| Bush invites Democrats for a meeting, not a negotiation, on war ...
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush offered to talk with Democrats about the standoff over war funding, but he made it clear Tuesday he will not embrace any timetable for a U.S. troop withdrawal. Democrats said there was no point in talking if Bush refused to negotiate.''We can discuss the way forward on a bill that is a clean bill - a bill that funds our troops without artificial timetables for withdrawal, and without handcuffing our generals on the ground,'' Bush said in a speech to an American Legion audience in nearby Fairfax, Va.On the one hand, Bush extended an offer to meet with lawmakers Tuesday. On the other, the White House bluntly said it would not be a negotiating session. .
Judge names mediator for MUW, alumni dispute
COLUMBUS, Miss. A mediator has been named to help resolve the dispute between the Mississippi University for Women's president and the school's alumni association. Former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice James L- Roberts Junior has been apppointed to mediate the dispute. The alumni group has asked a judge to stop M-U-W president Claudia Limbert from installing a new alumni association. Yesterday (Wednesday), Lowndes County Chancery Judge Dorothy Colom ordered both sides to meet with Roberts, an attorney who now serves as a municipal judge in Pontotoc, on April 11th. Colom's action follows her decision Monday to continue the National Executive Board of M-U-W-A-A's complaint against Limbert until April 12th, giving the plaintiffs until Friday to amend their complaint and the defendant until April 10th to respond.
Rialto teachers, school district to enter last stage before strike ...
The Rialto Unified School District and its teachers union are expected to move into the final phase of negotiations before educators could call a strike. A state mediator told bargaining representatives on Monday that he would certify negotiating parties to fact finding, during which a union, district and neutral representative would meet to recommend a solution, said Bill Hedrick, president of the educators union. Rialto Unified's offer before mediation was a 4.5 percent total compensation increase, including a 3.5 percent pay raise. In mediation, the district upped its offer to a 5.8 percent package that included a 4.3 percent pay raise, said Joseph Davis, the district's deputy superintendent for business. Hedrick said the upgrade was not enough. Teachers want a deal comparable to those in surrounding districts where educators are getting pay raises of at least 5 percent, he said.
PwC wins tender to audit Gazprom
MOSCOW, April 9 (RIA Novosti) - The Moscow branch of U.K.-based PricewaterhouseCoopers has won a tender to audit Russian natural gas monopoly Gazprom, the energy giant said Monday. The company, currently in the focus of Russian tax authorities, has audited Gazprom since 1995. Gazprom said the audit contract would be clinched after approval by the annual shareholders' meeting scheduled for June 29. On March 20, the Moscow Arbitration Court annulled a contract between bankrupt oil company Yukos and PwC, its auditor in 2002-2004, which has been accused of covering up the company's tax shelter schemes and drawing up two different audit reports over three years. The court also ordered PwC to pay the state $480,000. PwC said it would appeal against a court ruling invalidating the audit contract, which it said was unsubstantiated and based on a fundamentally different understanding of an auditor's role and functions.
Pointe Claire mediation program expands territory
BY IAN HOWARTH When the Pointe Claire Volunteer Mediation project opened for business last fall, they could not have anticipated the number of calls they would get from outside their target area. Originally intended as a service to mediate neighbourhood disputes in Pointe Claire, the YMCA-sponsored project has opened up its territory to include all West Island communities. “We were getting calls from all over the Montreal area," said volunteer mediator Jennifer Crane, one of eight Pointe Claire residents who have been with the program since the beginning. As a result of increased demand, the project has trained more volunteers . “We've seen from the calls we've received for this service that there's definitely a need for this type of intervention on the West Island," Crane added. They say that good fences make good neighbours, but sometimes those fences makes for good arguments, too.
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