Six In The Morning

Justice Department, SEC investigations often rely on companies’ internal probes



By David S. Hilzenrath, Monday, May 23

As the U.S. government steps up investigations of companies suspected of paying bribes overseas, law enforcement officials are leaving much of the detective work to the very corporations under suspicion.

The probes are so costly and wide-ranging that the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission often let the companies investigate themselves and then share the results.

The strategy is especially common in cases of foreign corruption but also extends to domestic investigations involving issues as varied as health-care fraud and shady accounting.

Spain’s socialists routed in elections

The opposition People’s party hopes to turn local and regional poll momentum into a victory at a national level

Reuters in Madrid

guardian.co.uk, Monday 23 May 2011  

Spain’s ruling Socialists have suffered a stinging losses in local elections and now face a balancing act between voter anger over high unemployment and investor demands for strict austerity measures.

A week of protests by Spaniards fed up with the stagnant economy and the EU’s highest jobless rate preceded Sunday’s elections, which left the Socialists out of power in most of the country’s cities and almost all the 17 autonomous regions.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Is this President still worthy of the hope we pinned on him?

Obama was meant to give black neighbourhoods fair chances and dignity. Now they are experiencing unemployment at almost Great Depression levels

Monday, 23 May 2011

President Obama arrives for a state visit to Britain this week, and there is much excitement at my gym where I am wearing my Obama T-shirt, his face on my chest as I wheeze and walk and sweat on the treadmill. Several other exercisers say the man is “cool”, “some dude”, “one special guy”. The most enthusiastic are black men. Tony, for example – a sweet man and a big bouncer who would pay a thousand pounds just to see the face of the President when he comes to London: “He shows we are not born to be slaves, but to be top man. He gave us back pride, man, real pride.” Tony’s emotions stir mine.

How can one not be moved by the story? Obama is a natural outsider, the son of a Kenyan man and a white American woman, stepson of a Muslim Indonesian.

Yemen transition deal collapses

Gulf nations suspend mediation efforts after Saleh fails to sign exit pact and warns of civil war.

Akl Jazeera

The Gulf Co-operation  Council (GCC) has halted its efforts to end the political crisis in Yemen after the country’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, refused to sign a transition deal that would have seen him step down.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the GCC said it had suspended the initiative because of a failure to agree on suitable conditions.

Saleh attended a signing ceremony, in which the transition deal was ratified by members of his ruling party, but failed to add his signature to the document, saying he would not sign the deal unless opposition leaders were present.

Diplomats who had gathered for the ceremony in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, were earlier evacuated from an embassy by helicopter after the building was surrounded by armed pro-government supporters.

China finally admits massive dam problems

The Irish Times – Monday, May 23, 2011

CLIFFORD COONAN in Beijing

CHINA HAS finally conceded that there are massive problems with the colossal Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric project.

The ruling state council has issued a statement acknowledging serious flaws in the dam across the Yangtze River, as the rate of water release was increased to ease a severe drought devastating downstream rice-growing areas. Environmentalists have been highlighting the problems for years.

“The government will properly handle the negative effects brought by the project to the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and improve the long-term mechanisms for geological disaster prevention,” ran a statement carried on the Xinhua news agency.

Taliban leader reported killed

 

By Syed Saleem Shahzad    

ISLAMABAD – The Taliban on Monday denied a report in the Afghan media that Taliban leader Mullah Omar had been killed in Pakistan.

“Reports regarding the killing of Amir-ul-Moemineen [Mullah Omar] are false. He is safe and sound,” spokesman Qari Muhamad Yousaf told the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency.

Earlier in the day, privately owned Afghan Tolo TV reported, “Mullah Omar was killed on way from Quetta to North Waziristan.” Several other Afghan TV channels including Shamshad, Ariana and Noor also reported his death. Quetta is the provincial capital of Balochistan province in Pakistan and lends its name to the Quetta shura – the Afghan Taliban’s inner council. The North Waziristan tribal area on the border with Afghanistan is a militant stronghold.