Clues sought in deadly Massachusetts jet crash

BEDFORD, Mass. -- An airport employee watched as the Gulfstream jet raced past the end of a runway, plunged down an embankment and erupted in flames.

The witness account of the Saturday night crash that killed all seven people aboard, including Philadelphia Inquirer co-owner Lewis Katz, provided some of the first clues as investigators began piecing together what went wrong during the attempted takeoff from a runway surrounded by woods outside Boston.

Luke Schiada, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator, said Sunday they were looking for the plane's cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder and would review the pilots' experience and the aircraft's maintenance history. He said investigators also are looking for surveillance video that may have captured the crash at Hanscom Field.

"We're at the very beginning of the investigation," Schiada said.

The plane was carrying four passengers, two pilots and a cabin attendant, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

Katz was returning to New Jersey from a gathering at the home of historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. Also killed was a next-door neighbor of Katz's, Anne Leeds, a 74-year-old retired preschool teacher he had invited to accompany him, and Marcella Dalsey, the director of Katz's son's foundation. A fourth person, Susan K. Asbell, 68, was identified in media reports Sunday night as having been among those who died. She was the wife of former Camden County, New Jersey, prosecutor Sam Asbell.

The identities of the other victims weren't immediately released. Nancy Phillips, Katz's longtime partner and city editor at the Inquirer, was not aboard.

Katz, 72, made his fortune investing in parking lots and the New York Yankees' cable network. He once owned the NBA's New Jersey Nets and the NHL's New Jersey Devils and in 2012 became a minority investor in the Inquirer.

Less than a week before the crash, Katz and Harold H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest struck a deal to gain full control of the Inquirer as well as the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com by buying out their co-owners for $88 million. Lenfest said Sunday that the deal will be delayed but will still go through. Katz's son, Drew, will take his father's seat on the board of directors, Lenfest said.

When bidding on the company, Katz and Lenfest vowed to fund in-depth journalism and retain the Inquirer's editor, Bill Marimow.

The fight over the future of the city's two major newspapers was sparked last year by a decision to fire Marimow. Katz and Lenfest wanted a judge to block the firing. Katz sued a fellow owner, powerful Democratic powerbroker George Norcross. The dispute was settled when Katz and Lenfest, a cable magnate-turned-philanthropist, bought out their partners.

The event at Goodwin's home in Concord, Massachusetts, was held to support an education initiative by Goodwin's son. Afterward, Katz, Goodwin's friend of nearly 20 years, joined the author and others at dinner, where they talked about their shared interests, including journalism, Goodwin said.

"The last thing he said to me upon leaving for the plane was that most of all what we shared was our love and pride for our children," she said in a statement.

Leeds' husband, James P. Leeds Sr., town commissioner of Longport, New Jersey, said he received a text message from his wife four minutes before the crash saying they were about to take off.

Dalsey's daughter, Chelsea Dalsey, said her mother also was on the plane, but declined to comment further. Marcella Dalsey was also president of KATZ Academy Charter school, which she founded with Lewis Katz, and is the former owner of an ice cream shop in Haddonfield, New Jersey, a suburb of Philadelphia.

Schiada said the airport employee who saw the crash reported the jet never left the ground. It came to rest 2,000 feet from the end of the paved runway. He said the location of the burned and mangled wreckage, in a gully filled with water, complicated the initial examination and the recovery effort.

State police troopers and divers were among those searching for items from the wreckage Sunday night.

Hanscom Field is about 20 miles northwest of Boston. The regional airport serves mostly corporate aviation, private pilots and commuter air services.

Melia reported from Hartford, Connecticut. Associated Press writers Maryclaire Dale in Philadelphia, Stephen Singer in Hartford, Connecticut, and Geoff Mulvihill in Longport, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

Drone delivers drinks at Las Vegas pool parties

LAS VEGAS -- Las Vegas clubbers looking for a buzz might just find their next drink buzzing overhead.

The Marquee Dayclub at The Cosmopolitan casino surprised guests over Memorial Day weekend when it started delivering bottles of alcohol by drone.

Jason Strauss of parent company Tao Group says the flying objects were first brought in to capture aerial footage of the thousands of partiers in the pool area.

But he says operators came up with the idea of booze drops when they found the drone could carry up to 12 pounds.

Marquee will bring out the drone on request from bottle service guests, who sometimes pay tens of thousands of dollars to rent out a cabana and buy food and drink for their friends.

The aircraft is operated by professionals and carries insurance.

Salam warns against government paralysis

BEIRUT: Prime Minister Tammam Salam has warned against a one-sided government that could lead to paralysis, while stressing he won’t give up his powers as set in the Constitution.

“Crippling the government’s work may have a negative effect on the motion of the country,” Salam said in remarks published Monday. “At the same time, I won’t give up the powers of the prime minister as stated in the Constitution.”

"Provocation or unilateralism won’t get us anywhere,” he told An-Nahar, while acknowledging the “imbalance” due to the lack of electing a new president.

Salam, nevertheless, stressed that the ministers’ “mission should focus on securing the election in order to address this imbalance.”

The premier also warned that it was “not acceptable to use the executive power as means of pressure in the issue of presidential vacuum.”

Salam expressed hope that the Cabinet’s next meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, would be able to reach agreement on a mechanism of action, allowing ministries to maintain the momentum that began with the formation of the government, particularly in terms of handling the citizens’ day-to-day affairs.

EPA Seeks 30 Percent Cut In Power Plant Emissions

The Obama administration on Monday will roll out a plan to cut earth-warming pollution from power plants by 30 percent by 2030, setting in motion one of the most significant actions to address global warming in U.S. history.

The rule, which is expected to be final next year, will set the first national limits on carbon dioxide, the chief gas linked to global warming from the nation's power plants. They are the largest source of greenhouse gases in the U.S., accounting for about a third of the annual emissions that make the U.S. the second largest contributor to global warming on the planet.

The Environmental Protection Agency regulation is a centerpiece of President Barack Obama's plans to reduce the pollution linked to global warming, a step that the administration hopes will get other countries to act when negotiations on a new international treaty resume next year.

Despite concluding in 2009 that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare, a finding that triggered their regulation under the 1970 Clean Air Act, it has taken years for the administration to take on the nation's fleet of power plants. In December 2010, the Obama administration announced a "modest pace" for setting greenhouse gas standards for power plants, setting a May 2012 deadline.

Obama put them on the fast track last summer when he announced his climate action plan and a renewed commitment to climate change after the issue went dormant during his re-election campaign.

"The purpose of this rule is to really close the loophole on carbon pollution, reduce emissions as we've done with lead, arsenic and mercury and improve the health of the American people and unleash a new economic opportunity," said Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, which has drafted a plan that informed the EPA proposal.

Yet the rule carries significant political and legal risks, by further diminishing coal's role in producing U.S. electricity and offering options for pollution reductions far afield from the power plant, such as increased efficiency. Once the dominant source of energy in the U.S., coal now supplies just under 40 percent of the nation's electricity, as it has been replaced by booming supplies of natural gas and renewable sources such as wind and solar.

"Today's proposal from the EPA could singlehandedly eliminate this competitive advantage by removing reliable and abundant sources of energy from our nation's energy mix," Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, said in a statement issued Sunday.

The White House said Obama called a group of Democrats from both the House and Senate on Sunday to thank them for their support in advance of the rule's official release, which is expected to be rigorously attacked by Republicans and make Democrats up for re-election in energy-producing states nervous.

EPA data shows that the nation's power plants have reduced carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 13 percent since 2005, or about halfway to the goal the administration will set Monday. The agency is aiming to have about 26 percent cut by 2020, but states will get some leeway in trying to meet that target.

But with coal-fired power plants already beleaguered by cheap natural gas prices and other environmental regulations, experts on Sunday said getting to 30 percent won't be easy. The EPA is expected to offer a range of options to states to meet targets that will based on where they get their electricity and how much carbon dioxide they emit in the process.

While some states will be allowed to emit more and others less, overall the reduction will be 30 percent nationwide.

The options include making power plants more efficient, reducing the frequency at which coal-fired power plants supply power to the grid, and investing in more renewable, low-carbon sources of energy. In addition, states could enhance programs aimed at reducing demand by making households and businesses more energy-efficient. Each of those categories will have a separate target tailor-made for each state.

Obama has already tackled the emissions from the nation's cars and trucks, announcing rules to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by doubling fuel economy. That standard will reduce carbon dioxide by more than 2 billion tons over the life of vehicles made in model years 2012-25. The power plant proposal will prevent about 430 million tons of carbon dioxide from reaching the atmosphere, based on the 30 percent figure and what power plants have already reduced since 2005.

The EPA refused to confirm the details of the proposal Sunday. People familiar with the proposal shared the details on condition of anonymity, since they have not been officially released.

Beinecke spoke Sunday on ABC's This Week, before details of the proposal became public.

The proposal was first reported Sunday by The Wall Street Journal.

Bionic legs help some patients walk again

SAN ANTONIO -- The bionic suit that helps Pedro Lozano walk doesn't turn him into the Six Million Dollar Man.

But the Ekso robotic exoskeleton, which resembles a wearable robot, is aiding Lozano to regain the mobility he lost two days after Christmas, when he suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed on the left side of his body.

Strapped into mechanical leg braces, Lozano rose from his wheelchair and walked with the help of a walker and two physical therapists on Thursday, giving a joyful laugh as his son looked on.

As Lozano shifted his weight from leg to leg, sensors triggered battery-powered motors to initiate each step.

After several laps up and down the floor of the University Health System's Reeves Rehabilitation Center, Lozano traded his walker for a cane and took more slow, laborious steps.

"It wasn't difficult," Lozano, 56, told the San Antonio Express-News (http://bit.ly/1jurwfn) in Spanish after his hour-long physical therapy session, during which he walked nearly 500 steps.

Reeves Rehabilitation Center, which received the machine two months ago, is the only San Antonio facility to offer it and one of only three in Texas.

The first Ekso was shipped in 2012; about two-dozen rehabilitative and medical facilities in North American now use them.

The Ekso costs about $100,000 and was purchased with a grant from Baptist Health Foundation. Chara Rodriguez, a physical therapist and neurologic clinical specialist at University Health System, called the machine "the Maserati of the rehab world."

Ekso's gait training can help patient relearn proper step patterns and weight shifts. It can help people with varying amounts of weakness in their lower bodies, including people with complete spinal cord injuries, to stand and walk, according to manufacturer Ekso Bionics. Other patients who may benefit include people with traumatic brain injuries, multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy.

Rodriguez said the machine can offer major benefits to patients.

"The machine guides him in the correct gait," Rodriguez said. "It tells him, 'This is how much you move the hips. This is how much you move the knee.'"

Not all patients can benefit from the suit. They need a certain amount of range of movement in the hips and the ability to completely straighten their legs, for example.

Patients need a doctor's referral and an evaluation to undergo therapy with the Ekso.

Operators of the device can adjust the settings depended on the patient's abilities.

"If you have some muscle strength, then we can set it so the machine will give you whatever you're not giving to take that step," said Julietta Douglas, one of the University Health System physical therapists that has trained on the device.

"If not, the machine will give you the whole motion. Some people didn't think they were ever going to walk again, and this isn't necessarily how they thought they were going to walk, but it is walking."

Omar Lozano, Pedro Lozano's son, said using the machine has helped his dad regain his balance and, perhaps more importantly, has given him confidence in his recovery.

"It's a very exciting thing," Omar Lozano said.

---

Information from: San Antonio Express-News, http://bit.ly/1e608sc

Editor's note: This is an AP Member Exchange shared by the San Antonio Express-News.

Senate to take up new VA bill after scandal

WASHINGTON -- Details of a refashioned bill to address the problems plaguing the federally run veterans' health care system were released Sunday by its sponsor, the chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent, posted a summary of his bill Sunday and said it would be introduced this week.

The bill includes several new provisions aimed at fixing the long delays for veterans' care. The long-simmering issue erupted into a scandal in April and led to last week's resignation of VA Secretary Eric Shinseki after a federal investigation into the troubled Phoenix VA Health Care System found that about 1,700 veterans in need of care were "at risk of being lost or forgotten" after being kept off an official waiting list.

The investigation also found broad and deep-seated problems throughout the sprawling health care system, which provides medical care to about 6.5 million veterans annually.

Sanders said in a statement issued Sunday that while the people who have lied or manipulated data must be punished, "we also need to get to the root causes of the problems that have been exposed."

The bill would allow veterans facing long delays to seek care outside the VA, at private doctors' offices, military bases or community health centers. It also authorizes emergency funding to hire new doctors and nurses and would provide scholarships or forgive college loans for doctors and nurses who go to work at the VA. In addition, it would give the department authority to fire poor-performing executives, but not as broadly as a bill passed in the House and defeated in the Senate last month.

An earlier version of Sanders' bill did not have enough support to pass in February.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said Sunday that the key to fixing the problem was giving veterans the flexibility to get the care they need at the closest, most available place.

"And that's the solution to this problem is flexibility to the veteran to choose their health care, just like other people under other health care plans have the — are able to do," McCain, a Vietnam veteran, said on CBS' Face the Nation. "Why doesn't that veteran have a card and go to the caregiver that he or she needs and wants?"

The VA spent about $4.8 billion last year on medical care at non-VA hospitals and clinics. That amounts to about 10 percent of health care costs for the Veterans Health Administration.

China manufacturing grows for third month

BEIJING -- Chinese manufacturing grew for the third consecutive month in May, suggesting a slowdown in the world's second-largest economy is stabilizing, a state-sanctioned industry group said Sunday.

The China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said that its monthly purchasing managers index rose to 50.8 points in May on a 100-point scale on which numbers above 50 show activity expanding. That was up from April's 50.4 points and represented the highest level this year.

China's economic growth was down to 7.4 percent in the first quarter as leaders try to reduce reliance on trade and investment and boost domestic consumption. Chinese leaders have launched several mini-stimulus efforts when the economy appeared to be cooling too sharply.

In a more pessimistic report, HSBC's preliminary purchasing managers' index released last month showed Chinese manufacturing rose to 49.7 in May from 48.1 in April, suggesting that it contracted in May for the fifth straight month but at a less severe pace of decline.

The official survey gives more weight to China's big state companies while HSBC's focuses more on small private enterprises, and the difference indicates the latter are under more pressure amid the slowdown.

Lebanon's Arabic press digest – June 2, 2014

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

An-Nahar

Salam: Executive power should not be used as means of pressure in the presidential vacuum

Prime Minister Tammam Salam expressed hope that the Cabinet would be able to reach agreement on a mechanism of action, allowing ministries to maintain the momentum that began with the formation of the government, particularly in terms of handling the citizens’ day-to-day affairs.

"Provocation or singularity won’t get us anywhere,” Salam told An-Nahar, while acknowledging the “imbalance” due to the lack of electing a new president.

“But our mission should focus on securing the election in order to address this imbalance," he said.

Salam warned that it was “not acceptable to use the executive power as means of pressure in the issue of presidential vacuum.”

Al-Joumhouria

Diplomatic sources: Electing a new president won’t be delayed

Diplomatic sources told Al-Joumhouria that the election of a new president won’t be delayed as happened in 2007 and 2008.

Meanwhile, former MP Elias Skaff said Parliament was “illegitimate” therefore it was unable to elect a new president.

More to follow ...

Town bid to regulate large crowds raises concerns

ELLETTSVILLE, Ind. -- A southern Indiana town council is considering regulating gatherings of 250 or more people, but its proposal to exempt worship services has raised concerns among some people.

The ordinance discussed by the Ellettsville Town Council at its meeting last week would require groups to apply for permits before planning events that may attract 250 or more people. Such events would include festivals, concerts, exhibitions, social gatherings and meetings, but school activities, the Monroe County Fall Festival and worship services would be exempt, the Herald-Times reported (http://bit.ly/1n14Isk ).

The ordinance is intended to protect public health, safety and welfare by preventing riots, unnecessary noise, nuisances, unsanitary conditions, public indecency and uncontrolled gatherings. The goal is to give the town input over mass gatherings, town attorney Darla Brown said.

"The point is for the town to have some input in how these events are organized," said Darla Brown, attorney for the town about 45 miles southwest of Indianapolis.

"If a business that traditionally has 100 or 200 people decides they want to have a party and will expect more people, you get into the safety issues," Brown said. "If police feel they need to have a greater presence out there, they can make arrangements to do that."

The proposal calls for an application fee of $50 for gatherings of 250 or more people. Applications for "major" gatherings of 500 or more persons would cost $250. Failure to apply and receive a permit before the event could result in a $500 fine.

Ken Falk, legal director for American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, said the proposal raises concerns.

"There would be nothing wrong with an ordinance that said that if more than 250 people want to gather, you have to get a permit," Falk said. "But to say that (events on) private property can't be organized by a large group of people, unless it's a church property, becomes very problematic."

Context neutrality is key in writing a legal mass gathering ordinance, Falk said.

Brown said the idea for the ordinance originated from an incident last year in which a local business wanted to have an event coinciding with Little 500 weekend on the campus of Indiana University in nearby Bloomington.

"This is a work in progress," Brown said. "It's not finished yet."

Asian stocks higher after record Wall Street close

TOKYO -- Share prices rose cautiously in Asia on Monday, after the Dow Jones index closed last week at a record high and market players waited for a U.S. jobs report later in the week for confirmation of such optimism about the American economy.

The Nikkei, the benchmark for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, was trading at 14,827.39, gaining 1.3 percent in the first hour of trading. South Korea's Kospi index inched up 0.1 percent to 1,997.48.

Trading in the region is expected to be subdued with markets closed for the Dragon Boat Festival national holidays in China and Hong Kong.

Players are also watching for two events later this week, including the May U.S. jobs report to be released Friday.

Economists expect the U.S. economy created 220,000 jobs in May, and the unemployment rate fell to 6.3 percent, according to FactSet, a financial information provider.

The European Central Bank will also have its interest rate policy meeting, although the impact from that is less clear, given the anticipation already figured in the markets.

Koji Takeuchi, a senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute in Tokyo, said investors were also looking ahead at the Japanese government policies being announced later this month that are expected to include corporate tax cuts — a boon for Japanese companies and a plus for the Japanese economy.

"The growth strategies are going to have a positive impact," he said, adding that the Nikkei had bottomed out at about 14,000 points and was reversing course and heading to 15,000.

So far, Asian trading was starting the week relatively upbeat after two out of the three major U.S. indexes reached all-time highs.

The Dow rose 18.43 points, or 0.1 percent, to close at 16,717.17, less than two points above its previous record high set May 13.

The S&P 500 index rose 3.54 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,923.57, also closing at a record. The only index to fall was the Nasdaq composite, which ended down 5.33 points, or 0.1 percent, to 4,242.62.

May was the best month for investors since February. The S&P rose 2.1 percent for the month, while the Dow rose 0.8 percent and the Nasdaq rose 3.1 percent.

Takuya Takahashi, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities Co. in Tokyo, said trading may grow more cautious toward the end of the week ahead of the ECB meeting and the U.S. jobs data, but Tokyo shares were likely to head higher over time.

"The rise may take a day or it may take a week, but it is going up in a natural way," he said. "The perception is becoming more widespread that Tokyo shares are a good deal."

Adding to such sentiments was the yen's weakening, which is a plus for Japanese exporters.

The dollar was trading at 101.99 yen, up 0.22 yen, while the euro was virtually unchanged at $1.362.

Brazil opens Rio bus system planned for World Cup

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Brazil has delivered parts of one of the costliest infrastructure projects built ahead of the World Cup in Rio de Janeiro.

President Dilma Rouseff rode a bus to mark Sunday's official opening of a $700 million bus corridor for quickly moving people between the airport and subway stations in the western part of the city. None of Rio's subway lines go to the international airport.

The Transcarioca bus system is a 24-mile (39-kilometer) line with dedicated lanes for buses that are expected to carry 320,000 passengers a day.

While the line is now open, not all of its bus stations have been completed.

The bus project joins a list of infrastructure projects that will not be fully completed by the June 12 start of soccer's premier tournament.

Officials are still rushing work at stadiums and at airports, but have acknowledged some projects won't be finished on time, adding to worries about how Brazil will handle event expected to attract 600,000 tourists from other countries. Of the 12 host cities, Rio de Janeiro is expecting the most foreigners, at about 90,000.

The World Cup has also sparked anger from groups unhappy about the billions of dollars spent for both the World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.

Outside the station where Rouseff arrived, protesters gathered to complain about a lack of spending on education, and teachers threatened to strike if the government didn't increase their salaries.

200 people rally for Salt Lake Tribune

SALT LAKE CITY -- About 200 people gathered in Salt Lake City to protest a deal they say threatens the future of The Salt Lake Tribune.

Speakers at the "Save the Tribune" rally Saturday at the city-county building criticized changes made last fall to a joint operating agreement between Tribune owners and the rival Deseret News, owned by the Mormon church.

Democratic state Sen. Jim Dabakis and other speakers called on the U.S. Justice Department to invalidate the deal between the Deseret News and Digital First Media, which manages The Tribune and many other newspapers owned by Alden Global Capital.

He called it a blatant anti-trust violation that threatens to undermine the independent news voice of the 144-year-old Tribune. The agreement slashes The Tribune's share of joint operating revenues from 58 percent to 30 percent.

Deseret News Editor Paul Edwards says the JOA amendments implemented protections that preserve the independence of both newsrooms.

Dunkin' Donuts patron sounds carbon monoxide alarm

CARLE PLACE, N.Y. -- A Dunkin' Donuts customer looking for a morning cup of coffee was in the right place at the right time with the right equipment.

Authorities say an ambulance technician wearing a carbon monoxide detector entered the store in Carle Place, New York, at around 4 a.m. Friday.

The tech's detector went off, indicating high levels of the poisonous gas.

The technician hustled the employees out of the fast-food joint and notified authorities. An investigation found a vent in one of the ovens was the problem.

Carbon monoxide is odorless and colorless, and prolonged exposure can be fatal.

Rural county files protest over fracking in Nevada

RENO, Nev. -- A rural county has joined an environmental group in challenging an oil and gas lease sale in central Nevada that could open 270 square miles of public land to hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking.

Lander County and the Center for Biological Diversity have filed formal administrative protests over the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's July 17 sale of leases in 102 parcels around Big Smokey Valley between Austin and Tonopah.

Both parties say fracking involves an enormous amount of water and they're concerned about its effect on the nation's most arid state at a time of severe drought. Fracking occurred for the first time in Nevada in March.

Lander County Commissioner Dean Bullock said the county's protest was filed on behalf of ranchers and farmers who are concerned that fracking could end up taking water away from them.

They question how exploration companies will obtain the necessary water, he said, and why the BLM plans to allow the companies to lease land that many ranchers and farmers were interested in buying for grazing and growing alfalfa.

"The bottom line is we're supporting ranchers and farmers of the county," Bullock told The Associated Press. "They want us to help them out so we can get more information about what the lease sale involves."

Oil and gas developers employ hydraulic fracturing to boost production. The technique pumps water, fine sand and chemicals into wells to fracture open oil- and gas-bearing rock deposits.

The process has been controversial amid concern that fracking gone wrong could taint groundwater with hydrocarbons or fracking fluids containing toxic substances.

Fracking typically requires from 2 million to 5.6 million gallons of water for each well and can lower water tables, reducing water available to communities and wildlife, said Rob Mrowka, a senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity.

"Fracking in other parts of this country has repeatedly shown the practice to be dangerous both for human health and the environment," he said in a statement. "It poses an imminent threat to one of Nevada's scarcest resources — water — as well as clean air and wildlife habitats."

His organization is calling on the BLM to cancel the lease sale as part of a shift toward safer energy sources.

BLM spokesman Christopher Rose said the protests were under review and a final decision may not be reached until close to the sale date.

"It is important to understand that due to (lease reform), parcels can be deferred in whole or part up to the day of the sale," Rose said in an email.

Rose said all parcels identified for potential sale that fell within sage grouse habitat were deferred and will not be offered as part of the sale. In addition, the lease notice identifies measures that can be taken to protect endangered species, cultural resources, migratory birds, wild horses and other land uses under the BLM's multi-use mandate, he said.

Houston-based Noble Energy Inc. is pursuing fracking to reach oil deposits on public and private lands in portions of Elko County. Company representatives have said fracking is a proven technology to safely develop Nevada's oil and gas.

Hezbollah member who tried to kill Harb gets life

BEIRUT: The Military Court sentenced a late Hezbollah member with hard labor and life in prison for attempting to assassinate Telecoms Minister Boutros Harb in 2013.

The court issued the sentence in absentia after the suspect, Mahmoud Hayek, never showed up to the trial.

The tribunal convicted Hayek, a member of Hezbollah’s security apparatus, of attempting to assassinate Harb by planting a bomb in the elevator of the building housing the lawmaker’s office and trying to detonate it.

Early last week, Hezbollah announced that Hayek had been killed in Syria, where the group is fighting alongside regime troops.

But for the court to end the trial, authorities must present documentation and proof he is dead. Hezbollah has refused to turn Hayek in and has denied any involvement with the assassination attempt.

Rifi refers ‘liberate Baabda’ video to state prosecutor

BEIRUT: Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi Saturday asked the state prosecutor to find and punish those involved a controversial video that went viral last week and shows men shooting in the air and vowing to “liberate Baabda.”

Rifi said in a statement that he referred the video to the prosecution’s office. The video was widely shared on social media and aired on some local television stations Friday, with some media reporting that it featured people celebrating Resistance and Liberation Day on May 25.

Those being filmed were reported to be members of Hezbollah.

“In hopes of liberating all of Baabda from the coming president,” one man says to the camera, to which the person filming the scene responds, “Amen.”

Rifi said the video harmed national security and incited sectarian strife, both crimes punishable by law.

Political Division Over Effect Of Swapping 5 Detainees For POW

Audio for this story from All Things Considered will be available at approximately 7:00 p.m. ET.

In exchange for the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. transferred five detainees from Guantanamo to Qatar. NPR's Arun Rath speaks with Kabul correspondent Sean Carberry about the swap.

Las Vegas casino strike averted with agreements

A strike at downtown Las Vegas casinos was averted as union negotiators reached settlements with several properties only hours before workers were scheduled to walk off their jobs.

The culinary and bartender unions announced Sunday that they struck a tentative five-year deal with the Golden Gate and will not picket as planned.

On Saturday, the unions announced similar deals with four other downtown casinos: Four Queens, Binion's, Plaza and Las Vegas Club.

Hundreds of restaurant workers, hotel housekeepers, cocktail servers, bartenders and others had been scheduled to strike at 5 a.m. Sunday had agreements not been reached.

The settlements follow earlier deals with other downtown casinos.

Workers will vote on the contracts next week.

Among other provisions, the agreements call for raises and keep employees' health care costs from increasing.

Jackson center welcomes Chinese visitors

JACKSON, Wyo. -- How do you say hello in Chinese?

Bruce Simon can tell you.

The broker and owner of Prime Properties of Jackson Hole is catering to an emerging tourist market with his recently opened East Meets West Chinese Information Center in Jackson.

Simon's center provides translation as well as language and cultural lessons to businesses around town. For visitors, the post offers tour booking, ride-along Chinese-speaking guides and more.

"Jackson is falling behind in its tourist marketing or business for foreign visitors," he said. "And since the Chinese visitor is a huge portion of the population, I thought it would make sense. Chinese tourism is changing the world tourist economy."

The center opened May 1 and is managed by Li Wang, who teaches Mandarin Chinese at Jackson Hole Community School, Simon said. She is originally from Xian, China.

"We're testing the market, but we've gone viral already, there's been so much interest in it," he told the Jackson Hole News & Guide (http://bit.ly/1iwCilD).

China's population is 1.2 billion, and most Chinese people have heard about Yellowstone National Park, Simon said. Chinese people typically visit big American cities such as Los Angeles and New York City on their first trip to the United States, he said.

"The second time they come they all want to see Yellowstone, so all the gateway communities see an influx of Chinese tourists," he said. "It's projected to continue and grow."

This year, Simon said, 60 million Chinese are expected to travel overseas. In five years that number is projected to reach 100 million.

The Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce has been following the numbers, too, communications manager Kate Foster said.

"It's certainly a target market for the chamber," she said. Especially in the offseason.

"As people may have noticed, there's been lots of tour buses in the spring," she said. "It's helping to fill our rooms in a traditionally quieter time of the year. It helps businesses and the community as a whole."

Simon has traveled extensively in China and knows a lot about the economy and culture, he said.

"When I travel as a tourist in China I always feel very welcome," he said.

Visitor centers there have people who speak English and Mandarin, he said.

"They're set up for tourism," Simon said. "The converse is what we're trying to accomplish."

Several businesses — including Barker-Ewing River Trips, the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar, Haagen-Dazs and Knobe's Radio Shack — have used the center's translation services, he said.

"All the businesses have been smacked in the face by the Chinese," he said.

And it's important for valley businesses to better understand the culture to be able to market to the Chinese visitor, Simon said.

"Their culture is so different than ours," he said. "It's very helpful for local businesses to understand their culture. For instance, the Chinese are used to negotiating prices. That's their culture. They negotiate, but our culture is things are priced as marked and firm."

East Meets West also helps book tours.

"We really know what the best activities are for them," Simon said.

Jackson Hole Shooting Experience is popular because civilians in China can't own or even touch guns, he said. Wildlife tours and Western experiences such as the Bar J Chuckwagon are also popular.

Simon has also set up a real estate and investment tour for visitors.

"Chinese are buying real estate all over the U.S," he said. "In China, when you own real estate, you own the building above the land but the government owns the land."

The center also offers ride-along guides for visitors who want a tour of the parks, he said.

"I'm just trying to be a part of the world economy," he said.

Simon also thinks his business will provide better relations between Americans and the Chinese.

"There is stress between the two countries on a political and military level," he said. "Part of what I'm doing is building bridges on a person-to-person level."

The East Meets West Chinese Information Center is open daily.

Information from: Jackson Hole (Wyo.) News And Guide, http://bit.ly/1ojvwUf

Philly Inquirer co-owner among 7 dead in jet crash

BEDFORD, Mass. -- Philadelphia Inquirer co-owner Lewis Katz was killed along with six other people in a fiery plane crash in Massachusetts, just days after reaching a deal that many hoped would end months of infighting at the newspaper and help restore it to its former glory.

Katz's son, Drew, and a business partner confirmed Katz's death in the crash of a Gulfstream corporate jet that went down on takeoff Saturday night from Hanscom Field outside Boston on its way to New Jersey. There were no survivors.

Katz, 72, was returning from a gathering at the home of Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin. Also killed was a next-door neighbor of Katz's, Anne Leeds, a 74-year-old retired preschool teacher he had invited to accompany him.

The identities of the other victims weren't immediately released. Nancy Phillips, Katz's longtime partner and city editor at the Inquirer, was not aboard.

The plane was carrying three crew members and four passengers, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. Officials gave no information on the cause of the crash, which sent up a fireball and shook nearby homes.

Katz made his fortune investing in parking lots and the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network in New York. He once owned the NBA's New Jersey Nets and the NHL's New Jersey Devils and in 2012 became a minority investor in the Inquirer.

On Tuesday, Katz and Harold H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest struck a deal to gain full control of the Inquirer as well as the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com by buying out their co-owners for $88 million — an agreement that ended a very public feud over the Inquirer's business and journalism direction.

Lenfest said Sunday that the deal will be delayed but will still go through.

When bidding on the company, Katz and Lenfest vowed to fund in-depth journalism and retain the Inquirer's Pulitzer-winning editor, Bill Marimow.

"It's going to be a lot of hard work. We're not kidding ourselves. It's going to be an enormous undertaking," Katz said then, noting that advertising and circulation revenues had fallen for years. "Hopefully, (the Inquirer) will get fatter."

The fight over the future of the city's two major newspapers was sparked last year by a decision to fire Marimow. Katz and Lenfest wanted a judge to block the firing. Katz sued a fellow owner, powerful Democratic powerbroker George Norcross. The dispute was settled when Katz and Lenfest, a cable magnate-turned-philanthropist, bought out their partners.

The Inquirer has changed hands five times in eight years, and like many other newspapers, it has seen a downturn in business that has forced it to cut staff, close bureaus and scale back its ambitions.

Three previous owners, including Norcross, said in a statement that they were deeply saddened by Katz's death.

"Lew's long-standing commitment to the community and record of strong philanthropy across the region, particularly Camden where he was born and raised, will ensure that his legacy will live on," they said.

The event at Goodwin's home in Concord, Massachusetts, was held to support an education initiative by Goodwin's son.

Afterward, Katz, Goodwin's friend of nearly 20 years, joined the author and others at dinner, where they talked about their shared interests, including journalism, Goodwin said.

"The last thing he said to me upon leaving for the plane was that most of all what we shared was our love and pride for our children," Goodwin said in a statement.

Leeds' husband, James P. Leeds Sr., town commissioner of Longport, New Jersey, said he received a text message from his wife four minutes before the crash saying they were about to take off.

Hanscom Field is about 20 miles northwest of Boston. The regional airport serves mostly corporate aviation, private pilots and commuter air services.

Dale reported from in Philadelphia. Associated Press writers Stephen Singer and Michael Melia in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

'Maleficent' spooks box office with $70M debut

NEW YORK -- The biggest box-office debut of Angelina Jolie's career propelled Disney's twisted fairy tale "Maleficent" to a scary-good $70 million opening.

The PG-rated fantasy beat forecasts to easily top all films over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. Though "Maleficent" was early on considered a risky endeavor for Disney that might turn away family audiences by retelling "Sleeping Beauty" from the villain's perspective, the film emerged as a hit largely because of the draw of Jolie.

Star power has been increasingly elusive in modern Hollywood, where name-brand concepts often rule the box-office. But Jolie, in her first live-action starring role in years, drove interest for "Maleficent" despite lackluster reviews from critics.

"It's a unique thing," said Dave Hollis, head of distribution for Disney. "Her star power transcends borders and genre."

Seth MacFarlane's Western comedy "A Million Ways to Die in the West" was out-gunned by "Maleficent." The R-rated Universal release opened in third place with a tepid $17.1 million despite a starry cast of Liam Neeson, Charlize Theron and Amanda Seyfried. By contrast, MacFarlane's "Ted" (for which he's making a sequel) opened with $54.4 million in 2012.

Last weekend's top film, Fox's big-budget mutant sequel "X-Men: Days of Future Past," dropped to second with $32.6 million. It's a somewhat steep decline for "Days of Future Past," but the film made $95.6 million internationally in its second week, good enough to push its global cumulative total past $500 million already.

But "Maleficent" dominated the marketplace, which has seen female-leading films continually challenge the much-disputed but still prevalent notion that male stars fuel the box office.

"The whole movie kind of rises and sets on her performance," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak. "The concept is the character. The character is completely linked to the person playing that role."

The film was a balancing act for Disney, which is used to churning out brighter tales. Hollis credited the company's marketing department for "walking the fine line" of selling the movie to families (which made up 45 percent of the audience, according to Disney) and suggesting an edginess that would appeal to a broader audience. "Maleficent" earned about $100 million internationally.

"If you go to Disney, the longest lines are for the scariest rides," Dergarabedian said. "We're going to see more of this, where the villains are the new heroes."

Disney has had success reimagining fairy tales in recent years with "Alice in Wonderland" ($116 million in 2010) and "Oz the Great and Powerful" ($79.1 million debut in 2013). "Maleficent" fell short of those releases, but it was made in the same lineage. Robert Stromberg, the production designer for both earlier movies, makes his directorial debut with "Maleficent."

Next weekend will bring a battle between Shailene Woodley in the young adult novel adaptation "The Fault in Our Stars" and Tom Cruise in the sci-fi thriller "Edge of Tomorrow." "Edge of Tomorrow" got a jump on its North America release, taking in $20 million in 28 countries over the weekend.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.

1."Maleficent," $70 million, ($100.6 million international).

2."X-Men: Days of Future Past," $32.6 million ($95.6 million international).

3."A Million Ways to Die in the West," $17.1 million ($10.3 million international).

4."Godzilla," $12.2 million ($15 million international).

5."Blended," $8.4 million.

6."Neighbors," $7.7 million ($7.6 million international).

7."The Amazing Spider-Man 2," $3.8 million ($4.1 million international).

8. "Million Dollar Arm," $3.7 million.

9."Chef," $2 million.

10."The Other Woman," $1.4 million.

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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to Rentrak:

1. "Maleficent," $100.6 million.

2. "X-Men: Days of Future Past," $95.6 million.

3. "Edge of Tomorrow," $20 million.

4. "Overheard 3," $19.5 million.

5. "Godzilla," $15 million.

6. "A Million Ways to Day in the West," $10.3 million.

7. "Neighbors," $7.6 million.

8. "Frozen," $5.8 million.

9. "A Hard Day," $4.8 million.

10. "Qu'est ce qu'on a fait au Bon Dieu?!," $3.6 million.

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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

Philadelphia Inquirer co-owner Katz dies at 72

PHILADELPHIA -- Lewis Katz, who made his fortune in the parking lot business and went on to buy basketball's New Jersey Nets, hockey's New Jersey Devils and The Philadelphia Inquirer, has died in a plane crash. He was 72.

Katz died Saturday night in a Massachusetts crash that claimed six other lives. His death was confirmed Sunday by his son, Drew, and his business partner Harold H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest.

Katz grew up in Camden, New Jersey, and made his fortune investing in the Kinney Parking empire and the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network in New York.

Katz donated tens of millions of dollars to Temple University, a Camden charter school and various Jewish causes.

His death comes days after he and Lenfest agreed to pay $88 million to take control of the Inquirer's parent company.

Hobart Brickie Bowl's past gives life to future

HOBART, Ind. -- The lines on the face seemed to mirror the cracks in the concrete below. There is an eternal bond between the two.

Crooked and jagged, the lineation is a lifetime on display - the joy, sadness, euphoria and thrill of every breath. Of every snap of Hobart Brickies football.

"Coming here almost wants to make me cry," said Tom Kerr on Thursday standing inside Hobart's Brickie Bowl.

Kerr grew up in Hobart, played football for Russ Deal and then went on to play at Michigan. He returned to coach the Brickies from 1962 through 1998, winning 314 games and four state championships.

Kerr was the defensive coordinator for fellow Hall of Fame coach, Don Howell.

"Running out of the tunnel at Michigan into a stadium of 100,000 some fans was an incredible emotion," Kerr said. "I got the same feeling every Friday night here."

Kerr laughed about what Munster coach Leroy Marsh told him several decades ago about The Brickie Bowl.

"If you come here during the day you'd say, 'What a dump.' But that place came alive on Friday nights."

Hobart played its last game at Brickie Bowl on Oct. 24, 2008, a 59-12 win over West Side in the sectional opener. The grand patch of grass has been dormant since.

But with the city of Hobart recently taking control of the beloved facility, a promising future is on the horizon.

All Brickies supporters, though, know the future is built on the past.

"I love this place," Kerr said.

In the late 1930s, 10-foot-high ragweed was all that was on the grounds. The Norfolk-Western railroad tracks ran through the swampy rectangle around Duck Creek.

WPA dollars flowed into the community to provide bread for families and hope for communities. This sparked Brickie Bowl's genesis. About $25,000 went into labor costs to build the football field, with the first shovel going into the ground in 1937.

Duck Creek was moved for the field. Hobart students built wooden forms and helped pour concrete.

"All my life, I want to be a Brickie. Work. Work. Work." That was their motto.

U.S. Steel donated the steel for the light fixtures, which were rare in those days. Brickie Bowl one of the Region's first stadiums to have lights and night games.

"We played down there, it was a swamp," Delos Brooks told The Times in 2008. Brooks was born in 1922 and watched Brickie Bowl grow out of nothing. He played in the first game there, too.

"Hobart was a Republican town," Brooks said. "The people didn't like (FDR's) Works Progress Administration. That was Roosevelt. It wasn't discussed too much."

The first game played there was Sept. 18, 1939.

Lew Wallace beat Hobart 44-0, and a kid named Hank Stram scored two TDs for the Hornets. Stram would later coach the Kansas City Chiefs to the 1970 Super Bowl title and was later inducted into the NFL's Hall of Fame.

Brickie Bowl made history even by accident.

Under Deal and Howell, Hobart football moved up during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. But there was one game that put the Brickies and their Bowl on the map.

"It all really started with the Penn game in 1979," Kerr said.

More than 10,000 fans came to watch heavy favorite Penn play Hobart with a trip to the state championship going to the winner. No one expected much from the Brickies.

Not the people sitting on tree limbs watching. Not the people standing on the railroad tracks. Not the people in the back yards on the hill overlooking the Bowl. But Hobart won 27-20 and a dynasty emerged.

Over the next 14 years, Hobart made it to 11 state championship games, winning in 1987, 1989, 1991 and 1993. Hobart won 71 straight home games in the 1980s.

USA Today picked Brickie Bowl as the third-best place to watch high school football in America.

John Mitchell is Hobart's Park Superintendent. He graduated in 1973, playing football for Howell and Kerr. He was a North-South All-Star and played at Indiana State, before joining the Marines.

He glorifies Brickie Bowl's past and will play a part in its future.

"I still get that feeling walking in here," Mitchell said. "I dropped some sweat and blood in here. The brotherhood is still the same. It's like being in the Marine Corps.

"When you have a gun in your hand at two in the morning you can relate with someone else who did the same thing."

This community-wide emotion is why a wrecking ball won't come to the Bowl anytime soon. There is too much love, too many emotions, to let this pass away.

The home metal bleachers have to go. But the concrete lower bleachers, with green life sprouting up through the cracks, will be saved. There are a lot of good ideas for the future that Mitchell has heard and will be investigated.

But whatever will come is sitting on the foundation of Hobart football's Hollywood-like past.

"It brings back so many fond memories," Kerr said. "Happy moments. Sad moments. All the great games, playoff games. The atmosphere here on Friday nights was like no other place.

"We had great kids who worked hard. This place is a testament to everything that happened here before."

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Information from: The Times, http://bit.ly/1nUt2NT

This is an AP Member Exchange shared by The Times.

Western Mass. funeral director's license suspended

SOUTH HADLEY, Mass. -- State authorities have suspended the license of a South Hadley funeral director after an investigation found health code violations, including five decomposed bodies not properly embalmed and a sixth improperly stored.

The Daily Hampshire Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/1wO7nuK ) that the order by the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Funeral Directors and Embalmers shuts the William W. Ryder Funeral Home.

The state licensure division has set a June 6 hearing when officials are expected to determine if Ryder's license should remain suspended. Ryder can argue to have his license restored.

Ryder's lawyer said his client has "significant health issues" that have affected his ability to provide services and meet his obligations. He says family is helping.

Investigators found six bodies not properly embalmed and not in the embalming-preparation room or in a refrigeration unit.

Information from: Daily Hampshire Gazette (Northampton, Mass.), http://bit.ly/1nUsZS8

Geagea's candidacy a farce: Karami

TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea’s presidential candidacy was shameful and desspicable, former minister Faisal Karami said Sunday. He spoke at a rally in Tripoli marking the anniversary of the assassination of his uncle former Prime Minister Rashid Karami.

“The election of Geagea is a boring and trivial farce but what’s outrageous is that this nomination happened with the consent of the Lebanese political class under the pretext of democracy,” Karami said from Abdel-Hamid Karami Square in the north Lebanon city.

“The mere existence of Geagea in the [Lebanese] political arena defies Lebanon’s judicial rulings and the country’s democratic system.”

Karami also said that it was necessary the current presidential vacuum not lead to a political vacuum that would disrupt the country and its institutions and lead to tensions on the streets.

Karami added that the nomination of a “criminal” for the presidency was a blow to the national charters of co-existence.

Thousands of supporters gathered at the Abdel-Hamid Karami Square to mark the 27th anniversary of Rashid Karami’s killing. Officials, religious and municipal figures attended the rally.

Karami was assassinated in an explosion that went off while on board a Lebanese Army helicopter taking him to Beirut from Tripoli in 1987.

Geagea was sentenced to life in prison for his alleged involvement in the assassination, something he continues to deny, claiming that it was a lie fabricated by the Syrian regime – a dominant force in Lebanon at the time.

The LF nominated Geagea to run for the presidency in April. His candidacy was endorsed by the March 14 alliance.

“Rashid Karami was killed because he stood as an impregnable rock in the face of the division of Lebanon,” Faisal Karami, a former youth and sports minister said.

“No matter how much they defend Geagea, and no matter how much they try to polish his image, and no matter how much money and mansions they throw at him, Geagea will remain a criminal who was convicted by the highest judicial body in the Lebanese state,” he added.

Transplant recipient pays back with apartment

ST. LOUIS -- People who come to St. Louis for medical transplants often stay up to half a year for follow-up care. A new apartment will provide a place for their relatives, thanks to a grateful transplant recipient.

Larry Bonds of St. Louis County received a new heart in 2008. Since then, he has built organ donor registries and raise awareness about transplants.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/1pEO1n6 ) reports the Larry D. Bonds Foundation for Life is sponsoring the apartment to house families of organ transplant recipients during their medical treatment.

The foundation will pay the $800 rent and utilities on the one-bedroom apartment on Hampton Avenue. Families staying there will be charged $30 per night, but many will pay no cost at all, depending on their financial situation.

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://bit.ly/1kFiuie

Study projects $20M impact from stadium expansion

LAFAYETTE, La. -- The expansion of Cajun Field will pump $20.2 million into the local economy and create an estimated 143 jobs, according to an economic development study released this past week.

Once complete, the expansion will nearly double seating in the stadium to about 62,000.

The Advocate reported (http://bit.ly/1oC4if4) the project is part of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette's $115 million master plan for athletics.

The impact study was prepared by the Lafayette Economic Development Authority.

"That's like attracting a major industry to the area ," said Gregg Gothreaux, executive director of the economic development authority.

Gothreaux credited the university and its athletics programs for helping attract and retain businesses and young professionals.

The economic development study, funded by MidSouth Bank, is based on 2013 game attendance, university athletic finance reports and a survey of 105 football spectators conducted during the 2013 season.

In the five home games of 2013, spectators spent nearly $11.1 million on game-related expenses, the study showed.

University athletics director Scott Farmer said the study will be of value in a capital campaign to pay for portions of the master plan, including a press box and club-level seating area at the stadium.

"We want to grow. We want to grow our venues, and we want to make wise decisions on how to grow our venues," Farmer said.

As part of the renovation of Cajun Field, the eight-story press box will also have a top-story banquet room for year-round rentals.

A cafeteria and bookstore will also be housed in the stadium.

Publishers, public meet at BookExpo

NEW YORK -- Publishers and the public met this weekend at BookExpo America, the annual industry convention, and seemed to speak in different languages.

If you were part of the book business, "Amazon" was a dirty word and "Hachette" an applause line as editors, booksellers, writers and agents pondered, fretted and but largely refused to discuss the well-publicized and sharply-worded standoff in negotiations between the online retailer and Hachette Book Group.

With terms for e-books sales reportedly at the heart of the conflict, Amazon.com has departed from its usual emphasis on customer service, slowing delivery on such older works as Tina Fey's "Bossypants" and removing the pre-order button for such upcoming releases as J.K. Rowling's latest detective novel, "The Silkworm."

"Amazon ... wants to control book selling, book buying, and even book publishing, and that is a national tragedy," Hachette author James Patterson warned as he spoke before hundreds of independent booksellers. "If this is to be the new American way, then maybe it has to be changed."

But if you were among some 10,000 readers who paid $30 apiece and crowded the aisles, conference rooms and banquet hall of the Jacob K. Javits Center, Amazon likely remained a favorite Internet destination and Hachette a name so unfamiliar that it needed to be repeated.

"We just pay attention to authors we read the most, books coming out, things like that," said John Castaldi, a building manager from Garwood, N.J.

BookExpo began last Wednesday as a traditional publishing trade show and shared billing Saturday with the first-ever BookCon, organized by the producers of New York Comic Con and dedicated to the union of books and popular culture. As publishers looked on both hopefully and nervously, guests — many of them teenage girls wearing "The Fault In Our Stars" T-shirts — filled shopping bags with advanced editions of Lauren Owen's "The Quick," Charles Martin's "A Life Intercepted" and Ryan Graudin's "Walled City" among others.

With some attendees complaining of long waits and erratic organization, lines extended through basement-level hallways and food courts for such speakers as John Green, Veronica Roth and Amy Poehler. So many fans wanted the autograph of actor Cary Elwes, who has written "As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride," that police were on hand if needed for crowd control.

Suzanne Wendolski, a bank employee from Johnstown, N.Y., was more interested in the chance to meet romance author Sylvia Day than in any industry controversy.

"There's a lot of people who are battling Amazon," she said.

Hachette and Amazon found it hard to avoid each other. Amazon officials attended a Hachette-sponsored author luncheon and Amazon and Hachette meeting rooms were in close proximity on the convention floor. Amazon even featured two Hachette titles in its list for recommended June releases, Megan Abbott's "the Fever" and Tom Rob Smith's "The Farm." As of midday Sunday, neither could be pre-ordered from Amazon.

For the publishing world, Amazon's fight with Hachette upends an otherwise stable moment for the industry. Independent booksellers appear to be opening more stores than closing them and growth in the e-book market has eased to a more manageable pace. E-sales are believed to be around 30 percent of overall sales, well below what Simon & Schuster CEO Carolyn Reidy and others expected a few years ago.

"I was obviously over-impressed," Reidy said during the convention.

The industry would be grateful if the convention helps any of the new books sell as well as some older releases. The hottest books of 2014 have so far been releases from other years, including Green's "The Fault In Our Stars" and Donna Tartt's Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Goldfinch," a Hachette publication from last fall still so in demand that those buying from Amazon have so far not encountered any problems.

Prospects for the next few months include Hillary Rodham Clinton's "Hard Choices," Rick Riordan's "The Blood of Olympus" and Lena Dunham's "Not That Kind of Girl," for which the creator and star of HBO's "Girls" reportedly received more than $3 million. Dunham, a breakfast speaker Saturday, cracked a few X-rated jokes and previewed her book of personal essays by reading the introduction and its forbidding opening sentence: "I'm 20 years old and I hate myself."

But Dunham, now 28 and more successful than she ever imagined, summed up her message as "hopeful dispatches from the front lines" of having it all.

Annual Warren Buffett lunch auction begins Sunday

OMAHA, Neb. -- Before billionaire businessman Warren Buffett started auctioning off private lunches to benefit the Glide Foundation, he was skeptical of the San Francisco charity where his first wife was volunteering.

But once Susie Buffett, who died in 2004, showed Warren the work Glide does for the poor and homeless, he was sold on the organization — so much so that he's raised nearly $16 million since 2000.

"It was one-on-one working with people society had given up on," Buffett said. "And experience showed society was wrong to give up on those people."

The 15th annual lunch auction starts Sunday with a $25,000 minimum bid on eBay, and continues until 9:30 p.m. CDT Friday.

The lunch auction has become an important source of money for Glide, which has an $18 million annual budget. Glide's co-founders, the Rev. Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani, hope the lunch will draw another seven-figure price tag, but they also appreciate the exposure.

"I think it's amazing to have Warren Buffett as an advocate," Mirikitani said. The charity provides meals, health care, job training, rehabilitation and housing support to the poor and homeless.

Last year's auction winner got a relative bargain by paying $1,000,100. Four of the previous five winners each paid more than $2 million, and the 2012 winning bid of $3,456,789 remains the most expensive charity item ever sold on eBay.

Other charities have used eBay auctions to successfully raise money, such as the Grammy Foundation and MusiCares, which has brought in nearly $4 million since 2005.

Buffett is confident this year's bidding will top 2013 — "I think we'll beat it by quite a bit" — based on the limits prequalified bidders have set for themselves.

Buffett isn't quite sure why people are willing to pay so much for a private audience with Berkshire Hathaway's chairman and CEO, but he gives Glide part of the credit. The lunches typically last several hours, and Buffett tries to make sure the winners are satisfied.

The only limit on the conversation is what he might invest in next, but any other topic is open, including the billionaire's investing philosophy and his thoughts on philanthropy and inheritance.

"It goes all over the map," he said.

Traditionally, the winners of the auction dine at Smith and Wollensky steak house in New York City, which donates at least $10,000 to Glide each year to host the lunch. But in some years, the winner wants to remain anonymous so the lunch happens elsewhere.

Buffett's company owns more than 80 subsidiaries including insurance, furniture, clothing, jewelry and candy companies, restaurants and natural gas and corporate jet firms, and has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola Co., IBM and Wells Fargo & Co.

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Follow Josh Funk online at http://bit.ly/1iu3Fjj

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Online:

Buffett Lunch Auction: http://bit.ly/1n0I6IK

Berkshire Hathaway Inc.: http://bit.ly/1dyyUUU

Glide Foundation: www.glide.org

Jihadists vow to liberate Lebanon’s Islamist prisoners

BEIRUT: An Al-Qaeda-affiliated group’s religious guide Sunday vowed that Islamists imprisoned in Lebanon’s prisons will be liberated.

“Preach to our prisoners in Lebanon and especially Roumieh Prison, and in the Ministry of Defense, that your liberation is our main aim, and I say to your imprisoners: today you arrest our men, tomorrow you will be arrested!” Sheikh Sirajeddine Zuraiqat of the Abdullah Azzam Brigades wrote on his Twitter account.

Some 300 Islamist prisoners have been detained without trial since 2007 on suspicion of engaging the Army in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared in north Lebanon and belonging to Al-Qaeda affiliated Fatah al-Islam.

The inmates have been behind several riots inside Roumieh prison.

Zuraiqat wrote that the group will not forget any of the Muslim prisoners, and that Sunnis do not accept the oppression being exercised against them in the country.

“How many criminal Lebanese leaders have proven to have worked with the Jews [Israel]? Where are the executions? Or are they only for Sunnis?” he asked.

The Abdullah Azzam Brigades have claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in Lebanon, most notably the double suicide attack on the Iranian Embassy in the Beirut suburb of Bir Hasan last November, which claimed the lives of 30 people and wounded scores more.

The group was formed in 2009 with the goal of carrying out attacks against Western interests in the Middle East.

Zuraiqat wrote Sunday that if Lebanon had a “just” criminal law, all of the prominent Lebanese leaders would be imprisoned, naming Speaker Nabih Berri, Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, and Kataeb leader Amin Gemayel as examples.

“The death penalty in Lebanon is for Sunni youths, and innocence for the agents of the Jews and spies,” Zuraiqat tweeted. The Sunni spends 10 years in prison over a suspicion! And an agent for the Jews is released within months!”

Egypt stock market plunges on reports of new taxes

CAIRO -- Egypt's stock market witnessed a sharp plunge Sunday that forced a temporary suspension of trading after reports of a newly proposed government tax on capital gains which experts said was hardly explained to investors.

The half-hour suspension on the first day of the trading week at the Egyptian Exchange failed to cool a frenzy of selling by investors. The EGX30 benchmark index closed 4.22 percent lower, or at 7,894.73 points, continuing its slide after trading was suspended after the broader EGX100 index fell by 5 percent.

Egyptian Finance Minister Hany Kadry Dimian announced the new tax on capital gains Thursday, fuelling the market slide. He said the government will impose a 10-percent tax on net realized portfolio profits at the end of the year. Stock market profits are currently tax-free.

Wael Ziada, the head of research at EFG Hermes, one of the Middle East's largest investment banks, said the proposed law wasn't clearly explained or discussed, causing the "extreme reaction" in the market.

"A lot of brokerage firms had no response to their clients" on how the law will be imposed, when it will take effect or how to calculate the tax, he said. "This is a case of total chaos."

Ziada said the gains from such a tax don't justify the "damage" that occurred in the market because it will be a challenge to collect it. The Exchange said in a statement Sunday the law has been sent to the interim president for approval.

"In my view, until we see the law and if this is the way decisions will be taken going forward, there will be damages," Ziada said.

A dozen Egyptian investors gathered outside the exchange Sunday to protest the law.

"We came here to protest those random decisions by the government," said Aly Youssef, one of the investors. "Investors have lost huge amounts due to those random decisions."

The sharp drop also followed Egypt's presidential election last week, which saw retired army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, who led the July military overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, reportedly trounce his only competitor. Official results are expected in the coming days.

"Following Egypt's elections, we expected a positive impact on the stock exchange. We predicted that benchmark will exceed the 9,000-point mark but the proposed draft tax ... had a negative impact on the benchmark," said Amir Youssef, a stock exchange broker.

The current interim government and el-Sissi have said tough measures will be taken in the coming months to reduce a crippling budget deficit, internal debts and ease unemployment, officially estimated at 13 percent. That likely will include new taxes and cuts to huge state subsidies on energy and food, though details have yet to be announced.

Egypt's Cabinet also has drafted a new budget, with the deficit continuing to hover at around 12 percent. The proposed budget has a 10 percent increase in public expenditures from the current financial year budget of $115 billion.

Oil-rich Gulf countries have injected about $20 billion in aid, small grants and fuel products into the Egyptian economy following Morsi's ouster. The new budget, with the financial year beginning in July, features only $2.4 billion in Arab aid until August, the government statement said.

UAE airline: moving forward on an Alitalia deal

ROME -- The CEO of Etihad Airways says the United Arab Emirates' national airline is looking forward to clinching a proposed deal involving a big stake in struggling Italian carrier Alitalia.

The two airlines said in a joint statement that Etihad Airways on Sunday confirmed that it will send a letter detailing conditions for a proposed equity investment. Negotiations have lasted for months. It quoted Etihad Airways CEO James Hogan as saying "we are delighted to be able to move forward with this process" and look forward to its successful conclusion.

Italian news reports have said a deal would likely see banks renegotiating more than 500 million euros ($700 million) in debt, canceling some and converting the rest into shares. Italian unions might resist layoffs that likely could figure in any deal.

New York medical database aids doctors, patients

ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York is quietly building one of the nation's largest computer databases of medical records, a system that when finished will allow patients and doctors alike to see complete health histories in one place and promises to save millions in costs by avoiding redundant tests and unneeded hospital admissions.

People who visit emergency rooms are less likely to be admitted when they're enrolled in the program, and repeat radiological scans and hospital readmissions are also less likely, according to initial limited studies done around Rochester, New York's third-largest city.

"The value to society is also tremendous in avoiding unnecessary and redundant health care," said Dr. Rainu Kaushal, chairwoman of Weill Cornell Medical College's Department of Healthcare Policy and Research, who conducted the Rochester studies on the system, known as SHIN-NY — which stands for the State Health Information Network for New York and is pronounced "shiny."

There's a broader effort nationally to advance medicine from paper to computer files. The Veterans Administration, for instance, already has centralized records for nearly 3 million people that both patients and doctors can look at.

In such exchanges, patients must sign consent forms to have records included. They are subject to the same federal privacy restrictions that already apply to patient records in hospitals and doctors' offices.

New York's is being treated as a public utility, with providers paying a fee to connect but able to query patient records without added costs.

Centralized records can be useful because patients with complicated conditions may be unable to accurately recall all their treatments and medications from various doctors, or they may be in the throes of a medical crisis and unable to communicate, Kaushal said.

Use of the database is not appropriate in every case, Kaushal said, but the studies show "striking" effectiveness when it is.

Dr. Louise Prince, an emergency room doctor at Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, said that she and her residents typically use the regional exchange once or twice per shift, and that the hospital's internal medicine doctors use it frequently, saving time they used to spend faxing permission slips and waiting for another hospital to send patient records in response.

"It definitely allows us to see the evaluations they have had at other hospitals, including labs, EKGs and radiologic testing," Prince said. "So I definitely think it saves you reordering tests that may have recently been done, especially radiological tests."

Among patients in the system in the Rochester area in 2009 and 2010, Kaushal's studies showed that when their comprehensive records were consulted, they were 30 percent less likely to be admitted to the hospital from the emergency room, were 27 percent less likely to be subject to repeated radiological scans, and were 55 less likely to be readmitted to a hospital within 30 days.

Some smaller states, including Vermont and Maryland, have also developed state health information networks. But New York's is massive — and expensive.

Begun in 2007, SHIN-NY comprises 10 regional systems now being stitched together. All are expected to be connected by early next year. A pilot program for patient access is scheduled to start this summer at two hospitals, which haven't been named yet.

More than $900 million has been spent so far building it, about half of it federal funds.

Exchange officials declined to estimate the final price, saying it will change with technology and increased use. The Cuomo administration budgeted $65 million this year for infrastructure.

About 71 percent of New York's hospitals and more than 20 percent of its 67,200 doctors are now linked to the regional exchanges, according to New York eHealth Collaborative, the nonprofit working on the system.

David Whitlinger, executive director of the collaborative, said it should produce savings more than triple its estimated $70 million annual operating cost. It will be overseen by the state Health Department.

Philadelphia Inquirer co-owner dies in plane crash

PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia Inquirer co-owner Lewis Katz was killed along with six other people in a fiery plane crash in Massachusetts, the newspaper's editor said Sunday.

Bill Marimow confirmed Katz's death to Philly.com, saying he learned the news from close associates.

The Gulfstream IV crashed as it was leaving Hanscom Field at about 9:40 p.m. Saturday for Atlantic City, New Jersey. There were no survivors.

The identities of the other victims weren't immediately released. Nancy Phillips, Katz's longtime companion and city editor at the Inquirer, was not on board.

Officials gave no information on the cause of the crash. They said the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.

The 72-year-old Katz was one of two business moguls who bought out their partners last week with an $88 million bid for The Inquirer, which also operates the Philadelphia Daily News and the news website Philly.com.

The winners vowed to fund in-depth journalism to return the Inquirer to its former glory and to retain its editor, Marimow.

"It's going to be a lot of hard work. We're not kidding ourselves. It's going to be an enormous undertaking," Katz said then, noting that advertising and circulation revenues had fallen for years. "Hopefully, (the Inquirer) will get fatter."

Katz, who grew up in Camden, New Jersey, made his fortune investing in the Kinney Parking empire and the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network in New York. He once owned the NBA's New Jersey Nets and the NHL's New Jersey Devils and was a major donor to Temple University, his alma mater.

The fight over the future of the city's two major newspapers was sparked last year by a decision to fire the Inquirer's Pulitzer Prize-winning editor. Katz and H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest wanted a judge to block the firing. Katz sued a fellow owner, powerful Democratic powerbroker George Norcross, saying his ownership rights had been trampled. The dispute culminated last week when Katz and Lenfest, a former cable magnate-turned-philanthropist, bought out their partners.

Nearby residents saw a fireball and felt the blast shake their homes.

Jeff Patterson told The Boston Globe he saw a fireball about 60 feet high and suspected the worst.

"I heard a big boom, and I thought at the time that someone was trying to break into my house because it shook it," said Patterson's son, 14-year-old Jared Patterson. "I thought someone was like banging on the door trying to get in."

The air field, which serves the public, was closed after the crash. Responders were still on the scene Sunday morning.

Hanscom Field is about 20 miles northwest of Boston. The regional airport serves mostly corporate aviation, private pilots and commuter air services.