The Congress has served a legal notice to a Chennai-based newspaper for its “brazenly desperate attempt to fuel a controversy and malign” party general secretary Rahul Gandhi at the time of elections by questioning his M.Phil degree from Cambridge University.
The article — Rahul Gandhi, spin doctor — was published in The New Indian Express and carried on its website, expressbuzz.com, on April 11. The party said the newspaper had succeeded in defaming Rahul, 38, at the time of elections which had caused him “grave and irreparable harm”.
“Deeply distressed by your wild allegations, sly insinuations and self-serving innuendos, all premised on complete falsehoods and steeped in malice, a legal notice is being issued,” read the notice, copies of which were released to the media by party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
A copy of the letter of Professor Alison Richard, vice-chancellor of University of Cambridge, was attached to the notice. The letter said Rahul was a student of the university as a member of Trinity College from October 1994 to July 1995 and was awarded an M. Phil in Development Studies in 1995.
In fact, Rahul had told mediapersons at Kochi on April 13 that he would serve a legal notice to the newspaper.
“Instead of verifying anything from our client, you wrote the subject article falsely, recklessly and with complete disregard for truth, alleging that our client did not complete his degree,” read the notice settled by Singhvi himself. Singhvi practices in the Supreme Court. It accused the newspaper of bias against Rahul and his family.
“Our client is concerned with the systematic attempts that you have been making to defame him and his family from time to time by false, malicious, scurrilous and defamatory personal allegations. There is a systematic pattern to your devious agenda,” the notice said, demanding an apology from the newspaper
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Sonia Gandhi, LK Advani's fate to be decided to
The world's biggest electoral exercise enters a decisive stage on Thursday with voting for 107 Lok Sabha seats in the third phase of polling. By the end of the day, two-thirds of 714 million Indian voters spread across nine states and two union territories would have cast their vote.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate LK Advani and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda are among the 1,567 candidates whose electoral fate will be sealed in ballot boxes in this phase.
Stakes are high for both national parties. The phase will account for 372 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats. After Thursday, voting on just 171 seats will remain during two phases on May 7 and May 13 respectively.
Of the 107 seats in this phase, the BJP is defending 43 against 25 of the Congress. A 14.40 crore-strong electorate will vote on Thursday. Gujarat’s 26 parliamentary seats go to the polls, besides 11 and 16 in Karnataka and MP respectively. Voting will also take place in 10 constituencies in Maharashtra, 14 in West Bengal, 11 in Bihar and 15 in UP. Also going to the polls are Dadra and Nagar Haveli (one), Daman & Diu (one), Sikkim (one) and Jammu & Kashmir (one).
Voting in the remaining two phases is in states not considered BJP strongholds.
In Gujarat, the BJP is riding high on the popularity of Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The party is also seeking to capitalise on its prime ministerial candidate, LK Advani, contesting from Gandhinagar.
In 2004, the BJP had won 14 seats from the state, while the opposition Congress had surprised pollsters by winning 12. This was the best Congress performance in a decade.
In West Bengal, reformist Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee faces an acid test, with voting scheduled in 14 of the state’s 42 seats. Of the 14 seats, the Left has a challenge to retain 11, while the Congress is defending just the three it won last time.
In Madhya Pradesh, besides the Guna and Ratlam constituencies (from where Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kanti Lal Bhuria respectively are the Congress candidates), the constituencies going to poll in this phase are considered BJP strongholds.
The Karnataka battle promises to be an interesting one as well. The 11 seats in this phase include Shimoga where warhorse S Bangarappa of the Congress is facing BS Yedurappa’s son BY Raghvendra.
In Bihar, JD (U) President Sharad Yadav is contesting the Madhepura seat, while BJP’s Shah Nawaz Hussain is the candidate from Bhagalpur.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate LK Advani and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda are among the 1,567 candidates whose electoral fate will be sealed in ballot boxes in this phase.
Stakes are high for both national parties. The phase will account for 372 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats. After Thursday, voting on just 171 seats will remain during two phases on May 7 and May 13 respectively.
Of the 107 seats in this phase, the BJP is defending 43 against 25 of the Congress. A 14.40 crore-strong electorate will vote on Thursday. Gujarat’s 26 parliamentary seats go to the polls, besides 11 and 16 in Karnataka and MP respectively. Voting will also take place in 10 constituencies in Maharashtra, 14 in West Bengal, 11 in Bihar and 15 in UP. Also going to the polls are Dadra and Nagar Haveli (one), Daman & Diu (one), Sikkim (one) and Jammu & Kashmir (one).
Voting in the remaining two phases is in states not considered BJP strongholds.
In Gujarat, the BJP is riding high on the popularity of Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The party is also seeking to capitalise on its prime ministerial candidate, LK Advani, contesting from Gandhinagar.
In 2004, the BJP had won 14 seats from the state, while the opposition Congress had surprised pollsters by winning 12. This was the best Congress performance in a decade.
In West Bengal, reformist Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee faces an acid test, with voting scheduled in 14 of the state’s 42 seats. Of the 14 seats, the Left has a challenge to retain 11, while the Congress is defending just the three it won last time.
In Madhya Pradesh, besides the Guna and Ratlam constituencies (from where Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kanti Lal Bhuria respectively are the Congress candidates), the constituencies going to poll in this phase are considered BJP strongholds.
The Karnataka battle promises to be an interesting one as well. The 11 seats in this phase include Shimoga where warhorse S Bangarappa of the Congress is facing BS Yedurappa’s son BY Raghvendra.
In Bihar, JD (U) President Sharad Yadav is contesting the Madhepura seat, while BJP’s Shah Nawaz Hussain is the candidate from Bhagalpur.
UK buys 60m face masks as new cases of swine flu emerge
Three new British cases of swine flu were confirmed yesterday as the Department of Health stepped up its emergency response with plans to purchase additional stocks of antiviral drugs and face masks.
All three - a 12-year-old girl from Paignton, Devon, a 41-year-old woman from Redditch, Worcestershire, and a 22-year-old man from north-west London - had recently returned from Mexico.
The child was on the same flight into Birmingham as the Scottish honeymoon couple who tested positive earlierthis week. Her school has been closed for a week.
The number of suspected cases had risen to 78 by early yesterday afternoon, but the figure fluctuated as some were discounted after negative test results and others emerged.
Before the World Health Organisation last night declared a pandemic alert phase five, its second highest alert level, the UK health secretary, Alan Johnson, revealed an array of measures to combat the disease in Britain, including obtaining extra supplies of antiviral drugs to protect 50 million people - more than three-quarters of the population.
Current UK stockpiles of Tamiflu and Relenza are enough to cover 33 million.
The Department of Health could not give a figure for the cost of additional drugs. Prior to this week it had already spent £500m in "pandemic preparedness" - a sum that includes previously purchased antiviral drugs, vaccines and advance supply agreements for emergency medicines.
The further doses would "come through over the coming weeks", Johnson promised. The level of antiviral protection available was already far higher than any other country in the world, he added.
There is no evidence that providing the public with face masks would do anything to prevent the spread of the disease, but Johnson said 60m face masks would be ordered for "frontline" NHS staff, who may require several changes of mask in the course of their work.
There are signs of increased public demand for face masks. One online distributor, Windsor-based Surgical Face Masks, stopped taking orders yesterday, claiming to have been deluged by up to 5,000 orders since Saturday.
A factory in County Durham making face masks, run by the company 3M, has increased production to 24 hours a day, seven days a week to meet demand from the NHS.
The health secretary said: "To keep the public informed, a mass public health campaign will begin [today], with print, TV and radio adverts. The adverts will warn the public about swine flu and remind people to cover their noses and mouths with tissues [when they sneeze or cough] and then throw the tissue away."
The slogan will be "Catch It, Bin It, Kill It", referring to the advice to use throwaway paper tissues when ill, and to wash hands regularly. An information leaflet will be posted through people's doors next Tuesday.
The Department of Health has set up a telephone line for the public to ring for updates on the situation. The number is 0800 1513513.
Health Protection Agency staff are also being sent to UK airports that have direct flights to Mexico to hand out advice to passengers. Airlines are being asked to keep passenger seating records, normally purged after 24 hours, for a longer period to trace potential infection contacts.
"The virus is giving us more time than we would normally expect in a flu epidemic," said Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer. "It's possible it will evolve as it passes through the population." It could yet become more virulent. To be effective, he said, antiviral drugs have to be administered within 24 hours of the first symptoms appearing.
The decision to close the school in Devon until next Tuesday is in line with Health Protection Agency and WHO guidelines: seven days is the incubation period for the flu.
Fears of a fresh outbreak of swine flu in Scotland subsided yesterday after health authorities said 13 of the suspected cases had proven negative.
The Scottish health secretary, Nicola Sturgeon, said tests on eight of the nine people who had been in contact with the first Britons to catch it, Iain and Dawn Askham, had shown they did not have the same virus.
In a further development, tests on five of the 14 further suspected Scottish cases which came to light on Tuesday were also negative, while another two suspected cases were no longer of concern.
The minister said, however, that a further 24 suspect cases from across Scotland were under investigation, in Ayrshire and Arran, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Highland and Lothian.
All those involved had travelled in Mexico and other affected areas. Added to the outstanding tests on the first wave of suspicious cases, there were now 32 cases under investigation in Scotland. However, the lack of any further transmission of the virus so far within Scotland should give affected families and authorities in England some reassurance after three confirmed cases came to light in Torbay, London and Birmingham, she later told reporters.
"I do think the experience we've had to date, and I stress to date, does give cause for optimism, not just in Scotland, but in other parts of the UK," she said.
However, she warned it was still possible further cases would emerge. Sturgeon said she had spoken to Iain Askham, now entering his sixth day in an isolation ward, by telephone: "He said he was feeling well, he was feeling better. I think they're looking forward to getting back to normal, although when I said that to him he said he had forgotten what normal felt like."
All three - a 12-year-old girl from Paignton, Devon, a 41-year-old woman from Redditch, Worcestershire, and a 22-year-old man from north-west London - had recently returned from Mexico.
The child was on the same flight into Birmingham as the Scottish honeymoon couple who tested positive earlierthis week. Her school has been closed for a week.
The number of suspected cases had risen to 78 by early yesterday afternoon, but the figure fluctuated as some were discounted after negative test results and others emerged.
Before the World Health Organisation last night declared a pandemic alert phase five, its second highest alert level, the UK health secretary, Alan Johnson, revealed an array of measures to combat the disease in Britain, including obtaining extra supplies of antiviral drugs to protect 50 million people - more than three-quarters of the population.
Current UK stockpiles of Tamiflu and Relenza are enough to cover 33 million.
The Department of Health could not give a figure for the cost of additional drugs. Prior to this week it had already spent £500m in "pandemic preparedness" - a sum that includes previously purchased antiviral drugs, vaccines and advance supply agreements for emergency medicines.
The further doses would "come through over the coming weeks", Johnson promised. The level of antiviral protection available was already far higher than any other country in the world, he added.
There is no evidence that providing the public with face masks would do anything to prevent the spread of the disease, but Johnson said 60m face masks would be ordered for "frontline" NHS staff, who may require several changes of mask in the course of their work.
There are signs of increased public demand for face masks. One online distributor, Windsor-based Surgical Face Masks, stopped taking orders yesterday, claiming to have been deluged by up to 5,000 orders since Saturday.
A factory in County Durham making face masks, run by the company 3M, has increased production to 24 hours a day, seven days a week to meet demand from the NHS.
The health secretary said: "To keep the public informed, a mass public health campaign will begin [today], with print, TV and radio adverts. The adverts will warn the public about swine flu and remind people to cover their noses and mouths with tissues [when they sneeze or cough] and then throw the tissue away."
The slogan will be "Catch It, Bin It, Kill It", referring to the advice to use throwaway paper tissues when ill, and to wash hands regularly. An information leaflet will be posted through people's doors next Tuesday.
The Department of Health has set up a telephone line for the public to ring for updates on the situation. The number is 0800 1513513.
Health Protection Agency staff are also being sent to UK airports that have direct flights to Mexico to hand out advice to passengers. Airlines are being asked to keep passenger seating records, normally purged after 24 hours, for a longer period to trace potential infection contacts.
"The virus is giving us more time than we would normally expect in a flu epidemic," said Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer. "It's possible it will evolve as it passes through the population." It could yet become more virulent. To be effective, he said, antiviral drugs have to be administered within 24 hours of the first symptoms appearing.
The decision to close the school in Devon until next Tuesday is in line with Health Protection Agency and WHO guidelines: seven days is the incubation period for the flu.
Fears of a fresh outbreak of swine flu in Scotland subsided yesterday after health authorities said 13 of the suspected cases had proven negative.
The Scottish health secretary, Nicola Sturgeon, said tests on eight of the nine people who had been in contact with the first Britons to catch it, Iain and Dawn Askham, had shown they did not have the same virus.
In a further development, tests on five of the 14 further suspected Scottish cases which came to light on Tuesday were also negative, while another two suspected cases were no longer of concern.
The minister said, however, that a further 24 suspect cases from across Scotland were under investigation, in Ayrshire and Arran, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Highland and Lothian.
All those involved had travelled in Mexico and other affected areas. Added to the outstanding tests on the first wave of suspicious cases, there were now 32 cases under investigation in Scotland. However, the lack of any further transmission of the virus so far within Scotland should give affected families and authorities in England some reassurance after three confirmed cases came to light in Torbay, London and Birmingham, she later told reporters.
"I do think the experience we've had to date, and I stress to date, does give cause for optimism, not just in Scotland, but in other parts of the UK," she said.
However, she warned it was still possible further cases would emerge. Sturgeon said she had spoken to Iain Askham, now entering his sixth day in an isolation ward, by telephone: "He said he was feeling well, he was feeling better. I think they're looking forward to getting back to normal, although when I said that to him he said he had forgotten what normal felt like."
Civilians Flee as Pakistani Forces Hit Resistance
The Pakistani forces air-dropped commandos into the main town in Buner on Wednesday and quickly retook control of it from Taliban militants who flooded into the area last week, the military said. But the district was far from recaptured and the military may be in for a hard fight.
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Pakistani Military Moves to Flush Out Taliban (April 29, 2009) Villagers who fled the fighting and made it to this village on the plains said the military was bombing in Buner with fighter jets and firing rockets from helicopter gunships as Pakistani troops battled the Taliban on the ground for a second day.
Despite a curfew imposed by both the Taliban and the army, one villager, Walayat Khan, a cowherd in his 20s who did not know his exact age, said everyone was trying to get out of the district.
Some people were leaving on foot, as few vehicles were available. Those who left were forced to use back roads since the Taliban and military forces had blocked the main arteries leading into and out of Buner.
Mr. Walayat left his village, Kowgah, at dawn with 18 members of his family, mostly women and children, after jets bombed two nearby villages held by the Taliban on Tuesday afternoon. He left his brother and elderly father behind in the house, he said.
“Jets dropped bombs three times,” he said. “There was smoke and dust; I could not tell if they hit houses. We packed our things and then started moving because we thought they might hit us as well.”
Coming after intense criticism, both here and in Washington, of the military’s inaction, the air and ground campaign against the Taliban was the most intense waged by the army in six months.
Commandos of the Special Services Group were air-dropped into Daggar, the administrative center of Buner, a district of about one million people just 60 miles from the capital, Islamabad, the military said.
The use of the American-trained special counterterrorism forces, jets and mobile units was a sign of the military’s seriousness of purpose in this fight, said a former government official, who did not want to be identified while discussing national security matters.
No civilians were displaced in Daggar, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the military spokesman, said at a news briefing in Rawalpindi. That part of the operation appeared to have gone fairly smoothly.
But elsewhere heavier fighting was reported. Military units backed by paramilitary forces were deployed in a three-pronged attack against the Taliban in Buner from neighboring districts, General Abbas said.
Those forces met fierce resistance in areas in the north, south and west of Buner — in Nawagin, Pir Baba and Sultanwas, where the Taliban have established positions, he said.
“We are facing stiff resistance in the area of Ambala,” General Abbas said, referring to the area near Mr. Walayat’s village, where local people said the Taliban were firmly entrenched and blew up a bridge on Tuesday to block the army’s advance.
Taliban were also reported to be patrolling a key road in the north near the Pir Baba shrine and the boundary with the Swat Valley, which is a stronghold for the militants. They were also firing on helicopters from the mountains, local reporters said.
Heavy fighting was also under way in Karakar, in the north of the district, where the Taliban were holding hostage about 70 police officers and members of the Frontier Constabulary. Eighteen of the men were later released, General Abbas said, without providing more details.
He said the army was concerned about hurting civilians. “Our constraint is that we are launching an operation in an area where militants have held the local population hostage,” he said. “We are trying to ensure there is minimum collateral damage and minimum displacement of local people.”
Civilians driving on the roads, including students, were wounded when their vehicles came under fire, local reporters said. Several civilians, including a child hit by a bullet, were taken to the hospital in Swari, reporters for the newspaper Dawn said.
People were unhappy with the military operation, Mr. Walayat said. But his relatives in the neighboring district of Swabi who gave shelter to the extended family said they supported it.
They live less than six miles from the boundary with Buner and said Taliban militants had come into their area just two days ago.
“People are happy with the operation because the government gave them a deadline to leave and the people are saying that the Taliban really want to take over Tarbela dam and Islamabad,” said Yaqoub Khan, 42, a farmer who has made space in his house for 18 relatives who fled the fighting.
“If they had not come, the Taliban would have established positions here in this village by now,” he said.
Killings by the Taliban have shocked the local people, another relative said. Five days ago militants cut the throats of eight local policemen operating a post in the village of Chingalay in the south of Buner, just a few miles from Sheikh Jana.
“They cut their tongues out as well,” said Afsar Khan, 47, who saw the bodies of two of the policemen when he attended their funerals nearby.
Yet he said he doubted the military would be able to stop the Taliban advance. “This thing will expand,” he said. “It started from Afghanistan, then we saw Bajaur, Swat. Buner was the only place they could not gain a foothold,” he said.
But the local resistance in Buner to the Taliban also failed. “We expect this thing will come here as well,” he said.
Skip to next paragraph
Related
Pakistani Military Moves to Flush Out Taliban (April 29, 2009) Villagers who fled the fighting and made it to this village on the plains said the military was bombing in Buner with fighter jets and firing rockets from helicopter gunships as Pakistani troops battled the Taliban on the ground for a second day.
Despite a curfew imposed by both the Taliban and the army, one villager, Walayat Khan, a cowherd in his 20s who did not know his exact age, said everyone was trying to get out of the district.
Some people were leaving on foot, as few vehicles were available. Those who left were forced to use back roads since the Taliban and military forces had blocked the main arteries leading into and out of Buner.
Mr. Walayat left his village, Kowgah, at dawn with 18 members of his family, mostly women and children, after jets bombed two nearby villages held by the Taliban on Tuesday afternoon. He left his brother and elderly father behind in the house, he said.
“Jets dropped bombs three times,” he said. “There was smoke and dust; I could not tell if they hit houses. We packed our things and then started moving because we thought they might hit us as well.”
Coming after intense criticism, both here and in Washington, of the military’s inaction, the air and ground campaign against the Taliban was the most intense waged by the army in six months.
Commandos of the Special Services Group were air-dropped into Daggar, the administrative center of Buner, a district of about one million people just 60 miles from the capital, Islamabad, the military said.
The use of the American-trained special counterterrorism forces, jets and mobile units was a sign of the military’s seriousness of purpose in this fight, said a former government official, who did not want to be identified while discussing national security matters.
No civilians were displaced in Daggar, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the military spokesman, said at a news briefing in Rawalpindi. That part of the operation appeared to have gone fairly smoothly.
But elsewhere heavier fighting was reported. Military units backed by paramilitary forces were deployed in a three-pronged attack against the Taliban in Buner from neighboring districts, General Abbas said.
Those forces met fierce resistance in areas in the north, south and west of Buner — in Nawagin, Pir Baba and Sultanwas, where the Taliban have established positions, he said.
“We are facing stiff resistance in the area of Ambala,” General Abbas said, referring to the area near Mr. Walayat’s village, where local people said the Taliban were firmly entrenched and blew up a bridge on Tuesday to block the army’s advance.
Taliban were also reported to be patrolling a key road in the north near the Pir Baba shrine and the boundary with the Swat Valley, which is a stronghold for the militants. They were also firing on helicopters from the mountains, local reporters said.
Heavy fighting was also under way in Karakar, in the north of the district, where the Taliban were holding hostage about 70 police officers and members of the Frontier Constabulary. Eighteen of the men were later released, General Abbas said, without providing more details.
He said the army was concerned about hurting civilians. “Our constraint is that we are launching an operation in an area where militants have held the local population hostage,” he said. “We are trying to ensure there is minimum collateral damage and minimum displacement of local people.”
Civilians driving on the roads, including students, were wounded when their vehicles came under fire, local reporters said. Several civilians, including a child hit by a bullet, were taken to the hospital in Swari, reporters for the newspaper Dawn said.
People were unhappy with the military operation, Mr. Walayat said. But his relatives in the neighboring district of Swabi who gave shelter to the extended family said they supported it.
They live less than six miles from the boundary with Buner and said Taliban militants had come into their area just two days ago.
“People are happy with the operation because the government gave them a deadline to leave and the people are saying that the Taliban really want to take over Tarbela dam and Islamabad,” said Yaqoub Khan, 42, a farmer who has made space in his house for 18 relatives who fled the fighting.
“If they had not come, the Taliban would have established positions here in this village by now,” he said.
Killings by the Taliban have shocked the local people, another relative said. Five days ago militants cut the throats of eight local policemen operating a post in the village of Chingalay in the south of Buner, just a few miles from Sheikh Jana.
“They cut their tongues out as well,” said Afsar Khan, 47, who saw the bodies of two of the policemen when he attended their funerals nearby.
Yet he said he doubted the military would be able to stop the Taliban advance. “This thing will expand,” he said. “It started from Afghanistan, then we saw Bajaur, Swat. Buner was the only place they could not gain a foothold,” he said.
But the local resistance in Buner to the Taliban also failed. “We expect this thing will come here as well,” he said.
Shareholders Oust Bank of America Chief as Chairman
Bank of America shareholders stripped Kenneth D. Lewis of his chairman’s title on Wednesday while allowing him to remain president and chief executive officer, in a vote that may mark the beginning of the end of his leadership at the embattled bank.
Walter E. Massey, the former president of Morehouse College and a longtime board member, will succeed Mr. Lewis as chairman, the bank said.
Earlier, at an annual meeting here that was widely viewed as a referendum on Mr. Lewis, Bank of America shareholders re-elected him to the board, along with the company’s 18 directors, by “a comfortable margin,” a spokesman said. But the vote to separate the chairmanship from the company’s executive leadership raised questions about how much longer Mr. Lewis could steer the bank as shareholder anger mounts over his handling of the bank’s takeover of Merrill Lynch.
Mr. Lewis has worked at the bank and its predecessors for 40 years and run it as chief executive since 2001.
During Mr. Lewis’s tenure, Bank of America has more than doubled its deposits and expanded its credit card and mortgage operations, largely through his supersized acquisitions.
But his most recent conquest, Merrill Lynch, brought the bank to its knees. That merger is under investigation by the attorney general of New York, and some shareholders say Mr. Lewis did not do enough due diligence and overpaid for the troubled investment bank. As Merrill’s results weakened just before the deal closed, Mr. Lewis did not disclose the problems to shareholders even as he discussed additional aid with the government.
News cameras began setting up Wednesday before 7 a.m., just as some of the bank’s employees were arriving at work. A few protesters trickled in with signs. One, Judy Koenick, wore a T-shirt that read: “Fire!!! Kenneth Lewis/Fire!!! The board of directors./Clean Sweep.”
In prepared remarks at the meeting, which brought 2,200 people to the Charlotte Performing Arts Center, Mr. Lewis defended the bank’s purchases of Merrill and another troubled financial institution, Countrywide Financial, a lender heavily involved in the subprime mortgage meltdown.
“Let me be clear: Merrill Lynch and Countrywide led the way for our first-quarter earnings,” he said. “Today I can state without reservation that these acquisitions are not mistakes to be regretted. Both are looking more and more like successes to be celebrated.”
When Mr. Lewis was asked about the bank’s choice not to disclose Merrill’s weakened state, he said he could not talk about it.
“I can’t because of litigation. You’re probably one of them,” he quipped. “So if you’d like to hear more, withdraw your lawsuit.”
Several shareholders made statements of support for Mr. Lewis. “Look over your shoulder, Mr. Chairman, we’re behind you,” one said. There was loud applause for each such statement.
But the bank has plenty of angry shareholders, including pension funds like Calpers and Calstrs, two public funds in California; CtW Investment Group, which represents unions’ pension funds; and individual stock owners like Jerry and Jon Finger, who sold their bank in Texas to Bank of America 10 years ago in exchange for stock.
Bank of America executives insist that Merrill will benefit the bank over the long run, in particular because of its herd of financial advisers. And in the first quarter, Merrill helped bolster the bank’s earnings.
“Every major commercial bank in the country is under pressure,” Mr. Lewis told shareholders. “I think any assumption that without Merrill our stock price or dividend would be where they were in September is terribly mistaken.”
Still, some shareholders believe that Merrill will not earn enough money to make up for the stock dilution and the extra $20 billion that the bank accepted from the government in January to help with the merger. The bank is on the hook for $45 billion in taxpayer money in total, and it is currently disputing some of regulators’ findings in the financial stress tests.
On the subject of the taxpayer money, Mr. Lewis said at the meeting that “we share the desire to pay it back as soon as humanly possible.”
Bank of America’s stock fell more than 90 percent in the last year from $37 a year ago to $3.14 in March. Since then, it has recovered some and closed at $8.68 on Wednesday.
Just a year ago, the board of Wachovia, a bank that was headquartered here, took the chairman title away from that bank’s chief executive, Ken Thompson. It was only a month until Mr. Thompson lost his job altogether. Wachovia was later sold to Wells Fargo.
Walter E. Massey, the former president of Morehouse College and a longtime board member, will succeed Mr. Lewis as chairman, the bank said.
Earlier, at an annual meeting here that was widely viewed as a referendum on Mr. Lewis, Bank of America shareholders re-elected him to the board, along with the company’s 18 directors, by “a comfortable margin,” a spokesman said. But the vote to separate the chairmanship from the company’s executive leadership raised questions about how much longer Mr. Lewis could steer the bank as shareholder anger mounts over his handling of the bank’s takeover of Merrill Lynch.
Mr. Lewis has worked at the bank and its predecessors for 40 years and run it as chief executive since 2001.
During Mr. Lewis’s tenure, Bank of America has more than doubled its deposits and expanded its credit card and mortgage operations, largely through his supersized acquisitions.
But his most recent conquest, Merrill Lynch, brought the bank to its knees. That merger is under investigation by the attorney general of New York, and some shareholders say Mr. Lewis did not do enough due diligence and overpaid for the troubled investment bank. As Merrill’s results weakened just before the deal closed, Mr. Lewis did not disclose the problems to shareholders even as he discussed additional aid with the government.
News cameras began setting up Wednesday before 7 a.m., just as some of the bank’s employees were arriving at work. A few protesters trickled in with signs. One, Judy Koenick, wore a T-shirt that read: “Fire!!! Kenneth Lewis/Fire!!! The board of directors./Clean Sweep.”
In prepared remarks at the meeting, which brought 2,200 people to the Charlotte Performing Arts Center, Mr. Lewis defended the bank’s purchases of Merrill and another troubled financial institution, Countrywide Financial, a lender heavily involved in the subprime mortgage meltdown.
“Let me be clear: Merrill Lynch and Countrywide led the way for our first-quarter earnings,” he said. “Today I can state without reservation that these acquisitions are not mistakes to be regretted. Both are looking more and more like successes to be celebrated.”
When Mr. Lewis was asked about the bank’s choice not to disclose Merrill’s weakened state, he said he could not talk about it.
“I can’t because of litigation. You’re probably one of them,” he quipped. “So if you’d like to hear more, withdraw your lawsuit.”
Several shareholders made statements of support for Mr. Lewis. “Look over your shoulder, Mr. Chairman, we’re behind you,” one said. There was loud applause for each such statement.
But the bank has plenty of angry shareholders, including pension funds like Calpers and Calstrs, two public funds in California; CtW Investment Group, which represents unions’ pension funds; and individual stock owners like Jerry and Jon Finger, who sold their bank in Texas to Bank of America 10 years ago in exchange for stock.
Bank of America executives insist that Merrill will benefit the bank over the long run, in particular because of its herd of financial advisers. And in the first quarter, Merrill helped bolster the bank’s earnings.
“Every major commercial bank in the country is under pressure,” Mr. Lewis told shareholders. “I think any assumption that without Merrill our stock price or dividend would be where they were in September is terribly mistaken.”
Still, some shareholders believe that Merrill will not earn enough money to make up for the stock dilution and the extra $20 billion that the bank accepted from the government in January to help with the merger. The bank is on the hook for $45 billion in taxpayer money in total, and it is currently disputing some of regulators’ findings in the financial stress tests.
On the subject of the taxpayer money, Mr. Lewis said at the meeting that “we share the desire to pay it back as soon as humanly possible.”
Bank of America’s stock fell more than 90 percent in the last year from $37 a year ago to $3.14 in March. Since then, it has recovered some and closed at $8.68 on Wednesday.
Just a year ago, the board of Wachovia, a bank that was headquartered here, took the chairman title away from that bank’s chief executive, Ken Thompson. It was only a month until Mr. Thompson lost his job altogether. Wachovia was later sold to Wells Fargo.
Deadly clashes rock Pakistan city
At least 20 people have died in ethnic clashes in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, officials say.
Eyewitnesses said vehicles had been torched in different parts of the city, which is Pakistan's commercial capital and has a history of ethnic violence.
Karachi is dominated by Urdu-speakers, but there is also a growing population of ethnic Pashtuns.
Officials said the fighting was between members of the two groups, and started after an unidentified man opened fire.
"These are the targeted killings by the criminals, drug and land mafias who want to fan ethnic violence in the city," said Faisal Subzwari, a provincial minister.
Mr Subzwari, a member of the Urdu-speaking Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), said three of those killed were from his party.
The MQM is an ally of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party.
Bodies riddled
A spokesman for Mr Zardari said the Pakistani leader condemned the violence and called for unity.
"The president said that the nation could not afford violence in Karachi at a time when it was already dealing with the militants in northern parts of the country," said the spokesman, Farhatullah Barbar.
Doctors in Karachi hospitals said they had received bodies riddled with gunshot wounds.
A spokesman for the Pakistan Rangers paramilitary force said it had arrested 25 suspects and recovered weapons and ammunition from them, AFP news agency reported.
Karachi, a city of over 15 million, is the capital of Sindh province.
It contains many Urdu-speaking Muslims descended from people who migrated to Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947.
The Pashtun population has grown further since last year when tens of thousands were displaced by the military operation in the country's north-western tribal areas.
Some politicians have voiced fears of Taleban infiltration of the Pashtun community.
Eyewitnesses said vehicles had been torched in different parts of the city, which is Pakistan's commercial capital and has a history of ethnic violence.
Karachi is dominated by Urdu-speakers, but there is also a growing population of ethnic Pashtuns.
Officials said the fighting was between members of the two groups, and started after an unidentified man opened fire.
"These are the targeted killings by the criminals, drug and land mafias who want to fan ethnic violence in the city," said Faisal Subzwari, a provincial minister.
Mr Subzwari, a member of the Urdu-speaking Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), said three of those killed were from his party.
The MQM is an ally of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan Peoples Party.
Bodies riddled
A spokesman for Mr Zardari said the Pakistani leader condemned the violence and called for unity.
"The president said that the nation could not afford violence in Karachi at a time when it was already dealing with the militants in northern parts of the country," said the spokesman, Farhatullah Barbar.
Doctors in Karachi hospitals said they had received bodies riddled with gunshot wounds.
A spokesman for the Pakistan Rangers paramilitary force said it had arrested 25 suspects and recovered weapons and ammunition from them, AFP news agency reported.
Karachi, a city of over 15 million, is the capital of Sindh province.
It contains many Urdu-speaking Muslims descended from people who migrated to Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947.
The Pashtun population has grown further since last year when tens of thousands were displaced by the military operation in the country's north-western tribal areas.
Some politicians have voiced fears of Taleban infiltration of the Pashtun community.
WHO raises pandemic alert level
The UN's World Health Organization has raised the alert over swine flu to level five - one short of a full-blown global epidemic, or pandemic.
A phase five alert means human-to-human transmission in at least two countries.
The move comes after a 23-month-old Mexican child died in Texas - the first death from swine flu outside Mexico, where the outbreak originated.
In Spain, officials confirmed the first case of swine flu in a person who had not travelled to Mexico.
Announcing the latest alert level after an emergency WHO meeting in Geneva, Director General Margaret Chan urged all countries to activate their pandemic plans, including heightened surveillance and infection-control measures.
CONFIRMED CASES
Mexico: 159 suspected deaths - seven confirmed
US: one death, at least 91 confirmed cases
Canada: 13 confirmed cases
UK: 5 confirmed cases
Spain: 10 confirmed cases
Germany, New Zealand: 3 confirmed cases each
Israel: 2 confirmed cases
Austria: 1 case
Mapping the outbreak
Search for Mexico flu source
In pictures: Concerns grow
Mexico: First swine flu cases
She said action should be undertaken with "increased urgency".
She added: "It really is the whole of humanity that is under threat in a pandemic."
But she also said the world was "better prepared for an influenza pandemic than at any time in history".
Ms Chan said that for the first time, the pandemic could be tracked in real time.
This was necessary, she added, because the virus could mutate at any time into a more dangerous strain - or a milder one.
Border controls?
The Mexican boy fell ill during a visit to relatives in southern Texas earlier this month.
He was transferred to a hospital in Houston, where he died on Monday night.
Speaking in Washington, President Barack Obama offered his condolences and said the federal government was doing the utmost to contain the virus.
He also urged local public-health bodies to be vigilant and said schools with confirmed cases "should consider closing".
Officials put the number of suspected deaths from swine flu in Mexico at 159, although just seven deaths have been confirmed, with 26 infections positively tested.
WHO PANDEMIC ALERT PHASES
Phase 1: No infections in humans are being caused by viruses circulating in animals.
Phase 2: Animal flu virus causes infection in humans, and is a potential pandemic threat.
Phase 3: Flu causes sporadic cases in people, but no significant human-to-human transmission.
Phase 4: Human-to-human transmission and community-level outbreaks.
Phase 5: Human-to-human transmission in at least two countries. Strong signal pandemic imminent.
Phase 6: Virus spreads to another country in a different region. Global pandemic under way.
Post-peak: Pandemic activity appears to be decreasing though second wave possible.
Post-pandemic: activity returns to normal, seasonal flu levels.
BACK 1 of 7 NEXT
Texas Governor Rick Perry said closing the US border with Mexico was an option, but added that taking that step now would be "a little premature".
Since the virus emerged last week, it has also spread to Canada, Europe, Israel, and New Zealand.
Several countries have restricted travel to Mexico and many tour operators have cancelled holidays.
France will ask the European Union on Thursday to suspend all flights going to Mexico because of the flu outbreak, Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said.
The WHO, however, says measures like travel bans are unlikely to prove effective.
'Social distancing'
In Spain, the government said the first person to contract swine flu without having travelled to Mexico was the boyfriend of a young woman who had recently returned from there.
Spanish Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez said such cases were to be expected.
In total, the number of confirmed cases in Spain rose from two to 10 on Wednesday. None of the patients is seriously ill.
SYMPTOMS - WHAT TO DO
Swine flu symptoms are similar to those produced by ordinary seasonal flu - fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, chills and fatigue
If you have flu symptoms and recently visited affected areas of Mexico, you should seek medical advice
If you suspect you are infected, you should stay at home and take advice by telephone initially, in order to minimise the risk of infection
Q&A: What is swine flu?
Swine flu: How serious a threat?
Can masks help spread?
The quest for a swine flu vaccine
In Mexico, the search for the source of the outbreak continues, with the focus on the vicinity of a pig farm in the eastern part of the country.
The Mexican government is urging against jumping to conclusions and is suggesting the possibility remains that the virus originated outside the country.
Schools across Mexico have closed, public gatherings are restricted and archaeological sites have been placed off-limits.
Mexico City's chamber of commerce estimated restrictions in the city were costing businesses there at least 777 million pesos ($57m, £39m) per day.
WHO official Keiji Fukuda said other countries also needed to consider "social distancing" measures such as closing schools and delaying public meetings.
Meanwhile, Ghana has become the latest country to ban pork imports as a precaution against swine flu, though no cases have been found in the West African country.
Ms Chan, the WHO director, stressed on Wednesday that there was no danger from eating properly-cooked pork.
She advised hygiene measures such as hand-washing to prevent infection and said it was important "to maintain a level of calm".
A phase five alert means human-to-human transmission in at least two countries.
The move comes after a 23-month-old Mexican child died in Texas - the first death from swine flu outside Mexico, where the outbreak originated.
In Spain, officials confirmed the first case of swine flu in a person who had not travelled to Mexico.
Announcing the latest alert level after an emergency WHO meeting in Geneva, Director General Margaret Chan urged all countries to activate their pandemic plans, including heightened surveillance and infection-control measures.
CONFIRMED CASES
Mexico: 159 suspected deaths - seven confirmed
US: one death, at least 91 confirmed cases
Canada: 13 confirmed cases
UK: 5 confirmed cases
Spain: 10 confirmed cases
Germany, New Zealand: 3 confirmed cases each
Israel: 2 confirmed cases
Austria: 1 case
Mapping the outbreak
Search for Mexico flu source
In pictures: Concerns grow
Mexico: First swine flu cases
She said action should be undertaken with "increased urgency".
She added: "It really is the whole of humanity that is under threat in a pandemic."
But she also said the world was "better prepared for an influenza pandemic than at any time in history".
Ms Chan said that for the first time, the pandemic could be tracked in real time.
This was necessary, she added, because the virus could mutate at any time into a more dangerous strain - or a milder one.
Border controls?
The Mexican boy fell ill during a visit to relatives in southern Texas earlier this month.
He was transferred to a hospital in Houston, where he died on Monday night.
Speaking in Washington, President Barack Obama offered his condolences and said the federal government was doing the utmost to contain the virus.
He also urged local public-health bodies to be vigilant and said schools with confirmed cases "should consider closing".
Officials put the number of suspected deaths from swine flu in Mexico at 159, although just seven deaths have been confirmed, with 26 infections positively tested.
WHO PANDEMIC ALERT PHASES
Phase 1: No infections in humans are being caused by viruses circulating in animals.
Phase 2: Animal flu virus causes infection in humans, and is a potential pandemic threat.
Phase 3: Flu causes sporadic cases in people, but no significant human-to-human transmission.
Phase 4: Human-to-human transmission and community-level outbreaks.
Phase 5: Human-to-human transmission in at least two countries. Strong signal pandemic imminent.
Phase 6: Virus spreads to another country in a different region. Global pandemic under way.
Post-peak: Pandemic activity appears to be decreasing though second wave possible.
Post-pandemic: activity returns to normal, seasonal flu levels.
BACK 1 of 7 NEXT
Texas Governor Rick Perry said closing the US border with Mexico was an option, but added that taking that step now would be "a little premature".
Since the virus emerged last week, it has also spread to Canada, Europe, Israel, and New Zealand.
Several countries have restricted travel to Mexico and many tour operators have cancelled holidays.
France will ask the European Union on Thursday to suspend all flights going to Mexico because of the flu outbreak, Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said.
The WHO, however, says measures like travel bans are unlikely to prove effective.
'Social distancing'
In Spain, the government said the first person to contract swine flu without having travelled to Mexico was the boyfriend of a young woman who had recently returned from there.
Spanish Health Minister Trinidad Jimenez said such cases were to be expected.
In total, the number of confirmed cases in Spain rose from two to 10 on Wednesday. None of the patients is seriously ill.
SYMPTOMS - WHAT TO DO
Swine flu symptoms are similar to those produced by ordinary seasonal flu - fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, chills and fatigue
If you have flu symptoms and recently visited affected areas of Mexico, you should seek medical advice
If you suspect you are infected, you should stay at home and take advice by telephone initially, in order to minimise the risk of infection
Q&A: What is swine flu?
Swine flu: How serious a threat?
Can masks help spread?
The quest for a swine flu vaccine
In Mexico, the search for the source of the outbreak continues, with the focus on the vicinity of a pig farm in the eastern part of the country.
The Mexican government is urging against jumping to conclusions and is suggesting the possibility remains that the virus originated outside the country.
Schools across Mexico have closed, public gatherings are restricted and archaeological sites have been placed off-limits.
Mexico City's chamber of commerce estimated restrictions in the city were costing businesses there at least 777 million pesos ($57m, £39m) per day.
WHO official Keiji Fukuda said other countries also needed to consider "social distancing" measures such as closing schools and delaying public meetings.
Meanwhile, Ghana has become the latest country to ban pork imports as a precaution against swine flu, though no cases have been found in the West African country.
Ms Chan, the WHO director, stressed on Wednesday that there was no danger from eating properly-cooked pork.
She advised hygiene measures such as hand-washing to prevent infection and said it was important "to maintain a level of calm".
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