Free Internet Press Newsletter - Saturday October 20 2007 - (813)

Saturday October 20 2007 edition
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Panel: Restrict Cold Medicines From Children Under 6 2007-10-19 17:53:42 Federal advisers say over-the-counter remedies should not be used in children younger than age 6. A special panel of federal advisers voted overwhelmingly Friday that popular cough and cold medications should not be used in children younger than age 6. The recommendation came after the panel concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support the effectiveness of the products in children. "The studies that are available do not demonstrate efficacy," said Robert Daum, of the University of Chicago. The panel did, however, reject making a similar recommendation for children ages 6 to 11. Read The Full Story Stocks Plunge, Dow Drops By More Than 360 Points 2007-10-19 17:53:03 Market turns sharply lower as investors are frightened by weak profit reports, rising oil prices. The Dow Jones industrial average dropped more than 360 points Friday - the anniversary of the Black Monday crash 20 year ago - as renewed credit concerns, lackluster corporate earnings and rising oil prices spooked investors. The market turned sharply lower in late afternoon when Standard & Poor's again reduced its ratings on residential mortgage-backed securities. The latest reduction, on more than 1,400 types of securities, added to investors unease about credit quality. In addition, mixed results from Dow components Caterpillar Inc., Honeywell Inc., and 3M Co. gave investors little incentive to take chances on the market. And oil prices added to investors' list of concerns after briefly moving above the psychological barrier of $90 per barrel for the first time. In one bright spot, Google Inc. reported stronger-than-expected profits, drawing a number of analyst upgrades. Read The Full Story Sen. Brownback Cancels Bid For GOP Presidential Nomination 2007-10-19 17:52:14 Republican U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback abandoned his 2008 presidential bid Friday, his White House aspirations dashed by a lack of money and a failure to gain traction nationally. "I'm ending my candidacy for the 2008 Republican nomination for president," said the Kansas senator. "My yellow-brick road came just short of the White House this time." The conservative managed to gain the support of only 1 percent of Republicans in this month's Associated Press-Ipsos poll, after peaking at 3 percent in June. Fundraising reports earlier this week showed that his campaign was struggling financially, with $94,000 available to spend. Read The Full Story For First Time, Carbon Dioxide Emissions Used To Reject Power Plant 2007-10-19 03:12:56 The Kansas Department of Health and Environment Thursday became the first government agency in the United States to cite carbon dioxide emissions as the reason for rejecting an air permit for a proposed coal-fired electricity generating plant, saying that the greenhouse gas threatens public health and the environment. The decision marks a victory for environmental groups that are fighting proposals for new coal-fired plants around the country. It may be the first of a series of similar state actions inspired by a Supreme Court decision in April that asserted that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide should be considered pollutants under the Clean Air Act. In the past, air permits, which are required before construction of combustion facilities, have been denied over emissions such as sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and mercury. But Roderick L. Bremby, secretary of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, said yesterday that "it would be irresponsible to ignore emerging information about the contribution of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to climate change and the potential harm to our environment and health if we do nothing." Read The Full Story	Bhutto Says She Warned Musharraf Of Attack Plotters Before Bombings 2007-10-19 17:53:29 The Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, who narrowly survived a bloody suicide attack Thursday night, said Friday she had sent a letter to the president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf,days ago listing names and other specific information about people in the Pakistani government and security forces who were plotting against her. She did not expressly blame the government or give the names in a news conference today, less than 24 hours after the attack, in which two explosions killed 134 people and wounded 450. Today she and the authorities in Karachi blamed Islamist militants for carrying out the bombing. But she said it was suspicious that streetlights failed after sunset Thursday when her convoy was moving through the streets of Karachi, the Associated Press reported. “We were scanning the crowd with the floodlights, but it was difficult to scan the crowds because there was so much darkness,” she said, according to the A.P. The explosions took place just feet from a truck in which Bhutto was traveling during a triumphal procession marking her return to Pakistan after eight years in exile. Read The Full Story Media Executives Arrested In Phoenix, Arizona 2007-10-19 17:52:29 Two executives from Village Voice Media - a company that owns a number of alternative weeklies including The Village Voice, The LA Weekly and The Phoenix Times - were arrested Thursday night in Phoenix on charges that a story published earlier in the day in The Phoenix New Times revealed grand jury secrets. Michael Lacey, the executive editor, and Jim Larkin, chief executive, were arrested at their homes after they wrote a story that revealed that the Village Voice Media company, its executives, its reporters and even the names of the readers of its website had been subpoenaed by a special prosecutor. The special prosecutor had been appointed to look into allegations that the newspaper had violated the law in publishing the home address of Maricopa Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s home address on its website more than three years ago. The weekly and its leadership has been in a long running battle with Arpaio, after the weekly published a series of stories about his real estate dealings. “They did not have a warrant, but they told me that I was being arrested for unlawful disclosure of grand jury information,” Larkin said by phone from his home early this morning, after he was released from jail. Lacey remained in jail early this morning. Captain Paul Chagolla, a spokesman for the sheriff did not return a call for comment. Read The Full Story Senators Clash With Mukasey Over Torture 2007-10-19 03:13:21 President Bush’s nominee for attorney general, Michael B. Mukasey, declined Thursday to say if he considered harsh interrogation techniques like waterboarding, which simulates drowning, to constitute torture or to be illegal if used on terrorism suspects. On the second day of confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mukasey went further than he had the day before in arguing that the White House had constitutional authority to act beyond the limits of laws enacted by Congress, especially when it came to national defense. He suggested that both the administration’s program of eavesdropping without warrants and its use of “enhanced” interrogation techniques for terrorism suspects, including waterboarding, might be acceptable under the Constitution even if they went beyond what the law technically allowed. Mukasey said the president’s authority as commander in chief might allow him to supersede laws written by Congress. The tone of questioning was far more aggressive than on Wednesday, the first day of the hearings, as Mukasey, a retired federal judge, was challenged by Democrats who pressed him for his views on President Bush’s disputed antiterrorism policies. Read The Full Story Actress Deborah Kerr, 86, Dies 2007-10-19 03:12:31 Deborah Kerr, 86, a Scottish-born actress who set the standard for white-gloved elegance in 1950s films including "The King and I" and "An Affair to Remember" and who shocked viewers as the lusty adulteress in "From Here to Eternity," died Oct. 16 in Suffolk, England. She had Parkinson's disease. Ms. Kerr, who appeared in nearly 50 films, was nominated six times for the Academy Award as best actress but never won. She received an honorary Oscar in 1994, and three years later, Queen Elizabeth II recognized Ms. Kerr for her distinguished career. In her most popular roles, Ms. Kerr was usually genteel and quietly forceful opposite rugged men such as Burt Lancaster and Robert Mitchum. Her biographer, Eric Braun, wrote that she excelled in parts that conveyed "moral fortitude concealed by a frail appearance." She was so well-known for her on-screen grace that People magazine once rehashed a Hollywood joke about her: "Deborah Kerr is the sort of creature who could be photographed ambling, disheveled, out of a place of assignation, or doing the hully-gully, naked, on the Golden Gate Bridge, and draw no more comment from the public than, 'Lovely girl.' " Read The Full Story
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