Free Internet Press Newsletter - Sunday November 30 2008 - (813)

Sunday November 30 2008 edition
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Many Experts Say U.S. Health-Care System Is Inefficient, Wasteful, Dangerous 2008-11-29 15:02:40 Talk to the chief executives of America's preeminent health-care institutions, and you might be surprised by what you hear: When it comes to medical care, the United States isn't getting its money's worth. Not even close. "We're not getting what we pay for," says Denis Cortese, president and chief executive of the Mayo Clinic. "It's just that simple." "Our health-care system is fraught with waste," says Gary Kaplan, chairman of Seattle's cutting-edge Virginia Mason Medical Center. As much as half of the $2.3 trillion spent today does nothing to improve health, he says. Not only is American health care inefficient and wasteful, says Kaiser Permanente chief executive George Halvorson, much of it is dangerous. Those harsh assessments illustrate the enormousness of the challenge that awaits President-elect Barack Obama, who campaigned on the promise to trim the average American family's health-care bill by $2,500 a year. Delivering on that pledge will not be easy, particularly at a time when the economic picture continues to worsen. Read The Full Story Lifeline Of 30 Billion Euros Thrown To Germany's BayernLB Bank 2008-11-29 15:01:42 Germany's troubled BayernLB bank will be granted a bailout package worth 30 billion euros to help it survive the financial chill. Bavarian Governor Horst Seehofer warned the bank's predicament is "very, very serious". BayernLB has already earned itself the unenviable accolade of becoming Germany's first bank to request help from the government bailout funds. On Friday it added a massive bailout package to its trophy shelf: a €30 billion lifeline will be thrown to the ailing business. To restore it to health, Bavarian Governor Horst Seehofer said the Munich-based BayernLB would be granted €10 billion ($12.9 billion). He also said the bank requires lending guarantees to the tune of €20 billion. Of that he said he would seek €15 billion in interbank lending guarantees under the federal plan. Germany's second biggest regional bank has been hit hard amid the financial domino effect. First, the U.S. subprime lending crisis and subsequent credit crunch left it, and many peers, with hefty write-downs. Then, BayernLB's problems deepened with losses generated by bank failures in Iceland. Earlier BayernLB said it has applied for €3 billion from the federal bailout fund - a move which would mean that the state would have a relatively small say in the running of the bank. Read The Full Story Germany Reaches Kyoto Emissions Commitments - For The Moment 2008-11-29 15:00:58 A new study shows that German has already reduced greenhouse gas emissions to the level pledged in the Kyoto Protocol; but a greater reliance on coal-fired power plants may soon reverse that trend. When it comes to global warming and concurrent efforts to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, Germany has always tried to present itself as a leader. New data set to be released on Friday shows that the country has earned its bragging rights. According to the most recent numbers collected by the "national emissions inventory," which keeps tabs on Germany's CO2 emissions, the country has already lowered its emissions to the level set out by the Kyoto Protocol agreement. In 1997, Germany pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 21 percent by 2012 relative to 1990 levels. New numbers indicate that the country has managed to reduce emissions by 22.4 percent, according to the Suddeutsche Zeitung which saw the report before it was published. According to the Munich-based daily, the study points to the mild winter of 2006-2007 as being a factor in the recent decline. But it also says that greenhouse gas emissions from German households have been declining for years. The same trend has been observed when it comes to emissions from cars and trucks on the nation's roads. Nevertheless, the study warns that emissions could tick upwards as a result of high energy prices for much of 2008, a situation that led many power plants to increase reliance on coal-generated power. The near future will also see a number of atomic energy facilities shut down in Germany as part of the country's turn away from nuclear power, a development that is likely to increase the use of emissions-intensive energy sources such as coal. Read The Full Story Same Artists, Same Collectors, Less Champagne 2008-11-29 15:00:19 Next week, the most important art fair in the world - "Art Basel Miami Beach" - will begin amid gloom and financial chaos. What used to be a symbol of the art market's golden age could now help launch a global art market depression. The party lasted many years, and many thought it could keep on going forever. The clientele of the galleries and auction-houses would accept any price - $70 milion, $100 million, even $135 million. The only difficulty was in keeping a fresh supply of art. But if anyone could scare up a drip painting of Jackson Pollack, he could easily charge $140 million. Over the last several years, auctioneers have regularly broken records and more and more galleries have opened worldwide - in cities like Beijing, a new one almost every day. In the new millennium, art seemed to sell itself. "This market has grown out of the economic reality of the last two years," says Iwan Wirth, 38, who ranks as Europe's most important gallerist and lives in London and Zürich. But now the art market will learn what financial power really means. "The market will be changed by the world economic crisis," predicts Wirth. The ecstasy is cooling off. The boom times are over. High-flying hubris has marked the entire industry, and nowhere more than at "Art Basel Miami Beach," the world's most thrilling fair of contemporary art. It is, in every respect, the most extroverted event in the art world: here, greed is a virtue, not a sin. Since its founding in 2002, collectors, including wealthy hedge fund managers, have come to this sunny off-shoot of the Swiss fair "Art Basel" to snatch away the most expensive trophies from one another. Many stalls were sold out after only an hour. This shopping-battle developed into the community's favorite game. Read The Full Story Bush Administration Moves Ahead On Oil, Gas Leases On Public Lands 2008-11-29 02:56:10 A decision by federal officials this week to press ahead with a controversial sale of oil and gas leases in eastern Utah is stoking the debate over how to balance the nation's needs for fossil fuels against concerns over the environmental impact on iconic national parks and other sensitive areas. The Bush administration, which has sought to reduce American dependence on imports to meet the continuing demand for oil and gas, has aggressively pushed to open up energy exploration across broad swaths of the West, off both coasts, and in Alaska. But those initiatives regularly stir opposition from both environmentalists and advocates of faster development of alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power. Over the last four fiscal years, a Washington Post analysis of Bureau of Land Mangement records shows, the government has dramatically accelerated the pace of awarding oil and gas drilling permits on federal land. The total for the period is nearly triple the number issued in the corresponding years under former President Clinton, and the number of new wells sunk on federal land is more than double Clinton's record over the comparable period. In the latest skirmish, the bureau announced Tuesday that it will proceed with most of a proposed sale of oil and gas leases on nearly 500 square miles of public land in eastern Utah, which had sparked protests from environmental advocates and National Park Service officials. Opponents fear the drilling activity will damage air quality in several nearby popular national parks. The lease sales, due to take place next month, could pose a challenge for the incoming Obama administration, which will have to decide shortly after taking office whether to honor the contracts, seek to undo the leases or pay millions in taxpayer dollars to buy them back. Read The Full Story U.S. Sends FBI Agents To Investigate Mumbai Attacks 2008-11-29 02:55:47 The government ordered FBI agents Friday to fly to India to investigate the bloody Mumbai attacks that killed at least five Americans. U.S. citizens still in the city were warned their lives remain at risk. Intelligence officials looked urgently for clues about the identity of the attackers, a crucial unknown as Indian officials charged, without giving details, that "elements in Pakistan" were involved. A tentative rapprochement between the two nuclear-armed rivals could hang in the balance, and a U.S. counterintelligence official cautioned against rushing to judgment on the origins of the militants. President George W. Bush pledged cooperation with Indian authorities and mourned the deaths of more than 150 people at the hands of gunmen who attacked targets across India's financial capital starting Wednesday night. "My administration has been working with the Indian government and the international community as Indian authorities work to ensure the safety of those still under threat," Bush said in a statement from the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland. "We will continue to cooperate against these extremists who offer nothing but violence and hopelessness." Bush was receiving regular updates, White House press secretary Dana Perino said Friday night. Senior administration officials were focused on ensuring that Americans were being helped in every way possible, she said. Read The Full Story In Bid To Jump-Start Global Economy, Nations Embark On Massive Public Programs 2008-11-29 02:55:00 In a bid to jump-start the beleaguered global economy, countries around the world are introducing massive public spending programs aimed at creating millions of jobs, boosting the use of green energy and modernizing infrastructure in a way that could transform urban and rural landscapes. The viability of some of the plans remains unclear, but observers say the number of countries moving in tandem underscores the perceived severity of the coming global recession and the view that governments must at least temporarily pick up the slack as the hard-hit private sector sheds jobs and cuts spending. It is time "to invest massively in infrastructure, in research, in innovation, in education, in training people, because it is now or never," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a recent public address. World leaders are pursuing a variety of strategies to tame the economic crisis, including moves to unclog credit markets, strengthen financial institutions and ease monetary policy. Fiscal stimulus packages, in particular, have emerged as a favorite tool of policymakers. Some countries' plans are particularly bold: China is accelerating projects to build more nuclear power plants and a vast natural gas pipeline; Italy may erect the first bridge connecting Sicily to mainland Europe. This past week, the European Union called for member countries to spend $258 billion to spur growth; France, one of the bloc's largest economies, is expected to announce a huge package next week. Britain has already unveiled a $30 billion proposal, and Spain a $14 billion plan. Read The Full Story Wal-Mart Worker Dies In Shoppers Stampede 2008-11-29 02:54:12 Friday morning's two shootings in Palm Desert weren't the only violent deaths on Black Friday: Across the country hours earlier, shoppers straining to get into a Wal-Mart in a New York City suburb trampled an employee, said police. The three fatalities struck a somber note on the day after Thanksgiving, which is traditionally a day of leftovers, football and bargains at the mall. At 5:03 a.m. Friday, customers surged toward a Long Island Wal-Mart store's entrance. A 34-year-old temporary employee was killed when a "throng of shoppers .. physically broke down the doors, knocking him to the ground," according to a statement from Nassau County officials. He was declared dead at a hospital at 6:03 a.m. The exact cause of death has not been determined. Read The Full Story	'The Most Dangerous Woman In The World' 2008-11-29 15:02:03 Aafia Siddiqui was once considered a brilliant scientist. Then the U.S. government called her the new face of al-Qaeda - a Pakistani woman who ranked among America's top terrorism suspects. Now the MIT-educated mother of three is in custody, claiming her disappearance was a wrongful abduction by the CIA. On July 17, 2008, men coming from evening prayers at the Bazazi Mosque in Ghazni, a provincial capital south of Kabul, paused when they saw a woman outside the building. They formed a circle around the stranger, who was wearing a blue burqa. She was cowering on the ground, with two small bags at her side, holding the hand of a boy of about 12. One of the men, fearing that this peculiar woman could be carrying a bomb under her burqa, called the police. A short time later, more than 11,000 kilometers (6,800 miles) away, a telephone rang at the headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Washington, D.C. Someone crossed the name Aafia Siddiqui from a list of suspects and wrote the word "arrested." After two weeks Aafia Siddiqui was flown from the U.S. Air Force's Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan to New York. She was now wearing a tracksuit, had two bullet entry wounds in her abdomen and weighed around 40 kilograms (90 lbs.). Siddiqui is 1.63 meters (5'4") tall. Read The Full Story Commentary: India Is Pointing In The Right Direction 2008-11-29 15:01:27 Intellpuke: This commentary was written by Claus Christian Malzahn and appeared in the Spiegel Online edition for Saturday, November 29, 2008. Mumbai a terror zone, and India bitterly points its finger at Pakistan. The unloved neighbor needs all the help the West can offer. Pakistan is nearly a failed state - and a U.S. invasion under President Obama can't be ruled out. It is still not clear who exactly carried out the terror attacks in Mumbai this week. But the actions speak for themselves. The murderers expressly went after Britons, Americans and Jews. In the world's largest democracy, attacks were carried out by a determined minority against the will of an overwhelming majority. The crimes bear the clear and bloody fingerprints of militant, political Islamism. The uncomfortable resonance left behind by the series of attacks is that the criminals were almost omnipotent: They could strike where, when and - almost - whomever they wanted. The terror didn't just claim its victims in one awful moment; it spread out and lasted for days. There was a similar feeling during the terror attacks on the living quarters of Westerners in Saudi Arabia in 2004 as well as the battle at Pakistan's Red Mosque, in the center of Islamabad; but this time the terror overtook an entire city. The attacks struck the heart of an Indian civil society that has always functioned fairly well, despite recurring conflicts between the country's Hindu majority and Muslim minority. The terror struck a country that is closely allied, politically and economically, with the West. The terrorists' mission can be neatly summarized: political, economic and cultural destabilization of the whole subcontinent. The attacks were an attempt to spread religious war from the whole of Afghanistan and regions of Pakistan to their southern neighbor, India. It's obvious the terrorists follow the ideology of al-Qaeda, though it's unclear whether the head of that organization gave orders for this mission. Perhaps we'll never know - it wouldn't be the first time. But we can assume the murderers from Mumbai see themselves as part of an international movement in which Zawahiri and bin Laden hold high ranks. Read The Full Story Thai Security Forces Clash With Protesters At Airport 2008-11-29 15:00:34 Anti-government protesters occupying Bangkok’s two commercial airports clashed at least twice with security forces on Saturday, raising tensions in the four-day standoff. The Thai police said they would continue their efforts to negotiate with protesters and called the first clash a misunderstanding. “We are ready to talk,” Lt. Gen. Chalong Somjai, of the Thai police, said in a news conference at a police station near Suvarnabhumi Airport, a giant complex that has served as a transportation and commercial hub for Southeast Asia. “We are trying to bring this to a peaceful conclusion.” The Thai airport authority said Suvarnabhumi would be closed until at least Monday evening, dashing hopes for a quick resolution of the national crisis. Read The Full Story Mumbai Siege Ends As Last Gunman Killed, Hostages Freed 2008-11-29 02:56:22 Security forces brought a three-day assault on India's financial and cultural capital to an end Saturday morning, killing the last remaining gunmen holed up in one of the city's luxury hotels after freeing hostages and recovering bodies from two hotels and a Jewish center Friday. Pakistani officials, responding to charges by Indian leaders that the attack was carried out by an organization with ties to Pakistan, said a senior intelligence officer would travel to India, in an apparent attempt to ease tensions between the two nuclear-armed states. Indian officials said they now believe that at least 15 gunmen carried out the operation after reaching Mumbai by sea. After an interrogation of one of the attackers, Indian intelligence officials said they suspected that a Pakistani Islamist group, Lashkar-i-Taiba, was responsible. An Indian intelligence document from 2006 obtained by the Washington Post said members of the group had been trained in maritime assault. Authorities said that the death toll had risen to 195 as more bodies were discovered and that 295 people were wounded, the Associated Press reported, in attacks on the hotels, the Jewish center and several other sites in Mumbai. Among the dead were two Americans from Virginia; the American rabbi who ran the city's Chabad-Lubavitch center and his Israeli wife; and three of their visitors, including an American man, an Israeli woman and a man with U.S. and Israeli citizenship. In all, 16 non-Indians have been reported killed. Explosions from fighting at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel could be heard outside the hotel early Saturday morning, and flames and thick, inky-black smoke were seen pouring from the first floor. Read The Full Story E.U. Accuses Pharmaceutical Companies Of Padding Health Care Costs 2008-11-29 02:55:59 The European Union accused drug companies on Friday of adding billions of dollars to health care costs by delaying or blocking the sale of less expensive generic medicines. One common tactic, said Neelie Kroes, the European competition commissioner, was for drug companies to amass patents to protect active ingredients in the medicines - in one case, 1,300 patents for a single drug. Another tactic, she said, was for pharmaceutical companies to sue the makers of generic drugs for ostensible patent violations, which tended to delay the availability of the lower-cost products for years. Kroes made her comments Friday while presenting the preliminary findings of a broad investigation into accusations of anticompetitive practices in the drug sector. She also turned her sights on the generics companies, which she said had received $200 million from pharmaceutical companies over seven years in exchange for holding their products off the market. Patients and health care systems in Europe would have saved at least 3 billion euros, or $3.8 billion, from 2000 to 2007 - or shaved 5 percent off the medical bills - if companies had let generics into the market sooner, she said. Read The Full Story Pakistani Militants At Center Of Investigation On Mumbai Attacks 2008-11-29 02:55:35 Pakistani militant groups on Friday became the focus of the investigation into the attacks in Mumbai as India and its archrival Pakistan jousted over who was responsible. Both sides pledged to cooperate in the probe, but tensions remained high amid fears the conflict could escalate. Pakistan initially said Friday that it had agreed to send its spy chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, on an unprecedented visit to India to share and obtain information from investigators there. Later Friday, however, Pakistani officials changed their minds and decided to send a less senior intelligence official in Pasha's place, according to a Pakistani source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. It is unclear what prompted the reversal, but the Pakistani source said the Islamabad government was "already bending over backwards" to be cooperative and did not "want to create more opportunities for Pakistan-bashing." Pakistan's defense minister, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, told reporters in Islamabad, "I will say in very categoric terms that Pakistan is not involved in these gory incidents." Meanwhile, Indian authorities ramped up their accusations that the plot had Pakistani connections. "Preliminary evidence, prima facie evidence, indicates elements with links to Pakistan are involved," Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said at a news conference in New Delhi. Other Indian officials echoed the statement, but none provided details. Read The Full Story 2 Gunmen Kill Each Other In Shootout At California Toys 'R Us 2008-11-29 02:54:27 Most shoppers headed to the Toys "R" Us in Palm Desert on Friday morning clutching their "door buster" ads and their shopping lists. At least two men walked into the busy store armed with their guns. Instead of the usual frantic chaos on Black Friday, the year's busiest shopping day, mayhem erupted in the electronics department about 11:30 a.m., leaving two men dead in a gunfight and crowds of shoppers ducking for cover. Joan Barrick, 40, of Desert Hot Springs, said she was buying a Barbie Jeep for her daughter when two women started brawling. As the women swung at each other, the men they were with also started arguing. The younger of the two lifted up his shirt and flashed his handgun, pulling the handle from his baggy pants pocket. The other man yanked out his own handgun and started chasing him down the aisle and firing, said witnesses. Barrick hid behind a stack of DVDs and recited the Lord's Prayer. "If I'm going to die, I need to make peace," she said. "A lot of people were crying. I was crying. We were all very, very scared." As the two men ran shooting through the aisles, shoppers dumped their purchases. LaToya Jenkins, 20, had already bought a remote control bike. She dropped it and ran. Others left behind shopping carts full of the bargain-priced toys they had come in search of. Read The Full Story Mexican President Defends War On Drug Cartels 2008-11-29 02:53:55 President Felipe Calderon and his government defended their fight against public corruption and drug trafficking Friday, asking for greater powers to go after organized crime. They conceded that most Mexicans feel unsafe and that many police are unqualified to do their jobs. One hundred days after calling for a sweeping overhaul of security forces, including a reorganization of the federal police into a single agency, Calderon and his cabinet cited some successes, such as the recent arrest of several drug captains and corrupt officials. But they acknowledged that the extreme violence unleashed in Mexico was daunting. "We know the challenges are many and that the road that we have to travel is long and difficult. But we cannot and will not back down," said Calderon, who appeared with his government ministers at a day-long National Security Council  meeting in which they reported on their fight against organized crime and the drug cartels. More than 4,500 people have been killed in drug-related violence since Calderon declared war against the cartels in early 2007. The campaign has transformed border cities such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez into war zones, complete with 20,000 occupying troops. Calderon touted the recent arrest of Noe Ramirez Mandujano, a former chief of the anti-organized-crime unit at Mexico's attorney general's office, who is accused of taking at least $450,000 from drug traffickers in exchange for information about police investigations. Other top law enforcement officials have also been detained in recent weeks in "Operation Clean House," including Mexico's former liaison to Interpol, the international police organization. Read The Full Story
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Free Internet Press Newsletter - Saturday November 29 2008 - (813)

Saturday November 29 2008 edition
Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. Donate Today
Mumbai Siege Ends As Last Gunman Killed, Hostages Freed 2008-11-29 02:56:22 Security forces brought a three-day assault on India's financial and cultural capital to an end Saturday morning, killing the last remaining gunmen holed up in one of the city's luxury hotels after freeing hostages and recovering bodies from two hotels and a Jewish center Friday. Pakistani officials, responding to charges by Indian leaders that the attack was carried out by an organization with ties to Pakistan, said a senior intelligence officer would travel to India, in an apparent attempt to ease tensions between the two nuclear-armed states. Indian officials said they now believe that at least 15 gunmen carried out the operation after reaching Mumbai by sea. After an interrogation of one of the attackers, Indian intelligence officials said they suspected that a Pakistani Islamist group, Lashkar-i-Taiba, was responsible. An Indian intelligence document from 2006 obtained by the Washington Post said members of the group had been trained in maritime assault. Authorities said that the death toll had risen to 195 as more bodies were discovered and that 295 people were wounded, the Associated Press reported, in attacks on the hotels, the Jewish center and several other sites in Mumbai. Among the dead were two Americans from Virginia; the American rabbi who ran the city's Chabad-Lubavitch center and his Israeli wife; and three of their visitors, including an American man, an Israeli woman and a man with U.S. and Israeli citizenship. In all, 16 non-Indians have been reported killed. Explosions from fighting at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel could be heard outside the hotel early Saturday morning, and flames and thick, inky-black smoke were seen pouring from the first floor. Read The Full Story E.U. Accuses Pharmaceutical Companies Of Padding Health Care Costs 2008-11-29 02:55:59 The European Union accused drug companies on Friday of adding billions of dollars to health care costs by delaying or blocking the sale of less expensive generic medicines. One common tactic, said Neelie Kroes, the European competition commissioner, was for drug companies to amass patents to protect active ingredients in the medicines - in one case, 1,300 patents for a single drug. Another tactic, she said, was for pharmaceutical companies to sue the makers of generic drugs for ostensible patent violations, which tended to delay the availability of the lower-cost products for years. Kroes made her comments Friday while presenting the preliminary findings of a broad investigation into accusations of anticompetitive practices in the drug sector. She also turned her sights on the generics companies, which she said had received $200 million from pharmaceutical companies over seven years in exchange for holding their products off the market. Patients and health care systems in Europe would have saved at least 3 billion euros, or $3.8 billion, from 2000 to 2007 - or shaved 5 percent off the medical bills - if companies had let generics into the market sooner, she said. Read The Full Story Pakistani Militants At Center Of Investigation On Mumbai Attacks 2008-11-29 02:55:35 Pakistani militant groups on Friday became the focus of the investigation into the attacks in Mumbai as India and its archrival Pakistan jousted over who was responsible. Both sides pledged to cooperate in the probe, but tensions remained high amid fears the conflict could escalate. Pakistan initially said Friday that it had agreed to send its spy chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, on an unprecedented visit to India to share and obtain information from investigators there. Later Friday, however, Pakistani officials changed their minds and decided to send a less senior intelligence official in Pasha's place, according to a Pakistani source who spoke on the condition of anonymity. It is unclear what prompted the reversal, but the Pakistani source said the Islamabad government was "already bending over backwards" to be cooperative and did not "want to create more opportunities for Pakistan-bashing." Pakistan's defense minister, Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, told reporters in Islamabad, "I will say in very categoric terms that Pakistan is not involved in these gory incidents." Meanwhile, Indian authorities ramped up their accusations that the plot had Pakistani connections. "Preliminary evidence, prima facie evidence, indicates elements with links to Pakistan are involved," Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said at a news conference in New Delhi. Other Indian officials echoed the statement, but none provided details. Read The Full Story 2 Gunmen Kill Each Other In Shootout At California Toys 'R Us 2008-11-29 02:54:27 Most shoppers headed to the Toys "R" Us in Palm Desert on Friday morning clutching their "door buster" ads and their shopping lists. At least two men walked into the busy store armed with their guns. Instead of the usual frantic chaos on Black Friday, the year's busiest shopping day, mayhem erupted in the electronics department about 11:30 a.m., leaving two men dead in a gunfight and crowds of shoppers ducking for cover. Joan Barrick, 40, of Desert Hot Springs, said she was buying a Barbie Jeep for her daughter when two women started brawling. As the women swung at each other, the men they were with also started arguing. The younger of the two lifted up his shirt and flashed his handgun, pulling the handle from his baggy pants pocket. The other man yanked out his own handgun and started chasing him down the aisle and firing, said witnesses. Barrick hid behind a stack of DVDs and recited the Lord's Prayer. "If I'm going to die, I need to make peace," she said. "A lot of people were crying. I was crying. We were all very, very scared." As the two men ran shooting through the aisles, shoppers dumped their purchases. LaToya Jenkins, 20, had already bought a remote control bike. She dropped it and ran. Others left behind shopping carts full of the bargain-priced toys they had come in search of. Read The Full Story Mexican President Defends War On Drug Cartels 2008-11-29 02:53:55 President Felipe Calderon and his government defended their fight against public corruption and drug trafficking Friday, asking for greater powers to go after organized crime. They conceded that most Mexicans feel unsafe and that many police are unqualified to do their jobs. One hundred days after calling for a sweeping overhaul of security forces, including a reorganization of the federal police into a single agency, Calderon and his cabinet cited some successes, such as the recent arrest of several drug captains and corrupt officials. But they acknowledged that the extreme violence unleashed in Mexico was daunting. "We know the challenges are many and that the road that we have to travel is long and difficult. But we cannot and will not back down," said Calderon, who appeared with his government ministers at a day-long National Security Council  meeting in which they reported on their fight against organized crime and the drug cartels. More than 4,500 people have been killed in drug-related violence since Calderon declared war against the cartels in early 2007. The campaign has transformed border cities such as Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez into war zones, complete with 20,000 occupying troops. Calderon touted the recent arrest of Noe Ramirez Mandujano, a former chief of the anti-organized-crime unit at Mexico's attorney general's office, who is accused of taking at least $450,000 from drug traffickers in exchange for information about police investigations. Other top law enforcement officials have also been detained in recent weeks in "Operation Clean House," including Mexico's former liaison to Interpol, the international police organization. Read The Full Story	Bush Administration Moves Ahead On Oil, Gas Leases On Public Lands 2008-11-29 02:56:10 A decision by federal officials this week to press ahead with a controversial sale of oil and gas leases in eastern Utah is stoking the debate over how to balance the nation's needs for fossil fuels against concerns over the environmental impact on iconic national parks and other sensitive areas. The Bush administration, which has sought to reduce American dependence on imports to meet the continuing demand for oil and gas, has aggressively pushed to open up energy exploration across broad swaths of the West, off both coasts, and in Alaska. But those initiatives regularly stir opposition from both environmentalists and advocates of faster development of alternative energy sources such as wind and solar power. Over the last four fiscal years, a Washington Post analysis of Bureau of Land Mangement records shows, the government has dramatically accelerated the pace of awarding oil and gas drilling permits on federal land. The total for the period is nearly triple the number issued in the corresponding years under former President Clinton, and the number of new wells sunk on federal land is more than double Clinton's record over the comparable period. In the latest skirmish, the bureau announced Tuesday that it will proceed with most of a proposed sale of oil and gas leases on nearly 500 square miles of public land in eastern Utah, which had sparked protests from environmental advocates and National Park Service officials. Opponents fear the drilling activity will damage air quality in several nearby popular national parks. The lease sales, due to take place next month, could pose a challenge for the incoming Obama administration, which will have to decide shortly after taking office whether to honor the contracts, seek to undo the leases or pay millions in taxpayer dollars to buy them back. Read The Full Story U.S. Sends FBI Agents To Investigate Mumbai Attacks 2008-11-29 02:55:47 The government ordered FBI agents Friday to fly to India to investigate the bloody Mumbai attacks that killed at least five Americans. U.S. citizens still in the city were warned their lives remain at risk. Intelligence officials looked urgently for clues about the identity of the attackers, a crucial unknown as Indian officials charged, without giving details, that "elements in Pakistan" were involved. A tentative rapprochement between the two nuclear-armed rivals could hang in the balance, and a U.S. counterintelligence official cautioned against rushing to judgment on the origins of the militants. President George W. Bush pledged cooperation with Indian authorities and mourned the deaths of more than 150 people at the hands of gunmen who attacked targets across India's financial capital starting Wednesday night. "My administration has been working with the Indian government and the international community as Indian authorities work to ensure the safety of those still under threat," Bush said in a statement from the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland. "We will continue to cooperate against these extremists who offer nothing but violence and hopelessness." Bush was receiving regular updates, White House press secretary Dana Perino said Friday night. Senior administration officials were focused on ensuring that Americans were being helped in every way possible, she said. Read The Full Story In Bid To Jump-Start Global Economy, Nations Embark On Massive Public Programs 2008-11-29 02:55:00 In a bid to jump-start the beleaguered global economy, countries around the world are introducing massive public spending programs aimed at creating millions of jobs, boosting the use of green energy and modernizing infrastructure in a way that could transform urban and rural landscapes. The viability of some of the plans remains unclear, but observers say the number of countries moving in tandem underscores the perceived severity of the coming global recession and the view that governments must at least temporarily pick up the slack as the hard-hit private sector sheds jobs and cuts spending. It is time "to invest massively in infrastructure, in research, in innovation, in education, in training people, because it is now or never," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a recent public address. World leaders are pursuing a variety of strategies to tame the economic crisis, including moves to unclog credit markets, strengthen financial institutions and ease monetary policy. Fiscal stimulus packages, in particular, have emerged as a favorite tool of policymakers. Some countries' plans are particularly bold: China is accelerating projects to build more nuclear power plants and a vast natural gas pipeline; Italy may erect the first bridge connecting Sicily to mainland Europe. This past week, the European Union called for member countries to spend $258 billion to spur growth; France, one of the bloc's largest economies, is expected to announce a huge package next week. Britain has already unveiled a $30 billion proposal, and Spain a $14 billion plan. Read The Full Story Wal-Mart Worker Dies In Shoppers Stampede 2008-11-29 02:54:12 Friday morning's two shootings in Palm Desert weren't the only violent deaths on Black Friday: Across the country hours earlier, shoppers straining to get into a Wal-Mart in a New York City suburb trampled an employee, said police. The three fatalities struck a somber note on the day after Thanksgiving, which is traditionally a day of leftovers, football and bargains at the mall. At 5:03 a.m. Friday, customers surged toward a Long Island Wal-Mart store's entrance. A 34-year-old temporary employee was killed when a "throng of shoppers .. physically broke down the doors, knocking him to the ground," according to a statement from Nassau County officials. He was declared dead at a hospital at 6:03 a.m. The exact cause of death has not been determined. Read The Full Story
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Free Internet Press Newsletter - Friday November 28 2008 - (813)

Friday November 28 2008 edition
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Indian Troops Raid Hotels In Daring Rescues 2008-11-27 16:01:34 Sharpshooters and Indian Army commandos launched dramatic raids Thursday into two of India's most luxurious hotels, attempting to root out gunmen whose deadly attacks have transformed parts of India's commercial capital into smoldering war zones. Hundreds of families grieved for the 125 people reported killed, as police and terrorism experts remained puzzled over who was behind the attacks on the hotels, a Jewish center, and other sites in the heart of Mumbai. More than 325 people were reported injured. Closed-circuit television cameras that recorded some scenes of the attack showed college-aged men roaming the streets with automatic assault rifles and backpacks apparently filled with ammunition and explosives. In one video still, one of the gunmen appears almost giddy as he walks down the street with an AK-47 assault rifle. In a speech on national television Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made the first official assertion that the attackers were from outside India, statements usually taken here to point to Pakistan. "The well-planned and well-orchestrated attacks, probably with external linkages, were intended to create a sense of panic, by choosing high profile targets and indiscriminately killing foreigners," said Singh. Some news channels split their screens to show the prime minister speaking and the ongoing battle between security personnel and the attackers. The prime minister called for creation of "a central agency" to investigate terrorism in India, where some 44 bomb blasts in seven different cities have killed more than 150 people since May. Wednesday's assaults were seen as unprecedented, authorities said, in terms of the open, coordinated effort to lay siege to well-known symbols of India's prosperity and to places where Westerners gathered. Read The Full Story U.S. Consumer Loan Aid Will Only Trickle So Far 2008-11-27 16:01:13 If you’re buying a home, refinancing a mortgage or seeking an auto or student loan, the new government plans to make borrowing cheaper and easier sound like a gift. One problem, however, is that whole categories of people may be ineligible. If you are refinancing, you could be out of luck if your mortgage balance is more than your house is worth. And for all kinds of new loans, lenders have raised their standards even as their customers’ credit records are deteriorating because of late payments and other problems. Then there is the fact that the government’s efforts may take a while to start working - if they do at all. Once again, the government hopes that the benefits to consumers will trickle down. It is not simply lending to them directly. So while mortgage rates fell by at least a quarter of a percentage point on Tuesday, the day of the government announcement, and stayed there Wednesday, it could take months for the piece that affects credit card and small-business loans to kick in. “It’s not going to be like flipping a light switch,” said Joe Belew, president of the Consumer Bankers Association. “You’re not going to see an avalanche of new loans. But the system is under a lot of stress, and anything that can lubricate the markets is a good thing.” Read The Full Story Editorial: Sewing Up The Safety Net 2008-11-27 16:00:41 Intellpuke: This editorial appeared in the New York Times edition for Wednesday, November 26, 2008. Largely missing from the discussion about the faltering economy is the recession’s impact on the 37 million Americans who are already living at or below the poverty line - and the millions more who will inevitably join their ranks as the downturn worsens. Poverty and joblessness go hand in hand. If unemployment rises in the coming year from today’s 6.5 percent to 9 percent, as some analysts predict, another 7.5 million to 10.3 million people could become poor, according to a new study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The prospect of nearly 50 million Americans in poverty is even more daunting when one considers the holes that have been punched in the safety net over the last quarter-century. Since the Reagan administration, the federal government has steadily reduced its role in curtailing poverty, or even in coordinating state and local efforts to help alleviate it. Meanwhile, most states reduced or eliminated cash assistance for single poor adults and limited access to food stamps. Stricter eligibility requirements keep thousands of people from collecting jobless benefits. Facing budget deficits, cash-strapped states will be tempted to cut social programs even more. The experience of being poor in America, never easy, will soon become even more difficult for more people - unless Congress boosts food stamps, modernizes the unemployment compensation system and takes other steps to strengthen the ability of the federal and state governments to help the millions who will need assistance. Read The Full Story	Sophisticated Attacks, But By Whom? 2008-11-27 16:01:22 A day after the terror attacks in Mumbai that killed over 100 people, one question remained as impenetrable as the smoke that still billowed from two of the city’s landmark hotels: who carried out the attacks? The Indian authorities say they captured some of the attackers, so some answers may emerge soon. But for now, their identities remain a mystery. Surviving witnesses recalled the gunmen as masked young men in unremarkable T-shirts and jeans, some heavily armed, wearing backpacks filled with weapons. The only claim of responsibility came from a group that may not even exist. The assaults represented a marked departure in scope and ambition from other recent terrorist attacks in India, which have singled out local people rather than foreigners and hit single rather than multiple targets. The Mumbai assault, by contrast, was seemed directed at foreigners, involved hostage taking and was aimed at multiple and highly symbolic targets. India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the attacks probably had “external linkages,” reflecting calculations among Indian officials that the level of planning, preparation and coordination could not have been achieved without help from experienced terrorists. Some security experts insisted the style of the attacks and the targets in Mumbai suggested the militants were likely to be Indian Muslims, with a domestic agenda. Read The Full Story Editorial: Save The Economy, And The Planet 2008-11-27 16:00:52 Intellpuke: This editorial appeared in the New York Times edition for Thursday, November 27, 2008. Environment ministers preparing for next week’s talks on global warming in Poznan, Poland, have been sounding decidedly downbeat. From Paris to Beijing, the refrain is the same: This is no time to pursue ambitious plans to stop global warming. We can’t deal with a financial crisis and reduce emissions at the same time. There is a very different message coming from this country. President-elect Barack Obama is arguing that there is no better time than the present to invest heavily in clean energy technologies. Such investment, he says, would confront the threat of unchecked warming, reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil and help revive the American economy. Call it what you will: a climate policy wrapped inside an energy policy wrapped inside an economic policy. By any name, it is a radical shift from the defeatism and denial that marked President Bush’s eight years in office. If Mr. Obama follows through on his commitments, this country will at last provide the global leadership that is essential for addressing the dangers of climate change. In his first six months in office, Mr. Bush reneged on a campaign promise to regulate carbon dioxide and walked away from the Kyoto Protocol, a modest first effort to control global greenhouse gas emissions. Read The Full Story Iraqi Parliament Approves U.S. Security Pact 2008-11-27 16:00:26 The Iraqi Parliament ratified a long-delayed security agreement on Thursday that lays out a three-year timetable for the withdrawal of American forces from Iraq. For Iraq and the United States, the pact’s passage through Parliament by a large majority - more than 140 of some 200 lawmakers present voted in favor - marks a watershed moment, heralding an increase in Iraqi sovereignty over American and other foreign troops on its soil. The pact, which took more than a year to negotiate, consists of two documents: a Status of Forces Agreement defining the rules under which American forces will operate, and a wider Strategic Framework Agreement outlining a broad bilateral view looking toward the future. Within minutes of the ratification, the American Embassy in Baghdad issued a joint statement of congratulation from Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker and Gen. Ray Odierno, the overall commander of American forces in Iraq. Read The Full Story
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Free Internet Press Newsletter - Thursday November 27 2008 - (813)

Thursday November 27 2008 edition
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U.S. Stock Markets Rise, Dow Up 247 Points 2008-11-26 19:17:20 Stocks gained for the fourth straight day as optimism about the Obama administration's handling of the economy outweighed a flurry of discouraging economic data. Investors began to unwind defensive bets in drug makers and consumer staples stocks, and moved back into shares of home builders, automakers and other companies that had been badly beaten down in recent months. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 2.9 percent, or 247 points, to 8727, as the blue-chip index pared losses from early in the session and closed above 8500 for the first time in almost two weeks. The broader Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 3.5 percent, or 30 points, to 888, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq rallied 4.6 percent, or 67 points, to 1532. The last time stocks rose four days in a row was in April. Read The Full Story Federal Judge Sets Hearing Into Letter By Witness In Sen. Stevens' Trial 2008-11-26 19:16:47 A federal judge Tuesday scheduled "a brief hearing" into a witness's allegations that he received extensive help from prosecutors and lied on the stand about an immunity deal in the corruption trial of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) last month. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan scheduled the hearing for Monday to consider a defense request to question the witness, David Anderson,and others who might know about the allegations. In court documents filed last week, Stevens' attorneys accused prosecutors of "suborning perjury and making intentionally false statements" tied to Anderson's testimony. Stevens was convicted last month of seven felony counts of lying on financial disclosure forms to hide about $250,000 in gifts and free renovations to his house in Girdwood, Alaska. He accepted much of the largess from the oil services firm Veco and its top executive, Bill Allen, say prosecutors say. Read The Full Story As Mortgages Went Bad, Executives Cashed Out 2008-11-26 15:21:18 The subprime lending industry was starting to buckle under the weight of bad loans in November 2006, when executives at Irvine-based New Century Financial Corp. held a conference call to release their latest earnings. Loan volume was down and defaults were up, the earnings report showed, and in recent weeks at least five stock analysts had downgraded the company's shares. Moreover, four executives had sold nearly $20 million in stock in the last four months, six times as much as they had sold over the previous 12 months. That led one analyst to ask whether there was anything investors should know. "It's just part of their personal financial diversification plan," Chief Executive Brad A. Morrice said in response to the question during the Nov. 2 earnings call. Those executive stock sales, however, have emerged as a central element in the Justice Department's criminal investigation of New Century, according to a person familiar with the inquiry who was not authorized to speak publicly. No charges have been filed, and attorneys for the company's former top executives say that none of the executives sold stock based on information that had not been disclosed to the public and that the executives retained most of their shares when the company went under. Read The Full Story FDA Finds Traces Of Melamine In Infant Formula Sold In U.S. 2008-11-26 15:20:50 Traces of the industrial chemical melamine have been detected in samples of top-selling U.S. infant formula, but federal regulators insist the products are safe. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said last month it was unable to identify any melamine exposure level as safe for infants, but a top official said it would be a "dangerous overreaction" for parents to stop feeding infant formula to babies who depend on it. "The levels that we are detecting are extremely low," said Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. "They should not be changing the diet. If they've been feeding a particular product, they should continue to feed that product. That's in the best interest of the baby." Melamine is the chemical found in Chinese infant formula - in far larger concentrations - that has been blamed for killing at least three babies and making at least 50,000 others ill. Previously undisclosed tests, obtained by the Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act, show that the FDA has detected melamine in a sample of one popular formula and the presence of cyanuric acid, a chemical relative of melamine, in the formula of a second manufacturer. Read The Full Story China, Europe Plan New Steps To Help Economy 2008-11-26 15:20:14 Responding to rapidly deteriorating economic conditions, officials on two continents announced major steps on Wednesday to try to pump some life back into their economies. The European Commission proposed a sweeping stimulus-spending package totaling 200 billion euros, or $256 billion, while officials in China cut interest rates there by more than a percentage point. The plan in Europe, which is likely to have the more immediate impact, will be critical to bolstering growth and employment in the European Union's 27 member countries, said officials with the commission, which is the Union’s executive arm. On Tuesday, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development predicted that the 15 economies that have adopted the euro as their currency would contract next year by 0.6 percent overall, and economists have begun speaking of 2009 as a “lost year.” Officials in China are also worried about a slowdown. The central bank’s decision to cut benchmark rates by 1.08 percentage points on Wednesday represents its largest rate reduction since the Asian financial crisis of a decade ago. It came just one day after a violent protest near Hong Kong in which hundreds of jobless workers attacked police vehicles, and five days after top Chinese officials warned in Beijing that the economy was still deteriorating and that dissent and threats to social stability would be crushed. In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party has based its claim to legitimacy to a considerable extent on its ability to deliver strong economic growth. The party has watched with alarm as growth has slowed sharply, mainly because of a deceleration in exports and a downturn in the real estate market. The actions in Europe and Asia on Wednesday were fresh evidence of the deepening global crisis, and a sign that the governments are trying to stem the bleeding as swiftly as possible. Read The Full Story	UPDATE: Coordinated Attacks In India Kill At Least 80 People, 200 Injured 2008-11-26 19:17:12 Gunmen appear to target foreigners in assaults on seven sites. At least 80 people were killed and more than 200 injured Wednesday night in seven synchronized attacks in Mumbai, India's commercial capital, said police. A senior police official in the city said gunmen were holding hostages at two luxury hotels. Television news footage later showed flames shooting out of the top floor of the renowned Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel and black smoke billowing up from near the structure's distinctive central dome after what was described as a massive explosion. The shootings and explosions took place in the heart of the city's affluent southern section. At least two of the attacks targeted five-star hotels. Three top police officers, including the chief of Mumbai's anti-terrorist squad, Hemant Karkare, died in operations at the hotels. Read The Full Story Obama Names Paul Volcker To Lead Economic Advisory Board 2008-11-26 15:21:28 President-elect Barack Obama today announced the creation of an advisory team aimed at providing him with outside guidance on revitalizing the nation's troubled economy and calming its financial markets, headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. Obama also defended his reliance on members of the former Clinton White House as appointees in his administration, despite a campaign theme of bringing change to Washington. Obama's comments came during his third news conference in three days regarding economic appointments to his upcoming administration - a highly visible signal that the president-elect wants to show he is taking aggressive steps to deal with the nation's financial crisis in the weeks before he takes office. He said his focus on economic issues not only reflects the turbulent financial times, but also a frustration in Washington's failure to address the nation's long-term problems. Read The Full Story Officials Warn Of Terror Plotting Against New York City Subway System 2008-11-26 15:21:05 Federal authorities are warning law enforcement personnel of a possible terror plot against the New York City subway and train systems during the holiday season, and police are beefing up security in preparation. An internal memo obtained by the Associated Press says the FBI has received a "plausible but unsubstantiated" report that al-Qaeda terrorists in late September may have discussed attacking the subway system. A person briefed on the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the intelligence-gathering work, said the threat may also be directed at the passenger rail lines running through New York, such as Amtrak and the Long Island Rail Road, which are particularly busy with Thanksgiving holiday travelers. A U.S. counterterror official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said senior government officials have been briefed because the FBI very recently received credible information about possible attacks over the holiday season, and authorities are particularly concerned about this long holiday weekend. FBI spokesman Richard Kolko confirmed only that his agency and the Homeland Security Department issued a bulletin Tuesday night to state and local authorities, and the information is being reviewed. Read The Full Story Data Show Battered U.S. Economy 2008-11-26 15:20:38 Household spending and investment in big-ticket items plummeted in October in the United States, as major world economies announced new plans to try to boost demand to fight a deepening economic downturn. New U.S. data showed a continuing decline in both consumer and business spending - the dynamic that prompted the Federal Reserve and Treasury to announce on Tuesday an $800 billion plan to lower home loan mortgage rates and ensure households and small businesses have access to adequate credit. The European Commission today proposed its own $260 billion plan to rekindle growth, while China slashed a benchmark interest rate by the most since the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s. In the United States, the Commerce Department said that orders for durable goods fell a quicker-than-expected 6.2 percent in October. Excluding volatile aircraft and defense purchases, capital investment by business was down 4 percent compared with the month before. Over the past three months, capital investment has fallen at a nearly 33 percent annualized rate, according to an analysis by the High Frequency Economics consulting firm - a figure the company's chief U.S. economist, Ian Shepherdson, termed "terrifying." Personal spending, meanwhile, dropped 1 percent in October compared with the month before - the steepest one month decline since the Sept. 2001 terrorist attacks. A drop in the rate of inflation, helped by falling energy prices, put more money in people's pockets: Real disposable personal income, the amount of earnings left after taxes and adjusted for inflation, increased by 1 percent in October. Read The Full Story Coordinated Attacks Kill At Least 16 People In Mumbai, India 2008-11-26 15:19:56 At least 16 people were killed and 50 were injured in seven synchronized attacks in Mumbai, India's commercial capital, late Wednesday night, said police. The shootings and explosions took place in the heart of the city's affluent southern section, with at least two of the incidents occurring near five-star hotels. There were also reports of two explosions. About 10:30 p.m., witnesses told reporters, two men fired automatic weapons outside the Cafe Leopold restaurant, which is popular with foreigners, then moved toward the five-star Taj Majal hotel while continuing to fire indiscriminately. The gunmen also reached the city's main Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus station and a hospital. Witnesses said the gunmen initially asked for British and American nationals. About 10 Americans and Britons were believed to be trapped in the hotel late Wednesday. Read The Full Story
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Free Internet Press Newsletter - Wednesday November 26 2008 - (813)

Wednesday November 26 2008 edition
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Gates To Stay On As Defense Secretary Under Obama; Retired Marine Gen. Jones To National Security Adviser 2008-11-25 21:21:33 Seeking experience in a time of war, President-elect Barack Obama will keep Defense Secretary Robert Gates in that job - if only temporarily - and he has chosen a retired Marine general to be his national security adviser, officials said Tuesday. Gates and retired Gen. James Jones bring years of experience to the Cabinet of a 47-year-old commander in chief with a relatively thin foreign policy resume. Obama, who rolled out the key components of his economic team this week, plans to announce his foreign policy brain trust after the Thanksgiving holiday. Gates, who has served as President George W. Bush's defense chief for two years, will remain in the Cabinet for some time, probably a year, according to an official familiar with discussions between the two men. A Democratic official said Jones was Obama's pick to head the National Security Council, the part of the White House structure that deals with foreign policy. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Obama has not authorized anybody to discuss the deliberations. Read The Full Story Commentary: Obama's Treasury Pick Has All The Wrong Ideas 2008-11-25 21:21:12 Intellpuke: This commentary was written by journalist and author William Greider, and was posted on The Nation's website edition for Tuesday, November 25, 2008. A year ago, when Barack Obama said it was time to turn the page, his campaign declaration seemed to promise a fresh start for Washington. I, for one, failed to foresee Obama would turn the page backward. The president-elect's lineup for key governing positions has opted for continuity, not change. Virtually all of his leading appointments are restoring the Clinton presidency, only without Mr. Bill. In some important ways, Obama's selections seem designed to sustain the failing policies of George W. Bush. This is not the last word and things are changing rapidly. But Obama's choices have begun to define him. His victory, it appears, was a triumph for the cautious center-right politics that has described the Democratic party for several decades. Those of us who expected more were duped, not so much by Obama but by our own wishful thinking. Let us stipulate that these are all honorable people, smart and experienced veterans of Washington combat. But they represent the Democratic party that mainly sees itself as managerial - making government work better. The long era of conservative dominance has taught them to keep their distance from big reform ideas that promise fundamental change of the system. Their operating style is incremental and cautiously practical. They conscientiously avoid (or actively block) propositions that sound too liberal or radical. Alas, Obama is coming to power at a critical moment when incrementalism is irrelevant. The system is in collapse. Financial chaos won't wait for patient deliberations. Read The Full Story One-Third Of China's Yellow River Is "Unfit For Drinking Or Agriculture' 2008-11-25 21:20:50 Severe pollution has made one-third of China's Yellow River unusable, according to new research. Known as the country's "mother river", it supplies water to millions of people in the north of China but, in recent years,  the quality has deteriorated due to factory discharges and sewage from fast-expanding cities. Much of it is now unfit even for agricultural or industrial use, the study shows. The survey, based on data taken last year, covered more than 8,384 miles of the river, one of the longest waterways in the world, and its tributaries. The Yellow River Conservancy Committee, affiliated to the ministry of water resources, said 33.8% of the river system's water sampled in 2007 registered worse than level five. That means it is unfit for drinking, aquaculture, industrial use and even agriculture, according to criteria used by the U.N. Environment Program. Only 16% of the river samples reached level one or two, the standard considered safe for domestic use. Read The Full Story With Orszag, Obama Aims To Trim Spending 2008-11-25 17:15:43 President-elect Barack Obama continued to fill out his economic team Tuesday, naming Peter R. Orszag director of the Office of Management and Budget, the arm of the White House responsible for crafting the federal budget and overseeing the effectiveness of federal programs. Speaking at his second news conference in two days, Obama said that Orszag will take the lead in scouring the federal budget, which is straining under record deficits, with an eye toward eliminating programs that do not work. Obama called that task an essential complement to his desire to enact a huge economic stimulus package soon after he takes office. His stimulus plan, which is being crafted by his growing team of economic advisers, has a goal of creating or saving 2.5 million jobs over the next two years - an undertaking that some analysts say could cost as much as $700 billion. "If we're going to make the investments we need, we must also be willing to shed the spending we don't," said Obama. "In these challenging times, when we are facing both rising deficits and a sinking economy, budget reform is not an option. It is an imperative." Read The Full Story Outlook For U.S. Housing Market Grows More Dire 2008-11-25 17:15:03 The financial shocks of September and October appeared to dash any hopes for a quick recovery in the housing market, where the precipitous declines in sales and prices - the problems at the heart of the current credit crisis - have only worsened. Home loans, already scarce by normal standards, dried up as the impact of the Lehman Brothers collapse spiraled through the credit market. Buyers who had begun to wade back into the market were spooked by the turmoil, reversing recent improvements. Of the sales that did go through in October, nearly half were the result of a sale after a foreclosure. Sellers were forced to lower prices again, sending home values down at a record pace. Home prices across the United States declined 16.6 percent in the third quarter from the July-to-September period a year ago, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, a widely watched gauge released Tuesday by Standard & Poor’s. Read The Full Story Wall Street Mixed After Credit Moves 2008-11-25 17:14:36 For a while on Tuesday, not even the promise of $800 billion in federal money aimed at easing credit for home buyers, consumers and businesses could keep Wall Street from slipping lower. After surging at the open, the stock markets began to slide in afternoon trading as sagging technology companies tugged shares lower but, in the last hour of trading, the market turned around and closed slightly higher, extending its winning streak to three trading sessions. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 36.47 points higher or 0.43 percent at 8480.1 points. . The broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index finished up 5.5 points or 0.7 percent at 857.31. The Nasdaq composite ended down 7.29 points or 0.5 percent at 1464.73, pushed lower by lagging technology shares . Read The Full Story In Russia, Bid To Remove Judge In Politkovskaya Murder Trial 2008-11-25 17:13:57 Russian prosecutors requested a new judge Wednesday in an increasingly confused trial of three suspects accused in the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, a prominent investigative journalist, after the judge flip-flopped twice on whether to allow press coverage. The judge, Yevgeny Zubov, is accused of “violating procedural rules,” said Marina Gridneva, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor general’s office. She would not elaborate on the alleged violations, though she said Judge Zubov would be given the chance to decide whether to recuse himself on Wednesday. In a hearing on Tuesday, the judge once again decided to open the trial to the media, a second reversal on the issue, after 19 of the 20 jurors signed a statement saying they had made no official complaints about the presence of journalists in the courtroom, in opposition to the judge’s previous statements. Read The Full Story Brennan Out Of Running For Top Intelligence Post 2008-11-25 17:12:55 John Brennan, President-elect Barack Obama's top adviser on intelligence, took his name out of the running Tuesday for any intelligence position in the new administration. Brennan wrote in a Nov. 25 letter to Obama that he did not want to be a distraction. His potential appointment has raised a firestorm in liberal blogs that associate him with the Bush administration's interrogation, detention and rendition policies. ''It is with profound regret that I respectfully ask that my name be withdrawn from consideration for a position within the intelligence community. The challenges ahead of our nation are too daunting, and the role of the CIA too critical, for there to be any distraction from the vital work that lays ahead,'' wrote Brennan. Obama's advisers had grown increasingly concerned in recent days over online blogs that accused Brennan of condoning harsh interrogation tactics on terror suspects, including waterboarding, which critics consider torture. Read The Full Story Marine Archaeologists Find Slave Ship 2008-11-25 17:12:05 Marine archaeologists have found the remains of a slave ship wrecked off the Turks and Caicos Islands in 1841, an accident that set free the ancestors of many current residents of those islands. Some 192 Africans survived the sinking of the Spanish ship Trouvadore off the British-ruled islands, where the slave trade was banned. Over the years the ship had been forgotten, said researcher Don Keith, so when the discovery connected the ship to current residents the first response ''was a kind of shock, a lack of comprehension,'' he explained in a briefing organized by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (N.O.A.A.). After word got out ''people really got on board with it,'' he said, and the local museum has assisted the researchers. He said this is the only known wreck of a ship engaged in the illegal slave trade. Keith and his co-researchers from the Texas-based Ships of Discovery organization came across a letter at the Smithsonian Institution that referred to the sinking and began their search for the ship. Read The Full Story Interview With George Soros: 'The Economy Fell Off The Cliff' 2008-11-25 03:32:51 George Soros, 78, has made billions as a hedge-fund manager and investor. Germany's Spiegel magazine spoke with him about the current financial crisis, how he expect President-elect Barack Obama to respond to the economic disaster and the responsibilities borne by speculators. SPIEGEL: Mr. Soros, in spite of massive interventions by governments and federal banks the financial crisis is getting worse. The stock markets are in free fall, millions of people could lose their jobs. More and more companies are in trouble, from General Motors in Detroit to BASF in Ludwigshafen. Have you ever seen anything like it? Soros: Never. I find the present situation dramatic and overwhelming. In my latest book, “The New Paradigm for Financial Markets: The Credit Crisis of 2008”, I predicted the worst financial crisis since the 1930s. But to tell you the truth: I did not actually anticipate that it would get as bad as it did. It has gone beyond my wildest imagination. SPIEGEL: What are your fears for the coming months? Soros: I think that the dark comes before dawn. The financial markets are under great pressure because of the lack of leadership during the transition period. In the next two months, the markets will experience maximum pressure. Then we will see some initiatives from the Obama administration. How long the crisis lasts will depend on the success of these measures. SPIEGEL: The markets don't seem to have much confidence in the new president - in stark contrast to the enthusiasm in the population. Since Election Day on November 4, stocks have fallen by almost 20 percent. Soros: I have great hopes for Barack Obama. But at the time of the election the financial community had not yet fully grasped the magnitude of the economic decline. They did not anticipate that the default of Lehman Brothers would cause cardiac arrest in the markets. The economy fell off the cliff, you begin to see mangled bodies lying at the bottom. Read The Full Story	U.S. Cancer Rate Declines For The First Time 2008-11-25 21:21:21 Government figures indicate that major progress is being made in prevention, but researchers warn that there are still some clouds on the horizon, including a rising rate of brain cancer among women. For the first time since the government began compiling records, the rate of cancer has begun to decline, marking a tipping point in the fight against the second-leading cause of death among Americans. Researchers already knew that the number of cancer deaths was declining as the result of better treatment, but the drop in incidence indicates that major progress is also being made in prevention. "The drop in incidence ... is something we have been waiting to see for a long time," said Dr. Otis W. Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. And "the continuing drop in mortality is evidence once again of real progress made against cancer, reflecting real gains in prevention, early detection and treatment." The declines may be temporary, said Dr. Robert Figlin, of the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, California. "Baby boomers are reaching the age at which they develop cancer ... so we should not be surprised if it changes direction again." Read The Full Story Consumers Rank Global Warming Ahead Of Economy As Major Concern 2008-11-25 21:21:01 Consumers around the world want governments to stop haggling and start acting on climate change, according to a survey carried out in 12 countries by a coalition of climate groups. Despite the looming prospect of a deep global recession, 43% of the 12,000 respondents of the survey chose climate change ahead of the global economy when asked about their current concerns. Worldwide, 77% of respondents wanted to see their governments cutting carbon by their fair share or more, in order to allow developing countries to grow their economies. The survey was carried out for the HSBC Climate Partnership, a collaboration between the international bank and climate non-government organizations including WWF, the Climate Group, Earthwatch Institute and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Lord Stern, and adviser to HSBC on economic development and climate change and former adviser to the U.K.  government, said: "This research demonstrates the need for decisive action on climate change. The urgent challenge is to build a framework for a global deal so that consensus can be reached in Copenhagen next year and the discussions in Poznan are a critical stepping stone to achieving this. Now is the time to lay the foundations of a new form of growth that can transform our economies and societies." Read The Full Story Higher Quotas Will Push Atlantic Tuna Closer To Collapse 2008-11-25 21:20:39 Tuna may follow cod to become the second major Atlantic fish species to collapse after European leaders were today accused of driving through new catch quotas far above the levels recommended by scientists. The international environment campaign group WWF renewed its call for a consumer boycott of Atlantic bluefin tuna - a staple of Japanese sashimi - after countries involved in its trade ignored their own scientific advice, despite a collapse in the fish populations. WWF also accused the European Commission (E.C.) of leading the pressure for higher quotas by using threats over trade to "bully" developing nations into switching sides from a rival proposal to stick to the scientists' recommendation and ban all fishing during the spawning season in May and June. Sue Liebermann, head of species at WWF International, warned that the mistakes which led to the collaspe of Atlantic cod â€" and led the U.N.'s food agency to warn that seven out of 10 of all marine species are depleted - were being repeated. "Bluefin is a symbol of what we're doing to the oceans, species by species," she said. Read The Full Story Paulson Targets Consumer Spending, Mortgages 2008-11-25 17:15:25 The Federal Reserve and Treasury moved Tuesday to boost consumer spending and lower home mortgage rates, committing up to $800 billion to make it easier for households to borrow money for cars, tuition bills and new homes as part of a broad effort to rekindle economic growth. The new program puts the balance sheet of the country's central bank behind two critical but troubled parts of the economy - consumer spending and housing. It is largely separate from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, administered by the Treasury Department and focused on shoring up the country's financial system. On a day when the Commerce Department announced that the economy contracted more quickly from July through September than initially estimated, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr., said the slowdown made it necessary for the Federal Reserve and Treasury to intervene to boost the "real" economy, just as they did to stabilize banks and financial companies. "As the economy is turning down, it is very important that lending be available to consumers," said Paulson. "What we are doing is support consumer lending." Read The Full Story Forecast Sees Protracted Global Economic Downturn 2008-11-25 17:14:52 Developed economies face a protracted recession and a sharp increase in unemployment, the O.E.C.D. warned Tuesday, and it called for aggressive economic stimulus measures. Many advanced economies are in or nearing downturns of a magnitude not experienced since the early 1980s, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (O.E.C.D.)said in its twice-yearly economic outlook. The organization includes European countries, the United States, Canada, Japan and Australia. Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel, the group’s chief economist, warned in the report that the uncertainties associated with the forecasts were “exceptionally large, especially those related to the assumptions regarding the speed at which the financial market crisis - the prime driver of the downturn - is overcome.” The O.E.C.D. projected that the economies of its 30 members would decline in 2009 by 0.4 percent over all, after growth of 1.4 percent this year. It forecast that growth would return in 2010, with advanced economies growing a combined 1.5 percent. Read The Full Story Protesters Storm Thailand's Airport, Force Flight Cancellations 2008-11-25 17:14:14 Activists trying to bring down Thailand's government seized key parts of the capital's main airport Tuesday, forcing authorities to cancel all flights and dealing another blow to the country's reeling tourist industry. "We want to seize the airport to show the media that the prime minister cannot control anything in Thailand," Suwan Kansanoh, a retired government official who was among the protesters, told journalists by phone. The airport raid was the culmination of two days of demonstrations billed by the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy as the "final mass rally" to oust the "killer government." The government, led by Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, has refused to resign, insisting that the overwhelming mandate it won in elections held at the end of last year still stands. Read The Full Story Former Bin Laden Driver Hamdan To Be Sent To Yemen 2008-11-25 17:13:43 The U.S. military has decided to transfer Osama bin Laden's former driver from custody at Guantanamo Bay to his home in Yemen, ending the seven-year saga of a man the Bush administration considered a dangerous terrorist but whom a military jury found to be a low-level aide. Salim Ahmed Hamdan is expected to arrive within 48 hours in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, where he will serve out the rest of his military commission sentence, which is set to expire Dec. 27, said two government officials. The Pentagon's decision to send Hamdan home narrowly avoids what could have been a sticky diplomatic situation, as Bush administration officials had long contended they could hold Hamdan indefinitely. It also prevents President-elect Barack Obama from having to decide Hamdan's fate early in his term. Obama has said he wants to close the U.S. military prison in Cuba. Hamdan's attorneys were poised to fight the assertion that their client could be held indefinitely, a case that probably would have brought Hamdan back to the Supreme Court to challenge his detention. Instead, he will serve out the remaining month of his sentence in a Yemeni prison before being released to his wife and two young children, one of whom has never met him. Hamdan is about 40. Read The Full Story Bush Grants Pardons To 14 People, Shortens Prison Terms For 2 Others 2008-11-25 17:12:25 Breaking a logjam of hundreds of pent-up clemency requests, President Bush Monday granted pardons to 14 people and shortened the prison terms of two others. The majority of the felons who won leniency from Bush Monday are far from household names. Andrew F. Harley of Falls Church was pardoned for wrongful use and distribution of marijuana and cocaine after a court-martial by the Air Force Academy in 1985 caused him to forfeit his pay and prompted his dismissal from the service. Leslie O. Collier of Charleston, Missouri, had been convicted of unauthorized use of a registered pesticide. Obie G. Helton of Rossville, Georgia, was pardoned after conviction on charges of acquiring food stamps without proper permission and sentenced to two years' probation in 1983. Several other offenders who won leniency Monday were convicted of run-of-the-mill white-collar crimes such as bank embezzlement, tax evasion or accounting violations. Pardons give their recipients greater leeway to find jobs, live in public housing and vote, among other privileges. Read The Full Story World Scrambles To Deal With Pirate Threat 2008-11-25 03:33:12 In their inflatable speedboats and armed with bazookas, Somalia's barefoot pirates are posing a threat to world trade. Now that they have hijacked a supertanker, Europe is deploying warships in the region, while private security firms are offering their services to shipping companies. The most important things in life are simple, at least in the world of Erik Prince. A square-jawed American with closely cropped hair, Prince served as an elite soldier in the U.S. Marines in Bosnia, Haiti and the Middle East. Given his experience, he believes that it will be relatively easy for him to distinguish between good and evil on the new battlefield, the high seas. "If a couple of guys are sitting in a six-meter (20-foot) fishing boat, in the middle of the Gulf of Aden, and if they've got bazookas in their hands, they're clearly not out there for the fishing," says Prince, 39, the CEO of Blackwater Worldwide, the world's largest and most infamous private security firm. "You have a pretty good idea of what they're up to." Prince is recruiting fellow former Marines to provide a new service: escorting merchant ships. In performing the job, their first step will be to issue warnings to attacking pirates through the ships' P.A. system. This will be followed by a few shots in the air, as a deterrent. And if none of this works, the sharpshooters on board the two helicopters on Blackwater's ship, the McArthur, will do their jobs. Up to 3,000 of his mercenaries have already been deployed to support the U.S. military in Iraq. There, they acquired the reputation of shooting first and asking questions later. This has already caused problems. In September 2007, for example, 17 civilians were killed during a Blackwater mission in Iraq. Blackwater is now receiving inquiries from dozens of new clients, mainly shipping companies and shipping insurance companies. All of them want the same thing: that Blackwater mercenaries guide their freighters and tankers safely past Somalia, through the world's most dangerous waters, the hunting grounds of bands of pirates armed with Kalashnikovs and grenade launchers, attacking anything that comes into their sights. In their flip-flops and inflatable plastic boats, they look more like small-time crooks, the sort hardly worth the effort of any coast guard vessel. And yet, in reality, these pirates are causing huge problems for the naval fleets of major powers - and, of course, for the governments in places like Berlin, Paris and Washington. Somali pirates have already attacked more than 90 ships this year, three times as many as in 2007. They have managed to hijack 39 freighters, tankers and fishing vessels. At least 14 of them are currently anchored, under heavy guard, off pirate villages along the coast. The ships' crews have been waiting for months for ransom money to arrive and secure their release. The United Nations estimate that shipping companies have already paid close to €25 million ($31 million) in ransom. Read The Full Story
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