Financial reform amendment passed
WASHINGTON, May 5 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate Wednesday voted 93-5 in favor of an amendment aimed at preventing future taxpayer bailouts of big banks and investment firms.
The legislation removes a $50 billion fund that would have covered the cost of liquidating collapsed financial firms, The Washington Post reported. Republicans opposed the fund, to have been paid for by the financial industry, saying it would have been an incentive for companies to make risky investments.
The strongly bipartisan vote came after Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., reached agreement on final language on the legislation they hammered out last week regarding those firms considered "too big to fail," Politico said.
"For over a year now, Senator Shelby and I have been working on ways to end bailouts," Dodd said prior to the vote. "All of us agree that that ought to be done. While we have had our differences in other areas, we have always shared a commitment to ensuring that taxpayers would never again be forced to bail out giant Wall Street firms that fail."
Shelby voiced his support for the amendment on the floor, Politico said.
Taxpayers would still put up billions of dollars to cover the costs of dissolving a collapsed firm through a line of credit from the Treasury to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. but would recoup that money through the sale of the company's assets. Creditors and shareholders would be forced to take losses.
Earlier, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., blasted Republicans for holding up overall financial reform legislation, saying they were "making love to Wall Street," The Hill reported.
Poll gives Conservatives edge
LONDON, May 5 (UPI) -- Voters appeared to be leaning toward the Conservative Party heading into Thursday's general election in Britain, poll results released Wednesday indicated.
The Angus Reid Public Opinion poll gave Conservatives 36 percent, followed by Liberal Democrats with 29 percent, Labor at 24 percent, United Kingdom Independent Party 4 percent, British National Party 2 percent, Scottish National Party 2 percent, Green 1 percent, Plaid Cymru 1 percent and other 2 percent.
The poll also showed that among those surveyed, 58 percent viewed Liberal-Democrat leader Nick Clegg favorably, 45 percent rated Conservative leader David Cameron favorably and just 33 percent went for current Labor Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
But the biggest share, 32 percent, said Cameron would be the best candidate of the three for prime minister, followed by Clegg at 20 percent and Brown at 19 percent.
Angus Reid based the results on an online survey conducted Tuesday and Wednesday among 2,283 randomly selected British adults on the Springboard UK panel. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.
Youngest sailor may be denied recognition
SYDNEY, May 5 (UPI) -- Sailing experts say a 16-year-old Australian sailor may be denied recognition as the youngest ever to circle the globe because she took the wrong route.
Jessica Watson is expected to sail into Sydney harbor this week to end a 200-day voyage that yachting experts say won't qualify her for the record as the youngest-ever around-the-world sailor, Britain's Daily Telegraph reported Wednesday.
Her voyage was "wonderful," said Rob Kothe, editor of "Sail-World" magazine, but would not qualify because she had not sailed far enough and did not follow the course required by the World Speed Sailing Record Council.
Watson is trying to break the record set by fellow Australian Jesse Martin, who was 18 when he sailed around the globe in 1993.
For "around the world" status, a voyage must cover 21,600 nautical miles, Kothe said, and Watson failed to sail far enough north to qualify.
"To claim that you have broken (the) record, regardless of age, you need to sail the same course," he said.
Martin "sailed 26,300 nautical miles, he went way up past Spain and turned and came back down … because that's what the rules say you need to do."
Kothe said that Watson was 1,500 nautical miles short of the record.
Obama cites Phoenix 'Los Suns' protest
WASHINGTON, May 5 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama Wednesday referenced a move by the owner of the Phoenix Suns NBA team to protest a controversial Arizona immigration law.
Speaking at a White House Rose Garden event observing Cinco de Mayo, Obama reiterated his opposition to the Arizona measure and acknowledged a move by Suns owner Robert Sarver to both mark the holiday and lodge a protest by having players wear uniforms identifying themselves as "Los Suns," ABC News reported.
Sarver was set to roll out the uniforms for the Suns' Wednesday night contest against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 2 of their Western Conference semifinal series.
"I know that a lot of you would rather be watching tonight's game," Obama said. "The Spurs against Los Suns from Phoenix."
Later in his remarks, Obama admitted the U.S. immigration system "is broken" and that Americans "are right to be frustrated," but warned that Arizona's law "undermine(s) fundamental principles" because it encourages the use of racial profiling to single out people to be stopped, ABC reported.
The "Los Suns" protest counts Phoenix guard Steve Nash and former NBA star Charles Barkley among its supporters, while conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh and Arizona Republican U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Hayworth have blasted it.
Canadian navy marks 100 years of service
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, May 5 (UPI) -- Canada's navy is 100 years old this year.
Thousands of Canadian navy sailors, leaders and civilians in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Victoria, British Columbia, took time out Tuesday to mark a century's worth of protecting the country's coasts and interests overseas, Canwest News Service reported.
Rear Adm. Paul Maddison said Canada "is and always has been intrinsically linked to the sea."
"We invite all Canadians to look toward their coasts and recognize the huge impact the world's oceans have on our daily lives," Maddison said. "In addition to the vast resources that lie on and beneath the seabed, fully 90 percent of the global economy floats upon the world's ocean highways ... (and) any threat to the free and regulated use of the world's oceans is therefore a threat to Canada and our way of life."
The Canadian navy has grown from two British hand-me-down warships to dozens of modern vessels. At a ceremony in Ottawa, the navy presented a ship's bell to the people of Canada to mark the milestone.
"Our sailors have established a mighty tradition of service and heroism," Prime Minister Stephen Harper said at the Senate ceremony.
