The latest news on Unemployment, Health Care, Budget, Stock Market, Immigration, Proposition 8, Sri Lanka, Darfur, Kenya, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Russia, and Select Op-eds.

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Unemployment. Jobless rate bolts to 8.1 pct., 651,000 jobs lost "The nation's unemployment rate bolted to 8.1 percent in February, the highest since late 1983, as cost-cutting employers slashed 651,000 jobs amid a deepening recession." 651,000 jobs gone "The U.S. unemployment rate climbed to its highest in 25 years and January and December job losses were revised sharply higher as companies buckled under the strain of a deep recession." Piecemeal Layoffs Avoid Warning Laws "With the economy weakening, chief executives want Wall Street to see them as tough cost-cutters who are not afraid to lay off workers. But plenty of job cuts are not trumpeted in news releases."

Health care. At Summit, Former Foes of Health Reform Emerge as Supporters of Obama's Effort "Surrounded by men and women who made their careers killing health-care reform, President Obama yesterday reiterated his pledge to enact comprehensive legislation this year, an ambitious undertaking many say is further complicated by the nation's dismal economy." Obama holds forum on healthcare reform "Under the banner of consensus and cooperation, President Obama on Thursday brought industry leaders, lawmakers, doctors and consumer groups to the White House for a healthcare forum to build momentum for his effort to reduce costs and expand insurance coverage." Obama Says He Is Open to Altering Health Plan "President Obama vowed Thursday to end a decades-long stalemate on overhauling the health care system, and he indicated for the first time that he was open to compromise on details of the proposal he put forth in the 2008 campaign."

Budget. It only looks different: Both parties love big government "Strip away the political finger pointing over President Obama's proposed budget and the fight boils down to a clash of values. Both major parties are really for big government - just big in different places."

Stock market. Slump Humbling Blue-Chip Stocks, Once Dow's Pride "After months of breathtaking declines, this is what Wall Street has come to: Blue-chip companies, once considered safe investments and cornerstones of the economy, are akin to penny stocks." Caught in the Financial Downdraft "President Obama and his aides this week were selling hope. The markets aren't buying. Two days after the administration sought to restore calm to the markets, major indexes yesterday plunged more than 4 percent on a cascade of bad economic and corporate news."

Immigration. Immigration reform movement looks to evangelicals, children left behind by deported parents "On a recent afternoon, 15-year-old Marlon Parras stood on a stage in front of 3,000 people and talked about the hardships he and his 13-year-old sister, Emiely, have faced since their parents were deported to Guatemala." Nervous employers turn to ID check for workers "A federal system that lets employers check the legal status of their workers is soaring in popularity across the country, fueled by anxiety over workplace raids and uncertainty over the future of the nation's illegal immigrants."

Proposition 8. California Supreme Court looks unlikely to kill Proposition 8 "The California Supreme Court strongly indicated Thursday it would rule that Proposition 8 validly abolished the right for gays to marry but would allow same-sex couples who wed before the November election to remain legally married." California Court Weighing Gay Marriage Ban "In a bruising hearing, California's Supreme Court justices seemed ready on Thursday to uphold the ban on same-sex marriage that was passed by the state's voters in November."

Sri Lanka. Civilian Toll in Sri Lanka Rises, Aid Workers Say "As many as 200,000 civilians are trapped in a war zone in northern Sri Lanka, sleeping in the open or hiding in trenches as food, water and medical supplies run out and artillery shells explode among them, relief agencies said Thursday." Sri Lanka vows to open safe routes "The Sri Lankan government has said that it will open two safe routes to let civilians escape fighting between the army and Tamil Tiger fighters in the northeast."

Darfur. Sudan's Bashir Rails Against West "Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, now a wanted war crimes suspect, told a cheering, flag-waving crowd of thousands in Sudan's capital Thursday that 'we are not afraid of anything' as the government continued to expel foreign aid groups that provide food, water, medicine and other crucial support to more than a million displaced people in the Darfur region." Sudan's Move on Aid Groups Censured "With concern mounting over the impact of Sudan's decision to close down some 13 relief agencies in its dispute with the International Criminal Court, a United Nations panel registered new concerns on Friday that the move against aid groups represented a 'grievous dereliction' of Sudan's duty to protect its own people." A million face starvation as Sudan shuts down "Aid officials warn that a humanitarian emergency is in danger of becoming a disaster. The move has put the supply of food to 1.1 million people in doubt, as the U.N.'s World Food Program scrambles to find lorries to deliver sacks of grain." Sudan president says he'll fight war crimes charges "A day after the International Criminal Court called for his arrest, Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir on Thursday dismissed the prosecution as a 'modern tool' in what he called the historic struggle to impose Western religion and culture on Africans." African states face warrant dilemma "The African Union is facing a dilemma on how to act on the International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president."

Kenya. Outrage at Kenya assassinations "A U.N. investigator of extra-judicial killings in Kenya has called for an international inquiry into the murder of two human rights activists."

Iran. Clinton Presses for Iran to Be Included in Conference on Afghanistan "In the Obama administration's first specific overture to Iran, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that the Islamic republic should be invited to a high-level conference on Afghanistan later this month being organized under U.S. auspices." Clinton Wants to Include Iran in Afghan Talks "Setting up the prospect of its first face-to-face encounter with Iran, the Obama administration has proposed a major conference on Afghanistan this month that would include Iran among the invited countries." U.S. Afghan parley likely to include Iran "If Iran were to attend, it would mark an opening in relations between the Islamic republic and the Obama administration, which has been exploring ways of engaging with Teheran."

Afghanistan. Afghan Supply Chain a Weak Point "The U.S. military is laboring to shore up a vulnerable supply chain through Pakistan and Central Asia as it seeks to expand the flow of supplies into Afghanistan by at least 50 percent to support an influx of tens of thousands of troops, according to defense officials and experts." Intelligence failures cripple fight against Afghan insurgents "A highly critical analysis of the U.S.-led coalition's counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan has raised serious questions about combat operations in both countries - and the intelligence underpinning them."

Pakistan. Truce in Pakistan May Mean Leeway for Taliban "The Taliban and the Pakistani Army signed a truce last month in Swat, the once popular tourist area just an hour north of the capital. But far from establishing peace, the pact seems to have allowed the Taliban free rein to expand their harsh religious rule." Islamic Sharia law expands in northwest Pakistan "In an apparent expansion of Islamic fundamentalists' authority in the picturesque Swat Valley, local Pakistani officials have agreed to close shops at prayer times and crack down on prostitution and drug dealing as part of a proposed peace deal."

Russia. Russia and U.S. poised to relaunch nuclear reduction treaty "The world's two major nuclear weapons states are preparing to stage a public spectacle not seen since the peak of the cold war: full scale negotiations for a new deal to slash their still-bloated arsenals of offensive strategic arms."

Opinion. When Obamatons Respond (David Brooks, New York Times) "On Tuesday, I wrote that the Obama budget is a liberal, big government document that should make moderates nervous. The column generated a large positive response from moderate Obama supporters who are anxious about where the administration is headed. It was not so popular inside the White House." GOP at the Abyss (Michael Gerson, Washington Post) "American conservatism -- intellectually ascendant during three decades in which relatively low taxes and a stable money supply produced the greatest accumulation of national wealth in history -- is now staring into an abyss."