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Swiss diplomat Sylvie Brunner was found dead this week after falling from her 17th-floor apartment balcony in Tehran. She was the first secretary of the Swiss delegation and worked in the US Interests Section. Neighbors heard a loud explosion late at night before her death. Her body was found in the garden the next morning. According to reports, Sylvie Brunner was called to Iran to testify about her knowledge of the details of the American accounts who pocketed billions of dollars due to the bribes to lift sanctions against Iran. ...... Snip...... Dan J @DanTCH_ Swiss diplomat who was preparing...

Sunday, September 05, 2010 Email to a Friend ShareThis Advertisement The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 24% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-seven percent (47%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -23 (see trends).

Highest level of Strong Disapproval and the lowest Approval Index daily rating yet recorded for this president.

'Oprah' Ratings Continue to PlummetTalker hits series low for third time in five weeks By Paige Albiniak -- Broadcasting & Cable 7/27/2010 2:13:33 PM Oprah is having one tough summer. In the week ending July 18, CBS Television Distribution's The Oprah Winfrey Show sunk to an all-time ratings low for the third time in five weeks, dropping 13% from the prior week to a 2.8 live plus same day household average, according to Nielsen Media Research. That almost moved Oprah out of syndie's top-ten, tying for overall ninth place with CTD's Inside Edition and reruns of the off-net hour CSI:...

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 22% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. That is the lowest level of strong approval yet recorded for this President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -19. The Approval Index has been lower only on one day during Barack Obama’s thirteen months in office (see trends). The previous low came on December 22 as the Senate was preparing to approve its version of the proposed health care legislation. The current...

Anderson Cooper is fading in the ratings. His 10 p.m. show, "Anderson Cooper 360," has declined 62% in total viewers and 70% in adults 25-54 from November 2008, according to Nielsen figures. Last month, in Cooper's time slot, Fox News' "On the Record" attracted an average viewership of 1.9 million while "360" averaged 672,000... From the start of 2009, he began losing a huge chunk of his nightly audience.

Japan logs record GDP drop By Tetsushi Kajimoto Tue May 19, 11:51 pm ET TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan's economy shrank a record 4.0 percent in the first quarter as domestic demand and investment buckled, threatening to crush any export-led rebound later this year. The data did add to growing evidence that global trade may have bottomed out in the first quarter. Net exports proved to be less of a drag on the world's second-largest economy than in the previous three months, and companies ran down inventory. While that lent support to the growing chorus of forecasts that the global economy...

ZURICH (AFP) – The world's biggest reinsurer Swiss Re turned to Wall Street sage Warren Buffett for fresh funds Thursday after massive losses while Zurich Financial earnings plunged due to the global financial crisis . Swiss Re shares tumbled on the news, with the stock down 28.1 percent at 21.7 francs by close of trading while the overall Swiss Market Index fell by 2.3 percent. The insurance sector woes dealt another blow to Switzerland's prized status as a major world financial centre, already under pressure after colossal losses and writedowns incurred by the country's biggest banks, UBS and Credit Suisse....

CARACAS, Venezuela — They line up early, before sunrise, beside a massive metal fence to wait for a government grocery store named for a 1960s Venezuelan revolutionary to open. "The government pays for the subsidies, and that's why we elected the president, and that's why we love him," said Medarda Romero , 66, setting down a black garbage bag full of food. "He cares about the poor. Previous presidents didn't." Venezuela's government gets 50 percent of its income from oil revenues, however, and now falling oil prices threaten to force Chavez to scale back the food subsidies and other government...

Dow in 350-point tumble Blue-chip indicator ends at a 21-month low as crude hits record high above $140 a barrel. Goldman Sachs' downgrades of investment banks, GM drag on markets. By Catherine Clifford, CNNMoney.com staff writer Last Updated: June 26, 2008: 5:48 PM EDT NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The Dow plummeted more than 350 points Thursday as selling accelerated following a record surge in oil prices. The three major indexes took a beating right out of the gate after Goldman Sachs downgraded two key Dow components, and two tech leaders disappointed investors. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) shed 358.41...

'HIATUS' FOR HILLARY? by Mia T, 02.02.06 The clintons, as is their wont, are now taking this proxy scheme to even more outrageous extremes. The latest: an actual hillary clinton proxy presidency, populated on both sides of the camera by assorted rodham and clinton ex-staffers, sycophants and should-be felons, witness the latest hire. 'Commander-in-Chief,' a show that sets out to crown a 'queen,' instead exposes the kitschy simplemindedness of Hollywood fantasy and the special sway and shortsightedness of the pathologic ego. Mia T, 10.27.05THE DANGER OF RUNNING VICARIOUSLYBill O'Reilly chews up and spits out the hillary clinton candidacy(clip included)...

A Sunny Isles Beach woman's efforts to scale her way into her locked apartment Sunday morning ended in tragedy when she fell to her death from the roof an 11-story building. The accident occurred at 10:30 a.m. as the woman, believed to be in her mid-20s, returned home from a night out to her condo at the Ramada Plaza Marco Polo Beach Resort, 19201 Collins Ave. Employees said the woman appeared to have lost her keys or locked herself out of her apartment. Police did not release her name but those who recognized her said she was an exotic dancer...

When it comes to cracking down on companies that hire illegal immigrants, the federal government appears to be missing in action, according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office. Between fiscal year 1999 and fiscal year 2003, the report shows that the number of work-site arrests in the United States by government immigration agents fell by 83 percent, dropping from 2,849 arrests in 1999, to 485 in 2003, the last year for which Immigration and Customs Enforcement provided data to the accountability office. Another indicator of the downward trend revealed in the report was the number of employers...

Springtime Decay by David L. Sonnier As soon as I heard of Ken Jones' Index of Leading Catholic Indicators,1 I had an intense desire to purchase a copy. The 113-page paperback book contains statistics relating to all aspects of Catholic life: Catholic education, religious orders, Catholic practice and belief, seminarians, nuns, and diocesan priests. Having read the Index, my compliments go out to Mr. Jones. Like myself, Mr. Jones is the father of seven young children, so I understand the sacrifice it was for him to take the time to bring this important information together. He has done an excellent...