Now I know in several countries around the word it is already 2011. In alot of countries it is still 2010 for the next few hours. I hope everyone has had a productive 2010 and will continue to be productive in 2011.
This past year has been very rough for me with the economy in the United States and finding a job. What put the nail in the coffin for me was being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis this past June. However all of my struggles of 2010 have given me a new outlook on life and I can honestly say that I am happy now. In this past year I have lost friends and gained friends, overall at the end of 2010 I can say that I have learned alot and am in a better place overall.
I know that I have blog viewers from around the world, so to you all I say Happy New Years / Happy New Years Eve.
WASHINGTON – Declaring that members of the military will no longer be asked to lie, President Barack Obama fulfilled a campaign promise Wednesday and signed a landmark law repealing the ban on gay men and women serving openly in the armed services.
"This is a good day," a beaming Obama said. "This is a very good day."
The new law ends the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" policy that forced gays to hide their sexual orientation or face dismissal. Its repeal comes as the American public has become more tolerant on such issues as gay marriage and gay rights in general.
"I say to all Americans, gay or straight, who want nothing more than to defend this country in uniform, your country needs you, your country wants you, and we will be honored to welcome you into the ranks of the finest military the world has ever known," Obama said.
Pentagon officials must first complete implementation plans before lifting the old policy — and the president, defense secretary and chairman of the joint chiefs must certify to lawmakers that it won't damage combat readiness, as critics charge. But Obama said: "We are not going to be dragging our feet to get this done."
The signing ceremony was a breakthrough moment for the nation's gay community, the military and for Obama himself. The president vowed during his 2008 campaign to repeal the law and faced pressure from liberals who complained he was not acting swiftly enough.
For Obama, it was the second high-profile bill signing ceremony within a week. On Friday, he signed into a law a tax package he negotiated with Republicans that extended Bush-era tax rates for two more years, cut payroll taxes and ensured jobless benefits to the unemployed for another year.
The two events, however, could not have been more different in tone.
The tax deal divided Democrats and forced Obama to accept extensions of tax cuts for the wealthiest, a step he had promised to not take. With Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell at his side during that bill signing, Obama seemed dutiful and subdued.
By contrast, the emotion of Wednesday's ceremony defined it; even the president himself said he was "overwhelmed" by the moment. The gay activists and supporters packed in the room hooted, applauded and shouted in joy at the president, shedding any sense of a contained, formal event.
As Obama signed the bill into law, someone in the back of the room yelled: "We're here, Mr. President. Enlist us now!"
"I couldn't be prouder," Obama said.
Obama hailed the "courage and vision" of Defense Secretary Robert Gates and praised Gates and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, who advocated changing the law.
"No longer will tens of thousands of Americans in uniform be asked to live a lie, or look over their shoulder in order to serve the country that they love," Obama said.
Among those in attendance at the ceremony was the son of a World War II veteran who was saved by a gay comrade during the Battle of the Bulge. Also present was Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, the first American wounded in the war in Iraq who has spoken out against the Pentagon policy.
The Pentagon now must begin addressing the practical consequences of the law. Guidelines must be completed that cover a host of questions, from how to educate troops to how sexual orientation should be handled in making barracks assignments.
While officials have avoided timetables, the process will probably take months.
The new law is the second of three expected victories in what's turned out to be — for Obama — a surprisingly productive lame-duck Congress. Weeks after his self-described "shellacking" in the midterm vote, he's won lopsided approval of a tax cut compromise, and the Senate is poised to deliver his top foreign policy goal: ratification of a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia.
Born 17 years ago as a compromise between President Bill Clinton and a resistant Pentagon, the "don't ask, don't tell" policy became for gay rights campaigners a notorious roadblock on the way to full acceptance.
Yet he has also faced rising discontent among gay activists who believed he hadn't moved forcefully enough. He's been heckled at campaign appearances over AIDS funding and the failure to end the military service ban.
Obama countered that as commander in chief, he had to ensure the ban's end is carefully prepared for.
That's just what the bill from Congress mandates.
"The implementation and certification process will not happen immediately; it will take time," Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz warned in an e-mail that went out right after Saturday's Senate vote. "Meanwhile, the current law remains in effect. All Air Force members should conduct themselves accordingly."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama thinks actual implementation of the new law will be "a matter of months."
Military and administration officials are wrestling with numerous legal questions raised by the end of the ban — knowing that courts are waiting in the wings. They include what to do about pending expulsion proceedings, and when those ousted under the old policy might apply to rejoin the armed forces.
___
Associated Press writers Mark S. Smith and Ben Feller contributed to this report.
(This version CORRECTS that Pentagon officials instead of service chiefs are working on plan and Obama, Gates and Mullen certify.)
On this World AIDS Day, as we approach the thirtieth year of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we reflect on the many Americans and others around the globe lost to this devastating disease, and pledge our support to the 33 million people worldwide who live with HIV/AIDS. We also recommit to building on the great strides made in fighting HIV, to preventing the spread of the disease, to continuing our efforts to combat stigma and discrimination, and to finding a cure.
Today, we are experiencing a domestic HIV epidemic that demands our attention and leadership. My Administration has invigorated our response to HIV by releasing the first comprehensive National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States. Its vision is an America in which new HIV infections are rare, and when they do occur, all persons regardless of age, gender, race or ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, or socio-economic circumstance will have unfettered access to high quality, life extending care.
Signifying a renewed level of commitment and urgency, the National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States focuses on comprehensive, evidence based approaches to preventing HIV in high risk communities. It strengthens efforts to link and retain people living with HIV into care, and lays out new steps to ensure that the United States has the workforce necessary to serve Americans living with HIV. The Strategy also provides a path for reducing HIV related health disparities by adopting community level approaches to preventing and treating this disease, including addressing HIV related discrimination.
Along with this landmark Strategy, we have also made significant progress with the health reform law I signed this year, the Affordable Care Act. For far too long, Americans living with HIV and AIDS have endured great difficulties in obtaining adequate health insurance coverage and quality care. The Affordable Care Act prohibits insurance companies from using HIV status and other pre-existing conditions as a reason to deny health care coverage to children as of this year, and to all Americans beginning in 2014. To ensure that individuals living with HIV/AIDS can access the care they need, the Affordable Care Act ends lifetime limits and phases out annual limits on coverage. Starting in 2014, it forbids insurance companies from charging higher premiums because of HIV status, and introduces tax credits that will make coverage more affordable for all Americans. This landmark law also provides access to insurance coverage through the Pre Existing Condition Insurance Plan for the uninsured with chronic conditions.
Our Government has a role to play in reducing stigma, which is why my Administration eliminated the entry ban that previously barred individuals living with HIV/AIDS from entering the United States. As a result, the 2012 International AIDS Conference will be held in Washington, D.C., the first time this important meeting will be hosted by the United States in over two decades. For more information about our commitment to fighting this epidemic and the stigma surrounding it, I encourage all Americans to visit: www.AIDS.gov.
Tackling this disease requires a shared response that builds on the successes achieved to date. Globally, tens of millions of people have benefited from HIV prevention, treatment, and care programs supported by the American people. The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria support anti retroviral treatments for millions around the world. My Administration has also made significant investments and increases in our efforts to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS at home and abroad by implementing a comprehensive package of proven prevention programs and improving the health of those in developing countries. Additionally, the Global Health Initiative integrates treatment and care with other interventions to provide a holistic approach to improving the health of people living with HIV/AIDS. Along with our global partners, we will continue to focus on saving lives through effective prevention activities, as well as other smart investments to maximize the impact of each dollar spent.
World AIDS Day serves as an important reminder that HIV/AIDS has not gone away. More than one million Americans currently live with HIV/AIDS in the United States, and more than 56,000 become infected each year. For too long, this epidemic has loomed over our Nation and our world, taking a devastating toll on some of the most vulnerable among us. On World AIDS Day, we mourn those we have lost and look to the promise of a brighter future and a world without HIV/AIDS.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States do hereby proclaim December 1, 2010, as World AIDS Day. I urge the Governors of the States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, officials of the other territories subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and the American people to join in appropriate activities to remember the men, women, and children who have lost their lives to AIDS and to provide support and comfort to those living with this disease.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty fifth.
Port-Au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Already devastated this year by a killer earthquake and a deadly cholera outbreak, Haiti began to feel the brute force Friday of Hurricane Tomas, which could dump up to 15 inches of rain and trigger flash floods and mudslides.
The hurricane's punishing rain and wind were already being felt as the center of the storm churned offshore.
As of 11 a.m. ET, the storm's center was about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of Guantanamo, Cuba, and about 140 miles (225 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida.
In the westernmost tip of Haiti that juts into the Caribbean Sea and is closest to the hurricane, there were reports from the town of Jeremie of destroyed houses, downed trees and flooded rivers, said Marie-Eve Bertrand, communications manager for CARE in the nation.
Tomas also was being felt in Port-au-Prince, the nation's capital.
"It's been raining heavily all night," said Leonard Doyle, the spokesman for the International Organization for Migration.
"The rain is a huge problem where we are," Doyle told CNN on Friday morning. "There's every danger that you could have flash flooding. Every danger."
Relief worker Roseann Dennery of Samaritan's Purse was near Cabaret, about 20 miles north of Port-au-Prince, on Friday morning touring camps that hold some of the 1 million people left homeless by January's 7.0-magnitude earthquake, which killed 250,000 people.
Gallery: Tomas bears down on Haiti
"It's almost eerie," she said. "It's rainy, it's dark and there's really not a lot of movement."
The few people moving from tent to tent were wrapped in sheets and cloth to provide some protection against the constant rain, she said. The ground is soaked and some low-lying areas have minor flooding.
Some people are riding the storm out in open-air community centers with supposedly sturdy roofs, she said. But many are just huddling in their tents, waiting for the wind and rain to pass. Most don't have anywhere else to go.
"A lot of them do not have families or relatives," she said.
She said her agency, an international Christian relief organization, has evacuated 30 staff members from Leogane out of fear of mud slides there.
Michael Dockrey, the director in Haiti for the International Medical Corps, also expressed his deep concern early Friday.
"Particularly," he told CNN, "with mudslides that can cut off whole communities. We have prepositioned medical supplies, tents, tarps and staff in areas that we know will be isolated."
Aid workers already were struggling to keep up with the cholera outbreak, which has killed nearly 450 people and hospitalized about 7,000. The bacterial disease causes diarrhea and vomiting that can lead to deadly dehydration within hours.
"It's obviously stretched us all real thin," Dockrey said. "We could certainly use more help ... as can all the other responders."
The hurricane will only make matters worse.
"Even if Tomas only brushes Haiti, it may exacerbate the epidemic, facilitating the spread of the disease into and throughout metropolitan Port-au-Prince, where a third of the population remains homeless and in camps," the International Organization for Migration said.
Some Haitians scurried Friday morning through the rain-pelted streets of Port-au-Prince, looking for somewhere to seek shelter, reported CNN en Espanol's Diulka Perez. They have been told to go to churches or the homes of friends and family, but there are significantly fewer churches or homes still standing after January's massive earthquake.
There is also no public transportation available to take people anywhere, Perez reported.
The problem is compounded, she said, because there's no central source of information. Haitians are having to rely on word of mouth to obtain information.
Nor are Haitians eager to leave their tent shelters because the government cannot guarantee they will have some place to return to after the storm passes.
Tomas became a Category 1 hurricane as it approached Haiti early Friday, forecasters said.
The eye of the storm passed near western Haiti Friday morning and was expected to move near or over eastern Cuba later in the day. It is forecast to be near or over the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos islands Friday night or early Saturday.
The biggest threats are mudslides and flash flooding, said CNN meteorologist Reynolds Wolf. Port-au-Prince is bounded on three sides by hills and rain runoff could cause flooding, Wolf said. The low-lying port city also borders the Caribbean Sea.
Tomas was moving north-northeast at 12 mph (19 kph), and the storm could pick up speed Friday, forecasters said. Winds from the storm remained at 85 mph (135 kph), the Hurricane Center said.
Rain associated with the storm started falling on Haiti Thursday afternoon as aid agencies scrambled to move as many people as possible into storm shelters.
Deb Ingersoll of the American Refugee Committee said her organization was helping disseminate information and encourage people to leave, but added, "to be honest, I'm not sure many of them will."
"They're very entrenched here," and many worry about losing their possessions.
"They're looking at us like we're crazy for telling them they should leave," Ingersoll said. "They don't seem to think this is an event. ... Aid workers are far more worried than they are."
Ingersoll said group members were dismantling tents in the center of camp to prevent them from becoming projectiles in the wind and encouraging residents to find family or friends who still have homes in which they can stay.
Tomas is forecast to dump 5 to 10 inches of rain on Haiti, with isolated maximum amounts of 15 inches in some areas. In addition, a storm surge could raise water levels by as much as 8 feet above normal tide levels in the warning area in areas of onshore winds, accompanied by "large and destructive waves," the hurricane center said.
Many structures that would usually be used for storm shelters -- schools and hospitals -- are no longer standing. And many of Haiti's homeless have no options.
Tomas was previously a Category 2 hurricane and then weakened to a tropical depression before re-intensifying. Forecasters predict it will weaken again Saturday.
The controversial proposition in California failed to gain enough votes for legalization. Even if it did pass it is still against Federal law. With lots of support from the entertainment industry, prop 19 will likely make it to the ballot again in the future.
Washington (CNN) -- Voters' anger over a stubborn jobless rate and anxiety over troubled economy helped propel Republicans to a sweeping takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives and a stronger presence in state offices, projections indicate.
Washington (CNN) -- The most expensive midterm elections in history finally began Tuesday, as voters started casting ballots to decide who goes to Congress and governors' offices.
With all predictions, the election is considered a referendum on both the Democratic-controlled Congress and President Barack Obama's first two years in office.
Polls indicate a dissatisfied electorate could clean house -- literally -- by tossing out the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives and possibly doing the same in the Senate.
Losses by the governing party are common in the first mid-term election it faces, but the shift Tuesday could rival or match historic levels dating back decades.
Unemployment -- at a rate of 9.6 percent amid a slow recovery from economic recession -- has been the dominant issue, with Republicans accusing Obama and the Democrats of pushing through expensive policies that have expanded government without solving the problem.
Obama has led Democrats in defending his record, saying steps such as the economic stimulus bill and auto industry bailout were necessary to prevent a depression, while health care reform and Wall Street reform will lay the foundation for sustainable future growth.
Democratic Party Chairman Tim Kaine told CNN Tuesday that party candidates will still pose a challenge to Republicans.
"While I think we've got the headwind we're running against, we're not throwing in the towel," Kaine told CNN's "American Morning."
"However the numbers are, the margins will be closer," Kaine said.
But Rand Paul, the Tea Party-backed Republican Senate candidate in Kentucky, voiced the sentiments of many in the grassroots anti-establishment movement.
"What I'm going to work to try to change is the whole government," he told CNN. "I think government's broken from top to bottom." He insisted that the government needed to balance its budget, loosen regulations on business and cut waste in the defense budget. "We have a significant recession, probably the worst recession since the Great Depression," he said on "American Morning." He blamed Obama's health care reform and banking regulation. "And my fear is it's not just President Obama's policies, ObamaCare and the new banking regulations. I don't care who proposed them but I think they're a disaster for our economy," he said.
As voting day approached, voter anger appeared to tune out the Democratic arguments.
Conservative groups and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce funded attack ads that skewered increased spending under Obama and the health care reform bill he championed, while labor unions and traditional Democratic donors warned a GOP victory would bring back Republican deregulation and policies that caused the recession.
On the day before Election Day, phone service went out at Democratic and Republican field offices in New Hampshire, officials from both parties said.
A spike in campaign robocalls may be the culprit, according to Comcast, one of the telephone services in the area.
"Comcast -- and we believe, other local phone carriers in New Hampshire and Massachusetts -- are experiencing severe call volumes on the evening before the election due to auto dialing activity that is generating a massive number of inbound political phone calls to our network," company spokesman Marc Goodman said Monday.
The long and bitter campaign season will cost more than $3.5 billion -- the most expensive non-presidential vote ever, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, a watchdog group.
With around 100 of the 435 House seats at stake considered "in play," or competitive, the anti-Democratic mood is predicted to result in big Republican gains.
On the Senate side, where 37 of the 100 seats are being contested, the majority will be decided by key races in Nevada, Washington, and a few other states where Democratic incumbents face strong challenges.
Republicans need to win an additional 39 seats to claim the House majority, and 10 more Senate seats to overtake Democrats there.
A national poll released Monday showed the number of Americans who say things are going badly in the country -- 75 percent -- is higher than it has been on the eve of any midterm election since the question was first asked in the mid-1970s.
The CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey also indicates that the economy remains, by far, the top issue on the minds of Americans. The economy ranked higher in the poll than all other major issues combined, including terrorism, health care, illegal immigrants and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In addition, the rise of the conservative Tea Party movement has added a new element to the election cycle, roiling Republican races by boosting little-known and inexperienced candidates to victory over mainstream figures in primaries across the country.
Tuesday's vote will show how many of the so-called Tea Party candidates can win in a general election, but no matter the final tally, the result is expected to shift the Republican agenda to the right.
That means little chance of compromise or bipartisan approaches on major issues, observers warn.
Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist who worked for the last Republican House speaker, Dennis Hastert, put it bluntly: "It's been a hostile atmosphere, but it will be hostile on nitroglycerin."
Ohio Republican Rep. John Boehner is expected to be the new House speaker if the GOP wins control of the chamber. He already has signaled little appetite to negotiate with the White House or congressional Democrats, saying last week that "this is not a time for compromise."
Boehner and other conservatives say the top priorities must be spending cuts to try to balance the budget and job creation to spur the economy. However, they also advocate extending Bush-era tax cuts for everyone at a cost of $4 trillion over the next decade.
In the Senate, legislative gridlock is likely if Republicans strengthen their current minority of 41 seats. Obama and Democrats accuse Senate Republicans of using obstruction tactics as a political tool, showing the distrust and animosity that already exists.
Democrats are also wary of a recent comment by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who told the National Journal, "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."
The first test of a new relationship will come in mid-November when Congress convenes a post-election lame-duck session to try to clear unfinished legislation before the newly elected Congress convenes in January. Among other issues, lawmakers must decide whether and how to extend Bush-era tax cuts.
Voters on Tuesday also will decide governors' races in 37 of the 50 states, with the outcome potentially having an influence on redistricting based on the results of the 2010 census.
Every 10 years, the states redraw House district lines to reflect population shifts. Some states gain more House seats due to population growth, while others lose seats due to declines.
In most cases, state legislatures draw the lines, and governors have the power to approve or veto the maps. Governors also can influence whether any loss or gain of seats in their state involves districts represented by Republicans or Democrats.
The list of states that will gain or lose seats is released in December. However, Election Data Services issued estimates based on preliminary census figures that indicated Texas will gain four seats, Florida will gain two, and Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington will each gain one. The estimates also indicate Ohio and New York will lose two seats, and Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey and Pennsylvania will each lose one.
(CNN) -- A suspicious package discovered at the United Kingdom's East Midlands airport contained "viable explosives," and could have brought down an aircraft upon detonation, British Home Secretary Theresa May said Saturday.
The preliminary U.K. investigation indicates that the target may have been an aircraft, May said, but authorities do not believe the perpetrators would have known the location of the device when they detonated it.
May added that there is no indication of any other attack on British soil, and the threat level in the United Kingdom remains unchanged and at severe threat level.
Earlier Saturday, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano told CNN Saturday that the plan to send explosives on a flight to the United States has the "hallmarks of al Qaeda,"
"We know that the perpetrators of this -- and it has the hallmarks of al Qaeda, the AQAP -- they are constantly trying things to test our system," she said, referring to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
The suspected terror plot involved two suspicious packages found abroad, addressed to Jewish organizations in the United States, that contained considerable amounts of explosive material.
The devices were designed to be detonated by a cell phone, a source close to the investigation told CNN.
President Barack Obama confirmed that the packages -- intercepted in the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates -- originated in Yemen, the stronghold of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
"We also know that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ... continues to plan attacks against our homeland, our citizens, and our friends and allies," he said during a press briefing on the incident Friday.
"Initial examination of those packages has determined they do apparently contain explosive material," Obama said.
The devices were "professionally" loaded and connected using an electric circuit to a mobile phone chip tucked in a printer, Dubai police told WAM, the official news agency for the United Arab Emirates.
They were packed in toner cartridges and designed to be detonated by a cell phone, a source close to the investigation told CNN.
Police said they were tipped off about the possibility of an explosive device in postal packages onboard a FedEx flight from Yemen headed to Dubai.
The Saudi government provided U.S. officials with tracking numbers of the two packages, enabling quick tracing to the United Kingdom and Dubai, a source told CNN.
"What happened is you have great information sharing from the Saudis," Napolitano said Saturday. "We were immediately able to work across the globe to get these packages segregated."
Pressed by CNN's T.J. Holmes on whether the United States would have known about the plot had it not been for the Saudis, she said, "We certainly got the heads-up from the Saudis."
"I don't want to go into other intelligence," she said. "That would be inappropriate. I don't play the 'what if' game. What if the Saudis hadn't told us? We share information. We share information like this across the globe. The ability for passengers to travel safely is a global issue and all countries of the world need to be involved here."
Mohammed Albasha, a Yemen Embassy spokesman in Washington, said no UPS or FedEx flights take off or land in Yemen. He said his government is investigating, but it was too early to speculate or reach any conclusions.
Yemen is cooperating with regional and international partners, including the United States and the United Kingdom, the spokesman said.
A Yemeni government official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, said Saturday that police would close UPS and FedEx offices in the country as part of the investigation. Packages bound to the United States from Yemen "are being inspected and scrutinized as part of the investigation," the official said.
He said workers at local UPS and FedEx offices were questioned, as were other cargo workers.
The package found at East Midlands Airport contained a "manipulated" toner cartridge and had white powder on it as well as wires and a circuit board, a law enforcement source said Friday. A similar package set to be shipped on a FedEx cargo plane was discovered in Dubai, officials there said.
The source close to the investigation said the type of material found in the devices was PETN, a highly explosive organic compound belonging to the same chemical family as nitroglycerin. Six grams of PETN are enough to blow a hole in the fuselage of an aircraft.
PETN was allegedly one of the components of the bomb concealed by Umar Farouk AbdulMutallab, the Nigerian man accused of trying to set off an explosion aboard a Northwest Airlines flight as it approached Detroit, Michigan, on December 25.
Abdul Mutallab is alleged to have been carrying 80 grams of PETN in that botched attack -- also believed to be the workings of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
By comparison, the source said the two devices found Friday contained multiple times more PETN.
Both packages bore addresses in the United States, "specifically two places of Jewish worship in Chicago," Obama said.
The packages led to increased searches of cargo planes and trucks in several U.S. cities, said law enforcement sources with detailed knowledge of the investigation.
White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan said that "the materials that were found and the device that was discovered were intended to do harm."
The Transportation Security Administration on Friday stopped all packages originating from Yemen, and shipping companies UPS, FedEx and DHL all said they were complying with the order. May said Saturday that all cargo into or through the United Kingdom originating in Yemen was halted as well.
Counterterrorism officials are taking the threat "very seriously," Obama said. The Department of Homeland Security said it has taken measures to intensify security.
"We have put in place enhanced protections for cargo and passengers emanating from Yemen and making sure we identify all packages coming from there," Napolitano said Saturday. She stressed that officials are acting out of "an abundance of caution."
Planes were moved out of an abundance of caution, TSA says.
(CNN) -- Authorities were responding to reports of suspicious items on cargo flights that landed Friday in Newark, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Planes "were moved to a remote location ... out of an abundance of caution," the Transportation Security Administration said.
In Philadelphia, the fire department's hazardous material units were responding to an incident involving two aircraft -- a UPS plane and a 757 jet with no one aboard, officials said.
Three people aboard one of the planes were scanned with negative results, the Philadelphia Fire Department said.
The type of material that may be involved is not known, officials said.
Paris, France (CNN) -- A tape of a man claiming to be Osama Bin Laden threatening France appears to be authentic, the French Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
Bin Laden warned France to get its troops out of Afghanistan and not to oppress Muslims at home in a tape broadcast by the Al-Jazeera network Wednesday.
"If you want to tyrannize and think that it is your right to ban the free women from wearing the burqa, isn't it our right to expel your occupying forces, your men from our lands by striking them by the neck?" the speaker demands, in reference to recently passed French legislation barring women from covering their faces in public.
"This message only confirms the reality of the terrorist threat against which the French authorities have taken and continue to take appropriate measures," the ministry said in a statement Thursday.
"French authorities are fully mobilized to secure the release of seven hostages kidnapped in Niger on September 16. These statements by Bin Laden will not affect our assessment of the situation of our hostages and obviously will, therefore, not erode our efforts to secure their release. France will continue to fight against terrorism alongside its partners," the ministry said.
Five French nationals were kidnapped last month along with a person from Togo and one from Madagascar. A photograph of them was posted September 30 on a website linked to al Qaeda.
French authorities are treating the Bin Laden message "very, very seriously," CNN counterterror analyst Paul Cruickshank said.
An opposition lawmaker Wednesday urged "contempt towards these terrorists.
"All of this is derisory, contemptible. We must take this message for what it is but we must stand together in France, all French, whatever the circumstances and whatever our differences," said Francois Loncle, a Socialist Party member of the foreign relations committee of the National Assembly said on RTL radio.
The demands of the speaker on the tape are clear.
"The only way to safeguard your nation and maintain your security is to lift all your injustice and its extensions off our people and most importantly to withdraw your forces from Bush's despicable war in Afghanistan," the speaker says.
The tape is audio only. The speaker does not appear. CNN was not able to confirm that it is really Osama Bin Laden, the head of al Qaeda.
But fake Bin Laden tapes have never been broadcast, U.S. intelligence experts say.
"As you kill us, you will be killed. As you imprison us, you will be imprisoned, and as you threaten our security, we will threaten your security and the initiator of the injustice is the true aggressor," the speaker says.
The France's terror alert level is red, the second highest, authorities say. It did not change immediately in response to the new tape.
Paris has been on edge lately, with the Eiffel Tower having been evacuated twice.
Al Qaeda has issued a series of threats against France in the past, and French citizens have been killed by groups in Africa claiming affiliation with Bin Laden's group.
Bin Laden is still providing strategic direction to al Qaeda from a base somewhere in Pakistan, Cruickshank said.
"He is still involved in actual plotting... signing off on (an) operation, Western intelligence authorities believe," he said.
But there have been only two successful attacks on the West since September 11, 2001, he pointed out.
Commuter trains in Madrid, Spain, were bombed in March, 2004, killing 191 people. Public transport in London, England, was bombed in July, 2005, killing 52, plus four suicide bombers.
France has 3,750 troops in Afghanistan, according to NATO's International Security Assistance Force.
French lawmakers approved a ban on full-face veils in September, citing security concerns and saying they violated women's human rights. The ban is scheduled to come into effect in the spring.
I visited one of the largest warehouses in Port-au-Prince yesterday. It is a large structure behind a big blue gate and a handful of security guards. I went to get a better understanding of how lifesaving supplies are distributed in the middle of a cholera outbreak. Outside, workers from aid organizations were also waiting to take supplies to patients in St. Marks, the epicenter of the outbreak.
It quickly became clear that it was going to be a long day. One of the workers told me she had been waiting for several hours to pick up the supplies despite the fact that she had all the necessary paperwork and authorizations. No one was available to help her. After sitting there frustrated nearly the whole day, she eventually left empty-handed, telling me this wasn’t at all unusual. “Typical Third World red tape,” she added.
I eventually made my way into the warehouse, where I expected to see the shelves bare from the recent demand for supplies to treat thousands of patients with cholera. Instead, the warehouse was almost full, with boxes of lifesaving IV fluids sitting there since July, as evidenced by their packaging slips. I asked to speak to someone in charge of the warehouse, and was told I would need to wait a few more hours. I waited.
Three hours later, I met the health management adviser. “We are doing the best we can,” he started. “Look, we saved thousands of lives with supplies,” he added. That was true, yet it still was baffling to me that so many simple lifesaving supplies were in a warehouse in Haiti, had been there for months, and were still sitting there, while hundreds of people died. “ We were blindsided,” he admitted. “No one expected a cholera outbreak.”
There hadn’t been a case of cholera in Haiti for many decades and it is still not clear why one is happening now. “But, still, the supplies are sitting there in tens of thousands of boxes. Why didn’t you distribute them?” I asked. “We have to plan ahead,” he said. “We can’t simply send all of our supplies to one area. What if Port-au-Prince was hit tomorrow?”
And, therein lies one of the big challenges with aid distribution. Trying to meet the immediate need in a disaster while also anticipating future demands. I have seen it happen over and over again in Haiti since the earthquake. It is a bitter irony. People die for lack of lifesaving supplies, even though the supplies were right there in front of them.
Of course, in this case, the supplies in question were not expensive medicines or difficult to transport technology. In this case, it was simple and cheap. It was rehydration packets and IV fluids. In the year 2010, there are still people on their hands and knees begging for clean water.
Washington (CNN) -- A Virginia man was arrested Wednesday for allegedly attempting to help others he thought were members of al Qaeda in planning multiple bombings at Metrorail stations in the Washington area, the Department of Justice said.
Farooque Ahmed, 34, appeared briefly later Wednesday before federal Magistrate John Anderson at the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia. The court will appoint an attorney for Ahmed, and he was ordered to remain in custody until a detention hearing Friday, said Peter Carr, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Alexandria.
A federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment against Ahmed on Tuesday, the Justice Department said in a statement.
"In announcing this arrest, officials emphasized that at no time was the public in danger during this investigation and that the FBI was aware of Ahmed's activities from before the alleged attempt began and closely monitored his activities until his arrest," the statement said. "The public should be assured that there was no threat against Metrorail or the general public in the Washington, D.C., area."
Metrorail is the name of the subway system that serves the greater Washington area, including suburbs in northern Virginia and south-central Maryland.
Ahmed is charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, collecting information to assist in planning a terrorist attack on a transit facility and attempting to provide material support "to help carry out multiple bombings to cause mass casualties" at the Washington-area stations, authorities said. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters the arrest is "another important example" of work by the FBI, all levels of law enforcement and the national security team "to keep our country safe."
"At no point was the public in any danger," Gibbs said.
In a statement, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said, "This arrest reinforces the need for continued vigilance by Metro and its customers."
Carr said Ahmed was dressed in casual clothes and had a long beard at the court appearance, where he appeared reserved and "addressed the judge respectfully."
Ahmed was arrested at 9:40 a.m. Wednesday at a hotel in Herndon, Virginia, according to Carr.
Ahmed attempted to assist others "whom he believed to be members of al Qaeda" from April through Monday in planning multiple bombings at the stations, according to the indictment.
Federal authorities declined to provide further information on the identities of the purported al Qaeda members who allegedly were in contact with Ahmed.
On April 18, Ahmed allegedly drove to a hotel in Dulles, Virginia, and met with a courier who he thought was affiliated with a terrorist organization, the indictment said. That person "provided Ahmed with a document that provided potential locations at which future meetings could be arranged," the Justice Department said, citing the indictment.
On May 15, Ahmed allegedly agreed to "watch and photograph" a Washington hotel as well as a Metrorail station in Arlington, Virginia, "to obtain information about their security and busiest periods," the department said.
Ahmed, a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Pakistan, "allegedly participated in surveillance and recorded video images of Metrorail stations in Arlington, Virginia, on four occasions," the statement said.
On or about July 19, in a Sterling, Virginia, hotel room, Ahmed allegedly gave a memory stick containing video images of the station to "an individual whom Ahmed believed to be affiliated with al Qaeda," according to the indictment. That same day, he allegedly agreed to assess the security of two other Metrorail stations in Arlington as possible locations of terrorist attacks, the Justice Department statement said.
And in a Herndon hotel room on September 28, Ahmed allegedly handed over a USB drive containing images of two Arlington Metrorail stations to a person he thought was affiliated with al Qaeda, authorities said. He also allegedly provided diagrams he drew of three Arlington Metrorail stations and provided suggestions as to where explosives should be placed on trains at the stations "to kill the most people" in simultaneous attacks planned for 2011, the Justice Department said.
"Today's case underscores the need for continued vigilance against terrorist threats and demonstrates how the government can neutralize such threats before they come to fruition, said David Kris, assistant attorney general for national security. "Farooque Ahmed is accused of plotting with individuals he believed were terrorists to bomb our transit system, but a coordinated law enforcement and intelligence effort was able to thwart his plans."
Though rumors about the possibility of Apple launching a CDMA-compatible iPhone on Verizon have been picking up steam lately—our own sources have told us that an LTE-capable iPhone has been in testing in Boston for several months—Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg suggested Thursday that it might not be coming in January as many had hoped.
Speaking at a Goldman Sachs conference in New York, Seidenberg made no mention of an iPhone model being made to work on Verizon's current EVDO/CDMA network. Instead, he "hoped" that Apple would consider making an iPhone to work with its nascent LTE 4G network.
"We would love to carry [the iPhone] when we get there, but we have to earn it," Seidenberg told investors. "I think 4G will accelerate the process, and any other decisions Apple makes would be fine with us. Hopefully, at some point Apple will get with the program."
Those comments may be bad news to the significant percentage of current iPhone users locked to AT&T in the US who would likely switch to Verizon if given the chance. Our own reader survey earlier this year also suggested that there are plenty of existing Verizon customers who would be interested in an iPhone that worked on the largest US network. Though Verizon has been very successful with a strong lineup of Android-powered smartphones from Motorola and HTC, pent-up demand for a CDMA-compatible iPhone definitely exists.
However, other evidence suggests that a CDMA-compatible iPhone is in the works, even if Seidenberg isn't willing to work with Apple to bring it to his network. Component suppliers have hinted that Apple is prepping to build at least 3 million CDMA iPhones in December, which would track with a manufacturing ramp-up for a rumored January launch.
As mentioned above, we've heard through the grapevine that an LTE/CDMA iPhone has been in testing on Verizon's network in the Boston area, and that the rumored January launch was contingent on Verizon meeting its stated goal of launching its LTE network in 30 major markets by year's end. If Verizon isn't on track to meet that goal, it may have resulted in Apple changing its mind. Still, a CDMA-compatible iPhone could launch on other networks, including Sprint in the US, and China Mobile and SK Telecom in Asia.
Whatever the problem is between Verizon and Apple, though, customers certainly don't care—they just want the popular device to work on their preferred network. It would be beneficial to both Verizon and Apple to work out a deal, and work it out soon, while demand is still high.
Democrat David Cicilline, mayor of Providence, is ahead in polls for Rhode Island's 1st Congressional District.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Rhode Island Democrat David Cicilline is the openly gay mayor of Providence
Cicilline is running to fill Rep. Patrick Kennedy's seat in the 1st Congressional District
If elected, he would become the fourth openly gay member in the House (if others are re-elected)
Washington (CNN) -- In a year when Democrats are widely considered politically handicapped, openly gay House candidate David Cicilline has bucked the trend in his race to represent Rhode Island's 1st Congressional District.
Cicilline, the mayor of Providence, is up by double digits in the polls, holds a fundraising advantage against his competitor, Republican John Loughlin II, and has received a slew of endorsements.
And he has the help from the Democratic big guns. On Monday, President Obama stumped in the state for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, lending support for Cicilline, among others.
If elected, Cicilline, 49, would be one of four openly gay members of Congress -- joining the ranks of Democratic Reps. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Barney Frank of Massachusetts and Jared Polis of Colorado (assuming they win their re-election bids).
Robin Brand, deputy executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, said her nonpartisan political action committee decided to endorse the mayor mainly because of his leadership track record.
"He had been a successful state legislator, successful mayor and really came out of the starting gate as the front-runner in this race," Brand said. "He is a really strong campaigner."
But he still has work to do, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
The report deems the district "Lean Democrat." It previously changed its ranking in September from "Likely Democrat" to "Lean Democrat" after Cicilline was forced to acknowledge that the city had "improperly given him pay raises as mayor between 2006 and 2009."
It's a point that Loughlin was able to capitalize on.
"David Cicilline illegally collected more than $20,000 in salary that he was not entitled to -- and he only gave it back because he got caught," Loughlin said at a press conference last week. "If we can't trust him to watch our money in city hall, how can we trust him to watch our money in Washington?"
Cook Political Report points out that while Loughlin has begun to rip into Cicilline's record as mayor, "Cicilline still enters the homestretch in reasonably good shape. ... Loughlin doesn't have a ton of money left, and Cicilline is ahead anywhere from one to two dozen points in public polling."
Brand said that Cicilline's record on gay and lesbian issues is hardly a reason why he may appeal to a large swath of Democratic voters in the district, a seat now held by Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a liberal Democrat, who isn't seeking re-election.
Cicilline's "focus has been on the issues that people care about right now, which is economic development and jobs," she said. "He has a strong reputation for building Providence's economy and I think that focus for him has really been what has propelled him to the front of this race and put him in a really strong position to win this seat on November 2."
The state's largest newspaper -- The Providence Journal -- is also supporting him.
The paper's endorsement reads: "Mr. Cicilline has been an honest, energetic and often innovative mayor. ... He has cleansed city government of much of its reputation for corruption and hired capable people. ... He has brought a level of fiscal discipline (including in relations with the city's far too powerful public-employee unions) that has not been seen in the city for many decades."
Perhaps the most likely reason that Cicilline can win, Brand added, is that voters are less likely now to care about a candidate's sexuality because of the economic problems facing the country.
Mr. Cicilline has been an honest, energetic and often innovative mayor. --The Providence Journal endorsement
"Ultimately, voters vote for candidates who are going to help improve their lives. It doesn't matter if you're gay or lesbian," she said. "If you've demonstrated that you've helped improve people's lives on the issues they care about, our research shows that being openly gay or lesbian is really secondary to that."
And that's certainly the case for Laure Rondeau, an elderly Catholic woman in Providence, who told NPR that sexuality doesn't play a factor in her vote.
"[Sexual orientation] doesn't bother me at all,'' Rondeau said in the interview. "He's been a good mayor of Providence, and I think he'd do well in Congress.''
In many ways, his sexuality may be a plus to some voters angry at Washington's backroom deals and candidates deemed distant, out of touch and dishonest, Brand said.
"It's clear that it may not be easy to run as openly gay or lesbian, but they are being open and honest about who they are," she said. "Voters really respect that, and I think that, in some ways, can really be an advantage especially in times like this."
Across the country, another openly gay House candidate -- backed by the Victory Fund -- is hoping to ride that same wave.
Steve Pougnet, 47, the Democratic mayor of Palm Springs, California, is running against Republican Rep. Mary Bono Mack in the state's 45th Congressional District.
While the incumbent's poll numbers are high and fundraising dollars continue to pour in, political observers note that she faces a challenge this year from Pougnet -- a well-liked politician who has a husband and two children.
The Cook Political Report rates the district "Likely Republican."
"Bono Mack remains strong here because she is one of the most moderate members of the California delegation," according to Cook's analysis. "Now, they finally have a credible candidate in Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet, who is receiving the kind of national support that past nominees have not enjoyed."
The report goes on to say that Pougnet remains a "heavy underdog" because of the GOP lawmaker's moderate voting record. (She was one of eight Republicans to vote for Democrats' "cap and trade" energy bill.)
