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NEWS FRIDAY, JULY
30, 2010 NEWS
EARLY EDITION
Ethics
Panel Says 'Sorry, Charlie, No Deal'
A House ethics panel was meeting Thursday to discuss a deal with New
York Rep. Charles Rangel after holding a briefing earlier in the day on
possible charges against the longtime lawmaker. Rangel said he's done nothing
wrong to warrant an adjudicatory subcommittee's review of 13 allegations
of misconduct. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, ranking member on the House
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, said Rangel was given an opportunity
to settle charges during the investigative process, and that time has passed.
Fox
News
VOA VIEW: Voters will not tolerate a cover-up.
Republicans Say
Obama’s Drilling Moratorium Could Have Taxpayers Picking Up Tab For More
Unemployed Oil Workers
Critics of the Obama administration’s moratorium on offshore drilling
say it will put more workers on the unemployment rolls at taxpayer expense
-- especially those in the Gulf region, which is struggling to recover
from the April 20 Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion and subsequent oil
leak. Marking the 100th day after the disaster on Wednesday, House Republicans
held a press conference to denounce both the drilling moratorium and Democrat-sponsored
legislation arising from the oil spill. CNS
News
VOA VIEW: Obama's foolishness and ineptness
is hurting the economy for years to come.
Obama
Seeks To Mend Rift With Black Community
President Barack Obama sought on Thursday to repair damage to his relationship
with the black community caused by his administration's firing of an African-American
government official. A political fracas erupted last week after Agriculture
Department employee Shirley Sherrod was forced to resign when conservative
media depicted her as anti-white because of a speech she had given. Obama
later said his administration had jumped the gun and offered Sherrod her
job back after a full airing of her speech showed her remarks were taken
out of context. Reuters
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Reid: Dem Energy
Bill Will Create Jobs And Lower Energy Costs For Consumers
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Wednesday that the
Senate’s energy bill is necessary for the “environment and for national
security,” adding that the legislation will generate jobs and lower energy
costs for consumers. However, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), ranking member
of the Senate Energy and Public Works Committee, in a statement indicated
that the Senate’s energy bill will eliminate jobs by making Obama’s oil
drilling moratorium permanent. "Carol Browner, President Obama's White
House Energy and Climate Czar, recently said she thinks only Big Oil, which
would include BP and a few others, should be drilling in the Gulf," Inhofe
said. CNS News
VOA VIEW: Wrong!
Obama
Defends Education Plans
President Obama on Thursday defended his education policies before
a skeptical audience at the National Urban League convention, calling his
signature "Race to the Top" program the most "meaningful" initiative the
nation has pursued in years. Mr. Obama credited the $4 billion strategy
with turning around failing schools across the country by providing federal
grants to states that implement major education reforms. Race to the Top
has drawn criticism from civil rights groups, who say it doesn't do enough
to help minority students. Washington
Times
VOA VIEW: Obama's education plans are
flawed, costly and doomed to failure.
Unemployment
Claims Fall, But Still Elevated
Initial claims for state unemployment aid dropped 11,000 to 457,000,
the Labor Department said on Thursday, a touch more than the fall to 459,000
that financial markets had forecast. Analysts say new applications for
jobless benefits, which have trended sideways for much of this year, have
to drop to a 400,000-450,000 range to signal sustainable jobs growth. "The
labor market is steadying but at a relatively high level of unemployment.
It offers a hint of improvement in labor market conditions," said John
Lonski, chief economist, Moody's Investors Service, New York. "Nevertheless,
jobless claims remain quite elevated, and suggest labor slack persists."
Reuters
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Provenge
Cancer Vaccine: Can You Put A Price On Delaying Death?
Can you put a price tag on the life of a prostate cancer patient? With
the advent of Provenge, the first-ever vaccine cancer treatment, that tag
has been set at about $23,000 per month of life gained -- $93,000 in total
for a treatment that extends life, on average, by four months. Given already
skyrocketing health care costs, the nearly-six-figure cost of Provenge
has raised concerns among health care experts, but to those men who have
benefited from this revolutionary new therapy, it's worth every penny.
ABC
Graham
Mulls 'Birthright Citizenship'
U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., is considering a constitutional amendment
to end the 14th Amendment grant of U.S. citizenship by birthright, he said.
The conservative Republican Wednesday said with 12 million illegal immigrants
currently in the United States, the time may have come to end the right
of children of immigrants to automatic citizenship. UPI
News
VOA VIEW: Birthright to illegals should
end.
Arizona
Preparing Appeal Of Immigration Ruling
Arizona is preparing to ask an appeals court to lift a judge's ruling
that put most of the state's immigration law on hold in a key first-round
victory for the federal government in a fight that may go to the U.S. Supreme
Court. Gov. Jan Brewer called Wednesday's decision by U.S. District Judge
Susan Bolton "a bump in the road" and vowed to appeal. Paul Senseman, a
spokesman for Ms. Brewer, said Arizona would ask the 9th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals in San Francisco later Thursday to lift Judge Bolton's preliminary
injunction and to expedite its consideration of the state's appeal. Washington
Times
Gates
Says Pentagon To Help Death-Benefits Inquiry
Defense Secretary Robert Gates pledged to help the U.S. Department
of Veterans Affairs probe how insurers reap profits from death benefits
retained for the families of deceased military personnel. Earlier today,
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo began a fraud probe into the life
insurance industry and subpoenaed MetLife Inc. and Prudential Financial
Inc. for information about profits on the retained death benefits. Bloomberg
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U.S.
Army Stressed After Nearly A Decade Of War
Army is showing signs of stress because of repeated deployments and
inadequate support for soldiers when they return, according to a blunt
internal report released today. It blasts the Army's leadership for failing
to recognize the problem. The number of soldiers committing suicide has
increased since 2004, surpassing civilian rates in 2008. Use of prescription
drugs has tripled in the past five years; prescription amphetamines use
has doubled between 2006 and 2009. One third of soldiers take at least
one prescription drug and 14 percent of soldiers are on some form of powerful
painkiller. ABC
BP
Drilling Ban Would Cost U.S. Jobs, Company Says
BP Plc objected to legislation that would bar the oil company from
operating new drilling leases in U.S. waters, saying it could trigger job
losses and threaten the nation’s energy security. Commenting for the first
time on Congress’s response to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, BP said in
letter to House leaders that the ban in a bill to be taken up tomorrow
may have a “drastic impact” on a company that is the largest producer in
the deep waters of the Gulf. House and Senate leaders presented legislation
July 27 imposing tougher offshore drilling rules on safety and environmental
protection after the BP spill in the Gulf, the worst in U.S. history. Bloomberg
VOA VIEW: Democrats are adding insult
to injury.
Aid
Options Dwindle For Sick 9/11 Responders
A bill that would provide up to $7.4 billion in aid to people sickened
by World Trade Center dust is in danger of stalling in Congress. Some supporters
said Thursday it doesn't have the two-thirds support required to pass under
the parliamentary procedure used by House Democrats to bring it to a vote.
A failure of the bill would raise the possibility that the bulk of compensation
for sick 9/11 responders would come from a legal settlement hammered out
in the federal courts. For weeks now, a judge and teams of lawyers have
been urging 10,000 police officers, firefighters and construction workers
to sign on to the settlement. Las
Vegas Sun
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Agents
Easily Get U.S. Passports With Bogus Info
Despite government promises to tighten the process of issuing e-Passports,
undercover agents had no trouble getting the passports using bogus information,
according to the Center for Public Integrity. In one instance, federal
agents were able to dupe the State Department by using a dead man's name
on an e-Passport application, according to Gregory Kutz, an investigator
for the Government Accountability Office, who will testify Thursday to
a Senate committee about the matter.
CBS
AZ,
FL, UT, VT To Get Air Force’New F-35 Fighter
The Air Force has chosen bases in Arizona, Florida, Utah and Vermont
to serve as homes to the U.S. Air Force's pricey new F-35 Joint Strike
Fighter. Operational missions of the single-engine jets would go to Hill
Air Force Base in Utah and the Burlington Air Guard Station in Vermont.
For training, the Air Force is recommending Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.
The decision announced Thursday is a disappointment for seven bases passed
over during this round of selections, including sites in Idaho, New Mexico,
Florida and South Carolina. Las
Vegas Sun
Many
Children Medicated For Insomnia
U.S. psychiatrists report medicating one-third of their school-age
and teenage patients for insomnia. Researchers at Hasbro Children's Hospital
in Providence, R.I., say sleep medications range from prescribed antihistamines
to sedating medications for attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder such
as alpha agonists -- clonidine -- to antidepressants like trazodone. They
also included medications from a number of other categories such as anti-psychotics
and anti-convulsants depending on the psychiatric or behavioral diagnosis
of the child. UPI
News
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More
Than 6,000 Arlington Graves Could Be Wrong
Estimates of the number of graves potentially affected by mix-ups at
Arlington National Cemetery grew to as many as 6,600 on Thursday, as the
cemetery's former superintendent blamed his staff and a lack of resources
for the scandal that forced his ouster. John Metzler, who ran the famous
military burial ground for 19 years, said he accepts "full responsibility"
for the problems. But he also rebutted some of findings of Army investigators.
And he suggested cemetery employees were to blame for mix-ups because the
system used to track grave sites relied mostly on a complicated paper trail
vulnerable to error. Fox
News
Citi
To Pay $73 Million For Misleading Investors
Citigroup said Thursday it would pay $73 million to settle charges
by the Securities and Exchange Commission that the bank, as well as two
of its executives, misled investors about the company's exposure to the
subprime mortgage market. Wall Street's top regulator said Citigroup repeatedly
made misleading statements in investor presentations and in public filings
about the actual size of assets it controlled that were backed by subprime
mortgages. Between July and mid-October 2007, the company maintained its
holdings of what have now been dubbed "toxic assets", stood at $13 billion,
when in fact the number was closer to $50 billion, according to the SEC.
CNN
Fed
Official Backs More Asset Purchases
The Fed is trying so hard not to scare the market that it risks putting
the economy to sleep, a top Fed official said. By promising to leave short-term
interest rates near zero for an extended period, the Fed "may be increasing
the probability of a Japanese-style outcome for the U.S.," St. Louis Fed
President James Bullard (right) said in a paper released Thursday. He says
the best bet for avoiding that sort of slowdown is another round of Fed
asset purchases. The support for another round of asset purchases is noteworthy
because Bullard has been both a supporter of Fed asset purchases and a
worrier about the potential inflationary impacts. His support for more
asset purchases suggests he believes the balance has swung against inflation.
CNN
VOA VIEW: Manipulating the economy is
not a real fix.
Immigration
Impasse Long In The Making
The current turmoil in Arizona is no sudden eruption. Tensions over
the issue of illegal immigration have been building for years, aided by
the inability of presidents and Congress to enact a comprehensive approach
to reform. Highly emotional to many Americans, illegal immigration is also
extremely complicated, revolving around issues of security, labor, and
the eventual fate of an estimated 11 million people unlawfully living in
the United States. The failure to reconcile those issues has led to the
current face-off between the federal government and the state of Arizona
over the enforcement of immigration law. MSNBC
VOA VIEW: The number of illegals is closer
to 20M.
Synthetic,
Legal Pot Sending Smokers To ER
An herb and chemical blend dubbed K2 that is sold legally in the U.S.
as incense but produces a marijuana-like high when smoked is landing a
rising number of people in emergency rooms, doctors said. The surge in
calls to poison control centers across the country has spurred 10 states
to ban K2 and other similar brands of so-called synthetic marijuana products.
It has also prompted public doctors who have treated patients who used
K2 to issue health warnings. "My first reaction to a product like this
is 'buyer beware,'" said Anthony Scalzo, director of toxicology at Cardinal
Glennon Children's Medical Center in St. Louis. MSNBC
Shirley
Sherrod Says She'll Sue Andrew Breitbart
Ousted Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod said Thursday
she will sue a conservative blogger who posted a video edited in a way
that made her appear racist. Sherrod was forced to resign as director of
rural development in Georgia after Andrew Breitbart posted the edited video
online. In the full video, Sherrod, who is black, spoke to a local NAACP
group about racial reconciliation and lessons she learned after initially
hesitating to help a white farmer save his home. Speaking Thursday at the
National Association of Black Journalists convention, Sherrod said she
would "definitely" sue over the video that took her remarks out of context.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has since offered Sherrod a new job in
the department in advocacy and outreach. She has not decided whether to
accept. CBS
VOA VIEW: Pushing the issue may backfire.
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Arab
League Endorses Direct Talks Between PA And Israel
Israeli officials say US pressure bears fruit, Israel ready to negotiate;
Hamas rejects League's conditions as "cover for Zionist occupation." The
Arab League foreign ministers on Thursday authorized the Palestinian Authority
to enter direct negotiations with Israel and left it up to PA President
Mahmoud Abbas to decide on the timing. Israel immediately welcomed the
move taken at a special meeting in Cairo, with Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu issuing a statement in response saying he was "prepared to begin
direct and honest discussions with the Palestinian Authority in the coming
days." Jerusalem
Post
'US
Soldier Suspected In Wikileaks Case'
Evidence was found linking the Wikileaks release of 76,000 classified
documents on the Afghanistan war to one Pfc. Bradley Manning, according
to a Wall Street Journal report Thursday. According to the report, defense
officials said Manning, 22, was the same soldier who released a widely-publicized
video of a US Army helicopter shooting in Baghdad, an incident which resulted
in the deaths of two Reuters journalists and seven others. Investigators
searched the computers used by Manning and found evidence he had downloaded
the Afghanistan war logs from 2004 to 2009, a defense official said, according
to the report. Jerusalem
Post
Poll
Shows Pakistanis Growing Less Afraid Of Taliban
Pakistanis are less afraid the country will be taken over by extremists
and feel less threatened by the Taliban than last year, research suggests.
The Pew Global Attitudes Project poll suggests that in 2009, 69% were very
or somewhat worried about extremist groups taking control of Pakistan.
In 2010, just 51% of Pakistanis expressed such concerns, Pew found. Meanwhile,
nearly six in 10 Pakistanis polled described the US as an enemy and only
one in 10 called it a partner.
By contrast, more than eight in 10 Pakistanis view China favourably
and as a partner. BBC
Baghdad
Hit By Deadly Gun And Bomb Attacks
At least 16 people have been killed in shootings and explosions in
the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, officials say. Reports said three soldiers
were shot in the mainly Sunni district of Adhamiya in the north of the
city. As security forces went to the scene, bombs exploded in the same
area, killing at least 13 more people in a co-ordinated attack, the reports
say. At least six of those killed in the blasts were said to be members
of the security forces. BBC
Shell
Could Pursue BP For Gulf Damages
Shell today refused to rule out pursuing damages claims against BP
and other companies involved in the Gulf of Mexico disaster. The company
took a $56m (£36m) hit after it was forced to stand down seven rigs
and platforms because of the moratorium on drilling in the US imposed in
the wake of the disaster. The Anglo-Dutch firm, which has long been a fierce
rival of BP, said it would take another hit in the next quarter if the
moratorium continues. One of the projects affected is Perdido, Shell's
deepest deepwater well in the Gulf of Mexico, at just under 8,000ft. Shell
has had to delay plans for one or two new wells scheduled during the six-month
drilling ban. In total, production was down by 8,000 barrels a day. Guardian
Al-Qaida
'Planned 9/11 Style Attack On Kabul'
It may be one of the more audacious terrorist plots to be hatched in
Afghanistan, but it was certainly not the most original. The same al-Qaida
masterminds behind 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington planned to commit
a similar attack in the capital of the country that once harboured them,
according to a file among US military intelligence documents published
this week by the WikiLeaks website. Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida's second
in command, is said to have given the order for a team of 22 to board one
or more planes at Kabul airport, hijack the aircraft and steer them toward
a number of "important objectives". The targets were to include Hamid Karzai's
presidential palace, Nato headquarters, the British and US embassies and
the Ariana hotel – the whole which the CIA rented and used as its station
in Kabul. Guardian
State
Pension Is Not Enough To Live On, Minister Admits
Millions of Britons face a "hell of a shock" when they reach retirement
because of their failure to save. In his first major interview, the Pensions
Minister, Steve Webb, admitted that the basic state pension of £97
a week is "not enough to live on", and confirmed that the Government would
raise the state retirement age to 66 earlier than planned. He said that
around seven million people are currently not saving enough to meet their
retirement aspirations. Mr Webb agreed that the pensions industry has "an
image problem", but suggested that the many people who have shunned it
and instead chosen to rely on the value of their home to fund their retirement
are following a "very risky" strategy. Independent
Castro
To Chronicle The Birth Of His Revolution
He may no longer be president of the country he ruled so uncompromisingly
for almost half a century, but Fidel Castro once again seems to be everywhere
in Cuba. His latest foray into the limelight, announced yesterday, is a
first volume of memoirs to be published next month, chronicling the birth
of Cuba's communist revolution when his few hundred guerrilla fighters
defeated the far larger regular army of the dictator Fulgencio Batista.
The book, entitled The Strategic Victory, appears almost exactly 52 years
after the battle of Las Mercedes in the first week of August 1958, when
– in the words of a foretaste of its contents provided this week by El
Comandante to the Cuban website cubadebate.cu – "the fate of the tyranny
was sealed," and its military collapse became inevitable. Independent
Britain
To Be Biggest Country In Europe By 2050
Britain will see its population swell from today's 62.2 million to
77 million, an increase of 24 per cent. This will make it bigger than France,
projected to be 70 million and Germany, which is predicted to have 71.5
million citizens. The forecasts come form the Population Reference Bureau,
a US body which supplies data to governments and institutions around the
world. The predictions suggest that Britain will see its population increase
over the next 40 years at a far faster rate than nearly every other European
country.Telegraph
Vince
Cable Warns Against 'Economic Nationalism'
Speaking to politicians and businessmen in Delhi, Mr Cable said that
the "opening up" of the Indian and UK's economies is in both countries'
"mutual interest". The Business Secretary said that in the past, nationalistic
policies have led to trade warfare. His comments injected a dose of reality
into a three-day Coalition delegation to India that has majored on the
future business opportunities that exist between the two countries. In
what he called a "general point", Mr Cable said: "We are looking at this
quite sensibly in a bilateral context. There is always a danger of the
world economy sliding back into economic nationalism. Historically we have
had bouts in the past where national policies have led to trade warfare.
Telegraph
UN
Envoy Deplores Takeover Of Palestinian Homes By Israel Settlers
The United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process
has deplored today’s forcible takeover by armed Israeli settlers of a building
in Jerusalem’s Old City that housed nine Palestinian families, and called
on the Government to take immediate action. "I call on the Israeli authorities
to remove the settlers from the property and restore the status quo ante,”
Robert Serry said in a statement, describing the events as “unacceptable.”
The move follows the destruction by Israeli authorities yesterday of a
number of Palestinian commercial structures on the outskirts of East Jerusalem.
UN
News
UN
Supporting Effort To Help Victims Of Pakistani Floods
The United Nations is sending relief supplies to help victims in Pakistan
of heavy floods, which are the worst that some parts of the Asian nation
have seen in more than eight decades. Heavy rains in recent days have triggered
flash and river floods across Pakistan, causing death and widespread displacement,
according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA). Thousands of people have lost their homes and livelihoods, with
the waters destroying crops and damaging roads and bridges. UN
News
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