Top Ten Articles We Think You Should Read (Nov 14 – Nov 20)

Economist: Without big reforms, Detroit will default in 4 months, file bankruptcy

CNN- November 17, 2011

Mayor Dave Bing announced last week that, in 4 months, the once powerful auto capital of the country will not have money. Bankruptcy is going to result is huge reforms from budget cuts, such as pension reform, strategic layoffs, and cuts in medical care costs. Default could also result in public works shut downs. Since “Detroit is the only major U.S. city with a credit rating below investment grade right now,” the city needs to either approve Bing’s proposal, or find an alternative solution, and fast.

Syria accepts Arab League plan ‘in principle,’ though questions remain 

CNN- November 18, 2011

‘In principle’, Syria has accepted an Arab League plan to allow observers into Syria to make sure that the regime has taken steps to protect civilians, states a senior Arab diplomat on Friday. But questions remain about how many observers will be permitted, originally 500 were to be sent to Syria, but the U.S. State Department said that number had been reduced to 40. Syria requested plan amendments that included changes to the protocol and duties of the observers on Thursday night a day after Arab league representatives approved it. Observers want to observe the hospitals and the causalities. World support has diminished for Syria as thousands have been killed and jailed across the country.

German intelligence criticized for overlooking neo-Nazi group

The Los Angeles Times-November 14, 2011

Germany’s intelligence service came under criticism after revelations surfaced that a neo-Nazi terrorist group had been undetectably operating in the country for over a decade and killed at least 10 people-mostly Turkish immigrants between 2000 and 2006. The group, also known as the “Brown Army Faction: is also suspected of involvement in over a dozen bank robberies and a bomb. Suspects have been arrested. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann again called for banning the far-right National Democratic Party, which has enjoyed modest success in the country’s eastern state-where the Nationalist Socialist Underground is based. In 2003, an attempt to ban the party failed after it was discovered that several high-ranking NPD officials were informants for German intelligence. Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that, “Right wing terror is a disgrace for Germany.”