Hudson Caslte: Fortress for Fraud or Unknowing Estate?

A New York Times article released April 14 sparked huge controversy in the banking world when it accused Lehman brothers of using the firm Hudson Castle to convert its volatile assets into safer looking securities. Numerous transactions indicate that Lehman was selling its dangerous assets, such as the Mortgage backed securities that led to the financial meltdown, to Hudson or one of its vehicles and then buying debt securities back from the same companies.

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Nuclear Summit: Obama Claims, “We’ve Made Real Progress in Building a Safer World”

At the 2010 Nuclear Security Summit, which took place on April 13 and 14 in Washington, D.C, President Obama participated in discussions geared toward passing reform limiting nuclear stockpiling around the world.  China, Russia, and the United States reached a breakthrough agreement to impose tougher sanctions against Iran and its nuclear objectives.  The aim of the agreement is to ensure terrorists cannot obtain nuclear devices of any kind as they would likely use them.  The United States updated its agreement with Russia made in 2000, which is intended to remove nuclear weapons from both countries’ military programs.  Other countries such as Mexico, Ukraine, and Egypt are also contributing to the task of reducing nuclear dependence through initiatives geared at eliminating highly enriched uranium.  Nuclear reactors used to generate power will be converted to use low-enriched uranium, which is more stable and not effective for producing nuclear weapons.

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By Julie Chen

Senior Staff Writer

In a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, China Investment Corp. (CIC) announced the spread of its investments among a wide variety of well-known American names including: Apple, Visa, Coca-Cola, Citigroup, and Morgan Stanley.  The CIC is a sovereign wealth fund established in 2007 in charge of investing and managing part of China’s foreign exchange reserves.  With about $9.6 billion of sovereign wealth holdings in about 60 U.S. companies, China displayed their ability to grow despite the global economic downturn.

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By Stefanie Ju

Staff Writer

On January 12th, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake shook Haiti, devastating the already impoverished nation. A death count has not yet been confirmed, but as search crews have continued to clear through the disaster that the quake has left be-hind, the body count rises. As of January 15th, estimates ranged from 100,000 to 150,000 casualties.

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