US shutdown two days from global disaster--US shutdown two days from global disaster : On the verge of a deal. That’s how much time is left for politicians to work out a deal to raise the borrowing limit and avoid an unprecedented US debt default.
The deadline looms as the government shutdown enters its third week and negotiations move to the Senate, after a political gridlock in the House of Representatives.
Here’s the latest on the US situation
Democrat Senate majority leader Harry Reid and Republican leader Mitch McConnell have now taken centre stage in the negotiations as talks moved to the Senate after a deadlock in the House of Representatives.
Overnight, the pair met to discuss raising the $16.7 trillion debt limit until at least mid-February and reopening the government with enough funds to operate until mid-January. President Barack Obama has also postponed an important meeting to let their talks continue.
Earlier this week Mr Reid said he was “optimistic” they would reach a “reasonable” agreement, while Republican leader Mr McConnell called the talks “constructive exchanges”.
No solution has been reached yet, but President Obama also sounds optimistic.
“My hope is that a spirit of cooperation will move us forward over the next few hours,” he said while volunteering at a soup kitchen. Although he also added a swipe at Republicans saying if they don’t set aside partisan concerns “we stand a good chance of defaulting”.
What does it mean for the markets?
Government Shutdown Latest--"Government shutdown" and "debt ceiling" will top the list of phrases that investors will track in the coming weeks as they listen to corporate chief executives and try to gauge the impact of Washington gridlock on U.S. company earnings.
Companies began reporting their quarterly results this week amid mounting worries about the partial federal government shutdown that began October 1 and the possibility that the United States could default on its debt. Investors see both as threats to already modest levels of consumer spending and economic growth.
Profit and revenue growth are slowing, too, raising concerns about equity valuations. Stocks are less than 3 percent off their record highs even after drifting lower since the fiscal stalemate between Republicans and President Barack Obama's Democrats began earlier this month.
The benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 Index surged more than 1.5 percent on Thursday after Republicans in the House of Representatives unveiled a plan that would avert a debt default. The Treasury Department says it would be unable to pay all of its bills if Congress does not raise the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling by October 17.
"It's hard to quantify at this point, but there will definitely be a negative impact" on the economy and earnings, said Natalie Trunow, chief investment officer of equities at Calvert Investment Management, which has about $13 billion in assets.
"Some capex might be delayed and some hiring might be delayed until the political situation resolves itself."
Ohio judge declares man legally dead . Donald Miller vanished from Ohio in the ’80s and was later declared dead. Monday, a judge ruled against his request that he re-establish a Social Security number. Why? A quirky law does not allow a death ruling to be overturned after three years.
While he’s been “resurrected,” his death ruling cannot be changed, citing an October 10 CNN report.
Hancock County Probate Court Judge Allan Davis called it a “strange, strange situation.”
“We’ve got the obvious here. A man sitting in the courtroom, he appears to be in good health,” said Davis, who told Miller the three-year limit was clear.
“I don’t know where that leaves you, but you’re still deceased as far as the law is concerned,” the judge said.
The man hired an attorney to overturn the filing, to no avail. According to state law, a judge cannot overturn a ruling of death after three years expires. As such, the living man is legally dead and must remain so for all eternity. In this case, death is truly final for the un-dearly departed man.
His ex-wife was relieved of the court’s decision. Had the ruling gone the other way, she could have been responsible for repaying thousands of dollars in Social Security death benefits.
Bin Laden wives children, Osama bin Laden's family is expected to be deported from Pakistan early on Wednesday, their lawyer and an intelligence official said, 11 months after the US raid that killed the Al-Qaeda kingpin.
The 9/11 mastermind's three widows and their children were detained by the Pakistani authorities after the Saudi was killed in a US Navy SEAL operation in the garrison town of Abbottabad, north of Islamabad, last May.
The news came as Washington and Islamabad try to patch up their relationship, which was badly damaged by the revelation that the world's most wanted man was living a stone's throw from Pakistan's elite military academy.
Two weeks ago a court sentenced the widows and two of bin Laden's older daughters to 45 days' detention on charges of illegal entry and residency in Pakistan and ordered their deportation as soon as possible.
They are due to complete the sentence, served in an Islamabad villa designated by authorities as a "sub-jail", on Tuesday, as it officially began when they were formally arrested on the charges on March 3.
"They will go tonight or tomorrow early in the morning. After 12 tonight they can be deported any time," their lawyer Muhammad Aamir told AFP on Tuesday.
Hackers target think tank, The loose-knit hacking movement "Anonymous" claimed Sunday to have stolen thousands of credit card numbers and other personal information belonging to clients of U.S.-based security think tank Stratfor. One hacker said the goal was to pilfer funds from individuals' accounts to give away as Christmas donations, and some victims confirmed unauthorized transactions linked to their credit cards.
Anonymous boasted of stealing Stratfor's confidential client list, which includes entities ranging from Apple Inc. to the U.S. Air Force to the Miami Police Department, and mining it for more than 4,000 credit card numbers, passwords and home addresses.
Austin, Texas-based Stratfor provides political, economic and military analysis to help clients reduce risk, according to a description on its YouTube page. It charges subscribers for its reports and analysis, delivered through the web, emails and videos. The company's main website was down, with a banner saying the "site is currently undergoing maintenance."
America Is Fighting Back, The one thing Americans can be relatively certain of is that Republicans do love war. It does not seem to matter who their particular enemy is, they enjoy waging war and the cost to Americans is never a factor in their pursuit of death and destruction on real or imagined enemies. It is surprising then, that Republicans condemn President Obama for waging class warfare because as long as there is conflict, especially in America, Republicans just cannot get enough. However, the newest Republican canard that the president and Democrats are engaging in class warfare is baseless and an attempt at divisive rhetoric to stir up opposition to the president and especially, his attempt at creating jobs.
The crux of the Republican’s claim that the president is waging class war is the miniscule surtax on Americans making more than a million dollars annually to pay for infrastructure improvements, hiring and retaining teachers, firefighters, and police officers. Republicans in the Senate blocked any discussion of the president’s jobs plan in its entirety and subsequently, piece by piece. Republicans claim the surtax (0.7%) is an unfair assault on 9% of Americans, and that figure does not accurately include the ultra-wealthy that make up 1-2% of those earning at least a million dollars annually. Republicans have been waging war on 92% of Americans for a decade (at least), and the minute the President and Democrats suggest increasing the wealthy’s taxes, they cry foul and call it class war and accuse the president of divisiveness.
US: Bomb attacks possible in Nigeria capital, A radical Muslim sect reponsible for attacks that left more than 100 people dead in northeast Nigeria this week could bomb three luxury hotels frequented by foreigners in the oil-rich nation's capital, the U.S. Embassy warned Sunday.
The unusually specific warning from U.S. diplomats identified possible targets of the sect known locally as Boko Haram as the Hilton, Nicon Luxury and Sheraton hotels. Those hotels draw diplomats, politicians and Nigeria's business elite daily in the country's central capital of Abuja.
The embassy said the attack may come as Nigeria celebrates the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha and that its diplomats and staff had been instructed to avoid those hotels.
Deb MacLean, an embassy spokeswoman, declined to offer further details about the threat or the source of the information Sunday.
