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A Chinese ratings house has accused the United States of defaulting on its massive debt, state media said Friday, a day after Beijing urged Washington to put its fiscal house in order.

Debt talks to speed up, taxes still a hurdleBy Andy Sullivan and Deborah Charles – 2 hrs 10 mins ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Top lawmakers aiming to reach a deficit-reduction deal agreed on Thursday to step up the pace of their talks with a series of meetings next week but said they still disagreed over the need to raise taxes. Vice President Joe Biden and six leading Democratic and Republican lawmakers have now met a half-dozen times as they try to work out their differences and reach a deal to reduce trillion dollar budget deficits. Thursday's Capitol Hill meeting took...

Chris Whalen says “No Downside” to Not Raising the Debt Ceiling Geithner Cries WolfThe U.S. Congress has a little less than two months to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling or possibly default on its debt. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says not allowing the Treasury to raise the debt limit would be "catastrophic" for the economy. Geithner is crying wolf according to Chris Whalen, a banking industry analyst and co-founder of Institutional Risk Analytics. Whalen argues Congress should vote against raising the debt ceiling unless they agree to major spending cuts. "Congress has the right to say 'no' and the...

N. Korean Defectors Bewildered By the South By Blaine Harden Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, April 12, 2009; A01 ANSEONG, South Korea -- To flee North Korea and arrive in the rich, wired, consuming culture of South Korea is to feel clueless, fearful and guilty. Teenagers are particularly bewildered. As part of the newest wave in a decade-old flow of defectors from the North, they arrive stunted from malnutrition and struggling to read. At the movies for the first time, they panic when the lights go down, afraid someone might kidnap them. They find it incredible that money is stored...

The Department of Defense announced today an adjustment to the deployment of the 4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division toAfghanistan. The entire brigade will not deploy as previously announced in December 2004; instead one battalion-sized task force consisting of an infantry battalion and attached fire-support, communications and logistics elements will deploy to assist transition of the coalition operations to the NATO International Security Assistance Force in southern Afghanistan in mid 2006. The non-deploying elements of the brigade will remain prepared to deploy within 15 days. There are nearly 19,000 U.S. troops leading counter-terrorism operations in Afghanistan. The decision announced today will...

Former police chief Haulk files to run for CIty Council By PETER J. HOVANEC -- MONROE (Aug. 5, 2005) With about three hours left in the municipal filing period, the races keep getting more interesting. On the last full day of filing, former Monroe Police Chief Bobby Haulk joined the race for Monroe City Council. Haulk retired in June from after being ousted by the former city manager and many of the council members he is looking to join. Haulk first retired Oct. 28, reportedly after being given an ultimatum by the council to resign or be fired. He was...

OUTSOURCING will inevitably eliminate many more American jobs, says Ron Hira, assistant professor of public policy at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Skip to next paragraph Sean Kelly It's time for the federal government to take action to limit the damage, says Professor Hira, co-author with Anil Hira of "Outsourcing America: What's Behind Our National Crisis and How We Can Reclaim American Jobs" (American Management Association, $22). Here are excerpts from a conversation. Q. Will more jobs be lost offshore? A. We're just at the beginning of this trend, particularly in the services area. The manufacturing sector is much more...

Hasuike tells kids about abductions (Asahi Shimbun) KASHIWAZAKI, Niigata Prefecture-With the emotional reunion over, the North Korean-born children of repatriated abductees Kaoru and Yukiko Hasuike got a heavy dose of reality Monday. Their father told them that he and their mother were abducted to North Korea, where the couple lived until they returned to Japan in 2002. Speaking at a news conference here, Kaoru Hasuike, 46, said he told his two children earlier in the day about having been abducted. Hasuike said his children seemed shocked by the news, but that his 19-year-old son, Katsuya, had suspected as much. He...

War and Disabilities Michael Arnold Glueck and Robert J. Cihak Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2004 New Diagnoses and Strategies Create Both Short- and Long-term Problems for Medicine and the Military War is hell and becoming even more hellish. The "advancement" of technology has provided new ways to live and terrible ways to die. Those who live because of body armor now face hellish injuries to what's left of limbs and looks. These in turn provide new challenges to medicine and the military. The Body Armor Trap While there has been a generational decline in infantry skills, the American infantry still widely...