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Apr 26 2011

DocuDharma Digest

Regular Features-

Featured Essays for April 25, 2011-

DocuDharma

Apr 26 2011

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Nearly 500 Taliban flee in daring Afghan jailbreak

by Mamoon Durrani, AFP

Mon Apr 25, 10:43 am ET

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AFP) – Almost 500 Taliban fighters and commanders escaped from a prison in an audacious jailbreak in southern Afghanistan which the government admitted Monday was a security “disaster”.

The Taliban said it sprung the inmates out of the prison in Kandahar through a one-kilometre tunnel that took five months to dig, and claimed all those who escaped belonged to the militia, including over 100 commanders.

The daring breakout in the Taliban’s heartland, the second from the prison in three years, threatens to undermine recent gains claimed by NATO forces in the area after a US-led troop surge, just as the annual fighting season begins.

Yup, sure are winning now.

Apr 25 2011

Our Casino Economy

It doesn’t matter that the house always wins because hey, you might get lucky.

The Casino Next Door

How slot machines snuck into the mall, along with money laundering, bribery, shootouts, and billions in profits

By Felix Gillette, Business Week

April 21, 2011, 5:00PM EST

Jacks is about the size of a neighborhood deli. There is a bar next door and a convenience store around the corner. Inside, jumbo playing cards decorate the walls. The room is filled with about 30 desktop computers. Here and there, men and women sit in office chairs and tap at the computers. They are playing “sweepstakes” games that mimic the look and feel of traditional slot machines. Rows of symbols-cherries, lucky sevens, four-leaf clovers-tumble with every click of the mouse.

…

It’s a high-margin, cash-rich business. According to Mecham, each terminal at a thriving cafe typically grosses $1,000 to $5,000 per month. A medium-size business with, say, 100 machines would therefore gross around $250,000 a month, or in the ballpark of $3 million a year. All of which would suggest that in less than a decade, Internet sweepstakes cafes in the U.S. have grown into a collective $10 billion to $15 billion industry.

…

Customers are easy to find. Mecham says sweepstakes cafes cater primarily to two demographics: the old and the poor. “Lower-income customers are coming in because they’re bad at math,” he says. “It’s like the lottery. The lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math. They’re coming in to try and catch a big break.”

Are you sure this place is honest?

Honest? As honest as the day is long!

Apr 25 2011

Monday Business Edition

Monday Business Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Business

1 Japan auto giants see home output plunge post-quake

by Mike Patterson, AFP

Mon Apr 25, 3:29 am ET

TOKYO (AFP) – Japan’s leading automakers said that domestic production plummeted in March after the massive quake and tsunami, which shut off parts supplies and led to widespread power shortages.

Toyota, the world’s biggest automaker, on Monday said production in Japan plunged 62.7 percent year on year in March, putting it in danger of falling this year from the global top spot it claimed from General Motors in 2008.

Domestic output slumped to 129,491 vehicles, which Kyodo News agency said was the lowest since records began in January 1976.

Apr 25 2011

DocuDharma Digest

Regular Features-

Featured Essays for April 24, 2011-

DocuDharma

Apr 25 2011

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Misrata fighting rages on despite Tripoli vow

by Marc Bastian, AFP

20 mins ago

MISRATA, Libya (AFP) – Grad rockets exploded in Misrata on Sunday despite a vow by the Libyan regime to halt its fire in the besieged city where the humanitarian situation has stirred international concern.

In a hospital of Misrata, where at least 12 were reported killed in fresh fighting, two captured pro-Kadhafi soldiers told AFP that loyalist forces were losing their grip in the battle for the western port.

“Many soldiers want to surrender but they are afraid of being executed” by the rebels, said Lili Mohammed, a Mauritanian hired by Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi’s regime to fight insurgents in the country’s third city.

Apr 24 2011

DocuDharma Digest

Regular Features-

Featured Essays for April 22, 2011-

DocuDharma

Apr 24 2011

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Fighting grips Misrata, drones enter Libya conflict

by Marc Bastian and Andrea Bernardi, AFP

41 mins ago

MISRATA (AFP) – Heavy fighting rocked Misrata on Saturday, overwhelming its hospital, after Moamer Kadhafi’s regime gave its army an “ultimatum” to take the besieged Libyan city and US drones entered the fray.

The United States said it carried out the first drone strike in the more than month-old conflict.

At least 25 people were killed and 100 wounded in street battles on Saturday in the western port city of Misrata, a doctor said, on a day on which NATO air raids struck near a compound in Tripoli where Kadhafi resides.

Apr 23 2011

DocuDharma Digest

Featured Essays for April 22, 2011-

DocuDharma

Apr 22 2011

Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Syrian forces kill 38 at ‘Good Friday’ protests

AFP

2 hrs 7 mins ago

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Syrian forces shot dead at least 38 people when they moved in to disperse thousands who took to the streets for “Good Friday” protests to test long sought-after freedoms, sources said.

A day after President Bashar al-Assad scrapped decades of emergency rule, his forces fired live rounds at demonstrators in several towns and cities nationwide, witnesses and activists told AFP by telephone.

The official SANA news agency said security forces intervened using only tear gas and water cannon to “prevent clashes” between protesters and passers-by.

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