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To: Bucky Katt who wrote (8933)	8/6/2002 10:16:56 AM
From: paret	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 48461

Merrill Lynch Leaves Sears Tower With Security In Mind Chicago Tribune \| August 6, 2002 \| Thomas A. Corfman Merrill Lynch & Co. will move most of its offices out of Sears Tower, a major blow to the skyscraper's owner, which has scrambled since Sept. 11 to keep tenants amid worries about a terrorist attack and the hassle of additional security procedures. The New York-based investment firm has signed a 12-year lease to take 42,000 square feet of space at UBS Tower, 1 N. Wacker Drive, a 50-story building completed late last year by a joint venture of Chicago-based John Buck Co. and Lend Lease Real Estate Investments Inc. The Buck-Lend Lease venture confirmed the Merrill Lynch signing and also said a lower-profile Sears Tower tenant, General Reinsurance Corp., had signed a 10-year lease for 35,000 square feet at UBS Tower. Merrill Lynch began testing the market in October when it hired tenant representative Staubach Co. to begin a search for alternative sites for one of the investment firm's largest Chicago-area offices. Merrill Lynch was one of the few big Sears Tower tenants with a lease coming up for renewal after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks destroyed New York's World Trade Center and raised concerns about the security of prominent high-rise towers. The investment firm will not begin moving to UBS Tower until next year. Firm officials could not be reached Monday for comment on why it is reducing its presence at Sears Tower. But security issues clearly influenced the firm's decision, sources said. "If it was a financial decision to move to 1 N. Wacker, it would be a little surprising," said Michael Klein, Midwest executive vice president with New York-based real estate firm Insignia/ESG Inc., noting that Sears Tower could probably undercut the rent charged at 1 N. Wacker. After the terrorist attacks in New York, Merrill Lynch was forced to evacuate its offices in the World Financial Center, next door to the World Trade Center. But on March 27, the firm marked its return to lower Manhattan with a highly publicized ceremony. Executives with Buck Co. and Lend Lease also were not available for comment Monday. But in the statement they credited the high-tech capacity of UBS Tower for helping lure the two tenants. "Both of these tenants are anticipated to incorporate the technology capabilities of the building to allow for their businesses to operate 24/7 without interruption," said Drew Nieman, a Buck Co. principal. As a result of the two leases, UBS Tower is more than 92 percent leased. The 1.3 million-square-foot building was put on the market earlier this year. Merrill Lynch decided not to renew one of two leases it has at Sears Tower, reducing its space in the 110-story skyscraper from about to 30,000 square feet from about 80,000 square feet, sources said. The larger lease expires next year, but the second, smaller one doesn't expire until 2009. Merrill Lynch is making the move despite an aggressive bid to renew the lease by Trizec Properties Inc., a real estate investment trust that controls Sears Tower. A Trizec spokesman could not be reached for comment Monday. In the fall, numerous Sears Tower tenants put their space on the market for sublease. But that trend has lost momentum amid an absence of prospects to take the space. Sears Tower is 94 percent leased. The recession prompted many firms to look to reduce space. And fears of a terrorist attack have subsided somewhat.

To: Bucky Katt who wrote (8933)	8/6/2002 10:42:31 AM
From: Knight	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 48461

"This is a prime example of no good deed goes unpunished," Morgenthau said. "People took advantage." Such a revelation? Maybe we could hire this guy to find Bin Laden's lair................. JMO Vickie

To: Bucky Katt who wrote (8933)	8/6/2002 11:05:13 AM
From: paret	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 48461

Airport Screeners Order Mom to Drink Breast Milk newsmax ^ \| 8/6/02 \| staff Tuesday Aug. 6, 2002; 10:27 a.m. EDT In the latest in a series of airport security nightmares, a woman flying from New York to Florida was forced to drink three bottles of her own breast milk before being allowed to board a flight at JFK International Airport - in an incident that has one prominent New York civil rights attorney ready to sue. Elizabeth McGanny of Oceanside, NY called WABC Radio's Curtis Sliwa and Ron Kuby Tuesday morning to relate the story. Guards at JFK's Delta terminal first "patted me down and made me take my shoes off," McGanny told the morning radio duo. "One security guard took my four-month-old out of my arms and then they went through the baby's diaper bag." There the guards discovered the three suspect bottles, McGanny said, and promptly ordered her to drink the contents. "I'm not drinking that. It's breast milk," she replied. "They said, 'Either drink all three bottles or your not getting on the plane.'" McGanny said that when she asked the guards why they were putting her through the ordeal, they explained, "There could be explosives in the baby bottles and I could throw something at the stewardesses." "I asked them if I could just taste it; if I could just show them how you would check a baby's bottle - that it was warm milk and everything. And they said, 'No,'" ordering her to "drink it all." The nursing mom then offered to feed the milk to her baby as the guards looked on but they refused. After hearing the tale, Kuby, who doubles as one of New York's most celebrated civil rights attorneys, suggested that McGanny call his office. "How much money do you smell here?" Sliwa asked his radio partner. "If I get a jury of nursing mothers - a lot," Kuby replied.

To: Bucky Katt who wrote (8933)	8/7/2002 7:49:55 AM
From: paret	Respond to of 48461

Tokyo unveils new curbs on short-selling Straits Times 08/07/2002 straitstimes.asia1.com.sg Financial regulator takes action to rein in wild price swings in the hope of restoring stability to the ailing bourse TOKYO - Japan yesterday sought to restore stability to the flagging share market by announcing new restrictions on short-selling, a practice blamed for wild share price fluctuations. Short-sellers sell shares they do not yet own in the hope of buying them back when the price drops, thus making a profit. Short-selling can accelerate falls in a declining stock market. With effect from September, the rules announced by the Financial Services Agency (FSA), Japan's top financial regulator, will apply to short-selling by brokerages which finance such trades through three special companies that lend stocks and money to fund margin transactions. At the moment, trades that go through the firms in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya are exempt from tightened rules adopted in March. In March, the FSA disallowed short-selling at or below a stock's last transacted price when the stock is falling to prevent bearish brokers from driving down its value. The latest measures also included the easing of regulations to allow banks and securities firms to share branches to promote the sale of stocks. To facilitate the market entry of new securities companies and fund management firms, the FSA said that it will consider reducing minimum capital requirements, now at 100 million yen (S$1.5 million). Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei Stock Average is hovering near its lowest levels since the bursting of a speculative asset bubble in the early 1990s set off the economy's current malaise. The FSA said the new measures were simply to bring short-selling rules in line with global standards. It also pledged to strengthen auditing practices. It wants to increase the number of certified practising accountants and the quality of their services, while developing a standard for the accounting of stock options. --Reuters, AFP

To: Bucky Katt who wrote (8933)	8/7/2002 7:52:26 AM
From: paret	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 48461

CREDIT-UNION CROOKS RUSH TO PAY UP New York Post ^ \| 8/07/02 \| DAREH GREGORIAN August 7, 2002 -- The arrests of 69 people who took advantage of a post-9/11 computer glitch to withdraw money they didn't have from ATMs have prompted many of the 4,000 other suspects to come forward to repay their ill-gotten gains, the Municipal Credit Union said yesterday. "A lot of people have been coming in to pay," and "the phones have been very, very busy," said MCU general counsel Thomas Siciliano. The terror attacks had caused the MCU's computer system to go off-line, meaning the agency temporarily couldn't keep track of how much money people had in their accounts - leaving clients to withdraw however much cash they wanted. Prosecutors charge 4,000 of the MCU's 300,000 clients overdrew more than $15 million of the credit union's money, thinking they wouldn't be caught. They were - and law-enforcement officials are in the process of arresting 101 of the worst offenders. Siciliano said the MCU sent out letters informing clients who had overdrawn their accounts that they should pay up. Some did, but others ignored the warning until The Post reported on Monday that arrests were imminent, Siciliano said.