The Daily Slog

While companies continue to pay for about three-fourths of workers’ health-care premiums, an annual survey found that more are passing health-insurance costs onto employees at a significantly higher rate this year than last. “The increased cost-shifting reflect an acceleration of a trend that has been on the rise for years,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “As companies struggled to cut costs amid difficult economic times, more of them are reducing benefits they offer workers or making workers pay more for them.” A survey of about 2,000 companies both large and small earlier this year by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Education Trust found that employees paid an average of about $4,000 toward coverage for their entire family this year, which is a 14 percent jump from what the nonprofit research groups found last year. But, the groups noted, total insurance premiums paid rose at the slowest rate in a decade at just three percent. “It’s the first time I can remember when employers have coped with costs by shifting it all to workers,” said Drew Altman, the Kaiser Family Foundation’s president and chief executive. “It’s no surprise, since businesses are struggling to keep their doors open,” James Gelfand, director of health policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told the Wall Street Journal. “The premium increase may have been modest but it’s still a premium increase and businesses can’t absorb those costs.” Workers with family coverage are not paying 30 percent of their premiums, compared with 26 percent five years ago and 27 percent last year.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

In an effort to shut down renewed peace talks between Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Hamas has announced that it plans to ramp up “more effective attacks” against Israel, hinting that those attacks would include increase suicide bombings. When asked what form the new attacks might take, a Hamas spokesman replied: “All options are open.” The threat comes after thirteen militant groups from Gaza announced that they would join forces to launch new attacks against Israel. “Also on Thursday, Hamas condemned the launch of direct talks, saying its goal is to ‘liquidate’ the Palestinian cause, and accusing Abbas of allowing Israel to build settlements in the West Bank and denying refugees’ ‘right of return,’” the Jerusalem Post reported. “Earlies this week, Hamas claimed responsibility for two attacks on Israelis: one, which killed four, and another that injured two. Both were shootings that took place in the West Bank.” Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh made it clear that Palestinians would not recognize any agreement that comes out of the talks between Netanyahu and Abbas, noting that Abbas does not have a mandate to negotiate with Israel.

Source: The Jerusalem Post

At least six large boats have been stranded near Peru’s port of Iquitos because the Amazon river has dropped to its lowest level in 40 years in the northeastern part of the country. In a region that depends on the Amazon as its main transportation route, the economic effect has been disasterous. According to Peru’s national meteorological office, the low water level is the result of a drawn-out dry weather spell and, before the rainy season begins next month, the level of the river is expected to fall even further. “Iquitos and other towns in Peru’s rainforest region have no road links to the rest of the country, and depend on the Amazon and its tributaries for transport,” the BBC reported. “Food and other supplies are now being brought in by smalled boats that can navigate the shallow channels, weaving between exposed mud banks.” While the Amazon is the second-longest river in the world behind the Nile, it discharges more water and covers more territory. The level of the river in Iquitos has reached 347.8 feet above sea level, which is 19.7 inches lower than a previous record set in 2005.

Source: BBC

All concourses at Miami International Airport are open on Friday morning after the discovery of a suspicious item in a checked bag promped an overnight evacuation of most of the building. Four of airport’s six concourses and airport roadways were evacuated and a passenger detained after the suspicious item was found by a screener late Thursday. “The passenger was located and is now in law enforcement custody,” read a statement from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which declined to identify the passenger and the supicious item found in his or her bag. A bomb squad, fire officials and other law enforcement agents from the Miami-Dade Police were called in to search the concourse. A photographer from the Associated Press also spotted a hazardous material team on site. “I’m still not sure how many flights came in during this time, but any that did were relocated to the eastern or western ends of the airport,” spokesman Greg Chin said early Friday. “We had to have passengers moved out on the curbside.”

Source: The Associated Press

As reports were released that put the cost of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico above $8 billion, BP executives went to Congress to warn that they will not be able to pay for more damages if legislation is passed that bars them from obtaining new offshore drilling permits. “The company says a ban would also imperil the ambitious Gulf Coast restoration efforts that officials want the company to voluntarily support,” the New York Times reported. Until this point, BP has gone along with most demands from the Obama administration and other government figures: They have committed to setting aside $20 billion in an escrow fund to pay for damage claims over the next four years, contributed $100 million to support oil rig workers who have lost their jobs because of the deepwater drilling moratorium, pledged $500 million for a research program to study the long-term impact of the spill, and donated $77 million to the marketing efforts of four gulf states to promote tourism in affected regions. But now, executives are showing their reluctance to continue paying more than what is required of them by law. “If we are unable to keep those fields going, that is going to have a substantial impact on our cash flow,” said David Nagle, BP’s executive vice president for BP America. Still, the requests keep coming. For example, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal asked that BP finance a $173 million program to test the seafood coming out of the gulf. “But the company, which is based in London, now appears to be using such voluntary payments as a bargaining chip with American lawmakers,” according to the Times. Executives are obviously concerned with a drilling overhaul bill that was passed by the House in July and supported by the Obama administration. The bill includes an amendment that would bar any company with more than 10 fatalities or more than $10 million in fines from securing permits to drill on the Outer Continental Shelf. BP wasn’t named in the amendment, but it is the only company that currently meets those criteria. “The risk of having a dangerous company like BP develop new resources in the gulf is too great,” said Daniel Weiss, chief of staff to Rep. George Miller, who wrote the amendment. “Year after year after year, no matter how many incidents they’ve involved in, no matter how many fines they’ve had to pay, they never changed their behavior. BP has no one to blame but themselves.”

Source: The New York Times

In a project dubbed Solar Probe Plus, slated to launch sometime before 2018, NASA plans to visit the Sun. The mission won’t involved sending anybody up there, nor will it involve landing on the surface, but it will send a spacecraft within four million miles and into the Sun’s atmosphere to carry out tests. “Four million miles doesn’t sound very close, but it’s still very exciting, since this is a region no other spacecraft (created by us) has ever encountered,” Mashable reported. “NASA plans for the project to ‘unlock the sun’s biggest mysteries.’” Those big mysteries, it turns out, are how the Sun’s outer atmosphere produces so much more heat than the Sun’s visible surface and what propels the solar wind that affects both Earth and the rest of our solar system, according to Dick Fisher, director of NASA’s Heliophysics Division in Washington. “We’ve been struggling with these questions for decades and this mission should finally provide those answers,” said Fisher. The spacecraft that NASA sends up will require a carbon-composite heat shield that can withstand temperatures exceeding 2550 degrees Fahrenheit and also intense radiation.

Source: Mashable

United States District Judge Richard Kopf overturned Nebraska’s ban on flag mutilation Thursday. It is unclear whether his ruling, that the law can’t be applied as long as the person in question is otherwise acting peacefully, would affect only the individual who filed the lawsuit and her fellow church members or everyone in the state. “Thursday’s ruling is a victory for activists from a Kansas church who trample on the U.S. flag when they protest at military funerals,” the Associated Press reported. Megan Phelps-Roper, a member of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas, filed the lawsuit in July on the grounds that the ban violated her right to free speech. Westboro Baptist members often protest at soldiers’ funerals across the United States because they believe troop deaths are a punishment for the country’s tolerance of homosexuality. Nebraska’s Attorney General Jon Bruning has previously said that his state’s ban on flag mutilation is not consistent with U.S. Supreme Court rulings that declared desecration of the flag a form of protected speech and that he wouldn’t fight to save it. Should Bruning refuse to appeal, Thursday’s ruling would stand.

Source: The Associated Press

Ever wondered what panhandlers actually do with the change that fills their Dunkin Donuts cups every day? Now you don’t have to. Toronto Star reporter Jim Rankin spent several days wandering downtown Toronto and passing out prepaid cards worth $50 or $60 to people who asked him for money. He asked his test subjects to buy what they needed and then return the cards. And what did they need? A double quarter-pounder with cheese. A root beer. Fifteen minutes’ worth of talk time on a pre-paid cell phone. Cigarettes. More than a few stops at the liquor store. Rankin was surprised by some of the transactions (one man took a $50 card, spend $8 at McDonalds, and promptly returned the card), and by the number of people who turned down the card altogether. Some people weren’t sure it would work, and others didn’t want to leave their panhandling spots. According to Rankin, some of Toronto’s panhandlers make $50-60 per day, enough to buy time at an Internet cafe and Skype with family members.

Source: The Toronto Star

With investors concerned that the yen, currently at a 15-year high, could have a negative impact on exporters, the Bank of Japan attempted to bring down the value of the currency by announcing plans to boost low-interest lending. In response, the Nikkei 225 index fell more than 3.5 percent to a 16-month low, sending global stocks spiraling down. Stocks fell across both Europe and Asia. “The main fear in the market is that we will have some sort of double-dip recession in the second half of this year and into 2011,” said Philippe Gijsels, head of research at BNP Paribas Fortis Global Markets in Brussels. With recent reports showing that home sales declined through the summer, some economists have expressed concerns that the U.S. economy could contract again. Employment reports due on Friday are expected to show that the job market in the country remains in terrible shape, with Gijsels predicting unemployment levels will climb from 9.5 percent to 9.7 percent. “Nonetheless, he said, poor employment data could actually bring a market bounce, as it would give Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, justification for embarking on a new round of monetary easing,” the New York Times reported.

Source: The New York Times

Ohio has some of the weakest restrictions on exotic pet ownership in the country and is one of the states with the highest number of deaths and injuries caused by those animals. The recent death of a caretaker outside of Cleveland at the hands of a bear has called those laws into question. “After a standoff between the Humane Society and agriculture interests, state officials are crafting restrictions on the ownership of dangerous wild pets,” the Associated Press reported. “It’s just a free-for-all in Ohio, and Sam Mazzola [the bear wrangler who died recently] is just an example of that,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States. “Tigers, wolves, bears in a suburban Lorain County community: It is a disaster waiting to happen.” Mazzola held the proper state permit to keep the black bear on his property. He also owned wolves, a lion, and tigers because Ohio, along with four other states, imposes few or no restrictions on the ownership of exotic animals kept as pets. Recent deaths in Connecticut and Florida have called attention to the patchwork of federal and state laws regarding exotic pets across the country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture only regulates animals that are shown to the public, while the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service doesn’t require permits for non-native, endangered species unless they are crossing state borders. New laws being considered have faced tough opposition from agriculture interests in Ohio, as they would regulate caging and treatment requirements on livestock. Exotic pet owners who believe that big cats and other predators are threatened in the wild are also fighting the proposed ban. “Of the overall amount of people who actually have snakes as pets, who actually have chimpanzees as pets, these incidents are a very small percentage,” said Cindy Huntsman, whose Stump Hill Farm houses 250 wild animals. With habitat loss and poaching threatening to wipe out predators, Huntsman and other exotic pet owners consider themselves conservationists. The proposed ban would exempt animals in zoos, research centers, and existing athletic mascot programs. Current owners would be able to keep their animals, but would not be allowed to breed them or replace them when they die.

Source: The Associated Press

Known as “La Barbie,” American-born Edgar Valdez Villarreal was arrested on Monday somewhere in the state surrounding Mexico City, according to federal officials. The arrest was the culmination of an intelligence operation that began in June 2009. “He is at least the third suspected high-ranking drug lord captured or killed by the Mexican police this year,” the New York Times reported. “But Mr. Valdez’s arrest was seen as particularly significant because he had been vying to take over the powerful Beltran Leyva organization and had once been allied with Mexico’s most wanted man, Joaquin Guzman Loera, known as ‘El Chapo,’ or Shorty.” Born in Laredo, Texas, Valdez faces an indictment in United States District Court in Atlanta, where he was charged in May for distributing thousands of pounds of cocaine across the eastern United States from Mexico. His arrest is a big win for President Felipe Calderon, who has recently redoubled efforts to win the drug war. The announcement came just hours after the government announced that about 10 percent of the federal police force had been fired for failing lie detector tests designed to root out corruption, according to the Associated Press.

Source: The New York Times

A two-week long strike by more than a million public sector workers has closed schools and hospitals across South Africa. In an attempt to renew reconciliation talks, President Jacob Zuma increased the government’s wage offer to the striking workers, but the offer is still below union demands. The unions, who want an 8.6 percent wage increase, are expected to vote Tuesday night on whether to accept the 7.5 percent increase offered by government representatives the night before. Before the offer was presented, Cosatu, South Africa’s main trade union federation, threatened a one-day union-wide strike on Thursday if the 8.6 percent demand was not met. While more than a million workers have been striking, Cosatu’s reach is double that, but it was unclear if the union planned to still go through with the general strike after the 7.5 percent offer was received. “Mr. Zuma’s call to revive talks was driven by politics as much as economics,” according to the BBC‘s correspondent in the region. “He has been stung by criticism from striking workers that he has been on a trade mission to China while nurses, teachers and other civil servants have been on the streets demanding more pay.” The correspondent believes that Zuma will do whatever is necessary to restore relations with the South African unions before the African National Congress meets for a policy conference in three weeks.

Source: BBC

In an effort to follow through with its pledge to demobilize all child soldiers in its ranks by the end of this year, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) has established a child protection unit. The United Nations children’s agency estimates that the army has already discharged more than 20,000 children, but still employs around 900. ”The SPLA by the end of this year will be child-free,” said William Deng, head of the south’s commission for disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration. “This army doesn’t lack manpower. If they wanted they could call millions now. But not children.” According to Deng, it is now the government’s responsibility to support and educate the discharged child soldiers. “We are fighting for our children so that they can enjoy their freedom in their own country, and our future lies with the children,” said SPLA chief of staff James Hoth, who added that he could not recruit child soldiers because the SPLA is not at war; Sudan’s civil war ended with a peace agreement in 2005. “Taking a liberation army and transforming it into a professional army is a long road to walk,” warned Lise Grande, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator, though she did celebrate the SPLA’s demobilization efforts and acknowledged “the impressive steps forward that the SPLA have taken.”

Source: BBC

Two men allowed to board a United Airlines flight last night at Chicago’s O’Hare airport were taken off a Chicago-to-Amsterdam flight in the Netherlands and charged with “preparation of a terrorist attack,” according to U.S. law enforcement officials. “This was almost certainly a dry run, a test,” said one senior law enforcement official. The two men—Ahmed Mohamed Nassar al-Soofi of Detroit and Hezem al-Muisi—were travelling with what appeared to be “mock bombs,” or cell phones and other devices taped to containers meant to hold liquids. The men also had a box cutter, three large knives, and watches that were taped together. Travelling with $7,000 in cash, they were initially referred to additional screening by airport security in Birmingham, Ala., because of concerns over “bulky clothing.” After landing in Chicago for a transfer, al-Soofi checked his luggage for a flight to Washington’s Dulles airport for connections to Dubai and Yemen even though he boarded the Amsterdam-bound flight. Customs and border officials realized this before the flight left the airport and removed al-Soofi’s luggage from the Washington-bound plane. Additional screening found no evidence of explosives, and the two men were allowed to board.

Source: ABC News

An executive order signed by President Obama on Monday gives the State and Treasury departments broad new authority to slap any individuals or entities doing business with or for North Korea with tough financial sanctions. “Stuart Levey, Treasury Department under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said the new order ‘targets a wide range of illicit activities undertaken by the government of North Korea,’” CNN reported. Obama’s order specifically calls attention to—and targets—a number of individuals and groups that deal with money laundering, counterfeiting of goods, narcotics trafficking, bulk cash smuggling, trafficking in arms and related materials, and the procurement of luxury goods. The new order adds to limited U.S. sanctions on North Korea established by President Bush in 2008, which targeted the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction specifically. “North Korea’s government helps maintain its authority by placating privileged elites with money and perks such as luxury goods like jewelry, luxury cars and yachts,” said Levey. One group called out in the order was Office 39, a secretive branch of the Korean Workers’ Party, which is suspected of selling methamphetamine in China and South Korea. The group is also believed to be responsible for attempting to purchase two luxury Italian-made yachts for Kim Jong-Il, North Korea’s leader. Kim Yong-Chol, head of North Korea’s intelligence agency, was also called out in the executive order. Yong-Chol’s agency has been linked to the sinking of a South Korean warship earlier that year.

Source: CNN

While the president prepares for an address on the domestic economy, Vice President Biden is in Iraq, meeting with Iraqi and American officials as the point man on the administration’s biggest international priorities. In Baghdad, Biden is scheduled to meet both with outgoing American generals and Iraqi politicians who are nervous about the fact that the generals are leaving. American troops levels have already dipped below 50,000, down from more than 140,000 less than two years ago. Biden is expected to “commemorate the change of mission in Iraq” but also “urge Iraqi leaders to form a government.” The administration says Iraq’s lack of political stability is preventing it from forming long-term partnerships with foreign governments and making it more vulnerable to violene. While the vice president is in Baghdad, personnel at the U.S. embassy have been encouraged to wear “protective gear” while outside, even on the embassy compound. “The ability of terrorist acts to have an impact on the political life of this country is still a significant risk,” the American ambassador said last week. But Biden said that as authority in Iraq transfers from the military to the civilian government, “We are going to be just fine. They’re going to be just fine.”

Source: The Washington Post

Mount Sinabung on the north end of Indonesia’s Sumatra island sat inactive for nearly four centuries before erupting, unexpectedly, on Sunday. On Monday, the volcano erupted for a second time in as many days. Mount Sinabung sent ash 1.5 miles into the sky and choked the surrounding air, causing residents to flee the immediate area. “Villages were emptying fast … leaving behind only officials from the bureau of meteorology and the police,” Reuters reported. “Short-haul flights skirting the volcano were delayed.” Reports indicate that about 21,000 people have been evacuated from the area, with most fleeing to Medan, Indonesia’s third-largest city, about 30 miles northeast of the volcano. “People have been evacuated from areas within a six km (four-mile) radius of the volcano,” one vulcanologist said. “Beyond six km it is safe, but there has still been a lot of panic among people here who don’t understand that.” Monday’s eruption was more powerful than the one on Sunday, according to the head of Indonesia’s vulcanology center. “I saw some hot pieces of volcanic rock come out and burn trees in the area,” a Reuters photographer said.

Source: Reuters

Hurricane Earl strengthened into a Category 2 storm on Monday and before crashing into the northern Leeward Islands and sending tourists into fortified shelters. The U.S. National Hurricane Center warned that Earl could become a Category 4 hurricane later in the week as it moves toward more islands. Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrate, St. Bathelemy, St. Maarten, Saba, St. Martin, St. Eustatius, the British Virgin Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands have all issued hurricane warnings. “We really don’t want any loss of life, whether by persons who are careless or by security or emergency persons trying to rescue people,” said Carl Herbert, head of a local emergency management agency. Several of the islands have started to prepare for the approaching storm, stocking up on food, water, and other supplies. Boats have been tied down in harbors and shelters erected. Cruise ships in the area have been diverted to other post around the Caribbean and Mexico and Antiqua’s V.C. Bird International Airport closed. “Hardware stores did a brisk business in plywood and boards as jittery residents and employees of gleaming tourist hotels prepared to safeguard windows and doors,” the Associated Press reported.

Source: The Associated Press

A team of 80 lexicographers has been working on the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, long considered the most complete and accurate reference guide to the English language, for more than two decades. But because more and more users are turning to the online edition and various Internet-based products offered by the dictionary’s owner, Oxford University Press, it’s likely that the OED3 will never appear in print. “The print dictionary market is just disappearing, it is falling away by tens of percent a year,” said Nigel Portwood, the chief executive of the Oxford University Press. The current OED Web site receives more than 2 million hits every month from subscribers who pay upward of £240 per year. In addition, the next edition, which is only 28 percent finished to date, is not expected to be ready for release for another decade. OUP will continue to print the Oxford Dictionary of English, a slimmer, single-volume version of its product that is updated regularly. Portwood estimated that the smaller version would be in print for another 30 years before switching over to an entirely digital existence. “The printed book is about to vanish at extraordinary speed,” Simon Winchester, author of The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary, told the Telegraph. “I have two completed OEDs, but never consult them—I use the online OED five or six times daily. The same with many of my reference books—and soon with most.”

Source: The Telegraph

At least 10 people were injured at the Tornado festival in Miass, Russia, when more than 100 skinheads stormed the event with sticks, iron rods, and clubs. (Some reports place the number of injured as high as 100 and include the death of a 14-year-old girl.) Fifteen people were arrested by police, who reportedly ran away from the scene at first, but no motive has been identified. ”The detainees are being interrogated and the police are searching for their accomplices,” a police official told Russia’s Itar-Tas news agency. “Russia has an active far-right wing and racist community, and there have been several high-profile hate crimes and racially motivated murders in recent years,” according to the BBC. Attended by about 3,000 people, the music festival in central Russia’s Chelyabinsk region hosted many top rock acts, but there is no indication that it drew a large crowd of any groups targeted by skinhead groups in recent years—groups such as Central Asians, residents of the Caucasus, or Africans.

Source: BBC

Marco Antonio Leal Garcia, mayor of the city of Hidalgo in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas, was killed on Sunday, but state prosecutors refused to release any details about the attack. Garcia was driving a truck around 4:30 p.m. when he was killed; his 10-year-old daughter, who was in the truck with him, was injured. “It was not just attack against a person. It was an attack against institutions,” Tamaulipas Gov. Eugenio Hernandez Flores said in a statement released Sunday night. According to Flores, who has called in reinforcements from the federal government, police are still investigating the attack. “This cowardly crime and reprehensible violent acts which occurred recently in this state reinforce our commitment to use all the resources of the Mexican state to continue fighting criminal gangs seeking to intimidate the families of Tamaulipas,” Mexican President Felipe Calderon said in a statement released by his office. Earlier this week, authorities found the bodies of 72 migraints in the border state.

Source: CNN

Nearly one-third, or about 35 million U.S. households, are without life-insurance coverage, according to new research from Limra, an industry-funded research organization that has conducted surveys of life-insurance trends for the past 50 years. That number is a considerably jump from the 24 million (22 percent) households that were without their own or employer-sponsored plans only six years ago, in 2002. “The percentage without life insurance is a sign of the financial pressures on middle-income families as the economy struggles,” according to the Wall Street Journal. “The rise reflects tight household budgets, loss of employer-provided coverage as a result of layoffs, and cutbacks by some employers in their benefits packages.” In the firm’s latest survey, half of respondents said that they needed more life insurance, with many saying that their households would struggle to meet basic living expenses if one of the primary earners died suddenly, but they have put off purchasing it because of other financial priorities. “Clearly, more American families are living on the edge, surviving paycheck to paycheck, and, as our new study suggests, too many are without the safety net that life insurance provides,” said Robert Kerzner, president of Limra.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Amid growing fears that a second recession could be on the horizon, politicians seem paralyzed. Even those who say another recession is unlikely can’t deny the fact that the economy is weakening, causing concern that the United States could face several years of negligent growth similar to Japan’s so-called lost decade. Despite these worries, the government seems powerless to make things better, mostly because no one wants to add to the national debt. Comparing the economy to a sick patient, the New York Times notes that “doctors cannot agree on a diagnosis, let alone administer an antidote with confidence.” Democrats and Republicans seem to have come to a consensus that no one is willing to spend serious money to help matters, raising worries that a long period of economic stagnation could be in the country’s future. The Fed’s governors also seem to disagree on what should be done, particularly due to fears of inflation. Even some who used to readily dismiss suggestions that politicians in Washington would allow the United States to sink into a cycle of stagnation similar to what Japan suffered in the 1990s are reconsidering. Alan Blinder, a former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, said there is a “much bigger risk” of a lost decade since the country’s political system has turned into “a paralyzed beast.”

Source: The New York Times