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China, Russia veto Zimbabwe sanctions

UNITED NATIONS, July 11 (UPI) -- China and Russia Friday vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution on sanctions against the Zimbabwean government.

The resolution, drafted by the United States and introduced July 3, was aimed at Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his top administrators. It would impose an arms embargo and limit travel and financial transactions for Zimbabwean officials.

The Security Council voted 9-5 against the resolution, with one abstention, Voice of America reported Friday. China and Russia were among those voting no, effectively killing the measure since, as permanent members of the council, China and Russia have veto power.

Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said the possibility of sanctions against Zimbabwe had been ruled out at the recent African Union summit, VOA reported. He said sanctions would hinder negotiations between Mugabe's ZANU-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

"China has always maintained the best approach to solve a problem are negotiation and dialogue," Wang said. "Internationally to use, or threaten to use, sanctions lightly is not conducive to solving a problem."

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said China and Russia "have stood with Mugabe against the people of Zimbabwe."

"More than a majority of the Security Council members stood with the people of Zimbabwe by demanding that Mugabe put an immediate end to the violence and to start serious negotiations with the opposition."

U.S. takes over IndyMac Bank

PASADENA, Calif., July 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. government Friday took over IndyMac Bank, with federal regulators calling the bank's failure the second-largest in U.S. history.

The Office of Thrift Supervision said it has transferred control of the bank to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. The FDIC plans to reopen the $32 billion bank Monday, the OTS said.

"Depositors will have no access to banking services online and by telephone this weekend, but will continue to have access to their funds this weekend by ATM, through other debit card transactions and by writing checks," the office said.

Online banking and telephone banking will not be available until Monday for customers of the bank, based in Pasadena, Calif.

The bank announced Monday it will substantially cut back its home mortgage lending and slash its workforce of 7,200 by about half. The announcement came after federal regulators removed IndyMac Bank from a listing of well-capitalized banks.

IndyMac stock has plunged and some depositors have been withdrawing their money.

The largest previous U.S. bank failure occurred in 1984, when the $40 billion Continental Illinois Bank failed, the newspaper said.

Body found after Calif. wildfire

SACRAMENTO, July 11 (UPI) -- One person has died in the Butte County, Calif., wildfire, officials confirmed Friday as California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called up more help.

While few details were available, the Butte County Sheriff's Department said the body of a person apparently killed in the wildfire was found near one of the homes that burned earlier this week in Concow, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Schwarzenegger called up 2,000 more National Guard troops to assist in battling wildfires raging throughout Northern California.

Firefighters from Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Greece began arriving to augment exhausted personnel who have been fighting hundreds of blazes since June 20.

Glen Cannon, an official with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the 1,700 lightning-sparked fires across the state were "unprecedented in size and number." About 300 are still active.

"They have essentially exhausted all the internal resources within California," Cannon said.

In Big Sur, a blaze hit a Zen monastery in the Los Padres National Forest Thursday, but five Buddhist monks who remained behind helped beat back the flames, the Times reported. The fire destroyed three smaller buildings.

"Praise the Buddha," said Keither Meyerhoff, a spokesman for the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center who talked to the monks by satellite phone.

The fires have burned more than 725,000 acres from the coast to the borders of Oregon and Nevada.

Exxon Valdez plaintiffs seek interest

WASHINGTON, July 11 (UPI) -- Thousands of U.S. plaintiffs who sued over the Exxon Valdez oil spill are asking to be paid interest on the damage award they were given in 1994.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month reduced the $2.5 billion punitive damages award in the long-running lawsuit to no more than $507.5 million, Legal Newsline reported Friday.

An attorney representing some 32,000 plaintiffs says about $488 million in interest has accrued since an Anchorage jury awarded plaintiffs $5 billion in 1994.

Attorney Brian O'Neill of Minneapolis filed a brief with the Supreme Court asking the high court to specify the plaintiffs are entitled to interest on the award.

Federal court rules say when interest payments are awarded they are calculated by a certain Federal Reserve rate available at the time of the award. In the Exxon case, that rate was 5.9 percent.

In 2006, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco reduced the $5 billion award to $2.5 billion. Exxon then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Exxon based its appeals on an 1818 court decision that holds ship owners are not liable for punitive damages for the actions of their agents at sea unless they're complicit in their wrongdoing.