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October 2009
Colombian drug lord gets 45 years in U.S. prison
MIAMI (Reuters) –
Cocaine kingpin Diego Montoya, the one-time head of Colombia's Norte del Valle cartel, apologized in a U.S. court to the victims of drug violence and was sentenced on Wednesday to 45 years in prison.
Montoya pleaded guilty in August to drug and racketeering charges as head of the cartel that the FBI said was once responsible for 60 percent of the cocaine exported from Colombia to the United States.
"I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing I could ever to do repair the great harm I have caused," The Miami Herald quoted Montoya as telling the court.
With the sentence, he said, "It is my sincere hope to be able to bring relief to my family and the families of the victims and bring their nightmare to a conclusion."
U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga handed down the 45-year sentence, which Montoya had agreed to as part of his guilty plea. The extradition agreement prohibited a life sentence.
Known as Don Diego, Montoya became a billionaire as he built the Norte del Valle cartel into an organization that smuggled 1.2 million pounds (545,000 kgs) of cocaine worth more than $10 million into the United States between 1990 and 2004, supplanting the once-dominant Cali cartel.
A two-year battle between Montoya and another cartel kingpin, Wilber Varela, from 2003 to 2005 resulted in hundreds of deaths, prosecutors said.
Montoya, 48, was once on the FBI's 10 most-wanted list next to Osama bin Laden. He was captured by Colombian police in 2007 hiding in a ditch dressed only in his underwear and was extradited to the United States in December to face charges.
He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to import more than 11 pounds (5 kg) of cocaine into the United States, one count of obstructing justice by murder, and one count of racketeering conspiracy.
FBI special agent John Gillies, who heads the bureau's Miami division, praised Colombia for co-operating to end "a brutal chapter in the history of drug trafficking."
"Unprecedented co-operation between Colombia and the United States was instrumental to the success of this case and led to the dismantlement of the Norte Valle Cartel," Gillies said.
In April, Montoya's brother, Eugenio Montoya Sanchez, was sentenced by a U.S. court in Miami to 30 years in prison for conspiring to import cocaine into the United States. Another brother and a cousin were sentenced to U.S. prison terms of 21 and 19 years in the case.
(Reporting by Jane Sutton)
Fed to issue bank pay guidelines: source
WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
The U.S. Federal Reserve issued bank pay guidelines on Thursday to curb the type of excessive risk-taking it said contributed to the crisis that nearly collapsed the financial system last year.
The guidelines apply to any employee able to take risks that could significantly and adversely affect the safety of a firm, the Fed said in a statement. The Fed will conduct a review of the practices of the 28 largest and most complex banking organizations.
The Fed's directions come as U.S. pay czar Kenneth Feinberg is poised to dramatically cut compensation for the 25 highest-paid employees at seven firms that received "exceptional" taxpayer bailouts.
The move to cut executive pay follows public outrage over continued high salaries and bonuses in the financial sector, whose practices set the stage for a painful recession, and for companies that benefited from taxpayer-funded handouts even as unemployment hit a 26-year high.
"Compensation practices at some banking organizations have led to misaligned incentives and excessive risk-taking, contributing to bank losses and financial instability," Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a statement.
A senior Fed official told reporters that setting the guidelines on pay is part of the central bank's duty to ensure the soundness of the financial system.
The Fed said it was not imposing pay caps or outlawing any specific practices. It asked for public comment on formulas that shape the way executives are paid, such as ones requiring that at least 60 percent of the pay of bankers at large firms be deferred, and that at least 50 percent of incentive compensation be paid in the form of stock, options, or other equity-linked instruments.
The proposed guidelines will be aimed at all firms the Fed regulates and be enforceable under its existing powers. The Fed asked banks to review pay and incentive practices immediately.
Feinberg, the pay czar, is expected to cut the overall compensation for key employees by half and to slash their cash payouts by an average of 90 percent.
The companies affected by Feinberg's rulings are: AIG Inc, Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, General Motors, Chrysler, GMAC and Chrysler Financial.
The Fed's proposed guidelines are designed to reform compensation at firms outside of Feinberg's jurisdiction.
Regulators have said Wall Street pay was dangerously tied to short-term returns and risky financial bets, not long-term shareholder value.
(Reporting by Karey Wutkowski and Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Phil Berlowitz, Padraic Cassidy)
Minority lawmakers: No census citizenship question
WASHINGTON – A coalition of black, Latino and Asian lawmakers on Thursday expressed opposition to a proposal that would require next year's census forms to ask about the status of a person's citizenship.
The House lawmakers criticized a proposal by Sens. David Vitter, R-La., and Bob Bennett, R-Utah, as a political ploy designed to discourage immigrants from participating in the high-stakes count, which begins April 1.
They also echoed warnings from the Census Bureau that making a last-minute change to the census would add burdensome costs to print new forms and prevent the head count from being completed on time, as legally required.
"Every census since 1790 has included citizens and noncitizens alike, and presidential administrations of both parties have repeatedly upheld counting all persons residing in the United States," Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said at a news briefing.
She was joined by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., as well as leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.
"With only 160 days until the census, Congress should be encouraging constituents to get counted, not debating the contents of the questionnaire," Velazquez said.
The Republican proposal, which currently remains in limbo in the Senate, would freeze Census Bureau funds if it doesn't add the citizenship question to the more than 600 million forms. More than 400 million have already been printed.
Vitter has said the goal of his measure is to ultimately block illegal immigrants from being included in the decennial count, which is used to apportion House seats, redraw congressional boundaries and distribute billions of dollars in federal aid.
"If the current census plan goes ahead, the inclusion of non-citizens toward apportionment will artificially increase the population count in certain states, and that will likely result in the loss of congressional seats," he said.
In House testimony this week, Census Director Robert Groves said he opposed the Senate proposal. He noted that the exact wording of the questionnaire was made available to Congress last year and that there was no opposition then.
"I can say with absolute confidence, that if we add a question to this census questionnaire at this point, we will not deliver the reapportionment counts in 2010 on time, and we will not provide the data for redistricting," he said.
The census has long disproportionately missed minorities. In 2000, the bureau noted for the first time an overcount of 1.3 million people, due mostly to duplicate counts of whites with multiple residences. About 4.5 million people were missed, mostly blacks and Hispanics.
California, with its slowing population growth, could lose a House seat if its high numbers of Asian and Hispanic immigrants — both legal and illegal — aren't fully counted.
New York City faces challenges with a resident population that is more than one-third foreign born. The state is projected to lose either one or two House seats.
Florida could pick up one or two seats depending on a count of residents, who have seen high rates of mortgage foreclosures. Arizona, North Carolina and Texas also stand to gain seats.
(This version CORRECTS story to say previous administrations of both parties have repeatedly upheld counting all persons, not just citizens.)
Fort Worth Fence
Ownership of the fence varies. In some parts of the country all boundaries are shared; in other parts of the country you may own the boundary on the left-hand or right-hand side, however, only the title deeds can be depended on to tell you which side is yours. (A 'T' symbol indicates who is the owner). It used to be normal for the cladding to be on the non-owners side (enabling access to the posts for the owner when repairs need doing), but increasingly this cannot be depended on.
Five foot high fences (over which many people can see and talk) are increasingly being superseded by six-foot fences giving the impression of complete privacy.
Putting Contests
Golf courses have not always had eighteen holes. The St Andrews Links occupy a narrow strip of land along the sea. As early as the 15th century, golfers at St Andrews, in Fife, established a customary route through the undulating terrain, playing to holes whose locations were dictated by topography.
There are six principal tours for women, each based in a different country or continent. The most prestigious of these is the United States based LPGA Tour.
Wind Spinners
The thread used to fly kites in Hyderabad is known as 'Manjaa'. Highly maneuverable single-string paper and bamboo kites are flown from the rooftops while using line friction in an attempt to cut each other's kite lines, either by letting the line loose at high speed or by pulling the line in a fast and repeated manner. In some Indian cities kite flying/fighting is an important part of other celebrations, including Republic Day, Independence Day, Raksha Bandhan, and Janmashtami.
In Pakistan, kite flying is a popular ritual for the spring festival known as Basant. However, kite flying is currently banned as some kite fliers engage in kite battles by coating their strings with glass or shards of metal, leading to injuries and death. Kite fighting is a very popular sport in Pakistan, mainly centered in Lahore. Kup, Patang, Guda, and Nakhlaoo are some of the kites used in fighting and they vary in balance, weight and speed through the air.
GE profit tumbles 42 percent
BOSTON (Reuters) –
General Electric Co (GE.N) reported a 42 percent drop in profit, as a global economic slump hammered its hefty finance arm and eroded demand for the heavy equipment it manufactures.
The largest U.S. conglomerate, whose shares were down 0.8 percent in premarket trading, reported third-quarter profit of $2.49 billion, or 23 cents per share, compared with earnings of $4.31 billion, or 43 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 20 percent to $37.8 billion.
Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said the economy "is beginning to slowly recover."
The world's largest maker of jet engines and electricity-producing turbines has faced falling demand for its big capital equipment. But so far this year it has counted on revenue for maintaining products it has already sold to boost results.
At the same time, it has been cutting back its GE Capital finance arm, which had invested heavily in commercial real estate and has been hard hit by the credit crunch.
After plumbing 18-year lows in March, GE shares are now up about 4 percent so far this year, trailing the 15 percent rise of the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI).
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Derek Caney)