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Non-Tech : Auric Goldfinger's Short List -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (11272)	3/16/2003 8:26:35 PM
From: StockDung	Respond to of 19428

Dollar Falls After Bush Gives UN One Day of Diplomacy on Iraq By John Brinsley Tokyo, March 17 (Bloomberg) -- The dollar fell after the U.S., U.K. and Spain gave the United Nations one day to break an impasse over whether to use force to disarm Iraq, fueling speculation a war will start as early as this week. The U.S. currency fell to $1.0807 against the euro at 9:34 a.m. in Tokyo, from $1.0747 late Friday in New York. It also dropped to 117.82 yen, from 118.32 yen. Today ``is the day that will determine whether diplomacy can work,'' U.S. President George W. Bush said after meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Anzar on Portugal's Azores island. Bush has said he doesn't need UN permission to attack Iraq, leading to concern the U.S. will shoulder most of the financial burden of a war and its aftermath. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters a Bush speech to the nation this week is ``an option.'' Bush said March 6 that he would warn Americans before any attack. The ultimatum ``implies unilateral action is going to take place very soon, and the market is selling dollars as a result,'' said Michael Jansen, market strategist in Sydney with National Australia Bank. The dollar could weaken to $1.10 against the euro in the next few weeks, he said. The dollar has weakened almost 10 percent against the euro in the past six months as the buildup to war prompted some global investors to reduce risk by scaling back purchases of overseas assets. That left the U.S. short of the $1.5 billion a day of foreign capital it needs to offset its current account deficit and maintain the value of its currency. Gulf War History suggests the dollar will decline when a war begins. On Jan. 17, 1991, the day a U.S.-led coalition launched an air attack on Iraq to start the Gulf War, the dollar tumbled 2.9 percent against the yen and shed another 4 percent within three weeks. The dollar also shed 2 percent against the German mark that day and lost another 4.5 percent in the following three weeks. Any vote on a new UN resolution probably would be taken no earlier than March 18, National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack said. The U.S. contends it already has authority to act under a resolution the council approved Nov. 8. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein told military aides he'd take the conflict ``to the entire globe'' if Iraq is attacked, Agence France-Presse reported citing Iraq's state news agency INA. ``The Hussein statement makes the market nervous as well, and adds to the dollar's weakness,'' said Masamichi Koike, senior vice president for foreign exchange at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. The dollar may fall below 117 yen this week, he said. The U.S. sent B-2 stealth bombers to the Persian Gulf region last week, joining a force that includes more than 250,000 ground troops. The Navy has five aircraft carriers in the region with about 300 aircraft, and a sixth carrier is on the way. In other trading, the dollar fell to 1.3569 Swiss francs, from 1.3670 francs. The British pound rose to $1.5887, from $1.5836. The yen was at 127.35 against the euro, from 127.15.

To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (11272)	3/16/2003 9:23:32 PM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 19428

Bush gives 24-hour ultimatum to UN on Iraq US President warn world body it must decide on Monday whether to throw its weight behind Washington's hard-line. By Olivier Knox - LAJES, Azores Islands US President George W. Bush said Sunday that he will push to revamp the United Nations if its Security Council fails within 24 hours to approve a resolution paving the way for war on Iraq. The US leader used a joint press conference with prime ministers Tony Blair of Britain and Jose Maria Aznar of Spain to warn the world body that it must decide on Monday whether to throw its weight behind Washington's hard-line. "We hope tomorrow the UN will do its job. If not, all of us need to step back and try to figure out how to make the UN work better, as we head into the 21st century," he said after they held a crisis summit on Iraq here. The pow-wow came after a week of frenzied telephone diplomacy failed to win clear support from wavering Council nations for a US-British-Spanish resolution widely seen as setting the stage for a US-led invasion to uphold a November 8 disarmament ultimatum, Security Council Resolution 1441. "It's important for the UN to be able to function well if we're going to keep the peace, and I will work hard to see to it that, at least from our perspective, that the UN is able to be a responsible body, and when it says something, it means it," he said. "Tomorrow is a moment of truth for the world," said the US president. "Tomorrow is the day that we will determine whether or not diplomacy can work." Asked whether Monday was the deeply divided Council's final opportunity to vote on the resolution and whether the diplomatic window would close thereafter, Bush confirmed: "That's what I'm saying." But despite that ultimatum, the resolution's fate is far from clear: France, threatening to use its veto, has led such firm opposition to the measure that the nine votes needed for passage would seem to be beyond Bush's reach. After initially describing the rift as a principled disagreement between two allies, administration officials now privately rail against France and say that institutions like the Security Council give it power beyond its true means. Some conservative commentators have mused that Bush could be so angered by a successful French roadblock that he would push to change the very makeup of the council, perhaps by adding to the five veto-wielding permanent members. Bush has kept mum on such topics, but he has vocally castigated the United Nations for failing to halt the slaughter of ethnic Albanians in the Serbian province of Kosovo or the genocide that choked Rwandan rivers with bodies. "The UN must mean something. Remember Rwanda or Kosovo. The UN didn't do its job," he said Sunday. During the 2000 White House race, however, Bush said he would not have intervened to halt the massacres in Rwanda, as did his rival, then-vice president Al Gore.

To: afrayem onigwecher who wrote (11272)	3/17/2003 1:18:17 PM
From: StockDung	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19428

Ex-Giuliani Aide Arrested on Porn Charges By ERIN McCLAM .c The Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) - A former city housing director was accused Monday of owning child pornography and using public money to pay for personal items - including a car, ``The Sopranos'' DVDs and a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon. Russell Harding, who was housing director in the administration of Rudolph Giuliani, was arrested as federal prosecutors unsealed a six-count indictment charging him with conspiracy, fraud, mail fraud, wire fraud, receiving child pornography and possessing child pornography. The indictment said he had a child porn movie and 10 child porn computer images. Harding was due in federal court later in the day, and U.S. Attorney James Comey planned a news conference to discuss the charges. Harding's attorney, Gerald Shargel, did not immediately answer a call for comment. From 1998 to 2002, Harding was director of the city's Housing Development Corp. under Giuliani, overseeing federal grants to build and oversee housing projects. Harding's father, former longtime state Liberal Party boss Raymond Harding, is a close friend of Giuliani's. The indictment accuses Russell Harding of using his HDC Diners Club card to pay for expenses on personal trips to Hong Kong, San Diego, Vancouver, B.C., and Portland, Ore., and of using an HDC check to buy a $38,664 car intended for a friend. Among the items he bought, the indictment said, werePalm Pilots, Cirque du Soleil tickets, DVDs of HBO's ``The Sopranos'' and ``Sex and the City,'' and a subscription to Vanity Fair magazine. Published reports have said that a federal probe has also examined whether Giuliani chief of staff Anthony Carbonetti accompanied Harding on the trips at taxpayer expense. The indictment makes no mention of Carbonetti. It says another HDC employee accompanied Harding on the trips to Vancouver and Hong Kong. A Giuliani spokeswoman did not immediately return a call for comment. 03/17/03 12:34 EST