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Saturday, March 30, 2013
Lopez says late-night hosting days are behind him
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) ? Amid rumors of another "Tonight" show shake-up, comedian George Lopez says he has no desire to return to the late-night talk show scene.
Lopez said he had a great two-year run as a late-night talk show host. But, he said, "I'm out of that thing."
"I know all those guys. They're all good guys, but that's a tough job. There are a lot of tough jobs in TV. That could be one of the toughest, hosting a show every night," Lopez said Wednesday night.
Lopez's comments in Sioux Falls before taking the stage for a stand-up show benefiting the Brennan Rock & Roll Academy come after amid fresh turbulence in the late-night talk show business after word leaked last week that "Late Night" host Jimmy Fallon will unseat Jay Leno as the new host of NBC's "Tonight." The network has not confirmed the rumor.
Lopez wound up losing his cable television gig in August 2011 in a trickle-down effect from the last time the "Tonight" seat changed hands.
TBS canceled "Lopez Tonight" after its second-year viewership dropped 40 percent when Lopez moved his show back an hour to midnight to make room for Conan O'Brien. Lopez gave up his 11 p.m. Eastern slot to accommodate O'Brien, who joined TBS after a time-slot dispute that ended up reinstating Jay Leno as "Tonight" host.
Lopez said he had a great time hosting the TBS show and that the gig gave him the opportunity to get to know everyone in the entertainment field, from actors Helen Mirren and Ben Kingsley to musicians Prince, Janet Jackson and Snoop Dogg.
"I tried to create a party, and we did," he said. "The greatest was getting a harmonic from John Popper and then doing shots with the band, Blues Traveler, in the back."
Lopez joked that he's probably better off that the party ended "just for the fact that I wanted to live a little bit longer."
"We went hard every night," he said. "We did it like the old days. You'd sit around and drink till like 11 and then go home and come back and do it all over again.
Lopez said he's been keeping busy since his show was canceled, voicing parts for "Smurfs 2" and "Rio 2" and working on an "alleged project in TV." He was recently anointed by Bill Cosby to take over as master of ceremonies of the annual Playboy Jazz Festival.
"He called me himself and he said he'd like for me to succeed him, which is a tremendous honor," Lopez said. "And also we had a 40-minute conversation of the dos and don'ts of hosting."
Cosby has been a fixture at the gathering of jazz luminaries since the first festival in 1979. This year's show, scheduled for June 15 and 16 at the Hollywood Bowl, will feature Herbie Hancock, Jeffrey Osborne, Sheila E. and Grace Kelly.
Cosby's tips for Lopez included not letting the musicians into his dressing room. "They won't leave and they'll eat all your food and drink all the drink and smoke all that funny stuff."
___
Follow Dirk Lammers on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ddlammers
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lopez-says-night-hosting-days-behind-him-184921997.html
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Friday, March 29, 2013
Deep freeze: Home sales to barely budge this spring
The U.S. housing market will see no surge at the start of spring, as fewer buyers signed contracts to purchase existing homes in February. An industry index of so-called pending home sales fell 0.4 percent from January but is up 8.4 percent from February of 2012.
While the number of for-sale listings increased more than the seasonal norm, realtors still say a lack of supply is keeping many potential buyers from desired deals. Pending home sales are a one to two month forward indicator of closed sales.
"Only new home construction can genuinely help relieve the inventory shortage, and housing starts need to rise at least 50 percent from current levels," said Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors in a release. "Most local home builders are small businesses and simply don't have access to capital on Wall Street. Clearer regulatory rules, applied to construction loans for smaller community banks and credit unions, could bring many small-sized builders back into the market."
Sales of newly built homes fell nearly five percent in February, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce. Inventories did rise, but only slightly, as the nation's home builders struggle with labor and land shortages, as well as higher costs for materials.
Pending home sales fell 2.5 percent month-to-month in the Northeast, rose 0.4 percent in the Midwest, fell 0.3 percent in the South and rose 0.1 percent in the West, according to the Realtors.
"The volume of home sales appears to be leveling off with the constrained inventory conditions, and the leveling of the index means little change is likely in the pace of sales over the next couple months," Yun added.
A better sign for March, after two weeks of declines, mortgage applications to purchase a home jumped 7 percent during the past week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. This as interest rates fell slightly, due to concerns over the banking crisis in Cyprus.
"The rebound in mortgage applications is a small piece of a brighter housing outlook," says Bob Walters, chief economist for Quicken Loans. "Interest rates are still at record lows despite their upward trend, and consumers are taking advantage of record home affordability. Look for more buyers to enter the market this spring and a more robust housing recovery to occur."
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Thursday, March 28, 2013
Pope washes feet of young detainees in ritual
In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis washes the foot of an inmate at the juvenile detention center of Casal del Marmo, Rome, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Francis washed the feet of a dozen inmates at a juvenile detention center in a Holy Thursday ritual that he celebrated for years as archbishop and is continuing now that he is pope. Two of the 12 were young women, an unusual choice given that the rite re-enacts Jesus' washing of the feet of his male disciples. The Mass was held in the Casal del Marmo facility in Rome, where 46 young men and women currently are detained. Many of them are Gypsies or North African migrants, and the Vatican said the 12 selected for the rite weren't necessarily Catholic. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)
In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis washes the foot of an inmate at the juvenile detention center of Casal del Marmo, Rome, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Francis washed the feet of a dozen inmates at a juvenile detention center in a Holy Thursday ritual that he celebrated for years as archbishop and is continuing now that he is pope. Two of the 12 were young women, an unusual choice given that the rite re-enacts Jesus' washing of the feet of his male disciples. The Mass was held in the Casal del Marmo facility in Rome, where 46 young men and women currently are detained. Many of them are Gypsies or North African migrants, and the Vatican said the 12 selected for the rite weren't necessarily Catholic. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)
In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis kisses the foot of an inmate at the juvenile detention center of Casal del Marmo, Rome, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Francis washed the feet of a dozen inmates at a juvenile detention center in a Holy Thursday ritual that he celebrated for years as archbishop and is continuing now that he is pope. Two of the 12 were young women, an unusual choice given that the rite re-enacts Jesus' washing of the feet of his male disciples. The Mass was held in the Casal del Marmo facility in Rome, where 46 young men and women currently are detained. Many of them are Gypsies or North African migrants, and the Vatican said the 12 selected for the rite weren't necessarily Catholic. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)
In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis, with back to camera at right, washes the foot of an inmate at the juvenile detention center of Casal del Marmo, Rome, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Francis washed the feet of a dozen inmates at a juvenile detention center in a Holy Thursday ritual that he celebrated for years as archbishop and is continuing now that he is pope. Two of the 12 were young women, an unusual choice given that the rite re-enacts Jesus' washing of the feet of his male disciples. The Mass was held in the Casal del Marmo facility in Rome, where 46 young men and women currently are detained. Many of them are Gypsies or North African migrants, and the Vatican said the 12 selected for the rite weren't necessarily Catholic. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)
In this photo provided by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Pope Francis washes the foot of an inmate at the juvenile detention center of Casal del Marmo, Rome, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Francis washed the feet of a dozen inmates at a juvenile detention center in a Holy Thursday ritual that he celebrated for years as archbishop and is continuing now that he is pope. Two of the 12 were young women, an unusual choice given that the rite re-enacts Jesus' washing of the feet of his male disciples. The Mass was held in the Casal del Marmo facility in Rome, where 46 young men and women currently are detained. Many of them are Gypsies or North African migrants, and the Vatican said the 12 selected for the rite weren't necessarily Catholic. (AP Photo/L'Osservatore Romano, ho)
Pope Francis waves from his car as he arrives at the juvenile detention center of Casal del Marmo to celebrate the rite of the washing of the feet, in Rome, Thursday, March 28, 2013. Previous popes have celebrated the Holy Thursday ritual, which re-enacts Christ's washing his disciples feet before being crucified, but they have done so washing the feet of priests in one of Rome's most ornate basilicas, St. Peter's Basilica, not a jail. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
ROME (AP) ? Pope Francis washed and kissed the feet of a dozen inmates, including two young women, at a juvenile detention center in a surprising departure from church rules that restrict the Holy Thursday ritual to men.
The Mass was held in the Casal del Marmo facility in Rome, where 46 young men and women currently are detained. Many of them are Gypsies or North African migrants, and the 12 selected for the foot-washing rite reportedly included Orthodox and Muslim detainees.
Because the inmates were mostly minors ? the facility houses inmates aged 14-to-21 ? the Vatican and Italian Justice Ministry limited media access inside. But Vatican Radio carried the Mass live, and in his homily Francis told the detainees that Jesus washed the feet of his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion in a gesture of love and service.
"This is a symbol, it is a sign ? washing your feet means I am at your service," Francis told the youngsters. "Help one another. This is what Jesus teaches us. This is what I do. And I do it with my heart. I do this with my heart because it is my duty, as a priest and bishop I must be at your service."
Later, the Vatican released a limited video of the ritual, showing Francis washing black feet, white feet, male feet, female feet and even a foot with tattoos. Kneeling on the stone floor as the 12 youngsters sat above him, the 76-year-old Francis poured water from a silver chalice over each foot, dried it with a simple cotton towel and then bent over to kiss each one.
Previous popes carried out the foot-washing ritual on Holy Thursday in Rome's grand St. John Lateran basilica. The 12 people chosen for the ritual were always priests to represent the 12 apostles whose feet Christ washed during the Last Supper before his crucifixion.
As archbishop of Buenos Aires, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio would celebrate the ritual foot-washing in jails, hospitals or hospices ? part of his ministry to the poorest and most marginalized of society. He would often involve women: photographs from his days in Buenos Aires show him washing the feet of a woman holding her newborn child in her arms.
That Francis would include women in his inaugural Holy Thursday Mass as pope, however, was remarkable given current liturgical rules restrict the ritual to men.
Canon lawyer Edward Peters, who is an adviser to the Holy See's top court, noted in a blog that the Congregation for Divine Worship in 1988 sent a letter to bishops making clear that "The washing of the feet of chosen men ... represents the service and charity of Christ who came 'not to be served, but to serve.'"
Peters noted that bishops over the years have successfully petitioned Rome for an exemption to allow women to participate, but that the law on the issue is clear.
"By disregarding his own law in this matter, Francis violates, of course, no divine directive," Peters wrote Thursday. "What he does do, I fear, is set a questionable example," particularly as it regards adherence to liturgical rules.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said he didn't want to enter into a canonical dispute over the matter. He said in a "grand solemn celebration" of the rite, it would make sense to only involve men because during the Last Supper, Christ washed the feet of the 12 apostles, all of whom were male.
"Here, the rite was for a small, unique community made up also of women," Lombardi said in an email to The Associated Press. "It was a specific situation in which excluding the girls would have been inopportune in light of the simple aim of communicating a message of love to all in a group that certainly didn't include refined experts in liturgical rules."
Others on the more liberal side of the liturgical spectrum welcomed the novel example Francis set.
"The pope's washing the feet of women is hugely significant because including women in this part of the Holy Thursday Mass has been frowned on ? and even banned ? in some dioceses," said the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and author of "The Jesuit Guide."
"It shows the all-embracing love of Christ, who ministered to all he met: man or woman, slave or free, Jew or Gentile," he said.
After the Mass, Francis greeted each of the inmates and gave each one an Easter egg. In exchange, he was given a wooden cross and kneeler that the inmates made in their workshop.
"Don't lose hope," Francis said. "Understand? With hope you can always go on."
One of the inmates then asked him why he had come to visit them. Francis said it was to "help me to be humble, as a bishop should be." He said he wanted to come "from my heart. Things from the heart don't have an explanation."
Italian Justice Minister Paola Severino, who has made easing Italy's woefully overcrowded prisons a priority, also attended the Mass.
___
Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield
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Some healthcare costs may rise when "Obamacare" implemented: official
By Jeff Mason and David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's top healthcare adviser acknowledged on Tuesday that costs could rise in the individual health insurance market, particularly for men and younger people, because of the landmark 2010 healthcare restructuring due to take effect next year.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said definitive data on costs will not be available until later this year when private health plans become authorized to sell federally subsidized coverage on new state-based online marketplaces, known as exchanges.
"Everything is speculation. I think there's likely to be some shifting in the markets," she told reporters at the White House.
The law, also known as "Obamacare," eliminates discriminatory market practices that have imposed higher rates on women and people with medical conditions.
It also limits how much insurers can charge older people. But while the changes are expected to lower costs for women, older beneficiaries and the sick, men and younger, healthier people will likely see higher rates as insurers try to hedge against continued risks.
"Women are going to see some lower costs, some men are going to see some higher costs. It's sort of a one to one shift ... some of the older customers may see a slight decline, and some of the younger ones are going to see a slight increase."
Insurance premiums could rise for some with individual plans, she said, as Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act enhances the level of coverage and either eliminates or reduces the rate of price discrimination against people who are older, female or have preexisting medical conditions.
"These folks will be moving into a really fully insured product for the first time, so there may be a higher cost associated with getting into that market," Sebelius said.
But those who qualify for federal subsidies through state healthcare exchanges would still get a better deal, she said.
Her remarks coincide with growing uneasiness about possible cost increases among lawmakers and executives in the $2.8 trillion U.S. healthcare industry.
A new study released on Tuesday by the nonpartisan Society of Actuaries estimates that insurance costs will rise 32 percent on average nationwide within three years, partly as a result of higher risk pools. Changes would vary by state, from an 80 percent hike in Wisconsin to a 14 percent reduction in New York.
Obama's healthcare restructuring, the signature domestic policy achievement of his first term, is expected to provide coverage to more than 30 million people beginning on January 1, 2014, both through the state exchanges and a planned expansion of the government-run Medicaid program for the poor.
Subsidies in the form of premium tax credits, available on a sliding scale according to income, are expected to mitigate higher costs for many new beneficiaries.
But the insurance industry, which is set to gain millions of new customers under the law, is warning of soaring premium costs next year because of new regulations that include the need to offer a broader scale of health benefits than some insurers do now.
That has raised concerns about people with individual policies not subject to subsidies and the potential for cost spillovers into the market for employer-sponsored plans, which according to U.S. Census data, cover about half of U.S. workers.
'LITTLE IMPACT'
Sebelius dismissed the idea of significant change for employer plans, saying that market segment was "likely to see very little impact."
Separately, a Democratic U.S. senator on Tuesday said the federal government has limited scope to help millions of people likely to remain without affordable health insurance under the new law.
Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, released a report submitted to the panel by the administration that outlines an "employee choice" policy that would allow some employers to offer a wider range of coverage choices to their workers at reduced rates for 2014.
But Wyden said the approach would not help many of the nearly 4 million worker dependents who may have to forego subsidized private health coverage as a result of an IRS ruling.
"Even in the states that allow for employee choice, it will be limited to a small number of workers," Wyden said.
The law would have most people with employer insurance remain under their current plans. Workers can opt for subsidized coverage if their employer plan is unaffordable, but only according to a narrow definition of what is affordable.
The IRS ruled in January that the cost of insuring a worker's family will be considered unaffordable if the employee's contribution to an individual coverage plan exceeded 9.5 percent of that person's income. That rule ignores the fact that family coverage is far more expensive than individual coverage.
As a result, the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that 3.9 million family dependents could be left unable either to afford employer-sponsored family coverage or to obtain federally subsidized insurance through an exchange.
In its report to the Senate committee, Sebelius' department said some employers could claim a tax credit in 2014 to make coverage more affordable and offer workers a range of coverage plans through state-based exchanges.
(This March 26 story has been corrected to drop reference to "premium" in second bullet and replace "individual premiums" with "insurance costs" in paragraph 11)
(Writing by David Morgan; Editing by Fred Barbash and Paul Simao)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/healthcare-costs-may-rise-obamacare-implemented-official-170326637.html
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The Best Apps and Tools for Rocking Your Next Road Trip
I love road trips. Just saying or writing the words sends shivers of excitement down my spine. If you think I'm crazy, it's probably because you grew up in a country where road trips are taken for granted, and the number of places you can drive to and go to are endless. To me, road trips are fun and exciting no matter why I have to take them. Regardless of how you feel about them, it's always good to prepare before you embark on one.
So how do you prepare for such a long drive? We each have our own way to ensure we're ready, whether it's a packing list, a box of games, some favorite foods, or a good playlist. Need to plan a long drive for the first time? Looking for ways to make your drive cheaper, more interesting, or safer? Below you'll find a collection of tools that can help you make any road trip a good one. But remember, tools aren't enough, and as cheesy as it sounds, you definitely need to go into your trip with good spirits. Once you have that, collect your favorite tools from this list, and enjoy!
Should You Drive?
When planning a road trip, the first question you might ask yourself is "should I drive or fly?" If you want to take a road trip for fun, the question might not be relevant, but if you actually need to get from point A to point B, you can't always assume driving is the cheapest option. A website called TravelMath can help you find the best way to travel by factoring in cost, distance, and time, and calculating the value of time vs. cost for each option.
TravelMath gives each option a score, and lets you know if you're better off driving or flying. You can also use this calculator to find information such as driving/flying distance and cost of driving from point A to point B. TravelMath supports destinations all over the world.
Plan a Road Trip Route
Now that you're set on driving to your destination, it's time to plan your route. I've already told you about several tools for planning fun road trips, which include planners for the US, Australia, Canada, and more. There are several aspects to planning a road trip, and in the end it all comes down to personal preferences and priorities. Is saving money your first priority? Perhaps travelling in fair weather is most important to you? Do you want to see lots of attractions on the way? Or maybe you just care about getting there quickly?
If you care about the cost of the trip, you're going to want to find the cheapest fuel stops possible. A website called FuelMyRoute can help you do just that. FuelMyRoute takes your start and end points, and the type of fuel you use, and find the best spots to re-fuel on your route. You can decide how far out of your way you want to go for cheap fuel, set preferred brands, and more. Aside from the map you can see above, FuelMyRoute provides detailed driving directions, and tells you exactly how much money you can save by stopping at the cheapest stations. Unfortunately, this website works only in the US.
If finding interesting attractions sits at the top of your list, don't skip websites like OnTheWay (worldwide) and RoadTrippers (US only) which can help you find the best spots to stop. But what fun will stopping and sightseeing be if it rains the entire way? You can't control the weather, but you can be prepared for it with Weather Underground's roadtrip planner. This planning tool lets you see the weather all along your route, which can include one starting point and several destinations. The weather is displayed based on dates and times you provide. While you can get routes for places all over the world, I only got weather information for routes in the
US.
Don't Get Hungry
To me, food is the most important part of any road trip. You don't necessarily have to plan ahead for this?just stopping at a random out-of-the-way diner can be an experience by itself?but sometimes there are places along your route you just don't want to miss. There are several ways to find these, and two of them are Roadfood and TVFoodMaps.
If you're a Food Network addict, TVFoodMaps can help you find places that appeared in various programs and that happen to be on your way. Just enter your starting point and destination, and get a list of places you can visit, complete with the name of the program they appeared on, a full address, and a link to the official website.
Roadfood, on the other hand, can help you find interesting places to eat sorted by US state or by category. Many of the places mentioned include must-eat dishes, ratings, reviews and more. If you sign up for a Roadfood Insider account, you can also access GPS support, offline information, Roadfood maps, and Google Earth integration.
Stay Safe
As with anything else you do, it's important to stay safe during your roadtrip. Long drives can get boring, but that doesn't mean you should be speeding or texting while driving. There are many ways to avoid messing around with your phone while driving, and still remain in communication with the world. So before you embark on your journey, check out these Android apps for safe driving or these iPhone tips and apps that will keep you safe on the road.
If you promise to drive safely, you might also want to install Trapster, which will help you avoid police traps and tickets. That doesn't mean you can speed, though!
Need A Hotel?
There are hundreds of ways to find and book hotels, and we each have our own preferred way. However, if for some reason you get stuck and have no place to sleep, Hotel Tonight is a great app to have, and can save you from an otherwise sticky situation. The app, available for both iOS and Android, can help you find a hotel for tonight, for quite a reasonable price. It doesn't work everywhere in the world, but can help you in major cities in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Europe.
Have Fun!
What do you need for a fun road trip? Music and games! Music is not so hard to come by nowadays, and with services such as Spotify, Pandora, 8Tracks, Songza, etc., you can listen to music easily all through your drive. If you're more into actual radio, you can check out the NPR roadtrip page which will help you find stations along your way.
When it comes to games, the best ones are those you can play together without any additional devices, boards, or parts. While you must know at least one such game, there's a nice list of suggestions on RoadTripWise. You can also find some nice inspiration on Pinterest boards such as this Travel ideas and items one, this Family Road Trip Games one, and many others you can find if you search for "road trips." If you're set on playing games on your mobile device, you can find loads of excellent games on our best iPhone games page or best Android games page.
Bottom Line
Are you ready for your trip? If you find the idea of taking this long drive annoying, remember that road trips are a fantastic opportunity to put your attention on the outside world and forget your troubles for awhile. After taking everything into account, the most important thing is to look up, enjoy the view, and experience your trip for what it is.
Everything You Need to Prepare for a Long Car Journey or Road Trip?Make Use Of
Yaara Lancet is a freelance writer, tech blogger, and chocolate lover, who's also a biologist and a full-time geek. Find her also at lnct.org.
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Judge approves American-US Airways merger
FILE - From left; US Airways Group Chairman and CEO Douglas Parker with American Airlines and AMR Corporation, Chairman, President and CEO Thomas Horton, and American Antitrust Institute Director and Vice President Diana Moss, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this March 19, 2013 file photo, before the Senate subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights. American Airlines won bankruptcy court approval Wednesday March 27, 2013 to combine with US Airways and form the world's biggest airline. But the judge declined to sign off on a proposed $20 million severance package for Tom Horton, currently the CEO of American's parent AMR Corp. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
FILE - From left; US Airways Group Chairman and CEO Douglas Parker with American Airlines and AMR Corporation, Chairman, President and CEO Thomas Horton, and American Antitrust Institute Director and Vice President Diana Moss, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this March 19, 2013 file photo, before the Senate subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights. American Airlines won bankruptcy court approval Wednesday March 27, 2013 to combine with US Airways and form the world's biggest airline. But the judge declined to sign off on a proposed $20 million severance package for Tom Horton, currently the CEO of American's parent AMR Corp. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? American Airlines won bankruptcy court approval Wednesday to combine with US Airways and form the world's biggest airline.
"The merger is an excellent result. I don't think anybody disputes that," Judge Sean H. Lane said before issuing his decision.
But the judge declined to sign off on a proposed $20 million severance package for Tom Horton, currently the CEO of American's parent AMR Corp.
The approval is an important milestone for American, which filed for Chapter 11 in November 2011 after having long resisted using the bankruptcy process to cut labor and other costs. The merger still needs approval from Department of Justice antitrust regulators and US Airways shareholders. It is expected to close by the fall.
The combined airline will have 6,700 daily flights and annual revenue of roughly $40 billion. The new American Airlines will fly slightly more passengers than United, the current No. 1. It will be run by Doug Parker, the CEO of US Airways Group Inc., who began pursuing a merger shortly after American entered bankruptcy protection.
The U.S. trustee, a federal bankruptcy watchdog, had objected to the severance package for Horton. While he didn't question the amount, Lane agreed that the timing of it seemed to violate prohibitions in the bankruptcy law.
"Approving it today is just not appropriate," Lane said. The judge plans to issue a written decision at a later date detailing his reasoning.
Horton has spent nearly his entire career at American, becoming CEO when the company filed for bankruptcy. Horton will cede the CEO position to Parker when the deal closes, and has agreed to leave the company's board within a year of the closing date.
In 2011, Horton was paid a salary of $618,135. He also got stock awards and options that were valued that year at nearly $2.7 million, but the company argued those could be nearly worthless after the bankruptcy reorganization. Figures for 2012 aren't yet available.
The proposed severance package includes $19.9 million in cash and stock as well as a lifetime of free first-class tickets on American for Horton and his wife.
Horton could still receive the payout. American's lawyers offered a possible solution during the hearing: American and US Airways would amend their merger agreement to say that Horton's severance would be subject to ratification of the board of directors of the new airline, after the merger closes.
Jack Butler, a lawyer with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, said he expects Horton to eventually get his payout. Butler's firm represents American's creditors, who support the merger.
"Tom has never made this case about himself, and I don't expect him to start now," Butler said.
In most bankruptcy cases, creditors lose part of the money they are owed. Thanks in part to the merger, creditors in this case will get back what they are owed. Onetime shareholders of AMR Corp. are slated to get a 3.5 percent of the new airline.
Separately, Lane approved a motion to extend American's exclusive period for filing a reorganization plan until May 29, the last such extension allowed under law. There is then a 60-day waiting period for creditors to object to the plan before Lane can sign off on American's emergence from bankruptcy protection.
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Airlines Writer David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this article.
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Scott Mayerowitz can be reached at http://twitter.com/GlobeTrotScott.
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Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Amazon reportedly increasing Kindle phone screen size in response to ?phablet? fever
By Simon Evans MEXICO CITY, March 27 (Reuters) - United States central defenders Omar Gonzalez and Matt Besler went into Tuesday's game against Mexico at the Azteca Stadium with just two World Cup qualifying starts between them, but looked like they had been alongside each other for years in a spirited 0-0 draw. Gonzalez, making his third start in a qualifier and Besler making his first, held Mexico at bay in front of more than 95,000 fans as the U.S earned just their second point ever at the home of their arch-rivals. ...
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/amazon-reportedly-increasing-kindle-phone-screen-size-response-204859764.html
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Athens High classes lack coding | The Post
From Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg to former President Bill Clinton, more and more leaders agree that coding is the way to a more technologically advanced future, and schools across the country are hopping on board.
At a time when new jobs can be scarce, Code.org estimates 1.4 million new jobs will be created in computers by 2020.
While some schools offer computer programming and coding classes, many school districts see computer programming as a course that is easy to cut to save funding, said John Slattery, who teaches science at Athens High School.
?We think that there?s a need for it because some students need to be able to think logically with 21st century skills,? Slattery said. ?(Coding) is a great way to get kids to think more logically and sequentially.?
Slattery taught information technology courses for 25 years at Athens High School, but because of budget cuts, he had to start teaching regular science courses two years ago.
In past courses, Slattery has taught word processing, HTML and GameMaker ? basic coding programs.
Though Athens County Schools Superintendent Carl Martin and Athens High School Principal Mike Meek said it is absolutely important to learn about coding and new computer technology methods, neither is able to fit coding courses into the curriculum.
?(Coding) is not something that?s a front-runner in terms of our budget, but we?ll definitely take it into consideration in the future,? Martin said. ?Our energies right now are implementing the proper core requirements set up by the state and federal learning standards and instruction.?
While Meek doesn?t see computer technology courses being added to the curriculum within the next few years, he said he sees even more advanced technology down the road, in which everything in schools will be computer-based.
?Over the next few years, you?ll probably see schools who will start meeting those types of technological needs,? Meek said. ?I can see books going by the wayside in the future. It probably won?t happen during my tenure, but it will eventually.?
While computer programming courses are offered at Ohio University, the only way to make these courses a reality in high schools is to make them a priority in the curriculum.
?I?d really like to see us be able to (teach more coding classes), but, unfortunately, the interests and demands of the administration don?t really focus on that because of the budget constraints and focus on standardized testing,? Slattery said.
az346610@ohiou.edu
Source: http://thepost.ohiou.edu/content/athens-high-classes-lack-coding
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Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Kerry meets again with Afghan President Karzai
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry accepts an Afghan-made soccer ball from Zahra Mahmoodi, captain of Afghanistan's women's soccer team, as he meets with Afghan women entrepreneurs at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, March 26, 2013. Kerry met again Tuesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a day after they put on a show of unity as they tried to end recent bickering over anti-American comments made by the Afghan leader. (AP Photo/Jason Reed, POOL)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry accepts an Afghan-made soccer ball from Zahra Mahmoodi, captain of Afghanistan's women's soccer team, as he meets with Afghan women entrepreneurs at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, March 26, 2013. Kerry met again Tuesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a day after they put on a show of unity as they tried to end recent bickering over anti-American comments made by the Afghan leader. (AP Photo/Jason Reed, POOL)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry waves from the steps of his aircraft with the snow-capped mountains of Afghanistan in the background as he departs Kabul,Tuesday March 26, 2013. Kerry met again Tuesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a day after they put on a show of unity as they tried to end recent bickering over anti-American comments made by the Afghan leader. (AP Photo/Jason Reed, POOL)
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry talks to staff during his visit to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Tuesday March 26, 2013. Kerry met again Tuesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a day after they put on a show of unity as they tried to end recent bickering over anti-American comments made by the Afghan leader. (AP Photo/Jason Reed, POOL)
KABUL (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met again Tuesday with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, a day after they put on a show of unity as they tried to end recent bickering over anti-American comments made by the Afghan leader.
Kerry also met Tuesday at the American Embassy in Kabul with participants in a U.S.-backed women's entrepreneurship program. He heard a succession of concerns from businesswomen fearful of what the 2014 transition will mean for not only for women and girls but for Afghanistan's commerce in general.
Many advocates for women's rights worry that the departure of international troops will lead to a deterioration in conditions for women, who were denied basic rights such as education under Taliban rule.
"After the transition happens, we are hoping for the same attention" as we get now, said Hassina Syed, who runs catering, construction and transportation firms. With the transition approaching "there is a lot of negative effect on the business sector," she told Kerry.
Kerry also spoke with civic leaders preparing for Afghanistan's 2014 elections, telling them he wanted to pay the "respects of everybody in America for the journey that you are on and for the great contribution you're making to your country and the efforts you're making to develop this democracy."
"You're engaged in a remarkable effort and the whole world is watching," Kerry said.
Kerry arrived Monday in Kabul amid concerns that Karzai may be jeopardizing progress in the war against extremism with his rhetoric. Karzai infuriated U.S. officials earlier this month by accusing Washington of colluding with Taliban insurgents to keep Afghanistan weak even as the Obama administration pressed ahead with plans to hand off security responsibility to Afghan forces and end NATO's combat mission by the end of next year.
After a private meeting, Kerry said he had asked Karzai about the comments and was very satisfied with the president's explanation. He said the two countries were on the same page as international forces prepare to end combat operations in 2014.
At a joint news conference after his talks with Kerry, Karzai told reporters his comments in a nationally televised speech had been misinterpreted by the media. Kerry demurred on that point but said people sometimes say things in public that reflect ideas they have heard from others but don't necessarily agree with.
"I am confident the president (Karzai) does not believe the U.S. has any interest except to see the Taliban come to the table to make peace and that we are completely cooperative with the government of Afghanistan with respect to the protection of their efforts and their people," Kerry said.
For his part, Karzai said he had been trying to make the point in his speech that if the Taliban really wanted foreign troops out of Afghanistan they should stop killing people. On Tuesday, eight suicide bombers attacked a police headquarters in the eastern city of Jalalabad, killing five officers and wounding four, police said. Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attacks.
One of the female entrepreneurs Kerry met Tuesday was Afghan Women's National Soccer team captain Zahra Mahmoodi, who tries to promote gender equality through sports. She said that even with the presence of the international forces and aid groups that focus on women's rights, it is still a struggle to persuade traditional conservative families to allow their daughters to play.
Mahmoodi also had a more pressing request for Kerry: a field on which to play. Women's teams used to use the International Security Assistance Force's pitch for games, but it has been turned into a helicopter landing pad. Kerry promised he would look into the matter.
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Study: Health overhaul to raise claims cost 32 pct
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Insurance companies will have to pay out an average of 32 percent more for medical claims on individual health policies under President Barack Obama's overhaul, the nation's leading group of financial risk analysts has estimated.
That's likely to increase premiums for at least some Americans buying individual plans.
The report by the Society of Actuaries could turn into a big headache for the Obama administration at a time when many parts of the country remain skeptical about the Affordable Care Act.
While some states will see medical claims costs per person decline, the report concluded the overwhelming majority will see double-digit increases in their individual health insurance markets, where people purchase coverage directly from insurers.
The disparities are striking. By 2017, the estimated increase would be 62 percent for California, about 80 percent for Ohio, more than 20 percent for Florida and 67 percent for Maryland. Much of the reason for the higher claims costs is that sicker people are expected to join the pool, the report said.
The report did not make similar estimates for employer plans, the mainstay for workers and their families. That's because the primary impact of Obama's law is on people who don't have coverage through their jobs.
The administration questions the design of the study, saying it focused only on one piece of the puzzle and ignored cost relief strategies in the law such as tax credits to help people afford premiums and special payments to insurers who attract an outsize share of the sick. The study also doesn't take into account the potential price-cutting effect of competition in new state insurance markets that will go live on Oct. 1, administration officials said.
At a White House briefing on Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said some of what passes for health insurance today is so skimpy it can't be compared to the comprehensive coverage available under the law. "Some of these folks have very high catastrophic plans that don't pay for anything unless you get hit by a bus," she said. "They're really mortgage protection, not health insurance."
A prominent national expert, recently retired Medicare chief actuary Rick Foster, said the report does "a credible job" of estimating potential enrollment and costs under the law, "without trying to tilt the answers in any particular direction."
"Having said that," Foster added, "actuaries tend to be financially conservative, so the various assumptions might be more inclined to consider what might go wrong than to anticipate that everything will work beautifully." Actuaries use statistics and economic theory to make long-range cost projections for insurance and pension programs sponsored by businesses and government. The society is headquartered near Chicago.
Kristi Bohn, an actuary who worked on the study, acknowledged it did not attempt to estimate the effect of subsidies, insurer competition and other factors that could mitigate cost increases. She said the goal was to look at the underlying cost of medical care.
"Claims cost is the most important driver of health care premiums," she said.
"We don't see ourselves as a political organization," Bohn added. "We are trying to figure out what the situation at hand is."
On the plus side, the report found the law will cover more than 32 million currently uninsured Americans when fully phased in. And some states ? including New York and Massachusetts ? will see double-digit declines in costs for claims in the individual market.
Uncertainty over costs has been a major issue since the law passed three years ago, and remains so just months before a big push to cover the uninsured gets rolling Oct. 1. Middle-class households will be able to purchase subsidized private insurance in new marketplaces, while low-income people will be steered to Medicaid and other safety net programs. States are free to accept or reject a Medicaid expansion also offered under the law.
Obama has promised that the new law will bring costs down. That seems a stretch now. While the nation has been enjoying a lull in health care inflation the past few years, even some former administration advisers say a new round of cost-curbing legislation will be needed.
Bohn said the study overall presents a mixed picture.
Millions of now-uninsured people will be covered as the market for directly purchased insurance more than doubles with the help of government subsidies. The study found that market will grow to more than 25 million people. But costs will rise because spending on sicker people and other high-cost groups will overwhelm an influx of younger, healthier people into the program.
Some of the higher-cost cases will come from existing state high-risk insurance pools. Those people will now be able to get coverage in the individual insurance market, since insurance companies will no longer be able to turn them down. Other people will end up buying their own plans because their employers cancel coverage. While some of these individuals might save money for themselves, they will end up raising costs for others.
Part the reason for the wide disparities in the study is that states have different populations and insurance rules. In the relatively small number of states where insurers were already restricted from charging higher rates to older, sicker people, the cost impact is less.
"States are starting from different starting points, and they are all getting closer to one another," said Bohn.
The study also did not model the likely patchwork results from some states accepting the law's Medicaid expansion while others reject it. It presented estimates for two hypothetical scenarios in which all states either accept or reject the expansion.
Larry Levitt, an insurance expert with the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation, reviewed the report and said the actuaries need to answer more questions.
"I'd generally characterize it as providing useful background information, but I don't think it's complete enough to be treated as a projection," Levitt said. The conclusion that employers with sicker workers would drop coverage is "speculative," he said.
Another caveat: The Society of Actuaries contracted Optum, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, to do the number-crunching that drives the report. United also owns the nation's largest health insurance company. Bohn said the study reflects the professional conclusions of the society, not Optum or its parent company.
___
AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.
Online:
Society of Actuaries __ http://www.soa.org/NewlyInsured/
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/study-health-overhaul-raise-claims-cost-32-pct-173335479--politics.html
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Monday, March 25, 2013
Chief justice's lesbian cousin will attend landmark gay-marriage argument
By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News
A lesbian cousin of Chief Justice John Roberts will attend the landmark Supreme Court arguments on gay marriage and says she is confident he will see that gays deserve ?dignity, respect, and equality under the law.?
Jean Podrasky told the Los Angeles Times that she will sit in a section of the courtroom reserved for relatives and guests of the chief justice. She said that her partner of four years, Grace Fasano, whom she wants to marry, will attend with her.
Podrasky, an accountant who the Times said is a first cousin of the chief justice on his mother?s side, wrote about Roberts in a column Monday for the National Center for Lesbian Rights.
?I feel confident that John is wise enough to see that society is becoming more accepting of the humanity of same-sex couples and the simple truth that we deserve to be treated with dignity, respect, and equality under the law,? she wrote.
The court is hearing two gay-rights cases this week. On Tuesday, it will consider Proposition 8, a ban on gay marriage approved by California voters in 2008. Podrasky lives in San Francisco.
On Wednesday, the court will take up the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which blocks federal recognition of gay marriages sanctioned by states and prevents legally married gay couples from receiving certain federal benefits.
Roberts was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2005. He generally sides with the court?s conservative wing, but last year he sided with liberals on the court in upholding President Barack Obama?s health care overhaul.
Podrasky told the newspaper that she usually sees the chief justice only on family occasions and that he knows she is gay. She hopes he will meet her partner during their visit to Washington.
Supreme Court justices can give tickets to family and other guests. The seats are to the justices? left as they face the courtroom.
Podrasky told the newspaper that she got the coveted courtroom seats by emailing Roberts? sister, then going through his secretary. She said Roberts knows she is attending.
In the weeks before the 2008 election, Podrasky carried a sign opposing Proposition 8 at a transit station and handed out fliers on a college campus, the Times reported.
In her column, she wrote that she believes Roberts understands that ruling for gay marriage will not be ?out of step with where the majority of Americans now sit,? and hopes that most of the other justices will join him.
?I am certain that I am not the only relative that will be directly affected by their rulings,? she wrote.
Pete Williams of NBC News contributed to this report.
Related:
Same-sex couple wins $100,000 dream wedding
Gay marriage's big day in court: What's at stake?
Timeline: Key dates in the struggle for gay rights
This story was originally published on Mon Mar 25, 2013 8:08 AM EDT
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Israelis get kosher cigarettes for Passover
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Observant Jews in Israel craving a smoke during the week-long Passover holiday that starts at sundown Monday can now enjoy a rabbi-approved puff.
It's the first time cigarettes have joined the long list of goods stringently checked to ensure they comply with Passover rules on what items are allowed, or kosher for the holiday ? meaning they have not come in contact with grains or other forbidden ingredients.
The stamp of approval came from the Beit Yosef private rabbinic group, which certifies foods as compliant with Jewish dietary restrictions. Last month, Beit Yosef approved three local cigarette brands for smoking during Passover. The chief rabbinate in Israel, however, disapproved of the measure, saying cigarettes are life-threatening and should not be approved by rabbis.
"Poison is not kosher. For all days of the year, not just Passover," said the chief rabbinate's spokesman, Ziv Maor.
But Rabbi Igal Ben Ezra, Beit Yosef's chief supervisor, said the certification was meant for Israeli smokers who only buy products marked as "kosher for Passover" and who might be concerned about buying cigarettes without such a label. It's "mostly for people who have doubts on this subject," said Ben Ezra.
The Jewish holiday of Passover celebrates the biblical Exodus story of the Israelites' escape from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. According to tradition, the Israelites were in a rush and had no time to let their bread rise as they fled. To commemorate the hasty Exodus, Jews eat matzo, or flat wheat crackers that symbolize unleavened bread, and refrain from foods containing leavening such as pasta during Passover.
During the holiday, Jewish law forbids chametz ? anything consisting of grains that may have come in contact with water, starting the process of fermentation.
Jews, including many who are not religiously observant the rest of the year, spend weeks ahead of Passover cleaning their homes and belongings to rid them of any morsel of food considered to be chametz.
The week-long Passover diet is in addition to the year-round kosher regulations that ban pork and shellfish, require meat to be ritually slaughtered and forbid the mixing of meat and dairy.
And even though only about 20 percent of Israeli Jews identify themselves as Orthodox, statistics suggest almost everyone attends the traditional Passover meal and most Israeli Jews refrain from eating foods that contain forbidden grains throughout the holiday.
To accommodate them, the Israeli food industry transforms ahead of Passover.
Manufacturers of popular snacks substitute their regular recipes with ingredients approved for Passover. Cows eat corn and alfalfa instead of grain-based hay so that observant Jews can drink their milk because religious practice forbids deriving benefit from an animal that has eaten banned grains. Kosher restaurants, including kosher branches of McDonalds, serve buns made of alternative ingredients, such as potato flour.
Determining what exactly is permitted during Passover has become more complicated in the modern age, as rabbis have pondered what to do with products like pet food and pills. Many industries have adapted and as a result, there are now pet products and medicines that are labeled kosher-for-Passover.
This is the first time, however, that cigarettes in Israel are carrying such a label for the holiday.
Ben Ezra, the Kosher supervisor, said the local cigarette company, Dubek contacted him to help settle the kosher debate.
After an inspection of the company's factory a month ago, he concluded that Noblesse, Time and Golf cigarettes could be deemed kosher for smoking on Passover ? as long as the factory used ingredients that had not come in contact with leavened products. He would not specify those ingredients, saying he was sworn to secrecy.
Ben Ezra said he himself quit smoking eight months ago but used to smoke during Passover even without such a thing as "kosher cigarettes."
Maor, the spokesman for Israel's chief rabbis who oversee kosher supervision of foods, said they do not approve of labeling cigarettes as kosher and permitted for Passover, but were unable to prevent it because they only regulate the food market.
"There are some communities who consider it important that everything they bring home has a kosher stamp on it," said Maor.
Cigarettes have not been alone in the debate over what's kosher for Passover.
In the 1990s, some particularly devout officials asked the national water authority to stop pumping water on Passover from the country's sole freshwater lake, the Sea of Galilee. They were concerned that Jews could break Passover rules by drinking tap water possibly "contaminated" by fishermen who may have thrown grain-based fish food into the lake or picnicking Israelis who may have tossed breadcrumbs into it.
As a result, Israel's water authority began plugging the pipe from the Sea of Galilee three days before Passover and pumping water from underground aquifers and water reservoirs instead ? though most rabbis, even from the strictest streams of ultra-Orthodox Judaism, say this is unnecessary.
"No one feels the difference," said Uri Schor, spokesman of the water authority. "Whenever you open the faucet, you have water."
Hours ahead of Passover, many Israelis were finishing cleaning their homes Monday of every last bread crumb, feverishly cooking and swarming supermarkets to stock up on food for the Seder, the traditional Passover meal.
In Jerusalem, smoke filled the air as some religious Jews burned the last of their bread crumbs while others dunked their plates in large vats of hot water set up around the city, so their dishes would be completely free of bread products.
The airport was busier than usual with travelers taking advantage of the holiday to travel abroad, and local TV stations gave Israelis advice on avoiding traffic jams when driving to their relatives for the Seder.
The military announced a two-day closure on the West Bank to keep Palestinians out of Israel at the start of the holiday, with exemptions for medical emergencies and other humanitarian reasons. The army imposes such security closures during Jewish and Israeli holidays.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israelis-kosher-cigarettes-passover-144411923.html
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Evernote Looks For Intl Growth, Inks Strategic Partnership With Deutsche Telekom, Starting With 1-Year Premium Accounts In Germany
Evernote, the popular note taking and personal organizer app, today took another step in its strategy to ramp up its international presence, with news that it has inked a strategic partnership with Deutsche Telekom, the German carrier that also owns T-Mobile. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed -- we are asking -- but for now the first part of the deal will mean that all DT customers in Germany will get one year of Evernote Premium service -- a deal that usually costs ?40 ($52) annually for additional storage space and other features. With DT claiming 37 million mobile and 22 million?fixed line customers, the partnership potentially adds up to 60 million more users to Evernote's platform.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/NdW_BvCDgjY/
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Zimbabwe court orders rights lawyer to be released
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) ? Zimbabwe's High Court orders the immediate release of a prominent rights lawyer detained for eight days for obstructing the course of justice.
Court officials said Beatrice Mtetwa was asked to post a $500 bail and her release papers will be prepared Monday.
High Court Judge Joseph Musakwa ruled that Mtetwa was following professional legal procedures when she demanded to see a search warrant from police at the offices of four officials in Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party. Those officials are accused of illegally compiling information on high level corruption and will appeal for bail later Monday.
Mtetwa and the four officials deny any wrongdoing.
Lawyers' groups have cited the arrests as intimidation against opponents of President Robert Mugabe by loyalist police and officials ahead of elections around July.
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Sunday, March 24, 2013
Turkish PM says Kurdish peace moves open to sabotage
By Nick Tattersall and Daren Butler
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan accused Kurdish politicians on Friday of trying to sabotage talks to end a 28-year-old insurrection, lamenting the absence of Turkish flags during a mass rally to mark a ceasefire by Kurdish rebels.
Jailed rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan ordered his fighters to cease fire and withdraw from Turkey in a letter read to hundreds of thousands in the city of Diyarbakir in the mainly Kurdish southeast on Thursday. Kurdish red-yellow-green flags and banners displaying Ocalan's face dominated the crowd.
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) led by Ocalan, imprisoned since 1999 on a prison island, had originally demanded a fully independent Kurdish state. However, it has moderated its declared demands to political autonomy and broad cultural freedom within Turkey.
Erdogan, taking a big political gamble in pushing talks with Ocalan, must avoid stirring fears among conservatives that any deal with the PKK could lead to the breakup of Turkey.
"We are going through an extremely sensitive process vulnerable to provocations," Erdogan told a meeting of his ruling AK Party officials in the capital Ankara.
"The absence of our star and crescent flag in Diyarbakir was a provocation designed to sabotage the process," Erdogan said, accusing organizers of the celebrations of "insincerity".
"Today is the day for unity, togetherness and fraternity."
The mass rally was organized largely by local Kurdish politicians and officials of a Kurdish political party represented in the national parliament - figures whose co- operation he will need to press the peace process.
Ocalan, in talks with government representatives since October, ordered his fighters to withdraw to their bases in the mountains of northern Iraq; but he has set no timetable.
Asked by reporters if he aimed to complete the process this year, Erdogan said: "that is our target. 2014 will then be a healthy election year."
The Kurdish conflict has killed 40,000 people, opened Turkey to accusations of human rights abuses, undermined its ambitions to play a greater role on the world stage and consigned its southeast to poverty. For its part, the PKK is regarded by the United States, European Union and Turkey as a terrorist group.
Ending Turkey's most intractable conflict would cement Erdogan's reputation as the country's strongest leader since Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, who founded the modern republic on the ruins of the Ottoman Empire, and could land him Kurdish support for his ultimate ambition - taking power as a new executive president in elections next year.
Failure could sully his reputation, plunge the southeast back into a deeper conflict at a time of growing Kurdish assertiveness in northern Iraq and war-torn Syria, and lose him the confidence of the conservative grass roots voters who form the bedrock of support for his ruling AK Party.
PKK "READY FOR WAR AND PEACE"
The biggest obstacle to the process could come from within the PKK itself and more hawkish Kurds, who may have been disappointed that his announcement simply declared the period of armed struggle over without making any concrete demands.
"The Kurds have been fighting for their rights for 30 years and this state of war has brought them a kind of patience, foresight and wisdom. They know better than anyone about being deceived and left in the lurch," said Ezgi Basaran, columnist with the liberal Radikal daily.
The PKK leadership in the mountains of northern Iraq has so far voiced its loyalty to Ocalan and support for the process, but that support could splinter when it comes to implementation.
In a message on Thursday to mark the Kurdish new year Newroz celebrations, top militant commander Murat Karayilan did not suggest the group was quite ready to put down its weapons.
"Everyone should know that the PKK is ready for both war and peace," Karayilan said.
Erdogan has already taken considerable risks since he was elected in 2002, breaking taboos deeply rooted in a conservative establishment, not least in the military, by extending cultural and language rights to the country's 15 million Kurds, who make up roughly a fifth of Turkey's population.
It is a risk none of his predecessors dared take.
In his decade in power, Erdogan has tamed the once all-powerful military, a conservative and staunchly secular force which launched three outright coups between 1960 and 1980 and pressured an Islamist-led government to quit in 1997.
The military saw itself as the guardian of a secular and united Turkey, with little sympathy for Kurdish demands.
Curbing its power removed one of the major obstacles to a Kurdish solution and the fact that talks with Ocalan, hated by most Turks and held in virtual isolation on an island prison off Istanbul since his capture in 1999, have been held at all is a testament to Erdogan's political guile.
"(Ocalan) has had to wait for the right conditions, his cadre and for the government to all be aligned," Ertugrul Kurkcu, a parliamentarian from the pro-Kurdish BDP party who met Ocalan in 1994, told Reuters.
"He hasn't been sitting still in prison. He has always been preparing himself for this day."
Kurdish expectations include changes to the constitutional definition of citizenship, mother-tongue education from primary school age, the strengthening of local government and a lower threshold for political parties to be represented in parliament.
One of the most contentious could be the question of a general amnesty and freedom for Ocalan, something Erdogan has, for now, ruled out.
(Editing by Ralph Boulton)
(Additional reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley in Diyarbakir, Daren Butler, Ece Toksabay and Seltem Iyigun in Istanbul; Writing by Nick Tattersall)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/turkish-pm-says-kurdish-peace-moves-open-sabotage-151341319.html
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