cyclone aila

Cyclone Aila strength eases off Some 100,000 people have been evacuated to safer places The cyclonic storm Aila hit the Indian city of Calcutta and nearby areas, killing more than 30 people, before weakening and heading north. It uprooted a large number of trees in the city, seriously hampering traffic. Meteorologists said the cyclone made landfall in south-western Bangladesh on Monday afternoon. Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated in Bangladesh and India to temporary shelters after wind speeds of 70km/h to 90km/h were reported. The West Bengal state's disaster management minister Mortaza Hossain told the BBC that more than 100,000 people had become homeless. "We have rescued more than 100,000 people and send them to safer places. We are now arranging dry food packets and drinking water pouches for them," he said.

chryler lawyer

By Linda Sandler and Christopher Scinta

May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Chrysler LLC, the bankrupt automaker, may pay an estimated $200 million to lawyers and other professionals helping it try to create a more viable carmaker in partnership with Italy’s Fiat SpA.

The third-largest U.S. automaker already has paid Jones Day lawyers $18.9 million in retainers since November to avoid, and then prepare for, the company’s Chapter 11 proceeding, according to court documents. Lawyers, bankers and accountants may reap more than 10 times that amount in court-approved fees by the time the case ends, said Stephen Lubben, who teaches bankruptcy- law at Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark, New Jersey, and keeps a database on fees.

Chrysler, with about 54,000 employees, listed yearend 2008 assets of about $39.3 billion and liabilities totaling $55.2 billion in court documents. It aims to sell its best assets -- which include its Jeep brand and Dodge Ram pickups -- to Fiat, using bankruptcy law to wind up its liabilities.

The automaker’s lead lawyers at Jones Day, led by restructuring partner Corinne Ball, will charge Chrysler as much as $950 an hour, according to court filings. Ball’s billing rate as of April 2009 was $900 an hour, as was her colleague David Heiman’s, according to the filing.

Two Years

Lubben’s estimate, based on Chrysler’s reported assets and liabilities, assumes it may take two years to wrap up the Chrysler bankruptcy, he said.

A bankruptcy of Chrysler’s larger rival General Motors Corp., if it happened, would throw off double the amount of fees, he estimated.

Washington-based Jones Day has 2,400 lawyers in 32 offices around the world.