Nobody said it would be smooth sailing … The New York Times reports that Eric Holder, Barack Obama’s pick to be attorney general, was much more involved in Marc Rich’s pardon than has previously been acknowledged. The most meaty paragraph:Mr. Holder had more than a half-dozen contacts with Mr. Rich’s lawyers over 15 months, including phone calls, e-mail and memorandums that helped keep alive Mr. Rich’s prospects for a legal resolution to his case. And Mr. Holder’s final opinion on the matter—a recommendation to the White House on the eve of the pardon that he was “neutral, leaning toward” favorable—helped ensure that Mr. Clinton signed the pardon despite objections from other senior staff members, participants said.In the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks, stories of horror and bravery … The terrorists targeted foreigners, including Jews, and apparently tortured most of the Jewish hostages before executing them. But as it is in all horrible events, stories are also emerging of acts of heroism. Vishnu Datta Ram Zende, the public-address announcer for Mumbai’s largest train station, calmly evacuated the entire station after he heard a large explosion. Just as the station cleared, attackers reached Zende’s booth and fired inside it. The announcer was unhurt.We’re in for the long haul … The Dow is up in early trading Tuesday, after falling almost 680 points Monday on news that the U.S. economy has been in a recession since last December. The National Bureau of Economic Research has the task of determining a recession’s beginning and end, and it said the recession began when businesses began cutting jobs in late 2007. The more scary news is that some analysts are saying the downturn won’t end until 2010.Thai court dissolves government and planes are set to fly … Thailand’s Constitutional Court ruled the coalition of parties currently in power committed electoral fraud in the 2007 election that brought them to power. Although current Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat did not resign, as anti-government protesters had hoped, he accepted the court’s decision and said he would enter private life again. Executives from the banned parties, including the prime minister, are barred from participating in politics for five years. The protesters that had kept planes flying for a week at Bangkok’s largest airport said it would reopen to traffic again by Friday.Barack or Britney? That’s an easy choice … A captivating election, a new face on the political scene—nothing could unseat Britney Spears as the top Yahoo search in 2008, for the fourth year in a row. More frightening is that Barack Obama was only the third-most-searched-for topic—WWE was No. 2.
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