Protesters take tea ahead of London summit

Police say face 'unprecedented' security challenge ahead of G-20 meeting

Demonstrators against the G20 gather to have a cup of tea in front of the
Bank of England in central London on Tuesday. World leaders will gather for a meeting on the global financial crisis in London on Thursday.

Migrant boat sinks off Libya, hundreds feared dead

TRIPOLI, Libya – An overcrowded boat packed with migrants capsized in stormy seas off the coast of Libya, killing at least 20 and leaving 200 missing and feared dead four days after the accident, officials said Tuesday.

The boat, which a Libyan police official said had a capacity of just 50, overturned Friday in high winds with about 250 on board. The bodies of six migrants pulled from the water on Sunday, at least three of them women, were laid out among piles of nets and frayed ropes on the deck of one of the fishing boats that took part in rescue efforts.

The boat capsized in 60-degree waters about 30 miles off the Libyan coast on the most heavily traveled route for illegal migrants trying to reach Italy, Laurence Hart, an official of The International Organization for Migration, told The Associated Press.

"It is hard to imagine that there are survivors among the missing by now," Hart said.

More than 20 people were rescued from the overturned boat and about 20 bodies were recovered on Sunday, Hart and a Libyan police official said. A second boat with about 350 migrants aboard was rescued safely in the same area on Sunday, the officials said.

Libyan television showed footage of the flimsy boat that was rescued, packed with people shoulder to shoulder. Most of the migrants appeared to be men from Africa, although women and children were also among the group. A man could be seen carrying a baby and helping a woman who could barely walk.

"The second boat has vanished and only 21 were rescued and those were the ones who were able to swim," said Libyan police spokesman Col. Najy Abou Harous. "We found 21 other corpses. The rest are believed dead," he added.

"The boat capacity is 40 to 50 and the smugglers packed it with hundreds. These are wooden fishing boats, not for sailing," Harous said.

Libyan officials did not release information on the accident until Tuesday. Libyan and Italian naval vessels as well as fishing boats all scoured the seas Sunday for survivors although rescue efforts did not appear to be ongoing Tuesday.

Harous said survivors told him the boat was in poor condition to begin with and a hole may have caused it to sink.

Both boats carried migrants from Africa and the Middle East, some of them Syrian Kurds, Hart said.

"The first boat was rescued and is back to Tripoli. All of them are alive and safe," Hart said. "The second boat, I believe 240 people are missing. Rescue was quick for the first boat because they were near an oil platform that notified the Libyan coastal guards who quickly rescued the migrants," he added.

"For the second one, it is believed to be in the same area," Hart said.

Hart said the boat overturned about 30 miles north of Libyan coastal town of Maleta and about 50 miles west of Tripoli.

"This is the typical route for migrants from Libya toward Italy," Hart said.

According to Ron Redmond, chief spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, this is the beginning of the smuggling season in the Mediterranean Sea.

In Italy, port authority spokesman Capt. Cosimo Nicastro said an Italian merchant ship, flanked by a Libyan vessel, rescued a boat carrying 350 people on the night between Saturday and Sunday. The merchant ship received a call for help from an oil platform that had spotted the immigrant boat, said Nicastro.

The Italian ship, flanked by a Libyan military vessel, found the immigrant boat shortly after midnight about 50 miles off Tripoli. The ship towed the immigrant boat ashore, reaching the Tripoli port at around 3 p.m. Sunday, Nicastro said.

It was not immediately know where the boats sailed from in Libya.

Libyan police said 17 of those rescued from the capsized boat went to hospitals in Libya in poor condition because they had been in the sea for a long time without food or water. He said the capsized boat had not yet been found.

Court ends Philip Morris appeal of $79.5M award

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Tuesday threw out a cigarette maker's appeal of a $79.5 million award to a smoker's widow, likely signaling the end of a 10-year legal fight over the large payout.

In a one-sentence order, the court left in place a ruling by the Oregon Supreme Court in favor of Mayola Williams. The state court has repeatedly upheld a verdict against Altria Group Inc.'s Philip Morris USA in a fraud trial in 1999.

The judgment has grown to more than $145 million with interest.

The justices heard arguments in the case in December, but said Tuesday that they are not passing judgment on the legal issues that were presented. Instead, it is as if the court had declined to hear the case at all.

Philip Morris had argued that the award should be thrown out and a new trial ordered because of flaws in the instructions given jurors before their deliberations.

Business interests had once hoped the high court would use the case to set firm limits on the award of punitive damages, intended to punish a defendant for its behavior and deter a repeat offense.

The case has bounced around appellate courts since 1999, when Williams convinced a jury that Philip Morris should be held accountable for misleading people into thinking cigarettes were not dangerous or addictive.

Williams' husband Jesse was a janitor in Portland who started smoking during a 1950s Army hitch and died in 1997, six months after he was diagnosed with lung cancer.

His widow was awarded $800,000 in actual damages. The punitive damages are about 97 times greater. A state court previously cut the compensatory award to $521,000.

The value of the award has climbed to more than $145 million because of accrued interest, the company said. Sixty percent of it would go to an Oregon crime victims fund, although the company has said it might continue to contest the portion owed the state.

The Oregon high court made its first decision in 2002, refusing to hear an appeal from Philip Morris.

Then the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the judgment of nearly $80 million, saying in another case that damages generally should be held to no more than nine times actual economic damages. It declined, however, to make that a firm rule.

Next, the Oregon Supreme Court upheld the punitive damages, citing "extraordinarily reprehensible" conduct by Philip Morris officials.

Then came the U.S. Supreme Court's second take on the case. In 2007, the court said in a 5-4 decision that jurors may punish a defendant only for harm done to someone who is suing, not other smokers who could make similar claims.

The state court was told to reconsider the award in the context of instructions for the trial jury that Philip Morris proposed and the trial judge rejected.

In January, the Oregon court said there were other defects in the instructions that violated Oregon law, and supported the trial judge's decision not to give the proposed instructions to the jury.

Blame for downturn not fixed on Obama

WASHINGTON - The number of Americans who believe that the nation is headed in the right direction has roughly tripled since Barack bama's election, and the public overwhelmingly blames the excesses of the financial industry, rather than the new president, for turmoil in the economy, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

At this early stage in his presidency, Obama continues to benefit from a broadly held perception that others should bear the bulk of responsibility for the severe economic problems that confront his administration. Americans see plenty of offenders, but only about a quarter blame the president and his team for an economy that's in the ditch.

Despite the increasing optimism about the future, the nation's overall mood remains gloomy, and doubts are rising about some of the administration's prescriptions for the economic woes. Independents are less solidly behind Obama than they have been, fewer Americans now express confidence that his economic programs will work, barely half of the country approves of how the president is dealing with the federal budget deficit, and the political climate is once again highly polarized.

Obama to Discuss Economy, Afghanistan in Europe

The ailing world economy and the search for a new strategy for Afghanistan are ikely to dominate Barack Obama's first overseas trip as U.S. President. VOA White House correspondent Paula Wolfson reports the president leaves March 31st on a European journey that will include a meeting in London on the global economic crisis, and a gathering of NATO allies on the French-German border.

Obama leaves White House for European meetings

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama left for Europe Tuesday, packing a weighty agenda as he heads for critical economic and political talks in his first journey across the Atlantic since taking office two months ago.

Obama's focus: a G-20 meeting of the world's major economic powers and a NATO summit marking the 60 years since the alliance was founded to blunt Soviet aggression in Europe.

Obama's eight-day, five-country trip begins early Tuesday, sending him to meet with European leaders who split with the United States over the war in Iraq and the treatment of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay under President George W. Bush.

First up: a summit of the world's economic powers in London to address the global financial meltdown that has defined the first two months of Obama's administration.

"The president and America are going to listen in London, as well as to lead," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

The main event in London is Thursday's summit on the global financial crisis among the Group of 20 wealthy and developing nations. Together, they represent 85 percent of the world's economy.

Obama planned to meet with leaders of Britain, Russia and China — major players in the U.S. financial system. He also scheduled meetings with leaders of India and South Korea while in London.

But money isn't the sole agenda item. Obama plans to attend international summits on urgent topics, including the downward-spiraling fight against terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He also will make his first stop in a Muslim nation, Turkey.

Wildly popular around the globe but relatively inexperienced in foreign affairs, Obama and his wife, Michelle, also will squeeze in a Buckingham Palace audience with Queen Elizabeth II. He will deliver a speech in France on the trans-Atlantic relationship, and an address in Prague on weapons proliferation. And he will host a round-table session with students in Turkey.

When Obama went to Europe last summer — he was a senator seeking the presidency — he was received like a rock star. His welcome this time is expected to be no less enthusiastic.

Since taking office, Obama has made down payments on several campaign promises that had endeared him to Europe, such as addressing global warming and moving to end the Iraq war and close the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay.

Obama isn't doing too badly with his constituents at home either. In Washington Post-ABC News poll released Tuesday, 66 precent of respondents said they approve of the way he is handling his job. Sixty percent said they approve of the way he is handling the economy.

NY state budget full of taxes, some spending cuts

ALBANY (AP) -- Millions of dollars in union-paid ads, an influential left wing of the Democratic Party and the loss of Republican control of the state Senate contributed to an overhaul of Reagan-era income tax brackets under a 2009-10 budget totaling $131.8 billion to be adopted Tuesday.

The budget is $10.5 billion more than the current budget, or about 8.7 percent at a time with minimal inflation. Most of that, however, is use of $7.2 billion in federal economic stimulus funds.

General fund spending, which excludes federal money, is projected to increase no more than 1 percent, to about $54 billion.

"We made the tough choices necessary to address that challenge through shared sacrifice and responsible budgeting," Gov. David Paterson said in a written statement issued with legislative leaders. "The agreement we are announcing today closes the largest deficit in state history, stabilizes our finances and institutes critical reforms that will help eliminate waste and inefficiency in our government."

Antarctica to Pyramids — lights dim for Earth Hour

SYDNEY – The floodlit cream shells of the famed Opera House dimmed Saturday as Sydney became the world's first major city to plunge itself into darkness for the second worldwide Earth Hour, a global campaign to highlight the threat of climate change.

From the Great Pyramids to the Acropolis, the London Eye to the Las Vegas strip, nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries planned to join in the World Wildlife Fund-sponsored event, a time zone-by-time zone plan to dim nonessential lights between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

Involvement in the effort has exploded since last year's Earth Hour, which drew participation from 400 cities after Sydney held a solo event in 2007. Interest has spiked ahead of planned negotiations on a new global warming treaty in Copenhagen, Denmark, this December. The last global accord, the Kyoto Protocol, is set to expire in 2012.

Despite the boost in interest from the Copenhagen negotiations, organizers initially worried enthusiasm for this year's event would wane with the world's attention focused largely on the global economic crisis, Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley told The Associated Press. Strangely enough, he said, it's seemed to have the opposite effect.

"Earth Hour has always been a positive campaign; it's always around street parties, not street protests, it's the idea of hope not despair. And I think that's something that's been incredibly important this year because there is so much despair around," he said. "On the other side of it, there's savings in cutting your power usage and being more sustainable and more efficient."

In Australia, people attended candlelit speed-dating events and gathered at outdoor concerts as the hour of darkness rolled through the country. Sydney's glittering harbor was bathed in shadows as lights dimmed on the steel arch of the city's iconic Harbour Bridge and the nearby Opera House.

Fargo begins another day preparing for flood

FARGO, N.D. – North Dakota officials intensified their efforts Saturday to fend off the floodwater of the Red River, deploying high-tech Predator drone aircraft, calling up more National Guard troops and asking residents to be on the lookout for any breaches in levees.

The National Weather Service predicted the Red River would crest at near 42 feet sometime Sunday, but said it was still possible the river could rise to 43 feet. That's as high as the levees go and is nearly 3 feet above than the record of 40.1 feet set in 1897.

The crest was originally expected Saturday, but pushed back to Sunday. The Red River was at 40.82 feet Saturday morning, and for the next week it could be bouncing within a couple of inches of 41 feet, meaning the agonizing will continue for several days in the Fargo area.

No major levee breaches or other issues were reported during the night.

Officials said they were increasing the number of guard troops from 1,700 to 1,850 and bringing in 300 large bags that hold a ton of sand and could be dropped by helicopter into breaks in the levees.

Predator drones from the Grand Forks Air Force Base began flying overhead Saturday morning, providing officials bird's-eye views of the situation and allowing them to react quickly if flooding worsens.

"They will be up there for 10 hours today providing video of the flood situation," North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Obama monitors Midwest flooding, pledges govt help

WASHINGTON – Seeking to avoid a Hurricane Katrina-like leadership failure, President Barack Obama assured the nation Saturday he was keeping close watch on the Midwest floods and putting the government's full weight behind efforts to prevent disaster.

"Even as we face an economic crisis which demands our constant focus, forces of nature can also intervene in ways that create other crises to which we must respond — and respond urgently," the president said in his weekly radio and Internet address.

"I will continue to monitor the situation carefully," he pledged. "We will do what must be done to help."

Obama also implored residents of North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota to be vigilant in reading flood-condition reports and to follow instructions from federal, state and local officials should evacuation be necessary. He repeatedly praised volunteers stockpiling sandbags and building levees, saying "their service isn't just inspirational — it's integral to our response."

Obama was spending the weekend at Camp David before leaving Tuesday for a nearly weeklong European trip to address the global economic crisis with leaders of other world powers. But aides stressed that he was being kept abreast of the Midwest flooding despite being away from the White House.

In office just two months, Obama and his team no doubt are mindful of the Bush administration's bungled response in August 2005 to Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the Gulf Coast and highlighted the country's racial and economic divisions. George W. Bush's popularity took a beating in Katrina's aftermath, and the hurricane has been held up ever since as a symbol of the federal government's incompetence.

Obama used his weekly address to go to great lengths to describe all that the federal government has been doing as bulging rivers and streams threatened Midwest communities over the past few days. Aides said federal, state and local officials have been coordinating for more than a week.

Over the past few days, Obama signed emergency and disaster declarations for North Dakota and Minnesota, triggering federal support to help state and local officials who already had efforts under way. On Saturday, he indicated that help for South Dakota could come soon, saying his aides were "keeping close watch on the situation" there.

GOP says Obama budget threatens future prosperity

WASHINGTON – The GOP senator who almost joined the Cabinet attacked President Barack Obama's grand spending plans, saying the U.S. must live within its means or risk its tradition of passing a more prosperous country from one generation to the next.

"We believe you create prosperity by having an affordable government that pursues its responsibilities without excessive costs, taxes or debt," Sen. Judd Gregg said Saturday in the Republican radio and Internet address.

Gregg, who accepted the job as commerce secretary but then withdrew his nomination because of "irresolvable conflicts" with Obama's policies, has become one of the toughest critics of Obama's handling of the economy.

"In the next five years, President Obama's budget will double the national debt. In the next 10 years, it will triple the national debt," said Gregg, R-N.H.

"His budget assumes the deficit will average $1 trillion every year for the next 10 years and will add well over $9 trillion in new debts to our children's backs," said Gregg, the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. "He also is proposing the largest tax increase in history, much of it aimed at taxing small business people who have been, over the years, the best job creators in our economy."

Gregg said Obama's proposals "represent an extraordinary move of our government to the left."

He acknowledged that Obama "is very forthright in stating that he believes that by greatly expanding the spending, the taxing and the borrowing of our government, this will lead us to prosperity."

Senate takes on out-of-network insurance issue

WASHINGTON – Ever wonder how that bill was calculated if you had to pay to see a doctor outside your insurance network?

Might be a scam, says a senator investigating the issue.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, wants answers at a hearing Tuesday from the chief executives of UnitedHealth Group Inc. and its subsidiary Ingenix Inc., a claims database used by insurers nationwide to calculate out-of-network rates.

The inquiry follows lawsuits and an investigation by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo alleging that UnitedHealth and Ingenix manipulated rate data so insurers had to pay less and patients more for out-of-network services.

"They're lowballing deliberately. They deliberately cut the numbers so the consumer has to pay more of the cost," Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday.

"It's scamming. It's fraud," he said.

Zardari moves to end Pakistan political crisis

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan's president said Saturday his party would help the opposition return to power in a key province, moving to end a political crisis threatening to hobble his U.S.-allied government's efforts against Islamist militants.

In a reminder of the dangers facing the nuclear-armed country, militants rocketed a transportation depot used to ship supplies to NATO troops in Afghanistan and the army said troops killed 26 militants near the border.

Pakistan plunged into political turmoil in January that has damaged the standing of President Asif Ali Zardari, a key Western ally against al-Qaida and Taliban militants entrenched in the country's northwest.

It began when the Supreme Court disqualified opposition leader Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister widely considered Pakistan's most popular politician, as well as his brother Shahbaz Sharif from elected office.

Zardari promptly ousted the government in Punjab province, Pakistan's biggest and wealthiest, which had been led by Shahbaz Sharif, prompting a power struggle that Zardari's party appears to have lost.

After weeks of maneuvering over who would lead the new provincial administration, Zardari said Saturday that his party would back the Sharifs' pick.

"Pakistan has many challenges. What it does not need is a challenge from within its democracy," Zardari said in an address to Parliament. He said his party "will not let down the government in Punjab."

The government has appealed the court rulings against the brothers, raising the prospect that Shahbaz Sharif could return. It was not clear when the court would reach a decision or when provincial lawmakers would meet to elect a new chief minister.

Saturday's climb-down was the second major victory for Nawaz Sharif since the crisis broke.

The former prime minister put Zardari on the defensive in January by throwing his weight behind plans by activist lawyers to agitate for an independent judiciary by besieging the federal Parliament in Islamabad.

Under pressure from Washington and the powerful Pakistan army to head off a potentially violent showdown, Zardari caved in to demands to reinstate the independent-minded Supreme Court chief justice ousted by his predecessor, former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

Zardari's reluctance to restore the judge fueled accusations that he was worried about the legality of a pact enacted by Musharraf that quashed corruption cases against him and his late wife, slain former leader Benazir Bhutto.

UK charity urges Madonna: Rethink Malawi adoption

LILONGWE, Malawi – Madonna is expected to arrive in Malawi Sunday, airport officials said, as the star's plans to adopt a girl as her second child from the poor African country began to draw criticism.

Officials at the airport in the capital spoke Saturday on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject.

The luxury lodge where Madonna has stayed in the past has been fully booked and casual visitors have been turned away. International media have begun arriving in the capital in
anticipation of her visit.

Friday, a welfare official and a person involved in the adoption proceedings said the singer plans to adopt a 4-year-old girl.

But a British children's charity has urged Madonna to "think twice" before adding another African child to her celebrity family.

Save the Children UK said Saturday that the recently divorced star risked sending the wrong message by going through with the adoption.

Spokesman Dominic Nutt said many international adoptions are unnecessary — and some even feed into a criminal "adoption industry."

Afghan, Pakistani leaders praise new US strategy

KABUL – The leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan on Saturday praised the new U.S. strategy for dealing with growing violence in their countries, with the Afghan president saying it was "better than we were expecting" and his Pakistani counterpart calling it a "positive change."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai lauded increased civil and military aid to his country and highlighted a plan for reconciliation with moderate elements of the Taliban as the new strategy's most important initiative. He also welcomed President Barack Obama's focus on countering militant sanctuaries in neighboring Pakistan in the plan, announced Friday.

"This is better than we were expecting as a matter of fact," Karzai told a news conference.

Michelle Obama to address Calif. uni's first class

FRESNO, Calif. – Seniors at the University of California,Merced couldn't rely on a wealthy and established network of alumni to reel in a famous speaker for this year's commencement address.

That's because the UC system's newest campus has yet to graduate a full senior class and only has a handful of alumni.

But that didn't keep this year's seniors from landing one of the most sought-after speakers of the season,first lady Michelle

AP – In this Wednesday, March 11, 2009 file photo, first lady Michelle Obama speaks at the International Women … Obama.

Since February, the 430-member founding undergraduate class has organized a nonstop campaign to draw the first lady to the campus in the heart of California's Central Valley, bombarding her office with letters, emails — even hundreds of Valentine's cards.