Treasury Is Criticized Over TARP

The special inspector general overseeing the $700 billion financial-sector bailout said the Treasury Department isn't disclosing enough information about how taxpayer money is being spent.

In prepared testimony for a Tuesday hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Special Inspector General Neil Barofsky said the Treasury has rejected several of his recommendations for more transparency on its part.

Mr. Barofsky also said the Treasury has declined to require bailout recipients to explain what they are doing with their government funds.

Mr. Barofsky estimates the government's potential exposure to programs aimed at resolving the financial crisis at $23.7 trillion.

To get to that figure, Mr. Barofsky combined direct spending with all the government guarantees and programs and assumes the "gross exposure" the government could face if all the programs were tapped to their fullest potential. His report says "these numbers may have some overlap, and have not been evaluated to provide an estimate of likely net costs to the taxpayer."
...By MEENA THIRUVENGADAM - http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124810729729665611.html

Afghanistan blast kills British soldier

A British soldier from a bomb disposal team has been killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said today. The soldier from the joint force explosive ordnance disposal group was killed yesterday afternoon while on patrol in Helmand province. His death brings to 187 the number of British troops killed in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001.

Britain has increased its troop levels in Afghanistan to about 9,000 soldiers this year to improve security before next month's presidential election. Most of the recent British casualties have been caused by roadside bombs. The son of a British army general lost a leg in a blast on Saturday, the Sun newspaper reported. Captain Harry Parker, 26, was seriously ill in Selly Oak hospital, Birmingham, after suffering multiple injuries in the explosion.

by Mark Tran - http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/21/british-soldier-killed-afghanistan

India's position: it would not accept binding emissions cuts.

...the Indian Environment Minister, Jairam Ramesh, broke away from the saccharine tone of most of Clinton's meetings with the country's leaders by bluntly reiterating India's position that it would not accept binding emissions cuts. "There is simply no case for the pressure that we, who have been among the lowest emitters per capita, face to actually reduce emissions," ...
By Madhur Singh / New Delhi - http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1911878,00.html?xid=rss-world

Astronomers study 'gargantuan' Jupiter impact

An unseen comet or possibly an icy asteroid apparently crashed into Jupiter's atmosphere near the giant planet's south pole sometime during the last few days, creating a "gargantuan" blemish easily visible from Earth.

The presumed impact, discovered by Australian amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley July 19 and confirmed by NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, came almost 15 years to the day after multiple fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashed into Jupiter in 1994.
by William Harwood - http://news.cnet.com/8301-19514_3-10291824-239.html