The Iraqi government condemned a U.S. military raid targeting an elite Shi’ite militia, allegedly armed by Iran, which killed two civilians Sunday. After hundreds protested in Southern Iraq after the attack, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said that the raid violated the U.S.-Iraqi security pact instituted this year, which stipulates that American soldiers cannot conduct military operations without coordination with the Iraqi government. Al-Maliki asked the U.S. military to release the detainees from the attack to the appropriate domestic courts. According to the pact, U.S. soldiers are immune from prosecution even if the raid is deemed illegal. (Reuters)
The number of airline collisions with flocks of birds increased dramatically since 2000 according to information released by the Federal Aviation Association for the first time Friday at the urging of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. The FAA resisted releasing the information, reportedly because it could harm its image and airline profits. The data indicated that airline collisions with wildlife — including birds, cows, and deer — have more than doubled at 13 major airports since 2000. Earlier this year, a U.S. Airways flight was forced to land in the Hudson River after colliding with a flock of birds after take off. (CBS News)
Despite firing a set of employees hired by former governor Rod Blagojevich last week, the state of Illinois promoted Jack Levin, a close friend of Gov. Pat Quinn who was responsible for hiring the fired employees. One of the newly fired employees was the man who made Blago’s suits, who held a $92,500 deputy director position. In an interview weeks before he was fired, the clothier-cum-state-employee said that the former governor “mentioned if you ever wanted to work in state government to just let him know.” (Chicago Tribune)
The U.S. Treasury Department suffered a setback Sunday in the ongoing effort to crack down on offshore tax havens. The Swiss President, Hans-Rudolph Merz, asked Timothy Geithner to drop a lawsuit requesting the names of U.S. taxpayers accused of using bank accounts with the Swiss bank UBS to dodge U.S. taxes. Financial secrecy is a respected tradition in Swiss culture, and disclosing the names of the 52,000 American clients would violate Swiss bank secrecy laws. It could even mean prison sentences for some Swiss government officials, according to the New York Times. A source told the New York Times that Geithner is working to resolve the situation diplomatically but that the agency “is not going to give in.” (New York Times)
Investors who gained from Bernard Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme have been asked to return their profits in letters sent by the court-appointed trustee overseeing Madoff’s accounts to more than 200 former investors. In the letter, Irving Picard — who has already raised $1 billion to repay the victims of the Madoff scam — said he is requesting the $735 million from these investors because “these amounts were paid to you at the expense of other customers while [Madoff’s firm] was insolvent.” Last week Picard said he would not seek “clawbacks” from Madoff investors who reported a net loss. (New York Daily News)
One third of patients redirected from the University of Chicago Medical Center to other city hospitals were poor and uninsured, according to information provided to the Chicago Tribune by the university. The university has redirected patients to more than twenty health centers throughout the south side of Chicago as part of its Urban Health Initiative, which was implemented to get patients treated in the tough economy and to cut down on long lines at the emergency room. An emergency medicine expert told the paper that redirecting patients to other hospitals puts them at a greater risk. (Chicago Tribune)
