Yesterday, shortly after I posted a column on Secretary of State John Kerry’s push to have the White House approve U.S. strikes on Syrian airfields -- and how Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey pushed back strongly against the idea -- I heard f

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-19/why-kerry-wants-to-strike-syria.html

Politics

The FBI uses drones in domestic surveillance operations in a “very, very minimal way,” Director Robert Mueller said.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-19/fbi-uses-drones-in-domestic-sureillance-mueller-says.html

Politics

Polly Williams, a single mother who had recently lost her job, was desperate to lower the payments on her $23,000 in student loans. So, last June, she called one of the many companies advertising debt relief online.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-19/student-borrowers-pay-firms-fees-for-free-u-s-programs.html

Politics

Los Angeles embodied America’s love affair with the automobile in the last century. In this one it’s trying to kick the car to the curb.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-19/l-a-breaks-driving-addiction-as-bike-train-commutes-grow.html

Business

Twenty years ago, in a debate over the war in Bosnia, Madeleine Albright, then the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, issued a challenge to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell. Albright wanted the U.S. to confront an aggres

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-18/pentagon-shoots-down-kerry-s-syria-airstrike-plan.html

Politics

Researchers seeking the roots of autism have linked the disorder to chemicals in air pollution and, in a separate study, found that language difficulties of the disorder may be due to a disconnect in brain wiring.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-18/autism-tied-to-air-pollution-brain-wiring-disconnection.html

Politics

The downtown in Leesburg, Virginia, offers a portrait of attachment to the past. Federal-style buildings line the streets, and the courthouse square features both a plaque commemorating a reading in 1776 of the Declaration of Independence and a statute ho

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-18/virginia-losing-republican-grip-of-old-with-new-voters.html

Politics

Mark Crumpton reports on today's top news headlines on Bloomberg Television's "Taking Stock." (Source: Bloomberg)

www.bloomberg.com/video/syrian-govt-used-chemical-weapons-wh-YR2N7FXfR4SPkZ_CYbsh_A.html

Business

Today's "BWest Byte" is 11, for the year In-Q-Tel was launched. Cory Johnson reports on Bloomberg Television's "Bloomberg West." (Source: Bloomberg)

www.bloomberg.com/video/1999-the-year-the-cia-launched-in-q-tel-Q2iZQCQhQdSKhDi4ZNdWug.html

Technology

Quote & price for Bpi Philippine Equity Index Fund (BPIPEIF) including assets, performance chart, expense ratios, fees, fund manager and profile.

www.bloomberg.com/quote/BPIPEIF:PM

Business

Emerging-market stocks rose and pared a fifth weekly decline, led by Turkey and Thailand, after valuations tumbled to a 10-month low. Brazil’s real posted the biggest drop among developing currencies.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-14/emerging-stocks-rise-paring-biggest-weekly-decline-in-a-year.html

Business

Ricardo Lanfranchi, head of equity sales at Barclays Plc in Brazil, is leaving to take the same position at HSBC Holdings Plc, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-14/hsbc-said-to-hire-barclays-s-brazil-equity-sales-chief.html

Business

Chinese banks extended at least $8.3 billion in loans for acquisitions and leveraged buyouts this year, seeking to generate new business as a bond-market boom cut syndicated lending to a four-year low.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-13/lbo-loans-jump-as-fees-double-average-worth-risk-china-credit.html

World

California lawmakers are set to send a $96.3 billion budget to Governor Jerry Brown with spending tempered by his restrained revenue estimate, even as higher taxes have given the most-populous U.S. state a surplus for the first time in almost a decade.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-14/california-lawmakers-set-to-pass-96-billion-brown-budget.html

Politics

President Barack Obama and former national security contractor Edward Snowden are mounting public relations campaigns over a classified U.S. surveillance program leaked by Snowden, with Obama promising to declassify details and Snowden seeking vindication

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-17/obama-views-with-snowden-for-public-support-on-nsa-leaks.html

Politics

Leslie and Scott Tyree backed out of a contract in 2011 to buy a weekend place in Hilton Head, South Carolina, fearing they’d be anchored to a sinking market for second homes. This year, the West Virginia couple pounced on a listing in the same resort tow

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-14/u-s-vacation-home-rebound-lifts-hilton-head-to-hawaii.html

Business

U.S. stocks fell, after yesterday’s rally in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as the International Monetary Fund cut its 2014 outlook for America and urged the central bank to carefully manage its exit from stimulus plans.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-14/u-s-stock-futures-little-changed-before-data.html

Business

The U.S. will provide small arms and ammunition to the Syrian opposition amid recent battlefield setbacks by rebels and after saying it confirmed that Bashar al- Assad’s forces used chemical weapons in the civil war.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-14/u-s-backs-syrian-rebel-military-aid-as-chemicals-used.html

Politics

The International Monetary Fund sees the Federal Reserve maintaining large monthly bond purchases until at least the end of this year and urged the central bank to carefully manage its exit plan to avoid disrupting financial markets.

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-14/imf-sees-fed-qe-through-end-of-2013-warns-of-exit-challenges.html

Business

Here are five observations, most of them depressing, about the Syrian civil war, formulated in light of the announcement by the White House that President Bashar al- Assad’s regime has, in fact, used chemical weapons and that, in response, the U.S. will s

www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-14/five-depressing-thoughts-about-arming-syria-s-rebels.html

Business