Former CEO David Perdue Wins Georgia's GOP Senate Runoff

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hide captionSenate nominee David Perdue hugs his wife Bonnie after declaring victory in the Georgia Republican runoff election Tuesday.

John Bazemore/AP

Senate nominee David Perdue hugs his wife Bonnie after declaring victory in the Georgia Republican runoff election Tuesday.

John Bazemore/AP

Businessman David Perdue has defeated longtime Rep. Jack Kingston in the Republican runoff for Georgia's U.S. Senate nomination, setting up a matchup against Democratic nominee Michelle Nunn that will help determine which party controls the Senate for the final years of the Obama administration.

Tuesday night's primary runoff win validates Perdue's campaign as an outsider. The former CEO of Reebok, Dollar General and the failed textile firm Pillowtex, Perdue offered his private sector record and tremendous wealth as proof that he can help solve the nation's ills in a Congress largely devoid of experience business titans. He spent more than $3 million of his own money blasting Kingston and other primary rivals as career politicians, including one ad depicting his rivals as crying babies.

"I've never run for anything in my life. I'm humbled," Perdue told supporters gathered at a hotel in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta.

With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Perdue led Kingston by about 8,000 votes - enough for 50.9 percent of the vote. Perdue also led Kingston in the initial May primary, but both men fell well shy of the majority necessary to win without a runoff.

Perdue immediately shifted to general election mode, praising Kingston and calling for party unity in the race against Nunn and Libertarian Amanda Swafford. Republicans need six more seats to regain a Senate majority for the final two years of President Barack Obama's tenure, and the GOP cannot afford to lose retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss' seat.

"I respect Michelle Nunn. I respect her family," Perdue said, a nod to her father, former Sen. Sam Nunn. But, Perdue added, "I will prosecute the failed record of the last six years of Barack Obama."

Across town on the Georgia Tech campus, Kingston thanked his supporters and let them know he'll be working for a Perdue win in November. "We will keep Georgia in the Republican column," he said.

As he did in May, Kingston ran up huge margins across southeast Georgia, where he's represented Georgia's 1st Congressional District since 1993. In his home Chatham County, he won 86 percent, with about 12,500 more votes than Perdue. But Perdue erased Kingston's home base advantage by running more consistently around the rest of the state, particularly in the heavily populated Atlanta and its suburbs. Perdue won Fulton County and all the surrounding counties that make up the metropolitan area.

With the win, Perdue overcame a Kingston coalition that spanned the internal GOP struggle between tea party conservatives and traditional GOP powers. Kingston ran with the endorsement and more than $2.3 million in advertising support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a titan of the Washington establishment. But he also garnered backing from tea party leaders and Karen Handel, the tea party favorite who finished third in the May primary.

Kingston, 59, ran as an 11-term congressman in a year when voters have expressed widespread dissatisfaction with the nation's direction, arguing that his record proves his conservative credentials. He pitched his range of endorsements as proof of his appeal across ideological barriers.

Yet the returns suggest showed that wasn't enough to trump a political reality: Americans typically love their congressman but loathe Congress as a whole.

National Democrats view Nunn as one of their best opportunities to pick up a GOP-held seat. She's raised more than $9 million and reported $2.3 million left to spend earlier this month. Perdue reported less than $800,000, but his personal wealth ensures that his campaign doesn't have to worry about money.

Perdue's win could require a strategic shift for the new Republican nominee and his Democratic opponent, since they now can't simply run against the sitting Congress and its discord.

Nunn, an Atlanta nonprofit executive, uses her father, an old-guard Southern Democrat who served four terms, as an example of what kind of senator she'd be. She also eagerly highlights her tenure as executive of Republican former President George H.W. Bush's foundation.

Both candidates should have plenty of money. Nunn has raised more than $9 million and reported earlier this month than she had at least $2.3 million left to spend. Perdue reported less than $800,000, but he has enough personal wealth to finance his own campaign.

Outside groups have already spent more than $8 million on the race, and that continued Tuesday night. A Super PAC, Ending Spending Action Fund, ran an ad attacking Nunn as a supporter of Obama's health care law.

The fund is backed by the Ricketts family, whose patriarch, Joe Ricketts, founded TD Ameritrade and now owns the Chicago Cubs baseball team.

Zeeland hamburger joint marks 90 years, expands

HOLLAND, Mich. -- A simple sign in the front window of Frank's Restaurant in the middle of downtown Zeeland tells the story of a timeless treasure: 90 years, four generations, one great burger.

It just doesn't get a whole lot better.

Or does it?

Frank's still serves up what many consider some of the best hamburgers in the area in a classic diner atmosphere at the same storefront location where it first opened in 1924.

It also is preparing to serve up a bonus banquet and rental space adjacent to its current restaurant, according to The Holland Sentinel ( http://bit.ly/1oY5tSD ).

The storefront just to the east of Frank's Restaurant, which had been unoccupied since last fall when a local jeweler moved out, has been remodeled to help celebrate its 90th anniversary.

It cost more than $100,000 to transform the 1,600-square-foot space into the dream location where general manager Shane Hammer plans to open up a delicatessen in early August.

"We always toyed with expanding the space and updating it," Hammer said. "I think it turned out great. I wanted to keep that retro feel, but also make it modern. Frank's will always be Frank's. It worked out well that we could keep everything here and make the other side better."

The newly re-imagined space has gotten the blessing of Hammer's grandmother.

"It looks great," said Pat Dionise, who took over ownership of Frank's, along with her husband, Frank Dionise Jr., in 1960. "For years and years, people kept saying, 'Why don't you expand next door?'

"It was his idea," she said of her grandson's grand plan. "He's young. He can do it."

To achieve the modern-retro look of the new space, Hammer, the fourth generation of family ownership, rolled up his own sleeves and went to work on peeling away five layers of wall coverings.

He stripped away two layers of drywall, a layer of wood paneling, a layer of corrugated steel and a layer of tongue-and-groove paneling that "must've been popular in the '70s," he said with a laugh. It further required chipping off plaster that had been slathered onto the original brick.

"We took off five layers and filled up two 40-yard dumpsters," Hammer said. "We did a lot of work."

The adjacent retail space had been a lot of things: Silva and Sons Jewelry last occupied it, but it had previously been an H&R Block accounting and tax service office, a pet store and a ceramics shop.

The remodeling project is all but completed.

Hammer, who designed the new space, consulted with Gen1 Architectural Group of Zeeland on structural issues and turned to Ruffner Construction of Zeeland to handle the buildout.

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Information from: The Holland Sentinel, http://bit.ly/1pz1bRY

This is an AP Member Exchange shared by The Holland Sentinel.

Boehner: No border money without policy changes

WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John Boehner (BAY'nuhr) says the public won't support spending money on the border crisis unless Congress makes policy changes to return migrant kids home faster.

In a statement Tuesday Boehner also charges that President Barack Obama's refusal to stand up to Democratic critics is jeopardizing Congress' ability to act.

At issue is a 2008 law that Republicans want to change to allow Central American kids to be sent back home without lengthy legal proceedings.

The White House has supported such changes but has sent mixed signals and Democrats have grown increasingly opposed.

Now Congress looks like it may take no action to deal with the border crisis or Obama's $3.7 billion emergency spending request.

Still Boehner says House Republicans will work to chart a path forward.

Rival candidate wants probe of DeWine bid process

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine's rival in the fall election said Tuesday that federal authorities should investigate DeWine's handling of lucrative collections contracts in the wake of a newspaper investigation.

DeWine's office challenged the factual basis for requesting any kind of U.S. Justice Department probe.

The statement by DeWine's opponent, David Pepper, followed a Dayton Daily News report over the weekend that found state bid documents were changed to favor a newly created collections firm founded by a DeWine political ally over more seasoned collections companies.

The ally, Pete Spitalieri, formed CELCO Ltd. in April 2012, two days before DeWine's office sought collections proposals for the upcoming fiscal year. DeWine's schedules showed multiple meetings with Spitalieri and a county Republican chairman, Summit County's Alex Arshinkoff, whose party donated more than $400,000 to DeWine's campaign since 2010.

"What you have here is a classic case study of a rigged bid process," said Pepper, a former Hamilton County commissioner from Cincinnati. He said the allegations raise questions about DeWine's ability to serve his state role rooting out political corruption around Ohio.

The event featured a blown-up copy of one of the handwritten scoring sheets that the newspaper found to have figures crossed out or written over.

Those alterations gave CELCO the increased score it needed to edge out Columbus-based Value Recovery Group for the state work. The firm had 20 years' experience under five attorneys general of both political parties. Its CEO, Barry H. Fromm, told the paper they were "absolutely flabbergasted" to lose the work to the fledgling firm.

DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney said the office picked firms with a mixture of skills and geographic diversity. Public documents showed Spitalieri's firm acknowledged its lack of experience during the selection process, yet received very high scores. Tierney said his other businesses have done extensive work for the Ohio and other states in certain areas related to collections, though CELCO had not.

Tierney explained the altered scoring sheets as "personal notes of individual staff members."

Pepper said he'd reform the process if elected so that a collections professional oversaw the process and so political giving would be prohibited during periods when contracts were being doled out.

"Cleaning this up is not rocket science, it's common sense," he said.

He argued that DeWine's selection of inexperienced firms over experienced ones has impacted taxpayers through a reduction in state debt collections — which fell from about $461 million in 2011, the year DeWine took office and began hiring collections firms, to $453 million in 2012 and $449 million in 2013. He dubbed the lost revenue "a DeWine corruption tax."

Tierney said those are the three highest annual totals for collections going back to 2006, noting that collections requests sent to the office by state agencies fell simultaneously.

"I don't see where anybody can look at those statistics and say the state's losing money," he said.

Spitalieri was also among donors to the charity Hands Together, which runs the Becky DeWine School in Haiti named for DeWine's late daughter, that The Associated Press recently reported had seen a spike in donations from lawyers, law firms and a lobbyist with business interests at DeWine's office.

Winning calls by Levy forecasters over decades

It's a forecast so out of the mainstream, it's hard to believe: a U.S. economy in recession next year, triggered by steep downturns abroad. But its author, David Levy, 59, comes from a family of forecasters with a good record of bucking conventional wisdom.

A look at their calls through the decades:

Jerome Levy, grandfather: Anticipated the Great Crash of 1929, sold all his stock and liquidated his wholesale goods business.

Jay Levy, father: Accurately predicted a rapid U.S. economic expansion after World War II when many experts expected another depression.

Leon Levy, uncle: Co-founder of Oppenheimer mutual funds and hedge fund manager who bet against stocks before the dot-com crash in 2000.

David Levy: In late 2005, warned U.S. housing was a bubble set to burst and the country would fall into a deep recession. Two years later, the recession began.

The Apollo 11 Mission: 45 Years Later

Forty-five years ago today, two American astronauts -- Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong -- landed on the moon's Sea of Tranquility, and Neil Armstrong planted the first footprint on the surface of the moon. As he made those first steps, Armstrong uttered that simple phrase we still remember today: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Today, President Obama joined all Americans honoring that giant leap forward, by inviting Neil Armstrong's wife, Carol, Michael Collins, the astronaut who piloted the spacecraft that orbited the moon, and Buzz Aldrin, to the White House. Armstrong passed away in 2012.

President Barack Obama meets with Apollo 11 astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, right, Carol Armstrong, widow of Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and Patricia Falcone, OSTP Associate Director for National Security and International Affairs, left, in the Oval Office. This week marked the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing. July 22, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

In the President's statement on today's meeting, he honored the bravery and leadership that these heroes displayed, and acknowledged the influence that their mission has had on mankind:

The United States of America is stronger today thanks to the vision of President Kennedy, who set us on a course for the moon, the courage of Neil, Buzz, and Michael, who made the journey, and the spirit of service of all who’ve worked not only on the Apollo program, but who’ve dared to push the very boundaries of space and scientific discovery for all humankind.

As we commemorate that day, we take a look back at the Apollo 11 mission and the extraordinary influence of the U.S. space program.

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On Immigration, America's Concerns Are Fiery But Fleeting

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hide captionPolice officers separate demonstrators on opposing sides of the immigration debate outside a U.S. Border Patrol station in Murrieta, Calif., on July 4.

Mark J. Terrill/AP

Police officers separate demonstrators on opposing sides of the immigration debate outside a U.S. Border Patrol station in Murrieta, Calif., on July 4.

Mark J. Terrill/AP

Americans today are most likely to name immigration the nation's biggest problem, but polling history suggests the alarm may have a limited shelf life.

In a Gallup survey released last week, 17 percent volunteered immigration as America's most pressing issue, narrowly topping concerns that weigh more consistently on the nation's mindset, like jobs and political leadership.

Though a small plurality, it was a sharp increase from the 5 percent who named the issue in Gallup's June poll, conducted just days before the youth migrant crisis at the border broke into the headlines and cast fresh light on the nation's troubled immigration policies.

Past polling shows a history of dramatic spikes in immigration concern, each coinciding with political flare-ups over the issue. The measure leapt beyond 15 percent twice in 2006, while Congress debated increased penalties for illegal immigration; and again to 10 percent in 2010, after Arizona passed tough anti-illegal immigration laws.

But in each case, immigration concerns proved rather fickle; interest quickly sputtered as proposals died or other issues elbowed immigration out of the headlines.

That inconsistency might appear inherent in a survey that asks for respondents to name one issue — out of countless other possibilities — as the nation's most daunting, over-representing those that bask in a momentary media spotlight.

But Jeff Jones, managing editor of the Gallup Poll, said few issues match the polling sensitivity of immigration, which behaves more like an international crisis, such as Syria, than other domestic policy issues.

"Immigration is something that can flare up, but it typically doesn't stay in the headlines for months on end," said Jones. And like the ongoing Syrian conflict, which less than 1 percent named in Gallup's latest survey, "that doesn't mean it's getting any better, or they're finding solutions on it."

Since 2010, however (the last time immigration worries erupted in the polls), the nation's interest in an immigration overhaul had steadily increased, he said. Polls had shown a marked shift from a majority worried about "halting the flow of illegal immigrants" to instead favor "dealing with immigrants already here."

But that trend could reverse amid the current border crisis, he added. Those who named immigration America's top problem in the latest survey skewed older and more Republican — groups that typically prioritize tightening border security.

Still, with three months left before the midterms, prior surges in immigration worries would have crested long before Election Day. And according to Stella Rouse, a government professor at the University of Maryland, immigration just hasn't been the issue to drive voter choices in the past.

"If you look at polls that track voters' concerns, immigration is never at the top of the list," she said. Instead, voters tend to be driven more by issues that have a more consistent foothold in our worries, like jobs and education — a trend she emphasized extends even to Hispanic voters.

But she noted this current immigration crisis could have greater longevity, in political terms, than others. "You have the whole populace engaged in this issue; before you had pockets of it," she said, pointing to decisions about harboring young migrants being made in states around the country.

And both parties have at least one good reason keep up the combative, headline-worthy rhetoric, added Efrén Pérez, a professor of political science at Vanderbilt University: It fires up the bases.

"The closer you get to Election Day, the more incentive you have to keep it an issue," he said. "You know it's a live wire."

The First Significant Legislative Reform of Our Job-Training System in a Number of Years:

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We need to make sure workers in America can find jobs that meet their skills, or get trained with the skills they need for a better job.

That's why, in this year's State of the Union address, President Obama tasked Vice President Biden with leading a review of our country's job-training programs to make sure that they have one mission: training our workers with the skills employers need, and matching them to good jobs that need to be filled right now.

The effort to make our federal training programs more job-driven was also bolstered by the bipartisan passage of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which President Obama signed into law this afternoon.

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New president still not on the cards

BEIRUT: A Parliament session to elect a new president will not be held Wednesday due to the lack of quorum. Meanwhile, Finance Minister Ali Hasan Khalil Tuesday stood firm on his stance not to pay civil servants’ salaries without the legislature’s approval. The development comes as the Cabinet is poised for a heated session Thursday, after intensified efforts have so far failed to resolve the thorny issues of the Lebanese University’s contract professors and extra-budgetary spending to pay salaries of public-sector employees at the end of this month.

Meanwhile, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun rejected former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s road map to break the presidential deadlock; Aoun is calling for parliamentary polls first, before the election of a president.

With an agreement lacking between the March 8 and March 14 parties on a consensus presidential candidate, the new Parliament session is destined to fail, like previous ones, over lack of a quorum because of an expected boycott by lawmakers from Aoun’s bloc, Hezbollah and its March 8 allies, political sources said.

“There is nothing new in the presidential election issue in light of the Parliament session scheduled Wednesday to elect a new president,” Speaker Nabih Berri was quoted as saying by visitors. He said he would call for another session, the tenth during the two-month vacancy in the presidency seat.

Asked about his meeting with Prime Minister Tammam Salam, Berri said: “I am working with all my power to separate the presidential vacancy and the obstruction of Parliament sessions from the Cabinet meetings in order to avoid crippling all constitutional institutions.”

Salam met Berri at the latter’s residence in Ain al-Tineh Tuesday to discuss the row over the public sector wages and the dispute among ministers over the LU’s council. Salam did not speak to reporters after the 75-minute meeting.

Asked about the public sector’s wage hike bill and the payment of civil servants’ salaries, Berri, according to visitors, insisted on tackling these issues under the law.

“There is no other choice. There are ideas being discussed to resolve the salaries crisis but always under the ceiling of the law,” Berri said.

Shortly after the Berri-Salam meeting, Khalil vowed that his ministry would not pay public sector salaries until Parliament approved them.

“Any increase in spending needs a legal approval,” Khalil said upon arriving at Ain al-Tineh to meet Berri, following the latter’s talks with Salam. “The file was added to the next Cabinet session’s agenda, but if Parliament does not approve, wages will not be paid.”

Later, Khalil said the Finance Ministry had an enormous financial reserve to pay of public sector wages. “But the problem is the way of payment, which needs a law,” he said.

However, The Daily Star obtained a copy of an alleged memo dated July 14 from Khalil asking all departments at the Finance Ministry to prepare the salaries of the civil servants and end-of-service benefits for the month of July. The Daily Star was unable to confirm the authenticity of the memo.

The parliamentary Future bloc, in a statement after its weekly meeting Tuesday, praised Khalil’s “intention to pay civil servants’ salaries on July 25 before the Eid al-Fitr holiday.”

A member of Berri’s parliamentary bloc, Khalil has said that Parliament should pass a law that would allow the required extra-budgetary spending to pay salaries of public sector employees.

Ministerial sources told The Daily Star that the passage of the LU decree by Cabinet would only be possible if MP Walid Jumblatt’s bloc gave up on naming a dean to the Faculty of Tourism in exchange for keeping Pierre Yared as the dean of the Faculty of Medicine. The appointment of the LU’s council is an essential move for the approval of the employment of the university’s contract professors as full-timers.Health Minister Wael Abu Faour, from Jumblatt’s parliamentary bloc, said he had informed Salam that his bloc accepted a proposal for keeping Yared, a Greek Catholic, as the dean of the Faculty of Medicine in exchange for the Druze sect not being represented on the LU’s council.

Separately, Aoun rejected Hariri’s road map, which called for giving priority to the election of a president to be followed by parliamentary elections.

“[Former] Prime Minister Hariri says the president should be elected first. I say Parliament should be elected first and that this Parliament elects its speaker. The Parliament speaker will then call for a session to elect a president,” Aoun said after chairing a weekly meeting of his Change and Reform bloc.

The Future bloc praised Hariri’s road map as “a logical, realistic and solid” plan to end the presidential vacuum. “What matters is to come forward with logical and practical ideas that open a road to overcome the crisis and safeguard the National Pact and the coexistence formula,” the bloc said in a statement after its weekly meeting.

A southern front with Israel? Not for the moment

BEIRUT: Despite Hezbollah’s recent reconciliation with Hamas, the party is currently unlikely to mobilize against Israel over its ongoing offensive aimed at crushing the Islamist group in Gaza, analysts said Tuesday, with most generally agreeing that any intervention rests on how things go on the ground.

“A full land invasion has yet to take place. Hezbollah’s decision is related to this and the situation in Lebanon,” Qassem Kassir, an expert on Islamic groups, told The Daily Star. For the moment, he said, “The resistance in Gaza is handling the situation well.”

A Lebanese political source agreed that Hezbollah was likely not to act unless a “red line” was crossed.

“If Israelis come close to breaching red lines, the Israel-Lebanon border will not remain calm,” the source said. “Any attempt to destroy Hamas is a serious sign.”

The source added that it would likely take a large scale Israeli operation that attempts to eradicate the resistance in Gaza. “Limited operations to stop the making or smuggling of rockets will not be considered the straw that breaks the camel’s back,” the source said.

The Syrian crisis led to a strain in relations between former allies Hamas and Hezbollah, with the predominantly Shiite Lebanese party siding with the Syrian regime and the Palestinian group – which is mostly Sunni – taking the side of the opposition.

At one point, Hezbollah even claimed that Hamas was teaching the Syrian rebels tactics it had picked up from the Lebanese group.

But a recently publicized phone conversation between the two groups’ leaders, Khaled Meshaal and Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, has indicated that the two resistance movements are increasing cooperation and strengthening ties once more.

According to several sources, Hamas and Hezbollah have been in contact since Israel’s “Operation Protective Edge” began more than two weeks ago.

Hamas’ representative in Lebanon described the recent phone call between Nasrallah and Meshaal as “very positive.”

It was “aimed at reconciling a relationship between the resistance in Lebanon and the resistance in Palestine,” Ali Barakeh told The Daily Star.

“Iranian officials emphasized their support for the resistance in Gaza and said they would do their best to support them,” he added.

For Qassir, the news of publicized and direct contacts between Meshaal and Hezbollah for the first time in two years is an important development.

Hezbollah has also released a statement pledging its support for “the resistance in Gaza and [highlighting] the solidarity and the backing it will provide the Gaza resistance.”

“Additionally, the Lebanese resistance is fully ready to collaborate with the Palestinian resistance in any way that helps it achieve its goals and in foiling the aggression.”

More than 500 people have died as a result of Israel’s offensive on Gaza, more than 400 of whom are Palestinian civilians, an enormous toll that has prompted international condemnation.

Yet Hezbollah has not embroiled itself in a large scale military confrontation with Israel since the war in 2006, and analysts don’t foresee that changing given their heavy involvement in Syria.

“I don’t expect [Hezbollah] will intervene at this stage because it’s busy in Syria and on the borders with Syria, [namely in] Qalamoun and the Arsal mountains,” said Dr. Haytham Mouzahem, a Lebanese political analyst and expert in Islamist movements.

“Is it possible? Yes. Is it on their agenda? That is a different question,” said Dr. Imad Salamey, a professor of Political Science at the Lebanese American University in Beirut.

“It isn’t on their agenda to attack Israel at the moment. On the contrary they are currently collaborating with the Lebanese Army to secure the [southern] border of Lebanon.”

Salamey argued neither Hezbollah nor their major regional ally Iran were currently seeking confrontation with the West and Israel in light of their large commitment to the fighting in Syria alongside President Bashar Assad’s regime.

More information may emerge later this week, however, as Nasrallah is due to speak Friday to mark Al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) in a speech that is expected to concentrate on the issue of Hamas and Hezbollah’s reconciliation and the situation in Gaza.

“Friday’s speech can indicate certain signs as to how the situation will evolve and how Hezbollah wants to deal [with the regional situation],” Qassir said.

But for the time being, analysts say a military confrontation on Lebanon’s southern border seems farfetched at best – at least for the moment.

“Although, it has no strategic interest in a war with Israel, if things develop and the Israeli massacres become [too much] and the ground invasion of the Gaza Strip threatens the infrastructure of the Palestinian resistance, Hezbollah can’t be silent,” said Mouzahem. – Additional reporting by Ghinwa Obeid

Lebanese soldier deserts Army to fight alongside Syrian rebel ranks

BEIRUT: A Lebanese soldier has joined the ranks of rebel groups fighting in Syria, a security source told The Daily Star Tuesday, the first such known case since war broke out in the neighboring country in 2011.

The solider initially went missing in the Bekaa Valley Monday evening, with some media outlets reporting his abduction by the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front. Authorities later discovered that the soldier had left with the militants voluntarily.

The Army reportedly lost track of the soldier, who was identified by his initials A.S.D., on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal, a predominantly Sunni town that supports the uprising against Syrian President Bashar Assad.

An Army source played down the significance of the incident, telling The Daily Star the soldier had decided to leave his post and that such things “happened often.”

Over the weekend, the Lebanese Army heavily deployed along the porous northeastern border with Syria and set up new posts in a number of villages in the Baalbek-Hermel region, including Arsal, to prevent rebels from infiltrating the country.

The move comes as the Syrian Army and Hezbollah tightened the noose on armed rebels in Qalamoun, a mountainous region bordering Lebanon.

Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian war is highly contentious, with the party’s opponents accusing security agencies of turning a blind eye to the group’s military role in Syria and cracking down on supporters of the uprising against Assad.

Also Tuesday, Army troops conducted raids in the Bekaa Valley town of Brital in search of a Syrian national who was kidnapped and held for ransom along with two others, the National News Agency said.

The NNA said the Army raided houses in the town in its search for Zeidan Hamad. His kidnappers are demanding a ransom of $500,000.

Syrian brothers Khalil and Abdul-Karim al-Ali, who were kidnapped along with Zeidan Monday, were released in Hallanieh near Baalbek later that night in exchange for a $20,000 ransom.

General Security officers also arrested two Syrian women at Lebanon’s border after they allegedly attempted to sneak a girl into Syria with fake documents.

“General Security arrested F.M. and S.A. when they were leaving to Syria through the Abboudieh border crossing for attempting to smuggle a girl into Syria with documents that did not belong to her,” a General Security statement said.

According to the El-Nashra news website, the Lebanese Army also reportedly arrested a Nusra Front commander Monday at a hospital in the Bekaa Valley.

It said the Army arrested the militant while he was being treated for wounds that were likely sustained during clashes on Arsal’s outskirts.

Separately, a lawyer for a suspect accused of firing rockets into Israel sent a request to Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi and State Prosecutor Samir Hammoud asking that his client be released on the grounds that attacks on the country fell under the protective umbrella of the resistance.

“What [Hussein] Atweh has done is a resistance act against the Israeli enemy, guaranteed by the ministerial statement of the current government that gave every Lebanese the right to resist until the occupied land is liberated,” Tareq Shandab said in his request.

“Firing rockets into Israel falls within the framework of resistance against Israel. There should not be selectivity when it comes to the resistance and for one party to do so while others are punished.”

Shandab said Atweh had been detained for 12 days without charge – well over the 48 hours stipulated in Article 47 of the Criminal Trials Law – and demanded his release.

He called on the judiciary to treat Atweh “as a resistance fighter.”

The justice minister promised he would look into the matter.

The Lebanese Army arrested Atweh, a member of Al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, earlier this month at a hospital in the Bekaa Valley. He reportedly confessed to being behind the firing of one of several rockets from south Lebanon that landed in Israel in recent weeks, prompting the Jewish state to retaliate and fire at least 25 artillery shells at southern Lebanese villages.

Atweh told interrogators that he had fired the rocket in response to Israel’s aggression against Gaza.

West, Army and Hezbollah work to secure border

Following intense fighting along Lebanon’s eastern border that pitted Syrian troops, backed by Hezbollah, against Nusra Front fighters, all eyes are now on the Bekaa Valley and the mountainous area extending from the outskirts of Syria’s Qalamoun region to the Lebanese border town of Arsal.

Over the weekend, the Lebanese Army deployed at 100 new points in the Baalbek-Hermel villages of Al-Qaa, Ras Baalbek, Fakiha, Meqraq, Labweh, Swanieh, Nahleh, Younin, Maqneh, Bizalieh, Nabi Othman and Arsal.

The Syrian army, with the support of Hezbollah, has been able to contain a number of strategic points for rebels, more than 3,000 of whom were preparing a dangerous operation against Lebanese villages known as “Laylat al-Qadr” (Night of Power).

According to a source familiar with the issue, a Lebanese security agency was informed about the possibility of such an operation two weeks ago by Western intelligence services.

The Syrian rebels had plans to launch a massive ground operation on Lebanese villages bordering Syria and kidnap dozens of men, to be used as a bargaining chip to secure the release of Islamist prisoners held at Roumieh Prison.

The source claimed the gunmen were planning to massacre the villages’ inhabitants, who are mostly Shiite, to tip the country into an open-ended sectarian war.

Western intelligence services also reportedly tipped off Hezbollah with similar information, providing the party with a 10-day window to take the necessary action to rid the areas near the northern Syrian-Lebanese borders of the rebels.

In addition to providing Hezbollah with intelligence support, according to the source, the Western agencies have also helped bring in a media blackout by instructing outlets and intelligence apparatuses not to tackle what is happening on the northeastern mountain slopes. Media outlets were also told not to reveal any information about the number of casualties for both parties.

By aiding Hezbollah and Lebanese state authorities, the West is trying to maintain stability in the country, the source said. The West wants to avoid any incidents that might prompt anything akin to the Syrian civil war in Lebanon, and is helping to prevent the infiltration of terrorist groups into the country, the source added.

For the West, helping Hezbollah – at least partially designated a terrorist organization in Europe and the United States – remains the best solution. In fact, collaboration between Hezbollah and Western security services is far from new; cooperation has taken place between the two over the situation in south Lebanon as well as in Yemen, Palestine and Bahrain.

Separately, sources revealed that military Iranian officials from the Islamic Republic’s Revolutionary Guard had arrived in the Bekaa Valley town of Labweh a week ago.

According to the sources, the officials have met with Hezbollah field commanders to create a defense plan in the northern Bekaa Valley to stymie extremist groups from Syria.

The Iranian officials also visited a military operation room that both they and Hezbollah will be using in the Nabi Sheet area.

According to the plan, Hezbollah members and the Syrian army will occupy the farms around the Syrian town of Rankous, specifically Sabna farm. This farm is significant because it is considered a crucial stop on the valley route to Lebanese villages, as well as to Syria’s besieged Zabadani. The plan also divides the area north of Tfeil into two sections on either side of the Syrian opposition fighters to make it easier to attack them.

Hezbollah members have been increasing in numbers at strategic points in border areas, sources said, and there is a growing buzz of surveillance drones over Qalamoun, Zabadani and Serghaya.

Six quit to topple Qabbani council

BEIRUT: The prospect of having two grand muftis remained Tuesday despite the resignation of six members of Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani’s Higher Islamic Council in a bid to dissolve his branch of the body.

Speaking during a news conference at the Press Federation headquarters, the resigned members said their decision came “to prevent the worst from happening and out of eagerness to protect the higher interest of the Sunni sect, and out of fear that two grand muftis will be elected – which is something we cannot accept.”

They said their move would bring the number of those resigning from Qabbani’s 32-member council to 15, after nine resigned earlier this year.

“Article 45 of Legislative Decree 18 [which regulates Dar al-Fatwa] states that the resignation of 15 members is sufficient to consider the council dissolved before the end of its term,” the statement of the resigned members said.

Mounting disputes between the Future Movement and Grand Mufti Qabbani led to the council splitting into two rival branches last year. One is headed by Qabbani and the other by former Minister Omar Miskawi. Each of the two councils considers the other illegitimate.

The council, set up in 1930, supervises the financial and administrative affairs of the institutions of Dar al-Fatwa, the top Sunni religious authority in Lebanon.

Qabbani’s term expires in September. Prime Minister Tammam Salam, who recognizes Miskawi’s council, has called for a successor to be elected August 10. Director General of Islamic Endowments Sheikh Hisham Khalifah, who is close to Qabbani, has set Aug. 31 as the voting date.

But Mustafa Banbouk, who read the statement of the resigned members, said Qabbani’s branch could no longer hold an election for the grand mufti post because so many members of the judicial committee that approves candidacies had resigned now that the body had effectively been dissolved.

Predictably, his interpretation has been disputed, with Maher Saqqal, the deputy-head of Qabbani’s council, saying the council still existed and insisting that a new grand mufti would be elected Aug. 31.

Saqqal said Tuesday’s resignations were an “unsuccessful operation” engineered by former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, the head of the Future parliamentary bloc. Siniora could not immediately be reached by The Daily Star for comment.

“They have miscalculated and the council still exists,” Saqqal told The Daily Star.

Saqqal explained that the council had appointed a new member to fill one of the new vacancies, adding, “This makes the current number of the resigned 14 rather than 15.”

He said that even if the council was dissolved in the future, this would not prevent the election of a new grand mufti, pointing to Qabbani’s decision last month to expand the electorate who can pick his successor from over 100 to around 2,800 members.

The grand mufti justified the move by saying this was the size of the electoral body between 1955 and 1996, the year he was elected the mufti. That year, 1955’s Legislative Decree 18 was amended to reduce the size of the electoral body.

Saqqal said it was the General Directorate of Islamic Endowments rather than the council that supervised the election of a new grand mufti. “Whether the council was dissolved or not does not affect the electoral process,” he said.

Banbouk said that over the past year, the six members who resigned Tuesday had tried to end divisions and create one council again, but that their efforts had hit a dead end.

“We had the aim of being a centrist group that could bridge gaps and propose initiatives and compromises to both sides in a bid to maintain communication,” he said.

ISF officer testifies at Special Tribunal

BEIRUT: The Special Tribunal for Lebanon Wednesday heard testimony from ISF officer Mohammad Kheireddine, part of the security forces team present at the site of the blast that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005.

Kheireddine, now a first officer in the ISF, was an adjutant with the security agency’s Judicial Police at the time of Hariri’s Valentine’s Day assassination. According to his testimony, he examined eight bodies in the wake of the attack, and was present when members of the ISF photographed the crime scene.

The prosecution, which has accused five Hezbollah members of planning and executing the attack that killed Hariri and 21 others, has made extensive use of crime scene photos and forensic evidence taken by security forces.

Expert prosecution witnesses have relied on photos and footage of the bomb crater to formulate their conclusion that the explosives were hidden in a truck and were detonated as Hariri’s convoy passed.

Lawyers for the accused, however, have argued that the bomb could have been detonated underground. The defense has also tried to show that the crime scene was not properly managed in the aftermath of the attack, and has questioned the integrity of evidence collected at the scene.

Kheireddine initially gave a witness statement to the United Nations investigative body in August 2005, six months after the attack, and co-authored two reports with the ISF which included photographic evidence about the assassination.

In May, the STL prosecution sought to have Kheireddine’s written witness statement admitted into evidence in lieu of oral testimony. The move was opposed by the defense team of Hassan Habib Merhi, one of the accused.

Trial Chamber judges granted the request on the condition that Kheireddine be made available to the defense for cross-examination.

Kheireddine appeared by videolink during Tuesday’s proceedings.

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UNIFIL head introduces his replacement

UNIFIL head introduces his replacement

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon commander Maj. Gen. Paolo Serra visited Lebanese top officials Tuesday to bid...

VA Nominee Steps Before Senate Committee

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

Robert McDonald, President Obama's nominee to run the troubled Department of Veterans Affairs, is appearing before the Senate for his confirmation hearing. He faces the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, which will vote on whether to send his nomination to the Senate floor.

Deal In Detroit Could Signal Cuts To Pensions Elsewhere

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hide captionRetirees Mike Shane (left) and William Davis protest near the federal courthouse in Detroit on July 3. Workers and retirees approved pension cuts in Detroit's bankruptcy by a landslide, the city reported Monday.

Paul Sancya/AP

Retirees Mike Shane (left) and William Davis protest near the federal courthouse in Detroit on July 3. Workers and retirees approved pension cuts in Detroit's bankruptcy by a landslide, the city reported Monday.

Paul Sancya/AP

It used to be that if you were a public employee, you knew your pension benefits could not be touched.

That's no longer the case.

Pensions have been under political attack in recent years, with some politicians arguing they can't afford to fund generous retirements at the same time they're cutting services. Numerous states and cities have trimmed the type of pension plans they're offering employees — mostly new employees.

But pension benefits already earned have always been sacrosanct, protected by federal law and, often, state constitutions. Retirees could rest easy, knowing their money couldn't be touched.

The vote Monday in Detroit by retired city workers to cut their own benefits by 4.5 percent calls all that into question.

"Detroit has raised it as a possibility," says Daniel DiSalvo, a political scientist at City College of New York who studies public sector labor issues. "I don't think that most people, maybe with the exception of some unions, think pensions are inviolable."

With several other cases pending, it's not at all clear whether federal bankruptcy law trumps traditional pension protections. Pensions continue to have strong legal protection, and there's not going to be any great rush among states and cities to test whether cutting benefits for current retirees is something that will necessarily fly with the courts.

But the vote in Detroit does suggest that at least some pensioners might have to give up more than they ever expected.

"I think the deal in Detroit is going to mean that other troubled Michigan cities are more likely to reach deals," says Kim Rueben, a government finance expert at the Urban Institute.

Judges Growing Skeptical

The reason a big majority of retirees in Detroit were willing to accept cuts is that they worried they might be hurt worse if they didn't.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Steven Rhodes said late last year that federal bankruptcy law could override pension protections — including provisions in the Michigan Constitution.

Politics

What It's Like Living In A Bankrupt City

Earlier this month, another federal bankruptcy judge, Christopher Klein, shared similar thoughts. He's presiding over the bankruptcy of Stockton, Calif.

In its recovery plan, that city has been protecting pensions. Klein did not issue a ruling, but he suggested at a hearing that pensioners might have to take a hit, along with the city's creditors.

"I might be persuaded that ... the pensions can be adjusted," Klein said.

What Bankruptcy Is For

Bankruptcy is all about adjusting contracts to reflect new realities. Bondholders who were expecting to be paid back a full dollar might only receive 25 cents, for instance, if that's what a bankruptcy judge determines a seriously strapped city can afford.

Up until now, pensioners didn't face that same type of threat. The Detroit and Stockton cases suggest judges might be ready to rethink matters.

"The problem you have is there may unfortunately be promises that have been made that are not realistic or affordable," says James Spiotto, a municipal bankruptcy attorney in Chicago. "Therefore, there is a need to adjust the pensions, hopefully for the short term."

There may be no rush to change pension law. The changes in Detroit — which Judge Rhodes will still have to approve — is something that pensioners were willing to accept, as opposed to something that was imposed on them through a legal judgment.

As the legal calculus does start to shift, however, it's possible that things will change more rapidly in political terms. Even the chance that pensions are at risk might be enough to make public employees accept more cuts at the negotiating table.

"That obviously raises new pressures when cities are negotiating with unions," says DiSalvo, who is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute's Center for State and Local Leadership. "They can say that this is out there in a way that couldn't or wouldn't have been done before."

Future Bloc preps for presidential consultations

BEIRUT: Future Parliamentary bloc lauded former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s political roadmap Tuesday, announcing its readiness to commence consultations with March 14 heads to end the void in the Presidency.

Bloc members noted the road map was “logical, realistic and coherent” pointing out that “it is not important to offer suggestions. It is more important to [launch] ideas of progress in line with a logical process that takes into account the Lebanese reality and opens the way out of the crisis."

Future Bloc head MP Fouad Siniora informed bloc members of his meeting with Kataeb leader Amin Gemayel based on Hariri's roadmap. Siniora discussed with lawmakers the prospect of starting consultations with March 14 heads over possible solutions to the presidential vacancy.

"The main political forces should be focused on the election of the new President of the Republic as a priority over the rest of the topics in the country,” said a statement released by the Future parliamentary bloc following their meeting, adding that such an accomplishment would “address the remaining political, security, economic and developmental problems with success."

Last Friday, Hariri outlined the road map to safeguard Lebanon’s stability and protect it from the reverberations of the turmoil in Syria and Iraq by calling for the election of a new president and the withdrawal of Hezbollah from the war in Syria.

Hariri stressed that breaking the two-month-old presidential stalemate was the key to holding parliamentary polls scheduled in November, while strongly rejecting any attempts to renew Parliament’s mandate.

The head of the Future Movement said he would soon begin consultations with his allies in the March 14 coalition and his March 8 rivals to end the ongoing presidential deadlock.

The bloc also condemned Israel's attack on Gaza, calling for protests in solidarity with Palestine infront of the ESCWA building in downtown Wednesday at 11 a.m.

“The barbaric aggression carried out by the Israeli occupation forces against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip constitutes a crime against humanity,” said the statement. "[The attacks] continue without any deterrent, with the disregard, encouragement and support of the international community.”

The bloc slammed international and Arab silence on the situation in Gaza, arguing that the lack of a response allows Israel to continue with its aggression. The Future bloc called on the international community and the Arab League to stop the Israeli aggression and implement the relevant international resolutions.

“Reluctance and delay in the implementation of these decisions as well as bowing down to Israeli stubbornness is the main reason for the escalation of violence in Palestine and other parts of the Arab and Islamic world,” the statement added.

Future also spoke out against the exodus of Christians from the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, arguing that such sectarian practices serve the objectives of the enemies of Iraq and the enemies of Arabs and Muslims.

“[This act] serves the Zionist state’s philosophy of establishing a racist entity,” Future's statement read.

The statement disclosed the results of meetings with the Union Coordination Committee and the Minister of Finance, stressing the importance of resolving the salary scale and the negative effects of extra spending on the national economy and public finances.

The statement also noted the position of the Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, who declared his intention to try to pay the salaries of employees by the the July 25th and before Eid al-Fitr.

The Future bloc emphasized the necessity of continuing the security plan across Lebanon, stressing on the importance of “adjusting security, cutting off the road to terrorist crimes and the prosecution of planners and perpetrators.”

It added that “some are inciting the Tripoli street and the north in an effort to blow up the situation in Tripoli”, warning that recent tensions in the area are “consequences of manipulating security” and calling on citizens "not to be subject to the effects of extortion."

Hamas: Qassam Brigades yet to use full force

BEIRUT: Hamas representative in Lebanon Ali Barakeh said the Qassam Brigades had yet to use 90 percent of their force and that a surprise was underway, during popular protests in Sidon Monday night calling for solidarity with Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Netanyahu thought that Gaza was weak and that the siege would lead us to surrender when waging the battle, [but he] fell in the trap” Barakeh said.

Popular marches rallied from mosques in the city of Sidon to a sit-in held at the southern city’s Martyrs' Square.

The Hamas representative said that “the Palestinian resistance is in its strongest form,” arguing that “since the start of the Israeli ground operation, the Qassam Brigades were successful in killing 30 Israeli officers and soldiers, wounding 150 and detaining one Israeli soldier.”

Barakeh added that Netanyahu was drawn into this battle from two sides, one team from his own government that pressured him into this war and “another team unfortunately from our skin, who designed this battle and told him that Hamas is very weak today.”

Hamas called on Sidon and the Palestinian refugee camps to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and the resistance in the Gaza Strip.

The protestors lifted Palestinian and Hamas flags and cut-outs of Qassam Brigades rockets.

They chanted slogans and saluted the persistence of the Palestinian resistance, condemning the Israeli massacres of civilians and children as well as the Arab and international silence about it.

A giant screen was erected in the square, directly broadcasting a message from the Gaza MP Mushir al-Masri.

Masri saluted the people of Sidon and stressed the choice of the resistance in standing against the Israeli enemy.

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Video: Israel sniper shoots wounded Palestinian twice

BEIRUT: A video from Gaza shows what appears to be an Israeli sniper shooting a man searching in the rubble for his missing relatives following airstrikes and shooting him dead seconds later.

The International Solidarity Movement-Palestine, an independent Palestinian-led group, posted the video on July 20, showing the neighborhood of Shejaiya district in the enclave following a brutal air offensive on the neighborhood.

Aid workers in florescent vests along with several residents were seen moving into what can only be described as total devastation, looking for survivors.

One of the aid workers, Mohammad Abdullah, was filming the destruction as he, along with another worker, walked through the debris, calling out to locate survivors.

A Palestinian man in a green T-shirt was seen in the beginning of the video, calling out names of his family members.

Seconds later, a shot was heard and the man was seen lying on the debris of a demolished building.

"Can you move?" the man behind the camera asked him as the wounded man cried: "No God but Allah."

The female worker told a rescue team standing on the other side of the demolished building that the man was shot in the hand.

"We can't get him," he responds.

Another shot hits the wounded man on the ground and the footage shows him taking his last breath. He is shot once again as the man behind the camera begins panting in fear.

"They are going to start going around us now because they know there's more people here,” one rescue worker says. “So we need to actually move.”

"I know, I know, but what the f--k should we do?” another responds.

“I know, look, everyone is going to get shot.”

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UNIFIL head bids farewell, introduces successor

BEIRUT: United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon commander Maj. Gen. Paolo Serra visited Lebanese top officials Tuesday to bid farewell and introduce his successor, according to a UNIFIL statement.

Two days prior to handing over the peacekeeping command, Serra visited Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, Prime Minister Tammam Salam, Lebanese Army commander Gen. Jean Kahwagi and the director general of General Security, Maj. Gen Abbas Ibrahim.

Accompanied by his Italian successor Maj. Gen. Luciano Portolano, who will take up the position of UNIFIL head of mission and force commander Thursday, Serra officially bid farewell to Lebanese authorities.

Serra said that in addition to thanking the officials for their support to him “personally” and “to our mission for peace in south Lebanon,” he discussed with them the latest developments on the border with Israel.

“We ... discussed out efforts together with the Lebanese Armed Forces to maintain calm along the Blue Line,” he said.

He also thanked the people of south Lebanon for their hospitality toward UNIFIL.

“Our respect for the communities that are hosting us, their understanding and acceptance of UNIFIL’s role amidst them, are paramount for the implementation of our mandate,” he said. “Their support and appreciation for the work carried out by the mission has been extremely valuable.”

Serra expressed confidence that his successor would handle the responsibility well.

“Maj. Gen. Portolano will continue to build on the strong foundations for peace in the south and all the good work that has been done so far in strategic partnership with LAF.”

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Domino's Pizza 2Q profit rises 16 percent

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Domino's Pizza Inc. (DPZ) on Tuesday reported net income that increased by 16 percent in its second quarter, and topped analysts' expectations.

The Ann Arbor, Michigan-based company said earnings increased to $38.5 million, or 67 cents per share, from $33.3 million, or 57 cents per share, in the same quarter a year earlier. The average per-share estimate of analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 65 cents.

The pizza chain said revenue climbed 8.8 percent to $450.5 million from $414 million in the same quarter a year ago, and beat Wall Street forecasts. Analysts expected $439.2 million, according to Zacks.

Domino's Pizza shares have climbed $3.74, or 5.4 percent, to $73.39 since the beginning of the year. The stock has risen $9.78, or 15 percent, in the last 12 months.

This story was generated automatically by Automated Insights (http://bit.ly/1jX8LIs) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Full DPZ report: http://bit.ly/1lqc6KW

Coke's sales miss estimates as Diet Coke flags

ATLANTA -- Coca-Cola Co. reported quarterly sales that fell short of Wall Street estimates on Tuesday as demand remained weak for Diet Coke in North America.

Globally, the world's biggest beverage maker said sales volume rose 3 percent, boosted by gains in places including the Middle East and South Africa.

In its flagship North American market, sales volume was flat. Although sodas including Fanta and Sprite saw gains in the region, sales of Diet Coke remained soft. Executives at Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have noted that diet sodas have been suffering because of concerns about artificial sweeteners. To address that, the companies have been working behind the scenes to assure consumers about the safety of such sweeteners.

Coca-Cola also plans to eventually introduce a version of its namesake drink that's naturally sweetened with stevia in the U.S. The drink, Coca-Cola Life, has already hit shelves in other markets, including Argentina.

The company also noted that juice drinks saw declines in North America during the quarter, as higher prices scared off some customers.

For the quarter, the Atlanta-based company said profit fell to $2.6 billion, or 58 cents per share, from $2.68 billion, or 59 cents per share, in the same quarter a year earlier.

Excluding one-time items, it earned 64 cents per share, which was a penny more than analysts expected.

Revenue dropped 1.4 percent to $12.57 billion. Analysts expected $12.85 billion, according to Zacks.

Coca-Cola's stock was down 55 cents, or 1.3 percent, at $41.85.

Its shares have risen $1.09, or 2.6 percent, to $42.40 since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased 6.8 percent.