1918 News Server

From Reuters; LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Jermaine Jackson on Thursday said that when he first saw his brother, pop star Michael Jackson, dead in a hospital room he kissed him on the forehead and wished that he had died instead.

"I don't know how people are going to take this, but I wish it was me," Jermaine said on the "Today" morning talk show on NBC television.

"I've always felt that I was his backbone; someone to -- someone to be there for him," said Jermaine, who with Michael and three other brothers formed the Motown band the Jackson 5 and who is four years older than Michael. [read more]

From Reuters; NEW YORK (Reuters) - General Motors Corp would be forced into liquidation if its proposed asset sale were not approved despite urging from dissident bondholders that another course be pursued, the company's lead bankruptcy lawyer said on Thursday.

The iconic U.S. automaker was in the third and final day of its sale hearing in U.S. bankruptcy court in Manhattan, asking Judge Robert Gerber for approval to sell its best assets to a "New GM" funded by the U.S. government.

A group of dissenting bondholders, however, called the sale the first attempt at "Chapter 11 nationalization" and said it should be blocked because the government was trying to circumvent the law. [read more]

From Associated Press; COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina's first lady says Gov. Mark Sanford's actions are "inexcusable" but she is willing to forgive him.

Jenny Sanford on Thursday made her first public statement since her husband revealed in Associated Press interviews that he believes his Argentine mistress is his soul mate but he is trying to fall back in love with his wife.

In her statement, Jenny Sanford says it is up to her husband to save their 20-year marriage. She says she is still angry with him and he will deal with the consequences of his actions for a long while.

The first lady says Mark Sanford must regain the trust of his family and the people of South Carolina, but she makes no guarantee he will be able to do it.

The governor plans to leave Friday morning to spend the holiday weekend with his wife and four sons in Florida.

From Associated Press; NEW YORK – Federal marshals took possession of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff's $7 million Manhattan penthouse on Thursday in a move that forced his wife to move elsewhere. Proceeds from a sale of the property and its contents could be used to help reimburse those who lost billions of dollars investing with Madoff before he confessed to running a Ponzi scheme.

U.S. Marshal Joseph Guccione said the marshals arrived at the property at noon with a court order permitting them to take custody of the apartment and to make anyone living there move out.

Guccione said Madoff's wife Ruth had been advised in advance of the marshals' plans and was leaving the residence and surrendering all personal property. [read more]

From NY Times; Lawyers for a former Guantánamo detainee who was ordered by President Obama to face trial in a civilian court have told a judge in Manhattan that they want to visit the “black sites” run overseas by the Central Intelligence Agency where their client was held for about two years after he was captured in 2004.

The defendant, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, has been charged with participating in a conspiracy that included the 1998 bombings of the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, attacks organized by Al Qaeda that killed 224 people and injured thousands.

Mr. Ghailani, a Tanzanian who is believed to be in his mid-30s, became a fugitive after the attacks, and later worked as a bodyguard and cook for Osama bin Laden, military authorities have said. [read more]

From NY Times; KABUL, Afghanistan — Almost 4,000 United States Marines, backed by helicopter gunships, pushed into the volatile Helmand River valley in southwestern Afghanistan Thursday morning to try to take back the region from Taliban fighters whose control of poppy harvests and opium smuggling in Helmand provides major financing for the Afghan insurgency.

Pakistan, meanwhile, said it deployed troops to a stretch of its largely porous and mountainous 1,600-mile border with Afghanistan to seal off a potential escape route for insurgents fleeing the American advance, The Associated Press reported. Both Pakistani and American officials had expressed worries that the American offensive could push militants into Pakistan which is already confronting Taliban insurgents in several areas. [read more]

From http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5610SA20090702; WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission lawyer warned about irregularities at Bernard Madoff's financial management firm as far back as 2004, The Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing agency documents and sources familiar with the investigation.

Genevievette Walker-Lightfoot, a lawyer in the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, sent emails to a supervisor saying information provided by Madoff during her review didn't add up and suggesting a set of questions to ask his firm, the report said.

Several of the questions directly challenged Madoff activities that turned out to be elements of his massive fraud, the newspaper said. [read more]

From Reuters; WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy likely shed a further 355,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate hit a 26-year high, but for a nation mired in its deepest recession since at least World War Two that may be good news.

The U.S. Labor Department's report due on Thursday is expected to depict an economy still wallowing in recession but confirm that the pace of job loss has slowed, which would suggest the 18-month-old recession is easing its grip.

"Hopefully we now see the light at the end of the tunnel, and of course when you see the light at the end of the tunnel you still have a long way to get there," said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wachovia in Charlotte, North Carolina. [read more]

From Reuters; NEW YORK, July 2 (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures fell on Thursday as investors braced for all-important monthly jobs data for insight into the state of the economy.

* U.S. non-farm payrolls data, the most closely watched U.S. economic indicator, is expected to show a loss of 363,000 jobs in June, according to a Reuters poll of economists, compared with 345,000 job losses in May. The unemployment rate is forecast to edge up to 9.6 percent from 9.4 percent in May.

* Thursday is the last trading day of the week as U.S. markets shut down for the Independence Day holiday. Analysts say lower holiday volumes could lead to increased volatility. [read more]

From Associated Press ; SIMI VALLEY, Calif. – A gunman who opened fire inside a busy dental office in an apparent domestic dispute — killing one woman and critically wounding three others — was being interrogated, police said.

The suspect — wearing shorts, no shirt and with a shaved head — barricaded himself inside the Family Dental Care office after the Wednesday morning shooting, police Sgt. Karl Becker said. He surrendered after a hostage negotiator coaxed him out about an hour after the shootings.

Detectives did not release a motive or identify the suspect. But the Ventura County Star newspaper reported that a dental office worker said the gunman was married to the slain victim.

A fourth person was grazed by a bullet in the attacks.

In the minutes following, police evacuated more than a dozen people from the dentist's office and a chiropractic office next door, including two children who witnessed the shooting.

Carley Hodgson, an X-ray technician intern working next door, said she heard three shots in quick succession and huddled in the back room with six co-workers behind a locked door for about 30 minutes. [read more]

From Associated Press ; SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea test-fired two short-range missiles Thursday, South Korea's Defense Ministry said, a move that aggravates the already high tensions following Pyongyang's recent nuclear test and U.N. sanctions imposed as punishment.

The missiles were fired from the eastern coastal city of Wonsan on Thursday afternoon, a ministry official said on condition of anonymity citing department policy. He did not say what types of missiles were launched, but the Yonhap news agency said they were ground-to-ship missiles.

North Korea had earlier called for a no-sail zone in waters off its east coast through July 10 for military drills. That designation was viewed as a prelude to such missile tests. [read more]

From Associated Press; NEW YORK – Newspaper publisher Gannett Co. plans to cut 1,400 jobs in the next few weeks, about 3 percent of the work force, as it faces a prolonged slump in advertising revenue.

Bob Dickey, head of the company's U.S. community publishing division, informed staff of the layoffs in a letter Wednesday. He told employees that "there have been some promising signs of a recovery, but the reality is the improvements are not broad-based and the economy continues to be fragile."

The majority of layoffs will come by July 9, he said.

The move follows a 10 percent cut at Gannett in 2008, which left the company with about 41,500 employees. [read more]

From Associated Press; NEW YORK (AP) -- The Food and Drug Administration will require two smoking-cessation drugs, Chantix and Zyban, to carry the agency's strongest safety warning over side effects including depression and suicidal thoughts.
The new requirement, called a "Black Box" warning, is based on reports of people experiencing unusual changes in behavior, becoming depressed, or having suicidal thoughts while taking the drugs.

The antidepressant Wellbutrin, which has the same active ingredient as GlaxoSmithKline PLC's Zyban, already carries such a warning.

The FDA is also requiring an additional study on Chantix and Zyban to determine the extent of the side effects. Pfizer Inc., which makes Chantix, said it is still discussing the potential study design with the FDA. The study could include patients with and without psychiatric conditions to determine the true incidence rate of psychological side effects, Pfizer officials said. [read more]

From Associated Press; DETROIT (AP) -- U.S. car and truck sales showed signs of stabilizing in June after a year of sharp declines, but every major automaker except Honda Motor Co. reported lower sales than in May.
Still, year-over-year declines last month slowed for four of the six major carmakers, with Ford Motor Co. reporting the smallest drop in a year at 10.7 percent when compared with June of 2008.

Even Chrysler, which emerged from bankruptcy protection early in June, saw its year-over-year sales decline shrink, and analysts say that's among the signs that an auto industry slump that began with $4 per gallon gasoline last summer could be leveling off.

"It is unlikely things will get any worse," said Jesse Toprak, executive director of industry analysis for the auto Web site Edmunds.com. [read more]

From NY Times; LOS ANGELES — A 2002 will by Michael Jackson, which was filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, could lead to conflict over the singer’s assets between Mr. Jackson’s family and the executors he named in the will.
The five-page document, dated July 7, 2002, gives the entire estate to a family trust, and names his mother, Katherine Jackson, as legal guardian of his three children and beneficiary of the trust. If she were incapacitated or died, then the singer Diana Ross would get custody of Mr. Jackson’s children. Mr. Jackson, who died last Thursday at age 50, left three children: his oldest son, Michael Joseph Jr., known as Prince Michael, 12; a daughter, Paris Michael Katherine, 11; and another son, Prince Michael II, 7. [read more]

From Associated Press; ANNANDALE, Va. – President Barack Obama hugged a cancer patient Wednesday at an emotional forum before a supportive audience and vowed to bring greater efficiency and accessibility to the nation's health care system.

Debby Smith, 53, of Appalachia, Va., a volunteer for Obama's political operation, fought tears as she told the president of her kidney cancer and her inability to obtain health insurance or hold a job. Obama embraced her and called her "exhibit A" in what he said was an unsustainable system that is too expensive and complex for millions of Americans.

"We are going to try to find ways to help you immediately," he told Smith as hundreds looked on at a community college forum — and countless others watched on television. But the nation's long-term needs require a greater emphasis on preventive care and "cost-effective care," he said. [read more]

From Reuters ; The Web is full of user-generated video, but for Sanjay Raman’s tastes most of it is too bland and poorly produced to actually watch.

That’s why Raman launched Howcast (http://www.howcast.com) – a high-quality, how-to video-sharing website - last year with former Google colleagues Jason Liebman and Dan Blackman.

While at Google the three Howcast co-founders noticed how popular do-it-yourself content was, but how little of it was in video format. [read more]

From Reuters; NEW YORK (Reuters) - A total of $231 million has so far been committed to pay defrauded investors of imprisoned financier Bernard Madoff, the group compensating his former customers said on Wednesday.

The brokerage industry-funded Securities Investor Protection Corporation, established by Congress in 1970 to help swindled investors, said in a statement that the amount exceeded its previous 11 largest liquidations. [read more]

From Reuters; Having sex every day improves the quality of men's sperm and is recommended for couples trying to conceive, according to new research.

Until now doctors have debated whether or not men should refrain from sex for a few days before attempting to conceive with their partner to improve the chance of pregnancy.

But a new study by Dr David Greening of Sydney IVF, an Australian center for infertility and in vitro fertilization (IVF) treatment, suggests abstinence is not the right approach. [read more]

From 1918 News Server; If you've missed the one of a kind news stories from 1918 News, no need to sulk any longer.

I finally found someone who is willing to take over the daily editorial duties and keep the news flowing.

Welcome Jake, and welcome back everyone else.