Chase Bank USA is suing two Coral Springs, Fla., attorneys specializing in reducing consumer debt and South Florida affiliates, claiming they are engaging in blatantly illegal and fraudulent practices.

Attorney Jeffrey Campos of Coral Springs and the Legal Debt Center, which has the same Coral Springs address and suite number as Hess' law firm, also are named as defendants. In addition, attorneys general in Florida, North Carolina and West Virginia are looking into Hess Kennedy's operations, and the Florida Bar has moved to suspend Hess' license.

Three of Bali Nine spared death

Mr Smith said the Federal Government was still awaiting official confirmation of the Indonesian decision to commute three of the death sentences but would welcome such a move. "It's too early because it's appropriate in all of these cases to await the complete exhaustion of Indonesian legal procedures and processes," he said. "And when the Prime Minister met with the President of Indonesia ... he made the point which I subsequently made to the Indonesian foreign minister, that if, upon the exhaustion of all legal procedures through the Indonesian courts, any of the nine were subject to the death penalty then the Australian Government would pursue with the Indonesian Government a plea of clemency on their behalf. "But we'll simply wait until all those processes have exhausted themselves." Asked if the Indonesian court's decision would hearten the other members of the Bali Nine, he said it was important for each case to be treated individually.

OGRA asks govt to allow setting up of new CNG stations

ISLAMABAD: Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) has asked the government to allow setting up of CNG stations for which provisional licences have already have been issued, to save billions of rupees investment made, till date across the country.

OGRA has issued around 6,000 CNG provisional licences for opening of CNG stations since 2003 and these provisional licence holders have been asked to wait for the next decision of the government. The further work on provisional licences for opening CNG stations has been stopped as the government has also banned the transfer of machinery to the provisional licence holders after February 6, 2008.

Sources further said that following the directions of Caretaker Prime Minister Mohammedmian Soomro, OGRA has also stopped the extension in the provisional licences.

BHP Billiton raises Rio Tinto takeover offer

BHP Billiton has launched an improved takeover offer for rival Rio Tinto that will create the largest diversified resources company in the world.

BHP Billiton, which had until Wednesday London time to formalise its bid for Rio Tinto under UK law, announced an offer of 3.4 of its shares for every Rio share. The offer is an improvement on an informal three for one approach made late last year. Rio Tinto has acknowledged the improved bid and says it will consider the new proposal carefully.Chief executive Marius Kloppers said during a teleconference that the company's offer for Rio Tinto remained "compelling".BHP Billiton said its offer - which values the target at about $US147 billion ($163 billion) - represents a 45 per cent premium to the Rio Tinto share price prior to the approach.

Mike Luckovich

Mike Luckovich Editorial cartoons from Mike Luckovich. What's on this page →

The entry titled "Facing facts," and any of the comments about it.

Identical triplets get public introduction

They are identical triplets, the first known to be born on Long Island in almost 15 years. Estimates on the odds of identical triplets being born range from 1 in every 60,000 births to 1 in 200 million births, said Dr. Victor Klein, who delivered the three boys.

Why you should care that Jimmy Wales ignores reality

Wikipedia is the eighth most popular site on the web. It has the power to tell the world what to believe. Type a few keywords into Google, and odds are, the free online encyclopedia will soon appear. Millions visit the site each day, including members of the mainstream media, and most are under the impression it offers unbiased information. According to a recent study from the PR wonks at Edelman, 55 per cent of all 25- to 34-year-old US "opinion elites" consider Wikipedia a "credible source."

But sometimes bias plays a big role. The truth of the matter is that the average surfer has no way of knowing whether the Wikipedia inner circle has skewed an article to suit their agenda. And, yes, there is an inner circle - though the inner circle denies it. Like we said, they have a knack for ignoring reality.

Dollars for Durban II

All this takes money. But the Durban II planners, including such oil-rich regimes as Iran and Libya, are not proposing to fund it themselves. Instead, they want U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to give them a free ride by allocating to this conference and its preparations some $7.2 million — for starters — from the U.N. regular budget. Because American taxpayers finance 22 percent of the U.N. budget, that means the U.S. would effectively be picking up almost one quarter of the tab not only for Durban II itself, but for every preparatory pajama party over the next year.

Even that, however, does not begin to convey the full extent of the abuse and hypocrisy which has already gone into the early planning of Durban II. This project has its roots in the U.N.'s 192-member General Assembly, where non-democratic states enjoy a majority.

Interest Rates, Congress, and Your Mortgage

Rates can rise, as they did last week, when investors react to news, such as the Fed cut, and expect it to strengthen the economy or spur inflation, explains Doug Duncan, chief economist at the Mortgage Bankers Association. According to MBA's weekly survey, the average interest rates for 30- and 15-year fixed mortgages increased about a tenth of a percentage point over the past week, to 5.6 percent and 5.04 percent, respectively.

The Most Wanted List: International Terrorism

During periods of desperation, people often make hasty choices, and this is now such a period, but not a time for hasty decisions.

I don't know anything about his campaign yet, and wonder if he's teaming up with Cynthia McKinney. I don't know why he wouldn't choose to do so, for she's a good candidate as far as I'm aware, and he's run for the Green Party before; although they burned him "good" last time. Not all supporters of the GP went along with that bad decision of the GP pointy-headed-bosses, PHBs, though.

Visa charges ahead with IPO plan

The market for initial public offerings, like most other financial markets, has been in a funk since last fall.

A proposed IPO this quarter by Visa Inc., the credit card giant, won't change that, but there's something to be said for big, bold moves during a winter of discontent.

Since at least 2006, Visa has been reorganizing itself, away from a network of member banks toward a more traditional stock-owned corporation, in anticipation of an IPO in early 2008. The IPO has been long-awaited and seems to have momentum that the current market conditions won't derail.