Iran parliament to question Ahmadinejad over fraud (AP)

TEHRAN, Iran ? Iran's parliament is set to summon President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for questioning over an economic scandal and his polices after the required number of lawmakers signed a petition Sunday, the latest salvo in a long battle between the president and his rivals.

Ahmadinejad would be the first president to be hauled before the Iranian parliament, a serious blow to his standing in a the conflict involving the president, lawmakers and Iran's powerful clerics.

At least 73 lawmakers signed the petition to question Ahmadinejad, just above one-quarter of the 290 members required by Iran's constitution to call in a president.

Earlier the parliament found Ahmadinejad's economics minister guilty in relation to a $2.6 billion fraud case, considered the largest in Iran's history.

This is just one of several economic misconduct cases that target Ahmadinejad allies, evidence that his political struggles are a factor. Ahmadinejad has been wrestling with the parliament and the clergy over in the run-up to parliamentary elections in March and a presidential election in 2013.

Ahmadinejad has come under increasing attacks in recent months from the same hard-liners who brought him to power.

Dozens of Ahmadinejad's political backers have been arrested or hounded out of the public eye by hard-line forces in recent months. His protege and top aide, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, has been effectively blackballed from his goal of succeeding Ahmadinejad in 2013 elections by a series of reputation-killing accusations.

They include leading a "deviant current" that seeks to challenge the system of theocratic rule, and alleged links to the $2.6 billion bank fraud.

The questioning, should it happen, would be a serious blow to Ahmadinejad, who has already been weakened after he publicly challenged Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in April over the choice of intelligence minister.

The $2.6 billion fraud case involving top government officials has reinvigorated efforts by lawmakers to seriously bring Ahmadinejad before the house.

"The petition to question the president has reached the minimum of signatures required. It was handed over to the presiding council," lawmaker Hossein Sobhaninia said.

The parliament's presiding council acknowledged receiving the petition Sunday, clearing the way to bring the president before the house.

At a session of parliament broadcast live on state radio Sunday, a report was read saying that a parliamentary investigation has found top government officials guilty in the case, described as the nation's biggest financial scam.

Economy Minister Shamsoddin Hosseini is set to be impeached Tuesday over the case.

Sobhaninia, a member of the presiding council, said a special parliamentary committee will question a representative of the president before Ahmadinejad himself is summoned before the house.

Dozens of Iranian lawmakers signed a similar petition last year, but later, several lawmakers withdrew their signatures, killing the move.

Ali Motahari, a conservative lawmaker behind the petition, resigned earlier this month to protest the parliament's failure to summon Ahmadinejad for questioning. He charged that he could no longer protect the rights of the people who elected him to parliament.

On Sunday, Motahari said he will withdraw his resignation if the president is actually questioned.

The $2.6 billion fraud case involved the use of forged documents to obtain credit from at least two Iranian state banks to purchase state-owned companies.

Iranian businessman Mahafarid Amir Khosravi, also known as Amir Mansour Aria, has been accused of masterminding the scam, a scandal that broke in September.

A long report on parliament's investigation found Hosseini, the economy minister, his deputies and managers of the Central Bank of Iran as well as managers of the banks involved in the fraud case guilty of failing to take action despite having knowledge of the offenses.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111030/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_politics

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Saudi prince backs cleric's bounty offer for Israeli soldier (Reuters)

DUBAI (Reuters) ? A member of the Saudi royal family has pledged $900,000 to a bounty offered by a prominent cleric to any Palestinian who kidnaps an Israeli soldier, according to comments aired on a private TV station Saturday.

Prince Khaled bin Talal, a brother of Saudi billionnaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, told Daleel television over the phone that he decided to contribute to Awad al-Qarni's bounty after the Saudi cleric received death threats for offering $100,000 to capture an Israeli soldier.

"Dr Awad al-Qarni said he was offering $100,000 to only take a prisoner but they responded by offering $1 million to kill Awad al-Qarni," Prince Khaled said, according to a recording of the call published on Daleel's website.

"I tell Dr. Awad al-Qarni, 'I will be in solidarity with you and pay the remaining $900,000 to take an Israeli soldier prisoner so that other prisoners can be freed,'" he added.

Qarni said on his Facebook page this week that he made the offer in response to a similar reward promised by an Israeli family for anyone who catches the person who killed one of its members in 1998, following a prisoner exchange agreement earlier this month of more than 1,000 Palestinians for the captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

Qarni is well known in Saudi Arabia for his outspoken views but is not part of the official clerical establishment.

Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, sees itself as a champion of Palestinian rights but Saudi leaders have been at pains to curb more radical statements by Muslim clerics on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In 2002, the Western-allied kingdom floated a peace initiative calling for full Arab recognition of Israel if it gave up all lands occupied in a 1967 war and accepts a solution for Palestinian refugees.

(Reporting by Ali Abdelatti in Cairo, Writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Karolina Tagaris)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111029/wl_nm/us_saudi_israel_bounty

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Nationalists emboldened by EU crisis, debt pact (AP)

STOCKHOLM ? This week's debt deal for Europe doubles down on the concept of European integration, and could provide further ammunition for the nationalist movements that have been gaining in popularity partly as a reaction to the idea of a single Europe.

In order to back the investment in the euro, leaders in the eurozone have advocated a deepening integration of economic policies, transferring power from the national governments to the European level.

But "euroskeptics" have made advances in arguing that Europe's elites are turning the bloc into a federal superstate against the wishes of their citizens. This week's developments threaten to boost their arguments.

"This is a big step, only it's in the wrong direction," Dutch Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders said.

The eurozone rescue plan presents a dilemma for European leaders when it comes to resisting such attacks.

Failure risks an implosion of the euro, a giant setback for the European project of forging an ever closer union. But success means deepening integration of economic policies in the eurozone core, transferring power from the national governments to the European level.

That would provide further ammunition to the nationalist groups who say Europe's elites are turning the bloc into a federal superstate against the wishes of their citizens.

"If there's anything positive in this it's that it sets the stage for a new debate on the EU that has been missing in the past 10 years," said Jimmie Akesson said, the leader of the far-right and anti-EU Sweden Democrats.

That debate is already taking center stage in Britain, never the most enthusiastic EU member, where lawmakers this week launched an unsuccessful motion to hold a referendum on leaving the 27-member union. Dozens of Conservative MPs rebelled against Prime Minister David Cameron's orders and voted for the motion, which was rejected in a 483-111 vote.

Nigel Farage, leader of the euroskeptic U.K. Independence Party, claimed that some Conservatives were thinking about defecting to his party, which has no seats in the House of Commons and won just 3 percent of votes in the 2010 election.

"I'm not going to tell you they are on the verge of coming across. All I can tell you is that it's being discussed. I do know people in the Conservative Party ? and I've spoken to some this morning ? who are deeply depressed at the moment," The Evening Standard quoted Farage as saying Thursday.

A poll published Monday by The Guardian newspaper found that 70 percent of respondents wanted a referendum on UK membership in the EU; 49 percent said they would vote to withdraw, 40 percent said they would vote to stay in and the rest were undecided.

ICM Research interviewed a random sample of 1,003 adults by telephone on Oct. 21-23. No margin of error was given.

Simon Tilford, chief economist at the Center for European Reform in London, said the emboldening of euroskeptics in Britain could have relevance for other countries as well.

"Ongoing crises could turn people against the EU. But closer integration is going to be unpopular, too," he said.

Poland and the Czech Republic have postponed plans to join the euro. Voters in Denmark and Sweden have previously rejected the euro and the debt crisis has killed any chances of their pro-euro governments revisiting the issue anytime soon.

Tilford said it's not impossible that attitudes will turn euroskeptic also in southern Europe if Greece, Spain, Portugal and Italy get stuck in a cycle of stagnation, rising debt, high unemployment and pressure to hand over economic policymaking.

"That could prove poisonous in terms of domestic politics and that would feed into the hands of anti-EU forces," he said.

Even Germans are wavering in their typically steadfast commitment to Europe amid resentment at having to bail out Greece. Though Germany has no euroskeptic party to capture that sentiment, a recent opinion poll showed that many Germans might vote for one.

To avoid feeding such feelings, European leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy must provide a "positive narration for the European project that, throughout this crisis, has been sorely lacking," said Robert Harmsen, a political science professor at the University of Luxembourg.

"The economics now increasingly demand some form of closer integration," he said. But that "doesn't match the politics, which is going in the other direction."

Austria's Heinz-Christian Strache, whose far right Freedom Party has become the country's second-most popular in part through its anti-EU stance, registered a complaint earlier this month at the European Court of Human Rights against Austria's participation in Greece's bailout.

The party "will leave no stone unturned to prevent Austria's participation in this game of fortune or to reverse it," he said. "Every Austrian is hurt through the transfer of Austrian tax money on financially barren states and in particular on the lenders behind them."

Within the 17-member eurozone, the strongest skepticism is found in Finland and the Netherlands, where nearly 70 percent are against bailouts.

In Finland, the right-wing populist True Finns party ? which has since changed names to The Finns ? made resounding gains in April elections on an anti-EU platform that led Finland to question its participation in eurozone bailouts.

"The opposition, and The Finns party in particular, have been fueled by the financial crisis in Europe that is tending to move the union in an increasingly federalist direction," said political scientist Jan Sundberg of the University of Helsinki. "But other parties, too, are quite skeptical."

Some analysts note that parties like The Finns, the Dutch Freedom Party and France's National Front still represent a minority in Europe and say they won't necessarily gain from crisis, amid increasing awareness of what a eurozone collapse would entail.

"It would have devastating effects on banks and growth prospects," said Adriaan Schout of European the Hague-based Clingendael Institute, a European think tank. "So strangely enough the crisis gives support to the European integration project, probably more than it ignites euroskepticism."

___

Robert Barr in London; Toby Sterling in the Hague, Netherlands; Matti Huuhtanen in Helsinki; Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark; Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Poland; George Jahn in Vienna, Austria; and David Rising in Berlin contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111029/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_europe_financial_crisis_skeptics

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Orion mock-up completes test water landing (AP)

HAMPTON, Va. ? An 18,000-pound mock-up of the Orion spacecraft that will eventually send astronauts into deep space completed a test water landing on Thursday, simulating what would happen if it fell into the Pacific Ocean with moderate seas.

The four-man ship will eventually be attached to a large rocket to escape Earth's orbit, although it doesn't yet have a destination. NASA has said it could service the space station in low Earth orbit or take four astronauts on more distant missions of up to 21 days.

During the test, the capsule approached the hydro impact basin ? which looked like a large swimming pool ? at a speed of 22 mph, creating a large splash and stopping in a net without rolling over.

"This is exactly what we wanted to see," said Lynn Bowman from Langley.

The strictly controlled trial is one in a series that began this summer that researchers are conducting to ensure the spacecraft doesn't fall apart upon impact. The next test is Nov. 8.

"We want to make sure the spacecraft stays intact when it does hit, and of course at the same time, you want to keep the astronauts safe," said Bowman, who is NASA Langley Research Center's Orion SPLASH project manager.

The capsule lacked the seats and internal instruments that the real spacecraft will have, but other more detailed mock-ups that are undergoing testing in Colorado will later be tried at Langley.

Among other things, scientists were testing what would happen if only two of the capsule's three parachutes were working. Researchers controlled the speed, angle of approach and the capsule's angle to simulate the conditions they wanted as it landed in a basin that is 115 feet long and 90 feet wide.

The Orion capsule was a cornerstone of former President George W. Bush's plan to return astronauts to the moon. NASA gave Lockheed Martin of Bethesda, Md., a $7.5 billion contract in 2006 to build it.

Lockheed Martin officials have said Orion could explore the far side of the moon, land humans on asteroids or take them to one of the moons of Mars, where they could control robotic instruments on the surface.

"The ultimate destination is still getting to Mars, but we're a ways off from that," said Dave Bowles, director of exploration and space operations at Langley. "There are some very technical challenges going on that duration type of a mission."

__

Online: NASA Langley Research Center http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/mpcv/mpcv-phase1-test1.html

Brock Vergakis can be reached at www.twitter.com/BrockVergakis

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111027/ap_on_sc/us_orion_test

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Consumer confidence at lowest level in 2 1/2 years

By Reuters

Consumer confidence unexpectedly dropped to its lowest level in two-and-a-half years in October as consumers fretted about job and income prospects.

The Conference Board, an industry group, said its index of consumer attitudes fell to 39.8 from a upwardly revised 46.4 the month before. It was the lowest level since March 2009.

Economists had expected the index to rise to 46.0, according to a Reuters poll. September was originally reported as 45.4.

The present situation index slipped to 26.3 from 33.3, while the expectations index declined to 48.7 from 55.1. The expectations gauge was also at its lowest since March 2009.

"Consumer expectations, which had improved in September, gave back all of the gain and then some, as concerns about business conditions, the labor market and income prospects increased," Lynn Franco, director of the Conference Board Consumer Research Center, said in a statement.

Consumers' view of the labor market was mixed. The number of respondents that said they found "jobs plentiful" fell to 3.4 percent from 5.6 percent. However, the "jobs hard to get" category eased to 47.1 percent from 49.4 percent.

The assessment of price increases was unchanged with expectations for inflation in the coming 12 months at 5.8 percent.

Recent better than expected manufacturing and jobs data has tempered fears the economy could lapse back into recession, with most expecting a slow pace of growth that should avoid contraction.

Analysts are hoping to get confirmation of that from U.S. gross domestic product data for the third quarter later in the week. The advance reading is expected to show the economy grew at an annual rate of 2.5 percent after a weak first half of the year, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

But the surprising drop in consumer confidence in August may suggest that the improvement in third quarter economic growth may not be sustained.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/10/25/8479585-consumer-confidence-at-lowest-level-in-2-12-years

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Coroner: Amy Winehouse died from too much alcohol (AP)

LONDON ? A coroner says Amy Winehouse died as the unintended consequence of drinking too much alcohol.

Coroner Suzanne Greenaway gave a verdict of "death by misadventure," saying the singer had voluntarily consumed alcohol and risked the consequences.

The singer, who had fought drug and alcohol problems for years, was found dead in bed at her London home on July 23 at age 27.

A pathologist told the singer's inquest Wednesday that Winehouse had consumed a "very large quantity of alcohol" and was more than five times over the legal drunk-driving limit when she died.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

LONDON (AP) ? A pathologist says Amy Winehouse consumed a "very large quantity of alcohol" prior to her death.

Suhail Baithun has told an inquest into the singer's' death that blood and urine samples showed she was 4.5 times over the legal drunk-driving limit.

The singer, who had fought drug and alcohol problems for years, was found dead in bed at her London home on July 23 at age 27.

An initial autopsy proved inconclusive, although it found no traces of illegal drugs in her system.

A British coroner is hearing about the final hours of Winehouse's life Wednesday at an inquest into the soul diva's death.

Winehouse's doctor, Dr. Christina Romete, said the singer had resumed drinking in the days before her death after a period of abstinence.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111026/ap_on_en_mu/eu_britain_amy_winehouse

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Fed could target housing to help economy: Dudley (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? The weak housing sector continues to pose a strong headwind to the economic recovery, and the Federal Reserve could potentially do more to drive down mortgage rates to support the sector, an influential Federal Reserve official said on Monday.

William Dudley, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, said another round of quantitative easing, or QE3, is one possible option the U.S. central bank has to boost the slow recovery. "I don't think the Fed has run out of bullets," he said.

Dudley also warned about "spillover" effects from Europe's debt crisis, which he predicted would be solved. But his comments on housing in particular could raise the stakes in the debate over what, if anything, the U.S. central bank should do next.

It was the third time in a week that a Fed policymaker highlighted the possibility that the central bank could do more to support the housing market, a persistent drag on the recovery. A glut of foreclosed homes on the market and tight credit have contributed to a sector virtually stuck in the mud and unable to gain traction.

"Breaking this vicious cycle is one of the most pressing issues facing policymakers," Dudley said in a speech at Fordham University's Gabelli School of Business.

"Clearly we've indicated our interest in supporting the housing market in keeping mortgage rate spreads, and spreads between mortgage rates and Treasury yields, from getting too elevated," he said. "Depending on how the world evolves, we potentially could move to do more in that direction."

The government on Monday, in a move to help homeowners whose homes are worth less than they owe, eased the terms of a refinancing program that helps so-called underwater borrowers who have been on time with payments but are unable to refinance.

The overhaul, however, would help only a fraction of the 11 million underwater borrowers.

Dudley, who as head of the New York Fed has a permanent voting seat on the Fed's policy-setting committee, said the central bank will continue to do everything in its power to help the economic recovery.

Dudley's comments come on the heels of remarks by Fed Governor Daniel Tarullo last week that there was "ample room" for policymakers to do more to spur growth and that more mortgage-related securities purchases should be on the table.

QE3?

Faced with the worst recession in decades, the Fed in late 2008 cut rates to near zero. It followed with the purchase of $2.3 trillion in debt in two consecutive rounds of extraordinary measures known as quantitative easing -- more familiarly dubbed QE1 and QE2 -- to spur a recovery.

The purchase of mortgage securities was a controversial part of QE1 in 2009; some officials criticized it for propping up a specific sector of the economy.

Dudley, who gave back-to-back speeches in the New York City borough of the Bronx, called the housing market "a serious impediment" to a stronger recovery, which this year has been plagued by "quite disappointing" growth in gross domestic product.

The rebound has been weak and is now threatened by Europe's debt crisis, casting doubt on the central bank's strategy and effectiveness but also raising some expectations for more asset purchases.

"The Fed is doing -- and will continue to do -- everything within its power to promote jobs and price stability," said Dudley. Later, addressing the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, he said "quantitative easing round three" was a possible option.

"Without robust growth, the economy is more vulnerable to negative shocks, which unfortunately seem to keep coming," Dudley said. "It is like riding a bicycle -- at a slow speed, the bicycle wobbles and the risk of falling rises."

Another Fed regional president, Richard Fisher of the Dallas Fed, said he would be reluctant to endorse more aid to the housing sector.

"There are other initiatives that the fiscal and other authorities can take that would possibly pick housing up off the floor, but I think it is going to be a very long-term process," said Fisher, who spoke in Toronto. "I think we have to be careful not to get into fiscal initiatives at the central bank."

INFLATION VS UNEMPLOYMENT

Europe, meanwhile, threatens to drag the world into another recession as policymakers there wrangle over a possible Greek default and its impact on the European banking system.

Dudley, citing the effect on stock markets and on bank lending, said: "To date, these effects have been much more acute in Europe than in the United States, but there are spillovers to our nation, and we need to monitor them carefully."

However, Dudley said he sees the inflation rate, which has been higher than the Fed's preferred level of 2 percent, falling, barring more energy price jumps. "I believe that underlying fundamentals will help to subdue inflation over the next few quarters," he said.

Fisher, whose dissenting votes on recent Fed easing put him on the opposite end of the policy spectrum from Dudley, agreed. "Inflation is not the problem in the United States right now," he said, adding that high unemployment is the biggest problem facing the U.S. economy.

But Fisher did not advocate more action by the Fed. He said adding any more heft to the Fed's $2.8 trillion balance sheet would be of "questionable efficacy."

Last month, the Fed announced a plan, known as Operation Twist, to replace $400 billion of short-term securities in its portfolio with longer-term debt in order to lower longer-term rates and stimulate the economy.

Brian Sack, head of the New York Fed's markets group, told primary dealers in New York that the effect of Operation Twist is about equal in size to that of the Fed's second round of asset purchases.

To date, he said, mortgage-backed securities purchases have gone smoothly with market liquidity "quite good."

(Additional reporting by Andrea Hopkins in Toronto and Ann Saphir in Chicago, Kristina Cooke in New York; Editing by Leslie Adler and Dan Grebler)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personalfinance/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111024/bs_nm/us_usa_fed_dudley

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