JERUSALEM (AP) - Israeli archeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old gold earring beneath a parking lot next to the walls of Jerusalem's old city, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Monday.
The discovery dates back to the time of Christ, during the Roman period, said Doron Ben-Ami, director of excavation at the site. The piece was found in a Byzantine structure built several centuries after the jeweled earring was made, showing it was likely passed down through generations, he said.
The find is luxurious: A large pearl inlaid in gold with two drop pieces, each with an emerald and pearl set in gold.
"It must have belonged to someone of the elite in Jerusalem," Ben-Ami said. "Such a precious item, it couldn't be one of just ordinary people."
NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street headed for a higher open Monday, boosted by hopes that China's $586 billion economic stimulus package will help ease the global recession.
Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average and broader market indexes rose more than 2 percent ahead of the opening bell in New York. The move higher follows a rally in Asia and Europe after China announced plans to boost its economy through a mix of spending, subsidies, looser credit policies and tax cuts.
Also boosting U.S. markets, the government on Monday provided new financial assistance to troubled insurance giant American International Group Inc., including pouring $40 billion into the company in return for partial ownership. The action was announced jointly by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department.
All told, the moves, on top of the bailout of AIG announced in September, boost aid to the company to around $150 billion. The insurer also announced a $24.47 billion loss for the third quarter.
CAMAGUEY, Cuba (AP) - A ferocious Hurricane Paloma roared ashore in Cuba on Sunday, downing power lines, flooding the coast and forcing hundreds of thousands of people to evacuate on an island still recovering from two other devastating storms.
Early reports of damage were limited, but Cuban state media said the late-season storm toppled a major communications tower on the southern coast, interrupted electricity and phone service, and sent sea surges of up to 700 meters along the coast.
Paloma made landfall near Santa Cruz del Sur late Saturday as an extremely dangerous Category 4 storm, but soon weakened to a tropical storm with winds of 70 mph (110 kph), according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. Forecasters say the Cuban government has discontinued all warnings associated with Paloma.
The storm was expected to continue to lose strength as it slowly moved across Cuba and headed toward the central Bahamas on Monday morning. The storm was expected to unravel and not threaten the southern tip of Florida.
ATLANTA (AP) - The nation's obesity epidemic is exacting a heavy toll: The rate of new diabetes cases nearly doubled in the United States in the past 10 years, the government said Thursday. The highest rates were in the South, according to the first state-by-state review of new diagnoses. The worst was in West Virginia, where about 13 in 1,000 adults were diagnosed with the disease in 2005-07. The lowest was in Minnesota, where the rate was 5 in 1,000.
Nationally, the rate of new cases climbed from about 5 per 1,000 in the mid-1990s to 9 per 1,000 in the middle of this decade.
Roughly 90 percent of cases are Type 2 diabetes, the form linked to obesity.
The findings dovetail with trends seen in obesity and lack of exercise - two health measures where Southern states also rank at the bottom.
High school sophomores should be ready for college by age 16. That's the message from New Hampshire education officials, who announced plans Oct. 30 for a new rigorous state board of exams to be given to 10th graders. Students who pass will be prepared to move on to the state's community or technical colleges, skipping the last two years of high school.
Once implemented, the new battery of tests is expected to guarantee higher competency in core school subjects, lower dropout rates and free up millions of education dollars. Students may take the exams - which are modeled on existing AP or International Baccalaureate tests - as many times as they need to pass. Or those who want to go to a prestigious university may stay and finish the final two years, taking a second, more difficult set of exams senior year. "We want students who are ready to be able to move on to their higher education," says Lyonel Tracy, New Hampshire's Commissioner for Education. "And then we can focus even more attention on those kids who need more help to get there."
But can less schooling really lead to better-prepared students at an earlier age? Outside of the U.S., it's actually a far less radical notion than it sounds. Dozens of industrialized countries expect students to be college-ready by age 16, and those teenagers consistently outperform their American peers on international standardized tests.
With its new assessment system, New Hampshire is adopting a key recommendation of a blue-ribbon panel called the New Commission on Skills of the American Workforce. In 2006, the group issued a report called Tough Choices or Tough Times , a blueprint for how it believes the U.S. must dramatically overhaul education policies in order to maintain a globally competitive economy. "Forty years ago, the United States had the best educated workforce in the world," says William Brock, one of the commission's chairs and a former U.S. Secretary of Labor. "Now we're No. 10 and falling."
As more and more jobs head overseas, Brock and others on the commission can't stress enough how dire the need is for educational reform. "The nation is running out of time," he says.
New Hampshire's announcement comes as Utah and Massachusetts declared that they, too, plan to enact some of the commission's other proposals, such as universal Pre-K and better teacher pay and training. Still more states are expected to sign on in December. And the largest teacher union in the U.S., the National Education Association, is encouraging its affiliates to support such efforts.
Some reform advocates would like to see the report's testing proposals replace current No Child Left Behind legislation. "It makes accountability much more meaningful by stressing critical thinking and true mastery," says Tracy.
No date has been set for when New Hampshire will start administering the new set of exams, which have yet to be developed. But to achieve the goal of sending kids to college at 16, Tracy and his colleagues recognize preparation will have to start early. Nearly four years ago, New Hampshire began an initiative called Follow the Child. Starting practically from birth, educators are expected to chart children's educational progress year to year. In the future, this effort will be bolstered by formalized curricula that specify exactly what kids should know by the end of each grade level.
That should help minimize the need for review year to year. It will also bring New Hampshire's education framework much closer to what occurs in many high-performing European and Asian nations. "It's about defining what lessons students should master and then teaching to those points," says Marc Tucker, co-chair of the commission and president of the National Center for Education and the Economy in Washington. "Kids at every level will be taking tough courses and working hard."
Critics of cutting high school short, however, worry that proposals such as New Hampshire's could exacerbate existing socioeconomic gaps. One key concern is whether test results, at age 16, are really valid enough to indicate if a child should go to university or instead head to a technical school - with the latter almost certainly guaranteeing lower future earning potential. "You know that the kids sent in that direction are going to be from low-income, less-educated families while wealthy parents won't permit it," says Iris Rotberg, a George Washington University education policy professor, who notes similar results in Europe and Asia. She predicts, in turn, that disparity will mean "an even more polarized higher education structure - and ultimately society - than we already have."
BISMARCK, N.D. – North Dakota health officials are recommending that pregnant women and young children avoid eating meat from wild game killed with lead bullets.
The recommendation is based on a study released Wednesday that examined the lead levels in the blood of more than 700 state residents. Those who ate wild game killed with lead bullets appeared to have higher lead levels than those who ate little or no wild game.
The elevated lead levels were not considered dangerous, but North Dakota says pregnant women and children younger than 6 should avoid eating venison harvested using lead bullets.
Those groups are considered most at risk from lead poisoning, which can cause learning problems and convulsions, and in severe cases can lead to brain damage and death.
The study, conducted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the state health department, is the first to connect lead traces in game with higher lead levels in the blood of game eaters, said Dr. Stephen Pickard, a CDC epidemiolgist who works with the state health department.
A separate study by Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources previously found that fragments from lead bullets spread as far as 18 inches away from the wound.
"Nobody was in trouble from the lead levels," Pickard said. However, "the effect was small but large enough to be a concern," he said.
Pickard said the study found "the more recent the consumption of wild game harvested with lead bullets, the higher the level of lead in the blood."
Officials in North Dakota and other states have warned about eating venison killed with lead ammunition since the spring, when a physician conducting tests using a CT scanner found lead in samples of donated deer meat.
The findings led North Dakota's health department to order food pantries to throw out donated venison. Some groups that organize venison donations have called such actions premature and unsupported by science.
Investors worldwide have prepared for a new chief executive of the most important country on Earth for months by shedding assets and shivering with dread -- and on Tuesday they got their man.
The new boss of the U.S. Treasury, Federal Reserve, armed forces and dollar, the new director of global trade flows, the new captain of the capitalist system, will be a 47-year-old attorney who grew up about as far from the dark center of power as can be imagined -- in sun-baked Honolulu.
Barack Obama now stands in broad daylight, where skeptical investors in Tokyo, Singapore, Beijing and London can assess the real man instead of the political animal running for election.
But now comes the tough part: Obama faces a domestic economy ravaged by falling home prices, rising unemployment and thinning industrial production. He faces a banking system savaged by epic greed. He faces a public that's more cynical than ever about its leaders. And he faces two wars.
It's a mess, to be sure, and in many ways, the next two months may represent the apex of the world's hopes for Obama's success at setting everything straight. The next half-dozen U.S. economic problems that arise will be attributed to his predecessor, after all.
But the next dozen after that will be laid at his feet. The way he and his team deal with them will determine our success as investors and citizens over the next four to eight years, and the shape of the world in which my children, now 13 and 16, will emerge as adults.
Wall Street plunged for a second day, triggered by computer gear maker Cisco Systems warning of slumping demand and retailers reporting weak sales for October. Concerns about widespread economic weakness sent the major stock indexes down more than 4 percent Thursday, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which tumbled more than 430 points.
Comments from Cisco that it saw a steep drop in orders in October and reports from retailers that consumers are skipping trips to the mall provided fresh evidence of the economy's struggles. While sales at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. benefited from bargain-seekers, some specialty retailers posted huge drops in monthly sales.
Adding to investors' list of worries, the Labor Department said the number of people continuing to draw unemployment benefits jumped to a 25-year high, increasing by 122,000 to 3.84 million in late October. It marked the highest level since late February 1983, when the economy was being buffeted by a protracted recession.
While new claims for unemployment benefits dipped by 4,000 to a seasonally adjusted level of 481,000 last week, the levels remain elevated. The findings added to the market's unease ahead of Friday's October employment report, a widely watched barometer of the economy's health.
In that sense, Dallek thinks Obama might have more clout if, as expected, he is working with a Democratic-controlled Congress. But McCain also has a record of seeking bipartisan accord, and Dallek predicts that, if elected, he too would get a "honeymoon period" at the outset of his presidency.
In many ways, several experts said, the president’s most powerful weapon in fighting economic malaise will be the early choices he makes for key Cabinet positions, as well as the other advisers he surrounds himself with.
NEW YORK – Former Knicks coach Isiah Thomas was the talk of Madison Square Garden once again on Friday night, when New York lost to the New Jersey Nets 111-110 in the preseason finale just hours after authorities were called to his home.
Vince Carter scored 20 points for the Nets, who avenged a loss in New Jersey earlier this week. Devin Harris and Bobby Simmons each added 16.
Patrick Ewing Jr., whose father is the Knicks' career scoring leader, provided a bright spot for New York with seven points in the fourth quarter, fueling a late rally from a 21-point deficit.
Players learned before the game that authorities were called to Thomas' house, where police said a 47-year-old man was taken to the hospital and treated for an accidental overdose of sleeping pills early Friday morning.
However, there were conflicting reports as to whether it was Thomas, a team consultant and adviser, or another family member who required treatment.
Donnie Walsh, who replaced Thomas as president and then fired him as coach, would only say that someone in the organization had spoken to Thomas and there was "some kind of a family issue and he's asked that we respect their privacy, which I intend to do."
Jamal Crawford had his best game of a poor preseason with 30 points for the Knicks, who may have been distracted after having to answer questions about Thomas from an unusually large media contingent for a preseason game.
"There's a concern, I'm sure everybody I would think is wishing for the best for his family but again ... I don't really know a whole lot," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said before the game.
Like many home games under Thomas last season, the Knicks were booed after falling well behind in the third quarter. New York had a 3-second violation and a shot clock violation in the period while the Nets were turning a five-point halftime lead into a 90-69 bulge.
There was a loud ovation, however, in the fourth when Ewing Jr. checked in. Ewing, who hadn't played in a home game during the preseason, had a pair of dunks and a 3-pointer, eliciting the familiar chant of "Patrick Ewing!" at the Garden.
Down by 18 points with 10 1/2 minutes left, the Knicks cut it to 111-110 on Crawford's layup with 28 seconds left. New York got the ball back with 4 seconds left, but Crawford's jumper from the corner was short.
Simmons scored 16 points and Carter added 13 in the first half, when the Nets shot 59.5 percent and opened a 62-57 lead. The Nets built a 21-point lead late in the third quarter before Crawford hit three straight 3-pointers at the end of the period, cutting it to 90-78.
Both teams, who are expected to be the two worst in the Atlantic Division, finished 3-4 in the preseason.
RENO, Nev. – Barack Obama and John McCain venture into the next-to-last weekend of their testy presidential campaign with the same target — winning the rest of the West.
Once reliable Republican territory, much of the West has seen its politics and demographics shift over the last decade. Three states considered still in play to varying degrees — Nevada, Colorado and New Mexico — could be vital if the electoral math gets tight.
Obama was resuming his campaign in Nevada on Saturday with rallies in Reno and Las Vegas before holding one at night in Albuquerque, N.M. The Democrat put aside political events on Thursday night and Friday to spend time with his grandmother in Hawaii, whom he described as gravely ill.
McCain, pivoting from his three stops in Colorado on Friday, will also be pushing hard in New Mexico on Saturday. He is holding rallies in Albuquerque and in Mesilla, farther south.
As the collapsing economy consumes voter attention, McCain has seized a line of attack that Obama is poised to deepen the problem by raising taxes. He said in Denver that Obama won't target the rich but rather the middle class by putting it "through the wringer."
Obama counters that he would lower taxes for most wage-earners and that McCain's tax plan favors wealthy corporations. He has tagged McCain as being out of time and ideas.
Polls show the path to the winning tally of 270 electoral votes is tricker for McCain, a Republican weighed down by the economic crisis and an unpopular incumbent president.
Obama, wary of overconfidence among his backers, is charting multiple winning paths.
That's where 19 electoral votes out West factor into the equation.
Nevada, with five votes, is posing the toughest challenge for Obama; the race is a tossup. Colorado is competitive, though Obama has a slight edge in polls in the state that offers nine votes. Obama is more deeply favored to win New Mexico's five votes.
President Bush carried all three states in 2004. Obama, the front-runner nationally with 11 days until the election, is focusing his time on plucking away states Bush won four years ago.
Obama could win the White House by hanging onto all the states that Sen. John Kerry won four years ago and then sweeping the three Western states getting attention this weekend.
McCain, though, has mounted comebacks before. Political momentum can change fast.
Part of the West's demographic change includes larger numbers of Hispanics, a traditionally Democratic-leaning group that has posed a challenge for McCain. The most recent Gallup poll showed Obama leading among registered Hispanic voters, 61 percent to 29 percent.
The build going live right now has a lot of class changes.But it doesn't have all of them. Some changes, particularly those that affect high level abilities and some of the changes we made more recently won't be in todays's build. But you will get them all on or before Nov 13 when Lich King goes live.
While we have done some balance testing at level 70 with the changes, we tested at level 80 a lot more, since so many players are focused on Arena combat and endgame raiding.Balance at 70 is going to feel different from 80.
If you played WOW at the 2.0 version before Burning Crusade shipped, you'll remember that this can be a crazy time. You have new abilities through talents, but not new core abilities, and not enough talent points to get everything. There are major gear changes, major mechanic changes, and a lot of class changes. Some of those are going to take some getting used to, and despite our best efforts, it's entirely possible we'll find something broken that needs to be hotfixed right away.
The game should start feeling a little more normal again when Lich King ships. It's cool to keep providing feedback and testing things out. Just try and be a little patient and understanding over the next couple of weeks as players learn about the changes(especially players who weren't in the beta), get all of their broken mods working, and we make whatever fixes we need to make on our end.
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