| Finger pointing over bond insurer crisis
Leading the witness list was New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who told lawmakers that the cascading financial woes facing troubled bond insurers "threaten serious problems well beyond" Wall Street. "The problems in this market will affect many average Americans," Spitzer said. "It will affect the cost of college loans. It will affect museum budgets. It will affect state and local taxes." Executives from bond insurance firms Ambac (ABK) and MBIA (MBI) also testified before the House Financial Services Committee panel. The hearing was marked by finger-pointing - with the bond insurers themselves, insurance regulators and short-selling investors who bet on the insurers' fates among those targeted for blame. Meanwhile, Moody's Investors Services announced Thursday that it had downgraded bond insurer FGIC to 'A3' from 'AAA.' Moody's cited the company's weakened capital position and its exposure to the mortgage market.
Misadventures in Atlanta
It's the disappearing act some people pull when they start dating. What's so unfortunate about it is that Jordan is actually a part of our group. It's not as if he's some guy she just recently met who has to go through the awkwardness of meeting us! He's already in! Naturally, if you go from single to being in a relationship, some of your priorities are going to shift. Maybe your Saturday nights have been reassigned to your new beau. And maybe one of your weeknights, too. But there are five other nights (plus weekends!) in your schedule! Is a couple hours a week too much to ask for friends who have been there for you? And it's not just women who act this way. My friend James and his girlfriend (also both within our social circle) have fallen off the face of the earth since they became exclusive almost three months ago.
Bonds for libraries, 'COPs' for police building
Barton said when he first began considering COPs he too was "reluctant and hesitant and quite doubtful." But the public safety building just doesn't have the support, Barton said. He said his son, home from college, didn't know where the police department is, at 275 Forest Ave., while he "knew where all the libraries are." But the city will have to work hard to find the money to pay for the project, Barton said. Staff estimates the building's cost will climb by about $500,000 for each month of delay after April 2009, based on the $69 million estimate and a 10 percent increase in building materials the city has experienced over the past two years. "The key is to get us moving down the road and getting this building built," Barton said. The COPs would be issued in April 2009, when construction is slated to begin.
Renault targets ambitious growth in the GCC
The car-maker unveiled its latest product range at the Dubai Motor Show, which took place recently. 'More than 10 new models will be introduced across the region over the next three years,' said Mohamed Bennani, Managing Director of Renault GCC. 'Each model will be fully tested locally and will be adapted to local driving conditions and customer expectations. Reliability and quality of the cars will be of the highest possible standards and effective immediately, our warranty will be extended to three years/ 100 000 kilometres.' Renault, thanks to its alliance with Nissan, is the 4th largest automotive group in the world. With 6m cars sold in 2006, the Renault-Nissan alliance has a 9 per cent market share worldwide. New product line-up Starting in 2008, Renault's new line-up will cover each product segment from Sports Limited Editions, to SUV, to Coupe convertible sedans, including highly reliable MPVs and Sedans.
Health chief Neale Fong blocked search for emails
In an extraordinary move, they were given to the media almost three hours before the Opposition, which had requested them under Freedom of Information. Mr McGinty said he had made everything public to "take away the opportunity for the Opposition to milk the emails for more than they are worth". The Opposition, which was charged $300 for its FOI search, was left fuming. Three weeks ago, Opposition Leader Troy Buswell used an earlier batch of FOI documents to embarrass Mr McGinty by showing he rewrote a media statement for Dr Fong to play down his contact with Mr Burke. One of the emails released yesterday from Colin Xanthis, who was co-ordinating the department's FOI search, asked Dr Fong for approval to search his personal email files "to satisfy the current FOI request". Dr Fong replied 16 minutes later: "No." Another email between two officers, whose names were deleted, showed the lax approach initially taken by the department.
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