Weathuer

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
Mercer is facing a $2.8 billion lawsuit by the Alaska Retirement Management Board that alleges the human resources consulting firm made a number of errors in its work as the state's actuarial consultant, according to a New York Times column published on Sunday.

The columnist, Gretchen Morgenson, writes that the Alaskan state agency has accused Mercer of making "multiple errors" when it came to figuring the amount that should be set aside for health care and pension benefits.

The agency has also alleged that company executives knew of the errors and covered them up, Morgenson reported.

Mercer, a division of Marsh & McLennan Companies Inc (MMC.N), could be on the hook for punitive as well as treble damages if the agency wins the case, the column says.

Morgenson reports that according to Marsh's most recent quarterly filing, it has not "recorded a liability related to the Alaska case because it cannot determine 'that a loss is both probable and reasonably estimable.'"

According to the column, Mercer said in a statement that its error and its failure to disclose it was "a mistake in judgment that Mercer regrets and it is not consistent with the company's corporate culture."

Mercer's lawyers have argued that it did no "compensable harm" or damage to Alaska's retirement systems, according to the column.

The judge overseeing the case has ordered a trial to be held in Juneau next July.

(Reporting by Paul Thomasch)

JERUSALEM – Israeli authorities could soon use special commando units, unmanned spy planes and cellphone-jamming equipment to enforce a moratorium on new settlement construction in the West Bank, military officials said Sunday, deepening a showdown between the government and Jewish settlers.
Enraged settlers leaders vowed to resist the plan, prompting Defense Minister Ehud Barak to warn that settlers would face the full wrath of the military if they continue to flout the 10-month construction slowdown.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the settlement slowdown last month in an attempt to restart peace talks with the Palestinians. But the Palestinians have rejected the plan because it allows for construction to proceed in 3,000 settlement homes already under construction in the West Bank and does not affect east Jerusalem, which Palestinians hope will be their capital.
Nonetheless, settlers have repeatedly blocked inspectors and security forces trying to enter their communities to enforce the order. The resistance has grown increasingly violent.
The issue of settlements on lands the Palestinians claim for a future state is a key sticking point in Mideast peace efforts, with the Palestinians demanding a halt to all settlement construction as a condition for returning to peace talks. U.S. President Barack Obama made a similar demand shortly after taking office, but has since adopted a softer stance.
The military plan calls for the deployment of unmanned spy drones to photograph illegal construction, and would create closed military zones to keep out protesters and reporters during demolitions of illegal buildings, according to a military memo leaked to Israeli media and confirmed by The Associated Press. The document said various units of the military would be used, including special forces, military police and even communication specialists to jam settler cell phone frequencies.
The enforcement plan was drafted by the military's central command and most likely leaked by settler sympathizers within the army, according to military officials speaking on condition of anonymity because they were discussing internal orders not meant for public consumption.
Those same officials confirmed the plan to The Associated Press, though the army later said the plan was only a "first draft" for potential action.
The leak itself points to a growing concern among Israeli officials relating to insubordination. A number of nationalist soldiers have refused to obey orders to act against settlers. The government has jailed defiant servicemen, issued stern warnings to rebellious rabbis and expelled one pro-settler seminary from a program combining religious study and military service.
It's also possible the authorities wanted the plan to be known, as it might help the government portray itself as willing to confront domestic opposition for the sake of peace.
"All that is required of the settlers and their leaders is to carry out the government's decision regarding freezing new construction in the West Bank for this defined period and that will prevent the use of force and friction with the defense forces," Barak said at a political meeting.
Settler leaders feel betrayed by Netanyahu, a former longtime ally.
"Using special forces, jamming cell phones and banning journalists from the area is what you do when you are fighting an enemy," settler leader Dani Dayan told Israel's Army Radio.
Settlers have frequently scuffled with government inspectors sent to enforce the building moratorium. A week ago, a female Israeli police officer was beaten by settlers opposing the ban.
"We will protect the houses with our bodies if they come to destroy them," Arieh Eldad, a lawmaker from the hardline National Union party, told Israel Radio.
About 300,000 settlers live in the West Bank, in addition to 180,000 Jewish Israelis living in east Jerusalem.

Dog Supplements

The dog (Canis lupus familiaris, pronounced /ˈkeɪ.nis ˈluːpəs fʌˈmɪliɛəris/) is a domesticated subspecies of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The domestic dog has been one of the most widely kept working and companion animals in human history. The domestication of the gray wolf took place in a handful of events roughly 15,000 years ago in central Asia. The dog quickly became ubiquitous across culture in all parts of the world, and was extremely valuable to early human settlements. For instance, it is believed that the successful emigration across the Bering Strait might not have been possible without sled dogs. As a result of the domestication process, the dog developed a sophisticated intelligence that includes unparalleled social cognition and a simple theory of mind[citation needed] that is important to their interaction with humans. These social skills have helped the dog to perform in myriad roles, such as hunting, herding, protection, and, more recently, assisting handicapped individuals. Currently, there are estimated to be 400 million dogs in the world.

Over the 15,000 year span that the dog had been domesticated, it diverged into only a handful of landraces, groups of similar animals whose morphology and behavior have been shaped by environmental factors and functional roles. As the modern understanding of genetics developed, humans began to intentionally breed dogs for a wide range of specific traits. Through this process, the dog has developed into hundreds of varied breeds, and shows more behavioral and morphological variation than any other land mammal. For example, height measured to the withers ranges from a few inches in the Chihuahua to a few feet in the Irish Wolfhound; color varies from white through grays (usually called "blue'") to black, and browns from light (tan) to dark ("red" or "chocolate") in a wide variation of patterns; coats can be short or long, coarse-haired to wool-like, straight, curly, or smooth. It is common for most breeds to shed this coat, but non-shedding breeds are also popular.

A cabinet is usually a box-shaped furniture, either standing alone as a piece of furniture or built into or attached to a wall (such as a medicine cabinet) typically made of wood but now often made of synthetic materials, and used for storage of miscellaneous items.

Cabinets usually have one or more doors on the front that are mounted with door hardware and occasionally a lock; they may also contain drawers. Short cabinets often have a finished surface on top that can be used for display, or as a working surface such as the countertops found in kitchens.

Granite Pulls

Kites can be used to pull people and vehicles downwind. Efficient foil-type kites such as power kites can also be used to sail upwind under the same principles as used by other sailing craft, provided that lateral forces on the ground or in the water are redirected as with the keels, center boards, wheels and ice blades of traditional sailing craft. In the last two decades several kite sailing sports have become popular, such as kite buggying, kite landboarding and kite surfing. Snow kiting has also become popular in recent years.

Kite festivals are a popular form of entertainment throughout the world. They include small local events, traditional festivals which have been held for hundreds of years and major international festivals which bring in kite flyers from overseas to display their unique art kites and demonstrate the latest technical kites.

Kites

DUBAI (Reuters) –
Gulf markets dropped again on Tuesday, taking little comfort from Dubai World's plan to restructure about $26 billion of debt, while the rulers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai talked up their economic strength.

Dubai stocks fell a further 3.6 percent and the Abu Dhabi bourse lost 5.6 percent on their second trading day since Dubai last week asked creditors of Dubai World and its property arm Nakheel for a six-month delay on debt repayments. Qatar's bourse was also more than 8 percent lower.

State-controlled Dubai World, which led the emirate's transformation into a regional hub for finance, investment and tourism, unveiled details late on Monday of its plan covering $26 billion of debt owed by its main property firms, Nakheel and Limitless.

Global markets took a pounding when the Dubai news broke last week, though on Tuesday Asian and European stocks were up, following the lead from Wall Street overnight.

Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, who is also the United Arab Emirates' vice president, prime minister and defense minister, said the global reaction had shown "a lack of understanding."

"We are strong and persistent," he told reporters.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan, president of the UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi, said the UAE economy was showing signs of growth in the fourth quarter.

Dubai's troubles could shift political power in the UAE, a seven-emirate federation celebrating 38 years of independence on Wednesday, toward oil-producing Abu Dhabi and away from its exuberant neighbor.

The Dubai World group, whose total liabilities are estimated at nearly $60 billion, said the restructuring would exclude "financially stable" units such as Infinity World Holding, Istithmar World and Ports & Free Zone World, which includes DP World, Economic Zones World, P&O Ferries and Jebel Ali Free Zone.

Dubai World would look at options for cutting its debt, including asset sales, it added.

In London, ratings agency Moody's said it estimated the Dubai government and its related entities carried $100 billion of debt, above the market estimate of around $80 billion.

Moody's also said ports operator DP World and Jebel Ali Free Zone had approximately $10 billion in debt.

HIGH-YIELD MARKET

"Dubai's corporate landscape is now effectively a high-yield market," said Philip Lotter, senior vice president of EMEA corporate finance group at the ratings agency.

Mardig Haladjian, general manager of Moody's EMEA banking group, said possible multiple defaults related to Dubai World's restructuring could hit the credit ratings of UAE banks, but not those of international banks exposed to the group.

In a sign that concern among local banks was subsiding, however, UAE interbank offered rates eased, with the 3-month rate falling to 1.90500 percent from Monday's 1.94125 percent fix.

And the cost of insuring Dubai debt against restructuring or default fell, with its five-year credit default swaps dropping to 526 basis points from Monday's close of 570, according to CMA Datavision. It stood around 300 basis points before last week.

Jebel Ali Free Zone, a unit of Dubai World which is not part of the restructuring, said it had made a coupon payment on Monday on its 7.5 billion dirham ($2 billion) Islamic bond.

Dubai World's restructuring plan appeared to calm global fears of contagion and reassured some investors in the region.

"This is definitely good news, it shows they are still committed to their payments, and it removes all fears that this is a complete default," said Hassaim Arabi, chief executive at Gulfmena Alternative Investments.

A Dubai-based strategist said the plan was a positive step because it disclosed the scale of the problem. "But the main concern remains unchanged. What is the outcome of those negotiations with regard to the Nakheel problem?" he asked.

The Abu Dhabi market had plunged 8.3 percent on Monday, its worst one-day drop on record, while Dubai's fell 7.3 percent, its biggest in more than a year.

(Additional reporting by Enjy Kiwan, Amran Abocar, Inal Ersan, John Irish in Dubai and Carolyn Cohn in London; Writing by Alistair Lyon, editing by Will Waterman)

LAS VEGAS – Barry Manilow says a good love song never goes out of style, so he's keeping things romantic as he moves to the Las Vegas Strip for a new show opening March 5.
Manilow says he's starting from scratch on the new show at the Paris Las Vegas hotel-casino and making it as romantic and beautiful as possible.
The 63-year-old "Mandy" and "Copacabana" crooner says the romantic world of Paris fits with his latest album of love songs debuting Jan. 26.
"The Greatest Love Songs of All Time" includes 15 classic love songs, including "Fools Rush In" and "How Deep Is the Ocean."
Manilow says young people seem to be getting angrier in songwriting and performing, but audiences still appreciate good love songs.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Charlie Weis arrived at Notre Dame flashing Super Bowls rings and talking about outscheming opponents. He leaves one of college football's most prestigious programs without even matching the record of the two men who were fired before him.
Athletic director Jack Swarbrick announced the decision to fire Weis on Monday.
"For many of you who may have thought that was a foregone conclusion, I would say to you that the decision was harder than you might have thought, principally because of the man it involved," Swarbrick said during a news conference on campus.
Swarbrick said there was a huge gulf between the coach's brash image and personal style. But he still recommended to the Rev. John Jenkins, Notre Dame's president, on Sunday night that Weis be let go with six years left on his contract. Weis finishes with a 35-27 record in five seasons, among the worst of any Fighting Irish coach.
"He will go on to have great success. He'll add some Super Bowl rings to the ones he already has as a successful coordinator in the NFL and we will miss him," Swarbrick said. "But for us it's time to move forward. It's time to move forward because it is critical to this program and to its place in the university and college football that we compete at the highest level. That we compete for national championships."
Assistant head coach Rob Ianello will step in for Weis until a new coach is hired.
The Fighting Irish (6-6) are eligible to play in a bowl game, but Swarbrick has said he wants to hear from the players before deciding if Notre Dame will go to a minor postseason game.
Following a 6-2 start this season, Notre Dame began a winless November with the second upset by Navy in three years. Then came losses to Pittsburgh and to Connecticut in double overtime on senior day in South Bend. By the time the Irish lost their season-finale to Stanford on Saturday, it seemed inevitable Weis would be gone.
Speculation about possible replacements for Weis has been rampant for weeks. Among the top names mentioned, Florida's Urban Meyer and Oklahoma's Bob Stoops already have said they plan to stay where they are.
Speaking on a conference call Monday, Stoops said: "I'm going to be at Oklahoma next year, so I can't be at two places at once."
Cincinnati's Brian Kelly has also been mentioned, along with Stanford's Jim Harbaugh and TCU's Gary Patterson.
A self-confident offensive coordinator with the NFL champion New England Patriots when he was hired, Weis raised Irish expectations with back-to-back appearances in BCS bowl games in his first two seasons.
Since then, though, Notre Dame has gone 16-21 — the most losses by the Irish in a three-year span.
Weis' record is worse than his two predecessors, Tyrone Willingham and Bob Davie, who also were fired. Notre Dame is now looking to hire its fifth coach this decade.
Weis received a new 10-year contract midway through his first season, shortly after a thriller against top-ranked USC that ended in a 34-31 Notre Dame loss.
Even though the Irish fell short, playing nearly even with Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and the mighty Trojans had the Notre Dame faithful hopeful they had found a coach capable of returning the program to its past glories. The Fighting Irish have won eight AP national titles, more than any other school, but none since 1988.
Yet the USC loss turned out to be the highlight of Weis' tenure. Because it began so promisingly, Weis' final three seasons in South Bend were especially painful for the legion of Fighting Irish supporters nationwide.
"There were a lot of expectations he didn't live up to. He admitted to that," said former Notre Dame wide receiver David Grimes, who played four seasons for Weis and was on campus working out Monday. "But it's sad to see."

With Brady Quinn, Jeff Samardzija and other key players gone in 2007, the Irish started 0-5 for the first time in school history. They finished 3-9, leaving Weis one loss shy of matching Davie's school record of 16 losses in his first three seasons.

Most shocking, though, was the fact the Irish finished last in the NCAA in total offense just three years after Weis said at his introductory news conference that when it comes to X's and O's "we have the greatest advantage."

The past two seasons the Irish have collapsed in November. They got off to a 5-2 start before going 1-4 down the stretch a year ago, before ending this season with four losses, none by no more than a touchdown.

"I'm disappointed," former Notre Dame player Asaph Schwapp said. "It's definitely sad to see. I loved being coached by him."

Notre Dame fans who celebrated Weis' cockiness when he was winning grew tired of his Jersey attitude when the Irish started losing, with many calling him arrogant.

His biggest failure, however, was his team's inability to play good defense. The Irish never finished higher than 39th in the country in total defense and gave up big play after big play. Weis' teams lost six games by 26 points or more.

The now-former coach appeared to know his firing was imminent, saying a day after the loss to Connecticut on Nov. 21 that he would have a hard time arguing against his dismissal "because 6-5 is not good enough" — an echo of his words when he took the job.

Whoever replaces Weis will be charged with ending the longest title drought in school history.

CLEVELAND – Now that most of the bodies found at the home of a suspected serial killer have been identified, Cleveland is turning its attention to the living — to any women who might be reluctant to come forward after encounters with a man now charged with murder and rape.
The nonprofit Cleveland Rape Crisis Center has set up a hot line in hopes of hearing from any surviving victims of Anthony Sowell, who lived among the remains of at least 11 people, all black women, most of them disadvantaged, stashed around his house and yard.
Women who might have been attacked by Sowell need to hear that "it wasn't their fault that we were in the midst of a maniac, and it's just not their fault," was the message of Tammy Davis, 44, who lives two blocks away from Sowell's house.
Authorities have indicated they're searching around places where Sowell, a 50-year-old former Marine, previously lived for any evidence of earlier crimes. At least three women have come forward alleging that Sowell attacked them.
As of now, Sowell is charged with five counts of aggravated murder and, separately, two counts of rape in a Sept. 22 attack, and is jailed on $5 million bond.
Advocates fear that sensitivities including shame, checkered backgrounds and mistrust on the part of the women he tended to befriend might make it tricky to learn of more victims. In Sowell's neighborhood, some people said Tuesday that community and family attitudes toward so-called "throwaway" street addicts must change to make them feel comfortable reporting a rape.
Davis said she senses a change as the saga has unfolded — 10 bodies and a skull found at the Sowell home, most of the victims strangled, living alone or homeless, dealing with drug or alcohol addictions.
It soon emerged that a prosecutor declined to file charges after a woman fled Sowell's home last December, bleeding and injured, because she wasn't considered credible. Police argued that they handled the case properly and that it was up to the prosecutor whether to press charges. After the bodies were found, many people came forward, concerned that their long-missing but troubled loved ones might be among the dead — and some of them were right.
Another woman, 43-year-old Tanja Doss, told The Associated Press two weeks ago that she was attacked by Sowell in April at his home and escaped the next morning. She said she didn't tell police because she felt her past conviction on a drug charge made it unlikely they would take her seriously.
Any other survivors need to know "no matter what walk of life you chose, were actually pushed into, you're still a person. Don't give up on people that sometimes choose a different path of life, as they call them 'throwaways','" Davis said.
The rape crisis center, which has a 24-hour hot line, opened a second line Monday dedicated to handling calls about the Sowell case with the goal of getting help for any rape victim. The line has gotten calls, but the center won't disclose the number or whether any were related to the Sowell case, executive director Megan O'Bryan said Tuesday.
The center held a community forum on sexual assault last week in Sowell's neighborhood, and clergy members and elected officials have encouraged victims to come forward.
Cleveland police do not have any specific initiative to identify more possible Sowell rape victims, Lt. Thomas Stacho said. Chief Michael McGrath has addressed community gatherings to stress that any victim will get police help, no matter what their personal history.
Margaret Kanellis, who handles rape cases in Akron for the Summit County prosecutor, said rapes can be reported in nontraditional ways, including by a doctor or mental health counselor who treats the woman, by a clergy member, or through a support group.
Those avenues can be less traumatic than walking into a police station to report a rape, she said. "Lots of times we see people being convinced through other ways rather than right after it happens, we just walk into the police station," Kanellis said.
Perhaps 80 percent of rape victims never report it, in part out of shame, and the backgrounds of Sowell's alleged victims left them vulnerable because many had lost contact with families, according to Elizabeth Fokes-El, a social worker who visited the suspect's street on Tuesday to see a growing memorial of stuffed animals and mementoes for both the victims and people who remain missing.
Victims might come forward if they feel they won't be seen as worthless, she said. People "need to let her know that she's worthy," Fokes-El said. "She needs to know she's OK, that she didn't deserve to be raped."
Sherri Smith, who works with churches in the Sowell neighborhood and has encouraged rape victims to seek help, said some might be hesitant for fear of being seen as "a certain profile of the women" that he allegedly targeted.

"In our community, a lot of times it's best to just keep quiet and maybe it will go away. That's sometimes the thought: embarrassment, shame, all of that," she said.

Those barriers to reporting rape mean "there's a dire need to have multiple routes" for victims to use to get help, Smith said.

ORLANDO, Fla. – You can't blame this one on McDonald's: Researchers have found signs of heart disease in 3,500-year-old mummies.
"We think of it as being caused by modern risk factors," such as fast food, smoking and a lack of exercise, but the findings show that these aren't the only reasons arteries clog, said Dr. Randall Thompson, a cardiologist at the Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City.
He and several other researchers used CT scans, a type of X-ray, on 22 mummies kept in the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo. The subjects were from 1981 B.C. to 334 A.D. Half were thought to be over 45 when they died, and average lifespan was under 50 back then.
Sixteen mummies had heart and blood vessel tissue to analyze. Definite or probable hardening of the arteries was seen in nine.
"We were struck by the similar appearance of vascular calcification in the mummies and our present-day patients," said another researcher, Dr. Michael Miyamoto of the University of California at San Diego. "Perhaps the development of atherosclerosis is a part of being human."
One mummy had evidence of a possible heart attack but scientists don't know if it was fatal. Nor can they tell how much these people weighed — mummification dehydrates the body.
Of those whose identities could be determined, all were of high social status, and many served in the court of the Pharaoh or as priests or priestesses.
"Rich people ate meat, and they did salt meat, so maybe they had hypertension (high blood pressure), but that's speculation," Thompson said.
With modern diets, "we all sort of live in the Pharaoh's court," said another of the researchers, Dr. Samuel Wann of the Wisconsin Heart Hospital in Milwaukee.
The oldest mummy with heart disease signs was Lady Rai, a nursemaid to Queen Ahmose Nefertari who died around 1530 B.C. — 200 years before King Tutankhamun.
German imaging company Siemens AG, the National Bank of Egypt and the Mid-America Heart Institute paid for the work. Results are in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association and were reported Tuesday at an American Heart Association conference.
___
On the Net:
JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org

WASHINGTON – When it comes to paying for a health care overhaul, Americans see just one way to go: Tax the rich.
That finding from a new Associated Press poll will be welcome news for House Democrats, who proposed doing just that in their sweeping remake of the U.S. medical system, which passed earlier this month and would extend coverage to millions of uninsured Americans.
The poll found participants sour on other ways of paying for the health overhaul that is being considered in Congress, including taxing insurers on high-value coverage packages derided by President Barack Obama and Democrats as "Cadillac plans."
That approach is being weighed in the Senate. It is one of the few proposals in any congressional legislation that analysts say would help reduce the nation's health expenditures, but it has come under fire from organized labor and has little support in the House.
Lawmakers also are looking at levying new taxes on insurance companies, drug companies and medical device makers. But the only approach that got majority support in the AP poll was a tax on upper-income Americans.
The House bill would impose a 5.4 percent income tax surcharge on individuals making more than $500,000 a year and households making more than $1 million.
The poll tested views on an even more punitive taxation scheme that was under consideration earlier, when the tax would have hit people making more than $250,000 a year. Even at that level the poll showed majority support, with 57 percent in favor and 36 percent opposed.
"You know, I mean, why not? If they have that much money, it should be taxed," said Mary Pat Rondthaler, 60, of Menlo Park, Calif. "It isn't the same way that the guy making $21,000 is."
Not everyone agreed.
"They earn their money. And they shouldn't have to pay for somebody else. It doesn't seem fair," said Emerson Wilkins, 62, of Powder Springs, Ga.
The latest survey was conducted by Stanford University with the nonpartisan Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Overall, the poll found the public split on Congress' health care plans. In response to some questions, participants said the current system needed to be changed, but they also voiced concerns about the potential impact on their own pocketbooks, preferring to push any new costs onto wealthier Americans.
For example, 77 percent said the cost of health care in the United States was higher than it should be, and 74 percent favored the broad goal of reducing the amount of money paid by patients and their insurers. But 49 percent said any changes made by the government probably would cause them to pay more for health care. Thirty-two percent said it wouldn't change what they pay, and just 12 percent said they would end up paying less.
With lawmakers searching for new revenue sources to pay for their overhaul legislation, upper-income taxes may be increasingly gaining favor.
Legislation passed by Senate committees did not go that route, but now Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has a free hand in merging two committee-passed bills, is considering raising the payroll tax that goes to Medicare on income above $250,000 a year, officials told The Associated Press last week. Current law sets the tax at 1.45 percent of income, an amount matched by employers.
The Senate Finance Committee bill would tax health insurance plans costing more than $8,000 annually for individuals and $21,000 for families, although those numbers could rise. Union members are lined up against that approach because they fear their benefits could be hurt, and the public doesn't like it either, the AP poll found. Fifty-six percent were opposed and only 29 percent in favor.
Other payment methods being contemplated on Capitol Hill also met with disapproval. Participants in the poll didn't support new taxes on medical device makers, drug companies or even insurers — even though they said in response to different questions that drug companies and insurance companies made too much money.
Forty-eight percent in the poll were opposed to new taxes on insurance companies, and 42 percent were in support. Fifty-one percent opposed raising taxes on drug and device makers, while 41 percent supported that approach.

But 72 percent of people polled said insurance companies made too much profit, compared with 23 percent who said they made about the right amount of profit. And 74 percent said drug companies made too much profit, versus 21 percent who said they made about the right amount of profit.

People who told pollsters they generally supported Congress' health care overhaul plan were also more receptive to new taxes to pay for it. Taxing health care companies, drug companies and equipment manufacturers eked out majority support from that group.

The payment approach that met with least approval by far in the poll was borrowing the money and increasing the federal debt, something Obama has repeatedly vowed not to do. Just 6 percent of people polled said they could support that approach, while 88 percent opposed it.

The poll was based on landline and cell phone interviews with 1,502 adults from Oct. 29 to Nov. 8. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points. The interviews were conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Media. Stanford University's participation was made possible by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which conducts research on all facets of the health care system.

ROME – Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi hosted a soiree in Rome for some 200 young Italian women, but instead of the party they expected the women were given a lecture on Islam and copies of the Quran, a news report said Monday.
At least they got paid.
A reporter for Italy's ANSA news agency went undercover with the women, who were hired for euro50 ($75) by a modeling agency for the event Sunday evening. Journalist Paola Lo Mele said the women assembled at a hotel, where some where left behind because they were not tall enough or dressed modestly enough.
Those accepted were taken to a villa, where Gadhafi lectured them on women's rights and religion, and urged them to convert to Islam.
"All the girls expected a party with a gala dinner," Lo Mele told her agency. Instead, "he made a 45-minute speech on Islam and women's role in Islam. It was a bit of an indoctrination session."
Lo Mele took pictures before and after the event, showing the women carrying Qurans they received as gifts. A second soiree was planned for Monday evening, ANSA said.
Gadhafi was in Rome to attend a U.N. summit on world hunger.
After his speech, Gadhafi made an impromptu visit to one of downtown Rome's swankiest piazzas, stopping traffic as he sat down at an outdoor cafe for something to drink.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) –
The New Orleans Saints tied a franchise-record 7-0 start to the season by holding off NFC South opponent the Atlanta Falcons 35-27 on Monday.

Drew Brees threw for 308 yards and two scores while capping an 81-yard drive with a one-yard TD toss to running back Pierre Thomas to make it 35-24 with 3:03 left in the game.

Atlanta kicker Jason Elam made a 40-yard field goal with 28 seconds left and the Falcons recovered an onside kick setting up a final "Hail Mary" play which was intercepted by the Saints defense.

Michael Turner steadied the Falcons (4-3) with 151 yards rushing and a score but with his team mounting a charge trailing 28-24 quarterback Matt Ryan was intercepted by Tracy Porter when the visitors were at the Saints' 10-yard line.

New Orleans, which took a three-game lead in the NFC South, last started a season 7-0 in 1991.

(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by Alastair Himmer)

KHARTOUM (AFP) –
A French employee of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was kidnapped in the war-torn western Sudanese region of Darfur on Thursday, the aid agency said.

"We can confirm the abduction of one of our employees in the vicinity of El-Geneina," capital of West Darfur state, ICRC spokeswoman Tamara al-Rifai said in Khartoum.

The man was named as Gauthier Lefevre and had been working in Darfur for the past 15 months.

Sudan's minister of state for humanitarian affairs Abdel Baqi Gilani told AFP that Lefevre was in "good health" and that he expected him to be released soon.

"He is in good health according to the first report I have received," Gilani said without elaboration.

"I think he will be released soon. The ICRC is very respected and neutral and has no enmity among Darfur groups," Gilani said.

In Geneva, the ICRC said the incident occurred around midday as Lefevre "was returning with other ICRC staff to El-Geneina after completing a field trip north of the town to help local communities upgrade their water supply systems.

"He was travelling in one of two clearly marked ICRC vehicles when he was seized a few kilometres (miles) from the town."

Rifai said that a small group of expatriates as well as local Sudanese staff were travelling with Lefevre when he was abducted but were not harmed and were able to continue the trip.

"We don't know why they targeted him (Lefevre,)" Rifai said.

The ICRC said it had no immediate information concerning the abductors or their motives, while Gilani described the kidnappers as "bandits" and said the Khartoum government "condemns" the incident.

The Red Cross also called for Lefevre's immediate and "unconditional release" -- a demand also made by the French foreign ministry in Paris -- and said it is "in contact with the authorities and other parties with the aim of resolving the situation as swiftly as possible."

Earlier Gilani told AFP that the authorities are "trying to collect information" on the abduction, which he said occurred "in a zone near (the border with) Chad."

A senior Chadian rebel official contacted by AFP denied any Chadian rebel involvement in the abduction.

Thursday's abduction was the fifth of a foreign worker since March, when Sudan's ties with foreign relief organisations soured after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Beshir on charges of war crimes in Darfur.

But it was the first time a Red Cross employee was targeted.

Gilani voiced concern of more abductions and urged foreign relief organisations "to bolster security around their offices."

A relief official echoed his concern and said: "What has been happening in Darfur is very worrisome. I hope that the government will take this seriously."

On Sunday, two female aid workers -- Irishwoman Sharon Commins and Ugandan Hilda Kawuki -- were freed after 107 days of gruelling captivity in Darfur.

The two women's captivity was the longest endured by foreign aid staff in Darfur since the conflict erupted in the region in early 2003.

Two members of Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres MSF) and French aid agency Aide Medicale Internationale (AMI) were kidnapped in March and April but were later freed unharmed.

However two civilian employees of the UN-African Union joint peacekeeping force in Darfur who were kidnapped in August at Zalingei in west Darfur are still in the hands of their abductors.

The United Nations says up to 300,000 people have died and 2.7 million have fled their homes since ethnic minority rebels in Darfur rose up against the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum in February 2003.

The government says 10,000 people have been killed.

HELENA, Mont. – Fighting off a Helena Senators' fifth-inning rally, pitcher Brandon Patch checked the runner on first base. The 18-year-old Miles City Mavericks' southpaw then went into his windup, delivering what looked sure to be another strike.
Instead, the Senators' hitter connected squarely, smacking the baseball so hard that it was nearly impossible to follow — until it ricocheted off Patch's head. The ball eventually fell behind first base after traveling, by some accounts, as high as 50 feet in the air.
Patch, pitching in what was to be one of his final games with his American Legion team, collapsed on the mound. He managed to speak briefly to his father and coaches, and to some of the teammates from the eastern Montana town of Miles City, who had rushed to help him. Minutes later, Patch went into convulsions as a horrified crowd watched on from the bleachers.
Within hours, Patch had died from head injuries suffered while playing the game he had loved since he'd been a small child.
"It was just so quick. Everything happened so fast," Mavericks' first baseman Kevin Roberts recalled more than six years later in a courtroom, where the bat's manufacturer is being sued by Patch's mother for allegedly producing an unreasonably dangerous product.
At issue in the trial that is expected to last at least until early next week is whether anyone could have known the danger that could come from using an aluminum baseball bat, and whether the manufacturer should be held liable for Patch's death.
"There is absolutely no warning anywhere ... that this bat can create a situation where a pitcher is defenseless," said Joe White, the Patchs' attorney.
Metal bats came into vogue in amateur sports in the 1970s. More recently, however, they have come under increased scrutiny and criticism as injuries from fast-moving balls hit by the lightweight bats have mounted.
What makes aluminum bats different from their wooden counterparts is that the weight is distributed more equally in the metal ones, making it easier to swing faster and harder. They're also generally shaped to have larger sweet spots, the area that produces hard-hit balls.
In 2002, the U.S. Consumer Safety Product Commission ruled that there was inconclusive data to support a ban on metal bats in youth and high school baseball games. Its study found that from 1991 to 2001, there were 17 deaths nationwide due to batted balls. Of those, eight were from metal bats, two from wood and another seven were of unknown origin.
But Patch's death in 2003 cast new light on the issue when his team refused to use metal bats or play American Legion games against those who did.
Since 2007, high school teams in North Dakota and New York City have also played only with wooden bats. States including Montana and Pennsylvania, home to the Little League World Series, have also considered state laws banning metal bats since Patch's death, although none has passed.
Attorneys for Hillerich & Bradsby, manufacturers of the Louisville Slugger bat used to hit Patch's fateful pitch, contend that accidents are bound to happen in baseball games and there's nothing inherently unsafe about aluminum baseball bats.
"This bat did what was expected of it. There's no showing it did anything different," attorney Rob Sterup told Judge Kathy Seeley on Wednesday in an unsuccessful effort to get the case dismissed.
It will now be up to a jury to decide whether the company is at fault and whether to award the Patch family any damages. The complaint the Patch family filed did not seek a specified amount, although lawyers have said the case isn't about money.
The Patch family has gone on a nationwide crusade to eliminate the use of aluminum bats and their name is well known in baseball circles.
In 2004, the family was highlighted in an ESPN program about the safety of metal bats in which they spoke about Brandon's death. The family and a spokesman for Louisville Slugger declined to talk with The Associated Press while the trial is under way.
Mike May, spokesman for the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association's Don't Take My Bat Away Program, said while Patch's death is tragic and he respects what mother Debbie Patch is trying to do, the exact same thing likely would have occurred if a wooden bat had been used when the ball hit the sweet spot.

"In the case of Brandon Patch, it was an accident that we'll never be able to fully understand and hopefully we'll never have to go through it again," May said. "There's nothing more than we'd like to do than see Brandon Patch play today."