| FRANCE: French nuclear plant reveals plutonium level discrepancies by AFP/Reuters, Deutsche Welle October 15th, 2009 The French government has demanded answers from a nuclear research facility after nearly triple the registered amount of plutonium was discovered there during its dismantling this summer. |
| US: E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection by Michael Moss, New York Times October 3rd, 2009 Tracing the chain of production of an E. Coli-contaminated hamburger made by Cargill, through interviews and government and corporate records obtained by The New York Times, shows why eating ground beef is still a gamble. Neither the system meant to make the meat safe, nor the meat itself, is what consumers have been led to believe. |
| US: The Rights of Corporations (Op-Ed) New York Times September 22nd, 2009 The question at the heart of one of the biggest Supreme Court cases this year is simple: What constitutional rights should corporations have? The legal doctrine underlying this debate is known as “corporate personhood.” |
| US: Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering by Charles Duhigg, New York Times September 12th, 2009 Violations of the Clean Water Act have risen steadily across the nation, an extensive review of water pollution records by The New York Times found. Polluters include small companies, like gas stations, dry cleaners, and shopping malls. They also include large operations, like chemical factories, power plants, sewage treatment centers and one of the biggest zinc smelters, the Horsehead Corporation of Pennsylvania. |
| AFGHANISTAN: Wackenhut aids inquiry into its Afghanistan contractor http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/03/afghanistan.contractors/ September 3rd, 2009 This week the Project on Government Oversight released damning allegations of deviant hazing at a camp for security guards in Afghanistan. Sparking questions from the State Department, POGO warned the problems are "posing a significant threat to the security of the embassy and its personnel." |
| AFGHANISTAN: Wackenhut aids inquiry into its Afghanistan contractor http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/09/03/afghanistan.contractors/ September 3rd, 2009 This week the Project on Government Oversight released damning allegations of deviant hazing at a camp for security guards in Afghanistan. Sparking questions from the State Department, POGO warned the problems are "posing a significant threat to the security of the embassy and its personnel." |
| AFGHANISTAN: Wackenhut aids inquiry into its Afghanistan contractor CNN.com September 3rd, 2009 This week the Project on Government Oversight released damning allegations of deviant hazing at a camp for security guards in Afghanistan. Sparking questions from the State Department, POGO warned the problems are "posing a significant threat to the security of the embassy and its personnel." |
| US: So You Squandered Billions --- Take Another Whack At It by Steven Perlstein, Washington Post September 2nd, 2009 During the heyday of the credit bubble, they were the financiers who earned huge bonuses for creating, trading and investing other people's money in those complex securities that resulted in trillions of dollars in losses and brought global financial markets to their knees. Now they're out there again hustling for investors and hoping to make another score buying and trading the same securities. |
| US: DynCorp Billed U.S. $50 Million Beyond Costs in Defense Contract by V. Dion Haynes, Washington Post August 12th, 2009 A Defense Department auditor, appearing before the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, testified Tuesday that DynCorp International billed the government $50 million more than the amount specified in a contract to provide dining facilities and living quarters for military personnel in Kuwait. |
| US: House votes to rein in ‘excessive pay’ for company execs by Gail Russell Chaddock, Christian Science Monitor July 31st, 2009 On Friday the U.S. House of Representativs passed a high-visibility bill to give shareholders and federal regulators a stronger hand in curbing excessive or risky executive compensation. Industry groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers opposed the bill as an overreach into private business decisions. |
| US: Big Banks Paid Billions in Bonuses Amid Wall St. Crisis by Louise Story and Eric Dash, New York Times July 30th, 2009 Nine of the financial firms that were recipients of federal bailout money paid about 5,000 of their traders and bankers bonuses of more than $1 million apiece for 2008, according to a report released Thursday by the New York attorney general. The report is certain to intensify the growing debate over how, and how much, Wall Street bankers should be paid. |
| US: Cuomo Says Schwab Faces Fraud Suit by Liz Rappaport, Wall Street Journal July 20th, 2009 New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has warned Charles Schwab & Co. that his office plans to sue the firm for civil fraud over its marketing and sales of auction-rate securities to clients. Emails and testimony cited in the letter show Schwab's brokers had little idea of what they were selling and later failed to tell clients that the market was collapsing. |
| US: Industry Takes Aim at Plan to Create Financial Protection Agency by Brady Dennis, Washington Post July 7th, 2009 Business and trade-group lobbyists are beating a path for the first major battle over the Obama administration's efforts to overhaul the financial regulatory system. Recent discussions have involved the American Bankers Association, National Auto Dealers Association, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Mortgage Bankers Association and other lobbyists. |
| US: DOJ Opens Review of Telecom Industry by Amol Sharma, Wall Street Journal July 6th, 2009 The Department of Justice has begun an initial review to determine whether large U.S. telecom companies such as AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have abused the market power they've amassed in recent years. The DOJ's antitrust chief has said she wants to reassert the government's role in policing monopolistic and anti-competitive practices by powerful companies. |
| US: Madoff Is Sentenced to 150 Years for Ponzi Scheme by Diana B. Henriques, New York Times June 29th, 2009 A criminal saga that began in December with a string of superlatives — the largest, longest and most widespread Ponzi scheme in history — ended the same way on Monday as Bernard L. Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison, the maximum for his crimes. |
| US: IRS Steps Up Scrutiny of Offshore Funds by Jenny Strasburg and Jesse Drucker, Wall Street Journal June 26th, 2009 The Internal Revenue Service is demanding that hedge-fund and private-equity investors disclose hundreds of billions of dollars they have invested offshore, boosting scrutiny of accounts popular for tax advantages. |
| AFRICA: Blood diamond scheme 'is failing' BBC News June 24th, 2009 Officials are meeting to review the Kimberley Process, amid criticism that the scheme, set up to certify the origin of diamonds to assure consumers that by purchasing diamonds they are not financing war and human rights abuses, is failing. The Kimberley Process emerged from global outrage over conflicts in countries like Liberia and Sierra Leone, largely funded by the plundering of diamond resources. |
| US: Madoff Suits Add Details About Fraud by Diana B. Henriques, New York Times June 22nd, 2009 Three lawsuits filed on Monday provided new details about what regulators say went on inside Bernard L. Madoff’s long-running Ponzi scheme, including information about who might have helped perpetuate the fraud for so long. |
| US: Hedge Funds Boost Profile in Lobbying by Susan Pulliam and Tom McGinty, Wall Street Journal June 22nd, 2009 Many hedge funds were relieved when the Obama administration's financial-overhaul plan included no big surprises to the lucrative, secretive industry. In 2008, major hedge funds and their trade groups spent $6.1 million lobbying Washington, up from $4.2 million in 2007 and nearly seven times the $897,000 average from 2003 to 2006. |
| US: NRC Cites Utility Shortfalls by Rebecca Smith, Wall Street Journal June 20th, 2009 The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission told six utility companies they have until year-end to explain plans to remedy shortfalls in nuclear decommissioning funds. The license holders receiving notice -- Exelon Corp., Entergy Corp., Constellation Energy Group Inc., FPL Group, First Energy and Tennessee Valley Authority -- include some of the industry's biggest names. |