4VF News – Daily News Channel – Page 2220

Stanford scandal spreads

Customers queue outside the Stanford Group-owned Bank of Antigua in St. John's.
Antiguan and Barbudan regulators Friday took control of U.S.financier Robert Allen Stanford’s financial institutions on the twin-island nation, a day after federal agents served the Texas businessman with papers accusing him of running an investment fraud scheme.

The Financial Services Regulatory Commission of Antigua and Barbuda appointed receivers to manage Stanford International Bank Ltd. and Stanford Trust Company Ltd., the commission said in a statement. The receivers, Nigel Hamilton-Smith and Peter Wastell of Britain-based Vantis Business Recovery Services, are in Antigua with other recovery specialists to take control of the entities, the commission said. On Thursday, the FBI announced federal agents found Stanford in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and served him with papers accusing him and three of his companies of orchestrating a $9.2 billion investment fraud scheme. He has no criminal charges against him, and he was not taken into custody, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said. The FBI won’t talk about a criminal investigation of Stanford’s activities, but federal law enforcement officials familiar with the case leave no doubt that federal agents are investigating his financial dealings. But multiple officials indicated criminal charges are not imminent and would not discuss potential charges. Stanford has arranged to give his passport to one of his attorneys, who will offer it to federal authorities. CNN’s efforts to reach Stanford or company representatives were unsuccessful. Watch more on the case » In a complaint filed Tuesday in federal court in Dallas, Texas, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Stanford International Bank of using a network of financial advisers to sell about $8 billion of “certificates of deposit” to investors. The bank boasted it had a unique investment strategy that had allowed it to reap double-digit returns on its investments for the previous 15 years, the SEC said. The civil complaint alleged an additional scheme relating to $1.2 billion in sales.

Don’t Miss
England cricket severs Stanford links

CNN/Money: Missing billionaire found in Virginia

The Antigua-based bank claims its network has $51 billion in deposits and assets under management or advisement, with more than 70,000 clients in 140 countries. The allegations against Stanford and his companies have sparked runs on Stanford banks in Antigua and in Venezuela, where the government took over the local subsidiary after it recorded “extraordinary” withdrawals Tuesday and Wednesday, said Edgar Hernandez Behrens, Venezuela’s superintendent of banks. The SEC complaint also named James Davis, SIB’s chief financial officer; Laura Pendergest-Holt, chief investment officer of Stanford Financial Group; and investment adviser Stanford Capital Management. Meanwhile, Colombia’s stock market and bank watchdog said Friday Colombians who invested in the Bogota stock market through Stanford’s Colombian brokerage arm, Stanford Bolsa y Banca SA, run no risk of losing their funds. A Financial Services Superintendency spokeswoman told CNN that Stanford Bolsa y Banca managed three Bogota mutual funds worth a total of about $27 million (70 billion Colombian pesos) at current stock and currency market rates, together with individual client portfolios of around $98 million (250 billion Colombian pesos). She said extraordinary shareholder meetings had been called to decide whether the three mutual funds would be transferred to the management of another brokerage or would be liquidated. Individual clients have begun the process of transferring management of their portfolios to other brokerages, the Financial Services Superintendency spokeswoman said. Colombians were never able to deposit funds directly in Colombia with Stanford’s international banking arm.

CNN repeatedly tried calling the manager of Stanford Bolsa y Banca, but he declined to answer calls. In London, the England and Wales Cricket Board said it has terminated all contractual links with Stanford.

Is Obama Ready for a Hard-Right Israel?

After weeks of wrangling following the general election earlier this month, Benjamin Netanyahu is set to become Israel’s Prime Minister for the second time, putting Israel on a potential collision course with its Palestinians partners, its Arab neighbors and perhaps even its American ally.

Though Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party took only second place in the contest, President Shimon Peres asked Netanyahu to form a government on Friday after a majority of the country’s Knesset members backed the Likud leader for the job. Israeli politics has taken a dramatic shift to the right since the war in Gaza, and as a whole, right-wing parties fared better in the election than did the centrist Kadima Party — which finished first by a slim margin — and the crippled leftist Labor Party.

Without enough votes to form a government of his own, Netanyahu will have to build a ruling coalition that will inevitably be fragile. And because Kadima leader Tzipi Livni has ruled out a national-unity government with Likud, Netanyahu will probably look to parties even farther to the right than his own, such as the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party and the extreme Yisrael Beitenu Party of Avigdor Lieberman, who supports making Israel’s Arab citizens take a loyalty oath or face losing their voting rights.

But even on his own, Bibi would be a bitter pill for the rest of the region to swallow. Netanyahu ran on a platform that would bring the peace process to a halt. His stated policies would continue the construction of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, would brook no discussion of sharing Jerusalem as a joint capital between Israel and a future Palestinian state and, instead of negotiating for a two-state solution, would focus on “economic peace,” in effect giving Palestinians jobs but not their land.

Netanyahu’s stated agenda would put him at odds with the new Obama Administration in Washington. While Barack Obama has called for negotiations with Iran and Syria, Netanyahu would choose confrontation with both. Netanyahu is against trading the Golan Heights — which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 — in return for a peace treaty with Syria. And instead of talking to Iran about its nuclear program , Netanyahu has said he will prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons by any means necessary, including military strikes.

That Israelis would vote such an agenda into government is a measure of their country’s unwillingness to meet the international consensus that Israel trade land for peace with its neighbors. Ever since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip and began launching rockets into Israel, fewer and fewer Israelis see trading land for peace as a sustainable option. Nevertheless, during the Israeli military incursion into Gaza earlier this year, most Israelis were shocked to find that public opinion in Europe and the U.S. did not automatically support what they considered an appropriate act of self-defense. A Netanyahu government may end up merely giving last rites to a peace process that is already almost dead.
See pictures of 60 years of Israel. See pictures of Israeli soldiers sweeping into Gaza.

England cricket board severs Stanford links

The English Cricket Board have now formally terminated all negotiations with Sir Allen Stanford.
The England and Wales Cricket Board have confirmed they have terminated all contractual links with Sir Allen Stanford — the Texan billionaire charged with an alleged nine billion dollars fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

All negotiations between the ECB and Stanford were immediately suspended when the news broke on Tuesday — and the governing body has now formally announced they will not play any further Stanford Twenty20 matches in Antigua as well as shelving plans for the Quadrangular Twenty20 events, which were due to start at Lord’s in May. ECB chief executive David Collier told PA Sport. “The ECB was shocked by the charges filed against the Stanford organisation and personnel earlier this week. “Within minutes of the announcement, ECB determined to suspend any further discussions with Stanford and the board has now agreed to terminate the ECB’s agreements with Stanford.”

Don’t Miss
Windies hold on for draw

However, Collier has reiterated that the termination of that particular revenue stream will not affect the funds made available to English county sides this year. “Given the uncertainty of the financial markets and the sponsorship dispute between Digicel and the West Indies Cricket Board over the matches in Antigua in 2008, the Executive Committee and board, when setting the 2009 budgets, took a prudent position in creating a contingency in case the Antigua matches did not proceed,” Collier said.

England cricket board sever Stanford links

Don’t Miss
Windies hold on for draw

Under the deal struck between the ECB and financier Stanford last summer, England were due to play four further $20 million matches in the Caribbean, while the proposed Quadrangular events were scheduled to take place annually from 2009 to 2011, with each edition worth around $9m. However, Collier has reiterated that the termination of that particular revenue stream will not affect the funds made available to English county sides this year. “Given the uncertainty of the financial markets and the sponsorship dispute between Digicel and the West Indies Cricket Board over the matches in Antigua in 2008, the Executive Committee and board, when setting the 2009 budgets, took a prudent position in creating a contingency in case the Antigua matches did not proceed,” Collier said.

Study: Poor more at risk of cervical cancer

Cancer of the uterine cervix, a part of the uterus, can often be prevented through screenings and vaccination
A new British study has discovered that the highest rates of cervical cancer are found in some of London’s most deprived areas.

Significantly high rates of smoking and teenage pregnancies were also discovered in eight areas of the capital city. Researchers believed this was mainly fueled by a lower uptake of cervical screening in deprived areas. Elizabeth Davies, medical director of the Thames Cancer Registry, King’s College London, which carried out the latest research, told CNN: “What we see is that there is an excess of the disease in certain areas and in some groups of the female population.” “We wanted to identify some of the most critical areas.” Davies highlighted some other risk factors such as early sexual intercourse, number of partners and infection with human papilloma virus (HPV). The latest research comes after one published in December 2008 by the National Cancer Intelligence Network (NCIN) showed that deprivation doubles cervical cancer risk. In its study, Thames Cancer Registry highlighted that cervical cancer– a cancer of the neck of the womb– “is the second most common malignancy among females worldwide.”

Vital Signs

Each month CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta brings viewers health stories from around the world.

See more from the show »

“Although the five-year survival rates for this cancer are relatively high, on average women are diagnosed and die at a younger age than in most other types of cancer,” the report said. A vaccine that protects against the strains of HPV that lead to most cervical cancers is available in most countries, but Davies says screenings are still important. “In the UK, the vaccine is only given to young girls and does not protect against all HPV strains — women therefore still need to be screened.”

Don’t Miss
Breast cancer message goes global

Milestone moments in battle against cancer

CNN story helps surgeon perform “lifesaving” op

“Cervical cancer is largely a preventable disease” Davies told CNN. “We hope this study will lead to more screenings and higher awareness.” One story that has apparently led to a significant increase in cancer screenings is that of Jade Goody, a former reality TV star who has been diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer. The plight of Goody, a mother-of-two has been widely reported across the British media and is “most probably the cause for an increase in screenings” said Robert Music, director of the British cervical cancer organization, Jo’s Trust. “University Hospital Lewisham in south east London for example, has reported a 20 per cent increase in screenings” Music explained.

Obama shines stimulus spotlight on urban economy

President Obama spoke to a group of mayors from across the country Friday.
President Obama met Friday with 85 mayors from across the country to discuss the implementation of city-related funding from the $787 billion stimulus package.

“You shouldn’t have to succeed despite Washington; you should be succeeding with a hand from Washington, and that’s what you’re getting now,” Obama said at a White House reception. “This plan does more to lay a new foundation for our cities’ growth and opportunity than anything Washington has done in generations.” The economic stimulus package sets aside billions of dollars for highway construction, transit improvements, school modernization and community development block grants. Obama promised that the money would not be squandered or lost to graft and corruption. “What is required in return is unprecedented responsibility and accountability on all our parts,” he said. “If a federal agency proposes a project that will waste that money, I will not hesitate to call them out on it and put a stop to it,” he added. But, he noted, “I want everyone here to be on notice that if a local government does the same, I will call them out on it as well and use the full power of my office and our administration to stop it.” Watch Obama address the mayors » The mayors have put together a “Ready to Go” report that details 18,750 local infrastructure projects in 779 cities that can be started as soon as the funding is received.

Don’t Miss
Obama pushes stimulus plan in hard-hit Fort Myers

Will infrastructure stimulus create jobs

The projects, which represent an investment of $150 billion, would generate 1.6 million jobs in 2009 and 2010, according to the report. They range from creating bridge guard rails in Bessemer, Alabama, to renovating elementary schools in Norfolk, Virginia. Obama was joined at the meeting by Vice President Joe Biden, Attorney General Eric Holder, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Energy Secretary Steven Chu and Education Secretary Arne Duncan. U.S. Conference of Mayors President Manny Diaz — the mayor of Miami, Florida — spoke to reporters after the president’s speech and praised the White House for their assurance of a speedy process. “It’s refreshing for cities to be able to partner with the White House. We have worked on these issues for many, many years, but there’s nothing like having a true partner in the White House that we have today with the president, vice president and an outstanding Cabinet who understands the urban agenda,” he said. Diaz, an independent, said that although there may be diversity amongst the mayors, there is one thing they all have in common: “That is each and every day, we see people in our cities lose their jobs, lose their homes, school systems that continue to fail. … With the economic recovery plan, we’re all ready to go. We’ve been ready to go for a long time.” Ray Nagin, the Democratic mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, added that the mayors were given specific details on where the money would go. “We got specifics from the Cabinet secretaries on how the money will reach us very quickly. … I made that point that if this stimulus money travels on the same track [as it did for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina], then there will be lots of unspent dollars at the end of this initiative.” The recession is severely straining cities’ ability to meet their financial needs, according to a recent report from the National League of Cities. Eighty-four percent of cities are reporting fiscal difficulties, the highest percentage since the group started doing surveys in 1985. The fiscal outlook for urban areas is expected to remain tough in 2009. The report found that 92 percent of the cities surveyed expected to have trouble meeting their needs this year. To cope, cities are implementing hiring freezes and layoffs, delaying capital expenditures and instituting service cuts. Sixty-nine percent of cities have instituted hiring freezes or layoffs, and 42 percent are delaying or canceling infrastructure projects. Another 22 percent have instituted across-the-board spending cuts.

Cities are seeing their tax revenues decline as property values drop, shopping slows and unemployment rises. On top of that, nearly one in two city finance officers report difficulties in gaining access to credit and/or bond financing. City finances tend to lag behind the overall economy by 12 to 24 months, the league said. The weakening economic conditions will be felt by cities through 2009 and likely through most of 2010, the league said.

2009 Oscars: More snooze than sizzle?

As the clock ticks down to the 81st Academy Awards Sunday, audiences could be forgiven for losing interest. On the face of it, apart from Hugh Jackman hosting, this year’s Oscars doesn’t look like it will offer many thrills.

Sure, the once-yearly opportunity to poke fun at an ill-judged Oscars dress or a super-gushy acceptance speech there (gather, Kate, gather) is a welcome prospect in these dreary days of economic doom and gloom. But, if you are looking for a breathless moment of suspense as the gold envelope with the results of Best Film is ripped open, you are probably not going to get it. Click here to see this year’s Oscar nominations Unless there are any major upsets, Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” — the sleeper hit that has become a worldwide phenomenon — will probably take away the golden statue. Even the bookies are convinced. “I don’t consider that race to be close,” Johnny Avello, executive director of race and sports operations at betting company Wynn in Las Vegas told Time magazine. “‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is at even money.” Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Picture races explained Other favorites to nab a statuette, according to Avello, are Kate Winslet for Best Actress, Mickey Rourke for Best Actor, and Heath Ledger for Best Supporting Actor. If he wins, will be only the second actor ever to receive the honor posthumously. The other was Peter Finch in 1977. Nevertheless, things may not be as clear cut as some are suggesting. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” which stars Academy favorite Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt could cause some upsets for “Slumdog.” David Fincher’s film has been almost completely ignored for any big prizes so far this awards season, but has 13 nominations from the Academy. Best Picture and Best Director usually go to the same movie, but it is possible the Academy could split them between crowd-pleaser, “Slumdog” and “Benjamin Button” this year. As actors are strongly represented in the Academy, “Benjamin Button” could snare a Best Director gong for Fincher for producing strong performances from Blanchett and Pitt. However, it will be hard for the Academy to ignore the logistical difficulties Danny Boyle had to overcome shooting in the slums of Mumbai. “Benjamin Button,” a noughties update of “Forrest Gump” could also pick up an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Eric Roth who won the accolade for “Forrest Gump” in 1995. There’s also all to play for in a strong Best Supporting Actress category: Amy Adams and Viola Davies who both give excellent performances in “Doubt” — particularly stage actress Davies who delivers a scene-stealing performance across from Meryl Streep at the film’s climax — could cancel each other out.

Don’t Miss
Oscars countdown: Best picture race

Ledger fans demand Joker retires

Predicting the Oscars is a fool’s game. Here goes…

Bad Oscar speeches are for losers

If Mickey Rourke is successful for “The Wrestler,” it could mean Marisa Tomei loses out which could mean a repeat of Penelope Cruz’s BAFTA win for her performance in Woody Allen’s Barcelona-based rom-com “Vicky Cristina Barcelona.” Best Foreign Language film is always a good source of debate — not least because only one film can be submitted per country. If a country is having a strong year cinematically, great films may lose out on their chance before the competition starts. One of this years’ major surprises is that Matteo Garrone’s astonishingly gritty Mafia movie, “Gomorrah,” which won the Grand Prize at Cannes in 2008 and which was Italy’s submission was not shortlisted by the the Academy. Some critics have been extremely scathing about the Academy’s treatment of foreign language films. “It’s difficult to say what the furrin-film Oscar measures,” spits Andrew O’Hehir on the Beyond The Multiplex Blog on Salon.com,”other than providing readings from an especially eccentric focus group.” Among the films that were nominated, everyone expects Laurent Cantet’s semi-improvised school drama “The Class” which won the Golden Palm at this year’s Cannes to take away top honors here. The other main contender is Ari Folman’s inventive animated documentary “Waltz with Bashir.” So, we’ll have to wait and see if all will go as predicted or if the Academy has some surprises up their sleeve. Let’s hope it will be more sizzle than snooze.

Poll: Obama rating slips, but still high

A poll shows approval of President Obama slipping, but most of the loss of support is among Republicans.
A national poll indicates that two out of three Americans approve of the way Barack Obama is handling his job as president of the United States.

The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey, released Friday, also suggests that six in 10 support the economic stimulus package that Obama signed into law Tuesday. Obama’s approval rating stands at 67 percent in the new poll. That’s down 9 percentage points from the most recent CNN poll, which was conducted in early February. But a breakdown by party suggests that the drop doesn’t mean that the new president is in serious trouble. “Since nearly all of the decline came among Republicans, this doesn’t indicate that the honeymoon is already over,” said Keating Holland, CNN’s polling director. “Among Democrats, Obama’s approval went from 96 percent to 92 percent; among Republicans, it dropped from 50 percent in early February to 31 percent now.” Among independents, the president’s approval rating now stands at 61 percent, down 6 percentage points from earlier in the month. Sixty percent of those questioned in the poll favored the economic stimulus plan, with 39 percent opposing the package. The $787 billion law is designed to pump up the economy by increasing federal government spending, sending aid to states in fiscal trouble and by cutting taxes. Watch Obama’s comments after signing the stimulus » Do Americans think the stimulus will work A slight majority, 53 percent, said the plan will improve economic conditions, while 44 percent said it won’t help stimulate the economy. And 31 percent of those questioned indicated the package will improve their own financial situation, with two out of three saying the stimulus won’t help them personally.

Don’t Miss
Ticker: RNC’s verdict of first month: ‘Disappointing’

Obama shines stimulus spotlight on urban areas

Schneider: Obama repairing America’s image abroad

“Americans often don’t see a connection between big government programs and their own wallets,” Holland said. “That’s what makes the various bailout packages such a hard sell with the public, and why the White House might have felt that they needed to include tax cuts in the stimulus package.” Of those 53 percent who said the plan will work, 19 percent felt it will start improving the economy by the end of the year, with 16 percent saying it will make a difference by next year and another 18 percent feeling it will take longer than two years. “It goes without saying that Democrats support the stimulus bill and Republicans oppose it,” Holland added. “Nearly nine in 10 Democrats favored the plan, while three-quarters of Republicans thought it was a bad idea.” iReport.com: How is Obama doing so far Forty-nine percent said they think the passage of the economic stimulus plan was a major victory for Obama, with 28 percent calling it a minor accomplishment and 22 percent indicating it was not a positive achievement. The bill passed Congress less than four weeks after Obama took office. It passed the House of Representatives with no Republican support. In the Senate, three of 41 Republicans backed the bill.

The survey’s release comes one month after Obama’s inauguration. Fifty-eight percent of those polled said Obama has so far met their expectations, and another 16 percent suggested that he’s exceeded their expectations. Nearly one in four said that the president has fallen short of what they expected. The CNN/Opinion Research poll was conducted Wednesday and Thursday, with 1,046 people questioned by telephone. The survey’s sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

After the Stimulus, Can Obama Tame the Deficit?

Barack Obama calls them the Propeller-Heads, the cheerful band of financial nerds he has charged with saving America’s economy. And on the Friday before Presidents’ Day weekend, they were ready to show him the latest piece of their rescue plan: the 2010 federal budget. Having just squeezed through Congress what may be the largest spending bill in history, the President now needed to do something that would make the stimulus fight look easy: show the country and the world that he was as serious about preventing waste as he was about promoting growth. Only a lean federal budget would restore consumer confidence, keep congressional spending hawks in line and reassure wary foreigners so they would keep lending America the money it needs to climb out of this deep, dark hole.

When Obama walked into the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing, his economic wizards, led by Budget Director Peter Orszag and economy boss Larry Summers, were all wearing rainbow-colored baseball caps topped with goofy blue propellers. Obama laughed. He knew better than anyone else that it would take some mighty brainpower–and luck and political genius–to get this next stage right. Orszag had been working the problem for months, leading a four-hour meeting on his birthday, Dec. 16, in Chicago, at which Obama showed up with a vanilla cake. Orszag, Summers, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Orszag’s deputy Robert Nabors agreed that there was no avoiding a deficit this year of about $1.5 trillion, including the bank bailout and the stimulus bill. They were prepared to swim even deeper into the red next year, expanding Obama’s initiatives on renewable energy and high-speed rail lines and raising the deficit to 10% of gross domestic product, the highest figure since World War II. But assuming the economy has begun to turn around, the two-year spending splurge would be followed by a steady return to fiscal sanity: Obama wanted to bring the deficit down to 3% of GDP–still a whopping $546 billion–by 2014. So what is the magic formula How does the White House buy time to spend now without spooking the markets or stoking fears that the U.S. intends to inflate its way out of debt Obama’s aides say they can do that by winding down the war in Iraq, cutting fat and raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans–and, later, by entitlement reform. All during the campaign, Obama talked about going through the budget “line by line,” zeroing out programs that don’t work or have outlived their usefulness. Even as he signed the stimulus bill, he had already pivoted to the next message. “We will need to do everything in the short term to get our economy moving again,” he said, “while at the same time recognizing that we have inherited a trillion-dollar deficit, and we need to begin restoring fiscal discipline and taming our exploding deficits over the long term.”

Pinki brings a smile to the Oscars

While all eyes seem to be on "Slumdog Millionaire" for the Oscars, the eyes of a very courageous little girl will be focused on another India based film at the ceremony.

It’s called “Smile Pinki” and it’s up for an Oscar too — nominated for best short documentary. The little girl watching it from inside the Oscar ceremony has traveled all the way from her small Indian village with her dad — and it has been an incredible journey for little Pinki Sonkar. “Smile Pinki” tells the story of her transformation from a sad outcast to a vibrant 8-year-old with plenty of spunk. Pinki was born with a cleft lip and her impoverished family did not have the money for corrective surgery. Like millions of other children born with the lip deformity in developing countries, Pinki simply had to live with it and suffer the social consequences. Her father Rajendra Sonkar says: “She used to go to school and the kids would not befriend her. She would say I don’t want to go to school.” Watch how Pinki was transformed by the operation »

Don’t Miss
Will ‘Slumdog’ have its day at the Oscars

‘Slumdog’ scoops seven awards at wet BAFTAs

‘Slumdog’ director defends pay arrangement for child actors

Special Report: 2009 Academy Awards

“Pinki was a depressed, sad, lonely, shy, young little girl, growing up on the periphery of the society in a little village,” said Satish Kalra, director of Smile Train’s South Asian region, after meeting with Pinki. The little girl’s own family was ashamed of her Kalra says. But all of that has changed. Pinki is now a real pistol, full of energy and confidence, and she has a fantastic smile too — thanks to the Smile Train charity. Smile Train teaches doctors in their own countries to operate on cleft lips, a deformity of up to four million children across the world. Pinki just happened to be one of the chosen candidates for surgery and was also chosen to be the subject of the documentary. The film chronicles Pinki’s transformation, following her from her village to the hospital and home again. The film’s director is Megan Mylan. She has won several awards but not an Oscar. This is her big chance. For Pinki and her dad, being able to see the film’s director win an Oscar would be a thrill.

But they know they already have the greatest prize: Pinki’s new smile. “I am so happy that my daughter’s lips have been repaired,” her dad Rajendra said with a smile.