Toyota Recall Report Finds Flaws Internal

DETROIT - Toyota's Tendency to dismiss Customer Complaints and Lack of a clear procedure for handling safety Problems Were Identified Flaws Among Monday by a panel The automaker Created to Investigate RECALLS icts of More Than 14 million vehicles sincere 2009.

The seven-member panel, Composed of company outsiders and headed by a train United States transportation secretary, Rodney E. Slater, Toyota Said HAD taken important steps Toward Some improvement, Including The Appointment Of A Global chief safety officer, made to Many Additional recommendations. It Said, for instance, Toyota That Should Have a single executive icts Oversee North American Operations, Which Operate as Separate dirty now, and manufacturing engineering organisms, EACH reporting to executives in Japan.

The panel, Which Is icts midway-through two-year tenure, did "not try to Identify whether" any electronic defects Could Have Caused vehicles to Accelerate Suddenly.An investigation by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found no evidence of An electronic problem, mirroring Toyota's Assertion That The Problems Were Limited to defective accelerator pedals and ill-fitting floor mats.

Purpose Monday's postponement Toyota HAD Been Said slow to Discover the pedal and floor mat from it Because Viewed Complaints Made To The gold company to Federal Regulators about sudden acceleration skeptically and defensively. Toyota Said It HAD failed to apply "The Principles of icts manufacturing process, Known as" the Toyota Way "and Built Around the Concept of Detecting and Responding to Problems Quickly, to Evaluate criticism from external sources.

The postponement Described Toyota's Attitudes toward Regulators, Which The Company fined Nearly $ 50 million for Taking too long to Initiate recall, as "adversarial."

"The postponement o Confirms That view Toyota's culture - One That works well in times of stability - left it uniquely vulnerable to a fast-moving crisis," Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive of The impounded information Web site Edmunds.com, said.

The postponement Said Toyota HAD Treated Differently from Other Manufacturers safety, by lumping it Into the larger end of "quality" and making it part of everyone's responsibility "Rather Than Assigning it to specific executives and employed.

"Safety and quality are very different attributes, and a Process That Produces quality vehicles Will not Necessarily Produce safe vehicles," Said one panel member, Brian O'Neill, president of form The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety us fast cash. "This safety philosophy Might Suffer From The old adage, 'When Everyone Is Responsible, No One Is Accountable." "

The panel members shall With Numerous Toyota executive, talked With The President Akio Toyoda, shortly after the March earthquake in Japan by telephone and visited Many Of The Company's plants and offices to study What Happened Leading Up to the recall. The panel IS Being Paid by Toyota, declined, members aim to reveal Their compensation Citing confidentialité agreements.

Some though THEY HAD Been Said longtime Toyota and Lexus drivers, all insisted optometrist HAD ACTED Independently, And They conceded Toyota That WAS Unlikely To Follow All Of Their recommendations.

Some Of The panel members Suggested thats the seriousness and frequency of sudden acceleration incidents The HAD Been overblown.

"Any machine built by" any company, As Long As They Employ Humans, IS Going To Be Imperfect, "Said Norman R. Augustine, chief executive form of Lockheed Martin. "The record for Toyota Is That Safety Issues Are So That infrequent, statistiquement, one should" Be very comfortable driving a Toyota or Lexus. "Added Mr. Augustine That he drove a Lexus.

Among the top recommendations By The panel is for Toyota to corporate structure and Decentralization icts break down the "silos" within organism icts That "Hindered information-sharing and Contributed to miscommunication." The postponement Concluded, "Toyota has erred too much on the Side centralization of global and Needs to Shift the Balance Somewhat Toward Greater local authority and control. "

Toyota Said It Already HAD Given more decision-making authority "to executive icts Outside headquarters, particularly in North America, Where It Created a position of chief quality officer More than a year ago. The company has aussi Added more time for testing Into The Development of new vehicles.

"Over the past year, Toyota has a great deal Learned from Listening to the panel's Valuable counsel," Mr. Toyoda Said in a statement."Their advice has been" Reflected In The steps we've taken Meaningful to Give Our North American operations more Autonomy and Become an Even More Safety-Focused and responsive company. "

Toyota Recall Report Finds Flaws Internal

Hot News: Panel: Insular Toyota should "listen to outsiders

The Haggler: A Rave, a Pan, or Just a Fake?

In This Episode Of The Haggler: gaming Yelp.

As a consumer review Web site, Yelp and Influential Is So Big That It has Given Rise to a small, semi-underground group of entrepreneurs Who, for a fee, Will post a rave about your company. Others Will post a negative review about your rivals.

Yes, then this is very sneaky, and it's a problem for Continuing Yelp, Which Is locked in a "Spy vs.. Spy "-style contest With fake reviewers. Let's see how the contest That IS going by looking at, of all things, the Field of dentistry.

"I Was in Need of teeth whitening and my friend Referred me to Southland Dental," Begin thumbs-up for a clinic in Sherman Oaks, Calif.. Then There's A Description Of The whitening procedure Favored by Southland, and this closer: "Pain or no pain, It Was very much worth it.I can not stop staring at my bright smile in the mirror. "

This reads like a rave is Yelp, But It's Actually a sample from a help-wanted ad On Another site - specifically, Mechanical Turk, a Web site owned by Amazon.com and a place WHERE invites companies "Mechanical Turk workers" - Thousands are registered, worldwide - to complete What Could Be Described as microtasks. Each country has tiny sum task. In the case of Southland Dental Workers Were Asked to write a fake, five-star review and post it to Southland's Yelp page for Which Would THEY earn 25 cents.

Obviously, Mechanical Turk work is Not a quick path to the rich. Panagiotis G. Ipeirotis, year associate professor of information, operations and management science at The Stern School of Business at New York University, Who has studied du site, says historical polling of Turk Workers found That Many Were based in India and Often Earned $ 2 to $ 3 an Hour .

The Southland WAS ad posted about a year and a half ago by Rony Mirzaian, marketing director at Softline Solutions, a Los Angeles company That Provides a range of online services, Including reputation management.

Last week, Mr. Mirzaian The Ad Described as "an experiment" he undertook to help a onetime client, a dentist named Southland Delaram Hanookai, though Mr. Mirzaian Said The dentist did "not know of gold APPROVe The Ad. He Said Dr. Hanookai HAD HIM Hired To Do Online Reputation Management - For Him Mostly Which entailed building blogs stuffed With content related to him or.

Dr. says she Hanookai Hired Softline Solutions to Maximize visibility of The Southland's Web site and WAS appalled to learn That Her dental clinic as part of WAS Used "an experiment."

Did The ad work? Well, Two five-star reviews are about Southland Southland Currently there's Yelp page, and one four-star review.Eight one-star reviews are posted aussi. In all, Southland has a two-star average.

Additionally, Yelp's algorithm have filtered out 22 fake reviews. The Haggler Because Yelp knows this, Rather brilliantly, allow users to see reviews filtered, Which we are linked page.

Nearly All the reviews are filtered Southland Panting five-star commendation. One Was Written by year Eleanor L small personal loans., Who Said She Went in for a cleaning and 12 Months Later Reported Her With The total work satisfaction, Which included "12 gingival grafts, 10 veneers; Two implants had sinus lift, and ... oh I can not remember Everything! "

Exactly How Many Of These five-star reviews filtered Were Paid For and How Many Were from real patients Is Hard to say. A Southland dentist, Michael Abaian, Said In An Interview That Many occasionally testy history of HAD patients posted positive reviews about The Clinic, Only To Have Them HAD filtered.

"I have over 2,000 patients, and Every Other Week One of Them writes a positive review is Yelp and none of 'em stick!" He said. "Businesses are at The Mercy of Yelp."

A media representative from Yelp, Vince Sollitto, Would not Discuss The company's algorithm, He Said, Because That Kind Of Information only encouraged chicanery. Showing filtered Yelp reviews Visitors invited to make up Their Own Minds Which posts are about real and fake, On The Theory That No CAD algorithm parses the Difference unerringly, he explained.

"Our job IS to find and filter out fake reviews," he said. "At The Same Time We Let Our Know That hearing this system isn't perfect. Some content might get filtered Legitimate and Illegitimate content Some Might sneak through. We're working hard at it. It's a tough one. "

It Might Be Getting Tougher.Unlike was Amazon, Which Strive to keep spam-free Mechanical Turk, A Handful of sites let users boast of Yelp Freely-gaming prowess.

Among Them Fiverr.com IS, WHERE people advertise tasks They Are Willing to Perform for five bucks. A recent ad posted by "Katmoney" - many job seekers use Pseudonyms - Offered to write convincing negative reviews posted to a Yelp page of your Choosing.

Asked year for example, feels this Katmoney pan, Whicher, Strangely enough, Took loved at a dental office: "I guess if you need a cavity filled you-can go here. OTHERWISE, If you need more extensive work done I'd look Elsewhere. "

That review shows up verbatim On The Yelp page of Hempstead in Queens Family Dental, in a review Written by Someone Identified as Helena X.

Hempstead Is The office of a single practitioner, Dr. Ahmed Elkady, year elderly immigrant from Egypt.He Said Never Heard Of Yelp he'd and Could not imagine Who Would hire anyone to post a negative review about fake service history.

"It's slow here, always," he said. "I'm seeing Two patients today, Both of Whom are friends of mine."

The Haggler Katmoney Asked if he / she X. Were Helena, and, if so, Why he / she HAD posted a fake review about Hempstead.

The answer is Not printable in this newspaper.

E-mail: haggler@nytimes.com. Keep it brief and family-friendly, and Go Easy On The caps-lock key. Letters May Be edited for clarity and length.

The Haggler: A Rave, a Pan, or Just a Fake?

High & Low Finance: Capitalists Who Fear Free Markets

Capitalism IS Supposed to Produce Losses are bad Investments.

All Too Often goal it has not.

In Tokyo this week, corporate executives Were Outraged When A Japanese Government official banks Suggested That Might Have to Take Losses on loan to The Company That Produced a nuclear disaster.

Yukio Edano, The chief cabinet secretary, Had the temerity to say "The Public Will not support" the injection of Government money Into Tokyo Electric Power, also know as Tepco, UNLESS In The banks share bread. TEPCO says it Would Like to Pay Compensation to Victims, goal Needs Government cash to do so.

The president of Japan's Largest Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, WAS shocked by The Very Idea That a bank should "lose money if it has to slow Company That Could not Meet icts obligations. Mr. Edano's remarks "cam out of the blue," Said The executive, Katsunori Nagayasu."I Felt There Was Something Wrong about 'em."

To Yasuchika Hasgawa, The Chief Executive of the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company and chairman of the Japanese Association of Corporate Executives, The Idea Violated basic tenets of society ". He Said he "can not help to question how this country's democracy Can Be Made to Work with free-market-based capitalism."

His definition of "free-market-based capitalism" seems to assume That lenders should "escape Without bread, at least if They Are to major lending institutions. It Is An Idea That has Become Remarkably pervasive.

"We Consider banks and systemically important institutions Tepco," wrote Tetsuya Yamamoto, Moody's analyst based in Tokyo."Debt forgiveness Underminer The systemic importance and utility of The Bank Sectors In The National Economy." These are, he Added, "We Did not Anticipate Developments."

It has Been More Than Two Months Since Tsunami Caused year earthquake and radiation leaks at nuclear power plants The Fukushima. Residents Have Been Forced to evacuate a large area, and There Is No Insurance When The Plants Will Be Brought Under Control.

Tepco IS clearly "to blame. In hindsight, The Plant Should Have Better Protection Against Both HAD Earthquakes and tsunamis, or It Should Have Been Built in a region less vulnerable to 'em.

Yet It Is Deemed Suggest shocking to Those Who Financed The Company should "Suffer losses.

In "free-market-based capitalism" - or at least The version THEY Used to Teach When I Went to business school - Shareholders and lenders Were Supposed to monitor the Risks taken by companies.Theys Would Benefit If The company prospered and Suffer if it failed.

Spending more money by not one safety, TEPCO WAS Taking a risk. That risk did "not work out. The question now is who Will Pay The Bill. If It Is The investors, That Would serve as a Powerful Incentive to The Other Nuclear Plant operators to make exchanges. If It Is The Government, With investors protected, we are Left With Only the hope of better regulation to Prevent a recurrence.

Tepco Shareholders Have Suffered, But The shares are "still worth something, If You Believe the stock market. Tepco lenders Seem To Think Should Be Allowed THEY Every yen to collect Would Have Received THEY HAD if nothing Happened. Maybe Even More, This Could sincere serve as a Reason To Higher Interest Rates to charge utilities.

That Is, More or Less, What Happened to the MOST bank investors in The Financial Crisis.The American Government not something to rescue Lehman Brothers, Fact That stunned investors and precipitated a panic. In the aftermath, It Was regarded too dangerous question to Even The Safety of bonds Issued by banks cheap business cards. A suggestion THEY Could Bring Losses Might Have Caused more banks to fail. So while bank shares Fell sharply, bank bonds did "not default.

In Ireland, It Was Even More absurd. Bailing out banks collapsing left The Irish Government Unable to Pay Bills icts Without a bailout of Its Own, and Forced to Embark it was bitter policy of austerity That Every citizen has hurt. Goal Of The senior bondholders failed banks are Being protected, and It Was That victory was regarded Subordinated lenders Agreed to take partial - not complete - losses.

In the United States now, There Is That anger FEW bank executives faced criminal charges Have. Perhaps more charges should "de la Loi, drank excessively Risk Taking, in and of Itself, is Not illegal.

As Roger Lowenstein wrote in Bloomberg Business Week: "The Financial Crisis WAS Accompanied by fraud, On The share of mortgage applicants" as well as banks. It Was Caused, Nearly more, by a speculative bubble in mortgages, in Which bankers, applicants, investors, and Regulators Were all blind to risk. "

The anger directed Might Be Better At The Fact That Those Whose bad decisions led to The Crisis Did Not Suffer, or Not Enough of Them That did ". Some bank bosses did "Lose Their Jobs, But The replacements Usually Cam From The next level down, and uninvolved Were Hardly. Who Financed the bubble Bondholders Were Allowed to walk away.

When The bailouts Were Taking place I Thought To The protection of lenders banks to keep WAS Justified The Crisis from Getting Even Worse. In hindsight - and With The memory of the terror of Those Days dulled by The Passing of Time and The Knowledge That We Did AVOID Great Depression II - I am less certain.

If All the banks bailed out That Were HAD Been Forced to restructure Their Debt - That Is, make bondholders Their Suffer Losses - then Would Have Been banks more reluctant to take bailouts. Those That Had To Take Them Would Have Been The Only Ones With scarred What Jamie Dimon, chief executive of The JPMorgan Chase, Later Called the "scarlet letter."

Instead, all scarred Were, Which There Was Meant in practice little differentiation Between Those groups, like JPMorgan, That HAD Been run well, and Those, like Citigroup, That HAD NOT.

Without loss, Why Should We think investors Will Do a Better Job of monitoring What is being Done With Their Money?

In Europe, It Is Becoming Clear That Greece Will Have to default at Some Point. But thats Would Hurt Banks That Were Foolish Enough to buy bonds from a country song THEY HAD Knew Its Way Into the euro zone. Such IS Deemed Unacceptable year outcome.So They go on Pretending That Greece Will Be Able to someday pay back loans icts.

In this age of Government austerity, That It Is Deemed important mandatory Borrowers retain access to capital markets. Such an optometrist Have Access Only Because gouvernements are Thought To Be The Real lenders of last resort Does not Have to show up in Government budget statements, and so Can Be Ignored.

In Japan, The Government May Be backing down.

"Talk of debt write-offs Is A bit too extreme," Koichiro Gemba, The National Strategy minister, Told year we Asahi television interview days after Mr. A Few shocked Edano The Banker, "since That Would Mean That Would not Be Able Tepco to borrow again. "

High & Low Finance: Capitalists Who Fear Free Markets

U.S. factory, services revenue to rise in 2011: ISM

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Manufacturing and Service Sector Will continues to grow this year as revenues rise, aim for Materials Prices are seen climbing Further, According to Year Industry Forecast released on Tuesday.

The Institute for Supply Management in icts semi-annual forecast Purchasing and Supply found manufacturing executives expect revenue will rise 7.5 percent this year.That Is Slower Than The modestly 7.9 percent rise seen last year.

Revenue in the Non-Manufacturing Sector, Service Sector Which included Mostly Businesses, IS Expected to Be up 2.1 percent, topping 2010's gain of 0.2 percent.

"Much of manufacturing has emerged from The Economic downturn am and is experiencing" significant growth principle, "Norbert Ore, chair Of The ISM Manufacturing Business Survey Committee, Said in a statement.

Executives Said They Now expect Prices for Materials To Be Much Higher Than Previously Thought, rising 7.4 percent in The Manufacturing Sector and 4.7 percent in non-manufacturing.

In the December survey, prices HAD Been Predicted to rise 4 percent and 3.1 percent for Manufacturers for non-manufacturers.

Firms Said THEY HAD seen a sharp rise Already in Price in The First Four Months of the Year poor credit personal loans.Manufacturers Reported Prices Increased 1.6 Percent HAD as of April, while In The Service Sector Prices Were Up 1.4 percent.

The recent surge in energy and Commodity Prices has crimped companies wary of passing on to High Price frugal shoppers, goal MOST economists expect The Impact of temporary price increaser Will Be.Oil Prices Have backed off in recent weeks, falling from Almost $ 115 a barrel in early May to about $ 96 on Tuesday.

Manufacturing Sector capital investment forecast to rise by SI 17.9 percent in the Year, while non-manufacturing capital investment IS Expected To Rise 1.4 Percent.

Predicted to Provide Employment WAS support, rising 2.9 percent and 0.9 percent Among Manufacturers Among the Service Sector.

"The positive revenue forecast for Improved Growth and Employment Will Drive the continuation of The Recovery In The Sector," Said Ore.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Leslie Adler)

U.S. factory, services revenue to rise in 2011: ISM

Portugal Euro zone to back aid, with New caveats

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone Finance Ministers are Likely to back a bailout package for Portugal on Monday, with New conditions set by Finland, in talks overshadowed by charges Against IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn for Attempted rape.

Strauss-Kahn's Place in the talks Brusssels Will Be Taken by International Monetary Fund Deputy Managing Director Nemat Shafik, The organization said.

The meeting WAS aussi Expected to pressure Greece to announce more austerity steps to secure emergency Further Funding.A senior Greek officials said on Sunday The arrest of Strauss-Kahn May Cause Some Delay to U.S. icts / IMF bailout plan.

Strauss-Kahn HAD Been due to German Chancellor Angela Merkel Meet as well as "Attend the meeting of euro zone finance ministry.

"This Might definitely cause delays Some In The Short Term," the official Told Reuters is provided of anonymity, Referring to Meeting Planned for Sunday and Monday.

"Strauss-Kahn Had a very good Knowledge of Greece's situation."

But The official added: "This Will not Change The IMF's policy is Greece.Greece Will continues to Implement icts Programe. "

Agreed Portugal this month is a 78 billion-euro loan program over Three Years With The European Commission And The International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Plan Needs To Be Approved unanimously by euro area Finance Ministers, Finland's parliament to set conditions for ITS support on Friday, Saying Lisbon HAD to ask private bondholders to Maintain Their exposure to Portuguese debt.

The second condition set by Finland is for Portugal to Embark privatization program was to raise funds.

If euro area Finance Ministers AGREE To The Finnish demands, it has changed Mark Wills From The bailout programs of Ireland and Greece, Which Did Not Need for "any mention private investors exposure to Maintain Their To The Countries' debt.

"I am confident thats the Portuguese Package Will Be Approved on Monday," Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, Finn, Told reporters there Friday.

Rehn Said The interest rate on loan to Portugal, To Be Decided By The Ministers, Would Be Between 5.5 and 6.0 percent.

This Is In Line With The borrowing cost Set By The initial euro zone agreement on Emergency Funding Through the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), Rather Than a more TOO EFSF lending rate in March EU leaders Suggested.

Greek borrowing costs: Originally at around 2.5 percent, Were Lowered by euro zone to 4.2 percent loaders in March.But The interest rate for Ireland of around 5.8 percent Was Not Cut Because of a dispute over Irish corporate tax levels, one Which France and Germany see as too low.

Finland aussi That Decided to take part in Portugal after bailouts Any Further, It Would require a borrowing country to Provide collateral for emergency loans From The euro zone, to limit Taxpayers' exposure cash till payday.

MORE MONEY FOR GREECE - FOR MORE Austerity and Reform

This Is important for Greece, Which has Already has 110 billion-euro EU / IMF bailout Until mid-2013, to Which Is Likely to Need more funds next year Because initial forecasts That It Could return to Markets in 2012 to Be APPEAR unrealistic.

A euro zone source Involved In The Preparation Of The Ministers 'meeting Told Reuters Greek Additional financing in 2012 and 2013 Needs Would Be Discussed At The Ministers' meeting.

Yet the Position Of The Finnish parliament That IS Likely to mean to get funds to cover icts Additional financing gap, Estimated at 65 billion euros over The Next Two Years, Greece Will Have to Provide collateral for the New Euro area loans.

The sources said In The Countries That single currency area "could come Up With Additional Funding for Greece if Athens is only the fiscal consolidation and reform targets it has Already Committed Itself to, Which Would require new steps.

Rehn WAS it clear Friday Greece That Had To Do More, Because It Was missing icts deficit reduction targets.

"Because Of Weaker than expected last year croissance plus tax slippage Some, There Is Need to Take Additional Measures in fiscal consolidation this year" still, "Rehn said.

"How much, depends ... Will Our Mission is Currently in Athens. Yes, definitely There Is a Need to Take Further consolidation measures," he said.

In return for The Emergency Loans From The 110 one billion package, Greece has Committed Itself to Bring icts budget deficit down to 7.6 percent of gross domestic product this year, 6.5 percent in 2012, 4.9 percent in 2013 and 2.6 percent in 2014.

The European Commission forecast is Friday UNLESS Policies That changed, Greece Would Have a budget deficit of 9.5 percent of GDP this year and 9.3 percent in 2012 - well above-the Agreed targets In The USA / IMF program.

Greek debt to 157.7 percent rise Would of Gross Domestic Product this year and to 166.1 percent in 2012, Rather Than Be 145.2 and 148.8 percent as "under the EU / IMF plan targets, la Commission forecast.

The Monday meeting, however, Will Not Make Any decisions we Greece. The Ministers want to wait for the Results Of The joint U.S. and IMF mission in Athens Which Is Likely to finish icts assessment of Greek reforms and The Country's debt sustainability only Later in the Week.

The euro area Ministers and Their Counterparts from EU Countries Outside the Euro Area Still Will aussi Chat is Monday the setting up of The European Stability Mechanism - the euro zone bailout permanent fund to replace That Is The EFSF from mid-2013 onwards.

Portugal Euro zone to back aid, with New caveats

NY state senator form Sentenced to Prison

ALBANY, NY (Reuters) - A state senator form New York WAS Sentenced to 21 months in prison Friday after Admitting it to tax evasion and Attempting to influence a grand jury.

Vincent Leibel, 64, pleaded guilty in December to failing to carry $ 43,000 in Income Between 2003 and 2006. The Money In The cam form of fees for legal work and Outside kickbacks from lawyers at a non-profit organization controlled by Leibel. He aussi Admitted to Trying to influence a grand jury corruption probe has Düring.

Leibel, a Republican, Represented year area north of New York City for 28 years. He Was Elected Putnam County executive in November, aims Resigned From The Post Before Taking Office. In February, he wrote To The short and Asked That INSTEAD of prison, he Be required to serve as a diplomat in the Middle East.Prosecutors called Set The absurd request.

Leibel Is the latest in a long line of state Legislators and Other Officials to Be Accused and Convicted of Crimes Over the last decade. Senator Carl Kruger and assemblyman William Boyland, Brooklyn Both Democrats, in March Were Charged With Accepting snippets from hospital lobbyists in exchange for state grants.

Two recent Senate Majority Leaders Have Been Dogged by aussi ethics scandals. Joseph Bruno, Albany-area Republican year, WAS Convicted in 2009 of Two felonies related to steering state business to contractors Who Paid HIM kickbacks Payday advance.Pedro Espada, a Bronx Democrat, IS Currently Facing Federal embezzlement and theft charges related to theft of The Alleged millions of dollars from a Public Health Clinic.

Train Governors Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson embroiled in scandals Both Were, Spitzer Directing for state police to track and Paterson A Political rival for World Series tickets from Accepting the New York Yankees team while The WAS The State lobbying for money to build a new stadium.

Comptroller Alan Hevesi form Resigned in 2006 after Admitting to using a state driver to chaperone His ailing wife were shopping trips. After he left office, Hevesi charged WAS With Widespread Facilitating a pay-to-Play Scandal Involving The state pension fund. He Was Sentenced in April to one-to Four Years in Prison.

The steady march of corruption has led Governor Cuomo to push for legislative reform ethics That Would require Lawmakers to Disclose, in detail, Outside sources of income options.The Many Legislators Who Work as lawyers Would Have to Disclose Their customers as well. Cuomo wants to strip state aussi Officials of Their pensions if They Are Convicted of crimes related to the Abuse of public office.

(Reporting by Dan Wiessner)

NY state senator form Sentenced to Prison

Enbridge profit Rises be liquids, gas distribution

TORONTO (Reuters) - Enbridge Inc., Canada's No. 2 pipeline company, Said Wednesday it icts first-quarter profit rose, helped by Stronger results in icts Both liquids and gas distribution Businesses.

The company Reported Net Income of C $ 393 million, or C $ 1.04 per share, up from C $ 342 million, or 92 Canadian cents a share, In the first quarter of 2010.

Adjusted profit, Which MOST exclude one-time items rose 5 percent to C $ 334 million, or 89 Canadian cents, from C $ 318 million, or 86 Canadian cents.

Analysts Expected average The Company is to carry year Adjusted profit of 87 Canadian cents, According to Thomson Reuters I / B / E / S.

Enbridge's Line Carry the bulk of Canada's oil exports To The United States.The company est aussi Hoping to build the C $ 5 Internet Payday loans.5 one billion Northern Gateway pipeline, Which Would carry crude from oil sands to a tanker port for shipment Pacific to Asia and Elsewhere.

The company Said It Remains on Track to Meet Full Year Adjusted icts earnings forecast of C $ 2.75 to C $ 2.95 per share.

Enbridge shares closed at C $ 61.44 on Tuesday On The Toronto Stock Exchange. The shares climbed Have close to 30 percent over the Past 12 months, as Compared With A Roughly 16 percent rise in the benchmark index's THE EXCHANGE.

($ 1 = $ 0.95 Canadian)

(Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Frank McGurty)

Enbridge profit Rises be liquids, gas distribution

Hot News: Euro Finance Ministers to pressure Greece, Portugal APPROVe aid

Japan's Nuclear Future in the Balance

TOKYO - The Accident At The Fukushima Daiichi power plant has done more Than spew radiation Into the air and sea forces and tens of Thousands of People to Evacuate Their Homes. It has blown a big hole in Japan's energy policy, Which HAD ASSUMED That Would nuclear power supply A Growing Part of the Country's Needs.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan and Other Government officials said over-the weekend That Japan Would not abandoning nuclear power as major energy source year.

Many experts say Aim It Will Be Difficult For now Japan has to Realize That predates The policy goal Fukushima disaster: building at least 14 New Reactors by 2030, to go with the 54 That now exist. If Completed, Those Would raise nuclear power plant's share of Japanese Electricity Generation to about 50 percent, from 30 percent Nearly now.

Advocates for Renewable Energy argues thats the March earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident Have Given the Nation A Reason to rebuild icts economy as a world leader in clean, renewable energy - Even though solar, wind and geothermal combined now account for only 1 percent of Japan's Electricity. An Additional 8 percent or so horns from hydroelectric power.

"It Is A Battle Between The Past And The Future," Said Tetsunari Iida, Executive Director of the Institute for Sustainable Energy Policies, a nonprofit policy research organization here.

Some members of Parliament Recently Held a forum Called Shift Energy Japan, a move to Promote Toward Renewable sources.

And Masayoshi Son, Softbank and The Founder of Japan's Richest Man, Said Last Month That Would he donate about $ 12 Million to start a research foundation for Renewable Energy.Continued reliance on Atomic Energy, he has Told news conference, "Would Be a sin Against Our Children, grandchildren and future generations."

Those more attuned to The Official Government position, however, Contender Renewable Energy That Is Too Costly and Requires too much land in this crowded country, Leaving little choice to Japan to continue hitching icts future to atomic energy, fossil fuels With Any gap filling. "In the midterm, up to 2030, we can not see The Technological Breakthrough That Will allow us to get rid of nuclear power," Said Masakazu Toyoda, Chief Executive of the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan.

Even so, The Future of the envisioned 14 Reactors Being Planned unclear Is Now, With The public and local Officials Becoming more wary about living near Such facilities. Already, The Tokyo Electric Power Company has Been Forced to Drop Plans to Build Two New Reactors On The Site Of The Fukushima Daiichi plant crippled.

And just last Friday, That's The Government Traitement Another utility, Chubu Electric Power, shut down a nuclear power plant 120 miles southwest of Tokyo Until The company Canon earthquake and tsunami icts fortify defenses. On Monday, The Company Said It Would Comply. The company is Said Monday That It Would Comply With That request. So many Reactors Have Been Shut Down Because Of The earthquake ou autres Factors, That soon only about 43 percent of Japan's 49 megawatts of nuclear capacity Will Be Operational, According to Reuters.

Japan's heavy dependence on Nuclear power stems from energy icts Insecurity. With Virtually No Oil and Natural Gas of Its Own, It Is Almost Totally connecting it fossil fuels importé, Making the nation vulnerable to disruptions, for example "any That Might ARISE from unrest in the Middle East.And the cost of fossil fuels importé Has Risen From The equivalent of 1 percent of Japan's gross domestic product in 1998 to Almost 5 percent now.

Japan imports aussi uranium. Because The goal IS Easier to stockpile fuel Than Oil and Gas, Nuclear Energy The Government has CONSIDERS quasi-domestic source. Atomic energy, To The Extent Replaces fossil fuels it, aussi Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Is A Little Less Than expensive energy from fossil fuels, According To The Government.

Over the decades, nuclear power has been "fostered by a close alliance Between The Government, Electric Companies and Manufacturers reactor. Nuclear plants, have wide Centralized sources of power, Have helped Japan's 10 electric utilities Maintain Their hand control over-the-grid power.

The advent of a So-Called Smart Grid That Would Handle power Numerous Supplied by Small Producers Could Threaten The utilities' dominance."What They Want To Do As Much As Possible Distributed Power Is To keep off the agenda," Said Andrew DeWit, year expert on Japan's energy policy at Rikkyo University paperless payday loans.

Beside the Others while electric companies generate Cdn Electricity, so far this has not caught on in a big way. Now, though, Some Are Calling for more competition in power production in year effort to spur innovation and bring down prices.

The Government and power companies have-nots Totally ignored Renewable Energy, goal Critics say THEY have-nots Been aggressive enough. Over all, Ernst & Young Ranks 15th in the World Japan in terms of Attractiveness icts of Renewable Energy Markets and Policies.

In 2002, the Japanese Government Mandated That by 2014, electric companies should "Produce about 1.6 percent of Their Electricity from Renewable Sources. That Did Not include broad target hydroelectric power projects, for Which Many Of The Best Opportunities Have Already Been Exploited.

Some Regulators Pursuing Renewable Energy Elsewhere are more aggressively Than Japan is. California, for instance, Recently set a goal for Renewable source icts electric companies of 20 percent by end of 2013 and 33 percent By The end of 2020.

Until 2004, Japan led The World in installation of solar photovoltaic cells. Japanese companies like Sharp and Sanyo are Among the World's Largest Manufacturers of solar panels.

Goal Since Then Germany and Spain, Which Higher offer subventions to users, raced ahead Have In The installation of solar panels.

Japan has made progress Even Less is wind energy. Some experts say Japan, Which has little flat land, That Is Not well suited for wind power, although the Environment Ministry Recently Said That There Was A Huge Potential In The northern part of the Country.

Purpose renewables "could get a lift if Parliament, as Expected, enacts a law requiring electric companies to buy Electricity generated by wind, geothermal, biomass or small-scale hydroelectric power from Those Who Produce it, Paying premium price subsidization to The providers' costs. The system, Known as a feed-in tariff, WAS Started in late 2009 for solar energy Homeowners and Businesses Produced by. The utilities pass it to The Costs All Their Customers, raising electric bills slightly.

Mr. Iida of The Sustainable Energy Institute Said That It Would Be feasible for Renewable Energy to Provide 30 percent of Japan's Electricity by 2020, with solar and wind EACH Contributing about 7 to 8 percent, and hydroelectric Providing Most Of The Rest.

Goal Paul J.Scalise, year expert on Japan's energy policy at Temple University's Japan campus Said Renewable Energy WAS "simply uneconomical At The Present Time." Wind and solar aussi Would not Provide That Japanese tea depends Electricity Industry Needs, he said.

He Said It cost 05.30 yen Tokyo Electric per kilowatt hour for Renewable Energy, Compared With 9.1 yen for power from fossil fuels and 6.1 yen for nuclear power.

With nuclear plans now up in the air, Mr. Scalise Said, electric companies "are not turning to renewables - They are turning to oil and gas again." For instance, a Japanese consortium led by The trading company Itochu IS considering building a plant in Vladivostok, Russia, to Produce Liquefied Natural Gas for shipment to Japan.

Still, The Cost of Renewable Energy is Declining technology as Improver, while That of nuclear Power Is Likely To Rise After the accident Because of strict safety standards and Higher Costs liability insurance.

It Is not clear if There Is The Political Will to Change the reliance on Nuclear. In a nationwide telephone survey Conducted in mid-April by The Asahi Shimbun, a Japanese newspaper Leading 41 Percent Said Nuclear Energy Should Be Reduced Abandoned gold, up from 28 percent in 2007. And yet, 51 percent of Respondent Said The level of Existing Nuclear Power Should Be Retained, while 5 percent Said It Should it increase.

One thing is accredited expert MOST Conservation Is That Should Be A Priority. Cutting power use 10 percent Would Be The equivalent of building about 13 Reactor, Said Mr. Toyoda Of The Energy Economics Institute.

The nation IS Likely to get a real-life test Conservation In The coming months.Because Of The nuclear and fossil fuel power plants By The earthquake knocked out and tsunami, Business and Households In Some Parts of The Country Will Be Asked To Cut Their peak energy use this summer by about 15 percent.

Japan's Nuclear Future in the Balance

Hot News: Greek Euro Euro stead have Exit Calm Fears

Strong Jobs Report Gives Wall St. an End-of-Week Lift

Stocks advanced Friday we have stronger-than-forecast Growth in jobs bolstered confidence in the Nation's economy.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 5.10 points, or 0.38 percent, to 1,340.20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average Gained 54.57 points, or 0.43 percent, to 12,638.74 and Nasdaq up 12.84 points WAS, or 0.46 percent, at 2,827.56. For the week, however, The S. &. P. Slipped 1.7 percent.

"The postponement was pretty solid jobs," Said Russ Koesterich, The Global chief investment strategist for The iShares unit of BlackRock in San Francisco.

"It Gave more people believe thats the Economic Recovery Is Still one space. Investors Started to Doubt The Sustainability Of The rebound and commodities Naturally Took the hit. The Rally Is A partial reversal of That sentiment.There's more room for stocks to move Higher "during the course of the Year."

Shares of DuPont and Boeing rose 1.1 percent to at least help lead gains in the Dow. Stock in Kraft Foods and More Than Fluor climbed 2 percent after beating analysts' earnings estimates.

Gauges of energy and raw-material companies Fell More Than 4.4 Percent Through Friday to Lead the S. & P. 500's retreat from An Almost three-year high Reached on April 29. The plunge in commodity shares led to index The A 2.1 percent retreat over-the-oven first days of this week. Including The rebound Friday, The Index Is Up 6.6 percent this year Amid higher-than-forecast profit and Government stimulus efforts.

Payrolls Increased by 244.000 travailleurs last month, The Biggest Gain Since May 2010, after a revised 221.000 Increase the Month Earlier, the Labor Department said.Economists HAD Projected year rise of 185.000 April, According To The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey. Employment Government Jobs EXCLUDING jumped The Most in Five Years. The jobless rate rose to 9 percent, The First Increase Since November.

"The very positive carryover jobs Was Just What We Needed After All The Bad News Of The Last Few Days," Said Paul Zemsky, The head of asset allocation for ING Investment Management in New York no fax pay day loan. "The market IS going to Focus on the change in private payrolls, Which was excellent. That Will More Than Offset a slight Increase In The Unemployment Rate. If oil continued to fall, we'll see consumer Higher Spending and has very good environment for stocks. "

The euro extended Losses Versus the dollar as European Finance Officials Held annually unscheduled meeting in Luxembourg Where They May Discuss Proposals for Restructuring Greek debt."We're seeing knee-jerk reaction Some In The currency market," Said Kevin Caron, market strategist in Florham Park, NJ, for Stifel Nicolaus & Company. "The dollar gets a bid as a haven When There's concerned about Risks. The investors have bid the dollar, They sell Other Things, like commodities and stocks. "

A gauge of Industrial Companies In The S. & P. 500 rose 0.8 percent, The Most Within 10 groups. Shares of DuPont, The Chemical maker, rose 1.4 percent, to $ 54.63. Boeing stock Gained 1.1 percent to $ 79.31.

Kraft shares rose 2.1 percent, The Most in the Dow, to $ 34.08. Food and beverage companies like Kraft, Sara Lee and Kellogg Have Raised Prices on Many products to cope With Rising Costs for commodities Including wheat, corn and coffee. Kraft, led by Irene Rosenfeld, chief icts, Said price increaser HAD helped make up for Rising Costs.

Fluor shares jumped 7.9 percent to $ 70.87.The company first-quarter profit Said rose 2.3 percent have spurred Prices Higher metal mining projects. A rebound in commodity demand and Higher Oil Prices Have Increased mining and energy contracts, Fluor Helping reach record backlog of $ 37.2 trillion.

Interest Rates Were Steady. The Treasury's benchmark 10-year note rose 1 / 32, to 104, & the WAS yield at 3.15 percent Unchanged.

Strong Jobs Report Gives Wall St. an End-of-Week Lift

High & Low Finance: Inevitability Of A Default in Greece

A Greek Debt Restructuring - a polite term for default - is unthinkable, According to the Greek finance minister.

"It Would Have A Tremendous cost, With No Benefit," the minister, George Papaconstantinou Said in year one Greek television interview. "Would Be out of Greece for 10 Markets, 15 Years."

To Financial Markets, and Other Observers to-many, it is More Than thinkable. It Is very close to a sure thing. When, how, and how messy it Will Be open to question are.

It was just a year ago this weekend That bailed out Europe Greece, self-congratulatory Amid Much talk. Olli Rehn, the European commissioner for Monetary Policy, WAS Said the move "particularly crucial for Countries Under speculative attacks in recent weeks," a reference to Spain and Portugal.

Markets - Described by Anders Borg, Sweden's finance minister, as "wolf packs" - Returned to Their Lairs On The Monday After the bailout. The yield on Three-year Greek Government bonds plunged to 7.7 percent from 17.5 percent, as The Price of Such bonds soared 28 percent in a single day.

Things Have Gone And how Since Then? Just fine in Germany, where, Accelerating Growth and Unemployment IS IS Lower Than At Any Time Since German unification. The European Central Bank raising interest IS Even rats to curb inflation There. It's going more or less acceptably in France and Italy, EACH Which of GDP Growth of 1.5 Recorded percent in 2010, well below Germany's 4.0 percent. But It's not going well at all in The Country That supposedly WAS Rescued. Greece's Economy Shrank 6.6 percent, far more Than the 1.9 percent decline in 2009.

The wolves are howling market again.The yield is three-year Greek bonds is More Than 23 Percent, Not That Anyone Thinks That Will Really Be Received yield. The Yield is similar Portuguese and Irish Have aussi bonds soared Into double digits. Investors are skittish about a little more Spanish and Italian bonds Than THEY HAD beens, Purpose There Is No sense of impending disaster.

Longer-term debt rats were Portuguese did "a little slide this week after a tentative agreement was bailout, aim at Levels That Remain THEY show Widespread Doubt About The Country's Ability to Pay.

The trading patterns of Greek bonds indicato That has traders expect Restructuring, And They Think It Will Be messy.

That yields are as low as They Are - If You Can call 23 percent low - is a reflection of the Facts thats the bailout has been "going on below-the surface. The European Central Bank has-been lending money to Greek banks, bonds as collateral Accepting Greek To other banks are loans, and Even buying bonds.

Keeping Up the fiction That All Will Be Well If We Somehow just wait has Its Own Disadvantages.

"Delays in restructurings are Costly," Alessandro Leipold, The chief economist of The Lisbon Council, a Brussels-based research group, and a train official Of The International Monetary Fund, wrote in a paper this weekend. He Warned That The Longer The Inevitable WAS DELAYED, The More Economic Potential Production Would Be Lost and The Greater The Amount of good money thrown after That Would Be Bad In The form of ever larger bailouts. Ultimately, He Said, the Result Would Be Larger Loss for bondholders.

"The real problem IS Capital Shortfall in European banks," Said Whitney Debevoise, a partner in Arnold & Porter and a train executive director of the World Bank, Who Has Been Involved as a lawyer for Countries and Creditors in SEVERAL restructurings.Until the banks HAVE MORE capital, forcing em to admitted to Losses Would Be Problematic, to put it mildly.

Stalling has WORKED before. In the early 1980s, major American banks admitted Could not Afford to an optometrist HAD lost huge Sums In The Latin American debt crisis. "There Was," Mr. Debevoise Said In An Interview, "a five-year period" of temporizing while Citibank and Other banks rebuilt capital. "Finally, There Was A debt restructuration Admitted to The Banks and Their losses.

Currently, Some European banks Would Probably Be hard pressed to take loss, a Group That May include Some Of The German Landesbank, Which are Generally owned by State Governments and are badly in Need of new capital.

The European Central Bank Itself Would hate to delay loss, Which Is One Reason thats the first Greek restructuration, When It Comes, May AVOID forcing bondholders to accept "haircuts," or reductions in principal same day payday loans.Instead, cutting Interest Rates and Maturities "could allow postponing The central bank to pretend It Had not lost money. Eventually, however, haircuts SEEM inevitable.

Although There Have Been Plenty of defaults and restructurings by national government in recent decades - a partial list includes Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Russia, Ukraine, Pakistan and Ecuador - there is no agreement "On the Way to arrange a restructuration. Nearly a decade ago, The MFI Tried to put together What It Called a "Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism," a sort of international bankruptcy law. The effort collapsed.

As a result, restructurings Can Be messy. Some bondholders Cdn try to hold out there Approving a plan, Hoping They Will Be Paid More Than Those Who Agree. Lawsuits Will Be Filed.

Europe, in a classic case of Trying to solve a problem only after It Is Probably too late, after 2013 has Decided That all European Government Bonds Will Have a "collective action clause" That has exposant Restructuring Approved by 75 percent of bondholders Will Be Binding On The Dissenters.

In the Meantime, Greece's Negotiating Position Is Improved By The Fact That about 90 percent of icts Outstanding bonds Specify That Will Greek law determines "any disputes - and of course Greece Can Change Laws icts if needed. There Might Be An Appeal To The European Court may of Human Rights, goal one way to Satisfy a Judgement of That Is To Short after new bonds. So if Greece Were Ordered to pay damages for not Paying off old bonds, it Might Be Able to Comply by Issuing new ones.

Even in boxes That Are Heard in Court Presumably more friendly to lenders, There Is An Issue of how a country Can Be Forced to Pay.Sovereign Immunity Is Not Absolute, But It Can Be powerful.

Still, bond investors think Evidently That IS a Greek Restructuring Likely to wind up in court, and The Bond That HAVING subject to British law, American gold Could Make a Difference. The Yield On Such bonds are a couple of points lower Percentage - Meaning The price are a Little High - than comparable bonds are resolved That Would Be Under Greek law.

It Appears That aussi Many traders think There Will Be Eventually exchange That force all lenders to take Either The Same interest rate or similar haircuts On The leaps. Among the Greek Is One from Maturing in August 2015, With A yield to maturity at current prices of about 20 percent. A similar bond was Maturing Months Later, has a yield of just 18 percent. The price only make sense if you assume traders think That There Will not Be Many interest payments Before a restructuration.

German Officials hinted A Few weeks ago a Greek restructuration That Might Be Coming, to Have Been quiet sincere, And The German Government has joined The European Central Bank and others in Saying no such action Is Under consideration. Instead, They Say, Greece should "stick to the plan of austerity Agreed icts and Reduced budget deficits. The Fact It Is failing to Meet Those targets - the 2010 deficit well WAS Above plane - is Treated as inconvenient but not critical.

Sooner or later There Will Be a Greek default, Even If It Is Officially Described as a "voluntary restructuration" approved by MOST bondholders. Europe wants to delay That At Least Until 2013, When new rules are Supposed to kick in. That Would let Official Creditors - Such as Europe's bailout fund - do better in a Deal Than Private Creditors. Purpose It Seems less and less Likely thats the inevitable long That Can Be Delayed.

Europe Needs to Do What Needs to Be Done to Keep a default from Destroying icts Financial System, And Then accept the reality. Greece Insisting That Can Get by Without A Restructuring Makes it less Markets Likely Will Believe similar assurances about Countries That Actually Might Be Able to Pay Their Bills and recover.

"Peripheral Bond Market Risk In Their Continuing tailspin, Virtually Shut Down Remaining rendering restructurings and a self-fulfilling prophecy," wrote Mr. Leipold Of The Lisbon Council, "even WHERE Those Forced restructurings Might arguably constituted a market overreact."

High & Low Finance: Inevitability Of A Default in Greece