(A little look at what I’ve been working on. Instead of your Weekend News Digest today – promoted by ek hornbeck)
World-
Africa
2 pm 12 Zimbabwe opposition mulls conditions for run-off
Asia
1 US strike takes out suspected militant hideout in Sadr City
2 China seeking "positive outcome" from Tibet talks
6am 1 Olympic torch arrives on safer terrain in mainland China
6am 2 US military: 4 Marines killed in Anbar province in Iraq
6am 3 Malaysia angers women with travel-restriction idea
6am 14 War shrine film opens in Tokyo amid tight security
10 am 2 Iraq’s first lady unharmed after her motorcade is bombed
10 am 3 Gunmen pull Iraqi journalist from car, kill her
10 am 5 Japan warns rising food prices could lead to unrest in Asia
10 am 6 ASEAN committed to free trade pact with Australia, NZ: minister
Europe
5 Poll rout raises questions over British PM’s future
South America
10 am 1 Bolivian state begins key, and defiant, autonomy vote
2 pm 13 Bolivia’s richest region votes on autonomy drive
2 pm 15 U.S. Rancher in Bolivia Showdown
U.S.-
News/Politics
3 Health care waits to ignite as campaign issue
7 Amtrak plans multi-city celebration of ‘National Train Day’
10 Is Liberal Catholicism Dead?
2 pm 7 Old cemetery poses grave dilemma for buyers of Vt. farm
2 pm 17 Democrats pick up House seat in Louisiana
Entertainment
6am 7 Lego’s latest brick trick: a virtual world
6am 8 GTA 4 poised to dominate Xbox Live
6am 11 Hollywood actors and studios extend labor talks again
6am 12 "Iron Man" gets heavy start at box office
6am 13 ‘Iron Man’ Hero Personifies Modern Military Contractors
Business
4 Microsoft withdraws offer for Yahoo
9 Pawnbrokers thrive as US economy falters
11 Buffett and Munger reassure shareholders about succession
12 Buffett says Fed avoided chaos in Bear bailout
13 ECB to stay on high alert until inflation fades: analysts
6am 9 Walmart.com using Wii Fit to boost Mom’s Day sales
10 am 4 Barclays eyes possible Korea investor: report
Science
14 Malaysian palm oil struggles to promote ‘green’ image
15 Africa’s biggest oil producer goes green
6am 4 Smarter electric grid could be key to saving power
6am 5 Crackdown on traffickers strains Thailand’s wildlife centres
6am 6 Asian vultures may face extinction in India, study warns
Health
6 Common drugs hasten decline in elderly: study
8 U.S. parents’ baby knowledge lacking, study finds
6am 10 Doctors to reassess antibiotics for ‘chronic Lyme’ disease
2 pm 25 24 Chinese children die of virus; other countries affected
Bloglines 5/4
2 pm 1 Bill Moyers– by tristero
2 pm 2 And Still We Have No Voice– by tristero
2 pm 3 The Wall– by digby
2 pm 4 Another Minuteman Outfit Consorts With Nazis– By David Neiwert
2 pm 5 The media, the Right and 1988: endless deja vu– by Glenn Greenwald
2 pm 6 Fox’s Faux Populism vs A Shadow Elite–pt. 2– by Paul Rosenberg
Hmm… this particular display took just as long as everything else combined because of the incorrect expansion of shortcut link brackets ‘[ ]’ that had to be replaced with the more difficult <a href=””></a> notation.
These were modified one link at a time pacified, maybe you can see a pattern in it that I cannot.
Oh, and they’re all direct copies (or were) of the originals that worked first time every time below with everything cut but the links (a handy way to collect ex post facto lists).
World-
Africa
2 pm 12 Zimbabwe opposition mulls conditions for run-off
By MacDonald Dzirutwe, Reuters
2 hours, 56 minutes ago
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s main opposition party is discussing possible conditions for its leader Morgan Tsvangirai to contest a run-off election against President Robert Mugabe, a senior MDC official said on Sunday.
The Movement for Democratic Change has not yet decided whether to contest the second round, rejecting official results of the March 29 election showing the former union leader won with less than the outright majority he needed to defeat Mugabe.
But if Tsvangirai does not stand, it would automatically hand victory to Mugabe, accused by opponents of ruining Zimbabwe’s once prosperous economy during his 28 years in power.
Asia
1 US strike takes out suspected militant hideout in Sadr City
By BRADLEY BROOKS, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 9 minutes ago
BAGHDAD – The U.S. military fired guided missiles into the heart of Baghdad’s teeming Sadr City slum on Saturday, leveling a building 55 yards away from a hospital and wounding nearly two dozen people.
Separately, the U.S. military said late Saturday that four Marines were killed on Thursday by a roadside bomb in Anbar province. The military also said that a U.S. soldier died of wounds suffered in a roadside bomb that struck the soldier’s vehicle during a combat patrol in eastern Baghdad Friday. At least 4,071 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
AP Television News footage from Sadr City showed several ambulances destroyed and on fire, thick black smoke rising from them as firefighters worked to put out the flames.
2 China seeking “positive outcome” from Tibet talks
By John Ruwitch Reuters
37 minutes ago
SHENZHEN, China (Reuters) – China’s president said he was hoping for a “positive outcome” from talks with envoys of the Dalai Lama, which were due to open on Sunday, but state media kept up a barrage of attacks on Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader.
“I hope that the contacts with the Dalai Lama’s side from today will yield a positive outcome,” Hu Jintao told Japanese reporters in Beijing, Japan’s Kyodo news agency reported.
The fence-mending talks between Chinese officials and the two aides of the Dalai Lama, the first since an eruption of Tibetan protests and deadly riots in March, were scheduled to start on Sunday in the city of Shenzhen, near Hong Kong.
6 am 1 Olympic torch arrives on safer terrain in mainland China
By CARA ANNA, Associated Press Writer
1 minute ago
SANYA, China – Cheering Chinese stood on their chairs and waved flags as the Olympic torch started its mainland leg Sunday on the tropical island of Hainan – the first stop in what is expected to be a peaceful three-month journey to Beijing.
Protests followed the torch overseas, but organizers in the seaside resort of Sanya promised a trouble-free national tour that will wind through every Chinese province and region before arriving in Beijing before the Olympics start on Aug. 8.
Some Chinese, including the torch bearers, seemed to be relieved the flame was safely home.
6 am 2 US military: 4 Marines killed in Anbar province in Iraq
By BRADLEY BROOKS, Associated Press Writer
17 minutes ago
BAGHDAD – The U.S. military said Sunday a roadside bomb killed four Marines in western Anbar province – the deadliest attack in that area in months.
The Marines were killed Friday, but no other details of the incident were released.
Anbar was once a stronghold for insurgents battling against U.S. forces. But in the past year the vast desert province has largely been calmed with the rise of the Awakening Council movement – Sunni fighters who now turn their guns on al-Qaida instead of U.S. forces.
Thursday’s attack was the most lethal in Anbar since Sept. 6, when four Marines were killed in combat. The military did not release details of those deaths.
6 am 3 Malaysia angers women with travel-restriction idea
Reuters
Sun May 4, 2:22 AM ET
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysian women’s groups reacted with outrage on Sunday to a government proposal to impose restrictions on women planning to travel overseas on their own.
The mainly Muslim country is considering requiring women to obtain the written consent of their families or employers before being allowed to travel alone outside the country, state news agency Bernama said on Saturday, quoting the foreign minister.
“It is totally ridiculous and it’s a totally regressive proposal with regards to women’s right to movement,” said Norhayati Kaprawi, spokeswoman for Sisters in Islam.
6 am 14 War shrine film opens in Tokyo amid tight security
AFP
Sat May 3, 3:57 AM ET
TOKYO (AFP) – A controversial film about a Japanese shrine that honours the nation’s war dead opened on Saturday in Tokyo amid tight security, defying threats from nationalists outraged at its content.
The film was screened as police patrolled the entrance of the cinema and were even posted inside auditoriums after threats that protesters would disrupt the event.
The documentary, which received a grant from Japan’s government, looks at the controversy surrounding the Yasukuni shrine, which honours 2.5 million war dead — including convicted war criminals from World War II.
10 am 2 Iraq’s first lady unharmed after her motorcade is bombed
By BRADLEY BROOKS, Associated Press Writer
35 minutes ago
BAGHDAD – A bomb hit a motorcade carrying Iraq’s first lady through Baghdad on Sunday, while the U.S. military said a roadside explosion killed four Marines in the deadliest attack in western Anbar province in months.
The motorcade bombing in Baghdad’s Karrada district injured four of Hiro Ibrahim Ahmed’s bodyguards but left her unharmed, according to the office of her husband, President Jalal Talabani.
She was headed to the city’s central National Theater to attend a cultural festival when the attack occurred just before noon, said the presidential office. It was unclear if she was the target or if the bombing was random.
10 am 3 Gunmen pull Iraqi journalist from car, kill her
Reuters
2 hours, 2 minutes ago
MOSUL, Iraq (Reuters) – Gunmen shot dead an Iraqi reporter on Sunday after pulling her out of a car in northern Mosul, a notoriously violent city where journalists are often targeted and live in fear of their life.
Police said Serwa Abdul-Wahab, in her mid-30s, was on her way to work when gunmen forced her from her taxi in eastern Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, and shot her once in the head.
There were conflicting reports about who she worked for and police were not immediately able to say why she might have been attacked. Police and fellow journalists said she was a contributor to www.muraslon.org, an Iraqi news website.
10 am 5 Japan warns rising food prices could lead to unrest in Asia
AFP
Sun May 4, 6:32 AM ET
MADRID (AFP) – Soaring prices for food staples, especially for rice which have tripled over the past year, could lead to social unrest in Asia, Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga warned Sunday in Spain.
“The recent hike in the price of rice will hit Asian countries particularly hard. The ones who are most affected are the poorest segment of the population including the urban poor,” he said at a meeting of the Asian Development Bank.
“It will have a negative impact on the living standards and also affect their nutrition. Such a situation may lead to social untrust and unrest and therefore safety nets addressing the immediate needs of the poorest are needed,” he added.
10 am 6 ASEAN committed to free trade pact with Australia, NZ: minister
AFP
2 hours, 58 minutes ago
JAKARTA (AFP) – ASEAN was showing strong commitment to try to wrap up negotiations on a free trade pact between the regional grouping, Australia and New Zealand, Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean said Sunday.
Crean, who attended the ASEAN Economic Ministers Closer Economic Relations talks in the Indonesia island of Bali on Saturday, said “we all agreed on the importance of successfully concluding the FTA negotiation in August.”
“Considerable work remains. But ministers have given a clear signal to officials that the political will is there to try and achieve a substantial outcome this year,” he said in a statement issued by his office.
2 pm 8 Iraq says to probe claims of Iran meddling
By Waleed Ibrahim, Reuters
Sun May 4, 10:19 AM ET
BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Iraq on Sunday appeared to distance itself from U.S. accusations of Iranian meddling in Iraqi affairs, saying it would not be pushed into conflict with its neighbor and wanted its own inquiry into the evidence.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had ordered the formation of a special committee comprised of representatives of the various security ministries “to document any intervention in Iraqi affairs.”
“The reason behind forming this committee is to find tangible information and not information based on speculation,” Dabbagh told a news conference in Baghdad.
2 pm 10 US-backed plan sees shiny future for embattled Green Zone
By BRADLEY BROOKS and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA, Associated Press Writers
7 minutes ago
BAGHDAD – Forget the rocket attacks, concrete blast walls and lack of a sewer system. Now try to imagine luxury hotels, a shopping center and even condos in the heart of Baghdad.
That’s all part of a five-year development “dream list” – or what some dub an improbable fantasy – to transform the U.S.-protected Green Zone from a walled fortress into a centerpiece for Baghdad’s future.
But the $5 billion plan has the backing of the Pentagon and apparently the interest of some deep pockets in the world of international hotels and development, the lead military liaison for the project told The Associated Press.
2 pm 11 China farms the world to feed a ravenous economy
By DENIS D. GRAY, Associated Press Writer
20 minutes ago
CHALEUNSOUK, Laos – The rice fields that blanketed this remote mountain village for generations are gone. In their place rise neat rows of young rubber trees – their sap destined for China.
All 60 families in this dirt-poor, mud-caked village of gaunt men and hunched women are now growing rubber, like thousands of others across the rugged mountains of northern Laos. They hope in coming years to reap huge profits from the tremendous demand for rubber just across the frontier in China.
As Beijing scrambles to feed its galloping economy, it has already scoured the world for mining and logging concessions. Now it is turning to crops to feed its people and industries. Chinese enterprises are snapping up vast tracts of land abroad and forging contract farming deals.
2 pm 14 Georgia denies Abkhaz, Russian claims over spy planes
AFP
19 minutes ago
SUKHUMI, Georgia (AFP) – The war of nerves between Georgia, Russia and the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia stepped up a notch Sunday, as Abkhaz officials claimed to have down two unmanned Georgian spy planes.
As Russia issued a statement accusing Georgia of escalating tension in the region, Tblisi categorically denied it had lost any drones — but vowed it would continue flying the unmanned aircraft over Abhkazia.
The latest war of words started when Georgia’s rebel Abkhazia region said Sunday it had downed two Georgian drones two weeks after a similar incident stoked tensions in the region.
Europe
5 Poll rout raises questions over British PM’s future
by Phil Hazlewood, AFP
2 hours, 4 minutes ago
LONDON (AFP) – British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is battling to steady his Labour Party’s nerves after its worst election defeat for 40 years, but the rout raises serious questions about his future, commentators say.
The British prime minister was left reeling by local polls that saw the main opposition Conservative Party surge back into town halls in England and Wales and even oust eight-year London mayor Ken Livingstone from office.
But while nobody expects Brown to go anytime soon, some see the May 1 polls — 11 years to the day after Tony Blair led Labour into power — as presaging the beginning of the end for the party’s hold on national power.
South America
10 am 1 Bolivian state begins key, and defiant, autonomy vote
By DAN KEANE, Associated Press Writer
3 minutes ago
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia – Indigenous socialism clashed with global capitalism on Sunday as residents of this self-reliant flatland state voted on an autonomy referendum whose likely passage is seen as a rebuke to the country’s leftist president.
Minor scuffles were reported in the outskirts of Santa Cruz’s namesake capital shortly after the polls opened. Pro-autonomy groups battled backers of President Evo Morales, who were trying to halt the vote with sticks and rocks. Scattered injuries were reported.
“We won’t let them stop this vote, because there are so many of us that want to be free,” said 26-year-old autonomy supporter Ivan Morales, brandishing a tree branch in front of a cardboard voting booth after a brief street fight in Plan 3000, a poor pro-government neighborhood.
2 pm 13 Bolivia’s richest region votes on autonomy drive
By Pav Jordan, Reuters
26 minutes ago
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia (Reuters) – Bolivia’s richest region of Santa Cruz voted on Sunday on a plan for greater autonomy from the central government in a referendum seen as a defiant rejection of President Evo Morales’ leftist reforms.
Voting was mainly calm, although clashes broke out in several poorer areas of the tropical region soon after the polls opened as backers of Morales, a former coca farmer, ransacked polling stations and burned ballots in protest.
“This is a struggle for liberty. Liberation struggles are never easy,” Percy Fernandez, mayor of the region’s main city, told reporters.
2 pm 15 U.S. Rancher in Bolivia Showdown
By JEAN FRIEDMAN-RUDOVSKY/LA PAZ, Time Magazine
2 hours, 47 minutes ago
In his native Montana, Ronald Larsen’s current legal straits might be the stuff of an old-fashioned Western movie: A cattle rancher who believes the government and its allies are unfairly trying to seize his land, and picks up a rifle to signal his displeasure. But in contemporary Bolivia, where Larsen makes his home, his recent clash with the authorities is but another instance of rising tension over land-ownership between, on the one hand, left-wing President Evo Morales and his supporters among Bolivia’s indigenous population, and on the other, political opponents backed by the country’s wealthy eastern elite.
U.S.-
News/Politics
3 Health care waits to ignite as campaign issue
By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent, Reuters
41 minutes ago
DENVER (Reuters) – The sharply contrasting health care visions of Republican John McCain and his Democratic presidential rivals offer the promise of a grand campaign debate — if the candidates find room on a crowded agenda.
While health care reform ranks as the second-biggest domestic issue after the economy in most national opinion polls, it will compete with the Iraq war, taxes, high gas prices and other topics for a prime-time spot in the campaign for November’s presidential election.
Nearly two decades of health care debate has made little headway toward finding a consensus approach, and the issue has not been a key factor in a presidential election since the collapse of the Hillary Clinton-led reform effort in 1994.
7 Amtrak plans multi-city celebration of ‘National Train Day’
By SARAH KARUSH, Associated Press Writer
36 minutes ago
WASHINGTON – Amtrak is hoping live entertainment, exhibits and a national TV personality will lure people who don’t normally take the train into its stations – and then inspire them to return to ride the rails another day.
Dubbed “National Train Day,” the May 10 effort includes a performance by singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles in Washington’s Union Station. Al Roker, of NBC’s “Today” show, is serving as the official spokesman and will host the Washington events.
Elsewhere, the Harlem Globetrotters will perform in New York City’s Penn Station. Amtrak also is sponsoring events in Chicago and Los Angeles, and other groups are organizing smaller-scale festivities around the country.
10 Is Liberal Catholicism Dead?
By DAVID VAN BIEMA, Time Magazine
1 hour, 8 minutes ago
He may not have been thinking about it at the time, but Pope Benedict, in the course of his recent U.S. visit may have dealt a knockout blow to the liberal American Catholicism that has challenged Rome since the early 1960s. He did so by speaking frankly and forcefully of his “deep shame” during his meeting with victims of the Church’s sex-abuse scandal. By demonstrating that he “gets” this most visceral of issues, the pontiff may have successfully mollified a good many alienated believers – and in the process, neutralized the last great rallying point for what was once a feisty and optimistic style of progressivism.
2 pm 7 Old cemetery poses grave dilemma for buyers of Vt. farm
By LISA RATHKE, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 27 minutes ago
HARTLAND, Vt. – The 130-acre property was exactly what Michel Guite and his family wanted: an old Vermont farm with mountain views, rolling hills and meadows.
There was, however, one wrinkle: The property included a small family cemetery – with the grave of a War of 1812 veteran – surrounded by a fence on a scenic knoll.
His proposal to move the graveyard so he can build a house and barn has set off protests. The town has passed a resolution aimed at blocking the move, a descendant of one occupant of the graveyard is trying to fight him in probate court and opponents including military veterans have asked the town to take over the cemetery and keep it where it is.
2 pm 17 Democrats pick up House seat in Louisiana
Reuters
2 hours, 21 minutes ago
NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – A Louisiana Democrat won a special congressional election in a district held by Republicans for more than two decades, increasing her party’s majority in the House of Representatives, results from the state showed on Sunday.
State Rep. Don Cazayoux narrowly defeated Republican Woody Jenkins for the seat in Louisiana’s 6th Congressional District, which includes part of the capital city of Baton Rouge.
Cazayoux’s received 49 percent of the vote, while Jenkins, a former state legislator and a favorite of the religious right, finished the race with 46 percent, according to results from the Louisiana Secretary of State.
Entertainment
6 am 7 Lego’s latest brick trick: a virtual world
By Reed Stevenson Thu May 1, 1:52 PM ET
BILLUND, Denmark (Reuters) – Millions of children pick up Lego bricks each year to spend hours — 5 billion, in fact — creating their own imaginary worlds.
Now the manufacturer of the little plastic playing blocks wants to take them online to “Lego Universe,” a virtual world for fans of the ubiquitous toy.
Lego Universe joins an established trend where toys and video games are cross-promoted, such as Nintendo Co Ltd’s (7974.OS) Pokemon TV show, game card, toys and video game franchise, and Mattel Inc’s (MAT.N) Barbie online shopping and gaming portal at barbie.com.
6 am 8 GTA 4 poised to dominate Xbox Live
By Kemp Powers, Reuters
Thu May 1, 9:43 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Players of the popular “Grand Theft Auto” video game series have always reveled in its unique blend of beatings, shootings and vehicular mayhem.
With “Grand Theft Auto 4,” they are taking the carnage online, which may dethrone first-person shooters like “Halo 3” and “Call of Duty 4” from the top ranks of the popular Xbox Live service.
Only a few non-shooter games have ever sat at the top of the list of most-played games on the service, which debuted in 2002 and is viewed by many gamers as primarily the domain of shooter enthusiasts.
6 am 11 Hollywood actors and studios extend labor talks again
By Steve Gorman, Reuters
Fri May 2, 9:57 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Screen Actors Guild and major Hollywood studios said on Friday they had agreed to extend their contract talks again, this time on a day-by-day basis, with the aim of closing a deal by next Tuesday.
The announcement, coming as the parties neared a previous self-imposed deadline, revived hopes they could avoid renewed labor unrest in an entertainment industry still recovering from a 100-day screenwriters strike that ended in February.
The current three-year SAG contract covering 120,000 film and TV actors expires on June 30. But the union is under strong pressure to reach an early settlement in order to dispel strike jitters that continue to disrupt the film industry.
6 am 12 "Iron Man" gets heavy start at box office
By Steve Gorman, Reuters
Sat May 3, 5:34 PM ET
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “Iron Man,” the latest Marvel comics title brought to the big screen, grossed an estimated $32.5 million from its first full day in North American theaters, independent box office analysts reported on Saturday.
That tally, generated from Friday showings in some 4,100 U.S. and Canadian cinemas, put “Iron Man” on track to meet or exceed the $85 million-plus opening weekends posted by sequels to two other Marvel franchises — “Spider-Man” and “X-Men.”
“Iron Man” stars Robert Downey Jr. as a billionaire industrialist and playboy named Tony Stark who wrestles with a midlife crisis as he invents a high-tech suit of armor that transforms him into a superhero.
6 am 13 ‘Iron Man’ Hero Personifies Modern Military Contractors
Jeremy Hsu, Staff Writer, LiveScience.com
Fri May 2, 1:16 PM ET
When superhero Tony Stark isn’t donning his Iron Man armor to personally rough up villains, he’s pitching the U.S. military on new gadgets to fight the War on Terror.
“They say the best weapon is one you never have to fire,” Stark tells a group of military officers in the “Iron Man” film that opens today. “I prefer the weapon you only have to fire once.”
The Marvel comic book character’s suit embodies a futuristic technology that may enhance human capabilities in war, but the current battlefield belongs to a growing swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and robots that could someday give even Iron Man a run for his money. UAVs clocked more than 500,000 hours in the air by the beginning of 2008, performing many of the tasks normally done by piloted aircraft.
Business
4 Microsoft withdraws offer for Yahoo
By Anupreeta Das, Reuters
1 hour, 34 minutes ago
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) walked away from its bid to buy Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O) on Saturday after the Internet company turned down its offer to raise the price by $5 billion to $47.5 billion.
Microsoft’s offer was for $33 a share but Yahoo would not lower its demand below $37, Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said. The software company initially bid $31 per share for Yahoo more than three months ago.
“We believe the economics demanded by Yahoo do not make sense for us, and it is in the best interests of Microsoft stockholders, employees and other stakeholders to withdraw our proposal,” Ballmer said in a statement.
9 Pawnbrokers thrive as US economy falters
by Virginie Montet, AFP
1 hour, 41 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AFP) – As other businesses struggle in an economic slowdown, US pawnbrokers are thriving thanks to increasing numbers of Americans forced to separate with their family jewels to make ends meet.
“We see more people coming in to raise money in these uncertain economic times,” said Rick Sussman of Northwestern Loan Company in Baltimore which, founded in 1919, is the oldest pawnbroker in the state of Maryland.
He added: “In better times you might see people from the lower end of the social economic class getting loans, and in bad economic times you tend to see additionally also people who are middle-class trying to raise money.”
11 Buffett and Munger reassure shareholders about succession
By JOSH FUNK, AP Business Writer
2 hours, 20 minutes ago
OMAHA, Neb. – Warren Buffett tried to reassure his shareholders Saturday that Berkshire Hathaway will be fine once he is gone, but the 77-year-old billionaire offered few new details of the company’s succession plan.
Berkshire vice chairman Charlie Munger may have done more to reassure the roughly 31,000 shareholders at the company’s annual meeting.
“Well, we still have a rising young man here named Warren Buffett,” Munger said, to which Buffett joked that everyone seems young to the 84-year-old Munger.
12 Buffett says Fed avoided chaos in Bear bailout
By Jonathan Stempel, Reuters
Sat May 3, 6:40 PM ET
OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) – Warren Buffett said on Saturday said the U.S. Federal Reserve avoided financial market “chaos” in coordinating the March bailout of Bear Stearns Cos (BSC.N), which faced imminent bankruptcy before agreeing to be acquired by JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N).
The central bank, led by Chairman Ben Bernanke, helped broker the buyout, after liquidity evaporated at Bear, which had been Wall Street’s fifth-largest investment bank.
JPMorgan, the third-largest U.S. bank by assets, agreed to pay $10 per share for Bear, and the Fed agreed to guarantee $29 billion of Bear’s assets.
13 ECB to stay on high alert until inflation fades: analysts
by Isabelle Le Page, AFP
2 hours, 41 minutes ago
FRANKFURT (AFP) – The European Central Bank will stay on high alert for many more months while keeping its main lending rates stable, analysts believe, as inflation poses a bigger threat than signs of an impending slowdown in the 15-nation eurozone economy.
A poll of 31 economists by Thomson Financial News and Agence France-Presse found all expected the ECB to maintain the monetary status quo when its governing council meets on Thursday in Athens.
“Despite a raft of weaker economic data, the ECB will maintain its benchmark rates given persistent dangers of inflation,” analyst Stefan Muetze at Helaba bank said in a summary of the market’s opinion.
While the US Federal Reserve has slashed lending rates in the United States to 2.0 percent, the ECB has followed its own guidance and its main refinancing rate has been locked in at 4.0 percent since June.
6 am 9 Walmart.com using Wii Fit to boost Mom’s Day sales
By Nicole Maestri, Reuters
Fri May 2, 12:03 AM ET
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Forget the flowers and candy — Nintendo Co Ltd’s (7974.OS) highly anticipated “Wii Fit” video game will debut in the U.S. later this month, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc’s (WMT.N) online division is trying to persuade shoppers to order the game as “a perfect gift” for Mother’s Day.
This weekend, the Walmart.com homepage will be dominated by the Wii Fit — a physical exercise program that uses a pressure-sensing board as a controller — including a link to order the product now, ahead of its May 19 U.S. launch.
Through May 11, shoppers who “pre-order” the $89.74 game, or pay in advance to guarantee delivery when the game launches, will also get a $10 online gift card to use for a future order at Walmart.com.
10 am 4 Barclays eyes possible Korea investor: report
Reuters
1 hour, 6 minutes ago
LONDON (Reuters) – British bank Barclays (BARC.L) has held talks with an investment fund backed by the Korean government as it explores options for raising billions of pounds of fresh capital, the Sunday Telegraph said.
The newspaper said it was unclear whether the talks with Korea Investment Corporation (KIC) were still live, but added that Britain’s third-biggest bank had held discussions with several other unnamed prospective investors.
Barclays, which already counts Singaporean government investor Temasek (TEM.UL) and state-owned lender China Development Bank (CHDB.UL) among its shareholders, declined to comment. KIC could not immediately be reached for comment.
2 pm 16 Washington must do more to help housing market : FHFB
By Natsuko Waki, Reuters
1 hour, 50 minutes ago
MADRID (Reuters) – The government must actively intervene in the domestic housing market to fix the subprime mortgage problems that interest rate cuts and tax rebates alone cannot, a Federal Housing Finance Board official said on Sunday.
Allan Mendelowitz, a member of the Board of Directors of the FHFB — a regulatory agency for banks providing home loans — noted the demand and supply situation painted a bleak picture for the U.S. housing sector.
“The problems in the housing sector are not over… Even statistics that look positive are an illusion of a much more problematic situation,” Mendelowitz told delegates at the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank.
2 pm 18 Corporate boards’ pay grows with workload, regulations
By JOSH FUNK, AP Business Writer
8 minutes ago
OMAHA, Neb. – After ConAgra Foods’ board slashed the company’s dividend by 34 percent as part of a restructuring plan, a few shareholders suggested the board should also feel the pain and slash its own pay by roughly one-third.
Not surprisingly, the suggestion shareholder Don Hudgens made during the 2006 annual meeting, didn’t fly even though former ConAgra chief executive Mike Harper supported that idea. Board chairman Steven Goldstone was quick to defend what ConAgra pays its directors, saying it is difficult to find and keep good people on the board.
Board pay has been steadily increasing in recent years as new regulations increased the workload for directors and the use of compensation consultants became more common. And the only check on board member pay is shareholder outrage, which compensation experts say is rare, so the increases are likely to continue.
2 pm 19 Streak of trouble with FDA, other problems hits Merck
By LINDA A. JOHNSON, AP Business Writer
11 minutes ago
TRENTON, N.J. – The roller coaster ride for Merck & Co. shareholders and employees is on another speedy downhill run.
In barely a week, Merck has suffered a stunning streak of setbacks, including federal regulators rejecting two experimental drugs and publicly demanding the drugmaker clean up significant problems at its main vaccine plant.
Safety questions cropped up about two other drugs made by Merck. Share prices fell more than $2 last week and are down 35 percent since controversy struck its key cholesterol franchise in mid-January.
2 pm 20 Wall Street looks for more evidence to justify a rally
By JOE BEL BRUNO, AP Business Writer
13 minutes ago
NEW YORK – Wall Street goes into the new week in an upbeat mood, with investors growing more confident that the economy and the financial markets are heading toward a second-half recovery.
There’s been a steady stream lately of decent earnings reports and mostly benign economic data, and there’s a sense that the credit crisis that pummeled stocks since last fall is nearing an end. For the first time in weeks, there’s optimism that the government might have actually staved off a deep recession.
The U.S. consumer clearly isn’t that cheerful, judging from consumer confidence figures released last week, but traders and portfolio managers on Wall Street often get ahead of themselves, looking past any bad news and toward future profits.
2 pm 21 Buffett tells flock: Lower sights or sell Berkshire
By Jonathan Stempel, Reuters
1 hour, 1 minute ago
OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) – Warren Buffett told shareholders of his Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N) not to expect the out-sized gains his insurance and investment company has historically enjoyed, but they could still sleep well owning its stock over the long haul.
“There is absolutely no question” that Berkshire’s returns will decline, Buffett said. “Anyone that expects us to come close to replicating the past should sell their stock. It isn’t going to happen. I think we’re going to get decent results over time, but we’re not going to get indecent results.”
The world’s richest person offered his warming on Saturday at Berkshire’s annual meeting in the Qwest Center in downtown Omaha, before what he called a record 31,000 shareholders.
2 pm 22 Yahoo, News Corp talks have “cooled”: source
By Kenneth Li, Reuters
3 minutes ago
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Yahoo Inc’s (YHOO.O) talks with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp (NWSa.N) on an alternative deal to Microsoft Corp’s (MSFT.O) takeover bid have “cooled” in recent weeks, one source familiar with the matter said on Sunday.
There were no indications that the situation had changed this weekend, after Microsoft abandoned its offer to buy Yahoo for as much as $33 per share, or $47.5 billion.
Microsoft withdrew its offer on Saturday, after balking at Yahoo’s request to raise the bid to $37 per share.
The pressure on Yahoo to quickly assemble an alternative solution is high, analysts said, or else the Internet company will likely see its shares plunge on Monday and face a spate of shareholder lawsuits.
Science
14 Malaysian palm oil struggles to promote ‘green’ image
by Ivy Sam, AFP
2 hours, 42 minutes ago
KOTA KINABALU, Malaysia (AFP) – Malaysia is promoting its controversial palm oil industry as a model of eco-friendliness, but activists warn forests are still being destroyed to make way for vast plantations.
As palm oil prices boom, Malaysia has mounted a campaign to counter allegations that the crop is responsible for habitat destruction, air pollution from slash-and-burn farming, and pushing orangutans towards extinction.
It insists palm oil is only grown on legal agricultural land and that criticisms are an attempt by competitors in Europe and the United States to undermine growing demand for the commodity.
6 am 4 Smarter electric grid could be key to saving power
By BRIAN BERGSTEIN, AP Technology Writer
2 hours, 14 minutes ago
MILTON, Ontario – The glowing amber dot on a light switch in the entryway of George Tsapoitis’ house offers a clue about the future of electricity.
A few times this summer, when millions of air conditioners strain the Toronto region’s power grid, that pencil-tip-sized amber dot will blink. It will be asking Tsapoitis to turn the switch off – unless he’s already programmed his house to make that move for him.
This is the beginning of a new way of thinking about electricity, and the biggest change in how we get power since wires began veining the landscape a century ago.
6 am 5 Crackdown on traffickers strains Thailand’s wildlife centres
by Elizabeth Gibson AFP
Sun May 4, 1:33 AM ET
RATCHABURI, Thailand (AFP) – Staff at one of Thailand’s 23 state wildlife rescue centres are getting good at scrimping by.
The tigers are eating cheap chicken rather than expensive beef, and keepers only let the big cats mate one day a year to limit the number of new mouths to feed.
If the situation gets too dire, the centre’s director Pornchai Patumrattanathan says, they will feed their captive wild boars to the tigers.
6 am 6 Asian vultures may face extinction in India, study warns
AFP
1 hour, 19 minutes ago
NEW DELHI (AFP) – Asian vultures may face extinction in India unless a farm drug responsible for their large-scale decimation is banned outright, according to a report Sunday citing researchers.
The population of the oriental white-backed vulture has declined by 99.9 percent and the numbers of two other highly-endangered species by 97 percent since 1992 in India, a story in the Hindu newspaper said citing a study in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society.
The study had not yet been released on the society’s website and the authors were not immediately available for comment.
2 pm 9 History of Ancient Supercontinent’s Breakup Detailed
Monica Heger, LiveScience Staff
1 hour, 28 minutes ago
Dinosaurs roamed, mammals started to flourish, the first birds and lizards evolved, and a massive supercontinent began to split apart on Earth about 180 million years ago. Yet, the details of the breakup of one of the largest landmasses in history have stumped scientists until now.
The breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana eventually formed the continents in the Southern Hemisphere. Exactly how this happened has been debated by geologists for years. Most theories say Gondwana broke into many different pieces, but new research suggests the large land mass simply split in two.
Researcher Graeme Eagles of the University of London said he was suspicious of the theory that Gondwana had divided into many smaller continents because it was inconsistent with what is known about all other supercontinent breakups, including the breakup of Pangea into Gondwana and Laurasia.
2 pm 23 DNA tests reveal mystery surrounding playwright Schiller
By DAVID RISING, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 33 minutes ago
BERLIN – Who is buried in Friedrich Schiller’s tomb? Several people, apparently, but none of them the famous poet and playwright, according to new research.
After two years of painstaking DNA research, experts have determined that none of the remains billed as those of Schiller belong to the German writer, who died in Weimar in 1805, Germany’s MDR television reported. The study, dubbed the Friedrich-Schiller Code, was undertaken by the television station, the Foundation of Weimar Classics and an international team of scientists.
“Two years ago I was certain that we would prove that it was him; now we have proved the opposite,” said foundation president Hellmut Seemann, whose organization oversees the Schiller archives and exhibitions. He spoke on an MDR documentary about the study that was broadcast Saturday night, before of the official release of the results on Monday.
2 pm 24 ‘Smart’ power meters herald future of our electricity use
By MARC LEVY, Associated Press Writer
15 minutes ago
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. – Determined to cut his electricity bill, Darrell Brubaker took the usual steps of raising his air conditioner’s thermostat and cooking more on the grill.
But the key to maximum savings – as much as 6 percent a month last summer – was his grasp of the state of the electrical grid and his family’s willingness to adjust their power usage accordingly.
His utility, PPL Corp., is among a growing number of electricity providers that are testing pricing plans in which rates are set higher during the hours of peak demand, roughly following the curves of supply and demand in the wholesale energy markets.
Health
6 Common drugs hasten decline in elderly: study
By Julie Steenhuysen, Reuters
Sat May 3, 9:41 AM ET
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Elderly people who took commonly prescribed drugs for incontinence, allergy or high blood pressure walked more slowly and were less able to take care of themselves than others not taking the drugs, U.S. researchers said on Saturday.
They said people who took drugs that block acetylcholine — a chemical messenger in the nervous system critical for memory — functioned less well than their peers.
“These results were true even in older adults who have normal memory and thinking abilities,” said Dr. Kaycee Sink of Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina, who led the study of 3,000 people of whom 40 percent were taking more than one anticholinergic drug.
8 U.S. parents’ baby knowledge lacking, study finds
By Julie Steenhuysen, Reuters
1 hour, 51 minutes ago
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Nearly a third of U.S. parents know surprisingly little about typical infant development, and this lack of understanding can rob their babies of much-needed mental stimulation, researchers said on Sunday.
“There are numerous parenting books telling people what to expect when they’re pregnant,” said Dr. Heather Paradis of the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York.
“But once a baby is born, an astonishing number of parents are not only unsure of what to anticipate as their child develops, but are also uncertain of when, how or how much they are to help their babies reach various milestones, such as talking, grabbing, discerning right from wrong, or even potty-training,” said Paradis, who presented her findings at Pediatric Academic Society meeting in Honolulu.
6 am 10 Doctors to reassess antibiotics for ‘chronic Lyme’ disease
By DAVE COLLINS, Associated Press Writer Sat May 3, 12:13 AM ET
HARTFORD, Conn. – Patients who believe they suffer long-term problems from Lyme disease are claiming victory over a national doctors group. The Infectious Diseases Society of America has agreed to review its guidelines, which say there’s no evidence long-term antibiotics can cure “chronic Lyme” disease – or even that such a condition exists.
The agreement settles an unprecedented antitrust investigation by Connecticut’s attorney general over the matter. The doctors group makes clear that current guidance for treating Lyme disease remains in place.
But that didn’t stop claims of success by the attorney general and people who believe they suffer long-term effects of the tick-borne disease.
2 pm 25 24 Chinese children die of virus; other countries affected
By MARGIE MASON, AP Medical Writer
Sun May 4, 11:27 AM ET
A common illness that typically causes little more than a fever and rash has killed 24 children in China, and health officials fear the worst may be yet to come as outbreaks occur in neighboring countries.
China’s Health Ministry issued a nationwide alert over the weekend after the enterovirus 71 virus, or EV-71, which causes hand, foot and mouth disease, infected more than 4,500 children in central Anhui province.
Vietnam and Singapore also have seen a increase in cases linked to EV-71.
Bloglines 5/4
digby
2 pm 1 Bill Moyers– by tristero
By the end of the weekend I realized how quaint was the mere suggestion that Christians of this type should learn to “be rational” or “set aside your religion” about such things as the Iraq War or other policy matters. Once you’ve made a journey like this – once you’ve gone this far – you are beyond suggestible. It’s not merely the informational indoctrination, the constant belittling of homosexuals and atheists and Muslims and pacifists, etc., that’s the issue. It’s that once you’ve gotten to this place, you’ve left behind the mental process that a person would need to form an independent opinion about such things. You make this journey precisely to experience the ecstasy of beating to the same big gristly heart with a roomful of like-minded folks. Once you reach that place with them, you’re thinking with muscles, not neurons.
2 pm 2 And Still We Have No Voice– by tristero
And I am left wondering where are those who were right all along, who watched in shocked disgust as Bush vogued on that carrier in his codpiece, because even then, they knew nothing had been accomplished except the start of the worst foreign policy debacle in living memory (and that includes, yes, Vietnam) – where are the experts?
2 pm 3 The Wall– by digby
There will be many things in a new administration that are going to disappoint us. I would suspect that those of us who would like to see less religiosity in civic life are going to be among the most disappointed. Indeed, it’s likely that the Democrats are going to give the Republicans a run for their money. There will be less social conservatism, which is the most important thing, but the pressure to conform to a religious norm is likely to be just as strong, if not stronger, than under the Republicans.
Firedoglake
2 pm 4 Another Minuteman Outfit Consorts With Nazis– By David Neiwert
Of course, this is hardly the first time neo-Nazis and various white supremacists have been associated with the Minutemen. Who can forget the very colorful Nazi and Dixie flags that sprouted at that rally featuring Minuteman honcho Jim Gilchrist at Laguna Beach, Calif.? Or the time Laine Lawless, the leader of another Minuteman spinoff, e-mailed an Ohio neo-Nazi leader with suggestions for how to stir up the immigrant shit (among the choice ideas: “Discourage Spanish-speaking children from going to school. Be creative.”). And there have been many, many other instances.
Glenn Greenwald
2 pm 5 The media, the Right and 1988: endless deja vu– by Glenn Greenwald
With the help of a media enthralled to such shallow, easy-to-chatter-about attacks, they succeeded in electing a highly unpopular figure from a scandal-plagued, discredited party. And Republicans, with their media partners, have been using that depraved playbook ever since, and will continue to do so this year. For the 1988 election, Reagan’s severe economic mismanagement, his disastrous foreign policy filled with savage covert wars, and widespread perceptions that top Reagan officials had blatantly lied about breaking the law were all just disappeared. Actual issues played virtually no role in George Bush the First’s 40-state triumph.
* * * *
In exactly the same way, John McCain’s only hope for winning is to ensure a similar disappearance of the issues which Americans continuously say are most important to them — namely, the disastrous Bush/Cheney economic policies and the need to extricate ourselves from the Iraq War. If the actual concerns of American voters are allowed to determine the election outcome — as they did in 2006 — the GOP has no chance. Thus, the only prospect for a McCain victory is to have the media flood the country with the types of childish, gossipy trash that has predominated thus far — lapel pins and Pledge of Allegiance symbolism and endless fixations on pastor sermons. That is what makes all the dark plagues which our political and media class have enabled — those images of dead Iraqi children and foreclosure signs and crushing collective debt and collapsed American credibility and a truly lawless government — blissfully disappear.
Open Left
2 pm 6 Fox’s Faux Populism vs A Shadow Elite–pt. 2– by Paul Rosenberg
While Barack Obama and legions of his supporters insist on seeing Reagan as his hagiographers have painted him–as a trascendental transformative figure–the simple reality is that he was nothing of the sort. He was the beneficiary of an enormous amount of high-power myth-making. But Nixon was the one who made it all possible.
OK, so 15 in half an hour at 2 am. About 12 hours since I last harvested, a little less than 50% recharge in stories.
I’ll keep fussing with this so you can see kind of what it looks like and I can fine tune. Still would like some help on web design, I have distinct preferences but lack the technical knowledge to get the results I want.
2 Asia, 1 Europe, 3 US N&P, 5 Business, 2 Science, 2 Health.
6 am update
4 Asia, 5 Entertainment, 1 Business, 3 Science 1 Health
10 am update
4 Asia, 1 South America, 1 Business