New York Daily News

When pets are poisoned by imported pet food or U.S. attorneys are fired under suspicious circumstances, Congress gears up hearings and vows quick action. A far greater scandal, however, has hardly gained the interest of legislators or the presidential candidates. That is the increasing wealth gap between the rich, the middle class and the poor, which is reaching alarming proportions.

The top 10% of income earners in the United States now owns 70% of the wealth, and the wealthiest 1% owns… more

Colleges and college aid officials have been funneling their students to big banks like Sallie Mae and Citibank in exchange for cash, gifts and in-kind benefits, according to a series of recent public investigations, the most energetic of which is being led by New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

Thus far, the investigations have resulted in the suspension of 10 higher education officials, including Columbia University's director of financial aid, the issuance of almost 100 subpoenas nationwide, and… more

To his credit, Mayor Bloomberg challenged his anti-poverty commission to think boldly. Well, how’s this: Every poor New Yorker should have the opportunity to build wealth.

Imagine your life without any assets -- without a bank account, investments, savings, a home, an education, a nest egg for retirement or any money to pass on to future generations. Feels pretty insecure, doesn’t it? Turns out that such "asset poverty" is higher in New York than in any other state in the… more

WASHINGTON - The flurry of messages from Osama Bin Laden and his deputy this year suggests the pair is regaining control over Al Qaeda operations for the first time since the U.S. toppled the Taliban, two top experts told the Daily News.

"It means their command and control over Al Qaeda is probably stronger than we thought it was," said Michael Scheuer, who ran the CIA's Osama Bin Laden unit and is the author of "Imperial Hubris."

Bin Laden has… more

While the long overdue death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the "sheikh of the slaughterers," is hailed as a "good omen" by the American ambassador to Iraq, it is likely that conditions in Iraq will continue to worsen. Knowing who this man was and why he fought are key to understanding why.

Zarqawi was the most famous but not the most important fighter committed to defeating the American coalition and its Shia allies in Iraq. His martyrdom will mythologize… more

With health care costs entering their fourth straight year of double-digit increases, everyone -- employers, providers, the insured and the uninsured -- is wringing their hands about the rising costs of health care.

To deal with the angst, New York either needs a heavy dose of anti-anxiety medication or an honest solution to the growing health-care mess.

Two starkly different plans now on people's lips in Albany purport to offer the latter. One, modeled after the… more

As the killing, starvation and rape of Darfur residents by Arab Janjaweed militias continue unabated, a growing chorus of voices is calling for action to end the genocide.

On U.S. college campuses and churches, in the halls of Congress, in European cities, in Africa, an urgent plea to stop the ethnic cleansing is rising. There is, however, a region noticeably absent from the outrage: the Arab world.

This week, Sudan's government -- which has both turned… more

In Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel, The Kite Runner, the protagonist's Baba offers his son some secular wisdom: "...[No] matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin...and that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft...When you kill a man you steal a life...When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to truth. When you cheat, you steal...fairness...Now, if there is a God out there, then I would hope that he has more important things to… more