Stories Making Headlines Right Now

OBAMA-CONGRESS
    NEW: Obama budget gives Dems a roadmap and GOP a target

    WASHINGTON (AP) - It may not be DOA like other presidential
budgets, but President Barack Obama’s initial offering provides
plenty of goals for congressional Democrats and targets for
Republicans.
    The $3.6 trillion package contains ambitious plans to change
health care, energy, farm payments, taxes and more.
    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls it a “wonderful blueprint”
that looks beyond reviving a weak economy and restoring order to
the credit markets.
    Republicans are seeing red, as in major deficit ink, along with
higher taxes and soaring government spending.
    House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio says Obama’s
plan “is a job killer.“ He charges that it raises taxes on
Americans in the middle of a recession.
    The budget is likely to gain traction as an issue for the 2010
congressional election campaign.

ECONOMY
    Economy likely suffered deeper contraction

    WASHINGTON (AP) - With the economy slipping deeper into a
recessionary spiral, economists are expecting more dire news from
the government’s revised GDP figures for the October-to-December
quarter.
    The Commerce Department’s Friday report is expected to show the
economy contracted at a pace of 5.4 percent. That would mean
economic activity was drying up at a faster rate than the 3.8
percent annualized decline estimated a month ago.
    With jobs disappearing, home values in the gutter and investment
portfolios shrinking, Americans have been clinging to their
wallets. In turn, companies are slashing production and payrolls.
Hard-to-get credit is also stymieing business investment and big
ticket item purchases.
    Amid the doom and gloom, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has offered
some hope, saying the recession might end his year if the
government manages to prop up the shaky banking system.

CITIGROUP RESCUE
    AP Source: Government on verge of deal to boost stake in
Citigroup

    WASHINGTON (AP) - The government is on the verge of closing a
deal to significantly boost its ownership stake in Citigroup. In
return, it will demand changes be made on the troubled banking
giant’s board and other conditions, according to a person with
knowledge of the discussions.
    The increased stake in Citigroup Inc. will not require
additional money from taxpayers and the bank will still have to
undergo a “stress test,“ such as those that banking regulators
started conducting this week on the nation’s biggest banks, said
the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because a deal
hasn’t been officially announced.
    An announcement is anticipated later Friday.
    The government would convert some of its preferred shares in
Citigroup to common shares only if the bank can get private
investors to do the same, the source said.

STANFORD EXEC ARRESTED
    FBI arrests Stanford Financial Group exec

    HOUSTON (AP) - The chief investment officer of troubled Stanford
Financial Group is due in federal court today after being arrested
in Houston where the company is based.
    Laura Pendergest-Holt is accused of obstructing a Securities and
Exchange Commission investigation of an alleged $8 billion
investment fraud involving Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford.
Stanford is accused in civil charges of lying about the safety of
investments he sold as “certificates of deposit” and promising
unrealistically high rates of return.
    Pendergest-Holt’s attorney, Brent Baker, says his client is
looking forward to working with the government to get all the facts
out.
    The government alleges that Pendergest-Holt obstructed the
investigation and allegedly failed to tell the SEC how much she
knew about investments in Stanford International Bank Ltd.

FUGITIVE EXECUTIVE
    Hedge-fund swindler due in NY court after checkup

    WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) - Fresh from a medical exam, a New York
hedge-fund cheat is returning to court on charges that he skipped
out on a 20-year prison sentence.
    Instead of reporting to federal prison last June for bilking
millions from his investors, Samuel Israel faked his suicide and
took off in an RV for nearly a month before surrendering.
    The 49-year-old Israel has spent months getting a physical and
psychological checkup at a prison hospital in Ayer, Mass. A federal
judge ordered the evaluation to help him decide whether Israel is
competent to plead guilty to going on the lam before a court date
set for Friday.
    The judge refused to accept the plea last year when Israel told
him that treatment for his addiction to painkillers had impaired
his thinking.

NETHERLANDS-PLANE CRASH
    NEW: Experts seek to identify Amsterdam crash victims

    AMSTERDAM (AP) - Investigators are exploring a raft of theories
in the crash of a Turkish Airlines plane that crashed short of a
runway in Amsterdam.
    They range from weather-related factors to insufficient fuel,
loss of fuel, navigational errors, pilot fatigue or bird strikes.
    Officials say an analysis of the plane’s flight data recorders
in Paris could be completed as early as today, but a preliminary
finding isn’t likely until next week.
    Other experts are working today to identify the nine people
killed. Five Turks, including both pilots, and four Americans were
killed when the Boeing 737-800 plunged into a farmer’s field
Wednesday morning. Two of the dead Americans were Boeing employees.

US-IRAQ
    Officials: Obama says Iraq pullout by Aug 2010

    WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama has told lawmakers he
plans to withdraw most American troops from Iraq by August 2010.
    Obama and his top advisers held a closed-door meeting with
Republican and Democratic leaders at the White House Thursday and
told them that 35,000 to 50,000 troops will stay behind to advise
Iraqi forces and protect U.S. interests.
    Obama is expected to announce the new strategy Friday during a
trip to the Marine Corps base at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
    Cong. John McHugh, the top Republican on the House Armed
Services Committee, says he’s worried about the still fragile
situation in Iraq, especially heading toward elections in December.
McHugh says Obama promised to reconsider the new strategy if
violence rises.
    One congressional official says the lawmakers were told the top
U.S. generals for Iraq think the plan presents a moderate risk but
support the 50,000 figure.
    Some Democrats, on the other hand, say that’s too many.

BANGLADESH-MUTINY
    UPDATE: Dozens of bodies found buried in mass graves

    DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - A Bangladeshi general says authorities
have found dozens of bodies buried in mass graves after a two-day
revolt by the country’s border guard unit reportedly left at least
40 people dead.
    The man overseeing the search tells private TV station NTV that
crews “are digging out dozens of decomposing bodies dumped into
mass graves.“ Brig. Abu Naim Shahidullah says it’s not clear how
many were killed because crews “are still taking the bodies out.“
He says all the victims appear to be officers, and were dressed in
military uniforms.
    Security forces have detained hundreds of fleeing border guards
and set up roadblocks across the country since the bloody uprising
against military commanders.

PAKISTAN
    Police fire tear gas at protesters in Pakistan

    ISLAMABAD (AP) - Police have fired tear gas at protesters near
the Pakistani capital as political unrest extended into a third
day.
    Police confronted about 100 protesters on Friday as they were
trying to block the main highway into the capital, Islamabad, by
placing bricks and rocks on the asphalt.
    Officers fired several rounds of tear gas, forcing the crowd to
disperse. Police are moving toward the nearby airport to pre-empt
any further trouble there.
    Protests broke out on Wednesday when a court barred two key
opposition leaders from elected office and President Asif Ali
Zardari dissolved the government in the country’s biggest province.
    The political turbulence adds to problems including Islamic
militancy and an economic crunch.

CAVE HOME
    Family fears losing suburban St. Louis cave home

    FESTUS, Mo. (AP) - The Sleeper family may be living in a cave,
but they’re still acutely aware of the economic crunch.
    The suburban St. Louis family has a big payment due in May on
its cave home and is worried about losing the unusual property.
    So as a backup plan, Curt and Deborah Sleeper are putting the
house up on eBay’s online auction block. Bidding for the home
wedged inside an old mining cave starts at $300,000.
    The home has electric, water and sewer, a decked-out kitchen,
whirlpool tub and a goldfish pond. Inside, the walls and ceiling
are comprised of the natural cave stone.
    It also comes with a star-studded history. In the 1960s, the
cave was a roller rink that hosted concerts, including shows by Ted
Nugent and Bob Seger.
    The family paid about half of the $160,000 purchase price for
the cave up front. The rest of the property costs are due in May.