Update Noon:  Stories Making Headlines Right Now

Associated Press
Published: January 13, 2009

CLINTON CONFIRMATION
    UPDATE: Clinton pushes broad Mideast strategy; cites Iran

Secretary of State-designate Hillary Rodham
Clinton is calling for a strategy for achieving peace in the Middle
East that goes beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to other
pressing issues like Iran’s nuclear program.
    While offering no specific new peace proposal, Clinton spoke
confidently at her Senate confirmation hearing of President-elect
Barack Obama’s intention to renew America’s leadership in the
world.
    She said the United States cannot give up on peace in the Middle
East, even with the recent setbacks in the Gaza Strip. And she also
said that she and Obama are sympathetic to the costs of the
conflict for both the Israelis and the Palestinians.

CLINTON-LETTERS & DOLLARS
    AP: Clinton acted on concerns of husband’s donors

The line between Hillary Rodham Clinton’s
activities and her husband’s foundation may not be a clear one.
    An Associated Press review of Senator Clinton’s official
correspondence finds the secretary of state nominee intervened at
least six times in government issues directly affecting companies
and other organizations that later contributed to the foundation.
    The letters and donations involve pharmaceutical companies and
telecommunications and energy interests. A Clinton aide says the
senator made no secret of her involvement in many of the issues and
has acted “solely based on what she believes is best for the state
and the people she represents” and no other factors.
    Under an agreement with President-elect Barack Obama, the former
president recently released the names of donors to his foundation,
but the foundation does not say when it received the donations or
how much they were.
    The nonprofit Clinton Foundation has raised nearly $500 million
to fund the Clinton library in Little Rock, Arkansas, and
charitable efforts around the world on issues such as AIDS, poverty
and climate change.

ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS: PEACE TALKS
    UPDATE: Israeli official plans ‘decisive’ talks in Egypt

The Israeli Defense Ministry says the point man
in efforts to reach a cease-fire with Hamas is headed to Egypt
later this week for what officials call decisive talks.
    Egypt has been a key mediator in attempts to forge a truce
during Israel’s 18-day offensive in Gaza.
    Israel’s decision to send Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad
to Egypt on Thursday could be a signal of progress. Gilad had put
off the trip for days, saying the time was not yet ripe.
    Defense officials say that depending on what happens in Cairo,
Israel will decide to move closer to a cease-fire or whether to
launch a new, even tougher stage of its offensive. They spoke on
condition of anonymity because they were discussing sensitive
policy matters.

ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS
    Israeli troops make gains in Gaza City

Israeli ground troops are closing
in on downtown Gaza City.
    Palestinian witnesses says they moved into a densely populated
neighborhood on the southeastern edge of the city overnight.
They’ve been battling Palestinian militants in the streets, and
several buildings are on fire.
    The Israeli troops are being supported by artillery and attack
helicopters, while Israeli gunboats shelled the coast from the
west.
    The Israeli military says it carried out some 60 airstrikes
across Gaza overnight. Targets included groups of Hamas militants
holed up in a hotel, a house and a mosque, 15 squads of gunmen,
rocket launching sites and 15 smuggling tunnels along the Egyptian
border.

OBAMA-ECONOMY
    Obama seeks rest of bailout money

Barack Obama and his economic team will be
lobbying for access to the second half of the $700 billion
financial bailout fund.
    Obama will meet with Senate Democrats today, while Senate
Republicans will hear from some of his top aides this week.
    The House Financial Services Committee has a hearing on the
program in advance of legislation offered by committee Chairman
Barney Frank of Massachusetts.
    It would place tough new restrictions on recipients of the money
and require spending to reduce mortgage foreclosures.
    Yesterday, President Bush acted on Obama’s behalf and asked
Congress for access to the remaining $350 billion of the money it
authorized to rescue the nation’s financial sector.

MELTDOWN-KASHKARI
    NEW: Treasury to find out if money to banks is boosting lending

The money being given to banks under the
financial industry rescue program is supposed to encourage them to
increase lending. And now, the government is planning to find out
whether that’s happening.
    The assistant Treasury secretary in charge of the bailout
program, Neel Kashkari, says Treasury is developing tools to
measure whether banks that get the money are lending more.
    He says the department will compare the level of lending by
banks that have received the government money with lending levels
by similar banks that haven’t gotten the help.
    The Bush administration has been criticized by lawmakers from
both parties for not doing more to track the money. So far, $189
billion has been invested in more than 250 banks in an effort to
increase consumer credit and lending to businesses.
    Last month, The Associated Press asked 21 banks to describe what
had been done with the money. None would provide any specifics.

BERNANKE
    Bernanke: Obama stimulus would lift economy

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is
offering some encouraging words about the stimulus package being
crafted by President-elect Barack Obama and Congress.
    In a speech to the London School of Economics, Bernanke says the
package could provide a “significant boost” to the sinking U.S.
economy. But he also warns that such a recovery won’t last unless
other steps are taken to stabilize the shaky financial system.
    This marks the first time the Fed chief has spoken about the
roughly $800 billion recovery plan now being worked on by Obama,
who takes office next week. Obama envisions a blend of tax cuts and
increased government spending, including spending on big public
works projects, to make up the stimulus plan.
    Bernanke didn’t weigh in on the details of the evolving package.
He made clear that such a recovery plan is needed as part of a
broader, multi-pronged government response to combat the worst
financial crisis to hit the U.S. and the global economy since the
1930s.

WALL STREET
    UPDATE: Stocks mostly higher at midday

Stock prices are mostly higher at midday on Wall
Street.
    Stocks have fluctuated today as investors digest news on both
earnings and the economy.
    After last night’s close, Alcoa reported a nearly $1.2 billion
loss for the latest quarter. That may not bode well for the market,
given that Alcoa is traditionally the first of the Dow components
to report during earnings season.
    The Commerce Department says the U.S. trade deficit fell in
November to its lowest level in five years. U.S. imports were
falling faster than U.S. exports as U.S. consumers cut back in the
face of the recession.

BUSH
    Bush touts his administration’s record

President George W. Bush says he will leave
Washington with a “great sense of accomplishment” and with pride
in those who have sacrificed for the country.
    A serious-looking president defended his record on Tuesday to
reporters allowed in the room for the end of his final Cabinet
meeting.
    The president touted his work on education, health care, the
environment and other issues. He said that, most importantly, his
administration has worked to keep the country safe.
    Bush also again wished his best to President-elect Barack Obama.
Obama will be sworn in as president in one week.

BUSH-OBAMA-NATIONAL SECURITY
    Government practices ‘homeland security’ event

Officials of the outgoing and incoming Bush
and Obama administrations are teaming up for a rehearsal of how to
handle a theoretical national emergency.
    Bush White House chief of staff Josh Bolten announced that the
exercise, involving representatives of both administrations, will
take place on Tuesday afternoon at the executive mansion.
    Bolten said that such a joint rehearsal for a possible
terrorism-era emergency is a matter of necessity, not just
courtesy.
    He said a few key members of the Obama administration and the
current administration will get West Wing briefings on “incident
management procedures” and “continuity of government
procedures.“
    Bolton said officials will “work on a specific scenario ... and
talk about who does what” in the event of a homeland security
incident.

SNOWSTORM
    Sharp cold wave shocks upper Midwest, temps to -36

In the upper Midwest, residents are
bundling up or just staying indoors as a wave of bitterly cold air
barrels south out of the Arctic on the heels of a fast-moving
blizzard.
    Some schools closed because of the cold. Temperatures hit the
single digits as far south as Kansas and Missouri.
    The coldest air spilled across the Canadian prairie into the
Dakotas and Minnesota. Grand Forks, N.D., dropped to a record low
of 37 degrees below zero this morning, lopping six degrees off the
old record set in 1979.
    Wind chill warnings are posted for much of Wisconsin, South
Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota.
    The leading edge of the cold air is expected to strike the
Northeast, mid-Atlantic and South late today and tomorrow.
    The National Weather Service has posted winter storm warnings
for parts of Michigan, northern Indiana and Ohio’s northwest
corner.
    Up to 11 inches of new snow is possible in Detroit.

PLANE CRASH MYSTERY
    UPDATE: Pilot stashed motorcycle in Ala. before crash

More details are emerging about the
investment manager who authorities believe faked a distress call
before bailing out of a plane over Alabama.
    They now say the man had stashed a motorcycle ahead of time in a
storage unit not far from where he apparently bailed out. They say
that motorcycle is now gone. But in its place, investigators found
the damp clothes he’d apparently been wearing.
    The investigation began Sunday night when Marcus Schrenker’s
plane went down during a flight from Indiana to Florida. Schrenker
had made a distress call, and military jets then tried to intercept
the plane. They noticed that the door was open and the cockpit was
dark. The pilot had apparently put it on autopilot before bailing
out. The plane crashed in Florida.
    Authorities want to know if Schrenker was trying to fake his own
death. His wife had filed for divorce, his companies were being
investigated, and he’d lost a half million dollars in a court case.