2 Senate Democrats close in on health reform votes
By Donna Smith, Reuters
34 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democratic leaders are close to securing enough votes to advance a sweeping healthcare reform backed by President Barack Obama, a top Senate Democrat said on Sunday, adding that it likely would include a national health plan that would allow states the option of dropping out.
Senator Charles Schumer, a member of the Senate Democratic leadership team, said he is pushing a compromise that would create a new national health insurance plan and allow states to opt out. The proposed public plan would compete on a level playing field with other insurers, he said.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is expected to produce a bill on Monday that will be sent to the Congressional Budget Office for an official cost estimate, an aide said. |
3 U.N. experts inspect Iran's new nuclear site
By Hossein Jaseb, Reuters
Sun Oct 25, 9:57 am ET
| TEHRAN (Reuters) - A team from the U.N. nuclear watchdog inspected a nuclear site in Iran on Sunday that has heightened Western fears of a covert program to develop atomic bombs, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
Iran added to global concerns over its nuclear intentions in September by revealing the existence of the site in central Iran after Western spy services penetrated a three-year veil of secrecy.
"The inspectors ... visited the facility in central Iran. They are expected to visit the site again," Mehr reported, without giving a source. |
4 Pakistan forces bomb Taliban in South Waziristan
By Alamgir Bitani, Reuters
1 hr 13 mins ago
| PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani aircraft attacked Taliban in the South Waziristan region on Sunday a day after the army said it had captured a strategic town on an approach to the militants' main base area.
Separately, gunmen on a motorcycle shot dead the minister of education in the provincial government in Baluchistan, a gas-rich southwestern province where separatist rebels have been waging a low-level insurgency for decades.
A separatist group claimed responsibility. |
5 Israeli police, Arabs clash near Jerusalem mosque
By Allyn Fisher-Ilan, Reuters
52 mins ago
| JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli police stormed Jerusalem's al-Aqsa mosque compound on Sunday, hurling stun grenades at Palestinians who threw rocks at them, in another outbreak of violence at the holy city's most sensitive site.
A Palestinian Red Crescent medic said 18 Palestinians were injured. Police reported that three officers were hurt.
The unrest, following a similar incident a month ago, did not appear to herald any immediate slide into widespread violence that could disrupt U.S.-led efforts to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, suspended since December. |
6 Developing nation Anglicans decline pope's offer
By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor, Reuters
1 hr 2 mins ago
| PARIS (Reuters) - Conservative bishops who say they represent almost half the world's Anglicans urged fellow believers on Sunday to reform the Anglican Communion rather than take up Pope Benedict's invitation to join the Roman Catholic Church.
The "Global South" group, which last year seemed close to quitting the Communion, said those opposed to gay clergy and other liberal reforms should "stand firm with us in cherishing the Anglican heritage (and) pursuing a common vocation."
Indirectly declining the pope's offer to receive alienated Anglicans, the group called on the Communion's member churches to adopt a "covenant" to coordinate policy in the loosely structured 77-million-strong worldwide Anglican community. |
7 Uruguay vote pits ex-guerrilla and former president
By Kevin Gray, Reuters
Sun Oct 25, 9:10 am ET
| MONTEVIDEO (Reuters) - Uruguayans cast ballots in a presidential election on Sunday pitting a former guerrilla leader against a conservative ex-president with both men vowing to maintain market-friendly policies in one of South America's most stable economies.
Polls show Jose Mujica, 74, a plain-talking senator who fought with the Tupamaros movement during the 1960s and early 1970s, easily finishing first but just short of an outright majority to avoid a runoff.
His main rival is Luis Lacalle, a former president who held office from 1990 to 1995 and has sought to capitalize on some voter resistance to Mujica's militant past. |
8 Asian leaders seek to reduce Western trade ties
By Jason Szep and Martin Petty, Reuters
Sun Oct 25, 8:01 am ET
| HUA HIN, Thailand (Reuters) - Asia-Pacific leaders called on Sunday for regional-wide free trade and other measures to reduce dependence on the United States and big Western markets as Asia leads the way out of the global economic downturn.
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama urged Asian leaders to keep up fiscal and monetary stimulus measures even as their economies show mounting signs of recovery, saying there was "no room for complacency" and that the job market was still "dire."
"At the moment the global economy is showing signs of recovery, mainly in Asia," Hatoyama told the closed-door East Asia Summit of 16 Asia-Pacific leaders in the Thai town of Hua Hin, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama. |
9 EU leaders seek treaty, climate change deals
Reuters
Sun Oct 25, 6:53 am ET
| BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union leaders hope to reach a deal at a summit this week removing the last obstacles to a treaty to give the bloc more global clout, but face a battle over funding for a global climate change agreement.
Failure to break the deadlock would risk leaving the 27-country bloc looking impotent when it is trying to strengthen its role on the world stage and the influence of emerging powers such as China is growing following the economic crisis.
EU leaders say publicly they are hopeful of breaking the impasse on both issues. But much depends on quiet diplomacy in the run-up to the summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. |
10 Thousands gather worldwide on day of climate protests
AFP
Sat Oct 24, 3:45 pm ET
| PARIS (AFP) - Kicking off with thousands gathering on the steps of Sydney's iconic Opera House, global warming protests took place around the world Saturday to mark 50 days before the UN climate summit.
From Asia to Europe via the Middle East, activists staged lively events addressing world leaders and to mobilise public opinion around climate issues.
Many waved placards bearing the logo 350, referring to 350 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 in the atmosphere which scientists say must not be exceeded to avoid runaway global warming. |
11 Recession or not? US economy likely to be in limbo
by Rob Lever Rob Lever - Sun Oct 25, 12:34 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US economy is poised to show growth in the third quarter, rebounding from its worst slump in decades, but whether the recession is over is a more complex question.
The first official estimate due Thursday on gross domestic product (GDP), or output of goods and services, is expected to show expansion of between 3.0 and 4.0 percent in the July-September period after four negative quarters in a row.
Yet the economy may linger for months in a "no-man's land" in which GDP is expanding but no one is sure if the recession is "officially" ended, because of the way business cycles are defined in the United States. |
12 Mozambican parties make final push for votes
by Joshua Howat Berger, AFP
Sat Oct 24, 10:46 pm ET
| MAPUTO (AFP) - Mozambique's political parties prepared their final push for votes Sunday, the last day of campaigning for Wednesday elections that are widely expected to be won by ruling party Frelimo.
With Mozambique's opposition divided by a recent split, getting out the vote is seen as crucial in a race where turnout, rather than victory, will be the measure of satisfaction with incumbent President Armando Guebuza and Frelimo, the party that has governed Mozambique since independence in 1975.
"Guebuza's biggest opponent is going to be voter turnout," said Anne Pitcher, a political scientist at the University of Michigan. |
13 FACT CHECK: Health insurer profits not so fat
By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press Writer
46 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - Quick quiz: What do these enterprises have in common? Farm and construction machinery, Tupperware, the railroads, Hershey sweets, Yum food brands and Yahoo? Answer: They're all more profitable than the health insurance industry.
In the health care debate, Democrats and their allies have gone after insurance companies as rapacious profiteers making "immoral" and "obscene" returns while "the bodies pile up."
Ledgers tell a different reality. Health insurance profit margins typically run about 6 percent, give or take a point or two. That's anemic compared with other forms of insurance and a broad array of industries, even some beleaguered ones. |
14 Lawmakers split on timing of Afghan decision
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer
46 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - Top lawmakers sparred Sunday over the timing of President Barack Obama's decision on how to move ahead in Afghanistan, with Republicans urging a quick move to boost troop levels and Democrats counseling patience.
In partisan displays, senators generally agreed on the need to support whatever Afghan government emerges from a Nov. 7 run-off election between President Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah. But they differed on exactly how to do that and when.
Republicans said Obama must sign off soon on a recommendation from the top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, to substantially increase the number of American troops there by as many as 40,000 or more. Democrats warned against a hasty decision on any increase. |
15 Alaskans await progress on Palin pipeline plan
By DAN JOLING, Associated Press Writer
Sun Oct 25, 10:47 am ET
| ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Sarah Palin hit the vice presidential campaign trail last year and touted what Alaska could provide for the rest of America - a natural gas pipeline to help lead the country to energy independence.
When a pipeline might be built remains a giant question for Alaskans who need the project to support a vulnerable economy and for the Lower 48 states that need the gas, and a petroleum economist who spent more than 25 years in the Alaska Department of Revenue says it may never happen under Palin's plan.
The former governor's proposal used faulty accounting to reach the flawed conclusion that a pipeline owned by a third-party would be more profitable than one owned by major gas producers, who must be on board for any project to be successful, wrote Roger Marks, in his paper, "Why America May Not See Alaska Natural Gas Soon," published last month in the Journal of Economic Issues. |
16 Afghan president, challenger endorse runoff
By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 24 mins ago
| KABUL - President Hamid Karzai and his challenger ruled out a power-sharing deal before Afghanistan's Nov. 7 runoff, saying the second round of balloting must be held as planned to bolster democracy in this war-ravaged country.
Some Obama administration officials had said the U.S. would be receptive to a deal to avoid another disruptive election if Karzai and former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah agreed.
However, both Afghan candidates said on talk shows televised Sunday in the United States that they were committed to a second-round vote, despite the huge security and logistical challenges and the threat of Taliban attacks against voters. |
17 Earnings reports to give picture of job market
By TALI ARBEL, AP Business Writer
Sun Oct 25, 7:58 am ET
| NEW YORK - Wall Street may be roaring again and manufacturers see a bright future selling their wares in Asia. But for many Americans, it's still a downturn until the jobs come back.
This week, earnings from several companies with deep ties to corporate payrolls, consumer demand and the labor market will show whether employers are hiring, firing or holding off on filling vacancies.
This recession has already seen more than 7 million lost jobs. That's because shoppers slowed their spending, bank lending froze and businesses cut back on capital investments. So cash-strapped companies slashed payrolls - and benefits - in order to curb expenses as sales dropped. |
18 Nuclear energy becomes pivotal in climate debate
By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer
Sun Oct 25, 10:36 am ET
| WASHINGTON - Nuclear energy, once vilified by environmentalists and facing a dim future, has become a pivotal bargaining chip as Senate Democrats hunt for Republican votes to pass climate legislation.
The industry's long-standing campaign to rebrand itself as green is gaining footing as part of the effort to curtail greenhouse gases.
Nuclear power still faces daunting challenges, including the fate of highly radioactive reactor waste. Reactors remain a tempting target for terrorists, requiring ever vigilant security measures. |
19 Video shows Calif. police beating of student
Associated Press
1 hr 30 mins ago
| SAN JOSE, Calif. - A cell phone video that shows police officers repeatedly hitting an unarmed university student with batons and a Taser gun has prompted a criminal investigation into the officers' conduct, a San Jose police spokesman said.
The video, posted by the San Jose Mercury News on its Web site late Saturday, shows one officer hitting 20-year-old Vietnamese student Phuong Ho with a metal baton more than 10 times, including once on the head. Another officer is seen using his Taser gun on the San Jose State math major.
The final baton strike in last month's incident appears to take place after handcuffs have been attached to Ho's wrists. |
20 Patients - and patience - in health care end game
By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Writer
Sun Oct 25, 1:21 am ET
| WASHINGTON - In Congress these days, the health care debate is as much about patience as patients.
In a closed-door meeting of feisty House Democrats this past week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., served notice that in these final days before the Senate and House present comprehensive bills to overhaul the nation's system, hers is running short.
Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., had interrupted Pelosi's presentation about one version of the bill with questions about its cost. According to Pomeroy and others, she cut him off - twice - with a question of her own: |
21 Tired from a tough hike? Rescuers fear Yuppie 911
By TRACIE CONE, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 24 mins ago
| FRESNO, Calif. - Last month two men and their teenage sons tackled one of the world's most unforgiving summertime hikes: the Grand Canyon's parched and searing Royal Arch Loop. Along with bedrolls and freeze-dried food, the inexperienced backpackers carried a personal locator beacon - just in case.
In the span of three days, the group pushed the panic button three times, mobilizing helicopters for dangerous, lifesaving rescues inside the steep canyon walls.
What was that emergency? The water they had found to quench their thirst "tasted salty." |
22 As workers choose health plans, skepticism abounds
By KRISTEN WYATT, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 48 mins ago
| DENVER - Looking for happy faces? Don't go near employer health fairs in the coming months.
American workers are facing rising health insurance premiums for fewer services, and they are glum about the prospects for improvement as Congress mulls a health care overhaul and large employers nationwide start the fall period where workers can change their coverage plans.
Workers and employers both are looking at higher health tabs for next year. And with proposed health care overhauls at least three years away, cynicism about the state of the nation's health care is running high. It's enough to give some insurance health fairs all the pizazz of a dour mandatory lecture. |
23 THE INFLUENCE GAME: Bill Gates sways govt dollars
By LIBBY QUAID and DONNA BLANKINSHIP, Associated Press Writers
Sun Oct 25, 10:18 am ET
| WASHINGTON - The real secretary of education, the joke goes, is Bill Gates.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has been the biggest player by far in the school reform movement, spending around $200 million a year on grants to elementary and secondary education.
Now the foundation is taking unprecedented steps to influence education policy, spending millions to influence how the federal government distributes $5 billion in grants to overhaul public schools. |
24 Fla. gov's Obama hug lingers in US Senate primary
By BRENDAN FARRINGTON, AP Political Writer
Sun Oct 25, 7:32 am ET
| TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Republican Gov. Charlie Crist probably wasn't worried that literally embracing President Barack Obama back in February and strongly supporting the $787 billion federal stimulus package would hurt his U.S. Senate campaign.
Sure, the hardcore party base wasn't happy, but the appearance was an opportunity to win over Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans who voted for Obama. The president's approval ratings were high, and any Republican thinking about running for an open seat in 2010 stopped thinking about it when Crist signaled interest.
All except former House Speaker Marco Rubio. Political insiders said it wasn't logical to challenge an incumbent governor who had high approval ratings and could raise gobs of money. However, Rubio said it didn't make sense for the highest-profile Republican in Florida to embrace a Democratic president and a plan that would raise the federal deficit. |
25 Cash for Clunkers trade-ins piling up
By KEN THOMAS, Associated Press Writer
Sat Oct 24, 8:26 pm ET
| WASHINGTON - Trade-ins from the Cash for Clunkers program are piling up and auto recyclers are seeking more time to meet the deadline for disposing of all those vehicles.
At some places, Ford Explorers, Chevy Blazers, Chrysler Town & Country minivans and other popular clunkers are parked bumper to bumper on several acres, many marked "C4C" on their windows, waiting to be drained of fluids, stripped of valuable parts and eventually flattened for scrap.
"I've got a parking lot of almost 4,000 vehicles right now," said Harry Haluptzok, chief executive of John's Auto Parts in Blaine, Minn., near Minneapolis. His business typically dismantles 100 vehicles per week, but the workload has now more than doubled, and Haluptzok hired 10 more workers to keep up with all the extra vehicles. |
26 Opposition activist killed in southern Russia
By SHAMSUDIN BOKOV, Associated Press Writer
45 mins ago
| NAZRAN, Russia - A prominent human rights activist in Russia's southern province of Ingushetia was shot dead Sunday in at least the third killing of an opposition figure in the volatile North Caucasus region in just over three months.
Maksharip Aushev worked to publicize human rights abuses and organize rallies against Ingushetia's deeply unpopular former president, Murat Zyazikov. He died when several assailants sprayed his vehicle with automatic gunfire from a passing car. A woman traveling with him was badly wounded in the attack on a road in the neighboring province of Kabardino-Balkariya, police said.
Aushev's murder follows the killing in July of Natalya Estemirova, a prominent human rights activist who was found shot dead in Ingushetia after being kidnapped in Chechnya. And in August, Zarema Sadulayeva, a Chechen woman who helped injured children, and her husband were kidnapped and killed. |
27 Iraqi searches for brothers in ancient cemetery
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer
Sun Oct 25, 11:51 am ET
| NAJAF, Iraq - The graves stretch some 10 miles into the desert, in what may be the largest cemetery in the world.
Near the center lie the older ones, packed closely together in a jumble of tall clay mounds and blue-domed mausoleums. Here is the final resting ground for those killed during Saddam Hussein's brutal regime or in the war against Iran and other cases and causes that date back centuries.
In the outskirts of the cemetery, the city fades into the background and the graves grow farther apart. This area is for the newly dead, the ones killed in the violence that erupted after the U.S. occupied Iraq in 2003. |
28 From ecological Soviet-era ruin, a sea is reborn
By PETER LEONARD, Associated Press Writer
Sun Oct 25, 11:55 am ET
| AKESPE, Kazakhstan - Standing on the shore under the relentless Central Asian sun, Badarkhan Prikeyev drew on a cigarette and squinted into the distance as one fishing boat after another returned with the day's catch.
Until recently, this spot where the fish merchant was standing, in a man-made desert at the edge of nowhere, represented one of the world's worst environmental calamities.
Now fresh water was lapping at his boots, proclaiming an environmental miracle - the return of the Aral Sea. |
29 Vatican aims to reintegrate traditionalists
By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press Writer
Sun Oct 25, 11:00 am ET
| VATICAN CITY - The Vatican begins talks Monday to bring a group of breakaway traditionalist Catholics back under its wing, nine months after the pope created an uproar by rehabilitating one of their bishops despite his denial of the Holocaust.
A delegation from the Society of St. Pius X travels to the Vatican for a first round of meetings aimed at overcoming the deep theological differences that prompted the group to split from Rome following the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
No breakthroughs are expected in what will likely be a lengthy negotiation. |
30 Nigeria militant group calls indefinite cease-fire
By BASHIR ADIGUN, Associated Press Writer
Sun Oct 25, 11:24 am ET
| ABUJA, Nigeria - Nigeria's main militant group declared an indefinite cease-fire Sunday, raising the prospect of peace in the oil-rich Delta region after nearly three years of hostilities have crippled production.
While the group has declared cease-fires before, this indefinite truce has greater significance as it comes soon after several high-profile militant commanders agreed to take part in a government amnesty to disarm.
Last week, Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua met with longtime militant leader Henry Okah, a move the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta says led to its to decision to declare the latest cease-fire. |
31 Tunisians set to elect Ben Ali president, again
By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU, Associated Press Writer
28 mins ago
| TUNIS, Tunisia - Tunisians cast ballots Sunday for president and parliament in elections expected to hand another landslide victory to incumbent leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who warned opponents they would face legal retaliation if they questioned the elections' fairness.
The campaign offered timid gestures toward the opposition in this tourist haven that is allied with the U.S. and Europe but criticized by human rights groups for not following through on pledges to liberalize.
On a sunny day, turnout was 84 percent of the more than 5 million voters registered two hours before polls closed at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT, 1 p.m. EDT), according to the official TAP news agency. No incidents were reported. |
32 Karadzic trial set to start without Karadzic
By MIKE CORDER, Associated Press Writer
Sun Oct 25, 7:38 am ET
| THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The trial of Radovan Karadzic starts Monday - one of the most significant war crimes cases to emerge from Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II. The Bosnian Serb leader is boycotting the opening in a defiant gesture against what he considers a rush to justice by the U.N. court prosecuting him.
His refusal to show up at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal is a blow to survivors who hold him responsible for tens of thousands of deaths during the brutal 1992-95 Bosnian war.
Even so, Munira Subasic, who lost a husband and a son when Bosnian Serb forces murdered 8,000 Muslim men in the U.N.-protected Srebrenica enclave in July 2005, said the case comes as a relief after the trial of Karadzic's former political mentor Slobodan Milosevic collapsed without a verdict after he died in 2006. |
33 German trial over stabbing death of Muslim woman
By MELISSA EDDY, Associated Press Writer
Sun Oct 25, 7:46 am ET
| BERLIN - The trial of a man accused of stabbing a pregnant Egyptian woman to death in a German court - an attack that outraged Muslims - opens Monday in the same courthouse, but under much greater security.
Some 200 police officers are to secure the Dresden state court, and bulletproof glass has been installed in the courtroom where the alleged assailant, identified only as Alexander W., goes on trial accused of murder, attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm.
Marwa al-Sherbini, 31, was giving evidence in July against a man charged with defamation for having called her a "terrorist" and "Islamist" when he attacked her. The young woman died after being stabbed 18 times. Her husband was also stabbed. |
34 Merkel's new govt dubbed political 'Jurassic Park'
by Deborah Cole, AFP
Sun Oct 25, 10:30 am ET
| BERLIN (AFP) - Trade unions, opposition leaders and the press savaged German Chancellor Angela Merkel's new-look government Sunday over what they called a fiscally reckless and socially unjust plan for the next term.
The conservative Merkel handily won re-election last month and dumped her partners, the Social Democrats, for the smaller, business-friendly Free Democrats, with whom she presented the coalition's plans Saturday.
Their roadmap for the next four years in power, including 24 billion euros (36 billion dollars) in tax breaks, won some praise from business leaders for aiming to lift Europe's biggest economy out of its deepest postwar slump. |
35 Pressure mounts over Iraq election law deadlock
by Prashant Rao, AFP
2 hrs 18 mins ago
| BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraqi leaders prepared to meet on Sunday amid increased international pressure to end a deadlock over a stalled election law and growing concern that January polls will have to be delayed.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki warned that postponing the elections would threaten the legitimacy of parliament and the government, while a top Iraqi general cautioned that a delay risked increasing instability.
As if to confirm Lieutenant General Ali Ghaidan Majeed's warning, twin suicide car bombs in central Baghdad on Sunday morning killed at least 99 people and wounded around 700. |
36 Costs for U.S. project in Afghanistan balloon, benefit hyped
By Marisa Taylor, McClatchy Newspapers
Sun Oct 25, 6:00 am ET
| KABUL, Afghanistan - Flipping a switch on one of Afghanistan's long-awaited electrical power plants in August, U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry urged Afghans to think of U.S. taxpayers' support when they turn their lights on at night.
Only about 6 percent of Afghans are estimated to have electricity, and in his appearance with President Hamid Karzai east of Kabul , Eikenberry hailed the project as part of the country's emergence out of the "darkness" of oppression and isolation.
To some U.S. experts, however, the project is the latest example of exaggerated political expectations and wasted American taxpayers' dollars in the effort to rebuild Afghanistan . |
| From Yahoo News U.S. News |
37 RI tracking swine flu through electronic records
By ERIC TUCKER, Associated Press Writer
31 mins ago
| PROVIDENCE, R.I. - State health officials are tracking the spread of swine flu through electronic prescription records, developing what they believe is a model that could help doctors more easily identify and respond to an outbreak of the illness.
Rhode Island is believed to be the first state to use electronic pharmacy prescription data to track swine flu among its entire population, said Rob Cronin, a spokesman for Surescripts, which operates the country's largest electronic prescriptions network. The company says it believes the state is also the first to have all of its pharmacies set up to receive electronic prescriptions from doctors.
Surescripts is using information supplied by pharmacies to document how much Tamiflu and other antivirals are being dispensed to patients. The company is giving the data - categorized by zip codes of the pharmacies where the medicine is dispensed and the age group of the patient receiving it - to epidemiologists at the state health department. |
38 Federal trial looms in alleged $3.65B Ponzi scheme
By STEVE KARNOWSKI, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 18 mins ago
| MINNEAPOLIS - Until the Bernard Madoff scandal broke, it was a Minnesota businessman who stood accused of orchestrating the largest Ponzi scheme authorities could ever recall.
Tom Petters, 52, who seemed to have a golden touch as he built a small merchandise liquidation company into a diversified empire that owned well-known businesses such as Polaroid, goes on trial this week. The size of his alleged fraud: $3.65 billion.
Petters' world began to unravel a year ago when his trusted lieutenant, Deanna Coleman, walked into the U.S. attorney's office with what prosecutors called a "staggering" allegation. |
39 Detroit house auction flops for urban wasteland
By Kevin Krolicki, Reuters
12 mins ago
| DETROIT (Reuters) - In a crowded ballroom next to a bankrupt casino, what remains of the Detroit property market was being picked over by speculators and mostly discarded.
After five hours of calling out a drumbeat of "no bid" for properties listed in an auction book as thick as a city phone directory, the energy of the county auctioneer began to flag.
"OK," he said. "We only have 300 more pages to go." |
40 Tax auction faces scrutiny as Detroit woes mount
By Kevin Krolicki, Reuters
2 hrs 49 mins ago
| DETROIT (Reuters) - To understand why critics say the market-based tax foreclosure system is failing in Detroit, drive up Desoto Street near the city's geographic center.
The street is a mix of older ranch-style homes, new construction financed by a local church and wide-open green spaces where homes have been demolished or burned down.
Fifteen vacant lots on the street were listed in the October auction by Wayne County officials after owners failed to pay taxes for the past three years. None of the lots sold at the minimum bid of $500. |
41 Galleon insider trading web extends back to 1990s
By Alexandria Sage and Clare Baldwin, Reuters
Fri Oct 23, 8:24 pm ET
| SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An informant in the Galleon Group insider trading scandal had a history of sending tips to the firm, according to a court document that surfaced on Friday.
The hedge fund run by billionaire Raj Rajaratnam received highly confidential nonpublic information about Intel Corp from the informant, Roomy Khan, as early as 1998, according to a criminal complaint filed under seal in 2001.
Last week, federal investigators brought criminal charges against Galleon founder Raj Rajaratnam and five others in the largest hedge fund insider trading case in history. |
42 Deserted shopping mall symbol of Fed bailout
By Alister Bull, Reuters
Fri Oct 23, 2:03 pm ET
| OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - A $29 billion trail from the Federal Reserve's bailout of Wall Street investment bank Bear Stearns ends in a partially deserted shopping center on a bleak spot on the south side of Oklahoma City.
The Fed now owns the Crossroads Mall, a sprawling shopping complex at the junction of Interstate highways 240 and 35, complete with an oil well pumping crude in the car park -- except the Fed does not own the mineral rights.
The Fed finds itself in the unusual situation of being an Oklahoma City landlord after it lent JPMorgan Chase $29 billion to buy Bear Stearns last year. |
43 NY court rules against Stuyvesant Town owners
By Ilaina Jonas and Joan Gralla, Reuters
Thu Oct 22, 3:48 pm ET
| NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York State's highest court on Thursday ruled that the landlords of Manhattan's largest apartment complex improperly raised thousands of rents, further pushing the owners of the $5.4 billion deal struck at the height of a commercial real estate boom toward default.
The ruling is another blow to a property that already has seen much of its value evaporate during the downturn in the U.S. commercial real estate market.
"I think everyone's wiped out," Dan Fasulo, managing director of real estate research firm Real Capital Analytics, said of the non-senior investors in the 2006 sale. |
44 Congress cranks up pressure on insurance industry
By Donna Smith and John Whitesides, Reuters
Thu Oct 22, 7:40 am ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats in the U.S. Congress moved on Wednesday to repeal the health insurance industry's exemption from antitrust laws, cranking up the pressure in a growing battle over President Barack Obama's healthcare reform plans.
The moves were the latest chapter in an escalating feud between the industry and backers of sweeping healthcare reform that would tighten regulations and create a government-run public insurance option to compete with private insurers.
The fight intensified after an industry lobbying group issued a report saying the healthcare reform plan under consideration in Congress would raise insurance premiums, which sparked protests from Democrats and the White House. |
45 NASA is 'go' for crucial rocket test
by Jean-Louis Santini, AFP
1 hr 56 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - NASA is set to blast off a prototype rocket on Tuesday that carries hopes of returning humans to the Moon, and for the first time to Mars, despite deep uncertainty about the program's future.
The space agency said everything is in order for Tuesday's two-minute, 30-second test of the Ares I-X rocket, a first look at the launch vehicle designed to replace NASA's aging space shuttle fleet.
It is "an early opportunity to test and prove flight characteristics, hardware, facilities and ground operations associated with the Ares I," the space agency said. |
46 Obama aims to rescue reeling Democrats
by Stephen Collinson, AFP
Sun Oct 25, 1:08 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - A year ago, Barack Obama and Joe Biden were in the home stretch of a pulsating White House race, belting out speeches to pumped up crowds and days away from crushing Republican John McCain.
The Democratic duo, now president and vice president, are back on the stump again, but the euphoric crowds have thinned and the electrifying crusade for change seems somewhat sullied by the inevitable compromises of governing.
Taking time out from multiple crises, Obama has reeled off a string of appearances, polishing his own political skills in some of the few races scheduled a year before much more important 2010 mid-term Congressional polls. |
47 Wall Street eyes new catalyst as earnings rally fades
AFP
Sat Oct 24, 11:55 am ET
| NEW YORK (AFP) - The earnings-driven rally of the past few weeks appears to have run out of steam on Wall Street, leaving the market in search of a new catalyst heading into the final stretch of 2009.
The main stock indexes remain near 12-month highs, but gains have been harder to achieve following the sizzling move since March of some 60 percent for the broad market.
Wall Street has been pleasantly surprised by the strength of third-quarter corporate earnings. Analysts, though, say their ability to spark fresh gains appears to be diminished. |
48 US sees millions of swine flu cases, over 1,000 deaths
by Karin Zeitvogel, AFP
Fri Oct 23, 7:17 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - Swine flu has infected "many millions" and killed over 1,000 people in the United States -- around a fifth of the world's total -- since the outbreak began six months ago, a top health official said Friday.
"We have seen, since the beginning of the pandemic in April and May, more than 1,000 deaths from pandemic influenza and more than 20,000 hospitalizations in this country," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) chief Thomas Frieden told reporters.
"We have had, up until now, many millions of cases of pandemic influenza in the US, and the numbers continue to increase," he added, lamenting the scarcity of influenza A(H1N1) vaccine. |
49 Obama administration slashes executive salaries
by Stephen Collinson, AFP
Fri Oct 23, 2:28 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Obama administration has opted to slash executive salaries at firms rescued by taxpayer bailouts, cutting cash payments by 90 percent amid a public backlash at bloated Wall Street bonuses.
In a dramatic government swipe at big business as unemployment nears 10 percent and the economic crisis reaps a painful toll, President Barack Obama's corporate pay czar also hacked away at corporate perks and "golden handshake" payoffs.
The US Federal Reserve meanwhile fired its own shot at the corporate gravy train, unveiling new rules to curb pay awards at top banks that encourage excessive risk-taking which imperils the wider financial system. |
50 How Drug Industry Lobbyists Got Their Way on Health Care
By KAREN TUMULTY AND MICHAEL SCHERER, Time Magazine
Thu Oct 22, 10:30 am ET
| In Congress, committee chairmen are known as the old bulls for a reason: it's unwise to provoke them. So it isn't often that you see one get rolled by his own committee - especially when the chairman in question is the formidable and canny Henry Waxman and the issue in question is one that matters a lot to him. But that was what happened on July 31 as the House Energy and Commerce Committee was putting the final touches on health-reform legislation. Waxman's fellow California Democrat Anna Eshoo offered a last-minute amendment that Waxman opposed. Knowing he would lose, Waxman decided to save face with a quick voice vote. But Eshoo insisted on a roll call, which would put every member on record. Waxman snapped at her, "You promised you wouldn't do that!" The final tally was 47-11 against the chairman. |
51 How Plagiarism Software Found a New Shakespeare Play
By GAELLE FAURE / LONDON, Time Magazine
Tue Oct 20, 10:35 am ET
| Plagiarism-detection software was created with lazy, sneaky college students in mind - not the likes of William Shakespeare. Yet the software may have settled a centuries-old mystery over the authorship of an unattributed play from the late 1500s called The Reign of Edward III. Literature scholars have long debated whether the play was written by Shakespeare - some bits are incredibly Bard-like, but others don't resemble his style at all. The verdict, according to one expert: the play is likely a collaboration between Shakespeare and Thomas Kyd, another popular playwright of his time. |
52 The Senate Prepares to Challenge the Czars
By JAY NEWTON-SMALL / WASHINGTON, Time Magazine
Thu Oct 22, 10:30 am ET
| There has been a lot of talk - and some hyperbole - in recent weeks surrounding the Obama Administration's growing stable of imperial czars. But is there anything to all this chatter? This is what the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will examine Thursday in the first full committee hearing on the topic. At the heart of the session: does the proliferation of czars - a practice favored by presidents from both parties - undermine the ability of Congress to conduct oversight of the executive branch? |
53 Florida's Red-Meat Primary
By JOE KLEIN, Time Magazine
Thu Oct 22, 6:00 pm ET
| On a recent Saturday night in Daytona Beach - with a thousand or so bikers exercising their unalienable right to be extremely noisy in the streets - Marco Rubio, the new ultraconservative poster boy running for the U.S. Senate in Florida, offered the Volusia County Republican Party a carefully calibrated, and rather compelling, celebration of freedom. He spoke about his Cuban heritage. His parents had escaped Castro. "It is possible to lose your freedom. You can have your family business taken over by 'the people.' You can lose your country. My parents did," he said, while carefully adding that he wasn't saying that would happen here. |
54 The Week of Living Cheaply.
By JOEL STEIN, Time Magazine
Sat Oct 24, 12:55 pm ET
| The recession has hit us in the hollywood hills very hard. Several times I've seen people walking not only their own dogs but also their own children. Though it has not yet come to that for me, I figured I should at least learn how to cut back my spending. And unfold the stroller. |
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Reform Immigration -
March on Washington
