Sunday, April 19, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Getting Hectic on the High Seas!
MOMBASA, Kenya (CNN) -- Pirates off the coast of Somalia hijacked a second freighter Tuesday, a NATO spokesman said.
The spokesman could not immediately provide further details.
Earlier in the day, pirates hijacked a 35,000-ton Greek-owned bulk carrier in the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia's northern coast, the European Union's Maritime Security Center said.
The crew of the Greek carrier was thought to be unhurt and ships have been warned to stay clear of the area for fear of further attack, the security center said.
The two hijackings on Tuesday follow the killing by U.S. Navy SEALs of three pirates who were holding an American ship captain hostage.
Pirates attacked the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama last week. They seized its captain, Richard Phillips, and held him hostage on a lifeboat after their attempt to hijack the ship failed.
U.S. Navy snipers on Sunday fatally shot three pirates, rescued Phillips and arrested a fourth pirate. Watch the tough tactics the Navy uses »
U.S. law enforcement authorities are discussing what to do with the lone surviving pirate, who may be as young as 16.
The crew of the Maersk Alabama will reunite soon.
Phillips is on the USS Bainbridge headed to Mombasa, Kenya, a military spokesman said, where his crew members were relaxing at a beach resort under the watchful eyes of the Kenyan military.
The men are then expected to be flown home together by Maersk.
The spokesman could not immediately provide further details.
Earlier in the day, pirates hijacked a 35,000-ton Greek-owned bulk carrier in the Gulf of Aden, off Somalia's northern coast, the European Union's Maritime Security Center said.
The crew of the Greek carrier was thought to be unhurt and ships have been warned to stay clear of the area for fear of further attack, the security center said.
The two hijackings on Tuesday follow the killing by U.S. Navy SEALs of three pirates who were holding an American ship captain hostage.
Pirates attacked the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama last week. They seized its captain, Richard Phillips, and held him hostage on a lifeboat after their attempt to hijack the ship failed.
U.S. Navy snipers on Sunday fatally shot three pirates, rescued Phillips and arrested a fourth pirate. Watch the tough tactics the Navy uses »
U.S. law enforcement authorities are discussing what to do with the lone surviving pirate, who may be as young as 16.
The crew of the Maersk Alabama will reunite soon.
Phillips is on the USS Bainbridge headed to Mombasa, Kenya, a military spokesman said, where his crew members were relaxing at a beach resort under the watchful eyes of the Kenyan military.
The men are then expected to be flown home together by Maersk.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Colbert is killing Fox's Beck right here!
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The 10/31 Project | ||||
| ||||
Stephen Colbert ripped apart Fox News host (and New York Times cover boy) Glenn Beck Tuesday night, mocking his 9-12 project, meant to conjure the spirit of compassion and camaraderie Americans felt on September 12, 2001.
"We weren't told how to behave that day after 9/11, we just knew," Beck says to describe the project. "It was right, it was the opposite of what we feel today. Are you ready to be the person you were that day after 9/11, on 9/12?"
"Ready!" Colbert shouted, decked out in a gas mask, holding a gun, and wearing adult diapers.
Colbert then used a classic "Daily Show," exposing the hypocrisy of Beck's 9-12 project by highlighting comments he made on September 9, 2005.
"This is horrible to say, and I wonder if I'm alone in this," Beck said on his radio program that day, "you know it took me about a year to start hating the 9/11 victims' families? I don't hate all of them. I hate probably about 10 of them. But when I see a 9-11 victim family on television, or whatever, I'm just like, 'Oh, shut up!' I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining. And we did our best for them."
"The 9-12 project is not for families directly affected by 9/11, just people building their careers on it," Colbert said.
Colbert went on to mock Beck's now infamous tendency to cry, and to launch his own "democratic experiment, the 10-31 project."
"It will be scare and balanced!" he joked.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
BOA CEO NEXT?
March 31st, 2009 10:24 am
Wagoner's exit puts BofA CEO Lewis in hotseat
By Elinor Comlay
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis may be the next corporate boss to feel the heat after the administration forced General Motors Corp Chief Executive Rick Wagoner to resign in return for further government assistance.
The second-largest U.S. bank has received $45 billion from the government, making it one of the biggest recipients of government bailout money in the banking system.
Big shareholders have been calling for Lewis to step down since Bank of America announced in January it took a $20 billion government bailout to secure the acquisition of troubled Merrill Lynch & Co, which lost almost $16 billion in the last quarter of 2008.
The government may now add to the pressure from shareholders, analysts said. The sudden departure of Wagoner after nine years in the top job at GM signals the Obama administration is looking for management changes at bailed-out companies.
"His longevity in the job is probably very much in question," said Keith Wirtz, chief investment officer of Fifth Third Asset Management and a former CIO at a Bank of America subsidiary. Fifth Third holds shares in the bank.
The bank disagreed with the assessment. "We do not see the parallel with the U.S. auto industry," said a Bank of America spokesman, noting that since 1991 the bank has been profitable in every quarter except one, and made a $4 billion profit in 2008.
Still, shareholders say Lewis is in a precarious situation, citing both the government bailout as well as the fourth-quarter losses at Merrill, which suggest Bank of America did not perform adequate due diligence.
"It makes him look like he wasn't fully aware of what was going on," said Malcolm Polley, CIO of Stewart Capital Advisors, which owns Bank of America shares.
Bank of America stock closed at $33.74 before the Merrill merger was announced in September. The shares, which have lost more than 80 percent since then, dropped $1.24 to $6.10 on Monday.
The government's total cash injection amounts to more than Bank of America's market capitalization of about $41 billion.
The bank wants to repay the $25 billion from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Plan (TARP) in October "as soon as we can," Lewis told CNBC last week after bank executives met with President Barack Obama.
"He will end up leaving the organization, whether it's of his own volition or not," said Polley.
SHAREHOLDER UNREST
Wagoner's forced exit, announced Sunday, may indicate the government's strategy if other companies like Bank of America ask for more money. "It's a warning," said Robert Lutts, CIO of Cabot Money Management.
Citigroup Inc has also received $45 billion in capital from the U.S. government, and its CEO may also face pressure to step down. But Citigroup's Vikram Pandit became CEO about a year ago, and is suffering from the bad judgment of his predecessors.
Lewis would have no one to blame but himself since he has been Bank of America's CEO for about eight years.
In the last eighteen months, Lewis has spent about $43 billion to buy Merrill, mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp and LaSalle Bank Corp, a large lender in the U.S. Midwest. The purchases increased Bank of America's exposure to mortgages and other loans that have driven losses at U.S. banks in the last year.
"He has put the financial health of the balance sheet of Bank of America very much at risk," said Fifth Third's Wirtz.
Investors voted to approve the acquisition of Merrill on December 5, but since Merrill announced details of its losses in the fourth quarter, influential shareholders have called on Lewis to step down.
The Finger family, who are long-time shareholders, has called for Lewis to be replaced as chairman. The family includes Jerry Finger, who founded Charter Bancshares, which was acquired by Bank of America predecessor NationsBank in 1996.
And two of the three largest U.S. pension funds, California Public Employees' Retirement System and the California State Teachers Retirement System, are plaintiffs in an investor lawsuit against the bank over its Merrill acquisition.
Lewis ousted former Merrill CEO John Thain as head of Bank of America's investment banking and wealth management on January 22 in a bid to ease lingering investor concerns about the acquisition.
Yet as Bank of America's annual meeting on April 29 draws closer, investor calls for Lewis to step down may grow louder.
"The (Obama) administration has now flexed its muscles," said Darren Robbins, partner at law firm Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins in San Diego, which filed a class action against Bank of America on behalf of an institutional investor.
"Lewis is under excruciating pressure," he added.
Wagoner's exit puts BofA CEO Lewis in hotseat
By Elinor Comlay
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bank of America Corp Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis may be the next corporate boss to feel the heat after the administration forced General Motors Corp Chief Executive Rick Wagoner to resign in return for further government assistance.
The second-largest U.S. bank has received $45 billion from the government, making it one of the biggest recipients of government bailout money in the banking system.
Big shareholders have been calling for Lewis to step down since Bank of America announced in January it took a $20 billion government bailout to secure the acquisition of troubled Merrill Lynch & Co, which lost almost $16 billion in the last quarter of 2008.
The government may now add to the pressure from shareholders, analysts said. The sudden departure of Wagoner after nine years in the top job at GM signals the Obama administration is looking for management changes at bailed-out companies.
"His longevity in the job is probably very much in question," said Keith Wirtz, chief investment officer of Fifth Third Asset Management and a former CIO at a Bank of America subsidiary. Fifth Third holds shares in the bank.
The bank disagreed with the assessment. "We do not see the parallel with the U.S. auto industry," said a Bank of America spokesman, noting that since 1991 the bank has been profitable in every quarter except one, and made a $4 billion profit in 2008.
Still, shareholders say Lewis is in a precarious situation, citing both the government bailout as well as the fourth-quarter losses at Merrill, which suggest Bank of America did not perform adequate due diligence.
"It makes him look like he wasn't fully aware of what was going on," said Malcolm Polley, CIO of Stewart Capital Advisors, which owns Bank of America shares.
Bank of America stock closed at $33.74 before the Merrill merger was announced in September. The shares, which have lost more than 80 percent since then, dropped $1.24 to $6.10 on Monday.
The government's total cash injection amounts to more than Bank of America's market capitalization of about $41 billion.
The bank wants to repay the $25 billion from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Plan (TARP) in October "as soon as we can," Lewis told CNBC last week after bank executives met with President Barack Obama.
"He will end up leaving the organization, whether it's of his own volition or not," said Polley.
SHAREHOLDER UNREST
Wagoner's forced exit, announced Sunday, may indicate the government's strategy if other companies like Bank of America ask for more money. "It's a warning," said Robert Lutts, CIO of Cabot Money Management.
Citigroup Inc has also received $45 billion in capital from the U.S. government, and its CEO may also face pressure to step down. But Citigroup's Vikram Pandit became CEO about a year ago, and is suffering from the bad judgment of his predecessors.
Lewis would have no one to blame but himself since he has been Bank of America's CEO for about eight years.
In the last eighteen months, Lewis has spent about $43 billion to buy Merrill, mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp and LaSalle Bank Corp, a large lender in the U.S. Midwest. The purchases increased Bank of America's exposure to mortgages and other loans that have driven losses at U.S. banks in the last year.
"He has put the financial health of the balance sheet of Bank of America very much at risk," said Fifth Third's Wirtz.
Investors voted to approve the acquisition of Merrill on December 5, but since Merrill announced details of its losses in the fourth quarter, influential shareholders have called on Lewis to step down.
The Finger family, who are long-time shareholders, has called for Lewis to be replaced as chairman. The family includes Jerry Finger, who founded Charter Bancshares, which was acquired by Bank of America predecessor NationsBank in 1996.
And two of the three largest U.S. pension funds, California Public Employees' Retirement System and the California State Teachers Retirement System, are plaintiffs in an investor lawsuit against the bank over its Merrill acquisition.
Lewis ousted former Merrill CEO John Thain as head of Bank of America's investment banking and wealth management on January 22 in a bid to ease lingering investor concerns about the acquisition.
Yet as Bank of America's annual meeting on April 29 draws closer, investor calls for Lewis to step down may grow louder.
"The (Obama) administration has now flexed its muscles," said Darren Robbins, partner at law firm Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins in San Diego, which filed a class action against Bank of America on behalf of an institutional investor.
"Lewis is under excruciating pressure," he added.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
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