World News

• Labour MP facing expenses probe
  

  Labour MP Harry Cohen is being investigated by the police over his expenses claims, the BBC understands.
  Mr Cohen, who is standing down at the election, was stripped of a £65,000 pay-off for retiring MPs after a "serious" breach of expenses rules.
  The BBC’s Daniel Sandford said no file on the Leyton and Wanstead MP had [...]

• Bill Gates is no longer the world’s richest man, says Forbes
  

  Mexican telecom giant Carlos Slim has topped Forbes magazine’s billionaire’s list – the first time since 1994 that an American has not led the rankings.
  Mr Slim’s fortune rose by .5bn (£12.4bn) from last year to .5bn.
  That beat Microsoft founder Bill Gates into second place, with US investor Warren Buffet in third.
  After a tough [...]

• BA strike talks end without deal
  

  Talks between British Airways and the Unite union aimed at averting strike action by cabin crew have broken down without agreement.
  The TUC, which has been hosting the discussions, said that no deal had been reached, and no further talks were scheduled.
  BA cabin crew voted for strike action last month over cuts and changes to [...]

• Tories allege plan to cut police
  

  By James LandaleDeputy political editor, BBC News

  The Conservatives say ministers are planning to reduce the number of front-line police, despite a pledge to protect them from spending cuts.
  A Home Office study of nine forces has concluded that savings could be made by using more civilian staff.
  Civilians can be used for roles such as keeping [...]

• Scientists to review climate body
  

  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked the world’s science academies to review work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
  Work will be co-ordinated by the Inter-Academy Council, which brings together bodies such as the UK’s Royal Society.
  The IPCC has been under pressure over small errors in its last major assessment of climate science [...]

• Leaping off the page – Belgian paper prints 3D edition
  

  A Belgian French-language daily has issued what is thought to be Europe’s first 3D newspaper – complete with cardboard viewing glasses.
  All the photos and ads in La Derniere Heure’s (DH) special edition were given a three-dimensional effect, but the text remained the same.
  DH’s editor said there were no further 3D plans due to the [...]

Business News

• Chart: Performance by Mortgage Servicers Through December 2009

  by ProPublica
  Chart: Performance by Mortgage Servicers Through December 2009
  by Paul Kiel and Dan Nguyen, ProPublica – January 15, 2010
  On Jan. 15, 2010, the Treasury Department released data showing how the largest mortgage servicers participating in the administration’s billion foreclosure prevention program have been performing. You can see that breakdown below. The data show activity through Dec. [...]

• Listen In: ProPublica Reporters on NPR

  by Amanda Michel, ProPublica –
  On Wednesday, ProPublica and NPR’s Planet Money announced an ongoing investigation into the inner workings of Wall Street during the boom years.
  ProPublica’s Jake Bernstein and Jesse Eisinger rang the investigation’s opening bell with Planet Money editor Alex Blumberg and correspondent Chana Joffe-Walt. They noted that the SEC is only now [...]

• Were You Involved In the CDO Industry?

  by Amanda Michel, ProPublica –
  ProPublica’s Jake Bernstein and Jesse Eisinger and NPR’s Planet Money are collaborating on an investigation about the inner workings of the Wall Street CDO industry. For more details, see their story today about how nearly three years on, the SEC is asking basic questions about key players in the meltdown.
  If [...]

• SEC Just Now Seeking Key Information On Meltdown

  by Jake Bernstein and Jesse Eisinger, ProPublica –
  This story is part of an ongoing investigation with NPR’s Planet Money. 

  Almost three years since banks started taking losses that led to the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, the Securities and Exchange Commission is still asking basic questions about what happened.

  Were you there?
  If you [...]

• Feds May Tighten Rules on Omniscan, a GE MRI Drug

  by Jeff Gerth, ProPublica –
  Dec. 2, 2009: This post has been corrected.
  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is weighing further regulation of three drugs used to create high-contrast images on MRI scans, based on a new analysis that suggests they carry a higher risk of causing a rare but potentially fatal disease.
  The issue — [...]

• At University of Phoenix, Allegations of Enrollment Abuses Persist

  by Sharona Coutts, ProPublica –

  After federal regulators accused the University of Phoenix of systematic enrollment abuses in 2004, the school’s parent company paid out nearly million to resolve the allegations.
  Phoenix allegedly had broken the law by tying recruiters’ pay to enrollment numbers, U.S. Department of Education investigators found, creating pressure to sign up [...]