Thursday, 22 May 2014

Snake causes car crash in s.Lebanon, 11 wounded


BEIRUT: Eleven people, including six children, were wounded in south Lebanon after a mother swerved to avoid a snake in the road, with the SUV she was driving overturning after she lost control of it.


The National News Agency said Fatmeh Daoud Yassin was driving her Range Rover on the Maifadoun-Kfar Djal road when she saw a large snake crossing the street.


She swerved to avoid it, but the vehicle toppled, rolling down toward the side of the road, NNA said.


The mother and her four children, between 2 and 6 years old, were injured in the accident Thursday evening.


Also wounded were Amal Rida Nasser, Yassin’s friend, and her three children – ages 2, 7 and 9.


Two other people in Yassin’s care were also injured, according to NNA.


It said Yassin and her youngest son, Hussein, were in critical condition.



Lebanon's Arabic press digest – May 23, 2014


The following are a selection of stories from Lebanese newspapers that may be of interest to The Daily Star readers. The Daily Star cannot vouch for the accuracy of these reports.


Al-Akhbar


Geagea informs Hariri of readiness to step down as candidate


The Lebanese Forces seriously want to find a way out of the presidential crisis. LF leader Samir Geagea has informed former Prime Minister Saad Hariri that he is willing to step down as a candidate in favor of Kataeb Party leader Amine Gemayel or Minister Boutros Harb.


Meanwhile, March 14 sources told Al-Akhbar that March 14 leaders planned to discuss names of new candidates, who are close to Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai, after the constitutional deadline to elect a president has expired.


Ad-Diyar


March 8, March 14 Christians agree to boycott legislation


March 8 and March 14 Christians, under the patronage of Bkirki, have agreed to boycott legislative sessions in the wake of a presidential vacuum.


Among those boycotting the legislature are the Kataeb Party, the Free Patriotic Movement and the Lebanese Forces.


Meanwhile, Hezbollah has rejected an offer from Bkirki to extend President Michel Sleiman’s term until a new head of state has been elected.


Hezbollah’s rejection was made during a recent meeting of the follow-up committee between Hezbollah and Bkirki.


Al-Mustaqbal


Iran is behind any March 8 decision to disrupt Cabinet


March 14 sources told Al-Mustaqbal that should any party from the March 8 coalition decide to “disrupt” the election, then it was Iran that was seeking disruption, pointing out that the four ministers from MP Michel Aoun’s bloc could not cause a disruption unless they were joined by Hezbollah and Amal ministers.


Al-Liwaa


Sleiman: I was embarrassed when I was elected president, but now I’m proud


President Michel Sleiman told Baabda Palace employees as he said goodbye Thursday that “I was embarrassed when I was elected president after May 7, 2008, but now I am proud that I’m leaving the presidency within the democratic norms.”


An-Nahar


Pay hike victim of presidential vacuum


The controversial salary raise draft law is going to be the foremost “victim" of a presidential vacuum, as talk began to surface that the government would take over the president’s powers, something that would affect the decision-making mechanism.



Detroit motorists under siege in 'Carjack City'


When they pull up to a gas station these days, Detroit drivers are looking beyond the price per gallon at a far more threatening concern: carjackers.


The armed auto thieves have become so common here that parts of the bankrupt metropolis are referred to as "Carjack City," and many motorists fear getting out of their vehicles even for a few moments to fill a tank.


So gas stations are taking steps to protect customers, and the city has formed a special police team to go after suspects. Convicted carjackers will even get their faces and prison sentences plastered onto billboards.


"You need to catch these people and make a good example of them," said Mousa Bazzi, who owns a Mobil station in a semi-desolate neighborhood bordering Detroit's east riverfront. He keeps his business well-lit and continually has two to four employees inside to ensure "there's always an extra hand or two" in case of trouble.


Authorities blame many of the carjackings, ironically, on improvements in vehicle security. Anti-theft equipment, GPS systems and advanced locks now prevent many vehicles from being driven without a key in the ignition.


That makes it difficult or impossible for thieves to steal parked cars, leading them to target vehicles that are occupied, said Jonathan Parnell, of Detroit's auto-theft squad.


Also contributing to the thefts is a strong demand for stolen wheels and tires, police said.


Bazzi's station displays pale-green decals depicting a lighthouse — a symbol that his business has joined the city's anti-carjacking effort. To be part of the program, stations must have security cameras, good lighting, be open 24 hours and have clerks willing to help motorists and provide a phone for emergency calls.


"There is a waiting list," Sgt. Michael Woody said. "We have so many gas stations that want to become a lighthouse. You get better protection with that big sticker in the window that tells criminals there is proper equipment that will help police investigate these crimes."


Detroit police reported 720 carjackings last year in the city of fewer than 700,000 people. That's down from nearly 850 in 2011 and 1,231 in 2008.


The decline may partly be due to Detroit's freefalling population, but the thefts still exceed the carjackings in some comparably sized U.S. cities.


Sharlonda Buckman, executive director of a Detroit nonprofit, was at a gas station on an October morning when she ran inside for aspirin. Back inside her SUV, she was just closing the door when she saw a carjacker shove his gun inside.


She screamed and jumped out of the vehicle. The carjacker jumped in and drove off. Three other customers gave chase in their vehicles. One caught up to the SUV and got shot in the leg by the carjacker, who was later arrested.


Now, Buckman said, she tries not to pump gas at all.


"If the night catches me, I won't pump gas in the city," she said. "Or I'll call somebody to meet me."


It's difficult to know how Detroit's carjackings rank nationally because many police agencies lump carjackings with all armed robberies in annual reports to the FBI.


Newark, New Jersey, with a population of 280,000, had 382 carjackings last year, giving it a per capita rate that is actually higher than Detroit's. Memphis, Tennessee, with a population of 655,000, had slightly more than 400 carjackings over three years from 2011 through 2013. El Paso, a rapidly growing western Texas city of 670,000, reported only 15 carjackings last year and 18 in 2012.


Through May 19, Detroit has recorded 191 carjackings in 2014, including the Feb. 24 shooting death of CVS security guard Courtney Meeks, who rushed toward a car being taken by three men, and the Feb. 4 slaying of Donald Bradshaw, a 68-year-old man who was beaten to death with a tire iron after he was carjacked at an intersection.


Prosecutors, the FBI and Detroit police recently announced a campaign to spread the word about stiffer federal penalties for carjacking, which can include the death penalty if someone is killed. A similar campaign that includes billboards with photos of convicted carjackers started last summer in Newark.


Detroit police have also announced a partnership with General Motors' OnStar roadside assistance service to track down stolen vehicles and promote rewards tied to an anonymous tip line.


To avoid becoming a victim, security guard Greg Champion wears a handgun on his hip whenever he's pumping gas.


"I don't want to surprise you," Champion said. "I want you to know I'm armed, and I want you to know I can defend myself, and I want you to go somewhere else."


Christine Reed takes the opposite approach. The 27-year-old mother of two won't stop for gas in Detroit. She lives north of the city in Warren and works four days a week cleaning offices downtown.


If she's in a bad section of town, Reed said, she passes through red lights because it's tougher to carjack a moving target.


"It's not a safe place anymore," Reed said. "It's dangerous."


The state-appointed emergency manager tasked with restructuring Detroit's $18 billion in debt has said crime needs to be reduced to make the city attractive to new residents and businesses.


That's going to take more and better resources, said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who complains that she has only a few assistants to try carjackings.


"When nobody has any resources ... all we can be is reactive," she said.



State lottery chief taps down revenue expectations


Wyoming's lottery chief has low initial revenue expectations as the games make their debut in the state, the Powell Tribune reports.


"It's not going to be a whole lot in the first year or two," Wyoming Lottery Corporation CEO Jon Clontz said in an interview (http://bit.ly/RgjiAC ) this week.


Clontz said the lottery is expected to bring in $13 million to $17 million as it debuts. Expenses are expected to take between 35 to 45 percent of revenue, leaving $6 million for counties, cities and towns and the remaining for the common school account in the state land trust fund.


Earlier reports had suggested the state would bring in up to $20 million, but Clontz says to hit that mark, more games are needed beyond the Powerball and Mega Millions games for which tickets will go on sale Aug. 24. Video lottery and scratch tickets are among the games banned under the lottery authorization bill signed into law in 2013.


"I'd like to see scratch tickets come in," Clontz said. "They're fun. People like them. I'm getting asked a lot about them. Me personally, I hope we get to do scratch tickets."


Clontz said he knows the Legislature and governor would have to modify the law to allow scratch tickets or video lottery. The board can add a Wyoming-specific lottery, raffles or other forms of gambling without permission from the state, he said.


Clontz comes to Wyoming after two years as the deputy director and chief operating officer for the Oregon Lottery. He said he was attracted by the challenge of starting a state lottery.



Gap's 1st-quarter net income declines 22 percent


Gap says first-quarter profit fell 22 percent, as the clothing chain had to step up discounting to bring in customers earlier in the year when unusually cold weather chilled business.


The San Francisco-based retailer, which operates stores under Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic, reiterated its annual profit outlook


Gap says it earned $260 million, or 58 cents per share, in the three-month period ended May 3. That compares with $333 million, or 71 cents per share, in the year-ago period.


Revenue rose 1.2 percent to $3.77 billion.


Analysts had expected earnings per share of 57 cents on revenue of $3.76 billion, according to FactSet.


Revenue at stores opened at least a year fell 1 percent.



Savannah River can apparently handle new port


It appears the Savannah River can handle a second major container port.


A joint board from South Carolina and Georgia developing a $3 billion container ship terminal learned Thursday that a capacity study indicates the river can handle ships from both the existing Georgia ports and the planned Jasper Ocean Terminal. The study should be finalized this summer.


The board is working together to develop the 1,500-acre Jasper terminal on the South Carolina side of the river just downstream from Savannah. The idea is to have the new terminal operational when the existing ports in Savannah and Charleston run out of capacity.


"There are no red flags" from the study said James Balloun, of Georgia and chairman of the joint board. He said the board hopes to apply for a federal permit for the new terminal in September next year.


While time schedules can be uncertain, officials expect the new port could be permitted, built and operational by around 2030.


The river capacity study being conducted by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers considers everything from the width and depth of the river, tides, the size of ships and space at the terminals to determine how many ships the river can accommodate.


"By the end of the study we will have a basic understanding of the impact of adding Jasper to the river," said Michael Rieger of the consulting firm of Moffatt & Nichol told the board as he updated members on the study's progress.


He said that before the federal permit can be sought several tasks need to be completed.


They include additional design work and a more detailed plan of where the terminal will link with U.S. 17 and railroads. There also needs to be tests of soil and river sediment. In addition, a study of the economic impact of the terminal, including the jobs and taxes it will create in Jasper County, one of the poorest in South Carolina, is required.


Jim Newsome, the president and CEO of the South Carolina Ports Authority, said the board should also conduct a more extensive financial analysis of the port operation and how it will be financed.


"This is one of the largest terminal projects of its type in the United States," he said. "At some point we need a more sophisticated financial analysis."


Balloun agreed such a study needs to be done "sooner rather than later."



House defies Pentagon on defense spending


The House defied the Pentagon on Thursday, overwhelmingly backing a $601 billion defense authorization bill that saves the Cold War-era U-2 spy plane, military bases and Navy cruisers despite warnings that it will undercut military readiness.


A White House veto threat — reiterated just hours before the vote — had little impact in an election year as lawmakers embraced the popular measure that includes a 1.8 percent pay raise for the troops and adds up to hundreds of thousands of jobs back home. The vote was 325-98 for the legislation, with 216 Republicans and 109 Democrats backing the bill.


Hours later, the leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee announced the completion of its version of the bill that backs several of the Pentagon proposals while breaking with the administration on some weapons.


Most notably, the Senate panel "created a path to close Guantanamo," said the committee's chairman, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., a long-sought goal of President Barack Obama. Under a provision of the bill, the administration would have to produce a comprehensive plan for transferring terror suspects from the U.S. naval facility in Cuba that would be subject to a congressional vote.


The Senate panel backed the administration on some personnel benefits and a 1 percent pay raise for the military, while breaking with the administration by sparing the A-10 Warthog close-support plane and an aircraft carrier.


Certain to frustrate the administration was a provision that would authorize the military to train and equip vetted Syrian rebels battling forces loyal to President Bashar Assad.


The Senate bill must be reconciled with the House version.


Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, defended his House bill and rejected the suggestion that the measure was a "sop to parochial interests," arguing it makes "the tough decisions that put the troops first."


But the panel's top Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington state, complained that the House rejected the Pentagon's cost-saving proposals and came up with no alternatives.


"We ducked every difficult decision," Smith said.


With the ending of two wars and diminishing budgets, the Pentagon had proposed retiring the U-2 and the A-10, taking 11 Navy cruisers out of the normal rotation for modernization and increasing out-of-pocket costs for housing and health care.


Republicans, even tea partyers who came to Congress demanding deep cuts in federal spending, and Democrats rejected the Pentagon budget, sparing the aircraft, ships and troop benefits.


An increasingly antagonistic White House issued a veto threat on Monday, and Chief of Staff Denis McDonough reinforced that message in a private meeting with House Democrats on Tuesday morning. Late Wednesday, the White House issued another veto threat over restrictions in the bill on President Barack Obama's ability to transfer terror suspects from the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.


The full-throated message had little influence.


Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., highlighted her vote for the bill and its importance to her home state, where more than 150,000 have defense or defense-related jobs. Her colleague, Rep. Ron Barber, D-Ariz., praised the A-10 Warthog, which trains in Tucson.


In committee, Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-Okla., a former pilot and tea party favorite elected in 2012, spared three of seven AWACS aircraft based at Tinker Air Force Base in his home state.


The House engaged in a spirited debate over post-Sept. 11 laws and practices, and whether they are overly broad and still viable nearly 13 years after the terror attacks. Lawmakers pressed to sunset the authorization given to the president to use military force, to end the indefinite detention of terror suspects captured on U.S. soil and to close the U.S. naval facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.


The House rejected all three amendments to change current law.


To address the pervasive problem of sexual assault in the military, the bill would change the military rules of evidence to prohibit the accused from using good military character as defense in court-martial proceedings unless it was directly relevant to the alleged crime.


The "good soldier defense" could encompass a defendant's military record of reliability, dependability, professionalism and reputation as an individual who could be counted on in war and peacetime.


Overall, the legislation would provide $495.8 billion for the core defense budget, $17.9 billion for energy programs within Pentagon spending and $79.4 billion for the war in Afghanistan and other overseas operations.



AirTran's final flight scheduled for December


Another name in aviation history will disappear after the final flight of AirTran Airways, which is scheduled for Dec. 28.


The Atlanta-to-Tampa, Florida, trip has been designated AirTran Flight 1 and will retrace the route taken by a predecessor airline's first flight in October 1993.


Then it was known as ValuJet Airlines, a fast-growing, low-cost carrier that flew mostly in the eastern U.S. The airline changed its name through a merger after a 1996 crash in the Everglades that killed all 110 people on board. Investigators blamed the crash shortly after takeoff from Miami on a fire that started with improperly handled oxygen generators in the cargo hold.


Southwest Airlines Co. bought AirTran in 2011 for $1.4 billion and announced plans to combine the fleets under the Southwest brand.



McDonald's CEO: Fast food leads to 'real careers'


McDonald's is set to face criticism on issues including worker pay and marketing to children at its shareholders meeting Thursday morning.


Critics plan to confront CEO Don Thompson during the question-and-answer portion of the annual event. Already on Wednesday, McDonald's closed one of its buildings in Oak Brook, Illinois, where hundreds of protesters had planned to demonstrate over the low wages paid to its workers.


Protesters targeted another site on the company's headquarters in suburban Chicago, and more than 138 were arrested for refusing to leave the property.


The protesters were out again before the meeting was set to begin Thursday, chanting "I want, I want, I want my $15."


Shawn Dalton, 59, traveled from Pittsburgh, saying she wanted to support fast-food and minimum-wage workers. Dalton said her daughter is a recent high school graduate who can't afford to go to college right away, so she'll likely wind up earning Pennsylvania's $7.25-an-hour minimum wage.


Inside the meeting, individuals affiliated with Corporate Accountability intended to once again bring up the company's marketing to children. Last year, the group made headlines after it arranged to have a 9-year-old girl ask Thompson to stop "tricking" kids into eating McDonald's food.


McDonald's representatives didn't immediately respond when asked if they planned to change the way it conducts its question-and-answer period this year. In past years, people have been able to stand and directly address executives.


Shareholder meetings offer a rare opportunity for average investors to face top executives at publicly traded companies. Public pension funds and activist groups often show up in hopes of changing corporate practices.


The McDonald's meeting is a frequent target because of the company's high profile.


---


AP Business Writer Candice Choi contributed from New York.


Follow Candice Choi at http://bit.ly/1t0Cxu8



Coventry, Humana, WellPoint offer most affordable marketplace coverage, study finds


Consumers in 37 states that want affordable marketplace health coverage are more likely to pick a plan from Coventry, Humana or WellPoint, according to new research by Avalere Health.


Coventry had the largest share of its health plans priced competitively, with more than half priced equal to or less than the area "benchmark" plan, which is the second lowest-cost silver plan.


Sixty-five percent of the nation's 8 million marketplace enrollees selected a silver plan, which covers 70 percent of medical costs. Ninety-five percent of silver plan members who enrolled through the federal marketplace, HealthCare.gov, qualified for financial assistance to help pay for coverage.


Humana, Coventry, and the new consumer operated and oriented plans, known as "co-ops," had the largest share of affordable silver plans. While over 60 percent of Humana's silver plans were priced the same or less than area benchmark plans, according to the research which looked at plans in California, Idaho, New Mexico and the 34 states that use the federal health insurance marketplace.


Overall, independent Blue Cross Blue Shield plans, known as "Blues," had the most low-cost silver plans with 370 in 27 states.


“Securing enrollment in silver plans is critical for carriers establishing exchange market share,” said Elizabeth Carpenter, director at Avalere Health. “Looking ahead to 2015, we expect silver plans to remain the most popular given the link between the silver level and federal financial assistance, including tax credits and cost-sharing reductions.”


To read the Avalere analysis, go to - bit.ly/1gl7Uzo



WTO ruling upholds EU seal products ban


The World Trade Organization upheld Thursday the European Union's ban on the import of seal pelts, oil and meat on moral grounds. Canada and Norway had challenged the ban.


The EU banned seal products in 2010, saying seal hunting, which can involve clubbing seals on the head, causes unavoidable pain and distress.


A year before the ban was imposed, it was challenged by major seal-hunting countries Canada and Norway. Canada and Norway, which is not an EU member, said seal hunting is done in an ethical manner and argued that the ruling set a dangerous precedent because trade decisions were being made on the basis of morality rather than science. Canada protested again after Thursday's ruling.


The WTO's Appellate Body ruling released Thursday in Geneva said that concerns about animal welfare can override commercial interests. It also agreed that the EU's ban on seal products is necessary to protect public morals as spelled out in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, the international treaty that formed the basis of the WTO.


The EU ban contains exceptions for Canada's indigenous Inuits and Inuvialuit peoples from the northern province of Nunavut, who argue that the market for their seal products has been seriously affected by the overall embargo. Greenland's Kalaallit hunters are also exempt. Their homeland is an autonomous territory of EU member Denmark, but is not part of the 28-nation bloc.


Canada and Norway said Greenland's exemptions were unfair to non-indigenous hunting communities and that the scale of Greenland's hunt was comparable to commercial sealing.


The appellate body declined to rule on the issue, but agreed with a November 2013 ruling that exemptions do not give the same market access to Canadian and Norwegian seal products as those from Greenland.


EU trade spokesman John Clancy said the ruling "demonstrates that the EU can maintain its values within an open trading system." He said the WTO faulted the EU for the way the ban has been implemented, and said the EU will study the ruling "carefully."


International animal rights groups have long protested Canada's annual hunt, which allows for the slaughter of 400,000 harp seals, saying it is cruel, poorly monitored and provides little economic benefit.


"This is a wonderful day for seals," said Sheryl Fink, the Canadian Wildlife Programs Director for the International Fund for Animal Welfare. "Canada and Norway used every technical argument they could to try to force products from a cruel and unnecessary commercial seal hunts on Europeans. But reason and compassion have triumphed. This is a great day for animal welfare, and the WTO is to be congratulated on this ruling."


Seal hunters and Canadian authorities have maintained that the hunting is humane and provides income for isolated northern indigenous communities.


Fishermen sell seal pelts mostly to the fashion industry in Norway and Russia, as well as blubber for oil. The hunt exported about $5.5 million worth of seal products including pelts, meat and oils to the EU in 2006.


Canada's Fisheries Minister Gail Shea and Environment Minister Leona Aglukkaq said Thursday that the EU ban was a political decision that has no basis in fact or science.


"Canada's position has been that the Eastern and Northern seal harvests are humane, sustainable and well-regulated activities that provide an important source of food and income for coastal and Inuit communities," said the statement.


Canada's East Coast sealing industry has dwindled in recent years because of the global recession, animal rights protests and the European ban. About 94,000 harp seals were harvested in 2013.



John-Thor Dahlburg in Brussels contributed to this report.


Cox plans gigabit Internet speeds in 3 cities


Cable company Cox Communications says it plans to boost Internet download speeds to 1 gigabit per second starting in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Omaha, Nebraska, late this year. That is dozens of times faster than typical broadband plans.


The move will bring its service in line with Google's fiber rollout in cities such as Kansas City and Provo, Utah, and Austin, Texas; and an AT&T rollout in Austin.


Cox also said it plans to add 1 Gbps Internet speed to any new residential construction project in its footprint nationwide in places such as San Diego; Providence, Rhode Island; Orange County, California; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Tucson, Arizona.


It plans to spread the faster rate to the rest of its service area by the end of 2016.


The company also plans to double the most popular tiers of Internet service for all its customers this year — boosting those with 25 Mbps to 50 Mbps and those with 50 Mbps to 100 Mpbs. The two tiers represent 70 percent of all Cox's customers.


Privately held Cox serves about 6 million customers. It is the third largest U.S. cable company.



Exit poll shows shock loss for Dutch euroskeptic


Prominent Euroskeptic Geert Wilders expressed disappointment Thursday after a Dutch exit poll showed his party losing support on the first day of voting in European Parliament elections.


The shock slide for Wilders' Party for Freedom bucked the expected trend of anti-EU parties winning support across the continent.


Only the Netherlands and Britain voted on the first day of elections whose official results will not be known until Sunday night when all 28 nations in the bloc have gone to the polls.


But an exit poll by Ipsos published by broadcaster NOS showed Wilders' Party for Freedom, known by its Dutch acronym PVV, slipping from 17 percent of the Dutch vote five years ago to 12.2 percent.


"We fought like lions," Wilders told supporters at an election night party that was plunged into silence by the unofficial results. "The truth is that the exit polls are disappointing."


He blamed PVV supporters who did not vote for his party's poor result, but said the low turnout showed Dutch people's "aversion and disinterest" in Europe.


Reinier Heutink of Ipsos told NOS the agency's exit poll was at more than 40 locations across the Netherlands and expected to get responses from some 20,000 voters. He did not give a margin of error.


Euroskeptic parties like Wilders' had been the expected beneficiaries of a disillusioned and apathetic electorate. The Dutch Socialist Party, which also is strongly skeptical of the EU, got 10 percent of the vote, up from 7.1 percent at the 2009 elections, Ipsos said.


Instead, the Dutch pro-Europe D66 party appeared to be heading for victory with 15.6 percent of the vote. Ipsos said there was a 37 percent turnout.


"It looks like our clear pro-Europe message has got us more support," the party's leader in Europe Sophie in 't Veld told NOS.


Some 400 million Europeans are eligible to vote, with national polls being held through Sunday. Results will be announced late Sunday.


More than 16,000 candidates from 953 parties or lists — from greens to feminists to the far-right — are vying for the legislature's 751 seats.


Continent-wide voter turnout was 43 percent at the last election in 2009 but could slump even lower this time. Many voters are weary after several years of economic crisis and austerity, and increasingly skeptical of efforts to unite the continent into an economic and political superpower.


In Britain, the anti-EU U.K. Independence Party could gain the largest share of votes.


"If we get what we like things will never be quite the same again," said its leader, Nigel Farage, as he prepared to vote at a school near his southern England home.



The President Talks Tourism at the Baseball Hall of Fame

Watch on YouTube


This afternoon, President Obama became the first sitting President in U.S. history to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.


After taking some time to enjoy the baseball history and memorabilia at the Hall -- which will be celebrating its 75th anniversary this summer -- he talked about the impact that travel and tourism has on our country.



Today, I’m here in Cooperstown to talk about some new steps that will lead to more tourism not just within America but getting more folks to come and visit the treasures, the national treasures that we have all across this country, including the Baseball Hall of Fame right here in Cooperstown -- because tourism translates into jobs and it translates into economic growth.



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Gasoline prices have familiar look as summer nears


The price of gasoline should look familiar to many drivers this Memorial Day. For the third year in a row, the national average will be within a penny or two of $3.64 per gallon.


Steady gasoline prices are largely the result of crude oil prices that have remained steady too, as rising output in the U.S. and elsewhere have offset declining production in OPEC countries such as Iran and Libya.


The national average masks big price changes in some regions, though. Drivers in the middle of the country are paying far less than they were last year, while drivers on the coasts are paying more.


Analysts expect the national average price to slide lower through the beginning of the summer.



Army Corps sued over river-management approaches


Environmental groups sued the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Thursday over the agency's use of man-made structures meant to keep the Mississippi River navigable, claiming the techniques provoke flooding as seen during historic inundations four times in the last two decades.


The federal lawsuit asks the Army Corps to resist building more "river training structures" such as wing dikes, arch-shaped dikes known as chevrons, and rock dikes called bendway weirs until it comprehensively evaluates their environmental impacts along the vital commerce corridor.


Such projects, the lawsuit claims, have "thoroughly transformed the Upper Mississippi River system to the detriment of wildlife," leaving that river stretch "in an extremely ecologically degraded state" and surrounding communities vulnerable.


"The risks to public safety will only increase as the corps constructs more river structures," the lawsuit says.


"We don't want to stop navigation by any means whatsoever. We are trying to keep the public safe," said Melissa Samet, senior water resources counsel for the National Wildlife Federation, a plaintiff along with the Prairie Rivers Network, Missouri Coalition for the Environment, River Alliance of Wisconsin, Great Rivers Habitat Alliance and the Minnesota Conservation Federation.


The Army Corps consistently has stood behind the projects, their engineering and environmental record, rebuffing requests by the wildlife federation to abandon the questioned river-management approaches that use the river's current to clear sentiment out of navigation channels, lessening the need for more costly dredging.


The groups argue that dozens of published scientific studies since 1986 link the construction of river training structures to increased flood heights. More than 15 studies from 2000 to 2010 suggest such Army Corps projects "significantly" elevated the mid-Mississippi's water levels, by 10 to 15 feet in some cases, posing a threat to riverside communities, the plaintiffs claim.


The wildlife federation says the more than 40,000 feet of wing dikes and bendway weirs built in the three years prior to the catastrophic flood of 1993 contributed to record crests in 1993, 1995, 2008 and 2011. Many more such structures have been added since, including at least 23 chevrons between 2003 and 2010, with more such projects in the works.


The Army Corps already has built more than 1,375 wing dikes, bendway weirs, chevrons and similar structures in a 143-mile stretch of the middle Mississippi River.


Combined with selective dredging, the structures help the Corps meet its congressional mandate to keep at least a 9-foot-deep channel for barge traffic on the river, officials with the Army Corps' St. Louis district told The Associated Press during a conference call. And the structures are taxpayer-friendly, far cheaper than constantly dredging, they said.


"It's a value-to-the-nation kind of thing," said Jasen Brown, the agency's project manager for the region.


Officials declined to address the lawsuit specifically, citing the pending litigation.


In a March 2012 response to the wildlife federation's letter urging the agency to reevaluate its river-management activities, Jo-Ellen Darcy — assistant secretary of the Army for civil works — said independent technical reviews it commissioned found that the river-training structures "do not raise the stage of the river and do not increase flood risk."


"Therefore, I do not believe that further studies are warranted or a moratorium on training structures should be imposed," Darcy wrote.


No hearing date on the lawsuit has been set.



Western Sugar seeks meeting following death, fines


Western Sugar is seeking an informal meeting with state regulators to review $71,000 in fines it faces for safety violations in connection with a death at the cooperative's Lovell facility, its director of shareholder relations said Thursday.


Kent Wimmer said the cooperative owned by 1,200 sugar beet growers in Wyoming, Montana, Colorado and Nebraska has requested an informal meeting to review the fines, but would not say whether it was seeking a reduction. The fines were imposed after an employee died in January after falling through a floor opening in the facility's beet wheel processing pit.


The Powell Tribune on Thursday (http://bit.ly/1tqHmiC ) quoted John Ysebaert, administrator of standards and compliance for the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services, as saying no date has been set for the meeting.


If a fine is imposed, the money would go to the Lovell school district.


Wyoming Department of Workforce Services Director Joan Evans said Western Sugar would have to make a case for any fine reduction.


"It has to be some kind of new evidence that was for some reason overlooked during the initial investigation," she told the Tribune.


Eleven of the citations are classified as serious because they had the potential to cause a fatal or serious accident or illness. According to those citations, Western Sugar did not have proper signs or railings or adequate guards on some mechanical equipment, among other problems.


The last citation is classified as a repeated serious violation. It is based on inspectors' findings that a buildup of debris and foam made it difficult to see the unguarded opening of the processing pit, that there was sharp metal on the floor of the room and that there were signs of numerous spills in a chemical storage building that hadn't been adequately cleaned up. Western Sugar had previously been cited for similar violations at its Torrington location.



As Latin American economic growth slows, regional economies are at a crossroads


Latin America’s “golden decade’ of growth, fueled by a global credit bubble and commodity boom, has faded and now the countries of the region are facing difficult questions about their economic future.


As a result of that decade of strong growth, “structurally, Latin America is a different region today, but it’s at a crossroads,’’ said Augusto de la Torre, chief economist for Latin America and the Caribbean at The World Bank.


The problem is “there is no way in the world Latin America can continue delivering the same level of services it did in the high-growth years,” said de la Torre, who was the keynote speaker Thursday at the University of Miami Center for Hemispheric Policy’s Ninth Annual Latin America Symposium at the Conrad Hotel in downtown Miami.


After economic growth of 5.9 percent in 2010 and growth that topped 4 percent in 2011, the outlook is no longer as sanguine.


The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean is predicting 2.7 percent growth for the region this year — slightly better than 2013’s 2.5 percent. But some large economies are looking anemic: Brazil (projected growth of 2.3 percent) and Argentina (1 percent). The Venezuelan economy is forecast to shrink by 0.5 percent.


Now the region will have to find a “source of growth within their own countries,” because they can no longer count on the global tailwinds of positive commodity and credit cycles, said Tony Volpon, who heads emerging market research for the Americas at Nomura Securities International.


In this current “low-growth period,” Latin America also will face special challenges if current pessimism about the world economy proves true, said Volpon.


Despite the slowdown, de la Torre doesn’t see Latin America going back to its previous cycles of instability and financial crisis.


“I think Latin America has built a better immune system,” he said.


But a key factor going forward, said de la Torre, will be creating greater access to opportunity for all Latin Americans and eliminating the perception that society is rigged against those who are born poor.


One way to do that is improving the public education system. “In Latin America, our public education system stinks,’’ de la Torre said bluntly.


Ironically, the pillars of the region’s success over the last 10 to 15 years are now putting it in a “predicament of which there is no easy way out,’’ said Jorge Castañeda, former Mexican foreign minister and now a professor at New York University.


As Latin America has become more democratic and the fruits of its success more equitably distributed, it has given rise to a larger middle class and reduced poverty, he said. That, in turn, has created rising expectations at a time when economic growth is slowing and there is less to give.


Meanwhile, democratic institutions that worked well in elections are now perceived as “ineffective in dealing with popular demands’’ and people are getting “fed up with corruption,” Castañeda said.


In Brazil, for example, he said, people feel they pay high taxes and get “Fourth World-style services.’’


“These things lead to the frustration and anger of the middle classes,’’ Castañeda said.


In Brazil, that has brimmed over into massive street protests aimed at everything from government corruption, and the poor quality of public education and healthcare to the high costs of preparing for the next month’s World Cup.


Latin America societies, he said, are more intolerant of inequities now — although they are probably more equitable now than at any point in their histories, Castañeda said.


Once Latin countries figure out how to reignite growth, they will find that if they don’t also improve social institutions, growth won’t be sustained, de la Torre said.



Report: FAA too reliant on Boeing for battery test


The government failed to properly test the Boeing 787's lithium-ion batteries and relied too much on Boeing for technical expertise, a new report says.


The National Transportation Safety Board Thursday criticized the process used by the Federal Aviation Administration to certify the new jet in 2007. It also recommended that the FAA needed to look outside the aviation industry for technical advice.


The report directly conflicts with the FAA's own internal study released in March, which said the agency had "effective processes in place to identify and correct issues that emerged before and after certification."


The 787 — also known as the Dreamliner — is the first commercial jet to rely on rechargeable lithium-ion batteries to power key systems. The batteries are lighter, letting airlines save fuel. However, a January 2013 fire aboard a 787 parked at a gate in Boston broke out when one of a battery cell experienced an uncontrollable increase in temperature and pressure, known as a thermal runaway. Nobody was injured, but that fire — and a subsequent smoke condition on a separate plane nine days later — led to a worldwide grounding of the Dreamliner fleet.


Boeing subsequently redesigned the ventilation system around the batteries and the planes resumed flying. There are now 140 Dreamliners operating around the world. Another 891 have been ordered by airlines.


In its report Thursday, the safety board says the problems go back to September 2004, when Boeing first told aviation regulators of its plans to use lithium-ion batteries on the 787. The FAA was forced to create the first-ever requirements for use of lithium-ion batteries on commercial jets.


One of the nine requirements the FAA came up with was that the "design of the lithium-ion batteries must preclude the occurrence of self-sustaining, uncontrolled increases in temperature or pressure." In other words, no thermal runaways.


When Boeing and the FAA worked together to set up certification tests in March 2006, they considered the smoke a battery fire might cause but, according to the safety board's report, "Boeing underestimated the more serious effects of an internal short circuit." In January 2007, the FAA approved the testing plan proposed by Boeing. It did not include testing for such short circuits.


To avoid such oversights again, the NTSB suggests that the FAA needs to look outside the aviation industry for expertise when approving a new technology. For instance, the Department of Energy has done extensive testing on lithium-ion batteries. If the FAA had reached out to the Energy Department or other experts, the report says, the FAA could have recognized that its tests "were insufficient to appropriately evaluate the risks" of a battery short circuit.


The safety board recommends that the FAA reviews its lithium-ion battery testing process. Also, any certification of new technology should involve "independent and neutral experts outside of the FAA and an aircraft manufacturer."


The FAA has 90 days to respond.



Salmonella victim praises charges in 2010 outbreak

The Associated Press



A California woman severely sickened after eating tainted eggs in 2010 said Thursday she welcomed the government's decision to file criminal charges against the company executives blamed for the salmonella outbreak.


Sarah Lewis said Austin "Jack" DeCoster and his son Peter DeCoster should face punishment for the pain and suffering their products inflicted on her and countless other victims of food poisoning.


"It's about time," Lewis, 34, said in a phone interview from her Freedom, California, home. "They need to pay. If it means them being in jail, then good."


Federal prosecutors on Wednesday charged the DeCosters and their northern Iowa-based company, Quality Egg, with selling the eggs that caused one of the nation's largest outbreaks of foodborne illness. The government says more than 1,900 reported illnesses were linked to the outbreak, which led to an unprecedented recall of 550 million eggs, and thousands of other cases that went unreported.


The DeCosters are expected to plead guilty June 3 to misdemeanor charges of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce. They face a maximum sentence of one year in jail, although it's not clear what prosecutors will recommend.


Quality Egg is expected to plead guilty to felony charges of bribing a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector and selling eggs with misleading labels that made them appear fresher than they were from 2006 to 2010. Charging the company allows the government to seek fines that could climb into the millions.


Lewis, a wife and mother of two young girls, said her life will never be the same after being sickened by a custard tart she ate at a banquet from her sister's college graduation in June 2010. She was hospitalized three times in the following weeks with symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting, fevers and severe dehydration after the salmonella "wouldn't go away."


Her nightmarish ordeal, which she shared during congressional hearing testimony in September 2010, included developing a severe infection from antibiotics. She said the illness weakened her immune system and triggered a rare autoimmune disorder, Behcet's disease, which she'll have the rest of her life.


She said she develops painful oral lesions and has to get shots and take medicine that makes her fatigued.


"I never knew that I would be this sick from all that and it changed everything," said Lewis, a bookkeeper in her family's butcher shop. "I don't complain much but it's been the hardest thing ever."


Lewis said she met with the DeCosters at their request after the congressional hearing, where they also testified and apologized to victims. She said she told them, "You screwed up my life." She said it angered her when Peter DeCoster told her that he'd previously had diarrhea and vomiting and she would be "absolutely fine."


"I said, 'You know what? You have not been in and out of the hospital for three months like I have. You have no clue,'" she recalled.


Peter DeCoster's attorney, Stuart Dornan, didn't return a message seeking comment.


Like more than 100 other victims, Lewis reached an undisclosed monetary settlement that was covered by one of the Decosters' corporate insurers. She said she settled before she knew she had Behcet's disease and that the payment had only covered her medical bills.


Lewis said her family's butcher shop, Freedom Meat Lockers, was proud of its spotless sanitation record and her father washes the floor every morning despite having arthritis. She's said she's still upset the DeCosters "were not upholding the food safety laws like the other businesses around them."


"They kept trying to dodge it all," she said.



Business Highlights


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Gasoline prices have familiar look as summer nears


NEW YORK (AP) — The price of gasoline looks familiar this Memorial Day. For the third year in a row, the national average will be within a penny or two of $3.64 per gallon.


Stability wasn't always the norm. Between 2003 and 2008 average retail gasoline prices more than doubled, reaching an all-time high of $4.11 per gallon in 2008. Prices then collapsed as the U.S. plunged into recession. But after a two-year run-up between 2009 and 2011, the price of gasoline has remained in a range of roughly $3.25 to $3.75 per gallon.


Drivers can handle that, according to AAA, and are ready to head out for Memorial Day driving trips in the highest numbers since 2005.


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Weak electronics sales pressure Best Buy, Sears


NEW YORK (AP) — Is America's love affair with gadgets fading?


Best Buy and Sears on Thursday both blamed their weak quarterly results on the fact that shoppers aren't shelling out for consumer electronics.


Already squeezed by tough competition from online retailers like Amazon.com and discount stores like Wal-Mart and Target, retailers like Best Buy and Sears have been cutting costs and revamping merchandise and store formats to attract customers.


But the consumer electronics remains stagnant. Sales haven't budged from about $145 billion in three of the last four years, according to research firm NPD Group.


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Hess stations to be renamed, but trucks roll on


FINDLAY, Ohio (AP) — The Hess name will disappear from gas station signs after a $2.87 billion deal to sell the chain to Marathon Petroleum's Speedway, but the holidays will still see the popular Hess toy truck.


The deal gives Marathon Petroleum the retail operations of Hess, the largest chain of company-operated gas stations and convenience stores on the East Coast. The Hess stations will all be rebranded as Speedway over three years, the company said.


It also keeps the Hess toy truck on holiday wish lists — as they will still be sold at Hess retail stores and online this year. Starting in 2015, Hess plans to sell the toy trucks online.


Hess said this year will mark the 50th anniversary of the toy trucks, an institution on the East Coast, where TV commercials promoting each year's entry are commonly seen.


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Review: Apple's CarPlay headed in right direction


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple is getting ready to hitch the iPhone to cars in a mobile marriage of convenience.


The ambitious project, called CarPlay, implants some of the iPhone's main applications in automobiles so drivers can control them with voice commands, a touch on the steering wheel or a swipe on a display screen in the dashboard.


It's expected to be available this summer when Pioneer Electronics plans to release a software update for five car radios designed to work with the iPhone. Alpine Electronics also is working on CarPlay-compatible radios for cars already on the road. Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Ferrari are among those expected to start selling car models with built-in CarPlay services this year.


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China treads carefully as it pursues influence


SHANGHAI (AP) — China is carrying on a high-stakes balancing act aimed at building influence and access to resources abroad without damaging ties with its most important economic partner — the United States.


In rapid-fire moves Wednesday, President Xi Jinping called at a conference of Asian governments for a new regional security structure that implicitly excludes Washington. Hours later, China agreed to buy Russian gas worth about $400 billion, binding the diplomatically isolated government of President Vladimir Putin more closely to Beijing and the huge Chinese economy.


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Economic data on US, China boost stocks


Stocks got off to a good start Thursday and held onto their gains, carving out a modest increase for the second day in a row.


Amid a relatively slow week of trading, thin on major economic news and leading into the Memorial Day weekend, investors drew encouragement from a mixed bag of economic and housing data. Improving earnings from Dollar Tree, Best Buy and other retailers also helped lift the market.


Major indexes were already pointing to a slight uptick ahead of the start of regular trading after a survey from HSBC suggested the slowdown in China's economy is flattening. May's reading on China's manufacturing sector was the best in five months.


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US home sales rose 1.3 percent in April


WASHINGTON (AP) — Sales of existing U.S. homes rebounded slightly in April, but the pace of buying remained below last year's level.


The National Association of Realtors said Thursday that sales rose 1.3 percent from March to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.65 million. Purchases of homes over the past 12 months have dropped 6.8 percent.


Much of the gains were concentrated in the volatile condominium market, which experienced growth of 7.3 percent. Sales of single-family homes were up just 0.5 percent last month.


Nearly five years into the recovery from the Great Recession, real estate sales have yet to return to their historic averages. The solid gains made through the middle of 2013 have evaporated, while demand continues to be strong for the most expensive properties and faltering for starter homes and those priced for middle class buyers.


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Gauge of US economy posts 0.4 percent April gain


WASHINGTON (AP) — A gauge designed to predict the economy's future health posted a solid gain in April, further evidence of stronger growth after a severe winter dampened activity.


The Conference Board said Thursday that its index of leading indicators increased 0.4 percent in April following an upwardly revised 1 percent gain in March. The strength in April was led by improving housing and financial market conditions.


The overall economy grew at a barely discernible 0.1 percent rate in the January-March quarter but many analysts expect growth will bounce back to an annual rate over 3.5 percent in the current April-June quarter and will remain above 3 percent in the second half of this year.


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Average US 30-year mortgage rate falls to 4.14 pct


WASHINGTON (AP) — Average U.S. rates on fixed mortgages fell this week for a fourth straight week. The low rates could give a boost to the spring home-buying season, which has started slowly.


Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate for a 30-year loan declined to 4.14 percent from 4.20 percent last week. The average for the 15-year mortgage eased to 3.25 percent from 3.29 percent.


Warmer weather has yet to boost home-buying as it normally does. Rising prices and higher rates have made affordability a problem for would-be buyers.


U.S home construction surged in April to its highest pace in five months, the government reported last Friday, but nearly all the increase came from the volatile apartment sector — a sign that Americans are still struggling to buy single-family homes.


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By The Associated Press=


The Dow Jones Industrial average added 10 points, or 0.1 percent, to 16,543. The Nasdaq composite gained 22 points, or 0.6 percent, to 4,154. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose four points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 1,892.


Benchmark U.S. crude for July delivery fell 33 cents to close at $103.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.


Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, slipped 19 cents to $110.36 on the ICE Futures exchange in London.


Wholesale gasoline gained 1 cent to $3.01 a gallon.


Natural gas dropped 11 cents to $4.44 per 1,000 cubic feet.


Heating oil was flat at $2.95 a gallon.



Cubs make new Wrigley plan, risk lawsuit


The Chicago Cubs signaled that their contentious relationship with the owners of rooftop venues across the street from Wrigley Field is about to become what amounts to a bench-clearing brawl, with a proposal Thursday to erect more outfield signs than the city said it could. That triggered an immediate vow from the rooftop owners to fight in court what they see as a threat to their views.


"We've spent endless hours in negotiations with rooftop businesses," Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts said in a video posted on the team's website. "We've gotten nowhere in our talks with them to settle this dispute. It has to end."


But the rooftop owners, who have long made it clear that they'd sue if the Cubs erected anything on the 100-year-old ballpark that cuts into the views from venues they've spent millions of dollars on, were just as adamant that they were not intimidated by what they see as an architectural brushback pitch from the Cubs.


"It appears their zeal to block rooftop owners who pay them millions of dollars a year in royalties knows no bounds," said Ryan McGlaughlin, a spokesman for the rooftop owners, whose contract with the team calls for them to share their revenues with the Cubs. "Unfortunately, this decision by the Ricketts family will now result in this matter being resolved in a court of law."


The City Council approved the Cubs' $500 million renovation plan last summer, but it has been stalled by opposition from the owners of the 15 rooftop venues. They have a contract with Cubs that runs through 2023 requiring them to pay the team 17 percent of their gross annual revenue.


What the Cubs are now planning to do is dramatically revise the expansion plan. While the Cubs have already been granted permission by the city to build a Jumbotron in left field and a video board in right field, the Cubs now want to build a second video scoreboard in right field and four more LED signs in the outfield, each as big as 650 square feet, and erect light standards in the outfield, and add 300 seats.


The plan, which the Cubs will present to the city's Landmarks Commission on June 5, also includes substantially increasing the size of the clubhouse beneath the new outdoor plaza.


The Cubs have maintained that they need the added revenue from the signs to pump money back into the team so it can end its 106-year World Series championship drought — and have not-so-subtly suggested the rooftop owners are standing in the way.


To drive home the point, Ricketts, in his video, appeared in the tiny clubhouse and struggled to keep a straight face as he explained how players take warm-up swings there without a proper batting cage.


A board is placed in front of a wall-mounted TV and a net is lowered from the ceiling. The player plunks a ball onto a tee "just like the ones kids use in Little League," Ricketts says in the video, and takes swings while wedged between a drinks cooler and the clubhouse's fold-out chairs.


While some of the changes sought by the Cubs require Landmark Commission approval, many don't, including design modification to the player facilities, expansion of the Cubs' clubhouse; expansion of the visitors' clubhouse and movement of the bullpen to an area under the bleachers.


"I know this plan is in the best interest of our fans and our players," Ricketts said in the video.


An emailed statement from Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office was supportive.


"Like all Cub fans, the mayor doesn't want to wait for next year and if this proposal helps the Cubs get closer to a ballpark renovation this fall — and the jobs and neighborhood investments that come with it — it's worth taking a look at," it said.



Record World Cup numbers game for FIFA and Brazil


The 2014 World Cup is the most valuable, lucrative and expensive in FIFA history.


Record numbers include a $35 million prize to the winning team's football federation, $4 billion commercial revenue for FIFA, and a $14 billion bill for Brazil.


With 3 million tickets available to buy, the 64-match tournament is almost sold out with unprecedented demand.


"The financial success — we have it, it is done," FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said this month of the World Cup commercial operations. "The ticket sales success is there, we have never sold so many tickets."


FIFA's satisfaction is not shared across Brazil.


Taxpayers are picking up the biggest bill, with the country of 200 million people running up costs several times more than FIFA to stage the world's most-watched sports event.


The $14 billion total is the predicted spending on building and renovating 12 stadiums, upgrading federal, state and city infrastructure, plus security plans to welcome the 32 teams and around 600,000 expected visitors.


The spending fueled unrest in Brazil, especially during the Confederations Cup last June, among people who want better schools, hospitals, and less government corruption.


"I don't feel guilty that FIFA has used any public money against investment which should have been made in education, health or whatever," Valcke said. "When Brazil bid for the World Cup they had the budget to do so."


FIFA forecasts it will spend $2 billion on the 2014 tournament, including the local organizing committee costs.


Still, much of that bypasses Brazil. Even if the host nation does earn the winner's check on July 13, the remaining $323 million in FIFA's prize fund goes to the other 31 nations.


The federations also share $48 million from FIFA to prepare for the tournament, and $70 million goes to (mostly European) clubs whose players are selected.


The $35 million first prize is less than 1 percent of the governing body's revenue banked directly from its marquee event over a four-year commercial cycle.


Broadcasters and sponsors pay most of FIFA's $4 billion income.


European television networks have paid the majority of $1.691 billion, so far, in rights fees to FIFA, according to the past three years of financial reports.


Six top-tier partners — Adidas, Coca-Cola, Emirates, Hyundai, Sony, Visa — pay a combined $177.125 million annually. That totals $708.5 million over four years.


Eight second-tier sponsors — Budweiser, Castrol, Continental, Johnson & Johnson, McDonalds, Moy Park, Oi, Yingli — collectively pay $524 million. Around $120 million has been earned from Brazilian 'national sponsors,' according to the 2011-13 financial reports.


FIFA also gets hundreds of millions from fans buying match tickets, plus agencies securing the rights to sell corporate hospitality seats, and licensed merchandise.


As street protesters in Brazil know, FIFA's revenue is untaxed there. World Cup sponsors and media also receive exemptions for their operations as a condition of Brazil's hosting bid in 2007.


FIFA, however, has spent significantly in Brazil.


FIFA already gave $221.6 million to the embattled organizing committee, and more should follow in last-minute wrangling over paying for essential services.


In February, FIFA settled a near-$20 million bill for power generators needed for broadcast operations.


"We stepped in because it's not a question just of money," Valcke said then. "We were afraid that we would not be on time to deliver this energy. And without it, we cannot broadcast the World Cup."


FIFA's investments include tens of millions for TV production to deliver the biggest ratings this year.


In 2010, the Spain-Netherlands final was watched by 530.9 million people according to the reliable "average global in-home audience" measure. More than 900 million people watched at least one minute of the match at home, and the overall total likely topped 1 billion when public viewing places are added.


Spending by FIFA on ticketing, accommodation and IT services has also helped Brazil's economy. Draw ceremonies for the qualifying groups in Rio de Janeiro in July 2011 and the finals tournament in Costa do Sauipe last December added several millions more.


The full World Cup financial picture will be clear only next March, when FIFA publishes its 2014 accounts.


Typically, its numbers peak in a World Cup year.


Its reserves are $1.432 billion, which are intended to keep the Zurich-based body operating and organizing its other tournaments — including the Women's World Cup, under-17 and under-20 events, Summer Olympics, Club World Cup — if its main attraction is canceled.


FIFA reinvests around 75 percent of its income in football, including $250,000 annual grants to each of the 209 member federations. The six continental bodies get $2.5 million each, and $27 million was spent in 2013 on development projects, such as pitches and training centers.


That $27 million was exceeded by paying $36.3 million in executive bonuses, and the total personnel bill was $102 million for around 450 staff members.


FIFA can certainly afford the current and future expenses.


Booming sales for the next two World Cups to broadcasters Fox and Al-Jazeera, among others, and renewed deals with long-term commercial partners Adidas and Coca-Cola should ensure that $5 billion flows into FIFA for the 2018 tournament in Russia.



US charges Japanese executive with price fixing


A federal grand jury has charged a Japanese executive with conspiring to fix prices on auto parts.


According to an indictment filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court in Detroit, Hitoshi Hirano fixed prices of heater control panels sold to Toyota Motor Corp. between 2003 and 2010. The panels were used for vehicles made in the U.S. and elsewhere.


The indictment also alleges that Hirano tried to destroy documents containing criminal evidence.


At the time, Hitoshi Hirano was an executive managing director at Tokai Rika, an auto parts supplier based in Nagoya, Japan. Tokai Rika pleaded guilty to price-fixing in 2012 and paid a $17.7 million fine.


Hirano is one of 34 people charged in the U.S. government's ongoing investigation into price-fixing in the auto parts industry.



CEO: Sony needed to act sooner, but will reform


Sony's chief executive says the company has accumulated huge losses because it has not responded quickly enough to changing market conditions but is promising a return to profit next year.


Kazuo Hirai was speaking Thursday to reporters after the Japanese electronics and entertainment company last week reported a 128.4 billion yen ($1.3 billion) loss for the fiscal year ended March. It is forecasting a 50 billion yen ($490 million) loss for the current fiscal year.


Sony has repeatedly disappointed investors by not achieving its ambitious profit forecasts.


Hirai vowed a turnaround centered on Sony's core technologies, such as image sensors, cloud-based services and wearable devices.


He denied the company will sell or pull the plug on its money-losing TV business.



60 Seconds About SelectUSA

Three years ago, President Obama launched SelectUSA – an initiative to encourage U.S. businesses to bring jobs back home, and to urge foreign companies to invest in America.


Fast forward to 2014, and here's the result: more than $18 billion of investments across 17 different states, resulting in new jobs for American workers, and growth for our nation's economy.


And yesterday the President announced we're holding a second SelectUSA summit early next year, where more than 2,000 business executives, mayors, and governors will meet to encourage even further investment in the U.S.


Watch Jeff Zients, Director of the National Economic Council, go "On the Clock" to talk about SelectUSA – and the importance of investing in the United States:


Watch on YouTube


The Harvey Milk Forever Stamp Is Dedicated


On what would have been his 84th birthday, Harvey Milk had a stamp dedicated in his honor at the White House. A number of distinguished guests attended the ceremony, including U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power, House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senator Tammy Baldwin, Representative John Lewis, and Deputy Postmaster General Ronald A. Stroman.


Harvey Milk was a visionary leader who became one of the first openly gay elected officials in the U.S. when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977. Milk's achievements gave hope and confidence to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in the United States and elsewhere at a time when the community was encountering widespread hostility and discrimination. Milk believed that government should represent all citizens, ensuring equality and providing needed services.


read more


Billionaire Environmentalist Targets 7 Statewide Races



Businessman Tom Steyer listens during a meeting to announce the launch of a group called Virginians for Clean Government in Sept. 2013.i i


hide captionBusinessman Tom Steyer listens during a meeting to announce the launch of a group called Virginians for Clean Government in Sept. 2013.



Steve Helber/AP

Businessman Tom Steyer listens during a meeting to announce the launch of a group called Virginians for Clean Government in Sept. 2013.



Businessman Tom Steyer listens during a meeting to announce the launch of a group called Virginians for Clean Government in Sept. 2013.


Steve Helber/AP


San Francisco billionaire Tom Steyer has already pledged at least $50 million to his super PAC, NextGen Climate, and now the superPAC's leaders are laying out a hardball strategy for the fall campaign.


The goal: Tag seven Republican candidates as "science deniers" who are on the wrong side of the increasingly urgent climate change issue.


Chris Lehane, Steyer's political advisor, says the super PAC will target four Senate candidates – Rep. Cory Gardner in Colorado, state Sen. Joni Ernst in Iowa, Terry Lynn Land in Michigan and former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, who's running in New Hampshire – and three governors seeking re-election – Rick Scott in Florida, Paul LePage in Maine and Tom Corbett in Pennsylvania.


The seven targeted Senate and gubernatorial races rate among the most competitive in the nation in 2014.


Lehane says NextGen Climate will run ads and voter contact aimed at base Democratic voters, including those unlikely to vote in the midterm elections. He gave details to reporters in a briefing Wednesday at Washington's Willard Hotel — a sharply focused picture of how a well-funded outside money group can play in the midterms.


Among the bullet points:



  • Define climate change as a wedge issue. Comparing it to marriage equality, civil rights and women's suffrage, Lehane told reporters: "Change occurred once those issues were defined in moral terms as right versus wrong, and then used... as a wedge."

  • Define the opposition. "The Republican troglodyte brand, anti-immigrant, anti-women, anti-science" is how Lehane put it.

  • Localize it. NextGen materials cite rising sea levels and price hikes on flood insurance in Florida, and high levels of asthma among Hispanic families in Colorado.

  • Talk money. Lehane said the group will raise decisions made by the seven Republicans "that are demonstrably not in the best interest of their state, but unquestionably in the specific interest of a fossil fuel donor."


Of course, when money comes up, Steyer's own spending comes into question. He's the biggest known liberal funder this election cycle, and Lehane is quick to say his boss objects to the federal court decisions that made super PACs possible. He says Steyer is "spending a drop in the big-oil bucket compared to what the fossil fuel industry is spending, in particular the Koch brothers."


David and Charles Koch are architects and major funders of a conservative network, including Americans for Prosperity, one of the top-spending groups in the 2012 presidential race.


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has harshly criticized the Kochs, recently calling them "un-American." In response, Republicans began attacking Steyer this spring. The National Republican Senatorial Committee calls him an "environmental radical" who gives marching orders to Reid and other Senate Democrats.



Three More Men Charged In Conspiracy Case Roiling Miss. Senate Race



Clayton Kelly, the blogger at the center of the Mississippi conspiracy case, is shown here in a booking photograph taken on Saturday.i i


hide captionClayton Kelly, the blogger at the center of the Mississippi conspiracy case, is shown here in a booking photograph taken on Saturday.



Madison County Detention Center/AP

Clayton Kelly, the blogger at the center of the Mississippi conspiracy case, is shown here in a booking photograph taken on Saturday.



Clayton Kelly, the blogger at the center of the Mississippi conspiracy case, is shown here in a booking photograph taken on Saturday.


Madison County Detention Center/AP


Mississippi is home to what may be the most contentious primary election in the country. It's also the scene of one of the oddest political stories of the year.


Three men were charged with conspiracy Thursday in an incident that has come to dominate political discussion in the state.


Supporters of state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who is challenging Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran, allegedly conspired to take and publish photographs of Cochran's wife, Rose, at her nursing home.


Rose Cochran suffers from progressive dementia and has been bedridden for years.


Last Friday, police arrested Clayton Kelly, a blogger who allegedly took her photograph and used it as part of a video that was posted on his blog, Constitutional Clayton. He was charged with "exploiting a vulnerable adult."


On Wednesday, prosecutors also accused Kelly of violating a "peeping Tom" law meant to protect people from being photographed in places where there is an expectation of privacy.


Kelly may face conspiracy charges. Three other men were charged on Thursday.


Mark Mayfield, an attorney whom the Jackson Clarion-Ledger identified as being vice chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party, faces a conspiracy charge. Richard Sager, an elementary school physical education teacher, has been charged with conspiracy and tampering with evidence.


Police have also charged a man named John Mary in the case, the Clarion-Ledger reports, but authorities did not say whether he had been arrested.


Kevin Camp, Kelly's attorney, said his client did not know Mayfield or Sager and had never heard of them before today. Camp complained in court Thursday that the case is not being handled correctly because "it's all about politics."


The June 3 Republican Senate primary has drawn large amounts of money from outside the state and has been described as the Tea Party's "last, best hope" of unseating a so-called establishment Republican this year.


McDaniel has said his campaign had "absolutely nothing" to do with the incident.


On Thursday, he released a statement saying "the violation of the privacy of Mrs. Cochran is out of bounds for politics and is reprehensible. Any individuals who were involved in this crime should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."


The Cochran campaign held a conference call with reporters on Wednesday and questioned whether McDaniel or his campaign knew about the incident or had hampered the investigation. McDaniel published an open letter to Cochran calling such accusations "shameful slander."



Gauge of US economy posts 0.4 percent April gain


A gauge designed to predict the economy's future health posted a solid gain in April, further evidence of stronger growth after a severe winter dampened activity.


The Conference Board said Thursday that its index of leading indicators increased 0.4 percent in April following an upwardly revised 1 percent gain in March. The strength in April was led by improving housing and financial market conditions.


"Despite a brutal winter which brought the economy to a halt, the overall trend in the leading economic index has remained positive," said Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein. He said stronger spending by consumers and higher business investment should bolster growth in coming months.


The overall economy grew at a barely discernible 0.1 percent rate in the January-March quarter but many analysts expect growth will bounce back to an annual rate over 3.5 percent in the current April-June quarter and will remain above 3 percent in the second half of this year.


For April, five of the 10 forward-pointing indicators made positive contributions. The largest contribution came from the spread in interest rates followed by a big jump in building permits.


The biggest negative factor holding the index back was a drop in average weekly manufacturing hours.



Water main break causes NYC street collapse


New York City work crews have been fixing the damage after a water main ruptured on the Lower East Side.


As a result, the Daily News (http://nydn.us/1n5y5ue ) says water was shut off Thursday at eight residential buildings and five businesses.


It happened around 11 a.m. A worker said Katz's deli remained open for lunch but was using bottled water instead of tap.


The water main break also caused a 20-by-20-foot street collapse.



A timeline of the Pilot Flying J investigation


A timeline of events in the federal investigation into rebate fraud at the Pilot Flying J truck-stop chain owned by the family of Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and his brother, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam:


— May 4, 2011: An informant contacts the FBI about a regional sales manager's statement that Pilot is cheating customers out of contractually set rebates.


— Aug. 2, 2012: Jimmy Haslam buys the Cleveland Browns for $1 billion.


—Sept. 11, 2012: Haslam steps down as CEO of Pilot Flying J to concentrate on rebuilding the NFL franchise. He remains board chairman.


— Oct, 4, 2012: A Pilot regional sales manager agrees to cooperate with FBI investigators and record conversations with colleagues.


— Oct. 25, 2012: The confidential source records a meeting held at the Rockwood, Tennessee, lake house of John "Stick" Freeman, Pilot's vice president of sales. Freeman recounts getting caught withholding rebate money from a customer and brags that he had to pay back $1 million but still came out $6 million ahead. Asked about Jimmy Haslam's reaction, Freeman is recorded as saying: "He knew it all along. Loved it."


— Feb. 11, 2013: Haslam announces he will reassume his position as CEO of Pilot.


— April 1, 2013: The FBI's confidential source returns from a two-week vacation to find the company has launched an internal audit of the manual rebate process used to defraud customers, stirring concerns among the Pilot sales staff.


— April 15, 2013: Federal agents raid Pilot's headquarters in Knoxville and the homes of three sales executives in Iowa, Kentucky and Tennessee.


— April 18, 2013: A judge unseals a 120-page FBI affidavit that includes allegations that Jimmy Haslam and other senior managers were aware of the rebate fraud scheme. Haslam denies wrongdoing.


— April 22, 2013: Jimmy Haslam announces the suspension of several members of sales team, but does not identify them.


— May 29, 2013: The first two members of the Pilot sales team plead guilty and agree to cooperate with federal prosecutors.


— July 16, 2013: Pilot settles a class action lawsuit filed by trucking companies, eventually agreeing to pay out $85 million to 5,500 customers.


— June 18, 2013: Three more members of the Pilot sales team plead guilty.


— July 12, 2013: Pilot begins sending checks to trucking company customers shorted on rebates.


— July 29, 2013: Two more members of the Pilot sales team plead guilty.


— Jan 27, 2014: Three more Pilot employees plead guilty to federal charges, bringing the total to 10.


— May 19, 2014: Pilot President Mark Hazelwood and Vice President Scott "Scooter" Wombold leave the company.


— May 20, 2104: Pilot terminates three sales executives and places two sales representatives on administrative leave.



EU elections become platform for austerity foes


Several European countries' commitment to the painful economic reforms meant to cut debt and foster growth could be shaken by this week's elections to the European Parliament, which are likely to see anti-EU parties buoyed by protest votes against austerity.


While the parliament headquartered in Strasbourg, France, has only limited powers, the outcome of the voting Thursday through Sunday for 751 deputies in 28 countries could shake up politics back at the national level. Parties that are against greater integration among European Union countries — and have most vocally protested the austerity policies — are expected to get as much as 30 percent of the seats.


"The results in France, Italy and Greece will be very important as they could again derail national politics and policies, giving rise to renewed discussions and controversies about austerity, reforms and debt sustainability," said analyst Carsten Brzeski at ING.


Indebted governments are trying to hold down spending and, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, make their economies more business-friendly by clearing away excess regulation, taxation and protections for established workers.


While those efforts — along with easy monetary policy from the European Central Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve — have helped calm markets, the budget cutbacks and tax increases have also hurt the incomes of ordinary people in the shorter term, raising unemployment and slowing the recovery.


Past elections have been snoozers, especially since the parliament can't initiate legislation and is confined to reviewing and amending proposals from the European Commission, the EU's executive branch. Economists caution that the impact on the parliament itself is likely to be limited as anti-EU forces will remain in the minority and have shown difficulty coordinating their policies.


The key is at the national level, they say.


Here's what's at stake in some of the most important countries:


FRANCE


Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls is trying to get a stagnant economy moving, pushing unpopular spending cuts so he can lower business taxes. A poor showing by the Socialists in the European Parliament vote could undermine backing from the more left-wing members of his own party and make it harder for him to do that.


France's economy, Europe's second-largest, failed to grow in the first quarter, one reason the continent's recovery is so slow.


ITALY


Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of the center-left Democratic Party faces his first major electoral test since taking office in February. Renzi is trying to shake up Italy's bloated bureaucracy and reform its cumbersome electoral laws.


"His opponents, both within and outside his own party, could use a poor result to water down his reform efforts," says James Howat, European economist for Capital Economics.


Italy's economy has been a drag on the 18-country euro union, where it is the third largest — output fell 0.1 percent in the first quarter. Without growth, it will struggle to reduce its massive debt load of 133 percent of GDP. At the height of the financial crisis, there were fears Italy might default on its debt, a move that could have caused the eurozone to break up.


GREECE


The voting gives an opening and a platform for the left-wing Syriza party, which calls Sunday's vote a referendum on the country's bailout and conservative-led government.


Syriza's leader, Alexis Tsipras, says he wants to tear up Greece's bailout deal with the other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund. He is the Europe-wide candidate put forward by left-wing parties to head the EU's executive commission.


Greece committed to cut spending to qualify for payouts of the bailout loans from other eurozone countries and the IMF. The loans kept the country from financial collapse and a possible exit from the euro currency. But the austerity policies worsened the recession, which shrank the economy by 25 percent and left unemployment at a miserable 26.7 percent — and an astonishing 56.8 percent for those 15 to 24 years old.


Prime Minister Antonis Samaras' struggling Socialist coalition partner, Pasok, could perform poorly in local and European elections this week, undermining the government. Opinion polls suggest that new elections could produce a Syriza government.


Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank in London, said that outcome "would create huge political uncertainty with a serious negative impact on the Greek economy and possible some ramifications around Europe."


BRITAIN


A good showing by the UK Independence Party — normally a fringe presence in mainstream British politics — and its colorful leader Nigel Farage could increase business concerns about Britain leaving the EU over the long term.


Farage's party has been pushing for a referendum on whether the country should leave the EU.


"If everyone shrugs it off" as a protest vote "then the economic impact is zero," said Schmieding.


"If that gets us into a serious debate over, 'Do we change our domestic policies?,' then of course that could have an impact."