2 Lawyer imposed on Karadzic, trial delayed to March 1
by Mariette le Roux, AFP
1 hr 4 mins ago
| THE HAGUE (AFP) - A UN warcrimes court Thursday imposed a lawyer on Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and put off to March 1 the genocide trial he has boycotted since it started last week.
"The overall interests of justice are best met by the appointment of counsel," said a written decision by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
"The trial chamber hereby ... orders that the trial will resume on March 1, 2010." |
3 Rage against GM over 10,000 planned job cuts at Opel
by Deborah Cole, AFP
1 hr 12 mins ago
| BERLIN (AFP) - Angry German workers on Thursday protested General Motors' shock refusal to sell its European unit Opel and its plans to cut 10,000 jobs, moves slammed as a slap in the face for Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Around 10,000 workers demonstrated at Ruesselsheim near Frankfurt, Opel's biggest German factory, while 3,000 downed tools at Bochum, another 3,000 at Kaiserslautern and around 600 at Eisenach.
GM wants to slash costs by 30 percent at Opel, which would mean the elimination of about one-fifth a workforce of around 50,000, GM vice president John Smith told a telephone news conference. |
4 ECB, BoE hold interest rates at record lows
by William Ickes, AFP
1 hr 9 mins ago
| FRANKFURT (AFP) - The European Central Bank and Bank of England both kept interest rates at record lows Thursday, but the ECB was more upbeat on economic growth while the BoE planned to pump billions more pounds into Britain's recession-hit economy.
Benchmark rates remained at 1.0 percent for the eurozone and 0.5 percent for Britain.
Speaking of the 16 euro nations, of which Britain is not a member, ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet said: "The latest information continues to signal an improvement in economic activity in the second half of this year." |
5 Bank of England pumps billions more into economy
by Roland Jackson, AFP
Thu Nov 5, 9:01 am ET
| LONDON (AFP) - The Bank of England revealed plans on Thursday to pump another 25 billion pounds to boost the recession-hit economy, and held interest rates at a record low.
The central bank's policymakers decided to lift its quantitative easing (QE) programme to a total of 200 billion pounds, amid concern that the country is mired in its longest recession since records began in 1955.
"The BoE's Monetary Policy Committee today voted to maintain the official bank rate paid on commercial bank reserves at 0.50 percent," the central bank said in a statement. |
6 Cheap Christmas cheer as champagne bubble bursts
by Alain Julien, AFP
2 hrs 24 mins ago
| REIMS, France (AFP) - French families will be toasting the holidays with cheap champagne this year thanks to big supermarket chains that are offering "discount bubbly," much to the annoyance of producers.
For key industry players, champagne rhymes with luxury and should not be sold on the cheap, even during these times of economic hardship.
But France's biggest retailer, Carrefour, is setting the trend for "discount bubbly" just as the industry is struggling with a drop in export sales after several boom years. |
7 Toyota posts surprise profit, upgrades outlook
by Daniel Rook, AFP
Thu Nov 5, 4:00 am ET
| TOKYO (AFP) - Toyota Motor, the world's largest automaker, announced Thursday a surprise return to profit and narrowed its loss forecast for the full year, helped by demand for fuel-efficient cars.
It was the company's first quarter in the black in a year. The Japanese giant joins Honda and Nissan in upgrading its outlook, reinforcing hopes that automakers are through the worst of the global industry slump.
Toyota posted net earnings of 21.8 billion yen (240 million dollars) for the fiscal second quarter to September, down 84.4 percent from a year earlier but much better than the first quarter's 77.8-billion-yen loss. |
8 House Democrats prepare for close healthcare vote
By John Whitesides and Donna Smith, AFP
42 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Urged on by President Barack Obama, Democratic leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives hustled on Thursday to round up support for a sweeping healthcare overhaul headed to a close floor vote on Saturday.
The House drive for healthcare reform, Obama's top domestic priority, was bolstered on Thursday by the backing of the American Medical Association, which represents U.S. doctors, and AARP, the powerful lobbying group for older Americans.
"I urge Congress to listen to the AARP, listen to the AMA, and pass this reform for hundreds of millions of Americans," Obama said in a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room. "We are closer to passing this reform than ever before." |
9 Senate panel approves Democratic climate bill
By Richard Cowan, Reuters
2 hrs 7 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A controversial climate change bill cleared its first hurdle in the U.S. Senate on Thursday, allowing President Barack Obama to tout progress in the run-up to next month's global warming talks in Copenhagen.
Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee ignored a Republican boycott and used their majority to approve the legislation that would require U.S. industry to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases 20 percent by 2020, from 2005 levels.
"I think this is a great signal for Copenhagen that there's a will to do what it takes to advance this issue," committee Chairman Barbara Boxer told reporters after her panel voted. |
10 IAEA found nothing serious at Iran site: ElBaradei
Reuters
22 mins ago
| VIENNA (Reuters) - U.N. inspectors found "nothing to be worried about" in a first look at a previously secret uranium enrichment site in Iran last month, the International Atomic Energy chief said in remarks published Thursday.
Mohamed ElBaradei also told the New York Times that he was examining possible compromises to unblock a draft nuclear cooperation deal between Iran and three major powers that has foundered over Iranian objections.
The nuclear site, which Iran revealed in September three years after diplomats said Western spies first detected it, added to Western fears of covert Iranian efforts to develop atom bombs. Iran says it is enriching uranium only for electricity. |
11 Myanmar election needs Suu Kyi involvement, U.S. says
By Martin Petty, Reuters
Thu Nov 5, 3:49 am ET
| BANGKOK (Reuters) - It would be "very hard" for next year's elections in Myanmar to be legitimate without the involvement of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a senior United States official said on Thursday .
Deputy Assistant Secretary Scot Marciel, returning from a landmark two-day visit to the army-ruled country, said the release of the National League for Democracy (NLD) leader and other political detainees was critical for the polls to be considered fair and credible.
"I think an election without Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD, it would be very hard to see that as credible," Marciel told reporters in Bangkok. |
12 Productivity surges, job growth should follow
By Lucia Mutikani, Reuters
47 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. business productivity grew at its fastest clip in six years in the third quarter and new claims for jobless aid fell to a 10-month low last week, suggesting the labor market may be starting to bottom out.
The Labor Department said on Thursday that productivity surged at a 9.5 percent annual rate, the quickest pace since the third quarter of 2003, as companies squeezed more output from a smaller pool of labor to hold the line on costs.
The Labor Department also reported that initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped to 512,000 in the week ended October 31, the lowest level since early January. Markets had expected a decline to only 523,000, from the 530,000 reported in the prior week. |
13 Productivity gains may be bad news for job seekers
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER and CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER, AP Economics Writer
34 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - Companies across the economy are finding ways to do more with fewer workers, dimming hopes that hiring will take off anytime soon.
Employers became leaner and more efficient in the third quarter. Wages, meantime, remain flat or falling. The result is that productivity - output per hour of work - jumped at the fastest pace in six years.
The good news for companies, though, may be bad news for the jobless. As long as companies can get their workers to produce more, they have little reason to hire - at least until consumer spending picks up. And the squeeze on incomes could depress consumer spending, putting the economic recovery at risk. |
14 Obama welcomes AARP backing of health care bill
By ERICA WERNER and RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writers
17 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama trumpeted two major endorsements for his health overhaul push Thursday as House Democratic leaders pushed toward a vote Saturday on the far-reaching legislation remaking the U.S. health care system.
"I am extraordinarily pleased and grateful to learn that the AARP and the American Medical Association are both supporting the health insurance reform bill that will soon come up to vote in the House of Representatives," Obama said in an unannounced visit to the White House briefing room.
AARP is "no small endorsement," Obama said of the 40-million strong seniors' lobby. |
15 Senate Democrats advance climate bill without GOP
By DINA CAPPIELLO, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 5, 11:26 am ET
| WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats sidestepped a Republican boycott Thursday, pushing a climate bill out of committee in an early step on a long and contentious road to passage.
Other committees still must weigh-in on the measure, but the partisan antics early on threatened to cast a pall over the bill - one of President Barack Obama's top priorities - as it makes its way to the Senate floor and as nations prepare to meet in Copenhagen, Denmark next month to hammer out a new international treaty to slow climate change.
Sen. Barbara Boxer, chairman of the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee, had delayed the crucial vote for days because of a Republican protest over whether the cost of the legislation had been fully examined. But the California Democrat moved quickly to pass the bill Thursday, which for the first time would set mandatory limits on heat-trapping gases, without any of the seven GOP senators on the panel present. The measure cleared the panel on a 11-1 vote. |
16 EU agrees on new Internet user rights
By CONSTANT BRAND, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 5, 9:05 am ET
| BRUSSELS - EU lawmakers and governments agreed on new rights for Internet users Thursday, aiming to protect them from arbitrary crackdowns on those who illegally download music and movies on the Internet.
EU Telecoms Commissioner Viviane Reding said a deal was reached after EU governments agreed to EU parliament demands to balance measures against illegal downloaders with a broader set of rights for telecom users.
The reforms were two years in the making. They also include new privacy controls, consumer rights and increased competition for Internet and phone services - key improvements that have been overshadowed by the fight over digital user rights. |
17 Pakistan Taliban chief urges troops to fight army
By ISHTIAQ MAHSUD, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 5, 10:54 am ET
| DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - The leader of the Pakistani Taliban urged his fighters to stand fast against a military offensive in tribal South Waziristan, warning them in an intercepted message obtained Thursday that cowards will go to hell.
Pakistani forces launched an offensive in mid-October to crush the Taliban in the semiautonomous region along the Afghan border that is believed to be the main stronghold of the militants and their al-Qaida allies.
"Remember this is the commandment of God that once fighting starts with the enemy, you cannot leave the battlefield without permission from your commander, and don't look for excuses to run away from the fighting," Hakimullah Mehsud told his followers in a speech Tuesday broadcast over a wireless radio network. Of those who do run away, he warned, "Such people will go to hell." |
18 Genetic tests for UK asylum seekers draw criticism
By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer
Thu Nov 5, 5:49 am ET
| LONDON - Britain is using genetic tests on some African asylum seekers in an effort to catch those who are lying about their nationality, drawing criticism from scientists and provoking outrage from rights groups.
The United Kingdom Border Agency launched the pilot project in September amid suspicions there might be a large number of asylum applicants lying about their home countries. An agency spokesman said Britain was the only country using genetic tests in this way.
Experts, however, say the tests are based on flawed science and there's no way genetic swabs can provide meaningful evidence regarding nationality. |
19 Democrats' plan to help 'uninsurables' questioned
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 5, 6:15 am ET
| WASHINGTON - You're afraid your cancer is back, and a health insurance company just turned you down. Under the health care bills in Congress, you could apply for coverage through a new high-risk pool that President Barack Obama promises would immediately start serving patients with pre-existing medical problems. Wait a second. Read the fine print. You may have to be uninsured for six months to qualify.
"If you are a cancer patient and have cancer now, you can't wait six months to go into a plan because your condition can go from bad to death," said Stephen Finan, a policy expert with the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. He called the waiting period in the Senate bill "unacceptable."
Advocates for people with serious health problems, as well as some insurance experts, are raising questions about one of the most important upfront benefits in the Democratic health care legislation: a high-risk pool for the medically uninsurable. |
20 Voters to pols: Give us jobs, results, not spats
By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 5, 6:16 am ET
| WASHINGTON - Voters' memo to politicians: We're angry and fearful, mostly about jobs and the economy. We want tangible solutions, not partisan bickering or intraparty spats. And we'll vote either party out of office if we don't think you're listening.
That's the latest warning to thousands of candidates who will seek offices low and high in all 50 states next year, when the number of elections will far exceed those held Tuesday.
This week's message came from New Jersey, Virginia and upstate New York, where restless voters rewarded candidates who focused on jobs and competent-but-restrained government and punished those steeped in drama or making uninspired arguments to continue a string of Democratic governors. |
Chuckles is a noted concern troll.
21 Analysis: Democrats have short memory on judges
By LARRY MARGASAK, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 5, 3:39 am ET
| WASHINGTON - Ten months into Barack Obama's presidency, Democrats are accusing Republicans of creating "a dark mark on the Senate" by delaying confirmation of his federal court nominees.
The mark might not be as dark as Democrats make it seem.
Of the 27 judicial nominations Obama has made so far, all five brought up for votes in the Senate have won relatively quick confirmations, including new Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. |
22 Analysis: Election lessons will shape '10 campaign
By LIZ "Sprinkles" SIDOTI, AP National Political Writer
Thu Nov 5, 1:08 am ET
| WASHINGTON - What we learned from the off-year elections: The president's influence is limited, independents rule, incumbents beware, issues trump ideology and, once more, "It's the economy, stupid."
Also: Republicans can win - even if they lack a leader and their base is cracked. And this certainly isn't the Democratic-friendly political environment of 2006 and 2008 when the party captured control of Congress and the White House.
The first Election Day of Barack Obama's presidency was a big night for Republicans, who recaptured governorships in the swing state of Virginia and the Democratic stronghold of New Jersey. Democrats won two races for vacant congressional seats, including one in upstate New York that had been long held by Republicans and that exposed a GOP divide. |
23 Prosecution rests case against polygamist sect man
By MICHELLE ROBERTS, Associated Press Writer
22 mins ago
| ELDORADO, Texas - Prosecutors have rested their case against a 38-year-old man from a polygamist group on trial for sexual assault of a child in West Texas.
Texas Ranger Nick Hanna testified Thursday that Raymond Jessop and the girl were living at the Yearning For Zion Ranch when the girl became pregnant. She was 16 at the time.
Hanna's testimony supported the prosecution claim that the alleged abuse happened in Schleicher (SHLYE'-kur) County, which includes the ranch in Eldorado (el-doh-RAY'-doh). |
24 Feds pledge overhaul of tribal recognition system
By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 4, 6:59 pm ET
| BILLINGS, Mont. - With some American Indian groups waiting decades for formal recognition from the U.S. government, federal officials Wednesday pledged to overhaul the cumbersome process but cautioned the changes could take two years to go into effect.
Federal recognition renders tribes eligible for economic assistance, land, housing grants and other government benefits.
Decisions on whether tribes qualify are supposed to be made by the Department of Interior within 25 months. Yet some Indians have seen their petitions languish within the agency's Bureau of Indian Affairs for 30 years or more without an answer. |
25 Gay leaders blame TV ads, Obama for loss in Maine
By LISA LEFF and DAVID CRARY, Associated Press Writers
Wed Nov 4, 5:19 pm ET
| SAN FRANCISCO - Stunned and angry, national gay rights leaders Wednesday blamed scare-mongering ads - and President Barack Obama's lack of engagement - for a bitter election setback in Maine that could alter the dynamics for both sides in the gay-marriage debate.
Conservatives, in contrast, celebrated Maine voters' rejection of a law that would have allowed gay couples to wed, depicting it as a warning shot that should deter politicians in other states from pushing for same-sex marriage.
"Every time the citizens have voted on marriage, they have always sided with natural marriage," said Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based Christian legal group. "Maine dramatically illustrates the will of the people, and politicians should wake up and listen." |
26 Unemployed husbands help at home but will it last?
LISA ORKIN EMMANUEL, Associated Press Writer
Wed Nov 4, 4:50 pm ET
| MIAMI - Lily Pabian and her husband Jeff learned to tag-team household tasks when he lost his job and she went from stay-at-home mom to part-time consultant.
But the give-and-take turned into a juggling act when Jeff found work again three months later.
Lily, a 37-year-old mother of three from Mapleton, Ga., kept working, but also kept most of the parenting responsibilities and housework. And experts say her experience will probably be typical as more women are finding themselves becoming primary breadwinners temporarily. |
27 NASA's Messenger probe reveals new clues about Mercury
By Peter N. Spotts, The Christian Science Monitor
Tue Nov 3, 4:00 am ET
| NASA's Mercury mission spacecraft, Messenger, is revolutionizing humanity's view of the first rock from the sun. And its primary science mission hasn't even started yet.
During its third and final flyby of Mercury, NASA's Messenger has found minerals on the planet's surface that current models say shouldn't be there in such abundance. And it appears that the planet was volcanically active - explosively so - for far longer than current ideas about its geological history suggest.
The flyby took place Sept. 29. Mission scientists unveiled highlights from the flyby during a press briefing Tuesday afternoon. |
28 Iraq lawmakers can't agree on election law - again
By REBECCA SANTANA, Associated Press
49 mins ago
| BAGHDAD - Iraqi lawmakers failed Thursday to agree on an election law for the country's January vote, raising concerns the balloting may be delayed and in turn push back a U.S. troop withdrawal.
Iraq's election law has been stalled for weeks as lawmakers argue over who should be allowed to vote in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, claimed by both Arabs and Kurds. Lawmakers said they would meet again Saturday. One said it would not be a big problem to delay the January election by a few days.
The ongoing political stalemate in Iraq comes as President Barack Obama decides whether to send tens of thousands more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. Under the president's drawdown plan for Iraq, all U.S. combat troops would leave Iraq by August 2010, and the remaining 50,000 trainers and support troops would go by the end of 2011. |
29 Negotiators scale back UN climate pact ambitions
By KATY DAIGLE and ARTHUR MAX, Associated Press Writers
2 hrs 11 mins ago
| BARCELONA, Spain - Negotiators and diplomats were working Thursday on a scaled-back version of a global climate change treaty that could be agreed by next month's deadline.
The idea of forging a political agreement, instead of a legally binding treaty, was becoming a more accepted possibility as negotiators acknowledged some nations, including the United States, would not be ready in time for the December U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
"People are more and more talking about a framework, a framework that you clarify further in the following months," said Artur Runge-Metzger, chief delegate from the EU Commission. |
30 UN relocating about 600 staff after Afghan attack
By HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 5, 9:37 am ET
| KABUL - The United Nations said Thursday that it will send more than half its international staff either out of Afghanistan or into more secure compounds following last week's deadly Taliban attack against U.N. workers - the most direct targeting of its employees during decades of work in the country.
About 600 nonessential staffers will be affected by the move, the U.N. said. The announcement came as the head of the U.N. mission issued a stern warning to newly re-elected President Hamid Karzai that he must crack down on corruption and initiate reform or risk losing international support.
The U.N. is still reeling from the pre-dawn assault on a guesthouse in the capital that left five of its staffers dead. |
31 War crimes tribunal to appoint lawyer for Karadzic
By MIKE CORDER, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 5, 12:25 pm ET
| THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The U.N. war crimes tribunal ruled Thursday that former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic will be appointed a lawyer to represent him whenever he fails to appear in court.
It also postponed the resumption of his trial until March 1, 2010, when the new lawyer should be ready to take over if needed.
The decision comes after Karadzic boycotted the start of his war crimes trial last week, arguing that he has not had enough time to prepare his defense. |
32 ICC prosecutor wants to investigate Kenya violence
By TOM ODULA and TOM MALITI, Associated Press Writers
1 hr 5 mins ago
| NAIROBI, Kenya - The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor said Thursday that Kenya's postelection violence that killed more than 1,000 people was a crime against humanity and pledged to initiate proceedings that could result in top officials facing trial.
Luis Moreno Ocampo said he told President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga that he will ask the Netherlands-based ICC judges to allow him to formally open an investigation into the violence that followed a contentious presidential election.
The fighting erupted along tribal lines amid accusations by the opposition that Kibaki's ruling party rigged presidential elections. Odinga was his rival and the violence ended when they agreed to a power-sharing arrangement. |
33 Killings by Afghan policeman shake British resolve
By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 5, 10:58 am ET
| LONDON - The deaths of five British soldiers gunned down by an Afghan policeman as they made tea after a patrol has shaken public support for the war in Afghanistan, intensifying debate about the human cost of the conflict and increasing calls for a pullout.
If British troops can't trust the Afghan colleagues they are supposed to be training, critics asked Thursday, how can they fight the Taliban? And where does it leave an exit strategy that depends on handing over control to Afghan forces?
The deaths dominated newspaper front pages, television news shows and radio phone-ins, even as the Ministry of Defense announced the death of another British soldier Thursday in an explosion in Helmand province. |
34 Opel workers across Germany protest GM move
By GUIDO RIJKHOEK, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 5, 9:42 am ET
| RUESSELSHEIM, Germany - Fearing widespread layoffs, thousands of Opel workers walked off the job across Germany on Thursday to protest General Motors Co.'s decision to abandon the unit's sale to new owners.
Their indignation was echoed by Russian and German leaders, who both questioned GM's decision. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin claiming GM exhibited an "arrogant attitude" in abandoning months of negotiations.
Workers at Opel's headquarters in Ruesselsheim vented their frustration and anger at a rally. |
35 US will not lift Myanmar sanctions
By DENIS D. GRAY, Associated Press Writer
Thu Nov 5, 4:36 am ET
| BANGKOK - The United States, although embarking on a new policy of engagement, will not lift its sanctions on Myanmar unless its ruling generals make concrete progress toward democratic reform, a senior U.S. diplomat said Thursday.
U.S. Ambassador for ASEAN Affairs Scot Marciel spoke after he and another State Department official completed the highest-ranking visit to Myanmar in 14 years, putting into motion the Obama administration's new policy of "pragmatic engagement" with the isolated country.
He made it clear that the stick would remain along with the new carrot, and that Washington would be closely watching the junta's next moves. |
36 Thailand, Cambodia recall envoys over Thaksin spat
By Ploy Ten Kate, Reuters
Thu Nov 5, 10:38 am ET
| BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand and Cambodia recalled their ambassadors from each others' countries Thursday, deepening a diplomatic row after Cambodia made fugitive former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra an economic adviser.
The tit-for-tat spat threatens to worsen a political crisis in Thailand by giving Thaksin and his red-shirted anti-government supporters an ally just across the border, causing a diplomatic embarrassment for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
It also suggests deepening enmity between leaders of the two countries after Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen soured the start of an Asian summit hosted by Abhisit last month by turning up and offering Thaksin the job of adviser. |
37 Britain fears Taliban infiltration in Afghan forces
AFP
Thu Nov 5, 4:53 am ET
| KABUL (AFP) - Military personnel on Thursday expressed concern about the safety of troops after a "rogue" Afghan policeman shot dead five British soldiers in Helmand province.
"Whether people will admit this openly or not, it is a fact that the Afghan police have been infiltrated at every level by the insurgency," Captain Doug Beattie, who trained Afghan soldiers and police officers in Helmand, told the Guardian newspaper.
An unnamed soldier reacting to the incident, wrote for the Independent saying he was "not surprised" by the attack. |
38 Southern Africa holds emergency summit on Zimbabwe
by Joshua Howat Berger, AFP
2 hrs 31 mins ago
| MAPUTO (AFP) - Southern African leaders held an emergency summit Thursday aimed at hauling Zimbabwe's fragile power-sharing deal out of a three-week impasse that has paralysed the unity government.
Mozambican President Armando Guebuza opened the closed-door summit with a call on Zimbabwe's rival leaders to overcome their differences to ensure political and economic stability.
"We want to see the parties reiterate their commitment to continue working together to overcome the present challenges, always putting, as they have done, the national interest of their country first," Guebuza said in opening remarks distributed to reporters. |
39 Deal to restore ex-president languishes in Honduran Congress
By Tyler Bridges, McClatchy Newspapers
Wed Nov 4, 5:39 pm ET
| CARACAS, Venezuela - A U.S.-mediated pact reached last week that aims to return deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to office and end the country's destabilizing political crisis is in danger of unraveling as Honduras' Congress takes its time to consider the deal.
Zelaya's supporters say that failure to approve it in the next few days would kill the final opportunity to legitimize this month's presidential elections by keeping a government in power that no foreign leaders have recognized. They warn there could be more of the street protests and repressive government countermoves that have sunk the country's economy.
However, Honduras' congressional leadership has postponed the crucial vote by asking the country's Supreme Court , attorney general and human rights ombudsman to give nonbinding opinions on the legality of Zelaya's return. |
40 Pakistan's Fashion Week bares country's frothy side
By Saeed Shah, McClatchy Newspapers
Wed Nov 4, 7:04 pm ET
| KARACHI, Pakistan - With paramilitary Rangers deployed to prevent terrorist attacks on the host hotel, Pakistani designers and models challenged firebrand mullahs and Taliban insurgents Wednesday by staging the country's first "Fashion Week" in Karachi .
Models pranced down the catwalk in couture fashion that was elegant, racy and indelibly Pakistani, a riot of colorful style and a show of women's flesh that's considered scandalous in this conservative Muslim country,
In a country where the all-enveloping burqa is common for women and a hijab to hide the hair or full face is growing in popularity, daring amounts of female skin were on display. Exposed midriffs, bare shoulders, plunging backs, modest cleavage and legs to just above the knee were visible. One designer, Fahad Hussayn, sent out his models with their faces covered by veils but their shoulders bare. |
41 Shanghai Disneyland Gets Government Go-Ahead
By LING WOO LIU / HONG KONG, Time Magazine
Wed Nov 4, 10:00 am ET
| Up until now, Disney's foray into China has been anything but magical. Its Hong Kong theme park, opened in 2005, has had a bumpy ride due to early missteps and competition - in its first year, attendance fell 400,000 short of an initial 5.6 million target. The following year, the number of visitors dropped to four million. To add insult to injury, the company in 2007 discovered an amusement park near Beijing that was filled with knockoff Disney characters. |
| From Yahoo News U.S. News |
42 Analysis: College students need lessons in failure
By JUSTIN POPE, AP Education Writer
1 hr 36 mins ago
| Disgraced ex-New York Times reporter Jayson Blair talking to college students about ethics?
What's next? The former head of Lehman Brothers on financial risk management?
Such was the blogosphere's snarky tone last week when Washington & Lee University in Virginia announced Blair would speak Friday at a journalism conference there. |
Yay "blogosphere's snarky tone"!
43 Sparring over evidence at Wall Streeters trial
By Grant McCool, Reuters
5 mins ago
| NEW YORK (Reuters) - In closing arguments in the trial of the first high-profile Wall Streeters tried for fraud stemming from the financial crisis, a U.S. prosecutor said two hedge fund managers told "black and white lies," but a defense lawyer attacked the government for "misleading" the jury.
U.S. prosecutor Ilene Jaroslaw said on Thursday former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers Ralph Cioffi and Matthew Tannin lied to investors in 2007 about the health of their funds even though they were seeing some of the worst market conditions ever.
"This case is not about hedge fund strategy or what happened in the market in 2007," Jaroslaw told a Brooklyn, New York, federal court jury. |
44 U.S. spends most, but health quality lags
By Julie Steenhuysen, Reuters
Thu Nov 5, 12:32 am ET
| CHICAGO (Reuters) - Americans are more likely than people in 10 other countries to have trouble getting medical treatment because of insurance restrictions or cost, an international survey of primary care doctors released on Wednesday found.
While the United States spends more than twice as much as other developed countries on healthcare, it lags well behind in key measures of quality, the annual survey found.
"Our weak primary care system puts patients at risk and results in poor health outcomes and higher costs," said Karen Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund, a private health policy group that sponsored the survey. |
45 Insider trading probe ensnares 14 more
By Matthew Goldstein and Jonathan Stempel, Reuters
2 hrs 33 mins ago
| NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fourteen people were charged with fraud and conspiracy in a dramatic widening of an insider trading scandal that has ensnared hedge fund managers, top Silicon Valley executives and a bevy of white-shoe advisers.
In complaints that read like scripts for the TV series "The Sopranos," prosecutors alleged suspects dropped off bags full of cash, used prepaid cellphones to dodge wiretaps, and adopted nicknames such as "the Greek."
"We allege some of the defendants (were) taking a page from the drug dealers' playbook (and) deliberately used anonymous, hard-to-trace, pre-paid cellphones in order to avoid law enforcement detection," federal prosecutor Preet Bharara told a news conference. |
46 Exxon follows China lead in clinching Iraq oil deal
by Sammy Ketz, AFP
Thu Nov 5, 1:37 pm ET
| BAGHDAD (AFP) - Exxon Mobil on Thursday became the first US company to win a contract since Iraq's oil industry was nationalised almost 40 years ago, further expanding the role of foreign nations in the industry.
The contract to develop West Qurna 1, the war-torn country's second largest field, will boost its production more than eight-fold to 2.325 million barrels per day (bpd), said Oil Minister Hussein al-Shahristani.
"The companies will spend 50 billion dollars -- 25 billion on operations and a further 25 billion in development," he said, referring to the winning bid, in which Exxon holds an 80-percent share and Anglo-Dutch firm Shell the balance. |
47 When Is It Legal To Frame A Man For Murder?
By CLAIRE SUDDATH, Time Magazine
Thu Nov 5, 9:55 am ET
| In July 1977, retired police captain John Schweer was shot and killed while working as a night watchman at an Oldsmobile dealership in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Two teenagers, Curtis McGhee and Terry Harrington, were convicted of the murder based on evidence they allege was knowingly fabricated by prosecutors. |
48 The Rebirth of the Republican Middle
By RAMESH PONNURU, Time Magazine
Thu Nov 5, 10:15 am ET
| Are conservatives leading the Republican Party off a cliff? That's what a lot of people concluded after conservatives forced the official Republican candidate out of a congressional race in upstate New York for being too liberal. That candidate, Dede Scozzafava, promptly endorsed the Democrat running for the seat - who then won an area that had been sending Republicans to Congress since 1872. Even some Republicans are complaining that a party purged of moderates would be unable to win elections outside the South. The party would be left with a hard-core conservative base, and nothing else. |
Idiot. |
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