Grassley suggests AIG execs commit suicide
DES MOINES, Iowa, March 17 (UPI) -- An angry U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, says AIG executives should apologize for the insurance giant's collapse and resign or commit suicide.
Grassley suggested AIG executives "follow the Japanese example and come before the American people and take that deep bow and say, I'm sorry, and then either do one of two things: resign or go commit suicide."
Grassley's harsh comments came Monday during an interview with radio station WMT in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The senator said it galled him AIG plans to pay its executives $165 million in bonuses after taking billions in federal bailout money.
Grassley spokesman Casey Mills later said the senator was speaking metaphorically when he suggested the executives kill themselves," The Des Moines (Iowa) Register reported Tuesday.
"Senator Grassley has said for some time now that generally speaking, executives who make a mess of their companies should apologize, as Japanese executives do," Mills said. "He says the Japanese might even go so far as to commit suicide but he doesn't want U.S. executives to do that."
Poll: Resentment grows over bailouts
NEW YORK, March 17 (UPI) -- A growing number of U.S. taxpayers say they are against giving money to to failing banks and other financial institutions, a CBS News poll indicates.
The survey indicates the public blames bank managers for the crisis and resents taxpayer money being given to irresponsible executives, CBS News reported Tuesday.
In the poll, 53 percent of those interviewed said they disapproved of the government giving money to financial institutions as a way of trying to bolster the nation's economy -- that's the highest number since CBS News began asking in December about the bailouts.
Forty-four percent disapproved in December with that number rising steadily in polls conducted since then, CBS News reported, noting it appears bonus payments, such as those promised to American Insurance Group executives recently, are fueling the disapproval rating.
The most recent poll was conducted by telephone March 12-15 with 896 adults nationwide and has a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
Support for Afghan war slips, poll shows
WASHINGTON, March 17 (UPI) -- American support for the war in Afghanistan fell to a record low as attacks on U.S. troops and their allies reached record highs, a USA Today poll indicates.
Forty-two percent of respondents in the weekend poll said the United States made "a mistake" in sending troops to Afghanistan, up from 30 percent in January, the USA Today-Gallup Poll released Tuesday indicated.
Those who said the war is going well fell to 38 percent in the latest poll, the lowest percentage since the question was added in September 2006, pollsters said.
Attacks with improvised explosive devices killed 32 coalition troops in the first two months of 2009, triple the number for the same period in 2008. A roadside bomb detonated Sunday, killing four U.S. troops.
The poll indicated more optimism for war in Iraq, where security gains lowered U.S. casualties. In 2008, 314 U.S. troops were killed in Iraq compared with 904 in 2007.
A majority -- 51 percent -- said the war is going well there, while respondents indicating they thought the war in Iraq was going badly totaled 43 percent.
The nationwide poll contacted 997 adults Saturday and Sunday. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.
Seoul, Tokyo seek N. Korea rocket halt
SEOUL, March 17 (UPI) -- South Korea and Japan will continue their diplomatic efforts to dissuade North Korea from a planned rocket launch, Seoul's chief nuclear negotiator says.
Wi Sung-lac told reporters Tuesday that he, Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone and Tokyo's top nuclear envoy, Akitaka Saiki, have all agreed to do what they can to stop the North's planned rocket firing, Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, reported.
Pyongyang claims the rocket launch, set for next month, is a communications satellite but others believe is an intercontinental ballistic missile test.
"I discussed with Director General Saiki various pre-emptive and counter steps with regard to North Korea's (planned) missile launch, as well as ways to resume the six-way talks," Wi said.
Prospects for the six-way talks involving the Koreas, the United States, China and Russia on Pyongyang's denuclearization have dimmed after stalling for months over a dispute on verification of the North's nuclear inventory, Yonhap said.
Brown to Iran: Play by the rules
LONDON, March 17 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown threatened new sanctions against Iran Tuesday unless the Middle Eastern country shines more light on its nuclear work.
In a speech, Brown pressed Iranian officials to reconsider urgently their position regarding its nuclear policy and accept international offer to help it develop a civil nuclear power program, the Financial Times reported.
Brown delivered his message to Iran as he argues for a broader civil nuclear energy policy. Iran, he said, would be a test case for a "new philosophy of the right to civil nuclear power with sanctions for rule-breakers."
Iran's refusal to "play by the rules" would mean "tougher sanctions" and regional instability, Brown told the audience of scientists and diplomats in London.
The statement against Iran's nuclear program is Brown's first since Barack Obama became U.S. president. The Obama administration has indicated it would consider direct diplomacy but also decried Iran's nuclear program, which the republic maintains is for peaceful purposes but Western countries suspect is building a nuclear bomb.
France, Germany and Britain are preparing a list of new sanctions to be imposed against Iran to give the Obama administration more clout in its anticipated engagement of the Islamic republic, the Financial Times said.
Brown's speech didn't indicate whether the United States or the European Union would accept a limited Iranian program of enrichment under international inspection, the BBC reported.
Brown also spoke of reducing Britain's own nuclear warheads stockpile in a run-up to the 2010 five-year proliferation review conference. The number of warheads is fewer than 160.
Vermont considers same-sex marriage bill
MONTPELIER, Vt., March 17 (UPI) -- A bill to allow same-sex couples in Vermont to marry would confer benefits not given by the state's currently allowed civil unions, supporters say.
Hearings on a move to sanction same-sex marriages began Monday at the Vermont state capital in Montpelier with testimony by former state Rep. Tom Little, R-Shelburne, who said the state's landmark 2000 civil union bill lacks the full society benefits of marriage, the Barre Montpelier Times-Argus reported.
Little, who presided over the passage of the civil union law, or Act 91, nine years ago as the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told the state Senate Judiciary Committee, "The question before this committee is if Act 91 is fulfilling its promise. Allowing same-sex couples to marry would grant them access to less tangible benefits. This would include the use of words such as marriage, wedding, marry, celebration and divorce … words that have historical, social and cultural significance."
Outside the hearing room, a crowd of opponents roared their disapproval of the same-sex marriage proposal, the newspaper said. The Rev. Craig Bensen, one of the rally's organizers, told the state senators that legalizing same-sex marriage would violate the "right of children to be raised by their biological parents."
