| Change in bankruptcy laws pondered amid home mortgage meltdown
WASHINGTON | After being hooked with ill-advised subprime loans on their homes, many thousands of Americans could end up gaffed in bankruptcy courts next year. Despite a new law to make filings more painful, bankruptcies surged by nearly 40 percent in 2007, leading Samuel Gerdano, American Bankruptcy Institute director, to predict "even higher filings this year, as the heavy consumer debt load is made worse by the home mortgage crisis." Some in Congress want to wade in to try to help prevent more — perhaps as many as 2.2 million — homes from being lost to foreclosure. Nearly 20,000 Missourians risk losing homes, said Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat. Sen. Chris Dodd would roll back provisions in the law enacted two years ago to make it harder for people to file for bankruptcy and walk away from their debts.
Debunking bank report
It probably hasn't been a lot of fun to be in banking over the last six months, what with the credit crisis, subprime-mortgage mess, and rising loan defaults. At least a banker can celebrate the opening of a new branch once in a while, right? William E. Brown couldn't yesterday. The head of Citibank's 21 branches in the Philadelphia market spent part of the day denying a report that raised doubt about the giant company's plans for the region. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal said Citigroup Inc. was "abandoning a push" to open up to 100 branches a year across the United States. The story said Citigroup would focus on areas where its market share of deposits was strong or growing, such as Boston, Miami, New York and San Francisco. Comparing growth in Boston with Philadelphia, the Journal said bank executives were "pleased with Boston branches, but are less impressed with the Philadelphia experiment, according to one person familiar with the situation." Not true, Brown said.
Germany's 'last' WWI veteran dies
The man believed to have been Germany's last World War I veteran has died peacefully at the age of 107. Erich Kaestner, who at 18 was sent to the Western Front but served only four months in the army, died in a Cologne nursing home, his son said. The death on Sunday of Louis de Cazenave, France's second-last World War I veteran, made global headlines. But in a country that keeps no record of its veterans, Kaestner's death on 1 January went largely unnoticed. "That is the way history has developed," said Peter Kaestner, the soldier's son. "In Germany, in this respect, things are kept quiet - they're not a big deal." Erich Kaestner was unrelated to the writer and poet of the same name. End of an era Reports in Die Welt daily and Der Spiegel magazine identified Kaestner as Germany's last World War I veteran, but verification of the claim was difficult as the country keeps no record of its war veterans.
Q&A: Hain's resignation
Mr Hain ran to be Labour's deputy leader but came fifth out of six candidates in last year's vote. All those taking part should have told the Electoral Commission about any donations towards their campaign. Mr Hain has admitted that although he declared 77,000 on time, a further 5,000 was not declared until November - and earlier this month admitted that a further 103,000 should have been reported. What is wrong with not reporting the donations? Under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 political donations need to be reported within 60 days of a donation being offered. What has the commission said? The Electoral Commission has examined details of the 17 donations reported late by Mr Hain, and carried out a "thorough review" of additional information provided during a meeting with Mr Hain.
Las Vegas Default Highlights Commercial-Property Crunch
The credit crunch that roared through the residential real-estate market is starting to bite commercial projects, too. Yesterday, Ian Bruce Eichner, the developer of a twin-tower casino resort in the heart of Las Vegas, defaulted on a $760 million loan from Deutsche Bank AG after he failed to get refinancing. The default on the loan supporting the $3 billion Cosmopolitan Resort Casino is a signal of trouble for Mr. Eichner, who gained notice during an earlier real-estate downturn in the early 1990s when he lost several projects in New York City. Owners and developers of some of the country's choicest ... .
Twenty-five U.S. Military Officers Challenge Official Account of 9/11
I was a lifelong conservative Republican that voted for Bush/Cheney, twice. Curiosity about JFK’s death, after a late night TV re-run of Oliver Stone’s movie, got me started researching and digging for the truth about his assassins. "My research led me to a much more important and timely question: the mystery of what really did happen on 9/11. Everything that seemed real, turned out to be false. The US government and the news media, once again, were lying to the world about the real terrorists and the public murder of 2,972 innocents on 9/11. .
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