SACRAMENTO, California - OBSNews.com -May 2, 2008 – Women’s Empowerment (www.Womens-Empowerment.org), an organization devoted to “Ending Homelessness One Woman at a Time”, attracted over 500 celebrants to its 7^th Annual Gala at The Grand event center in downtown Sacramento.

The event featured moving presentations from some of the 468 graduates of the Women’s Empowerment program as well as community leaders such as Bishop Quinn of the Sacramento Catholic Diocese, Dana Howard of Sacramento’s News10, and many more. The event raised more than $60,000 to support the programs that help women and their children transition from homelessness into stable jobs and safe housing situations.

Local philanthropist and Sacramento real estate developer Moe Mohanna donated the use of his venue, The Grand at 1215 J. Street, as well as all of the food and staffing to provide a first class banquet. The Executive Director of Women’s Empowerment, Lisa Culp, presented Mr. Mohanna an award for his support and said, “Moe’s involvement has meant the world to our organization, our graduates and their families.”

Culp added, “This event would not exist without Moe’s generous support. When we decided to hold our first Gala, he underwrote the entire cost of the banquet hall and dinner, and he has hosted the event ever since. Moe has taken his generosity and commitment even further, serving as a founding board member and teacher in our programs. He is a member of the Women’s Empowerment family, and we are grateful to him for holding us so close to his heart.”

Dana Howard, anchor of News 10, heaped on more heartfelt praise, “Moe didn’t just put out some average food, he put out the ‘company is coming over’ kind of spread.”

Musical entertainment was provided throughout the evening by Sammie award winning jazz vocalist and recording artist Vivian Lee. Another event highlight that brought the crowd to its feet was a heart-warming story told by a mother and daughter duo who were reunited after Women’s Empowerment helped the mother get clean and sober from drug addiction and obtain a job with the State of California.

For video of the event please visit: http://www.obsnews.com/women.htm

By Demian McLean and Michael Heath 

 May 6, 2008

 BEIJING — The death toll from the tropical cyclone that slammed into Myanmar three days ago rose to 10,000, according to the military government, making the storm Southeast Asia’s deadliest natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami.

About 3,000 people are missing in the Irrawaddy delta region alone, Myanmar government ministers told international diplomats yesterday, the United Nations news agency IRIN said.

Power was knocked out in the former capital, Yangon, and drinking water was contaminated in the city of 5 million people. “At least eight townships are completely or mostly destroyed,” said Pamela Sitko, a worker with the U.S.-based Christian relief group World Vision, who has spoken with colleagues in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

The U.S. yesterday offered an initial $250,000 in aid to the country, which is among the world’s least-developed, while castigating its military leadership for failing to alert citizens to the approaching cyclone.

“Although they were aware of the threat, Burma’s state-run media failed to issue a timely warning to citizens in the storm’s path,” First Lady Laura Bush said from the White House.

Death Toll

The death toll would be the worst since a 9.1 magnitude earthquake offshore from Aceh on Indonesia’s Sumatra in December 2004 caused a tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean, devastating coastal communities and leaving more than 220,000 people dead or missing in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and other countries.

“The UN will do whatever it can to provide urgent humanitarian assistance,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters in New York. “Because of the lack of communications, we are not quite sure what will be the total extent of damages and casualties. I am very much alarmed by incoming views that casualties have risen to more than 10,000, according to Myanmar’s Foreign Ministry.”

Cyclone Nargis packed winds of 120 miles (190 kilometers) per hour when it struck the coast May 3, sending the sea surging as much 12 feet (3.5 meters).

State of Emergency

The government declared a state of emergency in five low- lying provinces, mostly in the rice-growing Irrawaddy delta, where villages were flattened by winds and rain, the UN said. Myanmar has a population of 47.8 million.

“The water supply is unfit to drink in the aftermath of the destruction, raising fears of water-borne diseases” in Yangon, IRIN reported.

A UN disaster-assessment team was dispatched to Bangkok, and the world body is prepared to provide a grant from the $500 million Central Emergency Response Fund, created to rush aid to nations in need, spokesman Farhan Haq said.

The UN Children’s Fund and its Development Program, which have offices in Myanmar, stockpiled food, water and medicine before the storm. They will distribute water-purification tablets, plastic sheeting, food and cooking sets in Yangon and the delta region.

Flooding, blocked roads and disrupted communications are hampering efforts to assess the extent of the damage, according to the world body.

International Assistance

The junta has requested international assistance and UN officials are engaged in talks with Myanmar authorities on how best to help, IRIN cited Richard Horsey of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs as saying.

“Discussions are taking place in New York and on the ground about what is needed,” he said.

The price of food surged after the cyclone struck, according to the Irrawaddy newspaper, which is published by Myanmar dissidents in neighboring Thailand. An egg now costs between 200 and 250 kyat (20 cents) in Yangon versus 50-70 kyat before the storm, while one viss (1.6 kilograms) of pork is between 8,000 and 8,500 kyat, compared with 4,500 to 5,000.

Myanmar is regularly hit by cyclones that form in the Bay of Bengal between April and November. Nargis struck as Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962, prepares to hold a referendum on May 10 for a new constitution before elections scheduled for 2010.

The junta vowed to press ahead with the referendum after the storm, Agence France-Presse reported, citing a state-run newspaper. The U.S. State Department said April 11 the referendum is an attempt by the military to retain power. New York-based Human Rights Watch said the vote is being held in a climate of repression and called the referendum “a sham.”

“They’ve orchestrated this vote to give false legitimacy to their continued rule,” Laura Bush said at a press conference in Washington.

President George W. Bush has instructed the Treasury Department to freeze assets of Burmese state-owned companies that are held in U.S. banks, she added. The move would expand sanctions imposed last year.

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obsnews.test

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Andre Grenon)

Warren Buffett, the world’s richest person, said on Sunday the U.S. economy is in recession, “as I define it.”

Buffett’s comment was at odds with a U.S. Commerce Department report last week showing the economy grew at a 0.6 percent annualized rate in the first quarter.

“The U.S. is in recession as I define it,” Buffett said at a news conference. “I would define that as a situation where people are doing less well than they were three months, six months or eight months earlier and most businesses find themselves in that position too.

“If were are in a non-recession, I don’t think people want to see it going in the same direction as it is and saying it’s wonderful,” Buffett added.

AP

A powerful cyclone killed more than 350 people and destroyed thousands of homes, state-run media said Sunday. Some dissident groups worried that the military junta running Myanmar would be reluctant to ask for international help.

Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit at a delicate time for the junta, less than a week ahead of a crucial referendum on a new constitution. Should the junta be seen as failing disaster victims, voters who already blame the regime for ruining the economy and squashing democracy could take out their frustrations at the ballot box.

Some in Yangon complained the 400,000-strong military was doing little to help victims after Saturday’s storm.

“Where are all those uniformed people who are always ready to beat civilians?” said a trishaw driver who refused to be identified for fear of retribution. “They should come out in full force and help clean up the areas and restore electricity.”

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been under military rule since 1962. Its government has been widely criticized for human rights abuses and suppression of pro-democracy parties such as the one led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for almost 12 of the past 18 years.

Last September, at least 31 people were killed and thousands more were detained when the military cracked down on peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks and democracy advocates.

The Forum for Democracy in Burma and other dissident groups outside of Myanmar urged the military junta Sunday to allow aid groups to operate freely in the wake of the cyclone — something it has been reluctant to do in the past.

It would be difficult for other countries to help unless they received a request from Myanmar’s military rulers.

“International expertise in dealing with natural disasters is urgently required. The military regime is ill-prepared to deal with the aftermath of the cyclone,” said Naing Aung, secretary general of the Thailand-based forum.

The storm’s 120 mph winds blew the roofs off hospitals and cut electricity to the country’s largest city.

Shari Villarosa, the top American diplomat in Yangon, said the storm’s whipping winds and torrential downpour had caused “major devastation throughout the city.”

“The Burmese are saying they have never seen anything like this, ever,” Villarosa told The Associated Press. “Trees are down. Electricity lines are down. Our Burmese staff have lost their roofs.”

At least 351 people were killed, including 162 who lived on Haing Gyi island off the country’s southwest coast, military-run Myaddy television station reported. Many of the others died in the low-lying Irrawaddy delta.

“The Irrawaddy delta was hit extremely hard not only because of the wind and rain but because of the storm surge,” said Chris Kaye, the U.N.’s acting humanitarian coordinator in Yangon. “The villages there have reportedly been completely flattened.”

State television reported that in the Irrawaddy’s Labutta township, 75 percent of the buildings had collapsed.

The U.N. planned to send teams Monday to assess the damage, Kaye said. Initial assessment efforts have been hampered by roads clogged with debris and downed phone lines, he said.

“At the moment, we have such poor opportunity for communications that I can’t really tell you very much,” Kaye said.

Yangon residents also said Sunday that the price of gasoline had jumped from $2.50 to $10 a gallon on the black market and everything from eggs to construction supplies had tripled.

The state-owned newspaper New Light of Myanmar, meanwhile, reported that the international airport in Yangon remained shut but state-run television said it could be opened by Monday. Domestic flights have been diverted to the airport in Mandalay.

The cyclone came only days before a May 10 referendum on the country’s military-backed draft constitution. Authorities have not yet said whether they would postpone the vote.

A military-managed national convention was held intermittently for 14 years to lay down guidelines for the country’s new constitution.

The new constitution is supposed to be followed in 2010 by a general election. Both votes are elements of a “roadmap to democracy” drawn up by the junta.

Critics say the draft constitution is designed to cement military power and have urged citizens to vote no.

Clinton and Obama Differ From McCain

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

The sharply contrasting health care visions of Republican John McCain and his Democratic presidential rivals offer the promise of a grand campaign debate — if the candidates find room on a crowded agenda.

While health care reform ranks as the second-biggest domestic issue after the economy in most national opinion polls, it will compete with the Iraq war, taxes, high gas prices and other topics for a prime-time spot in the campaign for November’s presidential election.

Nearly two decades of health care debate has made little headway toward finding a consensus approach, and the issue has not been a key factor in a presidential election since the collapse of the Hillary Clinton-led reform effort in 1994.

“There is no question there are fundamental, Grand Canyon-like differences on health care between the two parties,” said Drew Altman, president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health policy group.

“But it’s an open question whether it will be a hot issue in the campaign,” he said. “I now believe the biggest obstacle to health care reform is this ideological divide — is there any way to bridge these differences?”

McCain, who has clinched the Republican presidential nomination, and Democratic Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Clinton of New York have unveiled ambitious but very different plans to overhaul the health care system.

McCain finished a week-long campaign swing in Denver on Friday that highlighted his plan, which would use tax credits to help shift from employer-based insurance coverage to an open market system where people can choose from competing policies.

Clinton and Obama seek universal health coverage for the 47 million Americans without insurance. Clinton would mandate coverage, while Obama would require it only for children.

The Democratic plans would keep the existing job-based insurance system but expand government involvement in a hybrid public-private system.

TOUGH SELL

McCain calls the Democratic plan a “big government” solution that limits choice. Democrats say his plan reduces the incentive for companies to offer coverage and puts workers at risk of not getting it — particularly those with pre-existing conditions that insurance companies will not cover.

Paul Ginsburg, president of the Center for Studying Health System Change, a nonpartisan policy research organization, said the Democratic plans had more political appeal.

“I would expect to see the Democratic approach resonate more with voters. They are very clearly telling voters you are going to be eligible for a public program,” he said.

McCain’s plan to allow people to move away from job-based coverage is a tough sell, analysts said. Polls show three-quarters or more of Americans are generally happy with the insurance they get through their employers.

At least some of the political fury that doomed Clinton’s health care initiative in 1994, when she was first lady, was fueled by the reluctance of people to abandon their employer health coverage.

A 2007 survey by the Commonwealth Fund, a private nonpartisan foundation that supports health policy research, found four of every five Americans, including three-quarters of Republicans, believed employers should either provide health insurance for workers or contribute to the cost.

“People are comfortable with what they know and afraid of change,” Altman said. “The burden of proof is always on people who want to change their current health plan.”

McCain’s plan is similar to the one put forth by President George W. Bush that fell flat in Congress, where gridlock on the issue is the norm. All of the proposals would face potentially drastic changes in Congress.

‘BASIC INSECURITIES’

“I don’t think McCain’s plan goes to the heart of people’s concerns. It does not address the basic insecurities of not having coverage or not having enough money to pay your bills,” said Susan Davis, president of the Commonwealth Fund.

“It may sound good. ‘You’re in charge.’ But because of the way the insurance market works, it’s difficult,” Davis said. “The whole market is geared to excluding people who are sick.”

McCain said Americans would warm to his proposals once they became familiar with them.

“I’m confident that when we debate and discuss this issue most Americans would rather have their families making decisions about their health care,” McCain told reporters last week. “The issue cannot go unaddressed.”

But Ginsburg did not sound confident health care would become a top agenda item in the next six months.

“I wonder if it’s going to be so complicated that people tune out,” he said. “We probably won’t come out of this election with a real mandate for getting it done.”

(Editing by Xavier Briand)

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Business Writer

 Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Jerry Yang has gotten what he wanted: a chance to prove his company is worth more than the $47.5 billion that Microsoft Corp. offered to buy the Internet pioneer.

It will be a daunting challenge, as Yang will be pointedly reminded Monday when investors are expected to show how little they think of Yahoo without a takeover bid on the table. Faced with resistance from Yang and the rest of Yahoo’s board, Microsoft withdrew its offer over the weekend.

Many analysts believe Yahoo’s stock price, which had climbed nearly 50 percent since Microsoft’s initial offer, will surrender most, if not all, of that gain, leaving the Sunnyvale-based company’s market value around $30 billion.

Disillusioned shareholders are bound to question whether the rejection of Microsoft’s sweetened $33-per-share offer was driven more by emotion and ego than sound business sense.

“Clearly there’s frustration,” said Darren Chervitz, co-manager of the Jacob Internet Fund, which owns Yahoo stock. “I am not even sure if Yahoo cares about its shareholders because they didn’t show much regard for shareholders’ best interests in this process.”

Despite such negative sentiment, Yahoo shares are unlikely to immediately fall back to their $19.18 pre-bid price, partly because some investors may still be holding out hope that the software maker will renew its takeover attempt if Yahoo continues to struggle.

Yahoo shares finished last week at $28.67, slightly below the $29.40 per share that Microsoft was offering before Chief Executive Steve Ballmer agreed to raise the offer to $33 per share in a last-ditch effort to get a deal done.

Accompanied by fellow Yahoo co-founder David Filo, Yang flew to Seattle Saturday to inform Ballmer that the company wouldn’t sell for less than $37 per share — a price that Yahoo’s stock hasn’t reached since January 2006.

Analysts and investors were left to wonder why the two sides couldn’t compromise at $35 per share.

“They really didn’t seem that far apart,” Chervitz said. “There is probably blame to go around on both sides, but I think most of it is in Yang’s hands.”

Monday’s anticipated shareholder backlash will put Yang on the hot seat as he tries to execute on a turnaround plan that he began drawing up nearly a year ago after he replaced Terry Semel as CEO amid shareholder angst about the company’s financial malaise.

“This squarely puts the pressure on Jerry Yang to deliver results and shareholder value,” Standard & Poor’s equity analyst Scott Kessler said. “You are going to see a lot of shareholders just throwing in the towel because they are going to realize it’s going to take awhile for the stock to get back to where it was Friday.”

Ballmer also will be under the gun to prove he can come up with another way to challenge Google Inc.’s dominance of the Internet’s lucrative search and advertising markets.

The unsolicited bid was widely seen as Ballmer’s admission that Microsoft needed Yahoo’s help to upgrade its unprofitable Internet division.

Analysts now expect Ballmer to use the money he had earmarked for the Yahoo acquisition to explore other possible deals with large Internet companies like Time Warner Inc.’s AOL and News Corp.’s MySpace and promising startups like Facebook Inc. and LinkedIn Corp. Microsoft already owns a 1.6 percent in Facebook, the second-largest social network behind MySpace.

But Ballmer is unlikely to be under as much duress as Yang because most analysts believe Microsoft’s stock price will rise Monday. The shares had declined 10 percent to $29.24 since Ballmer made the bid, reflecting concerns that the proposed marriage would turn into a complicated mess that would enable Google to grow even stronger.

Yang, 39, has promised that Yahoo’s development of a more sophisticated and far-flung Internet advertising platform will produce net revenue growth of at least 25 percent in 2009 and 2010. That would be a dramatic improvement, considering that Yahoo’s revenue rose by 12 percent last year and is expected to grow at about the same pace this year.

But analysts are skeptical about whether Yahoo will be able to hit those targets, raising the chances for a shareholder rebellion if the company stumbles during the next few months — a distinct possibility if advertisers curtail spending in a shaky U.S. economy, as many analysts fear.

As it is, Yang and the rest of Yahoo’s board almost certainly will face more lawsuits from incensed shareholders.

Even some of Yahoo’s own employees may be irritated because virtually all of them own stock options.

What’s more, Microsoft had planned to offer $1.5 billion in retention packages to the thousands of Yahoo employees it wanted to stay on after a takeover.

To help boost its short-term profits and its stock price, Yahoo is widely expected to form a long-term advertising partnership with Google.

Although the final details are still being ironed out, Yahoo wants to hire Google to place some of the text-based ads that appear alongside the search results on its Web site. It’s a task that Google already handles for scores of Web sites, including AOL and Ask.com.

Both Yahoo and Google have said they were encouraged with the results of a two-week trial run completed last month.

But turning to Google for help would be a humbling step for Yahoo after spending more than $2 billion to acquire and build its own technology.

An alliance between Google and Yahoo also would face antitrust hurdles because the two companies combined control more than 80 percent of the U.S. search advertising market.

Although Google’s superior technology would help boost Yahoo’s profits in the short term, some analysts worry it could be a mistake for Yahoo to surrender any control over such a lucrative piece of the online ad market.

Yahoo also has been exploring a possible merger with AOL’s Internet operations, but may now have to contend with a competing offer from Microsoft.

Yahoo also might attempt to placate shareholders by buying back stock.

Kessler believes Yang should use some of his estimated $1.9 billion fortune to personally buy more Yahoo stock even though he already owns 54.1 million shares, or 3.9 percent of the company.

“Jerry Yang really needs to put his money where his mouth is,” Kessler said. “If he really thinks Yahoo is worth $37 (per share), then he needs to step up and buy some shares when they are in the low $20.”

 by Om Malik

YouTube, like the iPod, has become a cultural phenomenon and part of our online lives. From politicians to pointless singers, everyone knows and uses YouTube. And that is why when the largest online video site goes down, it is major news. Of course it results in all sorts of rumors - DNS hacks, domain expirations or aliens landing on the roof of YouTube office (OK I made the last one up).

Actually the explanation might have been less exciting and proved to be a plain old technical snafu of sorts. A YouTube spokesperson said the service went down for an hour due to internal technical issues, and the problems have been fixed.

YouTube like many large consumer websites continues has had a history of outages. Check out the Pingdom page and get a good idea about YouTube’s track record so far. YouTube’s performance seems to have progressively improved since Google acquired the company for $1.6 billion back in 2006. YouTube receives about 10 hours of video per minute, and serves up terabytes of data per second. I will post an update later in the day.

By Richard Rosenblatt

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - All week, the chatter along the Churchill Downs backstretch has been about Big Brown running away with the Kentucky Derby.

The talk ends today and the real running begins in the 1 1/4-mile Derby, where the unbeaten 3-year-old colt has plenty to prove, history to buck and perhaps even a wet track to overcome.

Big Brown is the 3-1 morning-line favorite in a full 20-horse field that includes Santa Anita Derby winner Colonel John and Eight Belles, who will try to become the fourth filly to win the Run for the Roses.

Toss in Louisiana Derby winner Pyro, Blue Grass winner Monba, Wood Memorial winner Tale of Ekati and Arkansas Derby winner Gayego, and the race could be more wide open than many expect.

“His favoritism is clear,” Derby oddsmaker Mike Battaglia says, referring to Big Brown. “But is it really clear he’s that good?”

So far, Big Brown has looked the part of a champion, and trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. has voiced his confidence in him for more than a month. The Florida Derby winner has won all three of his races by a combined 29 lengths.

“I feel we have the best horse in the race, the fastest horse,” Dutrow said Friday morning outside his barn. “He’s giving me every indication that he is sitting on a big race.”

Another dominant victory by Big Brown would renew hopes that there could be a Triple Crown champion for the first time since Affirmed swept the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes in 1978.

Colonel  the 4-1 second choice, has never been worse than second in six career starts - all on synthetic tracks made of wax-coated sand, fibers and recycled rubber.

That raises the second-most compelling question in this Derby: Can he make the transition to dirt?

“I’ve liked what I’ve seen since I got here and I have no reason to change my opinion,” trainer Eoin Harty said.

And what about the filly Eight Belles, 4 for 4 this year, taking on the boys for the first time? It’s been nine years since a filly ran in the Derby, with Winning Colors the last to win it in 1988.

“We think she belongs,” Eight Belles owner Rick Porter said. “Right now, you don’t know how good Big Brown is.”

• Proud Spell drew away down the stretch to win the $500,000 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs, giving trainer Larry Jones a shot at pulling off an unprecedented Oaks-Kentucky Derby double.

The 3-year-old filly stalked pacesetter Bsharpsonata around the far turn, then ran away from the 10-horse field to win by five lengths and set the bar pretty high for stablemate Eight Belles.

No trainer has won the Oaks and the Derby in the same year since 1952, and none has done it with two fillies.

Proud Spell went off as the favorite and paid $8.80, $4.80 and $3.20. Little Belle returned $6.40 and $4, and Pure Clan paid $3.80 to show.

• The severe thunderstorms that soaked Churchill Downs on Friday were expected to clear out well before the Derby.

A line of storms was expected to hit Friday night in Louisville, moving east to the Lexington area. Overnight rain in Louisville should end at about 9 a.m. EDT today, according to the National Weather Service. More rain was possible in the afternoon until about 6 p.m. EDT, just as the race is scheduled to start. But Churchill Downs has a reputation for drying quickly.