Retailers' stores thinly stocked; profits won't be

ATLANTA – Retailers have thin inventories after coming out of Christmas with slightly better-than-expected sales.
Some retailers kept inventory so low they've had to bring in new merchandise to restock shelves, a rare move this soon after Christmas.
That's good news for their bottom lines. But it means slim pickings for shoppers hoping for after-Christmas clearance sales. Shoppers looking for big sales should act quickly because there are relatively few leftovers to clear out.
"Retailers are much more nimble this year," NPD analyst Marshal Cohen said. "Their 'Plan B' is to have new receipts at the ready."
Cohen said he noticed J. Crew and Coach were two that had restocked shelves with new items last week.
Because their ordering was in line with weak demand, retailers were able to sell more items at higher prices, which is critical to profits. Last year, profits were hammered by fire-sale discounts to get rid of the excess.
"The latest holiday shopping season wasn't a rip-roaring success, but at least it met or slightly exceeded expectations," said John Lonski, chief economist of Moody's Capital Markets Research Group. "Consumer spending is indeed in a recovery mode, which brightens prospects for 2010."
Spending rose 3.6 percent from Nov. 1 through Dec. 24 compared with the same period last year, according to MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse, which estimates all forms of payment including cash. Adjusted for an extra shopping day between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the number was closer to a 1 percent rise. That was still better than the flat sales analysts had predicted.
Some retail stocks rose on Monday. American Eagle Outfitters shares rose 48 cents, or 3 percent, to $16.80. Macy's Inc. shares rose 19 cents to $17.76. J.C. Penney shares rose 36 cents to $27.38.
Amazon.com Inc.'s shares rose 84 cents to $139.31, buoyed by SpendingPulse numbers that showed online sales rose 15.5 percent.
The Dow Jones U.S. Retail Index edged up less than 1 percent.
After-Christmas traffic also appeared to be relatively robust, though it wasn't clear how much people were actually spending.
Roth Capital Partners analyst Elizabeth Pierce visited six malls Saturday in southern California and saw many shoppers without bags. It's likely shoppers who went looking for bargains left without buying much, she said.
Shoppers over the weekend certainly focused on deals.
Bessie Lyles of Huntsville, Ala., arrived at Lenox Square Mall in Atlanta at 6 a.m. to hunt for deals. The 57-year-old left Macy's with two tops, sweaters and two pairs of jeans, including one pair for $4, marked down from $34.
In order to entice shoppers like Lyles through the rest of the week and into January, retailers are expected to steeply discount what leftovers they do have.
After last year's dismal season, when unplanned discounts 70 percent off or more began appearing well before Christmas, retailers vowed they wouldn't get caught that way again.
This year the tight control let retailers mostly keep discounts planned, said FBR Capital Markets analyst Adrienne Tennant.
NPD's Cohen said the season was good enough for most retailers to survive, though many could shutter underperforming stores.
"If a store didn't generate a profit, it will really be under the microscope," he said.
A better picture of how retailers fared during the holiday will be known Jan. 7, when many report December sales.

China confirms Briton's execution, despite UK plea

URUMQI, China – China brushed aside international appeals Tuesday and executed a British man convicted of drug smuggling whose relatives say was mentally unstable and unwittingly lured into the crime.
Britain's prime minister condemned the execution — China's first of a European citizen in nearly 60 years.
"I condemn the execution of Akmal Shaikh in the strongest terms, and am appalled and disappointed that our persistent requests for clemency have not been granted. I am particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken," Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a statement issued by the Foreign Office.
The press office of the Xinjiang region where Shaikh had been held confirmed the execution in a faxed statement.
Shaikh, 53, first learned he was about to be executed Monday from his visiting cousins, who made a last-minute plea for his life. They say he is mentally unstable and was lured to China from a life on the street in Poland by men playing on his dreams to record a pop song for world peace.
Brown had spoken personally to China's prime minister about his case. Foreign Secretary David Miliband also condemned the execution and said there were unanswered questions about the trial.
"I also deeply regret the fact that our specific concerns about the individual in this case were not taken into consideration ... These included mental health issues, and inadequate professional interpretation during the trial," Miliband said in a statement.
Shaikh was arrested in 2007 for carrying a suitcase with almost 9 pounds (4 kilograms) of heroin into China on a flight from Tajikistan. He told Chinese officials he didn't know about the drugs and that the suitcase wasn't his, according to Reprieve, a London-based prisoner advocacy that is helping with his case.
He was convicted in 2008 after a half-hour trial. In one court appearance during his trial and appeal process, the judges reportedly laughed at his rambling remarks.
It was not known how Shaikh, who is of Pakistani descent, was executed. China, which executes more people than any other country, is increasingly doing so by lethal injection, although some death sentences are still carried out by a shot in the head.
An Associated Press reporter who was briefly detained Tuesday by paramilitary police while trying to take pictures of the Xishan Detention Center, where Shaikh was held during his incarceration, was told by a prison police officer who refused to give his name that prisoners in the Xinjiang region were all now executed by lethal injection.
The officer said Shaikh did not appear to have mental problems, was friendly with other prisoners and had learned to speak a little Chinese while detained.
China has defended the handling of Shaikh's case, saying he received a fair trial.
"Drug smuggling is a grave crime. The rights of the defendant have been fully guaranteed," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told a news conference last week.
But the Beijing-based lawyer for Shaikh's death sentence review, Zhang Qingsong, said Tuesday he never got to meet with Shaikh despite asking the judge and the detention center for access. He said China's highest court never evaluated Shaikh's mental status.
According to Reprieve, a London-based prisoner advocacy helping Shaikh's family, the last European executed in China was Antonio Riva, an Italian pilot who was shot by a firing squad in 1951.
"The death of Akmal Shaikh is a sad indictment of today's world, and particularly of China's legal system. ... We at Reprieve are sickened by what we have seen during our work on this case," said Sally Rowen, legal director of Reprieve's death penalty team.
Reprieve issued a statement from Shaikh's family members saying they expressed "their grief at the Chinese decision to refuse mercy."

Broadcasters' woes could spell trouble for free TV

NEW YORK – For more than 60 years, TV stations have broadcast news, sports and entertainment for free and made their money by showing commercials. That might not work much longer.
The business model is unraveling at ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox and the local stations that carry the networks' programming. Cable TV and the Web have fractured the audience for free TV and siphoned its ad dollars. The recession has squeezed advertising further, forcing broadcasters to accelerate their push for new revenue to pay for programming.
That will play out in living rooms across the country. The changes could mean higher cable or satellite TV bills, as the networks and local stations squeeze more fees from pay-TV providers such as Comcast and DirecTV for the right to show broadcast TV channels in their lineups. The networks might even ditch free broadcast signals in the next few years. Instead, they could operate as cable channels — a move that could spell the end of free TV as Americans have known it since the 1940s.
"Good programing is expensive," Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp. owns Fox, told a shareholder meeting this fall. "It can no longer be supported solely by advertising revenues."
Fox is pursuing its strategy in public, warning that its broadcasts — including college football bowl games — could go dark Friday for subscribers of Time Warner Cable, unless the pay-TV operator gives Fox higher fees. For its part, Time Warner Cable is asking customers whether it should "roll over" or "get tough" in negotiations.
The future of free TV also could be altered as the biggest pay-TV provider, Comcast Corp., prepares to take control of NBC. Comcast has not signaled plans to end NBC's free broadcasts. But Jeff Zucker, who runs NBC and its sister cable channels such as CNBC and Bravo, told investors this month that "the cable model is just superior to the broadcast model."
The traditional broadcast model works like this: CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox distribute shows through a network of local stations. The networks own a few stations in big markets, but most are "affiliates," owned by separate companies.
Traditionally the networks paid affiliates to broadcast their shows, though those fees have dwindled to near nothing as local stations have seen their audience shrink. What hasn't changed is where the money mainly comes from: advertising.
Cable channels make most of their money by charging pay-TV providers a monthly fee per subscriber for their programing. On average, the pay-TV providers pay about 26 cents for each channel they carry, according to research firm SNL Kagan. A channel as highly rated as ESPN can get close to $4, while some, such as MTV2, go for just a few pennies.
With both advertising and fees, ESPN has seen its revenue grow to $6.3 billion this year from $1.8 billion a decade ago, according to SNL Kagan estimates. It has been able to bid for premium events that networks had traditionally aired, such as football games. Cable channels also have been able to fund high-quality shows, such as AMC's "Mad Men," rather than recycling movies and TV series.
That, plus a growing number of channels, has given cable a bigger share of the ad pie. In 1998, cable channels drew roughly $9.1 billion, or 24 percent of total TV ad spending, according to the Television Bureau of Advertising. By 2008, they were getting $21.6 billion, or 39 percent.
Having two revenue streams — advertising and fees from pay-TV providers — has insulated cable channels from the recession. In contrast, over-the-air stations have been forced to cut staff, and at least two broadcast groups sought bankruptcy protection this year.
Fox illustrates the trend: Its broadcast operations reported a 54 percent drop in operating income for the quarter that ended in September. Its cable channels, which include Fox News and FX, grew their operating income 41 percent.
Analyst Tom Love of ZenithOptimedia said he expects the big networks will end the year with a 9 percent drop in ad revenue, followed by an 8 percent drop in 2010 and zero growth in 2011.
A small chunk of the ad revenue is being recouped online, where the networks sell episodes for a few dollars each or run ads alongside shows on sites such as Hulu. Media economist Jack Myers projects online video advertising will grow into a $2 billion business by 2012, from just $350 million to $400 million this year.
But that is not significant enough to make up for the lost ad revenue on the airwaves. Advertisers spent $34 billion on broadcast commercials in 2008, down by $2.4 billion from two years earlier, according to the Television Bureau of Advertising.
So rather than wait for the Internet to become a bigger source of income, the networks and local stations are mimicking what cable channels do: They're charging pay-TV companies a monthly fee per subscriber to carry their programming.
Since 1994, the Federal Communications Commission has let networks and their affiliates seek payments for including their programming in the pay-TV lineup. Not everyone demanded payments at first. Instead they relied on the broader audience that cable and satellite gave them to increase what they could charge advertisers.
The big networks also were content to let their broadcast stations essentially be subsidized by higher fees for the cable channels that fell under the same corporate umbrella. A pay-TV company negotiating with the Walt Disney Co., which owns ABC, is likely paying more for the ABC Family channel than it otherwise would, with the extra assumed to help Disney cover its costs for the ABC network broadcasts.
But over time — such contracts generally run about three years — more networks began demanding payments for the stations they own. And affiliates already receiving the fees have bargained for more money.
Some talks have been tense. In 2007, Sinclair Broadcast Group, which operates 32 network-affiliated stations around the country, pulled its signals for nearly a month from Mediacom Communications Corp., which provides cable TV to about 1.3 million subscribers, mainly in small cities.
The American Cable Association says its members — mainly small cable TV providers — have seen their costs for carrying local TV stations more than triple over the past three years. The group's head, Matt Polka, says those fees have gone "straight to consumers' pocketbooks" in the form of higher cable bills.
Gannett Co., for instance, which operates 23 stations, has taken in $56 million in fees from pay-TV operators this year after negotiating a new batch of agreements, up from $18 million in 2008. Dave Lougee, president of Gannett's broadcast arm, defends the fees, saying "broadcasters were late to the game in really starting to go after the fair market value of their signals."
Analysts estimate CBS managed to get as much as 50 cents per subscriber in its most recent talks with pay-TV providers that carry CBS-owned stations. CBS Corp. chief Leslie Moonves said such fees should add "hundreds of millions of dollars to revenues annually."
That could be just the beginning. CBS and Fox are also asking for a portion of the fees that their affiliates get, arguing that the networks' shows are what give local stations the leverage to ask for fees.
Over time, the networks might be able to get even more money by abandoning the affiliate structure and undoing a key element of free TV.
Here's why: Pay-TV providers are paying the networks only for the stations the networks own. That amounts to a little less than a third of the TV audience, which means local affiliates recoup two-thirds of the fees. If a network operated purely as a cable channel and cut the affiliates out, the network could get the fees for the entire pay-TV audience.
If forced to go independent, affiliates would have to air their own programming, including local news and syndicated shows.
Fitch Ratings analyst Jamie Rizzo predicts that at least one of the four broadcast networks "could explore" becoming a cable channel as early as 2011.
Any shift would take years, as the networks untangle complicated affiliate contracts. At an analyst conference last year, CBS's Moonves called the idea an "a very interesting proposition." But he added that it "would really change the universe that we're in."

Obama vows to use power to thwart terrorists

HONOLULU – President Barack Obama on Monday vowed to use "every element of our national power" to keep Americans safe and said the failed Christmas Day plot to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner was "a serious reminder" of the need to continually adapt security measures against changing terrorist threats.
But even as Obama spoke, word came that a State Department warning had failed to trigger an effort to revoke the alleged attacker's visa. And officials in Yemen confirmed that the would-be bomber had been living in that country, where terrorist elements quickly sought to take credit for his actions.
The incident prompted stiffer airport boarding measures and authorities warned holiday travelers to expect extra delays as they return home this week and beyond.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, charged with trying to destroy an aircraft, is being held at the federal prison in Milan, Mich. A court hearing that had been scheduled for Monday to determine whether the government can get DNA from him was postponed until Jan. 8. No reason was given.
Calling Abdulmutallab's action an "attempted act of terrorism" Obama vowed to "do everything that we can to keep America safe" and declared: "The United States will more than simply strengthen our defenses. We will continue to use every element of our national power to disrupt, to dismantle and defeat the violent extremists who threaten us."
Members of Congress, meanwhile, questioned how a man flagged as a possible terrorist managed to board a commercial flight into the United States carrying powerful explosives and nearly bring down the jetliner. Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said Monday that the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that he chairs would hold hearings in January.
Meanwhile, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the thwarted attack as retaliation for a U.S. operation against the group in Yemen. Yemeni forces, helped by U.S. intelligence, carried out two airstrikes against al-Qaida operatives this month in the lawless country that is fast becoming a key front in the war on terror. The second one was a day before Abdulmutallab attempted to bring down a Northwest Airlines flight as it prepared to land in Detroit.
Yemen has long been an al-Qaida stomping ground. But officials fear that deepening instability in the Middle Eastern nation may be giving new opportunity for the terror group to establish a base to train and plan for attacks on the West.
A statement posted on the Internet by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula said Abdulmutallab coordinated with members of the group and used explosives manufactured by al-Qaida members.
Solving one mystery of Abdulmutallab's pre-Detroit path, the Yemeni Foreign Ministry said Monday that he was in Yemen from August until early December. He had received a visa to study Arabic in a school in San'a. Citing immigration authorities, the statement said Abdulmutallab had previously studied at the school, indicating it was not his first trip to Yemen.
Obama, on vacation in his birthplace of Hawaii, acknowledged the attack showed the need to increase the United States' defenses. He detailed the pair of reviews that he has ordered to determine whether changes are needed in either the watchlist system or airport screening procedures.
"This was a serious reminder of the dangers that we face," he said. "It's absolutely critical that we learn from this incident."
Obama's remarks Monday were the first heard from him on the Christmas Day scare three days earlier.
Officials said that was deliberate — an effort by the White House to balance the need for the president to show concern but also to not unduly elevate a botched incident and thereby encourage other would-be attackers.
Back in Washington, federal officials met to review their layered system of watchlists and other procedures to examine how to avoid the type of lapses that led to the attack.
Abdulmutallab's family in Nigeria released a statement that that his father had reached out to Nigerian security agencies two months ago. The statement says the father then approached foreign security agencies for "their assistance to find and return him home."
U.S. officials say that is how Abdulmutallab came to the attention of American intelligence, just last month, when the father, prominent Nigerian banker Alhaji Umar Mutallab, reported his concerns to the American Embassy in Abuja. A senior U.S. official said the father was worried that his son was in Yemen and "had fallen under the influence of religious extremists." The father did not mention any specific threat.
These concerns landed him among the about 550,000 names in the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment database, known as TIDE, which is maintained by the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center. Other, smaller lists trigger additional airport screening or other restrictions, but intelligence officials said there wasn't enough information to move him into those categories.
Another apparent lapse concerns Abdulmutallab's visa.
Britain had refused to grant him a student visa in May, but there was no apparent effort to revoke his U.S. tourist visa, issued in June 2008 and good for multiple entries over two years.
The embassy visit by Abdulmatallab's father triggered a Nov. 20 State Department cable from Lagos to all U.S. diplomatic missions and department headquarters in Washington. It was also shared with the interagency National Counter Terrorism Center, said State Department spokesman Ian Kelly.
The NCTC, which has responsibility if any visas are to be pulled over terrorism concerns, then reviewed the information and found it was "insufficient to determine whether his visa should be revoked," Kelly said.
Michael Chertoff, who was homeland security secretary in the Bush administration, questioned why Abdulmutallab's visa wasn't revoked. It's a "serious indicator" when a parent goes to authorities to discuss concerns about his child and it "certainly would cause me to ask questions," said Chertoff in an interview.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano conceded Monday that the aviation security system failed, backtracking from a statement Sunday in which she said it worked.
Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., joined the GOP critics of that statement. "They just don't get it," said Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee. "The system didn't 'work' here." Hoekstra, who is running to become his state's governor, included his criticism in a campaign e-mail that asked supporters for donations.
The White House said Obama's low-key response was carefully calibrated.
The plane had been on the ground in Detroit for two hours on Friday before officials first informed Obama. Advisers said they wanted to make sure they had complete and accurate information before going to the president but, even so, Obama's first briefing with national security and homeland security advisers lasted less than 15 minutes. Obama's motorcade was rolling toward the gym minutes afterward.
Two days later, when another flight from Amsterdam to Detroit came under suspicion, it was about 90 minutes after it landed before Obama was informed of what had been a false alarm.
Throughout the weekend, Obama has mixed vacation activities with crisis monitoring. He played golf on Saturday with friends and was playing basketball with aides when that second flight landed in Detroit on Sunday. He went from there to a beach and a gourmet restaurant dinner in the evening.
On Monday, he did not address the public until after a workout and a tennis game with his wife — and went golfing immediately afterward.

NYC victim's mom: EMTs were 'inhuman' not to help

NEW YORK – Two EMTs on a coffee break who failed to help a dying pregnant woman acted "to the best of their abilities," their lawyer said Tuesday, while the woman's mother condemned them as "inhuman."
The EMTs, Jason Green and Melissa Jackson, were suspended without pay and the Brooklyn district attorney opened a criminal investigation into the case. State health officials, who called the inaction "appalling," were also investigating along with the city's fire department, which oversees EMTs.
The two emergency workers were at the eatery when Eutisha Rennix, an employee, collapsed. Witnesses have said the EMTs told workers to call 911, then left when they were asked to help the woman, a mother of a 3-year-old son who was expecting her second child.
Cynthia Rennix, the 25-year-old woman's mother said, the EMTs shouldn't have taken those jobs if they weren't willing to get involved in emergency situations.
"You are very inhuman; you don't need to have a job like you do," she said.
Douglas Rosenthal, the EMTs' lawyer, pushed back against what he called a "rush to judgment" that had vilified his clients. He said the facts will show that Green and Jackson acted "appropriately to the best of their abilities" at Au Bon Pain in Brooklyn on Dec. 9. He declined to speak more specifically about the situation.
Rennix had complained of feeling dizzy before collapsing in the rear of the store, according to a person who saw it happen. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because the person wasn't authorized to speak publicly.
Green and Jackson, who are emergency service dispatchers, were in the front of the store making their order, the person said. The witness never saw them go into the back where Rennix was before they left the premises.
That witness said Rennix, who was six months pregnant with a girl, was also an asthma sufferer.
Rennix died at a hospital shortly afterward, her baby too premature to survive.
Cynthia Rennix said she didn't know the cause of her daughter's death. Calls to the hospital where she died weren't returned Tuesday.
The city medical examiner didn't perform an autopsy because the death wasn't part of a crime scene, spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said. Borakove said an autopsy would only be performed if the family requested it.
As dispatchers, Green, a 6-year veteran, and Jackson, a 4-year veteran, are fully trained EMTs. A spokesman for the EMTs' union said all dispatchers are required to be field-trained EMTs or paramedics in order to be more effective at their jobs, and are capable of getting involved in emergency situations.
"All of our members are qualified to make that initial assessment and in some cases, start medical care," said Robert Ungar, spokesman for the Uniformed EMTS and Paramedics, FDNY.
"Being dispatchers is not a defense" for inaction, he said.
A FDNY spokesman said all members take an oath to help others whenever emergency medical care is needed.
The certification program for EMTs is overseen by the state Department of Health. To complete it, people must take a 120-hour course, plus put in 10 hours of clinical time. They also have to pass an exam, and must periodically be re-certified.
Department spokesman Jeffrey Hammond said, "The charges are appalling and the Department is vigorously investigating both EMTs."
Ungar said the city's EMTs must also pass training from the Fire Department in addition to their state-regulated training.
The Fire Department has suspended Green and Jackson without pay.
Rennix said she has yet to decide whether she is going to take any legal action. She is taking care of her daughter's son.

Terrorist attack feared after Jackson arrest

NEW YORK – Police concerns that media-hungry terrorists would attack Michael Jackson's trial as a "soft target" led to a request for federal help, according to FBI files kept on the late pop star. The documents also show that the FBI helped facilitate interviews in the Philippines by California authorities investigating Jackson over allegations that he had sexually abused boys.
The FBI monitored Jackson for more than a decade, but the files contain no major revelations about his private life and the bureau apparently never developed any solid evidence against him.
In 2004, the Santa Maria Police Department in California asked for FBI "involvement" after Jackson was arrested for child molestation. Police, according to the FBI, said they believed the court case would be a "soft target" for terrorism because of the "worldwide media coverage" the trial would attract.
The FBI concluded there were no threats, but did note the presence in an early court appearance of "The Nation of Islam, represented by its security unit Fruits of Islam," and of a New Black Panther Party member whose name was left blank in the files. Jackson used Nation of Islam bodyguards during the legal proceedings.
Back in September 1993, an investigator from the Los Angeles Police Department and another from the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Office arrived in Manila to speak to two former employees of Jackson's Neverland ranch who claimed they saw the singer fondle young boys.
Their trip came after the LAPD had asked the FBI if it wanted to work a possible case against Jackson for transporting a minor across state lines for immoral purposes. The FBI checked with the U.S. Attorney's Office, which declined.
The files say an FBI agent accompanied the California officials to the first interview to make sure there were no problems.
The documents, dating from 1992 to 2005, were made public Tuesday through a Freedom of Information Act request from The Associated Press and other media after Jackson's death June 25, at age 50. The FBI initially said it had about 600 pages in its files but released 333 pages, citing privacy rules and the desire to protect investigative techniques.
In March 2004, the Santa Barbara County district attorney's office reached out to the FBI, seeking help in developing a strategy to prosecute Jackson for molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor in the singer's home. Jackson was acquitted of all 14 counts against him in what was one of the most widely followed cases in history.
The FBI reviewed case notes from local authorities and examined 16 computers taken from Jackson's home. Nothing notable was described as being found on the hard drives, though parts of the files are redacted.
Tom Mesereau, who was Jackson's lead defense attorney during his trial, said the FBI documents provide further proof the singer did nothing wrong.
"He was not a criminal and he was not a pedophile," Mesereau said. "The fact that so many agencies investigated him and couldn't find anything proves he was completely innocent."
A message left for Ken Sunshine, spokesman for the Jackson family, was not immediately returned.
The Santa Barbara case was the most recent time the FBI was asked to investigate Jackson but records show the agency had been looking at his alleged involvement with younger boys for more than a decade.
In September 1993, an FBI agent in London told colleagues in Los Angeles that the British press was reporting that a man was making allegations he had held a sexually charged phone call with Jackson in 1979, when the man was 13 and Jackson was 20. Aside from asking the information be passed on to local authorities in Los Angeles, the FBI agent in London noted that no further action was being taken.
In October 1995, the U.S. Customs Service asked the FBI to review a VHS videotape labeled "Michael Jackson's Neverland Favorites An All Boy Anthology" as part of a child pornography investigation. The recording was of such poor quality that investigators appear to have been unable to determine what was on it.
The files include death threats against Jackson, then-President George H.W. Bush and mob boss John Gotti that led to the 1993 sentencing of Frank Paul Jones, who allegedly was obsessed with Janet Jackson, Michael's sister.
A letter obtained by the FBI, dated July 6, 1992, states: "I decided that because nobody is taking me serious, and I can't handle my state of mind, that I am going to Washington D.C. to threaten to kill the President of the United States, George Bush."
The letter also says, "Michael (Jackson) I will personally attempt to kill, if he doesn't pay me my money." One of the documents, written by the L.A. City Attorney's office, indicated on June 22, 1992, that the author of the letter "arrives in Calif." and "Threatens to kill." The FBI includes an interview with an unidentified "victim," whose name is redacted but presumably Michael Jackson, who states that he was aware of the threats and took them seriously.
According to a 1992 Associated Press story, Jones was arrested June 22 and held on $15,000 bail for investigation of trespassing in the driveway of the Jackson family compound in Encino, Calif. The following year, he was sentenced to two years in prison for "mailing a threatening communication," according to a 1993 press report included in the FBI files.

White House predict success on health care

WASHINGTON – From the White House to Capitol Hill, Democrats on Tuesday confidently predicted Senate passage of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul after the bill cleared its second 60-vote test and the time was set for a final tally.
Coming to the Senate floor in the middle of the afternoon, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced an agreement to vote on final passage at 8 a.m. Thursday, Christmas Eve. It would mark the 25th consecutive day of Senate debate on health care.
"The finish line is in sight," Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said at a news conference with other Senate leaders and cheering supporters. "We're not the first to attempt such reforms but we will be the first to succeed."
At the White House, spokesman Robert Gibbs declared: "Health care reform is not a matter of if. Health care reform is now a matter of when."
Obama said the Senate legislation accomplishes 95 percent of what he wanted on health care. "Every single criteria for reform I put forward is in this bill," the president said in an interview with The Washington Post.
Senate Democrats remained behind their compromise bill over steadfast Republican opposition. A motion to shut off debate and move to a vote on a package of changes by Reid passed 60-39.
The final 60-vote hurdle, limiting debate on the bill itself, is expected to be cleared Wednesday afternoon, setting up the Thursday morning-before-Christmas vote on the legislation, which at that point will need only a simple majority to pass.
The Senate has been voting at odd hours since Monday around 1 a.m. because Republicans have insisted on using all the time allowed under Senate rules to delay the bill. Not to be thwarted, Reid has refused to postpone action until after the holidays. On Tuesday, they started voting at sunrise.
With fatigue and frustration rising, Reid appealed to his colleagues to set aside acrimony and reach for some holiday spirit.
"I would hope everybody will keep in mind that this is a time when we reflect on peace and good things," he said. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said he, too, wanted to close the debate. After conferring with McConnell, Reid announced the timing of the final vote.
Even so, partisan fires were burning.
GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina denounced concessions won by conservative Nebraska Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson, whose support gave Democrats the 60th and final vote they need. Among other things, Nelson got an agreement that the federal government will pay to expand Medicaid services in Nebraska.
"That's not change you can believe in. That's sleazy," Graham said on NBC's "Today" show.
South Caroline Attorney General Henry McMaster, a candidate for governor, said he and his counterparts in Alabama, Colorado, Michigan, North Dakota, Texas and Washington state — all Republicans — are jointly taking a look at whether the special provisions for Nebraska and other states are constitutional.
"Whatever the legal status may be, and we hope to find out soon, these negotiations on their face appear to be a form of vote-buying paid for by taxpayers," McMaster said, adding he hopes citizens will challenge the legislation in court.
Reid has defended the dealmaking, asserting that every senator got something they were looking for in the health bill and if they didn't it speaks poorly of them.
Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa also defended the concessions, saying: "The one that's being talked about for Nebraska, it also benefits other states. It's not just Nebraska."
He also said he would vote for the package even if it didn't contain concessions for Iowa. "The principle of this bill overrides everything," Harkin told CBS' "Early Show."
Moderate Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who has also been criticized after securing a boost in Medicaid for her state, defended the concessions she got, saying they benefited low-income families small businesses.
Also Tuesday, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., announced that the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services has agreed to his request to investigate whether drug companies are raising prices of brand-name prescription drugs used by Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries ahead of passage of the health care bill. AARP says prescription drug prices are on the rise, but the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said in a statement that Nelson's request "was spurred, in large part, on misleading statistics and sensationalized media reports."
The Senate measure would still have to be harmonized with the health care bill passed by the House in November before final legislation would go to Obama.
There are significant differences between the two bills, including stricter abortion language in the House bill, a new government-run insurance plan in the House bill that's missing from the Senate version, and a tax on high-value insurance plans embraced by the Senate but strongly opposed by many House Democrats.
Senate moderates have served notice they won't support a final deal if government-run insurance comes back. And Democratic abortion opponents in the House say a Senate compromise on the volatile issue is unacceptable.
But there's considerable pressure on Democrats to avoid messy negotiations over a final bill. Public support for the legislation continues to sink in opinion polls.
The bills probably have more in common than differences. Each costs around $1 trillion over 10 years and installs new requirements for nearly all Americans to buy insurance, providing subsidies to help lower-income people do so. They're paid for by a combination of tax and fee increases and cuts in projected Medicare spending.
Unpopular insurance company practices such as denying coverage to people with existing health conditions would be banned. Uninsured or self-employed Americans would have a new way to buy health insurance, via marketplaces called exchanges where private insurers would sell health plans required to meet certain minimum standards.
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White House predict success on health care

WASHINGTON – From the White House to Capitol Hill, Democrats on Tuesday confidently predicted Senate passage of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul after the bill cleared its second 60-vote test and the time was set for a final tally.
Coming to the Senate floor in the middle of the afternoon, Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., announced an agreement to vote on final passage at 8 a.m. Thursday, Christmas Eve. It would mark the 25th consecutive day of Senate debate on health care.
"The finish line is in sight," Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., said at a news conference with other Senate leaders and cheering supporters. "We're not the first to attempt such reforms but we will be the first to succeed."
At the White House, spokesman Robert Gibbs declared: "Health care reform is not a matter of if. Health care reform is now a matter of when."
Obama said the Senate legislation accomplishes 95 percent of what he wanted on health care. "Every single criteria for reform I put forward is in this bill," the president said in an interview with The Washington Post.
Senate Democrats remained behind their compromise bill over steadfast Republican opposition. A motion to shut off debate and move to a vote on a package of changes by Reid passed 60-39.
The final 60-vote hurdle, limiting debate on the bill itself, is expected to be cleared Wednesday afternoon, setting up the Thursday morning-before-Christmas vote on the legislation, which at that point will need only a simple majority to pass.
The Senate has been voting at odd hours since Monday around 1 a.m. because Republicans have insisted on using all the time allowed under Senate rules to delay the bill. Not to be thwarted, Reid has refused to postpone action until after the holidays. On Tuesday, they started voting at sunrise.
With fatigue and frustration rising, Reid appealed to his colleagues to set aside acrimony and reach for some holiday spirit.
"I would hope everybody will keep in mind that this is a time when we reflect on peace and good things," he said. Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said he, too, wanted to close the debate. After conferring with McConnell, Reid announced the timing of the final vote.
Even so, partisan fires were burning.
GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina denounced concessions won by conservative Nebraska Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson, whose support gave Democrats the 60th and final vote they need. Among other things, Nelson got an agreement that the federal government will pay to expand Medicaid services in Nebraska.
"That's not change you can believe in. That's sleazy," Graham said on NBC's "Today" show.
South Caroline Attorney General Henry McMaster, a candidate for governor, said he and his counterparts in Alabama, Colorado, Michigan, North Dakota, Texas and Washington state — all Republicans — are jointly taking a look at whether the special provisions for Nebraska and other states are constitutional.
"Whatever the legal status may be, and we hope to find out soon, these negotiations on their face appear to be a form of vote-buying paid for by taxpayers," McMaster said, adding he hopes citizens will challenge the legislation in court.
Reid has defended the dealmaking, asserting that every senator got something they were looking for in the health bill and if they didn't it speaks poorly of them.
Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa also defended the concessions, saying: "The one that's being talked about for Nebraska, it also benefits other states. It's not just Nebraska."
He also said he would vote for the package even if it didn't contain concessions for Iowa. "The principle of this bill overrides everything," Harkin told CBS' "Early Show."
Moderate Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who has also been criticized after securing a boost in Medicaid for her state, defended the concessions she got, saying they benefited low-income families small businesses.
Also Tuesday, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., announced that the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services has agreed to his request to investigate whether drug companies are raising prices of brand-name prescription drugs used by Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries ahead of passage of the health care bill. AARP says prescription drug prices are on the rise, but the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America said in a statement that Nelson's request "was spurred, in large part, on misleading statistics and sensationalized media reports."
The Senate measure would still have to be harmonized with the health care bill passed by the House in November before final legislation would go to Obama.
There are significant differences between the two bills, including stricter abortion language in the House bill, a new government-run insurance plan in the House bill that's missing from the Senate version, and a tax on high-value insurance plans embraced by the Senate but strongly opposed by many House Democrats.
Senate moderates have served notice they won't support a final deal if government-run insurance comes back. And Democratic abortion opponents in the House say a Senate compromise on the volatile issue is unacceptable.
But there's considerable pressure on Democrats to avoid messy negotiations over a final bill. Public support for the legislation continues to sink in opinion polls.
The bills probably have more in common than differences. Each costs around $1 trillion over 10 years and installs new requirements for nearly all Americans to buy insurance, providing subsidies to help lower-income people do so. They're paid for by a combination of tax and fee increases and cuts in projected Medicare spending.
Unpopular insurance company practices such as denying coverage to people with existing health conditions would be banned. Uninsured or self-employed Americans would have a new way to buy health insurance, via marketplaces called exchanges where private insurers would sell health plans required to meet certain minimum standards.

Pakistan bans minister's travel after graft ruling

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Pakistan's anti-corruption agency has barred the defense minister and nearly 250 other top officials from leaving the country as political turmoil deepens following a Supreme Court ruling that struck down a graft amnesty.
The agency said Thursday that the officials were now under investigation following this week's court verdict, which meant that up to 8,000 graft and other cases dating back to the 1990s have, or will soon be, reopened. The decision has roiled the country's political elite just as the United States is looking for a solid partner to help it fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban along the Afghan border.
U.S.-allied President Asif Ali Zardari and several of his key aides are among those who benefited from the amnesty deal. Zardari is protected by constitutional immunity from any criminal prosecution, but opponents say they plan to challenge his eligibility for office.
Pakistan's anti-corruption agency said 247 people who had cases withdrawn under the amnesty had been blocked from travel because cases against them were now under investigation. It did not say who was on the list, but Pakistani news channels reported that Interior Minister Rehman Malik — a key aide of Zardari — was included, as well as Defense Minister Ahmed Mukhtar.
Mukhtar told a local television station that immigration officials at the airport had barred him from boarding a Pakistani International Airlines plane to China along with the navy chief late Thursday. He said he planned to take delivery of a new warship. It was not clear what he was being investigated for.
While the armed forces are under nominal civilian control, analysts say that in reality the top brass — not Mukhtar — make the decisions regarding defense issues. As such, investigations against him and Malik are not expected to directly impact the country's fight against militancy in the border regions.
Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling has significantly weakened Zardari and raised question marks over his future. It has been welcomed by many Pakistanis, who viewed the graft amnesty as an immoral piece of legislation that whitewashed the crimes of the elite.
The 54-year-old, who heads the country's largest party, is already unpopular, in large part because of his close ties with Washington. He now faces the prospect of bruising court battles that will likely mean old corruption charges come under fresh scrutiny.
Zardari's aides said any corruption charges against him were politically motivated and noted that they have never been proved despite being aired since the 1990s. Critics countered he was morally obligated to resign, at least while the court heard any challenges to his rule.
"It will be in his own interest, it will be in the interest of his party and it will be good for the system," said Khawaja Asif, a senior leader from the opposition Pakistan Muslim League party.
The Obama administration needs political stability in Pakistan to succeed in neighboring Afghanistan, where violence against U.S. and NATO troops is running at all time highs. Washington is trying to get Islamabad to crack down on insurgents close to the northwestern border who it says are behind much of the insurgency in Afghanistan.
Earlier Thursday, two U.S. missile strikes pummeled targets in the border region killing 17 people, local intelligence officials said. The latest attacks in more than 40 this year rained down Thursday on North Waziristan, a haven for al-Qaida and the Taliban, including groups determined to push the U.S. and NATO out of Afghanistan.
It was not immediately clear exactly who or what was the target of the strike, and the Pakistani officials said they were trying to establish the identities of the dead.
In the first strike, two missiles hit a car carrying two suspected insurgents in Dosali village, officials said. Later Thursday, the 10 missiles fired by five drones killed 15 people in two compounds in the Ambarshaga area. At least seven of the dead were foreigners, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.
The missile strikes have killed scores of suspected al-Qaida and Taliban militants, but angering many Pakistanis who point to the resulting civilian casualties. Pakistan regularly condemns the attacks as violations of its sovereignty, but it is believed to secretly aid the U.S. campaign.
The U.S. rarely acknowledges the covert, CIA-run missile program. But when officials have confirmed the attacks, they say the drones are a crucial tool and note that the missiles have slain several top al-Qaida operatives as well as Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud.
Information from the tribal regions is nearly impossible to independently verify because access to the areas is severely restricted.

11 baby deaths now linked to Simplicity cribs

WASHINGTON – Despite several recalls and warnings, the number of reported baby deaths linked to defective Simplicity cribs has risen to 11.
The most recent death occurred in September when a 7-month-old child from Princeton, Ky., became entrapped in the crib when a part of it broke, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Thursday.
The agency also said it's aware of 25 other incidents involving drop-side parts detaching from Simplicity cribs.
The recall of Simplicity-manufactured cribs began in December 2005. More than 2 million Simplicity drop-side cribs have been recalled so far because of problems with their plastic hardware. Some of the recalled cribs have the Graco logo and Winnie the Pooh motif.
The crib's hardware can break or deform, causing the drop side to detach. This detachment creates a space between the drop side and crib mattress that babies can roll into and become entrapped, leading to suffocation risk.
The agency's announcement on Thursday that 11 babies have died was a big jump from the four deaths reported in earlier recall announcements.
The previous deaths included 9-month-old and 6-month-old babies killed after the drop side of their cribs was installed upside down, an 8-month-old who became entrapped between the drop side and the crib mattress and a 19-month-old who suffocated after mattress support slats came out of his recalled crib.
The agency announced the new death tally with another reminder to parents about the dangers of Simplicity cribs. Simplicity's assets were bought by SFCA Inc. last year but neither company appears to be conducting day-to-day operations.
The agency says caregivers should check their cribs to see whether they have a recalled Simplicity crib. If they do, consumers should stop using them immediately and should not attempt to fix the cribs.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Chris Henry was no stranger to trouble.
Indeed, his multiple arrests during a five-year NFL career were among the factors prompting the league to toughen its personal conduct policy.
But to hear his teammates tell it — even the team's owner — the Cincinnati Bengals receiver was determined to leave behind his troubled past and move ahead toward a bright future.
Tragically, his efforts were cut short when he died from injuries in what police said was a domestic dispute with his fiancee.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said the 26-year-old Henry died early Thursday, less than 18 hours after he fell off of the back of a pickup truck on a curvy residential street about eight miles northwest of downtown Charlotte.
The cause of death was not immediately released.
Henry was away from the Bengals after suffering a season-ending broken forearm in a game last month.
"We knew him in a different way than his public persona," Bengals owner Mike Brown said. "He had worked through the troubles in his life and had finally seemingly reached the point where everything was going to blossom. And he was going to have the future we all wanted for him. It's painful to us. We feel it in our hearts, and we will miss him."
Bengals receiver Andre Caldwell said: "People thought he was a bad guy, but he had a big heart."
Police released few details about the investigation, other than homicide detectives were assigned to the case. Two 911 tapes released Thursday and witnesses provided some clues.
Neighbor Lee Hardy told WLWT-TV and The Cincinnati Enquirer that he was working in his yard when the truck left the driveway. Hardy said Henry was yelling that he needed to talk to the woman behind the wheel.
"He said, 'If you take off, I'm going to jump off the truck and kill myself,'" Hardy told the newspaper.
The first 911 tape was from an unidentified woman who said she was following a yellow pickup truck.
"It's got a black man on it with no shirt on, and he's got his arm in a cast and black pants on," she told a dispatcher. "He's beating on the back of this truck window. ... I don't know if he's trying to break in or something. It just looks crazy. It's a girl driving it."
Just over a minute later, an unidentified man called 911 and said he saw a man "laying in the road" and "definitely unconscious."
Police spokeswoman Rosalyn Harrington wouldn't say if the woman, whom police would not identify, was present at the scene when police arrived.
Henry and his 25-year-old fiancee Loleini Tonga, who grew up in Charlotte and received a volleyball scholarship to North Carolina A&T, were raising three children. Tonga's MySpace page identifies herself as "Mrs. C. Henry" and featured a post from Tuesday talking about buying wedding rings.
"We are greatly saddened by today's tragic news about the loss of Chris Henry," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to Chris' family, including his Bengals family."
Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said: "It's a very difficult thing with his loss and a young life and one that won't ever get to reach its full potential."
Police said the domestic dispute began Wednesday at a home about a half-mile away from where Henry was found. He had jumped into the bed of the pickup as his fiancee was driving away from the residence, and at some point when she was driving "came out of the back of the vehicle," authorities said.
Two women who lived nearby said Thursday they saw Tonga and the pickup at the scene when police arrived. Cheryl Hoffman said she came out with a blanket when she saw Henry wasn't wearing a shirt.
"When I got to where he was laying on the ground out there he was very unresponsive, laying flat on the ground," Hoffman said. "He was foaming at the mouth, and I was very worried what was happening then."
When players received word Henry had died, quarterback Carson Palmer called them together in the locker room and said they should dedicate the game and rest of the season to Henry and the wife of defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, who died unexpectedly during the season.
The Bengals will wear a helmet sticker Sunday against San Diego to remember Henry, and Goodell requested clubs observe a moment of silence before each game.
"He was doing everything right," receiver Chad Ochocinco said.
Henry grew up south of New Orleans in the suburban community of Belle Chasse and soon dreamed of playing in the NFL. But after he was ejected from a game and suspended for another at West Virginia, the Bengals were the only team to bring him in for a pre-draft visit in 2005.
Selected in the third round, Henry played a vital role as a speedy, deep threat as Cincinnati reached the playoffs in his rookie season. But in the final month of the season he was arrested for marijuana possession.
It was the first of five arrests, and Henry and former Tennessee cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones became known as the league's two most trouble-bound players. Goodell suspended both in 2007 — Jones for a full season, Henry for half of it — as part of a toughening of the league's conduct policy.
After Henry was arrested for a fifth time following that season on an assault charge, Municipal Court Judge Bernie Bouchard called Henry "a one-man crime wave." He was released by the Bengals the same day.
But Brown gave him a second chance, re-signing him before the 2008 season.
"I kind of felt like I dug myself out of the hole and started doing the right things," Henry said in an interview with The Associated Press as training camp opened this season. "People say, 'How you feeling now Chris? You doing all right?' I just tell them I'm blessed. That's why I got it."
A thigh injury slowed him early in the season, and he had 12 catches for 236 yards — his 19.7-yard average per catch leads the team — when he broke his left arm during a win over Baltimore, ending his season.
"My grandma always says you never question the man upstairs on decisions he makes," Ochocinco said. "Everyone makes mistakes, but I don't see how Chris was supposed to go already, especially when he was on the right path. Other than that, he's going to be missed."
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Mexican navy kills top cartel kingpin in shootout

CUERNAVACA, Mexico – Two hundred sailors raided an upscale apartment complex and killed a reputed Mexican drug cartel chief in a two-hour gunbattle, one of the biggest victories yet in President Felipe Calderon's drug war.
Arturo Beltran Leyva, the "boss of bosses," and three members of his cartel were slain in the shootout Wednesday in Cuernavaca, just south of Mexico City, according to a navy statement. A fifth cartel member committed suicide during the shootout.
Cartel gunmen hurled grenades that injured three sailors, the navy said. An Associated Press reporter at the scene heard at least 10 explosions.
During the gunbattle, sailors went door-to-door to evacuate residents of the apartment complex to the gym, according to a woman who said she was speaking by cellphone to her husband inside. She would not give her name out of fear for her safety.
Beltran Levya is the highest-ranking figure taken down under Calderon, who has deployed more than 45,000 troops across Mexico to crush the cartels since taking office in December 2006. The offensive has earned Calderon praise from Washington even as 14,000 people have been killed in a wave of drug-related violence.
The last time Mexican authorities killed a major drug lord was in 2002, when Ramon Arellano Felix of the Tijuana Cartel was shot by a police officer in the Sinaloa resort of Mazatlan.
Beltran Levya was one of five brothers who split from the Sinaloa Cartel several years ago and aligned themselves with Los Zetas, a group of former soldiers hired by the rival Gulf Cartel as hit men. The split is believed to have fueled much of the bloodshed of recent years.
One of the brothers, Alfredo Beltran Leyva, was arrested in January 2008.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says the Beltran Leyva cartel is key in the importation and distribution of tons of cocaine in the United States, as well as large quantities of heroin. Mexico considers the group one of its six major cartels.
The Mexican government had listed Arturo Beltran Leyva as one its 24 most-wanted drug lords and had offered a $2.1 million reward for his capture.
Born in the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa, the Beltran Leyva brothers worked side by side with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, before they broke away after Gulf Cartel leader Osiel Cardenas was arrested in 2003. They soon seized the lucrative drug routes in northeastern Mexico.
U.S. officials say the Beltran Leyva Cartel has carried out heinous killings, including numerous beheadings. The gang also has had great success in buying off public officials, police and others to protect their business and get tips on planned military raids.
The U.S government added Beltran Leyva and his cartel to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act last year, a movement that denied him access to the U.S. financial system.
The state of Morelos, where Cuernavaca is located, and neighboring Guerrero have seen a spike in violence in recent months, with dozens of people killed. Some of the mutilated bodies have appeared with pieces of paper signed "boss of bosses," Beltran Leyva's nickname.
Mexican authorities have been steadily closing in on the Beltran Levya over the past year, raising lavish parties thrown by cartel leaders even while they were on the run.
In one of the biggest blows to the gang, several top federal law enforcement officials were arrested in late 2008 for allegedly protecting and leaking confidential information to the cartel. They included former Mexican drug czar Noe Ramirez.
On Friday, sailors raided a party at mansion in the mountain down of Tepotzlan, near Cuernavaca, where they killed three alleged Beltran Leyva cartel members and detained 11.
They also detained Ramon Ayala, a Texas-based norteno singer whose band was playing at the party, on suspicion of ties to organized crime. His lawyer, Adolfo Vega, denied Ayala had ties to the Beltran Leyva gang, saying the singer didn't know his clients were drug traffickers.
In May, soldiers arrested one of Beltran Leyva's lieutenants, Rodolfo Lopez Ibarra, as he stepped off a plane in the northern city of Monterrey — fresh from a baptism party hosted by Beltran Leyva himself in Acapulco.
Months earlier, soldiers had arrested the deputy police chief of the resort town of Zihuatenejo who was allegedly protecting 14 Beltran Leyva members at a cock fight.
Mexico's drug gangs have fought against Calderon's crackdown with brutal attacks against security forces.
On Wednesday, the severed heads of six state police investigators were found on a public plaza in the northern Mexican state of Durango.

Brian Moynihan to succeed Ken Lewis as BofA CEO

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Bank of America's new CEO says he doesn't expect to lead a major shift in strategy at the nation's largest bank when he takes over from Ken Lewis on Jan. 1. But with loan losses continuing to mount amid double-digit unemployment rates, it remains to be seen whether investors will embrace staying the course.

Bank of America's board late Wednesday named its 50-year-old consumer and small business banking chief, Brian Moynihan, as president and CEO. The promotion ended a months-long search complicated by pay restrictions imposed by government pay czar Kenneth Feinberg before the bank repaid $45 billion of federal bailout loans needed to prevent its failure over the past year.

"I am pleased that it's finally over," said Nancy Bush, managing member of NAB Research LLC in Annandale, N.J. Bush said there will be divergent opinions both on Wall Street and within the bank about Moynihan, but overall, she feels it was the smart move.

"My concern about bringing in an external candidate was that somebody would come in and feel the need to put their stamp on the company through a restructuring or through a period of turbulence," she said. "The bank just doesn't need that right now. An internal candidate who knows the players and who knows what needs to be done ... is probably a wiser choice at this point."

Analysts have said outside candidates likely would have wanted to break up the company, something Bank of America's board reportedly is reluctant to do.

"Brian's wide range of experience, his relationships inside and outside of the company, and his demonstrated ability to understand business dynamics and effect constructive change made him the best person for the position," said Bank of America Chairman Walter E. Massey, who led the CEO search. Massey said that while the bank did consider external candidates, the board decided that Moynihan's experience was as good or better, "and he offered the advantage of a smooth transition."

Bank of America didn't immediately return messages left seeking comment. But Moynihan told The Wall Street Journal Wednesday night that he doesn't plan to exit any current businesses, nor does he foresee making any major changes to the bank's strategy.

"Clearly, customers and clients have benefited from the franchise Ken Lewis, Hugh McColl and others have built over the decades. Our business model has also worked for shareholders," he said in a statement. "What we need to do now is very simple. We need to execute."

Moynihan joined the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank as part of its 2004 purchase of FleetBoston Financial Corp., where he led global wealth and investment management. Over the past year he has served as BofA general counsel, head of global corporate and investment banking and consumer banking chief. He will now join the bank's board of directors.

As the new CEO, Moynihan faces many daunting tasks. He must juggle regulatory investigations into the bank's 2008 acquisition of Merrill Lynch while trying to repair relationship with regulators and members of Congress who sharply criticized Lewis after the bank required billions in aid. Some of those lawmakers, including Maryland Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings, had also questioned Moynihan's leadership skills during a hearing on the Merrill takeover.

Moynihan takes over at time when the bank faces continued loan losses in the billions of dollars. It lost more than $2.2 billion in the third quarter as bad debt kept rising as consumers still struggled to pay their bills. Bank of America, which has about 53 million consumer and small business customers, is considered particularly vulnerable to unemployment, which remains at double-digit levels.

Bank of America told the Treasury Department of its decision before making the announcement, and Treasury raised no objections, according to industry officials familiar with the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the bank's discussions were private.

The Treasury Department declined to comment Wednesday evening.

Lewis, 62, announced his departure in September in a move that surprised Bank of America's board and left it scrambling for a replacement with no clear succession plan in place. Before then, Lewis had promised he would remain as CEO until the bank cleared up its financial problems. But the heavy regulatory scrutiny and shareholder fury that accompanied the Merrill deal drove Lewis to decide to step down early.

Lewis said Wednesday he believes Moynihan "is the right person to lead our company forward."

Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said he hopes Moynihan "appreciates the debt Bank of America owes to U.S. taxpayers, and is prepared to increase lending to consumers and small businesses in order to create jobs and grow the economy."

One thing Moynihan doesn't have to worry about is repaying the government loans. The bank received $25 billion from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, as part of the initial round of investments into hundreds of financial institutions when the credit crisis peaked last fall. It then received an additional $20 billion shortly after it acquired Merrill Lynch in what was a heavily scrutinized deal.

Bank of America repaid the money it received from TARP on Dec. 8. That freed the bank from the government restrictions that had hampered its search for a new CEO, including executive pay limitations. However, its negotiations with outside candidates continued to falter.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp.'s CEO Robert Kelly told employees Monday that he wasn't going anywhere, leaving BofA with one less candidate for its top job. Media reports had listed Kelly among the top choices to lead the bank.

Other candidates reportedly had included: Bob Diamond, president of British bank Barclays PLC; Larry Fink, CEO of asset manager BlackRock Inc.; and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, a former Goldman Sachs chairman and CEO. Bank of America's chief risk officer, Gregory Curl, was also a top internal candidate for Lewis' job. It wasn't clear Wednesday night if Curl, 61, would remain at the bank.

By picking someone from within, "you express an ability to create a culture that can produce leaders and that's very important," said Keith Springer, president of Sacramento, Calif.-based Capital Financial Advisory Services, which owns financial stocks.

"It's important for these companies to show they have longevity," he said. "And if you can't breed leaders, then you can't survive."

Brian Moynihan to succeed Ken Lewis as BofA CEO

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Bank of America's new CEO says he doesn't expect to lead a major shift in strategy at the nation's largest bank when he takes over from Ken Lewis on Jan. 1. But with loan losses continuing to mount amid double-digit unemployment rates, it remains to be seen whether investors will embrace staying the course.

Bank of America's board late Wednesday named its 50-year-old consumer and small business banking chief, Brian Moynihan, as president and CEO. The promotion ended a months-long search complicated by pay restrictions imposed by government pay czar Kenneth Feinberg before the bank repaid $45 billion of federal bailout loans needed to prevent its failure over the past year.

"I am pleased that it's finally over," said Nancy Bush, managing member of NAB Research LLC in Annandale, N.J. Bush said there will be divergent opinions both on Wall Street and within the bank about Moynihan, but overall, she feels it was the smart move.

"My concern about bringing in an external candidate was that somebody would come in and feel the need to put their stamp on the company through a restructuring or through a period of turbulence," she said. "The bank just doesn't need that right now. An internal candidate who knows the players and who knows what needs to be done ... is probably a wiser choice at this point."

Analysts have said outside candidates likely would have wanted to break up the company, something Bank of America's board reportedly is reluctant to do.

"Brian's wide range of experience, his relationships inside and outside of the company, and his demonstrated ability to understand business dynamics and effect constructive change made him the best person for the position," said Bank of America Chairman Walter E. Massey, who led the CEO search. Massey said that while the bank did consider external candidates, the board decided that Moynihan's experience was as good or better, "and he offered the advantage of a smooth transition."

Bank of America didn't immediately return messages left seeking comment. But Moynihan told The Wall Street Journal Wednesday night that he doesn't plan to exit any current businesses, nor does he foresee making any major changes to the bank's strategy.

"Clearly, customers and clients have benefited from the franchise Ken Lewis, Hugh McColl and others have built over the decades. Our business model has also worked for shareholders," he said in a statement. "What we need to do now is very simple. We need to execute."

Moynihan joined the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank as part of its 2004 purchase of FleetBoston Financial Corp., where he led global wealth and investment management. Over the past year he has served as BofA general counsel, head of global corporate and investment banking and consumer banking chief. He will now join the bank's board of directors.

As the new CEO, Moynihan faces many daunting tasks. He must juggle regulatory investigations into the bank's 2008 acquisition of Merrill Lynch while trying to repair relationship with regulators and members of Congress who sharply criticized Lewis after the bank required billions in aid. Some of those lawmakers, including Maryland Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings, had also questioned Moynihan's leadership skills during a hearing on the Merrill takeover.

Moynihan takes over at time when the bank faces continued loan losses in the billions of dollars. It lost more than $2.2 billion in the third quarter as bad debt kept rising as consumers still struggled to pay their bills. Bank of America, which has about 53 million consumer and small business customers, is considered particularly vulnerable to unemployment, which remains at double-digit levels.

Bank of America told the Treasury Department of its decision before making the announcement, and Treasury raised no objections, according to industry officials familiar with the matter. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the bank's discussions were private.

The Treasury Department declined to comment Wednesday evening.

Lewis, 62, announced his departure in September in a move that surprised Bank of America's board and left it scrambling for a replacement with no clear succession plan in place. Before then, Lewis had promised he would remain as CEO until the bank cleared up its financial problems. But the heavy regulatory scrutiny and shareholder fury that accompanied the Merrill deal drove Lewis to decide to step down early.

Lewis said Wednesday he believes Moynihan "is the right person to lead our company forward."

Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said he hopes Moynihan "appreciates the debt Bank of America owes to U.S. taxpayers, and is prepared to increase lending to consumers and small businesses in order to create jobs and grow the economy."

One thing Moynihan doesn't have to worry about is repaying the government loans. The bank received $25 billion from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, as part of the initial round of investments into hundreds of financial institutions when the credit crisis peaked last fall. It then received an additional $20 billion shortly after it acquired Merrill Lynch in what was a heavily scrutinized deal.

Bank of America repaid the money it received from TARP on Dec. 8. That freed the bank from the government restrictions that had hampered its search for a new CEO, including executive pay limitations. However, its negotiations with outside candidates continued to falter.

Bank of New York Mellon Corp.'s CEO Robert Kelly told employees Monday that he wasn't going anywhere, leaving BofA with one less candidate for its top job. Media reports had listed Kelly among the top choices to lead the bank.

Other candidates reportedly had included: Bob Diamond, president of British bank Barclays PLC; Larry Fink, CEO of asset manager BlackRock Inc.; and New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, a former Goldman Sachs chairman and CEO. Bank of America's chief risk officer, Gregory Curl, was also a top internal candidate for Lewis' job. It wasn't clear Wednesday night if Curl, 61, would remain at the bank.

By picking someone from within, "you express an ability to create a culture that can produce leaders and that's very important," said Keith Springer, president of Sacramento, Calif.-based Capital Financial Advisory Services, which owns financial stocks.

"It's important for these companies to show they have longevity," he said. "And if you can't breed leaders, then you can't survive."

Flight attendant caught wayward pilots unaware

WASHINGTON – A call from a flight attendant to the pilots of the Northwest Airlines plane that overshot Minneapolis catapulted the cockpit crew from complacency to confusion.
Interviews with the flight crew and other documents released Wednesday by the National Transportation Safety Board indicate the pilots were completely unaware of their predicament until the moment the intercom rang. They were unaware that they had flown their Airbus A320 with 144 passenger more than 100 miles past their destination, that air traffic controllers and their airline's dispatchers had been struggling to reach them for more than an hour, or that the military was at that moment readying fighter jets for an intercept mission.
Timothy Cheney, the captain of Flight 188, said he looked up from his laptop to discover there was no longer any flight information programmed into the Airbus A320's computer. He said his navigation system showed Duluth, Minnesota, off to his left and Eau Claire, Wisconsin, ahead on the right.
The plane had been out of radio contact for 77 minutes as it flew across a broad swath of the country on Oct. 21, raising national security concerns.
Cheney, 54, and First Officer Richard Cole, 54, told investigators they had taken out their laptops and were absorbed in working on a complicated crew scheduling program that they were required to learn following Delta Air Lines' acquisition of Northwest a year earlier. Cole told investigators they became distracted as they "got deeper and deeper into it."
Cheney said he was "blown away" by how long the conversation — which was only supposed to take about 10 minutes — went on. Investigators wrote that Cheney felt embarrassed. Their report quotes him saying "I was wrong" and that he "let another force come from the outside and distract me."
The tension of the moment the pilots became aware of their predicament was evident in the crew interviews.
According to a statement signed by flight attendant Barbara Logan, she called the cockpit around 8:15 p.m. CDT to find out when they would be landing. She was told they would land around 12 Greenwich Mean Time. "I said I did not know the time — he said I was hosed and hung up."
The lead flight attendant called to get gate information and was apparently also hung up on, according to Logan's report. That flight attendant later got through to the cockpit.
Investigators' interviews with Cheney and Cole also hint at tension between the pilots. The pair were flying together for the first time. Cheney characterized Cole's piloting skills as "OK, but I've flown with better." He complained that Cole had missed some steps when they were readying for takeoff because he apparently was still learning Delta's procedures.
Both pilots are appealing the FAA's revocation of their licenses. Cole has cited his reliance on Cheney as the pilot in charge as a mitigating factor in his case.
Delta spokesman Anthony Black said the two pilots remain suspended while Delta investigates the incident.
Flight 188 wasn't the only Northwest operation that was hard to reach that night. A controller who called Northwest's dispatchers to ask them to contact the plane first encountered a recording telling him the phone number had been changed. He dialed the new number, but the phone rang 10 to 20 times without being answered, he told investigators. He hung up, then redialed.
This time, someone at the dispatch office answered the phone — and put him on hold.
The Federal Aviation Administration has since said the phone numbers controllers had for Northwest predated its acquisition by Delta and have now been updated.
Northwest dispatchers ultimately sent 15 text messages to the cockpit asking pilots to contact controllers, but there was no response. The pilots said they didn't notice the messages until after they re-established contact. Cole said he later inadvertently pushed the "delete all" button, erasing the messages.
The first controllers the pilots spoke to after becoming aware of their situation turned out to be in Winnipeg, Canada. They had failed to switch their radio frequency from one used by controllers in Denver to one used by Minneapolis controllers. They were still using the Denver frequency — which is the same as the Winnipeg frequency — when they tried to reach air traffic control.
The NTSB's investigation into the incident has also exposed weaknesses in communications between controllers and the Domestic Events Network, or DEN, which is essentially a running conference call between air traffic controllers, military commanders, and other authorities involved in aviation security that was established after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The manager on duty at the Minneapolis air traffic control facility that evening couldn't be reached by the network at one point. The network's speaker is at her desk, but her duties overseeing controllers take her away from the desk.
The same manager also told investigators she asked someone on network to call her by phone to discuss the possible need for fighters to intercept the plane because she wasn't sure the network's communications were secure. Only later did she realize the network had been setup in part to provide secure communications

Single-payer health care plan dies in Senate

WASHINGTON – The liberals' longtime dream of a government-run health care system for all died Wednesday in the Senate, but Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont vowed it will return when the realization dawns that private insurance companies "are no longer needed."
The proposal's demise came as Senate Democratic leaders and the White House sought agreement with Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., to become the 60th supporter of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul — the number needed to overcome a Republican filibuster.
Nelson has met three times in the past nine days with Obama. While he is seeking stricter curbs on abortions in the insurance system the bill would establish, he also has raised issues in his home state that are unrelated to the health care legislation, according to an official with close ties to the senator. The official spoke on grounds of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Sanders, an independent and socialist, said his approach is the only one "which eliminates the hundreds of billions of dollars in waste, administrative costs, bureaucracy and profiteering that is engendered by the private insurance companies." His remarks drew handshakes and even a hug or two from Democrats who had filed into the Senate to hear him.
Sanders acknowledged the proposal lacked the votes to pass, and he chose to withdraw it after Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., exercised his prerogative and required Senate clerks to begin reading the 767-page proposal aloud to a nearly empty chamber. After three hours, they were 139 pages into it.
Republicans accused Democrats of trampling on Senate procedure in allowing Sanders to interrupt the reading, and Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the incident showed the majority party "is willing to do anything to jam through a 2,000-page bill before the American people or any of us has a chance to read it."
It was unclear how much, if any, headway Nelson's pursuers were making as they struggle to pass the health care measure by Christmas.
The Nebraska lawmaker told reporters he was reviewing a proposal to toughen abortion restrictions in the legislation. Nelson said the compromise negotiated by anti-abortion Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., involves attempt to separate private and public funds, an approach that in the past failed to sway the Nebraska moderate and Catholic bishops.
Asked whether the new language was satisfactory, Nelson said, "I don't know at this point in time. Constituency groups haven't responded back yet."
Nelson emerged as the lone known holdout among 60 Democrats and independents earlier in the week after Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., forced supporters of the bill to remove a proposed Medicare expansion.
In general, the overall legislation is designed to spread coverage to millions who lack it, ban insurance industry practices such as denying coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions and slow the rate of growth for medical spending nationally.
Republicans are unanimously opposed, and accuse Democrats of seeking deep cuts in Medicare and higher taxes to create a new benefit program that they argue gives government too large a role in the health care system.
Obama repeated his demand for action, telling ABC News "the federal government will go bankrupt" if the health care bill fails. He said Medicare and Medicaid are on an "unsustainable" path if no action is taken.
The debate over the proper role for the government has bedeviled the issue from the outset.
At the behest of liberal Democrats, the House bill establishes a nationwide government-run insurance option in hopes of creating competition for private insurers.
But to satisfy the moderates, the Senate bill does not. Instead, it envisions nonprofit nationwide plans to be set up by private companies and overseen by the federal agency that oversees the system used by federal employees and members of Congress.
The compromises to the Senate bill have union leaders reassessing whether they should continue to offer public support for the measure.
The politically powerful Service Employees International Union backed out of a Wednesday news conference at which it and other groups — including the AARP — planned to promote the bill. "We're looking at what we need for the reform bill to be something that we can probably support," SEIU spokeswoman Lori Lodes said.
The House already has approved its version of the health care bill, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Wednesday she was confident a final compromise would be signed into law before Obama's 2010 State of the Union address.
She signaled a willingness to look at the proposal in the Senate bill that takes the place of government-run insurance in the House bill.
Asked whether she could support a final bill without a so-called public option, she said, "it depends what else is in the bill."

WASHINGTON – After months of turmoil, President Barack Obama and Senate Democrats are reaching for the unity they need to pass health care legislation by Christmas, but without the government-run insurance program that liberals have long sought.
Even an expansion of Medicare, initially proposed as a backup to the government option, appeared unlikely to survive following a closed-door senators-only meeting called to consider trade-offs necessary to assure 60 votes for the bill.
"Put me down tonight as encouraged about the direction these talks are going," Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said late Monday, only 24 hours after he rattled Democrats by threatening to oppose the legislation over the Medicare provision.
Obama invited all Senate Democrats to the White House for a meeting Tuesday afternoon that held promise of a unity event. Obama needs every one of them to hang together to give him the 60 votes required to overcome stalling tactics from Republicans united in opposition to the sweeping health overhaul measure.
Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., promised to deliver.
"I'm confident that by next week we will be on our way toward final passage of a bill that saves lives, saves money and saves Medicare," Reid told reporters after Monday night's meeting.
Liberals had sought the Medicare expansion as a last-minute substitute for a full-blown, government-run insurance program that moderates insisted be removed from the legislation. But it drew strong opposition from Lieberman and quieter concerns from other Democrats — all of whom hold votes essential for passage.
Reid did not say flatly that Democrats had decided to drop the proposal for uninsured Americans as young as 55 to purchase coverage under Medicare, the government program now open to people when they turn 65. But several senators said it appeared inevitable.
"We're not going to get all that we want but we're going to get so much more than we have," liberal Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said.
The overall measure, costing nearly $1 trillion over a decade, is designed to expand coverage with a new requirement for nearly everyone to purchase health insurance, and ban industry practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions. Obama also has urged Congress to slow the growth in health care spending nationally; several days after Reid submitted a package of revisions, lawmakers awaited final word from the Congressional Budget Office on that point.
Disputes over abortion and the importation of prescription drugs from Canada and other countries also simmered as the Senate entered a third week of debate on the legislation.
In a gesture that Democrats said was aimed at the AARP, Reid promised that any final compromise with the House would completely close a gap in Medicare prescription drug coverage generally known as the "doughnut hole." The Senate bill goes only part way toward that goal.
Less than an hour after Reid spoke, AARP CEO A. Barry Rand issued a statement thanking the Nevada Democrat.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., led the effort to lift a long-standing ban on the importation of prescription drugs from Canada and elsewhere. Obama favored the plan as a senator, but the pharmaceutical industry is opposed, and the White House appeared anxious not to jeopardize a monthslong alliance with drug makers who have been helpful in trying to pass the overhaul. A vote was set for late Tuesday.
The obstacle that loomed largest was the Medicare expansion proposal, vestige of a monthslong debate over the role of government in the newly revised health care system. It emerged last week as part of a framework agreement between moderates and liberals. Additionally, the proposal calls for creation of nationwide plans run by private insurance companies under the supervision of the Office of Personnel Management, which oversees health plans for members of Congress and other federal workers.
The two provisions were seen as a replacement for Reid's initial call for a government-run insurance plan to compete with private industry, a liberal priority opposed by moderates as an unwanted government intrusion. The one unrelated to Medicare is expected to survive, but without standby authority for the OPM to set up a government-run plan if no private coverage options materialize.
Opposition to the Medicare change blossomed from doctors and hospitals, who are paid less to treat Medicare patients than those covered by private insurance companies.
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ROME – An attacker hurled a statuette at Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, striking the leader in the face at the end of a rally Sunday and leaving the stunned 73-year-old media mogul with a broken nose and bloodied mouth.
Police said the 42-year-old man accused of attacking Berlusconi as he signed autographs in Milan was immediately taken into custody. The Italian leader was rushed to a hospital where he was being held overnight.
The attack occurred at a time when Berlusconi, one of Italy's wealthiest men, is embroiled in a sex scandal, a divorce case with his wife and public protests demanding his resignation.
TV showed the stunned leader with blood under his nose, on his mouth and under one eye as he was lifted to his feet by aides after Sunday's attack. He was hustled into the back of a car, but he immediately got out, apparently to show he was not badly injured.
But Berlusconi suffered a "small fracture" of the nose, two broken teeth and an injury to the inside and outside of his lip, said Paolo Klun, chief spokesman for Milan's San Raffaele Hospital.
"He wanted to go home right away, but he is being held as a precaution" for overnight observation, Klun said. The premier suffered "a significant bruising trauma from this blunt instrument that was hurled at him."
Police first said it appeared the assailant had punched Berlusconi in the face while clutching a souvenir statue of Milan's Duomo, or cathedral with gargoyles that symbolizes the city. But state TV later showed a video, somewhat blurry, of what appeared to be the attacker's hand coming close to Berlusconi's face while holding the statue, then letting go of the object at the last minute as it hit the premier's face.
Berlusconi was "very shaken and demoralized," Klun said. "He didn't understand very well what happened to him."
Immediately after the attack, the premier, after getting out of the car and without saying a word, was pulled back into the vehicle by bodyguards.
The attack occurred after Berlusconi had just finished delivering a long, vigorous speech at the rally to thousands of applauding supporters from his Freedom People party in the square outside the cathedral at about 6:30 p.m.
Officials at Milan's police headquarters said they didn't immediately know what the miniature Duomo statue was made of.
Berlusconi's spokesman, speaking by telephone from the emergency room from San Raffaele hospital where the premier was taken, told Sky TG24 TV that doctors had decided to keep Berlusconi in the hospital overnight for observation. "We'll see what the doctors say tomorrow morning," spokesman Paolo Bonauiti told Sky. The exams of his jaw area included a CT scan, Bonaiuti said.
Police identified the man they were questioning as Massimo Tartaglia, 42. They said Tartaglia didn't have any criminal record but had suffered psychological problems in the past.
Defense Minister Ignazio La Russa told reporters he ran to help police hustle the man away from the scene of the attack "to keep him from a possible lynching from the crowd."
The assailant "was a man who had mixed in with the people who were applauding (Berlusconi), shaking his hand," La Russa said.
The attack occurred at a difficult political time for Berlusconi, who has been plagued by scandals.
On Dec. 5, tens of thousands of Italians fed up with the premier marched peacefully through Rome to demand his resignation.
The demonstrators expressed dismay over what they see as the businessman's conflict of interests, citing repeated government-backed laws they contend were tailored to help shield Berlusconi from prosecution in cases involving his media, real estate and sports empire. Berlusconi claims the laws benefit all citizens.
Other critics cite Berlusconi's sex scandals.
Berlusconi's wife is divorcing him after complaining about his infatuation with young women. A southern Italian businessman has told investigators he procured some 30 attractive young women for parties and dinners at the premier's Rome residence and Sardinian villa. Among the guests was a high-end prostitute who claimed she slept with Berlusconi. The premier has denied ever paying for sex.
Berlusconi has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing and blames his judicial woes on prosecutors he claims sympathize with the opposition left. Several of the cases either ended in acquittal or were dropped when limitation statutes expired. Others are pending.
On Sunday, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano condemned the "grave and unusual gesture of aggression" against Berlusconi. In a statement, the head of state renewed his plea that conflicting political points of view be expressed "within the limits of responsible self-control" and while "preventing and heading off every impulse and spiral of violence."