House panel rejects immunity for telecoms in domestic spying; China's richest person is 26-year-old heiress, worth $16 billion...

10 October :: US House panel rejects White-House-proposed corporate immunity amendment to eavesdropping legislation; amendment would have retroactively shielded telecoms from penalties for illegally cooperating in the secret NSA domestic spying operation from 2001 through this summer; Pres. Bush warned blocking the retroactive amendment would "take us backward", while Democratic leaders said they were driven to protect "our precious rights and liberties" against impunity in violating Constitutional protections... 9 Republican contenders of US presidency answered questions in debate, giving positions on possible war with Iran, economic relations, ideological differences with "Communist China"; 8 of the 9 candidates said they believed a Dubai company should be allowed to buy a 20% stake in NASDAQ; each of the polling 'frontrunners' said they would consult Congress before any military action against Iran... Richest person in China is 26-year-old heiress to developer's fortune, her fortune now worth $16 billion, after company's Hong Kong IPO; in 2005, "rags-to-riches" father gave her his stake in the company he founded; Yang Huiyan is one of 40 dollar-billionaires in China, compared with just 15 one year ago; rapidly widening gap between super-rich and abject poor said to be of concern to authorities in Beijing, who consider it a threat to "social stability"... Federal judge blocks administration crackdown on undocumented workers; ACLU, AFL-CIO brought suit alleging the "no-match" program that cross-referenced documents with a gov't database was rife with errors, violated civil liberties of legal workers; Judge Charles Breyer wrote in his opinion "The balance of hardships tips sharply in plaintiffs' favor and plaintiffs have raised serious questions", while a spokeswoman for the AFL-CIO said the program was "targeting workers rights generally"... Global carbon footprint passes 25 billion tons, as news of record ice-melt in Arctic, "autumnless autumn" in parts of US, suggest climate irregularities accelerating...