Prince Harry: New York trip has been 'fantastic'

As Britain's Prince Harry neared the end of his second and final day in New York City on Saturday, he described his experiences as "fantastic."

The 24-year-old visited the Harlem Children's Zone, a nonprofit organization that offers free programs and classes in a low-income area, then went to Governors Island in New York Harbor to play in the Veuve Clicquot Manhattan Polo Classic.

Profits from the match will benefit Sentebale, a charity for orphans in Lesotho, Africa, a cause Harry's mother, Princess Diana, had promoted. The prince was accompanied by Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, who also lost his mother when he was young.

The men toured the Children's Zone with founder Geoffrey Canada, and spent time in a classroom where some students were studying for a math test. A 10-year-old girl sitting at a desk covered with drawing paper and colored markers gave Harry a picture.

"Is this for me?" Harry asked as he accepted it. Pointing to the desk and pens, he then asked, "You find yourself very lucky to have all this?" When she nodded, he replied "Good."

A young boy gave Harry a bowl containing a dish he had prepared, and the prince ate it while the child sounded off the ingredients. Throughout the classroom visit, the prince smiled and chatted easily with students.

Cheering people lined the street as Harry entered the building. As he left, reporters shouted questions.

Asked how he liked his first official visit overseas and meeting the children, the prince responded, "It's been fantastic -- really, really worthwhile."

"It's my first visit to New York. I'm hopeful I'll come back to visit again."

He also was asked whether he thought his appearances would change any image the public might have of him, apparently referring to some of his wild exploits ways when he was younger.

Those incidents included a one-day stint in drug rehab in 2002 and accusations of racism in January.

"I don't know what the image is of me. There is always the image that's been given to me, but people have their own opinions, it's the media that likes to stamp on the image which isn't really me."

On Friday, the youngest son of Princess Diana offered his condolences to September 11 victims at the former site of the World Trade Center. The prince met New York Gov. David Paterson and briefly spoke with family members of 9/11 victims. The prince then laid a wreath at the site and bowed his head in a moment of silence.

He left a handwritten note tacked to the wreath, citing an "the courage shown by the people" of New York on September 11, 2001.

Harry later paid tribute to his fellow citizens at Lower Manhattan's British Garden at Hanover Square, where he honored the 67 British victims of the September 11 attacks, officials said.

The third in line for the British crown, Harry is active in the British Army. He received a promotion to lieutenant in April 2008 and is currently training for an Army Air Corps pilot position, according to the prince's Web site.

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Pillow Saves Girl, 8, From Bullet

MOORE, Okla. -- Police are investigating a shooting outside a Moore home where a bullet narrowly missed hitting an 8-year-old girl while she slept in her bed.

The bullet came through a window, shattered the glass and woke up the girl and her parents. They didn't find the bullet hole until the next morning.

"It was this small hole in the blinds, that stuck out at first," said the girl's stepmother, who asked to be identified only as "Jennifer". "I thought, 'What else could go through that and cause such a big hole?'

"The much larger hole in the window indicated that someone had fired a shot into her 8-year-old daughter's bedroom.

The bullet seemed to have disappeared until Jennifer's stepdaughter noticed a mark on her pillow."

The front of the pillow had a hole. The back of it didn't," she said. "I dug around and it was deep in there.

"The bullet had landed inside the pillow that was just inches away from her stepdaughter.

"It landed between her legs," Jennifer said. "There was a pillow at the bottom of the bed between her legs and it landed in that pillow.

"She said she thinks the shot may have come from an open field behind her home. Police said there's no way to know for sure.

"It was somebody just messing around, doing something for fun, shooting at a target," she said. "The bullet is going to go somewhere, and it could be into a person.

"Police said they got a call of shots being fired in that area early in the morning but didn't find anything when they arrived. Officers said they currently have no leads about who may have fired the shots.

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U.S. vows to keep using 'state secrets' defense

The Obama administration has informed a federal judge it will continue to invoke the "state secrets" privilege in a legal battle with an Islamic charity suspected of funding terrorism.

The United States has designated the Oregon-based al-Haramain Islamic Foundation as a terrorist organization. The group, which has sued the government over alleged warrantless wiretapping, is demanding classified information about the program.

U.S. officials have refused to tell the charity's lawyers whether the group was subjected to presidentially authorized, warrantless, foreign intelligence surveillance in 2004 and, if so, what information was obtained.

In a court document filed overnight in San Francisco and released early Saturday in Washington, the Justice Department said its case-by-case review of the government's use of the state secrets defense has not changed its position in the al-Haramain case.

The defense allows courts to block lawsuits against the government on grounds that the litigation could harm national security.

"An additional review was conducted at the highest levels of the Department of Justice to determine whether continued invocation of the privilege was warranted," the government told the court.

"Based on that review, it is the government's position that disclosure of classified information ... would create intolerable risks to national security."

The Obama administration has criticized President Bush's Justice Department for invoking the state secrets defense too quickly.

Attorney General Eric Holder has ordered a review to determine whether the government's use of the state secrets privilege can be sharply narrowed. The government brief, however, reveals the legal tool will continue to be used despite strong objections from civil liberties groups and their political allies.

"The government does not take this position lightly," Justice Department lawyers told Judge Vaughn Walker, who has been unsympathetic to the government stance.

"An assertion of the state secrets privilege to preclude further litigation is an extremely significant step that requires in-depth consideration and debate at the highest levels of our government," the Justice document says.

All sides acknowledge the importance of the case.

"The government recognizes that the underlying dispute in this case raises the fundamental separation of powers question concerning whether the court has the ultimate authority under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to order the disclosure of state secrets to a private party over the government's objections," according to the justice filing.

The immediate issue is Walker's May 22 order to show cause as to why the government should not be sanctioned for "failing to obey the court's orders" to turn over classified information.

The government insists it has not yet received a direct court order to do that, and has only refrained from "agreeing" to do so. The government vowed a swift appeal once it receives such an order.

The Obama administration argument concludes with a direct challenge to the judge "to recognize that the imposition of discovery sanctions is not a lawful, appropriate, or productive alternative."

In 2007 the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a ruling by Walker in the same case in which he had rejected the government's state secrets privilege. The ruling, however, left unanswered whether the FISA law could preempt the state secrets privilege, so al-Haramain went back to court to continue the fight on that issue.

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Hired! New Job, New State, New Start

The 2.3 million college grads in the class of 2009 are finding that starting a career in the current economic climate will require some sacrifice.

While 73% of recent graduates worry about finding work after graduation, 50% say they have already changed or plan to change their career path, according to the State of the Student Survey released recently by DeVry University.

But putting long-term goals on hold and taking a "bridge job" don't have to derail a grad's ambitions.

Shalyn Pugh, 21, was living in Vancouver, Washington, and working as an Americorp volunteer during her last year of college at Washington State University. With a degree in public affairs and environmental science, Pugh planned on a career in environmental education and outreach.

"I was set to graduate early. I thought that was a good thing. Having worked as a research assistant and an Americorps volunteer in Clark County, just north of Portland, Oregon, I figured finding a job in the non-profit world would be a snap," she said.

But after 8 months of searching, Pugh didn't land a single interview.

"It was a stalemate," she said.

With no leads and news of her sister's pregnancy, Pugh decided it was time for a change. She moved to Bend, Oregon, to be closer to her sister and brother-in-law. That's when her brother-in-law told her about a position at his company, G5 Search Marketing.

Although the position as a Web QA specialist was a far cry from what Pugh had intended on doing, it was a full-time job with benefits -- and it was available.

"After a couple rounds, I was on the team," she said. Now, "here I am, three hours from where I was job hunting, in a different industry than I intended."

Pugh also discovered that she loves her new job testing formatting and design changes for G5 clients as well as her place in Bend, which she shares with her dog, Lulu.

Eventually she plans to resume her pursuit of a career in environmental law or science, but for the time being Pugh is learning about HTML coding, search engine optimization and how to build web pages.

"I believe the skills I'm gaining now will be more than useful in the future regardless of the industry I'm working in," she says.

For now, her sights are set on the impending arrival of her niece or nephew, due any day.

Compromise is O.K.

For other job seekers trying to stay afloat in the worst job market in 25 years, our career experts agree that finding a job for the interim is a good idea -- even if it is outside your desired industry and region.

"Do what you need to do to satisfy your needs today," said Gerry Crispin, co-owner of Careerxroads, a consulting firm based in New Jersey.

According to Ford Myers, president of Career Potential, LLC, a Pennsylvania-based career consulting firm, there are times when it is appropriate to get what he calls a "bridge job," when the opportunity you want may be out of reach.

"You've got to do something temporary until you can find the opportunity that you're really looking for," Myers said.

That's not always a bad thing. As in Pugh's case, sometimes trying different fields can uncover a new interest, or develop a valuable skill. "It may seem like a detour," said Kathy Robinson, the founder of TurningPoint, a career consulting firm in greater Boston, but "she's learning a skill set that may apply to the environmental field down the road."

"The important thing is to never lose sight of your real career goals," Myers added.

To that end, Crispin recommends that job seekers stay connected to their career of choice by joining professional associations, tracking colleagues in that industry and building a network of contacts.

"If you can't meet your dream today, then decide what it is you can do without necessarily giving up your dream forever," Crispin said

READ MORE - Hired! New Job, New State, New Start

American Dream Slipping Away

There was a time, not very long ago, when getting a job on the production line at a big automaker meant an instant ticket to the American dream, even for someone with little formal education. Not anymore.

"The minute you signed the paper, you were instantly vaulted into the middle class," said Mike Smith, director of Wayne State University's Walter P. Reuther Library in Detroit, named for the founder of the United Auto Workers, the union that represents auto workers.

A shrinking paycheck. As the auto industry undergoes a sea change, the government has demanded that Chrysler and General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) bring their labor costs in line with foreign competitors operating non-union factories in the U.S.

Today, an entry-level autoworker in a "non-core" position will make $14 an hour, compared to the $28-an-hour "base rate" others make, according to a summary of Chrysler's contract agreement.

Workers' benefits have also taken a hit.

"Workers coming in will have good benefits and a good wages but not necessarily what they were 20 or 30 years ago," said Smith.

Anemic health care. New UAW employees will pay a much larger portion of their health care expenses and once they retire, carmakers won't pay for it, according to information from the Center for Automotive Research.

Fewer medical procedures and drugs will be covered and, under new agreements, Chrysler and GM retireees won't have dental and vision care covered.

Eroding unemployment benefits. As GM and Chrysler restructure, the UAW has agreed to give up salary protections that had cushioned laid off autoworkers... [Read More]

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How much cash should you have in your portfolio?

When the markets began to tank last fall, investors fled to cash and cash-like investments. No one cared if yields were paltry. The return of principal rather than the return on principal was the biggest priority.

The result today is that you may hold more cash in your portfolio than during the years leading up to the bear market. According to a recent survey of 401(k) plans by Hewitt Associates, investors added 11% to stable-value funds in 2008. (Stable value funds invest in short-term bonds that carry an insurance “wrapper.”)

But with the immediate crisis out of the way (let’s hope), how much cash do you need going forward?

Steven Romick, manager of FPA Crescent Fund, recently stopped by Money’s offices. He says FPA Crescent, which invests in both bonds and stocks, currently has little more than 20% allocated to cash, down from roughly 40% back in September. Romick’s shift makes sense from a long-term perspective. Consider: Today, the average rate on bank money market accounts is only 1.33%, according to Bankrate.com. Factor in inflation, and cash doesn’t give your portfolio the growth it needs.

But Romick also says this: “The idea that you’re invested at all times [in say, equities] presupposes there is no better deal coming down the road.” In other words, cash gives you flexibility, which you need if you want to be able to pounce on investment opportunities as they arise.

So how much cash should you have ? As always, you’ll have to consider your goals, time horizon and risk tolerance. You’ll also want to look at how much cash is held in the mutual funds you own. Many fund managers, such as Romick, loaded up on greenbacks last year.

If you need to scale back and build up say, your equity or bond allocation, make the shift gradually. And promise yourself you won’t abandon cash altogether during the next market boom.

Finally, remember that separate from your portfolio, you also want emergency savings to cover at least six months of living costs. That money should be kept in a safe, liquid spot, such as a bank savings account.

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Are U.S. bonds really a safe haven?

It looked like a no-brainer. With a flight to quality last year pushing up U.S. Treasury bond prices and risky loans looking like losses waiting to happen, U.S. banks ploughed money into government bonds. And until about mid-May, when prices of 10-year securities topped 100 cents on the dollar, that looked like a good bet. Now, however, this safe haven isn't looking quite so secure.

A rebound in risk appetite and worries about Uncle Sam's credit rating has drained some air from the Treasury market bubble. A 10-year bond now fetches only a little over 95 cents on the dollar. That may not seem like much of a drop, but if you think of banks leveraging up their positions, it could result in some nasty losses.

How much so? Well, American depository institutions hold some $581 billion in various types of government obligations on reserve with the central bank, according to Federal Reserve statistics.

Of course, the cost of funding these positions has also plummeted. The London interbank offered rate (Libor) for three-month dollar borrowings is now a mere two-thirds of a percent. And a steeper yield curve is a boon for banks looking to earn their way out of trouble through fat net interest margins.

But one could argue that Libor is being artificially depressed by the U.S. government's interventions to prop up bank credit. Should they withdraw those measures -- say, by pulling its borrowing guarantees, its liberal discount window collateral requirements or other programmes -- Libor could easily rise to a level appropriate for the industry's average single-A to double-A credit. That was over 5% in 2006, for example.

Should that happen, and longer rates also struggle higher, banks run the risk of losing money on their hordes of Treasurys, just when their plummeting prices make them hardest to unload. If so, this port in the storm could turn out to be quite choppy.

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More U.S. airports add rail service to downtown

Riding the rails between downtown and the airport is becoming a reality for more U.S. travelers.

With their roadways jammed with cars and shuttles, a growing number of domestic airports are building or have plans for a rail link that will connect passengers from the terminals to regional metro-rail systems, allowing road warriors and vacationers to ditch their cars.

"There is a consensus building that this is a desirable piece of overall strategy to deal with ground transportation challenges," says Matthew Coogan, director of New England Transportation Institute who has written extensively about the subject.

Direct rail connections to Seattle-Tacoma and Dallas Love Field are expected to open later this year. Other large airports with an approved rail project that will be completed in the next few years: Salt Lake City, Phoenix Sky Harbor, Miami, Dallas/Fort Worth and Oakland.

Several other airports, including Denver, Washington Dulles and Los Angeles, have similar plans, but their projects are years from completion.

Airport rail links have long been popular in Europe and Asia. But only eight of the 20 largest U.S. airports, based on 2008 boardings, have rail service that drops passengers off within walking distance of the terminals: Atlanta, Chicago O'Hare, New YorkJohn F. Kennedy, San Francisco, Newark, Minneapolis, Boston and Philadelphia.

But a confluence of operational and economic factors have pushed the airport rail agenda forward in recent years despite opposition from taxi and bus proponents and fiscally conservative lawmakers.

With air traffic rising rapidly in recent years, airports are learning that simply building more parking lots and enlarging roadways aren't sustainable practices, Coogan says. Many U.S. airports have also embraced the green movement, budgeting more for programs that reduce their carbon footprint.

Greater availability of federal funding sources for airport rail is helping the cause. After a rigorous application process, Phoenix Sky Harbor persuaded the Federal Aviation Administration to let it use the passenger facility charge — a fee added to air tickets — to partially fund its rail project. Oakland received $70 million for its rail project from the federal economic stimulus package this year.

Popular rail services

Experts cite Washington, D.C.'s metro service to Washington Reagan National, Bay Area Rapid Transit's (BART) connection to San Francisco International and New York JFK's 8-mile AirTrain that links to the local subway as the most heavily used and popular systems in the USA. They also feed into established and far-reaching regional metro systems that are easy to use for travelers who forgo rental cars. Since it opened in 2003, AirTrain ridership has grown steadily, and about 4.75 million paid to ride the JFK train in 2008, according to the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.

"When I fly to SFO, I always take the BART from the airport to my office in downtown San Francisco, and I love it," says business traveler Marc Belsher, a health care technology consultant. "It is inexpensive, reliable, relatively fast and ultraconvenient. It is the natural choice for me, especially in this economy."

Cleveland, St. Louis and Portland, Ore., run smaller rail systems that also provide direct-to-airport service. The number of travelers using Portland Metro's service to the airport grew 7.7% in 2008, says Steve Schreiber, aviation director for Portland International.

Still, airport-rail ridership in the USA is woefully low compared with other countries, says Andrew Sharp, director general of the U.K.-based International Air Rail Organisation. In many European and Asian airports, 20% to 30% of travelers get to and from the airport using rail. In the USA, ridership typically ranges from 2% to 5%, he says.

Airports actively pursuing a rail connection have several options:

•Add to existing systems.Seattle's Sound Transit, a voter-approved initiative passed in the late 1990s to create a regional light-rail system, is close to finishing its latest line. The Central Link, a 16-mile line running between downtown Seattle and Sea-Tac airport, will launch later this year. Its airport station is scheduled to open in December.

About a decade ago, Salt Lake City had no public rail. The Utah Transit Authority has since built a system that covers about 150 miles. A 5-mile downtown-to-airport connection is under construction and scheduled to open in 2012, says Michael Allegra of UTA. He expects about 6,000 riders daily when it opens.

One of the largest construction projects in the nation's capital is a 23-mile extension of the region's Metro to Washington Dulles. The new line will also serve the Tysons Corner area, Virginia's largest employment center. The completion date hasn't been determined.

•People-mover rail. Some airports have a metro station nearby but not within walking distance. To close the gap, they are looking to automated people-mover trains as a solution. Because people-movers typically run within airport grounds, airport authorities can tap funding sources that are available only for airport projects.

Phoenix Sky Harbor will use passenger facility charges to partially fund its Sky Train, a people-mover that will open in 2012 and connect to a nearby light-rail station. One airport station will contain an enclosed and air-conditioned moving walkway that will take travelers directly to the terminals.

BART this month approved funding for a 3.2-mile elevated people-mover that will connect BART's Coliseum station to Oakland International, replacing the current bus connection. It's scheduled to enter service in 2013. About 4,300 Bay Area passengers a day are expected.

Meanwhile, Miami-Dade Transit broke ground last week on a people-mover extension from the Earlington Heights station — the nearest stop to Miami International— to a ground transportation hub that's being built next to the airport. The rail link and the ground transportation hub are both expected to be completed in 2012.

Ongoing debates

Like most large construction projects, airport rail proposals face stiff headwinds. Opponents challenge funding sources and new taxes and cite preferences for cars and buses. But the central argument in most debates has centered around ridership, specifically whether airports have enough demand to justify millions in cost.

BART's connection to SFO, completed in 2003, has yet to reach BART's initial ridership forecast and is still not profitable. Prior to construction, BART projected there would be 17,800 average daily boardings to and from the airport by the year 2010. As of this month, SFO ridership was at about 11,000.

Frank Sterling and Juliet Ellis, activists in the Bay Area, also questioned BART's plans to spend $500 million for Oakland International's people-mover and its decision to charge $6 for the service vs. $3 for the current shuttle bus.

"The proposal to charge double that for the new connector might drive away customers, unless it delivers twice the value," they wrote in a recent newspaper commentary, "Can East Bay residents afford this?"

These are appropriate debates, Coogan says. Some cities are better off sticking to buses, he says. For example, LAX's FlyAway Bus, which provides non-stop rides to various neighborhoods in Southern California, is more convenient for many travelers than the metro.

For some cities, it'd be wiser to spend scarce funds for extending metro to public transportation-friendly suburbs before considering airports, Coogan adds.

"How often does a person go to work? And how often does a person go to Paris in a year?" he says.

In Seattle, where light-rail coverage is still growing, expectations are modest, with 3,000 riders a day expected at the airport station initially. "We're at the beginning. It's a step-by-step process," says Ron Lewis of Sound Transit. "But there are other neighborhoods that will be served by the line along 15 miles."

By Roger Yu, USA TODAY

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Bush: White House pressure made marriage stronger

Former President Bush said that if Laura Bush hadn't been first lady, he isn't sure he could have counted on her vote.

"I can promise you that her life dream when she was growing up was not to be first lady of the United States," Bush told a Michigan audience Thursday in one of his first major domestic speeches since leaving the White House.

"Frankly, I am not so sure that if we hadn't married she'd have voted for me. There's a lot of pressure in the White House, as I'm sure you can imagine. Pressure sometimes can make a marriage stronger or weaker. In my case because of her patience and her enthusiasm, it made our marriage a really good marriage."

The pressure of the presidency, he said, weighs most on family members.

"It's much harder to be the son of the president than to be the president. And it's much harder to be the father of the president than to be the president," he said in a reference to his dad, former President George H.W. Bush.

"And I used to have to admonish him not pay attention to what they were writing on the editorial pages about his son. I had gone through the same agony myself. And so I am confident that the end of the presidency is a great relief because of our strong love."

Something else Bush called a great relief: having a vice president, Dick Cheney, who had no plans to run for the top spot.

"I was pleased to have someone serve as my vice president who was not running for president, because someone who is running for president, at times, will try to distance themselves," Bush said. "... If things got tough, [he] could be one of the first persons off the ship, and that would be really unpleasant in the White House."

Bush said he wasn't surprised to lose public support for some of the main elements of his national security agenda.

"I was frustrated because the stakes were so high in some of the decisions that I had to make. I wasn't surprised that people would forget the feeling of how they felt after September 11. I was grateful that people were moving beyond September 11. As a president you don't want your nation to be so worried about an attack that people don't go about their lives. ... The psychology of the nation concerned me. Which then made it harder to get people to listen to you, to some of the decisions I made."

The fact that Americans tuned out media coverage of the risk of terrorism wasn't surprising to him either, he said -- he ignored most news coverage himself.

"The truth of the matter is, I never watched the nightly news, because it was predictable, I thought. Nor did I ever pay attention to the editorial pages, good editorials or bad," he said. "I knew what was in the news. When you're president, you can get so obsessed with this stuff that I felt it would cloud your vision.

"The truth of the matter is there is so much attention paid to you, I thought it was important even in the toughest moments to be upbeat and not to be so worried about myself that I couldn't convey a sense of confidence."

He mused on the transition to a far calmer existence after the presidency.

"People ask, what is it like? Well, I have never stopped at a traffic light for eight years," he said. "...The neighborhood we live in is nice. You know Laura bought this house sight unseen. At least she saw. I didn't. It was like a faith-based initiative."

Bush will take the stage Friday night with former President Clinton in Toronto, Ontario, for what's being termed a "conversation."

READ MORE - Bush: White House pressure made marriage stronger

Obama creates top job for guarding online security

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Obama announced Friday he is creating the post of cyber security coordinator to oversee "a new comprehensive approach to securing America's digital infrastructure."

The president said he will personally select the person who takes on that post.

"I'll depend on this official in all matters relating to cyber security, and this official will have my full support and regular access to me as we confront these challenges," he said.

The economic crisis cannot be tackled without ensuring the safety of the nation's online activities, Obama said. "America's economic prosperity in the 21st century will depend on cyber security," he said.

"Our technological advantage is a key to America's military dominance," he added. "But our defense and military networks are under constant attack. Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups have spoken of their desire to unleash a cyber attack on our country -- attacks that are harder to detect and harder to defend against."

The country is not adequately prepared, he said, to defend against a possible "weapon of mass disruption."

"From now on ... the networks and computers we depend on every day will be treated as they should be: as a strategic national asset," Obama said. "Protecting this infrastructure will be a national security priority."

Obama vowed that these efforts "will not include monitoring private sector networks or Internet traffic. We will preserve and protect the personal privacy and civil liberties that we cherish as Americans."

"I know how it feels" to have online privacy violated, the president said.

He referred to last year's hacking of computers at his campaign headquarters. The hackers did not access databases containing information about campaign donors, but did gain access to policy position papers and travel plans, Obama said.

CNN reported in November that computers at the headquarters of Obama's rival for the presidency, Sen. John McCain, had been broken into with similar results.

Obama's announcement Friday followed a 60-day review of the government's cyber security efforts, conducted by the National Security Council and Homeland Security Council.

The results of the review are posted at www.whitehouse.gov, along with links to more than 100 documents that helped inform the review.

The military has said it is working to create a Cyber Command. Last month, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the command would initially be under the U.S. Strategic Command.

The president is expected, within weeks, to sign a classified order officially creating the command, defense officials told CNN.

The Department of Homeland Security reports the number of cyber attacks on government and private networks increased from 4,095 in 2005 to 72,065 in 2008.

This month, a Transportation Department audit -- carried out after hackers got into a support system containing personnel records -- indicated the nation's air-traffic control system could be at risk.

READ MORE - Obama creates top job for guarding online security

Credit Card Reform: What Might Have Been

You’d think in a year when major banks received billions in taxpayer aid and face billions more in defaults on credit card debt, tackling anti-consumer practices by credit card issuers would be a slam dunk in Congress. There’s certainly been lots of buzz about changes coming to the credit card industry, served up by feisty Democrats eager to show American consumers that they’re looking out for the little guy. The House approved Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s Credit Card Holder’s Bill of Rights in late April and this week, the Senate is wrangling over Sen. Christopher Dodd’s Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act. It’s strong sounding legislation but the powerful banking lobby is hard at work on Capitol Hill trying to water down the toughest provisions. Unfortunately for consumers, the bank lobbyists are having some success.

Here are just a few provisions that have been dropped or not made it out of committee:

• Speedy reform. Maloney’s original bill included a provision that would require card issuers to implement changes within 90 days of the bill becoming law. Maloney’s bill is very similar to new regulations that the Federal Reserve approved in December , including banning card issuers from raising rates on existing balances unless your payment is late and giving consumers more time to make payment before fees kick in. All that’s good but the Fed’s new rules don’t kick in till July 2010. And ever since the Fed regulations were made public in December, credit card users have been slammed with rate hikes and higher fees, which consumer advocates say is a purposeful move by banks to soak consumers before the new rules kick in. Now the only part of Maloney’s bill that will go into effect within 90 days of signing is a provision that would give consumers 45 days notice that their rate is being increased.

• An end to universal default and multiple overdraft fees. According a report in the Huffington Post, an earlier version of Dodd’s bill explicitly prohibited universal default (that’s when a card company raises a user’s rate when they are late paying another creditor) and limited the number of overdraft fees that hit a cardholder when a cardholder goes over their limit. The latest version contains neither of those provisions.

• A cap on rates. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent, proposed a provision that would cap credit card interest rates at 15%. Noting that one-third of credit card holder’s pay interest rates higher than 20% and up to 41%, Sanders said this would end “loan sharking” by banks and consumer advocates said the provision would put real teeth in the bill. That effort was defeated last week.

President Obama asked Congress to deliver a credit card reform bill that he can sign by Memorial Day, one that would provide “strong and reliable protections for consumers.” Sure some reform is better than no reform. But let’s hope the legislation that lands on President Obama’s desk is still worth signing. Tell us: What do you think would be the most effective change to credit card practices?

READ MORE - Credit Card Reform: What Might Have Been

Obama’s Favorite Mutual Fund

Some food for thought from President Obama’s current investment portfolio, which was revealed last Friday as part of his government-mandated annual financial disclosure report:

1. There’s an old bit of investment advice: If you don’t have a lot of money, you invest to build your assets. If you already have a lot of money, you invest to protect them. Well, it’s the second part of that statement that applies to our president. Judging from the report, he and his immediate family had investments and savings, as of year-end 2008, of at least $1.4 million and as much as $5.9 million. (Sorry about the imprecision there; blame the report’s format for the wide range of valuations.) And, boy, is his portfolio safe and liquid. His biggest holding, by far, is his stake in U.S. Treasury bills–somewhere between $1.05 million and $5.1 million. The next biggest chunk is the $100,000 to $250,000 that Barack and Michelle have in their joint checking account. Face it: When either of them uses a debit card to gas up the limo at the 7-11, they don’t have to worry about those pesky overdraft fees.

2. The president isn’t really into stock-picking. He and the First Lady used to own a few different equity mutual funds; now he owns only one, and it’s an index fund: the Vanguard FTSE Social Index fund (VFTSX). President & Mrs. Obama have somewhere between $115,00 and $250,000 in the fund, spread out among three different retirement accounts. And they’ve suffered like everyone else: The fund has a total return of negative 39% over the past year, slightly worse than that of the S&P 500. Michelle used to have big holdings in the actively-managed Vanguard Wellesley Income (VWINX) and Vanguard Wellington (VWELX) funds, but she apparently got rid of them last year.

3. Face it, when you’re President of the United States, your investment objectives and criteria are not like your next-door neighbor’s (if indeed you have any neighbors). As much as Obama might be concerned about protecting his wealth–and maybe he isn’t, since he’ll have a nice pension and plenty of opportunities to make money in retirement–he’s got to worry more about how his investments look to other people, and what those investments say about him. That’s what they euphemize in financial circles as the “optics” of the situation.

4. On that basis, the optics of Obama’s investments look pretty good. By investing in an index fund, he’s not making an active bet on a particular company (though he does end up making big bets, for better or worse, on particular industries: The Social Index fund has about 26% of its investments in financial stocks, 27% in information technology, and another 30% in either health care or consumer discretionary). That lone mutual fund invests nearly all its money in U.S. stocks, and it screens companies on the basis of their policies and performance relative to the environment, human rights, sweatshops, bribery and other social issues. Who’s going to argue with that? And think about it: With so much of Obama’s money in Treasury bills and cash, he’s making a big bet on the performance of the U.S. economy and the U.S. dollar. It’s like with any money manager: When he’s playing with your money, you want him to have a lot of his own assets at risk, too.

Addendum:

The Obamas have socked away somewhere between $100,000 and $200,000 in 529 plans for Sasha and Malia’s college education. That’s great, but it appears they have put their money in broker-sold plans that charge a 3.5% upfront sales load and have annual expense ratios of around 1.3%. Ouch! Financial planner (and MONEY contributor) Allan Roth suggests they move to lower-expense direct-sold plans, a move that would mean lower fees and more money for the girls’ schooling.

READ MORE - Obama’s Favorite Mutual Fund

First-time unemployment claims dip

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless benefits dropped by 13,000 last week, the Labor Department reported on Thursday, but so-called continued claims hit a new record as the recession took a further toll on job prospects.

Initial claims for state unemployment insurance benefits declined to a seasonally adjusted 623,000 in the week ended May 23 from a revised 636,000 in the prior week. It was the second straight week in which initial claims fell.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast 630,000 new claims for benefits last week compared with a previously reported 631,000 in the preceding week.

Some 5.7 million U.S. jobs have been scrubbed from payrolls since a severe recession began in late 2007, battering labor markets as companies cut current employees and hold off on hiring.

The number of people staying on benefit rolls after drawing an initial week of aid increased by 110,000 to a higher-than-forecast 6.79 million in the week ended May 16, the most recent period for which the data was available. Analysts had estimated continued claims would be 6.74 million.

Continued claims have set new records in every week since Jan. 24 and now are more than double the level they were at a year ago.

READ MORE - First-time unemployment claims dip

Obama weighs new rules for banks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The Obama administration is weighing a plan that would put the Federal Reserve in charge of monitoring systemic risk and give the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. authority to unwind insolvent bank holding companies, sources familiar with the proposal said on Wednesday.

The idea, which is being circulated to U.S. lawmakers as they embark upon an overhaul of financial regulation, could be announced soon after June 8, the two sources said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the plan has not been widely shared and cautioned that the plan is not final.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has said the administration will come out with a comprehensive proposal in mid-June. June 8 is the Monday after President Barack Obama returns from a trip to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Germany and France.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said no final decision had been made about the shape of the regulatory proposal.

"Officials at the White House and the Treasury department are continuing work with Congress on the final phases of a proposal, but there is no final proposal in place and any announcement will not be for a couple of weeks," she said.

The sources said the administration is mulling a consumer protection agency to supervise financial products, such as credit cards and mortgage-related products. Securities would not fall under the consumer supervisor's jurisdiction.

The revamp could also create an agency in charge of investor protection and market integrity, which would likely be a merged Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Such a move would stop short of trying to eliminate either the SEC, which regulates securities, or the CFTC, which oversees commodity futures, one of the sources said. The new investor protection agency would oversee all investment products, the source said.

The administration will also try to stop banks from shopping for their regulator by creating a new, single government agency to be the hands-on regulator for most banks and insurers, the sources said.

Many financial institutions can currently choose between four bank regulators, creating the opportunity for regulatory arbitrage. The plan being considered would have the new agency be the primary supervisor of state and federally chartered depository institutions, bank holding companies and insurers, according to the sources.

It was not immediately clear what such a plan would mean for the current primary regulators of banks.

Some policymakers have suggested merging the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which regulates the nation's largest banks, and the Office of Thrift Supervision, which regulates many mortgage-related financial firms.

The administration is also considering a financial regulatory advisory council, which would include the heads of major financial regulators. This would be similar to the President's Working Group on Financial Markets, which is chaired by the Treasury secretary and composed of the chairmen of agencies like the SEC, the Fed and the CFTC.

"It is important to modernize the system to prevent the financial crisis from happening again," said Scott Talbott, a senior vice president with the Financial Services Roundtable, which represents the largest financial services companies.

READ MORE - Obama weighs new rules for banks

What Credit Card Legislation Means for You?

Consumers scored a major victory on Tuesday as the Senate voted overwhelmingly in favor of a bill that restricts unfair credit card practices. The Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act passed by a 90-5 margin. The bill comes on the heels of similar legislation, known as the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights, that was approved by the House on April 30 in 357 to 70 vote.

So what happens now? The Senate bill heads back to the House for a vote, and there’s a good chance it could hit the President’s desk before Memorial Day. But what do both bills mean for your wallet? Let’s look at the key provisions:

Retroactive rate hikes: Both bills ban hikes to interest rates on existing balances. So say you carry a $1,000 balance at 8%. If the rate on your card changes, the new rate will apply only to new purchases going forward—the issuer won’t be able to start charging 19% on the previous balance. The only catch: If you fail to comply with a debt repayment workout plan or if you are more than 30 days (House bill) or 60 days (Senate bill) late on payments, all bets are off. What’s more, both bills prevent issuers from raising your interest rate during the first year of the card account.

Penalty periods: If you are late and your rate goes up, the Senate bill states that if you pay your bill on time for 6 months in a row, you can reclaim the lower rate.

Advance notification: Time was, your issuer could jack your card’s rate and only give you 15 days notice. No more. Both bills require that issuers must give you 45 days notice before making significant interest rate, fee and finance charge increases.

Teaser rates: Both bills require that promotional rates must be offered for at least six months.

Payment allocation: You may have a balance transfer on your card at one rate, while other purchases or balances accrue interest at a different, higher rate. Before this legislation, banks could apply your payment to the balance with the lowest interest rate first—so your more costly balance just kept racking up interest. Now, payments in excess of the minimum amount owed must first be applied to the balance with the highest interest rate first, and then to remaining balances in descending order.

Due dates: Credit card statements must be mailed 21 days before the bill is due, up from the current 14. And no more odd timing deadlines for payments—payments received by 5 p.m. on the due date are on time. Payments with due dates that fall on holidays or weekends must be accepted by the next business day.

Over-the-limit fees: Before, if you tried to charge above your credit limit, the issuer would approve the transaction and slap you with an “over-the-limit” fee. Now, consumers must opt in for over-the-limit approval—and the fees that come with it.

Cards for young adults: The House bill stipulates that banks can’t issue cards to un-emancipated minors under the age of 18 unless a parent is the account holder. It also limits college students to just one credit card, sets credit limits to a percentage of the student’s income and requires parents to approve increases to credit limits on joint accounts. The Senate bill takes it even further, eliminating credit cards for people under the age of 21 unless an adult co-signs or they can show proof of income.

Gift cards: The House bill doesn’t touch them, but the Senate bill states that gift cards can’t expire in less than five years. Retailers selling Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover-branded gift cards will have to print information on dormancy fees—charged when the card goes unused for a while—right on the cards themselves.

Universal default: Both bills eliminate this practice, which allows a card issuer to raise your rates if it learns that you were late on another card.

Account closings: The Senate bill doesn’t address it, but the House bill requires an issuer give you 30 days notice before it closes your account.

Many of the provisions in these bills are already addressed in the Fed’s credit card regulations, which are slated to take effect in July 2010. Will this legislation make it happen sooner? The House bill was scheduled to take effect 12 months after passage, while the Senate bill planned for nine. We’ll keep you updated on what the final law looks like–and when you might start benefiting from it.

READ MORE - What Credit Card Legislation Means for You?

Has the next investing bubble begun?

Every month Merrill Lynch (or Bank of America Securities-Merrill Lynch for you scorekeepers) checks in with a bunch of big time money managers to take their bullish/bearish temperature. Collectively the 400 or so global managers in the May survey are pushing the buttons controlling portfolios worth nearly $1 trillion, so we’re not talking about a Beardstown lady survey here.

And these pros are getting their bull on. Seventy percent said they believe the world economy will improve over the next 12 months and so they are upping their equity stakes. The area getting the most attention: emerging markets. The report notes that 46% of the money managers are now overweight the emerging markets, compared to 26% back in April. The bullishness for China specifically is at its highest since the survey began tracking Chinese sentiment in 2003.

Maybe it’s just coincidence, but um, it just so happens that the MSCI emerging markets index has shot up 15% in the past month, and has gained nearly 50% over the past three months. A bit of performance chasing perhaps? To be sure, emerging markets got hammered mercilessly in ’08 (the iShares Emerging Market ETF lost nearly 50%) so there is a decent valuation gambit at play, but even the co-head of Merrill’s international investment team expressed some concern at the surge in emerging markets interest. “….this rush to take on risk, especially in emerging markets is reminiscent of bubble-like behavior,” said Michael Hartnett.

Individual investors might be wise to pause and consider the bubble possibility before investing at today’s levels. The fact is, fund investors have an absolutely horrid record chasing emerging market performance. According to Morningstar, the iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF has an impressive 11.7% annualized gain over the past five years through April. That’s the fund. But investor returns-that is the dollar-weighted returns that measure what the typical investor actually earned based on when they invested-is an anemic 0.96%. Poor timing resulted in earning nearly 10 percentage points less than the actual ETF returned. You might want to keep that in mind before joining the pros piling into emerging markets funds after this big run-up.

– Carla Fried

READ MORE - Has the next investing bubble begun?

Health Insurance Helper Returns Online

Last summer, when I was writing a story about health insurance options for early retirees, I found an incredibly useful resource for individuals trying to obtain health insurance for themselves and/or their families: a web site run by Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute. The web site, operating under the generic-sounding title healthinsuranceinfo.net, was a collection of 51 exhaustive guides to the rights and options that individuals have for obtaining health insurance in each of the states plus the District of Columbia. I found these guides, formally known as the Consumer Guides to Getting and Keeping Health Insurance, extremely valuable in navigating the patchwork of laws and organizations that serve as the health insurance safety net, such as it is, in the US.

Unfortunately, just as my article started arriving in people’s homes, healthinsuranceinfo.net went offline, the victim of a funding loss at HPI. And offline it has sat, unavailable to the public for the past few months, gathering dust in an electronic lockbox somewhere.

Until recently, that is. Just recently, healthinsuranceinfo.net came back online, thanks to an emergency grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. HPI says it has also received funding to update 15 of the consumer guides over the summer. America is sorely in need of a healthcare and health-insurance overhaul; until the day that comes about, this is a great place for learning about your choices in today’s system.

READ MORE - Health Insurance Helper Returns Online

Obama says health care changes must come this year

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama warned Thursday that if Congress doesn't deliver health care legislation by the end of the year, the opportunity will be lost, a plea to political supporters to pressure lawmakers to act. "If we don't get it done this year, we're not going to get it done," Obama told supporters by phone as he flew home on Air Force One from a West Coast fundraising trip.

Obama's political organization, Organizing for America, invited campaign volunteers to a midday conference call to describe a nationwide June 6 kickoff for its health care campaign. The president's message to his re-election campaign-in-waiting was simple: If volunteers don't pressure lawmakers to support the White House's goal on health care, Washington would drag its feet and nothing would change.

"The election in November — that did not bring about change, it just gave us an opportunity for change," Obama said. "So now, we are really going to have to remobilize, we have all had a chance to catch our breath after election and we have gotten a lot of things done during our first four months.

"But health care, that's a big push."

The presidential plea came as lawmakers prepare for an aggressive schedule of work aimed at producing comprehensive health care overhaul bills in the House and Senate by August.

Committee hearings — and soon thereafter votes — will start next week, as soon as lawmakers return to Washington from a weeklong recess. Many members of Congress spent the break holding town hall meetings and other forums with their constituents about health care, even as opponents and supporters of Obama's plans ramped up television and radio ads for and against.

"I think the status quo is unacceptable and that we've got to get it done this year," Obama repeated, ginning up his supporters for a door-to-door and phone-to-phone canvass similar to his presidential campaign.

Obama's top aides, including former campaign manager David Plouffe, told the supporters they have a challenge ahead of them.

"If the country stands with the president and if the country is demanding health care reform then we'll get it done; Washington will not have any option but to follow us," Plouffe said on the call, which was not announced on the White House's official schedule.

The president's conversation with his supporters was part pep talk and part a nod to political reality. Obama is looking to use his network of supporters to deliver a campaign promise, and if he seeks a second term in 2012 — an almost certainty — he hopes to keep many of those volunteers engaged in person and online.

"This is our big chance to prove that the movement that you started during the campaign isn't over, we're just getting started," Obama said.

The president said the costs of the nation's $2.5 trillion health care system are crushing families and businesses and pose the largest threat to the economy.

The White House is leaving it to lawmakers to work out the details of a health care plan, but Obama has said it should ensure choice and lower costs, while extending coverage to the 50 million Americans now uninsured. The cost of accomplishing that has been estimated around $1.5 trillion, and figuring out how to pay is emerging as a major challenge for Congress and the White House.

The Republican National Committee said Obama's approach was not the right path, arguing that Democrats are pushing for a government-run health care system that will take away individual choice.

READ MORE - Obama says health care changes must come this year

Credit Card Reform Swipes Easy Plastic from College Students

Back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, you actually had to have a job to get a credit card.

All that changed in recent years, when credit card companies determined that issuing credit cards to college students was a great way to nurture long-term brand loyalty. Many resorted to aggressive marketing tactics, offering everything from T-shirts to iPods to students who signed up.

Not surprisingly, some students ran up charges they couldn't repay, triggering interest rate increases and late fees. Because credit was so easy to get, "A lot of kids got themselves in trouble," says Adam Levin, founder of Credit.com, a consumer website.

Soon, though, credit won't be so easy to get. Last week, President Obama signed legislation that restricts a number of controversial credit card practices, including issuing credit cards to college students. The law prohibits lenders from issuing credit cards to individuals younger than 21 unless they can prove they can make payments or get a parent or guardian to co-sign.

Because most college students don't have much money, the upshot is that most won't be able to get a credit card without permission from their parents. The bill also requires lenders to get permission from the co-signer before increasing the card's credit limit.

Students who fall behind on their credit card bills often leave college with blemished credit reports, which makes it more difficult for them to rent an apartment, get a car loan or even find a job.

"This is a mess that stays with you for a long time," Levin says. "As much as students are obsessed with GPAs, your credit score is the most important number you're going to have to deal with" after graduation, he says.

Eighty-four percent of undergraduates had a credit card last year, according to a study by student lender Sallie Mae. The average senior graduated with a balance of more than $4,100, up from about $2,900 in 2004.

Even more troubling, only 17% of students surveyed said they regularly paid off their monthly balances, and 60% said they were surprised at the size of their balances.

The Sallie Mae survey also found that a third of students had never or rarely discussed credit cards with their parents. These students were the most likely to be surprised at the size of their balances when they received their credit card bills.

Parents who co-sign for a child's credit card will be on the hook for any charges the child can't pay. But in the past, many parents have ended up paying their child's credit card bills anyway, "because they don't want Junior to have a terrible credit score," says Bill Hardekopf, chief executive of LowCards.com.

"If Junior has to come to Mom and Dad and say, 'Will you co-sign?' then Mom and Dad can have a talk with Junior about credit cards," Hardekopf says.

Hardekopf says he co-signed a credit card with a very low limit for each of his three children while they were still in high school. Every month, he sat down with them and reviewed the bills. Two of his children have since graduated from college, he says, "And they have a much higher credit score than their friends."

Without credit, students could be at risk

Karen Gross, president of Southern Vermont College in Bennington, Vt., says the legislation will address some of the more egregious credit card industry practices, but she worries that it could have unintended consequences for low-income students. Many of these students rely on credit cards to pay for expenses that aren't covered by financial aid, she says.

If their parents won't co-sign a credit card, Gross says, these students may turn to even more costly sources of loans, such as payday lenders.

Gross says she'd like to see banks develop a credit card specifically for college students that would have a low credit limit and an even lower spending cap.

For example, Gross says, the card could have a $600 limit and a $250 spending cap. The card "would help students learn to use credit responsibly in ways that would maximize their credit score," Gross says.

In the meantime, supporters of the credit card bill hope it will usher in a new era of financial literacy for college students and their families.

"Even though credit is an individual exercise, when you're a member of a family, it's like a team sport," Levin says.

"We all have a stake in making sure our children start the right way and understand as best they can the system and the way it works."

By Sandra Block, USA TODAY

READ MORE - Credit Card Reform Swipes Easy Plastic from College Students

Some medical myths come straight from the doctor

Mom was right about lots of things: eating your vegetables, washing your hands and never running with scissors.

But some of her other medical advice — such as waiting an hour after eating before swimming — just doesn't hold water, according to the authors of two new books about health myths.

But mothers shouldn't get all the blame for dubious medical advice. Doctors dispense plenty of it, too, says Andrew Adesman, a pediatrician at New York's Schneider Children's Hospital and author of Babyfacts: The Truth About Your Child's Health From Newborn Through Preschool (Wiley, $15.95).

The problem is that many important medical questions have never been answered, at least not with rigorous clinical trials. When in doubt, doctors often fall back on what their own mentors taught them, without questioning the evidence on which their advice is based, say Indiana University School of Medicine pediatricians Aaron Carroll and Rachel Vreeman.

"It's amazing how often doctors will speak with a lot of authority when there's no evidence that they're right and, unfortunately, even when there's some evidence to show that they're wrong," says Carroll, co-author with Vreeman of Don't Swallow Your Gum! Myths, Half-Truths and Outright Lies About Your Body and Health (St. Martin's Griffin, $13.95). "A frighteningly large amount of what we do is just our best guess."

Carroll and Vreeman say patients should feel free to ask their doctors about the sources of their data. In their book, they go over some of the basic types of medical studies, noting which are the strongest.

So what can patients believe? Not these medical wives' tales:

Sugar makes kids hyper. Parents insist this one is true, even though 12 studies have shown no effect between children's behavior and the sugar in their foods.

You can prevent colds with vitamin C, echinacea or zinc. All colds eventually go away on their own after a few days, so people can be tempted to credit their recovery to something they did to find relief. But 16 studies show that echinacea is no better than a sugar pill. Thirty studies including a total of 11,000 people found vitamin C had no effect. Three of four well-done studies of zinc found no effect. But using zinc nasal gel can destroy the sense of smell for years.

Adding cereal to a baby's diet will help him sleep longer. Parents and pediatricians alike are perpetuating that myth, perhaps because sleep-deprived parents are willing to believe anything that might help them and their infants get more sleep. But studies dating to 1974 show that babies who are fed cereal get no more sleep than other babies.

Iron in baby formula causes constipation. Studies actually have found no difference in baby's bowel movements, whether infants received iron-fortified food or not. But babies who get iron-fortified formula are less likely to be anemic.

Teething causes a fever. Studies show that teething babies are no more likely to run a fever than others.

Going out in cold or wet weather makes you sick. Colds and flus are seasonal and tend to strike during the winter. But even when scientists put cold viruses directly into people's noses, people who were chilled were no more likely to become ill than those who were warm and comfortable.

You should wait an hour after eating before you go swimming. Scientists have labeled that advice "questionable" since 1961. Exercising after eating a big meal may make people feel uncomfortable, but it won't cause life-threatening cramps.

You can catch poison ivy from someone who has it. The oil in poison ivy, urushiol, is what causes the itchy rash — whether the oil comes directly from the plant or from clothing or gardening tools on which the oil lands. But the rash itself isn't contagious, as long as a person has since washed off the oil.

You need to stay awake if you have a concussion. Most people with concussions will not fall into comas if they go to sleep. If a doctor says the concussion needs no treatment, there's no reason not to sleep.

Never wake a sleepwalker. No sleepwalker has ever died as a result of being woken up.

You can determine the gender of your baby by timing when you have sex. Some people try to conceive a boy by having sex in the middle of a woman's menstrual cycle, hoping that the more mobile sperm carrying a Y chromosome are more likely to penetrate the cervical mucus, which is thicker at this time of the month. But an analysis of six studies found there were no more boys conceived at this time of the month than girls.

Birth control pills don't work as well if you're on antibiotics. A review by the American Academy of Family Physicians found common antibiotics have no effect on the pill.

READ MORE - Some medical myths come straight from the doctor

Serena survives in three sets, Blake falls short at French Open

PARIS (AP) — Serena Williams bemoaned her game on a windy day at the French Open, wasting eight match points before finally beating Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4.

Williams was broken twice during the second set Tuesday, including when she was serving for the match at 5-4. At 5-3 with Zakopalova serving, she had five match points but couldn't end it.

"I just played horrendous," said Williams, who is seeded second. "I was a little nervous because I hadn't won a match on clay all year."

Zakopalova saved three more match points before holding to 5-3 in the third set, then broke Williams in the next game to get back on serve.

"I think Serena will be playing better and better each round, so it was the best chance to at least play with her or beat her," Zakopalova said. "She's Serena."

Williams completed her Serena Slam at the French Open in 2002, winning her fourth straight Grand Slam title. If she wins at Roland Garros this year, she'll have won three majors in a row after victories at the U.S. Open and the Australian Open. She reached the final at Wimbledon last year, but lost to big sister Venus in the final.

"Now hopefully I'll start playing better," the 10-time Grand Slam champion said.

No. 4 Elena Dementieva, No. 5 Jelena Jankovic and No. 7 Svetlana Kuznetsova also advanced among the women. No. 4 Novak Djokovic, No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro, No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and 2003 French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero made it through on the men's side.

Two upsets involved a pair of Americans losing to Argentines. No. 15 James Blake lost to qualifier Leonardo Mayer 7-6 (8-6), 7-5, 6-2, and No. 22 Mardy Fish fell to Maximo Gonzalez 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4).

Jankovic dominated her opponent before a 2-hour rain delay, and then did well enough after it to beat Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3. [Read More]

READ MORE - Serena survives in three sets, Blake falls short at French Open

Obama to nominate Sonia Sotomayor - first Hispanic - for Supreme Court

President Obama will nominate federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court this morning.

Sotomayor, 54, would be the first Hispanic and third woman in history to serve on the nation's highest court. There is currently only one woman on the nine-member high court, Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Sotomayor is based in New York City. President Clinton appointed her to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals back in 1998. She is a graduate of Princeton University and Yale Law School.

Two senior administration officials confirmed the appointment to USA TODAY, requesting anonymity pending a formal announcement by the president later this morning.

Obama will introduce Sotomayor at 10:15 a.m. in the East Room.

The nomination of Sotormayor to replace retiring Justice David Souter is already drawing fire from conservative groups.

Wendy E. Long, counsel to the Judicial Conformation Network, criticized her support for "quotas" and "racial preferences." She called Sotomayor "a liberal judicial activist of the first order who thinks her own personal political agenda is more important than the law as written."

Democrats, however, enjoy a strong majority in the Senate, and Sotomayor looks like a good bet for confirmation.

Before becoming an appeals judge, Sotomayor served six years on the federal district bench in New York. She was appointed to that position in 1992 by Republican President George H.W. Bush.

READ MORE - Obama to nominate Sonia Sotomayor - first Hispanic - for Supreme Court

Facebook Payments: Think Virtual

It might be Facebook's worst-kept secret.

It's become increasingly clear in recent weeks that Facebook is finally inching toward the launch of a micropayment platform.

The social site has been expanding the presence of its virtual currency, which Facebook debuted last November when it changed the monetary units for its "Gifts" product into "credits" rather than U.S. dollars.

Credits are now bundled with some promotional items in the Gifts app. And soon, select developers on the Facebook Platform will be able to start working "credits" into their own applications, in a move that could lead to a lucrative new revenue stream for Facebook, which currently relies on an advertising-based business model.

First reported by a number of tech blogs, the company has confirmed this development.

There's been talk of Facebook's planned foray into the e-commerce sector for well over a year now. But the "credits" product that's being released to developers soon appears to be quite different from the Facebook payment platform that followers of the company have anticipated.

As recently as last fall, Facebook's plans -- reportedly called "Facebook Wallet" -- were something much more like a straight-up, PayPal-like transaction platform.

At least initially, that's likely not the case.

Facebook's official comment on whether this is a shift in company strategy is coy.

"We think enabling developers to accept these credits as a form of payment has the potential to create exciting new use cases for users and developers," spokesman David Swain said in an e-mail. "We do not have details to share at the moment because this will be a very small alpha, only a handful of developers, but will likely share more as we evaluate the results of the test."

Swain declined to comment on whether Facebook would ever pursue a more standard e-commerce product like what many had assumed the "wallet" would be.

But sources with knowledge of Facebook's product development say that what started as the "wallet" eventually turned into the "credits" system.

According to one well-placed source in the virtual-currency sector, there's been a clear change from Facebook's earlier plans to foray into the transaction and payment space.

"It's an absolute change in strategy," the source said. "So, they're not competing with PayPal now."

Virtual currencies, with silly, often casino-inspired names and an unfortunate reputation in the mainstream as the way to buy enchanted swords and potions in fantasy role-playing games or to bling out your virtual penguin, don't carry the serious-business gravitas of services such as PayPal.

But shifting strategy to a virtual goods platform is a savvy and forward-thinking move on Facebook's part. Since it launched two years ago, Facebook's developer platform has changed and matured a lot.

Most notably, a few app development companies are making an astonishing amount of money without paying Facebook a cent -- and most of these are on the games and entertainment side of things... [Read More]

READ MORE - Facebook Payments: Think Virtual

U.S., Canada gear up for new border ID requirements

Americans and Canadians heading to the United States from Canada on vehicles or cruise ships will face new entry requirements beginning next week, the Homeland Security Department said.

Next Monday, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative will begin requiring U.S. and Canadian land and sea travelers to present a passport or other documents denoting "identity and citizenship when entering the United States," according to DHS.

Homeland Security Janet Napolitano will be in Detroit, Michigan, on Tuesday and Ottawa, Canada, on Wednesday and is expected to address this and other border security issues with Canadian officials.

She and Canadian Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan are to sign a law enforcement agreement in Detroit, and the pair will meet with reporters.

The initiative was phased in gradually after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States and is the result of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004.

"The goal of WHTI is to facilitate entry for U.S. citizens and legitimate foreign visitors, while strengthening U.S. border security. Standard documents will enable the Department of Homeland Security to quickly and reliably identify a traveler," the department said.

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Pentagon: Ex-Gitmo detainees turning to terrorism on rise

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Mohammed Ismail was released from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in early 2004 and sent back to Afghanistan to be set free.

Within four months, the U.S. military said, he was recaptured in Afghanistan attacking U.S. troops there, with paperwork on him that said he was a Taliban in good standing.

He is just one of 74 former Guantanamo Bay detainees who the military says were active in, or were suspected of being active in, fighting against the United States or committing terrorist acts after being released.

Another is Abdullah Gulam Rasoul, who was released from Guantanamo in December 2007 and set free in Afghanistan. Rasoul has become a powerful Taliban military commander in southern Afghanistan, the military said, and the United States suspects he is responsible for several attacks on U.S. forces there.

A senior U.S. military official said he believes Rasoul is using his former Guantanamo experience to build on his "rock star status" among the Taliban.

Abd al Hadi Abdallah Ibrahim al Shaikh of Saudi Arabia, who was released in 2007, was arrested in 2008 by Saudi authorities on suspicion of supporting terrorism inside that country, the military said.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon released information that showed 14 percent of former detainees have turned to, or are suspected of having turned to, terrorism activity since being released from Guantanamo. The data represent the most recent statistics of former detainees tracked by military and other U.S. government intelligence agencies.

The report shows that of the more than 530 detainees released from the prison, 27 have been confirmed to have engaged in terrorist activities and 47 are suspected of participating in some kind of terrorist act.

The statistics indicate that there has been a slight increase since the end of 2008, and the number of released detainees turning to or suspected of turning to the insurgency is almost doubled from the 7 percent in that category a few years ago, according to Pentagon officials familiar with the information.

The report said that between December 2008 and March 2009, nine former detainees were added to the confirmed list, six of whom were moved over from the suspected list.

The Pentagon's definition for "suspected" is significant reporting indicating a person is involved in terrorist activities and an analysis showing a match to an identity of a former detainee.

The report defines "confirmed" as a preponderance of evidence, including fingerprints, DNA, photo match or reliable or well-corroborated intelligence that can identify a former detainee at Guantanamo.

In January, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said 62 former Guantanamo detainees may have gone on to participate in terrorism or military activity. That number included 18 who had been directly tied to an attack or attacks and 43 who were suspected of such action, Pentagon officials said at the time.

"What's clear is we are not seeing recidivism on the decline," according to a defense official who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to say what officials think is the reason for the numbers having gone up, but said the United States does monitor as best as it can detainees who have been released from Guantanamo.

The Pentagon released the names of almost 30 former detainees confirmed or suspected to have gone on to fight, with examples of what these men had done after their release.

Abdullah Saleh Ali al-Ajmi, for example, was released in 2005 to Kuwait. In April 2008 he blew himself up in Mosul, Iraq, killing a number of Iraqis, the Pentagon said.

Yousef Muhammed Yaaqoub was released from Guantanamo and sent back to Afghanistan to be freed in 2003. The Pentagon documents show that he rejoined the Taliban as a commander in southern Afghanistan, and planned a jailbreak in Kandahar and a "nearly successful capture of the town of Spin Boldak, Afghanistan."

Yaaqoub was killed fighting U.S. troops on May 7, 2004, according to the Pentagon data, and his memorial service in Pakistan drew a number of wanted Taliban leaders.

Other examples released by the Pentagon show men sent home to Morocco who were later captured and accused of recruiting people to train with and fight for al Qaeda in Iraq, two men freed in Saudi Arabia who became leaders in a new al Qaeda organization there, and a Russian sent home who later was arrested for playing a role in a gas line bombing.

As a comparison, among prisoners in the United States, about 62 percent of violent offenders examined in a 1994 study by the Bureau of Justice Statistics were rearrested within three years of being released.

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Tyson's daughter dies after accident, police say

The 4-year-old daughter of boxing legend Mike Tyson died Tuesday, a day after she was injured in a treadmill accident at her home, police in Phoenix, Arizona, said. Exodus Tyson was prounounced dead at 11:45 a.m. local time Tuesday, said Sgt. Andy Hill, a Phoenix police spokesman. He gave no other details.

The girl was found by her 7-year-old brother on a treadmill in the Phoenix home Monday "with her neck on ... a cable" attached to the machine, police said in an earlier statement.

The mother "took her daughter off the cable" and called authorities, and Exodus was taken to a hospital, according to police.

Former world heavyweight champion Tyson traveled from Las Vegas, Nevada, to Phoenix where his daughter was on life support in critical condition on Monday, police said.

The 42-year-old Brooklyn-born Tyson became the youngest world heavyweight champion in history when he lifted the World Boxing Council title aged 20.

Tyson also won the WBA and IBF versions of the crown during a career that was littered with controversy including disqualification for biting Evander Holyfield's ear during a 1997 title rematch. He retired from the sport in 2005, but was back in the news this month with the U.S. release of the film "Tyson," a documentary that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last year.

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