big news this week

Baghdad: Two and a half years after the toppling of dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq has voted in favour of a new democratic constitution, the country's electoral commission announced here Tuesday. (new.kerala.com)

Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, in the final months of his 18-year tenure atop the U.S. central bank, said economic forecasting models should be used with care and that data are important in shaping policy.

``Alan Greenspan has set the standard for excellence in economic policy making,'' Bernanke said yesterday. ``If I am confirmed to this position, my first priority will be to maintain continuity with the policies and policy strategies established during the Greenspan years.'' Oct. 26 (Bloomberg)

Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- China's economy grew 9.4 percent in the third quarter as rising wages spurred consumer spending and the government encouraged investment in coal mines and railways

Cindy Sheehan, the so-called "peace mom" on a crusade to end U.S. involvement in the Iraq war, is publicly blasting Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., for her continued support of the ongoing conflict. (world net daily)

Indiana guard Stephen Jackson believes the NBA's new ban on bling- bling is racially motivated, but says he will abide by the rules. (AP)

Rigid labour markets and excessive red tape are deterring US investment in Europe and pose a "huge danger" to the continent's economy, Fred Smith, chief executive of FedEx, has warned. (MSNBC)

WASHINGTON, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- A vocal House Republican is calling for a new probe into what he says is a "witch-hunt" by defense officials against a Sept. 11 intelligence whistleblower. Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Penn., told United Press International that officials at the Defense Intelligence Agency, or DIA, had "conducted a deliberate campaign of character assassination" against the whistleblower, retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer. Shaffer has said that a highly classified Pentagon data-mining project he worked on, codenamed Able Danger, identified the ringleaders of the Sept. 11 terror attacks as linked to al-Qaida more than a year before they hijacked four planes and crashed them, killing nearly 3,000 people.

UNITED NATIONS - A U.N. investigator, Detlev Mehlis, set the stage yesterday for increased international pressure on Syria, saying there is "converging evidence" that the Baathist regime in Damascus - including President al-Assad's brother-in-law Assef Shawkat - was involved in the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, and that there is evidence that Mr. al-Assad himself had threatened Hariri. (NY SUN)

based on bank statements, Iraqi government documents and testimony from former Iraqi officials, found that (British lawmaker George) Galloway had received eight oil allocations totaling 23 million barrels from 1999 to 2003. It also found that Galloway's wife earned about $150,000 from one of the allocations. The report also asserts that payments totaling more than $1.6 million were paid to Saddam's regime in connection with the oil sales and a charity Galloway founded. (Mary Speck from The Congressional Quarterly)

UNITED NATIONS — More than 2,000 companies paid about $1.8 billion in illicit kickbacks and surcharges to Saddam Hussein's (search) government through extensive manipulation of the U.N. oil-for-food program in Iraq, according to key findings of a U.N.-backed investigation obtained by The Associated Press .

the Banque Nationale de Paris S.A., known as BNP, which held the U.N. oil-for-food escrow account, had a dual role and did not disclose fully to the United Nations the firsthand knowledge it acquired about the financial relationships that fostered the payment of illegal surcharges. (FOX NEWS)

NEW YORK, Oct 23 (Reuters) - After watching shares of CBOT Holdings Inc. more than double in value in their first days of trading, officials at rival exchanges that are still privately held may feel it is time for an initial public offering of their own, experts said. (Scott Malone, Reuters)

We surprised ourselves this quarter," Google CEO Eric Schmidt said during a Thursday interview. "Business was much stronger than I expected." (AP)

Demand has grown to the point where Toyota plans to raise annual production of hybrids to 400,000 vehicles next year from 300,000 this year. (AP)

October 27, 2005 -- J.P. Morgan Chase is rolling out an E-ZPass-styled credit card to capture the giant world of small cash transactions at movies, drug stores, delis and fast-food drive-throughs. (NY POST)

October 27, 2005 -- A top New York Stock Exchange official evaded questions from senators yesterday who asked him why the Big Board had blocked the listing of Life Sciences Research, a controversial medical testing company, the day the firm was to start trading. (NY POST)