Evening Edition is an Open Thread
An experiment in load distribution. Now with 51 Top Stories.
| From Yahoo News Top Stories |
1 Berlusconi to stand trial for underage sex: judge
by Ella Ide, AFP
1 hr 51 mins ago
| ROME (AFP) – Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will go on trial in April over allegations that he paid a 17-year-old girl for sex and abused his power by trying to get her cleared of theft, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Granting a request by Milan magistrates, Judge Cristina Di Censo said the first hearing would take place on April 6, in a move that brings a long-running probe into the premier’s private life to a head.
Following the announcement, the prime minister’s camp reiterated its claims that Berlusconi was the victim of a witch hunt by his political opponents. |
2 Deutsche Boerse, NYSE Euronext merge
by Marine Laouchez, AFP
56 mins ago
| NEW YORK (AFP) – Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext announced a merger Tuesday that would span two continents to create the world’s biggest exchange by revenues and a powerhouse in derivatives trading.
The firms said the merger would strengthen their position amid greater competition for business in emerging economies, from 24 hour trading and from smaller, more innovative trading platforms.
At the same time, NYSE Euronext chief executive Duncan Niederauer — who will be the CEO of the yet-unnamed new company — rejected suggestions that the deal was actually a takeover of the iconic but technologically outpaced New York Stock Exchange by the Frankfurt firm. |
3 Eurozone economy sputters in fourth quarter
by Laurent Thomet, AFP
Tue Feb 15, 10:51 am ET
| BRUSSELS (AFP) – The eurozone economy grew by a feeble 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter, official data showed Tuesday, amid fears fragile nations will lack the strength to overcome an unrelenting debt crisis.
As European finance ministers met to discuss ways to shield the euro from more turmoil, the Eurostat agency confirmed the eurozone returned to growth in 2010, expanding 1.7 percent after a record 4.1 percent contraction in 2009.
But the single currency area sputtered in the last quarter of the year, coming in slower than the 0.4 percent predicted by economists who blamed the slowdown on winter storms curbing activity and weak German and French growth. |
4 Barclays bank hikes profit, cuts bonuses
AFP
Tue Feb 15, 7:44 am ET
| LONDON (AFP) – British bank Barclays on Tuesday said its 2010 net profit rose a third to over £3.5 billion and announced it had cut bonuses following a government-brokered deal to clamp down on excessive pay.
Barclays said net earnings jumped 36 percent to £3.56 billion (4.24 billion euros, $5.8 billion) from £2.63 billion in 2009, as write-downs shrank and it almost doubled profits at its investment arm.
It said it was paying £3.4 billion in staff bonuses, down 7.0 percent compared with 2009, although total pay rose by a quarter as Barclays included payments deferred during the global financial crisis. |
5 China says January inflation remains high at 4.9%
by Fran Wang, AFP
Tue Feb 15, 5:33 am ET
| BEIJING (AFP) – China said Tuesday its inflation rate stayed stubbornly high at 4.9 percent in January, sparking analyst predictions that the government would take further aggressive fiscal steps to cool prices.
The consumer price index, the key gauge of inflation in the world’s second economy, was “lower than market expectations” according to the National Bureau of Statistics but still above Beijing’s four percent full-year target.
A Dow Jones Newswires poll of 15 economists before had forecast 5.4 percent growth. |
6 Ecuador orders Chevron pay $8 bn over oil damage
by Alexander Martinez, AFP
Tue Feb 15, 5:49 am ET
| QUITO (AFP) – A court in Ecuador ordered US oil giant Chevron to pay an estimated $8 billion for causing environmental damage in the Amazon region, in a ruling that both sides plan to challenge.
Chevron blasted the decision as a “product of fraud,” while lawyers representing the Ecuadoran Amazon communities that filed the decades-old lawsuit claim $8 billion is far too low.
“We’re preparing an appeal because we believe that the amount is insufficient compared to the damages caused,” said attorney Pablo Fajardo, noting the ruling came from a court in the town of Lago Agrio in the province of Sucumbios, near the Colombian border. |
7 Modern farming threatens Argentina’s gauchos
by Oskar Laski, AFP
Tue Feb 15, 9:13 am ET
| SAN ANTONIO DE ARECO, Argentina (AFP) – Gauchos helped defeat Spanish troops and win Argentina independence in the 19th century, but the cowboys of lore are no match for today’s soybean boom and factory farms.
“The classic gaucho is disappearing,” Lisandro Floral, a 30-year-old who manages a farm of 3,800 hectares (9,400 acres) deep in the Pampas, told AFP.
Floral has forsaken the horse and the boleadoras — the traditional rope and leather ball sling used by gauchos to capture running cattle or game — in favor of a 4×4 equipped with a satellite positioning system. |
8 Egypt junta names panel to reform constitution
by Samer al-Atrush, AFP
58 mins ago
| CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt’s military regime warned on Tuesday that a wave of strikes sweeping the country was “disastrous,” as it gave a panel of civilian experts 10 days to revise the constitution.
Against a backdrop of persistent nationwide walk-walkouts and street protests, the junta promised to rapidly restore constitutional rule following the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak’s regime.
US President Barack Obama said the transition under way in Egypt was a model for autocratic Middle Eastern allies and encouraged the Iranian people to press their quest for democracy after protests on Monday in which two people died. |
9 Iran MPs rage against opposition after deadly demo
AFP
52 mins ago
| TEHRAN (AFP) – Furious Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday demanded the hanging of opposition leaders who called anti-government protests which left two people dead, saying they had been “misled” by Iran’s arch-foes.
But in one of his most direct reactions to events in Iran, US President Barack Obama offered encouragement to protesters, saying he hoped they would have the “courage” to keep expressing their “yearning for greater freedoms.”
MPs singled out Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, who had called for protests in Tehran on Monday in support of Arab uprisings that quickly turned into anti-government demonstrations and ended in clashes with police in which several people were also hurt, including nine security force members. |
10 Two killed as more Bahrain protests called
AFP
Tue Feb 15, 7:10 am ET
| MANAMA (AFP) – Two Shiite demonstrators were killed in clashes with Bahraini police, sparking calls to step up anti-government protests on Tuesday and a walkout from parliament of the main Shiite opposition bloc.
The Islamic National Accord Association which has 18 seats in the 40-member house has “suspended its membership” in the Shiite-majority kingdom’s parliament, a member, MP Khalil al-Marzooq, told AFP by telephone.
The decision was taken because of “the deterioration in security and the negative and brutal way in which (the authorities) dealt with the protesters, killing two of them,” he said. |
11 Cyclist Contador wins another battle, but war far from over
by Justin Davis, AFP
44 mins ago
| PARIS (AFP) – Cleared of using a banned substance by the Spanish cycling authorities, Alberto Contador will be a relieved man after months of anguish following a positive test for clenbuterol.
However the three-time Tour de France champion is well aware the International Cycling Union (UCI) is likely to appeal Tuesday’s decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Nevertheless, fans of the Spanish climbing ace will be rejoicing at the return of the man who seemed on schedule to replace Lance Armstrong as a serial winner of the Tour de France. |
12 Cycling ace Contador cleared of doping charges – spokesman
by Daniel Silva, AFP
2 hrs 14 mins ago
| MADRID (AFP) – Spain’s cycling federation cleared three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of knowingly using a banned substance, his spokesman said Tuesday, in a dramatic U-turn in the case.
“Alberto Contador has been officially cleared by the Royal Spanish Cycling Federation (RFEC) and has been authorised to return to competition immediately,” the spokesman, Jacinto Vidarte, said in a statement.
“If everything goes well, the rider will take the start, tomorrow, at the Tour of Algarve” in Portugal. |
13 Contador to be cleared of doping charges: press
by Denholm Barnetson, AFP
Tue Feb 15, 6:51 am ET
| MADRID (AFP) – Spain’s cycling federation was expected to issue a decision Tuesday clearing three-time Tour de France champion Alberto Contador of using performance-enhancing drugs, in what would be a dramatic U-turn in the case.
Contador’s future has hung in the balance since he announced last August he had tested positive for minute traces of the banned substance clenbuterol during last July’s Tour de France.
He has repeatedly denied knowingly taking any banned substances, blaming the result on a steak he says was contaminated with traces of the drug. |
14 Olympics 2012 schedule reveals 100m final date
AFP
Tue Feb 15, 8:08 am ET
| LONDON (AFP) – Usain Bolt could line up in the 2012 Olympic 100 metres final on August 5 while Michael Phelps and Ian Thorpe could clash in the pool on July 30, according to the Games timetable revealed on Tuesday.
The schedule gives the date, time and venue for every one of the 640-plus sessions across the 26 Olympic sports.
“There is a recognition now that the men’s 100m is a pretty serious moment and we have planned that to be fairly early on the evening of Sunday, August 5,” London Games chief Sebastian Coe said. |
15 Love and money fuels global Valentine’s Day ardour
AFP
Mon Feb 14, 4:15 pm ET
| BANGKOK (AFP) – Love swept around the world Monday as the amorous mixed traditional chocolates and roses with new and more determined ways to demonstrate their ardour on Valentine’s Day.
Seven enchanted but exhausted couples smooched their way to a new world record in Thailand with the longest continuous kiss lasting more than 32 hours — and kept going.
The contestants broke the previous world record of 32 hours seven minutes and 14 seconds set in Germany and were vying to become the last ones locking lips for a prize of about $3,250 cash and a diamond ring, organisers said. |
16 IBM computer, Jeopardy! champ tied after first day
by Chris Lefkow, AFP
Tue Feb 15, 5:36 am ET
| WASHINGTON (AFP) – An IBM computer displayed a few quirks but played to a draw on the opening day of a man vs. machine showdown with two human champions of the popular US television game show Jeopardy!.
“Watson,” a supercomputer named after the founder of the US technology giant Thomas Watson, and human contestant Brad Rutter each had $5,000 after the first day of the three-day match.
The other human player, Ken Jennings, was trailing the pair with $2,000. |
17 Berlusconi to face trial over prostitution scandal
By Manuela D’Alessandro, Reuters
29 mins ago
| MILAN (Reuters) – An Italian judge has ordered Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to stand trial in April on charges of paying an underage girl for sex and abuse of office, although there seemed no immediate risk the scandal would force him out.
Following weeks of scandal that have shaken his struggling center-right government, trial was set on Tuesday to start in a criminal court in Milan on April 6, according to a statement from the office of the city’s chief judge.
Berlusconi is not obliged to appear in person before the panel of three judges on that day, nor is there any legal obstacle to his continuing to hold office throughout any trial proceedings, which could take years before any conviction. |
18 Special report: Has Mohamed ElBaradei’s time arrived?
By Louis Charbonneau, Reuters
2 hrs 55 mins ago
| UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – For a man who describes himself as a potential “agent of change” in Egypt, Mohamed ElBaradei draws decidedly mixed reviews.
The veteran diplomat, international lawyer and Nobel Prize winner, has emerged as a high-profile opposition figure over the past few weeks and a possible candidate to replace fallen autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
But Washington and Tel Aviv are deeply suspicious of the 68-year-old. They along with other allies were frustrated by what they said were blatant attempts by ElBaradei — who ran the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from 1997 to 2009 — to undermine their efforts to ratchet up the pressure on Iraq before the U.S.-led invasion and later on Iran over its suspected nuclear arms program. |
19 Tunisia struggles to tame revolutionary spirit
By Christian Lowe, Reuters
Tue Feb 15, 10:56 am ET
| TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisians found the experience of forcing out their president so exhilarating that they are finding it difficult to stop. A month after a tide of popular protests pushed authoritarian leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali from office, many people are taking the principle of people power and applying it to ever corner of their life.
Hotel workers have refused to clean guests’ rooms until they get more pay, telecoms workers threatened to strike over a plan to privatize their company, and disgruntled airport workers have halted international flights.
School pupils protested against their teachers, and then the teachers rallied outside the education ministry to complain that the pupils were being allowed to run wild. |
20 Iran opposition protests, agency reports shooting
Reuters
Mon Feb 14, 6:29 pm ET
| TEHRAN (Reuters) – Thousands of Iranian opposition activists rallied in support of popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia on Monday and a semi-official news agency said one person was shot dead and several wounded by protesters.
An opposition website said dozens were arrested while taking part in the banned protests, which amounted to a test of strength for the reformist opposition in the Islamic state.
By late evening, chants of “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) echoed from Tehran rooftops in scenes reminiscent of 2009 protests against the disputed reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Eight people were killed in those mass street demonstrations which lasted about a month and resulted in many arrests and several executions. |
21 Deutsche Boerse unveils NYSE mega-exchange deal
By Ed Taylor and Jonathan Spicer, Reuters
1 hr 8 mins ago
| FRANKFURT/NEW YORK (Reuters) – Deutsche Boerse will take over NYSE Euronext to create the world’s largest exchange operator in a deal worth $10.2 billion, but the exchanges dodged key questions that could threaten the accord.
While shareholders of the German exchange will control 60 pct of the new company and 10 of 17 board seats, there are suspicions in Germany that NYSE management will be in the driver’s seat. There are also concerns in the United States that the New York Stock Exchange will lose influence and independence.
That tension could raise obstacles to regulatory approval of the deal, which values the two-century-old icon of American capitalism at about $39 a share. |
22 D.Boerse, NYSE near deal but dodging thorny issues
By Jonathan Spicer and Philipp Halstrick, Reuters
Mon Feb 14, 8:34 pm ET
| NEW YORK/FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext are expected to sidestep thorny political issues as they prepare to announce a deal Tuesday to create the world’s largest exchange operator.
The two have hammered out a broad framework for a merger deal that focuses on functions and personalities, with several executives chosen for key posts across Europe and the United States, three people familiar with the plan said.
Another source added that major issues like the exact exchange ratio and the premium to be paid to NYSE Euronext have been sorted out, and a definitive agreement is expected to be announced on Tuesday |
23 Retail sales slow, still point to growth pickup
By Lucia Mutikani, Reuters
1 hr 26 mins ago
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Growth in sales at U.S. retailers slowed in January, partly due to harsh winter weather across much of the country, but the trend remained supportive of an acceleration in economic growth.
Total retail sales rose 0.3 percent for a seventh straight month of advances, the Commerce Department said on Tuesday, but this was below the 0.5 percent increase posted in December.
Economists who had expected a 0.6 percent gain said sales were likely to bounce back quickly. |
Hopes and wishes. Morons.
24 Euro zone growth stable, below forecasts
By Philip Blenkinsop and Brian Rohan, Reuters
Tue Feb 15, 10:30 am ET
| BRUSSELS/BERLIN (Reuters) – The euro zone economy ended last year with stable growth, failing to meet expectations for an acceleration as expansion in the three largest nations fell short of forecasts and Greece and Portugal contracted.
An expected pick-up in growth did not occur because businesses ran down stocks in France, snow and cold hit construction in Germany and the Greek economy shrank sharply.
But a separate survey suggested Germany at least should enjoy a more fruitful first quarter of 2011. |
25 China inflation data adds to tightening case
By Kevin Yao and Aileen Wang, Reuters
Tue Feb 15, 7:10 am ET
| BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese inflation hit a lower-than-forecast 4.9 percent in January, but price pressures excluding food were their strongest in at least a decade and will force the central bank to keep tightening monetary policy.
In a tentative sign that its actions so far, including higher interest rates and lending restrictions, have started to bite, money growth eased to its slowest pace in six months in January at 17.2 percent year on year.
“The money supply and lending data suggest that government efforts to clamp down on liquidity might be taking hold, though broad-based inflation provides no leeway for the central bank to relax its tightening stance,” said Connie Tse, economist at Forecast PTE in Singapore. |
26 BOJ tones up economic optimism, keeps rates on hold
By Leika Kihara, Reuters
Tue Feb 15, 4:45 am ET
| TOKYO (Reuters) – The Bank of Japan raised its assessment of the economy on Tuesday to say it is gradually emerging from a slowdown, further signaling that no imminent monetary easing is on the horizon.
A rebound in exports and output, driven by robust demand in fast-growing Asia, has underscored the central bank’s view that the economy is heading toward a moderate recovery after a mild contraction in the final quarter of last year.
BOJ policymakers thus saw no imminent need to ease policy further and, as widely expected, kept interest rates on hold at a range of zero to 0.1 percent. |
27 SEC, Goldman’s Tourre battle in Abacus fraud case
By Grant McCool, Reuters
Mon Feb 14, 5:54 pm ET
| NEW YORK (Reuters) – A top U.S. regulator tried to do “an end run” around U.S. Supreme Court precedent by pressing a civil fraud complaint against a Goldman Sachs Group Inc executive, the man’s lawyer said in court on Monday.
But the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission countered that the executive, Fabrice Tourre, could not avail himself of a June ruling by the high court that limited lawsuits governing securities transactions outside the United States.
Last April, the SEC accused Goldman and Tourre of civil fraud for failing to tell investors that the Paulson & Co hedge fund helped choose and bet against securities underlying Abacus 2007-AC1, a financial product tied to subprime mortgages. |
28 Apple subscription service challenges publishers
By Paul Thomasch, Reuters
32 mins ago
| NEW YORK (Reuters) – Apple Inc is launching a long-awaited subscription service for magazines, newspapers, videos and music — a move that could dent the fortunes of successful services such as Netflix and Hulu.
Apple’s service allows it to keep 30 percent of customer payments to any publisher with a presence in its App Store, including blue-chip brands such as The New York Times, Netflix Inc. or Rhapsody, the popular music service.
Publishers can set the price and length of a subscription. They can also offer subscriptions through their own existing websites, but would be required to offer those same terms to anyone signing up through Apple. |
29 Florida’s Scott takes businessman’s ax to budget
By Tom Brown, Reuters
Tue Feb 15, 8:50 am ET
| MIAMI (Reuters) – Many newly elected Republican governors have pledged to run their states like a business as they grapple with low revenues and multibillion-dollar budget gaps with little relief from a fragile U.S. economic recovery.
But since they took office last month, few have gone as far in advancing campaign promises for less government and lower taxes than Florida’s Tea Party-backed Governor Rick Scott.
A political newcomer, with a controversial past as chief executive of a healthcare corporation that paid a record $1.7 billion in fines for defrauding Medicare and other federal programs, Scott has taken to the job of running the fourth-largest U.S. state like a hostile takeover. |
30 Obama budget targets brand name medicines
By Susan Heavey, Reuters
Tue Feb 15, 4:02 am ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Big pharmaceutical companies could face increased competition from generic drugmakers under two proposals put forth by the Obama administration on Monday despite earlier savings extracted from drugmakers as part of last year’s healthcare law.
President Barack Obama, as part of his 2012 budget proposal, called for cutting the number of years drugmakers could exclusively market brand-name biologic drugs to 7 years from 12.
He also set his sights on ending controversial “pay-for-delay” deals that affect traditional, chemical drugs by giving the U.S. Federal Trade Commission power to block them. Under such pacts, brand-name and generic drugmakers settle patent challenges with payoffs that delay lower-cost rivals from reaching the market. |
31 Clinton to lay out U.S. Internet freedom plan
By Andrew Quinn, Reuters
Mon Feb 14, 10:58 pm ET
| WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will unveil a new U.S. push for global Internet freedoms on Tuesday, citing Internet-fired protests in Egypt and Iran as examples of how new technologies can spark political transformation.
Clinton, making her second major address on Internet policy amid growing evidence of how communications technologies can transform politics around the globe, will underscore U.S. commitments to a free, open and secure Internet, the State Department said on Monday, releasing excerpts of her speech.
“There is a debate underway in some circles about whether the Internet is a force for liberation or repression. But as the events in Iran, Egypt and elsewhere have shown, that debate is largely beside the point,” one excerpt of Clinton’s speech says. |
32 Italy’s Berlusconi indicted in prostitution probe
By COLLEEN BARRY, Associated Press
Tue Feb 15, 9:59 am ET
| MILAN – Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi, who has dodged corruption trials and no-confidence votes with the skill of an Olympic athlete, faced a potentially fatal challenge to his power Tuesday when a judge ordered him to stand trial on prostitution and abuse of power charges.
Berlusconi is going on trial April 6 in Milan on charges that he paid for sex with a 17-year-old Moroccan girl and then tried to cover it up. Berlusconi has been in court for a number of business-related charges, but this is the first time the 74-year-old billionaire businessman is being tried for personal conduct.
The premier has called the accusations “groundless” and dismissed the case as a “farce,” accusing prosecutors of seeking to oust him from power. |
33 Bahrain square becomes new center for Arab anger
By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press
42 mins ago
| DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Thousands of protesters took over a main square in Bahrain’s capital Tuesday – carting in tents and raising banners – in a bold attempt to copy Egypt’s uprising and force high-level changes in one of Washington’s key allies in the Gulf.
The move by demonstrators capped two days of clashes across the tiny island kingdom that left at least two people dead, parliament in limbo by an opposition boycott and the king making a rare address on national television to offer condolences for the bloodshed.
Security forces – apparently under orders to hold back – watched from the sidelines as protesters chanted slogans mocking the nation’s ruling sheiks and called for sweeping political reforms and an end to monarchy’s grip on key decisions and government posts. |
34 US to boost support for cyber dissidents
By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press
2 hrs 19 mins ago
| WASHINGTON – The United States stands with cyber dissidents and democracy activists from the Middle East to China and beyond, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday.
She pledged to expand the Obama administration’s efforts to foil Internet repression in autocratic states.
In an impassioned speech on Internet freedom, Clinton said the administration would spend $25 million this year on initiatives designed to protect bloggers and help them get around curbs like the Great Firewall of China, the gagging of social media sites in Iran, Cuba, Syria, Vietnam and Myanmar as well as Egypt’s recent unsuccessful attempt to thwart anti-government protests by simply pulling the plug on online communication. |
35 Yemenis trying to oust leader protest for 5th day
By AHMED AL-HAJ, Associated Press
Tue Feb 15, 8:15 am ET
| SANAA, Yemen – Thousands of people marching for the ouster of Yemen’s U.S.-allied president clashed Tuesday with police and government supporters, and at least three demonstrators were injured in a fifth straight day of Egypt-inspired protests.
Police tried to disperse the demonstrators using tear gas, batons and stun guns, but about 3,000 protesters defiantly continued their march from Sanaa University toward the city center, chanting slogans against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, including “Down with the president’s thugs!”
The procession gained momentum with hundreds of students and rights activists joining along the way. |
36 Egypt echoes across region: Iran, Bahrain, Yemen
By BRIAN MURPHY, Associated Press
Mon Feb 14, 10:42 pm ET
| DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The possible heirs of Egypt’s uprising took to the streets Monday in different corners of the Middle East: Iran’s beleaguered opposition stormed back to central Tehran and came under a tear gas attack by police. Demonstrators faced rubber bullets and birdshot to demand more freedoms in the relative wealth of Bahrain. And protesters pressed for the ouster of the ruler in poverty-drained Yemen.
The protests – all with critical interests for Washington – offer an important lesson about how groups across Middle East are absorbing the message from Cairo and tailoring it to their own aspirations.
The heady themes of democracy, justice and empowerment remain intact as the protest wave works it way through the Arab world and beyond. What changes, however, are the objectives. The Egypt effect, it seems, is elastic. |
37 AP IMPACT: New proof of Ivory Coast vote killings
By RUKMINI CALLIMACHI, Associated Press
2 hrs 25 mins ago
| ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – The entrance to the morgue is like a mouth through which comes an awful smell. It hits you as far back as the parking lot and makes your eyes water. From a dozen yards away, it’s strong enough to make you throw up.
What lies inside is proof of mass killings in this once-tranquil country of 21 million, where the sitting president is refusing to give way to his successor. Nearly every day since Laurent Gbagbo was declared the loser of the Nov. 28 election, the bodies of people who voted for his opponent have been showing up on the sides of highways.
Their distraught families have gone from police station to police station looking for them, but the bodies are hidden in plain sight in morgues turned into mass graves. Records obtained by The Associated Press from four of the city’s nine morgues show that at least 113 bullet-ridden bodies have been brought in since the election. The number is likely much higher because the AP was refused access to the five other morgues, including one where the United Nations believes as many as 80 bodies were taken. |
38 APNewsBreak: Veterans say rape cases mishandled
By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press
Tue Feb 15, 12:01 pm ET
| WASHINGTON – A group of U.S. veterans who say they were raped and abused by their comrades want to force the Pentagon to change how it handles such cases.
More than a dozen female and two male current or former service members say servicemen get away with rape and other sexual abuse and victims are too often ordered to continue to serve alongside those they say attacked them.
In a federal class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday that names Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, they want an objective third party to handle such complaints because individual commanders have too much say in how allegations are handled. |
39 GOP mocks Obama budget, House weighs spending cuts
By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press
1 hr 40 mins ago
| WASHINGTON – Republicans on Tuesday disparaged President Barack Obama’s proposed $3.7 trillion budget for next year for taking a pass on tackling long-term deficits by not calling for structural changes in big-ticket entitlement programs for the elderly.
“In our nation’s most pressing fiscal challenges, the president has abdicated his leadership role,” said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. “When his own commission put forward a set of fundamental entitlement and tax reforms … he ignored them.”
Obama told a news conference that the budget he sent Congress will help meet his goal of cutting the deficit in half by the end of his first term. He said he looked forward to negotiations with Republicans in coming months on how to fix Social Security and Medicare. |
40 Obama defends his new budget of ‘tough choices’
By BEN FELLER, AP White House Correspondent
Tue Feb 15, 12:35 pm ET
| WASHINGTON – Defending his new budget as one of “tough choices,” President Barack Obama said Tuesday that more difficult decisions about the nation’s biggest expenses – Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security – will have to be tackled by Democrats and Republicans acting together, not by White House dictates.
“This is not a matter of, ‘you go first, I go first,'” he said. “It’s a matter of everybody having a serious conversation about where we want to go and then ultimately getting in that boat at the same time so it doesn’t tip over.”
The president pitched his $3.73 trillion budget as a balance of spending on needed programs and significant reductions that would cut the deficit by $1.1 trillion over 10 years. The budget includes a mix of spending freezes on domestic programs, pay hike suspensions for federal civilian workers and new revenues from increased taxes on the wealthy and on oil and gas producers. |
41 Long before German deal, NYSE was mostly symbolic
By DAVID K. RANDALL, AP Business Writer
1 hr 50 mins ago
| NEW YORK – Why would anyone want to sell a centerpiece of capitalism like the New York Stock Exchange? Because despite its fame and its fabled floor, it’s a lousy way to make money.
A German company will acquire the Big Board in a deal that creates the world’s largest exchange operator but does not stop the decades-long evolution of stock trading from shouting floor brokers to the cold, quiet hum of computers.
The deal announced Tuesday values the New York exchange’s old parent company, NYSE Euronext, at $10 billion. The NYSE and Euronext, which owns exchanges in several European capitals, merged in 2007. |
42 Contador escapes doping ban, set to keep Tour win
By PAUL LOGOTHETIS, AP Sports Writer
22 mins ago
| MADRID – Alberto Contador was cleared of doping Tuesday after Spanish cycling authorities reversed their proposal to ban him for one year. The federation ruled he was not at fault for a positive test at the Tour de France that Contador blamed on contaminated meat.
Contador will keep his third Tour title and can ride in this year’s race, but the International Cycling Union and the World Anti-Doping Agency can appeal the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Contador tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol during last year’s Tour. |
43 Wrinkle at Westminster, top dog up for grabs
By BEN WALKER, AP Sports Writer
47 mins ago
| NEW YORK – A Chinese shar-pei threw a wrinkle into Westminster.
With no clear favorite to win at America’s top dog show, Miss Jayne Hathaway seized her chance. She became the first of her breed to reach the final best-of-seven ring.
“I knew she was good enough, but I’m surprised,” co-owner Jeff Mauk said Monday night. |
44 Conservative GOP could prompt some to skip Iowa
By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press
8 mins ago
| DES MOINES, Iowa – A run for the White House has long meant enduring icy days campaigning in Iowa for the contest that starts the presidential election calendar. But this winter fewer candidates have braved the Midwestern chill. And that has left some wondering if the Iowa Republican party’s shift to the right is scaring off some hopefuls and making the Iowa caucuses less competitive — and less important.
In the last few months, a handful of prospective candidates for the GOP nomination in 2012 have visited the state — including former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, former vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. But the visits have been less frequent than in the past, and other traditional campaign-building efforts have lagged.
Notably absent has been former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has led the field of GOP prospects in early polling. Also unseen has been Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who hasn’t announced his intentions but who spoke last week at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. |
45 Ex-CIA agent’s perjury trail delayed another week
By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press
1 hr 24 mins ago
| EL PASO, Texas – A federal judge has suspended for another week the politically charged perjury trial of an elderly former CIA agent after the defense claimed prosecutors put a covert Cuban counter-intelligence agent on the witness stand without providing them with information about his background.
Attorneys for Luis Posada Carriles asked for a mistrial last week, their fifth such request since the case began Jan. 10. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone delayed the trial for four days while considering the request and then told jurors Tuesday that it would remain on-hold at least until Feb. 22.
“I want you to know, I don’t take these steps lightly,” Cardone said, “but often times there are complicated matters that require a lot of thought.” |
46 Will Palin’s unconventional style bring success?
By LIZ “Sprinkles” SIDOTI, AP National Political Writer
Tue Feb 15, 6:32 am ET
| WASHINGTON – She says what she wants, does what she wants and makes no apologies. And love her or hate her, you can’t really argue with this: Politics as usual has never been Sarah Palin’s style.
“I wasn’t wired to play that game,” the former Alaska governor says in “Going Rogue,” the memoir whose title reflects her affinity for going her own way.
As she weighs whether to seek the presidency, it’s hard not to wonder: Do the old tenets of White House campaigns apply to someone who has broken virtually every rule in modern-day American politicking? Can she bypass conventional politics and succeed? Will she even try? |
47 Study: Eating more fiber could mean longer life
By CARLA K. JOHNSON, AP Medical Writer
Tue Feb 15, 3:23 am ET
| CHICAGO – Eat more fiber and you just may live longer.
That’s the message from the largest study of its kind to find a link between high-fiber diets and lower risks of death not only from heart disease, but from infectious and respiratory illnesses as well.
The government study also ties fiber with a lower risk of cancer deaths in men, but not women, possibly because men are more likely to die from cancers related to diet, like cancers of the esophagus. And it finds the overall benefit to be strongest for diets high in fiber from grains. |
48 GM to pay more than $400 million in worker bonuses
By TOM KRISHER, AP Auto Writer
Mon Feb 14, 5:31 pm ET
| DETROIT – Less than two years after entering bankruptcy, General Motors will extend millions of dollars in bonuses to most of its 48,000 hourly workers as a reward for the company’s rapid turnaround after it was rescued by the government.
The payments, disclosed Monday in company documents, are similar to bonuses announced last week for white-collar employees. The bonuses to 76,000 American workers will probably total more than $400 million – an amount that suggests executives have increasing confidence in the automaker’s comeback.
In the four years leading up to its 2009 bankruptcy, GM piled up more than $80 billion in losses and was burdened by enormous debt and costly labor contracts. |
49 AP Enterprise: Gulf claims process under fire
By BRIAN SKOLOFF and HARRY R. WEBER, Associated Press
Mon Feb 14, 5:26 pm ET
| NEW ORLEANS – President Barack Obama vowed during a White House speech last June that the $20 billion he helped coax out of BP for an oil spill compensation fund would take care of victims “as quickly, as fairly and as transparently as possible.”
Eight months later, that’s not how things look to many people along the Gulf Coast.
Tens of thousands of fishermen, oyster shuckers, business owners, hotel operators and hairdressers still await payment. Many others whose claims have been turned down question the evenhandedness. And without the data to determine who is right, attorneys general and members of Congress question the openness. |
50 Chevron fined $9.5 billion in Ecuador
By GONZALO SOLANO and FRANK BAJAK, Associated Press
Tue Feb 15, 12:00 am ET
| QUITO, Ecuador – An Ecuadorean judge ruled Monday in an epic environmental case that Chevron Corp. was responsible for oil drilling contamination in a wide swath of Ecuador’s northern jungle and ordered the oil giant to pay $9.5 billion in damages and cleanup costs.
The amount – $8.6 billion plus a legally mandated 10 percent reparations fee – was far below the $27.3 billion award recommended by a court-appointed expert but appeared to be the highest damage award ever issued in an environmental lawsuit.
But whether the plaintiffs – including indigenous groups who say their hunting and fishing grounds in Amazon River headwaters were decimated by toxic wastewater that also raised the cancer rate – can collect remains to be seen. |
51 Las Vegas wedding chapels deal with love recession
By CRISTINA SILVA, Associated Press
Mon Feb 14, 7:34 pm ET
| LAS VEGAS – Eriess Davis didn’t want a traditional wedding. No conservative music and rows of unfamiliar guests. She wanted A Little White Chapel, in glitzy Las Vegas.
Wearing a mini-dress, Davis marched with her boyfriend, clad in black jeans, through a set of gold elevator doors and into a waiting room where they could buy garters, memory books and bride and groom baseball caps.
For her, Valentine’s Day 2011 was the perfect date. |
Recent Comments