Officials Warn That Economy Will Remain Weak

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The federal government’s top fiscal-policy officials warned on Monday that the economy will probably remain weak, at least for the near future, but they expressed optimism for the long haul and said Washington would continue to deal aggressively with the crisis.

Addressing critics of the Federal Reserve’s response to the crisis, the central bank’s chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, defended the Fed’s actions on Monday, calling them “exceptionally rapid and proactive” measures that had helped stabilize the economy.

It’s Official: Recession Started One Year Ago

It’s official: for the last year, the United States economy has been in recession.

The evidence of a downturn has been widespread for months: slower production, stagnant wages and hundreds of thousands of lost jobs. But the nonpartisan National Bureau of Economic Research, charged with making the call for the history books, waited until now to weigh in.

Don’t Count On Magic

The world’s most prominent environmentalist on carbon taxes, clean coal and the dangers of illusion.

Former Vice President Al Gore—now a Nobel Prize winner and the world’s most prominent environmentalist—isn’t looking for another job in Washington. But his eloquent warnings about the dangers of global climate change have obviously helped shape the priorities of the incoming Obama administration. Gore sat down with NEWSWEEK’s Fareed Zakaria recently to talk about a bailout for Detroit, the greening of China and the elusive promise of “clean coal.” Excerpts:

Obama Announces National Security Team

WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama called for “a new dawn of American leadership” on Monday as he formally introduced his national security team, led by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton as his nominee for secretary of state

Jury delivers mixed verdict in MySpace bullying trial

A federal jury’s decision Wednesday to acquit a Missouri mother accused of using MySpace to intentionally perpetrate a cruel Internet hoax on a vulnerable teenage girl marked a setback for prosecutors who had wanted to send a message that cyber-bullying was a serious crime with serious ramifications.

Instead, the jury in Los Angeles convicted 49-year-old Lori Drew of three misdemeanor computer crimes for her role in setting up the MySpace account in the name of a fictitious 16-year-old boy and using it to lure 13-year-old Megan Meier into an online relationship.

Megan committed suicide two years ago after the “boy” whom she had come to know as “Josh Evans” sent her a message saying, “The world would be a better place without you,” prosecutors alleged.

Anne Pressly’s Parents Talk About Arrest Made In Daughter’s Murder

 

The man charged in the beating death of an Arkansas anchorwoman appeared in court Friday but did not enter a plea.

Brad Pitt ‘High’ From New Orleans Rebuilding Project

With his Make It Right project making good in helping the Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Brad Pitt is cheered by the number of architects, residents and community leaders who have joined the rebuilding process.

“I never had any idea that so many people would show up for this,” Pitt, 44, tells Architectural Digest for its January issue. “The model works and it’s replicable.”

The Make It Right Foundation’s goal is to build 150 new homes for residents in the area among those hit hardest during the 2005 hurricane. So far, six homes have been constructed.

“We’ve cracked something here … these houses redefine affordable housing,” says Pitt. “This is a proving ground for a bigger idea that could work globally.”

Anguished India Presses Leaders for Answers

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MUMBAI, India — All the bodies, finally, were pulled from the Taj Mahal hotel on Monday. And with the bodies came a reckoning.

The Indian public, angry and anguished over the bloody attack on their most glamorous and cosmopolitan city, pressed government authorities to explain how a small band of terrorists could have killed at least 188 people in a 60-hour rampage last week. The questioning became pointed enough that two senior officials resigned their posts and another offered to step down.

Mumbai, India’s commercial and entertainment capital, is the capital of Maharashtra State, and on Monday the state’s chief minister, Vilasrao Deshmukh, a member of the governing Congress party, offered to resign. Party leaders were considering his offer Monday night.