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Jan 1 In Gaza, in the sixth day of what Israel considers to be its war to defend itself, Israel's airforce strikes the home of Nizar Rayyan, killing him and at least four other people. So far, Nizar Rayyan is the most senior Hamas leader killed in the war. He wore a military uniform, was a liaison between the group's military and political wings and had been calling for renewed suicide bombings against Israel. In 2001, according to the Israelis, he had sent his son on a suicide mission against them.

Jan 1 In Baghdad, military responsibility for the Green Zone formally passes from the United States to the Iraqi government. Prime Minister Maliki calls this the "day of sovereignty for which we have waited for more than seventeen years."

Jan 2 Demonstrators in the West Bank express outrage and express an ancient religious concept as an intended means of triumph against Israel's superior military machine: sacrifice. They chant "We will sacrifice our soul and our blood for Gaza."

Jan 2 Some who support Israel believe that sacrifice employed by Hamas includes a willingness to risk the lives of Muslim civilians by storing weaponry amid them.

Jan 2 Israelis complain that after they vacated Gaza in 2005, instead of launching economic projects Hamas launched rockets and smuggled in vast amounts of weaponry. Hamas, they complain, does not support the right of Israel to exist and has launched violence against their country. They believe that their nation has the same right as other nations to employ its military to defend itself. They see cutting the supply of weaponry to Hamas fighters as part of this defense.

Jan 3 Israel begins its ground campaign into Gaza. For Israel it is a showdown intended to end other than in a compromise that leaves Hamas in power. Hamas is also speaking against compromise, saying "we will not surrender or give in to your conditions." Israel had showdowns in 1967 and 1974, which they won. They had a war in 2006 in response to rockets being fired into Israel by Hezbollah from Lebanon, and ouside Israel there was much bewailing over civilian casualties in Lebanon. Hezbollah emerged triumphant, and Israelis now believe that their country's military response then was too weak, and they believe this should not be repeated.

Jan 4 Israel has begun a military occupation of Gaza. The occupation will better allow the Israelis to keep hostile weaponry out of Gaza and allow a flow in and out of non-military goods -- the latter easing distress among the Gazans. The unknown is the extent or speed with which Israelis will be able to divide the Gazan populace from Hamas.

Jan 4 From Israel comes a description of the Israeli government and citizenry being opposed to a lengthy reoccupation of Gaza. An alternative mentioned by one observer -- not an Israeli -- is an international occupation force. This question brings to mind the UN force that stood between the Egyptians and Israelis at the end of the Yom Kippur War of 1973.

Jan 6 Toxins from cigarette smoke accumulate in clothing, other fabrics and hair and can be ingested in dangerous amounts by infants, according to Professor Jonathan Winickoff Massachusetts General Hospital.

Jan 6 Baghdad police report that a female suicide bomber kills at least 35 Shia pilgrims, including 16 Iranians.

Jan 6 About the war between Hamas and Israel, Anne Applebaum, op-ed columnist for the Washington Post, describes current diplomacy as futile in ending the war. She writes that "[T]his war won't be over until someone has won."

Jan 6 President Bush declares protection for three areas in the Pacific that are under U.S. jurisdiction, totaling 505,757 square kilometers. It is described as the largest marine conservation effort in history.

Jan 8 On this the 13th day of the Gaza War more than 750 Gazans are counted as having been killed, 40 percent of them women and children.

Jan 8 Former President Carter claims that the Gaza War "could easily have been avoided." He suggests that Hamas tried to bargain in good faith but couldn't accept Israel's proposal to allow only 15 percent of normal supplies into Gaza. And so, Carter writes, Hamas resumed its rocket attacks. Israelis have a different view of Hamas. They see Hamas as ideologically opposed to the existence of Israel and, with help from Iran, bent on destroying it. They remember the former Hamas leader Nizzar Rayyan describing Israel as an "impossibility" and "an offense against God."

Jan 9 The imam of the Grand Mosque of Mecca, Sheikh Saud bin Ibrahim Al-Shuraim, urges Muslim leaders "to do whatever is possible for the victory of their brethern in Gaza." A return to the Koran and Sunnah, he said, is a prerequisite for success. He linked the "brutal crimes" of the Israeli forces to that of the Crusaders of the Middle Ages and spoke of the failure of international institutions "to protect Muslims and their rights."

Jan 10 A comment on a Muslim website, reformislam.org, about anti-Israel protests throughout the Muslim world, reads: "Somebody please call us the day a similar protest is held against al Qaeda's mass murder of Muslims in Iraq or Pakistan."

Jan 11 Sixty Minutes reviews the steep rise in the price of oil and its fall last year. Back then, some economists and others were ignoring figures and blaming supply and demand. Some were blaming the Saudis for the rise. Sixty Minutes portrays the rise largely as Saudi King Abdullah had described it, as speculation. The rise in demand was for profits from rising oil prices. The expectation of profits evaporated when the bubble burst.

Jan 11 The Israeli Defense Force categorically denies, with detail, the accusation that it is using white phosphorus. White phosphorus in bombs and shells produce serious burns or death.

Jan 13 Hillary Clinton describes Obama's position on Hamas versus Israel: "I think on Israel, you cannot negotiate with Hamas until it renounces violence, recognizes Israel and agrees to abide by past agreements. That is just for me, you know, an absolute. That is the United States government's position; that is the president-elect's position." A lot of people are entering disappointment with Obama and his Secretary of State, HIllary Clinton, among them, Phyllis Bennes, a left-of-center writer. Apparently referring to Hillary rather than Hamas, she complains on the NewsHour about the need to change "the mindset" that leads to war.

Jan 13 Germany's center-right government led by Angela Merkel has unveiled an economic stimulus package worth about $67 billion. The package includes investments for railways, roads and schools and tax relief.

Jan 15 Pakistan Interior Ministry announces cooperation with India against the "common enemy" of terrorism. It says that it has moved against those suspected of being behind the Mumbai attacks of last November. It claims that among other actions taken it has closed web sites, training camps and has detained 71 people.

Jan 18 Israel declares a cease-fire and says it will continue to occupy Gaza militarily and retaliate against any attack. Hamas responds at first by announcing that it will continue fighting as long as Israeli troops occupy Gaza. Then it announces a one-week cease-fire to give Israel an opportunity to withdraw.

Jan 18 Wars have been the product of widespread attitude. Today, most Israelis support their military's occupation of Gaza and readiness to retaliate against any attack. Also today a Palestinian in the West Bank who supports Hamas, tells the BBC, "I am so happy because in the end we won." A Palestinian student in Jerusalem tells the BBC that "it is our land and Hamas must defend it."

Jan 18 Fareed Zakaria characterizes George Bush's "single most significant bad decision" during his presidency as his tax cut. "Rather than pay down debt and save in good times for the inevitable bad times, Bush squandered it all so that all of us -- particularly high income earners -- could indulge in a bit more consumption." Bush, of course, believed that the tax cut would stimulate economic growth and create more tax revenue.

Jan 20 The Israeli government has changed its mind. It began pulling its military out of Gaza yesterday, and the last of its troops are scheduled to be out today, coinciding with a demand by Hamas that they withdraw.

Jan 20 Barack Hussein Obama II is inaugurated the forty-fourth president of the United States.

Jan 21 According to a Wikipedia reprint of a report in Pakistan's News, in areas of the Pakistani state of Swat controlled by Taliban militants, "Some 400 private schools enrolling 40,000 girls have been shut down. At least 10 girls' schools that tried to open after the January 15, 2009 deadline by the Taliban were blown up by the militants in the town of Mingora, the headquarters of the Swat district." The Taliban militants have been at war with Pakistan's central (federal) government since 2007.

Jan 21 In Gaza, Hamas reasserts political control and is rounding up political opponents -- backers of the more moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas -- and accusing them of having colaborated with Israel.

Jan 21 An article in the New York Times reports that in Gaza Israeli soldiers destroyed the farming village of Juhr el Dik. The houses were flattened by bulldozers and tanks. The livelihood of the area, olive trees, were also flattened. It takes twenty years for regrowth. Israelis claim that Hamas fired on them from the area. Villagers say they had no close relations with Hamas, that Hamas drove in, fired a rocket and left.

Jan 21 Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk show host and respected intellectual leader of the Republican Party in years past, takes issue with fellow Republicans who say they support President Obama. Limbaugh describes himself as "a thinker" and too many others as emotional in their belief in or support for Obama. He tells fellow conservative Sean Hannity that he is worried that Obama will ruin the U.S. by giving the government too large of a role in the economy, with "many people thinking that just because they're Americans they're entitled to things." He says that his critics will complain that he "is not with the program."

Jan 22 Italy's eminent newspaper, Corriere della Sera, reports that Hamas forced people to stay in homes from which they shot at Israeli soldiers. A Hamas soldiers is described as shouting to fellow Gazans: "Cowards, the soldiers of the holy war will punish. And in any case all will die, like us. Attacking the Jewish Zionists we are all destined for paradise. Are you unhappy that we die together?"

Jan 25 Hamas representative Usama Hamadan speaks of the ability to get weapons into Gaza during the peak of the war, under shelling." "It's our right to have weapons," he says. "We will continue bringing weapons into Gaza and the West Bank. No one should think that will surrender."

Jan 25 The Vatican condemns President Obama's move to restore funding for family planning clinics abroad. It is referring to Obama's repeal of a policy that was begun by President Reagan in 1984, rescinded by President Clinton in 1993, and reinstated by President Bush in 2001. That policy required nongovernmental organizations that receive federal funds to refrain from performing abortions or citing abortion services offered by others.

Jan 25 Police in Nigeria jail a goat believed to be an armed robber who transformed himself through witchcraft. The belief in witchcraft is reported as common in Nigeria.

Jan 28 In Sweden, a woman talking on a cell phone and walking on a railway track center divide fails to notice an approaching highspeed train and is killed. In the United States, cell phones are described as a major factor in car accidents and incidents.

Jan 29 In French cities huge crowds take to the streets. A nationwide strike disrupts rail and air services. People are unhappy about bank bailouts and believe they are paying, literally, for a crisis they are not responsible for.

Jan 30 In Zimbabwe, after four months of effort, a "unity government" is agreed to. Morgan Tsvangira of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is scheduled to become prime minister in twelve days. South Africa, who helped broker the agreement, is committed also to help with Zimbabwe's recovery. Meanwhile, cholera deaths surpass 3,100 and the number of people infected with cholera has reached 60,000.

Jan 31 In recent days a few attacks from Gaza have been made on Israel, perhaps by rogue elements.The month ends with the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert having claimed the Gaza war a success because it wounded Hamas. Hamas, as he sees it, has been punished, as if that were the purpose of the war rather than the fight to the finish first proclaimed. Some Israelis see the war as a failure. Meanwhile, a report today indicates that, back in December, Hamas in Gaza objected to its leadership in Lebanon not extending the six-month truce.

Jan 31 Protest rallies erupt in cities across Russia, supported by Russia's Communist Party. Some outside Russia are blaming the United States for the global economic crisis. The protestors in Russia are blaming Putin and want him to step down. Police break up demostrations.

Feb 1 Iceland is trying to recover from its economic crisis. Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, 67, a Social Democrat, becomes Prime Minister in a coalition with the Left-Green Movement. She has been rising politically across decades and is the first openly gay head of government in modern times.

Feb 2 At their summit in Ethiopia, African heads of state elect Muammar Gaddafi of Libya as leader of the Africa Union. Gaddafi favors a single military for Africa, a single currency and a single passport. A single military force would threaten the power of various military men.

Feb 2 Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal visits Iran, President Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He thanks Iran for support in the "holy war" against Israel and describes Iran as his movement's "partner in victory." A crowd greets him with cheers.

Feb 3 The war against Israel continues as another rocket from Gaza slams into Israel, this one landing in the city of Ashkelon. No one is injured. Israel's air force has been retaliating against these attacks.

Feb 3 Results from Iraq's orderly and peaceful elections for government positions in the provinces are coming in. Hundreds of different political parties have candidates, including Sunnis who did not vote in 2005. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party is reported to be doing well, winning support it is said because it represents national unity, order and security.

Feb 4 Speaking at the African Union summit, Muammar Gaddafi describes his country, Libya, as the best model for Africa, rather than a multi-party democracy, which he describes as leading to bloodshed. Africans respect Gaddafi for his years as a leader in the forefront of issues and for Libya's generosity in aid. They have mixed feelings about his becoming leader of the African Union. Gaddafi has been opposed to al Qaeda from before 9/11.

Feb 5 In the U.S., Gallop polling describes 60 percent of Republicans as having a favorable view of conservative guru radio-talker Rush Limbaugh and 23 percent having an unfavorable view.

Feb 6 In Senegal, those having invested and borrowed for rice farming are under threat of losing everything because of the lack of stability in the rice market. Rice had not been farmed in Senegal until the rice shortages and the leap up in prices last May. Before that a rice farmer would have been unable to compete with imported rice. The price of rice is declining to a point that rice farmers cannot survive the competition of imported rice, and the government is not offering the new rice farmers stability in the form of trade protectionism.

Feb 6 More rockets are fired into Israel from Gaza. Israel's air force retalitates, bombing tunnels in southern Gaza.

Feb 7 In Madagascar, police fire on unarmed anti-government demonstrators, killing at least twenty-three.

Feb 8 The U.S. Senate is designing a bill to stimulate the economy. Most Democrats accept the Keynesian position that stimulus takes place by government spending replacing the spending that the private sector is not providing. Republicans dislike Keynesian economics and think of stimulus more as tax cuts. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican leader, says "we know for sure that the big spending programs of the New Deal did not work." What got the U.S. out of the Great Depression, he adds, "was the beginning of World War II." This was the beginning of the biggest U.S. government spending program ever.

Feb 10 Fires in Victoria province, Australia, continue to burn. More than 900 homes have been incinerated and more than 170 have died. Arson is suspected, but climate change is believed to have played a role. Fires in Australia, as in California, have increased in intensity and frequency and are expected to increase more in the decades ahead.

Feb 11 Italy has been divided over a young woman, Eluana Englaro, in a vegetative condition since 1992. Her father received court permission to have her feeding tube removed. The woman died yesterday. Conservatives and the Vatican are outraged. In the Senate were shouts of "murder." The Vatican is professing love for the woman and protests that everyone has a right to life, especially the helpless. Some others question whether the condition she was in, for seventeen years, can be called life. The Senate is still working on a law to prevent reoccurrence of someone else having the right to remove "live supporting" mechanisms from a family member.

Feb 11 In the U.S. Congress, Republicans are complaining about the stimulus just passed. The representative from Texas, John Carter, speaks of the government spending during Roosevelt's New Deal as a failure. Nobody is arguing in support of spending by citing Germany's recovery from the Depression. One third of Germany's income had as its source government payments and investments – almost three times the percentage being spent by the U.S. government. As in Sweden, the government debt that was created was quickly offset by the recovery in revenues that came with the rise in the economy.

Feb 11 In Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai is sworn in as Prime Minister by President Robert Mugabe. According to the state newspaper, the Herald Reporter, part of the pledge was "not to reveal matters discussed in Cabinet and those committed to their secrecy."

Feb 12 In Pakistan, authorities admit that some people in the country were involved in the Mumbai attacks back in late November. India welcomes the announcement.

Feb 15 The New York Times reports that Italy's national debt is greater than 100 percent of its GDP. The NYT article describes the national debt of the United States as having been around 40 percent of GDP at the end of 2008 and expected to rise to 60 percent by 2010. This is the Public National Debt rather than the Gross National Debt.

Feb 15 In Swat the Taliban is control of at least 80 percent of the state, according to a report described in Wikipedia. An armistice is declared and the guns are silent. Talks are taking place between the Taliban and the federal government.

Feb 15 People in Venezuela approve a constitutional amendment that gives Hugo Chavez the right to run for re-election as many times as he wants -- which, of course, does not mean that he cannot be voted out of office. Chavez has been president since 1999.

Feb 16 George Soros writes of numbers that indicate a problem with the crash of 2008 that is bigger than the crash of 1929 (in an article published on the Huffington Post on February 12). In 1929 the total amount of money lent, credit extended and other transactions extending financing -- "total credit outstanding" -- was 160 percent of GDP. By 1932 this total rose to 260 percent of GDP because of both accumulated debt and a decline in GDP. With the crash of 2008, total credit outstanding was at 365 percent of GDP. Soros writes of the need for a "radical and comprehensive policy package" that includes "a thorough overhaul of the mortgage system" and "a recapitalization of the banking system."

Feb 16 It is officially confirmed that two nuclear submarines, one British and the other French, have collided underwater in the Atlantic, each on patrol trying to keep its position unknown. Each of the 16 nuclear weapons on each sub has six times the explosive power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Some complain about the danger of these weapons dropping to the ocean floor and deteriorating. Some wonder about the national defense necessity of these expensive everyday patrols.

Feb 19 Dubai, one of the seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates, is refusing a visa to Israeli tennis player Shahar Pe'er. She was scheduled to play this coming weekend in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. Dubai forbids Israeli passport holders from setting foot on its soil. The Women's Tennis Association has expressed its displeasure.

Feb 19 In the eastern Caribbean, in Guadeloupe (an overseas region of France), workers have been on strike since January 20 over rising prices. They want a monthly increase of $251 in minimum wage. There has been urban warfare, looting, the burning of cars and vandalizing government property. Guadeloupe is said to be 69 percent black or mulatto, 14 percent South Asian and 11 percent white. People have been blaming wealthy white families for their dire economic condition and blaming whites in general. Tourists have fled, further damaging the island's economy. France's neighboring Martinique has joined the protests.

Feb 22 People in the U.S. are complaining that they want their money to flow back into their stock market IRA retirement accounts. Meanwhile, Republicans continue to talk of the Democrats' stimulus plan as not going to work and to speak ill of Roosevelt's recovery program, ignoring the successful models of government spending of other countries in the 1930s that worked well. Some others are looking forward to those who have made big money in recent years being good patriots, ending their pessimism and putting some of it back into the stock market.

Feb 23 The Dow Jones Industrial stock average (DJIA) drops to its lowest point in many years. After more than a couple of weeks of talk in the U.S. about how prolonged the recession will be the message appears to have finally sunk in.

Feb 24 President Obama addresses the nation and a joint session of Congress for the first time. He speaks of government action that stimulates putting people to work rebuilding the country, of his administration determined to see a return of the lending that is vital to economic recovery. He speaks of accountability and of coming responsible regulation, of stimulating educational opportunity and the need of health care reform as a part of economic recovery. He speaks of bold actions by government across more than a century that didn't supplant private enterprise but catalyzed it.

Feb 24 Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal gives the Republican Party's rebuttal to Obama's speech. He gives his life story and says that Americans can do anything and that the way to go in meeting the crisis the nation faces is letting them do so without benefit of an increase in government spending and government organizing actions. He then boasts about all that his government in Louisiana did to help his state through its crisis. Action by his state government, good; action by the federal government, bad -- although his state has received a disproportionate amount of federal aid compared for example to liberal New York. Conservative columnist David Brooks shakes his head and calls the speech insane and bad for the Republican Party.

Feb 25 Factcheck.org points out five inaccuracies in President Obama's speech yesterday. He said that the U.S. imports more oil today than ever before. Factcheck claims that imports peaked in 2005. Another inaccuracy: that the automobile was invented in the United States.

Feb 25 The BBC describes a report that farming families in developing countries are suffering from having to pay higher prices. According to the report, many families are spending 80 percent of their entire household budget on basic food items. Families are cutting out meals, taking their children out of school and some are giving up farming.

Feb 26 At a conference in Egypt, Fatah and Hamas agree to form a unity government, to release rival detainees, to stop attacking each other in the media, and to hold elections. Their work to these ends is to be done by the end of March.

Feb 26 In Bangladesh, border guardsmen have maneuvered for personal betterment in an old fashioned and politically naive way: seeking a raise in pay they have rebelled and shot their officers. The bodies of nine officers have been recovered. The two-day rebellion ended today, the rebel soldiers surrendering their weapons.

Feb 27 In Bangladesh, the bodies of 58 more military officers are discovered. Arrests of 200 suspected mutineers have been made. The amnesty originally promised the mutineers if they layed down their weapons has been withdrawn.

Feb 27 A Gallup poll claims that President Obama's approval rating jumped from 59 percent before his speech three days ago to 67 percent. Gallup describes 54 percent of Americans as "comfortable with the level of spending contained in the economic stimulus package."

Mar 2 Stocks slump further in Asia, Europe and the United States. There is talk of the economies of the U.S. and Europe being in shambles. Martin Wolf of the Financial Times describes Obama's stimulus as too timid. Republicans speak of Obama's stimulus as a disaster. Between its high in July 1929 and low in July 1932 the stock market fell 79 percent. A comparable fall of 79 percent from the high of 14,000 in 2008 would take the market down to 2940 in the year 2011, but let us consider the naivete of Hoover administration in the years from 1929 through 1932. The Dow is now down over 50 percent from its 2008 high. It's at 6763. Everyone knows that you are not supposed to sell near the bottom. Given that the bad news could hardly be louder, one might guess that we are near the bottom and that it is the 2009 equivalent of blood on the streets, when savvy investors are supposed to buy. But when loss of wealth is of concern fear can be more powerful than cold calculation.

Mar 2 In Guinea-Bissau, soldiers shoot and kill President Joao Bernardo Vieira, ending his third term as president. The assassination follows the belief by military persons that the president was responsible for an explosion that killed the army chief of staff a few hours earlier.

Mar 3 In the U.S. controversy still exists, perhaps now winding down, over Rush Limbaugh's declaration that he wants President Obama's economic stimulus policy to fail. Limbaugh says that this policy cannot succeed and will not succeed. But he adds that he wants it to fail, as if he has he has a choice. Some view the enthusiastic response by many Republicans to Limbaugh and conclude that he is foremost among them in influence.

Mar 4 Some Republicans, Newt Gingrich among them, are accusing the Obama administration of "transplanting" European socialism to Washington. "Stalin would love this stuff" says Mike Huckabee. Harold Meyerson, a confessed Social Democrat, writes of this in the Washington Post and describes the difference between the socialists of the 1930s in the U.S. and today's Social Democrats. He writes that the social-oriented capitalism of the Social Democrats is on the horizon "because the deregulated capitalism of the past 30 years has blown itself up, taking much of the known world with it."

Mar 4 A faulty altimeter is blamed for a role in the crash of a Turkey Boeing 737 in the Netherlands on February 25 that killed nine. The plane was landing on automatic pilot.

Mar 4 In China, a man in park with a female acquaintance in the early morning hours goes to the police station to report a wallet stolen with his pants. He files no report because he does not want his wife to know about it.

Mar 4 The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant against President Oman al-Bashir of the Sudan, charging him with war crimes in Darfur. Bashir's defenders speak of a "neo-colonialist" plot to destabilize Sudan.

Mar 6 Tensions between the United States and Russia over the fighting between Georgia and Russia last August have been evaporating. Russia is cooperating with the U.S. regarding the U.S. getting supplies to Afghanistan. And there is talk of a new srategic arms reduction treaty by the end of the year.

Mar 6 Paul Krugman writes that the Obama administration and the Federal Reserve Board have convinced themselves that the troubled assets held by banks are worth more than they actually are. Krugman opines that too much taxpayer money would be needed to subsidize these assets adequately. "Realistically, it's not going to happen," he writes. He adds that "it’s very hard to rescue an essentially insolvent bank without, at least temporarily, taking it over. And temporary nationalization is still, apparently, considered unthinkable."

Mar 7 In Slate, Jacob Weisberg continues a debate. He ponders the claims of Newt Gingrich and others that President Obama wants to bring "European socialism" to the United States. Weisberg writes of the upside and downside of Western European societies and concludes that people like Gingrich misread "an ideologically moderate president's substantive views, his political sophistication, and what's within the realm of the possible in our country." He writes that Obama understands that "Americans want government to fix the free market, not take its place."

Mar 8 Rocket fire into Israel by Gaza militants is an almost a daily occurence, as are Israeli air strikes against targets like today: against two "smuggling tunnels" under the Egypt-Gaza border and against a "weapons warehouse."

Mar 9 President Obama signs an executive order lifting restrictions on federal funding for research on embryonic stem cells. The ban had forced some scientists to leave the U.S. to continue their reseach. The BBC reports that some researchers now might flock to the U.S. if they think funding is "more readily available" there.

Mar 10 A male chimpanzee in a zoo in Sweden displays a skill needed by investors: strategic planning. He has collected and stored rocks for throwing at zoo visitors. Chimps planning future events heretofore has been considered by scientists to be unproven.

Mar 10 The panic of the last three weeks by some owners of stocks diminished today as stock prices, as indicated in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, bounded higher by 379 points (5.8 percent) from a twelve-year low.

Mar 12 Frequently if not always, financial scam artists cannot maintain their scheme in a big economic downturn. They are left exposed. And one such exposed scammer, "Bernie" Madoff, pleaded guilty today to an 11-count criminal complaint, admitting to defrauding investors of almost $65 billion. He faces a maximum sentence of 150 years in prison. Meanwhile, hucksters remain in the financial advice industry in abundance, a couple of them having written a book. The best in the industry describe and educate and make no self-promoting claims.

Mar 12 In Pakistan, President Zardari's government tries to suppress unrest created by supporters of a popular opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, and by a lawyers' movement. The lawyers are calling for reinstatement of judges sacked by former president Musharraf and calling for an independent judiciary.

Mar 12 Serbia's judiciary sentences thirteen fellow Serbs for their having "murdered, tortured and inhumanly treated prisoners of war" in the village of Ovcara near Vukovar, in Croatia in 1991.

Mar 12 Hamas announces that it is trying to find out who is responsible for the rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel that have been occurring recently. Hamas says now is the wrong time for such attacks.

Mar 12 A study published in Science concludes that only in Europe have skies become cleaner than they were some 30 years ago. It is claimed that Europe enjoys the difference as a result of its air quality regulations.

Mar 14 California's governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, is under attack from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, right-wing talk radio hosts and other anti-tax people. Schwarzenegger wants to increase revenues in order to avoid budget crises. His Proposition 1A budget measures for the May 19 ballot includes an increase in sales taxes and in motor license payments.The anti-tax people complain that Schwarzenegger's taxes will harm the economy. In conservative Orange County this past week a crowd of 15,000 gathered and destroyed DVDs, VHS tapes, and memorabilia associated with Schwarzenegger, and they waved placards and also on a stick a latex replica of the governor's head. Speaking recently before California's Commonwealth Club, Schwarzenegger complained of an unwillingess of Californian legislators to act until a crisis gets their attention. It was not until Katrina, he said, that they saw they should fix California's dikes. Schwarzenegger wants channel a lot of the water that is now running into the sea to help solve the state's water crisis, which will take money, but he claims it should be done.

Mar 16 In El Salvador the Arena Party associated the FMNL candidate, Mauricio Funes, with Hugo Chavez and described him as a dangerous socialist. Supporters of Funes speak of wanting a system that benefits not just those with money. Arena and the FMNL were on opposite sides in a civil war that lasted from 1980 to 1992. Both sides agreed to try politics by the ballot. While triumphant in victory, Funes today called for the maturity needed in a functioning democracy, for a spirit of reconciliation and collaboration. He thanked the crowd for choosing "the path of hope." Funes promises to crack down on those big businesses that have exploited government complacency to evade taxes.

Mar 16 Pakistan's government moves to reinstate the judges removed in 2007 by former President Pervez Musharraf in 2007. The opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, calls off demonstrations. Jubilation spreads.

Mar 17 People frustrated by economic hard times have won the military to the side of an opposition leader, Andry Rajoelina, a former disc jockey. Rajoelina has led protests that began in January and has left more than 100 people dead. Today the military drives the constitutionally elected president, Marc Ravalomanana, 59, a religiously fervent Protestant, from power, after Ravalomanana called for a referendum on the presidency to defuse the unrest. The South African Development Community describes it as a military coup. Rajoelina, a Roman Catholic, promises elections in two years and says, "I accept humbly and with love - I assume as a duty - all responsibility, management and leadership of our beloved country, Madagascar." Madagascar's constitution requires presidential candidates to be at least 40 years of age. Rajoelina is 34.

Mar 18 Pakistan's foreign ministry complains that U.S. air strikes, with drone aircraft, are counter-productive. There have been at least six drone air strikes into Pakistani territory since President Obama took office.

Mar 19 The U.S. Congress moves to stop bonuses issued by the insurance giant AIG to its executives. AIG has a reputation for having used offshore tax havens, among them the Cayman Islands, to avoid paying U.S. taxes. In court today, AIG is suing the U.S. government to retrieve 306 million dollars taken from it by the government's revenue service. To keep AIG in business, the U.S. government has recently bought 80 percent of the company -- described as a bail out.

Mar 20 Southern African countries are refusing to recognize the authority of Andry Rajoelina's regime in Madagascar. The United States joins them in condemning the regime.

Mar 20 Israeli Defense Forces order an investigation into descriptions by Israeli soldiers of violations of military rules of engagement that were permitted during January's Gaza war. Described are abuses against property and unnecessary killing rising from the venting of hostility against Palestinians.

Mar 23 The U.S. Congress the Keysian model that rescued Sweden and Germany in the 1930s is fading as more politicians side with the public mood against bailouts.

Mar 23 The Obama-Geithner plan to rescue the banks from their toxic assets sends stocks upward. Some economists, Robert Reich and Paul Krugman are distressed by the Obama-Geithner plan regarding banks with toxic assets. Krugman sees the economy in trouble not because banks are not lending -- they are, he says -- but because people are not buying and therefore businesses are not hiring. Today in the New York Times, Krugman describes the Obama-Geithner plan as a rehash of the Bush-Paulson strategy. He thinks that the Gaithner scheme is over-estimating the value of banking's toxic assets. He writes that "it’s just an indirect, disguised way to subsidize purchases of bad assets."

Mar 23 The president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet, speaks out against more deficit spending, siding with Europe's governments in how to overcome the worst recession in a generation.

Mar 25 The center-left, including President Obama, Britain's Gordon Brown and Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Russ favor deficit spending for the sake of speeding recovery and with recovery an earlier revenue enhancement -- Keysian economics. Also, the Dutch government favors deficit spending. Center-right politicians in Europe tend to be opposed. This includes Sarkozy of France. And today the Czech Republic's center-right prime minister, Mirek Topolánek, in an address to the European Union parliament, described Obama's plans for deficit spending as "a road to hell."

Mar 27 Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek resigns following a no confidence vote in the Czech Republic's parliament.

Mar 27 Robert Hormats of Goldman Sachs reports that some European leaders are opposed to more stimulus spending because they believe that their societies have enough social insurance benefits already in place -- more of the European socialism that rightwing commentators in the U.S., like Sean Hannity of Fox News, are complaining about.

Mar 27 President Obama describes his strategy regarding Afghanistan and Pakistan. He plans to send an extra 4,000 US personnel to train and bolster the Afghan army and police. He plans more support for civilian development in Afghanistan. And he speaks of striking at al Qaeda within Pakistan.

Mar 27 Monica Crowley, conservative political commentator, weighs in on a debate about how to respond to the economic crisis. She tells her McLaughlin Group fellow panelists that "government cannot create wealth." The question who creates wealth all by themselves is not pursued. Neither is the question whether government can at times at least be credited with an assist is not made explicit.

Mar 30 In Pakistan more bloodshed is initiated by extremists. Young bearded men with submachine guns and hand grenades attack a police academy on the outskirts of the city of Lahore. A few of the attackers blow themselves up during the eight hours before they are killed or overwhelmed. The strategy of the attackers produces no apparent gains for their cause except for the killing of eight policemen, two civilians and the wounding of 95.