From the Trenches World Report

New York Times – by JESSICA SILVER-GREENBERG AND PETER EAVIS

Wall Street could pay nearly $50 billion to buy peace from federal authorities who are taking aim at the banks over their role in the mortgage crisis, according to interviews and a confidential analysis of the industry’s potential legal exposure.

Bracing for a potential reckoning, the banks and their outside lawyers are quietly using JPMorgan Chase’s record $13 billion mortgage settlement in November to do the math and determine just how much each bank might have to pay to move beyond the torrent of government mortgage litigation that has dogged them since the financial crisis. Such calculations, people briefed on the matter said, have gained particular urgency among the banks’ board members.   Continue reading “Wall Street Predicts $50 Billion Bill to Settle U.S. Mortgage Suits”

Daily Mail – by MEGHAN KENEALLY

Michelle Obama’s ensuing 50th birthday party has already wreaked havoc for Hawaiian locals as security checkpoints have created traffic around Oprah Winfrey’s home.

The Queen of Talk is hosting the seminal birthday celebration for the First Lady, who stayed on in the Maui after President Obama and the girls returned to Washington following their Christmas vacation.

Mrs Obama’s birthday is on the 17th and the dance-heavy party will be held at Winfrey’s mansion on the 18th, but that hasn’t stopped problems from arising already.   Continue reading “Roadblocks causing havoc in Hawaii as security teams prepare for Michelle Obama’s 50th birthday party at Oprah’s Maui mansion”

RT News

The Pentagon is set to begin training 5,000 to 8,000 Libyan soldiers by mid-2014 to solidify the nation’s security forces, according to the head of US Africa Command. Gen. David Rodriguez told reporters Thursday that the US is planning a 24-week training program to aid Libyan security forces still in disarray since the US-backed ouster of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The General also expressed concern over another potential attack similar to the siege at Nairobi’s Westgate Mall in September that killed 67 people.   Continue reading “US military to train up to 8,000 Libyan soldiers by midyear”

Mail.com

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Republican Gov. Chris Christie fired one of his top aides on Thursday and apologized repeatedly for his staff’s “stupid” behavior, insisting during a nearly two-hour news conference that he had no idea anyone around him had engineered traffic jams as part of a political vendetta against a Democratic mayor.

“I am embarrassed and humiliated by the conduct of some of the people on my team,” Christie said as he addressed the widening scandal, which could cast a shadow over his expected run for the White House in 2016.   Continue reading “Christie fires aide, apologizes for traffic jams”

Mail.com

WASHINGTON (AP) — We’ve become weather wimps.

As the world warms, the United States is getting fewer bitter cold spells like the one that gripped much of the nation this week. So when a deep freeze strikes, scientists say, it seems more unprecedented than it really is. An Associated Press analysis of the daily national winter temperature shows that cold extremes have happened about once every four years since 1900.   Continue reading “Scientists: Americans are becoming weather wimps”

Mail.com

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Tim Rutledge’s eyelid had frozen shut. His voice was hoarse after competing for hours with bitter-cold wind and humming truck engines while screaming for help. He was losing consciousness, pinned under his rig in sub-zero temperatures at an Indiana truck stop.

The longtime Florida truck driver had crawled under his truck with a hammer to loosen ice from his brakes around 4 a.m. Monday, as record-breaking temperatures swept into the state. But the truck suddenly settled deeper into the snow, pinning him beneath an axle.   Continue reading “Trapped trucker survives hours in subzero temps”

Mail.com

F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. (AP) — Hoping to boost sagging morale, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel made a rare visit Thursday to an Air Force nuclear missile base and the men and women who operate and safeguard the nation’s Minuteman 3 missiles. But his attempt to cheer the troops was tempered by news that launch officers at another base had been implicated in an illegal-narcotics investigation.

Two officers at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana are being investigated for allegations of drug possession, said a service spokesman in Washington, Lt. Col. Brett Ashworth. Both of those being investigated are ICBM launch officers with responsibility for operating intercontinental ballistic missiles.   Continue reading “Nuclear launch officers tied to narcotics probe”

When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street by sucking on a hose, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage.

A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline, but he plugged his siphon hose into the motor home’s sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges saying that it was the best laugh he’d ever had and the perp had been punished enough!

RT News

The most unproductive and least popular US Congress in history can count on another distinction: For the first time ever, most members of the Legislative Branch are millionaires.

At least 268 of the 534 current members of the 113th US Congress have an average net worth of US$1 million or more, according to personal financial disclosure data members registered last year on 2012 net worth, the Center for Responsive Politics reported Thursday.   Continue reading “Make the money, make the laws: Congress has more millionaires than ever – report”

Reuters – by NATE RAYMOND AND DAVID BRUNNSTROM

The Indian diplomat whose arrest and strip-searching in New York caused a major rift between India and the United States was indicted for visa fraud on Thursday, and the U.S. government immediately asked her to leave the country.

A U.S. government official said Washington accepted a request by India to accredit the diplomat, Devyani Khobragade, at the United Nations and then asked New Delhi to waive the diplomatic immunity that status conferred. India denied the request, leading Washington to ask for her departure, the official said.   Continue reading “India diplomat indicted, asked to leave U.S.”

Rense.com

Thanks to satellite weather photos, we’ve been able to observe a persistent, virtually permanent, huge, blocking High Pressure system off the West Coast for the last two months…most of November, December and into January.

We have watched the satellite photos reveal how storm after storm formed up, as usual, in the Kamchatka, Korea and Northern Japan (Fukushima) areas of the North West Pacific.   Continue reading “Satellite Photos Show Pacific Storms Stopped Cold, Destroyed”

Space.com – by Jeanna Bryner

The five Great Lakes, in all their glory, barely peek out from the veil of clouds and whooshing snowfall above them in a new satellite image captured Monday (Jan. 6) as the Arctic’s polar vortex barreled southward.

NOAA’s GOES-East satellite snapped this Midwest “whiteout” of sorts at 3:15 p.m. EST (2015 UTC), before sunset, providing side illumination to the clouds and lake-effect snow, which forms when cold air moves over warmer lake waters. That warm water evaporates and heats up the lowest layer of air; since warm air is less dense than cold air, it rises and begins to cool. The result? The water vapor condenses into clouds and falls as snow, sometimes as huge amounts of snow in these “lake-effect” bands.   Continue reading “‘Whiteout’ Over Great Lakes Seen from Space”

USA Today – by David Jackson

President Obama will designate troubled neighborhoods in five cities and areas as “Promise Zones,” eligible for tax breaks and other forms of assistance designed to create jobs and improve education, housing and public safety.

The first five Promise Zones will be located in San Antonio, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, southeastern Kentucky, and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, said a White House statement.   Continue reading “Obama to name 5 ‘Promise Zones’ for assistance”

My Fox Tampa Bay

HAVANA (AP) – A 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck in the Straits of Florida off Cuba on Thursday, startling office workers in medium-rise buildings set swaying in Havana. There was no word of any damage or injuries.

The temblor occurred just before 4 p.m. about 106 miles (172 kilometers) east of Havana, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The closest city to the epicenter was Corralillo, 17 miles (28 kilometers) to the southwest.

In Old Havana, the quake was felt clearly by workers in two 6-floor buildings that were temporarily evacuated. It appeared to last around 30 seconds.   Continue reading “Earthquake rattles Cuba, South Florida”

ABC News – by JOHN RABY Associated Press

West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin declared a state of emergency for five counties Thursday night because of a chemical spill into the Elk River in Charleston, advising residents not to drink, bathe, cook or wash clothes in the water and to only use it for flushing.

The chemical, used in the coal preparation process, leaked from a tank at Freedom Industries and overran a containment area on Thursday. The amount that spilled isn’t immediately known, but a West Virginia American Water has a treatment plant nearby. Freedom Industries did not immediately respond for comment.   Continue reading “W.Va. Gov Declares Emergency After Chemical Spill”

RT News

A powerful blast has struck a chemical factory in central Japan, killing at least five and leaving 17 injured, reports local press. Japanese police say the explosion was triggered by a chemical reaction inside the plant.

The incident happened at a chemical plant owned by Mitsubishi in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture. The factory produces silicon materials for the international firm.   Continue reading “Explosion at Japanese chemical factory causes multiple causalities”

The Telegraph

Zero Hedge – by Tyler Durden

Mess with us, we’ll mess with you. That is the message one can derive from JPMorgan’s surprise announcement that it plans to “sell or wind down its business of issuing prepaid cards for corporate payrolls and government tax refunds and benefits.” Which also includes the infamous Electronic Benefits Transfer, or foodstamps, card. According to Reuters, the product, which has been offered with cash and treasury services to companies and governments, “had become a headache of risks in operations and regulations, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.”   Continue reading “JPMorgan To Exit Foodstamp, Other Prepaid Cards Business”