House bill limits risky trading
WASHINGTON (AP) - Bowing to populist anger, the House voted Friday to prohibit pay and bonus packages that encourage bankers and traders to take risks so big they could bring down the entire economy.
Passage of the bill on a 237-185 vote followed the disclosure a day earlier that nine of the nation's biggest banks, which are receiving billions of dollars in federal bailout aid, paid individual bonuses of
$1 million or more to nearly 5,000 employees.
"This is not the government taking over the corporate sector," Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C, said of the House action. "It is a statement by the American people that it is time for us to straighten up the ship."
Aware of voter outrage about the bonuses, Republicans were reluctant in Friday's debate to push back, even though they voted overwhelmingly against the bill.
They said severe restrictions should apply only to banks that accept government aid.The legislation's ban on risky compensation would apply to any firm with more than $1 billion in assets, including bank holding companies, broker-dealers, credit unions, investment advisers and mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Feds shut down banks in five states
WASHINGTON (AP) - Regulators on Friday shut down banks in Florida, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma and Illinois, boosting to 69 the number of federally insured banks to fail this year amid the pressures of the weak economy and mounting loan defaults.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the five banks.
The agency shut down Integrity Bank of Jupiter, Fla., with $119 million in assets and $102 million in deposits, and First BankAmericano, based in Elizabeth, N.J., with $166 million in assets and $157 million in deposits.
Also closed were Peoples Community Bank, West Chester, Ohio, with $705.8 million in assets and $598.2 million in deposits; First State Bank of Altus, in Altus, Okla., with $103.4 million in assets and $98.2 million in deposits; and Mutual Bank of Harvey, Ill., with $1.6 billion in assets and $1.6 billion in deposits.
Ex-Philippine President Corazon Aquino, dead at 76
MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Former President Corazon Aquino, who swept away a dictator with a "people power" revolt and then sustained democracy by fighting off seven coup attempts in six years, died on Saturday, her son said. She was 76.
The uprising she led in 1986 ended the repressive 20-year regime of Ferdinand Marcos and inspired nonviolent protests across the globe, including those that ended Communist rule in eastern Europe.
But she struggled in office to meet high public expectations. Her land redistribution program fell short of ending economic domination by the landed elite, including her own family. Her leadership, especially in social and economic reform, was often indecisive, leaving many of her closest allies disillusioned by the end of her term.
Wave of blasts in Iraq kills 29
BAGHDAD (AP) - A string of bombings targeted Shiite worshippers in the Baghdad area during Friday prayers, killing at least 29 people in an apparently coordinated attack against followers of an anti-U.S. cleric who were blamed for some of Iraq's worst sectarian violence.
The blasts shattered a recent calm and underscored warnings that suspected Sunni insurgents would step up efforts to stoke sectarian violence as the Americans draw down their forces. Despite the violence, July remained one of the calmest months for Iraqis and the least deadly for American forces.
The largest blast was a car bombing near the al-Shoroufi mosque that killed at least 24 people and wounded nearly 30 in the northern neighborhood of Shaab, a former stronghold of the militia led by Muqtada al-Sadr, whose forces were accused of being behind sectarian bloodshed and were routed last year in a U.S.-backed government offensive.
The mosque was seized by Iraqi security forces more than a year ago and has been used as a base after explosives and ammunition were found inside. But worshippers continued to hold weekly Friday prayer services on the street outside.