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To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (11189)	2/28/2003 3:00:23 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

Destroying missiles won't be enough, U.S. says By Steve Holland WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - The United States insisted on Friday that if Iraq obeys U.N. orders to destroy its ballistic missiles, the move will still leave Baghdad far short of U.N. demands and not stop the march toward a possible war. U.S. President George W. Bush "views this as continued trickery, continued deception. I think it's fair to say that the Iraqi regime is a deception wrapped in a lie inside a fraud," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer. Iraq said it would obey U.N. orders to destroy its al-Samoud 2 ballistic missiles whose 93 mile range exceeds the U.N. limit set in 1991. The U.S. reaction was that the missiles represented only the tip of the iceberg and that Baghdad was trying to mask the fact that it has mass stores of weapons of mass destruction it is required to disarm under U.N. resolution 1441. "If we go to war, we are going to go to war because Iraq continues to have 26,000 liters of anthrax, 38,000 liters of botulin, 1.5 tons of nerve agent, 6,500 aerial chemical bombs," Fleischer said, citing previous U.N. reports. The Iraqi move complicated the U.S.-British push to gain Security Council support for a new U.N. resolution that would set the stage for war. With France saying there was no Security Council majority for the resolution and Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov threatening a veto, U.S. officials still believed it was possible to get the nine needed votes to gain passage from the 15-member Security Council. LOBBYING SECURITY COUNCIL MEMBERS Bush, Secretary of State Colin Powell, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and others are engaged in an intensive diplomatic effort to gain passage of the resolution. Bush needs the resolution as a show of international unity behind his drive for a war to disarm Iraq's alleged weapons and topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Bush spoke by phone on Thursday to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who like the leaders of France and China have said inspectors should be given more time. U.S. officials refused to predict the ultimate outcome, but held out hope of getting to nine votes with no veto from any of the other four permanent members, Russia, China, France and Britain. "We don't take at this point anybody's vote for granted and we'll see how they vote. We haven't seen anybody definitively take a position on the resolution that is irrevocable," said one senior administration official. Another official, noting the Nov. 8 passage of resolution 1441 was 15-0, said: "Nobody is counting on 15-0 this time, but we think we can get to nine." The United States is building a large military force in the Gulf region for a possible war with Iraq, including about 200,000 ground troops. Bush has said the United States will act against Iraq with a coalition of like-minded nations with or without U.N. backing. Bush told USA Today in an interview published on Friday that he has agonized over whether to go to war. "I've thought long and hard about the loss of life," he said. "But I realize and firmly believe that the risk of doing nothing -- in other words, if we just sit back and say, 'Well, we hope Saddam Hussein changes' -- far exceeds the risk of taking whatever action may be necessary to disarm him." 02/28/03 13:01 ET

To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (11189)	2/28/2003 4:32:15 PM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 19428

Senators Say Wall Street Settlement Shouldn't Be Tax-Deductible By Robert Schmidt Washington, Feb. 28 (Bloomberg) -- The 12 Wall Street firms that agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle claims they misled investors with biased research should not be allowed to deduct the penalties from their income tax, the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate Finance Committee said. Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the committee, and Max Baucus, the ranking Democrat, as well as Senator John McCain, told Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson in a letter sent today that it's ``unacceptable'' for the banks to write off the fines. ``Congress has pressed hard for real change at the SEC and in the boardroom,'' the senators wrote. ``We are not interested in settlements that look good in the newspaper headlines but fail to bring real accountability.'' Federal and state regulators collected evidence in the cases against the 12 firms, including e-mails in which analysts at Citigroup, Credit Suisse First Boston and other banks disparaged stocks they were publicly recommending. The 12 firms agreed on most details of the settlement with regulators including the SEC and New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer in late December and early January. Final Agreement The penalties include fines, funding over five years for independent research to be provided to their clients and money for investor education. The final details of the agreement between the firms, the regulators and the states are still being negotiated and are expected next month, Spitzer has said. SEC spokeswoman Christi Harlan said Donaldson would respond soon to the senators. The SEC is not able to `` facilitate favorable treatment of penalties'' when it settles enforcement cases, Harlan said. ``How these payments are treated are not a matter of securities law but of the Internal Revenue code and state law,'' Harlan said. ``That said, as a matter of good public policy we don't think it is proper for insurance to be tapped to pay for penalties.'' The senators criticized Harlan in their letter for telling the Wall Street Journal that the SEC enforcement division does not consider any factors besides securities law violations when settling cases, calling her comment ``particularly galling.'' The lawmakers asked Donaldson to provide to them and the other SEC commissioners an analysis of the tax treatments of the settlement. The analysis should detail the tax savings for each firm as well as the loss of revenue for the U.S. treasury, the senators wrote. In the letter, the senators also asked that they and the SEC commissioners be told the portion of the settlement agreement that will be paid by insurance companies. ``Bottom line: the commissioners and the American taxpayer need to know how much each firm will pay that will not be deductible and will not be paid by an insurer or other third party,'' the senators wrote. Grassley, of Iowa, is the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and Baucus, of Montana, is the ranking Democrat on the committee, which writes U.S. tax law. McCain, from Arizona, is the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee.

To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (11189)	3/1/2003 12:48:56 PM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19428

"It said the lottery was promoted and sponsored by Bill Gates." ================================================== Latest e-mail scam promises $1 million reward Story last updated at 10:37 a.m. Saturday, March 1, 2003 Call authorities if you suspect con is on By James Dornbrook The Examiner Everyone dreams to hear that they have just won a million dollars and Internet scam artists are using this to prey on unsuspecting victims. A recent e-mail sent to The Examiner shows that these scam artists are operating in our area. The message we received was sent by a person claiming to be from the Premium Trust Agency, an "accredited licensed agent to Global Lottery International." It said the lottery was promoted and sponsored by Bill Gates. It stated that The Examiner's e-mail address was attached to a ticket number that drew winning lottery numbers worth $1 million. It stated that participants were selected through a computerized ballot system drawn from e-mail addresses all over the world. To file a claim, The Examiner was asked to call, fax or e-mail a reply. We avoided replying or contacting the numbers listed, because these scams often use international numbers that rack up huge phone bills against the caller. We didn't send any personal information either, because this could be used to steal our identity and rack up bogus bills in our name. The message also asked us to keep this message confidential, to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. However, we decided it was in the best interests of the community to risk losing our $1 million "winnings" to share this information anyway. We shared it with the Independence Police Department and the Missouri Attorney General's office. It was also shared with the Microsoft Corporation, which is sure to take offense to the reference that Bill Gates is affiliated with this "lottery." Anyone receiving similar correspondence should write a short message describing when the document was received and forward the entire e-mail to the Attorney General's office at: attgenmail@agomo.org. It is also a good idea to inform your local police department as soon as possible. Informing these agencies immediately takes very little time and helps to a stop to the scam as soon as possible, increasing the likelihood that the perpetrators will be caught. To reach James Dornbrook e-mail jamesd@examiner.net or call (816) 350-6322.

To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (11189)	3/6/2003 6:20:59 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

DAN NILES WRONG AGAIN->Intel Narrows Sales Forecast, Memory-Chip Orders Slip (Update3) By Dan Goodin Santa Clara, California, March 6 (Bloomberg) -- Intel Corp., the world's biggest semiconductor maker, said first-quarter sales may decline as much as 2.7 percent as demand for flash-memory chips misses its expectations. The company's stock fell 5.1 percent. Revenue will be $6.6 billion to $6.8 billion, the company said in a statement. Intel in January predicted $6.5 billion to $7 billion, and analysts including Lehman Brothers' Dan Niles had expected Intel to keep the high end of its range in place. The chipmaker in November announced plans to raise prices on flash memory used in cell phones and digital cameras by as much as 40 percent. The move may have allowed rivals like Advanced Micro Devices Inc. to win orders as customers such as Nokia Oyj objected, Merrill Lynch & Co. analyst Joe Osha said this week. ``Given the economy and the geopolitical background, it's a tough environment out there,'' said Jim Grossman, who helps manage about $57 billion at Thrivent Investment Management, which owns Intel shares. The company said its gross margin, or the percentage of sales left after subtracting manufacturing costs, will be ``slightly below'' its estimate of 50 percent, plus or minus a couple of points, because of costs related to higher-than-expected inventory of memory chips. Intel shares dropped as much as 85 cents to $15.85 after the report. They had fallen 28 cents as of 4 p.m. New York time on the Nasdaq Stock Market and have declined 49 percent in the past year. Advanced Micro fell 12 cents to $5.20, and communications-chip maker PMC-Sierra Inc. dropped 14 cents to $5.31. Applied Materials Inc., the world's biggest maker of semiconductor-manufacturing gear, fell 11 cents to $11.94, and rival Novellus Systems Inc. declined 51 cents to $26.50. PCs Improving The company is expected to have a profit, before some costs, of 12 cents a share on sales of $6.75 billion, the average Thomson First Call analyst estimates. Net income was 14 cents on sales of $6.78 billion in the same period last year. Intel hasn't seen any signs of an economic recovery, Chief Financial Officer Andy Bryant said on a conference call. ``I don't look at what we have here and see signs of an economic recovery,'' he said. Sales of microprocessors used in personal computers and servers that run Internet sites have been ``slightly above'' expectations, the Santa Clara, California-based company said. Personal-computer demand in Asia has improved, and Intel is winning a higher percentage of its sales from more-expensive processors for laptop and server computers that run Web sites, investors said. Dell Computer Corp. last month raised its sales forecast for this quarter. Intel expects a loss from investments of $100 million, less than the $125 million it forecast, because of lower impairment costs.