Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Record protests hit France in pensions showdown

by Roland Lloyd Parry, AFP

42 mins ago

PARIS (AFP) – More than a million French workers marched Tuesday in the biggest protest yet against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s pensions reform, threatening to extend strikes disrupting trains, planes and refineries.

Students and school pupils joined the movement for the first time and staff in several sectors threatened to make the strikes open-ended, escalating the toughest battle of Sarkozy’s presidency, as the government dug in its heels.

“Sarko, you’re screwed, the young are on the streets,” chanted students as they marched beside trade unionists and their supporters on the fourth major nationwide demonstration against pension reform in just over a month.

2 Sarkozy in pension showdown as street protests escalate

by Rory Mulholland, AFP

Tue Oct 12, 12:45 pm ET

PARIS (AFP) – French students joined more than a million striking workers Tuesday in the biggest protests so far against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plan to hike the retirement age to 62.

Some strikers decided to prolong their stoppages to try and make Sarkozy give up the pension plans that are the cornerstone of the right-wing leader’s reform agenda and which he says are needed to slash France’s budget deficit.

Students and school pupils broadened the movement and their participation — along with the plans to make some strikes open-ended — was seen as an escalation of what has become the toughest battle in Sarkozy’s presidency.

3 First Chile miners set for Tuesday rescue

by Marc Burleigh, AFP

16 mins ago

SAN JOSE MINE, Chile (AFP) – The first of 33 trapped Chile miners was set to emerge Tuesday after more than two months deep underground, culminating a spectacular rescue effort unfolding in the glare of the world’s media.

“We are just hours from beginning this process,” Mining Minister Laurence Golborne told reporters at gold and copper mine in northern Chile.

“We hope to see off Tuesday… with at least one of the miners on the surface, that’s our aim,” he said, adding the operation would start earlier than planned, between 8:00 pm (2300 GMT) and midnight (0300 GMT Wednesday).

4 Hopes and fears as Chile miners prepare for rescue

by Paulina Abramovich, AFP

Mon Oct 11, 7:51 pm ET

SAN JOSE MINE, Chile (AFP) – Anxieties rose Monday hours before a risky operation to bring 33 miners back to the surface was to begin, ending a two-month nightmare for the men trapped deep in a Chilean mine.

The delicate and lengthy process of lifting each man out one-by-one will begin at around midnight Tuesday (0300 GMT Wednesday), according to Mines Minister Laurence Golborne.

“It would be wonderful if it was a little bit earlier, but we will take all the time we need,” Golborne said after engineers successfully completed a first test of the specially designed rescue capsule to bring the men to the surface.

5 Chile ready to begin rescue of trapped miners

by Marc Burleigh, AFP

Tue Oct 12, 12:04 pm ET

SAN JOSE MINE, Chile (AFP) – The spectacular rescue of 33 miners trapped in a Chilean mine was accelerated Tuesday by officials confident everything was set to bring the men to the surface, under the blazing scrutiny of the world’s media.

It was “fairly certain” the operation would begin at 8:00 pm (2300 GMT) Tuesday, four hours earlier than scheduled, local lawmaker Carlos Vilches told AFP.

Each miner was to be slowly brought to the surface individually through a narrow, rescue shaft that was itself completed last weekend, well ahead of the original forecast of Christmas.

6 US lifts Gulf of Mexico deepwater drilling ban

by Karin Zeitvogel, AFP

24 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States on Tuesday lifted a ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico imposed after the BP oil spill, but set operators tough new safety conditions, officials said.

“We have decided it is now appropriate to lift the suspension on deepwater drilling for those operators that are able to clear the higher bar that we have set” for safety, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said.

Shortly after the BP oil disaster began in April, President Barack Obama ordered a six-month freeze on deepwater offshore oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. The moratorium was due to expire at the end of next month.

7 Google in major bid for Eastern US wind power

by Shaun Tandon, AFP

1 hr 58 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Investors led by technology giant Google on Tuesday announced a five billion-dollar project to power the US East Coast with wind from the Atlantic Ocean, in an ambitious bid to spur alternative energy.

The project would set up offshore wind turbines and a new transmission grid stretching 350 miles (565 kilometers) from New Jersey to Virginia, the most densely populated part of the United States which suffered blackouts in 2003.

Google, the Internet search giant whose interests now run the gamut from broadband to robotic cars, said it would provide 37.5 percent of the initial funding.

8 Google, Marubeni to develop underwater power cables off US

AFP

Tue Oct 12, 9:45 am ET

TOKYO (AFP) – Google and Japanese investment firm Marubeni will invest in the development of undersea power cables off the US Atlantic coast to deliver electricity from offshore wind, the companies said Tuesday.

Swiss equity fund Good Energies Investment and US utility Atlantic Grid Development LLC will also participate in the “Atlantic Wind Connection” venture, in which Google has a 37.5 stake and Marubeni has 15 percent.

The cables will carry electricity from offshore wind turbines to be built in the Atlantic and eventually deliver around 6,000 megawatts of power to the four states of Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and New Jersey, Marubeni said.

9 Liverpool ownership battle nears climax

AFP

2 hrs 29 mins ago

LONDON (AFP) – The legal battle over the ownership of Liverpool could be decided Wednesday in a saga given a new twist by an increased offer for the Premier League club from a Singaporean tycoon.

In the High Court in London on Tuesday, Liverpool’s current American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett were accused by the club’s main creditor of trying to “frustrate” a sale to the owners of the Boston Red Sox baseball team.

As the courtroom battle started, Singapore’s Peter Lim said he had made a rival bid of 360 million pounds for the club.

10 Hostage ‘may have been killed by US grenade’

by Danny Kemp, AFP

Mon Oct 11, 7:19 pm ET

LONDON (AFP) – A British aid worker who died in an attempt to rescue her from her Taliban kidnappers in Afghanistan may have been killed by a grenade detonated by US troops, Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday.

Linda Norgrove, 36, was abducted on September 26 in eastern Afghanistan and killed in the failed US-led operation on Friday. British officials had earlier said she died when one of her captors blew up a suicide vest.

Cameron said an immediate investigation had been launched into Norgrove’s death but he defended the attempt to rescue her, saying that she had been in “grave danger” from the moment she was captured.

11 Hungary nationalises toxic sludge company

by Geza Molnar, AFP

41 mins ago

BUDAPEST (AFP) – Hungary seized control Tuesday of the company blamed for a deadly mud spill as a new dam to prevent a feared second disaster neared completion, opening the way for villagers to return by the week’s end.

A day after the managing director of MAL Hungarian Aluminium Production and Trade Company was detained for questioning in the country’s worst-ever chemical accident, the government seized control of the company and froze its assets.

A bill nationalising MAL was passed by the parliament, with 336 votes in favour, one against and 13 abstentions, and then signed into law by President Pal Schmitt.

12 Kim Jong-Il’s eldest son hits out over succession

by Shigemi Sato, AFP

Tue Oct 12, 7:36 am ET

TOKYO (AFP) – The eldest son of ailing North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il said he opposes plans for a hereditary transfer of power to his younger half-brother in the communist state, in rare comments aired Tuesday.

The views of exiled Kim Jong-Nam come as the regime has signalled plans for a dynastic succession, including by broadcasting images of the heir-apparent Kim Jong-Un to its people from a huge military parade on Sunday.

Jong-Nam — who has lived in Macau and Beijing since apparently falling out of favour with his father in 2001 — offered his opinion in an interview with Japan’s TV Asahi, taped on Saturday in Beijing.

13 Higher costs, risk lasting legacy of Gulf spill

By David Turner and Emma Farge, Reuters

Tue Oct 12, 1:41 pm ET

LONDON (Reuters) – The Gulf of Mexico oil spill will push up costs and reduce the number of offshore oil and gas operators in U.S. waters for a long time to come, oil company executives told an industry conference on Tuesday.

More than 4 million barrels of crude oil spewed into the seas off the U.S. Gulf coast after the rupture of BP’s Macondo offshore oil platform in April.

The disaster has led to a moratorium on offshore drilling in U.S. waters and new regulations aimed at permanently reshaping the U.S. offshore oil and gas industry, which industry officials have said will raise costs and could reduce offshore output.

14 Wall Street stresses jobs, taxes after election

By Edward Krudy, Reuters

2 hrs 50 mins ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Wall Street is more worried about high unemployment than the makeup of Congress or the Federal Reserve’s next move, according to views from the market ahead of next month’s election.

That said, extending tax cuts and lifting growth should be the top priorities of the new Congress, according to a Reuters poll of 53 financial analysts, money managers and trading firms.

Repealing the recently-passed financial regulation law was less of a priority for Wall Street. Just three of 53 respondents said scrapping the bill should be one of two top priorities, despite months of vocal opposition.

15 Chile’s trapped miners finally set to escape

By Cesar Illiano and Terry Wade, Reuters

8 mins ago

COPIAPO, Chile (Reuters) – The first of 33 trapped miners will be pulled to safety in a capsule barely wider than a man’s shoulders on Tuesday night as a two-month ordeal deep inside a Chilean mine draws to an end.

The men have spent 68 days in the hot, humid bowels of a gold and copper mine in Chile’s northern Atacama desert after an August 5 collapse. They now face a claustrophobic journey to the surface in the specially-made steel cages, equipped with oxygen masks and escape hatches in case they get stuck.

With Chileans anxiously following the rescue on television, President Sebastian Pinera asked for all churches in the South American nation to ring their bells in celebration when the first miner emerges from the shaft.

16 White House rejects foreclosure moratorium

By Caren Bohan and Corbett B. Daly, Reuters

2 hrs 41 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration rejected calls for a nationwide moratorium on housing foreclosures amid fears that such a move could cripple an already slow recovery of the U.S. housing market.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs signaled on Tuesday the administration’s wariness of backing populist calls to halt evictions, which could undermine efforts to persuade skeptical voters that it rescued the economy from a complete meltdown.

“There are a series of unintended consequences to a broader moratorium,” Gibbs told reporters.

17 Asia stiffens resolve to resist capital inflows

By Kitiphong Thaichareon and Langi Chiang, Reuters

2 hrs 16 mins ago

BANGKOK/BEIJING (Reuters) – Thailand slapped a tax on foreign investment in government debt on Tuesday, Japan said it could intervene anew to weaken the yen and China again talked down the prospects of a faster rise in the yuan.

After the failure of a weekend International Monetary Fund meeting to defuse escalating foreign exchange tensions, Asian governments are redoubling efforts to resist capital inflows that are boosting their currencies and undercutting the competitiveness of their exporters.

Thailand’s cabinet agreed to impose a 15 percent withholding tax on capital gains and interest income from foreign investment in government debt in a bid to curb the baht, which is at its highest since the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

18 Hungary secures spill firm premises, readies dam

By Gergely Szakacs and Marton Dunai, Reuters

1 hr 45 mins ago

BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Hungarian police secured all premises of aluminum firm MAL Zrt on Tuesday after a disastrous toxic sludge spill that prompted a government takeover, as crews raced to complete an emergency dam to prevent a second deluge.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban has blamed “human negligence” for the escape of sludge from a giant reservoir at a MAL Zrt-owned alumina plant that killed eight people last week, and said the government would take control of the firm.

“Security responsibilities have been taken over by police at all Hungarian premises of MAL Zrt. And we have also gained control of (the company’s) information technology system,” disaster commissioner Gyorgy Bakondi told a news conference.

19 China steps up retaliation against Norway for Nobel

By Walter Gibbs and Gwladys Fouche, Reuters

Tue Oct 12, 11:45 am ET

OSLO (Reuters) – China broadened its retaliation against Norway on Tuesday for the selection of a Chinese dissident for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize, cancelling a second cabinet-level meeting and a Norwegian cultural event in China.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told a news conference in Beijing the award to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo last week showed a lack of respect for China’s judicial system and damaged ties between the two countries.

In Oslo, the Nobel Committee said it would be “delighted” for Liu’s wife to accept the award at a ceremony on December 10 in Oslo if Liu, who is serving an 11-year prison sentence for “subverting” the Chinese state, were prohibited from traveling.

20 Pfizer to buy King Pharma for $3.6 billion in cash

By Bill Berkrot, Reuters

Tue Oct 12, 1:42 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Pfizer Inc, the world’s largest drugmaker, has agreed to buy King Pharmaceuticals Inc for $3.6 billion in a move to shore up earnings ahead of the looming evaporation of revenue from Lipitor, its biggest product.

Pfizer, which is still digesting last year’s $67 billion acquisition of Wyeth, said on Tuesday it will use existing cash to pay $14.25 a share for King — representing a 40 percent premium over King’s closing share price on Monday.

Pfizer said it expects the transaction to add to adjusted earnings per share by about 2 cents for both 2011 and 2012 and 3 to 4 cents annually from 2013 to 2015. And it reaffirmed its earnings forecast for 2012 — the first full year that Lipitor will be under assault by competition from cheaper generics.

21 Republicans could shut off Wall St reform: Rep Frank

Reuters

2 hrs 29 mins ago

BOSTON (Reuters) – Republican gains in Congress could endanger funding for agencies charged with overseeing the sweeping financial overhaul enacted earlier this year, Representative Barney Frank, one of the act’s authors, said on Tuesday.

“What I’m afraid will happen is they could, if they came to power, shut off this reform, and I think that would be a mistake,” said Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, while speaking to reporters at a gathering of local financial-services executives held at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

“They can’t repeal it, but they could underfund it,” said Frank.

22 Not many early bonuses for Wall Street banks: experts

By Maria Aspan, Reuters

Tue Oct 12, 9:10 am ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Large Wall Street banks are unlikely to accelerate bonus payouts, even if doling out bonuses in December would cut the tax bills of employees, compensation experts said.

Paying out bonuses early would likely be a public relations disaster for a sector already blamed for the economic downturn, they said.

Morgan Stanley said on Monday it was not considering moving up bonus payouts, becoming one of the first large Wall Street firms to dismiss the possibility.

23 U.S. sees crisis fears easing over South China Sea

By Phil Stewart and John Ruwitch, Reuters

Tue Oct 12, 7:59 am ET

HANOI (Reuters) – Asian nations appeared to be moving to ease the risk of an immediate crisis over territorial disputes in the South China Sea, where concern has risen over China’s growing military reach and assertiveness.

At Asia-Pacific defense talks in Hanoi on Tuesday seven nations including the United States, Vietnam and Japan raised concern about the maritime region where China and others have competing territorial claims, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters.

But Chinese officials appeared to brush off the concerns, which came as Vietnam announced that China had freed nine Vietnamese fishermen it detained near the disputed Paracel islands in the South China Sea, the latest row involving China over its territorial claims in the region.

24 Fed says easier policy may be needed "before long"

By Mark Felsenthal and Jason Lange, Reuters

22 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Federal Reserve officials felt the struggling economy might soon need more help when they met in September, and discussed several ways to provide support, including the possible adoption of a price-level target.

The Fed officials who gathered on September 21 focused both on the possibility of buying more longer-term U.S. government debt to drive borrowing costs lower and ways to nudge the public into expecting higher levels of inflation in the future to spur spending now, the central bank said on Tuesday.

Policy-makers had a “sense that (more) accommodation may be appropriate before long,” minutes of the meeting said.

25 Administration lifts 6-month oil drilling freeze

By MATTHEW DALY, Associated Press Writer

16 mins ago

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration, under heavy pressure from the oil industry and others in the Gulf Coast, on Tuesday lifted the moratorium on deep water drilling that it imposed in the wake of the disastrous BP oil spill.

The six-month ban had been scheduled to expire Nov. 30, but Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said he was moving up that deadline because new rules imposed after the spill have strengthened safety measures and reduced the risk of another catastrophic blowout.

“The policy position that we are articulating today is that we are open for business,” Salazar told a news conference.

26 Judge orders ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ injunction

By JULIE WATSON, Associated Press Writer

20 mins ago

SAN DIEGO – A federal judge issued a worldwide injunction Tuesday stopping enforcement of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, ending the military’s 17-year-old ban on openly gay troops.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips’ landmark ruling was widely cheered by gay rights organizations that credited her with getting accomplished what President Obama and Washington politics could not

“This order from Judge Phillips is another historic and courageous step in the right direction, a step that Congress has been noticeably slow in taking,” said Alexander Nicholson, executive director of Servicemembers United, the nation’s largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans.

27 Chile choreographs dramatic finish to rescue saga

By MICHAEL WARREN, Associated Press Writer

13 mins ago

SAN JOSE MINE, Chile – Chile’s president says the rescue of miners trapped for more than two months will begin in two hours, keeping his promise to never abandon them.

The 33 miners are about to breathe fresh air for the first time since they were trapped a half-mile below the surface on Aug. 5.

Pinera says “it has been a very long journey,” but he’s optimistic that everything will go smoothly.

28 Political ads: It’s getting really nasty out there

By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer

22 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Is anybody fit for office any more? A Florida congressman casts his foe as a religious extremist, “Taliban Dan.” A challenger in West Virginia stresses a lawmaker’s Arab-American ancestry as shadowy and foreign. Other candidates are nothing but liars, misers, cheaters, even traitors, judging by the 30-second TV attacks.

Deep-pocketed independent political groups are making the 2010 election homestretch the most scathing in years. In the frantic final days before the voting, a blitz of negative ads is hitting the air in more than two dozen tight congressional races.

The ads warn that candidates who say they’re on your side actually care more about Arabs or illegal immigrants – take your pick – than about you. And the other guy seeking your vote? Why, he’ll simply make stuff up to get it.

29 Witness: Pa. teen threatened ‘war’ in beating case

By MICHAEL RUBINKAM, Associated Press Writer

23 mins ago

SCRANTON, Pa. – One of the defendants charged with a federal hate crime in the beating death of a Mexican immigrant threatened to start a “civil war” if Hispanics in the small Pennsylvania coal town retaliated, a witness testified Tuesday.

Jesse Gomez told jurors at the trial of Derrick Donchak and Brandon Piekarsky that Donchak made the statement to him two days after the assault on Luis Ramirez, a 25-year-old illegal immigrant.

Prosecutors say Donchak, now 20, and Piekarsky, now 18, were motivated by their dislike of Hispanics when they fought with Ramirez on July 12, 2008. Defense attorneys say ethnicity had nothing to do with the brawl between Ramirez and a group of white teenagers, all of whom played football at Shenandoah Valley High School.

30 Photo shows apparent leak before Hungary spill

By PABLO GORONDI, Associated Press Writer

24 mins ago

BUDAPEST, Hungary – An aerial photo taken months before a gigantic reservoir unleashed torrents of toxic sludge shows a faint red trail trickling through the container wall – part of a growing body of evidence that inspectors who gave the pit a clean bill of health may have missed warning signs.

Police were examining the photo Tuesday as part of an investigation into how part of the wall containing the 10 million cubic meters (350 million cubic feet) of caustic slurry could have given way without structural weaknesses being detected by a team of inspectors from the government environmental agency who inspected the container pond less then two weeks before the spill.

Disaster commissioner Gyorgy Bakondi, appointed to the newly created post Monday night, said Tuesday the inspections were under investigation, including claims by environmental inspectors that “they had found everything in order.”

31 School cafeterias to try psychology in lunch line

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE, AP Medical Writer

26 mins ago

Hide the chocolate milk behind the plain milk. Get those apples and oranges out of stainless steel bins and into pretty baskets. Cash only for desserts.

These subtle moves can entice kids to make healthier choices in school lunch lines, studies show. Food and restaurant marketers have long used similar tricks. Now the government wants in on the act.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced what it called a major new initiative Tuesday, giving $2 million to food behavior scientists to find ways to use psychology to improve kids’ use of the federal school lunch program and fight childhood obesity.

32 Clinton calls for Serbian talks with Kosovo

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer

Tue Oct 12, 1:45 pm ET

BELGRADE, Serbia – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday urged Serbia and its former province of Kosovo to settle their differences, more than a decade after NATO launched airstrikes on Serbia to halt violence against Kosovo’s ethnic Albanians.

Clinton made the call in the Serbian capital of Belgrade, the second stop on a three-nation tour of the Balkans aimed at pressing for reconciliation and reform in the region still politically splintered following the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s and the bloody civil wars that followed.

Clinton said rapprochement between Serbia and Kosovo, combined with Serbian political reform, would put Serbia on the path to European Union membership, a role that it could use to anchor stability in southeastern Europe.

33 Nobel winner’s wife hopes to collect his award

By TINI TRAN, Associated Press Writer

Tue Oct 12, 1:37 pm ET

BEIJING – The wife of the imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo said Tuesday she hopes to travel to Norway to collect the Nobel Peace Prize on his behalf, though for now she can only leave her Beijing home under police escort.

China, meanwhile, claimed the award was an attack on the country and an attempt to change its political system, and retaliated by canceling another set of meetings with the Norwegian government.

In brief interviews by phone, Liu Xia said her husband has started receiving better food since the Oslo-based Nobel committee announced the award last Friday – honoring his more than two decades of advocacy of human rights and peaceful democratic change that started with the demonstrations at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.

34 Playboy son of NKorea leader raps succession plan

By ANITA CHANG, Associated Press Writer

Tue Oct 12, 7:43 am ET

BEIJING – The casino-loving eldest son of North Korea’s Kim Jong Il – once tipped to succeed him before trying to sneak into Japan to go to Disneyland – says he opposes a hereditary transfer of power to his youngest half-brother.

It’s the first public sign of discord in the tightly choreographed succession process, though analysts said Kim Jong Nam spends so much time outside his native land that his opinion carries little weight.

The chubby 39-year-old Kim, the oldest of three brothers who were in the running to take over secretive North Korea, is the closest thing the country has to a playboy.

35 French strikes disrupt life, shut Eiffel Tower

By GREG KELLER, Associated Press Writer

Tue Oct 12, 1:07 pm ET

PARIS – A nationwide strike by major French unions canceled flights and trains and shut the Eiffel Tower Tuesday, disrupting daily life for many and putting new pressure on the government to drop a plan to raise the retirement age by two years.

Unionized train and Paris public transport workers vowed to stay off the job for at least another day, and police said at least 1.2 million people marched in protests against the plan, the largest turnout in four nationwide demonstrations over the last five weeks.

That could be a signal of rising momentum for the movement facing off against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s governing conservatives over its proposal to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62.

36 Full probe vowed in captive Briton’s death

By ROBERT KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer

Tue Oct 12, 10:39 am ET

KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S. and U.K. military officials have started what’s promised as a thorough investigation into the death of a kidnapped British aid worker who may have been killed in error by U.S. special forces – rather than, as originally stated, by her Taliban captors.

Linda Norgrove’s death has reverberated through the corridors of power from Kabul, to London, to Washington – where President Barack Obama expressed condolences and pledged “to get to the bottom” of what happened during the deadly raid.

Norgrove, 36, and six insurgents were killed Friday night after U.S. special forces stormed a compound in eastern Kunar province where she had been held for two weeks. Norgrove and three Afghan colleagues were ambushed and kidnapped Sept. 26. Her colleagues were quickly freed.

37 Nobel Prize may not help Obama’s Fed nominee

By TOM RAUM, Associated Press Writer

Tue Oct 12, 3:14 am ET

WASHINGTON – You’d think that having a Nobel Prize under your belt would be a clincher for getting a promotion or a job change. But it may not help economist Peter Diamond win a coveted seat on the Federal Reserve.

Diamond, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, won a Nobel Prize in economics with two other economists on Monday.

Only trouble is, Senate Republicans have so far blocked his nomination. Why? They suggest he lacks the experience to serve on the Fed’s board of governors.

38 Navy birthplace in dispute; 5 towns lay claim

By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press Writer

4 mins ago

BOSTON – The old sign near its border that proclaims the upstate New York town of Whitehall to be the birthplace of the U.S. Navy is a bit worn out, town clerk Elaine Jones admits. Residents of several other Northeast towns might describe it another way: Not true.

Five communities claim to be the Navy’s birthplace, from a wealthy former fishing hub north of Boston to Whitehall, a town about 200 miles from the nearest ocean.

On the Navy’s official birthday Wednesday – its 235th – the Archivist of the United States, David Ferriero, may try to settle the question at a meeting in Boston at the museum of the USS Constitution, the country’s oldest commissioned Naval warship.

39 Feds appeal Mass. rulings against US marriage law

By DENISE LAVOIE, AP Legal Affairs Writer

13 mins ago

BOSTON – The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday defended the federal law defining marriage as between a man and a woman by appealing two rulings in Massachusetts by a judge who called the law unconstitutional for denying federal benefits to gay married couples.

In two separate cases, U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro in July ruled the federal Defense of Marriage Act, known as DOMA, is unconstitutional because it interferes with a state’s right to define marriage and denies married gay couples an array of federal benefits given to heterosexual married couples, including the ability to file joint tax returns.

The notice of appeal filed Tuesday did not spell out any arguments in support of the law. The appeals eventually will be heard by the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston.

40 Germany and Portugal win Security Council seats

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer

Tue Oct 12, 2:32 pm ET

UNITED NATIONS – Germany won a seat on the U.N. Security Council Tuesday in a heated three-way race, and Portugal claimed the second seat for Western bloc nations on the U.N.’s most powerful body after badly trailing Canada withdrew.

African, Asian and Latin American seats were uncontested so India, South Africa and Colombia easily won on the first ballot in the 192-member General Assembly.

Ten of the Security Council’s 15 seats are filled by regional groups for two-year stretches, with five elected each year. The other five seats are occupied by the council’s veto-wielding permanent members: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States.

41 Adoptions from Ethiopia rise, bucking global trend

By DAVID CRARY, AP National Writer

Tue Oct 12, 2:18 pm ET

NEW YORK – As the overall number of international adoptions by Americans plummets, one country – Ethiopia – is emphatically bucking the trend, sending record numbers of children to the U.S. while winning praise for improving orphans’ prospects at home.

It’s a remarkable, little-publicized trend, unfolding in an impoverished African country with an estimated 5 million orphans and homeless children, on a continent that has been wary of international adoption.

Just six years ago, at the peak of international adoption, there were 284 Ethiopian children among the 22,990 foreign kids adopted by Americans. For the 2010 fiscal year, the State Department projects there will be about 2,500 adoptions from Ethiopia out of fewer than 11,000 overall – and Ethiopia is on the verge of overtaking China as the top source country.

42 US church financier faces Ponzi scheme trial

By CHARLES WILSON, Associated Press Writer

Tue Oct 12, 11:26 am ET

INDIANAPOLIS – Karen and Fred Lamb tried to do their homework before investing their savings in an Indiana company’s fund to help churches build or expand. After talking with church friends and checking out Alanar Inc. on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s website, they decided the firm’s goals and beliefs meshed with their own.

“It was a good place where Christians would be investing in the work of other Christians,” said Karen Lamb, a 55-year-old Terre Haute, Ind., housewife.

More than five years later, the Lambs still are waiting to get most of their $53,000 investment back. Now a former pastor is going on trial for what authorities call a multimillion-dollar scheme that preyed on thousands of parishioners who thought they were helping build churches but were actually buying the man and his sons planes and sports cars.

43 Number of ed civil rights complaints on the rise

By CHRISTINE ARMARIO, Associated Press Writer

Tue Oct 12, 6:14 am ET

African American boys who are suspended at double and triple the rates of their white male peers. English language learners who, for years, remain in separate classes, falling behind their peers and scoring poorly on standardized tests. Disabled students and those with illnesses who are shortchanged at school because of their impairments.

The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights received nearly 7,000 complaints this fiscal year, an 11 percent increase and the largest jump in at least 10 years, according to data provided by the department. The increase comes as the office proceeds with 54 compliance reviews in districts and institutions of higher education nationwide, including cases involving disparate discipline rates and treatment of students with disabilities.

Why the spike?

44 Alaska couple converts pickup into Radio Flyer car

By MARK THIESSEN, Associated Press Writer

Tue Oct 12, 6:03 am ET

WASILLA, Alaska – Ever miss your childhood days riding around in a red wagon?

A Wasilla, Alaska, couple has the answer: A full-sized pickup that has been converted into a giant red Radio Flyer.

Fred Keller and Judy Foster worked on the vehicle for 11 months, using the base of a 1976 Mazda B1600 pickup truck.

45 Pa. school settles 2 webcam spy lawsuits for $610K

By MARYCLAIRE DALE, Associated Press Writer

Mon Oct 11, 10:35 pm ET

PHILADELPHIA – A Philadelphia-area school district agreed Monday to pay $610,000 to settle two lawsuits over secret photos taken on school-issued laptops.

The Lower Merion School District admitted it captured thousands of webcam photographs and screen shots from student laptops in a misguided effort to locate missing computers.

Harriton High School student Blake Robbins, then 15, charged in an explosive civil-rights lawsuit filed in February that the district used its remote tracking technology to spy on him inside his home. Later evidence unearthed in the case showed that he was photographed 400 times in a two-week period, sometimes as he slept in his bedroom, according to his lawyer, Mark Haltzman.

46 Reprimand tossed for ‘We close at 5’ Texas judge

By JIM VERTUNO, Associated Press Writer

Mon Oct 11, 8:34 pm ET

AUSTIN, Texas – A special court of review on Monday dismissed a public reprimand of Texas’ top criminal courts judge, who closed her court at 5 p.m., preventing attorneys from filing a last-minute appeal hours before their client was executed.

The disciplinary case against Court of Criminal Appeals Presiding Judge Sharon Keller came after she closed the court on Sept. 25, 2007, as attorneys for twice-convicted killer Michael Wayne Richard tried to submit their appeal.

The state Commission on Judicial Conduct issued Keller a “public warning,” but the judge appealed, claiming the commission exceeded its authority and violated the state constitution.

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    • on 10/13/2010 at 01:05

    There is a 2 hour hold right now. They are going to lower Paramedics to the miners to assess their conditions and assist them getting to the surface. They’ll be given oxygen on the ascent to protect them from the dust in the shaft and wearing dark glasses so the bright light won’t damage their eyes when they reach the surface.

    • on 10/13/2010 at 01:11

    We can drill again. No problem, The oil companies promised they’d be more careful. Remind me, we did elect Democrats to run the government?

    Oh and it’s safe to eat the seafood. Yeah!!

    • on 10/13/2010 at 01:46

    Chilean miners draw up contract to share proceeds of story

    The 33 trapped Chilean miners have moved to stop any individual from profiting at the expense of the group, drawing up a legal contract to share the proceeds from the story of their ordeal.

    The men have called in a lawyer to draw up a contract ensuring they will equally profit from the lucrative media deals they expect to secure for sharing the story of their two month survival in the hope that they never have to work again.

    The group have already rejected requests for interviews and have instead made plans to jointly write a book about the days spent trapped below the Atacama Desert following the mine collapse on August 5.

    The details of the discussions between the men were disclosed in a letter by one of the miners to his wife.

    “We have received offers to be filmed and interviewed by national television,” Yonni Barrios, 50, wrote in the letter sent up to the surface last week. “But we didn’t accept because we are going to form a foundation and all our daily experiences during our time down here will go into a book and other projects.”

    He informed his wife that the men had requested a lawyer visit the San Jose mine and send down the paperwork to make such an agreement legally binding.

    “We want to make this legal then everything that will come out from us will be negotiated for the future.

    “If we do this properly we won’t have to work for the rest of our lives.”

    After what these guys have been through, they shouldn’t have to work for the rest of their lives. Good for them.

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