Reuters | Major U.S. banks temporarily lowered their debt levels just before reporting in the past five quarters, making it appear their balance sheets were less risky, the Wall Street Journal said, citing data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The paper said on Friday 18 banks, including Goldman Sachs Group (GS.N), Morgan Stanley (MS.N), J.P. Morgan Chase (JPM.N) Bank of America (BAC.N) and Citigroup (C.N), understated the debt levels used to fund securities trades by lowering them an average of 42 percent at the end of each period.

Mail Online | Met Chief Sir Ian Blair could be among 31,000 officers to receive the new electronic tracking device. Every single Metropolitan police officer will be 'microchipped' so top brass can monitor their movements on a Big Brother style tracking scheme, it can be revealed today. According to respected industry magazine Police Review, the plan - which affects all 31,000 serving officers in the Met, including Sir Ian Blair - is set to replace the unreliable Airwave radio system currently used to help monitor officer's movements.

AP | Sen. Orrin Hatch says he's heard Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's name mentioned in connection with the Supreme Court vacancy brought about by the retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens.

Video | Ratigan details the banking scam orchestrated by the federal reserve and Goldman Sachs

AP | An attacker threw an explosive device over the wall around the U.S. consulate in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, breaking windows and startling employees inside but causing no injuries, the U.S. embassy said Saturday.

Firedoglake.com | Whistleblower, Andrew Maguire, blew the lid off of the world’s largest fraud committed by JP Morgan Chase and HSBC in London – the downward manipulation of the price of silver (and gold) using naked short selling and leverage to the tune of 100:1.

Mail Online | In the cruel old China, baby girls were often left to die in the gutters. In the cruel modern China, they are aborted by the tens of millions, using all the latest technology. There is an ugly new word for this mass slaughter: gendercide. Thanks to a state policy which has limited many families to one child since 1979, combined with an ancient and ruthless prejudice in favour of sons, the world's new superpower is beginning the century of its supremacy with an alarming surplus of males.

Telegraph | The Bank for International Settlements does not mince words. Sovereign debt is already starting to cross the danger threshold in the United States, Japan, Britain, and most of Western Europe, threatening to set off a bond crisis at the heart of the global economy.

TPM | Near the end of the third day of this year's Southern Republican Leadership Conference, it was time for Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) to take the stage. Paul, fresh off his victory in the CPAC straw poll, gave a characteristically fired-up speech that took on the views of the Republican party establishment.

Antiwar.com | Human rights groups are expressing serious concern tonight following news that the Israeli military has issued new regulations regarding the expulsion of “infiltrators” from the occupied West Bank. Under the new regulations, any Palestinian, including those born in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, could be classified as an “infiltrator” if they don’t have explicit permission from the Israeli military to reside in the territory.

GoldSeek.com | “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money”. This phrase about government expenditures has become a classic but with great inflation underway, it needs to be brought up to date.

LewRockwell.com | In 1954, Dorothy Martin, a Chicago housewife, announced she had been receiving messages from outer space telling her the Western Hemisphere would be destroyed by a flood on Dec. 21. The messages came from a being called Sananda, who assured Dorothy the true believers would be rescued by a flying saucer just before midnight the night before the flood. Dorothy first tried to get the word out to save as many people as possible, but in September, her small group, called the “Seekers,” shut down all outside communications. Many quit their jobs, left their spouses and gave away their money and possessions. Per Sananda’s instructions, they removed all metal from their clothes.

Fox News | For the United Nations World Food Program, it was a moment of satisfaction: the U.N.'s flagship relief agency announced on its Web site on March 19 that two gleaming passenger ships had docked in ravaged Port au Prince harbor.

NewsWithViews.com | Last week in Arizona, an illegal alien from Mexico walked across the line, shot rancher Robert Krentz off his ATV, inspected his victim, and calmly walked back across the border—unscathed and untouched.

TopNews.us | The four new studies conducted by Canadian researchers conclude that the traditional seasonal flu vaccine seems to have boosted the risk of infection with pandemic H1N1 swine flu by almost double.