World/Nation Briefs 5.8.2012
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
WASHINGTON (AP) — At the FBI’s explosives lab in Virginia, experts are picking apart a sophisticated new al-Qaida bomb to figure out whether it could have slipped past airport security and taken down a commercial airplane, U.S. officials said.
The unexploded bomb represents an intelligence prize, the result of a covert CIA operation in Yemen that thwarted a suicide mission around the anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, officials said. The device did not contain metal, meaning it probably could have passed through an airport metal detector. But it was not clear whether new body scanners used in many airports would have detected it.
The device is an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009. This new bomb was also designed to be used in a passenger’s underwear, but this time al-Qaida developed a more refined detonation system, U.S. officials said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters Monday night that she had been briefed Monday about an ‘‘undetectable’’ device that was ‘‘going to be on a U.S.-bound airliner.’’
There were no immediate plans to change security procedures at U.S. airports.
———
Senate heads toward showdown vote on student loans with Dems, GOP stalled over paying for it
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is steaming toward a showdown on a Democratic proposal to keep student loan interest rates from doubling for 7.4 million students. In a measure of how the upcoming election is driving work in Congress these days, it’s a vote Democrats won’t terribly mind losing — which is probably what will happen.
The Senate planned a Tuesday roll call on the plan, which would extend today’s 3.4 percent interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans for another year. Without congressional action, those rates will double July 1.
Republicans say they favor freezing student loan interest rates but oppose how Democrats would finance the $6 billion bill: by raising Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes on high-earning stock holders of some privately owned corporations.
‘‘They know we’re particularly upset about this’’ financing plan, Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyo., said as the Senate debated the bill Monday. He said Democrats hope that when Republicans oppose the bill, it will ‘‘make it look like Republicans want to raise the rates on students, and that’s not true.’’
As if issuing a dare, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said, ‘‘Republicans claim they share Democrats’ goal in protecting these 7 million students I’ve talked about from these interest rate increases. We’ll see.’’
———
Specialists debate solutions to America’s weight problem — from exercise to better kids’ meals
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the battle against obesity, just about everything is on the table, from creating healthier kids’ meals to nagging people to exercise.
Specialists meeting in Washington on Tuesday are looking for a blueprint on reducing America’s weight problem as they debate what strategies should be a priority.
Today, just over a third of adults are obese. A government-funded study suggests that by 2030, 42 percent will be. That’s not nearly as many as experts once predicted, before years of the rapid rise in obesity rates began leveling off. But Americans aren’t getting thinner either.
Experts are looking beyond government policies to unusual partners. Frozen vegetable maker Birds Eye, for instance, is beginning a $6 million campaign to encourage kids to eat their veggies.
———
Netanyahu: New Israeli government to promote peace process with Palestinians ’responsibly’
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his new coalition government will promote a ‘‘responsible’’ peace process with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu spoke Tuesday at a news conference with his new coalition partner, Kadima Party chief Shaul Mofaz.
Netanyahu now presides over a broad coalition with 94 members of the 120-seat parliament.
Netanyahu says he wants the new government to bring about stability in Israeli politics, approve a responsible government budget and ‘‘responsibly’’ conduct peace talks with the Palestinians.
The outgoing coalition, dominated by hard-liners, was accused of not seriously pursuing peace.
———
Hand-painted building ads make comeback in NYC as masters teach ’walldogs’ nostalgic art form
NEW YORK (AP) — New York is sprinkled with barely visible old ads painted on the sides of buildings — remnants of lost eras of urban life. Now, they’re making a comeback as a nostalgic art form.
Painters known as ‘‘walldogs’’ work on scaffolds, dipping brushes into a lineup of open paint cans. Then come the details, carefully brushed in gleaming color onto walls that are sometimes hundreds of years old.
‘‘So it’s like, ‘Make me a bucket of soup,’’’ says Art Pastusak, 61, a master mentoring apprentice walldogs. ‘‘Slap it on the wall, and let’s crank.’’
Paul Lindahl co-founded the company leading the comeback, Colossal Media. He hired Pastusak to teach what he’s been doing for three decades to a younger generation.
Though computers have taken over, ad painting fascinates people, says Lindahl, who likens the craft to performance art.
———
NC in the national spotlight as voters weigh in on gay marriage ban in state’s constitution
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The national debate over gay marriage turns its attention South on Tuesday, as North Carolina could be on the verge of becoming the next state to pass a constitutional amendment defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman.
In the final days before the vote, members of President Barack Obama’s cabinet expressed support for gay marriage and former President Bill Clinton recorded phone messages urging voters to oppose the amendment.
Supporters of the amendment responded with marches, television ads and speeches, including one by Jay Bakker, son of late televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. The Rev. Billy Graham was featured in full-page newspaper ads backing the amendment.
Experts expect the measure to pass, despite the state’s long history of moderate politics.
North Carolina law already bans gay marriage, but an amendment would effectively slam the door shut on same-sex marriages.
———
Indiana’s Lugar faces tea party opponent while Romney looks for delegates in 3 GOP primaries
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The face of Indiana politics for nearly four decades, Republican Sen. Richard Lugar is battling for political survival against a tea party-backed GOP challenger who says the senator has become more interested in compromising with liberals in Washington than representing conservatives back home.
With Mitt Romney expected to coast to victory in three GOP presidential primaries, Lugar’s re-election fight — the toughest in his 36-year career — is the highest-profile contest in four states with voting Tuesday.
Wisconsin Democrats were preparing to pick a candidate to run against Republican Gov. Scott Walker in just the third gubernatorial recall election in U.S. history. In North Carolina, voters were considering a referendum that would effectively ban same-sex marriages.
Although polls in Indiana signaled momentum for the challenger, Lugar hoped a heavy turnout would propel him to victory against Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock.
‘‘If they come, we will win,’’ Lugar said.
———
Study: A teenage driver’s risk of dying in a crash goes up sharply with other teens in the car
WASHINGTON (AP) — A teenage driver’s risk of dying in an accident increases dramatically when there are other teens in the car, and plummets when there’s an adult looking on, according to a study by AAA’s safety foundation.
Researchers have long known that the presence of other teens is distracting to novice drivers, but most previous studies on the issue are more than a decade old and don’t reflect changes in state driving laws that began in the mid-1990s. Since then, every state has adopted a ‘‘graduated licensing’’ law that places some restrictions on teen drivers. The laws vary, but typically they restrict teens from driving with any passengers under age 21, or just one young passenger, and bar nighttime driving.
The study by the Automobile Association of America’s Foundation for Traffic Safety, being released Tuesday, found what a lot of parents already know: Teens driving with their friends in the car continues to be far riskier than driving alone or with an adult. The study was based on an examination of government data on teen crashes from 2007 to 2010.
Compared to driving with no passengers, a 16- or 17-year-old driver’s risk of death per mile driven increases 44 percent when carrying one passenger younger than 21 (and no older passengers), the study found. The risk is double when carrying two passengers younger than 21, and quadruples when carrying three or more passengers that age.
Conversely, the risk of a teen driver dying in an accident when a passenger aged 35 or older is in the vehicle decreases 62 percent, the study said.
———
Models and movie stars get their Prada (and other top designers) on for Met gala
NEW YORK (AP) — It’s known as one of the most glamorous red carpets of the year, with movie stars, models and even a few star quarterbacks putting on their most fashion-forward outfits for the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute gala.
Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady, Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker, Heidi Klum, Tim Tebow and Florence Welch were among those to weave through the tented grand Fifth Avenue entrance to celebrate the new fashion exhibit that compares and contrasts the designs of two Italian women: Miuccia Prada, who wore a pantsuit to the event, and the late Elsa Schiaparelli.
Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, serves as hostess of the event, and she wore a white gown with lobster-motif gold embroidery by Prada. Carey Mulligan, Wintour’s co-chairwoman this year, wore a Prada cocktail dress with metallic fish-scale beading, and Gwyneth Paltrow had on a steel-blue Prada dress with heavily embellished pockets.
Among others donning Prada: Eva Mendes, Jessica Biel, Uma Thurman and Linda Evangelista.
Unlike other big celebrity red carpets, where designers just want to hear the stars utter their names as the creators of their dresses, they are the A-list dates here. Michael Kors escorted Hilary Swank, wearing a red halter gown; Parker, in a metallic floral-print gown with long sleeves and belt, came with Valentino; and singer Lana Del Ray, cloaked in a long black cape, came with Joseph Altuzarra.
[[In-content Ad]]
WASHINGTON (AP) — At the FBI’s explosives lab in Virginia, experts are picking apart a sophisticated new al-Qaida bomb to figure out whether it could have slipped past airport security and taken down a commercial airplane, U.S. officials said.
The unexploded bomb represents an intelligence prize, the result of a covert CIA operation in Yemen that thwarted a suicide mission around the anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden, officials said. The device did not contain metal, meaning it probably could have passed through an airport metal detector. But it was not clear whether new body scanners used in many airports would have detected it.
The device is an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009. This new bomb was also designed to be used in a passenger’s underwear, but this time al-Qaida developed a more refined detonation system, U.S. officials said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters Monday night that she had been briefed Monday about an ‘‘undetectable’’ device that was ‘‘going to be on a U.S.-bound airliner.’’
There were no immediate plans to change security procedures at U.S. airports.
———
Senate heads toward showdown vote on student loans with Dems, GOP stalled over paying for it
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is steaming toward a showdown on a Democratic proposal to keep student loan interest rates from doubling for 7.4 million students. In a measure of how the upcoming election is driving work in Congress these days, it’s a vote Democrats won’t terribly mind losing — which is probably what will happen.
The Senate planned a Tuesday roll call on the plan, which would extend today’s 3.4 percent interest rates on subsidized Stafford loans for another year. Without congressional action, those rates will double July 1.
Republicans say they favor freezing student loan interest rates but oppose how Democrats would finance the $6 billion bill: by raising Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes on high-earning stock holders of some privately owned corporations.
‘‘They know we’re particularly upset about this’’ financing plan, Sen. Michael Enzi, R-Wyo., said as the Senate debated the bill Monday. He said Democrats hope that when Republicans oppose the bill, it will ‘‘make it look like Republicans want to raise the rates on students, and that’s not true.’’
As if issuing a dare, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said, ‘‘Republicans claim they share Democrats’ goal in protecting these 7 million students I’ve talked about from these interest rate increases. We’ll see.’’
———
Specialists debate solutions to America’s weight problem — from exercise to better kids’ meals
WASHINGTON (AP) — In the battle against obesity, just about everything is on the table, from creating healthier kids’ meals to nagging people to exercise.
Specialists meeting in Washington on Tuesday are looking for a blueprint on reducing America’s weight problem as they debate what strategies should be a priority.
Today, just over a third of adults are obese. A government-funded study suggests that by 2030, 42 percent will be. That’s not nearly as many as experts once predicted, before years of the rapid rise in obesity rates began leveling off. But Americans aren’t getting thinner either.
Experts are looking beyond government policies to unusual partners. Frozen vegetable maker Birds Eye, for instance, is beginning a $6 million campaign to encourage kids to eat their veggies.
———
Netanyahu: New Israeli government to promote peace process with Palestinians ’responsibly’
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his new coalition government will promote a ‘‘responsible’’ peace process with the Palestinians.
Netanyahu spoke Tuesday at a news conference with his new coalition partner, Kadima Party chief Shaul Mofaz.
Netanyahu now presides over a broad coalition with 94 members of the 120-seat parliament.
Netanyahu says he wants the new government to bring about stability in Israeli politics, approve a responsible government budget and ‘‘responsibly’’ conduct peace talks with the Palestinians.
The outgoing coalition, dominated by hard-liners, was accused of not seriously pursuing peace.
———
Hand-painted building ads make comeback in NYC as masters teach ’walldogs’ nostalgic art form
NEW YORK (AP) — New York is sprinkled with barely visible old ads painted on the sides of buildings — remnants of lost eras of urban life. Now, they’re making a comeback as a nostalgic art form.
Painters known as ‘‘walldogs’’ work on scaffolds, dipping brushes into a lineup of open paint cans. Then come the details, carefully brushed in gleaming color onto walls that are sometimes hundreds of years old.
‘‘So it’s like, ‘Make me a bucket of soup,’’’ says Art Pastusak, 61, a master mentoring apprentice walldogs. ‘‘Slap it on the wall, and let’s crank.’’
Paul Lindahl co-founded the company leading the comeback, Colossal Media. He hired Pastusak to teach what he’s been doing for three decades to a younger generation.
Though computers have taken over, ad painting fascinates people, says Lindahl, who likens the craft to performance art.
———
NC in the national spotlight as voters weigh in on gay marriage ban in state’s constitution
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The national debate over gay marriage turns its attention South on Tuesday, as North Carolina could be on the verge of becoming the next state to pass a constitutional amendment defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman.
In the final days before the vote, members of President Barack Obama’s cabinet expressed support for gay marriage and former President Bill Clinton recorded phone messages urging voters to oppose the amendment.
Supporters of the amendment responded with marches, television ads and speeches, including one by Jay Bakker, son of late televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. The Rev. Billy Graham was featured in full-page newspaper ads backing the amendment.
Experts expect the measure to pass, despite the state’s long history of moderate politics.
North Carolina law already bans gay marriage, but an amendment would effectively slam the door shut on same-sex marriages.
———
Indiana’s Lugar faces tea party opponent while Romney looks for delegates in 3 GOP primaries
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The face of Indiana politics for nearly four decades, Republican Sen. Richard Lugar is battling for political survival against a tea party-backed GOP challenger who says the senator has become more interested in compromising with liberals in Washington than representing conservatives back home.
With Mitt Romney expected to coast to victory in three GOP presidential primaries, Lugar’s re-election fight — the toughest in his 36-year career — is the highest-profile contest in four states with voting Tuesday.
Wisconsin Democrats were preparing to pick a candidate to run against Republican Gov. Scott Walker in just the third gubernatorial recall election in U.S. history. In North Carolina, voters were considering a referendum that would effectively ban same-sex marriages.
Although polls in Indiana signaled momentum for the challenger, Lugar hoped a heavy turnout would propel him to victory against Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock.
‘‘If they come, we will win,’’ Lugar said.
———
Study: A teenage driver’s risk of dying in a crash goes up sharply with other teens in the car
WASHINGTON (AP) — A teenage driver’s risk of dying in an accident increases dramatically when there are other teens in the car, and plummets when there’s an adult looking on, according to a study by AAA’s safety foundation.
Researchers have long known that the presence of other teens is distracting to novice drivers, but most previous studies on the issue are more than a decade old and don’t reflect changes in state driving laws that began in the mid-1990s. Since then, every state has adopted a ‘‘graduated licensing’’ law that places some restrictions on teen drivers. The laws vary, but typically they restrict teens from driving with any passengers under age 21, or just one young passenger, and bar nighttime driving.
The study by the Automobile Association of America’s Foundation for Traffic Safety, being released Tuesday, found what a lot of parents already know: Teens driving with their friends in the car continues to be far riskier than driving alone or with an adult. The study was based on an examination of government data on teen crashes from 2007 to 2010.
Compared to driving with no passengers, a 16- or 17-year-old driver’s risk of death per mile driven increases 44 percent when carrying one passenger younger than 21 (and no older passengers), the study found. The risk is double when carrying two passengers younger than 21, and quadruples when carrying three or more passengers that age.
Conversely, the risk of a teen driver dying in an accident when a passenger aged 35 or older is in the vehicle decreases 62 percent, the study said.
———
Models and movie stars get their Prada (and other top designers) on for Met gala
NEW YORK (AP) — It’s known as one of the most glamorous red carpets of the year, with movie stars, models and even a few star quarterbacks putting on their most fashion-forward outfits for the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute gala.
Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady, Jessica Biel and Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Jessica Parker, Heidi Klum, Tim Tebow and Florence Welch were among those to weave through the tented grand Fifth Avenue entrance to celebrate the new fashion exhibit that compares and contrasts the designs of two Italian women: Miuccia Prada, who wore a pantsuit to the event, and the late Elsa Schiaparelli.
Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, serves as hostess of the event, and she wore a white gown with lobster-motif gold embroidery by Prada. Carey Mulligan, Wintour’s co-chairwoman this year, wore a Prada cocktail dress with metallic fish-scale beading, and Gwyneth Paltrow had on a steel-blue Prada dress with heavily embellished pockets.
Among others donning Prada: Eva Mendes, Jessica Biel, Uma Thurman and Linda Evangelista.
Unlike other big celebrity red carpets, where designers just want to hear the stars utter their names as the creators of their dresses, they are the A-list dates here. Michael Kors escorted Hilary Swank, wearing a red halter gown; Parker, in a metallic floral-print gown with long sleeves and belt, came with Valentino; and singer Lana Del Ray, cloaked in a long black cape, came with Joseph Altuzarra.
[[In-content Ad]]
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092