Rivals see flood of resumes from BofA workers

Bank of America Corp employees are flooding rival companies with resumes as a major cost-cutting program gets under way at the second-largest U.S. bank.

Competitors say they are getting an influx of calls, emails and LinkedIn connection requests as the bank embarks on a plan to slash 30,000 jobs over the next few years. The employees are scouting jobs in retail, commercial and investment banking, bankers and recruiters said.

"It's definitely picking up," said a senior executive at a rival consumer bank.

The uncertainty at Bank of America gives competitors a chance to nab talented employees, bankers said. But they cautioned that many companies are only hiring selectively.

In the most high-profile departure, PNC Financial Services Group Inc last week hired Bank of America strategy executive Mike Lyons to lead its corporate and institutional banking unit. Lyons had advised CEO Brian Moynihan on his plan to sell off nonessential assets.

John Dunn, director of the banking and financial services practice at recruiting firm Stephen James Associates, said he has had about 20 calls or meetings with Bank of America employees in recent weeks, mostly in investment banking and capital markets operations. Normally, he might have talked to or met only two to four over that period.

"Now these folks are looking to get out of choppy water before they get displaced or asked to relocate," Dunn said. "It's much easier finding a job while you have a job."

Moynihan is chopping expenses as new regulations, a sluggish economy and low long-term interest rates are crimping profits across the banking industry. Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America in particular needs to build capital to cover mortgage-related losses and meet new international standards.

The bank's efficiency program, called Project New BAC, aims to streamline a company bloated by years of acquisitions. But executives risk cutting too deeply or creating an unsettling environment for those who remain, said Beth Livingston, assistant professor of human resources studies at Cornell University.

"You get the survivor effect," Livingston said. "Everyone is on edge. There's a culture of fear that permeates the climate."

In recent months, Bank of America has laid off employees, including senior leaders, in consumer, human resources, capital markets and other areas, people familiar with the situation said. The cuts are part of a round of 3,500 layoffs announced in August and the first wave of Project New BAC, which takes its name from the company's stock symbol.

New BAC cuts began in September when Moynihan ousted consumer banking head Joe Price and wealth management head Sallie Krawcheck and handed their duties to co-chief operating officers David Darnell and Tom Montag.

In reorganizing his management team, Darnell is merging mortgage operations into the consumer bank, leaving the future position of mortgage head Barbara Desoer unclear. The shake-up also displaced Bank of America veteran Henry Fulton, who has held top credit card, mortgage and consumer banking positions.

Last month, the company said the "implementation" of the first wave of New BAC, which focuses on consumer operations, was to start in October. The second phase, which will address capital markets, commercial banking and wealth management units, begins in the spring.

Bank of America said it had 288,739 employees on September 30, up from 288,084 three months earlier, but about 2,000 have been told they will be let go.

Bank of America spokesman Scott Silvestri declined to comment on the layoffs.

The company ranks behind JPMorgan Chase & Co in terms of assets.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45134137/ns/business-careers/

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Poorest of the poor: Now 1 in 15 Americans

The ranks of America's poorest poor have climbed to a record high ? 1 in 15 people ? spread widely across metropolitan areas as the housing bust pushed many inner-city poor into suburbs and other outlying places and shriveled jobs and income.

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New census data paint a stark portrait of the nation's haves and have-nots at a time when unemployment remains persistently high. It comes a week before the government releases first-ever economic data that will show more Hispanics, elderly and working-age poor have fallen into poverty.

In all, the numbers underscore the breadth and scope by which the downturn has reached further into mainstream America.

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"There now really is no unaffected group, except maybe the very top income earners," said Robert Moffitt, a professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University. "Recessions are supposed to be temporary, and when it's over, everything returns to where it was before. But the worry now is that the downturn ? which will end eventually ? will have long-lasting effects on families who lose jobs, become worse off and can't recover."

Traditional inner-city black ghettos are thinning out and changing, drawing in impoverished Hispanics who have low-wage jobs or are unemployed. Neighborhoods with poverty rates of at least 40 percent are stretching over broader areas, increasing in suburbs at twice the rate of cities.

Once-booming Sun Belt metro areas are now seeing some of the biggest jumps in concentrated poverty.

Signs of a growing divide between rich and poor can be seen in places such as the upscale Miami suburb of Miami Shores, where nannies gather with their charges at a playground nestled between the township's sprawling golf course and soccer fields. The locale is a far cry from where many of them live.

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Spreading poverty
One is Mariana Gripaldi, 36, an Argentinian who came to the U.S. about 10 years ago to escape her own country's economic crisis. She and her husband rent a two-bedroom apartment near Biscayne Bay in a middle-class neighborhood at the north end of Miami Beach, far from the chic hotels and stores.

But Gripaldi said in the past two years, the neighborhood has seen an increase in crime.

"The police come sometimes once or twice a night," she said in Spanish. "We are looking for a new place, but it's so expensive. My husband went to look at a place, and it was $1,500 for a two-bedroom, one bath. I don't like the changes, but I don't know if we can move."

About 20.5 million Americans, or 6.7 percent of the U.S. population, make up the poorest poor, defined as those at 50 percent or less of the official poverty level. Those living in deep poverty represent nearly half of the 46.2 million people scraping by below the poverty line. In 2010, the poorest poor meant an income of $5,570 or less for an individual and $11,157 for a family of four.

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That 6.7 percent share is the highest in the 35 years that the Census Bureau has maintained such records, surpassing previous highs in 2009 and 1993 of just over 6 percent.

Broken down by states, 40 states and the District of Columbia had increases in the poorest poor since 2007, and none saw decreases. The District of Columbia ranked highest at 10.7 percent, followed by Mississippi and New Mexico. Nevada had the biggest jump, rising from 4.6 percent to 7 percent.

Concentrated poverty also spread wider.

After declining during the 1990s economic boom, the proportion of poor people in large metropolitan areas who lived in high-poverty neighborhoods jumped from 11.2 percent in 2000 to 15.1 percent last year, according to a Brookings Institution analysis released Thursday. Such geographically concentrated poverty in the U.S. is now at the highest since 1990, following a decade of high unemployment and rising energy costs.

Demographic shift
Extreme poverty today continues to be prevalent in the industrial Midwest, including Detroit, Grand Rapids, Mich., and Akron, Ohio, due to a renewed decline in manufacturing. But the biggest growth in high-poverty areas is occurring in newer Sun Belt metro areas such as Las Vegas, Riverside, Calif., and Cape Coral, Fla., after the plummeting housing market wiped out home values and dried up construction jobs.

As a whole, the number of poor in the suburbs who lived in high-poverty neighborhoods rose by 41 percent since 2000, more than double the growth of such city neighborhoods.

Elizabeth Kneebone, a senior research associate at Brookings, described a demographic shift in people living in high-poverty neighborhoods, which have less access to good schools, hospitals and government services. As concentrated poverty spreads to new areas, including suburbs, the residents are now more likely to be white, native-born and high school or college graduates ? not the conventional image of high-school dropouts or single mothers in inner-city ghettos.

The more recent broader migration of the U.S. population, including working- and middle-class blacks, to the South and to suburbs helps explain some of the shifts in poverty.

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A study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found that the population of 133 historically black ghettos had dropped 36 percent since 1970, as the U.S. black population growth slowed and many blacks moved to new areas. The newest residents in these ghettos are now more likely to be Hispanic, who have more than tripled their share in the neighborhoods, to 21 percent.

Just over 7 percent of all African-Americans nationwide now live in traditional ghettos, down from 33 percent in 1970.

"As extreme-poverty neighborhoods emerge in more places, that is shifting the general makeup of those populations," said Kneebone, the lead author of the Brookings analysis.

New 2010 poverty data to be released next week by the Census Bureau will show additional demographic changes.

'Sense of powerlessness'
The new supplemental poverty measure for the first time will take into account non-cash aid such as tax credits and food stamps, but also additional everyday costs such as commuting and medical care. Official poverty figures released in September only take into account income before tax deductions.

Based on newly released estimates for 2009, the new measure will show a significant jump in overall poverty. Poverty for Americans 65 and older is on track to nearly double after factoring in rising out-of-pocket medical expenses, from 9 percent to over 15 percent. Poverty increases are also anticipated for the working-age population because of commuting and child-care costs, while child poverty will dip partly due to the positive effect of food stamps.

Data: Occupy Wall Street

For the first time, the share of Hispanics living in poverty is expected to surpass that of African-Americans based on the new measure, reflecting in part the lower participation of immigrants and non-English speakers in government aid programs such as housing and food stamps. The 2009 census estimates show 27.6 percent of all Hispanics living in poverty, compared with 23.4 percent for blacks.

Alba Alvarez, 52, a nanny who chatted recently in Miami, said she is lucky because her employer rents an apartment to her and her husband at a low rate in a comfortable neighborhood on the bay. But her adult children, who followed her to the U.S. from Honduras, are having a tougher time.

They initially found work in a regional wholesale fruit and vegetable market that supplies many local supermarkets. But her youngest son recently lost his job, and since he has no legal status, he cannot get any help from the government.

"As a mother, I feel so horrible. There's this sense of powerlessness. I wanted things to be better for them in this country," Alvarez said. "I (recently) suggested my youngest go back to Honduras. It's easier for me to help him there than here, where rent and everything is so expensive."

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45145370/ns/us_news-life/

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UH's Keenum prepares to break record under radar

Houston quarterback Case Keenum signals for a play during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Rice on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011, in Houston. Houston won 73-34. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

Houston quarterback Case Keenum signals for a play during the second half of an NCAA college football game against Rice on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011, in Houston. Houston won 73-34. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

Houston quarterback Case Keenum watches from the bench during the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game against Marshall on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011, in Houston. Keenum completed 24 passes in 28 attempts for 376 yards and six touchdowns in Houston's 63-28 win. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

Poor Houston.

College football's most overlooked undefeated team will spend another week toiling in relative obscurity. Record-breaking quarterback Case Keenum and the super-charged and 14th-ranked Cougars (8-0) are at lowly Conference USA rival UAB on Saturday.

The game kicks off at old and antiquated Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala., at 7 p.m. EDT.

That's right, an hour before No. 1 LSU and No. 2 Alabama get going in Tuscaloosa.

The Blazers don't draw well even when they are the only game in town. The announced attendance for UAB's home game against Central Florida on Thursday, Oct. 20 was 8,872. Overall, UAB has averaged 18,294 for its three home games, 108th in FBS.

Even if a huge contingent of Cougars fans makes the trip East, there will be plenty of seats available at Legion Field ? capacity about 71,500 ? for what is likely to be another record-breaking night for Keenum.

The sixth-year senior tossed nine touchdown passes in 73-34 victory against Rice last week to become the NCAA's career leader in TD passes. He's already passed the career total offense mark held by Hawaii's Timmy Chang this season and with 267 yards passing against the Blazers ? a solid half for Keenum ? he'll break the NCAA career record of 17,072 held by Chang.

If a record falls in a stadium with nothing but empty seats, does it count?

The game will be on national TV, too. CBS Sports Network, with former Michigan and West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez as the analyst, will carry it.

Of course, it was CBS that put Houston at UAB in this unfortunate position. LSU vs. Alabama would have normally been played at 3:30 p.m., but the network negotiated with ESPN to put the game of the year in prime time.

The Cougars may be relegated to the small stage, but there's a good chance they'll outscore both of those other undefeated teams playing at Bryant-Denny Stadium all by themselves.

The picks:

FRIDAY

No. 21 Southern California (minus 21 1-2) at Colorado

Lane Kiffin has already submitted his preferred timeout schedule ... USC 45-14.

SATURDAY

No. 1 LSU (plus 5) at No. 2 Alabama

Round 1? ... ALABAMA 23-17.

No. 17 Kansas State (plus 21) at No. 3 Oklahoma State

From undefeated to consecutive blowout losses for Wildcats ... OKLAHOMA STATE 54-24.

No. 4 Stanford (minus 21) at Oregon State

Cardinal winning streak is at 16 ... STANFORD 42-20.

No. 5 Boise State (minus 41) at UNLV

Kellen Moore goes for record-breaking win No. 46 ... BOISE STATE 56-14.

UPSET SPECIAL

No. 6 Oregon (minus 16) at Washington

Ducks have won seven straight over Huskies ... WASHINGTON 38-33.

Texas A&M (plus 13 1-2) at No. 7 Oklahoma

Sooners start a new home winning streak ... OKLAHOMA 42-20.

No. 12 South Carolina (plus 5) at No. 8 Arkansas

Georgia rooting hard for Razorbacks ... ARKANSAS 28-14.

Northwestern (plus 17 1-2) at No. 9 Nebraska

Wildcats are 0-2 in Lincoln, last visit was 1974 and they lost 61-7 ... NEBRASKA 45-21.

No. 13 Michigan (minus 4) at Iowa

Hawkeyes have won two straight but never beaten Michigan three in a row ... MICHIGAN 24-21.

No. 14 Houston (minus 28) at UAB

Even Cougars will be more interested in LSU-Alabama by halftime ... HOUSTON 66-28.

Minnesota (plus 28) at No. 15 Michigan State

Perfect bounce back for Spartans ... MICHIGAN STATE 35-6.

New Mexico State (plus 33) at No. 18 Georgia

If ever there was a good time to suspend all your tailbacks, Mark Richt found it ... GEORGIA 41-10.

Purdue (plus 26) at No. 19 Wisconsin

Boilermakers will pay dearly for Badgers' loses ... WISCONSIN 48-14.

BEST BET

UCLA (plus 9 1-2) at No. 20 Arizona State

Sun Devils put up 55 on Bruins last year ... ARIZONA STATE 45-17.

No. 23 Cincinnati (minus 2 1-2) at Pittsburgh

Bearcats last trip to Pittsburgh was snowy 45-44 victory to clinch Big East title in '09 ... CINCINNATI 28-21.

Louisville (13 1-2) at No. 24 West Virginia

Mountaineers fans to Cardinals fans: "Ha-ha, you have to stay." ... WEST VIRGINIA 38-21.

Last week's record: 14-4 (straight); 10-8 (vs. spread).

Season record: 146-31 (straight); 86-67-1 (vs. spread).

Best bets: 7-2.

Upset specials (vs. spread): 5-4.

___

Follow Ralph D. Russo on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/ralphDrussoAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-11-02-FBC-T25-College-FB-Picks/id-3de67f407bf24f7eae11e7ec50178b43

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Palestine becomes member of UNESCO (AP)

PARIS ? Palestine became a full member of UNESCO on Monday in a historic vote that could cost the agency a fifth of its budget and that the U.S. and other opponents say could harm renewed Mideast peace efforts.

Monday's decision is a grand symbolic victory for the Palestinians, but it alone won't make Palestine into a state. The issues of borders for an eventual Palestinian state, security troubles and other disputes that have thwarted Middle East peace for decades remain unresolved.

Lawmakers in the United States had threatened to halt some $80 million in annual funding if Palestinian membership in UNESCO was approved. It wasn't clear in the immediate aftermath of Monday's vote whether the threat would become reality.

White House spokesman Jay Carney called UNESCO's decision "premature" and said it undermines the international community's goal of a comprehensive Middle East peace plan. He called it a distraction from the goal of restarting direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Huge cheers went up in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization after delegates approved the membership in a vote of 107-14 with 52 abstentions. Eighty-one votes were needed for approval in a hall with 173 UNESCO member delegations present. In a surprise, France voted "yes" ? and the room erupted in cheers ? while the "no" votes included the United States, Israel, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany.

"Long live Palestine!" someone shouted in the hall, in French, at the unusually tense and dramatic meeting of UNESCO's General Conference.

Even if the vote's impact isn't felt right away in the Mideast, it will be quickly felt at UNESCO, which protects historic heritage sites and works to improve world literacy, access to schooling for girls and cultural understanding, but it also has in the past been a forum for anti-Israel sentiment.

Existing U.S. law can bar Washington from funding any U.N. body that accepts members that do not have the "internationally recognized attributes of statehood." That requirement is generally interpreted to mean U.N. membership. But it remains unclear whether the U.S. State Department will try to find legal wiggle room.

Democrats and Republicans in Washington criticized the move. U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement, "Today's reckless action by UNESCO is anti-Israel and anti-peace."

Aside from the U.S. funding cut threat, Israel's Foreign Ministry said it "will consider its further ... cooperation with the organization" after Monday's vote.

UNESCO depends heavily on U.S. funding ? Washington provides 22 percent of its budget ? but has survived without it in the past: The United States pulled out of UNESCO under President Ronald Reagan, rejoining two decades later under President George W. Bush.

Palestinian officials are seeking full membership in the United Nations, but that effort is still under examination and the U.S. has pledged a veto unless there is a peace deal with Israel. Given that, the Palestinians separately sought membership at Paris-based UNESCO. All the efforts are part of a broader push by the Palestinian Authority under Mahmoud Abbas for greater international recognition in recent years.

"Joy fills my heart. This is really an historic moment," said Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki. "We hope that today's victory at UNESCO marks but a beginning. Our admission to UNESCO is not an alternative, is no substitute for something else."

In the Gaza Strip, Abbas' rival, the militant Hamas government, also praised the UNESCO decision, saying that Hamas' confrontational approach toward Israel was behind the vote.

"It also indicates that the Palestinian cause is getting more support while American policy is regressing," said Hamas official Salah Bardawil.

UNESCO, like other U.N. agencies, is a part of the world body but has separate membership procedures and can make its own decisions about which countries belong. Full U.N. membership is not required for membership in many of the U.N. agencies.

Monday's vote is definitive, and the membership formally takes effect when Palestine signs UNESCO's founding charter.

Israel's outspoken foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said before the vote that if it passed, Israel should cut off ties with the Palestinian Authority. It was not clear whether he was voicing an individual opinion or government policy. He has a history of making comments embarrassing to the prime minister.

In an address to parliament, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu harshly criticized the Palestinians move.

"Unfortunately, the Palestinians continue to refuse to negotiate with us. Instead of sitting around the negotiating table, they have decided to form an alliance with Hamas and take unilateral steps at the U.N., including today," Netanyahu said. He warned his government would "not sit quietly."

The U.S. ambassador to UNESCO, David Killion, said Monday's vote will "complicate" U.S. efforts to support the agency. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it is up to member states "to ensure the United Nations system as a whole a consistent political and financial support."

"As such, we will need to work on tactical solutions to preserve UNESCO's financial resources," he said. He urged a negotiated solution to Mideast peace.

Ghasan Khatib, spokesman for the Palestinian government in the West Bank, urged the United States to keep UNESCO funding.

"We look at this vote as especially important because part of our battle with the Israeli occupation is about the occupation attempts to erase the Palestinian history or Judaizing it. The UNESCO vote will help us to maintain the Palestinian traditional heritage," he said.

Israel's ambassador to UNESCO, Nimrod Barkan, called the vote a tragedy. "They've forced a drastic cut in contributions to the organization," he said.

"UNESCO deals in science, not science fiction," he said. "They forced on UNESCO a political subject out of its competence."

____

Associated Press writers Angela Charlton in Paris, Dalia Nammari in Ramallah, Edith Lederer at the United Nations, Joe Federman in Jerusalem contributed.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111031/ap_on_re_eu/unesco_palestinians

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Reputed mobsters charged with taking over company (AP)

CAMDEN, N.J. ? Federal prosecutors say members of a Philadelphia-area mob have turned to a modern crime ? pillaging the assets of a mortgage company ? in a sign that organized crime is evolving to include more white-collar crime.

Thirteen people ? including lawyers and an accountant ? were charged in a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday. Most of them were arrested in raids throughout the morning in New Jersey, Florida and Texas. Among them were Nicodemo S. Scarfo, the son of imprisoned Philadelphia-southern New Jersey crime family boss Nicodemo D. "Little Nicky" Scarfo, five lawyers and a certified public accountant.

They face charges including racketeering, wire fraud, money laundering, false statements on a loan application, securities fraud. Maximum penalties range from five years in prison to decades.

"The criminal activity is evolving," said Michael Ward, agent-in-charge of the FBI in Newark. "It's going from the back alleys to the boardrooms."

Authorities say the plot started in April 2007, when the younger Scarfo and his associate Salvatore Pelullo, who has previously been convicted of financial crimes, decided to take over FirstPlus Financial Group, a publicly traded mortgage company based in Irving, Texas. Authorities said it was a company with a lot of cash but not much sophistication.

The indictment charges Scarfo and Pelullo used threats to help wrest control of the company. Pelullo is accused of telling a member of the FirstPlus' board that if he didn't go along with the plan, "your kids will be sold off as prostitutes."

The indictment says he later told others who were charged in the scheme to get the company's board to agree to hand control to his and Scarfo's new directors ? and he wanted it done immediately. He allegedly told them: "I don't care if they're in a funeral parlor, I don't care if they're in a (expletive) hospital on a respirator, we'll send somebody there. I want their vote, I want their signature, and I want it done by the close of the day today."

Authorities say the elder Scarfo, serving in a federal prison in Atlanta, was apprised of the plot, but that he was not charged because he's expected never to be released.

In one of several wiretap transcripts used in the indictment, the government said the younger Scarfo, 46 of the New Jersey shore community of Galloway, told his father about the plot on the phone.

"Honest to God, we're good six to 10 months off from being able to help everybody," Scarfo said.

His father responded, according to the transcript: "I wanna know when it's complete."

After getting control of FirstPlus, Scarfo and Pelullo are accused of having it buy Rutgers Investment Group and Globalnet Enterprises, shell companies they owned so they could take out money. After that, authorities said, they signed a series of consulting contracts to pay themselves even more.

In less than a year, authorities said, they took $12 million and spent it on multiple homes, including one for Scarfo's ex-wife; weapons and ammunition, a plane, an Audi, a $217,000 Bentley, $30,000 in jewelry and an 83-foot, $850,000 yacht they named "Priceless."

Scarfo appeared in U.S. District Court in Camden on Tuesday in a worn gray sweat shirt and blue sweat pants, spoke only to say that he understood the charges. But the public defender representing him, Lisa Evans Lewis, said he has no job, no income and no assets other than $125 in a checking account ? and that he'd need a court-appointed lawyer. He couldn't fill out a financial affidavit to prove his need, though, because doing so might violate his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself.

Bail hearings and arraignments for him and some of the other defendants were scheduled for Friday.

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman wouldn't say how exactly authorities got onto the plot, but he said it ended with a series of raids in 2008.

Since then, FirstPlus has filed for bankruptcy, blaming the alleged criminals for wrecking the firm.

Fishman said the alleged conspirators were planning one more "piece de resistance:" They wanted to pump up the stock price of FirstPlus and sell off the company.

He said that was their exit strategy.

"We had a different exit strategy."

___

Reach Mulvihill at http://www.twitter.com/geoffmulvihill

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111101/ap_on_re_us/us_mob_financial_fraud

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Kennedy Space Center opens building for tours

Heads up, space fans.

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Visitors to NASA's Kennedy Space Center now have the opportunity to see inside the colossal Vehicle Assembly Building, off-limits throughout the 30-year shuttle program.

Public bus tours last stopped at the VAB in 1978. They're resuming Nov. 1. The cost is an extra $25 per adult and $19 per child ? on top of the usual admission charge.

The 525-foot-tall VAB was built to hold the Saturn V rocket that sent men to the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It's where every space shuttle was attached to its external fuel tank and booster rockets, before flight.

Atlantis closed out the shuttle program in July, with the 135th mission.

NASA officials stress that the VAB tour stop is temporary ? it will cease when the VAB is used once again to stack rockets for launch. The space agency is aiming to send astronauts to an asteroid and Mars in the decades ahead.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45106884/ns/travel-destination_travel/

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Flood-wary Bangkok is contrast of misery, normalcy (AP)

BANGKOK ? On one side of Bangkok, you'll find the victims of Thailand's worst flooding in half a century. They float down trash-strewn waterways, paddling washtubs with wicker brooms over submerged neighborhoods.

Just a few miles (kilometers) away, you'll find something else entirely: well-heeled shoppers perusing bustling malls decorated with newly hung Halloween decorations and couples sipping espresso in the air-conditioned comfort of ultrachic cafes.

Although catastrophic flooding has devastated a third of this Southeast Asian nation and submerged some of the capital's northernmost districts, life is going on for the majority of this sprawling metropolis of 9 million people.

The desperate images of disaster contrast sharply with scenes of total normality ? from night-owls drinking cocktails in red-light districts to tourists enjoying relaxing foot massages in faux-leather chairs downtown.

An exodus of thousands of Bangkok residents to nearby resorts and a government-ordered five-day holiday have left the notoriously congested city unusually easy to maneuver by taxi and three-wheeled tuk-tuk.

"It's better, in a way," Nicole Attwater of Sydney said Sunday, adding that she was happy to brave some flooding to see the Grand Palace, the gold-studded former seat of the Thai monarchy, with far lighter crowds than normal on a sunny weekend morning.

"It's a good time to come, because it's quiet," she said.

Most of Bangkok is dry, with little to indicate that anything is wrong ? except for the ominous walls of sandbags stacked around hotels and homes, and the apocalyptic predictions of everyone from expatriate bloggers to some members of the Thai government.

Yet, the threat of floodwaters sweeping through the city is still real. Nationwide, 381 people have died in the flooding over the last three months, and 110,000 more have been displaced ? 10,000 of them in Bangkok, according to government figures. The catastrophe has put hundreds of thousands of people out of work and cost billions of dollars in damage ? a bill that grows larger by the day.

Among items struck from tourists' agendas: shopping for crafts at the popular Chatuchak weekend market and dinner cruises down the city's Chao Phraya river ? all canceled due to the high waters. The river swelled to a record high level early Sunday, spilling into some neighborhoods.

Fears over worse-case scenarios and travel warnings issued by foreign governments have slashed visitors by half at sites like the Grand Palace and the giant gold-plated Reclining Buddha inside Bangkok's Wat Pho temple complex.

But the biggest problem by far, said tour guide Keerati Atui, is the media, which he said have given the impression that most of Bangkok is under water.

"Look around," he said, gesturing to lines of tourists streaming into the palace. "It's dry. Everything here is normal."

River water has lapped at the palace gates and even crept inside, but much of it has welled up through drains in the riverside neighborhood. One picture posted this week on Twitter showed a cameraman filming a television news anchor on a street beside the palace in ankle-high water. On both sides of the pair, the street was dry.

Heavy monsoon rains have pummeled a large swath of Asia since July. As floodwaters crept across Thailand, they first drowned neighboring provinces, then districts on the northern outskirts of Bangkok. Last week, advancing water closed the city's Don Muang airport, which is used mainly for domestic flights. However, the international Suwarnabhumi airport is open, and the city's skytrain and subway lines are operating normally.

Nobody knows how far the water will go, but Bangkok's defenses have mostly held.

Statements from government leaders have alternated from assurances the capital would be spared to dire warnings that nowhere is safe.

Panicked Bangkokians have stripped supermarkets and convenience stores of bottled water and dried noodles in recent weeks, but there is still plenty to drink. Both those items can be found in street-side shops along the city's temple-dotted riverside, where the mineral water is ice cold and the noodle soup is spicy and sprinkled with fish balls.

"A lot of people are overreacting, they've been hoarding too much stuff," said Kwanpimol Pleegluay, a 48-year-old housewife. "They watch the news and see people in other flooded provinces and think that's going to happen to them here."

Kwanpimol was taking a casual stroll along the Chao Phraya with her husband over the weekend ? to see how high the river swelled. After peering into the water, she took his photo and chose one word to describe the scene: "Beautiful."

On the other side of the Chao Phraya, where the 200-year-old pagoda of the city's famed Temple of the Dawn rises from the banks, 42-year-old monk Phramaha Abhin said he was not worried.

"The Lord Buddha taught us not to be negligent, we must always prepare," said Phramaha, referring to newly laid protective layer of sandbags outside the temple where he lives. "But he also taught us not to foolishly fear that which hasn't happened yet."

Many people in Bangkok and neighboring provinces see the flooding as something that should be accepted.

In Bangkok's heavily flooded Thonburi district, a navy team evacuated a stranded pregnant woman whose water broke Sunday. Aorasa Wisetkoop looked anxious, but remained calm and held tightly onto her belly, while a rescue team lifted her into a boat.

"We had to get her to hospital," rescuer Nitipat Mongolpradit said.

But along with every tragic and urgent incident in the inundation, there were images of Thais splashing in the floodwaters for fun.

When the river began flowing like a waterfall over a wall into Chantana Srisuwan's wooden-shack kitchen, the 58-year-old pulled out a stack of aluminum pans, soaped them up and began washing them. "Why bother being troubled?" she asked.

"If we think we shouldn't get wet, we'll never have peace of mind," she said, as a neighbor complained he could not sleep because his bed was submerged beneath encroaching waves. "If there's no water, great. But if there is, we have to learn to live with it."

___

Associated Press writers Vee Intarakratug, Margie Mason and Ian Mader contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111030/ap_on_re_as/as_thailand_floods

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China sends outspoken artist $2.4 million tax bill (AP)

BEIJING ? Outspoken artist Ai Weiwei said Tuesday that Chinese authorities are demanding he pay $2.4 million in back taxes and fines in a new show of government pressure on the dissident detained for nearly three months earlier this year.

The Beijing Local Taxation Bureau gave the artist notice Tuesday that he owed more than 15 million yuan ($2.36 million), after serving a similar notice in June for a smaller amount, Ai said in a phone interview.

The new notice gave him around 10 days to make the payment, without saying what might happen if he failed, he said.

Ai said he would not pay until police returned account books confiscated from his Beijing Fake Cultural Development Ltd. design company and allowed him to meet with his former office manager and accountant.

"We can pay this money, but we need to know why we have to," he said. "We cannot just unwittingly hand over a sum of money. This would be irresponsible toward the country."

Authorities have not commented on the issue, and calls to the local tax bureau rang unanswered while Beijing's Public Security Bureau did not respond to a faxed list of questions.

Ai was detained secretly without charges for 81 days this year, sparking an international outcry among artists, politicians, activists and Western leaders who called it a sign of China's deteriorating human rights situation. Police also raided his studio and confiscated account books.

His family and supporters have said he is being punished for speaking out against the country's Communist leadership and social problems. Activists have called the government's tax evasion claims a false pretense for Ai's detention.

"Accounts for tax purposes should be investigated by the tax bureau, not the police," Ai said Tuesday. "Police should not be taking me away to a place that no one knows for 81 days to investigate taxes."

After his release in June, the tax bureau served a notice seeking about 12 million yuan ($1.85 million) from him. But his design firm challenged the bill and were told by Chinese authorities that the company had not paid corporate taxes for a decade.

Ai, who has shown his art in London, New York and Berlin and earned huge sums from sales, said he was most concerned that authorities were misusing the law in going after him.

"If you want to hurt one person, to hurt me, that's all right," he said. But "when you hurt the law, it hurts the country and everybody in it."

___

Follow Gillian Wong on Twitter at http://twitter.com/gillianwong

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111101/ap_en_ot/as_china_ai_weiwei

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Qantas Airways grounds global fleet due to strikes

Qantas Airways grounded its global fleet indefinitely and locked out workers Saturday after weeks of disruptive strikes, and the disappointed Australian government was seeking emergency arbitration.

Flights in the air were continuing to their destinations, but others were stopped even taxiing on the runway, according to one flier. Booked passengers were being rescheduled at Qantas' expense, chief executive Alan Joyce said.

Bookings already had collapsed after unions warned travelers to book with other airlines through the busy Christmas-New Year period, and Joyce told a news conference in Sydney the unions' actions have caused a crisis for Qantas.

"They are trashing our strategy and our brand," Joyce said. "They are deliberately destabilizing the company and there is no end in sight."

The grounding of the largest of Australia's four national domestic airlines will take a major economic toll and could disrupt the national Parliament, due to resume in Canberra on Tuesday after a two-week recess. Qantas' budget subsidiary Jetstar continues to fly.

British tourist Chris Crulley, 25, said the pilot on his Qantas flight informed passengers while taxiing down a Sydney runway that he had to return to the terminal "to take an important phone call." The flight was then grounded.

"We're all set for the flight and settled in and the next thing ? I'm stunned. We're getting back off the plane," the firefighter told The Associated Press from Sydney Airport by phone.

Crulley was happy to be heading home to Newcastle after a five-week vacation when his flight was interrupted. "I've got to get back to the other side of the world by Wednesday for work. It's a nightmare," he added.

Qantas offered him up to 350 Australian dollars ($375) a day for food and accommodation, but Crulley expected to struggle to find a hotel at short notice in Sydney on a Saturday night.

The government has called an emergency arbitration court hearing on Saturday night to rule on the strike action and the airline's response.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese described the grounding as "disappointing" and "extraordinary." Albanese was angry that Qantas gave him only three hours' notice.

"It is certainly a breach of faith with the government," Albanese told reporters.

All 108 aircraft in as many as 22 countries will be grounded until unions representing pilots, mechanics, baggage handlers and caterers reach agreements with Qantas over pay and conditions, Joyce said.

"We are locking out until the unions withdraw their extreme claim and reach agreement with us," Joyce said, referring shutting staff out of their work stations.

"This is a crisis for Qantas. If the action continues as the unions have promised, we will have no choice but to close down Qantas part by part," he added.

Staff will not be paid starting Monday, and Joyce estimated the grounding will cost the airline $20 million a day. It already had reduced and rescheduled flights for weeks because of strikes and overtime bans as workers worry their jobs will move overseas.

Richard Woodward, vice president of the pilot's union, the Australian and International Pilots Association, accused Qantas of "holding a knife to the nation's throat" and said Joyce had "gone mad."

Steve Purvinas, federal secretary of the mechanics' union, Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association, described the grounding as "an extreme measure."

The recent strike action has most severely affected Qantas domestic flights.

In mid-October, Qantas grounded five jets and reduced domestic flights by almost 100 flights a week because aircraft mechanics had reduced the hours they were prepared to work.

Qantas infuriated unions in August when it said it would improve its loss-making overseas business by creating an Asia-based airline with its own name and brand.

The five-year restructure plan will cost 1,000 of Qantas' 35,000 jobs.

Qantas is the world's 10th largest airline and among the most profitable.

Qantas announced in August that it had more than doubled annual profit to AU$250 million, but warned the business environment was too challenging to forecast earnings for the current fiscal year.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45085921/ns/business/

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