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August 2009

Delay further muddies confused Afghan poll picture (Reuters)

Thu, 08/27/2009 - 04:49 — admin

KABUL (Reuters) –
Afghan officials said on Thursday they had delayed releasing further results from the nation's disputed presidential poll, adding further confusion to a contest which appears headed for a second round.

Votes from about 17 percent of 27,000 polling stations have been counted so far, meaning results could swing wildly in the coming days. Preliminary final results are due on September 3, with the final tally about two weeks later.

Afghanistan has been in political limbo since the August 20 vote, with partial results released so far showing President Hamid Karzai leading his main rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, by about 43 percent to 34 percent.

Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) said only votes from provincial council elections, held concurrently with the presidential poll a week ago, would be counted on Thursday.

Adding to an already chaotic picture, computer software failures meant counting was going slower than expected, said IEC deputy head Zekria Barakzai.

The election is a major test for Karzai after eight years in power and for U.S. President Barack Obama, who has poured in thousands of extra troops as part of his new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and stabilize Afghanistan.

The picture will not become any clearer for at least two days, with no counting planned for Friday, a Muslim holiday.

"We will come up with new figures and information on Saturday," Barakzai told Reuters.

To avoid a potentially destabilising second round run-off in October, a candidate must win more than 50 percent of the vote.

The most likely outcome that can be gleaned from the partial election results released so far is that a run-off is likely, election observers say.

FOREIGN TROOP DEATHS HIT 300

Security in Afghanistan has deteriorated rapidly this year, with attacks reaching their worst levels since the austere Islamist Taliban were ousted by U.S.-led Afghan forces in 2001.

Violence spiked further in the weeks leading up to the poll, which the Taliban vowed to disrupt, testing Obama's new strategy and softening support for the war in the United States, but the election went ahead with relatively few attacks.

However, at least 43 people were killed in a huge truck bomb blast on Tuesday in southern Kandahar city, the worst incident of its kind in more than a year. The Taliban denied responsibility for the blast.

With civilian and military casualties at record levels, 2009 has become the deadliest year of the war for foreign troops.

Three hundred have been killed so far this year compared with 294 in 2008, the previous worst year of the war.

Another five members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had been killed in separate incidents over the past three days, ISAF and the U.S. military said.

ISAF said in a statement 12 Taliban fighters had been killed during a raid, backed by attack helicopters, on a clinic in southeastern Paktika province on Wednesday during which a Taliban commander was detained.

The Taliban commander, known as Mullah Muslim, was being treated for wounds suffered in a gunbattle with Afghan forces on election day, it said. One ISAF soldier was killed during the raid, the statement said.

Two U.S. service members were killed on Wednesday, one in the east and the other in the violent south, home of the Taliban-led insurgency. One was killed by a roadside bomb, the deadliest weapon used by insurgents, and the other in a gunbattle, ISAF said in a separate statement.

Another U.S. soldier was killed during an firefight with insurgents after a patrol was hit by a roadside bomb in the south earlier on Thursday, ISAF said.

Another ISAF service member whose nationality was not released died on Tuesday of wounds suffered in a roadside bomb blast almost two weeks ago.

More than 30,000 extra U.S. troops have landed in Afghanistan this year, most part of a package of reinforcements ordered by Obama in May. More than 100,000 Western troops are now in the country, 63,000 of them Americans.

(Additional reporting by Jonathon Burch and Hamid Shalizi; Writing by Paul Tait; Editing by David Fox)

Ellie Greenwich, `Chapel of Love' co-writer, dies (AP)

Thu, 08/27/2009 - 02:40 — admin

NEW YORK – Ellie Greenwich, who co-wrote some of pop music's most enduring songs, including "Chapel of Love," "Be My Baby" and "Leader of the Pack," died Wednesday, according to her niece. She was 68.
Greenwich died of a heart attack at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, where she had been admitted a few days earlier for treatment of pneumonia, according to her niece, Jessica Weiner.
Greenwich, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, was considered one of pop's most successful songwriters. She had a rich musical partnership with the legendary Phil Spector, whose "wall of sound" technique changed rock music. With Spector, she wrote some of pop's most memorable songs, including "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "River Deep, Mountain High." But Spector wasn't her only collaborator.
She also had key hits with her ex-husband Jeff Barry, including the dynamic song "Leader of the Pack" (years later, Broadway would stage a Tony-nominated musical with the same name based on her life).
"He was the first male I could actually harmonize with," she once said.
Greenwich was a native of Brooklyn. While she garnered her greatest success as a songwriter, Greenwich started out as a performer. She performed in talent shows as a child, and by the time she was a teen, she had her own group, called The Jivettes.
She went to college, where she met Barry, and shortly after graduation, began working for songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, where she got her break. She had her first chart success with the Jay and the Americans song "This Is It," which she wrote with Doc Pomus and Tony Powers.
She also had success with Barry as the duo The Raindrops with the songs "What a Guy" and "The Kind of Boy You Can't Forget."
Greenwich also worked as an arranger and singer, a role that saw her working with artists including Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.
She is also credited with helping Neil Diamond get his start and was a co-producer of early Diamond hits "Cherry, Cherry" and "Kentucky Woman."
"Ellie Greenwich was one of the most important people in my career. She discovered me as a down-and-out songwriter and with her then-husband Jeff Barry co-produced all my early hits on Bang records," said Diamond in a statement. "She has remained a great friend and mentor over the years and will be missed greatly."
Among the more famous songs she wrote are "Baby I Love You," "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" and "Look of Love."
Greenwich is survived by a sister, brother-in-law, nephew and her niece.
___
On the Net:
http://www.elliegreenwich.com/

Ellie Greenwich, `Chapel of Love' co-writer, dies (AP)

Thu, 08/27/2009 - 01:21 — admin

NEW YORK – Ellie Greenwich, who co-wrote some of pop music's most enduring songs, including "Chapel of Love," "Be My Baby" and "Leader of the Pack," died Wednesday, according to her niece. She was 68.
Greenwich died of a heart attack at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital, where she had been admitted a few days earlier for treatment of pneumonia, according to her niece, Jessica Weiner.
Greenwich, a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame, was considered one of pop's most successful songwriters. She had a rich musical partnership with the legendary Phil Spector, whose "wall of sound" technique changed rock music. With Spector, she wrote some of pop's most memorable songs, including "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "River Deep, Mountain High." But Spector wasn't her only collaborator.
She also had key hits with her ex-husband Jeff Barry, including the dynamic song "Leader of the Pack" (years later, Broadway would stage a Tony-nominated musical with the same name based on her life).
"He was the first male I could actually harmonize with," she once said.
Greenwich was a native of Brooklyn. While she garnered her greatest success as a songwriter, Greenwich started out as a performer. She performed in talent shows as a child, and by the time she was a teen, she had her own group, called The Jivettes.
She went to college, where she met Barry, and shortly after graduation, began working for songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, where she got her break. She had her first chart success with the Jay and the Americans song "This Is It," which she wrote with Doc Pomus and Tony Powers.
She also had success with Barry as the duo The Raindrops with the songs "What a Guy" and "The Kind of Boy You Can't Forget."
Greenwich also worked as an arranger and singer, a role that saw her working with artists including Frank Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald.
She is also credited with helping Neil Diamond get his start and was a co-producer of early Diamond hits "Cherry, Cherry" and "Kentucky Woman."
"Ellie Greenwich was one of the most important people in my career. She discovered me as a down-and-out songwriter and with her then-husband Jeff Barry co-produced all my early hits on Bang records," said Diamond in a statement. "She has remained a great friend and mentor over the years and will be missed greatly."
Among the more famous songs she wrote are "Baby I Love You," "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" and "Look of Love."
Greenwich is survived by a sister, brother-in-law, nephew and her niece.
___
On the Net:
http://www.elliegreenwich.com/

Queen Size Lingerie

Thu, 08/27/2009 - 01:00 — admin

Fashionable young men in early 16th century Germany showed a lot of fine linen in a studied negligee. This unidentified gentleman has a band of "smocking" round the collar of his shift. (Portrait by Ambrosius Holbein, 1518, at the Hermitage Museum)

The purpose of 18th century stays was to emphasise the bust, while drawing the shoulders back. At this time, the eyelets were reinforced with stitches, and were not placed across from one another, but staggered. This allowed the stays to be spiral laced. One end of the stay lace is inserted and knotted in the bottom eyelet, the other end is wound through the stays' eyelets and tightened on the top. To tighten the laces the wearer had to hold onto something, as this method of lacing pulled the wearer from side to side as it was tightened.(Steele, 22)

Queen Size Lingerie

Surviving the dreaded tarmac delay (AP)

Wed, 08/26/2009 - 20:51 — admin

ATLANTA – You're tired, hungry, have a cranky baby on your lap and all you want to do is get off the plane, but you can't because it's been on the tarmac for hours waiting to take off.
While such delays are rare, they can be more common during the hot summer due to thunderstorms and, this year, because of fewer flights to get you to your destination if your flight is canceled.
A six-hour delay with 47 people aboard a small Continental Express plane at a Minnesota airport this month is the extreme. In June, the most recent month for which data is available, there were 278 tarmac delays of 3 hours or more. That was the most this year but still only .05 percent of the total number of scheduled flights that month.
Information is the best ammunition in such situations. Experts advise that passengers be prepared. Here are answers to some questions travelers may ask.
Q. Can't I just get off the plane?
A. No. The captain has ultimate control of the plane and generally will determine if and when to return to the gate and allow passengers to get off.
"It's not a democracy," says Robert Mann, an airline industry consultant in Port Washington, N.Y.
Passengers can request that the aircraft return to the gate, or if they have a cell phone they can call airline customer service or their carrier's frequent flier hotline and exert pressure that way. If you have a medical condition or are ill, notify the crew immediately. But taking matters into your own hands is ill-advised. An FAA spokeswoman says unruly passengers who make a run for the aircraft door could be arrested for interfering with the crew.
Q. Why would the airline choose to keep the passengers onboard rather than let them get off?
A. It takes a lot of time to get passengers off a plane and then back on again. If the weather clears up at the airport where you are heading, the crew may have a limited opportunity to take off. Tarmac delays often occur because of bad weather, congestion and air traffic control issues. Further delays could be caused by allowing passengers to get off, which also could mean passengers with connecting flights might miss those connections.
Airline operations also are a factor. Because of weak demand for air travel due to the ailing economy, airlines have taken large chunks of seats out of the air and are offering fewer flights and frequencies to some destinations.
"It may add to the reason there are the tarmac delays and not the cancellations," says Terry Trippler, an airline and travel expert based in Minneapolis. "The airlines realize that there aren't a lot of flights to get them onto alternate flights, and that's why they rather just wait and get them out."
Q. How long can the crew keep me on the plane before heading back to the gate?
A. There's no law or rule mandating that the crew allow you to get off after a certain period. Legislation introduced in the Senate in July would require planes delayed more than three hours to return to a gate. A rule proposed by the Department of Transportation would require airlines to have contingency plans for dealing with lengthy tarmac delays. Some airlines have implemented customer commitments in recent years to try to appease passengers. JetBlue Airways vows to deplane passengers if an aircraft is delayed on the ground for five hours. That was instituted in 2007 after passengers on a JetBlue flight waited 11 hours on the tarmac at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Q. Will I get something to eat and drink while I wait?
A. Airlines generally only stock enough food and drinks for the length of the flight. Passengers on the Continental Express flight later complained about not being offered food and drink during their lengthy tarmac delay. Several airlines have procedures for dealing with onboard delays that include making sure the cabin temperature is appropriate and passengers have access to restrooms, and food and water.
After a recent AirTran Airways flight from Pittsburgh to Atlanta was diverted to Chattanooga, Tenn., flight attendants offered bottled water and pretzels to passengers during the 90-minute tarmac delay.
Delta Air Lines says on its Web site that in the event of onboard ground delays under certain circumstances, it promises to make timely announcements regarding the flight status, allow customers to use cell phones and laptop computers and provide snacks and beverages to customers when "reasonable and safe to do so." Experts advise that passengers should carry food and drink with them on flights in case of a delay while onboard.

"Instead of that extra pair of shoes in your carryon, you put an extra sandwich or an extra bottle of water," Trippler says.

Q. What can I do to pass the time during a tarmac delay?

A. On a long delay you might be hoping that you're not stuck next to someone who wants to share his life story. In that case on-flight TV or radio may be your salvation. What's more, it's always smart to carry something to read to get you through a delay no matter how long.

If you have a connecting flight that you might miss, use your cell phone to call airline customer service and rebook your next flight. The one thing experts agree on is that it is important to stay calm in those situations.

Q. What kind of compensation am I entitled to if I experience a tarmac delay?

A. Typically, circumstances beyond the control of an airline are not covered in terms of passengers being provided compensation, says aviation consultant Mark Kiefer of CRA International in Boston. However, airlines have discretion to help passengers out, and some even have policies for allowing for compensation when there are tarmac delays.

For instance, JetBlue customers who experience an onboard ground delay on arrival for two hours or more after scheduled arrival time are entitled to a voucher. The voucher is good for future travel on JetBlue in the amount paid by the customer for their roundtrip ticket.

Q. Where can I get more information about airline policies regarding tarmac delays?

A. Airline Web sites are a good place to start. Check the airline's contract of carriage, which outlines its responsibilities to customers and the action it will take in various situations.

Koreas near deal on family reunions at rare talks (Reuters)

Wed, 08/26/2009 - 19:39 — admin

SEOUL (Reuters) –
The rival Koreas neared a deal to resume reunions of families separated by the Korean War at a rare meeting on Wednesday that follows conciliatory moves made by the North after it was hit by sanctions, reports said.

The inter-Korean meeting held by Red Cross Societies in the North Korean resort of Mt. Kumgang is the first on humanitarian issues in about two years and comes after Pyongyang cut ties with Seoul in anger at the hardline policies of its president.

Analysts said the U.N. sanctions imposed on the North to punish it for carrying out a nuclear test in May could be squeezing its already depleted coffers and leading it to reach out to the South, once a major aid donor.

The two Koreas have proposed holding the reunions for the families split by the 1950-53 war in early October, but the two sides have proposed starting dates three days apart for the highly emotional gatherings, the South's Yonhap news agency reported government officials as saying.

The North suspended the reunions, which were last held about two years ago.

"The key issue on the agenda for this meeting is the reunion of separated families," South Korea's chief delegate to the talks, Kim Young-chel, told reporters before leaving Seoul.

Relations on the troubled peninsula turned chilly after President Lee Myung-bak took office in Seoul about 18 months ago. He halted unconditional handouts and linked resuming the South's largesse to the North ending its nuclear arms ambitions.

Lee had his first chance to tell North Korean officials of his policy face to face on Sunday, when he met a delegation that had flown to Seoul to mourn former President Kim Dae-jung, who was buried the same day.

North Korea has also released two U.S. journalists and a South Korean worker it had held in separate incidents, ended restrictions on border crossings and said it wanted to restore suspended tours for South Koreans to its state.

RISK DISCOUNT

But analysts and traders said the softening tone was still not enough to lift the risk discount that weighs on South Korean financial markets because of the security threat posed by a confrontational North.

"South Korea's geopolitical factor is still priced in, and the latest friendlier gestures by the North do not change that," Samsung Securities market analyst Hwang Keum-dan said.

"However, a softer approach by the North certainly comes as a positive development and should be an added help for market sentiment."

A U.S. official charged with enforcing U.N. sanctions on the North for its defiant missile and nuclear tests said the sanctions were having an impact, though it was still too early to gauge precisely.

"We've seen some indication that the overall effort is working," Philip Goldberg told reporters in Tokyo. "I don't want to say whether or not, or judge exactly how much and what kind of result we can expect at this point."

Just under 20,000 Koreans from both sides have taken part in the brief reunions of separated family members since the two Koreas tried to improve ties in 2000 after their first summit meetings since the war.

Hundreds of thousands of others still wait to hear through the Red Cross whether parents, siblings and children are alive on the other side of the world's most heavily militarized border.

South Korea has urged the North through the Red Cross talks to explain the whereabouts of more than 1,000 South Korean prisoners of war and civilians believed to be held in the North.

(Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz, Jungyoun Park and Kim Yeon-hee in Seoul and Yoko Kubota in Tokyo; Editing by Jonathan Thatcher and Tim Pearce)

Lucas to present Venice award to Lasseter (Reuters)

Fri, 08/21/2009 - 00:41 — admin

ROME (Hollywood Reporter) –
"Star Wars" creator George Lucas will make his first trip to the Venice Film Festival to present the Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement to John Lasseter and the directors of Disney-Pixar, festival organizers said Thursday.

The presentation, which will take place September 6 in the Palazzo del Cinema's Sala Grande, will be held in conjunction with screenings of new 3D version of "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2." Lasseter directed both films. The evening also will include the premiere of a 10-minute clip from "The Princess and the Frog," Disney's return to hand-drawn animation, and the screening of a new sequence from the in-production project "Toy Story 3."

A day later, Lasseter and Disney-Pixar's Brad Bird, Peter Docter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unrich will host a two-session master class, with one session reserved for young European animators.

Though the trip will be the first to the Venice festival for Lucas, the fest was the platform for the European release of two of the films in his "Star Wars" series: 1980's "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi" in 1983.

The 66th edition of the Venice Festival opens September 2 and runs through September 12.

(Editing by Sheri Linden at Reuters)

(please visit our entertainment blog via www.reuters.com or on http://blogs.reuters.com/fanfare/)

Obama admin. to end Cash for Clunkers on Monday (AP)

Fri, 08/21/2009 - 00:14 — admin

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration will end the popular $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program on Monday, giving car shoppers a few more days to take advantage of big government incentives.
The Transportation Department said Thursday that the government will wind down the program on Monday at 8 p.m. EDT. Car buyers can receive rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 for trading in older vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient models.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the program has been "a lifeline to the automobile industry, jump starting a major sector of the economy and putting people back to work." He said the department was "working toward an orderly wind down of this very popular program."
The White House has touted the program's success in providing a targeted boost to the sluggish economy since its inception in late July. Through Thursday, auto dealers have made deals worth $1.9 billion and the incentives have generated more than 457,000 vehicle sales.
But the administration needed to put a halt to the program to avoid surpassing the $3 billion funding level. Consumers were on pace to exhaust the program's coffers in early September and dealers have complained about long delays in getting reimbursed for the car incentives.
John McEleney, chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, said he remained concerned that so few dealers had been reimbursed for Clunker deals. But he said the Monday deadline should give dealers time to get their paperwork in order.
"I think if we can get a clean cutoff Monday and get everything processed by then, it will have been a pretty darned successful program," he said.
But Mike Mahalak, who runs a Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep dealership in Winter Haven, Fla., said the Monday end date could lead to a similar rush that nearly crippled the federal government's computer systems that were set up to handle claims.
"That Web site will lock up again once everyone is cramming it again on Monday," Mahalak said. The administration has said it expanded the capacity of the computer network in an effort to improve the process for dealers.
The Transportation Department said they have reviewed nearly 40 percent of the transactions and have already paid out $145 million to dealers. Obama officials said there are no plans to seek additional funding.
Applications for rebates will not be accepted after the Monday deadline, administration officials said, and dealers should not make additional sales without receiving all the necessary paperwork from their customers. Dealers will be able to resubmit rejected applications after the deadline.
The Transportation Department cautioned dealers about making sales this weekend, advising them to make sales only when the buyer's paperwork is clearly in order and can be submitted immediately for repayment.
President Barack Obama said in an interview Thursday that the program has been "successful beyond anybody's imagination" but dealers were overwhelmed by the response of consumers. He pledged that dealers "will get their money." The administration has said it has tripled the number of staffers sorting through the dealer paperwork.
Dealers have complained of delays in getting reimbursed and backlogs of vehicle paperwork getting processed in the program. Dealers have said they face a risk of not being reimbursed but LaHood has pledged that dealers will be paid.
"We do not know how many deals are in the pipeline. We don't know how many dollars are left in the program at this very moment," said Ted Smith, president of the Florida Automobile Dealers Association. "That's fundamental to the health of the dealerships that are participating. If you run out of money before you run out of deals, that's not a good situation."
On Thursday, both Chrysler and General Motors said they would begin providing cash advances to dealers to help cover any cash shortfalls related to the program. The automakers said they would provide the advances for up to 30 days to dealers who have already completed a sale and that they will be available as long as the program remains in effect.
The National Automobile Dealers Association said its trade group met with Transportation officials to discuss concerns about reimbursement delays and ways of fixing the problems. NADA spokesman Charles Cyrill said the association "stressed the importance of addressing — as soon as possible — how the program will end, including the possible suspension of the program."
Dealer say the delays have led to a cash crunch. They typically borrow money to put new cars on their lots and must repay those loans within a few days of a sale.

Some dealers are no longer participating in the Clunker program. The Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, which represents dealerships in the New York metro area, said about half its 425 members had left the program because they cannot afford to offer more rebates.

Still, the program provided at least a temporary jolt for automakers.

GM announced plans to rehire more than 1,300 workers and automakers have been paying overtime to boost production. Hyundai recalled 3,000 workers in Alabama.

"At a time of great economic distress, cash for clunkers has stimulated increased production by domestic automakers, putting thousands of idled workers back on the job," said Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich.

The government's online reimbursement system was flooded with requests shortly after the program began in late July, overwhelming the computer system and staff set up to process the deals. That led to big delays for dealers trying to file the paperwork they needed to get paid back for the rebates.

LaHood said some of the submitted paperwork has been incomplete or inaccurate, which contributed to delays. He acknowledged the Transportation Department did not have enough people to process the paperwork but said DOT was ramping up staff.

___

AP Auto Writer Dan Strumpf contributed from New York.

Obama admin. to end Cash for Clunkers on Monday (AP)

Thu, 08/20/2009 - 23:08 — admin

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration will end the popular $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program on Monday, giving car shoppers a few more days to take advantage of big government incentives.
The Transportation Department said Thursday that the government will wind down the program on Monday at 8 p.m. EDT. Car buyers can receive rebates of $3,500 or $4,500 for trading in older vehicles for new, more fuel-efficient models.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the program has been "a lifeline to the automobile industry, jump starting a major sector of the economy and putting people back to work." He said the department was "working toward an orderly wind down of this very popular program."
The White House has touted the program's success in providing a targeted boost to the sluggish economy since its inception in late July. Through Thursday, auto dealers have made deals worth $1.9 billion and the incentives have generated more than 457,000 vehicle sales.
But the administration needed to put a halt to the program to avoid surpassing the $3 billion funding level. Consumers were on pace to exhaust the program's coffers in early September and dealers have complained about long delays in getting reimbursed for the car incentives.
John McEleney, chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association, said he remained concerned that so few dealers had been reimbursed for Clunker deals. But he said the Monday deadline should give dealers time to get their paperwork in order.
"I think if we can get a clean cutoff Monday and get everything processed by then, it will have been a pretty darned successful program," he said.
But Mike Mahalak, who runs a Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep dealership in Winter Haven, Fla., said the Monday end date could lead to a similar rush that nearly crippled the federal government's computer systems that were set up to handle claims.
"That Web site will lock up again once everyone is cramming it again on Monday," Mahalak said. The administration has said it expanded the capacity of the computer network in an effort to improve the process for dealers.
The Transportation Department said they have reviewed nearly 40 percent of the transactions and have already paid out $145 million to dealers. Obama officials said there are no plans to seek additional funding.
Applications for rebates will not be accepted after the Monday deadline, administration officials said, and dealers should not make additional sales without receiving all the necessary paperwork from their customers. Dealers will be able to resubmit rejected applications after the deadline.
The Transportation Department cautioned dealers about making sales this weekend, advising them to make sales only when the buyer's paperwork is clearly in order and can be submitted immediately for repayment.
President Barack Obama said in an interview Thursday that the program has been "successful beyond anybody's imagination" but dealers were overwhelmed by the response of consumers. He pledged that dealers "will get their money." The administration has said it has tripled the number of staffers sorting through the dealer paperwork.
Dealers have complained of delays in getting reimbursed and backlogs of vehicle paperwork getting processed in the program. Dealers have said they face a risk of not being reimbursed but LaHood has pledged that dealers will be paid.
"We do not know how many deals are in the pipeline. We don't know how many dollars are left in the program at this very moment," said Ted Smith, president of the Florida Automobile Dealers Association. "That's fundamental to the health of the dealerships that are participating. If you run out of money before you run out of deals, that's not a good situation."
On Thursday, both Chrysler and General Motors said they would begin providing cash advances to dealers to help cover any cash shortfalls related to the program. The automakers said they would provide the advances for up to 30 days to dealers who have already completed a sale and that they will be available as long as the program remains in effect.
The National Automobile Dealers Association said its trade group met with Transportation officials to discuss concerns about reimbursement delays and ways of fixing the problems. NADA spokesman Charles Cyrill said the association "stressed the importance of addressing — as soon as possible — how the program will end, including the possible suspension of the program."
Dealer say the delays have led to a cash crunch. They typically borrow money to put new cars on their lots and must repay those loans within a few days of a sale.

Some dealers are no longer participating in the Clunker program. The Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, which represents dealerships in the New York metro area, said about half its 425 members had left the program because they cannot afford to offer more rebates.

Still, the program provided at least a temporary jolt for automakers.

GM announced plans to rehire more than 1,300 workers and automakers have been paying overtime to boost production. Hyundai recalled 3,000 workers in Alabama.

"At a time of great economic distress, cash for clunkers has stimulated increased production by domestic automakers, putting thousands of idled workers back on the job," said Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich.

The government's online reimbursement system was flooded with requests shortly after the program began in late July, overwhelming the computer system and staff set up to process the deals. That led to big delays for dealers trying to file the paperwork they needed to get paid back for the rebates.

LaHood said some of the submitted paperwork has been incomplete or inaccurate, which contributed to delays. He acknowledged the Transportation Department did not have enough people to process the paperwork but said DOT was ramping up staff.

___

AP Auto Writer Dan Strumpf contributed from New York.

Obama vows to finish job after "successful" Afghan vote (Reuters)

Thu, 08/20/2009 - 18:06 — admin

WASHINGTON/KABUL (Reuters) –
President Barack Obama said the U.S.-led forces must "focus on finishing the job" in Afghanistan after what he said appeared to have been a successful election in the country.

Millions of Afghans went to the polls on Thursday, defying Taliban threats of violence and sporadic attacks to choose a president in the midst of a worsening war.

"We had what appears to be a successful election in Afghanistan, despite the Taliban's efforts to disrupt it," Obama said from the White House. "We have to focus on finishing the job in Afghanistan but it is going to take some time."

The election was a test for Obama's new strategy aimed at reversing Taliban gains. U.S. combat casualties have risen amid a U.S. troop buildup and opinion polls have shown weakening American backing for the war.

Support for the Afghan campaign among some NATO allies is also on the wane and the German government scrambled to quash a public debate about pulling German troops out of Afghanistan that has grown louder amid the surge in violence.

The White House said Afghans had turned out to vote in large numbers despite threats of violence and U.S. policy in the eight-year-old war would not change.

Preliminary results are not due for two weeks, although polling stations could begin to report sooner.

The Afghan government said nine civilians and 14 members of the security forces were killed in 135 incidents countrywide on polling day.

Pre-election polls showed Karzai, in power since 2001, was likely to win but not by enough to avoid a run-off against his main challenger, his former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, who ran a surprisingly energetic campaign.

If Karzai fails to win more than 50 percent of the vote he will face a run-off in October, most likely against Abdullah.

The election is in large measure a referendum on Karzai, a master coalition builder who is personally liked by most Afghans but also widely blamed for running a government that is corrupt, ineffective and entirely dependent on international aid.

The president relied for votes on the endorsements of many of the country's notorious former militia chiefs, raising alarm among his Western backers that the cost of a victory in the election could be a return of warlords to power.

CORRUPTION BACK IN FOCUS

Experts say no matter who wins, the ultimate victor's approach and whether the election is deemed credible will have a big impact on the success or failure of U.S. strategy.

"We are going to need an understanding from whoever the new president is that Afghanistan is going to rise to the occasion," said Bruce Riedel of the Brookings Institution think tank.

"We have now put roughly 70,000 American soldiers into this war, we are committing billions of dollars in new assistance. We are living up to our end of the deal to resource the war properly," added Riedel, who oversaw the Obama administration's policy review this year of Afghanistan/Pakistan policy.

There also needs to be concrete proof early on that a new government is serious about good governance, fighting corruption and embracing the rule of law, said Alex Thier of the U.S. Institute of Peace nonpartisan think tank funded by the U.S. Congress.

"A failure to do that, particularly in Karzai's case, will lead to the further erosion of his legitimacy and also that of the government -- and by extension the international efforts in Afghanistan," Thier said.

U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke told reporters that after the vote count, for the United States corruption was "the most important issue."

Support among Washington's NATO allies for the Afghanistan mission is running thin. Debate about a pullout flared in Germany at the weekend after Volker Ruehe, defense minister under former Chancellor Helmut Kohl, called the Afghan mission a "disaster" and pressed Berlin to act.

Polls show a solid majority of Germans would like the 4,200 German troops operating in Afghanistan as part of a six-year-old NATO mission to return home.

The violence has prompted prominent political voices in Germany to press the government for a plan to pull out troops -- calls the chancellor and leading ministers dismissed.

"It is not helpful in a situation that is very difficult for German soldiers to question the purpose of the mission," Chancellor Angela Merkel told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.

(Additional reporting by Hamid Shalizi, Sayed Salahuddin, Paul Tait, David Fox and Adam Entous in KABUL, Ismail Sameem in KANDAHAR, Sher Ahmad in GHAZNI and Mohammad Hamed in KUNDUZ; Writing by Jeremy Laurence)



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