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daryllorette's webcam video September 11, 2011 12:07 AM

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 10:59:00 +0000

Judge postpones reggae star Buju Banton's retrial

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 18:58:00 +0000

TAMPA, Fla. – Jamaican reggae singer Buju Banton's retrial in Florida has been pushed back until February.

U.S. District Judge James Moody had said Banton's new trial would be in December, but he granted a defense motion to postpone it. Moody set the case for his February trial calendar but didn't set a specific date.

Banton, whose real name is Mark Myrie, is accused of conspiring to buy cocaine from an undercover officer in Sarasota. He's been held without bail since his arrest in December. He is now trying to get released from jail pending the retrial.

Banton's attorney says his client wants to spend the holiday season with his family.

Moody declared a mistrial for Banton last month after jurors said they could not reach a verdict.

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Information from: The Tampa Tribune, http://www.tampatrib.com

Lady A, John Legend to sing anthem at World Series

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 13:24:00 +0000

NEW YORK – Country, R&B and pop sounds will take the field at the 2010 World Series.

Major League Baseball announced Tuesday that soul singer John Legend will perform the national anthem on Wednesday at Game 1 of the series between the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers.

Country trio Lady Antebellum is set to perform "The Star-Spangled Banner" on Thursday at Game 2. Games 1 and 2 will take place in San Francisco.

On Saturday at Game 3 in Arlington, Texas, pop singer and former "American Idol" champion Kelly Clarkson will sing the anthem. Texas is her home state.

Game 3 is scheduled to begin a few minutes before 7 p.m. EST, the earliest start for a World Series game in more than 20 years.

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Online:

http://mlb.mlb.com

Kevin Costner to host CMT artists of year salute

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 13:20:00 +0000

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Kevin Costner will host CMT's new celebration of country music's artists of the year.

"CMT Artists of the Year" will air Dec. 3. The 90-minute show will honor Jason Aldean, Lady Antebellum, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood and the Zac Brown Band.

Costner is best known as an Academy Award winning actor and director, but he also fronts a country band, Modern West.

The five honorees make up a new wave of country artists and are among the genre's top-selling acts.

CMT compared the sales, country radio airplay, concert grosses and activity on the network's website to determine its artists of the year. CMT plans to make the show a yearly event.

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Online:

http://www.cmt.com

Aretha Franklin cancels Va. show, cites health

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 13:15:00 +0000

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin has canceled a concert in Charlottesville for health reasons.

The Daily Progress reports Franklin called off the concert on the advice of her doctors.

The concert had been rescheduled for Wednesday night at the Paramount Theater. It originally had been set for Oct. 1 but was pushed back after Franklin's son, Eddie Franklin, was beaten at a Detroit gas station.

Theater officials say fans can get ticket refunds from the place of purchase.

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Information from: The Daily Progress, http://www.dailyprogress.com

Sony Walkman cassette player, RIP

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 19:46:00 +0000

Another iconic technological device has been banished to the dustbin of history: Sony will no longer produce its Walkman cassette player due to dismal sales. The final batch of the portable tape players was shipped from Japan in April, according to PC Magazine.

A Chinese company will continue to produce a few models for the Walkman faithful, according to the New York Post. Sony has sold about 220 million Walkman devices since the gadget's explosive 1979 debut, but the portable cassette player has steadily yielded market share to portable CD players and then eventually MP3 players, symbolized by Apple's no-less-iconic iPod. (Sony will continue to make portable CD players.)

Apple founder Steve Jobs, who helped introduce the iPod, was evidently very impressed with the Walkman when he first saw one 25 years ago.

"I remember Akio Morita gave Steve and me each one of the first Sony Walkmans," former Apple CEO John Sculley told Businessweek. "None of us had ever seen anything like that before because there had never been a product like that. This is 25 years ago and Steve was fascinated by it. The first thing he did with his was take it apart and he looked at every single part. How the fit and finish was done, how it was built."

The iPod has already outsold the Walkman since its debut in 2001, according to the International Business Times.

Sony uses the Walkman name for its new MP3 players. Meanwhile, in another blow to connoisseurs of outmoded technologies, the company also announced in April that it would no longer make floppy disks.

Explosion derails goods train in Russian Caucasus

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 07:07:00 +0000

MOSCOW — An explosive device placed on a railway line derailed a goods train early Sunday in the troubled North Caucasus region of Dagestan, Russian news agencies reported.

"At 4:05 am (0005 GMT), there was an explosion on the tracks near the village of Pervomaiskoye, derailing eight carriages of a goods train," a source in the region's security services told the Interfax news agency.

"There were no injured or dead," the source told Interfax.

A passenger train from the Siberian city of Tyumen to Baku was due to pass along the track two hours later. It has been halted while the tracks are repaired, Interfax reported.

Militants have stepped up attacks in recent months throughout Russia's Caucasus region, where Islamist fighters have been battling pro-Kremlin local authorities and Russian security forces in a sporadic insurgency.

The "Caucasus Emirate" group, led by Doku Umarov, has claimed responsibility for the twin suicide bombings on the Moscow metro on Monday that killed 40 people.

The group earlier claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Nevsky Express high-speed train in November, which left 28 people dead.

Candid camera sex scandal shocks Palestinians

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 07:27:00 +0000

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinians were shocked on Thursday after Israeli TV aired a graphic video showing a senior official caught on a hidden camera soliciting sex from a job applicant.

The video, parts of which aired on Israel's Channel 10 earlier this week, was shot by former Palestinian intelligence officer Fahmi Shabaneh, who has accused the Western-backed Palestinian Authority of widespread corruption.

In the video, Rafiq al-Husseini, president Mahmud Abbas's chief of staff, is shown flirting with a woman Shabaneh said was seeking a job in the Authority before entering a bedroom, taking off his clothes and crawling into bed.

"How does this work? Should I turn off the lights or will you," he chuckles from inside the room to someone off-screen in the video, now widely available on youtube.

Moments later Shabaneh and several other security men walk into the room, surprising a naked Husseini, who holds British citizenship, and confronting him with the allegations.

The video was shot sometime in 2008.

Whistle-blower Shabaneh said he was releasing it now because the Authority had refused to act on his investigation of top officials who he accused of stealing millions of dollars of public funds.

The Palestinian Authority is up in arms over the report, and attorney general Ahmad al-Mughanni on Wednesday threatened to pursue "legal action against Israel's Channel 10 for circulating lies and false claims."

In the face of public shock, he said Shabaneh had been dismissed from the security forces and was wanted on a number of criminal charges.

"(Shabaneh) is wanted in connection with a number of cases, including selling land to foreign entities, attempted murder, assault and threatening national security," he said in a statement, without providing further details.

"He left the territories some time ago and does not enter them because he knows he is wanted for a number of crimes."

Shabaneh lives in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, and so is outside the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority. He could not be reached for comment.

Abbas's Fatah movement also rejected the allegations and said the report was part of an Israeli plot to pressure him into relaunching peace negotiations suspended for over a year.

Tayyeb Abdelrahim, another top aide to Abbas, slammed what he called a "mad campaign launched by the Israeli media," insisting the report was "lies" and the images were "fabrications."

The Islamist Hamas movement seized on the report as proof of its allegations of corruption within the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which it expelled from Gaza when it seized power in the territory in June 2007.

"These sorts of bad leaders, whether their names are mentioned in the report or not, do not represent the Palestinian people, but work for their own interests and their own whims," the group said in a statement.

"This is what hinders national reconciliation and the resistance to the occupation. They should be dismissed and brought to justice."

The Palestinian Authority has long been accused of corruption, and in 2006 an official inquiry discovered that 700 million dollars had been pilfered from its coffers.

The situation is believed to have improved since Salam Fayyad, an internationally-respected former World Bank economist, was appointed prime minister in 2007 following Hamas's seizure of the Gaza Strip.

Since then Fayyad's efforts have been praised by the international community and the Palestinians have received billions of dollars in aid, mostly from the European Union and United States.

It was not clear whether Shabaneh's other findings cover the period before or after Fayyad's appointment, but he said if Abbas did not act on the allegations he would publicise more incriminating evidence in coming weeks.

Obama defends Senate leader, again

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 06:32:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama defended embattled Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid once again for "inartful language" on his race and dialect during the 2008 presidential campaign.

"This is a good man who's always been on the right side of history," Obama told TV One. "For him to have used some inartful language in trying to praise me, and for people to try to make hay out of that makes absolutely no sense."

Reid created a firestorm with remarks published in the just-released book "Game Change," saying that Americans had warmed to Obama's candidacy because he was a "light-skinned" African-American with "no Negro dialect."

Obama was quick to accept Reid's apology Saturday, but Republicans have called for the Nevada Democrat to resign.

"He has apologized recognizing that he didn't use appropriate language, but there was nothing mean-spirited in what he had to say and he has always been on the right side of the issues," the president added in the TV One interview, which will be broadcast in full next Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in honor of the civil rights leader.

The president also called the four-term senator, who is facing a tough re-election battle in Nevada, "a friend of mine" who has "been a stalwart champion of voting rights, civil rights."

A Mason-Dixon Polling and Research survey released over the weekend found that 52 percent of Nevada voters have an unfavorable opinion of Reid and only a third support him.

African-American leaders said they had forgiven Reid without qualms and urged the national debate to shift to pressing policy issues.

"He apologized for his unfortunate remarks concerning the president, and he understands the gravity of such remarks," said Representative Barbara Lee, leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, adding that Reid had phoned her over the weekend.

"There are too many issues like the economy, job creation and energy for these regrettable comments to distract us from the work that must be done on behalf of the American people," the veteran California lawmaker said, noting Reid has a history of helping poor and minority communities.

During an appearance in Nevada unveiling a new energy project, the leading Senate Democrat repeated his weekend apology.

"I've apologized to everyone in the sound of my voice that I could have used a better choice of words," he told reporters. "And I'll continue to do my work for the African-American community."

Obama was also eager to move on, with the Congress yet to pass a bill overhauling the US health care system, his top domestic priority. Reid is playing a critical role in negotiations between both chambers of Congress to craft compromise legislation to send to the president's desk.

"The fact that we spend days on this instead of talking about the unemployment rate or talking about how we deal with critical issues like energy and health care is an indication of why I think people don't understand what is happening in Washington," he said.

"I guarantee you the average person -- white or black -- right now is less concerned about what Harry Reid said in a quote in a book a couple of years ago than they are about how we are going to move the country forward. That's where we need to direct our attention."

Prominent African-American activist Al Sharpton, who also received a phone call from Reid, told Fox News television that while he was "offended" by the term "Negro dialect," it was not "anywhere near comparable" to offensive or insensitive racial remarks conservative leaders have made over the years.

On Sunday, Republican leaders demanded that Reid step down over the flap, while Democrats described the comments as an unfortunate choice of words, brushing aside calls from their political foes.

Former singer Cat Stevens among thousands of Muslims meeting today in Toronto

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 04:57:00 +0000

TORONTO — Thousands of Muslims - including the singer once known as Cat Stevens - are arriving in Toronto today for one of the largest Islamic conferences in Canada.

About 17,000 people are expected to attend the three-day Reviving the Islamic Spirit convention at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The 8th annual conference bills itself as a way for young Muslims to build ties within their faith and across cultural lines.

It will feature many top Islamic scholars and speakers, including Yusuf Islam, the name Stevens - one of the best-known folk singers from the 1970s - now goes by.

Organizers say it's Islam's first Canadian appearance in nearly 10 years.

The conference will also feature performances from a member of a Muslim hip-hop group and the comedy troupe "Allah Made Me Funny."

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French ex-president Chirac faces new corruption charges

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:51:00 +0000

PARIS — Former French president Jacques Chirac's legal woes mounted Friday when he was warned he could face a second set of charges that he paid allies by creating fake jobs on the Paris city hall payroll.

The 77-year-old political veteran was already on course to become the first former French president to go on trial, having been charged in October with corruptly abusing his position as mayor of Paris between 1977 and 1995.

On Friday, he was again placed under formal investigation, a first step towards new charges, in seven more cases in which he is alleged to have used city funds to pay staff in reality working for his political party.

Chirac's lawyer Jean Veil said that the former president had met Judge Jacques Gazeux from the Nanterre criminal court early Friday in a state ombudsman's office.

"The hearing lasted 20 minutes. The judge asked no questions," Veil told AFP, adding that Chirac had been placed under formal investigation for "illegal influence peddling in the matter of seven jobs."

Chirac was protected from judicial investigation by presidential immunity from prosecution for 12 years, but if he is now convicted on these charges he could face a five-year jail term and a 75,000 euro (108,000 dollar) fine.

Chirac's office issued a statement confirming that he had been once again placed under formal investigation, and insisted there had been no "system" of ghost jobs while he was mayor of Paris, as has been alleged.

"In this case, as in the other one being pursued in Paris, President Chirac hopes that the procedure can go forward as quickly as possible in order that he can definitively establish his innocence," it said.

In October, Paris judicial officials said Chirac would face trial next year on charges of "abuse of trust" and "misuse of public funds", charges which could see him serve up to three or ten years in jail respectively.

The previous case also turns on allegations that nine names on the city hall payroll during Chirac's tenure were in reality working only for his political party, the right-wing RPR.

President for 12 years, prime minister for six and mayor of Paris for 18, Chirac has been a central figure in French political life for more than four decades and polls still show him to be one of its most popular figures.

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Body found on Mount Hood; 2 climbers still missing

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 06:08:00 +0000

PORTLAND, Ore. – Crews on Saturday found the body of a climber missing on Oregon's Mount Hood but two others were still missing more than a day after the three set out to climb the west side of the 11,000-foot peak, a sheriff's spokesman said.

Jim Strovink, Clackamas County sheriff's spokesman, identified the climber who died as 26-year-old Luke T. Gullberg, of Des Moines, Wash.

The remaining climbers still missing were identified as Anthony Vietti, 24, of Longview, Wash., and Katti Nolan, 29, of Portland. All three climbers have been described as experienced and well-equipped.

A search was set to resume at dawn for Vietti and Nolan.

"This is still a rescue operation," Strovink said, adding that family members had been notified and some had joined rescue crews.

Strovink said Gullberg's body was transported off the mountain by rescue crews and a forensic examination was planned by the Clackamas County medical examiner. No details were released on how he died or about the remaining climbers on the mountain.

Mount Hood, the tallest mountain in Oregon, is a popular site among climbers in the United States. In 25 years, it has been the site of dozens of climbing accidents and fatalities.

The worst on record happened in May 1986 when nine people — seven students from Oregon Episcopal School and two adults — died after they dug a snow cave during a sudden storm.

The latest search comes almost exactly three years after another trio of experienced climbers died on Mount Hood during a December 2006 blizzard.

The three reported missing Friday did not have a radio locator beacon but they did have a cell phone that was briefly activated about 1:30 a.m. Friday as the climbers were leaving Timberline Lodge to begin their ascent, Strovink said.

The trio reported missing Friday left Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood about 1 a.m. that day and failed to return by afternoon.

Strovink said they were making a technical ascent of the west side of the 11,249-foot volcano near Reid Glacier.

The glacier ranges in elevation from about 6,000 feet to 9,800 feet. The upper extent of the glacier is known for crevasses.

Gullberg's body was found at about the 9,000-foot level, Strovink said. He did not say whether the cell phone was found with the body.

Steve Rollins of Portland Mountain Rescue said a locator beacon would have been helpful in this case but many rescuers oppose a mandate to carry them because they believe it will lead some climbers to take risks they otherwise would avoid.

"And that increases the risks to rescuers," he said.

Rollins noted that climbers often receive good signals on their cell phones on areas of the mountain but the phones sometimes lack enough power to send out a call or message.

"It's frustrating believe me," Rollins said, "when you can see all the way to Salem or beyond and wonder how many cell tower sites are out there."

Strovink said about 30 searchers focused on the area around Reid Glacier.

He described weather conditions on the mountain as "cold, icy and treacherous," with visibility levels too low to conduct an air search.

National Weather Service forecasts called for slightly warming temperatures Sunday morning with snow fall tapering off and chances of improved visibility levels, said Chris Collins, a National Weather Service forecaster in Portland.

"They should certainly be able to use a helicopter in the afternoon" if the pattern holds, Collins said. "There shouldn't be any significant visibility restrictions."

Strovink said search crews would be cautious, testing snow and weather conditions before they begin.

Elvis Costello enjoys TV role as "carnival barker"

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:08:00 +0000

NEW YORK (Billboard) – Elvis Costello, the British singer-songwriter who swept through the London pub scene, the punk movement and the New Wave fad while retaining his signature sound, continues to release great work 30-plus years into his career. His latest project, the country- and folk-inflected "Secret, Profane, and Sugarcane," arrived June 9 on Hear Music.

Costello is determined to make his mark on TV as well as popular music; his show, "Spectacle," blends music and interviews with superstars and up-and-comers. A DVD of the first season was released November 17, and the second season premieres December 9 on the Sundance Channel.

Billboard: How do you curate the shows and decide on the guests?

Elvis Costello: Well, of course you can make a wish list, but even though you can theorize all you want, you've got to get people into the theater. After that, I think the most important thing is contrast. You need people who are more gently spoken together with people who can really grab you by the throat. It's not a bad thing to also have people who have a broad popular appeal and don't often get to play in intimate settings.

Billboard: You hold your own as an interviewer against big personalities like Bono and former President Bill Clinton. How did you prepare to interview these people?

Costello: With someone like Bono, at one time, I was on top of the bill and he was just coming up. And all of sudden he got on a rocket ship and just took off, and his music was just designed for such huge, wide spaces. But he's still a human being with anxieties and insecurities. On the show, Bono talks about being in the company of Frank Sinatra and realizing that he was in a heavyweight league.

When I talked to Clinton, we mainly talked about music, but I did ask him one very serious question, about whether he consulted music when he was faced with a difficult policy decision. And I could see the impact that question had was different than him just reminiscing about music, and I felt like I had been sparring with Muhammad Ali and just laid a glove on him.

Billboard: Were you influenced by any particular music shows or talk shows when you started putting "Spectacle" together?

Costello: I didn't really have a model for the show in my head; I just wanted to pull together all the things that interested me. I see myself as being like a carnival barker or the MC of a big package show.

Billboard: Are you planning on doing any other TV, given the success of "Spectacle?" Maybe visiting "Colbert Christmas" or "30 Rock?" again

Costello: I think "30 Rock" is on hiatus right now, but I'd be more than happy to reprise my roll as an international art thief. (laughs) I've carried a Screen Actors Guild card for a number of years, but I don't think of myself as an actor. I wouldn't mind doing something where I am given the responsibility of being a character -- usually I'm just asked to be a guitar player with glasses.

Billboard: Are you working on any new music at the moment?

Costello: I'm always writing. I'm not recording anything right now because I just finished touring. I was in Australia four weeks ago playing shows, and then I went to Toronto to do the last show of the season (for "Spectacle"), and I've been in New York working on the edits ever since.

Billboard: In 2004, you put a line on the back of your CD "The Delivery Man" stating that you didn't endorse the FBI anti-piracy warning on the back of albums. What did you mean when you made that statement?

Costello: My issue with having a government agency stamp on creative work is that it just goes against my nature. I won't carry an ID card, because people actually lost their lives so that we don't have to carry ID cards.

And I'm not really big on government institutions putting stamps on works of art. The problem is much more complex than all of that, and my issue is that it's just like the patient is bleeding from a number of wounds and you just put a (bandage) on this one thing -- and it has a big FBI sticker on it and that's supposed to make people feel better?

It's like suing one or two people for downloading. If you really want to go after it, you go after the file-sharing institutions, because they're also the conduits for child porn. So why don't you go after them? Just go and close them down. You know, it's a half-assed thing, that's what my problem with it is. It's the wrong enemy.

Hajj winds up without feared swine flu outbreak

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 04:53:00 +0000

MECCA, Saudi Arabia — The annual Muslim hajj pilgrimage to Mecca wound up on Sunday without the feared mass outbreak of swine flu, Saudi authorities said, reporting a total of five deaths and 73 proven cases.

Five pilgrims died from the A(H1N1) flu virus during the hajj, Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabeeah said, as around 2.3 million pilgrims began an exodus from Mecca, the home in western Saudi Arabia of Islam's holiest site.

Rabeeah said there had been no other serious health problems.

"It gives me pleasure to announce ... that the hajj of 2009 was free from any outbreak of disease or epidemic," the minister said, quoted by the official Saudi news agency SPA.

Working with international health authorities, Saudi Arabia mounted a concerted campaign to minimise the threat and mobilised 20,000 health workers for the hajj.

Countries were warned not to send children, the elderly or those with existing medical conditions on the annual pilgrimage.

Also, vaccines were rushed to health workers when they became available at the start of November and heat-sensing cameras were set up at airports and around the main hajj sites to detect anyone with a feverish body temperature.

The dead were four elderly pilgrims, all over 70, from India, Morocco, Pakistan and Sudan, and a 17-year-old Nigerian woman.

All of them had other ailments, including heart disease and cancer, which left them more vulnerable to swine flu, health officials said.

The world's largest annual pilgrimage went off nearly trouble-free, Saudi officials said, compared to previous years when the hajj was marred by deadly stampedes and clashes with Iranian pilgrims.

The massive crowds of pilgrims were also able to move about easily, thanks in part to a huge five-storey walkway designed to avoid crushes at the jamarat pillars in Mina, where pilgrims undertake the ritual of stoning the devil.

The site was the scene of several panics in past years that left hundreds dead.

Worries over a possible contentious political protest by Iranians also came to nought.

Ahead of the hajj, Saudi authorities warned against political activity, but they did not interfere on Thursday when Iranian pilgrims chanted "Death to America and Israel" in a ritual-like action inside a large tent in Mina.

As pilgrims began their mass exodus from Mecca, there was concern for those leaving from the coastal hub of Jeddah where a downpour on Wednesday that sparked deadly flash floods has killed more than 100 people.

Roads and bridges in some part of Jeddah -- the main gateway to Mecca -- were swept away by the floods.

More than a million of the pilgrims are expected to depart through Jeddah's airport and seaport, but roads are still not completely clear in the city.

Key senators seek changes on US health care bill

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 04:48:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — Key Democratic allies in the US health care battle warned Sunday that a Senate bill required major changes if it was to earn their support and give President Barack Obama a crucial victory on his top domestic priority.

A knife-edge ballot Saturday saw Democrats scrape the 60 votes needed for debate to begin November 30, but wavering senators Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson sent a strong message that they would not back the bill as it stands.

Lieberman, an independent senator from Connecticut who usually votes in line with the Democrats and did so on Saturday, opposes the creation of a government insurance program to compete with private firms, the so-called "public option."

"We have a healthcare system that has real troubles, but we have an economic system that is in real crisis," said Lieberman, who fears the government program would be too expensive for the cash-strapped US economy.

"I don?t want to fix the problems in our healthcare system in a way that creates more of an economic crisis," he told NBC's "Meet the Press".

America's Thanksgiving holidays are set to be marked by bitter debate over the nitty-gritty of the bill, from its costs in terms of tax increases and fees to the merits or not of the "public option."

Divisive issues like abortion funding could also come to the fore while some Democrats may also seek funding for pet causes in their states in return for passing what amounts to the biggest shake-up of US health care in four decades.

The leading Democrat in the Senate, Harry Reid, faced three possible defectors in addition to Lieberman, any one of whom could have deprived him the 60 votes necessary to prevent Republican parliamentary delaying tactics.

Those senators -- Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, and Nelson of Nebraska -- have signaled a willingness to join Republicans if their proposed changes to core provisions of the bill are defeated.

Before eventually falling into party line on Saturday, Landrieu and Lincoln repeated their strong opposition to the "public option."

Nelson indicated on Sunday that he could be open to persuasion on the issue, although he prefers states to be able to opt in to program rather than having to opt out.

"We could negotiate a public option of some sort that I might look at, but I don't want a big government, Washington-run operation," he told ABC's "This Week" program.

Nelson has also demanded tougher restrictions on federal money subsidizing abortions, mirroring language the House of Representatives added to its version of the bill when it approved it in a 220-215 squeaker November 7.

The New York Times reported that the Obama administration was continuing to court two moderate Republican senators from Maine, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, in the hope of winning them over and breaking up the united Republican opposition on health care.

Debate in the Senate is expected to last at least three weeks, but Republicans hope to kill the bill or delay the battle into next year with the expectation that the 2010 midterm elections may make it harder for moderate Democrats to support it.

Senators voted 60-39 Saturday to formally start debate on legislation aimed at extending coverage to some 31 million Americans.

As well as the public insurance option, the Senate bill includes restrictions on dropping care for pre-existing ailments. It is estimated to cost 848 billion dollars through 2019 but cut the sky-high US budget deficit by 130 billion dollars over the same period.

A successful final vote -- expected a month away at the earliest -- would force the Senate and the House of Representatives to reconcile their rival versions of the bill and vote again on whether to send it to Obama.

The United States is the world's richest nation but the only industrialized democracy that does not provide health care coverage to all of its citizens, about 36 million of whom are uninsured.

Several US presidents since Theodore Roosevelt in the early 1900s have sought to overcome the traditional US suspicion of a wider government role in health care.

Washington spends more than double what Britain, France, and Germany do per person on health care, but lags behind other countries in life expectancy and infant mortality, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Consumer campaigns don't save endangered fish: report

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:28:00 +0000

VANCOUVER, Canada — Consumer campaigns to protect threatened fish species have failed, researchers warned Tuesday in a report underscoring the need for alternative ways to save threatened marine species.

The report suggested that government and consumers make big wholesalers and retailers stop selling threatened fish species; that farmers and agricultural feed makers stop using fishmeal for cheap protein; that national subsidies for fishing industries be axed; and that international standards be set for "sustainable" seafood labels.

"Seafood supply from capture sheries is decreasing and ... marine fisheries are unsustainable," noted the report by researchers at the University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre here.

More than a third of fish caught worldwide is used to feed factory-farmed animals, they said. "Currently, 30 million tonnes of fish (36 percent of world fisheries catch) are ground up each year into fishmeal and oil, mostly to feed farmed fish, chicken and pigs."

"Decreasing the amount of fish used for the production of animal feed should be a top priority of the sustainable-seafood movement," said the report. "Pigs and chickens alone consume six and two times the amount of seafood as US and Japanese consumers."

"For pigs and chickens, we don't need to be feeding them fishmeal," co-author Jennifer Jacquet told AFP. "We should feed them what they were meant to eat."

The food industry uses fishmeal as a "cheap protein source" to achieve fast growth rates in food animals, she said, "but with the oceans as stressed as they are, that's not going to work for a long term plan."

Programs aimed at helping consumers choose sustainable fish are popular with consumers and businesses in western countries, and may raise awareness, noted the report.

But the programs have failed to reach their goals and are beset by "consumer confusion, lack of traceability and a lack of demonstrably improved conservation status for the fish that are meant to be protected," it said.

The report examined the impact of consumer guides to ocean-friendly seafood, and noted that one of the first such programs, wallet cards produced by the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, had resulted in no overall change in the market and no decrease in fishing pressures on the at-risk species it targeted.

Because supermarkets sell 60 percent of seafood in Canada and 50 percent in the United States, said Jacquet, efforts should shift from consumer-choice programs to "targeting mega supermarket chains such as Walmart, Whole Foods and Loblaw through a combination of positive and negative publicity campaigns."

The report was published online Tuesday in the science journal Oryx: The International Journal of Conservation.

Asia-Pacific leaders face trade, climate headwinds

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:11:00 +0000

SINGAPORE — US President Barack Obama and 20 other Asia-Pacific leaders convened Sunday at a moment of truth for the crisis-hit world economy and for global efforts to fight climate change.

The leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum were to wrap up a two-day summit with pledges to fight trade protectionism and keep open the taps of stimulus spending to sustain a fledgling economic recovery.

The Hawaii-born and Indonesia-raised Obama, who joined the Singapore gathering late Saturday after a visit to Tokyo, proclaimed himself the "Pacific president" and declared the United States was back as a regional player.

But APEC leaders maintained a drumbeat of criticism over Obama's perceived neglect of free trade, with Congress and powerful Democratic barons in the trade union movement clamouring to protect US industry as joblessness soars.

In one development welcomed by APEC allies, Obama said the United States was interested in an obscure trade pact that leaders say could become the nucleus for a massive trans-Pacific free-trade zone covering 2.6 billion people.

According to their draft summit declaration, the leaders will instruct their officials to explore the viability of the APEC-wide pact stretching from Chile and China, which would encompass more than half the world economy.

But they will back off a pledge mentioned in earlier drafts seen by AFP to halve their greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels by 2050, officials said following a round of haggling on the summit's first day Saturday.

The 50-percent target had proven "very controversial", said Yi Xianliang, a foreign ministry official who is part of China's negotiating team for world climate change talks in Copenhagen next month.

The meeting in the Danish capital is supposed to iron out a new binding treaty to avert what most scientists say is the threat of worldwide catastrophe from runaway global warming.

Loathe to settle for watered-down climate commitments, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd convened a breakfast meeting Sunday of key players including Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao on the summit sidelines.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen flew in at the last minute to join the talks, where the consensus was that it was "unrealistic" to expect a legally binding agreement in Copenhagen, according to one US official.

Deputy national security adviser Mike Froman echoed other national officials who have said that Copenhagen will instead be a stepping stone with negotiations to continue next year.

APEC encompasses the world's two biggest greenhouse gas emitters, China and the United States, which are at loggerheads over how to divide up responsibility for fighting climate change in the run-up to Copenhagen.

Obama meanwhile called in Tokyo for "balanced and sustained" growth around the world in the post-crisis phase, pressing Asian exporters including China to wean themselves off US consumers and build up their own demand.

His comments underlined a central theme of the APEC summit -- that the world economy must be rebalanced so that voracious US consumerism is no longer the sole cylinder firing global growth.

At the Singapore meetings, President Hu has played up China's role in shoring up world growth after crisis engulfed the United States, and vowed to "vigorously expand" its domestic market.

However, criticism that China keeps an artificial lid on its currency to gain an unfair trade edge has flared anew at APEC. Obama is expected to press Hu on the exchange-rate row when the two leaders meet in Beijing next week.

Loud explosion rocks northwestern Pakistan

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:42:00 +0000

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Witnesses say a loud explosion has rocked the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar.

An Associated Press reporter says smoke can be seen rising in the city, but that few details are immediately available.

Militant attacks have escalated since the government launched an offensive in mid-October against the Taliban's main stronghold in South Waziristan. Areas in and around Peshawar have experienced the brunt of militant attacks.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Gunmen killed a Pakistani working at the Iranian Consulate in the northwestern city of Peshawar on Thursday, adding to security fears in the country as it presses an offensive against the Taliban along the nearby Afghan border.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes amid tensions between Pakistan and Iran over Tehran's allegations that Pakistani intelligence agents had a role in a deadly suicide bombing last month in Iran.

The attackers opened fire on Abul Hasan Jaffri while he was in a car near his home in a central part of Peshawar, said police official Mohammad Kamal. Jaffri, who was the director of public relations at the consulate, died at a military hospital. The gunmen escaped after the shooting.

Iran is mostly Shiite Muslim, as was Jaffri. Pakistan's Shiite minority has often been targeted by Sunni Muslim militants like the Taliban and al-Qaida, which believe they are infidels. An Iranian diplomat in Peshawar was abducted in November 2008. His whereabouts are unknown.

The head of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula released an audio message on the Internet earlier this week denouncing Shiites, especially Iranians, calling them some of the greatest enemies of Sunnis.

In the 1980s, Iran was alleged to have funded radical Shiite groups in Pakistan and later supported forces fighting the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan. The Taliban responded by killing several Iranian diplomats in northern Afghanistan in 1998.

In Pakistan, Taliban militants are waging a war against the government because they deem it un-Islamic and are angry about its alliance with the United States. The insurgency began in earnest in 2007, and attacks have grown more frequent since the army launched an offensive in mid-October against the Taliban's main stronghold in South Waziristan.

The latest fighting in South Waziristan killed 22 militants and five soldiers, the army said in a statement Thursday. The information is nearly impossible to verify independently since Pakistan has blocked access to the battle zone.

Analysts believe many militants have fled South Waziristan rather than stay to fight the army. Police arrested seven suspected Taliban militants in the southern city of Karachi on Thursday who came from the tribal area. Authorities confiscated suicide vests and some 660 pounds (300 kilograms) of explosives from the men, said Karachi police chief Waseem Ahmed.

Areas in and around Peshawar have experienced the brunt of militant attacks following the start of the army offensive. A car bomb exploded in a market in Peshawar at the end of October, killing at least 112 people in the deadliest attack in Pakistan in over two years.

Even before the recent army offensive, Peshawar was a scene of significant militant violence.

In 2008, gunmen ambushed a car carrying the Afghan consul toward his home in Peshawar, killing the driver and abducting the envoy, who had recently been selected as the next ambassador to Pakistan. His fate remains unclear. Suspected militants also killed a U.S. aid worker there last year and opened fire on a car carrying the top U.S. diplomat there.

The U.S. Embassy in Pakistan condemned Thursday's assassination, saying it represented an effort "by extremists hoping to isolate Pakistan from its supporters in the international community."

Tehran, too, expressed its disgust, calling the killing a "terrorist and inhuman act." A spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, Ramin Mehmanparast, urged Pakistani officials to find and punish the attackers and to provide more protection to diplomatic buildings.

Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran contributed to this report.

6-year sentence for driver in 4-death crash

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:22:00 +0000

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has jailed a man for six years for his part in a car crash that killed four people on Highway One in Vancouver nearly four years ago.

Benjamin Hughes, 31, was behind the wheel of a Cadillac, driving at speeds of about 160 km/h, in what looked to witnesses like a race with a BMW on the highway near Burnaby.

The BMW soon clipped a third car and spun into a lamppost, shearing the BMW in half. Four young men in the car — two brothers and two of their friends — were killed. One man, a passenger, survived.

Hughes left the scene, but after a police investigation he was arrested and charged.

Despite a not guilty plea, he was convicted in August of four counts of dangerous driving causing death, one of dangerous driving causing bodily harm and five counts of leaving the scene of an accident.

Licence suspended for 15 years

Justice Allan Stewart said Monday that Hughes's driving record indicated contempt for the law and he had shown no remorse.

Separately, Hughes pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing bodily harm while out on bail for the charges connected to the January 2006 crash.

In addition to the six-year sentence, the judge suspended Hughes's driver's licence for 15 years, saying he was a danger to the public when he was behind the wheel.

"It doesn't bring back the people that we've lost," said Marina Sedlic, a cousin of two of the victims. "I think it's a very, very good thing that he won't be driving for a long time."

"He's going to serve his few years or whatever, and our kids, they're never coming back," said Anna Jukcic, an aunt of two of the victims.

Hughes's lawyer has said his client intends to appeal his conviction.

New Afghan violence makes Obama decision tougher

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:34:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's next move on Afghanistan is growing more difficult by the day. Deadly attacks this week deepened British and U.N. alarm over their commitments, and fresh worries about Iraq could delay the exit of U.S. troops there, squeezing an already overstretched military.

The White House says Obama's answer on whether to expand the U.S. fighting force in Afghanistan by as much as 60 percent will be announced "in the coming weeks," the same vague timetable it has offered for much of the fall.

Obama has brushed off criticism that he is taking too long to decide whether to meet his war commander's request to provide about 40,000 more troops at the end of this year, atop a record 68,000.

But the longer the decision hangs fire, the more complications mount. The latest violence against foreign civilians and soldiers was unprecedented in scope. And that was on top of Afghanistan's perilous politics, an ongoing headache for the White House.

Obama is "taking into account the political situation, the security situation, the health of our force and all that needs to be done" to make good on the promise of dismantling the al-Qaida terror network, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday.

The deliberations are taking place under an assumption that the Army and Marine Corps will have greater flexibility as U.S. forces are drawn down in Iraq. The withdrawal plan is hinged to Iraqi elections that are scheduled for January but now are in question.

In an e-mail this week to top Pentagon officials, the U.S. commander in Iraq, Army Gen. Ray Odierno, warned that the elections could be delayed — potentially delaying the exit of U.S. troops with each passing day.

Odierno in September told Congress that he would keep the number of troops in Iraq — currently about 117,000 — steady until about two months after the election to safeguard against any surge in attacks or violence following the vote.

Barring a significant increase in violence, U.S. commanders have said about two-thirds of the troops will begin heading home almost immediately after that two-month period, bringing the number of American forces in Iraq to between 35,000 and 50,000 by the end of August 2010.

Iraqi lawmakers ended their session Thursday without agreeing to terms for the vote. They plan to try again on Saturday.

Senior Obama officials have reached out to the Iraqi government over the past two days and urged them to resolve the impasse quickly.

If Obama increases the size of the U.S. force in Afghanistan, the first of the fresh soldiers would probably begin to arrive in January or February. That could be done whether the planned withdrawal from Iraq goes forward on schedule or not, but things would get trickier in the months that follow.

The Army, the service most affected by the strain of fighting two wars at once, is only now getting some breathing room, with soldiers given longer periods at home between deployments and an end to the unpopular "stop-loss" practice of keeping troops beyond their expected date of departure.

The Pentagon approved a temporary increase in the size of the Army earlier this year, but keeping very large numbers of troops in Iraq while shipping tens of thousands more to Afghanistan in the spring could strap the service anew.

In an interview this week, the Army's No. 2 military official said the troop drawdown in Iraq still could happen on time, even if the elections are delayed.

"The fact that the elections could slip one way or the other doesn't surprise any of us who have had any experience with Iraq," said Army Vice Chief of Staff Peter W. Chiarelli. "The fact that something doesn't get done, or pass on the day it's supposed to get passed, doesn't mean that somebody won't find a way around it or find a way to fix something later on. If the elections are delayed, then we'll deal with that."

Chiarelli did not rule out sending troops home after Iraq's elections faster than is now expected if violence is low. He said any number of still-undecided factors — if Obama approves sending fewer forces to Afghanistan than requested by the commander, for example, or if they can be deployed later — could let the Iraq drawdown stay on pace without a personnel crunch.

On Capitol Hill, some lawmakers are questioning whether American forces should stick to an Iraqi withdrawal schedule before knowing what the level of security — or violence — will be after the elections.

Rep. Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said Obama's August 2010 deadline gives Odierno "little room to maneuver" should massive and continued attacks across Iraq start anew. In a letter this week, McKeon asked the president to cancel the deadline if necessary.

The United States contributes the vast majority of soldiers fighting a difficult war, but relies on NATO allies and others, including the United Nations, for other troops, supplies and a network of contributions such as election administration.

In Kabul, the head of the U.N. mission warned that Afghanistan cannot count on international support indefinitely unless the government tackles corruption and bad governance. The U.N. abruptly announced Thursday it will temporarily relocate more than half of its international staff while it looks for safer accommodation for them. An attack last week on a U.N. guesthouse killed five staffers.

The deaths of five British soldiers gunned down by an Afghan policeman as they made tea after a patrol has shaken public support for the war in the nation that has been the largest contributor of forces after the United States.

Demands are intensifying for a pullout three weeks after Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an unpopular decision to add 500 British forces. Brown's move was seen as a gesture to Obama as the president weighs a much larger U.S. increase.

If British troops can't trust the Afghan colleagues they are supposed to be training, analysts and newspapers asked Thursday in Britain, how can they fight the Taliban? And where does it leave an exit strategy that depends on handing over control to Afghan forces?

Asked the Daily Mail: "What kind of war is this?"

That's stronger opposition than Obama faces at home, but a worrisome sign as the United States looks ahead to assuming a larger share of the burden in Afghanistan whether Obama adds significant forces or not. Several allies plan to leave in 2010 and 2011.

US, NKorea agree to hold bilateral meetings: report

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:36:00 +0000

SEOUL — The United States and North Korea have agreed to hold two rounds of bilateral meetings before the North returns to multilateral nuclear disarmament talks, a US news report said.

The agreement was reached at last month's meetings in New York and San Diego between officials from the two sides, Foreign Policy magazine said on its website, in a report seen Wednesday.

The communist state, putting further pressure on the United States to start direct talks, announced Tuesday it has completed reprocessing spent fuel rods to produce more plutonium for its atomic weapons programme.

The US State Department responded that the plutonium production "runs counter" to the North's disarmament commitments and violates UN Security Council resolutions.

It said it has not decided when and where to hold bilateral talks involving the US special envoy to North Korea, Stephen Bosworth.

Foreign Policy, quoting an administration official, said "substantial progress" was made in talks between Sung Kim, the State Department's special envoy to six-party talks, and visiting North Korean official Ri Gun.

The North has said it is ready to return to the six-party nuclear disarmament talks which it abandoned in April, but only if it first has bilateral discussions with Washington to improve relations.

South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator Wi Sung-Lac told Yonhap news agency separately the United States is expected to decide soon whether and when to hold the bilateral dialogue.

Foreign Policy said Ri agreed that Bosworth would meet Kang Sok-Ju, first vice foreign minister, rather than chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-Gwan.

"Bosworth's visit would be seen as a failure unless some demonstrable progress was made and it is widely believed that only the top officials in Kim Jong-Il's regime have real negotiating authority," the magazine said.

Ri, however, "demurred" on Sung Kim's demand that the North abide by a September 2005 six-party nuclear deal, the magazine said.

This calls for North Korea's denuclearisation in return for economic aid, diplomatic recognition and the establishment of a permanent peace regime to replace the fragile armistice that ended the 1950-53 war.

The North wanted to resume talks "based on the idea of denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, a nuanced but important distinction," the magazine said.

Pyongyang calls for the withdrawal of any US nuclear threat and a change in its "hostile" policy as a precondition for giving up its nuclear weapons.

The North quit the six-party talks in April after the United Nations censured its long-range rocket launch. It had vowed at the time to restart the nuclear programme which it shut down under six-party pacts.

It conducted an atomic weapons test in May, the second since 2006.

Texas churches help pave way for new Vatican plan

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:41:00 +0000

ARLINGTON, Texas — At Saint Mary the Virgin Catholic Church, the 75-year-old priest is married, members sing from an Episcopalian hymnal and parishioners kneel at the altar to receive Communion.

Years ago, the Texas parish and a handful of other conservative Episcopal churches in the U.S. decided to become Roman Catholic. Though they were confirmed by the Vatican, they were still allowed to practice some of their Anglican traditions, including having married priests.

Now, these churches may have helped pave the way for Anglicans worldwide, or Episcopalians as they are known in the U.S., to become Catholic under a new Vatican plan created to make it easier for such conversions. The surprise move revealed in October is designed to entice traditionalists opposed to women priests, openly gay clergy and blessing of same-sex unions.

The Rev. Allan Hawkins, who leads Saint Mary the Virgin church outside of Dallas, said the Vatican's decision could start unifying the Catholic and Anglican churches after a centuries-old rift.

"I didn't think I would live to see this day," Hawkins said during a recent Sunday Mass.

Saint Mary the Virgin is one of three churches in Texas to become Catholic after the Vatican's 1980 approval of the "Anglican use" provision, which allowed U.S. churches to convert on a case-by-case basis but also retain their traditions and identity.

The small church 20 miles west of Dallas made the switch in 1994 after members decided to leave the Episcopal church because they felt it was going against Biblical teachings when it ordained women as bishops and accepted gay priests.

Saint Mary the Virgin stuck to many of its Anglican roots, such as offering a more traditional way of receiving Communion that includes kneeling instead of standing. But in other ways, it operates the same as Catholic parishes.

"We didn't join to be completely different," said Giles Hawkins, 42, the priest's son and parish member.

The new effort by Pope Benedict XVI to make it easier for Anglicans worldwide to convert to Catholicism is considered part of his overall aim of unifying the church and putting a highly conservative stamp on it.

The decision was reached in secret by a small group of Vatican officials, and the spiritual leader of the global Anglican church was not consulted about the change and was informed only hours before the announcement.

The Vatican and Anglican leaders have been in talks for decades over how to possibly reunite since Anglicans split with Rome in 1534 when English King Henry VIII was refused a marriage annulment. But the Vatican move could be considered as a signal that the ecumenical talks' ultimate goal is converting Anglicans to Catholicism.

"Christ's will for his church is that it's one," Hawkins said. "As Anglicans, our background is with the church (in Rome), and we didn't create that division. I would also like to see Baptists, Methodists and Presbyterians unite as well."

However, no one expects a large number of Anglo-Catholic parishes to be created in the U.S. The decision was prompted mainly by Anglo-Catholics in England and the Traditional Anglican Communion, a 77-million strong organization led by an Australian archbishop.

Although details have not been finalized, the U.S. bishops are expected to create the equivalent of a nationwide diocese with one leader to oversee Anglo-Catholic parishes. Currently, each parish answers to a local Catholic bishop.

When San Antonio's Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church converted to Catholicism in 1983, it was the first parish to do so under Rome's new provision. At the time, it was a group of 18 people who had left several Episcopal churches and wanted to become a Catholic church, said the Rev. Christopher Phillips, the parish priest. It has since grown to 500 families.

"But being a married priest has never been an issue. When I'm with other priests, they always ask about my family. I've been accepted as a Catholic priest because that's what I am," Phillips said.

AP Religion Writer Rachel Zoll in New York contributed to this report.

Japan unemployment falls amid recovery signs

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:31:00 +0000

TOKYO — Japan's economy on Friday showed fresh signs that it is recovering after a sharp downturn, with jobless figures hitting a four-month low, an easing in deflation and household spending edging up.

Japan's unemployment rate fell to a four-month low of 5.3 percent in September, beating the market expectation that it would rise to 5.6 percent, according to data from the internal affairs ministry.

The latest figure was down from 5.5 percent in August and the lowest since 5.2 percent in May.

A separate survey released by the labour ministry Friday showed there were 43 job offers for every 100 jobseekers in September, slightly up from a record low of 42 in the previous two months.

It is the first time since May 2007 that the job-offer ratio has improved from the previous month.

Many Japanese companies, particularly exporters, moved swiftly to cut jobs and production in response to a slump in demand caused by the global economic downturn.

But Japan's economy grew in April-June for the first time in five quarters on rebounding exports and government stimulus measures.

Another survey from the internal affairs ministry showed deflation in Japan eased slightly in September following four straight months of record declines in consumer prices.

Core prices, which exclude those of volatile fresh food, dropped 2.3 percent in the month from a year earlier, after an unprecedented 2.4 percent slump in August.

Compared with the previous month, prices rose 0.1 percent -- the first increase in six months.

Some economists warned against being too upbeat on the economic outlook.

"There are concerns that price drops in services and other wide-ranging sectors may pressure wages, leading consumers to seek even lower prices," Credit Suisse economists wrote in a report.

"A further credit easing is needed" as deflation remains, they said.

In September Japanese household spending edged up by 1.0 percent from a year earlier, an increase for a second consecutive month.

Japan was stuck in a deflationary spiral for years after its asset price bubble burst in the early 1990s, hitting corporate earnings and prompting consumers to put off purchases in the hope of further price drops.

The current global economic downturn and a slump in commodity costs pushed the world's number two economy back into the deflationary doldrums. Core consumer prices have now fallen year-on-year for the past seven months.

Feds interview crew of plane that overshot airport

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 04:44:00 +0000

MINNEAPOLIS — Federal investigators interviewed the crew of the Northwest Airlines flight that overshot the Minneapolis airport by 150 miles on Sunday.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Keith Holloway said investigators were interviewing the pilot and co-pilot in person in Minneapolis. He would not provide additional details, but did say the NTSB would not comment on the substance of the discussions until Monday at the earliest.

Northwest Airlines is cooperating and doing its own internal investigation, said Chris Kelly, a spokesman for Northwest Airlines' parent company, Delta Air Lines Inc.

Air traffic controllers tried for more than an hour Wednesday night to contact the Minneapolis-bound flight, which later turned around and landed safely. First officer Richard Cole has said he and the captain were not sleeping or arguing in the cockpit, but hasn't explained their lapse in response and the detour. The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site Sunday that the pilots planned to repeat their story to safety investigators during Sunday's interview.

Mounting deficits raise urgency for governments to switch from spenders to savers

noreply@blogger.com (Daryl Lorette) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 03:54:00 +0000

OTTAWA — The bills are coming in across the country, and they are hefty.

In the last two days, Ontario reported it will suffer a $24.7-billion deficit in the current fiscal year, almost double its March projection, and the federal government said it is already $23.7 billion in the red, only five months into its year.

With Quebec issuing an update next week - expected to be worse than previously thought - the TD Bank is also revisiting a report it issued earlier this week that the total public sector shortfall will be at least $90 billion this year.

It more than likely will be in the $100-$110 billion range.

TD Bank economist Derek Burleton says governments are creating such a debt elephant that they will need to cut spending drastically or even raise taxes to prevent Canada from falling into the deficit nightmare of the 1970s, '80s and '90s.

"There's a case to be made that the era of restraint Canadians are looking at over the next three to five years is going to keep our growth lower than otherwise would be the case," Burleton said.

Bank of Montreal economist Douglas Porter agrees that governments will soon have to shift their attention from how to spend to stimulate the economy to how to kill the monster they created.

On Friday, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty told a business audience near Toronto that the government needed to pump spending in the face of a deep recession.

And he repeated the familiar mantra that Canada is "by far" in the best fiscal position among Group of Seven countries to pay off its mounting debts.

But economists say that distinction is carrying less weight with each new government recalculation of upcoming shortfalls.

"I think we are going to reach an uncomfortable juncture, perhaps as early as next year, when the recovery is still relatively young, and yet deficits will be so large they will cry out for the need for some restraint," Porter said.

The majority of Ottawa's shortfall so far this year is not from ramped up stimulus spending, but the result of the recession's wreckage. Ottawa is paying out much more for such things as benefits to the unemployed and taking in far less in taxes.

That suggests that even when stimulus spending runs its course at the end of next year's fiscal period, the gap between revenues and expenses will be so wide it will take many, many years to close.

Another problem is that governments will be trying to rake in more revenue at a time when more and more of Canada's baby boom population crosses the line from tax-paying producers, to recipients of expensive health-care and pension programs.

CIBC's Avery Shenfeld says Canada is starting to lose the fiscal edge it had gained on the United States during 12 years of surplus budgets ushered in by former Liberal finance minister Paul Martin, starting in the mid-1990s.

Canada still leads, but the gap is closing, he said in a note to clients.

"The aggregate federal and provincial budget deficit burden for residents of some provinces is not that far out of line with what the Americans face," Shenfeld wrote.

"Both countries will see the economic squeeze of fiscal tightening in the next few years, even if Canada can afford to take a bit longer in getting our house in order."

Ottawa and Ontario have set a timeline of about 2015 to return to fiscal order, but many economists see that target as too ambitious by several years.

Bank of Canada's governor Mark Carney's newest forecast on Thursday predicting the economy will expand by a modest three per cent next year and only 3.3 per cent in 2011 - two years after the end of the recession - doesn't help.

Carney also warned that prospective homebuyers should be careful about how much debt they are piling on, given that the housing market is much hotter than the overall economy.

Few economists believe growth will be to total answer to deficits. Some, such as Toronto-based consultant Dale Orr, have called on Ottawa to raise taxes. Orr says a one-point hike in the GST can raise about $13 billion in two years, which would make the government's balanced budget date of 2015-16 more tenable.

TD's Burleton doesn't make any recommendations, but agrees tax hikes may be necessary and that consumer levies and user fees would be preferable to personal or corporate tax increases.

However governments choose to tackle their deficits, he said, it is becoming urgent that they lay out plans.

"The experience in Canada has shown that manageable deficits very easily have turned into very worrisome deficits," he said.

"And the longer you stretch out a deficit-elimination horizon, the bigger the chance surprises are going to come up that throw a government off track."

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