Peanut Butter News

Full Story at CNN.com

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (CNN) — Brazil’s high court has halted the return of a 9-year-old boy to the United States, his American father told CNN.

Thursday’s ruling comes one day after a lower court unanimously upheld a decision last June by the 16th Federal Court in Rio de Janeiro, which ordered Sean Goldman returned to his home with his father, David Goldman, in New Jersey. That decision was made in accordance with the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abductions.

“It is very, very discouraging,” David Goldman told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “I’m very disappointed. This ruling … has nothing to do with the merits of the case.”

Full Story at Reuters.com

TEPCO, Japan’s largest utility, has entered a binding agreement with project partners for the purchase of 1.8 million tonnes per year (mtpy) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for a period of 20 years, Exxon said in a statement.

The contracted volume includes the plant’s recently expanded output of 0.3 mtpy, which means all of the project’s 6.6 mtpy capacity has now been contracted, project partner Oil Search (OSH.AX) said in a separate statement.

Exxon and partners have not yet finalized two other gas sale agreements with Taiwan’s CPC Corp and Japan’s Osaka Gas Ltd 9532. ahead of a self-imposed deadline of December 8 for the project’s final investment decision.

Full Story at msnbc.com

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court said Monday it will decide whether two people can do the work of five when it comes to resolving labor-management disputes in the workplace.

The National Labor Relations Board, which for decades has had the responsibility to police many of these disputes, has operated with only two members — and three vacancies — for more than a year. The reason for this is that Democrats who retook control of Congress in 2006 objected to President George W. Bush’s labor policies, and thus refused to confirm his nominees.

But the two NLRB members still in place have continued to issue decisions, making about 400 in the last 16 months.

Full Story at msnbc.com

WASHINGTON – The once-indefatigable Ted Kennedy was in a wheelchair at the end, struggling to speak and sapped of his energy. But from the time his brain cancer was diagnosed 15 months ago, he spoke of having a “good ending for myself,” in whatever time he had left, and by every account, he did.

As recently as a few days ago, Mr. Kennedy was still digging into big bowls of mocha chip and butter crunch ice creams, all smushed together (as he liked it). He and his wife, Vicki, had been watching every James Bond movie and episode of “24” on DVD.

Full Story at msnbc.com

While heroic politicians all over America are mandating bicycle helmets, it’s still legal to drive 4,000 pounds of steel 60 miles an hour while your brain is turned to the moron setting.

Oh you know exactly who and what I’m talking about. You know because you are that one guy in all the world who is perfectly capable of operating your automobile and cellular device simultaneously without endangering yourself or those driving around you … all of whom are also operating their automobiles and cellular devices simultaneously, because they too are quite certain that they are that one guy … but of course they’re wrong because it’s you who is that one guy, not any of them … morons.

Full Story at CNN.com

Wayne Coldiron and Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. are facing murder charges in the Thursday night shooting deaths of Byrd and Melanie Billings, said Sheriff David Morgan of Escambia County.

Coldiron, 41, surrendered to investigators Sunday and Gonzalez was arrested in neighboring Santa Rosa County on Sunday evening, Morgan said.

Gonzalez’s age was not immediately released.

The sheriff was in the middle of announcing Coldiron’s arrest to reporters when detectives informed him that Gonzalez was in custody.

Full Story At CNN.com

Now, both the King of Pop and the Godfather of Soul are gone.

Sunday night’s 9th Annual BET Awards is sure to be filled with tributes to Jackson, whose videos and performances were a staple for the network in his heyday. BET has already paid tribute to the singer, going wall-to-wall with Jackson videos Thursday night.

Many of the celebrities scheduled to attend the show were also fans of the singer and it is expected that the night will provide an opportunity for them to salute the star.

“Words cannot capture the impact Michael Jackson has had on pop culture around the world,” said Debra L. Lee, chairman and chief executive officer of BET Networks. “He changed the way we hear and feel and move to music; he epitomized what true musical talent and star power really mean. He is and always will be the King of Pop.”

Full Story At nationalgeographic.com

A U.S. biotech company says it plans to start this summer the world’s first study of a treatment based on human embryonic stem cells—a long-awaited project aimed at spinal cord injury.

The company gained federal permission this week to inject eight to ten patients with cells derived from embryonic cells, said Thomas Okarma, president and CEO of Geron Corp. of Menlo Park, California.

Political Hotsheet Full Story At CBSnews.com

The Senate has overwhelmingly confirmed Hillary Clinton to become secretary of state.

The chamber voted 94 to two to confirm Clinton, a fierce rival of President Obama for the Democratic nomination. Though some Republicans had expressed concerns about conflicts of interest related to Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, they were not enough to derail her nomination.

Clinton will now be immediately sworn in at a private ceremony. She faces daunting foreign policy challenges, including wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the conflict in the Middle East.

Full Story At CBS News

CBS/ AP) President Barack Obama plans to sign on Thursday an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center within a year and halt military trials of terror suspects held there, the Associated Press reported.

The executive order was one of three expected imminently on how to interrogate and prosecute al Qaeda, Taliban or other foreign fighters believed to threaten the United States.

A senior Obama aide said he would sign the order on Thursday, fulfilling his campaign promise to shut down a facility that critics around the world say violates domestic and international detainee rights. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because the event has not yet been announced.

Full Story At NYTimes.com

WASHINGTON — President Bush on Monday commuted the sentences of two former border patrol agents who had been sentenced to more than a decade in prison for shooting and seriously wounding a Mexican drug dealer in Texas in 2005.

With a day left in his presidency, Mr. Bush exercised his constitutional power to grant clemency — for the last time, according to a senior White House official — in a case that has touched off fierce debate in the Southwest. The two former agents, Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean, had attracted considerable support among advocates of tougher border security, who argued that the agents were just doing their jobs.

ABC News

When Pamela Davis agreed to wear an FBI wire in late 2003, she became a
key part of the investigation that culminated in the arrest of Illinois
Gov. Rod Blagojevich for allegedly trying to sell President-elect Barack Obama’s Senate seat.
The extent of Davis’ role as a whistle-blower and FBI informant exceeded her expectations.

“I had my suspicions that it would go all the way up to the level of the governor,” Davis told ABC News in her first television interview. “Though, I did not have personal knowledge that he was involved.”