FDIC-insured banks safe, FDIC says

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. consumers' money in an insured bank is safe as long as its within the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage limits, the FDIC head said Thursday.

"If you stay within our coverage limits, your money is absolutely safe," FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair said on CBS' "Early Show. "(That) guarantee has been good for 75 years and will continue to be so. Nobody has ever lost a penny of FDIC-insured deposits."

Even with Lehman Brothers declaring bankruptcy and the federal government stepping in to financially assist other troubled entities, Bair pointed out that "a lot of this turmoil is occurring outside of the banking sector, outside of insured depository institutions."

The basic FDIC insurance amount is $100,000 per depositor per insured bank.

Investment banks and insurance companies are different from FDIC-insured banks, she said.

"So, actually, for the most part, the FDIC-insured banks have weathered the storm pretty well so far," she said.

That doesn't mean the financial community isn't facing challenges, she said.

"But as at the end of the second quarter, 98 percent of all insured institutions were well capitalized, representing 99 percent of all banking assets," Bair said. "So, so far, banks, insured banks, are weathering the situation pretty well."

Bush expresses confidence in SEC chair

WASHINGTON, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- The White House said Thursday U.S. President George Bush has full confidence in Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Chris Cox.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said in an e-mail the president remains confident in Cox's leadership after Republican presidential candidate John McCain said he'd fire the SEC chairman because he "betrayed the people's trust," The Hill reported. McCain did not mention Cox by name in his remarks about the financial markets crisis during a stopover in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Senate Democratic leaders criticized McCain for the remark. Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Charles Schumer of New York and Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois said McCain's remarks were no more than an effort to distract voters from McCain's support of deregulation.

"Three of us served with Cox in the House," Reid said. "This is McCain-style politics: Go after the first person you can to divert attention from your failures."

Cox represented California in the House from 1989 to 2005. He was confirmed unanimously by the Senate when Bush appointed him SEC chief in 2005.

U.S. student killed in embassy attack

SANAA, Yemen, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. citizen Susan El-Baneh and her husband were among the victims of a terrorist attack Wednesday on the U.S. Embassy in Yemen, her family said.

El-Baneh, a Lackawanna, N.Y., native and high school senior, went to Yemen a month ago for an arranged marriage. She was the only American killed in the attack, CNN reported Thursday.

She and her husband were in the waiting area of the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa to find out about the procedure to bring her spouse back to the United States.

CNN reported that local officials said al-Qaida-linked insurgents disguised as Yemeni forces bombed the outer wall of the U.S. Embassy, and snipers opened fire on first responders heading to the blast site.

Susan El-Baneh had traveled to Yemen with her younger brother and mother.

"She was so excited, so happy to be getting married," her brother, Ahmed El-Baneh, said. "She was going to go there and try and bring her new husband back to the United States after paperwork was done and then complete her last year of high school."

Elizabeth Edwards breaks silence on affair

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Elizabeth Edwards says she is finding her feet again after her husband, former U.S. presidential hopeful John Edwards, admitted having an affair.

"There's a lot of adjustment to make," Edwards, 59, told the Detroit Free Press, breaking her near-silence in the nearly six weeks since news of her husband's affair became public.

"When you mention trust, that's probably the most difficult hurdle," she said.

John Edwards, a former North Carolina senator and Democratic vice presidential candidate in 2004, told ABC News Aug. 8 he had repeatedly lied to the public about having an affair with novice filmmaker Rielle Hunter, hired to make videos for the pre-launch phase of Edwards' 2008 presidential run.

When asked if she forgave her husband, Edwards said, "I don't want to feed the monster, if you don't mind."

She said she wants her three children -- Cate, 26, Emma Claire, 10, and Jack, 8 -- to have an image of their father as "an advocate for poverty, not for this current picture of him."

She also told the Free Press she was preparing for the possibility she might die before all her children were grown and was teaching them "to function without an involved, engaged and admiring parent."

Edwards -- who continues to undergo chemotherapy for her Stage 4 breast cancer, which has spread to her bones -- said she finds comfort in Leonard Cohen's song "Anthem."

Reciting the lyrics, Edwards said: "Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in."

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
All Rights Reserved.