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The much-anticipated stress-test results unleashed a scramble by the weakest banks to find money and a push by the strongest ones to escape the government shadow of taxpayer-funded rescues.

The Federal Reserve’s worst-case estimates of banks’ total losses and capital shortfalls were smaller than some had feared. Optimists interpreted the Fed’s findings as evidence that the worst is over for the industry. But questions remain about the stress tests’ rigor, in part since the Fed scaled back some projected losses in the face of pressure from banks.

The government’s tests measured potential losses on mortgages, commercial loans, securities and other assets held by the stress-tested banks, ranging from giants Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. to regional institutions such as SunTrust Banks Inc. and Fifth Third Bancorp. The government’s “more adverse” scenario includes two-year cumulative losses of 9.1% on total loans, worse than the peak losses of the 1930s.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Thursday that he is “reasonably confident” that banks will be able to plug the capital holes through private infusions, alleviating the need for Washington to further enmesh itself in the banking system.

Ships dropped 53.5 million metric tons of iron ore last month at major ports, the Ministry of Transport said on its Web site. That beats the March record of 51 million tons.

Stockpiles at the nation’s major ports reached 62 million tons last month, the statement said.

The information about defence contractor Lockheed Martin included a document detailing test launch procedures, blueprints of facilities and photos and personal daat about employees – including their social security numbers.

Access to such data could allow identity theft or industrial espionage against Lockheed Martin, which is working on the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system – a project begun under president Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” Strategic Defence Initiative in the 1980s.

The computer, which has been turned over to the FBI, was bought online as part of a global research project conducted by three universities – Longwood University in the US, Glamorgan University in the UK and Edith Cowan University in Australia – along with BT and Sims Recycling Solutions.

The annual hard drive survey, now in its fourth year, is designed to bring to public attention the risk to personal data posed by carelessly discarded computer equipment which often contains huge amounts of personal and commercial data. The universities involved in the study use techniques and tools that are readily available from the internet and can be used by someone with a basic knowledge of technology to recover the data left on the drives, often this is not necessary as many are not even wiped.

If enacted, the multibillion-dollar effort would represent the first time that top federal health officials have asked Americans to get more than one flu vaccine in a year, raising serious challenges concerning production, distribution and the ability to track potentially severe side effects.

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Memories of the nation’s earlier experience with a swine flu vaccine present another challenge. In 1976, hundreds of Americans developed neurological disorders after they were vaccinated for a swine flu strain. The public was asked to receive one of two vaccines developed to combat the strain.

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The greater challenge will be tracking any adverse reactions as millions of Americans get multiple vaccinations in a matter of months this fall and winter.

The document details the Australian government’s plans to acquire and expand a full spectrum – air, sea and land – arsenal of advanced weaponry in the nation’s largest arms buildup since World War II.

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The mainstays for the evolving Asian NATO…are Australia and Japan with India eyed as the third leg of the stool.

Stop and search is one of the most draconian powers employed by police in the war on terror and a constable’s right to use it will be severely curtailed under plans unveiled today. In a document seen by the Guardian, senior officers admit that the hundreds of thousands of stops carried out under the power had damaged community relations and reversed “fundamental” principles of civil rights.

Critics say that section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which allows stops without suspicion, has alienated British Muslims without producing little or no benefit.

Usually an officer requires “reasonable suspicion” of wrongdoing to stop someone, but officers have been able to use the power across London since the July 7 terrorist attacks.

Under the new plans, Scotland Yard will effectively remove an officers’ power to stop people without reason, although they will keep the power for special circumstances when authorised by senior officers.

Lord Carlile, independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, told the Guardian: “Section 44 is over-used, there is no question of it, and that is causing alienation to some communities.”

The changes, which will become public today, are outlined in a document from Scotland Yard’s counter-terrorism chief, Assistant Commissioner John Yates, to the force’s watchdog, the Metropolitan Police Authority.

In the document, Yates admits the power has damaged community ties and reversed the “fundamental principle” that people should only be stopped when there is reasonable grounds of suspicion.

Eleanor Squillari, Madoff’s secretary of more than 20 years, told The Associated Press she thinks her former boss carefully orchestrated his arrest and that he’s protecting others who might have been involved in his multibillion-dollar scheme by not cooperating with investigators. She declined to speculate as to whom he might be protecting.

Squillari said that if she had a chance to speak to Madoff, she would ask him “to do the right thing and to let us know this happened.”

“We confirm that in the military operation the other night more than 100 non-combatants have been killed,” Farah province police chief Abdul Ghafar Watandar told AFP, referring to strikes early Tuesday.

“This information is based on the reports given to us by a delegation composed of ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) members and locals who went to the villages to investigate reports of civilian casualties.”

Bodies were still being pulled from the rubble, he said.

The planned 16-unit tract on the fringes of a suburb about 65 miles northeast of Los Angeles included four finished homes with granite countertops, whirlpool bathtubs and dual-pane windows.

“The current economic environment requires difficult decisions be made by the government, by banks and by individuals,” said John Wessman, a spokesman for Guaranty Bank of Austin, Texas. “We made the difficult decision to return the site to a safe, clean and undeveloped state keeping in mind the best interests of the community and our shareholders.”

Crews began tearing down the structures in late April and completed their work Tuesday.

Building permits had been issued for the development in September 2007, Victorville city spokeswoman Yvonne Hester told the Los Angeles Times.

At the time, the median price for a home in San Bernardino County, where Victorville is located, was $325,000, according to San Diego-based tracking firm MDA DataQuick.

In March, the most recent month for which data is available, the median price for the county was $160,000, DataQuick said.

The bank repossessed the development in December, months after work halted, Wessman said. Demolition permits for the project, which had started attracting vandals and squatters, had been granted in early April.

Besides the four completed homes, a dozen had been left in various stages of construction, but had not yet been closed up with drywall, Wessman said.

The homes were among a parcel of over 300 plots, the remainder of which remained unbuilt upon, he said.