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N E E D M O T I VAT I O N ? T H E R E ' S A N A P P F O R T H AT Tim Davis on the phone of his pharmacy in New Brighton, Pa. Davis uses several apps and three wearable devices to track his physical activity, vitals and calorie intake.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ever suspect you do more housework than your spouse? Or that certain tasks at work raise your blood pressure? Maybe you wonder why you're sneezing more lately, or if carbs are really what is making you tired after lunch? Turns out, there's an app or gadget to test all of that. Advancements in wearable body sensors, mobile applications and other gadgets mean that nearly everything we do can be captured, logged and analyzed. And everyday consumers are jumping at the chance to conduct their own experiments - tracking sleep, caffeine intake, kids' studying habits, household chores, even whether a baby is nursing more frequently on Mom's left breast versus her right. "I don't know if I'd use the word `obsessed,'" said Ernesto Ramirez, a self-tracking devotee who helped to organize a two-
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GROUND EMPLOYEE ARRESTED IN LA AIRPORT ICE BLASTS
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A baggage handler has been arrested following a police investigation into two dry ice explosions at Los Angeles International Airport. Dicarlo Bennett, a 28-year-old employee for the ground handling company Servisair, was booked Tuesday for possession of a destructive device near an aircraft. He is being held on $1 million bail. Police had stepped up patrols and increased its checks on employees after the blasts took place Sunday night and then again Monday night. Bennett took the dry ice from a plane and placed it in an employee restroom Sunday night and another device that was found on a tarmac outside the international terminal, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation who wasn't authorized to speak publicly. Police had previously said they didn't believe the explosions were an act of terror because of the locations of the devices and because people weren't targeted. No one was injured in either incident, although some flights were delayed Sunday. The incidents could be the work of a disgruntled employee due to an internal labor dispute, said Los Angeles Police Department Deputy Chief Michael Downing, who heads the department's counter-terrorism and special operations bureau. Swissport recently agreed to acquire Servisair and the transaction is expected to close by the end of the year. An afterhours message seeking comment from Servisair was not immediately returned. It wasn't immediately known what Bennett's motives were, but he was riding in a van with several others, including a supervisor, when he decided to plant one of the dry ice bombs, the official told The Associated Press. Those in the van were aware of the dry ice, the official said, but no other arrests have been made. The bombs were made by putting dry ice in 20-ounce plastic bottles and could have caused serious injury to anyone in close proximity, Downing said. One device exploded in an employee men's room Sunday night in Terminal 2. Remnants of an exploded bottle also were found that night on the tarmac area near the Tom Bradley International Terminal, but an employee threw it away. The same employee found an unexploded bottle Monday evening and then reported what he found the previous day. While there are cameras in some of these restricted-access areas, Downing said there isn't as much camera coverage as in the public-access areas and investigators had been reviewing available video. Dry ice is widely used by vendors to keep food fresh.
Volume 002 Issue 42
Established 2012
Octoberr 21, 2013
S H O RT- T E R M D E B T D E A L W O N ' T MASK BIG BARRIERS AHEAD WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hold the champagne.
tions such as those for charitable gifts and mortgage interest.
Even if Congress reaches a lastminute or deadline-busting deal to avert a federal default and fully reopen the government, elected officials are likely to return to their grinding brand of brinkmanship - perhaps repeatedly.
The Simpson-Bowles plan remains widely praised nationwide, and largely ignored in Congress.
House-Senate talks are barely touching the underlying causes of debt-and-spending stalemates that pushed the country close to economic crises in 2011, last December and again this month.
Then there were the 2011 secret talks between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. Boehner suggested $800 billion in new revenues over 10 years - less than Obama wanted - in exchange for widespread spending cuts, including curbs on Medicare and Social Security. U.S. Capitol building at dusk in Washington. Even if Congress reaches a last-minute or deadline-busting deal to avert a federal default and fully reopen the government, elected officials are likely to return to their grinding brand of brinkmanship, perhaps repeatedly. House-Senate talks are barely touching the underlying causes of debt-and-spending stalemates that pushed the country close to economic crises in 2011, last December and again this month.
Late Tuesday, the GOP-controlled House dropped efforts to craft a bill to raise the debt limit and fully open the government. House members will wait for the Democratic-controlled Senate to act, which could push a final resolution past Thursday. That's when administration officials say federal borrowing powers will be tapped out.
Still, many in Congress expect a resolution, even if it's a few days late. At best, however, lawmakers and the White House will agree to fund the government and raise the debt limit for only a few months. They also will call for yet another bipartisan effort to address the federal debt's major causes, including restricted revenue growth and entitlement benefits that rise automatically.
It was never clear whether Obama could have pushed the plan through the Democratic-controlled Senate. It didn't matter, because Boehner's GOP colleagues vehemently objected when details leaked, and the talks collapsed. Efforts last year to revive negotiations also failed.
A bipartisan congressional "supercommittee" fared no better. Both parties had agreed to supposedly unbearable "sequester" spending cuts to goad each other into big compromises to find a better way. But negotiations faltered and the clumsy-by-design sequester cuts - automatic and across the board - became law this year.
And yet, top advocates say they've seen virtually no change in the political dynamics that stymied past efforts for a compromise to end the cycle of brinksmanship and threats to harm the economy.
All these efforts failed for the same basic reasons. Liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans, would have had to swallow painful concessions that they don't believe are warranted. The lure of the "common good" couldn't match the power of sharply partisan regions and districts whose voters vow to punish lawmakers who compromise.
Republicans still adamantly oppose tax increases. Powerful interest groups and many Democrats still fiercely oppose cuts in Social Security and Medicare benefits. And congressional rules still tempt lawmakers to threaten economic havoc - by sending the nation into default - if the opposing party doesn't yield to their demands.
Republicans oppose higher taxes, even though today's taxation levels are relatively low, historically. Democrats oppose curbs in the growth of Medicare and Social Security, even though analysts for years have said the automatic growth of these "entitlement" programs is unsustainable long-term.
"We're probably going to have to go through this a few more times," said Bob Bixby of the bipartisan Concord Coalition, which advocates budget reforms. Even if a compromise plan this month wins House, Senate and White House approval, Bixby said, it will leave fundamental problems that "they haven't done anything to address."
Americans are accustomed to relatively high levels of government service at relatively low levels of taxation. Millions are unwilling to undo that arrangement in pursuit of deficit reduction.
Henry J. Aaron, a Brookings Institution scholar who supports unprecedented legal action to avert future debt showdowns, agreed that three or four months of breathing room is a small victory. "If all we achieve is a repetition of this charade," Aaron said, "we will not have achieved much." The political landscape is littered with once-hopeful bipartisan efforts to reach a "grand bargain" - or even a modest bargain - to slow the growth of the nation's $16.7 trillion debt and to make spending and revenue trends more sustainable. There was the Simpson-Bowles plan, first issued in 2010, and revised early this year. The revised version called for about $1.3 trillion in new revenues over 10 years, from various sources (about half the original plan's target). It would slow the growth rate of Social Security benefits and raise the eligibility age. It would limit popular tax deduc-
That makes it easier for powerful, well-financed groups to resist almost any change in government programs or taxes that favor them. "We've been extremely adamant that Social Security shouldn't be part of this discussion at all," said David Certner, legislative counsel for AARP, the big lobbying group for seniors. Social Security has its own funding source - a payroll tax - Certner said, and it must not "become a piggybank for other programs." As for Medicare, Certner said, he has never seen so many AARP members loudly declaring, "these are my benefits, I've paid into them over the years," and they must not be reduced. Countless other interest groups take similarly unyielding stands, say lawmakers and advocates on all sides of the debate. Bixby said such
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S T O C K S R I S E S H A R P L Y O N O P T I M I S M F O R A D E B T D E A L NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market surged in late morning trading as Washington closed in on a deal to avoid a default by the U.S. government. The Dow Jones industrial average spiked 200 points, or 1.3 percent, to 15,370 in late morning trading shortly after news that Senate leaders reached an agreement to avert a default. Rates on short-term U.S. government debt also fell as investors became less nervous about a possible default. The bill must still pass the House of Representatives as well as the Senate.
settled," said JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategists for TD Ameritrade. "There's a belief that they'll take it as far as they can and ultimately, at the last minute, settle it."
Trader Robert Charmak, left, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013. World stock markets fluctuated between gains and losses Wednesday Oct. 16, 2013 as a deadline for divided U.S. lawmakers to agree on a higher government borrowing limit drew ever closer.
The deal would also reopen the government, which has been partially shut for 16 days. The Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 22 points, or 1 percent, to 1,715. The Nasdaq composite rose 43 points, or 1.2 percent, to 3,834. Unless the debt limit is raised, the U.S. will hit a Thursday deadline after which it can no longer borrow money to pay its bills, increasing the chance of a default on government debt. That possibility has unnerved markets all month. "The lawmakers know it's in our best interest for this to be
Yields on Treasury bills fell sharply as hopes built for compromise ahead of the Thursday deadline to raise the U.S. debt ceiling. The yield on the one-month T-bill dropped from 0.40 percent to 0.26 percent Wednesday morning, an extraordinarily large move. The decline means that investors consider the bill to be less risky.
The yield on the 10-year bond edged up to 2.75 percent from 2.74 percent on Tuesday. Yields on longer-term U.S. government debt haven't moved as much as those on short-term debt because investors generally believe the government will work out a longer-term solution for paying its debts on time even as partisan gridlock in Washington holds up a short-term solution. Fitch Ratings said late Tuesday that it may downgrade the government's AAA bond rating. The agency said it sees a higher risk for default because of the uncertainty over whether Congress will raise the debt limit. Fitch said it will make a final decision by the end of March at the latest, depending on how long any agreement to raise the debt ceiling lasts.
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S E N AT O R S S E E K B U D G E T D E A L , HOUSE GOP EFFORT FLOPS negotiators to report on efforts to reach compromise on longer-term issues like spending cuts. And it likely would require the Obama administration to certify that it can verify the income of people who qualify for federal subsidies for medical insurance under the 2010 health care law.
WASHINGTON (AP) -Senate leaders are optimistic about forging an eleventh-hour bipartisan deal preventing a possible federal default and ending the partial government shutdown after Republican divisions forced GOP leaders to drop efforts to ram their own version through the House. Pressured by the calendar, financial markets and public opinion polls, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., were hoping to shake hands on an agreement Wednesday and, if possible, hold votes later in the day.
A jogger on an early morning run passes the U.S Treasury Building in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, a day before the stalemate in Congress over the budget could cause the government to reach its borrowing limit
Driving their urgency were oftrepeated Obama administration warnings that the government would exhaust its borrowing authority Thursday and risk a federal default that could unhinge the world economy. Lawmakers feared that spooked financial markets would plunge unless a deal was at hand and that voters would take it out on incumbents in next year's congressional elections.
Boehner crafted two versions of the bill, but neither made it to a House vote because both faced certain defeat. Working against him was word during the day from the influential group Heritage Action for America that his legislation was not conservative enough - a worrisome threat for many GOP lawmakers whose biggest electoral fears are of primary challenges from the right.
"People are so tired of this," President Barack Obama said Tuesday in an interview with Los Angeles TV station KMEX.
The last of Boehner's two bills had the same dates as the emerging Senate plan on the debt limit and shutdown.
U.S. stock futures were rising early Wednesday amid strong corporate earnings and lingering hope for a deal to head off a government default. But there were also dire warnings from the financial world a day after the Fitch credit rating agency said it was reviewing its AAA rating on U.S. government debt for possible downgrade.
But it also blocked federal payments for the president, members of Congress and other officials to help pay for their health care coverage. And it prevented the Obama administration from shifting funds among different accounts - as past Treasury secretaries have done - to let the government keep paying bills briefly after the federal debt limit has been reached.
John Chambers, chairman of Standard & Poor's Sovereign Debt Committee, told "CBS This Morning" on Wednesday that a U.S. government default on its debts would be "much worse than Lehman Brothers," the investment firm whose 2008 collapse led to the global financial crisis.
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Billionaire investor Warren Buffett told CNBC he doesn't think the federal government will fail to pay its bills, but "if it does happen, it's a pure act of idiocy." Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, a tea party favorite, said he was not worried about the prospect of a U.S. default.
CELLPHONE TRACKING Continued from page 1 day conference on the subject last week in San Francisco. Speakers at past "Quantified Self" conferences have included a man who developed his own app to see if he could walk every street in Manhattan and a dad who used trackers on his kids to monitor chores. "I think there's an overall trend toward curiosity and proving knowledge of one's self in the world," Ramirez said. When Tim Davis of Beaver, Pa., tipped the scales at 318 pounds two years ago, he bought a Fitbit gadget to track his physical activity and the Lose It! app on his phone to track calories. He bought a Wi-Fi-enabled scale that published his daily weight on his Twitter feed and turned to other apps to track his pulse, blood pressure, daily moods and medications. At one point, Davis said he was using 15 different apps and gadgets, which he said helped him drop 64 pounds by that following year. "It's the second-by-second, minute-by-minute changes that really did it," said Davis, 39. "If you're the type of person who likes gadgets and devices and to collect metrics, you're also the kind of person who does not like gaps in data." A pediatrician in Kansas City, Mo., Natasha Burgert, said apps that track newborn feedings and sleep patterns have become wildly popular among her patients and she now encourages parents to send her the data before their appointments.
for
"In the first few weeks, parents are so tired. It's really hard them to give you objective data," Burgert said.
Public health advocates and researchers say tracking technology could be used to encourage people to use less gasoline, conserve water or drive slower by giving them real-time feedback on their daily habits. It also could expose causes of medical conditions that baffle doctors. HopeLab, based in Redwood, Calif., is one nonprofit looking to harness technology to improve health. It has developed a $30 movement-tracking device for kids called a "Zamzee," and a website that rewards activity with online points and badges.
But that emerging Senate pact was put on hold Tuesday, an extraordinary day that highlighted how unruly rank-and-file House Republicans can be, even when the stakes are high. Facing solid Democratic opposition, House Speaker John Boehner, ROhio, tried in vain to write legislation that would satisfy GOP lawmakers, especially conservatives.
"We are going to service our debt," he told CNN. "But I am concerned about all the rhetoric around this ....I'm concerned that it will scare the markets." Aides to Reid and McConnell said the two men had resumed talks, including a Tuesday night conversation, and were hopeful about striking an agreement that could pass both houses. It was expected to mirror a deal the leaders had neared Monday. That agreement was described as extending the debt limit through Feb. 7, immediately reopening the government fully and keeping agencies running until Jan. 15 - leaving lawmakers clashing over the same disputes in the near future.
Boehner's inability to produce a bill that could pass his own chamber likely means he will have to let the House vote on a Senate compromise, even if that means it would pass with strong Democratic and weak GOP support. House Republican leaders have tried to avoid that scenario for fear that it would threaten their leadership, and some Republicans worried openly about that. "Of all the damage to be done politically here, one of the greatest concerns I have is that somehow John Boehner gets compromised," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a former House member and a Boehner supporter. With the default clock ticking ever louder, it was possible the House might vote first on a plan produced by Senate leaders. For procedural reasons, that could speed the measure's trip through Congress by removing some parliamentary barriers Senate opponents might erect. The strains of the confrontation were showing among GOP lawmakers. "It's time to reopen the government and ensure we don't default on our debt," Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., said in a written statement. "I will not vote for poison pills that have no chance of passing the Senate or being signed into law."
It also set a mid-December deadline for bipartisan budget
Raj Aggarwal, CEO of Localytics, a Boston-based analytics firm, says mobile games are still by far the most popular among consumers, but their fan base can be fickle. If a data-logging app is useful enough, it can convince consumers that they should pay for upgraded subscriptions or premium services that earn the developers money. One mobile app called "GymPact" has found a novel way of making money off its consumers' data. The app lets people bet against one another as to whether they will go to the gym. The non-exercisers have to pay the exercisers, with GymPact taking a cut. But what becomes of all this data? In theory, most apps let you delete your information. But programs such as the FitBit reserve the right to keep and analyze your information, and possibly pass along the data to third parties to make sure the program works as promised. What would happen if these tech companies decide to package and sell all that data? Could a person ever be denied a job or life insurance, for example, if their mobile app showed they tried but never quit smoking?
al activity logs pop up in Google searches; that's something FitBit's privacy settings allowed at the time unless a person knew to opt out. FitBit has since modified its policy to keep hidden more sensitive data unless someone configures his or her account specifically to share it. As for Davis and his fight to lose weight, he said his biggest mistake was letting his FitBit gadget lose its charge last year. Without the continual feedback, and perhaps a mobile app to remind him, Davis' motivation waned and his weight climbed to 292 pounds. But Davis insists he won't stay that way for long. He has persuaded his family members and coworkers to wear self-measuring devices, sparking a friendly rivalry. "Keep an eye on me," he said of the months ahead. "I think you'll see a difference."
http://www.redcross.org
Poorly encrypted data or lax privacy controls could become a problem, too. In 2011, some FitBit users were surprised to see their sexu-
HopeLab has developed video games for young cancer patients that lets them pretend to blast cancer cells. Researchers there say their studies have shown that the game improved patients' moods and encouraged them to stick with treatment.
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"When you give people a sense of autonomy, a sense of agency, that can actually be very transformative to their health," said HopeLab spokesman Richard Tate.
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Ramirez said he thinks the next step will be embedding sensors in nearly everything a person encounters throughout the day and linking that information together. Think of a car that won't start if you've consumed too much alcohol or a light bulb that changes colors when it's time to go to bed. Industry watchers say these kinds of data-driven apps are finding their place in a market that has struggled to profit from advertising.
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W E A P O N S I N S P E C T O R S C H E C K 1 1 S I T E S I N S Y R I A BEIRUT (AP) -- International inspectors have visited 11 sites linked to Syria's chemical weapons program and destroyed "critical equipment" at six, the agency overseeing the elimination of the country's stockpile said Wednesday.
trying to bring down Assad. Southern Syria is considered a stronghold of the moderate, Western-funded opposition which appears to be losing ground to Islamic extremists.
The team also supervised the destruction of unloaded chemical weapons munitions, said the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
In a video posted Wednesday, a bearded man in military fatigues stood in front of two dozen fighters, some holding up the emblem of the Free Syrian Army, the main Western-backed rebel alliance.
A joint OPCW-U.N. mission is to eliminate Syria's chemical weapons, precursor chemicals and production facilities by mid2014. Syria is believed to have some 1,000 metric tons of blistering and nerve gas agents and the inspectors have to visit more than 20 sites, the OPCW has said. The team began operating in Syria at the beginning of October, and by last week, had visited two sites. Wednesday's update signaled a significant progress in the team's work. The inspectors are being asked to complete a first round of site visits by the end of October, including verifying inventory and rendering production, mixing and filling facilities unusable. The next phase, of eliminating chemical agents, would begin after Nov. 1. Experts say it's a tight timetable, especially since the inspectors are operating in the midst of a civil war. The head of the OPCW has said one of the sites is in rebel-held territory and that routes to other facilities linked to the chemical weapons program are near areas of fighting. Meanwhile, there were growing signs of division among
The man read out the names of more than 65 fighting groups, saying they feel abandoned by the political leadership and "withdraw their recognition" of the Coalition. Louay Mikdad, a FSA spokesman, said groups mentioned in the video are part of the FSA-linked local military councils. In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad, third left, prays on the first day of Eid al-Adha at the Sayeda Hassiba mosque, in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013.
those trying to topple the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. A rebel who claimed to speak for dozens of groups of fighters in southern Syria said they no longer recognize the authority of the country's main Western-backed political opposition alliance. If confirmed, the announcement would serve as a new blow to the Syrian National Coalition and its claim to speak for those
TYPHOON, MUDSLIDES KILL 1 7 I N J A PA N ; 5 0 M I S S I N G
Rescue workers look for survivors as they stand on the rubble of a house buried by mudslides after a powerful typhoon hit Oshima on Izu Oshima island, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Tokyo Wednesday morning, Oct. 16, 2013. Typhoon Wipha has lashed Japan, leaving at least seven people dead on a Pacific island south of Tokyo as it cut across the capital region and headed north.
TOKYO (AP) -- A typhoon caused deadly mudslides that buried people and destroyed homes on a Japanese island Wednesday before sweeping up the Pacific coast, grounding hundreds of flights and disrupting Tokyo's transportation during the morning rush. At least 17 deaths were reported and nearly 50 people were missing. Hardest hit from Typhoon Wipha was Izu Oshima island, which is about 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Tokyo. Rescuers found 16 bodies, most of them buried by mudslides, police and town officials said. Dozens of homes were destroyed, and about 45 people were missing. A woman from Tokyo died after falling into a river and being washed 10 kilometers (6 miles) downriver to Yokohama, police said. Two sixth-grade boys and another person were missing on Japan's main island, Honshu, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said.
Izu Oshima is the largest island in the Izu chain southwest of Tokyo. It has one of Japan's most active volcanoes, Mount Mihara, and is a major base for growing camellias. About 8,200 people live on the island, which is accessible by ferry from Tokyo. Yutaka Sagara, a 59-year-old sushi chef on the east coast of the island, said he spent a sleepless night with colleagues at their company housing. Their hillside apartment barely escaped a mudslide that veered off to the side. Later he found out the mudslide crushed several houses as it flowed to the
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting in Hassakeh province pitted Kurdish militias against rebels from two al-Qaida-linked factions - Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. Such battles between the groups have become common in recent months in the northeast, which has a large Kurdish population. Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said that 29 of the dead are from the two extremist groups, while the remaining 12 are Kurdish fighters.
sea. "People on this island are somewhat used to heavy rainstorms, but this typhoon was beyond our imagination," he said by phone.
The Observatory said an explosion struck a vehicle packed with passengers near Tel al-Juma. It said four children and six women were among the dead.
Sagara came down to his seaside sushi restaurant on foot, wading through knee-deep mud, to check things out and make sushi for rescue workers.
It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion, nor why a group of women and children were traveling in dangerous and disputed territory in the middle of the night.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking to Parliament on Wednesday, vowed to do the utmost to rescue the missing and support the survivors, while trying to restore infrastructure and public services as quickly as possible. Japanese troops were deployed to the island, as well as Tokyo's "hyper-rescue" police with rescue dogs.
Syria's state news agency reported that 21 "terrorists" were killed when the car they were loading with explosives blew up inside a hideout. The government refers to those trying to overthrow President Bashar Assad as "terrorists."
As a precaution, the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, crippled by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, released tons of rainwater that were being held behind protective barriers around storage tanks for radioactive water. Tokyo Electric Power Co., the plant's operator, said only water below an allowable level of radioactivity was released, which Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority allowed Tuesday. During an earlier typhoon in September, rainwater spilled out before it could be tested.
Conflicting accounts are common in the Syrian conflict, in which both sides try to paint events in an advantageous light to score propaganda points. The violence came as Muslims observe the holiday of Eid alAdha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, and underscored just how relentless the violence in Syria's civil war is. Since its outbreak in March 2011, the conflict has claimed the lives of more than 100,000 people, and forced some 7 million to flee their homes. Syria's revolt began with largely peaceful protests against Assad but later descended into civil war. Now in its third year, the conflict has carved the country up into rebel- and regime-controlled areas, with front-lines crisscrossing the country.
4 D E A D A F T E R B O A T C A P S I Z E S O F F F L O R I D A C O A S T Jamaican nationals, but the nationalities of the rest of the group were not immediately known, Barney said. The bodies of four women were recovered from the water. The Coast Guard was no longer searching for possible survivors, Cmdr. Darren Caprara said. The survivors rescued from the water were still on a Coast Guard vessel at sea and it was unclear whether they would be brought to the U.S. or repatriated. All the survivors were in good condition, Caprara said.
The typhoon, which stayed offshore in the Pacific, had sustained winds of 126 kilometers per hour (78 miles per hour), with gusts up to 180 kph (110 mph), before it was downgraded to a tropical storm Wednesday evening. The storm was moving northeast, off the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido.
The rainfall was particularly heavy before dawn, the kind in which "you can't see anything or hear anything," Japan Meteorological Agency official Yoshiaki Yano said.
In northeastern Syria, heavy clashes that erupted Tuesday and continued Wednesday between Kurdish gunmen and alQaida-linked rebels have killed at least 41 fighters, activists said.
In the southern province of Daraa, an explosion around midnight Tuesday killed at least 21 people, although activists and state media provided conflicting accounts as to what happened.
More than 350 homes were damaged or destroyed, including 283 on Izu Oshima, it said.
More than 80 centimeters (30 inches) of rain fell on Izu Oshima during a 24-hour period ending Wednesday morning, the most since record-keeping began in 1991.
"We respect what they are saying," Mikdad said of the announcement. "We think our brothers in the Coalition, they should listen to the people inside, and they should open a direct dialogue with them."
MIAMI (AP) -- Four women died and 10 people were taken into custody after a boat with more than a dozen people aboard including Haitian and Jamaican nationals - capsized early Wednesday in the waters off South Florida. The U.S. Coast Guard responded around 1 a.m. after a 911 call alerted authorities to an overturned recreational vessel seven miles east of Miami. Nine people were found clinging to the hull, Petty Officer Mark Barney said. A 10th person was taken by boat to Miami Beach, where he was treated at a hospital and released, Barney said. The group was taken into custody and authorities were investigating whether the victims and survivors were part of a human smuggling operation. The nine people found clinging to the hull were Haitian and
Images of the vessel show a small white boat with its center console missing. It was overloaded and lacked lifejackets, Caprara said. Migrants from Haiti, Cuba and other Caribbean countries routinely attempt to illegally enter the U.S. by reaching Florida's coast in overloaded or unseaworthy vessels. In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the Coast Guard picked up 508 Haitians and 1,357 Cubans at sea. Since the new fiscal year began Oct. 1, the Coast Guard has reported picking up 93 Haitians and 117 Cubans. The number of migrants who die in the crossing or disappear into the community after successfully reaching shore is unknown. Cubans who arrive in the U.S. are generally allowed to stay under the "wet foot, dry foot" policy, while those stopped at sea are usually returned home. Other immigrants do not receive the same treatment.
4 The Weekly News Digest, October 21, 2013
F L O R I D A
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S T A T I S T I C S
Data From the Official Website of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. www.flhsmv.gov
Motorcyclists and Bicyclists Injured
HANDICAP PERMITS Broke your leg? Had Surgery? A new state law enables you to get a 90-day temporary permit to use handicapped parking spaces. The cost is $15.00 from county tag office locations, and the permit hangs from the rear-view mirror so it will be clearly visible through the windshield. Applicants must have a physician’s statement attesting to their disability. For more information, visit or call your county tag office.
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H E A L T H T A R G E T : S I G N U P S B Y O C T . 3 1 foundation for its projections.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- For the first month alone, the Obama administration projected that nearly a half million people world sign up for the new health insurance markets, according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press. But that was before the markets opened to a cascade of computer problems.
With 15 days to go this month, the Obama administration has not released any enrollment numbers for the 36 states where the federal government is taking the lead in running the markets.
If the glitches persist and frustrated consumers give up trying, that initial goal, described as modest in the memo, could slip out of reach.
The 14 states running their own markets, along with Washington, D.C., have released some data. But it's hard to discern a clear pattern, since the reporting dates are different from state to state.
The Sept. 5 memo, for Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, lists monthly enrollment targets for each state and Washington, D.C., through Mar. 31, 2014, the last day of the initial open enrollment period under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
California reported 16,300 applications processed as of Oct. 5. The memo projects 91,000 people will enroll in the state by the end of the month.
The new online insurance markets, called exchanges in some states, are supposed to be the portals to coverage for most of the nation's nearly 50 million uninsured people. Middle-class people without job-based coverage can shop for subsidized private plans, while low-income people are steered to an expanded version of Medicaid in states that have agreed to expand that safety net program. Although the Oct. 1 launch of the markets was a top priority for the White House, the rollout was quickly overwhelmed by computer problems, and many potential customers still have not been able to enroll. Insurers say signups are coming through, but slowly.
Kentucky reported 18,351 applications processed as of Oct. 9. That would exceed the memo's projection of 15,400 for the month.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, right, meets with Cincinnati State Technical and Community College President O'dell M. Owens, after they participated in a panel discussion on the federal health care overhaul, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, at the college, in Cincinnati
A big jump was expected after Thanksgiving, since Dec. 15 is the last day people can sign up so their coverage will take effect Jan. 1. Starting in the new year, the health care law requires virtually all Americans to have insurance or face fines. At the same time, insurance companies will be forbidden from turning away people in poor health.
A surge of interest by consumers going online appeared to trigger the problems, which also seem to involve underlying software flaws and design shortcomings undetected or overlooked in testing. The administration is holding the explanation close, while working feverishly to fix the glitches - with incomplete results so far.
The memo projected enrollment would reach 3.3 million nationally by Dec. 31.
In the memo, officials estimated that 494,620 people would sign up for health insurance under the program by Oct. 31. And that was portrayed as a slow start.
Signups were expected to spike again in March, as procrastinators noticed the approaching end of open enrollment season. "We anticipate a surge of enrollment in December and March," the memo said.
"We expect enrollment in the initial months to be low," said the memo, entitled "Projected Monthly Enrollment Targets for Health Insurance Marketplaces in 2014."
By the end of March, total enrollment through the markets was expected to surpass 7 million, an estimate originally from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and then used by the administration as the
I R A N S AY S N E W N U K E TA L K S E S S I O N I N F E W W E E K S since reformist President Hassan Rouhani was elected in June. Wednesday's meeting started several hours late, as the six powers discussed further steps among themselves before the talks resumed for a closer look at the proposal. Asked for details beyond broad outlines made public by the Iranians ahead of the talks, a member of one of the delegations at the table said the plan offered reductions in both the levels of uranium enrichment being conducted by Iran and the number of centrifuges doing the enrichment - a key demand of the six powers. An Iranian official said any plan would be implemented in three stages lasting from six months to a year. Both men demanded anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss the confidential plan.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton, left, walks next to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during a photo opportunity prior to the start of two days of closed-door nuclear talks, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013, at the United Nations offices in Geneva. Iran's overtures to the West are being tested as the United States and its partners sit down for the first talks on Tehran's nuclear program since the election of a reformist Iranian president. Negotiations between Iran and the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany began Tuesday morning.
GENEVA (AP) -- Reflecting signs of progress at ongoing Iran nuclear talks, the country's foreign minister said Wednesday that his country would meet again with six powers within weeks to further discuss ways to ease fears his Iran may want atomic arms. Mohammad Javad Zarif's posted his comments to Facebook as the U.S. and its negotiating partners were sitting with Iran for a closer look at what Tehran is describing as a possible breakthrough deal that could lessen suspicions about its nuclear goals and lead to the easing of sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Iran says it is not interested in getting the bomb. Its proposal Tuesday to the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany focused on their demands that uranium enrichment and other activities that could be used to make nuclear arms be stopped or reduced. No details were made public. But comments from Western officials meeting with Iranian negotiators indicated interest in the proposal, described by Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi as designed to allow Iran to leave the `'dark" path of international isolation. Previous rounds have often been fitful and sporadic, reflecting the deadlock between the two sides. Zarif's Facebook comments that negotiations will resume `'in a few weeks" strengthened expectations that some progress was being made. He said the follow-up will also be held in Geneva, the venue for the ongoing talks. Zarif said the six powers welcomed Iran's "new approach," and urged reciprocity, calling on the powers to also show a "new attitude." Iran's version of success is for painful international sanctions to be lifted in exchange for possible concessions it had been previously unwilling to consider, such as increased monitoring and scaling back of uranium enrichment - a potential path to nuclear arms and the centerpiece of the impasse with the West. International talks designed to reduce fears that Iran may make such arms have been stalled for most of their 10-year history, with Tehran insisting it has no interest in weapons production, while resisting both enticements and sanctions designed to force it into ending uranium enrichment and other activities that could be used to make weapons But negotiations appear now to be driven by the new wind generated
Iran's state TV, which closely reflects government views, said Tehran offered to discuss uranium enrichment levels. The report also said Iran proposed adopting the additional protocols of the U.N.'s nuclear treaty - effectively opening its nuclear facilities to wider inspection and monitoring - if the West recognizes Iran's right to enrich uranium. But the Iranian official said any acceptance of the protocols would be one of the last steps in implementing the plan.
DEBT EXTENSION Continued from page 1 groups "will never be part of a solution." The bipartisan budget conferees who are envisioned in the debtand-shutdown proposals in Congress may start with fairly small ambitions, such as looking for ways to replace some of the more painful "sequester" cuts with spending reductions elsewhere. It's not clear whether that would avert another government shutdown and default threat in a few months. The best hope, Bixby said, is to somehow find "a centrist coalition to pass something" that includes new revenues and curbs to entitlements. But so far, he said, "the consensus has been to shut down rather than compromise." With a bipartisan accord so hard to reach, some advocates say the president and the courts must find a way to stop congressional factions from extracting concessions from the president's party by threatening a default on U.S. obligations. Aaron said it's legally contradictory to empower Congress to enact spending laws and then threaten to block the higher borrowing cap needed to pay the bills lawmakers incurred. Aaron wrote in The New York Times, "Failure to raise the debt will force the president to break a law - the only question is which one." The Constitution, he said, requires the president to spend what Congress tells him to spend, collect only those taxes Congress approves "and to borrow no more than Congress authorizes." Aaron says Obama should ignore the debt ceiling if Congress refuses to lift it in time. The White House rejects that idea, and even Aaron concedes it probably would trigger an impeachment and massive court challenge. Rep. John Fleming, R-La., summed up the challenge any new bipartisan conferees will face. Asked how the two parties might reach an accord, Fleming suggested Democrats must cave. "America is catching on to the fact that we have a president who seems unlikely to solve America's problems," he said. "We have two totally different visions of America."
Washington state reported 24,949 applications processed as of Oct 14, a little more than the memo's October projection of 23,800. Maryland reported 566 applications processed as of Oct. 6, compared with 10,500 projected for the month by the memo. Like all projections, the HHS estimates come with a caveat: They represent an educated guess, and reality could turn out differently. They were arrived at by taking the congressional estimate, breaking it down by state, and then applying an expected monthly signup rate. There are several reasons why enrollment numbers are important for the overall success of the law. Most people spend relatively modest amounts on medical care each year, and a small proportion of patients accounts for the overwhelming majority of costs. Since older, sicker people are expected to enroll as the law lifts barriers that now keep them from getting insurance, premiums from lots of younger, healthier people are needed to help offset those costs. Also, state numbers are as important as national totals. That's because each state's insurance market will remain separate under the law. "Obamacare" doesn't create a one-size-fits-all national program - like Medicare - but a bunch of state programs. That means lots of young healthy people signing up in California, for example, cannot cross-subsidize older, sicker people in another state. "You can bust through these targets, but if it's mostly older and sicker people, then you are not in good shape," said Larry Leavitt, a health insurance expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation.
J P M O R G A N PAY S $100M, ADMITS FAULT IN LONDON TRADES WASHINGTON (AP) — JPMorgan Chase & Co. has agreed to pay a $100 million penalty and admitted that it "recklessly" distorted prices during a series of London trades that ultimately cost the bank $6 billion in losses. The settlement announced Wednesday by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission comes less than a month after JPMorgan agreed to pay $920 million and admit fault in a deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other U.S. and British regulators. The CFTC said JPMorgan traders in London sold off a massive volume of derivatives at once, distorting market prices. Derivatives are investments whose value is based on some other investment, such as oil and currencies. The market was largely unregulated before the 2008 financial crisis. JPMorgan, the nation's largest bank, admitted that its traders "acted recklessly" by dumping the derivatives on an index tied to corporate bonds, the CFTC said. The agency said the traders were "desperate" to avoid further losses on their portfolio of the derivatives, and they sold more than $7 billion of them on Feb. 29, 2012, including $4.6 billion during a three-hour period. That was a "staggering volume" and by far the largest amount the division had traded in one day, according to the CFTC. The traders realized that the huge volume of the derivatives they had amassed could affect the market, and they decided to do so, the agency said. It marked the first time the CFTC used a new legal authority from the 2010 financial overhaul law that is designed to prohibit reckless market conduct. Enforcement Director David Meister said the agency now is "better armed than ever to protect the market."
S T O C K S
R I S E
Continued from page 1 The dollar fell against the euro and the Japanese yen. Among stocks making big moves: — Mattel gained $1.75, or 2.2 percent, to $43.30, after the company's third-quarter net income rose 16 percent thanks to high demand for dolls like Monster High, Barbie and American Girl. The results were better than Wall Street analysts had forecast. — Bank of America rose 22 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $14.46 after the second-largest U.S. bank reported that it earned $2.5 billion in the July-September period, up from $340 million a year earlier. On a per-share basis, earnings were 20 cents, beating the 19 cents expected by financial analysts.
6 The Weekly News Digest, October 21, 2013________________________________________________________
O B A M A ' S B U D G E T W I N H A S S T R I N G S A T T A C H E D WASHINGTON (AP) -- By most measures, President Barack Obama emerged far stronger than his Republican adversaries in Washington's latest fiscal fight. He gave away virtually nothing and his hard-line tactics exposed deep divisions among Republicans and growing public frustration with the GOP. But Obama's victory came with strings attached. Under his watch, big swaths of the federal government were shuttered for 16 days, forcing hundreds of thousands of workers off the job and restricting many services. The nation was brought to the brink of a default for the second time in two years. And Congress' last-minute deal generated yet another round of looming deadlines on the same issues, with no guarantee that Republican opposition to Obama's objectives will be dampened in any way. "What comes next is very unpredictable," said Steve Schmidt, a Republican strategist. "The notion that this group of people is going to be chastened by this, while it seems obvious, is uncertain." Indeed, there's little consensus among Republicans about how to proceed in the aftermath of the budget crisis. Some conservatives who demanded changes to Obama's health care law in exchange for funding the government have signaled they're ready to dig in for another fight. Among them is Kansas Rep. Tim Huelskamp, who said Republicans may have "lost the battle but we're going to win the war." But other GOP lawmakers are demanding that their party make a course correction. "Hopefully, the lesson is to stop this foolish childishness," said John McCain, the longtime Arizona senator.
But Republicans misread how political shifts in Washington over the past two years had affected the president, and in particular how Obama's resolve had been stiffened by the fact he doesn't have to run for office again. Staunch conservatives also ignored warnings from more moderate Republicans, who argued that Obama would never agree to changes in the health care law that remains his signature legislative achievement.
President Barack Obama speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. Lawmakers Wednesday voted to avoid a financial default and reopen the government after a 16-day partial shutdown.
debt limit. The agreement also requires bipartisan negotiators to issue a report by Dec. 13 on broader budget issues like spending levels, deficit reduction and entitlement reforms - all matters over which the White House and congressional Republicans have long been at odds. What happens during this next round of deadlines will help clarify whether Obama's October win has done anything to alter the political dynamic in Washington or whether it was an isolated achievement. The White House said the president is entering the next phase of the debate with a similarly unyielding strategy. Aides said he is willing to make concessions as part of a larger budget deal but won't let Republicans make funding the government or lifting the debt ceiling contingent on certain outcomes.
"A fundamental flaw - and probably the biggest flaw - was that they were negotiating for something that wasn't really negotiable," said Patrick Griffin, who served as President Bill Clinton's legislative affairs director during the 1995 government shutdown. The start of the government shutdown coincided with the start of sign-ups for the "Obamacare" law's health insurance exchanges - a rollout that was marred by widespread problems. In an ironic twist, the Republican insistence on shutting down the government in order to make changes to the law wound up overshadowing its glitches and a glaring embarrassment for the president. The result of the Republican miscalculations: a wave of public opinion polls showing that the GOP took the biggest hit as the budget war dragged on. A Washington Post-ABC News survey released Monday found 74 percent disapproved of the way the Republicans in Congress were handling negotiations over the federal budget, up 11 points since just before the shutdown began. Views on how Obama and congressional Democrats handled the budget battle tilted negative but did not change significantly over the course of the shutdown.
Some GOP leaders had assumed Obama would abandon that hard-line stance during the most recent debate. Many were taking their lessons from the last budget and debt fight in 2011, when Obama indeed made concessions to keep the government open and avoid a default.
Despite their dour approval ratings, Republicans may again try to test whether Obama is willing to hold his hard line in the new year. But Obama - long a believer in the power of public opinion - is banking that the anger Americans aimed at Republicans in recent weeks will persuade them to shift course.
CUBAN ENTREPRENEURS GIRD F O R B A N O N I M P O R T S A L E S
"The Republicans recognize this was not a good strategy and seeing the horrible reaction from the American people, I'm pretty sure they're not going to run this play again," the president said.
ground in a nation where the black market has long flourished. In some markets, crude signs have already started going up advertising "liquidation" sales.
"obtain merchandise or other objects for the purpose of resale for profit."
Republicans will have to quickly settle on a strategy. The deal that ended this month's standoff only keeps the government open through Jan. 15 and extends borrowing authority through Feb. 7, though emergency measures may give the administration another month before reaching the
"I never thought that this would happen. I'm desperate," said Barbara Perez, who sells blouses for $13 and jeans for around $15 from her clothing stall. "I can't sleep because I'm constantly asking myself, `What is going to happen? What am I going to do?'" Last week, she said, authorities summoned her to hear an explanation of the new rule.
a woman tries on a shoe inside the home of a small business owner in Havana, Cuba. Three months from now, authorities will begin enforcing a new law banning the private sale of imported goods. For entrepreneurs who have carved out modestly successful livelihoods after investing their life savings to launch import-dependent businesses, the new measure feels like a big step back
HAVANA (AP) -- You can find just about anything at El Curita marketplace in gritty central Havana. Hundreds of entrepreneurs hawk all manner of goods at this bustling bazaar, from watches, shampoos and facial creams to neon-colored tube tops and the striped FC Barcelona soccer jerseys that are increasingly a fashion must. Three years ago, there was nothing quite like it on this Communist-run island known as much for perpetual scarcity as it is for pristine beaches and world class cigars. And three months from now, it could all be over as authorities begin enforcing a new law banning the private sale of imported goods. Cuba is in the middle of what it calls a significant opening to limited private enterprise - even as it swears it won't abandon socialism. But for entrepreneurs who have carved out modestly successful livelihoods after investing their life savings to launch import-dependent businesses, the new measure feels like a big step back. Announced in late September, the law is likely to snuff out some businesses entirely while driving others back under-
Sponcor A Child
"They treated me well. They read me the new law and they made me sign a paper," Perez said between sobs. She has until Nov. 30 to sell her remaining inventory, and "after that they can confiscate it." Some 436,000 Cubans are running or working for private small businesses under President Raul Castro's package of social and economic reforms begun in 2010. Among other things, the government has legalized used car and real estate sales and ended the much-detested exit visa required for decades of all islanders seeking to travel overseas.
Together, the measures recall previous policies that critics describe as two steps forward, one step back. In the 1990s, Cubans were allowed to open private restaurants to ease the pain of a severe economic crisis; when the worst had passed, authorities regulated the eateries practically out of existence until they were revived under the recent reforms. Such policies "create an atmosphere of uncertainty that is not positive, and a level of frustration that will not rise to the level of nationwide protests," said Frank Mora, director of the Latin American and Caribbean Center at Florida International University. "But with this, the government is sending a message to the people that it is maintaining control." Carmelo Mesa-Lago, a University of Pittsburg professor emeritus of economics, interpreted the new law as an attempt to protect the government's own retail operations. "It miscalculated" before, Mesa-Lago said. "It thought it could compete with these people who ... sell at a reasonable price while (state-run) stores have very high prices."
While critics say the list of nearly 200 approved areas of independent employment is too short, it continues to expand. The same day the ban on selling imports was announced, authorities OKed 18 more professions including blacksmiths, welders and real estate agents.
After being laid off from his hotel job, Frank Rodriguez, 30, took out a cobbler's license and began selling imported shoes at El Curita. He intends to recover his $3,000 investment one way or another, by selling "here or elsewhere."
"Personally, I think the steps so far have been positive," said Josuan Crespo, who can now work legally as a real estate agent. "With this new regulation we can help people with everything to do with buying and selling property."
"We are living days of complete uncertainty," Rodriguez said. "If they allowed this for three years across the country, why prohibit it now? How, and with what money will I buy food for my daughter?"
Perez opened shop three years ago with a seamstress' license, but quickly realized there was no money in making clothing from scratch. For starters, there's no wholesale market offering raw materials to craft new clothes or shoes. When available, fabric can be of dubious quality. And the real demand is for foreign fashions.
Diana Sanchez, who supports herself, her daughter and her retired mother by selling plumbing and household supplies, is considering becoming a manicurist.
"The first 11 days I didn't sell anything. They said my clothes were out of fashion and low-quality," Perez said. "So I decided to sell my sewing machine, my television, my refrigerator, and with the $150 I raised, I bought clothes from a person who brought it from abroad and started selling that."
"What I sell, I can't make. So they're going to shut me down? You can't do that," Sanchez said. "They allowed this. We had hope, an illusion that things were really going to change. ... We're going to take a step back instead of moving forward."
She and countless other entrepreneurs continue to rely for supply on so-called mules who fly overseas, returning with duffel bags stuffed with underwear, jewelry, auto parts, appliances. Authorities began taking aim at that sub-industry last year by dramatically hiking customs duties.
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Labor Ministry official Jose Barreiro Alfonso recently told Communist Party newspaper Granma that it's necessary to "impose order" in the retail sector, and it will be a crime to
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_____________________________________________________The Weekly News Digest, October 21, 2013
7
OBAMA LASHES REPUBLICANS A S G O V E R N M E N T R E O P E N S Senate and 144 in the House opposed the legislation, while 27 in the Senate and 87 in the House supported it.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In withering day-after criticism, President Barack Obama declared Thursday that the 16-day partial government shutdown was a Republican-provoked spectacle that "encouraged our enemies" around the world.
The fault line separated tea party adherents from the balance of the rank and file. And there were clear signs the split was enduring, though not widening.
Elsewhere in Washington, and around the country, federal employees simply streamed back to their jobs. National parks reopened. The popular panda cam at the National Zoo came back online. But
there
was
no
letup
in
the
political
In Mississippi, where GOP Sen. Thad Cochran has not yet announced if he will seek a new term in 2014, the Club for Growth and Senate Conservatives Fund were not waiting to find out. They endorsed a potential rival, Republican state Sen. Chris McDaniel, as he announced his candidacy.
fight.
Fresh from a defeat, tea party groups and their allies renewed fundraising efforts with a promise of future assaults on Obama's health care overhaul - and a threat of more election primaries against Republican incumbents who don't stand with them. Government spending was still front and center. Inside the Capitol, lawmakers charged with forging a post-shutdown deficitcutting agreement in the next 60 days met privately. "We believe there is common ground," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Budget Committee.
National Park Service employees remove barricades from the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. Barriers went down at National Park Service sites and thousands of furloughed federal workers began returning to work throughout the country Thursday after 16 days off the job because of the partial government shutdown.
Room.
Privately, however, officials in both parties said the prospects for a major breakthrough were dim, given differences over taxes and spending that have proven compromise-proof throughout the three-year era of divided government. current
"But probably nothing has done more damage to America's credibility to the world. ... It's encouraged out enemies. It's emboldened our competitors. And it's depressed our friends who look to us for steady leadership," he said.
A few hours after Obama placed his post-midnight signature on legislation ending the long political showdown, Vice President Joe Biden was at the Environmental Protection Agency to greet returning employees. "I hope this is the end of this," he said, but he acknowledged "There's no guarantees."
Obama said the public is "completely fed up with Washington" and he and Congress face hard work in regaining trust. It was a reference to public opinion polls that show the nation in a sour mood - though more inclined to blame Republicans than the president and his party for the first partial government shutdown caused by politics in 17 years.
That was a reference to the last-minute legislation that will fund the government only until Jan 15 and give Treasury the ability to borrow above the $16.7 trillion limit until Feb. 7 or a few weeks longer. At the White House, Obama blended sharp criticism of Republicans with a plea for their cooperation over the remainder of the year and a call for less shrillness on both sides. "Some of the same folks who pushed for the shutdown and threatened default claimed their actions were needed to get America back on track," he said in remarks in the State Dining
Hoping to jump-start his own stalled agenda, Obama urged lawmakers to concentrate on three items in the coming weeks: a balanced plan to reduce long-term deficits, legislation to overhaul the immigration system and passage of a farm bill. Polling aside, Obama's party emerged from the three-week showdown in Congress united. All Democrats in Congress supported the legislation that passed Wednesday night to fund the government and raise the debt limit. Not so of the Republicans. Eighteen GOP members in the
M A D O F F K E P T E M P L O Y E E S IN D A R K A B O U T F R A U D NEW YORK (AP) -- Bernard Madoff was a Wall Street rock star who charmed and deceived billionaires, celebrities, government regulators and his employees, including five of his exworkers who are on trial for fraud, defense attorneys told a jury Thursday in opening statements. Attorney Andrew Frisch said Madoff and his former finance chief - government cooperator Frank DiPascali - were "depraved and pathological," delivering millions of lies to disguise a fraud that cheated thousands of investors out of billions of dollars. Defense lawyers described Madoff as god-like at his firm, a former NASDAQ chairman who hid his heartless, corrupt and greedy side with extraordinary generosity. They said he was a swaggering Wall Street icon, a control freak, a great liar, a genius manipulator, extremely demanding, eccentric and temperamental, private and secretive, domineering and controlling.
was revealed and encouraged family and friends to invest, something she would not do if she was "really some kind of monster." Frisch described Madoff as a "Wall Street icon," someone as large in stature in the securities industry as Donald Trump in real estate, LeBron James in basketball or Oprah Winfrey on television. He said Madoff's clients included filmmaker Steven Spielberg and actors Kevin and John Malkovich. Bacon Attorney Gordon Mehler, representing computer programmer Jerome O'Hara, 50, warned jurors to beware of the government's star witness, DiPascali, saying he was such an architect of the fraud that his blaming other Madoff employees would be like "the Big Bad Wolf getting on the witness stand and condemning Little Red Riding Hood." He said O'Hara and another computer programmer on trial, George Perez, 47, were duped by Madoff.
"Celebrities, movie stars, Sandy Koufax. They all believed in Bernie Madoff," said Eric Breslin, an attorney for JoAnn Crupi, 52, an account manager for Madoff for 25 years. "He literally had millionaires eating out of his hand, begging him to invest their money. ... The world was taken in. The government will not be able to prove JoAnn Crupi knew any better."
The trial follows the 2008 collapse of Madoff's private investment business, which cost clients nearly $20 billion. A court-appointed trustee has recovered much of the money.
He said Madoff, 75, who is serving a 150-year prison sentence, would not appear in court but "his shadow will be in this courtroom every day."
T V- O V E R - I N T E R N E T SERVICE AEREO TO COME TO ANDROID
On Wednesday, a prosecutor accused the former employees of being crucial components of a fraud that remained hidden for decades, but defense lawyers insisted Madoff fooled their clients just as he did Securities and Exchange Commission inspectors and sophisticated financial experts. Frisch portrayed his client, Daniel Bonventre, as enamored by Madoff. Bonventre, 66, rose to a position of director of operations after joining the firm in the late 1960s. He oversaw the legitimate side of Madoff's business, not the secretive private investment wing, Frisch said. "Dan believed Madoff, like so many others," Frisch said. "He devoted his life to Madoff. ... Dan is broken but he is not guilty." Roland Riopelle, attorney for Madoff's longtime secretary, Annette Bongiorno, 64, said his client too was taken in by "a kind of rock star in the securities industry." "The government simply cannot prove that she knew there was a fraud and intended to hurt anyone," he said. Bongiorno started working for Madoff in the 1960s when she was 19, eventually becoming a supervisor responsible for maintaining the accounts of longtime customers, Riopelle said. He noted she kept her money in company's accounts until the fraud
When the fraud was revealed, Madoff admitted that the nearly $68 billion he claimed existed in accounts was actually only $300 million.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Aereo, a service that delivers broadcast television stations over the Internet, will come to Android devices on Oct. 22. The service started on iPhones and other Apple devices along with the Roku streaming box before expanding to personal computers. The company says that the Android offering took longer because of the many versions of Android available. Device makers are able to customize the version made by Google. Aereo says its Android app will run on phones and tablets with Android 4.2 or higher. It will be in a beta test mode at first. On iPhones and iPads, Aereo is accessible through the device's Web browser. Aereo opted to develop a stand-alone app for Android to give subscribers a consistent experience on a wide range of devices.
The groups are among several that have played an increasingly active role in Republican primary elections in recent years, several times supporting tea party-aligned challengers. In some cases - Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, for one - they went on to victory in the fall. In more, they lost seemingly winnable races to Democrats. One survivor of such a challenge, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said during the day that the Heritage Foundation is in danger of losing its clout as a reliable conservative think tank because of the actions of its political arm, Heritage Action. In an interview on MSNBC, he said, "There's a real question in the minds of many Republicans now. ... Is Heritage going to go so political that it really doesn't amount to anything anymore?" Heritage Action played an influential role in the two-week political showdown. In the days leading to the impasse, it was a strong backer of the campaign to demand that "Obamacare" be defunded in exchange for Republican approval of funding for the government. And on Tuesday, as it was hosting a fundraiser at a high-end golf resort in Bandon, Ore., the group weighed in to oppose legislation that House Speaker John Boehner put together in hopes of retaining influence in the final negotiations over the impasse in Washington. Yet another group, Americans for Limited Government, assailed Rep. Scott Rigell, R-Va., who voted for the legislation that reopened the government and raised the debt limit. Noting that the measure had not defunded the health care law, the group said the congressman "owns Obamacare just as much as if it had been a vote to adopt it in the first place." In a statement issued on Wednesday in connection with his vote, Rigell said he was voting for the bill "given the lack of a viable alternative at this moment." Other Republicans have said for weeks that the strategy of demanding Obama kill off the health care law he won from Congress never had a chance of success. "This was a terrible idea," Sen. John McCain of Arizona said on CNN of the shutdown. He said it will not happen again when the next deadlines arrive - "I guarantee it." But
in
a
party
divided,
there
were
dissenters.
"Obamacare is still fully intact, out-of-control spending continues, the debt limit is raised without addressing unsustainable spending, and only vague promises are left to address these key issues," the Tea Party Express said in an online fundraising appeal. Referring to next year's elections, the group said, "To put it plain and simple: We don't have enough conservatives in Congress to stop the irresponsible spending in Washington."
tors
Spending will be the focus for the high-level budget negotiawho began their new assignment Thursday.
"Talking doesn't guarantee success," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, senior Democrat on the House Budget Committee, after he met with Democratic Sen. Murray, Republican House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, senior Republican on the Senate committee. But, Van Hollen added, "if you don't get together, obviously you don't move forward."
Aereo converts television signals into computer data and sends them over the Internet to subscribers' computers and mobile devices. Subscribers can watch channels live or record them with an Internet-based digital video recorder. In addition to overthe-air channels in the subscriber's market, Aereo offers the financial cable channel Bloomberg TV. Aereo is currently available in New York, Boston, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Miami, Houston and Dallas. It has plans to expand to at least 26 additional markets by next year. Service starts at $8 a month. Aereo has won key court rulings against broadcasters that claim its service infringes copyrights. The victories include a ruling in Boston on Tuesday denying ABC station WCVB's request for a preliminary injunction to stop Aereo's service. However, the judge in Boston also denied Aereo's request to move the case to New York, where Aereo has prevailed at the appellate level in two similar lawsuits.
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The Weekly News Digest, October 21, 2013
U S S H U T D O W N T H R E A T E N S H O P E S F O R A N T A R C T I C R E S E R V E region, raised objections.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- The U.S. government shutdown is threatening a long-awaited deal to create the world's largest marine sanctuary in Antarctica. Americans are among the most enthusiastic proponents, but they might not make it to the negotiating table.
The U.S. and New Zealand revised their plans, reducing the sanctuary's proposed size by 40 percent. Environmental groups including Pew criticized the changes initially but have come to embrace the current proposal.
The U.S., New Zealand and other countries have sought a sanctuary in the pristine waters of the Ross Sea for the past decade, and there are hopes that previous objectors Russia and Ukraine will agree to a new, smaller proposal when the nations that regulate Antarctic fishing meet next week in Hobart, Australia. On Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry joined his counterparts from other nations in calling for the sanctuary to proceed. But the U.S. had apparently already suspended travel plans for its delegation. If they don't make it, the proposal probably will be put on hold until next year at least. Gerry Leape, a senior international policy expert at Pew Charitable Trusts, said he's spoken to members of the U.S. delegation and he understands that their travel has been suspended because of the shutdown. David Edginton, a spokesman with the U.S. Embassy in Wellington, said he was unable to comment on whether the U.S. delegation will be traveling to Australia. Leape said the suspension could be lifted on short notice, either if the shutdown ends or if the delegation gets special permission to travel. Under normal circumstances, he said, the delegation would already be in Australia and working its diplomatic channels in pre-meetings. "It would be a real missed opportunity if the U.S. isn't able to go," he said. "I hope the situation changes, but they haven't come to an agreement yet."
Next week the Antarctic nations also plan to consider a separate proposal to create a series of smaller marine reserves in East Antarctica. Those areas would come with less stringent protections than those in the Ross Sea proposal. People involved in the negotiations say Russia remains the key to completing the Ross Sea agreement, with Ukraine likely to follow Moscow's lead.
Photo provided by Aurora Expeditions, an inflatable boat carries tourists past an iceberg along the Antarctic Peninsula. The U.S. government shutdown is threatening a long-awaited deal to create the world’s largest marine sanctuary in Antarctica. Americans are among the biggest supporters of the proposal, but they might not make it to the negotiating table. On Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2013, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry joined his counterparts from other nations in calling for the sanctuary to proceed. But the U.S. had apparently already suspended travel plans for its delegation. If they don’t make it, the proposal probably will be put on hold until next year at least.
Jointly proposed by the U.S. and New Zealand, the 1.34 millionsquare-kilometer (517,000-square-mile) sanctuary would be twice the size of Texas and the world's largest stretch of protected ocean. Progress on the sanctuary has already been painfully slow. The nations that make decisions about Antarctic fishing - 24 countries plus the European Union - do so only by unanimous agreement. A proposal for a larger sanctuary failed in July when Russia and the Ukraine, which have fishing interests in the
New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said Wednesday that Russia was ready to talk. "I'm aware that there are some plans for dialogue with the Russian delegation, which is an encouraging sign," he said. "We are certainly moving in a better direction than we have been previously." Members of the Russian delegation didn't respond to emails from The Associated Press. The head of the U.S. delegation, Evan Bloom, said in an interview last month that the size of the proposed sanctuary was reduced based on the findings of a committee which gives scientific advice to the nations, and that it remained faithful to the original objectives. "One has to make tactical decisions in negotiations," said Bloom, the director of the U.S. State Department's Office of Ocean and Polar Affairs. "I still think the proposal is very strong, very robust, very pro-conservation, and viable."
1.8M-YEAR-OLD SKULL GIVES D I N O S A U R G L I M P S E O F O U R E VO L U T I O N S K E L E T O N T O BE AUCTIONED IN UK "Danny DeVito, Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal are the same species," Lordkipanidze said.
The adult male skull found wasn't from our species, Homo sapiens. It was from an ancestral species - in the same genus or class called Homo - that led to modern humans. Scientists say the Dmanisi population is likely an early part of our long-lived primary ancestral species, Homo erectus. Tim White of the University of California, Berkeley, wasn't part of the study but praised it as "the first good evidence of what these expanding hominids looked like and what they were doing."
In this photo taken Oct. 2, 2013, in Tbilisi, Georgia, David Lordkipanidze, director of the Georgia National Museum, holds a pre-human skull found in 2005 in the ground at the medieval village Dmanisi, Georgia. The discovery of a 1.8 million-year-old human ancestor, the most complete ancient hominid skull found to date, captures early human evolution on the move in a vivid snapshot and indicates our family tree may have fewer branches than originally thought, scientists say.
DMANISI, Georgia (AP) -- The discovery of a 1.8-million-year-old skull of a human ancestor buried under a medieval Georgian village provides a vivid picture of early evolution and indicates our family tree may have fewer branches than some believe, scientists say. The fossil is the most complete pre-human skull uncovered. With other partial remains previously found at the rural site, it gives researchers the earliest evidence of human ancestors moving out of Africa and spreading north to the rest of the world, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science. The skull and other remains offer a glimpse of a population of prehumans of various sizes living at the same time - something that scientists had not seen before for such an ancient era. This diversity bolsters one of two competing theories about the way our early ancestors evolved, spreading out more like a tree than a bush. Nearly all of the previous pre-human discoveries have been fragmented bones, scattered over time and locations - like a smattering of random tweets of our evolutionary history. The findings at Dmanisi are more complete, weaving more of a short story. Before the site was found, the movement from Africa was put at about 1 million years ago.
Fred Spoor at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, a competitor and proponent of a busy family tree with many species disagreed with the study's overall conclusion, but he lauded the Georgia skull discovery as critical and even beautiful. "It really shows the process of evolution in action," he said. Spoor said it seems to have captured a crucial point in the evolutionary process where our ancestors transitioned from Homo habilis to Homo erectus - although the study authors said that depiction is going a bit too far. The researchers found the first part of the skull, a large jaw, below a medieval fortress in 2000. Five years later - on Lordkipanidze's 42nd birthday - they unearthed the well-preserved skull, gingerly extracted it, putting it into a cloth-lined case and popped champagne. It matched the jaw perfectly. They were probably separated when our ancestor lost a fight with a hungry carnivore, which pulled apart his skull and jaw bones, Lordkipanidze said. The skull was from an adult male just shy of 5 feet (1.5 meters) with a massive jaw and big teeth, but a small brain, implying limited thinking capability, said study co-author Marcia Ponce de Leon of the University of Zurich. It also seems to be the point where legs are getting longer, for walking upright, and smaller hips, she said. "This is a strange combination of features that we didn't know before in early Homo," Ponce de Leon said.
Even bush-favoring scientists say these findings show one single species nearly 2 million years ago at the former Soviet republic site. But they disagree that the same conclusion can be said for bones found elsewhere, such as Africa. However, Lordkipanidze and colleagues point out that the skulls found in Georgia are different sizes but are considered to be the same species. So, they reason, it's likely the various skulls found in different places and times in Africa may not be different species, but variations in one species. To see how a species can vary, just look in the mirror, they said.
LONDON (AP) — A huge dinosaur skeleton found in the United States in 2009 is being auctioned in Britain. Summers Place Auctions said the female Diplodocus longus skeleton, nicknamed "Misty," measures 55 feet (17 meters) long and 19 feet (6 meters) tall. It said it was found mostly intact near a quarry in Wyoming by accident, and the skeleton was treated at a fossil laboratory in Holland before being assembled in Britain. Author Errol Fuller, who curates the auction, said there are about six such skeletons in museums around the world, including those in Pittsburg and Washington. The auction house, in southern England's West Sussex, said Wednesday the skeleton would go under the hammer on Nov. 27.
When examined with the earlier Georgian finds, the skull "shows that this special immigration out of Africa happened much earlier than we thought and a much more primitive group did it," said study lead author David Lordkipanidze, director of the Georgia National Museum. "This is important to understanding human evolution." For years, some scientists have said humans evolved from only one or two species, much like a tree branches out from a trunk, while others say the process was more like a bush with several offshoots that went nowhere.
A large dinosaur skeleton is placed at a warehouse of an auction house in Billinghurst, England, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2013. The 17-metre specimen is a Diplodocus longus, one of the biggest animals ever to have walked on earth , some 150 million years ago, according to the auction house. This female Diplodocus, 'Misty' as it was nicknamed, carries an estimate of 400,000600,000 British pounds, (some 637,000-956,000 US dollars, some 472,000- 709,000 Euros), will be part of Summers Place Auctions Evolution Sale on Nov. 27, 2013.
The sellers say it is likely to sell for more than 400,000 pounds ($640,000).
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