America mourns former president George H.W. Bush

College Station (United States) - Flags flew at half-staff across the United States on Saturday as Americans prepared for a week of solemn tributes to George H.W. Bush, in his home state of Texas and in the US Capitol, a day after the former president died at age 94.

Tributes poured in from world leaders in memory of the 41st US president, who guided America through the end of the Cold War and launched the international campaign to drive Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein's forces from Kuwait.

Many of those same leaders are expected to attend Bush's state funeral next week, alongside President Donald Trump and his wife Melania. Trump was notably absent from the funerals of the statesman's late wife Barbara, and of veteran fellow Republican John McCain.

Although the two Republican presidents were in many ways polar opposites -- the soft-spoken, patrician Bush reportedly once dismissed the blustering New Yorker as a "blowhard" and even voted for his rival Hillary Clinton -- Trump paid the late leader a gracious tribute, saying he had "inspired generations of his fellow Americans to public service."

"His accomplishments were great from beginning to end," Trump tweeted.

Declaring a national day of mourning for December 5 -- when the federal government and New York Stock Exchange will close in Bush's honor -- Trump also signaled his respect by calling off a press conference planned at the G20 summit in Buenos Aires.

The days-long national farewell to Bush will begin Monday with a commemoration in Houston, where the Bushes lived for years and where he died on Friday surrounded by friends and family.

From there, Bush's casket will travel to Washington on board Trump's presidential aircraft -- in what the US leader called "a special tribute that he deserves very much."

The former president will lie in state in the US Capitol between Monday and Wednesday ahead of a state funeral at the towering National Cathedral, expected to draw dozens of dignitaries from around the world.

Bush's remains will travel back to Texas on Wednesday, where he will lie in repose at St Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston with a funeral service the next day preceding his interment at the George Bush Presidential Library in College Station. He will make his final journey aboard a funeral train.

At the presidential library on Saturday, people came to sign the memorial book in Bush's honor, or lay flowers at the feet of his statue.

Chris Griffin, a student at the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University who helped organize a candlelight vigil Saturday, said: "I think his legacy is really what inspires all of us."

- 'Grace, civility and social conscience' -

Bush was a decorated World War II pilot, diplomat and onetime CIA chief who saw his son George follow in his footsteps to the Oval Office -- making them only the second father-son duo in American presidential history, after John and John Quincy Adams.

From former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to current heads of state, leaders praised Bush both for his strength and his moderation, as well as the commitment to internationalism typified by his assembling of a global coalition to oust Iraqi invaders from Kuwait in 1991.

Jimmy Carter, now the oldest surviving former US president, said Bush's administration "was marked by grace, civility and social conscience."

Britain took the rare step of lowering flags in government buildings.

Gorbachev called him "a true partner" in winding down the Cold War, and French President Emmanuel Macron mourned the loss of a leader who "strongly supported the alliance with Europe."

Suffering from Parkinson's disease, Bush had been wheelchair-bound and in failing health. He is survived by his five living children and 17 grandchildren.

Former secretary of state James Baker recounted anecdotes from his longtime friend's final days to The New York Times.

He said Bush's last words were to the younger George, who was put on the speaker phone to say goodbye, saying he had been a "wonderful dad" and that he loved him.

"I love you, too," Bush replied.

- 'New world order' -

Born on June 12, 1924 in Milton, Massachusetts into a wealthy political dynasty, Bush left school to join the US Navy during World War II. He was rescued at sea after being shot down over the Pacific.

After graduating from Yale University, he briefly worked in the Texas oil industry.

But the world of politics was calling this son of a US senator.

He served in the US House of Representatives, as Washington's envoy to China and as chief of the Central Intelligence Agency before becoming Ronald Reagan's vice president.

Eight years later, in accepting his party's nomination for president in 1988, Bush pleaded for a "kinder, and gentler nation."

Bush was a foreign policy pragmatist who led the United States through the turbulent end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union.

He declared a "new world order" in 1990 and -- backed by a 32-nation coalition -- drove Iraq from Kuwait with a lightning air and ground assault.

The crushing sanctions he imposed on Iraq, however, were blamed by Iraqis for thousands of deaths, drawing him the bitter nickname of "Mr Embargo."

And Panamanians said his invasion of their country in 1989 claimed hundreds of civilian lives.

But it was primarily a weak economy at home that cost him the 1992 election, won by upstart Democrat Bill Clinton.

In his later years, Bush turned to philanthropy, joining forces with Clinton to raise funds for victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and with ex-presidents Clinton, Carter, Barack Obama and son George to raise money for hurricane victims in Texas last year.

source: philstar.com

Trump flips on trade pact, weighs rejoining Pacific-Rim deal

WASHINGTON — In a striking reversal, President Donald Trump has asked trade officials to explore the possibility of the United States rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, a free trade deal he pulled out of during his first days in office as part of his "America first" agenda.

Trump's request comes as he faces pressure from farm-state Republicans anxious that his protectionist trade policies could spiral into a trade war with China that would hit rural America. Trump spent the 2016 presidential campaign ripping into the multi-national pact, saying he could get a better deal for U.S. businesses by negotiating one-on-one with countries in the Pacific Rim. Now, faced with political consequences of the action, Trump appears to be reconsidering.

"Last year, the president kept his promise to end the TPP deal negotiated by the Obama Administration because it was unfair to American workers and farmers," the White House said in a statement. The president assigned his top trade advisers, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and his new chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, "to take another look at whether or not a better deal could be negotiated."

Trump first disclosed his request Thursday to a group of lawmakers at a White House meeting on trade. Lawmakers have been pressing Trump to shift course after escalating trade threats, including China's plan to slap tariffs on soybeans and other U.S. crops.

The apparent decision comes after the 11 other TPP countries went ahead last month and signed the pact in Santiago, Chile — without the United States. The agreement is meant to establish freer trade in the Asia-Pacific region and put pressure on China to open its markets to compete with and perhaps eventually join the bloc.

It was not immediately clear how committed Trump was to embarking on a new path of potentially thorny negotiations. Trump frequently equivocates on policy when faced with opposition, only to reverse course later.

"I'm sure there are lots of particulars that they'd want to negotiate, but the president multiple times reaffirmed in general to all of us and looked right at Larry Kudlow and said, 'Larry, go get it done,'" said Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., who attended the meeting.

The president has mused publicly about rejoining the deal before, suggesting he would re-enter if he could negotiate more favorable terms. He has not said precisely what provisions he would want changed.

It's unclear how willing the other 11 countries would be to reopen the agreement and make concessions to lure the United States back, though its economic power would likely be an appeal.

"If the Trump administration doesn't pose too many demands, it is likely that the other TPP members will see the value of the bringing the U.S. back into the fold," said Eswar Prasad, Cornell University professor of trade policy. "Undoubtedly, a TPP that includes the U.S. would be stronger and more formidable than one that does not."

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been renewing their pitches for TPP — rather than Trump's threats of steep tariffs on steel and other products — as a way to counter China on trade. Sen Ron Johnson, R-Wis., was among a handful of senators who recently visited China to meet with government and business leaders there. He said it's time to work with a coalition of trading partners to increase pressure on China.

"I have to believe President Xi is smiling all the way to regional domination as a result of our pulling out of TPP. I don't think we can get back into the TPP soon enough," Johnson said when talking to reporters about the trip.

Meanwhile, administration officials are escalating their pressure campaign against China. Kudlow said last week the U.S. may soon release a list of products that would be subject to the new tariffs Trump has threatened to slap on $100 billion in Chinese goods. And the U.S. Treasury is working on plans to restrict Chinese technology investments in the United States.

Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, which was highly critical of U.S. involvement in a pact it viewed as lowering labor and environmental standards, said Trump's reversal on the issue would signal that the president "cannot be trusted on anything," said Lori Wallach, the group's director.

The U.S. International Trade Commission, an independent federal agency, has projected in 2016 that TPP would increase economic growth and create jobs, but the gains would be small: After 15 years, the deal would add just 128,000 jobs, an increase of less than a tenth of 1 percent. Exports would increase, but imports would increase more. Agriculture and the business services industry would see gains, but manufacturing output and employment would decrease slightly under TPP.

In the meeting with farm state lawmakers, Trump also suggested the possibility of directing the Environmental Protection Agency to allow year-round sales of renewable fuel with blends of 15 percent ethanol.

The EPA currently bans the 15-percent blend, called E15, during the summer because of concerns that it contributes to smog on hot days. Gasoline typically contains 10 percent ethanol. Farm state lawmakers have pushed for greater sales of the higher ethanol blend to boost demand for the corn-based fuel.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum said Trump made some "pretty positive statements" about allowing the year-round use of E-15 ethanol, which could help corn growers.

The White House meetings came as an array of business executives and trade groups expressed concerns at a congressional hearing about the impact that tariffs will have on their business. Still, there were some supporters, too.

"Withdrawing the threat of tariffs without achieving results would be tantamount to waiving the white flag of trade surrender," said Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.

__

Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey, Jill Colvin, Paul Wiseman and Matthew Daly in Washington and James MacPherson in Bismarck, North Dakota, contributed.

source: philstar.com

North Korea missile fears in Japan: 'Whatever will be, will be'

FUSSA, Japan — Residents living near US military bases in Japan are facing a fresh reality: Their neighborhoods are on the frontline of North Korea's dispute with America and if Pyongyang were to attack they would have just minutes to shelter from incoming missiles.

"It's impossible. There is no way we can run away from it," said Seijiro Kurosawa, a 58-year-old taxi driver in Fussa, near Yokota Air Base. "We don't have bunkers, shelters or anything like that."

His company recently instructed drivers to park their cabs and take immediate refuge in the event of an attack, but he isn't sure where he could go. "All we can do is run into a department store perhaps," he said.

A possible missile strike and what to do about it have dominated TV talk shows and other media in Japan in recent weeks as regional tension has spiked, with the North Korean regime continuing to test-fire rockets and President Donald Trump sending an aircraft carrier to nearby waters in a show of force.

North Korea has yet to reach its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile that can reach the US mainland, but its current arsenal is capable of striking the 50,000 US troops stationed across Japan.

The government raised caution levels in March after Pyongyang said four ballistic missiles that landed a few hundred kilometers off Japan's coast were meant to simulate a nuclear strike on US bases there.

While Japanese tabloids and television programs have reported on nuclear shelters ordered by a handful of rich people or touted gas masks as a more affordable option, it's largely business as usual in Fussa, a town of 58,000 people in Tokyo's western suburbs.

"Whatever will be, will be," said 34-year-old Jumpei Takemiya, who runs a shoe repair shop across from Yokota Air Base. "Just think calmly about it. Is Yokota really going to be the first one to be hit? I doubt it, and frankly I'm not so nervous," he said.

Looking out his shop window, he added: "As you can see, there is no heightened security or any other unusual development around here."

For 75-year-old Yoshio Takagi, the talk of North Korean missiles brings back memories of World War II, when he had to temporarily relocate to a rural village to avoid American bombs falling in and around Tokyo that killed his two older brothers. He remains opposed to the use of weapons, but is also realistic about current circumstances.

"Tension has escalated and the situation has become more unpredictable under Trump," he said. "But Japan relies on the US military and there is a base here. I think we just have to accept the consequences."

Visits to a government crisis management website surged to the millions in April from a previous record of tens of thousands in March, as the government tweeted and put out fresh instructions for what to do in the event of a missile attack.

The instructions are simple: If you are outdoors, take refuge in strong buildings or underground shopping arcades and if no such facilities are nearby, drop to the ground and cover your head. A chemical weapon is possible, so the instructions advise covering your nose and mouth with a cloth and shutting doors and windows.

A first-ever missile attack drill was held in March in Akita prefecture in northern Japan, and the government recently instructed all 47 prefectures to draw up plans quickly for similar drills. So far, only two others — Yamagata in the north and Nagasaki, home to Sasebo naval base, in the south — have started to make concrete plans for drills in the coming months.

"We need to plan carefully in order to raise awareness, not to scare off the public," said Keiko Nakajima, a Tokyo crisis response official.

Some think the risk is overblown.

North Korea is "mostly bluffing its military capability, and the missile scare is further hyped up largely by TV," said Hiroki Fujii, a 40-year-old utility employee who lives near Yokota.

Akinori Otani worries more about a US military plane crashing in the area. At bases around Japan, residents have raised concern about the safety of the tilt-rotor MV-22 "Osprey" aircraft.

"Ospreys are actually flying around," said Otani, a 42-year-old resident of Hamura, another town near Yokota. "I'm more concerned about them than a missile that I think is unlikely to hit us."

In the southwestern town of Iwakuni, home to a US Marine Corps air station, residents began asking about attack response plans after the area was mentioned on TV among possible targets, said Yuji Yamaguchi, an emergency response official there.

He questioned whether it is possible to predict a missile's course and issue an alert before it reaches Japan and said that without such information, drawing up an evacuation scenario is difficult.

It is believed that it would take about 10 minutes for a North Korean missile to reach Japan, yet when the four missiles landed off the coast in March, it wasn't until 20 minutes after that the government notified local fishermen.

For Reiko Naya, who runs a gift shop just outside the Yokota base, she is concerned that the tension may be used by the government as a justification to bolster Japan's military capability.

"Japan has renounced war, but it seems we are gradually getting embroiled into a conflict," she said. "We thought North Korean missiles would never reach Japan, but after all these tests, they now seem routine. Eventually, one of them might come flying."

source: philstar.com

Trump expected to slash foreign aid, environmental spending in first budget plan

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump is set to propose drastic cuts to America's foreign aid and environmental programs in a security-heavy first budget blueprint to be released Thursday.

In a plan designed to translate bold campaign promises into dollar and cent commitments, the Republican leader is expected to propose steep cuts in State Department funding.

That could be a harbinger of reductions in foreign aid and funding to UN agencies, with knock-on effects around the world.

The Pentagon is expected to be the major winner with a nearly 10 percent boost -- shoveling more cash toward a defense budget already greater than that of the next seven nations combined.

Trump's broad-brush proposal covers only a fraction of the $3.8 trillion federal budget -- which is dominated by healthcare, pension and other baked-in costs.

The text will be heavily revised and fleshed out by Congress, before a full budget is released around May.

In that sense, the plan is as much a political statement as a fiscal outline: a fact not lost on the White House.

Playing to the base

The budget is a signal to Trump's supporters that he is a "man of action" and not a "typical politician."

Trump is looking to rally his base, amid multiple controversies over his Twitter outbursts, Russian meddling in the election that brought him to power and a simmering rift with Congressional Republicans over healthcare reform.

According to Gallup, Trump has approval ratings of 40 percent, a low for any modern president weeks into his tenure.

But security has been a major vote winner. An Economist/YouGov poll found that 51 percent of Republicans believe the United States will be safer from terrorism at the end of his term.

The budget may also be seen as a signal to the world that Trump's United States may be less engaged and will put "America first."

Diplomats and some former defense officials have already warned that less spending on things like democracy promotion and humanitarian aid will spell more trouble, and military spending, down the road.

More than 120 retired generals and admirals recently signed a letter warning "that many of the crises our nation faces do not have military solutions alone."

They cited Jim Mattis, now defense secretary, as once saying "if you don't fully fund the State Department, then I need to buy more ammunition."

'Drastic cuts'

The Environmental Protection Agency, which helps monitor air, water and other standards, is also likely to see significant cuts.

That is in keeping with Trump's promise to gut regulation.

On Wednesday, Trump traveled to Michigan, the home of the American auto industry -- and announced he will freeze targets to limit future vehicle emissions.

Trump's top advisor Steve Bannon has promised a broader "'deconstruction of the administrative state."

But Trump's plan is already coming under fire from Democratic lawmakers.

"It will prescribe drastic cuts in many of the programs and agencies that keep America safe, whether it's environmental programs, whether it is food safety, drug safety," said Kentucky representative John Yarmuth.

The ranking member on the House budget committee speculated that the proposal could be a negotiating position, an opening salvo in Trump's "art of the deal."

"If they want to negotiate with the health and safety and future of the American people, then that's pretty cynical," he said.

source: interaksyon.com

Trump’s attacks on courts over travel ban dismay his own SC pick

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump renewed his attack on the courts Wednesday, describing them as "so political" as a panel of judges weigh his executive order barring refugees and visitors from seven mainly Muslim countries.

The contentious ban has been frozen by the courts and has embroiled Trump in an arm wrestle with the judicial branch, less than three weeks into his presidency.

Speaking to police chiefs and sheriffs, Trump condemned as "disgraceful" a hearing Tuesday in which three federal appeals judges heard arguments appeared skeptical about the government's case to reinstate the ban.

"Courts seem to be so political," he said.

Trump's comments have sparked a firestorm in a country where such personal and vitriolic attacks by a president on another, independent branch of government are rare.

The uproar extended to Trump's own Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch.

He described Trump's attack on the Seattle judge who froze the ban as "disheartening" and "demoralizing," according to spokesman Ron Bonjean.

Trump's ban was suspended nationwide on Friday, after two US states sought to have it overturned on grounds of religious discrimination and because it had caused "irreparable injury."

New attorney general

The agency tasked with defending the ban in court amid the legal standoff got its new chief, after the US Senate overrode fierce opposition to confirm Jeff Sessions as attorney general.

His nomination process saw fierce debate about his civil rights record and Democratic concern over whether he serves as the top US law enforcement officer independent from President Donald Trump.

In the hearing before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a Justice Department lawyer argued that the president had clear authority to order the ban on national security grounds.

"This is a traditional national security judgment that is assigned to the political branches and the president," August Flentje said.

Critics of the ban claim it violates the US Constitution by discriminating against people on the basis of their religion.

"Has the government pointed to any evidence connecting these countries with terrorism?" asked Judge Michelle Friedland, who was appointed by Barack Obama.

Flentje said the government had not had an opportunity to present such evidence, given the speed at which the case had moved.

The court must decide whether to maintain the lower court's suspension, modify it or lift it. The ruling by the judges -- two were appointed by Democratic presidents and a third by a Republican -- is expected before the end of the week.

The case is likely to eventually wind up on appeal in the US Supreme Court, which currently is short-handed and evenly divided between liberal and conservative justices. A tie there would leave in place the appeals court decision.

Should Trump's nominee to fill the vacant seat be confirmed by the Senate, he could break the tie.

'Horrible, dangerous and wrong'

Trump vented his frustration in tweets, referring to the ban's suspension as "the horrible, dangerous and wrong decision."

He went further in a rambling speech to the law enforcement chiefs, which at points drew polite applause.

"It's really incredible to me that we have a court case that's going on so long," he said.

Trump then read out the text of a law -- interspersed with his commentary -- that confers on the president authority to suspend entry to any alien or class of alien deemed detrimental to the interests of the United States.

His decree summarily denied entry to all refugees for 120 days, and travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. Refugees from Syria were blocked indefinitely.

Top administration officials have argued it is needed to keep out Islamic State and Al-Qaeda fighters migrating from Middle East hotspots, insisting time is needed to implement stricter vetting procedures.

Travel analysis firm ForwardKeys says travel bookings to the United States fell 6.5 percent the week after the ban, compared to last year, with a sharp drop in numbers from the targeted countries.

Blame shifting

The sudden rollout of the restrictions, and their blanket nature, sparked protests and international condemnation. Polls now show eroding public support for the move in the United States, amid jubilant scenes at airports of returning immigrants.

Shifting the blame to his security advisers, Trump said he had proposed giving a one-month notice, but his law enforcement experts told him "people will pour in before the toughness."

"I think it's sad, I think it's a sad day," Trump said.

"I think our security is at risk today, and it will be at risk until such time as we are entitled and get what we are entitled to as citizens of this country, as chiefs, as sheriffs of this country. We want security."

source: interaksyon.com

Trump signs executive order against Obamacare

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump on Friday signed an executive order aimed at limiting the "burden" of the Obamacare health law that the incoming US leader has vowed to repeal.

During the signing in the Oval Office, Trump's chief of staff Reince Priebus described the order as aimed at "minimizing the economic burden" of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, "pending repeal."

Doing away with Barack Obama's signature domestic achievement is a top priority for Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress and, since Trump's inauguration Friday, the White House.

In their view, Obamacare -- which aimed to ensure healthcare for the millions of Americans who are neither covered by public insurance, nor by their employers -- marked a costly drift toward socialized, European-style medical care.

Until lawmakers are able to repeal Obamacare, "it is imperative for the executive branch to... take all actions consistent with law to minimize the unwarranted economic and regulatory burdens of the Act, and prepare to afford the States more flexibility and control to create a more free and open healthcare market," the executive order said.

The order instructs the US health secretary and other departments and agencies to "exercise all authority and discretion available to them to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation of any provision or requirement of the Act" that imposes a fiscal burden or other cost on a state, on consumers, on insurers or on a range of healthcare providers.

Trump has pledged to start undoing the divisive health law on his first day in office, while also declaring it inconceivable that poor Americans are locked out of coverage.

The president has said the law should be repealed and replaced "simultaneously," a stiff challenge given the complexity of America's vast health care system.

Obamacare added more than 20 million people onto insurance rolls, lowering the percentage of Americans without coverage from 16 percent in 2010 to 8.9 percent last year.

Republicans are pledging a repeal of Obamacare -- which has been blamed for sharply rising insurance premiums -- and rapid votes on a replacement bill in order to prevent gaps in coverage and reassure a restless insurance industry.

Only one third of the US population is covered by public insurance -- either Medicare, for those over age 65, or Medicaid for the poorest Americans.

Half of all Americans are insured through their employers, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, while about seven percent are covered through the so-called individual market, which serves those who are self-employed or are employees without coverage through work.

Obama's solution rested largely on requiring that everyone be insured, and providing federal subsidies to those who cannot afford coverage.

Republicans deemed the first requirement too coercive, and the latter too costly.

source: interaksyon.com

At long last, Americans decide between Clinton and Trump

NEW YORK - Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump face the judgment of the voters on Tuesday as millions of Americans turn out on Election Day to pick the next US president and end a bruising campaign that polls said favored Clinton.

In a battle centered largely on the character of the candidates, Clinton, 69, a former secretary of state and first lady, and Trump, 70, a New York businessman, made their final, fervent appeals to supporters late on Monday to turn out to vote.

Their final week of campaigning was a grinding series of get-out-the-vote rallies across battleground states where the election is likely to be decided.

"We choose to believe in a hopeful, inclusive, big-hearted America," Clinton said in Philadelphia before a crowd of 33,000 - the biggest of her campaign.

She was joined by Democratic President Barack Obama, his wife Michelle, and Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton

Trump made one of his final appearances late on Monday in Manchester, New Hampshire, where polls showed a tight race.

“Tomorrow, the American working class will strike back,” Trump said. “It’s about time.”

He brought much of his family on stage for his last rally in the state where he scored his first victory in the Republican nomination fight.

First woman president

Clinton went into Election Day as the favorite to become the first US woman president after spending eight years in the White House as the first lady in the 1990s.

A Reuters/Ipsos States of the Nation poll gave Clinton a 90 percent chance of defeating Trump and said she was on track to win 303 Electoral College votes out of 270 needed, to Trump's 235.

But Trump advisers said the level of his support was not apparent in the polling and believed the New York businessman was in position for an upset victory along the lines of the "Brexit" vote in June to pull Britain from the European Union.

"We have seen enormous momentum," said deputy Trump campaign manager Dave Bossie.

Financial markets brightened in reaction to the latest twists in what has been a volatile presidential campaign. Global stock markets and the US dollar surged, putting them on track for their biggest gains in weeks.

Investors, who see Clinton as a known quantity, were buoyed by an announcement on Sunday by FBI Director James Comey that cleared Clinton of a cloud of controversy involving her use of a private email server while President Barack Obama's secretary of state from 2009 to 2013.

While opinion polls showed a close race, but tilting toward Clinton, major bookmakers and online exchanges were more confident of a Clinton victory. PredictIt put her chances of capturing the White House at 81 percent.

Both Clinton and Trump planned to vote on Tuesday - she in Chappaqua, New York, and he in Manhattan. They were then to hold victory rallies about a mile apart in the evening in New York City.

Eyes on Florida, North Carolina
An early indicator of the strength of each candidate could come in North Carolina and Florida, two must-win states for Trump that have been the subject of frantic last-minute efforts by both the Republican and Democratic campaigns.

Races in both those states were shifting from favoring Clinton to being too close to call.

A strong vote for Clinton could jeopardize Republican control of the US Senate, as voters choose 34 senators of the 100-member chamber. Democrats needed a net gain of five seats to win control. The 435-seat House of Representatives was expected, however, to remain in Republican hands.

Voters had to choose between Clinton, who has vowed to largely continue the policies of Democrat Obama, and Trump, who has never held public office and has positioned himself as a change agent. Both were viewed unfavorably by majorities of voters.

The long-running US election campaign has been one of the most negative in American history with each candidate accusing the other of lacking the character and judgment to be president.

Trump, a former reality TV star, reveled in the drama and seized the spotlight time and again with provocative comments about Muslims and women, attacks against the Republican establishment and bellicose appeals to build a wall along the US southern border with Mexico to stem illegal immigration.

But the spotlight was not always kind to Trump, with the release of a 2005 video in which he boasted about groping women damaging his campaign and leaving him on the defensive for critical weeks.

Clinton, a former US senator with a penchant for secrecy, sustained damaging blows of her own linked to her handling of classified information as the country's top diplomat. FBI Director Comey shook up the race and slowed her momentum with an Oct. 28 announcement the agency was reviewing newly discovered emails that might pertain to her email practices.

On Sunday, Comey told Congress that investigators had found no reason to change their July finding that there was no criminal wrongdoing in Clinton's use of the server. (Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson and Amanda Becker)

source: interaksyon.com

Clinton vows to be president for 'all Americans'

PHILADELPHIA -- Hillary Clinton on Thursday accepted the Democratic Party's White House nomination, casting herself as a tireless champion of the people and rejecting Donald Trump's dark picture of America.

Becoming the first woman to win the nomination of a major political party, Clinton promised to be a president for "all Americans," whether they voted for her or not.

Making a bold play for the political center ground in an election year that has seen the hard right and the hard left become louder and more shrill, Clinton vowed to "be a president for Democrats, Republicans, and Independents."

"For the struggling, the striving and the successful. For those who vote for me and those who don't. For all Americans."

Much of Clinton's address to Democrats gathered in Philadelphia for their party's convention was focused on perhaps her biggest weakness come November -- a tough public image forged over decades of withering political trench warfare.

"Some people just don't know what to make of me," she said with a frankness that is unusual in American politics.

"The truth is, through all of these years of public service, the service part has always come easier to me than the public part."

But addressing her image of putting policy above politics, Clinton was unrepentant.

"It's true," she said. "I sweat the details," be it the amount of lead permissible in drinking water or the cost of prescription drugs.

"It's not just a detail if it's your kid, if it's your family," she said.

Clinton also trained fire on Trump's dystopian view of America.

"He wants to divide us from the rest of the world and from each other," Clinton said, mocking Trump's claim that he alone can "fix" the country.

"He's taken the Republican Party a long way from 'Morning in America' to midnight in America. He wants us to fear the future and fear each other."

Clinton also offered an olive branch to those who backed her rival Bernie Sanders, telling them their voice had been heard, even as isolated voices of dissent echoed around the Philadelphia sports arena.

"I want to thank Bernie Sanders ... And to all of your supporters here and around the country, I want you to know I've heard you," Clinton said.

"Your cause is our cause."

source: interaksyon.com

'We are going to win the presidency' - Trump

CLEVELAND -- Donald Trump told the Republican National Convention on Tuesday that he would win the White House in November, saying he was "so proud" to be their nominee for US president.

"This is a movement. But we have to go all the way. I am so proud to be your nominee for president," he told delegates by video link.

The New York billionaire, who has never previously held public office, said it had been "a very special day" to watch his adult children declare New York's delegate count that put him over the top.

"What we did getting the party's nomination, I will never forget it," he said. "With your vote today, this stage of the presidential process has come to a close. Together we have achieved historic results."

Trump will address the convention in person on Thursday when he will formally accept the nomination and promised to outline "how we build a brighter and more hopeful future for all Americans."

"We are going to win the presidency and bring real change and leadership back to Washington," he said to applause. "We will win in November."

He praised his pick for vice president, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, as an "incredible man" who would make "a great vice president."

source: interaksyon.com

Trumped by Trump, Republicans stumped for words

WASHINGTON -- The awkward efforts of Republicans to embrace their party’s standard-bearer Donald Trump looked particularly painful in Congress this week as lawmakers ducked into elevators, dashed away from reporters, ignored questions or, worse, tried to answer them.

Only days after a furor over his criticism of a Mexican-American judge, the presumptive presidential nominee sent Republicans reeling again by renewing his call for a ban on Muslim immigration after a gunman who pledged allegiance to Islamic militants killed of 49 people at a Florida nightclub.

Then former reality TV star Trump waded into two sensitive topics for social conservatives by embracing the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and suggesting the country may need certain new gun control measures.

For lawmakers accustomed to well-crafted talking points and predictable lines of questioning, the week marked a chaotic flurry of contorted responses or terse, tight-lipped replies.

Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming walked away when asked about Trump's embrace of the LGBT community, saying: "I don’t know what the latest is. I haven’t read anything. I haven’t been watching."

Florida Senator Marco Rubio, a former Trump adversary in the presidential primaries, had to bat away two Trump questions before he could announce that he is considering running for re-election -- a decision that could determine whether Republicans retain control of the Senate in the November 8 election.

Senator Ted Cruz, another rival in the primaries, refused to respond directly to the speech in which Trump hardened his line on Muslims while Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr called it “an OK speech” before stepping into an elevator and refusing to respond to any more questions.

The Trump challenge is obvious even for seasoned Republicans. 

"I'm spending my days commenting on everything that Donald Trump says," lamented John McCain, chairman of Senate Armed Services Committee.

Orrin Hatch, the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, ricocheted from rejection of Trump’s comments on Muslims to doubts about the legality of his proposed immigration ban to bafflement over the billionaire’s response to the Orlando shootings.

'You can't make this up'

Trump controversies have also overshadowed House Speaker Paul Ryan’s rollout of a policy agenda, a campaign document that was supposed to help bring Trump’s position more into line with mainline party doctrine.

Asked on Thursday whether he was bothered by having to contend with Trump's remarks, Ryan called Trump "a different kind of candidate ... (in) a different kind of year."

Asked how many more times he would be called on to do so, Ryan said: "I don't know the answer to that question either."

In an ironic message to his critics among the Republican leadership this week, Trump had this to say: "Be quiet, just please be quiet. Don't talk. Please be quiet. Just be quiet.”

Ryan's response? "... You can't make this up sometimes," he said.

A political neophyte who has never held elected office, Trump has also said he may not need much from his Republican colleagues on Capitol Hill anyway.

"We have to have our Republicans either stick together or let me just do it by myself. I’ll do very well,” he said in a CNN interview. “A lot of people thought I should do that anyway, but I'll just do it very nicely by myself." 

source: interaksyon.com

Clinton attacks Trump's foreign policy as a threat to US safety

WASHINGTON - US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lambasted Donald Trump's foreign policy platform as "dangerously incoherent" in a speech on Thursday that cast her Republican rival as both a frightening and laughable figure.

In remarks that at times resembled a comedy roast, Clinton unleashed a torrent of polished zingers and one-liners to attack Trump's policies and character, suggesting Trump might start a nuclear war if elected to the White House simply because "somebody got under his very thin skin."

"Donald Trump's ideas are not just different, they are dangerously incoherent," she said to a room of supporters in San Diego, California. "They're not even really ideas, just a series of bizarre rants, personal feuds and outright lies."

Clinton, the front-runner in the race to become the Democratic presidential nominee, delivered her speech as she seeks to shift her attention to the Nov. 8 election against likely rival Trump and away from Bernie Sanders, a US senator from Vermont, who is continuing his long-shot bid for the nomination.

Clinton was speaking in San Diego ahead of California's June 7 primary election.

Democratic Party leaders have fretted about how to best oppose Trump, who managed to knock out all 16 rivals for the Republican nomination in part with his uninhibited style of assailing them with personal insults. Trump revels in referring to Clinton as "Crooked Hillary" and dredging up the infidelities of her husband, Bill Clinton, the former president.

Clinton's remarks were intended in part to show she would not be cowed and that she could go toe-to-toe with him in scornful put-downs.

"He says he has foreign policy experience because he ran the Miss Universe pageant in Russia," she said as the crowd guffawed, and she suggested Trump would run the US economy "like one of his casinos."

During her speech, Clinton predicted Trump, who has been deeply critical of Clinton's foreign policy record, would take to his Twitter account to insult her, and he did.

"Bad performance by Crooked Hillary Clinton!" ran one posting during the speech, which included a typo. "Reading poorly from the telepromter! She doesn't even look presidential!"

Trump has said previously that Clinton is distorting his actual policies.

Two visions

Amid the laugh lines, Clinton cited her own experience as secretary of state, in particular her role advising President Barack Obama during the mission to kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, to suggest her approach to foreign policy was the more serious.

"He praises dictators like Vladimir Putin and picks fights with our friends, including the British prime minister, the mayor of London, the German chancellor, the president of Mexico and the pope," Clinton said, listing some of the allies with whom Trump has verbally sparred in the last year.

Obama, who has also been repeatedly mocked by Trump, has criticized Trump as being ignorant or cavalier about world affairs and has said that Trump's rise has "rattled" foreign leaders.

Trump has talked tough on foreign policy. He has said he would bring back waterboarding and other brutal interrogation techniques for terrorism suspects that are widely regarded as torture and were discontinued by Obama.

Trump has also vowed to renegotiate trade deals, called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, and said he would ask members of the 28-nation NATO alliance to "pay up" or "get out." He has said he would sit down with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to try to stop Pyongyang's nuclear program.

Clinton derided these and other positions, promising she would do a better job keeping the United States safe. Standing in front of a backdrop of 19 large US flags, an unusual abundance even by the standards of presidential campaign events, Clinton painted the election as a choice between "two very different visions."

"One that's angry, afraid and based on the idea that America is fundamentally weak and in decline," she said, summing up Trumpism. "The other is hopeful, generous and confident in the knowledge that America is great, just like we always have been."

Trump has criticized Clinton for her handling of foreign policy during her 2009-2013 stint as secretary of state, including the Sept. 11, 2012, attack by Islamist militants on a US diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, that killed the US ambassador and three other Americans.

He cites Clinton's support for the war in Iraq, launched by former Republican President George W. Bush, as another example of her shortcomings.

Democratic challenger Sanders echoed Clinton's concerns about Trump after her speech, though he also criticized Clinton's foreign policy. "I agree ... that Donald Trump's foreign policy ideas are incredibly reckless and irresponsible," Sanders said in a statement.

In criticizing Clinton, Sanders cited her vote for the war in Iraq, calling it "the worst foreign policy blunder in modern American history," and said "she has been a proponent of regime change, as in Libya, without thinking through the consequences."

In assailing each other's suitability for the White House, Clinton and Trump are reflecting a negative voter mood ahead of next month's party conventions that will choose the presidential nominees.

Both Clinton and Trump are facing record-low favorability ratings. A Reuters/Ipsos poll taken Friday through Tuesday shows half of Trump supporters say the primary reason they are going to vote for him is "I don't want Hillary Clinton to win," while 41 percent of Clinton supporters cite their primary reason as not wanting Trump to win. (Additional reporting by Chris Khan in New York and Ginger Gibson in Washington)

source: interaksyon.com

Clinton, Trump move closer to White House nominations

CLEVELAND -- Hillary Clinton took a monumental step toward clinching the Democratic party's White House nomination Tuesday, while Donald Trump's seemingly unstoppable rush to victory hit a bump in Ohio.

Trump won key Republican primaries in Illinois, North Carolina and Florida -- where he thumped home state Senator Marco Rubio, who immediately announced he was suspending his presidential campaign.

"This was an amazing evening," a buoyant Trump told supporters. "We're going to win, win, win and we're not stopping."

Rubio's loss was a major setback for Republicans trying to stop the bellicose businessman, whose populist anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim stance they fear will split the party.

The 69-year-old Trump was clinging to a narrow lead in Missouri with nearly all of the votes counted, but was denied a clean sweep by Ohio Governor John Kasich, who carried his home state, a key general election battleground.

Trump may now struggle to reach the 1,237 delegates necessary to avoid a challenge at the party's nominating convention in July in Cleveland.

"The bottom line after tonight: it looks like Trump will not have a majority of delegates in July," said Paul Beck, a professor of political science at Ohio State University.

Big night for Clinton

There were fewer problems for Clinton, who defeated her rival Bernie Sanders in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Illinois. She also had a slight edge in Missouri, according to vote tallies.

Sanders now faces an almost impossible task to catch up with Clinton's formidable delegate advantage.

"We are moving closer to securing the Democratic party nomination and winning this election in November," said Clinton, casting one eye on the general election -- and at Trump.

"When we hear a candidate for president call for rounding up 12 million immigrants, banning all Muslims from entering the United States -- when he embraces torture, that doesn't make him strong. It makes him wrong."

Republicans will now have to decide whether to rally behind one candidate or siphon votes away from Trump as a team.

The scope of Trump's victory against Rubio in Florida will shock the Republican establishment as much as it will raise hopes the party can challenge in the one-time swing state come November 8.

President Barack Obama carried the state in both the 2008 and 2012 elections.

Rubio bowed out, saying: "While it is not God's plan that I be president in 2016 or maybe ever, and while today my campaign is suspended, the fact that I've even come this far is evidence of how special America truly is."

Kasich meanwhile openly called for a contested convention and vowed to campaign on.

"I want to remind you, again tonight, that I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land," he said.

Ted Cruz, an ultra-conservative senator from Texas, also remains in the Republican race.

Projections by US media showed him just behind Trump in Missouri, and in second place in Illinois and North Carolina.

Cruz made a call for Republicans to unity against Trump behind him.

"Donald may be the one person on the face of the earth that Hillary Clinton can beat in the general election," he said, telling Republicans they now face "a clear choice."

'Vulgar and divisive'

Trump's incendiary attacks on immigrants, threats of mass deportations and a proposal for a wall on the border with Mexico have ignited the campaign trail and drawn condemnation in some quarters -- the latest being from President Barack Obama.

Without pointing the finger directly at Trump, Obama professed to being "dismayed" at some of the comments during campaigning.

"We have heard vulgar and divisive rhetoric aimed at women and minorities -- at Americans who don’t look like 'us,' or pray like 'us,' or vote like we do," said the president, who along with his wife Michelle cast absentee ballots in their home state of Illinois.

But Trump's populist message has resonated -- even with some Democrats like 69-year-old Katharine Berry.

"We don't need all these illegals," she told AFP outside a polling station at the Zion Lutheran Church in Canton. "They're taking our jobs, they've got all these rights, Americans don't have rights.

"I voted Democrat today. But if Trump wins, then I'm going to vote for him in the general election."

source: interaksyon.com

US to levy $35 million fine on Infosys for 'fraudulently' seeking visas for workers

WASHINGTON--The US government plans to punish Indian outsourcing giant Infosys with the largest immigration fine ever for seeking visas fraudulently for workers at big clients in America, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

Infosys is accused of putting workers on visitor visas, which are much easier and cheaper to obtain than the correct work visas. The fine is expected to be about $35 million, the paper said, quoting people close to the matter.

A probe by the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department concluded that Infosys used easy-to-get B1 visas, which are meant for short business visits, to bring an unknown number of its workers to the United States for long-term stays, the sources were quoted as saying.

The fine will be announced Wednesday, the Journal said.

Infosys would not confirm details of the fine to AFP, but said in a statement earlier this month that it had reserved $35 million, including legal costs, based on talks with the US government over the probe, which was announced in 2011.

An Infosys spokeswoman said on Tuesday that they were "in the process of completing a civil resolution with the (US) government regarding its investigation of visa issues and I-9 documentation errors". She said the resolution had not been finalised.

With the alleged practice, Infosys could undercut competitors in bids for programming, accounting and other work performed for clients, the Journal said.

Infosys is known as an outsourcing company that does India-based computing and other technology services for Western clients, who have included Goldman Sachs Group, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc.

But it also features thousands of US-based employees who develop and install software for accounting, logistics and supply-chain management in the retailing, finance and manufacturing sectors, the Journal said.

source: interaksyon.com

US lawmakers split despite October 17 debt deadline

WASHINGTON DC - The United States is still facing a potentially devastating sovereign debt default, after senators failed to agree on terms to reopen the federal government and raise the country's borrowing limit.

Republicans and Democrats -- at war over the country's finances and ideological direction for more than two weeks -- tried to shed a positive light Sunday on a weekend of talks that despite the threat of global economic censure did not produce a solution.

The Senate convened a rare Sunday session to try and break the budgetary impasse that prompted the government to shut down on October 1, a move that has since damaged domestic confidence and undermined America's reputation as the world's leading economic superpower.

If the US debt ceiling is not raised by October 17, the Treasury would run out of money and could begin defaulting on its obligations for the first time in history, with likely dire consequences for the global economy.

Seeking to avert that outcome, the Democratic leader in the Senate, Harry Reid, talked up the dialogue with Republicans -- represented by top Senator Mitch McConnell -- though nothing concrete was disclosed.

"I'm optimistic about the prospect for a positive conclusion," Reid said.

US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has told the International Monetary Fund's policy steering committee that Washington understood its reputation as a safe harbor was at risk.

Stock markets are already factoring in a possible default if no deal is reached between President Barack Obama, his Democratic Party and rival Republicans by Thursday night.

But the threat of a global economic rebuke has so far done little to prompt an agreement.

Polls released during the shutdown have shown Congress's approval rating at record lows, with Republicans blamed most for the political gridlock in Washington.

Both parties in recent days indicated a deal must be done at all costs, despite the bitter bipartisan rancor.

"This is something that's wreaking havoc around the world and will affect economic growth, and I do hope that over the next week we'll reach a conclusion and I think we will," Republican Senator Bob Corker told "Fox News Sunday."

Obama rejected an offer by Republicans in the House of Representatives to lift the debt ceiling for six weeks while negotiations would continue on reopening the government, insisting on a longer-term solution.

Following talks with the top House Democrat, Nancy Pelosi, the president said they were not budging from their position.

Obama and Pelosi "reinforced that there must be a clean debt limit increase that allows us to pay the bills we have incurred and avoid default," the White House said in a statement.

"The House needs to pass the clean continuing resolution to open up the government and end the shutdown that is hurting middle class families and businesses across the country."

Senate leader Reid had on Saturday turned down a second compromise proposal, offered by moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins.

It called for lifting the US debt limit for up to a year, reopening the government and repealing a tax on medical devices under Obama's signature health care law.

But Collins said her proposal could still become the basis of a deal, telling CNN's "State of the Union" she had support from a growing, bipartisan group of senators.

Senator Charles Schumer, a key Democratic power broker, said Reid and McConnell "were not that far apart" Saturday, when they held their first talks of the crisis.

"I'm cautiously hopeful, optimistic, that we can come to an agreement and open up the government and avoid default based on the bipartisan meetings that are going on," Schumer told CBS's "Face the Nation."

Democrats, meanwhile, have added a demand of their own -- that any deal also involve undoing the across-the-board spending cuts known as the sequester that went into effect earlier this year.

Schumer acknowledged it was a "sticking point."

Corker said House Republicans had gone too far in demanding that Obama's signature health care law be defunded, the initial cause of the government shutdown.

But "now the Democrats are on the verge of being one tick too cute," he said, referring to the bid to undo the sequester.

Global pressure for a deal in Washington is mounting.

"The standing of the US economy would, again, be at risk," International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde said on NBC's "Meet the Press," comparing the effects of failing to raise the debt ceiling and reopening the government to the 2008 global financial meltdown.

source: interaksyon.com

US govt shuts down

The United States lurched into a dreaded government shutdown early Tuesday for the first time in 17 years, triggering agency closures and hundreds of thousands of furloughs as Congress missed a deadline to pass a budget.

Ten minutes before midnight bells rang throughout a deeply divided Washington, and after a day of furious brinkmanship President Barack Obama's Democrats and rival Republicans, the White House ordered federal agencies to initiate their shutdown procedures.

"We urge Congress to act quickly to pass a Continuing Resolution to provide a short-term bridge that ensures sufficient time to pass a budget for the remainder of the fiscal year," Management and Budget director Sylvia Mathews Burwell said in a memo to agencies.

Lawmakers had hardly haggled over budgetary matters in the final frantic hours before the deadline -- the end of the fiscal year. Instead, they argued over whether to link the budget pact with efforts to delay Obama's health care law.

"This is an unnecessary blow to America," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor two minutes after the witching hour.

As a mood of crisis enveloped Washington no compromise emerged to head off the first such disaster since 1996.

Instead, the Democratic-led Senate and Republican House of Representatives played a futile game, sending funding bills between them that were doomed to fail.

Obama accused Republicans of holding America at ransom with their "extreme" political demands, while his opponents struck back at his party's supposed arrogance.

Around 800,000 government workers are expected to be sent home, government services are to be slashed and monuments such as the Statue of Liberty and national parks will close.

The crisis is rooted in an attempt by "Tea Party" Republicans in the House to make passage of a new government budget conditional on thwarting Obama's signature health reform law.

The Democratic-led Senate and the president have repeatedly rejected this strategy and urged Republicans to pass an extension to government funding to temporarily stave off the shutdown.

In a deeper sense, the shutdown is the most serious crisis yet in a series of rolling ideological skirmishes between Democrat Obama and House Republicans over the size of the US government and its role in national life.

"One faction of one party in one house of Congress in one branch of government doesn't get to shut down the entire government just to re-fight the results of an election," Obama said, referring to his own re-election.

"You don't get to extract a ransom for doing your job, for doing what you're supposed to be doing anyway," he said, in a stern televised statement at the White House.

But on a day of accelerating brinkmanship, Republicans doubled down on their bid to gut Obamacare, as the health care law, the most sweeping social legislation in decades, is known.

With just three hours to go, House lawmakers passed a bill that would delay the individual mandate, which forces all Americans to buy health insurance under the new law, for a year.

"It's a matter of fairness for all Americans," said Republican House speaker John Boehner, who has struggled to control the riotous anti-government Tea Party faction of his caucus.

But the Senate, which must also sign off on budget measures, immediately rejected the bill.

That led House leaders, less than an hour before midnight, to move to go to conference, meaning the two chambers would appoint formal negotiators to thrash out a budget deal.

That process was already showing signs that it would take hours to coordinate, and Reid sent the Senate into recess until 9:30 am Tuesday.

"We said we'd go to conference if they wouldn't shut the government down, but they're shutting the government down," number two Senate Democrat Dick Durbin told AFP.

Obama warned that a government shutdown could badly damage an economy which has endured a sluggish recovery from the worst recession in decades.

"A shutdown will have a very real economic impact on real people, right away. Past shutdowns have disrupted the economy significantly," Obama said.

Consultants Macroeconomic Advisors said it would slow growth, recorded at a 2.5 percent annual pace in the second quarter.

A two-week shutdown would cut 0.3 percentage point off of gross domestic production.

It would also have a painful personal impact on workers affected -- leaving them to dip into savings or delay mortgage payments, monthly car loan bills and other spending.

Stocks on Monday retreated as traders braced for the shutdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 128.57 points (0.84 percent) to 15,129.67.

Markets are likely to be even more traumatized if there is no quick solution to the next fast approaching crisis.

Republicans are also demanding Obama make concessions in the health care law to secure a lifting of the current $16.7 trillion debt ceiling, without which the United States would begin to default on its debts for the first time in history by the middle of October.

Polls show more Americans would blame Republicans for the shutdown than Democrats, leaving Boehner torn between his party's wider political interests and a vocal section of his own party.

source: interaksyon.com

Oprah named most influential celebrity for second straight year

NEW YORK – Oprah Winfrey was crowned America’s most influential celebrity for a second straight year on Friday, despite having dropped off daily television in 2011.

Forbes magazine ranked Winfrey, 59, ahead of Hollywood titans Steven Spielberg and Clint Eastwood and towering over other TV figures such as journalist Barbara Walters and financial guru Suze Orman.

Forbes said that 48 percent of people surveyed rated Winfrey as influential, down just one point from last year. The list was drawn from polls of Americans conducted by E-Poll Market Research, which ranks more than 7,500 celebrities based on 46 different personality attributes.

Winfrey ended her daily “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in May 2011 after 25 years to launch the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN), which features lifestyle programming aimed at women.




After struggling in the ratings since its launch, OWN has seen audiences rise recently, thanks to Winfrey’s January world exclusive with cyclist Lance Armstrong admitting to years of doping, and her wide-ranging interview with R&B singer Beyonce.

Forbes noted that Winfrey’s magic had rubbed off as well, with one of her protégées, TV physician Dr. Mehmet Oz, ranking sixth on the list.

Film directing, however, seems to be the profession most associated with influence, as four directors, including Ron Howard and Martin Scorsese, crowded into the Top 10.

E-Poll Chief Executive Gerry Philpott said that while influence could mean different things to different people, most often it reflects someone’s impact on the culture.

Reflecting on Spielberg’s runner-up ranking, Philpott said “To this day, ask anyone what they think about before going in the ocean,” referring to the filmmaker’s 1975 blockbuster “Jaws.”

Dropping out of the Top 10 entirely was last year’s No. 2 finisher, actor Michael J. Fox, who has been out of the public eye of late.

Eastwood, who made headlines by addressing an empty chair at the 2012 Republican National Convention, rounded out the Top 10.

The Top 10 Most Influential Celebrities of 2013, according to Forbes are:

1. Oprah Winfrey
2. Steven Spielberg
3. Martin Scorsese
4. Ron Howard
5. George Lucas
6. Dr. Mehmet Oz
7. Barbara Walters
8. U2 frontman Bono
9. Suze Orman
10. Clint Eastwood

source: interaksyon.com

Romney promises rising incomes for all

BOSTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Saturday America "can't afford four more years like the last four years."

Romney, in his weekly podcast, cited an economic study that indicated middle-class families face a $4,000 tax increase to pay the interest on the debt President Obama has incurred during his first term, calling it a "very heavy, unacceptable burden for families who are already stretched too thin."

The self-described "severely conservative" former Massachusetts governor discounted the Labor Department's report Friday showing the unemployment rate, at 7.8 percent, was at the lowest point since Obama took office in January 2009.

"If not for all the people who have simply dropped out of the labor force, the real unemployment rate would be closer to 11 percent," Romney said.

"The results of President Obama's failed policies are staggering -- 23 million Americans are struggling for work, nearly one in six are living in poverty, and 47 million people are dependent on food stamps to feed themselves and their families.

"What we need is a real recovery -- and, unlike the president, that's exactly what I'm offering."

Romney said Obama's second-term plans include "more taxes, more borrowing and more spending."

"I will cut spending, restore our AAA credit rating and balance our budget within a decade," he said.

"The choice in this election is clear. Under President Obama, we will have a stagnant economy that fosters government dependency and chronically high unemployment. But if you elect me as president, we'll have pro-growth policies that foster upward mobility, strengthen the middle class, and lift people out of poverty."

source: upi.com

Schools Pass Debt to the Next Generation

The deleveraging of America is well under way, as individuals and companies recover from the excess borrowing that helped to produce the boom and left many people vulnerable when the bust arrived. Household debt is down nearly $900 billion over the last four years, partly from repayments and partly from defaults.

During the crazy times, homeowners could get mortgages that allowed them to pay less than the full amount of interest being charged, with the rest added to the principal. Commercial property owners generally paid the full amount of interest, but did not have to repay any principal until the loan matured in five or 10 years. For both homes and commercial properties, lenders were willing to rely on extremely optimistic appraisals.

For property buyers, those days are gone,

But for some borrowers, it is still possible to borrow now and pay nothing for decades.

There is a furor in California because the Poway Unified School District, in San Diego County, borrowed money last year on terms that even Countrywide would have laughed at during the boom. It will not pay a dime of interest or principal for more than two decades. Only then will it begin to service the bonds.

It is paying a high price. Although it has a good credit rating — Aa2 at Moody’s and AA– at Standard & Poor’s — it will eventually pay tax-exempt interest of up to 6.8 percent for the borrowings. When it issued more conventional bonds last year, it paid rates that were much lower, ranging up to just 4.1 percent.

For borrowing $105 million in 2011, taxpayers — or perhaps it would be more accurate to say the children and grandchildren of today’s taxpayers — will pay $877 million in interest between 2033 and 2051.

In San Diego, the bond issue first gained attention on The Voice of San Diego, a Web-based publication, which published an article this month headlined “Where Borrowing $105 Million Will Cost $1 Billion: Poway Schools.” As the Voice noted, others, including Joel Thurtell, a Michigan blogger, had written outraged articles about the bond issue. But it was the Voice article that attracted national attention, including a report on CNBC.

It turns out the Poway bond issue is not unique. This kind of borrowing has been going on for years, particularly in California, where the tax revolt that began with Proposition 13 in 1978 has made it harder and harder to finance education or other local government services. Assorted propositions approved by voters have made it very difficult to raise taxes at all.

According to a Thomson Reuters database, school districts issued nearly $4 billion in such bonds last year, and have sold almost $3 billion more this year. Back in 2006, when the credit boom was in full bloom, $9 billion worth of so-called capital appreciation bonds were sold.

The Poway issue is unusual in delaying interest payments for so long, but there have been others. Its neighbor, the San Diego Unified School District, borrowed $150 million in May, promising to begin payments in 2032.

School districts’ logic for borrowing for construction projects always was that those who benefit should pay for a construction project. In the case of the Poway bond, however, it is at least possible that it will be the children of today’s students who end up paying the bill. By then, many of these school buildings may be obsolete, or at least in need of another refurbishing.

In a statement, the Poway district pointed out that the bond issue was the fifth part of a plan to modernize the 24 oldest schools in the district, adding that while that bond “has a total repayment ratio of 9.3 times the principal amount,” the overall borrowing program has a repayment ratio of just 4.2. That means that for every dollar borrowed, $3.20 in interest will be paid.

To put that into perspective, a 30-year mortgage at the same 6.8 percent interest rate would require $1.35 in lifetime interest payments for each dollar borrowed, or a repayment ratio of 2.35.

“The most important value received from the building program that is difficult to quantify is the educational value of providing today’s students with quality learning facilities,” said John Collins, the superintendent of the district, which has 34,000 students. “It is also difficult to calculate the dollar value of savings realized by avoiding the inflated construction costs of postponing the completion of the building program for a decade or more.”

Your guess may be as good as his as to just how inflated those costs will be. But it is hard to believe that the district would not have been better off borrowing on terms that called for repaying the loan more quickly. The interest rate would have been lower, and the power of compound interest would not have caused the total payments to rise into the stratosphere.

But the option of getting reasonable financing may not have been available to the Poway district, or to many of the other districts that have resorted to these capital appreciation bonds. Poway officials had promised not to raise taxes, and this way they won’t have to. At least not until 2033. They set the payments to begin after earlier bonds are paid off.

Nationally, it appears that fewer and fewer school districts have been able, or willing, to find ways to finance new buildings — or even to pay teachers, as property tax revenue plunged with the deflating of the housing bubble and pinched states reduced assistance. State and local governments are spending less and employing fewer people now than they were before the recession. Adjusted for inflation, state and local investment in buildings and other assets is at the lowest level since 1998. Over the last 30 months, the economy has gained about half a million jobs in manufacturing, and lost nearly as many in state and local government.

Should districts issue such bonds? It is not an easy question to answer. Much of this expensive borrowing is a result of local officials searching for a way to meet their responsibilities at a time when opposition to taxes has become a mantra. This generation will not pay for what it needs, so some of its leaders have decided to saddle future generations with the bills.

source: nytimes.com

VP pick Ryan says he and Romney 'will restore' America

NORFOLK, Virginia - US vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan said Saturday the Republican ticket would "restore greatness" to America, in his first remarks since being tapped as Mitt Romney's running mate.

"He and I share one commitment. We will restore the greatness of this country," Ryan told hundreds of Republican supporters in Norfolk, Virginia, describing Romney as the "man for this moment."

Ryan, 42, a budget hawk, was officially announced as Romney's number two earlier Saturday, confirming the Republican line-up earlier than had been anticipated, aiming to reverse President Barack Obama's lead in opinion polls.

"For the last 14 years, I have proudly represented Wisconsin in congress. There I have focused on solving the problems that confront our country, turning ideas into action and action into solutions," said Ryan.

"I am committed, in heart and mind, to putting that experience to work in a Romney administration."

A new Twitter account, @PaulRyanVP, popped up early Saturday, and shortly before he was to appear alongside Romney it unveiled its debut tweet: "I'm honored to join @MittRomney on America's Comeback Team."

source: interaksyon

Eraserheads together again for North American concert tour

Ten years after they disbanded and three years after their second reunion concert, the Eraserheads are reuniting once again in October. But only their fans in North America will see the show.

“4 Cities. 4 Shows. 1 Time Only,” goes the tagline of a teaser poster released online to promote the tour, which will see the most successful band in the history of Philippine music perform in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto, and New York.

Another poster announcing a Manila concert at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on December 1 was quickly dismissed as a hoax by Eraserheads frontman Ely Buendia’s official Twitter account.

According to the tour’s official Facebook page, Buendia, drummer Raimund Marasigan, lead guitarist Marcus Adoro, and bassist Buddy Zabala are scheduled to play The Regency Ballroom in San Francisco on October 12, the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on October 13, Kool Haus in Toronto, Canada on October 19, and a still undisclosed venue in New York City on October 20.

The tour will happen three and a half years after “The Final Set”, the band’s reunion concert on March 7, 2009 at the SM Mall of Asia Concert Grounds in Pasay City, which was witnessed by an estimated 100,000 people.

That show was the conclusion of the original reunion concert at the Fort Bonifacio Open Field on August 30, 2008, which ended prematurely after Buendia was rushed to hospital after experiencing chest pains.

At the height of their fame, in May 1997, the Eraserheads staged sold-out concerts at The Palace in Hollywood and the Calvin Simmons Auditorium in Oakland, California.

source: interaksyon.com