WSJ: Countrywide Financial Faces FBI Probe
March 9, 2008
According to a new report by the Wall Street Journal, Countrywide Financial is currently under investigation in the United States by the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The probe is reportedly looking into possible securities fraud by the sub-prime lender.
According to unnamed officials, the feds are currently investigating whether Countrywide misrepresented either its financial condition or the soundness of its loans in various security filings.
“We are not aware of any such investigation,” said Countrywide spokeswoman, Susan Martin.
On Saturday, FBI spokesman Richard Kolko, refused to confirm whether an investigation is indeed in process.
Countrywide is currently the largest mortgage lender in the USA.
Barack Obama Trounces Hillary Clinton In Wyoming Caucus
March 9, 2008
Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama handily won the Wyoming Democratic caucus over opponent Sen. Hillary Clinton.
With 22 of 23 of the state’s counties reporting, MSNBC is reporting Obama won 59 percent, or 4,459 votes, to Clinton’s 40 percent, or 3,081 votes.
Out of Wyoming’s 12 pledged delegates, it is estimated that Obama will pick up at least seven delegates while Clinton will get three at minimum. According to number crunchers at MSNBC, Obama now leads with 1366 delegates altogether to Clinton’s 1227.
Obama campaign manager David Plouffe explained that the only way for the Senator from New York to catch up in pledged delegates “would mean getting 68% or 70% of the vote everywhere.” Simply put, the math is very much against Ms. Clinton with the race coming down to the last ten states with almost of all of the “big states” already out of the picture.
Baidu Sued Once Again By Music Industry
March 3, 2008
Baidu, the largest search engine in China, is once again in trouble with the music industry.
The search engine apparently gets substantial traffic because of a service that links to MP3s, with quite a few being of the not kosher variety.
Now the Music Copyright Society of China has sued the search engine, alleging that it provided “music listening, broadcasting and downloading services in various forms on its website without approval, and through unfettered piracy, earning huge advertising revenue on its huge number of hits.”
AP is reporting that the suit was filed in in a Beijing court in January and that the Society is demanding compensation for what it claims is 50 songs used illegally.
Baidu had been sued previously by the The International Federation of Phonographic Industries, which also had problems with the site linking to illegal music.