What follows is today’s collection of news from around the world that you won’t want to miss. The articles, from a score of media firms, are curated just for you, news that centers around issues of freedom, the Affordable Care Act, immigration and more.
Personal finance and freedom
Kuwait upholds sentence for Twitter ‘insults’
A rights activist in Kuwait says an appeals court has upheld a 10-year prison sentence against a social media commentator for posts considered offensive to Islam and the rulers of fellow Gulf states Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Car bombs kill scores in Baghdad, in sign of crisis in Iraq
In the latest violence, nine car bombs tore through markets and police checkpoints in Baghdad on Sunday, killing dozens of people. The bloody campaign has virtually erased the security gains made in the past five years. More than 5,300 Iraqis have been killed this year.
Beg apple: Subways overrun with homeless
“I feel threatened, especially taking the train at night,†explained Brooklynite Lortashia Smith, who said she has been followed off trains several times. “The police can definitely do more.â€
Pennsylvania boy dresses as vagrant for class, is suspended
A high school student who dressed as a homeless man for a drama assignment was so convincing that he fooled school officials — and ended up getting suspended.
Motorcyclists arrested on Long Island
Officers also arrested more than 30 individuals and issued field appearance tickets for trespassing after they gathered on their bikes behind the Suffolk County Department of Social Services building.
A black box in your car? Some see a source of tax revenue
The devices would track every mile you drive —possibly including your location — and the government would use the data to draw up a tax bill.
U.S. NSA spied on 60 million Spanish phone calls in a month: report
The U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) recently tracked over 60 million calls in Spain in the space of a month, a Spanish newspaper said on Monday, citing a document which it said formed part of papers obtained from ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
NSA denies Obama knew of spying on German leader
“There’s a reason the president of the United States’ BlackBerry is encrypted,” Rogers said. “I think they would be enlightened to find out what their (German, French…) intelligence services may or may not be doing in the interests of their own national security.”
Postal worker pleads guilty in $450,000 jewelry theft case
An estimated $450,000 in jewelry, stones and precious metals that disappeared in the mail, has been connected to a U.S. Postal Service delivery truck driver in Fort Worth, Texas.
Obamacare
‘Most people’ will be able to keep their plans under Obamacare
David Axelrod offered a slightly different promise about Obamacare than has the president: While the president has repeatedly said, “If you like your plan, you can keep it,†Axelrod on Monday told MSNBC that “most†will be able to stick with their plan.
Florida woman’s insurance rate increases 10 times under Obamacare
“When I got this bill, I was outraged,” CBS quotes a 56-year-old Florida resident who got dropped from her health care plan. Her new plan will be 10 times higher than what she’s paying now, jumping from $54 a month to $591.
500,000 Californians lose health policies
My wife, the syndicated San Francisco Chronicle columnist Debra J. Saunders, has learned that at least 500,000 Californians may lose their health insurance next year — and that’s a conservative estimate.
HHS secretary is now a ‘laughingstock,’ says senator (video)
A Republican senator called Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius the “laughingstock of America” on “Saturday Night Live.” The sketch, which aired Saturday, poked fun at Sebelius’s attempts to downplay serious problems with Obamacare’s enrollment website.
Republican: Sebelius to testify ‘before she’s out the door’ (video)
“The incompetence in building this website is staggering,” Blackburn told “Fox News Sunday.” The Energy and Commerce panel will host Sebelius on Wednesday for questioning in her first appearance before Congress since HealthCare.gov’s debut on Oct. 1.
More HealthCare.gov woes: Website loses connectivity
The Oct. 1 launch of Obama’s health care law, also known as Obamacare, has been marred by technical glitches and delays. The department has encouraged website users to contact their call center to apply for coverage.
Obamacare website might have to be rebuilt
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Obamacare’s Web site, already a tangled mess, might need to be rebuilt from scratch to to protect against cyber-thieves because he fears it’s not a safe place right now for health-care consumers to deposit their personal information.
Immigration
Evangelical pastors, Marriott CEO united on immigration
Evangelical pastors, corporate leaders, elected Republican officials and small-government activists arrive in Washington to lobby lawmakers to revamp U.S. immigration policies before year’s end.
Immigration reform pitch gets aggressive
Expect more sit-ins, fasting vigils and demonstrations in coming months, as exasperated immigrants and their supporters in Florida turn to new, more aggressive tactics to demand legal status for an illegal population.
World and Business
Range Rover unveils most expensive model ever, at £140,000
The target audience for the sumptuous off-roader is royalty – both the blue-blooded real and the ‘tinsel-town’ Hollywood variety — as well as ministers and senior politicians and top sporting stars.
Another European directive that really sucks…EU now bans “energy-hungry†home appliances
“Beginning September 2014 in the EU only vacuum cleaners that consume less than 1,600 watts may be sold. From 2017 only a maximum of 900 watts will be allowed.â€
Aiming to avoid Facebook chaos, NYSE runs Twitter IPO test
The New York Stock Exchange on Saturday did a test run of Twitter’s highly anticipated market debut, as it seeks to avoid the types of problems that plagued Facebook’s initial public offering on rival Nasdaq.
In start-up bubble, $4 billion is the new $1 billion
Forty is the new 30, and 80 is the new 60, and in the land of capitalist milk and honey — otherwise known as Silicon Valley — is $4 billion the new $1 billion?
Brooklyn man killed by drinking Red Bull, $85 million lawsuit alleges
The complaint is believed to be the first wrongful death suit against the energy drink maker. The beverage contains ‘extra stimulants that make it different than a cup of coffee,’ lawyer Ilya Novofastovsky contends. ‘They are more dangerous than what Red Bull lets on.’
Fun and interesting
Fukushima horse breeder braves high radiation levels to care for animals
“Just after the accident, one of the horses gave birth. When I saw that foal get to its feet and start feeding from its mother, I knew there was no way I could leave.”
Scientists discover new species in ‘Lost World’ in Australia
On the second day of a four-day trek to Cape Melville, a team led by Dr. Conrad Hoskin, from James Cook University, and Dr Tim Laman, from Harvard University, discovered a “bizarre” looking leaf-tailed gecko, a golden-coloured skink and a boulder-dwelling frog — species that have been isolated from their closest cousins for millions of years.
Lightning strikes man twice at Rednecks With Paychecks
“What I remember is just a loud boom and it dropped me to my knees and then it hit me again,†Wagner said. “When I got hit, it was just two big ol’ flashes and then sparks went everywhere.†Twenty four hours later he was still shaky and jittery, but miraculously, that was the extent of his injuries.
Best regards,
The Money and Markets Team
