Free Internet Press Newsletter - Thursday January 31 2008 - (813)

Thursday January 31 2008 edition
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Tainted Drugs Linked To Maker Of Abortion Pill 2008-01-31 02:46:47 A huge state-owned Chinese pharmaceutical company that exports to dozens of countries, including the United States, is at the center of a nationwide drug scandal after nearly 200 Chinese cancer patients were paralyzed or otherwise harmed last summer by contaminated leukemia drugs. Chinese drug regulators have accused the manufacturer of the tainted drugs of a cover-up and have closed the factory that produced them. In December, China’s Food and Drug Administration said that the Shanghai police had begun a criminal investigation and that two officials, including the head of the plant, had been detained. The drug maker, Shanghai Hualian, is the sole supplier to the United States of the abortion pill, mifepristone, known as RU-486. It is made at a factory different from the one that produced the tainted cancer drugs, about an hour’s drive away. The United States Food and Drug Administration declined to answer questions about Shanghai Hualian, because of security concerns stemming from the sometimes violent opposition to abortion. But in a statement, the agency said the RU-486 plant had passed an F.D.A. inspection in May. “F.D.A. is not aware of any evidence to suggest the issue that occurred at the leukemia drug facility is linked in any way with the facility that manufactures the mifepristone,” said the statement. Read The Full Story FBI In Subprime Crackdown 2008-01-31 02:46:11 The Federal Bureau of Investigation is investigating 14 companies for possible accounting fraud and insider trading offenses related to subprime mortgages. The development, another sign of fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis, comes as light regulation of the industry - in particular mortgage brokers - has been blamed for mis-selling and abuse of mortgage products. The Securities and Exchange Commission already has about three dozen different investigations into a range of subprime-related issues. Bill Carter, an FBI spokesman, said the agency had been working "very closely" with the SEC, with some of the latest investigations moving "in parallel". He declined to name the companies involved. The number of mortgage fraud cases opened by the FBI jumped to 1,210 in fiscal 2007 from 436 in fiscal 2003, the agency said. Read The Full Story U.S. Commanders In Iraq Favor Pause In Troop Cuts 2008-01-31 02:45:18 Senior U.S. military commanders here say they want to freeze troop reductions starting this summer for at least a month, making it more likely that the next administration will inherit as many troops in Iraq as there were before President Bush announced a "surge" of forces a year ago. There are about 155,000 U.S. troops in Iraq now, with about 5,000 leaving every month; the proposed freeze would go into effect in July, when troops levels reach around 130,000. Although violence is dropping in Iraq, commanders say they want to halt withdrawals to assess whether they can control the situation with fewer troops. Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, will probably argue for what the military calls an operational "pause" at his next round of congressional testimony, expected in early April, said another senior U.S. military official here in Baghdad. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and top military officers have said they would like to see continued withdrawals throughout this year, but Bush has indicated he is likely to be guided by Petraeus's views. Read The Full Story Eli Lilly In Settlement Talks With U.S., Could Pay More Than $1 Billion 2008-01-30 20:35:33 Eli Lilly and federal prosecutors are discussing a settlement of a civil and criminal investigation into the company’s marketing of the antipsychotic drug Zyprexa that could result in Lilly’s paying more than $1 billion to federal and state governments. If a deal is reached, the fine would be the largest ever paid by a drug company for breaking the federal laws that govern how drug makers can promote their medicines. Several people involved in the investigation confirmed the settlement discussions. They insisted on anonymity because they have not been authorized to talk about the negotiations. Zyprexa has serious side effects and is approved only to treat people with schizophrenia and severe bipolar disorder, but documents from Lilly show that between 2000 and 2003, Lilly encouraged doctors to prescribe Zyprexa to people with age-related dementia, as well as people with mild bipolar disorder who had previously been diagnosed only as depressed. Read The Full Story Giuliani Ends Campaign, Endorses McCain 2008-01-30 20:35:06 Rudolph W. Giuliani, the combative New York City mayor who rose to national prominence during the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, formally ended his presidential campaign on Wednesday and declared that he would throw his support to the candidacy of Senator John McCain.  “John McCain is the most qualified candidate to be the next commander in chief of the United States,” said Giuliani.  “He is an American hero.” Giuliani made his announcement at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, just hours before the candidates took the stage there for a debate. His decision, on a day that also saw the Democratic contender John Edwards bow out of the race, followed a devastating defeat for Giuliani in Tuesday’s Republican primary in Florida. After a series of early primary losses, Giuliani had made a great effort to win over Florida voters, but finished in a distant third to McCain in the polling. Standing next to McCain at a podium in the library, Giuliani said that “it is appropriate to make this announcement hear at the Reagan library because President Reagan’s leadership remains and inspiration both for John McCain and myself.” Read The Full Story U.S. Diplomat Says 'Ethnic Cleansing' Taking Place In Parts Of Kenya 2008-01-30 20:34:28 The top American diplomat for Africa said Wednesday that some of the violence that has swept across Kenya in the past month has been ethnic cleansing intended to drive people from their homes, but that it should not be considered genocide. Jendayi Frazer, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, who visited some of the conflict-torn areas this month, said she had met with victims of the violence who described being ordered off their land. “If they left, they were not attacked; if they stayed beyond the deadline, they were attacked,” said Ms. Frazer, while attending an African Union meeting in Ethiopia on Wednesday. “It is a plan to push people out of the area in the Rift Valley.” The Rift Valley, one of the most beautiful slices of Africa, has been the epicenter of Kenya’s post-election problems and is home to ethnic groups that have long felt others do not belong. Read The Full Story Pakistan's Arrested Chief Justice Brands Musharraf As Brutal 2008-01-30 20:33:07 Pakistan's ousted chief justice today denounced the president, Pervez Musharraf, as an "extremist general" who believed in "brutal justice" for sacking 60 top judges and keeping him under house arrest for the past three months. Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudry, who was sacked when Musharraf declared emergency rule last November, said in a letter to western leaders that his wife and three children, one of whom has special needs, were even forbidden from going on to the front lawn of their home in Islamabad as it was occupied by police. Article continues "Barbed-wire barricades surround the residence and all phone lines are cut," said the seven-page statement, released by sympathetic lawyers at a press conference in the capital, Islamabad. Chaudhry, who emerged as a critic of Musharraf's power last year, attacked him for slandering judges during his recent tour of Europe. Musharraf told European leaders that he was the best hope for democracy and attacked the supreme court chief justice, describing him as "corrupt and inept". Read The Full Story Edwards Ends Presidential Bid, Giuliani Expected To Quit 2008-01-30 15:27:35 Democrat John Edwards ended his presidential candidacy Wednesday and Republican Rudolph W. Giuliani is set to do the same after both failed to win any of the nominating contests held so far, leaving each party with essentially a two-person race for the nomination. "It is time for me to step aside so that history can blaze its path," Edwards told supporters in New Orleans in a farewell speech that was initially scheduled as an address on poverty. He urged his staffers and volunteers not to give up on the causes he has championed, such as universal health care, alleviating poverty and uniting what he calls the "two Americas" of haves and have-nots. Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina who also ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination in 2004, decided to quit the race after a series of disappointing third-place finishes in the primaries, including one Saturday in South Carolina and a largely symbolic contest yesterday in Florida. "We do not know who will take the final steps to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but we do know that our Democratic Party will make history," he said in announcing his withdrawal against a backdrop of homes under construction in New Orleans in a project called Musicians' Village. Standing with him were his wife and three children. Read The Full Story Editorial: The Fine Print 2008-01-30 15:27:05 Intellpuke: The following editorial appears in the New York Times edition for Wednesday, January 30, 2008. With President Bush, you always have to read the footnotes. Just before Monday night’s State of the Union speech, in which Mr. Bush extolled bipartisanship, railed against government excesses and promised to bring the troops home as soon as it’s safe to withdraw, the White House undermined all of those sentiments with the latest of the president’s infamous signing statements. The signing statements are documents that earlier presidents generally used to trumpet their pleasure at signing a law, or to explain how it would be enforced. More than any of his predecessors, the current chief executive has used the pronouncements in a passive-aggressive way to undermine the power of Congress. Over the last seven years, Mr. Bush has issued hundreds of these insidious documents declaring that he had no intention of obeying a law that he had just signed. This is not just constitutional theory. Remember the detainee treatment act, which Mr. Bush signed and then proceeded to ignore, as he told C.I.A. interrogators that they could go on mistreating detainees? Read The Full Story U.S. Economic Growth Slowed Dramatically In 4th Quarter 2008-01-30 15:26:29 The United States economy expanded at a disappointingly weak 0.6 percent rate during the last three months of 2007, the government reported Wednesday, offering the latest indication that the United States is already suffering a substantial slowdown, and perhaps a recession. The growth from October to December came in at half the rate forecast by most economists, and it was down strikingly from the 4.9 percent clip registered last fall. Over all, the economy expanded by 2.2 percent in inflation-adjusted terms for all of 2007, the slowest rate of growth in five years. “We lost a lot of momentum and stalled in the fourth quarter,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com . “This reinforces the odds for a recession.” The latest evidence of trouble resounded swiftly in Washington, where the Senate was to take up consideration of a package of tax cuts agreed to last week by the Bush administration and House Democrats aimed at keeping the economy from sliding into recession. Read The Full Story Policy Aims To Curb Website Name Abuse 2008-01-30 15:25:30 Consumers and businesses may soon find it easier to register an attractive Web site name, now that the nonprofit organization that oversees the global domain name system has agreed to a policy change. In a meeting last week, board members of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers voted unanimously to make the Web site name registration process more expensive for "domain tasters," who take advantage of loopholes in the process to register - and profit from - millions of domain names without paying for them. Under the current rules, domain registrars have up to five days to sample domains before committing to purchase them, typically at a cost of around $6.25 per domain. An additional 20-cent surcharge per domain goes to ICANN, but the group has always refunded that fee if the registrar failed to purchase the domain within five days of claiming it. Until now. The new policy would not refund the 20-cent fee. Read The Full Story Commentary: The Three Myths Of The U.S. Election Campaign 2008-01-30 01:00:24 Intellpuke: The following commentary was written by Gabor Steingart, reporting from Washington, D.C., and appeared in his "West Wing" column in Spiegel Online's edition for Tuesday, January 29, 2008. Mr. Steingart's commentary follows: "Change" is the buzzword in the U.S. election campaign. Hoping to emulate Barack Obama's popular success, candidates from both parties are suddenly jumping on the change bandwagon. But some of the things they want to change are in fact sacrosanct - like the Constitution. At first sight, the candidates in this year's presidential primaries couldn't be more different: a Vietnam veteran, a former first lady, a Baptist preacher, a business executive, a wealthy trial lawyer championing the poor and an African-American senator from Illinois. "What a selection!" some might exclaim enthusiastically. Truly, democracy at its best! What else could you want? But the differences aren't as great as they seem, and because of this lack of diversity in their views, the candidates are trying to outdo one another in a contest to determine who is the most willing to bring about real change. "Change" is the buzzword of the season. Suddenly everyone wants to change everything, especially the way politics is conducted today. Read The Full Story E.U. Leaders Order Banks To Tighten Regulatory Regime 2008-01-30 00:59:35 A meeting of European Union (E.U.) leaders chaired by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London Tuesday night warned banks and other financial institutions to reform in order to retain confidence in free markets and avert any prospect of the return of protectionism. In Brown's first big European initiative since becoming prime minister, the French president Nicolas Sarkozy, German chancellor Angela Merkel, acting Italian prime minister Romano Prodi and E.U. president Jose Manuel Barroso joined him for talks in Downing Street to demand increased transparency and regulation in the face of the global credit crunch. In a short, good-natured press conference held between talks and dinner at the Foreign Office, the leaders voiced similar opinions. "There is nothing fatalistic about what is happening now," Sarkozy told reporters in more direct language than the other leaders. "What has happened in certain countries has not been to do with the kind of market economy and our sense of what competition really means. If we do not want a return to protectionism we have to show transparency." Read The Full Story Over 1 Million U.K. Homeowners At Risk 2008-01-30 00:58:19 Economic slowdown would leave many home owners vulnerable says Financial Services Authority. More than a million homeowners could be at risk of serious financial difficulty and possibly losing their homes in an economic slowdown, the City regulator warned Tuesday. (Editor's note: The "City" is to the U.K. what "Wall Street" is to the U.S.) The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is preparing for a tougher climate of rising inflation and a slower economy. It fears that many homeowners with large mortgages who have borrowed three and a half times their salaries or more could be at risk. The warning comes as surveyors predict that 123 homes a day will be repossessed this year. The FSA cites three warning signs on mortgages: -- The loan was taken out for longer than 25 years. -- It is worth more than 90% of the home. -- The amount borrowed is 3.5 times or greater than income. Over a third of all mortgages sold between April 2005 and September 2007 fall into one or more of these categories. This suggests that more than 2 million of the 5.7 million mortgages written during this period are of potential concern. Read The Full Story	Commentary: By The Numbers 2008-01-31 02:46:30 Intellpuke: The following commentary was written by John Cory and appeared on the truthout.org website edition for Wednesday, January 30, 2008. Mr. Cory is a Vietnam veteran. He received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star with V device, 1969 - 1970. His commentary follows: By the numbers we count the fallen And all the syllables that kill And all the lies that bury hearts And make our breathing still And cold. By the numbers we mourn the fallen In this whirlwind of war and lie Where one tear is too many And a thousand not enough For each one that has to die Because - Why? - John Cory While the high school heathers of the press corps rush to generate in-depth analysis of the hairstyle and cleavage of candidates or who looks presidential as opposed to who acts presidential, the real issues get shuttled aside in polls and punditry and primary politico-image management. At some point there will be one of those staged affairs where they take questions from the audience, the everyday folk - the voters. So let me step up to the microphone and ask a question: When does 9/11 + 935 = 3,941? When lies kill. Nine hundred thirty-five false statements (lies) moved this nation into a war that has resulted in 3,941 deaths so far. The folks who see profit and growth in the numbers of veterans of this war - the health care insurers - know an opportunity when they see one. In her December 2007 report, Emily Berry for American Medical News gives us a tour by the numbers: There have been 30,000 troops wounded in action; 39,000 have been diagnosed with PTSD; 84,000 vets suffer a mental health disorder; 229,000 veterans have sought VA care, and 1.4 million troops (active duty and reserves) have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan so far. Estimates run between $350 billion to $700 billion needed for lifetime care and benefits for veterans. And now, making the rounds in Washington is a plan that has become known as "The Psychological Kevlar Act of 2007" which reaches out to the pharmaceutical industry to partner with the Department of Defense to use the drug Propranalol to treat symptoms of PTSD even before a soldier succumbs to full-blown PTSD. An ounce of prevention, after all, is worth funding for experimentation, I mean research. A numb soldier is a happy soldier. Read The Full Story Commentary: Entering Sector D 2008-01-31 02:45:37 Intellpuke: The following commentary was written by Washington Post staff writer Henry Allen and appears in the Post's edition for Thursday, January 31, 2008. Mr. Allen's commentary follows: There's something about the word "disembowel." Or "depravity," or "disfigurement" - about so many words that begin with the letter "d." Divorce, destitution, doubt, drugs, dirt, dwindle. So many of them are on our lips just now - though not "disembowel," and we should be thankful for that much. Once more, as a nation, we have entered Sector D. As in: debacle, depression, debt and debauchery. Which is to say: mission unaccomplished in Iraq, world stock markets on tumble-dry, subprime mortgages imploding, Britney Spears.  People watch their houses plummet in value and say: "We'll just have to make do." Do. D. Do as in doom, which is mood spelled backward, as in the national mood that dotes on rising global temperatures, falling test scores, and death from diseases such as mutant tuberculosis strewn across the continent by defiant airplane passengers. Read The Full Story Chinese Fight To Get Home In Worst Blizzard In 50 Years 2008-01-31 02:44:43 Crowds of frantic Chinese fought for seats Wednesday on the few trains leaving southern China, where the worst winter storms in half a century have crippled the nation's transport system during its busiest travel season. One desperate mob stormed a city bus in the main southern city of Guangzhou, mistakenly thinking it was taking passengers to the day's last departing trains. They pried open doors and elbowed their way inside as helpless police yelled, "It's not going to the station!" Train service was returning to normal on Thursday, thinning the massive crowds that have been waiting to go home for next week's Lunar New Year - a holiday that is as important in China as Christmas is in the West. For millions of migrant workers, the festival that begins Feb. 7 is their only vacation from dreary jobs in factories that feed the world's ravenous appetite for DVD players, laptops, shoes and other goods. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese have been stranded over the past days because of the blizzard, but the Railway Ministry said Thursday service had basically returned to normal on the Guangzhou to Beijing line, and extra trains were being put on the schedule. Read The Full Story Middle East And Asia Lose Internet As Undersea Cable Fails 2008-01-30 20:35:20 Huge swathes of the Middle East and Asia have been left without internet access after a vital undersea cable was damaged. A fault in the pipeline, which runs between Sicily and Egypt, has dramatically reduced access in countries including Saudi Arabia, Dubai and India, leaving millions of workers struggling to get online. It is not yet clear what is wrong with the undersea cable, but the effects are already being felt across the region. Reports from the Middle East suggest that most countries are almost completely without access to the internet, while authorities in Mumbai have said that more than half of India's bandwidth has been lost. "There has been a 50 to 60% cut in bandwidth," Rajesh Charia, president of the Internet Service Providers' Association of India, told Reuters. Read The Full Story McCain Ends Year With $4.5 Million Campaign Debt 2008-01-30 20:34:54 John McCain, who ended the year with a $4.5 million debt, plans six coast-to-coast fundraisers in three days to capitalize on his Florida victory and front-runner status and build on the $7 million he raised in the first three weeks of January. McCain's end-of-year financial reports, filed late Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission, showed he raised $6.7 million during the last three months of 2007 and had $3 million cash in hand, not counting end-of-year debt. He also got a significant boost from a $3 million line of credit from Fidelity Bank & Trust, a loan he secured in November as he prepared to mount a campaign-salvaging stand in New Hampshire. The loan carried an 8.5 percent interest rate and was secured to a great degree by McCain's proven ability as a fundraiser. If he loses the nomination, McCain could transfer the debt to this Senate campaign committee and continue to raise money to retire it. Read The Full Story Snow Storm Blankets Middle East - Yes, The Middle East 2008-01-30 20:33:34 The Middle East has been hit by a freak blizzard a few days after parts of China were blanketed in heavy snow. In Jerusalem, dozens of people bundled up in warm clothing and played in the snow at Gan Sacher, the city's central park, where a snowman-building contest was planned. The Israeli weather service said up to 20 centimeters (8 inches) of snow had fallen in Jerusalem. More is expected Thursday morning. In Ramallah, residents were surprised to see snow when they woke up. Read The Full Story Israeli War Report Condemns Leadership 'Shortcomings' 2008-01-30 20:32:46 There were "grave shortcomings" in Israel's leadership in the second Lebanon war, a government-appointed panel concluded Wednesday. However, the panel said the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, acted in what he thought was the country's interest. Retired judge Eliyah Winograd, who led the commission, said "great failure overshadowed the military operation" in 2006. "The war wasted an opportunity, for Israel was engaged in the war and did not finish with a conclusive, clear-cut victory," the final report said. However, Winograd said Olmert's decisions were "built on substantial grounds". Supporters of the prime minister, who was braced for heavy criticism, depicted the report's findings as a victory for him. Read The Full Story Mukasey Still Refuses To Judge Waterboarding 2008-01-30 15:27:19 U.S. Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey told skeptical senators Wednesday that it is "not an easy question' to determine whether waterboarding constitutes illegal torture under U.S. law, but he said there is no need to provide a clear answer because the tactic is no longer employed by the CIA. During his first appearance at the Senate Judiciary Committee since becoming head of the Justice Department, Mukasey also refused to say whether it would be illegal for another country to subject a U.S. citizen to waterboarding overseas. "If this were an easy question, I would not be reluctant to offer my views on the subject," said Mukasey, referring to the debate over the legality of waterboarding, an interrogation tactic that subjects the victim to simulated drowning. "But with respect, this is not an easy question." Mukasey's lawyerly and limited responses prompted sharp criticism from the committee's chairman, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vermont),who complained that "it is not enough to say that waterboarding is not currently authorized." "Torture and illegality have no place in America," said Leahy. Read The Full Story Editorial: Restoring Civil Rights 2008-01-30 15:26:53 Intellpuke: The following editorial appears in the New York Times edition for Wednesday, January 30, 2008. In recent decades, and to much public acclaim, Congress passed a series of landmark laws designed to ensure equal rights for all Americans. Lately, and without much notice, the Supreme Court has been gutting them. Senator Edward Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, has introduced a pair of bills designed to undo the damage done by the court’s badly reasoned decisions. Congress should pass both without delay. One of the most troubling rulings was in the case of Lilly Ledbetter, a supervisor at a Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company plant who was paid less than her male colleagues after she was given smaller raises over several years. The court’s conservative majority ruled that Ms. Ledbetter had not met the 180-day deadline to file her complaint. It insisted that the 180 days ran from the day the company had made the original decision to give her a smaller raise than the men. Read The Full Story Federal Reserve Cuts Interest Rates By Half A Point 2008-01-30 15:26:12 The Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut a key interest rate for the second time in just over a week, reducing the federal funds rate by a half point. It signaled that further rate cuts are possible. Last week, the Fed announced a surprise three-quarter-point cut which drove the funds rate down to 3.5 percent. It was the largest reduction in this rate in more than two decades and the first change in the funds rate between meetings since the immediate aftermath of the September 2001 terrorist attacks. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues held an emergency videoconference call on Jan. 21 after a turbulent day on world markets when investors grew increasingly worried about what a recession in the United States would do to the prospects for global growth. Many analysts believed the Fed would quickly follow last week's aggressive move with a cut of at least a half-point at its first regular meeting of the new year. That view gained support on Wednesday hours before the Fed announcement, when the government reported that the total economy slowed to a barely discernible 0.6 percent growth rate in the final three months of last year. Read The Full Story IMF Cuts Global Economic Growth Projections 2008-01-30 01:00:37 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Tuesday night cut its forecast for global growth this year as it warned of a possible chain reaction from the six-month-old credit crunch rippling through the global economy. Predicting the weakest expansion since 2003, the IMF said tougher lending standards imposed as a result of the sub-prime meltdown in the U.S. threatened to curb consumer spending in the west, leading to a knock-on effect on the export-dependent economies of Asia. "The financial market strains originating in the U.S. sub-prime sector have intensified, while the recent steep sell-off in global equity markets was symptomatic of rising uncertainty," it said. The IMF forecasts came as the Federal Reserve, America's central bank, prepared to announce whether it would follow last week's emergency cut in interest rates of 0.75 percentage points with a further reduction in the cost of borrowing. Despite news Tuesday that higher military spending and aircraft orders led to a 5.2% annual increase in durable goods orders in December, Wall Street was convinced Tuesday night that the Fed would cut interest rates by 0.5 points to 3%. Figures released Tuesday from the 10 biggest metropolitan districts in the U.S. showed house prices falling by a record 8.4% in the year to November. Read The Full Story A Visit To A Gaza Rocket Factory 2008-01-30 01:00:01 No matter what Israel does, the rockets from the Gaza Strip just keep coming. Young men like Abdul are the reason why. He studies by day, but at night he builds bombs for the Islamic Jihad. He and his fellow militants can produce up to 100 per night. The young man pulls the door of the taxi closed. He is wet. There is a light drizzle in the Gaza Strip. He turns around and greets the passengers in the back seat with a quick handshake. "Are you ready?" he asks them. "As of this moment, we could be going to paradise at any time." The other people in the car don't respond, and the driver of the Mercedes hits the gas. "I should have phoned my wife," he says after a while. "She should start to keep an eye out for a new husband." It's a long journey through the pitch-dark night as the taxi heads towards the secret rocket factory in the Gaza Strip. Since Abdul* and his two friends got in, it has become a life-threatening trip. The young men produce rockets for the Islamic Jihad. Day after day, their rudimentary bombs land on Israeli villages, fields and kibbutzim. Israel responds by using air strikes to kill the Qassam commandos. The attacks mostly target cars that carry the militants to their missions - cars like the one we are traveling in this evening. Read The Full Story Cosmetic Firms To Stop Using Shark Liver Oil In Face Creams 2008-01-30 00:59:09 Leading cosmetic companies have stopped using shark liver oil as a moisturizing base because of concerns over the survival of the deep-sea predators. In a development welcomed by marine conservationists yesterday, L'Oreal said it had started switching to plant sources for the compound squalene, which is used in creams, lotions and glosses. Unilever said it had stopped using shark oil in high street brands such as Pond's and Dove some years ago and was now ensuring that beauty spas the firm owns in Spain do likewise. Boots and Clarins have either made similar decisions or never used shark sources in the first place, according to information gathered by the campaign group Oceana. Boots told the Guardian it had never sold shark squalene. Oceana wants consumers to ask cosmetic retailers about squalene sources and only buy products free of shark oil, while encouraging manufacturers using plant alternatives such as olive oil to make that clear on their products. The group is campaigning for a total ban on deep-sea shark fishing in the northeast Atlantic, which it said has contributed to dramatic declines in shark numbers. Read The Full Story Huge Asteroid In Close Fly-By Of Earth 2008-01-30 00:57:31 Stargazers took their best look at a huge asteroid as it as it zoomed past Earth Wednesday at a little more than half a million kilometers distance. “I can confirm it came the closest to Earth ... and it's on its way, away from Earth,” said D.C. Agle, a spokesman for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory after the asteroid 2007 TU24 flew by. Agle said Earth was never in danger of being struck by the asteroid of roughly 250 meters (750 feet) in diameter as it passed within 538,000 kilometers of our planet, or 1.4 times the Moon's distance from Earth. If ever an object of that size should strike our planet, it would inflict devastating regional damage, said NASA. Read The Full Story
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Free Internet Press Newsletter - Wednesday January 30 2008 - (813)

Wednesday January 30 2008 edition
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IMF Cuts Global Economic Growth Projections 2008-01-30 01:00:37 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Tuesday night cut its forecast for global growth this year as it warned of a possible chain reaction from the six-month-old credit crunch rippling through the global economy. Predicting the weakest expansion since 2003, the IMF said tougher lending standards imposed as a result of the sub-prime meltdown in the U.S. threatened to curb consumer spending in the west, leading to a knock-on effect on the export-dependent economies of Asia. "The financial market strains originating in the U.S. sub-prime sector have intensified, while the recent steep sell-off in global equity markets was symptomatic of rising uncertainty," it said. The IMF forecasts came as the Federal Reserve, America's central bank, prepared to announce whether it would follow last week's emergency cut in interest rates of 0.75 percentage points with a further reduction in the cost of borrowing. Despite news Tuesday that higher military spending and aircraft orders led to a 5.2% annual increase in durable goods orders in December, Wall Street was convinced Tuesday night that the Fed would cut interest rates by 0.5 points to 3%. Figures released Tuesday from the 10 biggest metropolitan districts in the U.S. showed house prices falling by a record 8.4% in the year to November. Read The Full Story A Visit To A Gaza Rocket Factory 2008-01-30 01:00:01 No matter what Israel does, the rockets from the Gaza Strip just keep coming. Young men like Abdul are the reason why. He studies by day, but at night he builds bombs for the Islamic Jihad. He and his fellow militants can produce up to 100 per night. The young man pulls the door of the taxi closed. He is wet. There is a light drizzle in the Gaza Strip. He turns around and greets the passengers in the back seat with a quick handshake. "Are you ready?" he asks them. "As of this moment, we could be going to paradise at any time." The other people in the car don't respond, and the driver of the Mercedes hits the gas. "I should have phoned my wife," he says after a while. "She should start to keep an eye out for a new husband." It's a long journey through the pitch-dark night as the taxi heads towards the secret rocket factory in the Gaza Strip. Since Abdul* and his two friends got in, it has become a life-threatening trip. The young men produce rockets for the Islamic Jihad. Day after day, their rudimentary bombs land on Israeli villages, fields and kibbutzim. Israel responds by using air strikes to kill the Qassam commandos. The attacks mostly target cars that carry the militants to their missions - cars like the one we are traveling in this evening. Read The Full Story Cosmetic Firms To Stop Using Shark Liver Oil In Face Creams 2008-01-30 00:59:09 Leading cosmetic companies have stopped using shark liver oil as a moisturizing base because of concerns over the survival of the deep-sea predators. In a development welcomed by marine conservationists yesterday, L'Oreal said it had started switching to plant sources for the compound squalene, which is used in creams, lotions and glosses. Unilever said it had stopped using shark oil in high street brands such as Pond's and Dove some years ago and was now ensuring that beauty spas the firm owns in Spain do likewise. Boots and Clarins have either made similar decisions or never used shark sources in the first place, according to information gathered by the campaign group Oceana. Boots told the Guardian it had never sold shark squalene. Oceana wants consumers to ask cosmetic retailers about squalene sources and only buy products free of shark oil, while encouraging manufacturers using plant alternatives such as olive oil to make that clear on their products. The group is campaigning for a total ban on deep-sea shark fishing in the northeast Atlantic, which it said has contributed to dramatic declines in shark numbers. Read The Full Story Huge Asteroid In Close Fly-By Of Earth 2008-01-30 00:57:31 Stargazers took their best look at a huge asteroid as it as it zoomed past Earth Wednesday at a little more than half a million kilometers distance. “I can confirm it came the closest to Earth ... and it's on its way, away from Earth,” said D.C. Agle, a spokesman for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory after the asteroid 2007 TU24 flew by. Agle said Earth was never in danger of being struck by the asteroid of roughly 250 meters (750 feet) in diameter as it passed within 538,000 kilometers of our planet, or 1.4 times the Moon's distance from Earth. If ever an object of that size should strike our planet, it would inflict devastating regional damage, said NASA. Read The Full Story Special Counsel Accuses Justice Dept. Of Blocking Gonzales Investigation 2008-01-29 16:08:44 The government agency that enforces one of the principal laws aimed at keeping politics out of the civil service has accused the Justice Department of blocking its investigation into alleged politicizing of the department under former Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales. Scott J. Bloch, head of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, wrote Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey last week that the department had repeatedly "impeded" his investigation by refusing to share documents and provide answers to written questions, according to a copy of Bloch's letter obtained by the Los Angeles Times. The Justice Department wants Bloch to wait until its own internal investigation is completed. A department official signaled recently that the investigation is examining the possibility of criminal charges. But that, the regulator wrote, could take until the last months of the Bush administration, "when there is little hope of any corrective measures or discipline possible" being taken by his office. Read The Full Story Commentary: Impeach Bush And Cheney 2008-01-29 16:08:06 Intellpuke: The following commentary was written by former U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman and appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer's edition for Sunday, January 27, 2008. Ms. Holtzman served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1973 to 1981 and was a member of the House Judiciary Committee during proceeding toward Richard Nixon's impeachment. Her commentary follows: Since mid-December, members of the House Judiciary Committee Robert Wexler (D., Florida), Luis Gutierrez (D., Illinois) and Tammy Baldwin (D., Wisconsin) have called for hearings on the impeachment of Vice President Cheney. This should not be surprising, given the strength of the case for impeachment. What's surprising is that it took so long for members of this committee, normally tasked with holding impeachment proceedings, to call for them. They face huge political resistance on Capitol Hill. But they aren't alone. Other Democratic members are joining them. Former senator and Democratic presidential nominee George McGovern recently published an op-ed demanding impeachment proceedings for both Bush and Cheney. Bruce Fein, a Republican who served in the Reagan Justice Department, and many other constitutional scholars also argue for impeachment. There is more than ample justification for impeachment. The Constitution specifies the grounds as treason, bribery or "high crimes and misdemeanors," a term that means "great and dangerous offenses that subvert the Constitution." As the House Judiciary Committee determined during Watergate, impeachment is warranted when a president puts himself above the law and gravely abuses power. Have Bush and Cheney done that? Yes. With the vice president's participation, President Bush repeatedly violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which requires court approval for presidential wiretaps. Former President Richard Nixon's illegal wiretapping was one of the offenses that led to his impeachment. FISA was enacted precisely to avoid such abuses by future presidents. Read The Full Story High Turnout Expected In Florida's Republican Primary 2008-01-29 16:07:13 Republican candidates made last minute appearances to rally supporters in the hotly contested Florida primary on Tuesday morning, as voters trooped to the polls under sunny skies. The campaigns all predicted a high turnout, and noted that besides the important Republican primary, there is a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot to overhaul property taxes, which has generated great interest. Sterling Ivey, a spokesman for the Florida Department of State, said that it would not be possible to gauge turnout until later Tuesday evening. Weather in Florida is expected to be good throughout the day, with sun and temperatures in the 60s and 70s, according to forecasters at Penn State University. State election officials said roughly 6,900 polling places were open, and Ivey said no problems had been reported with machines. Read The Full Story President Bush 2008 State of the Union Address 2008-01-29 03:20:19 Intellpuke: Following is the full text of President Bush's State of the Union address. The text was prepared by Congressional Quarterly Transcripts and provided to various news organizations. President Bush's address follows: BUSH: Madam Speaker, Vice President Cheney, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: Seven years have passed since I first stood before you at this rostrum. In that time, our country has been tested in ways none of us could have imagined. We faced hard decisions about peace and war, rising competition in the world economy, and the health and welfare of our citizens. These issues call for vigorous debate, and I think it's fair to say we've answered the call. (LAUGHTER) Yet history will record that, amid our differences, we acted with purpose. And together we showed the world the power and resilience of American self-government. Read The Full Story Editorial: The State Of The Union 2008-01-29 03:19:45 Intellpuke: The following editorial appears in the New York Times edition for Tuesday, January 29, 2008. Six years ago, President Bush began his State of the Union address with two powerful sentences: “As we gather tonight, our nation is at war, our economy is in recession, and the civilized world faces unprecedented dangers. Yet the state of our union has never been stronger.” Monday night, after six years of promises unkept or insincerely made and blunders of historic proportions, the United States is now fighting two wars, the economy is veering toward recession, the civilized world still faces horrifying dangers - and it has far less sympathy and respect for the United States. The nation is splintered over the war in Iraq, cleaved by ruthless partisan politics, bubbling with economic fear and mired in debate over virtually all of the issues Mr. Bush faced in 2002. And the best Mr. Bush could offer was a call to individual empowerment - a noble idea, but in Mr. Bush’s hands just another excuse to abdicate government responsibility. Monday night’s address made us think what a different speech it might have been if Mr. Bush had capitalized on the unity that followed the 9/11 attacks to draw the nation together, rather than to arrogate ever more power and launch his misadventure in Iraq. How different it might have been if Mr. Bush meant what he said about compassionate conservatism or even followed the fiscal discipline of old-fashioned conservatism. How different if he had made a real effort to reach for the bipartisanship he promised in 2002 and so many times since. Read The Full Story Snowstorms Kill At Least 24 In China 2008-01-29 03:19:12 Severe snowstorms over broad swaths of eastern and central China have wreaked havoc on traffic throughout the country, creating gigantic passenger backups, spawning accidents and leaving at least 24 people dead, according to state news reports. In many areas, where snow has continued falling for several days, the accumulation has been described as the heaviest in as many as five decades. The impact of the severe weather was complicated by the timing of the storms, which arrived just before the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, when Chinese return to their family homes by the hundreds of millions. On Monday, the government announced a severe weather warning for the days ahead, as forecasts suggested that the snowfall would continue in many areas, including Shanghai, which is unaccustomed to severe winter weather. “Due to the rain, snow and frost, plus increased winter use of coal and electricity and the peak travel season, the job of ensuring coal, electricity and oil supplies and adequate transportation has become quite severe,” Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said in a statement issued late Sunday. Read The Full Story Kennedy's Support For Obama Alters Democrat Campaigns 2008-01-29 03:17:40 Sen. Edward M. Kennedy delivered a highly prized endorsement for Sen. Barack Obama Monday as well as a pointed rebuttal to the main lines of attack used against him by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband, Bill Clinton.  In a clear reference to the criticism repeated by the Democratic senator from New York and the former president that Obama (D-Illinois) does not have the experience for the White House, Kennedy - borrowing one of the Clintons' favorite phrases - said Obama is "ready to be president on Day One." He also rebutted their contention that Obama has been inconsistent in his opposition to the war in Iraq and said Obama represents a new era and a rejection of "old politics." "From the beginning, he opposed the war in Iraq. And let no one deny that truth,'' said Kennedy (D-Massachusetts). Kennedy praised Hillary Clinton and the third candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, former senator John Edwards, of North Carolina, describing them as "friends" and declaring he would support the party's nominee. Read The Full Story	Commentary: The Three Myths Of The U.S. Election Campaign 2008-01-30 01:00:24 Intellpuke: The following commentary was written by Gabor Steingart, reporting from Washington, D.C., and appeared in his "West Wing" column in Spiegel Online's edition for Tuesday, January 29, 2008. Mr. Steingart's commentary follows: "Change" is the buzzword in the U.S. election campaign. Hoping to emulate Barack Obama's popular success, candidates from both parties are suddenly jumping on the change bandwagon. But some of the things they want to change are in fact sacrosanct - like the Constitution. At first sight, the candidates in this year's presidential primaries couldn't be more different: a Vietnam veteran, a former first lady, a Baptist preacher, a business executive, a wealthy trial lawyer championing the poor and an African-American senator from Illinois. "What a selection!" some might exclaim enthusiastically. Truly, democracy at its best! What else could you want? But the differences aren't as great as they seem, and because of this lack of diversity in their views, the candidates are trying to outdo one another in a contest to determine who is the most willing to bring about real change. "Change" is the buzzword of the season. Suddenly everyone wants to change everything, especially the way politics is conducted today. Read The Full Story E.U. Leaders Order Banks To Tighten Regulatory Regime 2008-01-30 00:59:35 A meeting of European Union (E.U.) leaders chaired by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in London Tuesday night warned banks and other financial institutions to reform in order to retain confidence in free markets and avert any prospect of the return of protectionism. In Brown's first big European initiative since becoming prime minister, the French president Nicolas Sarkozy, German chancellor Angela Merkel, acting Italian prime minister Romano Prodi and E.U. president Jose Manuel Barroso joined him for talks in Downing Street to demand increased transparency and regulation in the face of the global credit crunch. In a short, good-natured press conference held between talks and dinner at the Foreign Office, the leaders voiced similar opinions. "There is nothing fatalistic about what is happening now," Sarkozy told reporters in more direct language than the other leaders. "What has happened in certain countries has not been to do with the kind of market economy and our sense of what competition really means. If we do not want a return to protectionism we have to show transparency." Read The Full Story Over 1 Million U.K. Homeowners At Risk 2008-01-30 00:58:19 Economic slowdown would leave many home owners vulnerable says Financial Services Authority. More than a million homeowners could be at risk of serious financial difficulty and possibly losing their homes in an economic slowdown, the City regulator warned Tuesday. (Editor's note: The "City" is to the U.K. what "Wall Street" is to the U.S.) The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is preparing for a tougher climate of rising inflation and a slower economy. It fears that many homeowners with large mortgages who have borrowed three and a half times their salaries or more could be at risk. The warning comes as surveyors predict that 123 homes a day will be repossessed this year. The FSA cites three warning signs on mortgages: -- The loan was taken out for longer than 25 years. -- It is worth more than 90% of the home. -- The amount borrowed is 3.5 times or greater than income. Over a third of all mortgages sold between April 2005 and September 2007 fall into one or more of these categories. This suggests that more than 2 million of the 5.7 million mortgages written during this period are of potential concern. Read The Full Story Newsblog: McCain Beats Romney In Florida, Giuliani Expected To Drop Out 2008-01-29 23:26:59 Sen. John McCain won a crucial victory over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney Tuesday in Florida's Republican primary, a second straight win that cements the Arizona senator as the front-runner for his party's nomination. With 80 percent of the vote on the Republican side counted, McCain led Romney, 36 percent to 31 percent. Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who had staked his entire campaign on a strong showing in Florida, trailed with 15 percent. Former governor Mike Huckabee (Arkansas) ran fourth with 13 percent. "Our victory might not have reached landslide proportions, but it's sweet nonetheless," McCain told supporters in Miami Tuesday night. The results were a major disappointment for Giuliani, who had said he needed a strong showing in the state to build momentum for the nearly two dozen states set to vote on Feb. 5. "You don't always win but you can try to do it right," Giuliani said in a speech to supporters in Orlando. He gave no indication about his plans, but a senior Giuliani aide said that it's "very, very likely" the former mayor will drop out of the race Wednesday and endorse McCain. On the Democratic side, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York) won a largely symbolic primary victory. Read The Full Story Fifth Circuit Court To Consider Jurisdiction Over Contractors In Iraq 2008-01-29 16:08:27 A year after Iraqi civilians and U.S. soldiers tore down the towering statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad's Firdous Square, a few dozen American civilians at a U.S. military base in Iraq climbed into a row of camouflage tractor-trailers and awaited instructions. Earlier that morning, the drivers, employees of Houston-based Kellogg Brown & Root Inc. (KBR), had been told that the roads outside Camp Anaconda, about 70 miles north of Baghdad, were labeled Code Red - off limits. That wasn't a big surprise. Local radio and Armed Forces television had been reporting for days that U.S. military units and civilian contractors were under heavy attack. Weeks earlier, four security guards working for Blackwater USA had been shot, burned, dismembered and strung from a bridge in Fallujah; that city was now in chaos. Still, here inside "the wire," as the drivers called the well-guarded camp, civilian truckers counted on KBR for their safety. Around 10 a.m., the KBR security adviser announced a change in status. The roads were now Code Amber, he said - open for traffic. If the men were concerned about the last-minute change, or worried about driving unarmored military vehicles instead of the white trucks they usually drove to distinguish them as civilians, there was nothing they could do about it: KBR employees must follow the instructions of their convoy commanders. Things would only get stranger. As the trucks lined up at the gate to leave, the drivers were told that their destination had changed. Instead of Camp Webster, where they'd originally been assigned to go, they'd be delivering fuel to Baghdad International Airport. Most had never been to the airport before; some had never even been outside the secured camp. None knew the route or was given a map. Read The Full Story French 'Rogue Trader' Says His Bosses Knew 2008-01-29 16:07:27 The trader accused of causing about $7 billion in losses at Societe Generale told investigators that he believes his bosses were aware of his massive risk-taking on markets but turned a blind eye as long as he earned money, a judicial official said Tuesday. Societe Generale, which said last week that Kerviel's actions cost it nearly 5 billion euros, quickly accused Kerviel of lying. In another twist to the multifaceted case, France's financial markets authority opened an investigation into the bank, France's second-largest. Kerviel, a 31-year-old junior trader, told investigators of efforts to mask his massive transactions, but said the bank must nonetheless have noticed something suspicious, according to excerpts of his police testimony published in Le Monde newspaper. Kerviel's remarks were confirmed by Isabelle Montagne, a spokeswoman for the Paris prosecutor's office. "I can't believe that my superiors were not aware of the amounts I was committing, it is impossible to generate such profits with small positions," said Kerviel, according to the account confirmed by Montagne. Read The Full Story California's Salmon Population Declines - Near Record Low 2008-01-29 16:06:53 The number of chinook salmon returning to California's Central Valley has reached a near-record low, pointing to an ''unprecedented collapse'' that could lead to severe restrictions on West Coast salmon fishing this year, according to federal fishery regulators. The sharp drop in chinook or ''king'' salmon returning from the Pacific Ocean to spawn in the Sacramento River and its tributaries this past fall is part of broader decline in wild salmon runs in rivers across the West. The population dropped more than 88 percent from its all-time high five years ago, according to an internal memo sent to members of the Pacific Fishery Management Council and obtained by the Associated Press. Regulators are still trying to understand the reasons for the shrinking number of spawners; some scientists believe it could be related to changes in the ocean linked to global warming. Read The Full Story News Analysis: Bush's State Of The Union Focused On Past Achievements 2008-01-29 03:19:58 Gone were the grand dreams of remaking Social Security, immigration law or the tax code. In their place were modest initiatives, such as hiring preferences for military spouses. The economic package targeted tax breaks to low- and middle-class workers. And the foreign policy stressed Middle East peacemaking and diplomacy with rogue nations. President Bush took office with so much derision for the outgoing president that critics defined his attitude toward governing as ABC - "anything but Clinton". He would not play "small ball," he declared, nor would he coddle North Korea or waste time mediating between the Israelis and Arabs. But as he delivered his final State of the Union address last night, Bush increasingly appeared to be adopting some of his predecessor's approach. Turning the corner into his last year in office with the nation already voting on who might succeed him, Bush is recalibrating what remains possible in a Congress controlled by the opposition and rethinking the most effective way to get what he wants on the international front. While aides insist he is not dwelling on his legacy, the "unfinished business" agenda he outlined seemed geared toward consolidating past achievements and focusing strategically on where he can win a few more. Read The Full Story Cough, Cold Medicines Put 7,000 Children A Year In Emergency Rooms 2008-01-29 03:19:28 More than 7,000 children get rushed to emergency rooms each year after suffering adverse reactions to cough and cold medicines, according to the first national estimate of the risks posed by the widely used remedies. Most of the problems occur in children ages 2 to 5 who get into the medications on their own, researchers said. They based their conclusions on an analysis of data from a nationally representative sample of 63 emergency rooms in 2004 and 2005. "Anytime a child ends up in the emergency department because they had access to a bottle of medication, that is a problem that could be prevented," said Daniel S. Budnitz of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),  which conducted the research. The report comes as the Food and Drug Administratrion (FDA) considers whether to further restrict the use of the products because of concern about their risks and questions about their effectiveness. Critics and supporters of the products seized on the new report to support their positions. Read The Full Story Acrimony Reigns On Eve Of Florida Republican Vote 2008-01-29 03:18:29 The Republican contest for Florida ended in acrimony on Monday as the two leading candidates traded attacks, aggressively courting voters across the Florida peninsula in a primary battle that could produce a clear front-runner for the party’s presidential nomination before a virtual national primary next week. The sparring, between Mitt Romney and Senator John McCain, of Arizona, came as polls showed the race a statistical tie between them, with Rudolph W. Giuliani and Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, lagging. Giuliani, former New York mayor, pledged that he would participate in a Republican presidential debate in California on Wednesday regardless of where he finished in Tuesday’s voting here. Still, if Florida is not his last stand, it remains the place where he has all but staked his campaign. As the hours before voting waned, that campaign had none of the feel of imminent victory. Though his organization chartered a Boeing 727 for a day of barnstorming on the eve of the primary, none of the rallies at airports in Sanford, Clearwater, Fort Myers or Fort Lauderdale drew even 100 supporters. Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, began attacking at dawn, accusing McCain of allying himself with liberal Democrats in the Senate and betraying conservative principles on legislation involving immigration, the environment and campaign finance. Read The Full Story U.S. Senate Reveals Its Own Economic Stimulus Bill 2008-01-29 03:16:34 The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Monday unveiled a rival plan to stimulate the economy, offering a $500 check to virtually every American - including low-income seniors and rich financiers - in a direct challenge to the bipartisan deal reached last week by President Bush and House leaders. The $156 billion measure by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana), which will be drafted by the committee Wednesday, also would extend unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless by 13 weeks, a proposal that had been rejected by Bush and House Republican leaders as they crafted their $150 billion stimulus package. That delicate compromise, unveiled last week, proposed to cap eligibility for somewhat larger tax rebates at $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples. With the strong backing of Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nevada), the package that emerges from the Finance Committee is likely to pass the Senate, forcing House-Senate negotiations that Bush and House leaders had hoped to avoid. The House is expected to approve its stimulus plan Tuesday. Read The Full Story
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Free Internet Press Newsletter - Tuesday January 29 2008 - (813)

Tuesday January 29 2008 edition
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President Bush 2008 State of the Union Address 2008-01-29 03:20:19 Intellpuke: Following is the full text of President Bush's State of the Union address. The text was prepared by Congressional Quarterly Transcripts and provided to various news organizations. President Bush's address follows: BUSH: Madam Speaker, Vice President Cheney, Members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens: Seven years have passed since I first stood before you at this rostrum. In that time, our country has been tested in ways none of us could have imagined. We faced hard decisions about peace and war, rising competition in the world economy, and the health and welfare of our citizens. These issues call for vigorous debate, and I think it's fair to say we've answered the call. (LAUGHTER) Yet history will record that, amid our differences, we acted with purpose. And together we showed the world the power and resilience of American self-government. Read The Full Story Editorial: The State Of The Union 2008-01-29 03:19:45 Intellpuke: The following editorial appears in the New York Times edition for Tuesday, January 29, 2008. Six years ago, President Bush began his State of the Union address with two powerful sentences: “As we gather tonight, our nation is at war, our economy is in recession, and the civilized world faces unprecedented dangers. Yet the state of our union has never been stronger.” Monday night, after six years of promises unkept or insincerely made and blunders of historic proportions, the United States is now fighting two wars, the economy is veering toward recession, the civilized world still faces horrifying dangers - and it has far less sympathy and respect for the United States. The nation is splintered over the war in Iraq, cleaved by ruthless partisan politics, bubbling with economic fear and mired in debate over virtually all of the issues Mr. Bush faced in 2002. And the best Mr. Bush could offer was a call to individual empowerment - a noble idea, but in Mr. Bush’s hands just another excuse to abdicate government responsibility. Monday night’s address made us think what a different speech it might have been if Mr. Bush had capitalized on the unity that followed the 9/11 attacks to draw the nation together, rather than to arrogate ever more power and launch his misadventure in Iraq. How different it might have been if Mr. Bush meant what he said about compassionate conservatism or even followed the fiscal discipline of old-fashioned conservatism. How different if he had made a real effort to reach for the bipartisanship he promised in 2002 and so many times since. Read The Full Story Snowstorms Kill At Least 24 In China 2008-01-29 03:19:12 Severe snowstorms over broad swaths of eastern and central China have wreaked havoc on traffic throughout the country, creating gigantic passenger backups, spawning accidents and leaving at least 24 people dead, according to state news reports. In many areas, where snow has continued falling for several days, the accumulation has been described as the heaviest in as many as five decades. The impact of the severe weather was complicated by the timing of the storms, which arrived just before the Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, when Chinese return to their family homes by the hundreds of millions. On Monday, the government announced a severe weather warning for the days ahead, as forecasts suggested that the snowfall would continue in many areas, including Shanghai, which is unaccustomed to severe winter weather. “Due to the rain, snow and frost, plus increased winter use of coal and electricity and the peak travel season, the job of ensuring coal, electricity and oil supplies and adequate transportation has become quite severe,” Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said in a statement issued late Sunday. Read The Full Story Kennedy's Support For Obama Alters Democrat Campaigns 2008-01-29 03:17:40 Sen. Edward M. Kennedy delivered a highly prized endorsement for Sen. Barack Obama Monday as well as a pointed rebuttal to the main lines of attack used against him by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband, Bill Clinton.  In a clear reference to the criticism repeated by the Democratic senator from New York and the former president that Obama (D-Illinois) does not have the experience for the White House, Kennedy - borrowing one of the Clintons' favorite phrases - said Obama is "ready to be president on Day One." He also rebutted their contention that Obama has been inconsistent in his opposition to the war in Iraq and said Obama represents a new era and a rejection of "old politics." "From the beginning, he opposed the war in Iraq. And let no one deny that truth,'' said Kennedy (D-Massachusetts). Kennedy praised Hillary Clinton and the third candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, former senator John Edwards, of North Carolina, describing them as "friends" and declaring he would support the party's nominee. Read The Full Story NYC To Ban Geiger Counters And Other Detection Devices 2008-01-28 17:42:30 Damn you, Osama bin Laden! Here's another rotten thing you've done to us: After 9/11, untold thousands of New Yorkers bought machines that detect traces of biological, chemical, and radiological weapons. But a lot of these machines didn't work right, and when they registered false alarms, the police had to spend millions of dollars chasing bad leads and throwing the public into a state of raw panic. OK, none of that has actually happened. But Richard Falkenrath, the NYPD's deputy commissioner for counterterrorism, knows that it's just a matter of time. That's why he and Mayor Michael Bloomberg have asked the City Council to pass a law requiring anyone who wants to own such detectors to get a permit from the police first. And it's not just devices to detect weaponized anthrax that they want the power to control, but those that detect everything from industrial pollutants to asbestos in shoddy apartments. Want to test for pollution in low-income neighborhoods with high rates of childhood asthma? Gotta ask the cops for permission. Why? So you "will not lead to excessive false alarms and unwarranted anxiety," the first draft of the law states. Read The Full Story New Home Sales In U.S. Fall By Record Amount 2008-01-28 16:23:43 Sales of new homes plunged by a record amount in 2007 while prices posted the weakest showing in 16 years, demonstrating the troubles builders are facing with a huge backlog of unsold homes. The U.S. Commerce Department reported Monday that sales of new homes dropped by 26.4 percent last year to 774,000. That marked the worst sales year on record, surpassing the old mark of a 23.1 percent plunge in 1980. The government reported that the median price of a new home barely budged last year, edging up a slight 0.2 percent to $246,900, the poorest showing since prices fell by 2.4 percent during the 1991 housing downturn. The new report reinforced the view that housing is currently undergoing its worst downturn in more than two decades, with the slump threatening to surpass in some ways the severe housing recession of the early 1980s. Read The Full Story Iraq Contractors Recruiting From Latin America's Needy 2008-01-28 16:23:11 Thousands with limited opportunities at home are lured by pay; but for some who are injured or disabled, the cost is high. Sometimes he wakes up with a shudder, thinking he needs to take cover, fast. At other moments he dreams he's running and the mortar shell strikes again, fiery shards of metal ripping through his flesh. "I take pills to help me sleep," Gregorio Calixto says, proffering a box of cheap over-the-counter medication, the only kind he can afford. In the United States, Calixto might be under treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in Iraq, receiving daily physical therapy and counseling. Here he's an unemployed street vendor, renting a spartan room and struggling to recover physically and emotionally from severe shrapnel wounds. He is one of several thousand Latin Americans who have taken jobs with U.S. contractors as security guards in Iraq and Afghanistan. About 1,200 Peruvians are in Iraq, mostly guarding sites in Baghdad's Green Zone. Chileans, Colombians, Salvadorans and Hondurans have also served as part of the polyglot assemblage providing "conflict labor" in U.S. war zones. Read The Full Story Gunmen In Pakistan Free Dozens Of School Hostages 2008-01-28 16:22:05 Gunmen held dozens of students and teachers hostage for five hours at a school in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, but authorities allowed the captors to flee without punishment to avoid bloodshed, said a tribal negotiator. None of the hostages were hurt, but the standoff underscored the government's fragile grip on Pakistan's borderlands near Afghanistan,where crime is rife and security forces are struggling to contain rising Islamic militancy. Kidnapping for ransom is common in Pakistan, particularly in the northwest, and police said the gunmen were criminals seeking profit rather than militants. The mounting violence has contributed to the growing unpopularity of President Pervez Musharraf, who was on his last stop Monday of a European tour. After talks with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Musharraf insisted his U.S.-backed policies to fight religious extremism were working. Read The Full Story Asian Stocks Plunge In Monday Trading 2008-01-28 03:47:22 Asian stocks tumbled Monday as traders took their cues from Wall Street, where persistent worries about a possible U.S. recession sent shares sinking Friday. India's benchmark stock index dropped 4.6 percent in early trading and Hong Kong's market slid 4.7 percent by midday. U.S. stock index futures also were down, suggesting that shares could drop again when the market opens in New York. In an anomaly, Australia's main stock index gained 5 percent, or 280.50 points, to close at 5,886.30. Investors around the world have been jittery for weeks about a U.S. slump, which would likely weaken demand for exports and drag on global growth. There is also concern about a worldwide credit crunch triggered by rising defaults in risky U.S. mortgages, which has led to mountains of bad assets at  major American and European banks. Read The Full Story Weak Dollar Fuels China Buying Spree In U.S. 2008-01-28 03:46:55 From his posh office in a coastal city in eastern China, millionaire Zhou Jiaru oversees more than 100 workers at an auto parts refurbishing factory he purchased in a struggling manufacturing town on the other side of the world. Zhou's new company is in Spartanburg, South Carolina.  The Chinese entrepreneur bought it from Richard Lovely, a 56-year-old industrial engineer and mechanic who says his business was in dire straits because of competition from abroad. Zhou's 85 percent stake in the company now known as GSP North America is one example of how the weak dollar and weakening U.S. economy have made the United States a bargain for overseas companies shopping for investments. In 2007, acquisitions in the United States by foreign ventures hit $407 billion, up 93 percent from the previous year, according to Thomson Financial. The top countries investing were Canada, Britain and Germany, the Middle East and Asia - especially China - are quickly catching up. Read The Full Story News Blog: Sen. Edward Kennedy To Endorse Obama 2008-01-28 03:45:32 Senator Edward M. Kennedy intends to endorse the presidential candidacy of Senator Barack Obama during a rally on Monday in Washington. The Kennedy endorsement has been underway for days, even before the outcome of the South Carolina primary.  Kennedy told his decision to Obama on Thursday. “I’ve had ongoing conversations with Ted since I’ve got into this race,” Obama told reporters Sunday as he flew to Alabama. Of all the endorsements in the Democratic Party, Kennedy’s is viewed as the most weighty. He had vowed to stay out of the presidential nominating fight, but as the contest expands into a state-by-state fight - and given the tone of the race in the last week - associates said he was moved to announce his support for Obama. The endorsement will be announced at a rally at American University on Monday, hours before the State of the Union Address at the Capitol. Read The Full Story	News Analysis: Bush's State Of The Union Focused On Past Achievements 2008-01-29 03:19:58 Gone were the grand dreams of remaking Social Security, immigration law or the tax code. In their place were modest initiatives, such as hiring preferences for military spouses. The economic package targeted tax breaks to low- and middle-class workers. And the foreign policy stressed Middle East peacemaking and diplomacy with rogue nations. President Bush took office with so much derision for the outgoing president that critics defined his attitude toward governing as ABC - "anything but Clinton". He would not play "small ball," he declared, nor would he coddle North Korea or waste time mediating between the Israelis and Arabs. But as he delivered his final State of the Union address last night, Bush increasingly appeared to be adopting some of his predecessor's approach. Turning the corner into his last year in office with the nation already voting on who might succeed him, Bush is recalibrating what remains possible in a Congress controlled by the opposition and rethinking the most effective way to get what he wants on the international front. While aides insist he is not dwelling on his legacy, the "unfinished business" agenda he outlined seemed geared toward consolidating past achievements and focusing strategically on where he can win a few more. Read The Full Story Cough, Cold Medicines Put 7,000 Children A Year In Emergency Rooms 2008-01-29 03:19:28 More than 7,000 children get rushed to emergency rooms each year after suffering adverse reactions to cough and cold medicines, according to the first national estimate of the risks posed by the widely used remedies. Most of the problems occur in children ages 2 to 5 who get into the medications on their own, researchers said. They based their conclusions on an analysis of data from a nationally representative sample of 63 emergency rooms in 2004 and 2005. "Anytime a child ends up in the emergency department because they had access to a bottle of medication, that is a problem that could be prevented," said Daniel S. Budnitz of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),  which conducted the research. The report comes as the Food and Drug Administratrion (FDA) considers whether to further restrict the use of the products because of concern about their risks and questions about their effectiveness. Critics and supporters of the products seized on the new report to support their positions. Read The Full Story Acrimony Reigns On Eve Of Florida Republican Vote 2008-01-29 03:18:29 The Republican contest for Florida ended in acrimony on Monday as the two leading candidates traded attacks, aggressively courting voters across the Florida peninsula in a primary battle that could produce a clear front-runner for the party’s presidential nomination before a virtual national primary next week. The sparring, between Mitt Romney and Senator John McCain, of Arizona, came as polls showed the race a statistical tie between them, with Rudolph W. Giuliani and Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, lagging. Giuliani, former New York mayor, pledged that he would participate in a Republican presidential debate in California on Wednesday regardless of where he finished in Tuesday’s voting here. Still, if Florida is not his last stand, it remains the place where he has all but staked his campaign. As the hours before voting waned, that campaign had none of the feel of imminent victory. Though his organization chartered a Boeing 727 for a day of barnstorming on the eve of the primary, none of the rallies at airports in Sanford, Clearwater, Fort Myers or Fort Lauderdale drew even 100 supporters. Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, began attacking at dawn, accusing McCain of allying himself with liberal Democrats in the Senate and betraying conservative principles on legislation involving immigration, the environment and campaign finance. Read The Full Story U.S. Senate Reveals Its Own Economic Stimulus Bill 2008-01-29 03:16:34 The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee Monday unveiled a rival plan to stimulate the economy, offering a $500 check to virtually every American - including low-income seniors and rich financiers - in a direct challenge to the bipartisan deal reached last week by President Bush and House leaders. The $156 billion measure by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana), which will be drafted by the committee Wednesday, also would extend unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless by 13 weeks, a proposal that had been rejected by Bush and House Republican leaders as they crafted their $150 billion stimulus package. That delicate compromise, unveiled last week, proposed to cap eligibility for somewhat larger tax rebates at $75,000 for individuals and $150,000 for couples. With the strong backing of Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nevada), the package that emerges from the Finance Committee is likely to pass the Senate, forcing House-Senate negotiations that Bush and House leaders had hoped to avoid. The House is expected to approve its stimulus plan Tuesday. Read The Full Story Perdue Researches To Make Cell Phones Detect Radiation 2008-01-28 17:42:23 Researchers at Purdue University are working with the state of Indiana to develop a system that would use a network of cell phones to detect and track radiation to help prevent terrorist attacks with radiological "dirty bombs" and nuclear weapons. Such a system could blanket the nation with millions of cell phones equipped with radiation sensors able to detect even light residues of radioactive material. Because cell phones already contain global positioning locators, the network of phones would serve as a tracking system, said physics professor Ephraim Fischbach. Fischbach is working with Jere Jenkins, director of Purdue's radiation laboratories within the School of Nuclear Engineering. Read The Full Story U.S. Stocks Mixed; Asian, European Markets Decline 2008-01-28 16:23:24 U.S. markets seesawed this morning after another day of declines on stock markets in Asia and Europe and ahead of an important round of new economic data scheduled to be released this week. On Wall Street, U.S. indexes began the day with small gains, fell sharply, then rebounded into positive territory. Shortly after 2 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average had risen 107 points, about 0.8 percent. The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up nearly 15 points, or more than 1 percent. The Nasdaq composite index was gaining nearly 16 points, or .07 percent. Overseas the mood was more clearly pessimistic, with continued concern about the U.S. economy and the global financial system pushing stocks down. Some Asian exchanges fell by nearly 7 percent overnight, as investors worried that a slowdown in the United States will hurt Asian exporters. In Europe, jitters about the health of bank and financial companies pushed major exchanges down between 1 and 2 percent. Read The Full Story Federal Agency: Mine Operators Often Go Unpunished After Citations 2008-01-28 16:22:50 The federal agency that regulates the nation's mining industry says it has failed to penalize mine operators for thousands of citations issued since 2000, and the oversight could extend back more than a decade. "And we would guess it goes back far beyond 1995, but because of a lack of electronic records before that year, I can't verify that," Matthew Faraci, spokesman for the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), said Sunday. "Given that this seems to have been an endemic problem that has been with the agency for quite some time, the part that we're optimistic about is that we know about it and are working to fix it." Preliminary data showed that penalties had not been assessed against operators for about 4,000 citations the agency issued between January 2000 and July 2006, the Charleston Sunday Gazette-Mail reported. MSHA Director Richard Stickler told the newspaper that the review also showed that penalties had never been assessed for a few hundred citations issued in 1996. Read The Full Story Bush Threatens To Veto Wiretap Law 2008-01-28 03:47:32 The White House warned Democratic leaders Sunday that President Bush would veto a proposal to extend an expiring surveillance law by 30 days, saying that Congress should quickly approve a Senate bill favored by the Bush administration. The move is aimed at forcing Congress to renew and expand the Protect America Act - which is due to expire at the end of the day Thursday - and escalates a national security showdown between Democrats and the White House just before the president's annual State of the Union address. A senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of ongoing negotiations with Congress, said lawmakers "have had six months to not pass a bill - they don't need 30 more days to not pass a bill." The veto threat prompted a swift condemnation from Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nevada), who called the warning "irresponsible" and said Bush was "posturing" just before Monday night's speech. Read The Full Story Commentary: The U.S. Economy - Darker Days Ahead? 2008-01-28 03:47:10 Intellpuke: The following commentary is from an interview with Robert Reich that appeared in Newsweek's edition for Wednesday, January 23, 2008. In the interview, Mr. Reich states that a recession, or worse, could be coming. His interview follows: Think the last few days have been bad for Wall Street and the rest of the world's markets? Hang on, things are probably going to get worse, says Robert Reich, President Clinton's former secretary of Labor and author of the recent book "Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy and Everyday Life." According to Reich, who currently teaches public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, the United States might even be headed toward a depression. Newsweek's Arlyn Tobias Gajilan talked to Reich about the Fed's surprise rate cut Wednesday, the "D word," the growing criticism of Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and whether a stimulus package will include $500 check for each American. Excerpts: NEWSWEEK: Many investors had hoped for an interest-rate cut, but this cut's size and timing took people by surprise. Were you taken aback by the Fed's three-quarter basis-point cut, the largest single-day reduction in the Fed's history? And do you think it's necessary? Robert Reich: Yes and yes. The Fed is clearly becoming aware of the serious potential of an economic meltdown. The size of the cut is larger than anyone expected because the Fed usually moves in [increments of] .25 or .50 percentage points. But the danger of a cut this size is that it may panic the investors. They may conclude that the Fed has determined that the economy is even worse than assumed and that there is still a way to go before we hit bottom. Yet the Fed has to [cut]. Credit markets are still uncomfortably frozen, and the housing slump continues to worsen. Read The Full Story Shell Oil Set To Stir Gas-Price Debate With Record Profits Of Amost $27 Billion 2008-01-28 03:46:03 Shell will be at the center of a political storm this week when it posts profits of almost $27 billion (£13.6 billion), the highest earnings ever made by a British-Dutch company. The record-breaking profits, on the back of soaring oil prices, seem likely to stir fresh allegations of profiteering. The price of petrol has been increasing sharply, rising from 71pence a liter five years ago to about 104 pence a liter today, according to the AA. Texas-based Exxon Mobil, the world's largest privately-owned oil company, is expected to improve on its own previous record on Friday by reporting earnings of $39.6 billion, the biggest annual profits that the U.S. has ever seen. Kate Gibbs at the Road Haulage Association described Shell's profits as "absolutely scandalous" but reserved her strongest criticism for the chancellor of the exchequer, Alistair Darling, who is planning to add another 2 pence a liter in fuel duty in April. More than 65% of the cost of unleaded petrol goes to the exchequer in fuel tax and VAT (value added tax). "If it is not Shell reporting record figures, it is BP," said Gibbs. "We don't like it but what's the point in criticizing? But we have a chancellor who is hellbent on adding to the fuel duty and we are doing all we can to lobby parliament." Read The Full Story President Of Mormon Church, Gordon B. Hinckley Dies At 97 2008-01-28 03:45:11 Gordon B. Hinckley, 97, the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and an energetic grandson of pioneers who led his denomination during a period of great expansion in membership and facilities, died last night at his home in Salt Lake City, said a church spokeswoman. In 1995, after many years in leadership posts in what is often called the Mormon church, Hinckley became president. He was the 15th person to hold that post. The president of the church is held in special regard by the members, who see him as a prophet of God "in the same way they revered the prophets of scripture," according to material posted on the church's Web site. Hinckley underwent cancer surgery in 2006, but church spokeswoman Kim Farah said last night that "the cause [of his death] was incident to his age." Despite his age, Farah said, Hinckley had remained active and was coming in to the office as recently as last week. Read The Full Story
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