Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

Now with 48 Top Stories.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Mubarak stays put on ‘departure day’

by Ali Khalil, AFP

15 mins ago

CAIRO (AFP) – President Hosni Mubarak defied a huge “departure day” protest to force his ouster Friday as US President Barack Obama said talks have began on a transition in Egypt and EU leaders said it was time for change.

“Some discussions” have begun on the details of a political transition in Egypt, Obama said, with details to be worked out by Egyptians themselves. He also warned that violence against demonstrators was unacceptable.

“We continue to be crystal clear that we oppose violence as a response to this crisis,” he said, as Egyptian authorities called for the protesters to go home but vowed not to use force.

2 Mubarak ‘would like to step down, but fears chaos’

by Samer al-Atrush, AFP

Thu Feb 3, 6:55 pm ET

CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt’s embattled President Hosni Mubarak said in an interview on Thursday as deadly protests raged for a tenth day that he would like to step aside, but feared the country would be engulfed in chaos.

The 82-year-old veteran president said he was “fed-up with being president and would like to leave office now, but cannot, he says, for fear that the country would sink into chaos,” ABC television’s Christiane Amanpour reported after an interview in Cairo.

Mubarak spoke as deadly clashes between his opponents and supporters raged for a second day and after his vice president urged protesters to go home, also criticising their demands for the president’s ouster as a “call for chaos.”

3 Huge crowds turn out for Mubarak ‘departure day’

by Ali Khalil, AFP

Fri Feb 4, 2:31 pm ET

CAIRO (AFP) – Egyptian demonstrators held a massive “departure day” show of force on Friday aimed at ousting President Hosni Mubarak as both the United States and Europe indicated the time has come for him to step down.

Tens of thousands filled Cairo’s central Tahrir (Liberation) Square, the epicentre of 11 straight days of protests that have shaken the pillars of Mubarak’s three-decade rule, on the Muslim day of rest and weekly prayers.

Mubarak said in an interview late on Thursday he would like to quit but feared that chaos would ensue.

4 Myanmar picks junta insider as president

AFP

1 hr 54 mins ago

YANGON (AFP) – Myanmar named a key retired general as president Friday, as the military hierarchy retained its stranglehold on power in the country’s new political system.

Thein Sein, who shed his army uniform to contest controversial elections last year, received 408 votes out of a potential 659 from a committee of lawmakers.

The prime minister and former junta number four had been tipped for the post even before the vote, supporting fears that the regime has engineered the political process to hide military power behind a civilian facade.

5 Two dead in Thai-Cambodian border clash

by Suy Se, AFP

2 hrs 51 mins ago

PHNOM PENH (AFP) – Thai and Cambodian soldiers exchanged heavy fire on the two countries’ shared border on Friday, killing one soldier and a civilian, as tensions between the neighbours boiled over.

One Cambodian soldier died in the skirmishes near the disputed ancient Preah Vihear temple, a Cambodian military commander on the scene who did not wish to be named told AFP by telephone.

A Thai villager was also killed by artillery shelling and five Thai soldiers were injured, Thai public health minister Jurin Laksanawisit said.

6 Drive to unify euro economy as rescue roadmap set

by Sophie Laubie, AFP

1 hr 9 mins ago

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Germany and France launched a radical drive Friday to unify the debt-ridden eurozone economy, as eurozone leaders set out their roadmap towards finalising permanent rescue resources.

While plans to down wages provoked an immediate backlash at a European Union summit, a deal in principle to widen the scope of a permanent bailout fund, pending final approval of “concrete” measures in March, allowed the big two and the weakest eurozone states to find common ground.

In exchange for further aid to partner governments struggling to balance their books, Berlin and Paris want shared policy goals and restrictions imposed by all, which they say will make the eurozone a more competitive and efficient economy.

7 Germany, France launch drive for cross-border governance

by Sophie Laubie, AFP

Fri Feb 4, 7:57 am ET

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Germany and France asked European neighbours on Friday to back unified, cross-border policies in a bid to start governing the 17-nation eurozone economy as one.

But Belgium for one announced it opposed aspects of the plan on entering a summit due to consider the proposal.

“We are going to discuss proposals that Germany and France are making for greater coordination of economic policy across the eurozone,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel on arrival for the summit of European Union leaders otherwise dominated by the crisis in Egypt.

8 F1 driver Button plays down Alonso’s Schumacher fears

by Ryland James, AFP

Fri Feb 4, 12:35 pm ET

BERLIN (AFP) – Britain’s Jenson Button on Friday played down Fernando Alonso’s view that former seven-times champion Michael Schumacher could race his way back into title contention this season.

After ending his three-year hiatus to return to racing with Mercedes GP last season, Schumacher could finish only ninth in the drivers’ championship in 2010.

Schumacher was ninth fastest in testing in Valencia, Spain last Thursday and Alonso, the world champion in 2005 and 2006, has backed the German to become one of the pacesetters when the 2011 season begins with the Bahrain Grand Prix on March 13.

9 England hold on to down Wales in Six Nations rugby

by Rob Woollard, AFP

31 mins ago

CARDIFF, United Kingdom (AFP) – England withstood a furious fightback from Wales to open their Six Nations campaign with a 26-19 victory and end their eight-year losing streak in Cardiff on Friday.

Two converted tries from wing Chris Ashton and four penalties from fly-half Toby Flood and Jonny Wilkinson secured a nervy victory for Martin Johnson’s men at the Millennium Stadium in a see-saw battle between the arch-rivals.

Wales fought back from 23-9 down heading into the final quarter to go within four points of England at 23-19 with 10 minutes left before a late Wilkinson penalty saw the visitors home.

10 Ruling party candidate out of Haiti race

by Clarens Renois, AFP

Thu Feb 3, 7:10 pm ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) – Haiti’s fraud-tainted ruling party candidate crashed out of the presidential race on Thursday, as the election commission bowed to weeks of US-led pressure and reversed earlier results.

Ending months of deadlock since disputed first round polls in November, the decision was met with calm on the streets of the quake-hit Caribbean nation, which has endured decades of political upheaval, dictatorship and bloodshed.

Announcing definitive results, the commission said popular singer Michel Martelly — and not the ruling party’s Jude Celestin — would face off against former first lady Mirlande Manigat in a long-delayed run-off on March 20.

11 World food prices reach record high

by Dario Thuburn, AFP

Fri Feb 4, 7:35 am ET

ROME (AFP) – World food prices reached their highest level ever in January, the UN food agency said on Thursday, as economists warned chaos in Egypt could push prices up further and foment more unrest in the region.

Rising food prices have been cited among the driving forces behind the recent popular revolts in north Africa, including the uprising in Egypt and the toppling of Tunisia’s long-time president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

And in its latest survey, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said its index, which monitors monthly price changes for a variety of staples, averaged 231 points in January — the highest since records began in 1990.

12 German-French drive to unify euro economy hits obstacles

by Sophie Laubie, AFP

Fri Feb 4, 1:49 pm ET

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Germany and France launched a radical drive Friday to unify the debt-ridden eurozone economy, but plans to down wages provoked an immediate backlash.

In exchange for further aid to partner governments struggling to balance their books, Berlin and Paris want common policy goals and restrictions imposed by all, which they say will make the eurozone a more competitive and efficient economy.

“We want to bring in a competitiveness pact and step by step bring about a more linear shared growth,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said alongside French President Nicolas Sarkozy at a European Union summit otherwise preoccupied with Egypt.

13 Pakistan cricketers charged with corruption

by Julian Guyer, AFP

Fri Feb 4, 12:15 pm ET

LONDON (AFP) – British prosecutors charged Pakistan cricketers Mohammad Aamer, Mohammad Asif and Salman Butt and an agent with corruption offences on Friday as an alleged spot-fixing scandal headed towards the courts.

The charges relate to alleged incidents during a Test match against England at Lord’s last year, when Britain’s News of the World tabloid claimed the players were willing to deliberately bowl no-balls.

The newspaper alleged the players, who are currently provisionally suspended from international cricket, had colluded in a spot-fixing betting scam organised by British-based agent Mazhar Majeed.

14 U.S. proposes Mubarak’s immediate resignation

By Jonathan Wright and Marwa Awad, Reuters

Fri Feb 4, 12:32 am ET

CAIRO (Reuters) – The Obama administration is discussing with Egyptian officials the immediate resignation of President Hosni Mubarak as one of several scenarios for a transition of power, a U.S. official said.

The U.S. move comes after 10 days of anti-government protests in Egypt and ahead of a mass “Day of Departure” rally planned by protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday to force Mubarak to quit.

The 82-year-old Egyptian leader, speaking in an interview with ABC on Thursday after bloodshed in Cairo that killed 10 people, said he believed his country still needed him.

15 U.S. urges "concrete steps" on Egypt transition

By Arshad Mohammed and Matt Spetalnick, Reuters

Fri Feb 4, 3:18 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States on Friday urged the Egyptian government to take “concrete steps” toward an orderly transition of power and warned that without such measures unrest was likely to persist.

The White House stopped short of calling for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to step down right away as hundreds of thousands of Egyptians marched peacefully in Cairo demanding an immediate end to his 30-year rule.

The White House sought to play down a New York Times report that it had talked to Egyptian officials about Mubarak resigning immediately and handing over to a transitional government led by Vice President Omar Suleiman, his intelligence chief.

16 NY Mets owners hit with $300 million Madoff lawsuit

By Jonathan Stempel and Ben Klayman

1 hr 47 mins ago

NEW YORK/DETROIT (Reuters) – The owners of the New York Mets baseball team turned a blind eye to Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme and should give up roughly $300 million of fictitious profits tied to the now imprisoned swindler, a lawsuit charges.

In a sweeping 365-page complaint, Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee recovering money for Madoff’s victims, said the Mets’ owners, including chairman Fred Wilpon, “consciously disregarded” years of red flags about Madoff, while enriching themselves with profits they did not deserve.

Picard said partners at Wilpon’s company Sterling Equities had 483 accounts with Madoff’s firm. He also said the Mets team had 16 Madoff accounts, from which it withdrew more than $90 million of bogus profits to fund day-to-day operations.

17 SEC warns budget threats give swindlers upper hand

By Sarah N. Lynch and Dave Clarke, Reuters

36 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tighter budgets at the Securities and Exchange Commission could mean killing vital technology upgrades needed to catch swindlers, the agency’s chief said on Friday in a blunt appeal for more funding.

With Republicans in Congress threatening to restrain her budget, SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said the agency faces severe challenges in doing its existing job and in taking on new duties mandated under 2010’s Dodd-Frank market reform law.

SEC enforcement head Robert Khuzami said budget constraints are hurting the agency, but nevertheless defended its record against critics who say too few Wall Street financiers have been held accountable for the 2007-2009 financial crisis.

18 Special report: Jamie Dimon wants some R-E-S-P-E-C-T

By Elinor Comlay and Matthew Goldstein, Reuters

Fri Feb 4, 10:00 am ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – What’s eating Jamie Dimon?

At last week’s World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the JPMorgan Chase chief executive once again lambasted the media and politicians for portraying all bankers as greedy evil-doers.

It was at least the 12th time since the start of the financial crisis that Dimon has complained about Wall Street critics painting all bankers as cut from the same cloth. But the timing of his latest outburst seemed odd.

19 Investment banks square bonus circle with doughnuts

By Sarah White and Ben Berkowitz, Reuters

Fri Feb 4, 9:50 am ET

LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – From Wall Street to the City of London, “doughnuts” are on the menu this bonus season.

While the carbohydrate-packed variety may damage their health, it is the wealth hit from the zero bonus known by the same name that investment bankers increasingly fear.

Anecdotal evidence from banking and headhunting sources suggests a combination of market and regulatory pressure has failed to curb the overall amount paid by investment banks.

20 Tyson Foods profit surges on higher meat prices

By Bob Burgdorfer, Reuters

Fri Feb 4, 1:18 pm ET

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Meat exports and higher pork prices helped Tyson Foods Inc post a much larger quarterly profit that surprised Wall Street and sent shares to an eight-month high.

Pork profits nearly tripled from a year earlier, helped by exports, to lead gains, while chicken profits more than doubled.

“Pork was unreal. They are generating unheard of margins in pork. Pork is what really drove it,” said Heather Jones, agribusiness analyst with BB&T Capital Markets, who said share prices of $20 to $21 were possible.

21 EU states frustrated by Paris, Berlin summit deal

By Jan Strupczewski and Julien Toyer Jan Strupczewski And Julien Toyer – Fri Feb 4, 3:12 pm ET

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Germany and France tried to win backing for a pact to strengthen the euro zone economy on Friday, but many other EU states were angered by what they saw as a ‘fait accompli’ and the measures contained in it.

Paris and Berlin — the driving forces behind euro zone policy — set out a wish-list of measures they want euro zone and the wider EU to adopt to improve competitiveness and help tackle the year-long debt crisis. The proposals included:

  • limits on debt levels written into national laws
  • a higher retirement age, based on demography
  • the abolition of wages indexed to inflation
  • unified bank crisis-resolution mechanisms, and
  • a minimum corporate tax rate

But there was almost immediate pushback against the proposals, with large and small EU states, from Belgium and Austria to Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Poland and Luxembourg expressing aggravation at France and Germany’s methods, as well as the substance of the six-point proposal.

22 SEC eyes flash crash reforms

By Sarah N. Lynch, Reuters

Fri Feb 4, 11:25 am ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Securities regulators are eyeing a spring target to unveil market structure reform proposals in the wake of the May 6 flash crash, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro said.

Schapiro said on Friday the agency is looking at a variety of areas, from new market-making obligations for high-frequency traders to a new limit up/limit down trading parameters.

She also said the SEC is broadly looking into the rules surrounding securities offerings to see if the agency’s regulations may be out of date.

23 "Flash crash" panel mulls big market changes

By Jonathan Spicer, Reuters

Fri Feb 4, 3:45 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Experts trying to figure out how to avoid another “flash crash” are considering big changes to the U.S. stock marketplace, and one is recommending special rebates during times of stress and a crackdown on off-exchange “dark” trading.

Robert Engle, a Nobel Prize-winning finance professor at New York University, said in an interview that the regulator-appointed panel has not yet decided on its final recommendations, though he expects them to be made public at a February 18 meeting.

The focus, he said, should be that buyers all but vanished during the May 6 market plunge, abandoning investors when liquidity was most needed.

24 Bernanke warns of catastrophe if debt limit not raised

By Mark Felsenthal and Pedro da Costa, Reuters

Thu Feb 3, 10:04 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Thursday issued a stern warning to Republican lawmakers that delays in raising the United States’ $14.3 trillion debt limit could have “catastrophic” consequences.

“Beyond a certain point … the United States would be forced into a position of defaulting on its debt. And the implications of that on our financial system, our fiscal policy and our economy would be catastrophic,” he told the National Press Club.

Bernanke coupled his warning with a call for the Obama administration and Congress to put in place a credible plan to curb future budget deficits.

25 Verizon may curb heavy iPhone data users

By Sinead Carew, Reuters

Thu Feb 3, 7:50 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Verizon Wireless warned customers it may clamp down on heavy users of its wireless data services before an anticipated deluge of Apple Inc iPhone customers.

The mobile service provider is expected to benefit from strong pent-up demand for the device as it ends AT&T Inc’s more than three-year hold on U.S. iPhone sales.

During the first day of online sales of its new iPhone, the Verizon appeared initially to be facing heavy demand for the phone on its website, as some who tried to buy it were instead stymied by error messages. Verizon said its system ran smoothly and that the errors were user-specific.

26 House Republicans seek $32 billion in spending cuts

By Richard Cowan, Reuters

Thu Feb 3, 4:07 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican leaders in the House of Representatives will seek $32 billion in spending cuts this year as part of an initial bid to shrink record budget deficits forecast to hit $1.5 trillion this year alone.

Aides to House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan on Thursday outlined the savings that would become part of a bill to fund a range of federal programs through the current fiscal year that ends on September 30.

The legislation is a warm-up to a much bigger fight over spending priorities — and possibly tax policy — that will intensify on February 14 when President Barack Obama submits his fiscal 2012 budget proposal to Congress.

27 Amid protests, views of post-Mubarak Egypt emerge

By LEE KEATH, Associated Press

32 mins ago

CAIRO – A new rally Friday by nearly 100,000 protesters in Cairo and behind-the-scenes diplomacy from the Obama administration piled more pressure on President Hosni Mubarak to make a swift exit and allow a temporary government to embark on an immediate path toward democracy.

Two days of wild clashes between protesters and regime supporters that killed 11 people this week seemed to have pushed the United States to the conclusion that an Egypt with Mubarak at the helm is potentially more unstable than one without him.

For the first time in the 11-day wave of protests, varying scenarios were being put forward by two opposing camps in Egypt and by the United States on how to usher the country into a post-Mubarak era after nearly 30 years of his authoritarian rule.

28 Obama challenges Mubarak: Consider your legacy

By MATTHEW LEE and BEN FELLER, Associated Press

35 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Embracing an Egyptian future without Hosni Mubarak, President Barack Obama on Friday pressed the embattled leader to consider his legacy and exit office in a way that would give his country the best chance for peace and democracy. Obama tried to rally world pressure on Mubarak to make “the right decision” but did not call for his immediate resignation.

“I believe that President Mubarak cares about his country. He is proud, but he’s also a patriot,” Obama said as Cairo remained a center of protest and upheaval.

The U.S. president said he had urged Mubarak to listen to those in his government and the pleading voices of his people, and decide if he’s willing to accept a serious transition out of power.

29 Egyptian journalist shot in clashes dies

By CHRISTOPHER TORCHIA, Associated Press

Fri Feb 4, 3:53 pm ET

CAIRO – State-run newspaper Al-Ahram says an Egyptian reporter shot during clashes earlier this week has died of his wounds, the first reported journalist death in 11 days of turmoil surrounding Egypt’s wave of anti-government protests.

Al-Ahram says Ahmed Mohammed Mahmoud, 36, was taking pictures of clashes on the streets from the balcony of his home, not far from central Tahrir Square when he was “shot by a sniper” four days ago. It says in a report on its website that he died Friday in the hospital.

The paper says Mahmoud worked as a reporter for Al-Taawun, one of a number of newspapers put out by the Al-Ahram publishing house.

30 US intelligence on Arab unrest draws criticism

By KIMBERLY DOZIER, AP Intelligence Writer

Fri Feb 4, 3:31 pm ET

WASHINGTON – U.S. intelligence agencies are drawing criticism from the Oval Office and Capitol Hill that they failed to warn of revolts in Egypt and the downfall of an American ally in Tunisia.

President Barack Obama sent word to National Intelligence Director James Clapper that he was “disappointed with the intelligence community” over its failure to predict the outbreak of demonstrations would lead to the ouster of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunis, according to one U.S. official familiar with the exchanges, which were expressed to Clapper through White House staff.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters of intelligence, said there was little warning before Egypt’s riots as well.

31 Husband: Giffords would embrace flight decision

By MARCIA DUNN and JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press

32 mins ago

HOUSTON – The astronaut husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords said Friday his wounded wife would embrace his decision to rocket into space in two months and he expects her to be well enough to be at his launch.

Space shuttle commander Mark Kelly refused to say whether the congresswoman took part in his decision and declined to go into details about her condition or whether she can communicate.

“I know her very well and she would be very comfortable with the decision that I made,” Kelly told reporters.

32 Sen. Hatch: Kagan should sit out health care case

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press

53 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, an opponent of the recently enacted health care overhaul, says Justice Elena Kagan should not take part in the widely expected Supreme Court consideration of the new law.

Hatch’s call is part of the broad legal and political maneuvering on both sides for the most favorable conditions surrounding court review of President Barack Obama’s signature domestic policy accomplishment.

His comments came the same week that Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli said he plans to file a motion to take the case directly to the Supreme Court, bypassing an appeals court, after he won a federal judge’s ruling in December against the law’s requirement that most Americans buy health insurance.

33 Michigan mosque plot suspect fires lawyer in court

By JEFF KAROUB, Associated Press

24 mins ago

DEARBORN, Mich. – The California man accused of plotting to blow up a Detroit-area mosque rejected his court-appointed counsel Friday, upset that the attorney is a Shiite Muslim and a “patron” of the Islamic center where he was arrested.

Roger Stockham, 63, standing in handcuffs and wearing an olive drab jail-issued jumpsuit in a Dearborn courtroom, rejected defense attorney Mark Haidar and was appointed a new attorney during a hearing to determine whether there is probable cause to try him. The hearing was then delayed until next Friday so that new attorney Matthew Evans could prepare.

Stockham, who has described himself as a Vietnam War vet-turned-Islamic holy warrior, has a history of violent run-ins with the law dating back to the 1970s. He faces charges of making a false report or threat of terrorism and one count of possessing explosives with an unlawful intent after being arrested Jan. 24 near the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.

34 Stocks shrug off mixed unemployment report

By DAVID K. RANDALL and MATTHEW CRAFT, AP Business Writers

1 hr 15 mins ago

NEW YORK – Stocks eked out modest gains on Friday after the government reported a sharp drop in the unemployment rate.

The Labor Department said the unemployment rate dropped to 9 percent in January, the lowest rate since April 2009 and a sharp fall from 9.4 percent in December. Economists had expected the rate would rise to 9.5 percent, in part because of harsh winter weather that affected much of the country.

At the same time, the government said that 36,000 new jobs were created last month, the fewest in four months. The slow job growth left some analysts doubting that the economic recovery is gathering momentum.

35 Storm turns some Super Bowl plans into Super Mess

By SCHUYLER DIXON, Associated Press

8 mins ago

ARLINGTON, Texas – Runways too snowy to receive airliners packed with football fans. Sidewalks too icy for cowboy boots. Temperatures too cold to distinguish Dallas from Pittsburgh or Green Bay.

Just two days before the Super Bowl, a fresh blast of snow and ice canceled hundreds of flights, transformed highways into ribbons of white and caused dangerous sheets of ice to fall from Cowboys Stadium, sending at least six people to the hospital. It was enough to turn the biggest week in American sports into a Super Mess.

The six people hurt Friday were private contractors who had been hired by the NFL to prepare the stadium for the game. One man was hit in the head, another in the shoulder. None of the injuries was considered life-threatening.

36 Injury fill-ins keep Super Bowl teams patched up

By JAIME ARON, AP Pro Football Writer

Fri Feb 4, 5:47 am ET

DALLAS – Coming out of college two years ago, Ramon Foster wasn’t good enough to be drafted by an NFL team.

Around the middle of this season, Erik Walden wasn’t good enough to be on the roster of an NFL team.

On Sunday, both will be starters in the Super Bowl.

37 Madoff lawsuit: Mets owners owe victims $300M

By TOM HAYS and LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

47 mins ago

NEW YORK – The owners of the Mets turned a blind eye to Bernard Madoff’s massive fraud, reaping $300 million in false profits and using a large chunk to run the team, according to a lawsuit unsealed Friday.

The lawsuit claims the owners were so dependent on the disgraced financier’s too-good-to-be-true returns that it “faced a severe and immediate liquidity crisis” when Madoff’s crimes were revealed in 2009.

The searing allegations were made by Irving Picard, the trustee appointed to recover funds for investors burned by Madoff’s scheme. The suit filed by Picard in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan names Sterling Equities, along with its partners and family members, including Mets owner Fred Wilpon, team president Saul Katz and chief operating Jeff Wilpon, the owner’s son. Picard said Sterling withdrew over $94 million in fictitious profits from Mets accounts with Madoff.

38 With no room to put snow, Eastern waterways beckon

By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press

Fri Feb 4, 1:56 pm ET

BOSTON – Imagine the East Coast’s largest cities mixing a brew of salt, motor oil, trash and grocery carts and dumping it into rivers and harbors.

It’s allowed in emergency situations, and some officials staring at massive snow mountains in densely populated areas of the winter-walloped Northeast say that time is now, even as others warn dumping snow in water comes with big problems.

“There’s a lot of stuff in this snow that if I isolated it and threw it in the river, you’d have me arrested,” said John Lipscomb of the New York-based environmental group Riverkeeper.

39 Yanks’ Pettitte retires, ‘hunger’ is not there

By RONALD BLUM, AP Sports Writer

2 hrs 52 mins ago

NEW YORK – Andy Pettitte kept putting off a final decision, until his wife told him in late January that it was time.

“I was starting to get a little irritable,” he said. “And so she basically booted me and said, ‘Go figure this out.'”

So he drove four hours from his home in Deer Park, Texas, to his ranch near the Mexican border.

40 Alaska lawmakers propose ditching pipeline plan

By BECKY BOHRER, Associated Press

7 mins ago

JUNEAU, Alaska – Alaska lawmakers introduced legislation Friday to abandon a centerpiece of former Gov. Sarah Palin’s administration: a state-sanctioned effort to advance a major natural gas pipeline.

The measure sponsored by at least five Republican representatives underscored the impatience and skepticism that many lawmakers have expressed about the current process and a belief the state is no closer than it was several years ago to realizing the long-hoped-for line.

It sets up a potential political battle with House Democrats and Palin’s successor, Republican Gov. Sean Parnell. Both have expressed support for seeing the process now under way through.

41 Judge orders mediation in SweeTango apple lawsuit

By STEVE KARNOWSKI, Associated Press

38 mins ago

MINNEAPOLIS – A judge ordered the University of Minnesota and apple growers fighting for the right to grow a new apple developed at the university into mediation on Friday.

The university developed the SweeTango as the successor to its hugely popular Honeycrisp apple, which earned the school more than $8 million in royalties before the U.S. patent expired. SweeTango, noted for its crisp juicyness and intense sweet-tart flavor with a note of spice, has sold out quickly in both seasons since its official release in 2009.

To ensure a steady revenue stream to support its fruit breeding programs and preserve the quality of SweeTango apples, the university granted an exclusive license to a select cooperative of growers led by Pepin Heights Orchard of Lake City, Minn. Several other apple growers, mostly in Minnesota, sued last summer, saying they were unfairly frozen out of a lucrative deal.

42 USDA: Farmers can plant genetically modified beets

By MICHAEL J. CRUMB, Associated Press

46 mins ago

DES MOINES, Iowa – Genetically modified sugar beets designed to withstand the weedkiller Roundup can be planted under strict conditions with no threat to the environment and other plants, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday in a decision anxiously awaited by farmers.

The agency’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said it would partially deregulate so-called Roundup Ready beets, letting farmers plant them while it finished work on a full environmental impact statement.

Last summer, a federal judge in California issued an order last summer halting the planting of genetically modified sugar beets until the USDA completed an environmental impact study on how the beets could affect conventional crops. The ruling had a widespread impact since nearly all the nation’s sugar beets come from the genetically altered seed, and farmers had worried the USDA wouldn’t finish its work in time for spring planting.

43 Canada PM urges US to approve oil pipeline

By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press

55 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Friday urged U.S. officials to approve an oil pipeline from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast, calling his country a secure, stable and friendly neighbor that poses no threat to Americans.

By contrast, many other countries that supply oil are not stable or allied with U.S. interests, Harper said at a White House news conference following a meeting with President Barack Obama.

Pipeline supporters have singled out Venezuela, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Iran as among the oil-producing countries where the United States faces security threats or instability. Canada’s environment minister has used the term “ethical oil” to describe his country’s crude supplies, saying Canada respects human rights, workers’ rights and environmental responsibility. Pipeline opponents, though, say the project would bring “dirty oil” from a polluting source to the U.S.

44 Baltimore cuts off funding for Poe House

By BEN NUCKOLS, Associated Press

1 hr 20 mins ago

BALTIMORE – Baltimore cut funding for the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum, one of the strongest links between the literary icon and the city that claims him as its own.

The Poe House must become self-sustaining by the middle of next year or it will close, curator Jeff Jerome and city officials said Friday.

The museum hasn’t received any money from the city’s general fund since last summer, when Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake pushed through a package of spending cuts and tax increases to close a $121 million budget deficit. Instead, it’s been running on money that Jerome has raised over the years.

45 SPIN METER: Not much savings from stimulus money

BRETT J. BLACKLEDGE, Associated Press

1 hr 56 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Congressional Republicans say they want to cut federal spending by raiding $45 billion from President Barack Obama’s politically unpopular economic stimulus program. But they won’t be able to get their hands on most of that money.

At most, only about $7 billion of the $814 billion in economic recovery money awarded under the 2009 federal law hasn’t already been spoken for, according to the latest White House estimates. And Republican leaders now acknowledge they would be lucky to identify as much as $5 billion in stimulus-related spending cuts as part of a plan to save taxpayers $2.5 trillion over 10 years.

Where did the money go?

46 Judge bars passport from ex-CIA operative’s trial

By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press

2 hrs 3 mins ago

EL PASO, Texas – An elderly ex-CIA operative on trial for immigration fraud scored a victory Friday when a federal judge refused to allow into evidence a Guatemalan passport bearing his picture but a false name.

The ruling could undermine some of the charges against Luis Posada Carriles, an anti-communist militant and public enemy No. 1 in his native Cuba. Prosecutors argued that the passport – and its stamps – indicate that Posada sneaked into the U.S. by sailing into Miami and not by crossing the Texas-Mexico border with a smuggler, as he claimed during citizenship hearings in 2005 in El Paso.

Posada, who turns 83 this month, also is accused of failing to acknowledge during those hearings his involvement in a series of hotel bombings in Cuba that killed an Italian tourist in 1997. He is charged with perjury, obstruction of justice and immigration fraud.

47 Zuckerberg dad: Mark got computer exposure young

By BETH J. HARPAZ, Associated Press

Fri Feb 4, 3:17 pm ET

NEW YORK – Mark Zuckerberg’s father said in a radio interview Friday that an early exposure to computers inspired his son’s interest in technology, and he encouraged parents to support their children’s strengths and passions with a balance of “work and play.”

“My kids all grew up around the office and were all exposed to computers,” said Dr. Edward Zuckerberg, a dentist. “There are advantages to being exposed to computers early on. That certainly enriched Mark’s interest in technology.”

Zuckerberg said he computerized his offices in 1985. Mark was born in 1984 and was raised in the house where his father’s dental offices are located in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., in suburban Westchester.

48 Bison slaughter on hold as park reviews lawsuit

By MATTHEW BROWN, Associated Press

Fri Feb 4, 2:50 pm ET

BILLINGS, Mont. – Officials halted plans Friday to ship bison to slaughter from Yellowstone National Park after saying they first had to review a court challenge filed by wildlife advocates.

Almost 400 of the animals were being held in corrals inside the park for testing to see if they have been exposed to the disease brucellosis.

Officials had planned to begin sending to slaughter this week those bison that test positive.

2 comments

  1. At 1 am local time, the square is full with singing and chanting ans some people sleeping. There were only 28 reported injuries in Cairo today and other cities reported that large demonstrations were went well.

    Egyptian ministers under house arrest

    Al-Arabiya TV says it has has confirmation from high-level official sources in Egypt that the former Egyptian interior minister and three former ministers are under house arrest awaiting an official probe. The report was translated by NBC News interpretors who were monitoring the Arabic language news network.

    2 Detained Reporters Saw Secret Police’s Methods Firsthand

    We – Souad Mekhennet, Nicholas Kulish and a driver, who is not a journalist and not involved in the demonstrations – were detained Thursday afternoon while driving into Cairo. We were stopped at a checkpoint and thus began a 24-hour journey through Egyptian detention, ending with – we were told by the soldiers who delivered us there – the secret police. When asked, they declined to identify themselves.

    Captivity was terrible. We felt powerless – uncertain about where and how long we would be held. But the worst part had nothing to do with our treatment. It was seeing – and in particular hearing through the walls of this dreadful facility – the abuse of Egyptians at the hands of their own government.

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