My footsteps

| 3 Tennessee players named in armed robbery attempt

2009-11-13T17:16:00.001-08:00

3-Tennessee-players-named-in-armed-robbery-attempt KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -Three freshmen Tennessee football players, including highly touted wide receiver recruit NuKeese Richardson and starting safety Janzen Jackson, were charged with attempted armed robbery Thursday morning.

Richardson, 18, and Jackson, 18, along with defensive back Mike Edwards, 18, and companion Marie Montmarquet, 22, were charged after a report of an armed robbery at a gas station in an area known as The Strip at the edge of Tennessees campus.

It was not clear if any of the suspects had hired a lawyer.

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At this time we are currently evaluating the circumstances surrounding an incident involving Mike Edwards, Janzen Jackson and NuKeese Richardson, athletic director Mike Hamilton said. Any decisions or comments regarding their status will not be made until the evaluations are complete.

The three victims told police they were sitting in their parked vehicle about 2 a.m. Thursday at a gas station near Tennessees campus when two males dressed in hooded jackets, one brandishing a handgun, approached and demanded, Give us everything youve got.

The victims stated that they all presented their wallets to the suspects and showed them that they did not have money, the police report said. The victims stated that a third black male then approached and told the other two black males, Weve got to go.

The three suspects were seen leaving in a Toyota Prius, and police pulled over a vehicle matching the description on Tennessees campus. Police spotted a pellet gun and hooded jackets and later found drug paraphernalia and a bag of what appeared to be marijuana.

Police say Montmarquet told them the drug paraphernalia and substance belonged to her and she was charged with simple possession.

The victims identified Richardson and Edwards as the men who approached their vehicle.

Richardson, a highly touted recruit from Pahokee, Fla., originally committed to Florida but switched to Tennessee after being recruited by coach Lane Kiffin. Kiffin joked in a February recruiting celebration that Florida coach Urban Meyer cheated in trying to keep Richardson as a Gator, earning Kiffin a reprimand from the Southeastern Conference.

Richardson had told Kiffin recently he was frustrated with his lack of production but scored his first touchdown in a 56-28 win over Memphis on Saturday. Hes had six catches this season for 58 yards and served as a punt return specialist.

Edwards, a Cleveland, Ohio, native has played in eight games this season and registered five tackles.

Jackson, a Lake Charles, La., native, has started seven games this season, logging 33 tackles and a forced fumble. He was suspended for the Memphis game, a week after he was named SEC freshman of the week for a strong performance against South Carolina.

Neither Jackson nor Kiffin would say why he was suspended, but Jackson said after Wednesday afternoons practice that losing playing time would discourage him from making poor decisions off the playing field.

It kind of felt like being injured and watching your team play ... it kind of had the same feeling, but to know it was my fault, so it kind of feels a little bit worse, Jackson said. Its in the past now, and Im back to work.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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} - | 3 Tennessee players named in armed robbery attempt |

| Jackson private funeral costs: roughly $1 million

2009-11-12T09:18:00.001-08:00

Jackson-private-funeral-costs:-roughly-$1-million

LOS ANGELES – Michael Jacksons private family funeral was fit for a king and had a price tag to match: roughly $1 million.

Court documents released Tuesday showed that his mother, his brother, Randy, and sister, Janet, were involved in the planning and mindful of the huge amount of media attention that would be lavished on the Sept. 3 funeral.

Lawyers for Jacksons mother applied to the estates administrators and were granted $1 million to pay for costs that included burial, flowers, cars, security and a post-funeral dinner.

The private ceremony for the King of Pop was held at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, Calif. weeks after a public tribute to the singer at Staples Center.

- | Jackson private funeral costs: roughly $1 million |

| Senate rejects bid aimed at Sept 11 terrorists

2009-11-09T21:00:00.001-08:00

Senate-rejects-bid-aimed-at-Sept.-11-terrorists

WASHINGTON – The Democratic-controlled Senate on Thursday turned back a GOP-led effort to bar Sept. 11 terrorists from being prosecuted in civilian federal courts.

Instead, senators voted 54-45 to support a request by Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Attorney General Eric Holder to have the option of prosecuting Sept. 11 terrorists such as accused mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in either federal courts or by military commission.

The vote capped an impassioned — and substantive — Senate debate between those who believe the Sept. 11 terrorists simply dont belong in civilian courtrooms and those who say deciding where to prosecute them should be left to the best judgment of the Pentagon and the Justice Department.

Opponents noted that the government prosecuted 195 terrorists in civilian courts since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, with a 91 percent conviction and that only three terrorists have been tried before military tribunals.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., led the drive to require those accused of plotting the attacks to be tried in military courts. He said its wrong to treat the assaults as a criminal act instead of an act of war and that Sept. 11 terrorists dont deserve the same constitutional rights as U.S. citizens.

Supporters of Graham said trials have disclosed intelligence that proved useful to al-Qaida. The trial of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the blind sheik convicted of plotting in the 1990s to blow up New York landmarks, revealed a list of co-conspirators that made its way to Osama bin Laden.

What happened in the blind sheik trial? Graham said. Because it was a civilian court built around trying common criminals, the court didnt have the protections military commissions will have to protect this nations secrets and classified information.

Democratic opponents of the idea said U.S. courts have processed far more terrorists than military ones and that the decision of where to prosecute the terrorists is best made by the Pentagon and Justice departments working in collaboration.

Our courts and our criminal justice system can handle this challenge, indeed, has handled it many times already, said Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. Were the most powerful nation on Earth. Were the most tested court system on Earth. Are we going to tell the world with all our power, with all of our history ... were not up to trying people?

Five of the accused Sept. 11 plotters are being held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility, which the Obama administration is struggling to close.

The debate on 9/11 terrorist trials comes as Congress and the administration are grappling over President Barack Obamas order to close Guantanamo in January. Under GOP pressure, Congress has enacted curbs on the movement of detainees. Release into the U.S. has been banned entirely, though Democrats have turned back Republican efforts to ban transfer of Guantanamo detainees into the country to face trial.

Gates and Holder weighed in last week against Grahams amendment, saying the two agencies are engaged in a careful case-by-case evaluation of Guantanamo detainees.

They also said in a letter to Senate leaders that the U.S. must be in a position to use every instrument of national power — including both courts and military commissions — to ensure that terrorists are brought to justice.

Grahams amendment was co-sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and John McCain, R-Ariz., and was offered to a spending bill funding the Justice Department budget. The bill subsequently passed by a 71-28 vote.

- | Senate rejects bid aimed at Sept 11 terrorists |

| Venezuela investigates slaying of Chavez foe

2009-11-02T18:19:00.001-08:00

Venezuela-investigates-slaying-of-Chavez-foe

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuelan authorities are investigating the shooting death of an opponent of President Hugo Chavez.

Prosecutors say a lone gunman approached Gustavo Gonzalez, a member of the Copei opposition party, at a restaurant, fatally shot the politician in the head and fled on a motorcycle driven by an accomplice.

The shooting occurred Monday in the city of Los Teques, the capital of Miranda state. Gonzalez was a member of the Miranda state legislature.

Copei spokesman Alejandro Vivas said in a statement that the slaying appeared to be a hired killing, but he did not mention a possible motive.

Violent crime including kidnapping and murder are on the rise in Venezuela, according to human rights groups.

- | Venezuela investigates slaying of Chavez foe |

| Clinton in Morocco to meet with Arab leaders

2009-11-01T18:45:00.001-08:00

Clinton-in-Morocco-to-meet-with-Arab-leaders

MARRAKECH, Morocco – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in this North African city early Sunday for a series of meetings with Arab leaders to discuss Middle East peace and other issues.

The top U.S. diplomat, on the last stop of a weeklong Mideast trip, is praising Israel for unprecedented concessions in the interest of restarting peace talks with the Palestinians, but her shuttle diplomacy produced no sign of a breakthrough.

The Palestinians on Saturday rejected Israels offer to show restraint in settlement construction in the West Bank, rather than completely halting building. Clinton spoke approvingly of the Israeli offer, knowing it is at odds with the prevailing Palestinian view.

After talks Saturday in the Persian Gulf with Palestinians and in Jerusalem with Israelis, Clinton flew to Marrakech where she will consultation with Arab foreign ministers. She arrived Sunday at sunrise.

Palestinian leaders have said they will not return to peace talks with Israel unless it stops all settlement building on lands they claim for a future state, and they believe Israel has blatantly defied a U.S. demand for a settlement freeze.

Speaking Saturday at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Clinton said Israel is putting significant limits on settlement activity.

What the prime minister has offered in specifics on restraints on a policy of settlements ... is unprecedented, she said.

The issue has become the biggest sticking point in getting Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. Clinton made it clear that she wasnt pleased with Israeli settlement construction but that it was no reason to hold up talks.

There are always demands made in any negotiation that are not going to be fully realized, she said.

Clinton also agreed with a statement by Netanyahu that Palestinians had never demanded a settlement freeze in the past as a condition for sitting down with Israel.

Her comments represented a significant departure in tone from her previous statements demanding a total Israeli settlement freeze without exception. Israel has been resisting that demand for months, and has given no indication it would be willing to call a total freeze.

Clintons main aim during her one-day visit to Israel was to resuscitate the Obama administrations flagging Mideast peace push by persuading the two sides to return to talks.

But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is sticking to his refusal to resume negotiations until Israel stops building settlements. Abbas is fighting a perception among his people that he repeatedly caves in to U.S. demands.

Abbas spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh, responding to Clintons comments, said, There can be no excuse for the continuation of settlements, which is really the main obstacle in the way of any credible peace process.

Israel is not interested in stopping its settlement activities and the American administration didnt succeed in convincing the Israeli government to stop these activities, he said. There should be a real change in the Israeli position toward this issue in order for the peace process to be restarted.

Earlier in the day, a top aide to Abbas, Saeb Erekat, told The Associated Press that Abbas rejected Clintons request that he allow Israels government to complete building 3,000 units in Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and to allow the government to construct public buildings and continue construction in east Jerusalem — a territory Palestinians hope will be their future capital.

This is a nonstarter, Erekat said. And thats why its unlikely to restart negotiations.

Before visiting Israel, Clinton met with Abbas in the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi. Besides meeting Netanyahu, Clinton also held talks with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

Palestinians see Jewish settlement building as one of the biggest threats to their ability to form a viable state in the territories of the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Some 500,000 Israelis live in settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

Hamas control over Gaza is another main stumbling block to peace efforts. The group violently seized control of Gaza from Abbas forces two years ago, leaving the Palestinians with rival governments. Hamas has long preached that Abbas moderation doesnt pay and that only armed struggle will produce a Palestinian state.

- | Clinton in Morocco to meet with Arab leaders |

| Swiss visit American hikers held in Iran

2009-10-30T18:28:00.001-07:00

Swiss-visit-American-hikers-held-in-Iran

WASHINGTON –
Swiss diplomats visited three Americans jailed in Iran and found them in good physical condition and happy to see them, their families said Friday almost three months after the trio were arrested for hiking across the Iraqi border.

The families appealed in a statement to the Iranian government to allow them to speak directly with the three -- Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27 -- expressing concern they remained in custody.

"Every time our telephones ring, we hope it is them calling to tell us they?ve been released," they said in the statement.

The Swiss diplomats visited the Americans at Tehran's notorious Evin prison on Thursday for 40 minutes, bringing them clothes and books and writing materials.

It was the second consular visit by the Swiss, following initial access on September 29. The Swiss embassy in Tehran represents US interests in Iran.

"We were informed via the State Department that Shane, Sarah and Josh are in good physical shape and we?re obviously happy they received another visit," the families said.

"We hope the next time they meet Shane, Sarah and Josh will be very soon and it will be to put them on a flight home," the families said.

The three US citizens went missing on July 31 after setting out on a hike from Iraq's northern Kurdistan region near the Iranian border. Iran later notified the United States, through the Swiss embassy in Tehran, of their arrest.

Relatives of the three travelers said the hikers strayed in the poorly marked border area, but Iranian authorities say they are not yet satisfied about the Americans' intentions.

- | Swiss visit American hikers held in Iran |

| A drywall between China and the US

2009-10-29T20:54:00.001-07:00

A-drywall-between-China-and-the-U.S. SHANGHAI - Top U.S. safety officials were meeting with their Chinese counterparts to discuss complaints from American homeowners of illness and other damage from suspect drywall imported from China.

Consumer Products Safety Commission Chairman Inez Tenenbaum said Friday that the two sides were talking about the issue while they await results of tests on what is causing the problems.

All were asking is for them to realize that in the global economy everyone has to be responsible to the end user, the consumer. Were asking them to participate in this in ways that are just and fair, Tenenbaum said in an interview with The Associated Press.

American construction companies imported the drywall, also known as wallboard or gypsum board, at the height of the housing boom, when building materials were in short supply. The drywall apparently causes a chemical reaction releasing fumes that reek like rotten eggs and grows worse with heat and humidity.

U.S. homeowners, mostly in the Southeast, say the drywall is making them sick and corroding wiring throughout their homes. Lawmakers from Florida, Louisiana and elsewhere are pressing Tenenbaum for answers about its safety.

The costs to homeowners could be in the billions of dollars, according to some estimates, and homeowners have struggled to get help from insurers or relief from mortgage payments on homes that are in some cases uninhabitable.

Builders have filed lawsuits against suppliers and manufacturers, claiming they unknowingly used the bad building materials. But progress will likely depend on the results of tests on affected homes and materials. Some of those results are due next week, with more due next month.

In the meantime, Tenenbaum, who was in China for annual seminars on product safety and regulations, said CPSC staff were meeting with officials from Beijings product safety watchdog, the Administration of Quality Supervision Inspection and Quarantine.

Weve been continuing our dialogue with them on what were finding and keeping them up-to-date on the situation, she said.

Product safety problems
The drywall problem is the latest in a slew of product safety troubles that have prompted a tightening of standards and enforcement both in China and overseas.

Tenenbaum said the Chinese side has helped with technical aspects of her agencys investigation.

They have been most cooperative in that regard, she said.

The CPSC delegation was also updating the Chinese side on U.S. regulations. Among them, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act or CPSIA, that took effect in August and imposes heavy fines for violation of rules meant to protect children from lead, which can cause irreversible brain damage.

Fridays talks were mainly devoted to new mandatory safety standards for all-terrain vehicles, which the CPSC says are involved in 900 deaths and more than 150,000 injuries every year in the U.S., many of them children.

Tenenbaum, who took over the CPSC in June, said she expected the U.S. to end up with mandatory standards for drywall, in line with the shift toward such requirements for toys and some other products.

In a global economy, with goods coming from all over the world, its important that we have clear standards that we can enforce on imports, she said.

The CPSC, headquartered in Bethesda, Md., has about 500 employees and oversees about 15,000 products.

- | A drywall between China and the US |

| Marshalls elect new president in narrow vote

2009-10-25T19:54:00.001-07:00

Marshalls-elect-new-president-in-narrow-vote

MAJURO –
Traditional chief Jurelang Zedkaia was Monday elected president of the Marshall Islands by a slender 17-15 margin, replacing Litokwa Tomeing who was ousted in a no-confidence vote last week.

Zedkaia, the parliamentary speaker in the Tomeing government, was elected in swift ballot of legislators that took less than 15 minutes to end days of tense lobbying.

He defeated the only other nominee, former president Kessai Note, 17-15, government officials said.

The vote saw party lines blurred with Senator Brenson Wase describing political affiliations as being mixed "as a fruit salad" with political parties fractured following three motions of no confidence over the past 12 months.

Zedkaia, a five-term senator and paramount chief for the capital atoll of Majuro, was speaker during Tomeing's 22 months in office and was a vice speaker in earlier administrations.

Tomeing was the first leader to lose a no-confidence vote in the 30-year history of constitutional government in the former US Trust territory of around 55,000 people.

The vote followed a power struggle between Tomeing and Note who was vying to return to power after he lost office in the last election.

- | Marshalls elect new president in narrow vote |

| Clinton cites nuke worry; panel fears bio attack

2009-10-22T19:07:00.001-07:00

Clinton-cites-nuke-worry;-panel-fears-bio-attack

WASHINGTON – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Wednesday warned of dire consequences from the spread of nuclear weapons, while a special U.S. panel asserted that the more worrisome and urgent threat is terrorists attacking the United States or its allies with biological weapons.

In a speech outlining the Obama administrations nuclear arms agenda, Clinton cited a range of troubling trends abroad, including a failure to stop North Korea from developing a nuclear bomb and weakness in the United Nations agency that is responsible for monitoring nuclear programs worldwide.

Unless these trends are reversed — and reversed soon — we will find ourselves in a world with a steadily growing number of nuclear-armed states and an increasing likelihood of terrorists getting their hands on nuclear weapons, Clinton said.

Separately, a panel created by Congress, the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, said the U.S. was making better progress in regard to the nuclear threat than it was preparing for possible bioterrorism.

The nations level of preparedness for dealing with the threat of bioterrorism remains far lower than that of the nuclear threat, the commission said in a lengthy report titled The Clock Is Ticking.

It said the government needs to move more aggressively to address the threat of bioterrorism, and that the threat is misunderstood by many.

Unlike nuclear weapons, which require highly advanced technology, massive infrastructure, and rare materials that can be closely monitored and secured, biological weapons materials occur naturally, require no significant infrastructure to produce and can be found in nearly every part of the world, the commission said.

As technology advances, the ability to prevent biological attacks diminishes.

The commission lauded the White Houses National Security Council for creating a bioweapons prevention strategy, which the panel said was the first of its kind. But it said the NSC needs a senior official whose sole responsibility is to improve the countrys capability to defend against a bioweapons attack.

The near-term biodefense goal of the United States should be to limit the consequences of a bioweapons attack, the panel said. The long-term goal should be to improve post-attack capabilities for rapid recognition, response and recovery to a level that bioterrorism would no longer be considered a weapon of mass destruction.

The commission did not discount the significance of the nuclear threat, while calling it less urgent.

The current trends, if left unchecked, will increase the odds that al-Qaida will successfully develop and use a biological weapon or a nuclear device against the United States or its allies, it said.

Atop Clintons list of key challenges in the spread of nuclear weapons technology was North Korea, which has an active nuclear weapons program in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The international community failed to prevent North Korea from developing nuclear weapons, she said.

While reiterating the administrations willingness to hold one-on-one talks with North Korea, Clinton said it would be insufficient for that country to simply return to negotiations over its nuclear program.

Current sanctions will not be relaxed until Pyongyang takes verifiable, irreversible steps toward complete denuclearization, she told members of the U.S. Institute of Peace, a think tank. Its leaders should be under no illusion that the United States will ever have normal, sanctions-free relations with a nuclear-armed North Korea.

Clinton also faulted Iran, which asserts that it has no intention of building nuclear weapons, for ignoring calls by the U.N. Security Council to suspend its enrichment of uranium. Iran says it is enriching uranium to make fuel required to run a network of electricity-generating nuclear reactors.

She called for prompt action by Iran to execute an emerging plan to use its own low-enriched uranium to refuel a research reactor in Tehran — an arrangement that would greatly reduce the amount of enriched uranium available to Iran for potential further processing and illicit use in making a nuclear weapon.

Clinton did not mention talks Wednesday in Vienna meant to work out such an arrangement. Iranian negotiators expressed support for the deal, as long as it is accepted by their leaders. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei said negotiators from Iran, the U.S., Russia and France had accepted a draft deal and that he hoped for final approval from all four countries by Friday.

Clinton also lamented the failure of the IAEA to detect what Washington insists was a nuclear reactor in Syria, which was destroyed in a 2007 Israeli airstrike, as well as a recently revealed uranium-enrichment facility that Iran had kept secret for some years.

The IAEA should make full use of existing verification authorities, including special inspections, she said. But it should also be given new authorities, including the ability to investigate suspected nuclear weapons-related activities even when no nuclear materials are present. And if we expect the IAEA to be a bulwark of the nonproliferation regime, we must also give it the resources necessary to do its job.

The Syrian Embassy in Washington issued a statement in response to Clintons speech, asserting that it has abided by all its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, regardless of the false accusations leveled by some circles.

The Syrians also commended Clintons push for bolstering the non-proliferation treaty and for declaring a goal of a world free of nuclear weapons. But it said the U.S. efforts are undermined by its unwillingness to push Israel to sign the treaty, even though Israel allegedly has a substantial nuclear arsenal.

- | Clinton cites nuke worry; panel fears bio attack |

| US military deaths in Iraq war at 4351

2009-10-21T03:01:00.001-07:00

US-military-deaths-in-Iraq-war-at-4,351

As of Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2009, at least 4,351 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

The figure includes nine military civilians killed in action. At least 3,474 military personnel died as a result of hostile action, according to the militarys numbers.

The AP count is four fewer than the Defense Departments tally, last updated Tuesday at 10 a.m. EDT.

The British military has reported 179 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia and Georgia, three each; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand and Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan and South Korea, one death each.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,536 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Departments weekly tally.

___

The latest deaths reported by the military:

• A soldier died Monday when a roadside bomb detonated near his vehicle in Ninevah province.

___

The latest identifications reported by the military:

• Army Pfc. Daniel J. Rivera, 22, Rochester, N.Y.; died Sunday in a vehicle accident in Mosul; assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.

___

On the Net:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/

- | US military deaths in Iraq war at 4351 |

| Mario Lopez shares family’s pork taco recipe

2009-10-20T17:16:00.001-07:00

Mario-Lopez-shares-family’s-pork-taco-recipe Lopez pork tacoMario Lopez - | Mario Lopez shares family’s pork taco recipe |

| Rainy-day oil funds see Mideast through downturn

2009-10-20T06:16:00.001-07:00

Rainy-day-oil-funds-see-Mideast-through-downturn

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The Middle East has weathered the global economic downturn better than other parts of the world because its energy exporters were able to tap billions of dollars in oil profits collected when prices were booming, the International Monetary Fund said Sunday.

By reaching into those reserves, major oil producers like Saudi Arabia shielded their economies from the worst of the slump by maintaining government spending and injecting liquidity into domestic banking systems rattled by the credit crisis.

Doing so not only blunted the impact of the downturn on their own economies, but also helped shore up the economies of neighboring countries without large oil reserves, the IMF said.

By and large, they all responded quickly and decisively. ... They continued spending, the IMFs Middle East and Central Asia Director Masood Ahmed said of the major oil exporters. This acted, if you like, as a bit of a circuit breaker in terms of not having that shock transmit itself into the non-oil economy.

That spending came at a price.

The IMF estimates Mideast oil exporters together drew down their rainy-day reserves by nearly $350 billion over the past year. That figure includes the major exporters in the Persian Gulf as well as far smaller exporters such as Sudan and Yemen.

The interesting thing for me is not so much that it happened, but the magnitude, Ahmed said at a presentation of the report in Dubai.

The plunge in oil prices from last years record high near $150 a barrel has left the Middle Easts oil exporters with less revenue to replenish its cash reserves this year.

The IMF expects the portion of the countries economies based on oil to fall by 3.5 percent this year. That drop is partially offset by slower but still positive growth of 3.2 percent in the rest of the economy.

Next year, the IMF expects the regions oil exporters will see both the oil and non-oil parts of the economy rise by around 4 percent.

A rebound in demand for oil should also allow energy exporters to refill their coffers with more than $100 billion in oil revenue next year, the IMF predicts.

Mideast countries without oil exports to fall back on have been only moderately hurt by the global recession, the IMF said.

That is because they are not so tightly linked to the global banking system, and because trade and labor ties allowed them to benefit from richer neighbors willingness to spend.

The fact that countries have maintained spending had positive spillover effects ... to the oil importers, which are also labor exporters, said Nasser Saidi, chief economist of the Dubai International Financial Center.

Much of that gain came from money sent home by Arab workers living in Dubai and other Gulf business hubs.

Those worker remittances officially account for 15 percent of Jordans economy, and more than 20 percent of the economies of Lebanon and Egypt, though unofficial remittance levels may be double that, Saidi said.

So remittances played a very, very important role, he said.

The IMF expects the economies of the regions non-oil exporters to grow at 3.6 percent this year, down from 5 percent in 2008.

Just as their economies took a less severe hit during the downturn the IMF expects they can only look forward to a very modest rebound as the world economy improves.

- | Rainy-day oil funds see Mideast through downturn |

| Delfino Daye suspended for NBA altercation

2009-10-10T19:15:00.001-07:00

Delfino,-Daye-suspended-for-NBA-altercation

NEW YORK –
Argentine guard Carlos Delfino of the Milwaukee Bucks and American Austin Daye, a Detroit Pistons forward, were each suspended one game on Saturday by the National Basketball Association.

The bans, which will force each man to the bench in the first regular-season game of the 2009-2010 campaign in which he is healthy and on the roster, came due to an altercation between them in a pre-season game Wednesday night.

Daye was suspended for striking Delfino in the face. Delfino was banished for retaliating by swinging at Daye.

The incident took place with 34.1 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter of host Detroit?s 113-104 win over Milwaukee.

The NBA season opens October 27.

- | Delfino Daye suspended for NBA altercation |

| Couple married for 63 years to reunite in home

2009-10-10T06:07:00.001-07:00

Couple-married-for-63-years-to-reunite-in-home HONOLULU - A couple forced to live apart after more than 60 years of marriage will soon be reunited thanks to a new law changing Hawaiis rules for residential nursing care.

Gov. Linda Lingle signed a measure Wednesday that will allow 87-year-old Terry Kaide to move into the same residential care home as her husband Sidney, 89, for the first time in two years.

Im so happy, said Terry Kaide, who cried with joy as she watched from her wheelchair while Lingle signed the bill. I feel great because now we dont have to get permission to live together. Were free to move in.

The Big Island couple, married for 63 years, had become the unintended victims of rules that allow only two Medicaid clients and one private-pay client to be in the same residential care home.

The problem for the Kaides was they paid using private insurance and savings. In 2007, that forced them to live apart if Sidney Kaide was to receive the care he needed.

The law allowing only one paying resident in each foster home was intended to ensure that most of the beds in such homes were available to low-income people on Medicaid.

The new law allows married couples, reciprocal beneficiaries, siblings, parents of a child or best friends to live together in the homes even if they arent covered by Medicaid.

My dad doesnt have much longer, and she at least wants to be with him, said daughter Annette Clay. Shes been very depressed and very lonely, and there wasnt much we could do to help her.

Following Terry Kaides back surgery two years ago, she sought exemptions to the law from the governor, the government department that certifies the home and the attorney general.

Everyone wanted the Kaides to spend the rest of their lives together, but there was no reading of the law that would allow it. So the Kaides and their three daughters decided to persuade state legislators to change it.

While her father cant talk or walk and gets his food from a feeding tube, Terry Kaide said he squeezes her hand when she visits to show that he loves her and understands.

State officials said the third bed in the community care home, which is funded with state and federal government money, has been certified and Terry Kaide can move in immediately. Previously, the law prevented her from moving in even though only two people were living there.

She visited her husband every day, paying her caregiver $500 a month to drive her 10 miles from her home to the town of Papaikou, almost 10 miles away from her husband.

It ends an injustice for one family and it brings hope to families who may find themselves in a similar situation, Lingle said at the bills signing ceremony. Its about real people and their lives together.

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| 1 in 4 teens with own car has been in a crash

2009-10-10T00:25:00.001-07:00

1-in-4-teens-with-own-car-has-been-in-a-crash CHICAGO - Parents beware: Giving in to teens demands for their own cars can have dangerous consequences, new research suggests.

Teenagers with their own cars or free use of one are much more likely to get in crashes than those who share a car. And crashes are much less common among teens whose parents set clear driving safety rules.

The findings are in two studies by researchers at Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia and funded by State Farm Insurance Co. They were released Friday and are in the October issue of Pediatrics.

The researchers say the findings can help parents keep their kids from becoming a grim statistic: Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for U.S. teens, killing more than 5,000 each year.

Getting a drivers license and car are often viewed as rite of passage for U.S. teens, and many parents underestimate the risks.

More than 7,000 people nationwide were killed in crashes involving teen drivers in 2007, government data show. More than 3,000 of these deaths were teen drivers, and more than 250,000 teen drivers were injured.

With teen drivers, you have to recognize that its a public health issue, said Dr. Jeffrey Weiss, a Phoenix pediatrician who co-wrote an American Academy of Pediatrics report on teen drivers.

Asking teens to sign driving contract helps
The 2006 report encourages parents to highlight the seriousness of driving privileges by requiring teens to sign driving contracts promising to abide by safety rules.

The new research shows that kind of hands-on approach pays off.

Families need to know that driving is different from other steps toward independence, said Dr. Flaura Koplin Winston, the studys lead author. Just at the time their teen is pulling away, they need to get back involved to spare them heartache.

The research is based on a nationally representative survey of more than 5,500 teens in grades nine through 11. Students at 68 high schools answered questionnaires in 2006.

More than 2,000 students who reported driving on their own were the focus of one study; 70 percent said they had their own cars or were the main drivers of cars they used.

Winston said its alarming that so many kids have their own cars or feel that they have free use of one. She said that freedom can lead to a sense of entitlement about driving that may make them less cautious.

1 in 4 with own car had been in crash
Among these main drivers, 25 percent had been involved in crashes, versus just 10 percent of teens who shared driving access. Winston said the lower crash rate doesnt reflect less driving time, but is likely due to having to ask for the car keys, which helps parents monitor their kids driving.

Compared with teens whose parents were uninvolved, kids who said their parents set clear rules and monitored their whereabouts without being overly controlling had half as many crashes and much better driving habits.

These teens were 71 percent less likely to drive while drunk and 30 percent less likely to use a cell phone while driving than kids with uninvolved parents.

Dr. Niranjan Karnik, a University of Chicago specialist in adolescent mental health, said the research underscores the importance of appropriate parenting and widely enacted graduated licensing laws for teens.

Debby Hendricks of Hatfield, Pa. made her daughters wait until age 17 to get their licenses, and gave them lots of driving practice beforehand.

The girls, aged 17 and 19, also share a family car, and cant just grab the keys and leave without saying where theyre going and with whom, Hendricks said.

So far so good — neither girl has been in an accident, although the younger one, Leslie, has only had her license for a few months.

Leslie considers herself a safe driver, but adds, I probably do underestimate the risks.

| UN plane crash in Haiti kills all 11 on board

2009-10-09T22:37:00.001-07:00

UN-plane-crash-in-Haiti-kills-all-11-on-board

FONDS-PARISIEN, Haiti – A surveillance plane assigned to the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti crashed into a mountain Friday, killing all 11 military personnel on board, the United Nations said.

U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas in New York said the Uruguayan CASA212 aircraft went down in rugged terrain west of Fonds-Verrettes near the border with the Dominican Republic, some 45 kilometers from the capital, Port-au-Prince.

The aircraft was on a regular reconnaissance flight, Montas said in a statement.

Rescue teams had to reach the area by foot because there were no roads nearby, and they found no survivors, she said.

U.N. police were guarding the crash site, where all bodies were recovered and would be taken back to the capital of Port-au-Prince, according to a statement from the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon extends his heartfelt condolences to the family members, friends and colleagues of these brave peacekeepers who lost their lives in the service of peace, Montas said.

Dozens of U.N. vehicles were parked late Friday near the main highway that connects Port-au-Prince to the Dominican border, unable to get any closer to the crash site, which is in the Ganthier municipality.

Haitian police officer David Charles told The Associated Press that personnel from his convoy walked about two hours up the mountain but was not able to reach the crash site because it was on the other side of a ridge and a river.

Charles said he saw the white plane in the distance and a large piece had broken off.

U.N. ambulances headed back to their bases late Friday, with one driver saying they had been ordered to return Saturday morning.

The victims were Uruguayan and Jordanian military personnel serving with the 9,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force that has been in Haiti since a 2004 rebellion ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Montas said.

The United Nations has began an investigation into the crash, Montas said.

It was unclear why the plane was doing surveillance near the border or how often such surveillance flights take place. The U.N. peacekeeping mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

___

Associated Press Writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed to this report.

- | UN plane crash in Haiti kills all 11 on board |

| iLoveiHate my iPhone

2009-10-06T19:01:00.001-07:00

iLove/iHate-my-iPhone When I first got my iPhone 3G in that trendy Apple store in New York Citys West Village, I was as entranced as anyone.

It was as if Id wandered into an exclusive Meatpacking District bar and successfully picked up an attractive model. And not the congenitally insecure type with crushing daddy issues, but the hip, sly, beautiful sort who knows cool places to go and incites envy among my associates.

As with any infatuation, I irked my friends by carrying on at length about my new love. It comes with YouTube and Google Maps! Isnt that awesome? Sigh. Oh, look at that screen! And those curves!

My PDAs with my new PDA were just as disconcerting as the canoodling of any new couple: Um, did you ask what the capital of Mongolia was? Let me just check the Googlepedias and ... Ulan Bator. Wanna look at keyboard cat on YouTube again? Awesome.

Put the damn thing away, said my friends. They didnt get it. They didnt get us.

Then came the inevitable bumps as the honeymoon drew to an end.

Me: Whadya mean you wont copy and paste? Everyone copies and pastes these days!

iPhone: Yeah, well you never asked, and what are you going to do anyway, break your contract? Ill copy and paste when Im good and ready.

We got copying and pasting worked out, but only when Apple saw fit to add it as a software feature that coincided with the third — yeah, thats right, third — release of the iPhone.

Id gotten the Russian mail-order bride of the gadget world: Hot, sexy, totally intractable. Oh, you can dress it up in a lot of apps, particularly if you toss some cash about. But even there the rules are set by Apple, and two-way communication isnt the companys strong suit.

In an era of tinkering, crowdsourcing, mashups and open software, Apple doesnt want to relate so much as be desired. Id hoped to love my iPhone. Instead Id fetishized it.

It rapidly became clear the bloom was off the rose. I may or may not have experimented by bringing jailbreaking into the mix to see if third-party developers could help satisfy my needs.

And I may or may not have had the sort of success youd expect if you carry this tortured metaphor to its logical conclusion. Jailbreakings great if youre a bigger geek than I, but it can complicate your life and phone.

I started talking bad about the phone to my friends. Little things stacked up, like the phones insistence on always downloading mobile versions of Web pages instead of the regular ones Id bought all that extra pretty screen for.

Id curse the tiny problems, frustrate myself trying to fix them and give up or wait until I got home to browse the Web on my computer.

And thats where it happened. As I installed a useful add-on in my computer’s Firefox Web browser, I had an epiphany: I am in an emotionally abusive relationship with my iPhone!

The iPhones pretty and charming, and I love it and hate it in about equal measure. But one things for sure about the iPhone: It doesnt compromise. Its an Apple product, after all. You get what Mr. Jobs thinks is best for you. Mostly, hes pretty much on the money, but its clear that when Apples wrong, the issues not open for debate.

But heres the thing. Leaving the relationship conceit aside for a moment, I paid a chunk of change for this thing. I also put up with AT&T. Finally, and most important, not only were certain promises made in breathless ad campaigns , consumers of technology now have certain expectations vis-a-vis freedom and flexibility.

All of everybody wasnt on the cover of Time for nothing, you know. Some of us know a thing or two about computer phone software n junk. Whether Apple likes it or not, the time of crowdsourcing and open source is here, and even those of us who dont know a compiler from an interpreter are getting used to it.

My little chunk of curvy tech is great strictly on its own terms. However, if you want to use the 16 gigs of memory you paid for and the accompanying USB cable as a portable hard drive, youd better get a Mac to go with it. If you yearn for the MP3 player to play files you drag and drop from your hard drive?

Well ... have you heard of iTunes? Its terrible and restrictive and Apple encourages you to learn to love it. For all their talk of customization and the App Store, Apple sets pretty restrictive boundaries. And you know what else you cant do? Install a good browser.

If youd prefer Firefox over Safari on your iPhone? Well, there is definitely no app for that. Like any good lunatic girlfriend, the iPhone doesnt want you hanging out with reliable old pals.

And Firefox does have the qualities of a good friend. Its dependable, adaptable and basically up for anything. If you and Firefox cant work out a solution to your problems, Firefox will introduce you to add-ons that might be able to help.

You need your browser to be an FTP client? Theres an add-on for that. You need a color-picker, a screen-capture application, a Twitter client or any of a host of other extensions? Theres almost certainly an add-on with your name on it, and Firefox will help you find it — for free.

Of course, Apples trying to help here and there. And why wouldnt they? Sales of iPhones are growing a lot faster than Apples Mac market. Apple recently released new firmware for existing iPhones to coincide with its launch of the new iPhone 3GS hardware.

The software upgrade finally adds copy and paste , includes Dictaphone software and tweaks a number of things that should probably have been in the last software release.

Its appreciated, but it leaves me flat. Its like your crappy significant other finally getting it together to remember your birthday by helping with laundry, or asking what you want for dinner.

Youre SUPPOSED to help with laundry, you jerk! And for dinner, Id like to use this glorified external hard drive as, you know, an external hard drive. Dropping fewer calls would be keen too.

Does the software upgrade let you use the video camera and hard drive that came with your old phone to record video? No. Buy the 3GS!

Did they include a browser setting so you dont have to tell the Internet youre browsing on a mobile device? Nope. Can you view Flash videos or Web sites? No, the iPhone doesnt want you looking at that sort of stuff.

And can you use the App Store to fix the various annoying problems still causing hiccups and annoyances? Well, sometimes, but not reliably. Things like browsers and Flash seem to be right off the table.

There are plenty of cool games, but when you want to copy and paste a phone number from a Web site into your phone app rather than chanting a string of numbers like an autistic Gregorian, the whimsical distraction of games might just escape you.

The iPhone remains a great piece of hardware. Its attractive, powerful and comes with GPS, a great touch screen and an accelerometer. It is however, nothing like the open-source beauties were getting to know. Firefox is at the top of the heap right now, but plays in the browser field. Android, however, is coming on stronger every day.

Googles open-source mobile operating system already does some crazy things. I just hope they dont mess up the market for developers as convincingly as Apple seems to have done quite successfully.

Daniel Harrison is frequently frustrated by his iPhone on Twitter and Facebook.

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| Dems seek to clarify immigrant health care

2009-10-06T17:29:00.001-07:00

Dems-seek-to-clarify-immigrant-health-care WASHINGTON - House Democrats want the White House to clarify the tougher view it has taken on illegal immigrants and health care reform, saying they cant buy insurance with their own money from a government-created marketplace.

The White House said last week that President Barack Obama will oppose allowing illegal immigrants to buy insurance through the purchasing exchanges, including from participating private companies. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that is what Obama intended all along. Also, a system would be created to verify people buying from the exchange are in the country legally, he said.

Im not sure if Gibbs misspoke, Rep. Xavier Becerra, vice chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said Tuesday.

Asked to clarify Gibbs comments, White House spokeswoman Gannett Tseaggai repeated the White House view that undocumented immigrants would not be allowed to purchase health care insurance on the exchange.

No subsidies
Democrats said the health care proposals were to bar undocumented immigrants from getting any tax-supported subsidies to buy health insurance, but not prevent them from using their own money to buy private insurance.

The proposed exchange would allow consumers and small businesses to shop for insurance and compare prices in a regulated, competitive environment.

Theres a consensus undocumented will not be able to have any subsidies. To deny those undocumented folks who could afford private insurance plans to do so, whats the rationale? said Rep. Mike Honda, D-Calif., a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

One of the points of health care reform is to reduce the use of emergency rooms by the uninsured, Honda said. Those undocumented immigrants who are working and buying their own health insurance, why would you want to get involved in that? All that will happen is they will become clients of the emergency room, he said.

Becerra said the White House has been an active participant in writing the House bill that did not include the ban Gibbs mentioned.

Unsure of White House
Im not sure what the White House is doing with this. Shadow boxing helps no one, Becerra said.

The White House said illegal immigrants could use their own money to buy coverage from the few private insurance companies that will still sell insurance outside the exchange.

Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, sees the White House view as an admission Democrats were providing coverage for illegal immigrants.

His comments followed a House vote to rebuke Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., for yelling You lie at Obama when the president spoke to Congress last week and said his health care reform proposals do not apply to people in the country illegally.

- | Dems seek to clarify immigrant health care |

| Israeli police bring reinforcements to Jerusalem

2009-10-06T15:32:00.001-07:00

Israeli-police-bring-reinforcements-to-Jerusalem

JERUSALEM – Israeli police mobilized reinforcements from across the country to secure volatile Jerusalem on Tuesday, deploying thousands of officers on city streets for fears that two days of clashes with Palestinian protesters would escalate.

Rumors that Israeli extremists planned to march on the most sacred Muslim and Jewish shrine in the Holy Land apparently fueled the unrest in Jerusalem, the city at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

No such march has taken place. But the low-level violence has inflamed political and religious passions, stoked breathless reports in the Israeli and Arab media and laid bare once again just how much of a tinderbox Jerusalem is.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office said Tuesday the Israeli leader was following the events and holding consultations with security officials.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said thousands of police were called in to secure the city on Tuesday, describing the reinforcements as exceptional.

The weeklong Jewish holiday of Sukkot, which draws many Jewish visitors to Jerusalem, has been the backdrop for the recent unrest. On Tuesday, Israel again accused Muslim leaders from the countrys Arab minority of inciting the disturbances.

Israel and the Palestinians both lay claim to Jerusalem, with Israel insisting it will retain control of all of the city, including the eastern sector it captured and annexed in 1967.

The Palestinians want east Jerusalem, with its major Jewish, Muslim and Christian holy sites, for their future capital. Like the rest of the international community, they do not recognize the Israeli annexation and regard the Jewish neighborhoods that ring east Jerusalem as settlements, which Israel does not.

Israel is working on a daily basis to Judaize Jerusalem by building settlements, not permitting to build and by assaults on the Al-Aqsa mosque, like we see today, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Yemens state-run TV on Monday.

Jerusalems 220,000 Arabs and 550,000 Jews live in an uneasy coexistence that frequently leads to friction and occasionally erupts into outright violence.

On Sunday, rumors circulated among the Palestinians that Jewish extremists planned to invade or damage the sacred east Jerusalem compound that is home to Islams third-holiest shrine, the Al-Aqsa mosque, and is revered by Jews as the site of their two biblical temples.

About 150 demonstrators streamed to the hilltop compound, known to Muslims as Haram as-Sharif and to Jews as the Temple Mount, where they hurled rocks and bottles at Israeli police.

The disturbances continued the next day, as Palestinian protesters hurled stones at Jewish worshippers outside Jerusalems Old City and a Palestinian teenager stabbed and lightly wounded an Israeli security officer in east Jerusalem.

Raed Salah, head of a militant branch of Israels Islamic Movement, told the Haaretz newspaper on Monday that the clashes would last as long as Israels occupation of the city and the mosque continued.

The mosque compound is Muslim, Palestinian and Arab, and Israel has no rights to the mosque or east Jerusalem, Saleh said.

Jordan and Egypt, the two Arab states that have signed peace treaties with Israel, both had scathing criticism for Israel. Egypts foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said Monday that Arabs and Muslims will never tolerate these Israeli measures in Jerusalem.

Some Arab media reports appeared to feed the tensions, with the Al-Jazeera satellite station reporting at the start of the clashes that Jewish settlers tried to enter the disputed hilltop complex and that police had put Muslim worshippers under siege.

The main headline in a leading Palestinian newspaper, Al-Quds, blared on Monday: A new attempt to invade Al-Aqsa Mosque fails, police suppress the people with blows and arrests.

Some of the Israeli reports also appeared to inflate the gravity of the situation. The front page of Israels Yediot Ahronot newspaper on Tuesday showed a masked Palestinian throwing stones under the headline Sukkot riots.

- | Israeli police bring reinforcements to Jerusalem |