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Syrian leader under fire over Beirut bombing - CNN Posted: 20 Oct 2012 08:30 AM PDT Lebanese men block a road leading to the airport in Beirut to protest against the assassination of top intelligence official Wissam al-Hassan in a blast on Friday, October 19. A car bomb blast in central Beirut killed the top security official linked to the anti-Damascus camp in Lebanon, where leaders pointed a finger of blame at Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Lebanese people take part in a candlelight vigil near the site of the car bomb blast. A Lebanese firefighter douses cars at the site of an explosion in Beirut's Christian neighbourhood of Ashrafieh. A car burns after an explosion in Beirut. The blast hit the Ashrafiyeh district in East Beirut, a predominantly Christian area. Lebanese firefighters douse burning vehicles. Lebanese Red Cross aid workers help a wounded man. Dozens were injured, some seriously, and others were slightly hurt, a senior hospital official said. Lebanese security forces and rescue workers gather at the site of the explosion. Lebanese men evacuate a wounded woman from the scene of the car bomb. Lebanese police stand by a crater as they secure the site. Civil defense members help a wounded man in the immediate aftermath. A wounded woman is carried from the area. The attack did not target any political figure, the Lebanese National News Agency says. A civil defense member helps a wounded man. A wounded woman gets assistance. Lebanese soldiers secure the area around the mangled wreckage of the blast. A woman is helped by a Lebanese soldier after the explosion. Relatives comfort a wounded woman at the site. A Lebanese soldier secures the area as a civil defense member helps an injured woman. HIDE CAPTION Car bomb in Beirut Car bomb in Beirut Car bomb in Beirut Car bomb in Beirut Car bomb in Beirut Car bomb in Beirut Car bomb in Beirut Car bomb in Beirut Car bomb in Beirut Car bomb in Beirut Car bomb in Beirut Car bomb in Beirut Car bomb in Beirut Car bomb in Beirut Car bomb in Beirut Car bomb in Beirut Car bomb in Beirut << < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 > >> STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: At least another 80 people were killed amid fighting in Syria, opposition groups say Lebanese PM Mikati is staying in power, despite his offer to resign Mikati is backed by Hezbollah Blame over Lebanese intel chief's death is largely aimed at Syrian regime Beirut (CNN) -- A day after the most high-profile assassination in Lebanon in more than seven years, accusations over who's responsible homed in on the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad. Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a billionaire supported by Hezbollah, announced Saturday that he plans to stay in power, despite having offered his resignation to appease those who claimed al-Assad was behind Friday's car bombing that killed Lebanon's intelligence chief, Brig. Gen Wissam al-Hassan. "To hold me personally responsible for the assassination is unfair," he told reporters. "I have always respected and admired al-Hassan, who has done great things for Lebanon." Mikati's decision to stay heads off a power vacuum in Lebanon's government, as sectarian tensions flare particularly as the effects of Syria's 19-month civil war spill across borders and threaten the region. The senior Lebanese security official and at least nine others died in the explosion in the typically peaceful and cosmopolitan Ashrafiyeh district of East Beirut. Lebanon on edge after attack The attack -- in broad daylight, at one of the capital's busiest intersections -- left a crater more than a meter deep and was just the kind of thing al-Hassan had worked to prevent. But beyond its potential impact on Lebanon's security, al-Hassan's life and death illustrates the deep political and religious fissures within Lebanese society, believed to be exacerbated by its neighbor's unrelentingly internal conflict, where at least another 80 people were killed on Saturday amid fighting that has left tens of thousands dead. Saad Hariri, a Lebanese opposition leader and former prime minister, told CNN that he had no doubt that the Syrian leader was responsible for Friday's deadly strike. Hariri accused al-Assad of "killing his own people" and said "he will not think twice" about killing Lebanese in order to protect himself. "The message from Damascus today is anywhere you are, if you are against the regime from Lebanon, we will come and get you ... No matter what you try to do, we will keep on assassinating the Lebanese," said Hariri, who blames the 2005 assassination of his father, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, on the Assad government. Those accusations were echoed by Walid Jumblatt, a Druze politician and influential power broker in Lebanon's rough-and-tumble political landscape. Jumblatt told CNN he blames Friday's murder on the Assad government and has expressed concerns over his own safety. Syrian forces loyal to Assad "can hit you any place anywhere," he said. "I don't feel safe," he added, talking to CNN in his hillside home outside the capital. When asked if he thought al-Hassan's killers would be captured, Jumblatt replied: "Sometimes you have justice -- I mean procedural justice according to the rules, and sometimes you have natural justice when one day the killer will be killed. One day the killer will die. You just have to be patient and one day you will see your enemy floating in front of you in the river." Under Assad, Syria has continued to influence the politics of its smaller neighbor despite withdrawing troops from Lebanon in 2005 following Rafik Hariri's assassination. Last year, Damascus maneuvered to topple Hariri's son Saad as prime minister by persuading Jumblatt to abandon parliament, which left Hezbollah to play kingmaker in protracted negotiations to form a new government. Tensions have since boiled over in Lebanon following Friday's attack as enraged citizens blocked road ways and clashes erupted in the port city of Tripoli between supporters and foes of Syria's government. The Lebanese president declared Saturday a day of national mourning in decrying the "abominable crime" in a statement. But the prime minister's failure to appear publicly after the explosion elicited criticism, including from one protester in Beirut who said, "This government is killing us by not doing anything. It is not acting like a government. It is like a ghost government." 0 Comments » Print Email More sharing

Midwest Jobless Rates Shape Electoral Map - Wall Street Journal Posted: 20 Oct 2012 07:48 AM PDT BY JOSH MITCHELL New state employment figures help explain the shape of the race in two Midwestern battlegrounds now at the heart of the presidential contest: Ohio, where Mitt Romney has gained some ground, and Wisconsin, where President Barack Obama maintains his small lead. Unemployment has fallen over the past year in eight of nine battleground states—those expected to be the most closely contested in November—according to Labor Department data released Friday. Although the state declines vary in size, they generally follow the national trend, in which joblessness has fallen to 7.8% in September from 9.0% a year earlier. But Ohio and Wisconsin ...

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US markets sink on earnings news Posted: 19 Oct 2012 06:29 PM PDT NEW YORK: US markets sank Friday with the Nasdaq pulled down two percent by a tech stock rout led by Apple and Microsoft as a raft of disappointing earnings and trimmed forecasts spooked investors. Apple, the largest listed company by market capitalization, sank 3.60 percent. Shares of Microsoft, which reported late Thursday that it had rebounded from a first-time-ever loss the previous quarter but that revenues still dropped significantly, lost 2.9 percent. And industrial heavyweight General Electric also helped drag the Dow lower with a 3.4 percent loss, after cutting its forecast for the coming months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished down 205.43 points (1.52 percent) at 13,343.51. The broad-based S&P 500 lost 24.15 (1.66 percent) at 1,433.19, while the Nasdaq Composite gave up 67.24 points (2.19 percent) at 3,005.62. "Today was all about earnings," said Schaeffer's Investment Research analyst Ryan Detrick. "The reality is we're in the second inning and earnings have stunk." Slower revenues rather than profit disappointments in earnings reports grabbed the focus of investors. McDonald's was the biggest loser on the Dow, giving up 4.5 percent. The global fast-food king reported lower profits in the third quarter and said worldwide sales were slipping this month. "Hard to find a Happy Meal in Q3 for McDonald's," quipped a Citi analyst in a note on the earnings. Chipotle Mexican Grill meanwhile plunged 15 percent after missing earnings targets despite a 20 percent profit gain, and predicting flat-to-lower sales for 2013. Google, which inadvertently released its quarterly report in the middle of trade Thursday and saw its share price crash more than 10 percent on the results, lost another 1.9 percent. The one bright spot in the Dow 30 was Home Depot, which gained 0.2 percent; on the Nasdaq, SanDisk jumped 2.7 percent helped by a 67 percent earnings slide that was nevertheless not as bad as analysts had expected. -- AFP

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Beirut car bomb kills 8, link seen to Syria war - Reuters Posted: 19 Oct 2012 09:11 AM PDT By Oliver Holmes and Mariam Karouny BEIRUT | Fri Oct 19, 2012 12:13pm EDT (Reuters) - A huge car bomb that exploded in central Beirut during rush hour on Friday killed a top security official and seven others, wounded about 80 and heightened fears that Syria's war is aggravating tensions in Lebanon. Among the victims was Wissam al-Hassan, who was in charge of a top intelligence unit, Lebanon's al-Jadeed television said. He had led an investigation that uncovered a recent bomb plot that led to the arrest of a pro-Syrian Lebanese politician. Analysts said the bombing, which was reminiscent of grim scenes from Lebanon's own 1975-1990 civil war, was linked to the heightened tension between Lebanese factions on opposite sides of the conflict in neighboring Syria. The explosion ripped through the street where the office of the anti-Damascus Christian Phalange Party is located near Sassine Square in Ashrafiyeh, a mostly Christian area. Phalange leader Sami al-Gemayel, a staunch opponent of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and a member of parliament, condemned the attack. "Let the state protect the citizens. We will not accept any procrastination in this matter, we cannot continue like that. We have been warning for a year. Enough," said Gemayel, whose brother was assassinated in November 2006. The war in Syria, which has killed 30,000 people in the past 19 months, has pitted mostly Sunni insurgents against Assad, who is from the Alawite sect linked to Shi'ite Islam. Lebanon's religious communities are divided between those supporting Assad and those backing the rebels trying to overthrow him. The blast occurred during rush hour, when many parents were picking up children from school, and sent black smoke billowing into the sky. Eight people were killed and at least 78 were wounded, the state news agency said, quoting civil defense officials. Several cars were destroyed and the front of a multi-storey building was badly damaged, with tangled wires and metal railings crashing to the ground. SCENES REMINISCENT OF DARK DAYS In the aftermath, residents ran about in panic looking for relatives while others helped carry the wounded to ambulances. Security forces blanketed the area. In scenes reminiscent of the dark days of the Lebanese civil war, ambulances ferried the wounded to several hospitals, where doctors, nurses and students waited for casualties at the doors. At one, an elderly woman sat in the emergency room with blood staining her blouse. The hospitals put out an appeal for blood donations. An employee of a bank on the street pointed to the blown-out windows of his building. "Some people were wounded from my bank. I think it was a car bomb. The whole car jumped five floors into the air," he said. Michael Fish, 25, a British musician visiting Beirut, said he was in his hotel a street away when the explosion happened. "At first I thought it was an earthquake. It shook the whole hotel for a second." Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement that the government was trying to find out who carried out the attack and said those responsible would be punished. The prospect that Syria's war might spread to Lebanon has worried many people here and fighting broke out in February between supporters and opponents of Assad in the northern city of Tripoli. Syria has played a major role in Lebanese politics, siding with different factions during the civil war. It deployed troops in Beirut and parts of the country during the war and they stayed until 2005. In Damascus, Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoabie told reporters: "We condemn this terrorist explosion and all these explosions wherever they happen. Nothing justifies them." Tension between Sunnis, Shi'ites and Christians in Lebanon has continued after the civil war but has increased with the Syria conflict erupted. "CANNOT BE ISOLATED FROM SYRIA" Nabil Boumonsef, a columnist at the Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar, said: "They warned of the implications of the Syrian crisis and here it comes. Who did it and why nobody knows but what is certain is that it cannot be isolated from what is happening in Syria." "The explosion shows that Lebanon cannot be safe and peaceful in the middle of this situation boiling around it." He hoped the bombing did not mark the start of a new era of such attacks. "The regional conflagration of course will have its implications on the Lebanese scene. They are dragging in Lebanon so that it becomes a conflict arena," he told Reuters. Sunni-Shi'te rivalry hit a peak when former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, a Sunni, was killed in 2005. Hariri supporters accused Syria and then Hezbollah of killing him - a charge they both deny. An international tribunal accused several Hezbollah members of involvement in the murder. Hezbollah's political opponents, who have for months accused it of aiding Assad's forces, have warned that its involvement in Syria could reignite the sectarian tension of the civil war. Sarkis Naoum, a columnist on Syrian affairs at an-Nahar said: "This is all interlinked to the sectarian and political conflict, and the conflict among intelligence services in the region. The aim of this is to spoil things." Bombings were a hallmark of the civil war but the last such attack in Beirut was in 2008 when three people were killed in an explosion which damaged a U.S. diplomatic car. Beirut has undergone massive reconstruction to repair the damage from the civil war and in recent years has enjoyed a tourist boom, boosted by Beirut's pulsating nightlife. That is now also under threat. (Reporting by Mariam Karouny, Oliver Holmes, Laiala Bassan and Samia Nakhoul, Writing by Angus MacSwan; Editing by Michael Roddy)

The best of the Alfred E. Smith Dinner (VIDEO) - Washington Post (blog) Posted: 19 Oct 2012 09:11 AM PDT For months, President Obama and Mitt Romney have been trading attacks on the campaign trail. But on Thursday night, they took a break to exchange a few jokes about themselves and each other at the Alfred E. Smith dinner in New York. The Post's Philip Rucker, Dan Balz and David Nakamura covered the Catholic Archdiocese of New York's annual charity benefit, which wasn't short on one-liners. The candidates cracked wise on topics ranging from Obama's debating skills to Romney's wealth, and even New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's (D) political ambitions. Below is a rundown of each candidate's top quips from Thursday night, along with video highlights:  Obama: * On the debates: "As some of you may have noticed, I had a lot more energy at our second debate. I felt really well rested after the nice, long nap I had in the first debate." * On Romney's wealth: "Earlier today, I went shopping at some stores in Midtown. I understand Governor Romney went shopping for some stores in Midtown." * On Vice President Biden: "It's been four years since I was last at the Al Smith Dinner. And I have to admit some things have changed since then. I've heard some people say, 'Barack, you're not as young as you used to be. Where's that golden smile? Where's that pep in your step?' And I say, 'Settle down, Joe, I'm trying to run a Cabinet meeting.'" * On middle names: "Tonight is not about the disagreements Governor Romney and I may have. It's what we have in common — beginning with our unusual names. Actually, Mitt is his middle name. I wish I could use my middle name." * On Cuomo's ambitions: "Tonight I am here with a man whose father was a popular governor, and who knows what it's like to run a major Northeastern state, and who could very well be president someday — and I'm hoping it is Andrew Cuomo." Romney: * On his persona: "A campaign can require a lot of wardrobe changes — blue jeans in the morning, perhaps, suits for a lunch fundraiser, sport coat for dinner — but it's nice to finally relax and wear what Ann and I wear around the house." * On the people he and Obama always have in their corner: "I have my beautiful wife, Ann; he has Bill Clinton." * On Biden: "I was actually hoping the president would bring Joe Biden along this evening, because he'll laugh at anything." * On the monthly jobs report: "He knows how to seize the moment, this president. He already has a compelling new campaign slogan: 'You're better off now than you were four weeks ago.'" * On his "Sesame Street" remark: "In the spirit of Sesame Street, the president's remarks tonight are brought you by the letter 'O' and the number 16 trillion."

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Astro up 1pc after US$1.5b Malaysia IPO Posted: 18 Oct 2012 06:58 PM PDT Shares of Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd, the country's biggest pay-TV firm, opened 1 percent higher in their trading debut on Friday, underperforming other recent big listings in Kuala Lumpur's booming IPO market amid concerns about their expensive valuation. The stock was trading at RM3.03 as of 9.32am, compared with the RM3.00 price set for Malaysia's third-biggest initial public offering this year. "It reflects the valuation of the stock, it is priced quite expensive. As such it is not moving as much as the previous big IPOs," said an analyst at the research arm of a local bank, who declined to be identified. Astro, controlled by Malaysia's second-richest man Ananda Krishnan, raised US$1.5 billion in its IPO, bolstered by its position as the top player in the pay-TV market and by strong demand from cornerstone investors such as U.S. hedge fund Och-Ziff Capital Management. The IPO followed Felda Global Ventures Holdings Bhd's US$3.3 billion offering in June and IHH Healthcare Bhd's US$2.1 billion flotation in July, and has pushed Malaysia's 2012 IPO tally to about US$7.9 billion - or nearly one-quarter of all new listings in Asia-Pacific. By comparison, Felda, a palm oil firm, closed up 16.5 percent on its debut in June, while hospital operator IHH gained 10.5 percent on its first trading day in July. Four analysts in a Reuters survey had expected Astro to gain between 6 and 10 percent in their debut on Friday. "On a price-to-earnings (PE) valuation basis, we do find the issue price of RM3.00 per share rather expensive as it would translate to a PE of 32 times based on FY2013 estimated earnings per share," Kuala Lumpur-based TA Securities said in a note ahead of Friday's share debut. "However on a longer-term basis we believe the premium is justified due to Astro's dominant position within the industry, expected double-digit bottom line growth, and decent bottom line margin for the next five years at least." Astro, which also counts state investor Khazanah Nasional Bhd as a major shareholder, has a near-monopoly in Malaysia's residential pay-TV market and a subscriber base of 3.1 million. It is returning to public markets after it was taken private in 2010. At the offer price of RM3.00 per share, Astro would have a market value of RM15.6 billion (US$5.1 billion), nearly double the RM8.3 billion it was worth when it was taken private. Astro's IPO is being handled by CIMB Group Holdings Bhd , Malayan Banking Bhd and RHB Capital Bhd. Several foreign banks are also advisers, including UBS AG, Credit Suisse Group AG, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co. -- Reuters

KL shares continue strong momentum Posted: 18 Oct 2012 07:00 PM PDT Share prices on Bursa Malaysia continued its strong momentum in early trading Friday as investors remain on buying mode in selected heavyweights, dealers said. After five minutes of trading, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) rose 1.6 points to 1,667.02 compared to yesterday's 1,665.42 close. HwangDBS Vickers Research said the Malaysian bourse could finish the week on a strong note today. "The benchmark FBM KLCI will likely revisit its record high of 1,668.32 as it is looking to test immediate resistance threshold of 1,670 ahead," it said in a research note. As of yesterday, participation in the local bourse comprised 50.20 per cent local institutions, 30.8 per cent foreign and 19.72 per cent local retail. The Finance Index improved 16.29 points to 14,876.05, the Plantation Index gained 1.33 points to 8,187.29 and the Industrial Index rose 2.32 points to 2,872.41. The FBM Emas Index added 8.94 points to 11,323.7, the FBM Mid 70 Index gained 10.48 points to 12,220.34, the FBM Ace Index was 16.28 points higher at 4,326.1 and the FBMT100 rose 10.49 points to 11,163.33. Gainers led losers 75 to 57, with 2,113 counters unchanged. Volume stood at 181.949 million shares worth RM159.178 million. Astro, to be relisted on the Main Board today, made its debut at RM3.02, two sen premium from its RM3 offer price, with 21.16 million shares traded. Apart from Astro, which led the actives, other active counters are -- Compugt, which was unchanged at 9.5 sen while KNM-OR earned one sen to 16.5 sen. Among the heavyweights, Maybank and Axiata were both unchanged at RM9.11 and RM6.60, respectively, while CIMB added three sen to RM7.68 but Sime Darby eased two sen to RM9.78.-- BERNAMA

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Debate highlights: Libya, binders and big pensions - NBCNews.com Posted: 18 Oct 2012 09:19 AM PDT >>> good morning. i'm chris jansing . fired up and a feisty debate. it's fueling both democrats and republicans this morning. president obama and mitt romney took the gloves off last night. at times they actually looked like they might got after the other with more than words. >> but that's not what you've done in the last four years. that's the problem. in the last four years, you cut permits and licenses on federal land and federal waters. >> not true, governor romney . >> so how much did you cut? >> not true. >> how much did you cut by? >> we have produced more oil -- >> no, no. how much licenses did you cut? >> here's what we did. there were a whole bunch of oil companies -- >> i had a question. it was how much did you cut them by. >> i'm happy to answer the question. >> this morning their running mates both declare victory. >> president obama was absolutely at the top of his game last night. and i also think that he was able to clearly draw a picture between a future under obama and a future under romney . >> he clearly changed his tactic. they said he would. but his answers didn't change. he didn't offer any new idea about how the next four years would be any different than the last four years. >> arguably one of the strongest moments of the night for the president, certainly one that was getting a lot of attention was after a question about libya . >> and the suggestion that anybody in my team whether the secretary of state, our u.n. ambassador, anybody on my team would play politics or mislead when we've lost four of our own, governor, the offensive. that's not what we do. >> i want to bring in roll call associate analyst tucker. and erin mcpike. >> good to be here. >> you couldn't be less agresive or less energetic than the president last time. so he stepped up his game by order and magnitude. was that enough for a win? >> i gave him a narrow win on points . i think compared to the last debate, this is the barack obama that the american people thought they knew and expected to see originally. and he did very good job of bringing the attack to mitt romney . going after him on policy and the areas they have attacked him on in terms of his background. i do think that mitt romney held his own and showed that denver wasn't a fluke in that the mitt romney that talks about the economy that is strong on issues, what he showed in denver still existed. just this time he had real competition. so you had a much different ball game . the political impact of this i think is a draw. but this was important for the president because his supporters and people who are giving him a look and inclined to vote for him is still there. >> let's talk more about the style. because it was feisty to say the least. here's what frank bruni wrote. at times the candidates communicated such potent disrespect even disdain for each other that you had to remind yourself that one was the president of the united states and one wanted to be. i don't think you could walk away from this thinking these guys were friends or had any level of like for each other. i wonder how that's going to play with voters in ohio or florida. >> sure. in that libya exchange that you just played a moment ago, it was clear that president obama was seething. he -- we talk about how the president doesn't show a lot of emotion sometimes, that he is aloof. not in this debate. he was thanking voters for taking their questions. and happy in moments. at that moment he said mitt romney i am the commander in chief, you are not. i thought that was huge. >> let me play more of the libya exchange. this was one of the hottest moments. >> the day after the attack, governor, i stood in the rose garden and i told the american people and the world that we were going to find out exactly what happened. that this was an act of terror. >> i think it's interesting the president just said something which is that on the day after the attack he went in the rose garden and said this was an act of terror. you said in the rose garden the day after the attack it was an act of terror. >> please, proceed. >> is that what you're saying? >> please proceed, governor. >> i want to make sure we get that for the record because it took the president 14 days before he called it an act of terror. >> he did, in fact, sir. he used the word -- he did call it an act of terror. >> do you think after that, david, that mitt romney seemed a little more off his game? do you think he was rattled by that? >> i think that the exchange didn't go the way he wanted. i think he was rattled for a moment, but i thought he recovered. and he'll have another crack at this on monday. and it'll be interesting to see in the foreign policy debate how this goes. >> they're not going to drop this. that's clear. >> of course not. and i thought the president really knocked that whole issue out of the park within that debate. and ironically, the same way i expected joe biden to really knock libya out of the park against paul ryan and it didn't work that way. i didn't expect that here. but i do think while it was an important moment for the president for the overall debate last night, this election is still being fought on economic territory and i don't know what the lasting impact of this will be. at least until we see how the foreign policy debate goes. >> well, speaking of the economy, the other certainly most talked about moment last night came when are m romney started answering a question about equal pay for women . he pivoted how he tried to hire women for his cabinet when he was governor for massachusetts. >> it took a concerted effort to go out and find women who had backgrounds to find women who were qualified to be members of our cabinets. they brought us whole binders full of women . >> everywhere you look, binders full of women . it was being tweeted. was that awkward? >> mitt romney does have awkward answers here and there. and the democrats are very good at exploiting them and manufacturing a big movement like they have with this binders of women comment. >> it's the big bird of this debate. >> sure. the larger answer he offered was actually very good in that he realized women were not applying to work in his administration and he wanted to see more of them. by and large i thought that was fine for him. but no, he doesn't answer questions in some cases very eloquently. >> let me bring in senator kay bailey hutchison . welcome back. >> thank you. >> mitt romney did not answer the question last night what would he do to make sure women are getting fair pay . he took a lot of heat for the binders full of women , but was it clear to you? >> absolutely. i think he should be applauded for saying i'm not looking for people who supported me politically. i'm not making this political. i'm going to make sure we have qualified women in my cabinet. i think he deserves credit for that. i think that's exactly what he will do when he's president. he will make sure there are qualified women at the top levels to have the white. exactly like he has in his campaign. >> do you understand why some women seem to take that as a little condescending or out of date to say -- and maybe a question can be raised about why did he even have to ask for binders full of women . who are the people who are vetting the cabinet for him that they didn't give him a single woman ? >> i think he should be given credit for saying wait a minute, i'm not taking what i'm given. we're going u to show what we have in massachusetts, the diversity. i give him total credit for that. i think he has shown in his campaign staff that haes got top women that he listens to that are key. a woman did the vetting for his vice presidential candidate . he relies on her. i just think this is what was important in that debate is that president obama still says things are bad, but it's going to be more of the same and it's going to get better. and mitt romney is giving a plan. he is saying are you kidding me. we have -- >> can i ask you about that plan? >> we have lower income for middle class people. we have picker premiums in our health care . and we have unemployment high. are you kidding? we're going to do four more years of this? >> it's one thing to criticize the president, and he did do that. the other question is what is he going to do that's different. he also did not give a specific answer to a question from a woman who asked about deductions he would eliminate. here's what john kerry said on " morning joe " today. >> he's trying to fake it to the american people because he doesn't want to tell you about the home mortgage, college credit , doesn't want to tell you about state and local taxes. he fakes it. you have a man running for president on the central issue of our time and he's not being straight with american people . >> he is. he does have specifics. he talks about his specific plans. he is going to open up small business to hire people. he's going to stop the over-regulation. he's going to keep taxes low on everyone that makes $250,000 or less. and he's not going to change the deductions for those people. >> but the nonpartisan group said if he does a 20% cut across the board like he said last night, you essentially give the wealthy a multibillion dollar tax break . because then it's the richer paying less. independent analysis have suggested the numbers don't add up. >> i heard president obama say last night, well, he's talking about increasing spending and then lowering taxes. and mitt romney has not talked about increasing spending. he is talking about getting the deficits down. and he's talking about lowering taxes on the middle class so that the money will go out in job creation . it is job creation that mitt romney is focused on and yet the president keeps saying we're going to do more of the same. we're going to make those rich folks pay more. well, you know what? they're already paying more. and what we have is joblessness at the middle class level. president romney will make sure that we do have jobs created by lowering the regulatory burden by bringing our businesses back home so they can do business in america. he is talking about making the middle class not suffer like they're suffering now. and create jobs the old fashioned way and that is freeing business to do it. >> senator kay bailey hutchison , always wonderful to have you on. thank you. >> thank you. >> another thing we heard repeatedly about last night was china. they talked about it several times. let me play this one little back and forth. >> mr. president, have you looked at your pension? have you looked at your pension? mr. president, have you looked at your pension? >> you know, i don't look at my pension. it's not as big as yours. it doesn't take as long. >> who won that one, do you think, david? >> i think mitt romney would have been better off letting that one go, however one of the president's strengths is his likability. i think with a lot of suburban swing voters who are looking for solutions when you see that solution that romney is attacking that the president comes in with a good one liner, i don't think it helps him either. it was a quick exchange and they moved on. it's going to be long forgotten. >> what surprised me and i'd be interested in what you both think. the one thing i thought they didn't do is i never sensed either of them really made a connection with one of the questioners. i don't know if there was some reason that they both decided strategically. why don't you say to that college student what is it that you want to do and what are your goals in life and why don't you say to the people who say i voted for you in 2008 , why don't you say first of all thank you for your vote. i felt like neither mitt romney for the president engaged in a way -- somebody wrote what woul bill clinton do. they're not bill clinton , but having said that, did that surprise you? >> they both had a lot of points to make from the get go. and in that first answer to the college student , president obama brought up the auto bailout. that was all about ohio . the polls are tightening there. he does not want to lose his lead there. so they got into a back and forth over the auto bailout and how mitt romney would have approached it differently. and president obama won that exchange which is an important thing for the polls in ohio over the next week. >> do you think that's right? my question is do you go for the win on points ? or do you go for. >> reporter: we -- >> well, no. you go for the win on the audience watching around the country. if you're politically talented enough as few presidents have been in the past 20, 30 years. you can both make that really good connection with the town hall participant like you mentioned and then turn it to a broader communication to the country. but if it was that easy, everybody would do it. and i think both of these guys simply wanted to communicate and get their agenda across. and that's why usually these town hall formats, the voters are props. not bad props but props nonetheless. the question was there's always a reason to talk about everything other than the question. >> another debate next week. thanks to both of you. >>> no rest for the candidates.

"My son couldn't have done it," his father, Quazi Ahsanullah, said weeping. - CBS News Posted: 18 Oct 2012 08:55 AM PDT Updated at 11:42 a.m. ET DHAKA, Bangladesh Just a few hours before he was arrested in an FBI sting operation, a Bangladeshi man accused of trying to blow up New York's Federal Reserve building calmly spoke via Skype with his parents back home and updated them on his studies, his family told The Associated Press. They were stunned Thursday morning to find out that the banker's son from a middle-class Dhaka neighborhood was accused of trying carry out a terror attack. They denied he could have been involved. "My son couldn't have done it," his father, Quazi Ahsanullah, said weeping. "My brother may have been a victim of a conspiracy," said Fariel Bilkis. The FBI arrested 21-year-old Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis on Wednesday after he tried to detonate a fake 1,000-pound car bomb, according to a criminal complaint. A U.S. official told CBS News that Nafis considered targeting President Obama before settling on the Federal Reserve building just blocks from the World Trade Center site but those considerations never got beyond the discussion stage. On "CBS This Morning" Thursday, CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reported that Nafis had made statements that he was in contact with a Qaeda network before he arrived in the United States in January. But there was no allegation that Nafis actually received training or direction from the terrorist group. Play Video The Killing of Anwar al-Awlaki In conversations recorded by the FBI, Miller reports Nafis allegedly said he admired the radical U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who inspired the "underwear bomber," Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and the accused Fort Hood shooter, Maj. Nidal Hasan. Even after Awlaki was killed in a drone strike, his magazine, called Inspire, supplied Nafis with the outlines for his plot. Prosecutors said Nafis traveled to the U.S. on a student visa in January to carry out an attack. Hours after his arrest, Bangladeshi detectives were at his family's three-story home in the Jatrabari neighborhood in south Dhaka. "We are just collecting details about Nafis from his family," one officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Nafis' family said he was incapable of such actions and he went to America to study business administration, not to carry out any attack. Nafis was so timid, he couldn't even venture out onto the roof alone, his father said. "He used to take someone to go the roof at night. I can't believe he could be part of it (the plot)." "He is very gentle and devoted to his studies," he said, pointing to Nafis' time studying at the private North South University in Dhaka. However, Belal Ahmed, a spokesman for the university, said Nafis was a terrible student who was put on probation and threatened with expulsion if he didn't bring his grades up. Nafis eventually just stopped coming to school, Ahmed said. Ahsanullah said his son convinced him to send him to America to study, arguing that with a U.S. degree he had a better chance at success in Bangladesh. "I spent all my savings to send him to America," he said. CBS News reports that Nafis was enrolled at Southeast Missouri State University for the spring semester earlier this year and that he was pursuing a degree in cyber security; he is no longer enrolled there. He was pursuing a bachelor's degree in cybersecurity. University spokeswoman Ann Hayes told The Associated Press that Nafis requested a transfer of his records in July and the university complied, though she couldn't say where the records were transferred. Mohammad Arif Akunjee, a childhood friend, said Nafis wanted to be a businessman. Just a few hours before his arrest, Nafis talked to his mother over Skype to update her on his plans, Bilkis said. "My brother told my mother that he was doing well in studies in the U.S. and was transferring to a college in New York," said his sister. Early Thursday, a relative living in Switzerland called to tell the family Nafis had been arrested. "We woke up with this terrible news. We just can't believe it," she said. Ahsanullah called on the government to "get my son back home." Bangladesh does not have the same record of involvement in global terrorism as Pakistan, with which it once formed a nation before winning its independence in 1971. At least one Bangladeshi was among those detained by the U.S. at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

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KL shares rise in early trade Posted: 17 Oct 2012 07:14 PM PDT Share prices on Bursa Malaysia continued its upward momentum from yesterday in early trade, on follow-through buying, dealers said. After 10 minutes of trading, the FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI (FBM KLCI) improved 4.23 points to 1,664.9. HwangDBS Vickers Research said after crossing over the immediate resistance barrier of 1,655, to close at its intra-day high of 1,660.67 on Wednesday, the key FBM KLCI is expected to ride on the momentum today. "Technically speaking, the benchmark index may revisit its all-time high of 1,668.32 as it makes its way towards the next resistance target of 1,670," it said in a research note. Last night, leading U.S. stock indices ended between flat and up 0.4 per cent. On the local front, the Finance Index slipped 12.28 points to 14,845.29, the Plantation Index edged up 0.54 of a point to 8,194.08 and the Industrial Index added 3.93 points to 2,862.78. The FBM Emas Index increased 26 points to 11,305.74, the FBM Mid 70 Index jumped 20.47 points to 12,190.7 but the FBM Ace Index eased 3.94 points to 4,270.73 while the FBMT100 rose 26.51 points to 11,146.72. Gainers led losers 102 to 43, with 2,099 counters unchanged. Volume stood at 164.094 million shares worth RM63.857 million. Actives, SAAG eased half-a-sen to two sen while TH Heavy added four sen to 54 sen and TH Heavy-WA edged up three sen to 34 sen. Heavyweights, Maybank slipped five sen to RM9.23 while CIMB added six sen to RM7.71 but Sime Darby was unchanged at RM9.79. Petronas Chemicals shed one sen to RM6.58. -- BERNAMA

US stocks extend 2 days of solid gains Posted: 17 Oct 2012 04:43 PM PDT NEW YORK: US stocks fought off early selling pressure linked to disappointing quarterly results from IBM and Intel to close broadly higher Wednesday, extending two days of solid gains. Strong data on new home building helped buoy stocks with hopes that the housing sector was beginning to revive. The broad-based S&P 500 closed up 5.99 points (0.41 per cent) at 1,460.91, while the tech-rich Nasdaq added 2.95 (0.10 per cent) at 3,104.12. The narrower Dow Jones Industrial Average of 30 blue chips touched into the black only late in trade, gaining 5.22 points (0.04 per cent) at 13,557.00. News that housing starts leaped 15.0 per cent in September from August to an annual rate of 872,000, the strongest pace since July 2008, helped put a floor under the trade. The Dow was held back by share price drops at Intel, IBM and UnitedHealth Group after their third-quarter financial results. Reporting after trade closed Tuesday, IBM (-4.9 per cent) revenues fell more than expected due to a sharp drop in hardware sales, and the company took a hit on shifts in the foreign exchange market. Intel (-2.5 per cent) said it was cutting back chip output due to slow computer sales and lowered forecasts of tablet sales. UnitedHealth fell 1.6 per cent despite a strong earnings report Tuesday after it announced a US$2.5 billion debt issue to finance its purchase of 90 percent of Brazilian health provider Amil Participacoes. Bank of America was down 0.2 per cent after reporting a sharp fall in profits in the third quarter due to accounting adjustments and legal costs. Earnings per share came in at a fraction of a penny before paying preferred dividends, better than the loss expected by analysts, but down from 56 cents a year earlier. Citigroup pushed 3.2 per cent higher a day after chief executive Vikram Pandit abruptly resigned as reports described a board that was no longer satisfied with his performance. Trade was also busy in real estate investment trust HCP, losing 2.7 pe rcent after reporting a 4.8 per cent drop in revenue, mainly due to a fall in rental income. -- AFP

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Relieved by Debate, Obama Aides See a Slim Edge in Race - New York Times Posted: 17 Oct 2012 09:36 AM PDT By MARK LANDLER Published: October 17, 2012     MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – For all the relief among President Obama's aides with his energetic performance on Tuesday night, there was less exuberance. After his listless performance in the first debate, Mr. Obama's aides believe the second debate essentially reset the race to where they long expected it to be: the president holding a narrow lead in enough battleground states that they hope will let him eke out victory over Mitt Romney. David Plouffe, one of Mr. Obama's chief strategists, told reporters after the debate that, "our position has not really changed." The president, he said, was drawing roughly the same share of the vote in battlegrounds like Ohio, Nevada, and Iowa that he had before the first debate, which Mr. Romney was perceived to have dominated. Before the debate, Mr. Romney had closed the polling gap in several of these states, Mr. Plouffe said, but he insisted that these were Republican-leaning independent voters that the Republican candidate would have corralled anyway. "That is almost all gains that we knew he was going to get," Mr. Plouffe said. "I think it is fair to say that it was accelerated by the debate performance." Polls in September that showed Mr. Obama with a lead of eight or more percentage points in Ohio and elsewhere were a "fantasy," he said. The president's margin of victory in battleground states was going to be "1, 2, 3, 4 points at most." "In those states, if the election were held today, I'm as confident as anything I've been in my life, that we would win the election," Mr. Plouffe said. "I assume tonight's debate performance will strengthen that a little bit. I think it will provide some more excitement for Democrats and our supporters as Romney got additional enthusiasm off his debate." "But the structure of the race is pretty established," he added.  Mr. Romney's supporters directed some of their ire toward the debate's moderator, Candy Crowley, whom they said often cut their candidate off while giving Mr. Obama more time, suggesting she showed a clear bias toward the president. They also say she incorrectly fact-checked Mr. Romney's comments about Libya, handing Mr. Obama a crucial talking point during the debate. There is no question that the debate buoyed the president's team. Before the debate, aides were nervous that another strong performance by Mr. Romney could propel him into a clear lead for the first time in the campaign. Afterward, Mr. Plouffe opted to peel off from Mr. Obama's retinue and travel to Iowa on the post-midnight press charter flight so he could talk further to reporters about its impact. For all that, Mr. Plouffe insisted the ultimate outcome would be determined by a "cocktail of factors," from ads to knocks on doors by campaign volunteers to interviews given by the candidates to local media outlets.  A new report Wednesday morning showed a continuing rebound in the housing market, which helps the president's argument that the economy is slowly but surely recovering from the financial crisis. Historically, an economy that is growing in the year before an election, even an economy that remains weak, has benefitted an incumbent president. One thing the debate may have done, Mr. Plouffe said, was to plant troublesome questions that could dog Mr. Romney over the last 20 days of campaigning. Chief among those was his assertion that he favored giving every woman the right to contraceptive services – a position at odds with his support of the Blunt Amendment, which allows employers to opt out of providing insurance for health-care services like contraception on moral grounds. "He basically told tens of millions of Americans that he didn't support legislation that would allow employers to make contraceptive decisions for female employers," Mr. Plouffe said. "So now this issue is going to get more attention, I'm sure, because of the fact that he wasn't honest about his position." The heated exchange on Libya could also reverberate, he said. Mr. Romney made a rare slip-up by insisting that it had taken Mr. Obama 14 days to acknowledge the attack on the American mission in Benghazi was an "act of terror." In fact, the president used the phrase "act of terror" the day after the incident in an address in the Rose Garden, though his reference was somewhat generic and other White House officials characterized the attack as a spontaneous protest gone awry, before shifting their narrative to a terrorist attack. On Tuesday, Mr. Obama took responsibility for the security lapses that allowed the mission to be overrun, pledged a full investigation, and promised to hunt down those responsible for the attack, which killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. "My sense is voters will have a strong reaction to the president; his strength and clarity and his accountability and responsibility in that answer, versus Gov. Romney's who I think was starkly political," Mr. Plouffe said.

Armstrong Stepping Down as Livestrong Chairman - ABC News Posted: 17 Oct 2012 09:24 AM PDT Lance Armstrong stepped down as chairman of his Livestrong cancer-fighting charity and Nike severed ties with him as fallout from the doping scandal swirling around the famed cyclist escalated Wednesday. Armstrong announced his move at the charity in an early-morning statement. Within minutes, Nike said that it would end its relationship with him "due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade." Nike said it will continue to support Livestrong. The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released a massive report last week detailing allegations of widespread doping by Armstrong and his teams when he won the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005. The document's purpose was to show why USADA has banned him from cycling for life and ordered 14 years of his career results erased — including those Tour titles. It contains sworn statements from 26 witnesses, including 11 former teammates. Armstrong, who was not paid a salary as chairman of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, will remain on its 15-member board. His duties leading the board will be turned over to vice chairman Jeff Garvey, who was founding chairman in 1997. AP FILE - In this Aug. 22, 2010, file photo, cyclist Lance Armstrong greets fellow riders prior to the start of his Livestrong Challenge 10K ride for cancer in Blue Bell, Pa. Armstrong said Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012, he is stepping down as chairman of his Livestrong cancer-fighting charity so the group can focus on its mission instead of its founder's problems. The move came a week after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released a massive report detailing allegations of widespread doping by Armstrong and his teams when he won the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 to 2005. (AP Photo/Bradley C Bower, File) Close "This organization, its mission and its supporters are incredibly dear to my heart," Armstrong said in a statement. "Today therefore, to spare the foundation any negative effects as a result of controversy surrounding my cycling career, I will conclude my chairmanship." Foundation spokeswoman Katherine McLane said the decision turns over the foundation's big-picture strategic planning to Garvey. He will also assume some of the public appearances and meetings that Armstrong used to handle. Kelley O'Keefe, professor of brand strategy at Virginia Commonwealth University, said the charity already may be permanently damaged and that Armstrong may never be able to fully resume his public role. "From the brand perspective, Armstrong is done," O'Keefe said. O'Keefe compared Armstrong to Tiger Woods and Michael Vick, who also were embroiled in controversy but were able to return to the playing fields to help redeem their image. "Armstrong doesn't have that. He's just a retired athlete with a tarnished image," O'Keefe said. Armstrong strongly denies doping, but did not fight USADA accusations through arbitration, saying he thinks the process is unfair. Once Armstrong gave up the fight in August and the report came out, crisis management experts predicted the future of the foundation, known mainly by its Livestrong brand name, would be threatened. They said Armstrong should consider stepping down. Armstrong's inspiring story of not only recovering from testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain but then winning the world's best-known bike race helped his foundation grow from a small operation in Texas into one of the most popular charities in the country. Armstrong drew legions of fans — and donations — and insisted he was drug free at a time when doping was rampant in professional cycling. In 2004, the foundation introduced the yellow "Livestrong" bracelets, selling more than 80 million and creating a global symbol for cancer awareness and survivorship.

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