Answers to questions about cellphones in flight

NEW YORK -- Telecommunications experts say the odds that passengers' cellphone data can help locate the missing Malaysian jetliner are next to zero.

Locating the mobile phones of the 239 travelers on the Boeing 777 that vanished Saturday isn't as simple as activating a "Find My iPhone" app, given the speed the plane was traveling, its altitude and the fact it was probably flying over water. Many people assume smartphones to be all-powerful tracking devices. Often police, rescue units and others can use a person's phone to pinpoint the user's precise location. Even so, there are large portions of the planet that don't have the transmission towers that are necessary for mobile communications. In the case of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, smartphones are unlikely to lead investigators to the plane.

Here's what you need to know about mobile connections and how they're used to determine location:

Q: Can telecommunications providers remotely locate a phone?

A: Yes, if the phone is tuned on and is connected to either a cellular or Wi-Fi network, says Ritch Blasi, senior vice president for mobile and wireless at the consulting firm Comunicano. Apps like "Find My iPhone" only function properly when a phone is able to receive a location signal from a GPS satellite and relay that signal via cell connection or Wi-Fi to those who are searching for it.

Q: Does this change when you're on a plane?

A: Yes, considerably. For one thing, most airlines require passengers to turn their phones off or at least put them in airplane mode before takeoff. That means there's no connection to a cellular network, says Blasi. Even if some passengers left their phones on during Flight 370, it would be tough for their phones to connect with a tower given the speeds planes travel at and the altitudes involved.

Q: What about flying over the ocean?

A: Flying over oceans reduces the odds of a connection even more, since there just aren't cell towers there. Charles McColgan, chief technology officer for the mobile identity firm TeleSign says that while investigators might be able to determine the last cell tower that cellphones had contact with before the plane started flying over water, if the plane was flying above 10,000 feet at the time, the phones on it wouldn't be able to make a connection with a tower.

"Anyone leading the investigation should check, but it is unlikely that pinging a passenger's phone is going to find them," McColgan says.

Q: What if the plane managed to crash on land and some people and phones survived?

A: If someone could get a signal, in theory they could make a call. But if the plane went down in a remote area without service, then they would be out of luck. Foreign travel also complicates things. Unless a person signs up for local phone service in whatever country they're traveling through, his or her phone may not be able to connect to a network, says Blasi, who spent more than 35 years at AT&T before going into consulting.

Q: What about reports of people who claim they called the phones of loved ones who were on the flight and said the phone rang several times without an answer, rather than going straight to voice mail, indicating that the phone might be connected to a network?

A: This doesn't necessarily mean that the phone is connected to a network, is turned on, or is even operational. It just means that the cellular carrier's system is taking some time to look for the phone.

Q: Is there any hope if the plane crashed in the water and the phones on board were soaked?

A: Water and electronics don't mix, so generally speaking the answer is no.

Phyllis Schlafly family in beer trademark dispute

ST. LOUIS -- To many older Americans, the Schlafly name is most closely associated with Phyllis Schlafly, the conservative commentator known for her campaign to defeat the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.

A younger generation knows Schlafly as the brand of an up-and-coming St. Louis brewery co-founded by Schlafly's nephew.

Now the federal agency that oversees trademarks is being asked to wade into a dispute within the prominent family and decide whether Schlafly is primarily a last name or a commercial brand that deserves legal protection.

With a growing national profile and new owners who might want to expand, the brewery started by Tom Schlafly more than two decades ago is seeking a trademark that would give it the exclusive right to use the Schlafly name to sell craft beer. But Phyllis Schlafly has asked the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to deny the request, lest any implied association with beer sully her 60-year political career.

"There are tens of millions of Americans who oppose alcohol," said Andrew Schlafly, a New Jersey lawyer who represents his mother in the matter. "Certainly alcohol has a connotation that is the opposite of conservative values."

Phyllis Schlafly, now 89, lives in a St. Louis suburb and continues to lead the Eagle Forum, the group she created to prevent ratification of the proposed constitutional amendment on women's rights. These days, the forum fights issues such as same-sex marriage and federal education standards.

Her official biography touts Schlafly as a "leader of the pro-family movement" and "successful opponent of the radical feminist movement." Her daily, syndicated radio commentaries are heard on more than 500 stations. She's written 20 books and continues to produce a monthly newsletter and a syndicated newspaper column.

Schlafly, who is not involved in the beer company, did not respond to several telephone messages seeking comment. Andrew Schlafly said his mother, who like her beer-making nephew is a lawyer, was speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference last week and was not available for an interview. She is a Schlafly by marriage, not birth: Her late husband was a brother of Tom Schlafly's father.

Andrew Schlafly has filed his own papers opposing the trademark. So has brother Bruce, an orthopedic surgeon in St. Louis. Each petition asserts that the word Schlafly when standing alone "has no usage or meaning other than as a surname."

Phyllis Schlafly's petition says supporters commonly assume she's connected to the beer company. Dr. Bruce Schlafly says his patients make the same mistake.

Nearly 18 months after Phyllis Schlafly filed her complaint, settlement talks continue. The brewery filed its application in 2011, not long before Schlafly and his partner, Dan Kopman, sold a majority of the brewery to Sage Capital LLC, a local private equity firm.

"I would like to get this settled and move on with selling beer," said Tom Schlafly, who remains the company's largest shareholder and its board chairman.

Schlafly beer is brewed in downtown St. Louis and in suburban Maplewood by the St. Louis Brewery Inc. The company produced 56,000 barrels of beer in 2013, making it the 44th largest craft brewery in the country, according to industry tallies.

As the company explores entry into new markets, the new ownership group decided to take steps to protect its brand.

"If we're going to make a significant investment and build the brewery, we want to add this," Tom Schlafly said in an interview at his downtown law office overlooking the Gateway Arch. "The bigger you are, the more likely you are to have other people copy you."

Opposition to the trademark may not be limited to members of Schlafly family. Anheuser-Busch has been given an extension through early April to file its own protest. Spokeswoman Lisa Weser said the makers of Budweiser have yet to decide on the issue but are keeping their options open.

"As the largest St. Louis brewery with more than 150 years of heritage in the city, we believe 'The Saint Louis Brewery' should not be trademarked by any one brewer," she said in a written statement.

Tom Schlafly declined to discuss the legal issues raised in the trademark dispute. He said the flap has not spilled over into a full-blown family feud and that he remains friendly with his aunt and cousins, whom he typically sees once or twice a year at holiday gatherings or weddings.

Nor does Schlafly want to insert his business into a political squabble.

"She has fans and critics," he said. "I want to sell to both of them. The last thing I want to do is antagonize her followers because I hope they drink Schlafly beer, too."

Follow Alan Scher Zagier on Twitter at http://bit.ly/1nQt0W0 .

China's premier vows action against smog

BEIJING -- China's premier says Beijing will try to keep this year's economic growth at an appropriate level to generate needed new jobs and vowed to crack down on corruption and smog.

Li Keqiang said at news conference on Thursday that Chinese leaders are "not preoccupied" with the level of economic growth and the official target of "about 7.5 percent" shows flexibility is possible. He said a higher priority is hitting the official target of generating about 10 million new jobs.

Li said Chinese leaders want to nurture sustainable and environmentally friendly growth.

He promised to "declare war" against smog that is choking Chinese cities and corruption that he said is harming society and holding back efforts to make the economy more efficient and productive.

Malaysia retires missing plane's flight code

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia Airlines has retired the missing jetliner's flight code as a sign of respect to the 239 passengers and crew on board.

The airline said Thursday it will no longer be using MH370 and MH371, the same codes used by the Boeing 777 that vanished from radar screens on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on Saturday. A massive search involving satellites, planes and ships has found no trace of the aircraft.

MH370 was used for Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route and MH371 for a return flight.

Starting Friday, Malaysia Airlines said it will use codes MH318 and MH319 for twice-a-day flights to and from Beijing.

"Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families of our colleagues and passengers of MH370," the airline said in a statement.

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Online:

http://bit.ly/1cVoVci

India's industrial output picks up slightly

MUMBAI, India -- India's industrial production showed an unexpected, if slight, uptick of 0.1 percent last month, ending a three-month fall, as elections loom in the world's most populous democracy.

Figures released Wednesday also showed consumer inflation eased to 8.1 percent in February, still considered high but a welcome relief from the double-digit levels of a few months ago.

Both trends were welcome news for Asia's third-largest economy. India's lowest economic growth rates in a decade have coincided with soaring prices over the past year, making it difficult for the central bank to try to stimulate growth by cutting interest rates.

Still, the sputtering economy is likely to hurt the ruling coalition government led by the Congress party heading into elections beginning April 7. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, a pro-business, Hindu nationalist bloc led by Narendra Modi, has the momentum.

While the February industrial output data beat analysts' prediction of a contraction, the level of growth was still decidedly weak. Expansion of 6.5 percent in the electricity sector led the overall numbers, while mining production grew by 0.7 percent over the previous year and manufacturing fell by 0.7 percent.

The small expansion is unlikely to add much steam to India's economy. Growth decelerated to 4.7 percent in the most recent quarter, far below the 8 percent the country had averaged for a decade.

However, the Consumer Price Index measure of inflation also showed improvement over the 8.7 percent level of the previous month as the rising price of vegetables slowed somewhat. Food inflation is of particular concern in India, where hundreds of millions of people live on $2 per day or less and spend most of their incomes on food.

The positive trend on inflation could give the Reserve Bank of India room to lower interest rates to encourage investment and spending at its next meeting on April 1. Another indicator of inflation, the Wholesale Price Index, is due on Friday.

Holder endorses proposed drug sentencing changes

WASHINGTON -- Attorney General Eric Holder is endorsing a proposal that would result in shorter prison sentences for certain nonviolent drug traffickers, saying the change would rein in bloated federal prison costs and create a fairer criminal justice system.

Holder was to appear Thursday before the U.S. Sentencing Commission, where he was scheduled to announce his support for a commission proposal to lower the guideline penalties for certain drug crimes.

"This overreliance on incarceration is not just financially unsustainable, it comes with human and moral costs that are impossible to calculate," Holder said in excerpts of his testimony, obtained by The Associated Press in advance.

The harshest penalties, he said, should be reserved for "dangerous and violent drug traffickers."

His speech was part of a broader push for new federal sentencing policies, including his directive to prosecutors in August to stop charging many nonviolent drug defendants with offenses that carry mandatory minimum sentences.

The commission in January proposed modifying the guideline penalties so that many drug trafficking crimes would be tied to shorter sentencing ranges. The effect, the Justice Department says, would be to reduce by 11 months the average sentence of a drug trafficking offender and would trim the federal prison population by roughly 6,550 inmates over the next five years.

The commission was not expected to vote on the proposed change until at least April, but Holder planned to instruct prosecutors in the meantime not to oppose sentencing recommendations in line with the newly proposed ranges.

US gas boom: A tool against Russian coercion

By STEVEN R. HURST The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The United States, with its abundant supplies of natural gas, would seem to have an easy answer to Europe's fears that a strong response to Russia's rapid takeover of Ukraine's Crimea region could prompt Vladimir Putin to shut down gas lines that keep European homes warm, factories humming and electricity flowing.

Trouble is: Right now there's no way to get meaningful American supplies across the Atlantic Ocean.

Turning U.S. natural gas into liquefied natural gas (LNG), a process that makes the fuel transportable by ship, is very expensive. Beyond that the U.S. government has — until recently — been stingy with permits to build those facilities. And regulations make it difficult to sell U.S. gas to nations that aren't in free trade compacts with Washington.

That's not good news for Europeans, who are dependent on Russia for at least 30 percent of its natural gas. Consequently, Europe's reaction to the Russian seizure of Ukraine's semi-autonomous Crimea, while noisy, has little teeth.

Moscow already has a history of cutting some supplies to Europe. In 2009, Europeans shivered through part of the cold winter because Moscow turned the taps off in a dispute with Ukraine over the price of gas. Some of the pipelines carrying Russian gas pass through Ukraine. And Ukraine is once again in hock to Moscow for $1.89 billion in gas bills.

European dependence on Russian gas no doubt played into Kremlin leader Putin's calculus when his forces took control of the Crimean Peninsula, home to Moscow's Black Sea fleet and 60 percent populated by ethnic Russians. Natural gas is Russia's trump card.

And while U.S. gas supplies might have given Putin pause before he initiated the current crisis, he knew the United States could not quickly make up any shortages.

The crisis in Ukraine is expected to drag on even after Crimea's status is resolved, and Europe could be waiting a while for new exports of liquefied natural gas from the U.S. The first are not expected until late 2015 from a Louisiana facility. President Barack Obama's Energy Department has approved only six LNG export applications in the past four years. All of those, aside from the Louisiana operation, aren't likely to be in operation until 2017.

Twenty-two LNG export projects remain pending. Initial U.S exports, even if they went to Europe rather than pricier markets in Asia, would not suffice to offset Russian domination of the market.

The Obama administration has been determined to use the American energy boom to move the United States away from dependence on imported energy supplies, with many arguments for keeping U.S. natural gas at home. Exports, some argue, would raise the cost for Americans who heat their homes with the fuel and impose higher prices on manufacturers who use the resource to make other products like plastics and fertilizer. What's more, environmental activists contend a booming U.S. export sector would only cause even more fracking — shorthand for hydraulic fracturing — a process that many claim pollutes water supplies and increases greenhouse gas emissions.

Then there's the cost. Russia, using existing pipelines — some of which cross Ukraine — can deliver gas far less expensively than could U.S. companies who would have to undertake the expense of turning the gas into a liquid and sending it by ship to market. And Asians are already paying far more for LNG deliveries than what Europeans spend for Russian gas.

Thus, writes Michael Levi of the Council on Foreign Relations, it is unlikely that a shift in U.S. policy that would exploit exports to Europe, would "deter Putin from using the gas weapon."

"Moreover, unlike European gas companies, the big Russian players have much tighter ties with the state. If Moscow wants them to keep their share in the European market for strategic reasons, it may be able to make them do that. Russia would lose money — an important piece of geopolitical harm — but its leverage wouldn't be slashed," he said.

Vali Nasr, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, says however, that American supplies could have an effect.

"America's gas would be more expensive than Russia's, but the mere fact of an alternative would sap Russia's leverage to blackmail Europe with threats of price rises or cutoff," he writes in The New York Times.

Nevertheless, Michael McFaul, the just-departed U.S ambassador to Moscow, says the availability of American gas to Europe "puts pressure on the government inside Russia if suddenly they're losing those markets."

But, he said, "I want to emphasize this is not going to happen overnight, over years, if not decades, not in days and weeks... "

So the United States can't do much on the natural gas front right now, but it will become a lever Washington can pull in future crises with Moscow. Given Putin's recent behavior and his drive to bring former Soviet republics back under Moscow's sway, there seems little doubt those future crises will arise.

The long view might be what prompted the ambassadors to Washington from Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to write over the weekend to John Boehner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, urging the U.S. to increase natural gas exports to ward off shortages if the Russians cut off supplies, even though Boehner needs little convincing.

The ambassadors pushed for quick approval of natural gas exports, saying the "presence of U.S. natural gas would be much welcome in Central and Eastern Europe. All four countries were invaded by Soviet forces or place under martial law during reform movements before the Soviet empire collapsed in 1991.

They had a sympathetic ear in Boehner, who wrote in the Wall Street Journal last week: "The ability to turn the tables and put the Russian leader in check lies right beneath our feet, in the form of vast supplies of natural energy."

But the White House argues Russia is so dependent on revenue from gas sales that it is unlikely that the Kremlin will cut off supplies to Europe regardless of the Ukraine crisis.

"Proposals to try to respond to the situation in Ukraine that are related to our policy on exporting natural gas would not have an immediate effect," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

China and Ukraine concerns stalk markets

LONDON -- Worries over the Chinese economic outlook and ongoing tensions in Ukraine ahead of a referendum in the region of Crimea rattled markets Wednesday.

The catalyst to the latest market angst was the news this week that Chinese exports slumped in February. Since China has been a voracious consumer of raw materials and energy in its industrialization drive, it's unsurprising that assets like copper and iron ore have taken the brunt of the selling. Copper has fallen to its lowest level since 2010.

Adding to the cautious mood in markets was Sunday's referendum in Crimea on whether to become part of Russia.

"A severe lack of news or data leaves investors still focusing on the apparent slowdown in China and the ongoing crisis in the Ukraine," said Craig Erlam, market analyst at Alpari.

"What we're seeing now is markets on the whole being driven by investor sentiment and as long as we don't see anything positive to act as a distraction from Ukraine and China, sentiment is likely to remain low," he added.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares dropped 1 percent to close at 6,620.90 while Germany's DAX fell 1.3 percent to 9,188.69. The CAC-40 in France shed 1 percent to 4,306.26.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.2 percent at 16,317 while the broader S&P 500 index fell 0.2 percent to 1,863.96.

Oil prices also continued to drift lower, weighed by the China worries, with a barrel of benchmark crude down 2.3 percent at $97.72. Gold, however, prospered through its status as a safe haven in times of worry, trading 1.7 percent higher at $1,369 an ounce.

Earlier in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed down 1.7 percent at 21,901.95 and China's Shanghai Composite dropped 0.2 percent to 1,997.69. South Korea's Kospi shed 1.6 percent to 1,932.54.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slid 2.6 percent to 14,830.39. Sentiment in Tokyo was further weighed down by the Bank of Japan's decision not to expand its already lavish monetary stimulus following a 2-day policy meeting that ended Tuesday.

California pushes to finish driverless car rules

LOS ANGELES -- California is trying to do something unusual in this age of rapidly evolving technology — get ahead of a big new development before it goes public.

By the end of the year, the Department of Motor Vehicles must write rules to regulate cars that rely on computers — not the owner — to do the driving.

That process began Tuesday, when the DMV held an initial public hearing in Sacramento to puzzle over how to regulate the vehicles that haven't been fully developed yet.

Among the complex questions officials sought to unravel:

How will the state know the cars are safe?

Does a driver even need to be behind the wheel?

Can manufacturers mine data from onboard computers to make product pitches based on where the car goes or set insurance rates based on how it is driven?

Do owners get docked points on their license if they send a car to park itself and it slams into another vehicle?

Once the stuff of science fiction, driverless cars could be commercially available by decade's end. Under a California law passed in 2012, the DMV must decide by the end of this year how to integrate the cars — often called autonomous vehicles — onto public roads.

That means the regulation's writers will post draft language regulations around June, then alter the rules in response to public comment by fall in order to get them finalized by the end of 2014.

Three other states have passed driverless car laws, but those rules mostly focus on testing. California has mandated rules on testing and public operation, and the DMV expects within weeks to finalize regulations dictating what companies must do to test the technology on public roads.

Those rules came after Google Inc. had already sent its fleet of Toyota Priuses and Lexuses, fitted with an array of sensors including radar and lasers, hundreds of thousands of miles in California. Major automakers also have tested their own models.

Now, the DMV is scrambling to regulate the broader use of the cars. With the federal government apparently years away from developing regulations, California's rules could effectively become the national standard.

Much of the initial discussion Tuesday focused on privacy concerns.

California's law requires autonomous vehicles to log records of operation so the data can be used to reconstruct an accident.

But the cars "must not become another way to track us in our daily lives," John M. Simpson of the nonprofit Consumer Watchdog said at the hearing. Simpson called out Google, saying the Internet giant rebuffed attempts to add privacy guarantees when it pushed the 2012 legislation mandating rules on testing and public operation.

Seated across from Simpson at the hearing's head tables was a representative from Google, who offered no comment on the data privacy issue.

Discussion also touched on how to know a car is safe, and whether an owner knows how to properly operate it.

Ron Medford, Google's director of safety for its "self-driving car" project, suggested that manufacturers should be able to self-certify that their cars are safe. He cautioned that it would get complicated quickly if the state tried to assume that role.

In initial iterations, human drivers would be expected to take control in an instant if the computer systems fail. Unlike current technology — which can help park a car or keep it in its freeway lane — owners might eventually be able to read, daydream or even sleep while the car did the work.

Responding to a question received over Twitter, DMV attorney Brian Soublet acknowledged that the department is still grappling with the most fundamental question of whether a person will need to be in the driver's seat.

Maybe not, by the time the technology is safe and reliable, he said.

Soublet asked who would ensure that owners know how to use the new technology. Should the onus be on dealers, manufacturers, owners?

Representatives of automakers suggested they shouldn't be asked to guarantee the capability of owners. John Tillman of Mercedes-Benz said the DMV could test owners on basics such as starting and stopping the automated driving function.

Automaker representatives also expressed concerns that other states could pass regulations that were substantially different from California, creating the kind of patchwork rules that businesses hate.

States outside California have been in touch and are following California's rule-making process closely, said Bernard Soriano, a deputy director at the DMV.

Other discussion centered on how vulnerable the cars could be to hackers, who might wrest control of the vehicles.

Industry representatives said that while that's a concern, they would vigilantly guard against such vulnerability because it would be disastrous.

US stocks head lower for a third day straight

U.S. stocks are heading lower for the third day in a row as investors continue to worry about slower growth in China and the lingering tensions in Ukraine.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 10 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,857 in the first few minutes of trading Wednesday. The index hasn't had a three-day losing streak since January.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 74 points, or 0.5 percent, to 16,276. The Nasdaq composite fell 26 points, or 0.6 percent, to 4,281.

Nine of the 10 industry sectors in the S&P 500 index fell. The only one that rose was utilities.

European markets also fell. France's CAC-40 fell 1.5 percent and Germany's DAX fell 1.3 percent.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note held steady at 2.77 percent.

FBI hunting Hawaii for top domestic terror suspect

SAN FRANCISCO -- The FBI said Wednesday agents are hunting in Hawaii for the nation's most wanted domestic terrorism suspect.

The FBI office in San Francisco said the agency received "credible intelligence" that Daniel Andreas San Diego might be on the state's Big Island. Agents are searching for him in the island's eastern district of Puna and in the small, eclectic town of Pahoa.

San Diego, 36, is suspected to be an animal rights extremist. He is charged with exploding pipe bombs in front of two San Francisco Bay Area companies with ties to a lab that conducted animal experiments.

San Diego is atop the FBI's list of most-wanted domestic terrorists, and the agency is offering a $250,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.

Kai Sorte, who manages an organic deli in Pahoa, said FBI agents had visited the small, countercultural town about 18 months ago in search of San Diego. Sorte said he was interviewed again Monday and said FBI agents believe San Diego is looking for "some sort of cause or movement" to join.

"This town is a melting pot of a lot of different cultures," Sorte said.

Sorte said the agents didn't say why they returned to Pahoa.

FBI spokesman Peter Lee declined to comment on the nature of the "credible intelligence" that compelled agents from San Francisco to travel to Hawaii in search of San Diego.

This is the second and most specific alert the FBI has issued for him since he disappeared in October 2003 in San Francisco while being tailed by FBI agents. In 2011 the FBI said it had "substantive and credible" information that San Diego might have been in western Massachusetts after it received a tip prompted by an airing of the case on the television show "America's Most Wanted."

San Diego's image appeared on electronic billboards from California to New York, including above Times Square, for about a week earlier this month.

Late last year, the FBI called on the public's help in locating San Diego, who was raised in an upper-middle class suburb of Marin County north of San Francisco.

His father, Edmund San Diego, was the city manager of Belvedere, a wealthy Marin County enclave. Edmund San Diego didn't return a phone call Wednesday. He has declined to talk about his son in the past.

San Diego, who was under 24-hour surveillance, gave the FBI the slip on the afternoon of Oct. 6, 2003, in downtown San Francisco.

He is charged with setting off three bombs at the two companies in the wee hours. No one was injured, and minor damage was done to the buildings, including shattered windows.

Two pipe bomb explosions struck an hour apart at biotechnology company Chiron Corp. on Aug. 28, 2003, and investigators said the second bomb was set to injure first responders. A bomb strapped with nails exploded at cosmetic maker Shaklee Corp. on Sept. 26, 2003.

The search for San Diego has spanned the globe. FBI officials have said they've talked with authorities in Germany, the United Kingdom, Costa Rica, France, Spain, Denmark, Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Argentina, the Philippines and Chile.

San Diego has ties to animal rights extremist groups and is a vegan who doesn't eat food containing animal products, according to the FBI.

He also has unusual tattoos, the FBI says, including a round image of burning hillsides on his chest with the words "It only takes a spark" written below. The sides of his abdomen and back have images of burning and collapsing buildings.

San Diego has worked as a computer network specialist and with the Linux operating system and is skilled at sailing.

President Obama: "When Women Succeed, America Succeeds"

President Barack Obama meets with women Members of Congress in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, March 12, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

Today, the President hosted a meeting with women members of Congress to discuss the 2014 women's economic agenda, and the administration's plan to expand opportunity for every American.

In advance of that meeting, the White House Council of Economic Advisors released new economic data that laid out exactly why — in spite of the substantial gains women have made in the workforce — we've still got work to do to close the gender gap and promote opportunity.

The President has made clear that he'll continue working with Congress wherever they are willing, but he isn't going to wait to take action on behalf of the American people. And he announced today that he will host the White House Summit on Working families on June 23, 2014 alongside the Department of Labor and Center for American Progress to continue the conversation about issues facing the 21st-century workplace.

Here's a look at the state of the workforce for women — featuring charts from today's meeting with representatives. Take a look, and pass it on.

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Asbury Park Press building buyer announced

NEPTUNE, N.J. -- An H. Hovnanian Industries affiliate is buying the land and building that the Asbury Park Press has called home since 1985.

Terms were not disclosed.

H. Hovnanian general counsel Chad Warnken tells the newspaper (http://on.app.com/1cx9MTx ) the company hasn't decided what to do with the nearly 22 acre site in Neptune Township that includes a building that occupies 175,000 square feet.

The newspaper put the property up for sale in January 2013 as it sought to move to smaller offices better equipped for the digital age.

The newspaper will move across the street to an office building that will accommodate about 400 employees and a design studio that helps produce the Press and 14 other newspapers that are owned by McLean, Va.-based Gannett Co. Inc.

Egypt minister revises growth forecast downward

CAIRO -- Egypt's new finance minister revised downward his predecessor's economic growth predictions Wednesday, saying it will remain around 2 or 2.5 percent for this year.

Hany Kadry Dimian also told reporters that the budget deficit will stay high at 12 percent, citing strains on the budget from subsidies, a rising wage bill, and other causes despite the inflow of large aid from Gulf countries. Last year's deficit of 13.7 percent was a record high, while growth was an anemic 2.1 percent.

Dimian said eventually increasing political stability would get Egypt "back on track," but his immediate predictions are more pessimistic than those of his predecessor, Ahmed Galal, who resigned with the rest of the Cabinet last month amid a wave of labor strikes.

Egypt is banking on billions of dollars in support from oil-rich Gulf states and increased investor confidence following last year's overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi to help the economy, damaged by more than three years of unrest, to recover. It hopes presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for this spring and summer will bring the political stability needed to attract investment and revive the vital tourism sector.

In the meantime, Dimian said, revenues are hurting and costs have gone up.

He said the government's wage bill increased by nearly 120 percent over the last three years. The government has raised salaries in response to labor unrest that has swept the country since the 2011 uprising, and has also upped the minimum wage.

"The public pressure on the government and... attempts to appease the public led to that," he said. "Now is the time to work and build... to end for some time special demands and look to the public good."

"With the Arab aid we are determined to have our economy back on track. We are determined to have growth rate back on track and do the appropriate consolidation of our fiscal deficit and our debt ratio," Dimian said.

So far, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have poured in more than $12 billion to help the economy, as well as petroleum products to help deal with an energy crunch.

"We are expecting the support of the Arab countries until we are back on that right track.... We can't expect that we will be managing the Egyptian economy with all its big and strong fundamentals on aid," he said. "It is a temporary episode and we are aware of this, and we are managing our economic policy on this basis."

Three years of unrest have battered the economy, reduced foreign reserves from $35 billion to $17 billion, and weakened the pound. Unemployment is estimated at over 13 percent, while inflation is at 10 percent.

Dimian, a longtime finance ministry official, was part of Egypt's 2011-2012 negotiations with the International Monetary Fund that failed to secure a loan. He said a renewal of talks would require first a solid economic policy designed at home.

Dimian said he is focused on reforming the tax system, including imposing new value added taxes still in the works, and studying a proposal to impose 5 percent tax on high income brackets on a temporary basis. He also said major infrastructure projects and joint private and public sector initiatives are expected to improve growth.

Dimian said tackling the issue of energy subsidies, which take up nearly $19 billion of the state budget, need time and a comprehensive program to phase out. But he gave no specific timeframe.

"We need to change the thought behind and the method of running the national economy," he said. "This change will take time and effort and it will be difficult and will face resistance too ... We are ready for this."

Brewers' Braun signs endorsement deal

By GENARO C. ARMAS The Associated Press

Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun agreed to an endorsement deal Wednesday with baseball footwear and apparel company 3n2 LLC — his first since his suspension last year for violating Major League Baseball's anti-drug agreement.

Terms of the deal with the company based in Orlando, Fla., were not disclosed. ESPN.com first reported the agreement.

Company president Marty Graham said the agreement wasn't about the past, but focused on the future. He said the firm has done its research and strongly believes in Braun as an athlete.

A five-time All-Star and the 2011 NL MVP, Braun accepted a 65-game penalty last July for his involvement with Biogenesis, a Florida clinic accused of distributing performance-enhancing drugs. Nike Inc., ended its relationship with Braun afterward.

Braun has apologized several times and returned to the team in spring training.

Graham described 3n2 as a "very niche focused brand" that sells only baseball and softball uniforms and accessories for everyone from Little Leaguers to major leaguers.

Graham said Braun would help them sell their products to serious athletes.

"We think as a young brand that's trying to gain traction in our baseball brand, we think it's a good opportunity," Graham said in a phone interview. "I think he's going to go out and prove that's the case."

In a statement provided by the company, Braun said he was excited about the partnership. He will wear the company's footwear and apparel this season.

Braun, who is also moving from left to right field this year, was batting .636 with two home runs entering Wednesday.

"Certainly it bodes well. I know he's healthy," Graham said. "I think he's had a big chip on his shoulder (to show) that he has some God-given ability."

The company also lists Phillies pitcher A.J. Burnett and Dodgers reliever Chris Perez among other big league endorsers.

Key figure in NJ scandal surfaces for hearing

TRENTON, N.J. -- A key figure in a political payback investigation involving Gov. Chris Christie's administration voluntarily came to court to watch lawyers argue over whether her subpoena from a legislative investigatory panel should be quashed.

A lawyer said Bridget Kelly, the former Christie aide at the center of a plot to block traffic near the George Washington Bridge, wanted to show she's not hiding from the scandal.

"She's not someone who's running away and living the life of a hermit," lawyer Michael Critchley said outside the Mercer County courthouse after the nearly three-hour proceeding.

Kelly, who had not appeared in public since Christie fired her in early January, was rushed by reporters and camera crews as she arrived and left the courthouse. She did not comment. The jobless and divorced mother of four appeared near tears as Critchley described how her life had been upended by the case.

Bill Stepien, the other ex-Christie loyalist fighting a subpoena, was not in court.

Lawyers for Kelly and Stepien said their clients risk self-incrimination if they comply with the subpoenas for documents related to the tie-ups.

The lawyers partially based their Fifth Amendment claims on a parallel criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office, which is seeking to uncover whether federal laws were broken. The legislative panel, which lacks authority to prosecute, wants to find out how high up Christie's chain of command the lane-closing scheme went and why it was hatched.

A lawyer for the legislative panel investigating the plot countered that the law does not entitle them to the blanket protection they seek. Rather, any documents deemed potentially incriminating by Kelly and Stepien should be argued on a case-by-case basis, the lawyer said.

Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson isn't expected to rule before the end of the month.

She also raised the prospect of the committee granting immunity to Kelly and Stepien in exchange for the documents.

Legislative lawyer Reid Schar said he was uncertain whether the legislative panel had the authority to grant immunity, while Critchley claimed the panel chose not to exercise that option because it would interfere with the U.S. attorney's investigation.

Christie, whose viability as a 2016 Republican presidential candidate has been called into question since the scandal erupted, has said he knew nothing of the plot's planning or execution. He said in December that no one on his staff was involved, a statement he was forced to retract in January when private emails, including the one from Kelly, showed otherwise.

Christie announced he had dismissed Kelly and called her behavior "stupid" after it was revealed she set the traffic plot in motion with the email, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

The lane closings occurred some three weeks later in September, causing hours-long backups in Fort Lee, apparently to retaliate against the mayor of the town at the base of the heavily traveled span connecting New Jersey and New York City.

The governor also cut ties with Stepien, who was a consultant for the Republican Governors Association at the time the scandal broke and was set to become the state GOP chairman.

Some 32 people or organizations close to the governor, including his re-election campaign and Republican State Committee, have been subpoenaed. All but Kelly and Stepien have complied or are in the process of producing documents.

State of Michigan fines prison food vendor $98,000

LANSING, Mich. -- The Michigan Department of Corrections has fined its prison food vendor $98,000 for a number of violations, including employees having improper contact with inmates.

The corrections department said Tuesday that Aramark also was penalized for making unauthorized menu substitutions and not preparing the correct number of meals.

According to department spokesman Russ Marlan, most of the improper contact incidents involved Aramark employees and inmates exchanging notes, though he said there was one incident in which an Aramark worker kissed an inmate.

Aramark spokeswoman Karen Cutler says the Philadelphia-based company is committed to resolving any issues as quickly as possible.

Aramark took over Michigan prison food service operations late last year in a move that eliminated union jobs. The state says the contract will save millions of dollars a year.

Microsoft names head of investor ValueAct to board

REDMOND, Wash. -- Microsoft Corp. has appointed Mason Morfit, the president of activist investment firm ValueAct Capital, to its board of directors.

Morfit has pushed for Microsoft to focus on its enterprise software products and cloud computing business rather than its flagship Windows computer operating system, which is being hurt by the declining sale of PCs.

The appointment, announced late Tuesday, had been expected. Microsoft entered into a cooperation agreement with ValueAct in August following the firm's purchase last year of some 66.9 million shares, or about 0.8 percent of the total outstanding. That stock is currently worth about $2.55 billion.

Microsoft's board now has 11 members, including former CEO Steve Ballmer, founder Bill Gates and new CEO Satya Nadella.

Morfit's financial background, experience as a public company director and his perspective as a shareholder give him "valuable insights," said Microsoft Chairman John Thompson in a statement Tuesday.

Microsoft shares rose 24 cents to $38.26 in late afternoon trading Wednesday.

President Obama Meets with Prime Minister Yatsenyuk of Ukraine

President Barack Obama holds a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk of Ukraine in the Oval Office, March 12, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Today, President Obama held a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk of Ukraine.

In their meeting, the President and Prime Minister Yatsenyuk discussed how to find a peaceful resolution to Russia’s ongoing military intervention in Crimea that would respect Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity. They also discussed support the international community can provide to help Ukraine confront its economic challenges, and the importance of uniting Ukraine and working to fulfill the aspirations of the Ukrainian people as they prepare for May presidential elections.

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Salam eyes exit if final policy push fails

BEIRUT: Prime Minister Tammam Salam is considering resignation if last-minute talks fail to break the deadlock over the government’s policy statement, political sources told The Daily Star Wednesday.

The Cabinet will convene Thursday in a bid to achieve consensus over the policy statement in the wake of the failure of the ministerial committee tasked with drafting the political blueprint.

The sources said that talks to achieve a breakthrough could take place prior to the session on the sidelines of a lunch hosted by President Michel Sleiman in honor of visiting Finnish President Sauli Niinisto. The event will be attended by Salam, the sources said, and Speaker Nabih Berri could be on hand as well.

March 8 and March 14 committee members are deadlocked over how to mention the resistance in the policy statement.

The Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance insists that the policy statement stipulate that Lebanon and the Lebanese have the right to resist Israeli occupation and defend any Israeli aggression, effectively legitimizing Hezbollah’s arsenal.

But the March 14 group argues that resistance against Israel should take place under the authority of the state and that Lebanon rather than the Lebanese should have the right to resistance.

The committee has until March 17 to finalize its task, or else Salam’s government will technically be considered resigned.

The sources said Salam might resign if no agreement is reached, adding that the premier feels as if he has been stabbed in the back by the March 8 and March 14 coalitions.

Health Minister Wael Abu Faour visited Sleiman as part of efforts to reach a solution.

Speaking to a local media outlet, Abu Faour said: “The solution lies in a clause that each side can explain as it pleases.”

The sources said that a speech former Prime Minister Saad Hariri is due to make Friday to mark the March 14 coalition’s ninth anniversary would indicate whether a breakthrough is possible.

Meanwhile, MPs attending Berri’s weekly meeting with lawmakers at his Ain al-Tineh residence quoted him as saying he would not accept dropping “a single letter from the word resistance.”

Berri, a key ally of Hezbollah, was quoted as saying: “We remember very well the destruction inflicted on the south by Israel and the displacement of its people. We also remember how in 1982 the enemy invaded Beirut, the first Arab capital it occupied after Jerusalem.”

The speaker said all Lebanese knew that the Shebaa Farms and the Lebanese sector of the village of Ghajar were still occupied by Israel and this was mentioned in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701.

He said everybody also knew that the Kfar Shuba hills remained under Israeli occupation, adding that Lebanon could not even benefit from all its share of water in the Wazzani River due to Israeli threats.

“Isn’t the government a government of national interest? This national interest in particular is embodied in our adherence to resistance out of our eagerness to protect our water and oil resources, along with deterring aggression and preserving sovereignty,” Berri was quoted as saying.

For his part, Sleiman said there was no justification for the delay in drafting the policy statement given that an agreement was reached among rival political parties on joining Salam’s government. “It [drafting the policy statement] has become the responsibility of politicians now,” Sleiman added, addressing Lebanese Army personnel at their barracks in the southern city of Tyre.

“There is no one who is against certain terms. No one is saying: ‘I am against the Army, or against the Baabda Declaration or against the resistance ... what is the dispute over then?” he asked.

Sleiman said some groups in Lebanon had got involved in the civil war in neighboring Syria without considering Lebanon’s interests.

Nabil de Freij, the minister of state for administrative development, said resignation would be the only option for Salam if no agreement was reached during Thursday’s session.

“Parliamentary deliberations will be held then and a [new] prime minister will have to be nominated. But I believe a new government will not see light of day even after 10 months,” said de Freij, also an MP from the Future parliamentary bloc.

“Why does the other side get irritated if it was mentioned in the policy statement that [only] Lebanon has the right to resistance?” de Freij said, adding that Lebanon included the state, the people and the Army.

“They insist on mentioning that the Lebanese also have the right to resistance. This, if approved, means that every single Lebanese has the right to carry arms under the pretext of resistance.”

Separately, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov reiterated his country’s support for the Baabda Declaration, which calls for Lebanon to be distanced from regional conflicts, particularly the Syrian civil war.

“During our meetings here in Moscow with Lebanese and non-Lebanese delegations, we said it is useful and logical that we and our friends in the region spread the principles of the Baabda Declaration ... not only in Lebanon, but in surrounding countries as well,” Bogdanov told Future TV in an interview aired Wednesday evening.

“The principle of refraining from meddling in the internal affairs of your neighbors is a logical issue that merits interest and respect.”

Political, security minefield awaits Lebanon

During a quick discussion with a diplomat who had just ended an international tour three days ago, it was made clear that what he has seen abroad in terms of the atmosphere regarding the situation in the region and Lebanon was extremely foggy.

This shocked him because the critical stage the Middle East is going through requires relevant states to have already developed their plan and strategies, taking into account all possibilities. This is especially true given the state of confusion toward the management of a number of files.

One such file is Geneva II, which after its failure is likely to lead to a return to the gaming field ahead of Syrian elections in June.

Another fact is the U.S. failure to reach a nuclear deal with Iran, which released a statement Wednesday saying that it would begin manufacturing two new reactors with Russia. This has collided with U.S. efforts to bring about Palestinian-Israeli talks amid Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rigid stance and his placing of impossible conditions ahead of chances for peace with the Palestinians.

Amid the regional turmoil, political sources following up on the dispute over the resistance clause in the ministerial policy statement say there has been a collapse of trust between Lebanese political groups. They anticipate that Lebanon is facing a minefield from now until the presidential election, both from the political and the security perspective, as the country faces the possibility of entering a long caretaker period if efforts to agree on either the “resistance” or the “government” clause fail and the government is unable to gain a vote of confidence in Parliament.

The sources said the latest calls between key political powers reflected a clear concern over the upcoming presidential election and the possible lack thereof due to a lack of agreement between local and foreign powers.

Foreign diplomatic powers are putting strong pressure on Lebanese politicians, a reflection of the fears of a possible constitutional vacuum that a caretaker Cabinet would not be able to fill.

Most Western powers’ representatives in Lebanon are stressing the importance of completing the procedures in order to keep the international conferences for Lebanon going, the latest of which was last week’s International Support Group for Lebanon meeting in Paris. However, the sources said the representatives fear Lebanon may reach the election date without enough guarantees to maintain its stability.

In light of all this, there is a push toward drafting the ministerial statement before its deadline next Monday at midnight, according to Speaker Nabih Berri.

However, given the failing efforts to provide a solution to the ministerial statement, the spotlight has fallen on the Constitution and what it says should happen if the government does not carry out its mission within 30 days from its formation. According to the second paragraph of Article 64: “The government should present its ministerial statement to Parliament to gain a vote of confidence 30 days from the date of its formation, and the government should not exercise its powers before gaining [a vote of] confidence nor after its resignation or it being considered resigned, except in the narrow sense of caretaker.”

This article does not mention any punitive measures if the government does not fulfill its duties. And along with other enigmatic articles from the Taif Accord, leaves the door wide open for interpretation.

Some legal experts believe that missing the 30-day deadline would turn the Cabinet into a caretaker government, while others say that as no punishment is mentioned the deadline is simply meant to push the committee to finalize the ministerial statement.

One of the legal experts said the article had a time limit so ministers would work fast and not waste any time or make delays, and that since it does not specify that the Cabinet should resign, the most likely hypothesis is that the time limit was set to push the government to complete its duties.

Another relevant part of the Constitution, Article 69, also does not point to the government having to resign in case the ministerial statement was not drafted, reinforcing the notion that the time limit was meant to hasten work, although this does not mean the deadline is open-ended.

One law expert, however, believes there is something more dangerous waiting for the country than the legal ambiguities if premier Tammam Salam’s government is unable to draft a ministerial statement, does not manage to gain a vote of confidence and the presidential polls do not take place.

It is a question of validity, the expert said. For who will then be in power in the country, the current government which did not receive a vote of confidence, or that of former Prime Minister Najib Mikati which did?

Machnouk blasts Hezbollah, Iran for wave of violence

BEIRUT: Lebanon’s interior minister blamed Syrian and Iranian interference Wednesday for a wave of violence that has hit the country in recent months, claiming that Syrian intelligence services were behind the emergence of militant groups in the north.

Nouhad Machnouk also said that Hezbollah’s military intervention in the Syrian conflict has made the Lebanese complicit alongside Bashar Assad’s regime in the shedding of Syrian blood.

“We know that the political and strategic reasons behind the phenomenon of violence stem from Iranian and Syrian interference in Lebanon’s interior, not just now but for more than three decades,” Machnouk said at a gathering of Arab interior ministers in Marrakech. “Since the Syrian regime is facing a revolution and Iran faces major challenges, the blood has increased in Lebanon and Syria and that is something to be condemned.”

“A primary part of the violence that several Arab countries, including Lebanon, are suffering from is due to the turbulence of the relationship with Iran,” he added.

Machnouk said that a broader solution to the crisis in relations with Iran that involves senior regional figures is needed.

Machnouk said that Hezbollah’s decision to join the war in Syria has broadened the conflict over the party’s weapons.

“We have in Lebanon an armed organization including thousands of fighters facing Israel, but its weapons became a divisive issue internally at first and then as a result of its role in Syria,” he said.

The party’s participation in Syria means that “we now have to carry the burden with the Assad regime and we have to accept that it is lawful to shed the blood of these [Syrian] revolutionaries,” he added.

Machnouk said that suicide attacks and sectarianism threatens Lebanon’s unity, adding that there are groups in Lebanon today tasked with recruiting suicide bombers.

He said that the car bombs used are usually stolen from the country, smuggled to Syria where they are rigged with explosives, before being smuggled back to Lebanon.

Lebanon has been hit with a series of attacks linked to the crisis in Syria targeting areas traditionally associated with Hezbollah.

Militant groups that carry out the attacks usually cite the party’s participation in the Syrian war.

Machnouk also held meetings with the interior ministers of Saudi Arabia and Qatar on the sidelines of the conference.

Observers worry that recent tensions between Saudi Arabia and Qatar over the latter’s support for the Muslim Brotherhood could spark tensions in Lebanon, which has traditionally been an outlet for regional interference.

Machnouk was accompanied by top security officials including ISF chief Ibrahim Basbous and Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim, the general director of General Security.

The interior minister told his Saudi counterpart, Prince Mohammad bin Nayef, that Lebanon was in “dire need” for assistance to cope with the refugee crisis.

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser al-Thani said after his meeting with Machnouk that the Lebanese must remain neutral in Arab disputes. “Security must not fall under the pressures of political differences,” Sheikh Abdullah said.

Sleiman: Country needs national defense strategy

NAQOURA, Lebanon: President Michel Sleiman Wednesday said he hoped a national defense strategy under which the resistance would assist the Lebanese Army would be implemented once efforts to provide the military with advanced weapons were carried out.

Addressing Army soldiers and officers at their barracks in the southern city of Tyre, Sleiman denied reports that the military was banned from acquiring specific arms.

“The resistance will support the Army when the Army needs it. A strategy was laid out regarding this issue that will be discussed by the National Dialogue Committee,” Sleiman said.

“This is precisely what I spoke of in my inaugural address when I called for creating a defense strategy so the country can benefit from the capabilities of the resistance and avoid exhausting its achievements with political bickering.”

Sleiman added that the national defense strategy would complement plans to provide the Lebanese Army with weaponry.

In 2012, during a National Dialogue Committee meeting, Sleiman proposed a national defense strategy under which Hezbollah’s arms would be placed under the command of the Army.

Sleiman spearheaded efforts to provide the Army with new weapons, a process that has recently gained momentum.

Late last year, Saudi Arabia pledged $3 billion to Lebanon’s poorly equipped military to help it purchase weapons and military supplies from France. In 2012, the Lebanese government approved a $1.6 billion five-year plan to buy equipment for the Army. It still requires Parliament’s endorsement.

The International Support Group for Lebanon, launched by Sleiman and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York last year, will hold a conference in Rome later this year to address the needs of the Lebanese Army.

The military also receives annual aid from the United States.

Speaking to The Daily Star, sources from Baabda Palace voiced surprise that some in Lebanon were arguing that Sleiman’s efforts to provide the military with new weapons were aimed at boosting his popularity as a prelude to seeking an extension for his term, which expires on May 25.

“The plan to provide the Lebanese Army with weapons ... was launched by Sleiman when he was appointed an Army commander in 1998,” one source said, requesting to remain anonymous.

Sleiman denied media reports that the military was banned from receiving certain French arms under the Saudi grant.

“It shouldn’t be said that the Army is forbidden from acquiring certain weapons, certainly not ... there is nothing the Army is forbidden from getting,” Sleiman said. “But there is a specified amount of money, and the Army has to decide what arms it needs.”

Sleiman also said that the military had full political cover to act wherever it wanted.

Earlier, Sleiman, accompanied by Defense Minister Samir Moqbel, visited the headquarters of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon in the southern village of Naqoura, where he held a meeting with UNIFIL commander Maj. Gen. Paolo Serra.

During the meeting, Sleiman expressed his gratitude for the sacrifices made by UNIFIL and its efforts to preserve peace in the area in coordination with the Army.

A UNIFIL statement said Sleiman was briefed by Serra on issues related to the implementation of UNIFIL’s mandate under U.N. Resolution 1701, and its cooperation with the Army to achieve this end.

“I was very encouraged by the president’s gesture in visiting us today. There is a strong message here for all of us: the message that Lebanon stands firm in its commitment to Resolution 1701 and to our mission, notwithstanding the grim challenges the country faces today,” Serra said after the visit.

“I assured the president that our peacekeepers are determined to stay the course and to work shoulder to shoulder with the Lebanese Armed Forces in our common effort to maintain stability in southern Lebanon.”

The president concluded his tour to the south by visiting the headquarters of the Finnish UNIFIL contingent in the village of Tiri, where he discussed with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto means to enhance bilateral ties between the two countries.

The Finnish president arrived in Lebanon earlier Wednesday to discuss cooperation and regional developments with senior officials.

Shabtini seeks new solutions at Ministry of the Displaced

BEIRUT: The often-overlooked Ministry for the Displaced could face the additional responsibility of taking on more Lebanese internal evacuees if the precarious security situation persists, according to it’s recently appointed Minister Alice Shabtini, on whose shoulders the neglected portfolio, still mired with the missteps of its predecessors, now falls.

Upon her appointment as one of the independent ministers in Prime Minister’s Tammam Salam’s Cabinet formed nearly three weeks ago, the media immediately took notice of Shabtini as the only female minister in the new government, which she said highlighting only served to reinforce gender stereotypes.

“When you point out that I am the only female in the Cabinet, then you are discriminating between men and women,” she said of the common issue brought up by journalists. “I am with 23 persons of the Cabinet, not 23 men.”

An active magistrate for nearly 46 years, presiding over countless hearings has evidently rubbed off on Shabtini, whose words are measured at all times, as though she is prudently handing out a verdict.

Implementation of the return process for internally displaced Lebanese has been characterized by coordination snags and inconsistencies since the end of the Civil War, while a worsening security situation, along with budget shortfalls, corruption and political rivalry as well as social and economic consideration has encumbered progress on the ministry’s duties further.

“Nothing is difficult,” Shabtini said of the challenges before her, in an interview with The Daily Star at the ministry’s Starco headquarters.

“I don’t look at it as a challenge, I look at it as finding a different way to treat a problem,” she said.

“Of course, when you have money, there are no problems,” she said, referring to the chronically underfunded ministry that must both pay out compensation and rebuild homes and infrastructure.

In terms of planning for the future of the ministry, Shabtini said she didn’t have a clear-cut plan of her own yet, as the Cabinet, which is still at an impasse over its policy statement, faces an uncertain future.

“What is done is done,” she said of the mistakes of her predecessors, “And now, I’m doing something that was planned before. I’m continuing.”

Reintegration of internally displaced Lebanese was high on the agenda of the government after the Civil War, as the Taif Accord singled out the return of displaced Lebanese as crucial for a viable peace. The Ministry for the Displaced, along with the Central Fund for the Displaced, was established in 1993 to implement the resettlements, with 2002 set as the deadline.

While the government offered compensation to those displaced, the vast majority of them have not reclaimed their original properties, and there are still thousands of Lebanese who remain displaced from their homes. Many have become part of a new social context, mostly in the country’s urban centers, and do not want to go back.

“I don’t know if I can say that decisions were poorly taken ... but in my opinion, the payment of compensation was not personalized, they were not subjective, everyone received the same sum,” she said.

While she said rebuilding initiatives should be focused on attracting youth, such as at universities and recreational centers, she hoped that the ministry would ultimately accomplished its mandate so that its work could be complete.

“I would like to close this ministry,” she said, but added that “it all depends on what happens in Lebanon from a security perspective.”

If terrorist attacks persist, especially in areas where Hezbollah enjoys broad support, and if border towns with neighboring Syria continue to fray under rocket attacks and raids, Shabtini says the ministry might have to add more internally displaced to its list of dependents – Cabinet approval pending – as it did after the July 2006 war.

“In the southern suburbs, there are a lot of people who are already leaving,” she said.

While Cabinet ministers are set to discuss the stalled policy statement at a meeting Thursday, Shabtini said, respecting existing laws and codified obligations was important, but not at the expense of ignoring current realities that might require rethinking or amending the laws in place.

“We have three voices in this Cabinet – the March 14, the centrists and the March 8 – so we have to take into consideration where we are and try to make compromises,” she said.

“Nothing is fixed in politics; things evolve. Everything is evolving and that’s why you have to change, even the laws. But there is a protocol to changing laws; you can’t take a revolver and oblige someone to write or sign off on something.”

As for the issue of gender equality, Shabtini said the problem did not lie so much with legal discrimination, but with the lack of financial independence and power. As an aspiring magistrate who was once without power herself, she credits “chance” for her ascendency.

“At that time [in 1970], they didn’t accept female applicants into the judiciary,” said Shabtini, who always envisioned herself as a judge, as from a young age people always sought her counsel. Her application was refused in 1970, and she, by chance, complained to then-Economy Minister Suleiman Franjieh and asked him why such a discriminatory policy existed.

“He said to me: ‘I will do my utmost to convince one member of the Judicial Council to rethink their decision,’ but he couldn’t,” she said.

A few years later, Franjieh became the president of the republic and made good on his promise to Shabtini. “By coincidence, I happened to ask someone who happened to become the president of the republic,” she said

In her judicial career, Shabtini would become assume the helm of the Court of Cassation and the Military Court of Cassation.

In 2011, her acquittal of four alleged collaborators with Israel brought her under fire from Hezbollah, but she maintains to this day that it was a unanimous decision made by a five-member council, and not hers alone.

The incident revealed the degree to which the independence of the Lebanese judiciary can, and often does, compromise.

“It all depends on the judge,” she said. “There are judges who are independent, but the judiciary isn’t, because the nominations are made by politicians.”

“I was always independent in my way of thinking, which is not encouraged in the judiciary,” she said.

Obama wants overtime pay for more salaried workers

WASHINGTON -- Bypassing Congress, President Barack Obama intends to order changes in overtime rules so employers would be required to pay millions more workers for the extra time they put in on the job.

The rules, which would not likely take effect until 2015, are aimed at workers currently designated as supervisory employees but who are exempt from overtime because they get paid a salary of more than $455 a week. Obama plans to order his Labor Department to recommend regulations that would increase that salary threshold and change the definition of what constitutes a supervisor.

Obama's attention to overtime dovetails with his emphasis on correcting wage disparities, a theme that he has said will be central to the remainder of his presidential term. It also serves his political ends during a midterm election year, giving him a populist issue along with his calls for a higher minimum wage and better pay for women.

The president's directive, to be announced Thursday, leaves the details of a proposed rule to the Labor Department, which is not expected to come up with a recommendation before the fall. Still, it drew swift protests from Republicans who complained he was sidestepping Congress and from the business community, who said such rules would increase burdens on employers.

"How does he expect us to work with him?" complained Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. "It's just a poisonous relationship."

The salary limit separating those who get overtime and those who don't was increased to $455 in 2004 during the Bush administration. At the time, it hadn't been increased since the mid-1970s.

"What we know right now is the threshold has been eroded by inflation, and there 3.1 million people who, if the threshold had kept up just with inflation, would automatically be covered by overtime provisions," said Betsey Stevenson, a member of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.

Overtime and minimum wage rules are set by law in the Fair Labor Standards Act that Congress originally passed in 1938. The law gives the administration some leeway to define the rules through regulations.

The law requires most workers to be paid overtime that is 1.5 times their regular wages if they work more than 40 hours per week. The law allows exemptions for executives, managers and professional workers and sets the salary threshold above which workers don't have to get overtime pay. The law also gives employers leeway to define workers as supervisors, and thus ineligible for overtime, even if they spend much of their work day performing non-supervisory work.

New rules would likely establish a minimum amount of managerial duties that a worker would have to carry out to be exempt from overtime.

While the White House would not say what threshold it was considering, economists allied with the White House have proposed doubling the current limit to nearly $1,000 a week, or about $52,000 a year, which, when adjusted to inflation would make it similar to what the threshold was in 1976.

Ross Eisenbrey, the vice president of the liberal Economic Policy Institute, said there are about 10 million more workers who would qualify for overtime under that higher threshold. But he said not all work overtime and he estimated that such an increase would more than likely actually affect about 5 million salaried workers.

The current salary limit —equal to $23,660 a year —is below the poverty level for a family of four. "It's so far from being an executive salary as to be a joke," Eisenbrey said.

Business groups said any forced increase in wages has consequences that could affect employment, prices and the survival of certain companies which, they said, already have to comply with requirements of a new health care law.

"Similar to minimum wage, these changes in overtime rules will fall most harshly on small and medium sized businesses, who are already trying to figure out the impact of Obamacare on them," said Marc Freedman, executive director of Labor Law Policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "

Keith Koenig, president of City Furniture, which owns 10 Ashley Furniture HomeStores in Florida, says a new threshold of $800 would cost him several hundred thousand dollars more in overtime. He said he would have to tell affected workers that they couldn't work more than 40 hours a week.

"I can't afford to pay them time and a half. It breaks my budget," he says.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said that Wall Street executives benefited from a 15 percent increase in bonuses last year.

"Americans are fed up with Wall Street," he said, yet more hopeful than we've been in a generation that real efforts to raise wages are being put in place."

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Associated Press writers Donna Cassata in Washington and Joyce Rosenberg in New York contributed to this article.

Follow Jim Kuhnhenn at http://bit.ly/1dSkCCc

Associated Press writers Donna Cassata in Washington and Joyce Rosenberg in New York contributed to this article.

GM to offer loaner cars, cash to small-car owners

DETROIT -- General Motors is offering free loaner cars and $500 toward a new GM vehicle to more than a million owners of compact cars that are being recalled for a deadly ignition switch defect.

But the owners have to ask in order to get the benefits.

The offers, disclosed in a document posted Wednesday on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's website, are effective immediately. Owners will be able to use the loaner cars until parts arrive at dealerships to replace the faulty switches. They are expected around April 7, GM said.

The $500 cash allowance offer runs through April 30.

GM last month announced the recall of 1.6 million older small cars worldwide because faulty ignitions can shut off engines unexpectedly. GM says 13 people have died in crashes linked to the problem. If the engines shut off, drivers can lose power steering and power brakes, and the air bags may not inflate if there's a crash.

GM is facing a Department of Justice investigation, as well as investigations from two congressional committees and federal safety regulators over its handling of the recall. The company has admitted that it knew about the problem a decade ago.

Committees in the House and Senate also want to know why the government's road safety watchdog, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, didn't take action sooner.

The loaner/rebate program is part of GM's damage control efforts. Last week, CEO Mary Barra promised that an internal review would bring improvements and prevent similar problems in the future. She also said current management is intent on "taking great care of our customers and showing that it really is a new day at GM."

On Feb. 13, GM announced the recall of more than 780,000 Cobalts and Pontiac G5s (model years 2005-2007). Two weeks later it added 842,000 Saturn Ion compacts (2003-2007), and Chevrolet HHR SUVs and Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky sports cars (2006-2007).

In the document disclosed Wednesday, GM tells dealers that in situations where an owner is concerned about driving their car and asks for a loaner, service managers can give them one until repair parts arrive.

Dealers are also instructed to tell owners who ask that GM isn't offering to buy back their car. But the company will offer the owners cash toward buying or leasing a new Chevrolet, Buick, GMC or Cadillac vehicle.

The allowance "is intended to assist those customers who are unhappy and may want to trade out of their vehicle," the document said. "This special cash allowance is not a sales tool."

GM says a heavy key ring or jarring from rough roads can cause the ignition switch to move out of the run position. The company is urging people not to put anything on their key rings until the switches are replaced.

Legal battle brews over name change to Rocky Top

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- A former coal mining town's effort to revive its fortunes by changing its name to Rocky Top has hit a snag.

A development group has promised to turn the tiny East Tennessee town of Lake City into a tourist mecca if it goes through with the name change. The plan is to cash in on the fame of the song "Rocky Top," a bluegrass standard that has been recorded over the years by Dolly Parton, Glen Campbell and others.

But Gatlinburg-based House of Bryant, which owns the rights to the song and multiple Rocky Top trademarks, is suing.

House of Bryant was founded by country composers Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, who wrote "Rocky Top" in 1967. A complaint filed Monday in federal court in Knoxville claims the name change would injure the reputation, goodwill and business value of House of Bryant's Rocky Top trademarks.

House of Bryant is seeking an injunction to prevent Lake City from changing its name, plus court costs and damages.

There is no actual town of Rocky Top, Tenn. The lawsuit says the Bryants "were instead referring to a fictional or idyllic place" in their song. Last year, a group of East Tennessee public officials and businessmen began promoting the idea of creating a real Rocky Top. The group promised to help build a massive tourist complex in Lake City, a town of about 1,800 people, if it legally changed its name.

In November, the Lake City Council took the first step by voting to ask the Tennessee Legislature to authorize the name change. Since then, a bill has been introduced in both houses of the Legislature.

The lawsuit claims the Lake City name change plan infringes on House of Bryant's copyright and trademarks because it seeks to take advantage of the fame of the Bryants' song. The suit cites the example of a plan by developers to sell jars of Rocky Top branded candy corn, a loose reference to a line in the song that refers not to candy, but to moonshine: "Corn don't grow at all on Rocky Top, dirt's too rocky by far. That's why all the folks on Rocky Top get their corn from a jar."

According to the complaint, House of Bryant representatives met with Lake City officials and developers in December to discuss the name change. House of Bryant suggested the developers go ahead with their project using some other name.

"The Developers and Lake City admitted that no other name would work for the purposes of Lake City, and they insisted that the fame of ROCKY TOP was key to their scheme's success and that the name had to be changed to ROCKY TOP," the lawsuit states.

After the two sides failed to reach an agreement, Lake City sent House of Bryant a letter in January saying the town intended to move forward with the name change.

Lake City Mayor Tim Sharp had promised residents at the November council meeting not to involve the town in litigation "or anything that will cause any problem." Sharp could not immediately be reached on Wednesday to explain the change of posture. A representative of the developers also did not immediately return a call.