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US stocks make solid gains Posted: 22 Aug 2013 04:47 PM PDT NEW YORK: US stocks managed solid gains on Thursday despite a three-hour shutdown of the Nasdaq market that disrupted trade on other exchanges as well. Nasdaq blamed technical problems in its computers for the shutdown, which came after midday and lasted until trade resumed around 3:25 pm (1925 GMT), giving investors 35 minutes to clear their books. At the finish the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 66.19 points (0.44 percent) at 14,963.74. The broad-based S&P 500 added 14.16 points (0.86 percent) at 1,656.96, while the Nasdaq Composite jumped 38.92 points (1.08 percent) to 3,638.71. "The upturn is being led by Germany, where growth accelerated again in August, driven in turn by rising domestic and export demand," said Markit chief economist Chris Williamson. "So far, the third quarter is shaping up to be the best... since the spring of 2011," Williamson said, cautioning that the bloc was not yet entirely in the clear. And HSBC's PMI for China's manufacturing sector jumped to 50.1 in August, up from July's 11-month low of 47.7. The Nasdaq shutdown was disruptive, but the market allowed traders to cancel orders and key stocks and options contracts could traded on other boards. But it struck a blow to the market still getting over its mishandling of last year's disastrous Facebook IPO and, more recently, the lost of the listing of Oracle shares to the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of Nasdaq OMX were down 3.4 percent at the close. Shares of fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch sank 17.7 percent to their lowest level in nine months after the company's second-quarter income sank, coming in at half of forecasts. Discount retail chain Dollar Tree rose 2.5 percent on its second-quarter report, which showed net income up nearly 5 percent and a similar gain in sales. Yahoo shares jumped 3.1 percent on an industry report that traffic at its websites surpassed that on websites owned by search rival Google in July. Hewlett-Packard sank 12.5 percent on its weak quarterly earnings report, as the personal computer market continues to shrivel. Oilfield services company Halliburton gained 1.8 percent after announcing a US$3.3 billion share buyback -- AFP

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Bradley Manning wants to live as a woman, be known as Chelsea - CNN (blog) Posted: 22 Aug 2013 09:00 AM PDT STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: Army does not provide hormone therapy to prisoners, official says Bradley Manning, convicted of leaking classified documents, wants to live as a woman Identifying as Chelsea Manning, private says "I am a female" in statement read on NBC's "Today" Manning was sentenced last week to 35 years for giving secret documents to Wikileaks (CNN) -- "I am Chelsea Manning." With those words, read from a statement on NBC's "Today" on Thursday, Bradley Manning immediately shifted public conversation away from the Army private's conviction on espionage charges to gender identity. "As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me," Manning said in the statement. "I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition." While his supporters may back Manning, the Army said Thursday it won't. "The Army does not provide hormone therapy or sex-reassignment surgery," Lt. Col. Justin Platt told CNN Thursday. One Army official who was not authorized to speak publicly on Manning's case said the private remains a male in the eyes of the Army. Another said Manning would be treated like any other prisoner. During Bradley Manning's court-martial, his defense team released a 2010 photo of him dressed as a woman. Manning, the soldier convicted of giving classified state documents to WikiLeaks, intends to begin hormone therapy for gender reassignment and live the rest of his life as a woman, he said in a statement read on NBC's "Today" show on August 22. Intelligence leaker Bradley Manning HIDE CAPTION << < 1 2 3 4 > >> "A lot of the inmates have issues they're dealing with," said the second official, who also was not authorized to speak publicly on Manning's case. "Even if you have gender identity disorder, you still serve your sentence." Manning's lawyer, David Coombs, told "Today" that he'll take action if the Army doesn't provide Manning with the hormone therapy that he's requesting of the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. "I'm hoping Fort Leavenworth would do the right thing and provide that," Coombs said. "If Fort Leavenworth does not, then I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that they are forced to do so." Manning was sentenced Wednesday to 35 years in prison for leaking 750,000 pages of classified documents to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. A military judge convicted Manning in July, sparing the private from the most serious charge of aiding the enemy. Gender identity issues The issue of Manning's gender identity repeatedly surfaced in the court martial proceedings. A widely circulated picture released by the military shows Manning wearing a blonde wig. The image came from an e-mail Manning sent to his sergeant titled, "My Problem." "It's not going away, it's haunting me more and more as I get older," Manning wrote in the e-mail. "Now, the consequences of it are dire, at a time when it's causing me great pain in itself. As a result, I'm not sure what to do about it." An Army psychologist called by the defense said Manning appeared to be isolated and under intense pressure as a male soldier struggling with gender identity issues. Speaking in the sentencing phase of the court martial last week, Manning said the decision to leak the documents came while "dealing with a lot of issues" -- a reference to the gender identity crisis. Reaction Manning's announcement brought a wide range of reaction. On Twitter, where "Chelsea Manning" was a hot topic of discussion, user onekade wrote of being "pretty much in awe of Chelsea Manning's bravery, on so many fronts." Others were less supportive. "Chelsea Manning," conservative pundit John Podhoretz tweeted. "This country has officially jumped the shark." Coombs told "Today" that Manning did not intend to make a public issue of his desire to live as a woman. "She never really wanted this to be public to begin with," Coombs said. "When the information came out, you need to understand that she gave it to adrian lamo in a very private setting, in a one-on-one chat, never expecting this to be public. Now that it is, unfortunately, you have to deal with it in a public manner." Manning's lawyer: He should not 'rot in jail' Legal issues The issue of taxpayers being required to pay for gender reassignment surgery has come up repeatedly in recent court cases. Earlier this year, a federal appeals court reinstated a lawsuit brought by a transgender prisoner in Virginia, where the prison had refused to allow her to undergo sex reassignment surgery. Last year a federal judge ordered Massachusetts to pay for a sex change operation for a convicted murderer. The state is appealing that decision. There are few good statistics on the number of transgender inmates in U.S. prisons, according to Vincent Villano of the National Center for Transgender Equality. A study of California prisons identified 330 transgender inmates in an overall prison population of 160,000, he said. The center believes those numbers are higher, he said. CNN's Chris Lawrence and Dan Merica contributed to this report 0 Comments » SHARE THIS Print Email More sharing

If chemical attack proved, France says, nations should respond 'with force' - Washington Post Posted: 22 Aug 2013 08:18 AM PDT BEIRUT — France on Thursday raised the possibility of international intervention in Syria if there is solid proof that President Bashar al-Assad used chemical weapons against his people. Activists, meanwhile, struggled to confirm that more than 1,000 people had perished, as experts warned that vital physical evidence could dissipate unless a U.N. inspection team — already in the country to investigate previous claims of poisonous gas use — was given permission to visit the site. The U.N. weapons experts were negotiating with Syrian officials to try and gain access, according to U.N. officials. Although the United States, France, Britain and others have specifically requested that the inspection team proceed, "there is a requirement of consent in situations like this," Deputy U.N. Secretary General Jan Eliasson said, "and also that the security situation will allow them to enter the area. It is a very dramatic situation and the security situation right now does not allow such access." The Syrian government on Wednesday strongly denied that there had been an attack. But widely circulated images of children in spasms and vomiting added to the pressure on the United States and the international community to take robust action. The alleged attack came almost exactly a year after President Obama said the use of chemical weapons by Assad's forces would be a "red line" for his administration. "There would have to be reaction with force in Syria from the international community," Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told French television network BFM, when asked about action that should be taken if the allegations are proven. He added, however, that "there is no question of sending troops on the ground." Fabius alluded to the possibility that the international community might need to circumvent the United Nations Security Council, which has been stymied in acting on Syria by veto-wielding Russia, a long-time ally of Assad's. During an emergency meeting on Wednesday, the council's members failed to agree on a strongly worded statement condemning the attack, simply calling for a "thorough, impartial and prompt investigation." Britain, France and the United States were pushing for a stronger statement, but Russia and China objected, the Associated Press reported. The Russian government, Assad's strongest supporter, suggested that the opposition itself had staged the attack in a "pre-planned provocation.'' After a two-hour closed door session, the council emerged with a "call for investigation" of the new allegations. The request does not refer specifically to the team currently on the ground, instead speaking of the need to "clarify" what happened. Under its current mandate and agreement with Syrian government, the U.N. team that is now inside Syria is authorized to examine only three sites of the 13 that various other governments and the Syrian opposition had identified as suspicious before the Wednesday attack. One Security Council diplomat said that Wednesday's letter was intended to "increase political pressure on Syria" to permit the inspection team currently in the country access to the site of the latest incident.

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