Consumers’ mood sours in early July

July 10th, 2009

NEW YORK – U.S. consumer sentiment wilted in early July to the weakest since March, when confidence in the financial sector and economy were at a low ebb, the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers showed on Friday.

Consumers’ rising concerns about a protracted economic downturn, job security and erosion of wealth were the main factors depressing sentiment, the survey said.

Its preliminary index of confidence for July fell to a reading of 64.6 from the final reading for June of 70.8.

July’s preliminary reading was well below economists’ median forecast for 70.5 and the first fall in the index since February.

“It underlines the ongoing gloom facing the U.S. consumer and further delays prospects for a near-term recovery. That will weigh heavily on risk sentiment,” said Brian Dolan, senior currency strategist with Forex.com in Bedminster, New Jersey.

After the report, stocks lost ground and the dollar extended losses against the yen, while Treasury bond prices added to gains, retesting the session highs on a safe-haven bid.

The survey’s index of consumer expectations fell to 60.9 from June’s final reading of 69.2.

The index of current economic conditions slipped to 70.4 from June’s final reading of 73.2.

“Consumers concluded that the economic downturn would last longer and their personal finances would not recover as quickly as they had previously expected,” the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers said in a statement.

Recent income gains were reported by the fewest consumers in the more than fifty-year history of the survey, the statement said.

Stocks’ recent pullback has put renewed pressure on household budgets. The S&P 500 index has fallen about 4 percent so far in July.

“Consumers reported a larger negative shift in their longer term outlook for the economy. The majority of consumers thought that widespread unemployment would persist over the next five years,” the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers statement said.

“People are probably unhappy with the employment situation and the increase in energy prices we saw this spring,” said Gary Thayer, senior economist at Wells Fargo Advisors in St. Louis, Missouri.

Consumers are concentrated heavily on reducing outstanding debts. “Overextended finances and job and income uncertainty have made consumers much more saving minded,” the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers statement said.

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Jackson’s drug history being probed, chief says

July 10th, 2009

LOS ANGELES – Detectives investigating the death of Michael Jackson are looking at his prescription drug history and trying to talk with his numerous former doctors, the Los Angeles police chief said.

Jackson’s father, Joe Jackson, told ABC News in an interview that he believed “foul play” was involved in his son’s death. But in the interview aired Friday on “Good Morning America,” Jackson did not elaborate.

Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton told CNN that police are waiting for the coroner’s report before ruling out any possibilities in their “comprehensive” investigation into the sudden death of the 50-year-old pop star two weeks ago.

The coroner’s report will determine the cause of death and hinges on time-consuming toxicology tests.

“Based on those we’ll have an idea of what we’re dealing with,” Bratton said Thursday. “Are we dealing with homicide? Are we dealing with an accidental overdose? What are we dealing with?”

Bratton said detectives are gathering evidence, including items seized from Jackson’s rented home and arranging interviews with his many physicians, but the police chief deferred to the coroner to determine the cause of death.

The Drug Enforcement Administration and the state attorney general’s office, which keeps a database of prescription drugs, are assisting investigators.

An attorney for Dr. Arnold Klein, one of Jackson’s many physicians, told the Los Angeles Times that the dermatologist was subpoenaed for medical records, which he turned over to the county coroner’s office.

Bratton refused to discuss details of the case.

Jackson, who died June 25, had a well-known history of using prescription medications, especially painkillers. Following his death, Cherilyn Lee, a registered nurse who had worked for Jackson, told The Associated Press she repeatedly rejected his demands for the potent anesthetic Diprivan, also known as Propofol.

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Don’t expect heights to scare Armstrong

July 10th, 2009

The e-mail that came from Lance Armstrong was cryptic, as always. “It’s happening,” he wrote.

By it, he meant everything: the fruition of his un-retirement, the promising liveliness in his legs, his menacing creep up the standings of the Tour de France, from 10th to second by a fraction, and the international frenzy he has caused by contending again at the age of almost 38.

“So what are you going to do next to electrify the world?” I asked. “Go over Niagara Falls in a barrel?” He’d probably race the water to the bottom.

“Ha,” he replied.

In fact, the next thing Armstrong is likely to do is take the lead in the Tour. One thing I know about Armstrong, my friend and book collaborator of a decade now, is how much he loves a confrontation. Stage 7 of the Tour is shaping up as a major showdown, the first summit finish of the race, a steep climb through the Spanish Pyrenees to Arcalis, a ski resort in Andorra, and a moment of truth that will reveal whether he has the lungs and will to stay with Alberto Contador, his teammate and rival who is 11 years younger.

“I know Alberto wants to assert himself in the race,” Armstrong told the press, and then went on to act rather fey, suggesting he doesn’t know whether he can stay with him when they hit the climbs. Just watch.

A reflexive need for confrontation is an essential part of Armstrong’s psychological equipment. He has always glared straight at any problem or opponent with those eyes like burning glass, the same color blue as a gas flame. It’s the first thing I learned about him back in 1999, when we started working on the book, “It’s Not About the Bike.” His then-wife, Kristin, who remains his close friend and probably understands him better than anyone, gave me a piece of advice that remains the single most truthful thing I’ve ever heard said about him. “Don’t corner him,” she warned me. “If you corner him, he’ll fight his way out.”

With the beginning of the mountain climbs, Armstrong will confront one of his biggest fights, and biggest fears. Getting sick again is his worst fear — but cracking on a mountainside, while everyone else rides away, is right up there. It’s why he used to swear that he was going to retire on top, that he would go out a winner in perpetuity. In every mountain stage, there is always some lonely figure whose body has failed, who struggles up the incline, just trying not to quit, miles behind the rest of the pack. “I don’t want to be the guy left behind on the mountainside, who gets passed by,” he used to say. “I’m not going to be that guy.”

But when something bothers Armstrong, or scares him, he goes right at it. He doesn’t like heights, but he used to jump off a cliff into a small lake in Dripping Springs, Tex. If someone makes him angry, he calls them up. I think maybe the only time I’ve seen him dodge a confrontation came with his kids. His tiny daughter Isabella dumped the entire contents of a toy chest on the floor, thousands of tiny little critters and creatures scattering about. “Aw Izzy,” he said, weakly, in a tone I’ve never heard before or since, “please don’t do that.”

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Obama says economic recovery ‘a long way off’

July 10th, 2009

ss-090809-obama-01.ss_fullL’AQUILA, Italy – President Barack Obama said Friday the world apparently has averted economic collapse but a “full recovery is still a ways off.”

Obama, speaking at the end of the Group of Eight summit of major economic powers, said world leaders had taken significant measures to address economic, environmental and global security issues.

He cited a “widespread consensus we must continue our work to restore economic growth and restore our financial regulatory systems.”

Obama noted, however, that the leaders failed to agree on all issues, including global warming. “We have not solved all our problems,” he said.
Obama also told reporters that world leaders “remain seriously concerned about the appalling events of Iran’s presidential election,” including the government’s crackdown on protesters. He said the world would “take stock of Iran’s progress” in coming days and watch its behavior.

The president said world leaders have made clear that for Iran to take its “rightful place” in the world, the country must adhere to international standards and behave responsibility.

Creating a nuclear ’standard’

He said the United States and Russia must show they’re “fulfilling their commitments” to lead global efforts to curb the spread of nuclear weapons.

Obama told a news conference that if the two superpowers demonstrate that they will limit or eliminate these weapons, it would strengthen their moral authority to speak to others, like North Korea and Iran.

The president said it was important that other countries understand that efforts to control the spread of these weapons are “not just being imposed” on them by countries which already have a nuclear weapons capability.

Obama said there is a need to build “a system of international norms” for nuclear weapons. With respect to North Korea and Iran, he said “it’s not a matter of singling them out … but a standard that everybody can live by.”

Obama also met with several African leaders early Friday, and was later to have an audience with the pope, whose generally conservative views will not entirely mesh with Obama’s. The president will then arrive in Ghana late Friday evening.

‘Frank’ talks with pope expected
The White House says it expects “frank” but constructive talks in Obama’s meeting Friday with Pope Benedict XVI — two men who share similar views on helping the poor and pushing for Middle East peace but disagree on abortion and stem cell research.

Some Catholic activists and American bishops have been outspoken in their criticism of Obama, even as polls have shown he received a majority of Catholic votes.

Obama’s election presented a challenge for the Vatican after eight years of common ground with President George W. Bush in opposing abortion, an issue that drew them together despite the Vatican’s opposition to the war in Iraq.

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China state media: 140 killed in riots in west

July 6th, 2009

090706-china-protests-hmed-1230a.hmediumURUMQI, China – Violence in the capital of China’s volatile Xinjiang region killed 140 people and injured 828, an official said Monday, following rioting by members of a Muslim ethnic group and a police crackdown on their demonstrations.

The official toll makes the unrest the deadliest single incident of unrest in Xinjiang in recent decades.

The violence in Urumqi apparently happened after a peaceful protest Sunday of about 1,000 to 3,000 people spun out of control, with rioters overturning barricades, attacking vehicles and houses, and clashing with police.

Uighur exile groups said the violence started only after police began violently cracking down on the peaceful protest.

Wu Nong, director of the news office of the Xinjiang provincial government, said more than 260 vehicles were attacked or set on fire and 203 houses were damaged. He said 140 people were killed and 828 injured in the violence.

Death toll ’still climbing’
The official Xinhua News Agency also said 140 people died and that the death toll “was still climbing.”

Tensions between Uighurs and the majority Han Chinese are never far from the surface in Xinjiang, China’s vast Central Asian buffer province, where militant Uighurs have waged sporadic, violent separatist campaign. The overwhelming majority of Urumqi’s 2.3 million people are Han Chinese.

State television aired footage that showed protesters attacking and kicking people on the ground. Other people sat dazed with blood pouring down their faces.

A witness who left Urumqi on Monday morning confirmed to NBC News a large presence of Chinese troops in parts of the city.

Mobile phone service provided by at least one company was cut Monday to stop people from organizing further action in Xinjiang.

China’s state Council Information Office has reiterated that foreign journalists are welcome to to travel to Xinjiang and report what they see, suggesting the authorities believe they have the situation under control, NBC News’ Adrienne Mong reported from Beijing.

The protest started Sunday with demonstrators demanding a probe into a fight between Uighurs and Han Chinese workers at a southern China factory last month. Accounts differed over what happened next in Urumqi, but the violence seemed to have started when a crowd of protesters — who started out peaceful — refused to disperse.

‘Extremely saddened’
“We are extremely saddened by the heavy-handed use of force by the Chinese security forces against the peaceful demonstrators,” said Alim Seytoff, vice president of the Washington-based Uyghur American Association.

“We ask the international community to condemn China’s killing of innocent Uighur. This is a very dark day in the history of the Uighur people,” he said.

The association, led by a former businesswoman now living in America, Rebiya Kadeer, estimated that 1,000 to 3,000 people took part in the protest.

Adam Grode, an American Fulbright scholar studying in Urumqi, said he heard explosions and also saw a few people being carried off on stretchers and a Han Chinese man with blood on his shirt entering a hospital.

He said he saw police pushing people back with tear gas, fire hoses and batons, and protesters knocking over police barriers and smashing bus windows.

“Every time the police showed some force, the people would jump the barriers and get back on the street. It was like a cat-and-mouse sort of game,” said Grode, 26.

Exiles accused of provocation
Xinjiang’s government accused Uighur exiles led by a former businesswoman now living in the Washington, D.C.-area, Rebiya Kadeer, of fomenting the violence via the Internet. Kadeer was imprisoned in 1999 for engaging in human rights activism and released in 2005.

“The violence is a pre-empted, organized violent crime. It is instigated and directed from abroad and carried out by outlaws in the country,” said a government statement carried by Xinhua.

Kadeer’s spokesman, Alim Seytoff, said by telephone from Washington, D.C., that the accusations were baseless.

“It’s common practice for the Chinese government to accuse Ms. Kadeer for any unrest in East Turkestan and His Holiness the Dalai Lama for any unrest in Tibet,” he said.

Uighur rights groups and militants demanding an independent Xinjiang often refer to the sprawling region of deserts and mountains, which borders eight Central Asian nations, as “East Turkestan.”

The clashes Sunday in Urumqi echoed last year’s unrest in Tibet, when a peaceful demonstration by monks in the capital of Lhasa erupted in riots that spread to surrounding areas, leaving at least 22 dead. The Chinese government accused the Dalai Lama of orchestrating the violence — a charge he denied.

Seytoff also read a brief statement from Kadeer: “The real cause of the problem lies with the Chinese government’s policies toward the Uighurs. It’s not alleged instigation by me or some outside forces.”

More on China |  Uighurs

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