Thursday, June 30, 2005

in the news this week

WASHINGTON -- Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned Congress Thursday that a big increase in tariffs on Chinese imports would "materially lower" U.S. living standards and urged lawmakers instead to let financial markets resolve trade imbalances with that country. (WSJ)

WASHINGTON (AP) - A divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses against their will for private development in a decision anxiously awaited in communities where economic growth often is at war with individual property rights.

The high court's ruling on eminent domain "now allows government to be in cahoots with business to steal property from private owners to give essentially to the highest bidders," said Gordon, the communications director for the Libertarian Party of Connecticut. "It's crossing a line that I hoped we never were going to cross," he told Cybercast News Service.

On Monday June 27, Logan Darrow Clements, faxed a request to Chip Meany the code enforcement officer of the Towne of Weare, New Hampshire seeking to start the application process to build a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road. This is the present location of Mr. Souter's home. Clements, CEO of Freestar Media, LLC, points out that the City of Weare will certainly gain greater tax revenue and economic benefits with a hotel on 34 Cilley Hill Road than allowing Mr. Souter to own the land. ( Freestar Media)

NORFOLK, Va. -- Two North Carolina counties have stopped turning over shelter animals to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
Officials said they were surprised to learn the group euthanized cats and dogs instead of trying to find them homes. (AP)

The move by Judge Elizabeth Maas brings to $1.57 billion the amount that Morgan Stanley must pay Perelman, who claimed the firm defrauded him in the 1998 sale of Coleman Co. to Sunbeam Corp. Morgan Stanley must post a $1.8 billion bond before any appeal, the judge said. …Jurors in West Palm Beach, Fla., found May 18 that Morgan Stanley, a Sunbeam adviser, should be punished for misrepresenting its client's financial health and for mishandling e-mails. (NY POST)

Federal prosecutors are investigating one of the nation's most aggressive class-action law firms, Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman, for alleged fraud, conspiracy and kickbacks in scores of securities lawsuits, and could seek criminal charges against the firm itself and its principals. (WSJ)

Mr. Hevesi isn't the only one whose campaign has received contributions from Milberg Weiss. Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's gubernatorial campaign has already received $15,000 from the firm, and another $35,000 from partner Melvyn Weiss as an individual, according to state campaign-finance records and Cynthia Darrison, managing director of Mr. Spitzer's campaign. That's on top of at least $3,000 the firm contributed to Mr. Spitzer's 2002 campaign for attorney general. (NY SUN)

Iran's new hardline president-elect, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, yesterday threw down a challenge to western leaders by vowing to resist international pressure to abandon the country's nuclear programme and branding Israel the source of instability in the Middle East. (The Guardian, UK)

Watching coverage of Iran's presidential election on television dredged up 25-year-old memories that prompted four of the former hostages to exchange e-mails. And those four realized they shared the same conclusion — the firm belief that President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had been one of their Iranian captors(1979 Hostage Crisis).(FOX NEWS)

China is building its military forces faster than U.S. intelligence and military analysts expected, prompting fears that Beijing will attack Taiwan in the next two years, according to Pentagon officials. (Washington Times)

On Fox News, Mr Rumsfeld said: “We're not going to win the insurgency. The Iraqi people are going to win against the insurgency. That insurgency could go on for any number of years. Insurgencies tend to go on five, six, eight, 10, 12 years.” (FT)

Public attitudes toward the press, which have been on a downward track for years, have become more negative in several key areas. Growing numbers of people question the news media's patriotism and fairness. Perceptions of political bias also have risen over the past two years. (PEW Research Center)

About 48 percent of Italians miss their lira and blame the common currency for pushing up prices, according to a June 11 survey by consumer group Telefono Blu. Politicians are attracting tens of thousands of supporters to rallies seeking the 500,000 signatures needed to force a referendum on scrapping the euro. (Bloomberg)

June 29 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. economy grew at a 3.8 percent annual rate from January through March, matching the pace in the previous three months and suggesting Federal Reserve policy makers will keep raising interest rates.

During the first four months of 2005, investors accounted for nearly one in 10 mortgages used to buy homes in the U.S., according to a new analysis by LoanPerformance, a unit of First American Corp. that tracks 46 million mortgages monthly and provides information to lenders and other industry participants. The investor share for the period, 9.86%, compares with 8.67% in 2004 and less than 6% in 2001. (WSJ)

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. -- A New York state lawmaker says he's embarrassed, after he mistakenly sent out an e-mail message that referred to his constituents as "idiots." (wftv.com)

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