Update 6:30am:  Stories Making Headlines Right Now

OBAMA
    Obama to mark holiday with volunteer service

On the eve of his inauguration,
President-elect Barack Obama will observe the Martin Luther King
holiday by working on a volunteer service project.
    The president-elect, Michelle Obama, Vice-President-elect Joe
Biden and Biden’s wife Jill all plan to join service projects
today, making this day set aside to remember the slain civil rights
leader a day on, rather than a day off.
    Later, Obama will make appearances at dinners honoring Biden,
former Secretary of State Colin Powell and John McCain, the man he
defeated last November.
    At yesterday’s Lincoln Memorial gala, Obama said America’s
problems are so grave it needs all its people’s hands turned to the
wheel. The vast crowd heard Obama say there is no obstacle that can
stand in the way of millions of voices calling for change.

WORLD MARKETS
    Asian markets see modest rise

Most Asian stock markets started the
week with a modest rise.
    Exporters are getting a boost from hopes that a massive stimulus
package will give the U.S. economy a positive jolt. But gains have
been limited by expectations of dire fourth quarter earnings
results.
    In Japan, the Nikkei was up 0.3 percent. South Korea’s Kospi
gained 1.4 percent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng recovered early losses
to end up 0.6 percent.
    Benchmarks in China, Australia and Singapore also gained, while
Thailand and Malaysia retreated.
    U.S. markets

    BRITAIN-BAILOUT
    Britain reveals 2nd bank bailout to boost lending

Britain has revealed a second bailout plan for its
ailing banks, aimed at protecting them from bad assets in an effort
to boost lending to the wider economy.
    The government doesn’t say how much the new plan will cost. Some
experts warn it could strain public finances.
    The new plan would require banks to identify their riskiest
assets and would allow them to pay a fee to insure them with the
government. By offering to insure bank loans, the government is
exposing taxpayers to billions of pounds of potential losses.
    But British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says banks would have to
enter legally binding agreements requiring them to lend more money
to borrowers. He says the purpose is to spur lending that isn’t
happening now.
    European markets jumped at the news.

GUANTANAMO-SEPT. 11 TRIAL
    Court facing uncertain future

Despite a murky future,
military judges in a Guantanamo war crimes court will move ahead
with hearings against five men accused of orchestrating the 9/11
attacks.
    Pretrial motions will be heard starting today after military
judges rejected a request from prosecutors and defense lawyers to
postpone the hearings until after Barack Obama’s inauguration.
    The hearings could take several days.
    Many expect Obama to soon suspend the military commission system
created by Congress and President Bush in 2006. Obama’s nominee for
attorney general, Eric Holder, even told the Senate Judiciary
Committee the commissions lack sufficient legal protections for
those charged.
    The Pentagon’s chief war crimes prosecutor says he doesn’t know
what Obama will do, so he has to plan as if the commissions will go
forward.

PLANE SPLASHDOWN
    Plane at New Jersey pier for inspection

Most of the jetliner that made a splash landing
in the Hudson River last week is now sitting on a barge in a New
Jersey marina, giving investigators a chance to get a closer look
at the damage.
    The search for the missing left engine won’t resume until
tomorrow. Federal safety investigators say ice floes in the Hudson
make it too dangerous to put divers or special sonar equipment in
the water.
    Investigators have examined the plane’s black boxes, and they’re
heaping even more praise on the pilot, as well as the rest of the
flight crew.
    The Airbus A320 had climbed to an altitude of just 3,200 feet
when it struck a flock of birds and power was cut to both engines.
Pilot Chesley Sullenberger maneuvered it to a safe water landing
and all 155 people on board survived.
    Sullenberger was set to be interviewed this morning on NBC’s
“Today” show but that was canceled at the request of the Airline
Pilots Association.

ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS
    Israeli officials: Gaza troops out by inauguration

Israeli officials say their troops will leave
the Gaza Strip before President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated
on Tuesday.
    This is the first official indication that Israel plans a rapid
withdrawal of its forces after announcing a unilateral cease-fire
Saturday in its devastating three-week offensive against Gaza’s
Hamas rulers.
    Thousands of Israeli troops have begun leaving Gaza. Hamas
declared a weeklong truce on Sunday.
    The officials spoke Monday on condition of anonymity because the
plan has not been publicly announced.
    Government spokesman Mark Regev would not confirm the timetable.
He says that if Gaza remains quiet, Israel’s departure will be
“almost immediate.“

IRAN-US-SPY NETWORK
    NEW: Iran claims plot thwarted

Iran’s state television says the government
has dismantled an alleged U.S.-backed spy network that was seeking
to topple the country’s Islamic regime.
    Monday’s report quotes an unnamed intelligence official as
saying the main members of the network have been identified and
detained.
    The official, identified as the general director of the
counterespionage section of Iran’s Intelligence Ministry, says the
CIA spent about $32 million on the plot but did not provide further
details.
    Iran’s official news agency reported Saturday that a Tehran
court sentenced four Iranians to jail for trying to overthrow the
government with the alleged support of the U.S. State Department
and the CIA.

MISSING MONEY MANAGER
    Financier unseen; clients seethe over missing cash

Federal investigators are still trying to
figure out what happened to the operator of a massive hedge fund—
and possibly millions of dollars managed by the missing man.
    Seventy-five-year-old Arthur G. Nadel was reported missing by
family members Wednesday. Police say he seemed “very distraught”
in a note left for his family. His car was found Thursday in an
airport parking lot.
    It remains unclear exactly how much money had been invested or
how much was missing, though one investor has said the fund was
worth as much as $350 million.
    Sarasota Police have received at least seven complaints from
investors. Some say they lost more than $700,000.

ARMY DINING
    At Wis. Army base, the meals weren’t ‘pleasant’

Everyone seems to agree the food at a
military base in Wisconsin was awful.
    They don’t agree why.
    The Army blames the state of Wisconsin for mismanaging the
multimillion-dollar food service contract at Fort McCoy in 2005 and
2006. Testimony just made public says if the food came at all, it
sometimes had bugs, and food workers didn’t always follow basic
safety rules. Sometimes, soldiers trained on empty stomachs.
    A state official who oversaw the contract testified there were
problems but blames shoddy Army facilities. The Army says the
problem was the quality of the food, not the facilities.
    Wisconsin wants a federal judge to throw out a $225,000
arbitration ruling in favor of a manager hired by the state, who
lost her job when the Army canceled the contract.
    The arbitration panel says the contract failed because her work
wasn’t supervised correctly.

SWITZERLAND-IRAQ-SHOE THROWER
    Lawyer: Iraqi shoe thrower to seek Swiss asylum

A Swiss lawyer working on behalf of the Iraqi
journalist who threw shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush says
his client will seek political asylum in Switzerland.
    Geneva-based lawyer Mauro Poggia says Muntadhar al-Zeidi’s life
is in danger in Iraq.
    Al-Zeidi is currently in an Iraqi jail awaiting trial on charges
of assaulting a foreign leader for his Dec. 14 outburst at a news
conference in Baghdad.
    Poggia says he was contacted by al-Zeidi’s family earlier this
month. He says the journalist has been beaten and tortured in Iraqi
detention.
    Poggia told The Associated Press on Monday that al-Zeidi would
have to go to the Swiss Embassy in Baghdad once he is released to
formally file the asylum request.