Citi, Wells Fargo seek to repay TARP loans

Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. are seeking to repay billions in federal bailout aid but so far haven't received permission from the government, people familiar with the talks told The Associated Press.

The main sticking point is how much capital the banks would need to raise to repay taxpayers the money they received at the height of the financial crisis, according to two people with direct knowledge of the talks who requested anonymity because the discussions are ongoing.

Citigroup received $45 billion in bailout money and is now 34 percent owned by the government. Wells Fargo received $25 billion.

Citigroup and Wells Fargo declined to comment. Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams would not discuss the negotiations but said banks "are pursuing discussions to understand what needs to be done to move ahead with repayment."

The efforts of Citigroup and Wells Fargo to repay the money come after Bank of America last week announced it would return $45 billion it had received, adding to the $71 billion already repaid by about 50 other financial companies. Bank of America is using available cash and $19 billion raised from a securities offering to repay its funds.

Bernanke: Too soon to tell if recovery will last

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned Monday that it's too soon to know whether the economic recovery will last and again pledged to hold rates at record-low levels for an "extended period."

The Fed chief's speech to the Economic Club of Washington made clear he thinks the economy will struggle even as it recovers from the recession. He said the economy confronts "formidable headwinds" — including a weak job market, cautious consumers and tight credit.

Those forces "seem likely to keep the pace of expansion moderate," he said.

Asked about prospects for such a "double dip" recession, Bernanke said he could not guarantee it won't happen. He stuck with his forecast for a moderate recovery but said a "vigorous snapback" is less likely.

Bernanke said he expects "modest" economic growth next year. That should help push down the nation's unemployment rate — now at 10 percent — "but at a pace slower than we would like," he acknowledged.

Nokia says N900 sales delayed to November

Top cellphone maker Nokia said on Friday its flagship N900 phone will start selling in November, a month later than originally scheduled, as the company awaits feedback from developers.

The N900 – seen as key for Nokia’s future in the high-end of the market – is the company’s first phone running on Linux software. It will come with a touch screen and a slide-out keyboard, and will retail for around 500 euros ($750), excluding subsidies and taxes.

Israel Drones to be Used by Germany in Afghan

srael Aerospace Industries said Wednesday that the supply unmanned spy planes to Germany that will see action in Afghanistan next year.

The Heron drones will be deployed by the German air force in northern Afghanistan in early 2010 for reconnaissance missions, the company said in a statement.

It would reveal how many aircraft were sold or how, but said it was a multimillion-dollar agreement.

Germany, the Office of Defense Technology and Procurement confirmed that it had signed an agreement to acquire the aircraft.

Israeli drones have been previously provided to the coalition forces to gather intelligence on Islamic militants in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Iran Rejects Deal to Ship Out Uranium

Iran told the nuclear watchdog of the United Nations on Thursday it would not accept a plan of their negotiators agreed last week to send his country’s uranium reserves, according to diplomats in Europe and U.S. authorities reported the response Iran.

The apparent rejection of the offer could relax President Obama’s effort to buy time to resolve the nuclear crisis.

The U.S. and European officials said that Iranian officials had refused to go along with the central feature of the draft agreement reached on 21 October in Vienna: a provision that would have required the country to send about three quarters of its reserves Current knowledge of low-enriched uranium to Russia for processing and returned for use in a reactor in Tehran used to make medical isotopes.

Tamil Refugees in Sri Lanka to be Resettled by Jan 2010

Tamil Refugees in Sri Lanka to be Resettled by Jan 2010, Sri Lankan government hopes to relocate the majority of Tamils displaced by war in January next year, a minister has said amid growing U.S. pressure and other Western nations to send to the Tamils.

“The government has always maintained that IDPs should be designed and delivered in a structured and well managed manner,” Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe.

“We hope to reach our goal of resettling a majority of IDPs on 31 January next year,” he said.

Tamil Today, tens of thousands displaced by war are languishing in refugee camps special and Washington, the EU and human rights groups have called for their early repatriation back home.

“Having overcome the threat of terrorism and achieve military dominance in a ruthless organization that has ruined the life of the nation for nearly three decades, we have a unique opportunity to forge a new Sri Lanka where the human dignity of all citizens is fully safeguarded” , who said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Minister of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Rishad Bathiudeen said the total number of displaced persons in northern numbering 2.85 LAKH, nearly a Lakh people have been sent back home.

Transsexual Miss World contest aims to boost awareness

Shimmering in a tight gold evening gown, a Japanese television host wept and called for greater tolerance as she was crowned the world’s most beautiful transsexual at a pageant in Thailand.

Haruna Ai, 37, beat off stiff competition from 20 other glamorous contestants at the Miss International Queen 2009 who came to the Thai beach resort of Pattaya from as far as Brazil and the United States. The contest, which was called off last year because of political turmoil in Thailand, is taken just as seriously as more traditional pageants in a nation famed for its sexual tolerance. Millions of Thais watched live on television late Saturday as the statuesque beauties — all of them born men — strutted their stuff at Tiffany’s Show Pattaya, billed as the world’s largest transsexual cabaret. Japan’s Ai won 10,000 dollars, a year’s stay at a Pattaya hotel and a 500-dollar surgical voucher after judges picked her over runners-up Karngsadal Wongdusadeekul from Thailand and Daniela Marques of Brazil. While the audience may have whooped and cheered raucously, contestants and organisers said there was a serious side to the pageant — boosting public awareness of transgender issues.

Hillary Clinton offers U.S. aid to help boost Muslim ties

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton offered aid on Tuesday to boost ties with the Muslim world and urged Israel, the Palestinians and Arab countries to move beyond recrimination in the search for peace.

“We are determined and persistent in the pursuit of that goal,” she said in a speech at a development forum in Morocco attended by Arab ministers. After a weekend of heated words about the perceived U.S. tilt towards Israel on the issue of settlements on the occupied West Bank, Clinton said it was important for all sides to “be careful about what we say” and avoid angry rhetoric.

Sri Lanka Slams LTTE Proxies Attempt to Hold Elections

Sri Lanka Slams LTTE Proxies Attempt to Hold Elections, Sri Lanka has reacted strongly to attempts by the LTTE authorities to hold elections to “government crime” among the Tamil diaspora, as called on foreign governments not to allow the separatist activities in its territory.

The elections for the government of the “crime” of Tamil Eelam will be held in April 2010 between the diaspora community “Advisory Committee for Crime Interim Government of Tamil Eelam, had said on Nov. 5.

“If they try to perpetuate the terrorism of the LTTE in the appearance of the various movements over others, this will also be offset by us,” said Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said.

“No country should allow any host or group meetings that serve a separatist cause in Sri Lanka,” the Minister told the state run Sunday Observer.

“The LTTE is banned in countries like the U.S., where Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran which is said to have taken over the activities of the diaspora to the LTTE, is based”, the newspaper said.

Rudrakumaran, which is called the “coordinator of the group,” said the survey was conducted among the diaspora community to elect members for what they called the “Provisional Government of the Crime of Tamil Eelam (PTGTE).

International terrorism expert and professor at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, Rohan Gunaratna says the LTTE international wing factions Rudrakumaran heading political affairs of his party.

Animals need to be closely watched for flu

New influenza virus detected in turkeys, minks and household pets

Some pigs, turkeys and household pets have become infected with the H1N1 flu, but the pandemic virus does not yet appear to be spreading quickly among animals, the World Health Organization said on Friday.

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said it was not clear how the isolated animals had contracted the flu virus that is spreading quickly among humans in the northern hemisphere, particularly in Eastern Europe.

A novel flu virus — looking like a mix of human and swine genes — has been detected in some mink farms in Denmark, and seems to have infected only the animals and not the farm workers in proximity to them.

Obama, Netanyahu to meet Monday, White House says

President Obama will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday evening after a rough stretch in U.S. efforts to settle the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The White House announced the meeting on Sunday.

Netanyahu has resisted Obama administration calls to halt Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the heart of a future Palestinian state, though he announced his government would limit construction of new settlements.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced last week that he would not run in the next Palestinian elections, set for January, amid open frustration among Palestinian leaders with Washington.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton fueled Palestinian anger last week when she described Netanyahu's decision to restrict -- but not halt -- West Bank settlements as "unprecedented."

Clinton later clarified that the United States "does not accept the legitimacy" of building Israeli housing on occupied Palestinian land. But she was unable to persuade Abbas to resume talks with Israel.

Netanyahu is scheduled to address a conference of Jewish groups in Washington on Monday, but no meetings had been scheduled between the U.S. and Israeli leaders as of late last week, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday.

Obama, Netanyahu to meet Monday, White House says

President Obama will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Monday evening after a rough stretch in U.S. efforts to settle the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The White House announced the meeting on Sunday.

Netanyahu has resisted Obama administration calls to halt Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the heart of a future Palestinian state, though he announced his government would limit construction of new settlements.

Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced last week that he would not run in the next Palestinian elections, set for January, amid open frustration among Palestinian leaders with Washington.

NASA to launch moon-crash rocket

BEIJING, Oct. 9 -- The American space agency says it's to crash a rocket into a crater near the moon's south pole - in the hope of finding water.

NASA scientists say they want to "kick up the dust" of the lunar surface in order to analyze material blasted into the atmosphere.

An observation satellite will follow the two ton rocket down to the moon's surface. It will sample the debris and do a quick analysis of the material.

Scientists hope to find out whether there's enough water or other minerals on the moon to sustain a small party of explorers.