AIG Pulls Fast One -- "Cash Awards" Going To Managers

Jonathan Tasini

When you are a pro at a scam--the definition of "scam" also can be found under the term "insurance industry" -- you know how to try to pull a fast one. And AIG is trying to pull one -- under cover of the holidays. Check this out.

You may remember that AIG -- which is afloat only thanks to a bailout by you, the taxpayer, to the tune of $152 billion and counting--made a whole lot of public relations when its top seven executives agreed not to take bonuses this year.

Well, on the eve of Thanksgiving, obviously knowing the markets would be closed on the holiday and obviously knowing that just before the holiday few people would pay attention, AIG actually notified regulators that, well, yes, bonuses would be given out, as Bloomberg News and The Financial Times reports today:

American International Group Inc., the insurer that said yesterday it scrapped bonuses for top executives after a U.S. bailout, will still pay 130 managers "cash awards" to stay with the firm, including $3 million to retirement services chief Jay Wintrob.

Wintrob, 51, will get the "retention" payment in two installments, the first in April 2009 and the rest a year later, New York-based AIG said today in a regulatory filing. The firm previously disclosed the program in a Sept. 26 filing and said today that Wintrob and Chief Financial Officer David Herzog elected to get the payments four months later than planned.

"The expectation from the public and Congress was that they weren't getting bonuses, not that they'd be pushed off by several months," said David Schmidt, a consultant at executive pay firm James F. Reda & Associates. "That clearly violates the spirit of AIG saying they'll forgo their bonuses."[emphasis added]

From the FT:

However, the UBS news comes just a day after it emerged AIG, which has received more than $150bn in bail-out financing from the US government, would still pay 130 managers "cash awards" to stay with the firm. AIG disclosed the bonuses in a regulatory filing on the evening before Thanksgiving, a day when US markets are closed. The insurer had previously said its seven top executives would forgo their bonuses for 2008.

They just can't help themselves, can they? Call it "retention pay" or "cash bonuses" or some other euphemism -- but the fact is that your tax dollars are going to reward people who are lucky to even have jobs. There should have been a housecleaning that swept the entire top level of managers out on their asses for playing a role in the financial crisis that is hurting millions of people.

I have not seen this reported in other mainline traditional media. But, this is a scam.

Original here

Boy 'killed father after 1,000 smacks'

By Tom Leonard in New York

The unnamed boy allegedly shot dead his father, Vincent Romero, 29, and Timothy Romans, 39, their lodger, at the family home in St Johns, Arizona, with a .22 rifle as they were coming home from work at a local power plant.

The double murder on Nov 5 shocked the US, with investigators initially struggling to find any motive.

However, according to police records reported by the Arizona Republic, the boy "is believed to have made ledgers and/or communicated in the form of writings about his intentions" if his father and stepmother continued to smack him.

According to the police records, the boy told a Child Protective Services official that "when he reached one thousand spankings . . . that would be his limit. [The boy] kept a tally of his spankings on a piece of paper."

Despite his age, relatives suspected the boy immediately in the shootings. His grandfather told investigators: "If any 8-year-old was capable of doing this, [the boy] was", and the child's grandmother added: "I knew this was going to happen, they were too hard on [him]."

The boy told police he was smacked the day before the shootings for failing to finish schoolwork.

Records indicate the boy had no history of psychiatric care and was not on any medication.

Police say he gave conflicting accounts about the shootings, initially saying he discovered the bodies when he returned home from school.

He later changed his story, admitting he shot each man twice to end their suffering after they had been shot by an unknown assailant.

In an interview whose contents was later released by police, the boy admitted he been angry with his father after the latter asked his stepmother to smack him for not bringing some schoolwork home.

At the end of the interview, he buried his head in his jacket. Asked by an officer what he was thinking, he replied: "I'm going to go to juvie."

Original here

Mumbai begins to heal after terrorist rampage

By PAUL PEACHEY, Associated Press Writer Paul Peachey, Associated Press Writer –

Play Video AP – Mumbai terror rage ends after 60 hours

MUMBAI, India – This crowded, bustling financial capital, wracked by three days bloodshed, slowly began puling itself back together Sunday as a once-besieged restaurant reopened its doors and Indians mourned their dead.

A day after the siege ended, corpses were still being brought out of the ritzy Taj Mahal hotel where three suspected Muslim militants made a last stand before Indian commandos killed them in a blaze of gunfire and explosions.

India's home minister, meanwhile, has offered to resign in the wake of the deadly Mumbai attacks, a top aide said Sunday.

R.K. Kumar said the minister, Shivraj Patil, sent his resignation to the prime minister to take responsibility for the attacks. The prime minister has yet to respond.

Patil, who has long been unpopular in India, is in charge of much of India's internal security services.

Sunday morning found the landmark waterfront hotel, popular among foreign tourists and Indian society, surrounded by metal barricades, its shattered windows boarded over. At the famous Gateway of India basalt arch nearby, a shrine of candles, flowers and messages commemorated victims.

"We have been to two funerals already," said Mumbai resident Karin Dutta as she lay small bouquet of white flowers for several friends killed in the hotel. "We're going to another one now."

At least 174 people were massacred in the rampage carried out by gunmen at 10 sites across Mumbai starting Wednesday night. One site, the Cafe Leopold, a famous tourist restaurant and scene of one of the first attacks, opened for the first time since the attacks on Sunday afternoon.

The death toll was revised down Sunday from 195 after authorities said some bodies were counted twice, but they said it could rise again as areas of the Taj Mahal were still being searched. Among the dead were 18 foreigners, including six Americans. Nine attackers were killed.

The dead also included Germans, Canadians, Israelis and nationals from Britain, Italy, Japan, China, Thailand, Australia and Singapore.

"Suddenly no one feels safe or secure," said Joe Sequeira, the manager of a popular restaurant near the Oberoi hotel, another site targeted in the attacks. "It will take time. People are scared but they will realize it's no use being scared and sitting at home."

A previously unknown Muslim group called Deccan Mujahideen — a name suggesting origins inside India — has claimed responsibility for the attacks that killed more than 170 people. But Indian officials said the sole surviving gunman, now in custody, was from Pakistan and voiced suspicions of their neighbor.

Pakistan denied it was involved and demanded evidence.

The assaults have raised fears among U.S. officials about a possible surge in violence between Pakistan and India — the nuclear-armed rivals have fought three wars against each other, two over the disputed region of Kashmir.

India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called a rare meeting of leaders from the country's main political parties to discuss the situation Sunday.

Each new detail about the attackers raised more questions. Who trained the militants, who were so well prepared they carried bags of almonds to keep their energy up? What role, if any, did archrival Pakistan play in the attack? And how did so few assailants, who looked like college students, wreak so much damage?

As officials pointed the finger at neighboring Pakistan, some Indians looked inward and expressed anger at their own government.

"People are worried, but the key difference is anger," said Rajesh Jain, chief executive officer at a brokerage firm, Pranav Securities. "People are worked up about the ineffectiveness of the administration. Does the government have the will, the ability to tackle the dangers we face?"

The gunmen were as brazen as they were well trained, using sophisticated weapons as well as GPS technology and mobile and satellite phones to communicate, officials said. The group made repeated contact with an unidentified foreign country.

The investigation suggested the attackers planned to massacre 5,000 people, said R.R. Patil, deputy to the chief of Maharashtra state, without giving further details.

"Whenever they were under a little bit of pressure they would hurl a grenade. They freely used grenades," said J.K. Dutt, director general of India's elite commando unit.

Suspicions in Indian media quickly settled on the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, long seen as a creation of the Pakistani intelligence service to help wage its clandestine war against India in disputed Kashmir.

A U.S. counterterrorism official said some "signatures of the attack" were consistent with Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammed, another group that has operated in Kashmir. Both are reported to be linked to al-Qaida.

President George W. Bush pledged full U.S. support for the investigation, saying the killers "will not have the final word." FBI agents were sent to India to help with the probe.

"As the people of the world's largest democracy recover from these attacks, they can count on the people of world's oldest democracy to stand by their side," Bush added in a brief address from the White House.

The Indian navy said it was investigating whether a trawler found drifting off the coast of Mumbai, with a bound corpse on board, was used in the attack.

It was the country's deadliest terrorist act since 1993 serial bombings in Mumbai killed 257 people.

___

Associated Press writers Ravi Nessman, Ramola Talwar Badam, Erika Kinetz and Anita Chang contributed to this report from Mumbai, and Foster Klug and Lara Jakes Jordan contributed from Washington.

Original here

World Economy Cartoon

Original here

Shots fired at Toys R Us in Palm Desert; 2 dead

Shots rang out today inside a Toys R Us store in Palm Desert, killing two and causing shoppers at the busy store to scramble for cover.

Palm Desert Councilman Bob Spiegel told The Times that based on early reports, two rival groups shopping at the store had some kind of argument and then shots were fired. Two men were killed in the exchange of gunfire, he said.

Sara Frahm, 25, of La Quinta was shopping for electronic toys at the time of the shooting. She told The Times she heard two women fighting and swearing in an aisle next to her. She said employees went to break up the fight and that all of the sudden a number of people yelled, "He has a gun!" She said she heard six or seven shots.

Mike Stitt of Yucca Valley was shopping with his wife and two children when he saw two women fighting and calling each other names. Both were with men. One of the men pulled out a gun and shot it in the air, then shot the other man in the back, Stitt told The Times.

In a statement, Toys R Us stressed that the shooting appeared to stem from a "personal dispute."

"We are outraged by the act of violence that occurred this afternoon in Palm Desert, CA, and by the fact that anyone would compromise the safety and security of our customers and employees," the statement said. "Our understanding is that this act seems to have been the result of a personal dispute between the individuals involved. Therefore, it would be inaccurate to associate the events of today with Black Friday."

Riverside County sheriff and fire officials responded to a report of the shooting at 11:32 a.m. at the toy store in the Desert Crossing Shopping Center at 72314 Highway 111, said Cheri Patterson, information officer for the Riverside County Fire Department and Cal Fire, based in Perris.

Dennis Gutierrez of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department confirmed the fatalities but said detectives were still trying to figure out what happened. He said no arrests have been made and no weapons have been recovered.

"This was an incident between these two individuals," he said.

Details about the shooting were still spotty, but witnesses said the scene at the store and nearby businesses was chaotic.

"We had a bunch of people who came in around noon," Jeff Valare, manager at the World Gym across the street from the Toys R Us, told The Times. "They looked distressed. One woman had an infant in her arms and was crying. They were telling us they heard five or six gunshots. They were inside the Toys R Us and fled out the back."

Glenn Splain, another worker at the gym, told the Associated Press that some Toys R Us customers "were crying, tearing and shaking. ... Some people got into a fight. ... One of the guys here thought it was over a toy, but it got louder and louder and then there were gunshots."

Saul Diaz, who works as an assistant manager at the Jiffy Lube next door to the Toys R Us, said he was speaking with a customer when a stampede of 45 people ran in. Some looked distraught, some were crying.

"They were running fast, straight into the car bays. There was a couple of ladies with little kids, about 3 years [old]. They were all pale. The kids were shouting, 'Mom, I'm scared.' We immediately closed the store," Diaz told The Times. His staff locked the front doors and closed the car bays. "We took everyone into a basement bay, where we keep inventory," he said.

The Desert Sun quoted a Palm Desert city official as saying the shooting might have been caused by bad blood between two groups of shoppers. "There were two groups inside that had issue with each other," said Assistant City Manager Sheila Gilligan. "And the two men inside pulled their weapons and shot each other."

Daniel Watson told KPSP-TV that his wife was shopping at the store and called him on her cellphone about the time the shooting began. "She was scared, you know, and she told me to tell the kids that she loved them," Watson said. He told the station that his wife hid under a clothes rack.

-- Michelle Maltais, Richard Winton, Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Andrew Blankstein

Original here

Dutch ban on "magic" mushrooms to take effect

By Catherine Hornby

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The Netherlands will ban the sale and cultivation of all hallucinogenic "magic" mushrooms from next week, the latest target of a country seeking to shed its "anything goes" image.

The Dutch government proposed the ban in April, citing the dangerous behavioral effects of magic mushrooms following the death of a French teenager who jumped from an Amsterdam bridge in 2007 after consuming the hallucinogenic fungus.

"The use of magic mushrooms has hallucinogenic effects. It is proven that this can lead to unpredictable and therefore risky behavior," the Dutch Health Ministry said in a statement.

A challenge to the ban was rejected by a court in the Hague on Friday. From December 1 the production or sale of fresh magic mushrooms could lead to a maximum jail sentence of four years, a spokesman for the Dutch Justice Ministry said on Friday.

"We are targeting the growers and the shops who are selling the mushrooms," the spokesman said.

The active ingredient in magic mushrooms is psilocybin. Effects last up to about six hours and can include nausea, vomiting, muscle weakness and drowsiness in the early stages after consumption.

The psychological consequences of psilocybin use include hallucinations and an inability to discern fantasy from reality. Panic reactions and psychosis also may occur, particularly if a user ingests a large dose, according to the U.S. Justice Dept's National Drug Intelligence Center.

Some proponents of magic mushrooms say that their use aids in spiritual awareness, gaining personal insight and meditation.

Selling dried magic mushrooms is already illegal in the Netherlands and carries a maximum jail sentence of eight years, the justice ministry spokesman said, but from next week a new ban will apply to fresh mushrooms which have been previously sold in so-called "smart shops."

Staff in the stores, which stock mushrooms or "paddos" ranging from Thai to Hawaiian varieties for about 15 euros (about $20) a pack, said the ban will put users at greater risk.

"People will just go picking in the forest, and that can be dangerous. Or they will go to street dealers, and get mixed up with hard drugs," said David Henriks from the Tatanka shop.

Posters in shops outlined the effects of different types of mushrooms, such as strong visual experiences or feelings described as "body highs." They also suggested dos and don'ts of consumption, and rated the mushrooms for their intensity.

"It's always safer to have the information before taking drugs," said Roy Williams of the Innerspace shop, adding that in the past few weeks people had increasingly been buying "grow your own" mushroom kits in the lead-up to the ban.

The Dutch association of smart shops (VLOS) had tried to reassure authorities by promising tighter self-regulation and noted that most mushroom-related incidents involved young tourists mixing mushrooms with alcohol and cannabis.

On Friday the VLOS said it was highly disappointed with the court's decision to reject the challenge to the ban.

"Under this government we have had a whole series of bans, and people have had enough of this," said Paul van Oyen from the VLOS, adding that he would advise the board of the association to launch an appeal.

He said some of the 180 or so smart shops in the Netherlands would likely have to close because of falling turnover, and he expected to see a huge discount sale over the weekend as shops tried to get rid of supplies.

Figures from the Amsterdam emergency services show there were 55 call-outs for mushroom-related incidents in 2004, a figure which had more than doubled by 2006 to 128, with the majority of youngsters involved coming from Britain.

In recent years the Netherlands has dropped some previously tolerant policies and has tightened laws on drug use and prostitution.

Several brothels and sex clubs were shut down in 2008, city councils are planning to close marijuana-selling coffee shops near schools, while tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption in coffee shops have also been forbidden.

Original here

Carter: Cholera-, inflation-ridden Zimbabwe 'a basket case'

By Eliott C. McLaughlin
CNN

(CNN) -- Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said Wednesday that Zimbabwe is in shambles and warned that deaths from starvation and a cholera outbreak threaten to surge with the rainy season approaching.

A man carries a relative in a wheelbarrow to a cholera clinic in Harare on Tuesday.

Bemoaning Zimbabwe's decline is a familiar refrain for the embattled head of the Movement for Democratic Change. His most recent remarks, however, were backed by former President Carter, who returned from a five-day trip to neighboring South Africa this week and declared Zimbabwe "a basket case."

Tsvangirai also expressed frustration with attempts to form a unity government between his group and the ruling Zanu-PF party. He said he has asked that South African ex-President Thabo Mbeki recuse himself as mediator between the two parties.

The Zimbabwean government quickly countered Tsvangirai's allegations that President Robert Mugabe and Zanu-PF were responsible for the problems gripping the country.

"The government is very committed to ensure that the humanitarian crisis is addressed. It would be wrong for the MDC to blame it on the government," Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi said.

Addressing Tsvangirai's allegations that cholera deaths could soon top 50 a day and that the Mugabe-led government seems intent on covering it up, Mumbengegwi noted that Zimbabwe is not the only country where cholera is a problem.

"No government would want its people to suffer. Cholera is not peculiar to Zimbabwe," he said. "We hear it is now in South Africa, too, but we cannot relax because of that. We have to fight it as Zimbabweans."

A report in the state-run Herald newspaper Wednesday said the government has kicked off an information campaign to inform citizens of "the do's and don'ts to combat the disease."

The government is also drilling boreholes to find clean, subterranean water that can be pumped to the surface for drinking and bathing, the Herald reported.

The World Health Organization said last week that almost 300 people have died of cholera since August and more than 6,000 cases have been reported.

Tsvangirai said Wednesday that conditions would worsen this month as the rainy season brings steamy downpours to much of Zimbabwe, especially the eastern mountain forests.

Carter, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Graca Machel, wife of former South Africa President Nelson Mandela -- all of whom belong to a group of world leaders called the Elders -- had hoped to visit Zimbabwe on their recent trip to the region but were denied visas, according to Tsvangirai and a statement from the Carter Center.

"Mr. Mugabe would prefer that the suffering that he and Zanu-PF have caused, and continue to cause, remains in the dark," Tsvangirai said in a statement, adding that because the Movement for Democratic Change and Zanu-PF cannot form a partnership after months of wrangling, "the MDC must instead work with those Zimbabwean organizations, groups and individuals to address the humanitarian crisis."

The humanitarian problems illustrate the political quagmire in Zimbabwe, where a power-sharing agreement that Mugabe and Tsvangirai signed in September has yet to take effect.

Carter issued a statement Tuesday condemning what he said was Harare's decision to renege on an agreement to allow him, Annan and Machel into the country. He also offered a damning assessment of the Mugabe regime.

"After almost three decades of governmental corruption, mismanagement and oppression, Zimbabwe has become a basket case, an embarrassment to the region and a focus of international concern and condemnation," he said.

Denied passage to Zimbabwe, Carter, Annan and Machel were left to consult with regional leaders -- including Tsvangirai, Botswana President Ian Khama and South Africa President Kgalema Motlanthe -- as well as United Nations officials, nongovernmental organizations and Zimbabwe's civil leaders.

"We had a complete and balanced agenda and more frank discussions than would have been possible in the oppressive and restrained environment of Harare," Carter said in his statement.

Carter said he learned of conditions in which the official inflation rate has soared to about 231 million percent while thousands of Zimbabweans stand in line for their daily allowance of about 2 cents a day -- from their own bank accounts. The allowance does not afford them a half loaf of bread, he said.

Teachers, who earn about a dollar a month, report a student-textbook ratio of about 20-to-1, and school attendance has dropped to about 20 percent in the past three months, the former president reported. The few students still attending classes are generally doing so in the hopes of being fed, he said.

"Meanwhile, top government officials and other privileged people can exchange Zim money at a favorable rate that is several thousand times more than the official rate available to other citizens," Carter said. "They profit greatly from these monetary transactions and shop in special stores."

The nation's four major hospitals have shut down, as roughly 3,500 AIDS victims are dying each week. Unchecked sewage and filthy water have compounded the cholera problem, and Zimbabwe's death rate from the disease is 10 times greater than rates in areas where treatment is available, Carter said.

The former president said 19,000 Zimbabweans are fleeing the country each month, mostly to South Africa and Botswana. He estimated that 4 million people have fled the nation.

"The middle class is departing, leaving behind the extremely poor and the small elite group around Mugabe who are profiting from the economic disaster," he said.

Comparing Zimbabwe to Somalia, a failed African state that has had no functional government since 1991, Carter cast blame on African leaders who fail "to confront Robert Mugabe and force him to accept the result of the March election and more recently to comply with negotiated political agreements to share governmental authority with Morgan Tsvangirai and the opposition party."

Tsvangirai snared more votes than Mugabe in March's election but not a majority. Tsvangirai dropped out of a subsequent runoff, citing widespread violence against MDC supporters.

Carter's call for African leaders to step up pressure on Mugabe came a day before Tsvangirai asked South Africa's Mbeki to bow out as mediator between the MDC and Zanu-PF.

"Sadly, the negotiations have also been hampered by the attitude and position of the facilitator, Mr. Thabo Mbeki. He does not appear to understand how desperate the problem in Zimbabwe is, and the solutions he proposes are too small," Tsvangirai said in his statement.

"He is not serving to bring the parties together because he does not understand what needs to be done. In addition, his partisan support of Zanu-PF, to the detriment of genuine dialogue, has made it impossible for the MDC to continue negotiating under his facilitation."

Asked for the Zimbabwe government's reaction to the MDC asking Mbeki to recuse himself, Foreign Minister Mumbengegwi said, "We have no right to tell them who to complain about. It is their decision in the MDC."

Unless African leaders can find a way to mitigate the political impasse in Zimbabwe, the United Nations or the African Union might need to enter the fray, because, Carter said, "the poisonous effects" of the Mugabe regime, including the cholera outbreak, are spilling into other African nations.

Food, medicine and monetary donations should be sent immediately to humanitarian agencies such as CARE, World Vision and Save the Children, Carter said, advising that it is unwise to send cash directly to people in Zimbabwe.

"It is counterproductive to contribute money that can be confiscated by the Zimbabwe government," he said.

Original here

Russia seeks new missiles due to U.S. shield plans

By Conor Sweeney

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's military said on Friday it had intensified efforts to develop new ballistic missiles in response to U.S. plans to deploy an anti-missile system in Europe and Russia's navy test fired a new generation rocket.

The decision by the United States to deploy interceptor missiles in Poland and a radar system in the Czech Republic has angered Moscow, which says Russia's national security will be compromised by the U.S. anti-missile system.

Colonel-General Nikolai Solovtsov, Commander of Russia's Strategic Missile Forces, was quoted by Interfax as saying that Russia had bolstered its efforts to develop new missiles.

"At the present time, work has been intensified to create the research and technical foundation for new missile systems, which will be needed after 2020," Solovtsov said.

A few hours later, the Dmitry Donskoy nuclear submarine launched a Bulava intercontinental ballistic missile from the White Sea, a navy spokesman said. The missile hit the Kura testing site on the Kamchatka peninsula in the Pacific.

Russia's RIA news agency quoted an unidentified source in the Defense Ministry as saying it was the most successful test of the Bulava to date, after a string of failures and delays.

The previous test of the Bulava on September 18 was pronounced a success by the navy. Several launches of the Bulava, which is designed for Russia's new generation of Borei class nuclear submarines, have failed however.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced on November 5 that Moscow would install Iskander short-range missile systems near the Polish border if Washington proceeds with its missile plans.

Medvedev also said Russia would try to electronically jam the U.S. system.

Russia's relations with Washington this year hit their lowest ebb since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union after a row over the war against U.S. ally Georgia and Moscow's recognition of two Georgian rebel regions as independent states.

Kremlin officials say the U.S. has failed to listen to their concerns about the missile shield, which Washington says is needed to protect against "rogue states" such as Iran.

Russia's missile forces commander said the first of a new generation of Russian RS-24 intercontinental ballistic missiles would enter service in December 2009, Interfax reported.

Russia test fired one of the RS-24 missiles on November 26, the third such test in two years.

Russian generals say the RS-24 can pierce any anti-missile system. It can be armed with up to 10 different warheads and is intended to replace Russia's earlier generation intercontinental missiles such as the RS-18 and RS-20.

Solovtsov said the global financial crisis probably would impose some limits on funding, although Russia would test 13 missiles next year, almost double the seven tests this year, Interfax reported.

"Due to the world financial crisis, certain resource restrictions will be applied but still the (missile) force should be able to fulfill its duties," he was quoted as saying.

Civilian personnel in Russia's military forces also will be cut by 150,000 to 600,000 as part of ongoing reforms to defense structures, Interfax separately reported, quoting a source in the Defense Ministry.

Original here

GM Asks U.S. FAA to Bar Public Tracking of Leased Corporate Jet

By John Hughes and Elliot Blair Smith

Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp., criticized by U.S. lawmakers for its use of corporate jets, asked aviation regulators to block the public’s ability to track a plane it uses.

“We availed ourselves of the option as others do to have the aircraft removed” from a Federal Aviation Administration tracking service, a GM spokesman, Greg Martin, said yesterday in an interview. He declined to discuss why GM made the request.

Flight data show that the leased Gulfstream Aerospace G-IV jet flew Nov. 18 from Detroit to Washington, where Chief Executive Officer Richard Wagoner Jr. spoke to a Senate committee that day and a House panel the next day on behalf of a $25 billion auto-industry rescue plan.

Representatives at the Nov. 19 House hearing including Democrat Gary Ackerman of New York faulted Wagoner, Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally and Chrysler LLC CEO Robert Nardelli for taking private jets to Washington to plead their case.

“Couldn’t you all have downgraded to first class?” Ackerman said.

Symbol for Critics

Critics of a federal aid package for GM, Ford and Chrysler spotlighted the exchange to attack the money-losing companies as undeserving of a bailout. GM, the biggest U.S. automaker, has said it may run out of operating cash by year’s end without government loans.

The Gulfstream jet was leased from GE Capital Solutions in Danbury, Connecticut, a unit of General Electric Co. After the plane’s latest flight to Washington on Nov. 25, and from there to Dallas, its movements could no longer be tracked.

An FAA spokeswoman, Laura Brown, said she couldn’t immediately determine whether her agency had granted GM’s flight-privacy request. “We do this routinely” for aircraft owners, she said yesterday. “They don’t have to have a reason” for requesting the block, she said.

The FAA tracking data don’t identify who is aboard the flights.

GM also has seven planes in its own fleet. All were grounded yesterday, said a spokesman, Tom Wilkinson. Two are for sale and two are in the process of being listed for sale, while Detroit-based GM plans to keep three, he said.

The leased Gulfstream has made 10 trips to Washington this year, including three since October, according to data compiled by Houston-based flight-tracking service FlightAware.com.

GM said it often sub-leases the airplane to other users. GM officials said company employees weren’t aboard the jet on the final Nov. 25 flights before its movements ceased being tracked.

To contact the reporters on this story: John Hughes in Washington at jhughes5@bloomberg.netElliot Blair Smith in Washington at esmith29@bloomberg.net.

Original here

Tory shadow minister Damian Green arrested after obtaining leaked documents

By Robert Winnett and James Kirkup

Police searched Mr Green's family home and his office in the House of Commons. Photo: Jeff Gilbert

Mr Green, who is the shadow immigration minister, was arrested at his home in Kent by counter-terrorism police officers.

The arrest follows a series of leaks to the Conservatives about Government policy, including a sensitive memorandum from the Home Office's most senior official on crime figures earlier this month.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, is said to be "extremely angry" about the arrest and has privately accused the Government of "Stalinesque" behaviour.

Mr Green is understood to have been arrested at lunchtime today and is still in custody. He has not been charged.

Green has been arrested after obtaining leaked Whitehall documents. Police searched his family home and his office in the House of Commons.

He was arrested for "aiding and abetting misconduct in public office".

It is claimed that nine counter-terrorism officers were involved in the arrest.

Mr Cameron has pledged his full support for the shadow immigration minister. In a statement he said: "Disclosure of this information was manifestly in the public interest. Mr Green denies any wrongdoing and stands by his action."

However, the arrest of such a senior Conservative figure who hopes to become a Home Office minister will embarrass the opposition. He is now likely to face pressure to resign from the Tory front bench.

Government sources also believe that sensitive information from the Treasury, including confidential announcements in the pre-Budget report, was leaked to the Conservatives.

In February this year, Mr Green criticised the Government over leaked documents at the Home Office.

He said: "Ministers like to talk tough about cracking down on employers but it is clear that the system is failing in our most sensitive buildings. What makes this even worse is that ministers' first instinct was to cover it up."

An alleged "whistleblower", thought to be a male Home Office official was arrested 10 days ago.

It is understood that the inquiry is focusing on four Home Office documents allegedly obtained by the Conservatives. Last November, documents from the private office of Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, were leaked to the opposition.

They showed that ministers had known for four months that thousands of illegal immigrants had been cleared to work as security guards but had not told Parliament.

Other documents included information about an illegal immigrant working at House of Commons and a list of Labour MPs preparing to vote against the Government's anti-terrorism measures.

Tory sources angrily pointed out that the police move came after Parliament rose for a five-day holiday.

Had the Commons been sitting, they said, MPs could have immediately raised the matter with the Speaker.

The police search of Mr Green's office had to be authorised by the Serjeant at Arms, who answers to the Speaker.

Mr Green’s constituency office was also searched.

Original here

U.S. war on drugs has failed, report says

By Tracy Wilkinson

Reporting from Mexico City -- The United States' war on drugs has failed and will continue to do so as long as it emphasizes law enforcement and neglects the problem of consumption, a Washington think tank says in a report co-chaired by a former president of Mexico.

The former president, Ernesto Zedillo, in an interview, called for a major rethinking of U.S. policy, which he said has been "asymmetrical" in demanding that countries such as Mexico stanch the flow of drugs northward, without successful efforts to stop the flow of guns south. In addition to disrupting drug-smuggling routes, eradicating crops and prosecuting dealers, the U.S. must confront the public health issue that large-scale consumption poses, he said.

• 

  Mexico Under Siege: Complete Coverage

• 

  Photos: Graphic content: Mexico...

"If we insist only on a strategy of the criminal pursuit of those who traffic in drugs," Zedillo said, "the problem will never be resolved."

The indictment of Washington's counter-narcotics campaign comes in a report released this week by the Brookings Institution that advocates closer engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean. U.S. influence in the region has slipped dramatically during the eight years of the Bush administration, and the report suggests an incoming Democratic government led by Barack Obama can open opportunities for better ties and communication.

Among its recommendations, the report urges a fresh approach to Cuba, including loosening the long-standing U.S. embargo, overhauling immigration policies, and enhancing "hemispheric integration" on the economic and energy fronts.

The report, which is the work of Brookings' Partnership for the Americas Commission, offers especially pointed criticism of the way the drug war has been waged.

Contrary to government claims, the use of heroin and cocaine in the U.S. has not declined significantly, the report says, and the use of methamphetamine is spreading. Falling street prices suggest that the supply of narcotics has not declined noticeably, and U.S. prevention and treatment programs are woefully underfunded, the study says.

"Current U.S. counter- narcotics policies are failing by most objective standards," the report says. "The only long-run solution to the problem of illegal narcotics is to reduce the demand for drugs in the major consuming countries, including the United States."

Zedillo cited skyrocketing violence in his own country as an example of the damage done by these policies. More than 4,000 people have been killed in Mexico this year in drug-related warfare between government troops and traffickers, and among rival drug gangs. Many of the weapons confiscated in raids and shootouts came from the U.S.

Zedillo, who served as Mexican president from 1994 to 2000, spoke by telephone from Yale University, where he is an economics professor and director of the school's Center for the Study of Globalization. He is co-chairman of the Partnership for the Americas Commission with Thomas R. Pickering, a former U.S. undersecretary of State.

Where the U.S. has had success, as in the reduction of coca production in some areas of Colombia, the gains are not sustainable, Zedillo said, because cultivation merely moves to other zones.

"And that way, the fight goes nowhere," he said.

The report urges the U.S. to take responsibility for stemming the transport of an estimated 2,000 guns a day across the border; to expand drug prevention programs in schools and redirect anti-drug messages to younger people by emphasizing cosmetic damage as well as health risks; and to greatly enhance drug courts, a system that incorporates treatment into prosecution.

John P. Walters, head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, recently defended U.S. efforts. In Mexico to discuss a pending anti-drug aid package, Walters said a decline in positive drug tests at American workplaces indicated consumption was down, and he said authorities were taking steps to curtail gun shipments.

But a report this month from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, commissioned by Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), now the vice president-elect, said the government's most ambitious counter-narcotics program, the $5-billion Plan Colombia, failed to meet several goals. Interdiction halved opium and heroin production in Colombia from 2000 to 2006, but coca and cocaine production continued to grow, it said.

Wilkinson is a Times staff writer.

wilkinson@latimes.com

Original here

Mumbai attacks: Terrorists 'copied al-Qaeda blueprint'

Terrorists behind co-ordinated terrorist attacks on a series of high-profile targets in Mumbai, India, followed a "blueprint" created by al-Qaeda, according to one terrorism expert.

Livedraw cartoon interpretation of perpetrators behind attacks on the Indian city. ; http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1488655367/bctid3438246001 http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=1139053637

George Kassimeris, an expert in conflict and terrorism, said attacks on transport links, hotels and bars in Mumbai (formerly Bombay) were "original" and "absolutely shocking".

He said the Islamic extremist group created the "modus operandi" of attacking vulnerable civilian targets with no warning, long-term plans or demands.

Witness accounts that gunmen were looking for US and British nationals suggest they want to grab international attention, he added.

Dr Kassimeris said: "Al Qaida set the blueprint for terrorist operations and now we see different people, different groups in different parts of the world, copying it.

"The underlying theme is to cause as much havoc as possible and this is exactly what has happened in India.

"There is no specific operational or logistical plan, they just want to inflict as much damage and injury as possible.

"The fact they have gone for western targets confirms initial fears these people are out to inflict as much damage as possible."

India has endured a series of terrorist attacks in recent years undertaken by disparate Islamic militants, many based in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

A relatively new extremist group known as Indian Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for several bomb attacks in Mumbai in the past 12 months.

Dr Kassimeris, a senior research fellow at the University of Wolverhampton, said those responsible were likely to be Islamic religious extremists.

"It could be any one of them and it would be foolish to speculate so soon, but I am 99.9 per cent sure there is a religious element to this," he said.

A message explaining the attacks will probably be published via email or on an extremist website in the near future, the academic said.

He said: "Do not forget the fact that they are attacking high-profile targets means they will get high-profile publicity.

"This is the underlying reason they went for this kind of targets instead of just setting off a bomb in a far-flung suburb of Mumbai.

Dr Kassimeris said the terrorists might have chosen to use guns and grenades because some bomb plots have failed.

He said: "You need expertise to put bombs together. These people went for the straightforward style of terrorist activity. It is very easy and it works - unfortunately."

Another expert compared the attacks to the deadly bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Pakistan's capital Islamabad on September 20.

Professor Richard Bonney, the author of Jihad: From Qu'ran To Bin Laden, said the difference was that in Mumbai there were co-ordinated attacks and Westerners were singled out as hostages.

He said: "This attack looks more dangerous and better planned, though not directed against possible government targets but economic ones and of course the 'Western allies'."

Original here

Latitude 4.595N, longitude 48.085E: We find the hijacked Sirius Star

Sam Jones

An IKONOS satellite image of the pirated Saudi supertanker Sirius Star. Click on the magnifying glass to enlarge image. Photograph: GeoEye

From a vantage point 423 miles above the Earth, the lawless waters of the Gulf of Aden appear tranquil and the 330-metre-long ship sitting low under a £68m cargo looks like a tiny green cigar floating on an inky ocean.

These pictures, taken by a satellite commissioned by the Guardian and hurtling over Africa at four miles a second, show the Sirius Star, the Saudi supertanker which 12 days ago became the biggest prize ever seized by the Somali pirates who have claimed the Gulf of Aden as their hunting ground.

The images also reveal a triangle of ships, three of the 40 vessels to have been hijacked in Somali waters this year. Although not as vast as the Sirius Star, the Stolt Strength, the African Sanderling and the Yasa Neslihan are together home to 64 seafarers, two-thirds of them from the Philippines.

With the taking of the Sirius Star and its 25-strong crew a little before 9am on November 15, the number of international seafarers floating in hijack limbo off the coast of Somalia rose to almost 300 and the issue of piracy surged to the top of news bulletins around the world.

The multinational composition of the crew - 19 Filipinos, two Britons, two Poles, one Croat and one Saudi Arabian - may have guaranteed global coverage, but the Sirius's sheer size and huge, precious cargo proved equally arresting.

The ship, very nearly a third of a kilometre long from bow to stern, was carrying 2m barrels of oil from Saudi Arabia to the US, almost a quarter of the kingdom's daily oil production.

And although the pirates who swarmed up the side of the supertanker may have halved their original ransom demand to $15m (£9.8m), the situation is no closer to a resolution.

The Guardian's satellite pictures, which were shot a week ago, showed the Sirius Star five miles off the coast at a latitude of 4.595N and a longitude of 48.085E. But on Sunday, the hijackers moved the ship further offshore, apparently after receiving threats from Islamic militants in Somalia who were angry that a Muslim-owned ship had been targeted.

Two days ago the BBC spoke to a pirate on board the Sirius Star who said a ransom had not yet been set, adding that his men had not been contacted by the supertanker's owner.

The pirate, who identified himself as Daybad, said the crew were being treated as "prisoners of war". He added: "We captured the ship for ransom, of course, but we don't have anybody reliable to talk to directly about it."

The families of the seafarers aboard the other ships are still waiting for updates. Dr Fehmi Ulgener, a lawyer for the Turkish shipping company that owns the Yasa Neslihan, said the ship's 20 Turkish crew members were in good spirits.

"They have no health problems but they are bored, although that is to be expected. The company's personnel department is dealing with the crew's families and we are giving them information. At the moment, they are completely calm and are waiting for the good news," he said.

Ulgener said the pirates who attacked the ship, which was laden with 77,000 tonnes of iron ore, had "popped up out of the blue" at midday on October 29. Like many others, he had no idea how long the hijacking would go on. "Our only source is the other examples, and so [the situation] could last for between 60 and 70 days," he said.

The Panamanian company that took delivery of the African Sanderling just five months ago could not be reached yesterday. But a spokesman for Stolt-Nielsen, the Norwegian-Luxembourgeois company that charters the Stolt Strength, said he believed the ship's 23-strong Filipino crew were well despite their 17-day ordeal. "If there's any silver lining, it's that these pirates don't seem to be out to harm the crew," said Martin Baxendale. "It's purely a financial thing, but it's extremely distressing for the families of the crew. And although they're not setting out to hurt the crew, accidents do happen."

The company is all too familiar with Somalia's hijacking problem: 12 days ago, the crew of another of its ships, the Stolt Valor, was released after a hijacking that lasted more than two months. "In humanitarian terms, it's very unpleasant," Baxendale added. "The sooner we get them out the better."

Two Western journalists, believed to be a Briton and a Spaniard, were kidnapped en route to the airport in the port city of Bosasso on Somalia's northern coast yesterday.

Original here

Financial Bailout Balloons to the Trillions

By RUSSELL GOLDMAN

The government's financial bailout will be the most expensive single expenditure in American history, potentially costing around $7.5 trillion -- or half the value of all the goods and services produced in the United States last year.

(ABC News Photo Illustration)

In comparison, the total U.S. cost of World War II adjusted for inflation was $3.6 trillion. The bailout will cost more than the total combined costs in today's dollars of the Marshall Plan, the Louisiana Purchase, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the entire historical budget of NASA, including the moon landing, according to data compiled by Bianco Research.

It remains to be seen whether the government's multipronged approach to bail out banks, stimulate spending and buy up mortgages will revive the economy, but as the tab continues to grow so does concern over where the government will find the money.

Monday the government guaranteed an additional $306 billion to bail out Citigroup, and today Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson pledged $800 billion to make credit more available to consumers and small businesses, and to buy up mortgages from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Congress last month allocated $700 billion for an emergency bailout of some of Wall Street's most storied firms by purchasing their troubled assets. The funds allocated through the Troubled Assets Relief Program are but a small part of the government's overall bailout spending.

Bailout programs also include a Federal Reserve plan to buy as much as $2.4 trillion in short-term notes called commercial paper that began Oct. 27, and an FDIC plan to spend $1.4 trillion to guarantee bank-to-bank loans that commenced Oct. 14, according to Bloomberg News, which first compiled the total cost of the bailout.

In March, the government spent $29 billion to help JPMorgan Chase take over Bear Stearns and allocated $122.8 billion in addition to TARP to bail out AIG, once the world's largest insurance company.

"No one really knows if any of this is going to work," said Barry Rithotlz, CEO of Fusion IQ, an online quantitative research firm and author of "Bailout Nation."

"All of these different things are going to have a limited impact, and it remains to be seen which if any of them will resolve anything. Paulson today pledged $600 billion to buy debt backed by government chartered Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. That will put more money into the system, but so far we haven't see a tremendous response to mortgage rates."

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson speaks during a briefing at the Treasury Department Nov. 25, 2008, in Washington. Paulson briefed reporters on the implementation of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act.

(Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

The federal government today announced two new plans, allocating a combined total of $800 billion to help stimulate the economy by making credit more easily available to consumers, a move Paulson called vital to strengthening the economy.

"Millions of Americans cannot find affordable financing for their basic credit needs. And credit card rates are climbing, making it more expensive for families to finance everyday purchases," Paulson said. "This lack of affordable consumer credit undermines consumer spending; as a result, it weakens our economy."

Paulson said $200 billion would be allocated from the remaining $350 billion in TARP to banks to back things like student loans, auto loans and credit cards in the hopes that small business and consumers, who were virtually frozen out of the credit market last month, can recommence spending.

An additional $600 billion, not included in the original TARP bailout, would be used to buy mortgages -- $100 billion purchased directly form Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and $500 billion spent on mortgage-backed securities, pools of mortgages that are bundled together and sold to investors.

Paulson said today's newest initiatives were small pieces of an historic program, and that there was no one solution the government could implement to rescue the economy.

"It is naive for any of us to think that when you are dealing with a situation of this magnitude that a bill could be passed or a single action taken to make all the issues go away," he said. Paulson didn't specifically say where the government would get the money from, but it would likely print more dollars and borrow in the Treasury markets.

"It's a combination of things," said Ritholtz. "They'll print money and inflate our way out of the current situation -- essentially devalue the dollar, print more dollar bills and print more notes."

Economist Joel Narroff said the government would likely borrow the money.

"The government will borrow, essentially run up the debt. We're looking at a deficit in the trillions of dollars. We'll worry about the deficit later. At this point, Paulson is saying, 'Where are the fires, and trying to pour water on them as much as possible,'" he said.

Paulson must go to Congress to get the second $350 billion remaining in TARP, $200 billion of which was pledged to asset-backed securities such as student and car loans.

Paulson said there was no timeline for going back to Congress, but that the $200 billion was "a starting point."

Under TARP, the secretary is required to return to Congress to receive the second half of the program's total allotment of $700 billion.

Of the first half, some $290 billion had already been allocated. The first TARP tranche of $158 billion was dispersed on Oct. 28 to nine banks: Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Citigroup (thought it later received more money), Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, State Street Corp., Wells Fargo and Merrill Lynch.

An additional $91 billion was allocated Nov. 14, leaving some $60 billion unallocated.

Original here

Bayer to pay $97.5M to settle kickback probe

MATTHEW PERRONE

WASHINGTON — German medical conglomerate Bayer will pay $97.5 million to settle U.S. government allegations that it paid kickbacks to medical suppliers to boost sales of its diabetes products.

The Justice Department said Tuesday that the settlement resolves an investigation into whether Bayer bribed 11 diabetic suppliers into switching patients to its products from competitors' offerings.

Tarrytown, N.Y.-based Bayer Healthcare makes electronic monitors and testing strips used to measure blood sugar levels. Bayer did not admit or deny any wrongdoing in the case, and a spokeswoman said the company is "satisfied that the issues in question have been resolved."

Justice Department officials said Bayer paid Liberty Medical Supply Inc., one of the largest diabetic suppliers, about $2.5 million to convert patients to Bayer supplies between 1998 and 2002. The kickbacks, disguised as payments for advertising, were based on how many patients Liberty successfully converted to Bayer supplies.

Liberty Medical is known for its heavy-rotation television advertising, which features character actor Wilford Brimley. The Port St. Lucie, Fla.-based company did not return calls for comment Tuesday.

The Justice Department also alleged Bayer paid $375,000 in kickbacks to 10 other diabetes equipment companies. A government spokesman said the settlement does not include any penalties against the suppliers.

All 11 companies received government payments for providing equipment to patients enrolled in Medicare, the federal health care plan for seniors. The settlement resolves claims submitted to Medicare by the suppliers for Bayer products from 1998 through 2007.

"If medical device manufacturers want to serve Medicare beneficiaries they must follow the law," said Gregory Katsas, an assistance attorney general with the Justice Department. "Paying health care suppliers to place a particular brand of device with Medicare beneficiaries violates the law and will not be tolerated."

Under the settlement, Bayer agreed to a corporate integrity agreement which requires it to review and update its employee training programs for those who work with Medicare.

"For a period of years now we've already had programs in place to assure compliance," said Bayer spokeswoman Susan Yarin. "So these actions will be in addition to what we're doing already."

Original here

Dozens of People Killed in Mumbai Attacks

Reuters

A reporter talks on her phone as smoke is seen coming from Taj Hotel in Mumbai.

At least 101 people were reported killed in blasts and gun attacks across south-central Mumbai late Wednesday evening, and gunmen were believed to have taken hostages in two of the area's most popular hotels for business travelers and tourists.

Police and gunmen were exchanging occasional gunfire at Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels and an unknown number of people were held hostage, said A.N. Roy, a top police official. Officials said at least six militants had been killed since the overnight attacks began around 9:30 p.m. Pradeep Indulkar, a senior official at the Maharashtra state Home Ministry said 101 people were killed and 287 injured.

Later Thursday morning, police loudspeakers declared a curfew around Mumbai's landmark Taj Mahal hotel, and black-clad commandos ran into the building as fresh gunshots rang out from the area, apparently the beginning of an assault on gunmen who had taken hostages in the hotel. Ambulances were seen driving up to the entrance to the hotel and journalists were made to move even further back from the area.

A series of explosions had rocked the Taj Mahal just after midnight. Screams were heard and black smoke billowed from the century-old edifice on Mumbai's waterfront. Firefighters sprayed water at the blaze and plucked people from balconies with extension ladders. By dawn, the fire was still burning.

The attackers specifically targeted Britons and Americans at the hotels and restaurant, witnesses said.

An Indian media report said a previously unknown group calling itself the Deccan Mujahideen had claimed responsibility for the attacks in emails to several media outlets. There was no way to verify that claim.

The NDTV news channel showed several yellow and black rubber dinghies on a beach near the hotels, apparently used by the gunmen to reach the area.

Authorities believed seven to 15 foreigners were hostages at the Taj Mahal, said Anees Ahmed, a top state official. It was also unclear where the hostages were in the hotel, which is divided into an older wing, which was in flames, and a modern tower that was not on fire.

View Slideshow

European Pressphoto Agency

Locals gathered near the site of an explosion near the airport on Mumbai's Western Express Highway late Wednesday.

Indian Hotels Co. Thursday said it is monitoring the situation in and around its Taj Mahal Hotel. The company is cooperating with the police and the government "to ensure the safety and security of all our guests and staff," it said in a statement.

The fire broke out on the top floor of the Taj Mahal hotel, spreading along the side of the old part of the building. The lobby of the Oberoi was also reported to be in flames. Mr. Roy told NDTV television that at least seven incidents had taken place. He said police were treating those responsible as terrorists who had "opened fire indiscriminately."

Indian Home Affairs Minister Shivraj Patil said the attackers had kept explosives in vehicles and had been firing at people in the hotels.

Where the Attacks Took Place

Gunfire was reported at luxury hotels, a restaurant, police headquarters and a train station.

Shots were also fired at the Leopold restaurant, one of the most popular with foreign visitors to the city. Other incidents were reported at a cinema, a hospital and at the main train terminus in the area.

Mr. Roy said police continued to battle the gunmen. "The terrorists have used automatic weapons, and in some places grenades have been lobbed. The encounters are still going on and we are trying to overpower them," Mr. Roy said, according to the AP. India's army has been requested to be on stand by to help civilian authorities.

One guest at the Taj said the first incident began at about 9:45 p.m. local time when flashing lights and bangs were visible and audible outside the hotel. Taxi drivers, who wait in droves in front of the hotel, roared off. About 10:20 p.m., there were two loud explosions right outside the hotel, the guest said. "My instant reaction was, "It's a bomb,'" he said. A hotel representative later phoned, advising guests to remain in their rooms with the lights off and not to open the door until told by security that it was safe to do so. At 12:45 a.m. local time Thursday, another big blast was reported by a guest at the Taj.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the U.S. is unaware of any American casualties at this point. "We strongly condemn the terrorist attacks" and stand ready to support India, he said.

Indian television reports said a little-known outfit called Deccan Mujahideen had sent a letter claiming responsibility for the attacks but the reports could not be confirmed and no other information was immediately available. The Deccan Plateau is a plateau that covers a large part of southern India, including Maharashtra.

The attacks come after a series of blasts attributed to Islamist terrorists over the summer and autumn in other cities around India, including the capital, New Delhi. National security already was expected to be a major electoral issue when the nation goes to the polls early next year; elections must be held before May. The Congress Party, which leads coalition governments at the national level and in Maharashtra state, home to Mumbai, is already facing pressure to do more to staunch terrorism.

The attacks will put further pressure on the battered Indian rupee at a time when foreign fund inflows have dried up amid the escalating global financial crisis. The benchmark Sensex index on the Bombay Stock Exchange, which is in the area where the attacks took place, has fallen more than 50% from its peak foreign funds pulled out.

The 105-year-old Taj hotel is one of India's most iconic buildings, commissioned by the Tata family to counter the British colonists' exclusionary "whites only" policy at what was then the city's best hotel, Watson's Hotel. The hotel has been expanded to include a modern tower next to the old hotel. The hotel is owned by Taj Hotels, part of India's leading conglomerate, Tata Group.

Consular Call Center

The State Department has established a Consular Call Center for Americans concerned about family or friends who may be visiting or living in Mumbai, India. The number is (888) 407-4747.

Opened in 1903, the Taj Mahal Hotel overlooks the Arabian Sea. The hotel has 565 rooms and is home to some of the city's most exclusive, expensive restaurants as well as the popular Insomnia nightclub. Many dignitaries and celebrities visiting India stay there.

Mumbai is a frequent target of attacks. In March 1993, 13 explosions resulted in 257 deaths and over 700 injuries. The blasts were orchestrated by an organized crime syndicate. In March, 2003, a bomb attack on a commuter train in Mumbai killed 11 people. In August of that year, twin car bombings in Mumbai killed at least 52 people and injured 150. Indian officials blamed a Pakistan-based terror outfit for the crime. In July 2006, seven bomb blasts occurred at various places on the Mumbai Suburban Railway, killing 200 people.

—Paul Beckett reported from New Delhi; Geeta Anand, Abhijit Basu and Subhadip Sircar reported from Mumbai. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Write to Paul Beckett at paul.beckett@wsj.com

Original here

Dad raped daughters for 27 years

(CNN) -- A British man was jailed Tuesday for raping two of his daughters and fathering nine children over 27 years, a case with echoes of Austria's Josef Fritzl.

The two daughters were made pregnant 19 times; there were nine births, five miscarriages and five terminations. Seven of the children are alive but suffer genetic deformities.

The father, who cannot be named for legal reasons banning the identification of his victims and the surviving children, pleaded guilty Tuesday at Sheffield Crown Court, northern England, and was sentenced to serve 25 life sentences to run concurrently.

The judge said the minimum term the 56-year-old rapist should serve in jail should be 19½ years.

South Yorkshire Police Chief Superintendent Simon Torr said, "The victims of these terrible crimes have asked me to state the following: 'His detention in prison brings us only the knowledge that he cannot physically touch us again. The suffering he has caused will continue for many years, and we must now concentrate our thoughts on finding the strength to rebuild our lives.' "

Speaking for the police, Torr added, "The main concern ... is for those who have been so badly affected: the victims who have suffered a terrible ordeal. We will continue to offer them our full support to try and help them get on with their lives.

"As far as the sentence goes, we are satisfied that this offender has received the strongest possible punishment for his heinous crimes. Now we need to ensure continuing support for those who have suffered as a result of his actions."

The daughters first told police about their ordeal in June, but the abuse dated to 1981.

It emerged that in 1998 one daughter rang Childline, a charity to help abused kids, and asked for assurances about being able to keep her children if she came forward. When Childline could not make that guarantee, the daughter did nothing more to raise her plight. Watch how the case came to light »

The UK's Press Association reported that the rapes began in 1981 with daily attacks and that for long periods, they would be raped up to three times a week, and the assaults would continue through pregnancies. Their only reprieve came after they had just given birth or when they were ill because of the abuse.

If either daughter tried to refuse their father's attacks, they would be punched, kicked and or held to the flames of a gas fire, burning their eyes and arms, PA reported.

Despite visiting hospitals and meeting with social workers over the 27 years of abuse, no investigation was launched into the family.

The case comes in the wake of the death of a baby, known only as Baby P, which has dominated headlines in Britain. The baby endured horrendous torture and died despite being on the local authority's child protection register.

In Austria this year, Josef Fritzl was arrested, accused of keeping his daughter in a basement dungeon and fathering seven children through the rapes.

Original here

Worst of financial crisis yet to come: IMF chief economist

Adam Dupont

ZURICH, Switzerland (AFP) — The IMF's chief economist has warned that the global financial crisis is set to worsen and that the situation will not improve until 2010, a report said Saturday.

Olivier Blanchard also warned that the institution does not have the funds to solve every economic problem.

"The worst is yet to come," Blanchard said in an interview with the Finanz und Wirtschaft newspaper, adding that "a lot of time is needed before the situation becomes normal."

He said economic growth would not kick in until 2010 and it will take another year before the global financial situation became normal again.

The International Monetary Fund on Friday promised to help Latvia deal with its economic crisis after it assisted Iceland, Hungary, Ukraine, Serbia and Pakistan.

But Blanchard said the IMF was not able to solve all financial issues, in particular problems of liquidity.

Withdrawals of capital leading to problems of liquidity "can be so significant that the IMF alone cannot counter them," he said, adding that massive withdrawals of investments from emerging countries could represent "hundreds of billions of dollars.

"We do not have this money. We never had it," he said.

The IMF had spent a fifth of its 250 billion dollar (200 billion euro) fund in the last two weeks, Blanchard added.

He also urged central banks around the world to cut interest rates, after the Swiss National Bank made a surprise one percentage point rate cut Thursday.

The central banks "should lower interest rates to as close to zero as possible," he said.

Original here

Swedish CEO says he will work for free

Related Quotes

Symbol	Price	Change
^DJI	8,046.42	+494.13
^GSPC	800.03	+47.59
^IXIC	1,384.35	+68.23

STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Lars G. Nordstrom isn't the only CEO being criticized these days for earning too much money during the world financial crisis. But he may be one of the few who has reacted by deciding to work for free.

Since becoming head of the Swedish postal service in July, Nordstrom has been paid 900,000 kronor ($110,000) a month. And that is on top of the millions he receives in a retirement package from his previous job as chief executive officer of the banking group Nordea AB.

The Swedish media have criticized Nordstrom for making more money as CEO of Sweden's Posten Sverige AB than 45 letter carriers do, and seven times more than Sweden's prime minister.

On Saturday, Nordstrom said in a TV interview that he will give back all the money he has earned with the postal service and work for free from now on.

He said the debate over his pay has been damaging to the company and its staff, and he just "doesn't like indications that I am greedy."

Original here