(CNN) - Associates of convicted Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff knew he was scamming his clients but joined in anyway because of the big money they could make, a securities investigator testified in a sworn affidavit for a Connecticut court.

A Connecticut judge on Tuesday froze the funds of Madoff and several of his business associates as part of a lawsuit filed for members of a city's retirement fund who say they invested with companies linked to Madoff.

The order came as testimony in an affidavit by investigator Edward H. Seidle said that Madoff's associates - specifically the so-called "feeder funds" that handled money for Fairfield, Connecticut's retirement plan - should have known that he was cheating his clients.

"It is my opinion, for the reasons stated below, that [the funds and their principals] were all aware that Bernard L. Madoff was engaging in illegal conduct in connection with his purported money management operations and intentionally chose to participate and support Madoff's illegal conduct in order to reap enormous illicit financial benefits," he wrote.

(CNN) - Former Argentine President Raul Alfonsin, who led Argentina from military to civilian rule, has died, his doctor said Tuesday.

Dr. Alberto Sadler announced the 82-year-old's death on government television. Alfonsin died of lung cancer, which was diagnosed in 2007.

"He fought for all Argentines," said Mario Losada, an ex-senator with the Radical Party, Alfonsin's party. "He was an authentic and absolute democrat. He paid a cost in preserving the institution, a very high cost ... Alfonsin, unfortunately, died but he saw his work completed."

The lawyer was elected to the presidency in 1983, when he inherited an economy crippled by runaway inflation and a country whose international image had been hurt by its defeat by Britain in the 1982 Falklands War.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Herndon, Virginia-based Triple Canopy has been awarded the security services contract in Baghdad, a State Department source told CNN Tuesday.

The order is effective Tuesday, the source said, but Triple Canopy's "in-country performance" won't begin until May 7.

Triple Canopy will take over the expiring contract of Blackwater, which changed its name to Xe last month. The State Department decided in January not to renew Blackwater/Xe's contract when it expires in May.

That followed a refusal by the Iraqi government to renew the firm's operating license because of a September 2007 shooting incident in which the Iraqi government says security guards - then employed by Blackwater - fired upon and killed 17 Iraqi civilians.

From Laurie Segall
CNN

NEW YORK (CNN) - Nearly 40 unemployed New Yorkers threw phones, smashed pinatas and played "pin the blame on the boss" Tuesday at the "Unemployment Olympics" in New York City.

Jobless participants gathered at Tompkins's Square Park in Manhattan's East Village for the event, created by recently laid-off computer software worker Nick Goddard. "It's just a lighthearted event for people to come out and have good time," Goddard, 26 told CNN.

Former employees, from laid-off hedge fund workers and bankers to people who lost advertising and entertainment jobs, competed in themed events such as the "race towards unemployment."

For those caught in the economic storm, the event offered a chance to get away from the reality of the job market and meet others in the same position. The only qualification for participation was a pink slip.

By Mayra Cuevas Nazario
CNN

(CNN) - As many as 12,000 Puerto Rican schoolchildren, teachers and school administrators are believed to be victims of an identity-theft ring that sold stolen personal documents to illegal immigrants in the mainland United States, the FBI said Tuesday.

A federal grand jury Monday indicted eight people on charges of identity theft, aggravated identity theft and social security fraud.

"In search warrants, we found over 5,000 different types of identification documents - originals and copies, social security cards and birth certificates," FBI spokesman Harry Rodriguez told CNN in a telephone interview from San Juan.

"They were selling them as a set, an original birth certificate and social security card sold for $150 or more. Copies sold for $40 or more," he said.

Rodriguez called it the biggest case of identity theft in his 15 years with the FBI in Puerto Rico.

The investigation began after a string of school burglaries swept the island from coast to coast in 2007, Lymarie Llovet-Ayala, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office, told CNN.

Authorities believe the suspects broke into about 50 public schools and stole personal files belonging to students, teachers and school administrators. In Puerto Rico, students must provide an original or a copy of their birth certificate in order to be registered in a school.

"They are children, they don't have credit cards or property so it is much harder to detect identity theft," said Llovet-Ayala. "We are in the process of identifying all the victims."

Llovet-Ayala said authorities have been able to identify buyers of stolen identification materials in Texas, Alaska and California, where ring members mailed documents to different contacts.

The seven men and one woman indicted - some from Puerto Rico and some from the Dominican Republic - face up to 15 years in a federal prison with fines up to $250,000 if they are convicted, she said.

The suspects had their first hearing Tuesday and are being held in a federal prison in Puerto Rico. Authorities are still searching for another suspect, she said.

The Puerto Rican suspects will have their bail hearing Wednesday. The Dominican suspects will appear in court April 13. The agency for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will take over the latter group once they have been processed in Puerto Rico.

The U.S. Attorney's Office has asked potential victims in this case to contacts the FBI at 787-754-6000 or 1-877-324-7577.

(CNN) - Police are investigating whether family issues could have prompted a California man to gun down six of his family members - killing two adults and three children - before committing suicide. His wife remains in critical condition.

Authorities on Tuesday identified the gunman as 42-year-old Devan Kalathat in Sunday's nights shooting at Kalathat's Santa Clara townhouse.

Kalathat killed his 11-year-old son, Akhil Dev; his 4-year-old daughter, Negha Dev; his 35-year-old brother-in-law Ashok Appu Poothemkandi; Poothemkandi's 25-year-old wife, Suchitra Sivaraman; and Poothemkandi's 11-month-old daughter, Ahana.

Kalathat's wife, who was not identified, sustained multiple gunshot wounds and remains in critical condition, said Lt. Phil Cook.

By Kyung Lah
CNN

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) - Sentiment among Japan's largest manufacturers is at a record low, according to a key business survey released Wednesday morning.

The Bank of Japan's quarterly Tankan survey showed sentiment among large manufacturers plunged to minus 58 in March from minus 24 in December. The previous record low for the survey was minus 57, reached during the oil shock era of the mid-1970s.

Business sentiment across all large, medium and small enterprises, from manufacturers to non-manufacturers, was negative.

The Tankan survey is a forward-looking and extensive indicator of the state of Japan's economy. It gauges how global exporters in Japan - like Toyota and Honda - feel about the business conditions in which they operate. The survey is one of the few forward-looking indicators that give investors a window into the immediate future of the world's second largest economy, and it helps the Bank of Japan set monetary policy.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday approved Chris Hill as the next U.S. ambassador to Iraq, but his confirmation by the full Senate could still be stalled by Republican Sen. Sam Brownback and others.

The committee approved Hill by a voice vote, and also approved another key nomination by President Barack Obama - Gen. Karl Eikenberry to be ambassador to Afghanistan.

Both Committee Chairman Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and the ranking Republican, Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, spoke in favor of Hill at his confirmation hearing last week and urged quick action. "Of course, senators have every right to vote against Ambassador Hill," Kerry said. "But I believe that using Senate procedures to delay his arrival to Baghdad at a critical time in this war would do a serious disservice to our efforts there."

But Brownback delivered a fiery speech on the Senate floor last week denouncing Hill as unqualified for the Baghdad post. And he criticized Hill for failing to include human rights issues in nuclear negotiations with North Korea.

Hill was the U.S. point-man in talks with North Korea and said he would have included human rights in later talks, but that North Korea had never fulfilled the earlier agreements on revealing details of its nuclear weapons program.

Brownback had promised to "object" to Hill's nomination as it moved toward a Senate vote but it was unclear how far he would go to delay or block it by placing a "hold" on the nomination, which would require a vote of 60 Senators or more to unlock.

Several senators have said Hill is the wrong man for the job because despite a much-praised diplomatic career, including three ambassadorships, he has never served in the Middle East and does not speak Arabic.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona was among the Hill critics. McCain had asked Hill to answer additional questions in writing after the two men had met but McCain was not won over.

"At this point, Senator McCain is going to vote against Ambassador Hill and speak against him on the floor of the Senate but he not going to place a hold on Ambassador Hill's nomination," a McCain aide, Brooke Buchanan, told CNN Tuesday.

A spokesman for Brownback said he had no comment on the senator's plans.

Hill's supporters were hoping the Senate could vote in the next couple of days but the vote has not been scheduled.

Earlier, Kerry said the Senate should vote on the Hill nomination before adjourning for the two-week Easter recess, which begins at the end of this week. Hill told the committee he would leave for Baghdad the day after Senate confirmation.

From Ted Barrett
CNN Congressional Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) - In a sign that Senate Democrats may be close to adopting a special budget procedure to speed passage of President Barack Obama's health care and global warming legislation, a key Democratic senator said Tuesday that he is not ruling out using the controversial method.

"It could happen," said Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Montana, despite his repeated concerns that doing so would damage bipartisan cooperation in the Senate.

The fast-track procedure - called "reconciliation" - would prevent Republicans from filibustering the health care and global warming bills, which Baucus's committee helps write.

"Reconciliation is not my first choice. It's not my second choice," Baucus said, but then added, "I'm not flat opposed to it either."

NEW YORK (CNN) - The United States is seeking a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council this year, the Obama administration announced Tuesday, in contrast to the previous administration, which was critical of the group.

Joining the council would signal the "new era of engagement" between the United States and other nations, the State Department said in a statement.

"Human rights are an essential element of American global foreign policy," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. "With others, we will engage in the work of improving the UN human rights system to advance the vision of the UN Declaration on Human Rights."