u.s. justice department is charging. we go for more on the story. >> a green light from standard and poor's was once thought to be a mark of confidence, but that was before the company was caught out, giving glowing ratings to investments that bottomed out. u.s. authorities say s&p ignored the risks and misled investors. during the real-estate boom in the united states, banks were happy to sell mortgages to people who actually could barely afford them. that debt was bundled into bonds with other investments, and s&p gave them safe ratings in the financial markets. that is why investors snapped them up, particularly pension funds and other large investors like insurance companies. when the real estate bubble burst in 2007, the banks were sitting on mountains of bad debt. taxpayers ultimately had to bail out the banks to save them from collapse. u.s. authorities charge that s&p purposely downplayed the risks in favor of the interests of large investment banks. shares in standard and poor's owner mcgraw-hill dropped by 14%

u.s. justice department will file suit against s. and p. for its role in the crisis as imperious spotted by saying the d.o.j. lawsuit would be quote entirely without factual or legal merit you might remember it was s. and p. that downgraded the united states' credit re. again after the demo debt limit fiasco back in two thousand and eleven so this might be less about actually hold the wall street suits accountable and more about revenge for embarrassing our nation. or did president obama get the message of the last election which is that the american people are sick of the crimes on wall street and actually want to see some three suits thrown in prison let's ask richard as he joins me now from los angeles for us richard welcome. good to be here as always first of all richard the theory that this might be payback to s. and p. seems to me a little. inconsistent with reality in that when s. and p. downgraded our our financial ratings they specifically blamed the republicans in congress so why would the obama white house want to go after them a

u.s. department of justice as we know has filed a civil suit against senator poor the rating agency saying that they fraudulent we raided these collateralized debt obligations of the subprime mortgage packages and the u.s. justice department made some peculiar allegations in this lawsuit this week against s. and p. and its parent mcgraw hill according to the government citi group was defrauded by s. and p. credit ratings on subprime mortgage bonds that citi group itself created and sold bank of america to allegedly was defrauded by s. and p. in the same way if you look at a mafia movie the witnesses get whacked so the rating agencies were paid to give bogus ratings this was a story six months ago moody's s. and p. fitch all took money under the table in bribes to give faulty or dishonest ratings they rated toxic securities that were in the paper they were printed on aaa rating they were worthless they're all witness to the fraud so now citibank is going to try to whack him moody's which is as it is a big position moody's by warren buffett so he may have to let one of us captains moody's ge

u.s. justice department wants to stop a $20-billion merger between anheuser busch in-bev and grupo modelo sab. the merge would make prices pop and the u.s. beer market less competitive, according to the department of justice. ab in-bev already owns a 50% stake in modelo, which makes corona extra, modelo especial and pacifico. the maker of budweiser products plans to fight the doj's decision, but says the deal is off for now. constellation brands also had a side deal as part of the takeover. we'll have more on that stock later in chart talk. japan's largest airline is doing the math on its dreamliner losses. japanese airline all nippon airways, or ana, says it has taken a $15-million revenue loss following the grounding of 787s. 459 of ana's flights were cancelled as investigators look for clues into what sparked fire and smoke onboard dreamliners. ana plans to seek damages from boeing, but says it doesn't expect the problems to last long. analysts say it could be the richest ipo since facebook: pfizer is spinning off its animal health unit zoetis. zoetis sold 86.1 million shares priced in

u.s. justice department suggest the u.s. government can kill people even without evidence that they are actively plotting against america if you extend the logic or studio logic being proud by the white house now you come. lift you might say that we're in danger of going over we're getting very close to a thought crimes that if somebody a u.s. citizen or otherwise is believed to be thinking something that could lead to actions against the united states then this illogical logic would present the idea that it would be ok for the president joe order that that person be killed despite the u.n. raising concerns about the legality of the use of drones the u.s. is said to expand its remote control warfare setting up new drone bases across the world the latest announcement a new facility in asia where obama has redefined war there an intervention in libya he made the case that the war powers act in a private because there is no risk to american soldiers and so under that rationale he can expand the global war while in his state of

u.s. department of justice as we know has filed a civil suit against senator port the rating agency saying that they fraudulent we raided these collateralized debt obligations of the subprime mortgage packages and the u.s. justice department made some peculiar allegations in this lawsuit this week against s. and p. and its parent mcgraw hill according to the government citi group was defrauded by s. and p. credit ratings on subprime mortgage bonds that citi group itself created and sold bank of america to allegedly was defrauded by s. and p. in the same way if you look at a mafia movie the witnesses get whacked so the rating agencies were paid to give bogus ratings this was a story six months ago moody's s. and p. fitch all took money under the table in bribes to give faulty or dishonest ratings they rated toxic securities that were in the paper they were printed on aaa rating they were worthless they're all witness to the fraud so now citibank is going to try to whack him moody's which is as it is a big position moody's by warren buffett so he may have to let one of us captains moody's ge

u.s. department of justice as we know has filed a civil suit against standard port the rating agency saying that they fraudulent we raided these collateralized debt obligations of the subprime mortgage packages and the u.s. justice department made some peculiar allegations in this lawsuit this week against s. and p. and its parent mcgraw hill according to the government citi group was defrauded by s. and p. credit ratings on subprime mortgage bonds that citi group itself created and sold bank of america to allegedly was defrauded by s. and p. in the same way if you look at a mafia movie the witnesses get whacked so the rating agencies were paid to give bogus ratings this was a story six months ago moody's s. and p. fitch all took money under the table in bribes to give faulty or dishonest ratings they rated toxic securities that were in the paper they were printed on aaa rating they were worthless they're all witness to the fraud so now citibank is going to try to wakeham moody's which is as it is a big position moody's by warren buffett so he may have to a let one of his captains moody's g

u.s. department of justice and a little bit to the f.s.a. here but here's a headline regarding this max maybe miss to blame for libel or fixing i've never seen this but i'm pretty sure i know what you're going to say that their mates on the phone and they're just swapping gossip and they happen to slip into their gossip oh would you mind reading the life is that what's going to be the story's going to be close so following this fine stephen hester the c.e.o. of r.b.s. the taxpayer owned or. yes was asked is there a risk of a cartel between investment banks to deliberately fix the library has to reckons that the problem is that more a junior level there was a meeting in a city bar is kind of thing going back to the big bang so he's saying in the beginning there was nothing and then maggie said let there be fraud yes in the beginning there was stephen hester and on the day he committed massive fraud in the library scandal and he's blaming his mates he's blaming oh it's meeting this well i'd like to see him use that defense well you know it in

u.s. justice department announced this afternoon that it will join a civil lawsuit that claims armstrong defrauded the federal government. here's bob orr. >> reporter: the lawsuit as lance armstrong broke his sponsorship contract with the u.s. postal service by using performance-enhancing drugs while winning multiple tour de france titles. the postal service paid at least $31 million to sponsor armstrong's cycling team and now the justice department wants that money back and could seek total damages approaching $100 million. the lawsuit, first filed by armstrong's former teammate floyd landis in 2010, claims the team knowingly caused the united states postal service agreements to be violated by regularly employing banned substances and methods to enhance their performance. that charge brought strong denials from armstrong at the time. >> he's got no proof. it's his word versus ours. >> reporter: but in 2011, another teammate, tyler hamilon, told "60 minutes" armstrong did used banned substances, including the blood doping agent e.p.o. >> he took what we call all took. really no difference between

u.s. department of justice as we know has filed a civil suit against senator port the rating agency saying that they fraud gently raided these collateralized debt obligations of the subprime mortgage packages and the u.s. justice department made some peculiar allegations in this lawsuit this week against s. and p. and its parent mcgraw hill according to the government citi group was defrauded by s. and p. credit ratings on subprime mortgage bonds that citi group itself created and sold bank of america to allegedly was defrauded by s. and p. in the same way if you look at a mafia movie the witnesses get whacked so the rating agencies were paid to give bogus ratings this was a story six months ago moody's s. and p. fitch all took money under the table in bribes to give faulty or dishonest ratings they rated toxic securities that were in the paper they were printed on aaa rating they were worthless they're all witness to the fraud so now citibank is going to try to whack him moody's which is as it is a big position moody's by warren buffett so he may have to a let one of us captains moody's g

u.s. department of justice and a little bit to the f.s.a. here but here's the headline regarding this max maybe miss to blame for libel or fixing i've never seen this but i'm pretty sure i know what you're going to say that their mates on the phone and they're just swapping gossip and they happen to slip into their gossip oh would you mind reading the life is i was going to bring this up the story's going to be close so following this fine stephen hester the c.e.o. of r.b.s. the taxpayer owned r.b.s. was asked is there a risk of a cartel between investment banks to deliberately fix the library has to reconcile the problem is that more a junior level there was a meeting is a city bars kind of thing going back to the big bang so he's saying in the beginning there was nothing and then maggie said let there be fraud yes in the beginning there was stephen hester and on the day he committed massive fraud and a lot more scandal and he's blaming his makes he's blaming oh it's mating this well i'd like to see him used that defense you know it in a si

u.s. justice department warned letters to landlords warning of a crackdown. since then, eight clubs have been closed. we're live in san francisco, i'm tara moriarty, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thank you, tara. >>> today, the battle over marijuana marijuana will take a -- over medical marijuana will take a different turn. they are expected to introduce legislation to make this a state issue, not a federal issue. supporters say recent state ballot measures to legalize pot prove it is time to end the 75- year old prohibition. >> school officials in alabama are planning a big birthday celebration for a little boy rescued from an underground bunker. authorities stormed the urge abouter and the boy was -- the bunker and the boy was rescued. the big celebration will also honor that bus driver who protected almost two dozen other children from the gunman. >> we want to celebrate the life of charles poland, a true hero. he will forever be remembered as a true hero and when all of the information is released, the nation and the world will see what kind of man charles pola

u.s. justice department. it has joined a lawsuit against the distaste cyclist. it says the use of banned substances violated the terms of sponsorship with the u.s. postal service. oscar pistorius and released on bail. the south african sports star walked out of court a free man on friday after the bail hearing. he faces a major trouble start in june. he is charged with murdering his girlfriend in a case that has shocked some of africa. >> oscar pistorius must have been braced for the worst as he entered the packed courtroom. the magistrate in charge of the hearing said he had doubts about the athlete's version of events. in the end, oscar pistorius got the ruling he wanted. >> i have come to the conclusion -- the kitchen has -- the accused has made a case to released on bail. >> family members and supporters applauded the decision. >> we are relieved that oscar got bail today. at the same time, we are in mourning for her with her family. as a family, we know oscar's version of what happened on that tragic night. >> the prosecution said oscar pistorius is a flight

u.s. justice department suggest the u.s. government can kill people even without evidence that they're actively plotting against america if you extend the logic or studio logic being proud by the white house now you come. live a few might say that we're in danger of going over we're getting very close to zero thought crimes that if somebody a u.s. citizen or otherwise is believed to be thinking something that could lead to actions against the united states then this illogical logic would present the idea that it would be ok for the president to order that that person be killed despite the u.n. raising concerns about the legality of the use of drones the u.s. is said to expand its remote control warfare setting up new drone bases across the world the latest announcement a new facility in asia where obama has redefined war there an intervention in libya he made the case that the war powers act in a pride because there is no risk to american soldiers and so under that rationale he can expand the global war while in his state of

u.s. justice department officials have demanded $5 billion in damages from standard & poor.hey say the credit rating agency caused losses to investors by giving high scores to mortgage-backed securities. department officials said they filed the civil lawsuit against the credit rating agency. they claim the s&p knew the housing market was at risk in 2007. they say they inflated their ratings of loans and other financial products to avoid losing clients. >> s&p misled investors, including ma federally insured financial institutions, causing them to lose billions of dollars. this alleged conduct is egregious. and it goes to the very heart of the recent financial crisis. >> the officials said investors trusted s&p ratings and suffered losses of at least $5 billion and they want that money back. this is the first time officials at the justice department have sued a credit rating agency in relation to the u.s. financial crisis. well, let's get a check on the markets now. first looking at currencies. the yen is sharply lower against other major currencies. that's because market pla

u.s. justice department and the ncaa and it's made national headlines. some calling it trial by twitter because bloggers are feverishly tweeting play by play updates about every word and mooumt in the courtroom. but it's a jury that will ultimately decide as early as friday. for "nightline," i'm lindsay davis in new york. >>> just ahead, from "survivor" to "shark tank" to the bible? the king of reality shows tells me about his surprising new project, taking on the good book. more than two years ago, the people of bp made a commitment to the gulf. and every day since, we've worked hard to keep it. today, the beaches and gulf are open for everyone to enjoy. we've shared what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. bp's also committed to america. we support nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. ♪ i've been using crest pro-health for a week. my dentist said it was gonna help transform my mouth. [ male annou

u.s. justice department will want to bet the deal. when united merged with continental in 2010, the group had to sell some airport slots. american and u.s. airways may have to make similar concessions for this match to go ahead. bbc news, new york. >> it should have been the turning of a lifetime. instead 4000 cruise ship passengers and crew have been living a nightmare. the carnival cruise line has been without power for days. conditions are being described as something akin to scenes from "lord of the flies." of riffe time ago, steve kingston jointly with the very latest. i started by talking about a recent setback. >> what we have had is an error- strewn final leg of what was already late -- already a calamitous cruz. this ship, unfortunately named triumph, was towed into the channel for mobile in alabama. than there were problems with the tugboat's. their mechanical issues with the first tugboat. a second boat came in, and the tow rope broke. what the cruise line was saying at a short time ago is it will certainly be nightfall over

u.s. justice department is squaring off against lawyers from bp to determine liability from the 2010 gulf oil spill begins. the court will say they focused more on cost cutting than safety which led to the rig explosion that caused the spill. >> it killed 11 workers and leaked hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil into the gulf over three months. >> german chancellor angela merkel on turkey -- in turkey holding talks with the prime minister. this comes amid growing frustration over the lack of progress in succession talks with european union. >> she has made no secret in her opposition of their joining the e.u. nonetheless, she wants the talks to continue. >> they met in an agora. the visit was meant to show that ties between the two are close despite a lack of progress on the eu talks. earlier, the meeting with the president and to send a similar signal. also highly symbolic, the chancellor's trip to the border region with syria. german patriot missiles have been deployed there along with some 300 german soldiers to protect nato-allied turkey from possible attacks across the border. >>

u.s. justice department is expected to file civil charges against standard & poor's over its assessment of some mortgage-backed securities. s&p officials announced the justice department informed them about the lawsuit. the case will be focused on the agency's ratings of subprime and other mortgage-backed securities in 2007. that was, of course, leading up to the financial crisis. s&p officials say they deeply regret failing to fully anticipate the deteriorating market conditions at the time. but they do deny any wrongdoing. this is the first time the u.s. government will file a suit against a leading ratings agency over alleged illegal behavior tied to the financial crisis. the justice department says s&p ratings were motivated by commercial considerations and not issued in good faith. >>> japan has agreed to provide india's steel industry with energy saving technology. output is expected to jump five-fold by 2050 but energy conservation is a pressing issue because the industry is heavily dependent on fuel oil as well as electric power. the agreement came after a meeting in tokyo. it was

u.s. justice department, s&p issue raises on 2.8 trillion dollars -- $2.80 trillion -in mortgages and loansrom september 2004 to october 2007, the implosion of which led to losses of $2 trillion at the world's biggest banks. the consequences in the real world, apart from the tens of thousands of homes repossessed, the international labor organization predicted more than 50 million job losses in 2009. the global economy contracted 2.4% in 2009. the recession lasted 18 months, ending in june of 2009. the united states alone, the government spent $605 billion bailing out banks and industries. earlier we spoke to steve, a professor of economics and finance at the university of western sydney, author of the book "debunking economics." >> the entire structure of so- called verifying the authenticity of financial instruments is entirely structurally corrupt. a civil suit like this should only be the beginning. there should be people behind the jail for what happened this time around. literally, only burning made off has been -- bernie madoff has been jailed in the middle of this crisis. >> the sha

u.s. justice department plans to file charges against s&p for ratings assigned to mortgage bonds before the 2008 financial crisis. that agency - and others - slapped high ratings on mortgage securities that eventually led to financial collapse. it's the first federal action that's been taken against a ratings agency for behavior stemming from the housing crisis. s&p says "the lawsuit would be without factual or legal merit." higher prices at the gas pump trickled into consumers' spending by the most in 3 decades. gas prices are breaking records this february with an average cost of $3.50 per gallon. that as the energy information administration reports u.s. households spent an average of nearly $3,000 putting gas in their tanks in 2012, the most money since the early eighties. it's testy times in our nation's capital. president obama failed to submit a budget plan, and republican house speaker john boehner is calling him out on the missed deadline. "this was supposed to be the day he submitted his budget to the congress. but it's not coming. it's going to be late. some reports say it could

u.s. justice department sends in the fbi. there are two teams.eavily armed tactical unit with armored personnel carriers and negotiators, armed with a phone and their wits. >> i teach negotiators that the very first thing have you to have is self-control. >> reporter: gary is the bureau's chief negotiator. when you got there, when you were briefed, what were you dealing with? >> i think in the context of the atf where there clearly was anger, the predominant emotion i was seeing or behavior was devastation, almost like walking zombies. >> nessner's team wants to understand koresh's personality. >> and this is something this whole nation's going to have to learn. they can learn by listening or they're going to learn the hard way. >> i believe everything he did, almost throughout the entirety of the ordeal, was ambivalence, was part of me wants to live, part of me wants to die. >> reporter: they looked for clues in this tv news report about koresh and branch davidians from australia. >> his tongue is the pinaba so how will god talk to me? who's goi