Message #1624

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unds. In order to protect investors, it should be in the face of mutual funds with regular audits to see that they are adhering to the law and their fiduciary duties. Moreover, he says, funds should have their own outside auditors reporting directly to their boards any findings about violations of trading rules, such as illegal trading of shares after the 4 p.m. stock market closing, or unethical rapid trading of shares.Banks can expect regular audits by their regulators. So should mutual funds, Mr. Clark says. Their shares are owned by 54 million American households. and if President Bush manages to win partial privatization of Social Security, even more Americans will be invested in funds. Clark, however, doubts that either Congress or President Bush will want to give the SEC the necessary financial resources to tackle regular audits of the nation's 8,000 funds.The industry's reputation was helped by a good investment performance in 2004. On average, diversified US stockfund shares were up 12 percent, Lipper sa
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 e oil companies to commit themselves to projects that could eventually help lower costs for consumers. Over the short term, it could also prompt the companies to lower their profit margins in an effort to deflect yet more criticism.We see the energy companies keeping their heads down a bit and not playing up the spectacular nature of these earnings, says John Killduff, an energy trader at FIMAT USA in New York.There is no question that most of the oil companies are reporting mammoth increases in thirdquarter profits. Wednesday, ConocoPhillips, the nation's thirdlargest oil company, reported that quarterly profits rose 89 percent. On Tuesday, BP reported profits that soared 34 percent. Thursday, Shell and ExxonMobil will report earnings. Friday, it will be Chevron's turn.The main factor for the oil companies is the high price of oil, which peaked near $70 a barrel during the quarter. Since then, oil prices have dropped slightly. As of late Wednesday morning, oil prices were $62.30 on the futures market. This is st
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 to seeing RUF leaders face justice. It's important to set an example, he says. So no group of people will take up arms, go into the bush, and commit atrocities against innocent civilians.The longawaited trial of three RUF commanders began on Monday, with prosecutors describing their acts as a tale of horror. But the court's approach is proving controversial: only a handful of rebels will be tried and many people are unhappy with the decision to prosecute alleged leaders of the Civil Defense Forces (CDF), a progovernment militia that fought the RUF and was regarded by many people as a liberating force.Set up to avoid some of the complexity that has undermined United Nations tribunals for Bosnia and Rwanda, the Sierra Leone court has become a test  one that some say could itself fail  of a new model for international justice.The idea is a good one, says Akin Macauley, a businessman here. But I don't think the court has been able to get all those we believe are involved.The court, established jointly by the Sierra L
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 should have done earlier, which is to elevate the understanding ... in the Pentagon of our strategic stake in Africa, she says. Africa has the preponderance of the world's weak and failed states, and we ignore it at our peril.At the same time, defense attorneys and defendants are gearing up for what could become a flood of appeals seeking reduced sentences under the new precedent.In a case called Blakely v. Washington, the Supreme Court last week invalidated a 71/2year sentence in a Washington State kidnapping case because the majority justices said the punishment violated the defendant's Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial. While the decision was good news for defendant Ralph Howard Blakely Jr., it may represent a constitutional death knell for sentencingguideline programs like Washington State's that allow a judge to use facts not considered by a jury at trial to boost a defendant's punishment.Instead of a 53month sentence, Mr. Blakely received a 90month sentence after the judge in his case determined  indepe
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