Money Sophia Talks

(Associated Press) — A high-level US delegation led by former UN ambassador Bill Richardson arrived in North Korea Sunday, days ahead of a key deadline under a six-party deal to dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear programme.

The bipartisan team — officially on a mission to recover the remains of US soldiers killed in the Korean War —arrived in the North Korean capital in late afternoon, the Stalinist country's state news agency said.

The White House has said that the trip by Richardson, accompanied by National Security Council Director for Asia Victor Cha among others, is "separate" from the six-party talks on ending the North's nuclear drive.

But the four-day trip comes with time running out for North Korea to make good on its pledge to shut down a key nuclear facility and allow the return of UN nuclear inspectors in return for 50,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil.

Indiana University students succeed in bringing 'Mad Money' to IU

Thanks to the efforts of a group of Indiana University students, Jim Cramer and his crew at Mad Money soon will be getting a hospitable Hoosier "ba-ba-boo-yah" when the exuberant former hedge-fund manager brings his popular CNBC television program to IU Bloomington.

Doubts about North Korean money transfer

BEIJING: A Macau bank account holder at the centre of a US-North Korea financial row indicated yesterday steps were being taken that could cast doubt on a deal to halt Pyongyang's nuclear arms programmes.
The owner of Pyongyang-based Daedong Credit Bank said the Macau Monetary Authority has guaranteed that its accounts in the Chinese territory would not be handed over to North Korea's government.
Daedong's funds are among the roughly $25mn frozen in Macau's Banco Delta Asia that North Korea is demanding be returned to Pyongyang before it will honour a commitment made in February to scrap its nuclear programme, the International Herald Tribune reported this week.
“The funds belonging to Daedong's customers in its account at (Banco Delta Asia) are fully safeguarded," said Colin McAskill, head of the UK-based Chosun Fund, which has purchased Daedong Credit Bank, in an emailed statment.

The United States of Foreclosure - Subprime fiasco to trigger ...

The stock market is about to crash. The only question is whether it will quickly fall down the elevator shaft or follow the jerky flight-path of a man pushed down a stairwell. Either way, the outcome will be the same; stocks will nose-dive, the dollar will plummet, and the bruised US economy will be splattered on the canvas like George Foreman in Rumble in the Jungle. Troubles in the sub-prime market have just begun to materialize and already 38 main sub prime lenders have gone kaput. Foreclosures have reached a 37 year high, and an estimated 2 million homeowners will be put out on the street in the next few years. And that's just for starters.
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Around the Valley

To submit items, call (559) 441-6030, fax (559) 441-6436, e-mail mhughes@fresnobee.com or write to Around the Valley, The Fresno Bee, 1626 E St., Fresno, CA 93786.Ex-POWs to be honored at program MondayThe 2007 Ex-POW Recognition Day Program will be held at 10 a.m. Monday in the auditorium of the VA Central California Healthcare System Medical Center, 2615 E. Clinton Ave., Fresno.Former prisoners of war from Central California will be honored in a ceremony.John Wallace, CBS Channel 47 Morning co-host, will be master of ceremonies and Col. Ryan Orian, vice commander of the 144th Fighter Wing California Air National Guard, will be keynote speaker.Entertainment will be provided by the Gold Note Chorus. A "roll call" of attending members will be performed by Vernon Schmidt, commander, Ex-POW Chapter One of Fresno.This event is open to the public.

So now it's the UN getting counterfeit cash from Kim?

It's bad enough that the United Nations Development Program office in North Korea has been handing over hard currency to the regime of Kim Jong Il. But a new twist now emerging in the Cash-for-Kim scandal is that while the UNDP has been giving Kim real money, Kim's regime may have been handing over counterfeit banknotes to the UNDP--which apparently had a stack of counterfeit $100 bills sitting in its office-safe in Pyongyang.

It has been well known for years, and was spelled out last fall by the U.S. Treasury, that North Korea's regime has been sponsoring the counterfeiting of U.S. banknotes and laundering into world markets these so-called Supernotes, which first surfaced in the Philippines in 1989. What has not made it into the news, however, is that some of these banknotes appear to have ended up in the possession of the UNDP office in Pyongyang--which, until it got hit with scandal this past January for funneling genuine cash to Kim, apparently did nothing to report counterfeit bills allegedly coming at them.

Children still not getting enough PE

ONLY one of Scotland's 32 local authorities is definitely hitting targets for the provision of physical education in schools, The Scotsman can reveal.