Stock prices head toward lower opening By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer

Stock prices head toward lower opening By MADLEN READ, AP Business Writer
12 minutes ago



NEW YORK - Stocks headed toward a lower opening Thursday, suggesting Wall Street is taking few chances amid concerns that squeezed credit is hurting the economy and uncertainty about the Federal Reserve's intentions.

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Investors were also awaiting the Commerce Department's estimate of second-quarter gross domestic product. Economists forecast that GDP growth will read 4.1 percent, a faster rate than the department's July estimate of 3.4 percent.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrials gained nearly 250 points after losing about 280 points in the prior session, as investors grew more optimistic about chances for an interest rate cut and sought out bargains. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, expected to speak in Wyoming on Friday, said in a letter to Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., that Fed policymakers are "prepared to act as needed" if the market's turmoil damages the economy.

In premarket trading Thursday, stock futures indicated that Wall Street was likely to pull back again, with investors wanting to collect some of their gains from Wednesday.

Dow futures expiring in September fell 47, or 0.35 percent, to 13,264, while Standard & Poor's 500 index futures fell 6.50, or 0.44 percent, to 1,458.90. Nasdaq 100 index futures fell 3.75, or 0.19 percent, to 1,957.25.

In corporate news, H&R Block Inc. reported that its first-quarter loss was bigger than during the same period last year, as it struggled with its mortgage lending arm.

The dollar was higher against most other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

Light, sweet crude rose 37 cents to $73.88 a barrel in premarket electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

After Wall Street's big jump Wednesday, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 0.88 percent, Hong Kong's key index rose 2.02 percent, and China's Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.14 percent.

In Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.38 percent, Germany's DAX index rose 0.10 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.63 percent.

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China replaces 5 Cabinet ministers By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer

China replaces 5 Cabinet ministers By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 11 minutes ago



BEIJING - China replaced five Cabinet ministers — including the finance minister and the head of the secret police — the government said Thursday, just weeks ahead of a major Communist Party meeting that will set the country's policies for the next five years.

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Jin Renqing, finance minister since 2003, has been replaced by Xie Xuren, government spokesman He Shaoren told a news conference. He also announced that Geng Huichang had replaced Xu Yongyue as state security minister in charge of China's secret police.

The others replaced were the ministers of supervision and personnel, and the minister in charge of the State Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, He said.

The changes were announced at the end of a meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's legislature. The committee meets to decide laws and personnel changes when the legislature is not in its annual sitting.

One official said Jin stepped down for personal reasons, but no reasons were given for the other changes.

"For personal reasons, Jin Renqing requested to resign. The central government agreed to his request and approved appointing him to be deputy director of the Development Research Center of the State Council," a spokeswoman for the State Council told The Associated Press earlier on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.

The State Council is China's Cabinet.

Jin's transfer comes six weeks before the opening of a twice-a-decade Communist Party congress. Besides setting policy, the meeting is also expected to result in new appointments of senior party and government positions.

Xie, Jin's replacement, has been director of the tax administration since March 2003. He is also an alternative member of the party's Central Committee.

Jin, 63, is one of about 200 members of the Communist Party's Central Committee, and formerly headed the tax administration.

There was no immediate word on what factors had influenced Jin's resignation, but similar cases in the past have been attributed to marital, health or family problems. Jin is still two years below the official retirement age for officials at the central government level.

Asked Wednesday about rumors of Jin's departure, Central Bank Vice Governor Su Ning said monetary policy would not be affected by personnel changes at the Finance Ministry, a reflection of how decisions about the direction of China's economy are determined at a higher level.

Geng was vice minister of the State Security Ministry. Few other details were known about him.

Ma Wen was appointed supervision minister, replacing Li Zhilun, who died of an illness in April, He said.

Zhang Qingwei was appointed director — a ministerial-level position — in charge of the State Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, replacing Zhang Yunchuan.

The fifth change was the appointment of Yin Weimin as minister of personnel, replacing Zhang Bolin, who is retiring.

Jin's time in office saw huge growth and development in the economy as well as concerns about overheating.

On Wednesday, the central bank said inflation was likely to exceed the government's 3 percent target for the year despite a series of credit tightening measures to tamp down prices and cool enthusiasm for buying shares.

Jin's tenure at the Finance Ministry also saw China's foreign currency reserves surge past $1.3 trillion, a sign both of China's foreign trade juggernaut and the government's failure to balance flows of money into and out of the economy.

He oversaw preparations for the creation of one of the world's largest investment funds to make more profitable use of its foreign currency reserves that are now parked in safe, but relatively low-yielding U.S. Treasury securities and other dollar-denominated assets.

China's massive trade surplus with the United States which hit $235 billion last year and is expected to grow this year, has put Beijing under pressure to revalue its currency. Critics say the Chinese yuan is deliberately undervalued against the U.S. dollar and other currencies to spur trade by making Chinese exports unfairly cheap.

Beijing says its currency regime is fair, but has allowed a gradual strengthening of the yuan.

Also Thursday, China removed four officials accused of corruption from its legislature, the official Xinhua News Agency said, apparently signaling the ruling Communist Party's resolve to battle the widespread problem.

Chen Liangyu, a former party boss of Shanghai who has been jailed and is awaiting trial on corruption charges, was stripped of his last official post as a deputy to the National People's Congress, Xinhua said. Chen was kicked out of the party last month and fired from all government positions after he was dismissed as Shanghai party secretary in 2006.

He is the highest-level Chinese official to be dismissed in a decade. His ouster reflects the ruling Communist Party's push to crack down on deeply rooted corruption ahead of a major, twice-a-decade meeting of party leaders in October.

Also kicked out of the People's Congress were Duan Yihe, head of the city council in Shandong's capital, Jinan; Sun Shengchang, a former mayor in northeast China's Heilongjiang province; and Bao Jianmin, former director of the Henan Provincial Bureau of Quality Supervision, Xinhua said.

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Associated Press writer Audra Ang contributed to this report.

Report: Iran cooperates on nuke probe By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer

Report: Iran cooperates on nuke probe By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer
16 minutes ago



VIENNA, Austria - The U.N. nuclear agency on Thursday called Iran's cooperation with its investigation of past suspicious atomic activities "a significant step forward," in a report expected to hamper U.S.-led efforts for new sanctions on Tehran.

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At the same time, the report confirmed that Iran continued to expand its uranium enrichment program, reflecting the Islamic republic's defiance of the U.N. Security Council. Still, U.N. officials said, both enrichment and the building of a plutonium-producing reactor was continuing more slowly than expected.

IAEA Deputy Director General Olli Heinonen, who brokered the cooperation deal with Iranian officials, highlighted the importance of the agreement, noting that Tehran's past refusal to answer the agency's questions triggered Security Council sanctions in the first place.

But he cautioned that Iran still needed to fully implement its commitments, telling reporters that "the key is that Iran ... provides the information that we need" in a time frame that foresees clarity for the first time about Iran's past suspicious activities by year's end.

Drawn up by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei, much of the report focused on the already publicized action plan finalized just a few weeks ago between the agency and Iran, restating progress in some areas and agreed on time frames for Iran to respond to additional questions.

In that plan, Iran agreed to come up with information sought by agency experts on past secret aspects of its enrichment program by November.

If that, and all other deadlines are adhered to and Iran provides all the information sought, the agency should be able to close the file on its more than four-year probe of Tehran's past nuclear activities by year's end, said a senior U.N. official.

He and other U.N. officials — all demanding anonymity because they were not authorized to comment to media — declined comment, however, whether a clean bill that banishes suspicions about Iran's former nuclear programs and experiments would be enough to stop the threat of new U.N. sanctions.

Two such sets of penalties have been imposed since last year, and the U.S. and its closest allies said more are needed because of Tehran's defiance of council demands that it mothball its uranium enrichment program and stop building a plutonium-producing reactor. Both can create the product that can serve as the fissile component of nuclear warheads.

Concertgoer sues Lil' Wayne for injuries 23 minutes ago

Concertgoer sues Lil' Wayne for injuries 23 minutes ago



BALTIMORE - A woman has filed a lawsuit alleging she was trampled by a frenzied crowd after a large amount of cash was thrown into the crowd during a concert by rapper Lil' Wayne at Morgan State University last October.

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Tyrique Layne was a 17-year-old freshman at Morgan State when she attended the show. According to the lawsuit, someone — either Lil' Wayne or members of his entourage — threw money into the crowd during the rapper's performance, a stunt known as "making it rain."

Layne alleges in the suit, filed Tuesday in Baltimore Circuit Court, that she was trampled, lost consciousness and suffered a "serious closed head injury" that required hospitalization. She has suffered since from memory loss, lapses in concentration and frequent and severe headaches, according to the complaint.

Along with Lil' Wayne, whose given name is Dwayne Michael Carter, the suit names Universal Records Inc., Cash Money Records Inc. and Young Money Touring Inc. Layne is seeking $1 million in damages.

Lil' Wayne was the opening act for Busta Rhymes at the concert. Two other women were injured in the melee, according to reports at the time.

Lil' Wayne and rapper Ja Rule were charged with felony handgun violations after a concert in Manhattan last month.

Haditha squad leader headed to court By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer

Haditha squad leader headed to court By THOMAS WATKINS, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 1 minute ago



LOS ANGELES - By his own account, Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich told his junior Marines to shoot first and ask questions later as they assaulted several houses in Haditha, Iraq, killing the occupants with grenades and gunfire.

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Now, nearly two years later, a hearing officer at Camp Pendleton was to begin taking evidence Thursday to determine whether the squad leader should stand trial on murder charges in the Nov. 19, 2005, attack that left 24 Iraqis dead.

Wuterich, 27, of Meriden, Conn., faces unpremeditated murder charges in 18 of the deaths, the biggest case to have emerged against any U.S. troop who served in Iraq.

Among the dead were women and children, who died as they scrambled for cover on and around a bed. It was Wuterich's first combat engagement.

The hearing officer, Lt. Col. Paul Ware, must decide if Wuterich strayed from military rules of engagement.

"These Marines were doing exactly as they were trained to do," Wuterich's military defense attorney Lt. Col. Colby Vokey said. "They were responding to an attack and a threat."

The killings occurred after a military convoy was hit by a roadside bomb that fatally wounded a Marine driver. Wuterich and another Marine shot a group of five men by a car at the scene. The squad leader then directed his men to clear several houses in hopes of killing whomever had set off the bomb.

Wuterich was among four Marines charged with murder, while four officers were charged with dereliction of duty for failing to investigate the deaths. Prosecutors have since dropped charges against two of the enlisted Marines and one officer.

Wuterich told investigators in February 2006 that he believed he was taking small-arms fire from a house near the explosion so he told a four-man team to treat the building and its occupants as hostile, meaning they did not need to identify the occupants as insurgents before opening fire.

"I told them to shoot first, ask questions later," he told investigators.

Wuterich is also charged with making a false official statement and telling another Marine to do the same. He faces a possible life sentence and dishonorable discharge if convicted at court-martial.

Ware already has presided over two separate hearings in the case, when he listened to evidence against two of Wuterich's lance corporals — Stephen Tatum and Justin Sharratt — who were charged with murder. In both cases, Ware found prosecutors could not prove the Marines operated outside combat rules, and he recommended the charges be dismissed.

The general overseeing the case dismissed charges against Sharratt but has yet to rule in Tatum's case.

Tom Umberg, a former Army prosecutor, said Ware's assessment that Tatum and Sharratt did not deliberately violate combat rules could help Wuterich because he was involved in some of the same actions.

But, Umberg said, military officials often look with greater scrutiny at the actions of higher-ranking troops.

"The person in charge always bears the most significant responsibility," Umberg said.

A former squad mate was to testify against Wuterich. Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz was initially charged with murder, but prosecutors dropped the charges and gave him immunity to testify against Wuterich.

According to testimony in a previous hearing, Dela Cruz claims Wuterich shot the men by the car while they had their hands in the air.

"They were just standing, looking around, had hands up," Dela Cruz said at a hearing in May. "Then I saw one of them drop in the middle. I didn't know what was going on, sir. Looked to my left, saw Staff Sgt. Wuterich shooting."

Neal Puckett, one of Wuterich's nonmilitary attorneys, said he was not concerned about Dela Cruz's testimony and was confident that forensic evidence would contradict his version of events.

"It's a Dela Cruz/Wuterich credibility contest," said Thad Coakley, a major in the Marine reserves and a former Camp Pendleton prosecutor.

Pakistan's Musharraf rejects 'ultimatum' By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer

Pakistan's Musharraf rejects 'ultimatum' By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer
59 minutes ago



ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - President Gen. Pervez Musharraf rejects "any pressure or ultimatum" to decide whether to quit as army chief, his spokesman said Thursday, after an opponent said he would step down as head of the military under a pact to restore Pakistan to democracy.

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Still, officials were either unavailable or declined to comment directly on the accuracy of Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's assertion Wednesday that Musharraf had already decided to leave his powerful military post.

Musharraf and Bhutto are in the midst of negotiating an agreement that could end military rule eight years after Musharraf seized power in a coup and see him share power with the opposition.

Musharraf's office released a statement rejecting reports that Bhutto's call for concrete commitments by the end of this week amounted to an ultimatum to decide whether to remove his uniform.

While the president believed in dialogue "on all important national issues, he never worked under any pressure or ultimatum," his spokesman Rashid Qureshi said in a faxed statement.

Musharraf will make "all decisions only in national interest at appropriate times and according to the constitution and the law," Qureshi said.

At stake is a pact that would protect Musharraf's troubled re-election bid from looming legal challenges and public disenchantment with military rule. In return, Musharraf is expected to give up his role as army chief and let Bhutto return from exile in London to contest year-end parliamentary elections.

Bhutto told The Associated Press on Wednesday in London that she was "very pleased that Gen. Musharraf has taken the decision to listen to the people of Pakistan by taking the decision to take off the uniform."

"I expect that he will step down (as army chief) before the presidential elections, but that is for the president to say," she said in a telephone interview.

Ministers in Pakistan have confirmed that the two sides were close to finalizing an agreement.

Musharraf has insisted that the constitution allows him to be army chief until the end of 2007 but has never made clear when — or if — he will step down.

However, Bhutto and other opposition leaders argue the constitution obliges him to give up that post before he asks lawmakers for a fresh presidential mandate in September or October.

Bhutto said that while Musharraf had also agreed to drop corruption charges against her and dozens of other parliamentarians, a remaining stumbling block is the balance of power between Parliament and the president, who can currently dismiss the prime minister and dissolve the legislature.

Bhutto said she hoped for a breakthrough in the negotiations "in the next few days" and that Musharraf's silence on his military role "could be a tactical rather that strategic retreat" until all issues have been resolved.

Musharraf has seen his authority erode since March, when he tried unsuccessfully to remove the Supreme Court's top judge. The move triggered protests that grew into a broad pro-democracy campaign.

The court reinstated the judge in July, raising expectations that it will uphold legal challenges to Musharraf's re-election plan.

Officials say the pact with Bhutto would include constitutional amendments to forestall those challenges.

Last week, the court ruled that Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister toppled in 1999 who is also living in exile, can return to Pakistan.

The prospect of Sharif, who denounces Musharraf as a tyrant, making a tumultuous return has added to the urgency of an accommodation between Musharraf and Bhutto, who share a relatively liberal, pro-Western outlook and stress the need to prevent the political crisis from destabilizing the nuclear-armed nation.

Musharraf had vowed to prevent either former leader from re-entering Pakistan. He blames them for the corruption and economic problems that nearly bankrupted the country in the 1990s, when Bhutto and Sharif each had two short-lived turns as prime minister.

But with the United States pressing for more democracy as well as a redoubled effort against al-Qaida and Taliban militants near the Afghan border, Musharraf recently began calling for political reconciliation and an alliance of moderates to defeat extremists.

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Associated Press writer Paisley Dodds in London contributed to this report.