Headlines from around the world: 4-18-11

The House of Representatives has passed a bill outlining the Republican’s plan for spending that claims it would cut federal spending by more than $6 trillion over the next ten years. The House passed the bill in a 235 to 193 vote, with all but four Republicans voting for the bill. The goal now is to cut government spending to avoid reaching the debt limit of $14.294 trillion. The bill is not expected to pass the Democratic-controlled senate.

Tensions continue to rise between Iran and Saudi Arabia, as leaders in the respective countries begin to drift closer toward what many are calling a cold war. The protests that have been a regular occurrence over the last several months have pushed both countries to increase their political influence. It is unclear what will happen in the next few months.

Hostilities continue in Libya as rebels have finished drafting a new constitution that calls for total equality. NATO forces are saying that they have reached a stalemate, but have stated in an Op-Ed piece that they will remain until Gadhafi is ousted.
Japanese firefighters have started searching the “radiation zone” for survivors of the March 11 tsunami. The small coastal town of Namie, once home to 20,000 people, is within five miles of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. The firefighters have found several bodies of victims of homes collapsing and other affects of the tsunami. Search teams started searching within the 12-mile radius of the reactor about a week ago, clothed in full haz-mat suits.

The US government has unsealed an indictment against eleven people, founders of the three largest Internet poker sites, citing illegal payment practices. Allegedly, the sites were using offshore banks to process payments, essentially circumventing the federal government’s ability to regulate any of the transactions.

T. Rowe Price, a large mutual fund company, invested over $190 million in Facebook recently, paying roughly $25 a share for the stock. This seems to follow the current trend of investing in growing social networking sites, whose payback seems to be virtually limitless. The affect on the value of Facebook stock remains to be seen.

The governor of Georgia has stated that he would sign into law a bill that would crack down on illegal immigration. This would put the state in line with Arizona on immigration and put them on center stage in the debate over immigration. The new law would require that businesses verify their employees have the legal right to work in the United States. The bill would likely drive out many immigrant workers that harvest fruits and cotton, which has growers farmers opposing the bill.



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