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Strategies & Market Trends : The Epic American Credit and Bond Bubble Laboratory -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CalculatedRisk who wrote (56724)	3/24/2006 10:05:46 AM
From: russwinter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 110194

6.3 months inventory. census.gov

To: CalculatedRisk who wrote (56724)	3/24/2006 10:07:27 AM
From: shades	Respond to of 110194

U.S. to hire foreign company for security checks at port in Bahamas sptimes.com WASHINGTON - In the aftermath of the Dubai ports dispute, the federal government plans to hire a Hong Kong conglomerate to help detect nuclear materials inside cargo passing through the Bahamas to the United States and elsewhere. The Bush administration said the no-bid contract with Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. represents the first time a foreign company will be involved in running a sophisticated U.S. radiation detector at an overseas port without American customs agents present. Freeport in the Bahamas is 65 miles from the U.S. coast, where cargo would be likely to be inspected again. The contract is being finalized. The Bush administration is negotiating a second no-bid contract for a Philippine company to install radiation detectors in its home country, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press. At dozens of other overseas ports, foreign governments are primarily responsible for scanning cargo. While President Bush recently told Congress foreigners would not manage security at U.S. ports, the Hutchison deal in the Bahamas shows the government is relying on foreign companies at overseas ports to safeguard cargo headed to the United States. Hutchison Whampoa is the world's largest ports operator and among the industry's most-respected companies. It was an early adopter of U.S. antiterror measures. But its billionaire chairman, Li Ka-Shing, also has substantial business ties to China's government that have raised U.S. concerns over the years. "One can conceive legitimate security concerns and would hope either the Homeland Security Department or the intelligence services of the United States work very hard to satisfy those concerns," said Larry M. Wortzel, head of a U.S. government commission that studies China security and economic issues. Three years ago, the Bush administration effectively blocked a Hutchison subsidiary from buying part of a bankrupt U.S. telecommunications company, Global Crossing Ltd., on national security grounds. Chertoff: U.S. should have allowed Dubai ports deal NEW YORK - The United States missed an opportunity to make its shores safer when it drove away a Dubai company poised to operate cargo terminals at several American seaports, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday. In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations, Chertoff said the shipping firm DP World could have helped implement stronger security at many ports where the United States has limited influence. "We could (have) actually built in some additional assurances, which would have given us more security in the wake of the deal than we had before the deal," he said. ". . . We would have had greater ability to impose a security regime worldwide on the company than we have now." DP World got a role in at least 20 U.S. ports when it purchased the British company Peninsular & Oriental. Under pressure from Congress, the company said this month that it will sell its U.S. businesses to an American buyer.