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Make My Day law for business advances in Colorado

Opponents, including some in law enforcement, consider the plan an overreach.

Ivan Moreno, Associated Press / Huffington Post

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Colorado takes pride in its Western entrepreneurial spirit — and that extends to the belief of some lawmakers that business owners should be able to use deadly force against anyone who tries to take what's theirs.

It's an idea that conjures Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry, and its supporters have taken liberties with the hardboiled character's famous line in naming their measure "Make My Day Better."

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A Film Noir Photo Essay on the Secretive World of Swiss Banks

The Vaults is a finely crafted multimedia experience of Mark Heneley's photographs of the Swiss banking sector in Zurich. Anna Stevens of Panos Pictures taps film noir and James Bond movies for inspiration in her edit, which adds sound and text to create a story. Henley talks about the experience of shooting the series and why the mysterious industry begs investigation in an interview below.
Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg, Atlantic

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The Atlantic: What inspired you to photograph the Swiss banking sector? 



Mark Henley: Swiss banks are a pillar of Swiss society, but they are under pressure like never before. In the last few years there have been scandals, losses, bailouts, resignations, offices raided in several countries, bankers arrested in the US, as well as tighter regulation at home. On top of this, hallowed banking secrecy laws have been breeched, and with foreign governments increasing pressure to have access to assets hidden in Switzerland, the pressure is only increasing. When you consider the importance of the banks to the Swiss economy -- they are thought to hold as much as US$7,000 billion, with a third of all global offshore funds -- put together with a subject that is the stuff of global myths, in films and thrillers, and you have a subject that deserves closer attention -- and somewhat surprisingly there has been very little. I went to a UBS AGM out of sheer inquisitiveness, and was immediately caught.

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Freddie Mac Bets Against American Homeowners

  • The taxpayer-owned mortgage giant made investments that profited if borrowers stayed stuck in high-interest loans while making it harder for them to get out of those loans.
  • Attorneys General, Frustrated With National Foreclosure Settlement, Consider Alternate Course

Jesse Eisinger, ProPublica, and Chris Arnold, NPR News

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Freddie Mac, the taxpayer-owned mortgage giant, has placed multibillion-dollar bets that pay off if homeowners stay trapped in expensive mortgages with interest rates well above current rates.

Freddie began increasing these bets dramatically in late 2010, the same time that the company was making it harder for homeowners to get out of such high-interest mortgages.

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Attorneys General, Frustrated With National Foreclosure Settlement, Consider Alternate Course, Loren Berlin, Huffington Post
The participating attorneys general or representatives from California, Nevada, Delaware, Massachusetts and New York, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Missouri, Mississippi, Maryland, Kentucky, Minnesota, Oregon, and Montana discussed how they could possibly join together to investigate and potentially file lawsuits against abusive mortgage lenders and servicers.

 

Behind slick Apple products lurk gritty facts about human costs

  • The workers in China who assemble iPhones, iPads and other Apple devices often labor in harsh conditions; problems are as varied as onerous work environments and serious — sometimes deadly — safety risks.
  • Vast, fast factories overseas is why Apple can't make iPhones here

Charles Duhigg and David Barboza,  New York (NY) Times

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The parents of Lai Xiaodong, a Foxconn Technology worker who was killed in a May explosion at an iPad factory in Chengdu, China, hold a photo of their son, in Xinsheng township. Their 22-year-old son, a college graduate, was fatally burned in the blast triggered by aluminum dust. As Lai's mother said, her son was tough: "He held on for two days" before he died.
Ryan Pyle / New York (NY) Times

The explosion ripped through Building A5 on a Friday last May.
When workers in the cafeteria ran outside, they saw black smoke pouring from shattered windows. It came from the area where employees polished thousands of iPad cases a day.

Two people were killed immediately, and more than a dozen others were hurt. As the injured were rushed into ambulances, one stood out. His features had been smeared by the blast and scrubbed by heat until a mat of red and black had replaced his mouth and nose.

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Vast, fast factories overseas is why Apple can't make iPhones here, Charles Duhigg, Seattle (WA) Times
When President Obama joined Silicon Valley's top luminaries for dinner in California last February, each guest was asked to come with a question for the president.

 

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