Thursday, June 25, 2009

SPB News for Thursday




Obama To Meet With The Pope On July 10

Sen. Kerry jokes: ‘Too bad’ Gov. Sarah Palin didn't go missing — WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. John Kerry must have been channeling his inner Letterman yesterday. — The Bay State senator was telling a group of business and civic leaders in town at his invitation about the “bizarre” …

Officials: President Obama reconsidering July 4 invitations to Iran — WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Obama administration is seriously considering not extending invitations to Iranian diplomats for July 4 celebrations overseas, senior administration officials tell CNN.

Saudi royals funded 9/11: Lawyers Lawyers representing the families of the 9/11 victims, expose evidence allegedly proving the Saudi royal family's financial support for al-Qaeda . The lawyers provided The New York Times with excerpts of the material they had amassed by putting together the pieces from leaking American intelligence documents among other things, the daily reported on Tuesday. The evidence recounts how the Saudi royalty would use middlemen and financial supply routes to bankroll militants based in Afghanistan and Bosnia. The family, which had strong ties with the Bush administration, is also suspected of having reinforced the militancy otherwise and enlisted militant agents using intermediaries including the Saudi High Commission for Aid to Bosnia

Inmates at American prison in Afghanistan were 'beaten and threatened with dogs and guns' Former inmates at an American prison in Afghanistan have accused their captors of subjecting them to torture and death threats. In a series of BBC interviews, prisoners who were held at the Bagram Airbase, near Kabul, said they were beaten, deprived of sleep and hung from the ceiling or threatened with dogs. Four claimed officials had put a gun to their head and threatened to kill them.

Citigroup Plans to Raise Salaries by as Much as 50% Citigroup Inc., the U.S. bank that got $45 billion of government funds, will raise base salaries by as much as 50 percent to help compensate for a reduction in annual bonuses, a person familiar with the plan said. The biggest increases will go to investment bankers and traders, said the person, who declined to be identified.

Senate Report Finds Insurers Wrongfully Charged Consumers Billions Health insurers have forced consumers to pay billions of dollars in medical bills that the insurers themselves should have paid, according to a report released today by the staff of the Senate Commerce Committee. The report was part of a multi-pronged assault on the credibility of private insurers by Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.). It came at a time when Rockefeller, President Obama and others are seeking to offer a public alternative to private health plans as part of broad health reform legislation. Health insurers are doing everything they can to block the public option

Justice Department Unseals Medicare Fraud Indictments The Justice Department today unsealed criminal indictments against 53 people for allegedly bilking the Medicare system, the latest step in a wide-ranging effort to prevent fraud that costs the federally funded health program billions of dollars each year. Federal agents this morning arrested dozens of people in Miami and Detroit for allegedly submitting Medicare claims for $50 million in treatments that were unneeded and sometimes never provided, authorities said.

No comments: