China's State Council on Friday banned the sale of human organs used for transplants effective May 1. The new regulation prohibits individuals and organizations from trading organs, such as hearts, lungs, and kidneys, following allegations of involuntary donations and international criticism that human organs taken from executed prisoners were sold to foreigners. The regulation only bans the sale of organs; sales of human tissue, such as marrow, cornea and cells, are still permitted.

Last month, an anonymous senior Chinese Supreme Court official told the state Xinhua News Agency that China uses the same strict organ donation procedures when accepting organs from executed criminals as it does with any other organ donations, but doubt exists as to how the requirement for informed consent is enforced. Last March, the Chinese Ministry of Health  issued a general ban on the sale of human organs that took effect on July 1, 2006. The Ministry also issued new regulations in August 2006 to counter unauthorized international trade in organs, including rules that would restrict the number of hospitals permitted to perform transplants.

The SEC said yesterday it will work to resolve conflicts between the proposals over the issue of symbols with three or fewer characters. The NYSE and other exchanges are pushing to limit the use of one-, two-and three-character symbols to those listing markets that have traditionally used them.

Nasdaq and other self-regulatory organizations are trying to permit any listing market to use one-, two-, three-, four- or five-character symbols, allowing companies to move their securities onto the Nasdaq while retaining their ticker symbols.

The SEC said it plans to publish the proposals for comment and "will resolve the conflicts ... as fairly and expeditiously as possible." A spokesperson did not know when the issue would be decided.

The investor protection agency asked the exchanges in February 2005 to work together to develop a national plan for reserving, selecting and allocating securities symbols.

"Securities symbols are an important part of a listed company's identity and developing a formal process to reserve, select and allocate symbols ... will help promote a fair and orderly national market system and prevent investor confusion," said SEC Market Regulation Director Eric Sirri.

Following the SEC request to formalize the symbol allocation system, Nasdaq announced its intention to begin listing companies with three or less symbols. Last month, Delta Financial Corp. became the first company to trade on the Nasdaq with a three-character symbol – DFC – after a proposal to list that specific company was approved. Nasdaq moved a step further with a March 29 proposal to the SEC that would explicitly permit the display of three-character symbols on its exchange. The SEC will consider the proposal after the public comment period ends April 25.

In an interview, Iglesias said he was given no reason for his firing when he was notified Dec. 7. But he later found out from a Senate staff member that Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty had said Iglesias and six of the other seven were fired for performance reasons.

And in Iglesias' case, a document released by the Justice Department referred to him as an "absentee landlord."

But Iglesias said his absences from his civilian job were taken to fulfill his military obligations as a reservist. As a drilling reservist, he said, he is required to do 36 days of duty each year, and probably did a little extra, 40 to 45 days total for each year that he served as the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico.

Each time before he left for military duty, he notified the Washington, D.C., Justice Department office, which is the clearinghouse for such matters, he said. And his Navy Reserve information was on his résumé when he was hired for the U.S. Attorney's job in October 2001.

Iglesias confirmed that he has authorized an investigation into whether his firing might constitute a violation of USERRA. A spokesman for the Office of Special Counsel confirmed that the office is investigating the case but declined to provide further details. The office, which often investigates employment and re-employment rights cases on behalf of military reservists, is an independent agency and is not connected to the Justice Department.

If his firing is even partly related to his reserve duty, it could be a violation of the law.

Iglesias said he has had a number of Guard or Reserve members working for him and had six who were mobilized since Sept. 11, 2001. As part of his reserve duties, he also has conducted training for virtually every drilling Navy reserve attorney.

The subject of USERRA is "something near and dear to my heart," he said. He is scheduled to conduct training soon with Navy Reserve attorneys about how the Justice Department enforces USERRA with private employers.

If his status as a reservist did, in fact, have anything to do with his firing as U.S. Attorney, he said, "it would be a violation of federal law — and I'd be horribly disappointed with the Justice Department tasked with enforcing it, that they would not honor the letter of the law with one of their own people.

"There are so many ironies in this scandal," Iglesias said. "I've authorized the OSC to look into whether there is an issue. There may be. The stories keep changing from the Department of Justice."

Performance evaluations and statements by officials indicated Iglesias' job performance was excellent, according to congressional testimony.

In a joint statement when four of the fired attorneys were subpoenaed to testify before the House and Senate judiciary committees March 6, the attorneys, who are political appointees, said they were aware that they served at the pleasure of the president and could be removed for any or no reason.

Iglesias' situation is more complicated than the USERRA issue. He testified about phone calls he received before the November 2006 midterm elections from Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., and as a result felt pressured related to a corruption investigation involving Democrats in New Mexico.

Later, he testified, "I just started to put the dots together" in connection with his firing.

As such, the OSC investigation into Iglesias' firing is moving on three parallel tracks: the Justice Department's violation of Iglesias' rights under the Whistleblower Protection Act and USERRA, and the government's violation of the Hatch Act, which restricts partisan political activity by government employees.

Canada, Sweden and Eritrea are pressuring Ethiopia to reveal details regarding the foreign nationals it has allegedly detained in secret prisons in collaboration with the FBI and CIA. The existence of prisons in which US government agencies have interrogated individuals suspected of having ties to al Qaeda was disclosed on Tuesday after Human Rights Watch reports claimed that the US, Kenya, and Ethiopia were cooperating with the transitional government of Somalia to detain refugees from the recent conflict there.

Among those believed to be imprisoned in Ethiopia are Canadian citizen Bashir Makhtal, three Eritrean citizens who were turned over to Somalia after their arrest by Kenyan authorities in January, and two Swedish citizens. Nationals of France, Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Morocco and Tunisia are also thought to be detained there. Investigations of the US rendition program have so far focused primarily on Europe, where reports revealed that sixteen EU member states were involved at some level in the operation of CIA secret prisons and rendition flights.

"Time is running out for tax filers to take advantage of the special telephone excise tax refund and other benefits such as the Earned Income Tax Credit," IRS spokesman Dan Boone said in prepared comments.

"If you don't claim it, you don't get it. That's money down the drain for thousands of Tennesseans."

In addition, many taxpayers also overlook free services available to them, such as free tax help and the Free File program.

Still others lose out by not filing a return at all. Even if a taxpayer does not owe tax and is not required by law to file a return, he may miss out on a refund or tax credit.

Here are some refunds, credits or services Boone says are frequently overlooked:

Telephone Excise Tax Refund - This is a one-time refund of long-distance excise taxes available on 2006 income tax returns. The refund applies to charges billed from March 2003 through July 2006.

The IRS offers a standard refund amount of $30 to $60, or taxpayers can calculate the actual tax paid. Even if the taxpayer does not normally have to file a return, Form 1040EZ-T can be used to request this refund.

Businesses and exempt organizations can also request it. Taxpayers can visit IRS.gov for more information on this special payment.

"Tennesseans have already left more than $12 million on the table by failing to request this special refund," Boone said.

IRS Free File - Nearly 20 companies are offering free electronic filing to taxpayers whose 2006 adjusted gross income was $52,000 or less. That means 1.9 million Tennesseans can take advantage of the IRS-sponsored Free File program.

"Free File users get all the benefits of IRS E-file: a faster refund, a virtually error-free return, and confirmation that the IRS received your tax return," Boone said. A link to Free File offerings is located on the IRS.gov homepage.

Earned Income Tax Credit - Earned income of less than $39,000 in 2006 may qualify a taxpayer to claim the earned income tax credit.

This credit could be worth up to $4,536.

When the EITC exceeds the amount of taxes owed, it results in a tax refund to those who claim and qualify for the credit.

To qualify, taxpayers must meet certain requirements and file a tax return, even if they did not earn enough money to be obligated to file a return. An electronic special "EITC Assistant" is available on IRS.gov to help taxpayers determine whether they are eligible.

Taxpayers can access more information on this credit by visiting IRS.gov and clicking on "1040 Central."

"More than half-a-million Tennesseans claimed EITC last year, but the IRS estimates that another 20 to 25 percent could be claiming it," Boone said.

Unclaimed Refunds - Refunds totaling approximately $30.8 million are waiting for about 27,600 Tennesseans who failed to file a federal income tax return for 2003.

In order to collect the money, a return for 2003 must be filed no later than April 17.

The IRS estimates that half of those who could claim refunds would receive more than $600. In some cases, individuals had taxes withheld from their wages, or made payments against their taxes out of self-employed earnings, but had too little income to require filing a tax return.

New Century Financial Corp. (NEWC.PK: Quote, Profile, Research), the largest U.S. subprime lender now under bankruptcy protection, was authorized on Thursday to obtain up to $150 million of financing to keep operating under Chapter 11.

The package, which was announced Monday as the company announced its bankruptcy filing, includes up to $150 million of debtor-in-possession financing from The CIT Group and Greenwich Capital Financial Products Inc.
 
According to the Associated Press, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Carey said he would agree to the interim financing. Carey earlier granted the lender interim authority to pay "its utility bills, remaining employees and other necessary expenses until the company's assets can be sold next month" the AP reported.

The Irvine, California-based company collapsed amid rising delinquencies and defaults, a federal criminal investigation into its accounting and trading in its securities, and orders by or agreements with at least 17 U.S. states to stop lending.

New Century has said it agreed to sell its loan servicing unit to hedge fund Carrington Capital Management LLC for $139 million, and some loans to Greenwich Capital for $50 million.

Police say an unemployed suburban mother of five found a quick way to make ends meet: turning her children into panhandlers. Antoinette Jones, 37, pleaded not guilty to endangering the welfare of a child, a misdemeanor, at an arraignment Tuesday in Yonkers, a New York City suburb. A judge issued an order that bars her from her five children, and released her without bail.

It was not immediately known where the children were placed. Police said the case was referred to Child Protective Services, but agency officials declined to comment.

Police said they discovered the panhandling when Jones' 11-year-old son was reported missing at a Pathmark supermarket Monday night.

When police arrived, Jones' 18-year-old daughter told them that her mother had made them walk several miles from their home to the supermarket, where they were told to stand outside and beg for money, police said.

The boy returned to the store several hours later; police didn't know where he had gone. The 18-year-old told police her mother frequently forced the children to beg at stores, saying they often picked up $30 to $40 at a time.