Egypt’s election commission disqualified 10 presidential hopefuls, including Hosni Mubarak’s former spy chief and fundamentalist Islamists, from running Saturday in a surprise decision that left a field of moderates in the race for the country’s first post-revolutionary leader.
The elimination of the three most powerful and controversial candidates could go in two directions with just weeks to go before the vote, observers said. It could plunge the Arab world’s most populous nation into a new political crisis, or just the opposite, defuse it.
Farouk Sultan, the head of the Supreme Presidential Election Commission that was appointed by Egypt’s military rulers to oversee the vote, said that those barred from the contest included Mubarak-era strongman Omar Suleiman, Muslim Brotherhood chief strategist Khairat el-Shater and hard-line Islamist Hazem Abu Ismail. He did not give reasons.
Disqualified candidates have 48 hours to appeal the decision, according to election rules. The final list of candidates will be announced on April 26.
The announcement came as a shock to many Egyptians as three of the 10 excluded were considered among the front-runners in a highly polarized campaign that has left the nation divided behind two strong camps: Islamists and former regime insiders who are allegedly supported by the ruling generals.
Thirteen others had their candidacy approved, including former Arab League chief Amr Moussa, moderate Islamist Abdel-Moneim Abolfotoh and former prime minister and Mubarak-era minister Ahmed Shafiq, according to Sultan.
If upheld, the decision would reshape the electoral landscape by removing the most powerful and controversial candidates and leaving moderates such as Abolfotoh, an ex-Muslim Brotherhood leader who has been trying to project crossover appeal for both religious conservatives and liberals, and Moussa, who was a member of the old regime but is popular among middle class Egyptians and who is not so closely associated with it.
The presidential election is due on May 23-24, with a possible runoff on June 16-17. The winner will be announced on June 21, less than two weeks before the July 1 deadline promised by the military rulers who took over after Mubarak to hand over power.
Abu Ismail, a lawyer-turned-preacher whose eligibility had come under scrutiny in recent weeks over the question of whether his late mother had dual Egyptian-U.S. citizenship, accused the military rulers who assumed power after Mubarak’s ouster of trying to manipulate the race from behind the scenes and warned his followers would not stay silent.
“You will drown, God willing, because you are in showdown with the people, because you are playing with fire,” he said in an interview with the Islamist TV network Al-Hakma.
Abu Ismail has led the most aggressive campaign so far. On the eve of the announcement, hundreds of his supporters surrounded the election commission’s headquarters in Cairo, forcing Sultan and his employees to evacuate under the military protection.
A new election law passed after Mubarak’s ouster bars an individual from running if the candidate, the candidate’s spouse or parents hold any citizenship other than Egyptian, and the commission had ordered the Interior Ministry to provide evidence showing whether Abu Ismail’s mother was officially documented in Egypt as having dual U.S. -Egyptian citizenship.
A spokesman for el-Shater’s campaign, Murad Mohammed Ali, also called the decision “very dangerous” and said it gives a message that “there was no revolution in Egypt no checking account payday advance.”
The Muslim Brotherhood fielded the head of its political arm Mohammed Morsi as a back-up candidate last week, fearing that el-Shater would be disqualified on the grounds that his records were not entirely cleared after serving time in prison in connection with his banned political activity under Mubarak. His lawyers say the ruling generals had dropped the charges. Morsi was not disqualified.
Despite the fiery rhetoric and promises from those disqualified to appeal, some Egyptians welcomed the news.
“This is much better,” said Ahmed Khalil, a spokesman of the liberal Free Egyptians party, which was not fielding a candidate. “These three candidates were holding extremist ideologies or holding an intelligence agenda.”
The announcement was the latest twist in an already convulated political scene as the nation struggles to redefine itself and navigate a difficult transition to civilian rule.
In the last two weeks, a court suspended the work of an Islamist-dominated, 100-member panel tasked with drafting a new constitution on the grounds its makeup violated the spirit of the interim charter that governed its formation.
Islamists as well as the largely liberal and secular activists who spearheaded the protests that led to Mubarak’s ouster had hoped to have a new constitution in place before the election in order to curtail the powers of the president after nearly three decades of autocratic rule.
The Muslim Brotherhood _ which along with hard-line ultraconservative Salafis captured more than 70 percent of the parliament seats in the first post-revolutionary elections _ announced on March 31 that el-Shater would run for president.
That reversed an earlier pledge not to seek the office and came after weeks of complaints by the Brotherhood that the parliament they control is toothless and that the ruling military was preventing it from forming a government.
In what was seen as a countermove backed by the generals, Suleiman made an unexpected announcement a week later that he was entering the race for the presidential elections. Suleiman said he had decided to run to block Islamist rule and provide stability after more than a year of turmoil.
A judge close to the commission, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to disclose the information, said that Suleiman has not presented the proper number of endorsements. Each candidate needed at least 30,000 endorsements, including at least 1,000 from each of the country’s 15 provinces, to join the race.
His campaign spokesman Mohammed Mishal promised to present extra endorsements that have not been used, giving him a gateway to re-enter the race.
Another campaign spokeswoman Reem Mamdouh said in an interview with the local CBC television network that they had not been officially notified about the decisions but would definite appeal.
“Suleiman will never withdraw and let down the hopes of the large constituency of Egyptians who supported him. This is not happening,” she said.
Ayman Nour, a liberal presidential hopeful, said the commission told him he was disqualified because of his imprisonment as a dissident under Mubarak’s regime and because his name was not listed among registered voters.
He also promised to appeal, saying the decision was “politicized as the whole race is deeply politicized.”
The Times of London is being sued over email hacking, a lawyer said Friday, an indication that the scandal over media misdeeds at Rupert Murdoch’s British newspapers continues to spread.
Lawyer Mark Lewis told The Associated Press that his firm had filed suit against the 227-year-old publication over its hacking of police blogger Richard Horton’s email account.
“We did lodge papers,” Lewis confirmed in an email, adding that the suit was filed on Tuesday.
The Times unmasked Horton as the detective behind the award-winning “NightJack” blog in a controversial 2009 piece which Horton unsuccessfully sued to try to suppress.
According to an account of the lawsuit published in Britain’s New Statesman magazine, Horton’s lawyer raised the possibility that the detective’s Hotmail account had been illegal accessed _ an allegation dismissed as “baseless” in 2009 by Times lawyer Alastair Brett pay day loans.
However, in public statements and in testimony before an official inquiry into media ethics, senior Times managers admitted that one of their reporters had accessed Horton’s account.
“‘Baseless’ was not the best word to use,” Brett told the inquiry last month.
Times publisher News International did not immediately return an email or a call Friday.
UPDATED at 3:30 p.m. with federal indictment.
ST. CHARLES • A federal indictment charging the founders of an auto service contract company with various crimes was unsealed just hours after one of the brothers at the head of US Fidelis pleaded guilty to state fraud and stealing charges.
The federal indictment unsealed this afternoon charges Darain Atkinson and his brother Cory Atkinson with two counts of filing false tax returns and one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
Just three years ago, the brothers were self-made millionaires with palatial homes, fleets of exotic cars and more than 1,100 employees working at the Wentzville headquarters of the auto service contract company they founded, US Fidelis.
But prosecutors say that the Atkinsons got more than $71 million from US Fidelis and its predecessor from 2006 through 2008, and used most of the money for personal expenses, including luxury boats and vehicles and multi-million dollar homes in St. Charles County, Lake Tahoe and the Cayman islands.
They never reported the millions received in 2006 and 2007 as income, prosecutors said.
Earlier in the afternoon, Darain Atkinson pleaded guilty to insurance fraud, stealing and unlawful merchandising practices in the St. Charles County courtroom of Circuit Judge Jon Cunningham. Eleven other charges against Atkinson were dropped. Prosecutors recommended a sentence of eight years. Sentencing was set for July 16.
Darain Atkinson’s attorney, Scott Rosenblum, said that sentencing in the state case would not happen until the federal matter is resolved, and will likely result in no additional prison time.
“He’s done everything he can not only to accept his responsibility, he’s surrendered everything he’s owned to make things good,” said Rosenblum flexcheck cash advance.
In the 14 state charges originally filed against Darain Atkinson, 47, who was president of US Fidelis, and 13 counts against Cory Atkinson, 42, the company’s vice president, prosecutors allege that their company intentionally cheated consumers by:
• Keeping refunds they owed customers who canceled coverage.
• Charging fees higher than authorized in sales contracts.
• Lying during sales pitches about limitations on coverage and caps on claims paid, and falsely suggesting to consumers that US Fidelis was affiliated with automakers and dealers.
• Selling insurance without a license when it peddled so-called product warranties, a form of vehicle coverage that is conditional on the purchase and use of certain auto additives.
US Fidelis collapsed in late 2009. Last month in a proposed legal settlement filed in bankruptcy court in St. Louis, the company agreed to pay $1.45 million to 556 former company employees.
Cory Atkinson’s state case is pending and a trial is set for September.
Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster attended Darain Atkinson’s hearing. Koster said afterwards that since the Atkinson’s were indicted, his office has received fewer complaints about other vehicle service contract providers.
“I think the indictment of US Fidelis sent a shockwave through this industry,” he said.
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi comments on inflation, monetary policy and the region
The bulls weren’t bullish enough.
The stock market just had its best first quarter in 14 years. The surge has sent Wall Street analysts, some of whose forecasts seemed too sunny three months ago, scrambling to raise their estimates for the year.
“That it’s up isn’t surprising. It’s the magnitude,” says Robert Doll, the chief equity investment manager at BlackRock, the world’s biggest money manager.
Doll says stocks could rise 10 percent more before the end of the year. That would be enough to push the Dow Jones industrial average to an all-time high and the Standard & Poor’s 500 close to a record.
For the first three months of the year, the Dow was up 8 percent and the S&P 12 percent, in each case the best start since the great bull market of the 1990s. The Nasdaq composite index, made up of technology stocks, has had an even more remarkable run _ up 19 percent for the year, its best start since 1991.
“I don’t think anyone could have predicted this,” says Chip Cobb, a senior vice president at Bryn Mawr Trust Asset Management. For these gains, he says, “I thought it would take all year.”
The jump gives money managers like Cobb hope that ordinary folks burned by two deep bear markets in a decade will start buying again, propelling the indexes even higher.
In a remarkable act of self-restraint _ or foolishness, depending on your view _ they have mostly stayed out of the market. One reason they may jump in now is that fear of looming disasters, like a full-blown debt crisis in Europe or a second recession in the United States, has faded.
Bulls say investors will turn their attention to the only thing that really matters for stock prices in the long run _ corporate profits.
Another hopeful sign for gains is that those who have been buying stocks appear to be taking bigger risks than before, suggesting growing confidence.
Last year, investors put much of their money into so-called defensive stocks, such as utilities and health care companies, which make money in bad times as well as good. This year, it’s the risky fare that’s being scooped up.
Financial stocks are up 22 percent, the best among the 10 industry groups within the S&P. Technology companies are up 21 percent. Consumer discretionary stocks, like hotels and cable companies, are up 16 percent.
Utilities are down 3 percent for the quarter, the only group in the red.
Standard & Poor’s Capital IQ, a research firm, predicted at the beginning of the year that the S&P would hit 1,400 by the end of the year. By March 15, it had hit 1,403, and on Friday it was at 1,408.
“We were originally accused of being too optimistic,” says Sam Stovall, chief equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ. “It doesn’t mean we can’t have a 10 percent correction, but it’s unlikely we will.”
The Dow is less than 1,000 points away blow its all-time high of 14,164.53, set Oct. 9, 2007. The S&P is about 150 points from its record close of 1,565.15, set the same day.
The first day of the year set the tone. On Jan. 3, the Dow rose 180 points. Later that month, the Federal Reserve said it would probably keep benchmark interest rates near zero for almost three more years. That sent stocks to their highest levels since May 2011.
It was the best January for stocks since 1997. Skeptics pointed out that profits at U.S. companies, after jumping by double-digit percentages for eight quarters in a row, seemed to be growing much more slowly. They also worried that the number of shares of stock traded each day was low, which suggested a lack of conviction by buyers.
Stocks kept climbing anyway, passing two milestones in quick succession.
On Feb. 28, the Dow rose above 13,000 for the first time since May 2008, four months before the financial crisis hit that September payday loan lenders. Two weeks later, it was the Nasdaq’s turn. It crossed 3,000 for the first time since the dot-com frenzy a dozen years earlier.
Even a few duds got caught in the upswing. The stocks of Microsoft and Cisco have barely budged this century. This year, they have have risen 24 percent and 17 percent, respectively. Dell, which has languished for years, is up 13 percent.
Some of the big winners of 2012 are perhaps less surprising: Apple has risen 48 percent. Lions Gate Entertainment, the company behind the hit movies “The Hunger Games” and “Twilight,” is up 67 percent.
As if the surge weren’t enough, the markets impressed long-time stock investors with the way it climbed _ slowly and steadily, without the wild swings of bravado and panic that characterized the market much of last year.
The gap between the daily high and low for the S&P has averaged about 0.9 percentage points. It was three times that early last fall, when the market was obsessed with debt problems in Europe and at home, among other fears.
Investor attention turns next to corporate earnings announcements, which begin when aluminum maker Alcoa, one of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow, reports April 10.
Companies in the S&P 500 are making more money than ever, an impressive feat in a tepid economic recovery.
Those who are bullish on stocks note that the S&P 500 trades at 12.9 times expected earnings this year, somewhat cheap compared with its 10-year average of 14.6.
The so-called forward earnings multiple is generally higher than the long-term average during bull markets. If it rose to 16 or 18 this year, stocks would be significantly higher than they are now, even if corporate earnings failed to grow at all.
Some investors say the bulls are fooling themselves if they think big profits this year are assured. Indeed, first-quarter profits for the S&P 500 are expected to fall 0.1 percent from a year earlier, according to a survey of analysts by FactSet, a provider of financial data.
That would be the first time in more than two years that earnings will not have grown. For the full year, analysts are expecting profits will rise a healthy 9 percent, but those predictions depend on a surge of 16 percent in the last three months.
“The idea that we’re going to have a huge rebound at the end of the year is unrealistic,” says Barry Knapp, head U.S. equity strategist at Barclays Capital.
Knapp says he’s bullish on technology stocks but the rest of the market has “overshot the fundamentals.” He says he’s sticking with his target for the S&P this year: 1,330, which would be a drop of about 6 percent from Friday’s close.
Other skeptics of the surge point to the role of central banks around the world in lifting markets by printing money, lending at near-zero rates and buying bonds and other securities.
The fear is that once that support is removed, stock prices could fall, and all the talk about profits could prove beside the point.
The same day the Nasdaq broke through 3,000 earlier this month, Michael Hartnett, chief global equity strategist at Bank of America, published a report with a curious chart showing how stocks reacted to programs by the Federal Reserve to buy bonds, or big announcements about lending rates.
In every case since the market hit a 12-year low in March 2009, prices jumped on the Fed moves, then fell when the programs ended. A question above the chart asked whether it was time to move more money into stocks.
Hartnett’s answer was no. The bank expects the S&P to end the year at 1,400, almost exactly where it is now.
Mostafa Farahmand, who oversees sales at a car dealer in Tehran, hasn
Searchers on Thursday found three more bodies in the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship that capsized off the Italian coast, an official said, raising the number discovered to 28 and leaving four still missing.
Civil Protection agency chief Franco Gabrielli did not give details on the sex or ages of the victims, and it was not immediately clear where the bodies were spotted. The remaining missing are presumed dead.
The ship hit a rocky reef, took on water and turned over just outside the port of the tiny island of Giglio off Tuscany on Jan. 13. Divers and searchers have been combing the half-submerged ship, from passenger cabins to elevators to the decks where many of the 4,200 passengers and crew gathered during the delayed and frantic evacuation.
Even before the latest bodies were found, eight discovered in recent weeks were awaiting official identification. Weeks in the water badly decomposed the remains, and forensic authorities have used DNA sampling to try to identify them.
Among those listed missing or unidentified are a crew member from India and several passengers, including an elderly U.S. couple and others from Italy and Germany.
The Concordia capsized in a protected sea sanctuary, and salvage teams have been removing fuel since Feb. 12 in hopes of sparing the pristine waters from pollution. Costa Crociere SpA., the Italian cruise company, and Italian officials said fuel removal was expected to be completed by Friday evening.
Occasional bad weather and choppy seas have at times forced suspension of both the search for bodies and the fuel removal.
The operation to remove the wrecked Concordia itself could take as long as 12 months. Bids for the job are being evaluated.
The Concordia’s Italian captain is under house arrest near Naples. Capt. Francesco Schettino is under investigation for alleged manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship during the evacuation. Schettino has denied wrongdoing and claimed that the reef wasn’t marked on charts.
Investigators are probing allegations that Schettino deliberately came too close to the island as part of a publicity stunt for the cruise line. Costa Crociere officials have distanced themselves from Schettino.
Stock futures headed lower Monday as last week’s rally, bolstered by healthy job data, appeared to lose some steam.
Even the Nasdaq futures, which had been trading higher Monday, dipped after Apple Inc. announced a dividend and $10 billion share buyback program.
In premarket trading Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 21 points to 13,142 and the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures fell 2.50 points to 1,396. Nasdaq 100 futures fell 2.75 points to 2,706.25.
European markets were lower in midday trading there after Asian markets finished narrowly mixed.
Apple said Monday it would pay a quarterly dividend of $2.65 per share and that its board had authorized a three-year share buyback program that will begin later this year.
Apple is sitting on $97.6 billion in cash and securities. For years, it has resisted calls to reward shareholders with some of that money. Since the death of CEO Steve Jobs, management had signaled that it’s been considering options for the money.
Shares broke $600 in early premarket trading, but gave up some ground after the announcement. Shares rose $3.94 to $589.51 30 minutes ahead of the opening guaranteed cash advance.
There is also some macroeconomic data that investors will be watching Monday. The National Association of Home Builders is scheduled to release its March housing market index, which measures homebuilder confidence.
In February, the index rose to 29, the highest level since May 2007. The index has been rising since September as builders are more hopeful about the potential for sales this year. Still, readings below 50 indicate negative sentiment about the new-home market. The index hasn’t hit that level since 2006, during the housing boom.
In Europe, the CAC-40 in France fell 0.7 percent to 3,568, while Germany’s DAX was down the same rate to 7,109. The FTSE index of leading British shares pulled back 0.4 percent to 5,940.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 1 percent to 21,115.29. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia fell.
Other Asian indexes finished slightly up. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 closed 0.1 percent higher at 10,141.99.
ST. LOUIS • A federal grand jury has indicted a former high ranking executive of a St. Louis area medical practice on charges that he embezzled millions of dollars and also broke the nation’s “stolen valor” law by posing as a war hero.
Dunard Morris, 48, the former chief executive of Chesterfield-based Metropolitan Urological Specialists PC, was indicted late Wednesday on multiple counts of mail fraud and wire fraud as well as violations of a federal statute that makes it a crime to falsely represent oneself as having received a U.S. military decoration or medal.
The indictment, which was made public this morning, says Morris “embezzled millions of dollars and concealed the embezzlement through a series of lies, misrepresentations and deceits to the doctor-shareholders” of the business, according to a statement from the U.S. attorney’s office.
Morris increased his salary without authorization and got the company “to pay him hundreds of thousands of dollars in unauthorized, undisclosed bonuses and reimbursements,” the indictment says. He used the money for expensive jewelry, cars, guns, designer clothes, wine and travel, according to federal authorities.
Morris told doctors he was a decorated Marine veteran and winner of the Navy Cross medal for extraordinary heroism, the indictment says. He didn’t receive that honor, and was in reality discharged from the military for misconduct “under other than honorable conditions,” according to the indictment.
The indictment caps an investigation by federal authorities into potentially millions of missing dollars from the lucrative urology firm.
Morris was terminated by Metropolitan’s board of directors in mid-September after suspicions arose about his management practices, including the delayed payment of federal and state taxes, and the possibility that some funds may have been diverted from bank loans to the medical practice.
In recent years, Metropolitan and its property affiliate have obtained bank loans and lines of credit totaling more than $10 million. The firm’s board of directors approved various projects, including the construction of a new medical office building on Big Bend Boulevard in Crestwood, the purchase of a linear accelerator for radiation treatments and the build-out and remodeling of other facilities.
According to his professional resume, Morris served in the Marines from 1980 to 1984, and also from 1990 to 1992. He lists his rank as E-5 (a non-commissioned officer’s pay grade), and claims to have served in the 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion of the 3rd Marine Division, and the Detached Marine Expeditionary Unit Fleet Marine Force.
The Stolen Valor Act of 2005, signed by former President George W. Bush, broadened the provisions of a previous federal statute that prohibits the unauthorized sale, manufacture or wear of military decorations. If convicted on this count alone, Morris could face imprisonment for up to one year and a fine up to $100,000, according to federal authorities.
The mail and wire fraud charges carry up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 if Morris is convicted.
Morris worked for Metropolitan and one of its predecessor companies in the St. Louis area for the last decade. Metropolitan, which has about a dozen physicians on its staff, operates a sexual health clinic and offers surgical services as well as radiation treatments for prostate cancer. The firm has an imaging center, a laboratory and doctors’ offices in Creve Coeur, Florissant and Chesterfield, including offices on the campuses of Mercy Hospital St. Louis and St. Luke’s Hospital.
In 2010 and 2011, the company had cash flow problems, including the buildup of about $1.3 million in delinquent federal, state and local taxes, interest and fees, St. Louis County records show.
On Sept. 16, 2011, the Internal Revenue Service filed an $855,291 tax lien on all property belonging to medical practice as well as all of its property rights, federal records show, because the firm fell behind on its quarterly payments of money withheld from its employee’s paychecks.
Also in 2011, the Missouri Department of Revenue placed three tax liens on the firm totaling $154,103 involving overdue withholding taxes, state records show. And the company’s property affiliate — Metropolitan Urological Properties LLC — owed more than $338,000 in delinquent property taxes, interest and penalties to state and local tax authorities on two of its parcels in St. Louis County.
But in recent months, the medical firm and its property affiliate have paid their tax obligations.
The medical practice also maintains that Morris subleased a $5,475-a-month luxury apartment using company funds without approval of the firm’s board of directors. According to the rental agreement, Morris leased the apartment at the Mansions on the Plaza complex at 8300 Delmar Boulevard in March 2011.
Metropolitan’s new interim chief executive, Bob Lawson, and several of Metropolitan’s doctors have not returned calls seeking comment.
The medical firm’s attorney, Mayer Klein of St. Louis, said the firm is current on all of its bank loan obligations and that the new management is making sure that the firm’s bills are being paid on time.
Robert Patrick of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
A senior British lawmaker says police mishandled their first investigation of phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World tabloid.
Simon Hughes told the country’s government-commissioned media ethics inquiry Tuesday that if police had taken “robust action” in 2006 when they knew the scale of phone hacking, several victims “might not have suffered as much.”
Hughes, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat party _ the junior member of Britain’s coalition government, received a 45,000 pound ($71,300) settlement from News of the World’s owner News International earlier this month.
He is among dozens of victims who have received damages over allegations the now defunct tabloid routinely intercepted voice mails of those in the public eye.
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