WikiLeaks, the Obama administration has warned federal government employees, and even some future diplomats, that they must refrain from downloading or even linking to any.
"Classified information, whether or not already posted on public websites or disclosed to the media, remains classified, and must be treated as such by federal employees and contractors," the Office of Management and Budget said in a notice sent out Friday.
The New York Times, which first reported the directive, was told by a White House official that it does not advise agencies to block WikiLeaks or other websites on government computer systems. Nor does it bar federal employees from reading news stories about the leaks.
Democrats try to regain balance in fight over tax cuts Emboldened Republicans seem unlikely to back down on extending breaks for wealthy taxpayers. By Lisa Mascaro and Kathleen Hennessey, Tribune Washington Reporting from Washington - Congressional Democrats searched for leverage Friday in their bitter debate with Republicans over extending George W. Bush-era tax cuts, lashing out against giving "tax breaks to millionaires" and preparing for a rare weekend session in the Senate on the issue.
But the increasingly aggressive Democratic posture may come too late in the protracted battle over the fate of tax cuts that are set to expire Dec. 31. The White House has indicated it would consider an agreement with Republicans to temporarily extend all tax breaks, even for households earning more than $250,000 annually, if the GOP agreed to concessions and withdrew its block on certain Democratic priorities.
WikiLeaks goes off-line after 'multiple' attacks U.S. firm says denial of service attacks on site threatened nearly 500,000 others msnbc.com staff and news service reports WikiLeaks went off-line late Thursday after a U.S. firm providing its domain name system said the controversial website had come under mass denial-of-service attacks.
EveryDNS.net said it had "terminated" its services to WikiLeaks as the attacks and ones expected in the future would "threaten the stability" of the company's services to nearly 500,000 other websites.
WikiLeaks has been continuing to release classified cables sent by U.S. officials, causing huge embarrassment to diplomats and world leaders amid growing outrage and calls for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be prosecuted under the U.S. Espionage Act.
Fed aid in financial crisis went beyond U.S. banks to industry, foreign firms By Jia Lynn Yang, Neil Irwin and David S. Hilzenrath
Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, December 2, 2010; 12:15 AM The financial crisis stretched even farther across the economy than many had realized, as new disclosures show the Federal Reserve rushed trillions of dollars in emergency aid not just to Wall Street but also to motorcycle makers, telecom firms and foreign-owned banks in 2008 and 2009. The Fed's efforts to prop up the financial sector reached across a broad spectrum of the economy, benefiting stalwarts of American industry including General Electric and Caterpillar and household-name companies such as Verizon, Harley-Davidson and Toyota. The central bank's aid programs also supported U.S. subsidiaries of banks based in East Asia, Europe and Canada while rescuing money-market mutual funds held by millions of Americans.
Estimate of TARP losses falls to $25 billion The projected cost of the $700-billion financial bailout fund drops sharply, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. By Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times
November 30, 2010 Reporting from Washington -
The projected cost of the $700-billion financial bailout fund - initially feared to be a huge hit to taxpayers - continues to drop, with the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimating Monday that losses would amount to just $25 billion.
That's a sharp drop from the CBO's last estimate, in August, of a $66-billion loss for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, known as TARP. Going back to March, the budget office estimated that the program would cost taxpayers $109 billion.
Cables shine light into secret diplomatic channels The confidential material was obtained by WikiLeaks and released despite requests by the U.S. government not to do so By Scott Shane and Andrew W. Lehren WASHINGTON - A cache of a quarter-million confidential American diplomatic cables, most of them from the past three years, provides an unprecedented look at backroom bargaining by embassies around the world, brutally candid views of foreign leaders and frank assessments of nuclear and terrorist threats.
Some of the cables, made available to The New York Times and several other news organizations, were written as recently as late February, revealing the Obama administration's exchanges over crises and conflicts. The material was originally obtained by WikiLeaks, an organization devoted to revealing secret documents. WikiLeaks intends to make the archive public on its Web site in batches, beginning Sunday.
The anticipated disclosure of the cables is already sending shudders through the diplomatic establishment, and could conceivably strain relations with some countries, influencing international affairs in ways that are impossible to predict.
N. Korea preps missiles amid U.S. war games Pyongyang warns of 'merciless' assault if further provoked as joint naval drills begin msnbc.com news services YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea - The sound of new artillery fire from North Korea just hours after the U.S. and South Korea launched a round of war games in Korean waters sent residents and journalists on a front-line island scrambling for cover Sunday.
None of the rounds landed on Yeonpyeong Island, military officials said, but South Korea's Defense Ministry later ordered journalists off the island.
U.S. now in Afghanistan as long as Soviets were The last Red Army troops left in 1989, driven out after nine years and 50 days by U.S.-backed fighters known as mujahedin. Despite contrasts, the U.S. and Soviet wars have common narrative elements. By Laura King and Sergei L. Loiko, Los Angeles Times
November 27, 2010 Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Moscow - As wartime days go, Friday was a fairly quiet one in Afghanistan. Helicopters skittered across the sky; convoys rumbled along desert roads; soldiers in mountain outposts scanned the jagged peaks around them.
But one thing set the day apart: With its passing, the length of the U.S. military's campaign in Afghanistan matched that of the Soviet Union's long and demoralizing sojourn in the nation.ion.
Britain's austerity plan leaves many bracing for painful changes Prime Minister David Cameron plans to slash $128 billion in spending over four years, upending a culture of governmental responsibility in a nation that provides everything from free healthcare to aid for mothers. By Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times Reporting from Wimbledon, England - Britain is about to undergo an extreme makeover. And Festus Grant is worried.
The 71-year-old was crippled by a stroke early this year, and he doesn't know how he would have coped without the "angel of mercy" who knocked on his door a few days after he came home to his modest flat after three months in the hospital.
The care worker from the Stroke Assn. helped him piece his life back together. She arranged follow-up trips to the doctor and signed him up for a shuttle service that takes him shopping once a week.
N. Korea warns of retaliation; Seoul orders security beefed up S. Korea government in emergency meeting; joint exercises with U.S. move ahead msnbc.com news services INCHEON, South Korea - South Korea's president vowed Thursday to boost security around islands near the site of this week's artillery attack by North Korea.
His order to beef up security came as North Korea warned of more "retaliation" if Seoul carries out "reckless military provocations."
"We should not let our guard down in preparation for another possible North Korean provocation," South Korean President Lee Myung-bak said at an emergency government meeting Thursday.
North and South Korea Exchange Dozens of Artillery Shells By MARK McDONALD
Published: November 23, 2010 SEOUL, South Korea - North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire on Tuesday after dozens of shells fired from the North struck a South Korean island near the countries' disputed western sea border, South Korean military officials said.
The South Korean military immediately went to "crisis status," said a Defense Ministry official. There were widespread media reports that Seoul had scrambled F-16 fighter jets but the official declined to confirm whether the planes were in the air.
The South Korean broadcaster YTN reported that one marine had been killed and three others seriously wounded in the shelling on the island, in addition to two civilian casualties. TV footage showed large plumes of black smoke spiraling from the island.
High-seas piracy drama plays out in U.S. courtroom Five Somalis accused of attacking a Navy ship await their fate in the first such trial in almost 200 years. By Bob Drogin, Los Angeles Times Reporting from Norfolk, Va. -
The moon was bright, the sea was calm, and the pirates easily spotted their prey - a large gray ship plodding through waves 576 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia.
Three men jumped from a command boat into an open skiff and raced toward the target. They opened fire with AK-47 rifles as they neared the starboard side, hitting a mast and several life lines.
No one was hurt, and the April 1 incident normally might have drawn little notice. Somali sea bandits have attacked several hundred freighters, tankers and other merchant ships this year. They have successfully hijacked 40 vessels and their crews and held them for ransom..
North Koreans Unveil Vast New Plant for Nuclear Use By DAVID E. SANGER
Published: November 20, 2010 WASHINGTON - North Korea showed a visiting American nuclear scientist earlier this month a vast new facility it secretly and rapidly built to enrich uranium, confronting the Obama administration with the prospect that the country is preparing to expand its nuclear arsenal or build a far more powerful type of atomic bomb.
Whether the calculated revelation is a negotiating ploy by North Korea or a signal that it plans to accelerate its weapons program even as it goes through a perilous leadership change, it creates a new challenge for President Obama at a moment when his program for gradual, global nuclear disarmament appears imperiled at home and abroad. The administration hurriedly began to brief allies and lawmakers on Friday and Saturday - and braced for an international debate over the repercussions.
In Lisbon, they talk. In Afghanistan, they die. Christopher Davies, 22, was the 100th British serviceman to die this year in a war that Nato's leaders - gathered today for a crucial summit - have no idea how to win. By Michael Savage and Kim Sengupta in Lisbon Saturday, 20 November 201 Christopher Davies, a guardsman with the 1st Battalion Irish Guards, has been named as the 100th member of Britain's armed forces fighting in Afghanistan to die this year.
The 22-year-old's death was given extra poignancy yesterday as world leaders gathered to formulate an exit strategy from the bloody and intractable campaign. It has now claimed the lives of 345 British servicemen and women since it began in 2001.
Guardsman Davies, from St Helens, Merseyside, died after being ambushed and shot by insurgents while on patrol in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand Province, on Wednesday.
The peace prize war Nobel ceremony may be cancelled, for the first time in 106 years, after China threatens diplomats in row over jailed dissident By Paul Vallely Friday, 19 November 2010 For the first time in the history of the Nobel Peace Prize the award may not be handed out this year after a strenuous campaign by the Chinese government to stop one of its citizens, the jailed human rights campaigner Liu Xiaobo, receiving the honour.
Under Nobel Prize rules, the 10 million kronor (£880,000) award can only be collected by the laureate or a close family member.
The government in Beijing placed Mr Liu's wife under house arrest as soon as the award was announced last month and his two brothers are under surveillance.
