Bailout debate mulls making Wall Street pay
The planned $700 billion bailout to shore up the battered U.S. financial system looked set to drag into next week as Washington lawmakers haggled over how exactly they could make Wall Street pay for its rescue. Stocks and the U.S. dollar tumbled on Monday as emerging details of the plan left many players skeptical that the rescue, which would give powers to the U.S. Treasury Department to buy up toxic mortgage-related debt from financial groups, would work.
Obama, McCain battle over financial crisis
GREEN BAY, Wisconsin (Reuters) - Barack Obama proposed reforms on Monday to rein in practices that led to the worst U.S. financial crisis since the Depression, while White House rival John McCain touted his own remedies and accused Obama of failing to provide leadership. McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, pushed a plan he offered last week calling for an independent panel to oversee a Wall Street bailout that could cost as much as $1 trillion. He said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had too much power in the crisis.
Bailout uncertainty sinks Wall Street
Stocks tumbled on Monday as investors worried a $700 billion bailout for the financial sector may not resuscitate a slumping economy, while a record spike in oil prices renewed concern about consumer spending. Banks, home builders and big manufacturers were among the biggest decliners as negotiations over the government's rescue plan to mop up bad mortgage debt on banks' balance sheets heated up in Washington.
Congress haggles over Treasury bailout plan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration and Congress haggled over the details of a $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan on Monday as U.S. stocks tumbled on worries that even a massive government effort to mop up bad debt may not be enough to revive the economy. Congressional Democrats want to add assistance for homeowners, curb executive pay at companies who participate in the plan, have the government take equity stakes in those companies and increase oversight of the asset buybacks.
Accused September 11 plotter a no-show at Guantanamo
GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Accused September 11 plotter Ramzi Binalshibh failed to appear at a Guantanamo war crimes court hearing and a U.S. military judge ordered that he be brought in by force if necessary on Tuesday. However, the judge on Monday also allowed four accused co-conspirators of the suspect, whose mental competency is in question, to write notes urging him to show up voluntarily and avoid the trauma of a "forced cell extraction."
New Jerusalem vehicle "attack" as Livni seeks govt
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - A Palestinian rammed his car into a group of Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem on Monday, hours after Foreign Minster Tzipi Livni agreed to try to form a new government that can avert an election and forge a peace deal. The man, who neighbors said lived in Jerusalem, was shot dead after injuring 15 of the soldiers and four others, under the walls of the Old City on a road that marks the dividing "Green Line" between Arab East Jerusalem and the Jewish west.
CEO pay pressure builds due to Wall Street bailout
Investor activists see the U.S. government's proposed $700 billion bailout of Wall Street as a big opportunity to curb CEO pay they consider too lavish, adding new intensity to an already hot debate. Criticism of executive pay has gained momentum this election year with the presidential candidates from both major parties lashing out over rich payouts for CEOs of companies that have suffered big losses in the U.S. housing market bust and ensuing credit crisis.
Other G7 members may take U.S.-style action: Canada
OTTAWA (Reuters) - There are signs that G7 nations outside the United States will take additional action to mitigate the effects of the financial crisis, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said on Monday. Canada, like most other Group of Seven governments, has so far responded coolly to efforts by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to get others to follow in his footsteps and buy up bad mortgage-related debts from stressed financial institutions.
Top Afghan diplomat abducted in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Gunmen kidnapped Afghanistan's top diplomat to Pakistan on Monday after killing his driver, underscoring worsening security in the nuclear-armed country two days after a suicide bomber killed 53 people. British Airways said it had suspended flights to Pakistan because of security fears after the Saturday evening truck-bomb attack on Islamabad's Marriott Hotel.
Poll: Americans rate Obama over McCain on economy
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More Americans think Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama would do a better job handling an economic crisis than his Republican opponent John McCain, according to a CNN public opinion poll released on Monday. Forty-nine percent of those questioned said Obama, and Illinois senator, would display good judgment in an economic crisis, six points higher than McCain, an Arizona senator.
