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At least 41 people were killed and 45 injured in a suicide car bombing in the north-western Shangla district of Pakistan Monday. Six security personnel were among the dead. The attack, which targeted an army vehicle, is the latest in a string of attacks in advance of Pakistan's expected offensive of the Taliban and al Qaeda stronghold of South Waizirstan. Meanwhile, the Taliban claimed credit for the audacious weekend siege of the Pakistani army's headquarters. A Taliban spokesman called the Associated Press to say that the weekend attack, which killed 20, is the first of a planned series aimed at avenging former leader Baitullah Mehsud, who was killed by a U.S. drone.
The health-insurance industry lashed out against health-care reform on Monday, issuing a report saying that the typical family premium in 2019 could cost $4,000 more than projected. The industry plans to circulate the report and promote it with advertisements, despite the fact that the administration spent much of the spring and summer wooing insurers. Administration officials went after the credibility of the report, noting that it was paid for by an insurance trade group. "Now that health-care reform grows ever closer, these health insurers are breaking out the same, tired playbook of deception to prevent millions of Americans from getting the affordable, accessible care they need," said a Senate Finance Committee spokesman. "It's a health insurance company hatchet job, plain and simple."
So the Large Hadron Collider physicists were trying to destroy the world? Dr. Adlène Hicheur, a French-Algerian scientist working at the CERN atomic collider, was arrested last week and charged on Sunday with terrorism offenses. French authorities, who placed Hicheur under surveillance after a tip from U.S. intelligence, claim to have intercepted electronic communication between the physicist and al Qaeda where Dr. Hicheur expressed interest in perpetrating an attack, leading French anti-terrorist judge Christophe Teissier to open a formal investigation and order the scientist’s detention. Teissier and French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux have come under criticism for what is seen by some as ill-considered and overpublicized arrest; detractors claim that the detention, committed before Hicheur had started any material preparation, came too early, and that the physicist should have been kept under surveillance so that more information about his contacts could have been obtained.
North Korea fired five short-range KN-02 rockets into the Sea of Japan off its eastern coast Monday and declared a navigation ban in waters on both sides of the peninsula it occupies, according to South Korean news agency Yonhap. The missile launches would be the first from North Korea since July 4, and come a week after leader Kim Jong-Il indicated in Pyongyang that his country would rejoin six-nation nuclear-disarmament talks if it was allowed direct one-on-one negotiations with the U.S. first. The country, which regularly fires missiles into coastal waters as part of regular training exercises, is a leading supplier of missiles to the developing world, having earned hundreds of millions of dollars from deals with Iran, Pakistan, Syria, and Egypt, among others, but has recently demonstrated a more conciliatory attitude. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said at a press conference that the United States’ “goals remain the same. We intend to work toward a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.”
After claiming Monday morning that he had co-written Michael Jackson’s new single “This Is It,” songwriter Paul Anka has been granted a 50 percent cut of the song, according to TMZ. Upon hearing the tune, Anka claimed that Jackson stole the original recordings from his studio back in the '80s and that his estate would be sued if they did not rectify the situation. The song, Anka told The New York Times, was written and recorded in 1980 in Anka’s Carmel, California, studio. After that date, Jackson took the tapes for himself. After he cried foul play on Monday, Anka received a phone call in the late afternoon from John McClain, a record executive and producer who serves as an executor to Jackson’s estate, telling him he’s been given co-authorship and a promise of “all due credit and royalties.” Now that it’s all said and done (read: he’ll get his dues), Anka called the incident simply an “honest mistake.”
The Navy's dirtiest hazing rituals are out in the open—but are they the actions of a single "rogue unit," or a pattern of abuse? Following news that female sailor Jennifer Valdivia committed suicide amid a hazing scandal with the Navy's Bahrain dog-handling unit, Joseph Rocha, a member from the same unit, penned a shocking Washington Post column outlining his own terrorized experience, including being forced to simulate oral sex on his superiors and being locked in feces-filled dog kennels for hours on end. Rocha, who is gay and came out after his service, blames Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell for promoting a culture that glosses over sexual abuses: “You can’t sexually assault someone who doesn’t exist.” Now, CNN reports that the Valdivia and Rocha weren’t alone: An internal Navy report documented more than 90 hazing abuses, including sailors "hog-tied," "force-fed liver dog treats," and "duct-taped to a chair, rolled outside, and then left in a dog kennel until released." CNN found sailors who confirmed Rocha's report of abuses from commanding officer Michael Toussaint (Valdivia was Toussaint's second-in-command) who promoted an "atmosphere of fear" that included forcing sailors to simulate oral sex on their superiors and making a video of a "cat fight" between several scantily clad female sailors. Toussaint has since been promoted, and Rocha says he still "loves the Navy," arguing that his experience in Bahrain "is not a representation of the military." Sen. Joe Sestak (D-PA)—himself a Navy veteran—has condemned the “rogue unit” and demanded recourse.
If a tree falls in an offshore bank account and the IRS isn't there to hear it... The federal government is cracking down on offshore tax havens, and they've given the holders of undeclared offshore bank accounts until October 15 to 'fess up and pay their fair share, plus a fine. The New York Times reports that several thousand wealthy Americans have come forward, but others are still weighing their options—and wondering whether their international banks and tax havens will ever give them up. One official called it a "high-stakes game": If caught after October 15, international tax evaders could face large fines or even prison. "A lot of people remain in denial and remain willing to take their chances," said a white-collar criminal-defense attorney who has dozens of clients with hidden accounts. Of those who have come forward, some admit to tax dodging, while others plead ignorance. Regardless, they have until Thursday to give it up, or test their luck.
With the economy still in the doldrums and North Korea firing missiles off its coast, it’s comforting to know that at least one elected official could survive in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Representative Jeff Flake (R-AZ), a 46-year-old father of five, recently spent seven days on an uninhabited island in the middle of the Pacific, spearing fish for food and purifying his own water. Kept company by a series of hermit crabs and at least three sharks, Flake kept a journal of his experiences and took photographs, including a shot of himself shirtless on the beach at sunset. The congressman wrote in his diary that he numbered each hermit crab he came across (becoming particularly fond of No. 1 and No. 12) and dreamed about baseball. He had been planning the trip for two years.
It only took 41 years for a woman to win a Nobel Prize for economics, but American Elinor Ostrom lived the dream Monday, along with Oliver Williamson. Ostrom and Williamson both won for their "analysis of economic governance," according to a statement by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Ostrom demonstrated how groups could successfully manage common property, while Williamson won for his theory on how business firms can serve as structures for conflict resolution. It's been a noble, prize-winning season for women; Oster is the fifth one to win this year.
Multimillion dollar contracts and eager groupies aside, are football players treated just as badly as dogs that are used for fights? And if so, where does that leave Michael Vick? In Malcom Gladwell’s latest New Yorker piece on unexpected connections, the Outliers author compares the damage inflicted on some athletes—namely football players and boxers—to the injuries suffered by fighting dogs, and the irresponsibility of managers handling both the animals and the athletes. The classic national pastime has been historically violent and “gladiatorial,” and Gladwell argues that it comes from a desire to please coaches and owners parallel to the way dogs fight for their owners. New findings show that the constant head trauma and lack of recovery time in football leads former players stunningly high rates of brain damage and symptoms similar to Alzheimer’s. All that tackling leaves visible marks on the brain, described by one researcher as “the kind of scar[s] you’d get only if you used your head as a battering ram.”
The Jay Leno Show is messing up NBC. His ratings have leveled off to about 5 million viewers per night, and Leno's 10 p.m. show has created a domino affect of plunging ratings. Law & Order SVU used to run in Leno's 10 p.m. slot on Tuesday and was the leading drama, but at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, it finishes last. Conan is suffering at The Tonight Show, as are local newscasts at 11 p.m. which blame low ratings partially on the 10:30 p.m wasteland that precedes them. Producers of 10 p.m. dramas on several networks have described NBC's current state as a "complete calamity" and "utter disaster".
The cheery-faced cast members of the FOX hit show Glee won’t be appearing at this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, according to TMZ. The network that airs the Parade, NBC, has allegedly banned the Glee cast from attending. Macy’s had invited the cast, but NBC ordered the department store to cancel the deal. The news comes, ironically, on the same day that The New York Times declared “Glee” a success and NBC’s Leno experiment a bust. Last week, Glee cast recordings accounted for 10 spots on the iTunes list of top 200 downloaded songs and the show attracted an average 7.8 million viewers, while Leno’s new foray has been described as a “complete calamity” that only brings in about 5 million viewers a night.
The court is apparently an important forum for White House politics. For Obama it’s basketball. And for the president’s economic team, it’s tennis. When top advisors aren’t trying to salvage the economy, they’re often on the tennis court, a go-to place for blowing off steam, sharpening their skills, and even flushing out their relationships with each other. Obama’s chief economic adviser Larry Summers, known for his blunt personality and strategies, “hits the crap out of the ball,” said MIT economics professor John Gruber. Some of the men even rank one another: "[Gene] Sperling [Geithner’s aide] is better than any of us," Summers says. "I was probably second-best at hitting the ball, but I don’t move as well—I’m not as fast. So I would say Geithner or I were probably second-best." Summers, Geithner, and other advisors and aides have played six double matches since Obama was elected, but many of the court relationships began in the 1990s while Clinton was in office.
An interesting tidbit from The New York Times article about the Obama administration’s escalating war with Fox News: Fox Business is courting CNN firebrand Lou Dobbs, who had lunch with Fox’s chairman, Roger Ailes, last month. Should he jump ship, Dobbs might find himself square in the Obama administration’s sights, like the rest of Fox. “We’re going to treat them the way we would treat an opponent,” said Anita Dunn, the White House communications director, of the network. “As they are undertaking a war against Barack Obama and the White House, we don’t need to pretend that this is the way that legitimate news organizations behave.” Fox’s ratings are at an all-time high.
The story of Sreypov Chan would be unbelievable as fiction, let alone as a true account of a young girl’s life. Chan was sold to a brothel in Phnom Penh when she was 7 years old. Between the ages of 7 and 10, pimps forced Chan to have sex with up to 20 men a day. When she initially refused sex, a pimp forced her to drink a client’s urine, then covered her with biting ants, and beat her with an electric cable. When she still refused, he put hot chili peppers and a hot metal rod up her vagina, then let the client rape her. The woman who sold her to the brothel? Her mother. “I wanted to die,” said Chan, now 20, in an exclusive Marie Claire interview. Although Chan’s experience is unfathomable, she is considered lucky to have escaped (after two failed attempts). Chan, who says she can’t be with a man ever again, now works for a center for rescued sex workers.
It seems that a pattern is emerging in late night talk shows. Jimmy Kimmel’s rep has confirmed that the late night host is dating one of his staff members—co-head writer Molly McNearney. The relationship is several months old and McNearney, 31, reached her current position in 2008 before she began dating Kimmel, unnamed sources told E! News. Lucky for the host, the relationship is without blackmail and extortion, and “during work hours, they keep things professional,” a source told People. This is Kimmel’s first on-the-record relationship since splitting with Sarah Silverman in March. "After Jimmy and Sarah broke up, Molly and Jimmy both found themselves single, and they clicked," said the source told People. "They're really happy together."
The recession has been trickling upward. According to The Wall Street Journal, foreclosure rates are rising in the housing market's top tiers. In June, 30 percent of foreclosures involved homes in the top third of the housing market, up from 15 percent when the crisis began three years ago, while the bottom third of housing markets accounts for 35 percent of foreclosures, down from 55 percent in 2006, the paper said, citing new data from Zillow.com, a real-estate Web site. Foreclosures in expensive markets have accelerated as home values in those markets fall, leaving an estimated one-in-four homeowners with mortgages valued higher than their homes.
Michael Jackson has been at the top of the charts since his death in June, and with a new single, “This is It,” that’s likely where he’ll stay. At Midnight on Sunday, Jackson’s new single hit radio waves, in anticipation of his upcoming film of the same name. Security has been tight around the song’s release: radio stations were told on Friday that they would receive the song on Sunday night. But despite protections, 43 seconds of the song were leaked, possibly by Sony in Japan. The song was built from a tape Jackson is believed to have recorded in the early 90s (though it could have been made much earlier) featuring only his vocals and piano, and the final version features a rich string arrangement and backup vocals from his brothers.
A five-sided, consumerist bit of America has rubbed off on China, which has duplicated the U.S. Pentagon building in Shanghai—but will use it to house a massive shopping center. The replica--which was begun in 2003 and is just now having its roof sealed--is even bigger than the original, a 40-minute car ride from the center of Shanghai, and cost about $236 million to construct. A spokesman for the project said it was "inspired" by the Pentagon's appearance and "is actually a very smart design" that lets people "circulate freely inside." The U.S. Pentagon was reportedly designed so that workers could reach any office in under seven minutes by foot. The Shanghai building has "signed thousands of tenants already, including a number of Western brands," according to a spokesman, who declined to cite specifics. However, it is known that the U.N. will also place its procurement and logistics center in the building.
Hillary Clinton is standing by her new presidential man. In a Today Show interview with Ann Curry, the secretary of State said she felt Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize thanks to "his attitude toward America's role in the world" and the way his "willingness to really kind of challenge everyone" is restoring "a kind of image and appreciation of our country." Clinton also said that the prize wouldn't change Obama's decisions about Afghanistan, including the current debate over whether to boost troop numbers. In a response to a question about whether the administration was marginalizing her, Clinton said, "I believe in delegating power," adding "maybe that is a woman's thing. Maybe I am totally secure and feel absolutely no need to go running around in order for people to see what I'm doing."
Laughter is ringing through the Iraq National Theater for the first time in six years. Although nightlife is beginning to return to Baghdad, as residents feel more comfortable eating at restaurants after dark, the theater is a rare evening pleasure in a city where cinemas remain closed at night. The play, To Enjoy the Sweetness You Must Taste the Bitterness, is written, directed, and produced by Iraqis. A number of local television stars comprise the cast. The play, a comedy, hints at Iraq's bubbling sectarian tension. In it, two friends fight after one falls in love with the other's sister, but after a spaceship lifts the men to Neptune, they have to put aside their differences and get along. Producer Essam al-Abassi said, "I am trying to send a message to the people that in the end there are no differences."
Obama’s speech to the Human Rights Campaign on Saturday isn’t likely to ease tensions with the gay community after this: When asked about Sunday’s gay-rights march in D.C., CNBC chief Washington correspondent John Harwood said, “Barack Obama is doing well with 90 percent or more of Democrats so the White House views this opposition as really part of the Internet left fringe.” One administration adviser told Harwood that “those bloggers need to take off the pajamas, get dressed, and realize that governing a closely divided country is complicated and difficult.”
A week after the hoping that General Stanley McChrystal would put House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “in her place,” it seems the GOP has found a place of its own for Pelosi: their attack ads for 2010. Attacks on Pelosi will be “a major part” of the GOP’s 2010 electoral strategy, according to The Wall Street Journal. During the August recess, the GOP ran a dozen ads linking members of congress to Pelosi, and an anti-Pelosi ad is currently running in an upstate New York district preparing for a special election. A recent Wall Street Journal poll found 44 percent of Americans had a negative view of Pelosi, while 27 percent had a positive one. The New York Times, meanwhile, sees a template for a Democratic 2010 strategy in the nasty New Jersey governor’s race: “Its shorthand description: winning ugly.”
Sure, it had a good run, but email is no longer king of the Internet. The shift from email to real-time services such as Facebook, Twitter, and the upcoming Google Wave reflects a change in Internet technology. We no longer log off and on and check messages in bursts, instead we're constantly wired in, and the shift to the next generation of social networking services reflects that. As The Wall Street Journal puts it, "Why wait for a response to an email when you get a quicker answer over instant messaging?" However, the speed and ease of personal communication may have some downsides. Updates can feel impersonal because they're blasted out to 500 followers, and the constant barrage of information can make weeding out engagement announcements from shower schedules—important updates from unimportant ones—more difficult.
Pakistani police warned the military in July that the audacious raid on their headquarters was being planned, intelligence officials said Sunday. The mastermind of the attack also planned two other major attacks in the past two years, including the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore earlier this year. Nine men wearing army uniforms held dozens hostage for 20 hours until a raid ended the siege on Saturday. Eight of the attackers were killed, leaving only Muhammad Aqeel, who officials say is the mastermind of the attack. The criminal investigation department of the police wrote a letter warning that the military’s headquarters would be attacked. The letter was reprinted in the leading newspaper on October 5. The fact that the military was warned further calls into question their ability to fight off militants and keep their nuclear arsenal safe from the Taliban, The New York Times reports, though Hillary Clinton brushed aside the question of the nukes’ safety on Sunday. One of the attackers wore a suicide bomb jacket, but was killed in the siege before he could detonate himself. Another suicide bomber did blow himself up, bringing down the roof and injuring some captives. In all, 16 people were killed.
Men the world over will be sighing wistfully today. Mad Men's Christina Hendricks, 34, better known as voluptuous office bombshell Joan, married fiancé and actor Geoffrey Arend, 31, at Il Buco restaurant in New York on Saturday, People reports. Mad Men co-star Vincent Kartheiser, who plays Pete Campbell, introduced the happy couple, who exchanged luxurious platinum wedding bands.
Microsoft admitted over the weekend that a technical problem has resulted in the loss of contacts, photos, and other data for unlucky T-Mobile Sidekick users. For more than a week, many Sidekick users have had trouble accessing the Internet, phone contacts, and calendar appointments that are stored on servers operated by Microsoft. Now, online access is restored, but many subscribers might not ever be able to recover their personal data. People who reset their Sidekicks by removing the battery or allowing all the power to drain away are most at risk of losing the phone's information. There are more than a million Sidekick users. The snafu is an embarrassment for Microsoft, which has been trying to turn around its reputation in the cellphone industry.
A notorious hijacker who commandeered a plane of passengers to Havana 40 years ago has been caught in Cuba, where he’s been hiding the past four decades, officials say. Luis Armando Peña Soltren, 66, is the U.S.’s longest wanted fugitive. He burst into the cockpit of a Pan Am flight in November 1968 and demanded that it be flown to Cuba, authorities said. Prosecutors say Soltren, two other men, and a fourth female accomplice were armed with guns and knives that the woman had stuffed into a diaper bag. Soltren will be arraigned tomorrow. His wife and children live in the United States, and Soltren made it known to U.S. officials that he wanted to come home and face charges. The three other people involved have already been tried—one was acquitted and two were sentenced to 15 years in prison.
On a weekend when gay rights were in the headlines, a reminder of how far there is left to go: Jack Price, an openly gay man, was left in critical condition on Friday after an attack by two men who targeted him for his sexual orientation. Price, 49, was going for a pack of cigarettes when Daniel Altman, 26, and another at-large suspect allegedly attacked him, calling him a “faggot.” "Look what they did to him because he is gay," Price's sister-in-law said. "It is in God's hands right now. There is nothing more they can do for him."
The Democratic National Committee has agreed to cancel a television ad touting bipartisan support for health-care reform when former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole objected to being mentioned. Dole is quoted saying: "I want this to pass. ... We've got to do something," in the ad, which also quotes Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. "I just didn't think it was fair, when I've tried to be helpful in encouraging a bipartisan solution, for the DNC to run an ad that I interpreted and I know others did as a backhanded comment about Republicans," Dole said on Sunday. Dole complained to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, who told the DNC to stop the ad from running. President Obama cited Dole's support for reform in his weekly address last week. "I still believe a compromise is there. No one I know is flatly against health-care reform," Dole said.
