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Private attorneys hired by San Diego's pension system determined that the pension board violated the trust of current and future retirees by allowing the City Council to continue delaying full payment of money it owed the fund. The attorneys, in a March 5, 2003, legal opinion made public yesterday, said pension board members placed their needs above those of the retirement fund and its beneficiaries when they agreed to a 2002 city proposal to underfund the pension system by temporarily reducing the annual payment into it. The arrangement, which also cleared the way for the city to increase employee pension...

US airmen told to stay away from capital By David Sapsted (Filed: 12/07/2005) All 12,000 American airmen based in Britain have been banned from going near London because of the bombings. The directive, issued on Friday, indefinitely bans USAF personnel, most of them based at the huge airfields at Lakenheath and Mildenhall in Suffolk, from going inside the M25. Families of the servicemen and women are being "highly encouraged" to stay away, too. While Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, was boarding an Underground train yesterday and declaring that "we don't let a small group of terrorists change the way...

Four detectives allegedly stole $100,000 worth of marijuana during a drug raid at St Kilda Marina then conspired to sell it, a jury was told yesterday. The County Court heard that the four men, from St Kilda police station, intercepted the drugs after a tip-off. Crown prosecutor Colin Hillman, SC, told the court that a drug dealer, Daniel May, had allegedly arranged to deliver the cannabis, from South Australia, to an associate at the marina in May 1999. Mr Hillman said the cannabis was wrapped in vacuum packs and moved from Mr May's Patterson Lakes home to the marina using...

Republicans vow retaliation in ethics feud Democrats are told to expect rash of inquiries into actions By KAREN MacPHERSON BLADE WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON - Angry House Republicans yesterday warned their Democratic colleagues to expect a spate of inquiries into possible ethics violations in retaliation for forcing GOP leaders to jettison controversial new rules for ethics probes. The Republican admonitions came a day after House GOP leaders, under intense pressure from Democrats, made a rare policy reversal and grudgingly scrapped ethics rules they had pushed through the House only a few months ago. Republicans contended the rules made the ethics process...

Informer told police of Spanish bomb plot By Isambard Wilkinson in Madrid (Filed: 25/04/2005) A political row over the al-Qa'eda train bombings in Madrid was rekindled yesterday after it emerged that a police informer had issued a warning three months before that Islamist terrorists were plotting the massacre. The Socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, which came to power three days after the attacks, accused its centre-Right predecessor of "lies" and a "monumental lack of foresight" after the information emerged when security services documents were made public by the judge in charge of the case, Juan del Olmo. The...

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WASHINGTON (Nov. 15) - Two television advertisements for Pfizer Inc.'s impotence drug Viagra should be withdrawn for claiming a return of sexual desire and omitting key information, the Food and Drug Administration said in a letter to the company released on Monday. The ads, with a voice-over that includes "Remember that guy who used to be called 'wild thing'?" and later says "He's back," failed to mention major side effects and why certain patients should not take Viagra, the FDA said. The FDA's letter, dated Nov. 10, also said the 30- and 15-second ads omit to mention that Viagra is...

SAN FRANCISCO - Top deputies to Secretary of State Kevin Shelley were informed that consultants hired to do nonpartisan voter education work were attending Democratic events on his behalf and attempting to boost his public image, according to documents obtained by a newspaper. Memos titled "Week-Ahead Reports" show that top officials in Shelley's office were routinely informed of the contractors' upcoming schedules and plans, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. A "Democratic Club" luncheon and efforts to "get exposure for KS (Kevin Shelley) in Southern California" were among activities mentioned in the memos. The newspaper's report is the latest revelation in...