Obama who takes over from President George W

The German carrier had also not yet formally ruled itself out of the running.But with the announcement of the French alliance just a day away, Berlusconi said time had run out."I don't think there's any more time for Lufthansa to insert itself in talks between Alitalia and Air France-KLM," Berlusconi told a conference of his Forza Italia party, Italian media said."In my opinion, the deal with Air France-KLM is favorable for Alitalia. Lufthansa never put forward concrete proposals, not even in a letter to (Alitalia Chairman Roberto) Colaninno."Berlusconi, who helped wreck Air France-KLM's takeover of Alitalia last year by opposing it, had so far openly favored an alliance with Lufthansa (LHAG.DE).(Writing by Deepa Babington; Editing by David Cowell) Deals. In one of the strangest stories to come out of baseball’s Winter Meetings this year, beleaguered outfielder Milton Bradley has apparently made a demand to the Chicago Cubs.Given his turbulent season, most expected the demand to be for a trade. When it comes to a man who shares a name with a board game company, however, one can never count on the expected: Bradley’s demand was for a hamburger.In a written statement to Cubs’ management, Bradley went into extensive detail about his request, calling the hamburger an “effective first step” in repaying the “enormous debt” Chicago currently owes him.“And it better be a good one,” Bradley added tersely while speaking to reporters in Los Angeles, before pummeling a garbage can and screaming at a balled up piece of newspaper. “I don’t want none of that s- the fans in right field eat. His $30 million, 3 year contract was supposed to bring some life into the heart of the Cubs order, but after a myriad of less-than-life-threatening injuries, conflicts with fans, sniping at Cubs management in the media and finally a suspension at the end of the season, Bradley’s unproductive campaign was widely considered one of the most disappointing in baseball.

Many thought Bradley’s demands were going to be simple this offseason: trade me.Instead, it seems, Bradley has elected to use his bargaining power on satisfying his appetite. Former Cubs and now Nationals manager Jim Riggleman had the highest bid when he offered his 1991 Ford Taurus, but the deal fell through when Hendry found out the car was lacking an engine, tires, windshield and gas tank.Diamondbacks GM Josh Byrnes is reportedly trying to work out a deal for Bradley that would send Chicago fourteen prospects and a 51 ownership of the Arizona team, but Hendry has repeatedly rebuffed the offer.“We know the Diamondbacks are willing to make even dumber deals; heck, look at the contract they gave Russ Ortiz a few years back We’ll wait them out til they go higher.”. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barack Obama will begin the search for Middle East peace immediately on becoming president and the Gaza conflict only underscored his determination to become involved early, he said in remarks broadcast on Sunday. Bush and former President Bill Clinton waited too long to work vigorously to broker a peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.On the ABC News show "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," Obama said it would be important to begin the effort early."The reason it's so important for the United States to be engaged and involved immediately, not waiting until the end of their term, is because working through the politics of this requires a third party that everybody has confidence (in), wants to see a fair and just outcome," he said.Obama, who takes over from President George W. Thirteen Israelis have been killed.Obama said the deaths of civilians on both the Palestinian and Israeli side were "heartbreaking.""And obviously what that does is it makes me much more determined to try to break a deadlock that has gone on for decades now," he said.(Reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Bill Trott) World.

Barack Obama Crisis in Credit Economy"I, like many, are disappointed with how the whole TARP process has unfolded," Obama said, referring to the Troubled Asset Relief Program."There hasn't been enough oversight," Obama said in an interview on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." "We found out this week in a report that we are not tracking where this money is going."Stephanopoulos pressed Obama on whether he wanted U.S President George W. Bush to request permission from Congress to use the second half of the bailout funds.Obama, who takes over from Bush on January 20, did not answer directly but said he wanted to see the program changed to do more to help families stave off foreclosures and to increase the flow of credit for small businesses."What I've done is asked my team to come together, come up with a set of principles around how we are going to maintain transparency, what are we going to do in terms of housing, how are we going to target small businesses that are under an enormous business crunch" Obama said.The White House said on Friday that Bush administration officials were in discussions with the Obama team on the possibility of Bush making a request for the second $350 billion of the bailout funds.Both the White House and an Obama transition official said no final decision had been made but The Washington Post said a request could come as early as this weekend.The aim would be to ensure that the funds were in place on January 20, when Obama takes office.The program, which has used mainly to bail out financial firms, is unpopular on Capitol Hill Some of the funds also were used to help distressed U.S. automakers.Obama said his team plans to "lay out very specifically some of the things that we are going to do with the next $350 billion of money.""And I think that we can gain regain the confidence of both Congress and the American people that this is not just money that is being given to banks without any strings attached," Obama said.(Reporting by Caren Bohan; Editing by Bill Trott) Barack Obama Crisis in Credit Economy. Wow: what a string of injuries.In addition to the already long string of injuries on the Oilers roster, today there was news that both Fernando Pisani and Patrick O'Sullivan have sustained injuries.Though the contribution from Springfield Falcons'call-ups have been amiable so far, one wonders how much longer the Oilers will have to keep going to the well before it's dry.

Will we have to start calling up Thunder players from StocktonIt's interesting to see that the Oilers have so much depth and that they're still losing close games despite this. However, the key is that they're still losing.This is a sickening amount of man games lost to injury so far this season and I'm hard-pressed to find a team that has been hit worse.Another problem is that so many injuries also inhibits GM Steve Tambellini's ability to assess his team and solve problems of holes on the roster. Not only because he has no idea who is contributing when healthy because the roster isn't healthy, but also because injured players can't be dealt.This means that anyone that was on the block before being injured, is now off the block.One guy who has come back from injury and contributed right away has been Steve Staios. Steady Steve has recaptured the form that earned him that nickname originally and he will be leaned on heavily in these oncoming injury-ridden weeks.Some of the players we miss the most right now are the ones we take for granted The Ryan Stone, Shawn Horcoff, J.F Jacques, Fernando Pisani, and Liam Reddox type of players. Souray is missed too, but everyone recognizes that his contribution to the team as being direly missed.The worst part is that some of these injuries are repeat injuries, things that have happened before in the past.Pisani's collitis.Jacque's back.Grebeshkov's knee.Horcoff's shoulder.The Olympic break will be a blessing-in-disguise for the oft-injured Oilers squad.Hopefully we're not too far out of the playoff picture by then..