Nation/World Briefly: Obama warns of new financial crisis without new rules

WASHINGTON — The U.S. is destined to endure a new economic crisis that sticks taxpayers with the bill unless Congress tightens oversight of the financial industry, President Barack Obama said Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address.

The overhaul is the next major piece of legislation that Obama wants to sign into law this year, but solid GOP opposition in the Senate is jeopardizing that goal.

A proposal that Senate Democrats are readying for debate creates a mechanism for liquidating large financial companies to avoid a meltdown.

For the first time, the government would regulate derivatives, those financial instruments whose value depends on an underlying asset, such as mortgages or stocks. Derivatives can help hedge risks but can produce steep losses, or huge profits, if the value of their underlying asset sinks.

The proposal also would create a council to detect threats to the financial system and set up a consumer protection agency to police people’s dealings with financial institutions.

Texas: LBJ’s youngest daughter hospitalized

Luci Baines Johnson, the youngest daughter of former President Lyndon B. Johnson, is being treated at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota for what doctors suspect is a rare autoimmune disorder, Guillain-Barre syndrome, that affects the nervous system, her personal physician said Saturday. Initially, Johnson was admitted to a hospital in Austin on Wednesday after experiencing “extreme weakness” in her arms and legs, her doctor said. Johnson, 62, had a mild viral illness preceding this, a sore throat and hoarseness that probably was related because “in the vast majority of cases” the disorder follows a viral illness, her doctor said.

California: Road built to avoid sinkhole

Crews were building a new road after a massive sinkhole in Richmond cut off a neighborhood of more than 100 homes. The sinkhole swallowed up two parked cars when it opened Thursday evening. No one was in the cars. A fire official said the hole, estimated to be about 60 feet long, 40 feet wide and 20 feet deep, cut off vehicle access for people in the neighborhood.

Florida: Shuttle heads back to Earth

Discovery and its crew left the International Space Station on Saturday, space officials at Cape Canaveral said, with a return to Earth expected Monday morning. Discovery left behind nearly 8 tons of cargo and equipment, including a new tank full of ammonia coolant. The tank was successfully installed over the course of three spacewalks, but stiff bolts made the work more strenuous than anticipated.

Australia: ‘Black people’ typo leads to cookbook reprint

An Australian publisher is reprinting 7,000 cookbooks over a recipe for pasta with “salt and freshly ground black people.” Penguin Group Australia’s head of publishing, Bob Sessions, acknowledged the proofreader should have caught the “silly mistake.” The typo was in the “Pasta Bible” recipe for spelt tagliatelle with sardines and prosciutto.

Kyrgyzstan: U.S. base unjustified, new official says

A top official in Kyrgyzstan’s interim government said Saturday that a U.S. air base supporting operations in Afghanistan is “not justified,” the first sign of significant divisions over the facility. Since an uprising that culminated in the toppling of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, the interim government’s leader has announced the Manas air base can remain open for a year after the lease expires in July. Azymbek Beknazarov, the acting prosecutor general, and others in the interim government charge the U.S. with ignoring their oppression when they opposed Bakiyev because it wanted to protect Manas.

Iran: Supreme leader calls U.S. nukes a tool of terror

Iran’s supreme leader told a nuclear disarmament conference in Tehran on Saturday that the United States’ atomic weapons are a tool of terror and intimidation. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said America deceptively calls for nonproliferation while holding on to its own weapons and failing to confront Israel, which is widely believed to have nuclear bombs. Iran was not invited to President Barack Obama’s 47-nation summit in Washington last week to discuss nuclear security.

Sudan: Elections fail standards, monitors say

International monitors said Saturday that Sudan’s first multiparty elections in more than two decades failed to meet international standards. However, the observers did not call for a revote, and instead recommended that lessons drawn from the process be applied to next year’s crucial referendum on southern independence.

Another setback for the vote — which ended Thursday — came Saturday from a prominent opposition party, which said it would not recognize the election results, citing allegations of vote rigging by President Omar al-Bashir’s National Congress Party.

From Herald news services

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

The view of Mountain Loop Mine out the window of a second floor classroom at Fairmount Elementary on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
County: Everett mining yard violated order halting work next to school

At least 10 reports accused OMA Construction of violating a stop-work order next to Fairmount Elementary. A judge will hear the case.

Imagine Children's Museum's incoming CEO, Elizabeth "Elee" Wood. (Photo provided by Imagine Children's Museum)
Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett will welcome new CEO in June

Nancy Johnson, who has led Imagine Children’s Museum in Everett for 25 years, will retire in June.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.