Hyundai Motor, union to keep talking By KELLY OLSEN, AP Business Writer

Hyundai Motor, union to keep talking By KELLY OLSEN, AP Business Writer
Sat Sep 1, 6:07 AM ET



SEOUL, South Korea - Unionized workers at Hyundai Motor Co. will negotiate further with management over a new wage package despite approving a resolution to go on strike, a union spokesman said Saturday.

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"We decided not to go on strike until Sept. 5 ... to try to resolve the dispute smoothly," said Chang Kyu-ho, spokesman for the union, which has 44,867 members.

Results of a union vote released earlier in the day showed that 28,243 members supported a walkout, while 12,544 opposed it. A total of 40,995 union members, or 91.4 percent of the total membership cast ballots. Some votes were declared invalid.

Hyundai, the world's sixth-largest automaker, and the union have been unable to reach an agreement on a new pay deal despite 10 formal negotiating sessions.

The company has offered a 5.4 percent increase, or $83 more a month in basic salary, while the union is seeking an 8.9 percent hike.

Hyundai also has offered an incentive of three months of pay and a bonus of $1,066 per unionized worker if the company meets annual business targets.

The union wants the automaker to pay 30 percent of its 2007 net profit to union members as bonuses and to raise the retirement age to 60 from 58.

Strikes at Hyundai are common. Workers already have walked off the job twice this year. The union has gone on strike every year but one since it was founded in 1987.

This year's tensions come at a sensitive time. A Seoul court will issue a ruling Sept. 6 on an appeal by Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-koo against his three-year prison term for embezzlement.

Chung, who is free on bail, is actively running Hyundai. He was sentenced earlier this year.

The union's Chang said negotiations will resume Monday. Hyundai earlier had proposed an 11th session for that day.

"We promised to our unionists that we will do our best for a smooth resolution," Chang said, though warned that a strike would be unavoidable if management fails to offer "a proposal unacceptable to us."

Negotiations take place in Ulsan, the industrial and port city 260 miles southeast of Seoul where Hyundai's main factory is located.

Lee Sang-wook, the head of the union, had exhorted members to vote in favor of the strike.

"I hope you can express your steadfast will to fight," he told members in a statement Friday. "Let's express our rage with an unanimous landslide vote against the company that has cheated more than 44,000 union members."

Last year was Hyundai's worst ever in terms of labor unrest.

A total of four walkouts cost the automaker 118,293 vehicles in lost production worth $1.75 billion, according to company figures.

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Associated Press Writer Jae-soon Chang contributed to this report.

Lottery: 4 win estimated $330M jackpot By KASEY JONES, Associated Press Writer

Lottery: 4 win estimated $330M jackpot By KASEY JONES, Associated Press Writer
13 minutes ago



BALTIMORE - Four winning tickets were sold for the estimated $330 million Mega Millions jackpot, one each in Maryland, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia, lottery officials said Saturday.

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No one had come forward Saturday to claim a share of the top prize. In Virginia, at least, that can't happen until Tuesday because the Virginia Lottery offices are closed for the long holiday weekend, spokesman John Hagerty said.

The odds that any ticket would match all five numbers — 8, 18, 22, 40 and 44 — and the Mega Ball number — 11 — drawn Friday night were one in 176 million.

If estimates of the jackpot hold true, it would be the fourth-largest in the lottery's history. It was known as The Big Game when it awarded jackpots of $363 million in 2000 and $331 million in 2002.

According to preliminary calculations, each ticket would be worth about $82 million if the prize were taken in 26 annual payments. If taken in one lump sum payment, the payout would be $48,615,188.

One of the winning Mega Millions tickets was sold at Walther Liquors in Nottingham, Md., state Lottery Director Buddy Roogow said.

The buyer purchased five quick-pick tickets, costing a total of $5, Roogow said.

"You have a better chance of being hit by lightning at the same place and time every day for a week" than winning Mega Millions, Roogow said.

Virginia's winning ticket was sold at Ducks Corner Food and Gas in Buckingham, in the central part of the state, Hagerty said.

"Everyone is excited," Ducks Corner owner Evelyn Trekas said by telephone Saturday morning. "A lot of people up here don't have a whole lot of money, so I hope it's somebody who can use it and enjoy."

Most of her customers live in the small, close-knit town and are regular visitors to her store, she said.

New Jersey's winning ticket was sold at Blitz's Villas Market in the southern town of Villas, said state Lottery spokesman Dominick DeMarco.

"We're just in disbelief right now," said Nick DiRenzo, son of the market's owner, Frank. "I just can't believe it. It's unbelievable to me. We have really good lottery customers."

In addition to the grand prize winners, 36 players matched all five numbers but not the Mega Ball number. They will receive second prizes of $250,000 each.

Mega Millions tickets are also sold in California, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Ohio and Washington.

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Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana in Trenton, N.J., contributed to this report.

Heat wave increases Calif. fire threat By ROBERT JABLON, Associated Press Writer

Heat wave increases Calif. fire threat By ROBERT JABLON, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 36 minutes ago



LOS ANGELES - Utilities urged customers to ease up on electricity use and officials opened cool shelters as California continued to swelter under a heat wave Friday. Meanwhile, cloudbursts laced with lightning unleashed downpours in the mountains and deserts, leading to flash flood watches and warnings. Firefighters also watched for lightning-sparked wildfires.

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The steamy conditions were expected to continue into midweek.

"When I opened the door, the heat almost knocked me down," Joan Porter told KCAL-TV as she sat in an air-conditioned senior citizens' center in Altadena, a foothill community northeast of Los Angeles that topped 100 degrees.

A Los Angeles utility reported power outages to nearly 4,800 customers with high demand. Meanwhile, a regional utility said it supplied a record amount of electricity to some 13 million people in Southern California and attributed the power demand to increased use of air conditioners.

The hot weather began Wednesday and may have played a role in the death of an 81-year-old hiker who became exhausted and ran out of water in inland Riverside County.

The heat also may have played a role in the crash of two small planes taking off hours apart Thursday at an airfield east of Sacramento, officials said. Two people died and two critically injured in one crash, and two were injured in the other crash.

The thinner warm air may have provided less lift for the planes as they took off, suggested Bob Petersen, air squadron commander for the El Dorado County Sheriff's Department.

Meanwhile, the state entered the peak two months of its fire season, when historically the most devastating blazes have occurred, said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Aircraft patrolled the Sierra and other wilderness areas to spot remote wildfires. Visitors swarming into the backcountry over the Labor Day weekend increased the risk of fires from improper or illegal campfires, Berlant said.

Officials also announced charges against two men and a cattle ranch suspected of recklessly starting a fire that has burned for nearly two months in central California.

The heat was expected to strain the state's electricity generating capacity, although no shortages were predicted. The California Independent System Operator, which oversees the state's power grid, urged customers to continue conserving electricity.

Southern California Edison said its energy load peaked at an all-time high of 23,303 megawatts Friday afternoon, surpassing the previous record of 22,889 megawatts set on July 25, 2006.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said crews were working to restore power to 4,798 customers, said utility spokeswoman Kim Hughes.

Meanwhile, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the nation's largest public utility, said Friday that the recent heat wave in its seven-state region helped create record electricity demand.

The TVA set 13 peak power demand records — more than one every three days — during the month of August, TVA spokesman Gil Francis said Friday.

The federal utility set an all-time record of 33,499 megawatts on Aug. 16 when the average temperature in the valley hit 103.6 degrees — the highest average for TVA's region in 55 years.

A thousand megawatts powers about 550,000 homes in the utility's coverage area, which includes most of Tennessee and parts of Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia.

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Associated Press writer Duncan Mansfield in Knoxville, Tenn., contributed to this report.

Bush cites new tax relief for homeowners By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

Bush cites new tax relief for homeowners By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
44 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - New tax relief and the ability to refinance adjustable rate mortgages could help many Americans who are in danger of losing their homes, President Bush said Saturday.

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The president devoted his weekly radio address to a modest set of proposals he announced Friday to deal with an alarming rise in mortgage defaults, which has contributed to turbulent financial markets.

"The mortgage industry is going through a period of adjustment," Bush said. "And some Americans are worried about the impact this is having on their ability to make their monthly mortgage payments."

Foreclosure and late payments have spiked, especially for so-called subprime borrowers with blemished credit histories or low incomes. Higher interest rates and weak home values have made it impossible for some to pay or to keep up with their monthly mortgage payments. Some overstretched homeowners can't afford to refinance or even sell their homes.

Mortgage foreclosures and late payments are expected to worsen. Some 2 million adjustable rate mortgages are to reset to higher rates this year and next. Steep penalties for prepaying mortgages have added to some homeowners' headaches.

Bush's proposals would make it easier for borrowers currently holding adjustable rate mortgages to refinance using the resources of the Federal Housing Administration, a Depression-era agency created to help low- and moderate-income Americans afford homes.

An estimated 60,000 homeowners who have fallen behind on their payments because their mortgages have reset would be able to refinance with FHA-insured loans. That marks a significant change because now FHA does not insure refinanced loans from borrowers who are currently delinquent.

To qualify for the new program, being called FHA Secure, a borrower must prove that the original loan was being repaid until it reset to a higher rate and must have 3 percent equity in the home. The FHA does not supply the mortgage loan but it guarantees loans extended by banks and other lenders.

FHA officials said another 20,000 people would be helped by a new type of risk-based pricing for its loan guarantees that will allow lower-income mortgage holders to qualify by paying slightly higher rates.

As another part of his mortgage package, Bush said he would support legislation currently pending in Congress that would temporarily change tax law to let homeowners avoid paying taxes on forgiven debt in loans that are being restructured by financial institutions. Bush also urged Congress to modernize and improve the FHA so more homeowners could qualify for the mortgage insurance provided by the agency.

Bush emphasized that his actions are not aimed at bailing out home buyers who made bad decisions.

"It is not the government's job to bail out speculators, or those who made the decision to buy a home they knew they could never afford," he said. "We'll continue to work hard to keep our housing market strong."

The president's proposals follow a number of measures that have already been introduced in Congress to deal with the mortgage lending crisis. Many Democrats said they welcomed Bush's ideas, but felt they did not go far enough and should be modified to help more people.

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Associated Press writers Martin Crutsinger, Deb Riechmann and Jim Abrams contributed to this story.

60 suspected Afghan militants killed By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer

60 suspected Afghan militants killed By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 49 minutes ago



KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghan police and foreign forces killed around 60 suspected Taliban fighters, many in the region where the insurgents recently released a group of South Korean church workers they had been holding, authorities said Saturday.

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Meanwhile, South Korea's foreign minister defended direct negotiations with the Taliban to free the hostages amid concern the move violated international principles and could spur more abductions.

Police attacked a group of Taliban late Friday who were planning to strike security forces in the central Afghan province of Ghazni, killing 18 and arresting six others, said provincial police Gen. Ali Shah Ahmadai.

Taliban militants abducted 23 South Koreans in Ghazni district six weeks ago. They killed two male hostages, released two women last month and the final 19 were freed last week after the Taliban held unprecedented negotiations with the government in Seoul. They left Afghanistan Friday and were due in South Korea early Sunday.

South Korean Foreign Minister Song Min-soon on Saturday emphasized that South Korean negotiators were tasked with protecting the "innocent lives of hostages." He also denied claims that South Korea paid a ransom to the Taliban, saying "there is no such thing," according to Yonhap news agency.

South Korea drew praise at home for saving the remaining hostages, but many in the country are also concerned that its international reputation may suffer because of the direct talks — considered a breach of the widely accepted international principle of not negotiating with terrorists.

Further embarrassing Seoul, the Taliban have claimed that the kidnapping of the South Koreans were "successful" and vowed to continue with similar actions.

In southern Helmand province on Friday, a combined police and U.S.-led coalition patrol came under attack with mortar, rocket-propelled grenade and small-arms fire. In the fight that ensued, "almost two dozen" insurgents were killed, the coalition said in a statement Saturday.

No Afghan or coalition soldiers, or civilians, were killed, the statement said.

The fighting took place in Musa Qala district, parts of which have been under the control of Taliban militants for several months.

U.S.-led troops and Afghan security forces also raided compounds late Friday in three villages in the remote Pitigal Valley border region, where intelligence showed that top militant leaders take refuge as they travel between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

More than 20 insurgents were killed and 11 others were detained, while officers also discovered a bomb-making factory, the U.S.-led coalition said in a statement.

It was not possible to independently verify the death tolls in the three incidents because travel in the areas is extremely dangerous. Taliban commanders were not available for comment.

The Taliban ruled most of Afghanistan from the mid-'90s up until 2001, when they were ousted by a U.S.-led coalition following the Sept. 11 attacks.

They are now leading an increasingly bloody campaign against the country's Western-backed government. More than 4,200 people — most of them insurgents — have been killed this year alone, according to an Associated Press count.

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Associated Press Writer Jae-Soon Chang in Seoul, South Korea, and APTN Senior Producer Fernando Sepe in Incheon, South Korea contributed to this report.

GOP: Craig plans to resign from Senate By JOHN MILLER and MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writers

GOP: Craig plans to resign from Senate By JOHN MILLER and MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writers
52 minutes ago



BOISE, Idaho - Idaho Republican Sen. Larry Craig's decision to quit spares his party the embarrassment of an indefinitely prolonged scandal following his arrest during a sex sting in a Minneapolis airport bathroom.

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Craig will announce his resignation, effective Sept. 30, at a news conference in Boise Saturday morning, GOP officials in Idaho and Washington told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Still, opting to wait a month before officially bowing out raises questions of what Craig hopes to accomplish in Washington once the post-Labor Day session begins.

Word of the resignation came four days after disclosure that Craig had pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge arising out of his June 11 arrest during a lewd-conduct investigation at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Craig's regional director in Boise, Will Hart, declined to say if the senator will appear in Senate chambers Tuesday. Craig, should he show up, could continue to be a liability for his party as it tries to shed negative publicity, said Jasper LiCalzi, a professor of political economy at Albertson College of Idaho in Caldwell.

"If he's trying to walk into the Senate chamber, everybody is going to be following him," LiCalzi said. "I've been surprised by everything — this is one more."

The three-term Republican senator had maintained he did nothing wrong — except for making the guilty plea without consulting a lawyer. But he found almost no support among Republicans in his home state or Washington.

Although several Republicans familiar with internal deliberations said Idaho Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter favored Lt. Gov. Jim Risch as a replacement, both Otter aides and Risch said no decision had been made.

"I have not been promised the job of U.S. senator, nor has there even been a hint that the governor would appoint me to that position," Risch told the AP. "At this point in time, that discussion is very premature."

Mark Warbis, a spokesman for Otter, said the governor would not comment until he hears from Craig.

Craig has been out of public view since Tuesday, when he declared defiantly at a Boise news conference: "I am not gay. I never have been gay." But Republican sources in Idaho said he spent Friday making calls to top party officials, including the governor, gauging their support.

There has been virtually none publicly.

GOP lawmakers stripped Craig of leadership posts Wednesday, a day after calling for an investigation of Craig's actions by the Senate Ethics Committee. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called Craig's conduct "unforgivable" and acknowledged many in the rank and file thought Craig should resign.

Craig, 62, has represented Idaho in Congress for more than a quarter-century and was up for re-election next year.

Larry LaRocco, a former Democratic House member who is campaigning for Craig's seat in 2008, said, "Obviously, change is in the air. I represent that change, and based on the last few days, people are really looking for that change."

Still, Idaho remains one of the nation's most reliably Republican states. The GOP controls the statehouse and all four seats in Congress, and Bush carried the state in 2004 with 68 percent of the vote.

Risch, the lieutenant governor, served for seven months as governor last year after former Gov. Dirk Kempthorne was named interior secretary. Risch had said earlier he was interested in Craig's Senate seat if Craig did not seek re-election in 2008.

Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, also had been mentioned as a possible replacement for Craig, but the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because Craig has not resigned, said Otter would probably choose Risch.

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Daly reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Todd Dvorak in Boise and David Espo and Liz Sidoti in Washington contributed to this report.