The America's Intelligence Wire articles from May 2003

The America's Intelligence Wire archives from May 2003

UPDATE 1-Visa, Mastercard to pay $3 bln to settle debit suit.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Visa and Mastercard have agreed to pay a total of $3 billion to settle a long-running suit over debit-card fees brought by the nation's biggest retailers, a lawyer representing the...

Iraqi Protesters Killed in Fallujah; New Political Parties - Part 1Emerge From Basra; Mercy Corps En Route to Iraq to Provide Aid to Iraqis; Interviews with John Burns, Steven Brill, Margret Larson, Martin Indyx.
May 1, 2003... (From CNN News) AARON BROWN, HOST: And good evening again, everyone. Word came today that President Bush tomorrow will formally declare the end of combat in Iraq. Not expected to say the war has been won, partly because Iraq is still a...

Iraqi Protesters Killed in Fallujah; New Political Parties - Part 3 Obviously, any time post conflict those skills are really going to be needed, and in a place like Iraq with no real history of that, those skills are particularly important to impart. BRO.
May 1, 2003... (From CNN News) Copyright: Content and programming copyright 2003 Cable News Network, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Prepared by eMediaMillWorks, Inc. (f/k/a Federal Document Clearing House, Inc.) No license is granted to the user of this...

UPDATE 6-Tokyo stocks rise as banks get targeted for more aid.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) TOKYO (CBS.MW) - Japanese stocks rose in afternoon trade Thursday as banks extended lofty gains for a second day on reports that the government has more plans to prop up the battered financial industry....

GE in talks to sell unit to Swiss Re for $2 bln-report.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Pulses)) General Electric has been holding talks to sell at least part of its life-reinsurance operations to Swiss Reinsurance in a deal that could fetch the diversified conglomerate as much as $2 billion, the Wall...

Report: Bank mulls sale of TD Waterhouse.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Toronto-Dominion Bank reportedly is exploring the possible sale of the U.S. division of its TD Waterhouse Discount Brokerage unit, according to a published report. A story in the...

GE in talks to sell reinsurance unit to Swiss Re-report.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- General Electric has been holding talks to sell at least part of its life-reinsurance operations to Swiss Reinsurance in a deal that could fetch the diversified conglomerate as much as...

Largent Tries His Hand at Lobbying.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) Former House member and Seattle Seahawks receiver Steve Largent (R-Okla.) is dipping his toes into the lobby biz. Largent recently became affiliated with the law and lobby firm Wiley Rein & Fielding as a...

Los Alamos Contract Open for Bids.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced yesterday that the government will require competitive bids for the contract to manage the troubled Los Alamos National Laboratory when the current pact expires in 2005....

Drug Firms Boost Bush's AIDS Plan.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) President Bush's $15 billion plan to fight AIDS internationally is getting a big behind-the-scenes boost from drug companies and other businesses with a financial stake in combating the disease in Africa. Top...

Rumsfeld Pays Visit to Postwar Iraq.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) BAGHDAD, April 30 -- Forty-two days after U.S. forces invaded Iraq, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld paid a triumphant visit to Baghdad today, meeting his top ground commander in former president Saddam...

SARS Inciting 'Mass Panic' In Beijing.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) BEIJING, April 30 -- The SARS epidemic in Beijing is causing "mass panic," and efforts to fight it are plagued by a lack of hospital beds and trained health professionals, the city's new acting mayor said today....

Vietnamese Celebrate Progress Against Virus.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) HANOI, April 30 -- "No more SARS!" exclaimed health worker Pham Minh Hoang as several dozen passengers arriving from Bangkok handed him their health forms at the airport health quarantine desk tonight. Pham...

Bethlehem Steel Corp. Is No More.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) Bethlehem Steel Corp., the company that forged the steel for the Golden Gate Bridge and many of the armaments the nation used to win world wars, ceased to exist yesterday. Felled by cheap imports, overwhelming...

Flight Attendants Lobby for Certification.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) Flight attendants, who arguably have been hit harder than other airline workers by the fallout from terrorism, recession and bankruptcy, have surprised many in the business with their vigorous role before Congress...

A Comeback To Be Doubted.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) You'd think dot-coms had finally connected their dots, considering how they're roaring back to life on Wall Street. Many top Internet stocks have doubled since last year, leading an impressive rally on the Nasdaq...

Fraud Joins the Bidding Online.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) Rick Skinner sold a laptop on an online auction but never got his money. Another victim bought a top-of-the-line set of speakers that never came in the mail. A third paid $5,000 for what he thought were vintage...

Jousting With Rumor Mills.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) One evening last week Pauline "Polly" Elmore received an e-mail notification that her computer had been infected with a virus. Worse yet, Elmore, the owner of Fairfax-based PR Works, was informed that the bug had...

Tyco Says Accounting Errors Total $1.3 Billion.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) NEW YORK, April 30 -- Tyco International Ltd. said today that it has discovered about $1.3 billion in new accounting problems, resulting in a quarterly loss of $467.9 million. The beleaguered conglomerate...

Deficit Grows At Agency That Backs Pensions.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) The federal agency that guarantees the pensions of workers whose employers go bankrupt sank deeper into the red in the past six months, to a deficit of about $5.4 billion, officials disclosed yesterday. The...

Warner Begins Looking Beyond Va.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) RICHMOND -- Virginia Gov. Mark R. Warner is raising his national profile among fellow Democrats with a series of appearances designed to showcase his fiscal discipline, centrist politics and sharper, partisan...

Children's Advocate On Path to Sainthood.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) A Roman Catholic woman from the District who founded a national organization to serve needy children has been accepted by the Vatican as a candidate for sainthood. Mary Virginia Merrick, who built the...

After 2 Years, Clues Still Being Sought in Levy Case.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) Investigators in the Chandra Levy homicide case are continuing to look into the possibility that she was killed by a sexual predator in Rock Creek Park and are focusing on a few dozen sex offenders, including...

Union's Fiscal Oversight Criticized.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) A federal judge sharply criticized the American Federation of Teachers yesterday for failing to secure audits from the leadership of the Washington Teachers' Union for several years, allowing former local union...

Schaefer Questions Ehrlich's Tax Vow.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. voted yesterday to raise Maryland's tax on homes and other property by nearly 60 percent, but vowed that next year he would slash state spending so that tax increases would be...

Magnets' Future Still in Flux.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) As Iris T. Metts prepares to step down after four years as Prince George's County schoolchief, she is leaving behind a magnet program with a painful past and an uncertain future. Last summer, a federal judge...

Expo to Celebrate the Everyday Work of Government Employees.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) The kickoff of Public Service Recognition Week begins tomorrow with an Expo on the Mall featuring more than 100 exhibits and demonstrations showing how the government touches the lives of every American. The...

Man U's Perfect Pitch.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) Picture a professional sports team that has the tradition of hockey's Montreal Canadiens, wins as often as baseball's New York Yankees and evokes as much love and disdain as football's Dallas Cowboys. Picture a...

In Japan, a Bit of a Bronx Cheer.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) TOKYO, April 30 -- There on the screen stood Hideki Matsui, known to some as the Babe Ruth of Japan. More like Benedict Arnold, in the view of 21-year-old Asuka Arakaki, a fan in a sports bar in a trendy area of...

Mystics, WNBA Ready to Get Going.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) In the WNBA, being able to cope is critical. That becomes even more important to the Washington Mystics and the 13 other teams who begin a later-than-expected start of training camp today, because the survival of...

Supportive Fans Make This A Golf Town.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) Don't worry, the former Kemper Open, now the Capital Open and soon to be the Fill-In-The-Blank Open, will survive. And probably thrive. Thanks to the enormous support of Washington golf fans over the last 23...

On a Bumpy Road in a Bumpy Time.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) ON THE ROAD TO BAGHDAD, April 30 Donald Rumsfeld flew military air from Kuwait City to Baghdad today for a firsthand update on what was going on in occupied Iraq. This correspondent took the same voyage, by...

Paper and Patterns.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) Chris Ohrstrom needed three years of research and development before he figured out how to reproduce 18th- and 19th-century wallpaper. It wasn't computer chips or complex programming that held him up. Ohrstrom and...

Fauquier Gets $10,472 To Cover Sniper Costs.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) The Fauquier County Sheriff's Department said it has received more than $10,000 from the U.S. Department of Justice to help cover overtime bills for deputies who protected schools, gas stations and major highway...

Deputy Pursues Suit Against Sheriff.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) A Loudoun County sheriff's deputy who claims he was demoted because he criticized the department's handling of a sexual assault investigation has refiled a federal lawsuit against Sheriff Stephen O. Simpson, two...

Are Hybrids Clogging HOV Lanes?
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) D ear Dr. Gridlock: I have mixed feelings about current state laws that allow hybrids onto the HOV lanes with only one occupant. While I agree that these cars are good for the environment and should be given a tax...

Owen's Offer for Haymarket On Hold.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) Negotiations between a local businessman and Haymarket over the sale of its 1.5-acre town center have hit a snag. Last week the Haymarket Town Council unanimously agreed to accept a $1.5 million bid from...

Manassas Mayor Casts Tie-Breakers on Budget.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) Aided by rare tie-breaking votes cast by Mayor Marvin L. Gillum (R), the Manassas City Council hashed out a $78.3 million spending plan Monday that will restore funding for a city career services center. The...

Euille, Troy Are Victors In Battle for Money.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) And the winners are . . . mayoral candidate William D. "Bill" Euille (D) and City Council candidate Patrick R. "Pat" Troy (I) in a landslide. Well, at least when it comes to counting the cash. In the last week of...

Is There a Mansion in Mayor Williams's Future?
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) There are a lot of questions still unanswered about the proposed mayoral mansion in Foxhall: Will the Casey Foundation, which donated the money and land for the project, drop out if neighbors continue to protest...

Trible's Entry Could Scramble Potential GOP Field for No. 2 Spot.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) The best little race in Virginia politics is getting so crowded Republicans will need a scorecard soon to keep the candidates straight. Former U.S. senator and current state college president Paul S. Trible...

Columbia Council Rewards CA President Several Times Over.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) The Columbia Council has extended Columbia Association President Maggie Brown's contract for three years and given her some hefty raises. Brown, whose contract expires next April, has signed a deal to stay in...

Budget Blues Color Outlook For Schools.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) Howard County School Superintendent John O'Rourke has outlined a bleak picture of delayed building repairs, unfilled teaching jobs and even a possible increase in class size after a $22 million cut in the system's...

Getting Schooled on Next Year.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) By the bus loads, Howard County eighth-graders visited their future high schools last week with wide eyes and, in some cases, more than a little apprehension. "Do you get stuffed into lockers freshmen year?"...

Challenger Takes Long Reach Seat With Pledges To Reduce Waste.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) Newly elected member David Hlass has promised to shake things up on the Columbia Council. He says the 10-member board that oversees the Columbia Association should speak for all Columbia residents. "If this is...

Ehrlich Campaign Staff Relieved by Dropped Charges.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) APrince George's County judge last week dismissed indictments against three campaign workers for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. who were charged with improperly hiring poll workers to promote the Republican on...

Ex-Delegate Now Recruits Teachers.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) As a state delegate, Rushern L. Baker III did what he thought would improve Prince George's County's troubled schools: He led the charge to abolish the school system's strife-torn, elected school board. Now...

Activist Group Comes To Home Buyers' Aid.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) Areela Boadu bought her first home in Glenarden four years ago for $130,000. At the time, she said it was a dream come true. Today, she says can barely afford to pay her mortgage. The interest rate of Boadu's...

Church Teachings At Root of Giving.
May 1, 2003... (From washingtonpost.com) "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, test me in this, says the Lord Almighty and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessings that...

AOL may face $1 bln in holder suits, report estimates.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Pulses)) AOL Time Warner may face settlements of up to $1 billion in shareholder lawsuits over accounting for ad revenue in the America Online, a report in the Wall Street Journal estimates, based on likely amount of...

Imperial Chem to cut 700 jobs as Q1 sales, profits down.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Pulses)) Byline: Peter Behr and Carrie Johnson Imperial Chemical Industries on Thursday said it was cutting costs through a restructuring concentrated in its paints division that will lead to a exceptional charge...

Update on Novastar Financial.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) ANNANDALE, Va. (CBS.MW) -- Three months ago, I devoted this column to reviewing what investment newsletters thought about NovaStar Financial. The occasion was a strong recommendation of this REIT from...

Visa, Mastercard to pay $3.5 bln to settle debit suit.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Visa and Mastercard have agreed to pay a total of $3.5 billion to settle a long-running suit over debit-card fees brought by the nation's biggest retailers, a lawyer representing the...

Cordiant Comm 02 rev down, reviewing options.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Pulses)) Cordiant Communications , the U.K. advertising and marketing group, said Thursday revenue in 2002 on an underlying basis dropped 11.3 percent to 532.7 million pounds. It reported a pre-tax loss of 228.2...

UPDATE 7-Tokyo stocks rise as banks get targeted for more aid.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) TOKYO (CBS.MW) - Japanese stocks rose Thursday as banks extended lofty gains for a second day on reports that the government has more plans to prop up the battered financial industry. Most Asian bourses...

UPDATE 3-Visa, Mastercard to pay $3 bln to settle debit suit.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Visa and MasterCard have agreed to pay a total of $3 billion to settle a long-running suit over debit-card fees brought by thousands of retailers such as Wal-Mart, both parties said...

UPDATE 2-Visa, Mastercard to pay $3 bln to settle debit suit.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Visa and MasterCard have agreed to pay a total of $3 billion to settle a long-running suit over debit-card fees brought by thousands of retailers such as Wal-Mart, both parties said...

FTSE flat, Cordiant surges on takeover hopes.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) Byline: Woranuj Maneerungsee LONDON (CBS.MW) - The FTSE 100 index of top U.K. stocks was little changed on Thursday, but shares of Cordiant Communications, the advertising group, soared on takeover...

UPDATE 1-FTSE flat, Cordiant surges on takeover hopes.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) Byline: Woranuj Maneerungsee LONDON (CBS.MW) - The FTSE 100 index of top U.K. stocks was little changed on Thursday, but shares of Cordiant Communications, the advertising group, soared on takeover...

Two veteran Acorn fund managers to end notable tenure.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) CHICAGO (CBS.MW) - Ralph Wanger and Leah Zell plan to step down from day-to-day mutual-fund management on Sept. 30, capping a pair of remarkable investment careers. The couple had signed five-year...

UPDATE 4-Visa, Mastercard to pay $3 bln to settle debit suit.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) Byline: R.H. Melton NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Visa and MasterCard have agreed to pay a total of $3 billion to settle a long-running suit over debit-card fees brought by thousands of retailers such as...

Mesa Air's Q2 earns exceed expectations.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Pulses)) Byline: S. Thorne Harper Mesa Air Group reported fiscal second-quarter earnings of $12 million, or 38 cents a share, up from 15 cents a share in the same period a year ago. Excluding non-recurring...

CSFB sees potential for 'profit taking' in Cisco.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Pulses)) Analyst James Parmalee at CS First Boston believes Cisco Systems will report "in-line" results for its fiscal third quarter on May 6, but feels there is "potential for near-term profit taking" in the...

Updates, advisories and surprises.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) Mesa Air's Q2 earns exceed expectations (6:34 AM ET) Mesa Air Groupreported fiscal second-quarter earnings of $12 million, or 38 cents a share, up from 15 cents a share in the same period a year ago....

Futures drift, dollar weaker ahead of ISM.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) LONDON (CBS.MW) - U.S. stock futures were modestly lower in pre-open trading on Thursday with the dollar weaker ahead of a key manufacturing activity report for April. Underlying stocks weren't seeing much...

TXU reports better than expected Q1 earnings.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Pulses)) TXU reported first-quarter earnings of $101 million, or 30 cents a share, down from 95 cents a share in the year-earlier period, but above the average analyst estimate compiled by Thomson First Call of 21...

UPDATE 1-Updates, advisories and surprises.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) TXU reports better than expected Q1 earnings (7:12 AM ET) TXUreported first-quarter earnings of $101 million, or 30 cents a share, down from 95 cents a share in the year-earlier period, but above the...

Trammel Crow beats target on lower revenue.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Pulses)) Trammel Crow reported first-quarter net income of $1.1 million, or 3 cents per share, compared to $200,000, or a penny per share last year. The company was expected to post a penny per share loss, according...

Stein Mart to close 16 under performing stores.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Pulses)) Stein Mart said it'll close 16 underperforming stores in its 270-store nationwide retail chain this year. The retailer will take a pretax charge of $19 million or 28 cents per share in 2003 for store closing...

Kroll tops Q1 earns forecast.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Pulses)) Kroll reported first-quarter net income of $11.3 million, or 28 cents a share, up from 10 cents a share in the year-earlier period, and above the average analyst estimate compiled by Thomson First Call of 24...

UPDATE 1-Futures drift, dollar weaker ahead of ISM.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) LONDON (CBS.MW) - U.S. stock futures were modestly lower in pre-open trading on Thursday with the dollar weaker ahead of a key manufacturing activity report for April. Underlying stocks weren't seeing much...

Stein Mart to close 16 underperforming stores.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Pulses)) Stein Mart said it'll close 16 underperforming stores in its 270-store nationwide retail chain this year. The retailer will take a pretax charge of $19 million or 28 cents per share in 2003 for store closing...

White House Briefing: Is the War Over?
May 1, 2003... (From CNN News) Byline: Arthel Neville, Dana Bash ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: It's going to be big night for President Bush. He is expected to make an announcement this evening that the major fighting in Iraq has wrapped, but he'll...

More Trouble in Mideast.
May 1, 2003... (From CNN News) Byline: Arthel Nevill, Jerrold Kessel ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And there is more trouble in the Mideast this morning. At least seven Palestinians are dead after Israeli forces entered Gaza City and surrounded...

Earthquake Shakes Turkey, Students Trapped.
May 1, 2003... (From CNN News) Byline: Arthel Neville, Fatih Turmenoglu ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to update you now on that earthquake that hit southeastern Turkey in the middle of the night. We are going to go on the phone now, where...

Bumpy Road in Mideast Road map to Peace.
May 1, 2003... (From CNN News) Byline: Arthel Neville, Jerrold Kessel ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: We're going to go back now to check with our Jerrold Kessel. He has an update on the latest violence erupting in the Middle East. Last night's and this...

AstraZeneca slips in pre-open on analyst downgrade.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Pulses)) Byline: Martha McNeil Hamilton Shares of AstraZeneca are slipping 27 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $39.60 in Instinet pre-open trading after Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein downgraded the U.K.-based drugmaker...

Commonwealth Telephone Enterprises beats, raises target.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Pulses)) Byline: Martha McNeil Hamilton CTE [c: ctco] reported first-quarter net income of $28.2 million, or $1.19 per share, up from $10.7 million, or 45 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue grew 6.1...

Omnicare matches first-quarter profit forecast.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Pulses)) Byline: Martha McNeil Hamilton Omnicare reported first-quarter net income of $40.4 million, or 42 cents per share, up from $28.8 million, or 30 cents per share in the year-ago period. Revenue rose to...

Commonwealth Telephone Enterprises beats, raises target.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Pulses)) Byline: Martha McNeil Hamilton CTE reported first-quarter net income of $28.2 million, or $1.19 per share, up from $10.7 million, or 45 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue grew 6.1 percent...

UPDATE 2-Futures drift, dollar weaker ahead of ISM.
May 1, 2003... (From CBS Marketwatch (Stories)) Byline: Martha McNeil Hamilton LONDON (CBS.MW) - U.S. stock futures were modestly lower in pre-open trading on Thursday with the dollar weaker ahead of a key manufacturing activity report for April....

Trade pact with India by Sept: PM, NATION.
May 1, 2003... (From Worldsources (English)) Byline: Martha McNeil Hamilton Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday the long-awaited Thailand-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) would be completed by September this year. The announcement...

HISTORIC RULING: Thai Honda breached trade laws, NATION.
May 1, 2003... (From Worldsources (English)) Byline: Martha McNeil Hamilton The country's largest motorcycle manufacturer had adopted unfair trade practices in violation of trade and competition laws, the Trade Competition Board ruled yesterday. ...

Business mission heads off to the Middle East, NATION.
May 1, 2003... (From Worldsources (English)) Byline: Martha McNeil Hamilton The Commerce Ministry has sent a Thai mission to the Middle East in an attempt to boost trade in the region by at least 50 per cent to US$2.7 billion (Bt115 billion) by next...