Evening Edition

Evening Edition is an Open Thread

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 African American support waning for Obama

By Stephanie Griffith, AFP

4 hrs ago

African American support for Barack Obama is softening amid a sense that the president has ignored the economic travails faced by this once rock-solid pillar of his political base.

A Gallup poll last week found Obama’s poll numbers in the African American community down from its once stratospheric 95 percent approval early in his term, to a still-high, but notably lower 81 percent — tying his worst ever showing from earlier this year.

Realclearpolitics.com, which compiles an average of major polls, put the president’s approval rating among all Americans at 43.5 percent.

2 US military’s Iraqi linguists face uncertain road

By W.G. Dunlop, AFP

47 mins ago

The looming pullout of most if not all US forces from Iraq leaves their Iraqi interpreters facing unemployment, afraid for their lives and with a difficult decision: whether to stay or go.

Interpreters interviewed at military and police facilities near Mosul in north Iraq all said they fear for their safety.

But accepting special visas to the US still means leaving their country and in some cases their families for an uncertain future — an incredibly tough choice to make.

3 US winemakers hope for ‘grand cru’ after heat wave

By Karin Zeitvogel, AFP

1 hr 15 mins ago

In winemaking, a hot, dry summer is part of the stuff that dream vintages are made of.

And with the Washington area baking in record-breaking temperatures this summer, winemakers in the little-known vineyards of Maryland and Virginia think this could be the year that puts them on the map.

“We’re anticipating a great vintage this year,” said Carol Wilson who, with her husband Fred, has been making wine since 1979 at the Elk Run vineyard in Mount Airy, Maryland, an hour and a half north of Washington.

4 Norway wants explorer ship back 80 years after sinking

By Michel Viatteau and Michel Comte, AFP

14 hrs ago

Eighty years after it sank in the Canadian Arctic, explorer Roald Amundsen’s three-mast ship Maud may once again sail across the Atlantic to become the centerpiece of a new museum in Norway.

Canada, however, must still agree to the repatriation plan hatched by Norwegian investors, amid strong opposition from locals in the Canadian territory of Nunavut who want the ship to stay for tourists to admire from shore.

The wreck now sits at the bottom of Cambridge Bay in Nunavut, but its hulk is partly visible above the frigid waters that preserved it for decades.

5 Gaddafi hunted as loyalists fight on in Tripoli

By Ulf Laessing and Missy Ryan, Reuters

1 hr 1 min ago

TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Muammar Gaddafi was a hunted man on Monday as loyal remnants of his forces made last-ditch stands in the capital while world leaders rushed to embrace the fractious rebel movement as new masters of Libya’s oil riches.

Two days after their irregular armies launched pincer thrusts into Tripoli in tandem with an uprising in the city, Gaddafi’s tanks and sharpshooters appeared to hold only small areas, including his Bab al-Aziziya headquarters compound.

Gaddafi’s whereabouts were not known. Rebels said they held three of his sons, including his heir apparent Seif al-Islam.

6 Analysis: After Libya, eyes turn to Syrian revolt

By Mariam Karouny, Reuters

1 hr 20 mins ago

BEIRUT (Reuters)” – The downfall of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is likely to pave the way for increased Western attention to Syria and embolden protests against President Bashar al-Assad.

The implosion of Gaddafi’s rule after six months of civil war in which the rebels benefited from sanctions on Gaddafi, a no-fly zone and NATO air strikes may have implications for Syri’s six-month-old revolt and Assad’s efforts to crush it.

“The international community will now think that its strong intervention in the struggle (in Syria) will resolve the situation,” said opposition figure Louay Hussein.

7 Analysis: Investors eye promise, pitfalls in post-Gaddafi Libya

By Sebastian Tong, Reuters

2 hrs 11 mins ago

LONDON (Reuters) – Investors peering through the receding fog of war will find plenty of promise and a few pitfalls in a post-Gaddafi Libya.

If peace takes hold in Africa’s largest oil producer after a six-month civil war, the long-dormant economy could rapidly flourish provided there has been no substantial damage to the oil and gas infrastructure underpinning its national wealth.

Much remains undecided as anti-government forces gain control of Tripoli in their final push to end the four-decade rule of Muammar Gaddafi but a new Libyan government could herald a bonanza for Western companies and investors.

8 Brent slips as market eyes Libya oil restart

By Robert Gibbons, Reuters

1 hr 3 mins ago

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Brent crude edged lower on Monday in choppy trading as investors hoped the process to restart oil exports from OPEC member Libya would begin soon as the country’s six-month-old civil war neared an end.

Brent pared losses, bouncing with rallying U.S. crude on the day the September contract expired as rising Wall Street equities provided a boost.

Brent crude’s forward curve flattened in the months through early next year and its premium to U.S. crude fell on hopes that a swift end to Libya’s civil war would bring the country’s oil exports back to the market.

9 Merkel pressured, collateral row rages on

By Noah Barkin and Paul Carrel, Reuters

6 hrs ago

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Germany’s Angela Merkel faced mounting domestic criticism of her euro zone policies on Monday, with the Bundesbank slamming an anti-crisis package she agreed to in Brussels last month and a senior ally warning he would vote against key parts of it.

Elsewhere in the currency bloc, a week-long row over Finnish demands that Greece cough up collateral as a condition for new bailout loans raged on, with the Netherlands condemning a bilateral deal between Helsinki and Athens as illegal.

Rating agency Moody’s warned that the dispute could end up delaying approval of a new aid package for Greece, driving it into default.

10 Toyota, Ford to collaborate on hybrid trucks

By Bernie Woodall, Reuters

1 hr 6 mins ago

DETROIT (Reuters) – Toyota Motor Corp and Ford Motor Co will work together to develop hybrid trucks and SUVs that will be ready for market by the end of the decade, the two companies said on Monday.

Ford and Toyota plan to collaborate on product development for the future rear-wheel drive hybrid vehicles, as well as for telephone, Internet and entertainment systems.

Developing the hybrids will help each automaker meet stringent U.S. fuel economy standards in coming years, said Takeshi Uchiyamada, vice president for Toyota research and development, and Derrick Kuzak, Ford’s product development chief.

11 Martin Luther King memorial unveiled on National Mall

By Molly O’Toole, Reuters

1 hr 55 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Martin Luther King Jr stood 30 feet tall on the National Mall as a memorial to him was unveiled on Monday morning — the first memorial on the Mall not dedicated to a war, president or white man.

Fifteen years after a Congressional Joint Resolution in 1996 to establish a memorial in Washington, D.C. to honor King, the four-acre site on the Tidal Basin between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials opened to the public for the first time.

“From a geometrical standpoint it’s on a direct line between the Lincoln Memorial and Jefferson Memorial,” said Bill Line, spokesman for the National Park Service. “The brains and essence of our country (Thomas Jefferson), and Abe Lincoln, the greater uniter.”

12 Libya rebels hold most of Tripoli, face resistance

By BEN HUBBARD, KARIN LAUB, Associated Press

1 hr 49 mins ago

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) – Libyan rebels claimed to be in control of most of Tripoli Monday after their swift advance on the capital heralded the fall of Moammar Gadhafi’s 42-year regime. But they still faced some fierce resistance, with scattered gunbattles erupting, and the mercurial leader was nowhere to be found.

The international community called on Gadhafi to step down and moved ahead with post-war planning as euphoric rebel supporters celebrated in Green Square, the symbolic heart of the fading Gadhafi regime. Colleagues warned the leader would not go easily, even after three of his sons were arrested.

“The real moment of victory is when Gadhafi is captured,” Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, the head of the rebels’ National Transitional Council, told a news conference in the opposition’s de facto capital of Benghazi in the east, hundreds of miles from Tripoli.

13 AP reporters ride with rebels into Libyan capital

By BEN HUBBARD, KARIN LAUB, Associated Press

1 hr 4 mins ago

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) – Our drive to Tripoli started with news of a prison break and ended with a party.

Around noon Sunday, we were waiting at a rebel checkpoint in the coastal town of Jedaim, on the main road to the Libyan capital, the main stronghold of Moammar Gadhafi’s regime.

All morning, rebel trucks with mounted guns had been rushing forward to clash with Gadhafi’s forces somewhere in the 25 miles (40 kilometers) between us and the capital. Ambulances occasionally came screaming back, giving us an unclear picture of the rebels’ progress toward what could be the final stage in the six-month rebel struggle to chase Gadhafi from power.

14 Balanced budget amendment to get votes in Congress

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press

1 hr 52 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AP) – As a “supercommittee” tries to find $1.5 trillion in new deficit cuts this fall, Republicans will be pressing a far more ambitious goal: passing an amendment to the Constitution to require a balanced federal budget.

The idea is being pushed most forcefully by conservative activists eager to shrink the government and its spending but disappointed with the results they’ve achieved so far in Washington, where Democrats control both the White House and the Senate.

“Spending cuts and caps are steps in the right direction,” said Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas. But a balanced budget amendment is “the only permanent solution to control government spending and end our nation’s spending-driven debt crisis,” Sessions said.

3 comments

  1. This would go viral

    http://video.nytimes.com/video

  2.  remembering who was the administration dope who said something to the effect of “We tried stimulus” or “We tied Keynes” and “it didn’t work” recently?

    I remember Obama coming out in the middle of the debt limit debacle and validating some republican talking points about uncertainty and the confidence fairy as well.

    Anyhow, I apologize for being lazy and not looking these things up myself. I’m sort of pressed for time because I’m traveling today.  I’d sure love to be able to site these examples before I hit the road.

    It’s as if my mind has gone on vacation too.

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