Monday, November 16, 2009

SPB News for Monday



Free Press: 'Obama must stop merger' expected as soon as next week.

Iraqi cleaner takes UK to court over alleged sexual harassment An Iraqi cleaner who claims that she was sexually harassed at the British Embassy and at the ambassador’s residence in Baghdad is taking the Government to court over its alleged failure to investigate her complaints. The case will challenge a decision by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to allow KBR, the American company contracted to maintain the two premises, to conduct its own investigation into the allegations, rather than carry out an independent inquiry.

In House, Many Spoke With One Voice: Lobbyists' In the official record of the historic House debate on overhauling health care, the speeches of many lawmakers echo with similarities. Often, that was no accident. Statements by more than a dozen lawmakers were ghostwritten, in whole or in part, by Washington lobbyists working for Genentech, one of the world's largest biotechnology companies. E-mail messages obtained by The New York Times show that the lobbyists drafted one statement for Democrats and another for Republicans. The lobbyists, employed by Genentech and by two Washington law firms, were remarkably successful in getting the statements printed in the Congressional Record under the names of different members of Congress. Genentech, a subsidiary of the Swiss drug giant Roche, estimates that 42 House members picked up some of its talking points -- 22 Republicans and 20 Democrats, an unusual bipartisan coup for lobbyists.

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