SPB News for Saturday.

ExxonMobil seeks Iraq oil contracts

Paper reports that oil giant intends to play a major role in Iraq in 2010.

States sell surplus assets online

Municipalities dispose of everything from police cars to bicycles to raise cash.

Madoff's lawyers: Free him from jail

Argue that US court erred; Family, associates face scrutiny for involvement

Illinois to seek major state tax hike

Bank steered blacks to bad loans: NAACP

Sir Allen Stanford's alleged $8 billion Ponzi scheme doesn't only affect his American investors. In the Antiguan election this week, voters chose between the ruling party and the opposition, which welcomed the Texas financier to Antigua twenty years ago. The economy is the central issue in the election, as Antigua's Stanford International Bank was shut down by Caribbean regulators due to the Stanford fallout.* Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer says his opponent, Lester Bird, tried to "literally give away Antigua and Barbuda to Allen Stanford." In 2006, Byrd used his power as a former Prime Minister to nominate Stanford for a knighthood.* Election results are expected today. (Associated Press)

Gibbs On Stewart's Cramer Takedown: 'Enjoyed It Thoroughly'

Enviro Groups To Congress: Confirm Obama's Science Advisers

SEIU May Back Specter In 2010 If He Supports Card Check

Obama: Economy Causing Families 'Incredible Pain'

Hillary To Visit Mexico In Support Of Calderon's Drug War

Obama Official To NYT: We're Puzzled By UK's Hezbollah Move

Report: DNC To Go After Sanford In First Post-Election TV Ad

US warships head for South China Sea after standoff A potential conflict was brewing last night in the South China Sea after President Obama dispatched heavily armed American destroyers to the scene of a naval standoff between the US and China at the weekend. Mr Obama’s decision to send an armed escort for US surveillance ships in the area follows the aggressive and co-ordinated manoeuvres of five Chinese boats on Sunday. They harassed and nearly collided with an unarmed American vessel.

Obama extends Iran sanctions US President Barack Obama has extended sanctions against Iran, saying the country continues to pose a threat to US national security. Mr Obama made a formal notice of renewal with a statement saying the Government of Iran was acting contrary to the interests of the United States. In a message to the US Congress, he said sanctions would be extended for a year.

Shoe-thrower fans unite online --Muntadhar al-Zaidi, who threw his shoes at President Bush, gains cult-like following They've sung his praises on social networking pages, calling him a "hero," "the greatest man of our time," "a legend." They've said he deserves to be knighted and should be decorated with medals. They've cried out for his amnesty and have even proposed serving time for him. The man many hundreds of thousands of Facebook users honor is no other than Muntadhar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison for hurling his shoes at then-U.S. President [sic] George W. Bush.

CIA report: Israel will fall in 20 years A study conducted by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has cast doubt over Israel's survival beyond the next 20 years. The CIA report predicts "an inexorable movement away from a two-state to a one-state solution, as the most viable model based on democratic principles of full equality that sheds the looming specter of colonial Apartheid while allowing for the return of the 1947/1948 and 1967 refugees. The latter being the precondition for sustainable peace in the region."

Pentagon plans blimp to spy from new heights --The giant dirigible would use radar to closely and constantly monitor activity on the ground from 65,000 feet. The Pentagon said Thursday that it intends to spend $400 million to develop a giant dirigible that will float 65,000 feet above the Earth for 10 years, providing unblinking and intricate radar surveillance of the vehicles, planes and even people below. "It is absolutely revolutionary," Werner J.A. Dahm, chief scientist for the Air Force, said of the proposed unmanned airship -- describing it as a cross between a satellite and a spy plane.

Sony Workers Hold Execs Hostage Over Pay --CEO, Head of Human Resources In France Freed After Employees Angered Over Severance Package Give Them Earful Workers at a Sony factory in southwestern France freed two company executives Friday whom they had held to protest the severance package offered for when the plant shuts for good. Serge Foucher, CEO of Sony France, and Roland Bentz, the head of human resources, had been prevented from leaving the plant since Thursday afternoon.

Madoffs were worth more than $823M, documents show Bernard Madoff and his wife had $823 million in assets at the end of last year, including $22 million in properties stretching from New York to the French Riviera, a $7 million yacht and a $2.2 million boat named "Bull," according to a document his lawyers filed Friday. The document, prepared for the Securities and Exchange Commission at the end of last year, was contained in papers filed with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in an effort to get Madoff freed on bail.

Ginsburg: Possible court opening soon — Justice tells students there will surely be a photo with new member soon — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg speaks to students at New England Law School in Boston Friday, saying advice and camaraderie from her fellow justices have helped her in her fight against pancreatic cancer.

NAACP: Bank giants 'institutionalized racism'

Secretary Solis' Swearing-In Ceremony

Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis — March 13, 2009
Read the full transcript.
Note: Alternate and captioned versions of this video will be available by Tuesday, March 17.