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Joe Biden spent Monday morning in Watertown, N.Y., trying to seal the deal in the heated special House election. The vice president visited the rural military town to support Bill Owens, the Democratic candidate for Congress, in the conservative district that has been represented by Republicans since the 19th century. Owens faces a very tight race against Conservative Party candidate Douglas Hoffman. “This has never been a place that embraced extremism on the left or the right,” Biden said at a community center. “This is a place where very different views are included in the debate. They’re not cast aside. That’s one of the reasons why what’s happened in this campaign is, in a sense, so strange and so important.” The crowd booed when Biden listed Sarah Palin as one of Hoffman’s endorsers. The race narrowed down to two candidates Saturday, when Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava withdrew under pressure from conservative grassroots activists. Scozzafava then crossed party lines and endorsed Owens.
Now that the Afghan presidential elections have been settled, the Obama administration must face what a Karzai victory means for its troop decision. General Stanley McChrystal's request for 44,000 more troops to Afghanistan in a strategy of broad counterterrorism is being met with caution by administration officials who doubt Karzai's ability to govern legitimately. Karzai's record is marred with corruption, and he has crossed administration officials in the past. U.S. leaders who fear that Karzai can't be trusted endorse a narrower counterinsurgency, one that focuses on al Qaeda and a reduced threat to American lives by maintaining the current troop levels. The Washington Post reports that "Biden and other Obama advisers believe the relationship that Bush developed with Karzai masked the Afghan leader's flaws and made it difficult to demand accountability."
In a move that may come as early as Tuesday, the British government will be chopping up its major banks that were bailed out by taxpayers. Under pressure from European regulators, Britain will be forcing the Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group, and Northern Rock to sell off parts of their operations. Across the pond, the U.S. has been reluctant to make similar moves, arguing that there needs to be a solution for liquidating large banks that go bust. Advocates of downsizing say that large financial institutions take enormous risks because they assume the government will bail them out. America's three largest banks, Bank of America, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, control about one-third of the nation's deposits and are the main players in providing mortgage loans and credit cards. Experts are piping up, and most seem to support nationalization of the banking system.
Despite challenger Abdullah Abdullah pulling out of the Afghan presidential race just one day ago, the dust in Afghanistan is already settling. President Hamid Karzai was officially declared victor on Monday, and President Obama has already phoned in his congratulations. The president acknowledged that the election process had been "messy," but expressed that he was "pleased to say the final outcome was determined by Afghan law" and called for a "new chapter" of cleaner governance. Abdullah pulled out of the race citing concerns that not enough protections had been put in place to prevent another marred election. There's no word on whether Obama's decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan would be hastened by the resolution of the Afghan elections, and Press Secretary Robert Gibbs is sticking to the “matter of weeks” script.
Packages of ground beef that may have been incorrectly labeled with sell-by dates may have caused two deaths in New York and New Hampshire and sickened 26 others, according to health officials. The potentially E. coli-infected meat could be linked to the recall of up to 546,000 pounds of ground beef in Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts. The meat (originally provided by Fairbank Farms in Ashville, N.Y.) was sold at BJ’s, Trader Joe’s, Acme, Shaw’s Supermarkets, Price Chopper, Giant Food Stores, and Ford Brothers throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
She just can’t seem to stay out of the spotlight. With just hours to go before Virginia voters head to the polls, an automated message from former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin went out to some state residents. The robocalls urged listeners who picked up their phones Sunday to “go to the polls Tuesday and vote to share our principles... vote your values.” But she made no specific mention of Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell. McDonnell, who has a wide lead in the polls over Democrat Creigh Deeds, was reluctant to embrace Palin during the campaign for fear that she might alienate some of the more moderate voters whose support he has garnered. A spokesman for the McDonnell campaign said it was not involved in the phone blitz, which was sponsored by the Virginia Faith and Freedom Coalition, an offset of the Ralph Reed’s national group. Ironically, Palin told reporters during her 2008 vice-presidential campaign that automated phone calls made voters “irritated,” and that they represented the “old conventional ways of campaigning.” Looks like someone is really clinging to her values.
The Philadelphia Phillies needed a win at home to keep their dreams of a World Series title repeat alive, and they got one from their ace, Cliff Lee, and two homers from Chase Utley. Their 8-6 win over the New York Yankees and A.J. Burnett brought the series to 3-2 and forced Game 6, which will be played Wednesday in the Bronx. A late rally by the Yankees was not enough to even the score, and Yankees slugger Mark Teixeira struck out against Ryan Madsen—Phillies manager Charlie Manuel wisely kept closer Brad Lidge, the previous night's loser, on the bench—to end the game.
A growing population of refugees is stuck in exiled limbo in Indonesia, a nation that some accuse the Australian government of paying off to keep would-be asylum-seekers at bay. The defeat of the Tamil Tigers by the Sri Lankan military in May has created a surplus of refugees flooding Australia’s shores. In the past year, more than 1,700 people have arrived in Australia via boat, compared to 161 last year, and the past month has shown a drastic spike in asylum-seekers. The refugees have been making their way to Australia via Indonesia, where it has become procedure for Australian officials to intercept them. The opposition party in Australia blames the rise in refugees on new relaxed policies and an alleged agreement referred to as the "Indonesian Solution," in which Australia paid $45 million for Indonesia to hold asylum-seekers en route to Australia. The only problem is, the asylum-seekers don't want to stay in Indonesia and have protested with hunger strikes and suicide threats. Neither country wants to take responsibility for the refugees.
Rep. Michele Bachmann, Republican of Minnesota, is calling for Americans to stream into the Capitol to protest health-care reform—and the party leadership is on board. Bachmann told Sean Hannity on Fox News: “I'd love to have every one of your viewers to join me so we can go up and down through the halls, find members of Congress, look at the whites of their eyes and say, 'Don't take away my health care.'" House Minority Leader John Boehner’s spokesman said, "It is every American's right to visit the Capitol and share their views with members of Congress."
Is Islam ready for a big-budget Hollywood blowout? Barrie Osborne, the producer of such blockbusters as The Lord of the Rings and The Matrix, has set to work on an English-language biopic about the Prophet Muhammad—despite an Islamic law that forbids the prophet from actually ever appearing on-screen. Still, the movie has a $150 million budget and is backed by a Qatari media company that put Muslim cleric Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi in charge as its theological consultant, according to the Guardian. At a press conference at the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, Sheikh al-Qaradawi said the film was a response to “the crusader-styled distortion of Islam [that] continues to influence [the] world population today,” reported the Gulf Times. Meanwhile, the cleric himself has been banned from Britain over his controversial views, which include reportedly supporting the stoning of homosexuals and pardoning the Holocaust, the London Times reports.
Ryan Seacrest's stalker could have really done some damage. Apparently Chidi Uzomah, who was recently released from jail after attacking one of the radio host's security guards, is a member of a Special Forces unit of the U.S. Army Reserves. The Army issued a formal apology to Seacrest, promising that "[p]ending the outcome of the local investigation, the Army will decide what further action to take. We take all matters of our personnel seriously." In the meantime, Seacrest has a temporary restraining order against the military man.
Right on track with scientists' predictions, the dusty snow tops on Mount Kilimanjaro could be completely thawed by as early as 2022. A report out Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that 85 percent of the ice cover present in 1912 has disappeared, and since 2000 about 26 percent of it has melted away. "[T]he loss of ice is right on track," said the study's main researcher. The study examined volume of ice loss, not just surface coverage, and found that the ice atop Africa's highest peak is thinning rapidly. Rising temperatures are not the only cause; drier and less cloudy conditions are also contributing to the ice evaporation. A similar rate of melting is also occurring for glaciers in South America, Asia, and Oceania.
Apparently Tina Fey’s jokes fall flat in Germany. Her Emmy-winning show 30 Rock premiered to a disastrous 0.0 rating in the country Sunday night. Fewer than 5,000 viewers were interested in watching her hapless alter-ego Liz Lemon verbally spar with Alec Baldwin’s network exec, Jack Donaghy. And the unexpected bomb wasn’t for lack of promotion, either. ZDFNeo, the channel that aired the comedy, positioned the show as the “flagship in its new relaunch,” according to The Hollywood Reporter. 30 Rock is, of course, faring better stateside, though ratings have fallen in the show’s fourth season: The show’s premiere last month was down 27 percent in the adult demographic from the previous year, reported the trade.
The news that Down syndrome births have unexpectedly decreased is causing mixed reactions among both doctors and parents. Though 400,000 Americans have Down syndrome, the most common genetic condition in the U.S., the number of Down births has actually decreased 15 percent between 1989 and 2005, according to pediatric geneticist Brian Skotko. The decrease is contrary to research from Skotko that suggests that Down births should have increased by 34 percent during this same period. While the news is technically good, it is also indicative of the fact that around 92 percent of women who learn that their prenatal offspring have the condition, which causes retardation and slow development, choose to have abortions. Some parents call the experience of raising a child with Down syndrome a “gift,” and worry that parents who choose to terminate Down syndrome pregnancies are making their decision based on inaccurate myths surrounding the disorder. The decline also raises fears that research funding for the congenital condition will decrease.
Forget Girl Scouts. What if your afterschool activity was to hang out at the White House? In another first lady first, Michelle Obama is launching a mentorship program that pairs local high-school girls with successful female leaders, including the first lady herself. The initiative’s inaugural round of students will include 20 Washington-area sophomores and juniors and feature discussions revolving around college, careers, and motherhood. Several members of Obama’s female staff will join her as mentors, and Monday’s launch will include a visit to the mentors’ offices and a group dinner. The program was developed from a March event at the White House, when the students spent time with Obama, Alicia Keys, Sheryl Crow, Mae Jamison, and other women. The first round of students was selected by local high schools, the Girl Scouts, and Gold Star families.
Robert Pattinson, the male lead in the Twilight film franchise, has spent the past three years of his life living out of suitcases in hotel rooms. But even after being recognized around the world, he still doesn’t understand his fans’ obsession with his talent and looks. Being on the cover of the new issue of Vanity Fair will only stoke the flames. “I’m trying not to drown,” he tells the magazine. During the nights when he was filming Twilight, he was “always drunk” and entertaining co-star Kristen Stewart and others with his guitar, director Catherine Hardwicke explains. “What Rob and Kristen had is a multitude of feelings for each other. Complex feelings for each other,” says Hardwicke. “It was what we needed. Complex, intense fascination.” But Pattinson and Stewart both say rumors of an ongoing love affair between them are untrue. “It’s so retarded,” Stewart says. “We’re characters in this comic book.”
Afghanistan’s election commission officially extended Hamid Karzai’s term as the president of Afghanistan during a news conference in Kabul on Monday. The anticlimactic victory comes on the heels of an aborted runoff, which was called off after Karzai’s opponent, Prime Minister Abdullah Abdullah, backed out. Abdullah withdrew after accusing the Independent Election Commission of bias. The U.S. Embassy, however, issued a statement of support that said the commission’s decision was “according to its mandate under Afghan law.” Obama has been waiting for a legitimate Afghan government to be established before deciding whether to authorize the deployment of additional troops and was quick to support Karzai’s win. Karzai has lead the country since 2001; Monday’s decision gives him another five-year term.
Presidents at 23 private U.S. higher education institutions each took home more than $1 million in compensation between 2007 and 2008, according to a report published Monday in the Chronicle of Higher Education. At the top of the list is Shirley Ann Jackson, president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. She made almost $1.6 million. The median salary at the 419 nonprofit colleges and universities examined in the report was $358,746, up 6.5 percent from the previous year. Chronicle editors, who have been conducting the annual report since 1993, say it has shown continual increases year after year. Next year’s report, which will look at 2008-2009, is expected to reveal the impact of the economic crisis.
Apparently, the third time is not a charm for Roman Polanski. The famous director, who has been held in a Swiss prison since September, was once again denied bail on Friday in spite of offering a “very, very significant” amount of cash to Swiss justice officials—his largest offer to date. Polanski’s lawyer felt confident that the sum would be adequate to assure Swiss officials that Polanski was not a flight risk, but the government seems determined to keep him in the country. Polanski was arrested in Zurich on Sept. 26 on charges that he raped a 13-year-old girl in Los Angeles in Jack Nicholson’s home in 1977. He is awaiting extradition to the United States.
Are the extreme right's tactics to push out moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava backfiring? After being the target a vicious smear campaign by various right-wing groups for her arguably moderate stances on abortion and gay marriage, Scozzafava dropped out, ostensibly opening the door for Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman to take the historically red 23rd District in upstate New York. But something unexpected is happening, writes Robert Zimmerman at CNN. Scozzafava turned against her party and publicly endorsed Democrat Bill Owens. Then the Watertown Daily Times, which covers multiple counties in the district, shifted its support from Scozzafava to Owens as well. "Although New York's 23rd Congressional District is tough for a Democrat, the real story of this election is how this rural region in upstate New York launched a national movement," Zimmerman writes. "They have put aside their partisan labels and are standing up to the tactics and message of the extreme right wing.
Nancy Pelosi’s fortunes are staggeringly divided: She’s the most powerful woman in American political history while remaining so unpopular—the House Speaker’s approval rating in her home state of California is down to 34 percent. Such unpopularity might make another politician worry, but New York magazine reports in its new cover story that she just keeps smiling. A close associate admits she pays little mind to the opposition: “Nancy really doesn’t care about Republicans, because she doesn’t believe the whole bipartisan thing exists. Her attitude is, ‘God bless their souls, but these people don’t believe in global warming. They just don’t agree with us.’” Perhaps the secret to her power is her ability not to care, about the Republican Party, or about the media. “I’ll take the hit,” Pelosi is known to say.
Meet Moira Cameron, 44, who broke one of England's most solid glass ceilings when, in 2007, she became the first woman Yeoman Warder in the Tower of London's 1,000-year-old history. But it hasn't been easy. A week ago, Tower authorities launched an investigation into allegations of harassment against her. Now, two of her fellow beefeaters have been suspended, and one person has received a police citation for defacing her Wikipedia entry. Cameron beat out five men for the job of Yeoman Warder after completing the required minimum of 22 years in the armed service. Not all of her 34 male colleagues welcomed her. Cameron said that one man told her that "he was completely and utterly against me doing the job. I said to him 'I would like to thank you for dismissing my 22 years' service in Her Majesty's armed forces.’"
Confronting financial insecurity, companies are keeping more cash on hand than in any time in the past 40 years. In the second quarter, American firms held nearly $1 trillion in cash, up from $876 billion earlier this year. Google, Pepsi, and Texas Instruments all reported higher cash holdings in the last quarter. According to the Wall Street Journal, the cash hoarding is a blessing and a curse: saving more means companies are investing less, damping economic growth, but when the economy does turn around, companies will have more money on hand for hiring and capital expenses. It doesn't look like the cash caches will disappear any time soon. Said Alcoa's chief financial officer, "They'd have to beat me over my head to get it out of my hands."
A suicide bomber killed at least 34 people on Monday as the United Nations removed its expatriate staff workers from the northwest region of Pakistan. The second bombing of its kind in a week, the attack showed the strength of al Qaeda-linked militants in Pakistan. "The explosion outside a building housing a bank and the four-star Shalimar Hotel showered the area with human flesh, smearing blood on the ground and shattering windows," according to one report. More than 300 people have been killed in similar attacks in Pakistan this month as the country's army tries to remove terrorist fighters from its border region.
With gay marriage and medical marijuana on the ballot, Maine voter turn-out is expected to be high for an off-year election. The get-out-the-vote efforts on both sides of the gay marriage issue kicked into high gear this weekend as volunteers and campaign staffers knocked on doors, called voter lists, and distributed signs. The law permitting gay marriage is currently suspended, and Question 1 on the ballot will allow voters to uphold or overturn that suspension. If Question 1 is defeated, Maine will become the first state to allow gays to marry by dint of statewide vote. Five other states, including four in New England, allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. Maine citizens will also vote on a proposal to expand the list of illnesses treatable by medical marijuana and establish a regulated dispensing system.
Light up a cigar and start passing out copies of Lethal Weapon–Mel Gibson just became an octodad. Fiancé Oksana Grigorieva gave birth to a healthy baby girl on Friday. The daughter is the couple's first child together. Gibson has six sons and one daughter from a previous marriage, which ended in April of this year after photos of Grigorieva and Gibson canoodling in Costa Rica were published online. Grigorieva has a son with James Bond star Timothy Dalton. No wedding date has yet been announced.
The climate-change bill which has been working through the Senate has little hope for passage, The Washington Post reported Monday. The potential bill favors a cap-and-trade system, which would let companies buy and sell permits to emit greenhouse gas. Key Republicans are lining up against the bill even as Sen. Lindsay Graham, Republican of South Carolina, has come out for it. Making matters worse for those who would like to see new legislation, Democratic senators from industrial states appear to be balking, fearful that new rules will hurt industry and consumers.
The Yankees stepped closer to their 27th championship Sunday night, as they beat the Phillies 7-4 in Game 4 of the World Series. The Bronx bombers now lead the series 3-1. With the game tied 4-4 at the top of the ninth inning, Alex Rodriguez scored the go-ahead run that opened the flood gates for the Yankees. As Rodriguez put it, "There's no question that I've never had a bigger hit." The Yankees could wrap up the series tonight with Game 5 in Philadelphia. Statistically, they are likely to persevere; of the 42 teams have been ahead 3-1 in the World Series, 36 went on to win.
Interrogation, intimidation, humiliation, spying, and manual labor are what awaits defectors from Scientology, reports The St. Petersburg Times in a fascinating investigation into the church’s inner workings. The article quotes interviews with several former high-ranking church officers and a husband and wife who tried to escape the grips of the controversial faith multiple times over nearly two decades. When members of the church of Scientology want to leave, they endure a process known as "routing out," a harrowing routine of manual labor and interrogations that can take up to months, according to former high-ranking Scientology officials. The other option, to "blow," or secretly escape, triggers a paranoid chase by church officials, wherein deserters are tracked down and coerced into returning when found. The obsessive nature of these searches began when current church leader David Miscavige took over for founder L. Ron Hubbard. Officials say Miscavige became concerned that former members would reveal secrets about the church. One member tried to escape by jumping into a truck only to be chased "for three hours, at speeds of up to 100 mph," according to one official. That member was eventually found and returned to the church.
Palestinians have accused the U.S. of further stymieing its peace talks with Israel, after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton backed up Israel's right to continue settlement in the West Bank during a one-day visit on Saturday to the Middle East. Palestinians have imposed a freeze precondition for resuming negotiations that have been on hold since December. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has proposed limited building for settlement homes in the West Bank, told Palestinians to "get a grip" and drop the precondition. President Obama also backtracked on a previous call for a freeze, instead now encouraging "restraint" in the West Bank. "The negotiations are in a state of paralysis, and the result of Israel's intransigence and America's back-pedaling is that there is no hope of negotiations on the horizon," a Palestinian spokesperson said.
Tadamasa Goto, the rumored “Godfather” of the Yakuza, Japan’s 85,000-member mafia, jumped to the top of a liver transplant list at UCLA Medical Center under suspicious circumstances, reports CBS’s 60 Minutes. Despite Goto’s billion-dollar fortune, money could not buy him a new liver in Japan, where organ donations are taboo. The chief of immigration and customs at Tokyo’s U.S. Embassy says the “John Gotti of Japan,” as the richest and most violent mobster is known by U.S. law enforcement, should not have been allowed into the country, based on both his extensive criminal history and membership in a criminal organization. An expert writer and investigator on the Yakuza says Goto made a deal with the FBI, offering to inform on fellow Yakuza members in exchange for a special visa. Though the average waiting time for a liver in California is three years, Goto got one in just six weeks, despite the fact that he was reportedly No. 80 on the hospital’s waiting list. Three of his Yakuza associates also got liver transplants, costing them about $400,000 dollars each, all paid for in cash, CBS reports. Goto and another Yakuza reportedly each gave $100,000 to the UCLA transplant center, despite rules requiring extensive background checks on every patient.
North Korea indicated on Monday that it is prepared to end a year-long boycott of nuclear disarmament talks with the United States. The call comes a week after a North Korean official visited the United States on a rare trip. "The conclusion we have reached is that the direct parties, which are the North and the United States, must first sit down and find a rational solution," a North Korean government official told an official news agency. The statement is the strongest signal so far that the secretive state is ready to break from its isolationist past.
President Obama visited New Jersey Sunday to help drum up support for Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine, who is seeking to hold onto the state house in a heated campaign against Republican rival Chris Christie. In Virginia, Democrat Creigh Deeds is trailing the Republican candidate by double digits. Both races will be seen as key measures of the Obama administration; the first major opportunity that voters statewide will have to go to the polls since the White House changed hands. The Republican response in New Jersey: the president "should go back to D.C. on Air Force One," Christie told one crowd. Election Day is Tuesday.
A bill will be introduced "within days" in the Senate to redraw the financial regulatory map and alter the way that rules are put forward by the U.S. Treasury and Congress, the Financial Times reported Monday. But, despite the hopes of President Obama, it appears that no Republican is likely to get behind the new law. “I’m afraid we’re moving towards a partisan process,” Republican Sen. Bob Corker told the newspaper. The bill would address derivatives, systemic risk, and authority issues for failing companies and consumer protection. In its current form, the bill envisions combining disparate banking authorities into one single body.
There are no sacred cows in the film industry. The rights to Terminator, the rare franchise not controlled by a major studio, will go up for auction later this month. The price is expected to exceed the $60 million paid for the rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles several weeks ago. Sony Pictures is expected to be a leading bidder for the constellation of rights, which includes the right to make new Terminator films, TV programs, and other spin-offs. The auction does not cover earlier Terminator films, such as Terminator Salvation, the most recent installment, which grossed $380 million worldwide. The sale will test Hollywood intellectual property valuations during a time when industry profits have suffered due to falling DVD sales.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney had a remarkable ability to forget the details of the Valerie Plame affair. A recent Freedom of Information Act request has produced the FBI's 28-page summary of its interview with Cheney during the criminal investigation surrounding the scandal. During a long May 2004 interview, Cheney couldn't recall details about the Plame controversy on 72 occasions. Cheney couldn't remember a conversation with Cheney chief of staff Scooter Libby during which, according to Libby's notes, Plame's name came up. Later, when Libby knew he'd have to turn his notes over to the FBI, he found that reference to Cheney's name and talked with the vice president about it during another conversation Cheney couldn't recall. Cheney also apparently persuaded President Bush to declassify parts of a document on weapons of mass destruction on Iraq. Afterward, Libby gave that information to a New York Times reporter while also discussing Plame's CIA identity. Cheney refused to confirm any discussion he'd had with Bush about the matter.
The American auto industry isn't in a total state of collapse. Ford Motor, the only major domestic car maker to avoid bankruptcy, posted $997 million net income for the third quarter, moving into the black for the first time since 2008. The company said Monday it expects to be "solidly profitable" by 2011. Ford helped its balance sheet by issuing $565 million in "quiet equity," completing the $1 billion stock issue it began in August 2008. However, despite the good news, the company still has to contend with $38.1 billion in liabilities—more than some of its recently restructured competitors—and the United Auto Workers union, which rejected cost-cutting contracts for union members.
Sure, the vast majority of Americans aren’t voting on Tuesday, but broadly speaking, the elections will lend some insight into the state of the nation. Between Virginia and New Jersey's high-octane races for governor, congressional battles in New York and California, and mayorships at stake in New York City and Atlanta, the elections may tell how well Obama's coalition is holding. A combination of new votes—particularly black and Hispanic populations from the Democratic base, disaffected Republicans, and independents—swept Obama to power, but it's unclear whether the same voters will turn out to support Criegh Deeds, who is far behind in Virginia, or Jon Corzine in his close New Jersey race. On the conservative side, there's some evidence that Republicans aren't in control of their base. Liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava exited the race in New York's 23rd district after a conservative third-party candidate, split her vote. Her subsequent endorsement of the Democratic candidate has helped stoke partisan fire, but that same fire has the capacity to burn down the establishment. According to Politico, grass-roots activists "are ready to turn their fire on Republicans in a host of races across the country."
