2 'Rogue' Afghan policeman kills five British troops
AFP
2 hrs 18 mins ago
| KABUL (AFP) - A "rogue" Afghan policeman shot dead five British soldiers in Afghanistan, in an attack that Prime Minister Gordon Brown blamed on the Taliban as he faced renewed questions Wednesday over the war.
The Afghan attacker on Tuesday opened fire at a checkpoint in the Nad Ali district of southern Helmand province -- where the vast majority of Britain's nearly 9,000 troops are based -- before fleeing the scene.
The soldiers killed had been mentoring Afghan police and living at the checkpoint. Brown condemned the incident as "terrible and tragic". |
3 Italy convicts 23 US agents in CIA kidnapping trial
by Gina Doggett, AFP
1 hr 44 mins ago
| MILAN (AFP) - An Italian judge Wednesday convicted 23 US and two Italian secret agents for the CIA's kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in 2003 under the covert "extraordinary rendition" programme.
The CIA's Milan station chief at the time, Robert Seldon Lady, was sentenced to eight years in prison and the other Americans to five years, all in their absence in the landmark trial.
The two Italians were given three-year prison terms following the first trial involving the transfer of a "war on terror" suspect by CIA operatives thought to have sent scores of people to countries known to practise torture. |
!
4 Police and protesters clash violently in Tehran
by Jay Deshmukh, AFP
50 mins ago
| TEHRAN (AFP) - Riot police waded in with batons and teargas to break up opposition protests in Tehran on Wednesday, as huge crowds staged a noisy anti-US rally nearby to mark the storming of the American embassy by students 30 years ago.
Witnesses said the clashes occurred at Haft-e-Tir Square in the heart of the capital, where several hundred opposition supporters had gathered mid-morning to stage a demonstration.
Riot police roared in on motorcycles and fired teargas at the protesters, who were chanting "Death to the dictator." |
5 British mercenary home after E. Guinea pardon
by Robin Millard, AFP
1 hr 23 mins ago
| LUTON, England (AFP) - British mercenary Simon Mann voiced relief Wednesday as he arrived home after more than five "tough" years behind bars for a failed 2004 coup plot in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.
Mann flew back to Britain on a private jet facing a possible new investigation into the coup plot, which could implicate other influential associates.
The former SAS officer said he was "hugely grateful" to the man he attempted to overthrow, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who on Tuesday pardoned him and other leaders of the failed coup on humanitarian grounds. |
6 GM scraps plan to sell Vauxhall
by Rob Lever, AFP
Wed Nov 4, 5:12 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - The government said on Wednesday it would work closely with General Motors after the US automaker scrapped an on-again, off-again plan to sell its big European division, Opel, that had triggered a political and diplomatic controversy.
The surprise announcement by GM on Tuesday dealt a blow to German Chancellor Angela Merkel as she visited Washington after having backed the move to sell Opel to a venture led by Canada's Magna as the best way of saving jobs in Germany.
Berlin reacted with dismay and Merkel has asked that her cabinet meet on Wednesday. "The German government regrets the decision," government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said in a statement. |
7 GM axes Opel sale, reclaims small-car jewel
by William Ickes, AFP
Wed Nov 4, 9:57 am ET
| FRANKFURT (AFP) - General Motors has brought the sale of its European car division Opel/Vauxhall to a screeching halt, fuelling fear and anger in Germany on Wednesday as the US group reset its global auto strategy.
Some German auto analysts felt the decision was logical from an industrial viewpoint but politicians and unions were furious.
Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle slammed GM's ditching of a deal with the Canadian auto parts group Magna and Russian Sberbank as "totally unacceptable." |
8 GM re-sets strategy, scraps Opel sale
by William Ickes, AFP
1 hr 40 mins ago
| FRANKFURT (AFP) - General Motors has unexpectedly re-set its global development strategy, scrapping plans to sell its German-based European unit Opel and retaining key small-car expertise in a bid to shore up an escape from bankruptcy.
The dramatic news sparked outrage Wednesday in Germany but drew more muted expressions of surprise in Spain, concern in Britain and delight in Poland -- three European countries where the US auto maker also has operations.
The decision Tuesday came against an improving European economic backdrop but left open questions that could decide Opel's ultimate fate, such as whether its ability to build good compact cars is enough in a turbulent, crowded marketplace. |
9 Toyota joins F1 exodus
by Shingo Ito, AFP
Wed Nov 4, 6:00 am ET
| TOKYO (AFP) - Formula One was left reeling Wednesday as Toyota became the latest automaker to quit the glamour sport in response to the economic crisis, just days after tyre manufacturer Bridgestone pulled out.
Toyota said its decision to quit after this year's season, which ended Sunday in Abu Dhabi, reflected "the current severe economic realities."
Honda and Germany's BMW have already exited F1 to cope with the credit crunch. Toyota's withdrawal leaves no Japanese automaker left in the high-octane motorsport, raising fresh fears for its future. |
10 Chinese giant to buy US oil assets: company
by Pierre-Henry Deshayes, AFP
Wed Nov 4, 8:16 am ET
| OSLO (AFP) - Norwegian energy group Statoil said Wednesday it was selling some of its US offshore oil assets to China's state-owned CNOOC, marking the first step by a Chinese energy major into the US market.
The sale, announced along with Statoil's quarterly results, involves a limited stake for the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in four exploitation licences for deepwater blocks bought in 2007 and 2008.
"On 29 October Statoil signed a farm down agreement with the Chinese company CNOOC involving a number of Statoil's leases in the Gulf of Mexico," Statoil said in its third-quarter earnings statement. |
11 China OKs Disney theme park in Shanghai
AFP
Wed Nov 4, 1:57 am ET
| SHANGHAI (AFP) - China has given the green light for Walt Disney Co. to build its long-awaited first theme park on the mainland in Shanghai, after a decade of negotiations, both sides said.
The announcement of the deal, which would be one of the biggest ever foreign investments in China, comes less than two weeks before US President Barack Obama makes his first official visit here, starting November 15 in Shanghai.
Neither side disclosed any figures, or gave a time frame for reaching a final agreement, but previous reports have said the US entertainment giant will invest 3.6 billion dollars in the 10-square-kilometre (four-square mile) park. |
12 Democrats get warning shot for 2010 elections
By Steve Holland, Reuters
1 hr 15 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama White House on Wednesday attempted to play down election losses in Virginia and New Jersey in contests that analysts said served as a warning shot to Democrats looking ahead to 2010 voting.
Voters voicing fears over the weak U.S. economy elected Republicans in state governors races in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday, dealing defeat to Democratic candidates despite President Barack Obama's personal campaigning for them.
Instead of dwelling on those races, the White House sought to emphasize a Democratic victory in an upstate New York congressional race that exposed divisions within the Republican Party. |
13 Senate poised to adopt jobless, housing aid
By Andy Sullivan, Reuters
1 hr 31 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate was poised on Wednesday to extend aid for jobless workers and broaden tax breaks for homebuyers and businesses in a bill aimed at breathing life into the U.S. economy.
After weeks of partisan bickering, the Senate voted 97 to 1 to clear a procedural hurdle and move to final passage on Wednesday or Thursday. The House of Representatives is expected to approve it quickly and send it to President Barack Obama to sign into law.
Democrats who control Congress are under pressure to get the economy moving before the November 2010 congressional elections. But they have been reluctant to assemble another massive stimulus package after February's $787 billion measure, fearing a voter backlash over record budget deficits. |
14 Mousavi supporters clash with police in Tehran
Reuters
1 hr 4 mins ago
| TEHRAN (Reuters) - Police clashed with supporters of Iran's opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi in Tehran on Wednesday when a rally marking the 30th anniversary of the storming of the U.S. embassy turned violent.
Reformist website Mowjcamp said police opened fire on protesters at Haft-e Tir square but there was no independent confirmation of the report.
"Some people were injured," Mowjcamp said, reporting other protests in the cities of Shiraz and Rasht. |
15 Fed sees rates near zero for extended period
By Mark Felsenthal, Reuters
18 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday expressed growing confidence that an economic recovery was building, even though it stuck to its commitment to keep borrowing costs near zero for "an extended period."
As expected, the Fed kept its benchmark federal funds rate unchanged in a range of zero to 0.25 percent, and said the economy had "continued to pick up" since its last policy-setting meeting in September.
The Fed, the U.S. central bank, also said it would buy about $175 billion of debt issued by government-backed mortgage finance agencies, less than the $200 billion maximum it had originally allotted, citing limited availability. |
16 For Americans, deficit pain is felt close to home
By Pascal Fletcher, Reuters
Wed Nov 4, 11:38 am ET
| MIAMI (Reuters) - Christopher O'Neill is worried about the deficit. The deficit, that is, in his personal income after the 26-year-old Miami finance analyst was forced to find a temporary job paying $20,000 a year less than he earned until January when he was laid off from his auditor's post in Miami.
From Miami to Milwaukee, ordinary Americans are counting the cost to their own lives of the recession, which has seen the U.S. budget deficit swell to a record $1.4 trillion in the 2009 fiscal year -- the biggest shortfall since World War Two.
While President Barack Obama and his top advisers rack their brains over how to goad the sluggish U.S. economy back into robust growth that boosts jobs and exports and reduces debt, most citizens are still struggling to fill the gaps in their jobs, incomes and lives caused by the downturn. |
Deficts are GOOD in a Recession. They increase Aggregate Demand. Did people fail Eco 101 or are they lying deliberately? Most Americans aren't that stupid fortunately.
| The poll shows that most Americans, when asked about the economic issue they're most concerned about, rate the federal budget deficit well below high unemployment.
"My biggest worry is having a job," said O'Neill in Miami, adding that he welcomed all immediate efforts by Obama's administration, including economic stimulus initiatives, to bring down the jobless rate and revive the economy. |
17 Italy convicts former CIA agents in rendition trial
By Manuela D'Alessandro and Daniel Flynn, Reuters
23 mins ago
| MILAN/ROME (Reuters) - An Italian judge sentenced 23 Americans to up to eight years in prison on Wednesday for the abduction of a Muslim cleric, in a symbolic condemnation of the CIA "rendition" flights used by the former U.S. government.
The Americans were all tried in absentia because the United States refused to extradite them.
The U.S. State Department expressed its disappointment with the verdict, the first of its kind, but campaigners who have long complained that the renditions policy violated basic human rights said the ruling set an important precedent. |
18 Poor urge deep climate cuts
By Alister Doyle and Gerard Wynn, Reuters
55 mins ago
| BARCELONA, Spain (Reuters) - Developing countries said on Wednesday they risked "total destruction" unless the rich stepped up the fight against climate change to a level that even the United Nations says is out of reach.
The top U.S. climate diplomat Todd Stern blamed a "17-year divide" between rich and poor nations for slow progress at the U.N. talks meant to agree a global climate deal in Copenhagen in December, and slammed "debating society" pranks.
Keeping up pressure in Barcelona, the final preparatory session for the December meeting, the poor said that even the most ambitious offers by the European Union, tougher than most nations, were far too weak for a new U.N. climate pact. |
19 Winners and wastelands: the Wall's economic legacy
By Paul Carrel, Reuters
Wed Nov 4, 10:08 am ET
| WEIMAR, Germany (Reuters) - Businessman Ulrich Weitz leans forward and produces a graph showing a 10-fold increase in his company's turnover in the last 15 years.
"We'll end this year with a profit," he says, a picture capturing the fall of the Berlin Wall hanging behind him in his office in the historic eastern German city of Weimar.
Weitz's business is a success story -- one of a clutch of technology firms in the East whose growth since reunification in 1990 has helped the region narrow the gap with the West. |
20 Abdullah rules out joining new Afghan government
By Sayed Salahuddin, Reuters
Wed Nov 4, 10:44 am ET
| KABUL (Reuters) - Technocrats and some existing ministers will be appointed to Afghan President Hamid Karzai's new government, a spokesman said on Wednesday, but his main rival branded his re-election illegal and ruled out taking any part.
Karzai, returned to power after a needless presidential run-off vote was abandoned on Monday, is under pressure from his Western backers to root out the corruption that tainted his previous administration, with a top U.S. military official saying he should prosecute wrongdoers to shore up his legitimacy.
The run-off, triggered after widespread fraud marred the first round in August, was canceled after Karzai's only rival, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew citing serious concerns about the vote. |
21 No remorse from Stasi as Berlin marks fall of Wall
By Madeline Chambers, Reuters
Wed Nov 4, 9:23 am ET
| BERLIN (Reuters) - For thousands of former employees of Communist East Germany's loathed Stasi secret police, next week's 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is no cause for celebration.
While the city hosts world leaders for festivities to mark the end of Europe's Cold War, a generation of ex-Stasi cadres will be trying to forget the night euphoric East and West Berliners danced on the Wall and fell into each others arms.
"November 9 is not a celebration at all for us," said Hans Bauer, chairman of the Society for Legal and Humanitarian Support (GRH) which helps former East German state employees, including Ministry for State Security, or Stasi, officers. |
22 Kohl's dream of united Europe remains incomplete
By Paul Taylor, Reuters
Wed Nov 4, 8:12 am ET
| PARIS (Reuters) - Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Helmut Kohl's dream of a united Germany leading to a politically united Europe remains unfinished business.
It is set to stay that way despite the expected entry into force of the European Union's Lisbon Treaty in the near future.
German unification triggered possibly the last great leap forward in European integration, with the landmark agreement in Maastricht in 1991 to establish an economic and monetary union with a single currency and a common foreign and security policy. |
23 Health care dispute: Costs of defensive medicine
By STEVE LeBLANC, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 34 mins ago
| BOSTON - Dr. James Wang says he tries to tell his patients when extra medical procedures aren't necessary. If they insist, though, he will do it - not so much to protect their health as his own practice.
After being sued for allegedly failing to diagnose a case of appendicitis, Wang says he turned to what's known as "defensive medicine," ordering extra tests, scans, consultations and even hospitalization to protect against malpractice suits.
"You are thinking about what can I do to prevent this from happening again," he said, adding that he did nothing wrong but agreed to a minor settlement to avoid a trial. |
More Tort Reform Shilling.
24 Italian judge convicts 23 in CIA kidnap case
By COLLEEN BARRY, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 34 mins ago
| MILAN - An Italian judge on Wednesday convicted 23 Americans in absentia of the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric from a Milan street, in a landmark case involving the CIA's extraordinary rendition program in the war on terrorism.
Citing diplomatic immunity, Judge Oscar Magi told the Milan courtroom Wednesday that he was acquitting three other Americans.
Former Milan CIA station chief, Robert Seldon Lady, received eight years in prison. The other 22 convicted American defendants each received a five-year sentence. |
25 House Democrats clear the way for health care vote
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writer
41 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - House Democrats cleared the way Wednesday for a pivotal floor vote on health care overhaul as early as the weekend, after tweaking their 1,900-page bill to crack down harder on insurance companies.
"Americans are ready for comprehensive health insurance reform and the House will soon act," Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in a statement that accompanied dozens of last-minute changes to the bill, released Tuesday night.
Publication of the changes started a 72-hour legislative clock, meaning that a floor vote could take place as early as Saturday. |
26 Fire worsens 2nd day of Philly transit strike
By PATRICK WALTERS, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 46 mins ago
| PHILADELPHIA - Commuters biked, walked, juggled carpool schedules and hitched rides as a strike ground the city's transit system to a near halt for a second day Wednesday, a morning rush worsened when a regional rail train caught fire.
Regional rail lines are running because their workers are represented by a different union. But trouble hit around 7 a.m. when a car caught fire as it headed downtown, causing delays and confusion. A Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority official said it was likely an accidental electrical fire, but the cause has not been determined.
More than 5,000 members of SEPTA's largest union walked off the job early Tuesday, leaving thousands of people struggling for ways to get around. |
27 Iran opposition protesters return to streets
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer
17 mins ago
| TEHRAN, Iran - The contrasts were vivid: Pro-government supporters chanted "Death to America" and stomped on U.S. flags Wednesday while not far away, hundreds of opposition protesters denounced Iran's leaders and appealed to America's president to choose sides.
"Obama, Obama, you are either with them, or with us," the anti-government protesters chanted in Farsi, in an amateur video clip widely circulated on the Internet.
The new and startling appeal to President Barack Obama came as Iran's opposition protesters returned to the streets in large numbers for the first time in nearly two months. Authorities were ready with the same sweeping measures they used to quell fierce election-fraud protests this summer and early fall: Sending paramilitary units to key locations to fire tear gas and beat people with batons. |
28 Dejection fills ballroom after gay marriage vote
By JOHN CURRAN, Associated Press Writer
41 mins ago
| PORTLAND, Maine - Cecelia Burnett and Ann Swanson had already set their wedding date. When they joined about 1,000 other gay marriage supporters for an election night party in a Holiday Inn ballroom, they hoped to celebrate the vote that would make it possible.
Instead, they went home at midnight, dejected and near tears after a failed bid to make Maine the first state to approve same-sex marriage at the ballot box.
"I'm ready to start crying," said Burnett, a 58-year-old massage therapist, walking out of the ballroom early Wednesday with Swanson at her side. "I don't understand what the fear is, why people are so afraid of this change. |
29 Obama coaxes states to change with school dollars
By LIBBY QUAID, AP Education Writer
Wed Nov 4, 6:26 am ET
| WASHINGTON - One year after his election, President Barack Obama is coaxing states across the country to rewrite education laws and cut deals with unions as they pursue his vision for school reform.
Obama is visiting Wisconsin, where lawmakers are poised to change a law to boost their state's chances at $5 billion in education grants, the most money a president has ever had for overhauling schools.
Nine other states have taken similar steps, even though states can't apply for the money yet and only a few states may end up getting grants. |
More Standardized Testing. A Failed Policy.
30 THE INFLUENCE GAME: Liberals targeting moderates
By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 4, 6:27 am ET
| WASHINGTON - Get on the health overhaul bandwagon, or don't count on our help in your re-election.
That's the hardball message liberal groups are hurling at moderate Democratic senators in a battle that is dividing their party. Their demands: Support a bill that offers optional government-run health coverage and oppose Republican attempts to derail the legislation.
The groups are unleashing blunt and personal broadcast ads and e-mails at moderates even as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., tries to shape a health care bill that can attract the 60 votes it needs to pass. Assuming no Republican support, Reid needs backing from all 58 Democrats and both Democratic-leaning independents - including about a half-dozen moderates who have drawn liberals' ire. |
About fucking time.
31 US officials visit isolated Myanmar, meet Suu Kyi
Associated Press
49 mins ago
| YANGON, Myanmar - The highest-ranking American diplomat to visit Myanmar in 14 years offered improved relations Wednesday if its military regime moves toward democracy, putting into action the Obama administration's new policy of engagement with the isolated country.
Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell spoke after both talks with the ruling generals and a rare meeting with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been under house arrest for most of the last two decades.
Campbell called on the military - which has ruled the impoverished country since 1962 - to open a dialogue with the opposition and ethnic minority groups, which are seeking a measure of autonomy. He also urged the military government to allow Suu Kyi more freedom to meet with people concerned with the political process, particularly her own party's senior executives. |
32 Karzai opponent: Re-election was illegitimate
By HEIDI VOGT and RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writers
2 hrs 32 mins ago
| KABUL - The challenger in Afghanistan's recent election called President Hamid Karzai's victory illegal and his government a failure, saying Wednesday that the tainted administration would not be able to check corruption or fend off the Taliban.
Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said he did not plan to personally challenge Karzai's victory in court, but would leave it up to the Afghan people to decide whether to accept Karzai as the legitimate leader for another five-year term.
The Afghan election commission proclaimed Karzai the victor of the country's tumultuous ballot on Monday after Abdullah withdrew from a runoff race he said could not be free or fair. The decision ended a political crisis two and a half months after a first round of voting in August was marred by widespread fraud. |
33 SPIN METER: Rankings unfair to US higher ed?
By JUSTIN POPE, AP Education Writer
45 mins ago
| The United States spends more money than any other country, and its elite institutions are the world's best. But overall the system is wasteful, fails too many - and is falling behind other countries.
No, the topic isn't health care - it's higher education.
The latest stinging report came last week from a state colleges group arguing the United States isn't producing enough college graduates, especially in science. Similar gloominess emanates from business groups and even the Obama administration, whose top education goals include again leading the world in proportion of college graduates. |
34 Audi's performance S4 drops its V-8 for 2010
By ANN M. JOB, For The Associated Press
Wed Nov 4, 8:51 am ET
| You don't see this very often: a car company dropping a V-8 engine from a performance car and replacing it with a V-6. But German automaker Audi does it in its 2010 S4 compact sedan.
The move not only creates a more fuel-efficient vehicle during these times of concern for the environment and oil supplies. It keeps performance because the 3-liter, double overhead cam V-6 is supercharged, has direct injection and 333 horsepower. This is just seven horses shy of the 340 horses in the V-8-powered predecessor S4.
The change for 2010 also allows a lower S4 retail price - all the way to $46,725, including manufacturer's suggested retail price and destination charge. At that price point, buyers get a base model with six-speed manual transmission, standard all-wheel drive, sport suspension, sunroof, leather seats, three-zone climate control and Xenon headlights. |
35 Mich. looks at worst-case 20 percent budget cuts
By KATHY BARKS HOFFMAN, Associated Press Writer
Tue Nov 3, 7:46 pm ET
| LANSING, Mich. - Michigan's governor warned Tuesday of a possible 20 percent cut in state spending next year, a draconian step after billions in cuts since 2003 have already dented police and fire services, pushed schools toward insolvency and reduced oversight of prison inmates.
The request from Gov. Jennifer Granholm is a further blow to health care providers, state police, universities and others dependent on public money in a state where revenues, adjusted for inflation, are at about the same level as in 1965.
Double-digit cuts likely mean double-digit university tuition increases, for example. |
36 Hallelujah for Handel's 'Messiah'
By ANN LEVIN, For The Associated Press
Tue Nov 3, 6:51 pm ET
| NEW YORK - Carl Drews still remembers the first time he heard the "Hallelujah" chorus. His parents had taken him to see "The Greatest Story Ever Told," the movie about the life of Jesus with a soundtrack including the famous chorus from Handel's "Messiah." It made the little boy feel that heaven was a place "where you sing the `Hallelujah' chorus forever and ever."
Years later, on a Habit for Humanity project in Nicaragua, the longtime choir singer sang the stirring words from memory under the newly built roof of a house, banana trees swaying in the breeze, with two other volunteers on his work crew.
This December, Drews, a 49-year-old software engineer, will participate in the 27th annual "Messiah" sing-along in Boulder, Colo., one of hundreds of such events across the country in which an unrehearsed audience performs as the chorus in George Frideric Handel's baroque masterpiece. |
37 Climate talks face difficult road ahead of meeting
By ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writer
Tue Nov 3, 5:58 pm ET
| Boycotts on either side of the Atlantic on Tuesday showed just how difficult it will be to clinch an agreement on global warming next month.
At U.N. climate talks in Barcelona, Spain, African nations walked out of meetings to protest rich nations' reluctance to make substantial carbon-cutting commitments. In Washington, some conservative Republicans boycotted the start of committee debate on a bill to curb greenhouse gases, fearful of the cost to the U.S. economy.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a bid to support the Democratic-sponsored climate bill, told a rare joint session of Congress "there is no time to lose" in tackling climate change. |
38 British lawmakers face tighter new expense regime
By DAVID STRINGER, Associated Press Writer
57 mins ago
| LONDON - British lawmakers will be banned from using taxpayers' money to make mortgage payments on second homes or hiring family members as staff under new rules published Wednesday in the wake of a scandal over legislators' allowances.
The new system will outlaw legislators from using public money for cleaners, gardeners, furniture or lavish meals, and tighten rules on what lawmakers can spend on communication with voters or transport.
Christopher Kelly, an ex-civil servant who drafted the new rules, said the stricter regime was aimed at bringing the House of Commons into line with the private sector, and winning back public trust in politics. |
39 No more duck house: Britain cuts lawmaker expenses
By DAVID STRINGER, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 4, 12:50 pm ET
| LONDON - Drain the moat, tear down the duck house, fire the housekeeper. British lawmakers face strict new allowance rules following a scandal over their outrageous expense claims.
The rules published Wednesday will ban legislators from using expenses to fund swank second homes and outlaw the use of taxpayers' money to employ family members as staff.
Christopher Kelly, an ex-civil servant, said an advisory committee he leads has drafted a new regime "shorn of the special features which gave scope for exploitation." |
The first one is at about 8 am.
40 British coup-plotter leaves Equatorial Guinea
By MICHELLE FAUL, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 3 mins ago
| JOHANNESBURG - Before leaving Equatorial Guinea on Wednesday, freed coup-plotter Simon Mann said the son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and others should face justice for allegedly scheming to overthrow the oil-rich country's government.
Mann left the steamy island capital of the tiny Central African nation early Wednesday after serving 15 months of a 34-year sentence. He and the four South African mercenaries who also were pardoned Tuesday had been given 24 hours to leave and can never return.
In a trial last year, Mann testified that Mark Thatcher had provided $350,000, which was used to buy a small plane that was to transport Equatorial Guinea's exiled opposition leader Severo Moto from Madrid to Equatorial Guinea. |
41 Equatorial Guinea coup-plotter returns home to UK
By MICHELLE FAUL, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 37 mins ago
| JOHANNESBURG - British mercenary Simon Mann has threatened to settle some old scores after arriving home Wednesday following more than five years in African jails for a failed plot to take over Equatorial Guinea's oil riches.
Some governments may be worried about a vengeful Mann: He testified last year that the U.S. and European governments knew of the 2004 plot in advance and welcomed it, as did international oil companies operating in the small West African nation.
Analysts say that in addition to revenge, Mann's mission probably is part of the deal that won him freedom - to bring to justice the influential financiers who dreamed up the adventure that went so badly awry in the continent's No. 3 oil producer. |
Again, the first one is at about 8 am.
42 Germany fumes over GM ditching Opel sale to Magna
By MELISSA EDDY, Associated Press Writer
11 mins ago
| BERLIN - Germany's politicians fumed with anger and Opel workers cancelled cost concessions and readied walkouts after General Motors Co. abandoned the sale of its European subsidiary to parts maker Magna International and Russian bank Sberbank.
Klaus Franz, Adam Opel GmbH's top employee representative, called it a "black day" and said workers would start brief work stoppages Thursday.
GM's decision Tuesday to abandon the deal was a sharp blow to government and labor officals who supported it as the restructuring option that would save the most jobs in Germany. |
43 Obama's half brother recalls their abusive father
By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer
49 mins ago
| GUANGZHOU, China - President Barack Obama's half brother has broken his media silence to discuss his new novel - the semi-autobiographical story of an abusive parent patterned on their late father, the mostly absent figure Obama wrote about in his own memoir.
In his first interview, Mark Ndesandjo told The Associated Press that he wrote "Nairobi to Shenzhen" in part to raise awareness of domestic violence.
"My father beat my mother and my father beat me, and you don't do that," said Ndesandjo, whose mother, Ruth Nidesand, was Barack Obama Sr.'s third wife. "It's something which I think affected me for a long time, and it's something that I've just recently come to terms with." |
44 Afghan policeman kills 5 British soldiers
By ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press Writer
41 mins ago
| KABUL - An Afghan policeman opened fire on British soldiers in the volatile southern province of Helmand, killing five before fleeing, British and Afghan authorities said Wednesday, raising concerns about discipline within the Afghan forces and possible infiltration by insurgents.
The attack Tuesday afternoon came a month after an Afghan policeman on patrol with U.S. soldiers fired on the Americans, killing two. Training and operating jointly with Afghan police and soldiers is key to NATO's strategy of dealing with the spreading Taliban-led insurgency and, ultimately, allowing international forces to leave Afghanistan.
Attacks such as these will heighten concern about the effectiveness of the Afghan forces. |
45 British deaths raise questions about Afghan police
By ELENA BECATOROS and DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writers
1 min ago
| KABUL - The killing of five British troops by a rogue Afghan policeman underlines concerns about training and discipline within the ranks and possible insurgent infiltration of a police force that the U.S. hopes will be its ticket out of Afghanistan someday.
The attack caused anguish in Britain, where public support for the war has been waning. Britain is the largest contributor to NATO forces in Afghanistan after the United States, and its continued presence here is central to President Barack Obama's strategy as he weighs dispatching tens of thousands more U.S. troops.
The five British soldiers, who had been advising Afghan policemen, were shot and killed Tuesday at a checkpoint where they were living in the volatile southern province of Helmand. Another six soldiers were wounded, as were two Afghan policemen when the soldiers returned fire, officials said. |
Another example of how things change, the first one is at about 8 am.
46 GM's Opel move raises anger, new uncertainty
By GEIR MOULSON, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 4, 11:44 am ET
| BERLIN - General Motors Co.'s decision to scrap the sale of European subisidiary Opel raised new uncertainty Wednesday over the unit's future, astonishing politicians in Germany and Russia and prompting workers to plan walkouts in protest.
The GM board's unexpected decision to call off the sale to auto parts maker Magna International Inc. and Russian lender Sberbank was a startling end to months of haggling in which Chancellor Angela Merkel and other German leaders had strongly backed the deal.
Now German workers worry GM will make even more cuts to return Opel to profit than Magna would have. |
47 Iraq vote may be delayed, election head warns
By REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 22 mins ago
| BAGHDAD - The official charged with carrying out Iraq's crucial January polls warned Wednesday that they will be delayed if parliament doesn't approve a key electoral bill.
Any delay in the Jan. 16 elections could plunge Iraq into a crisis, undermining the government and leading to instability just as American troops are preparing to withdraw, a process that's scheduled to ramp up after the vote.
Election Commission Chairman Faraj al-Haidari said Parliament must approve a new electoral law when it convenes on Thursday, otherwise the Jan. 16 polls will be delayed. |
48 Witness: The news conference that toppled the Wall
By Volker Warkentin, Reuters
Wed Nov 4, 9:57 am ET
| BERLIN (Reuters) - It's not often that a historic announcement comes, as an afterthought, almost by accident, at the end of an otherwise stultifying tedious press conference.
But that's how the Communist East German government told an incredulous world that the Berlin Wall, that most potent symbol of the Cold War, would be thrown open after three decades.
I was fortunate enough to witness that most famous news conference of modern German history on November 9, called with no great fanfare by Politburo member and spokesman Guenter Schabowski. |
49 Romanian PM nominee torpedoed, aid seen at risk
By Luiza Ilie, Reuters
1 hr 59 mins ago
| BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romania's opposition rejected prime minister-designate Lucian Croitoru Wednesday, feeding skepticism that the government will be able to approve a tough 2010 budget by an IMF deadline to release vital aid.
The opposition Social Democrats said they would support the approval of the budget to keep the 20 billion euro ($29.5 billion) aid package afloat but analysts said the December 10 deadline would be hard to meet with a presidential election looming this month.
No party is likely to endorse the politically unpopular economic cuts demanded by the International Monetary Fund ahead of the election, which is expected to have no clear winner and so require a run-off vote on December 6. |
50 Flu pandemic closes schools
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor, Reuters
Tue Nov 3, 10:13 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Swine flu has driven up the price of horse meat in Mongolia, closed schools across Afghanistan and Ukraine and sparked a quarrel over whether detainees at a U.S. base in Cuba should be vaccinated.
As infections accelerated across the northern half of the world, Saudi authorities approved a vaccine ahead of the annual haj pilgrimage and U.S. members of Congress proposed legislation to force employers to pay for sick leave.
The pandemic H1N1 virus has infected millions globally, with more than 5,000 documented deaths and likely far more. |
51 Australia, New Zealand in tit-for-tat Fiji expulsions
by Talek Harris, AFP
Wed Nov 4, 2:51 am ET
| SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia and New Zealand announced tit-for-tat expulsions of Fiji's top envoys on Wednesday, exacerbating tensions with the military regime and deepening its isolation.
The two countries made near-simultaneous statements a day after the Pacific island state ordered their own envoys out, claiming interference in its judicial affairs.
"This excuse is neither warranted, reasonable nor justified," Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told reporters in Perth. "We worry about Fiji further isolating itself from the diplomatic community," he added. |
| From Yahoo News U.S. News |
52 Young voters who helped elect Obama stayed home
By DENA POTTER, Associated Press Writer
23 mins ago
| RICHMOND, Va. - Last year, 23-year-old Rashida Hill watched the presidential debates, visited the college political party meetings and put a Barack Obama bumper sticker on her townhouse door. She voted for Obama because she felt like the election was about "being a part of something."
But on Tuesday, the Virginia Commonwealth University student didn't bother voting in the governor's race because, she said, the candidates didn't give her anything to get excited about.
"The simple fact is, unless you put it in front of somebody, they're really not going to seek it out," Hill said. |
53 Democrats agonize over what might have been in NYC
By SARA KUGLER, Associated Press Writer
58 mins ago
| NEW YORK - Democrats who saw how close their candidate came to unseating New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg agonized Wednesday about what might have happened if the national party had not abandoned the party's little-known challenger.
Bloomberg, who was running on the Republican line but is not in a party, outspent and outcampaigned city Comptroller William Thompson Jr. Still, Thompson managed to get within five points of the billionaire incumbent despite getting no help from the Democratic National Committee or the party's leaders, who stayed silent about the race for City Hall in the nation's largest city.
"It's fair to say some people are soul-searching today, some of the folks who didn't get involved," said Public Advocate-elect Bill de Blasio, a Thompson supporter who will be the city's highest ranking Democrat when he is sworn into office in January. |
54 AP IMPACT: Clunker pickups traded for new pickups
By TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer
17 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - The most common deals under the government's $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program, aimed at putting more fuel-efficient cars on the road, replaced old Ford or Chevrolet pickups with new ones that got only marginally better gas mileage, according to an analysis of new federal data by The Associated Press.
The single most common swap - which occurred more than 8,200 times - involved Ford 150 pickup owners who took advantage of a government rebate to trade their old trucks for new Ford 150s. They were 17 times more likely to buy a new F150 than, say, a Toyota Prius. The fuel economy for the new trucks ranged from 15 mpg to 17 mpg based on engine size and other factors, an improvement of just 1 mpg to 3 mpg over the clunkers.
Owners of thousands more large old Chevrolet and Dodge pickups bought new Silverado and Ram trucks, also with only barely improved mileage in the middle teens, according to AP's analysis of sales of $15.2 billion worth of vehicles at nearly 19,000 car dealerships in every state. Those deals helped the Ford 150 and Chevy Silverado - along with Ford's Escape midsize SUV - climb into the Top 10 most-popular vehicles purchased with the government rebates. The most common truck-for-truck and truck-for-SUV deals totaled at least $911 million. |
55 Former HP CEO Fiorina targets Boxer's Senate seat
By GILLIAN FLACCUS, Associated Press Writer
20 mins ago
| GARDEN GROVE, Calif. - Former Silicon Valley executive Carly Fiorina announced Wednesday she is running for the chance to seize liberal stalwart Barbara Boxer's U.S. Senate seat, depicting the three-term Democrat as a Capitol Hill do-nothing who penned novels while jobs vanished and government spending soared.
The former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO's entry into the race could present California's junior senator with her most formidable re-election challenge, but Fiorina first will have to survive what could become a scalding Republican primary against state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, who has worked feverishly to court GOP voters.
Fiorina described herself Wednesday as a Republican devoted to low taxes and tightfisted budgets and "a political newcomer who actually knows how to get something done." |
56 FDA aims to fight avoidable harm from medicines
By Lisa Richwine, Reuters
1 hr 15 mins ago
| SILVER SPRING, Maryland (Reuters) - U.S. health officials unveiled plans to fight avoidable injuries from medication errors or misuse, a problem that harms hundreds of thousands of people each year and can be deadly.
The Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday that a more coordinated effort was needed across the nation's healthcare system, and with patients and manufacturers, to reduce unnecessary complications from misuse, dosing errors, drug interactions or abuse.
The agency said it will work with doctors, nurses, patient groups and others to identify medicines linked to preventable complications and develop strategies to prevent them. |
57 California water plan aims change Gold Rush thinking
By Peter Henderson, Reuters
Wed Nov 4, 12:53 pm ET
| OAKLAND, California (Reuters) - California legislators struck a middle-of-the-night water wars truce on Wednesday that could unleash the biggest spending spree on water in half a century and aims to satisfy environmentalists, unemployed farmers and the lush cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The key theme of the package is that human and environmental uses of water are equal priorities.
But critics, including the environmental group the Sierra Club, have called the bills and an $11 billion bond a pricey sham that left a new council to govern the largest estuary on the West Coast without funding or power. They said it would spark more fighting. |
58 On election anniversary, Obama dismisses polls snub
by Laurent Lozano, AFP
49 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - President Barack Obama Wednesday brushed aside a sharp polls rebuke as he marked the first anniversary of his historic election saying his administration had saved the nation from economic ruin.
Just hours after rival Republicans gleefully ousted Democratic candidates in two key gubernatorial races, the White House dismissed suggestions that the results were a referendum on Obama and his policies.
A year to the day after Obama vowed before a tumultuous crowd in Chicago that change had come to America, Republicans were trumpeting Tuesday's victories in New Jersey and Virginia. |
59 New York attorney general files antitrust suit against Intel
by Charlotte Raab, AFP
1 hr 12 mins ago
| NEW YORK (AFP) - The attorney general of New York state filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel Corp. on Wednesday alleging the US computer chip giant engaged in illegal practices to dominate the market.
"Rather than compete fairly, Intel used bribery and coercion to maintain a stranglehold on the market," Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a statement.
"Intel's actions not only unfairly restricted potential competitors, but also hurt average consumers who were robbed of better products and lower prices," Cuomo said. |
60 GM plans 10,000 job cuts at Opel
AFP
1 hr 21 mins ago
| BERLIN (AFP) - General Motors said Wednesday it wanted to cut around 10,000 jobs at its European division Opel a day after the US car maker stunned the auto sector by scrapping plans to sell the German-based unit.
GM wants to slash costs by 30 percent at Opel, which would mean the elimination of about 10,000 jobs from a workforce of 55,000, GM vice president John Smith told European journalists during a telephone news conference.
General Motors said Tuesday it was abandoning a project to sell Opel to Canadian auto parts manufacturer Magna International and state-owned Russian bank Sberbank, saying it would implement its own restructuring at the unit. |
61 Gay-Marriage Activists Look Ahead After Big Defeat in Maine
By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER, Time Magazine
Wed Nov 4, 10:20 am ET
| Mainers' 53-47 vote to reject gay marriage does more than simply slap down a law that just six months ago had made Maine America's second state to permit same-sex couples to wed. With voters thronging to the polls, the closely watched - and ultimately not very close - vote extended the winning streak of gay marriage opponents nationwide, who have now prevailed in more than 30 straight state elections over whether to allow gays to marry. Just like Californians one year ago, Maine voters insisted on having their own say on an issue that simply will not go away. |
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Reform Immigration -
March on Washington
