Reuters | Top News

Indonesian ferry sinks; 29 dead, most survive

2009-11-23T11:31:00Z

By Telly Nathalia

JAKARTA (Reuters) - An overloaded ferry sank in bad weather off Indonesia's Riau islands on Sunday, killing 29 people, while 245 passengers survived the accident, officials said.

Rustam Pakaya, a Health Ministry official, said 17 people were still missing. A total of 291 people were on board, including 13 crew, he said.

Earlier, a Transport Ministry official told a news conference in Jakarta that the ferry, which had the capacity to carry 273 people, had 213 passengers on its manifest.

"The disparity between the manifest and reality is large, it's such a classic case" of breaking the regulations, said Sunaryo, director general of sea transportation, adding that bad weather and six-meter waves were hampering the search and rescue efforts.

The ferry, the Dumai Express 10, was sailing from Batam near Singapore to Dumai, a port in Riau, when it ran into massive waves, Riau police chief Puji Hartanto told Metro TV.

Survivors were spotted floating at sea, Hartanto said.

Separately, another ferry, the Dumai Express 15 with 278 people on board, ran aground after it was hit by large waves, said Riau police spokesman Yasin Kosasih.

All passengers and crew survived, he added. The ferry was traveling between Batam and Moro island.

Indonesia relies heavily on ferry services to connect the many islands in the sprawling archipelago.

But accidents are common, largely due to years of under-investment in infrastructure and a tendency to overload ferries.

(Additional reporting by Karima Anjani; Writing by Sara Webb; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Two Afghan ministers suspected of embezzlement

2009-11-23T10:16:46Z

KABUL (Reuters) - Two Afghan cabinet ministers are being investigated for suspicion of embezzlement, a deputy attorney general said on Monday, at a time when President Hamid Karzai is under pressure to clean up his government.

Fazel Ahmad Faqiryar declined to name the two ministers, but told Reuters other officials were also being targeted by the inquiry.

"If the ministers insist and don't show up for the interrogation, we have other legal means with which to proceed," said Faqiryar.

Karzai, sworn in last week for a second full-term after an election marred by fraud, has been under pressure from his Western backers to tackle corruption.

He is due to name his slate of cabinet ministers in coming weeks and there has been widespread speculation as to whether ministers would be dropped or prosecuted for corruption.

Several media reports have emerged in the past week of ministers being accused of bribery and other corrupt practices, but Faqiryar's remarks were the first official confirmation of a probe involving cabinet members.

(Reporting by Hamid Shalizi; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by David Fox)

Dimon seen as successor to Geithner: report

2009-11-23T09:52:52Z

(Reuters) - Several U.S. policy makers consider JPMorgan Chase & Co Chief Executive Jamie Dimon as a potential successor to U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the New York Post said, citing sources.

Dimon "would love to serve his country," the paper quoted people familiar with his thinking as saying.

JPMorgan could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters outside regular U.S. business hours.

Geithner endured a grilling last week before the U.S. Congress over his role in the rescue of American International Group Inc in 2008, when he was president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank.

(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore; editing by Simon Jessop)

China attacks "biased" U.S. cyber-spying report

2009-11-23T08:01:14Z

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Monday accused a U.S. congressional advisory panel of bias for a report in which it said the Chinese government appeared increasingly to be piercing U.S. computer networks to gather useful data for its military.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said in its 2009 report to Congress released last week that there was growing evidence of Chinese state involvement in such activity.

But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the report was a twisted attack on China.

"This report disregards the facts, is full of bias and has ulterior motives," Qin said in a brief statement on the ministry's website (www.mfa.gov.cn), less than a week after President Barack Obama wrapped up his first official China trip.

"We advise this so-called commission to not always look at China through tinted glasses and stop interfering with China's internal politics and damaging Sino-U.S. ties," he added.

China regularly dismisses such allegations.

The 12-member, bipartisan U.S. commission was set up in 2000 to analyze the implications of growing trade with China.

Beijing had begun to broaden its national security concerns beyond a potential clash across the Taiwan Strait and issues around its periphery, the 367-page report said.

China was the most aggressive country conducting espionage against the United States, focused on obtaining data and know-how to help military modernization and economic development, it added.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard)

List of winners at the American Music Awards

2009-11-23T06:42:50Z

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following is a complete list of winners at the 37th annual American Music Awards, which were handed out on Sunday at the Nokia Theater.

ARTIST OF THE YEAR

Taylor Swift

POP/ROCK

Favorite male artist - Michael Jackson

Favorite female artist - Taylor Swift

Favorite band, duo or group - Black Eyed Peas

Favorite album - "Number Ones" (Michael Jackson)

COUNTRY

Favorite male artist - Keith Urban

Favorite female artist - Taylor Swift

Favorite band, duo or group - Rascal Flatts

Favorite album - "Fearless" (Taylor Swift)

RAP/HIP-HOP

Favorite male artist - Jay-Z

Favorite album - "The Blueprint 3" (Jay-Z)

SOUL/R&B

Favorite male artist - Michael Jackson

Favorite female artist - Beyonce

Favorite band, duo or group - Black Eyed Peas

Favorite album - "Number Ones" (Michael Jackson)

SOUNDTRACKS

Favorite album - "Twilight"

ALTERNATIVE

Favorite artist - Green Day

ADULT CONTEMPORARY

Favorite artist - Taylor Swift

LATIN

Favorite artist - Aventura

CONTEMPORARY INSPIRATIONAL

Favorite artist - Mary Mary

BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST

Gloriana

(Reporting by Dean Goodman; editing by Todd Eastham)

FACTBOX: Security developments in Iraq, Nov 23

2009-11-23T05:30:16Z

(Reuters) - Following are security developments in Iraq at midnight EST on Monday.

ISKANDARIYA - A U.S. soldier was killed in action on Sunday, south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. No further information was given.

MOSUL - Gunmen in a speeding car killed a senior Turkmen politician in front of his house on Sunday in eastern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL - A four-year-old child was killed and four people, including two policemen, wounded when a roadside bomb went off near a police patrol in central Mosul on Sunday, police said.

BAGHDAD - A bomb attached to a car wounded a police officer in the Karrada district of central Baghdad on Sunday, police said.

(Compiled by Baghdad newsroom)

Michael Jackson's glove sells for $350,000 at auction

2009-11-23T00:31:37Z

By Chris Michaud

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Michael Jackson's famous white glove sold for $350,000 at a memorabilia auction on Saturday, soaring far past pre-sale estimates, while a black jacket he wore during a 1989 world tour fetched $225,000.

The Jackson memorabilia was the highlight of an auction of hundreds of rock'n'roll items, including many not associated with the "King of Pop," who died in June.

Darren Julien, CEO of Julien's Auctions, which ran the auction, called the glove "the Holy Grail of Michael Jackson," and many expected it to sell for far more than its pre-sale estimate of about $50,000.

With the added commission, the final price excluding taxes, ran to some $420,000.

The buyer was Hong Kong businessman Hoffman Ma.

Bidding for the black, strap and zipper-laden jacket Jackson wore during the 1989 "Bad" tour soared to $225,000, more than 20 times its estimate. With commission, the tab came to about $275,000.

Fans and dealers turned out at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York's Times Square for the sale that included a car driven by Jackson, as well as David Bowie's guitar and memorabilia from the Beatles to Bo Diddley.

"I never got to see Michael, and now that he's gone this is the closest I could get," said Jazmynn Moore, 19, a student from Manhattan.

The glove was worn by Jackson when he first staged the famous moonwalk dance at the 1983 Motown 25 television special. The opening bid of $10,000 leaped immediately to $120,000 before peaking at $350,000.

Most of the 80 Jackson lots consisted of items that came from friends and family to whom Jackson had given them, the auctioneer said.

Jackson was somewhat of a collector himself, having paid more than $1.5 million for the "Gone With the Wind" best picture Oscar statue at Sotheby's auction, one of the highest prices ever paid for memorabilia at auction.

The auction house had valued the Jackson collection at $80,000 to $100,000. But Julien said such pre-auction estimates were intentionally conservative to help generate interest. Many of Jackson's items sold for 10, or even more than 20 times the estimates.

Julien's had been preparing for a huge auction of Jackson memorabilia in April that was canceled after an agreement with Jackson, who had filed a lawsuit demanding the return of certain items.

During the promotion for that sale, Julien's had amassed a large database of Jackson collectors from Asia to the Americas, and many of the winning Internet bidders were from Japan or Hong Kong.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

Healthcare reform faces challenges in Senate

2009-11-22T19:36:02Z

By Kevin Drawbaugh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's U.S. healthcare overhaul plan has cleared an important Senate hurdle but lawmakers warned on Sunday of challenges ahead in winning support for passage, even among Obama's own Democrats.

On Saturday, Senate Democrats gathered the 60 votes needed to open floor debate on the plan, which would make the biggest changes in the $2.5 trillion healthcare system in 40 years. It is the Obama administration's top domestic policy initiative.

No Republicans backed the procedural motion and a handful of conservative Democrats, whose votes were crucial, supported the floor debate but remained uncommitted to the bill itself.

One of those was Democratic Senator Ben Nelson, who said on Sunday that he could not support the plan without big changes.

"If there are a whole host of other items that are the same as they are right now, I wouldn't vote to get it off the floor," Nelson said on the ABC's "This Week" news program.

Independent Senator Joseph Lieberman, usually an ally of the majority Democrats, said he could not support the bill either if the "public option" -- for a government-run health insurance plan to compete with private firms -- stays in the bill.

"I don't think anybody feels this bill ... will pass" as written, Lieberman said on NBC's "Meet the Press" program.

Debate will begin on November 30 and is expected to last at least three weeks.

The "public option" component of the bill is negotiable, Senator Richard Durbin, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, said on NBC on Sunday, adding the Senate bill "must" get passed by the end of 2009.

If it goes into 2010, with other issues such as financial regulation reform and mid-term elections vying for attention, "it gets more complex," he said. "We're anxious to get it done."

The House of Representatives has passed its own version. Differences between Senate and House versions would have to be reconciled in January before Obama could sign a final measure.

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said it was wrong to link healthcare legislation and Monday's controversial recommendation by an independent task force against routine mammograms for women in their 40s.

"Republicans who deliberately conflate or confuse the two only confirm just how desperate they are to distract the American people from the real debate -- and from the fact that they have no vision for fixing our broken health care system.

"There will be nothing in our bill to discourage or prohibit preventive treatments -- quite the opposite, in fact. And as a result, our historic reforms, like mammograms, will save lives," he said.

The Senate bill would expand coverage to millions of the uninsured and it would bar insurers from denying coverage over preexisting conditions. It also would require virtually all Americans to buy insurance and set up exchanges to shop for healthcare coverage.

"CADILLAC PLAN" TAX

While offering subsidies to help low-income workers afford coverage, the plan also would raise the payroll tax on high-income workers that finances the Medicare system that provides for the elderly. It also would impose a tax on high-cost "Cadillac" insurance plans.

Republicans have vowed to delay or block the bill, which they say is a costly government intrusion in the private sector that would raise premiums, reduce choices and increase taxes.

"The bill is fundamentally flawed ... It puts big costs onto states," said Republican Senator Lamar Alexander on the "Fox News Sunday" program. "If the American people know that, the bill will collapse of its own weight."

Pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer Inc and Merck & Co Inc and insurers such as UnitedHealth Group Inc and WellPoint Inc> are spending hundreds of

Israeli president plays down settlement work

2009-11-22T16:56:04Z

By Cynthia Johnston and Yasmine Saleh

CAIRO (Reuters) - Israel's president said on Sunday expanding Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank was a "marginal" issue blocking resumption of peace talks with the Palestinians.

But Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, speaking at a joint news conference with Shimon Peres, said Israeli construction work on land captured in a 1967 war should stop and that Israel should take "courageous decisions" to push forward peace.

Egypt and other Arabs have blamed the United States for not doing enough to press Israel to stop settlement building work.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has balked at Washington's calls for a full settlement freeze, saying Israel must accommodate the "natural growth" of settler families.

"The minute we shall start to negotiate there won't be new settlements, there won't be confiscation of land," Peres said on a visit to Egypt, the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel and which plays a mediation role in the conflict.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on a tour in the West Bank on Sunday that Israeli leaders should stop "equivocating" on the issue. He reiterated Palestinian demands for a total settlement freeze before peace talks could resume.

"The time has come for there to be complete recognition of the need for a comprehensive settlement freeze in all of the occupied territory --including, and especially, in Jerusalem and around Jerusalem," Fayyad told reporters in the Jordan Valley.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has said he would not renew negotiations with Israel unless it agreed to freeze settlement expansion. He has urged Washington to do more.

U.S. President Barack Obama has said Israel's approval last week of a plan to build 900 new homes in a Jewish settlement near Jerusalem is "very dangerous" because it would fuel Palestinian anger and undermined peacemaking.

But he has backed Israel's position that stopping should not be a condition for resuming talks suspended since December.

Peres, whose post is largely ceremonial, said the settlements issue was being blown out of proportion.

"Unfortunately, it's a marginal issue, it is some building of houses that became a central issue for the wrong reasons. My answer is even this issue can be settled by negotiations and agreement," Peres said, calling for a swift restart to talks.

'PEACE STILL POSSIBLE'

Mubarak, who a day before Peres' arrival said Israel was creating new obstacles to peace, said it was a time for a brave move for peace from the Israeli leadership.

"We want an end to settlement in occupied lands including East Jerusalem and to resume the negotiations about all the issues on the final status, from where they stopped," Mubarak said.

"I say peace is still possible. The need is growing for the political will from Israel's side that is conscious of the regional situation and realizes the dangers of losing the peace opportunity and that it take courageous decisions needed," he said.

U.S. ally Egypt's mediation role has recently included involvement in a bid to secure the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier held in Gaza, in exchange for Israel's freeing of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The two leaders did not address that issue in their news, conference despite mounting speculation that a deal could be concluded by the end of this month.

Before Sunday's talks, an Israeli diplomat said discussions were expected to cover Egypt's efforts to broker a deal between Abbas's Fatah group in the West Bank and Islamist Hamas, which controls Gaza. There has been little sign of progress.

(Additional reporting by Jeffrey Heller and Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem and Erika Solomon in Ramallah; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)