2 Six sentenced to death for China's Xinjiang riots
by Robert Saiget, AFP
Mon Oct 12, 10:58 am ET
| BEIJING (AFP) - China sentenced six people to death on Monday over deadly July riots in its restive Xinjiang region, state media reported, delivering on a vow of harsh retribution over the ethnic unrest.
The six were convicted of murder and other crimes by a court in the regional capital Urumqi in the first trials over the riots that killed nearly 200 people and left the city riven by ethnic tension.
China Central Television (CCTV) said one other defendant was sentenced to life in prison over the unrest, in which members of the Uighur minority went on a rampage in attacks directed at members of China's dominant Han ethnic group. |
3 Govt unveils huge asset sale to cut debt
by Katherine Haddon, AFP
2 hrs 44 mins ago
| LONDON (AFP) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced on Monday a 16-billion-pound sale of state assets including a high-speed railway and a betting service to cut soaring debt caused by the economic crisis.
Brown -- facing a likely election defeat next year by David Cameron's Conservative Party -- wants to halve Britain's deficit in four years.
But opposition politicians derided the asset sale as a political gimmick and compared it to a "national car boot sale" and "selling the family silver." |
4 Gay activists call for 'equality,' 'freedom' in US march
by Sara Hussein, AFP
Sun Oct 11, 6:41 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - Tens of thousands of gay activists marched on Washington Sunday to demand civil rights, a day after President Barack Obama vowed to repeal a ban on gays serving openly in the US military.
Demonstrators from across the United States crowded the Mall, the green space near the US Capitol and White House, many waving rainbow flags and signs calling for equal rights.
"We're hoping for change, we're hoping for equality, we're hoping for recognition, we're hoping for freedom," said Bo Fillion, who traveled from Massachusetts for the march. |
5 US Marines sweep 'Taliban' villages for home-made bombs
by Claire Truscott, AFP
Sun Oct 11, 3:53 pm ET
| KOTALAK, Afghanistan (AFP) - An elderly Afghan woman, her hair dyed red and a black shawl draped over her shoulders, shouts as she aims a gun at US Marines who are arresting her husband as a suspected Taliban insurgent.
A Marine points his assault rifle at her and is ready to pull the trigger until the woman drops her rusty pistol.
Members of the 2nd Battalion 3rd Marines, accompanied by Afghan soldiers, were sweeping villages for militants early this week as part of Operation Germinate. |
6 Oracle plays up promise of Sun take-over
by Glenn Chapman, AFP
Mon Oct 12, 5:31 am ET
| SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Oracle chief executive Larry Ellison opened fire on US technology veteran IBM and expressed optimism about the pending 7.4-billion-dollar-deal to buy Sun Microsystems.
While kicking off an Oracle Open World conference in downtown San Francisco, Ellison vowed to merge his company's business software prowess with Sun's hardware innovations in a synergy powerful enough to take on IBM.
"We're in it to win it," Ellison said as he joined Sun founder and chief executive Scott McNealy on stage to open a week-long gathering of fans of Oracle's software for businesses. |
7 Obama policies averted economic "abyss": Summers
By Patricia Zengerle, Reuters
26 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration has helped pull the U.S. economy back from the "abyss" with aggressive efforts to spur growth and stabilize financial markets, a top White House adviser said on Monday.
Defending policies that Republicans have attacked as ineffective, National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers argued measures put in place by the administration, including a $787 billion stimulus package, had helped turn back the deepest U.S. recession since the Great Depression.
"Thanks largely to the Recovery Act, alongside an aggressive financial stabilization plan and a program to keep responsible homeowners in their homes, we have walked a substantial distance back from the economic abyss and are on the path toward economic recovery," Summers wrote to House Republican leader John Boehner. |
Idiot.
8 Housing risks still lurk even as buyers return
By Al Yoon and Nick Carey, Reuters
Mon Oct 12, 3:58 am ET
| RIVERSIDE, California (Reuters) - On the surface, a glimmer of confidence is returning to the battered U.S. housing market, after more than three years of gut-wrenching defaults, price slumps and foreclosures.
But investors and homeowners in California, the most populous U.S. state and a benchmark for housing across the country, are bracing for another fall as emergency government support measures fall short or expire.
"All that has been achieved is to put off the real pain until later on," said Mark Jacques, a mortgage broker in Corona Del Mar, California. "I'm hunkering down for the storm." |
9 Advancing Marines test new Afghan war doctrine
By Golnar Motevalli, Reuters
Mon Oct 12, 4:00 am ET
| BARCHA, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Winning ground is one thing. Convincing Afghan villagers you will not leave, abandoning them to a vengeful Taliban, is a bigger challenge for U.S. Marines advancing deep into southern Helmand province.
The Marines, part of a 10,000-strong force sent to Afghanistan this year, have pushed south into hostile terrain, winning ground and pledging to build the long-term trust and security needed to prevent insurgents from returning.
A day after taking over the former home of a local doctor which had been used as a post by the Taliban, the Marines were building it into a base and trying to win over local people. |
10 More troops in Afghanistan? Naysayers gain clout with Obama
By Gordon Lubold, The Christian Science Monitor
Sun Oct 11, 4:00 am ET
| Washington - Ever since President Obama outlined his new strategy for Afghanistan in March, the notion that the US would deepen its involvement there seemed like a foregone conclusion.
But in the past few weeks, a grim assessment from the US commander on the ground and flawed Afghan elections have strengthened the voice of the naysayers who warn of a costly quagmire - giving Mr. Obama pause. Obama now finds himself in a quandary, mulling over the options - from the full-blown counterinsurgency fight his generals advocate to a scaled-back, targeted approach more acceptable to critics of the Afghan war.
Amid calls from Republican lawmakers and even senior military offices to decide soon, Obama huddled with his national security team last week to determine the best way ahead. The delay in deciding indicates that the opponents have his ear. |
11 Inner-city L.A. hungers for good grocery stores
By Daniel B. Wood, The Christian Science Monitor
Sat Oct 10, 5:00 am ET
| Los Angeles - East L.A. resident Olga Perez has to take two buses to a store about eight miles away to get fresh fruits and vegetables, or decent cuts of meat, for her family.
"The only thing I can get at my corner store are spoiled or expired," explains Ms. Perez, a dental assistant and single mother who lives in a two-bedroom apartment with two daughters and a granddaughter.
The round trip costs her $5 and limits what she can carry home. "I can only get so much milk and when I get home the eggs are cracked and the bread is smashed," she says. |
12 Insurance industry assails health care bill
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and ERICA WERNER, Associated Press Writers
6 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - Insurance companies aren't playing nice any more on the health care overhaul.
The industry put out a report Monday concluding that the Senate's health care legislation would drive up costs to consumers, delivering a dire message at a crucial point in the debate and potentially threatening President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.
The White House and congressional Democrats dismissed the late-in-coming message as a "hatchet job." But it put them and their allies on the defensive a day ahead of a pivotal vote in the Senate Finance Committee on sweeping legislation that aims to achieve Obama's goals of extending coverage to the uninsured and curtailing spiraling medical costs. |
13 Problems beset Afghan vote recount
By ROBERT H. REID and HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writers
1 hr 20 mins ago
| KABUL - Efforts to resolve Afghanistan's fraud-marred presidential election suffered new setbacks Monday when one of two Afghans on the commission looking into alleged cheating resigned over "foreign interference" and U.N. officials acknowledged that errors and miscommunication had plagued the investigation.
Allegations of widespread fraud in the Aug. 20 balloting threaten to scuttle the international strategy to combat the burgeoning Taliban insurgency at a time when public support for the war in the United States and Western Europe is waning.
The U.S. and its international partners are anxious for a U.N.-backed commission to wrap up its investigation into fraud charges and determine whether President Hamid Karzai won or must face second-place finisher Abdullah Abdullah in a runoff. |
14 Key senator says Afghanistan mission in jeopardy
by RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press Writer
Mon Oct 12, 8:12 am ET
| WASHINGTON - Saying the U.S. mission in Afghanistan is in "serious jeopardy," the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee says more troops are needed to combat an increasingly potent Taliban.
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein's views on the issue are more closely aligned with those of key Republicans than members of her own party, including Sen. Carl Levin, chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee. He wants to hold off on new troops pending revision of U.S. strategy for Afghanistan.
"I'm saying at this time, don't send more combat troops," said Levin, D-Mich., who wants the emphasis to be on strengthening Afghanistan's own army and national police forces so they can bear a greater share of the security burden. |
15 College cutbacks make it harder to earn degrees
By TERENCE CHEA and JUSTIN POPE, Associated Press Writers
49 mins ago
| SAN FRANCISCO - It isn't just tuition increases that are driving up the cost of college. Around the country, deep budget cuts are forcing colleges to lay off instructors and eliminate some classes, making it harder for students to get into the courses they need to earn their degree.
The likely result: more time in college.
And while that may sound agreeable to nostalgic alumni, to students like Michael Redoglia, time is money. |
16 Cities lag in preparations for high-stakes census
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer
Mon Oct 12, 11:04 am ET
| WASHINGTON - With the 2010 census looming, major U.S. cities whose residents are at high risk of being missed are struggling with a shortage of money and manpower to prepare for an accurate count.
A study by the Pew Charitable Trusts, released Monday, found several cities with substantially fewer resources than it had in 2000. City officials also expressed concern about a possible poor turnout next year, citing difficulties in finding displaced residents due to home foreclosures and skittish immigrants wary of filling out government forms.
Earlier this month, the Commerce Department ruled out seeking a temporary halt to large-scale immigrant raids as a way to boost participation in hard-to-count communities. |
17 Former refugee recycles US hotel soap for Uganda
By DIONNE WALKER, Associated Press Writer
Mon Oct 12, 4:11 am ET
| ATLANTA - Nearly two decades after he arrived in this country, Ugandan Derreck Kayongo is still bowled over by one subtle display of American wealth: the endless array of soaps available in stores.
In his African homeland, the cost of soap is out of reach for many, often with tragic consequences. In 2004, the World Health Organization found roughly 15 percent of deaths among Ugandan children under age 5 resulted from diarrheal diseases, many of which could be prevented through hand sanitation.
Now America's bountiful soap bars have prompted Kayongo to launch the Global Soap Project, an effort to help his country's poorest - one used bar of hotel soap at a time. |
18 Netanyahu: No war crimes trials for Israelis
By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer
10 mins ago
| JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday vowed never to allow Israeli leaders or soldiers to stand trial on war crimes charges over their actions during last winter's military offensive in the Gaza Strip, furiously denouncing a U.N. report in a keynote address to parliament.
Netanyahu's fiery rhetoric - and his decision to open the high-profile speech with remarks on the report - reflected the deep distress felt among Israeli leaders after a U.N. commission accused Israel of intentionally harming civilians when it launched a massive attack in Gaza to stop years of rocket fire.
"This distorted report, written by this distorted committee, undermines Israel's right to defend itself. This report encourages terrorism and threatens peace," Netanyahu said in his address at the opening of parliament's winter session. "Israel will not take risks for peace if it can't defend itself." |
19 Sarkozy's son, 23, ignites uproar over job bid
By ANGELA CHARLTON, Associated Press Writer
53 mins ago
| PARIS - He's 23 and has no college degree, and he's angling for a plum job overseeing France's premier business district. Jean Sarkozy, whose papa is the nation's president, is likely to get what he wants.
Outraged critics are crying nepotism, and say the brash bid by President Nicolas Sarkozy's son is an affront to France's egalitarian values. Leftists are decrying the prospect of the wealthy "Sarkozy clan" intertwining itself even more intimately with the realm of big business.
Jean Sarkozy's conservative backers insisted Monday that he's qualified to chair EPAD, the quasi-governmental agency that manages the La Defense financial district on the western outskirts of Paris. Some 150,000 people commute to work in the sprawling complex of skyscrapers that houses the headquarters of some of Europe's biggest companies, such as oil giant Total and bank Societe Generale. |
20 Emirates court convicts American on terror charges
By BARBARA SURK, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 10 mins ago
| ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - Using sweeping security codes passed after the Sept. 11 attacks, the United Arab Emirates' highest court convicted an American citizen Monday on terrorism-related charges amid claims that torture was used to extract his confession.
The four-month trial of Naji Hamdan also was carried out without making public details of the accusations - showing the tight lid on information over security matters in a nation that promotes itself as the West's foothold in the Gulf.
Anti-terrorism laws in the Emirates, passed in the aftermath of the 2001 U.S. terrorist attacks, have been often expanded to muzzle political dissent and have drawn sharp criticism from international rights groups. |
21 Iran parliament moves ahead with fuel subsidy cuts
By NASSER KARIMI, Associated Press Writer
Mon Oct 12, 11:18 am ET
| TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's parliament on Monday moved ahead with a bill to sharply slash energy and food subsidies, approving one article of a draft law that has the potential of stoking major unrest in a country struggling under international sanctions.
State radio said the article approved by lawmakers would gradually cut energy subsidies over five years, bringing the heavily discounted fuel prices more in line with international prices.
Officials say the cuts are needed to recoup some of the roughly $90 billion spent yearly by OPEC's second largest exporter on subsidies, and to target the funds more directly at helping poorer segments of the population as well as funding infrastructure projects. |
22 Energy high on agenda for Putin visit to China
By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer
Mon Oct 12, 10:33 am ET
| BEIJING - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin landed in China Monday in an effort to bolster energy, political and military ties between the former rival nations turned strategic partners.
Putin was met by Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi Monday evening when he arrived in Beijing for the start of his three-day trip, his first visit to China since becoming prime minister last May.
He is expected to hold talks with Chinese counterpart Premier Wen Jiabao, President Hu Jintao and other leaders. |
23 Medvedev hails, opponents decry Kremlin party win
By Conor Sweeney, Reuters
2 hrs 37 mins ago
| MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Dmitry Medvedev said Monday a crushing win by Russia's ruling party in local elections proved its moral and legal right to run the regions, but the opposition and independent observers said the voting was rigged.
Medvedev backed the outcome of Sunday's polls even though two months ago he had said "new democratic times are beginning" and promised to break the party's near-monopoly on power.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia was confirmed as the strongest party in just about every poll, retaining power in key locations, including elections for Moscow city, the most populous and affluent region. |
24 Headstrong Honduran ruler resists world pressure
By Frank Jack Daniel, Reuters
2 hrs 22 mins ago
| TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Roberto Micheletti, the headstrong veteran politician who took power in Honduras when President Manuel Zelaya was toppled, is defying international pressure to reinstate his old friend and end media curbs.
Despite repeated warnings from the United States, the European Union and Latin American governments, Micheletti appears to believe they will all buckle in the end and drop demands that Zelaya, who was ousted in a June 28 army coup, be returned to power.
He is betting that the world's attitude toward his de facto government will change as Honduras holds a presidential election on November 29 and the new leader takes office in January. |
25 Watchdog alters Afghan recount rules
By Peter Graff and Sayed Salahuddin, Reuters
Mon Oct 12, 9:52 am ET
| KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's election watchdog changed its fraud-tallying rules for the second time in less than a week on Monday, switching back to a formula that lowers the chance of overturning President Hamid Karzai's first-round win.
In a further sign of disarray, one of only two Afghans on the five-member Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) abruptly resigned. The member, seen by diplomats as a supporter of Karzai, said the commissioners had been subject to foreign interference.
The ECC announced the change in its rules just days before it is due to present the results of its fraud probe, which will determine whether Karzai wins in the first round or needs to face his former foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah, in a run-off. |
26 Guineans in post-massacre protest
AFP
2 hrs 36 mins ago
| CONAKRY (AFP) - Shops, markets and offices were closed Monday in Conakry and other cities after labour unions called on residents to stay home in protest at the September 28 massacre which killed at least 150 people.
Little traffic ventured onto the streets of Guinea's capital two weeks after elite troops opened fire on thousands of demonstrators protesting military rule.
Banks and service stations were also shut in Conakry. |
27 Zelaya supporters blast Honduras media crackdown
AFP
Mon Oct 12, 2:23 am ET
| TEGUCIGALPA (AFP) - Supporters of deposed Honduran president Manuel Zelaya have warned an interim government crackdown on opposition media could derail talks scheduled to resume on Tuesday and aimed at resolving the months-old political crisis.
"It is a really appalling issue, something right out of a dictatorship," said Sunday Rafael Alegria, a leading coordinator of protests against the ouster of Zelaya, the elected president.
A government decree published in the official Gazette Saturday gave authorities the right to "revoke and cancel" licenses of radio and television stations considered to be a threat to "national security" and accused of spreading "hatred." |
28 Evidence of fraud could force Afghan runoff election
By Hal Bernton, McClatchy Newspapers
Mon Oct 12, 12:41 pm ET
| KABUL, Afghanistan - A member of the panel investigating the widespread allegations of fraud in Afghanistan's August 20 presidential election resigned Monday and charged that United Nations officials have interfered in the probe, a possible indication that Afghan Pres. Hamid Karzai may be forced into a runoff against his former foreign minister.
Maulavi Mustafa Barakzai, who was appointed to the panel by Afghanistan's Supreme Court , which is comprised largely of Karzai loyalists, told McClatchy that he resigned out of frustration with what he called "foreign interference" by U.N. officials in the effort to determine how many questionable votes should be tossed out.
The results of the review are expected to be announced later this week. |
29 How the Afghanistan Presidential Election Was Rigged
By PETER W. GALBRAITH, Time Magazine
Mon Oct 12, 11:10 am ET
| No one will ever know how Afghans voted in their country's presidential elections on Aug. 20, 2009. Seven weeks after the polling, the U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) is still trying to separate fraudulent tallies from ballots. In some provinces, many more votes were counted than were cast. E.U. election monitors characterize 1.5 million votes as suspect, which would include up to one-third of the votes cast for incumbent President Hamid Karzai. Once fraud occurs on the scale of what took place in Afghanistan, it is impossible to untangle. |
30 Why Investors Should Bet Against the Dollar
By CESAR BACANI / HONG KONG, Time Magazine
59 mins ago
| Three days after the Reserve Bank of Australia unexpectedly raised interest rates, the monetary policy committee of South Korea's central bank held a meeting. The Oct. 9 gathering was closely followed because the Australian move raised expectations that other central banks will also tighten. Korea held the line. Citing "uncertainty as to the economic growth path," the Bank of Korea kept interest rates at an ultra-low 2%, the result of six rate cuts over the past year. |
| From Yahoo News U.S. News |
31 Swine flu and kids: Heed warning signs, MDs say
By LINDSEY TANNER, AP Medical Writer
49 mins ago
| CHICAGO - Max Gomez was a bright-eyed 5-year-old happy to have just started kindergarten when he developed sniffles and a fever. His mother figured it was only a cold. Three days later, the Antioch, Tenn., boy was dead, apparently from swine flu. At least 76 American children have died from the new virus, and doctors are urging parents to watch for warning signs that the flu has become life-threatening.
Ruth Gomez says Max developed dangerous symptoms - bluish fingers and extreme fatigue after seeming to get better - just one day before he died. She took him to the doctor, but it was too late.
"We were in shock," Gomez said softly, still trying to wrap her mind around her little boy's Aug. 31 death. "There are so many unanswered questions. What happened?" |
32 FBI delves into DMV photos in search for fugitives
By MIKE BAKER, Associated Press Writer
2 mins ago
| RALEIGH, N.C. - In its search for fugitives, the FBI has begun using facial-recognition technology on millions of motorists, comparing driver's license photos with pictures of convicts in a high-tech analysis of chin widths and nose sizes.
The project in North Carolina has already helped nab at least one suspect. Agents are eager to look for more criminals and possibly to expand the effort nationwide. But privacy advocates worry that the method allows authorities to track people who have done nothing wrong.
"Everybody's participating, essentially, in a virtual lineup by getting a driver's license," said Christopher Calabrese, an attorney who focuses on privacy issues at the American Civil Liberties Union. |
33 Small firms face credit squeeze as crisis drags
By Nick Carey, Reuters
1 hr 49 mins ago
| SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Small companies create more than half of America's jobs, but the entrepreneurs who drive this part of the economy continue to complain that access to credit two years into the recession remains scarce.
Small business owners say banks remain extremely wary of risk and a world away from the carefree lending that inflated an epic boom in housing values that went bust and pushed America into its worst economic downturn in decades.
They say their home equity lines of credit have been cut, business credit lines withdrawn and credit card limits slashed. Still profitable firms complain of a major pullback by banks, which many warn will leave a U.S. economic recovery stillborn. |
34 White House hits health insurers ahead of key vote
by Stephen Collinson
2 hrs 41 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - Powerful US insurers turned on President Barack Obama's top priority health care reform drive on the eve of a key congressional committee vote, warning the plan would send family medical expenses soaring.
The White House on Monday hit back sharply at the assault, based on a report for the industry by auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), which doused hopes that the insurance lobby would not seek to block the politically perilous effort.
The PWC study concluded that a version of the bill up for a vote in the Senate Finance Committee would hike projected cost increases per family by 1,700 dollars in four years, and by 4,000 dollars over the next decade. |
35 Gay March on Washington Wins New, Younger Generation
By JOHN CLOUD / WASHINGTON, Time Magazine
Mon Oct 12, 9:20 am ET
| The march on Washington that gays staged Sunday on the National Mall drew something like 200,000 people - that's a good guess based on conversations with many of the organizers and local authorities, although estimates of Mall crowds are notoriously unreliable. But one number you can take to the bank: the average age of those backstage who wore walkie-talkie headsets and staff badges, the men (and a few women) who were behind much of the organizing effort, wasn't over 30. And that, by far, was the oddest thing about the march: Why would a generation wired to their mobile phones and Facebook accounts nearly from birth want to resurrect a form of political expression as old and musty as a mass gathering? |
36 Catholic Schools: How to Fix Parochial Schools' Decline
By GILBERT CRUZ, Time Magazine
1 hr 22 mins ago
| He is neither old nor a priest nor particularly attached to time-honored traditions. At 35, John Eriksen, one of the nation's youngest Catholic-school superintendents, offers a ruthless assessment of parochial education. "The biggest threat that urban Catholic schools face is nostalgia," he says both of districts nationwide and of his own diocese of Paterson, N.J. A Notre Dame and Harvard graduate fluent in Spanish and Arabic, Eriksen is part of the next generation of Catholic leaders in search of new ways to halt decades of student attrition. "We've been running these schools in a way that might have worked 30 or 40 years ago but doesn't work now," he says. |
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Reform Immigration -
March on Washington
