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Investigators from the Fort Hood shootings say that Nidal Malik Hasan acted alone and that no evidence supports the theory that Hasan had outside help or orders about the massacre. Though in late 2008 Hasan did communicate with radical imam Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born Yemeni who now lives overseas and has ties to terrorist groups, the messages "did not advocate violence or threaten violence." Sources say that the communications were consistent with Hasan's research as an Army psychologist on post-traumatic stress disorder. The FBI has launched an investigation into how it handled, or perhaps mishandled, the information it had on Hasan.
After some silence on the issue, President Obama is finally speaking up about the abortion clause attached to the House's version of the health-care reform bill. "I laid out a very simple principle, which is this is a health-care bill, not an abortion bill," Obama told Jake Tapper on ABC's World News Tonight. The president stressed that the health-care bill that eventually passes shouldn't change what "has been in place for a very long time," which is a ban on federal subsidies for abortions. The controversial compromise in the House bill opposes the public option's coverage of abortions. Obama said that he wants to ensure "that the provision that emerges meets that test—that we are not in some way sneaking in funding for abortions, but, on the other hand, that we're not restricting women's insurance choices."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit a high for the year on Monday, while the U.S. dollar got a metaphorical vote of no confidence. The Dow's average shot up 200 points as countries pledged to increase federal spending and continue to stimulate the economy. However, the U.S. dollar was given the cold shoulder by the Group of 20 ministers, who couldn't promise any efforts to bolster it. The dollar subsequently fell to $1.50 against the euro. One currency strategist said that last week's decision by the Fed to not raise interest rates played into the lack of support, in addition to concern over America's bloating deficit.
As authorities dig into Fort Hood gunman Nidal Malik Hasan's past, one name keeps coming up: Anwar al-Awlaki, a radical imam Hasan worshipped under in 2001, who first fell under FBI scrutiny as a "spiritual adviser" to two 9/11 attackers—and who was born in America. The Times of London reports that al-Awlaki, who now lives in Yemen, was born in New Mexico to Yemeni parents. He served as an imam in Denver and San Diego before landing in the Falls Church, Virginia, mosque that Hasan and the 9/11 hijackers attended. Al-Awlaki praised Hasan as "a hero" in his blog after the Fort Hood shootings, calling him "a man of conscience who could not bear the contradiction of being a Muslim and fighting against his own people." Al-Awlaki has raised eyebrows outside of the U.S., too: Yemen held him for more than a year as part of a "secret investigation" in 2006, and British authorities banned him from addressing, by video, an East London mosque this year. The radical Islamist holds a degree in civil engineering from Colorado State and a master's in education from San Diego State.
Can Mike Huckabee ever play the leading man? Even though a Gallup poll recently showed Huckabee as the Republican of choice to run for the 2012 ticket, the former governor of Arkansas isn't sure a presidential nomination is in the cards for him. Huckabee is crisscrossing the U.S. on tour for his new book, A Simple Christmas, but predicts that the fanfare surrounding Sarah Palin's memoir will obscure his own publicity, even though the Gallup survey showed that 71 percent of Republicans would favor his bid. Scars from his second-place finish in the 2008 primaries also haven’t completely healed. Huckabee is “keenly aware of his own strengths as he is of possible weaknesses.” And the other factor? “Not many of us can forgo an income for a couple of years.”
Popular British stroller maker Maclaren—known for its high-end, city-friendly wares—is recalling one million strollers after receiving dozens of reports of children losing their fingertips in a hinge of the stroller. The large recall for models sold between 1999 and today reflects the fact that the potential injury is an irreversible one. Consumerist reports that Maclaren's Web site has suffered outages, perhaps due to the flood of worried parents checking whether their strollers are affected.
After months of alleged Uighur disappearances following July's ethnic riots in China's Xinjiang province, the People's Republic of China has executed nine of the 12 individuals sentenced to death for their roles in the riots. Uighurs, members of a Muslim ethnic minority within China's borders, faced a government crackdown after riots took the lives of an estimated 200 in the Xinjiang capital Urumqi last summer. Following the announcement of the nine executions, China's state-controlled press announced that 20 more Xinjiang residents had been indicted for roles in the riots, possibly part of a new "strike hard and punish" campaign, the name local officials have given to periodic crackdowns on what they characterize as the Uighur community's terroristic elements.
Following a bizarre battle through tweets, blog posts, and statements to the press, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry says famed frontman Steven Tyler has left the group. “Steven quit as far as I can tell. I don't know any more than you do about it,” Perry told the Las Vegas Sun. Tyler recently released a statement to Classic Rock magazine saying his next project was “definitely going to be something Steven Tyler, working on the brand of myself—Brand Tyler.” The news prompted an angry response from Perry, who tweeted, “Read on line st left band to do ‘brand Tyler’? That’s all I know but like I’ve said hasn’t called me in months.a bit cold forget us 4 guys.” In August, Aerosmith canceled the remainder of its tour due to an injury Tyler sustained when he fell off stage during a performance in Abu Dhabi. "We’ll probably find somebody else that will sing in those spots where we need a singer,” Perry said of Tyler’s possible departure, “and then we’ll be able to move the Aerosmith up a notch, move the vibe up a notch.”
The U.S. Mint is not keeping God where Sarah Palin does—close to her heart—and she’s miffed about it. Politico snuck a reporter into Palin’s off-the-record speech to the Wisconsin Right to Life group on Friday night, and found the former governor of Alaska floating some weird theories about the latest design of American coins. Complaining that there had been a lot of “change” as of late, she wondered why the phrase “In God We Trust” has been moved to the edge of coins. “Who calls a shot like that?” she demanded. “Who makes a decision like that?” She added: “It’s a disturbing trend.” The phrase was actually moved to the edge in 2007, before Barack Obama took office. Still, Palin is not alone: Senators Sam Brownback and Robert Byrd have sponsored legislation to move the phrase back to the front face of coins.
Could there soon be an heir to the hip-hop throne? Jay-Z and Beyonce are trying for a baby, Gotham magazine reports. The couple wed back in April 2008 during a top-secret ceremony in Tribeca, New York. But is Beyoncé, 28, really ready to hang up her sparkly leotards and focus on motherhood? Earlier this year, she told the ladies of The View that watching her sister Solange give birth would have made her uncomfortable. "I definitely want one, but I'm not ready for all of that," she said. "I don't think a person should see that before her time. It was a little much. But I'm so in love with my nephew, and every time I see him I'm like, God, he's just amazing."
Three Americans detained in Iran several months ago have been charged with espionage, Reuters reports. Shane Bauer, 27, Sarah Shourd, 31, and Josh Fattal, 27, had been arrested after straying into Iran from northern Iraq at the end of July. Their families say it was an accident. During an interview in September, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad suggested that the release of Iranian diplomats being held by U.S. troops in Iraq might speed the Americans' release. Under Iran's sharia law, the crime of espionage is punishable by death.
Rupert Murdoch may have the secret to saving newspapers—forcing readers to pay for content. However, search engines such as Google, which allows users to bypass pay walls on such Murdoch-owned sites as The Wall Street Journal, have complicated that plan. During an interview with Sky News Australia, the newspaper mogul said that papers including The Sun, The Times of London, and The Wall Street Journal would contemplate blocking Google completely once their pay walls were ready. In recent months, Murdoch has blasted Google, calling it a "parasite" and accusing it of "kleptomania" for including News Corp. content on Google News. Murdoch also said that he did not think Google's usage of News Corp. content constituted "fair use" under the law, a defense aggregation websites have used to justify their reproduction of excerpts from news stories.
America's most wanted villain, Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of opening fire on dozens at Fort Hood last week—killing 13 and injuring 38—is conscious and talking to his doctors at an Army hospital in San Antonio. After being shot four times by local law enforcement, Hasan was flown to Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston, where he remained in stable condition even as rumors swirled that he was dead. A hospital official reports that Hasan is now "conversing with the medical staff, the doctors and nurses who are assisting with his medical needs," but declined to comment on whether he's discussed the shooting. Investigators are now looking into connections between Hasan and al Qaeda members due to his attendance at a mosque where a radical imam preached in 2001; nonetheless, Fort Hood commander Lt. Gen. Robert Cone said Monday that the shooting "was an isolated incident, a very unfortunate isolated incident." Fort Hood will host a memorial service for the fallen soldiers on Tuesday; 27 of Thursday's injured soldiers are expected to be released in time to attend the event, which will include remarks from President Obama and a 21-gun salute.
Abortion foes won their biggest victory in years on Saturday when the health-care bill passed the House, as a provision attached to the bill bans federal subsidies for insurance that covers abortion. Under the bill, low and middle-income individuals—those with incomes below $88,000 for a family of four—would receive government subsidies to lower the cost of insurance. Abortion rights advocates said that insurers would drop abortion coverage from their plans in order to sell them in the new market, depriving women of abortion coverage, although few women currently file private insurance claims, possibly to avoid leaving a record. Both sides said that forceful lobbying from Roman Catholic bishops; Democrats had expected support from Catholic bishops, who have pushed for universal health insurance for several decades.
The United States government is negotiating with Pakistan's military, attempting to allow the U.S. to help secure Pakistan's nuclear bombs in the case of a national crisis, Seymour Hersh reports in this week's New Yorker. Pakistan has 80 to 100 warheads, and those in Washington and around the world are increasingly worried that the chaos of recent weeks—a takeover of the army's main headquarters; the assassination of a general—might put them in danger. Also adding to American anxiety is a rise in Islamic fundamentalism among soldiers in Pakistan's army. The secret plans are complicated by the fact that many in Pakistan see potential American assistance as a threat to their sovereignty, an effort to control, rather than to protect Pakistan's nuclear complex. While officials on both sides publicly denied the existence of any secret agreement, The Daily Beast's Leslie H. Gelb told The New Yorker that any accord would be undependable anyway. "I don't think there's any kind of an agreement we can count on," Gelb said.
Stop reading if you’re behind on your DVR. Last night’s Mad Men finale was packed full of beginnings and ends for the inhabitants of Matthew Weiner’s fictional world. Perhaps most significantly, Don and Betty Draper ended their marriage and Betty headed to Reno with Henry Francis, an aide to Governor Nelson Rockefeller—and, more importantly, a man she believes she can trust. Don has a new beginning as well, one that includes getting his own coffee and typing memos—the fallout from departing from what The New Yorker’s recap calls “the lockstep respectability of his marriage and suburban life” and setting off from Sterling Cooper to start his own advertising firm with his former colleagues. Desspite these challenges, hope for the future rises from the characters’ losses, and The New Yorker suggests that “the lingering sadness, a sense that there is nothing else left to lose” after the previous episode’s focus on Kennedy’s assassination, which set the stage for the Season 3 finale’s dramatic tide-changing.
Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and Morgan Stanley—the three largest banks to exit from TARP, so far—are set for a record year in bonuses: $29.7 billion, to be exact. That’s a 60 percent rise from last year, and more than 2007’s previous record of $26.8 billion. Divided out, it equals $250,400 for each employee. As a concession to regulators, the banks will pay out more in stock, in order to encourage long-term thinking.
U.S. intelligence agencies learned months ago that Army Major Nidal Hasan was trying to make contacts with Al Qaeda, two sources tell ABC News. It is unknown if these agencies informed the Army. Hasan also attended a mosque run by a radical imam named Anwar al Awlaki in Falls Church, Virginia at the same time as two of the 9/11 hijackers, though it is unknown if there was ever any contact between them. Now living in Yemen, Awlaki blogged on Monday, “Nidal Hassan Did the Right Thing.”
Kraft is being anything but sweet to Cadbury. Kraft Foods chief Irene Rosenfield has reiterated the offer of $16.4 billion for the confectioner, the same offer that Cadbury rejected two months ago. Only now, in a hostile move, Rosenfield is trying to take the deal directly to shareholders. Cadbury has already declined the formal offer. Several analyst brokers predicted that Kraft would come back with a slightly higher offer in a process that will draw out negotiations. Currently, Cadbury is the world's second-largest candy maker, while Kraft clocks in at number five, although their combined powers would nudge Mars-Wrigley out of the top global spot.
Remember three years ago when the New York Post loudly trumpeted that its circulation had overtaken that of its rival, the New York Daily News? The New York Times reports a “sober mood” in the New York Post’s newsroom after the tabloid’s circulation has fallen 30 percent in two-and-a-half years. Circulation is now 508,000—less than the Daily News’ 544,000. The Daily News has also surged ahead this year in online readership. Editor Col Allan, who called it a “joyous occasion” when the Post overtook the Daily News, now downplays the rivalry, saying “whether we are a little in front or a little behind has no impact on our forward business plan.”
Does the Democratic party line skirt around Fox News? An anonymous Democratic consultant claims to have received a call from the White House after a Fox News appearance warning him to never appear on the network again. The call had an “intimidating tone,” the Los Angeles Times reports. White House Communications Director Anita Dunn says her staff has, in fact, encouraged people to appear on Fox. However, former Carter pollster Patrick Caddell—a Fox News contributor—said he had talked to Democratic consultants who claim the White House warned them too. He refused to name names.
Want a sneak preview of The Surreal Life in five years? Jon Gosselin and Levi Johnston appeared together in Times Square on Sunday. Levi was in town for his Playgirl shoot when he says he ran into Gosselin, who was in town filming commercials. The two posed for photos in near-identical pea coats. "You never know when celebrities turn up," one onlooker marveled.
Business journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin's bestselling new book, Too Big To Fail, a minute-by-minute account of Lehman Brothers’ failure, hasn't earned him more friends over at The New York Times. Some of Sorkin's colleagues think that his relationships with his sources are too close–one of them compared his relationship with Wall Street honchos to Judith Miller's relationship with Bush-administration officials. Newsroom tension escalated two weeks ago after the New York Post suggested that Sorkin failed to acknowledge that he used investigative reporting by his colleagues Don Van Natta Jr. and Gretchen Morgenson. Sorkin has a lot of friends in both business and journalism though, earned through his hard work on the DealBook blog over at the Times. His work has impressed Graydon Carter so much that he said he's extended a standing offer to Sorkin at Vanity Fair. "I've never seen this kind of talent," he said.
Hugo Chávez told Venezuelan troops to prepare for war with Colombia on Sunday, and asked soldiers to be ready if the U.S. provoked conflict between the two countries. Chávez's statement came as diplomatic tensions between the two countries have been exacerbated in recent weeks by a series of shootings along the Venezuela-Colombia border, and Venezuelan arrests of at least ten people accused of paramilitary activities last month. A deal between the U.S. and Colombia to allow U.S. troops greater access to Colombian military bases further rankled Chávez, who says the U.S. could launch an invasion of Venezuela from Colombian soil. The U.S. says the deal is aimed at fighting drug traffickers and Marxist guerrillas in Colombia. Colombia is appealing to the UN and the Organization of American States over Chávez's threat. Recently, Colombia asked the World Trade Organization for help after Chávez blocked the import of Colombian goods in retribution for the U.S. military pact.
On November 9, 1989, Politburo spokesman Guenter Schabowski rocked the world during a news conference when he offhandedly mentioned that East Germany was lifting restrictions on travel across the border into West Germany, a statement that led to the downing of the Berlin Wall that evening. On Monday, Germany celebrates the 20th anniversary of the event. One thousand large plastic foam dominoes will be placed along the wall's route and tipped over to commemorate the 136 people killed trying to cross the border into West Germany, and in the evening, thousands of people are expected to gather at the Brandenburg Gate. The leaders of all 27 European Union countries are expected at the ceremonies, which German Chancellor Angela Merkel kicked off with a prayer service in an East Berlin church where opposition activists gathered in 1989. President Obama is attending the ceremonies, during which he expects to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
November 30 is supposedly the end of hurricane season, and the end of the month can’t come soon enough. Hurricane Ida killed scores of people and flattened towns in El Salvador with 105 mph winds and flood waters. The storm has weakened to a Category 1 hurricane, and is expected to weaken further, although it will still be a hurricane class storm when it hits the Gulf Coast on Monday or early Tuesday. Its maximum sustained winds currently clock in at 90 mph. Hurricane warnings are in effect for the Gulf Coast from Mississippi to Florida, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency in Louisiana when the storm moved into the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday.
It seems that a political crisis has been averted for now. On Sunday, Iraq's parliament finally passed a law scheduling national elections for January 23. Members of parliament had struggled over representation of the Kirkuk region, an area held predominantly by Arabs and Turkomen, and Kurds who returned to the area in large numbers after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Lawmakers appeased Kurds by agreeing to the use voter lists from 2009 rather than from 2004, before many Kurds had returned. Within the next year, a panel will investigate and compare 2004 voter lists in Kirkuk and other disputed areas. For now, the compromise means that the planned U.S. troop withdrawal for next summer will "proceed as planned," which is a boost to the Obama administration as it debates sending more troops to Afghanistan.
Andre Agassi is primarily concerned with Andre Agassi, according to a New York Times review of his ghostwritten autobiography Open. Reviewer Janet Maslin writes that Agassi's interests do not extend far "beyond tennis, more tennis, the misery of tennis, the way sportswriters misunderstand tennis and the irritating celebrity that tennis stardom confers." Other admissions from the book: Agassi took crystal meth in 1997, the worst year of his career; he's lied about his love of tennis to interviewers over the years; and his frosted mullets may have included portions of toupee. Maslin calls the book "anticlimactic" but says it is saved by "somebody on the memoir team" with "great gifts for heart-tugging drama."
The trustee appointed to recoup losses for investors in Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme has dropped a $279 million claim against J. Ezra Merkin's Ariel and Gabriel funds. Irving Picard nixed the charge after determining that the funds weren't functioning as a "conduit for money," as he had originally suspected. Even with the reduced charge, Merkin's balance still stands at $564.4 million, which will mean seeking an increase in repayment from a third fund, Ascot. Ascot withdrew more than $500 million in fake profits from Madoff's firm from 1995 to 2008, according to the suit. Lawyers for Ariel and Gabriel say the funds' managers didn't know about Madoff's scheme, and also say they withdrew only 10 percent of their holdings.
Fourteen hours after the House passed health-care reform, President Obama was in the Rose Garden, extolling the Senate to “take up the baton and bring this effort to the finish line.” The president is hoping the Senate will pass its own version of health-care reform before the New Year. Despite the close vote in the House—it passed by two votes—the cause’s toughest hurdles are likely yet to come. Unlike the House bill, which raises taxes on people earning above $500,000, the Senate bill will tax so-called Cadillac plans. Also, states have the option to opt out of the public option in the Senate version, though even that had Sen. Joe Lieberman repeating his filibuster threat on Sunday. "If the public option plan is in there,” Lieberman said on Fox News Sunday, “as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote.”
Major Nidal Nalik Hasan may not have been carrying out a terrorist plot when he allegedly attacked Fort Hood, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t rubbed shoulders with those who have: Hasan apparently attended the same mosque as two 9/11 hijackers, hosting his mother’s funeral there at the time they attended. A radical imam, Anwar Aulaqi, led the Dar al Hirjah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia at the time. It is unclear whether Hasan had contact with hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Hani Hanjour.
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