2 Romanian president, rival face run-off vote: exit polls
by Mihaela Rodina, AFP
Sun Nov 22, 4:24 pm ET
| BUCHAREST (AFP) - Romania's incumbent president and his Social-Democrat rival will face a run-off after Sunday's first round election, exit polls showed, as the country aims to recover from a political crisis and a deep recession.
Centre-right President Traian Basescu and his main rival Mircea Geoana were the two top vote-getters in Sunday's vote, two exit polls showed, putting them in line for a second round of the presidential election on December 6.
Basescu is in the lead with 33.72 percent of votes cast, according to an exit poll by the CURS Institute for public television, followed by Geoana with 31.44 percent. |
3 Ubisoft steps up videogame fitness with virtual coach
by Glenn Chapman, AFP
Sun Nov 22, 2009 6:46PM EST
| SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - French videogame powerhouse Ubisoft will have a virtual fitness coach whipping Wii users into shape starting Tuesday.
"Your Shape" ramps up the healthy videogame genre with a custom camera that puts people on-screen and under the scrutiny of an animated coach devoted to making workouts go strong.
"This is a great way to personalize a fitness experience," Ubisoft senior vice president of sales and marketing Tony Key told AFP while providing an early glimpse at the videogame in San Francisco. |
4 UN climate chief expects 'specific' climate deal
AFP
Mon Nov 23, 9:46 am ET
| BRUSSELS (AFP) - The UN's top climate negotiator voiced optimism Monday that a deal can be salvaged next month at world talks on global warming, but said US President Barack Obama must offer a target and financing.
UN climate chief Yvo de Boer has already said it would be impossible to conclude a comprehensive climate treaty during the talks opening in Copenhagen on December 7.
However, ahead of a meeting with EU ministers in Brussels, he told AFP that "I think we will have a very specific agreement." |
5 Executives testify in Airbus insider trading probe
AFP
Mon Nov 23, 7:54 am ET
| PARIS (AFP) - France's markets watchdog began hearings on Monday into claims 17 current and former EADS aerospace executives made huge profits with inside information about delays in the Airbus A380 project.
The executives and three firms -- EADS and shareholders Chrysler and Lagardere -- are accused of selling stock options in March 2006 because they knew the share price would slump when the production delays were made public.
They sold their stock options when the shares were around 30 euros, near their historic high. The price plummeted by 26 percent in a single day when the delay was officially announced in June that year. |
6 OECD area shakes off recession with fragile rebound
AFP
Mon Nov 23, 7:38 am ET
| PARIS (AFP) - Top industrialised economies broke free of recession in the third quarter despite falling output in Britain, OECD data showed Monday, but the IMF warned that the recovery was "vulnerable" and markets sent a similar message.
Data released by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development echoed a lengthier OECD analysis last week that said the rebound would be modest at best, with with governments now forced to wind down huge, debt-aggravating rescue spending.
Global stock markets meanwhile rose sharply on Monday as the price of gold soared to a record high point, with dealers taking advantage of a weak dollar to move back into the precious metal's "safe haven." |
7 Khmer Rouge jail chief accused of crocodile tears
by Patrick Falby, AFP
Mon Nov 23, 5:57 am ET
| PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Lawyers for Khmer Rouge victims Monday accused the regime's jailer of duping Cambodia's war crimes court with "crocodile tears" as he faces final arguments over "Killing Fields" atrocities.
Former prison chief Kaing Guek Eav -- better known as Duch -- has apologised repeatedly for his role in the horrors of the hardline communist regime, which killed up to two million people three decades ago.
But civil lawyers representing 93 victims of the Tuol Sleng prison at the UN-backed court argued that Duch had failed to acknowledge the full extent of his guilt, as his trial entered its closing week. |
8 Iraq parliament passes new vote law
By Waleed Ibrahim, Reuters
1 hr 22 mins ago
| BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's parliament on Monday approved an amended law needed to hold an election next year, but the new text risks being vetoed a second time -- which could delay both the vote and next year's partial U.S. troop withdrawal.
The bill now returns to the three-person presidential council where, lawmakers said, Sunni Arab Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi is likely veto it again as it still fails to address his demand to give more of a say to Iraqis living abroad.
"This has widened the problem and we are heading into a dark tunnel. This means a delay in the election by at least one month," said Alaa Maki of the Sunni Arab Accordance Front. |
9 Two Afghan ministers suspected of embezzlement
By Hamid Shalizi, Reuters
Mon Nov 23, 9:26 am ET
| KABUL (Reuters) - Two Afghan cabinet ministers are being investigated under suspicion of embezzlement, a deputy attorney general said on Monday, at a time when President Hamid Karzai faces tough Western pressure to clean up his government.
With U.S. President Barack Obama poised to decide whether to send tens of thousands of extra troops to Afghanistan, the U.S. embassy said Washington would be watching Karzai's steps against corruption very closely.
Deputy Attorney General Fazel Ahmad Faqiryar declined to name the two ministers that were targets of the probe. He said other officials were also being investigated. |
10 SC gov faces 37 charges he broke state ethics laws
By JIM DAVENPORT, Associated Press Writer
18 mins ago
| COLUMBIA, S.C. - South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford faces ethics charges he broke state laws more than three dozen times by violating rules on airplane travel and campaign money, according to details of the allegations released Monday.
The civil charges, which carry a maximum $74,000 in fines, stem from a three-month investigation by the state ethics commission and could be pivotal in a push by some lawmakers to remove him from office. The state attorney general is deciding whether the governor would face any criminal charges.
The allegations include 18 instances in which Sanford is accused of improperly buying first- and business-class airline tickets, violating state law requiring lowest-cost travel; nine times of improperly using state-owned aircraft for travel to political and personal events, including a stop at a discount hair salon; and 10 times he improperly reimbursed himself with campaign cash. |
11 Schumer: Dems ready to go-it-alone on health care
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writer
39 mins ago
| WASHINGTON - A leading Senate Democrat said Monday his party is determined to push through a health care overhaul bill with or without Republican support because the "system is broken."
"We prefer to go at it with Republicans if we can reach compromises in some areas," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "But we're not going to not pass a bill."
Schumer dueled with Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison on a network morning news show in the wake of a key Senate vote Saturday night that advanced a 10-year, $959 billion health bill to full debate. Hutchison argued that "you're going to put taxes and mandates on business" that would be a drag on an economy still struggling to recover from recession. |
12 Kennedy dispute reveals divide among Catholics
By RAY HENRY, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 23, 9:18 am ET
| EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. - A bitter dispute over abortion that prompted Rhode Island's Roman Catholic bishop to ask Rep. Patrick Kennedy not to receive Holy Communion has revealed the depth of the divide among Catholics over how politicians should reconcile their faith with their public duties.
Bishop Thomas Tobin on Sunday said he made the request because of the Democratic lawmaker's support for abortion rights. The news prompted debate among Catholics around the country and within Rhode Island, the nation's most Catholic state, about whether it was right for Tobin to publicly shame Kennedy for breaking with the church on what its leaders consider a paramount moral issue.
Angel Madera, 20, a Marine visiting his home in Providence for Thanksgiving, said before attending Sunday evening Mass that Tobin was wrong to assail Kennedy's faith. |
13 Trial of Khmer Rouge prison chief in final stage
By SOPHENG CHEANG, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 23, 11:39 am ET
| PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - The genocide trial of a prison chief for Cambodia's Khmer Rouge entered its final stage Monday, as closing arguments began in the historic effort to assign responsibility for the deaths of 1.7 million people three decades ago.
The defendant, Kaing Guek Eav, commanded S-21 prison which punished those accused of disloyalty to the xenophobic communist group. He oversaw the torture and execution of about 16,000 men, women and children during its 1975-79 rule.
If the U.N.-assisted tribunal rules him guilty, the former schoolteacher faces a maximum penalty of life in prison, as Cambodia has no death penalty. |
14 FBI wants public's help in civil rights killings
By SHELIA BYRD, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 23, 6:38 am ET
| JACKSON, Miss. - Over the last three years, the FBI scoured faded documents, interviewed aging lawmen and tracked down witnesses from killings that occurred decades ago, many of them involving white police officers who shot black men or teenagers.
Now, the agency is at a dead end in the search for relatives in at least 33 civil rights-era cases, and the FBI needs the public's help. Agents are appealing for relatives of the victims to come forward, the latest challenge in a three-year-old effort to right historical wrongs.
"We have done everything we can to find those families and we've run out of leads," said Cynthia Deitle, unit chief for the FBI's civil rights division. "Whether it's a spouse, child or parent. We've even gone as far as locating cousins who are the next of kin." |
15 Study: kids watching hours of TV at home daycare
By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 23, 6:35 am ET
| SEATTLE - Parents who thought their preschoolers were spending time in home-based day cares, taking naps, eating healthy snacks and learning to play nicely with others may be surprised to discover they are sitting as many as two hours a day in front of a TV, according to a study published Monday.
When added to the two to three hours many parents already admit to allowing at home, preschoolers in child care may be spending more than a third of the about 12 hours they are awake each day in front of the electronic baby sitter, said Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle and a researcher at the University of Washington.
That's double the TV time he found in a previous study based on parental reports of home viewing, according to findings published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. The study is the first to look at TV watching in child care in more than 20 years. |
16 Indian PM to be feted by Obama at state visit
By FOSTER KLUG, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 23, 6:37 am ET
| WASHINGTON - India has watched with wariness as President Barack Obama's administration has lavished attention on rivals Pakistan and China. Now, Obama is trying to ease Indian worries by honoring Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with the first state visit of his presidency.
India will receive Tuesday's elaborate welcome because the relationship quietly has become one of the most important the United States has. It is seen as crucial to the U.S.-led fight against extremists in Pakistan and Afghanistan, as a counterweight to China and as key to efforts to settle world trade and climate change deals.
Singh's visit, however, comes at a delicate time. Indians are bristling over a perception that Obama neglected India during his recent trip to Asia and seemed to endorse a stronger role for China in India's sensitive dealings with Pakistan. |
17 Program to help truckers attracts drug smugglers
By CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer
26 mins ago
| LAREDO, Texas - A U.S. program that offers trusted trucking companies speedy passage across American borders has begun attracting just the sort of customers who place a premium on avoiding inspections: Mexican drug smugglers.
Most trucks enrolled in the program pause at the border for just 20 seconds before entering the United States. And nine out of 10 of them do so without anyone looking at their cargo.
But among the small fraction of trucks that are inspected, authorities have found multiple loads of contraband, including eight tons of marijuana seized during one week in April. |
18 CO2 curve ticks upward as key climate talks loom
By JOHN HEILPRIN, Associated Press Writer
23 mins ago
| MAUNA LOA OBSERVATORY, Hawaii - The readings at this 2-mile-high station show an upward curve as the world counts down to climate talks: Global warming gases have built up to record levels in the atmosphere, from emissions that match scientists' worst-case scenarios.
Carbon dioxide concentrations this fall are hovering at around 385 parts per million, on their way to a near-certain record high above 390 in the first half of next year, at the annual peak.
"For the past million years we've never seen 390. You have to wonder what that's going to do," said physicist John Barnes, the observatory director. |
19 Heaping plates nullify Thanksgiving calorie cuts
By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 1 min ago
| Good news this Thanksgiving: Compared to 50 years ago, some staples of the Turkey Day table have fewer calories.
The bad news? It probably won't matter because most Americans will eat too much anyway.
While Americans are notorious for cranking up the calories and portions compared to a generation or so ago, small changes in the nation's diet seem to have buffered Thanksgiving dinner from some - but not all - of our bigger-better mentality. |
20 Abortion slaying suspect may use necessity defense
By ROXANA HEGEMAN, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 12 mins ago
| WICHITA, Kan. - Seemingly contradicting his own public statements, an attorney for the man accused of gunning down a Kansas abortion provider has argued in court documents that his client has an "absolute right" to present a defense that argues the killing was justified to stop abortion.
A defense motion made public Monday seeks to thwart prosecutors' efforts to ban the so-called necessity defense from Scott Roeder's murder and aggravated assault trial. A hearing on the issue is set for Dec. 22.
"For the Court to grant the State's motion to prohibit `any evidence' in support of the necessity defense would be premature, and contrary to Kansas law," the defense wrote. "In addition, it would be rank speculation on the part of the state (and the Court if it were to grant said Motion) as to the purpose of any and all evidence that the Defendant may seek to introduce." |
21 Medical marijuana finds social outlet in Ore. cafe
By WILLIAM McCALL, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 23, 8:51 am ET
| PORTLAND, Ore. - At the newly opened Cannabis Cafe, people sit around taking tokes from a "vaporizer" - a contraption with a big plastic bag that captures the potent vapors of heated marijuana. Glass jars hold donations of dried, milky-green weed, and the cafe serves up meals and snacks for the hungry.
It's all perfectly legal and, for cancer patient Albert Santistevan, it's about time.
"It's a very positive atmosphere. We could use more places like that," the 56-year-old former jewelry shop owner said. |
22 China activist who spoke out on quake gets 3 years
By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 23, 11:40 am ET
| BEIJING - A veteran dissident was sentenced Monday to three years in prison after casting a spotlight on poorly built schools that collapsed during China's massive earthquake last year, killing thousands of children - an apparent government attempt to squelch such information.
Huang Qi, founder of a human rights Web site, had been charged with illegally possessing state secrets, his wife Zeng Li said by telephone. His detention in June 2008 came after several posts on his blog that criticized the government's response to the massive earthquake that struck Sichuan province a month earlier and killed about 90,000 people.
Huang had alleged that state-controlled media provided skewed reports on relief efforts and accused the government of obstructing the work of non-governmental organizations responding to the disaster, according to reports at the time by Paris-based monitoring group Reporters Without Borders. |
23 Big Bang atom smasher sends beams in 2 directions
By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 2 mins ago
| GENEVA - The world's largest atom smasher made another leap forward Monday by circulating beams of protons in opposite directions at the same time in the $10 billion machine after more than a year of repairs, organizers said.
The true test will be in first two months of 2010, when scientists plan to start colliding protons to see what they can discover about the makeup of the universe and its tiniest particles.
The Large Hadron Collider has been advancing faster than expected in its startup phase that began Friday night, said Rolf Heuer, director-general of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN. |
24 Brazil: World must engage, not isolate Iran
By ALAN CLENDENNING, Associated Press Writer
17 mins ago
| BRASILIA, Brazil - The world must engage, not isolate Iran in the push for Middle East peace and Iran should negotiate with Western nations for a "just and balanced" solution to its polemical nuclear program, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday.
Silva's comments followed a three-hour private meeting with his increasingly alienated Iranian counterpart, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - the first Iranian leader to visit Brazil since pro-U.S. Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi toured Brazil in 1965.
But Ahmadinejad made no promises and defiantly said Iran would try to improve its uranium-enrichment technology if it can't buy enriched uranium abroad. |
25 France shows off cutting-edge navy ship in Russia
By IRINA TITOVA, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 23, 9:50 am ET
| ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - A cutting-edge French warship sailed into St. Petersburg Monday to show off its capabilities to potential buyers in the Russian navy, whose pursuit of an amphibious assault capacity is frightening some neighboring countries.
Russia's once-mighty navy was severely degraded after the fall of the Soviet Union and it currently has no big ship with the power to anchor in coastal waters and deploy troops onto land.
Russian officials announced this year that they were planning to make their first arms deal with a NATO country by buying a French vessel like the Mistral, a 23,700-ton (21,500-metric ton), 980-foot (299-meter) vessel able carry more than a dozen helicopters able to haul hundreds of troops directly onto enemy territory. |
26 Amended Iraqi election law still angers Sunnis
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writer
2 hrs 37 mins ago
| BAGHDAD - Iraq's parliament amended the country's vetoed election law on Monday with a version that failed to appease Sunni Arabs, who fear they are being marginalized.
The outcome prompted predictions of another veto and a delay in the elections slated for January.
The dispute highlights the ethnic and sectarian divisions in Iraq. While more secure than in past years of war, the country has yet to achieve the political reconciliation vital to long-term stability. |
27 Hundreds protest trash incinerator plans in China
By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 23, 11:51 am ET
| GUANGZHOU, China - Hundreds of residents worried about property values and health risks protested Monday against the planned construction of a trash incinerator in the southern boomtown of Guangzhou.
Many of the demonstrators were members of China's growing middle class, who are eager to protect the homes, jobs and other benefits that rising living standards have afforded them. Their newfound wealth has also led them to expect more from the government.
For several months, public anger about the incinerator project in Guangzhou's Panyu district - home to 2.5 million people - has been simmering. But until now, police have been effective in blocking large-scale protests. Most of the opposition has been voiced on blogs and Internet chat forums. |
28 Gunmen kill 21 in Philippine political war
By Manny Mogato, Reuters
Mon Nov 23, 8:39 am ET
| MANILA (Reuters) - Gunmen abducted and killed at least 21 people in the southern Philippines Monday, apparently to prevent a woman filing her husband's nomination to run for provincial governor in elections next year, the military said.
Lieutenant Colonel Romeo Brawner said the bodies of 13 women and eight men were found in the area where about 30 people were taken hostage.
"We believe more bodies are buried," Brawner said. "Unfortunately, the killing happened before our troops got there." |
29 Pakistani militant group an intractable Indian foe
By Kamran Haider, Reuters
Mon Nov 23, 1:39 am ET
| ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - The Pakistan-based militant group that attacked the Indian city of Mumbai a year ago remains an implacable Indian foe and could strike again despite Pakistani efforts to rein it in.
The Lashkar-e-Taiba emerged from the embers of the Islamist battle against Soviet occupiers in Afghanistan in the 1980s and began fighting Indian forces in the disputed Kashmir region in the early 1990s.
While its network has spread globally, as shown by the recent arrest of suspects linked to the group in Chicago and Italy, its focus remains India, said people with knowledge of the group. |
30 Alliance battle starts as Romania heads for presidential run-off
by Mihaela Rodina, AFP
1 hr 1 min ago
| BUCHAREST (AFP) - Centre-right incumbent Traian Basescu and left-wing leader Mircea Geoana battled to form vote-winning alliances Monday after being forced into a second round of a presidential election.
With the result key to deciding how Romania gets out of an economic and political crisis, the first round of the election on Sunday left the two in a neck and neck race that will be decided in the December 6 run-off.
With 99,81 percent of the vote counted, president Basescu had 32.43 percent of the vote while Social Democrat Geoana had 31.16 percent, according to the central election office. Liberal Crin Antonescu was third with 20.02 percent. |
31 Iraq vote in fresh doubt as new bill faces veto
by Salam Faraj, AFP
Mon Nov 23, 12:28 pm ET
| BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq's upcoming general election will be delayed, a top MP warned, because an amended electoral law agreed on Monday is likely to be vetoed for a second time by the country's Sunni vice president.
The deal increases the number of parliamentary seats in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region compared with an earlier version of the bill, which Tareq al-Hashemi vetoed, but reduces the figure for Sunni areas.
"I want to tell all Iraqis inside and outside Iraq that the election will be soon, and it will be postponed for a few days for technical reasons," said Baha al-Araji, the head of parliament's legal committee. |
32 Failed N.Ireland car bombing highlights terror threat
AFP
Sun Nov 22, 2:51 pm ET
| BELFAST (AFP) - A massive car bomb that failed to explode properly was designed to cause widespread destruction in Belfast, police said Sunday, underscoring the threat to Northern Ireland's fragile peace.
The car, containing a 400-pound (180-kilogramme) device, crashed through barriers outside a police headquarters in Belfast late on Saturday and partially exploded, police said.
Elsewhere, police exchanged shots with paramilitaries in a border village. Three people have been arrested in Northern Ireland and one across the border in the Republic of Ireland, police said. |
33 N.Ireland on edge after huge car bomb planted
AFP
Mon Nov 23, 8:12 am ET
| BELFAST (AFP) - Northern Ireland was on edge Monday after a huge car bomb only just failed to cause devastation at the weekend, in a new threat to the long-troubled province's fragile peace process.
Dissident republicans may even be planning a Christmas "spectacular", reports suggested after two incidents within hours fuelled fears of renewed violence, more than a decade after a landmark peace accord.
The Northern Ireland Assembly, in which once sworn enemies share power in Belfast, was due to meet and was expected to condemn the weekend attacks, which also saw police exchange gunfire with paramilitaries. |
34 Why Iran's Opposition Movement Complicates Nuclear Talks
By ROBIN WRIGHT, Time Magazine
Mon Nov 23, 10:00 am ET
| After more than five months of going it alone, Iran's opposition Green Movement is reaching out to the United States for help. Via public and private channels, the Obama Administration has received several appeals in recent weeks to take a stronger stand against human-rights abuses in Iran, avoid military action and impose more aggressive and rapid-fire sanctions against the Revolutionary Guards and its vast business interests. |
| From Yahoo News U.S. News |
35 Health reform: Is tax on 'Cadillac' plans fair?
By CARLA K. JOHNSON, AP Medical Writer
17 mins ago
| Schoolteacher Kinzi Blair makes only $46,000 a year, but she has what many would consider a "Cadillac" health plan, now targeted for a big tax increase by health reformers.
She has $10 copays and no deductible. She gets generic prescription drugs for $10. Her plan covers mental health counseling, organ transplants, acupuncture. It covers speech therapy for preschoolers and in vitro fertilization.
Sound pretty good? |
36 Feds find association between drywall, corrosion
By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 23, 1:23 pm ET
| WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - The federal government said Monday that it has found a "strong association" between problematic imported Chinese drywall and corrosion of pipes and wires, a conclusion that supports complaints by thousands of homeowners over the last year.
In its second report on the potentially defective building materials, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said its investigation also has found a "possible" link between health problems reported by homeowners and higher-than-normal levels of hydrogen sulfide gas emitted from the wallboard coupled with formaldehyde, which is commonly found in new houses.
The commission, along with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, continues to study the potential health effects, and the long-term implications of the corrosion. |
37 New Macy's Parade route means no cutting corners
By DEEPTI HAJELA, Associated Press Writer
1 hr 16 mins ago
| NEW YORK - It won't be just the balloons, marching bands and floats on display in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. The laws of physics will also be on parade.
For the first time in its more than 80-year history, the parade route is bypassing Broadway, which cuts a diagonal slice through Manhattan, as it makes its way south from the Upper West Side to the finish at Macy's flagship store in Herald Square.
Instead, participants will use a new route - one that traverses the grid of the city's streets and avenues, includes turns around five corners, and is slightly longer than in previous years. |
38 Holidays will again test NYC air travel bottleneck
By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 23, 7:54 am ET
| NEW YORK - Fewer people are expected to fly this holiday season, but travelers shouldn't expect a full reprieve from the horrid flight delays of Thanksgivings past, especially if they need to land anywhere near New York City.
Despite some recent improvements, the Big Apple's three major airports continue to be the country's worst air travel bottleneck.
Through the first nine months of the year, they ranked first, second and third worst in on-time arrivals among the 31 major U.S. air hubs, according to federal statistics. |
39 Bio-fuel growth raises concerns about forests
By JOHN FLESHER, AP Environmental Writer
Mon Nov 23, 4:50 am ET
| PARK FALLS, Wis. - Forests are a treasure trove of limbs and bark that can be made into alternative fuels and some worry the increasing trend of using that logging debris will make those materials too scarce, harming the woodlands.
For centuries, forests have provided lumber to build cities, pulp for paper mills and a refuge for hunters, fishers and hikers. A flurry of new, green ventures is fueling demand for trees and the debris leftover when they are harvested, which is called waste wood or woody biomass.
"There simply is nowhere near enough waste wood for all of these biomass projects that are popping up all over the place," said Marvin Roberson, a forest policy specialist with the Sierra Club in Michigan. |
40 Accused Ponzi schemer Petters' case goes to jury
By Art Hughes, Reuters
23 mins ago
| ST. PAUL, Minnesota (Reuters) - The government made a final effort to convince jurors on Monday that accused Ponzi schemer Tom Petters orchestrated a $3.65 billion fraud, and is not the victim he claims to be.
Jurors began deliberations Monday afternoon after the government urged them in its closing argument to reject the Minnesota businessman's contention that subordinates were responsible for a fraud at the now-collapsed Petters Group Worldwide LLC.
"Tom Petters is not a victim," prosecutor John Marti told jurors. "Tom Petters was committing fraud of a massive, massive scale." |
41 Swine flu may have hit one peak; more to come
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor, Reuters
Mon Nov 23, 12:00 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The pandemic of swine flu may be hitting a peak in the Northern Hemisphere, global health officials said on Friday, but they cautioned it was far from over.
Officials also said they were investigating several troubling outbreaks of drug-resistant H1N1 but noted they were limited so far and that there were no indications yet the virus was mutating in a sustained way.
The World Health Organization said H1N1 flu was moving eastward across Europe and Asia after appearing to peak in parts of Western Europe and the United States. |
42 Desperate retailers seek holiday season rescue
by Rob Lever, AFP
Sat Nov 21, 11:32 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - US retailers are taking desperate measures to spark holiday sales in the face of what promises to be another troubled year-end shopping season.
Merchants are furiously working to ramp up consumer interest ahead of "Black Friday," on November 27, the day after the Thanksgiving Day holiday that marks the traditional kickoff of the holiday gift season.
Some are promising price cuts of 50 percent or more on some hot electronics, and planning for big events to bring out shoppers for big sales promotions. |
43 Key senators seek changes on US health care bill
by Andrew Gully, AFP
Sun Nov 22, 5:30 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - Key Democratic allies in the US health care battle warned Sunday that a Senate bill required major changes if it was to earn their support and give President Barack Obama a crucial victory on his top domestic priority.
A knife-edge ballot Saturday saw Democrats scrape the 60 votes needed for debate to begin November 30, but wavering senators Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson sent a strong message that they would not back the bill as it stands.
Lieberman, an independent senator from Connecticut who usually votes in line with the Democrats and did so on Saturday, opposes the creation of a government insurance program to compete with private firms, the so-called "public option." |
44 American Express takes aim at PayPal with Revolution
by Rob Lever, AFP
Sat Nov 21, 11:37 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) - With its deal to buy Revolution Money, American Express is taking aim at the growing market for online and alternative payments, in a challenge to recognized leader PayPal, analysts say.
The financial services giant announced plans Wednesday to buy the Web payments firm started in 2005 by Internet firm AOL founder Steve Case, with the purchase price set at 300 million dollars.
Analysts say AmEx is most interested in the so-called peer-to-peer services of Revolution, which enables low-cost money transfers among individuals and businesses. |
45 Pistols, Tasers, assault rifles sell fast at US show
by Virginie Montet, AFP
Sun Nov 22, 3:23 am ET
| CHANTILLY, Virginia (AFP) - Recession-stoked fears of rising crime and tougher gun laws under a Democratic government are sending US gun sales sky high, and big crowds at the Chantilly Gun Show this weekend proved it once again.
"Do you see the line all around the building and in the back," asked Annette Elliott, co-organizer of one of the top gun shows in Virginia, a conservative state with rather liberal gun laws.
Several hundred people thronged the gun show in the Washington suburb of Chantilly, where some 260 retailers have set up stalls hung with ready-to-fire Smith and Wessons, Glocks, Walthers, Colts and Berettas. |
46 Tuition Hikes: Protests in California and Elsewhere
By KEVIN O'LEARY / LOS ANGELES, Time Magazine
Sat Nov 21, 1:20 pm ET
| Facing reductions in state funding, public universities from Michigan to Arizona to North Carolina have slashed budgets and hiked tuition. The most extreme case is California where University of California regents voted this week to increase tuition a whopping 32% to more than $10,000 annually - a three-fold increase in a decade. The move was greeted by student demonstrations. |
47 Fat Fees And Smoker Surcharges.
By MELBA NEWSOME, Time Magazine
Sun Nov 22, 10:40 am ET
| Psychology Professor Anita Blanchard has a pretty sweet deal with her employer. Even if the 40-something mother of three leaves her job at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the state of North Carolina guarantees her premium-free health insurance that will cover 80% of her health care costs for life. But's there's a hitch: she can't gain too much weight or start smoking. If she does, she could be on the hook for an additional 10% of her health care tab. |
48 Church Insecurity.
By AMY SULLIVAN, Time Magazine
Sun Nov 22, 10:40 am ET
| Jesus may have taught his disciples to turn the other cheek, but these days some churches are hiring armed security teams--just in case that whole forgiveness thing doesn't work out. |
49 Will Minorities Get Enough Out of the Economic Stimulus?
By TIM PADGETT / MIAMI, Time Magazine
Mon Nov 23, 10:10 am ET
| Miami's poorer residents have long complained that the city's meager public-transit system makes it harder for them to get to work. So when the Obama Administration announced the $787 billion stimulus plan earlier this year, many hoped some of that money would help fund plans like an expansion of Miami's undersized Metrorail system - especially a 10-mile northern extension that would reach into predominantly African-American and other minority communities largely cut off from downtown and other employment centers. But the project, in part because it's not considered as shovel-ready as jobs like existing highway maintenance, isn't getting any of the $15 billion in stimulus aid for Florida, and has been shelved for the time being. |
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March on Washington
