Fragrant Harbor

September 23, 2015 - Daily News Briefing

One year on, Hong Kong's democracy movement appears to be back to Square 1.

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Pope Francis headed for Washington on Tuesday for the first visit of his life to the United States, bringing his "church of the poor" to the world's wealthiest superpower and a country polarized over issues closest to his heart: immigration, social injustice, and economic inequality. During his six-day, three-city visit to the U.S., the pope will meet with Obama, address Congress, speak at the United Nations in New York, and take part in a Vatican-sponsored conference on the family in Philadelphia. The 78-year-old Argentine known as the "slum pope" for ministering to the downtrodden in his native Buenos Aires is expected to urge America to take better care of the environment and the poor and return to its founding ideals of religious liberty and open arms toward immigrants.

The leaders of two major health insurers planning separate multi-billion dollar acquisitions made the case for the deals to Congress as senators questioned whether they would hurt competition and raise prices for consumers. Blue Cross-Blue Shield insurer Anthem plans to buy Cigna for $48 billion, and rival Aetna is looking to buy Medicare Advantage coverage provider Humana for $35 billion. As a wave of consolidation sweeps through the industry, the deals came under scrutiny at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing Tuesday. The Justice Department must pass judgment on whether the mergers would make the companies so dominant that they could create a competitive imbalance and push already high health-care costs even higher.

When Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced five years ago this week a $100 million donation to remake education in Newark, it was presented as an effort to make a struggling city a national model for turning around urban schools. Advocates see success in the most visible result so far – many more students in charter schools. But the exodus of students and the public funding that comes with them from the Newark Public Schools has deepened a financial crisis in a district that still educates most of the children in New Jersey's largest city. A big part of Zuckerberg's mission was also to improve the traditional public schools. While there have been major changes there, too, indicators such as student test scores have been mixed.

Retired Army Gen. David Petraeus apologized to Congress on Tuesday for sharing classified information with his biographer and mistress, Paula Broadwell. "Four years ago, I made a serious mistake – one that brought discredit on me and pain to those closest to me," Petraeus said. "It was a violation of the trust placed in me and a breach of the values to which I had been committed throughout my life. There is nothing I can do to undo what I did. I can only say again how sorry I am to those I let down and then strive to go forward with a greater sense of humility and purpose, and with gratitude to those who stood with me during a very difficult chapter in my life." Petraeus was director of the CIA from September 2011 to November 2012, when he resigned after acknowledging an affair with Ms. Broadwell, a married U.S. Army reserve officer who met Petraeus while researching a book about his wartime leadership in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Volkswagen AG's smog-test troubles escalated Tuesday as the company acknowledged putting stealth software in millions of vehicles worldwide. The scandal has now cost VW more than 24 billion euros ($26 billion) in market value. Volkwagen stunningly admitted that some 11 million of the German carmaker's diesel vehicles contain software that evades emissions controls, far more than the 482,000 identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as violating the Clean Air Act. Volkswagen also warned that future profits could be affected, and set aside an initial 6.5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) to cover the fallout. CEO Martin Winterkorn apologized for the deception under his leadership and pledged a fast and thorough investigation, but gave no indication that he might resign.

A 12-year-old boy is recovering in a hospital after police say he was bitten by a shark in the waters off northeast Florida. Police say the boy, who lives in Sparks, Ga., suffered significant injuries to his leg after the attack Sunday afternoon at Fernandina Beach. Police say Josh Bitner Jr. was in waist-deep water when he felt the bite near his knee. Bitner told The Florida Times-Union something grabbed his leg, turned him around and bit him again. He says he punched the shark, then grabbed its top fin and pulled it out of the water and started yelling "shark!" Bitner was treated by paramedics at the scene and taken to a hospital in Jacksonville for treatment.

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