Rising above debate

October 16, 2013 - Daily News Briefing

After weeks of no-compromise declarations, Washington is still battling over the debt ceiling, the federal budget, healthcare funding, and rising debt.

Subscribe Now to read this post!

To read this post and thousands more articles, subscribe today!

Time growing desperately short, House Republicans pushed for passage of legislation late Tuesday to prevent a threatened Treasury default, end a 15-day partial government shutdown and extricate divided government from its latest brush with a full political meltdown. There was no immediate reaction from the White House to the measure, which was revised from a version unveiled only hours earlier that had been stocked with conservative priorities and had drawn swift condemnation from Democrats. Officials said that under the revised bill prepared by House Republicans, the Treasury would be permitted to borrow normally until Feb. 7 and the government reopened with sufficient funds to carry it to Dec. 15.

Israel’s military says it has found and destroyed a second tunnel dug from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip into Israel. The military says it blew up the tunnel on Tuesday. On Sunday, the military announced the discovery of a long, concrete-lined tunnel from Gaza into Israel and said militants planned to use it to attack or kidnap Israelis.

A bomb planted inside a mosque microphone killed the governor of Afghanistan’s eastern Logar Province as he was delivering a speech to worshipers on Tuesday morning to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, officials said. The explosion at the main mosque in the provincial capital of Puli Alam killed Gov. Arsallah Jamal and wounded 15 people. Jamal was a close confidant of President Hamid Karzai. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Taliban have been targeting Afghan officials, military, and NATO troops.

A former Army captain whose heroic actions in a deadly Afghan battle were captured on video received the nation’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor, from President Obama at the White House Tuesday. Obama placed the award around the neck of William Swenson for his actions in a lengthy battle against the Taliban in the Ganjgal valley near the Pakistan border four years ago. Swenson retired from the military in February 2011 but reportedly has asked to return to active duty.

The big US airlines are taking out old, bulky seats in favor of so-called slimline models that take up less space from front to back, allowing for five or six more seats on each plane, The Associated Press reports. The changes give the airlines more paying passengers and a smaller fuel bill because the seats are slightly lighter.

The National Security Agency has been sifting through millions of contact lists from personal e-mail and instant-messaging accounts around the world – including those of Americans – in its effort to find possible links to terrorism or other criminal activity, according to a published report. The Washington Post reported late Monday that the spy agency intercepts hundreds of thousands of e-mail address books every day from private accounts on Yahoo, Gmail, Facebook, and Hotmail that move though global data links. The NSA also collects about a half million buddy lists from live chat services and e-mail accounts.

The European Space Agency says it has developed a technology that allows metal parts for spacecraft and nuclear reactors to be “printed” as a singlepiece. In recent years three-dimensional printing has become common in manufacturing. But the method has largely been limited to plastic objects. ESA says its metal-printing technology can be used to create more complex shapes than with traditional techniques and leaves almost no waste material.

The New York Times Co. has rebranded its Paris-based daily, the International Herald Tribune, as the International New York Times – a bid to lure readers abroad amid the upheaval of the digital era facing traditional newspapers. Executives say the rechristening Tuesday aims to get the most out of its brand.

A marine science instructor snorkeling off the southern California coast spotted something out of a fantasy novel: the silvery carcass of an 18-foot-long, serpent-like oarfish. Jasmine Santana of the Catalina Island Marine Institute needed more than 15 helpers to drag the creature to shore on Sunday. Because oarfish dive more than 3,000 feet deep, sightings of the creatures are rare and they are largely unstudied.

The death toll from a magnitude- 7.2 earthquake that struck the central Philippine island of Bohol on Tuesday rose to 93, as rescuers struggled to reach patients in a collapsed hospital.

Former San Diego Mayor Bob Filner, driven from office by sexual harassment allegations, pleaded guilty Tuesday to a felony and two misdemeanors for unwanted physical contact with three women at public events.

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.

The death toll from a magnitude- 7.2 earthquake that struck the central Philippine island of Bohol on Tuesday rose to 93, as rescuers struggled to reach patients in a collapsed hospital.

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.

Subscribe Now to read this post!

Are you sure?

Forgot to add folder?

Tags Error