NEW YORK: US stocks fell on Thursday, with uninspired trade putting a halt to the S&P 500's streak of seven straight gains.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 25.96 points (0.17 percent) at 15,300.64.
The broad-market S&P 500 slipped 5.71 points (0.34 percent) to 1,683.42, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite fell 9.04 points (0.24 percent) to 3,715.97.
Dell shares were flat at US$13.85 after shareholders voted in favour of founder Michael Dell's US$25 billion plan to take the company private, after seven months battling investors like Carl Icahn demanding a better deal.
Under the terms of the deal, Dell shareholders will receive US$13.75 per share in cash plus a special dividend of 13 cents per share.
Shares in Walt Disney Co. jumped 2.4 percent after chief financial officer Jay Rasulo said that the entertainment giant plans a huge share buyback in 2014 that could amount to as much as US$8 billion.
"We've been buying at the pace of US$4 billion for the last couple of years. And we really see the opportunity, given where our share price is, given where capital markets are, to target at least US$6 and possibly up to US$8 billion in buybacks" next year, he told analysts at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference
Women's sport apparel chain Lululemon Athletica dropped 5.4 percent after being the latest in fashion houses to deliver a report of sinking earnings and give a warning over earnings for the rest of the year.
Likewise, Men's Wearhouse sank 12.1 percent on its poor fiscal second quarter, with earnings falling 28 percent, and a reduced full-year forecast.
Pandora Media, the popular online music streamer, jumped 12.1 percent after naming a former Microsoft executive, Brian McAndrews, as its new chief executive and president, as well as board chairman.
Apple shares bounced back slightly, gaining 1.1 percent after Wednesday's 5.4 percent beating on disappointment with its launch of two iPhone models, especially the prospects for a cheaper model's sales in China.
Among Dow components, Verizon gained 1.8 percent and rival AT&T 1.2 percent, while JPMorgan Chase fell 1.9 percent and Hewlett-Packard, to be dropped from the index later this month, sank 1.4 percent. -- AFP
Trevor Hughes, Robert Garrison and Gary Strauss , USA TODAY 12:26 p.m. EDT September 12, 2013
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BOULDER, Colo. — A Rocky Mountain storm system that dumped up to 10 inches of rain over central Colorado has killed at least three people. Several cities and towns along Colorado's Front Range were bracing for more rain and flooding.
KUSA-TV reports one person was killed in the collapse of a home in Nederland, a mountain community about 20 miles north of Boulder, while Colorado Springs police said they found a second victim while patrolling west of the city. A third victim was recovered from a north Boulder home Thursday morning, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said.
Rain began early in the morning on Wednesday and continued throughout the day, becoming especially heavy in the evening, AccuWeather meteorologist Courtney Spamer says. Rain fell at nearly two inches pwer hour Wednesday evening and early Thursday, according to the Weather Channel. Boulder has picked up more than six inches of rain so far.
The University of Colorado Boulder campus was closed Thursday after a torrent of water from Boulder Creek flooding buildings. Officials also closed Boulder Valley and St. Vrain district schools. Residents of Fourmile Canyon near Boulder and Coal Creek Canyon, northwest of Denver, were under mandatory evacuation orders.
"I think we have a continually dangerous situation,'' said Pelle, who urged Boulder residents to stay home. "It's not a good day to travel. It's not a good day to risk your loved one's lives. It's a good day to hunker down."
Drivers of three vehicles had to be rescued from a ditch after a road near Highway 287 near Broomfield collapsed.
A firefighter was reported to be stuck in a tree in Lefthand Canyon in Boulder County after a "wall of water" 15 to 20 feet high roared through the canyon, according to the Boulder County sheriff's office. Officers on scene requested a dive team to help with the rescue.
Police scanners buzzed with emergencies as rescuers aided motorists caught in high waters. One officer told dispatchers about "banging inside the cars" as passengers sought help getting out.
Another reported a car submerged upside down, with at least one person missing.
Footage from KCNC-TV showed the dramatic rescue of a man from a car that was sitting upside down in a flooded creek in Lafayette. The man was pulled to safety as the creek slowly swamped his vehicle. Lafayette Battalion Chief Dan Garrett told CNN that his crews pulled others to safety.
Near the town of Lyons, about 15 miles north of Boulder, rescuers repeatedly found themselves turned back by flooding St. Vrain Creek, where a dam failed near Pinewood springs early Thursday morning.
Tom Abbot, a nearby resident, said after rains began flooding the area and sent rocks and trees tumbling, he slept in his battered pickup truck Wednesday night.
Residents Jeremy and Molly Poore said they were woken by calls from anxious family members watching TV coverage of the flooding. Their rented home wasn't in danger, they said, but they worried about the home they had just considering buying in nearby Lyons. Authorities closed off access to that area early Thursday morning after reports of massive flooding.
The house, Jeremy Poole said, boasted riverfront views. "I bet it's not even there anymore," he said.
Nick Christensen with the Larimer County Sheriff's Office was following a deputy along state Highway 66 into Lyons when both full-sized SUVs started being pushed around by water running down the road.
Colorado Department of Transportation workers said they saw water flowing over the road's 27-inch-high guardrails. Deputies and road crews were trying to access the area to check for stranded residents and damage.
"There were homes and businesses that were receiving significant impact," said Christensen. "It was flowing in waves down the road. There's definitely a lot of water."
Boulder Office of Emergency Management spokeswoman Gabrielle Boerkircher said volunteers all across the area were trying to help stranded people until emergency crews can arrive because many roads are impassable.
The Larimer County office of emergency information said an earthen dam in the Big Elk Meadows area southeast of Estes Park gave way and residents of Pinewood Springs and Blue Mountain were ordered to be ready to evacuate.
Residents of the Big Elk Meadows area were told by a recorded message they "should be seeking higher ground immediately."
The National Weather Service, citing Boulder officials, said multiple homes in the area have collapsed and urged people to move to higher ground.
The NWS issued a flash flood warning for Northern Jefferson and Boulder counties, saying that in many locations this is an "extremely dangerous and life threatening situation."
The Weather Service said early Thursday that more than four inches of rain had fallen in some areas since noon Wednesday.
"We've asked people in low-lying areas all through the county to evacuate," said Andrew Barth, another Emergency Management spokesman.
Hughes reports for The Coloradoan in Fort Collins; Garrison for KUSA in Denver. Contributing: Doug Stanglin, John Bacon, Doyle Rice and Kim Hjelmgarrd, USA TODAY.
NEW YORK: US stocks closed mixed on Wednesday, with the Dow surging sharply higher and Apple dragging down the Nasdaq after its iPhone launch missed expectations.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 135.54 points (0.89 percent) to 15,326.60. The broad-market S&P 500 index advanced 5.14 points (0.31 percent) to 1,689.13, while the tech-rich Nasdaq dipped 4.01 points (0.11 percent) to 3,725.01.
After two days of gains, the stock indexes diverged as Apple took a beating a day after unveiling two new iPhones and dashing expectations that a media event in Beijing would reveal a deal with China Mobile, the country's biggest carrier.
The technology giant's shares sank 5.4 percent to US$467.71.
"The company failed to impress the analyst community with its latest iPhone introductions and the lack of an announcement of a China Mobile deal," said Patrick O'Hare of Briefing.com.
Apple also suffered downgrades, including from Bank of America and UBS.
Wall Street had little reaction to President Barack Obama's televised address to the nation late Tuesday, when he opened the door to a diplomatic solution to a military strike on Syria, O'Hare said.
"The speech wasn't surprising and the relief that a diplomatic solution looks possible has been priced in."
The economic calendar was light. Mortgage applications fell 13.5 percent last week from the prior week, and refinancing applications dropped 20 percent to its lowest level since June 2009, amid rising interest rates, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association report.
Verizon Communications edged up 0.1 percent as it launched a $49 billion bond sale, by far the largest corporate bond sale in history.
Verizon is issuing new debt to help fund its US$130 billion buyout of Vodafone's 45 percent stake in their joint venture Verizon Wireless.
Other tech stocks scored strong gains. On the Dow, IBM jumped 2.2 percent and Microsoft rose 1.1 percent.
Texas Instruments fell 0.7 percent after lowering its earnings and profit forecast for the third quarter.
General Motors slid 1.8 percent. The Canadian government and Ontario province announced they had sold about a fifth of their share in General Motors, four years after joining a US bailout of the auto giant. -- AFP
A U.N. chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighbourhood of Damascus August 29, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Mohamed Abdullah
By Anthony Deutsch
AMSTERDAM | Wed Sep 11, 2013 11:19am EDT
(Reuters) - If Saddam Hussein's Iraq is anything to go by, destroying Syria's massive chemical weapons arsenal will mean checking dozens of far-flung sites in a war zone while the government employs delaying tactics to hide the banned munitions, an expert involved in past U.N. disarmament missions said.
Bashar al-Assad's chemical weapons network comprises remote underground bunkers where hundreds of tons of nerve agents are stored, scud missiles and artillery shells, possibly armed with cyanide, and factories deep inside hostile territory used to produce mustard or VX gas, experts believe.
"It's big. He has one of the biggest chemical weapons programs in the region and even in the world," said Dieter Rothbacher, a former U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq who trained members of the team that just returned from Syria.
"There are calculations that to secure them up to 75,000 ground troops are needed," he said in a Reuters interview. "It took us three years to destroy that stuff under U.N. supervision in Iraq."
First there needs to be an iron-clad agreement, either by Syria joining the Chemical Weapons Convention, but more likely in the form of a U.N. Security Council agreement, in which Damascus relinquishes control of the weapons.
It could be similar to Iraq, where a U.N. Security Council resolution forcing Iraq to declare and destroy its chemical weapons. Certain militaries are already preparing for that scenario, Rothbacher said.
Russia proposed on Monday that Damascus could avoid U.S. military action to punish it for allegedly using chemical weapons in an attack in Damascus last month by agreeing to put its stockpiles under international control.
The Syrian chemical weapons program, set up in the 1970s, reportedly with assistance from Iran and Russia and supplies of raw chemicals from Western companies, was designed to counter Israel.
Its stockpile is believed by Western intelligence to be spread over dozens of sites and includes research and development centers and multiple production sites, some of them underground.
Along with Egypt and Israel, Syria is one of just seven countries that is not a member of the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, overseen by the Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
Even if Syria follows through with the Russian plan drafted this week to let inspectors in, history also shows there is no guarantee of smooth sailing.
CAT-AND-MOUSE TACTICS
Syria's civil war, now in its third year, has already cost 100,000 lives, excluding as many as 1,400 believed to have been killed in the gas attack in Damascus on August 21, and security will be a major concern.
"Cruise missiles were coming in when we were stationed in Baghdad and we were flying out every day for the destruction," said Rothbacher, who now co-owns a weapons training consultancy, Hotzone Solutions.
Inspectors would begin by mapping out suspected locations and visiting them, then assemble chemicals and munitions at a purpose-built destruction facility.
"The Iraqis had moved all their munitions. They moved the bulk (chemicals). They spread it out, which made our work much more difficult," Rothbacher said, describing how Saddam's forces tried to undermine their efforts.
U.S. officials believe Syria has been moving its chemical stocks, which will make it harder to account for them.
Assad spent decades building an arsenal to deter the militarily superior Israel, which reportedly has both conventional and non-conventional weapons.
Elements of the Syrian military and intelligence apparatus consider destroying the chemical weapons a huge sacrifice that will compromise Syria's regional strategic position and possibly weaken them domestically.
Some experts believe the chemical weapons destruction cannot go ahead during war and warned that Assad may apply the delaying tactics used by Saddam to throw off inspectors.
"He knows that the inspectors must have the cooperation of the inspected state and he certainly saw in chapter and verse how Saddam Hussein's Iraq repeatedly did everything to hinder the inspectors," said Amy Smithson, an expert in chemical warfare at the Monterey Institute of International Studies.
Another priority will be ensuring the weapons don't fall into the hands of militant groups seeking to further destabilize the region.
"It's a tricky business to keep iron-clad control of multiple chemical sites that are located in urban settings that are themselves engulfed in an urban war," Smithson said.
A nation that just stepped back from the brink of conflict with Syria paused Wednesday to honor and reflect on the nearly 3,000 victims of 9/11, the day terrorist attacks spurred two other long-running conflicts in the Middle East.
In New York, hundreds of friends and families of the victims stood silently — many holding photos of their loved ones — as bagpipes played. Relatives recited the names of those killed when two hijacked commercial airliners slammed into the World Trade Center's Twin Towers. Another plane that day crashed into the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., and a fourth plunged into the ground near Shanksville, Pa.
President Obama marked the anniversary with a moment of silence on the South Lawn of the White House, along with first lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Biden and wife Jill Biden. They walked out of the White House at 8:46 a.m. ET, the moment the first plane hit the World Trade Center tower. Bowing their heads in a moment of silence, they were followed by a bugler playing taps.
Obama attended a Pentagon ceremony later Wednesday morning, quoting the Bible, noting the resilience of victims' families and saluting those who served in the military and launched public service projects on behalf of 9/11 victims. A huge American flag draped the building near the spot where a hijacked jet struck at 9:37 a.m., killing 184 people.
A stronger police and security presence was apparent in New York and Washington, as it had been on past 9/11's.
In a speech to the nation Tuesday night, Obama made a case for military strikes at the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, invoking the image of hundreds gassed by chemical weapons. But the president said action would be delayed while a diplomatic resolution was being pursued.
In New York, one of those reading the names of victims put out a plea to the president to avoid conflict with Syria. "Pease don't bring us to another war," said the woman, who was honoring her late uncle, Jose Manuel Cardona.
Other relatives focused on the solemness of the day.
Denise Matuza, 46, from Staten Island, lost her husband, Walter, on 9/11. She plans to return to the memorial ceremony each Sept. 11. "We'll still keep coming back," she said, as her 21-year-old son, also named Walter, and two other sons stood nearby.
In Shanksville, dozens of relatives of those who perished aboard United Flight 93 gathered at the crash site.
"This allows us to reconnect with each other and share the day together and the sorrow," said Gordon Felt, who lost his brother Ed. "We reignite the memories of that day, so that we don't forget what happened."
Alice Hoagland, whose son, Mark Bingham was on United Flight 93, agreed that the anniversary serves a purpose. "I dread the day but I also welcome it, because we reconnect and because it's easier to be sad with other people who are, too," she said.
Hoagland was one of thousands around the nation who volunteered to work on projects as part of a 9/11 National Day of Service, a campaign launched in 2002 by victims' relatives and supporters.
"It helped turn around 9/11 for me," by making the anniversary a more positive occasion, said Hoagland, who planned to help fix up a fire training facility.
The Shanksville observance was low key compared to recent years. The event was attended by Michelle Obama in 2010, by the president on the 10th anniversary in 2011 and by Vice President Biden last year.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell started to cry toward the end of her remarks as she recalled a service at the national memorial the previous evening at which jet entrails appeared in the sky overhead.
"It was very powerful." Jewell said, choking up. She struggled to complete her speech and received a standing ovation when she did.
There were several milestones for the families to applaud: Ground was broken Tuesday for the memorial visitors center, and a National Park Service charity announced that $40 million had been raised to finish the building the memorial.
For many here, it was a day when sorrow was mitigated by pride -- in the memorial that's taken shape.
"In some ways this feels like the first year we came here," said Larry Catuzzi, whose daughter, Lauren, was on the flight. "But I'm so proud of what we've done to create this memorial."
Actor Gary Sinise, a long-time supporter of the military and disabled veterans, was scheduled to play an afternoon concert and barbecue with his Lt. Dan Band at Fort Belvoir, Va., on behalf of the military and their families.
"I wanted to do something special on Sept. 11,'' Sinise told USA TODAY. "Every year at this time, I feel a powerful urgency to make sure we pay tribute and respect to the military and first responders."
At New York's memorial, a small crowd gathered by 8 a.m. Some people invited to the memorial — which contained a much smaller group of attendees than this time during last year's anniversary — hugged and kissed each other. Others held photos of their loved one who had perished.
One woman wore a shirt that was emblazoned with the image of a woman's face. "We love & miss you" it said.
Like she has done in years' past, Kent Place School teacher Reba Petraitis will have a special lesson about remembrance and memorials on Wednesday. Since the majority of her 12th-graders at the Summit, N.J., school don't have clear memories of 9/11, Petraitis tells them to think about another loss that affected them, such as the death of a grandparent, and then talk about the need to memorialize others.
"It's really a highly emotional lesson," Petraitis said.
For most of those students, "Sept. 11 is history – they don't remember it," she said. "I also ask them to go home and ask their parents what are their memories of the day to foster family discussions."
Throughout the school year, Petraitis and her students also discuss domestic and international terrorism, school shootings, what makes someone decide to become a terrorist and what students can do "to make this world a better place to live."
The class is a senior elective on contemporary history, she said, but it has a large focus on terrorism and 9/11.
She noted that as time goes on, the attacks will become "more history than a living event."
But "as long as there are museums and memorials, then there are reminders" of Sept. 11, 2001," she said. "And that's the reason for the memorials."
NEW: U.S. will wait for Russian plan, "but we're not waiting for long," Kerry says
Administration working with France, others to test seriousness of Russian plan, official says
Russian proposal would transfer Syrian chemical weapons to international control
It stemmed from off-the-cuff remarks by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry
(CNN) -- It's a stunning turn of events that could change everything on Syria -- if it pans out.
Facing the threat of a U.S. military strike, the country's leaders Tuesday reportedly accepted a Russian proposal to turn over its chemical weapons.
The development, reported by Syrian state television and Russia's Interfax news agency, came a day after the idea bubbled up in the wake of what appeared to be a gaffe by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
And while U.S. officials say they remain skeptical,it quickly changed the debate in Washington from solely "Should the U.S. attack?" to "Is there a diplomatic way out of this mess?"
Syrian Foreign Minister Foreign Minister Walid Moallem said Tuesday his country had agreed to the Russian proposal after what Interfax quoted him as calling "a very fruitful round of talks" with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday.
Details of such a transfer have yet to be worked out, such as where the arms would go, who would safeguard them and how the world could be sure Syria had handed over its entire stockpile of chemical weapons.
The United States, France, Great Britain and other nations suspect the Syrian government of using chemical weapons repeatedly in its two-year-old civil war -- including an August 21 incident that U.S. officials say killed more than 1,400 people. Syrian officials have blamed rebel forces.
Growing support
Despite the lack of details, the Russian idea was gaining traction. On Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed support for the concept. Tuesday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said it would safeguard stability in the region. Syrian ally Iran welcomed the proposal, and Germany expressed interest.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said France would go to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday with a proposal for Syria to hand over its chemical weapons, but said France -- whose president has already expressed a willingness to punish Syria over its alleged use of the arms -- will not accept delays in the transfer.
"We need quick results," Fabius said.
European Union Foreign Affairs Secretary Catherine Ashton said she supported the French plan to bring the issue to the Security Council, saying the proposal "now needs to be fully worked up as quickly as possible."
Even Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, a proponent of a military strike on Syria, said the idea was worth exploring.
"I'm very, very skeptical," he told CNN's "New Day." "But the fact is, you can't pass up this opportunity -- if it is one."
He said he is working with other senators to write an amendment to the administration's proposed use-of-force resolution that would allow for such a transfer and set out "guidelines, (a) reporting process and benchmarks that have to be met."
Lavrov said Tuesday that Russia's working on a "workable, clear, specific plan" and said it would be presented soon.
Speaking to the House Armed Services Committee Tuesday, Kerry said the United States would look forward to the plan, but will demand that it be brought forward and implemented quickly.
"We're waiting for that proposal, but we're not waiting for long," he said.
A senior administration official involved in Syria policy told CNN that U.S. officials are talking with France and others about how the proposal could be quickly advanced, and to find ways to determine whether Russia and Syria are serious about the idea.
"There are a lot of good questions and there is understandable skepticism," the official told CNN's John King. "But today is better than yesterday. We would rather have a situation where it is possible there is a diplomatic solution in the offing than one with no choice but to pursue military action."
Inauspicious beginning
The idea first surfaced Monday, when Kerry -- responding to a reporter asking what Syria could do to stop a U.S. attack -- suggested that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad "could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week."
"He isn't about to do it, and it can't be done, obviously," Kerry added.
His spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, sought to roll back the comments, saying the secretary was simply responding to a "hypothetical."
But Lavrov quickly seized on the comment, suggesting publicly that it would be a way to avoid a U.S. strike on Syria.
Administration officials at first batted down the proposal.
A U.S. official who declined to be identified by name said Monday afternoon that no one in the administration was taking the proposal seriously.
But before long, deputy State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf was saying the United States would take a "hard look" at the idea. White House spokesman Jay Carney said administration officials were "highly skeptical," but had to take a look.
Obama's take
By Monday night, in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Obama was calling the idea a "potentially positive development."
"We're going to run this to ground," Obama said. He said the United States will work "to see if we can arrive at something that is enforceable and serious."
But, he said, the idea could simply be a stalling tactic, and Obama said he will continue to press his case for military action. He is scheduled to address the nation Tuesday night.
"If we can accomplish this limited goal without taking military action, that would be my preference," Obama said Monday. "On the other hand, if we don't maintain and move forward without a credible threat of military pressure, I don't think we'll actually get the kind of agreement I'd like to see."
The opposition Free Syrian Army urged the world not to buy into the idea of transferring control of the chemical weapons, which it called a trick.
"Here we go again with the regime trying to buy more time in order to keep on the daily slaughter against our innocent civilians and to fool the world," said Louay al-Mokdad, a spokesman for the group.
CNN's Stephanie Halasz, C.Y. Xu, Yousuf Basil, Ed Payne, Ashley Killough, Tom Cohen, Dana Bash, Steve Brusk, Dan Merica, Paul Steinhauser, Zachary Wolf, Samira Said and Karla Crosswhite contributed to this report.
A newlywed wife was charged on Monday with second-degree murder for allegedly pushing her husband off a cliff in Glacier National Park during an argument just a week after they married.
Jordan Linn Graham, 22, could face life in prison if convicted in the death of 25-year-old Cody Lee Johnson.
Graham made an initial court appearance on Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah C. Lynch. She is currently in custody. It was not immediately clear if she had a lawyer.
Charging documents suggest Graham was having second thoughts about getting married around the time her husband's body was discovered.
Graham has told an FBI agent that she and her husband had been arguing on July 7 as they walked in the Loop Trail area of the park.
At one point, she turned to walk away, but Johnson grabbed her arm, she said. She turned around, removed his hand from her arm and "due to her anger, she pushed Johnson with both hands in the back, and as a result, he fell face first off the cliff," an affidavit states.
Johnson was reported missing on July 8 when he failed to show up for work. Graham later reported that she had spotted his body.
Graham initially told investigators that Johnson left their house late on July 7 with unidentified friends in a dark-colored car with Washington state license plates.
That night she texted a friend and said she was about to talk to Johnson about her reservations about having gotten married the previous weekend.
The friend, identified only by the initials K.M., told the FBI about receiving the text from Graham just before 9 p.m. in which Graham said, "Oh well, I'm going to talk to him."
The friend responded, "I'll pray for you guys."
Graham replied, "But dead serious if u [sic] don't hear from me at alll again tonight, something happened."
Another friend said Graham reported receiving an email on July 10 saying Johnson had left with three friends, went hiking, had fallen and was dead.
The next day, Graham reported to park officials that she had spotted Johnson's body. A ranger thought that was unusual, but Graham explained, "'It was a place he wanted to see before he died," authorities said.
Graham was interviewed on July 16 and acknowledged lying about her husband's death, authorities said.
"She kept continuing to lie, she kept changing her story," Johnson family friend Tracy Maness told the Missoulian newspaper. "She showed no grief and she would not speak to Cody's mother."
Maness added that Johnson was excited about his wedding and in love with Graham.
"He was very in love with Jordan," she said. "And he was really excited about starting the next chapter of his life."
Johnson's family and friends had long suspected that his death was the result of foul play. As Maness told the paper, "Nobody is shocked at all ... She'd been telling people she knew she never wanted to be married, she just wanted to have a wedding, and that's apparently what they were arguing about."
[unable to retrieve full-text content]The ringgit gained sharply against the US dollar in early trade on continued weakening of the US dollar as recent disappointing US employment data raised doubts on the extent the US is ready to reduce its bond-buying programme, dealers said. The ringgit rose sharply against the US dollar to 3.2755/2785 from 3.2930/2960 yesterday. The ringgit also strengthened against major currencies. It was higher against the Singapore dollar at 2.5789/5833 from 2.5886/5930 yesterday and gained against the yen to 3.2867/2900 from 3.3115/3152. The local currency rose against the British pound to 5.1402/1456 from 5.1614/1671 yesterday and gained against the euro to 4.3410/3457 from 4.3441/3487.-- Bernama
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Short-term interbank rates are expected to remain stable today as Bank Negara intervenes to absorb excess liquidity from the financial system through various instruments. The central bank estimated today's liquidity at RM25.987 billion in the conventional system and RM3.688 billion in Islamic funds. The bank will call for four conventional tenders comprising two RM2 billion tenders of seven days and 28 days and two RM1 billion tenders of 14 days and 21 days. It will also conduct a RM450 million Al-Wadiah tender of RM450 million for 14 days. The central bank will call for two Commodity Murabahah Programme (CMP) tenders of RM200 million for seven days and RM150 million for 34 days. At 4pm, the central bank will conduct a conventional overnight tender of up to RM20 billion and a RM3.5 billion Al-Wadiah overnight tender.-- Bernama
(CBS News) In an exclusive interview with CBS News' Charlie Rose, President Bashar Assad said he is "disappointed" in the Obama administration for pursuing a strike against Syria, claiming faulty intelligence and a foreign policy comparable with the policy of former President George W. Bush. He also said any U.S. involvement in Syria's two-year-old civil war would only embolden America's enemies.
At first offering a more tempered argument against a U.S. strike, Assad explained it would not serve U.S. security interests.
"The first question that they should ask [themselves], what do wars give America?...Nothing. No political gain, no economic gain, no good reputation. United States' credibility is at...[an] all-time low. So this war is against the interests of the United States," Assad said. "Why?"
The Syrian president again called on the U.S. and Congress to present hard evidence proving a chemical attack was launched within Syria and warned that a strike against Syria would only foster the growth of al Qaeda within his borders.
"First of all, because this is the war that is going to support Al Qaeda and the same people that kill Americans in the 11 of September. The second thing that we all want to tell to the Congress, that they should ask and that what we expect, we expect them to ask this administration about the evidence that they have regarding the chemical story and the allegations that they presented," Assad said.
President Assad said he and the Syrian people are "disappointed" by President Obama's behavior, and compared his foreign policy to that of former President George W. Bush.
"We expected this administration [to be] different from Bush's administration," he said. However, "they are operating the same doctrine with different accessories. That's it. We expect if...[this administration] to be strong to say that 'We don't have evidence, that we have to obey...the international law, that we have to go back to the security council at the United Nations.'"
If he found himself face-to-face with President Obama, Assad told Rose, he would simply tell him:" "Present what you have as evidence to the public. Be transparent."
"He didn't present because he doesn't have have [it]," Assad said. "Kerry doesn't have it."
Responding to Charlie Rose's claims that evidence has been presented to Congress, including satellite footage and intercepted messages, Assad repeated several times, "nothing has been presented," eventually adding that even if the U.S. did present seemingly credible evidence, he would doubt its veracity.
"We have the precedent of Colin Powell ten years ago when he showed the evidence, it was false and it was forged," Assad said. "You want me to believe American evidence and don't believe the indication that we have? We live here."
Van Gogh Museum director Axel Ruger, and senior researcher Louis van Tilborgh, right, unveil the newly discovered painting by Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh during a press conference at the museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Monday September 9, 2013.
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Under the cover, a new van Gogh painting
Under the cover, a new van Gogh painting
Under the cover, a new van Gogh painting
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STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The painting has been identified as a van Gogh after "extensive research," a museum says
"A discovery of this magnitude has never before occurred," the Van Gogh Museum says
The picture is from 1888, during a period considered by many to be the high point of his career
It depicts a landscape in the south of France, where van Gogh was working at the time
(CNN) -- More than 120 years after Vincent van Gogh's death, a new painting by the Dutch master has come to light.
The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which holds the largest collection of the artist's work, announced Monday the discovery of the newly identified painting, a landscape titled "Sunset at Montmajour."
"A discovery of this magnitude has never before occurred in the history of the Van Gogh Museum," the museum's director, Axel Ruger, said in a statement.
Van Gogh is believed to have completed the relatively large painting in 1888, two years before his death and during "a period that is considered by many to be the culmination of his artistic achievement," Ruger said.
The picture depicts a landscape in the vicinity of Arles in the south of France, where van Gogh was working at that time, the museum said.
Ruger said the museum attributed the painting to van Gogh after "extensive research into style, technique, paint, canvas, the depiction, van Gogh's letters and the provenance."
Starting September 24, it will appear in "Van Gogh At Work," an exhibition currently on show at the museum in Amsterdam.
From the 'Sunflowers' period
Van Gogh (1853-1890) crafted some of the world's best known and most loved paintings, including "Sunflowers," "Irises" and "Starry Night," and a number of self-portraits.
He painted "Sunset at Montmajour" during the same period in which he produced "Sunflowers," Ruger said.
Van Gogh achieved little recognition as an artist during his lifetime, but his reputation blossomed in the years after his suicide at the age of 37, following years of mental illness.
His works now hang in leading museums and galleries around the world.
During the art market boom of the late 1980s and early 1990s, three of van Gogh's works succeeded each other as the most expensive paintings ever sold: "Sunflowers" for $39.9 million, "Irises" for $53.9 million and "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" for $82.5 million.
In its statement, the Van Gogh Museum didn't divulge the full story behind the discovery of "Sunset at Montmajour," saying it would be published in the October edition of The Burlington Magazine, a fine art publication, and at the museum.
Louis van Tilborgh and Teio Meedendorp, two senior researchers at the museum, said the painting had belonged to the collection of van Gogh's younger brother, Theo, in 1890 and was sold in 1901.
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Van Gogh Museum director Axel Ruger, and senior researcher Louis van Tilborgh, right, unveil the newly discovered painting by Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh during a press conference at the museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Monday September 9, 2013. 