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A report that Chinese state-owned companies will be allowed to walk away from loss-making commodity derivative trades provoked anger and dismay among investment bankers on Monday as they feared it may set a damaging precedent. The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, the regulator and nominal shareholder for state-owned enterprises (SOEs), told six foreign banks that SOEs reserved the right to default on contracts, Caijing magazine quoted an unnamed industry source as saying in an article published on Saturday. While the details of the report could not be confirmed, it was Monday's hot topic in financial circles from Shanghai to...

The Federal Building in downtown Youngstown, Ohio, features an extensive use of natural light to illuminate offices and a white roof to reflect heat. It has LEED certification, the country’s most recognized seal of approval for green buildings. But the building is hardly a model of energy efficiency. According to an environmental assessment last year, it did not score high enough to qualify for the Energy Star label granted by the Environmental Protection Agency, which ranks buildings after looking at a year’s worth of utility bills. The building’s cooling system, a major gas guzzler, was one culprit. Another was its...

Here is video of Bob Dole talking with Neil Cavuto about the health care bill. Dole said that Obama needs to "Start from scratch and write his own bill" and that "We shouldn't be debating some Congressman's bill." (Watch Video)

From the Desk of: Steve Elliott, President, Grassfire.org Alliance "This is shaping up to be the biggest legislative battle in our nation's history. That said, I need your help rallying half-a-million grassroots Americans to stand with us against ObamaCare!" --Steve Late last week I told you of our aggressive plan of handing your petition to your two Senators opposing the government take-over of our health care. I also sounded the alarm for your help in reaching our goal of 400,000 citizen signers in the days ahead. The response was so overwhelming that I was compelled to raise our goal from...

Ben & Jerry’s is temporarily renaming popular “Chubby Hubby” ice cream “Hubby Hubby” beginning today to celebrate the start of legalized gay marriage in its home state of Vermont. “The legalization of marriage for gay and lesbian couples in Vermont is certainly a step in the right direction, and something worth celebrating with peace, love - and plenty of ice cream,” Ben & Jerry’s CEO Walt Freese said in announcing the sugary switch.

Welcome To.... 'Amy's Place' welcomes all poets and those who enjoy poetry.'Amy's Place' is more than just about poetry.Come in, relax, and share with fellow FReepersyour thoughts about any of the things on the *Menu*. Enjoy! :) Never Forget! Bad Penny Amy's personal guardian ~ the ever charming, lovable, huggable, LouieWolf Many thanks for stopping by. : )

One of the earliest chemotherapy drugs appears to work against a genetic fault that can trigger bowel and other cancers, UK researchers say. In laboratory tests methotrexate, first administered in the 1940s, was found to destroy cells containing the damaged MSH2 gene. This raises the hope of targeted treatments for those whose cancer is driven by the faulty gene. Patient trials have already begun, EMBO Molecular Medicine reports. The genetic condition HNPCC leaves people with a propensity to develop certain forms of cancer: some 90% of men and 70% of women will have developed bowel cancer by the time they...

The threat to free speech on radio will not come through the "fairness doctrine." The threat comes from Mark Lloyd, newly appointed Chief Diversity Officer of the FCC.Lloyd, a disciple of Saul Alinsky and fan of Hugo Chavez, wants to destroy talk radio and says free speech is a distraction. The new FCC diversity "czar" says Venezuela is an example we should follow. Loyd has called for making private broadcasting companies pay licensing fees up to an amount equal to their total operating costs to fund Public Broadcasting. Lloyd wants to upgrade and revamp the Corporation for Public Broadcasting through...

Obama and his minions are finding out that just calling anyone who disagrees with him and his crazy agenda a racist is getting old. Their new tact, as evidenced by Rep. Diane Watson of California, is even scarier- if Obama fails, America fails. the investment of a nation into an individual reminds me of another political movement, but I can't think of just what....

The suspect in the killing of abortion provider George Tiller is in talks with a prominent attorney who represents anti-abortion protesters and has long advocated justifiable homicide as a legal defense in such cases. Scott Roeder, 51, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated assault charges in the May 31 shooting death of Tiller in the foyer of his Wichita church. The Kansas City, Mo., man has refused to discuss his case, but he has told The Associated Press that Tiller's killing was justified to save "the lives of unborn children." ...But Hirsh discounted the suggestion that if...

Human kidney sales Rabbis accused of money-laundering were Eliahu Ben Haim, the principal rabbi of a synagogue in Deal; Saul Kassin, chief rabbi of a synagogue in Brooklyn; Edmund Nahum, the principal rabbi of another synagogue in Deal; and Mordchai Fish, a rabbi at a synagogue in Brooklyn.

Carrie Prejean has filed a lawsuit against Miss California USA officials who stripped her of her title, accusing them of libel and religious discrimination for her views on same-sex marriage. Carrie Prejean was stripped of her Miss California USA title earlier this year. "We will make the case that her title was taken from her solely because of her support of traditional marriage," her attorney, Charles LiMandri, said in a news release. Prejean stepped into controversy at the Miss USA pageant in April when, in response to a question from a judge, she declared her opposition to same-sex marriage. Prejean...

A sharp drop in Shanghai stocks and weak industrial figures have raised questions about China's supposed recovery A sharp drop in Shanghai stocks and weak industrial data reverberated throughout Asian exchanges today and raised fears that China’s much-vaunted economic recovery may be built on sand. Shanghai stocks plunged by 6.7 per cent with a growing overhang of new share issues and evidence of corporate hardship being widely blamed for the collapse of confidence. Chinese industrial profits in the first seven months of the year were 17.3 per cent lower than over the same period in 2008, according to official data....

More girls under 15 give birth in Houston than any other U.S. city, according to a new national report, and many of the city's teen moms have additional children before they turn 20. The report by the research organization Child Trends found that there were 20 percent more babies born to girls 14 or younger in Houston than in New York and Los Angeles in 2006 and that 24 percent of all Houston's teen births were repeat births that year, the latest for which data is available.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/10006518/Report:-ChiSox-deal-slugger-Thome-to-Dodgers http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/NickPiecoro/61679

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - General Motors said on Sunday it has agreed to set up a light commercial vehicle production venture with major Chinese automaker FAW Group, with total investment of 2 billion yuan ($293 million).

WASHINGTON — Seven months after taking office, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is reshaping the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division by pushing it back into some of the most important areas of American political life, including voting rights, housing, employment, bank lending practices and redistricting after the 2010 census. As part of this shift, the Obama administration is planning a major revival of high-impact civil rights enforcement against policies, in areas ranging from housing to hiring, where statistics show that minorities fare disproportionately poorly.

Phillip Garrido had a story to tell -- about how God helped him overcome the evil inside him. Phillip Garrido, a registered sex offender, was arraigned in California on Friday. The campus at the University of California at Berkeley was his pulpit, and he hoped his neighbors and customers of his printing business would become his flock. He wanted to share his story with anyone who would listen, including law enforcement. Just days before he was arrested and an 18-year-old kidnap mystery was solved, Garrido walked into an FBI office in San Francisco, California, with a stack of documents. The...

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is in Poland for events Tuesday marking the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II as Russia fiercely denies blame in causing the war. He plans to hold talks with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and also meet with the prime ministers of the Netherlands, Finland, Bulgaria, Croatia, and Slovenia. Writing in Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, Mr. Putin condemned the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty as immoral. The pact secretly split the Baltics and parts of eastern Europe between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Historians say it encouraged Germany to invade Poland on September...

A day of commemorations has begun in Poland to mark the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. The first ceremony took place at dawn on Westerplatte peninsula near Gdansk, where a German battleship fired the first shots on a Polish fort in 1939. Poland's president and prime minister led the ceremony at the fort. Foreign leaders from 20 countries including Germany and Russia are expected in Gdansk later in the day as ceremonies continue. At 0445 (0245 GMT) Polish President Lech Kaczynski and Prime Minister Donald Tusk joined war veterans beside a monument to the heroes of...