Khamis, 31 Oktober 2013

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FAA loosens rules for e-devices on airline flights - USA TODAY

Posted: 31 Oct 2013 08:30 AM PDT

Bart Jansen, USA TODAY 11:32 a.m. EDT October 31, 2013

Airline passengers soon will be able to use electronics such as readers and games during takeoffs, landings and throughout flights, the Federal Aviation Administration announced Thursday.

Before the new rule takes effect, airlines must demonstrate that aircraft won't be at risk because of potential interference from portable electronic devices.

That is expected to take place quickly and the devices approved for use by the end of the year in most of the nation's airline fleet.

Connecting to the Internet remains prohibited when the plane is less than 10,000 feet in the air. Voice calls also are banned during the entire flight, under a Federal Communications Commission rule.

Passengers should continue to follow all instructions from flight crews regarding the use of the devices, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said.

"We found that we could protect aviation safety and at the same time address the passenger desire for use of their portable devices," Huerta said."The committee determined that most commercial airplanes can tolerate radio interference from portable electronic devices."

"We believe today's decision honors both our commitment to safety and consumers' increasing desire to use their electronic devices during all phases of flight," Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said.

Flight attendants welcomed the opportunity to ease enforcement of the prohibition against gadgets. Laura Glading, president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, said the change in rules will benefit passengers and crew members.

"Once the new policy is safely implemented – and we're going to work closely with the carrier to do that – it will be a win-win," Glading said. "We're frankly tired of feeling like 'hall monitors' when it comes to this issue."

Delta Air Lines spokesman Paul Skrbec said the airline already has preformed the required tolerance tests on all of its aircraft and has submitted the necessary paperwork to the FAA for its approval, so that passengers might be able to use electronics as early as Friday, pending FAA approval.

"All of our aircraft are ready to go," he says, adding that the airline is now awaiting word from the FAA. "That could come as early as today for us."

JetBlue Airways also expects to be among the first airlines to allow electronics because it has a relatively small fleet less than 200 aircraft and only two types of planes, according to spokeswoman Jenny Dervin. "We intend to be the first airline to allow fleet-wide PEDs," she said.

JetBlue Capt. Chuck Cook, who served on the advisory committee that recommended the policy change, said electronics were never a proven hazard, but they were never cleared of risk, either. Cook said now airlines will demonstrate the devices are safe.

"With this guidance, the airlines are able to accurately assess the risk," Cook said.

The policy change will take some time to be adopted because planes must be certified and crew members must be trained how to deal with electronics

"I believe we will do it very briskly," Cook said.

Electronics have always been allowed once a plane reaches 10,000 feet in the air. On planes that are equipped with their own wifi hot spots, passengers have been able to connect to the internet while the flight is cruising.

But Thursday's decision marks a major change for passengers eager to keep reading an electronic book, listen to music or play a game while the plane is less than 10,000 feet in the air, when those activities have been prohibited.

The decision follows a report Sept. 30 from a 28-member committee representing airlines, manufacturers, electronics makers, pilots and flight attendants.

The prohibition against electronics began decades ago because of concerns about interference with cockpit communications and navigation equipment. But passengers have sought easier use of their gadgets as electronics become more widespread and as aircraft equipment has become less susceptible to stray signals.

Consumer groups and lawmakers such as Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., have argued that electronic readers are no more dangerous than books during takeoff and landing. "This is great news for the traveling public—and frankly, a win for common sense," McCaskill, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, said of the FAA's decision. "I applaud the FAA for taking the necessary steps to change these outdated regulations and I look forward to the airlines turning around quick plans for implementation."

The Association of Flight Attendants voiced support for the decision provided that electronic devices are proven not to interfere with onboard communications.

"In order to expand the use of PEDs safely, the commercial aviation industry must first demonstrate that airplanes can tolerate electromagnetic interference from passenger devices," the AFA said. "At the same time, appropriate policies and procedures, supported by effective crew training programs and focused safety messaging from the industry to travelers, are needed to ensure that expanded use by passengers does not degrade safety and security."

Huerta said in perhaps 1% of flights with low visibility, electronics will still be banned at some points in flight on some planes.

"In those cases, passengers may be asked to turn off devices," Huerta said. "It's important for everyone's safety that passengers obey requests to store such devices if need be."

Tap on Merkel Provides Peek at Vast Spy Net - New York Times

Posted: 31 Oct 2013 08:23 AM PDT

WASHINGTON — It was not obvious to the National Security Agency a dozen years ago that Angela Merkel, a rising star as the leader of the Christian Democratic Union, was a future chancellor of Germany.

But that did not matter.

The N.S.A., in a practice that dates back to the depths of the Cold War and that has never ended, was recording her conversations and those of a range of leaders in Germany and elsewhere, storing them in databases that could be searched later, if the need arose. It is unclear how often they searched the databases for her conversations, if at all.

But once she became the country's leader, everything she talked about on her personal cellphone — like her support of the Afghan war, the efforts of European allies to halt Iran's nuclear program, and Germany's central role in quelling the European financial crisis — took on greater importance for the American eavesdroppers.

How the N.S.A. continued to track Ms. Merkel as she ascended to the top of Germany's political apparatus illuminates previously undisclosed details about the way the secret spy agency casts a drift net to gather information from America's closest allies. The phone monitoring is hardly limited to the leaders of countries like Germany, and also includes their top aides and the heads of opposing parties. It is all part of a comprehensive effort to gain an advantage over other nations, both friend and foe.

What the United States has learned from Ms. Merkel's calls since 2002, the year when surveillance on her began, according to a database described last week in the German newsmagazine Der Spiegel, remains unknown. But no one has denied that she was being monitored.

In testimony to Congress on Tuesday, the director of national intelligence, James R. Clapper Jr., gave only the roughest sketch of the size of the N.S.A.'s surveillance program, but suggested that the leader of the United States' most powerful European ally was a single fish in a very big sea.

"We're talking about a huge enterprise here with thousands and thousands of individual requirements," he said, using a phrase that appeared to mean individual surveillance targets. Mr. Clapper said that the United States spies on foreign leaders and other officials to see "if what they're saying gels with what's actually going on," and how the policies of other countries "impact us across a whole range of issues."

German political and intelligence officials went to the White House on Wednesday looking for answers to some of the questions the administration has been reluctant to discuss, and eager to use the incident to broker a far closer intelligence-sharing agreement with Washington that, among other things, would end the surveillance of its leaders.

If put into effect, such an arrangement could begin to dismantle a system that has grown ever larger, and more sophisticated, during a decade in which supercomputers and the algorithms used to search vast databases have put the N.S.A. far ahead of rival intelligence services. President Obama has asked whether the technology has outrun common sense, and the Merkel episode has raised in a very public way the question of whether the benefits of spying on friends outweigh the damage if such spying becomes known.

Even after the flood of information about surveillance operations made public by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor, American officials are still loath to speak in detail about eavesdropping on friendly governments. But former officials with knowledge of the system described an intelligence apparatus with both a voracious appetite and a growing ability to warehouse huge amounts of data.

The N.S.A. tries to gather cellular and landline phone numbers — often obtained from American diplomats — for as many foreign officials as possible. The contents of the phone calls are stored in computer databases that can regularly be searched using keywords.

"They suck up every phone number they can in Germany," said one former intelligence official.

The databases are different from those housing telephone "metadata" — information about phone numbers on each end of a call and the call's length — to find links between terrorism suspects. "Metadata is only valuable if you are trying to track the activities of a terrorist or a spy," said the former American intelligence official.

By comparison, allied leaders are low-level priorities. In the "National Intelligence Priorities Framework," a matrix approved by the president and updated regularly, information on members of Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, the whereabouts of nuclear weapons in Pakistan or North Korea, or the conversations of nuclear scientists in Iran are all front-burner intelligence issues. Ranked just below them are questions about the leadership of adversaries, like Russia, China or Iran, or the state of their economies.

Alison Smale contributed reporting from Berlin, and Mark Landler from Washington.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: October 31, 2013

An earlier version of this article misstated a word in the name of the party that Angela Merkel led a dozen years ago as a rising star of German politics and continues to lead today. It is the Christian Democratic Union, not the Christian Democratic Party. An earlier version also misspelled part of the name of the German weekly in which Helmut Schmidt, a former German chancellor, discussed the National Security Agency spying scandal. It is Die Zeit, not Die Ziet. And an earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the person who said on behalf of the French government that "the N.S.A. director's denials do not seem very plausible."  The person who commented, Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, is a woman, not a "spokesman."

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Rabu, 30 Oktober 2013

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KL shares open lower on profit taking

Posted: 30 Oct 2013 07:26 PM PDT

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia were traded lower in early trading today on profit taking, dealers said.

At 9.33am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was 8.78 points easier at 1,808.6 after opening 1.31 points higher at 1,816.96.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said the benchmark index, which hit a high of 1,818.89 before losing steam to close at 1,817.38 yesterday, could continue to be range-bound between its immediate support and resistance levels of 1,800 and 1,825 today.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index lost 101.67 points to 16,650.88, while the Plantation Index rose 18.85 points to 8,591.9 and the Industrial Index was up 4.57 points to 3,141.84.

The FBM Emas Index shed 50.64 points to 12,581.25 and the FBMT100 Index lost 50.98 points to 12,305.09 while the FBM 70 rose 23.12 points to 14,310.87 and the FBM Ace added 14.10 points to 5,731.09.

Gainers outpaced losers 137 to 203, with 776 counters unchanged, 533 untraded and 82 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 414.65 million shares worth RM408.79 million.

Among actives, The Media Shoppe and Daya Materials added half-a-sen each to 8.5 sen and 39 sen respectively and Sensol gained three sen to 46.5 sen.

Boustead lost six sen to RM5.18 while Instacom was unchanged at 31.5 sen.

As for heavyweights, Maybank fell seven sen to RM9.75, Axiata and Petronas Chemicals dropped three sen each to RM6.87 and RM7.10 respectively, CIMB shed 10 sen to RM7.50 and Sime Darby lost one sen to RM9.55.-- Bernama

US stocks retreat as Fed keeps stimulus

Posted: 30 Oct 2013 05:10 PM PDT

NEW YORK: US stocks on Wednesday closed lower after the US Federal Reserve maintained an aggressive monetary stimulus programme and reiterated that it will await stronger economic conditions before scaling it back.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 61.59 points (0.39 percent) to 15,618.76.

The broad-based S&P 500 declined 8.64 points (0.49 percent) to 1,763.31, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 21.72 points (0.55 percent) at 3,930.62.

The Fed's decision to hold steady on its US$85 billion per-month bond-buying programme, though bullish for stocks, was widely anticipated and had helped propel the Dow and S&P 500 to records Tuesday.

Analysts said the markets were due for a break.

"It's just a case of profit taking," said William Lynch, director of investment for Hinsdale Associates.

The market "has been so strong that it's been due for a breather."

US auto giant General Motors powered 3.2 percent higher after earnings excluding special items bested expectations by three cents at 96 cents per share. The company reported better results in North America and a narrowed loss in Europe.

Video game developer Electronic Arts jumped 7.8 percent after reporting earnings of 33 cents per share, more than double the 12 cents expected by analysts. The company also raised its earnings forecast.

Pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences jumped 4.6 percent after earnings rose 17 percent to US$788.6 million and the company raised its revenue forecast and plans for research and development spending. Sales of antiviral products were particularly strong.

Money transfer firm Western Union sank 12.4 percent after announcing that it expects operating profit growth to stall in 2014 due to significantly higher regulatory costs.

Internet networking site LinkedIn sank 9.3 percent after the company's fourth-quarter revenue forecast of US$415 million-US$420 million lagged analyst forecasts of US$438.1 million. -- AFP

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Sebelius: "Hold me accountable for the debacle" of HealthCare.gov - CBS News

Posted: 30 Oct 2013 08:52 AM PDT

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Wednesday offered the Obama administration's second formal apology to the American people for HealthCare.gov, the dysfunctional Obamacare website.

"You deserve better, I aplogize," Sebelius said to the public in her opening remarks to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. "I'm accountable to you... I'm committed to earning your confidence back by fixing the site."

The secretary acknowledged that since HealthCare.gov launched on Oct. 1, the experience of trying to sign up for a private insurance plan on the site has been "miserably frustrating" for many people. She assured the committee and the public that "we have a plan in place" to fix the site and reiterated the administration's promise to have it working for the vast majority of visitors by the end of November.

Sebelius said that even though the site isn't "fully functioning," consumers are using it "every day" and they have "plenty of time" to sign up -- the open enrollment period lasts through the end of March.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., asked Sebelius who is "responsible for this debacle," to which Sebelius replied, "Hold me accountable for the debacle. I'm responsible."

Sebelius at the top of the hearing strayed from her prepared opening statement, which offered no apology for the botched website rollout and blamed the problems on the private contractors who built the site.

"To build the Marketplace, CMS [the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services] used private sector contractors, just as it does to administer aspects of Medicare," Sebelius' prepared testimony said. "CMS has a track record of successfully overseeing the many contractors our programs depend on to function. Unfortunately, a subset of those contracts for HealthCare.gov have not met expectations."

The secretary told the committee Wednesday that the government has spent $118 million to build the website itself and $56 million in information technology support for the site. Asked whether the government is paying for botched work, Sebelius said, "We have obligated funds for a contract, [but] we certainly have not expended all those funds." Additionally, Sebelius said, "Paying for work that isn't complete is not something that we will do."

Play Video

Upton, Sebelius spar over insurers dropping coverage

One day prior to Sebelius' apology, Marilyn Tavenner, administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), similarly apologized for HealthCare.gov's problems in a hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee. Meanwhile, President Obama was slated to defend his health care law in Boston on Wednesday afternoon.

While HealthCare.gov has had siginficant problems in the past month, it's not the only element of the Affordable Care Act that's come under fire recently. In fact, even though Wednesday's hearing was intended to focus on the website, lawmakers on the committee first questioned Sebelius about the fact that millions of Americans are losing their insurance plans on the individiual market because they don't meet the minimum standards set by the Affordable Care Act.

Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., said it was unfair that those Americans are "now being forced to go on an inept website" to buy new insurance plans, "whether they like it or not."

Blackburn made the case that some Americans may not want insurance plans that meet the new Obamacare standards, remarking, "Some people like to drive a Ford, not a Ferrari, and some like to drink from a red Solo cup, not one with a crystal stem."

Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill., pointed out that over the years, Mr. Obama has repeatedly promised consumers that once Obamacare went into effect, consumers who liked their insurance plans would be able to keep them.

"Would you recommend to the president that he stop using that term?" Shimkus asked.

Democrats on the committee, meanwhile, criticized their Republican colleagues for their continued attacks against the health law.

Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., called the issue of health insurers dropping certain insurance plans, "just another red herring." He pointed out that "this is not socialized medicine, this is private insurance in a competitive market," making the point that private insurers change their plans all the time to stay competitive.

Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., said that Republicans were behaving like Chicken Little, except, he said, "my Republican colleagues are actually rooting for the sky to fall."

Engel added, "I don't think, Madam Secretary, there is one person in this room who is naive enough to think the Republicans actually want this law to work."

Getting back to the construction of HealthCare.gov, Sebelius said that the contractors who build the site never asked HHS or CMS to delay the site's launch. CMS administrator Tavenner made the decision in the weeks leading up to the site's launch to turn off its browsing feature.

"We were anxious to get the website up and running and functional, which we celarly failed to do," she said. "They pared down some of the features feeling, it would be better to load them later."

The private contractors who built HealthCare.gov told the Energy and Commerce Committee earlier this month that they only had a couple of weeks to test the site before its launch when months of testing would've been preferable. Sebelius acknowledged Wednesday that two weeks for testing was "clearly not" sufficient.

Obama Taps 2 Campaign Supporters to Be Ambassadors - ABC News

Posted: 29 Oct 2013 04:29 PM PDT

President Barack Obama is nominating two supporters who raised hefty sums for his re-election campaign to be U.S. ambassadors.

The White House said Tuesday that Robert Barber is Obama's pick for Iceland. Obama has also tapped Mark Gilbert, a former Chicago White Sox player, to be his envoy to New Zealand.

Both were members of the Obama for America national finance team, and both raised more than $500,000 for Obama's campaign.

If confirmed by the Senate, Barber and Gilbert would join a long list of campaign supporters Obama has selected for ambassadorships.

Earlier this year, Obama nominated his former political director, his former campaign finance chief and others for posts in South Africa, Denmark, Spain and Germany.

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Selasa, 29 Oktober 2013

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KL shares slightly higher on mild interest

Posted: 29 Oct 2013 07:09 PM PDT

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia were traded slightly higher in early trading today on mild interest, dealers said.

At 9.38am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was 0.50 point better at 1,816.15 after opening 1.31 points higher at 1,816.22.

Gainers outnumbered losers 277 to 114, with 242 counters unchanged, 993 untraded and 59 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 311.480 million shares worth RM160.441 million.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said the local bourse is set to get further lift today, boosted by positive external sentiments, with FBM KLCI increasing to challenge the immediate resistance barrier of 1,825 ahead.

The research house said major US bellwehters jumped between 0.3 per cent and 0.7 per cent at the closing bell as optimism was boosted by strong corporate earnigns and expectations of the US Federal Open Market Committee would maintain its monetary stimulus policy following the end of its meeting later tonight.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index lost 25.30 points to 16,719.48, while the Plantation Index rose 14.03 points to 8,563.36 and the Industrial Index declining 5.2 points to 3,136.61.

The FBM Emas Index gained 4.71 points to 12,619.44, the FBMT100 Index added 3.34 points to 12,343.96, the FBM 70 rose 3.56 points to 14,304.34 and the FBM Ace added 31.48 points to 5,760.81.

Among actives, MQ Technology was half a sen higher at 20 sen, AT
Systematizaton rose 1.5 sen to 32 sen while Malaysia Airlines was flat at 34 sen.

As for heavyweights, Maybank fell three sen to RM9.78, Axiata added two sen to RM6.91, CIMB lost two sen to RM7.58, while both Sime Darby and Petronas Chemicals were flat at RM9.56 and RM7.15, respectively.-- Bernama

KLCI futures traded mixed in early session

Posted: 29 Oct 2013 07:17 PM PDT

The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) futures contracts on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives were traded mixed in the early session today.

At 9.45am, spot month October 2013 was flat at 1,817.5, November 2013 gained half-a-point to 1,820.5, while December 2013 fell half-a-point to 1,818.

Turnover stood at 4,009 lots while open interest totalled 60,918 contracts.

The underlying FBM KLCI was 0.63 of a point higher at 1,816.31 after 45 minutes of trading.-- Bernama

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Obamacare official apologizes for website glitches - Reuters

Posted: 29 Oct 2013 08:57 AM PDT

A man looks over the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare) signup page on the HealthCare.gov website in New York in this October 2, 2013 photo illustration. REUTERS/Mike Segar

A man looks over the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare) signup page on the HealthCare.gov website in New York in this October 2, 2013 photo illustration.

Credit: Reuters/Mike Segar

WASHINGTON | Tue Oct 29, 2013 11:51am EDT

(Reuters) - The head of the U.S. agency responsible for the troubled new government-run healthcare website apologized on Tuesday for the difficulty people are having in obtaining insurance, but blamed the portal's woes on contractors and high traffic.

Marilyn Tavenner, administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), said the website faces "complex technical issues" four weeks after it opened for enrollment.

"We know that consumers are eager to purchase this coverage. And to the millions of Americans who have attempted to use Healthcare.gov to shop and enroll in healthcare coverage, I want to apologize to you that the website has not worked as well as it should," Tavenner told a congressional hearing.

Tavenner's testimony to the U.S. House of Representatives Ways & Means Committee is the Obama administration's first formal statement to Congress about the challenges facing Healthcare.gov. Tavenner's boss, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, is scheduled to testify before another House oversight panel on Wednesday.

The website is a lynchpin of President Barack Obama's program to provide healthcare coverage to millions of uninsured Americans under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare. Republicans have seized on the website's technical glitches as evidence of broader problems with the law and renewed their call for a delay in the federal mandate that most Americans obtain insurance for 2014 or pay a penalty.

At Tuesday's hearing, written testimony submitted by Tavenner, a nurse and former hospital company executive, was at odds with sworn testimony from two contractors who told the House Energy and Commerce Committee last week that CMS bears ultimate responsibility for the website's performance.

"CMS has a track record of successfully overseeing the many contractors our programs depend on to function. Unfortunately, a subset of those contracts for Healthcare.gov have not met expectations," Tavenner told the Ways and Means Committee, one of at least three Republican-controlled House panels investigating the problem-plagued debut of Obama's signature domestic policy.

Republicans have long opposed the policy because they consider it an unwarranted expansion of the federal government.

Sebelius, who has faced Republican calls for her resignation, will appear before the Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday. That panel on Tuesday posted her testimony, which was nearly identical to Tavenner's.

CONTRACTORS BLAMED CMS

Executives from the main Obamacare contractor CGI Federal and Quality Software Services Inc (QSSI), a unit of health insurer UnitedHealth Group, blamed CMS for a lack of system testing and a decision to prevent online visitors from shopping for insurance without first creating an account on the site. The last-minute change may have contributed to huge bottlenecks as millions of visitors swamped the site.

Tavenner said in her written testimony that "the initial wave of interest stressed the account service, resulting in many consumers experiencing difficulty signing up, while those who were able to sign up sometimes had problems."

QSSI also said it had concerns about performance risks related to the lack of testing and kept the agency informed throughout the project.

Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, chairman of the Ways & Means Committee, led the Republican criticism on Tuesday.

"Frankly, three years should have been enough. And had the administration provided more forthcoming answers and shared, in a transparent manner, the reality of the challenges it was encountering in the implementation process, I suspect many of these glitches could have been avoided," Camp said.

"While a website can eventually be fixed, the widespread problems with Obamacare cannot," he said.

Representatives from Obama's Democratic Party said Republicans were determined to kill the law rather than finding solutions that would enable millions of uninsured Americans in 36 states to sign up for subsidized health coverage. Online marketplaces built by 14 states and the District of Columbia have performed more smoothly.

A "new infusion of talent" has been brought in and experts are working aggressively to diagnose parts of the website that are still experiencing problems, Tavenner said. She said more people are creating accounts.

Tavenner, 62, was confirmed for her job by the U.S. Senate in May. She had been optimistic about the rollout when questioned by lawmakers about it in April and again in August.

Obama adviser Jeffrey Zients said last week that Healthcare.gov should be fixed by the end of November. But experts say that if the administration does not get it fully up and running soon, it risks losing the interest of healthy younger adults aged 18-35 - the group the administration is relying on to keep premiums from soaring.

(Additional reporting By Susan Cornwell and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Karey Van Hall and Grant McCool)

Obama weighs surveillance policy on allies - USA TODAY

Posted: 29 Oct 2013 08:12 AM PDT

David Jackson, USA TODAY 10:09 a.m. EDT October 29, 2013

As President Obama's team grapples with complaints from other countries about U.S. surveillance, their options range from relatively minor changes to scrapping programs entirely.

With a review due by the end of the year, administration officials said that while some changes have been made, there have been no across-the-board changes in policy, including intelligence collection that may involve allies.

That is at odds with a statement from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who said "the White House has informed me that collection on our allies will not continue, which I support."

Congress is also reviewing NSA programs, especially as they pertain to allies.

Feinstein said she is opposed to spying on allies, but her statement indicated there could be some exceptions.

"Unless the United States is engaged in hostilities against a country or there is an emergency need for this type of surveillance, I do not believe the United States should be collecting phone calls or emails of friendly presidents and prime ministers," Feinstein said. "The president should be required to approve any collection of this sort."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and leaders from other nations -- including Spain,r France, Brazil, and Mexico -- have lodged protests after reports of surveillance in their countries. The reports stem from disclosures by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Surveillance is the topic of a Tuesday hearing by the House Intelligence Committee on changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Caitlin Hayden, spokesperson for the National Security Council, said the review places "a special emphasis on: examining whether we have the appropriate posture when it comes to Heads of State; how we coordinate with our closest allies and partners; and what further guiding principles or constraints might be appropriate for our efforts."

Declining to provide details, Hayden said: "We are also looking at whether the system that's been in place for many years, called the National Intelligence Priorities Framework, could be modified to provide better policy guidance for our intelligence activities."

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Isnin, 28 Oktober 2013

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KL shares higher in early trade

Posted: 28 Oct 2013 07:26 PM PDT

Share prices on Bursa Malaysia were traded higher in early trading today on renewed buying interest, dealers said.

At 9.23am, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI was 0.92 point better at 1,819.31, after opening 2.83 points higher at 1,821.22.

Gainers outnumbered losers 187 to 123, with 204 counters unchanged, 1,114 untraded and 59 others suspended.

Turnover stood at 198.81 million shares worth RM94.031 million.

HwangDBS Vickers Research said the key FBM KLCI is expected to be range-bound for the time being as investors continue to assess the implications of Budget 2014 on the stock market.

"From a technical perspective, the immediate support and resistance levels for the benchmark index are currently pegged at 1,800 and 1,825, respectively.

"Moreover, there is no visible external catalyst to boost local sentiment at the moment," it said in a note today.

Amid a sideways market pattern, the research house said stocks that could be in the limelight today include Lion Corporation, with its share price likely to remain under selling pressure following its admission into the PN17 list.

Others include Alam Maritim, which has been awarded a contract worth RM38 million for the provision of an oil and gas supply vessel.

On the scoreboard, the Finance Index lost 17.45 points to 16,825.67, while the Plantation Index rose 17.59 points to 8,518.7 and the Industrial Index added 7.38 points to 3,149.45.

The FBM Emas Index increased 5.74 points to 12,636.28, the FBMT100 Index surged 4.98 points to 12,364.05, the FBM 70 rose 0.52 point to 14,322.07 and the FBM Ace added 42.77 points to 5,663.32.

Among actives, Hubline was flat at 6.5 sen, Instacom-WB rose 1.5 sen to 16.5 sen and R&A Telecommunication gained one sen to six sen.

As for heavyweights, Maybank fell two sen to RM9.94, Axiata lost one sen to RM6.90 and CIMB declined three sen to RM7.61.-- Bernama

Gold futures open higher

Posted: 28 Oct 2013 07:30 PM PDT

Gold futures contracts opened higher on Bursa Malaysia Derivatives on renewed buying interest, dealers said.

At 9.41am, spot month November was traded for the first time.

Spot month October 2013 gained nine ticks to RM136.75 a gramme, November 2013 was RM137.00 a gramme while December 2013 gained 14 ticks to RM137.35 a gramme.

Turnover stood at 35 lots while open interest amounted to 757 contracts.-- Bernama

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Michael Jackson doctor Murray leaves prison - USA TODAY

Posted: 28 Oct 2013 09:56 AM PDT

Conrad Murray, the doctor convicted of killing Michael Jackson, was released from jail Monday after serving nearly two years of a four-year sentence. VPC

Donna Freydkin, USA TODAY 9:23 a.m. EDT October 28, 2013

Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's doctor who was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, has been released from prison.

He was convicted of unintentionally killing Jackson and after two years in prison, walked out Monday, slipping out of a back door and bypassing the reporters and fans waiting for him outside the Men's Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles.

Murray's lawyer Valerie Wass said outside the prison: "Believe me, after you've been locked up in this place for two years, it's a shock emotionally and physically."

And while still behind bars, Murray called the Today show and said the following: "First of all, when I get out of jail, I want to be able to embrace my children. I want to be able to reunite with my family and close friends and all of the angels who have given me support. ... I will re-start my life and, God willing, I will be a model to show the world that when ... bad things happen to good people they can re-start their life."

Murray was convicted in 2011 of causing Jackson's death in June 2009 by providing the superstar with an overdose of the powerful anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid. Jackson was in the midst of preparations for a series of comeback concerts and Murray was serving as his personal physician.

Murray's prospects are uncertain: At age 60 his license to practice medicine has been suspended or revoked in three states and his face and name are well known due to his association with Jackson and his highly publicized involuntary manslaughter trial.

The former doctor is appealing his conviction, although an appeals court has questioned whether it needs to hear the case. His attorney Valerie Wass has argued that the court should not dismiss the appeal because it could alter his overall sentence and reduce some of the stigma his conviction has caused.

Contributing: The Associated Press

UPDATE 2-Spain summons US ambassador over spying - Reuters

Posted: 28 Oct 2013 09:26 AM PDT

Mon Oct 28, 2013 8:28pm IST

(Adds Margallo quotes)

MADRID Oct 28 (Reuters) - Spain summoned the U.S. ambassador on Monday to discuss allegations of spying on Spanish citizens that it said could break the climate of trust between the two countries if proved true.

Earlier, the Spanish newspaper El Mundo said the NSA had recently tracked over 60 million calls in Spain in the space of a month, citing a document which it said formed part of papers obtained from ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

"I had been in touch with (the U.S. ambassador) before this morning's meeting...So far, we have no official indication that our country has been spied on," Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said at a joint news conference with his Polish counterpart in Warsaw.

"As in previous occasions, we've asked the U.S. ambassador to give the government all the necessary information on an issue which, if it was to be confirmed, could break the climate of trust that has traditionally been the one between our two countries."

Madrid has also asked the United States to provide more data from the National Security Agency (NSA), the foreign ministry said in a statement issued after a meeting between Spain's Secretary of State for the European Union, Inigo Mendez de Vigo, and U.S. Ambassador to Spain James Costos.

U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered a review of U.S. surveillance programmes after Snowden leaked documents that raised alarm in the United States and abroad.

"We will continue to confer with our allies, such as Spain, through our regular diplomatic channels to address the concerns that they have raised," Costos said in a statement.

Spain has so far resisted calls from Germany for the European Union's 28-member states to reach a "no-spy deal", after reports that the NSA monitored the phone of German chancellor Angela Merkel.

El Mundo reproduced a graphic on Monday which it said was an NSA document showing the agency had spied on 60.5 million phone calls in Spain between Dec. 10, 2012 and Jan. 8 this year.

The newspaper said it had reached a deal with Glenn Greenwald, the Brazil-based journalist who has worked with other media on information provided to him by Snowden, to get access to documents affecting Spain.

El Mundo said the telephone monitoring did not appear to track the content of calls but their duration and where they took place.

Snowden is currently living in Russia, out of reach of U.S. attempts to arrest him. (Reporting by Sarah White, Emma Pinedo and Tracy Rucinski; Additional reporting by Marcin Goettig in Warsaw; Editing by Paul Day and Ralph Boulton)

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FTSE Bursa Malaysia update: 10.30a.m.

Posted: 27 Oct 2013 07:42 PM PDT

KUALA LUMPUR: At 10.30 a.m. today, there were 195 gainers, 310 losers and 238 counters traded unchanged on the Bursa Malaysia.

The FBM-KLCI was at 1,816.60 down 0.97 of a point, the FBMACE was at 5,567.79 up 21.42 points, and the FBMEmas was at 12,622.62 down 13.80 points.

Turnover was at 646.620 million shares valued at RM257.157 million. -- BERNAMA

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Chris Brown arrested in DC on felony assault charge - Washington Post

Posted: 27 Oct 2013 08:40 AM PDT

Brown and another man, Christopher Hollosy, were allegedly involved in a "physical altercation" with an unidentified man just before 4:30 a.m. in front of the W Hotel in the 500 block of 15th Street, NW, according to a police department spokesman, Officer Anthony Clay.

The singer, 24, and Hollosy, 35, were taken into custody, Clay said. The alleged victim in the altercation was taken to a nearby hospital and released.

Police said there were no weapons involved, but could not immediately provide information about the circumstances of the altercation, first reported by the Web site TMZ. D.C. Police spokesman Paul Metcalf said he expected Brown to be held at the D.C. jail.

Brown had been scheduled to perform Saturday night at a Howard University homecoming-related party at The Park at Fourteenth.

Brown pleaded guilty in 2009 to attacking his then-girlfriend Rihanna and was sentenced to community service and five years of probation. Since then he has had several run-ins with the law.

Luz Lazo and Amy Argetsinger contributed to this report.

Brooklyn mass stabbing leaves 5 dead - New York Daily News

Posted: 27 Oct 2013 09:07 AM PDT

NYC PAPERS OUT. Social media use restricted to low res file max 184 x 128 pixels and 72 dpi

Pearl Gabel/New York Daily News

NYPD officers on the scene in Sunset Park. Five people were killed after a mass stabbing in Brooklyn, officials say.

A woman and four children — the youngest an 18-month-old boy — were stabbed to death Saturday night in a rampage at a Brooklyn apartment, officials said.

A man was in custody and being questioned at the 66th Precinct stationhouse early Sunday, following the bloody spree in an apartment on 57th St., near Ninth Ave., in Sunset Park, a police source said.

The toddler and two girls — ages 9 and 6 — were already dead from their wounds when paramedics arrived just after 11 p.m. The emergency responders rushed a 37-year-old woman and an 8-year-old boy to area hospitals, but doctors were unable to save them, officials said.

The names of the victims had not been released early Sunday.

RELATED: 'KILLER NANNY' IN COURT EXACTLY A YEAR AFTER KRIM CHILDREN KILLED

The unidentified suspect — who sources said may be related to the children — was reportedly found inside the apartment when cops burst in on the grim scene.

"It's looking like a domestic violence case," one high-ranking police source said.

A parent who wasn't home when the residents were attacked — at about 10:45 p.m. — was inconsolable, horrified witnesses said.

"The father was freaking out," said neighbor May Chan. "He just came home from work and saw the police and they told him. He was hysterical."

RELATED: FLORIDA WOMAN FORGIVES EX-BOYFRIEND WHO STABBED HER 32 TIMES

Police had to break the bitter news to the parent through a Chinese interpreter, she said.

"I always see (the kids) running around here," Chan said. "They run around by my garage playing. They run up and down screaming. They're little kids ... that's so heartbreaking. Innocent kids, my God."

Neighbors thought they were watching a horror movie.

"I saw the mom and the kid, just covered in blood," said Kenny Lin, 33, who lives down the street from the gruesome mass killing. "They were both on stretchers."

RELATED: JETS FAN WHO PUNCHED FEMALE PATS FAN DID TIME FOR STAB SLAY

Rencong Lee, 26, said she saw a distraught 40-year-old woman — possibly another relative — being comforted by a friend.

"She said, 'My family was cut ... there's so much blood,'" Lee said. "She was crying, I think she was panicking."

"(Then) I saw them put a body in the ambulance." Lee said.

The man in custody had not been charged early Sunday. 

With Ryan Sit, Sasha Goldstein and Rocco Parascandola 

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Republicans want to repeal ObamaCare -- but maybe they'd keep some of it - Fox News

Posted: 26 Oct 2013 05:37 AM PDT

A volunteer counselor with Insure Central Texas uses a chart to help explain health insurance options in Austin, Texas.AP

Despite pledges by Republicans to take down ObamaCare, some still indicate there are parts in the president's controversial health care overhaul that could be preserved if the party ever got its wish of repealing the law. 

Since the beginning, conservatives in Congress have been extremely vocal about their dislike of Obama's signature domestic policy achievement. 

Yet, as demonstrated by a recent proposal from House conservatives, they say they wouldn't just repeal the law -- they would replace it with one of their own. 

It wouldn't be ObamaCare. But there could be some similarities, items that despite the widespread public mistrust of the law have bipartisan support. Some combination of subsidies to help people buy insurance and consumer protections to help the sickest get care are recurring themes in any health plan, from either party. 

Michael Gerson, former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, on Friday urged Republicans to start thinking along those lines -- of what kind of health care policy they could create, as opposed to simply how they'd tear down the existing one. 

In a theoretical post-ObamaCare period, he argued in The Washington Post, a Republican plan should offer a universal credit to anyone who's not covered by a large employer. It should include protections for those without insurance from "catastrophic expenses." 

Both ideas would be scaled-back versions of the subsidies and consumer protections currently offered in ObamaCare. The difference, Gerson writes, is that "Obamacare creates a powerful regulatory mechanism (the exchanges) that mandates comprehensive coverage" among other changes.
"Conservatives do not (or should not) oppose Obamacare because they want fewer Americans to receive health care," he wrote. "But making this clear requires an alternative that covers more people at a lower cost, without all the regulations, taxes and mandates of the current system." 

Indeed, prior GOP pushes at health care reform show an overlap in ideas between the parties, and some now say that parts of ObamaCare would most likely show up in a Republican-penned plan. 

"There is the politics of the moment -- whatever is out there will be attacked -- but if you take a step back, you see that there is a history of Republicans supporting ideologies parallel to what you see in the Affordable Care Act," David Kendall, a senior fellow for health and fiscal policy at Third Way, told FoxNews.com. 

The law is not so dissimilar, Kendall said, to versions Republicans have pushed in the past, including a universal plan President Richard Nixon offered up at the end of his term. 

According to a May 2012 Kaiser Health poll, popular provisions of ObamaCare favored by both parties include letting children stay on their parents' plans until they turn 26 and providing subsidies on a sliding scale to those who can't afford insurance. 

Recently, Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., called his party's counter-proposal a 180-degree turn from ObamaCare but a closer look shows some similarities. 

The American Health Care Reform Act would use some long-standing conservative ideas for health care, like letting people buy insurance across state lines -- but also give tax deductions, as opposed to subsidies, to help purchase insurance. 

The bill would not include what is perhaps the least popular element of ObamaCare - the mandate on almost everyone to obtain insurance. 

"By default, the Republicans will have to use some of the things in the ACA," Kendall said. "They might repackage it but it would offer the same basic choices, subsidies to make coverage affordable and offer some guarantees." 

One of the biggest selling points in ObamaCare -- as well as in the GOP proposal -- is the coverage of adults with pre-existing conditions. Under the ACA, insurers won't be able to turn down consumers who have a history of medical problems or charge them more for coverage. 

Among the most hyped and hated parts of ObamaCare have been the exchanges, which are a centerpiece of the health reform plan. The exchanges are marketplaces where the uninsured go to purchase insurance. The rollout of the main exchange websites, though, has been plagued by problems since their launch on Oct. 1. 

The experience would likely leave Republicans hesitant to try to recreate them if they ever were in a position to try their own plan. For now, though, the latest budget fight proved Republicans do not have the numbers or the leverage to repeal -- or replace -- ObamaCare at this point, and may have to wait until 2016 for their next shot at changing the balance of power.

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Suspect in Northern Calif. standoff surrenders - USA TODAY

Posted: 26 Oct 2013 05:46 AM PDT

AP 7:51 a.m. EDT October 26, 2013

ROSEVILLE, Calif. (AP) — The gunman in a violent confrontation that wounded a federal immigration officer and three local police officers surrendered early Saturday after an hours-long standoff in a Sacramento suburb, authorities said.

The suspect, 32-year-old Samuel Nathan Duran, would be booked in Roseville's jail and then taken to Placer County jail, according to city officials. He surrendered at 12:30 a.m. Saturday.

The shootings happened Friday before the standoff occurred.

The federal immigration officer was shot in the leg as he and other officers made initial contact at about 3 p.m. with Duran, a wanted parolee, Roseville police Lt. Cal Walstad said.

During a later exchange of gunfire, after Duran fled, two Roseville police officers were hit by gunshots — one in the jaw and the other in the shoulder — and a third officer sustained shrapnel wounds from rounds that hit near them, Walstad said.

Two of the officers were listed in stable condition at Sutter Roseville Medical Center, and a third was in serious condition.

As officers attempted to capture the suspect before his surrender, helicopters were circling overhead and armored vehicles and other police cars flocked to the area Friday night. Roseville is about 20 miles northeast of the state capital.

In anticipation of the standoff lasting through the night, some local residents were bused to a community center to spend the night.

Police Chief Daniel Hahn said the Roseville officers were all male and veteran members of the force. Hahn said none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening. No civilian injuries have been reported.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Virginia Kice said that agency's officer was stable and alert after being taken to Sutter Roseville Medical Center.

Deborah Hoffman, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, confirmed that Duran is a parolee and that she has been asked not to provide any more information about why he had been imprisoned or when he was released.

The incident created scenes of panic and chaos in a typically quiet middle class suburb of about 120,000. Walstad described multiple shooting sites as the suspect tried to escape a swarm of descending law enforcement agents, and reporters on the scene described hearing several volleys of gunfire.

Walstad said Duran was believed to be carrying an "assault-type weapon."

Law enforcement officers had been looking for Duran in the area for at least 10 days before finding him on Friday afternoon, Walstad said. When they found him, Walstad added, he opened fire, wounding the federal immigration officer, who was on the scene to provide support for the Roseville police.

Walstad said the house the suspect was in is on the corner of Sixth Street and Hampton Drive; when Duran first entered the home, the residents called 911, and police advised them to escape through a sliding glass door in the back.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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