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E-reader News Editionhttp://www.LibertyNewsprint.com15/12/09 - 16/12/09
Democrats take first step on uphill path to immigrationoverhaul
By Tim Gay nor ( Front Row Washington  )
Submitted at 12/15/2009 3:38:07 PM
Democratic lawmakers in theU.S. Congress on Tuesdayintroduced a bill to overhaulimmigration laws, the first step inwhat analysts say will be anuphill slog to get thecontroversial issue to a votebefore midterm elections nextyear.Rep Luis V. Gutierrez, anIllinois Democrat, introduced theComprehensive ImmigrationReform for America’s Securityand Prosperity Act of 2009, thatseeks to give millions of illegalimmigrants a shot at legal status.It was backed by more than 20other Democrats in the U.S.House of Representatives.“We have waited patiently for aworkable solution to ourimmigration crisis to be taken upby this Congress and ourPresident,” Gutierrez said in astatement. “The time for waitingis over. This bill will bepresented before Congressrecesses for the holidays so thatthere is no excuse for inaction inthe New Year.”Immigration is a divisive issue inthe United States where some 12million illegal immigrants liveand work in the shadows andwhere Hispanics, the largestimmigrant group, are anincreasingly weighty voting bloc.President Barack Obama, whowas backed overwhelmingly byHispanics in his election lastyear, has said he wants to seelegislation by early next year. Hispredecessor, President GeorgeW. Bush, tried and failed to getreforms passed.Obama supports the idea of offering citizenship to illegalimmigrants in good standingwhile cracking down onemployers who hireundocumented workers, as wellas hardening the porous borderwith MexicoReform advocates calledGutierrez’ bill a “step in theprocess” toward raisingimmigration reform in Congress,where Sens. Chuck Schumer, aNew York Democrat, andLindsey Graham, a SouthCarolina Republican, areexpected to push ahead with animmigration bill early next year.“This is immigrants’ advocatesand union activists’ move tooutline their position, plant theflag and trigger a debate,” saidTamar Jacoby, the president of ImmigrationWorks USA, anational employers’ coalition.“Even Representative Gutierrezhas said on the record that heexpects the Senate to act first,”she added.Democratic officials inWashington, however, said lastmonth they were skeptical therewill be enough time or politicalwill to tackle the issue next year,although it could be on theagenda in 2011 or 2012depending on the outcome of congressional elections nextNovember — a position sharedby political analysts on Tuesday.“Given that they are going tohave enough trouble in themidterms, there’s no reason whythe Democrats would wantanother problem out there,” saidMark Jones, a political scienceprofessor at Rice University.“My best bet is that they’re goingto try and push this on until2011.”Photo credit: Reuters/Jose LuisMagaua (demonstrators againstU.S. immigration raids)
 
2E-reader News Edition
Texting up, newspaper reading down
By David Alexan der ( Front Row Washington  )
Submitted at 12/15/2009 2:43:56 PM
The figures have been tallied andthe bad news is in.Newspaper sales have droppedby 7.2 million copies a day so farthis decade, from 55.8 million in2000 to 48.6 million in 2008.So says the just-releas ed 2010edition of theStatistical Abstractof the United States.With newspaper sales dropping,something was bound to give,and so it did.A bunch of newspapers went outof business.The number of daily newspapersin the United States fell by 72,from 1,480 in 2000 to 1,408 in2008.So what are people reading if they’re not reading newspapers?Text messages from the look of it.The Statistical Abstract, put outby the Census Bureau, says thenumber of text messages sent oncell phones more than doubledfrom 48 billion in December2007 to 110 billion in December2008.All that texting wasn’t cheap.The average consumer spent$1,100 on phone services in2007, with 55 percent of thatgoing for cell phones.The United States had some 270million cell phone subscribers in2008, paying an average monthlybill of about $50.The Census Bureau compiled the2010 Statistical Abstract from themost up-to-date figures availablein the summer of 2009.Other tidbits:– Libraries in Florida had anaverage of 24.4 computershooked to the Internet andavailable to the public in 2007,while those in Vermont had anaverage of only 4.7.– Most college freshmen inRhode Island hail fromsomeplace else. Only 25.8percent of college freshmen therecalled Rhode Island home. InUtah it’s another story, with 89.9percent of college freshmengoing to school in their homestate.– And on the scary side, 6percent of all students in 2007reported carrying a weapon onschool property at least onceduring the previous month.The best-selling StatisticalAbstract has been published since1878.Back then, the federalgovernment spent $257.7 millionand ran a surplus of more than$20 million.And texting, why that wasordinarily done via the nation’s39,258 post offices. For more Reuters political news,click here.Photo credit: Reuters/Mark Leffingwell (EW ScrippsPresident Rich Boehneannounces closure of RockyMountain News in Denver earlierthis year); Reuters/Eric Thayer(15-year-old Kate Moore winsNational Texting Championshipin June)
Will heat fromthe Hill influenceBernanke?
By Joseph Lazz aro ( BloggingStocks  )
Submitted at 12/15/2009 6:00:00 PM
Filed under:Politics,Federal Reserve,Financial CrisisDo you think Fed Chair Ben Bernanke isfeeling a little heat these days?Well, that's sort of like asking, doyou think theNew York Yankeeshave a pretty good lineup?A faction of Congress --mistakenly -- blames primarilythe Fed for the housing bubble,subsequent bust, and the financialcrisis. Some of these very samerepresentatives and senators alsoargue that bad mortgages largelystemmed from the federalgovernment's 'forcing banks tolend' to citizens who were high-risk, and that banks wouldn'thave lend to these applicants ontheir own. Continue reading Will heat from the Hill influence Bernanke? Will heat from the Hill influenceBernanke?originally appeared onBloggingStockson Tue, 15 Dec2009 18:00:00 EST. Please seeourterms for use of feeds.Permalink |Email this|Comments
Three Twitter games you must try
By Don Reising er ( Webware.com  )
We take a look at three titles thatuse the microblogging service tohelp you get your gaming fix.
Top News/ Finance/ Tech/ 
 
3E-reader News Edition
Serious Fraud Office launches probe intoKaupthing bank
By Simon Bowers (World news and comment from the Guardian | guardian.co.uk  )
Submitted at 12/16/2009 7:41:32 AM
Failed Icelandic bank's UKsavings arm will be part of inquiryThe Serious Fraud Office hasannounced an officialinvestigation into suspected UKfrauds linked to the failedIcelandic bank Kaupthing, whichcollapsed in October last year.The SFO's white-collar crimeunit said the inquiry wouldinclude successful efforts byKaupthing's UK subsidiary,Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander,to attract British savers to its high-interest Edge savings account."The investigation will seek toidentify whethermisrepresentations or falserepresentations werecommunicated by the bank in thepush to attract UK investors," theSFO said. "Another focus for uswill be the decision-makingprocesses, which appear to haveallowed substantial value to beextracted from the bank in theweeks and days prior to itscollapse."The SFO investigation followsmonths of intelligence exchangesbetween British prosecutors andtheir Icelandic counterparts.On 8 October last year theFinancial Services Authorityused new powers to seize onlinedeposits at Kaupthing Edge,transferring them to Dutch rivalING Direct. The interventionstemmed a run on deposits butprecipitated the collapse of theIcelandic parent bank.As well as building a substantialUK deposit base, a largeproportion of Kaupthing's loanbook had been made up of loansto private businesses controlledby wealthy UK entrepreneurs.Among them were Robert andVincent Tchenguiz and theirbrother-in-law Vivian Imerman,as well as Nick and ChristianCandy, Simon Halabi and retailerKevin Stanford.A confidential summary of thebank's loan book was publishedon internet site Wikileaks earlierthis year, prompting widespreadcriticism of Kaupthing. Manymultimillion-euro loans wereadvanced on little or nocollateral.Critics have also expressedconcern that some of the bank'slargest clients also had complexrelationships with the banks. Forexample, Robert Tchenguiz andKevin Stanford separatelyborrowed large sums fromKaupthing, had direct or indirectinvestment interests in the bank'sshares, and were involved in jointventure private equityinvestments with Kaupthing.In the autumn it emerged thatKaupthing's former executivechairman, Sigurdur Einarsson,who lives in London, had beenmade an official suspect byIcelandic fraud prosecutorsexamining alleged marketmanipulation at the bank. Thatinvestigation relates to aninvestment in the bank by Qatariroyal Sheikh Mohammed BinKhalifa Al-Thani, weeks beforeits collapse.In a stock market statement,Kaupthing did not mention thatSheikh Mohammed's investmenthad been financed via a complexcorporate structure using loansfrom Kaupthing itself. "We aredelighted to welcome SheikhMohammed as a shareholder,"Einarsson said. "We arecontinually focused on attractingnew investors to the bank and arehappy to see that our strategy of increasing the diversity of ourshareholder base has provenfruitful."Investigators in Iceland are alsolooking into Kaupthing's officialstatements in relation to aninvestment in the bank lastsummer by British-based tycoonsMoises and Mendi Gertner. Thebrothers became the owners of a2.5% holding in Kaupthing, butinvestigators are examining howthe investment was financed.There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of theGertners.Meanwhile Icelandic regulatorshave also passed a file to criminalinvestigators there concerningloans made by Kaupthing to acompany owned by KevinStanford.The focus of the allegationsconcerns whether Kaupthingused Trenvis, a Stanford-controlled company in the BritishVirgin Islands, to orchestratetransactions that moved the priceof certain complex derivativesindicating the bank's financialhealth. These prices had beenamong the first warning lightsflashing over Kaupthing'sstretched finances.There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of Stanford.The scope of the SFO'sinvestigation remains unclear.•Serious Fraud Office•Banking•Financial crisis•Robert Tchenguiz•Iceland•Savings Simon Bowers guardian.co.uk © Guardian News& Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to ourTerms & Conditions|More Feeds
Options update: GeneralElectric volatilitydecreases afterforecasting flat revenue
By Paul Foster ( BloggingStocks  )
Submitted at 12/16/2009 8:00:00 AM
Filed under:General Electric(GE),OptionsGeneral Electric (GE) closed at$15.75. GE forecasts flat revenueand margin growth in 2010. GEJanuary option implied volatilityof 33 is below its 26-week average of 39, according to Track Data, suggesting decreasing pricemovement.IVX Volatility Monitor: PHLXOil Service Index (OSX) wasdown 2.6% to 30.9, NASDAQ(NDX) was down 0.2% to 20,Gold and Silver (XAU) dropped1.5% to 41, according toIVolatility.Option Update is provided byStock Specialist Paul Foster of theflyonthewall.com. Options update: General Electricvolatility decreases afterforecasting flat revenueoriginally appeared onBloggingStockson Wed, 16 Dec2009 08:00:00 EST. Please seeourterms for use of feeds.Permalink |Email this|Comments
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