Treasury unveils toxic assets plan
WASHINGTON, March 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Treasury unveiled its plan to free banks from frozen assets Monday, using a partnership with the private sector to give more clout to taxpayer dollars.
The program is designed to develop funds to buy banks' loans and securities to jump-start lending, the Treasury said.
To purchase loans stuck in a frozen securities market, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will review assets banks want to sell and see how much funding the FDIC will guarantee, up to a 6-to-1 debt-to-equity ratio. At the same time, the Treasury will provide the highest bidder with 50 percent of the equity required for the purchase.
The private investor would then choose when to sell the assets.
The Treasury said 'the participation of individual investors, pension plans, insurance companies and other long-term investors is particularly encouraged.'
In a second portion of the program, loans secured with a pledge of collateral will be made available to investors to purchase a variety of securitization assets.
U.S. markets climbed with the announcement, which the Treasury said would start with a $100 billion investment from the Troubled Asset Relief Program and could be employed to buy $500 billion in toxic bank assets.
White House seems cool to bonus tax
WASHINGTON, March 23 (UPI) -- White House advisers displayed a cool reaction to the bonus pay tax that would target U.S. firms that reward employees with bailout-backed funds.
'I think the president would be concerned that this bill may have some problems in going too far … using the tax code to surgically punish a small group,' Jared Bernstein, an economic adviser to Vice President Joseph Biden said, The Washington Post reported Monday.
'The president's been clear that we don't want to govern out of anger,' an Obama adviser, Austan Goolsbee said. 'He's going to look at what comes out of the House, what comes out of the Senate, see what ideas we have,' Goolsbee said.
The House passed a measure last week that would recoup 90 percent of bonus pay from firms that use government assistance. The Senate will consider their version of a targeted tax bill this week.
Analysts have said the harsh anger that set the tone in Washington last week could undermine U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geinther's plan to relieve banks of toxic assets.
Some banks have pulled back from asking for government support, wary the support could come with steep punitive measures, such as cuts in compensation.
Alaska's Mount Redoubt has 5th eruption
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, March 23 (UPI) -- Mount Redoubt, a volcano in southern Alaska, spewed anew Monday, the fifth eruption since it rumbled back to life, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
The eruptions that began Sunday night were obscured by darkness and snow, CNN reported.
The volcano's activity, which is expected to continue for weeks or months, caused some interference with air travel, officials said.
The alert level went to red, the highest level, when the eruptions began, the Alaska Volcano Observatory Web page said. A red alert means eruption is imminent with the likelihood of significant emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere, or eruption is under way or suspected with significant emission of volcanic ash into the atmosphere.
'We would expect Redoubt to have some level of explosive activity for the next weeks or months,' USGS geophysicist John Power said during a news conference.
The last time Mount Redoubt was active was 1989, when eruptions lasted for five months, Power said.
The USGS estimated the height of the eruption cloud at 50,000 feet, warning that mudflows were possible on the Drift and Crescent rivers and ash likely would fall downwind from the volcano.
The eruptions also affected air travel, Powers said.
'I understand a number of commercial flights have been canceled coming in and out of Anchorage International Airport,' Power said. 'We could see disruptions to air travel to south-central Alaska and Alaska as a whole for a period of weeks to months.'
Taliban leader killed in Afghan raid
WASHINGTON, March 23 (UPI) -- A senior Taliban leader responsible for roadside bombings and suicide attacks against NATO forces died during an attack on his compound, NATO said Monday.
Maulawi Hassan died with nine other militants during a weekend attack in Helmand province, The New York Times reported.
'He became known for his insurgent activities in the autumn of 2008 and was heavily involved in several illegal activities,' a NATO statement said.
No civilians were killed in the attack, the statement said.
Assadullah Shirzad, police chief of Helmand province, said the deaths of Hassan and the other militants were 'an important achievement for Afghan and NATO forces in Helmand, and a real blow to Taliban.'
Meanwhile, a U.S. Special Forces raid in which five people died Sunday has resulted in differing accounts about whether the dead were civilians or militants, the Times reported. The U.S. military said in a statement its troops killed five militants and captured four suspects in a raid in the northern province of Kunduz. Local officials said, however, the dead weren't militants and that the raided house belonged to the town's mayor.
Also, a military statement said the operation was coordinated with local Afghan police, but provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Razaq Yaqoubi said no information was given to him, the Kunduz governor or the head of intelligence.
A U.S. military spokesman in Washington could not be reached for comment about the conflicting accounts, the Times said.
Australian state mulls anti-biker gang law
SYDNEY, March 23 (UPI) -- New South Wales officials in Australia said they are considering tougher laws to criminalize motorcycle gang membership after a fatal fight at Sydney Airport.
A man was bludgeoned to death Sunday with a metal pole during what police said was a confrontation between members of the Hell's Angels and Comancheros motorcycle gangs, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported. Four men have been charged in the incident and more charges likely would be filed, police said.
In September, the South Australian government enacted laws that granted police more power to outlaw motorcycle gangs. The laws are based on federal anti-terrorism legislation and are part of a multiyear campaign of applying more pressure on the gangs, ABC reported.
Australia's opposition leader in Parliament, Malcolm Turnbull, says South Australia's laws should be adopted nationally.
'The reality is that we do have a very significant issue with these criminal outlaw motorcycle gangs,' he said.
Critics said the South Australia law infringes civil liberties.
'You have the secret evidence tendered against you in a court of law, which cannot be cross-examined,' said Free Australia political party spokesman Paul Kuhn.
'Now this goes against all principles of natural justice, of common decency -- if nothing else, morals and ethics,' Kuhn said. 'But this government with the stroke of a pen has written off that right.'