Hockey in shock after Russian jet crash kills 43

Hockey in shock after Russian jet crash kills 43

Rescuers seen at the crash site of Russian Yak-42 jet near the city of Yaroslavl, on the Volga River about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2011. The Yak-42 jet carrying a top ice hockey team crashed while taking off Wednesday in western Russia. The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the plane was carrying the Lokomotiv ice hockey team from Yaroslavl.

TUNOSHNA, Russia (AP) -- A private Russian jet carrying a top ice hockey team slammed into a riverbank moments after takeoff Wednesday, killing at least 43 people in one of the worst plane crashes ever involving a sports team. Two other people on board were critically injured.

Both Russia and the world of hockey were left stunned by the deaths of so many international stars in one catastrophic event. The International Ice Hockey Federation said 27 players of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team were killed, along with 2 coaches and 7 club officials.

Russian NHL star Alex Ovechkin tweeted: "I'm in shock!!!!!R.I.P ..."

The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry said the Yak-42 plane crashed into the shores of the Volga River immediately after leaving the airport near the western city of Yaroslavl, 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Moscow. The weather was sunny and clear at the time. Russian media said the plane struggled to gain altitude and then crashed into a signal tower, shattering into pieces.

Russian television showed a flaming fragment of the plane in the river as divers worked feverishly to recover bodies.

The plane was carrying the team from Yaroslavl to Minsk, the capital of Belarus, where they were to play Thursday against Dinamo Minsk in the opening game of the Kontinental Hockey League season. It had 45 people on board, including 37 passengers and eight crew, the ministry said.

Officials said Russian player Alexander Galimov survived the crash along with a crewmember.

"Their state of health is very grave. But there is still some hope," said Alexander Degyatryov, chief doctor at Yaroslavl's Solovyov Hospital.

Among the dead were Lokomotiv coach and NHL veteran Brad McCrimmon, a Canadian, as well as Pavol Demitra, who played for the St. Louis Blues and the Vancouver Canucks and was the Slovakian national team captain. Also killed were Czech players Josef Vasicek, Karel Rachunek and Jan Marek, Swedish goalie Stefan Liv, Latvian defenseman Karlis Skrastins and defenseman Ruslan Salei of Belarus, the Emergency Ministry said.

"Though it occurred thousands of miles away from our home arenas, this tragedy represents a catastrophic loss to the hockey world - including the NHL family, which lost so many fathers, sons, teammates and friends," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement.

The crash comes on top of an already mournful year for the NHL in which three of the league's enforcers were found dead: Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien and recently retired Wade Belak.

The cause of Wednesday's crash was not immediately apparent, but Russian news agencies cited unnamed local officials as saying it may have been due to technical problems. The plane was built in 1993 and belonged to a small Moscow-based Yak Service company.

In recent years, Russia and the other former Soviet republics have had some of the world's worst air traffic safety records. Experts blame the poor safety record on the age of the aircraft, weak government controls, poor pilot training and a cost-cutting mentality.

Swarms of police and rescue crews rushed to Tunoshna, a ramshackle village with a blue-domed church on the banks of the Volga River 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of Yaroslavl. One of the plane's engines could be seen poking out of the river and a flotilla of boats combed the water for bodies. Divers struggled to heft the bodies of large, strong athletes in stretchers up the muddy, steep riverbank.

Resident Irina Prakhova saw the plane going down then heard a loud bang.

"It was wobbling in flight, it was clear that something was wrong," said Prakhova. "I saw them pulling bodies to the shore, some still in their seats with seatbelts on."

More than 2,000 mourning fans wearing jerseys and scarves and waving team flags gathered in the evening outside Lokomotiv's stadium in Yaroslavl to pay their respects. Riot police stood guard as fans chanted sport songs in honor of the dead athletes.

Yaroslavl governor Sergei Vakhrukov promised the crowd that the Lokomotiv team would be rebuilt from scratch, prompting anger from some fans at a perceived lack of respect for the dead.

Lokomotiv is a leading force in Russian hockey and came third in the KHL last year. It was also a three-time Russian League champion in 1997, 2002 and 2003.

McCrimmon, who took over as coach in May, was most recently an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings, and played for years in the NHL for Boston, Philadelphia, Detroit, Calgary, Hartford and Phoenix.

"We will do our best to ensure that hockey in Yaroslavl does not die, and that it continues to live for the people that were on that plane," said Russian Ice Hockey Federation President Vladislav Tretyak.

A cup game between hockey teams Salavat Yulaev and Atlant in the central Russian city of Ufa was called off in mid-match after news of the crash was announced. Russian television showed an empty arena in Ufa as grief-stricken fans abandoned the stadium.

The KHL is an international club league of teams from Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Latvia and Slovakia.

Russia was hoping to showcase Yaroslavl as a modern and vibrant city this week at an international forum attended by heads of state, including Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, so the crash came as a particularly bitter blow.

Many in the Czech Republic also took the news hard.

"Jan Marek, Karel Rachunek, and Josef Vasicek contributed greatly to the best successes of our ice hockey in the recent years, first of all to the golden medals at the world championships in 2005 and 2010," said Tomas Kral, the president of the Czech ice hockey association. "The were excellent players, but also great friends and personalities. That's how we will remember them."

Fans planned to gather Thursday at the Old Town Square in the Czech capital of Prague, where national team players usually celebrate, to commemorate the three Czech players. Vasicek was on the Carolina Hurricanes' 2006 Stanley Cup team.

In the western Slovak city of Trencin, where Demitra started his career and where he played during the NHL lockout 2004-05 season, hundreds fans gathered outside the ice hockey stadium Wednesday night to light candles in his memory.

Medvedev has announced plans to take aging Soviet-built planes out of service starting next year. The short- and medium-range Yak-42 has been in service since 1980 and about 100 are still being used by Russian carriers.

In June, another Russian passenger jet, a Tu-134, crashed in the northwestern city of Petrozavodsk, killing 47 people. That crash has been blamed on pilot error.

In past plane crashes involving sports teams, 75 Marshall University football players, coaches, fans and airplane crew died in Huntington, West Virginia, on Nov. 14, 1970, coming home from a game. Thirty-six of the dead were players and 5 were coaches.

Some 29 people were killed when a plane carrying the Uruguayan rugby club Old Christians crashed in the Andes in 1972, including five crew and some family members.

The entire 18-member U.S. figure skating team died in a crash en route to the 1961 world championships in Brussels, and 18 members of the Torino soccer team died near Turin, Italy, in a 1949 crash.

In 1993, another plane crash claimed 18 members of Zambia's national football team and five team officials in Libreville, Gabon.

Help Stop The Black Youth Flash Violence: Our Spiderman Is Now A Black Guy by Van Stone vspfoundation@yahoo.com (267) 293-9201

Help Stop The Black Youth Flash Violence: Our Spiderman Is Now A Black Guy
by Van Stone vspfoundation@yahoo.com (267) 293-9201





Miles Morales: The New Black-Spider-Man Character

If you are between the ages of 60 and 35 you just might recall the Willie Weber Show and the Gene London Show. Both shows had real life host that played music and talked to kids using cartoons on TV. For an hour or half-hour after school and/or Saturday morning, kids learned how to develop cartoons and comics. Watching cartoons and the TV-DJ was very fun, safe for children and had youth wanting to be your friendly neighborhood Spiderman. At Front Page News, www.fpnnews.us, the Online newspaper that keeps readers up to date about hot community youth topics I know that many youth are interested in the two parallel universes in Marvel Comics.

The normal Marvel Universe we’ve all grown up with had Peter Parker, a decent white youth, who lived a double life as Spiderman. In 2011, the not so normal Marvel universe called the Ultimate Universe, the new Spiderman today’s kids are growing up with Miles Morales, a just as decent half-Black-half-Hispanic teen, who lives a double life as SPIDERMAN!

For years I’ve been introducing to readers the idea that youth having a double life can be a good thing if you help them get access to popular and unknown visual arts that stand for positive things. Imagine more youth, particularly black youth, hooked on the Internet texting about where the next meet up is going to be to talk to strangers about what makes them who they are?

The word is that although Peter Parker has played the Spider-Man character since its creation decades ago – the revamping of the Marvel comic is to attract a new generation of comic book readers. In the Ultimate Universe, my man, Peter Parker actually dies. But our biracial teenager hero Miles Morales becomes the newest incarnation of one of the most beloved superheroes in the urban city. Spidey practices acts that will help steer your children to age-appropriate activity that will go a long way toward ensuring that your children have enriching experiences. And here's a tip about Spiderman to keep young people busy, educated and worked up to support anti-violence movement in the community: Morales, just like Parker, has no parents at home to guide him away from flash violence. There is basically nothing for youth to do after school in his home town just like we have it here in Philly. But Miles is a one of a kind teenager who doesn’t follow the crowd just to hang out. He’s a lone spider-guy who wants a job and wants the bad guy off the streets at the same time.

A black youth, male or female, under the mask not only looks just right it opens up a whole new story line with a whole new feeling of pride to be a lone street guy or gal. Youth, both white or black, can believe that a black male in a mask is a lone guy out for the good of the city.

A majority of young children in Philadelphia, regardless if they attend a school or are drop-outs could use the news about black Spiderman to understand that it wasn’t the black population using masks to strike fear and terrorize others in big cities.

But since sometimes kids can't get this info at home we can help them go online and work with comic strip development education to avoid flash violence. If it's hard to understand how kids both white and black get caught up in flash violence why not start helping me to push comics like Spiderman? Move the youth foward for a Spidey future.

Obama to propose $300 billion to jump-start jobs

Obama to propose $300 billion to jump-start jobs

President Barack Obama waves before speaking after the annual Labor Day parade in Detroit, Monday, Sept. 5, 2011. Obama's speech at the annual event was serving as a dress rehearsal for the jobs address he's delivering to a joint session of Congress on Thursday night.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The economy weak and the public seething, President Barack Obama is expected to propose $300 billion in tax cuts and federal spending Thursday night to get Americans working again. Republicans offered Tuesday to compromise with him on jobs - but also assailed his plans in advance of his prime-time speech.

In effect, Obama will be hitting cleanup on a shortened holiday week, with Republican White House contender Mitt Romney releasing his jobs proposals on Tuesday and front-running Texas Gov. Rick Perry hoping to join his presidential rivals Wednesday evening on a nationally televised debate stage for the first time.

Lawmakers began returning to the Capitol to tackle legislation on jobs and federal deficits in an unforgiving political season spiced by the 2012 presidential campaign.

Adding to the mix: A bipartisan congressional committee is slated to hold its first public meeting on Thursday as it embarks on a quest for deficit cuts of $1.2 trillion or more over a decade. If there is no agreement, automatic spending cuts will take effect, a prospect that lawmakers in both parties have said they would like to avoid.

According to people familiar with the White House deliberations, two of the biggest measures in the president's proposals for 2012 are expected to be a one-year extension of a payroll tax cut for workers and an extension of expiring jobless benefits. Together those two would total about $170 billion.

The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan was still being finalized and some proposals could still be subject to change.

The White House is also considering a tax credit for businesses that hire the unemployed. That could cost about $30 billion. Obama has also called for public works projects, such as school construction. Advocates of that plan have called for spending of $50 billion, but the White House proposal is expected to be smaller.

Obama also is expected to continue for one year a tax break for businesses that allows them to deduct the full value of new equipment. The president and Congress negotiated that provision into law for 2011 last December.

Though Obama has said he intends to propose long-term deficit reduction measures to cover the up-front costs of his jobs plan, White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama would not lay out a wholesale deficit reduction plan in his speech.

In a letter to Obama on Tuesday, House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor outlined possible areas for compromise on jobs legislation. Separately, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said last month's unemployment report - it showed a painfully persistent 9.1 percent jobless rate and no net gain of jobs - "should be a wakeup call to every member of Congress."

Whatever the potential for eventual compromise on the issue at the top of the public's agenda, the finger pointing was already under way.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell predicted Obama's Thursday night speech to Congress on jobs legislation would include "more of the same failed approach that's only made things worse over the past few years."

He spoke a few moments after Reid had said that Republicans, rather than working with Democrats to create job-creating legislation, insist on "reckless cuts to hurt our economic recovery."

The Senate returned to Capitol Hill on Tuesday after an August recess. The House comes back Wednesday.

Left largely ignored in the latest political remarks was a remarkable run of late-summer polls that show the country souring on Obama's performance - and on Congress' even more.

A Washington Post-ABC survey released Monday found that 60 percent of those polled expressed disapproval of Obama's handling of the economy. Thirty-four percent said his proposals were making the situation worse and 47 percent said they were having no effect - dismal soundings for a president headed into a re-election campaign.

Only 19 percent said the country was moving in the right direction.

Not that Republicans, or Congress as a whole, are in good odor with the voters.

The Post-ABC News poll found only 28 percent approval for the job the Republicans are doing, and 68 percent disapproval.

An AP-GfK survey last month put overall support for Congress at 12 percent - the lowest level ever in the survey's history.

The tea party has also been hurt, according to the same poll, which found that 32 percent of those surveyed have a deeply unfavorable impression of the movement that helped give Republicans control of the House in the 2010 elections.

In their letter to Obama, Boehner and Cantor wrote that neither party would win all it wants from the coming debate over jobs legislation. "We should not approach this as an all-or-nothing situation," they said, striking a conciliatory tone in the first moments of a post-summer session of Congress.

But it was unclear what, if any, concessions they were prepared to make.

"We are not opposed to initiatives to repair and improve infrastructure," they wrote, saying they favor repeal of a current requirement for 10 percent of highway funds to be spent on items such as museums or bike trails.

But they did not say they would support any additional funding for construction, and aides declined to provide any additional details.

Boehner and Cantor also said the House was ready to pass free trade agreements negotiated with Colombia, Panama and South Korea measures, which they noted the White House estimates would create 250,000 jobs.

The administration wants the trade deals approved simultaneously with legislation to provide job training and other benefits for workers who lose their job to imports, and the letter from the Republican leaders promised they would consider such measures rather than pledging to pass them.

There was maneuvering on another front during the day.

Democrats won approval in a Senate subcommittee for legislation adding $6 billion in spending to pay victims of Hurricane Irene and past disasters dating to Hurricane Katrina, including $4 billion for the 2012 budget year.

Republicans did not object, even though the legislation did not include other cuts to offset the cost and the new spending would exceed levels permitted in a sweeping compromise passed last month to cut future deficits by nearly $1 trillion over a decade.

It is unclear when the measure will come to the Senate floor, and whether Republicans will attempt to offset the increase when it does.

In comments in recent weeks, Cantor has said any increase must be offset.

For his part, Romney chose Nevada, where unemployment stood at a nationwide high of 12.9 percent in July, for a campaign speech in which he outlined numerous proposals to create jobs.

He called for lowering the maximum corporate tax from 35 percent to 25 percent and abolishing the tax on dividends and investment earnings for anyone making less than $200,000 a year. He also said any new government regulation that raises costs for businesses should be accompanied by other steps to reduce the burden by an identical amount.

"America should be a job machine, jobs being created all the time," he said.

The elements Romney outlined - lower taxes and less regulation - are the same as those advanced by Republicans in Congress.

McConnell said Republicans "will spend the next weeks and months arguing in favor of a robust legislation agenda aimed at blocking or repealing some of the most pernicious rules and regulations."

Gunman kills 3 at Nevada IHOP, including guardsmen

Gunman kills 3 at Nevada IHOP, including guardsmen

Officials investigate the scene of a shooting in an IHOP restaurant in Carson City, Nev., on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011. A gunman with a rifle opened fire at a International House of Pancakes restaurantkilling three people including two uniformed National Guard members and himself, and wounding six others in a hail of gunfire during the morning breakfast hour, authorities and witnesses said.

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) -- A gunman wielding an AK-47 opened fire on a table of uniformed National Guard members at an IHOP restaurant on Tuesday in an outburst of violence that killed four people, wounded eight others and put Nevada's capital city on high alert as the shooter unloaded his assault rifle in a bustling business district.

The shooter's motive was unclear, but family members said he had mental issues. He had never been in the military and had no known affiliation with anyone inside the restaurant.

Five Nevada National Guard troops sitting together at the back of the restaurant were shot - two of them fatally. Another woman was also killed, and the gunman, 32-year-old Eduardo Sencion of Carson City, shot himself in the head and died at a hospital.

Witnesses and authorities described a frantic scene, in which the shooter pulled into the large complex of retail stores and shops just before 9 a.m. in a blue minivan with a yellow "Support Our Troops" sticker on the back. He got out and immediately shot a person on a motorcycle, a witness said.

Ralph Swagler said he grabbed his own weapon, but said it was too late to stop the shooter, who charged into the IHOP through the front doors.

"I wish I had shot at him but he was going in the IHOP," said Swagler, who owns Locals BBQ & Grill. "But when he came at me, when somebody is pointing an automatic weapon at you - you can't believe the firepower, the kind of rounds coming out of that weapon."

The gunman went all the way to the back of the restaurant to the back area and opened fire, Carson City Sheriff Kenny Furlong said.

When he left the restaurant, he got back in his vehicle, driving around in circles and shooting into the nearby businesses, shattering the windows of a barbecue restaurant and an H&R Block and a casino across the street.

Officers arrived minutes later and found the suspect and the person who was on the motorcycle wounded and lying in the parking lot. The names of the victims, including two male Guard members who were killed, were not immediately released.

Sencion left two more guns in the van - a rifle and a pistol, authorities said.

As the attack unfolded, Nevada officials worried about the violence being more widespread. They locked down the state Capitol and Supreme Court buildings for about 40 minutes, and put extra security in place at state and military buildings in northern Nevada.

"There were concerns at the onset, so we took certain steps to ensure we had the capability to embrace an even larger circumstance," Furlong said. "At this point in time it appears to be isolated to this parking lot."

Reno-based FBI special agent Michael West said there was no indication of any terrorist plot.

As police interviewed dozens of witnesses after the shooting and kept the gathering crowd of media at bay, a body lay on the ground, covered with a white sheet except for the feet, clad in tan boots.

Sencion was born in Mexico and had a valid U.S. passport. In interviews with investigators after the shooting, his family raised concerns about his mental health, Furlong said. Sencion worked at his family's business in South Lake Tahoe and had no criminal history. The minivan he drove to the shooting was registered to his brother.

The shooting shocked some who knew him, including Joe Laub, his lawyer in a bankruptcy filing in January 2009, who called it an "aberration of his character."

"He's a gentle, kind man who was very helpful to friends and family," Laub told The Associated Press. "I couldn't venture to guess what would cause him to do something as horrible as this."

In the bankruptcy filing, Sencion listed more than $42,000 in outstanding debts for a car, several credit cards and some medical expenses. At the time, Sencion reported having $200 spread over three bank accounts and $923 in disability income, mostly from Social Security.

At a Reno hospital, service members gathered, waiting for word on those killed and hurt. A hospital spokesman said four shooting victims were being treated there, but wouldn't discuss their conditions or provide any other information.

"You go a whole tour in Afghanistan and no one is shot. And you go to IHOP and several are shot," said 31-year-old Sgt. First Class Cameron Anderson of Reno, a Nevada Army National Guard member. "It's a shock. I came to work today and had no idea I'd be driving the chaplain here (to the hospital.)"

Another Guard member, 33-year-old Spc. Lee Amato, said he didn't know the victims' names but expected they were people he knew.

"It's hard to believe something like this would happen to really good people," Amato said. "It's like a hole, something taken away. It's mind-boggling and hard to comprehend."

The IHOP is about four miles from the Guard's headquarters complex. Nevada National Guard spokeswoman April Conway said she didn't know why the five Guard members had met at the IHOP. Conway said she did not believe any of the Guard members at the restaurant were armed.

"Our guards would have no reason to be carrying military weapons here today," Conway said. "We have no reason to believe that any of them were armed with personal weapons."

Furlong says they're analyzing the shooter's weapon to determine whether it is automatic or semi-automatic.

Nevada's capital city of some 50,000 is normally a sleepy town when lawmakers are not in session, a jumping off point 30 miles south of Reno for travelers headed to Lake Tahoe or back to California across the Sierra.

"I don't know what's happening to my city," Fran Hunter, who works at the Sierra Le Bone pet shop just north of the IHOP, told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "This happens in L.A. or Las Vegas but not here."

Lee's torrential remnants turn deadly in Miss.

Lee's torrential remnants turn deadly in Miss.

Squalls and heavy surf pounds homes along the beach in Dauphin Island, Ala., Monday, Sept. 5, 2011. The heavy waves were breaking under homes, damaging underpinnings and ripping porches and steps from the structures. Tropical Storm Lee is moving inland along the Gulf Coast bringing torrential rains and flooding.

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- A plodding system dumping a torrent of rain across the South turned deadly in Mississippi when a man was swept away by floodwaters after trying to cross a swollen creek, authorities said Monday.

The death was the first reported so far that was directly attributed to the remnants of Tropical Storm Lee. Forecasters said the storm wasn't finished yet as it slowly moved east, threatening to spin off more tornadoes and cause flash floods and mudslides along the way. At least 16,000 people were without power in Louisiana and Mississippi as of Monday afternoon.

The man who died in Mississippi, 57-year-old John Howard Anderson Jr., had been in a car with two other people trying to cross a rain-swollen creek that naturally flows over the entrance to JP Coleman State Park. Anderson had been staying on a house boat at the park's marina. Tishomingo County Coroner Mack Wilemon said he was told Anderson was outside of the car and had been thrown a rope to be rescued, but he couldn't hold on.

Jonathan Weeks, a 48-year-old salesman from Plantersville who owns a vacation home near the park, said he helped pull two people to shore and tried to save Anderson.

Weeks said a strong storm had come through the area and he and his wife went out looking around when they saw a van crossing the creek. He happened to have a rope in the tool box of his truck.

"It all happened so fast. They were in there trying to get out and panicking. The power was out so everything was dark," Weeks recalled in a phone interview Monday.

"We threw them a rope and tied it to a tree," Weeks said. "We got two of them to the bank and were trying to help the driver. We had him on the rope and were trying to pull him in, but I don't think he was able to hold on."

Art Gaines, a 69-year-old retiree who lives near the park, said he and his wife heard their dogs barking at the commotion.

"When we looked out the window we saw flashlights and then the next thing we know there was a van going down the creek, which is a misnomer, because once the water gets rolling through there it's like a small river, not a creek," Gaines said.

Gaines called 911 and went outside to help. By then, two people had been pulled from the water and others were searching for Anderson.

In Texas, a body boarder drowned after being pulled out to sea by heavy surf churned up by Lee, and the Coast Guard was searching for a boy swept away by rough surf off the Alabama coast.

Lee came ashore over the weekend in Louisiana, dumping up to a foot of rain in parts of New Orleans and other areas. Despite some street flooding, officials said New Orleans' 24-pump flood control system was doing its job. On Monday, heavy rain continued to fall in Mississippi and make its way across Alabama and into Tennessee and Georgia.

"Right now it's a big rainmaker, said Marc McAllister, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Jackson.

Elsewhere, the heavy rain made for a dud of a Labor Day holiday as Gulf Coast beaches mostly cleared of tourists. On Monday morning, the main road on Alabama's Dauphin Island was flooded and covered with sand, jellyfish and foam washed in by Lee. Customers trickled in to the town's largest store on what should have been a busy day.

"It's been kind of boring," said Tabitha Miller, a clerk at Ship and Shore. "It's not killing us though since we're the only gig in town."

Rain already had started falling in Tennessee, though no campers had been evacuated from Great Smoky Mountain National Park, officials said.

As of Monday afternoon, overflowing creeks and rivers were already causing problems ahead of warnings that things could get worse as rain falls over higher elevations in the Appalachian Mountains.

All the rain caused a creek to swell near an apartment complex in Jackson, prompting officials to move 45 families to a storm shelter. In Louisiana's Livingston Parish, about 200 families were evacuated because of flooding.

In Louisiana's coastal Plaquemines Parish, officials considered cutting a hole in one of two levees protecting the area to drain water from a flooded road, spokesman Kurt Fromherz said. The parish sits on a sliver of land dotted with oil and gas companies, and its main highway was under water.

The rain had stopped out in the Gulf of Mexico, allowing oil and gas production platforms and rigs to look for damage and get operations kick started again on Monday. Federal regulators said evacuations had shut in about 61 percent of oil production and 46 percent of natural gas production in the Gulf.

The storm was forecast to move up the Tennessee River Valley on Tuesday, and forecasters have warned people to be on the lookout for tornadoes. Several already had been reported, including one that damaged five homes in Harrison County.

Jessica Talley, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Birmingham, Ala., office, said the tornado threat would last in that state into the evening. Any tornadoes aren't expected to be nearly as powerful or long-lasting as those that killed hundreds across the Southeast in April. But there is concern that trees in saturated soil could be more easily pushed over onto homes.

Obama says GOP must back US first, create jobs

Obama says GOP must back US first, create jobs

President Barack Obama waves before speaking after the annual Labor Day parade in Detroit, Monday, Sept. 5, 2011. Obama's speech at the annual event was serving as a dress rehearsal for the jobs address he's delivering to a joint session of Congress on Thursday night.

DETROIT (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Monday that congressional Republicans must put their country ahead of their party and vote to create new jobs as he used a boisterous Labor Day rally to aim a partisan barb at the GOP.

In a preview of the jobs speech he will deliver on Thursday to Congress, Obama said there are numerous roads and bridges that need rebuilding in the U.S., and over 1 million unemployed construction workers who are available to build them.

Citing massive federal budget deficits, Republicans have expressed opposition to spending vast new sums on jobs programs. But Obama said that with widespread suffering, "the time for Washington games is over" and lawmakers must move quickly to create jobs.

"But we're not going wait for them," he said at an annual event sponsored by the Metropolitan Detroit AFL-CIO. "We're going to see if we've got some straight shooters in Congress. We're going to see if congressional Republicans will put country before party."

Obama's remarks came as he has been under heavy criticism from the GOP for presiding over a persistently weak economy and high unemployment. Last Friday's dismal jobs report showed a net job change of zero in August, and the unemployment rate held steady at 9.1 percent.

Congress returns from its summer recess this week, with the faltering economy and job market promising to be a dominant theme of the session. The economy is all but certain to also be the top issue of the 2012 presidential and congressional elections.

Throughout the speech, the union crowd kept chanting "four more years."

Obama also said lawmakers should extend the temporary reduction in the payroll tax that workers pay, a cut that will otherwise expire on Jan. 1. Many Republicans have opposed renewing the payroll tax cut, saying it would increase federal red ink and do little to create jobs.

"You say you're the party of tax cuts," Obama said of the GOP argument. "Well, then prove you'll fight just as hard for tax cuts for middle class families as you do oil companies and the most affluent Americans. Show us what you've got."

In the speech to Congress, Obama is expected to call for a mix of individual and business tax credits and public works spending. He will also press lawmakers for swift action on those proposals.

Underscoring the political dueling on the economy under way, Obama plans to visit Richmond, Va., the day after his address to Congress as the first of several trips he will make to encourage support for his job creation plan. Part of Richmond is represented by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., one of the president's fiercest critics.

The president's broader goal is to make a sweeping appeal for bipartisan action on the economy, speaking not only to the members of Congress who will assemble before him, but to the larger American public. In that sense, the speech will mark a pivot point from a fall and summer spent dealing with long-term deficit reduction to a fall campaign devoted to boosting a foot-dragging recovery.

Aides say Obama will mount a campaign throughout the fall centered on the economy, unveiling different elements of his agenda heading into 2012. If Republicans reject his ideas, the president and his aides want to enlist the public as an ally, essentially using the megaphone of his presidency to pressure Congress and make the case for his re-election.

"People will see a president who will be laying very significant proposals throughout the fall leading up this next State of the Union," Gene Sperling, director of Obama's National Economic Council, said in an interview with the Associated Press..

While Obama has said any short term spending proposal will be paid for over the long-term, aides say the speech will not offer details on what deficit reduction measures would be used to offset immediate spending measures. The speech also is not expected to include a detailed plan for resolving the nation's housing crisis, a central cause behind the weak economy that White House aides and administration officials have been struggling to resolve.

"A lot of what will be discussed in greater detail in this economic proposal that he will be making on Thursday night will focus on many things that will have a more immediate, positive effect on getting the recovery to take hold, getting stronger growth , spurring job creation, spurring the private sector to invest more," Sperling said.

Asked specifically about housing, he said: You will also see him throughout the fall talking about other issues that are also at very much the heart of this economic agenda."

Last week's disappointing jobs report sparked new fears of a second recession and injected fresh urgency into efforts by Obama to help get millions of unemployed people back into the labor market - and help improve his re-election chances.

Meanwhile, the Chamber of Commerce on Monday surfaced its own jobs plan. In an open letter to Congress and the White House, the Chamber called for measures designed to immediately increase employment, including stepped-up road and bridge construction, more oil drilling and temporary corporate tax breaks.

Polls show the economy and jobs are the public's top concerns. Public approval of Obama's handling of the economy hit a new low of 26 percent in a recent Gallup survey.

The unemployment report also gave Obama's Republican critics, including those who want to challenge him in next year's presidential election, fresh ammunition to pound him with.

GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney called the report disappointing, unacceptable and "further proof that President Obama has failed." Romney is scheduled to outline his own job-creation plan in a speech Tuesday in the battleground state of Nevada.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said Monday that both political parties should get behind Obama's efforts to improve the hiring picture.

"We do need everyone to be on board," she said on NBC's "Today" show.

Solis said Obama "is very mindful of what the needs and concerns are of those individuals who have been out of work for so long." But she also said the jobless have a responsibility to seek training in new skills, if necessary, to better prepare themselves for the kinds of jobs available in today's economy.

Obama spent part of the holiday weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland "putting the finishing touches" on the proposals and the speech, said spokesman Jay Carney.

Obama won Michigan in the 2008 presidential election and the economically challenged state is crucial to his re-election prospects. The state unemployment rate was 10.9 percent in July, above the national average for that month. The Detroit-area jobless rate was even higher, at 14.1 percent in July.

Cameron, Sanchez Power Marlins Past Phillies 8-4

Cameron, Sanchez Power Marlins Past Phillies 8-4

MIAMI (AP) — Mike Cameron homered twice and Gaby Sanchez belted a go-ahead three-run shot in the eighth to lift the Florida Marlins over the Philadelphia Phillies 8-4 on Saturday night.

Sanchez went deep off reliever David Herndon, who had replaced Antonio Bastardo (6-1).

Bastardo entered to begin the eighth with Philadelphia holding 4-3 lead. He walked the first two batters—Omar Infante and Logan Morrison—before Herndon came on.

For full story go to:

http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/

Unemployed face tough competition: underemployed

Unemployed face tough competition: underemployed

In this Sept. 2, 2011 photo, Ryan McGrath, 26, poses in his home in Michigan City, Ind. McGrath has been working part time designing web sites for small businesses but wants steadier full-time work.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The job market is even worse than the 9.1 percent unemployment rate suggests.

America's 14 million unemployed aren't competing just with each other. They must also contend with 8.8 million other people not counted as unemployed - part-timers who want full-time work.

When consumer demand picks up, companies will likely boost the hours of their part-timers before they add jobs, economists say. It means they have room to expand without hiring.

And the unemployed will face another source of competition once the economy improves: Roughly 2.6 million people who aren't counted as unemployed because they've stopped looking for work. Once they start looking again, they'll be classified as unemployed. And the unemployment rate could rise.

Intensified competition for jobs means unemployment could exceed its historic norm of 5 percent to 6 percent for several more years. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office expects the rate to exceed 8 percent until 2014. The White House predicts it will average 9 percent next year, when President Barack Obama runs for re-election.

The jobs crisis has led Obama to schedule a major speech Thursday night to propose steps to stimulate hiring. Republican presidential candidates will likely confront the issue in a debate the night before.

The back-to-back events will come days after the government said employers added zero net jobs in August. The monthly jobs report, arriving three days before Labor Day, was the weakest since September 2010.

Combined, the 14 million officially unemployed; the "underemployed" part-timers who want full-time work; and "discouraged" people who have stopped looking make up 16.2 percent of working-age Americans.

The Labor Department compiles the figure to assess how many people want full-time work and can't find it - a number the unemployment rate alone doesn't capture.

In a healthy economy, this broader measure of unemployment stays below 10 percent. Since the Great Recession officially ended more than two years ago, the rate has been 15 percent or more.

The proportion of the work force made up of the frustrated part-timers has risen faster than unemployment has since the recession began in December 2007.

That's because many companies slashed workers' hours after the recession hit. If they restored all those lost hours to their existing staff, they'd add enough hours to equal about 950,000 full-time jobs, according to calculations by Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute.

That's without having to hire a single employee.

No one expects every company to delay hiring until every part-timer is working full time. But economists expect job growth to stay weak for two or three more years in part because of how many frustrated part-timers want to work full time.

And because employers are still reluctant to increase hours for part-timers, "hiring is really a long way off," says Christine Riordan, a policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project. In August, employees of private companies worked fewer hours than in July.

Some groups are disproportionately represented among the broader category of unemployment that includes underemployed and discouraged workers. More than 26 percent of African Americans, for example, and nearly 22 percent of Hispanics are in this category. The figure for whites is less than 15 percent. Women are more likely than men to be in this group.

Among the Americans frustrated with part-time work is Ryan McGrath, 26. In October, he returned from managing a hotel project in Uruguay. He's been unable to find full-time work. So he's been freelancing as a website designer for small businesses in the Chicago area.

Some weeks he's busy and making money. Other times he struggles. He's living at home, and sometimes he has to borrow $50 from his father to pay bills. He's applied for "a million jobs."

"You go to all these interviews for entry-level positions, and you lose out every time," he says.

Nationally, 4.5 unemployed people, on average, are competing for each job opening. In a healthy economy, the average is about two per opening.

Facing rejection, millions give up and stop looking for jobs.

Norman Spaulding, 54, quit his job as a truck driver two years ago because he needed work that would let him care for his disabled 13-year-old daughter.

But after repeated rejections, Spaulding concluded a few weeks ago that the cost of driving to visit potential employers wasn't worth the expense. He suspended his job hunt.

He and his family are getting by on his daughter's disability check from Social Security. They're living in a trailer park on Texas' Gulf Coast.

"It costs more to look than we have to spend," he says.

Eventually, lots of Americans like Spaulding will start looking for jobs again. If those work-force dropouts had been counted as unemployed, August's unemployment rate would have been 10.6 percent instead of 9.1 percent.

Emma Draper, 23, lost her public relations job this summer. To pay the rent on her Washington apartment, she's working part time at the retailer South Moon Under. She's selling $120 Ralph Lauren swimsuits and other trendy clothes.

Her search for full-time work has been discouraging. Employers don't call back for months, if ever.

"You're basically on their timeline," Draper says. "It's really hard to find a job unless you know somebody who can give you an inside edge."

Retailers, in particular, favor part-timers. They value the flexibility of being able to tap extra workers during peak sales times without being overstaffed during lulls. Some use software to precisely match their staffing levels with customer traffic. It holds down their expenses.

"They know up to the minute how many people they need," says Carrie Gleason of the Retail Action Project, which advocates better working conditions for retail workers. "It's almost created a contingent work force."

Draper appreciates her part-time retail job, and not just because it helps pay the bills. It takes her mind off the frustration of searching for full-time work.

"Right now, finding a job is my job," she says. "If that was the only thing I had to do, I'd be going insane. There is only so much time you can sit at your computer, sending out resumes."

Libya rebels: talks for loyalist town have failed

Libya rebels: talks for loyalist town have failed

A rebel fighter signs V for victory at a checkpoint between Tarhouna and Bani Walid, Libya, Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011. Libyan rebels are poised to attack one of Moammar Gadhafi's remaining strongholds, but their military spokesman said Sunday he expected the town's tribal leaders to surrender rather than see their divided followers fight one another.

TARHOUNA, Libya (AP) -- Negotiations over the surrender of one of Moammar Gadhafi's remaining strongholds have collapsed, and Libyan rebels were waiting for the green light to launch their final attack on the besieged town of Bani Walid, a spokesman said.

Rebel negotiator Abdullah Kanshil said the talks had broken down after Moussa Ibrahim, Gadhafi's chief spokesman and a top aide, had insisted the rebels put down their weapons before entering the town, some 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli.

Rebel forces control most of the oil-rich North African nation and are already setting up a new government, but Gadhafi and his staunchest allies remain on the run and enjoy support in several central and southern areas, including Bani Walid and the fugitive leader's hometown of Sirte.

The rebels have said the hard-core loyalists are a small minority inside the town, but are heavily armed and stoking fear to keep other residents from surrendering.

"We feel sorry for the people of Bani Walid," said Kanshil, himself a native of the town, speaking to reporters at a rebel checkpoint about 40 miles (70 kilometers) to the north. "We hope for the best for our town."

The rebels have extended to Saturday a deadline for the surrender of Gadhafi's hometown of Sirte and other loyalist areas but some have warned they could attack Bani Walid sooner because many of the most prominent former regime officials were believed to be inside.

There has been speculation that Gadhafi himself along with his son Seif al-Islam had been there at some point, and the apparent presence of Ibrahim indicates that the town was a haven for high-level Gadhafi aides.

"This battle has already been decided," said Ahmed Bani, the rebels' military spokesman based in Benghazi. "It is only a matter of hours."

He said there had been clashes around the town for the last four days and rebel forces had come under fire from rockets and machine guns.

Thousands of rebel fighters have converged on Bani Walid in recent days from multiple directions.

The rebels say Gadhafi does have some genuine supporters in Bani Walid, mainly people linked to the dictator through an elaborate patronage system that helped keep him in power for nearly 42 years.

Gadhafi supporters are "claiming that (rebel) fighters will come and rape their women," said Mubarak al-Saleh, the representative from Bani Walid to the rebels' transitional council. "We are trying to assure people that the fighters are true Muslims who will not harm anybody except those whose hands are stained with blood."

Rebels arriving from Misrata, a western port that played a central role in the war, reported late Saturday they faced no resistance when they took two military camps on the outskirts of Bani Walid.

"Negotiations are over, and we are waiting for orders" to attack, said Mohammed al-Fassi, a rebel commander. "We wanted to do this without bloodshed, but they took advantage of our timeline to protect themselves."

Al-Fassi said more Gadhafi loyalists have moved into Bani Walid from the south outlined by a line of high hills, but did not know how many.

NATO, meanwhile, reported bombing a military barracks, a police camp and several other targets near the southern stronghold of Sirte overnight, as well as targets near Hun, a possible staging ground in the desert halfway between Sirte and Sabha. It also reported bombing an ammunition storage facility near Bani Walid. Sirte is Gadhafi's hometown.

NATO has been bombing Gadhafi's forces since March under a United Nations mandate to protect Libyan civilians. But that mandate expires on Sept. 27, and the rebels may be anxious to end the fight before it runs out - since it may be politically difficult to get it renewed.

While it is now held by loyalists, Bani Walid also has a history of opposition to Gadhafi. Western diplomats in Libya and opposition leaders abroad reported in 1993 that the air force had put down an uprising by army units in Misrata and Bani Walid. They said many officers were executed and arrested.

Fayez Jibril, a longtime Libyan opposition figure speaking from exile in Cairo, said Gadhafi tried to exploit tribal differences by giving privileges to some groups, like the Warfala and Gadhafi's own Gadhdadhfa, and sidelining others. But Jibril said Libyans had united in the past against colonial rule, and he believed they would do so against Gadhafi.

Jibril, who has close contacts with rebel commanders on the ground in Libya, said in a number of top Gadhafi officials had sought haven in Sirte and Sabha, two other loyalist bastions. The officials are accused of abuses, including rapes, in the regime's crackdown against the rebellion, Jibril said.

"The crimes these people have committed are unforgivable in a conservative country like Libya," he said. "These people are dead and they know that they are dead, so they are fighting because they have no other option."

The rebel military spokesman added that residents have told the rebels that one of Gadhafi's sons, Seif al-Islam, had fled to Bani Walid soon after Tripoli fell, but left recently for fear townspeople would hand him over to the rebels.

Many have speculated that the elder Gadhafi is hiding somewhere around Sirte, Bani Walid or the loyalist town of Sabha, deep in the Libyan desert. He and Seif al-Islam have tried to rally supporters in defiant audio recordings broadcast on the Syrian-based Al-Rai television station but no concrete information about their whereabouts has emerged.

Outside Sirte, Mustafa al-Rubaie, a rebel commander who was part of the talks with Sirte tribal leaders, said rebels have been stationed about 60 miles (95 kilometers) outside of Sirte, but have occasionally clashed with Gadhafi supporters over the past days.

The rebels want the local tribal chiefs to hand over "officers and soldiers who committed crimes and raped women," he said.

Turkey expels Israel ambassador over flotilla raid

Turkey expels Israel ambassador over flotilla raid

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, centre left, leads advisors as he arrives to speak to the media in Ankara, Turkey, Friday, Sept. 2, 2011. Turkey said Friday it was expelling the Israeli ambassador and cutting military ties with Israel over the last year's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla. Davutoglu said Turkey was downgrading diplomatic ties to the level of second secretary and that the ambassador and other high-level diplomats would leave the capital Ankara by Wednesday.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Turkey expelled Israel's ambassador and cut military ties on Friday over Israel's refusal to apologize for last year's deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, further straining a relationship that had been a cornerstone of regional stability.

The dramatic move came hours before the release of a U.N. report that called the Israeli raid that killed nine pro-Palestinian activists "excessive and unreasonable." The U.N. panel also blamed Turkey and flotilla organizers for contributing to the deaths.

The rupture between the Jewish state and what was once its most important Muslim ally raised concerns Egypt and Jordan might follow, increasing Israel's isolation in the region.

"If this ends with Turkey, it will be a miracle," said Alon Liel, a former Israeli ambassador to Turkey. "There is a lot of internal pressure in Egypt, and Turkey could use its clout in the Arab and Muslim world to pressure other nations to follow suit."

Turkey had made an Israeli apology a condition of improved diplomatic ties. But Israel insisted its forces acted in self defense and said there would be no apology. Israeli officials pointed out that the U.N. report does not demand an apology, recommending instead that Israel express regret and pay reparations.

"Israel once again expresses its regret over the loss of life, but will not apologize for its soldiers taking action to defend their lives," the government said in a statement. "As any other state, Israel has the right to defend its civilians and soldiers."

The 105-page report said Israel's naval blockade of Gaza was legally imposed "as a legitimate security measure" to prevent weapons smuggling, but added that the killing of eight Turkish activists and a Turkish-American was "unacceptable."

"The events of May 31, 2010, should never have taken place as they did and strenuous efforts should be made to prevent the occurrence of such incidents in the future," the report said.

The panel criticized Israel for failing to give "clear prior warning" that the vessels were to be boarded and failing to use "nonviolent options."

But the panel also found the flotilla "acted recklessly in attempting to breach the naval blockade." While the majority of flotilla participants had no violent intentions, it said "there exist serious questions about the conduct, true nature and objectives of the flotilla organizers."

As for the Turkish government, the panel said, it should have done more to warn flotilla participants of "the potential risks involved and dissuade them from their actions."

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said that while the report noted "the violence committed by the Israeli soldiers," he criticized its characterization of Israel's naval blockade as a legitimate security measure in line with international law.

"To be frank, the report is null and void for us," Turkish President Abdullah Gul said.

In a statement, Israel said it accepted the report's conclusions, but "does not concur with the panel's characterization of Israel's decision to board the vessels in the manner it did as 'excessive and unreasonable.'"

Davutoglu said his government was downgrading diplomatic ties with Israel to the level of second secretary and that the ambassador and other high-level diplomats would leave the country by Wednesday.

He said all military agreements signed between the former allies were being suspended, and that Turkey would back court actions against Israel by flotilla victims' families and take steps to ensure "free navigation" in the eastern Mediterranean.

"The time has come for Israel to pay for its stance that sees it above international laws and disregard human conscience," Davutoglu said. "The first and foremost result is that Israel is going to be devoid of Turkey's friendship."

The Obama administration said it was reviewing the report.

"The U.S. has long-standing friendships with both Israel and Turkey," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. "We regret that prior to the publication of the report they were unable to reach agreement on steps that might have helped overcome their differences.

"We hope they will continue to look for opportunities to improve their long-standing relationship, and we will encourage both to work towards that end."

The breakdown in Israeli-Turkish relations increases Israel's isolation at a sensitive time. Israel faces turmoil in ties with regional ally Egypt, where there have been growing calls to revoke the three-decade-old Egypt-Israel peace agreement following the ouster of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak. Last month, Egypt briefly threatened to withdraw its ambassador from Israel after a shooting in southern Israel left five Egyptian soldiers dead.

It also comes as Israel seeks to muster international support against an attempt by the Palestinians to have their state recognized at the U.N. later this month.

Turkey was once Israel's closest ally in the region. Ankara had mediated several rounds of indirect negotiations between Israel and Syria in 2008, but the talks made no significant headway and were suspended following the Israeli military offensive in Gaza the following year.

Ties have soured further in recent years and deteriorated sharply after the flotilla bloodshed on May 31, 2010. The Israeli ambassador's expulsion is the most significant downgrading in ties between the two countries.

Under Turkish-Israeli military agreements, Israel provided Turkey with drones which the country uses to gather intelligence on Kurdish rebels fighting Ankara for autonomy. Israel has also modernized Turkish tanks and warplanes while Israeli pilots used Turkey's airspace to train. The countries' militaries have also trained with each other in both countries, and were top defense trading partners, although no new defense contracts have been signed since 2008.

In Gaza, Hamas applauded the Turkish move.

"This is a natural response to the Israeli crime against the freedom flotilla" and to the continuation of the naval blockade, spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.

The Turkish-flagged ship Mavi Marmara was en route to Gaza in an attempt to bring international attention to Israel's blockade of the Palestinian territory.

After the violence triggered an international outcry, Israel eased restrictions on goods moving into Gaza overland, but left the naval blockade in place.

The activists charge the blockade constitutes collective punishment and is illegal. Israel asserts that it is necessary to prevent weapons from reaching militants who regularly bombard Israeli towns with rockets from Gaza.

The U.N. committee was composed of two international diplomats - former leaders of New Zealand and Colombia - as well as a representative from Israel and one from Turkey.

Feds sue biggest US banks over risky mortgages

Feds sue biggest US banks over risky mortgages

FILE - In this July 13, 2010 file photo, Bank of America's headquarters are shown in Charlotte, N.C. The government has sued the nation's largest banks, along with a handful of other financial institutions and executives, for violating federal and state laws in the sale of home mortgage-backed securities. Among the 17 institutions targeted by the lawsuits were Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JP Morgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs.

NEW YORK (AP) -- In a sweeping move, the government on Friday sued 17 financial firms, including the largest U.S. banks, for selling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac billions of dollars worth of mortgage-backed securities that turned toxic when the housing market collapsed.

Among the 17 targeted by the lawsuits were Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., JP Morgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs.

The lawsuits were filed Friday by the Federal Housing Finance Agency which oversees Fannie and Freddie, the two agencies that buy mortgages loans and mortgage securities issued by the lenders.

The total price tag for the securities bought by Fannie and Freddie affected by the lawsuits: $196 billion.

The government didn't provide a dollar amount of how much it seeks in damages. It said that it wants to have the purchases of the securities canceled, be compensated for lost principal and interest payments as well as attorney fees and costs. The lawsuits allege the financial firms broke federal and state laws with the sales.

Home mortgage-backed securities were risky investments that collapsed after the real-estate bust and helped fuel the financial crisis in late 2008.

In the lawsuits that were filed in federal or state court in New York and the federal court in Connecticut, the government said the securities were sold with registration statements and prospectuses that "contained materially false or misleading statements and omissions."

The Federal agency said the banks and mortgage lenders also falsely represented that the mortgage loans in the securities complied with underwriting guidelines and standards. They also included representations "that significantly overstated the ability of the borrower to repay their mortgage loans."

The 17 institutions are Ally Financial Inc., formerly known GMAC LLC, Bank of America Corp., Barclays Bank PLC, Citigroup Inc., Countrywide Financial Corp., Credit Suisse Holdings Inc., Deutsche Bank AG, First Horizon National Corp., General Electric Co., Goldman Sachs & Co., HSBC North America Holdings Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Merrill Lynch & Co. and its unit First Franklin Financial Corp., Morgan Stanley, Nomura Holding America Inc., The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, and Societe Generale.

Hiring standstill points to growing recession risk

Hiring standstill points to growing recession risk

Job Seekers line up for interviews during a job fair Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011 in San Mateo, Calif. Employers added no net workers last month and the unemployment rate was unchanged, a sign that many were nervous the U.S. economy is at risk of slipping into another recession.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Employers added no jobs in August - an alarming setback for the economy that renewed fears of another recession and raised pressure on Washington to end the hiring standstill.

Worries flared Friday after release of the worst jobs report since September 2010. Total payrolls were unchanged, the first time since 1945 that the government reported a net job change of zero. The unemployment rate stayed at 9.1 percent.

The stock market plunged in response. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 253 points, or more than 2 percent.

Analysts say the economy cannot continue to expand unless hiring picks up. In the first six months of 2011, growth was measured at an annual rate of 0.7 percent.

Companies are mostly keeping their payrolls intact. They're not laying off many workers, but they're not hiring, either. Without more jobs to fuel consumer spending, economists say another recession would be inevitable. Consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of economic growth.

Like a wobbling bicycle, "you either reaccelerate or you fall over, said James O'Sullivan, chief economist at MF Global. "Something has to give."

Consumer and business confidence was shaken this summer by the political standoff over the federal debt limit, a downgrade of long-term U.S. debt and the financial crisis in Europe. Tumbling stock prices escalated the worries.

Even before it stalled last month, job growth had been sputtering. The economy added 166,000 jobs a month in the January-March quarter, 97,000 a month in the April-June quarter and just 43,000 a month so far in the July-September period.

"Underlying job growth needs to improve immediately in order to avoid a recession," said HSBC economist Ryan Wang.

The dispiriting job numbers for August will heighten the pressure on the Federal Reserve, President Barack Obama and Congress to find ways to stimulate the economy.

So far, the Fed has been reluctant to launch another round of Treasury bond purchases. Its previous bond-buying programs were intended to force down long-term interest rates, encourage borrowing and boost stock prices.

On Thursday, Obama will give a televised speech to a joint session of Congress to introduce a plan for creating jobs and spurring economic growth.

Even for people who do have jobs, income growth is stalled. That will hold back their ability to spend. The only sure way to reduce the risk of recession is with more hiring, economists say.

"The importance of job growth cannot be overstated," said Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at MFR Inc.

The economy needs to add roughly 250,000 jobs a month to rapidly bring down the unemployment rate. The rate has been above 9 percent in all but two months since May 2009. Roughly 14 million Americans are unemployed.

The weakness was underscored by revisions to the jobs data for June and July. Collectively, those figures were lowered to show 58,000 fewer jobs added than previously thought. The downward revisions were all in government jobs.

The average workweek and hourly earnings also declined in August. Cutbacks by federal, state and local governments have erased 290,000 government jobs this year, including 17,000 in August.

"There is no silver lining in this one," said Steve Blitz, senior economist at ITG Investment Research. "It is difficult to walk away from these numbers without the conclusion that the economy is simply grinding to a halt."

The unemployment rate for black men jumped a full percentage point in August to 18 percent. That's the highest level for that group since March 2010. And unemployment for black people as a whole surged from 15.9 percent to 16.7 percent even as unemployment for white Americans ticked down to 8 percent from 8.1 percent.

Obama has faced doubts within his own party, including black lawmakers who say he hasn't done enough to help chronic unemployment in black communities.

Yet Obama is unlikely to win support for any new stimulus spending from congressional Republicans, who oppose further spending and argue that the president's economic policies have failed. They favor deeper spending cuts and less government regulation.

On Friday, Obama took a step toward winning their support. He directed the Environmental Protection Agency to abandon rules that would have tightened health-based standards for smog. Republicans and some business leaders have said the proposed rules would have cost jobs.

Kurt Karl, chief economist for the Americas at Swiss Re, said the August jobs report "implies a rising probability of recession."

Still, he noted, employment fell for six quarters after the 2001 recession - and the economy kept chugging along at an annual rate of 2.1 percent over that time.

The economy's 0.7 percent growth rate in the first half of 2011 was the slowest six months of growth since the recession officially ended in June 2009.

Most economists expect growth to improve to about a 2 percent annual rate in the July-September quarter. Lower gasoline prices have provided some relief to consumers. And factories are revving up again after being interrupted by Japan's earthquake and nuclear crisis.

Before Friday's jobs report, the economy had been showing signs of better health. Consumer spending was strong in August. Auto sales were brisk. Manufacturing expanded. And fewer people applied for unemployment benefits.

Yet even 2 percent growth isn't fast enough to generate many jobs. And the economy remains vulnerable to outside shocks - a worsening European debt crisis or more political brinkmanship in Washington.

"The economy's perforated at this point," said Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida's Institute for Economic Competitiveness. "Any additional strain on it will tear it apart."

The Obama administration has estimated that unemployment will average about 9 percent next year, when Obama will seek re-election. The rate was 7.8 percent when he took office.

The White House Office of Management and Budget projects overall growth of just 1.7 percent this year.

"The economy continues to stagger," said Sung Won Sohn, economist at California State University Channel Islands. "It wouldn't take much (of a) shock to tip it onto a recession."

After Irene: When will the power come back on?

After Irene: When will the power come back on?

Washington Electric Cooperative linemen Kyle Harper, right, and Rich Hallstrom ride ATVs to check on power lines on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011 in Roxbury, Vt. With hundreds of roads impassable, utilities are using all means to restore power to victims of Tropical Storm Irene, but the scope of the devastation means it will be some time before everyone has their power back.

WARWICK, R.I. (AP) -- Cold showers. Meals in the dark. Refrigerators full of spoiled food. No TV. No Internet. Up and down the East Coast, patience is wearing thin among the hundreds of thousands of people still waiting for the electricity to come back on after Hurricane Irene knocked out the power last weekend.

"It's like `Little House on the Prairie' times," said Debbie McWeeney, who went to a Red Cross shelter in Warwick to pick up food and water after everything in her refrigerator went bad. "Except I'm not enjoying it at all."

With the waters receding across much of the flood-stricken region, homeowners are mucking out their basements and dragging soggy furniture to the curb. But the wait for power drags on, with an estimated 895,000 homes and businesses still without electricity, down from a peak of 9.6 million.

And criticism of the utility companies is mounting. In Rhode Island, a state senator is calling for an investigation, and Massachusetts' attorney general is demanding information from utilities on how they are dealing with the crisis, including how many crews are in the field and their response time.

The industry has defended its efforts, noting it warned the public that a storm like Irene was bound to cause prolonged outages and pointing out that flooding and toppled trees caused severe damage to utility poles, substations and other equipment.

Tim Horan, National Grid president for Rhode Island, said crews from as far as Kansas and Idaho are working 16-hour shifts, and "we're committed to getting this resolved as soon as possible."

In the meantime, people are taking cold showers or washing up at shelters, using camp stoves and grills to cook, competing for ice at the grocery store and relying on generators and hand-cranked radios. The late-summer weather, at least, has been mercifully cool across much of the East Coast.

Many homes that depend on wells have no water because they have no electricity to pump it. Relief agencies have been handing out drinking water. And a high school in Exeter, R.I., opened its gym to let people shower.

In some places, people on oxygen or other medical devices that require electricity have been taken to shelters that have power.

Irene has been blamed for at least 46 deaths in 13 states. With the streets drying out in hard-hit New Jersey, some towns faced new problems, namely trash bins overflowing with waterlogged debris. In Vermont, with roads slowly reopening, the National Guard's airlift of food, water and other supplies to once cutoff towns was winding down.

But Vermont faced new danger Thursday evening: A flash flood warning was issued for the Rutland area after 2 to 5 inches of rain fell. Two highway workers repairing damage to a bridge were stranded on a sandbar in a river after flash flooding hit in the town of Clarendon, and they were rescued by helicopters.

Without power, the Tirado family's septic pump stopped working at their home in Lake Ariel, Pa., in the Pocono Mountains, sending sewage through their shower drain and into their finished basement, where the filth was an inch deep. Carpeting, drywall, furniture, a computer, two video game systems, new school clothes for the children - all destroyed.

"You should never, ever smell what we smelled," Shari Tirado said.

In Maryland, where 150,000 Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative customers lost power, Julie Marlowe of Towson, Md., has heard enough empty promises from the utility company since the lights went out on Saturday night.

"Don't tell me that it will be restored by a certain time and then let that time go by. Tell me a later date and get it back on earlier and I'll be impressed," she said.

In Richmond, Va., a huge tangle of downed cables lay in the street outside the Hilscher home. Beth Hilscher said she had repeatedly called the power company about the electricity, "and every time, it's like a new report, like they've never heard of it before."

As she spoke, five utility trucks rumbled up to a pole that had snapped after an ancient, 50-foot oak fell. For a brief moment, she became excited by the prospect of hot showers and refrigerated food. But after dropping off a new pole, the crew drove off to another assignment.

In Foxborough, Mass., about 90 percent of the town's 7,820 National Grid customers were still without power Tuesday afternoon when the lights went on at Gillette Stadium, where a New England Patriots exhibition game was scheduled for Thursday night. That brought complaints from some customers, but National Grid denied the football team received special treatment and said one substation was simply not as badly damaged as another.

Politicians have been inundated with complaints from people who say it is taking too long. Rhode Island state Sen. John J. Tassoni Jr. on Thursday called on the state Public Utilities Commission to investigate National Grid.

"It is getting near to a week since the storm passed through our area and many Rhode Islanders are still without electricity," he said. "I think we need to ask the company some very pointed questions about its preparation for storms and the speed of its response to them."

William Bryan, deputy assistant secretary of at the U.S. Energy Department, said it typically takes at least few days to restore power after a storm like Irene, and National Grid "has done a great job. They ought to be commended for that. You are well ahead of the curve for restoration."

Along the East Coast, deep exhaustion set in as work turned from pumping polluted floodwaters out of homes to keeping an eye out for looters, scavengers or more welcome visitors such as FEMA representatives and insurance adjusters.

In Rochelle Park, N.J., Nedra Visconti said the town had learned a lesson from Hurricane Floyd in 1999, when looters took what they wanted. This time, Visconti has seen several law enforcement officers checking IDs on some streets.

Nevertheless, she came out of her home to find someone trying to steal her husband's tools from the piles of water-damaged belongings in their driveway.

She ran the would-be thief off by threatening to call the police.

"I mean, what's wrong with people?" Visconti said. "Who does something like that?"

At Olmsted Gardens, a housing complex for senior citizens in Providence, R.I., the mail finally came, delivered in the dark with the help of a flashlight. The manager of the complex emerged with an envelope from National Grid.

"That's one bill I'm going to delay paying," Stephen Lavoie said with a smile.

Gadhafi, in hiding, vows no surrender in Libya

Gadhafi, in hiding, vows no surrender in Libya

Freedom fighters climb on a tank for a lookout at a defensive outpost, some 30 kilometers outside Misrata, Libya, Thursday, Sep. 01, 2011. A ring of outposts along the outer perimeter of Misrata have been created to defend the city as well as to provide backup troops and supplies to the fighters heading to the frontline.

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) -- In a fiery broadcast from hiding, Moammar Gadhafi warned Thursday that loyalist tribes in his main strongholds were armed and preparing for battle, a show of defiance hours after rebels extended a deadline for the surrender of the fugitive leader's hometown.

The rebels, who have been moving troops toward remaining Gadhafi bastions across Libya, had shifted the deadline for the town of Sirte in hopes of avoiding the bloodshed that met their attack on Tripoli.

"We want to save our fighters and not lose a single one in battles with Gadhafi's forces," said Mohammed al-Rajali, a spokesman for the rebel leadership in the eastern city of Benghazi. "In the end, we will get Sirte, even if we have to cut water and electricity" and let NATO pound it with airstrikes.

World leaders meeting in Paris on Libya's future after Gadhafi said the NATO military operations would continue as long as needed.

The rebels say the advance on Sirte is going well, and that their forces have already captured one nearby city. They also say they are closing in on Gadhafi, who came to power 42 years ago Thursday in a military coup that toppled King Idris.

The rebels have been hunting for Gadhafi since he was forced into hiding after they swept into Tripoli on Aug. 20 and gained control of most of the capital after days of fierce fighting.

"We won't surrender again; we are not women. We will keep fighting," Gadhafi said in a blustery tone in the audio statement, broadcast by Syrian-based Al-Rai TV. His voice was recognizable, and Al-Rai has previously broadcast statements by Gadhafi and his sons.

Gadhafi said the tribes in Sirte and Bani Walid are armed and "there is no way they will submit." He called for continued resistance, warning "the battle will be long and let Libya burn."

In a second late-night audio also broadcast on the Syrian channel, Gadhafi spoke in more measured tones and called for a long insurgency.

"We will fight them everywhere," he said. "We will burn the ground under their feet."

He said NATO was trying to occupy Libya and steal its oil.

"Get ready to fight the occupation. ... Get ready for a long war, imposed on us," Gadhafi added. "Get ready for the guerrilla war."

He called Sirte "the capital of the resistance."

The rebels, who have effectively ended Gadhafi's rule, dismiss his threats as empty rhetoric.

The rebels believe he may be in one of their three key targets. The fighters, backed by NATO airstrikes, have been pushing recently toward Sirte as well as Bani Walid, 90 miles (140 kilometers) southeast of Tripoli, and the southern city of Sabha.

All three were given a Saturday deadline to surrender. While the deadline extension was officially only for Sirte, rebels said it would also apply to Bani Walid and Sabha.

Pro-Gadhafi forces control most of Sabha and large numbers of soldiers - including mercenaries from other African countries - are camped on its outskirts, said Abdul Awidat, a Sabha resident currently in Tripoli.

Awidat told The Associated Press that he has spoken by satellite phone with people in the southern area in the past two days who said pro-Gadhafi forces have taken up positions in buildings and are recruiting young men as fighters and handing out weapons.

"There is no information that Gadhafi or any of his senior leadership are in Sabha," he added.

Some anti-government protesters have taken over a small part of the town of Gorda, and there has been fighting in the area with several people killed, Awidat said.

He said there is no electricity, running water or regular telephone service, and medicine is running out.

In a boost to the rebel cause, the last prime minister under Gadhafi said he now supports the opposition.

Al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi told Al-Arabiya television that had had been in contact with the rebels "and we notified them that we are with the people and we are ready to serve our country in the future."

Meanwhile, Ahmed Said, an adviser to the interior minister in the rebels' interim government, said Gadhafi's foreign minister had been captured. He did not identify him by name, but "can confirm that he is in custody." A week ago, Foreign Minister Abdul Ati al-Obeidi told British broadcaster Channel 4 that Gadhafi's rule was over.

Algeria, which gave refuge to Gadhafi's wife and three of his children this week, has indicated it will not do the same for the longtime dictator.

The Algerian newspaper El Watan reported Gadhafi had also sought sanctuary in Algeria, but the president refused to take his phone calls. Asked Thursday if Gadhafi could be given asylum, Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said: "I don't believe so."

In Paris, world leaders and top-level diplomats from 60 nations lined up behind the new government and focused on unfreezing billions in Libyan funds held abroad.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said NATO will continue operations for as long as necessary to protect civilians in the North African country. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the Security Council to decide quickly on deploying a civilian mission to stabilize Libya.

"We cannot afford a failed pariah state on Europe's borders," Cameron said. "We will all lose if the Arab Spring gives way to a cynical winter of repression."

Rebel leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil said Libya's new government must ensure "that we fulfill our side of the deal - we must have security in Libya, tolerance and forgiveness must be promoted, the state of law must be respected."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was encouraged by the response she got in her meetings with Libyan opposition leaders.

"They still have a huge hill to climb," she said. "But they are working with the international community to secure both chemical weapons stockpiles as well as conventional weapons. They are taking action against extremism wherever the find it."

Russia, which had criticized the NATO operation, recognized the rebels as Libya's interim leadership hours before the talks began.

The European Union is lifting its sanctions on Libyan ports, banks and energy firms to provide resources to the interim government to help kick-start its economy, officials said.