Rosebud

'Egypt is Free' chants Tahrir after Mubarak quits - Yahoo! News

2011-02-11T18:39:00.001-05:00

'Egypt is Free' chants Tahrir after Mubarak quits - Yahoo! News: "CAIRO – Cries of 'Egypt is free' rang out and fireworks lit up the sky over Cairo's Tahrir Square where hundreds of thousands danced, wept and prayed in joyful pandemonium Friday after 18 days of peaceful pro-democracy protests forced President Hosni Mubarak to hand over power to the military, ending three decades of authoritarian rule.

Ecstatic protesters hoisted soldiers onto their shoulders and families posed for pictures in front of tanks in streets flooded with people streaming out to celebrate. Strangers hugged each other, some fell to kiss the ground, and others stood stunned in disbelief. Chants of 'Hold your heads high, you're Egyptian' roared with each burst of fireworks overhead.

'I'm 21 years old and this is the first time in my life I feel free,' an ebullient Abdul-Rahman Ayyash, born eight years after Mubarak came to power, said as he hugged fellow protesters in Tahrir, or Liberation, Square.

An astonishing day in which hundreds of thousands marched on Mubarak's palaces in Cairo and Alexandria and besieged state TV was capped by the military effectively carrying out a coup at the pleas of protesters. After Mubarak's fall, the military, which pledged to shepherd reforms for greater democracy, told the nation it would announce the next steps soon. Those could include the dissolving of parliament and creation of a transitional government.

Mubarak's downfall at the hands of the biggest popular uprising in the modern history of the Arab world had stunning implications for the United States and the West, Israel, and the region, unsettling rulers across the Mideast.

The 82-year-old leader epitomized the complex trade-off the United States was locked into in the Middle East for decades: Support for autocratic leaders in return for stability, a bulwark against Islamic militants, a safeguard of economic interests with the oil-rich Gulf states and peace — or at least an effort at peace — with Israel.

The question for Washington now was whether that same arrangement will hold as the Arab world's most populous state makes a potentially rocky transition to democracy, with no guarantee of the results.

At the White House, President Barack Obama said 'Egyptians have inspired us.' He noted the important questions that lay ahead, but said, 'I'm confident the people of Egypt can find the answers.'

Obama signs 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal - Yahoo! News

2010-12-22T12:33:00.000-05:00

Obama signs 'don't ask, don't tell' repeal - Yahoo! News:

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama signed a landmark law Wednesday repealing the ban on gay men and women serving openly in the military, fulfilling one of his major campaign pledges and casting the issue as a matter of civil rights long denied.

"No longer will tens of thousands of Americans in uniform be asked to live a lie, or look over their shoulder in order to serve the country that they love," Obama said.
[ For complete coverage of politics and policy, go to Yahoo! Politics ]

A beaming Obama signed the bill at the Interior Department, a location chosen to accommodate a larger than normal audience that cheered, chanted and applauded throughout the ceremony.

"This is a good day," Obama told the crowd. "This is a very good day."

The new law ends the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" policy that forced gays to hide their sexual orientation or face dismissal. More than 13,500 people were discharged under the policy. Its repeal comes as the American public has become more tolerant on such issues as gay marriage and gay rights in general.

"I say to all Americans, gay or straight, who want nothing more than to defend this country in uniform, your country needs you, your country wants you, and we will be honored to welcome you into the ranks of the finest military the world has ever known," Obama said.

Pentagon officials must first complete implementation plans before lifting the old policy — and the president, defense secretary and chairman of the joint chiefs must certify to lawmakers that it won't damage combat readiness, as critics charge. But Obama said: "We are not going to be dragging our feet to get this done."

The signing ceremony was a breakthrough moment for the nation's gay community, the military and for Obama himself. The president vowed during his 2008 campaign to repeal the law and faced pressure from liberals who complained he was not acting swiftly enough.

For Obama, it was the second high-profile bill signing ceremony within a week. On Friday, he signed into a law a tax package he negotiated with Republicans that extended Bush-era tax rates for two more years, cut payroll taxes and ensured jobless benefits to the unemployed for another year.

The two events, however, could not have been more different in tone.

The tax deal divided Democrats and forced Obama to accept extensions of tax cuts for the wealthiest, a step he had promised to not take. With Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell at his side during that bill signing, Obama seemed dutiful and subdued.

By contrast, the emotion of Wednesday's ceremony defined it; even the president himself said he was "overwhelmed" by the moment. The gay activists and supporters packed in the room hooted, applauded and shouted in joy at the president, shedding any sense of a contained, formal event.

As Obama signed the bill into law, someone in the back of the room yelled: "We're here, Mr. President. Enlist us now!"

"I couldn't be prouder," Obama said.

Obama hailed the "courage and vision" of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and praised Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, who advocated changing the law.

Among those in attendance at the ceremony was the son of a World War II veteran who was saved by a gay comrade during the Battle of the Bulge. Also present was Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, the first American wounded in the war in Iraq who has spoken out against the Pentagon policy.

The Pentagon now must address the practical consequences of the law. Guidelines must be completed that cover a host of questions, from how to educate troops to how sexual orientation should be handled in making barracks assignments.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama thinks actual implementation of the new law will be "a matter of months."

Military officials and gay rights groups have been warning gay troops not to come out yet, as the law will not go into effect until certification — and after that, a 60-day waiting period.

The new law is the second of three expected victories in what's turned out to be a surprisingly productive lame-duck Congress for Obama . Weeks after his self-described "shellacking" in the midterm vote, he's won lopsided approval of a tax cut compromise, and the Senate is poised to deliver his top foreign policy goal: ratification of a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia.

Born 17 years ago as a compromise between President Bill Clinton and a resistant Pentagon, the "don't ask, don't tell" policy became for gay rights campaigners a notorious roadblock on the way to full acceptance.

Yet he has also faced rising discontent among gay activists who believed he hadn't moved forcefully enough. He's been heckled at campaign appearances over AIDS funding and the failure to end the military service ban.

Obama countered that as commander in chief, he had to ensure the ban's end is carefully prepared for.

That's just what the bill from Congress mandates.

"The implementation and certification process will not happen immediately; it will take time," Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz warned in an e-mail that went out right after Saturday's Senate vote. "Meanwhile, the current law remains in effect. All Air Force members should conduct themselves accordingly."

Military and administration officials are wrestling with numerous legal questions raised by the end of the ban — knowing that courts are waiting in the wings. They include what to do about pending expulsion proceedings, and when those ousted under the old policy might apply to rejoin the armed forces.

House Dems on track for vote on $940 b health bill - Yahoo! News

2010-03-18T10:06:00.000-04:00

House Dems on track for vote on $940 b health bill - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON – House Democrats are on track for a Sunday vote on sweeping health care legislation that will expand coverage to millions of uninsured while also reducing the federal deficit, leaders said Thursday.

The bill delivers on President Barack Obama's top domestic priority by providing coverage to more than 30 million people now uninsured at a 10-year cost of $940 billion. It does so through a combination of tax credits for middle class households and an expansion of the Medicaid program for low income people.

The Number 2 Democrat in the House said the health care package would also reduce the federal deficit by more than $100 billion over its first 10 years — and more than $1 trillion in the second decade.

"I think the momentum is growing for this bill," said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. "The more and more people have looked at this bill...a greater number of people are becoming more comfortable."

The big expansion of coverage would not come until 2014, when new health insurance marketplaces open for business.

In the meantime, the legislation calls for a series of new consumer benefits. Insurers could not deny coverage to children because of an pre-existing health problem, nor could they place lifetime dollar caps on the amount of coverage. A new high-risk health insurance pool would provide coverage to uninsured people who can't get private coverage because of health problems.

Once the legislation is fully phased in, most Americans would be required to carry coverage — and insurers would be forbidden from turning down people with health problems, or from charging them more.

Democrats are following a complicated two-track legislative strategy for passing the bill. First, the House will have to approve a Senate bill that many of its Democratic members object to. Then both chambers will quickly pass a package of fixes agreed to in negotiations with the White House.

Since the House will vote first, Hoyer said lawmakers are seeking assurances from their Senate counterparts that they have enough votes to pass the follow-up measure as well.

Obama team clears 75 at Guantanamo for release - Yahoo! News

2009-09-28T14:39:00.000-04:00

Obama team clears 75 at Guantanamo for release - Yahoo! News

MIAMI (Reuters) – An Obama administration task force has so far cleared 75 of the remaining 223 Guantanamo prisoners for release as part of its effort to close the detention camp, a military spokesman said on Monday.

The review team is examining each prisoner's case to decide who will be held for trial and who can be sent home or resettled in other nations.

President Barack Obama had set a January 22 deadline to shut the detention camp although Defense Secretary Robert Gates told ABC News in an interview broadcast on Sunday that "it's going to be tough" to meet the deadline.

As the review team makes its decisions, military officials at Guantanamo post an updated list in the camps to let the prisoners know how many from each nation have been judged free to go.

"It was an opportunity to just provide better communication," said Navy Lieutenant Commander Brook DeWalt, a spokesman for the Guantanamo detention operation. "There's a lot of information out there and you get a lot of things from a lot of different angles. It helps put it in a more succinct context for them."

The prisoners are well aware of Obama's announcement that the camp would be closed and have heard piecemeal information from their lawyers and relatives during phone calls arranged by the International Committee of the Red Cross, he said.

The list is posted in Arabic, Pashto and English. The latest list of 78 prisoners includes two Uzbeks sent to Ireland and a Yemeni returned to his homeland on Saturday, an indication that some progress is being made in thinning the camp population of those who are not considered a threat.

"We are not focused on whether the deadline will or won't be met on a particular day," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. "We are focused on making ... the most progress that is possible."

Some on the list are among the 30 ordered freed by U.S. courts but still awaiting transfer, including 13 Chinese Uighurs. The Pacific island nation of Palau has agreed to accept most of them.

Also on the list are 26 other captives from Yemen, nine from Tunisia, seven from Algeria, four from Syria, three each from Libya and Saudi Arabia, two each from Uzbekistan, Egypt, the West Bank and Kuwait, and one each from Azerbaijan and Tajikistan.

Most were captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan after U.S. troops invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to oust al Qaeda in response to the September 11 hijacked plane attacks on the United States.

North Korea frees two U.S. journalists after Clinton trip - Yahoo! News

2009-08-04T18:21:00.000-04:00

North Korea frees two U.S. journalists after Clinton trip - Yahoo! News

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea released two jailed American journalists on Tuesday after a visit from former U.S. President Bill Clinton in the highest-level U.S. contact with Pyongyang since Clinton was president nearly a decade ago.

North Korea's KCNA news agency said North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had issued a "special pardon" to the two journalists, Euna Lee and Laura Ling of U.S. media outlet Current TV, which was co-founded by Clinton's vice president, Al Gore.

The two journalists were arrested on the North Korea-China border in March and accused of illegal entry. A North Korean court sentenced both of them last month to 12 years of hard labor for what it called grave crimes.

There were immediate questions about what Clinton had discussed with Kim beyond the fate of the two reporters during a visit that gave Kim what he craved -- direct U.S. attention and a visit from a highly placed emissary.

The news agency insisted that Clinton "courteously conveyed a verbal message of U.S. President Barack Obama expressing profound thanks for this and reflecting views on ways of improving the relations between the two countries."

The White House had denied that Clinton carried any sort of message from Obama, but Obama officials otherwise remained silent while awaiting the diplomatic negotiations to unfold.

Clinton, husband of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, was the highest-level American to visit the reclusive communist state since his secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, went there in 2000.

He was greeted warmly on his arrival and had what KCNA described as an "exhaustive conversation" over dinner with Kim and his top aides.

The North Koreans immediately sought to put their stamp on what they felt had happened during Clinton's visit.

"Clinton expressed words of sincere apology to Kim Jong Il for the hostile acts committed by the two American journalists against the DPRK after illegally intruding into it. Clinton courteously conveyed to Kim Jong Il an earnest request of the U.S. government to leniently pardon them and send them back home from a humanitarian point of view," KCNA said.

Obama adviser David Axelrod had told MSNBC that Clinton was on a "private humanitarian mission" and that "I don't think it's related to other issues."

KCNA attempted to portray the visit in terms of what was possible in the future, saying Clinton's visit would "contribute to deepening the understanding between the DPRK and the U.S. and building the bilateral confidence."

SIDE BENEFIT?

Clinton's visit could have a side benefit of improving the atmosphere between the United States and North Korea that could restart talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons.

North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye-gwan, was among those greeting Clinton, whose administration was believed to have been close to agreement with the North before he turned over power to George W. Bush in 2001.

Many analysts predicted Pyongyang would use the journalists as leverage to wring concessions from Washington, which sought to place U.N. sanctions on the North for a May nuclear test.

Clinton's trip followed months of military provocations by the impoverished North, which has turned its back on negotiations with regional powers, including the United States and China, to convince it to give up ambitions to build an atomic arsenal.

In Washington, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said it was not clear whether Clinton had been authorized to discuss policy issues.

"It would be nice if it's the foundation for a better relationship," Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told NBC's "Today Show."

Yun Duk-min of the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security in Seoul said the visit held out the possibility of "a dramatic turnaround by North Korea that could lead to a new phase of negotiations."

"WRONG SIGNALS"

It was the second time a former U.S. president went to North Korea to try to defuse a crisis. Former President Jimmy Carter flew there in 1994 when tensions were running high, again over the North's nuclear weapons program.

Carter helped broker a deal at that time in which Pyongyang suspended construction of a 50-megawatt plutonium reactor in exchange for heating oil and other energy aid.

One analyst said Clinton's visit was rewarding North Korea's "bad behavior."

Clinton's arrival coincided with mounting speculation over succession in Asia's only communist dynasty. Several reports suggest an increasingly frail-looking Kim Jong-il, 67, has settled on his third son to take over.

"It's just what they (North Korea's leaders) need," said B.R. Myers, an expert on the North's state ideology at the South's Dongseo University.

(Additional reporting by Yoo Choonsik in Seoul, Lucy Hornby in Beijing, David Morgan and Ross Colvin in Washington; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Patricia Wilson and Peter Cooney)

US State Dept. workers beg Clinton for Firefox • The Register

2009-07-14T13:28:00.000-04:00

US State Dept. workers beg Clinton for Firefox • The Register

US State Department workers have begged Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to let them use Firefox.

"Can you please let the staff use an alternative web browser called Firefox?" worker bee Jim Finkle asked Clinton during Friday's State Department town hall meeting.

"I just moved to the State Department from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and was surprised that State doesn’t use this browser. It was approved for the entire intelligence community, so I don’t understand why State can’t use it. It’s a much safer program."

Presumably, the State Department is using Microsoft's Internet Explorer. And we wouldn't be surprised if it's still mired in the eight-year-old IE6. The only thing that moves slower than Orange is a US government agency. But the State Department has yet to respond to our questions about its Firefox-less browsing mandate.

Finkle's fellow workers responded to his Firefox request with applause. While Clinton responded with bewilderment. "Well, apparently, there’s a lot of support for this suggestion. I don’t know the answer. Pat, do you know the answer?" she said, turning to under Secretary Pat Kennedy.

"The answer is, at the moment: It’s an expense question," Kennedy said. Then someone in the audience pointed out that Firefox is free.

"Nothing is free," Kennedy responded. "It’s a question of the resources to manage multiple systems. It is something we’re looking at...It has to be administered. The patches have to be loaded. It may seem small, but when you’re running a worldwide operation and trying to push, as the Secretary rightly said, out FOBs [for remote log-ins] and other devices, you’re caught in the terrible bind of triage of trying to get the most out that you can, but knowing you can’t do everything at once."

Clinton then told her staff to have a look through their closets. "The more money we can save on stuff that is not cutting edge, the more resources we’ll have to shift to do things that will give us more tools," she said.

"[That reminds] me of what I occasionally sometimes do, which I call shopping in my closet, which means opening doors and seeing what I actually already have, which I really suggest to everybody, because it’s quite enlightening. And so when you go to the store and you buy, let’s say, peanut butter and you don’t realize you’ve got two jars already at the back of the shelf – I mean, that sounds simplistic, but help us save money on stuff that we shouldn’t be wasting money on, and give us the chance to manage our resources to do more things like Firefox, okay?"

If the State Department buys less peanut butter, Clinton may even let them use Facebook. During a state department town hall meeting earlier this year, a bigwig at the US embassy in Mexico City told Clinton that the social networking site is a great way to prevent solipsistic stupid people from entering the country.

"Facebook, MySpace, and other web 2.0 social networking technologies will significantly enhance the Department’s diplomacy efforts and business goals," he said. "For example, an astute consular officer in Hermosillo recently used Facebook to determine a visa applicant’s ineligibility based on information contained on the applicant’s Facebook page, proving its value as an anti-fraud tool."

And Clinton seemed to like the idea. "We’ve got to figure out how we’re going to be smarter about using technology. So I think that’s a great example, the Facebook example. And you know, we might want to follow up on that example, checking out Facebook. For everybody who is applying for a visa, you just should know that the State Department is on the watch here for Facebook."

No doubt, the State Department will officially adopt Facebook at about the same time the revenue-challenged site follows Friendster into social networking oblivion.

U.S. reverses Afghan drug policy - Yahoo! News

2009-06-27T14:10:00.000-04:00

U.S. reverses Afghan drug policy - Yahoo! News

TRIESTE, Italy (Reuters) – Washington is to dramatically overhaul its Afghan anti-drug strategy, phasing out opium poppy eradication, the U.S. envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan told allies on Saturday.

Richard Holbrooke, attending a G8 conference on stabilizing Afghanistan, also discussed efforts to support its August 20 election. Washington has nearly doubled its troops to combat a growing Taliban insurgency and provide security for the vote.

"The Western policies against the opium crop, the poppy crop, have been a failure. They did not result in any damage to the Taliban, but they put farmers out of work," Holbrooke told Reuters after a series of bilateral meetings in Italy.

"We are not going to support crop eradication. We're going to phase it out," he said. The emphasis would instead be on intercepting drugs and chemicals used to make them, and going after drug lords.

He said some crop eradication may still be allowed, but only in limited areas.

Afghanistan supplies more than 90 percent of the world's heroin.

Despite the millions of dollars spent on counter-narcotics efforts, drug production kept rising dramatically until last year -- U.N. figures indicate Afghanistan's opiate output has risen more than 40-fold since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Holbrooke told delegates the United States planned to cut back funding for eradication while allocating several hundred million dollars to support legal crop cultivation.

The head of the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime, told Reuters the old U.S. eradication strategy had been "a sad joke."

"Sad because many, many Afghan policemen and soldiers ... have been killed and only about 5,000 hectares were eradicated, about 3 percent of the volume," Antonio Maria Costa said.

Iran declined to attend the event but Antonio Maria Costa, head of the U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime, told Reuters it was strongly committed to a regional effort to tackle trafficking from Afghanistan and had begun joint counter-narcotics operations with Afghan and Pakistani authorities.

"This is very new, it has not happened in the past."

U.S. President Barack Obama has put Afghanistan and Pakistan at the center of his foreign agenda and launched a new strategy aimed at defeating al Qaeda and stabilizing Afghanistan.

The 45 nations and multilateral organizations at the conference issued a statement pledging to look at ways to boost humanitarian aid to Pakistan, where nearly 2 million people have been displaced by fighting.

Holbrooke said allies were not doing enough.

"The U.S. is by far the largest contributor (of aid) to the refugee relief crisis in Pakistan. I don't mind that ... But other countries are not doing the right amount in my view," he said, adding some foreign ministers had told him privately that their countries could do more.

CRUCIAL MOMENT

Afghanistan's upcoming vote is seen as a crucial moment for Afghan President Hamid Karzai and for Washington and delegates -- with Iranian post-election turmoil fresh in their minds -- stressed the importance of it being free, fair and credible.

Karzai called on the Taliban and their allies on Saturday to vote rather than attempt to disrupt the polls, a call applauded by Frattini, who said Arab League and Gulf countries were "particularly interested" in encouraging them to vote.

Holbrooke said senior members of the U.S. government were calling the vote "the most important event of the year."

"The fairness of those elections will determine the credibility and legitimacy of the government. We have just seen a spectacularly bad example just next door in Iran," he said.

"And in these situations, governance becomes more difficult. So, at the end of the process, we would like to see a government elected by its people in a way that is credible and viewed as legitimate by the people and the international community."

Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta told Reuters that Kabul aimed for a free and fair election, but added: "We have to recognize the reality, and the reality of Afghanistan, regarding violence, regarding the weak state."

Holbrooke said it was too soon for Pakistan to declare victory in its Swat valley, where the army has driven back Taliban insurgents.

"The true test is when the refugees go back to Swat. Will they have security? Will they be protected?," he said.

"Will the army be able to keep the Taliban from coming back down over the hills? And the bill for reconstruction in Swat is going to be enormous -- over a billion dollars, maybe over 2 billion."

Obama signs $106 billion bill for Iraq, Afghan wars - Yahoo! News

2009-06-24T21:20:00.000-04:00

Obama signs $106 billion bill for Iraq, Afghan wars - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Wednesday signed into law a $106 billion measure to fulfill his plans to wind down the war in Iraq and ramp up operations in Afghanistan where fighting against militants is intensifying.

The bill contains $79.9 billion to continue funding the two wars through September 30. It was also loaded up with extras like $7.7 billion to address the H1N1 flu pandemic, and $1.4 billion in foreign aid for Pakistan, which is fighting Taliban militants spilling over the border from Afghanistan.

The measure was nearly derailed by Obama's request for money to close the controversial U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as well as for $108 billion in credit lines to back the International Monetary Fund as it helps countries weather the global economic downturn.

The legislation did not include $80 million Obama wanted for closing Guantanamo and bans releasing any detainees into the United States through September 30. But it allows detainees to be brought to U.S. soil for trial.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers demanded the White House produce a detailed plan before closing the Guantanamo prison camp. Before the legislation passed, the administration rushed to release or transfer more than a dozen detainees.

Despite fierce Republican opposition, Obama ultimately prevailed to include in the legislation provisions to extend a $100 billion credit line to the IMF and expand the U.S. contribution to the multilateral lender by $8 billion.

The legislation also endorses the IMF's plan to sell 400 tons (12.97 million ounces) of its gold reserves.

House Republicans had expressed concern the IMF would use the funds to lend to U.S. foes like Iran and Venezuela and argued that the matter should have been considered separately.

With the bill becoming law, Obama can follow through on a commitment he made with other Group of 20 member nations to add $500 billion to an IMF emergency fund for countries needing financial aid to avoid bankruptcy.

The legislation also will kick off a controversial $1 billion program to boost depressed U.S. car sales. The measure offers vouchers of up to $4,500 to consumers who trade in their less fuel-efficient vehicles for ones that get better mileage.

Monkey urinates on Zambian president - Yahoo! News

2009-06-24T13:29:00.000-04:00

Monkey urinates on Zambian president - Yahoo! News

LUSAKA (AFP) – A monkey urinated on Zambian President Rupiah Banda as he spoke to reporters outside his State House offices on Wednesday.

"You have urinated on my jacket," a startled Banda told the monkey, one of many that makes their home in the trees outside his offices.

"I will give this monkey for lunch to Mr Sata," he joked, referring to opposition leader Michael Sata, who Banda defeated in last year's elections.

Banda devoted much of his second news conference as president to reassuring Zambians over the dramatic economic slowdown resulting from plunging prices for copper, the country's main export.

"Our growth prospects have diminished, such that the projected gross domestic product has now been revised downwards to 4.0 percent or below. This reduction has implications for the domestic revenues, with both cooperate and income taxes likely to reduce," Banda said.

CDC sees "something different" with new flu - Yahoo! News

2009-06-19T13:35:00.000-04:00

CDC sees "something different" with new flu - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The new strain of H1N1 flu is causing "something different" to happen in the United States this year -- perhaps an extended year-round flu season that disproportionately hits young people, health officials said on Thursday.

An unusually cool late spring may be helping keep the infection going in the U.S. Northeast, especially densely populated areas in New York and Massachusetts, the officials at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

And infections among healthcare workers suggest that people are showing up at work sick -- meaning that workplace policies may be contributing to its spread, the CDC officials said.

The new strain of swine flu is officially a pandemic now, according to the World Health Organization.

So far the virus is causing mild to moderate disease, but it has killed at least 167 people and been confirmed in nearly 40,000 globally.

The United States has been hardest hit, with upward of 100,000 likely cases and probably far more, with 44 deaths and 1,600 hospitalized.

"The fact that we are seeing ongoing transmission now indicates that we are seeing something different," the CDC's Dr. Daniel Jernigan told a news briefing.

"And we believe that that may have to do with the complete lack of immunity to this particular virus among those that are most likely affected. And those are children," Jernigan added.

"The areas of the country that are most affected, some of them have very high population densities, like Boston and New York. So that may be a contributor as well. Plus the temperature in that part of the country is cooler, and we know that influenza appears to like the cooler times of the year for making transmission for effective."

Jernigan said in areas that are the most affected up to 7 percent of the population has influenza-like illness.

SUMMER OF FLU

"The United States will likely continue to see influenza activity through the summer, and at this point we're anticipating that we will see the novel H1N1 continue with activity probably all the way into our flu season in the fall and winter. The amount of activity we expect to be low, and then pick up later."

One worrying pattern: healthcare workers are being infected, and most reported they did little or nothing to protect themselves, the CDC's Dr. Mike Bell said.

People coming into emergency departments or clinics need to be checked right away for flu symptoms and anyone working with such a patient needs to wear a mask, gloves and eyewear, Bell said.

"We're beginning to see a pattern of healthcare personnel-to-healthcare personnel transmission in some of the clusters, which is also concerning, because it gets to the issue of people showing up to work sick," Bell said.

Doctors, nurses and technicians who have flu can spread it to vulnerable patients, Bell noted.

As of May 13, the CDC said it had received 48 reports of healthcare workers infected with swine flu.

Detailed case reports on 26 showed that 13 were infected in a healthcare setting such as a clinic or hospital and 12 caught it from infected patients, the CDC said in its weekly report on death and disease.

North Korea may fire a missile toward Hawaii - Yahoo! News

2009-06-18T09:26:00.000-04:00

North Korea may fire a missile toward Hawaii - Yahoo! News

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea may fire a long-range ballistic missile toward Hawaii in early July, a Japanese news report said Thursday, as Russia and China urged the regime to return to international disarmament talks on its rogue nuclear program.

The missile, believed to be a Taepodong-2 with a range of up to 4,000 miles (6,500 kilometers), would be launched from North Korea's Dongchang-ni site on the northwestern coast, said the Yomiuri daily, Japan's top-selling newspaper. It cited an analysis by the Japanese Defense Ministry and intelligence gathered by U.S. reconnaissance satellites.

The missile launch could come between July 4 and 8, the paper said.

While the newspaper speculated the Taepodong-2 could fly over Japan and toward Hawaii, it said the missile would not be able to hit Hawaii's main islands, which are about 4,500 miles (7,200 kilometers) from the Korean peninsula.

A spokesman for the Japanese Defense Ministry declined to comment on the report. South Korea's Defense Ministry and the National Intelligence Service — the country's main spy agency — said they could not confirm it.

Tension on the divided Korean peninsula has spiked since the North conducted its second nuclear test on May 25 in defiance of repeated international warnings. The regime declared Saturday it would bolster its nuclear programs and threatened war in protest of U.N. sanctions taken for the nuclear test.

U.S. officials have said the North has been preparing to fire a long-range missile capable of striking the western U.S. In Washington on Tuesday, Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it would take at least three to five years for North Korea to pose a real threat to the U.S. west coast.

President Barack Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak met in Washington on Tuesday for a landmark summit in which they agreed to build a regional and global "strategic alliance" to persuade North Korea to dismantle all its nuclear weapons. Obama declared North Korea a "grave threat" to the world and pledged that the new U.N. sanctions on the communist regime will be aggressively enforced.

In Seoul, Vice Unification Minister Hong Yang-ho told a forum Thursday that the North's moves to strengthen its nuclear programs is "a very dangerous thing that can fundamentally change" the regional security environment. He said the South Korean government is bracing for "all possible scenarios" regarding the nuclear standoff.

The independent International Crisis Group think tank, meanwhile, said the North's massive stockpile of chemical weapons is no less serious a threat to the region than its nuclear arsenal.

It said the North is believed to have between 2,500 and 5,000 tons of chemical weapons, including mustard gas, phosgene, blood agents and sarin. These weapons can be delivered with ballistic missiles and long-range artillery and are "sufficient to inflict massive civilian casualties on South Korea."

"If progress is made on rolling back Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions, there could be opportunities to construct a cooperative diplomatic solution for chemical weapons and the suspected biological weapons program," the think tank said in a report released Thursday.

It also called on the U.S. to engage the North in dialogue to defuse the nuclear crisis, saying "diplomacy is the least bad option." The think tank said Washington should be prepared to send a high-level special envoy to Pyongyang to resolve the tension.

In a rare move, leaders of Russia and China used their meetings in Moscow on Wednesday to pressure the North to return to the nuclear talks and expressed "serious concerns" about tension on the Korean peninsula.

The joint appeal appeared to be a signal that Moscow and Beijing are growing impatient with Pyongyang's stubbornness. Northeastern China and Russia's Far East both border North Korea, and Pyongyang's unpredictable actions have raised concern in both countries.

After meetings at the Kremlin, Chinese President Hu Jintao joined Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in urging a peaceful resolution of the Korean standoff and the "swiftest renewal" of the now-frozen talks involving their countries as well as North and South Korea, Japan and the United States.

"Russia and China are ready to foster the lowering of tension in Northeast Asia and call for the continuation of efforts by all sides to resolve disagreements through peaceful means, through dialogue and consultations," their statement said.

The comments — contained in a lengthy statement that discussed other global issues — included no new initiatives, but it appeared to be carefully worded to avoid provoking Pyongyang. In remarks after their meetings, Medvedev made only a brief reference to North Korea, and Hu did not mention it.

South Korea's Lee said Wednesday in Washington that was essential for China and Russia to "actively cooperate" in getting the North to give up its nuclear program, suggesting the North's bombs program may trigger a regional arms race.

"If we acknowledge North Korea possessing nuclear programs, other non-nuclear countries in Northeast Asia would be tempted to possess nuclear weapons and this would not be helpful for stability in Northeast Asia," Lee said in a meeting with former U.S. officials and Korea experts, according to his office.

Mousavi calls Iran rally to mourn dead protesters - Yahoo! News

2009-06-18T07:20:00.000-04:00

Mousavi calls Iran rally to mourn dead protesters - Yahoo! News

TEHRAN, Iran – Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi called his supporters into the streets of Tehran Thursday for a fourth day of protests and urged them to dress in black to mourn those killed in violent clashes over the disputed presidential election.

The call for opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to rally again was in open defiance of the country's supreme leader, who has urged the nation to unite behind the Islamic state.

Mousavi and his supporters claim Friday's election was rigged and he was the true winner. Violent clashes erupted after the election commission announced Ahmadinejad had won in a landslide. Seven demonstrators were shot Monday by pro-regime militia in the first confirmed deaths during the unrest.

Thursday's protest would be the fourth straight day of major marches in Tehran. On Monday, hundreds of thousands turned out in a huge procession that recalled the scale of protests during the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Mousavi's Web site said he may join the rally on Thursday in downtown Tehran.

On Wednesday, thousands marched silently down a main street in the capital, holding posters of Mousavi and flashing the V-for-victory sign in the air, amateur video showed.

The street protests have presented one of the gravest threats to Iran's complex blend of democracy and religious authority since the system emerged out of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Any serious shift of the protest anger toward Iran's non-elected theocracy would sharply change the stakes. Instead of a clash over the June 12 election results, it would become a showdown over the core premise of Iran's system of rule — the almost unlimited authority of the clerics at the top.

Iran's main electoral authority has said it was prepared to conduct a limited recount of ballots at sites where candidates claim irregularities. The re-count would be overseen by the Guardian Council, an unelected body of 12 clerics and Islamic law experts close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Mousavi alleges the Guardian Council is not neutral and has already indicated it supports Ahmadinejad. He wants an independent investigation.

On Thursday, state radio reported that the council has invited Mousavi and two other candidates who ran against Ahmadinejad to a meeting in the coming days.

The Iranian government accused the United States on Wednesday of meddling in the deepening crisis. State media blamed Washington for "intolerable" interference.

"Despite wide coverage of unrest, foreign media have not been able to provide any evidence on a single violation in the election process," state radio said Thursday.

Authorities have rounded up perceived dissidents and tried to further muzzle Web sites and other networks used by Mousavi's backers to share information and send out details of the crisis after foreign journalists were banned from reporting in the streets.

President Barack Obama said he shared the world's "deep concerns" but it was "not productive, given the history of U.S.-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling." The two countries severed diplomatic relations after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in the bloody showdown over allegations of vote-rigging and fraud.

A crackdown on dissent continued, with more arrests of opposition figures reported, and the country's most powerful military force — the Revolutionary Guard — saying that Iranian Web sites and bloggers must remove materials that "create tension" or face legal action.

The government has blocked certain Web sites, such as BBC Farsi, Facebook, Twitter and several pro-Mousavi sites that are vital conduits for Iranians to tell the world about protests and violence. Many other sites, including G-mail and Yahoo, were unusually slow and rarely connect.

Mousavi has condemned the blocking of Web sites, saying the government did not tolerate the voice of the opposition.

On Thursday, Mousavi's Web site said that both Mousavi and former reformist President Mohammad Khatami sent a joint letter to Iran's head of judiciary, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, asking him to take measures to stop violence against protesters by police and help to release detained demonstrators.

Iran rules out annulment, Tehran crowds gather - Yahoo! News

2009-06-16T09:23:00.000-04:00

Iran rules out annulment, Tehran crowds gather - Yahoo! News

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran's top legislative body on Tuesday ruled out annulling a disputed presidential poll that has prompted the biggest street protests since the 1979 Islamic revolution but said it was prepared for a partial recount.

In what appeared to be a first concession by authorities to the protest movement, the 12-man Guardian Council said it was ready to re-tally votes in the poll in which hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the runaway winner.

But the powerful Council rejected reformist calls to annul Friday's election that set off swift-moving political turmoil, riveting attention on the world's fifth biggest oil exporter which is locked in a nuclear dispute with the West.

Supporters of Mirhossein Mousavi, outraged at his defeat in what they viewed as a stolen election, planned another rally on Tuesday, even though seven people were killed on Monday on the fringes of a huge march through the streets of Tehran.

Mousavi urged people not to attend the banned rally at Vali-ye Asr Square in Tehran "to protect lives" saying it was canceled, but it was not clear if the call was heeded.

Supporters posted defiant messages on Twitter, calling for the demonstration to go ahead and offering security updates.

State television showed live pictures of what it said were Ahmadinejad supporters gathering at the Vali-ye Asr Square, showing thousands of people, some waving Iranian flags, possibly setting the scene for more confrontation.

Iranian state television said on Tuesday the "main agents" in post-election unrest had been arrested with explosives and guns. It gave no further details in a breaking news headline.

Further protests, especially if they are maintained on the same scale, would be a direct challenge to the authorities who have kept a tight grip on dissent since the 1979 overthrow of the U.S.-backed shah after months of demonstrations.

Illustrating Iran's sensitivity to how the world views the heightened tensions, authorities on Tuesday banned foreign media journalists from leaving their offices to cover street protests.

"No journalist has permission to report or film or take pictures in the city," a Culture Ministry official told Reuters.

The United States and its European allies have been trying to persuade Iran to halt nuclear work that could be used to make an atomic bomb. Iran denies it seeks atomic weapons and says it wants nuclear energy only to generate electricity.

U.S. President Barack Obama, who has sought to reach out to Iran asking its leadership to "unclench its fist," said he was deeply troubled by the post-election violence and that protesters who had taken to the streets had inspired the world.

PRESIDENT IN RUSSIA

A spokesman for the Council, which groups clerics and Islamic law experts as a constitutional watchdog, said only that it was "ready to recount the disputed ballot boxes claimed by some candidates, in the presence of their representatives."

"It is possible that there may be some changes in the tally after the recount," spokesman Abbasali Kadkhodai said. "Based on the law, the demand of those candidates for the cancellation of the vote, this cannot be considered," he told state television.

Despite protests and upheaval in Iran, Ahmadinejad was in Russia for SCO talks on Tuesday on his first foreign trip since official results showed he secured a second four-year term.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which includes Russia and China, congratulated Ahmadinejad on his win.

Iran's English-language Press TV said seven people were killed and several wounded at the end of Monday's rally -- a mainly peaceful gathering attended by many tens of thousands -- when "thugs" tried to attack a military post in central Tehran.

An Iranian photographer at the scene had said Islamic militiamen opened fire when people in the crowd attacked a post of the Basij religious militia. He said one person was killed and many wounded in the shooting.

The Basij militia is a volunteer paramilitary force fiercely loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who has the final say on all matters of state and who replaced revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini when he died 20 years ago.

During the past three days of violence, police have accused "bandits" of setting buses on fire, breaking windows of banks and other buildings, and damaging public property.

Iran's influential speaker of parliament Ali Larijani, a conservative who has been critical of Ahmadinejad in the past, condemned Sunday's attack on students at Tehran University which they blamed on the Basij militia and plainclothes police.

"They (attackers) have attacked dormitories and brutally broken legs, heads, arms and threw some of the students out of the windows," Mousavi said, according to his website.

There have been widespread arrests across the country since the election protests broke out. The ISNA news agency said on Tuesday around 100 people were arrested in unrest near a university in the southern city of Shiraz.

Leading Iranian reformist Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a former vice-president who backed pro-reform candidate Mehdi Karoubi in the election, was arrested early on Tuesday, his office said.

Gunfire was heard in districts of northern Tehran late on Monday and residents said there were peaceful pro-Mousavi protests in the cities of Rasht, Orumiyeh, Zahedan, and Tabriz.

Netanyahu bows to Obama, accepts Palestinian "state" - Yahoo! News

2009-06-14T23:40:00.000-04:00

Netanyahu bows to Obama, accepts Palestinian - Yahoo! News

RAMAT GAN, Israel (Reuters) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded on Sunday to uncommon pressure from Washington by finally giving his endorsement -- with conditions -- to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

But in a speech answering President Barack Obama's address to the Arab world 10 days ago, the right-wing leader's defense of Jewish settlement on occupied land may fail to dispel tension with the White House, as the two men try to set new terms for the Middle East peace process in their first months in office.

Obama called Netanyahu's shift in position on Palestinian statehood as an "important step forward," even as aides to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas were denouncing the speech as "sabotaging" negotiations by restating Israel's refusal to share the city of Jerusalem or accept Palestinian refugees.

Netanyahu, who has refused to back a state for Palestinians since he took office in March, said he would now endorse the establishment of a such a state -- but only if Israel received in advance international guarantees the new nation would have no army and Palestinians recognized Israel as a Jewish state.

"If we receive this guarantee regarding demilitarization and Israel's security needs, and if the Palestinians recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people, then we will be ready in a future peace agreement to reach a solution where a demilitarized Palestinian state exists alongside the Jewish state," Netanyahu said at Bar Ilan University near Tel Aviv.

"If (Obama) looks at the glass as half-full, this should be sufficient," Israeli political scientist Eitan Gilboa said of the speech as a whole. "But if he is looking for confrontation with Israel, he would say the glass if half-empty."

A senior European diplomat in the Middle East questioned how far it changed the substance of Israel's approach. "It's goodwill and good words but I don't think it's going to appease the Americans," the diplomat said. "He's trying to gain time."

WHITE HOUSE WELCOME

"The president welcomes the important step forward in Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech," the White House said.

"The president is committed to two states, a Jewish state of Israel and an independent Palestine, in the historic homeland of both peoples."

Palestinian leaders have rarely made an issue of Israel's insistence that their future state should not have an army in a position to threaten its neighbor, but they have rejected the demand that they explicitly accept Israel as a Jewish state.

To do so, they have argued, weakens the position of the 20 percent of Israel's citizens who are Muslim and Christian Arabs, and undermine a key demand for a right of return to what is now Israel for millions of Palestinians classed as refugees since the flight of Arabs during Israel's creation in 1948.

The White House reference to Obama's support of "a Jewish state of Israel" may reassure Israelis, who will also hear in his reference to "the historic homeland of both peoples" an echo of Netanyahu's robust defense on Sunday of the Jews' 3,000-year-old claim to the land and to the city of Jerusalem.

Palestinian leaders voiced their opposition, especially to the Israeli premier's flat rejection of any right of return for refugees or of a division of Jerusalem, where Palestinians want to have the capital of their new state.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said: "Netanyahu's remarks have sabotaged all initiatives, paralyzed all efforts being made and challenges the Palestinian, Arab and American positions."

Saeb Erekat, who has negotiated interim peace accords, said: "The peace process has been moving at the speed of a tortoise. Tonight, Netanyahu has flipped it over on its back."

He reiterated the Palestinian demand that Israel freeze all expansion of the settlements that are home to some half a million Jews in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

SETTLEMENTS DISPUTE

Obama, too, in what has been the frostiest spell in U.S. relations with Israel in a decade or more, has made a halt to settlements a personal demand. Netanyahu repeated his agreement not to build more settlements but indicated he still wanted to allow what is called "natural growth" of existing ones.

"We have no intention of building new settlements," he said. "But there is a need to enable the residents to live normal lives, to allow mothers and fathers to raise their children."

Netanyahu is conscious that a harder crackdown on settlers could fracture his right-leaning coalition government.

The White House did not comment on settlements but did say Obama would ensure all parties "fulfill their obligations." Under the 2003 "road map to peace," worked out under U.S. sponsorship, Israel committed to freezing settlement activity.

Netanyahu reiterated his readiness to meet all Arab leaders in the region and urged Palestinians to resume peace talks.

It was not immediately clear whether Abbas would accept Netanyahu's call to resume talks. Abbas has made a halt to settlement a condition for renewing negotiations.

With Gaza in the hands of Abbas's Islamist rivals Hamas, who reject interim peace deals and continue to attack Israel, there seems little immediate prospect of ending more than 60 years of conflict. However, diplomats say, engagement by Obama that puts pressure on all sides has raised hopes after years of stalemate.

Satellite snoops on penguin poop to track colonies - Yahoo! News

2009-06-09T07:45:00.000-04:00

Satellite snoops on penguin poop to track colonies - Yahoo! News

LONDON (AFP) – Scientists have tracked down previously undiscovered colonies of Antarctic emperor penguins after spotting trails of their droppings on satellite pictures, a study said Tuesday.

Zooming in on individual penguins is beyond current satellite imagery, but the tell-tale reddish-brown stains on the polar ice helped hone in on large groups of the black and white flightless birds.

Mapping expert Peter Fretwell of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) said the poop trail helps to track movements of the penguins, which in turn helps to monitor how they respond to climate change.

"We can't see actual penguins on the satellite maps because the resolution isn't good enough. But during the breeding season the birds stay at a colony for eight months," he said.

"The ice gets pretty dirty and it's the guano stains that we can see," he added.

The penguins spend much of their lives at sea, but return to their colonies to breed during the Antarctic winter. Scientists managed to identify 38 colonies, including 10 new ones, according to the research published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography.

"This is a very exciting development," said BAS penguin ecologist Phil Trathan. "Now we know exactly where the penguins are, the next step will be to count each colony so we can get a much better picture of population size.

"Using satellite images combined with counts of penguin numbers puts us in a much better position to monitor future population changes over time."

Green bay, Wisconsin - President Obama to hold town-hall meeting Thursday at Green Bay Southwest | Appleton Post-Crescent

2009-06-09T07:43:00.001-04:00

President Barack Obama to hold town-hall meeting Thursday at Green Bay Southwest | Postcrescent.com | Appleton Post-Crescent

President Barack Obama will hold a town-hall meeting at noon Thursday at Green Bay Southwest High School.

Southwest students and staff were “excited and anxious to learn the details” when it was announced that Obama will visit the Green Bay school, the principal said.

“I think the students’ reaction was the same as mine, ‘No, really? Here?’” principal Bryan Davis said at an afternoon press conference at school district offices. “… It still seems surreal to me.”

The event will be open to members of the public with tickets, as well as invited guests and some students. Davis said the school’s gymnasium will seat 1,400 to 1,500 that day.

Parking for the event will be an issue, and school superintendent Greg Maass wants people who plan on attending to carpool or use a shuttle service. Details about the shuttle service are in the works and should be announced later today , he said.

Meanwhile, the event falls on the last day of school, Davis said. He expects about a third of the school’s 1,350 students will be on campus Thursday morning. Seniors are done, and other students are taking final exams, he said. To accommodate the president’s visit, exam times will be shortened from 90 minutes to an hour, he said.

School will begin at 7:30 a.m. and finish by 9:40 a.m., he said.

Davis said he will send a letter to parents once details have been finalized. So far, students and school staff are happy to make adjustments for the event, he said.

Some tickets will be available for students and they also will have volunteer opportunities for the event, Davis said.

Maass said he has been meeting with Secret Service and other administration advance team members, but he could not provide any of those details.

The visit is an honor for the district and for the Green Bay area, Maass said.

“We’re really pleased and proud to be the site that has been chosen for President Obama’s visit to Green Bay,” he said.

The White House Web site said those who would like to attend are asked to fill out the form at whitehouse.gov/greenbaytownhall/. The Web site will be available until noon Tuesday.

Those without internet access may leave a voice message indicating interest to attend by calling 202-757-9821. This phone line will be available from noon to 8 p.m. today.

Those who sign up for tickets via the Web site or telephone will be eligible to be selected to receive up to two tickets. The White House will only call those selected to receive tickets.

The area will be a hotbed for political activity this week. On Friday and Saturday, Democratic Party activists also will gather for the state convention at the Radisson Hotel & Conference Center in Ashwaubenon.

The delegates are expected to hear from Gov. Jim Doyle and other party leaders.

Crews find more bodies from Air France crash - Yahoo! News

2009-06-08T20:35:00.000-04:00

Crews find more bodies from Air France crash - Yahoo! News

RECIFE, Brazil/PARIS (Reuters) – Searchers found 15 more bodies from a crashed Air France jet on Sunday and retrieved a large amount of debris from the plane that plunged into the Atlantic ocean in the worst air disaster since 2001.

Nearly a week after the Airbus A330 crashed on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris killing all 228 people on board, a total of 17 bodies have been recovered, following the discovery of two unidentified males on Saturday.

Investigators are considering the possibility the speed sensors on Flight 447 may have iced up and Air France said late on Saturday it was accelerating the replacement of speed sensors on all its Airbus long-haul planes.

Brazil's navy and air force said in a statement on Sunday night that they had retrieved seven more bodies and were transporting them along with the two corpses found on Saturday to the islands of Fernando de Noronha, 230 miles off the coast of Brazil.

Of the nine corpses, four were male and four were female, while the sex of the other body could not be identified.

A French ship picked up eight bodies on Sunday, the Brazilian military said, without giving further details.

"Hundreds of items are being found and being stored until we know where they should go," Brazilian Air Force spokesman Henry Munhoz told reporters in the northeastern city of Recife, where the bodies and debris will eventually be brought.

STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS FOUND

Brazil's military declined to give details about the debris found on Sunday, saying only that it was "structural components."

Brazilian network Globo reported on its website that a refrigerated truck used to store corpses was waiting on Fernando de Noronha. Brazilian media also said police were taking DNA samples from passengers' relatives to help identify the bodies.

Twelve Brazilian planes, one equipped with radar equipment that can detect material in the water, two French planes, one French ship and five Brazilian navy ships are searching the area about 680 miles northeast of Brazil's coast.

France also has sent a nuclear-powered submarine that should arrive on Wednesday to search for the black box flight data recorders that will be crucial to understanding why the plane fell from the sky as it passed storms on Monday.

The plane's pilots may have set the aircraft at a dangerous speed because they were relying on faulty speed readings, investigators say.

Air France said it had begun the switchover of speed sensors five weeks before the crash but only after disagreeing with Airbus over the planemaker's proposal to carry out tests before replacing them.

An Airbus spokesman declined to comment and said it could only discuss the investigation with French air authorities.

The head of France's air accident agency BEA said on Saturday it was too soon to say if problems with the speed sensors, known as pitot tubes, were in any way responsible.

LOST DATA

The agency said the A330 had sent out 24 error messages in four minutes including one indicating a discrepancy in speed data. It said similar problems had happened before.

Air France said it had first noticed in May 2008 that ice in the sensors was causing lost data in planes like the A330, but that it failed to agree with Airbus on steps to take.

According to Air France, Airbus offered to carry out an in-flight test on new sensors this year but the airline decided to go ahead and started changing them anyway from April 27.

It did not say whether the crashed plane had the new sensors but its last maintenance hangar visit was on April 16.

Some of the A330s 50 or so other operators defended the plane's safety record at an airlines meeting in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday, saying the crash was an isolated incident.

Airbus has faced problems with the speed sensors dating to at least 2001, forcing changes in equipment as well as the pilot's flight manual, according to online filings.

In 2001, France reported several cases of sudden fluctuation of A330 or A340 airspeed data during severe icing conditions and Airbus was ordered to change the cockpit manual, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.

Bodies, debris retrieved from Air France crash - Yahoo! News

2009-06-07T09:35:00.000-04:00

Bodies, debris retrieved from Air France crash - Yahoo! News

RECIFE, Brazil/PARIS (Reuters) – Brazilian search crews on Saturday retrieved the first bodies from a crashed Air France flight in the Atlantic, and investigators said faulty speed readings had been found on the same type of jets.

Navy ships found the bodies of two men and debris including a blue seat with a serial number matching Air France Flight 447, a rucksack containing a vaccination card, and a briefcase with an Air France ticket inside, rescue officials said.

"This morning at 8:14 a.m., we confirmed the rescue from the water of pieces and bodies that belonged to the Air France flight," air force spokesman Jorge Amaral told reporters in the northeastern Brazilian city of Recife.

Brazilian air force planes and navy ships have been scouring a swathe of the Atlantic about 1,100 km (683 miles) northeast of Brazil's coast since the Airbus A330-200 plane disappeared on Monday, killing all 228 people on board.

The crash of the flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris was the world's deadliest air disaster since 2001 and the worst in Air France's 75-year history.

Rescuers, who said that only family members will be informed of the identity of the corpses, believe many bodies could have sunk or been devoured by sharks.

Searchers previously had retrieved debris from the ocean that turned out to be unrelated to the crash.

French investigators trying to establish the cause of the crash said on Saturday that Airbus had detected faulty speed readings on its A330 jets before last week and had recommended that clients replace a sensor.

AIR FRANCE CHANGING SENSORS

Air France later issued a statement saying it had begun changing airspeed sensors on Airbus long-haul aircraft due to icing fears five weeks before the crash, but only after failing to agree on a fix with Airbus.

Investigators are considering the possibility that the speed sensors on Flight 447 may have iced up, resulting in faulty readings that caused the pilots to set the plane at a dangerous speed as it passed thunderstorms.

But the head of France's air accident agency (BEA) said in a news conference in France that it was too soon to say if problems with the pressure-based speed sensors were in any way responsible for the disaster.

"Some of the sensors (on the A330) were earmarked to be changed ... but that does not mean that without these replacement parts, the (Air France) plane would have been defective," BEA chief Paul-Louis Arslanian said.

Airbus confirmed it issued a bulletin asking the plane's 50 or so airline operators to consider changing the speed sensors, known as Pitot tubes, but it said it was an optional measure to improve performance and not related to safety.

In its statement on Saturday, Air France said it began noticing airspeed problems from icing on both A330 and A340 planes in May 2008 and had requested a solution from Airbus.

According to Air France, Airbus proposed testing different sensors despite earlier doubting that they would resolve the problem, but the airline declined to wait and started changing them from April 27. Airbus was not immediately available to comment.

FLURRY OF MESSAGES

The doomed Air France plane sent 24 automated messages in a span of four minutes indicating a series of system failures before it vanished, Arslanian said.

In the middle of this stream of data was one message showing inconsistent speed readings from the A330's sensors, investigators said.

The messages also showed that the autopilot was off, though it was impossible to say whether it had disengaged itself, as it is designed to do when it receives suspect data, or whether the pilot had decided to turn it off, Arslanian said.

Airbus issued a reminder on Thursday that pilots should follow standard procedures -- to maintain flight speed and angle -- if they thought their speed indicators were faulty.

Meteorological experts said the jet crossed a storm zone but that the weather did not seem to pose a particular threat.

Investigators have said they are not optimistic that they will be able to locate the plane's flight recorders, which could provide vital information about the cause of the crash.

The search zone is a relatively uncharted patch of ocean that has deep ravines and a fine, muddy sediment.

France is sending a nuclear-powered submarine to try to locate the two flight recorders, which could be at a depth of anywhere between 2,835 and 13,120 feet, said Laurent Kerleguer, the French navy's deputy head of hydrography.

U.S. watchdog faults Afghan troop training oversight - Yahoo! News

2009-05-19T17:13:00.000-04:00

U.S. watchdog faults Afghan troop training oversight - Yahoo! News"

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military command that trains Afghan forces, a key part of Washington's war strategy, lacks the capacity to oversee multimillion-dollar contracts it has awarded, a watchdog reported on Tuesday.

The Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan is responsible for programs worth some $15 billion to develop Afghan security forces so they can take over from U.S. and NATO troops in leading the fight against Taliban militants.

Yet the U.S. government watchdog found that the command had only one person in Afghanistan dedicated to overseeing a contract worth $404 million to provide training to Afghan police and soldiers.

'It does not have mechanisms necessary to ensure that U.S. funds are managed effectively and spent wisely,' the office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction said in its report.

'We found that assigning one contracting officer's representative in the field did not provide the degree of oversight that is needed to ensure that funds are used as intended,' the report said.

The watchdog did not name the company fulfilling the contract but the command, in a response to the report, said it was MPRI, an Alexandria, Virginia-based firm founded by retired military leaders and owned by L-3 Communications.

Although the United States has spent some $32 billion in aid to Afghanistan since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban, the watchdog was established only in 2008 after a similar agency found huge amounts of waste in efforts to rebuild Iraq.

'We probably should have done this several years before now,' said Arnold Fields, the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction.

'We may have lost some ground that we are now trying to make up,' he said in a conference call with reporters.

Tuesday's report was the first audit issued by his office, which is still building up to full strength.

It found that the person appointed to oversee the training contract had 'limited' experience and did not visit sites around the country where the contractor was working.

It also said officers from the training command assigned to prepare a request for bids for a new contract, valued at over $800 million, had no contracting experience and 'relied on the Internet for basic information on contract preparation.'

In its response, the command said its staff oversaw contractors on a daily basis, even if this did not meet the full standards of oversight specified by the watchdog.

It said it was 'acting to establish the processes and requirements for the right resources to properly manage and oversee contracts.'"

U.S. Justice Souter resigns

2009-05-01T19:59:00.000-04:00

U.S. Justice Souter resigns

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter announced on Friday he will resign, and President Barack Obama said he wanted someone with a sharp, independent mind for his first appointment to the nation's highest court.

Souter, 69, who has been on the court since 1990, said in a brief letter to the White House that he intended to retire when the justices go on their summer recess at the end of next month.

Minutes later, Obama made a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room after speaking to Souter and said: "I am incredibly grateful for his dedicated service. I told him as much when we spoke."

Souter's retirement plans, which leaked out late on Thursday, sparked a frenzy of speculation about Obama's search for a replacement, although the transition is unlikely to change the nine-member court's ideological balance. Souter usually sides with the court's three other liberal justices.

"I will seek somebody with a sharp and independent mind and a record of excellence and integrity. I will seek someone who understands that justice isn't just about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a casebook," Obama said.

With a rare vacancy on the court looming, advocacy groups were already positioning for a possible confirmation battle before the U.S. Senate, which has to give its approval to Obama's nominee.

"As I make this decision, I intend to consult with members of both parties across the political spectrum. And it is my hope we can swear in our new Supreme Court justice in time for him or her to be seated by the first Monday in October when the court's new term begins," Obama said.

STRONG PRESSURE TO NAME A WOMAN

Obama will likely face heavy pressure to name another woman or the first Hispanic. Possible candidates include Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm and appeals court judges Sonia Sotomayor and Diane Wood.

Souter belongs to the court's liberal wing and Obama would be expected to name someone with a similar philosophy. He could also name a younger justice who could serve for decades.

Appointed for life, Supreme Court justices decide such divisive issues as abortion rights and the death penalty. The court even decided the 2000 presidential election.

It would be the first Supreme Court justice named by a Democrat since 1994. Republican President George W. Bush named two justices in his eight years in office -- conservative Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito.

Chosen for the Supreme Court by Republican President George Bush, Souter proved to be far more liberal than expected.

He has supported abortion rights and campaign-finance restrictions aimed at political corruption and has voted in favor of the legal rights of the prisoners held at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

Picking a Supreme Court nominee would be another major task for Obama, who is already dealing with two wars, a major recession and efforts in Congress to provide health insurance to all Americans and curb global warming.

An administration official said Obama and his aides have been preparing for a Supreme Court vacancy since the early days of the transition after the November election.

In December, during meetings in Chicago and Washington, Obama personally suggested names of individuals whom he would give serious consideration for any opening, the official said.

As part of the preparation process and before the news broke, there was a senior White House staff meeting on Thursday to discuss how to support a Supreme Court nominee selection process in the event of a vacancy, the official said.

Conservative Republicans may not like the eventual nominee chosen by Obama, but since the Democrats have a powerful majority in the Senate there may not be much they can do about it.

Swine flu epidemic fear grows, world on alert

2009-04-26T10:50:00.000-04:00

Swine flu epidemic fear grows, world on alert

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Governments around the world rushed on Sunday to check the spread of a new type of swine flu that has killed up to 81 people in Mexico and infected around a dozen in the United States.

Mexicans huddled in their homes while U.S. hospitals tracked patients with flu symptoms and other countries imposed health checks at airports as the World Health Organization warned the virus had the potential to become a pandemic.

The epidemic has snowballed into a monster headache for Mexico, already grappling with a violent drug war and economic slowdown, and has quickly become one of the biggest global health scares in years.

Mexico's tourism and retail sectors could be badly hit. A new pandemic would deal a major blow to a world economy already suffering its worst recession in decades.

In New Zealand, 10 pupils from an Auckland school party that had returned from Mexico were being treated for influenza symptoms in what health authorities said was a likely case of swine flu, although they added none was seriously ill.

The WHO declared the flu a "public health event of international concern." WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan urged greater worldwide surveillance for any unusual outbreaks of influenza-like illness.

"(We are) monitoring minute by minute the evolution of this problem across the whole country," Mexican President Felipe Calderon said as health officials counted suspected infections in six states from the tropical south to the northern border.

While all the deaths so far have been in Mexico, the flu is spreading in the United States. Eleven cases were confirmed in California, Kansas and Texas, and eight schoolchildren in New York City caught a type A influenza virus that health officials say is likely to be the swine flu.

The new flu strain, a mixture of various swine, bird and human viruses, poses the biggest risk of a large-scale pandemic since avian flu surfaced in 1997, killing several hundred people. A 1968 "Hong Kong" flu pandemic killed about 1 million people globally.

New flu strains can spread quickly because no one has natural immunity to them and a vaccine takes months to develop.

TRAVELLERS SCREENED

Countries across Asia, which have had to grapple with deadly viruses like H5N1 bird flu and SARS in recent years, snapped into action. At airports and other border checkpoints in Hong Kong, Malaysia, South Korea and Japan, officials screened travelers for any flu-like symptoms.

In China, officials assured people that conventional measures in place were adequate to contain the new threat.

"The measures we've been taking against bird flu are effective for this new type of disease," said Wang Jing of the China Inspection and Quarantine Science Research Institute, in comments carried by state media.

Argentina declared a health alert, requiring anyone arriving on flights from Mexico to advise if they had flu-like symptoms.

Russia imposed curbs on meat imports from Mexico, some U.S. states and the Caribbean, while the United Arab Emirates said it was considering similar action.

In Brussels, the European Commission said no cases of the new swine flu had been reported so far in Europe. "Until now we have no reported cases in Europe. We are following very closely the situation as it evolves," a spokeswoman for the European Union executive said.

In France, two people returning from Mexico who had flu-like symptoms were being tested, French public health director Didier Houssin told RTL radio.

A French health ministry spokeswoman said there were two unconfirmed cases but declined to give further details.

A British Airways cabin crew member was taken to hospital in London after developing flu-like symptoms on a flight from Mexico, but tests later cleared him of swine flu.

Mexican Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said the swine flu had killed at least 20 and possibly as many as 81 people in Mexico, and more than 1,300 people were being tested for suspected infection. Most of the dead were aged 25 to 45, a worrying sign because a hallmark of past pandemics has been high fatalities among healthy young adults.

TOURISTS IN FACE MASKS

In the crowded Mexican capital of 20 million people museums were closed and public events scrapped, from concerts to a running race. Sunday soccer matches were closed to spectators.

Locals hoarded bottled water and canned food, churchgoers were told to stay home and follow Sunday services on television and bewildered tourists were made to wear surgical face masks.

"It's all a bit alarming because as a tourist you don't know if you're going to be allowed home. It's worrying because there's not much information," said 29-year-old Sandy Itriago, waiting at a tour bus stop with her parents.

Nightclubs closed on Saturday night along with stadiums and cinemas. At least one open bar stationed medics at its doors to check clients' throats and take their temperatures.

All schools in the city, Mexico State and San Luis Potosi were closed until May 6 and some companies planned to have employees work from home.

WHO warns of flu pandemic as Mexico City frets

2009-04-25T14:30:00.000-04:00

WHO warns of flu pandemic as Mexico City frets

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A new flu strain that has killed up to 68 people in Mexico could become a pandemic, the World Health Organization warned on Saturday, as the nation's crowded capital hunkered down in fear of the disease.

Hospitals tested patients with flu symptoms for the never-before-seen virus, which has also infected eight people in the United States. There have been no further deaths in Mexico City since Friday, but 24 new suspected cases were being tested and officials warned the strain was spreading fast between people, meaning there was a risk of a major outbreak.

"It has pandemic potential because it is infecting people," WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said in Geneva.

"However, we cannot say on the basis of currently available laboratory, epidemiological and clinical evidence whether or not it will indeed cause a pandemic.

The new flu strain -- a mixture of swine, human and avian flu viruses -- is still poorly understood and the situation is evolving quickly, Chan said.

As far away as Hong Kong and Japan, health officials said they were stepping up surveillance of travelers for flu-like symptoms.

Mexico has said the new flu had killed at least 20 people and could be to blame for 48 more deaths. In all, more than 1,000 suspected cases have been reported nationwide. Most of the dead were aged 25 to 45, a worrying sign because a hallmark of past pandemics has been high fatalities among healthy young adults.

Mexico has shut schools and museums and canceled hundreds of public events in its sprawling, overcrowded capital of 20 million people to try to prevent further infections.

A foot race along Mexico City's most famous avenue was canceled on Saturday and two major soccer matches on Sunday were to be played in empty stadiums. Shopping centers were hushed, restaurant reservations were canceled and people out on the street wore face masks.

"Our goal is to break the spread of the virus in the city," Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard said after suspending 553 public events planned for coming days.

No countries or global bodies have issued travel alerts about Mexico, but a significant worsening of the flu outbreak could damage the tourism and retail sectors in an economy already hit hard by the global crisis.

MORE CASES COULD EMERGE

The WHO says the virus from 12 of the Mexican patients is genetically the same as a new strain of swine flu, designated H1N1, seen in eight people in California and Texas. All of the eight later recovered.

An emergency committee of WHO experts, convening on Saturday, will advise Chan on issues including possibly changing the WHO's pandemic alert level, currently at 3 on a scale of 1 to 6.

"We do not yet have a complete picture of the epidemiology or the risk, including possible spread beyond the currently affected areas," Chan said, adding the situation was seen as "serious."

Mexican soldiers handed out surgical masks and Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova told people to wear face masks and avoid crowds and close physical contact. He said there was no guarantee current vaccines will help against the new strain.

The seasonal flu vaccine protects against one strain of the H1N1 virus, which is also circulating, but this new version is genetically different. Experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are working on a vaccine against the new strain but it could take months to make.

"We realize the seriousness of this problem," Mexican President Felipe Calderon told health officials on Friday.

Cordova said he was encouraged by a steadying in the death rate and the fact hospitals had not seen the exponential rise in the number of people infected that many had feared.

More cases could come to light as patients are tested in California, said Dr. Gil Chavez, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases at the California Department of Public Health and the state's chief epidemiologist. "The more we look the more we are likely to find," he said.

In New York City, health officials were looking into what had sickened scores of students who fell ill with flu-like symptoms in a Queens high school on Thursday and Friday, although the symptoms were reported as mild.

"At this point we have no evidence to say what's going on in New York is related to this," Dr. Richard Besser, acting director of the CDC, told CNN.

Little can be done to prevent an outbreak of flu from spreading, health experts warn, but common sense measures can help people protect themselves. No. 1 is hand-washing.

In Hong Kong, the epicenter of the 2003 SARS epidemic and a city especially vigilant about any threat of infectious disease, the government said it was ramping up safety checks at airports and the border. Authorities have also said they would analyze flu samples in the territory.

Cordova said Mexico had 1 million doses of antiviral medicine, easily enough to treat the cases reported so far. Roche AG's Tamiflu and GlaxoSmithKline's Relenza are both recommended to treat flu and have been shown to work against viral samples taken from the eight people infected in the United States.

The last flu pandemic was in 1968 when "Hong Kong" flu killed about a million people globally.

North Korea begins extracting plutonium

2009-04-25T14:29:00.000-04:00

North Korea begins extracting plutonium

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea has started to extract plutonium from spent fuel rods at its nuclear arms plant, its foreign ministry said on Saturday, further raising regional tensions already stoked by its defiant rocket launch this month.

The announcement came hours after a U.N. Security Council committee on Friday placed three North Korean companies on a U.N. blacklist for aiding Pyongyang's missile and nuclear programs, eliciting a sharp rebuke from a North Korean envoy.

Reclusive North Korea has lashed out at being punished for the April 5 launch, widely seen as a disguised long-range missile test that violated U.N. resolutions, saying it would boycott six-way nuclear talks and bolster its nuclear deterrent.

"The reprocessing of spent fuel rods from the pilot atomic power plant began as declared in the Foreign Ministry statement dated April 14," North Korea's official news agency KCNA quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying.

"This will contribute to bolstering the nuclear deterrence for self-defense in every way to cope with the increasing military threats from the hostile forces," it said.

South Korea's foreign ministry said it had no immediate comment on the North's announcement and Japan said it would urge Pyongyang to resume international nuclear talks.

"The UN Security Council... is telling North Korea to respond to the calls for resuming the six-party talks at an early stage. Japan will also try to persuade (North Korea)," Kazuo Kodama, a spokesman at the Japanese foreign ministry, told Reuters.

PRESSURING WASHINGTON

North Korea, which was hit with U.N. sanctions after missile tests in July 2006 and its only nuclear test a few months later, has used its military threat for years to gain global attention and squeeze concessions out of regional powers.

By making these moves early in the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, it has more cards to play during his presidency and forces him to make crucial decisions about how it will manage its relations with Pyongyang, analysts said.

"North Korea wants to continue provoking new crises, to demand the attention of the U.S. and others," said Zhu Feng, professor at Peking University.

"The biggest issue is still North Korea provoking a crisis, and the U.S. ignoring them. That makes getting the six-party talks restarted again a difficult diplomatic issue."

North Korea struck a deal with China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States to disable its Soviet-era Yongbyon nuclear plant in exchange for massive aid and ending its international ostracism.

It has expelled U.N. and U.S. nuclear inspectors at Yongbyon, located about 100 km (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, who had been overseeing steps to put the entire plant out of operation for at least a year.

Rebuilding parts of Yongbyon could increase the regional security threat because Pyongyang could add to its meager stockpile of fissile material, increasing the likelihood that it could conduct another nuclear weapons test.

Experts said it could take North Korea, which conducted its only nuclear test in October 2006, as little as three months to have the reprocessing facility up and running again.

Experts said North Korea, which has enough fissile material for six to eight nuclear bombs, wants to separate plutonium from spent fuel rods cooling at the plant that could yield it enough material for at least one more nuclear bomb.

North Korea has told foreign nuclear experts that it can produce domestically all the material it needs to run the reprocessing facility, such as non-corrosive metals and various chemicals.

But other parts of the plant may be beyond repair, because international trade sanctions make it difficult for it to obtain components needed for its reactor and nuclear fuel fabrication facility.

The North would also need to rebuild the cooling tower in order to resume the reactor's operations. North Korea blew up the tower almost a year ago in what it said was a demonstration of its commitment to the nuclear deal.

North Korea will stay away from international nuclear disarmament talks, Russia's foreign minister said on Friday after visiting Pyongyang and pressing North Korea to return to the sputtering discussions.

Obama sees signs of better Cuba and Venezuela ties

2009-04-19T19:05:00.000-04:00

Obama sees signs of better Cuba and Venezuela ties

PORT OF SPAIN (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Sunday he saw "potential positive signs" of better relations with Cuba and Venezuela, but he called on Cuba to back them up by giving its people more political freedom.

Obama spoke after attending a Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago that he said focused on "launching a new era of partnership" between western hemisphere countries.

Communist-ruled Cuba was excluded from the meeting, but the summit was dominated by speculation over the prospect of an end to the long conflict between Washington and Havana after Cuban President Raul Castro said last week he was open to talks.

Obama also received friendly overtures during the summit from left-wing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, whose close alliance with Cuba and fierce criticism of U.S. policies in the region had strained relations with Washington.

"For the past few days, we've seen potential positive signs in the nature of the relationship between the United States, Cuba and Venezuela," Obama told a news conference.

"We're going to explore and see if we can make progress," Obama added, recalling that Raul Castro had said he was willing to talk about political prisoners and human rights.

Obama added: "But as I've said before, the test for all of us is not simply words but deeds".

Referring to his move last week to ease parts of the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo on Cuba, he said the policy "in place for 50 years hasn't worked the way we want it to".

"The Cuban people are not free and that's our lodestone, our North Star, when it comes to our policy on Cuba, he said.

He reiterated a call for Havana to reciprocate by freeing political prisoners and addressing freedom of expression and religion. These issues should not be "brushed aside", he said.

"There are ways that Cuba can send signs that they are serious about real change," Obama added.

In the past, Havana has rejected placing such conditions on an improvement in ties as meddling in its sovereignty.

Obama's meetings and contacts during the Fifth Summit of the Americas in Port of Spain mended broken diplomatic fences in a region where America-bashing has long been accepted and where former President George W. Bush generally was unpopular.

"What we showed here is that we can make progress when we're willing to break free from some of the stale debates and old ideologies that have dominated and distorted the debate in this hemisphere for far too long," Obama said.

"PLUNGE INTO LATIN AMERICA"

Although Obama had to field a chorus of calls to lift the trade embargo on Cuba, his cooperative diplomatic style went down well with his Latin American and Caribbean peers.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the summit had created a chance for a new era in relations between the United States and Latin America.

"Obama took a plunge into Latin America ... We created a new way of viewing each other and of overcoming our differences by debating them," Lula told reporters.

Venezuela's Chavez, who told Obama "I want to be your friend", also indicated his willingness to cooperate with the new U.S. administration in improving ties. "We have the political will to work together," Chavez told reporters.'

Obama rejected suggestions that contact with die-hard critics of Washington like Venezuela, which is an OPEC member and major supplier of oil to the United States, was a sign of weakness.

"It's unlikely that as a consequence of me shaking hands or having a polite conversation with Mr. Chavez we are endangering the strategic interests of the United States," he said.

A draft summit declaration, which stated a commitment to work together to tackle the hemisphere's economic, energy and security challenges, was issued at the end of the meeting.

But there was no formal joint signing ceremony as a group of mostly leftist presidents led by Chavez had previously rejected the document.

The group, including Bolivia, Nicaragua and Honduras, said it did not address Cuba's exclusion from the summit or provide solutions to the economic crisis threatening the region.

The summit's host, Prime Minister Patrick Manning of Trinidad, said the declaration was adopted by consensus even though some refused to endorse it, and Latin American and Caribbean leaders hailed the summit as a success.

In contrast to a previous summit in Argentina in 2005, which ended in discord, the Port of Spain meeting hummed with goodwill.

U.S. drops "enemy combatant" as basis for detention

2009-03-13T16:31:00.000-04:00

U.S. drops "enemy combatant" as basis for detention

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration dropped the term "enemy combatant" and incorporated international law on Friday as its basis for holding terrorism suspects at Guantanamo prison while it works to close the facility.

The U.S. Justice Department said it had filed court papers outlining its break from Bush administration detention standards, and said only those who provided "substantial" support to al Qaeda or the Taliban would be considered detainable.

"As we work toward developing a new policy to govern detainees, it is essential that we operate in a manner that strengthens our national security, is consistent with our values, and is governed by law," U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.

"The change we've made today meets each of those standards and will make our nation stronger."

Unlike under former President George W. Bush, who greatly sought to expand presidential powers during his term, the new detention policy does not rely on the president's powers as military commander in chief to hold terrorism suspects at Guantanamo.

That policy has been subject to numerous legal battles and Supreme Court rulings that rebuked the Bush administration.

Instead, the Justice Department said, "It draws on the international laws of war to inform the statutory authority conferred by Congress.

"It provides that individuals who supported al Qaeda or the Taliban are detainable only if the support was substantial. And it does not employ the phrase 'enemy combatant.'"

It said it had told the court that the Obama administration was reviewing its entire detention policy -- as part of its plan to close the prison at the U.S. naval base on Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- and further refinements of the policies were possible.

BBC NEWS | Europe | Button gaffe embarrasses Clinton

2009-03-07T11:02:00.000-05:00

BBC NEWS | Europe | Button gaffe embarrasses Clinton

Russian media have been poking fun at the US secretary of state over a translation error on a gift she presented to her Russian counterpart.

Hillary Clinton gave Sergei Lavrov a mock "reset" button, symbolising US hopes to mend frayed ties with Moscow.

But he said the word the Americans chose, "peregruzka", meant "overloaded" or "overcharged", rather than "reset".

Daily newspaper Kommersant declared on its front page: "Sergei Lavrov and Hillary Clinton push the wrong button."

Relations between Washington and Moscow have cooled in recent years over Russia's role in the war in Georgia, US support for the entry of Georgia and Ukraine to Nato, and the planned US missile shield based in central Europe.

'Was it right?'

Efforts to heal the rift got off to an awkward start on Friday as the two sides met in Geneva, when Mrs Clinton presented Foreign Minister Lavrov with a green box tied in green ribbon.

As reporters watched, the US secretary of state assured her Russian opposite number her staff had "worked hard" to ensure it was accurate.

"Was it right?" she inquired with a smile.

"You got it wrong," Mr Lavrov responded, also smiling, before pointing out the mistake.

Despite the embarrassment, the two made light of the moment in front of the cameras and pushed the button together to signify a shared hope for better relations.

At a joint news conference after two hours of talks, both joked about the error.

"We reached an agreement on how 'reset' is spelled in both Russian and English - we have no differences between us any more," Mr Lavrov said through an interpreter.

Mrs Clinton put it this way: "The minister corrected our word choice. But in a way, the word that was on the button turns out to be also true.

"We are resetting, and because we are resetting, the minister and I have an 'overload' of work."

The gift was a light-hearted reference to US Vice-President Joe Biden's recent remark that the new US administration wanted to reset ties with Russia after years of friction.

Yahoo! News - Cybersecurity chief Beckstrom resigns by Reuters: Yahoo! Tech

2009-03-07T10:58:00.000-05:00

Yahoo! News - Cybersecurity chief Beckstrom resigns by Reuters: Yahoo! Tech

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government's director for cybersecurity resigned on Friday, criticizing the excessive role of the National Security Agency in countering threats to the country's computer systems.

"He has tendered his resignation," Amy Kudwa, a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman told Reuters.

Former Silicon Valley entrepreneur Rod Beckstrom said in a resignation letter published by the Wall Street Journal it was a "bad strategy" to have the National Security Agency, which is part of the Department of Defense, play a major role in cybersecurity.

Beckstrom headed the National Cybersecurity Center, which was created last March to coordinate all government cybersecurity efforts and answers to the Department of Homeland Security.

Homeland Security said in a statement that it has a strong relationship with the NSA and continues to work closely with all of its partners to protect the country's cyber networks.

Beckstrom wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on Thursday in his resignation letter that the NSA currently dominates most national cyber efforts.

"While acknowledging the critical importance of NSA to our intelligence efforts, I believe this is a bad strategy on multiple grounds," he wrote in the letter posted by the Wall Street Journal on its website.

National Security Agency officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

Beckstrom said in his letter that the cybersecurity group did not receive adequate support to accomplish its role during the previous administration of President George W. Bush, which only provided the center with five weeks of funding in the last year.

His resignation will be effective March 13, the letter said.

The newspaper said the Obama administration was conducting a 60-day review of the cybersecurity program started by Bush last year to protect government networks.

Bush-era memos saw rights limits in U.S. terror war

2009-03-03T08:38:00.000-05:00

Bush-era memos saw rights limits in U.S. terror war

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military could have kicked in doors to raid a suspected terrorist cell in the United States without a warrant under a Bush-era legal memo the Justice Department made public on Monday.

The memo, from October 23, 2001, also said constitutional free-speech protections and a prohibition on unreasonable search and seizure could take a back seat to military needs in fighting terrorism inside the country.

It was one of nine previously undisclosed memos and legal opinions which shed light on former President George W. Bush's legal guidance as he launched a war against terrorism after the September 11 attacks.

"The government's compelling interests in wartime justify restrictions on the scope of individual liberty," it said.

Other memos held that the president had broad power to detain U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism and to suspend treaty obligations on issues as seen fit.

The memos depict an administration apparently determined to assert sweeping powers for the president after the shock of September 11, and add fuel to critics' charges that fundamental constitutional protections were threatened in the process.

"The current campaign against terrorism may require even broader exercises of federal power domestically," Justice Department officials John Yoo and Robert Delahunty wrote White House counsel Alberto Gonzales in the October 23 memo.

"We do not think that a military commander carrying out a raid on a terrorist cell would be required to demonstrate probable cause or to obtain a (search) warrant," they said.

The Supreme Court has held that the Constitution's Fourth Amendment ordinarily requires a probable cause and a warrant to execute a search. However, the memo said those requirements "are unsuited to the demands of wartime."

Furthermore, it said, "First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully."

The Justice Department under Bush had fought a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union which sought to make that and other the legal memos public.

"These memos essentially argue that the president has a blank check to disregard the Constitution during wartime," said Jameel Jaffer, national security director for the ACLU.

The memos could also increase Democratic calls for wide investigations to shed light on Bush's security practices, such as a "truth commission" proposed by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy. Leahy said they help illustrate Bush's "misguided national security policies."

Bush's Justice Department disavowed the early advice in a final memo dated days before U.S. President Barack Obama took office, and Obama later declared all of the memos invalid.

The January 15, 2009 memo from the Bush department's Office of Legal Counsel said: "The following propositions contained in the opinions .... do not currently reflect, and have not for some years reflected, the views of the OLC."

It said the counsel's office had not relied on the opinions since 2003 "and on several occasions we have already acknowledged the doubtful nature of these propositions."

The memos' release was the latest move in the Obama administration's swift repudiation of many of Bush's counterterrorism policies, which have been criticized by U.S. allies and advocates of human rights and civil liberties.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said he intended to release future legal counsel opinions when possible, "while still protecting national security information and ensuring robust internal executive branch debate and decision-making."

The ACLU welcomed the decision to make the documents public but said it hoped this was the first step in a broader release.

Officials: Obama says Iraq pullout by Aug 2010

2009-02-26T22:55:00.000-05:00

Officials: Obama says Iraq pullout by Aug 2010

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama told lawmakers on Thursday he plans to withdraw most American troops from Iraq by August 2010 but leave tens of thousands behind to advise Iraqi forces and protect U.S. interests, congressional officials said.

Obama is expected to announce the new strategy on Friday during a trip to the Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

In a closed-door meeting with Republican and Democratic leaders, Obama and his top advisers estimated that 35,000 to 50,000 troops would remain in Iraq after the bulk of troops are withdrawn.

Obama campaigned on ending the Iraq war and pledged to do so in 16 months. The withdrawal timetable he is expected to approve stretches over 19 months from his inauguration in January. That means some 100,000 troops would leave over the coming 18 months.

Rep. John McHugh, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said Obama promised him to reconsider the new strategy if violence rises. McHugh said he was worried the situation in Iraq remained fragile, especially as it approaches elections in December.

"Our commanders must have the flexibility they need in order to respond to these challenges, and President Obama assured me that there is a 'Plan B,'" McHugh, R-N.Y., said in a statement.

According to one congressional official, lawmakers were told that Gen. David Petraeus, head of U.S. Central Command, and Gen. Ray Odierno, the top commander in Baghdad, believed the plan presented moderate risk but supported the 50,000 figure.

Some Democrats are skeptical but because they say it would leave too many troops behind.

"I have been one for a long time that's called for significant cutbacks in Iraq, and I am happy to listen to the secretary of defense and the president," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters before the briefing. "But when they talk about 50,000, that's a little higher number than I had anticipated."

In addition to Reid, congressional leaders attending the meeting included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. Vice President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had also been expected to attend as well.

Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told the U.N.'s Security Council on Thursday that the U.S. would move "responsibly and safely" to reduce the U.S. military presence in Iraq.

She said the process of redeploying American combat troops will be carried out in consultation with the Iraqi government "and with its support."

An existing U.S-Iraq agreement, negotiated under President George W. Bush, calls for U.S. combat troops to withdraw from Baghdad and other cities by the end of June, with all American forces out of the country by the end of 2011.

Turkish airliner crash at Amsterdam airport kills 9

2009-02-25T12:26:00.000-05:00

Turkish airliner crash at Amsterdam airport kills 9

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – A Turkish Airlines passenger plane with 134 people aboard crashed in light fog while trying to land at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport on Wednesday, killing nine and injuring dozens.

Officials said some 84 people were taken to hospitals, including 25 who were severely hurt, when flight TK 1951 from Istanbul crashed into a field short of a runway at Schiphol, Europe's fifth-largest by passenger volume.

Six were in critical condition.

"As far as I know there are no more passengers in the plane," Haarlemmermeer acting Mayor Michel Bezuijen told reporters. "We cannot say anything about the cause at the moment. The priority...is providing help and care."

The bodies of three crew members in the cockpit were still in the plane's wreckage, an investigator told reporters at Schiphol. It was not yet clear if the pilots were among them.

"We have to leave them so that we can investigate before we take the cockpit apart," he said.

Dutch media said the pilot and co-pilot were among the dead. Earlier, officials said 135 people were on board the plane, but that was revised to 134.

Dutch television showed what appeared to be covered bodies on the ground near the crumpled, single-aisle Boeing 737-800.

At least four Americans, who work for the plane's manufacturer Boeing, were on the plane, an official said.

The airliner lay in three parts, with the tail section of the fuselage ripped off, and a wide crack just behind the cockpit. There was no fire visible.

The plane broke up when it hit the ground north of a runway at Schiphol, which is 20 km (12 miles) southwest of Amsterdam's center. Survivors were rushed to hospitals in Amsterdam as well as nearby Haarlem.

LIGHT WINDS

Weather reports at the time of the crash indicated decent visibility despite misty conditions, and light winds.

"I thought it was a car collision. We heard a sort of loud and strange sound," eyewitness Randy Cordes, 14, told Reuters. "I saw one engine that was burning but the fire died quickly."

A flight from Istanbul carrying relatives of crash victims was due later on Wednesday.

The Turkish airliner was reported to have landed two miles short of the runway on an approach from the north.

One local media report quoted a farmer saying it had hit a tree as it sank to the ground.

"It should have been at 600 feet at that point, if it was two miles short," former Boeing pilot Alistair Rosenschein told Britain's Sky News television.

Dutch Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings has said Turkish Airlines met all safety regulations at Schiphol, but added in a statement that the cause of the accident will be investigated.

"The pilot is an experienced one who is a former member of the Turkish Air Force," Turkish Airlines CEO Temel Kotil said.

Wednesday's crash was the 11th accident involving a Turkish Airlines flight in the past 20 years, the NLR Air Traffic Safety Institute in Amsterdam said in a statement.

Turkish Airlines had a troublesome safety record in the 1970s, with 608 lives lost in around two years, but the modern airline's safety record has improved and Wednesday's crash was its second fatal incident this decade, according to the Flight Safety Foundation.

Tuesday's crash appeared to be the worst at Schiphol since an El Al cargo plane crashed into high-rise apartment blocks in 1992, killing 43 people, 39 of them on the ground.

Source: Matthews says 'Oh God' before Jindal spoke

2009-02-25T12:22:00.000-05:00

Source: Matthews says 'Oh God' before Jindal spoke

NEW YORK – MSNBC's Chris Matthews quietly uttered "Oh God" as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal prepared to give the Republican Party response to President Barack Obama's speech to Congress.

An NBC executive, who requested anonymity because the network is still looking into the matter, named Matthews as the one who made the live mike slip — it was so quiet most listeners wouldn't be able to identify the speaker.

The Huffington Post posted a link to the comment and asked viewers to guess Wednesday who had made it: 32 percent had guessed Matthews, 35 percent said it was co-anchor Keith Olbermann, 15 percent said it was an MSNBC camera operator and 18 percent thought it was a producer.

MSNBC had no immediate comment.

Obama tells Treasury to begin cutting taxes

2009-02-21T10:38:00.000-05:00

Obama tells Treasury to begin cutting taxes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama ordered the U.S. Treasury on Saturday to implement tax cuts for 95 percent of Americans, fulfilling a campaign pledge he hopes will help jolt the economy out of recession.

The tax cuts are part of a $787 billion economic recovery plan passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress over Republican opposition. The aim is to put more money in the pockets of Americans and stimulate the economy by increasing consumer spending.

"I'm pleased to announce that this morning the Treasury Department began directing employers to reduce the amount of taxes withheld from paychecks, meaning that by April 1st, a typical family will begin taking home at least $65 more every month," Obama said in his weekly radio address.

"Never before in our history has a tax cut taken effect faster or gone to so many hard-working Americans," he said.

With tens of thousands of Americans losing their jobs in the midst of a global economic meltdown, Obama has said fixing the U.S. economy is his top priority. He has acknowledged that his success or failure in that will define his presidency.

Obama campaigned for the White House last year on a pledge to roll back his predecessor George W. Bush's tax cuts on the wealthy few and implement a cut for 95 percent of Americans.

His announcement came a day after one of his top economic advisers, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, said the global economy may be deteriorating even faster than during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Since being sworn into office on January 20, Obama has sought to reassure Americans that his government is tackling the economic crisis boldly and swiftly -- holding near-daily events to announce measures to stem mortgage foreclosures, prop up failing banks, rescue the ailing auto industry and drive his stimulus package through Congress.

The measures have received a mixed early reaction from gloomy financial markets uncertain whether they will succeed in arresting the downward economic spiral.

The package includes $282 billion in tax cuts -- the Republicans pushed unsuccessfully for more -- and $120 billion for public works projects including highway and rail projects.

'HAZARDOUS ROAD AHEAD'

"But as important as it was that I was able to sign this plan into law, it is only a first step on the road to economic recovery," Obama said in his address.

"None of this will be easy. The road ahead will be long and full of hazards. But I'm confident that we, as a people, have the strength and wisdom to carry out this strategy and overcome this crisis," he said.

His announcement on the tax cuts capped a week that saw him sign the stimulus package into law and announce new measures to help families facing foreclosure and those struggling to make mortgage payments.

He will step up the pace next week when he holds a summit at the White House on Monday to look at how to rein in the country's ballooning deficit and bring government spending under control as the economy starts to recover.

Lawmakers, academics and business leaders have been invited to share their ideas on how to cut the $1 trillion deficit that Obama inherited along with two costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Obama will follow the summit with a major speech on Tuesday to a joint session of Congress in which he will lay out his domestic and foreign policy agenda. Inevitably, the economic crisis will loom large.

After a short breather on Wednesday to host a concert honoring Stevie Wonder, Obama on Thursday will unveil his proposed budget for the 2010 fiscal year, which will reflect the big increases in public spending as part of the economic recovery plan.

Sen. Burris should resign, Illinois governor says

2009-02-20T14:22:00.000-05:00

Sen. Burris should resign, Illinois governor says

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Illinois Governor Pat Quinn called on Friday for Roland Burris to resign the U.S. Senate seat formerly occupied by President Barack Obama because of the cloud of controversy hanging over his appointment.

If Burris resigns, Quinn said he would make a temporary appointment until a special election could be held to fill the seat.

Such an election would require a new state law -- and it would give the Republicans a shot at picking up a seat in the Senate where Democrats now control 58 of the 100 seats, with one seat vacant due to a contested election in Minnesota.

Quinn's predecessor, Rod Blagojevich, was impeached and ousted by the Legislature in part because of charges that he tried to sell the seat Obama once occupied.

"It was a gigantic mistake for him (Burris) to take the appointment in the first place," Quinn told a news conference.

Quinn, Blagojevich and Burris are all Democrats.

Blagojevich defied members of his own party, including Obama, to appoint Burris on December 30 to fill the remainder of Obama's Senate term, ending in 2010.

But after much wrangling by Senate leaders, Burris was seated and cast his vote in favor of the just-passed economic stimulus bill.

Inconsistencies have since emerged in Burris' testimony, affidavits and public comments about the extent of his contacts with Blagojevich's staff prior to his appointment. A local prosecutor is exploring perjury charges and the Senate ethics committee has begun an investigation.

Peanut company feared salmonella loss: hearing

2009-02-11T14:19:00.000-05:00

Peanut company feared salmonella loss: hearing

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. peanut company blamed for a salmonella outbreak that has sickened at least 600 people was more concerned about the cost of the contamination than public health, members of the U.S. Congress told a hearing on Wednesday.

Peanut Corporation of America shipped peanut products from its plants to schools, nursing homes and food processors, even after getting lab tests showing salmonella contamination, they said.

The contamination, which may be linked to eight deaths, has forced one of the biggest food recalls in U.S. history, scared Americans away from one of their favorite foods and brought the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under intense scrutiny.

Republican Representative Greg Walden held up a plastic jar filled with recalled products and asked Peanut Corporation of America President Stewart Parnell if he would like to sample them.

"Lives were lost and people were sickened because they took a chance, I believe knowingly, with products that were contaminated," Walden said in opening comments at a hearing of the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

California Democratic Representative Henry Waxman displayed excerpts from internal company e-mails he said were from Parnell. "What they show is this company cared more about its financial bottom line than about the safety of its customers," Waxman said.

One e-mail said the problem was "costing us a huge (amount of) $$$$" while another said the company "desperately at least need to turn the raw peanuts on our floor into money."

Inspections showed the company had not only several tests that showed salmonella contamination but also cockroaches, a leaky roof and filthy equipment, the FDA has said.

As the members of Congress spoke, the FDA released 13 more notifications of recalls, from Atkins Nutritionals Inc to Palmer Candy company. More than 1,800 products have been recalled, either because they were linked to PCA's Blakely, Georgia, plant or because such links could not be ruled out.

The New York Times reported last week that peanut butter sales across the nation were down nearly 25 percent.

On Tuesday, the Texas Department of State Health Services said Peanut Corp voluntarily closed its facility in Plainview after laboratory tests indicated salmonella contamination.

FBI officials in Atlanta and Virginia said on Monday they had joined the FDA in a criminal investigation of the company.

The outbreak is the latest in a series involving tainted lettuce, peppers and spinach that have eroded U.S. public confidence in food safety and renewed calls for change at the FDA by the Government Accountability Office, consumer groups, the food industry, Congress and the Obama administration.

EU trade chief encouraged by Obama "Buy American" move - Yahoo! News

2009-02-04T12:12:00.000-05:00

EU trade chief encouraged by Obama "Buy American" move - Yahoo! News

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union's trade chief said on Wednesday she was encouraged by U.S. President Barack Obama's decision to alter "Buy American" language in an economic stimulus bill.

"I'm encouraged by the words of President Obama, he realizes -- like we do in Europe -- that we need to trade our way out of the current economic difficulties. Trade is part of the solution as it acts as a stimulus," EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton told Reuters.

The U.S. Senate is debating a nearly $900 billion economic stimulus plan that would allow only U.S.-made iron, steel and manufactured goods to be used in public works projects funded by the bill.

It built on an $825 billion stimulus plan passed last week by the House of Representatives that required the use of U.S.-made iron and steel in public works projects, which angered some trading partners, notably the EU and Canada.

The governments of both the European Union and Canada, worried about lost exports to the United States, sent letters to Congress on Monday urging the provision be dropped.

Under pressure from European steel makers, Ashton -- who oversees trade policy for the 27-nation bloc -- had warned of possible action at the World Trade Organization, the global trade watchdog.

But Obama said in a television interview on Tuesday it would be a mistake when worldwide trade is declining for the United States "to start sending a message that somehow we're just looking after ourselves and not concerned with world trade."

However, a Commission spokesman said Obama's conciliatory stance would not affect Brussels' decision to offer export subsidies for EU dairy products which has also angered other trading nations.

"There is no deal. Barack Obama's decision to look at altering the Buy American clause in no way affects the EU's dairy decision," a Commission spokesman said.

WTO chief Pascal Lamy said on Sunday Brussels' move to reintroduce the subsidies did not "send the right political signal" as nations strive to avoid protectionist measures to fend off the worst economic slump since World War Two.

The Cairns Group, a coalition of 19 countries including Brazil, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and Indonesia, have also asked the EU to reverse its decision.

Whistleblower says Madoff had help, blasts SEC - Yahoo! News

2009-02-04T12:11:00.000-05:00

Whistleblower says Madoff had help, blasts SEC - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Harry Markopolos, a former investment manager who warned U.S. regulators about Bernard Madoff, criticized the Securities and Exchange Commission and said on Wednesday that Madoff had help in running his alleged $50 billion fraud.

Markopolos told Congress that the SEC staff was neither willing nor able to uncover what Madoff, accused of having run the world's biggest Ponzi scheme, was really doing. He also said that he knows the names of a dozen other so-called feeder funds that helped Madoff raise money from pension funds and wealthy investors and that he would turn these over to regulators this week.

Calling SEC staff "too slow, too young and too undereducated," Markopolos said regulators "did not understand the red flags and could not do the math."

"They looked at the size of Madoff and said he's a big firm and we don't attack big firms," Markopolos said about U.S. regulators.

Madoff, a former chairman of the Nasdaq stock market, has been accused of running a massive Ponzi scheme in which he paid of earlier investors with money from later investors.

The failure of the SEC to detect the massive scandal was examined at a U.S. House Financial Services subcommittee hearing on Wednesday. The panel is gathering information before it launches a broad reform of U.S. financial regulations.

At the hearing, Markopolos described his probe of Madoff and attempts to share information with SEC officials. As early as May 2000, Markopolos said, he provided the SEC's Boston office with evidence that he said should have triggered an agency investigation of Madoff.

Over the subsequent years, Markopolos said he resubmitted the evidence to the agency, but to no avail.

"I gift-wrapped and delivered the largest Ponzi scheme to them," said Markopolos, who is now working as a fraud examiner.

Markopolos said the SEC's enforcement division lacks experienced financial experts and is hindered by lawyers who do not understand red flags. Markopolos also highlighted turf battles between the SEC's Boston and New York regional offices and said the agency was captive to industry.

"There are no incentives for the SEC to find fraud," he said.

Markopolos and Madoff were Wall Street competitors when Markopolos was the former chief investment officer of Rampart Investment Management. Markopolos began looking closely at Madoff in 1996 after his boss at Rampart asked him to figure out how to match the returns of Madoff's firm. Markopolos said his analysis convinced him it was impossible for Madoff to consistently outperform the markets.

Markopolos had harsh words for some SEC employees, such as Meaghan Cheung, the agency's New York branch chief whom he had contacted in November 2007. Cheung, Markopolos said, never grasped the concepts in his report or asked him any questions.

"Her arrogance was highly unprofessional, given my understanding of her responsibility and mandate," Markopolos told the Congressional panel, which held the hearing as it considers broad financial regulatory reforms. Cheung left the SEC in fall of 2008.

REGULATORY REFORM EYED

The subcommittee's chairman Paul Kanjorski, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, said he was going to introduce legislation that would give audit watchdog the PCAOB the authority to examine auditors of broker-dealers.

Madoff's auditor was a small, unknown firm that was not registered with the PCAOB.

Top SEC officials told the panel that the agency was considering a number of changes in light of the Madoff case, including how frequently investment advisers are examined. The SEC is now able to examine only about 10 percent of all registered advisers every three years, as advisers far outnumber the agency's examination staff.

Other issues the SEC is examining include unregistered advisers and funds, the outdated regulatory system for brokers and advisers, and the need to strengthen the custody and audit requirements for regulated firms.

Since learning of Madoff's arrest, the industry-funded Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has stepped up its review of the broker-dealer industry. In prepared testimony, interim FINRA Chief Executive Officer Steve Luparello said the broker-dealer watchdog was looking at custody issues in joint broker-dealers and investment advisers as well as reviewing brokers whose registered representatives may have referred clients to Madoff's advisory business.

Markopolos also had harsh words for the broker-dealer watchdog and its predecessor, the NASD. "FINRA is even less competent than the SEC," he said, calling the self-regulator corrupt and beholden to industry.

U.S. Army suicides hit new high for 2008 - Yahoo! News

2009-01-29T19:55:00.000-05:00

U.S. Army suicides hit new high for 2008 - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Suicides in the U.S. Army jumped 11 percent to a all-time high in 2008, as the stress of ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan took a greater toll on U.S. soldiers, the armed service said Thursday.

Preliminary figures, which showed the Army's suicide rate for the first time eclipsing the comparable suicide rate for U.S. civilians, prompted Army leaders to announce a new training and prevention campaign to identify soldiers at risk.

But Army officials acknowledged that the rising suicide trends that have occurred among active duty soldiers and reservists since 2004 have largely eluded efforts to understand and reverse the deadly phenomenon.

"This is a challenge of the highest order for us," U.S. Army Secretary Pete Geren told reporters.

"Why do the numbers keep going up? We cannot tell you. But we can tell you that across the Army, we're committed to doing everything we can to address the problem," he said.

The Army's latest data showed 128 confirmed suicides among active-duty soldiers in 2008, versus a previous record of 115 in 2007. Another 15 deaths were suspected suicides, and if confirmed, would push the suicide total for last year to 143.

The Army said the figures equal a rate of 20.2 suicides for every 100,000 soldiers. That is higher than the last available civilian rate of 19.5 suicides per 100,000 people with similar age and demographic backgrounds, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported for 2005.

The U.S. Marine Corps said separately that suicides within its force rose 24 percent to 41 cases in 2008, up from 33 in 2007. The Marine suicide rate was 19 for every 100,000 troops.

SPECIAL TRAINING, INSTRUCTION

The 128 confirmed Army suicides included six members of the Army Reserve and 13 members of the National Guard.

Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli will lead a new campaign to combat the suicide trend with special training and instruction that will begin in mid-February and run through mid-June.

The Army is also launching a $50 million research study on suicides and suicidal behavior in conjunction with the federal government's National Institute of Mental Health.

One leading factor in suicides is stress caused by deployments, particularly in combat zones, and the destructive effect on personal relationships, according to Army officials.

"We all come to the table believing that stress is a factor. It is always a factor," Chiarelli said.

As the largest branch of the U.S. armed forces with 1.1 million active duty and reserve soldiers, the Army has done the brunt of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, including years of extended duty and repeated deployments.

The armed service accounts for 127,000 of the 178,000 troops serving in the two war zones, or about 71 percent of the deployed U.S. military force.

But Army officials said the strain of warfare and multiple deployments does not fully explain the rise in suicides, noting that 35 percent of suicides last year occurred among soldiers who had never been deployed.

Another 35 percent of suicides followed deployment while 30 percent occurred while soldiers were in the field.

About 78 percent of deployed soldiers who committed suicide were on their first deployment, suggesting that some troops may learn to cope better with stress after multiple tours of duty, officials said.

Most of the soldiers who committed suicide after deployment took their own lives more than a year after their return home, which could suggest difficulties in returning to civilian life as a contributing factor.

Illinois Governor Blagojevich convicted, ousted - Yahoo! News

2009-01-29T19:17:00.000-05:00

Illinois Governor Blagojevich convicted, ousted - Yahoo! News

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was convicted of impeachment charges and removed from office on Thursday, eight weeks after he was arrested on charges of trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat once held by President Barack Obama.

The Illinois Senate, acting as a jury, voted 59-0 to oust the two-term Democrat immediately. The decision came after Blagojevich made a passionate 11th-hour plea to the body, begging the senators to reconsider.

"How can you throw a governor out of office who is clamoring and begging and pleading with you to give him a chance to bring witnesses in to prove his innocence?" he said.

"Let me make my case," he continued. "Let me show you that I'm innocent and that I didn't do anything wrong. ... A crime has not been proven here."

It was the only defense he mounted during the four-day trial. He skipped the chance to make a formal defense during the proceedings because, he said, the rules restricted him from calling the witnesses he needed or playing in full the federal government wiretapped conversations that led to charges involving Obama's Senate seat.

Before Blagojevich spoke, David Ellis, acting as prosecutor for the state House of Representatives that impeached the governor on 13 charges earlier this month, said he was guilty of widespread abuse of power, including those involving the Senate seat.

"The governor's own words demonstrated, time and time again, that he saw his ability to appoint a U.S. senator as a golden goose, as a bargaining chip to be leveraged for his own personal and political well-being," he said.

As the proceedings unfolded, Democratic Lieutenant Governor Patrick Quinn was waiting in the wings to be sworn in, already expressing concern about the state's budget ills about which he says he has been told all too little and a 7.6 percent unemployment rate that is above the national average.

Blagojevich has not been indicted on criminal charges.

Obama signs workforce anti-discrimination law - Yahoo! News

2009-01-29T11:50:00.000-05:00

Obama signs workforce anti-discrimination law - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama signed his first bill into law on Thursday, handing his labor and women's rights backers a victory by reversing a 2007 U.S. Supreme Court decision that made it harder to sue for pay discrimination.

With the woman for whom the law was named at his side, Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act at a White House ceremony. The Democratic-led Congress passed the measure this week.

Pay equity was a sensitive issue during the presidential election campaign last year, especially among labor unions and women voters. On average, women in the United States are paid 23 percent less than men, while minority women receive even less.

"In signing this bill today, I intend to send a clear message -- that making our economy work means making sure it works for everyone, that there are no second class citizens in our workplaces," said the Democratic president, who is in his second week in office.

Ledbetter is an Alabama woman who discovered after 19 years on the job at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. that she was the lowest-paid supervisor at her plant despite having more experience than several male co-workers.

A jury found she was the victim of discrimination. But during the Bush administration, the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision reversed what critics described as decades of legal precedent by declaring that discrimination claims must be filed within 180 days of the first offense.

The court rejected the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's contention that each new discriminatory paycheck triggers a new 180-day statute of limitations.

The law signed by Obama amended the 1964 Civil Rights Act to put the old EEOC standard into law, and covers pay discrimination based on gender, race, national origin, religion, age and disabilities.

Some Republicans and business leaders have expressed concern the measure could trigger an explosion of lawsuits based on old claims, discourage employers from hiring women and undermine efforts to stem the recession.

Obama 3rd American president to retake oath

2009-01-22T14:24:00.001-05:00

Obama 3rd American president to retake oath

Joking that it was so much fun he had to do it again, Barack Obama became the third U.S. president to take the oath of office a second time because of concerns over the initial swearing-in.

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts again delivered the oath to Obama on Wednesday night in the White House Map Room, a day after the president took it in front of more than 1.5 million people on the steps of the Capitol in Washington.

Several of the president's aides, a handful of reporters and a White House photographer attended the brief ceremony. No television camera crews or news photographers were present, but the ceremony was audiotaped.

Obama didn't use a Bible for the second oath, but it is still binding.

Roberts mixed up the order of wording of the oath on Tuesday, causing Obama to pause during the ceremony as the judge repeated the phrase.

White House lawyers said the oath was re-administered on Wednesday in "an abundance of caution" to head off any future questions surrounding the legality of the swearing-in.

The U.S. Constitution is clear about the exact wording of the oath, say experts, who said the second swearing-in likely was unnecessary but couldn't hurt.

When Roberts asked Obama whether he was ready to retake the oath, the president replied: "Yes, I am and we're going to do it slowly."

Following the 25-second oath, Roberts offered his congratulations.

"Thank you sir. All right. The bad news for the [reporters] is there's 12 more balls," said Obama, referring to the 10 inaugural balls he and his wife, Michelle, attended Tuesday night.
Obama joins Coolidge, Arthur

During Tuesday's inauguration ceremony, Roberts said: "that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully."

The correct wording is "that I will faithfully execute the office of president of the United States."

Obama joins Chester Arthur and Calvin Coolidge as U.S. presidents who have had to retake the oath of office because of unusual circumstances.

Arthur, who served from 1881 to 1885, was sworn in by the chief justice of the New York Supreme Court at his home in a private ceremony following the assassination of former president James Garfield. Arthur was sworn in a second time by the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court two days later at the Capitol.

In Coolidge's case, he took the oath of office at his father's Vermont home following the death of former president Warren Harding. Coolidge's father was a justice of the peace and administered the oath. Concerns about the jurisdiction of Coolidge's father led to Coolidge taking a second oath later in Washington.

Obama becomes first black U.S. president - Yahoo! News

2009-01-20T13:03:00.000-05:00

Obama becomes first black U.S. president - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Barack Obama became the first black U.S. president on Tuesday, making history before a sea of people and declaring the United States in the midst of a crisis that can be defeated with a united sense of purpose.

"Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real," Obama said in his inaugural speech shortly after taking the oath of office. "They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America -- they will be met."

Hundreds of thousands of people erupted in roars of approval on the broad National Mall grounds as they watched Obama stand with one hand raised, one hand on a Bible used to swear in Abraham Lincoln in 1861, and repeat the brief oath to become the 44th U.S. president and succeed George W. Bush.

The inauguration of Obama, 47, the son of a black Kenyan father and a white mother from Kansas, was steeped in symbolic meaning for African-Americans, who for generations suffered slavery and then racial segregation that made them second-class citizens.

Beaming broadly, the new president had kisses for his wife, Michelle, and his school-age daughters, Malia and Sasha, then he turned to the crowds stretching away into the distance on a cold, wintry day.

"Obama, Obama," the crowd cheered.

Dispatching quickly with pleasantries, Obama turned to the task at hand and sought to temper the soaring optimism about his leadership with reality. A Democrat, he took over from Republican Bush, who served two terms and whose approval ratings plumbed record lows.

Obama cited the worst U.S. economic conditions in 70 years and U.S. involvement in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as having placed the country "in the midst of crisis."

"On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord," he said.

He pledged bold and swift action on the "badly weakened" U.S. economy, a top priority as he works with the U.S. Congress on an estimated $850 billion economic stimulus package aimed at jolting the economy back to life.

U.S. stock indexes extended losses and hit session lows after his speech, which provided few details on how to tackle the crisis.

VOWS "NEW WAY FORWARD" WITH MUSLIMS

After years of tense relations with Muslims following the September 11 attacks seven years ago that prompted Washington's declared war on terrorism and deeply shaped Bush's policies, Obama offered conciliatory words to the Islamic community while issuing a warning to those who would wage terrorism.

In a message to the Muslim world, Obama said he would seek a "new way forward" based on mutual interest and mutual respect.

He added: "We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you."

In his first act of business, the Obama White House issued a proclamation declaring a national day of renewal and reconciliation and calling on Americans to serve one another.

Highlighting the economic problems Obama will face, major U.S. stock indexes fell on Tuesday on mounting worries over grim earnings and the health of the banking sector.

Obama said the economic crisis was a consequence of "greed and irresponsibility" on the part of some and vowed that those who manage Americans' money "will be held to account."

He also promised a "watchful eye" to ensure financial markets do not spin out of control.

Economic woes -- the recession has saddled the country with a $1 trillion deficit and 11 million people unemployed -- have become the top concern of the U.S. public and helped Obama beat Republican John McCain in the November presidential election.

"I don't care what color he is," said Garrell Winstead, a 67-year-old real estate investor who traveled to the Mall from Cincinnati, Ohio to see Obama sworn in. "If the economy doesn't improve and if he doesn't create enough jobs, patience will evaporate."

The inauguration took place amid unprecedented security. About 8,000 police were deployed and a total of 32,000 military personnel were on duty or on standby.

The Homeland Security Department said authorities were investigating a potential threat of "uncertain credibility" in connection with the inauguration.

Some estimates put the number of people expected to pack the Mall and inaugural parade route at more than 2 million. Crowds clogged the city's metro rail system and thronged the security check-points.

"This is chaos now," said Judy Bailey, 42, of Cincinnati, Ohio, as police shunted her further and further away from the swearing-in ceremony early in the morning. "But it is amazing to be here. This is history in the making."

Polls show widespread U.S. public support for Obama and optimism about the coming four years of his presidency.

Bush, leaving office after eight years with record lows in approval ratings, was returning home to Texas on Tuesday.

FIRST MOVES

The Washington Post reported that in one of his first actions as president, Obama planned to name former Sen. George Mitchell as his Middle East envoy in one of his first actions as the new U.S. president.

Obama will also meet military commanders on Wednesday to discuss the possibility of accelerating the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, to fulfill a campaign pledge to withdraw all troops within 16 months.

He is also expected to discuss the need for more forces in Afghanistan at the White House with a Pentagon delegation led by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, officials said.

NTSB: Airliner's engines lost power at same time - Yahoo! News

2009-01-18T21:39:00.001-05:00

NTSB: Airliner's engines lost power at same time - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK – A jetliner that crash-landed in the Hudson River had lost power simultaneously in both engines after reaching an altitude of only 3,200 feet, the plane's black box recorders revealed Sunday.

The details that emerged confirmed the harrowing circumstances under which the pilot of the US Airways flight carrying 155 people maneuvered the plane over New York City and safely into the water after striking a flock of birds Thursday afternoon.

"The captain makes radio call to ATC (air traffic control) calling mayday and reports that they hit birds, lost both engines and were returning to LaGuardia" airport, said Kitty Higgins, a National Transportation Safety Board member, releasing cockpit transmissions captured on flight data and voice recorders.

The wreckage of the Airbus A320 was being moved by barge Sunday night to New Jersey, where investigators planned to inspect the extent of the damage more closely. Under a heavy snowfall, tugboats began pulling the barge, which had been moored to a seawall a few blocks from the World Trade Center site.

Investigators already have seen significant damage to the tail and to compartments at the bottom of the plane that opened on impact, Higgins said.

The search for the plane's missing left engine is suspended until Tuesday because ice floes in the river make it too dangerous to put divers or special sonar equipment in the water, Higgins said.

She heaped praised the flight crew, led by US Airways Capt. Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, who spoke to NTSB investigators Saturday.

"Miracles happen because a lot of everyday things happen for years and years and years," she said. "These people knew what they were supposed to do and they did it and as a result, nobody lost their life."

Sullenberger had been scheduled to give his first public interview on Monday morning to NBC "Today" show host Matt Lauer, but the appearance was canceled Sunday at the request of the U.S. Airline Pilots Association.

Stephen Bradford, president of the association, said he asked Sullenberger not to engage in any media activities because the pilots association has "interested party" status with the NTSB, which allows it to participate in the investigation.

Sullenberger released a statement deferring to the advice. "The Sullenbergers continue to thank their many well-wishers for the incredible outpouring of support," the statement said.

The mayor of his hometown, Danville, Calif., said the pilot and his family were attending President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration.

Mayor Newell Arnerich said Lorraine Sullenberger told city officials that the family would leave for the East Coast on Sunday. She and the couple's daughters haven't seen Sullenberger since he's been hailed as a hero for saving the lives of all 155 on board.

The area where the barge was moored was closed to the public Sunday, but it attracted hundreds of residents and tourists, who snapped pictures of the plane wreckage.

Kelsey Higginbotham, a 20-year-old student at East Tennessee State University, peered at the crippled aircraft Sunday from behind police barricades.

She and a friend had been to Times Square, Central Park and the site of the World Trade Center, where nearly 3,000 people were killed in the Sept. 11 attacks. She said she was struck by the contrast between one disaster in which so many people died and another in which everyone survived.

"It's a miracle," she said. "I guess New Yorkers can't take any more tragedy."

Copter Crashes On Texas A&M Campus; 1 Dead - News Story - KIRO Seattle

2009-01-12T20:24:00.002-05:00

Copter Crashes On Texas A&M Campus; 1 Dead - News Story - KIRO Seattle

COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- An Army Blackhawk helicopter crashed into a field on the campus of Texas A&M University, killing one person and injuring four others on board, Houston television station KPRC reported.

The helicopter crashed near the Corps of Cadets field on the school's College Station campus at about 3 p.m. Monday.

Texas A&M officials said that it was an Army UH-60 Blackhawk ROTC training helicopter.

Texas A&M spokesman Lane Stephenson said an Army lieutenant assigned to A&M's ROTC unit was with the four National Guard troops aboard the Blackhawk when it went down. No students were among the injured.

A spokeswoman for College Station Medical Center said three men were taken to that hospital -- all in critical condition.

Another crash victim was at St. Joseph Regional Health Center in nearby Bryan.

Officials have not released the identities of the dead and injured.

Witnesses told the Bryan-College Station Eagle that they saw five Blackhawk helicopters taking off and landing throughout the day.

Scott Walker told the newspaper that he saw two helicopters lift off about 3 p.m. The first one took off without trouble, but Walker said the second seemed to lose control and start spinning. He told The Eagle that "the helicopter suddenly dropped straight down into the ground."

According to Texas A&M, the helicopter's rudder apparently failed on take-off, causing the chopper to fall abruptly back to the ground.

Debris fell on several streets in the area, temporarily closing them.

The chopper, along with 190 cadets in the university's Corps of Cadets, were participating in the ROTC Winter Field Training Exercises taking place at the campus, the university said.

Bart Humphreys, a spokesman for the College Station Fire Department said the investigation into the crash was just beginning.

Students are currently on winter break, with classes set to resume on Jan. 20.

College Station is about 100 miles northwest of Houston.

Franken to be declared Senate victor in Minnesota - Yahoo! News

2009-01-05T07:59:00.000-05:00

Franken to be declared Senate victor in Minnesota - Yahoo! News

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) – Democrat Al Franken will be declared the winner of the tight U.S. Senate contest in Minnesota, emerging from a ballot recount with a slim margin over Republican Norm Coleman, state officials said on Sunday.

But Coleman, the incumbent, has asked Minnesota's supreme court to require that a few hundred additional absentee ballots be included in the recount -- and he could then ask the court to investigate the contest all over again.

"At the moment, Franken has a 225-vote lead," after the weekend counting of what were deemed the last uncounted absentee ballots, said Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie, a Democrat who oversaw the process.

Ritchie said unless the supreme court acts on Coleman's request and orders more ballots to be counted, he will reconvene the state's Canvassing Board on Monday to certify Franken as the winner of the November 4 contest.

Even so, Coleman's campaign said it will likely challenge the result, which would require the state supreme court's chief justice to appoint three judges to investigate its claims.

Hundreds of absentee voters were "disenfranchised," other votes were double-counted, and still other ballots that went missing were counted anyway, Coleman's campaign manager Cullen Sheehan said in a statement.

"We remain convinced that this process is broken, and as a result, the numbers being reported will not be accurate or valid ... (It) clearly means that a contest is the only likely remedy to ensure a fair outcome," Sheehan said.

SATIRIST

Franken, 57, is a well-known satirist who wrote for and starred on NBC television's long-running comedy show "Saturday Night Live," and more recently hosted a liberal radio show before running for the Senate from his home state.

Coleman, 59, just completed his first term that he won by defeating Walter Mondale, the former Democratic presidential candidate who stood in for Sen. Paul Wellstone. Wellstone died in a plane crash during his 2002 reelection campaign.

The recount of some 2.4 million votes cast for the pair has swung back and forth over several weeks. Coleman initially held the edge, but his narrow victory margin necessitated the recount under state law.

The Canvassing Board sifted through hundreds of ballots contested by the two campaigns.

"The recount has been done so precisely, and so transparently," it would be difficult to envision a challenge succeeding, Ritchie said.

Senate Republicans have pledged not to seat Franken provisionally while the race is still in doubt. Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer of New York urged that Franken be seated, which would expand the party's majority to 58 of the 100 members.

But Republican Sen. John Cronyn of Texas issued a sharply worded statement saying "Sen. Schumer's exultations are premature to say the least."

"There is the pending Supreme Court case and likely election contest that will ultimately decide, consistent with Minnesota law, who won the election," Cronyn said.

President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat in Illinois is still in limbo. The Senate's Democratic leadership is promising not to seat Gov. Rod Blagojevich's appointee, Roland Burris, due to the taint of corruption charges hanging over the governor. Among those are charges are that he tried to sell the seat for campaign cash or jobs.

Reid cites "legal authority" to bar Illinois pick - Yahoo! News

2009-01-04T17:36:00.000-05:00

Reid cites "legal authority" to bar Illinois pick - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on Sunday that "legal authority" exists under the Constitution to bar embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's pick to fill President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat, but added there is also room to negotiate.

Under the Constitution, Reid said, "We determine who sits in the Senate. And the House (of Representatives) determines who sits in the House. So there's clearly legal authority for us to do whatever we want to do. This goes back for generations."

Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," Reid said he plans to meet on Wednesday with Blagojevich's choice for the Senate, Roland Burris, 71, the former Illinois attorney general, a fellow Democrat.

Asked if there was room for a possible settlement, Reid said, "I'm an old trial lawyer. There is always room to negotiate."

New members will be sworn in on Tuesday with the opening of the new Congress.

Reid called Burris a "tainted appointment" because of the governor's alleged misconduct, although he said he did not know of anything wrong with Burris himself.

Blagojevich, who was arrested on December 9 and accused of trying to sell Obama's vacant seat, is facing impeachment in the Illinois legislature in the state capital of Springfield. Blagojevich has denied the corruption charges and has refused demands by Obama and others to resign as governor.

Reid said he planned to meet on Monday to discuss the matter with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. "I hope we can solve this issue on a bipartisan basis," Reid said.

Asked if Burris will become a U.S. senator, Reid said, "It will be very difficult for that to occur." But he added, "Anything can happen."

Australia rejects Guantanamo resettlement requests - Yahoo! News

2009-01-03T21:48:00.000-05:00

Australia rejects Guantanamo resettlement requests - Yahoo! News

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia has rejected all U.S. requests so far to resettle detainees from Guantanamo Bay, the most recent being on Friday night, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Saturday.

A request to resettle a group of prisoners from the military prison camp in Cuba was made last month by the outgoing administration of President George W. Bush, Gillard told reporters in Melbourne.

It was the second such request and was rejected on Friday night Australian time, Gillard said.

"Those resettlement requests have been considered on a case-by-case basis, against our stringent national security and immigration criteria," said Gillard, who temporarily heads the government while Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is on leave.

"Assessing those requests from a case-by-case basis, they had not met our stringent national security and immigration criteria and have been rejected."

About 255 men are still held at Guantanamo, including 60 the United States has cleared for release but cannot repatriate for fear they will be tortured or persecuted in their home countries.

The prison has come to symbolize aggressive interrogation practices that opened the United States up to allegations of torture.

The U.S. State Department last week asked around 100 countries for help clearing the camp of detainees over a two-year period, the Australian newspaper reported.

Australia's opposition on Friday strongly criticized the government for considering any requests to accept Guantanamo Bay detainees.

The suggestion that Australia might take any of the Guantanamo Bay detainees has been greeted with horror by many Australians.

Under conservative former Prime Minister John Howard, Canberra was one of the strongest supporters of Bush's war on terrorism.

Two thousand and strange: offbeat stories of the year - Yahoo! News

2008-12-30T05:52:00.000-05:00

Two thousand and strange: offbeat stories of the year - Yahoo! News

PARIS (AFP) – A selection of weird and wonderful stories from 2008:

- A British woman is to divorce her husband after discovering he was having a virtual affair within the online game "Second Life".

- A passionate kiss ruptured a young woman's eardrum in southern China in what has been dubbed the "kiss of deaf".

- Republican vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin was the victim of a prank phone call by a French-Canadian comedian impersonating French President Nicolas Sarkozy days before the presidential election. After Palin realized the call was a hoax, her campaign staff admitted she was "mildly amused".

- Twin girls who were separated at birth due to a medical error met by chance 28 years later, and one of them is now suing the Spanish hospital involved.

- Russians have long used drink to take the edge off workplace stress: one man's senses were so dulled he failed to notice a knife stuck in his back by a colleague.

- An 81-year old man in the small Chilean village of Angol shocked his grieving relatives by waking up in his coffin at his own wake.

- New Zealand's oldest immigrant, 102-year-old Briton Eric King-Turner, sailed into Wellington amid a media frenzy sparked by his decision to retire to the other side of the world.

- Officials in part of the Chinese city of Shanghai launched a campaign to dissuade residents from walking around outside in their pyjamas. The habit emerged when China's economy began to take off, and people were keen to show that they were rich enough to own such luxuries as sleeping attire.

- A US funeral business that specialises in launching cremated human remains into Earth's orbit said it had begun taking reservations for also depositing them on the Moon.

- An idealistic young British man with good media skills informed the world that he intended to walk all the way to India without once using money in any shape or form. He gave up at the first hurdle, complaining that officials in the French Channel port of Calais didn't understand English.

- Welsh-speakers in the town of Swansea were bemused by a road sign which read "I am not in the office at the moment." The text, which should have read "No entry to heavy goods vehicles", had been e-mailed to a translator who was... not in the office at the moment.

- A British woman who celebrated her 105th birthday said the secret to long life was celibacy. Sex was a "lot of hassle," she opined.

- A Cambodian couple seeking a divorce were stumped by their country's convoluted legal processes. They sawed their house in half.

- "Cooking with Balls" was the subtitle of what a Serbian chef promoted as the world's first book on testicle recipes. "All testicles can be eaten -- except human, of course," said the (male) author.

- A Swiss adventurer lived out the fantasies of many a young boy, and probably quite a few girls, by soaring into the sky on a jet-powered wing. "I felt like a bird," he said, after zooming from Britain to France.

- Bulgaria's campaign against cannabis went literally to the doorstep of power, after marijuana plants were found growing amongst the flowers outside government headquarters in Sofia.

- An 78-year-old woman who misread instructions at Sweden's main airport was whisked down a baggage chute when she placed herself, rather than her luggage, on the conveyor belt.

- Emergency surgery saved an Australian python that had swallowed four golf balls, after mistaking them for eggs.

Fur, feathers and scales: offbeat animal stories of 2008 - Yahoo! News

2008-12-30T05:51:00.000-05:00

Fur, feathers and scales: offbeat animal stories of 2008 - Yahoo! News

PARIS (AFP) – A selection of unusual animal goings on in 2008:

- A polar bear called Debby, said to be the world's oldest, died at age 42 after thrilling millions of visitors to a Canadian zoo. She had been orphaned as a cub in the Russian north, and raised in captivity.

- A lost baby whale mistook an Australian yacht for its mother, and tried to suckle on it. It had to be put out of its misery to end its suffering.

- Two giant pandas - Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan - made their long-anticipated, groundbreaking trip from China to Taiwan, in the latest sign of fast thawing ties between the two former bitter rivals.

- An elephant kicked its heroin habit after a three-year stint at an island rehab centre in southern China. The four-year-old Asian elephant, called Xiguang, had become hooked on the narcotic after animal smugglers captured his group by luring them with bananas laced with heroin.

- Rebels and the government in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who have blighted the Nord-Kivu province with months of fighting, cut a deal to allow armed park rangers back into the famed Virunga reserve to care for its long-neglected gorillas.

- An Egyptian donkey was locked up for stealing corn on the cob from a field belonging to an agricultural research institute in the Nile Delta.

- A small kangaroo boxed its way out of its enclosure in a German town and fled, with emergency workers in hot pursuit. Firefighters were finally able to net the 70-centimetre (28-inch) tall wallaby unharmed.

- Snuppy, the first cloned dog, became a father after the world's first successful breeding involving only cloned canines.

- Thousands of pets were evacuated from New Orleans ahead of Hurricane Gustav in a bid to avoid the mass heartache of Hurricane Katrina, when thousands of animals -- along with hundreds of humans -- died.

- Sweden's own version of the Loch Ness monster, the Storsjoe or Great Lake monster, was caught on film by surveillance videos, an association that installed the cameras said.

- Bosnian police impounded a pigeon after finding that prisoners used it to smuggle drugs into one of the country's highest security jails.

- A rare 111-year-old New Zealand reptile, Henry the tuatara, a lizard-like creature with links to the age of the dinosaurs, is to become a father for the first time in at least 38 years after regaining an interest in sex.

- A young British woman expressed surprise after finding a live baby bat in her bra. Abbie Hawkins, 19, harboured the creature in her bosom for over four hours and had felt a slight twitching but thought it was her mobile phone vibrating.

- A Swiss court ordered that a chicken be locked up in a soundproof box every night so its neighbours can get a good night's sleep.

- A dog was admitted to a veterinary clinic in Austria barely able to stand on his own four paws and reeking of booze. The hungry pooch had stolen and devoured half a kilogram (a pound) of fresh yeast dough -- which had fermented inside his stomach.

- Emergency surgery saved an Australian python that swallowed four golf balls after mistaking them for chicken eggs.

- A lucky Australian cat used up one of its lives when it survived a 34-storey plunge from an apartment building window. Voodoo's fall was apparently broken by some well-placed bushes.

Israeli warplanes slam Hamas government compound - Yahoo! News

2008-12-30T05:48:00.000-05:00

Israeli warplanes slam Hamas government compound - Yahoo! News

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Israeli aircraft kept up a relentless string of attacks on Hamas-ruled Gaza on Tuesday, smashing a government complex, security installations and the home of a top militant commander as thousands of Israeli ground troops, backed by tanks and artillery, massed along the border and waited for a signal to attack.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told President Shimon Peres on Tuesday that the aerial phase of the operation is "the first of several" phases of attack that have been approved, an Olmert spokesman said.

Warplanes launched their bruising aerial offensive on Saturday after the Islamic Hamas defied Israel's warnings that it would not stand for the rocket barrages on southern Israel that resumed nearly two months ago, toward the end of a recently expired truce.

More than 360 Palestinians have been killed, most of them members of Hamas security forces but at least 64 of them civilians, according to the United Nations. The toll includes two sisters, aged 4 and 11, who perished in an airstrike on a rocket squad in northern Gaza on Tuesday.

Militants, battered but unbowed, have pressed on with their rocket and mortar assaults, killing three Israeli civilians and a soldier and bringing a widening circle of targets into their sights with an arsenal of longer-range missiles.

"Zionists, wait for more from the resistance," Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan said in a text message to reporters, referring to militants' armed struggle against Israel.

The military estimated that nearly 10 percent of Israel's population of 7 million people is now within rocket range, shifting the battles closer to Israel's heartland. Of the four Israelis killed since the operation began Saturday, all but one were in areas that had not suffered fatalities before.

Fires blazed across the Gaza Strip's main city, Gaza City, where five government buildings were badly damaged in air attacks Tuesday. Rescue workers said 40 people were injured when warplanes dropped more than a dozen bombs on the government compound. It wasn't clear whether anyone was buried under the debris.

The campaign began Saturday when the air force hammered security facilities, then broadened to weapons-making and storage facilities, the homes of militant field operatives and government buildings that are the symbols of Hamas' power.

The initial wave of airstrikes took Gaza by surprise, targeting militants and Hamas security forces at key installations, often located in the midst of tiny Gaza's densely populated towns and cities.

But the government buildings targeted later were empty, as Gazans became fearful of venturing out into the streets. For Ziad Koraz, whose nearby home was damaged in the attack on the government compound Tuesday, that violence gratuitously put Gaza civilians at risk.

"More than 17 missiles were directed at an empty government compound, without regard for civilians who lived nearby," Koraz said. "We are people who live in peace and want to live in peace. If someone committed a crime, they should go after him, not after an entire nation."

The offensive began eight days after a six-month truce between Israel and the militants expired amid a barrage of Palestinian rocket fire. The offensive comes on top of an Israeli blockade of Gaza that has largely kept all but essential goods from entering the coastal territory since Hamas violently seized control June 2007.

Israel agreed to allow 100 trucks of humanitarian aid into Gaza on Tuesday, as well as five ambulances from Turkey, defense officials said. A Jordanian diplomat said 21 Jordanian army doctors and four field hospitals would be allowed to enter on Wednesday, though Israeli officials could not immediately confirm that.

Israel's navy on Tuesday turned back a boat of pro-Palestinian protesters who had hoped to enter Gaza to demonstrate against the Israeli blockade.

So far, warplanes and unmanned drones have dominated Israel's military operation. But the military has moved up thousands of infantry soldiers, dozens of tanks and artillery pieces. With the air force knocking off target after target, the big question looming over the operation is whether it will expand to include ground forces. The border area was declared a closed military zone on Monday, drawing a thick fog over operations in the area.

Olmert spokesman Mark Regev wouldn't comment on the prospects for a ground operation but said Israel would "continue keeping the pressure up on the Hamas military machine."

"This operation will continue until a new security reality can be created in the south, and those hundreds of thousands of Israelis who live in fear of Hamas rockets no longer have to live in that fear," Regev said.

Short of reoccupying Gaza, however, it was unlikely any amount of Israeli firepower could permanently stop rocket attacks. Past operations all failed to do so.

The militants have fired even while under the barrage of Israeli bombs and missiles, demonstrating with deadly effect the widening threat that is making larger cities farther inside Israel vulnerable. On Monday, a missile crashed into a bus stop in Ashdod, 23 miles (37 kilometers) from Gaza and only 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Israel's heartland in Tel Aviv.

The city of 200,000 is the largest in southern Israe

Nine dead in California Santa shooting - Yahoo! News

2008-12-26T17:37:00.000-05:00

Nine dead in California Santa shooting - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The death toll rose to nine on Friday from a Southern California Christmas Eve rampage by a man dressed as Santa Claus who sprayed gunfire at a party at his former in-laws before setting the house on fire, police said.

Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, opened fire on some two dozen guests before igniting the home in Covina, 23 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.

Pardo shot an 8-year-old girl in the face when she opened the door to him and then shot at guests indiscriminately as they tried to flee.

He later committed suicide and his body was found at his brother's house.

"He died of self-inflicted wounds. We believe it was a marital dispute," Lt. Pat Buchanan of the Covina Police Department told reporters.

Pardo's 43-year-old ex-wife, Sylvia, and her parents were believed to be among the victims.

The Los Angeles County Coroner's office said the badly burned bodies from the house would have to be identified through dental records.

Police said they do not know how many of the victims died of gunshot wounds or from the fire.

HOMEMADE INCENDIARY DEVICE

Authorities had cordoned off the charred house on Friday and had set up a large tent and trailers to process evidence as they searched the rubble. Tow trucks removed burned out vehicles belonging to party-goers who were injured or killed in the attack.

The suspect, carrying two handguns and a homemade incendiary device, began shooting as soon as he entered the house, Buchanan said.

The house, owned by the parents of Pardo's ex-wife, was engulfed in flames when police arrived.

Two people were wounded by gunfire, the 8-year-old girl who opened the door and a 16-year-old girl who was shot in the back as guests fled the house. Some jumped from second-floor windows, police said. The girls' injuries are not considered life-threatening.

Witnesses told police that Pardo stripped off his Santa costume after the shooting and fled in street clothes.

Pardo had no criminal record and was a regular usher at his Catholic church. He and his wife recently settled a contentious divorce after a year of marriage, police said.

Police discovered $10,000 and an airplane ticket on Pardo's body along with his booby-trapped rental car about a block from his brother's home. A pipe bomb and about 300 rounds of handgun ammunition exploded and destroyed the vehicle as police tried to defuse the device.

Bomb-making equipment was also found at Pardo's home in the quiet suburb of Montrose, 13 miles north of downtown Los Angeles.

Maker of shoes thrown at Bush swamped by orders - Yahoo! News

2008-12-24T10:15:00.001-05:00

Maker of shoes thrown at Bush swamped by orders - Yahoo! News

ISTANBUL (AFP) – The maker of the shoes that an Iraqi journalist hurled at US President George W. Bush has had to take on 100 extra staff to cope with a surge in demand for his footwear, he said on Monday.

"Between the day of the incident and 1:00 pm today we have received orders totalling 370,000 pairs", Istanbul-based Serkan Turk, head of sales at Baydan Shoes, told AFP.

Normally the firm sold only 15,000 pairs a year of the model that Muntazer al-Zaidi threw at the US president at a press conference in Baghdad on December 14 to become an instant hero across the Arab world, he said.

Turk said orders had initially flooded in from Iraq, followed by other Middle East countries and finally from the rest of the world, including for 19,000 pairs from the United States.

Formerly prosaically dubbed Model 271, the black polyurethane-soled shoes have been renamed Bush Shoes, he said.

Turk insisted the company was not profiting from the soaring demand to up the factory price from the 27 dollars (19.30 euros) it had been charging, while adding that it was "delighted from all points of view" at its unexpected success.

Throwing shoes is considered a grave insult in the Arab world, but Turk indicated that they would probably not have done Bush much harm had they hit him.

"They look heavier than they are," he said. "They only weigh 300 grammes (10 ounces)."

Zaidi, 29, has been charged with "aggression against a foreign head of state during an official visit," an offence that carries a prison term of between five and 15 years under Iraqi law.

He is to go on trial on December 31, an investigating judge said Monday, rejecting allegations by the journalist's family that he had been tortured in custody.

Bush on farewell visit to Iraq dodges flying shoes - Yahoo! News

2008-12-14T19:48:00.001-05:00

Bush on farewell visit to Iraq dodges flying shoes - Yahoo! News

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – An Iraqi reporter called President George W. Bush a "dog" and threw his shoes at him on Sunday, sullying a farewell visit to Baghdad meant to mark greater security in Iraq after years of bloodshed.

Just weeks before he bequeaths the unpopular Iraq war to President-elect Barack Obama, Bush sought to underline improved security by landing in daylight and venturing out beyond the city's heavily fortified international Green Zone.

He declared the war "not over" despite recent gains.

In a sign of lingering anger over the war that will define the Republican president's foreign policy legacy, an Iraqi journalist shouted in Arabic "this is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog," and hurled his shoes at Bush during a news conference with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Throwing shoes at somebody is a supreme insult in the Middle East. One of the shoes sailed over the president's head and slammed into the wall behind him and he had to duck to miss the other one. Maliki tried to block the second shoe with his arm.

"It's like going to a political rally and have people yell at you. It's a way for people to draw attention," Bush said. "I don't know what the guy's cause was. I didn't feel the least bit threatened by it."

The journalist was leapt on by Iraqi security officials and U.S. secret service agents and dragged from the room screaming and struggling.

Bush's fleeting visit to Baghdad was aimed at marking the recent passage of a U.S.-Iraq security pact that paves the way for U.S. troops to pull out of Iraqi cities by July next year and withdraw completely by the end of 2011.

It was also meant to hail a recent sharp fall in the sectarian violence and insurgency that raged after the 2003 U.S. invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, and to show support for Iraqi police and soldiers as they take on increasing responsibility.

Asked whether he had come to Iraq on a victory lap, Bush said: "No, I consider it an important step on the road toward an Iraq that can sustain itself, govern itself and defend itself."

"There's still more work to be done. The war is not over."

PRAISE FOR BUSH

Bush thanked U.S. forces for their service in Iraq at a rally of about 1,500 cheering troops inside Saddam's old al-Faw palace at the sprawling U.S. military base of Camp Victory.

"The surge is one of the greatest successes in the history of the U.S. military," Bush said, referring to the decision to send an additional 30,000 troops to Iraq last year.

Bush held talks with President Jalal Talabani and Maliki during the visit. Talabani called Bush a great friend of the Iraqi people "who helped us to liberate our country."

Maliki, who had a strained look on his face after the shoe-throwing, praised Bush: "You have stood by Iraq and the Iraqi people for a very long time, starting with getting rid of the dictatorship."

The U.S.-Iraq security pact, which replaces a U.N. mandate governing the presence of foreign troops, has its critics in Iraq, some of whom doubt the United States will live up to its promise to withdraw.

"We reject this visit, as it occurs at a time when Iraq is still under the U.S. occupation and the U.S. army has the upper hand in controlling the security situation," said Ahmed al-Massoudi, a spokesman for the parliamentary bloc loyal to anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

"This visit is a show of force."

Though Iraq has slipped down the list of Americans' concerns as the recession-hit U.S. economy has taken center stage, polls show most people think the war was a mistake.

It will now be left to Obama, a Democrat and early opponent of U.S. military involvement in Iraq, to sort out an exit strategy after he takes office on January 20.

About 140,000 U.S. troops will still be in Iraq nearly six years into a war that has killed more than 4,200 American military personnel and tens of thousands of Iraqis.

DAYLIGHT LANDING

Bush was greeted on the heavily guarded tarmac in Baghdad by the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker.

The decision to land in broad daylight reflected confidence that Baghdad was more secure this time than in Bush's last visit to the capital in 2006 when sectarian violence was raging.

Until Air Force One touched down, Bush's trip was conducted in strictest secrecy. The presidential jet was rolled out of its giant hangar only after everyone was on board. Journalists' electronic devices, from cellphones to iPods, were confiscated.

Bush, dressed casually and wearing a black baseball cap after his night-time getaway from the White House, made a rare appearance in the press cabin just before takeoff.

"Nobody knew who I was," he joked when an aide complimented him on his disguise.

Sporadic violence erupts in Athens week after killing | International | Reuters

2008-12-13T21:19:00.000-05:00

Sporadic violence erupts in Athens week after killing | International | Reuters

ATHENS (Reuters) - Small bands of Greek rioters hurling firebombs attacked an environment ministry building, shops and banks in Athens on Saturday during an eighth day of protests following the killing of a teenager by police.

The latest, sporadic violence by a few hundred people followed a candlelit evening vigil marking a week since 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos was shot dead, sparking Greece's worst rioting in decades.

Police sources said groups of dozens of protesters armed with firebombs battled police in parts of the capital, including the leftist Exarchia neighborhood where the teenager was killed by a police bullet on December 6.

"They threw stones at police in Exarchia, launched fire bombs against an environment ministry building and smashed four shops and two banks in central Athens," a police official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

Throughout most of the day, Athens had appeared calmer than in the past week. Even the night-time violence was confined to pockets of the city of around four million and was on a far smaller scale than the rampage that destroyed hundreds of shops earlier in the week.

Families and students clad in white and holding flowers staged peaceful rallies from around noon (1000 GMT) to pay tribute to the slain teenager.

Several people said they were tired of violent protests, blamed on an anarchist fringe tapping into resentment over political scandals and the impact of the global slowdown.

But as night fell, hooded youngsters wearing gas masks could be seen roaming around Exarchia, setting garbage bins on fire, throwing rocks and smashing shop windows.

Riot police manning street corners responded by firing tear gas. Some restaurants closed down early for fear of attacks, although outside the neighborhood the city was quiet.

"LAST STRAW"

Banners in the main square outside parliament, where hundreds of people converged during the day, read "The state kills" and "Down with the government of murderers" but the atmosphere was calm.

"The murder of Alexis was the last straw. Being a young man in Greece today is a crime ... They are stealing our dreams," said one leaflet distributed in the square on Saturday.

The week-long unrest, which spread to 10 cities in Greece and sparked sympathy protests in other European countries, has caused an estimated 200 million euros ($265.3 million) of damage in Athens alone. More than 400 people have been detained.

The people who gathered outside parliament voiced anger at the police, whom they accuse of heavy-handedness.

"We're here to show our grief and sorrow because no one understands us. They are killing children for no reason," said Irini, 16, a pupil at the school Grigoropoulos attended.

The policeman charged with killing the teenager has been jailed pending trial, along with a colleague. He says he fired warning shots after being attacked by youths in a leftist Athens neighborhood and that one bullet ricocheted.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has vowed to guarantee safety, rebuffing calls to resign and hold early elections.

"Right now, the country is dealing with a serious, big international financial crisis ... It needs responsible policies and a steady hand on the wheel," Karamanlis said on Friday.

Fires rage, thousands riot for third day in Greece - Yahoo! News

2008-12-08T17:50:00.001-05:00

Fires rage, thousands riot for third day in Greece - Yahoo! News

ATHENS (Reuters) – Thousands of protesters rampaged through the heart of Athens on Monday, burning and looting shops on a third day of riots sparked by the killing of a teenager by police.

Tear gas filled Syntagma square outside Greece's parliament as police clashed with left-wing demonstrators, beating some with batons and detaining others.

Anger over the 15-year-old boy's killing has fed into resentment over economic hardships and could topple an unpopular conservative government.

"We are experiencing moments of a great social revolution," said leftist activist Panagiotis Sotiris, 38, among those occupying a university building. "The protests will last as long as necessary."

Protests were reported in more than 10 cities across the nation of 11 million people, including the northern city of Thessaloniki and the tourist islands of Crete and Corfu.

Youths appeared to be in control of central Athens, plundering and setting fire to shops, destroying banks and attacking ministries. The city's huge Christmas tree went up in flames.

"We are not counting any more... The incidents cannot be counted," said a fire brigade officer.

Firemen extinguished a fire at one department store but the headquarters of Olympic Airways were still burning and all the city's fire engines were on the streets, he said.

More than 130 shops have already been destroyed in the capital, crushing retailers' hope that Christmas would compensate for Greece's darkening economic outlook. Police have detained more than 35 people and more than 50 are injured.

GOVERNMENT UNDER PRESSURE

With a 24-hour general strike due on Wednesday against economic reforms, analysts said Greece's worst riots in decades looked set to continue and could threaten the conservative government, which has a one-seat parliamentary majority.

"Enough with this government, which doesn't understand the problems of this country," said George Papandreou, leader of socialist PASOK opposition party.

The socialists already held a strong lead in opinion polls before the riots, riding a wave of discontent at the ruling New Democracy party's privatizations and pension reforms. Political analysts say an early election could be called next year.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis expressed sorrow for the family of the dead boy but warned demonstrators to stop. The government would try to compensate property owners, he said.

"We will not tolerate unacceptable and dangerous events prompted by the tragic incident," he said on Monday, in his first public appearance since the riots began.

OVERSEAS PROTESTS

As night fell on the Greek capital, thousands marched arm-in-arm through the city's main streets. Anarchists smashed car windows and chanted "Cops, Pigs, Murderers." Some threw fire bombs at police and, for a third night, businesses burned and explosions rang out.

The shooting of 15-year-old Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a policeman on Saturday has kindled smoldering anger among Greek youths, resentful at a widening gap between rich and poor made worse by the global credit crisis.

Violence at student rallies and fire bomb attacks by anarchists are common, especially in Athens' Exarchia district where the boy was shot. But anger at the boy's killing has even reached Greeks overseas, who protested in London and Berlin.

In Athens, more than a dozen police stations were damaged by demonstrators, who also raided a small pro-government newspaper and broke into a weapons shop, emerging with ninja swords and knives. Millions of euros of property were damaged.

Thessaloniki also saw street battles between police and hundreds of protesters, who smashed shops and threw rocks at government offices. Clashes took place in Crete and Corfu as well as the cities of Volos, Komotini and Chania.

Two police officers have been charged over the shooting -- one with murder and the other as an accomplice. A police statement said one officer fired three shots after their car was attacked by 30 youths in Exarchia.

A police official said the officer had described firing warning shots, but witnesses told TV he took aim at the boy. A coroner's report on Monday said it was not possible to be sure.

Japan in recession - Yahoo! News

2008-11-17T19:50:00.000-05:00

Japan in recession - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Japan became the latest major economy to fall into recession and Citigroup said on Monday it would cut 52,000 jobs, one of history's largest layoffs, stoking fears the global economic slump is worsening.

After a weekend meeting of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies failed to come up with specific new measures to ease the world's financial strains, the IMF said it needed at least $100 billion in extra funding to fight the crisis.

Citigroup, the U.S. bank with the farthest global reach, announced the biggest round of job cuts since the financial crisis erupted last year, slashing 15 percent of its workforce in a bid to return to profitability.

The cuts come on top of 23,000 reductions Citigroup had already announced and lag only the 60,000 layoffs by IBM in July 1993 as the largest ever, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

After stock markets closed, the U.S. Treasury said it had completed equity purchases in 21 more banks totaling $33.56 billion, including $6.6 billion in U.S. Bancorp. Life insurers also joined the long list of companies seeking funds under Washington's $700 billion financial bailout program.

Seeking to contain the economic fallout for the U.S. auto industry, Democratic lawmakers proposed a politically potent plan to bail out big American car firms. But its passage is uncertain even with millions of jobs at stake.

Automakers have taken the brunt of the impact from a dramatic decline in U.S. consumer spending, triggered by the housing crash and worsened by rising unemployment. Germany said it was ready to guarantee funds for General Motors' Opel unit. Even Japan's Toyota came under ratings scrutiny as signs of recession spread across the globe.

CREEPING GLOBAL RECESSION

The United States fell into a recession in April and the downturn is expected to last 14 months, with unemployment reaching 7.7 percent this year, according to a survey of private forecasters by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

That would be the longest contraction since the 16-month recession that ended in 1982, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. The organization has not declared a recession this year, in part because output expanded in the second quarter, fueled by economic stimulus plan payments.

A top Senate aide said another stimulus plan was not likely to be approved during Congress' post-election session this week, the last time lawmakers are to meet in 2008.

In Britain, the main employers group forecast that joblessness could rise to almost 9 percent by 2010, and France's central bank said the French economy should contract 0.5 percent in the fourth quarter.

The euro zone is already in recession, usually defined as an economy shrinking for two consecutive quarters.

Japan surprised markets with data showing the world's second-biggest economy was in its first recession in seven years as the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression curbed demand for exports. The 0.1 percent contraction in July-September was worse than forecast.

China's central bank said the risk of a downturn in its economy was rising, and it also warned that the global slowdown could hurt its exports.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told the BBC his organization would likely need at least $100 billion in extra funding over the next six months to help countries survive the downturn.

CAR TROUBLE AND MARKET WOES

U.S. Senate Democrats proposed a plan to provide $25 billion of the $700 billion financial fund as loans for the nation's "Big Three" automakers, General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler LLC.

But they face a difficult fight in obtaining enough votes to pass the scheme, especially as lawmakers will be in session for just a few days this week.

The outgoing Bush administration and some congressional Republicans want Congress to adopt an existing $25 billion loan program that specifically targeted the industry, rather than tap the financial bailout funds for carmakers.

The German government said it was ready to guarantee funds for ailing carmaker Opel, the first European carmaker to turn to a government for help. But any money it provides to the GM unit must stay in Germany.

Fitch Ratings put Japanese car giant Toyota Motor Co on a negative ratings watch because of the global downturn, stronger yen and challenges in the auto industry. Toyota is one of the rare companies to have a top-notch "AAA" rating.

Markets were unimpressed with the weekend meeting of the G20 in Washington, which agreed on some steps to tackle the world economic crisis but left it to individual governments to tailor their responses to their own circumstances.

Major U.S. stock indexes all closed down more than 2 percent on Monday, after stocks in Europe and Asia also ended lower.

Commodities also slumped on weak economic news. Oil lost more than 3 percent as concerns about demand offset evidence of OPEC output cuts and the hijacking of a Saudi Arabian supertanker. Economic concerns supported safe-haven demand for government bonds on both sides of the Atlantic.

"The economic outlook is worrying and no solution has been found short term," said Simon Wardell, analyst at economic consultants Global Insight.

Gulf War illness is real, report finds - Yahoo! News

2008-11-17T19:49:00.001-05:00

Gulf War illness is real, report finds - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A report released on Monday concluded that Gulf War syndrome is a legitimate illness suffered by more than 175,000 U.S. war veterans who were exposed to chemical toxins in the 1991 Gulf War.

The congressionally mandated report could help veterans who have battled the government for treatment of a wide range of unexplained neurological illnesses, from brain cancer to multiple sclerosis.

The Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses concluded that Gulf War illness is a physical condition distinct from the mental "shell shock" suffered by veterans in other wars. Some earlier studies had concluded it was not a distinct illness.

"Scientific evidence leaves no question that Gulf War illness is a real condition with real causes and serious consequences for affected veterans," said the committee, which has been looking into the problem since 2002.

The committee, composed of independent scientists and veterans, said Congress should boost funding for research on Gulf War veterans' health to at least $60 million per year.

"This is a national obligation, made especially urgent by the many years that Gulf War veterans have waited for answers and assistance," the committee said.

Gulf War illness affects at least one-fourth of the 700,000 U.S. troops who served in the 1991 effort to drive Iraq out of Kuwait, or between 175,000 and 210,000 veterans in all, the report found. Few have seen their symptoms improve over the past 17 years, the report said.

Symptoms include persistent headaches, widespread pain, cognitive difficulties, unexplained fatigue, skin rashes, chronic diarrhea and digestive and respiratory problems.

'DARK CHAPTER'

Many Gulf War veterans suffering these symptoms say they were met with skepticism when seeking treatment.

"Today's report brings to a close one of the darkest chapters of the 1991 Gulf War, and that is the legacy of Gulf War illness. For those who ever doubted that Gulf War veterans are ill, this report is definitive and exhaustive," said Anthony Hardie, a Gulf War veteran from Madison, Wisconsin.

Hardie was a 23-year-old sergeant at the time of the conflict. Today he works in Wisconsin's Veterans Affairs Department and suffers a host of ailments, including respiratory problems, fatigue and chronic widespread pain.

"The truth will prevail," said Adrian Atizado, assistant legislative director of the Disabled American Veterans, an advocacy group that represents 1.4 million veterans from the various conflicts in which the United States has fought.

"One can argue with merit that the federal government did hold back progress in allowing Gulf War veterans to seek health care and financial benefits," he said. "We hope now there will be a greater emphasis on finding effective treatments."

The panel found two possible causes: a drug given to troops to protect against nerve gas, known as pyridostigmine bromide, and pesticides that were used heavily during the war.

The panel said other possible causes could not be ruled out, including extensive exposure to smoke from oil-well fires and low-level exposure to sarin gas when captured Iraqi stocks were destroyed.

The U.S. government has spent roughly $440 million on Gulf War health research since 1994, but spending has declined in recent years and often is not focused on improving veterans' health, the committee said.

Forecasters: U.S. in 14 month recession - Yahoo! News

2008-11-17T19:49:00.000-05:00

Forecasters: U.S. in 14 month recession - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. economy fell into a recession last spring and will contract sharply this quarter as more than 200,000 workers per month are added to the rolls of the unemployed, a survey said on Monday.

The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's latest Survey of Professional Forecasters removed some of the glow from an earlier report showing industrial output rebounded in October after hurricane disruptions produced a stunning fall in September.

Early data from the factory sector also supported the grim view of the forecasters, showing manufacturing in New York state tumbled in November to yet another record low.

Japan on Monday joined the euro zone in recession. Although the U.S. economy contracted in third quarter, that followed two consecutive quarters of growth, albeit helped by government stimulus payments. The arbiter of U.S. business cycles has not yet declared the economy in recession.

The latest data and surveys provided new evidence that turmoil in credit markets was tightening its grip over the economy, which is unlikely to see any relief soon from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

"The early signs suggest that the November data cycle is likely to be extremely weak," analysts at RDQ economics said in a research note.

On Wall Street, stocks were weaker in volatile trade, though off early lows, while government bonds were mixed and the dollar was a shade higher against the yen.

The Philadelphia Fed's survey predicted gross domestic product would shrink by 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter, a sharp downgrade from the previous prediction of 0.7 percent growth.

It said the U.S. economy entered a recession in April and that it will last 14 months, which would make it one of the longest recessions since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Only the 16-month recessions in the mid-1970s and early 1980s were longer. Even though the economy was technically growing in April this year it would not be unprecedented for the National Bureau of Economic Research to declare a recession was occurring then.

The NBER measures recessions by "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy," rather than the traditional definition of two consecutive quarters of falling

GDP.

The recession of March-November 2001 did not include two consecutive quarters of GDP contraction. This year, the economy has lost 1.2 million jobs since an uninterrupted labor market slump started in January, while manufacturing has contracted for most of the year.

The survey predicted the economy would shed an average of 222,400 jobs per month this quarter. It said first-quarter GDP would decline by 1.1 pct and the unemployment rate would hit 7.0 percent during the first three months of next year.

A separate report by the Federal Reserve showed U.S. industrial production rose a stronger-than-expected 1.3 percent in October after a downwardly revised September drop of 3.7 percent -- the biggest fall in more than 62 years.

The September slide in industrial output was the steepest since a 5.0 percent decline in February 1946.

The Fed said the revision to September output resulted, in part, from a larger estimate of the impacts that Hurricanes Gustav and Ike had on the chemical industry. This also set a lower base for October.

"The October improvement is not anything to cheer about," said Daniel Meckstroth, chief economist for the Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI, a private economic research organization.

"EMPIRE" STRICKEN

In a separate report, the New York Fed said its "Empire State" general business conditions index fell to minus 25.43 in November from minus 24.62 in October. That was the lowest reading on manufacturing in New York state since the inception of the index in July 2001.

The report "paints a dim picture," said David Ader, head of government bond strategy at RBS Greenwich Capital, in Greenwich, Connecticut. "Still, this is not exactly surprising but more confirmation," he added.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected an even weaker reading of minus 26.10.

The report, based on a survey of manufacturers in New York state, was generally bleak. The indexes for new orders and shipments slid to record lows, while the measures for unfilled orders, employment and inventories all slipped to their lowest levels since late 2001.

As with many recent reports, the one silver lining was that inflation measures fell, which should give the Federal Reserve leeway to continue holding interest rates low as it fights the effects of the worst financial crisis in 80 years.

The prices paid index fell for the fourth straight month and the prices received index tumbled to its lowest level in more than three years, the report said.

Official google.org Blog: A Deadly New Arenavirus

2008-11-17T19:41:00.000-05:00

Official google.org Blog: A Deadly New Arenavirus

Obama makes historic White House visit - Yahoo! News

2008-11-10T16:10:00.001-05:00

Obama makes historic White House visit - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Barack Obama visited the White House on Monday for his first post-election meeting with President George W. Bush, a strikingly symbolic moment in the transition of power.

The outgoing president and first lady Laura Bush greeted the newly elected president and his wife Michelle with smiles and handshakes, even as Obama's advisers reviewed some of Bush's executive orders with an eye to reversing them after he is sworn in on January 20.

The two men immediately headed to the Oval Office where they were expected to discuss the global financial crisis, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other challenges the Republican president will bequeath to his Democratic successor.

It was their first face-to-face encounter following Obama's resounding victory over Republican John McCain in Tuesday's election, which will make him America's first black president.

Obama, 47, had repeatedly attacked Bush's "failed policies" on the campaign trail and once said he had a lot to answer for after eight years in office. The Illinois senator swept to power campaigning on a theme of change -- specifically, change from the unpopular president's approach to economics and foreign affairs.

Obama's aides say after taking office he will likely move quickly to roll back Bush's executive orders that limit stem cell research and expand oil and gas drilling in some areas.

There was no outward sign of tension, however, when the Obamas stepped from their limousine at the south portico. Earlier, they had been cheered by crowds of onlookers in some places as their motorcade sped through the capital.

"Good morning," Laura Bush chirped, though it was well past noon.

Bush and Obama strolled down the White House colonnade side-by-side, chatting amiably. They stopped briefly and waved to the cameras but said nothing to reporters. Bush then ushered Obama ahead of him into the Oval Office.

While their husbands met privately, the first lady led Michelle Obama inside the White House residence for a tour of what will soon be her family's new home.

SENSE OF URGENCY

Newly elected presidents traditionally visit the White House between election and inauguration but usually wait longer than Obama did. He came calling at Bush's invitation after only six days, underscoring a sense of urgency in the transition.

It will be the first wartime transfer of power in four decades and comes amid economic turmoil.

"Obviously the economy is going to be something that will be top of line for both of the leaders," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters before Bush and Obama met.

Financial markets, which are struggling in a global credit crisis, are awaiting news of Obama's appointments for key jobs such as Treasury secretary, but a spokeswoman for Obama said on Monday he would not make any Cabinet announcements this week.

Obama said in his first post-election news conference on Friday he would not be rushed into making hasty decisions.

Underscoring Obama's assertion he will not act as a shadow president during the transition, an aide confirmed what the White House had been saying -- that he will not attend a global financial summit in Washington on November 14-15.

Bush, whose low approval ratings helped propel Obama to victory, has said he will do all he can to help in the changeover.

Obama had impugned Bush's leadership at every turn during the bitter election campaign, depicting McCain as the president's clone. Many analysts saw Obama's victory in part as a rebuke by voters of Bush's two terms in office.

But the two have made clear they are now setting politics aside.

Though visits by incoming presidents to the White House before taking office are a ritual dating back decades, there was little denying that Obama's tour carried special significance.

The son of a black father from Kenya and white mother from Kansas, Obama made history by winning the presidency, an achievement seen by many Americans as a breakthrough in U.S. race relations.

Now he and his family will move into a stately white mansion that was built in part with the labor of black slaves and where several Southern-born presidents brought their plantation slaves as servants during the pre-Civil War era.

Bush has hailed Obama's victory as a "dream fulfilled" for civil rights, but he has also warned of the difficulties awaiting the president-elect.

Palin fires back at leaks questioning her smarts - Yahoo! News

2008-11-08T08:18:00.000-05:00

Palin fires back at leaks questioning her smarts - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin fired back on Friday against post-election claims by aides to Republican presidential candidate John McCain that she thought Africa was a country, not a continent, calling the anonymous sources "jerks."

Palin, McCain's running mate in their unsuccessful White House campaign, told CNN the allegation "is not true." She said the leaks could have come from people who helped her with preparation for her debate against Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden.

She said she remembered having conversations during debate preparation about Africa and the North American Free Trade Agreement.

A Fox News report cited unidentified campaign sources who said Palin did not know Africa was a continent and could not name the three countries in NAFTA -- the United States, Canada and Mexico.

"I think if there are allegations based on questions or comments that I made in debate prep about NAFTA or about the continent versus the country when we talk about Africa there, then those were taken out of context, and that is cruel and mean-spirited, it's immature, it's unprofessional, and those guys are jerks," Palin said.

It's not fair and it's not right," she said.

She also described accusations that she spent exorbitant amounts of money on clothes for the campaign as "sexist."

Obama sweeps to victory as first black president - Yahoo! News

2008-11-05T00:36:00.001-05:00

Obama sweeps to victory as first black president - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama swept to victory as the nation's first black president Tuesday night in an electoral college landslide that overcame racial barriers as old as America itself. "Change has come," he declared to a huge throng of cheering supporters.

The son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, the Democratic senator from Illinois sealed his historic triumph by defeating Republican Sen. John McCain in a string of wins in hard-fought battleground states — Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Iowa and more.

On a night for Democrats to savor, they not only elected Obama the nation's 44th president but padded their majorities in the House and Senate, and come January will control both the White House and Congress for the first time since 1994.

Obama's election capped a meteoric rise — from mere state senator to president-elect in four years.

In his first speech as victor, Obama catalogued the challenges ahead. "The greatest of a lifetime," he said, "two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century."

He added, "There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president, and we know that government can't solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face."

McCain called his former rival to concede defeat — and the end of his own 10-year quest for the White House. "The American people have spoken, and spoken clearly," McCain told disappointed supporters in Arizona.

President Bush added his congratulations from the White House.

In his speech, Obama invoked the words of Lincoln and echoed John F. Kennedy.

"So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder," he said.

He and his running mate, Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, will take their oaths of office as president and vice president on Jan. 20, 2009.

Obama will move into the Oval Office as leader of a country that is almost certainly in recession, and fighting two long wars, one in Iraq, the other in Afghanistan.

The popular vote was close — 51.3 percent to 47.5 percent with 73 percent of all U.S. precincts counted — but not the count in the Electoral College, where it mattered most.

There, Obama's audacious decision to contest McCain in states that hadn't gone Democratic in years paid rich dividends.

Obama has said his first order of presidential business will be to tackle the economy. He has also pledged to withdraw most U.S. combat troops from Iraq within 16 months.

Obama makes final-hour push in Indiana - Yahoo! News

2008-11-04T14:19:00.000-05:00

Obama makes final-hour push in Indiana - Yahoo! News

CHICAGO – Seeking a transcendent victory, Democrat Barack Obama made a final-hour push for Republican-leaning Indiana on Tuesday after casting his own ballot with his young daughters at his side.

"It's going to be tight as a tick here in Indiana," Obama told volunteers in Indianapolis trying to get out the vote for the Democratic ticket with only seven hours to go in the area's balloting. "So the question is who wants it more."

The Illinois senator and his wife, Michelle, were among the first to vote after polls opened Tuesday at Chicago's Beulah Shoesmith Elementary School. They cast paper ballots in side-by-side booths with 10-year-old Malia and 7-year-old Sasha looking on.

"The journey ends, but voting with my daughters, that was a big deal," Obama told reporters later.

At times while he completed his ballot Obama grinned at his daughters and whispered to them. His wife took longer to fill out the lengthy ballot with several local offices up for consideration, and at one point Sasha hugged her father's leg looking impatient. Obama later joked that he had to check who his wife was voting for after she took so long.

The family was ushered inside ahead of a line of their Hyde Park neighbors that wrapped around the block and cheered upon their arrival. Fellow voters inside watched in silence and snapped cell-phone pictures.

Obama kissed the cheek of the poll worker who took his ballot, then watched while she fed it into a machine. The crowd broke into applause when a smiling Obama held up his validation slip and said, "I voted."

Obama voted a few minutes after William Ayers, the 1960s radical who lives in the neighborhood and whom Republicans tried to link to Obama in the campaign. Ayers did not answer a question about how he voted from reporters waiting inside for Obama's arrival.

Afterward, Obama traveled to Indianapolis for final campaign stop to encourage voters in Indiana to support the Democratic candidate from next door. He helped about two dozen members of United Auto Workers Local 550 in Indianapolis work the phones at their union hall.

"I think we can win Indiana, otherwise I wouldn't be in Indiana," he said.

Obama was targeting other swing states in the final hours of voting by doing an hour and a half of satellite television interviews from a Chicago hotel room. The interviews were with local news stations in Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Virginia, Ohio, North Carolina, Nevada, Missouri.

Later he planned his voting-day game of basketball with friends and staff — a habit he liked to stick to in the primaries for good luck — before watching returns at a Chicago hotel room.

After the race is called, he planned to address supporters from a stage built especially for the occasion in Chicago's Grant Park.

Welsh road sign lost in translation - Yahoo! News

2008-11-03T20:28:00.001-05:00

Welsh road sign lost in translation - Yahoo! News

LONDON (AFP) – Officials in Wales mistakenly erected a road sign that read "I am not in the office at the moment" in Welsh after a translation mix-up.

The sign originally said in English, "No entry for heavy goods vehicles. Residential site only," but when Swansea Council officials sent it to be translated, they received an automated e-mail written in Welsh that read: "I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated."

Unaware of the actual meaning of the e-mail, officials had the sign printed and put up near a supermarket, only realising their mistake when Welsh speakers pointed it out.

All road signs in Wales are required to be written in English and Welsh.

"Our attention was drawn to the mistranslation of a sign at the junction of Clase Road and Pant-y-Blawd Road," a Swansea Council spokesman said.

"We took it down as soon as we were made aware of it and a correct sign will be installed as soon as possible."

In Bush's end-game, lots of changes on environment - Yahoo! News

2008-11-02T17:52:00.000-05:00

In Bush's end-game, lots of changes on environment - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – As the U.S. presidential candidates sprint toward the finish line, the Bush administration is also sprinting to enact environmental policy changes before leaving power.

Whether it's getting wolves off the Endangered Species List, allowing power plants to operate near national parks, loosening regulations for factory farm waste or making it easier for mountaintop coal-mining operations, these proposed changes have found little favor with environmental groups.

The one change most environmentalists want, a mandatory program to cut climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions, is not among these so-called "midnight regulations."

Bureaucratic calendars make it virtually impossible that any U.S. across-the-board action will be taken to curb global warming in this administration, though both Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama have promised to address it if they win Tuesday's U.S. presidential election.

Even some free-market organizations have joined conservation groups to urge a moratorium on last-minute rules proposed by the Interior Department and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others.

"The Bush administration has had eight years in office and has issued more regulations than any administration in history," said Eli Lehrer of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. "At this point, in the current economic climate, it would be especially harmful to push through ill-considered regulations in the final days of the administration."

John Kostyack of the National Wildlife Federation, which joined Lehrer's group to call for a ban on these last-minute rules, said citizens are cut out of the process, allowing changes in U.S. law that the public opposes, such as rolling back protections under the Endangered Species Act.

WHAT'S THE RUSH?

The Bush team has urged that these regulations be issued no later than Saturday, so they can be put in effect by the time President George W. Bush leaves office on January 20.

If they are in effect then, it will be hard for the next administration to undo them, and in any case, this may not be the top priority for a new president, said Matt Madia of OMB Watch, which monitors the White House Office of Management and Budget, through which these proposed regulations must pass.

"This is typical," Madia said of the administration's welter of eleventh-hour rules. "It's a natural reaction to knowing that you're almost out of power."

Industry is likely to benefit if Bush's rules on the environment become effective, Madia said.

"Whether it's the electricity industry or the mining industry or the agriculture industry, this is going to remove government restrictions on their activity and in turn they're going to be allowed to pollute more and that ends up harming the public," Madia said in a telephone interview.

What is unusual is the speedy trip some of these environmental measures are taking through the process.

For example, one Interior Department rule that would erode protections for endangered species in favor of mining interests drew more than 300,000 comments from the public, which officials said they planned to review in a week, a pace that Madia called "pretty ludicrous."

Why the rush? Because rules only go into effect 30 to 60 days after they are finalized, and if they are not in effect when the next president takes office, that chief executive can decline to put them into practice -- as Bush did with many rules finalized at the end of the Clinton administration.

White House spokesman Tony Fratto denied the Bush team was cramming these regulations through in a hasty push.

Fratto discounted reports "that we're trying to weaken regulations that have a business interest," telling White House reporters last week the goal was to avoid the flood of last-minute rules left over from the Clinton team.

There is at least one Bush administration environmental proposal that conservation groups welcome: a plan to create what would be the world's largest marine wildlife sanctuary in the Pacific Ocean. That could go into effect January 20.

Authorities investigate Sarah Palin effigy in West Hollywood - Los Angeles Times

2008-10-31T08:40:00.000-04:00

Authorities investigate Sarah Palin effigy in West Hollywood - Los Angeles Times

ChadMichael Morrisette thought it would be fun to throw a little politics into his Halloween decorating this year since the holiday comes only four days before the presidential election.

For weeks the life-size mannequin of Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin that hung from a noose around its neck in front of Morrisette's West Hollywood home caused little controversy.

But then a news report on the display this week sparked a national uproar, drawing the attention of the Secret Service, upsetting politicians, including one local official who called for a hate crime investigation.

It also prompted MSNBC television host Keith Olbermann on Monday to dub Morrisette "today's worst person in the world."

"This is not the spirit of Halloween, sir," Olbermann said. "It is the spirit of violence."

Offensive as it may be, the Palin doll -- outfitted with beehive wig, glasses and a vintage Neiman Marcus red coat dress -- appears to violate no law, said officials of the Secret Service, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the West Hollywood city Code Enforcement Division.

"The sheriff made this clear: This is a country that has freedom of speech, and we protect that right even when we think it's idiotic and stupid and in bad taste," said Steve Whitmore, spokesman for the Sheriff's Department.

"If it is nonviolent and doesn't cause any problems, then they have the right to do it."

Morrisette, a professional window display designer, and his partner, Mito Aviles, both 28, said they set up the Palin display at their house on North Orange Grove Avenue about three weeks ago.

It also includes a mock-up of presidential candidate John McCain sitting in a chimney surrounded by paper flames.

"If it's a political statement, it's that their politics is scary to us," Morrisette said of the McCain-Palin campaign. "This is our palette and this is our venue of expression."

At first, most of their neighbors either chuckled or applauded the display, Morrisette and Aviles said.

But since it has attracted more media attention, some residents have become concerned that the effigy has cast their community in a bad light, they said.

"We don't want to make enemies with anyone," Aviles said. "This isn't what it was supposed to be about."

Some neighbors expressed mixed feelings Tuesday about the Palin effigy.

"There are certain limits and that's too far," said Robert Feindt, manager of an apartment building across the street from Morrisette's house. "I won't vote for her [Palin], but it's tacky."

Vanessa Suwatipanich, who lives next door to Feindt, said she thought it was within her neighbors' rights to use Halloween to make a political statement.

"They're expressing their distaste in an artful expression," she said.

West Hollywood Mayor Jeffrey Prang, who issued a statement Monday urging Morrisette and Aviles to take down the display, said city officials have been inundated with angry calls for not forcibly removing the effigy.

"I think we need to try to be more respectful in this democracy that we all enjoy," Prang said.

At the county Board of Supervisors' meeting Tuesday, Supervisor Michael Antonovich directed county counsel to investigate whether the Palin effigy constitutes a hate crime.

"Why is that not considered a hate crime? If there was an African American hanging from a tree, would that not constitute a hate crime?" Antonovich said, adding that the county definition of hate crimes includes "political affiliation."

"If it was another presidential candidate hanging from a noose, or another ethnicity, let's say Asian, would that be considered art?" he said, denouncing the Palin display as "totally reprehensible" and "odious."

But Peter Scheer, executive director of the California First Amendment Coalition and a free-speech expert, said the same display with Obama also would probably fall under protected speech, as long as it was not made with the intent of inciting violence.

"Mere speech, no matter how hateful, in America is protected in most contexts, except in instances carved out to protect special audiences like children," he said. "The reason we do that is . . . so that we don't end up censoring valuable speech."

At a small Christian university in Newberg, Ore., last month, a life-size cardboard reproduction of Obama was hung from a tree on campus, an act that outraged students and school officials.

A custodian at George Fox University discovered the effigy suspended from the branch of a tree with fishing line around its neck and removed it.

The disturbing sight found near the heart of the campus recalled the days of lynchings of blacks and was all the more incongruous at a university founded by Quaker pioneers in 1891.

Local authorities at the time determined that the four students behind the display had violated no municipal or state laws, and did not file charges, said University spokesman Rob Felton.

The students were suspended for up to a year, he said.

A spokeswoman for the FBI in Oregon said her office was still investigating whether the civil rights of other students had been infringed by the effigy.

Controversial 'Hanging Palin' taken down - Yahoo! News

2008-10-31T08:32:00.001-04:00

Controversial 'Hanging Palin' taken down - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – The controversial Halloween display of an effigy of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin hanging by a noose outside a home near Los Angeles has been taken down, local authorities said Thursday.

The people who hung the figure from the roof of their house "began to realize what they had done caused a little more of a reaction than they had hoped for," said spokesman for the sheriff of Los Angeles Steve Whitmore.

For the Halloween holiday many Americans decorate their homes with ghoulish displays of monsters, witches and ghosts.

But Chad Michael Morrisette, resident of West Hollywood, went a bit further by hanging a figure wearing Palin's trademark red jacket, glasses, high heels and a wig.

West Hollywood Mayor Jeffrey Prang, who previously defended the residents' legal right to hang the figure but said he opposed political speech that references violence, said he worked to get it taken down.

"I tried to appeal to their reason and logic and they agreed," Prang told local TV station Fox 11.

The incident has prompted furor in the US media, and on Wednesday dozens of demonstrators gathered outside Morrisette's house to protest the display.

Some 500,000 people are expected in the gay enclave Friday for one of the biggest Halloween carnivals in the country.

Are polls accurate in presidential race? - Yahoo! News

2008-10-30T11:56:00.000-04:00

Are polls accurate in presidential race? - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – With the U.S. presidential election less than a week away, Democrat Barack Obama holds a steady lead over rival Republican John McCain in opinion polls, leading many pundits to say McCain is effectively finished.

Could the polls be wrong?

They have misled before. The most famous time came in 1948 when polls showed Republican Thomas Dewey on his way to winning the White House but missed the late surge that carried Democrat Harry Truman to victory.

More recently, polls showed Obama ahead of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the January New Hampshire primary by an average of 8 percentage points. Clinton won.

McCain's campaign thinks it could happen again on November 4.

"All signs say we are headed to an election that may easily be too close to call by next Tuesday," McCain pollster Bill McInturff wrote in a memo released on Tuesday.

Pollsters are careful to say their work does not predict a race's outcome but only captures a snapshot of the electorate at a certain point in time.

And there is always the possibility of error in a discipline that combines science with a certain amount of guesswork.

"We are engaged to some degree in some artwork and assumption," said pollster John Zogby, whose Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby tracking poll shows Obama leading by 7 percentage points.

Pollsters can't simply tally up the results of their telephone surveys but must make educated guesses about who will actually show up to vote.

These "likely voter" models vary from poll to poll, leading to results that can vary as well.

Rasmussen Reports' daily tracking poll on Wednesday showed Obama leading McCain by 3 percentage points, while a survey released on Tuesday by Pew Research Center for the People and the Press showed Obama leading McCain by 15 percentage points.

HIGHER TURNOUT AMONG BLACKS?

Gallup publishes two separate polls based on varying likely-voter models. Its traditional model showed Obama ahead by 2 percentage points on Wednesday, while its "expanded" model, which assumes higher turnout rates among minorities and young people, showed Obama leading by 7 percentage points.

Zogby's poll and the Pew poll also assume that black voters, inspired by the chance to elect Obama as the first black president, will make up a higher percentage of the electorate this year.

But the McCain campaign argues that turnout will be high among all demographic groups, diluting any impact from black voters.

Another question is the "Bradley Effect" -- the notion that white voters fearful of being labeled racist overstate their support of black candidates in polls.

That theory, named for a black 1982 California gubernatorial candidate who narrowly lost to a white opponent after leading in opinion polls, has been widely discounted.

But polls might be underweighting any racial backlash because intolerant voters tend to hang up on pollsters, said Pew Research Center president Andrew Kohut said.

"That could be a factor in a close election, but it's probably not a factor in an election that seems as wide open as this," Kohut said.

The increasing number of people who decline to participate in opinion polls, and the difficulty of reaching cellphone-only households pose challenges as well.

"When you get a 15 percent response rate, the people you get aren't necessarily representative of the population as a whole," said Nate Silver, a statistician who tracks opinion polls at the Web site FiveThirtyEight.com.

Despite these concerns, pollsters say they're confident in their work. After all, it's hard to overlook the fact that major polls have lined up closely with the actual vote in every presidential election since 1980.

"We bring a whole lot more science to who's ahead and who's behind than a handful of old white men sitting at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington having breakfast," Zogby said.

Obama takes 7-point lead on McCain - Yahoo! News

2008-10-30T11:55:00.000-04:00

Obama takes 7-point lead on McCain - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrat Barack Obama has opened a 7-point lead over Republican rival John McCain with five days left in the race for the White House, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Thursday.

Obama leads McCain by 50 percent to 43 percent among likely voters in the three-day national tracking poll, building on his 5-point advantage on Wednesday. The telephone poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points.

It was the second consecutive day Obama's lead has grown as the two-year presidential battle draws to a close. McCain is struggling to overtake Obama's lead in every national opinion poll and in many battleground states.

"This is not good news for McCain. The race was tightening for a few days but now it is going back the other way," pollster John Zogby said.

Support for Obama, a first-term senator from Illinois, hit or exceeded the 50 percent mark for the seventh time in the last 10 days. McCain's support has not reached 46 percent in more than three weeks of polling.

Obama held steady or expanded his edge among several crucial blocs of swing voters, leading by 19 points among independents, 10 points among women, 9 points among Catholics and 7 points among voters above the age 65.

Obama also moved ahead of McCain, an Arizona senator, by 5 points among men. McCain still leads by 8 points among white voters but only earns the support of about 30 percent of Hispanics, a fast-growing group that gave President George W. Bush more than 40 percent of their vote in 2004.

The poll also found Obama was doing a better job of reaching across ideological lines, earning the support of nearly 20 percent of self-described conservatives. McCain wins about 10 percent of liberals.

Both candidates campaigned in Florida on Wednesday as Obama simultaneously ran a 30-minute advertisement on three national television networks. He also appeared at a late-night rally in Orlando with former President Bill Clinton -- their first joint campaign event.

Independent Ralph Nader received 2 percent in the national survey, and Libertarian Bob Barr was at 1 percent. About 2 percent of voters remain undecided.

The rolling tracking poll, taken Monday through Wednesday, surveyed 1,202 likely voters in the presidential election. In a tracking poll, the most recent day's results are added, while the oldest day's results are dropped to monitor changing momentum.

The U.S. president is determined by who wins the Electoral College, which has 538 members apportioned by population in each state and the District of Columbia. Electoral votes are allotted on a winner-take-all basis in all but two states, which divide them by congressional district. (Editing by Doina Chiacu)

McCain says respects Bush, but is not Bush - Yahoo! News

2008-10-26T13:09:00.000-04:00

McCain says respects Bush, but is not Bush - Yahoo! News

WATERLOO, Iowa (Reuters) – Republican presidential nominee John McCain on Sunday fought to distance himself from unpopular President George W. Bush in the face of attacks from Democrat Barack Obama that he is little different than Bush.

McCain, in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press," also shrugged off opinion polls showing him far behind Obama in the campaign, saying he senses the race is tightening with nine days to go until Election Day November 4.

And he gave a strong vote of confidence to his vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor who has energized the Republican base but has come under withering criticism on a variety of issues to the extent that many Americans do not consider her ready to be president.

Obama and his campaign have attempted to tie McCain to Bush at every opportunity, citing the Arizona senator's record of voting with the president 90 percent of the time. It is an issue that has dogged McCain throughout the campaign.

Flush with campaign cash, the Obama campaign released a new television advertisement that shows footage of McCain with Bush as the announcer says, "He's out of ideas, out of touch, and out of time."

McCain insisted that while he respects Bush, he has disagreed with him on a number of high-profile issues, such as opposing increased government spending, challenging Bush on his Iraq strategy and demanding tougher action to address climate change.

"Do we share a common philosophy of the Republican Party? Of course. But I've stood up against my party, not just President Bush but others, and I've got the scars to prove it," McCain said.

Obama leads McCain in national opinion polls and in polls in many battleground states, including Iowa, which Bush won in 2004 but now seems to rest comfortably in Obama's camp.

A Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Sunday, however, suggested a tightening race overall. It said Obama leads McCain by 49 percent to 44 percent among likely U.S. voters in the daily tracking poll.

In this poll Obama's lead has dropped over the last three days after hitting a high of 12 points on Thursday.

Some Republicans have complained that McCain's campaign has seemed to lurch from issue to issue and has put in jeopardy not only Republican attempts to hang on to the White House but also many seats in the U.S. Congress.

CLOSING THE GAP

"We're doing fine. We have closed in the last week," McCain said, adding that if the trend were to continue, "We'll be up very, very late Election Night."

"I see intensity out there and I see passion, so we're very competitive here and I'm very happy of where we are and I'm proud of the campaign I've run," he said.

McCain's choice of Palin as his running mate was at first welcomed as a boon to his campaign but the scrutiny of her has been tough and some conservatives have said they do not believe she is sufficiently experienced to be a heartbeat away from the presidency.

"I don't defend her. I praise her. She needs no defense," McCain said when asked about Palin.

He said he and Palin do not agree on all issues because both consider themselves "maverick" politicians but that he has no criticism of the way she has conducted herself on the campaign trail.

He dismissed questions about the Republican National Committee's purchase of $150,000 in clothes for her and her large family for wearing if they needed it while campaigning, saying a third of the clothes had been returned and the rest would be donated to charity.

McCain said Palin lives a "frugal life."

"I'm so proud of the way she ignites the crowds. The way she has conducted herself in my view is incredibly admirable," McCain said.

The extent of Obama's financial advantage in the waning days of the campaign was apparent in Waterloo. Shortly after McCain's interview on NBC ended, an Obama television advertisement was shown.

Polish driver follows GPS directions into lake - Yahoo! News

2008-10-26T13:06:00.000-04:00

Polish driver follows GPS directions into lake - Yahoo! News

WARSAW (AFP) – A Polish driver who was too sure of his GPS road navigation device ended up neck-deep in a lake after ignoring road signs warning of a dead-end ahead, Polish police said Friday.

"The man took a road that was closed a year ago when the area was flooded to make an artificial lake serving as a water reservoir -- he ignored three road signs warning of a dead-end," Piotr Smolen, police spokesman in Glubczyce, southern Poland, told AFP Friday.

"It was still night time and he didn't notice the road led into the lake. His GPS told him to drive straight ahead and he did," Smolen said, adding the driver had not been under the influence of alcohol.

The road ran straight downhill into the lake. The Mercedes mini-van was nearly entirely submerged and was unable to back out on its own after being inundated with water.

The driver and two passengers escaped unharmed from the submerged vehicle and waited on its roof for police and fire rescue crews.

The driver placed the first call to emergency services while still inside the sinking van.

Police ask FBI to help find Jennifer Hudson's nephew - Yahoo! News

2008-10-26T13:05:00.000-04:00

Police ask FBI to help find Jennifer Hudson's nephew - Yahoo! News

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Chicago police asked the FBI on Saturday to help find the missing 7-year-old nephew of Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson after her mother and brother were found shot to death a day earlier.

Julian King has been missing since Friday when Hudson's mother, Darnell Donerson, 57, and brother Jason Hudson, 29, were found dead in Donerson's south side Chicago home.

"Let my baby go," Hudson's sister Julia told reporters. She appeared at a news conference along with the boy's father, Greg King.

Chicago police spokesman Daniel O'Brien said the FBI had been asked to help in the search in case the boy had been taken across state lines, in violation of federal kidnap laws.

O'Brien declined to confirm various media reports that police had taken William Balfour into custody as a suspect in the double homicide investigation. Balfour, 27, had a relationship with Hudson's sister Julia but is not the father of the missing boy. Balfour's mother said earlier her son and Julia were estranged and that he had nothing to do with the slayings.

The Illinois Department of Corrections website lists Balfour as having been convicted of attempted murder, car theft and vehicular hijacking. He was released from prison in 2006.

O'Brien said more than one person had been questioned but that no one had been charged with a crime. He did not release any names. On Friday, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said of the murders, "It appears to be domestic related."

Hudson gained fame in 2005 as a contestant on the No. 1-rated U.S. television show "American Idol." She was one of 12 finalists in the third season but was voted off the talent show.

Her booming voice and popularity kept her touring in live shows and she eventually earned the role of Effie White in the 2006 film version of the stage musical "Dreamgirls."

The role of soulful singer White, who is kicked out of an all-girl 1960s singing group, earned Hudson the Oscar for best supporting actress and made her an instant star in Hollywood.

Hudson has since appeared in the movie version of "Sex and the City" and is currently in "The Secret Life of Bees." Media reports said Hudson was in Florida when she was told of the shootings and was headed back to Chicago.

Obama lead drops to 5 points - Yahoo! News

2008-10-26T13:04:00.000-04:00

Obama lead drops to 5 points - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrat Barack Obama's lead over Republican rival John McCain has dropped to 5 points, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Sunday.

Obama leads McCain by 49 percent to 44 percent among likely U.S. voters in the daily tracking poll, which has a margin of error of 2.9 points. Obama's lead has dropped over the last three days after hitting a high of 12 points on Thursday.

"Things are trending back for McCain. His numbers are rising and Obama's are dropping on a daily basis. There seems to be a direct correlation between this and McCain talking about the economy," pollster John Zogby said.

Obama, 47, took the lead in most national polls in recent weeks as the financial crisis and plunging stock market seized center stage ahead of the November 4 election.

McCain, 72, appeared slow to respond to Obama's financial message but in recent days has ramped up the economic themes of his own campaign. On Saturday the Arizona Republican warned voters of the dangers of what he termed a Democratic take-over in both the White House and Congress.

Obama has countered by seeking to link McCain's proposals to the policies of outgoing Republican President George W. Bush, who fares very poorly in public approval surveys.

Obama's lead among voters making less than $35,000 per year remains substantial at a little over 70 percent. But McCain, who had previously scored well only with the highest income brackets, now holds slight leads among voters in all income groups starting at $35,000 and above.

"You've got to think that it is tax-and-spend that concerns them. Is McCain starting to connect with the middle class?" Zogby said.

Obama still had solid, if slightly diminished, leads among two important groups which could play pivotal roles in the November 4 election. Among independents he had a 14 point lead, down from a peak of 29 points. Women also still backed Obama by a 14-point margin, down from 20 points late last week.

McCain, who once had a 4-point deficit among male voters, now has a 4-point lead at 48-44 percent. And whites back McCain by a 12-point margin, up from 6 points on Friday.

Independent Ralph Nader and Libertarian Bob Barr both received support from 1 percent of those polled, a slight dip for Nader. Three percent of the people said they remained undecided in the race.

The rolling tracking poll surveyed 1,203 likely voters in the presidential election. In a tracking poll, the most recent day's results are added, while the oldest day's results are dropped to monitor changing momentum.

The president is determined by who wins the Electoral College, which has 538 members apportioned by population in each state and the District of Columbia. Electoral votes are allotted on a winner-take-all basis in all but two states, which divide them by congressional district.

Last major investment banks change status - Yahoo! News

2008-09-22T06:22:00.000-04:00

Last major investment banks change status - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve said Sunday it had granted a request by the country's last two major investment banks — Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — to change their status to bank holding companies.

The Fed announced that it had approved the request of the two investment banks. The change in status will allow them to create commercial banks that will be able to take deposits, bolstering the resources of both institutions.

The change continued the biggest restructuring on Wall Street since the Great Depression.

The request for the change to bank holding companies was granted by a unanimous vote of the Fed's board of governors during a late Sunday meeting in Washington.

The change of status means both companies will come under the direct regulation of the Federal Reserve, which regulates the nation's bank holding companies. The banking subsidiaries of the two institutions will face the stricter regulations that commercial banks are required to meet. Previously, the primary regulator for Goldman and Morgan Stanley was the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Shares of both institutions had come under pressure ever since the bankruptcy filing last week by investment bank Lehman Brothers and the forced sale of investment bank Merrill Lynch to Bank of America.

Investors feared that the last remaining independent investment banks would not be able to survive in their current form. There had been speculation that both institutions would be acquired by commercial banks, whose ability to take deposits would give them a stable source of funding.

The decision by the two giants of finance to get approval from the Fed to change their own status represented another dramatic development in one of the most turbulent periods in Wall Street history.

In the surprise announcement late Sunday, the central bank said that to provide increase funding support to the two institutions during the transition period, they would be allowed to get short-term loans from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York against various types of collateral.

The Fed said its action would take final effect after a five-day waiting period required under law.

The decision means that the Goldman and Morgan Stanley will be able not only to set up commercial bank subsidiaries to take deposits, giving them a major resource base, but they will also have the same access as other commercial banks to the Fed's emergency loan program.

After the collapse of Bear Stearns and its forced sale to JP Morgan Chase last March, the Fed used powers it had been granted during the Great Depression to extend its emergency loans to investment banks as well as commercial banks. However, that extension was granted on a temporary basis.

But as commercial banks, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley will have permanent access to emergency loans from the Fed, the same privilege that other commercial banks enjoy.

The action by the Fed's board of governors in Washington came on a day when the Bush administration continued to campaign for quick congressional approval of its request for authority to use $700 billion to purchase a mountain of bad mortgage debt held by financial companies. The effort represented the boldest action yet aimed at stabilizing chaotic financial markets.

Democrats in Congress said they would demand provisions in the bailout measure to protect people in danger of losing their homes as well as seeking to cap executive compensation at firms who get to unload their bad mortgages debt onto the government. But the proposal was expected to win quick congressional passage because both parties are concerned about the adverse reaction in financial markets should the measure look like it was being delayed.

Hackers break into Sarah Palin's e-mail account

2008-09-19T16:01:00.001-04:00

Hackers break into Sarah Palin's e-mail account

WASHINGTON (AP) - Hackers broke into the Yahoo! e-mail account that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin used for official business as Alaska's governor, revealing as evidence a few inconsequential personal messages she has received since John McCain selected her as his running mate.

"This is a shocking invasion of the governor's privacy and a violation of law. The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these e-mails will destroy them," the McCain campaign said in a statement.

The Secret Service contacted The Associated Press on Wednesday and asked for copies of the leaked e-mails, which circulated widely on the Internet. The AP did not comply.

The disclosure Wednesday raises new questions about the propriety of the Palin administration's use of nongovernment e-mail accounts to conduct state business. The practice was revealed months ago—prior to Palin's selection as a vice presidential candidate—after political critics obtained internal e-mails documenting the practice by some aides.

One person whose e-mail to Palin apparently was among those disclosed, Amy B. McCorkell, declined to discuss her correspondence. "I do not know anything about it," McCorkell said. "I'm not giving you any comment." Wired.com said McCorkell later confirmed that she did send the e-mail to Palin.

Another of the e-mails apparently revealed Wednesday was an exchange in July with Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell discussing a talk show host who had been critical of Parnell. Parnell declined to discuss the matter.

Palin herself used "gov.sarah" in one of her e-mail addresses, but the hackers targeted her "gov.palin" account. Her husband used "fek9wnr" in his address. "Fe" is the representation for iron, and "k9" is an abbreviation for canine. Todd Palin was the winner of the grueling Iron Dog snowmobile race, and "fek9wnr" also is Todd Palin's vehicle license tag in Alaska.

It wasn't immediately clear how hackers broke into Palin's Yahoo! account, but it would have been possible to trick the service into revealing her password knowing personal details about Palin that include her birthdate and ZIP code. A hacker also might have sent a forged e-mail to her account tricking her into revealing her own password.

McCorkell was appointed by Palin to an advisory board on issues involving alcohol and drug abuse. One of the leaked e-mails suggested McCorkell wrote to Palin on Sunday to say she was praying for Palin. "Don't let the negative press get you down!" the message said.

Elephant kicks heroin habit with China island rehab: reports - Yahoo! News

2008-09-04T17:53:00.000-04:00

Elephant kicks heroin habit with China island rehab: reports - Yahoo! News

BEIJING (AFP) - An elephant has kicked his heroin habit after a three-year stint on an island rehab in southern China, an official and state media said Thursday.

The four-year-old Asian elephant, called Xiguang, has now being transported to a wildlife reserve in southwest China after being cured of his addiction with some clean living on Hainan island, Xinhua said.

Xiguang became hooked on the narcotic after animal smugglers captured him and other elephants by luring them with bananas laced with heroin in 2005, the official news agency said.

"The four elephants are arriving here from Hainan tomorrow," wildlife park official Mr Xu, who refused to give his full name, told AFP on Thursday.

Police caught the smugglers in May 2005 on the border between China and Myanmar, and noticed that Xiguang was acting strangely, the Beijing News website reported.

His eyes kept streaming, he made continuous trumpeting noises, and was finally diagnosed with withdrawal symptoms from the drug, the report said.

Xiguang was sent to a wild animal protection centre in Hainan, where rehabilitation experts and vets gave him injections of methadone -- five times the dose needed for a human being -- for a year, Xinhua said.

After a year, he had started to recover, and the dose of medicine was progressively reduced.

The animal is now being transported 1,500 kilometres (930 miles) across southern China to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province.

The Asian elephant is an endangered species, with only 25,600 to 32,750 left in the wild, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

The animals are victims of conflict with humans, as they destroy plantations and fields in their quest for food, leading to retaliatory killings. They also fall prey to poachers for their ivory, the fund says.

Obama threatens to turn Secret Service on daughters' suitors - Yahoo! News

2008-08-25T10:52:00.000-04:00

Obama threatens to turn Secret Service on daughters' suitors - Yahoo! News

EAU CLAIRE, Wisconsin (AFP) - Barack Obama came clean Sunday on his true motivation behind running for president -- to keep his daughters safe from undesirable suitors.

"The real reason is Secret Service protection for my two girls as they enter into their teenaged years," the Democrat said, joking with voters at a barbecue here in a woodland setting beside a lake.

"Whatever young guy comes by for a date, we're going to have one of these mean-looking guys who don't crack a smile. They're armed. They're dangerous," he said, pointing to the dark-suited agents monitoring the good-natured crowd.

Obama offered Secret Service vetting to a local man, so that he could investigate the background of his daughter's fiance ahead of their wedding Monday.

The Illinois senator has two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, who is seven. The girls will join their mother Michelle Obama at the Democratic nominating convention in Denver from Monday.

U.S. tracking citizens' border crossings: report - Yahoo! News

2008-08-20T14:38:00.000-04:00

U.S. tracking citizens' border crossings: report - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government has been using its border checkpoints to collect information on citizens that will be stored for 15 years, raising concern among privacy advocates, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials said the collection is part of a broader effort to guard against terrorist threats, the report said, citing a Federal Register notice the agency issued last month.

Officials said the disclosure is among a series of notices to make the department's data gathering more transparent, the newspaper reported.

A notice by Customs and Border Protection, a DHS agency, said it does not perform data mining on border crossings to search for patterns that could signal a terrorist or law enforcement threat, according to the Post.

But it states that information may be shared with federal, state and local governments to test "new technology and systems designed to enhance border security or identify other violations of law," the Post reported.

A DHS spokesman was not immediately available for comment on the report.

Information on international air passengers has long been collected this way but Customs and Border Protection only this year began to log the arrivals of all U.S. citizens across land borders, the Post said.

Privacy advocates raised concerns about the expanded collection of personal data and said safeguards are needed to ensure the system is not abused.

"People expect to be checked when they enter the country and for the government to determine if they're admissible or not," Greg Nojeim of the Center for Democracy and Technology told the Post.

"What they don't expect is for the government to keep a record for 15 years of their comings into the country."

DHS spokesman Russ Knocke told the paper that the retention period was justified.

"History has shown, whether you are talking about criminal or terrorist activity, that plotting, planning or even relationships among conspirators can go on for years," he said. "Basic travel records can, quite literally, help frontline officers to connect the dots."

New York City agrees to pay protesters $2 million - Yahoo! News

2008-08-19T19:47:00.000-04:00

New York City agrees to pay protesters $2 million - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City has agreed to pay a $2 million settlement to protesters arrested during a 2003 rally against the Iraq war who said their civil rights had been violated, lawyers for both sides said on Tuesday.

The 52 plaintiffs in the lawsuit were among 94 protesters arrested on April 7, 2003, during a demonstration at the midtown Manhattan offices of the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm with holdings in the defense sector.

"The New York Police Department violated core constitutional rights when it arrested a group of peaceful demonstrators who were lawfully protesting against the commencement of the Iraq war and those who stood to profit from it," said Sarah Netburn, a lawyer for the protesters.

In a statement, a lawyer for New York City confirmed the size of the settlement.

"This settlement was reached without any admission of liability on behalf of the city and the individual defendants," said Susan Halatyn, senior counsel in the Special Federal Litigation Division for New York City.

"Although defendants believe that they would ultimately have prevailed at a trial, the costs of going forward weighed in favor of a settlement at this time."

Two of the protesters, Eva Hageman and Sarah Kunstler, went to trial on charges of disorderly conduct and were acquitted by a jury, said a lawyer for the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which brought the case.

Charges against the remaining protesters were dismissed without a trial, CCR said.

The settlement, which includes attorney's fees, will be divided evenly among the plaintiffs, lawyers said.

'Stumpy' the whale makes epic journey without a tail - Yahoo! News

2008-08-15T23:01:00.000-04:00

'Stumpy' the whale makes epic journey without a tail - Yahoo! News

SYDNEY (AFP) - A humpback whale named "Stumpy" after he lost his tail as a baby in an apparent killer whale attack has been sighted again six years later on an epic journey along Australia's coast.

Stumpy was spotted playing off eastern Queensland's Sunshine Coast by whale watchers aboard a boat named for the late TV environmentalist and "crocodile hunter" Steve Irwin, the national AAP news agency reported.

Allan Short, skipper of the Australia Zoo's boat "Steve's Whale One," said he last saw the tailless whale as a yearling in 2001 in the region's Hervey Bay, where Antarctic-based humpbacks travel in the breeding season.

Scratch marks on Stumpy's side suggest he was injured in an attack by a killer whale, Short said.

"When we first saw Stumpy in Hervey Bay in 2001 we thought for sure he wouldn't survive without his tail," he said.

"It's a 20,000-kilometre return journey when they migrate and that is an amazing feat for a whale without a tail."

Stumpy appeared healthy as he played alongside other whales on their annual migration to warmer tropical water to breed, he said.

Steve Irwin, who became internationally famous for his risky stunts with dangerous animals, was killed by a stingray barb in September 2006 while filming on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

His American wife Terri is now in charge of his Australia Zoo, and their 10-year-old daughter Bindi, is a wildlife television star in her own right.

Government owes American Indians $456 mln: judge - Yahoo! News

2008-08-08T12:19:00.000-04:00

Government owes American Indians $456 mln: judge - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After 12 years of litigation, a federal judge rejected claims that the government owed American Indians $47 billion for mismanaging their money held in a special trust fund, but ruled they were owed less than 1 percent of the amount sought.

The U.S. Interior Department was sued for mishandling the revenue in the Indian trust fund going back to 1887. The trust includes 10 million acres of land owned by individual Indians and 46 million acres belonging to Indian tribes.

On this lands, the department manages more than 100,000 leases and the money they generate from mineral mining, oil and gas drilling, timber, livestock grazing, recreational and agricultural uses are deposited into the trust. That money is disbursed by the department to individuals and tribes.

U.S. District Court Judge Robertson ruled on Thursday that the model used to estimate how much money was withheld by the government was faulty because it "did not make use of the best available evidence and did not make fair or reasonable comparisons of data."

Robertson said the there was no evidence of the "prodigious pilfering of assets from within the trust system" that the Indian plaintiffs had claimed and that they failed to prove the government used any money from the fund for its own benefit.

Instead, the judge accepted the Interior Department's position that it was 99 percent confident that no more than $455.6 million was missing from the trust fund.

"This statement has the character of an admission -- by responsible civil servants -- that there are limits to what can be confidently stated with respect to the (trust fund), and that a history of accounting nonfeasance makes such a substantial error plausible," Robertson wrote in his ruling.

Elouise Cobell, the lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit against the government and a member of Montana's Blackfeet tribe, said she was disappointed by the ruling and her lawyers would consider whether to appeal the decision.

"We believe we presented a strong, compelling case that individual Indian trust beneficiaries are entitled to much more than the government's admitted mismanagement of our trust monies over the past 120 years," she said.

The case is not over yet, because the judge said another hearing will determine how the missing money should be restored and allocated.

The Interior Department said it looked forward to working "with the court, the Congress, and the plaintiffs to bring the case to final closure."

Saudi religious police ban pet cats and dogs - Yahoo! News

2008-07-30T13:01:00.001-04:00

Saudi religious police ban pet cats and dogs - Yahoo! News

RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi Arabia's religious police have announced a ban on selling cats and dogs as pets, or walking them in public in the Saudi capital, because of men using them as a means of making passes at women, an official said on Wednesday.

Othman al-Othman, head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Riyadh, known as the Muttawa, told the Saudi edition of al-Hayat daily that the commission has started enforcing an old religious edict.

He said the commission was implementing a decision taken a month ago by the acting governor of the capital, Prince Sattam bin Abdul Aziz, adding that it follows an old edict issued by the supreme council of Saudi scholars.

The reason behind reinforcing the edict now was a rising fashion among some men using pets in public "to make passes on women and disturb families," he said, without giving more details.

Othman said that the commission has instructed its offices in the capital to tell pet shops "to stop selling cats and dogs".

The 5,000-strong religious police oversees the adherence to Wahabism -- a strict version of Sunni Islam, which also forces women to cover from head to toe when in public, and bans them from driving.

Name change for Talula Does The Hula from Hawaii - Yahoo! News

2008-07-26T17:51:00.000-04:00

Name change for Talula Does The Hula from Hawaii - Yahoo! News

Thu Jul 24, 5:58 AM ET

WELLINGTON (AFP) - A New Zealand judge has ordered a name change for an embarrassed nine-year-old girl called Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii, a local newspaper reported Thursday.

The girl was so embarrassed that she had not revealed the name given by her parents to friends, who simply knew her as K, the Taranaki Daily News said.

Family court judge Rob Murfitt said in a judgement made in February -- but not released until Thursday -- that oddball monikers created social hurdles as children grew up.

"She fears being mocked and teased and in that she has a greater level of insight than either of her parents," he said of the girl.

The judge discovered New Zealand parents had given their children some other unusual names including Number 16 Bus Shelter and Midnight Chardonnay, both of which may relate to the conception of the child.

One child was named Violence and two pairs of twins were called Benson and Hedges and Fish and Chips. The children from one family were all named after six-cylinder Ford cars.

barack obama is a team fortress 2 spy

2008-07-07T22:42:00.002-04:00

Americans have right to guns under landmark ruling - Yahoo! News

2008-06-26T18:38:00.001-04:00

Americans have right to guns under landmark ruling - Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Individual Americans have a right to own guns, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday for the first time in the country's history, striking down a strict gun control law in the U.S. capital.

The landmark 5-4 ruling marked the first time in nearly 70 years the high court has addressed the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It rejected the argument the right to keep and bear arms was tied to service in a state militia.

Justice Antonin Scalia said for the majority the Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with militia service and to use it for traditional lawful purposes, such as self-defense in the home.

However, he said the new right was not unlimited.

The court struck down two parts of the country's strictest gun control law adopted in Washington, D.C., 32 years ago -- the ban on private handgun possession and the requirement that firearms kept at home be unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger lock.

The ruling marked the first time the court has struck down a gun control law for violating the Second Amendment.

The ruling won praise from President George W. Bush, Republican presidential candidate John McCain and Wayne LaPierre of the politically powerful National Rifle Association, who said, "This is a great moment in American history."

It drew fire from gun control groups, which warned of new legal attacks on existing gun laws, and some Democrats in Congress like Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who said the decision "opens this nation to a dramatic lack of safety."

The four liberal dissenting justices warned of the ruling's consequences. "The decision threatens to throw into doubt the constitutionality of gun laws throughout the United States," Justice Stephen Breyer said.

Although an individual now has a constitutional right to own guns, that new right is not unlimited, wrote Scalia, a hunter.

He said the ruling should not be taken to cast doubt on long-standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill or on laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in places like schools and government buildings or laws imposing conditions on gun sales.

The Supreme Court's last review of the Second Amendment came in a five-page discussion in an opinion issued in 1939 that failed to definitively resolve the constitutional issue.

In the 64-page opinion, Scalia said an individual right to bear arms is supported by "the historical narrative" both before and after the Second Amendment's adoption.

"What is not debatable is that it is not the role of this court to pronounce the Second Amendment extinct," he said.

"Few laws in the history of our nation have come close to the severe restriction of the district's handgun ban," Scalia said.

GUN POINTED AT BURGLAR WHILE CALLING POLICE

Scalia said a citizen may prefer may prefer a handgun for home defense because "it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police."

The justices split along conservative-liberal lines in the ruling, one of the most important of the court's current term, in deciding a legal battle over gun rights in America. The ruling came on the last day of the court's 2007-08 term.

Bush's two appointees on the court, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, both voted with the majority in finding an individual right to keep firearms.

Bush said in a statement he applauded the "historic decision today confirming what has always been clear in the Constitution: the Second Amendment protects an individual right to keep and bear firearms."

Republican presidential candidate John McCain applauded the ruling and criticized his Democratic opponent Barack Obama for comments he had made during the political campaign.

"Unlike the elitist view that believes Americans cling to guns out of bitterness, today's ruling recognizes that gun ownership is a fundamental right -- sacred, just as the right to free speech and assembly," McCain said.

"I have always believed that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to bear arms," Obama said, "but I also identify with the need for crime-ravaged communities to save their children from the violence that plagues our streets through common sense, effective safety measures."

The United States is estimated to have the world's highest civilian gun ownership rate. Gun deaths average 80 a day in the United States, 34 of them homicides, according to Centers for Disease Control data.

The ruling was a victory for Dick Anthony Heller, a security guard who lives in a high-crime neighborhood and who wants to keep a handgun in his home for self-defense.

For decades, the meaning of the Second Amendment has been at the heart of a political and legal debate debate over gun control. People have argued whether it guarantees the right to bear arms to individuals or to citizens in a militia.

Written more than 200 years ago, the amendment says, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

In a dissent, parts of which he read from the bench, Justice John Paul Stevens said the court left for future cases the formidable task of defining the scope of permissible gun regulations.

"I fear that the district's policy choice may well be just the first of an unknown number of dominoes to be knocked off the table," Stevens said.

China cop promoted for breastfeeding quake babies - Yahoo! News

2008-06-21T23:49:00.000-04:00

China cop promoted for breastfeeding quake babies - Yahoo! News

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese policewoman who breastfed babies orphaned during last month's earthquake has been given a better job, prompting online protests that promotions should be awarded on merit, not merely for good deeds.

Jiang Xiaojuan, 30, left her own baby with her parents and took part in the disaster relief work, breastfeeding nine babies, earning her the nickname of "the police mum" in the press.

She has since been awarded titles of "hero and model police officer" and "excellent member of the Communist Party," was appointed to the Communist Party of China Committee of the Jiangyou Public Security Bureau and became the bureau's vice commissar, Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

Jiangyou, population 850,000, is a city near the epicenter of the May 12 Sichuan quake which killed more than 69,000 people with thousands still missing.

"Many people voiced objections when the Jiangyou government sought public opinion after making the promotion," Xinhua said. "They said an official position should not be used to promote a moral model."

There were also supporters of Jiang's promotion, saying that what she did showed she was a good public servant.

A Perfect Spot to Practice the Bagpipes - City Room - Metro - New York Times Blog

2008-06-05T14:59:00.000-04:00

A Perfect Spot to Practice the Bagpipes - City Room - Metro - New York Times Blog

June 4, 2008, 1:56 pm
A Perfect Spot to Practice the Bagpipes

Ah, the age-old question: Where can one practice the bagpipes in this city without bothering others? To Paul Rutgersen, a piper from Astoria, Queens, the answer is: anywhere you can.

“Playing these things, it can be tough to find a place to practice, especially in Manhattan,” Mr. Rutgersen said the other day when I came across him rehearsing on his set of great highland pipes on a parking area off the West Side Highway overlooking the Hudson River in Manhattan.

“I’m a private chauffeur so I have a lot of down time and I can pull over at out-of-the-way spots.”

Mr. Rutgersen, who plays with the New York Scottish Pipes and Drums band, is the personal driver for a well-known former news anchor whose name he asked not be printed. (Perhaps he was afraid of causing a piping-on-the-job scandal?)

He said he uses highway rest stops and thruway truck stops to rehearse without subjecting others to the loud pipes. His favorite practice spot, however, is where I found him. It’s also favored by cabbies and chauffeurs looking for a scenic place to rest.

Mr. Rutgersen, 45, said he has been coming to the spot for more than 10 years. Next to the roar of the rushing traffic, the bagpipes did not seem so loud. Suddenly another set of pipes chimed in with “Scotland the Brave.” It was the ring tone on Mr. Rutgersen’s cellphone. It was his
boss who was ready to be picked up. He hurried to the Jaguar parked in the lot, put the pipes in the trunk and was off.

Stupid flies live longer: study - Yahoo! News

2008-06-04T20:30:00.000-04:00

Stupid flies live longer: study - Yahoo! News

GENEVA (AFP) - It doesn't pay to be smart and ignorance really is bliss if you want a long life -- at least if you're a fly, according to new research by a Swiss university.

Scientists Tadeusz Kawecki and Joep Burger at the University of Lausanne said Wednesday they had discovered a "negative correlation between an improvement in a fly's mental capacity and its longevity".

As part of their research project, the results of which are published in the journal Evolution, they divided into two a group of flies from the Basel region of northwestern Switzerland.

One half was left in a natural state while the other had its intelligence boosted by Pavlovian methods, such as associating smell and taste with particular food or experiences.

Over 30 to 40 generations, these methods led to flies which clearly learned better and remembered things for longer.

The flipside was that the flies left in their natural state lived longer on average than their "cleverer" counterparts, with a lifespan of 80-85 days rather than the normal 50-60..

"In other terms, the more the fly becomes intelligent, the shorter its lifespan," the scientists said.

This is most probably because the increase in neural activity weakens the fly's life-support systems, they speculated.

"This would explain why flies, like most other animals, have hardly developed their neural capacities," they said.

Passenger carrying drugs in Tokyo as dog fails sniff test - Yahoo! News

2008-05-27T06:23:00.000-04:00

Passenger carrying drugs in Tokyo as dog fails sniff test - Yahoo! News

TOKYO (AFP) - An unsuspecting passenger who flew to Tokyo is carrying one million yen's worth of cannabis compliments of customs authorities after a sniffer dog failed a test, officials said Monday.

An officer at Narita International Airport on Sunday stuffed 142 grams (five ounces) of the drug into the side pocket of a randomly selected black suitcase coming off an overseas flight so that the animal could detect it.

"The dog couldn't find it and the officer also forgot which bag he put it in," a customs office spokeswoman said.

"If by some chance passengers find it in their suitcase, we're asking them to return it," she said.

The 38-year-old officer was quoted by the spokeswoman as saying: "I knew that using passengers' bags is prohibited, but I did it because I wanted to improve the sniffer dog's ability."

He was reprimanded by the head of customs at Narita.

"This case was extremely regrettable. I would like to deeply apologise," said the airport's customs chief Manpei Tanaka.

The cannabis, which has a street value of one million yen (9,680 dollars), was in a metal box wrapped with newspapers.

Japan strictly prohibits both hard and soft drugs, with people imprisoned for possession of even small amounts of cannabis.

FBI withdraws secret Internet Archive probe | The Register

2008-05-08T09:46:00.000-04:00

FBI withdraws secret Internet Archive probe | The Register

The FBI has withdrawn a secret order that used new anti-terrorism powers to demand information about a user of the Internet Archive without a court order after attorneys challenged it as an unconstitutional abuse of power.

The victory for the San Francisco-based digital library meant that its founder was able to speak publicly about the sweeping demand, known as an NSL or national security letter, for the first time on Wednesday. Up until now, the demand for personal information about an undisclosed Internet Archive patron was protected by a gag order that prevented all but a handful of people from knowing it even existed.

Since the 9/11 attacks, the use of NSLs has proved a popular tool for getting information in government investigations if it is deemed relevant to terrorism or espionage. More than 200,000 of them were issued between 2003 and 2006, and yet, because of the secrecy surrounding them, only three have been known to have been challenged in court. Remarkably, all three challenges have succeeded.

"The NSL basically allows the FBI to demand extremely sensitive personal information about innocent people without any prior court approval, often in total secrecy without any meaningful judicial review," Melissa Goodman, one of the attorneys representing the Internet Archive, said during a telephone conference with reporters. "It makes you wonder about the hundreds of thousands of other NSLs that have never been challenged and we know there are many."

The FBI withdrew the NSL after the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which represented the Internet Archive, filed a complaint (PDF) arguing that the Patriot Act statute that expanded the use of NSLs was unconstitutional.

Among other things, the lawsuit argued that the law was a violation of freedom-of-speech guarantees because it allowed the FBI to unilaterally gag NSL recipients with no prior court approval or judicial review afterwards. Rather than fight the case in court, the FBI agreed to withdraw the NSL and lift much of the gag order surrounding it.
Not an 'unqualified success'

Contrary to claims by Brewster Kahle, founder and chairman of the Internet Archive, that it was an "unqualified success" for all libraries seeking to protect their patrons from unwarranted government fishing expeditions, it was clear that the FBI was still managing to squelch considerable discussion about the case. Kahle and his lawyers repeatedly refused to say exactly what information the FBI sought and what, if any, was ultimately provided.

They refused to say, for example, whether they supplied the FBI with an email address the patron had used to register an Internet Archive account. They even declined to say what their reasons were for withholding such details.

"You're always in an extremely difficult place when the FBI is still gagging us, not pursuant to the NSL but because of the settlement agreement," Goodman said. "We have to be cautious in those situations and its always difficult. It's terribly frustrating to us."

They were also forbidden from saying who the patron was or what the person had done to attract the attention of investigators in the first place. Even though the NSL was served in November, it remains unknown if the patron has been notified that he or she is the target of the NSL.

Given the limits of the legal victory, it's interesting to learn that the FBI was likely limited in the information it could have gained, thanks to fairly sensible policies at the Internet Archive about the information it stores. The site doesn't collect IP addresses of its visitors and doesn't log what users do while browsing through its extensive catalog of music, videos and historical documents.

"As a library, we know that we've long protected patrons from government intrusions," Kahle (whose name rhymes with "pale") said. "Our document retention policies did exactly what we intended them to do."

Woman forced to remove nipple ring at US airport - Yahoo! News

2008-03-28T10:43:00.000-04:00

Woman forced to remove nipple ring at US airport - Yahoo! News

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - A woman who was forced to remove her nipple rings with pliers before boarding a flight in Texas, demanded an apology Thursday and said she wants the government to investigate the incident.

"It was just total humiliation in front of people I had no earthly idea who they were," Mandi Hamlin, a 37-year-old graphic artist from Dallas, told reporters at her lawyer's office in Los Angeles.

Hamlin's attorney, Gloria Allred, said the woman "was given a pair of pliers in order to remove the rings in her nipples ... The rings had been in her nipples for many years."

Hamlin said she wanted a public apology and for the Transportation Security Administration to investigate the incident, which happened in February as she was boarding a flight from Lubbock, Texas, to Dallas.

TSA spokesman Dwayne Baird said he was unaware of the nipple ring incident.

"I'd be really curious to know what this woman had in her nipples," he said, adding that he had "never heard of any of our people having anyone remove something that sounds as small as a nipple ring."

Allred said the TSA's measure was "cruel and unnecessary."

"The last time that I checked, a nipple was not a dangerous weapon."

New York Gov. Spitzer resigns amid sex scandal - Yahoo! News

2008-03-12T12:33:00.000-04:00

New York Gov. Spitzer resigns amid sex scandal - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer resigned on Wednesday amid a scandal over a $1,000-an-hour prostitute, cutting short a career built on pugnacious investigations of Wall Street crimes.

Lt. Gov. David Paterson will replace him on Monday, Spitzer said.

"I am resigning from the office of governor. At Lt. Gov. Paterson's request, the resignation will be effective Monday, March 17," Spitzer announced.

Spitzer, a Democrat, had faced intense pressure to resign and impeachment threats from Republicans since the New York Times reported on Monday that he was caught on a federal wiretap arranging to meet with a prostitute.

Spitzer, 48 and married with three children, is a former New York state chief prosecutor who rose to prominence by investigating financial crime with a vigor that earned him the nickname Sheriff of Wall Street.

He also broke up prostitution rings as attorney general.

Spitzer had apologized to his family and the public on Monday for what he called a "private matter," but gave no details of what he was apologizing for and then shuttered himself in his New York City apartment for two days.

Some 70 percent of New York voters wanted Spitzer to quit, according to a WNBC/Marist poll conducted on Tuesday.

Spitzer, who attracted wide publicity but also resentment on Wall Street with his pursuit of financial crimes while he was the state's attorney general, became governor with nearly 70 percent of the vote in November 2006 on pledges to clean up state politics.

The Times, citing unnamed law enforcement officials, reported on Monday that Spitzer was the man identified as "Client 9" in a federal affidavit revealing details from an investigation into a prostitution ring.

Client 9 arranged to meet with "Kristen," a prostitute who charged $1,000 an hour, on February 13 in a Washington hotel and paid her $4,300, the court document said.

The complaint unveiled last week charged four people with running a prostitution ring dubbed The Emperors Club.

It was not known if Spitzer would face any charges stemming from the case.

Four Charged With Running Online Prostitution Ring - New York Times

2008-03-10T20:16:00.001-04:00

Four Charged With Running Online Prostitution Ring - New York Times

Federal authorities arrested four people Thursday on charges of running an online prostitution ring that serviced clients in New York, Paris and other cities and took in more than $1 million in profits over four years.

The ring, known as the Emperor’s Club V.I.P., had 50 prostitutes available for appointments in New York, Washington, Miami, London and Paris, according to a complaint unsealed on Thursday in Federal District Court in Manhattan. The appointments, made by telephone or through an online booking service, cost $1,000 to $5,500 an hour and could be paid for with cash, credit card, wire transfers or money orders, the complaint said.

According to the office of the United States attorney in Manhattan, Mark Brener, 62, of New Jersey, was the leader of the ring, but delegated day-to-day business responsibilities to Cecil Suwal, 23, also of New Jersey. The office said that Ms. Suwal controlled the bank accounts, took applications from prospective prostitutes and oversaw two booking agents, identified by the authorities as Temeka Rachelle Lewis, 32, of Brooklyn, and Tanya Hollander, 36, of Rhinebeck, N.Y.

Ms. Hollander’s lawyer, Mary E. Mulligan, said her client was innocent, and that “up until today, she lived a very quiet life in a small town.”

The ring’s Web site showed pictures of the prostitutes, cropped so faces were not visible, and listed names like Sienna and Christine. The Web site, which was disabled shortly after the arrests were announced, ranked the prostitutes on a scale of one to seven “diamonds.” A three-diamond woman, for example, could command a fee of $1,000 per hour. A seven-diamond woman cost more than $3,000 an hour.

For its most valued clients, the Emperor’s Club offered membership in the elite “Icon Club,” with hourly fees starting at $5,500, according to the federal complaint. The club also offered clients the opportunity to purchase direct access to a prostitute without having to contact the agency.

As part of the investigation, federal agents worked with a woman who claimed to have worked for the Emperor’s Club as a prostitute in 2006, according to court papers. An undercover agent posed as a potential client and arranged appointments by phone and online.

After obtaining authorization to tap the club’s phones, federal agents recorded more than 5,000 calls and text messages and had access to 6,000 e-mail messages, court papers said. Many of these were somewhat mundane requests for appointments. The authorities — the case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service and the F.B.I. — did not identify any of the clients.

Ms. Lewis and Ms. Hollander were charged with a conspiracy to violate federal prostitution laws. Each faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

Mr. Brener and Ms. Suwal were accused of prostitution and money laundering: The complaint says they funneled profits through bank accounts in the names of two front companies, identified as QAT Consulting Group and QAT International. They face maximum penalties of 25 years in prison if convicted.

Hello Kitty used as drug lord's messenger: report - Yahoo! News

2008-03-10T16:11:00.001-04:00

Hello Kitty used as drug lord's messenger: report - Yahoo! News

SAO PAULO, March 10, 2008 (AFP) - Hello Kitty, the Japanese cartoon figure popular with teenagers around the world, was used by a notorious Colombian drug lord to hide messages to his minions, according to a report Monday.

Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, who is being held in Brazil after his arrest in August, hid voice and text messages digitally encoded into e-mailed images of the innocent feline, Brazilian police told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.

Investigators say the disguised missives, hundreds of which were found on Abadia's computer, could put the narcotics kingpin up to his neck in Kitty litter as some of them allegedly detail cocaine shipments between countries.

The newspaper said the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) broke the binary code containing the messages under the Hello Kitty images because Brazilian police lacked the necessary computer equipment.

It added the same technique of hiding messages in seemingly innocuous image files was used by Al-Qaeda to prepare the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Abadia apparently picked Hello Kitty as his courier because his wife was a big fan of the Japanese icon -- she had even decorated one of her rooms in a Brazilian house with Hello Kitty-themed chairs, watches and wallpaper.

Abadia, 44, is currently the subject of extradition proceedings requested by the United States, which wants to try him on drug trafficking, money-laundering and murder charges.

The Colombian, who has previously been convicted in his own country for trafficking, is suspected to have headed the ultraviolent Valle del Norte cartel.

He is being kept in a high-security prison pending the verdict by Brazil's supreme court on the US extradition request.

The DEA estimates that Abadia accumulated a personal fortune of 1.8 billion dollars from his illicit activities, which it says involved sending tons of cocaine and kilos of heroin to California through Mexico.

Pro golfer Isenhour faces charges after killing bird with ball - Yahoo! News

2008-03-09T08:33:00.000-04:00

Pro golfer Isenhour faces charges after killing bird with ball - Yahoo! News

ORLANDO, Florida (AFP) - Pro golfer Tripp Isenhour, facing misdemeanor charges and possible jail time after hitting and killing a hawk that is protected by conservation laws, apologized on Thursday.

The incident took place in December, when Isenhour was taping an instructional golf video at the Grand Cypress golf course in Orlando.

If convicted of cruelty to animals and killing a migratory bird, Isenhour could face up to a year in jail and fines.

In an apology released by the PGA Tour on Thursday, the 39-year-old Isenhour said he was "mortified and extremely upset" by the death of the bird.

"I want to let everyone know there was neither any malice nor deliberate intent whatsoever to hit or harm the hawk," he said in the statement. "I was trying to simply scare it into flying away. As evidenced by our family having adopted three cats from a local shelter, I am an animal lover. We ask that everyone accept my sincerest apology, and please be respectful of my family's privacy."

Video sound engineer Jethro Senger, who reported the incident to authorities several days after it happened, said the red-shouldered hawk disrupted the taping with its screeching from about 300 yards away.

According to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission documents, Isenhour drove closer to the bird in a golf cart and hit several balls toward it before giving up and returning to the video set.

The hawk then flew closer to the crew, perching in a tree some 75 yards away.

Isenhour tried again, and on his 10th attempt he hit the hawk, which fell to the ground and bled from its nostrils, Senger told investigators.

Isenhour shouted "I didn't think I would hit it," the reports said.

Another video crew member later buried the bird, which has now been recovered by investigators.

Fidel Castro retires after 49 years in power - Yahoo! News

2008-02-19T13:41:00.000-05:00

Fidel Castro retires after 49 years in power - Yahoo! News

HAVANA (Reuters) - Ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro stepped down on Tuesday 49 years after taking power in an armed revolution, closing the book on a Cold War career that turned him into a leftist icon and a tyrant to his foes.

Castro, 81, who has not appeared in public since undergoing stomach surgery almost 19 months ago, said he would not seek a new term as president or leader of Cuba's armed forces when the National Assembly meets on Sunday.

His retirement raised expectations for change on the communist island, but Cuba experts said limited economic reforms were more likely than swift political change.

"To my dear compatriots, who gave me the immense honor in recent days of electing me a member of parliament ... I communicate to you that I will not aspire to or accept -- I repeat not aspire to or accept -- the positions of president of the Council of State and commander-in-chief," Castro said in a statement published in the Communist Party's Granma newspaper.

President George W. Bush, who has tightened the decades-old economic embargo against Castro's government, said his retirement ought to begin a democratic transition.

"Eventually this transition ought to lead to free and fair elections. And I mean free and I mean fair," Bush said in Rwanda during a tour of Africa.

Cuba's National Assembly, a rubber-stamp legislature, is expected to nominate Castro's brother and designated successor Raul Castro as president. The 76-year-old defense minister has been running the country since emergency intestinal surgery forced his older brother to delegate power on July 31, 2006.

Raul Castro has promoted more open debate about the failings of Cuba's command economy, but he is unlikely to make bold political changes to the one-party state. Fidel Castro will remain influential as first secretary of the ruling Communist Party.

"This is a crucial moment. Cuba wants change, the people want change," said Oswaldo Paya, Cuba's best-known dissident.

CUBANS NOT SURPRISED

Cubans on the quiet streets of Havana were not surprised by Castro's retirement, first announced on Granma's Web site in the middle of the night.

"Everyone knew for a while that he would not come back. The people got used to his absence," said Roberto, a self-employed Cuban who did not want to be fully named.

"I don't know what to say. I just want to leave. This system cannot continue," said Alexis, a garbage collector.

In Miami, the heartland of exiled opposition to the Castro brothers, reaction was subdued.

"It's very good that Fidel resigns. But if Fidel dies, it's better," said Juan Acosta, a Cuban who left the Caribbean island in 1980, as he stopped to buy a newspaper on Calle Ocho, the main street in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood.

European governments said Castro's retirement could open the door to democratic change.

"Fidel Castro's resignation is the end of an era that started with freedom and ended with oppression," said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt.

The charismatic Castro led the bearded and cigar-chomping guerrillas who swept down from the mountains of eastern Cuba to overthrow U.S.-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959.

He then turned Cuba into a communist state on the doorstep of the United States and became the world's longest-serving head of state, barring monarchs.

Castro survived a CIA-backed invasion of Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs in 1961, as well as assassination attempts, the continuing U.S. trade embargo, and an economic crisis in the 1990s after the collapse of Soviet bloc communism.

He played a key role in taking the world to the brink of nuclear war in 1962 when he let Moscow put ballistic missiles in Cuba, leading to a 13-day stand-off between U.S. President John F. Kennedy and Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev.

Famous for his long speeches delivered in green military fatigues, Castro is admired in the Third World for standing up to the United States but considered by his opponents a dictator who suppressed freedom.

Supporters point to Cuba's advances in health and education for all its citizens. Critics, led by the United States and the hundreds of thousands of Cubans who live abroad, say he turned the island into a police state and wrecked its economy.

Castro was close to death in 2006 and has looked gaunt and frail in the few videotapes of him broadcast since his surgery, but Cuba's leadership has showed no sign of collapse.

"Fortunately, our Revolution can still count on cadres from the old guard and others who were very young in the early stages of the process," Castro said in Tuesday's statement, adding that he would continue to write his newspaper columns.

"This is not my farewell to you. My only wish is to fight as a soldier in the battle of ideas ... It will be just another weapon you can count on. Perhaps my voice will be heard."

Frank Mora, a political scientist at the National War College in Washington, said Castro's successors will likely be forced to head down paths that he would disapprove of.

"He will not go into some sunset nor will he become that crazy uncle in the attic, but they are pushing him up those stairs," Mora said.

(Additional reporting by Rosa Tania Valdes in Havana, Deborah Charles in Rwanda, and Michael Christie in Miami; Editing by Kieran Murray)

First submarine car to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show - Yahoo! News

2008-02-19T13:40:00.000-05:00

First submarine car to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show - Yahoo! News

GENEVA (AFP) - A car that can be driven underwater is set to be unveiled next month at the International Geneva Motor Show, the Swiss manufacturer of the prototype announced on Friday.

The 'Squba' is like something out of a James Bond film and, according to the manufacturer Rinspeed, is the world's first real submersible car.

Rinspeed's head, Frank Rinderknecht, is a James Bond enthusiast who has dreamed of making the amphibious vehicle come true.

"For three decades I have tried to imagine how it might be possible to build a car that can fly under water," said Rinderknecht in a statement. "Now we have made this dream come true."

The convertible sports car transforms into an underwater vehicle in which passengers breathe with the help of compressed air masks.

"It is undoubtedly not an easy task to make a car watertight and pressure resistant enough to be maneuverable under water," said Rinderknecht. "The real challenge however was to create a submersible car that moves like a fish in water."

Propelled by electric motors, the car can descend up to 10 metres (32.8 feet) underwater.

Aesthetic appeal aside, the open-top design of the car is actually a safety feature that permits passengers to get out quickly during an emergency and avert the problem of excessive water pressure on the windows of a closed car.

The invention will be presented at the car show in Geneva, which opens to the press March 4 and runs for the public from March 6 through March 16.

Rinspeed was not available Friday to specify the sale price of the new model

A little watermelon meat or soap bubbles for dinner? - Yahoo! News

2008-02-19T13:39:00.000-05:00

A little watermelon meat or soap bubbles for dinner? - Yahoo! News

DEAUVILLE, France (AFP) - When some of the world's top chefs put their talent to whipping up some fun, the results can be disconcerting: a salsify or vegetable oyster turns into a cork, watermelon becomes meat and dishes connect to a mobile phone.

At this week's annual Omnivore Food Festival in Deauville, some of the world's most avant-garde chefs had fun with trompe-l'oeil.

Spain's Andoni Luis Aduriz, the chef from "Mugaritz" in Errenteria, dished up thin slices of appetising red meat served with salad dressing and sorrel but left diners gaping when he revealed the meat was water-melon.

Another of his dishes was a bar of soap sitting on a plate in the middle of a cloud of bubbles.

"The world of cosmetics is increasingly stepping into the world of gastronomy," he said. "They put more and more cooking ingredients into shampoos, such as honey, barley, flowers or apples. So I am putting gastronomy into cosmetics."

The bar of soap was made of barley milk, rice and gelatine, but the hardest part was producing bubbles that did not burst, a task that took a year of research with an engineer. They now last and taste of honey.

He also likes to serve up burnt-looking meat, as black as coal. When the waiter carves the meat in front of horrified clients, lo and behold, the meat is rosy on the inside. He gets the black on the outside by using a vegetable dye, he said.

"None of these dishes will go down in food history," he said. "But they're fun."

Japan's Seiji Yamamoto, chaf at Tokyo's "Ryugin" restaurant, is no stranger to gastronomical jokes. He offers a "Chateau Ryu Gin 197O soup" made of potatos, seashells and beetroot, served in a bottle of wine with a label and is corked by a salsify.

He also adds edible decor to his plates such as pictures of sardines or a code "that customers can read using their mobile phone."

Pigeon poop plunge wins New Yorker six million dollars - Yahoo! News

2007-12-26T14:27:00.000-05:00

Pigeon poop plunge wins New Yorker six million dollars - Yahoo! News

NEW YORK (AFP) - A former New York doorman who slipped on a pile of pigeon droppings on a subway station's stairs has been awarded six million dollars in compensation, according to a report on Monday.

Fifty-six-year-old Shelton Stewart slipped on the station steps in 1998, injuring his neck and back, despite saying he had noticed the pile of excrement on his way to work the same day, the New York Post reported.

A jury awarded Stewart 7.67 million dollars in damages, but New York city's transit authority only has to pay 80 percent of the sum, or 6.13 million, since Stewart was found 20 percent liable for failing to avoid the fecal pile.

Stewart was reportedly planning to use his windfall to buy a house and take his two daughters and grandchild to Disney World in Florida.

Escaped tiger kills man at San Francisco zoo - Yahoo! News

2007-12-26T14:26:00.000-05:00

Escaped tiger kills man at San Francisco zoo - Yahoo! News

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An escaped tiger killed a visitor at San Francisco Zoo and mauled two other men on Tuesday, a year after the same animal attacked a park employee, officials said.

The Siberian tiger fatally attacked the unidentified man just after the zoo's 5 p.m. (8 p.m. EST) closing time. It was shot and killed by police while it was on top of another victim, said zoo spokeswoman Lora LaMarca.

She did not have details about the victims, but reports said the dead man, aged 23, was attacked near an outdoor tiger enclosure. The two injured men were in a cafe about 300 yards away.

They were in "stable but critical condition" at San Francisco General Hospital, said Lt. Ken Smith, a spokesman with the San Francisco Fire Dept. Local news radio KCBS said they suffered cuts and slashes all over their bodies.

LaMarca could not say how the 9-year-old tiger, named Tatiana, escaped. Police were investigating, she added.

The 100-acre (40-hectare) park was evacuated after the attack, but attendance was low at the time because of the Christmas holiday and early darkness, LaMarca said.

The incident follows a December 22, 2006, attack when Tatiana ripped the flesh off a zookeeper's arm during feeding time as horrified visitors looked on. The public feeding house was immediately closed, and only reopened in September after a $250,000 safety upgrade. The zoo now has four tigers.

Wisconsin Company Recalls Beef Products: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

2007-11-25T10:16:00.000-05:00

Wisconsin Company Recalls Beef Products: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- A company voluntarily recalled nearly 96,000 pounds of ground beef products after two people were sickened, possibly by the E. coli bacteria, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said Saturday.

The beef products by American Foods Group include coarse and fine ground beef chuck, sirloin and chop beef. They were distributed to retailers and distributors in Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Virginia.

The problem surfaced after an investigation by the Illinois Department of Health, which was looking into two reports of illnesses.

The bacteria is E. coli O157:H7. E. coli is harbored in the intestines of cattle. Improper butchering and processing can cause the E. coli to get onto meat. Thorough cooking, to at least 160 degrees internal temperature, can destroy the bacteria.

E. coli O157:H7 is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause bloody diarrhea and dehydration. The very young, seniors and people with compromised immune systems are the most susceptible to E. coli.

The products subject to recall were produced on Oct. 10. They were distributed for further processing and repackaging and will not have the company's establishment number on the package.

Some of the recommended use-by dates have already expired. In that case, consumers can contact their retailers to see if the products in question were at stores. Consumers are also urged to look in their freezers and return or throw out the products if they find them.

The products include:

--Bulk weight packages of "BEEF, FINE GROUND 73/27." Each shipping label bears a product code of "65000."

--Bulk weight packages of "BEEF, FINE GROUND 75/25." Each shipping label bears a product code of "65800."

--Bulk weight packages of "BEEF SIRLOIN, FINE GROUND 90/10." Each shipping label bears a product code of "66000."

--Bulk weight packages of "BEEF, FINE GROUND 80/20." Each shipping label bears a product code of "66400."

--Bulk weight packages of "BEEF, FINE GROUND 75/25." Each shipping label bears a product code of "19900."

--Bulk weight packages of "BEEF, FINE GROUND 73/27." Each shipping label bears a product code of "20100."

--Bulk weight packages of "BEEF CHUCK, FINE GROUND 82/18." Each shipping label bears a product code of "20600."

--Bulk weight packages of "CHOP BEEF STEAK, FINE GRIND "86/14." Each shipping label bears a product code of "30000."

--Bulk weight packages of "BEEF SIRLOIN, FINE GROUND 92/08." Each shipping label bears a product code of "30400."

--Bulk weight packages of "BEEF ROUND, FINE GROUND 87/13." Each shipping label bears a product code of "30200."

--Bulk weight packages of "BEEF, FINE GROUND 80/20." Each shipping label bears a product code of "30700."

--Bulk weight packages of "BEEF CHUCK, FINE GROUND 82/18." Each shipping label bears a product code of "31400."

--Bulk weight packages of "BEEF, FINE GROUND 93/07." Each shipping label bears a product code of "31600."

--Bulk weight packages of "BEEF, FINE GROUND 73/27." Each shipping label bears a product code of "31700."

--Bulk weight packages of "BEEF MODIFIED, FINE GROUND 93/07." Each shipping label bears a product code of "31900."

Each shipping label bears the establishment number "Est. 18076" inside the USDA mark of inspection.

Agriculture Department's Food and Safety Inspection Service: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/