By John Johnson Mark Zuckerberg’s political advocacy group for immigration reform launches today, reports Politico , and Zuckerberg himself takes to the Washington Post to explain the rationale behind FWD.us. You’ll get the gist from a string of questions he poses in the op-ed piece: “Why do we kick out the more than…
From: http://www.newser.com/story/166080/zuckerberg-why-our-immigration-system-is-a-mess.html
With a Washington Post op-ed Thursday morning, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced his support for immigration reform with the launch of FWD.us, a new non-partisan organization founded by a host of well-known Silicon Valley leaders to advocate for policy to support the “knowledge economy.”
Police in the nation’s capital have discovered a man’s body floating in the Tidal Basin, an area teeming with tourists and locals catching glimpses of Washington’s cherry blossom trees bloom.
The unidentified body was found around 1 a.m. Wednesday near the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, the Washington Post reports. The cause of death is unknown.
Another man’s body was found on Saturday south of the Lincoln Memorial in the Potomac River.
Police investigating both cases have not said whether the deaths are connected, the Washington Post reports.
Click for more from the Washington Post.
From: http://feeds.foxnews.com/~r/foxnews/national/~3/AzVD62VD2EU/
By Ruth Brown Bob McDonnell isn’t the first father to be ruined by his daughter’s lavish wedding, but he could now be the first whose vice presidential aspirations have been. When the Virginia governor’s questionable financial relationship with a dietary supplement company was exposed by the Washington Post last month, McDonnell claimed that…
By Evann Gastaldo Streets were shut down for almost two hours around the White House this morning as the Secret Service investigated a suspicious vehicle nearby, the Washington Post reports. One Metro station entrance was also closed and buses were delayed as DC police and US park police assisted in the investigation. No… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
By Brandy Betz, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Confused about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or “Obamacare”?
You’re in good company.
In a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll, more than half of the participants expressed a lack of knowledge about the personal impact of Obamacare. With the program hitting full swing next year, the continued widespread confusion speaks to a massive public relations failure. There’s a lot of information out there, and the majority is either biased or difficult to digest during a lunch break.
But here’s a no-muss-no-fuss beginner’s guide to the changes coming soon. Note that these questions pertain to those who will buy individual insurance. I’ll have another guide up shortly for Medicare and Medicaid.
1. When do the health insurance exchanges start? What if my state doesn’t have one?
The health insurance exchanges, or HIX, will serve as the public marketplace where people can comparison shop for private insurance. HIX open this October, but the purchased plans won’t become effective until Jan. 1, 2014.
Some states agreed to run a HIX, and those will feature insurers with contracts in that state. For example, Cigna bowed out of participating in Connecticut’s exchange, but Aetna and UnitedHealth remain among the options.
If your state opted out of hosting a HIX or won’t have its HIX ready in time, the federal government will have a HIX set up for you to purchase a plan. Click here to see where your state currently stands with its exchange.
2. How much will this insurance cost me?
The short answer is that premium costs will vary. The purpose of Obamacare is not only to offer coverage but to offer better coverage than has been widely available. If you currently pay a small premium for less-than-ideal coverage, there’s a chance that your premium will go up.
Vermont recently became the first state to set new premiums, and the costs were essentially flat with what people were paying before Obamacare. But as The Washington Post‘s Ezra Klein explains, Vermont’s state laws have required insurers to offer better than average coverage. States that have slacked in that department will have a greater chance of increased premiums.
Hard numbers aren’t possible at this point. But a particularly educated guess has premiums for the uninsured dropping 14% while premiums for the already insured increasing the same percentage.
(How can the uninsured have lower premiums than nothing? The number is based on how much they would’ve paid if they had insurance prior to the Obamacare.)
3. Will I receive assistance paying for my new insurance?
Federal subsidy tax credits will become available next year for people who purchase insurance through the exchanges. To receive the credit, you must not qualify for Medicare or Medicaid and should have annual income that’s at or below 400% of the federal poverty level, which comes out to $43,320 for an individual.
The amount of the subsidy varies according …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
Ten years ago, a statue fell in Baghdad‘s Firdous Square. Joyful Iraqis helped by an American tank retriever pulled down their longtime dictator, cast as 16 feet of bronze. The scene broadcast live worldwide became an icon of the war, a symbol of final victory over Saddam Hussein.
But for the residents of the capital, it was only the beginning.
The toppling of the statue remains a potent symbol that has divided Iraqis ever since: Liberation for Shiites and Kurds, a loss for some Sunnis and grief among almost everybody over the years of death, destruction and occupation that followed the fall of Baghdad to U.S. forces on April 9, 2003.
“Ten years ago, I dreamed of better life,” said Rassol Hassan, 80, who witnessed the fall of the statue from his nearby barber shop. “Nothing has changed since then for me and many Iraqis, it has even gotten worse.”
In an opinion piece in the Washington Post, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the overwhelming majority of Iraqis agree that they are better off today than under Saddam’s brutal dictatorship.
“Iraqis will remain grateful for the U.S. role and for the losses sustained by military and civilian personnel that contributed in ending Hussein’s rule,” he said.
“Iraq is not a protectorate of the United States; it is a sovereign partner,” al-Maliki said in response to the contention that Iraq has become more pro-Iran than pro-West. “Partners do not always agree, but they consider and respect each other’s views. In that spirit, we ask the United States to consider Iraq‘s views on challenging issues, especially those of regional importance.”
In the past 10 years, Iraqis have seen the country’s power base shift from minority Arab Sunnis to majority Shiites, with Kurds gaining their own autonomous region.
“For Kurds there is no regret,” said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurdish legislator. “April 9 is a national liberation day for us.”
Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Iraq‘s Shiite-led government, said “April 9 is a day of contradictions: We ended the oppression of Saddam” but began the American occupation. Still, he emphasized that Iraqis were looking forward.
“Our fight is . against terrorist groups that kill people and want to prevent them from tasting the freedom …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News
The Fiscal Cliff, the Sequester, and the Continuing Resolutions now are behind us. The next Episode in the Continuing Saga is looming: the Debt Ceiling. President Obama has put down his table ante, as described by the Washington Post headline, “Obama budget would cut entitlements in exchange for tax increases.” In plain English Team Obama is offering the Republicans a suicide pact euphemized as a “grand bargain on the debt.” Instead of a suicide pact America needs Congress to tackle the Growth Gap. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest
By Rob Quinn Carbon emissions usually make the news for their effect on the climate but they are also having a major impact on marine ecosystems by creating huge crustaceans, the Washington Post finds. In the Chesapeake Bay area and many others, oyster and scallop populations are dropping as crabs—who are able… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
By Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
Rediff.com Announces Enhancements to its Rediff News App Service
News as It Happens from 30,000 Indian and International News Sources Now Available for Free via the Rediff News App
24X7 Access to News on the Move, for Users Using Almost Any Phone with a Data Plan
MUMBAI, India–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Rediff.com India Limited (NAS: REDF) , India‘s leading online provider of news, information, communication, entertainment and shopping services today announced enhancements to its Rediff News App service, which will now bring news from over 30,000 Indian and International sources to users for free just by downloading the Rediff news app.
Apart from the latest news on Rediff.com, this new app from Rediff also aggregates news from top news sources such as Reuters, The New York Times, Washington Post, The Times of India, The Economic Times, and The Hindu, among others.
Rediff has enabled multiple versions of the app for mobile devices ranging from those using the latest versions of iOS, BlackBerry, Windows 8, and Android, to feature phones using the classical Java and Symbian operating systems. Each version is designed to provide the best user experience on the respective operating system and provides aggregated news content from multiple sources.
The contemporary tiled interface design, displays the latest news with images and a short description across popular categories such as Top News, World, Business, Sports, Cricket, and Entertainment. A user can tap on an image to get a summary of the news and a further tap takes him/her to the full article on the original news source. The easy-to-use search function enables users to search for news on any topic of interest and provides the ability to change the default manual setting to refresh the content at a frequency of their choice. The ‘Also read’ feature helps users discover more news as they browse related content. The app provides an offline access to previously downloaded news content even when the user is not connected to the internet, providing each user with a unique and differentiated news search and viewing experience.
Ajit Balakrishnan, Chairman and CEO, Rediff.com said, “The Indian mobile internet user base is expected to grow exponentially on the back of initiatives by the Government of India and leading Indian telecom service providers. Our launch of the Rediff News app that can work on almost all mobile phones provides users with better access to worldwide news and enhances search functionality. This is …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By The Huffington Post News Editors
An early candidate for most heartwarming sports moment of the year occurred during Nebraska’s spring football game on Saturday.
Wearing a Nebraska jersey and helmet, 7-year-old brain cancer patient Jack Hoffman took a handoff from quarterback Taylor Martinez and left every Cornhusker player in his tracks. Hoffman ran 69 yards for the touchdown, the game’s final score, and celebrated with the entire Nebraska team in the end zone.
A crowd of over 60,000 at Memorial Stadium cheered him on, the Washington Post reported.
Read More…
More on College Football
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post
By Morgan Housel, The Motley Fool
Filed under: Investing
“The calamity of the information age is that the toxicity of data increases much faster than its benefits.” — Nassim Taleb.
When asked what I read, I always plug Twitter. It is one of the most effective communication devices ever invented, I usually say, with no exaggeration.
Twitter has become so important to finance that it is taking over the role of the Wall Street analyst. As news broke of the Cyprus bailout last month, Twitter was a mile ahead of Wall Street. Joe Weisenthal of Business Insider wrote:
Twitter is increasingly equaling or surpassing the value of traditional sell-side research from Wall Street analysts … Because the [Cyprus] news was so surprising, and because there’s so little time between when the bailout was announced early Saturday morning, and when trading begins Sunday evening, there’s been an aggressive thirst for information and analysis on what it all means. But the sell-side has been fairly slow, and the Twittersphere has come to the rescue.
He is right. When big financial news is breaking, all the money in the world can’t buy the information streaming from Twitter’s free iPhone app. It is indispensable.
But there is another side of Twitter, as Washington Post columnist Ezra Klein recently wrote:
Toward the end of the election, I pretty much stopped reading Twitter altogether. It improved my life, and the quality of my work. There was so much partisan sniping and gaffe-driven garbage that reading almost anything but Twitter was a huge improvement in the quality of the information I consumed.
Most forms of information are slow-moving, Klein writes. “If I neglect my RSS feed today, the posts will still be there tomorrow,” he says. “The same is true for the books I’m reading, the magazines piled on my nightstand, the tabs open in my browser.” Ditto for conventional journalism. If I check WSJ.com at 4 A.M. or 9 A.M. or noon, I will find the same stories. There is no rush.
But on Twitter, not checking your feed for an hour can mean missing something important. Since there’s no easy way to see what everyone you follow has Tweeted in the last day — to say nothing of the last week — the best way to stay on top of what’s important is to become a Twitter maniac, glued to the screen all day. It’s as if you didn’t know when your favorite TV show will air, and there’s way to record it when it does. Not wanting to miss it, you sit in front of the TV all day, waiting for it come.
But that means having to sit through a lot of soap operas and realty TV shows. Which is exactly how Twitter can feel sometimes. And I feel it’s getting worse.
In decade’s past, top investors wrote their clients once a quarter, maybe even once a year. Top newspaper columnists wrote once or twice a week.
Twitter has sent those expectations through …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at DailyFinance
By Evann Gastaldo Count James Carville among those who really want Hillary Clinton to run for president in 2016. He’s supporting Ready for Hillary PAC, a super PAC whose mission is to get Clinton into the race, the Washington Post reports. In an email Carville is sending today, he will ask other Clinton… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
By The Huffington Post News Editors
Bill Clinton will be honored with the inaugural “Advocate for Change” Award at the GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles.
GLAAD officials pointed to the former U.S. president’s recent advocacy work for marriage equality in both New York and North Carolina, as well as his impassioned Washington Post editorial calling for the Supreme Court to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), in announcing the award.
“President Clinton‘s support of the LGBT community and recognition that DOMA, the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, is unconstitutional and should be struck down shows that the political landscape continues to change in favor of LGBT equality,” GLAAD‘s Wilson Cruz said in a statement on the group’s website. “Leaders and allies like President Clinton are critical to moving our march for equality forward.”
Read More…
More on Bill Clinton
By The Huffington Post News Editors
Caroline Kennedy will likely be named the U.S. ambassador to Japan, the Washington Post and CNN reported Monday.
Kennedy, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy, is currently being vetted for the position, according to CNN. According to ABC, the nomination is not yet final. She would replace current Ambassador John Roos, who has held the post since 2009.
The appointment would make the New York-based lawyer and author the first woman to hold the post in Tokyo.
Read More…
More on Caroline Kennedy
By Matt Cantor 
Japan is getting another big-name ambassador from the US. Caroline Kennedy‘s name had been floated for the post; now she’s got the job, the Washington Post reports. She follows in a line of famous ambassadors to the island nation, including former VP Walter Mondale and former Senate majority leader Mike… …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
By The Huffington Post News Editors
Looks like there will be a Camelot East — make that Far East: Caroline Kennedy is heading to Tokyo to be the U.S. ambassador.
Read More…
More on Caroline Kennedy
By Neal Colgrass 
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
By NewsEditor
Matt Barber and Mat Staver say that the Supreme Court, and the entire judiciary, will lose their legitimacy of the Court rules in favor of gay marriage.
By Ruth Brown 
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Newser – Home
