Criticism mounting for Vikings, Adrian Peterson

MINNEAPOLIS -- For as long as he's been in the NFL, Adrian Peterson has been one of the most popular and most marketable stars in the league.

Now that he is facing a felony charge of child abuse for spanking his 4-year-old son with a wooden switch, the Minnesota Vikings star running back is facing criticism like he never has before. In the wake of the Vikings' decision to allow Peterson to play while the legal process plays out, the Radisson hotel chain has suspended its sponsorship agreement with the team.

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said on Tuesday that Peterson should remain suspended while his case unfolds. A sports apparel store at a suburban Minneapolis shopping mall has pulled all Peterson items from the shelves while the matter is under investigation.

French prime minister wins confidence vote

PARIS -- French Prime Minister Manuel Valls won a vote of confidence on Tuesday in a tense ballot, allowing him to push through economic reforms that have divided his Socialist Party.

The government's once comfortable margin was diluted in the 269-244 vote, with 53 abstentions, but still allows Valls to carry out reforms aimed at lifting France out of its economic crisis.

President Francois Hollande's popularity has plunged over failure to cure the nation's high unemployment rate, zero growth and oversized deficit. He had promised to create jobs for the French when he took office in 2012 after defeating the conservative incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy.

In a speech laying out government policy before the vote, Valls addressed Socialist dissenters who feel he has abandoned his leftist ideals in favor of big business and is resorting to financial austerity measures.

Of the 53 abstentions, 31 of them were Socialists, who hold 289 seats in the 577-seat National Assembly, the lower house.

Valls was backed by 309 lawmakers in an April vote of confidence when he took office.

"We will continue this route ... until the end of the term," Valls said after the voting. "This is what the French expect, that we roll up our sleeves and be up to the challenges."

In his pre-vote speech, the prime minister embraced preserving the country's welfare state, even if adjustments, he said, are needed.

"To reform is not to break, to reform is not to regress ... To reform is to affirm our priorities, while refusing austerity," Valls said.

Valls called for the confidence vote after expelling two dissident ministers from the Cabinet this summer, with another leaving voluntarily. They were the most visible among a group of Socialists critical of government policy whose vote — or decision to abstain — could be critical to the size of the majority given to Valls and his capacity to carry out reforms.

The vote came amid a series of political disasters for Hollande, whose popularity rating was confirmed this week at 13 percent, an all-time low for a French president. Hollande was lately bashed in a book by his ex-companion and a newly-appointed Socialist minister lasted but nine days on the job after revelations he hadn't been paying taxes and other bills on time.

"Yes, Mr. Prime Minister, your days are numbered," said the chief of the conservative opposition, Christian Jacob, in response to Valls' speech. "Without a clear majority and with a discredited president," he said, Valls doesn't have the means to reform.

Valls is hoping his reforms will help cure a litany of ills afflicting the world's No. 5 economic power.

The jobless rate has been more than 10 percent for five years, the economy isn't growing and public finances are in bad shape. The budget deficit is 4.4 percent of gross domestic product, far above the 3 percent demanded by the European Union.

The reforms include 50 billion euros ($65 billion) in cuts to government spending by 2017. It also proposes reducing the tax burden on employers in hopes to spur hiring. The reforms must be approved in parliament in the fall.

Despite promised spending cuts, Valls maintained his reforms don't amount to austerity.

He said the government would not change the 35-hour work week, retirement at 60 for some employees and other benefits.

"The only question that should concern us is to carry out indispensable reforms with courage, but without putting into question our social model ... which is even part of our identity," the prime minister said.

Once one of France's most popular politicians, Valls is also losing ground in polls since his appointment five months ago. His popularity rating fell to 30 percent in the latest poll by the Ipsos firm, published this week.

Sylvie Corbet contributed to this report.

Mall mashup: Washington Prime to buy Glimcher

NEW YORK -- Washington Prime Group Inc., which spun off from mall operator Simon Property Group earlier this year, said Tuesday that it is buying rival Glimcher Realty Trust. The cash-and-stock deal is worth about $2.06 billion.

The combined company will own 119 malls and shopping centers around the country.

After the deal closes, which is expected to happen in the first quarter of 2015, the company will change its name to WP Glimcher.

Washington Prime that it will pay $14.20 in cash and stock for each share of Glimcher, a 34 percent premium from its closing price of $10.59 Monday.

As part of the deal, Glimcher will sell two shopping centers to Simon Property Group Inc. for $1.09 billion. The two shopping centers being sold are Jersey Gardens in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and University Park Village in Fort Worth, Texas.

Washington Prime said the total deal with Glimcher is worth about $4.3 billion, including debt.

The new company will keep Washington Prime's ticker symbol "WPG," which trades on the New York Stock Exchange. WP Glimcher will be based at Glimcher's headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. Washington Prime is based in Bethesda, Maryland.

In May, Simon Property spun off Washington Prime, which operates strip malls and smaller enclosed malls, so it can focus on bigger malls and premium outlets.

Shares of Washington Prime Group Inc. fell $1.09, or 5.9 percent, to $17.37 Tuesday morning. Glimcher shares jumped $3.20, or 30.2 percent, to $13.79.

Summit focuses on health cost innovations

BEDFORD, N.H. -- New Hampshire health care providers who have started getting paid for how well they do instead of how much they do said Tuesday they're optimistic about controlling costs and improving outcomes.

Under an Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield program, providers get paid extra for "care coordination," the activity that takes place outside of a patient visit — for example, following up to make sure patients fill their prescriptions and understand how to take their medication. Other insurers, states and medical groups have launched similar programs aimed at containing costs without undermining care, and the federal health care overhaul law created "accountable care organizations" for Medicare, which aim to improve coordination.

Speaking at a health care summit Tuesday, the owner of a nurse practitioners' office in Concord said the Anthem program has allowed her to hire a medical assistant to carefully scan each patient's records before appointments.

"What that means is that record is looked at prior to that patient visit happening, any immunizations that are missing, any mammograms, any preventative care, is highlighted for the nurse practitioner, so when that patient is in the exam room, we are optimizing the time we're spending with that patient," said Wendy Wright of Wright and Associates Family Healthcare.

At Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, fewer high-risk patients have been readmitted to the hospital since it assigned case managers to work specifically with them and their primary care providers, hospital official Paul Cass said. But the biggest benefit of the new payment program has been getting detailed data from Anthem, he said. As part of a recent effort to get cardiologists and primary care providers to work together to help patients manage high cholesterol, officials used that data to discover that changing fewer than 300 patients to a generic drug could yield significant cost savings, he said.

"The bottom line to all this is data and analytics," he said. "If you can't understand what's going on in the population, if you don't have the data, you won't be able to get at the answers."

The summit, organized by Anthem and Business NH Magazine, also featured a keynote speech by Michael Chernew, professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School who outlined two approaches to slowing the rate of health care spending. One approach focuses on payment reform, such as reimbursing providers a set amount for an entire episode of care — say six months of diabetes treatment — instead of for each service.

"At the end of the day, what really matters is that the underlying delivery system has to become more efficient," he said.

The other approach focuses on redesigning insurance plans to encourage consumers to seek out value in health care. Insurers can cap what they'll pay for a colonoscopy, he said, or charge consumers less if they go to a lower-cost health system. In so-called "value-based insurance design," consumers would spend less on high-value services, such as help managing chronic conditions.

"Value is not cheap," he said. "Value is low dollar per health gain."

Alibaba investors beware: History not on your side

WASHINGTON -- Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba is about to launch what may prove the biggest initial public stock offering ever. Yet anyone who expects to get rich from buying into China's high-growth story will be betting against history.

China's explosive economic rise has delivered virtually nothing to most stock investors. When Chinese companies have listed stocks on American markets, their shares have lost an average 1 percent a year for the next three years, compared with an average 7 percent annual gain for other U.S. IPOs, according to research by Jay Ritter, a finance professor at the University of Florida.

Most Chinese stocks trade in China, of course. And those stocks have burned investors, too. From 1993 to 2013, when China's economy grew nearly seven-fold from No. 9 to No. 2 in the world, stocks on Chinese markets returned a cumulative total of just 7.9 percent — even if shareholders had reinvested dividends. Over the same time, U.S. stocks jumped 555 percent, German stocks 458 percent and Spanish stocks more than 1,000 percent, according to Credit Suisse.

"It's probably one of the biggest disconnects in the history of stock markets," says Nicholas Lardy, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Chinese stock gains didn't even keep up with inflation, says Elroy Dimson, emeritus professor of finance at the London Business School, who helped compile the Credit Suisse numbers. Adjusted for inflation, Chinese stocks lost 3.8 percent a year from 1993 to 2013.

It's entirely possible, of course, that Alibaba will produce outsize investment returns over time. The company has become a hugely popular shopping magnet on the strength of China's surging growth. Its regulatory filing indicates that Alibaba draws 188 million monthly visitors on mobile devices — a tantalizing target for advertisers.

The company's financial results have been stellar: Alibaba said its revenue jumped 46 percent to $2.54 billion in the three months that ended June 30 and that it earned $1.2 billion excluding a one-time gain.

Potential investors have swarmed to Alibaba's presentations in advance of the initial offering. Demand has grown so feverish that Alibaba on Monday said it planned to raise the offering price from the $60 to $66 a share it had earlier set to $66 to $68.

Yet the track record for Chinese stocks in general doesn't inspire confidence. Investment returns have been depressed by a range of factors — from allegations of corporate fraud to questionable accounting to maddeningly cumbersome government rules.

"China has the most stable economy but the riskiest stock markets," Guoping Li of Beijing's Central University of Finance and Economics wrote last year. Li says Chinese stocks have become known as "the butchers of small shareholders' wealth."

And Ritter's figures for Chinese stocks in America don't include the riskiest ones — those that have made a back-door entry onto U.S. exchanges by merging with U.S. shell companies and thereby eluding much of the regulatory scrutiny that usually comes from selling shares publicly for the first time.

More than 100 of these companies were suspended or kicked off U.S. exchanges in 2011 and 2012. The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged about two dozen with civil accounting violations and fraud. In one 2012 case, the SEC accused two executives of Puda Coal Inc. of transferring its most valuable assets to themselves and leaving investors with a worthless shell company.

"China is to stock fraud what Silicon Valley is to technology," says Carson Block, who runs the investment firm Muddy Waters Research and has profited by betting against Chinese companies.

Even after the purge of some of the worst stocks, Chinese companies on American and Canadian stock exchanges score below average for accounting and corporate governance, according to rankings by MSCI ESG Research.

Yet the allure of China has proved irresistible to many.

"People felt it was very cool," says Alberto Forchielli, an investor who's worked for decades in China. Forchielli has passed up opportunities to invest in Chinese companies on U.S. exchanges because "it didn't smell right."

Hugh Culverhouse Jr., a real estate investor and former owner of the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, lost money when shares of the Chinese lumber company Sino-Forest plunged in 2011 amid allegations of accounting fraud.

In some ways, Block says, China's market troubles shouldn't be surprising. Emerging markets can be lawless. In the 19th century, the United States itself was an emerging market, and U.S. investors were preyed upon by manipulators such as Jay Gould and Jim Fisk.

Not all Chinese stocks fare poorly, of course. The Internet search firm Baidu, for example, has surged since it listed on Nasdaq in 2005; its shares are up 48 percent in the past 12 months.

But the reputation for questionable accounting and dodgy business practices can tarnish even the soundest Chinese companies.

"These stocks are carrying a lot of heavy baggage on them, and that's reflected in their prices," says Paul Gillis, accounting professor at Peking University in Beijing.

Li at Beijing's Central University of Finance blames government meddling for the poor performance of Chinese stocks. Authorities control which companies can sell stock to the public. They tend to green-light mainly those connected to government or Communist Party figures. And these companies, Li finds, are more likely to commit fraud and get away with it.

"There is no repercussion to getting caught," says Dan David of GeoInvesting LLC, who bets against stocks and who helped expose the problems at Puda Coal.

U.S. investors essentially have to take Chinese companies' financial statements on faith. The U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board is supposed to review audits done of companies that trade on U.S. exchanges. But Beijing refuses to let the board or the SEC review audits done by accounting firms based in China.

Investors in U.S.-listed Chinese stocks must often rely on audits that don't comply with U.S. law. And they must bear the risk that the companies might be delisted from American stock exchanges.

Another risk comes from the contortions Chinese companies go through to get around their government's rules. Beijing, for example, restricts foreign investment in Internet companies. To dodge that obstacle, Alibaba and others deploy an odd structure that gives foreign investors a stake in profits but keeps management control in China.

The arrangement magnifies the risks for investors. Chinese executives can confiscate corporate assets without compensating shareholders. And investors might have no grounds to sue.

In SEC filings, Alibaba warns that there's no guarantee CEO Jack Ma or other Alibaba executives "will not breach the existing contractual arrangements." If investors sued, there would be "substantial uncertainty as to the outcome."

The risks aren't theoretical. In 2011, Ma spun off Alibaba's payment service, Alipay, into a company he controlled. He said this was necessary to comply with Chinese regulations. Yahoo, which owns a 22 percent stake in Alibaba, didn't learn about the spinoff until it reviewed a regulatory filing.

Alibaba plans to raise up to $25.03 billion — a record for a first-time offering — by selling 368.1 million shares. The $66-to-$68 price range would give the company a market value exceeding $170 billion.

Alibaba originally considered listing its stock in Hong Kong. But it didn't comply with Hong Kong rules intended to treat all shareholders equally. Like U.S. tech giants Facebook, Google and LinkedIn, Alibaba has a partnership structure that gives Ma and a few insiders outsize power to nominate a majority of company directors.

"It's the biggest jeopardy," investor Dan David says, "to put all that control in one man's hands."

US producer prices unchanged in August

WASHINGTON -- A measure of prices that producers receive for their goods and services was unchanged in August, the latest sign that inflation is in check.

Wholesale gas prices fell 1.4 percent last month and food costs dropped 0.5 percent, the Labor Department said Tuesday. Those declines offset higher prices for transportation and shipping services.

The producer price index rose just 1.8 percent last month from a year earlier. The index measures price changes before they reach the consumer.

Economists had expected that the producer price index had risen 0.1 percent in August from the previous month, according to a survey by FactSet.

"The figures provide further evidence that price pressures have eased a bit in recent months," Paul Dales, an economist at Capital Economics, said.

Excluding food, energy and retailers' and wholesalers' profit margins, core producer prices rose 0.2 percent and are up 1.8 percent in the past year.

Higher food and gas costs had pushed up producer prices earlier this year, briefly raising concerns that inflation might accelerate. But gas and food prices have since moderated, slowing wholesale inflation.

The drop in wholesale gas prices has led to lower costs for consumers at the pump, leaving them more money to spend on other goods. The average price for a gallon of gas fell to $3.39 Monday, eight cents cheaper than a month ago.

Food prices, meanwhile, fell in May and June before rising just 0.4 percent in July. That's much lower than the big gains recorded earlier this year, when food prices soared 2.3 percent in April and 1.3 percent in March. They were driven higher by a drought in California and brutal winter storms and freezing temperatures in the Midwest.

The Fed targets inflation at about 2 percent as a guard against deflation, which could drag down wages and spark another recession. At the same time, the Fed wants to avert excessive inflation and protect consumers and the purchasing power of the dollar.

Americans' paychecks, meanwhile, are barely increasing, which has limited consumers' willingness and ability to spend. That has made it harder for businesses to raise prices.

Low inflation has enabled the Fed to pursue extraordinary measures to boost the economy. It has begun to unwind some of those measures, cutting a monthly bond-buying program to $25 billion, from $85 billion last year.

Those bond purchases had ensured low interest rates that encouraged investors to pour money into the economy

US stocks turn higher at midday

NEW YORK -- U.S. stocks are turning higher at midday with energy companies leading the gains.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 11 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,995 at 12:03 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 83 points, or 0.5 percent, to 17,116. The Nasdaq rose 15 points, or 0.4 percent, to 4,534.

Energy stocks rose the most among the 10 industry sectors in the S&P 500, as oil prices jumped.

Fed policy makers have started a two-day meeting and many investors expect the central bank to indicate that it is moving closer to raising its key interest rate as the economy continues to strengthen. The Fed has held the rate close to zero for more than five years, which has helped the stock market surge.

Sears takes $400M loan from Lampert's hedge fund

NEW YORK -- Sears is taking out a $400 million secured short-term loan from a hedge fund run by CEO Edward Lampert.

The Hoffman Estates, Illinois, company, which runs Sears and Kmart stores, said in a regulatory filing that the loan is from entities affiliated with Lampert's ESL Investments Inc.

Lampert is Sears' biggest stockholder. He combined Sears and Kmart in 2005, about two years after he helped bring Kmart out of bankruptcy. But it has faced mounting pressure from rivals like Wal-Mart Stores.

The filing said that $200 million of the loan was funded on Monday and that another $200 million will be funded on Sept. 30.

Sears Holdings Corp. said that it plans to use the loan's proceeds for general corporate purposes.

The loan is set to mature on Dec. 31, but can be extended to Feb. 28, 2015.

Last month Sears reported a wider second-quarter loss compared with a year ago. Sears said it planned to do more cost cutting and close more stores than it previously announced to help turn the company around. It has also been reducing inventory and selling off assets to try to return to profitability.

Natural gas company seeks federal OK for pipeline

BOSTON -- An energy company is seeking federal approvals for a natural gas pipeline through northern Massachusetts that has already garnered significant local opposition.

Houston-based Kinder Morgan Inc. filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday.

The company is seeking to use the agency's "pre-filing procedures," a voluntary process that will help the firm identify and resolve environmental issues before a formal application is filed, Kinder Morgan spokesman Richard Wheatley said. He said the company, through its subsidiary Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co., would file detailed draft environmental reports that the public would be able to comment on.

Environmental activists said Tuesday that they intend to line up scientific and legal experts to challenge the proposal. They note that some state leaders have already voiced concerns about the idea.

"I'm curious to see how (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) can determine need for this pipeline while the state of Massachusetts is currently re-evaluating that very subject," said Rosemary Wessel of the group No Fracked Gas in Mass. The need "was based on a projection of trends that weren't based in reality."

Gov. Deval Patrick has said he remains skeptical about the Kinder Morgan proposal even as he generally supports the expansion of natural gas supply as a short-term solution to energy needs. U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey are among the Massachusetts politicians that have said they oppose the plan outright.

The proposed pipeline is part of a broader plan to bring more natural gas into the Northeast. Kinder Morgan says the overall project, which includes new pipeline through Pennsylvania and upstate New York, will cost as much as $6 billion, of which the Massachusetts section would represent about half the costs.

In Massachusetts, the plan calls for building some 177 miles of new pipeline — roughly 3 feet in diameter. The pipeline would begin around the town of Richmond, along the New York border, and run to the town of Dracut, along the New Hampshire border.

The company says the pipeline will help New England states meet a growing demand as they increasingly turn to natural gas for electricity. It says gas prices in New England are the highest in the nation because the region's gas infrastructure is inadequate.

"This project will add significant new pipeline capacity, alleviating the transportation constraint in the region and leading to lower natural gas over time," the company states in documents filed with federal regulators Monday.

If allowed to use the "pre-filing" process, Kinder Morgan says it intends to file a draft environmental report by Oct. 31 and to host about a dozen meetings in upstate New York and Massachusetts in November and December. The company hopes to file a formal project application with federal regulators by September 2015.

Cruise ship passengers bolster Portland's economy

PORTLAND, Maine -- City officials say the number of passengers scheduled to sail into Portland on cruise ships this year is up 15 percent over last year, providing a valuable boost to the area's economy.

About 82,000 passengers on 74 ships are expected this year. In 2013, 58 ships carried about 71,000 passengers to Portland. Eight ships bringing nearly 12,000 passengers are expected this week alone.

Those passengers shop in city store and eat in city restaurants.

City spokeswoman Jessica Grondin tells the Portland Press Herald (http://bit.ly/1qIp9il ) that taxes and berthing fees brought in $800,000 for the city last year.

The city says in 2012, the most recent year for which figures are available, the cruise ship industry was responsible for about $45 million in direct spending in Maine, and supported 801 jobs.

Oligarch buys Russia's most popular social media

MOSCOW -- A media company owned by Kremlin-friendly oligarch Alisher Usmanov has splashed out $1.5 billion to gain full control of Russia's most popular social network, VKontakte, bringing an end to a months-long dispute that saw the original investors sue each other in court.

London-listed Mail.Ru Group said in a statement Tuesday that it now owns the whole of VKontakte following its purchase of a 48 percent stake from investment fund United Capital Partners. Mail.Ru first invested in VKontakte in 2007 and since then has spent over $2.1 billion accumulating stock.

VKontakte is Russia's most popular social network and has over 270 million accounts.

Usmanov, who is reputed to be worth $18.6 billion, was named Russia's richest man by the Russian Forbes magazine earlier this year.

Mail.Ru's chief executive Dmitry Grishin lauded the deal, saying "the termination of all outstanding shareholder disputes will allow focus on the product and its further development."

VKontakte's original investors parted ways in 2013 when two of them sold their combined 48 percent to United Capital Partners. VKontakte's founder Pavel Durov accused his former partners of violating their previous agreement since they did not offer him or Mail.Ru an option to buy their shares.

Durov sold his 12 percent stake in January which later ended up in Mail.Ru's hands. He fled Russia shortly after that and claimed that he sold his shares under pressure as the Russian intelligence agency FSB was trying to get VKontakte to disclose personal data of the users of a group linked to the protest movement in Ukraine.

As part of the deal, all pending lawsuits have been dropped.

In a joint statement with Mail.Ru, Durov welcomed the decision of his former partners to drop their claims against his new project while he was dismissing his claims against them.

Mail.Ru soared 3 percent at the London Stock Exchange on the news of the acquisition on Tuesday.

Dozens of railcars derail from train in Arizona

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Crews are cleaning up after 39 railroad cars carrying empty freight containers derailed from a Union Pacific freight train in southern Arizona amid rain.

The derailment occurred Monday night near Picacho (pih-KAH'-cho) Peak, about 40 miles northwest of Tucson. Television news footage showed cars off the tracks.

The cause of the derailment isn't immediately known, but Union Pacific spokesman Mark Davis says the train crew reported shortly before the derailment that it was slowing the train because of rain.

The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning in the area late Monday evening.

Davis earlier said the 107-car train pulled by three engines was going from Houston to Los Angeles and that empty freight containers were the only cargo.

Davis says the derailment blocked both sets of tracks.

Jepsen raises privacy issues with new Apple watch

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen has raised concerns about the privacy protections with Apple's new Apple Watch.

Jepsen wrote to CEO Tim Cook on Monday asking about the recently introduced product's ability to store, collect and use consumers' health information.

He told The Associated Press Tuesday morning he's not seeking a confrontation with Apple, but wants to meet with executives to make clear his position on privacy issues.

Jepsen is asking Apple what information the Apple Watch will collect, how Apple will obtain consent to collect and share information and how Apple will review application privacy policies to make sure health information is safeguarded.

A representative of Apple did not immediately return a call Tuesday morning seeking comment.

Jepsen said following similar requests last year, Google required review and approval of third-party applications for Google Glass.

Flatow, 'Science Friday' settle claims over grant

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Federal prosecutors say the National Public Radio show "Science Friday" and host Ira Flatow have settled civil claims that they misused money from a nearly $1 million federal grant aimed at boosting the show's reach to younger listeners.

The settlement was announced Tuesday by Connecticut U.S. Attorney Deirdre Daly and Inspector General Allison Lerner of the National Science Foundation. "Science Friday" and Flatow didn't admit any wrongdoing in the settlement.

Flatow and the show will pay nearly $146,000 to resolve alleged violations of federal law. They also agreed to not participate in federal grant programs for one year.

Flatow says he did nothing wrong and settled because he could no longer afford the legal costs.

Authorities say grant money was used inappropriately for "unallowable and unsupported" costs, but didn't elaborate.

USDA: Nebraska winter wheat planting near average

LINCOLN, Neb. -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture says below-normal temperatures, rain in the east and light snow in western portions of Nebraska slowed field work last week.

The USDA said in a report released Monday that 26 percent of Nebraska's expected winter wheat crop had been planted, compared with the five-year average of 27 percent for the date.

Corn and soybean conditions rated 73 percent good or excellent. Pasture and range conditions rated 54 percent good or excellent.

US CEOs less optimistic about hiring, spending

By CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Optimism among chief executives at the largest U.S. companies fell in the July-September quarter after reaching a two-year high in the previous quarter.

The Business Roundtable said Tuesday that its CEO outlook index fell to 86.4 in the third quarter, down from 95.4 in the April-June period.

Fewer CEOs expect to hire in the next six months: Just 34 percent plan to add jobs, down from 43 percent. And only 39 percent plan to boost their capital spending, down from 44 percent.

Nearly three-quarters of the chief executives expect higher sales, the same as in the second quarter.

Randall Stephenson, CEO of AT&T Inc. and chairman of the Roundtable, blamed the decline of the index on Congress' failure to extend temporary tax breaks that encourage research and development and investment spending.

The survey was conducted from Aug. 11 to Aug. 29, and 135 of the Business Roundtable's 200 CEOs responded.

The index's fall "reflects a slow growth economy that ebbs and flows and stops and starts and is underperforming previous recoveries," Stephenson said. Overseas conflicts in the Ukraine and Middle East have also weighed on executives' optimism.

Chief executives were encouraged in the second quarter by the expectation that Congress would extend the tax breaks, Stephenson said. But now they are more hesitant about spending on machinery and other capital equipment because it is unclear whether Congress will be able to extend them before the end of the year.

Stephenson also said that a rash of U.S. companies moving offshore to avoid U.S. taxes through a process known as "inversion" has been prompted by the nation's relatively high corporate tax rate. Business groups have been pushing the Obama administration and Congress to cut the rate as part of broader corporate tax reform, though little progress has been made so far.

"To the extent that U.S. businesses anticipated meaningful tax reform, these inversions would taper off very rapidly," Stephenson said during a conference call with reporters.

Most economic data suggest the economy is growing, though only at a modest pace. Hiring slowed in August as employers added just 142,000 jobs, the fewest this year. The unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent from 6.2 percent.

The economy expanded at a 4.2 percent annual rate in the second quarter, a healthy rebound after it shrank 2.1 percent in the first three months. Still, most economists forecast that growth will be just 2 percent for all of this year.

Dallas-based Neiman Marcus buying mytheresa.com

DALLAS -- The Neiman Marcus Group has reached a deal to buy upscale German retailer mytheresa.com.

The Dallas-based luxury retailer on Monday announced the agreement with Christoph and Susanne Botschen and Acton Capital Partners.

No purchase price was released on the acquisition expected to close later this year.

The deal also includes Neiman Marcus acquiring the Theresa flagship luxury fashion store in Munich from the Botschen family.

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Online:

http://bit.ly/YOFE0A

http://bit.ly/1sgEa6j

Jury gives woman $15.8M in construction zone crash

PITTSBURGH -- A Connecticut construction company should pay a western Pennsylvania woman $15.8 million for injuries she suffered in a work zone crash a day before her daughter's wedding five years ago, a western Pennsylvania jury ruled.

A spokeswoman for Lane Construction Corp. of Cheshire, Connecticut, said the company hasn't decided whether to appeal Monday's verdict in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court.

Brenda Gump-Schragl, 56, sued claiming the Route 51 construction site was dangerous and that the company made no changes despite previous crashes along the construction zone in Pleasant Hills, a Pittsburgh suburb.

The woman was injured when her son, Daniel Gump, tried to turn left from the northbound lanes of the highway into a restaurant for his sister's rehearsal dinner on June 11, 2009. Their car was hit by a driver coming in the other direction who didn't see the Gump vehicle because of traffic backed up in a southbound turning lane.

Gump-Schragl was in a coma for five weeks, has no short-term memory, and relies on a walker due to her injuries. Her daughter's marriage was postponed for a year due to the crash.

Claims against the other driver and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation were previously settled.

The jury found the other driver 42 percent responsible for the crash and PennDOT 40 percent responsible. Although Lane Construction was deemed only 18 percent responsible, under Pennsylvania law the company is liable for the entire damage verdict because the other defendants had already settled.

The company's attorney, Mark McKenna, had argued at trial that the contractor didn't have the authority to change the traffic control plan designed by PennDOT.

Dutch ease off austerity, will spend on military

AMSTERDAM -- The Dutch government is presenting a budget for 2015 that for the first time in years will be focused less on 'austerity' and more on security in light of international conflicts.

In a day full of pomp and ceremony, King Willem Alexander will ride in a golden carriage to address both houses of parliament in the ceremonial 13th century "Hall of Knights" in The Hague.

The budget numbers are expected to show more money for both defense and intelligence agencies, with the downing of Malaysian Airlines 17 above Eastern Ukraine looming large in the Dutch psyche, along with fears about Dutch jihadists returning from Syria.

The Dutch economy is slowly recovering, mostly due to strong exports, after years of difficulty due to spending cuts and a burst housing bubble.

NY probes short-term, high-interest secured loans

ALBANY, N.Y. -- New York regulators have begun investigating short-term, high-interest loans secured by borrowers' homes or other real estate to determine if they violate state laws against predatory lending.

The Department of Financial Services says Tuesday it has issued subpoenas for information from nine companies involved in so-called "hard money lending."

Under the deals, a borrower's ability to repay typically is unexamined and loans may be structured with an expectation of foreclosing on property.

Superintendent Ben Lawsky says such "loan to own" schemes are unconscionable.

Regulators are investigating whether the companies intentionally set onerous terms with high interest rates, large upfront fees and big balloon payments.

They are also examining complaints some borrowers are required to sign deeds when obtaining loans, permitting lenders to take property when one payment is missed.

Russian ruble drops to historic low amid sanctions

MOSCOW -- Russia's currency dropped to an all-time low against the dollar on Tuesday as investors fret about the fallout of economic sanctions.

The United States and the European Union last week imposed a new round of sanctions against Russia for its actions in Ukraine that consisted in, among other things, blocking off Western financial markets to key Russian companies and limiting imports of some technologies.

The Russian currency fell more than 1 percent to 38.80 rubles against the U.S. dollar by noon Moscow time Tuesday. The ruble has lost over 2.7 percent in just two days.

Economist Alexei Kudrin, who served as finance minister under President Vladimir Putin for 11 years until 2011, said Tuesday that the sanctions could send Russia's economy into recession for one or two years. Russia would not return to high growth again unless it implements much-needed reforms, he warned in comments carried by Russian news agencies.

"The sanctions that have been imposed are going to have an effect (on the economy) for the next one or two years because they have limited opportunities for investment in this uncertain environment," Interfax quoted him as saying.

Among the most recent sanctions, the United States on Friday tightened the maximum credit duration for a number state-owned Russian companies and banks to 30 days, effectively shutting off Russia from long-term loans. The U.S. and the EU indicated, however, they may reverse some of the sanctions if they see that Moscow is supporting peace process in Ukraine, where more than 3,000 died since mid-April.

Jitters over the impact of U.S. and EU sanctions were fueled by reports that the Russian government is preparing more import bans, which could ultimately hurt Russian consumer spending.

Russia in August imposed an import ban on dairy products, meat and vegetables from the European Union and the United States, causing price hikes for selected foodstuffs.

Russia saw investors pull a whopping $61 billion in capital out of the country last year, largely due to concerns over the investment climate. The money has been flowing out of Russian even faster this year, with market watchers like Kudrin now predicting about $110 billion could be withdrawn by the end of the year.

Social Security resumes mailing benefit statements

WASHINGTON -- The Social Security Administration has resumed mailing statements to workers letting them know the estimated benefits they will get when they retire, the agency announced Tuesday.

Social Security began phasing out mailed statements to most workers in 2011 to save an estimated $70 million a year. Instead, the agency directed workers to track their future benefits online using a secure website.

Congress, however, passed a bill last year requiring Social Security to resume mailing the statements.

The agency said Tuesday that many workers will now start receiving paper statements in the mail every five years, starting a few months before their 25th birthday. Once workers reach 60 they will get them every year.

The first statements were mailed out Monday.

"We have listened to our customers, advocates and Congress," acting Social Security Commissioner Carolyn Colvin said in a statement. "Renewing the mailing of the statement reinforces our commitment to provide the public with an easy, efficient way to obtain an estimate of their future Social Security benefits."

Social Security retirement benefits are based on the wages workers earn throughout their lives. The statements include a history of taxable earnings and payroll taxes for each year so people can check for mistakes. They also provide estimates of monthly benefits, based on current earnings and when a worker plans to retire.

Workers can claim reduced retirement benefits starting at age 62. Full benefits are available at age 66, a threshold that is gradually increasing to 67 for people born in 1960 or later.

Workers can get higher benefits if they wait until they turn 70 to start receiving them.

The agency expects to mail out nearly 48 million statements a year. For this year, Social Security estimates it will spend about $23 million mailing the statements.

Colvin urged workers to sign up for online accounts so they can review their future benefits at any time. People who sign up for the "My Social Security" online service will not receive statements in the mail.

The agency said about 14 million people have established online accounts at http://1.usa.gov/XcLTKb .

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Online:

My Social Security account sign up: http://1.usa.gov/1t7dXeC

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Dempsey Says If Needed He Would Recommend Ground Forces In Iraq

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Members of the anti-war activist group CodePink interrupt a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, left, and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Hagel and Dempsey testified about U.S. plans to combat ISIS. J. Scott Applewhite/AP hide caption

itoggle caption J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Members of the anti-war activist group CodePink interrupt a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, left, and Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Hagel and Dempsey testified about U.S. plans to combat ISIS.

J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey told lawmakers today that while the president has ruled out "boots on the ground" as part of a campaign to destroy the Islamic State insurgency in Iraq that he was prepared to recommend a combat role for U.S. advisers or ground troops if the situation warrants.

"To be clear, if we reach the point where I believe our advisers should accompany Iraqi troops on attacks against specific ISIL targets, I will recommend that to the president," Dempsey told the Senate Armed Services Committee, using an alternative name for the group.

In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Dempsey and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel outlined the White House plan to "degrade and ultimately destroy" the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

Pressed on the question of a direct combat role for U.S. forces on the ground, Dempsey said if he felt it was necessary, he "would go back to the president and make a recommendation that may include the use of ground forces."

But, he added, that he had not seen a situation as yet that would meet that threshold.

Asked whether he agreed with the broad strategy the White House has outlined, Dempsey said he did.

"Is in my judgment that it is the correct approach," he said.

"This will not look like 'shock and awe' because that is not how ISIL is organized. But it will be persistent and sustainable," Dempsey said, referring to the airstrikes that preceded the ground invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Dempsey said the U.S. was prepared to conduct airstrikes inside Syria if necessary.

In answer to a question from committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) as to whether the 5,000 or so moderate Syrian rebels that the administration hopes to train to fight the Islamic State would be enough, Hagel said: "Five thousand is a beginning, Mr. Chairman. This is part of the reason that this effort is a long-term issue."

Hagel sought to allay concerns about U.S. weapons falling into the hands of extremists, such as the Islamic State. He said the U.S. would "monitor closely" to ensure they don't.

"There will always be risk in a program like this, but we believe that risk is justified by the imperative of destroying ISIL — and the necessity of having capable partners on the ground in Syria," the defense secretary said.

In one tense exchange, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) asked whether the U.S. would be prepared to use air power in support of the moderate Free Syrian Army rebels if they were attacked by the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"Our focus is on ISIL and that is the threat to our country," Hagel responded.

Pressed, Hagel said the rebels would "defend themselves" and that the U.S. would "help them."

McCain appeared unsatisfied with the answer and when he turned to Dempsey, got a similar reply.

The Arizona senator and former GOP presidential nominee concluded that the administration's failure to anticipate such a possibility was "a fundamental fallacy in everything you are presenting to this committee today."

Like It Or Not, Scotland's Drama May Hit Your Wallet

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The Saltire, the flag of Scotland, flies near the Union Jack in Gretna in Scotland. Some economists say Thursday's vote on Scotland's independence could have wide-ranging economic impacts. Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images

The Saltire, the flag of Scotland, flies near the Union Jack in Gretna in Scotland. Some economists say Thursday's vote on Scotland's independence could have wide-ranging economic impacts.

Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images

Does news of Scotland's independence vote make your eyelids feel heavy?

Americans may feel a yawn coming on when told of a political squabble playing out in a distant land less populated than metro Atlanta.

But economists say this Thursday's vote is no snoozer. You may wake up to find its outcome has triggered another global financial upheaval.

To understand the risks to your economic health, let's first review a couple of basics:

England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland make up the United Kingdom. Scotland has its own legal system and lots of political autonomy, but the British government in London controls taxes, defense, international relations and more.

Now Scots will vote on whether to continue that very close relationship. The Scottish National Party is pushing for independence by early 2016.

The independence movement has the support of some of Scotland's business leaders. For example, manufacturing entrepreneur Ivan McKee says that if his country were to go it alone, it could cut corporate taxes, lower aviation taxes and "export Brand Scotland around the world."

But opponents say that after three centuries of doing business as part of the U.K., the economic downsides of a breakup would be enormous. For example, both the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Bank promise to move their headquarters to London if Scotland were to exit the U.K. And it's unclear whether Scotland would be able to keep using the British pound and automatically remain a member of the European Union.

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Will Scotland Vote To Cut The Cord?

The Two-Way

Cameron And The Queen Speak Out On Scotland's Independence Vote

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Scotland's Independence Vote And The Fate Of Britain's Nuclear Subs

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In Shetland, Oil Shapes Debate Over Scottish Independence

Deutsche Bank says the swirl of uncertainty could "easily derail the U.K. economic recovery."

Here's the part where it could matter to American wallets:

If Scotland were to leave the U.K., many analysts fear it ultimately could destabilize the European Union, an economic and political union established among 28 countries. The EU, with the United Kingdom embedded inside it, is a key U.S. economic partner, buying nearly a half-trillion dollars' worth of U.S. exports each year.

President Obama wants to keep Scotland tucked safely inside the U.K., saying the United States has "a deep interest in making sure that one of the closest allies we will ever have remains a strong, robust, united and effective partner."

Nile Gardiner, a foreign affairs analyst with the conservative Heritage Foundation, agrees with Obama, saying Scottish independence could trigger "significant turmoil" on Wall Street.

"Fears over the economic fallout from Scotland breaking off from the U.K. will spook U.S. markets, frighten investors, and add to an air of uncertainty exacerbated in recent months by Russia's invasion of Ukraine," Gardiner wrote in an assessment.

Most economists say that growth — no matter in what region of the world — is enhanced by having a single, large trading space where people and goods and capital can flow freely. The United States has a gigantic free-trade zone, from Maine to Hawaii, and from Canada down through Mexico under NAFTA.

And thanks to the EU's common market, Europeans enjoy a similar immense space stretching from the U.K. to Italy to Poland, making trade there much more efficient.

Opponents of Scotland's independence fear a YES vote would give rise to a nationalistic fever that could weaken the EU.

Already, many British political leaders are pushing for a referendum by 2017 to decide whether the U.K. will remain in the EU. And just last week, hundreds of thousands of voters in the Catalan region of Spain held a secessionist demonstration, demanding a breakaway. Flemish nationalists want out of Belgium, and so on.

"Separatist movements across Europe would gain encouragement from Scotland's bold move, which could inject further uncertainty into Europe's already fragmenting political landscape," Desmond Lachman, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote in an assessment.

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A branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland is in Edinburgh. The Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Bank promise to move their headquarters to London if Scotland were to exit the U.K. Matt Cardy/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Matt Cardy/Getty Images

A branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland is in Edinburgh. The Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Bank promise to move their headquarters to London if Scotland were to exit the U.K.

Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Under that scenario, the EU, stitched together by treaties signed over decades, could fray and fall apart. It would become much harder for U.S. business interests, from General Electric to California almond growers, to work with an ever-widening collection of small European countries with varying trade rules.

Despite economists' warnings, the independence movement has considerable strength. Supporters have made a video calling for decisions to be made "by the people who care the most about Scotland — the people who live here."

Polls results are mixed, leaving Thursday's outcome a tossup.

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UPS expects to hire up to 95,000 seasonal workers

ATLANTA -- UPS plans to hire up to 95,000 seasonal workers to help with package deliveries during the busy holiday season.

The Atlanta company said Tuesday that the positions will include package sorters, loaders, delivery helpers and drivers.

Since last year's holiday season, UPS has implemented several measures to help prepare for this year's onslaught of deliveries. This includes making improvements to schedule planning, installing temporary mobile sorting and delivery centers and adding thousands of new or leased delivery vehicles, trailers, aircraft and portable loading aids. It's also adding operating days and shifts.

Last year, a last-minute surge in holiday shipments drove up the shipper's costs and hurt its profits.

United Parcel Service Inc. said that the seasonal jobs have long served as an entry point for permanent employment.

Dallas-based Neiman Marcus buying mytheresa.com

DALLAS -- The Neiman Marcus Group has reached a deal to buy upscale German retailer mytheresa.com.

The Dallas-based luxury retailer on Monday announced the agreement with Christoph and Susanne Botschen and Acton Capital Partners.

No purchase price was released on the acquisition expected to close later this year.

The deal also includes Neiman Marcus acquiring the Theresa flagship luxury fashion store in Munich from the Botschen family.

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Online:

http://bit.ly/YOFE0A

http://bit.ly/1sgEa6j

Indiana reports increase in 2013 workplace deaths

INDIANAPOLIS -- State officials say the number of workplace deaths in Indiana was up in 2013, but it was still the third-lowest number of fatalities recorded in the past 22 years.

The Indiana Department of Labor reports the state had 123 worker deaths last year. That's up from the record low of 115 reported in 2012. The high came in 1994 when the state had 195 deaths.

The Labor Department reports 58 fatalities last year resulted from transportation-related incidents with 32 of those happening on roadways motorized vehicles. Deaths in Indiana's construction industry decreased 32 percent from 22 in 2012 to 15 during 2013.

The preliminary review of 2013 workplace fatalities shows the No. 1 cause of worker fatalities in Indiana was vehicle crashes.

Sears takes $400M loan from Lampert's hedge fund

NEW YORK -- Sears is taking out a $400 million secured short-term loan from a hedge fund run by CEO Edward Lampert.

The Hoffman Estates, Illinois, company, which runs Sears and Kmart stores, said in a regulatory filing that the loan is from entities affiliated with Lampert's ESL Investments Inc.

Lampert is Sears' biggest stockholder. He combined Sears and Kmart in 2005, about two years after he helped bring Kmart out of bankruptcy. But it has faced mounting pressure from rivals like Wal-Mart Stores.

The filing said that $200 million of the loan was funded on Monday and that another $200 million will be funded on Sept. 30.

Sears Holdings Corp. said that it plans to use the loan's proceeds for general corporate purposes.

The loan is set to mature on Dec. 31, but can be extended to Feb. 28, 2015.

Last month Sears reported a wider second-quarter loss compared with a year ago. Sears said it planned to do more cost cutting and close more stores than it previously announced to help turn the company around. It has also been reducing inventory and selling off assets to try to return to profitability.

Cruise ship passengers bolster Portland's economy

PORTLAND, Maine -- City officials say the number of passengers scheduled to sail into Portland on cruise ships this year is up 15 percent over last year, providing a valuable boost to the area's economy.

About 82,000 passengers on 74 ships are expected this year. In 2013, 58 ships carried about 71,000 passengers to Portland. Eight ships bringing nearly 12,000 passengers are expected this week alone.

Those passengers shop in city store and eat in city restaurants.

City spokeswoman Jessica Grondin tells the Portland Press Herald (http://bit.ly/1qIp9il ) that taxes and berthing fees brought in $800,000 for the city last year.

The city says in 2012, the most recent year for which figures are available, the cruise ship industry was responsible for about $45 million in direct spending in Maine, and supported 801 jobs.

Ukraine, Scotland dent German investor optimism

FRANKFURT, Germany -- A key measure of German investor optimism fell in September for the ninth month in a row, dragged down by worries over the crisis in Ukraine, economic stagnation in Europe and the upcoming independence referendum in Scotland.

The reading sends a negative signal about Europe's biggest economy as it tries to rebound from a quarter of shrinking output.

The ZEW institute said Tuesday its indicator of economic sentiment fell to 6.9 points from 8.6 points the month before. The drop was smaller than expected — market analysts had foreseen a drop to 5.0 points — but extends a prolonged decline.

ZEW head Clemens Fuest said the downward trend has slowed significantly but that "the economic climate is still characterized by great uncertainty."

The German economy shrank by 0.2 percent in the second quarter. An unusually warm winter led to early construction starts, pulling some growth ahead into the first quarter. But the major factor appears to have been fear that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine could escalate.

European Union and U.S. sanctions against Russian for its involvement in the fighting in Ukraine have raised fears of further retaliatory trade restrictions that will weigh on growth. Meanwhile, the impact of a "yes" vote Thursday for Scottish independence is difficult to assess.

And though domestic demand in Germany remains strong and unemployment is low, the European economy, where German companies do much of their business, is dead in the water. It did not grow at all in the second quarter and expectations for growth the rest of the year are dropping.

Analyst Carsten Brzeski at ING wrote in a note to investors that the ZEW reading "just sent more signs of caution, showing that at least financial market participants are quickly losing confidence in the German growth story. "

The ZEW index remains below its long-term average of 24.6 points. It was based on a survey of 234 investment analysts conducted Sept. 1-15.

Humana board OKs $2 billion in share repurchases

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Humana's board of directors has replaced the health insurer's share buyback plan with a bigger authorization for $2 billion in repurchases.

The Louisville, Kentucky, company said Tuesday that the new authorization expires Dec. 31, 2016. It replaces a $1 billion buyback plan, of which about $782 million was outstanding after the insurer bought back $118 million in shares in the third quarter.

The company said it will buy back shares from time to time on the open market or in privately negotiated deals.

Companies often say share repurchases help shareholders, because theoretically they cut down on the total number of shares and thus boost earnings per share. But critics say that repurchases don't usually lower the number of shares outstanding because companies can turn around and issue more shares to pay employees. They also crimp companies' spending on new infrastructure or hiring.

Shares of Humana Inc. have climbed 24 percent so far this year, as of Monday. They reached an all-time high price of $134.93 in July, according to FactSet.

Adwan meets Berri, supports urgent legislation

BEIRUT: The Lebanese forces supports passing urgent draft laws in Parliament, party MP George Adwan said Tuesday after meeting with Speaker Nabih Berri.

“In light of talk about legislation in Parliament, particularly about sensitive issues, we are with passing urgent bills,” Adwan told reporters from Ain al-Tineh.

“We were against legislation under intimidation and today there is no more intimidation,” he said, adding that the salary scale and Eurobond draft laws required speedy passing.

“We hope legislative sessions will be held to approve urgent bills."

Lebanon has been without a head of state since former President Michel Sleiman’s term ended in May with lawmakers unable to elect a successor.

The presidential stalemate has paralyzed Parliament’s role and is threatening to cripple the government’s work.

March 14 lawmakers have refused to attend any parliamentary legislative sessions amid the presidential vacuum, arguing that priority should be given to the election of a president.

Similarly, lawmakers from MP Michel Aoun’s Change and Reform bloc, Hezbollah’s bloc and its March 8 allies have thwarted a quorum by consistently boycotting Parliament sessions, demanding an agreement beforehand with their March 14 rivals over a consensus candidate.

In an attempt to break the presidential impasse, the March 14 coalition offered on Sept. 2 to strike a deal with its March 8 rivals on a consensus candidate. However, the March 14 initiative was swiftly scorned by Aoun’s bloc as an “old and meaningless initiative,” while Berri said it offered nothing new.

Adwan underlined the significance of the March 14 initiative “which talks about the need for convergence in light of what Lebanon is passing through.”

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How To Measure Success Against The New Monster In The Middle East?

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President Obama addresses the nation from the Cross Hall in the White House on Sept. 10. Obama ordered the United States into a broad military campaign to degrade and ultimately destroy militants in two volatile Middle East nations, authorizing airstrikes inside Syria for the first time, as well as an expansion of strikes in Iraq. Saul Loeb/AP hide caption

itoggle caption Saul Loeb/AP

President Obama addresses the nation from the Cross Hall in the White House on Sept. 10. Obama ordered the United States into a broad military campaign to degrade and ultimately destroy militants in two volatile Middle East nations, authorizing airstrikes inside Syria for the first time, as well as an expansion of strikes in Iraq.

Saul Loeb/AP

Over the weekend, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough was asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" what victory would look like in the new struggle against Islamist extremists in Iraq.

"Success looks like an ISIL that no longer threatens our friends in the region, that no longer threatens the United States," McDonough said.

Vague as that is, it may be the best answer available at the moment. And that is a problem.

The U.S. is undertaking another a major, if primarily aerial, combat role in another Middle East conflict. This is happening because a new monster has emerged there, threatening to destabilize the never-too-stable region in worse ways than we have seen to date.

But most Americans are far from clear as to what this "ISIL" monster is, other than a few shadowy, portentous figures on disturbing videotapes.

This new monster is a murky creature, even in its naming. It calls itself the Islamic State, but is also referred to by the acronym ISIL (for Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) or ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria).

The group is also hard to pin down in size, as some say it has tens of thousands of active fighters and others say fewer than 20,000. As for origins, the group sprang from the Syrian civil war and spilled over much of Iraq. Its fighters come mostly from these two countries but there are also significant numbers from other Sunni Muslim states, and recruits from Muslim communities as far away as Michigan.

The aims of this new terror champion, as it relates to the U.S., are similarly unclear. We hear again that they will re-establish the Sunni caliphate that transcends the modern borders of several Middle Eastern countries. This was a theme of President George W. Bush's administration when it was urging the U.S. to fight al-Qaida more than a decade ago, and indeed the old al-Qaida in Iraq was one of the antecedents of the current ISIS thrust.

But for most Americans, the Bush wars of a decade ago were really about avenging the terrorist attacks al-Qaida had perpetrated on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001. It started with a fight against al-Qaida and its host regime the Taliban in Afghanistan. But much of the national anger over 9-11 was soon diverted by the White House to the bête noir of an earlier decade, the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

That was a natural target for the second President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney and their inner circle of advisors because they had been through the first Persian Gulf war with Iraq under the first President Bush in 1990-1991.

The first Persian Gulf war began when Saddam invaded and annexed neighboring Kuwait. It occasioned a high-minded and substantive debate in Congress preceding votes in House and Senate to support the war.

In the end, that engagement was one-sided and quickly over. It humbled Saddam but left him in power in Baghdad and frustrated the warriors in Washington who saw the al-Qaida provocation in 2001 as the opportunity to settle accounts in Iraq once and for all — even without proving any connection between him and 9-11.

In pursuing these fights, the administration and Congress and the country had fairly clear notions of what it was looking to accomplish. They may have been delusions, but they were clear to us at the time. We expected to see al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden taken "dead or alive," as even the president said at the time. And we expected to see Saddam overthrown and either jailed or executed.

We had our highly defined and visible villains, and we demonized them as latter-day Hitlers.

So it took years to find and kill bin Laden. And it took many months to arrest, try and execute Saddam. But these symbolic victories were achieved – after a fashion.

Our other clear goal was to see democratically elected governments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Standing up such regimes in Kabul and Baghdad has proven far more difficult. Depending on your definition of democracy, you might well say it has not happened yet in either nation. But surely there has been tremendous effort toward these goals.

What will be the goals of the fight against ISIS? At this point, we know only that we want to stop the beheading of Western journalists and aid workers. The videotaped evidence of these barbarities has been the goad to the latest American re-commitment to fighting in Iraq.

Just prior to that, the U.S. had recommenced air strikes in northern Iraq to protect a population of Yazidis – a religious minority driven from their homes by ISIS. Here again, our involvement was driven largely by the TV images of the Yazidi provided by CNN and other Western cameras.

When ISIS moved on, the Yazidi vanished from the screen and the Western consciousness. Will that happen if the decapitation videos stop?

In the weeks ahead we can expect to see much videotape of F-16s leaving the decks of aircraft carriers and surveillance video of targets being "degraded and destroyed." But how will we know if the same is happening to ISIS? Is this movement a collection of all-terrain vehicles carrying heavy machine guns or is it something more?

If this is a war provoked by hideous images that disturb us deeply, how will that damage be repaired and cause of civilization preserved?