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Lloyd's of London warned yesterday that an absence last year of natural disasters or man-made accidents was putting pressure on firms to reduce premiums in 2008. The world's oldest and biggest insurance market said that though the lack of major disasters had allowed firms to push up profits 5% in 2007, underwriting margins were being squeezed. Almost half of the 320-year-old market's business was conducted in the US last year. It is a major insurer of the Florida seaboard and oil rigs in the gulf of Mexico. In 2005, a series of natural disasters culminated in Hurricane Katrina clattering into...

WASHINGTON, March 5, 2008 – China’s announcement that it is increasing its military spending by almost 18 percent is a cause of concern because the nation's government hasn’t been clear about how it will spend the money, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here today. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, left, responds to a question during a press conference with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen at the Pentagon, March 5, 2008. Defense Dept. photo by Cherie A. Thurlby  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. China’s announcement comes on the heels of the March 3...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20, 2007 – The Defense Department is developing plans to send furlough notices to some civilian workers as early as mid-December if Congress doesn’t pass the $178 billion emergency supplemental funding bill quickly, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters today. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates notified Congress today that the Defense Department will need to borrow – or “reprogram” – funds from the Navy and Air Force and the working capital fund to cover ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Morrell said. “Without dedicated funding for the global war on terror, we have been forced to...

More than 20,000 high school graduates annually enter the California State University system needing remedial work in English or math, according to the Annual Report on College Readiness presented today to the CSU Board of Trustees meeting in Long Beach. The number of unprepared students entering CSU remained constant this academic year, not budging from previous levels. In fall 2006, 37 percent of entering freshmen were not proficient in mathematics, reflecting a decline of 1 percent from 2005. The report found that 45 percent were not proficient in English, the same level as the previous year. CSU officials say there...

Growing lack of English in schools By Julie Henry, Education Correspondent (Filed: 06/08/2006) At least half the children in more than 1,000 primary schools in England do not have English as their first language. New statistics show that six per cent of primaries and five per cent of secondaries have intakes where 50 per cent or more of pupils do not have English as their mother tongue. In inner London, 50 per cent of primaries and more than a third of secondary schools are heading for, or already have, a majority of children with English as a second language. The...

SAN DIEGO – The vast majority of people caught smuggling immigrants across the border near San Diego are never prosecuted for the offense, demoralizing the Border Patrol agents making the arrests, according to an internal document obtained by The Associated Press. “It is very difficult to keep agents' morale up when the laws they were told to uphold are being watered-down or not prosecuted,” the report says. The report offers a stark assessment of the situation at a Border Patrol station responsible for guarding 13 miles of mountainous border east of the city. Federal officials say it reflects a reality...

CIA ousts al-Qa'eda hunter 'for lack of aggression' By Alec Russell in Washington (Filed: 08/02/2006) The man at the head of America's efforts to hunt down terrorists has been forced to resign amid concern that he was too cautious in pursuing al-Qa'eda leaders. Robert Grenier, the head of the CIA's counter-terrorism centre, is the latest in a series of senior officials to resign from the agency over the past year. Intelligence officials told the Los Angeles Times that the head of the CIA's clandestine service had become increasingly frustrated by Mr Grenier's approach, which he thought too tentative. However, they...

For the president of the United States to be talking about creating a new “guest worker” bureaucracy to import more foreign workers is a little like a flood victim, still stranded atop his house, making plans to install a new sprinkler system. I’m saying it doesn’t make sense. Right now there are at least 10 million illegal immigrants in the United States. Every one of them is the equivalent of a guest worker with an expired visa the day they set foot in America. If we cannot locate, arrest, detain and deport these uninvited guests, what makes anyone believe we...

Air Zimbabwe grounded for lack of fuel By David Blair in Johannesburg (Filed: 23/11/2005) Zimbabwe's state airline grounded its entire fleet yesterday after running out of aviation fuel. For the first time in its 25-year history, Air Zimbabwe cancelled flights to every destination. All seven of its aircraft sat on the apron at Harare airport "until further notice". Hundreds of angry passengers thronged the check-in desks at Harare, although some flights did resume after more than 24 hours on the ground. "The board would like to sincerely apologise to all its valued customers for the inconveniences," said Jonathan Kadzura, the...

Dear [Congressional Representative], I am writing this letter to express to you the sense of frustration and growing disappointment that Conservative Republicans such as myself are experiencing over the events currently unfolding in Washington D.C. We feel we have been betrayed by those who promised to represent us and speak for us. We have seen and heard pitifully little of either. If you will note the above date, you know that it is significant because indictments against Lewis "Scooter" Libby are were handed up today. This indictment is what I consider the last straw. Further, a costly two-year-long investigation, which...

Oh, No ! More Animals in the News !! London: Researchers from Emory University of Texas, and The University of Louisiana have made a careful study of two separate groups of chimpanzees – in an effort to determine whether the primates have any “altruistic impulses”. Both groups noted ,when chimps are provided with treats, they are not the least bit inclined to share them with other chimps – despite clearly identifiable “begging gestures” by their less fortunate counterparts. ( Oddly enough,the same behavior has been observed in self-described liberals – who tend to contribute far less to the needy than...

SACRAMENTO -- Californians aren't much interested in the upcoming special election and don't support most of the initiatives they'll be voting on, according to new poll results from the Public Policy Institute of California. The three main initiatives sponsored by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger are all in sorry shape, as are dueling measures to provide low-income Californians with cheap prescription drugs. The governor's approval ratings remain dismal as well: The survey found that only 38 percent of likely voters think Schwarzenegger is doing a good job. This is the lowest such rating he has yet received. Poll director Mark Baldassare said...

WASHINGTON - Two Democratic senators said Wednesday that they want Supreme Court nominee John Roberts to explain before his confirmation hearings why he continued to judge a lawsuit against the Bush administration while being interviewed to be a justice. "It is clear that you have long understood the ethical issues raised by continuing to work on a case in which a party is considering you for another position," Judiciary Committee Sens. Charles Schumer of New York and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin said in a letter to Roberts. White House spokesman Steve Schmidt said in response that "the opponents of Judge...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - California's population will reach up to 48 million by 2025, with most growth in inland areas lacking the infrastructure to support it, according to a report released Wednesday outlining challenges the state faces. While the economy sheds manufacturing for service jobs that require a college education, Hispanics - the state's fastest growing demographic group and less likely to hold college diplomas - are at risk of being marginalized in the evolving work force. The report by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found that despite those difficulties, the state can manage its growth over the...

Democrats Hammered In Memo March 3, 2005 Now, I mentioned earlier, ladies and gentlemen, that I had a revealing quote from the latest memo from James Carville and Stanley Greenberg to the Democrat rank and file. And here's the revealing paragraph as written by -- it's the Democracy Corps memo -- it's Greenberg and James Carville that came out yesterday. "So, we ask progressives to consider, why have the Republicans not crashed and burned? Why has the public not taken out their anger on the Congressional Republicans and the president? We think the answer lies with voters’ deeper feelings about...

Why qualifies Ron Reagan (not a junior) to jabber about politics on pMSNBC ? Because he is the "biological" son of his father? I was born in a hospital - but that doesn't make me a doctor!

ATLANTA - European airplane maker Airbus may have made the world's largest commercial jet, but it won't soon be touching down at Atlanta's airport, the airport's general manager said. Ben DeCosta said the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is not approved to land the A380 and that he does not think the market would support the double-decker "superjumbo" jet, which is capable of carrying 500 to 800 passengers. Also, the airport would need a major overhaul to accommodate the A380, which has a 262-foot wingspan and a tail as tall as a seven-story building. "It would cost millions," DeCosta said. Taxiways...

http://netwmd.com/articles/article849.html Baghdad, Iraq — Half past ten in the morning on Monday, January 3, an Iraqi National Guard unit, escorted by a dozen uniformed U.S. military, pulled up to Abdul Karim Muhammadawi's headquarters in the Hay al-Jamiah section of Baghdad. Muhammadawi, known to the Iraqis as Abu Hatem, is renowned among Iraqi Shia as "the Robin Hood of the marshes." Hailing from al-Amarah, during Saddam's rule, he led a persistent Shia resistance which harried local Baathist commanders and protected political opposition. A member of the now-defunct governing council, he has since joined the Iraqi National Alliance (al-Ittilaf al-Watani al-Iraqi), the...

Gang-related murders soaring L.A., other cities in crisis as youth programs lack funds to fight crime. By Beth Barrett Staff writer Even as violent crime declines overall, gang-related murders have soared across the country and now represent a major law enforcement crisis in the Los Angeles area, other major cities and even rural communities, according to a study released Tuesday. While funding of juvenile programs was being cut, gang activity has been spreading rapidly from Los Angeles to the rest of the country, and homicides linked to juveniles in gangs have soared from 692 nationally in 1999 to more than...

Quake survivors protest at lack of aid By Robin Gedye (Filed: 26/02/2004) Survivors of an earthquake that killed nearly 600 people in Morocco protested yesterday at the lack of aid. The demonstrators blocked the main road out of the largest affected town, the port of Al Hoceima. "We spent the night under the rain, in the cold," said Ahmed Mnabhi, 26. "We want this to end. We want building materials, bricks, cement and iron to rebuild our homes." Demonstrators on the streets of Al Hoceima Mohamed Benhaddou said grocery shops were closed for fear of looting. "On TV they said...

Two guys walk into a bar. One has style, flair and good hair. The other is OK, average, not really worth a second look. A woman nudges her friend and says, "Hey, check out the fox who just walked in." The other friend looks and says, "You mean the gay guy?" Yeah, well, while this might sound like a joke, but it's actually happened to me more than a few times. Along with my other dating difficulties, I have almost no gaydar, or gay radar, or queen meter, or sixth sense for friends of Dorothy. And if it couldn't get...

<p>It is being called the perfect political storm -- a confluence of events, personalities and politics that combined to bring about this historic moment in California, a vote to recall a governor.</p> <p>Never before has the state faced this combination of circumstances: fiscal and economic crises, unprecedented voter disenchantment with politics and state leadership, an ambitious millionaire willing to bankroll a recall election, a Legislature dominated by inexperience and a governor devoid of charismatic leadership or tactical skills that might help evade the gathering storm.</p>

US and UK admit lack of 'killer' proof Whitehall puts onus on Saddam to show banned arms have gone Julian Borger in Washington, Nick Paton-Walsh in Moscow, Ewen MacAskill and Richard Norton-Taylor Tuesday December 10, 2002 The Guardian The US and Britain lack "killer" intelligence that will prove conclusively that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, according to sources in London and New York. "If we had intelligence that there is a piece of weaponry at this map reference, we would tell the inspectors and they would be there like a shot," a source said. After handing over 12,000 pages...