Home » October 31st, 2011
Entries posted on “October, 2011”
PARIS (AP & staff) — The time has came when World leaders gathering this week for a “summit” will try to find a way to fix their economies which have swerved so horribly off its track. They may see a curious inversion of roles from previous meetings: Europeans may well be asking developing countries in Asia and South America for financial help for their bank shareholders/political contributors. They won’t get it. Though signs of an alarming slowdown in growth are everywhere — the U.S. is not creating enough jobs to absorb its growing labor force and China is struggling to cool down inflation without triggering a credit crunch — the old continent’s bank problems will take top billing at the summit. As head of France’s year-long presidency of the Group of 20 meetings, Nicolas Sarkozy will scramble to show his peers gathered at the chic French Riviera resort of Cannes that Europe got control of its debt crisis with last week’s grand plan to save its speculating banks. One of the main ideas behind creating the G-20 three years ago was to expand global economic decision-making beyond the North Atlantic axis to include more diverse countries. But this year’s G-20 summit, to be held Thursday and Friday, is all about old Europe. And instead of Europeans offering aid to struggling nations, as occurred in the past, now the Europeans are asking developing nations with big cash reserves — like China — for financial help to save their banks’ profits, and perhaps their lives. Eurozone leaders, for their part, have preventively dodged questions on details of their latest bank rescue operation, saying last week that the mechanics won’t be settled until early December — almost six months after their previous plan was announced and then left to slowly go past its expiration date. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy last week pledged to carry out the new bank-saving measures “rigorously and in a timely manner.” “We are confident that they will contribute to the swift resolution of the crisis,” Barroso and Van Rompuy wrote in a joint letter to the G-20 leaders. “Swift” may not be the right word after two years of faltering half-steps and missed opportunities. Meanwhile, European leaders must use the face time with colleagues from Brazil, Russia, India, China and beyond to drum up interest in the euro440 billion ($616 billion) European bank bailout fund. Increasing the fund’s [...]
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NEW YORK (AP & staff) — On the expectation that the world’s thirst for petroleum would keep growing despite economic struggles in the West, Oil soared 17.7 percent in October West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark oil in the U.S., jumped from about $79 to $93 per barrel during the month as fears of another U.S. recession subsided while Europe struck a landmark deal to reduce Greece’s debt. Demand from emerging markets remains strong. And a strategy calling for traders to buy WTI futures contracts while selling another variety, Brent crude, also boosted the price of WTI. The conditions that fostered the increase remain in place. “Oil demand is higher worldwide,” said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at Oil Price Information Service. “Other parts of the world, most notably South America, are consuming a lot of our (petroleum) products.” Independent oil analyst Andrew Lipow expects benchmark oil to hit $100 per barrel by the end of the year. But this has been a year of pronounced swings in the price of oil. WTI hit a high of $113.93 at the end of April, after starting 2011 at around $91 per barrel. Analysts say a number of factors will influence prices for the next two months and into next year: —How much oil will Libya contribute? Oil demand is on track to exceed supply in the second half of 2012 by about 1 million barrels per day. But a return of Libyan oil to the market could fix the shortage. Libya was exporting 1.5 billion barrels of oil daily before the eight-month rebellion that ultimately ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi. —Will Europe continue to struggle? Eurozone leaders hammered out an agreement last week to bolster the region’s banks. The decision was regarded as a landmark development that put Europe on the path to resolving a lingering credit crisis. However, its banks are still weak, debts are still high, and investors are unsure if it has really turned the corner. —More government stimulus in the U.S.? The U.S. economy is growing, but the 2.5 percent growth estimated for the third quarter is hardly a fervid pace. Analysts speculate that the Federal Reserve may try something similar to last year’s $600 billion bond-buying program to boost the economy. As a result of that program, the dollar fell and oil surged. —Another Arab Spring? Oil traders are keeping a wary eye on unrest in [...]
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ATCHISON, Kan. (AP & staff) — The work in grain elevator also tends to be dangerous. The men killed in a grain elevator explosion in Kansas included an Iraq war veteran, an avid collector of model John Deere tractors who hoped to farm and a soon-to-be husband looking forward to a wedding only three weeks away. Four of the six were younger than 25, something unsurprising in a business that experts say involves a lot of physical labor and tends to be a young man’s game. Farmers take their grain to elevators to be stored, and sometimes processed, before it is marketed or sold. Fine, highly combustible grain particles flow through the buildings as corn and other grain are moved. A spark from equipment or perhaps a cigarette can ignite the dust, sending a pressure wave that detonates the rest of the floating dust in the facility. Relatives gathered Monday outside the Bartlett Grain Co. elevator in Atchison, about 50 miles northwest of Kansas City. They turned the sign outside the elevator into a memorial for the dead, with a gray sweatshirt honoring one with his name written in marker and the question, “Why!” The bodies of three victims were found over the weekend, but unstable concrete, hanging steel beams and other damage had forced crews to temporarily suspend the search for the remaining three. They were found Monday morning, and five of the six had been identified by the afternoon, either by authorities or family members. They included elevator employees John Burke, 24, of Denton, and Ryan Federinko, 21, Curtis Field, 21, and Chad Roberts, 20, all from Atchison. Two grain inspectors also died. They were Travis Keil, 34, an Iraqi war veteran from Topeka with three children who’d been a site inspector for 16 years, and Darrek Klahr, 43, of Wetmore. The memorial for the victims included a wreath of sunflowers, which were part of the theme for the wedding reception Roberts and his fiancée had planned at a local Veterans of Foreign Wars hall. The high school sweethearts planned to marry Nov. 19, and they’d already bought a home in April and renovated it. “He was fun, and he couldn’t wait to be a husband and a dad,” said Roberts’ fiancée, Alicia Cobleigh. She said he liked to hunt and fish and often took her fishing with him. There have more than 600 explosions at grain elevators, killing [...]
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NEW YORK (AP & staff) — “Puss in Boots” opened with a solid if not spectacular $34 million, which was still good enough for a Halloween weekend record. The 3-D animated family film, spun off from DreamWorks’ “Shrek” franchise, will hope to stay frisky next weekend and beyond to capitalize on largely positive reviews and audience reaction. The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are: 1. “Puss in Boots,” Paramount/Dreamworks Animation, $34,077,439, 3,952 locations, $8,623 average, $34,077,439, one week. 2. “Paranormal Activity 3,” Paramount, $18,144,516, 3,329 locations, $5,450 average, $80,919,170, two weeks. 3. “In Time,” Fox, $12,050,368, 3,122 locations, $3,860 average, $12,050,368, one week. 4. “Footloose,” Paramount, $5,502,026, 3,224 locations, $1,707 average, $38,544,825, three weeks. 5. “The Rum Diary,” Film District, $5,135,369, 2,272 locations, $2,260 average, $5,135,369, one week. 6. “Real Steel,” Disney, $4,783,149, 2,914 locations, $1,641 average, $73,941,416, four weeks. 7. “The Three Musketeers,” Summit, $3,507,359, 3,017 locations, $1,163 average, $14,847,237, two weeks. 8. “The Ides of March,” Sony/Columbia, $2,804,435, 1,572 locations, $1,784 average, $33,600,618, four weeks. 9. “Moneyball,” Sony/Columbia, $2,387,049, 1,631 locations, $1,464 average, $67,408,099, six weeks. 10. “Courageous,” Sony/Tristar, $1,838,096, 1,134 locations, $1,621 average, $27,681,975, five weeks. 11. “Johnny English Reborn,” Universal, $1,693,915, 1,554 locations, $1,090 average, $6,464,685, two weeks. 12. “Ra. One,” Eros International, $1,654,023, 189 locations, $8,751 average, $1,654,023, one week. 13. “Dolphin Tale,” Warner Bros., $1,633,429, 1,838 locations, $889 average, $67,035,293, six weeks. 14. “50/50,” Summit, $1,408,150, 1,194 locations, $1,179 average, $31,339,863, five weeks. 15. “Anonymous,” Sony/Columbia, $1,021,768, 265 locations, $3,856 average, $1,021,768, one week. 16. “Thing, The,” Universal, $857,325, 1,394 locations, $615 average, $16,075,075, three weeks. 17. “Margin Call,” Roadside Attractions, $721,316, 140 locations, $5,152 average, $1,482,563, two weeks. 18. “Dream House,” Universal, $397,815, 585 locations, $680 average, $20,834,395, five weeks. 19. “The Help,” Disney, $392,658, 450 locations, $873 average, $166,904,059, 12 weeks. 20. “The Way,” Abramorama, $358,267, 258 locations, $1,389 average, $1,610,024, four weeks.
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WASHINGTON (AP & staff) – U.S. airline industry officials and consumer advocates say last weekend’s stranding of hundreds of New York and New Jersey-bound travelers, some for as long as seven hours, on an airport tarmac show the threat of hefty government fines can’t prevent such incidents. Last weekend’s weather stranding of hundreds of travelers, some for as long as seven hours, on an airport tarmac in Connecticut proves that the effectiveness of federal rules designed to protect passengers from such ordeals is limited, say industry officials and consumer advocates. Industry officials said the tarmac delays appear to prove the point they’ve been making all along — that they’re often powerless to prevent such incidents. Under Transportation Department rules that went into effect in April 2010, most tarmac delays at U.S. airports are limited to three hours for domestic flights and four hours for international flights. Exceptions to the time limits are allowed only for safety, security or if air traffic control advises the pilot that returning to the terminal would disrupt airport operations. But a consumer advocate with airline industry experience says that despite the risk of fines as high as $27,500 per passenger, at least one airline — JetBlue Airways — apparently didn’t make the kinds of arrangements most carriers make to protect passengers from hours and hours of sitting in cramped airline seats with little food and limited bathrooms. A rare October snowstorm and equipment problems at Newark’s Liberty International Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport forced 23 planes to divert to the much smaller Bradley International Airport in Hartford, Conn. Passengers on at least three JetBlue planes and one American Airlines flight from Paris reported being confined for seven hours or more. Food and water ran out, toilets backed up and tempers snapped. The captain of JetBlue Flight 504, which was diverted en route to Newark from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., begged for help to get his plane to a gate. “I have a paraplegic onboard that needs to come off. I have a diabetic on here that’s got an issue. It’s a list of things. I just gotta get some help,” the captain can be heard pleading with authorities over his radio on audio provided by LiveATC.net. “My priority right now is a tug and a towbar,” the captain continued. “If you just give me a welding shop, I’ll be willing to make one myself.” [...]
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NEW YORK (AP & staff) —to avoid prying eyes the friends of Victor Bout use code words communicated via email and text messages. Often, he was “Boris.” At other times, it was “Primus,” or just “the man.” When their talk turned to weapons, one of those former friends testified in a New York federal courtroom last week, the Russian businessman spoke guardedly of “farming equipment.” For nearly two decades, as Bout grew infamous as the “Merchant of Death” — his unwanted nickname for the black-market weapons deals in which he was accused but long denied — the world he inhabited remained murky to outsiders. While UN investigators tracked his planes and U.S. Treasury analysts traced his bank accounts, only those few who dealt with him and saw him close up knew exactly how he did his business. Closing arguments in his federal trial in New York on conspiracy charges were under way Monday and jury deliberations will follow, but Bout’s private world has already spilled wide open. More than 70 transcripts compiled from wiretapped meetings and conversations and scores of phone calls and text messages depict everything from his preference for lemon in tea to his use of memory cards in cell phones to disguise the trail of his phone calls. A long-time South African associate, Andrew Smulian, recounted an intimate three-day visit with Bout in Moscow where their talks hatched a $15 million weapons deal with purported terrorists who turned out to be U.S.-paid informants. Bout’s lawyers say he was aware of the American sting operation aimed at him, and only played along in discussions of the weapons deal to trick the informants into buying two cargo planes. Whether Bout is convicted as guilty or freed as innocent, the massive cache of documents and three weeks of testimony have already provided new insights into his everyday dealings. Arms trade experts said the case is also reshaping some of their understanding about how weapons are bought and sold on the world markets. “We’re seeing some useful snapshots of the way he operated,” said Alex Vines, a former UN arms investigator and a research director at Chatham House, a British international policy organization. Vines added: “Certainly the gray areas of his involvement with the Russian government and arms industry are becoming clearer.” Earlier this month, official Russian displeasure about the case was made clear in a letter from the State Duma, the country’s [...]
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WASHINGTON (AP & Staff) — House Speaker John Boehner says he has high hopes that a congressional “supercommittee” will be able to reach “common ground” on a plan to cut the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over a decade. But the most powerful Republican in Washington says that finding common ground doesn’t necessarily mean compromising one’s principles, a none-to-subtle hint that he remains strongly opposed to increasing taxes as part of the solution to deficits exceeding $1 trillion a year. Boehner’s remarks to a group of students at the University of Louisville came as the secretive 12-member bipartisan panel remains deadlocked less than a month before its deadline. Democrats say tax revenues are a precursor to any agreement to curb spending on costly benefits programs like Medicare.
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PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP & Staff) — U.S. drone-fired missiles killed four suspected militants Monday close to the Afghan border, Pakistani officials said. The missiles hit a vehicle close to the town of Mir Ali in the North Waziristan tribal region, which is effectively under the control of al-Qaida and Taliban militants, many of whom fight U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The identities of those killed were not known, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters. American drones routinely fire missiles at al-Qaida and Taliban militants on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan. U.S. officials do not talk about the CIA-led program, which is unpopular in Pakistan. Pakistani authorities formally protest, but the army is believed to provide intelligence for some of the strikes. Human rights groups have questioned the legality of the attacks and pointed to reports of civilian casualties, which they say are not transparently investigated, if at all.
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(AP & Staff) – Some of the latest developments in the Occupy protests taking place in the United States and cities across the world: Police in Richmond, Virgina, have broken up an Occupy Wall Street camp where protesters had set up a tent city, complete with a makeshift library, kitchen and portable toilets. Police spokesman Gene Lepley says officers began clearing the park early Monday around 1 a.m. He says most of the dozens of protesters there left when told to and around a dozen who stayed were arrested for trespassing. Lepley said nine people were charged with either trespassing or obstruction of justice. TEXAS Police in Austin, Texas, made 39 arrests early Sunday as they moved to enforce a new rule banning food tables in the City Hall plaza where protesters have camped out. Some protesters surrounded the tables with arms linked. Most were charged with criminal trespass, Police Chief Art Acevedo said. No injuries were reported. CALIFORNIA The roommate of an Iraq War veteran seriously injured in a clash with police during an anti-Wall Street protest says Scott Olsen is doing well and doctors say he’ll make a full recovery. Keith Shannon served with the 24-year-old former Marine in Iraq. He tells that he visited Olsen at a medical facility Sunday and he “seems to be doing well.” Shannon says Olsen still can’t talk but doctors expect him to make a full recovery. Olsen suffered a fractured skull and other head injuries during the clash Tuesday. Police are investigating how Olsen was struck by a projectile. OREGON Police arrested about 30 anti-Wall Street protesters in Portland early Sunday after they refused to leave a park in an affluent district. Hundreds gathered in Jamison Square Saturday evening to defy a midnight curfew to vacate. As police moved in around 2 a.m. most of the protesters backed off, but a core group of 27 to 30 people sat in a circle in the park and awaited arrest. An Associated Press photographer said most of the protesters went limp and police carried or dragged them away. There was no violence during the arrests, which took about 90 minutes. The protesters — all appearing to be in their 20s and 30s with many were wearing Halloween-style face paint — were handcuffed before they were place in police vans and driven off. COLORADO Denver’s Civic Center Park was calm Sunday a day after [...]
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WASHINGTON (AP & Staff) — The Food and Drug Administration says Merck’s cholesterol drug Vytorin helps reduce heart attack, stroke and related problems in patients with kidney disease, a potential new use for the blockbuster drug. The agency’s review also found no new safety concerns with Vytorin, which came under scrutiny for potential cancer risks in 2008. Merck & Co. has asked the FDA to approve the drug for a new use in reducing heart-related problems chronic kidney disease patients. The combination pill is already cleared to reduce bad cholesterol. FDA says that Vytorin lowered kidney disease patients’ heart-related problems by 16 percent compared with placebo. On Wednesday, a panel of non-government FDA advisers will vote on the new use. Vytorin, a multibillion-dollar drug for Merck, combines two brand-name cholesterol pills Zocor and Zetia.
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WASHINGTON (AP & Staff) — The Supreme Court won’t hear an appeal of a ruling that 12-foot-high crosses along Utah highways in honor of dead state troopers violate the Constitution. The justices voted 8-1 Monday to reject an appeal from Utah and a state troopers’ group that wanted the court to throw out the ruling and take a more permissive view of religious symbols on public land. Since 1998, the private Utah Highway Patrol Association has paid for and erected more than a dozen memorial crosses, most of them on state land. Texas-based American Atheists Inc. and three of its Utah members sued the state in 2005. The federal appeals court in Denver said the crosses were an unconstitutional endorsement of Christianity by the Utah state government. Justice Clarence Thomas issued a 19-page opinion dissenting from Monday’s order. Thomas said the case offered the court the opportunity to clear up confusion over its approach to disputes over the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, the prohibition against governmental endorsement of religion. “Today the court rejects an opportunity to provide clarity to an Establishment Clause jurisprudence in shambles,” Thomas said. Previous high court cases have made it difficult for lower courts to figure out what to do in this area and “rendered the constitutionality of displays of religious imagery on government property anyone’s guess,” he said. Thomas referred specifically to a pair of 2005 cases about the Ten Commandments. On the same day, the court upheld a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Texas state capitol in Austin and declared unconstitutional a display in the McCreary County courthouse in Kentucky.
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HARTFORD, Conn. (AP & Staff) — Residents across the Northeast faced the prospect of days without electricity or heat Monday after an early-season storm dumped as much as 30 inches of wet, heavy snow that snapped trees and power lines, closed hundreds of schools, and disrupted plans for Halloween trick-or-treating. Communities from Maryland to Maine that suffered through a tough winter last year followed by a series of floods and storms went into now-familiar emergency mode as roads closed, shelters opened and regional transit was suspended or delayed. The storm’s lingering effects, including power failures and hundreds of closed schools, will probably outlast the snow. Temperatures are expected to begin rising Monday and the snow will start melting, the National Weather Service said. The early nor’easter had utility companies struggling to restore electricity to more than 3 million homes and businesses. By early Monday, the number without power was still above 2 million but falling. But officials in some states warned it could be days or even a week before residents have power again. Trees, branches and power lines still littered roads and rail lines, leading to a tough Monday morning commute for many. Motorists hunted for open gas stations as power failures rendered pumps inoperable; at a 7-Eleven in Hartford, two dozen cars waited early Monday in a line that stretched into the street and disrupted traffic. “There’s no gas anywhere,” said Debra Palmisano, of Plainville, who spent most of the morning looking around the capital city. “It’s like we’re in a war zone. It’s pretty scary, actually.” Some local officials canceled or postponed Halloween activities, fearful that young trick-or-treaters could wander into areas with downed power lines or trees ready to topple over. “With so many wires down … the sidewalks will not be safe for pedestrians (Monday) night,” Danbury Mayor Mark Boughton told The Hartford Courant. The snowstorm smashed record snowfall totals for October and worsened as it moved north. Communities in western Massachusetts were among the hardest hit. Snowfall totals topped 27 inches in Plainfield, and nearby Windsor got 26 inches. In New Hampshire’s capital of Concord, more than 22 inches fell, weeks ahead of the usual first measurable snowfall. States of emergency were declared in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and parts of New York. West Milford, N.J., about 45 miles northwest of New York City, had 19 inches Sunday. Gov. Chris Christie declared statewide damage [...]
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PARIS (AP & staff) — Palestine became a full member of the U.N. cultural and educational agency Monday, in a highly divisive move that the United States and other opponents say could harm renewed Mideast peace efforts. U.S. lawmakers had threatened to withhold roughly $80 million in annual funding to UNESCO if it approved Palestinian membership. The United States provides about 22 percent of UNESCO’s funding. Huge cheers went up in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization after delegates approved the membership in a vote of 107-14 with 52 abstentions. Eighty-one votes were needed for approval in a hall with 173 UNESCO member delegations present. “Long Live Palestine!” shouted one delegate, in French, at the unusually tense and dramatic meeting of UNESCO’s General Conference. While the vote has large symbolic meaning, the issue of borders of an eventual Palestinian state, security troubles and other disputes that have thwarted Middle East peace for decades remain unresolved. Palestinian officials are seeking full membership in the United Nations, but that effort is still under examination and the U.S. has said it will veto it unless there is a peace deal with Israel. Given that, the Palestinians separately sought membership at Paris-based UNESCO and other U.N. bodies. Monday’s vote is definitive. The membership formally takes effect when Palestine signs UNESCO’s founding charter. The U.S. ambassador to UNESCO, David Killion, said Monday’s vote will “complicate” U.S. efforts to support the agency. The United States voted against the measure. Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO, Nimrod Barkan, called the vote a tragedy. “UNESCO deals in science, not science fiction,” he said. “They forced on UNESCO a political subject out of its competence.” “They’ve forced a drastic cut in contributions to the organization,” he said. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton last week called UNESCO’s deliberation “inexplicable,” saying discussion of Palestinian membership in international organizations couldn’t replace negotiations with Israel as a fast-track toward Palestinian independence.
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BANGKOK (AP & staff) — Tempers flared along a flood barrier protecting Thailand’s capital from a record deluge surging into the city, with angry residents scuffling with security forces Monday in an attempt to force open a floodgate that left their homes swamped. The confrontation came as Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said she hoped that the floodwaters could be drained through Bangkok more quickly now that peak high tides that sent the city’s main river to record heights have passed. Although much of city is still dry, the situation remains grim in northern and western neighborhoods where water levels fed by the country’s worst flooding in more than a half century are continuing to rise. The tensions at the Klong Sam Wa floodgate in the city’s northeast illustrate the rising anger in some neighborhoods that have been sacrificed to keep Bangkok’s central business district and historic heart dry. The residents grew increasingly agitated as the water levels climbed, and asked authorities to increase the amount of water being let through the gate. They used hammers and pickaxes on Monday to break through an earthen dike around the floodgate to let water out, and pushed and shoved security forces who tried to stop them. Authorities had warned that allowing too much water through the gate could threaten an industrial estate downstream and raise the level of a main canal leading to inner Bangkok. Yingluck said the government had agreed to open the gate wider, but ordered officials to make sure the greater flow would not cause problems elsewhere. Higher than normal tides pushing into the Chao Phraya river from the Gulf of Thailand in recent days have complicated efforts to drain floodwaters flowing from the country’s central heartland, where vast areas have been submerged for up to two months. The runoff has put extreme pressure on pumps, sandbags and dikes protecting Bangkok, though they have largely held. “If there is no more additional water, the current runoff might not cause heavy flooding in Bangkok,” Yingluck said, though she noted that a massive amount of water still needs to pass through the capital’s complex network of rivers, canals and tunnels as it makes its way to the sea. While that was welcome news to people in Bangkok’s dry downtown core who had braced for possible flooding all weekend, it was little relief for those in 15 of Bangkok’s 50 districts that have [...]
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NEW YORK (AP & staff) — U.S. stock futures are lower on worries about the broker MF Global and about Italy’s ability to repay its debts. Bank stocks dropped sharply in premarket trading after the New York Federal Reserve said it suspended MF Global Holdings from conducting new business as a Treasury bond dealer. Trading in MF Global shares was halted in premarket trading. The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that MF Global would seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after large investments in sovereign bonds issued by European countries went against it. Before the opening bell, Dow Jones industrial average futures are down 106 points, or 1 percent, at 12,062. S&P 500 index futures are down 14, or 1.1 percent, at 1,266. Nasdaq 100 futures are down 23, or 1 percent, at 2,374.
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CANBERRA, Australia (AP & staff) — Qantas Airways planes returned to the skies Monday after an Australian court ruled on a bitter labor dispute that had prompted the world’s 10th-largest airline to ground its entire fleet. A flight from Sydney to Jakarta, Indonesia, took off shortly after Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority gave the “Flying Kangaroo,” as the Australian flag carrier is known, the all-clear to resume flying. Qantas said in a statement it still expected some delays as it worked to clear the backlog of customers affected by the nearly 48-hour grounding. The airline is adding extra flights and expects its schedule to return to normal within one or two days. The grounding disrupted the travel plans of tens of thousands of people across the world, and Qantas passengers were gathering at airports in Australia, Los Angeles and elsewhere in the hopes of finally getting to their destinations. The airline’s resumption of flights comes around 12 hours after an emergency ruling by an arbitration court ended weeks of strikes and canceled a staff lockout. The court ruling was a major victory in the airline’s battle with unions representing pilots, aircraft mechanics, baggage handlers and caterers, whose rolling strikes have forced the cancellation of 600 flights in recent months, disrupted travel for 70,000 passengers and cost Qantas 70 million Australian dollars ($75 million). But some aviation experts said the surprise grounding of all 108 planes on Saturday, at a cost of $20 million a day, has hurt the Australian flagship carrier’s reputation around the world. Moody’s Investors Service said it could downgrade the airline’s credit ratings as the weekend’s events could hurt bookings, profits and the value of the Qantas brand. Still, the stock market welcomed the weekend developments as allowing the airline to focus on its long-term strategy. Qantas shares on Monday jumped 4.3 percent to AU$1.61 on the stock exchange in Sydney. Henry Harteveldt, an airline industry analyst in San Francisco, predicts the shutdown would hurt the carrier’s reputation for reliability. “A lot of travelers won’t take a chance and will book away to Virgin Australia, Air New Zealand and other airlines,” Harteveldt said. “Brand loyalty in the airline business is very low, and there is so much competition.” Before the court ruling, Virgin Australia said it was scheduling extra flights and offering 20 percent fare discounts to help stranded Qantas passengers through Thursday. If Qantas loses customers, [...]
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INDIANAPOLIS (AP & staff) — Humana Inc.’s third-quarter net income jumped 13 percent on Medicare Advantage enrollment growth, and the health insurer also raised its 2011 earnings forecast. The Louisville, Ky., company said Monday that it earned $444.7 million, or $2.67 per share, in the three months that ended Sept. 30. That compares with earnings of $393.2 million, or $2.32 per share, in the same quarter last year. Revenue climbed 11 percent to $9.3 billion from $8.35 billion. Adjusted income was $2.54 per share. The performance beat Wall Street forecasts. Analysts forecast earnings of $2.03 per share on $9.26 billion in revenue. Humana is the second-largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans, which are privately run versions of the government’s Medicare program. Subsidized by the government, the plans offer basic Medicare coverage topped with extras like vision or dental coverage or premiums lower than standard Medicare rates. The insurer said Medicare Advantage membership climbed 10 percent to 1.6 million people compared with last year’s quarter, mainly because of a successful enrollment season last fall. The insurer’s Medicare prescription drug coverage enrollment also jumped 47 percent to 2.5 million people, helped by a low-cost drug plan it offers with retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Humana now expects 2011 earnings of $8.35 to $8.40 per share. That’s up from previous guidance of $7.50 to $7.60 per share. Analysts expect $7.69 per share. The company also said it expects 2012 earnings of between $7.40 and $7.60 per share, which would represent a drop compared to this year. Humana’s initial guidance last year for 2011 also represented an earnings decline because the insurer sets Medicare Advantage projections conservatively.
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BEIRUT (AP & staff) — An Arab League committee has submitted a plan to end the bloodshed in Syria and a response from Damascus was expected Monday, Qatar’s foreign minister said. There were no details on what the plan entailed, but the announcement comes amid intensified efforts by the 22-nation body toward resolving the deadly seven-month confrontation between the regime of President Bashar Assad and protesters demanding his overthrow. The Arab League panel held a “clear and frank” meeting with a Syrian delegation in Qatar on Sunday, said Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassim. An Arab diplomat in the league headquarters in Egypt meanwhile said the Arab League will hold an extraordinary session to discuss the unrest-torn nation on Wednesday. The ministers will receive a report on the mission to Syria and a “plan of action,” said the official, who asked that his name not be used because of the sensitivity of the issue. The uprising against Assad began in mid-March during a wave of anti-government protests in the Arab world that toppled autocrats in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. The U.N. says that Assad’s crackdown has left more than 3,000 people dead. While the specifics of the proposal were unknown, the opposition’s stance on dialogue with the regime is mixed. Some influential figures in the opposition have refused to talk to the Assad regime while the military crackdown continues; others see dialogue as a way out of the crisis. In an interview published Sunday, Assad warned the Middle East will burn if the West intervenes in his country’s 7-month-old uprising, threatening to turn the region into “tens of Afghanistans.” Assad’s comments to Britain’s Sunday Telegraph were his harshest so far regarding the potential for foreign intervention. But they belie a growing concern over the possibility of some sort of Western military action after months of NATO airstrikes helped rebellious Libyans oust Moammar Gadhafi. “Syria is the hub now in this region. It is the fault line, and if you play with the ground, you will cause an earthquake,” Assad said. “Do you want to see another Afghanistan, or tens of Afghanistans?” Still the U.S. and its allies have shown little appetite for intervening in another Arab nation in turmoil, and Syrian opposition leaders have not called for an armed uprising like the one in Libya and have for the most part opposed foreign intervention.
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NEW YORK (AP & staff) — Bette Snyder is nourishing the Wall Street protesters from her kitchen in northwestern Ohio. For the past three weeks, the 69-year-old woman has sent the occupiers of Zuccotti Park tins of home-baked cookies and messages of support. “Here are some cookies for the demonstrators,” she wrote in a note accompanying one of the tins. “I will keep sending them as long as you keep protesting.” The protests at a park in lower Manhattan that have been raging for about a month are inspiring people across the country and around the world to send letters of support — even if they are only a few words on a scrap of paper with a tin of cookies. The letters show how effectively protesters have delivered their scathing critiques that the vast majority of people struggle to make ends meet while a small percentage of people control most of the wealth. “Please accept these humble donations,” wrote one sender who did not disclose a name. “I am poor and am fighting foreclosure, but if you are willing to occupy and keep this message alive, I will support you.” Since the protests began on Sept. 17, protesters at the Zuccotti Park encampment say they’ve received about 100 letters a day. By last week, according to volunteers sorting them, the letter count was about 2,000; some have since been posted online. They come from the unemployed, college students in debt and grandmothers worried about the financial struggles of younger generations. The letters have arrived from all over the United States and from abroad, addressed from South Korea, Australia, Scotland and Germany. They bear messages of hope, advice on tactics and criticism. Some have now been posted online. With some of the letters are parcels of ponchos, gloves and camping gear for demonstrators. A good number of the senders apologize for being unable to send more donations because of their own financial problems. The letters and packages arrive at a UPS branch near Zuccotti Park and are taken over to a storage depot in an office building where donations from around the world are sorted. There are shelves of canned food, bags of dry pasta, piles of hand warmers and half-opened boxes waiting to be sorted. On a recent weekday, there were well over 100 letters waiting to be processed in a mail bin. Some were handwritten, others typed on [...]
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ATLANTA (AP & staff) — With confidence and zeal, Ephren Taylor riveted audiences at mostly black churches with a list of his impressive accomplishments and an uncanny business sense. He had the blessing of top clergy as he gave financial seminars from the pulpit on Sundays, promising rock-solid investments — only many of the churchgoers said they haven’t seen a dime. Two lawsuits filed this month claim the 29-year-old Taylor was a con artist who targeted worshippers throughout at least five states on the East Coast since 2004, swindling tens of millions of dollars in a Ponzi scheme. “He knew if he went to a Christian African-American and said, ‘I can take your hard-earned investment money, and you’re going to earn more money, but more importantly you’re going to do good for your church and community,’ that they would fall for it hook line and sinker,” said Cathy Lerman, an attorney who sued Taylor in North Carolina. The allegations have tarnished Taylor, who resigned last year after becoming the chief executive of the holding company City Capital, which had been based in North Carolina, when he was 23. Worshippers would often be asked to invest in real estate and businesses tied to the holding company. The Secret Service and the secretary of state’s office in Georgia, where the other lawsuit has been filed, are investigating. He has not faced any criminal charges. Lawyers suing him say they don’t know his whereabouts, but he sent The Associated Press a statement after a reporter contacted him through his website. He said he planned to use his own money to help those who feel “negatively impacted.” He criticized his detractors and compared himself to other financial heavyweights who were “crucified” amid the economic downturn. “Sometimes people will participate in a game they don’t have a stomach for, and when it goes south, they put the blame on those that led that game,” said Taylor, who did not respond to follow-up questions. In late 2009, Taylor came to an Atlanta megachurch with his surefire pitch, according to the lawsuit in Georgia. He held a financial seminar aimed at children on a Saturday, telling curious parents to hold their questions. Flanked by Bishop Eddie Long the following day, he told the 25,000 member congregation that his investors would buy can’t-miss real estate rather than take a risk on Wall Street. “He pushed all the right [...]
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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP & staff) — An air raid hit a camp for displaced civilians in southern Somalia, killing at least three people and wounding dozens of mostly women and children, an international aid agency said. Doctors Without Borders, which is also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres or MSF, said 52 people were wounded when bombs hit the camp in the town of Jilib on Sunday. About 1,500 families had fled to the area amid Somalia’s devastating famine earlier this year. “MSF urges all parties to the conflict in Somalia to respect the rights of civilians in conflict,” the group said in a statement. Kenyan troops moved into southern Somalia in mid-October, backed by military aircraft. Kenya blamed Islamist militants for carrying out a string of kidnappings on Kenyan soil, and Kenyan military chiefs say they are engaging with the militants by land, sea and air. A Kenyan military spokesman did not answer a call seeking comment concerning the air assault at the camp. “The planes targeted a bus stop. They also hit near a refugee camp and finally hit an al-Shabab base,” said town elder Ahmed Sheik Don. Meanwhile, the Danish Refugee Council said it had made its first contact with an American aid worker and her Danish colleague who were kidnapped last week in Somalia. “It has been some very long days as we have been waiting for signs of life. It is truly a relief that we now have received the message that they are as well as possible their circumstances taken into consideration,” said Ann Mary Olsen, the head of the Danish Refugee Council’s International Department. Olsen said the aid agency, which falls under the Danish Refugee Council, is appealing to traditional leaders and clan elders to help release the hostages. Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991. African Union troops have been engaged in fierce fighting in the country’s the capital to push Islamist militants out of their last base in the city. On Saturday, the Islamists launched an attack with two suicide bombers, killing at least 10 people. The militants said one of the suicide bombers was a Somali-American.
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP & Staff) — Frank Gore received regular calls and encouragement from Roger Craig all offseason as he recovered from a fractured hip. Craig shared training tips, too. When Gore charged up the middle with his signature burst for a 2-yard gain Sunday, he took another step forward in franchise history by moving past Craig into second place on the 49ers career rushing list. Gore ran for both 125-plus yards and a touchdown in a fourth straight game, Michael Crabtree made his first TD reception of the season, and San Francisco beat the Cleveland Browns 20-10 for its fifth straight victory. “It’s a blessing to have my name mentioned next to his,” Gore said. “This last year, we got to be close. When I got hurt, he called me every day. He was telling me I was going to be all right, to keep working.” Now, San Francisco’s star running back is determined to chase another of Craig’s accomplishments: those three Super Bowl rings. And this is Gore’s best chance yet to get there. He is making his case for a third Pro Bowl while pushing his team toward its first playoff berth in nine years. “It’s fun. We’re right here in the middle of it almost at the halfway point,” defensive end Justin Smith said. “We’ve got a decent thing going on. We’ve got to continue to go. We’ve got a long grind ahead of us.” Alex Smith completed 15 of 24 passes for 177 yards for the first-place 49ers (6-1), who haven’t lost since falling in overtime to the Cowboys on Sept. 18. “Not perfect, but beautiful,” coach Jim Harbaugh said. No handshake flap this time for Harbaugh, either. And no post-bye letdown for his 49ers — even if it was far from flashy. This marked Harbaugh’s first game since his seconds-long greeting and firm backslap of Lions coach Jim Schwartz following San Francisco’s 25-19 comeback win at Detroit two weeks ago. Harbaugh says he practiced during the bye week by high-fiving with his toddler daughter, Addison, whom he carried out of the stadium Sunday night. Harbaugh was polite to fellow first-year coach Pat Shurmur when they met at midfield. “It went well,” Harbaugh said. The 49ers — who were made aware by Harbaugh during the week that teams were 3-9 after their byes coming into Sunday — are off to their first 6-1 start since [...]
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PITTSBURGH (AP & Staff) — The Pittsburgh Steelers no longer have a Tom Brady problem. And that may be a problem for the rest of the NFL. Old, slow and over? Not quite yet. Ben Roethlisberger picked apart the NFL’s worst defense and the Steelers rattled the nearly unflappable Brady in a 25-17 victory on Sunday, putting an end to the two-time MVP’s decade of dominance over the defending AFC champions. Brady came in 6-1 all-time against the Steelers, putting up eye-popping numbers in the process. He never got the chance on a chilly day at Heinz Field. Pittsburgh (6-2) controlled the ball for nearly 39 minutes and never let Brady get into a sustained rhythm. “It’s been all Tom Brady versus the Pittsburgh Steelers and looking back on the past, how he’s owned the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I think everybody forgot about our offense a little bit and the things they’ve been doing out there,” Pittsburgh linebacker LaMarr Woodley said. “I think they took that a little personal.” Playing efficiently and working almost exclusively on short, safe, underneath routes, Roethlisberger completed 36 of 50 passes for 365 yards and two touchdowns as the Steelers won their fourth straight following a 2-2 start. “We can be as good as we want to be,” Roethlisberger said. “When we don’t kill ourselves and stop ourselves, we can be pretty dangerous.” Brady passed for two touchdowns but threw for a season-low 198 yards. His attempt to lead the Patriots to an unlikely comeback ended when Pittsburgh’s Brett Keisel sacked him, forcing a fumble that Troy Polamalu slapped through the end zone with 8 seconds left to provide the final margin. “We all have to individually look in the mirror and figure out what we need to get better at,” Brady said. There was no sense of panic among the Patriots, who fell into a tie with Buffalo atop the AFC East. Yet the Steelers did something no team has been able to do this year: keep Brady under wraps. Pittsburgh sacked him three times, held wide receiver Wes Welker — on pace for an NFL record for yards receiving in a season — to 39 yards on six receptions while limiting the Patriots to their fewest points since a 34-14 loss to Cleveland last year. The Patriots punted four times, missed a field goal in the third quarter that would have drawn them [...]
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PHILADELPHIA (AP & Staff) — LeSean McCoy spotted Howard Mudd standing on crutches on the sideline and slowed up to give the 69-year-old assistant coach a pregame chest bump. No one else could stop McCoy. Michael Vick threw two touchdown passes, McCoy had a career-best 185 yards rushing and two scores and the Philadelphia Eagles routed the Dallas Cowboys 34-7 Sunday night. “I feel like every game is a chance for me to prove myself,” McCoy said. “At any given time, any one of our guys could go off.” Mudd, the team’s offensive-line coach, was on crutches because he had hip surgery during the bye week. The time off helped him and the Eagles (3-4). They dominated right from the start, improved to 13-0 after a bye under coach Andy Reid and snapped a five-game losing streak at Lincoln Financial Field that dated to last season. “We started fast,” Vick said. “That was our mindset. We wanted to set the tempo. We didn’t want to let up.” Dallas defensive coordinator Rob Ryan fired up the Eagles with some trash-talking during the summer after they added several big-name players. Ryan, the son of beloved former Philadelphia coach Buddy Ryan, called the Eagles the “all-hype” team and predicted the Cowboys would “beat their (butt).” He was way off. The Eagles racked up 495 total yards and held the ball for 42:09. They thoroughly outplayed a defense that came in ranked seventh in the NFL. The long-haired Ryan paced the sideline and desperately tried to figure out how to stop Vick and Co. It didn’t happen until the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach. “I got outcoached by Reid and their staff,” Ryan said. “It’s ridiculous. I never gave our guys a chance. The whole thing was on me.” DeMarcus Ware was one of the few players who played well for Dallas (3-4). He had four sacks, and has 12 this season. Coming off a 253-yard rushing performance in a win over St. Louis, Cowboys rookie DeMarco Murray was held to 74 yards on only eight carries. “We weren’t up to the task tonight,” Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. “This game is not coming back. We can learn from it and move on to the next challenge. We didn’t execute in any phase of the football game.” The defending NFC East champion Eagles entered the season with a Super Bowl-or-bust [...]
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP & Staff) — Christian Ponder took only two starts to get his first career win, outdueling the more-heralded Cam Newton in the process. The rookie showed tremendous poise in the pocket, particularly on third downs, and got a huge assist from Adrian Peterson on Sunday as the Minnesota Vikings held on to beat the Carolina Panthers 24-21. Peterson had 162 yards from scrimmage and scored two touchdowns, and Ryan Longwell kicked a 31-yard field goal with 2:43 left as the Vikings (2-6) snapped a two-game losing streak. The Panthers had a chance to tie the game with 26 seconds left, but Olindo Mare missed wide left from 31 yards. Ponder, the 12th overall pick in the draft, completed 18 of 28 passes for 236 yards to beat Newton, the first choice in the draft. Ponder moved the chains with key completions on third downs in the second half to keep scoring drives alive. “It’s satisfying to get a win no matter what,” Ponder said. “Cam played extremely well. He had three touchdown passes, and a big drive there at the end. Fortunately, the ball bounced our way with the missed field goal.” Peterson, the NFL’s leading rusher, bounced back from a slow start and scored on a 9-yard run to tie the game at 21 late in the third quarter. He ran for 86 yards and had five catches for 76 yards, including a 19-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter. “They kept dropping deep and leaving him open,” Ponder said. “I kept taking it. … I’ll take that all day.” Newton threw for 290 yards and a career-high three touchdowns, but once again the Panthers (2-6) failed to finish in the fourth quarter. It was their fifth loss by a touchdown or less this season. The Panthers had their chances. Carolina went three-and-out on three straight possessions in the second half and watched their lead slip away. But after Longwell’s field goal gave the Vikings the 24-21 lead, Newton seemed poised to lead a memorable comeback. He completed a 44-yard pass to Brandon LaFell on fourth-and-15 to reach Vikings territory. The Panthers appeared to reach the 7 on a first-down run by Newton, but the play was called back because of a holding penalty on Steve Smith. “I got a few texts saying already in the HD it didn’t look too bad,” Smith said of the [...]
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