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понедельник, 12 марта 2012 г.

US dollar higher against the Japanese yen midafternoon

The U.S. dollar was trading at 111.01 yen at 2:50 p.m. (0550 GMT) Thursday, up from 110.55 yen late Wednesday in New York.

San Francisco approves giant redevelopment project

After more than 20 years of environmental cleanup efforts, San Francisco's largest swath of undeveloped land will someday be home to thousands of families, as well as parks, businesses and perhaps even a new football stadium.

The county Board of Supervisors last week overwhelmingly approved a project to turn the abandoned Hunters Point Naval Shipyard into a bustling 700-acre (283-hectare) residential and commercial center on the southeast shoreline of San Francisco Bay. The Miami-based developer, Lennar Corp., is in the process of negotiating with lenders to finance the initial home construction, which could begin later this year.

Supporters say the development, which will stretch west to Candlestick Park, will breath new life into the rough-edged Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood by bringing jobs, affordable housing and recreation options into an area plagued by gang crime and poverty.

"This is a part of San Francisco desperately in need of revitalization," said Board of Supervisors President David Chiu. "This area is the last remaining plot of land to help develop the future of what San Francisco is going to be."

But critics have raised concerns that portions of the federal Superfund site are a long way from being environmentally sound. They also fear the disappearance of the city's last predominantly black community, citing the displacement of poor black residents during the earlier redevelopment of San Francisco's Western Addition neighborhood.

"Part of San Francisco died yesterday," Supervisor Chris Daly, the board's lone dissenting vote on the current proposal, said Wednesday. "The city is essentially green-lighting gentrification."

Daly had lobbied unsuccessfully for an amendment requiring 50 percent of the new homes to be set aside as affordable housing. The current plan reserves 32 percent of the units for low and moderate income residents.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which oversees the cleanup of the shipyard along with the Navy, is approaching the development plan with cautious optimism, stressing that there is still work to be done.

"It's getting really close to where we feel the site can be safely transferred and development can occur, and we're trying to clean things up as fast as we can," said John Chesnutt, a manager in the EPA's Superfund Division.

The 936-acre (378-hectare) base, which was closed in 1974, is one of 20 former military sites in California whose high levels of pollution have earned them a spot on the EPA's National Priorities List.

The shipyard received its Superfund designation in 1989, and the Navy has since spent $700 million addressing hazards such as toxic metals and chemicals and low-level radiation contamination. Only one 88-acre (35-hectare) parcel of land has been fully transferred to the city, while the rest is still undergoing decontamination work.

Now that the Board of Supervisors has acted, the EPA will enter into a formal legal agreement with Lennar Corp. to ensure the developer takes certain environmental safety precautions during the construction phase, Chesnutt said. Those include applying a cover layer of soil or pavement over "hot spots" where the original soil was contaminated.

As a symbol of the shipyard's evolution from environmental blight to eco-friendly urban model, the development plan includes space for a green technology research hub within the 2.65 million square feet (0.25 million square meters) of commercial space.

The new community also will include about 10,500 new homes, 885,000 square feet (82,218 square meters) of retail space and more than 300 acres (121 hectares) of open space. Additional land has been set aside for a new stadium if the 49ers decide to stay in San Francisco rather than move to Santa Clara. Hunters Point is between San Francisco International Airport and downtown, and not far from the current stadium.

Lennar Corp. first won control of the shipyard site in 1999, when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom was a county supervisor. He called the current board's vote on Tuesday a "proud and historic day" for the city and for those who had devoted the past decade to seeing the project to fruition.

"Together we have secured a critical engine for our city's economic future and embraced a new vision of jobs, housing and hope for the Bayview-Hunters Point community," Newsom said in a statement.

At full build-out, the development is expected to generate $11 billion in additional property tax revenues and create up to 12,000 direct jobs, according to an economic impact report earlier this month by the city controller's office.

The majority of San Francisco residents seem to view the shipyard development favorably. In 2008, 61 percent of city voters approved Measure G, endorsing the plan and starting it down the path toward an environmental review and final approval by the city.

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On the Web: Hunters Point Shipyard, http://www.hunterspointcommunity.com

Yankees head into opener as underdogs

NEW YORK (AP) — Darth Vader's theme music blared from the speakers at Yankee Stadium while the team worked out under sunny skies as if the Yankees needed a reminder that they are indeed still the "Evil Empire" and not the underdogs that they have been labeled.

"As crazy as that sounds, nobody seems to believe in us but us," opening-day starter CC Sabathia said Wednesday.

Sabathia and New York will get an early chance to prove to the rest of baseball that even though they lost out on free agent Cliff Lee and have a suspect rotation, the 2011 version of the Yankees is up to the challenge of recapturing the AL East.

Baseball is coming to the Bronx for the first time in March — weather permitting — when the Yankees open the season Thursday against formidable foes Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera and the Detroit Tigers, and New York is ready to prove its critics wrong.

"I think with the winter that we've had, we're all looking forward to this day," manager Joe Girardi said.

It's hard to find anything much odder in the Bronx than hearing the Yankees defend their chances — OK, knowing that a cobra has escaped from the Bronx Zoo and could be slithering around the rugged borough is pretty shocking.

"I told the guys, our guys, be the best that we can be," Girardi said.

On ESPN.com, 45 baseball pundits offered predictions for the season. All 45 picked the Boston Red Sox to win the AL East.

Rain and temperatures more typical of the postseason may put a damper on the festivities that will be a little more subdued this year after the Yankees failed to repeat as World Series champions last October, losing to Texas in the AL championship series.

"It's going to be perfect weather, 40s and rain. A good day to pitch," Tigers starting catcher Alex Avila said.

With Verlander on the mound for Detroit on a chilly day, Derek Jeter might have to wait until Game 2 Saturday to move closer to his 3,000th hit. He starts the season 74 from becoming the first player in pinstripes to reach the milestone.

"We're facing one of the best pitchers in baseball Day 1," Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said. "We've got to be ready to go or it could be a long day for hitters."

Verlander spent his March preparing as if it were April, hoping to avoid the same type of start he had last year. The hard throwing right-hander was 1-2 with a 5.29 ERA in opening month of the season. He finished the year 18-9 with a 3.37 ERA.

"He figured out some things, some flaws that he had and some other ways to go about doing things that might help him," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "His concentration level improved on days that he doesn't have to pitch."

The first batter Verlander faces will not be Jeter, who slumped to a .270 average last year and eliminated his stride from his much-scrutinized swing. Girardi tapped left-handed hitting Brett Gardner to lead off against righties.

"The job that he did against right-handed pitching last season, he was second in on-base percentage against right-handers ... his ability to disrupt defenses, the pressure that he puts on pitching staffs, his ability to score runs we thought it was a good fit," said Girardi, who will use Jeter in the top spot against lefties.

Jeter is hitting .314 from the second hole and .313 in the leadoff spot for his career.

"It doesn't make a difference," Jeter said. "I've hit second more than I hit first, so who cares."

Curtis Granderson will return to the Yankees lineup Thursday. Out with a strained muscle since March 22, the center fielder had two doubles and an RBI in a minor league game in Tampa, Fla., and said he was hoping to fly to New York Wednesday night.

Leyland was set on his lineup, and wasn't feeling particularly interested in discussing the different looks his team could have this season, especially with second baseman Carlos Guillen starting the season on the disabled list.

"I don't know why everybody keeps making a big deal about lineups," Leyland said. "We've got the big boys in the middle, we've got some speed up top, we got a little power at the bottom. That's what it is."

NOTES: A.J. Burnett had a bad head cold and it was uncertain if he'll be able to make his start for New York on Saturday. ... Leyland said he will not talk about his contract status this season. In the last year of his two-year extension, Leyland said his father once gave him some advice, "If you go to work worrying about your job you don't have a job." ... Tigers RHP Joel Zumaya (right elbow) was placed on the 15-day DL along with Guillen (left knee) on Wednesday. They both remained in Florida for rehabilitation as planned. ... Detroit non-roster invitee RHP Enrique Gonzalez's contract was purchased from Triple-A Toledo and he was added to the Tigers roster. To make room on the 40-man roster the, Tigers outrighted INF Audy Ciriaco to Double-A Erie. ... The Yankees signed RHP Luis Ayala, RHP Bartolo Colon, RHP Freddy Garcia and C Gustavo Molina to major league contracts and added them to the Yankees' roster. Ayala is taking the place of LHP Pedro Feliciano, who was put on the 15-day disabled list along with C Francisco Cervelli. Both are retroactive to March 22.

Companies punished workers who improperly accessed candidates' passport records

Two companies that provide workers for the State Department say they fired or otherwise punished those who improperly accessed the passport records of the three major presidential candidates. The security breaches touched off demands for a congressional investigation.

"None of us wants to have a circumstance in which any American's passport file is looked at in an unauthorized way," said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as she offered apologies to the candidates.

Stanley Inc., based in Arlington, Virginia, and The Analysis Corp., or TAC, of McLean, Virginia, said Friday that their employees' actions were unauthorized and not consistent with company policies.

Stanley said it fired two subcontractors involved in accessing the files of Sen. Barack Obama when their actions were discovered. A separate search showed that workers also had snooped on Sens. John McCain and Hillary Rodham Clinton, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

TAC said it had been notified earlier in the day that one of its contractors had acted improperly _ in this case, according to the State Department, by accessing Obama's records. TAC decided to honor a State Department request to delay firing the consultant to give investigators time to conduct its investigation, the company said.

A fourth worker tapped into Clinton's records as part of a training session last summer, the State Department said, and that violation was immediately recognized and the person admonished.

"When you have not just one but a series of attempts to tap into people's personal records, that's a problem not just for me but for how our government functions," Obama told reporters while campaigning in Oregon. "I expect a full and thorough investigation. It should be done in conjunction with those congressional committees that have oversight function so it's not simply an internal matter."

McCain, who is expected to win the Republican nomination, said from Paris that there should be an investigation of the new snooping as well as an apology.

Rice contacted the candidates to do just that. "I told him that I was sorry," she said of her conversation with Obama, "and I told him that I, myself, would be very disturbed if I learned that somebody had looked into my passport file. And, therefore, I will stay on top of it and get to the bottom of it."

The snooping incidents raised questions as to whether there was political motivation. The firings could make it more difficult for the State Department to force them to answer questions. Unless they agree to comply, they would have to be served with a subpoena compelling them to testify before a grand jury.

The State Department's inspector general was probing, with the Justice Department monitoring the effort.

The unauthorized digging into electronic government files on politicians recalled a 1992 case in which a Republican political appointee at the State Department was demoted for searching Bill Clinton's passport records when Clinton was running against President George H.W. Bush.

Obama's files were compromised on three occasions _ Jan. 9, Feb. 21 and March 14. By the time senior officials were made aware, the two contract employees for Stanley had been fired and a TAC employee was disciplined, officials said.

Just this week, Stanley won a five-year, US$570 million (euro370 million) government contract extension to support passport services.

The department's internal computer system "flags" certain records, including those of high-profile people, to tip off supervisors when someone tries to view the records without an appropriate reason.

McCormack said an early review of the incidents points to workers' "imprudent curiosity" more than something more sinister.

But "we are not dismissive of any other possibility, and that's the reason why we have an investigation under way," he said.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey said the case has not yet been referred to the Justice Department for investigation, and indicated prosecutors were likely to wait until the State Department's inspector general concludes that inquiry. But Mukasey did not rule out the possibility of the Justice Department taking an independent look.

It was not clear whether the employees saw anything other than the basic personal data such as name, citizenship, age, Social Security number and place of birth, which is required when someone fills out a passport application.

The file also includes date and place of birth and address at time of application. Agency officials said the files generally would not list countries the person has traveled to.

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AP Business Writer Dan Caterinicchia contributed to this report.

среда, 7 марта 2012 г.

Japan Pushes for Sanctions on N. Korea

UNITED NATIONS - Over Chinese and Russian objections, Japan introduced a draft Security Council resolution Friday that would impose sanctions on North Korea for its series of rocket test-launches and also order a halt to its development of ballistic missiles.

Backed by the United States, Britain and France, the resolution condemns the series of missile launches that the North conducted Wednesday after both its enemies and allies around the world warned it not to.

By putting forth the resolution, Japan risked a showdown with China and Russia, which have said they oppose sanctions or even passing a legally binding resolution on the issue. They want a more mild council statement that would chastize the North for the launches, and go no further.

"If this resolution is put to a vote, definitely there will be no unity in the Security Council," China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya said. He refused to say, however, if China would use its veto to sink the resolution or abstain.

Japan's Ambassador Kenzo Oshima said he wanted a vote on the draft Saturday if possible, yet he and other diplomats said negotiations continued on the resolution.

That raised the possibility that the decision to introduce the resolution was, in part, a negotiating tactic meant to win concessions from China and Russia.

Diplomats and U.S. officials also left the door open for more talks. One senior U.S. official said it was unlikely that the draft would be voted on over the weekend, because diplomats want to give China, the North's main ally, time to talk to Pyongyang.

Chinese officials said a delegation would go to Pyongyang early next week to discuss the issue.

"There is a hint that states want to see what the Chinese can do," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the strategy had not been made public.

North Korea set off an international furor Wednesday when it tested seven missiles, all of which landed in the Sea of Japan without causing any damage. The blasts apparently included a long-range Taepodong-2 - potentially capable of hitting the western United States. It broke up less than a minute after takeoff.

The draft introduced Friday was tougher than previous versions.

It would bar nations from procuring missiles or missile related "items, materials goods and technology" from North Korea, or transferring financial resources connected to the North's program. The North would also be barred from acquiring items that could be used to build missiles.

China and Russia fear that Security Council sanctions risk isolating North Korea further and spoiling any chance of resuming six-party talks on its nuclear program. Pyongyang has said sanctions from the Security Council would be tantamount to a declaration of war.

They could veto or abstain on the resolution. But even abstentions from the two nations risks weakening the message to North Korea, which leaders from around the world, including President Bush, don't want to do.

"What matters most of all is for Kim Jong Il to see the world speak with one voice," Bush said at a news conference in Chicago, referring to the North Korean leader. "That's the purpose, really."

One possible compromise would be for Japan to strip out the sanctions from the resolution, as long as the draft retains a condemnation and the order for the North to stop developing and testing ballistic missiles. It would also still be written under Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter, which means it could be enforced militarily.

The draft followed a flurry of meetings among diplomats in New York. Japanese officials back home have also met with their counterparts from several nations to raise support for the draft.

Oshima said Japan was not willing to give up on Chapter 7 or the sanctions.

"It contains all elements that we believe are necessary at this point that a firm resolution of the council should contain," Oshima said. "We hope that it will be adopted when it is put to a vote with the broad unanimity of the council."

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Associated Press writers Anne Gearan in Washington, Terence Hunt in Chicago, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Chisaki Watanabe in Tokyo contributed to this story.