Hundreds feared dead off coast of Libya

(CNN) -- Hundreds of people were feared dead on Tuesday after high winds and heavy seas capsized boats carrying African migrants heading for Europe off the coast of Libya.

A group of 227 migrants sits on a fishing vessel in Malta last month after arriving from Somalia.

"A tragedy has happened off the Libyan coast with at least two boats going down ... with obviously hundreds of people going down at sea," Jean-Philippe Chauzy with the International Organization for Migration in Geneva, Switzerland, said Tuesday, citing diplomatic officials in Tripoli and Libyan officials.

The U.N. refugee agency, aware of the reports, said they came at the "beginning of the smuggling season in the Mediterranean."

The vessels departed Sunday and were heading to southern Europe, Egypt's Middle East News Agency reported Monday. Official casualty figures were not immediately available from Libyan authorities, but Egypt's Foreign Ministry said only 20 people had been rescued including six Egyptians. Watch as migrants are feared drowned »

Reports of the incident varied widely. Egyptian state television said two fishing vessels carrying more than 600 people sank, while the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said one fishing boat went down with 257 people on board. Up to three boats sank, according to Chauzy.

Italian coast guards said an Italian tugboat working for an offshore oil companies in the Libyan seas picked up 350 people on Sunday and carried them to Libya with the help of the Italian military.

The migrants were believed to be headed for the Italian island of Lampedusa, where 37,000 landed last year, according to Chauzy, who said many African migrants converge on Libya en route to Europe.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said details remain sketchy about what happened, but at least one boat among several vessels leaving Libya for Italy went down and hundreds are reported missing.

It said the incident occurred around 18 miles off the Libyan coast. It said some Egyptian nationals were rescued and bodies were recovered. Those aboard included Africans from the northern and the sub-Saharan regions.

High Commissioner Antonio Guterres on Tuesday said that the tragedy reflects the desperation of people to escape poverty and persecution.

"This tragic incident illustrates, once again, the dangers faced by people caught in mixed irregular movements of migrants and refugees in the Mediterranean and elsewhere which every year cost thousands of lives," the U.N. agency said

Obama's tough auto stance may include bankruptcy

By Kevin Krolicki and John Crawley Kevin Krolicki And John Crawley Mon Mar 30, 7:19 pm ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama ordered General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC to accelerate their survival efforts and brace for possible bankruptcy, saying neither company had done enough to justify the taxpayer money they were seeking.

Obama, describing the industry as a pillar of the economy, nevertheless gave GM and Chrysler a little more time and money to wring further concessions from workers, creditors and other stakeholders.

"We cannot, we must not, and we will not let our auto industry simply vanish," Obama said in White House remarks on Monday that were partly overshadowed by his decision to force out GM CEO Rick Wagoner.

U.S. stock indexes tumbled on the harsher-than-expected government stance, which could push GM and Chrysler closer to a bankruptcy court restructuring that could threaten equity holders and force deeper losses on creditors.

A committee representing GM bondholders planned to meet later on Monday to discuss a debt restructuring plan according to a source familiar with the situation.

With about $28 billion in debt to bondholders, the GM offer would translate into $2.2 billion in cash, $4.3 billion in debt and an additional stock-based payout in a recapitalized company that would all but wipe out current stockholders.

The Obama administration is giving GM 60 days to rework its survival plan. The new CEO of the biggest U.S. automaker said a court-supervised restructuring in bankruptcy might be necessary.

Chrysler's operation would be funded for the next 30 days as it works to complete an alliance with Italy's Fiat SpA, considered the No. 3 U.S. maker's best chance of surviving.

A source familiar with the negotiations said Fiat's stake in Chrysler could start as low as 20 percent.

GM had sought more than $16 billion in new aid after getting $13.4 billion in December, while Chrysler wanted $5 billion on top of $4 billion at the end of 2008.

GM shares closed 25 percent lower on Monday while stock of Ford Motor Co, which has not sought a bailout, closed down 2.8 percent. Chrysler is privately held by Cerberus Capital Management.

BANKRUPTCY OPTION

Jared Bernstein, a member of the government's autos task force, told Reuters Financial Television that a process that splits off the "bad" assets of GM or Chrysler, and sends those through a court-supervised bankruptcy, is a possibility, but U.S. officials have not determined yet to pursue that option.

"I don't think we're at that level of analysis until we see the kinds of changes and adjustments, concessions that are going to be made over the next 60 days," Bernstein said.

With U.S. auto sales near 30-year lows, Obama moved to reassure would-be car-buyers, saying the government would stand behind the warranties of GM and Chrysler. He also offered his support for a tax credit incentive of up to $5,000 to trade in older and less fuel-efficient vehicles.

The U.S. auto industry, including cash-strapped dealers and suppliers, has cut 400,000 jobs over the past year while losing billions of dollars.

Deutsche Bank economist Joseph LaVorgna said in a note on Monday that a GM and Chrysler bankruptcy could eliminate a million of the roughly 3 million auto sector jobs.

"As we have long feared, a bankruptcy -- even a controlled one -- would put downward pressure on production, further upward pressure on the unemployment rate and likely negatively impact consumer confidence," LaVorgna said.

PLANS REJECTED

Obama's auto task force rejected the turnaround plans submitted by GM and Chrysler following their December bailout.

"While Chrysler and GM are very different companies with very different paths forward, both need a fresh start to implement the restructuring plans they develop. That may mean using our bankruptcy code as a mechanism to help them restructure quickly and emerge stronger," Obama said.

The Obama administration did not say how much working capital the government would extend to GM and Chrysler over the coming weeks, but GM has said it needs $2 billion for April.

The U.S. government team raced to make the auto announcement before Obama heads to Europe for eight days of meetings surrounding the G20 conference.

Separately, Canada said plans set out by the Canadian branches of GM and Chrysler did not go far enough to make them viable, but it offered $3.2 billion in bridge loans to tide the companies over while they restructure.

Chrysler said on Monday it had reached agreement on a framework for an alliance with Fiat.

The next step for Chrysler is trying to reach cost-saving deals with creditors and the United Auto Workers (UAW), which could yield a $6 billion government investment if all restructuring and alliance pieces fall into place.

Fiat Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said the talks with the Obama administration have been "tough but fair" and a deal will make Chrysler stronger and preserve U.S. jobs.

NEW GM CEO

GM's new chief executive, Fritz Henderson said the company would address elusive concession agreements with bondholders and the UAW, conditions crucial elements of its 60-day window extended by the government to prove viability.

"Our strong preference is to complete this restructuring out of court," Henderson said. "However, GM will take whatever steps are necessary to successfully restructure the company, which could include a court-supervised process."

Wagoner and GM's board had long argued that bankruptcy by any of the major automakers would threaten thousands of jobs, including suppliers, and could lead to a GM liquidation.

Wagoner, who had presided over the company's rapid decline in the past five years and had run the automaker since 2000, was forced out at the request of the Obama auto task force, headed by former investment banker Steve Rattner. A majority of GM's board will also be replaced.

Europe's No. 2 carmaker by sales, PSA Peugeot Citroen, ousted CEO Christian Streiff on Sunday, replacing him with former Corus head Philippe Varin from June 1. PSA Peugeot Citroen shares fell 7.7 percent in Europe.

(Additional reporting by Walden Siew, Poornima Gupta and David Bailey in Detroit; Jeff Mason in Washington, John McCrank in Ottawa; Helen Massy-Beresford and Estelle Shirbon in Paris; Gilles Castonguay in Milan and Angelika Gruber in Berlin)

(Editing by Patrick Fitzgibbons and Tim Dobbyn)

Obama bringing hefty agenda on European trip

By Caren Bohan Caren Bohan 1 hr 25 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama heads to Europe on Tuesday with a hefty agenda for tackling the economic crisis and seeking support for his new Afghanistan strategy on a trip that will test his global leadership.

As he sets out for his first major foreign trip since taking office in January, Obama will shift his focus to international economics and diplomacy after a heavy emphasis on domestic issues.

He will stop first in London where he will attend summit of the Group of 20 major economies on Thursday. He will then travel to the French-German border for a NATO summit before stopping in the Czech Republic and Turkey.

His schedule includes meetings on the sidelines of the G20 with the leaders of Russia and China as well as other nations.

The Democratic U.S. president hopes to capitalize on a reservoir of goodwill because of the change in policies and style from his Republican predecessor, President George W. Bush, who was unpopular abroad.

Analysts said enthusiasm for Obama among the public in Europe will make for a positive tone in his meetings with allies such as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

But the warm personal reception Obama will receive might not ease the way for his aims of prodding European allies to spend more to rescue the global economy and offer more troops and resources for the Afghanistan war.

"He's obviously got a lot of charisma and it's his first big meeting. And I think people tend to be very polite in these situations but there could also be a level of awkwardness there," said Simon Johnson, a former IMF chief economist who is now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

One theme at the economic summit will be a view in many countries that the United States bears much of the blame for the global financial meltdown because of its lax financial regulation and the debt-fueled U.S. housing bubble.

AN ARRAY OF PROPOSALS

Obama has sought to distance himself from the Bush-era regulatory policy. He will take to the G20 an array of proposals to bring new oversight to hedge funds and other players and to give the U.S. government greater powers to deal with troubled financial firms deemed "too big to fail."

"It should be the case that he can walk in there and say, none of this was my fault and I'm cleaning up as fast as I can," said Johnson.

But the cloud of blame hanging over the United States is one reason Obama faces reluctance among Europeans to follow his lead and pursue big fiscal economic stimulus plans such as his $787 billion recovery package, Johnson said.

White House aides have sought to manage expectations before the G20 summit, telling reporters Washington is not necessarily asking countries to spend more right away.

P.J. Crowley, a former official in President Bill Clinton's White House, agreed that Obama will still have something of a honeymoon period with his European counterparts. But, similar to the G20 summit, there may be resistance at the NATO gathering to his pleas for support for Afghanistan.

"Because he is popular and he isn't George W. Bush, European leaders are going to have an interest in this being seen as a successful first encounter," said Crowley, who is now with the Center for American Progress think tank.

The improvement in tone "doesn't necessarily solve the problem that Afghanistan is a very complex situation" and persuading European allies to devote more resources to the war there at a time of economic crisis will be tough, Crowley said.

At the NATO summit in Strasbourg, France, the leaders will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the transatlantic alliance. In a move symbolizing closer Franco-American ties, France is rejoining NATO's military command after decades of self-imposed exile.

Obama will use the NATO summit to further explain a strategy he unveiled this week for Afghanistan that puts a strong focus as well on Pakistan. It sets as the main goal the defeat of al Qaeda and Taliban militants.

Obama will send 4,000 U.S. troops to help train the Afghan army and will add more civilian personnel, but he also wants NATO partners to pitch in more resources.

(Reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Chris Wilson)

Bolloré au Cameroun: circulez, il n'y a rien à voir!

France Inter a diffusé un reportage éloquent sur la présence de Bolloré au Cameroun. Bien entendu, les dirigeants du groupe ont essayé, jusqu’au dernier moment, de fuir les questions du journaliste…

(photo : eelke dekker - Flickr - cc)

Bolloré, c’est le roi des communicants. Sa voix résonne partout sur le territoire national et à toute heure du jour et de la nuit. À la télévision via la chaîne Direct 8, dans ses journaux gratuits (ou ses tracts publicitaires, c’est au choix) que sont Direct Soir et Direct Matin Plus et par le biais, aussi, du groupe Havas dont il est le principal actionnaire. Mais il est un sujet que l’ami intime du président n’aime pas évoquer : ses activités en Afrique. Dernier exemple en date, à l’occasion d’un reportage de Benoît Collombat diffusé ce dimanche sur France Inter dans le cadre de l’émission « Interception » (pour l'écouter, c'est ici).

« Un groupe tout puissant »...

Intitulée « Cameroun : l’empire noir de Vincent Bolloré », cette enquête montre la main mise du groupe sur ce pays. L’entreprise française a en effet décroché, pour une durée de trente ans, l’exploitation de la société ferroviaire locale, la Camrail, mais se préoccupe visiblement très peu des passagers qu’elle transporte. Bolloré contrôle également, en partie, le port autonome de Douala qu’un ex-directeur général remercié décrit comme le « poumon économique du Cameroun et de l’Afrique centrale. »

Le journaliste de France Inter a par ailleurs rencontré le directeur du Free Media Group, la société éditrice du journal Le Messager qu’il présente lui-même comme « le seul quotidien à peu près indépendant » du Cameroun. Le patron de presse est sans concession avec son « homologue » français : Bolloré, c’est « une sorte d’Etat dans l’Etat », un groupe « tout puissant » qui bénéficie d’une « couverture en haut lieu ». Il évoque notamment le rôle de Michel Roussin, vice-président du groupe Bolloré pour l’Afrique, ancien des services secrets français, ex-directeur de cabinet de Jacques Chirac à la mairie de Paris et ex-ministre de la Coopération du gouvernement Balladur.

... ou un groupe « exemplaire » ?

On comprend mieux pourquoi les responsables du groupe français n’ont pas voulu s’exprimer. Ou plutôt ont tardé à donner signe de vie. « Sur place, au Cameroun, j’ai essayé de rencontrer les différents représentants des filiales de Bolloré mais, à chaque fois, ils ont refusé, confie Benoît Collombat, En France, j’ai tenté de joindre à plusieurs reprises par mail, par téléphone, les responsables du groupe, mais j’ai très vite compris que je ne pourrais pas interviewer Vincent Bolloré, ni Michel Roussin. »

Sollicités pendant près de trois semaines, les dirigeants de Bolloré ont fini par accepter de répondre aux questions du journaliste de France Inter vendredi soir dernier, soit quelques heures seulement avant la diffusion de l’émission. Un changement de stratégie dû à la diffusion vendredi dernier d'extraits du reportage pour annoncer l'émission. C’est finalement Dominique Lafont, directeur général Afrique du groupe Bolloré qui a été envoyé au charbon pour démentir chacun des faits évoqués dans le reportage. Au passage, l'homme n'a pas hésité pas à mettre en avant « l’exemplarité » du groupe et à expliquer que « l’intérêt [de la présence de Bolloré] pour le Cameroun est évident… » Et pour les Camerounais ?

Commentary: Our schools get lousy grades By Jack Cafferty CNN

Below is an excerpt from CNN commentator Jack Cafferty's new book, "Now or Never." Cafferty appears daily in "The Situation Room" on CNN from 4 to 7 p.m. ET.

In his new book, "Now or Never," Jack Cafferty says our schools don't measure up.

(CNN) -- Call it another piece of evidence that this once great nation of ours is crumbling: Half of us believe our schools deserve a C or a D for the job they do preparing kids for higher education and making a go of it as grownups in the work force.

So said an Associated Press survey in summer 2008. The AP reported U.S. kids are scoring in the bottom half of the pack when measured against kids from other nations. President Obama's Department of Education (DOE) brain trust has their homework cut out for them if they plan on boosting the grades our schools earn while educating our kids.

Getting our kids through school has become a challenging, complex job that most folks say must begin at home with discipline, parental guidance, and closer attention to our kids' needs.

Obama said it simply in his final debate with John McCain: Unplug those video games, mom and dad, put other distractions away, and get down to work with your kids. Here's a guy who had no father around, basically; who was raised by a single white mother (helped by his white grandmother), sometimes on food stamps; and who became a star at Harvard Law School. So it can be done.

'Now or Never'

Jack's new book: "Now or Never: Getting Down to the Business of Saving Our American Dream"

Excerpt: Cafferty: 'Living a lie and a scary double life' »

We've witnessed the decline of the importance of schooling in far too many homes. Learning must be a top priority for parents. But in today's brutal economy, breadwinners are forced to work two jobs, two parents sweat to keep their jobs and homes, and the kids get left unsupervised. They go online, text their pals, stare at the tube (or YouTube), and play video games. They're not dashing out to the public library to research renewable fuels or Renaissance history.

One major bone of contention among parents and educators was Bush's 2001 No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, whose focus was squarely on standardized, multiple-choice test scores in Math and English rather than on the quality (and deeper grasp by the student) of the curriculum. Cafferty discusses book on "The Situation Room" »

Soon Congress was seeking authorization to pay bonuses up to $10,000 to reward outstanding teachers whose students excel -- one incentive to stem the flight of top teachers from our schools. Even in grades one through three, Bush's NCLB got into trouble. Reading First, the much-touted $1 billion-a-year reading program and NCLB cornerstone for 1.5 million kids in 5,200 schools, proved ineffective.

Don't Miss

• Jack's book 'Now or Never'
• Learn more about Jack Cafferty
• The Situation Room

Worse, in 2006, the DOE's inspector general found that several top program advisers benefited financially by steering states and school districts to certain tests and texts tied to Reading First materials. The result: Congress slashed Reading First's $1 billion funding in 2007 to $400 million. Our kids paid quite a price for that mess.

I did an April 2008 "Cafferty File" piece that began, "The education crisis in America's largest cities is assuming frightening proportions. Only about half of all students who attend the main school systems in the 50 largest cities actually graduate from high school." It was a "coin toss," according to the non-profit Editorial Projects in Education (EPE) Research Center. Nationally, the figure for dropouts was nearly one in three. The group's founding chairman, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, called the situation-1.2 million dropouts a year-"not just a crisis, but a catastrophe." Main school districts in Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Baltimore all had graduation averages below 40 percent, Detroit's being 25 percent.

The real threat to the United States, I said in another piece on "dropout factories," where less than 60 percent graduate (one in 10 schools qualify), is that our kids can't cut it against kids schooled in today's emerging economies. How can they compete globally, I asked, when barely half of the kids in our largest cities even graduate?

Aron from Toronto wrote, "You're kidding, right? That ship has sailed. As one who traveled 200,000 miles on business last year, I can tell you for certain that the world places no hope, no weight upon America's youth making even a future ripple in the global waters ... Having visited the top public schools in India and China, I can assure you that the future for America's youth is much bleaker than even the greatest skeptics could imagine."

One underlying problem in public education is that the system has morphed into this giant government bureaucracy that sucks up billions and billions of dollars for everything except teaching children reading, writing, and arithmetic (and sciences). We pay school administrators hundreds of thousands of dollars to preside over these failed enterprises that produce their share of functional illiterates.

Beyond imposing some learning-related discipline at home, parents might also seize the initiative by getting more involved: serving on the school board; volunteering, time permitting, to work at the local school with kids who need extra help. When that mind set of involvement spreads through the populace, change is more likely.

I've asked many "Cafferty File" questions (all drawn from the news) about our schools that never fail to trigger intense viewer concern: Birth control pills and maternity leave for pregnant girls? A ban on all school junk food? Mandatory Breathalyzer tests at school dances? In that instance, a New Jersey superintendent said recent events had left him no choice. His program's zero-tolerance message about alcohol was a way to improve the atmosphere for education.

As Mark from Philadelphia wrote, "Having just been a high school student less than a year ago, I can tell you how rampant the alcohol and drug problem among our youth is. I can literally only name one peer of mine who has not done marijuana, and not one who has not drunk alcohol. This is just one necessary step in reforming our schools."

One "File" piece was inspired by a Chicago district that allowed the U.S. Marine Corps to run one of its high schools. Outrageous? Not to my viewers. Thomas in Florida wrote, "A high school where the students are required to be respectful of authority, that fosters an environment of personal discipline, academic and physical achievement -- sounds preposterous to me. You must be kidding. Why, before you know it, our nation might be churning out mannered, intelligent young adults again. Madison Avenue, Hollywood, and Wal-Mart would never stand for that." Greg in California wrote, "My daughter starts high school next year. Can they build one out here in Southern California by then?"