Monday, July 14, 2008

Confidence in U.S. banking sector weakens

Even as the Bush administration moved to rescue the nation's largest two mortgage companies, confidence in the banking sector spiraled downward Monday.

In the Los Angeles area, lines snaked around IndyMac Bancorp branches for blocks, as customers made withdrawals from the bank, which failed last week. In Cleveland, National City Corporation denied a rumor that its customers were also demanding their money.

In Washington, U.S. regulators tried to broadcast the message that plummeting stock prices should not cause consumers to panic about the safety of their savings. And on Wall Street, analysts began circulating lists of regional and local banks that might be next to fall....

Undercover NYPD detective finds hints of danger among mosques

The men discussed violent jihad in bookstores, private houses and on buses en route to paintball and shooting-range events. He was invited to join in "bonding" activities like working out at a gym and martial arts training in parks at night, during which the group discussed ideological justifications for killing Westerners. He also watched military movies and jihadist videos with groups of young men in private homes. During one such evening, one man got so excited he punched a wall. The detective reported that some youths became extremists after they traveled to their home countries; others went on the hajj - the pilgrimage to Mecca - and came back fired up by imams who encouraged violence as a religious obligation. ...

Cleveland's New Terror Imam