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Philippines typhoon: Aid effort gathers pace - BBC News Posted: 16 Nov 2013 09:19 AM PST 16 November 2013 Last updated at 11:53 ET US Navy helicopters are now delivering relief supplies to many victims The international aid effort in parts of the Philippines devastated by Typhoon Haiyan is starting to have a major impact, with tens of thousands of victims of receiving supplies. Medical teams are operating in the worst-affected areas and US helicopters flying aid to isolated settlements. The UN says it and its partners hope to provide enough aid for six months. Haiyan, which hit eight days ago, has killed more than 3,600 people and left about half a million homeless. Patrick Fuller of the International Federation of the Red Cross told the Associated Press news agency: "At the moment we are ramping up a major relief effort and the supplies are coming in." Mr Fuller - who is in Tacloban, one of the worst-hit areas - said: "We're setting up an emergency response hospital here, water and sanitation units." However, he added that people in affected areas would need long-term "support with rebuilding". Both the Red Cross and the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said they would have mobile surgical units up and running in Tacloban by the end of the weekend. US Navy helicopters have been dropping food, water and other supplies from the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, which arrived off the coast on Thursday. The carrier is also expanding search-and-rescue operations. The US military said it would send about 1,000 more troops along with additional ships and aircraft to join the aid effort. Britain will give an extra £30m ($50m) in emergency aid, bringing UK assistance to £50m, Prime Minister David Cameron announced. The UK Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) said donations from the public had reached £33m. Although a huge international aid effort is under way, widespread infrastructure damage is hampering efforts to distribute it to some areas. Desperate survivors are still trying to leave the coastal city of Ormoc, 105 km (65 miles) west of Tacloban, Reuters news agency reports. Typhoon Haiyan was one of the most powerful typhoons ever to hit land, leaving thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless. The city of Tacloban has been virtually flattened US soldiers are now flying in supplies to the Tacloban area Hundreds of thousands of people have been made homeless by the storm Philippine Social Welfare and Development Secretary Corazon Soliman acknowledged in a radio interview that the national relief response had been too slow to reach many areas. "We will double our efforts to distribute relief goods because we've been hearing complaints that a lot of people have yet to receive relief goods," she said. About 11 million people have been affected by Typhoon Haiyan, according to UN estimates. It was one of the most powerful storms ever recorded on land, with winds exceeding 320km/h (200 mph) unleashing massive waves. Tacloban's airport was left in ruins. Health experts have warned that the worst-affected areas are entering a peak danger period for the spread of infectious diseases.

GOP: Obama knew "keep your plan" promise was deceitful - CBS News Posted: 16 Nov 2013 09:02 AM PST When President Obama told Americans they could keep their current health insurance under Obamacare if they liked it, he did not "misspeak," Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Saturday in the weekly Republican address. Rather, Johnson said, the promise was "fully vetted, coldly calculated and carefully crafted to deceptively sell" the legislation "to a trusting public." Play Video Will Obamacare hurt the president's legacy? Play Video Boehner: "You can't fix" Obamacare administratively Play Video Obama unveils fix to Obamacare insurance cancellations Play Video W.H. vows veto of House GOP's "keep your plan" bill Play Video GOP goal on Obamacare: To fix or to destroy? "Millions of Americans are coming to realize that those are your tire tracks on their canceled policies," Johnson said to the president, accusing Mr. Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress of perpetrating "political fraud" to aid their political goals. "Consumer fraud this massive in the private sector could - and should - bear serious legal ramifications," Johnson said. "For President Obama, however, it helped secure enough votes to pass Obamacare and win re-election." Since the launch of the Affordable Care Act's online insurance marketplace Oct. 1, millions of consumers have received cancellation notices from insurers, notifying them that their previous plans were being annulled due to regulations in the health care law. Democrats have been quick to point out that many of the canceled policies did not offer the minimum coverage standards stipulated by the new law and that these consumers losing their insurance could find more robust coverage in Obamacare's insurance marketplace. Republicans, though, have argued that the main portal to that marketplace - HealthCare.gov, which allows individuals in 36 states to comparison shop insurance plans online - remains beset by gimmicks and flaws, making it difficult for people to sign up for insurance. On Thursday, to quell the growing furor over canceled plans, the White House issued an administrative fix allowing insurance companies to extend 2013 insurance plans through 2014, effectively delaying the cancellation of insurance plans in states whose insurance commissioners agreed to implement the administrative fix. House Republicans on Friday passed a similar measure that would preserve canceled plans and even allow others to sign up for them, but Senate Democrats, moving ahead with legislative fixes of their own, will not take up that bill, and the White House has vowed to veto it. In his address on Saturday, Johnson deemed the president's administrative solution inadequate, pressing Congress to address the problem more fully. "Unfortunately, the implementation of Obamacare has progressed to a point where millions of canceled plans cannot be reinstated," he said. "But the freedom of millions of Americans to keep doctors, treatments and health plans they do value can still be preserved if Congress acts swiftly and decisively." And Johnson fired a warning shot at Democrats facing potentially tough races in the 2014 midterm elections, urging them to get behind Republicans' efforts to unwind Obamacare - or else. "Democrat senators must help Republicans pass legislation to limit the damage of Obamacare," he said. "If not, those who choose to ignore the plight of millions of Americans should be replaced next November by those who will act." In his own weekly address on Saturday, the president did not address the health care law or the chaos in the insurance market, focusing instead on the expansion of domestic energy production during his tenure that has left Americans "poised to control our own energy future." Play Video Obama: U.S. "poised to control our own energy future" "Today, we generate more renewable energy than ever - with tens of thousands of good, American jobs to show for it. We produce more natural gas than anyone - and nearly everyone's energy bill is lower because of it. And just this week, we learned that for the first time in nearly two decades, the United States of America now produces more of our own oil here at home than we buy from other countries," he said. "That's a big deal. That's a tremendous step towards American energy independence." And along with expanded production has come increased efficiency and falling carbon emissions, the president noted. "That's good news for anyone who cares about the world we leave to our kids," he said. "And while our carbon emissions have been dropping, our economy has been growing. Our businesses have created 7.8 million new jobs in the past 44 months. It proves that the old argument that we can't strengthen the economy and be good stewards of our planet at the same time is a false choice. We can do both. And we have to do both."

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House Nears Vote on Letting People Keep Their Health Plans - New York Times Posted: 15 Nov 2013 08:58 AM PST By MICHAEL D. SHEAR Published: November 15, 2013 WASHINGTON — The House is preparing to vote on Friday on a Republican proposal that would allow Americans to keep their existing health coverage through 2014 without penalties — as well as allow new people to continue to buy the plans, something the Obama administration has said would gut the health care law. The vote comes a day after President Obama announced that insurance companies will be allowed to keep people on health care plans that don't meet new minimum standards. The measure, drafted by Representative Fred Upton, the Michigan Republican who is the chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, is expected to pass easily, and could garner support from a number of Democrats, who have been clamoring for a fix that goes beyond what the president is offering. Mr. Obama and his top aides will meet with insurance company chief executives at the White House on Friday, in an effort to quell concerns about the implications of the president's plan. The insurance industry reacted with alarm on Thursday to Mr. Obama's announcement, saying that the decision to change the rules about who could keep their plans had the potential to undermine the Affordable Care Act and raise premiums. "This decision continues different rules for different policies and threatens to undermine the new market, and may lead to higher premiums and market disruptions in 2014 and beyond," Jim Donelon, Louisiana's insurance regulator and the president of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, said on Thursday. The insurance executives say that the premiums in the new federal and state marketplaces were based on the assumption that younger and generally healthy people who had been enrolled in cheaper plans would move into the new marketplaces. Their presence would help keep prices low for everyone. If those healthier people stick with their current plans, then the new marketplaces will be filled with older, sicker people and premiums could rise. White House officials say that they designed the new policy with an eye to those concerns. Insurance companies will be required to tell people that they might get a better deal in a new plan on the federal or state insurance marketplaces. That is a subtle nudge that might help persuade people to move off what officials say are substandard policies and into the marketplaces. But insurance company executives and their representatives warned that such tweaks might not be enough to avoid problems. Those issues are sure to come up when the executives meet with Mr. Obama and his advisers.

Official: Some Philippine typhoon victims surviving on coconut juice - CNN International Posted: 15 Nov 2013 08:57 AM PST Stranded passengers board a plane at a damaged airport in Tacloban, Philippines, on Wednesday, November 13. Troops and aid organizations have been confronted with blocked roads and devastating damage while trying to deliver aid to Filipinos struggling to survive in the aftermath of Super Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms in history. See how you can help. HIDE CAPTION Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts Typhoon Haiyan relief efforts << < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 > >> STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: Coconut juice fills in for scarce food and water in Philippines, official says Women flee with children while some men remain to rebuild "My children are decomposing," one woman says Children wander the streets of Tacloban unattended Tacloban, Philippines (CNN) -- More than a week after Typhoon Haiyan laid waste to much of the central Philippines, a health official said Friday that some victims are living off the land. "One of the impressions is that there was total absence of food and water," Health Undersecretary Janette Garin said in a television interview, according to the state-run Philippine News Agency (PNA). "Some victims survived on coconut juice." That assessment came as crews were continuing to collect bodies from streets and rubble, raising to 3,621 the national disaster agency's official death count. The number of injured stood at 12,165, PNA reported. At least 1,140 were missing. Survivors of Typhoon Haiyan carry food that a U.S. military helicopter dropped off in Guiuan, Philippines, on Thursday, November 14. The U.S. Agency for International Development donated the food to help with international relief efforts. Haiyan, one of the strongest storms in recorded history, decimated parts of the Philippines over the weekend. President Benigno Aquino III said the typhoon may have killed as many as 2,500 people. Typhoon Haiyan HIDE CAPTION << < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 > >> A boy rides his bike past a coffin and other scenes of destruction in Tacloban, Philippines, on Wednesday, November 13. Typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest storms in recorded history, has devastated parts of the Philippines and killed at least 2,275 people. Children among Typhoon Haiyan victims HIDE CAPTION << < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 > >> Sickness, hunger and thirst have settled in here with the sticky, humid heat and stench of rancid flesh hanging over the apocalyptic scene. Survivors in improvised shelters have kept watch over the bodies of their dead relatives. Juvelyn Taniega tried to keep busy. She collected old dishes and cleaned them, crouching near where her home once stood and the place where she last saw her husband and six children alive. She's found the bodies of three of her children. "My children are decomposing," she said. In days, she said, no one has come to help and she is still looking for the three still missing. There are many like her, looking over miles of fields containing the crushed wood and stone that once were their houses. Cadaver collectors in debris-removal crews uncover some of the dead, while heaving away wreckage from the roads. But the bodies that initially seemed ubiquitous are becoming a rarer sight, as they are collected. PNA reported Friday that five-person teams that include a forensic expert and photographer would begin Saturday using a "quick system" for the bodies. "Under the system, the public will not be allowed to view the identification process but relatives will be asked to participate in the final identification of corpses at an appointed time," it reported, citing the Department of Health. Each team will be required to handle 40 corpses per day, it said. Health Secretary Enrique Ona said that photos will be taken, identifying marks will be documented, and belongings and tissue samples for possible use in DNA testing will be collected, when practical. Officially, 801 bodies were counted in Tacloban by Friday, but thousands are feared dead in this city, where entire neighborhoods were swept out to sea. Wandering children On Friday, children could be seen wandering unattended through the city's streets. The young are the most vulnerable and the most needy, UNICEF spokesman Kent Page told CNN's Anderson Cooper. Typhoon victim: This is worse than hell "Health, nutrition, getting them clean water, good sanitation, protection, and we have to consider education also," Page said. "Schools have been wiped out and getting kids into child-friendly spaces -- where they can feel protected, where they can get a chance to play, where they can get a sense of normalcy back in their life after going through such a devastating experience -- is very important." Many parents were simply trying to get their children to safety. In some cases, mothers accompanied them out of town to places where food, water and shelter were available, while fathers stayed behind to sort through the remains of their lives, Tacloban Mayor Alfred Romualdez said. He advised other families to follow their example. Turning a corner? By Friday, crews had cleared the major streets of Tacloban, which was once home to 220,000 people and is now largely a ghost town populated by fields of rubble. Many survivors have converged on the city's airport, where they were waiting in line for seats on flights out. Others took to the sea. As naval ships pushed up on beaches like gray whales and dropped their loading bay gates, people laden with possessions entered the bellies of the arks en route to new lives elsewhere. At the convention center, many stood for hours in long lines under the sun awaiting the next load of food and bottled water to arrive in bulk pallets from donors around the world. Some were there because they had nowhere else to go. "We really don't know what we're going to do next," said 30-year-old May May Gula, who was among nine families sharing a room on the convention center's ground floor. Reaching and helping the survivors -- more than 2 million of whom need food, according to the government -- are priorities. Mayor Romualdez likened Tacloban to a boxer struggling to stand up after getting knocked out. Recovery efforts were helped on Thursday, when the USS George Washington, an aircraft carrier with 5,500 crew, sailed into Philippine waters. It was accompanied by eight more ships that, together, carry 80 aircraft, including 21 helicopters that can deliver supplies to villages, where many roads have been obliterated, and identify people still cut off from help. PHILIPPINES AID (IN U.S. $) Australia: 30 million U.N.: 25 million UK: 24 million U.S.: 20 million Japan: 10 million Denmark: 6.9 million European Union: 4.1 million Sweden: 3.6 million UAE: 10 million South Korea: 5 million Canada: 4.8 million Norway: 3.4 million Switzerland: 3.4 million Indonesia: 2 million Spain: 1.8 million New Zealand: 1.75 million China: 1.6 million Ireland: 1.4 million Italy: 1.3 million Mexico: 1 million Austria: 690,000 Belgium: 690,000 Czech Republic: 214,000 Singapore:160,000 Vatican: 150,000 Vietnam: 100,000 Source: U.N. OCHA, government officials, reports Irony Some who would typically have provided aid found themselves needing help. Ryan Cardenas, with the Philippine Navy, had helped with recovery efforts in each of the past two years after cyclones that left hundreds dead. But when Haiyan slammed into the Tacloban naval station where he's based, he and other sailors were in no position to help others immediately -- they stayed alive by clinging to rafters in their barracks. Their commanding officer, who was in a building badly damaged by the storm, clutched a palm tree's trunk for survival. Afterward, the sailors helped retrieve bodies, according to Cardenas. One found his mother sitting dead against a wall. Later, they sorted through the wreckage of the naval station and awaited orders. "This is the worst," Cardenas said, taking a break from fixing a piece of damaged furniture. "We're both victims and rescuers." Typhoon Haiyan: Faces of the storm Concerns of violence The violence was not all attributable to the weather. A Philippines senator cited reports of rapes and other crimes against women, some allegedly by prison escapees, PNA reported. Sen. Nancy Binay expressed alarm after hearing TV reports of assailants breaking into homes. But the U.S. military has said that violent crime is less of an obstacle to providing aid than is the debris that still blocks some roads. Someone to live for A man whose wife and child drowned said he can't get the images out of his mind. "The first one that I saw was my youngest," he said. "She fainted, and then she drowned. The water was so fast. And then my wife, when I tried to grab her, I missed her. Then she drowned, and then I never saw her again." Over the past week, he said, he has been thinking of killing himself but hasn't, because he still has one child who needs him. How to help Typhoon Haiyan survivors CNN's Jethro Mullen reported from Tacloban; Ben Brumfield and Tom Watkins wrote and reported from Atlanta. CNN's Anna Coren contributed from Cebu; Karen Smith, Greg Botelho and Catherine Shoichet contributed from Atlanta. 0 Comments » SHARE THIS Print Email More sharing

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Ringgit traded higher against US dollar Posted: 14 Nov 2013 05:47 PM PST The ringgit opened higher against the US dollar today, extending yesterday's gains as more investors shift their appetite to Asian currencies, including the local unit, dealers said. At 9am, the ringgit appreciated against the greenback to 3.1935/1965 from 3.2040/2070 yesterday. A dealer said the euro was dampened by the weak eurozone data while the Japanese yen slipped after the Finance Minister Taro Aso told a parliamentary committee that Japan must retain the currency intervention as a policy tool. Against other major currencies, the ringgit was also traded higher. The local note appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 2.5616/5644 from 2.5683/5712 yesterday and strengthened against the yen to 3.1868/1901 from 3.2255/2102 on Thursday. Against the British pound, the ringgit emerged stronger to 5.1288/1349 from 5.1360/1424 yesterday and rose to 4.2962/3009 from 4.3107/3157 against the euro.-- Bernama

Gold futures open higher Posted: 14 Nov 2013 05:51 PM PST Gold futures contracts rebounded to open higher today, supported by buying interest for the precious metal, dealers said. As at 9.30am, November 2013 rose one tick to RM132.55 a gramme, with one lot traded, while December 2013 stood at RM132.95 a gramme, with 31 lots traded. Open interest stood at 755 contracts.-- Bernama

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White House to Allow Insurers to Continue Canceled Health Plans - Wall Street Journal Posted: 14 Nov 2013 09:32 AM PST [unable to retrieve full-text content] Philly.com White House to Allow Insurers to Continue Canceled Health Plans Wall Street Journal WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama said Thursday that insurers will be able to continue health-insurance coverage next year for current policy holders that otherwise would be canceled under the new health-care law. Enlarge Image. cat. U.S. President ... Obama to let people keep canceled health plans for another yearCBS News People "deserve better": Obama gives people an extra year to keep health ...NBCNews.com Obama: Canceled plans can be kept for a yearUSA TODAY Los Angeles Times -Chicago Tribune -New York Times all 1,749 news articles »

Yellen says imperative to promote very strong recovery - Reuters Posted: 14 Nov 2013 09:32 AM PST (Reuters) - Janet Yellen on Thursday robustly defended the Federal Reserve's bold steps to spur economic growth, calling efforts to boost hiring an "imperative" at a hearing into her nomination to become the first woman to lead the U.S. central bank. Answering questions before the Senate Banking Committee, Yellen made plain she would press forward with the Fed's ultra-easy monetary policy until officials were confident a durable economic recovery was in place that could sustain job creation. "I consider it imperative that we do what we can to promote a very strong recovery," Yellen, currently the Fed's vice chair, told the panel. She said the Fed's bond-buying, which some Republican lawmakers fear risks stoking inflation or asset bubbles, could not continue forever, but made clear any decision to reduce the purchases, currently $85 billion a month, would be driven by incoming economic data. The Fed has held interest rates near zero since late 2008 and has quadrupled its balance sheet to $3.8 trillion through three massive rounds of bond purchases, or quantitative easing. At its last meeting in October, it maintained its buying at the current pace, a policy known as quantitative easing, or QE. Investors in stocks and bonds welcomed Yellen's commitment to drive a stronger recovery. U.S. stocks hit session highs as she testified, with the S&P 500 reaching a record high. Nonetheless, analysts said she simply bolstered expectations that she would favor continuity with the policies of current Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, whose term expires at the end of January. "She hasn't given anything away specifically with regards to the timetable of any QE tapering," said Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec in London. "It seems that policy remains driven by data for the time being." Nominated by President Barack Obama in October to replace Bernanke when his term ends, Yellen is viewed as a policy dove and her emphasis on the high cost of unemployment reinforced that reputation. The banking committee, where Obama's Democrats occupy 12 of the 22 seats, needs to vet her credentials to become the most powerful economic official in the world before sending her nomination to the full Senate for consideration. Despite worries among some Republicans that she might not be tough enough on inflation, she is expected to win confirmation without drama. It is not yet clear when lawmakers will debate and vote on her nomination. Obama's Democrats control 55 of the Senate's 100 seats, which means the 67-year-old former economics professor needs to only win backing from five Republicans to reach the 60-vote threshold necessary to overcome any procedural hurdles. (Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson, Caren Bohan and Anna Yukhananov in Washington and Marius Zaharia in London; Editing by James Dalgleish)

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