A new birth of freedom

November 20, 2013 - Daily News Briefing

Lincoln tied the “unfinished business” of the Civil War to the great cause of democracy, which itself is always unfinished business.

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JPMorgan Chase & Co. has reached a record $13 billion settlement with federal and state authorities, resolving claims over the bank’s sales of low-quality, high-risk mortgage-backed securities that collapsed in value during the US housing crisis. The agreement is the latest chapter in the bursting of the housing bubble. The settlement announced Tuesday requires JPMorgan to pay $9 billion and provide $4 billion in consumer relief, including principal reductions and other mortgage modifications for homeowners facing foreclosure.

Russia’s aviation safety watchdog says pilot error led a Boeing 737 jet to lose speed at a low altitude, resulting in a diving crash that killed all 50 people on board. The Interstate Aviation Committee said Tuesday the plane’s engines and other systems were working fine until the moment the plane hit the ground. It said the pilots had failed to make a proper landing approach on their first attempt and mishandled the second attempt as well, putting the plane’s engines on maximum power, then raising the plane’s nose up at a sharp angle, which caused a quick loss of speed.

The Ukrainian parliament on Tuesday again stalled a vote on the release of jailed ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, demanded by the European Union as a key condition for signing a landmark integration deal with Ukraine. Parliament speaker Volodymyr Rybak told legislators that a vote on the bill would be put off until today, a sign that President Viktor Yanukovych is continuing to maneuver between the EU and Russia, which has strongly opposed the EU-Ukraine deal and appears to be working both openly and behind the scenes to derail it.

Egypt’s revolutionary activists, overshadowed since leading the 2011 uprising against Hosni Mubarak, showed a new vigor Tuesday, scuffling with supporters of the military-backed government in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and wrecking a state memorial dedicated to slain protesters only hours after it was inaugurated. The vandalizing of the memorial reflected the youth activists’ anger against what they see as an attempt by the current military-backed rulers, boosted by popular support since the July coup against Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, to paper over past bloodshed and rewrite history.

A Russian court on Tuesday granted bail to nine foreign Greenpeace protesters, the first non-Russians jailed and awaiting trial over a demonstration near a Russian oil rig to be made eligible for release. The decision came a day after the Primorsky court in St. Petersburg refused to release an Australian activist, and another court granted bail to three Russians, including prominent photographer Denis Sinyakov.

George Zimmerman’s girlfriend said he tried to choke her about a week ago during an altercation that wasn’t initially reported to police, a prosecutor told a judge Tuesday during his first court appearance on domestic violence-related charges. The arrest on Monday was the latest legal problem for Zimmerman since he was acquitted last summer of criminal charges in the fatal shooting of teenager Trayvon Martin in a nationally followed Florida case.

Norm Kelly, Toronto’s deputy mayor, promised a more cooperative approach to governing on Tuesday after assuming the powers that were stripped from scandal-plagued Mayor Rob Ford. Ford vowed “outright war” after city council stripped him of most of his remaining powers over his admitted crack cocaine use and heavy drinking.

The US government’s auto safety watchdog is investigating whether Tesla’s Model S electric car is vulnerable to fires because roadway debris can pierce the car’s underbody and battery. The National Highway Traffic Administration, which announced the probe Tuesday, is looking into two incidents in which Model S drivers struck metal objects on highways. The objects penetrated the bottom of the car, punctured the battery, and caused fires.

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates choked up while reading from prepared remarks in Los Angeles during Steve Ballmer’s final shareholders meeting as chief executive. The cofounder of the software giant said progress was being made to find Ballmer’s replacement and he thanked him for serving as CEO for the past 13 years. Only Gates and Ballmer have led Microsoft Corp. since its founding in 1975.

Producers are turning the lights off forever on the Spider-Man musical on Broadway early next year, the final chapter in the story of the most expensive theatrical show ever that shook off a troubled launch to become a hit. A spokesman for the show said in a statement late Monday that “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” will end its run in January and will next appear in Las Vegas. Further details will be announced in the weeks to come.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

Compiled from wire service reports

“The object of the Monitor is to injure no man, but to bless all mankind.” – Mary Baker Eddy

The Daily News Briefing is published Monday through Friday by The Christian Science Publishing Society in Boston, Massachusetts.

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