The World

1 | Detroit More $$$, Please General Motors and Chrysler submitted restructuring reports to the Treasury on Feb. 17, asking the Federal Government for $14 billion in further emergency loans, bringing the total amount that the Detroit automakers have requested to $39 billion. GM says it needs $12 billion more to avoid bankruptcy and announced plans to lay off 47,000 employees and sell or phase out three of its marques–Saturn, Hummer and Saab–and reduce Pontiac to a “highly focused niche brand.” Chrysler has asked for $5 billion and plans to cut 3,000 jobs.

Vehicles Sold Annually, 1999-2008

[This article contains a complex diagram. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]

HUMMER 2000 875 2008 27,485

PONTIAC 1999 616,413 246,659

SAAB 39,541 21,368

SATURN 232,570 188,004

*HUMMER INTRODUCED IN 2000

(SOURCE: WARD’S AUTOINFOBANK)

2 | Rome Berlusconi Bribe Verdict On Feb. 17 an Italian court found British lawyer David Mills guilty of taking a bribe in exchange for lying in court on behalf of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during corruption trials in the 1990s. Berlusconi, originally a defendant in Mills’ trial, pushed through a law effectively granting himself immunity from prosecution while in office. Both men say they are innocent, and Berlusconi maintains that the trial was politically motivated. Mills, who received a sentence of 4 1/2 years in prison, was not in court for the trial or the verdict and will probably remain free during the appeals process, which can last years.

3 | Illinois A New Burris-Blago Brouhaha The U.S. Senate Ethics Committee and a local Illinois prosecutor have launched investigations into Senator Roland Burris’ inconsistent descriptions of his contact with Rod Blagojevich before being tapped by the then governor to fill Barack Obama’s Senate seat. Burris recently admitted attempting to raise money for Blagojevich months earlier–a fact he neglected to mention while testifying in Blago’s January impeachment hearing. Though Burris has denied any wrongdoing, lawmakers of both parties have called for his resignation.

4 | Houston The Next Madoff? The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged billionaire R. Allen Stanford–head of the Antigua-based Stanford International Bank–with orchestrating an alleged $8 billion investment fraud, fabricating data and luring investors with dubiously high returns. Two other bank executives have also been accused of wrongdoing.

5 | Washington Obama’s Diplomatic Globetrotters When it comes to foreign policy, the new Administration hasn’t wasted much time. On her first trip outside the U.S. as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is hitting four Asian countries in an eight-day sprint–the latest high-profile figure to be the face of America abroad. (The President’s first foreign destination: Canada.)

HILLARY CLINTON Japan Indonesia South Korea China

JOE BIDEN Germany (45th annual Munich Security Conference)

TIM GEITHNER Italy (meeting of G-7 finance ministers)

RICHARD HOLBROOKE Germany (with Biden) Pakistan Afghanistan India

GEORGE MITCHELL Egypt Israel West Bank Jordan Saudi Arabia France

6 | Caracas CHAVEZ WITHOUT LIMITS Venezuelan voters passed a referendum to remove presidential term limits, allowing President Hugo Chávez to seek re-election indefinitely. The constitutional amendment, supported by 54% of voters (including these Chávez supporters, above), comes more than a year after the leftist leader’s first attempt was shot down. Chávez says the measure was necessary to continue his socialist reforms; critics say it has brought the country closer to dictatorship.

7 | California Facebook’s Status: Sorry Deluged by angry user feedback, social-networking site Facebook retracted a change to its terms of service that would have given the company the right to use members’ private information–and license it to other companies–in perpetuity. The change, which covered users’ personal bios and photos, prompted more than 96,000 members to protest by–how else?–joining a Facebook group against it.

8 | Paris Conn to Sonar: Ouch French and British authorities admitted on Feb. 16 that two nuclear submarines, Le Triomphant and H.M.S. Vanguard, collided in early February while deep in the Atlantic Ocean. Though neither vessel was damaged enough to leak radiation or sink along with their approximately 32 combined nuclear missiles, the incident raised concerns over the European neighbors’ lack of naval coordination.

9 | Cambodia The Khmer Rouge, on Trial at Last More than 30 years after Pol Pot’s brutal regime killed an estimated 1.7 million people, the first of its reviled leaders faced genocide charges before a U.N.-backed tribunal Feb. 17. Kaing Guek Eav, 66, known as Duch, ran Phnom Penh’s infamous Tuol Sleng prison camp, where thousands perished. Four other aged defendants will face charges after Duch; absent is Khmer Rouge mastermind Pol Pot, who died in his jungle redoubt in 1998.

10 | Pakistan Seeking Peace and Stability In an effort to quell violence, the government struck a deal with insurgents on Feb. 16 that would implement a form of Islamic law in northwest Pakistan. The ruling will cover the Malakand region, which includes the Swat Valley, a onetime tourist spot and now home base for Taliban forces. While militants have agreed to a 10-day cease-fire, critics of the deal labeled the pact a dangerous concession to violent religious extremists.

RECESSION WATCH

Is www.economiccrisis.com still available? VeriSign, which manages Internet domain-name registrations, reports that 17% fewer com and other standard Web addresses were registered in the fourth quarter of 2008 than in the same period in 2007, a slump analysts say may indicate a slowdown in new online businesses and advertising. Total registrations worldwide continue to grow, driven by demand in countries like China (.cn) and Germany (.de).