U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, looking to win backing from oil-rich Gulf Arab nations, said Wednesday that Washington wants to work with its allies to build a stronger financial foundation for the world as it emerges from its worst recession in decades. A key aim of the trip, which follows a series of overtures to the Middle East by President Barack Obama, is to reassure major oil producers in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council that America still welcomes their business and will safeguard the value of the dollar and their vast U.S. investments by forging a way out of the financial crisis. - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pope Benedict XVI called Tuesday for a new world financial order guided by ethics and the search for the common good, denouncing the profit-at-all-cost mentality blamed for bringing about the global financial meltdown. "There is urgent need [for] a true world political authority" that can manage the global economy, guarantee the environment is protected, ensure world peace and bring about food security for the poor, he wrote. - NPR.org

A woman in Islamic veil, speaking in Arabic, has a gleaming smile as she explains she is having trouble deciding on which dish set to buy. She browses through a glitzy showroom boasting European and American brands in a scene that might appear to be a shopping mall in Dubai, Qatar, or New York. In fact, it is Jenin, in the West Bank. She says when she used to go to Amman and other places, she would hope that Palestinians would one day build a department store like this in the West Bank. She says she thanks God her expectations have been exceeded. - VOICE OF AMERICA

SATIRE - As the U.S. government escorted General Motors into bankruptcy court Monday with a deal giving taxpayers 60 percent of GM stock, a new survey reveals that most Americans would rather own a majority equity stake in Toyota. According to a new Gallup poll, 87 percent believe Toyota's stock to be a better deal than GM's, due to the superior safety features, reliability and even the design of the Japanese equities. - THE EXAMINER

OPINION - Observations from Russia on the demise of the United States. It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American decent into Marxism is happening with breath-taking speed, against the back drop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people. True, the situation has been well prepared on and off for the past century, especially the past twenty years. The initial testing grounds was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists. - PRAVDA.ru

SATIRE - Immediately following an interview Wednesday with Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporters handed their notepads, cameras, and press passes to the Penguins captain and asked him to cover the Eastern Conference Finals. "You'll be there already, right?" said sportswriter Dave Molinari, assuring Crosby he would receive the newspaper's standard $85 in compensation for each freelance article accepted. "It would save the paper a lot of time and money is all. Just remember to spell-check, because there's no real Sports editor anymore." - THE ONION

Local government officials in China have been ordered to smoke nearly a quarter of a million packs of cigarettes in a move to boost the local economy during the global financial crisis. - TELEGRAPH

In a little-noticed move, the House Financial Services Committee, led by chairman Barney Frank, has approved the "Pay for Performance Act of 2009," which would impose government controls on the pay of all employees -- not just top executives -- of companies that have received a capital investment from the U.S. government. It would give Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner extraordinary power to determine the pay of thousands of employees of American companies. - DCEXAMINER.com

OPINION - Mexico is a young democracy that eliminated an essentially one-party political system, controlled by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, that lasted more than 70 years. Mexico has demonstrated an institutional continuity unique in Latin America. Our national institutions function. Thanks to all this, Mexico has demonstrated an impressive capacity to overcome crises, of which we’ve had our fair share. - NY TIMES.com