President Bush’s chief negotiator on an economic aid deal said Sunday the Senate should quickly get behind a plan or risk drawing the resentment of a frustrated public. The president and House leaders have agreed on a proposal to provide tax rebate checks to 117 million families and give businesses $50 billion in incentives to invest in new plants and equipment. The goal is to help head off a recession and boost consumer confidence. “I don’t think the Senate is going to want to derail that deal,” Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said. “And I don’t think the American people are going to have much patience for anything that would slow down the process.”
French bank Societe Generale said Sunday that a trader who evaded all its controls to bet $73.5 billion – more than the French bank’s market worth – on European markets hacked computers and “combined several fraudulent methods” to cover his tracks, causing billions in losses. The bank said the trader, Jerome Kerviel, did not appear to have profited personally from the transactions and seemingly worked alone – a version reiterated Sunday by Jean-Pierre Mustier, chief executive of the bank’s corporate and investment banking arm. But, in a conference call with reporters, Mustier added, “I cannot guarantee to you 100 percent that there was no complicity.”\nFormer Indonesian President Suharto, a Cold War ally of the United States whose brutal military regime killed hundreds of thousands of left-wing political opponents, died Sunday. He was 86. Although he oversaw some of the worst bloodshed of the 20th century, Suharto is credited with developing the economy and will be buried with the highest state honors Monday at the family mausoleum. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and others from the country’s political elite prayed over his body. Yudhoyono declared a week of national mourning and called on Indonesians “to pay their last respects to one of Indonesia’s best sons.”
Protesters angry about electricity rationing clashed with Lebanese troops Sunday and seven people were killed, hospital and security officials said. Hundreds of Shiite Muslims opposed to the government rioted and burned tires, blocking some major roads in the Lebanese capital and its southern suburbs. It was the worst rioting in the Beirut area in a year, since clashes between Sunnis and Shiites at a university cafeteria in January 2007 left four people dead.
A large U.S. spy satellite has lost power and could hit the Earth in late February or early March, government officials said Saturday. The satellite, which no longer can be controlled, could contain hazardous materials, and it is unknown where on the planet it might come down, they said. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information is classified as secret. It was not clear how long ago the satellite lost power, or under what circumstances.
