Ozone layer faces record 40 pct loss over Arctic

GENEVA – The protective ozone layer in the Arctic that keeps out the sun's most damaging rays — ultraviolet radiation — has thinned about 40 percent this winter, a record drop, the U.N. weather agency said Tuesday.
The Arctic's damaged stratospheric ozone layer isn't the best known "ozone hole" — that would be Antarctica's, which forms when sunlight returns in spring there each year. But the Arctic's situation is due to similar causes: ozone-munching compounds in air pollutants that are chemically trigged by a combination of extremely cold temperatures and sunlight.
The losses this winter in the Arctic's fragile ozone atmospheric layer strongly exceeded the previous seasonal loss of about 30 percent, the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization in Geneva said.
It blamed the combination of very cold temperatures in the stratosphere, the second major layer of the Earth's atmosphere, just above the troposphere, and ozone-eating CFCs from aerosol sprays and refrigeration.
"This is pretty sudden and unusual," said Bryan Johnson, an atmospheric chemist who works in the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Earth System Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado.

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High winds, rain, hit South; at least 7 killed

JACKSON, Ga. – A fast-moving storm system packing tornadoes, hail and lightning blew through the South, uprooting trees, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands and killing at least seven people.
The storms were part of a system that cut a wide swath from the Mississippi River across the Southeast to Georgia and the Carolinas on Monday and early Tuesday. Drivers dodged debris during the morning commute in Atlanta, where one person was killed when a tree fell on his car. Felled trees killed at least two drivers elsewhere.
Around the region, the National Weather Service was investigating reports of at least 20 possible tornadoes, while the system had moved over the Atlantic Ocean by late Tuesday morning. With the sun emerging, workers around the region climbed polls to mend power lines, officers directed traffic under dark traffic lights and chainsaws could be heard in many places — including at Augusta National golf course. Practice rounds for the Masters golf tournament were delayed 45 minutes Tuesday.
In central Georgia, a father and his young son were killed when a tree fell onto a home in Butts County, Georgia Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Lisa Janak said. The sheriff's office there said the 28-year-old man, Alix Bonhomme Jr., and the 4-year-old boy, Alix III, were killed early Tuesday when a tree limb crashed onto a bed where they were sleeping.
The child's mother, Marcie Moorer, and the couple's younger son, Iysic, 3, were able to escape.
"I'm still in shock. It hasn't hit me yet," said Moorer, who was at a relative's home late Tuesday morning, still wearing her pajamas as her youngest son rode a tricycle nearby.

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Vodafone hits out at India in tax row

NEW DELHI (AFP) – British mobile phone giant Vodafone on Tuesday asked India's top court to stop the government fining it over a $2.5 billion tax bill and warned the row could discourage foreign investors.
India slapped the disputed $2.5 billion tax bill last October on Vodafone over its $11.1 billion purchase four years ago of a 67-percent stake in Hong Kong-based Hutchison Whampoa's Indian mobile unit.
The penalty being sought by tax authorities "can be up to 100 percent of any tax owed," Vodafone spokesman Simon Gordon told AFP.
Vodafone's Supreme Court petition, which a company spokesman said would be heard Thursday, is the latest development in a long-running battle with India's tax office that is being closely watched by foreign investors.
"The position being taken by the tax authorities is both unprecedented and also out of step with international taxation principles governing acquisitions, which are designed to encourage investment," Vodafone said in a statement.
"Seeking penalties on a 'test case' involving a major infrastructure investor highlights the unpredictable nature of India's taxation policy," Vodafone, the world's largest mobile phone company, added.
The dispute is being scrutinised by international investors with experts saying the case could have implications for big-ticket purchases of Indian firms by other foreign companies.
The row comes as foreign direct investment in India plunged in the past year amid investor concern over widespread corruption, bureaucratic delays, a lack of economic reform and an uncertain regulatory climate.
The penalty demand for the unpaid tax, received last month, "is only likely to raise further concerns amongst potential investors into India," Vodafone said.

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The top 10 singles and albums on iTunes

iTunes' top 10 selling singles and albums of the week ending April 4, 2011:
Singles:
1. "Just Can't Get Enough," Black Eyed Peas
2. "E.T. (feat. Kanye West)," Katy Perry
3. "S&M," Rihanna
4. "E.T.," Katy Perry
5. "No Sleep," Wiz Khalifa
6. "Look At Me Now (feat. Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes)," Chris Brown
7. "On the Floor (feat. Pitbull)," Jennifer Lopez
8. "Rolling In the Deep," ADELE
9. "Forget You," Cee Lo Green
10. "Born This Way," Lady GaGa
Albums:
1. "Femme Fatale," Britney Spears
2. "Songs for Japan," Various Artists
3. "Rolling Papers," Wiz Khalifa
4. "21," Adele
5. "Grey's Anatomy: The Music Event," Grey's Anatomy Cast

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Serb nationalists love Gadhafi on Facebook page

BELGRADE, Serbia – Five years after their leader Slobodan Milosevic died while on trial for genocide, some Serb nationalists have found a new idol: Col. Moammar Gadhafi.
A Facebook group supporting the Libyan leader has gathered more than 66,000 "likes" by Tuesday, reflecting the deep hatred that some Serbs feel for the West over the 1999 NATO bombing of Serbia, which ended Belgrade's rule over the former province of Kosovo.
"The same aggressors who were murdering us, now are relentlessly attacking the Libyan people," said the extremist Nasi organization — an affiliate of the Russian group with the same name — which is behind social media support campaign for Gadhafi.
"We launched the campaign out of defiance to the West and true support to a friend," the group added.
The campaigners have put up posters of Gadhafi in the capital Belgrade, handed out leaflets and called for protests against the Western bombing of his troops. Backers on Facebook have compared the Libya bombing campaign — authorized by a U.N. Security Council resolution to protect Libyan civilians — to the 78 days of NATO airstrikes against Serbia.
"Have we forgotten the sound of air sirens?" Nebojsa Grmusa writes on the Facebook, asking: "Do we remember what it's like when the whole world hates you and you don't know why?"
Joining in is Slobodan Ilkic, who adds that Gadhafi is "one of the rare world politicians who was ready to question the network of lies that had turned the Serbs into Nazis after Nazis."

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Snapshot: Japan's nuclear crisis

TOKYO (Reuters) – Following are main developments after a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated northeast Japan and crippled a nuclear power station, raising the risk of an uncontrolled radiation leak.
- Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), operator of the stricken plant, has begun paying "condolence money" to nearby local governments to aid people evacuated because of the crisis.
- TEPCO will begin making separate compensation payments to victims, Yomiuri newspaper said on Tuesday, but the company said nothing had been decided on such payments.
* Radioactive iodine of up to 4,800 times the legal limit has been recorded in the sea near the plant. Caesium was found at levels above safety limits in tiny "kounago" fish in waters off Ibaraki Prefecture, south of Fukushima, local media reported.
* Iodine-131 in the water by the sluice gate of reactor No. 2 hit a high on April 2 of 7.5 million times the legal limit. It fell to 5 million times the legal limit on Monday.
- Japan has asked Russia to send a floating radiation treatment plant, used to decommission nuclear submarines, which will solidify contaminated liquid waste from the Fukushima Daiichi plant, Russian media reported.
- TEPCO is releasing into the sea 11,500 tonnes of contaminated water from the plant to free up more storage space for water with much higher levels of radioactivity.

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UN climate chief urges action on Kyoto Protocol

BANGKOK (AFP) – The United Nations' climate chief warned Tuesday that the success of this year's global warming negotiations hinged on countries resolving deep differences over the future of the Kyoto Protocol.
Christiana Figueres said breakthroughs made at an annual UN summit in the Mexican resort of Cancun in December allowing other actions to combat climate change could be jeopardised by the stalemate over the protocol.
"The full implementation of the Cancun agreements can only become an important step forward for the climate if there's a responsible and clear way ahead on the Kyoto Protocol," Figueres said.
Figueres was speaking at the formal opening of the UN's first round of climate negotiations for the year in Bangkok.
Signed in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol saw most developed nations agree to legally binding commitments on curbing their greenhouse gas emissions that are blamed for global warming.
Those commitments are due to expire at the end of 2012.
If there is to be a second round of legally binding commitments, those pledges would need to be made at the UN's next annual climate summit in Durban, South Africa, in November.

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Astronauts head to ISS on spaceship Gagarin

BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AFP) – Three astronauts on Tuesday blasted off for the International Space Station in a spaceship named after the first man in space Yuri Gagarin in honour of his historic flight 50 years ago.
The two Russians and one American left on a Soyuz rocket from the main launchpad at Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the same location where Gagarin went on his historic space mission on April 12, 1961.
The flight in the early hours of the morning left a bright beam of light against the background of the clear starry sky over the vast Kazakh steppe, an AFP correspondent reported.
Their mission has been dedicated to Gagarin's flight -- which gave the Soviet Union its greatest Cold War victory over the United States -- and their Soyuz capsule is named after and even inscribed with the name of the cosmonaut.
"The flight is normal," mission control told the crew, who waved and gave the thumbs-up sign to a camera relaying images from the capsule back to Earth.
Cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Andrei Borisenko are making their first space flight while US astronaut Ronald Garan is making his second mission, having already flown on US shuttle Discovery in 2008.
"We are feeling good," said the voice of one of the crew, apparently flight commander Samokutyaev. "I wish you success and a good flight," said the head of Russia's space agency, Anatoly Perminov.

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Gbagbo residence hit 50 times in Ivory Coast

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – A spokesman for Ivory Coast's entrenched leader Laurent Gbagbo says his home has been hit at least 50 times by a United Nations Mi-24 helicopter.
Spokesman Don Ahou Mello also confirmed Tuesday that a major military camp had been destroyed during Monday's attack.
Mello said that Gbagbo "is still in Abidjan" but refused to speculate on whether he was considering resigning.
Fighting raged again Tuesday at the Akban military base, which had been targeted by French and U.N. forces.
The international force launched the Monday assault after attempts to coax Gbagbo to leave peacefully had been exhausted.
A U.N. Security Council resolution authorized them to take out Gbagbo's arsenal, which had been used to attack civilians.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) — Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo is negotiating his surrender, a diplomat said Tuesday after United Nations and French forces bombarded military sites, backing Ivorian fighters who are trying to install the elected president.
The offensive by U.N. and French forces that began Monday included air attacks on the presidential residence and three strategic military garrisons, marking an unprecedented escalation in the international community's efforts to oust Gbagbo. He was declared the loser of elections in November but refused to cede power to winner Alassane Ouattara even as the world's largest cocoa producer teetered on the brink of all-out civil war.

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Australia says bourse tie-up against interests

SYDNEY (AFP) – Australia said Tuesday a planned Aus$8.4 billion ($8.9 billion) merger between the Australian and Singaporean bourses was against the national interest, but said it was still considering the deal.
The ASX and Singapore Exchange Limited announced plans last October to create one of the world's largest and most diversified financial trading hubs.
But the proposal hit hurdles in Australia, where concerns over foreign ownership and Singapore's democracy and rights record have been raised.
The ASX said Treasurer Wayne Swan was "disposed to the view... that the proposed merger of the ASX and SGX should be rejected as contrary to the national interest".
Swan said Tuesday he had "serious concerns" about the proposal and intended to accept the unanimous advice from the Foreign Investment Review Board that the takeover would not be in the national interest.
"It's important to note I have not made a final decision, and it would not be appropriate for me to make further public comments on an application that is still under consideration," he said in a statement.
The Singapore exchange said it had been notified of the Australian government's view and had been asked to provide further comments to Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board on the decision.

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Final battle rages in Ivory Coast, forces prepare

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast – Ivory Coast strongman Laurent Gbagbo is negotiating his surrender, a diplomat said Tuesday after United Nations and French forces bombarded military sites, backing Ivorian fighters who are trying to install the elected president.
The offensive by U.N. and French forces that began Monday included air attacks on the presidential residence and three strategic military garrisons, marking an unprecedented escalation in the international community's efforts to oust Gbagbo. He was declared the loser of elections in November but refused to cede power to winner Alassane Ouattara even as the world's largest cocoa producer teetered on the brink of all-out civil war.
Ivorian fighters loyal to Ouattara had succeeded in taking nearly the entire countryside in just three days last week, but they faltered once they reached Abidjan, country's largest city where the presidential palace and residence are located.
With the help of international forces, the fighters have pushed their way to the heart of the city to reach Gbagbo's home. Fighting continued Tuesday morning.
Ouattara's ambassador to France said Gbagbo is negotiating his surrender.
Ali Coulibaly did not provide any details in the interview Tuesday with France Info radio or say where he got the information.

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Holder: 9/11 suspects to face military tribunals

WASHINGTON – Yielding to political opposition, the Obama administration gave up Monday on trying avowed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged henchmen in civilian federal court in New York and will prosecute them instead before military commissions.
The families of those killed in the Sept. 11 attacks have waited almost a decade for justice, and "it must not be delayed any longer," Attorney General Eric Holder told a news conference at the Justice Department.
The chief prosecutor in the office of military commissions, Capt. John Murphy, said he would recommend a joint trial for the five.
In November 2009, Holder had announced the plan for a New York trial blocks from where the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks destroyed the World Trade Center. That idea was thwarted by widespread opposition from Republicans and even some Democrats, particularly in New York.
Congress passed legislation that prohibits bringing any detainees from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United States.
Monday, the attorney general called those congressional restrictions unwise and unwarranted and said a legislative body cannot make prosecutorial decisions.
Although President Barack Obama made a campaign pledge to close the U.S. military prison in Cuba, Holder indicated that isn't going to happen any time soon because of congressional restrictions.
"We must face a simple truth: those restrictions are unlikely to be repealed in the immediate future," Holder said.
Even though closing the Guantanamo jail remains the administration's formal goal, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama supported Holder's decision to move the 9/11 trial from a civilian court to military tribunals.
Most Republicans applauded the turnabout, but Holder said he is still convinced that his earlier decision was the right one. The Justice Department had been prepared to bring "a powerful case" in civilian court, he said. Penalties for terrorists in civilian trials have so far been harsher than those decreed by military commissions.

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Japan nuke plant spews more radiation into sea

TOKYO – Radiation in seawater at the shoreline off Japan's tsunami-ravaged nuclear power plant has measured several million times the legal limit over the past few days, though officials contended Tuesday that the contamination still does not pose an immediate danger.
Radiation has been pouring in to the Pacific from the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant since a 9.0-magnitude earthquake spawned a massive tsunami that inundated the complex. Over the weekend, workers there discovered a crack where highly contaminated water was spilling directly into the ocean.
Experts have said that radiation dissipates quickly in the vast Pacific, but they have also said that it's unclear what the long-term effects of large amounts of contamination will be.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Tuesday that samples taken from seawater near one of the reactors contained 7.5 million times the legal limit for radioactive iodine on April 2. Two days later, that figure dropped to 5 million.
TEPCO said in a statement that even the large amounts would have "no immediate impact" on the environment but added that it is working to stop the leak as soon as possible.
The readings were taken closer to the plant than before — apparently because new measuring points were added after the crack was discovered — and did not necessarily reflect a worsening of the contamination. Other measurements several hundred yards (meters) farther away from the plant have declined to levels about 1,000 times the legal limit.
Radiation measurements from Tokyo Electric Power Co. were called into question last week, and the nuclear safety agency ordered the utility to reanalyze its samples. As a result, some figures were held back and several days worth of measurements were released Tuesday.
Radioactivity is pouring into the ocean in part because workers at the plant have been forced to use a makeshift method of bringing down temperatures and pressure by pumping water into the reactors and allowing it to gush out wherever it can. It is a messy process, but it is preventing a full meltdown of the fuel rods that would release even more radioactivity into the environment.

Chinese become top Australian visitors

SYDNEY (AFP) – China became Australia's top inbound tourism market for the first time in February, data showed Tuesday, with Chinese New Year celebrations and international students driving a surge in arrivals.
Some 77,000 Chinese touched down in Australia in February, the statistics bureau said, beating New Zealand, Britain and the United States for the first time with a 30 percent jump compared with a year earlier.
The Tourism and Transport Forum (TTF) said there had been almost 30,000 extra Chinese visitors this January and February due to growing international student numbers and Chinese New Year festivities.
TTF chief John Lee said China had "incredible potential" for Australia, with a rising and increasingly wealthy middle class.
"To meet the needs of growing numbers of Chinese visitors, we must ensure that tourism operators are prepared, with cultural awareness, language skills, cuisine and activities tailored to their needs," said Lee.
Singapore and Malaysia also rallied strongly -- both up more than 10 percent -- while Japan, traditionally one of Australia's best markets, slipped to fifth place with a 12.5 percent drop to 33,500 visitors.

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UK PM arrives in Pakistan to urge 'fresh start'

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – Prime Minister David Cameron flew into Pakistan for talks on Tuesday, seeking a "fresh start" in relations with Islamabad, nine months after accusing it of turning a blind eye to terrorism.
In his first trip to the nuclear-armed Muslim country since taking office in May 2010, the premier hopes to soothe tensions caused by his remarks during a visit to India last July, according to a pre-released extract of his speech.
Cameron touched down at the Pakistan Air Force base of Chaklala in the garrison city of Rawalpindi at around 6:30 am (0130 GMT) ahead of a packed day of talks in the neighbouring capital Islamabad.
"Let's today make a fresh start in our relationship. It is time for a new step in relations between Britain and Pakistan and between Britons and Pakistanis," Cameron will tell an audience of university students.
"Let's make this the start of a new era in the relations between our countries, our governments, our peoples."
"Let's clear up the misunderstandings of the past, work through the tensions of the present and look together to the opportunities of the future."
During a trade visit to the Indian city of Bangalore in July last year, Cameron said Pakistan could not be allowed to "look both ways", promoting the export of terror while publicly working for stability in the region.
British officials said the comments were not directed at the Pakistan government, but Islamabad summoned Britain's representative for clarification.

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Libya says Gaddafi stays, wounded relate siege hell

TRIPOLI/SFAX, Tunisia (Reuters) – Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are staging a "massacre" in the besieged city of Misrata, evacuees said on Monday, as Libya said it was ready to discuss political reform, led by Gaddafi.
Libyan TV showed footage of Gaddafi saluting supporters outside his fortified compound in Tripoli. But some residents of the capital, angered by fuel shortages and long queues for basic goods caused by a popular revolt and Western sanctions and air strikes, began openly predicting his imminent downfall.
Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said Libya was ready for a "political solution" with world powers.
"We could have any political system, any changes: constitution, election, anything. But the leader has to lead this forward," he told reporters when asked about the content of negotiations with other countries.
With Libya in chaos, an official in neighboring Algeria told Reuters al Qaeda was exploiting the conflict to acquire weapons, including surface-to-air missiles.
The U.S. State Department said it had raised concerns with the Libyan rebels about the Islamist group obtaining arms in the east of the country, where they are battling Gaddafi's forces.
Evacuees from Misrata, the rebels' last major stronghold in western Libya, described the city as "hell". They said Gaddafi's troops were using tanks and snipers against residents, littering the streets with corpses and filling hospitals with the wounded.

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Yemen toll rises as U.S. seen pressing Saleh to go

SANAA (Reuters) – Police and armed men in civilian clothes opened fire on anti-government demonstrators in the Yemeni cities of Taiz and Hudaida on Monday, witnesses said, as a drive to oust President Ali Abdullah Saleh gathered pace.
The attempt to suppress mounting protests inspired by uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia came amid signs that the United States is seeking an end to Saleh's 32-year rule, long seen as a rampart against Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
In Taiz, south of the capital Sanaa, police shot at protesters trying to storm the provincial government building, killing at least 15 and wounding 30, hospital doctors said.
"The regime has surprised us with this extent of killing. I don't think the people will do anything other than come out with bare chests to drain the government of all its ammunition," parliamentarian Mohammed Muqbil al-Hamiri told Al Jazeera TV.
The television showed a row of men, apparent tear gas victims, lying motionless and being tended by medics on the carpeted floor of a makeshift hospital in Taiz.

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Outsider Martelly sweeps Haiti's presidential election

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Michel Martelly, a shaven-headed singer and political outsider, won Haiti's presidential election in a landslide victory that tapped into deep popular desire for change in the poor, earthquake-battered Caribbean state.
Preliminary results announced by the Provisional Electoral Council Monday gave the 50-year-old entertainer a clear win with nearly 68 percent of the vote, compared with just under 32 percent for his rival, former first lady Mirlande Manigat.
Celebrations erupted in the scruffy capital Port-au-Prince as cheering, jubilant Martelly supporters flooded the streets, singing, waving his portrait and setting off fireworks.
Martelly thanked voters in a brief statement on his Twitter account: "We'll work for all Haitians. Together we can do it."
Tense anticipation tinged with fears of violence had led up to the announcement of the results from the March 20 run-off, the first second-round presidential vote ever held in the politically volatile nation, one of the world's poorest.
"Sweet Micky" Martelly, an iconoclastic entertainer known for his sometimes provocative stage acts, had campaigned on a forceful promise to change the status quo, pledging to break with decades of past corruption and misrule and bring a better life to Haitians struggling to recover from a devastating 2010 earthquake.

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Libya says open to reforms, but Kadhafi must stay

TRIPOLI (AFP) – The Libyan government said Tuesday it was ready to negotiate reforms, but refused any talk of Moamer Kadhafi stepping down saying he was a unifying figure after ruling the nation for four decades.
"What kind of political system is implemented in the country? This is negotiable, we can talk about it," government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told journalists. "We can have anything, elections, referendums."
But Kadhafi's future was non-negotiable, he stressed, only hours after opposition rebels flatly rejected a reported peace deal that could see the embattled leader's son take charge of the north African nation.
Kadhafi was "the safety valve" for the unity of the country's tribes and people, Ibrahim said. "We think he is very important to lead any transition to a democratic and transparent model."
The comments came as a Kadhafi envoy held talks in Turkey and Malta amid US media reports that two of the leader's sons were offering to oversee a transition to democracy that would include his removal from power.
But Italy, Libya's former colonial master, dismissed the diplomatic ouvertures as not credible, as fierce fighting continued and rebel fighters launched a new attempt to recapture the oil refinery town of Brega.
The rebels, battling for the past seven weeks to oust Kadhafi, advanced to the outskirts of Brega only to be forced back by fierce artillery fire.

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Anonymous vows payback for case against PS3 hacker

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – Internet vigilante group Anonymous has vowed retribution against Sony for taking legal action against hackers that cracked PlayStation 3 (PS3) defenses to change console operating software.
A message signed by Anonymous at website anonnews.org on Monday announced an "Operation Payback" campaign aimed at the Japanese consumer electronics titan because of its cases against George "GeoHot" Hotz and Alexander Egorenkov.
"Your recent legal actions against fellow internet citizens, GeoHot and Graf_Chokolo (Egorenkov) have been deemed an unforgivable offense against free speech and Internet freedom," the message read.
Anonymous argued that people who bought PS3 consoles have the right to do what they wish with them, including modify them in whatever manner they wish.
The hacker group threatened to retaliate against Sony by attacking the company's websites.
Sony went to court early this year to stop hackers that figured out how to "jailbreak" PS3 consoles to operate on software other than that originally installed by the firm.
A judge granted Sony a restraining order against Hotz, a 23-year-old New Jersey resident, and opposing sides are wrangling over the company's request to have the case heard in a federal district court in California.

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Senate report to reveal mortgage crisis details: WSJ

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The Senate will soon issue findings of a probe of the US mortgage meltdown that fueled the global financial crisis, with Goldman Sachs likely to face fresh embarrassment over its role, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
The Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, whose high-profile inquiry commission subpoenaed Goldman's and other executives last year, is due to release its report on the subprime implosion of 2007 and 2008.
The paper, citing people familiar with the matter, said the report was expected to release emails from securities firms that developed or sold subprime mortgages and financial vehicles including collaterized debt obligations (CDO).
CDOs were used to help Wall Street firms bet against the housing market. When the housing bubble burst, several of the top CDOs were downgraded to "junk" status, and their values plunged.
Goldman, the Journal reported, created CDOs in 2006 and 2007 to shield its exposure to the US housing market, and has been accused of making large bets against the market while selling bullish positions to group that were not expecting the market to fall.
People familiar with the matter said Goldman and Deutsche Bank -- both of which have been criticized for misleading investors in the housing market -- were expected to draw particular scrutiny in the report, the Journal said.

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Toyota: earnings hit but priority is Japan recovery

TOYOTA CITY, Japan (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) President Akio Toyoda said on Friday that the devastating earthquake and tsunami in northeast Japan would hurt the company's earnings, but said that was not on his list of priorities.
"We're not thinking about numbers right now," Toyoda said the company's headquarters in Toyota City, adding he could not estimate the scope of the impact.
"The priority now is the safety of the victims of the disaster, and to try and bring back normal operations as quickly as possible to restore hope," he told reporters after addressing new hires at a ceremony to mark their first day of work.
Deutsche Securities this week slashed its forecast for Toyota' operating profit by 84 percent to $1.7 billion for the current business year due to production outages.
Toyoda repeated the company's stance that it is uncertain when it can resume full production after the March 11 disaster disrupted its supply chain.
The world's biggest automaker has stopped producing vehicles at all but two of the 18 group factories that build Toyota and Lexus cars in Japan. At those two factories it is only assembling a limited number of three hybrid models at a reduced rate.
"This time, all of eastern Japan is affected," Toyoda said. "Rather than think about one automaker's recovery, we want to think about how we can help to restore the lifeline of infrastructure to this region."
Commencing the new hires' ceremony with a moment of silence in memory of the victims of the disaster, Toyoda spent the first few minutes speaking of the need for Toyota to help restore the damaged communities in the north and contribute to the nation's recovery.
Toyoda, who visited the damaged areas earlier this week, told reporters that Toyota would remain committed to the northeast region, Tohoku, which it started to build up as its third production base in Japan several years ago.

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Quake-hit Japan withdraw from Copa America

ASUNCION (AFP) – Asian champions Japan on Monday withdrew from the Copa America after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) spokesman Nestor Benitez said.
Japan Football Association president Junji Ogura had earlier travelled to CONMEBOL's Paraguayan headquarters to update the confederation on the situation with the quake and tsunami having brought to a halt action in the domestic J-League, creating a fixture backlog now set to be resolved in July.
"Our priority is to save lives and rebuild our nation. We regret we cannot participate at the Copa America," said Ogura, who was due later to go on to Argentina to convey Japan's decision likewise to the Argentinian Federation, Argentina being the host nation of this year's Copa from July 1 to 24.
Amid unconfirmed media reports that world champions Spain might be invited to step into the breach - Canada and Costa Rica were other possibilities also mentioned - Ogura told CONMEBOL head Nicolas Leoz that Japanese football was "facing an unprecedented crisis" after a catastophe which has left the country reeling.
He added that the Japanese Football Federation had intended to suspend the J-League during the Copa America, but "now we have to use this period to finish our domestic championship as the Asian qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup and the 2012 London Olympics are approaching."
Twelve teams had been due to take part in the continental showpiece with Mexico joining the Japanese as guests.

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Most still think US nuke plants safe: poll

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A majority of Americans is concerned that the United States could be hit by a nuclear disaster like the one unfolding in Japan, but many still think US nuclear power plants are safe, a poll showed Monday.
Conducted two weeks after the massive quake and tsunami unleashed a nuclear crisis in Japan, the Gallup poll found that seven in 10 respondents were more worried than they were that something similar might happen in the United States.
But 58 percent of the 1,027 poll respondents said they still think nuclear power plants in the United States -- which includes 23 Mark I reactors identical to those at Japan's crippled Fukushiuma nuclear plant -- are safe.
Gallup analyst Frank Newport said the poll showed that while Americans are "concerned about the dangers of a nuclear crisis in this country... support for nuclear power may be more stable than some might think."
Nuclear power is a key element of the White House strategy for weaning the United States off fossil fuels and moving towards "clean" energy.
Since the disaster in Japan, however, President Barack Obama has ordered a comprehensive review of US nuclear safety.

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Swiss court orders Google to blur images on Street View

ZURICH (AFP) – A Swiss court said Monday that it has ordered Internet giant Google to make all images of individuals and vehicle plates unrecognisable on its Street View picture map, so as to comply with privacy rules.
"The defendants must make all faces and number plates unrecognisable before the pictures can be published on the Internet," said the Federal Administrative Court in a statement.
The court "concludes that the interest of the public in having a visual record and the commercial interests of the defendants in no way outweigh the rights over one's own image, as the pictures can be made more or totally unrecognisable, and this is a proportionate measure."
Street View allows users to take a ground level panoramic view of some locations on Google Maps, based on still photographs taken by specially equipped vehicles.
Switzerland's data protection commissioner Hanspeter Thuer had complained on several occasions that the service, introduced for Switzerland in 2009, flouted privacy rules.

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Argentina: Terror investigations will continue

JERUSALEM – Argentina's foreign minister has denied a reported offer by his government to stop investigating two deadly bombings against Jewish centers in the 1990s in return for improved trade ties with Iran.
Last month, the Argentinian newspaper Perfil cited an Iranian diplomatic memo detailing a proposal from Argentina to drop the investigations.
In 1994, a bomb killed 85 and wounded 200 at a Jewish center in Buenos Aires. In 1992, a bomb destroyed Israel's embassy there, killing 29.
Argentine officials have long maintained that the attacks were orchestrated by Iran.
In Jerusalem on Monday, Foreign Minister Hector Timmerman denied that, saying Argentina already trades freely with Iran, so "what am I going to get by forgetting the investigation? What kind of commercial benefit?"

New furor over France's Muslims as veil ban looms

TRAPPES, France – Karima has a plan. If police stop her for wearing a veil over her face, she'll remove it — then put it back on once they're out of sight. If that doesn't work, she'll stay home, or even leave France.
For Muslim women who cover their faces with veils, it is the moment for making plans. Starting April 11, a new law banning garments that hide the face takes effect. Women who disobey it risk a fine, special classes and a police record.
The law comes as Muslims face what some see as a new jab at their religion: President Nicolas Sarkozy's party is holding a debate Tuesday on the place of Islamic practices, and Islam itself, in strictly secular but traditionally Catholic France.
The increasing focus on France's Muslims — who number at least 5 million, the largest such population in western Europe — comes with presidential elections a year away and support for a far-right party growing. A recent palpable rise in tensions has also been boosted by fears of a mass migration of Muslims due to disarray in the Arab world.
Interior Minister Claude Gueant put it bluntly Monday.
"This growth in the number of (Muslims) and a certain number of behaviors cause problems," he said in remarks carried on French radio. "There is no reason why the nation should accord to one particular religion more rights than religions that were formerly anchored in our country."
France's challenge is evident in the Paris suburb of Trappes. It has a large Muslim population and is one of the few towns in France where veiled women are occasionally seen on the streets.

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Afghan policeman kills NATO soldiers, protests continue

MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) – A "rogue" Afghan border policeman shot dead two foreign soldiers on a training mission in northern province Faryab on Monday, and hundreds took to the streets for a fourth day of protests against the burning of a Koran by a fundamentalist U.S. pastor.
The shooting was the latest in a string of attacks by Afghan security forces against their NATO mentors, but senior border police said the 23 year-old might have been driven by anger over the desecration of Islam's holy book rather than support for militants' fight against foreign troops.
"It is not clear whether he was inspired by the Taliban, or by the burning of the holy Koran," General Habibullah Sayedkhil, commander of the border police in the north, told Reuters.
The man, who fled after the shooting, had over two years experience in the force and was a disciplined policeman who had not shown signs of extremism, said Najmuddin Sardar, deputy commander of the border police where he served.
Originally from Faryab province, his family had moved to the large northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, Sardar added.
A Taliban spokesman contacted by Reuters declined to say whether the group was responsible for the attack, referring questions to a second representative who could not be reached.
Across other parts of Afghanistan protests continued against the actions of radical fundamentalist Christian preacher Terry Jones, who supervised the burning of a Koran in front of about 50 people at a church in Florida on March 20.
Up to a thousand angry residents in eastern city Jalalabad blocked the main highway to Kabul, set alight effigies of Jones and shouted slogans like "death to America," said Ahmad Zia Abdulzai, spokesman for the provincial governor.

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Japan seeks Russian help to end nuclear crisis

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan has asked nuclear superpower Russia to send a special radiation treatment ship used to decommission nuclear submarines to help in its fight to contain the world's worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl, Japanese media said late on Monday.
Japanese engineers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant have been forced to release radioactive waste water into the sea. At the same time they are resorting to desperate measures to contain the damage, such as using bath salts to try to locate the source of leaks at the crippled complex 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.
Three weeks after a 9.0 magnitude earthquake and massive tsunami hit northeast Japan, sending some of Daiichi's reactors into partial meltdown, engineers are no closer to regaining control of the power plant or stopping radioactive leaks.
The quake and tsunami left nearly 28,000 people dead or missing and Japan's northeast coast a wreck.
The world's costliest natural disaster has caused power blackouts and cuts to supply chains and business hours. It is threatening economic growth and the yen, while a recent opinion poll suggested voters want embattled Prime Minister Naoto Kan to form a coalition in order to steer Japan through its worst crisis since World War Two.
Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) was forced on Monday to release low-level radioactive seawater that had been used to cool overheated fuel rods after it ran out of storage capacity for more highly contaminated water.

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AP source: 9/11 suspects to face military tribunal

WASHINGTON – Professed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators are being referred to the system of military commissions for trial, a federal law enforcement official said Monday.
The decision by the Obama administration is an about-face from earlier plans to have the five go on trial in civilian federal court in New York, which created intense political opposition among Republicans and even some Democrats, particularly in New York.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity about the switch, which Attorney General Eric Holder was expected to announce at an afternoon news conference.
Republican critics have roundly assailed the administration, first for the decision in late 2009 to try the men in New York City, then for a long delay in making a decision on whether to have them face military commission justice instead.
The four alleged co-conspirators are Waleed bin Attash, a Yemeni who allegedly ran an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan; Ramzi Binalshibh, a Yemeni who allegedly helped find flight schools for the hijackers; Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, accused of helping nine of the hijackers travel to the United States and sent them $120,000 for expenses and flight training, and Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, a Saudi accused of helping the hijackers with money, Western clothing, traveler's checks and credit cards.

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