tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-348648432024-03-13T14:00:21.514-07:00Free Internet PressUncensored News For Real People
This is a mirror site for our daily newsletter. You may visit our real site through the individual story links, or by visiting http://FreeInternetPress.com .JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.comBlogger877125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-57379815545899797292010-09-13T06:45:00.000-07:002010-09-13T06:45:25.939-07:00YouTube Blog: Testing, testing...YouTube begins trial of new live streaming platform<a href="http://youtube-global.blogspot.com/2010/09/testing-testingyoutube-begins-trial-of.html">YouTube Blog: Testing, testing...YouTube begins trial of new live streaming platform</a>JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-58534863959203193102009-03-29T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-29T01:39:29.308-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Sunday March 29 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Sunday March 29 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20771"><B>No Givens As Obama Steps Onto World Stage</B></A><BR>2009-03-29 02:33:37<HR> <p><b> After 69 days in which international issues have taken a back seat to attempts to rescue the economy at home, President Obama takes the world stage this week as a wildly popular figure among the people of Europe, but one who faces a difficult task in selling his plans to the continent's leaders.</b> </p> <p>The president plans to push for a new approach to the war in Afghanistan, aggressive action to stop the proliferation of weapons and a more united European effort to combat the global recession. </p> <p>If the U.S. president thought his popularity would cause foreign governments to fall quickly into line behind a new American leadership, experts warn, he could be in for a rude awakening. </p> <p>The German government has resisted calls to deploy more combat troops to Afghanistan. Russia is pushing back against a NATO missile defense system in Poland. The Czech prime minister last week described the U.S. plans for global economic recovery as the "road to hell." </p> <p>On Saturday, the White House made clear that it is not trying to dictate spending in European capitals to revive the economy, after facing strong resistance from France, Germany and other nations. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20771">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20769"><B>Berlin Takes On The Tax Havens</B></A><BR>2009-03-29 02:33:07<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>The German government is applying pressure on offshore tax havens. It is also taking action against German banks operating in Switzerland, where they maintain accounts for shadowy Liechtenstein foundations. In a time of economic crisis, Berlin needs all the tax euros it can get.</b></p> <p>Martin Maurer remembers that fateful gray November day all too well. Maurer runs the Association of Foreign Banks in Switzerland from his office above an upmarket men's clothing store only a stone's throw from Zurich's exclusive Bahnhofstrasse. The organization represents the interests of more than 150 financial institutions, 20 of them German.</p> <p> </p> <p>On that day last November, Maurer received a number of calls from nervous fund managers, who were alarmed by a seven-page letter that Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) had sent to all German banks with Swiss subsidiaries. The agency, based in Bonn, was asking unpleasant questions about an explosive subject. It wanted to know how many accounts the Swiss subsidiaries were managing for foundations and trusts, and how many of these foundations were headquartered in the tiny principality of Liechtenstein, which is famous as a tax haven. </p> <p>The letter "was worded unclearly and not coordinated with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority," says Maurer. His concerns prompted him to meet with a few German members of his association 10 days later. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss how to interpret the BaFin letter, says Maurer, noting that the Germans "discussed how to respond."</p> <p> The Bonn bank regulators, for their part, smelled a conspiracy and suspected secret agreements were being made. In mid-February, BaFin contacted several German banks with additional, more specific questions.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20769">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20767"><B> 'Holy Mary, Help Us In Our Hour Of Need'</B></A><BR>2009-03-29 02:32:31<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>A mysterious illness is causing calves to bleed to death on German farms. Veterinarians are stumped over what is causing the deaths: vaccines, genetically modified feed or perhaps even the first mother's milk?</b></p> <p><b>What can a cattle farmer do when he sees blood running from his calves like water, when they become lethargic and febrile and, by the next morning, are lying dead on the floor, their coats covered in blood?</b></p> <p>"Our calves from last summer looked like they had been beaten," says farmer Robert Meyboom, who is still shocked and perplexed today. "The animals' bodies were covered with drops of blood, and their eyes were bloodshot."</p> <p> </p> <p>The veterinarian tried everything, he says, including administering vitamins and blood-clotting agents. But nothing worked, and "within two or three days, they were all dead."</p> <p>Meyboom, a farmer from Wesel in the Lower Rhine region of western Germany, has lost seven animals since the first calf bled to death in his barn in October 2007. The last calf died an agonizing death only a few weeks ago. Farmers refer to the victims as "blood sweaters," alluding to the way blood seems to seep from the pores in some of the calves.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20767">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20765"><B>Despite Red Flags About Judge, A Kickback Scheme Flourished</B></A><BR>2009-03-28 16:04:07<HR> <b>Things were different in Pennsylvania's Luzerne County juvenile courtroom, and everyone knew it. Proceedings on average took less than two minutes. Detention center workers were told in advance how many juveniles to expect at the end of each day - even before hearings to determine their innocence or guilt. Lawyers told families not to bother hiring them. They would not be allowed to speak anyway. </b> <p><b>âThe judgeâs whim is all that mattered in that courtroom,â said Marsha Levick, the legal director of the Juvenile Law Center, a child advocacy organization in Philadelphia, which began raising concerns about the court to state authorities in 1999. âThe law was basically irrelevant.â</b> </p> <p>Last month, the law caught up with Judge Mark A. Ciavarella, Jr., 58, who ran that juvenile court for 12 years, and Judge Michael T. Conahan, 56, a colleague on the countyâs Court of Common Pleas. </p> <p>In what authorities are calling the biggest legal scandal in state history, the two judges pleaded guilty to tax evasion and wire fraudin a scheme that involved sending thousands of juveniles to two private detention centers in exchange for $2.6 million in kickbacks. </p> <p>On Thursday, the State Supreme Court ordered that the records be cleaned for hundreds of the 2,500 or so juveniles sentenced by Judge Ciavarella, and in the coming weeks, the two judges will be sentenced, under a plea agreement, to more than seven years in prison.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20765">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20763"><B>Vast Spy System Loots Computers In 103 Countries</B></A><BR>2009-03-28 16:03:36<HR> <b>A vast electronic spying operation has infiltrated computers and has stolen documents from hundreds of government and private offices around the world, including those of the Dalai Lama, Canadian researchers have concluded.<br> </b> <p><b>In a report to be issued this weekend, the researchers said that the system was being controlled from computers based almost exclusively in China, but that they could not say conclusively that the Chinese government was involved.</b> </p> <p>The researchers, who are based at the Munk Center for International Studies at the University of Toronto, had been asked by the office of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader whom China regularly denounces, to examine its computers for signs of malicious software, or malware. </p> <p><b>Their sleuthing opened a window into a broader operation that, in less than two years, has infiltrated at least 1,295 computers in 103 countries, including many belonging to embassies, foreign ministries and other government offices, as well as the Dalai Lamaâs Tibetan exile centers in India, Brussels, London and New York.</b> </p> <p>The researchers, who have a record of detecting computer espionage, said they believed that in addition to the spying on the Dalai Lama, the system, which they called GhostNet, was focused on the governments of South Asian and Southeast Asian countries. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20763">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20761"><B>White House Debate Led To Plan To Increase Effort In Afghanistan</B></A><BR>2009-03-28 16:03:01<HR> <b>President Obama's plan to widen United States involvement in Afghanistan came after an internal debate in which Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.,warned against getting into a political and military quagmire, while military advisers argued that the Afghanistan war effort could be imperiled without even more troops. </b> <p><b>All of the presidentâs advisers agreed that the primary goal in the region should be narrow - taking aim at al-Qaeda, as opposed to the vast attempt at nation-building the Bush administration had sought in Iraq. The question was how to get there.</b></p> <p>The commanders in the field wanted a firmer and long-term commitment of more combat troops beyond the 17,000 that President Obama had already promised to send,and a pledge that billions of dollars would be found to significantly expand the number of Afghan security forces. </p> <p>Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, pressed for an additional 4,000 troops to be sent to Afghanistan - but only to serve as trainers. They tempered the commandersâ request and agreed to put off any decision to order more combat troops to Afghanistan until the end of this year, when the strategyâs progress could be assessed. </p> <p>During these discussions, Biden was the voice of caution, reminding the group members that they would have to sell their plans to a skeptical Congress. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20761">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20759"><B>U.S., Iraqi Troops Arrest An Ally In Baghdad</B></A><BR>2009-03-28 16:02:17<HR> <b>American and Iraqi forces have arrested the leader of a crucial Awakening Council in Baghdad on Saturday afternoon, according to a spokesman for the Iraqi Army, and that particular group declared that it was no longer allied with the Americans.</b> <p><b> Gunfights had broken out between the Awakening Council members and American forces on Saturday afternoon, according to spokesmen from the group and from the Iraqi military. The group operates in the Fadhil neighborhood, a Sunni stronghold in central Baghdad.</b></p> <p>The Awakening Councils are neighborhood-based groups of Sunnis, many of them former insurgents, who are now paid by the Iraqi government to stay on their side. </p> <p> âAmericans forces have broken the alliance with us by arresting our leader, Hajji Adil al-Mashhadani,â said Abu Mirna, the media coordinator for the Fadhil Awakening Council. âNow there are clashes in the area between the Americans and Awakening fighters, and you can hear shooting. Itâs chaos.â He said the arrest was made by a combined force of the American Army, Iraqi Army and National Police.</p> <p>Maj. Gen. Qassim Atta, a spokesman for Iraqi forces in Baghdad, confirmed that Mashhadani and one of his aides were taken into custody after a judge issued a warrant for their arrest, accusing them of terrorism. A spokesman for the American military was not immediately available for comment.</p> <p> Fadhil was one of the most hotly contested neighborhoods in Iraqâs sectarian warfare and a former insurgent stronghold. Mashhadani has been a strong critic of the failure of Iraqi authorities to incorporate his fighters into Iraqi security agencies, as had been promised. âThereâs a fifty-fifty chance that Awakening guys who are not very loyal to Iraq or who need to support their families may decide to join al-Qaeda again,â Mashhadani said in an interview a week ago.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20759">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20757"><B>Commentary: Earth Hour</B></A><BR>2009-03-28 12:40:53<HR> <br> Today millions of people around the world are to take part in "Earth Hour". The idea of it is that 8pm local time, everyone should shut down everything they can, and operate without electricity. <br><br> There is the warm fuzzy factor ("I saved some power"), and it does draw attention to the fact that we can survive without electricity, but it doesn't do much if anything at all to reduce pollution.<br><br> Years ago, I lived in a city with four coal and one nuclear power plant. Part of their public awareness campaign was to bring people into the plants, explain how they work, and help educate the customers. Power plants aren't an inherit evil. The problem is the customers that they service. If there wasn't a demand, they wouldn't need to operate huge facilities. As technology grows, they grow too. Can the aging 10MW hydroelectric plant service the needs of the community, or do they need the 100MW nuclear ! plant? <br><br> Regardless of which side of this fight you sit on, there is always someone campaigning against another side. Hydroelectric is much cleaner than other resources, but people campaign against the fact that requires dams, and those dams stop the natural flow of water, frequently with man made lakes now created behind them. Wind powered farms are clean, but people call them an eyesore (any better than a 500' smoke spewing chimey, or cooling towers?), and they endanger birds. Solar farms require large areas with sufficient sunlight. <br> <br> There is always a side against something. I am aware of a desalination plant set up to service one of America's large metro areas. They were fought the entire time by "environmentalists" who believed every living thing downstream from it would die. In reality, the salinity was changed by a trivial amount, but because of their efforts the size of the plant was d! ecreased, lots of money was spent in court and for additional ! experts to "prove" that it was safe. Today that area is in a drought. Lawn sprinkling is soon to be forbidden, along with any unnecessary water use (car washing, pressure cleaning, etc). If they had been allowed to build the original plant, and even additional plants, the quality of life would not have changed, and seaside towns would be able to provide clean drinking water to other urban areas. <br><br><br><BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20757">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20770"><B>London Braces For Massive Protests Of G-20 Meeting</B></A><BR>2009-03-29 02:33:24<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>London is bracing itself for the G-20 meeting next week, as thousands of demonstrators prepare to descend upon the British capital. While most protesters will be peaceful, those working in the financial industry are being advised not to wear suits to work or even to stay at home to avoid potential violence.</b></p> <p>Mirina Pepper has just been panhandled by a homeless man near London's Liverpool Street Station. She reaches into her handbag and grabs a bundle of £20 notes. "Here, you can give them out," she says. The homeless man looks perplexed at the notes, not knowing whether he should take this as a good or bad thing. </p> It's funny money with the words "G-20 Meltdown" printed on it. They're flyers for a "Party in the City." Pepper gets the homeless man to agree to come the event next Wednesday and to bring along as many of his buddies as he can. Another homeless man just a few meters away experiences the same fate. <p>Pepper, 41, is responsible for organizing "G-20 Meltdown," a coalition of groups that plan to protest against the London financial summit next week that has even earned the respect of Scotland Yard. "They have some very clever people and their intention on April 1 is to stop the City," Commander Bob Broadhurst of the Metropolitan Police said last week. "They are innovative and we have to be innovative, too."</p> <p>The policeman's concerns put a smile on Pepper's face. She's delighted by the idea of a cat and mouse chase through this city of more than 7.5 million people. "It's all a question of numbers," she says. Five-thousand police officers will be deployed, many in combat gear. It's the largest police operation the city has seen in 10 years. But there are doubts about whether that will be enough. Police will have to provide security for 22 world leaders, including the United States president, and 40 motorcades will have to be directed through the streets of London. In addition, dozens of embassies and hotels will have to be guarded, the conference center has to be sealed off from the public and the banks in the city's financial district will also have to be guarded from potentially violent anarchist protesters. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20770">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20768"><B>Thwarted By Land, They're Smuggling By Sea</B></A><BR>2009-03-29 02:32:50<HR> <b>Nallely and Heriberto Salgado boarded the Mexican fishing skiff bobbing off the Baja California coast last week and watched warily in the moonlight as 19 other people squeezed onto the vessel designed to carry no more than a dozen.<br> <br> A smuggler piloting the 25-foot boat promised a short ride before landing on a beach in San Diego, California. <br> <br> </b> <div class="storybody"><b>Twelve hours later, the Salgados were still being lashed with sea spray. The thick fog had burned off, leaving a panorama of brilliant blue, with no land in sight. </b><br><br>"We saw only ocean all around us," said Nallely Salgado. "And we were running out of gas."<br><br>With tougher enforcement and new barriers rising on land along the U.S.-Mexico border, many immigrants like the ones crowded aboard the Tiburon are taking to the sea.<br></div> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20768">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20766"><B>Obama: U.S. 'Must Respond' To Flood Potential In Midwest</B></A><BR>2009-03-28 16:04:18<HR> <b>President Obama used his weekly radio and Internet address today to reach out to the people of North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota whose homes and livelihoods are threatened by the rising of the Red River.</b> <p><b>"Even as we face an economic crisis which demands our constant focus, forces of nature can also intervene in ways that create other crises to which we must respond - and respond urgently," said the president.</b></p> <p>Obama on Tuesday declared a major disaster in North Dakota, where the river was expected to crest Sunday at 42 feet. He has also declared a disaster in Minnesota, on the other side of the Red.</p> <p>For the president, the surging Red River presents an early test of a promise that he made during his campaign for the White House: to make sure the federal government treats disasters with the seriousness they deserve.</p> <p>President George W. Bush's handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 was a major theme during the 2008 campaign. Both Obama and Sen. John McCain both traveled several times to New Orleans, and both vowed to make sure the government never again fails on that scale.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20766">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20764"><B>Editorial: The Remembered War</B></A><BR>2009-03-28 16:03:51<HR> <b>Intellpuke:</b> <i>This editorial appeared in the New York Times online edition for Saturday, March 28, 2009.</i><br> <p>With his new comprehensive plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan, President Obama has asserted leadership over the war that matters most to Americaâs security - the one against al-Qaeda and the Taliban. </p> <p>We do not underestimate the difficulty of succeeding against these deadly adversaries. But it was greatly encouraging simply to see the president actually focusing on this war and placing it in the broader regional framework that has been missing from American policy. That is a good first step toward fixing the dangerous situation that former President George W. Bush created when he abandoned the necessary war in Afghanistan for the ill-conceived war of choice in Iraq. </p> <p>Mr. Obama has come back to first principles. Instead of Mr. Bushâs vague talk of representative democracy in Afghanistan, he defined a more specific mission. âWe are not in Afghanistan to control that country or dictate its future,â Mr. Obama said, but âto disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan.â </p> <p>The United States removed the Taliban from power in Afghanistan in 2001 as it sought to stamp out the al-Qaeda militants behind the 9/11 attacks. More than seven years later, the Taliban and al-Qaeda are stronger than ever. Militants have crossed the border into Pakistan, where they plot attacks against the United States, its allies and Pakistan.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20764">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20762"><B>Spanish Court Weighs Criminal Investigation 6 Bush-Era Officials For Torture</B></A><BR>2009-03-28 16:03:14<HR> <b>A high-level Spanish court has taken the first steps toward opening a criminal investigation against six former Bush administration officials, including former Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, on whether they violated international law by providing a legalistic framework to justify the use of torture of American prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said an official close to the case.</b> <p><b>The case was sent to the prosecutorâs office for review by Baltasar Garzon, the crusading investigative judge who indicted the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. The official said that it was âhighly probableâ that the case would go forward and could lead to arrest warrants.</b></p> <p>While the move represents a step toward ascertaining the legal accountability of top Bush administration officials for allegations of torture and mistreatment of prisoners in its so-called war on terror, some American experts said that even if warrants are issued their significance could be more symbolic than practical, and that it was likely that they would not lead to arrests if the officials do not leave the United States.</p> <p>The complaint under review also names John C. Yoo, the former Justice Department lawyer who wrote secret legal opinions saying the president had the authority to circumvent the Geneva Conventions, and Douglas J. Feith, the former under secretary of defense for policy.</p> <p>The move was not entirely unexpected as several human rights groups have been asking judges in different countries to indict Bush administration officials. One group, the Center for Constitutional Rights, had asked a German prosecutor for such an indictment, but the prosecutor declined.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20762">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20760"><B>Royal Bank Of Scotland Caught In Protectionist Storm</B></A><BR>2009-03-28 16:02:42<HR> <b>Once as rooted in the Scottish soil as this city's famous castle, the Royal Bank of Scotland ventured far during the era of globalization - pumping billions of dollars worth of credit overseas as it expanded into markets as diverse as Kazakhstan, China and Rhode Island. </b> <p><b>Just as RBS came to symbolize the free flow of credit across borders, the worldwide financial crisis has turned it into a leading example of the reverse: protectionism in the 21st century.</b> </p> <p>The government took majority control of the venerable bank four months ago after it suffered the worst corporate loss in British history. Authorities promptly issued a fresh directive: RBS, which had been in private hands since 1727, would have to sharply boost lending to British companies and home buyers stung by the global credit crunch - effectively curtailing lending to its equally hard-hit customers overseas. As RBS prepares to comply with the government order to pump billions of dollars more into British credit markets, it is retrenching in at least 15 countries, moving to sell off branches from Vietnam to Romania. </p> <p>In the United States, where RBS operates the nation's 10th largest bank, the company recently sold off 65 subsidiary branches in Indiana and scaled back auto loan operations in Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and Arizona. </p> <p>World leaders gathering for a major economic summit in London next week are vowing not to repeat the trade wars of the 1930s by imposing the kind of protectionist tariffs on butter, steel and other goods that deepened the Great Depression. While their promises center largely on avoiding classic forms of trade barriers - such as higher taxes on imported cars - the rise of financial protectionism poses a far greater threat to global recovery. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20760">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20758"><B>Shuttle Returns To Terra Firma Safely</B></A><BR>2009-03-28 15:39:16<HR> Space shuttle <em>Discovery</em> touched down safely at 3:14 P.M. (Eastern Daylight Time) at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, completing its 13-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The landing time was pushed back from 1:39 P.M. due to uncertain weather at the landing site earlier in the day. <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20758">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-55543956209936490072009-03-28T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-28T01:21:59.393-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Saturday March 28 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Saturday March 28 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20756"><B>Obama Say Afghanistan-Pakistan Strategy Requires More Money, Troops</B></A><BR>2009-03-27 14:14:53<HR> <p><b> President Obama this morning announced a new Afghanistan-Pakistan strategy that will require significantly higher levels of U.S. funding and thousands more military and civilian personnel to reverse what he called an "increasingly perilous" situation. </b></p> <p><b>"I do not ask for this support lightly," Obama said in a White House speech before regional ambassadors, aid officials and his senior national security team. "These are challenging times, and resources are stretched. But the American people must understand that this is a down payment on our own future."</b> </p> <p>Among the resources required, he said, are an additional 4,000 troops, beyond the 17,000 he authorized last month, that will bring total U.S. deployments to more than 60,000. U.S. military expenses for Afghan operations this year, White House aides said, will increase about 60 percent from the current toll of $2 billion a month. The newly announced forces, from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, will serve as trainers and advisers to an Afghan army expected to double to 134,000 by 2011. </p> <p>Obama called on Congress to pass legislation to provide $1.5 billion a year for five years in economic assistance to Pakistan, along with a bill creating "opportunity zones" for exports. Additional development aid is also planned for Afghanistan, and Obama said he would launch a "dramatic increase," expected to number in the hundreds, of U.S. civilian officials on the ground there. The United States also plans to provide additional equipment, including transport helicopters, to the Pakistani military. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20756">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20754"><B>Alaska's Mt. Redoubt Erupts Twice, Sends Ash Cloud 12 Miles High</B></A><BR>2009-03-27 14:14:24<HR> <b>Alaska's Mount Redoubt erupted several times Thursday, spewing a more than 12-mile-high cloud that could drop ash on Anchorage for the first time since the volcano began erupting Sunday night. </b> <p><b>The Alaska Volcano Observatory said the first eruption around 8:30 a.m. shot an ash cloud about 30,000 feet in the air, and a second eruption about an hour later sent ash 65,000 feet high - the highest cloud since the eruptions began. Five to 10 smaller eruptions followed, with none of their plumes surpassing 20,000 feet.</b> </p> <p> The largest eruption caused a mud flow into the Drift River near the base of the volcano. </p> <p> Before Thursday's eruptions, the volcano had been relatively quiet for more than a day. </p> <p>"We can have these large explosions pretty much any time," said Stephanie Prejean, an observatory seismologist. "We don't know how long this will continue." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20754">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20752"><B>Oil Prices Tumble In Friday's Markets</B></A><BR>2009-03-27 14:13:49<HR> <b>Oil prices sank Friday as investors digested a week's worth of grim economic news and sold off with the price of crude still close to the peak for 2009.</b> <p><b>Benchmark crude for May delivery dropped $2.31 to $52.05 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent prices fell $2.10 to $51.36 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.</b></p> <p>Crude stocks surged all week as traders and brokers started to sense the return of a bull market. Prices have steadily increased for a month.</p> <p>Oil prices set new 2009 highs on both Tuesday and Thursday and there is a growing consensus that there will be a supply shortage as oil companies slash spending on exploration and production.</p> <p>Most analysts agree that will not occur for some time because demand for energy has fallen so fast.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20752">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20750"><B>U.N. Atomic Agency Fails To Elect Chief</B></A><BR>2009-03-27 14:13:09<HR> <b>Officials from 35 nations failed to agree on a successor to Mohamed ElBaradei as head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (I.A.E.A.)in a second day of voting on Friday, the agency said, opening the field to new candidates. </b> <p>The officials, grouped in the agencyâs board of governors, deadlocked after the leading candidate, Yukiya Amano, a Japanese official who is his countryâs ambassador to the organization, fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for election at the agencyâs headquarters in Vienna, Austria.</p> <p>Amano out-polled his South African counterpart, Abdul Samad Minty, in three rounds of voting on Thursday and an additional three rounds on Friday, but never obtained the necessary margin for victory. With 24 votes required, Amano took 23 âyesâ votes in the initial Friday poll on his candidacy, and in a later round received 22 affirmative votes with one abstention. In the final round, Minty garnered 15 âyesâ votes with one abstention. </p> <p>Taous Feroukhi, chairwoman of the board of governors, told reporters that the field was now open to new contenders in the race to succeed ElBaradei, whose third four-year term expires in November. ElBaradei, 66, has held the post since 1997, when he took over from Hans Blix,of Sweden. The I.A.E.A. is the United Nations nuclear watchdog. The agency plays a central role in monitoring and investigating charges of illicit nuclear proliferation and promoting atomic energy for peaceful purposes. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20750">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20755"><B>Fargo Neighborhood Evacuated As River Waters Rise</B></A><BR>2009-03-27 14:14:36<HR> <b>Along the banks of Fargo, North Dakota, the Red River surpassed its highest level in history Friday morning, forcing the emergency evacuation of one neighborhood before dawn and leading city leaders here, once cheerfully upbeat, to sound far more dire.</b> <p><b>âWe do not want to give up yet,â Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker said late Thursday night after receiving yet another piece of gruesome news. Forecasters now believe the Red River will go right on rising, and by Saturday overtake the record set here more than a century ago by two feet or even more, much higher than anyone here had earlier believed possible.</b> </p> <p>âWe want to go down swinging - if we go down,â said the mayor, as he urged his city to summon the energy to build the dikes that protect it yet another foot higher by Friday night. </p> <p> âIâm going to be devastated if we lose,â said Walaker, who had, only a few days ago, expressed optimism, even certainty, that Fargo, a city of 90,000 and North Dakotaâs most populous, would be fine. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20755">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20753"><B>Dozens Dead In Pakistan Bombing</B></A><BR>2009-03-27 14:14:08<HR> <b>A suicide bomber brought the roof of a crowded mosque crashing down on worshipers in northwest Pakistan Friday, setting off explosives as a cleric intoned the holy prayers, killing scores of people in what was the bloodiest attack this year.</b><br> <p><b> The attack was unleashed in an area that has seen intense activity by Pakistani security forces aimed at protecting the critical Khyber Pass supply route for American forces in Afghanistan. Occurring only hours before President Obama unveiled a new strategy against militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it raised questions about Pakistanâs ability to counter the threat from al-Qaeda and the Taliban. </b></p> <p>Estimates of the death toll swung wildly as survivors in long robes and white skull-caps scrabbled frantically in the debris to recover the dead and rescue the wounded. A minaret with a loudspeaker poked from the rubble. One local official said 37 people had died but most accounts put the death toll at around 50. Hours after the attacks, Pakistan television stations reported that up to 70 people might have died.</p> <p>The bomber mingled with worshipers, according to survivors and residents, as the Friday prayer session reached its climax with a communal prayer. Residents said that about 250 to 300 people had been praying in the mosque at the time.</p> <p> One survivor named Arman said that a cleric had begun to intone âGod is greatâ just as the blast occurred. âThere were blood and limbs all around,â he said. âI had never seen such a horrendous scene in my whole life.â</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20753">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20751"><B>Indonesia Continues Search After Dam Burst Kills 52</B></A><BR>2009-03-27 14:13:32<HR> <b>Rescue works searched desperately into the night Friday for dozens of missing people after a dam burst just outside the Indonesian capital and a wall of mud and water killed at least 52 victims as they slept.<br> <br> "My prediction is we still have many people trapped in there, so the death toll will rise," said Rustam Pakaya, the Health Ministry's crisis center chief.</b><b> "I think the death toll can reach a hundred," he added, as scores of body bags were delivered to the disaster area.</b><br> <div class="storybody"> <br> Torrential rain Thursday raised the level of a reservoir behind the dam to almost 55 yards above capacity and "the dam could not hold the water. It was overloaded. And the dam burst around 2 a.m."<br> <br> At least 31 survivors dragged from the thick muck and floodwaters in Cirendeu were rushed to two hospitals in south Jakarta.<br> <br></div> Aerial photos showed an enormous hole, hundreds of feet across the earthen dam, as if a giant claw had torn through it. Subandrio Pitoyo, a public works official, said that due to heavy rain, the water level in the reservoir behind Situ Gintung Dam rose so high that it overflowed the dam, collapsing the earthen wall. <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20751">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-48602133037117845712009-03-27T01:11:00.000-07:002009-03-27T01:29:05.603-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Friday March 27 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Friday March 27 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20749"><B>Treasury Secretary Geithner Calls For Major Overhaul Of Financial Rules</B></A><BR>2009-03-26 15:36:32<HR> <b>The Obama administration on Thursday detailed its wide-ranging plan to overhaul financial regulation by subjecting hedge funds and traders of exotic financial instruments, now among the biggest and most freewheeling players on Wall Street, to potentially strict new government supervision.</b> <p>Treasury Secretary Timothey F. Geithner outlined the plan Thursday before the House Financial Services Committee, where he got a decidedly mixed reception. He said the changes were needed to fix a badly flawed system that was exposed by the current financial crisis. Geithner, in his opening statement, called for âcomprehensive reform. Not modest repairs at the margin, but new rules of the game.â</p> <p>âVery complex, very consequential, very difficult,â Geithner called the changes that he said were necessary, and the sooner the better.</p> <p>Included in the plan would be the establishment of one single agency âwith responsibility for systemic stability over the major institutions and critical payment and settlement systems and activities.â </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20749">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20747"><B>U.S. Officials: Pakistan's Military Intelligence Helping Taliban Strikes Against Afghanistan</B></A><BR>2009-03-26 15:36:06<HR> <b>The Taliban's widening campaign in southern Afghanistan is made possible in part by direct support from operatives in Pakistan's military intelligence agency, despite Pakistani government promises to sever ties to militant groups fighting in Afghanistan, according to American government officials. <br> </b> <p><b>The support consists of money, military supplies and strategic planning guidance to Taliban commanders who are gearing up to confront the international force in Afghanistan that will soon include some 17,000 American reinforcements.</b> </p> <p>Support for the Taliban, as well as other militant groups, is coordinated by operatives inside the shadowy S Wing of Pakistanâs spy service, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, said the officials. There is even evidence that ISI operatives meet regularly with Taliban commanders to discuss whether to intensify or scale back violence before the Afghan elections. </p> <p>Details of the ISIâs continuing ties to militant groups were described by a half-dozen American, Pakistani and other security officials during recent interviews in Washington and the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. All requested anonymity because they were discussing classified and sensitive intelligence information.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20747">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20745"><B>Over 5.5 Million Americans Drawing Jobless Benefits</B></A><BR>2009-03-26 15:35:34<HR> <b>The number of laid-off Americans filing initial jobless benefit claims rose slightly last week while the number of people continuing to claim benefits set a record for the ninth straight week, the Labor Department said Thursday.</b> <p><b>The figures indicate that the labor market remains weak even as some other recent economic indicators have come in better than expected.</b> </p> <p>The Labor Department said first-time claims for unemployment insurance rose to a seasonally adjusted 652,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 644,000, slightly higher than analysts expected. A year ago, the number stood at 367,000. </p> <p>The total number of people claiming benefits for more than a week jumped 122,000 to 5.56 million, significantly higher than analysts' projections of 5.48 million and the highest on records dating back to 1967. The continuing claims data lag initial claims by a week. </p> <p>The number of continuing claims has increased by more than 100,000 four times in the past five weeks, an indication that workers are remaining on the rolls for longer as they struggle to land a new job after being laid off. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20745">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20748"><B>I.R.S. To Offer Deal To Wealthy Tax Evaders</B></A><BR>2009-03-26 15:36:19<HR> <p><b>The U.S. Internal Revenue Service, under pressure to bring in money to the faltering economy, plans to give offshore tax evaders a big break.</b></p> <p><b>The agency has drafted a plan that significantly lowers a penalty that applies to wealthy Americans who hide money overseas in secret accounts, a person briefed on the matter said Thursday. The plan is intended to lure out of hiding scores of wealthy people who must come forward and declare their accounts in order to take advantage of the lower penalty.</b> </p> <p>The plan was developed amid a widening investigation into wealthy American clients of UBS but will apply to clients of other banks as well.</p> <p>Under the plan, according to the person briefed on the issue, the I.R.S. will reduce an onerous penalty for not filing a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Account, known as an Fbar - something offshore tax evaders have not done. </p> <p>The current penalty is 50 percent of the high balance of each account over the last three years - an amount that can wipe out an investorâs accounts in just two years - but the I.R.S. will reduce that penalty to 5 to 20 percent, depending in part on whether the wealth was inherited.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20748">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20746"><B>Fargo Residents Race To Protect Against Rising Red River</B></A><BR>2009-03-26 15:35:49<HR> <b>Volunteers, many of them cold and weary after loading sandbags all night, were racing on Thursday to raise dikes protecting this city still higher, hoping to hold back the Red River, which is expected to reach record levels by Saturday. </b> <p><b>In one sign of this cityâs intensifying fears about the flooding threat, hundreds of workers on Thursday began building a second set of dikes - inside the primary, 12-mile long dike - to protect Fargoâs main services, like a water plant and a waste water facility.</b> </p> <p>âWeâre in uncharted territory,â Dennis Walaker, the mayor of this city, said after a morning meeting of city officials. Noting that the riverâs waters had risen another 3 feet in the last day, Walaker said he gave the city a â3- or maybe 4-to-1 shot at winningâ its battle with the flood. âWeâre still optimistic,â he said.</p> <p>Worries of major flooding extend well beyond Fargo. Throughout parts of North Dakota and western Minnesota, residents are bracing for the Red River, nearby streams and rivers and the Missouri River to spill their banks - the result, said experts, of a combination of factors. In the fall, the flat terrain here was saturated by rain, followed by a winter of heavy snow, and now - as so much snow began melting - came days more of rain and, on Wednesday, half a foot of snow in some places.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20746">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20744"><B>New York Art Dealer Is Charged With Stealing $88 Million</B></A><BR>2009-03-26 15:34:54<HR> <p><b>A noted Upper East Side art dealer in New York City has been indicted on charges he stole $88 million from investors and collectors who consigned artwork to him and said they were cheated out of the sale proceeds or never saw the pieces again, according to a person briefed on the case.</b></p> <p><b>The dealer, Lawrence B. Salander, and his business, the Salander-OâReilly Galleries, were charged by a grand jury with 100 counts including grand larceny, falsifying business records, scheming to defraud, forgery and perjury, according to the person, who declined to be identified because the charges had not been formally announced. A news conference was scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Thursday at the Manhattan District Attorneyâs office.</b></p> <p>Salander was arrested at his home in upstate Millbrook, New York, on Thursday morning.</p> <p>Salanderâs gallery displayed paintings as different as English landscapes by John Constable and modernistic scenes by Robert De Niro, Sr., the actorâs father. The gallery boasted that The Robb Report, the glossy lifestyle guide for the rich, had cited it as the best gallery in the world in 2003.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20744">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-38721026851043313802009-03-26T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-26T01:33:05.275-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Thursday March 26 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Thursday March 26 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20743"><B>Congress May Force Obama To Delay On Copenhagen Climate Change Deal</B></A><BR>2009-03-25 20:17:25<HR> <b>U.S. President Obama may be forced to delay signing up to a new international agreement on climate change in Copenhagen at the end of the year because of the scale of opposition in the U.S. Congress, it emerged Wednesday.</b> <p><b>Senior figures in the Obama administration have been warning Labor counterparts that the president may need at least another six months to win domestic support for any proposal.</b></p> <p>Such a delay could derail the securing of a tough global agreement in time for countries and markets to adopt it before the Kyoto treaty runs out in 2012.</p> <p>American officials would prefer to have the approval of Congress for any international agreement and fear that if the U.S. signed up without it there would be a serious domestic backlash.</p> <p>Stephen Byers, co-chairman of the International Climate Change Taskforce, said: "The Copenhagen climate change talks in December will come at a difficult moment. The timing couldn't really be worse for the Obama administration. It is vital that this is recognized by the international community. If need be, we should be prepared to give them more time - not to let them off the hook and escape their responsibilities, but ensure they are politically able to sign up to effective international action which reflects the scale of the challenge we face."</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20743">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20741"><B>Israel Accused Of War Crimes Over Use Of Phosphorus Shells In Gaza</B></A><BR>2009-03-25 20:17:00<HR> <b>Israel's military fired white phosphorus over crowded areas of Gaza repeatedly and indiscriminately in its three-week war, killing and injuring civilians and committing war crimes, Human Rights Watch said Wednesday.</b> <p><b>In a 71-page report, the rights group said the repeated use of air-burst white phosphorus artillery shells in populated areas of Gaza was not incidental or accidental, but revealed "a pattern or policy of conduct".</b></p> <p>It said the Israeli military used white phosphorus in a "deliberate or reckless" way. The report says:</p> <p>-- Israel was aware of the dangers of white phosphorus.</p> <p>-- It chose not to use alternative and less dangerous smoke shells.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20741">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20739"><B>Markets See Moderate Gain After Erratic Session</B></A><BR>2009-03-25 19:03:18<HR> <b>Wall Street managed a moderate gain Wednesday after an attack of nerves had investors giving back a big early advance and then barreling back into the market right before the close.</b><br> <br> Trading was extremely erratic - the Dow Jones industrials rose as much as 203 points in early trading in response to upbeat economic data, then fell nearly 110 during the afternoon before closing up 90. Analysts said weak demand during an auction of government debt stirred up worries about how easily Washington will be able to raise money to fund its economic rescue program. The fear in the market is that the government might not be able to easily raise the hundreds of billions of dollars it needs.<br> <br> The day shows how fragile Wall Street remains despite a two-week rally that saw the Dow regain more than 1,000 points. The market was pulled in different by opposing forces Wednesday that led to choppy trading - which may well be the pattern for stocks going forward.<br> <br> "There was a mix of good and bad news and at the end of the day the good news won out," said Alan Skrainka, chief market strategist at Edward Jones. "It's a jumpy market."<br> <br> Doug Roberts, chief investment strategist at ChannelCapitalResearch.com, said, "Right now there is a lot of crosscurrents coming. People want to be flat going in to the following day. They really don't want to be holding a major position." <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20739">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20737"><B>Seeds Of Change In Washington On Agriculture</B></A><BR>2009-03-25 15:42:35<HR> <p><b> Dave Murphy is the founder of a food advocacy group, but he wants you to know, "in no uncertain terms," that he is not a foodie. Foodies are people who obsess about the perfect apple tart. Not that there's anything wrong with that but, for Murphy, the fight for good food isn't about pleasure or aesthetics; it's about justice and survival.</b> </p> <div id="body_after_content_column"> <p>Three years ago, he left a good job in Washington to return home to Iowa, where a Minnesota corporation was threatening to build a nearly 5,000-head hog farm near his sister's home. "This is not something abstract," he said. "This is about people I know. People I went to high school with. When you speak to people from Berkeley or Manhattan, people on the coasts, it's a really different ballgame." </p> <p>Like famous Berkeley, California, activist Alice Waters, chef-owner of Chez Panisse, Murphy dreams big. Yet the tactics he employs are very different. Waters raises awareness through prime-time television appearances, star-studded charity dinners and the rustic meals she serves at her restaurant. Murphy uses grass-roots community organizing methods, such as petitions and action alerts. </p> <p> The first campaign by Murphy's nonprofit group, Food Democracy Now (http://www.fooddemocracynow.org ), was a petition calling for more sustainable food policies and suggesting six progressive candidates for secretary of agriculture last November. After the secretary was appointed, he added a list of 12 candidates for key deputy and undersecretary positions. To date, two of the so-called sustainable dozen have received key appointments. Kathleen Merrigan, a professor at Tufts University who helped develop national organic standards, was appointed deputy secretary. Doug O'Brien, an assistant director at the Ohio Department of Agriculture, will be Merrigan's chief of staff. </p></div> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20737">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20735"><B>Geithner Clarifies His Remarks After Dollar Tumbles</B></A><BR>2009-03-25 15:42:10<HR> <b>Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner on Wednesday said that the dollar would remain the worldâs dominant reserve currency for some time to come, clarifying earlier remarks that sent the dollar tumbling.<br> </b> <p><b>âThe dollar remains the worldâs dominant reserve currency,â Geithner said after a speech in Midtown Manhattan to the Council on Foreign Relations.âI think thatâs likely to continue for a long period of time. </b></p> <p> Geithnerâs comments came in response to a question regarding a proposal by Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of the Peopleâs Bank of China, that suggested a possible replacement for the dollar as a global reserve currency. The proposal called on the International Monetary Fund to increase the use of "Special Drawing Rights" - a basket of currencies made up of the euro, yen, pound and dollar that has served as a reserve asset.</p> <p>The dollar plunged earlier in the morning after Geithner, in response to another question, said Chinaâs suggestion âdeserves some consideration,â though he added that he had not read the proposal.</p> <p>The dollar rebounded later on Geithnerâs clarification.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20735">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20733"><B>Like It's Predecessor, New U.S. Justice Dept. Claiming Privilege</B></A><BR>2009-03-25 15:41:40<HR> <p><b> Civil liberties advocates are accusing the Obama administration of forsaking campaign rhetoric and adopting the same expansive arguments that his predecessor used to cloak some of the most sensitive intelligence-gathering programs of the Bush White House.</b> </p> <p>The first signs have come just weeks into the new administration, in a case filed by an Oregon charity suspected of funding terrorism. President Obama's Justice Department not only sought to dismiss the lawsuit by arguing that it implicated "state secrets," but also escalated the standoff - proposing that government lawyers might take classified documents from the court's custody to keep the charity's representatives from reviewing them. </p> <p>The suit by the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation has proceeded further than any other in challenging the use of warrantless wiretaps, threatening to expose the inner workings of that program. It is the second time the new Justice Department has followed its predecessors in claiming the state-secrets privilege, which would allow the government to exclude evidence in a civil case on grounds that it jeopardizes national security. </p> <p>Attorneys for al-Haramain are seeking monetary damages from officials at the White House, the National Security Agency, the Treasury Department and the FBI, saying that the government's alleged illegal eavesdropping of the charity's board members and attorneys five years ago violated the charity's rights of due process and freedom of speech. Representatives of the charity, whose U.S. operations have gone out of business, say that its purpose was philanthropic and that authorities have no evidence that it funded terrorism. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20733">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20731"><B>E.U. President Calls U.S. Stimulus The 'Way To Hell'</B></A><BR>2009-03-25 15:40:50<HR> <b>Transatlantic tension over the handling of the global economic crisis intensified Wednesday when the prime minister of the Czech Republic, which holds the European Union presidency, described President Obama's stimulus measures as the âway to hell.â</b><br> <p>Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek argued that the Obama administrationâs fiscal package and financial bailout âwill undermine the stability of the global financial market.â</p> <p> Topolanekâs comments, only a day after he offered his governmentâs resignation following a no confidence vote, took European officials by surprise.</p> <p>The rotating European Union presidency lasts for six months and the country that holds it is supposed to speak on behalf of the entire 27-nation bloc.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20731">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20729"><B>Obama Confident 'We're Moving In The Right Direction'</B></A><BR>2009-03-25 03:08:39<HR> <p><b> President Obama sought to reassure Americans Tuesday night that his administration has made progress in reviving the economy and said his $3.6 trillion budget is "inseparable from this recovery." </b></p> <p><b>After sprinting through his first months in office, Obama is now facing heightened criticism from Republicans, who have called his blueprint irresponsible, and from skeptical Democrats who have already set about trimming back his top budget priorities.</b> </p> <p>Obama came into office amid lofty expectations and the worst economic crisis in generations, and he succeeded in pushing through a $787 billion stimulus and launching expensive plans to revive the banking system. </p> <p>Tuesday night, against a backdrop of a broad national anxiety that the economy may still be failing, he attempted to recalibrate the high hopes to more closely fit the challenges he said lie ahead. </p> <p>Although he spoke sharply once in response to Republican criticism, Obama struck a tone of common purpose throughout his second prime-time news conference, urging the country to be patient as he works on issues as divergent as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the malign impact of lobbying in Washington, D.C. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20729">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20742"><B>Britain's Prime Minister Tells Wall Street To Change Its Ways</B></A><BR>2009-03-25 20:17:12<HR> <b>Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown Wednesday told the cream of New York's financial community that they must change their ways if the world is to emerge unscathed from the global financial crisis.</b> <p>At a breakfast meeting at New York's Plaza hotel, the prime minister offered strong support for Barack Obama, who used a White House press conference on Tuesday night to express his frustration at bonuses being paid to staff at bailed-out businesses.</p> <p>"We have to clean up the banking system," the prime minister told financiers at the meeting hosted by the Wall Street Journal's managing editor, Robert Thomson.</p> <p>"We must give people confidence that the principles that guide their daily lives are those that also guide the markets. I know people are angry at what they see in banking bonuses remuneration."</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20742">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20740"><B>China Using Contraceptive Pellets To Curb Rats In Tibet</B></A><BR>2009-03-25 20:16:47<HR> <b>China's authorities have scattered 200 kilograms (440 lbs.) of rodent contraceptive pellets across the Tibetan plateau to control what they describe as a "plague of desert rats".</b> <p><b>The growing number of rodents have been blamed for destroying fragile high-altitude grasslands and accelerating the spread of deserts.</b></p> <p><b>Biodiversity experts warn, however, that the extermination campaign could worsen the problem of soil degradation and the poisons could damage other parts of the plateau ecosystem.</b></p> <p>China's chemists custom-designed the drugs to induce abortions and prevent pregnancy in "gerbils", according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. It is possible they are referring to pika, a small cousin of the rabbit with rounded ears and long whiskers that has long been the target of government eradication campaigns.</p> <p>Government workers began spreading the contraceptive in the Gurbantunggut desert last May, leaving it in pellet form near the entrance of burrows. Since then they have reportedly distributed 200 kilograms of the drug over 49,000 hectares in China's western region of Xinjiang. They say the drug will have a minimal impact on other animals.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20740">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20738"><B>U.S. House Democrats Slash More Than $100 Billion From Obama's Plan</B></A><BR>2009-03-25 15:42:47<HR> <p><b> House budget leaders today unveiled a $3.45 trillion budget blueprint for fiscal 2010 that slices more than $100 billion from the spending plan President Obama proposed last month.</b> </p> <p>Much of the difference comes from a decision by House leaders to jettison Obama's plan to seek more cash for the Treasury Department's financial-sector bailout, a decision that would reduce the projected deficit but not prevent the administration from requesting the money. </p> <p>The result is a spending plan that would drive the annual deficit to $1.2 trillion next year, compared with $1.4 trillion under Obama's request. Over the next five years, the deficit would fall to just under $600 billion, requiring the nation to borrow $3.9 trillion, compared with $4.4 trillion under Obama's plan. </p> <p>Like a competing proposal unveiled in the Senate, the House plan would permit lawmakers to pursue Obama's priorities on health care, education and energy only if those initiatives do not increase the deficit. Unlike the Senate, the House is proposing to use a procedural shortcut to push Obama's health-care and education proposals through the Senate without Republican votes. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20738">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20736"><B>U.S. Sees Rise, Of Sorts, In Manufacturing Orders</B></A><BR>2009-03-25 15:42:22<HR> <p><b>In a glimmer of surprisingly upbeat economic data, manufacturing orders for goods like metals, machines and military equipment rose last month for the first time after six months of declines, the government reported on Wednesday.</b></p> <p><b>The Commerce Department reported that orders for durable goods rose 3.4 percent in February following a downwardly revised 7.3 percent drop in January. Orders for machinery, transportation equipment and computers and electronics rose.</b> </p> <p>The monthly gain was better than economistsâ expectations of a 2.5 percent decline, and represented the latest in a series of less-than-terrible reports that have offered a break from months of relentlessly bad economic news. </p> <p>On Monday, an industry group reported that sales of previously owned homes rose 5 percent in February, and the government reported on Tuesday that its barometer of home prices rose in January after 10 months of declines. Earlier this month, the government reported that consumer prices were stabilizing slightly, cooling fears of deflation and that retail sales in February had fallen by less than expectations.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20736">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20734"><B>FBI Director Asks Lawmakers To Renew Patriot Act Provisions</B></A><BR>2009-03-25 15:41:56<HR> <p><b> FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III Wednesday urged lawmakers to move swiftly to renew intelligence-gathering measures set to expire in December, calling them "exceptional" tools to help protect national security.</b> </p> <p>Mueller told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee that he hoped that the reauthorization of two provisions contained in the Patriot Act would be far less "controversial" than in previous years. During the Bush administration, the law drove a wedge between investigators seeking to detect terrorist threats and advocates warning that it trampled on Americans' civil liberties. </p> <p> In response to a question from Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Maryland), Mueller said that his agents had used a provision that helped authorities secure access to business records about 220 times between 2004 and 2007. Data for last year was not yet available, said Mueller. </p> <p>The measure, known as section 215 after its location in the Patriot Act, has been criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union as allegedly violating the First Amendment rights of U.S. citizens. It allows investigators probing terrorism to seek a suspect's records from third parties such as financial services, travel and telephone companies without notifying the suspect. </p> <p> "It has been exceptionally helpful in our national security investigations," said the FBI director. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20734">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20732"><B>Clinton Visits Mexico At A Time When Relationship Is Strained</B></A><BR>2009-03-25 15:41:14<HR> <b>Mexico's economy is being dragged down by the recession to the north. American addicts have turned Mexico into a drug superhighway, and its police and soldiers are under assault from American guns. NAFTA promised 15 years ago that Mexican trucks would be allowed on American roads, but Congress said they were unsafe.</b> <p><b>United States-Mexican relations are in the midst of what can be described as a neighborly feud, one that stretches along a lengthy shared fence. That border fence, which has become a wall in some places, is another irritant.</b></p> <p>Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Mexico on Wednesday for what will be the first in a parade of visits by top administration officials, including President Obamahimself next month, to try to head off a major foreign policy crisis close to home. They will find a country mired in a deepening slump, miffed by signs of protectionism in its largest trading partner, and torn apart by a drug war for which many in Mexico blame customers in the United States. </p> <p>Hours before Clintonâs arrival, Mexican authorities announced that they had captured one of the nationâs 37 worst drug traffickers, a man included on âmost wantedâ list police issued two days ago. </p> <p>The suspect, Hector Huerta Rios, was detained Tuesday in a suburb of the northern industrial city of Monterrey, said Gen. Luis Arturo Oliver, at a news conference, according to the Associated Press. On Monday, Mexican authorities published a list of their most-wanted drug traffickers with an offer of up to $2 million for information leading to the arrest of any of the top 24 and up to $1 million for any of the 13 lieutenants, including Huerta Rios. It was unclear if any reward was paid in the arrest on Tuesday. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20732">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20730"><B>Vandals Hit Home Of Ex RBS Chief</B></A><BR>2009-03-25 15:40:21<HR> <b>The house of Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of the ailing Royal Bank of Scotland, was vandalized early Wednesday and windows of his car were smashed.</b> <p><b>Goodwin attracted criticism for keeping his £703,000, or $1 million, pension despite a string of ill-timed acquisitions under his tenure that brought the bank under government control and calls from Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown to surrender the payment.</b></p> <p>At least three windows on the ground-floor level of his house in an affluent suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland, were smashed and a black Mercedes S600 parked in the driveway was vandalized. It is unclear if Goodwin was in the house at the time.</p> <p>âWe can confirm we attended at an address in Oswald Road at 4:35 a.m. on March 25 and inquiries are ongoing,â a spokeswoman for the Lothian and Borders Police said in a statement. No one has been arrested or charged and the police have asked anyone with information about the incident to step forward, she said. </p> <p>Royal Bank of Scotland paid £290 a month for security arrangements at Goodwinâs house, the bank said earlier, adding that such arrangements were normal practice for any departing chief executive. Linda Harper, a spokeswoman for the bank, declined to comment on the incident and said it was a matter for the police.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20730">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-78304057839182514542009-03-25T01:11:00.000-07:002009-03-25T01:23:31.215-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Wednesday March 25 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Wednesday March 25 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20729"><B>Obama Confident 'We're Moving In The Right Direction'</B></A><BR>2009-03-25 03:08:39<HR> <p><b> President Obama sought to reassure Americans Tuesday night that his administration has made progress in reviving the economy and said his $3.6 trillion budget is "inseparable from this recovery." </b></p> <p><b>After sprinting through his first months in office, Obama is now facing heightened criticism from Republicans, who have called his blueprint irresponsible, and from skeptical Democrats who have already set about trimming back his top budget priorities.</b> </p> <p>Obama came into office amid lofty expectations and the worst economic crisis in generations, and he succeeded in pushing through a $787 billion stimulus and launching expensive plans to revive the banking system. </p> <p>Tuesday night, against a backdrop of a broad national anxiety that the economy may still be failing, he attempted to recalibrate the high hopes to more closely fit the challenges he said lie ahead. </p> <p>Although he spoke sharply once in response to Republican criticism, Obama struck a tone of common purpose throughout his second prime-time news conference, urging the country to be patient as he works on issues as divergent as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the malign impact of lobbying in Washington, D.C. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20729">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20727"><B>China Calls For New, Global, Currency</B></A><BR>2009-03-24 19:01:52<HR> <b>China is calling for a new global currency controlled by the International Monetary Fund, stepping up pressure ahead of a London summit of global leaders for changes to a financial system dominated by the U.S. dollar and Western governments.<br> <br> The comments, in an essay by the Chinese central bank governor released late Monday, reflect Beijing's growing assertiveness in economic affairs. China is expected to press for developing countries to have a bigger say in finance when leaders of the Group of 20 major economies meet April 2 in London to discuss the global crisis.</b> <br> <br> <div class="storybody"> Gov. Zhou Xiaochuan's essay did not mention the dollar by name but said the crisis showed the dangers of relying on one nation's currency for international payments. In an unusual step, the essay was published in both Chinese and English, making clear it was meant for an international audience.<br> <br> "The crisis called again for creative reform of the existing international monetary system towards an international reserve currency," wrote Zhou.<br> </div> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20727">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20725"><B>Holocaust Survivor Jack Terry: 'I Felt Sure I Would Not Live'</B></A><BR>2009-03-24 19:01:26<HR> <b>Intellpuke:</b> <i><b>Spiegel Online interviewed Jack Terry, a holocaust survivor. Terry's family all died in the Holocaust. His mother and sister were shot in front of him when he was a boy. Spiegel Online spoke to Terry about his horrific experiences and about the recent warrant issued for the arrest of alleged death camp guard John Demjanjuk.</b></i> <p> <b>SPIEGEL ONLINE:</b> Mr. Terry, as you know, prosecutors in Munich have filed charges against John Demjanjuk on more than 29,000 counts of accessory to murder. As the only member of your family to have survived the Holocaust, what is your reaction to the prosecution? </p> <p> <b>Terry:</b> It is absolutely vital that anyone involved in such horrific events face appropriate judicial proceedings. </p> <p> <b>SPIEGEL ONLINE:</b> Demjanjuk is almost 90 years old. Should he, if found guilty, be incarcerated? </p> <p> <b>Terry:</b> I would be satisfied even if he was locked up in a cell for just one day. For me that day, however short it may be, would be very symbolic. </p> <p> <b>SPIEGEL ONLINE:</b> As a child, you were tortured for nine months at the Concentration Camp Flossenburg. According to the prosecutors, Demjanjuk was a guard there at precisely the same time as you were. Do you recall seeing him there? </p> <p> <b>Terry: </b>No. I didn't know those on duty by name.</p> <p> <b>SPIEGEL ONLINE:</b> As a Ukrainian, Demjanjuk belonged to the so-called Trawniki, the non-German guards of the SS. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20725">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20723"><B>President Obama Has Fun Talking With Astronauts</B></A><BR>2009-03-24 19:00:56<HR> <b>President Barack Obama seemed to have as much fun Tuesday talking to the 10 astronauts in orbit about e-mailing, fitness and Tang as the children who surrounded him at the White House and took part in the call.</b> <p>Obama, making his first call to space, even asked the only woman aboard the shuttle-station complex whether she was tempted to cut her long hair while she was up there. She said no, and the president called her flyaway curls "a real fashion statement." </p> <p>He started the call off joking with the astronauts. </p> <p>"I'm told that you're cruising at about 17,000 mph, so we're glad that you are using the handsfree phone," he said. </p> <p>After getting a big laugh in orbit and on the ground, the president got right down to business, telling the astronauts that he was extraordinarily proud of them for their work at the international space station over the past week. He wanted to know how they installed the new solar panels and what the impact of that green power would be. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20723">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20721"><B>Treasury's Geithner Asks Congress For Authority To Seize Non-Bank Financial Institutions</B></A><BR>2009-03-24 15:39:31<HR> <p><b> Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner asked Congress Tuesday for new regulatory authority for non-bank financial institutions such as insurance giant American International Group in order to "eliminate gaps in supervision" and avoid potentially catastrophic threats to the nation's financial system. </b></p> <p><b> Geithner said such authority would have allowed the government to bail out AIG last year at a far lower cost to taxpayers, a position backed by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. The government currently has the authority to seize only banks.</b> </p> <p>Testifying before the House Financial Services Committee, Geithner also said Treasury is working with the Justice Department to explore legal avenues to recover AIG retention bonuses that have infuriated taxpayers and raised hackles on Capitol Hill. He said his department will impose on AIG a contractual commitment to pay the Treasury the amount of the retention awards from company operations and will deduct an amount equal to those payments from $30 billion in recently committed capital assistance. </p> <p>In testimony at the same hearing, Bernanke defended the decision last year to bail out AIG but weighed in against the retention bonuses, saying he had sought to halt them. </p> <p>The three-hour hearing was marked by several contentious exchanges between lawmakers and the witnesses. Both Republicans and Democrats sharply questioned Geithner and Bernanke about the retention bonuses and the overall bailout. Acknowledging the furor, Geithner said it would be "extraordinarily difficult" for the Obama administration to obtain any more bailout money from Congress. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20721">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20719"><B>Peace Conference Canceled After South Africa Bans Dalai Lama</B></A><BR>2009-03-24 15:39:06<HR> <b>Organizers of a peace conference that was to have been attended by five Nobel laureates in Johannesburg this week said on Tuesday that they had canceled it after the South African government denied a visa to the Dalai Lama.</b> <p><b>Two of South Africa's Nobel Peace Prize laureate, retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former president F.W. de Klerk, condemned the government for giving in to pressure from China to block the Tibetan spiritual leaderâs entry into the country and said they would refuse to participate in the conference if he was not there. The executive director of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Geir Lundestad, also said he would stay away.</b></p> <p>The government, through a spokesman, said the Dalai Lama would not be allowed to come to South Africa to attend the conference, which was meant to promote the 2010 soccer World Cup, because he would have distracted attention from South Africa and drawn it instead to the contentious debate over the status of Tibet.</p> <p>Thabo Masebe, a government spokesman, said on Monday that the Tibetan leaderâs presence âwould not be in South Africaâs best interests.â</p> <p>A statement by the organizers on Tuesday said the participants had been told that âthe only purpose of their visit to South Africa would be for the purposes of participation in the conference and not any other public engagements as these could take away from the purpose for which the conference was intended.â The conference, which was to have begun Friday, had been organized by South African soccer authorities.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20719">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20717"><B>China Daily Assails Prisoner Abuses </B></A><BR>2009-03-24 15:38:20<HR> <b>Inmates in China's 2,700 pretrial detention centers suffer bullying and torture at the hands of fellow prisoners and police officers, and some experts want a neutral body to take the centers out of police control to curb the abuses, the state-run English-language newspaper, China Daily, reported on Tuesday.</b> <p>The newspaper noted that the Communist Partyâs latest four-year plan for legal reforms does not contemplate changes in the detention system. The full-page article said that since February 8, five inmates had died under suspicious circumstances while in police custody. Amnesty International,the human-rights advocacy group, last week reported two additional deaths that the police say were due to illness. Family members dispute those explanations. </p> <p>All seven deaths occurred in police detention centers, where inmates accused of crimes can be held for months awaiting trial or formal charges. The centers are officially run by the national public-security ministry, but are effectively controlled by local police officials who, one expert was quoted as saying, regard them âas part of their turf and the most profitable piece of their territory.â </p> <p>Another criminal procedure expert, Chen Weidong of Renmin University, was quoted as saying that officers âwill sometimes have the detained suspects, especially new ones, tortured so that they can get confessions and complete an investigation as soon as possible.â </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20717">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20715"><B>France To Pay Nuclear Test Victims</B></A><BR>2009-03-24 15:37:47<HR> <b>After decades of rejecting ties between its nuclear weapons tests and health problems among personnel carrying them out, France said Tuesday that it would âbe true to its conscienceâ and pay compensation to those suffering illnesses linked to radiation. </b> <p> Defense Minister Herve Morin, told the newspaper Le Figaro that France believed for a long time that âopening the door to compensation would pose a threat to the very significant efforts made by France to have a credible nuclear deterrent.â</p> <p>Between 1960 and 1996, France carried out more than 200 nuclear tests, first in Algeria, then in French Polynesia in the Pacific Ocean. Up to 150,000 civilian and military people who worked on the testing program had been âtheoreticallyâ affected, said Morin.</p> <p>However, the scale of compensation may be limited. Morin said the government had set aside about $13.5 million to pay claims adjudicated by a panel of physicians and a magistrate.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20715">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20728"><B>Dow Closes Down 115 Points </B></A><BR>2009-03-24 19:02:04<HR> <b>A stock drop is never reassuring - except when it could have been worse.<br> <br> The Dow Jones industrial average shed 115 points, or 1.5 percent Tuesday. But it also held on to 382 of the 498 points it racked up a day earlier.<br> </b> <br> <div class="storybody"> Anyone with a 401(k) would have liked to see the rally continue. Market analysts said, though, that a pullback was expected given the massive gains Wall Street logged the day before when the government released plans to remove bad loans from banks' books.<br> <br> "We'll take that trading pattern any time," said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. He said he came into work anticipating the Dow to drop as much as 2 percent Tuesday after the index jumped 6.8 percent Monday - its biggest gain since late October.<br> <br> The Dow was up more than 1,200 points after hitting nearly 12-year lows on March 9, and there was little in a way of positive economic or corporate data Tuesday to lift stocks further.</div> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20728">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20726"><B>Salton Sea Earthquakes - A Warning Sign Of The Big One?</B></A><BR>2009-03-24 19:01:42<HR> <b>Scientists are watching closely to see if small faults crossing under the Salton Sea are transferring energy to the larger, more dangerous San Andreas fault after a series of small quake swarms in the area.<br> </b> <br> The quakes appeared to be tapering off by Monday afternoon, according to the monitoring system run by the U.S. Geological Survey and Caltech; but, in a 48-hour period starting Saturday morning, 42 earthquakes shook just south of Bombay Beach on the Salton Sea. The quakes ranged in magnitude from 0.5 to 3.3, with three larger than 3.0 hitting the area Saturday afternoon.<br> <br> <div class="storybody"> Scientists are particularly interested in the area because an earthquake that starts in Bombay Beach and ripples northwest along the San Andreas fault could be the Big One that devastates Los Angeles, said Graham Kent, a research geophysicist at the University of California at San Diego.<br> <br> These quakes appear to be taking place at the hazy intersection of several recently mapped faults crossing beneath the Salton Sea and the the San Andreas fault.</div> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20726">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20724"><B>Danish Theologian Says Pope Benedict XVI 'Scorns Reality'</B></A><BR>2009-03-24 19:01:08<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>A prominent Danish theologian, who is part of a commission set up to modernize the Vatican and the papacy, says that Pope Benedict XVI is out of touch with reality.</b></p> <p>Pope Benedict XVI is the wrong man for the job in what has become a complex society, according to a Danish theologian who is part of a commission seeking to modernize the papacy. </p> "I have the greatest respect for Pope Benedict's intellectual capacity. Theologically he is well-founded - he knows it all. But I don't think he is the right man for the job. He forgets life," says Professor Emeritus Peder Norgaard-Hojen in an interview with politiken.dk. <p> <b>Ignoring Reality</b> </p> <p>Norgaard-Hojen, who has studied the Vatican and papacy for many years, has recently returned from meetings in an unusual Vatican commission composed of eight Catholics and eight Protestants. The commission is seeking to find ways to modernize the Vatican in an increasingly complex world. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20724">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20722"><font color="red"><b>MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "freeinternetpress.com" claiming to be</b></font> <B>U.S. Comedian Stephen Colbert Reaches For Stars After NASA Win</B></A><BR>2009-03-24 19:00:37<HR> <p><b>An American comedian has embarrassed NASA, the U.S. space agency, by winning a competition to have part of the International Space Station named after him.</b></p> <p><b>Space scientists had urged the public to select "Serenity" as the name of the third new "living room" aboard the orbiting outpost to match the existing Unity and Harmony modules.</b></p> <p><b>Yet NASA may have to name it "Colbert" instead after almost a quarter of a million fans voted to give the satirist Stephen Colbert a giant leap into space.</b></p> <p>The comedian's name beat the agency's preferred choice by more than 40,000 votes in a total ballot of 1.2 million. Other NASA recommendations included Venture, Earthrise and Legacy, while Myyearbook and Socialvibe were among the public's suggestions.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20722">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20720"><B>U.S. EPA Halts Hundreds Of Mountain Top Mining Permits</B></A><BR>2009-03-24 15:39:18<HR> <b>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency put hundreds of mountaintop coal-mining permits on hold Tuesday, saying it wants to evaluate the projects' impact on streams and wetlands. </b> <p><b>The decision, announced by EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, targets a controversial practice that allows coal mining companies to dump waste from mountaintop mining into streams and wetlands. </b></p> <p><b> It could delay 150-250 permits being sought by companies wanting to begin blasting mountaintops to access coal.</b> </p> <p>Those permits are issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, an agency that has been criticized by environmental groups and has been sued for failing to thoroughly evaluate the environmental impact of mountaintop removal. </p> <p> Under the Clean Water Act, companies cannot discharge rock, dirt and other debris into streams unless they can show that it will not cause permanent damage to waterways or the fish and other wildlife that live in it. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20720">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20718"><B>Google: YouTube Being Blocked In China</B></A><BR>2009-03-24 15:38:35<HR> <b>Google said Tuesday that its YouTube video-sharing Web site was being blocked in China.</b> <p><b>The company said it first noticed traffic from China had decreased dramatically late Monday. By early Tuesday, it had dropped to nearly zero, said the company.</b></p> <p>âWe donât know the reason for the block,â said a YouTube spokesman, Scott Rubin. âOur government relations people are trying to resolve it.â</p> <p>China routinely filters Internet content and blocks material that is critical of its policies. It selectively blocks videos from YouTube.</p> <p>According to Reuters, Chinese government officials said Tuesday that they did not know about YouTube being blocked, but said that China was not afraid of the Internet. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20718">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20716"><B>Markets Flat After Monday's Rally</B></A><BR>2009-03-24 15:38:04<HR> <b>Stocks were flat Tuesday afternoon, failing to build on Monday's rally when investors cheered a Treasury Department plan to rid banks' balance sheets of toxic assets. </b><br> <p><b> After initially tumbling more than 100 points this morning, the Dow Jones industrial average moderated and briefly traded in positive territory Tuesday afternoon. It was down .15 percent or 12 points by 2:30 p.m. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock also was flat, down .36 percent or 3 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1 percent, or 17 points.</b> </p> <p>Wall Street rallied yesterday after the Treasury Department unveiled a new trillion-dollar plan to stabilize banks by relieving them of their troubled assets and risky loans and housing industry data showed that existing home sales increased unexpectedly in February The Dow climbed 6.8 percent, or 497.48 points, its fifth-largest point gain in its history. </p> <p>It is not unusual for stocks to lose ground after a major rally as investors lock in profits. By hanging onto most of Monday's gains, investors are indicating that a two-week market rally that has pushed the Dow up more than 17 percent could continue, analysts said. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20716">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-55154150236842631452009-03-24T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-24T01:21:01.967-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Tuesday March 24 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Tuesday March 24 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20714"><B>U.S. Treasury Gives Details On Toxic Assets Plan</B></A><BR>2009-03-23 19:27:47<HR> <p><b> The U.S. government will offer hundreds of billions of dollars in equity and loan guarantees to investors who bid against one another to buy troubled assets from banks, officials said Monday. </b></p> <p>The "Public Private Investment Plan" detailed Monday morning, a long-awaited but risky piece of the government's financial stabilization strategy, will pour government money into private investment funds as a way to move loans from the balance sheets of banks to those of long-term investors. </p> <p><b>Under the plan, the government and private investors will invest together to buy up between $500 billion and $1 trillion worth of real estate-related loans and securities from banks. The government will use up to $100 billion from the Troubled Assets Relief Program, matched by private funds, to capitalize the purchases.</b> </p> <p>The hope is that instead of hoarding cash in case those assets continue to lose value, banks will resume lending money once the toxic assets are off their books. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20714">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20712"><B>Holbrooke On Afghanistan - The New American Determination</B></A><BR>2009-03-23 19:27:18<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>Richard Holbrooke, the new U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, wants to explain Obama's policy on Afghanistan to NATO and the European Union. He gave the first details at a conference this weekend in Brussels. One thing is certain: The operation will become more American - and probably bloodier.</b></p> <p>They were just a couple of words, but they said a lot. Richard Holbrooke was sitting on the stage of the Brussels Forum, addressing high-ranking Europeans and Americans who had gathered at the invitation of the German Marshall Fund. You could have heard a pin drop in the ballroom as the recently appointed U.S. envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan explained the new American strategy in those countries. Holbrooke sighed as he said that this is one of the conflicts where U.S. forces were furthest away from their supply routes. "We Americans," he said in reference to this far-off war. Then he quickly caught himself and added, almost sheepishly, "and NATO."</p> Indeed, the defense alliance seemed almost peripheral during Holbrooke's presentation. Admittedly, he referred to a comprehensive Western strategy, the link between civil society and the military and the need for a more intelligent approach towards the insurgents. <p>But his underlying signal was one of American determination. The Americans are about to send 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistanand in doing so they're unlikely to pay much attention to NATO structures. </p> <p>Holbrooke is scheduled to outline the new American strategy in the region to representatives from the NATO and E.U. on Monday. The White House has commissioned a variety of secret strategy scenarios on this, and the result appears to be that the Afghanistan mission is evolving more than ever into a U.S. mission, and it's likely to become - at least initially - an even bloodier operation.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20712">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20710"><B>Abu Dhabi Deal A 'Stroke Of Luck' For Daimler</B></A><BR>2009-03-23 19:26:44<HR> <b>Abu Dhabi has bought a 9.1 percent stake in Daimler in a deal analysts say has come at just the right time for the German automaker battling the global economic downturn. The stake is expected to shield Daimler from a hedge fund takeover.</b><br> <br> It was the kind of news the German stock market had evidently been waiting for - after the emirate of Abu Dhabi said on Sunday evening it was taking a 9.1 percent stake in German auto maker Daimler, the stock leapt as much as six percent. By midday on Monday, the stock was still up around two percent. Analysts said the investment by the oil-rich sheikhs would stabilize the Stuttgart-based company which is suffering from the global slump in auto sales. Daimler, they said, had found a new strategic investor with a long-term focus. <p>While Daimler AG is world-famous, its new shareholder, Arab state fund Aabar, is little known in Germany. The company belongs to a complex web of state-owned and semi-state-owned investment vehicles set up by the sheikhs of Abu Dhabi to multiply their petro dollars.</p> <p>Aabar is controlled by the state fund International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), which has an investment portfolio estimated at more than $14 billion. Daimler could use liquidity at this time of crisis in the global auto sector. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20710">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20708"><B>Palestinian Official Killed In Lebanon</B></A><BR>2009-03-23 19:25:09<HR> <b>A senior Palestinian official was killed Monday along with two colleagues and a driver when a roadside bomb detonated next to their convoy as they left a Palestinian refugee camp in south Lebanon, said security officials.</b> <p>The Palestinian official, Kamal Midhat, was the deputy leader in Lebanon of Fatah, the mainstream Palestinian faction led by Mahmoud Abbas. Three bodyguards were wounded in the blast.</p> <p>The bomb exploded as the two-car convoy was in between two checkpoints outside the camp, near the southern city of Saida. Television images showed firefighters hosing the remains of Midhatâs car, a blackened heap of charred metal. </p> <p>Some Palestinian officials speculated that the target might have been Midhatâs boss, Abbas Zaki, the Fatah representative in Lebanon, who is close to Abbas. Zaki had left the camp earlier. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20708">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20706"><B>EPA: Global Warming Threatens Public Health, Welfare</B></A><BR>2009-03-23 17:38:59<HR> <p><b>The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent a proposal to the White House on Friday finding that global warming is endangering the public's health and welfare, according to several sources, a move that could have far-reaching implications for the nation's economy and environment.</b> </p> <p>The proposal - which comes in response to a 2007 Supreme Court decision ordering EPA to consider whether carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases should be regulated under the Clean Air Act - could lay the groundwork for nationwide measures to limit such emissions. <br> </p> <p>It reverses one of the Bush administration's landmark environmental decisions: In July 2008 then-EPA administrator Stephen Johnson rejected his scientific and technical staff's recommendation and announced the agency would seek months of further public comment on the threat posed by global warming pollution. </p> <p>"This is historic news," said Frank O'Donnell, who heads the public watchdog group Clean Air Watch. "It will set the stage for the first-ever national limits on global warming pollution. And it is likely to help light a fire under Congress to get moving." </p> <p> Business groups decried the move as an economic disaster. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20706">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20704"><B>Update: No Signs Of Distress Before Montana Plane Crash</B></A><BR>2009-03-23 14:53:16<HR> <b>The plane that crashed in a Montana cemetery gave no indication of problems during several communications with a base operator at the airport here where it was trying to land, an official with the National Transportation Safety Board said Monday. <br> </b> <p><b>The crash killed all 14 people aboard. Seven of the victims were children.</b></p> <p>The pilot, who was not identified, did not provide a reason during a communication at 2:03 p.m when he requested to land at the Bert Mooney Airport on the outskirts of Butte. The airport is about 75 miles west of the planeâs destination in Bozeman where passengers were headed for a ski vacation, said the safety board chairman, Mark Rosenker.<br> </p> <p> Four minutes later the pilot told the base operator he had the airport in sight and had to maneuver around one more cloud. At 2:29 the plane disappeared off radar.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20704">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20702"><B>Breaking News: Alaska's Mt. Redoubt Erupts, Planes Told To Avoid Area</B></A><BR>2009-03-23 05:12:20<HR> <b>Intellpuke:</b> <b>After teasing volcanologists for several weeks, Mount Redoubt, a volcano located across Cook Inlet from Alaska's Kenai Peninsula, erupted this shortly after midnight (AST) Monday, sending a plume of ash up to 50,000 feet.</b><br> <br> The Federal Aviation Administration is warning planes to avoid the area. <br> <br> The Alaska Volcano Observatory reports the ash cloud is headed toward Anchorage and up the states west coast. It is expected to reach Anchorage about 2 a.m. and could reach as far north as Nome. <br> <br> People are being advised to bring their pets indoors and not let them out as they could breathe in the ash which can scratch their lungs. It is possible that the falling ash could disrupt cable internet connections and cable t.v. <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20702">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20713"><B>Judge Orders FDA To Reconsider Morning-After Pill For Minors</B></A><BR>2009-03-23 19:27:30<HR> <p><b> A federal court Monday ordered the Food and Drug Administration to reconsider the agency's controversial decision limiting non-prescription access to the morning-after pill Plan B to women age 18 and older.</b> </p> <p><b>U.S. District Judge Edward R. Korman ordered the FDA to make Plan B available to women age 17 and older within 30 days and to reconsider whether to make the drug available to women of all ages without a prescription.</b> </p> <p>In his 52-page decision, Korman said the "record is clear that the FDA's course of conduct regarding Plan B departed in significant ways from the agency's normal procedures regarding similar applications to switch a drug from prescription to non-prescription use." </p> <p> Critics of the FDA's position hailed the ruling. </p> <p>"We're very excited," said Suzanne Novak, a senior staff attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed a lawsuit against the agency to reverse the 2005 decision. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20713">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20711"><B>Editorial: Lessons Of The Exxon Valdez</B></A><BR>2009-03-23 19:26:58<HR> <b>Intellpuke:</b> <i>This editorial appeared in the New York Times online edition for Monday, March 23, 2009.</i><br> <br> Tuesday marks the 20th anniversary of one of this countryâs great ecological disasters. The Exxon Valdez slammed into Bligh Reef in Alaskaâs Prince William Sound, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil, damaging 1,300 miles of shoreline, disrupting the livelihoods of thousands of Americans and fouling one of the countryâs richest fishing grounds.<br> <p> More than $2 billion has been spent on cleanup and recovery. Exxon has paid at least $1 billion in damages. Supertankers have been made safer with double hulls, emergency teams given better equipment. Some fish species, though not all, have recovered. </p> <p>Yet the Exxon Valdez still sends a powerful cautionary message: oil development, however necessary, is an inherently risky, dirty business - especially so in the forbidding waters of the Arctic. </p> <p> The White House should keep that in mind as it maps out its energy strategy. While rightly emphasizing conservation, efficiency and renewable energy, President Obama has said that oil and gas drilling in Americaâs coastal waters will be part of the mix. The challenge is to do it right, and do it carefully. </p> <p>Mr. Obamaâs interior secretary, Ken Salazar, has said he wonât be rushed into offshore drilling - a refreshing contrast to the âdrill baby drillâ mania of the 2008 G.O.P. campaign. He has already pulled back a Bush administration plan opening up huge swaths of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to drilling. He promises a more measured proposal by the end of the year. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20711">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20709"><B>Study: Eating Red Meat Increases Risk Of Early Death</B></A><BR>2009-03-23 19:25:30<HR> <p><b> Eating red meat increases the chances of dying prematurely, according to a large federal study that offers powerful new evidence that a diet that regularly includes steaks, burgers and pork chops is hazardous to your health.</b> </p> <p><b>The study of more than 500,000 middle-age and elderly Americans found that those who consumed the equivalent of about a small hamburger every day were more than 30 percent more likely to die during the 10 years they were followed, mostly from heart disease and cancer. Sausage, cold cuts and other processed meats also increased the risk.</b> </p> <p>Previous research had found a link between red meat and an increased risk of heart disease and cancer, particularly colorectal cancer, but the new study is the first large examination of the relationship between eating meat and overall mortality. </p> <p>"The bottom line is we found an association between red meat and processed meat and an increased risk of mortality," said Rashmi Sinha of the National Cancer Institute, who led the study published today in the Archives of Internal Medicine. </p> <p>In contrast, routine consumption of fish, chicken, turkey and other poultry decreased the risk of death by a small amount, the study found. </p> <p> Although pork often is promoted as "white meat," it is believed to increase the risk for cancer because of its iron content, said Sinha. It is often grouped with red meat in nutritional studies. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20709">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20707"><B>Distressed Property Sales Boost Existing Home Sale Numbers</B></A><BR>2009-03-23 17:39:11<HR> <p><b>Existing home sales rose unexpectedly in February as first-time home buyers snapped up cheap homes, according to data released today by the National Association of Realtors.<br> </b></p> <p><b>Median home prices tumbled 15.5 percent to $165,400 in February from the same period a year ago. "Because entry level buyers are shopping for bargains, distressed sales accounted for 40 to 45 percent of transactions in February," Lawrence Yun, the group's chief economist, said in a statement.</b></p> <p>Home sales increased 5.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted rate of 4.72 million in February. Analysts had expected the sales rate to continue to fall. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20707">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20705"><B>U.S. Markets Soar On Toxic Assets Plan</B></A><BR>2009-03-23 17:38:47<HR> <p><b>Stock markets soared above 5 percent during the last hour of trading following the Treasury Department's announcement of a new plan to help banks cleanse their balance sheets of toxic assets.</b> </p> <p><b>The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average was up 5.5 percent, or 403 points, to 7682 , while the broader Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 5.5 percent, or nearly 43 points, to 811.53 . The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 5.1 percent, or 75 points, to 1,532.33 .</b> </p> <p> </p> <p>The gains amount to a vote of confidence by investors in the program to purchase toxic assets, known as the Public Private Investment Plan. It calls for the government to partner with private investors to buy between $500 billion and $1 trillion in troubled real-estate related loans and securities that have poisoned financial institutions and destroyed investor confidence. Those assets will then be auctioned to the highest bidder, removing them from banks' balance sheets. </p> <p>"I've heard the secret to success in business is to make plan C work, and I think that's essentially what we have here," said Jim Dunigan, managing executive of investments for PNC Wealth Management. </p> <p>The financial sector has been leading the charge with a nearly 7 percent gain. Citigroup was up 19.1 percent and Bank of America shot up 18 percent amid heavy trading. Wells Fargo was up 17 percent, and J.P. Morgan rose 16 percent. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20705">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20703"><B>Free Internet Press Logo Contest</B></A><BR>2009-03-23 14:49:37<HR> <br> In a secret closet, we've locked away one developer to work on revamping Free Internet Press. He's been doing a beautiful job, but between his pleas for release he has said that he isn't a graphic artist. <br><br> We would like to welcome any and all readers to help us design a new logo. Since FIP doesn't exactly make money (it's income almost pays the hosting bill, and for cigarettes for Intellpuke), we don't have a lot to give, but the prize for the winner will be:<br><br> 1) $20 (sent via PayPal)<br><br> 2) The equivelant of 1 year of donations. That is, no ads will be shown for your account for 1 year! <br><br> 3) Our heartfelt gratitude. We will discuss with you if you would like your identity posted in the final announcement story. <br><br> Our current logo was made by "Dusty Star" a few years ago. It's time for an update. Dusty is more than welcome to participate this time a! lso.<br><br> Our qualifications are: <br><br> 1) It should come in a large size, so we can resize it down to the 333x89 that we are currently displaying our logo at. We would prefer to receive it as a large size, preferably in the original design format. We prefer the use of <a href="http://gimp.org/">GIMP</a>, so a GIMP xcf file is perfect, but we will accept any image format.<br><br> 2) It should contain the name of our site, "Free Internet Press".<br><br> 3) It should reflect the idea of news, newspapers, and free speech. <br><br> 4) As you know, we're a mainstream news site. No nudity, profanity, or other things that may not be acceptable for all viewers. We are aware that our news is read by a huge range of people, world wide. The age of our readership is from school children to retirees. <br><br> Email your submission to <a href="mailto:editor@freeinternetpress.com">editor@fr! eeinternetpress.com<br></a><br> We will accept submissio! ns until April 1, 2009. Shortly after the 1st, we will post the best submissions, and ask for everyone's comments on what to use. If we fail to receive enough quality submissions, we will either decide on a submitted one ourselves, or make our sequestered developer make one.<br><br> Thanks to all of you, and good luck!<br><br> JW Smythe<br> Editor<br> Free Internet Press<br><br><BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20703">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-24878141675014905392009-03-23T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-23T01:36:14.898-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Monday March 23 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Monday March 23 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20701"><B>17 Killed In Montana Plane Crash</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 22:35:48<HR> <p><b>A private plane carrying children and adults from California to a skiing vacation in Montana diverted from its planned destination and crashed on Sunday as it attempted to land at an airport in Butte, and a Federal Aviation Administration official said that all on board - 17 people - were killed.</b></p> <p><b>A mechanic at a California airport where the plane had stopped in the morning said that there were about a dozen children on board.</b> </p> <p>Witnesses at the scene of the crash said the aircraft was turning at a steep angle as it approached Bert Mooney Airport on the outskirts of Butte at mid-afternoon when it abruptly went into a nosedive, plunged into a wooded area in Holy Cross Cemetery and burst into flames upon impact.</p> <p>âAll of a sudden the pilot lost control and went into a nosedive,â Kenny Gulick, 14, a member of the Civil Air Patrol in Butte who lives near the airport, told the Montana Standard in Butte. âHe couldnât pull out in time and crashed into the trees of the cemetery.â</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20701">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20699"><B>Two Die In Cargo Plane Crash At Tokyo's Narita Airport</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 22:35:15<HR> <b>Police say the pilot and co-pilot of a FedEx cargo plane that crashed at an airport in Japan are dead.</b> <p>Police spokesmen Yoshino Ichihara says the two were confirmed dead Monday morning at a hospital near Tokyo's Narita Airport. </p> <p>Ichihara says Federal Express informed police that pilot 54-year-old Kevin Kylemosley and his 49-year-old copilot Anthony Stephen-Pino died in the crash, but they have yet to officially confirm their identities. </p> <p>The plane smashed into the longer of Narita's two runways, airport spokeswoman Misuho Fukuda said. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20699">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20697"><B>Bank Of America's Insider Loans Zoomed In 2008, But No One Will Say Why</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 19:03:40<HR> <b>Bank of America vaulted into the top 10 banks for insider lending last year with an increase of more than $358 million, much of it coming as credit markets froze and mounting financial calamity threatened the industry's survival. </b> <p><b> For at least seven years, the bank's quarterly insider lending never exceeded $300 million and was often less than half that. By the end of 2008, it had jumped to $624 million.</b></p> <p>The dollar gain was the biggest of any bank in the country, a 135 percent hike from a year earlier. The average for all banks with insider loans was 5.7 percent. </p> <!-- story_feature_box.comp --><!-- /story_feature_box.comp --><!-- story_factbox.comp --> <!-- /story_factbox.comp --> <p>The bank wouldn't say what drove the doubling. The bank's lead director, Temple Sloan, did not respond to two calls for comment.</p> <p>The bulk of the gain came in the third quarter, when the financial sector entered its meltdown. Wall Street titan Lehman Brothers toppled. Washington Mutual failed. Wachovia experienced a "silent run" on deposits as concerns grew about its stability. Merrill Lynch floundered, and Bank of America agreed to buy it.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20697">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20695"><B>Some Guantanamo Inmates May Be Allowed To Settle In U.S.</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 19:03:12<HR> <p><b>The White House is set to reverse a key Bush administration policy by allowing some of the 240 remaining Guantanamo Bay inmates to be resettled on American soil.</b></p><p><b>The U.S. is pushing for Europe to take a share of released inmates, but the Obama administration is reconciled to taking some of them, even though there will be noisy resistance from individual states.</b></p><p>Washington has told European officials that once a review of the Guantanamo cases is completed, the U.S. will almost certainly allow some inmates to resettle on the mainland.</p><p>George Bush's refusal to countenance a resettlement program on U.S. soil contributed to European reluctance to play host to freed prisoners.</p><p>Since Barack Obama's election victory, Portugal has offered to accept some of them as a means of hastening the camp's closure, and other governments have indicated they will consider it. Britain argues that it has already done enough by accepting both nationals and former residents.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20695">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20693"><B>Officials: U.S. Missile Strikes Take Heavy Toll On Al-Qaeda</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 14:50:07<HR> <b>An intense, six-month campaign of Predator strikes in Pakistan has taken such a toll on al-Qaeda that militants have begun turning violently on one another out of confusion and distrust, U.S. intelligence and counter-terrorism officials say.<br> </b><br> The pace of the Predator attacks has accelerated dramatically since August, when the Bush administration made a previously undisclosed decision to abandon the practice of obtaining permission from the Pakistani government before launching missiles from the unmanned aircraft.<br> <br> <div class="storybody">Since Aug. 31, the CIA has carried out at least 38 Predator strikes in northwest Pakistan, compared with 10 reported attacks in 2006 and 2007 combined, in what has become the CIA's most expansive targeted killing program since the Vietnam War. <br><br>Because of its success, the Obama administration is set to continue the accelerated campaign despite civilian casualties that have fueled anti-U.S. sentiment and prompted protests from the Pakistani government.<br><br>"This last year has been a very hard year for them," a senior U.S. counter-terrorism official said of al-Qaeda militants, whose operations he tracks in northwest Pakistan. "They're losing a bunch of their better leaders. But more importantly, at this point they're wondering who's next."</div> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20693">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20691"><B>Editorial: Mr. Obama And The Rule Of Law</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 14:49:33<HR> <b>Intellpuke:</b> <i>This editorial appeared in the New York Times edition for Sunday, March 22, 2009.</i><br> <br> As much as it needs to happen, we never expected President Obama to immediately reverse every one of President George W. Bushâs misguided and dangerous policies on terrorism, prisoners, the rule of law and government secrecy. Fixing this calamitous mess will take time and care - and Mr. Obama has taken important steps in that direction.<br> <p>But we did not expect that Mr. Obama, who addressed these issues with such clarity during his campaign, would be sending such confused and mixed signals from the White House. Some of what the public has heard from the Obama administration on issues like state secrets and detainees sounds a bit too close for comfort to the Bush teamâs benighted ideas. </p> <p>There are times when the president seems to be making a clean and definitive break. On his second day in office, he ordered the closing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay and directed his cabinet to formulate new policies on detaining and interrogating people suspected of terrorist acts or of supporting terrorists. </p> <p>Last week, the administration notified a federal court hearing appeals by Guantanamo inmates that it was dropping Mr. Bushâs absurd claim that he could declare anyone an âenemy combatantâ and deprive that prisoner of judicial process. The administration affirmed its commitment to the laws of war, the Geneva Conventions and long-standing military doctrine. </p> <p>But the break does not always seem complete enough. Even as they dropped the âenemy combatantâ terminology, Mr. Obamaâs lawyers did not seem to rule out indefinite military detentions for terrorism suspects and their allies. They drew a definition of association with al-Qaeda that is too broad (simply staying in a âsafe house,â for example). Worse, they seemed to adopt Mr. Bushâs position that the âbattlefieldâ against terrorism is the planet. That became the legal pretext for turning criminal defendants into lifelong military captives.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20691">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20689"><B>Thousands Of Anti-War Protesters March On Pentagon</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 14:48:27<HR> <p><b> Thousands of demonstrators marked the sixth anniversary of the war in Iraq with an impassioned protest of the nation's military policies Saturday, demanding that President Obama bring U.S. troops home. </b></p> <p><b>The demonstration was the first in Washington of the Obama presidency, replete with many of the same messages of protests during the Bush era. Placards read "War Is Not the Answer," "Troops Out Now" and "We Need Jobs and Schools, Not War."</b> </p> <p>As marchers made their way from the Mall toward the Pentagon and a hub of defense contractors in Crystal City, they chanted: "Hey, Obama, yes, we can. Troops out of Afghanistan." Activist Dave Cahill, 25, of New Jersey proclaimed from a megaphone, "Obama wants to continue the war." </p> <p>Some protesters hoisted mock coffins draped with flags - about 100 in all - to represent casualties in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries where U.S. actions have claimed lives in the war on terror. </p> <p>"I came from Pittsburgh today because I think the war in Iraq was a disastrous mistake, and I really hope this administration doesn't make a similar mistake in Afghanistan," said Robin Alexander, 55, who works for a labor union. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20689">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20687"><B>Deadly Brawl Closes Part Of Sydney Airport</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 03:59:08<HR> <b>Sydney police are appeal for witnesses after a man died in a brawl that partially shut down the Qantas terminal at Sydney Airport Sunday afternoon.<br> </b> <p><b>Police were called to the departure check-in area at Terminal 3 after a fight involving about 20 men at 1:35 p.m. </b><br><br>A police spokesman said the man was treated at the scene, and taken to the Prince of Wales Hospital, after being hit by what was believed to be a portable bollard.</p> <p>"A number items, including portable bollards, are being taken for forensic examination and a crime scene has been set up,'' he said,. <br><br>"Passengers are advised to allow extra time checking in as delays are anticipated.'' </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20687">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20685"><B>Obama Administration Seeks Increase In Oversight Of Executive Pay</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 03:56:15<HR> <b>The Obama administration will call for increased oversight of executive pay at all banks, Wall Street firms and possibly other companies as part of a sweeping plan to overhaul financial regulation, said government officials.</b> <p>The outlines of the plan are expected to be unveiled this week in preparation for President Obama's first foreign summit meeting in early April.</p> <p>Officials said the proposal would seek a broad new role for the Federal Reserve to oversee large companies, including major hedge funds, whose problems could pose risks to the entire financial system. </p> <p>It will propose that many kinds of derivatives and other exotic financial instruments that contributed to the crisis be traded on exchanges or through clearinghouses so they are more transparent and can be more tightly regulated. And to protect consumers, it will call for federal standards for mortgage lenders beyond what the Federal Reserve adopted last year, as well as more aggressive enforcement of the mortgage rules.</p> <p>The administration has been considering increased oversight of executive pay for some time, but the issue was heightened in recent days as public fury over bonuses spilled into the regulatory effort. </p> <p>The officials said that the administration was still debating the details of its plan, including how broadly it should be applied and how far it could go beyond simple reporting requirements. Depending on the outcome of the discussions, the administration could seek to put the changes into effect through regulations rather than through legislation. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20685">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20683"><B>Obama Plans To Send Agents, Equipment To Mexico's Fight Against Drug Cartels</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 03:55:47<HR> <p><b> President Obama is finalizing plans to move federal agents, equipment and other resources to the border with Mexico to support Mexican President Felipe Calderon's campaign against violent drug cartels, according to U.S. security officials. </b></p> <p><b> In Obama's first major domestic security initiative, administration officials are expected to announce as early as this week a crackdown on the supply of weapons and cash moving from the United States into Mexico that helps sustain that country's narco-traffickers, said officials.</b> </p> <p>The announcement sets the stage for Mexico City visits by three Cabinet members, beginning Wednesday with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and followed next week by Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. </p> <p>Napolitano, designated by Obama to convene a multi-agency security plan for the border, said the government is preparing plans to send more agents and intensify its investigation and prosecution of cartel-related activity in the United States. In addition, she said, the government may expand efforts to trace the sources of guns that move from the United States into Mexico. </p> <p>To combat the southbound flow of guns, ammunition and grenades at border checkpoints, the government may deploy new equipment, such as scales to weigh vehicles and automated license-plate readers linked to databases, as well as other surveillance technology, she said. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20683">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20700"><B>Sweden Says 'No' To Saving National Icon Saab</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 22:35:30<HR> <b>Saab Automobile may be just another crisis-ridden car company in an industry full of them, but just as the fortunes of Flint, Michigan, are permanently entangled with General Motors, so it is impossible to find anyone in this city in southwest Sweden who is not somehow connected to Saab.<br> </b> <p><b>Which makes it all the more wrenching that the Swedish government has responded to Saabâs desperate financial situation by saying, essentially, tough luck. Or, as the enterprise minister, Maud Olofsson, put it recently, âThe Swedish state is not prepared to own car factories.â</b> </p> <p>Such a view might seem jarring, coming as it does from a country with a reputation for a paternalistic view of workers and companies. The âSwedish modelâ for dealing with a banking crisis - nationalizing the banks, recapitalizing them and selling them - has been much debated lately in the United States, with free-market defenders warning of a slippery slope of Nordic socialism. </p> <p>Yet Sweden has a right-leaning government, elected in 2006 after a long period of Social Democratic rule, that prefers market forces to state intervention and ownership. That fact has made the workers of Trollhattan wish the old socialist model were more in evidence. </p> <p>âI donât think the government knows the situation in this town, how many people depend on Saab,â said Therese Doeij, 25, a clerk at a photo shop who has several friends who work at the company. âTo them itâs just a factory. They donât see the people behind it.â </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20700">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20698"><B>As Credit Markets Froze, Banks Loaned Millions To Insiders</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 19:03:56<HR> <b>U.S. banks nationwide hold $41 billion in loans to directors, top executives and other insiders, a portfolio that experts say should be stripped of secrecy. </b> <p><b> Insider lending to directors is particularly troublesome because it could cloud the judgment of people charged with protecting shareholders and overseeing bank management, say the experts.</b></p> <p>At Charlotte-based Bank of America, those loans more than doubled last year, to $624.2 million - the biggest dollar jump in the country. The largest of them likely went to three directors or their companies. The surge came during the third quarter as credit markets froze, the government prepared to infuse banks with billions in tax dollars and the board approved the purchase of troubled Merrill Lynch. </p> <!-- story_feature_box.comp --><!-- /story_feature_box.comp --><!-- story_factbox.comp --> <!-- /story_factbox.comp --> <p>Bank of America ranked fourth on the list of biggest insider lenders. At the top was JPMorgan of New York, which held $1.48 billion in insider loans, mostly by directors or their companies.</p> <p>At No. 2, Charlotte-based Wachovia, which was sold to Wells Fargo of San Francisco at the end of 2008, finished the year with $747 million in insider loans. All of the loans were held by the bank's directors or their companies, with just five holding the largest.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20698">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20696"><B>U.S. Will Appoint Afghanistan Prime Minister To Bypass Karzai</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 19:03:27<HR> <b>The U.S. and its European allies are Âpreparing to plant a high-profile figure in the heart of the Kabul government in a direct challenge to the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, according to a report in Sunday's Guardian newspaper.</b> <p>The creation of a new chief executive or prime ministerial role is aimed at bypassing Karzai. In a further dilution of his power, it is proposed that money be diverted from the Kabul government to the provinces. Many U.S. and European officials have become disillusioned with the extent of the corruption and incompetence in the Karzai government, but most now believe there are no credible alternatives, and predict the Afghan president will win re-election in August.</p> <p>A revised role for Karzai has emerged from the White House review of Afghanistan and Pakistan ordered by Barack Obama when he became president. It ist o be unveiled at a special conference on Afghanistan at The Hague on March 31.</p> <p>As well as watering down Karzai's personal authority by installing a senior official at the president's side capable of playing a more efficient executive role, the U.S. and Europeans are seeking to channel resources to the provinces rather than to central government in Kabul.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20696">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20694"><B>U.S. Treasury To Absorb 'Toxic Assets'</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 14:50:23<HR> <p><b> The U.S. Treasury Department will unveil the next step in its financial rescue efforts tomorrow, announcing that it intends to create a government body, called the Public Investment Corp., to finance the purchase of as much as $1 trillion in soured loans and toxic assets from ailing banks, according to sources. </b></p> <p><b>The plan calls for the new entity to combine its resources with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Federal Reserve and private investors to buy those loans and other assets; but the government will put far more money into the deals and take on more risk than the investors, which could include hedge funds, private-equity firms, pension funds and foreign investors with U.S. headquarters, the sources said. The corporation will be funded with $75 billion to $100 billion from the $700 billion financial rescue package.</b> </p> <p>Key details of the toxic asset purchasing program are not yet finalized, said officials in contact with the Treasury. Some expressed concern that the markets would expect too much out of Monday's announcement. When Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner first sketched out the administration's rescue plan last month, he was criticized on Wall Street and on Capitol Hill for being too vague and creating uncertainty in the markets. </p> <p>The Obama administration also risks a backlash from lawmakers and ordinary Americans who expressed outrage over $165 million in bonus payments by American International Group to employees of its most troubled unit - despite the firm receiving more than $170 billion in federal aid. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20694">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20692"><B>California Mourns Three Slain Police Officers</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 14:49:53<HR> <b>In one of the deadliest police shootings in California history, three Oakland officers were killed and a fourth gravely wounded in two incidents Saturday that began with a routine traffic stop, said police officials.<br> <br> The violence began at 1:08 p.m. when two motorcycle officers pulled over a 1995 Buick on MacArthur Boulevard in east Oakland. At 1:16 p.m., a call came into the department saying two officers were down and needed medical attention. The driver had stepped out of the car and fired at the officers before fleeing into the neighborhood, said authorities.</b> <br> <b><br> </b> <div class="storybody"> Police launched a "very extensive manhunt," said department spokesman Jeff Thomason. Several streets were blocked off and a helicopter flew overhead. Police then received a tip that a possible suspect was barricaded inside a nearby apartment building.<br> <br> About 3:20 p.m., SWAT officers entered the multi-unit building on 74th Avenue, down the street from the first shootings. Authorities said the suspect immediately fired at officers with an assault weapon, hitting three of them. SWAT officers "returned fire in defense of their lives," said Jordan.<br> <br> Killed were Sgt. Mark Dunakin, 40; Sgt. Ervin Romans, 43; and Sgt. Daniel Sakai, 35. Officer John Hege, 41, was in grave condition at Highland Hospital late Saturday. The fifth officer, who was not identified Saturday, was treated and released.</div> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20692">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20690"><B>Saudis Crackdown On Terrorists Shows Signs Of Progress</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 14:48:47<HR> <b>Near the guard tower outside Saudi Arabiaâs main counterterrorism training center, some of the concrete barriers are still scarred with shrapnel. They are kept as a reminder: in December 2004, a suicide bomber detonated his car there, in one of a series of deadly attacks by Islamists insurgents that shook this kingdom. <br> </b> <p><b>âIt was a wake-up call,â said the commander of the training center, a tall, wiry officer in fatigues and a black beret who cannot publicly give his name for security reasons. âThe situation was bad.â A plaque just inside the commanderâs office bears the names of 57 Saudi officers who died fighting terrorists from 2003 to 2005.</b></p> <p>Those deaths forced a decisive shift here. Many Saudis had refused to recognize the countryâs growing reputation as an incubator of terrorism, even after the international outcry that followed the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.</p> <p>Since then, much has changed. When Saudi Arabia released its latest list of wanted terrorism suspects in January, all 85 of them were said to be outside the kingdom. </p> <p>That fact was a measure of the ambitious counterterrorism program created here in the past few years. The government has cracked down ruthlessly on terrorist cells and financing, rooting out officers with extremist sympathies and building a much larger and more effective network of SWAT teams. Even regular police officers now get a full month of counterterrorism training every year. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20690">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20688"><B>Pope Urges 'Change Of Heart' In Africa </B></A><BR>2009-03-22 14:46:57<HR> <b>Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass for the largest gathering of his African pilgrimage Sunday, telling a crowd on the outskirts of this seaside capital that reconciliation on the war-ravaged continent would come only with a ''change of heart, a new way of thinking.''</b> <p><b>The Vatican said as many as 1 million people turned out on the dusty field near a cement factory to hear the pope at the last major event of his seven-day trip, which began Tuesday in Cameroon.</b></p> <p>Speaking from a tented pink altar, the pope said evils in Africa had ''reduced the poor to slavery and deprived future generations of the resources needed to create a more solid and just society.''</p> <p>''How true it is that war can destroy everything of value,'' said Benedict, wearing a pink cape and mopping his sweaty brow with a white handkerchief kept inside his sleeve.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20688">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20686"><B>British Government Ministers Briefed Over UFO Sightings</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 03:58:59<HR> <b>Britain's Defense Ministry was so alarmed by reports of a UFO sighting 20 years ago, it took the unusual step of briefing government ministers, according to secret files released Sunday.</b><br> <p>Other incidents in the files, released by Britain's National Archives, include a woman who claimed she was approached by an alien with a "Scandanavian-type accent.'' </p> <p>The group of seven files, released by Britain's National Archives, were recorded between November 1987 and April 1993 by the Defense Intelligence Staff in the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and include details of around 1,200 different UFO (unidentified flying object) sightings. </p> <p>The MoD was handed negatives of photographs - showing a large diamond-shaped object hanging in mid-air for around 10 minutes before ascending upwards at high speed - taken on August 4, 1990, by two members of the public. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20686">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20684"><B>As U.S. Prison Closes, Chaos Feared In Iraq</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 03:56:02<HR> <b>The release of hundreds of prisoners from Camp Bucca, a U.S.-run prison in southern Iraq, has facilitated the revival of Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents in Basra, Baghdad and the borderless expanse here along the Euphrates, according to police chiefs, intelligence officials in the Interior Ministry and residents. </b> <p><b>Although none of them predicted a return to the anarchy and sectarian carnage of 2006-2007, when scores of bodies might show up in the street on any day, officials suggested that the groups were preparing for the onset of a U.S. military withdrawal.</b> </p> <p>Their warnings make for an irony at the beginning of the end of the American presence here. As the United States dismantles Bucca, viewed by many as an appalling miscarriage of justice where prisoners were not charged or permitted to see evidence against them, freed detainees may end up swelling the ranks of a subdued insurgency. </p> <p>In hardscrabble Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, some former inmates of Bucca speak of revenge. Others talk of their own conversion there: as prisoners, giving their support to militiamen loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, an anti-American cleric whose forces were routed in Baghdad and Basra last year. A sense of uncertainty reigns in the forlorn stretches around Garma, a wind-swept town as parched as it is lawless, as Sunni residents brace for the return of dozens of fighters and such men as Col. Saad Abbas Mahmoud, the police chief here, openly admit to being overwhelmed by their influx. </p> <p>"These men weren't planting flowers in a garden. They weren't strolling down the street," said Mahmoud, known as Abu Quteiba to his lieutenants, who snap their heels as they enter. "This problem is both big and dangerous. And regrettably, the Iraqi government and the authorities don't know how big the problem has become." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20684">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20682"><B>A Sturdier Russia Beckons Its Children Home</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 03:55:28<HR> <b>Vasily Reutov had never set foot in Russia until a few months ago, but the moment he did, he knew he had finally made it home.</b> <p><b>His ancestors, members of an ascetic offshoot of Russian Orthodoxy known as Old Believers, fled this region in the 1920s after the Communist Party violently suppressed religion. They settled in cloistered villages in South America that they turned into Little Russias, as if by preserving the ways of the past, they would somehow, someday, be able to return.</b></p> <p><b>Now, with Russia itself beckoning and sturdier than before, that time has come.</b></p> <p>The government is trying to head off the countryâs severe population decline by luring back Russians who live abroad as well as their descendants. Reutov and several dozen other members of his religious community from Uruguay have become among the most striking examples of this policy.</p> <p>Moscow has spent $300 million in the past two years to get the repatriation program started, and officials estimated that more than 25 million people were eligible, many of them ethnic Russians who found themselves living in former Soviet republics after the Soviet collapse in 1991.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20682">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-12459193898285414862009-03-22T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-22T01:25:23.538-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Sunday March 22 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Sunday March 22 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20687"><B>Deadly Brawl Closes Part Of Sydney Airport</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 03:59:08<HR> <b>Sydney police are appeal for witnesses after a man died in a brawl that partially shut down the Qantas terminal at Sydney Airport Sunday afternoon.<br> </b> <p><b>Police were called to the departure check-in area at Terminal 3 after a fight involving about 20 men at 1:35 p.m. </b><br><br>A police spokesman said the man was treated at the scene, and taken to the Prince of Wales Hospital, after being hit by what was believed to be a portable bollard.</p> <p>"A number items, including portable bollards, are being taken for forensic examination and a crime scene has been set up,'' he said,. <br><br>"Passengers are advised to allow extra time checking in as delays are anticipated.'' </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20687">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20685"><B>Obama Administration Seeks Increase In Oversight Of Executive Pay</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 03:56:15<HR> <b>The Obama administration will call for increased oversight of executive pay at all banks, Wall Street firms and possibly other companies as part of a sweeping plan to overhaul financial regulation, said government officials.</b> <p>The outlines of the plan are expected to be unveiled this week in preparation for President Obama's first foreign summit meeting in early April.</p> <p>Officials said the proposal would seek a broad new role for the Federal Reserve to oversee large companies, including major hedge funds, whose problems could pose risks to the entire financial system. </p> <p>It will propose that many kinds of derivatives and other exotic financial instruments that contributed to the crisis be traded on exchanges or through clearinghouses so they are more transparent and can be more tightly regulated. And to protect consumers, it will call for federal standards for mortgage lenders beyond what the Federal Reserve adopted last year, as well as more aggressive enforcement of the mortgage rules.</p> <p>The administration has been considering increased oversight of executive pay for some time, but the issue was heightened in recent days as public fury over bonuses spilled into the regulatory effort. </p> <p>The officials said that the administration was still debating the details of its plan, including how broadly it should be applied and how far it could go beyond simple reporting requirements. Depending on the outcome of the discussions, the administration could seek to put the changes into effect through regulations rather than through legislation. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20685">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20683"><B>Obama Plans To Send Agents, Equipment To Mexico's Fight Against Drug Cartels</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 03:55:47<HR> <p><b> President Obama is finalizing plans to move federal agents, equipment and other resources to the border with Mexico to support Mexican President Felipe Calderon's campaign against violent drug cartels, according to U.S. security officials. </b></p> <p><b> In Obama's first major domestic security initiative, administration officials are expected to announce as early as this week a crackdown on the supply of weapons and cash moving from the United States into Mexico that helps sustain that country's narco-traffickers, said officials.</b> </p> <p>The announcement sets the stage for Mexico City visits by three Cabinet members, beginning Wednesday with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and followed next week by Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. </p> <p>Napolitano, designated by Obama to convene a multi-agency security plan for the border, said the government is preparing plans to send more agents and intensify its investigation and prosecution of cartel-related activity in the United States. In addition, she said, the government may expand efforts to trace the sources of guns that move from the United States into Mexico. </p> <p>To combat the southbound flow of guns, ammunition and grenades at border checkpoints, the government may deploy new equipment, such as scales to weigh vehicles and automated license-plate readers linked to databases, as well as other surveillance technology, she said. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20683">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20681"><B>Connecticut A.G. Wants To Know Why AIG Documents Show $53 Million More In Bonuses</B></A><BR>2009-03-21 14:21:15<HR> <b>The attorney general of Connecticut said Saturday that he is asking American International Group Inc. why documents appear to show the company paid $53 million more in bonuses to its financial products division than previously reported. </b> <p><b>Documents turned over late Friday show AIG paid $218 million in bonuses last weekend, higher than the $165 million that was previously disclosed, said the office of Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, who had issued a subpoena. </b></p> <p><b> Bonuses were "showered like confetti" on AIG employees, said Blumenthal.</b> </p> <p>AIG had previously disclosed that the company was contractually obligated to pay a total of about $165 million of previously awarded "retention pay" to employees in the financial products unit, based in Connecticut, by March 15. It said another $55 million in retention pay had already been distributed to about 400 AIG Financial Products employees. </p> <p>That total of $220 million is about $2 million more than the figure disclosed Friday, and Blumenthal said he was seeking clarification from the company on whether the new papers differ from what was previously reported. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20681">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20679"><B>New Lobbying Rules Keep Some Activists Out Of Government</B></A><BR>2009-03-21 14:20:42<HR> <p><b> Nonprofit and public interest groups are scrambling to adapt to President Obama's stringent new ethics guidelines, which are so sweeping that they have blocked the ability of many sympathetic activists to get hired by the new administration.</b> </p> <p>Many of the groups are rushing to terminate or curtail their lobbying activities as a result of the rules, which bar new officials from making policy on any matter involving their former employer or clients for a period of two years or from working at an agency they lobbied within the past two years. Congressional records show that more than 700 lobbyists or lobbying groups have filed "de-registration" papers with the House and Senate since Obama took office, including scores of charities and other nonprofits. </p> <p>The ethics guidelines were one of Obama's foremost campaign promises, aimed at "changing the culture of Washington" by limiting the influence of well-connected corporate and industry lobbyists. "We have set up the highest standard ever for lobbyists not working in the administration," Obama said in February. </p> <p>But the standards he has put in place are so broad that all lobbyists - including those working for charities and public interest groups - are prohibited from working in the administration unless they are granted an exception. Many of the groups and their representatives feel particularly stung because they registered as lobbyists even when it was not required, either as a demonstration of their influence or to err on the side of caution in complying with transparency rules, according to lobbying experts. Some contend that they should not be punished now for being overly vigilant. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20679">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20677"><B>5,000 Evacuated After Hydrofluoric Acid Spill In Pennsylvania</B></A><BR>2009-03-21 14:20:06<HR> <b>Authorities have ordered about 5,000 people surrounding a northeastern Pennsylvania town to evacuate after a tractor-trailer carrying a hazardous chemical overturned.<br> </b> <br> Officials say a tanker truck carrying more than 16 tons of corrosive hydrofluoric acid overturned early today outside Wind Gap, about 60 miles north of Philadelphia.<br> <br> <div class="storybody"> Northampton County spokesman John Conklin says hazardous materials teams are wearing full protection suits as they work to stop the slowly dripping liquid.<br> </div> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20677">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20675"><B>More U.S. Police Are Using Gunfire Detection System</B></A><BR>2009-03-21 14:19:33<HR> <b>It happened moments after a police sergeant blasted a shot into a sand-filled barrel to test the city of East Palo Alto's expanded gunfire tracking system. </b> <p><b> Witnesses suddenly heard "Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop!" </b></p> <p><b>Those gunshots were real. A flashing red "multiple shots" banner and an address appeared on a nearby laptop, and officers quickly located a 28-year-old man who had been shot by a masked man. </b></p> <p><b> He survived. "He's lucky," said Capt. Carl Estelle.</b> </p> <p>East Palo Alto is the first U.S. city completely wired with ShotSpotter, a system of strategically placed acoustic sensors linked to a computer designed to help police locate gunfire in high-crime areas, but the technology is spreading. Thirty-six cities across America are currently using ShotSpotter - triple the number two years ago. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20675">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20686"><B>British Government Ministers Briefed Over UFO Sightings</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 03:58:59<HR> <b>Britain's Defense Ministry was so alarmed by reports of a UFO sighting 20 years ago, it took the unusual step of briefing government ministers, according to secret files released Sunday.</b><br> <p>Other incidents in the files, released by Britain's National Archives, include a woman who claimed she was approached by an alien with a "Scandanavian-type accent.'' </p> <p>The group of seven files, released by Britain's National Archives, were recorded between November 1987 and April 1993 by the Defense Intelligence Staff in the Ministry of Defense (MoD) and include details of around 1,200 different UFO (unidentified flying object) sightings. </p> <p>The MoD was handed negatives of photographs - showing a large diamond-shaped object hanging in mid-air for around 10 minutes before ascending upwards at high speed - taken on August 4, 1990, by two members of the public. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20686">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20684"><B>As U.S. Prison Closes, Chaos Feared In Iraq</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 03:56:02<HR> <b>The release of hundreds of prisoners from Camp Bucca, a U.S.-run prison in southern Iraq, has facilitated the revival of Shiite militias and Sunni insurgents in Basra, Baghdad and the borderless expanse here along the Euphrates, according to police chiefs, intelligence officials in the Interior Ministry and residents. </b> <p><b>Although none of them predicted a return to the anarchy and sectarian carnage of 2006-2007, when scores of bodies might show up in the street on any day, officials suggested that the groups were preparing for the onset of a U.S. military withdrawal.</b> </p> <p>Their warnings make for an irony at the beginning of the end of the American presence here. As the United States dismantles Bucca, viewed by many as an appalling miscarriage of justice where prisoners were not charged or permitted to see evidence against them, freed detainees may end up swelling the ranks of a subdued insurgency. </p> <p>In hardscrabble Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, some former inmates of Bucca speak of revenge. Others talk of their own conversion there: as prisoners, giving their support to militiamen loyal to Moqtada al-Sadr, an anti-American cleric whose forces were routed in Baghdad and Basra last year. A sense of uncertainty reigns in the forlorn stretches around Garma, a wind-swept town as parched as it is lawless, as Sunni residents brace for the return of dozens of fighters and such men as Col. Saad Abbas Mahmoud, the police chief here, openly admit to being overwhelmed by their influx. </p> <p>"These men weren't planting flowers in a garden. They weren't strolling down the street," said Mahmoud, known as Abu Quteiba to his lieutenants, who snap their heels as they enter. "This problem is both big and dangerous. And regrettably, the Iraqi government and the authorities don't know how big the problem has become." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20684">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20682"><B>A Sturdier Russia Beckons Its Children Home</B></A><BR>2009-03-22 03:55:28<HR> <b>Vasily Reutov had never set foot in Russia until a few months ago, but the moment he did, he knew he had finally made it home.</b> <p><b>His ancestors, members of an ascetic offshoot of Russian Orthodoxy known as Old Believers, fled this region in the 1920s after the Communist Party violently suppressed religion. They settled in cloistered villages in South America that they turned into Little Russias, as if by preserving the ways of the past, they would somehow, someday, be able to return.</b></p> <p><b>Now, with Russia itself beckoning and sturdier than before, that time has come.</b></p> <p>The government is trying to head off the countryâs severe population decline by luring back Russians who live abroad as well as their descendants. Reutov and several dozen other members of his religious community from Uruguay have become among the most striking examples of this policy.</p> <p>Moscow has spent $300 million in the past two years to get the repatriation program started, and officials estimated that more than 25 million people were eligible, many of them ethnic Russians who found themselves living in former Soviet republics after the Soviet collapse in 1991.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20682">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20680"><B>Khamenei's Response To U.S. A Sign Of Theocracy's Mindset</B></A><BR>2009-03-21 14:20:57<HR> <b>The Iranian leader's rebuff on Saturday to President Barack Obama's offer for dialogue was swift and sweeping: Words from Washington ring hollow without deep policy changes.</b> <p><b>But Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's response was more than just a dismissive slap at the outreach. It was a broad lesson in the mind-set of Iran's all-powerful theocracy and how it will dictate the pace and tone of any new steps by Obama to chip away at their nearly 30-year diplomatic freeze.</b></p> <p>"It's the first stage of the bargaining in classic Iranian style: Be tough and play up your toughness," said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a professor of regional politics at United Arab Emirates University. "The Iranian leaders are not about concessions at this stage. It's still all about ideology from the Iranian side."</p> <p>For Khamenei and his inner circle, that means appearing to stay true to the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the political narrative of rejecting the United States. Any quick gestures by the ruling clerics to mend ties with Washington could be perceived by hard-liners as a betrayal of the revolution.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20680">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20678"><B>North Korea Confirms It Holding Two Reporters</B></A><BR>2009-03-21 14:20:20<HR> <b>North Korea confirmed Saturday that it had detained two American journalists on charges of âillegally intrudingâ into the North through its border with China.</b> <p><b>The journalists, Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, and Euna Lee, a Korean-American, both working for Current TV, were on a reporting trip along the border when they were detained by North Korean border guards, according to human rights activists and a South Korean news report. Their colleague, Mitch Koss, and their Chinese guide were reported to have been detained by Chinese border guards.</b></p> <p>âA competent organ is now investigating the case,â the Northâs official news agency, KCNA, said.</p> <p>The terse dispatch, which gave no details, was the first confirmation by North Korea of the arrests. On Friday, Washington said that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was trying to free the two journalists, who had traveled to the border area to report on North Korean refugees in China, according to Chun Ki-won, a Christian clergyman in Seoul who helped arrange their trip.</p> <p>Their arrest complicates Washingtonâs already thorny relations with the North, including an increase in tensions over North Koreaâs plan to launch a satellite between April 4 and April 8. American officials say they believe that the rocket launching is a cover for testing ballistic missile technology.</p> <p>Also Saturday, the North told international aviation authorities that it would close two international air routes through its airspace from April 4 to April 8 for the satellite launching, according to the Japanese and South Korean governments.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20678">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20676"><B>Pot Advocates Exhale After Attorney General Signals Policy Shift</B></A><BR>2009-03-21 14:19:47<HR> <b>Medical marijuana users and dispensary owners in California have held their breath for years - fearful they would be targeted for prosecution by the federal government. </b> <p><b>They finally exhaled this past week when U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said federal agents will now target marijuana distributors only when they violate both federal and state laws, a departure from the policy of the Bush administration.</b> </p> <p> It's not seen by man as a move by the Obama administration toward the legalization of marijuana. </p> <p>However, it could end much of the confusion among state and federal authorities dealing with the mishmash of laws in which cultivating, using and selling pot for medical purposes is allowed by states but outlawed by the federal government. </p> <p>"This signals, in my mind, a true kind of federalism," said Jody Armour, a law professor at the University of Southern California. "The federal government is allowing states to take chances, to take experiments and see what happens." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20676">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20674"><B>Hungary's Prime Minister To Resign</B></A><BR>2009-03-21 14:19:17<HR> <b>Hungary's prime minister stunned the country Saturday by announcing his resignation because he had become an "obstacle" to the reforms needed to pull the country out of its worse financial crisis since the end of communism nearly 20 years ago.</b> <p>Ferenc Gyurcsany, of the ruling Socialists, made the unexpected announcement at his party's congress saying that he was keeping a pledge he made in January last year to change the leadership if the embattled party's popularity failed to recover.</p> <p>He accepted his reputation was badly damaged when state radio in 2006 broadcast a speech he made at a party meeting in which he admitted lying about the state of the economy to win elections a few months earlier. The broadcast sparked weeks of protests and riots that left hundreds injured.</p> <p><b>"I'm being told that I myself am the obstacle to the cooperation and stable government majority needed to implement changes," Gyurcsany told party members. "If this is so, I will eliminate this obstacle."</b></p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20674">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-85402562593092404072009-03-21T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-21T01:21:30.911-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Saturday March 21 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Saturday March 21 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20673"><B>Afghanistan On The Brink - The West Stares Into The Abyss</B></A><BR>2009-03-20 23:06:28<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>Afghanistan is on the brink of chaos: That is the stark message from local leaders, the U.S. military and development workers in the troubled country. The elected government, they warn, can no longer compete with the Taliban.</b></p> <p>On the Red Bridge across the Red River, protected by watchtowers on both sides, Mohammed Halim Fidai orders his convoy to stop so that he can take a short, symbolic walk through enemy territory 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of Kabul. His three Toyota pickups, with machine guns mounted on their beds, block Highway One at the front of the convoy, while another three Toyotas bring up the rear in the snow-covered landscape. Policemen, their weapons at the ready, fan out, forming a cordon around Fidai. </p> <p> </p> <p>Fidai, who is the governor of Wardak province in central Afghanistan, walks around in thin-soled shoes that turn dark from the melting snow. "Look at me," he says. "I walk where I please. I can move around anywhere without any trouble at all. All this talk about the Taliban controlling everything is nonsense."</p> <p>Fidai is on his way to visit a resident of the village of Badam who has just returned from a pilgrimage to Mecca. After the stop on the bridge, the convoy heads away from the highway, traveling along ice-covered dirt roads and crossing crumbling bridges before reaching Badam, a tiny market town in the Nirkh district often described as a Taliban stronghold. There are said to be many such places in Fidai's province. Indeed, six of the eight districts in Wardak are allegedly under Taliban control. </p> <p>A collection of mud buildings - farms, huts, barns - is scattered across the vast plateau. The mountains dominate the horizon like a massive wall. Offshoots of the Hindu Kush range, these peaks, most of them between 4,000 and 5,000 meters tall (13,120-16,400 feet), are so numerous that most are unnamed.</p> <p> The house of the returned pilgrim in Badam is surrounded by neighbors and friends who have come to congratulate him. They drink water from the holy land in small glasses and accept gifts from the pilgrim. Children stand barefoot in the snow, and men protect their faces from the cold with their turban scarves. The governor's convoy is greeted with smiles. Tea is served and pleasantries are exchanged, and the visitors and their host embrace. Fidai nods approvingly, as if to say: I go where I please. You see, all this talk of the Taliban is nothing but talk.</p> <p>The talk which the plucky governor is trying to resist is loud - and getting louder. The enemy has been steadily gaining ground in Afghanistan for at least two years now. The Taliban already controls the south, the east and the west of the country, but now it has gained a foothold once again in central Afghanistan, in Wardak, Logar and Paktia, the provinces south and west of Kabul, not far from the capital.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20673">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20671"><B>Gearing Up For The G-20 Conference</B></A><BR>2009-03-20 23:05:41<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>The European Union has made up its mind: Fighting the financial crisis with American-style stimulus plans will not be the model for Europe. At a summit in Brussels this week, European leaders are preparing the party line - and it is to focus on a new financial world order.</b></p> <p>Angela Merkel, Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy may be in Brussels, Belgium, but they're looking forward to the G-20 summit in London, England, where in two weeks they expect a showdown over the financial crisis among the most powerful economies in the world - namely the United States, China and other leading world economies. </p> <p>Indeed, the so-called "spring summit" of E.U. leaders in Brussels this week looks more and more like a training camp for the G-20 conference on April 2. The 27 European leaders are using the day-and-a-half meeting in Brussels to cobble together some fundamental positions and negotiating strategies for London. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she'd like all of Europe to speak with a single voice at the April summit.</p> <p>Only the four largest E.U. nations and the Czech Republic - which currently holds the rotating E.U. presidency - will go to London. But they will represent the interests of the whole European bloc. On Thursday evening the E.U. leaders didn't take long to agree on the two essential messages: Europe doesn't want to see any more stimulus packages, but it does want to lead as a force to reform the world's finance markets.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20671">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20669"><B>Fannie Mae: Bonus Cuts May Derail Housing Recovery</B></A><BR>2009-03-20 17:37:03<HR> <p><b> The government-appointed chief executive of Fannie Mae warned this morning that legislation in Congress to severely tax bonuses could imperil the Obama administration's housing recovery program. </b></p> <p><b> Federally controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which own or back half the nation's home loans, are the major players in the administration's efforts to lower mortgage rates and keep struggling borrowers in their homes by modifying distressed mortgages and preventing foreclosures. Employees said Thursday the legislation could ignite an exodus of staffers.</b> </p> <p>"I am deeply concerned that eliminating our retention plan would jeopardize our ability to fulfill the mission the Government has given us to address the housing crisis, including the Administration's Homeowner Affordability and Stability Plan that so many of you have been working nights and weekends to carry out," Fannie Mae chief executive Herbert Allison wrote in an internal message to employees this morning. </p> <p>"Your experience and expertise make you highly competitive in the job market, especially as so many other companies need your talents to work through this crisis," wrote Allison, who declined a salary and bonus in 2008. "I know headhunters are calling throughout the company every day and many of you have declined offers of higher pay elsewhere to help us implement the Government's Making Home Affordable program for the American public." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20669">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20667"><B>U.S. Markets Take A Tumble</B></A><BR>2009-03-20 17:36:37<HR> <p><b> Stocks fell Friday afternoon as investor confidence in banking stocks waned, but Wall Street still managed to squeak by with another positive week.</b><br> </p> <p> The Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor's 500 stock index were up 0.8 percent and 1.5 percent respectively this week. The Nasdaq composite index gained nearly 2 percent. </p> <p>It was the markets' second consecutive week in positive territory and the first time it has registered back to back weekly gains since last May. </p> <p><b>The drop Friday came as the Congressional Budget Office said the federal deficit will pass $1.8 trillion this year, a far deeper debt level than the White House had estimated. </b></p> <p><b>The Dow, the index of blue chip stocks, closed down 1.65 percent, or about 122 points, and the broader S&P was off 2 percent, or 15.5 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 1.8 percent, or 26 points.</b> </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20667">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20665"><B>Bernanke: Financial Firms' Pay Policies Need Closer Scrutiny</B></A><BR>2009-03-20 17:36:11<HR> <p><b>Amid public outrage over employee bonuses at troubled firms like Merrill Lynch and the American International Group, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke on Friday called for executive pay policies that are created with a companyâs long-term health in mind. </b></p> <p><b>âPoorly designed compensation policies can create perverse incentives that can ultimately jeopardize the health of the banking organization,â Bernanke said during a speech in Phoenix, Arizona, to the Independent Community Bankers of America. âManagement compensation policies should be aligned with the long-term prudential interests of the institution.â</b></p> <p>His speech came as lawmakers in Washington, D.C., tried to claw back some $165 million in bonuses paid to employees at A.I.G., which has received $170 billion in government aid. The furor over bonus payments at the government-controlled insurance giant prompted the House to pass a bill on Thursday that would tax 90 percent of bonuses paid this year by firms that have received bailout funds.</p> <p>In his speech, Bernanke also called for smarter regulation of the financial system that would address the problem of companies deemed âtoo big to fail.â Huge and interconnected institutions like Citigroup and A.I.G. have received billions in government aid to keep their troubles from pulling down other companies.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20665">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20663"><B>Israeli Coalition Seems Fated To Clash With U.S.</B></A><BR>2009-03-20 17:35:15<HR> <b>The foreign minister of Israel's incoming government lives in a West Bank settlement and will begin life as a diplomat battling the perception that he is anti-Arab.</b> <p><b>A leading contender to become defense minister once characterized the two-state solution that forms the basis of U.S. and international policy toward Israel and the Palestinians as "a story the Western world tells with Western eyes"; and the potential make-or-break votes in the country's new parliamentary coalition belong to legislators from religious parties that would like to expand settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.</b> </p> <p>The coalition that will make up Israel's next government is not yet final. On Friday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu received permission to extend negotiations for two more weeks in hopes of reaching agreements with some of the country's more moderate parties and forging a broader-based unity government in the 120-seat parliament. Netanyahu thus far has not been able to strike deals with those parties, instead pulling from conservative and religious factions to create a narrow majority that seems tailor-made for conflict with the Obama administration, which supports a Palestinian state and is expected to push for progress on drawing its borders. Netanyahu is himself a skeptic when it comes to Palestinian statehood and has referred to U.S.-backed peace talks as a waste of time. </p> <p>While Netanyahu has compromised in past dealings with Washington - an earlier term as prime minister was cut short after he made land concessions at the urging of President Bill Clinton - his still-to-be-finalized coalition partners may not leave him much room to maneuver. </p> <p>"The more narrow the government the more difficult it will be for Netanyahu to make some gesture towards the U.S.," said Gerald Steinberg, chairman of the political science department at Bar-Ilan University outside Tel Aviv. On issues such as settlements, if pressure comes from Washington, "it is likely to lead to a major confrontation." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20663">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20672"><B>AIG Warns Staff To Travel In Pairs Following Death Threats Over Bonuses</B></A><BR>2009-03-20 23:05:58<HR> <p><b>The embattled U.S. insurance company AIG has warned its staff to travel in pairs after dark, not to wear company logos and to avoid discussing their work outside the office, as public outrage boils over at multimillion-dollar executive bonuses.</b></p> <p>AIG's employees have been subjected to death threats since the company handed out $165 million (£115 million) in "retention" awards to employees in its disastrously loss-making financial products division this week.</p> <p>Recipients of the bonuses said they feared for their own safety. A union-backed campaign group is today taking protesters on a bus tour of AIG executives' homes in a wealthy enclave of Connecticut known as the "gold coast".</p> <p>In a leaked company-wide memo, AIG's corporate security team this week warned staff to take special precautions "due to a growing sense of public attention fueled by increased media scrutiny".</p> <p>The memo, posted on the New York website Gawker, urges staff to "avoid wearing any AIG apparel (bags, shirts, umbrellas etc) with the company insignia". It advises workers to take off identity badges when they go outside, to report the presence of any strangers, and to call the emergency services if they think they are being followed. "At night, when possible, travel in pairs and always park in well-lit areas," it reads.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20672">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20670"><B>Latest CIA Scandal Puts Focus On Agency's Self-Policing Efforts</B></A><BR>2009-03-20 17:37:16<HR> <p><b> As a novice CIA case officer in the Middle East, Andrew Warren quickly learned the value of sex in recruiting spies. Colleagues say that he made an early habit of taking informants to strip clubs, and that he later began arranging out-of-town visits to brothels for his best recruits. Often Warren would travel with them, according to two colleagues who worked with him for years. </b></p> <p><b>His methods earned him promotions and notoriety over a lengthy career, until Warren, 41, became ensnared in a sex scandal. Two Algerian women have accused the Virginia native of drugging and sexually assaulting them, and, in one instance, videotaping the encounter.</b> </p> <p>Six weeks after the allegations came to light, Warren has been formally notified by CIA Director Leon E. Panetta of his impending dismissal, according to U.S. government officials familiar with the case; but the episode - one of three sex-related scandals to shake the CIA this year - has drawn harsh questions from Congress about whether the agency adequately polices its far-flung workforce or takes sufficient steps to root out corrupt behavior. </p> <p>The CIA says that these problems involve a tiny fraction of its workforce, and that those found to have breached rules are punished or fired. Former officers say the cases underscore a perennial challenge: guarding against scandal in a workforce - the size of which is classified but is generally estimated to be 20,000 - that prides itself on secrecy and deception. </p> <p>"You have an organization of professional liars," said Tyler Drumheller, who oversaw hundreds of officers as chief of the agency's European division. Experienced field managers are needed, he said, because inevitably "some people will try to take advantage of the system ... and it's a system that can be taken advantage of." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20670">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20668"><B>U.S. Submarine, Warship Collide In Strait Of Hormuz</B></A><BR>2009-03-20 17:36:50<HR> <b>A nuclear-powered United States submarine collided with a Navy warship early Friday in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passage through which much of the worldâs oil must pass on its way to market, the Navy announced Friday.</b> <p><b>Both ships were damaged in the crash and 15 sailors on board the submarine, the Hartford, were slightly injured, according to the Fifth Fleet, which is based here in Bahrain. A spokesman for the fleet, Lt. Nate Christensen, said none of the sailors needed medical evacuation and all were back on duty.</b></p> <p>The second vessel, the New Orleans, an amphibious assault ship carrying 1,000 personnel, ruptured its fuel tanks and spilled 25,000 gallons of fuel into the Gulf, he said.</p> <p>The submarine was submerged and the two vessels were headed to port around 1 a.m. when the collision occurred, Lieutenant Christensen said. The fleet reported that there was no damage to the submarineâs nuclear reactor and that both ships were able to return to port on their own power.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20668">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20666"><B>U.S. Federal Deficit Soars Beyond Previous Estimates</B></A><BR>2009-03-20 17:36:27<HR> <p><b> Deteriorating economic conditions will cause the federal deficit to soar past $1.8 trillion this year and leave the nation wallowing in a sea of red ink far deeper than the White House had previously estimated, congressional budget analysts said Friday.</b> </p> <p>In a new report that provides the first independent analysis of President Obama's budget request, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office predicted that the administration's agenda would generate deficits averaging nearly $1 trillion a year over the next decade - $2.3 trillion more than the president predicted when he unveiled his spending plan just one month ago. </p> <p>Although Obama would come close to meeting his goal of cutting the deficit in half by the end of his first term, the CBO predicts that the nation's annual operating deficit would never drop below 4 percent of the overall economy over the next decade, a level administration officials have said is unsustainable because the national debt would grow too rapidly. </p> <p>By the CBO's estimate, for example, the nation's debt would grow to 82 percent of the overall economy by 2019 under Obama's policies, compared with a pre-recession average of 40 percent. </p> <p> The new report could complicate efforts to win congressional approval for Obama's $3.6 trillion budget request for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. Democrats in the House and Senate are currently putting the finishing touches on their versions of Obama's spending plan, which calls for an expensive expansion of health coverage for the uninsured and new spending on education programs, as well as a first-time tax on greenhouse gas emissions. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20666">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20664"><B>$2.5 Billion In Merrill Bonuses Would Avoid Tax In U.S. House Bill</B></A><BR>2009-03-20 17:35:37<HR> <b>Merrill Lynch's $3.6 billion bonus pool has been among the most controversial payouts on Wall Street. But most of those bonuses, which included some 700 awards of over $1 million, would not be affected by a new bonus tax being considered in Congress.<br> </b> <p><b>The tax, which passed in the House on Thursday, would affect only bonuses paid during 2009. Typically, Merrillâs bonuses are paid in January, along with the rest of Wall Streetâs, but the investment bank pushed $2.5 billion of the bonuses out the door in December in advance of its merger with Bank of America. </b><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/companies/bank_of_america_corporation/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More information about Bank of America Corp"><br> </a></p> <p> It is unclear whether the bonus tax will pass in the Senate, where the tax rate being proposed on the bonuses is 33 percent. That is far lower than the 90 percent tax that passed in the House. It is also unclear how many banks the tax would affect. Both bills apply to companies that received bailout money, but the House bill covers only the largest companies while the Senate bill includes mid-size banks.</p> <p> The bonus tax was hastily proposed this week in response to the public outcry over bonuses paid at the American International Group; but that furor was just the latest iteration of populist outrage over Wall Street misdeeds that kicked off in January, when the focus was on Merrillâs bonuses.</p> <p>A spokeswoman for Representative Joseph Crowley, Democrat of New York, said that bonuses from December were not included because lawmakers wanted to keep the scope of the bill within the current tax year. Crowley is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, which drafted the House bill.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20664">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-22258100967437295992009-03-20T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-20T01:27:13.813-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Friday March 20 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Friday March 20 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20662"><B>Afghanistan War - 'In Real Terms, NATO Is Losing'</B></A><BR>2009-03-19 21:42:00<HR> <b>It has been more than seven years since NATO forces invaded Afghanistan. Yet there's no end in sight for the conflict - and vast tracks of the country remain no-go areas for foreign troops.</b> <br> <p>Most days, weather permitting, a couple of U.S. Black Hawk helicopters take off from Bagram air base and do the rounds of NATO bases in Afghanistan's eastern provinces. They serve as taxis, couriers and delivery vans and hop from one fortified lily pad to the next, crossing mountain ranges and dusty mudbrick towns over which the alliance and the government it supports have little, if any, control.</p> <p>The helicopter traffic provides an umbilical connection between the provincial outposts of the NATO-led force in this part of the country - the French in Kapisa province, the Poles in Ghazni and the vast U.S.-run hub at Bagram air-base, north of Kabul. This is the Afghanistan that most senior officers, diplomats and visiting journalists get to see - brave soldiers and well-run, well-meaning development projects. </p> <p>It is in the vast tracts of land in between these outposts where the country's future is being determined each day, and where the outcome in the struggle between chaos and order, backwardness and development has yet to be resolved.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20662">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20660"><B>Leading Climate Scientist: Democratic Process Isn't Working On Global Warming</B></A><BR>2009-03-19 21:41:03<HR> <p><b>Protest and direct action could be the only way to tackle soaring carbon emissions, said a leading U.S. climate scientist.</b></p> <p><b>NASA's chief climate scientist James Hansen told the Guardian Wednesday that corporate lobbying has undermined democratic attempts to curb carbon pollution. "The democratic process doesn't quite seem to be working," he said.</b></p> <p>Speaking on the eve of joining a protest against the headquarters of power firm E.ON in Coventry, England, Hansen said: "The first action that people should take is to use the democratic process. What is frustrating people, me included, is that democratic action affects elections but what we get then from political leaders is greenwash.</p> <p>"The democratic process is supposed to be one person one vote, but it turns out that money is talking louder than the votes. So, I'm not surprised that people are getting frustrated. I think that peaceful demonstration is not out of order, because we're running out of time."</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20660">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20658"><B>Israel Arrests 10 Hamas Leaders</B></A><BR>2009-03-19 21:37:15<HR> <b>Israel arrested 10 Hamas leaders in the West Bank late Wednesday and early Thursday, including four legislators, in what Hamas said was an attempt to put pressure on the organization after the collapse of negotiations for the release of a captive Israeli soldier, Cpl. Gilad Shalit.</b> <p>The Israeli military described the men who were detained as âleaders of the ongoing efforts to restore the administrative branch of the Hamas terror organization in the region.â A spokesman would not comment on any possible link to the Shalit affair. </p> <p>Israelâs departing prime minister, Ehud Olmert, had hoped to secure Corporal Shalitâs release before leaving office. Olmert is to be succeeded by Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the conservative Likud Party, who has until early April to form a new governing coalition. </p> <p>In return for Corporal Shalit, who was seized by Hamas and other Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid and taken into Gaza in 2006, Hamas demands the release of 450 Palestinians in Israeli jails, including many convicted of deadly attacks on Israelis. But intensive talks held through Egyptian mediators ended this week without an agreement, and Olmert said Tuesday that his government would not accede to all of Hamasâ demands.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20658">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20656"><B>13 Recipients Of TARP Funds Owe $220 Million In Back Taxes</B></A><BR>2009-03-19 18:13:14<HR> <p><b>A U.S. House of Representatives panel looking into a federal bailout program has found that 13 recipients of government funds owe more than $220 million in unpaid federal taxes, a lawmaker said Thursday.</b> </p> <p>Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia), chairman of the oversight subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, told a hearing on the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that the panel looked at the top 23 private recipients of taxpayer-funded bailouts under the $700 billion program enacted last year. </p> <p><b>"We found that 13 of them owed more than $220 million in unpaid federal taxes," Lewis said in an opening statement. "Two companies owe over $100 million each. How can this be? If we looked at all 470 recipients, how much would they owe?"</b> </p> <p>Under the program, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in October, the U.S. Treasury has doled out more than $300 billion to banks and private companies so far. Shortly after enactment, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr., revised the program, which was originally intended to allow the government to buy up toxic assets from insolvent banks and auction the assets off to investors. Instead, Paulson and the Bush administration opted to pour capital into the banks and companies in hopes of cleaning up their balance sheets, thawing frozen credit markets and spurring renewed lending. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20656">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20654"><B>Several U.S. Bird Populations Plummet Due To Habitat Loss</B></A><BR>2009-03-19 18:12:49<HR> <p><b>Several major bird populations have plummeted over the past four decades across the United States as development transformed the nation's landscape, according to a comprehensive survey released today by the Interior Department and outside experts, but conservation efforts have managed to stave off potential extinctions of others.</b> </p> <p>"The State of the Birds" report, a sweeping analysis of data compiled through scientific and citizen surveys over the past 40 years, shows that some species have made significant gains even as others have suffered. Hunted waterfowl and iconic species such as the bald eagle have expanded in number, the report found, as birds along the nation's coasts and in its arid areas and grasslands have declined sharply. </p> <p><b>"Just as they were when Rachel Carson published Silent Spring nearly 50 years ago, birds today are a bellwether of the health of land, water and ecosystems," Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said in a statement. "From shorebirds in New England to warblers in Michigan to songbirds in Hawaii, we are seeing disturbing downward population trends that should set off environmental alarm bells."</b> </p> <p>The fact that concerted conservation efforts have saved birds such as the peregrine falcon and allowed various wetland birds to flourish, scientists said, shows that other species can reverse their declines with sufficient support from federal agencies and private groups. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20654">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20652"><B>Reports: Two U.S. Journalists Detained By North Korea</B></A><BR>2009-03-19 18:11:56<HR> <b>Two American journalists and their guide were taken into North Korean custody after straying too close to the sensitive border region while on a reporting trip in China, an activist helping them said today.<br> <br> Laura Ling and Euna Lee were on assignment with San Francisco-based Current TV when they were seized on Tuesday. The guide, whose name was not released, is a Chinese citizen.<br> </b> <br> <div class="storybody"> "It is certain that the North Koreans have them," said the activist, Chun Ki-won, a South Korean pastor who spoke to the journalists by mobile telephone about 6 a.m. Tuesday. They were in the northeastern Chinese city of Yanji, about 16 miles from the North Korean border, at the time but were heading closer to the frontier in order to interview people who trade at the border.<br> <br> "They must have gone in too close, where it was dangerous. I don't think the North Koreans would have dared to come out into China to kidnap Americans," said Chun.<br> <br> Mitch Koss, an executive producer with Current TV who was with them, was able to escape and notify American officials of what had happened, according to Chun.</div> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20652">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20650"><B>U.S. Senate Approves Contested Alaska Road Project</B></A><BR>2009-03-19 18:11:33<HR> <p><b>A controversial road project through a prized wildlife refuge in Alaska, tucked into a sweeping bipartisan lands package, appears poised to make it into law. </b></p> <p><b>With Senate passage Wednesday of legislation protecting more than 2 million acres of wilderness in nine states, the proposal to build a road traversing Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is a step closer to fruition after a decade-long battle. The 800 residents of King Cove - a fishing village that abuts the refuge - argue they need a one-lane road to connect them to the nearest all-weather airport in Cold Bay.</b> </p> <p>Environmentalists objected that the project will undermine Izembek's pristine landscape and that taxpayers have already paid to construct a terminal and supply the hovercraft that now ferries residents across the bay. </p> <p><b>"It is, in our view, a world-class boondoggle," said Evan Hirsche, president of the National Wildlife Refuge Association, noting that the refuge supports migratory birds such as the Pacific black brandt as well as caribou and the Alaskan brown bear. "Izembek is a sacrificial lamb in the public lands bill."</b> </p> <p>A broad coalition of environmental, outdoor recreation and business organizations, along with local, state and federal officials, have been pushing for years to expand wilderness areas in the U.S. These groups hailed the passage of the massive package, now headed for the House, which would provide the highest level of federal protection to areas such as Oregon's Mount Hood and part of Virginia's Jefferson National Forest, along with other sites in California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, New Mexico, Utah and West Virginia. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20650">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20661"><B>New Whistleblower Claims Over $1.4 Billion In Barclays Tax Avoidance Schemes</B></A><BR>2009-03-19 21:41:47<HR> <b>Further detailed allegations about tax avoidance schemes set up by Barclays Bank emerged Thursday night from whistleblowers who said the bank made close to £1 billion (about $1.4 billion) profit a year from a series of elaborate deals.</b> <p><b>The schemes are similar to those detailed in documents published by the Guardian newspaper this week which have been the center of a three-day hearing at Britain's high court, and are the subject of a gagging order.</b></p> <p>The internal Barclays memos were leaked by a mole to the Liberal Democrats. The new allegations reiterate claims that the bank's main purpose in entering into these schemes was to make profit from tax avoidance through an intricate circuit of offshore Cayman Islands and Luxembourg companies. The profits are said to be enormous and the deals so complex that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) struggles to unravel them.</p> <p>Barclays has vigorously denied the claims and earlier this week won an emergency injunction forcing the Guardian to remove internal bank documents from its website. Earlier Thursday a judge confirmed the ban, saying the documents contained confidential commercial information and legal advice. The Guardian is also banned from giving information about other publicly accessible sources of copies of the documents.</p> <p><b>Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said of the ruling: "This is a sad day for democracy. British taxpayers are being asked to underwrite Barclays' loans. I believe full disclosure of these documents, showing how Barclays use tax havens for tax avoidance, would be in the public interest. Banks use the finest legal brains money can buy to avoid tax, but HM Revenue & Customs is underpaid and overstretched, so it is far from a level playing field."</b></p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20661">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20659"><B>Israeli Troops Describe Shooting Gaza Civilians </B></A><BR>2009-03-19 21:37:35<HR> <p><b>Striking testimony has emerged from Israeli soldiers involved in the recent Gaza war, in which they describe shooting unarmed civilians, sometimes under orders from their officers.</b></p><p><b>One soldier described how an Israeli sniper shot dead a Palestinian mother and her children, adding that troops believed Palestinian lives were "very, very, less important than the lives of our soldiers".</b></p><p>The accounts, published in two Israeli newspapers Thursday, gives rare insight into how the soldiers acted. It reinforces Palestinian accounts of disproportionate Israeli force and contradicts the Israeli military's official version of events. </p><p>The accounts come from unnamed soldiers who were graduates of a pre-military course at Oranim Academic college, in Tivon, near Haifa. Their testimony was given in mid-February, and the transcript of the session was published this week.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20659">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20657"><B>Mugabe An Obstacle To More Donor Aid For Zimbabwe</B></A><BR>2009-03-19 21:37:02<HR> <b>On his first day as education minister in a government so broke that most schools were closed and millions of children idle, David Coltart said he got a startling invitation. </b> <p><b>âCome and get your brand new white Mercedes!â an official told Coltart, a veteran opposition politician, as President Robert Mugabe peered down from a portrait on his office wall. </b> </p> <p>The offer of an E-Class Mercedes to every minister in the month-old power-sharing government was vintage Mugabe, an effort to seduce his political enemies with the lavish perks he has long bestowed on loyalists. </p> <p>Coltart said no thanks.</p> <p>Opposition members like Coltart who joined Mugabe in office last month have already achieved some successes, like getting teachers back to work and winning the release of some political prisoners; but many of them warned in interviews that the progress would be short-lived if Western nations, meeting Friday in Washington, D.C., to discuss expanding assistance, do not extend billions of dollars in aid to rebuild Zimbabwe.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20657">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20655"><B>Over A Million French Workers Stage Strike In Massive Economic Protest</B></A><BR>2009-03-19 18:13:04<HR> <b>More than a million French workers staged a general strike and marched in demonstrations across the country Thursday in a second round of protests against the government's handling of the world economic crisis. </b> <p><b>The protests, which drew substantially more people than a similar outpouring Jan. 29, were depicted by union leaders as part of a campaign to pressure President Nicolas Sarkozy to do more to defend the French against the global economic upheaval. In particular, they called on him to raise low-end wages and unemployment benefits and to make it harder for business leaders to fire employees when profits sink.</b> </p> <p>"I cannot believe the government will stay immobile in the face of a phenomenon of this size," said Bernard Thibault of the General Labor Confederation on the government's France 2 television. He added later, "Workers don't want to be the victims any more of a crisis for which they are not responsible." </p> <p> More than 90,000 French workers joined the ranks of the unemployed in January, pushing the total to 2.2 million and leading economists to estimate the unemployment rate at around 8 percent of the workforce. In addition, an increasing number of factories, particularly in the auto industry, have put workers on part-time schedules, drastically reducing their take-home pay and increasing fears of more layoffs. </p> <p>In reaction, Sarkozy's government last month announced $3.2 billion worth of aid, including extended unemployment benefits, tax breaks for the poor and a one-time payment of $650 to unemployed youths who were not on the job long enough to qualify for unemployment checks; but the bulk of his $33 billion in anti-crisis spending has gone to buttress the finances of threatened banks and stimulate the flow of credit to needy businesses. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20655">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20653"><B>Stocks Fall As Investors Cool Off After Rally</B></A><BR>2009-03-19 18:12:19<HR> <p><b> Concern that the Federal Reserve's proposed interventions could increase inflation and a poor showing for shares of financial companies dragged Wall Street into the red Thursday.</b> </p> <p><b>It was only the second time in eight days that stocks closed lower as U.S. investors failed to build on a mid-week rally that was sparked by the Federal Reserve's announcement Wednesday that it could pour more than a trillion dollars into efforts to rescue the financial system.</b> </p> <p> The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.2 percent, or 86 points, to close at 7401, while the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index closed down 1.3 percent, or 10 points, to 784. The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed down 0.5 percent, or 8 points to 1483. </p> <p>"While there was a bit of euphoria by some on the actions that were taken yesterday by the Fed, now a group is saying that for all practical purposes all that they are doing is printing money," Stanley Nabi, vice chairman of Silvercrest Asset Management, said. "I happen to agree - three or four years from now, when we face reality, we are going to have to pay that back." </p> <p>Stocks surged Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said it would deploy up to an additional $1.2 trillion in a massive effort to stimulate the economy and lower interest rates. The Fed said it would increase its purchases of mortgage-related securities by $750 billion, would boost its purchases of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debt and would buy $300 billion in long-term Treasury bonds. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20653">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20651"><B>7.9 Earthquake Rattles Tonga Islands Region</B></A><BR>2009-03-19 18:11:44<HR> <p><b>A major 7.9-magnitude earthquake has struck off the Tonga Islands, seismologists say, issuing a tsunami warning for Tonga, Samoa and Fiji. </b></p> <p><b>The quake, which hit at 6.17am local time on Friday, was centered 210km south-southeast of the Tongan capital Nuku'Alofa and 480 kilometers east-southeast of Ndoi Island, Fiji.</b> </p> <p>It struck at a depth of 10 kilometers, said the U.S. Geological Survey. </p> <p>A tsunami warning was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center for Tonga, Niue, Kermadec Islands, American Samoa, Samoa and Fiji. </p> <p>The center said it did not yet know if a tsunami had been generated by the quake. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20651">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-35752984332283700782009-03-19T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-19T01:25:36.228-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Thursday March 19 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Thursday March 19 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20649"><B>Death Leaves Online Lives In Limbo</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 23:24:25<HR> When Jerald Spangenberg collapsed and died in the middle of a quest in an online game, his daughter embarked on a quest of her own: to let her father's gaming friends know that he hadn't just decided to desert them. <p class="inside-copy">It wasn't easy, because she didn't have her father's "World of Warcraft" password and the game's publisher couldn't help her. Eventually, Melissa Allen Spangenberg reached her father's friends by asking around online for the "guild" he belonged to.</p> <p class="inside-copy">One of them, Chuck Pagoria in Morgantown, Ky., heard about Spangenberg's death three weeks later. Pagoria had put his absence down to an argument among the gamers that night.</p> <p class="inside-copy">"I figured he probably just needed some time to cool off," Pagoria said. "I was kind of extremely shocked and blown away when I heard the reason that he hadn't been back. Nobody had any way of finding this out."</p> <p class="inside-copy">With online social networks becoming ever more important in our lives, they're also becoming an important element in our deaths. Spangenberg, who died suddenly from an abdominal aneurysm at 57, was unprepared, but others are leaving detailed instructions. There's even a tiny industry that has sprung up to help people wrap up their online contacts after their deaths.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20649">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20647"><B>Britain's Chief Scientist: World Faces 'Perfect Storm' Of Problems By 2030</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 22:35:39<HR> <p><b>A "perfect storm" of food shortages, scarce water and insufficient energy resources threaten to unleash public unrest, cross-border conflicts and mass migrations as people flee from the worst-affected regions, the U.K. government's chief scientist will warn Thursday.</b></p> <p><b>In a major speech to environmental groups and politicians, Professor John Beddington, who took up the position of chief scientific adviser last year, will say that the world is heading for major upheavals which are due to come to a head in 2030.</b></p> <p>He will tell the government's Sustainable Development U.K. conference in Westminster that the growing population and success in alleviating poverty in developing countries will trigger a surge in demand for food, water and energy over the next two decades, at a time when governments must also make major progress in combating climate change. </p> <p>"We head into a perfect storm in 2030, because all of these things are operating on the same time frame," Beddington told the Guardian.</p> <p>"If we don't address this, we can expect major destabilization, an increase in rioting and potentially significant problems with international migration, as people move out to avoid food and water shortages," he added.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20647">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20645"><B>Whither The Economy? Pessimism Abounds Among European Leaders</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 22:35:05<HR><b>Jean-Claude Juncker thinks economic growth won't return to Europe before 2011. Jacques Delors is worried about the euro's future. Some of the European Union's staunchest faithful are increasingly pessimistic these days.</b><br> <MailScannerScript18227 script type="text/javascript"> <!-- OAS_RICH('Middle2'); // --> </MailScannerScript18227> <p>Given the unending stream of bad economic news so far this year, it was a surprising bit of optimism. "The situation is extremely bad, but there are the first signs of light," said Wolgang Franz, the president of the Center for European Economic Research, on Tuesday. He went on to say that the economy has almost reached its low point and hinted that a turnaround isn't that far off.</p> European Union leaders, past and present, apparently didn't get the message. In an interview with the conservative German daily <i>Die Welt</i>, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said that he was afraid the economic crisis could create major social problems in the 27-member bloc. <p>"I am afraid that, following the financial and economic crises, we will before long see a social crisis, which will be characterized by mass unemployment and lower incomes for many," said Juncker.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20645">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20643"><B>U.S. Embassay Warns American Tourists Of Spiked Drinks In Tokyo Bars</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 22:34:34<HR> <p><b>The U.S. embassy in Tokyo has issued an unprecedented warning to American citizens to avoid bars and clubs in the capital's seedy Roppongi district amid a reported surge in drink-spiking incidents.</b></p> <p><b>The embassy cited a "significant increase" in the number of people who had been served drug-laced drinks and had their credit cards stolen as they lay unconscious.</b></p> <p>"Typically, the victim unknowingly drinks a beverage that has been secretly mixed with a drug that renders the victim unconscious for several hours, during which time large sums of money are charged to the victim's credit card or the card is stolen outright," it said.</p> <p>"Victims sometimes regain consciousness in the bar or club, while at other times the victim awakens on the street."</p> <p>The embassy said it had encouraged its employees to avoid Roppongi's bars and advised other U.S. citizens to do the same.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20643">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20641"><B>President Obama Criticizes A.I.G. Bonuses, Calls For Greater Regulation</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 18:08:14<HR> <p><b>President Barack Obama just spoke with reporters on the White House lawn as he prepared to depart for California. He criticized the bonsuses given to American International Group executives as an âinappropriate use of taxpayer funds,â and said he wants Congress to pass legislation giving the government greater regulatory authority over financial institutions like A.I.G.</b><br> <span id="more-11341"></span><br> âObviously, the whole issue of A.I.G. and these bonuses that have been paid out have been consuming a lot of attention, and rightfully so, because they represent what I think all of us consider an inappropriate use of taxpayer funds,â President Obama said. âBut what I think is also important and just as outrageous is the fact that we find ourselves in a situation where weâre having to clean up after A.I.G.âs mess.â</p> <p>He added: âOne of the messages that I want to send is that, as we get out of this crisis, as we work towards getting ourselves out of recession, I hope that Wall Street and the marketplace donât think that we can return to business as usual. The business models that created a lot of paper wealth but not real wealth in the country and have now resulted in crisis canât be the model for economic growth going forward.â</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20641">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20639"><B>Judge To Bank of America: Merrill Lynch Bonus Info Must Be Disclosed</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 18:07:48<HR> <b>A New York state judge on Wednesday ordered Bank of America Corp. to disclose information about bonuses given to employees at Merrill Lynch & Co. just before the bank bought the brokerage company.</b> <p> New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Bank of America have been sparring over the release of the information for weeks. Cuomo is investigating whether Bank of America and Merrill failed to provide proper disclosures to shareholders about the bonuses. </p> <p>New York State Supreme Court Justice Bernard Fried ruled that the compensation figures didn't constitute a trade secret, as Bank of America had claimed. </p> <p> Bank of America and the attorney general's office did not immediately comment on the ruling. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20639">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20637"><B>Fed Reserve To Expand Rescue Efforts To $1.2 Trillion In Bond, Mortgage Securities</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 18:07:28<HR> <p><b> The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it will deploy an additional $1.2 trillion to try to lower interest rates and stimulate the economy, an aggressive move aimed at containing the recession.</b> </p> <p><b>The central bank will increase its purchases of mortgage-backed securities by $750 billion, on top of a previously announced $500 billion. It also will double its purchases of debt in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to $200 billion. Those steps are intended to lower mortgage rates. The announcement of the previous purchases pushed mortgage rates down a full percentage point.</b> </p> <p>The Fed also said it will buy $300 billion in long-term Treasury bonds, a step it had previously considered but had been reluctant to act on. That move will lower long-term interest rates for the U.S. government directly and, Fed officials hope, will indirectly lower borrowing costs for businesses and individuals. </p> <p>Following Wednesday's announcement, Treasury bond prices spiked and yields on those bonds declined, as traders anticipated the Fed bond purchases. At 2:30 p.m., 15 minutes after the announcement, the yield on 10-year Treasury bonds had fallen half a percentage point, to 2.53 percent. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20637">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20635"><B>Hundreds Of New Civilian Employees Proposed For Afghanistan</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 18:06:37<HR> <p><b> Hundreds of additional U.S. diplomats and civilian officials would be deployed to Afghanistan as part of the new civil-military regional strategy that President Obama's top national security advisers plan to present for his signature next week, according to administration officials.</b> </p> <p> Leading this proposed civilian expansion will be two veteran senior diplomats: Petere W. Galbraith, who will be the deputy to the top United Nations official on the ground; and Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr., who will get the unprecedented title of "deputy ambassador" to boost the diplomatic heft of the U.S. Embassy. Obama last week nominated Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry,the former U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, as the country's ambassador. </p> <p>Other civilian officials are to be drawn from government departments such as Agriculture and Justice, and hundreds of new "full-time, temporary" positions are planned under a hiring program authorized by President George W. Bush four days before he left office. </p> <p> The proposal for a civilian surge is part of a broad strategy review regarding Afghanistan and Pakistan that Obama ordered during its first weeks in office. The review has culminated in an intense series of high-level meetings and discussion of proposals from across the government, including from Gen. David H. Petraeus, the head of the U.S. Central Command; the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and the State Department effort headed by special Afghanistan-Pakistan envoy Richard C. Holbrooke. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20635">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20633"><B>Family Gathers Around Actress Natasha Richardson </B></A><BR>2009-03-18 18:06:05<HR> <b>The family and friends of the actress Natasha Richardson gathered at Lenox Hill Hospital on Wednesday to be at her side.</b><br> <b><br> Richardson, 45, suffered a head injury on Monday while skiing in Quebec and was flown from Montreal Tuesday night to Lenox Hill, on Manhattanâs Upper East Side. Her mother, the actress Vanessa Redgrave, was seen entering the hospital that night, and her sister, Joely Richardson, was also reported to have shown up at the hospital that evening.</b> <p>Her husband, the actor Liam Neeson, who had reportedly been filming a movie in Toronto when the accident occurred, was seen on Tuesday afternoon crouched inside an ambulance beside his wife at Hopital du Sacre-Coeur de Montreal, as she lay heavily wrapped in blankets with tubes around her face.</p> <p>Alan Nierob, a family spokesman, said on Wednesday afternoon that he had no information about Ms. Richardsonâs medical condition. Asked if she was on life support or had been taken off life support, or if she was brain dead or in a coma - all of which has been reported on several media outlets over the last 24 hours - Nierob replied: "I donât deal with rumors. I donât care about rumors. All I care about is facts. And I donât have any facts to give you." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20633">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20631"><B>Former Bush Aide Sentenced To 30 Months In Prison</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 18:05:37<HR> <p><b> A 29-year-old former Bush administration aide was sentenced Wednesday to 2 1/2 years in federal prison for stealing nearly $600,000 from a nonprofit group that promotes democracy in Cuba.</b> </p> <p>Felipe E. Sixto, of Miami, Florida, pleaded guilty last year in U.S. District Court in the District to stealing from a federally funded program. Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton called the crime an "elaborate scheme" that badly damaged the nonprofit group, the Center for a Free Cuba, where Sixto worked from 2003 through July 2007. He continued stealing from the center after he switched jobs to become an associate director for intergovernmental affairs at the White House, said prosecutors. </p> <p>"It is bad enough to steal, but when you steal from an organization that you say you care about, that makes it even more troubling," said Walton. </p> <p>Sixto, who is of Cuban descent, apologized for his conduct, saying "I make no excuses for my actions." He resigned from the White House in March. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20631">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20648"><B>Anger In Pakistan At U.S. Plan To Increase Drone Attacks</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 22:35:51<HR> <b>Pakistan reacted with anger Wednesday to an American proposal to expand its drone missile strikes inside the country against Taliban and al-Qaeda targets.</b> <p><b>Pakistani politicians and officials described the idea of extending military operations into the vast, south-west province of Baluchistan as provocative and counterproductive, and warned of a severe backlash if the U.S. went ahead.</b></p> <p>Sources in the U.S. administration confirmed that the White House has received recommendations from the military about an escalation in the use of the CIA's unmanned drones to launch missile attacks. At present, attacks are confined to the tribal areas in the northwest of the country.</p> <p>The recommendation calls for a renewed focus on targets in the economically backward province which has provided a stronghold for the Afghan Taliban and a sanctuary for al-Qaeda elements. A source cautioned that President Obama has not made a decision and could decide any military gains from expansion into Baluchistan may be outweighed by the public backlash, putting at risk the Pakistan government.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20648">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20646"><B>Britain's MI5 Faces New Rules On Terror Interrogations</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 22:35:28<HR> <p><b>The British government Wednesday bowed to growing pressure over allegations of Britain's complicity in torture by promising to draw up and publish new guidelines for the security and intelligence agencies when they are involved in interrogating detainees abroad.</b></p><p><b>Announcing the unexpected move to Parliament members, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he condemned torture "absolutely" but had asked the intelligence and security committee (ISC) to help draw up new guidelines "in order to have systems that are robust".</b></p><p>In a separate move, the prime minister told Parliament members that compliance with the new guidelines would be monitored by intelligence services commissioner Sir Peter Gibson, a former appeal court judge, who will report annually.</p><p>Brown's announcement, which follows a succession of revelations in the Guardian newspaper about the ill-treatment and torture of U.K. nationals and residents abroad, appeared to be a tacit admission that existing guidelines were open to abuse. It was also seen as an attempt to resist calls for an independent inquiry into growing evidence of British complicity in the interrogation of suspects held in Pakistan and Morocco.</p><p><b>It did not satisfy campaigners and parliamentary critics who want a full independent inquiry into torture, rendition and alleged British collusion.</b> </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20646">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20644"><B>Britain's Prime Minister Under Pressure Over Record Jump In Jobless</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 22:34:47<HR> <b>Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown was under increasing pressure to combat rising unemployment tonight after figures showed the deepening economic crisis caused a record jump in the jobless total last month.</b> <p><b>As the headline figure of people out of work rose above two million, Brown clashed with Tory leader David Cameron in bitter exchanges at prime minister's questions in the House of Commons.</b></p> <p>Speaking hours after the release of figures showing that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits rose by 138,000 in February - the biggest rise since records began in 1971 - the prime minister said: "Any person losing their job, or in fear of losing their job, is a matter of personal regret for me and for the whole government. We are prepared to spend money to help the unemployed. We are not going to walk by on the other side, we are going to help them."</p> <p>Cameron demanded that the government apologize for having let the economy tip into its deepest recession in decades and the jobless total jump. "This government has announced the biggest rise in the dole queue since records began. That is a rise faster than under any Conservative government or any Labour government. You've led us to this point without the hint of an apology and the British people will never forget it."</p> <p>The sharp rise in the number of people claiming benefits means it has increased by almost 600,000 in the past year to 1.4 million. The figures were equally bad on the government's preferred measure of unemployment - the wider Labour Force Survey measure - as it also set a milestone by rising through the two million mark in the three months to January, wiping out all the gains seen since Labour came to power in 1997. The jobless rate is now 6.5% and there has been a record drop in vacancies and a record rise in redundancies.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20644">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20642"><B>Actress Natasha Richardson Dies After Ski Accident</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 20:57:36<HR> <b>Natasha Richardson, the luminous British actress from one of the world's great acting families, whose performances ranged from the highbrow drama "The Handmaid's Tale" to the lightweight comedy "The Parent Trap" and the Tony-winning Broadway production of "Cabaret," died Wednesday. She was 45.</b><br> <br> The wife of "Schindler's List" actor Liam Neeson and the daughter of actress Vanessa Redgrave and the late film director Tony Richardson died at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.<br> <br> <div class="storybody"> Alan Nierob of Rogers & Cowan said in a statement Wednesday night: "Liam Neeson, his sons and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha. They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time."<br> <br> Richardson suffered a devastating brain injury in a skiing accident Monday at Mont Tremblant, a luxury resort in Canada. The actress was taking a lesson on a beginner's run near the bottom of the ski area and was not wearing a helmet in what first appeared to be a minor accident.<br> <br> She initially reported that she was well, but soon started to complain of a headache. Hours after the fall, the star of a number of acclaimed stage plays - including roles in "Anna Christie," "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "Closer" - slipped into unconsciousness, and she was transported Tuesday from a Montreal hospital back to New York, where she was surrounded by family and friends.</div> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20642">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20640"><B>A.I.G. Chief Asks Execs To Return Half Of Bonuses</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 18:08:04<HR> <b>As the lucrative bonuses paid to employees of the American International Group fueled fresh outrage at the White House and on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, the embattled chief executive of A.I.G. said that he had asked some recipients to give at least half the money back.</b><br> <p><b> The chief executive, Edward M. Liddy, made the announcement during his testimony on Wednesday afternoon before a Congressional committee investigating the problems at the insurance giant.</b> </p> <p>âI have asked the employees of AIG Financial Products to step up and do the right thing,â Mr. Liddy told lawmakers. âSpecifically, I have asked those who received retention payments of $100,000 or more to return at least half of those payments.â</p> <p>The A.I.G. chief said that some recipients had already offered to give up all of their bonuses.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20640">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20638"><B>Stocks Rise On Federal Reserve Announcement</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 18:07:37<HR> <p><b> Stocks rose dramatically Wednesday afternoon after the Federal Reserve announced that it is expanding unconventional efforts to lower interest rates and stimulate the economy. </b></p> <p><b>At the conclusion of a two-day meeting, the Fed said it would increase its purchases of mortgage-related securities by $750 billion and would buy $300 billion in long-term Treasury bonds. Overall, the central bank said it would deploy an additional $1.2 trillion to revive the economy.<br> </b></p> <p><b>The Dow Jones industrial average closed up about 1.2 percent, or 91 points, while the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index was up 2.1 percent, or 16 points. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index also was up 2 percent, or 29 points.</b> </p> <p>Concerns about the Fed's statements had been weighing on some investors earlier in the day, when stocks hovered near negative territory, said Joseph Brusuelas, director of Moody's Economy.com. "I think that this concern is misplaced, but it is very real early on in the trading day," he said. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20638">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20636"><B>U.S. Marine's Accuser Changes Her Story In The Philippines</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 18:07:05<HR> <b>A Filipino woman who won the conviction of an American serviceman for raping her in 2005 in a contentious year-long case that strained Philippine-American relations now says she has âdoubtsâ about the events of that night, saying that she had been drunk and might have been âtoo friendlyâ and made him think she was willing to have sex.</b><br> <p><b>âMy conscience continues to bother me,â said her statement. âI would rather risk public outrage than do nothing to help the court in ensuring that justice is served.â</b> </p> <p>During the trial, the woman testified that she had been raped and treated âlike a pigâ by Corporal Smith and three fellow servicemen and that she wanted nothing but the death penalty for him. The reversal, which the woman made in a sworn statement released to news media on Tuesday, has created an uproar in the Philippines. </p> <p>In one community in Manila, four people were stabbed on Wednesday after a melee erupted while they were debating her case, said the police; and nationalists accused the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the United States of pressuring the woman into changing her story. The statement came a week after the woman left the Philippines for the United States, where she plans to marry her American fiance, according to her mother.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20636">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20634"><B>Madoff's Accountant Charged With Securities Fraud </B></A><BR>2009-03-18 18:06:20<HR> <b>The accountant who provided auditing services to Bernard L. Madoff's investment advisory business for more than a decade, operating out of a tiny storefront office in Rockland County, was charged on Wednesday with securities fraud and aiding investment adviser fraud in connection with Madoffâs vast Ponzi scheme.</b><br> <p>The accountant, David G. Friehling, who became Madoffâs primary auditor in the early 1990s when his father-in-law retired and he took over the two-man firm of Friehling & Horowitz, surrendered to federal authorities and prosecutors on Wednesday morning.</p> <p>The charges are the first filed publicly since the 70-year-old Madoff pleaded guilty to fraud on Thursday and was ordered to a federal jail to await what is expected to be the equivalent of a life sentence. People briefed on the matter say they expect more cases to follow as prosecutors and F.B.I. agents focus on Madoffâs family members and employees despite his assertion that he carried out the fraud alone.</p> <p>Friehlingâs 80-year-old father-in-law and former partner, Jeremy Horowitz, who had been suffering from cancer, died in Florida on the same morning Madoff pleaded guilty in United States District Court in Lower Manhattan. Friehling will appear in the same courthouse to be arraigned later Wednesday.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20634">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20632"><B>Gates: Forced Army Service Will All But End In Two Years</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 18:05:55<HR> <b>U.S. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said Wednesday that over the next two years, he would all but eliminate an unpopular practice that has prevented thousands of active duty soldiers and reservists from leaving military service on time if they were scheduled to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan.</b><br> <p>More than 13,000 Army personnel remain unable to exit from military service under the policy, in place since 2004, and known as âstop-loss.â Gates said the practice was âbreaking faithâ with those in uniform, and announced a timetable that would cut the numbers affected in half by next June, and virtually eliminate them by March 2011.</p> <p> He revealed his decision on the evening of the sixth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq, where more than 140,000 American troops are still deployed.</p> <p>Gates cautioned that âscores,â but not thousands, of Army personnel might continue to be affected by the policy if they had skills that were particularly important to the war effort. He said retroactive pay benefits would be awarded those who fell under the policy.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20632">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20630"><B>Studies Fault Prostate Screening</B></A><BR>2009-03-18 18:05:28<HR> <p><b> Two large, long-awaited studies have failed to produce convincing evidence that routine prostate cancer screening significantly reduces the chances of dying from the disease without putting men at risk for potentially dangerous and unnecessary treatment.</b> </p> <p>The PSA blood test, which millions of men undergo each year, did not cut the death toll from the disease in the first decade of a U.S. government-funded study involving more than 76,000 men, researchers reported Wednesday. </p> <p>The second study, a European trial involving more than 162,000 men that was released simultaneously, did find fewer deaths among those tested, but the reduction was relatively modest and the study showed that the screening resulted in a large number of men undergoing needless, often harmful treatment. </p> <p> Together, the <i>s</i>tudies <i>-</i> released early by the New England Journal of Medicine to coincide with presentations at a scientific meeting in Stockholm - cast new doubt on the utility of one of the most widely used tests for one of the most common cancers. </p> <p>"Americans have been getting screened for prostate cancer because there is this religious faith that finding it early and cutting it out saves lives," said Otis W. Brawley of the American Cancer Society. "We've been doing faith-based screening instead of evidence-based screening. These findings should make people realize that it's a legitimate question about whether we should be screening for prostate cancer." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20630">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-43352545887767156072009-03-18T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-18T01:25:48.674-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Wednesday March 18 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Wednesday March 18 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20629"><B>Wall Street Builds On Optimistic Housing Report - Dow Up 178 Points</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 17:11:57<HR> <p><b>Unemployment may still be rising and the economy may be nowhere near a bottom, but Wall Streetâs manic mood bubbled higher on Wednesday.</b></p> <p><b>Cheered by reports showing a surprising increase in home-building last month, stock markets climbed in the last half-hour of trading, with major market indexes rising to their highest levels since late February.</b></p> <p>Construction companies like KB Home, the Centex Corporation and Toll Brothers paced gains in the broader financial markets after the government reported that new-home construction in February rose 22 percent from January to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 583,000. It was the biggest percentage gain since January 1990 and the first increase since April.</p> <p>Economists had expected housing starts to decline slightly as home builders pulled back in the face of dwindling demand and competition from a flood of foreclosed properties.</p> <p><b>At the close, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 178 points or 2.4 percent while the broader Standard & Poorâs 500-stock index was 3.2 percent or 24.22 points higher. The technology-heavy Nasdaq gained 58.09 points or 4.1 percent.</b></p> <p>Bank stocks, including Citigroup and Wells Fargo, rose moderately while Bank of America was off slightly. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20629">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20627"><B>From Arctic Soil, Fossils Of A Giant That Ruled Jurassic Seas</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 17:11:21<HR> <p><b>There were monstrous reptiles in the deep, back in the time of dinosaurs.</b></p> <p><b>They swam with mighty flippers, two fore and two hind, all four accelerating on attack. In their elongated heads were bone-crushing jaws more powerful than those of a Tyrannosaurus rex. They were the pliosaurs, heavyweight predators at the top of the food chain in ancient seas.</b></p> <p><b>Much of this was already known. Now, after an analysis of fossils uncovered on a Norwegian island 800 miles from the North Pole, scientists have confirmed that they have found two partial skeletons of a gigantic new species, possibly a new family, of pliosaurs.</b></p> <p>This extinct marine reptile was at least 50 feet long and weighed 45 tons, the largest known of its kind. Its massive skull was 10 feet long, and the flippers, more like outsize paddles, were also 10 feet. The creature - not yet given a scientific name but simply called the Monster or Predator X - hunted the seas 150 million years ago, in the Jurassic Period.</p> <p>âEverything we are finding is new to science,â said Jorn H. Hurum, a paleontologist at Norway's University of Oslo who directed the excavations on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago. He described new details of the find in a telephone interview last week.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20627">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20625"><B>New York Attorney General Details Million-Dollar Bonuses At A.I.G.</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 15:11:50<HR> <b>Seventy-three employees were paid more than $1 million in the newly minted bonuses at the insurance giant, American International Group, according to the New York attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo. <br> </b> <p><b>The attorney general provided some new details on Tuesday about some of the $160 million in bonuses that A.I.G. paid out last week in a letter sent to U.S. Representative Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Committee on Financial Services. </b></p> <p><b>âA.I.G. made more than 73 millionaires in the unit which lost so much money that it brought the firm to its knees forcing a taxpayer bailout,â Cuomo wrote in the letter. âSomething is deeply wrong with this outcome.â</b></p> <p>Cuomo did not name the bonus recipients, but the numbers are eye-popping, given A.I.G.âs fragile state. The highest bonus was $6.4 million, and six other employees received more than $4 million, according to Cuomo. Another 15 people received bonuses of more than $2 million, and another 51 people received bonuses between $1 million and $2 million, said Cuomo. Eleven of those who received âretentionâ bonuses of $1 million or more are no longer working at A.I.G., including one who received $4.6 million, he said.</p> <p>A.I.G., which is now 80 percent owned by the government, paid out the so-called retention payments, saying the bonuses were needed to persuade workers to stick around in its financial products unit to stick around. The payouts have caused a public furor, and the White House said on Monday that the Treasury would write new requirements about the bonus money in the next $30 billion that it provides to the insurance giant. Already, the government has given A.I.G. $170 billion.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20625">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20623"><B>Polar Bears Fighting For Survival In The Arctic</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 15:11:27<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>The more ice that melts in the Arctic, the shorter is the winter seal-hunting season. That is bad news for polar bears. This week, a number of Arctic nations are gathering to find ways to save this majestic creature.</b></p> <p><b>The polar bear looks sad. Its white fur is dripping wet, lying flat against its thin body. The ice is melting under its paws. The creature looks desperate as it wanders around on the last remaining ice floes.</b> </p> <p><b> Such photos and TV images have turned this dangerous predator into a touching symbol of climate change. "The polar bear has become an icon," says Geoffrey York, who studies the animals in Alaska for the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The giant panda has been the symbol of the WWF for many years. "If we were looking for a logo today," says York, "we would certainly choose the polar bear."</b> </p> <p>This week York will travel from Anchorage, Alaska, to Tromso, Norway to attend the polar bear meeting sponsored by the Norwegian Polar Institute. In Norway, York plans to fight to save the animal that shares the distinction of being the world's largest land predator with the Kodiak bear. "But we will only be successful if we finally curb emissions of greenhouse gases, which lead to rising temperatures in the Arctic," says York.</p> <p> <b>Long-Term Survival</b> </p> <p>The conference begins on Tuesday, and will include representatives from Norway, Denmark/Greenland, the United States, Canada and Russia. These countries reached an agreement to protect the polar bear in 1973, when excessive hunting threatened to wipe out the species. Today, the threat of global warming has brought together politicians and scientists in Norway once again to discuss ways to ensure the long-term survival of the polar bear.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20623">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20621"><B>U.S. Economic Data Offers A Balm As Fed Reserve Meets</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 15:10:53<HR> <p><b>An unexpected rise in housing starts and a more moderate increase in wholesale prices offered some brighter economic news on Tuesday as the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee met to assess its policy course.</b> </p> <p>Economists expect the Fed, in a statement to be released Wednesday afternoon after the meeting, to restate its expectation for continuing low interest rates and to largely recommit itself to the programs it has set up to try to loosen credit markets and restore confidence in lending. </p> <p>The Fed has already lowered interest rates to nearly zero and expanded its balance sheet as it tries to stem the pain of what the Fed chairman, Ben S. Berenanke, has called the worst global financial crisis since the Depression. It has flirted with the idea of buying up long-term Treasury debt to help lower mortgage rates, but economists said the Fed was unlikely to take that step at this point. </p> <p>âThis is like the last major arrow in their quiver,â said Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist at Mizuho Securities. âItâs a very simple, easy thing to do. And you might want to hold off until you really need it.â</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20621">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20619"><B>Cash-Strapped U.N. To Halt West Africa Aid Flights</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 15:10:12<HR> <b>The United Nations will shut down its humanitarian air services in much of West Africa because of a shortage of funds, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday. </b> <p><b>Emilia Casella of the World Food Program (WFP) said the chartered helicopters and aircraft used to ferry aid workers and supplies to remote parts of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Ivory Coast would stop on Friday, March 20.</b> </p> <p>"In areas that are not reachable by land ... aid workers will not be able to reach vulnerable people with medical care, food, water and sanitation, and other crucial services," she told a news briefing in Geneva. </p> <p>"The U.N. will also not be in a position to carry out timely medical and security evacuations of humanitarian personnel, if and when needed," said the spokeswoman. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20619">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20617"><B>Iran's Khatami Drops Presidential Bid, Endorse Former Prime Minister</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 15:09:43<HR> <b>President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's main challenger in Iran's June presidential election pulled out of the race Tuesday and threw his support to a less prominent candidate. </b> <p><b> Mohammad Khatami, a Shiite Muslim cleric and former president who is popular among youths and women, issued a statement in which he pledged his support for former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, who announced his candidacy a week ago.</b> </p> <p>"I believe that Mr. Mousavi has the necessary competence to change the current situation," Khatami said, according the semi-official Fars News agency. "Despite differences in our opinions and actions, the important thing is that Mousavi seriously defends and will defend the fundamental rights and freedoms of people and the country's international reputation." </p> <p>Both Khatami and Mousavi, a former architect, have repeatedly criticized Ahmadinejad's foreign, domestic and economic policies. Joining their criticism has been the other main candidate opposing the president, Mehdi Karrubi, a former head of parliament. </p> <p> "We need an urgent, constructive change in the present method of management of the country," Khatami said in his statement. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20617">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20614"><B>Scientists: U.K. Government Carbon Targets 'Too Weak' To Prevent Dangerous Climate Change</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 00:15:36<HR> <p><b>Proposed government carbon targets are too weak to prevent dangerous levels of global warming, according to a new analysis by leading scientists. Ministers are poised to introduce strict limits on U.K. carbon pollution when they announce Britain's first carbon budget next month; but experts from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research warned Tuesday that official advice used to set the budget is "naively optimistic" and will not stop dangerous climate change. </b></p> <p>It comes after scientists at a global warming conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, last week warned that emissions are rising faster than expected,and that climate change could strike harder and faster than predicted. </p> <p>The Tyndall Centre report analyses the conclusions of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which said in December that ministers should aim to cut U.K. emissions 34% by 2020, as part of worldwide efforts to limit temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius.</p> <p>The Tyndall scientists say the committee's report is "inevitably and significantly compromised" because it focuses on limiting temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, which the European Union defines as dangerous. The committee was forced to use "highly optimistic and sometimes unclear assumptions" to hit the 2C target, they say.</p> <p>Chief among these, they say, was that global emissions of greenhouse gases would peak in 2016, despite little evidence that such a U-turn in soaring emissions within seven years is "in any way viable". A peak of emissions in 2020, which the Tyndall Centre says is more realistic, would leave governments facing an impossible challenge to hit the 2 degrees Celsius target, it adds.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20614">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20612"><B>Britain's Prime Minister: 'Laissez-Faire Government Is Over'</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 00:15:05<HR> <b>Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown attempts to launch a political fightback Tuesday by declaring that he takes "full responsibility" for his role in the banking failures that led to the global recession, and claims that the downturn marks the end of the era of laissez-faire government.</b> <p><b>In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, the prime minister concedes that in retrospect he wishes he had mounted a popular campaign 10 years ago to demand more responsible regulation of the world's financial markets. He attempts to draw a line under calls for him to make an apology by admitting that the national system of regulation he helped establish in 1997 could not keep pace with the massive global financial flows.</b></p> <p>In some of his most extensive comments on his role in the recession, Brown said: "I take full responsibility for all my actions, but I think we're dealing with a bigger problem that is global in nature, as well as national. Perhaps 10 years ago after the Asian crisis when other countries thought these problems would go away, we should have been tougher ... keeping and forcing these issues on to the agenda like we did on debt relief and other issues of international policy."</p> <p>Brown spoke at the start of a major Guardian series on the Labor party's future. David Cameron, the Conservative leader, has exploited the prime minister's reluctance to make an apology, a tactic which has helped give him a double-digit lead in the polls. </p> <p>Brown's remarks will, he hopes, give the party a launchpad to retaliate, insisting that it "is essential for the sake of the country" that Labor wins a fourth term at the next general election, likely to be held next year. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20612">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20628"><B>Mistrial By iPhone: Juries Web Research Upends Trials</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 17:11:42<HR> <p><b>Last week, a juror in a big federal drug trial in Florida admitted to the judge that he had been doing research on the case on the Internet, directly violating the judgeâs instructions and centuries of legal rules; but when the judge questioned the rest of the jury, he got an even bigger shock.</b></p> <p><b>Eight other jurors had been doing the same thing. The federal judge, William J. Zloch, had no choice but to declare a mistrial, wasting eight weeks of work by federal prosecutors and defense lawyers.</b></p> <p>âWe were stunned,â said the defense lawyer, Peter Raben, who was told by the jury that he was on the verge of winning the case. âItâs the first time modern technology struck us in that fashion, and it hit us right over the head.â</p> <p><b>It might be called a Google mistrial. The use of BlackBerrys and iPhones by jurors gathering and sending out information about cases is wreaking havoc on trials around the country, upending deliberations and infuriating judges.</b></p> <p>Last week, a building products company asked an Arkansas court to overturn a $12.6 million judgment against it after a juror used Twitter to send updates during the civil trial.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20628">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20626"><B>U.S. Moves To Replace Contractors In Iraq</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 15:12:01<HR> <b>Blackwater losing security role; other jobs being converted to public sector.</b><br> <p><b> The decision not to renew Blackwater Worldwide's security contract in Iraq when it expires in early May has left the State Department scrambling to fill a protection gap for U.S. diplomats and civilian officials there.</b> </p> <p>Two other U.S. security contractors with a far smaller presence in Iraq - DynCorp International and Triple Canopy - have been asked to replace the ousted company, according to State Department and company officials. To meet time, training and security-clearance pressures, said officials, one or both of the firms are likely to undertake the task by rehiring some personnel now working for Blackwater. </p> <p>The Iraqi government refused to issue Blackwater a license to perform security services after a 2007 incident in which company guards on a diplomatic protection mission shot and killed 17 civilians in Baghdad. U.S. prosecutors have indicted five of the guards on charges of manslaughter. Blackwater (which recently changed its name to Xe) still has State Department contracts for air transport in Iraq and security for U.S. diplomats in Afghanistan. <br></p><p> Meanwhile, fallout from the shootings - including a new U.S.-Iraq status-of-forces agreement that places contractors under Iraqi legal jurisdiction for the first time - has led both the Pentagon and the State Department to create new categories of "full-time, temporary" federal jobs to handle some tasks currently done by contractors. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20626">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20624"><B>Medvedev: Russia Plans 'Large-Scale Rearming'</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 15:11:41<HR> <b>President Dmitri A. Medvedev said on Tuesday that Russia would begin a âlarge-scale rearmingâ in 2011 in response to what he described as threats to the countryâs security.</b> <p><b>In a speech before generals in Moscow, Medvedev cited encroachment by NATO as a primary reason for bolstering the armed and nuclear forces.</b></p> <p>Medvedev did not offer specifics on how much the budget would grow for the military, whose capabilities deteriorated significantly after the fall of Soviet Union.</p> <p>Russia has increased military spending sharply in recent years, but with the financial crisis and the drop in the price of oil, the countryâs finances are under pressure, suggesting that it would be hard to lift these expenditures further.</p> <p>Even so, Medvedevâs timing was notable. He is expected to hold his first meeting with President Obama in early April in London on the sidelines of the summit of the Group of 20 industrialized and developing countries.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20624">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20622"><B>Aided By Downturn, China's Businesses Go Shopping</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 15:11:13<HR> <b>Chinese companies have been on a shopping spree in the past month, snapping up tens of billions of dollars' worth of key assets in Iran, Brazil, Russia, Venezuela, Australia and France in a global fire sale set off by the financial crisis. </b> <p><b> The deals have allowed China to lock up supplies of oil, minerals, metals and other strategic natural resources it needs to continue to fuel its growth. The sheer scope of the agreements marks a shift in global finance, roiling energy markets and feeding worries about the future availability and prices of those commodities in other countries that compete for them, including the United States.</b> </p> <p>Just a few months ago, many countries were greeting such overtures from China with suspicion. Today, as corporations and banks in other parts of the world find themselves reluctant or unable to give out money to distressed companies, cash-rich China has become a major force driving new lending and investment. </p> <p>On Feb. 12, China's state-owned metals giant Chinalco signed a $19.5 billion deal with Australia's Rio Tinto that will eventually double its stake in the world's second-largest mining company. </p> <p>In three other cases, China has used loans as a way of securing energy supplies. On Feb. 17 and 18, China National Petroleum signed separate agreements with Russia and Venezuela under which China would provide $25 billion and $4 billion in loans, respectively, in exchange for long-term commitments to supply oil. And on Feb. 19, the China Development Bank struck a similar deal with Petrobras, the Brazilian oil company, agreeing to a loan of $10 billion in exchange for oil. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20622">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20620"><B>I.R.S. Plans A Deduction For Madoff Victims</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 15:10:31<HR> <p><b>The U.S. Internal Revenue Service will allow victims of Bernart L. Madoff's investment fraud to claim a tax deduction related to the bulk of their losses, the I.R.S. commissioner told the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday.</b></p> <p>The commissioner, Douglas H. Shulman, told lawmakers that the agency was offering guidelines for taxpayers who are victims of losses from Ponzi schemes like Madoffâs.</p> <p>The plan represents the first time that the I.R.S. has come forward with a policy regarding how it will treat Madoffâs victims. The subject has been a point of debate and anxiety for the victims and their accountants, given the uncertainty and lack of clarity in the tax code over how the matter should be dealt with.</p> <p>The plan, which applies to victims of all Ponzi schemes, will probably provide major relief to the victims of Madoff, who pleaded guilty last week to orchestrating what prosecutors say was the largest Ponzi scheme ever - one that could reach $65 billion and cover 13,000 investors.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20620">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20618"><B>U.S. Downed Iranian Drone Over Iraq</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 15:09:55<HR> <b>American warplanes shot down an unmanned Iranian aircraft last month as it flew over Iraqi territory, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Monday. </b> <p><b>The U.S. military said it had tracked the drone for about an hour and 10 minutes before shooting it down Feb. 25 about 60 miles northeast of the capital, Baghdad.</b> </p> <p><b> "This was not an accident on the part of the Iranians," said the military.</b> </p> <p>U.S. military officials in Washington, D.C., speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject, said they could not recall the United States ever before publicly acknowledging the downing of an unmanned Iranian aircraft. </p> <p>The incident comes at a delicate time in Iranian-U.S. relations, which have grown strained at times over allegations that Iran has supported groups fighting American troops here. In a departure from Bush administration policy, President Obama has said he would be open to engaging Iran, which borders both Iraq and Afghanistan. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20618">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20615"><B>Fighting The Recession: America Is From Mars, Europe Is From Venus</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 00:15:53<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>As the global economic downturn worsens, the industrialized nations are at odds over how to fight the crisis. Obama wants the Europeans to introduce additional stimulus programs, but Merkel insists Germany is already doing enough.</b></p> <p>The most important aspect of a political encounter is often the joint photo op. The parties shake hands and smile into the cameras, signaling to the public that they understand each other perfectly and everything is on track.</p> Seen from this perspective, the first meeting of U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel last summer was a moderate catastrophe. Before withdrawing for a one-on-one conversation, the two politicians posed at the door of the chancellor's office. <p>Obama reached cautiously for Merkel's lower arm, while she apparently considered if she should pat him on the shoulder. Then the chancellor extended her hand to the then-senator, who, at that very moment, happened to be looking in the other direction. By the time he tried to extend his hand to her, she had already turned around. As one observer noted, there was clearly a certain "sense of trepidation" between the two.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20615">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20613"><B>Commentary: If We Behave As If It's Too Late, Then Our Prophecy Is Bound To Come True</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 00:15:24<HR> <b>Intellpuke:</b> <i>This commentary was written by Prof. George Monbiot and appeared in the Guardian edition for Tuesday, March 17, 2009. In his commentary, <b>Prof. Monbiot writes: "However unlikely success might be, we can't afford to abandon efforts to cut [greenhouse gas] emissions - we just don't have any better options."</b> His commentary follows:</i><br> <p>Quietly in public, loudly in private, climate scientists everywhere are saying the same thing: it's over. The years in which more than 2 degrees Celsius of global warming could have been prevented have passed, the opportunities squandered by denial and delay. On current trajectories we'll be lucky to get away with 4 degrees Celsius. Mitigation (limiting greenhouse gas pollution) has failed; now we must adapt to what nature sends our way. If we can. </p> <p>This, at any rate, was the repeated whisper at the climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, last week. It's more or less what Bob Watson, the environment department's chief scientific adviser, has been telling the British government. It is the obvious if unspoken conclusion of scores of scientific papers. Recent work by scientists at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, for instance, suggests that even global cuts of 3% a year, starting in 2020, could leave us with 4 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century. At the moment, emissions are heading in the opposite direction at roughly the same rate. If this continues, what does it mean? Six? Eight? Ten degrees? Who knows?</p> <p>Faced with such figures, I can't blame anyone for throwing up their hands. But before you succumb to this fatalism, let me talk you through the options. </p> <p>Yes, it is true that mitigation has so far failed. Sabotaged by Clinton, abandoned by Bush, attended halfheartedly by the other rich nations, the global climate talks have so far been a total failure. The targets they have set bear no relation to the science and are negated anyway by loopholes and false accounting. Nations like the U.K., which is meeting its obligations under the Kyoto protocol, have succeeded only by outsourcing their pollution to other countries. And nations like Canada, which is flouting its obligations, face no meaningful sanctions. </p> <p>Lord Stern made it too easy: he appears to have underestimated the costs of mitigation. As the professor of energy policy Dieter Helm has shown, Stern's assumption that our consumption can continue to grow while our emissions fall is implausible. To have any hope of making substantial cuts we have both to reduce our consumption and transfer resources to countries like China to pay for the switch to low carbon technologies. As Helm notes, "there is not much in the study of human nature - and indeed human biology - to give support to the optimist".</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20613">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20611"><B>British Revenue Investigating Alleged Tax-Avoidance Schemes By Barclays Bank</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 00:14:42<HR> <b>Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs was Monday night investigating explosive allegations about tax avoidance schemes operated by Barclays Bank, made by a whistleblower in the firm and apparently substantiated by leaked documents.</b> <p><b>HMRC's moves came as the government announced steps to try to discourage tax avoidance by Britain's banks, now frequently dependent on state aid. The chancellor launched plans for a code of practice in which banks would be expected to abide by the "spirit of the law".</b></p> <p>The whistleblower in Barclays' apparently troubled structured-finance department at Canary Wharf has disclosed to the Liberal Democrats the existence of a scheme condenamed "Project Knight".</p> <p>In memos seen by the Guardian, executives from SCM, Barclays' structured capital markets division, sought approval for a 2007 plan to sink a total of more than $16 billion into U.S. loans.</p> <p>Tax benefits were to be generated by an elaborate circuit of Caymans companies, U.S. partnerships and Luxembourg subsidiaries, in a $4 billion deal with North Carolina Branch Banking & Trust Co (BB&T).</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20611">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-36371349259923414622009-03-17T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-17T01:23:45.595-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Tuesday March 17 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Tuesday March 17 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20615"><B>Fighting The Recession: America Is From Mars, Europe Is From Venus</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 00:15:53<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>As the global economic downturn worsens, the industrialized nations are at odds over how to fight the crisis. Obama wants the Europeans to introduce additional stimulus programs, but Merkel insists Germany is already doing enough.</b></p> <p>The most important aspect of a political encounter is often the joint photo op. The parties shake hands and smile into the cameras, signaling to the public that they understand each other perfectly and everything is on track.</p> Seen from this perspective, the first meeting of U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel last summer was a moderate catastrophe. Before withdrawing for a one-on-one conversation, the two politicians posed at the door of the chancellor's office. <p>Obama reached cautiously for Merkel's lower arm, while she apparently considered if she should pat him on the shoulder. Then the chancellor extended her hand to the then-senator, who, at that very moment, happened to be looking in the other direction. By the time he tried to extend his hand to her, she had already turned around. As one observer noted, there was clearly a certain "sense of trepidation" between the two.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20615">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20613"><B>Commentary: If We Behave As If It's Too Late, Then Our Prophecy Is Bound To Come True</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 00:15:24<HR> <b>Intellpuke:</b> <i>This commentary was written by Prof. George Monbiot and appeared in the Guardian edition for Tuesday, March 17, 2009. In his commentary, <b>Prof. Monbiot writes: "However unlikely success might be, we can't afford to abandon efforts to cut [greenhouse gas] emissions - we just don't have any better options."</b> His commentary follows:</i><br> <p>Quietly in public, loudly in private, climate scientists everywhere are saying the same thing: it's over. The years in which more than 2 degrees Celsius of global warming could have been prevented have passed, the opportunities squandered by denial and delay. On current trajectories we'll be lucky to get away with 4 degrees Celsius. Mitigation (limiting greenhouse gas pollution) has failed; now we must adapt to what nature sends our way. If we can. </p> <p>This, at any rate, was the repeated whisper at the climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, last week. It's more or less what Bob Watson, the environment department's chief scientific adviser, has been telling the British government. It is the obvious if unspoken conclusion of scores of scientific papers. Recent work by scientists at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, for instance, suggests that even global cuts of 3% a year, starting in 2020, could leave us with 4 degrees Celsius of warming by the end of the century. At the moment, emissions are heading in the opposite direction at roughly the same rate. If this continues, what does it mean? Six? Eight? Ten degrees? Who knows?</p> <p>Faced with such figures, I can't blame anyone for throwing up their hands. But before you succumb to this fatalism, let me talk you through the options. </p> <p>Yes, it is true that mitigation has so far failed. Sabotaged by Clinton, abandoned by Bush, attended halfheartedly by the other rich nations, the global climate talks have so far been a total failure. The targets they have set bear no relation to the science and are negated anyway by loopholes and false accounting. Nations like the U.K., which is meeting its obligations under the Kyoto protocol, have succeeded only by outsourcing their pollution to other countries. And nations like Canada, which is flouting its obligations, face no meaningful sanctions. </p> <p>Lord Stern made it too easy: he appears to have underestimated the costs of mitigation. As the professor of energy policy Dieter Helm has shown, Stern's assumption that our consumption can continue to grow while our emissions fall is implausible. To have any hope of making substantial cuts we have both to reduce our consumption and transfer resources to countries like China to pay for the switch to low carbon technologies. As Helm notes, "there is not much in the study of human nature - and indeed human biology - to give support to the optimist".</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20613">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20611"><B>British Revenue Investigating Alleged Tax-Avoidance Schemes By Barclays Bank</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 00:14:42<HR> <b>Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs was Monday night investigating explosive allegations about tax avoidance schemes operated by Barclays Bank, made by a whistleblower in the firm and apparently substantiated by leaked documents.</b> <p><b>HMRC's moves came as the government announced steps to try to discourage tax avoidance by Britain's banks, now frequently dependent on state aid. The chancellor launched plans for a code of practice in which banks would be expected to abide by the "spirit of the law".</b></p> <p>The whistleblower in Barclays' apparently troubled structured-finance department at Canary Wharf has disclosed to the Liberal Democrats the existence of a scheme condenamed "Project Knight".</p> <p>In memos seen by the Guardian, executives from SCM, Barclays' structured capital markets division, sought approval for a 2007 plan to sink a total of more than $16 billion into U.S. loans.</p> <p>Tax benefits were to be generated by an elaborate circuit of Caymans companies, U.S. partnerships and Luxembourg subsidiaries, in a $4 billion deal with North Carolina Branch Banking & Trust Co (BB&T).</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20611">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20609"><B>In U.S., Mortgage Fraud Increases By 26 Percent</B></A><BR>2009-03-16 18:15:46<HR> <p><b> Mortgage fraud in the U.S. rose last year even though fewer loans were issued nationwide, and Maryland ranked among the top five states with the most serious problems, according to an industry study released Monday. </b></p> <p><b>Fraud jumped by 26 percent in 2008 from the previous year, the study concluded, based on data collected from roughly 70 percent of the nation's lenders as well as mortgage insurance companies and mortgage investors. The study was prepared by the Mortgage Asset Research Institute, an arm of LexisNexis, for the Mortgage Bankers Association.</b> </p> <p>Rhode Island topped the list of most troubled states, trailed by Florida, which held the number one slot in 2007. Reports of fraud in Rhode Island were three times what was expected given the number of loans made there. </p> <p>Next on the list were Illinois, Georgia and Maryland, which landed among the top 10 for the first time in the study's 11-year history and stood out as having the highest percentage of fraud on tax returns and financial statements. It shot up from the 15th slot in 2007. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20609">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20607"><B>U.S. Rep. Murtha's Earmarks Questioned; Federal Funds Went To Supporters</B></A><BR>2009-03-16 18:15:25<HR> <p><b> A Pennsylvania defense research center regularly consulted with two "handlers" close to U.S. Rep. John Murtha (D-Pennsylvania) as it collected nearly $250 million in federal funding through the lawmaker, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post and sources familiar with the funding requests. The center then channeled a significant portion of the funding to companies that were among Murtha's campaign supporters. </b></p> <p>The two advisers included a lobbyist for PMA, a firm with close ties to Murtha that is the subject of a federal probe into whether it made illegal contributions by reimbursing donors to the Pennsylvania lawmaker and other members of Congress. The Electro-Optics Center also relied on advice from a longtime Murtha friend who now works on the congressman's appropriations staff. </p> <p><b>Federal agents are also exploring how the center obtained its funds after receiving dozens of internal documents last year. It is unclear whether the records have become a central focus of the Justice Department's ongoing probe, but they open a window into a largely hidden process in which powerful lawmakers can direct funds to pet projects.</b> </p> <p>The Electro-Optics Center, created by Murtha a decade ago under the auspices of Pennsylvania State University, was envisioned as a way to spur a new high-tech industry and create jobs in economically depressed western Pennsylvania. Last year, the U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh received a packet of budget materials, memos and e-mails from inside the center documenting how closely its managers conferred with PMA about the best ways to get its projects funded in the federal budget, according to two sources familiar with the information. </p> <p>The center was supposed to help contractors in researching laser and optics technology to improve products for the military, and center officials said contractors were supposed to benefit from some of the federal funds. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20607">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20605"><B>Obama Orders Treasury Dept. To Try To Block A.I.G. Bonuses</B></A><BR>2009-03-16 13:55:41<HR> <b>President Obama vowed to try to stop the faltering insurance giant American International Group from paying out hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses to executives, as the administration scrambled to avert a populist backlash against banks and Wall Street that could complicate Obamaâs economic recovery agenda.</b> <p><b>âIn the last six months, A.I.G. has received substantial sums from the U.S. Treasury,â said Obama, adding that he had asked Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner âto use that leverage and pursue every single legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole.â</b></p> <p>In strongly-worded remarks delivered in the White House East Room before small business owners, Obama called A.I.G. âa corporation that finds itself in financial distress due to recklessness and greed.â</p> <p>âUnder these circumstances, itâs hard to understand how derivative traders at A.I.G. warranted any bonuses at all, much less $165 million in extra pay,â said Obama. âHow do they justify this outrage to the taxpayers who are keeping the company afloat?â</p> <p>White House officials said that the administration is not looking to take A.I.G. to court to stop the company from paying out the bonuses. They said the Treasury Department would be trying to figure out what they can do to block A.I.G. from making the payments within the legal confines of A.I.G.âs contractual obligations to the executives.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20605">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20603"><B>New York Attorney General Seeks A.I.G. Bonus Information</B></A><BR>2009-03-16 13:55:16<HR> <p><b>New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo on Monday sent a letter to the American International Group, <strong></strong>demanding more information about the employees who are set to receive about $165 million in bonus payments.</b></p> <p>Cuomoâs letter, demanding the information by 4 p.m. on Monday under threat of subpoena, is the latest instance of outrage by a public official regarding the plan. At a speech before small business owners Monday afternoon, President Obama said he is asking the Treasury Department to pursue âevery single legal avenue to blockâ the bonuses.</p> <p>A.I.G. has said that the payments, to employees at the financial products unit responsible for billions of dollars in losses, are bound by contracts. Government advisers like Lawrence H. Summers of the National Economic Council had also said that their hands are tied.<span id="more-38103"></span></p> <p>In his letter, sent to Edward M. Liddy, A.I.G.âs government-appointed chief executive, Cuomo said that he has investigated the insurance companyâs compensation plan since last fall. The attorney general is seeking the list of employees who will receive these bonuses, as well as their job information and performances. Cuomo said that the company had failed to heed a previous request for this list.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20603">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20601"><B>El Salvador's Leftist F.M.L.N. Party Wins Presidential Election</B></A><BR>2009-03-16 13:54:41<HR> <b>El Salvador's F.M.L.N., the leftist party of the countryâs former guerrillas, won the presidential election Sunday after a bruising election campaign, marking a turning point after two decades of rule by the right. </b> <p><b>Mauricio Funes, a former television reporter, declared himself the winner before F.M.L.N. campaign workers chanting âyes, we couldâ at the Sheraton Hotel as supporters on the street waved flags and honked car horns in celebration.</b></p> <p>âThis is the happiest night of my life,â said Funes. âAnd I hope it is also the night of greatest hope for El Salvador .â </p> <p>Two hours later, Funesâ conservative opponent, Rodrigo Avila, conceded defeat. âThese are the ups and downs of democracy,â said Avila , the former national police chief. His party, the Nationalist Republican Alliance, known as Arena, had won the presidency four times since 1989. </p> <p>The victory marked the culmination of nearly two decades of political efforts by the F.M.L.N., the Farabundo Martà National Liberation Front, to defeat Arena, which was on the opposite side during this nationâs 12-year civil war which ended in 1992. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20601">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20614"><B>Scientists: U.K. Government Carbon Targets 'Too Weak' To Prevent Dangerous Climate Change</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 00:15:36<HR> <p><b>Proposed government carbon targets are too weak to prevent dangerous levels of global warming, according to a new analysis by leading scientists. Ministers are poised to introduce strict limits on U.K. carbon pollution when they announce Britain's first carbon budget next month; but experts from the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research warned Tuesday that official advice used to set the budget is "naively optimistic" and will not stop dangerous climate change. </b></p> <p>It comes after scientists at a global warming conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, last week warned that emissions are rising faster than expected,and that climate change could strike harder and faster than predicted. </p> <p>The Tyndall Centre report analyses the conclusions of the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), which said in December that ministers should aim to cut U.K. emissions 34% by 2020, as part of worldwide efforts to limit temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius.</p> <p>The Tyndall scientists say the committee's report is "inevitably and significantly compromised" because it focuses on limiting temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, which the European Union defines as dangerous. The committee was forced to use "highly optimistic and sometimes unclear assumptions" to hit the 2C target, they say.</p> <p>Chief among these, they say, was that global emissions of greenhouse gases would peak in 2016, despite little evidence that such a U-turn in soaring emissions within seven years is "in any way viable". A peak of emissions in 2020, which the Tyndall Centre says is more realistic, would leave governments facing an impossible challenge to hit the 2 degrees Celsius target, it adds.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20614">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20612"><B>Britain's Prime Minister: 'Laissez-Faire Government Is Over'</B></A><BR>2009-03-17 00:15:05<HR> <b>Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown attempts to launch a political fightback Tuesday by declaring that he takes "full responsibility" for his role in the banking failures that led to the global recession, and claims that the downturn marks the end of the era of laissez-faire government.</b> <p><b>In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, the prime minister concedes that in retrospect he wishes he had mounted a popular campaign 10 years ago to demand more responsible regulation of the world's financial markets. He attempts to draw a line under calls for him to make an apology by admitting that the national system of regulation he helped establish in 1997 could not keep pace with the massive global financial flows.</b></p> <p>In some of his most extensive comments on his role in the recession, Brown said: "I take full responsibility for all my actions, but I think we're dealing with a bigger problem that is global in nature, as well as national. Perhaps 10 years ago after the Asian crisis when other countries thought these problems would go away, we should have been tougher ... keeping and forcing these issues on to the agenda like we did on debt relief and other issues of international policy."</p> <p>Brown spoke at the start of a major Guardian series on the Labor party's future. David Cameron, the Conservative leader, has exploited the prime minister's reluctance to make an apology, a tactic which has helped give him a double-digit lead in the polls. </p> <p>Brown's remarks will, he hopes, give the party a launchpad to retaliate, insisting that it "is essential for the sake of the country" that Labor wins a fourth term at the next general election, likely to be held next year. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20612">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20610"><B>White House Budget Director Rejects Governor's Proposed Use Of Stimulus Funds</B></A><BR>2009-03-16 18:15:58<HR> <b>White House Budget Director Peter Orszag on Monday rejected South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's request to use up to $700 million of his state's economic stimulus funds to pay down state government debt.</b> <p><b> Sanford thanked the White House and said he would send the Obama administration another, "more narrowly tailored" request Tuesday to use stimulus money to reduce his state's debt.</b></p> <p>Sanford also accused President Barack Obama of playing a "game of good cop, bad cop" by allowing the Democratic National Committee to begin Monday airing a TV ad criticizing the governor for opposing the $787 billion stimulus, which the president signed last month. </p> <!-- story_feature_box.comp --><!-- /story_feature_box.comp --><!-- story_factbox.comp --> <!-- /story_factbox.comp --> <p>Orszag, responding to a letter Sanford sent to Obama last week, said the $787 billion stimulus bill Obama signed into law last month doesn't allow governors to use money intended for other purposes to instead make debt payments.</p> <p>"During this severe economic downturn, Congress and the president wanted to provide states and localities with emergency funding in order to prevent the layoffs of teachers, police officers and other vital public servants," Orszag wrote to Sanford.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20610">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20608"><B>Dow Closes Down 7 Points</B></A><BR>2009-03-16 18:15:36<HR> <p> <span style="font-weight: bold;">Stock markets broke their four-day rally Monday, dipping into negative territory after a volatile day of trading. </span></p> <p> Both the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average and the broader Standard & Poor's 500-stock index started the day strong, soaring more than 2 percent amid renewed confidence in the financial sector; but those gains evaporated about half-hour before closing as investors hedged their bets, said analysts, sending the two major indexes to close flat. </p> <p><b>The Dow closed down .1 percent, or 7 points, at 7,216.97. The S&P fell .3 percent, or 2.7 points, to 753.89. The tech-heavy Nasdaq had swung wildly for most of the day, dragged down by Microsoft and Intel. It dropped 1.9 percent, or 27.48 points, to 1,404.02.</b> </p> <p> "This is sort of the thing that has been standing in our way for the last several months," said Carl Beck, partner with Harris Financial Group in Richmond. "Every time you get a good rally going, you start running out of steam." </p> <p>The declines come after last week's rally boosted the markets out of 12-year lows, providing the best performance since November. Investors had hoped the momentum would continue, especially after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said expressed confidence during a "60 Minutes" interview over the weekend that the country's largest banks would not fail. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20608">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20606"><B>Florida's Emergency Management Chief To Head FEMA</B></A><BR>2009-03-16 18:15:06<HR> <p><b>As Florida's chief of emergency management, he has literally been in the eye of the hurricane, over and over again. Now, as President Barack Obama's pick to run the Federal Emergency Management Agency, he carries decades of in-the-trenches experience to a high-profile job with no margin for error.</b></p> <p><b>"The best decision I ever made in my professional life was to hire him," said Joe Myers, who preceded Fugate (FEW-gate) as Florida's emergency management director. "I wasn't looking for someone who sugarcoated everything. In a disaster, you don't want that."</b> </p> <p> Myers, who now runs an emergency-management consulting firm, hired Fugate in 1997 as a bureau chief helping Florida prepare for hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts and wildfires. The two men hit it off so well that the job interview lasted five hours.</p> <p>"I asked him, 'What is your weakness?' " Myers recalled. "He said, 'I don't suffer fools.' I said, 'That's the man I need'." <br> </p> <p>Fugate is known for plain talk and a direct manner. Friends have urged him not to change his ways when he gets to Washington.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20606">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20604"><B>Red Cross Described 'Torture' At CIA Jails</B></A><BR>2009-03-16 13:55:29<HR> <p><b> The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) concluded in a secret report that the Bush administration's treatment of al-Qaeda captives "constituted torture," a finding that strongly implied that CIA interrogation methods violated international law, according to newly published excerpts from the long-concealed 2007 document. </b></p> <p><b>The report, an account alleging physical and psychological brutality inside CIA "black site" prisons, also states that some U.S. practices amounted to "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment." Such maltreatment of detainees is expressly prohibited by the Geneva Conventions.</b> </p> <p>The findings were based on an investigation by ICRC officials, who were granted exclusive access to the CIA's "high-value" detainees after they were transferred in 2006 to the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The 14 detainees, who had been kept in isolation in CIA prisons overseas, gave remarkably uniform accounts of abuse that included beatings, sleep deprivation, extreme temperatures and, in some cases, waterboarding, or simulating drowning. </p> <p>At least five copies of the report were shared with the CIA and top White House officials in 2007 but barred from public release by ICRC guidelines intended to preserve the humanitarian group's strict policy of neutrality in conflicts. A copy of the report was obtained by Mark Danner, a journalism professor and author who published extensive excerpts in the April 9 edition of the New York Review of Books, released Sunday. He did not say how he obtained the report. </p> <p>"The ill-treatment to which they were subjected while held in the CIA program, either singly or in combination, constituted torture," Danner quoted the report as saying. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20604">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20602"><B>Pakistan's Protesters Rejoice At Chief Justice's Reinstatement</B></A><BR>2009-03-16 13:55:04<HR> <b>It was a day of rejoicing, of drum playing, and of smiling at strangers. Pakistan's chief justice had just been reinstated after a two-year struggle, and for those assembled in the countryâs capital to celebrate, anything seemed possible. </b> <p><b>âWeâre watching history,â said Javed Ali Khan, a 45-year-old who had traveled for days with his wife and six children to participate in a national march of lawyers and opposition political parties. It was the oppositionâs perseverance in the face of government attempts to quash the march that led to the reinstatement.</b> </p> <p>Hassan Akhtar, a lawyer who grew up in England, gushed: âItâs really wonderful. Itâs a once in a lifetime experience. I couldnât even dream of this.â</p> <p>In the crowd, whose members included a radio announcer who was researching homosexuality and an illiterate mechanic who wore a flower pot on his head to stay cool and admitted to stealing monkeys to get by, one word was on everybodyâs lips.</p> <p>âJustice,â said Khanâs wife, Rubina Javed, smiling broadly. âWe came for justice.â </p> <p>The word was apt for the victory at hand: the restoration of the chief justice, Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, to his court; but others in a jubilant crowd celebrating on Chaudhryâs lawn on Monday were working from a broader interpretation. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20602">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20600"><B>Oil Rises Above $47 A Barrel On Equities Rally</B></A><BR>2009-03-16 13:54:28<HR> <b>Oil rose to more than $47 on Monday, reversing earlier losses, on the view that OPEC cuts had started to take effect and a rally in equity markets.</b> <p><b>A production outage in Nigeria and security concerns about Iran also helped prices to reverse a 5 percent fall that was triggered by an OPEC decision on Sunday to leave existing output targets unchanged.</b></p> <p>U.S. light crude was trading 84 cents up at $47.09 a barrel by 1617 GMT, after falling to as low as $43.62 a barrel. London Brent crude was trading down by 90 cents at $44.03.</p> <p>Full compliance with OPEC's cuts would take more than 800,000 barrels per day from the market. OPEC's compliance has been estimated at about 80 percent.</p> <p>"In view of the still fragile global economy, downside risks to the oil price will not be eliminated until the very end of 2009," Adam Sieminski, Deutsche Bank's chief energy economist, said in a research note.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20600">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-91359514849037085592009-03-16T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-16T01:33:04.150-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Monday March 16 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Monday March 16 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20599"><B>Anti-Government Protesters Now Outnumber, Overwhelm Pakistan Police In Many Major Cities</B></A><BR>2009-03-15 17:08:53<HR> <b>Thousands of demonstrators poured into the streets of this provincial capital Sunday, throwing rocks at police and cheering exultantly as they called for the restoration of Pakistan's deposed judges and denounced the government of President Asif Ali Zardari.</b> <p><b>An extraordinary cross-section of Pakistan's political, social and religious sectors joined the day-long protests, while two major opposition leaders - former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and top legal dissident Aitzaz Ahsan - escaped house arrest in the city and led caravans of chanting supporters through the city streets.</b> </p> <p>Security forces sealed off the federal capital, Islamabad, before dawn, placing huge cargo containers across major roads and cordoning off the government center in an effort to block demonstrators from reaching there for a planned peaceful sit-in Monday. There were reports that the government had also jammed the frequencies for cell phone text messages to prevent opponents from coordinating their actions. </p> <p>Despite the crackdown, which included an emergency ban on public rallies in three of Pakistan's four provinces, protesters in Lahore seemed to overwhelm police as they packed the city amid boisterous tumult. Thousands converged outside the Lahore High Court complex, and vowed to depart from there in caravans for Islamabad, about 150 miles away Sunday night. </p> <p>By late afternoon, the deputy city administrator and numerous officials of the provincial government had resigned and provincial police had been withdrawn from the protest areas, signaling the collapse of Zardari's bid to seize control of Punjab from Sharif, whose party has dominated it for years. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20599">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20597"><B>Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Killed Healthy Teen In Just 5 Days</B></A><BR>2009-03-15 17:08:08<HR> <b>Ryan Robinson went from a healthy, 17-year-old soccer player at the peak of his form to another victim of a deadly drug-resistant strain of bacteria - all within the span of five days.</b> <p><b>It's something his stepfather still cannot fathom.</b></p> <p>"It's a surreal experience," Michael Brown said Thursday, two days before Ryan's Saturday funeral. "It's not something you can plan for."</p> <p>Ryan died Tuesday. His rapid deterioration in health stemmed from MRSA, a strain of staph that is aggressive and typically harder to treat because it is resistant to commonly used antibiotics.</p> <p>Until the beginning of this decade, MRSA, short for methicillin-resistant <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i>, was largely confined to hospitals; but, in the last few years, there has been an increase in cases of drug-resistant staph among the general public, including jails, the military and athletic teams.</p> <p>Athletes are at risk because they "are more likely to be in a crowded condition," said Dr. Kraig Humbaugh, an epidemiologist with the Kentucky Department for Public Health.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20597">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20595"><B>OPEC Calls For End Of Overproduction</B></A><BR>2009-03-15 06:42:16<HR> <b>OPEC ministers on Saturday called for an end to overproduction by some members as they sought to slice nearly a million barrels per day from world supply and boost prices - but without further shocking the anemic global economy.<br> </b> <br> Their comments suggested that Sunday's oil ministers' meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries might opt for a call on all members to honor production quotas, instead of deciding to slash output outright.<br> <br> <div class="storybody"> Most members of the 12-nation organization had been clear in favoring reduced output in the days preceding Sunday's full meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Still they had left open whether they want to lower output quotas - or if they favor a solution less likely to hurt the struggling global economy by simply seeking to end overproduction by some nations above levels allotted to them.<br> <br> Algerian energy and mines minister Chakib Khelil called for both. "Comply and cut," he told reporters asking what he preferred.</div> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20595">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20593"><B>Bailout King AIG Still Plans To Pay Hundreds Of Millions In Bonuses </B></A><BR>2009-03-15 06:41:41<HR> <p><b> Insurance giant American International Group (AIG) will award hundreds of millions of dollars in employee bonuses and retention pay despite a confrontation Wednesday between the chief executive and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner. </b></p> <p><b>The company agreed to revise some executive payments after what AIG's leader, Edward M. Liddy, called a "difficult" conversation.</b> </p> <p>The bonuses and other payments have been exasperating government officials, who have committed $170 billion to keep the company afloat - far more than has been offered to any other financial firm. </p> <p>The issue came to a head when Geithner called Liddy and told him the payments were unacceptable and had to be renegotiated, said an administration official who was not authorized to comment on the Geithner conversation. </p> <p>In a letter to Geithner Saturday, Liddy agreed to restructure some of the payments, but Liddy said he had "grave concerns" about the impact on the firm's ability to retain talented staff "if employees believe that their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20593">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20591"><B>Conservative Talk Radio In CaliforniaTakes It On The Chin</B></A><BR>2009-03-15 06:41:02<HR> <b>The economy's downturn has depressed advertising revenues across California, thinning the ranks of conservative broadcasters.</b><br> <br> Tune in to conservative talk radio in California, and the insults quickly fly. Capturing the angry mood of listeners the other day, a popular host in Los Angeles called Republican lawmakers who voted to raise state taxes "a bunch of weak slobs." <br> <br> With their trademark ferocity, radio stars who helped engineer Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's rise in the 2003 recall have turned on him over the new tax increases. On stations up and down the state, they are chattering away in hopes of igniting a taxpayers' revolt to kill his budget measures on the May 19 ballot.<br> <br> For all the anti-tax swagger and the occasional stunts by personalities like KFI's John and Ken, the reality is that conservative talk radio in California is on the wane. The economy's downturn has depressed ad revenue at stations across the state, thinning the ranks of conservative broadcasters.<br> <br> For that and other reasons, stations have dropped the shows of at least half a dozen radio personalities and scaled back others, in some cases replacing them with cheaper nationally syndicated programs. <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20591">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20598"><B>America Cheers As Satirist Jon Stewart Delivers Knockout Blow To T.V. Finance Gurus</B></A><BR>2009-03-15 17:08:40<HR> <b>For the past 10 days, the U.S. has has been gripped. Even President Obama tuned in as the country's foremost TV comic, Jon Stewart, unleashed an extraordinary broadside against TV's top financial commentators for their part in the unfolding economic crisis. </b><br> <p>First came the imperial marching music and a fiery explosion. "You've watched snippets of them for days, or meant to after your friends sent you the link," a voice boomed with mock gravity. "Tonight, the week-long feud of the century comes to a head."</p> <p><b>It was a comically absurd drumroll for what, on the surface, was merely a squabble between TV presenters. In one corner, Jim Cramer, the closest thing to a celebrity in American financial journalism. In the opposite corner, Jon Stewart, the satirist and host of the fake news program The Daily Show on Comedy Central but, unlike many a big fight, this one more than surpassed the hype. Nothing less than financial reporting itself was put on trial - and found severely wanting.</b></p> <p>Cramer, who dispenses raucous advice to investors on the Mad Money show on the business channel CNBC, was eviscerated by a serious and genuinely angry Stewart. Meek and contrite, Cramer was pummeled like a rope-a-dope over his profession's failure to be an effective watchdog of Wall Street. There was no cornerman to throw in the towel.</p> <p>The interview was one of those classic television moments that crystallized the public mood in the credit crisis. Stewart articulated the anger and bewilderment of millions of Americans who now feel ripped off and afraid. He framed the question everyone wanted asked: how were the financial masters of the universe allowed to pursue their ruinous behavior unchallenged for so long?</p> <p>It caught the attention of the White House, prompted a frenzy among bloggers and soul-searching in the media, which failed to spot the biggest story of a lifetime or warn the public until it was too late. Indeed, CNBC and other supposedly objective journalists stood accused of complicity with big business, belonging to a cosy coterie that egged on company chief executives and fanned the flames of excess.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20598">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20596"><B>'Merchant Of Death' Denies Arming Al-Qaeda</B></A><BR>2009-03-15 17:07:44<HR> <p><b>Viktor Bout, the Russian accused of being the world's biggest arms dealer, has angrily denied allegations that he supplied weapons to the Taliban and al-Qaeda in his first interview for six years with the western media. Bout is currently languishing in a maximum security prison in Bangkok, Thailand, after being arrested in March last year in a sting operation by American agents. The United States has requested his extradition and final court hearings are expected to take place next week.</b></p> <p><b>Bout said that the allegations against him were "lies and bullshit". He said: "I never supplied arms as such at all and I never especially never had any deal with al-Qaeda." Asked if it was possible that planes owned by him carried weapons without his knowledge, he said: "I could not exclude that." During four separate interviews with Channel 4 News, he later admitted that his planes did ship arms into Afghanistan in 1996 for the government during the civil war it fought against the Taliban.</b></p> <p>Bout, who has been nicknamed "the Merchant of Death" and "the embargo buster", became a notorious figure during the 1990s, when he was accused of illegally smuggling arms to numerous African regimes and conflicts. </p> <p>The United Nations has accused him of arming the alleged war criminal Charles Taylor in Liberia, as well as rebels in Sierra Leone and the Congo. He was arrested in a five-star hotel last March while allegedly discussing the sale of shoulder-launched missiles with U.S. agents masquerading as Colombian rebels from FARC. The request to Thai authorities to arrest Bout says the U.S. feared he was traveling on a British passport, number K163077. U.K. officials have declined to comment.</p> <p>His latest denials were treated with skepticism by those responsible for investigating his activities during the 1990s. Former foreign minister Peter Hain, who originally tagged him "the Merchant of Death", said: "He was fueling the war in Sierra Leone, where terrorists with guns were cutting off the limbs of civilians and shooting the people of the country, and they would not have been able to do that if were it not for his arms coming in." Johan Peleman, who investigated him for the U.N., said: "I would not - like some - call him the McDonald's of the arms business. I think he's more a very talented and cunning businessman."</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20596">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20594"><B>In South Afghanistan, U.S. Troops Face New Tests</B></A><BR>2009-03-15 06:41:59<HR> <b>Lt. Col. Daniel Hurlbut rolled into the dusty Taliban stronghold of Maywand in September with a battalion of U.S. Army infantrymen and a detailed, year-long plan to combat the Taliban. </b> <p><b>The first quarter was to be devoted to reconnaissance. The next three months would involve military operations to root out insurgents. By now, his unit should have been focusing on reconstruction and building up the local government. </b></p> <p><b>Yet the battalion's efforts to pry information about the Taliban from the local population - by conducting foot patrols, doling out money for mosques to buy new prayer rugs and offering agricultural assistance to subsistence farmers - have been met with indifference, if not downright hostility. </b></p> <p><b> "Nobody wants to tell us anything," said Hurlbut, sighing.</b> </p> <p> His initial plan, he has since concluded, was wildly optimistic. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20594">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20592"><B>Zloty Plunges As Currency-Exchange Gamble Is Costing Polish Consumers</B></A><BR>2009-03-15 06:41:22<HR> <b>Like many of its formerly communist neighbors in Eastern Europe, Poland has turned into a country of capitalist gamblers.</b> <p> In recent years, as their economy boomed, millions of Poles became foreign-currency speculators, buying property, cars and consumer goods with loans denominated in low-interest Swiss francs. As the Polish currency, the zloty, soared in value, most borrowers found it cheaper to pay off their debts in Swiss money, even though few had ever been to Switzerland or knew what a franc looked like. </p> <p><b>Since August, however, the zloty has unexpectedly collapsed, losing nearly half its value against the Swiss franc. About two-thirds of all Polish mortgage holders now face skyrocketing payments. If the zloty continues to tumble, analysts fear the problem could lead to a wave of defaults in the region, dealing a major setback to Europe's already weakened banking system. </b></p> <p><b>"Just like the subprime mortgages were a wonderful idea in the United States as long as house prices kept rising, so it was with the Swiss-franc loans here," said Witold M. Orlowski, a former adviser to the Polish president and now chief economist for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Warsaw. "It was seen as a win-win game. There were warnings, but basically people ignored them."</b> </p> <p>Currency gambling has backfired in several other countries in Eastern and Central Europe. In Hungary, Romania and Ukraine, a majority of mortgages and other consumer loans were taken out in Swiss francs, euros, even Japanese yen - all of which offered substantially lower interest rates than the Eastern European currencies. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20592">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-65675195493594905792009-03-15T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-15T01:31:35.086-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Sunday March 15 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Sunday March 15 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20590"><B>President Obama Plans To Overhaul Food Safety</B></A><BR>2009-03-14 14:13:03<HR> <b>Describing the governmentâs failure to inspect 95 percent of food processing plants as âa hazard to the public health,â President Obama promised Saturday to bolster and reorganize the nationâs fractured food-safety system.<br> </b> <p><b>âIn the end, food safety is something I take seriously, not just as your president, but as a parent,â Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.</b> </p> <p>Obama announced the creation of a Food Safety Working Group, which will include the secretaries of health and agriculture, to advise him on which laws and regulations need to be changed, to foster coordination across federal agencies, and to ensure that laws are enforced.</p> <p>A bipartisan chorus of powerful lawmakers in Congress has promised to enact fundamental changes in the nationâs food-protection system. On Saturday, Obama made clear that he not only supported that legislative effort but that he also might push to expand it.</p> <p>A dozen federal agencies share responsibility for ensuring the safety of the nationâs food supply, an oversight system that critics and government investigators have for years said needed major revisions. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20590">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20588"><B>Frenzy Of Drilling Ends As Oil, Gas Prices Plunge</B></A><BR>2009-03-14 14:12:39<HR> <b>The great American drilling boom is over.</b> <p><b>The number of oil and gas rigs deployed to tap new energy supplies across the country has plunged to less than 1,200 from 2,400 last summer, and energy executives say the drop is accelerating further.</b></p> <p>Lower prices are bringing to an end an ambitious effort to squeeze more oil from aging fields and to tap new sources of natural gas.For the last four years, companies here drilled below airports, golf courses, churches and playgrounds in a frantic search for energy. They scoured the Rocky Mountains, the Great Plains, the Gulf of Mexico and Appalachia. </p> <p>But the economic downturn has cut into demand. Global oil prices and American natural gas prices have plummeted two-thirds since last summer. Not even an unseasonably cold winter drove down unusually high inventories of natural gas.</p> <p>The drop has been good news for American consumers, with gasoline now selling for $1.92 a gallon, on average, down from a high of $4.11 in July; but the result for companies is that it is becoming unprofitable to drill.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20588">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20589"><B>U.S. Begins To Rethink Old Doctrine</B></A><BR>2009-03-14 14:12:53<HR> <b>The protracted wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are forcing the Obama administration to rethink what for more than two decades has been a central premise of American strategy: That the nation need only prepare to fight two major wars at a time.</b><br> <p>For more than six years now, the United States has in fact been fighting two wars, with more than 170,000 troops now deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. The military has openly acknowledged that the wars have left troops and equipment severely strained, and has said that it would be difficult to carry out any kind of significant operation elsewhere. </p> <p>To some extent, fears have faded that the United States may actually have to fight, say, Russia and North Korea, or China and Iran, at the same time. Yet if Iraq and Afghanistan were never formidable foes in conventional terms, they have already tied up the American military for a period longer than World War II. </p> <p>A senior Defense Department official involved in a strategy review now under way said the Pentagon was absorbing the lesson that the kinds of counterinsurgency campaigns likely to be part of some future wars would require more staying power than in past conflicts, like the first Iraq war in 1991 or the invasions of Grenada and Panama. </p> <p>In an interview with National Public Radio last week, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates made it clear that the Pentagon was beginning to reconsider whether the old two-wars assumption âmakes any sense in the 21st centuryâ as a guide to planning, budgeting and weapons-buying. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20589">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20587"><B>Obama Administration Drops 'Enemy Combatant' </B></A><BR>2009-03-14 14:12:24<HR> <p><b> The Obama administration Friday jettisoned the Bush-era term "enemy combatant" but maintained a broad right to detain those who provide "substantial" assistance to al-Qaeda and its associates around the globe.</b> </p> <p>The disclosure came in a court filing by the Justice Department in response to orders by federal judges, who sought clarity on the government's legal justification for holding about 241 detainees at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. </p> <p>Though dropping the term "enemy combatant" was a symbolic break from the Bush administration, the practical effects of Friday's action will not be known for months. </p> <p>Bush administration officials had long argued they had a broad constitutional power to detain almost any terrorism suspect for an indefinite period. For those at Guantanamo, the government had said it needed to prove only that the detainees were supporting the Taliban, al-Qaeda or associated forces to justify their confinements. </p> <p>The Justice Department said yesterday that it would seek to hold only terrorism suspects who "substantially supported" those groups and not those who "provide unwitting or insignificant support" to al-Qaeda and the Taliban. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20587">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-52948718476223518032009-03-14T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-14T01:26:42.274-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Saturday March 14 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Saturday March 14 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20586"><B>Aussie Oil Spill Bigger Than Thought </B></A><BR>2009-03-13 18:48:12<HR> <b>The full scale of the environmental disaster off the Queensland coast has become clearer as the shipping company admitted its earlier estimates of the oil spill's size were "substantially" wrong and the length and the cost of the clean-up were revised upwards by the State Government.</b> <p><b>An oil slick measuring tens of kilometers is staining the shore along Sunshine Coast beaches, Bribie Island and Moreton Island.</b></p> <p><b>The cargo vessel Pacific Adventurer leaked the oil late Friday from a hull breach as it lay moored in Brisbane's port. It was a casualty of rough seas it had encountered on a voyage to Indonesia on Wednesday.</b></p> <p>"I think it's fair to say the government and authorities were not informed accurately of the size of the spill," said Allan Sutherland, the Mayor of Moreton Bay Regional Council, where part of the clean-up was taking place. "[Swire Shipping] were hoping Mother Nature would take its course. It didn't."</p> <p>It is not the ship's first accident. In 2006 the <i>South China Morning Post</i> quoted Chinese state media as reporting that the Pacific Adventurer had collided with a patrol boat off the city of Zhuhai. At least 13 of the patrol boat's crew were lost.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20586">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20584"><B>Switzerland Eases Stance On Bank Secrecy</B></A><BR>2009-03-13 18:47:49<HR> <b>The Swiss government bowed to pressure on Friday and agreed to exchange information on suspected cases of tax evasion, but it maintained that its principle of banking secrecy was intact.</b> <p><b>Austria and Luxembourg also announced steps intended to fend off a global crackdown on tax evasion by offering concessions before a meeting of leaders from the Group of 20 nations in London at the start of next month.</b> </p> <p>That followed announcements by the small tax havens of Andorra and Liechtenstein on Thursday that they would relax bank secrecy rules. </p> <p>In a statement on Friday, the Swiss government said it would agreed to exchange information with other countries on a case-by-case basis where there were âspecific and justifiedâ requests. </p> <p>Accordingly, the government withdrew its reservations to a standard by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on international tax norms âand to enter into negotiations on revising double taxation agreements,â referring to the organizationâs Model Tax Convention. The government added, however, that âbanking secrecy is maintained.â </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20584">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20582"><B>Shares Finish Up 53.9 Points As Week Ends</B></A><BR>2009-03-13 18:46:03<HR> <p><b>Wall Streetâs hot hand cooled off on Friday, but shares still managed to finish higher on the day, the fourth consecutive session on the upside.</b></p> <p><b>Before the markets opened, Chinaâs prime minister said he was âa little worriedâ about the countryâs $1 trillion investment in United States Treasury debt. China is the largest purchaser of American government debt, which is generally considered the worldâs safest investment. </b></p> <p>At the close, the Dow Jones industrial average was 53.92 points or 0.75 percent higher, at 7,223.98, and the Standard & Poor's500-stock index rose 0.77 percent or 5.81 points, at 756.55. The technology-heavy Nasdaq index was a 5.4 points higher at 1,431.50. </p> <p>Crude oil settled 81 cents lower at $46.22 a barrel.Treasury prices were mixed on Friday morning as investors mulled over the comments from the Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, and wondered whether they presaged a reduced appetite for American debt as the federal government ramps up huge new spending projects. </p> <p>The Dow and S.& P. 500 posted their strongest gains this week since November, bouncing back from their worst levels in about 12 years. </p> <p>After enduring months of increasingly bleak headlines about bank solvency and corporate losses, investors seized on a few strands of less-than-awful economic news and alchemized them into hope, breathing life back into depressed financial shares and other niches of the market.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20582">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20580"><B>Andean Nations Oust U.S. Officials, Sign Of Discontent With U.S. Policy</B></A><BR>2009-03-13 15:45:25<HR> <b>An American diplomat accused by the Bolivian government of conspiring with opposition factions left the country Thursday, one of several U.S. officials forced out of Andean nations in recent months and another sign of the deep discontent with U.S. policy that the Obama administration faces in Latin America.</b> <p><b>The ejection of Francisco Martinez, the second secretary of the U.S. Embassy, for allegedly meeting with the political opposition and spies, follows Bolivia's decision to throw out Ambassador Philip S. Goldberg in September, Venezuela's expulsion of Ambassador Patrick Duddy the same month and Ecuador's move against two American diplomats last month.</b> </p> <p> The departures do not include Bolivia's decision to banish 38 Drug Enforcement Administration agents and support personnel, its request to remove U.S. Agency for International Development employees from the coca-growing region of the Chapare or the U.S. government's decision to pull Peace Corps volunteers out of Bolivia. </p> <p>"We are talking here about diplomats who are taking advantage of privileges and immunities, who use those privileges and immunities to perform intelligence tasks on behalf of a foreign power," Bolivian Government Minister Alfredo Rada said this week at a news conference in La Paz, the capital. "No government in the world would accept that." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20580">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20578"><B>U.S. Trade Deficit Drops To $36 Billion, Lowest Level In 6 Years</B></A><BR>2009-03-13 15:45:01<HR> <b>The U.S. trade deficit plunged in January to the lowest level in six years as a deepening recession cut demand for imported goods at an even faster rate than for exports. </b> <p><b>The Commerce Department said Friday the trade imbalance dropped to $36 billion in January, a decline of 9.7 percent from December and the lowest level since October 2002.</b> </p> <p>The improvement was better than the $38 billion deficit that economists had expected and reflected the fact that crude oil imports dropped to the lowest point in three years and demand for a wide variety of other foreign goods from autos to heavy machinery and household appliances declined. </p> <p> The import declines helped offset a continued slide in U.S. exports which fell to their lowest level since September 2006, a drop that has contributed to the severe recession in U.S. manufacturing. </p> <p>For January, exports of goods and services fell 5.7 percent to $124.9 billion. Demand for a wide variety of U.S.-made products from farm goods to autos to civilian aircraft all dropped in January. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20578">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20576"><B>16 Still Missing After Chopper Ditches Off Newfoundland</B></A><BR>2009-03-13 02:12:00<HR> <b>The search will continue until at least Friday night for 16 people missing since Thursday morning when a helicopter carrying them to an offshore oil platform ditched in the Atlantic Ocean off Newfoundland, said Canadian officials.<br> </b> <p><b> One survivor, identified as Robert Decker, was found and taken to a hospital, but efforts to find more survivors had proven fruitless, said Maj. Denis McGuire of the Rescue Coordination Center in Halifax, Nova Scotia.</b></p> <p> The body of one person, who has not been identified publicly, also was pulled from the water. There were 18 people aboard the helicopter when it went down, about 30 nautical miles from St. John's.</p> <p> "All we've got is the debris field," said McGuire. "There are no indications of any [more] survivors, but the search will continue."</p> <p> The water is 400 feet deep at the site where the helicopter hit the water, he said.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20576">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20585"><B>Interview: 'The Global Banking Community Had A Heart Attack'</B></A><BR>2009-03-13 18:48:02<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>Bryan Marsal, head of Wall Street restructuring firm Alvarez & Marsal, has been liquidating assets for Lehman Brothers, the investment bank that collapsed last fall. He talked to Spiegel Online about the reasons for the collapse, mistakes made by U.S. leaders and the lessons of the financial crisis.</b></p> <p> <b>SPIEGEL ONLINE:</b> Lehman filed for bankruptcy on September 15th, 2008. How did you take over?</p> <p> <b>Marsal:</b> I was watching a football game when I received a call from the board of directors of Lehman Brothers. This was at 10:30 at night on September 14th, and they asked me: Would I take on responsibility for the wind-down of Lehman? </p> <b>SPIEGEL ONLINE: </b>How did you react? <p> <b>Marsal:</b> I said yes. And my question to them was: How much planning has gone into this bankruptcy? Their response was: This phone call is the first planning we have done. <br></p><p> <b>SPIEGEL ONLINE:</b> This must have been quite a shock. </p> <p> <b>Marsal:</b> Well, when you figure the assets of this entity were $651 billion (â¬509 billion), you would have expected there would be a lot of planning going into it.</p> <p> <b>SPIEGEL ONLINE:</b> They were apparently convinced they couldn't die.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20585">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20583"><B>Germany School Shooting Internet Chat Room Post A Fake</B></A><BR>2009-03-13 18:47:02<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>On Thursday, German police said they had made great strides toward developing a profile of the gunman in the Wednesday shooting spree which killed 15 people. But one key piece of evidence - a posting in an Internet chat room - has turned out to be fake.</b></p> <p>The Baden-Wurttemberg Interior Minister was confident as he spoke to the dozens of reporters who had gathered at midday on Thursday to hear the newest developments. It was just over 24 hours after Tim K. had gone on a shooting spree killing a total of 15 people. All of Germany wanted answers.</p> The minister, Heribert Rech, announced one of the most important finds himself. In the night before the 17-year-old shooter went on his rampage, said Rech, he had logged into an Internet forum and written: "I am going to go to my former school tomorrow and thoroughly toast itâ¦. Remember the name of the town Winnenden." <p>Unfortunately, the forum entry was most likely a fake. Just hours after Rech announced the existence of the post, Stuttgart prosecutors on Thursday evening said that "in the course of the afternoon, doubts arose about the authenticity of the Internet chat." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20583">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20581"><B>Summers: Obama's Plan May Have Stabilized Consumer Spending</B></A><BR>2009-03-13 15:45:35<HR> <p><b> President Obama's top White House economic adviser said Friday that consumer spending in the United States appears to have "stabilized," and he urged business leaders to show "more optimism and more confidence" in their investment decisions. </b></p> <p><b>Lawrence H. Summers, director of the National Economic Council, said a $787 billion economic stimulus package that Obama signed into law last month is starting to have an impact, saving thousands of jobs, providing continued unemployment insurance and health benefits to several hundred thousand workers and initiating tens of billions of dollars worth of infrastructure projects.</b> </p> <p>In a speech at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C., think tank, Summers also said the administration aims not only to start an economic recovery but to build a more sustainable foundation for future economic expansion. He suggested that people who are focusing solely on the recovery are setting their sights too low. And he urged Americans to take advantage of the bargains available now because of reduced prices brought on by recession in many sectors of the economy. </p> <p>"Our single most important priority is bringing about economic recovery and ensuring that the next economic expansion, unlike its recent predecessors, is fundamentally sound and not driven by financial excess," he said. He said there was "one ineluctable lesson of the history of financial crises: They all end." </p> <p>Obama made a similar point after a meeting at the White House today with Paul A. Volcker, chairman of his Economic Recovery Advisory Board, and other advisers. </p> <p>"It is very important, even as we're focused on the financial system and the credit markets, that we are laying a foundation for what I'm calling a post-bubble economic growth model," Obama told reporters. "The days when we are going to be able to grow this economy just on an overheated housing market or people spending - maxing out on their credit cards - those days are over. What we need to do is go back to fundamentals." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20581">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20579"><B>China Uneasy About Its $1 Trillion Holdings In U.S. Treasuries</B></A><BR>2009-03-13 15:45:10<HR> <b>Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Friday that he is "worried" about the country's vast $1 trillion holdings in U.S. Treasuries and that China will pursue a policy of diversification when comes to its future foreign exchange holdings. </b> <p><b>Wen's remarks, which were made at the close of the annual National People's Congress meeting in Beijing, echoed those that have been made by other high-ranking policymakers and bankers over the past year since the subprime crisis devastated the value of the mortgage-backed securities that made up a large chunk of China's U.S. holdings.</b> </p> <p><b>"We have lent a huge amount of money to the U.S. Of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets. To be honest, I am definitely a little worried," said Wen.</b> </p> <p>At a number of diplomatic meetings since then, Chinese officials have raised the issue of U.S. Treasuries and have sought assurances the United States that it will do everything possible to maintain the stability of its economy. On Friday, Wen called on the Obama administration to "maintain its good credit, to honor its promises and to guarantee the safety of China's assets." </p> <p>China does not release details about its foreign reserve holdings, but there has been growing evidence of its unease about those investments. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20579">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20577"><B>Push To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions Would Put A Price On Emitting Pollution</B></A><BR>2009-03-13 15:44:39<HR> <p><b> President Obama's endorsement of climate legislation to clamp down on greenhouse gases has set off a lobbying rush in Congress and made the air thick with rival proposals. </b></p> <p><b>Coal companies, utilities, economists and environmentalists are vying to shape legislation that could rechannel hundreds of billions of dollars from one part of the economy to others. The sense of urgency has been heightened by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman's push to have a bill ready by the end of May; the California Democrat plans to circulate a draft in about two weeks.</b> </p> <p> Because of regional differences in energy sources, the political lines are blurred, potentially uniting Democrats and Republicans from states heavily dependent on coal plants against other parts of the nation looking for alternatives. </p> <p>Most lawmakers and climate activists embrace an approach to limiting greenhouse gas emissions known as cap-and-trade, which would set and gradually lower a limit on nationwide emissions while letting companies buy and sell rationing allowances. Some economists have lined up with big oil companies such as Exxon Mobil, which has endorsed a carbon tax instead. Seven House Democrats, including House Democratic Caucus Chairman John B. Larson (Connecticut), introduced a carbon tax measure this week. </p> <p> Either way, climate legislation will aim to reduce emissions by putting a price on carbon, raising the cost of everything from gasoline to plastics to electricity. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20577">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20575"><B>NTSB Warns Of Fault On Boeing 777 Engines</B></A><BR>2009-03-13 02:11:49<HR> <p><b>Air accident investigators in the U.S. have warned there is a "high probability" that a fault leading to the crash landing of a British Airways jet at Heathrow will strike other Boeing 777s.</b></p> <p><b>The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued an urgent safety recommendation calling for a redesign of a Rolls-Royce engine component in the plane, following two engine rollbacks - sudden power losses - last year.</b></p> <p>It came as a U.K. accident report showed how a build-up of ice on the fuel/oil heat exchanger (FOHE) could have caused the incident at Heathrow in January last year that left one person seriously injured among the 150 people on board.</p> <p>The BA flight from Beijing just cleared a perimeter fence at Heathrow before crash landing short of the runway.</p> <p>The plane's captain Peter Burkill and co-pilot John Coward were hailed as heroes for their skillful handling of the aircraft.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20575">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-580953295728186052009-03-13T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-13T01:19:22.565-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Friday March 13 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Friday March 13 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20576"><B>16 Still Missing After Chopper Ditches Off Newfoundland</B></A><BR>2009-03-13 02:12:00<HR> <b>The search will continue until at least Friday night for 16 people missing since Thursday morning when a helicopter carrying them to an offshore oil platform ditched in the Atlantic Ocean off Newfoundland, said Canadian officials.<br> </b> <p><b> One survivor, identified as Robert Decker, was found and taken to a hospital, but efforts to find more survivors had proven fruitless, said Maj. Denis McGuire of the Rescue Coordination Center in Halifax, Nova Scotia.</b></p> <p> The body of one person, who has not been identified publicly, also was pulled from the water. There were 18 people aboard the helicopter when it went down, about 30 nautical miles from St. John's.</p> <p> "All we've got is the debris field," said McGuire. "There are no indications of any [more] survivors, but the search will continue."</p> <p> The water is 400 feet deep at the site where the helicopter hit the water, he said.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20576">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20574"><B>Stern Attacks Politicians Over Climate 'Devastation' </B></A><BR>2009-03-12 22:36:17<HR> <p><b>Politicians have failed to take on board the severe consequences of failing to cut world carbon emissions, according to Nicholas Stern, the economist commissioned by Britain's Prime Minister to analyze the impact of climate change. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/climate-change"><br> </a></b></p><p><b>His stark warning about the potentially "devastating" consequences of global warming came as scientists issued a desperate plea Thursday night for world leaders to curb greenhouse gas emissions or face an ecological and social disaster.</b></p><p>More than 2,500 climate experts from 80 countries at an emergency summit in Copenhagen, Denmark, said there is now "no excuse" for failing to act on global warming. A failure to agree strong carbon reduction targets at political negotiations this year could bring "abrupt or irreversible" shifts in climate that "will be very difficult for contemporary societies to cope with".</p><p>In a significant break from the scientific tradition not to comment directly on policy, the experts insisted politicians must stand up to "vested interests that increase emissions" and "build on a growing public desire for governments to act". They called for a "shift from ineffective governance and weak institutions to innovative leadership in government, the private sector and civil society".</p><p><b>Katherine Richardson, a climate scientist at the University of Copenhagen, who organized the three-day summit, said: "We have to act and we have to act now. We need politicians to realize what a risk it is they are taking on behalf of their own constituents, the world's societies and, even more importantly, future generations. All of the signals from the Earth system and the climate system show us we are on a path that will have enormous and unacceptable consequences."</b></p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20574">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20572"><B>Investors Send Shares Higher, Dow Closes Up 239 Points</B></A><BR>2009-03-12 22:35:02<HR> <p><b>A few clues that the economyâs downward spiral might be slowing galvanized Wall Street on Thursday and sent the stock market soaring for the second time this week.</b></p> <p><b>Investors searching for relief from a relentless march of bad economic news found wisps of hope in developments that, not many months ago, would have been regarded as alarming. The news, by and large, was bad - just not quite as bad as feared.</b> </p> <p>General Electric, the blue-chip corporation, was stripped of its triple-A credit rating, an emblem of business prowess it proudly held since 1956; but its rating fell just one notch, less than some analysts predicted. Shares of G.E. soared 13 percent.</p> <p>The Commerce Department reported that retail sales fell slightly in February - again, less than forecast. The head of the beleaguered Bank of America said the lender probably would not need more government money, but other banks might.</p> <p><b>Less-bad was good enough. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 239.66 points, or 3.46 percent, to 7,170.06. The Standard & Poor's500-stock index leaped 29.38 points, or 4.07 percent, to 750.74. The Nasdaq composite index rose 54.46 points, or 3.97 percent, to 1,426.10. </b></p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20572">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20570"><B>Three Years Jail For Journalist Who Threw Shoe At Bush</B></A><BR>2009-03-12 22:34:32<HR> <p><b>Dressed in an old beige suit, with dark rings under his eyes, and a five o'clock shadow, Muntazer al-Zaidi looked more hard-pressed journalist than Arab folk hero as he entered Baghdad's central criminal court Thursday morning to face charges of assaulting a foreign head of state, namely one George W. Bush.</b></p><p>The last time the man universally known as "the shoe thrower" appeared in court, three weeks ago, he sported a scarf in the colors of the Iraqi flag and put on a bravura performance, telling of his outrage and uncontrollable emotions when Bush spoke at a news conference on his farewell trip to Iraq. Thursday, he was mostly subdued. It wasn't until the judge handed down the sentence - three years in a prison - that he burst into life, though his shoes stayed firmly on his feet. "Long live Iraq!" he shouted before being led away by a heavy security detail. </p><p>Throughout the brief proceedings Zaidi seemed all too aware that he could face up to 15 years in jail. Standing in the wooden pen, sweating, before a panel of three judges he glanced nervously into the packed observers' gallery, apparently seeking out family and friends. </p><p>Kicking off proceedings, the presiding judge Abdulemir Hassan al-Rubaie asked Zaidi whether he was innocent or guilty. "I am innocent," came the reply from the 30-year-old reporter. "What I did was a natural response to the occupation." This electrified the court. Relatives began to protest his innocence and urge the judge to show clemency. Twice, Rubaie called for calm, before threatening any miscreants with expulsion. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20570">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20568"><B>German School Shooter Warned Of Attack In Online Chatroom</B></A><BR>2009-03-12 18:00:44<HR> <b>"You will hear from me tomorrow, remember the name of a place called Winnenden." </b> <p><b>Authorities say a 17-year-old left that message in an Internet chat room six hours before he went on a rampage in his former high school and killed 15 people in this southwest German town. </b></p> <p><b>Tim Kretschmer wrote that he was "sick of this life" and planned to storm the school the next day "and really toast them," Baden Wuerttemburg state Interior Minister Heribert Rech told reporters Thursday.</b> </p> <p>The transcript released by authorities gave the first indication of what might have driven Kretschmer, described by his peers as withdrawn and shy, to carry out a bloodbath on Wednesday before turning a 9 mm Beretta pistol on himself after a shootout with police. </p> <p>"Everyone laughs at me, nobody recognizes my potential," Kretschmer wrote in the German-language chat with a teen in the neighboring state of Bavaria. The Bavarian teen told his father and then police about the chat when he realized the threat had been real. </p> <p>Prosecutors said they had taken steps to contact the U.S.-based provider of the site and were further checking the veracity of the posting, although a message on the site Thursday said that "No killing spree was announced here." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20568">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20566"><B>G.M. Says It Won't Need $2 Billion Stimulus In March</B></A><BR>2009-03-12 18:00:12<HR> <b>General Motors, which has borrowed $13.4 billion from the federal government since December to keep itself out of bankruptcy, said on Thursday that it had withdrawn a request for an additional $2 billion that it thought was needed to stay alive through the end of this month.</b><br> <br> G.M., the nationâs largest automaker, issued a statement saying that it had told President Obama's auto industry task force, which is reviewing the restructuring plan that the company submitted last month, that its March financing request âwould not be needed at this timeâ because it is making more progress than expected in reducing costs. <p> The statement did not specify whether G.M. still expected to need the full $30 billion that it had requested.</p> <p>âThis development reflects the acceleration of G.M.âs companywide cost reduction efforts as well as proactive deferrals of spending previously anticipated in January and February,â said the statement. âG.M. will remain in regular contact with the presidential task force on the auto industry on the status of G.M.âs restructuring actions, its liquidity position, timing of future funding requests, and other relevant topics of mutual concern.â</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20566">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20564"><B>Pakistani Police Block Opposition Protest</B></A><BR>2009-03-12 17:59:43<HR> <b>Club-swinging police blocked the way out of Pakistan's biggest city Thursday, scattering hundreds of demonstrators as the government sought to contain a protest movement that is emerging as a major challenge to its shaky one-year rule. </b> <p><b>With anti-government activists vowing to press ahead, the U.S. stepped up efforts to mediate a solution to the crisis, which threatens to undermine its goal of getting nuclear-armed Pakistan to do more in fighting al-Qaeda and Taliban militants along the border with Afghanistan. </b> </p> <p> Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration's envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, spoke by phone to President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. The U.S. ambassador met with opposition leader Nawaz Sharif in a bid "to get things resolved," said Sharif spokesman Sadiqul Farooq. </p> <p>Officials on both sides declined to give any details of the discussions, and there were no signs of any breakthrough to calm political squabbling that is looking a lot like the unrest that preceded the removal of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf last year. </p> <p>Activist lawyers are demanding Zardari fulfill a pledge to reinstate judges fired by Musharraf, a general who ousted Sharif as prime minister in a 1999 coup. The protest movement heated up last month when the Supreme Court banned Sharif and his brother from elected office. </p> <p>After the ruling, the federal government dismissed the Punjab provincial administration led by Sharif's brother, stoking anger in Pakistan's most populous region and putting the pair and their supporters on a collision course with Zardari. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20564">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20575"><B>NTSB Warns Of Fault On Boeing 777 Engines</B></A><BR>2009-03-13 02:11:49<HR> <p><b>Air accident investigators in the U.S. have warned there is a "high probability" that a fault leading to the crash landing of a British Airways jet at Heathrow will strike other Boeing 777s.</b></p> <p><b>The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued an urgent safety recommendation calling for a redesign of a Rolls-Royce engine component in the plane, following two engine rollbacks - sudden power losses - last year.</b></p> <p>It came as a U.K. accident report showed how a build-up of ice on the fuel/oil heat exchanger (FOHE) could have caused the incident at Heathrow in January last year that left one person seriously injured among the 150 people on board.</p> <p>The BA flight from Beijing just cleared a perimeter fence at Heathrow before crash landing short of the runway.</p> <p>The plane's captain Peter Burkill and co-pilot John Coward were hailed as heroes for their skillful handling of the aircraft.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20575">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20573"><B>Expert: Severe Global Warming Will Render Half Of World's Inhabited Areas Unliveable</B></A><BR>2009-03-12 22:36:05<HR> <p><b>Severe global warming could make half the world's inhabited areas literally too hot to live in, a U.S. scientist warned Thursday.<br> </b></p><p><b>Steven Sherwood, a climate expert at Yale University, told a global warming conference in Copenhagen that people will not be able to adapt to a much warmer climate as well as previously thought.</b> <b>Parts of China, India and the eastern U.S. could all become too warm in summer for people to lose heat by sweating - rendering such areas effectively uninhabitable.</b></p><p><b>The physiological limits of the human body will begin to render places impossible to support human life if the average global temperature rises by 7 degrees Celsius on pre-industrial levels, he said.</b></p><p>"There will be some places on Earth where it would simply be impossible to lose heat," said Sherwood. "This is quite imaginable if we continue burning fossil fuels. I don't see any reason why we wouldn't end up there."</p><p>The 2007 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said that average temperatures could rise by 6 degrees Celsius this century if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise at current rates. Scientists at the Copenhagen Climate Congress this week said the IPCC may have underestimated the scale of the problem, and that emissions since 2000 have risen much faster than expected.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20573">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20571"><B>Space Station Has Close Call With Space Debris</B></A><BR>2009-03-12 22:34:43<HR> <b>The near-hit of space junk Thursday was a warning shot fired across the bow of the international space station, experts said. There's likely more to come in the future. With less than an hour's notice, the three astronauts were told they'd have to seek shelter in a Russian capsule parked at the space station in case a speeding piece of space junk hit Thursday.</b> <p><b>If it hit and they were in the main part of the station, they'd have only 10 minutes of safety, Mission Control told them. A hole in the space station could mean loss of air, loss of pressure and eventual loss of life.</b></p> <p>The crew moved so fast that they may have left their instruction manual on the other side of a closed hatch. Inside the Soyuz, they waited for 10 minutes, ready to flee to Earth if the worst happened. On the ground, space debris experts fretted.</p> <p>"We were watching it with bated breath," said NASA space debris scientist Mark Matney. "We didn't know what was going to happen."</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20571">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20569"><B>Congresswoman With Ties To Bank For Which She Helped Seek Bailout Funds</B></A><BR>2009-03-12 18:00:54<HR> <b>Top banking regulators were taken aback late last year when a California congresswoman helped set up a meeting in which the chief executive of a bank with financial ties to her family asked them for up to $50 million in special bailout funds, said Treasury Department officials.</b> <p><b>Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, requested the September meeting on behalf of executives at OneUnited, one of the nationâs largest black-owned banks. Waterâs husband, Sidney Williams, had served on the bankâs board of directors until early last year and has owned at least $250,000 in stock in the institution. Treasury officials said the session with nearly a dozen senior banking regulators had been intended to allow minority-owned banks and their trade association to discuss the losses they had incurred from the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but Kevin Cohee, OneUnitedâs chief executive, instead seized the opportunity to plead for special assistance for his bank, said federal officials.</b> </p> <p>âHere you had a tiny community bank that comes in and they are not proposing a broader policy - they were asking for help for themselves,â said Steve Lineberry, a former Treasury aide who attended the meeting. âI donât remember that ever happening before.â</p> <p> Rep. Waters declined on Tuesday to comment on the meeting, or to say if her husband still owns OneUnited shares. Her staff released two letters that showed the meeting was initially called to discuss industry concerns broadly, not matters related just to OneUnited.</p> <p><b>The congresswoman, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, did not disclose her ties to OneUnited to Treasury officials, who said they learned of them only later.</b></p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20569">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20567"><B>Intelligence Pick Freeman Blames 'Israel Lobby' For His Withdrawal</B></A><BR>2009-03-12 18:00:31<HR> <p><b>The withdrawal of a senior intelligence adviser after an online campaign to prevent him from taking office has ignited a debate over whether powerful pro-Israel lobbying interests are exercising outsize influence over who serves in the Obama administration. </b></p> <p><b>When Charles W. Freeman, Jr., stepped away Tuesday from an appointment to chair the National Intelligence Council - which oversees the production of reports that represent the view of the nation's 16 intelligence agencies - he decried in an e-mail "the barrage of libelous distortions of my record [that] would not cease upon my entry into office," and he was blunt about whom he considers responsible.</b> </p> <p>"The libels on me and their easily traceable email trails show conclusively that there is a powerful lobby determined to prevent any view other than its own from being aired, still less to factor in American understanding of trends and events in the Middle East," wrote Freeman. </p> <p>Referring to what he called "the Israel Lobby," he added: "The aim of this Lobby is control of the policy process through the exercise of a veto over the appointment of people who dispute the wisdom of its views." One result of this, he said, is "the inability of the American public to discuss, or the government to consider, any option for U.S. policies in the Middle East opposed by the ruling faction in Israeli politics." </p> <p>Freeman's angry rhetoric notwithstanding, the controversy surrounding the former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia was broader than just Middle East politics. Director of National Intelligence Dennis C. Blair's choice of Freeman prompted a storm of complaints about his recent commercial connections to China and questions about whether he was too forgiving of that nation's leaders. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20567">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20565"><B>Roche Agrees To Buy Genentech For $46.8 Billion</B></A><BR>2009-03-12 18:00:01<HR> <b>After eight months of resistance, Genentech agreed Thursday to be acquired by Roche for $95 a share, ending the independence of what is widely considered the worldâs first and most successful biotechnology company.</b> <p>For Genentech, the deal comes a few days after Roche, a Swiss pharmaceutical giant, raised its offer to $93 a share to buy the 44 percent of the company that it does not already own. At the new, higher price of $95, the companies said the deal would be valued at $46.8 billion. </p> <p>Now attention will turn to whether Roche can retain the top managers and scientists who have made Genentech so successful in developing drugs like the cancer medicines Avastin and Herceptin, which had combined global sales of nearly $9 billion last year. If not, Roche could end up ruining the operation that has been providing it with its biggest-selling products. </p> <p>That the deal was finally accepted on friendly terms could increase the chances that Genentechâs people will stay. Moreover, the job market is not good right now. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20565">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20563"><B>Judge Orders Madoff Jailed After Guilty Plea</B></A><BR>2009-03-12 17:59:34<HR> <b>Bernard L. Madoff was handcuffed and taken to jail Thursday morning after pleading guilty to a vast Ponzi scheme that bilked families, pension funds, charity organizations and sophisticated hedge fund investors of billions of dollars. </b> <p><b>Standing before a packed federal courtroom, Madoff said in a prepared statement that lasted about 10 minutes that he was "deeply sorry and ashamed" for what he had done. When he began the fraud, Madoff said, he believed he could extricate himself and his clients and end the scheme before long. But as the years went by, he began to realize that "this day would inevitably come," said Madoff.</b> </p> <p>"I am actually grateful for this opportunity to publicly comment about my crimes, for which I am deeply sorry and ashamed," said Madoff, 70. "I cannot adequately express how sorry I am." </p> <p>After U.S. District Judge Denny Chin accepted the guilty plea, Madoff's attorney, Ira Sorkin, argued that his client should be allowed await his sentencing in his Upper East Side penthouse. Chin refused, saying Madoff posed a flight risk, and ordered him jailed immediately. Chin set the sentencing date for June 16. </p> <p> "I don't need to hear from the government," said Chin, referring to prosecutors. "It is my intention to remand Mr. Madoff." </p> <p>With that, some members of the audience, which included victims, erupted into applause. At 11:13 a.m., a little over an hour after the proceedings began, an expressionless Madoff was led away in handcuffs. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20563">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-75981478078819815932009-03-12T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-12T01:28:57.653-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Thursday March 12 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Thursday March 12 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20562"><B> U.S. Treasury Seeks Funds To Help Ailing Nations</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 22:57:06<HR> <p><b> The Obama administration is planning to ask Congress to expand the United States' primary line of credit to the International Monetary Fund from about $10 billion to $100 billion to boost emergency support for struggling economies around the world, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said Wednesday.</b> </p> <p><b>Under the proposal detailed by Geithner, the IMF would be able to borrow up to $500 billion - a ten-fold increase in the line of credit - to bailout countries in crisis. The rest of the money could come from major European states as well as Saudi Arabia and Japan, which typically contribute to the fund, among others. China, which has not been a major contributor to the organization, has been asked for funds as well.</b> </p> <p>"The global recession is deepening," said Geithner. Given the intricate ties between economies across the world, he said it is critical for leading nations to move together in a "sustained" and "coordinated" fashion. </p> <p> "We are going to move together to do what it takes," he added. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20562">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20560"><B>U.S. Markets Close Flat After Morning Gains</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 22:56:42<HR> <p><b> Stocks made modest gains Wednesday afternoon, extending a large rally Tuesday that wiped away more than a week's worth of losses. </b></p> <p><b> After surging almost 6 percent Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average was flat, up 4 points. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index was up 0.2 percent, or 2 points, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq was up 1 percent, or 13 points.</b> </p> <p> Wall Street rallied Tuesday after Citigroup announced it had made an operating profit during the first two months of the year. Investors also cheered signs federal regulators could restrain short selling of stocks, a type of trading blamed by some in the financial services industry for dragging down shares. </p> <p>It comes as Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said the Obama administration would ask Congress to expand the United States' primary line of credit to the International Monetary to boost emergency support for struggling economies around the world. Under the proposal, the IMF would be able to borrow up to $500 billion to bail out countries in crisis. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20560">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20558"><B>Update: Germany Shocked By Teenager's Killing Spree</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 22:56:08<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>Germany was in shock on Wednesday after a 17-year-old youth killed 15 people in a shooting rampage that began at his school, where he shot dead 10 pupils and three teachers. He later took a gun to his own head during a shootout with police. His motive remains a mystery.</b></p> <p>A 17-year-old youth killed 15 people in a shooting rampage in Germany that began at his former school and ended in a wild shootout in the parking lot of a car dealer. According to the latest information from police, after he was struck in the leg in a shootout with officers, he committed suicide by firing a bullet from his own gun into his head. </p> <p>As the investigation began in earnest on Wednesday, the one thing that stood out to investigators was that the majority of victims were female. Seven of the victims were girl students, and three were female teachers. However, the interior minister of the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg, where the crime was committed Wednesday, said he didn't want to draw early conclusions given that it could have been based on how classes had been drawn up. He added, however, that the fact that most were killed with shots to the head suggested the killer had not randomly selected his victims.</p> <p>The crime began when the teenager walked into the Albertville secondary school in the southwestern town of Winnenden at 9.30 a.m and opened fire in two classrooms, killing 10 pupils - all aged 14 and 15 - and three women teachers, as well as wounding several others.</p> <p> He then fled, shooting dead a further person on his way, as police evacuated the school and mounted a massive, three-hour manhunt with helicopters and sniffer dogs. He hijacked a car and forced the driver to take him to the town of Wendlingen 40 kilometers away. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20558">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20556"><B>Alabama Gunman Left Revenge List Of Those Who Wronged Him</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 22:55:31<HR> <b>The gunman who killed 10 people and committed suicide in a rampage across the Alabama countryside had struggled to keep a job and left behind lists of employers and co-workers he believed had wronged him, authorities said Wednesday. </b> <p><b>The lists, found in his home, included a metals plant that had forced Michael McLendon to resign years ago, said District Attorney Gary McAliley. Also on the list was a sausage factory where he suddenly quit last week and a poultry plant that suspended his mother, said McAliley.</b> </p> <p>McAliley said pages torn from a spiral notebook also included the names of co-workers who he felt had wronged him, including one who reported him for not wearing ear plugs, another who made him clean a meat grinder and a supervisor who didn't like the way he cut pork chops. </p> <p>McLendon, who killed his mother to start the rampage, took his own life at Reliable Metals, where he worked until 2003. McAliley said he believes McLendon had planned more violence at the Pilgrim Pride plant in Enterprise, where his mother worked before she was suspended, and at Kelly Foods in Elba, where he recently quit. </p> <p>The district attorney said a piece of paper found in the mother's house also included the names of nine lawyers in the area. He said McLendon apparently wanted to hire a lawyer in a dispute with members of his family over getting a family Bible returned to him, but details weren't clear. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20556">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20554"><B>Alaska Gov. Palin's Daughter Breaks Up With Boyfriend</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 22:54:50<HR> <b>Levi Johnston and Bristol Palin, the teenage daughter of Gov. Sarah Palin, have broken off their engagement, he said Wednesday, about 2 1/2 months after the couple had a baby.</b> <p>Johnston, 19, told the Associated Press that he and 18-year-old Bristol Palin mutually decided "a while ago" to end their relationship. He declined to elaborate as he stood outside his family's home in Wasilla, about 40 miles north of Anchorage. </p> <p> He also said some details of the breakup, rumors of which had been swirling on the Internet, were inaccurate. </p> <p>Bristol Palin said in a statement issued through a spokeswoman for her mother's political action committee that she was "devastated." </p> <p>"Unfortunately, my family has seen many people say and do many things to `cash in' on the Palin name," she said. "Sometimes that greed clouds good judgment and the truth." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20554">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20552"><B>Asian Markets Rise In Early Trading</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 03:34:30<HR> <b>Equity markets across Asia rose sharply in early trading Wednesday, buoyed by positive news from Citigroup and by one of the biggest one-day gains in the Dow Jones industrial average in more than 60 years.</b> <p><b>By midday, 17 of the 20 leading indices in the Asia-Pacific region were higher.</b></p> <p>Japanâs Nikkei average was up more than 4 percent, and the broader Topix index was 3 percent higher. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong shot up 4.6 percent early in the day and despite some pullback, was 2.8 percent higher by midday. The markets in Shanghai, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore also posted solid increases.</p> <p>The Nikkei was trying to come back from dismal results that had sent it to a 26-year low on Tuesday. </p> <p>Three major Japanese banks - Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group - were up more than 6.7 percent, as banks and financial services companies throughout the region registered significant gains.</p> <p>Toshiba rose 8 percent on speculation that aggressive cost-cutting measures could help lead to an operating profit next year. Canon, Seiko Epson and Honda also rocketed upward in morning trading in Tokyo. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20552">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20550"><B>50 Years Later, Beijing Still Fails To Control Tibet</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 03:34:06<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of the 1959 revolt in Tibet against China and the Dalai Lama's flight from the country. Despite decades of repression, the Tibetans living under Chinese control still dare to voice their demands for more autonomy - and the return of their exiled spiritual leader</b></p> <p><b>It was 6.30 a.m., and the sun had not yet risen when they left wearing their red robes to march along the narrow paths between the fields. Then they turned left at the Petro China gas station onto Democracy Street and continued in the direction of the Guinan local government offices.</b> </p> <p>It was Feb. 25, the first day of the Tibetan New Year. The monks from the Lutsang monastery had heeded the Dalai Lama's advice to his compatriots in China that, this year, they should forgo loud and joyful celebrations. The religious leader had made it known from his place of exile in India that - in the light of the "immense difficulties and misery" faced by Tibetans - the time had come for reflection.</p> <p> It was this call that led roughly 100 monks to light candles on this particular morning and to present their demands to the local officials: That China should understand the hopes and thoughts of the Tibetans better. </p> <p>There has probably never been a lonelier place for a protest. The streets to Guinan trail like an endless ribbon through the high plains of Qinghai Province, where herds of yaks, goats and sheep, overseen by shepherds on horses and mopeds, graze on the blades of grass. Yet the action was not without consequences. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20550">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20548"><B>Congressional Audit: Energy Dept. Erred On Coal Project</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 03:33:25<HR> <b>The Energy Department made a $500 million math error a year ago when it withdrew its support from a ânear-zero emissionsâ coal plant in Illinois, Congressional auditors will say in a report to be released Wednesday. </b> <p><b>The error led the department to say mistakenly that the project, known as FutureGen, had nearly doubled in cost - an increase the Bush administration deemed too expensive.</b> </p> <p>At the time, FutureGen was the leading effort to capture and sequester carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas linked to global warming.If the project were resumed and proved successful, it could provide a model for curbing the carbon dioxide that coal adds to the atmosphere. </p> <p>The new energy secretary, Steven Chu, has said that he will consider renewing support for FutureGen but that changes will be needed. He did not specify what those might be.</p> <p>The report was prepared by the Government Accountability Office for Representative Bart Gordon, chairman of the House Science Committee. The panelâs subcommittee on energy and environment will hold a hearing on the issue on Wednesday.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20548">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20546"><B>5 Years After It Halted Weapons Program, Libya Sees U.S. As Ungrateful</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 03:31:49<HR> <b>When Libya gave up its nuclear and chemical weapons programs in late 2003, President George W. Bush pointed to the decision as a victory in Washingtonâs so-called war on terror and as a potential model for pressing Iran and North Korea to give up their weapons programs, too.<br> <br> Now, Libyan officials say they are dissatisfied with the way the deal worked out, insisting that the United States has done too little to reward Libyaâs concessions. Officials here say they believe that Libyaâs limited payoff undermines the credibility of the United States as it presses other nations to abandon weapons programs.</b> <p>Libyaâs discontent suggests potential hurdles for the Obama White House as it tries to engage with nations the United States has shunned, like Iran and Syria, as part of a broader strategy reassessment in the Middle East. </p> <p>While Libya says it does not plan to restart the weapons programs, its disaffection signals the need to manage expectations and reveals the unexpected challenges of developing relations with the former pariah state, which has been isolated for decades and remains run by an eccentric, enigmatic strongman, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. </p> <p>âWe gave some devices, some centrifuges, for example for America, but what do you give us? Nothing,â said Abdelrahman Shalgham, who served as foreign minister for eight years before being named ambassador to the United Nations this month. âThatâs why we think North Korea and Iran are hesitating now to have a breakthrough regarding their projects.â</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20546">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20561"><B>Scientists: Amazon Forest Could Shrink By 85 Percent Due To Global Warming</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 22:56:55<HR> <p><b>Global warming will wreck attempts to save the Amazon rainforest, according to a devastating new study which predicts that one-third of its trees will be killed by even modest temperature rises.</b></p> <p><b>The research, by some of Britain's leading experts on climate change, shows that even severe cuts in deforestation and carbon emissions will fail to save the emblematic South American jungle, the destruction of which has become a powerful symbol of human impact on the planet. Up to 85% of the forest could be lost if spiraling greenhouse gas emissions are not brought under control, the experts said. But even under the most optimistic climate change scenarios, the destruction of large parts of the forest is "irreversible".</b></p> <p>Vicky Pope, of the Met Office's Hadley Center, which carried out the study, said: "The impacts of climate change on the Amazon are much worse than we thought. As temperatures rise quickly over the coming century the damage to the forest won't be obvious straight away, but we could be storing up trouble for the future."</p> <p>Tim Lenton, a climate expert at the University of East Anglia, called the study, presented at a global warming conference in Copenhagen today , a "bombshell". He said: "When I was young I thought chopping down trees would destroy the forest, but now it seems that climate change will deliver the killer blow."</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20561">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20559"><B>Freddie Mac Takes $50 Billion Beating, Seeks Another $30.8 Billion In Taxpayer Assistance</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 22:56:25<HR> <b>Freddie Mac reported Wednesday that it lost $50.1 billion last year, almost half of it in the final three months of 2008, and would need an additional $30.8 billion in taxpayer assistance to stay solvent.</b> <p>With turmoil continuing this year, Freddie Mac also announced Wednesday it had named its chairman, John A. Koskinen, to serve as an interim chief executive after the government's first choice for the job quit six months into his tenure. Koskinen is a former deputy mayor of the District and former top official in the Clinton administration's Office of Management and Budget. </p> <p>The announcements showed how the downturn in the nation's economy and the difficulties of having the government run a private company were buffeting the McLean mortgage finance giant and its thousands of local employees. </p> <p> The federal government, which seized Freddie Mac and its counterpart, Fannie Mae, last fall, has agreed to cover $200 billion in losses at each firm. Freddie Mac has already received $13.8 billion. Fannie Mae has asked for nearly $15 billion. </p> <p>The investments are slated to continue until the companies start to turn a profit. Depending on the decisions of Congress and the Obama administration, the two may never be restored as private firms. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20559">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20557"><B>Austria Feels Pinch Of Eastern European Downturn</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 22:55:55<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>Major Vienna, Austria, banks wanted to capture the Eastern European market and benefit from its growth. Now they are waking up to the hangover caused by what could end up being a series of bad loans. The government, while trying to reassure the banks, is also seeking international assistance.</b></p> <p>Vienna has felt like a changed place since the unmentionable words first began slipping off the tip of people's mouths - terms like "crisis in Austria," and "impending government bankruptcy." The bad news seems to affect everything and everyone.</p> The once-proud national airline Austrian Airlines? It's up for sale, because, among other problems, its managers miscalculated when they speculated on kerosene prices. If the European Commission approves the deal, German national carrier Lufthansa will soon acquire the Austrian airline, with the government in Vienna even throwing in â¬500 million ($625 million) in state aid as part of the dowry. <p>Vienna's old-fashioned streetcars, popular among local residents and tourists alike? It is said that they are only still running due to the fact the the U.S. investor the city leased its streetcars to, in a deal worth millions, still wants the trolleys to operate. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20557">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20555"><B>Merrill Lynch To Pay $7 Million Fine For Squawk Box Abuse</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 22:55:12<HR> <p><b> One day in 2003, an announcement was blasted over an internal intercom at investment bank Merrill Lynch that a big institutional customer was planning to buy 405,800 shares of a stock. </b></p> <p><b> At a retail branch away from headquarters, a Merrill Lynch broker unconnected to the trade left his phone open next to the internal intercom, known as a squawk box, which allows the company to communicate internal information about upcoming stock orders among the firm's traders. Over the next two minutes, day traders on the other side of the phone line bought 52,400 shares of the stock, knowing that a big purchase by Merrill on behalf of an institutional customer would boost the stock's price, according to federal authorities. </b></p> <p><b> Within the hour, the day traders had profited $8,000.</b> </p> <p>For a failure to have policies and procedures that would prevent these types of activities, Merrill Lynch agreed to pay a $7 million fine in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission today. It is the second largest settlement of its kind. Merrill Lynch did not admit or deny wrongdoing. The firm was bought by Bank of America last fall. </p> <p> "Merrill Lynch ... lacked written policies or procedures to limit which employees within the firm had access to the equity squawk box, to track which employees had access, or to monitor employees for possible misuse of the order information," said Kay Lackey, an enforcement official in the SEC's New York office. "This created conditions that rogue brokers could exploit, as happened here." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20555">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20553"><B>At Least 16 Killed In Teenager's Gun Attack At German School</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 12:51:34<HR> <b>At least 16 people were killed when a teenage gunman clad in black stormed into his former school near Stuttgart on Wednesday morning and opened fire before fleeing to another town where the police fatally shot him.</b> <p>Erwin Hetger, the state police chief, said that an emergency call came from the Albertville Technical School in the town of Winnenden at 9:33 a.m. But when officers arrived on the scene, the shooter, identified by police as Tim Kretschmer, had already fled in the direction of the town center, he said.</p> <p>Rainer Koller, a police spokesman, said the attacker opened fire in three classrooms, killing nine students and three teachers instantly. A tenth student later died of her wounds, the Associated Press reported.</p> <p>The 17-year-old, who police identified as Tim Kretschmer, fled from the school and then turned his gun on an employee of a nearby psychiatric clinic, shooting dead one more person, Koller said in a telephone interview. </p> <p>Firefighters, paramedics and columns of heavily armed commandos swarmed the school in the shootingâs aftermath, and sealed off Winnendenâs small downtown area. Psychologists and clergy counseled the schoolâs students and their parents. Other schools were evacuated, and local media reported that up to 10 helicopters were circling the town of some 27,000 residents.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20553">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20551"><B>Interview: 'Window Of Opportunity' For U.S.-Russia Relations</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 03:34:20<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>Ties between Washington and Moscow have been frosty in recent years; but former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering sees a golden opportunity for improvement. He spoke with Spiegel Online about how Russia could help with Iran and Afghanistan.</b></p> <p> <b>SPIEGEL ONLINE: </b>Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, President Barack Obama himself - they all promise to press the "reset button" on ties with Russia. Is that realistic? </p> <b>Thomas Pickering</b>: I think there is a real window of opportunity to jumpstart the relationship between Moscow and Washington. The expectations are extremely low after the standstill of the past years. And the Obama administration is off to a good start. They really seem determined to engage in a new dialogue. <p> <b>SPIEGEL ONLINE: </b>But Moscow reacted rather coolly to Obama's letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in which he seemed to offer to abandon the U.S. missile shield in Europe in exchange for more Russian cooperation on the nuclear dispute with Iran. </p> <p> <b>Pickering: </b>I have not seen that letter; I have only seen what the Russians said to the press. But I was not really surprised that the Russians were not too enthused. One has to remember: Russian politicians always welcome the opportunity to criticize the Americans. Former Russian President Vladimir Putin brilliantly used this to help his political standing at home, and it was not much different when I served as U.S. ambassador in Moscow in the 1990s. That is just the way Russians look at the relationship with Washington - and that won't change all of a sudden. </p> <p> <b>SPIEGEL ONLINE: </b>Were you surprised that the Obama administration seemed to offer a complete abandonment of the missile shield in the letter to Medvedev? </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20551">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20549"><B>Madoff To Plead Guilty - Life Sentence Likely</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 03:33:42<HR> <b>Bernard L. Madoff, the New York financier accused of masterminding the biggest Ponzi scheme ever, plans to plead guilty this week to 11 felony charges that will likely put him behind bars for the rest of his life, his lawyer said Tuesday. </b> <p><b>Madoff, 70, will admit to running a fraud dating back to the 1980s. He solicited billions of dollars from pension funds, charities and other investors, at times promising annual returns of as much as 46 percent, according to court documents filed Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.</b> </p> <p>He set up accounts in London, England, in part to make it look like he was investing in European securities. To give his business an air of legitimacy, said the documents, Madoff hired numerous employees with little or no relevant training and had them generate false documents, including trading records and monthly statements to clients. Prosecutors didn't say whether his staff was aware of the fraud. </p> <p>The new details about Madoff's operations were collected by government investigators after Madoff's Dec. 11 arrest. Prosecutors had charged him with a single count of securities fraud after, they said, Madoff admitted to running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20549">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20547"><B>Car Loan Delinquencies Rising Amid Signs Of Fraud</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 03:32:07<HR> <b>Many car buyers are having the same kind of trouble obtaining and paying off loans that plagued America's housing market, new data show.</b> <p> Some 3.25 percent of all indirect auto loans were at least 30 days overdue in the third quarter, the American Bankers Association reports. That's the worst showing since the group began compiling such numbers in 1980. Indirect loans are those arranged by a third party, typically an auto dealer, and they account for 90 percent of all car loans.</p> <p>"Many car buyers have fallen victim to many of the same subprime, predatory lending practices that have caused so many home foreclosures and our current economic recession," said Rep. Doris Matsui, D-California. </p> <!-- story_feature_box.comp --><!-- /story_feature_box.comp --><!-- story_factbox.comp --> <!-- /story_factbox.comp --> <p>Not only are their payments starting to lag, but "evidence suggests that fraudulent practices with regard to both the condition and financing of used cars are on the rise," said Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Illinois, the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.</p> <p>He and others, including the National Consumer Law Center, say this trend is affecting the poor disproportionately.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20547">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20545"><B>GV20 Deal At Risk As U.S.-Europe Rift Grows</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 03:31:32<HR> <p><b>British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's hopes of achieving a deal on the international handling of the financial crisis in London next month have been dealt a blow by signs of a growing split between America and Europe, and an admission by Britain's most senior civil servant that it is very hard to get decisions from the Obama administration. </b> </p><p>America's idea of another co-ordinated fiscal stimulus to lift the world out of recession is being resisted by Germany and France, both worried by the scale of their projected public deficits. </p><p>The faultline was becoming visible as Sir Gus O'Donnell, head of the U.K. civil service, said U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told him there was no one in the U.S. Treasury Department because of delays in appointing a new administration. "There is nobody there," he told a civil service conference in Gateshead. "You cannot believe how difficult it is." </p><p>Sir Gus made his remarks in defense of a permanent civil service, pointing out that he had known Geithner for many years, but had been unable to get decisions from the administration. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20545">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-26698097765440262662009-03-11T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-11T01:33:16.510-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Wednesday March 11 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Wednesday March 11 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20552"><B>Asian Markets Rise In Early Trading</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 03:34:30<HR> <b>Equity markets across Asia rose sharply in early trading Wednesday, buoyed by positive news from Citigroup and by one of the biggest one-day gains in the Dow Jones industrial average in more than 60 years.</b> <p><b>By midday, 17 of the 20 leading indices in the Asia-Pacific region were higher.</b></p> <p>Japanâs Nikkei average was up more than 4 percent, and the broader Topix index was 3 percent higher. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong shot up 4.6 percent early in the day and despite some pullback, was 2.8 percent higher by midday. The markets in Shanghai, Taiwan, South Korea and Singapore also posted solid increases.</p> <p>The Nikkei was trying to come back from dismal results that had sent it to a 26-year low on Tuesday. </p> <p>Three major Japanese banks - Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Mizuho Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group - were up more than 6.7 percent, as banks and financial services companies throughout the region registered significant gains.</p> <p>Toshiba rose 8 percent on speculation that aggressive cost-cutting measures could help lead to an operating profit next year. Canon, Seiko Epson and Honda also rocketed upward in morning trading in Tokyo. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20552">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20550"><B>50 Years Later, Beijing Still Fails To Control Tibet</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 03:34:06<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of the 1959 revolt in Tibet against China and the Dalai Lama's flight from the country. Despite decades of repression, the Tibetans living under Chinese control still dare to voice their demands for more autonomy - and the return of their exiled spiritual leader</b></p> <p><b>It was 6.30 a.m., and the sun had not yet risen when they left wearing their red robes to march along the narrow paths between the fields. Then they turned left at the Petro China gas station onto Democracy Street and continued in the direction of the Guinan local government offices.</b> </p> <p>It was Feb. 25, the first day of the Tibetan New Year. The monks from the Lutsang monastery had heeded the Dalai Lama's advice to his compatriots in China that, this year, they should forgo loud and joyful celebrations. The religious leader had made it known from his place of exile in India that - in the light of the "immense difficulties and misery" faced by Tibetans - the time had come for reflection.</p> <p> It was this call that led roughly 100 monks to light candles on this particular morning and to present their demands to the local officials: That China should understand the hopes and thoughts of the Tibetans better. </p> <p>There has probably never been a lonelier place for a protest. The streets to Guinan trail like an endless ribbon through the high plains of Qinghai Province, where herds of yaks, goats and sheep, overseen by shepherds on horses and mopeds, graze on the blades of grass. Yet the action was not without consequences. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20550">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20548"><B>Congressional Audit: Energy Dept. Erred On Coal Project</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 03:33:25<HR> <b>The Energy Department made a $500 million math error a year ago when it withdrew its support from a ânear-zero emissionsâ coal plant in Illinois, Congressional auditors will say in a report to be released Wednesday. </b> <p><b>The error led the department to say mistakenly that the project, known as FutureGen, had nearly doubled in cost - an increase the Bush administration deemed too expensive.</b> </p> <p>At the time, FutureGen was the leading effort to capture and sequester carbon dioxide, the main heat-trapping gas linked to global warming.If the project were resumed and proved successful, it could provide a model for curbing the carbon dioxide that coal adds to the atmosphere. </p> <p>The new energy secretary, Steven Chu, has said that he will consider renewing support for FutureGen but that changes will be needed. He did not specify what those might be.</p> <p>The report was prepared by the Government Accountability Office for Representative Bart Gordon, chairman of the House Science Committee. The panelâs subcommittee on energy and environment will hold a hearing on the issue on Wednesday.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20548">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20546"><B>5 Years After It Halted Weapons Program, Libya Sees U.S. As Ungrateful</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 03:31:49<HR> <b>When Libya gave up its nuclear and chemical weapons programs in late 2003, President George W. Bush pointed to the decision as a victory in Washingtonâs so-called war on terror and as a potential model for pressing Iran and North Korea to give up their weapons programs, too.<br> <br> Now, Libyan officials say they are dissatisfied with the way the deal worked out, insisting that the United States has done too little to reward Libyaâs concessions. Officials here say they believe that Libyaâs limited payoff undermines the credibility of the United States as it presses other nations to abandon weapons programs.</b> <p>Libyaâs discontent suggests potential hurdles for the Obama White House as it tries to engage with nations the United States has shunned, like Iran and Syria, as part of a broader strategy reassessment in the Middle East. </p> <p>While Libya says it does not plan to restart the weapons programs, its disaffection signals the need to manage expectations and reveals the unexpected challenges of developing relations with the former pariah state, which has been isolated for decades and remains run by an eccentric, enigmatic strongman, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi. </p> <p>âWe gave some devices, some centrifuges, for example for America, but what do you give us? Nothing,â said Abdelrahman Shalgham, who served as foreign minister for eight years before being named ambassador to the United Nations this month. âThatâs why we think North Korea and Iran are hesitating now to have a breakthrough regarding their projects.â</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20546">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20544"><B>Stock Market Rallies Strongly, Dow Finished Up 379 Points</B></A><BR>2009-03-10 21:41:06<HR> <p><b> U.S. stock markets rallied strongly and broadly Tuesday, closing up more than 5 percent, as hope on Wall Street spread that the fortunes of some of the nation's largest financial institutions might be turning around. </b></p> <p><b> The surge, which was sparked by morning news that beleaguered financial giant Citigroup had posted profits in the first two months of the year, grew in its robustness throughout the day to touch every sector, from technology companies to utility giants to Detroit automakers.</b> </p> <p>Although analysts warned that concerns over the economy, housing and credit markets could still imperil any recovery, the scope of the gains led some to hold out optimism that a turning point could be near following weeks of decline. </p> <p>"There is finally some good news out there for once, and it seems to have gotten the markets rolling on the upside, and we are hopeful we can hold this sentiment," said Andrew Brooks, head of stock trading at T. Rowe Price. "The selling has been unabated, if you will; one up day does not improve the entire framework, but it sure feels a lot better." </p> <p><b> The Dow Jones industrial average gained 5.8 percent, or 379 points. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index was up 6.4 percent, or 43 points, and the Nasdaq composite index climbed 7.1 percent, or 90 points.</b> </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20544">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20542"><B>U.S. Congress Eases Travel To Cuba</B></A><BR>2009-03-10 21:40:43<HR> <b>U.S. citizens with family in Cuba will be able to visit the island nation more often and stay as long as they like under legislation Congress passed Tuesday night.</b> <p>Changes in rules for family travel to Cuba, which were included in a massive spending bill, come amid debate on whether the U.S. should lift its trade embargo against Cuba. </p> <p>Under the bill, which President Barack Obama is expected to sign, Cuban-Americans could travel to Cuba once a year to visit relatives and stay for an unlimited duration. Existing rules limit family visits to once every three years for no more than 14 days at a time. </p> <p>The bill would also would ease financing rules for imports of food and medicine into Cuba. That provision prompted protests by lawmakers who said it would reward a brutal dictatorship.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20542">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20540"><B>President Obama Unveils Education Blueprint, Urges More Parental Involvement</B></A><BR>2009-03-10 16:03:51<HR> <b>President Barack Obama laid out his vision for a 21st century education system this morning, unveiling plans for federal grant programs meant to inspire better performance but also calling on states, schools and parents to take part even where there is no financial incentive.</b><br> <br> Obama's blueprint includes a controversial plan to hike pay for high-performing teachers, as well as money for states that raise student standards, track student progress and cut the drop-out rate.<br> <br> <div class="storybody"> Yet much of Obama's speech to business leaders with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce - his first address on education since taking office - focused not on detailing federal programs but on encouraging Americans to raise the standards on their own.<br> <br> He called for longer school days and school years, more charter schools and a greater effort to recruit promising candidates to the teaching profession, as well as a renewed commitment from parents to support their children's education.<br> <br><b>"Yes, we need more money," said Obama. "Yes, we need more reform. Yes, we need to hold ourselves more accountable for every dollar we spend. .. The bottom line is that no government policies will make any difference unless we also hold ourselves more accountable as parents."</b></div> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20540">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20538"><B>Dalai Lama Harshly Condemns China</B></A><BR>2009-03-10 16:03:29<HR> <b>The Dalai Lama delivered on Tuesday one of his harshest attacks on the Chinese government in recent times, saying that the Chinese Communist Party had transformed Tibet into a âhell on earthâ and that the Chinese authorities regard Tibetans as âcriminals deserving to be put to death.â</b> <p><b>âToday, the religion, culture, language and identity, which successive generations of Tibetans have considered more precious than their lives, are nearing extinction,â said the Dalai Lama, 73, the spiritual leader of the Tibetans.</b></p> <p>Those words came during a blistering speech made Tuesday morning in Dharamsala, India, the Himalayan hill town that is the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile. Tibetans outside of China and their supporters held rallies around the world on Tuesday to mark the 50th anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule. The Chinese military crushed the rebellion, forcing the Dalai Lama to flee across the Himalayas to India.</p> <p>The furious tone of the Dalai Lamaâs speech may have been in reaction to a new clampdown by China on the Tibetan regions. The Dalai Lama might also have adopted an angry approach to placate younger Tibetans who have accused the Dalai Lama of being too conciliatory toward China. The Dalai Lama advocates genuine autonomy for Tibet and not secession, while more radical Tibetans are urging the Dalai Lama to support outright independence.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20538">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20536"><B>Bernanke Says Financial Rules Need Overhaul</B></A><BR>2009-03-10 16:03:07<HR> <b>Federal Reserve chairman Ben S. Bernanke called on Tuesday for a broad reworking of how the government regulates the financial system to prevent future financial collapses.<br> </b> <p><b>In a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C., Bernanke said the financial system needed to be regulated âas a whole, in a holistic wayâ and that stricter oversight of banks would not be enough to guard against future crises.</b></p> <p>âStrong and effective regulation and supervision of banking institutions, although necessary for reducing systemic risk, are not sufficient by themselves to achieve this aim,â said Bernanke. </p> <p>He said that government oversight systems and private risk management helped to precipitate the economic crisis by failing to ensure that a flood of foreign money into the United States was prudently invested. Credit markets seized up and global economies began contracting in what Bernanke called the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.</p> <p>Even as the Fed and other central banks scramble to rebuild confidence in the financial system and free up credit, Bernanke said that policy makers needed to look ahead to long-term changes in the financial system.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20536">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20534"><B>Stocks Push Higher On Upbeat Memo From Citigroup</B></A><BR>2009-03-10 16:02:43<HR> <p><b>Wall Street soared on Tuesday morning, with the Dow rebounding more than 200 points, as investors got a taste of what they desperately crave: a glimmer of optimism in the financial sector.</b></p> <p><b>That hint of hope came in the form of a memorandum from the chief executive of Citigroup, Vikram S. Pandit, saying that the bank had turned a profit in the first two months of the year, and that its quarterly performance to date, before taxes and special items, was the best since the third quarter of 2007.</b> </p> <p>Pandit gave no indication of how much special items, like write-downs or credit losses, would be, but investors took the memo as a sign of a better days ahead for Citigroup, which had an $8.29 billion loss in the fourth quarter.</p> <p> Shares of Citigroup, which briefly sank below $1 last week, surged 23 percent in midmorning trading, helping to lead a surge in financial companies and fueling a broader rally. Bank of America soared nearly 24 percent, and JPMorgan Chase, PNC Financial Services and Morgan Stanley all rose by double digits.</p> <p><b>At about 2 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was up 292 points, or nearly 4.5 percent, while the broader Standard & Poorâs 500-stock index rose 5.2 percent - the biggest gains for the two market indices since late January. The Nasdaq index rose 5.8 percent, a day after technology and telecommunications dragged the broader markets lower.</b></p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20534">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20532"><B>Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Of Guantanamo Detainee - At Detainee's Request</B></A><BR>2009-03-10 16:02:14<HR> <p><b> A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a 34-year-old Saudi challenging his confinement at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, because the detainee does not want to proceed with his case.</b> </p> <p>The decision by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan followed a two-hour hearing on Friday that included testimony from the detainee, Ghassan Abdullah al-Sharbi, via a secure video link to the prison, according to Sharbi's attorney, Robert Rachlin. </p> <p>Rachlin declined to discuss anything specific that transpired at the hearing because it was closed to the public. He said his client has "consistently demanded that his case be dropped and has refused the assistance of military and civilian lawyers." Rachlin said Sharbi is "an aspiring martyr." </p> <p> "He has disdain for the whole process," said Rachlin. </p> <p> Under Sullivan's ruling, Sharbi can bring his suit again if he wants to, said Rachlin. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20532">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20551"><B>Interview: 'Window Of Opportunity' For U.S.-Russia Relations</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 03:34:20<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>Ties between Washington and Moscow have been frosty in recent years; but former U.S. Ambassador Thomas Pickering sees a golden opportunity for improvement. He spoke with Spiegel Online about how Russia could help with Iran and Afghanistan.</b></p> <p> <b>SPIEGEL ONLINE: </b>Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, President Barack Obama himself - they all promise to press the "reset button" on ties with Russia. Is that realistic? </p> <b>Thomas Pickering</b>: I think there is a real window of opportunity to jumpstart the relationship between Moscow and Washington. The expectations are extremely low after the standstill of the past years. And the Obama administration is off to a good start. They really seem determined to engage in a new dialogue. <p> <b>SPIEGEL ONLINE: </b>But Moscow reacted rather coolly to Obama's letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in which he seemed to offer to abandon the U.S. missile shield in Europe in exchange for more Russian cooperation on the nuclear dispute with Iran. </p> <p> <b>Pickering: </b>I have not seen that letter; I have only seen what the Russians said to the press. But I was not really surprised that the Russians were not too enthused. One has to remember: Russian politicians always welcome the opportunity to criticize the Americans. Former Russian President Vladimir Putin brilliantly used this to help his political standing at home, and it was not much different when I served as U.S. ambassador in Moscow in the 1990s. That is just the way Russians look at the relationship with Washington - and that won't change all of a sudden. </p> <p> <b>SPIEGEL ONLINE: </b>Were you surprised that the Obama administration seemed to offer a complete abandonment of the missile shield in the letter to Medvedev? </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20551">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20549"><B>Madoff To Plead Guilty - Life Sentence Likely</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 03:33:42<HR> <b>Bernard L. Madoff, the New York financier accused of masterminding the biggest Ponzi scheme ever, plans to plead guilty this week to 11 felony charges that will likely put him behind bars for the rest of his life, his lawyer said Tuesday. </b> <p><b>Madoff, 70, will admit to running a fraud dating back to the 1980s. He solicited billions of dollars from pension funds, charities and other investors, at times promising annual returns of as much as 46 percent, according to court documents filed Tuesday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.</b> </p> <p>He set up accounts in London, England, in part to make it look like he was investing in European securities. To give his business an air of legitimacy, said the documents, Madoff hired numerous employees with little or no relevant training and had them generate false documents, including trading records and monthly statements to clients. Prosecutors didn't say whether his staff was aware of the fraud. </p> <p>The new details about Madoff's operations were collected by government investigators after Madoff's Dec. 11 arrest. Prosecutors had charged him with a single count of securities fraud after, they said, Madoff admitted to running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20549">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20547"><B>Car Loan Delinquencies Rising Amid Signs Of Fraud</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 03:32:07<HR> <b>Many car buyers are having the same kind of trouble obtaining and paying off loans that plagued America's housing market, new data show.</b> <p> Some 3.25 percent of all indirect auto loans were at least 30 days overdue in the third quarter, the American Bankers Association reports. That's the worst showing since the group began compiling such numbers in 1980. Indirect loans are those arranged by a third party, typically an auto dealer, and they account for 90 percent of all car loans.</p> <p>"Many car buyers have fallen victim to many of the same subprime, predatory lending practices that have caused so many home foreclosures and our current economic recession," said Rep. Doris Matsui, D-California. </p> <!-- story_feature_box.comp --><!-- /story_feature_box.comp --><!-- story_factbox.comp --> <!-- /story_factbox.comp --> <p>Not only are their payments starting to lag, but "evidence suggests that fraudulent practices with regard to both the condition and financing of used cars are on the rise," said Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Illinois, the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection.</p> <p>He and others, including the National Consumer Law Center, say this trend is affecting the poor disproportionately.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20547">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20545"><B>GV20 Deal At Risk As U.S.-Europe Rift Grows</B></A><BR>2009-03-11 03:31:32<HR> <p><b>British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's hopes of achieving a deal on the international handling of the financial crisis in London next month have been dealt a blow by signs of a growing split between America and Europe, and an admission by Britain's most senior civil servant that it is very hard to get decisions from the Obama administration. </b> </p><p>America's idea of another co-ordinated fiscal stimulus to lift the world out of recession is being resisted by Germany and France, both worried by the scale of their projected public deficits. </p><p>The faultline was becoming visible as Sir Gus O'Donnell, head of the U.K. civil service, said U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told him there was no one in the U.S. Treasury Department because of delays in appointing a new administration. "There is nobody there," he told a civil service conference in Gateshead. "You cannot believe how difficult it is." </p><p>Sir Gus made his remarks in defense of a permanent civil service, pointing out that he had known Geithner for many years, but had been unable to get decisions from the administration. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20545">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20543"><B>U.S. Congress Passes Huge $410 Billion Spending Legislation</B></A><BR>2009-03-10 21:40:55<HR> <p><b> The Senate gave final approval to a $410 billion spending bill to fund most of the federal government for the remainder of the year after overcoming a resilient Republican opposition and several Democratic defections.</b> </p> <p><b>The bill, which included thousands of controversial earmarks inserted by members of both parties, was approved on a voice vote after eight Republicans joined 54 Democrats in backing a procedural measure to bring the long and rancorous debate to a close. President Obama has indicated that he will sign the bill despite misgivings about the earmarks included in it.</b> </p> <p>The legislation was six months overdue, a victim of partisan gridlock at the end of the Bush presidency but also sticker shock. Congress already has approved a $700 billion financial bailout and a $787 billion economic stimulus package. Obama has said he is likely to ask for more. </p> <p> "This has taken far too long," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nevada) said before the final vote. The multiple hurdles that had blocked the bill "had been surprising to me," said Reid. "It's been difficult. But we're going to get it done." </p> <p>The bill provides fiscal 2009 funding for nine federal departments, covering all government activities other than defense and homeland security-related agencies, whose funding was approved last fall. Many agencies will see big boosts under the legislation, in some cases 10 percent or more about fiscal 2008 levels. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20543">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20541"><B>Gunman, 9 Others Killed In South Alabama Towns</B></A><BR>2009-03-10 21:40:27<HR> <b>Authorities say at 10 people have been shot and killed in two south Alabama towns, including the gunman. </b> <p><b> The Alabama Department of Safety says at least four shootings by a single gunman left at least nine people dead before he killed himself.</b> </p> <p>The department says in a statement that the shootings began late Tuesday afternoon in Samson. The shooter killed five people in one home and one each in two other homes. </p> <p> The gunman then shot at a state trooper's car, striking the vehicle seven times and wounding the trooper with broken glass. </p> <p> Police pursued him to Reliable Metal Products just north of Geneva, where he fired an estimated 30 rounds. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20541">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20539"><B>EPA Proposes National System For Reporting Greenhouse Gas Emissions</B></A><BR>2009-03-10 16:03:39<HR> <p><b> The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Tuesday proposed establishing a nationwide system for reporting greenhouse gas emissions, a program that could serve as the basis for a federal cap on the buildup of carbon and other gases linked to global warming.</b> </p> <p><b>The registry plan, which would cover about 13,000 facilities that produce between 85 and 90 percent of the nation's greenhouse gas output, was drafted under the Bush administration but stalled after the Office of Management and Budget objected to it because EPA based the rule on its powers under the Clean Air Act.</b> </p> <p>"Our efforts to confront climate change must be guided by the best possible information," said EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson in a statement. "Through this new reporting, we will have comprehensive and accurate data about the production of greenhouse gases. This is a critical step toward helping us better protect our health and environment - all without placing an onerous burden on our nation's small businesses." </p> <p> Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer (D-California) had inserted language in a 2007 spending bill instructing EPA to develop a national greenhouse gas reporting system. </p> <p>If adopted by the end of the year, the new rule could produce greenhouse gas statistics by the end of 2010. The EPA requirements would apply to large industrial sources that emit 25,000 metric tons or more a year, including oil and chemical refineries; cement, glass, pulp and paper plants; manufacturers of motor vehicles and engines; and confined animal feeding operations. The threshold of 25,000 metric tons is about equal to the annual emissions of just more than 4,500 passenger cars. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20539">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20537"><B>China Says U.S. Naval Ship Was Conducting Illegal Activities</B></A><BR>2009-03-10 16:03:18<HR> <b>China on Tuesday rejected accusations that it harassed a U.S. naval ship off one of its southern islands and said the vessel was conducting illegal surveying activities. </b> <p><b> On Monday, the White House had protested the aggressive shadowing Sunday of the USNS Impeccable in the South China Sea near Hainan Island. According to the Pentagon, five Chinese vessels "surrounded" the ship and closed to within 50 feet while crew members were "waving Chinese flags and telling Impeccable to leave the area."</b> </p> <p>Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said at a news conference Tuesday that the United States had misrepresented the situation and that the U.S. ship had been in a "Chinese exclusive economic zone" without the Chinese government's permission. </p> <p>"The U.S. claim is totally inaccurate and confuses right and wrong and is unacceptable to China," said Ma. China maintains that the Impeccable's presence violates international law and has demanded that the United States refrain from carrying out similar missions. </p> <p><b>In a response Tuesday, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Stewart Upton said, "We stand by our earlier statements that U.S. Navy ships regularly operate in international waters around the world and that the Impeccable was conducting routine operations in the South China Sea in accordance with international law."</b> </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20537">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20535"><B>New Fears Of Violence Rise As Bomber Kills Dozens In Iraq</B></A><BR>2009-03-10 16:02:54<HR> <b>A suicide bomber took aim at a group of Iraqi Army officers on their way to a reconciliation conference on the western outskirts of Baghdad on Tuesday, and wild gunfire ensued. A total of 33 people were killed, including two journalists.</b><br> <p>It was the second attack since Sunday to kill more than two dozen people, suggesting a renewed ability by insurgents to mount effective suicide bombings, after a long period in which such attacks were relatively few and less lethal because of heavy security precautions.</p> <p> A witness said the attacker on Tuesday was wearing a national police uniform and struck as a group of officials were in a marketplace near the municipal building in Abu Ghraib. The Iraqi Interior Ministry put the death toll at 33, with 46 injured. It was early afternoon, and the local Iraqi army leaders were on their way to a scheduled reconciliation conference in the District Council with Sunni tribal leaders in the area, according to army officers at the scene. </p> <p><b> A correspondent and a photographer for an Iraqi television network, Al Baghdadiya, were killed. The Iraqi Army lost at least seven men, including the commander of the third regiment, Lt. Col. Muhammed Jassim. The commander of Al Muthanna Brigade, Staff Col. Murad Kareem, was injured, and his brother, who was his bodyguard, was killed, said military officials.</b></p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20535">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20533"><B>Muslim Woman Asked To Leave Line At Maryland Credit Union</B></A><BR>2009-03-10 16:02:25<HR> <p><b> A Muslim woman was asked to leave her place in line at a credit union in Southern Maryland and be served in a back room because the head scarf she wore for religious reasons violated the institution's "no hats, hoods or sunglasses" policy, the woman said Monday. </b></p> <p><b>The incident at the Navy Federal Credit Union on Saturday was the second in a month for Kenza Shelley, and Muslim advocates fear it could become a problem nationwide as many financial institutions, intent on curbing robberies and identity theft, ban hats and similar items without appropriate accommodations for religious attire.</b> </p> <p>"This may be the tip of the iceberg," said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. "There's got to be a way to work it out so that this security concern does not lead to violations of constitutional rights." </p> <p>Shelley, 54, who runs a day care out of her home in Lexington Park, said she has used the credit union in the St. Mary's County community of California for more than 10 years. Until February, no employees had complained about her head scarf, which covers her hair but not her face. But a few weeks ago, she said, she was standing in line to deposit a check when an employee asked her to come to the back room, referring to a new policy that prohibited hats, hoods and sunglasses. She complied but asked whether she would have to go through the same process each time she made a transaction. </p> <p><b>On Saturday, Shelley said, employees again asked her to come to the back room if she would not remove her head scarf. "No," she recalled telling them, "I want to be served like everybody else."</b> </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20533">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20531"><B>RV Maker Fleetwood Files For Bankruptcy</B></A><BR>2009-03-10 16:01:54<HR> <b>Fleetwood Enterprises Inc., the Riverside recreational vehicle maker, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today and said it was in talks to sell itself as it battles to survive a prolonged sales slump.<br> <br> Fleetwood said it would continue to operate while in bankruptcy proceedings and as it holds talks with potential buyers.<br> <br> </b> <div class="storybody"><b> "The company is in discussions with buyers for all or part of its business," said a spokeswoman for the company.</b><br> <br> Fleetwood, which employs 3,000 people at 15 plants in 10 states, also said it would close its travel trailer operation, shutting down three factories and two service centers and eliminating 675 jobs. The company said it was also laying off an additional 65 workers.<br> <br> "Although we made substantial progress in restructuring this division and improved the product offering, current market conditions proved too severe to continue the turnaround," Chief Executive Elden L. Smith said in a statement.</div> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20531">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-34959799258550854042009-03-10T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-10T01:20:36.344-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Tuesday March 10 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Tuesday March 10 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20530"><B>U.N. Accuses Britain Of Condoning Torture</B></A><BR>2009-03-09 20:20:02<HR> <p><b>Britain has been condemned in a highly critical United Nations report for breaching basic human rights</b> <b> and "trying to conceal illegal acts" in the fight against terrorism. Britain has been condemned in a highly critical of United Nations report for breaching basic human right. The report is sharply critical of British co-operation in the transfer of detainees to places where they are likely to be tortured as part of the U.S. rendition program.</b></p> <p><b>The report accuses British intelligence officers of interviewing detainees held incommunicado in Pakistan in "so-called safe houses where they were being tortured".</b></p> <p>It adds that Britain, with a number of countries, has sent interrogators to Guantanamo Bay in a further example of what it says "can be reasonably understood as implicitly condoning" torture and ill-treatment, adding that the U.S. was able to create its system for moving terror suspects around foreign jails only with the support of its allies.</p> <p>Some individuals faced "prolonged and secret detention" and practices that breached bans on torture and other forms of ill-treatment, the report says.</p> <p>The document, drawn up for the U.N. General Assembly by Martin Scheinen, the organization's special rapporteur on the "promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism", is likely to add to pressure on the government, which is already facing demands from human rights groups and frontbench opposition Parliament members for an inquiry into the role of U.K. security and intelligence officials in the CIA's secret transfer of detainees to "dark prisons".</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20530">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20528"><B>Cocaine Production Surge Unleashes Wave Of Violence In Latin America</B></A><BR>2009-03-09 20:19:35<HR> <p><b>Cocaine production has surged across Latin America and unleashed a wave of violence, population displacements and corruption, prompting urgent calls to rethink the drug war.</b></p> <p><b>More than 750 tons of cocaine are shipped annually from the Andes in a multi-billion pound (or dollar) industry which has forced peasants off land, triggered gang wars and perverted state institutions.</b> </p> <p>A Guardian newspaper investigation based on dozens of interviews with law enforcement officials, coca farmers, refugees and policymakers has yielded a bleak picture of the "war" on the eve of a crucial United Nations drug summit.</p> <p>Almost 6,000 people died in drug-related violence in Mexico last year alone, an unprecedented level of mayhem that is showing signs of spilling northwards into the United States. More than 1,000 have been killed already this year in Mexico. </p> <p>A new trafficking route between South America and west Africa has grown so quickly that the 10th latitude corridor connecting the continents has been dubbed Interstate 10.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20528">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20526"><B>Obama To Executive Officials: Don't Rely On Bush's Signing Statements </B></A><BR>2009-03-09 15:31:01<HR> <b>Calling into question the legitimacy of all the signing statements that former President George W. Bush used to challenge new laws, President Obama on Monday ordered executive officials to consult with Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr.,before relying on any of them to bypass a statute. </b> <p><b>Obama also signaled that he intends to use signing statements if Congress sends him legislation that has provisions he decides are unconstitutional. He pledged to use a modest approach when doing so, but said there was a role for the practice if used appropriately.</b></p> <p>âIn exercising my responsibility to determine whether a provision of an enrolled bill is unconstitutional, I will act with caution and restraint, based only on interpretations of the Constitution that are well-founded,â Obama wrote in a memorandum to the heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch. The document was obtained by the New York Times.</p> <p>Obamaâs directions marked the latest step in his administrationâs effort to deal with a series of legal and policy disputes it inherited from the Bush administration. It came the same day that Obama lifted restrictions Bush had placed on federal financing for research that uses embryonic stem cells.<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/stemcells/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about stem cells."><br> </a></p> <p>Bushâs use of signing statements - official legal documents issued by a president the day he signs bills into law, instructing executive officials how to implement the statutes - led to fierce controversy.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20526">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20524"><B> U.S. Supreme Court Refuses To Expand Minority Voting Rights</B></A><BR>2009-03-09 15:30:41<HR> <b>The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that electoral districts must have a majority of African-Americans or other minorities to be protected by a provision of the Voting Rights Act.</b> <p>The 5-4 decision, with the court's conservatives in the majority, could make it harder for southern Democrats to draw friendly boundaries after the 2010 Census. </p> <p><b>The court declined to expand protections of the landmark civil rights law to take in electoral districts where the minority population is less than 50 percent of the total, but strong enough to effectively determine the outcome of elections.</b> </p> <p>In 2007, the North Carolina Supreme Court struck down a state legislative district in which blacks made up only about 39 percent of the voting age population. The court said the Voting Rights Act applies only to districts with a numerical majority of minority voters. </p> <p>Justice Anthony Kennedy, announcing the court's judgment, said that requiring minorities to represent more than half the population "draws clear lines for courts and legislatures alike. The same cannot be said of a less exacting standard." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20524">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20522"><B>U.S. Protests 'Harassment' Of Navy Ship By Chinese Vessels</B></A><BR>2009-03-09 15:30:11<HR> <p><b> The Pentagon Monday protested what it called harassment and aggressive shadowing of a U.S. Navy ocean surveillance ship by five Chinese vessels in international waters off the South China Sea on Sunday, warning such behavior could lead to collisions or the loss of life. </b></p> <p><b> During the incident, the Chinese vessels "surrounded" the U.S.N.S. Impeccable and closed within 50 feet, with Chinese crew members "waving Chinese flags and telling Impeccable to leave the area," according to a Pentagon statement.</b> </p> <p>Impeccable sprayed fire hoses at one of the vessels in self-protection, but the Chinese crew members stripped to their underwear and the ship "continued closing to within 25 feet," said the Pentagon. </p> <p>At that point, the Impeccable used a bridge-to-bridge radio to communicate it was leaving the area, but two of the Chinese vessels stopped directly in the path of the U.S. ship, forcing it to conduct an emergency stop. </p> <p>The U.S. Embassy in Beijing lodged a formal protest over the incident with China's Foreign Ministry during the weekend. Today senior Defense Department officials met with a Chinese defense attache at the Pentagon to reiterate the protest, according to a defense official. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20522">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20520"><B>Merck Buying Schering-Plough For $41.1 Billion</B></A><BR>2009-03-09 15:29:46<HR> <b>Merck & Co. is buying Schering-Plough Corp. for $41.1 billion in a deal that gives Merck key new businesses, access to a promising pipeline of new products and the chance to further cut costs, including eliminating about 16,000 jobs. </b> <p><b>Merck hopes the cash-and-stock deal helps it better compete in a drug industry facing slumping sales, tough generic competition and intense pricing pressures.</b> </p> <p>The deal announced Monday would unite the maker of asthma drug Singulair with the maker of allergy medicine Nasonex and form the world's second-largest prescription drug maker. Merck and Schering are already partners in a pair of popular cholesterol fighters, Vytorin and Zetia, although concerns about safety and effectiveness have hurt sales. </p> <p>Shares of the two companies traded furiously after the announcement, with Schering's shares skyrocketing and Merck's dropping, typical for a company doing a big acquisition. In early afternoon trading, Schering shares jumped $2.63, or 15 perent, to $20.26, and Merck shares fell $2.19, or 9.6 percent, to $20.55. </p> <p> The deal comes only a few weeks after Lipitor maker Pfizer Inc. agreed to pay $68 billion for drug maker Wyeth. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20520">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20518"><B>U.S. Economic Downturn Dragging World Into Recession</B></A><BR>2009-03-09 04:32:14<HR> <b>World Bank report says global economy will shrink for first time since 1940s.</b><br> <p><b> The world is falling into the first global recession since World War II as the crisis that started in the United States engulfs once-booming developing nations, confronting them with massive financial shortfalls that could turn back the clock on poverty reduction by years, the World Bank warned Sunday.</b> </p> <p><b>The World Bank also cautioned that the cost of helping poorer nations in crisis would exceed the current financial resources of multilateral lenders. Such aid could prove critical to political stability as concerns mount over unrest in poorer nations, particularly in Eastern Europe, generated by their sharp reversal of fortunes as private investment evaporates and global trade collapses.</b> </p> <p>In its report, released ahead of a major summit of finance ministers in London this week, the World Bank called on developed nations struggling with their own economic routs to dedicate 0.7 percent of the money they spend on stimulus programs toward a new Vulnerability Fund to help developing countries. </p> <p>The report predicted that the global economy will shrink this year for the first time since the 1940s, reducing earlier estimates that emerging markets would propel the world to positive growth even as the United States, Europe and Japan tanked. The dire prediction underscored what many are calling a mounting crisis within a crisis, as the downturn that started in the wealthy nations of the West washes over developing countries through a pullback in investment, trade and credit. Despite the United States' position as the epicenter of the crisis, investors are flocking to U.S. Treasury bills and the dollar, squeezing developing nations out of global credit markets. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20518">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20516"><B>Obama Aims to Shield Science From Politics</B></A><BR>2009-03-09 04:31:49<HR> <p><b> When President Obama lifts restrictions on funding for human embryonic stem cell research today, he will also issue a presidential memorandum aimed at insulating scientific decisions across the federal government from political influence, officials said Sunday.</b> </p> <p>"The president believes that it's particularly important to sign this memorandum so that we can put science and technology back at the heart of pursuing a broad range of national goals," Melody C. Barnes, director of Obama's Domestic Policy Council, told reporters during a telephone briefing Sunday. </p> <p><b>Although officials would not go into details, the memorandum will order the Office of Science and Technology Policy to "assure a number of effective standards and practices that will help our society feel that we have the highest-quality individuals carrying out scientific jobs and that information is shared with the public," said Harold Varmus, who co-chairs Obama's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.</b> </p> <p>The decision by President George W. Bush to restrict funding for stem cell research has been seen by critics as part of a pattern of allowing political ideology to influence scientific decisions across an array of issues, including climate change and whether to approve the morning-after pill Plan B for over-the-counter sales. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20516">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20514"><B>Left Hopes For Big Win In El Salvador Elections</B></A><BR>2009-03-09 04:31:13<HR> <b>After a 12-year civil war and a peace undermined by soaring crime, leftists in El Salvador are on the verge of completing a remarkable journey from armed struggle to the presidential palace. </b> <p><b> Their candidate is a veteran TV broadcaster and morning talk show host, Mauricio Funes, whose Facebook page lists his political views as "other." Funes, 49, a former correspondent for CNN en Espanol, was recently recruited by the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), the revolutionary group-turned-mainstream political party that is favored by polls to win the presidency in a vote scheduled for March 15.</b> </p> <p>Though the FMLN standard-bearers traditionally campaign dressed in fiery red, Funes favors a white Panama shirt, hip bluejeans and designer glasses. And while some of his FMLN stalwarts still favor rhetoric that evokes Cuba's Castro brothers, Funes considers himself to be El Salvador's Barack Obama - an agent of change in a country beset by the highest murder rate in Latin America and an economy in free fall. </p> <p>The comparison is overt: Funes and the FMLN use images of Obama in their ads (despite objections by the U.S. State Department), saying both candidates were smeared by their opponents as allies of extremists. The FMLN television spots complete the link by employing the Obama slogan in English and Spanish, vowing "Yes, we can!" </p> <p>"During the entire history of El Salvador, the left has never had such opportunity to win as it does now," said Jose Raymundo Calderon Moran, a historian and dean of the University of El Salvador. "The people see a possibility for change, because one way or the other, they are demanding something different, no matter who wins." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20514">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20529"><B>Commentary: East Asia's Economic Revenge</B></A><BR>2009-03-09 20:19:50<HR> <b>Intellpuke:</b> <i>This commentary was written by Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and appeared in the Guardian edition for Monday, March 9, 2009. In his commentary, Mr. Baker writes: <b>"Following the 1997 financial crisis, Asia got screwed by the U.S.-led International Monetary Fund. With the housing bubble, Asia returned the favor."</b> Mr. Baker's commentary follows:</i><br> <div id="article-wrapper"> <p>In a matter of a few short weeks during the summer of 1997, the thriving countries of east Asia saw their economies overwhelmed by a financial tsunami. First Thailand and Indonesia, and then South Korea and Malaysia, saw investors panic and watched capital flee. Their currencies plummeted in value and their biggest companies wrestled with bankruptcy. </p><p>After being held up as models of successful development, these countries were suddenly denounced by the International Monetary Fund (IMF)and prominent economists everywhere for their lack of transparency, poor accounting standards and crony capitalism. The IMF came into the region with a rescue plan that imposed harsh conditions. It demanded that these countries impose austerity plans and allow foreign investors to buy up their businesses at depressed stock prices. </p><p>The other part of the story was that the IMF insisted that these countries repay their debts. The only way they could do so was to export like crazy. This route was opened to the Asian countries by the plunge in the value of their currencies, most significantly against the dollar. The result was that goods from the region became very cheap to American consumers, yielding a flood of imports to the United States. </p><p>There was a second route that the IMF could have followed for debt repayment. In recognition of the severity and extraordinary nature of the crisis, the IMF could have allowed for substantial write-downs of debt by the countries of the region. But it chose not to follow this route. </p><p>Of course the IMF was not an independent actor. The organization takes its lead from the United States. At the time, the folks calling the shots were the trio that Time magazine dubbed the "Committee to save the World" (CSW): Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin and Larry Summers. </p><p>The IMF "rescue" for east Asia had important ramifications for the rest of the developing world. The message that developing countries took away from the IMF's east Asia rescue was that they never wanted to be in a situation in which they were forced to turn to the IMF for help. The one way that they could prevent being forced to turn to the IMF was to accumulate massive amounts of foreign reserves as a defense. The only way to accumulate foreign reserves is to run a balance of trade surplus. </p></div> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20529">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20527"><B>Technology, Telecom Shares Send Markets Lower</B></A><BR>2009-03-09 16:20:59<HR> <p><b>Losses in technology and telecommunications companies pulled Wall Street lower on Monday, as markets reopened after a week of grinding losses on path to post new bear-market lows.</b></p> <p><b>In a shift, the financial sector was the only corner of the market in positive territory in late trading, as shares of companies like Google and I.B.M., Verizon and AT&T all declined.</b> </p> <p>In the last half-hour, the Dow Jones industrial was down about 90 points while the Standard & Poorâs 500-stock index was down 1.1 percent. The technology-heavy Nasdaq index was down about 1.9 percent.</p> <p>âDeath by a thousand cuts,â said Joseph Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading. âItâs just a protracted sell-off. It seems like itâs a buyerâs strike.â</p> <p>Meanwhile, the price of oil rose to its highest point since early January as traders speculated that the OPEC cartel was considering cutting output as it prepared to meet this weekend.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20527">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20525"><B>U.S. Government Cyber Security Chief Resigns Amid Turf War</B></A><BR>2009-03-09 15:30:51<HR> <p><b> The federal government's director for cyber security has resigned after less than a year on the job, citing a lack of support and funding, and an over-reliance on the National Security Agency for combating threats to the nation's computer systems. </b></p> <p><b>Former Silicon Valley entrepreneur Rod A. Beckstrom said in his resignation letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, a copy of which was published by the Wall Street Journal on Friday, that it was a "bad strategy" to give the NSA such a dominant role.</b> </p> <p> Beckstrom was appointed last March to head the National Cyber Security Center, a new inter-agency group charged with coordinating the federal government's efforts to protect its computer networks from organized cyber attacks. Recently, said Beckstrom, efforts have been underway to fold his group into a facility at the NSA. </p> <p>Reached by phone Sunday evening, Beckstrom confirmed that his last day would be March 13. He declined to veer far from the points he laid out in his letter, but said the purpose of his group was to coordinate - not be subsumed by - cyber efforts of various federal agencies. </p> <p> "This is a coordination body and it resides alongside or above the other centers, but certainly not below them," said Beckstrom. "In my view, it is very important that there be independence for the NCSC, and that it be able to carry out its role." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20525">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20523"><B>U.S. Supreme Court Refuses To Hear New York Case Against Gun Dealers</B></A><BR>2009-03-09 15:30:29<HR> <b>The U.S. Supreme Court has turned away pleas by New York City and gun violence victims to hold the firearms industry responsible for selling guns that could end up in illegal markets. </b> <p><b>The justices' decision Monday ends lawsuits first filed in 2000. Federal appeals courts in New York and Washington threw out the complaints after Congress passed a law in 2005 giving the gun industry broad immunity against such lawsuits.</b> </p> <p>The city's lawsuit asked for no monetary damages. It had sought a court order for gun makers to more closely monitor those dealers who frequently sell guns later used to commit crimes. </p> <p>The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that federal law provides the gun industry with broad immunity from lawsuits brought by crime victims and violence-plagued cities. The Supreme Court refused to reconsider that decision. </p> <p>The lawsuit was first brought in June 2000 while Rudy Giuliani was New York mayor. It was delayed due to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and because of similar litigation in the state courts. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20523">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20521"><B>Authorities Charge Man In Illinois Church Shooting</B></A><BR>2009-03-09 15:29:59<HR> <b>A man was charged with murder Monday for allegedly shooting a southern Illinois pastor through the heart during Sunday services. </b> <p><b> Terry J. Sedlacek, 27, of Troy, was charged with two counts each of first-degree murder and aggravated battery, said Stephanee Smith, spokeswoman for Madison County Prosecutors William Mudge.</b> </p> <p>The gunman strode into First Baptist Church shortly after 8 a.m. Sunday, exchanged words with the Rev. Fred Winters., then fired a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol until it jammed. Winters, 45, later died of a single shot to the heart, the coroner said Monday. </p> <p>Authorities did not comment on a possible motive or on the gunman's mental state. "We're still not sure what the reasoning was," Illinois State Police Lt. Scott Compton said Monday. </p> <p> Sedlacek once suffered bouts of erratic behavior his family said was due to Lyme disease. One expert said it would be unlikely that the tick-borne illness would make someone so violent. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20521">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20519"><B>McClatchy Co. To Slash 1,600 Jobs, Cut Executives Pay</B></A><BR>2009-03-09 15:29:32<HR> <b>McClatchy Co will slash 1,600 jobs, or about 15 percent of its workforce, and dock the pay of its top executives, in one of the more dramatic cuts by a U.S. newspaper publisher as it struggles with plunging advertising sales.</b> <p>The news drove McClatchy shares down as much as 35 percent in Monday morning trading to 44 cents a share, after having lost 95 percent of their value over the last 12 months. </p> <p>Investors trading insurance on the company's debt raised the cost of that insurance, indicating they think it's at high risk of default. </p> <p>"There's this general feeling that the ice on which they've been skating has been getting thinner and thinner," said Benchmark Co analyst Ed Atorino. </p> <p><b> The publisher of 30 daily newspapers, including The Miami Herald, Sacramento Bee and Anchorage Daily News, has about 10,800 full-time-equivalent positions. It has been reducing costs to meet heavy debt payments from its purchase of newspaper chain Knight Ridder Inc in 2006.</b> </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20519">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20517"><B>Study: 15 Percent Of Americans Have No Religion</B></A><BR>2009-03-09 04:32:01<HR> <p><b> The percentage of Americans who call themselves Christians has dropped dramatically over the past two decades, and those who do are increasingly identifying themselves without traditional denomination labels, according to a major study of U.S. religion being released Monday.</b> </p> <p>The survey of more than 54,000 people conducted between February and November of last year showed that the percentage of Americans identifying as Christians has dropped to 76 percent of the population, down from 86 percent in 1990. Those who do call themselves Christian are more frequently describing themselves as "nondenominational" "evangelical" or "born again," according to the American Religious Identification Survey. </p> <p>The survey is conducted by researchers at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and funded by the Lilly Endowment and the Posen Foundation. Conducted in 1990, 2001 and last year, it is one of the nation's largest major surveys of religion. </p> <p>The increase in people labeling themselves in more generic Christian terms corresponds strongly with the decline in people identifying themselves as Protestant, the survey found. People calling themselves mainline Protestants, including Methodists and Lutherans, have dropped to 13 percent of the population, down from 19 percent in 1990. The number of people who describe themselves as generically "Protestant" went from approximately 17 million in 1990 to 5 million. </p> <p> Meanwhile, the number of people who use nondenominational terms has gone from 194,000 in 1990 to more than 8 million. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20517">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20515"><B>Obama's Bid To Moderate Taliban 'Will Fail'</B></A><BR>2009-03-09 04:31:32<HR> <b>President Barack Obama's call for "moderate" Taliban members to be brought in from the cold met with skepticism Sunday from leading Afghan opposition figures, who warned that co-opting fighters would fail as long as Hamid Karzai's government appeared weak and corrupt.</b> <p>Repeating a successful strategy in Iraq, Obama floated the idea of appealing to Taliban adherents who are alienated by the extremism of al-Qaeda fighters and might be prepared to switch sides. </p> <p>"Part of the success in Iraq involved reaching out to people that we would consider to be Islamic fundamentalists but who were willing to work with us because they had been completely alienated by the tactics of al-Qaeda in Iraq," Obama said in an interview published Sunday. "There may be some comparable opportunities in Afghanistan and the Pakistani region."</p> <p>Opposition figures warned that insurgents groups rarely ceded ground when they thought they were winning. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20515">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-65835743553546179072009-03-09T01:10:00.000-07:002009-03-09T01:11:35.811-07:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Monday March 9 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Monday March 9 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20513"><B>More FHA-Backed Mortgages Default Without A Single Payment</B></A><BR>2009-03-08 15:33:54<HR> <p><b> The last time the housing market was this bad, Congress set up the Federal Housing Administration to insure Depression-era mortgages that lenders wouldn't otherwise make. </b></p> <p><b>This decade's housing boom rendered the agency irrelevant. Americans raced to aggressive lenders, seduced by easy credit and loans with no upfront costs; but the subprime mortgage market has crashed and borrowers are flocking back to the FHA, which has become the only option for those who lack hefty down payments or stellar credit. The agency's historic role in backing mortgages is more crucial now than at any time since its founding.</b> </p> <p>With the surge in new loans, however, comes a new threat. Many borrowers are defaulting as quickly as they take out the loans. In the past year alone, the number of borrowers who failed to make more than a single payment before defaulting on FHA-backed mortgages has nearly tripled, far out-pacing the agency's overall growth in new loans, according to a Washington Post analysis of federal data. </p> <p>Many industry experts attribute the jump in these instant defaults to factors that include the weak economy, lax scrutiny of prospective borrowers and most notably, foul play among unscrupulous lenders looking to make a quick buck. </p> <p>If a loan "is going into default immediately, it clearly suggests impropriety and fraudulent activity," said Kenneth Donohue, the inspector general of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which includes the FHA. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20513">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20511"><B>Editorial: A Start On Health Care Reform</B></A><BR>2009-03-08 15:33:28<HR> <b>Intellpuke:</b> <i>This editorial appeared in the New York Times edition for Sunday, March 8, 2009.</i><br> <p>President Obama has shown both courage and sound judgment pressing for quick action on comprehensive health care reform, even in the midst of the countryâs deep economic crisis. He has rightly stressed the urgency of reining in skyrocketing health care costs that are straining the budgets of families, businesses, and federal and state governments. </p> <p>But his proposals, for all of their ambition, do not fully answer two central questions: how to cover tens of millions of uninsured Americans, and how to reform the health care system to reduce costs and improve the quality of care.</p> <p> Mr. Obama has decided to let Congress thrash out the details of those issues, with the White House providing guidance along the way. Democratic leaders in Congress, many of whom are far more versed in the issues than the president is, will have to step up and fashion an effective bill. If they falter, Mr. Obama will need to step in with a clear vision and vigorous leadership.</p> <p>To his credit, the president has tackled the first tough issue of how to pay for expanded coverage and systemic reforms. His budget has proposed huge expenditures - $634 billion over 10 years - as a down payment, and it clearly specifies where to find the money. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20511">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20509"><B>Pentagon's Unwanted Projects In Earmarks</B></A><BR>2009-03-08 15:32:58<HR> <p><b> When President Obama promised Wednesday to attack defense spending that he considers wasteful and inefficient, he opened a fight with key lawmakers from his own party.</b> </p> <p>It was Democrats who stuffed an estimated $524 million in defense earmarks that the Pentagon did not request into the 2008 appropriations bill, about $220 million more than Republicans did, according to an independent estimate. Of the 44 senators who implored Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates in January to build more F-22 Raptors - a fighter conceived during the Cold War that senior Pentagon officials say is not suited to probable 21st-century conflicts - most were Democrats. </p> <p>Last July, when the Navy's top brass decided to end production of their newest class of destroyers - in response to 15 classified intelligence reports highlighting their vulnerability to a range of foreign missiles - seven Democratic senators quickly joined four Republicans to demand a reversal. They threatened to cut all funding for surface combat ships in 2009. </p> <p>Within a month, Gates and the Navy reversed course and endorsed production of a third DDG-1000 destroyer, at a cost of $2.7 billion. </p> <p>"Too many contractors have been allowed to get away with delay after delay in developing unproven weapon systems," Obama said, attributing $295 billion in cost overruns to "influence peddling" and "a lack of oversight" that produces weapons meant "to make a defense contractor rich" instead of securing the nation. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20509">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20507"><B>Suicide Attack Near Baghdad Police Station Kills 28, Injures 57</B></A><BR>2009-03-08 15:32:25<HR> <b>At least one suicide bomber blew himself up in the busy early morning hours on Sunday near the police academy killing 28 people including five policemen and injuring 57, some of them seriously, according to Iraq's Interior Minister.</b> <p> The area near the police academy has been a frequent target for suicide bombers since shortly after the American invasion in 2003. Just over three months ago, on Dec. 1, a bomber wearing a vest blew himself up in almost the same location killing 15 people.</p> <p> Sundayâs bombing came after a period of relative calm in the capital and a peaceful election at the end of January. However, many military officials, Iraqi and American, have predicted that the post-election period would see an increase in violence.</p> <p> This bombing took place at an intersection between the police academy and the oil ministry. âThere was a demonstration of oil employees who were demanding their salaries, about 100 people,â said Amar Sami Abdul Hussain, a police lieutenant who was stopping vehicles, reporters and onlookers from approaching the site of the bombing.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20507">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20512"><B>Republican Senators: Some Big Banks Can Fail</B></A><BR>2009-03-08 15:33:42<HR> <b>U.S. Sens. John McCain and Richard Shelby, two high-profile Republican senators, said on Sunday that the government should allow a number of the biggest American banks to fail.</b> <p><b>âClose them down, get them out of business,â Shelby, the senior Republican on the Banking Committee, told ABCâs âThis Week With George Stephanopoulos.â âIf theyâre dead, they ought to be buried.â</b> </p> <p>While the Alabama senator did not say which banks to shutter, he suggested that Citigroup might be on that list, saying the bank has âalways been a problem child.â</p> <p>McCain, appearing on âFox News Sunday,â echoed that sentiment without identifying any banks. McCain, who lost the presidential election last November, also accused the Treasury Department of avoiding the âhard decisionâ to let âthese banks fail.â</p> <p>Investor concern about the future of banks, including Citigroup, have been one issue weighing heavily on the stock market. Financial shares continue to be among the worst hit, despite the trillions that governments are spending to try and restore the system. Citigroup shares, for example, closed at $1.03 on Friday; two years ago, the stock was trading at $55 a share. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20512">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20510"><B>New Chairman Boos Republican Party When He Isn't Cheerleading</B></A><BR>2009-03-08 15:33:13<HR> <p><b>None of the guests seemed to be complaining, yet Michael Steele stood at a Fifth Avenue fund-raiser in New York on Wednesday evening and defended his month-old tenure as chairman of the Republican National Committee.His glasses had been askew since he pleaded his case on television that morning, and now he threw up his arms in admission. </b></p> <p><b> Yes, some of his problems in the job were âself-inflicted,â he said, âbut I do things to get a reaction.â</b></p> <p>There is no wondering which things he meant. Since taking office, Steele has joyfully gone to war with his own party, often live on television.</p> <p> Most chairmen wave the party flag; Steele smiles and shreds it. A man of constantly colliding analogies, he compares Republicans to drunks in need of a 12-step program and to the mentally ill. He has insulted Rush Limbaugh and moderate Republican senators alike, and he has promised a âhip-hop makeoverâ that would attract even âone-armed midgetsâ to his party.</p> <p>Steele is the partyâs first African-American chairman, his election a response to a history-making Democratic president. But now his performance is raising questions: Does he have a strategy, or is he simply saying whatever comes to mind? Republican moderates have staked hopes of reform on him, betting that his race and frank style will foster a new image of the party, but is this what they expected?</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20510">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20508"><B>Gunman Kills Pastor Shot Front Of Congregation In Illinois Church</B></A><BR>2009-03-08 15:32:45<HR> <b>A gunman walked down the aisle of a church during a Sunday service and killed the pastor, then stabbed himself and two others as parishioners wrestled him to the ground, said authorities.</b> <p><b>The man walked into the sprawling brick First Baptist Church in Maryville shortly after 8 a.m. and briefly spoke with Pastor Fred Winters before pulling out a .45-caliber handgun and shooting Winters once, said Illinois State Trooper Master Trooper Ralph Timmins.</b></p> <p>The gun jammed before the man could fire again, said Timmins. The attacker then pulled out a knife and injured himself before churchgoers subdued him. Two parishioners involved in the struggle also suffered knife wounds, said Timmins.</p> <p>Timmins said officials don't know if Winters and the suspect knew each other.</p> <p>''We don't know the relationship (between the gunman and pastor), why he's here or what the circumstances came about that caused him in the first place to be here,'' said Timmins.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20508">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20506"><B>Tsvangirai Leaves Zimbabwe For Health Care, After Crash That Killed His Wife</B></A><BR>2009-03-08 15:32:02<HR> <b>Zimbabwe's prime minister, injured in a car crash that killed his wife, has left his troubled homeland for medical treatment in Botswana, an official that neighboring country said Sunday.</b> <p><b>Clifford Maribe, spokesman for Botswana's foreign ministry, said Morgan Tsvanigirai arrived in Botswana Saturday, a day after the crash. State media in Zimbabwe had said only that Tsvangirai had left the country for treatment, and his party had refused publicly to specify where he had gone.</b></p> <p>A party official, though, had said on condition of anonymity that the prime minister was in Botswana, where Tsvangirai spent months last year, fearing for his life in his homeland at the height of a standoff with President Robert Mugabe. <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/robert_mugabe/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Robert Mugabe."><br> </a></p> <p>Last month, Tsvangirai and Mugabe formed a coalition government, but the union has been rocky from the start.</p> <p>Botswana President Seretse Ian Khama has been one of the few African leaders to openly criticize Zimbabwean Mugabe, who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 and is accused of destroying its economy and trampling on democratic and human rights.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20506">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-57367511467934538272009-03-08T00:11:00.000-08:002009-03-08T00:12:34.884-08:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Sunday March 8 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Sunday March 8 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20505"><B>British Government Takes Over Lloyds Banking Group</B></A><BR>2009-03-07 20:19:44<HR> <p><b>The British government Saturday confirmed it will take majority control of Lloyds Banking Group, with the taxpayer owning 65% of the voting shares in return for insuring £260 billion (about $370 billion) of the group's toxic assets.</b></p> <p><b>After days of detailed negotiations the terms of the takeover were announced by the Treasury, with Lloyds making a commitment to lend at least £28 billion over the next few years.</b></p> <p>The government is to insure the bank's riskiest loans and in return the taxpayer will up its ownership of the bank from 43% to 65% - rising to 77% when non-voting shares are included.</p> <p>Alongside taking extra shares and obtaining the commitment to lend to businesses and individuals, the Treasury will upgrade £4 billion of the non-voting shares it already holds.</p> <p>The government's fee for limiting Lloyds' losses from £260 billion of potentially bad assets totals £15.6 billion. Under the insurance scheme, Lloyds will take the first hit of up to £25 billion on toxic assets before the taxpayer steps in.</p> <p>The new ordinary shares in the bank will be offered to existing private shareholders first, with the government committing to buy whatever is left.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20505">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20503"><B>Australia's Islands Get Ready For Category 5 Cyclone Hamish</B></A><BR>2009-03-07 20:19:20<HR> <p><b>Australian emergency services personnel are being deployed from all around the state of Queensland to deal with category five tropical Cyclone Hamish as it creeps towards the Whitsunday Islands.</b> </p> <p><b>Currently just 145 kilometers northeast of the Whitsunday Islands, forecasters say Cyclone Hamish is as destructive as Cyclone Larry and is expected to bring very destructive winds, rising sea levels and large waves.</b> </p> <p>Two of the north Queensland islands - South Molle and Long - have already been evacuated, but most visitors are staying on other islands with cyclone-proof resorts, like Hamilton. </p> <p>An emergency services spokeswoman said almost 90 emergency services personnel had been deployed to areas around Mackay to help when the storm hits. </p> <p>"(There's been) no reports of damage as yet," said the spokeswoman. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20503">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20501"><B>Vatican Defends Excommunication Of Mother, Doctors For Abortion Of 9-Year-Old Raped By Stepfather</B></A><BR>2009-03-07 20:18:36<HR> <p><b>A senior Vatican cleric has defended the excommunication of the mother and doctors of a nine-year-old girl who had an abortion in Brazil after allegedly being raped by her stepfather.</b><br></p> <p>Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Catholic church's Congregation for Bishops, told the daily newspaper La Stampa on Saturday that the twins the girl had been carrying had a right to live. </p> <p>"It is a sad case but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons, who had the right to live and could not be eliminated," he said. </p> <p>Re, who also heads the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, added: "Life must always be protected, the attack on the Brazilian church is unjustified." </p> <p>The row was triggered by the termination on Wednesday of twin fetuses carried by a nine-year-old allegedly raped by her stepfather in the Brazilian state of Pernambuco. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20501">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20499"><B>Spring Forward! Daylight Savings Times Starts Tonight</B></A><BR>2009-03-07 15:38:20<HR> <b>Intellpuke:</b> The beginning of Daylight Savings Time in the U.S. starts at 2 a.m. Sunday, which means you should set your clocks forward one hour before going to bed tonight. Then heave a sigh of relief because you won't have to "fall back" until Daylight Savings Time begins again, on November 1st. <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20499">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20497"><B>U.S. Citizen Beheaded In Apparent Drug Hit</B></A><BR>2009-03-07 15:37:53<HR> <b>A U.S. citizen was one of the three men who were found decapitated this week in Tijuana, Mexican authorities said Friday.</b><br> <br> The body of George Harrison, a 38-year-old former Chula Vista resident, had been dismembered and mutilated and was dumped in a vacant lot near Tijuana's beachside bullring.<br> <br> Authorities said they suspected that it was an organized crime hit.<br> <br> Harrison had several drug-related convictions in the United States and was suspected of drug trafficking in Mexico, said Baja California Assistant Atty. General Rafael Gonzalez.<br> <br> Gonzalez said Harrison had been living in the Tijuana area since his release from a U.S. prison six months ago. He owned a pizzeria in Tijuana, from which he was abducted, said Gonzalez.<br> <br> Authorities who searched Harrison's business found four weapons, including a .38-caliber handgun. <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20497">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20495"><B>U.S. Attorney In L.A. Bans Medical Pot Cases, Then Quickly Changes His Mind</B></A><BR>2009-03-07 15:37:33<HR> <div id="article_body" class="storybody"> <div class="storybody"><b>The U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, California, sent a confidential memo to federal prosecutors last week ordering them to stop filing charges against medical marijuana dispensaries, then abruptly lifted the ban on Friday, according to sources familiar with the developments.</b><br> <br><b> U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O'Brien declined comment on what prompted him to issue the directive or to later rescind it.</b><br> <br></div> </div> <div class="storybody"> O'Brien's decision to temporarily halt the prosecutions came two days after remarks by Atty. Gen. Eric Holder, who seemed to imply at a Washington, D.C., press conference that medical marijuana prosecutions would not be a priority for the Justice Department under President Obama.<br> <br> A Justice Department official said Friday that the attorney general did not direct O'Brien or any other U.S. attorney to alter policies regarding the prosecution of such cases.</div> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20495">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20493"><B>Former NASA Official Indicted For Steering Money To Private Client</B></A><BR>2009-03-07 15:36:54<HR> <p><b> A former top NASA official was indicted Friday by a federal grand jury for allegedly using a temporary NASA post to steer millions of dollars to one of the clients of his consulting business.</b> </p> <p><b>Courtney Stadd, 54, of Bethesda, Maryland, worked on George W. Bush's 2000 campaign and on the post-election transition at NASA. He went on to serve as NASA's chief of staff and as its White House liaison. Stadd left NASA in 2003 to become a private consultant, but in April 2005, he returned to the agency for a two-month stint as a "special government employee" to help with the transition to a new administrator, Michael Griffin.</b> </p> <p>Stadd is charged with using his government position to serve his own financial interest, as well as two counts of making false statements. If convicted on all counts, he could face 15 years in prison, said the U.S. Attorney's Office. </p> <p> "Let me defer to my attorney, if I may," Stadd said Friday. </p> <p>"My client's done absolutely nothing wrong," said the lawyer, Dorrance Dickens. He said he had not yet read the indictment, which came after a 3 1/2 -year investigation. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20493">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20491"><B>In A Shifting Era Of Admissions, Colleges And Universities Are Sweating</B></A><BR>2009-03-07 15:36:21<HR> <p><b>As colleges weigh this yearâs round of applications, high school seniors are not the only anxious ones.</b></p> <p><b>Just as nervously, colleges - facing a financial landscape they have never seen before - are trying to figure out how many students to accept, and how many students will accept them.</b></p> <p>Typically, they rely on statistical models to predict which students will take them up on their offers to attend. Yet this year, with the economy turning parents and students into bargain hunters, demographics changing and unexpected jolts in the price of gas and the number of applications, they have little faith on those models.</p> <p>âTrying to hit those numbers is like trying to hit a hot tub when youâre skydiving from 30,000 feet,â said Jennifer Delahunty, dean of admissions and financial aid at Kenyon College in Ohio. âIâm going to go to church every day in April.â </p> <p>In response, colleges are trying new methods to gauge which applicants are serious about attending: Wake Forest, in North Carolina, is using Webcam interviews, while other colleges say they are scrutinizing essays more closely. And they are making more vigorous appeals to try to convince parents and students who will be offered admission in April that theirs is the campus to choose, but, mostly, they are guessing: Will pinched finances keep students closer to home? Will those who applied in December be feeling too poor to accept in May - or show up in August?</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20491">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20489"><B>Prime Minister Salam Fayyad Quits, Hoping To Unify Palestinians</B></A><BR>2009-03-07 15:35:50<HR> <b>Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, on Saturday submitted his governmentâs resignation, saying he hoped that it would help efforts to form a Palestinian unity government with the Islamic group Hamas.<br> </b> <p>A statement from his office said the resignation would take effect no later than the end of March. </p> <p> Over the years, Fayyad, a political independent and an American-educated economist, who also serves as finance minister, has gained the trust of Washington and the international community. The announcement was bound to raise anxiety, coming just days after international donors pledged about $4.4 billion in economic assistance for the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority and for rebuilding Gaza.</p> <p>The United States pledged $900 million to the Palestinian Authority, a third of it intended for rebuilding in Gaza after Israel's recent 22-day military offensive there. </p> <p>Still, it was not immediately clear whether the resignation would be accepted by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, who leads Fatah, the mainstream party that is Hamasâ rival. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20489">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20504"><B>European Union Says Israel Is Annexing East Jerusalem</B></A><BR>2009-03-07 20:19:32<HR> <p><b>A confidential European Union (E.U.) report accuses the Israeli government of using settlement expansion, house demolitions, discriminatory housing policies and the West Bank barrier as a way of "actively pursuing the illegal annexation" of East Jerusalem.</b></p> <p><b>The document says Israel has accelerated its plans for East Jerusalem, and is undermining the Palestinian Authority's credibility and weakening support for peace talks. "Israel's actions in and around Jerusalem constitute one of the most acute challenges to Israeli-Palestinian peace-making," says the document, the E.U. Heads of Mission Report on East Jerusalem.</b> </p> <p>The report, obtained by the Guardian, is dated December 15, 2008. It acknowledges Israel's legitimate security concerns in Jerusalem, but adds: "Many of its current illegal actions in and around the city have limited security justifications."</p> <p>"Israeli 'facts on the ground' - including new settlements, construction of the barrier, discriminatory housing policies, house demolitions, restrictive permit regime and continued closure of Palestinian institutions - increase Jewish Israeli presence in East Jerusalem, weaken the Palestinian community in the city, impede Palestinian urban development and separate East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank," says the report.</p> <p>The document has emerged at a time of mounting concern over Israeli policies in East Jerusalem. Two houses were demolished on Monday just before the arrival of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and a further 88 are scheduled for demolition, all for lack of permits. Clinton described the demolitions as "unhelpful", noting that they violated Israel's obligations under the U.S. "road map" for peace.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20504">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20502"><B>Commentary: Metaphorically Speaking, Pepsi's Gibberish Is Hard To Swallow</B></A><BR>2009-03-07 20:19:02<HR> <b>Intellpuke:</b> <i>This article was written by Guardian columinist Ben Goldacre in his weekly Bad Science column. Mr. Goldacre's commentary appeared in the Guardian edition for Saturday, March 7, 2009. </i><br> <div id="article-wrapper"> <p><b>An extraordinary document called The Pepsi Gravitational Field has been leaked on to the internet. The claim is that this 27-page wonder represents a successful $1.5 million (£1.05 million) pitch to make a slight modification to the Pepsi logo. Welcome to the science of PR.</b> </p><p>"By investing in our history and brand ethos we can create a new trajectory forwards," they explain in the opening pages. This is entirely reasonable. A cognitive linguist by the name of George Lakoff has done some fascinating (and no doubt grueling) empirical work on metaphors in English literature. He has shown, for example, that we often conceive of the abstract in terms of the concrete: anger is an overheated fluid in a sealed vessel, emotional states are locations, and fascinatingly, we don't just talk about things in this way, we may also reason using these metaphors. </p><p>How else can you explain the fact that "baby, we're riding in the fast lane on the freeway of love" is so instantly meaningful to us? Perhaps - and this is speculation - we think about abstract things using brain hardware that originally evolved to deal with more simple visuo-spatial manipulations.</p><p>I am open to new ideas. Lakoff may or may not be entirely correct, but he is not throwing words around at random: his ideas are often coherent and stimulating, and they may have explanatory force for real world phenomena. Let us return to the Pepsi document. It is gibberish. "The investment in our DNA leads to breakthrough innovation and allows us to move out of the traditional linear system into the future". This is accompanied by a helpful diagram, which is reproduced for your delight on this page. "The Pepsi DNA finds its origin in the dynamic of perimeter oscillations," they explain. There is talk of an "authentic geometry". "The breathtaking color palette is derived," they explain, "using a scientific method of color assignment based on the product's essence and primary features." They go on to discuss "attraction theory", and the "Pepsi proposition". </p></div> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20502">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20500"><B>Shoe Reportedly Thrown At Iranian President Ahmadinejad</B></A><BR>2009-03-07 20:18:23<HR> <p><b>When the Iraqi journalist, Muntazar al-Zaidi, hurled his shoes at the then-U.S. president, George W. Bush, in December, Iranian officials declared him a hero and hailed his gesture as a mark of Islamic courage.</b></p><p><b>They were presumably less impressed this week when Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was similarly targeted during a visit to the north-western city of Urumiye.</b></p><p>Ahmadinejad found the shoe on the other foot as he waved to the crowd from an open-top car on his way to give a speech at a local stadium.</p><p>An Iranian website, Urumiye News, reported that a shoe was hurled at the president as his convoy drove through a central square. Security guards waded into the crowds but failed to find the culprit.</p><p>A hat was also thrown in Ahmadinejad's direction before his car sped away.</p><p>The event went unreported on mainstream Iranian news outlets but has been hotly discussed on the country's highly active blogosphere. Some pro-Ahmadinejad bloggers have dismissed the reports as rumors spread by "royalists" and "counter-revolutionaries".</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20500">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20498"><B>Obama Tax Plan Shifts Wealth From The Top Down</B></A><BR>2009-03-07 15:38:12<HR> <p><b> It has been called a Robin Hood budget: The spending plan President Obama sent to Congress last week would give the poor new tax cuts, new college loans and a new health care system by taking nearly $1 trillion from the rich in new taxes.</b> </p> <p>Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh and other Republicans are blasting the plan as "socialist" and accusing the administration of "class warfare." Even Democrats are balking at a key element of the plan, a proposal to raise money for health care reform by limiting the value of itemized deductions, including on mortgage interest and charitable contributions, for the nation's top earners. </p> <p>Obama is unapologetic in his pursuit of a fundamental shift in tax policy that would redistribute wealth from about 3 million elite families to forgotten lower and middle classes. "The past eight years have discredited once and for all the philosophy of trickle-down economics - that tax breaks, income gains and wealth creation among the wealthy eventually will work their way down to the middle class," his budget states. "In its place, we need economic opportunity to trickle up." </p> <p>Few analysts dispute the notion that the gap between rich and poor has widened to a troubling degree over the past three decades. Yet measures that use the tax code to fix this problem may carry their own risks. Republicans and other critics argue that Obama's plan would punish success and stifle the very kind of spending that would foster investment and economic growth. With the nation facing record budget deficits, lawmakers have questioned whether Obama will be able to balance the government's books while keeping his promise to tax only the top 2 percent of earners. </p> <p>Tax analysts say Obama is taking a page out of the playbook of former president Bill Clinton, whose administration supplied many of the key players on Obama's economic team, including Lawrence H. Summers, director of the National Economic Council, and Gene B. Sperling, a top aide at the Treasury Department. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20498">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20496"><B>Editorial: When Jobs Go Missing</B></A><BR>2009-03-07 15:37:42<HR> <b>Intellpuke:</b> <i>This editorial appeared in the New York Times edition for Saturday, March 7, 2009.</i><br> <p>The numbers in the jobs report for February were bad, but the trends were worse. More than half of the 4.4 million jobs lost since December 2007, when the recession began, vanished in the last four months. The unemployment rate has also surged to 8.1 percent last month from 7.6 percent in January - and from 5.0 percent when the recession began. The ranks of the unemployed now total 12.5 million people. Itâs fortunate, then, that the nationâs first line of defense against rising joblessness - unemployment insurance - was reinforced in the stimulus law that passed last month. </p> <p>The law increases unemployment benefits by $25 a week and allows states to extend those benefits through the end of the year. It also provides $7 billion to the states to cover more than 500,000 workers - often part-time, low-wage and female - who are denied jobless benefits under outdated rules that apply in many states. Those states, of course, must reform their systems to specifically include those workers and to bring their programs more in line with federal guidelines. </p> <p>Some Republican governors have resisted doing that, an act of grandstanding that does nothing but hurt their neediest constituents. Recently, however, several governors - from California, Florida, Georgia and Utah - and state legislatures have supported making the changes. Other states must step up soon to ensure that broad relief reaches unemployed workers in a timely way.</p> <p>Congress and the Obama administration must also be prepared to do more as unemployment worsens - as it inevitably will in this contracting economy. In 11th-hour wrangling last month, a provision was struck from the stimulus bill that would have provided Medicaid coverage to unemployed workers who do not qualify or cannot afford to stay on their former employersâ group health insurance. The measure should be reintroduced and passed into law.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20496">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20494"><B>President Obama Ponders Outreach To Elements Of The Taliban</B></A><BR>2009-03-07 15:37:18<HR> <b>President Obama declared in an interview that the United States was not winning the war in Afghanistan and opened the door to a reconciliation process in which the American military would reach out to elements of the Taliban, much as it did with Sunni militias in Iraq.</b> <p>Obama pointed to the success in peeling Iraqi insurgents away from more hard-core elements of al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a strategy that many credit as much as the increase of American forces with turning the war around in the last two years. âThere may be some comparable opportunities in Afghanistan and in the Pakistani region,â he said.</p> <p>In a 35-minute conversation with the New York Times aboard Air Force One on Friday, Obama reviewed the challenges to his young administration. The president said he could not assure Americans the economy would begin growing again this year; but he pledged that he would âget all the pillars in place for recovery this yearâ and urged Americans not to âstuff money in their mattresses.â</p> <p>âI donât think that people should be fearful about our future,â he said. âI donât think that people should suddenly mistrust all of our financial institutions.â</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20494">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20492"><B>NASA's 'Planet Hunter' Satellite Rockets Into Space</B></A><BR>2009-03-07 15:36:42<HR> <b>NASA's planet-hunting telescope, Kepler, rocketed into space Friday night on a historic voyage to track down other Earths in a faraway patch of the Milky Way galaxy. </b> <p><b> It's the first mission capable of answering the age-old question: Are other worlds like ours out there?</b> </p> <p>Kepler, named after the German 17th century astrophysicist, set off on its unprecedented mission at 10:49 p.m., thundering into a clear sky embellished by a waxing moon. </p> <p>"It was just magnificent. It looked like a star was being formed in the sky," said Bill Borucki, Kepler's principal scientist. "Everybody was delighted, everybody was screaming, 'Go Kepler!'" </p> <p> Kepler's mission will last at least 3 1/2 years and cost $600 million. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20492">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20490"><B>Karzai Agrees To Delay Afghanistan Election</B></A><BR>2009-03-07 15:36:00<HR> <b>Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that he would agree to postpone the presidential election until August, bowing to pressure from election officials and Afghanistan's international backers who do not believe that fair and safe polls can be held by spring as scheduled.</b> <p> The president left unclear what should happen after his term expires in May. He declined to clarify whether he would seek to remain in power until the election and whether he would seek reelection after seven years in power. </p> <p>In accepting the date proposed by the independent election commission, Karzai appeared to resolve a dispute that has thrown Afghanistan's political transition into turmoil and raised doubts about the stability of this fragile, insurgent-plagued democracy. </p> <p>The president's confusing comments about whether he plans to continue leading the country until August, and whether he intends to be a candidate at all, left unresolved a second issue that could turn preparations for a smooth and orderly transfer of power into a political free-for-all. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20490">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-19559490813201655942009-03-07T01:11:00.001-08:002009-03-07T01:11:59.955-08:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Saturday March 7 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Saturday March 7 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8>Donate Today</TD></TR> <TR><TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20488"><B>China's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Threaten To Double</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 21:44:52<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>Can a climate catastrophe still be averted? Scientists voice pessimism in a new study, which concludes that no matter what the Western industrialized nations do, China's greenhouse emissions will be hard to stop.</b></p> <p>It sounds like wishful thinking: The United States, under new President Barack Obama, forges an alliance with China to combat emissions. The world's two largest sources of carbon dioxide finally face the problem. The treaty crowns the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen at the end of 2009, when a successor agreement to the Kyoto Protocol - which, as everyone knows, the United States never ratified - will be adopted. Third World countries and emerging economies never had to do it, but in Copenhagen rising economic powers like China make a binding commitment to curb their emissions.</p> <p>It probably is wishful thinking. It has almost nothing to do with reality.</p> <p><b>"Many Western industrialized nations want China to commit to reducing its CO2 emissions," says Dabo Guan, of the Electricity Policy Research Group at the University of Cambridge in England. "But the country will not even be capable of doing so."</b></p> <p> Guan, a native of China, together with colleagues from Norway and the U.S., have published several studies on the issue, most recently in the academic journal <i>Geophysical Research Letters</i> (GRL). The scientists base their conclusions primarily on the latest data compiled by the International Energy Agency (IEA) and China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).</p> <p><b>The outcome of their analyzes is unsettling. Even with substantial increases in efficiency and the broad introduction of climate-friendly energy technologies, China's CO2 emissions, they claim, will almost double in the next two decades compared with 2002 levels.</b></p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20488">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20486"><B>U.S. Unemployment Rate Jumps Above 8 Percent To 25-Year High</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 16:39:33<HR> <b>The nation's unemployment rate climbed above 8 percent last month and the economy shed 651,000 jobs, new data show, further evidence of the deepening recession that has devastated the stock market and home prices and triggered the largest government recovery effort since the Great Depression. <br> </b> <p><b> The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the jobless rate rose from 7.6 percent in January to 8.1 percent in February, the highest rate in more than 25 years. An estimated 12.5 million Americans were unemployed in February, the data show, an increase of 851,000 since January. More than 4.4 million people have lost their jobs since the recession began in December 2007, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said.</b> </p> <p>The government revised sharply upward the number of jobs the economy lost in December and January, showing a staggering 1.99 million jobs disappearing in the past three months. </p> <p>More jobs were lost in each of those months than in any single month since October 1949, when the country was just pulling out of a painful recession (economists say direct comparisons to that era are difficult, however, because of changes in the labor force). </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20486">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20484"><B>Obama Highlights Funds For Law Enforcement</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 16:39:15<HR> <p><b>In January, more than two dozen new police recruits in Columbus, Ohio, were sent notices that they would be laid off, even before they were sworn in as officers. The city had spent $1.4 million to train them, but like cities everywhere, Columbus was running out of money.</b></p> <p><b>A few weeks later, the mayor rescinded the layoffs and told the recruits they would be joining the police force after all.</b></p> <p><b> The turnabout came after President Obama signed his $787 billion economic stimulus plan into law on Feb. 17. At his signing ceremony, he mentioned Columbusâ would-be officers.</b></p> <p> âWhile this package is mostly composed of critical investments,â Obama said at the time, âit also includes aid to state and local governments to prevent layoffs of firefighters or police recruits - recruits like the ones in Columbus, Ohio, who were told that instead of being sworn-in as officers, they would be let go.â</p> <p>Friday morning, Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder visited Columbus to watch the recruits be sworn in as officers. The visit, which is the new presidentâs second to Ohio since he won the state in November, will help him highlight the $2 billion in Justice Assistance Grants that the stimulus package funnels to the states and cities for law-enforcement programs to fight crime and help local economies.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20484">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20482"><B>U.S. Supreme Court Vacates Decision That Allowed Indefinite Detention Of Terror Suspects</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 16:38:39<HR> <p><b> The U.S. Supreme Court Friday vacated a lower court's decision that said the president has the right to indefinitely detain a legal resident of the country without charging him with a crime. </b></p> <p><b>The court did not rule on the merits of the decision, but it vacated the ruling as moot after the Obama administration indicted suspected al-Qaeda agent Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri and said it would move him from a Navy brig to the federal court system. </b> </p> <p> The Supreme Court had been scheduled to hear Marri's case - he has been imprisoned for nearly six years - next month. </p> <p>Last summer, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, agreed with the Bush administration that in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Congress gave the president the power to indefinitely hold terrorism suspects under military guard, even if they were in the country legally. </p> <p> Last week, the Justice Department decided to move Marri to federal courts. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20482">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20480"><B>Head-On Collision Kills Zimbabwe Prime Minister's Wife, Injures Him</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 16:38:16<HR> <b>The prime minister of Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai, was hurt and his wife, Susan, fatally injured on Friday in a car crash about 45 miles south of the capital, according to officials of Tsvangiraiâs political party, the Movement for Democratic Change.<br> <br> Tsvangirai was heading to his rural home for a Saturday rally when the crash occurred Friday afternoon. From his hospital bed in Harare afterward, he told one of his aides that a large truck driving on the other side of the road had come toward his Land Cruiser, the middle vehicle in a three car convoy. âWhat he told me was that the truck went for his car,â said Dennis Murira, director of public affairs in the prime ministerâs office. âThatâs how he put it.â</b> <p>The truck driver told the police that he had fallen asleep at the wheel, said Murira. </p> <p>The crash, coming less than a month after Mr. Tsvangirai was sworn in as prime minister in a tense and long-negotiated power-sharing government with his rival, President Robert Mugabe, stirred deep suspicions in his party, but most officials were careful to say not enough was known about the collision to make any accusations of foul play.</p> <p>Mugabe and his wife paid a condolence call to Tsvangirai at the hospital on Friday evening.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20480">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20478"><B>More Than 11 Percent Of Mortgages Delinquent Or In Foreclosure</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:05:31<HR> <p><b> The number of homeowners falling behind on their mortgages or already in foreclosure surged to record highs during the fourth quarter, according to industry data released Thursday.</b> </p> <p>About 7.88 percent of mortgage loans were delinquent during the quarter, according to the survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association, an industry group. It is up from 5.82 percent during the same period a year earlier. Another 3.3 percent were in the foreclosure process, up from 2.04 percent a year ago. Both figures set records. Taken together, they mean that more than 11 percent of home mortgages are now in some form of distress. The association began keeping records in 1972. </p> <p>The trend highlights the challenge facing the Obama administration as it launches a foreclosure prevention program that will pay incentives to lenders to encourage them to lower homeowners' payments to affordable levels. The administration aims to help up to 9 million homeowners either refinance their mortgages or attain a loan modification that keeps them out of foreclosure. </p> <p>The House is also expected to vote today on legislation to allow bankruptcy judges to modify the mortgages of struggling borrowers. The financial services industry has fought the legislation for years, but after the foreclosure crisis deepened and Democrats gained greater control in Congress, the legislation gained traction. </p> <p>Increasingly, homeowners are becoming delinquent after losing a job rather than because they are struggling with a risky loan, the Mortgage Bankers Association and analysts said. Falling home prices are exacerbating the problem, they said. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20478">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20476"><B>Bank Of England Begins 'Printing Money' To Fight Slump</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:05:04<HR> <p><b>The Bank of England Thursday announced unprecedented steps to prevent Britain's deepest slump since the 1930s when it unveiled plans to inject up to £75 billion (about $130 billion) into the economy over the next three months.</b></p><p><b>Alarmed by signs Britain's malfunctioning banking system is starving consumers and businesses of credit, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling Thursday gave Threadneedle Street clearance to begin printing money - the last-gasp measure used by Japan to end a decade of recession and deflation.</b></p><p>The Bank of England said it would embark on quantitative easing next week, after its monetary policy committee cut the bank rate for the sixth time since the global financial system came close to collapse last October. The rate is now 0.5% - a level not seen before in the Bank's 315-year history.</p><p>Mervyn King, the Bank's governor, said it was unlikely that the bank rate could go any lower and policymakers would shift focus to creating money instead. "We are very close to zero. What we are doing now is switching to injecting money into the economy directly."</p><p>The move came as one of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's closest allies came closer to admitting that Labor had to bear some responsibility for the crisis. Ed Balls, the schools minister, said the government had failed to take enough action to rein in the City (London's financial district) during the boom years. "In retrospect we all underestimated the risks and we were nowhere near tough enough," Balls told Sky News. "We need to learn from that and do it better in the future."</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20476">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20474"><B>Homeowner Rescue - U.S. House OKs Bill Allowing Judges To Alter Mortgages</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:04:35<HR> <p><b> The U.S. House of Representatives Thursday passed legislation that would allow bankruptcy judges to modify the terms of troubled home mortgages, overcoming fierce financial industry opposition. </b></p> <p><b>The bill, a package of housing-related initiatives, passed 234 to 191, largely along party lines. It now heads to the Senate, where it will face a tougher fight but has the backing of some powerful members.</b> </p> <p>Under the legislation, bankruptcy judges could cut the principal on a home owner's mortgage as well as reduce the interest rate and extend the terms - provisions known as cramdowns. </p> <p> "I wish we had done this a year and a half ago," said Rep. Brad Miller (D-North Carolina), who had sponsored a version of the bill. "If we had it, we would be much further along in getting a handle on the foreclosure crisis." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20474">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20472"><B>Obama Administration Wants To Bring Russia In From The NATO Cold</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:03:29<HR> <b>The Obama administration moved Thursday to resume high-level relations with Moscow when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led a western push to revive contacts between Russia and NATO.</b> <p><b>Making her European debut as secretary of state, Clinton told a meeting of NATO foreign ministers that Washington wanted "a fresh start" in relations with Moscow. She will have her first official negotiations with her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Geneva, Switzerland, Friday.</b><br> </p> <p>"I don't think you punish Russia by stopping conversation with them," she said, adding that there could be benefits to the better relationship. "We not only can but must co-operate with Russia," adding, "We pursue it with our eyes wide open."</p> <p>The meeting in Brussels agreed to reinstate the work of the NATO-Russia Council, a consultative body that was frozen last year in protest at Moscow's invasion and partition of Georgia.</p> <p>The allies agreed that Russian and NATO defense and foreign ministers should resume meetings as soon as possible after NATO's 60th birthday summit in France and Germany next month.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20472">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20470"><B>Layoffs Without Notice Sting Workers</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:02:32<HR> <p><b>With the economy weakening, chief executives want Wall Street to see them as tough cost-cutters who are not afraid to lay off workers - but plenty of job cuts are not trumpeted in news releases. </b></p> <p><b>Big companies also routinely carry out scattered layoffs that are small enough to stay under the radar, contributing to an unemployment rate that keeps climbing, as Fridayâs monthly jobs report is likely to show.</b></p> <p>I.B.M. is one such company. It reported surprisingly strong quarterly profits in January, and in an e-mail message to employees, Samuel J. Palmisano,the chief executive, said that while other companies were cutting back, his would not. âMost importantly, we will invest in our people,â he wrote. </p> <p>Yet the next day, more than 1,400 employees in I.B.M.âs sales and distribution division in the United States and Canada were told their jobs would be eliminated in a month. More cuts followed, and over all, I.B.M. has told about 4,600 North American employees in recent weeks that their jobs are vanishing. </p> <p>J. Randall MacDonald, I.B.M.âs senior vice president for human resources, said it was routine for the company to lay off some employees while hiring elsewhere. âThis business is in a constant state of transformation,â he said. âI think of this as business as usual for us.â </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20470">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20487"><B>Monsanto's Uphill Battle In Germany</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 21:44:37<HR> <p class="spIntrotext"><b>Business is booming worldwide for U.S. biotech giant Monsanto, but in Germany the company has encountered fierce resistance. A colorful alliance of beekeepers, anti-capitalism protesters and conservative politicians are in the process of chasing the global market leader out of the country.</b></p> <p>When Karl Heinz Bablok wants to relax and get away from his job at the BMW plant, he hops on his bike and cycles out to Kaisheim, a quiet town in Germany's southwestern Swabia region. It doesn't take Bablok long to reach his destination, sitting in the middle of a meadow: an apiary, made of rough-cut boards, which he made himself. </p> <p>Bablok, an amateur beekeeper and skilled handyman, spends much of his free time here, repairing the apiary in the winter and making honey in the summer. The apiary is where Bablok's recharges his batteries, the place he goes to store up the energy he needs for everyday life and for his job at the BMW plant's training workshops. The apiary was supposed to be a very private place - far away from work and, most of all, far away from the public.</p> <p>The apiary and the honey he produces there are no longer private. His honey is now at the center of a dispute being staged in German courts, and observed and influenced by both politicians and the media; and it has drawn Bablok, a man who just wanted his peace and quiet, into one of Germany's major ideological debates - a battle that has been waged for years in the courts, in the political arena and in the fields, with words, scientific studies and sometimes fists.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20487">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20485"><B>Dow Up 32 Points As Wall Street Tries To Rally At Market's Close</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 16:39:25<HR> <p><b>Wall Street staged a late rally Friday after a week of battering sell-offs that dragged down financial shares. In the end, investors were able to overcome a government report that unemployment had crested to 8.1 percent in February as the economy lost 651,000 jobs.</b> </p> <p>Stocks initially surged Friday morning on the news as investors apparently seized on the fact that last monthâs job losses were not as stark as revised totals from December and January; but they fell lower in afternoon trading, before rallying in the last 30 minutes.</p> <p><b>At the close, the Dow Jones industrial average was 32.82 points or 0.6 percent, higher. The broader Standard & Poorâs 500-stock index was 0.14 percent higher while the Nasdaq was down slightly.</b> </p> <p>Shares of General Motors continued to fall, falling 20 percent to $1.47, one day after its auditors had raised âsubstantial doubtâ about the automakerâs survival. Financial shares continued to grind lower, and technology companies slipped after JPMorgan Chase cut its profit views for the computer maker Apple.</p> <p>Analysts said the grim employment numbers highlighted concerns that the economies in the United States and across the world are weaker than policymakers have believed.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20485">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20483"><B>U.S. Capitol Police Officers Ties Scrutinized Before Inauguration</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 16:38:56<HR> <b>FBI found two veteran officers spent time with people who were under surveillance for capacity for violence, racial views.<br> </b> <p><b> In the days leading up to President Obama's inauguration, U.S. law enforcement agencies huddled regularly in an effort to minimize any possible security risk to an event that promised record crowds for the country's first black president. But one agenda item led authorities to a target close to home: the ranks of the U.S. Capitol Police.</b> </p> <p>An FBI investigation that included taped surveillance had placed two off-duty veteran Capitol Police officers in the company of individuals whose racial views and capacity for violence were under scrutiny. Although the recorded discussion did not center on Obama, federal law enforcement officials wanted to ensure that the officers were not on duty covering the Capitol, where the president took the oath of office, according to two sources involved in the matter. </p> <p>The FBI alerted Capitol Police officials, but some federal officials grew concerned when no immediate action was taken, according to the sources. Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan voiced his frustration to then-Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, according to a senior federal official with knowledge of the incident. Chertoff, a former federal appeals court judge, told officials that if the Capitol Police did not act, he was prepared to take the issue to members of Congress overseeing the inauguration, said the senior federal official. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20483">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20481"><B>Minnesota Supreme Court Rejects Franken's Senate Request</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 16:38:26<HR> <b>The Minnesota Supreme Court on Friday blocked Democrat Al Franken's petition for an election certificate that would put him in the U.S. Senate without waiting for a lawsuit to run its course. </b> <p>The decision means the seat will remain empty until the lawsuit and possible appeals in state court are complete. Republican Norm Coleman's lawsuit challenging Franken's recount lead is at the end of its sixth week, and both sides expect it to last at least a few more weeks.</p> <p><b>After a state board certified recount results showing Franken 225 votes ahead, he sued to force Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Secretary of State Mark Ritchie to sign an election certificate. Franken argued that federal law stipulates each state will have two senators when the Senate convenes, and that law trumped a state law that blocks such certificates while lawsuits are pending.</b></p> <p><b>The state Supreme Court disagreed. In their ruling Friday, the justices said states aren't required to issue such certificates by the date that Congress convenes.</b></p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20481">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20479"><B>Food Contamination Problems Slip By Private Inspectors </B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:05:47<HR> <p><b>When food industry giants like Kellogg want to ensure that American consumers are being protected from contaminated products, they rely on private inspectors like Eugene A. Hatfield. So, last spring, Hatfield headed to the Peanut Corporation of America plant in southwest Georgia to make sure its chopped nuts, paste and peanut butter were safe to use in things as diverse as granola bars and ice cream.</b> </p> <p><b>The peanut company, though, knew in advance that Hatfield was coming. He had less than a day to check the entire plant, which processed several million pounds of peanuts a month.</b></p> <p><b> Hatfield, 66, an expert in fresh produce, was not aware that peanuts were readily susceptible to salmonella - which he was not required to test for anyway. While Hatfield was inspecting the plant to reassure Kellogg and other food companies of its suitability as a supplier, the Peanut Corporation was paying for his efforts.</b> </p> <p>âThe overall food safety level of this facility was considered to be: SUPERIOR,â he concluded in his March 27, 2008, report for his employer, the American Institute of Baking, which performs audits for major food companies. A copy of the audit was obtained by the New York Times. </p> <p>Federal investigators later discovered that the dilapidated plant was ravaged by salmonella and had been shipping tainted peanuts and paste for at least nine months. Yet they were too late to prevent what has become one of the nationâs worst known outbreaks of food-borne disease in recent years, in which nine are believed to have died and an estimated 22,500 were sickened. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20479">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20477"><B>Dow Closes Down 281 Points, Battered Bank Shares, Grim GM News Trigger Major Sell-Off</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:05:18<HR> <p><b> U.S. stock markets plunged 4 percent Thursday as bank shares faltered and auditors for General Motors, the biggest U.S. automaker, warned that the company might not be financially viable. </b></p> <p><b> The sharp drop came one day after a rally broke a five-day losing streak. </b></p> <p><b> The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 4 percent, or 281 points, to 6594.44, a new 12-year low. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index lost 4.3 percent, or 30.32 points, to close at 682.55, its lowest close since 1996. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 4 percent, or 54.15 points, to close at 1299.59.</b> </p> <p>The sharp descent underscored the depth and breadth of the economy's problems. Every stock in the Dow other than Wal-Mart lost ground or closed flat. No sector in the S&P 500 was spared, either, with shares of financial companies leading the carnage, posting a 10 percent decline. </p> <p>"This is distinctly unlike anything we have seen since World War II," said Philip J. Roth, chief market analyst at New York brokerage Firm Miller Tabak. "The last time the market had a long, straight-line decline was in 1937 and 1938." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20477">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20475"><B>U.S. Supply Chain To Afghanistan A Weakness</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:04:50<HR> <p><b> The U.S. military is laboring to shore up a vulnerable supply chain through Pakistan and Central Asia as it seeks to expand the flow of supplies into Afghanistan by at least 50 percent to support an influx of tens of thousands of new troops, according to defense officials and experts. </b></p> <p><b> One new link is now undergoing testing with the first shipment of U.S. military nonlethal cargo through Russia, said officials. That cargo has already crossed into Kazakhstan on its way to Afghanistan, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.</b> </p> <p>Escalating attacks on supply convoys in Pakistan, the anticipated closure in less than six months of the Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan - the last remaining U.S. air hub in Central Asia - and slow progress in opening up the northern supply route into Afghanistan have added urgency to the effort to strengthen the logistical backup for the troop increase, they said. </p> <p>"If you ask me what I worry about at night, it is the fact that our supply chain is always under attack," said Gen. Duncan McNabb, commander of the U.S. military's transportation command, in testimony that focused on Afghanistan last week. </p> <p>McNabb said that so far 130 contract drivers have been killed trucking U.S. supplies through Pakistan, for example. Once inside Afghanistan, he said, some roads are so dangerous that the U.S. military will have to fly over them to carry in supplies and personnel. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20475">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20473"><B>Undisclosed Losses At Merrill Lynch Prompt Trading Investigation</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:03:51<HR> <b>One Merrill Lynch trader apparently gambled away more than $120 million in the currency markets. Others seemingly lost hundreds of millions on tricky credit derivatives. </b> <p><b>Somehow all this red ink did not spill into plain view until after Merrill earmarked billions for bonuses and staggered into the arms of Bank of America.</b></p> <p>Inside Bank of America headquarters here, executives are asking why. The bank is investigating how Merrill accounted for wayward trades in the final, frantic months of 2008 - and why at least one big loss was slow to appear on Merrillâs books. </p> <p>Of particular concern are the activities of a Merrill currency trader in London, Alexis Stenfors, whose trading has come under scrutiny by British regulators, according to people briefed on the investigation. The loss Stenfors is believed to have incurred so alarmed Bank of America that this week the bank examined the books of other traders who were on vacation. </p> <p>Bank of Americaâs embattled chief executive, Kenneth D. Lewis, is trying to bridle Merrillâs traders, whose rush into risky investments nearly brought down the brokerage firm; but questions over the Merrill losses - in particular, who knew about them, and when - keep swirling. Merrill hemorrhaged $13.8 billion during the final three months of 2008 alone.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20473">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20471"><B>U.K. Spy Agencies' Multimillion-Pound Computer Project In The Scrapper</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:03:10<HR> <p><b>A multimillion-pound computer project designed to improve Britain's security by giving key government officials speedy access to secret intelligence on terrorism and other threats has been scrapped in a move described as "appalling" Thursday by a watchdog of senior Parliament members and peers.</b></p> <p>The damning criticism is contained in the annual report of the Intelligence and Security Committee, which is studded with asterisks hiding facts and figures needed for the public and parliament to know what MI5, MI6, and GCHQ are up to. The committee says it is appalled that a significant phase of the project, called Scope, on which "tens of millions of pounds have been spent" has been abandoned because of technical problems. Serious failures with the computer system were revealed by the Guardian newspaper last year, but the committee says it had not yet investigated the reasons.</p> <p>Scope was previously described as marking the "beginning of the end" of the distribution of paper copies of intelligence reports around Whitehall and as "fundamentally changing the way the U.K. intelligence community interacts".</p> <p>A limited version of the project, called Scope 1, is up and running after a two-year delay. It enables MI5, MI6, and GCHQ to communicate with each other more quickly and securely than before. They can call up the latest intelligence within 15 minutes rather than waiting 12 hours.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20471">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20469"><B>U.S. Charges 2 British Men In KBR Bribery Case</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:01:52<HR> <b>U.S. authorities charged two British men Thursday with helping a former Halliburton Co. subsidiary steer massive bribes to Nigerian officials to win construction contracts. </b> <p><b>Federal prosecutors in Houston say Jeffrey Tesler, 60, and Wojciech Chodan, 71, conspired to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.</b> </p> <p>The two men are charged with helping steer bribe money from Kellogg, Brown & Root LLC to officials of the Nigerian government to win contracts valued at more than $6 billion. </p> <p> Authorities say Chodan discussed using Tesler and other agents to pay tens of millions of dollars worth of bribes. </p> <p> Tesler was arrested by the London Metropolitan Police, and an arrest warrant has been issued for Chodan. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20469">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> </TR><TR><TD COLSPAN=2> <FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1> Original materials on this site © Free Internet Press. <P> Any mirrored or quoted materials © their respective authors, publications, or outlets, as shown on their publication, indicated by the link in the news story. <P> Original Free Internet Press materials may be copied and/or republished without modification, provided a link to http://FreeInternetPress.com is given in the story, or proper credit is given. <P> Newsletter options may be changed in your preferences on http://freeinternetpress.com <P> Please email editor@freeinternetpress.com there are any questions. <P> XML/RSS/RDF Newsfeed Syndication: http://freeinternetpress.com/rss.php </FONT> </TD></TR> </TABLE> JW Smythehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15875830039031662368noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34864843.post-70996068374977041862009-03-06T01:11:00.000-08:002009-03-06T01:12:20.410-08:00Free Internet Press Newsletter - Friday March 6 2009 - (813)<BASE HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com"><IMG SRC="http://freeinternetpress.com/images/free_internet_press_logo.gif"><TABLE WIDTH=685 BORDER=1 CELLSPACING=3 CELLPADDING=5 BGCOLOR=#D7D7FF> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><B>Friday March 6 2009 edition</B></FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1>Free Internet Press is operated on your donations. <BR> <A HREF=https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=editor%40freeinternetpress%2ecom&item_name=Free%20Internet%20Press%20Donation&no_shipping=1&return=https%3a%2f%2ffreeinternetpress%2ecom%2fdonation_thankyou%2ephp&no_note=1&tax=0¤cy_code=USD&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF&charset=UTF%2d8><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20479"><B>Food Contamination Problems Slip By Private Inspectors </B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:05:47<HR> <p><b>When food industry giants like Kellogg want to ensure that American consumers are being protected from contaminated products, they rely on private inspectors like Eugene A. Hatfield. So, last spring, Hatfield headed to the Peanut Corporation of America plant in southwest Georgia to make sure its chopped nuts, paste and peanut butter were safe to use in things as diverse as granola bars and ice cream.</b> </p> <p><b>The peanut company, though, knew in advance that Hatfield was coming. He had less than a day to check the entire plant, which processed several million pounds of peanuts a month.</b></p> <p><b> Hatfield, 66, an expert in fresh produce, was not aware that peanuts were readily susceptible to salmonella - which he was not required to test for anyway. While Hatfield was inspecting the plant to reassure Kellogg and other food companies of its suitability as a supplier, the Peanut Corporation was paying for his efforts.</b> </p> <p>âThe overall food safety level of this facility was considered to be: SUPERIOR,â he concluded in his March 27, 2008, report for his employer, the American Institute of Baking, which performs audits for major food companies. A copy of the audit was obtained by the New York Times. </p> <p>Federal investigators later discovered that the dilapidated plant was ravaged by salmonella and had been shipping tainted peanuts and paste for at least nine months. Yet they were too late to prevent what has become one of the nationâs worst known outbreaks of food-borne disease in recent years, in which nine are believed to have died and an estimated 22,500 were sickened. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20479">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20477"><B>Dow Closes Down 281 Points, Battered Bank Shares, Grim GM News Trigger Major Sell-Off</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:05:18<HR> <p><b> U.S. stock markets plunged 4 percent Thursday as bank shares faltered and auditors for General Motors, the biggest U.S. automaker, warned that the company might not be financially viable. </b></p> <p><b> The sharp drop came one day after a rally broke a five-day losing streak. </b></p> <p><b> The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 4 percent, or 281 points, to 6594.44, a new 12-year low. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index lost 4.3 percent, or 30.32 points, to close at 682.55, its lowest close since 1996. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 4 percent, or 54.15 points, to close at 1299.59.</b> </p> <p>The sharp descent underscored the depth and breadth of the economy's problems. Every stock in the Dow other than Wal-Mart lost ground or closed flat. No sector in the S&P 500 was spared, either, with shares of financial companies leading the carnage, posting a 10 percent decline. </p> <p>"This is distinctly unlike anything we have seen since World War II," said Philip J. Roth, chief market analyst at New York brokerage Firm Miller Tabak. "The last time the market had a long, straight-line decline was in 1937 and 1938." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20477">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20475"><B>U.S. Supply Chain To Afghanistan A Weakness</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:04:50<HR> <p><b> The U.S. military is laboring to shore up a vulnerable supply chain through Pakistan and Central Asia as it seeks to expand the flow of supplies into Afghanistan by at least 50 percent to support an influx of tens of thousands of new troops, according to defense officials and experts. </b></p> <p><b> One new link is now undergoing testing with the first shipment of U.S. military nonlethal cargo through Russia, said officials. That cargo has already crossed into Kazakhstan on its way to Afghanistan, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.</b> </p> <p>Escalating attacks on supply convoys in Pakistan, the anticipated closure in less than six months of the Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan - the last remaining U.S. air hub in Central Asia - and slow progress in opening up the northern supply route into Afghanistan have added urgency to the effort to strengthen the logistical backup for the troop increase, they said. </p> <p>"If you ask me what I worry about at night, it is the fact that our supply chain is always under attack," said Gen. Duncan McNabb, commander of the U.S. military's transportation command, in testimony that focused on Afghanistan last week. </p> <p>McNabb said that so far 130 contract drivers have been killed trucking U.S. supplies through Pakistan, for example. Once inside Afghanistan, he said, some roads are so dangerous that the U.S. military will have to fly over them to carry in supplies and personnel. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20475">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20473"><B>Undisclosed Losses At Merrill Lynch Prompt Trading Investigation</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:03:51<HR> <b>One Merrill Lynch trader apparently gambled away more than $120 million in the currency markets. Others seemingly lost hundreds of millions on tricky credit derivatives. </b> <p><b>Somehow all this red ink did not spill into plain view until after Merrill earmarked billions for bonuses and staggered into the arms of Bank of America.</b></p> <p>Inside Bank of America headquarters here, executives are asking why. The bank is investigating how Merrill accounted for wayward trades in the final, frantic months of 2008 - and why at least one big loss was slow to appear on Merrillâs books. </p> <p>Of particular concern are the activities of a Merrill currency trader in London, Alexis Stenfors, whose trading has come under scrutiny by British regulators, according to people briefed on the investigation. The loss Stenfors is believed to have incurred so alarmed Bank of America that this week the bank examined the books of other traders who were on vacation. </p> <p>Bank of Americaâs embattled chief executive, Kenneth D. Lewis, is trying to bridle Merrillâs traders, whose rush into risky investments nearly brought down the brokerage firm; but questions over the Merrill losses - in particular, who knew about them, and when - keep swirling. Merrill hemorrhaged $13.8 billion during the final three months of 2008 alone.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20473">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20471"><B>U.K. Spy Agencies' Multimillion-Pound Computer Project In The Scrapper</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:03:10<HR> <p><b>A multimillion-pound computer project designed to improve Britain's security by giving key government officials speedy access to secret intelligence on terrorism and other threats has been scrapped in a move described as "appalling" Thursday by a watchdog of senior Parliament members and peers.</b></p> <p>The damning criticism is contained in the annual report of the Intelligence and Security Committee, which is studded with asterisks hiding facts and figures needed for the public and parliament to know what MI5, MI6, and GCHQ are up to. The committee says it is appalled that a significant phase of the project, called Scope, on which "tens of millions of pounds have been spent" has been abandoned because of technical problems. Serious failures with the computer system were revealed by the Guardian newspaper last year, but the committee says it had not yet investigated the reasons.</p> <p>Scope was previously described as marking the "beginning of the end" of the distribution of paper copies of intelligence reports around Whitehall and as "fundamentally changing the way the U.K. intelligence community interacts".</p> <p>A limited version of the project, called Scope 1, is up and running after a two-year delay. It enables MI5, MI6, and GCHQ to communicate with each other more quickly and securely than before. They can call up the latest intelligence within 15 minutes rather than waiting 12 hours.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20471">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20469"><B>U.S. Charges 2 British Men In KBR Bribery Case</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:01:52<HR> <b>U.S. authorities charged two British men Thursday with helping a former Halliburton Co. subsidiary steer massive bribes to Nigerian officials to win construction contracts. </b> <p><b>Federal prosecutors in Houston say Jeffrey Tesler, 60, and Wojciech Chodan, 71, conspired to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.</b> </p> <p>The two men are charged with helping steer bribe money from Kellogg, Brown & Root LLC to officials of the Nigerian government to win contracts valued at more than $6 billion. </p> <p> Authorities say Chodan discussed using Tesler and other agents to pay tens of millions of dollars worth of bribes. </p> <p> Tesler was arrested by the London Metropolitan Police, and an arrest warrant has been issued for Chodan. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20469">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20467"><B>Wall Street Falls To New Lows On Retail Data, G.M. Audit</B></A><BR>2009-03-05 15:36:57<HR> <p><b>A day after breaking a five-day losing streak, Wall Street fell to new lows on Thursday as investors reacted to more concerns about the fate of General Motors, dreary retail sales and news that China did not appear poised to increase its stimulus spending.</b></p> <p>A broad sell-off dragged all sectors of the market lower, hitting financial stocks and transportation companies particularly hard. Producers of basic materials like metals and chemicals, whose shares rose Wednesday on speculation about Chinaâs stimulus spending, fell back. </p> <p><b>At 2 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 222 points, or 3.4 percent, while the broader Standard & Poorâs 500-stock index was down 3.5 percent. The technology-heavy Nasdaq index was off 3 percent. </b></p> <p><b>Stocks in Europe also closed sharply lower.</b></p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20467">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20465"><B>Obama: Fixing Health Care Is A Fiscal Priority</B></A><BR>2009-03-05 15:36:35<HR> <p><b> President Obama launched a campaign Thursday to reform health care in the United States by the end of this year, telling a White House summit on the issue that that fixing the troubled system is "no longer a moral imperative, it is a fiscal imperative."</b> </p> <p>Joined by lawmakers, health industry executives and a handful of "average Americans," Obama vowed to press for legislation this year that dramatically expands insurance coverage, improves health care quality and reins in skyrocketing medical costs. </p> <p>"The same soaring costs that are straining our families' budgets are sinking our businesses and eating up our government's budget, too," Obama said in an East Room appearance. </p> <p><b>"At the fiscal summit that we held here last week, the one thing on which everyone agreed was that the greatest threat to America's fiscal health is not Social Security, though that's a significant challenge," he said. "It's not the investments we've made to rescue our economy. By a wide margin, the biggest threat to our nation's balance sheet is the skyrocketing cost of health care. It's not even close."</b> </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20465">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20463"><B>Regulators Under Fire At U.S. Senate Banking Hearing</B></A><BR>2009-03-05 15:36:15<HR> <p><b>State and federal regulators came under fire on Capitol Hill on Thursday as a Senate panel pressed them to explain their roles in the liquidity crisis that led the American International Group (A.I.G.) to the brink of collapse.</b> </p> <p>The Senate Banking Committee hearing at times amounted to a game of cat and mouse, as lawmakers pushed the regulators to concede that they were at least in part to blame for failing to foresee or prevent the crisis. The regulators told the committee that they were slow to step in at A.I.G. because they had failed to understand the enormous risks involved with the insurerâs credit-default swaps. </p> <p>In prepared testimony, one official, Eric R. Dinallo, superintendent of the New York State Insurance Department, denied that his agency was the primary regulator of the insurance giant and maintained that he oversaw only a small portion of A.I.G.âs business - a handful of its insurance companies that are based in New York. The primary source of the crisis at A.I.G., he said, was its financial products division, which handled credit-default swaps, derivatives and futures totaling an estimated $2.7 trillion. </p> <p>âA.I.G. Financial Products is not a licensed insurance company,â he said. âIt was not regulated by New York State or any other state.â</p> <p>âWe were not responsible for the whole securities lending program,â added Dinallo.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20463">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20461"><B>Poland Embraces New Effort To Fight Anti-Semitism</B></A><BR>2009-03-05 15:34:57<HR> <b>A human rights group and Poland's Education Ministry introduced new teaching materials for Poland's middle schools on Thursday in an effort to combat anti-Semitism.</b> <p><b>Poland is the fifth in a group of 12 countries adopting such workbooks, after Germany, Ukraine, Denmark and the Netherlands. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe guided the project as part of an overall effort to fight anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination.</b></p> <p>Each country's texts cover similar topics, such as the history of anti-Semitism in Europe from the Middle Ages to World War II, but the books are written in the local language and focus on local issues.</p> <p>Poland's books, for example, attempt to undermine a long-held assumption in Poland that a person cannot be Jewish and Polish at the same time. The notion has led to the exclusion of Jews from mainstream society and furthered the notion that they are foreign even though Jews first arrived 1,000 years ago.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20461">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20459"><B>GM Auditors Talk About Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection</B></A><BR>2009-03-05 14:17:50<HR> <b>General Motors Corp.'s auditors have raised "substantial doubt" about the troubled auto maker's ability to continue operations, and the company said it may have to seek bankruptcy protection if it can't execute a huge restructuring plan.<br> <br> The automaker revealed the concerns Thursday in an annual report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.</b><br> <br> <b>"The corporation's recurring losses from operations, stockholders' deficit, and inability to generate sufficient cash flow to meet its obligations and sustain its operations raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern," auditors for the accounting firm Deloitte & Touche LLP wrote in the report.<br> </b><br> GM also disclosed Thursday that Chief Executive Rick Wagoner received a pay package worth $14.9 million in 2008, although $11.9 million of his compensation was in stock and options whose value plummeted to $682,000 as GM's share price sank.<br> <br> GM shares, which lost 87 percent of their value in 2008, fell 38 cents or 17.2 percent to $1.82 in afternoon trading Thursday.<br> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20459">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20457"><font color="red"><b>MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "freeinternetpress.com" claiming to be</b></font> <B>FIP Interview With LayOffDaily.com</B></A><BR>2009-03-05 09:15:22<HR> As we all know, the employment situation in the US and world wide is not good. I recently found the site <a href="http://layoffdaily.com/" target="_blank"><span class="il">layoffdaily</span>.com</a> which has been doing an excellent job of reporting the state of our economy from the standpoint of the job market. Most news sources, including ourselves, carry the occasional story and statistics relating to the unemployment rates. By using a very simple format (company and layoff number, with links to the related news story), they bring a clear picture to what is happening around us. <br> <br> In contrast to the doom and gloom which is already apparent, they also list links to companies that are hiring. For the time being the layoff column is much longer than the hiring column. <br> <br> The "Cranky Editor" of Lay Off Daily was kind enough to answer a few questions from us, so we could get a better idea of what he is trying to show. <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20457">Read The Full Story</A><BR></TD> <TD BGCOLOR=#FFFFFF VALIGN=TOP WIDTH=50%><FONT FACE=Arial SIZE=-1><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20478"><B>More Than 11 Percent Of Mortgages Delinquent Or In Foreclosure</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:05:31<HR> <p><b> The number of homeowners falling behind on their mortgages or already in foreclosure surged to record highs during the fourth quarter, according to industry data released Thursday.</b> </p> <p>About 7.88 percent of mortgage loans were delinquent during the quarter, according to the survey by the Mortgage Bankers Association, an industry group. It is up from 5.82 percent during the same period a year earlier. Another 3.3 percent were in the foreclosure process, up from 2.04 percent a year ago. Both figures set records. Taken together, they mean that more than 11 percent of home mortgages are now in some form of distress. The association began keeping records in 1972. </p> <p>The trend highlights the challenge facing the Obama administration as it launches a foreclosure prevention program that will pay incentives to lenders to encourage them to lower homeowners' payments to affordable levels. The administration aims to help up to 9 million homeowners either refinance their mortgages or attain a loan modification that keeps them out of foreclosure. </p> <p>The House is also expected to vote today on legislation to allow bankruptcy judges to modify the mortgages of struggling borrowers. The financial services industry has fought the legislation for years, but after the foreclosure crisis deepened and Democrats gained greater control in Congress, the legislation gained traction. </p> <p>Increasingly, homeowners are becoming delinquent after losing a job rather than because they are struggling with a risky loan, the Mortgage Bankers Association and analysts said. Falling home prices are exacerbating the problem, they said. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20478">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20476"><B>Bank Of England Begins 'Printing Money' To Fight Slump</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:05:04<HR> <p><b>The Bank of England Thursday announced unprecedented steps to prevent Britain's deepest slump since the 1930s when it unveiled plans to inject up to £75 billion (about $130 billion) into the economy over the next three months.</b></p><p><b>Alarmed by signs Britain's malfunctioning banking system is starving consumers and businesses of credit, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling Thursday gave Threadneedle Street clearance to begin printing money - the last-gasp measure used by Japan to end a decade of recession and deflation.</b></p><p>The Bank of England said it would embark on quantitative easing next week, after its monetary policy committee cut the bank rate for the sixth time since the global financial system came close to collapse last October. The rate is now 0.5% - a level not seen before in the Bank's 315-year history.</p><p>Mervyn King, the Bank's governor, said it was unlikely that the bank rate could go any lower and policymakers would shift focus to creating money instead. "We are very close to zero. What we are doing now is switching to injecting money into the economy directly."</p><p>The move came as one of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's closest allies came closer to admitting that Labor had to bear some responsibility for the crisis. Ed Balls, the schools minister, said the government had failed to take enough action to rein in the City (London's financial district) during the boom years. "In retrospect we all underestimated the risks and we were nowhere near tough enough," Balls told Sky News. "We need to learn from that and do it better in the future."</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20476">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20474"><B>Homeowner Rescue - U.S. House OKs Bill Allowing Judges To Alter Mortgages</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:04:35<HR> <p><b> The U.S. House of Representatives Thursday passed legislation that would allow bankruptcy judges to modify the terms of troubled home mortgages, overcoming fierce financial industry opposition. </b></p> <p><b>The bill, a package of housing-related initiatives, passed 234 to 191, largely along party lines. It now heads to the Senate, where it will face a tougher fight but has the backing of some powerful members.</b> </p> <p>Under the legislation, bankruptcy judges could cut the principal on a home owner's mortgage as well as reduce the interest rate and extend the terms - provisions known as cramdowns. </p> <p> "I wish we had done this a year and a half ago," said Rep. Brad Miller (D-North Carolina), who had sponsored a version of the bill. "If we had it, we would be much further along in getting a handle on the foreclosure crisis." </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20474">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20472"><B>Obama Administration Wants To Bring Russia In From The NATO Cold</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:03:29<HR> <b>The Obama administration moved Thursday to resume high-level relations with Moscow when U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led a western push to revive contacts between Russia and NATO.</b> <p><b>Making her European debut as secretary of state, Clinton told a meeting of NATO foreign ministers that Washington wanted "a fresh start" in relations with Moscow. She will have her first official negotiations with her Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Geneva, Switzerland, Friday.</b><br> </p> <p>"I don't think you punish Russia by stopping conversation with them," she said, adding that there could be benefits to the better relationship. "We not only can but must co-operate with Russia," adding, "We pursue it with our eyes wide open."</p> <p>The meeting in Brussels agreed to reinstate the work of the NATO-Russia Council, a consultative body that was frozen last year in protest at Moscow's invasion and partition of Georgia.</p> <p>The allies agreed that Russian and NATO defense and foreign ministers should resume meetings as soon as possible after NATO's 60th birthday summit in France and Germany next month.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20472">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20470"><B>Layoffs Without Notice Sting Workers</B></A><BR>2009-03-06 00:02:32<HR> <p><b>With the economy weakening, chief executives want Wall Street to see them as tough cost-cutters who are not afraid to lay off workers - but plenty of job cuts are not trumpeted in news releases. </b></p> <p><b>Big companies also routinely carry out scattered layoffs that are small enough to stay under the radar, contributing to an unemployment rate that keeps climbing, as Fridayâs monthly jobs report is likely to show.</b></p> <p>I.B.M. is one such company. It reported surprisingly strong quarterly profits in January, and in an e-mail message to employees, Samuel J. Palmisano,the chief executive, said that while other companies were cutting back, his would not. âMost importantly, we will invest in our people,â he wrote. </p> <p>Yet the next day, more than 1,400 employees in I.B.M.âs sales and distribution division in the United States and Canada were told their jobs would be eliminated in a month. More cuts followed, and over all, I.B.M. has told about 4,600 North American employees in recent weeks that their jobs are vanishing. </p> <p>J. Randall MacDonald, I.B.M.âs senior vice president for human resources, said it was routine for the company to lay off some employees while hiring elsewhere. âThis business is in a constant state of transformation,â he said. âI think of this as business as usual for us.â </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20470">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20468"><B>Robin Williams Taking Time-out for Tune-up</B></A><BR>2009-03-05 23:19:51<HR> <br> On Tuesday (March 3, 2009), famous comedian Robin Williams postponed several stops on his current 80 city tour due to complains of shortness of breath. At the time, doctors suggested that he take it easy for a few days, cancel a few show dates, and then continue on.<br><br> Today (March 5, 2009), it was announced that a followup checkup found that Mr. Williams is much more serious, and he requires an aortic valve replacement.<br><br> <br><BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20468">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20466"><B>U.S. Retail Sales Slide Further</B></A><BR>2009-03-05 15:36:48<HR> <p><b>February was another terrible month for the nationâs retailers, but the numbers they reported on Thursday were slightly less awful than in previous months.</b></p> <p>Wal-Mart Stores, the nationâs largest retailer, exceeded analystsâ expectations, once again underscoring that consumers are opening their wallets only to buy necessities. At stores open at least a year, a barometer of retail health known as same-store sales, Wal-Mart had a 5.1 percent sales increase, compared with a 2.7 percent increase for the period a year ago. </p> <p>The company said its strong sales were driven by its grocery and health-and-wellness categories, and noted that more customers were streaming through its doors. </p> <p>âWe believe falling gas prices significantly boosted household disposable income in February and therefore allowed for both more trips and more spending towards discretionary categories,â Wal-Mart said in announcing its results. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20466">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20464"><B>Editorial: The Crisis At Home And Abroad</B></A><BR>2009-03-05 15:36:25<HR> <b>Intellpuke:</b> <i>This editorial appeared in the New York Times edition for Thursday, March 5, 2009.</i><br> <br> The economic news is so frighteningly bad here, it has all but squeezed out reports of the turmoil wrecking the developing world. The news there, if possible, is even more frightening. And in a globalized economy there is no insulation for anyone.<br> <p>The emergency spreading through Eastern Europe has sent currencies plunging in financially stretched nations like Hungary and solid economies like Poland. The crisis threatens political stability along the European Unionâs eastern border. The government in Latvia fell last week following protests. Ukraine is on the brink.</p> <p> Over the weekend, the European Unionâs wealthy members rejected calls for a bailout of its poorer members. Collapsing economies in Eastern Europe - including inside the European Union - could bring down the banks in the West that lent to the East.</p> <p>Such turmoil should serve as a warning about the perils of ignoring the disasters unfolding across the developing world - and the need for a global response. </p> <p>Poor countries remain the worldâs only hope for economic growth this year, but thatâs dimming as they are walloped by collapsing exports and the shutdown of foreign finance. Currencies are plunging from Mexico to Malaysia as lenders and investors pull money out to park it in United States Treasury bonds. Pakistan, Iceland, Turkey and El Salvador, along with several Eastern European countries, have already asked the International Monetary Fund for help to pay foreign creditors. </p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20464">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20462"><B>Secretary of State Clinton Wants To Include Iran In Afghanistan Talks</B></A><BR>2009-03-05 15:35:25<HR> <b>Setting up the possibility of its first face-to-face encounter with Iran, the Obama administration proposed a conference on Afghanistan at the end of this month that is likely to include Iran among the invited countries, American officials said on Thursday. </b> <p>Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made the proposal at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers here. âAny long-term solution will require the participation of all of Afghanistanâs neighbors,â she said, in her first speech to ministers from the other 26 North Atlantic Treaty Organization members.</p> <p>âI would expect that Iran would be invited,â said the acting State Department spokesman, Robert A. Wood.</p> <p>The conference, which would be convened by the United Nations, is to be held on March 31; it was not immediately clear if Iran planned to attend.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20462">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20460"><B>14 Killed, 38 Injured In Carbombing At Iraq Market</B></A><BR>2009-03-05 15:34:44<HR> <b>A bomb in a parked car exploded Thursday in a livestock market in a Shiite area of Babil Province south of Baghdad, killing at least 14 people and injuring 38, six of them seriously, according to police and health officials.</b> <p>The explosion showed that militants are still able to stage dramatic and bloody attacks, despite a general decline in violence in Iraq as American troops hand over security responsibilities to Iraqi forces.</p> <p>Jabir Khalef Jabar, 36, a customer at the market, said he saw a crowd gathered around a parked vehicle when he went to buy a sheep. âPeople were looking for the driver of that vehicle,â he said. âThen I walked away from the vehicle, the explosion happened and the ground was shaking.â</p> <p>There was no immediate claim of responsibility.</p> <BR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20460">Read The Full Story</A><BR><HR><A HREF="http://freeinternetpress.com/story.php?sid=20458"><B>Chicago Sheriff's Dept. To Sue Craigslist over Sex Ads</B></A><BR>2009-03-05 14:17:40<HR><b> The sheriff's department for Chicago's Cook County says it's suing Craigslist, calling the popular online classifieds site the largest source of prostitution in the United States.<br> </b> <br> Sheriff Tom Dart plans a news conference later Thursday.<br> <br> <div style="display: none;" id="inlinegoogleads"> <!-- start google ads --> <style type="text/css"> <!-- #sponsored1 { border:1px solid #E5E6DA; margin-bottom:10px; margin-top:5px; padding:2px 10px 10px; position:relative; font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size:12px; } #sponsored1 .header-sect { background:#FFFFFF none repeat scroll 0%; text-align:center; position:relative; top:-12px; left:52px; width:108px; } #sponsored1 .header-sect a { color:#818181; font-size:10px; font-weight:bold; text-transform:uppercase; font-family:Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; } #sponsored1 a:link { color:#818181; outline-color:invert; outline-style:none; outline-width:medium; text-decoration:none; } #sponsored1 a:visited { color:#818181; outline-color:invert; outline-style:none; outline-width:medium; text-decoration:none; } #sponsored1 a:hover { color:#818181; outline-color:invert; outline-style:none; outline-width:medium; text-decoration:underline; } #sponsored1 a:active { color:#818181; outline-color:invert; outline-style:none; outline-width:medium; text-decoration:none; } #sponsored1 .ad-link { font-weight:bold; } #sponsored1 p { margin:2px 0; } #sponsored1 p.titulo { margin-top:8px; } #sponsored1 .link a { font-size:10px; color:#999999 !important; } #sponsored1 .titulo a { color:#007AAA; } // #googleads { padding-bottom:8px; border-bottom:1px solid #CCCCCC; } --> </style> <div id="googleads"> <MailScannerScript12397 script language="javascript" type="text/javascript"> //<![CDATA[ // Google AdSense Content Display Functionality // This function displays the ad results. // It must be defined above the script that calls show_ads.js // to guarantee that it is defined when show_ads.js makes the call-back. function google_ad_request_done(google_ads) { // Proceed only if we have ads to display! 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