WASHINGTON -- The pitched drama over bonuses for bailed-out executives will be revived on Capitol Hill Wednesday as a government
watchdog explains how some executives nearly brought down the financial system -- then pocketed millions. Neil
Barofsky, the special inspector general for the $700 billion financial
rescue program, will answer questions about a new report outlining the
official missteps that led to massive bonus payments for executives at
insurer American International Group Inc. In
a report released Tuesday, Barofsky wrote that the Treasury Department
did not understand AIG's byzantine pay structures when it gave the firm
billions in aid last fall. The government has committed a total of more
than $180 billion to wind down the New York-based insurance and
financial services conglomerate, and now owns about 80 percent of the
company. AIG's
bonuses sparked a political firestorm earlier this year when it was
revealed that the government could not legally
...
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Category:
U.S.
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Views:
1623
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
14.10.2009
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The battle over health care reform has only just begun. After
an overhaul package that was months in the making cleared a major
hurdle Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi now must grapple with stiff Republican opposition and
warring factions among Democrats as they try to bring an acceptable
bill to the floor. The
Senate Finance Committee voted 14-9 to send its version of reform
legislation to the Senate floor, becoming the last of five panels to
act on legislation and marking the biggest advance so far toward health
care reform. But President Obama
previewed the tough road ahead, even as he hailed the vote as a "critical milestone" late Tuesday and pledged to "get this
done." "We have a lot of difficult work ahead of us. There's still significant details and disagreements to be
worked ou
...
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Category:
U.S.
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Views:
1150
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
14.10.2009
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A Delaware
first-grader who was facing 45 days in an alternative school as
punishment for taking his favorite camping utensil to school can return
to class after the school board made a hasty change granting him a
reprieve.
The
seven-member Christina School Board voted unanimously Tuesday to reduce
the punishment for kindergartners and first-graders who take weapons to
school or commit violent offenses to a suspension ranging from three to
five days.
Zachary Christie, 6, had faced
45 days in an alternative school for troublemakers after he took the
utensil — a combination folding knife, fork and spoon — to school to
eat lunch last month. Now, he could return Wednesday.
"I
want to get him back as soon as possible. I want to put this behind him
as soon as possible," said Debbie Christie, Zachary's mother. "But I
also want him
...
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Category:
U.S.
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Views:
4985
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
14.10.2009
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A judge ruled Monday afternoon that
there is enough evidence to continue the case against a Jordanian
teenager accused of trying to use a weapon of mass destruction blow up
a Dallas skyscraper.
FBI
Special Agent Tom Petrowski, who oversaw the investigation, testified
Monday that Hosam Maher Smadi, 19, had researched how to use a cell
phone to detonate a bomb and made a 7-minute video he believed would be
transmitted to Usama bin Laden. Petrowski also said Smadi indicated he
was concerned he had not parked a vehicle with what he believed to be a
car bomb in a way that would destroy the entire structure.
No dates have been set for a trial or any preliminary hearings.
On
Sept. 24, Smadi drove a truck he believed held a live bomb and parked
it in the garage underneath the 60-story Fountain P
...
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Category:
U.S.
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Views:
1062
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
06.10.2009
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The doctor made a White House call Monday -- 150 of them, in fact, all costumed in white hospital coats -- to try to help
President Obama administer a booster shot to his ailing health care reform drive. White
House spokesman Reid Cherlin described the assembled physicians, from
all 50 states, as the best voices for reform because they witness the
current health care system on a day-to-day basis. "These folks know better than anybody about what works and what doesn't," Cherlin
told FOXNews.com, adding that the physicians come from "a variety of groups that we work with." But the doctors in the
Rose Garden were all supporters of health care reform -- and the invitation-only guest list drew heavily from Doctors for
America, a grassroots organization that backs a government-run insurance option. Roughly 98 pe
...
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Category:
U.S.
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Views:
961
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
06.10.2009
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WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration's pay czar is planning to
clamp down on compensation at firms receiving large sums of government
aid by cutting annual cash salaries for many of the top employees under
his authority, according to people familiar with the matter. Instead of awarding large cash salaries,
Kenneth Feinberg is planning to shift a chunk of an employee's annual
salary into stock that cannot be accessed for several years, these
people said. Such a move, the most intrusive yet into corporate
compensation, would mark the government's first effort to curb the
take-home pay of everyone from auto executives to financial traders. Feinberg is expected to issue by
mid-October his determination on compensation packages for 175 of the
most-highly compensated executives and employees at the seven firms he
oversees. The companies are: American International Group Inc., Bank of
America Corp., Citigroup Inc., General Motors Co., GMAC Financial
Services Inc., Chrysler LL
...
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Category:
U.S.
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Views:
974
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
06.10.2009
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The credibility of the U.S. in the world in recent years seriously weakened. According to the Associated Press, the conclusion made by experts from the American Political Science Association (American Political Science Association, APSA) The credibility of the U.S. in the world in recent years seriously weakened. According to the Associated Press, the conclusion made by experts from the American Political Science Association (American Political Science Association, APSA), during a year studying the problem of American influence on the world community. In the course of political scientists analyzed the variety of data - the results of voting in the UN General Assembly to the results of sociological surveys in various countries around the world. In the end, it was found that the U.S. position on the world stage now, even worse than during the Cold War, when the USSR was a s
...
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Category:
U.S.
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Views:
1039
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
02.10.2009
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WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is confronting a split among his closest advisers on Afghanistan, reflecting divisions
in his own party over whether to send in thousands more U.S. troops and complicating his efforts to adopt a war policy he
can sell to a public grown weary of the 8-year-old conflict. With top military commanders and congressional Republicans
pushing for a troop increase, Obama pressed key members of his national security team Wednesday for their views during an
intense, three-hour session in a packed White House Situation Room. According to The Wall Street Journal,
the discussion focused on the political and security situation on the
ground, according to an administration official, with military
commanders detailing the gains made by the insurgency and top diplomats
discussing the Afghan election results that were marred by fraud claims. In
an interview w
...
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Category:
U.S.
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Views:
1011
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
01.10.2009
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WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency took steps Wednesday to control the emissions blamed for global warming
from power plants, factories and refineries for the first time. The
EPA proposal would require polluters to reduce six greenhouse gases by
installing the best available technology and improving energy
efficiency whenever a facility is significantly changed or built. The
rule applies to any industrial plant that emits at least 25,000 tons of
greenhouse gases a year. These
large sources are responsible for 70 percent of the greenhouse gas
emissions — mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels — that are
released in the U.S., the EPA said. "By using
the power and authority of the Clean Air Act, we can begin reducing
emissions from the nation's largest greenhouse gas emitting facilities
without placing an undue burden on the businesses that make up the vast
majority of our economy," EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said. "We know
the corner coff
...
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Category:
U.S.
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Views:
977
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
01.10.2009
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The United States and five other world powers went to the table with
Tehran Thursday to discuss its nuclear program, but senior
administration officials said the U.S. would not push for sanctions
against Iran at the Geneva talks and is prepared to talk one-on-one
with Iranian negotiators if such engagement appears "useful." The officials also said that
while gaining access to inspect Iran's uranium enrichment facility near Qom is "critically important," the U.S. won't walk
away from negotiations if Iran refuses.
"Tomorrow is the negotiations track and that is the thrust," a senior official
said ahead of the talks. "The thrust is dealing with this nuclear program and trying to get a process underway to address
the growing international concern. These will not be easy talks." The talks were expected to last the full day. If
the leader of the U.S. delegation, William Burns, decides direct talks with Iran would move U.S. objectives forward
...
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Category:
U.S.
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Views:
978
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
01.10.2009
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President Obama met with his national security team Wednesday but did not make a decision on America's reshaped military
strategy for the Afghanistan war. The
meeting -- the first of a series of sessions -- took place in the
Situation Room as the White House fended off charges that the president
has been stalling on Gen. Stanley McChrystal's request for more troops. Obama will not make any decision on an Afghan
strategy for at least a few weeks, the White House announced Wednesday
night. Obama will reportedly meet again with his national security team
to discuss Afghanistan and Pakistan on Oct. 7. Wednesday's closed-door meeting marked the first time the president has had any interaction with McChrystal, the
top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, since the general made the request for up to 40,000 troops. Obama
spent three hours meeting with staff, according to a senior
administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The
offic
...
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Category:
U.S.
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Views:
955
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
01.10.2009
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When it comes to national security, President Obama has a surprising amount of support from the right. Despite
a recent outbreak of conservative-led criticism toward Obama's handling
of the Afghanistan war, the Democratic president has won plaudits from
Republicans for his leadership on military matters. They
roundly reject his economic, environmental, health care and regulatory
policies. But until two weeks ago, when Obama demurred at sending more
troops to Afghanistan, conservatives largely applauded his conduct of
the war -- particularly his early deployment of 17,000 troops and his
replacement of Gen. David McKiernan with Gen. Stanley McChrystal. "He moved much more rapidly to replace a commander he was dissatisfied
with, who was not performing well, than Bush did in his tenure, and all of that looked very good and very promising," said
Frederick Kagan, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Karl Rove, former adv
...
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Category:
U.S.
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Views:
936
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
01.10.2009
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Up against a midnight deadline to avoid a government shutdown, the Senate passed legislation Wednesday that temporarily
would extend spending on most federal programs at current levels while raising Congress' budget by 6 percent. The measure,
approved by a 62-38 vote that sends it to President Obama's desk, would keep the government open for one more month. Obama
is virtually certain to sign it before day's end. The legislation also would patch over problems in the struggling postal
service and pay for soon-to-expire highway programs for an additional month as well. The stopgap measure is needed because
Congress has failed to complete work on the 11 remaining spending bills for agency budgets. The
community activist group ACORN was in line for another hit as Democrats
added language saying the organization could not receive federal
dollars under the stopgap measure or any prior legislation. ACORN has
received federal funds for providing counseling to homeowner
...
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Category:
U.S.
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Views:
1002
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
01.10.2009
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The fate of a government-run health insurance plan may rest in President Obama's hands after the Senate Finance Committee
rejected amendments that would include the so-called "public option" in its version of health care reform legislation. Liberal
Democrats failed twice on Tuesday to include a government-run insurance
option in the legislation before the committee, the last of five
congressional panels completing work on the president's top domestic
priority. Once
touted by Obama as essential in "keeping insurance companies honest,"
the government plan was blasted by Senate Republicans and moderate
Democrats, some of whom argued it would lead to a single-payer system. The
vote to strike down two separate amendments underscored the
disagreement among Democrats over the necessity of a public option.
Whether Obama will continue to fight for it remains to be s
...
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Category:
U.S.
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Views:
1018
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
01.10.2009
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NORTH BABYLON,
N.Y. — A 17-year-old boy was injured in an explosion inside his New
York home after police say he may have been building or playing with a
bomb.
Police on
Long Island, N.Y., said it wasn't clear if the boy was building an
explosive device or playing with one when it went off Monday night in
the basement of his house in North Babylon.
The teen's hand was severely injured in the 8 p.m. explosion and he was taken to the hospital.
A
police arson squad and federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms were called to the house and remained there
through the night conducting their investigation.
The family declined to comment.
Category:
U.S.
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Views:
970
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
30.09.2009
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GALESBURG, Ill. — Accused spree killer Nicholas Sheley has told a Knox County judge that he wants to enter a guilty plea.
Sheley
made the statement Tuesday to Judge James Stewart while in court for a
hearing on a defense request to dismiss 16 of the 17 counts against
Sheley in the killing of 65-year-old Ronald Randall of Galesburg in
June 2008.
Click here for photos.
The
judge responded by asking defense attorney John Hanlon if he wanted to
discuss the plea with Sheley now or later. The defense said later. The
judge says he'll want proof the defense has discussed the issue with
Sheley.
Stewart then denied the defense request to dismiss the counts.
In
addition to Randall, Shele
...
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Category:
U.S.
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Views:
925
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
30.09.2009
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STATELINE, Nev. — A wildfire at Lake Tahoe is burning on a mountain within about a half mile of the main casino district in downtown Stateline.
Fire
crews responded to about a one acre blaze at about 10:25 a.m. in the
tree line behind the casinos in the area of Upper Lake Parkway Drive.
Fire
officials say no homes are immediately threatened, however strong winds
appear to be pushing the fire northeast toward the residential area of
lower Kingsbury Grade.
Wind gusts up to 44 mph have been reported nearby at Edgewood Gold Course.
Category:
U.S.
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Views:
934
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
30.09.2009
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NORMAN,
Okla. — A Norman zoo director says a 3-year-old boy was not seriously
injured when he was clawed by a 45-pound European lynx after the child
approached a chain link fence enclosing the cat.
Janet
Schmid, director of the Little River Zoo, said Tuesday the boy suffered
superficial wounds on the side of his head in the incident about 3 p.m.
Monday.
She said the cat has been placed
in an inside enclosure, and a solid fence has been erected to keep the
public away from its outside area.
The outside area is a chain link enclosure, including a fenced-in top.
She
said the boy was looking at swans when, following his sister, he left a
path at the zoo, went through a rope barrier, over a low railroad-tie
retaining wall and up to the cat's fence.
Category:
U.S.
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Views:
974
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
30.09.2009
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Category:
U.S.
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Views:
954
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
28.09.2009
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WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is scrambling to assemble a package of harsher economic sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program that could include a cutoff of investments to the country’s oil-and-gas industry and restrictions on many more Iranian banks than those currently blacklisted, senior administration officials said Sunday. Iran showed new defiance Sunday by test-firing three short-range missiles near the city of Qum. The administration also is seeking to build a broader coalition of partners for sanctions so that it may still be able to act against Iran even if China and Russia were to veto harsher measures proposed in the United Nations Security Council. “There are a variety of options still available,” Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said of the potential list of targets for
...
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Category:
U.S.
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Views:
981
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Added by:
magictr
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Date:
28.09.2009
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