A couple days old, but I wanted you all to see this:
Reuters: Obama approval ratings on the rise
A flurry of new opinion polls show Obama’s approval ratings climbing above 50 percent for the first time in months, fueled by growing public confidence in the economy and a positive reaction to his response to the Arizona shootings and the spurt of bipartisan accomplishment in Congress in December.
An ABC News/Washington Post poll published earlier this week put Obama’s approval at 54 percent, up five percentage points since December, and an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll had him at 53 percent, up eight percentage points in a month.
At least four other recent polls show Obama’s approval climbing above 50 percent, a strong turnaround after his ratings hit new lows in the fall and his fellow Democrats were crushed in elections that saw Republicans seize control of the House of Representatives.
BBC: Brazil flood deaths top 800 with 400 still missing
Officials in Brazil say more than 800 people are now known to have died in floods and landslides in the south-east of the country this month.
More than 400 people are still missing after torrential rain caused whole hillsides to collapse.
The Brazilian government has said it will set up an early warning system to alert communities of impending danger.
The flooding is considered the worst natural disaster Brazil has ever experienced.
CBC: Southeast Australia braces for more floods
Australia's deadly flood crisis forced more people to flee their homes Monday as a vast swath of muddy water spread farther across the country's southeast, threatening to swamp several rural communities.
Record rains that began in November have left huge parts of Australia's northeast Queensland state under water, killing 30 people, damaging or destroying 30,000 homes and businesses, and causing at least $3 billion damage to crops and lost coal exports.
The flood disaster is now moving across southeast Victoria state, where driving rains have forced swollen rivers over their banks.
The State Emergency Service has warned that a vast inland sea about 90 kilometres long northwest of the Victorian capital of Melbourne will continue coursing inland for the next week until it spills into the Murray River.
Business Week: Duvalier Advised by Ex-Congressman Barr as He Seeks Swiss Funds
Bob Barr, a former U.S. congressman, is advising Jean-Claude Duvalier as the Haitian ex-dictator seeks to unlock frozen funds left in Swiss banks after he fled to Paris exile amid a 1986 rebellion.
Duvalier "is very interested in trying to get those funds freed up, not for himself, but so they can be used to help the situation in Haiti," Barr said by phone from Port-au-Prince yesterday. Barr, 62, was a Republican representative from Georgia in 1995-2003 and ran for president in 2008 on the Libertarian Party ticket.
Barr accompanied Duvalier Jan. 21 as the former dictator made his first public comments since his Jan. 16 return to his homeland from a 25-year exile. Also accompanying Duvalier were two other American lawyers, Ed Marger of Jasper, Georgia, and Mike Puglise of Snellville, Georgia, according to a statement issued by Barr’s office.
The 59-year-old Duvalier, also known as "Baby Doc," apologized to victims of abuses during his government, vowed to help the quake-ravaged nation rebuild and said he expected to face "persecution" upon his return. Haitian authorities opened a corruption case against him two days after his return.
IHT: Six Killed in Wave of Baghdad Bombings
Shattering the relative calm that had prevailed in the capital for months, five car bombs exploded in different neighborhoods here on Sunday morning, killing at least 6 people and wounding 30. The military defused another three bombs.
Other parts of the country have recently been hit by large-scale attacks, mainly against security forces and religious pilgrims, but until Sunday Baghdad had been spared.
The attacks began shortly after 7 a.m., despite heightened security for the Shiite holiday of Arbaeen, which is often a time of sectarian violence.
The bombs struck Sunni neighborhoods as well as Shiite areas. Two appeared directed at security forces and one at Iranian pilgrims marching to observe Arbaeen, which commemorates the end of the 40-day mourning period for the death of Imam Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. The targets of the other two bombs were unclear.
Guardian: Israeli soldiers fired at Gaza aid flotilla in self-defence, says inquiry
Israel acted within international law and its soldiers opened fire in self-defence during a deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla of aid ships last May that prompted worldwide protests, a government-appointed commission concluded today.
The 280-page report of the Turkel Commission broadly endorsed the Israeli military and government versions of events on 31 May. Witnesses on board the lead ship, the Mavi Marmara, on which nine Turkish activists were killed, vigorously contested the Israeli accounts.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey whose relations with Israel reached breaking point after the raid, today rejected the conclusions of the commission, saying it had "no value or credibility".
BBC: Ireland's Green Party quits government of Brian Cowen
The Republic of Ireland's Green Party is pulling out of the ruling coalition, a move expected to bring forward the general election due on 11 March.
The Greens' announcement wipes out the ruling coalition's two-seat majority and puts into question the passage of a vital finance bill.
It also follows the decision on Saturday by PM Brian Cowen to quit as leader of his Fianna Fail party but to stay on as prime minister.
Opponents said this was "farcical".
Globe and Mail: Karzai’s inaction throws government into chaos
Afghan President Hamid Karzai kept silent on Sunday about a deal to end a political crisis by inaugurating parliament on Wednesday, as lawmakers worried he would cling to a special election court they consider illegal.
Mr. Karzai on Saturday abandoned a decision to delay the opening of the assembly by a month, bowing to heavy international and domestic pressure after lawmakers threatened to convene the assembly with or without him on the scheduled date, Jan. 23.
The standoff threw the government into chaos at a time when insurgent violence is at its worst since the 2001 overthrow of the Taliban government by U.S-backed forces.
MPs said Mr. Karzai offered after marathon talks on Saturday to open parliament just three days later than scheduled, and hinted he may consider abolishing the court that triggered the turmoil.
IHT: Afghan Report Revives Concerns About Scrutiny of Private Security Firms
The Afghan government is putting new scrutiny on private security companies, raising concerns among Western officials that President Hamid Karzai may be accelerating efforts to push them out of the country.
A special committee appointed by Mr. Karzai to investigate the companies has found that 18 have committed "major offenses," although that number may have later been lowered, according to an Afghan official who has read the committee’s report.
While the offenses cited were less than explosive — there were no charges, for instance, of murder or the inadvertent killing of innocents — some Western officials worry that Mr. Karzai may use them to try to speed the departure of the companies faster than his government is able to replace them with a promised Afghan force.
"If push comes to shove, it could be a very big deal if they went through with the proposal to rid the country of all private security companies," one Western diplomat said. "But we’re not sure where we are yet in terms of which companies will be allowed to stay and which will be asked to leave."
BBC: Allies of Tunisia's ousted president Ben Ali 'detained'
Tunisian police have detained two politicians close to ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
Mr Ben Ali's former adviser Abdelaziz bin Dhia and former Interior Minister Abdallah Qallal are now under house arrest, state media have reported.
Meanwhile, the owner of a private TV station has reportedly been arrested for "treason" for encouraging violence.
The news came as a protest march against the interim government reached the capital Tunis.
Gulf News: Protests erupt in Yemen, Algeria and Tunisia
Drawing inspiration from the revolt in Tunisia, thousands of Yemenis fed up with their president's 32-year rule demanded his ouster on Saturday in a noisy demonstration that appeared to be the first large-scale public challenge to the strongman.
Clashes also broke out Saturday in Algeria, as opposition activists there tried to copy the tactics of their Tunisian neighbours, who forced their longtime leader to flee the country more than a week ago.
In Tunisia, anti-government protesters marched through the capital, raising the pressure on Prime Minister Mohammad Ghannouchi to quit in the wake of the former president's ouster.
Public assemblies of more than three people are officially banned under a state of emergency that remains in place, along with a night-time curfew.
Colombia Reports: Venezuela arrests 'Aguilas Negras commander'
Venezuela on Sunday claimed it arrested the leader of Colombian neo-paramilitary group "Aguilas Negras" in the northwestern city of Maracaibo.
According to Interior Minister Tarek El Aissami, the arrested suspect is Victor Gonzalez Sierra, leader of the feared Aguilas Negras and wanted in Colombia for "various homicides."
"This is a heavy blow to criminal drug trafficking organizations and this group trying to use our territory to escape justice of other governments," Venezuelan state radio quoted the minister as saying.
The 32-year old Gonzalez Sierra was arrested Maracaibo, Venezuela's second largest city and located near the Colombian border.
BBC: Palestinians question 'offers' leaked by al-Jazeera
Top Palestinian officials have questioned the veracity of leaked documents purporting to show offers of major concessions to Israel.
The documents, obtained by Al-Jazeera, suggest the Palestinians agreed to Israel keeping large parts of illegally occupied East Jerusalem - an offer Israel apparently rejected.
But chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said the leaks were "a pack of lies".
The BBC has been unable to verify the documents independently.
Detroit Free Press: Four police shot in Detroit precinct, gunman killed
It was just before 4:30 p.m. Sunday when the gunman came into the police station and started shooting.
A female sergeant in a hallway was hit first. Commander Brian Davis raced out of his office, exchanged fire with the gunman and got shot in the back.
Then the gunman rushed the horseshoe-shaped front desk with his pistol grip shotgun. Sgt. Ray Saati and Officer David Anderson also were shot before the gunman was killed.
Reuters: Judge says Bear Stearns investor case can proceed
Plaintiffs in one of the biggest U.S. investor lawsuits stemming from the financial crisis got a boost from a judge, who said a case against fallen investment bank Bear Stearns and its outside auditor, Deloitte & Touche, can go forward.
The decision means that one-time Bear Stearns investors can move ahead with a proposed securities class-action fraud case, though the judge threw out two related lawsuits that had been rolled into the litigation. The investors accuse former Bear chiefs of painting a wildly misleading picture of the firm's finances ahead of its March 2008 unraveling.
The written ruling was made public late on Friday.
Among the defendants is former Bear chief risk officer Michael Alix, who joined the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in November 2008 as a top bank regulation adviser. Alix's lawyer was not immediately available to comment.
CBS: Boat with Missing Americans Lands in Philippines
Five Americans stepped ashore in good health Monday in the central Philippines following an international search for their sailboat when it failed to arrive on time in its voyage from the Pacific island of Guam, officials said.
The vessel, called the Pineapple, ran into bad weather after departing from Guam on Jan. 6 on a journey to the Philippines and relatives of the crew - four men and a woman - reported them missing Jan. 18.
A Philippine coast guard ship reached the 38-foot (11-meter) catamaran on Sunday after it was spotted by plane the previous day. Rescuers escorted the vessel to the port of Maasin on Leyte Island, where the crew refueled, got their passports stamped and treated themselves to a meal, the coast guard said.
With one of its two rudders damaged, the Pineapple will later be escorted to its original destination on Cebu Island.
Yahoo: Fitness guru Jack LaLanne, 96, dies at Calif. home
Fitness guru Jack LaLanne (lah-LAYN'), who inspired television viewers to trim down and pump iron decades before exercise became a national obsession, has died at age 96. His agent, Rick Hersh, says LaLanne died of respiratory failure due to pneumonia Sunday afternoon at his home in Morro Bay on California's central coast. Hersh says Lalanne ate healthy and exercised every day of his life up until the end.
LaLanne credited fitness with transforming his life as a teen, and he worked over the next eight decades to transform others' lives, too. He said, "The only way you can hurt the body is not use it." LaLanne's workout show was a television staple from the 1950s to '70s. He maintained a youthful physique into his 80s.