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Palin Announces She Is Resigning As Alaska's Governor Later This Month
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-03 16:31:28 (7 hours ago)
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Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced Friday that she will step down as Alaska's
chief executive by the end of the month. She will not seek election to
a second gubernatorial term in 2010.
Palin, a Republican, was elected governor in 2006. She was tapped
as Arizona Sen. John McCain's vice presidential running mate last year.
Palin said she was transferring authority to Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell, who will be sworn in at the Governor's Picnic on July 25.
A Republican source close to her political team told CNN's John King
that it was a "calculation" she made that "it was time to move on." The
governor's "book deal and other issues" were "causing a lot of
friction" in her home state, the source said, adding that he believes
she is "mapping out a path to 2012."
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Florida Governor Told He Must Pick Judge From All-White List
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-03 16:31:00 (7 hours ago)
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Florida Gov. Charlie Crist ran afoul of the
state Constitution when he refused to fill an appeals court seat
because all of the picks submitted to him were white, the Florida
Supreme Court unanimously ruled.
The
high court also ruled Thursday that Crist must make a judicial
selection from the all-white list of six names for the Fifth District
Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach.
Crist, complaining Dec. 1 that
none of "three well-qualified African-Americans" made the cut, asked
the nominating commission to send him more names; but the commission
refused.
In a written statement Thursday, Crist said he was "disappointed"
with the ruling, but he will comply with it. "I remain committed to
ensuring that the diversity of the people of Florida is represented in
our judiciary," said Crist.
The court said the Constitution couldn't be ignored.
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U.S. House Financial Services Committee Members Snapped Up Or Dumped Bank Stocks As Bottom Fell Out Of Market
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-03 16:30:22 (7 hours ago)
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Intellpuke: This article was originally posted in the
Cleveland Plain Dealer's onliine edition for Thursday, June 25, 2009,
but I thought it merited a broader readership and did not want to let
it fall through the cracks.
As financial markets tumbled and the government worked to stave off
panic by pumping billions of dollars into banks last fall, several
members of Congress who oversee the banking industry were grabbing up
or dumping bank stocks.
Anticipating bargains or profits or just trying to unload
before the bottom fell out, these members of the House Financial
Services Committee or brokers on their behalf were buying and selling
stocks including Bank of America and Citigroup - some of the very
corporations their committee would later rap for greed, a Plain Dealer
examination of congressional stock market transactions shows.
Financial disclosure records show that some of these
Financial Services Committee members, including Ohio Rep. Charlie
Wilson, made bank stock trades on the same day the banks were getting a
government bailout from a program Congress approved. The transactions
may not have been illegal or against congressional rules, but
securities attorneys and congressional watchdog groups say they raise
flags about the appearance of conflicts of interest.
"I don't think that any of these people should be owning
these types of financial instruments," said Brian Biggins, a Cleveland
securities lawyer and former stock brokerage manager. "I'm not saying
they shouldn't be in the stock market. But if they're on the banking
committee and trading in these kinds of stocks, I don't think that's
right."
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U.S. Job Losses Dampen Hopes For Recovery
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-03 07:59:38 (16 hours ago)
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Mounting job losses rattled hopes Thursday that the economy is on
track to grow later this year, showing that prospects for American
workers are terrible - and still getting worse.
Employers reduced their payrolls by 467,000 jobs in June, said the U.S. Labor
Department, far more than forecasters had expected. The
unemployment rate rose to 9.5 percent, from 9.4 percent and, last week,
another 614,000 people applied for unemployment insurance benefits.
The number of job losses had decreased every month since January
before spiking again in June, and economists think it is highly likely
that the jobless rate will hit double-digits later this year. A broader
measure of unemployment, which includes people working part time who
want full-time work and those who have given up looking for a job, has
already risen to 16.5 percent. The nation now has the same number of
jobs it did in 2000, meaning that nine years of employment gains have
disappeared.
The stock market fell steeply on the news yesterday, with the
Standard & Poor's 500-stock index off 2.9 percent. European stock
markets fell sharply as well, after the European Central Bank left its
target interest rate unchanged and its president indicated that he
expects a recovery to begin in the middle of next year. Investors have
wanted the bank to fight the recession more aggressively, which it
seems disinclined to do.
Until Thursday, economic forecasters and government officials had
become increasingly enthusiastic about signs that the U.S. economy is
stabilizing. Many had begun to think as the year progressed, layoffs
would taper off, companies would crank up their assembly lines and the
troubled U.S. economy would get back on a path toward growth.
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Interview: Two Views On Germany's Afghanistan Mission
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-03 07:59:02 (16 hours ago)
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'The War Is A Breeding Ground For Terrorists'
Germany's military deployment in Afghanistan has
split public opinion back home. Spiegel talks to former German Defense
Minister Peter Struck and Jurgen Todenhofer, a prominent critic of the
war, about civilian victims of American bombing attacks, negotiations
with the Taliban and the role of al-Qaeda.
SPIEGEL: Mr. Struck, is Germany safer today, after seven years of having the German army, the Bundeswehr, in Afghanistan?
Struck: Of course. Under the Taliban regime, the threat of
terrorism coming from Afghanistan was much greater for us in Europe and
in Germany. We will still have to defend our security in the Hindu Kush
region. This statement will continue to be true until Afghanistan no
longer poses a threat in terms of terrorism.
SPIEGEL: Do you also feel safer, Mr. Todenhofer?
Todenhofer: On the contrary. This NATO mission puts Germany in
danger. The images of American bombing attacks, civilian casualties and
destroyed villages flicker across the television screens of millions of
Muslim households around the world. Obviously, there are young people -
even in our country - who will not put up with this and will want
to defend themselves. Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble is chasing
terrorists in Germany that his fellow cabinet minister, Defense
Minister Franz Josef Jung is creating in Afghanistan. The war in
Afghanistan is a breeding program for terrorists.
SPIEGEL: You make it sound as if the deployment of German soldiers to the Hindu Kush was both naive and irresponsible.
Todenhofer: Even politicians are allowed to make mistakes. But
they must have the courage to correct them. The SPD was always proud of
being the party of peace. That's why I want politicians like Peter
Struck to have the courage to correct mistakes. I know several leading
German politicians who consider this war to be bullshit, but who
wouldn't dare say it out loud.
Struck: Former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt said exactly the same
thing to our parliamentary group a few weeks ago: We have to get out of
Afghanistan. That's indisputable. But it will take time. Much depends
on the plans of the new American administration.
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Ban Ki-Moon On Risky Mission To Burma Seeking Political Prisoners' Release
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-03 07:58:05 (16 hours ago)
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United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-moon is heading for
military-ruled Burma on a diplomatically risky mission to seek the
release of political prisoners including opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi.
Ban is to hold talks with the head of the ruling
junta, Senior General Than Shwe, but said he had not received any
confirmation that he would be allowed to meet the jailed Nobel Peace
laureate and pro-democracy icon.
The
two-day trip starting today comes amid warnings from rights groups that
it will be a “huge failure” if Ban does not secure the freedom of Aung
San Suu Kyi, who is currently on trial for breaching the terms of her
house arrest.
On the eve of his trip, Ban underscored the
challenges he faced but said he would raise the issue of meeting Aung
San Suu Kyi when he meets Than Shwe, in the remote capital Naypyidaw
later Friday.
“It is a very difficult mission,” Ban told reporters in Singapore.
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U.S. Government's 'Organic' Label Under Fire
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-03 07:57:33 (16 hours ago)
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Three years ago, U.S. Department of Agriculture employees determined
that synthetic additives in organic baby formula violated federal
standards and should be banned from a product carrying the federal
organic label. Today the same additives, purported to boost brainpower
and vision, can be found in 90 percent of organic baby formula.
The government's turnaround, from prohibition to permission, came
after a USDA program manager was lobbied by the formula makers and
overruled her staff. That decision and others by a handful of USDA
employees, along with an advisory board's approval of a growing list of
non-organic ingredients, have helped numerous companies win a coveted
green-and-white "USDA Organic" seal on an array of products.
Grated organic cheese, for example, contains wood starch to prevent
clumping. Organic beer can be made from non-organic hops. Organic mock
duck contains a synthetic ingredient that gives it an authentic,
stringy texture.
Relaxation of the federal standards, and an explosion of consumer
demand, have helped push the organics market into a $23 billion-a-year
business, the fastest growing segment of the food industry. Half of the
country's adults say they buy organic food often or sometimes,
according to a survey last year by the Harvard School of Public Health.
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Russia's Neighbors Resist Wooing And Bullying
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-03 07:56:32 (16 hours ago)
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This was supposed to be Russia's round in the battle over its backyard. All year, despite its own
economic spasms, Moscow has earmarked great chunks of cash for its
impoverished post-Soviet neighbors, seeking to lock in their loyalty
over the long term and curtail Western influence in the region.
Yet the neighbors seem to have other ideas. Belarus - which was
promised $2 billion in Russian aid - is in open rebellion against the
Kremlin, flaunting its preference for Europe while also collecting
money from the International Monetary Fund. Usbekistan joined Belarus
in refusing to sign an agreement on the Collective Rapid
Reaction Forces, an idea Moscow sees as an eventual counterweight to
NATO.
There are other examples, like Turkmenistan’s May signing of a gas exploration deal with a German company, and Armenia's awarding of a major national honor to Moscow’s nemesis, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, but the biggest came last week when Kyrgyzstan - set to receive $2.15 billion in Russian aid - reversed a decision
that had been seen as a coup for Moscow, last winter’s order terminating the American military’s use of the Manas Air Base there.
“A
game of chance has developed in the post-Soviet space: Who can swindle
the Kremlin in the coolest way?” wrote the military analyst Aleksandr
Golts, when news of the Manas decision broke. “Such a brilliant result
of Russia’s four-year diplomatic efforts!”
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Australians Find Three New Species Of Dinosaurs ... Banjosaur?
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-03 07:55:19 (16 hours ago)
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Meet Australia's answer to velociraptor. Nicknamed Banjo he had
three large slashing claws on each hand and is the most complete
meat-eater ever found in Australia.
His
remains were discovered near those of two other dinosaurs - new species
of giant plant eaters - at Winton, in western Queensland.
Dubbed Clancy and Matilda, they lived about 100 million years ago
and were titanosaurs, the largest kind of dinosaurs ever to have lived.
Queensland
Museum Palaeontologist, Scott Hucknell, said the carnivore,
Australovenator wintonensis, was even bigger and more terrifying than
velociraptor.
"The cheetah of his time, Banjo was light and agile. He could run down most prey with ease over open ground."
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American Soldier Captured In Afghanistan
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-02 11:22:39 (2 days ago)
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A U.S. soldier missing from his base in eastern Afghanistan since
Tuesday is believed to have been captured by Taliban militants, the
military said Thursday.
In a statement issued from U.S. military headquarters in Kabul,
officials said "we are exhausting all available resources to ascertain
his whereabouts and provide for his safe return."
The soldier was not part of the large-scale assault launched on Taliban forces
in southern Afghanistan early Thursday. That operation, which involves
about 4,000 troops from the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, was
encountering only light resistance, said officials. The military
expects the Taliban to respond more harshly once troops move into towns
and begin patrols.
Military officials in Afghanistan, speaking on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the situation,
said the missing soldier appears to have walked off his base into an
unsecured area.
A U.S. official in Afghanistan said the soldier's absence was
discovered when he did not show up for morning formation. It is highly
unusual for a U.S. soldier to leave a military base unaccompanied by
other American troops.
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U.S. Unemployment Rate Hits 9.5 Percent, A 26-Year High
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-02 11:01:14 (2 days ago)
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The nation's unemployment rate edged up to a 26-year high of 9.5% in
June as employers slashed nearly half a million jobs over the month
across a wide spectrum of industries, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The disappointing report provided fresh evidence that the jobs market
remained deeply troubled despite signs in recent weeks that the economy
was climbing out of its worst recession since the Great Depression.
June's jobless rate rose just a notch, from 9.4% in May, a much smaller
pace of increase than in recent months. But it appeared more
discouraged workers had dropped out of the labor force. The
unemployment rate for men reached 10%.
Since the recession began in December 2007, the ranks of unemployed has
doubled to 14.7 million, and the number of long-term unemployed swelled
by 433,000 over the month to 4.4 million, said the U.S. Labor Department.
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Rushing Ahead Of New Law, Credit Card Issuers Raising Rates
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-02 02:45:56 (2 days ago)
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Credit card companies are raising interest rates and fees seven months
before new rules go into effect that will limit their ability to do so,
much to the irritation of Congress and consumer advocates.
Chase, for instance, will raise the minimum payment required of some
of its customers from 2 percent to 5 percent of the statement balance
starting in August. Chase and Discover have increased the maximum fee
charged for transferring a balance to the card to 5 percent of the
amount, up from 3 and 4 percent, respectively. Bank of America
last month raised the transaction fee for balance transfers and cash
advances from 3 to 4 percent. Card issuers including Bank of America
and Citi also continue to cut limits and hike up rates, which they have
been doing with more frequency since January.
"This is a common practice and will continue to be common, because
issuers can do these things for really no reason until February," said
John Ulzheimer, president of consumer education for Credit.com, which
tracks the industry. "It's what I call the Credit Card Trifecta -
lower limits, higher rates, higher minimum payments."
It's not just the top card issuers making changes. Atlanta, Georgia-based
InfiBank, for example, will raise the minimum annual percentage rate it
charges nearly all of its customers in September "in order to more
effectively manage the profitability of our credit card account
portfolio in a very challenging economic environment," said spokesman
Kevin C. Langin.
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California Chain Restaurants Must Reveal Calorie Counts On What They Serve
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-02 02:45:26 (2 days ago)
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Dining at some restaurants will be a new experience starting today, when California becomes the first state to require that chain restaurants supply calorie counts for virtually everything they serve.
"Consumers
should be able to make informed decisions about their health and it
will raise the consciousness of how much we eat," said John Rogers, Sacramento County environmental health division chief.
There will be no guessing - or denial - about that double Western Bacon Cheeseburger
from Carl's Jr.: 960 calories. Side of Chili Cheese Fries to go with
that? 990 calories. Maybe stick to the fried zucchini at 330 calories?
The new law requires restaurants with at least 20 stores in California - about 17,000 locations statewide - to provide a brochure on site
listing calories, sodium, saturated fat and carbohydrates for each menu
item. Both sit-down and drive-through restaurants must comply.
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SEC Staffer Had Warned Of Madoff In 2004
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-02 02:44:53 (2 days ago)
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An investigator at the Securities and Exchange Commission warned
superiors as far back as 2004 about irregularities at Bernard L.
Madoff's financial management firm, but she was told to focus on an
unrelated matter, according to agency documents and sources familiar
with the investigation.
Genevievette Walker-Lightfoot, a lawyer in the SEC's Office of
Compliance Inspections and Examinations, sent e-mails to a supervisor,
saying information provided by Madoff during her review didn't add up
and suggesting a set of questions to ask his firm, documents show.
Several of these questions directly challenged Madoff activities that
much later turned out to be elements of his massive fraud.
With the agency under pressure to look for wrongdoing in the
mutual fund industry, she wasn't able to continue pursuing Madoff,
according to documents and two people familiar with the investigation,
and her team soon concluded its work on the probe.
Walker-Lightfoot's supervisors on the case were Mark Donohue, then a
branch chief in her department, and his boss, Eric Swanson, an
assistant director of the department, said two people familiar with the
investigation. Swanson later married Madoff's niece, and their
relationship is now under review by the agency's inspector general, who
is examining the SEC's handling of the Madoff case.
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Courting The Kremlin - Russian Mistrust Overshadows Obama's Moscow Visit
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-01 23:45:55 (2 days ago)
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U.S. President Barack Obama will lobby for
nuclear disarmament
and a fresh start in relations with Russia during his first visit to
Moscow as president next week. But little concrete progress is expected
- the hosts fear America's overtures are a trap aimed at further
reducing Russia's global influence.
John Beyrle, Washington's man in Moscow, would never have seen the
light of day if it hadn't been for a group of decent Red Army soldiers.
"My father always saw the Russians as a people that saved his life,"
the U.S. ambassador recalls. "They could simply have shot him dead."
Beyrle's father had escaped from a German prisoner-of-war camp and
headed east in the final months of World War II. Soviet soldiers found
him hiding in a haystack and he was afraid they would kill him. He
offered them Lucky Strike cigarettes and spent the final weeks of the
war fighting on their side.
This background has given his son a high standing in political circles
of the Russian capital, and his fluent command of Russian no doubt
helps. He has been ambassador for exactly one year and now faces his
biggest test - next Monday, Barack Obama will travel to Moscow for his
first visit to Russia as American president.
Russia, whose foreign policy is traditionally fixated on America, is
buzzing with anticipation that the visit might improve ties between the
former Cold War enemies. Beyrle, ever the diplomat, has been at pains
to play down all the issues of conflict. Russia and America, he says
"have more common interests than disagreements."
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Eager To Tap Iraq's Vast Oil Reserves, Oil Execs Suggested Invasion
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-03 16:31:17 (7 hours ago)
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Two years before the invasion of Iraq, oil executives and foreign policy advisers
told the Bush administration that the United States would remain "a prisoner
of its energy dilemma" as long as Saddam Hussein was in power.
That April 2001 report, "Strategic Policy Challenges for the 21st
Century"
[http://www.rice.edu/energy/publications/docs/TaskForceReport_Final.pdf
],
was prepared by the James A. Baker Institute for Public Policy and the U.S.
Council on Foreign Relations at the request of then-Vice President Dick Cheney.
In retrospect, it appears that the report helped focus administration thinking
on why it made geopolitical sense to oust Hussein, whose country sat on the
world's second largest oil reserves.
"Iraq remains a destabilizing influence to the flow of oil to international
markets from the Middle East," the report said.
"Saddam Hussein has also demonstrated a willingness to threaten to use
the oil weapon and to use his own export program to manipulate oil markets.
Therefore the U.S. should conduct an immediate policy review toward Iraq including
military, energy, economic and political/diplomatic assessments."
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Alaska's Health Director Says She Was Forced Out By Gov. Palin
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-03 16:30:43 (7 hours ago)
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One of the Alaska's top public health officials says she was forced out
of office because Gov. Sarah Palin felt she wasn't in step on social
issues.
Beverly Wooley, who has worked more than 20
years in public health in Alaska, most of it with the municipality of
Anchorage, ended her stint as state public health director on Wednesday.
She's the second top health official to leave within days. The state's
chief medical officer, Jay Butler, left in late June after declining to
take on Wooley's job along with his own. He now is in Atlanta,
Georgia, overseeing a U.S. Centers for Disease Control task force on a vaccine
to protect against the H1N1 flu virus.
The division has about 550 employees and a budget of $100 million. It
includes nurses and epidemiologists, health facility inspectors and
keepers of birth and death records. Its staff members run health
laboratories and try to prevent diseases like HIV and diabetes.
The key source of tension was legislation that would have required
girls under age 17 to get parental consent for an abortion, Wooley said
Thursday. The bill, which Palin actively supported, passed the state
House but stalled in the Senate.
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Authorize.net, Others, Suffer After Fire Disrupts Service
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Posted By: JWSmythe
2009-07-03 13:32:42 (10 hours ago)
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A fire at Fisher Plaza disrupted television and radio stations that
broadcast from the building near the Seattle Center and affected a
server farm that provides service to multiple Web sites.
The vice president of operations for Fisher Communications Inc., Rob
Dunlop, says a fire at an electrical vault broke out around 11 p.m.
Thursday, forcing the evacuation of the building. The fire also affected a data center located in the building, which is
disrupting service at several Web sites, including Verizon
Communications Inc. and Authorize.net Holdings Inc., which provides
credit card services for merchants.
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Federal Grand Jury Inquiry On Destruction Of CIA Tapes
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-03 07:59:20 (16 hours ago)
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Current and former top Central Intelligence Agency officers have appeared before a federal grand jury in Virginia as part
of an 18-month investigation into the agency’s destruction of 92
videotapes depicting the brutal interrogations of two al-Qaeda detainees.
The witnesses recently called by the special prosecutor, former
government officials said, include the agency’s top officer in London
and Porter J. Goss, who was C.I.A. director when the tapes were destroyed in November 2005.
The grand jury testimony of C.I.A. officers is further evidence that, despite President Obama's
pledge not to punish agency operatives for their role in the detention
and interrogation of terrorism suspects, the shadow of the
controversial program still looms over the agency’s daily operations.
The court appearances are tied to a criminal investigation led by
John L. Durham, whom the Justice Department appointed in January 2008
to investigate the destruction of the tapes. The tapes had shown C.I.A.
officers using harsh interrogation methods, including waterboarding, on two detainees, Abu Zubaydahand Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.
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Commentary: Saying Auf Wiedersehen To A Strong Europe
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-03 07:58:45 (16 hours ago)
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Intellpuke: This commentary was written by Spiegel journalist
Hans Hoyng and appeared on Spiegel Online edition for Thursday, July 2,
2009. Mr. Hoyng's commentary follows.
Euro-skeptics have plenty of reasons to
celebrate. By strengthening national parliaments vis-a-vis the EU,
Germany's highest court has ended the dream of a "United States of
Europe". And that's good news for Eastern European countries, who often
feel bullied by Germany, the alliance's heavyweight.
A few years ago, continental Europe was busy trying to present
itself as a convincing alternative to American neoconservatives and
their power-hungry world view. And, in doing so, "Old Europe" actually
experienced a completely unexpected resurgence. In the minds of its
inhabitants, the European Union was the perfect alternative to an
enormous United States that was drunk on power, savoring its "unipolar
moment" and not giving a hoot about either its allies or enemies. To
them, it was soft power against the hard U.S. way of doing things
- wanting to impose Western democracy on the entire world at any price.
These were the issues that historians and political scientists were
debating at American universities and at think tanks in the U.S. capital.
If we take a look, they said, can't we see that the European Union is currently
expanding democracy, freedom and prosperity - and in a peaceful way?
Of course, it's not trying to do things like they've been done in Iraq.
No, in the E.U. sovereign nations have relinquished part of their rights
in order to attain something better for all of those concerned. A few
years back, you could often hear the phrase "the European model". And
Europe could have served as a model - at least until the next regional
or global crisis that proved once again that the E.U.'s 27 member states
had still not forfeited enough sovereignty or mustered the nerve to
share a joint foreign policy. In other words, it was enough until
everyone called on the U.S. again to make everything all right.
After each of these embarrassing episodes, there was always new hope
that everything would get better. At first people thought this would
happen after Europe had a constitution in place. And, then, after the
word "constitution" was ditched following failed referenda France and
the Netherlands, people thought that everything would get better once
the Lisbon Treaty was ratified. If the E.U. could only get to that point,
they thought, it would actually have a number it could be reached at, a
genuine foreign minister and a president of the European Council who
actually stayed in office for two and a half years. And maybe, just
maybe, something approximating joint foreign policy would develop,
bringing the E.U.'s 500 million inhabitants into a recognizable bloc and
earning them some respect.
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New Evidence Cheney Swayed Reaction To Plame Leak
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-03 07:57:53 (16 hours ago)
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A document filed in federal court this week by the Justice Department
offers new evidence that former vice president Richard B. Cheney helped
steer the Bush administration's public response to the disclosure of
Valerie Plame Wilson's employment by the CIA and that he was at the
center of many related administration deliberations.
The administration's discussion of Wilson's link to the CIA was
meant to undermine criticism by her husband of administration
allegations that Iraq attempted to acquire uranium, a matter that her
husband had probed for the CIA, according to testimony presented in a
2007 trial.
A list of at least seven related conversations involving Cheney
appears in a new court filing approved by Obama appointees at the
Justice Department. In the filing, the officials argue that the
substance of what Cheney told special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald
in 2004 must remain secret.
No such agreement was reached between Fitzgerald and Cheney at the
time of their chat, according to a 2008 Fitzgerald letter to lawmakers.
The Bush administration rejected requests by Congress and a
nonprofit group for access to two FBI accounts of the conversation,
saying the material was exempt from disclosure under subpoena or the
Freedom of Information Act.
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Health Secretary: U.K. Will See 100,000 Swine Flu Cases A Day By End Of August
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-03 07:56:57 (16 hours ago)
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More than 100,000 people could be diagnosed with swine flu every day by the end of August, the British government said, announcing that the disease can no longer be contained in the U.K.
A House of Commons statement by Britain's Health Secretary, Andy Burnham, marks a watershed in the spread of the flu.
No more schools will be closed, unless forced to by the lack of staff
or if the pupils are especially vulnerable. Families and people in
contact with those with flu will not be given preventative antiviral
drugs.
The new policy of treatment for those with diagnosed
illness, rather than containment, has already begun in the hotspots -
chiefly London, Birmingham and Scotland.
The change of tactic is
the predicted response to the swelling number of people infected. There
are now 7,447 diagnosed cases in the U.K., but the number is doubling
every week. If they continue in this way, said Burnham in his
statement, "we could see over 100,000 cases per day by the end of
August". He later stressed that the figure "is a projection. It is not
a fact. This is how the disease could develop and we don't know."
Those sorts of numbers would put a heavy burden on the National Health Service, which is already feeling the strain in some areas. The new strategy
will help keep those with possible symptoms out of General Practitioner (GP) surgeries.
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Canadian Label May Not Mean Canadian Beef
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-03 07:55:38 (16 hours ago)
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Canadians who heard news last week
of a major recall involving beef products from the United States may
have felt assured the steak in their freezers was safe.
As they found out, it's wrong to assume beef and other meat
products originate in Canada just because the country has its own
meat-producing industries.
Earlier this week, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency announced a
recall involving a variety of President's Choice beef products,
including steaks, roasts and ground beef over fears of E. coli
contamination. The products came from JBS Swift Beef Co., based in
Colorado, and are part of a larger recall that has been linked to at
least 18 illnesses in numerous states.
While news of a food recall is hardly surprising - in recent weeks,
the CFIA has announced recalls on everything from pistachios to salad
greens to food made with peanut products - many consumers were startled
to find out some fresh meat products sold by Canadian companies
actually originate in the U.S..
The recall is prompting new questions about sources of meat sold in
Canadian grocery stores, and whether consumers have a right to know
where the product originated.
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Italian Train Derailment Death Tolls Rises To 20
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-03 07:54:54 (16 hours ago)
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Italian officials say the death toll from a train explosion in
Tuscany has risen to 20 after a woman died overnight in the hospital.
The Civil Protection said Friday some 15 injured are still in serious condition.
A train carrying liquefied gas derailed around midnight Monday in
the seaside town of Viareggio, setting off a massive explosion that
consumed nearby homes.
Viareggio's damaged train station partially reopened Friday.
Meanwhile, Italian railways Trenitalia said it had suspended
transportation of all rail cars registered with U.S. rail and marine
leasing company GATX.
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Doomed Air France Plane Was Not Destroyed In Flight
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-02 11:22:29 (2 days ago)
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The Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic last month with 228 people on
board was not destroyed in mid-air but hit the water intact and at high
speed, French investigators said Thursday.
Flight AF 447 went missing during a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris
on June 1. The exact cause of the disaster is not yet known.
"The plane was not destroyed while it was in flight. It seems to
have hit the surface of the water in the direction of flight and with a
strong vertical acceleration," said Alain Bouillard, who is leading the
investigation on behalf of France's BEA air accident board.
Bouillard said control of the flight was supposed to have passed from air traffic controllers in Brazil to their counterparts in Senegal, but that never happened.
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Markets Fall After U.S. Jobs Report
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-02 11:01:05 (2 days ago)
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Stocks started to fall in the opening moments of trading on Thursday
after a new report showed more job losses than expected in June.
The report Thursday follows a similar weak jobs report from overseas.
The Labor Department’s unemployment figures showed the jobless rate rose to 9.5 percent last month from 9.4 percent in May.
Recession-weary
employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June, suggesting
that the economy’s road to recovery will be bumpy. In addition, a report in Europe showed unemployment in the 16 countries that use the euro rose to a 10-year high in May.
The
Dow Jones industrial average was down 184 points, or 2.1 percent, in
mid-morning trading. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was down
2.2 percent. The Nasdaq was down 2.5 percent.
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Suicide Warnings For Two Anti-Smoking Drugs
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-02 02:45:42 (2 days ago)
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Federal drug regulators warned Wednesday that patients taking two
popular drugs to stop smoking should be watched closely for signs of
serious mental illness, as reports mount of suicides among the drugs’ users.
Officials emphasized that fear should not stop patients from
taking the smoking-cessation medicines, Chantix, made by Pfizer, and
Zyban, made by GlaxoSmithKline, which also sells it under the brand
name Wellbutrin, for depression.
“Stopping smoking is a goal we should all be working towards,” said
Dr. Curtis J. Rosebraugh, director of a drug evaluation office at the Food and Drug Administration. “We don’t want to scare people off from trying a medication that could
help them achieve this goal. You should just be careful.”
Pfizer will add a so-called black box warning - the F.D.A.’s most
serious caution - to the packaging information for Chantix.
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Harve Presnell, Singer, Actor Dies At 75
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-02 02:45:08 (2 days ago)
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Harve Presnell, whose rich operatic baritone thrilled audiences in
the stage and film versions of “The Unsinkable Molly Brown” and who
made an unexpected return to the screen as William H. Macy's overbearing father-in-law in “Fargo,” died Tuesday in Santa Monica, California. He was 75 and lived in Livingston, Montana.
The cause was complications of pancreatic cancer, said his agent, Gregg Klein.
Mr. Presnell, who trained as an opera singer, brought an imposing
physical presence - he stood 6 feet 4 inches - and a resplendent voice
to the Broadway stage, delivering a star-making performance as
Leadville Johnny Brown in “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.”
“He anchored that show, with a down-to-earth quality that played perfectly against Tammy Grimes'
wonderfully eccentric style,” said Miles Kreuger, the president of the
Institute of the American Musical. “It’s a pity they didn’t give him
more larger-than-life roles because he had the physical presence and
the voice for it.”
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Facing Deficits, Some States Cut Summer School
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-02 02:44:13 (2 days ago)
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A year ago, the Brevard County Schools in Florida ran a robust summer program here, with dozens of schools bustling with
teachers and some 14,000 children practicing multiplication, reading Harry Potter and studying Spanish verbs, all at no cost to parents.
This year, Florida’s budget crisis has gutted summer school.
Brevard classrooms are shuttered, and students like 11-year-old Uvenka
Jean-Baptiste, whose mother works in a nursing home, are spending their
summer days at home, surfing television channels or loitering at a mall.
Nearly every school system in Florida has eviscerated or eliminated
summer school this year, and officials are reporting sweeping cuts in
states from North Carolina and Delaware to California and Washington.
The cuts have come as states across the country are struggling to
approve budgets, and California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, declared a fiscal state of emergency on Wednesday.
“We’re seeing a disturbing trend of districts making huge cuts to
summer school; they’re just devastating these programs,” said Ron
Fairchild, executive director of the National Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University. “It’s having a disproportionate impact on low-income families.”
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Interview: 'This Iranian Form Of Theocracy Has Failed'
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Posted By: Intellpuke
2009-07-01 23:45:40 (2 days ago)
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In an interview with German news magazine Spiegel, Iranian theologian and philosopher Mohsen
Kadivar discusses Tehran's path towards a military dictatorship, how
the country's religious leaders abuse Islam and opportunities for
reform.
SPIEGEL: Ayatollah Kadivar, we are meeting you here at Duke
University in the U.S. State of North Carolina, 7,500 miles away from
your home. Are you not needed more urgently in Iran now?
Kadivar: Believe me, in these dramatic hours I would much rather
be in my homeland. Within the next two weeks, the future of Iran will
be decided. Almost all my friends, 95 percent of them, are now in
prison; and I am barely able to contact my family, the phones are
almost dead.
SPIEGEL: You are said to be the co-author of the most recent declarations of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Kadivar: That is not right. Although I enjoyed his statements,
they are not mine. I published my declarations separately, although I
support Mousavi strongly. We have found means to communicate with each
other. Via the Internet and via third parties, I am in constant contact
with my homeland. Every day I receive about 100 messages.
SPIEGEL: Tehran appears quiet at the moment, at least compared
with the mass protests of the week before last. Are we currently seeing
the beginning of the end of the resistance - or the end of the Iranian
regime?
Kadivar: This Iranian form of theocracy has failed. The rights
of the Iranian peoples are trampled upon and my homeland is heading
towards a military dictatorship. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad behaves
like an Iranian Taliban. The supreme leader, Mr. Ali Khamenei, has tied
his fate to that of Ahmadinejad, a great moral, but also political
mistake.
SPIEGEL: What has your counsel been for opposition leader Mousavi in recent days? Is he truly the undisputed head of the movement?
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