Archive - Apr 23, 2010

• Government report details fraud in debt settlement industry
• Students in Puerto Rico shut down university over tuition cuts and privatization
• Investigation on financial crisis focuses on credit rating agencies
• Indian program of free prosthetics spreads across conflict zones
• Activists push German government to follow through on shut down of nuclear power

• Arizona Governor signs controversial immigration bill
• Multiple blasts across Baghdad kill more than 50
• Denmark forcibly deports Iraqi asylum-seeker
• Two American hikers detained in Iran suffering health issues
• Whaling Commission offers compromise that allows commercial whaling

In Washington, finance ministers and world bank officials met in closed meetings to discuss bank reform plans in the US and other countries. Also on the agenda was Greece. The country requested the release of emergency loans. In a statement the International Monetary Fund said it had been working with Greece and it was "prepared to move expeditiously on this request.” This afternoon protestors gathered outside the IMF building ahead of more meetings this weekend.

Meanwhile, a government investigation has found that the booming industry of - debt settlement companies - is engaging in fraudulent business practices.  These companies misled consumers and gave faulty advice to those trying to get out of debt. FSRN's Leigh Ann Caldwell reports.

Today students at the University of Puerto Rico are continuing a strike at campuses across the country. Dozens of students clashed with police yesterday and today local media is describing the atmosphere as calm but tense, as students continue to protest at campus gates. The students are protesting what they're calling a privatization of the public universities and a budget that could cut programs and tuition assistance.

To get the latest from Puerto Rico, we're joined by Anibal Nunez, he's a student at the University and is part of the negotiating team that represents the Action Committee of Law Students.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill continued their investigations into the financial crisis, today examining the role of credit rating agencies. A Senate investigation found that credit rating agencies gave high ratings to risky securities and then failed to re-evaluate them even after discovering their rating models were inaccurate and outdated.  In an exchange with Senator Ted Kaufman, former Managing Director of Standard and Poor's Credit Market Services Frank Raiter suggested that employees who raised concerns were forced out.

“Senator, if you’ve been in business you know that the choices you face in a dilemma like this is that you can quit – if you have a family to support that might be a little bit tenuous – and some of us chose to do just that. I retired because I got tired of the frustration, but a lot of the analysts that left tried to fight the good fight. Many of them have subsequently been laid off and when you bang your head against the management wall and ask for the money and give them presentations and show them the benefits of the higher quality rating criteria and they come back and they say, but revenues will go down, you’re faced with just that choice: either you continue to work there and you fight or you quit.”

According to the Senate's 18-month long investigation, credit rating agencies like Moody's and Standard & Poor's issued ratings based on the drive for market share and to accommodate investment bankers. During the housing bubble, credit rating agencies brought in record profits, earning $6 billion in 2007 alone, according to the Senate's report.

One of the hidden costs of war is injury. After attacks, land mine blasts or other accidents there are civilians who survive - but often with debilitating injuries. Many lose their limbs. But in India, a group is responding to this need and offering prosthetic fittings for free. And the effort has spread to other conflict zones across the world. From Jaipur, India, Jasvinder Sehgal files this report.

The debate over whether to extend the life of Germany's 17 nuclear power plants continues. Ten years ago the government announced that Germany would phase out nuclear power by 2020 - shutting down all its nuclear power stations.

But last year Chancellor Merkel suggested that the lifetime of these nuclear power stations be extended, despite ongoing controversies about what to do with the nuclear waste.

Cinnamon Nippard has more from Berlin.