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Did Osama bin Laden have a foot fetish? Or was he into cake farts? Maybe the mass-murderer was so used to his many wives that his fantasy was to escape to a world of plain, vanilla monogamous sex.

 Unfortunately we may never know. Despite a Freedom of Information Act request, those buzzkills over at the CIA have made sure that we won’t be finding out anytime soon what sort of shit the former Al Qaeda leader liked to jerk it to while he hid away in his secret Abbottabad compound.

 If you don’t have a Google Alerts set for “‘Osama bin Laden’ AND ‘porn,'” then you might not be aware that Director of National Intelligence James Clapper confirmed last month that a collection of pornography had been recovered in the raid on bin Laden’s hideout that resulted in the terrorist leader’s death. Clapper also confirmed that while many of the documents found in the raid would be declassified, bin Laden’s skin mags would remain under wraps.

 But staffers at BroBible knew enough about pr0n to realize that, just as a fine musical instrument is meant to be played, dirty mags are meant to be shared with the world — shared until their tattered, jizz-ridden pages no longer have any structural integrity and disintegrate like so many tissues in toilet paper commercials.

 So BroBible’s David Covucci did what any intrepid young reporter would do: He filed a FOIA request. The letter he sent to the CIA is as follows:

 We at the men’s general interest publication BroBible dot com (one of the nation’s largest websites for men), would like to know what pornographic materials Osama Bin Laden had in his possession at the time of his death. We are adults. We can handle it. We would like to know what kind of porn the world’s most wanted man jerked it to. Does being under the constant threat of capture require extra stimulation? I imagine it would be hard for him to focus on his dick, so I figure he had to watch some really nasty shit.

 On Thursday afternoon, Covucci received word back from the CIA, but disappointingly the spy agency said they would not be honoring his request:

 With regard to the pornographic material Osama Bin Laden had in his possession at the time of his death, responsive records, should they exist, would be contained in the operational files. The CIA Information Act, 50 U.S.C 431, as amended, exempts CIA operational files from search, review, publication, and disclosure requirements of the FOIA. To the extent that this material exists, the CIA would be prohibited by 18 USC Section 1461 from mailing obscene matter.

 As pointed out at the 11-minute mark of the May 22 Slate Political Gabfest, it seems odd that the government wouldn’t want to release the information — as it would be potentially very embarrassing for Al Qaeda. For whatever reason, though, it looks like the CIA is taking the high road.

 I gotta say, when it comes to picking issues to develop a moral backbone over, the CIA sure knows how to pick ‘em. So rest easy terrorists! We might torture you illegally and leave you with mental and physical scars that will last a lifetime, but your Internet cache is safe with us.

 [BroBible | Image: Gawker] ||||| Not long after Osama bin Laden was killed, reports appeared claiming that the Al Qaeda leader—or someone in his compound—had a big pornography collection. But if you were hoping for a glimpse at the stash, or even just confirmation that it exists, the government won't help you:

 David Covucci, a blogger for the men's Web site BroBible, decided to try a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the CIA on May 26 to get the stash. The agency, in a lightning-fast response dated June 4, said:

 "With regard to the pornographic material Osama bin Laden had in his possession at the time of his death, responsive records,"—ready?—"should they exist, would be contained in operational files," which are exempt from the FOIA.

 What's more, CIA information and privacy coordinator Michael Lavergne continued, "To the extent that this material exists, the CIA would be prohibited" by federal law, "from mailing obscene matter."

 The CIA's full letter to BroBible is here. Oh, well. "To the extent that this material exists," maybe it'll turn up on WikiLeaks. ||||| Osama bin Laden is shown in this April 1998 photo. AP Photo

 Four years after his death at the hands of U.S. forces, the final chapter of Osama bin Laden’s life continues to raise questions of huge geopolitical import:

 Was the leader of al-Qaeda plotting terror attacks from his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, at the time of his death?

 Was he in contact with — or working for — Pakistan’s notorious Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency?

 How did the most wanted man in the world remain undetected in Abbottabad, a garrison town, in the first place?

 Oh, and also…

 What kind of porn was the dude into?

 [The bin Laden library the U.S. government doesn’t want you to see: The porn stash.]

 No, seriously. Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad contained a “fairly extensive” stash of naughty goods, according to Reuters news agency in 2011. Reuters reported that officials were unsure about the precise location where the material was found or who might have been viewing it.

 What we do know, courtesy of the news service, is that the stash consisted of “modern electronically recorded video,” which means that the Internet-deprived terrorist was basically resigned to watching pornography on VHS like a teenage boy in 1987.

 Is there any worse punishment, really?

 In hopes of uncovering the terrorist leader’s pornographic predilections, a determined bro named David Covucci decided to send the CIA a FOIA request on behalf of the esteemed online periodical of jockish 20-somethings known as BroBible.

 “I’m a man,” Covucci wrote last month, articulating his insatiable need to uncover the truth. “I can handle knowing what kind of porn Osama bin Laden watched. Ain’t gonna make me like him more, ain’t gonna make me hate him less.”

 Here’s the request, edited for foul language:

 Covucci had an uphill battle.

 “We are not going to release these materials due to the nature of their contents,” Jeffrey Anchukaitis, a spokesman for Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, told the Guardian newspaper last month.

 The Freedom of Information Act, enacted in 1966, essentially allows any U.S. citizen to petition the government for official information.

 “It’s a pretty powerful tool for journalists and Bros alike,” Covucci wrote, noting that he believes “us dudes” have a “right to know what the world’s most wanted” was watching.

 “Like… what if it turned out he exclusively watched white, male, American porn stars?,” Covucci added. “Wouldn’t that be anathema to his beliefs? Wouldn’t that be an interesting thing to learn about the man?”

 As it turns out, we’ll probably never know. In only a week, the CIA responded to Covucci’s request — but declined to play ball. According to the agency’s information and privacy coordinator, Michael Lavergne:

 “With regard to the pornographic material Osama Bin Laden had in his possession at the time of his death, responsive records, should they exist, would be contained in the operational files. The CIA Information Act, 50 U.S.C 431, as amended, exempts CIA operational files from search, review, publication, and disclosure requirements of the FOIA. To the extent that this material exists, the CIA would be prohibited by 18 USC Section 1461 from mailing obscene matter.”

 Guys the CIA responded to my FOIA request on behalf of @BroBible pic.twitter.com/3NrXw2mvDC — David Covucci (@DavidCovucci) June 8, 2015

 “I will give them credit,” Covucci wrote after receiving the reply. “They did cite a legitimate statute that allows them to avoid FOIA requests regarding operations.”

 “Oh, well, Bros,” he signed off. “I’m sorry.”

 Hold your head up, bro. Now you’ve got a cool letter you can frame.

 MORE READING: Months before U.S. raid, bin Laden considered leaving Pakistan compound

 Did Osama bin Laden play this terrible video game? |||||

– What kind of porn might be classified? The stuff watched by Osama bin Laden. A blogger at the men's website BroBible filed a, er, colorful Freedom of Information Act request with the CIA to get the details on the "pornographic material" found among bin Laden's stuff. (The request is here, and the language is a little graphic.) David Covucci got his formal answer this week from the spy agency: No dice. “With regard to the pornographic material Osama bin Laden had in his possession at the time of his death, responsive records, should they exist, would be contained in operational files,” and such files are exempt from FOIA requests, says the letter. Even if they weren't in the operational files, it seems that Covucci would have been out of luck: "To the extent that this material exists, the CIA would be prohibited by 18 USC Section 1461 from mailing obscene matter," adds the letter. Intelligence chief James Clapper confirmed the porn's existence last month, notes Death and Taxes, which finds it odd that the agency is keeping it wraps given the potential for embarrassment to al-Qaeda. Maybe it's a job for WikiLeaks, suggests Reason. And as for Covucci, "hold your head up, bro," writes Peter Holley at the Washington Post. "Now you’ve got a cool letter you can frame."


Article:
...does not include the Fake Washington Post, which is used as a “lobbyist” and should so REGISTER. If the P.O. “increased its parcel rates, Amazon’s shipping costs would rise by $2.6 Billion.” This Post Office scam must stop. Amazon must pay real costs (and taxes) now! ||||| In this March 13, 2018 photo, President Donald Trump speaks during a tour as he reviews border wall prototypes in San Diego. Trump hails the start of his long-sought southern border wall, proudly tweeting... (Associated Press)

 In this March 13, 2018 photo, President Donald Trump speaks during a tour as he reviews border wall prototypes in San Diego. Trump hails the start of his long-sought southern border wall, proudly tweeting... (Associated Press)

 WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump hailed the start of his long-sought U.S.-Mexico border wall this past week, proudly tweeting photos of the "WALL!" Actually, no new work got underway. The photos showed the continuation of an old project to replace 2 miles of existing barrier.

 And on Saturday, he ripped Amazon with a shaky claim that its contract with the post office is a "scam."

 Trump and his officials departed from reality on a variety of subjects in recent days: the census, Amazon's practices and the makeup of the Supreme Court among them. Here's a look at some statements and their veracity:

 TRUMP: "Great briefing this afternoon on the start of our Southern Border WALL!" — tweet Wednesday, showing photos of workers building a fence.

 TRUMP: "We're going to be starting work, literally, on Monday, on not only some new wall -- not enough, but we're working that very quickly -- but also fixing existing walls and existing acceptable fences." — Trump, speaking the previous week after signing a bill financing the government.

 THE FACTS: Trump's wrong. No new work began on Monday or any other time this past week. And the photos Trump tweeted were misleading. They showed work that's been going on for more than a month on a small border wall replacement project in Calexico, California, that has nothing to do with the federal budget he signed into law last week.

 The Calexico project that began Feb. 21 to replace a little more than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) of border wall was financed during the 2017 budget year. A barrier built in the 1990s mainly from recycled metal scraps is being torn down and replaced with bollard-style barriers that are 30 feet (9.1 meters) high.

 Ronald D. Vitiello, acting deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, defended the president's statements, saying Friday "there's construction" underway.

 ___

 TRUMP: "If the P.O. 'increased its parcel rates, Amazon's shipping costs would rise by $2.6 Billion.' This Post Office scam must stop. Amazon must pay real costs (and taxes) now!" — tweet Saturday.

 TRUMP: "I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!" — tweet Thursday.

 THE FACTS: Trump is misrepresenting Amazon's record on taxes, the U.S. Postal Service's financial situation and the contract that has the post office deliver some Amazon orders. Federal regulators have found that contract to be profitable for the Postal Service.

 People who buy products sold by Amazon pay sales tax in all states that have a sales tax. Not all third-party vendors using Amazon collect it, however.

 As for the post office, package delivery has been a bright spot for a service that's lost money for 11 straight years. The losses are mostly due to pension and health care costs — not the business deal for the Postal Service to deliver packages for Amazon. Boosted by e-commerce, the Postal Service has enjoyed double-digit increases in revenue from delivering packages, but that hasn't been enough to offset declines in first-class letters and marketing mail, which together make up more than two-thirds of postal revenue.

 While the Postal Service's losses can't be attributed to its package business, Trump's claim that it could get more bang for its buck may not be entirely far-fetched. A 2017 analysis by Citigroup concluded that the Postal Service was charging below-market rates as a whole for parcels. The post office does not use taxpayer money for its operations.

 Trump is upset about Amazon because its owner, Jeff Bezos, owns The Washington Post, one of the targets of his "fake news" tweets.

 ___

 TRUMP: "Because of the $700 & $716 Billion Dollars gotten to rebuild our Military, many jobs are created and our Military is again rich. Building a great Border Wall, with drugs (poison) and enemy combatants pouring into our Country, is all about National Defense. Build WALL through M!" — tweets Sunday and Monday.

 THE FACTS: Trump is floating the idea of using "M'' — the Pentagon's military budget — to pay for his wall with Mexico. Such a move would almost certainly require approval from Congress and there's plenty of reason to be skeptical about the notion of diverting military money for this purpose.

 Only Congress has the power under the Constitution to determine federal appropriations, leaving the Trump administration little authority to shift money without lawmakers' approval.

 Pentagon spokesman Chris Sherwood referred all questions on the wall to the White House. Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to reveal specifics, but said Trump would work with the White House counsel to make sure any action taken was within his executive authority.

 ___

 DAVID SHULKIN, citing reasons Trump fired him as Veterans Affairs secretary: "I have been falsely accused of things by people who wanted me out of the way. But despite these politically based attacks on me and my family's character, I am proud of my record and know that I acted with the utmost integrity." — op-ed Thursday in The New York Times.

 THE FACTS: His statement that he and his family were subjected to politically based attacks is disingenuous, though politics contributed to his dismissal.

 White House support for Shulkin eroded after a blistering report in February by VA's internal watchdog, a non-partisan office. The inspector general's office concluded that he had violated ethics rules by accepting free Wimbledon tennis tickets. The inspector general also said Shulkin's chief of staff had doctored emails to justify bringing the secretary's wife to Europe with him at taxpayer expense.

 It is true, though, that Shulkin had encountered resistance from about a half-dozen political appointees at the VA and White House who rebelled against him. In an extraordinary telephone call, John Ullyot, a top communications aide, and VA spokesman Curt Cashour asked the Republican staff director of the House Veterans Affairs Committee to push for Shulkin's removal after the release of the inspector general's report. The staff director declined to do so. Those political appointees were not involved in drafting the inspector general's report.

 Shulkin expressed regret for the "distractions" caused by the report and agreed to pay more than $4,000 to cover the costs of his wife's coach airfare and the Wimbledon tickets. He continues to insist he did nothing wrong and point to what his staff did in doctoring his emails as a "mistake."

 ___

 TRUMP: "THE SECOND AMENDMENT WILL NEVER BE REPEALED! As much as Democrats would like to see this happen, and despite the words yesterday of former Supreme Court Justice Stevens, NO WAY. We need more Republicans in 2018 and must ALWAYS hold the Supreme Court!" — tweet Wednesday.

 THE FACTS: As a basics civics lesson, Trump's tweet falls short. The Supreme Court is the unelected branch of government and no party can "hold" it. That said, both parties try to win confirmation of justices who are considered likely to vote the way they want.

 Republican-nominated justices have formed a majority of the Supreme Court for nearly 50 years. The five more conservative justices were appointed by Republicans while the four more liberal justices were Democratic nominees.

 Republicans would have the opportunity to cement ideological balance in their favor if Justice Anthony Kennedy — the most moderate of the conservatives — or one of the older and more liberal justices were to retire with Trump in office and Republicans in control of the Senate.

 Trump was citing retired Justice John Paul Stevens, who called in a New York Times article for repeal of the Second Amendment to allow for gun control legislation. Democratic leaders are not proposing repeal of the amendment, as Trump implies. Also noteworthy: Stevens was nominated by a Republican president, Gerald Ford.

 ___

 WHITE HOUSE SPOKESWOMAN SARAH SANDERS, on the Trump administration's decision to ask people about their citizenship in the 2020 census: "This is a question that's been included in every census since 1965 with the exception of 2010, when it was removed. ... And again, this is something that has been part of the census for decades and something that the Department of Commerce felt strongly needed to be included again." — press briefing Tuesday.

 COMMERCE DEPARTMENT: "Between 1820 and 1950, almost every decennial census asked a question on citizenship in some form." — statement on Monday.

 THE FACTS: Sanders is incorrect. The Commerce Department statement is also problematic. Both are trying to play down the risk of a severe undercount of the population if many immigrants, intimidated by the citizenship question, refuse to participate.

 The Census Bureau hasn't included a citizenship question in its once-a-decade survey sent to all U.S. households since 1950, before the Civil Rights era and passage of a 1965 law designed to help ensure minority groups in the count are fully represented.

 The nation's count is based on the total resident population — both citizens and noncitizens — and used to determine how many U.S. representatives each state gets in the U.S. House.

 The citizenship question was not in the 1960 census, according to a copy of the form posted on the Census Bureau website, and no census was held in 1965.

 From 1970 to 2000, the question was included only in the long-form section of the census survey, sent to a portion of U.S. households. After 2000, the question has been asked on the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, a separate poll designed to replace the census long form and sent only to a sample of U.S. households.

 The Commerce Department's assertion that the citizenship question was asked on "almost" every decennial census between 1820 and 1950 also pushes the limits of reality. According to the Census Bureau, the question wasn't asked in four of those censuses —1840, 1850, 1860 or 1880.

 Between 1820 and 1950, a total of 14 censuses were held. That means more than 1 in 4 surveys during that time period lacked the citizenship question.

 Not exactly "almost."

 ___

 Associated Press writers Mark Sherman and Cal Woodward in Washington and Elliot Spagat in San Diego contributed to this report.

 ___

 Find AP Fact Checks at http://apne.ws/2kbx8bd

 Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck ||||| While we are on the subject, it is reported that the U.S. Post Office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon. That amounts to Billions of Dollars. The Failing N.Y. Times reports that “the size of the company’s lobbying staff has ballooned,” and that... |||||Summary:

– President Trump trotted out a familiar whipping boy on Saturday, tweeting that Amazon was screwing over none other than the United States Postal Service. "The U.S. Post Office will lose $1.50 on average for each package it delivers for Amazon," he tweeted, adding that "That amounts to Billions of Dollars." Trump says the USPS should jack its parcel rates, hitting Amazon with a $2.6 billion hike. "This Post Office scam must stop. Amazon must pay real costs (and taxes) now!" he tweeted. Trump's criticism has hit Amazon in the wallet, notes CNBC, with its stock taking a 6% slide in the last five trading days. Trump also took a swipe at another favorite Jeff Bezos-owned punching bag: The Washington Post, which he says "is used as a 'lobbyist' and should so REGISTER." The AP fact-checks Trump's claims and finds that "Trump is misrepresenting Amazon's record on taxes, the U.S. Postal Service's financial situation and the contract that has the post office deliver some Amazon orders. Federal regulators have found that contract to be profitable for the Postal Service." Though it acknowledges that a 2017 study found that USPS parcel rates were below market rates.


– If Kim Jong Un's disappearance from the public arena in recent weeks wasn't strange enough, now factor this in: The No. 2 and No. 3 leaders of North Korea made a surprise visit today to South Korea, reports the Washington Post. Delegations from both nations held their first high-level talks in five years, and while no details were released, they agreed to another round later this month or in November, reports ABC News. Leading the North's delegation was Hwang Pyong So, who has risen this year to become the second most powerful person behind Kim. “It’s a big deal, it's really a big deal, because it’s completely unprecedented,” a North Korea scholar who teaches in Seoul tells the Post. The BBC's Stephen Evans suspects that the North's economic troubles have forced the nation to ditch its old approach of hurling insults and threats at its neighbor. As for Kim, there's still no official explanation for his absence from public events, save for a documentary that showed him limping and referred to his "discomfort." Among the theories: Maybe gout or bum ankles.

Expand this summary.

South Korea's national security adviser Kim Kwan-Jin, left, shakes hands with Hwang Pyong-So , director of the North Korean military's General Political Bureau, the top military post in North Korea, during a luncheon meeting. (Korea Pool/AFP/Getty Images)

 North and South Korea have agreed to hold another round of high-level talks after a top-level Northern delegation, including the men thought to be second and third in command behind Kim Jong Un, paid a surprise visit to the South on Saturday.

 The unusual and unannounced trip — the first such high-level visit in more than five years — comes at a time of intense speculation about North Korea’s leadership, given that Kim, the third-generation leader of the communist state, has not been seen in public for a month.

 It also comes amid a steady stream of disparaging comments from both sides, with South Korean President Park Geun-hye recently calling for the international community to help in “tearing down the world’s last remaining wall of division,” and the North calling Park an “eternal traitor” in response.

 “It’s a big deal, it’s really a big deal, because it’s completely unprecedented,” said Andrei Lankov, a North Korea scholar who studied in Pyongyang and now teaches in Seoul.

 The 11-strong group from North Korea was led by Hwang Pyong So, widely considered Kim’s deputy. He’s the top political official in the Korean People’s Army and vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, which is led by Kim.

 North Korean state TV said leader Kim Jong Un is suffering from "discomfort," the first official acknowledgment that he is unwell after a period out of the public eye. (Reuters)

 Another member of the delegation was Choe Ryong Hae, who has performed both of the roles currently performed by Hwang and is chairman of the State Physical Culture and Sports Commission. That job was previously held by Jang Song Taek, the influential uncle that Kim Jong Un had executed last December, according to NK News, a Web site that monitors the North.

 The third top official was Kim Yang Gon, secretary of the central committee of the Korean Workers’ Party and head of the United Front Department, the North’s equivalent of the South’s unification ministry.

 The delegation had lunch with South Korea’s unification minister, Ryoo Kihl-jae, and Kim Kwan-jin, the national security adviser to Park. South Korean media showed photos of Ryoo shaking hands with Hwang, in North Korean military uniform bedecked with medals, and later sitting down for a meeting together.They also met South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won, who later said he viewed the visit as a good omen. “I hope that it will lead to South-North cooperation and exchanges,” his office said he told the North Koreans, according to Yonhap News.

 The two sides agreed to hold another round of talks, perhaps even before the end of this month, and in a sign of what counts as progress when it comes to diplomatic relations with North Korea, the delegation from Pyongyang agreed to call them “talks.”

 “The delegates agreed to have working-level consultations on specific matters ahead of the high-level meeting,” a spokesman for the South’s unification ministry said in a statement after the meetings. “The North explained that it intends to continue inter-Korean dialogue by naming the upcoming meeting the second round of talks.”

 However, the North Koreans did not meet Park, the South Korean president, with the spokesman saying a meeting “was not realized due to limited time.”

 Still, the sudden visit, which analysts said appeared to take South Korea by surprise, sparked talk of a thaw on the divided peninsula. The delegation arrived Saturday morning, ostensibly to attend the closing ceremony of the Asian Games, which had been held in Incheon, the airport city about an hour west of Seoul.

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 “This group has way too much firepower for the closing ceremony of the Asian Games,” said John Delury, a North Korea watcher at Yonsei University in Seoul. “The games are a subterfuge for some kind of inter-Korean movement. I do think they’re coming with a substantive agenda for Park.”

 This is the highest-level North Korean delegation to visit the South since 2009, when two top officials — including Kim Yang Gon, who visited again Saturday — visited to pay the North’s respects after the death of Kim Dae-jung, the president who championed rapprochement between the two Koreas.

 Lankov said North Korea appeared to be enlarging its “charm offensive” as it tries to “get away from excessive Chinese influence.” North Korea’s foreign minister has been traveling the world, speaking to the United Nations General Assembly last month and now visiting Russia. Officials have been holding talks with the Japanese government over a decades-old abduction dispute.

 Even as his top aides visited South Korea, Kim Jong Un remained mysteriously missing from the public eye. He has not been seen since Sept. 3, and his unusual absence from a session of the Supreme People’s Assembly in Pyongyang last month was followed by even more unusual reports in the state media that he was in an “indisposed condition.”

 This triggered rumors covering every possibility from a stroke to a coup d’etat. A South Korean newspaper reported that the leader is merely recovering from surgery on both ankles, although, as with most reports about North Korea, this cannot be verified.

 The visit of such a high-level delegation to South Korea on Saturday — combined with the flurry of other trips — added weight to the theory that Kim is simply ill, Delury said.

 “This kind of travel would be way too out there if anything serious was going on in North Korea, so I don’t think it’s a sign of a coup,” he said. “But to what extent are they doing this because of all the speculation? We can’t rule out that this is part of a campaign to show that everything is normal there.”

 If the Asian Games were just a pretense, it was one that the North Koreans were keeping up.

 “As I watched some people [in the stands] shouting unification slogans and waving unification flags on TV, I’m proud that the sports sector is taking the initiative in terms of the national unification,” Choe said Saturday, according to reports from Seoul.

 North Korea competed at the Asian Games, with its men’s soccer team playing South Korea in the final this week. The South won 1-0.

 While both Koreas espouse unification for the peninsula, divided since the end of World War II, each has different ideas about what a reunited country should look like: The industrialized South thinks capitalism and democracy should prevail, while the communist, impoverished North maintains that its system is morally superior. ||||| Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Stephen Evans says the "out of the blue" visit suggests a hint of changed attitudes in North Korea

 North and South Korea have agreed to resume formal high-level talks that had effectively been suspended since February, reports from South Korea say.

 The agreement came during a surprise visit to South Korea by North Korean officials for the closing ceremony of the Asian Games.

 The visit was led by two top-ranking North Korean officials seen as close aides to leader Kim Jong-un.

 Both sides were said to have agreed to meet again within the next few weeks.

 Hwang Pyong-so, seen as the second-most powerful man in North Korea, held talks with Ryoo Kihl-jae, the South's reunification minister, on Saturday after flying to Incheon to attend the sporting event.

 Image copyright AP Image caption Both sides agreed to hold high-level talks before the end of the year to try to improve relations

 Mr Hwang is the top political officer at the Korean People's Army. The other two members of the North's delegation were Choe Ryong-hae and Kim Yang-gon - key members of the ruling Workers' Party.

 It is not known what was discussed at the meeting and neither party has commented publicly on the talks.

 A change of tack

 The BBC's Stephen Evans in Seoul says the talks are something of a breakthrough given the level of insult thrown at the South by the North in recent years.

 Relations between the two have been practically non-existent for four years, but the North's economic troubles seem to have forced a change of tack, our correspondent adds.

 The two Koreas remain technically at war because the 1950-53 conflict was ended with a truce.

 The surprise meeting comes amid ongoing speculation about the health of the North's leader.

 Mr Kim has not been seen in public since 3 September. A recent official documentary showed him limping.

 Meanwhile, North Korea's ambassador to the UN, So Se Pyong, said on Friday that the country was ready to resume talks on its nuclear programme.

 In an interview with Reuters news agency, Mr So also said the North was not planning any missile or nuclear tests.

 North Korea pledged to abandon its nuclear programme in 2005, but it has been conducting missile and nuclear tests since the negotiations broke down in 2008. ||||| North Korea's three officials closest to its leader Kim Jong-un made a surprise visit to South Korea on Saturday, signaling an ease of tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

 Interested in ? Add as an interest to stay up to date on the latest news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest

 The highest level visit in five years was announced by the South's government only an hour before the delegation arrived at Incheon International Airport on Kim's personal presidential, Russian-made aircraft.

 Pyongyang's 11-member delegation was led by Hwang Pyong So, 66, who - with five promotions this year alone - has become the second most powerful official after Kim. He is the top political officer for the Korean People's Army, the vice chairman of the powerful National Defense Commission and the vice marshal of the army.

 The delegation also included Choe Ryong-hae, who had been the North’s second most powerful official until Hwang replaced him, and Kim Yang-gon, a top Communist Party official who had orchestrated numerous North-South high level talks in the past.

 In a closed-door lunch meeting, the delegation talked with South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae and national security director Kim Kwan-jin. Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong Cheol told reporters that there were no plans for the North Koreans to meet with President Park.

 Details of the lunch meeting were not made public except that the two sides agreed to more talks at the end of this month or in November.

 Hwang and his entourage attended the closing ceremony of the Asian Games later in the evening.

 After months of tensions, including a steady stream of insults between the divided neighbors and an unusual number of North Korean missile and rocket tests, expectations for a breakthrough weren't high, but even the visit itself was significant, allowing valuable contact between confidants of North Korea's authoritarian leader and Seoul's senior official for North Korean affairs.

 One analyst called it a "golden opportunity" for South Korean President Park Geun-hye to test North Korea's willingness, at the highest levels, to improve shaky ties, but it seemed unlikely that Park would meet with the aides to North Korea's supreme leader, Kim Jong-un.

 The visit comes amid rumors in Seoul about the health of Kim, who has made no public appearances since September 3 and recently skipped a high-profile event he usually attends. A recent official documentary showed footage from August of him limping, overweight and mentioned his "discomfort."

 High-level North Korean visits to South Korea have been scarce since inter-Korean relations became strained after Park's conservative predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, took office in early 2008 with a tough line on the North. Attacks blamed on North Korea in 2010 killed 50 South Koreans.

 The last such senior visit south was in 2009, when high-ranking Workers' Party official Kim Ki Nam and spy chief Kim Yang Gon, the same official who visited Saturday, came to pay their respects to the late liberal South Korean President Kim Dae-jung. The North Koreans met President Lee, conveyed a message from then leader Kim Jong Il and discussed inter-Korean cooperation.

 Besides the North Korean test firings of about 100 rockets and missiles this year, both sides have leveled harsh criticism at each other, with North Korean state media calling the South Korean president a prostitute.

 Word of the North's participation in the Asian Games was welcomed as a step forward.

 North Korea boycotted the 1986 Asian Games and the 1988 Summer Olympics, both in Seoul, but attended the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, the 2003 University Games in Daegu and the 2005 Asian Athletics Championships in Incheon. Those last three came during an era of liberal governments in Seoul that were more accommodating to Pyongyang.

 North Korea had said ahead of these games that it wanted to send both athletes and cheerleaders but later balked at sending cheerleaders because of what it called South Korean hostility.

 The success at the Asian Games for both Koreas, which were in the top 10 for gold medals, is a source of pride for all Koreans, said one of the North Korean officials, Kim Yang Gon, a secretary in the ruling Workers' Party and senior official responsible for South Korean affairs, according to the YTN TV network. Choe Ryong Hae, another Workers' Party secretary and chairman of the State Physical Culture and Sports Guidance Commission, also attended.

 The North Korean officials planned to fly back home later Saturday after the games' closing ceremonies.

 The Associated Press contributed to this story. |||||


Article:
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. health officials on Tuesday released a draft of long-awaited federal guidelines on circumcision, saying medical evidence supports the procedure and health insurers should pay for it.

 FILE - In this July 28, 2011, file photo, anti-circumcision activists Frank McGinness, right, and Jeff Brown rally against circumcision with about 25 protesters outside a San Francisco courthouse. On... (Associated Press)

 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines stop short of telling parents to have their newborn sons circumcised. That is a personal decision that may involve religious or cultural preferences, said the CDC's Dr. Jonathan Mermin.

 But "the scientific evidence is clear that the benefits outweigh the risks," added Mermin, who oversees the agency's programs on HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

 These are the first federal guidelines on circumcision, a brief medical procedure that involves cutting away the foreskin around the tip of the penis. Germs can grow underneath the foreskin, and CDC officials say the procedure can lower a male's risk of sexually-transmitted diseases, penile cancer and even urinary tract infections.

 The CDC started working on the guidelines about seven years ago, when a cluster of influential studies in Africa indicated circumcision might help stop spread of the AIDS virus.

 "The benefits of male circumcision have become more and more clear over the last 10 years," said Dr. Aaron Tobian, a Johns Hopkins University researcher involved in one of the African studies.

 But the guidelines are important, because the rates of newborn male circumcision have been dropping, he added.

 The guidelines are being published in the federal register Tuesday. For the next 45 days, the CDC will receive public comment before finalizing them next year.

 They are likely to draw intense opposition from anti-circumcision advocacy groups, said Dr. Douglas Diekema, a Seattle physician who worked on a circumcision policy statement issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2012.

 "This is a passionate issue for them and they feel strongly that circumcision is wrong," said Diekema, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington.

 Indeed, the head of one group did argue against the CDC's conclusions on Tuesday, saying they minimize potential complications from the procedure.

 The guidelines "are part of a long historical American cultural and medical bias to attempt to defend this traumatic genital surgery," said, Ronald Goldman, executive director of the Circumcision Resource Center.

 The CDC guidelines largely mirror the pediatrician group's statement, but the CDC's document incorporates more research and comes from an organization that many may see as more neutral on the topic, Diekema said.

 The thinking on circumcision has swung wildly over the years. It's been practiced by Jews and Muslims for thousands of years, but didn't become common in this country until the 20th century. By one estimate, only 25 percent of U.S. male newborns were circumcised in 1900.

 It gradually became the cultural norm, and in the 1950s and 1960s surpassed 80 percent. But then the trend reversed. Part of it had to do with changing demographics, as the U.S. population grew to include larger numbers of Mexican-Americans and other ethnic groups that didn't traditionally circumcise their children.

 Also, opposition to the procedure grew from advocates who decried the pain, bleeding and risk of infections to newborns. Their message was aided by the Internet and by the neutral stance of physicians groups — including, for a time, the American Academy of Pediatrics.

 A wave of state Medicaid programs stopped paying for newborn circumcisions, which cost roughly $150 to $200. The list eventually rose to 18 states, according to CDC numbers.

 By 2010 the newborn circumcision rate was down to about 58 percent, according to one CDC estimate.

 But even as the circumcision rate dropped, more medical evidence came in supporting it — particularly three rigorous and influential studies in Africa that looked at the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases in circumcised and uncircumcised men and their partners.

 In the new guidelines, the CDC says there is now strong evidence that male circumcision can:

 —Cut a man's risk of getting HIV from an infected female partner by 50 to 60 percent.

 —Reduce their risk of genital herpes and certain strains of human papillomavirus by 30 percent or more.

 —Lower the risk of urinary tract infections during infancy, and cancer of the penis in adulthood.

 Studies have not shown that circumcision will reduce an HIV-infected man's chances of spreading the AIDS virus to women. And research has not found circumcision to be a help in stopping spread of HIV during gay sex.

 The guidelines say circumcision is safer for newborns and infants than for older males, noting the complication rate rises from 0.5 percent in newborns to 9 percent in children ages 1 to 9, according to the CDC. Minor bleeding and pain are the most common problems, experts say.

 CDC officials are recommending doctors tell parents of baby boys of the benefits and risks of circumcision. Mermin did not say how that information should be presented.

 Because circumcision can be beneficial to men as well, the CDC says information about the procedure also should be given to sexually active uncircumcised men — especially men considered to be at higher risk of catching HIV, the guidelines say. ||||| The benefits of male circumcision outweigh the risks, according a long awaited draft of federal guidelines from U.S. health officials released on Tuesday, which indicate that scientific evidence supports recommending the procedure.

 The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that medically performed male circumcision could help decrease the risk of contracting HIV and several other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) as well as other health problems.

 The recommendation, which includes counseling parents of male newborns on the benefits and risks of the procedure, comes at a time when the rate of male circumcision has been decreasing in the United States.

 From 1979 through 2010, the national rate of newborn circumcision declined 10 percent to 58 percent, according to the CDC.

 The procedure, which has been subject of fierce debate, involves cutting the foreskin around the tip of the penis.

 "These recommendations are based on an evaluation of available information on the health risks and benefits associated with high-quality, medically performed male circumcision and were developed to pertain to men and male newborns in the United States," the document said.

 Several studies conducted in Africa indicated that circumcision could help reduce the spread of the virus that causes AIDS.

 All uncircumcised adolescent and adult males who engage in heterosexual sex should be informed about the significant, but partial, efficacy of male circumcision in reducing the risk of acquiring HIV and some STIs through heterosexual sex, as well as the potential harms of male circumcision, the draft guidelines said.

 The overall risk of adverse events associated with male circumcision is low, with minor bleeding and inflammation cited as the most common complications, according to a CDC fact sheet.

 The draft recommendations are subject to a 45-day public comment period and a formal external peer review. Comments provided will be considered before recommendations are finalized, CDC said.

 The agency said it developed the draft guidance based on a systematic review of all evidence on the health risks and benefits of circumcision and consultation with experts in HIV prevention and related fields.

 (Reporting by Bill Berkrot in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) ||||| The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released proposed guidance on circumcision that says the surgical procedure would help straight men in the United States reduce their risk of becoming infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

 “Given the urgency of the HIV epidemic in the United States, CDC believes it is essential to maximize the impact of all available prevention options,” the CDC said in the guidelines. “Male circumcision is one strategy that may help reduce the continued spread of HIV in the U.S.”

 The draft guidance, published Tuesday in the Federal Register, states that all uncircumcised, sexually active straight males and adolescents — as well as parents of newborn males — should be counseled by their doctors on the key risks and benefits of circumcision.

 The guidelines also emphasize that “male circumcision is a voluntary procedure” and that decisions about circumcision should take “personal, cultural, religious and ethical beliefs” into account.

 Clinical trials and observational studies have found that men who are circumcised are less likely than their uncircumcised peers to acquire sexually transmitted infections during vaginal sex. Being circumcised reduced the risk of infection with HIV from a female sexual partner by 50% to 60%. It also reduced the risk of getting genital herpes by up to 45% and of getting cancer-causing strains of human papillomavirus by 30%.

 However, circumcision did not reduce the risk of getting HIV or other infections during anal sex with other men.

 Studies have also found that sex with circumcised men is safer for women. They are less likely to become infected with HPV, bacterial vaginosis and trichomoniasis, the CDC guidelines state. There is no medical evidence linking male circumcision to reduced risk of HIV for female partners, the guidelines note.

 The CDC states that the risk of adverse events from circumcision is low, and that minor bleeding and inflammation are the biggest problems. The agency says complications arise in less than one-half of 1% of newborns, 9% of children and about 5% of adults.

 “Severe complications can occur but are exceedingly rare,” the CDC wrote.

 In making the case that the health benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks, the federal agency tacitly endorsed the position of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

 “Although health benefits are not great enough to recommend routine circumcision for all male newborns, the benefits of circumcision are sufficient to justify access to this procedure for families choosing it and to warrant third-party payment for circumcision of male newborns,” the pediatrician group said in a policy statement issued in 2012.

 About 58% of newborn boys in the U.S. are circumcised before they leave the hospital, according to the CDC.

 Release of the draft recommendation kicked off a 45-day public comment period, and opponents of the controversial practice vowed to make their voices heard.

 Among a number of concerns, opponents of circumcision, or “intactivists,” say it’s wrong to perform permanent elective surgery on a newborn. That decision can only be made by a consenting adult, they say.

 “If someone feels they need to cut off the best part of their penis when they’re 18 ... the choice should be up to the person who’s being subjected to the surgery,” said Lloyd Schofield, who once petitioned to have the procedure banned in San Francisco. “That’s the crux of our message.”

 Dr. Thomas Newman, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UC San Francisco, says he believes that the medical benefits of circumcision outweigh the risks but that both are small.

 Wondering whether a significant number of men who were circumcised as newborns are unhappy with their parents’ decision, Newman said: “Some certainly are quite distressed about their neonatal circumcisions.”

 The CDC noted in its guidelines that circumcision is “simpler, safer and less expensive” for infants than it is for adults. Yet it also wrote that “delaying circumcision until adolescence or adulthood enables the male to participate in — or make — the decision.”

 “Adult men who undergo circumcision generally report minimal or no change in sexual satisfaction or function,” the agency added.

 While the draft statement focused on circumcision’s benefits in fighting HIV and sexually transmitted infections, AIDS activists expressed doubt that it would make much difference here.

 “Since the epidemic in the United States is being driven primarily by men who have sex with men, we’re not sure if it’s relevant for gay men in this country,” said Vallerie Wagner, director of health and wellness programs at AIDS Project Los Angeles.

 Twitter: @montemorin |||||Summary:

– To snip or not to snip? Male circumcision carries "low" risks but has "dramatic" benefits, according to draft guidelines released by the CDC yesterday. The long-awaited guidelines say that the procedure can greatly reduce the risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases for heterosexual men, reports Reuters, which notes that circumcision rates have dropped 10% to 58% over the last three decades. Circumcision is a personal decision, and the guidelines will stop short of recommending all newborn boys undergo the procedure, but "the scientific evidence is clear that the benefits outweigh the risks," a CDC spokesman tells the AP. The CDC says that circumcision can reduce the risk of a man getting HIV or herpes from a female partner by around 50%. It also makes sex safer for female partners, although it doesn't appear to reduce the risk of contracting STDs during anal sex with other men. The draft guidelines—which will face stiff opposition from anti-circumcision groups—say the risk of complications from circumcision is only 0.5% for newborns, reports the Los Angeles Times. That rises to 9% among children, then drops to 5% among adults, though the guidelines—which say circumcised men "generally report minimal or no change in sexual satisfaction or function"—note that waiting for a boy to reach adolescence or adulthood lets him choose for himself. (California has banned attempts to ban circumcision.)


– The Texas woman who inspired the 1958 Buddy Holly song "Peggy Sue" has died at a Lubbock hospital. Peggy Sue Gerron Rackham died Monday at University Medical Center, per a UMC spokesman. She was 78, the AP reports. The family gave the hospital permission to confirm the death but asked that no additional information be released, the rep notes. In 2008, Peggy Sue Gerron released her autobiography Whatever Happened to Peggy Sue? to mark the 50th anniversary of the song. While promoting her book, Gerron said material for it came from about 150 diary entries she made during the time she knew Holly. Gerron attended high school in Lubbock, where she met Holly and his friends. "I wanted to give him [Holly] his voice. It's my book, my memoirs," she said, per a 2008 AP story. "We were very, very good friends. He was probably one of the best friends I ever had." Gerron married drummer Jerry Allison, from Holly's rock 'n' roll band The Crickets. The couple later divorced. On Monday, her son-in-law, Tom Stathos, told KCBD that the song "Peggy Sue" initially had a different name: "It was originally going to be Cindy Lou (Holly's niece) ... [but] he (Allison) wanted to impress Peggy Sue, so he got Buddy to change the name." Holly, who died in a Feb. 3, 1959, plane crash in Iowa that also killed Ritchie Valens and JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson, also penned the song sequel "Peggy Sue Got Married." A 1986 movie called Peggy Sue Got Married featured actress Kathleen Turner as a character also named Peggy Sue who faints during her 25th high school reunion, then believes she's gone back in time and reconsiders how her life turned out.

Expand this summary.

FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2008, file photo, Peggy Sue Gerron unveils her new book "What Ever Happened to Peggy Sue" during a press conference in Tyler, Texas. Gerron, the Texas woman who inspired the 1958... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2008, file photo, Peggy Sue Gerron unveils her new book "What Ever Happened to Peggy Sue" during a press conference in Tyler, Texas. Gerron, the Texas woman who inspired the 1958 Buddy Holly song "Peggy Sue" has died at a Lubbock hospital. Gerron Rackham of Lubbock died Monday,... (Associated Press)

 FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2008, file photo, Peggy Sue Gerron unveils her new book "What Ever Happened to Peggy Sue" during a press conference in Tyler, Texas. Gerron, the Texas woman who inspired the 1958 Buddy Holly song "Peggy Sue" has died at a Lubbock hospital. Gerron Rackham of Lubbock died Monday,... (Associated Press) FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2008, file photo, Peggy Sue Gerron unveils her new book "What Ever Happened to Peggy Sue" during a press conference in Tyler, Texas. Gerron, the Texas woman who inspired the 1958... (Associated Press)

 LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — The Texas woman who inspired the 1958 Buddy Holly song "Peggy Sue" has died at a Lubbock hospital.

 Peggy Sue Gerron Rackham of Lubbock died Monday at University Medical Center, according to UMC spokesman Eric Finley. She was 78. The family gave the hospital permission to confirm the death, but asked that no additional information be released, Finley said Tuesday.

 Peggy Sue Gerron in 2008 released her autobiography "Whatever Happened to Peggy Sue?: A Memoir by Buddy Holly's Peggy Sue" to mark the 50th anniversary of the song.

 Gerron, while promoting her autobiography, said material for the memoir came from about 150 diary entries she made during the time she knew Holly. Gerron was born in Olton, Texas, but moved to Lubbock where she attended high school and met Holly and his friends.

 "I wanted to give him (Holly) his voice. It's my book, my memoirs," she said about her book, according to a 2008 Associated Press story. "We were very, very good friends. He was probably one of the best friends I ever had."

 She married drummer Jerry Allison, from Holly's rock 'n' roll band The Crickets. The couple later divorced.

 Her son-in-law, Tom Stathos, on Monday reminisced and told KCBD-TV in Lubbock that the song "Peggy Sue" initially had a different name. "It was originally going to be Cindy Lou (Holly's niece) and that he (Allison) wanted to impress Peggy Sue so he got Buddy to change the name."

 Holly wrote several other popular songs, including "That'll Be The Day" and "Maybe Baby." He also penned the song-sequel "Peggy Sue Got Married."

 Holly died in a Feb. 3, 1959, plane crash in Iowa that also killed Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.

 A 1978 movie, "The Buddy Holly Story," featured Gary Busey in the title role.

 A 1986 movie called "Peggy Sue Got Married" featured actress Kathleen Turner as a character also named Peggy Sue who faints during her 25th high school reunion, then believes she's gone back in time and reconsiders how her life turned out.

 The Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock pays tribute to the singer, musician and songwriter described as "Lubbock's most famous native son." ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. |||||


Write an article based on this summary:

– The GOP convention's main order of business is in the books: In the state roll call late this afternoon, Mitt Romney claimed the magic number of 1,144 delegates to secure the nomination, reports AP. For the record, New Jersey put him over the top. Romney is in Tampa to watch wife Ann's speech tonight, but the candidate himself isn't scheduled to address the convention—and accept the nomination—until Thursday night. After the roll call, Republicans nominated Paul Ryan by acclamation to be Romney's VP candidate. The final presidential tally, from CNN: Romney: 2,061 Ron Paul: 190 Rick Santorum: 9 Michele Bachmann: 1 Jon Huntsman: 1 Buddy Roemer: 1 Abstain/uncommitted: 20

Mitt Romney swept to the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday night at a storm-delayed national convention scripted to propel him into a close race for the White House in tough economic times.

 Ann Romney, wife of U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, looks over the main stage during a sound check at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012.... (Associated Press)

 New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, right, stands on the main stage in the Tampa Tribune Forum before the start of the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Monday, Aug. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/J.... (Associated Press)

 Delegates from the state of Georgia applaud after casting their votes for presidential candidate Mitt Romneyduring the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Lynne... (Associated Press)

 Republican vice presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan, center, R-Wis., works on the speech he will deliver at the Republican National Convention, with senior adviser Dan Senor, left, and senior aid... (Associated Press)

 Ann Romney, wife of Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney hands out cookies during a flight to Tampa, Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Associated Press)

 Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney talks with staff after boarding his flight for Tampa on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012 in Bedford, Mass. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Associated Press)

 Texas delegate Clint Moore and the rest of Texas delegates fashion their cowboy hats at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) (Associated Press)

 California casts their votes for presidential candidate Mitt Romney during the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday, Aug. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) (Associated Press)

 The former Massachusetts governor watched on television with his wife, Ann, at a hotel suite across the street from the convention hall as delegates sealed his hard-won victories in the primaries and caucuses of last winter.

 New Jersey put him over the top in a ritual roll call of the states.

 Republican mockery of President Barack Obama began almost instantly from the podium at a convention postponed once and dogged still by Hurricane Isaac. The Democratic president has "never run a company. He hasn't even run a garage sale or seen the inside of a lemonade stand," declared Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican Party.

 To send Romney and ticketmate Paul Ryan into the fall campaign, the convention quickly approved a conservative platform that calls for tax cuts _ not government spending _ to stimulate the economy at a time of sluggish growth and 8.3 percent unemployment.

 Ann Romney's speech was scheduled as a prime-time highlight, an appearance meant to cast her multimillionaire-businessman-turned-politician husband in a soft and likable light before a national TV audience.

 Aides said Romney would be in the hall when she spoke.

 While there was no doubt about Romney's command over the convention, the residue of a heated campaign for the nomination was evident inside the hall.

 Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who never won a primary or caucus, drew several dozen delegate votes. Earlier, his supporters chanted and booed after the convention adopted rules they opposed, but were powerless to block, to prevent those votes from being officially registered.

 Opinion polls made the race a close one as the Republicans' days of pageantry and speechmaking began in earnest, and the man tapped to deliver the keynote address set the stakes.

 "Conventions are always huge for a challenger, because they're the ones introducing themselves" to the voters, said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

 Convention planners squeezed two days of speeches and other convention business into one after scrapping Monday's scheduled opener because of fears that Isaac would make a direct hit on the Florida Gulf Coast.

 That threat fizzled, but it was instantly replaced by another _ that Republicans would wind up holding a political celebration at the same time the storm turned its fury on New Orleans, devastated almost exactly seven years ago by Hurricane Katrina.

 Romney's convention planners said they were in frequent contact with weather forecasters, but they declined to discuss what contingency plans, if any, they had to accelerate plans for him to deliver a formal acceptance speech Thursday night.

 "This is obviously the biggest speech of my life," Mrs. Romney said as she visited the custom-made podium to prepare for her remarks.

 Ratification of a party platform was prelude to Romney's nomination, a document more conservative on abortion than the candidate.

 On economic matters, it backs extension of the tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003 and due to expire at year's end, without exception. It also calls for an additional 20 percent reduction in income tax brackets that Romney favors.

 In a time of 8.3 percent unemployment and the slowest economic recovery in the post-World War II era, that went to the crux of the campaign for the White House.

 By contrast, Obama wants to allow existing tax cuts to expire on upper income taxpayers, and has criticized Romney's overall economic plans as a boon to millionaires that would raise taxes on the middle class.

 The GOP platform also pledges that a Republican-controlled Congress will repeal, and Romney will sign, legislation to repeal the health care legislation Obama won from a Democratic-controlled Congress. So, too, for the measure passed to regulate Wall Street in the wake of the 2008 economic collapse.

 On abortion, the platform says, "The unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed."

 Romney opposes abortions, except in cases of rape, incest, or when "the health and life of the mother" are at stake, he said in a convention week interview.

 Obama, who accepts renomination at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., next week, campaigned in Iowa Tuesday as he set out on a tour of college campuses in battleground states in hopes of boosting voter registration among college students.

 Before departing the White House, he made a point of appearing before reporters to announce the government's latest steps to help those in the way of Isaac. He signed a declaration of emergency for Mississippi and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local storm response efforts in the state.

 His surrogates did their best to counter Romney and the Republicans.

 Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, dismissing GOP attempts to woo Hispanic voters, said, "You can't just trot out a brown face or a Spanish surname and expect people are going to vote for your party or your candidate." He added, "This is a party with a platform that calls for the self-deportation of 11 million people."

 Hispanics strongly favor Obama, according to public polls, and Romney and his party have been seeking to win a bigger share of their votes by emphasizing proposals to fix the economy rather than ease their positions on immigration.

 Female voters, too, prefer the president over his challenger, and Democrats have done their best to emphasize GOP opposition to abortion and even suggest the party might try and curtail access to contraceptives if it wins power.

 Whatever the impact of those issues, the polls show the economy is overwhelmingly the dominant issue in the race, and on that, the voters narrowly say they trust Romney more.

 In an AP-GfK poll taken Aug. 16-20, some 48 percent of registered voters said they trust Romney more on economic issues, to 44 percent for Obama.

 However, a Washington Post-ABC News in the days immediately before the convention found that 61 percent of registered voters said Obama was more likable, and 27 percent said Romney.

 The convention took place in an atmosphere of security that was both stringent and selective. Thousands of police from all over the country, joined by National Guard troops, Secret Service and others, stood in small groups at checkpoints, demanding those entering a secure area display proper credentials numerous times.

 But former Michigan Gov. John Engler and an aide were hustled to the front of a long line waiting to clear security at one building.

 Aside from Paul, Romney's long-ago rivals for the party nomination had bit roles at his convention, if that.

 Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain posed for a photo after running into each other at the convention center. Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum were also in town, as well, both with speaking slots, unlike Bachmann and Cain.

 ___

 Associated Press writers Brian Bakst, Thomas Beaumont, Tamara Lush, Brendan Farrington, Julie Mazziotta, Steve Peoples, Kasie Hunt and Philip Elliott in Florida and Steven Ohlemacher, Alicia A. Caldwell and Jennifer Agiesta in Washington contributed to this report. ||||| Well, everyone. Thank you so much for participating in this conversation for the past two weeks. We truly appreciate it. Thanks for watching CNN as well during the RNC and DNC, and using this spot to add another element to your viewing experience. We'll be back again throughout the next two months as we approach election day. See you at the debates and more!

 necessity is the mother of reflection… & truth www.breitbart.com

 Celebrity I was most excited to see in-person at #DNC2012: Biff Henderson of @Late_Show fame. Check out his report: bit.ly

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 Nebraska/ UCLA...great way to spend a Saturday night!

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 Romney's praise for Clinton fascinating but not surprising. He's repeatedly used 42 in ads to bash Obama.

 The #USOpen is just like the #RNC2012 & #DNC2012: they were held on the exact same 2 weeks & all getting jerked around by Mother Nature

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 .@Beyonce, #TanMom and #HoneyBooBoo are all on premiere of #AndersonLive Monday. Co-host is @KChenoweth! andr.tv @Anderson

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 If @BarackObama can win OH & IA (where unemploy. @ 7.2 & 5.3%) it puts him at 261 & Romney has to run board to win WH bit.ly

 Sundays at Hank's Oyster Bar features Shuck and Spin from 9:30 until 11:30pm. Enjoy classic vinyl and $1 oysters. Bring your favorite vinyl!

 Hank's Oyster Bar has some specialty cocktails. Here's a sample "Old Salt." Looking forward to gardening and watching football. Enjoying!

 What's on your menu? @gwtweets with the Class of 2016. This is the Freshman Day of Service. Today, they will serve DC residents. Thank you

 Things looking good for the T20 World Cup without KP....if you like losing. #EnglandBetterWithoutKevinPietersen

 80-6 #EnglandBetterWithoutKevinPietersen

 On my way to start recording new #LifeStories series in London - starts next Friday, Sep 14, ITV1, 9pm, with the great Sir Roger Moore.

 Beast RT @Nationals: SPECIAL DELIVERY! Watch Michael Morse send one into the stands to tie the score in the 8th: atmlb.com #Nats

 Concord, MA bans bottled water. But oh no. It doesn't add up. on.cnn.com

 Vladimir Putin dresses like a bird and Hillary likes it...watch: on.cnn.com #outfront

 .@RosieR13 thanks, I am a little sleepy tonight

 Another visitor to #Yosemite dies from #hantavirus, new info about how many people may have been exposed and how it spreads @AC360 8p, 10p

 Britain's #PrinceHarry reports for duty in #Afghanistan. Details @AC360 8p, 10p

 President #Obama touts the new jobs created but what kind of jobs are they really? We investigate @AC360 8p, 10p

 Back in NY, about to go live on @AC360. We take you out on campaign trail with #Romney and #Obama

 Romney on Obama in Nashua: "He just doesn't know how to make America strong again.

 I think I know the answer...but the #USMNT aren't on tv tonight are they?

 Romney at Nashua event: "The American people had expected him to deliver on his promises."

 Romney at Nashua event as crowd struggles to hold up "Mitt" sign: I can't quite read that but I'm sure it's great.

 Ann Romney at Nashua event: "We are here to tell you that help is on the way."

 Ayotte up for Romney now in NH. "Mitt Romney has lived bipartisan leadership."

 Makes sense to me. RT @bkappCBS: Local NH GOPer Jeb Bradley just told Romney crowd: "Hope plus hope equals no!"

 The Dems have just completed a very good convention. But the jobs report brought some harsh realities to Charlotte www.cnn.com #CNN

 1 yr ago today @GovernorPerry made his prez debate debut at the Reagan Library. He defends his Soc Sec stand & attacks Romney's jobs record

 Me, definitely RT@rickygervais: “@RyanFleming1989: some celebs deserve trolling” Go on? Who? |||||


Article:

What does the fox say?

 From the looks of this little guy, not much. He’s got his mouth full with one almighty sandwich.

 Check out this video shot near Pripyat, Ukraine, in the Chernobyl exclusion zone, where a fox was caught on camera carving up a five-decker sandwich. It carefully layers the cold cuts and bread like a deli master and then delicately holds the culinary creation in its mouth.

 He has a serious case of his eyes being too big for his mouth, but this sly fox doesn’t seem to care one bit.

 The fox was found by journalists near the Chernobyl nuclear disaster zone, which was abandoned by humans after 1986 and has since seen an increasing population of foxes, wolves and bears.

 According to the BBC, a radio crew gave the bread and meat to the animal. ||||| A helicopter drops water as an aerial view shows smoke from forest fires in northern Ukraine, April 28, 2015.

 An aerial view through a window of a helicopter shows smoke from forest fires in northern Ukraine, April 28, 2015.

 A plane drops water as an aerial view shows smoke from forest fires in northern Ukraine, April 28, 2015.

 An aerial view through a window of a helicopter shows fire and smoke from buildings of an abandoned village are on fire in northern Ukraine, April 28, 2015.

 KIEV Ukrainian fire fighters have contained a large forest fire that threatened to spread toward the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear power plant and radiation levels in the area are normal, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Wednesday.

 The blaze in woodlands, parts of which are still contaminated by radioactive particles from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, had raised fears of increased radiation as high winds pushed it toward the plant about 20 km (12 miles) away.

 Yatseniuk, speaking at a government meeting, said: "As of 1245 (05:45 EDT) the fires has been localized and contained. The radiation levels are normal."

 Emergency services deployed more than 300 firefighters, three planes and one helicopter to tackle the fire which Yatseniuk said was the largest in Ukraine since 1992.

 An explosion followed by a fire at Chernobyl's Reactor 4 nearly thirty years ago sent radiation across Europe. The stricken reactor is now covered by a concrete casement that the Ukrainian authorities plan to reinforce by 2016.

 (Reporting by Natalia Zinets; Writing by Richard Balmforth; Editing by Louise Ireland) ||||| A video of a fox taking food from RFE/RL Ukrainian Service journalists in the Chornobyl exclusion zone has gone viral, with more than 1 million hits on social and news media sites. The fox shows no fear of humans, stacking up meat and bread like a sandwich, which it carries off for later. The area was abandoned by humans after the Chornobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. There now appears to be an increasing number of foxes, wolves, and bears in the zone. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service) |||||
What is a summary?

– A now-under-control forest fire that had threatened to encroach upon the abandoned Chernobyl nuclear plant may have created a lot of smoke and charred debris, but one thing it did not do is mess up one Ukrainian fox's sandwich-making skills. A radio crew in the Pripyat exclusion zone spied the little guy wandering around and laid out some bread and meat for him, ABC News reports. Before they could say "Carnegie Deli," the fox had deftly combined the disparate parts of his soon-to-be lunch into a five-layer sandwich, as seen in the video here. Also notable in the video: the animal's nonchalant attitude about his repast preparation and his admirers. The BBC points out the fox likely didn't seem fazed by the humans because it probably didn't know what to make of them either way: The disaster zone has been more or less abandoned by people since the 1986 explosion. Radio Free Europe adds there's apparently been a recent uptick in foxes, wolves, and bears in the area. (Meanwhile, wild boars affected by Chernobyl have been deemed radioactive.)


A government shutdown has become increasingly likely as conservatives ramp up pressure on House Republicans to reject a Senate bill restoring funding for ObamaCare.

 Conservative activists say Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) credibility is on the line, and warn he will not serve another term as House GOP leader if he agrees to fund the Affordable Care Act along with the rest of government.

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 Senate Democrats, however, say Boehner will be responsible for shutting down the government if he makes any changes to the stopgap bill that the Senate passed on Friday."I want everyone to listen and to hear: The United States Senate has acted," Reid said on the Senate floor. "This is the only legislation that can avert a government shutdown, and that time is ticking as we speak."Reid adjourned the Senate until 2 pm Monday, leaving the House to work out the government funding stalemate on its own. Reid’s staff said there are not any talks with Boehner on finding a compromise before the Oct. 1 deadline.Brent Bozell, the chairman of ForAmerica and a prominent conservative activist, said Boehner would face calls to step down if he accepts a stopgap spending measure that does not defund or delay ObamaCare.“He’s going to be threatened. If he chooses to side with Barack Obama and with the Democrats in order to fund ObamaCare, then he owns ObamaCare and he can’t get out of that.“He’ll be as responsible for ObamaCare as Harry Reid,” he said.Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, said conservative groups around the country on Friday began focusing a national grassroots lobbying campaign on House Republicans.She said Tea Party Patriots directed 10,000 calls a day to Senate offices while the upper chamber debated a resolution linking the stopgap with a measure defunding ObamaCare.Martin said there would be growing calls from conservatives around the country for Boehner to resign if he allows the Senate-passed stopgap to receive a vote on the House floor.“I think if he does that we’ll probably see people across this country in the grassroots calling for a new Speaker,” she said.The Senate stopgap bill does not include language defunding ObamaCare or prioritizing debt payments in the event that Congress fails to raise the debt limit. Both elements were in the original House bill.Threats from conservative activists are nothing new for Boehner. In March, Bozell blasted Boehner and other House GOP leaders for failing to deliver on the promises of the 2010 midterm election.Boehner’s spokesman on Friday said the House would not approve a government funding bill that fails to address the Affordable Care Act.“The House will take action that reflects the fundamental fact that Americans don’t want a government shutdown and they don’t want the train wreck that is ObamaCare,” said Brendan Buck.House Republicans will meet at around noon on Saturday in the Capitol to plot their legislative strategy.“We are reviewing our options and will discuss them with members tomorrow,” said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner.Rep. Tom Graves (R-Ga.) announced Friday afternoon that he would offer an amendment to the stopgap bill delaying ObamaCare until 2015. The proposal has 61 supporters.The mounting pressure from Tea Party groups and the tough rhetoric from House Republicans has alarmed senators who say a government shutdown appears more likely.Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said the situation is more unpredictable now than in 2011, when Congress teetered on the brink of a government shutdown and then a possible national default.“Reading the tea leaves is more difficult. I think it is going to be difficult on the [funding bill] and it may be even more difficult on the debt ceiling,” Corker said. “I think it’s going to be tough for them.”Even if congressional leaders avoid a shutdown, they will face another showdown in mid-October over the debt limit. The administration says the nation’s borrowing authority must be increased by Oct. 17.President Obama on Friday said negotiating with Republicans on the government funding bill would only give them incentive to use the debt-ceiling and any future expiration of government funding as bargaining chips.“The bill that's designed to avert a government shutdown basically just funds the government for another couple months, so we could be doing this all over again,” he said. “I'm sure the American people are thrilled about that. And that's why we've got to break this cycle.”Sen. Jeff Sessions (Ala.), the ranking Republican on the Budget Committee, said a shutdown is possible despite Senate passage of the stopgap.“Some of the Democrats think they can provoke a shutdown and they can blame the Republicans for it,” he said.House Republican leaders might focus now on trying to buy time, possibly by passing a weeklong stopgap.A senior Senate GOP aide discounted that possibility, however.“Passing a weeklong CR isn’t going to get you anywhere. Anything that can’t pass now won’t pass in a week or two weeks,” said the aide.A Senate Democratic aide said Tea Party Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) would not allow Reid to waive procedural rules to approve a one-week stopgap quickly enough to avert a shutdown.Lee declined to say whether he would grant consent in such a scenario.“I’d have to think that through under the totality of the circumstances if we had something like that,” he said.Cruz urged House Republicans to stand firm against any government funding bill that allows the implementation of the Affordable Care Act to move ahead. The law’s open-enrollment period begins Oct. 1.“I hope and believe that when the House takes this up again House Republicans will continue to stand together on the side of the American people,” he said.He said if the House returns the stopgap with new language defunding or delaying ObamaCare, “it will be an opportunity for every Senate Republican to come home, to stand for the principles we all share.”He spoke to reporters shortly after 25 Senate Republicans voted to let the Senate version of the bill reach a final vote.

  ||||| House and Senate leadership aides in both parties are increasingly convinced the federal government will close for the first time in more than 17 years on Tuesday morning.

 There is still time to avoid such a climactic stalemate, the aides acknowledged. But unless there is a dramatic change in momentum, the likelihood that a partisan showdown over government funding and the future of Obamacare could lead to a shutdown has increased dramatically.

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 reset Obama to Congress: 'Pay our bills on time' Turn the Table: Threat of a government shutdown

 With a special closed-door meeting meeting of House Republicans set for noon Saturday, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his top lieutenants have not yet formulated their next play in their quest to keep the government open. It’s not even clear that the House will vote on Saturday.

 (PHOTOS: How well do you know the news: Shutdown edition)

 There have been repeated contacts between GOP and Democratic leaders and senior aides in recent days but no negotiations of any sort – or sign those are about to start – to resolve the standoff. Both sides feel they have made their position known to the other side, and are unwilling to make any concessions at this moment.

 Senior House GOP sources say Republicans are likely to send the Senate an amended government-funding bill, but not a proposed one-week stop gap measure. Without that one-week funding bill - needed while Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and the White House try to reach a compromise agreement - the federal government will beginning shutting down “non-essential” operations on Tuesday morning.

 House Republicans are considering adding several provisions to the two-month, $986 billion continuing resolution passed by the Senate on Friday, and then sending the bill back to the the upper chamber. These options include: a one-year delay of the individual mandate called for in the 2010 Affordable Care Act; an end to government’s contribution to health care for lawmakers and Hill staffers; a repeal of the medical devices tax that helps fund Obamacare; or the elimination of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), a controversial Obamacare provision designed to hold down Medicare costs.

 (WATCH - Debt ceiling showdown: By the numbers)

 Reid, though, has already warned Boehner that he will block any House GOP funding bill with Obamacare-related provisions. Reid would move to table any House bill that contains those additional provisions favored by House Republicans. Reid could do that with a simple majority vote on Monday, setting up a government shutdown the following morning.

 ”We are going to accept nothing that relates to Obamacare. There’s a time and place for everything and this is not that time or place,” Reid said at a press conference following Friday’s vote.

 President Barack Obama warned Republicans to “think about who you’re hurting” by letting the government shut down and said a closure would “throw a wrench into the gears of our economy at a time when those gears have gained some traction.”

 Boehner, however, is under heavy pressure from his tea party and conservative House GOP colleagues to move to stop Obamacare’s implementation, whatever the political risk, including a shutdown.

 (VIDEO: Major players to watch in shutdown showdown on Capitol Hill)

 Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is privately meeting with hard-line House conservatives to try to get them to hold out against any spending bill that does not defund or delay Obamacare — set to begin on Oct. 1, the same date government funding runs out. A House GOP debt ceiling package loaded with conservative goodies, including a provision delaying Obamacare’s individual mandate for a year, couldn’t even get enough support to make it to the floor, demonstrating how little sway Boehner holds over his rank-and-file members at this point.

 Friday saw a new headache for the Ohio Republican - GOP lawmakers who are pushing back against others in the party who want to end the government contribution to the health insurance of lawmakers and staff.

 Some of Boehner’s (R-Ohio) top allies marched into his Capitol office Friday afternoon to beg the speaker not to cut off health-insurance subsidies, which are deeply unpopular with the party base. Under heavy pressure from Capitol Hill — including Boehner — the Obama administration ruled in late July that lawmakers could continue receiving the employer contribution even as they enroll in new health insurance exchanges.

 (PHOTOS: John Boehner’s life and career)

 On Friday, Boehner told the group — GOP Reps. Tom Cole (Okla.), Duncan Hunter, Jr. (Calif.), Mike Turner (Ohio), Kay Granger (Texas) and Anders Crenshaw (Fla.) — to canvass the House Republican Conference to find out what might get support, according to sources familiar with the talks.

 For the moment, it appears that those lawmakers may win that fight, despite repeated calls from Republicans like Rep. Mike McCaul (Texas) and Sen.David Vitter (La.) to get rid of the subsidy, similar to that other Americans get from their employers.

 “For the last 25 years, members of Congress have been treated like every other federal employee,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), a staunch opponent of cutting those subsidies who spoke up against the idea in a closed party meeting. “This idea of trying to vilify us now …, that is not the right thing to do.”

 (Also on POLITICO: Obama to Congress: ‘Pay our bills on time’)

 Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.), once a congressional staffer himself, said he was “a little concerned” with cutting staff health insurance subsidies.

 Yet it’s obvious – and a huge understatement – to say the House GOP leadership is in a difficult predicament right now. Reid and Obama have refused to yield any ground on either the CR or the even more high stakes debt ceiling fight. The Treasury Department has warned the federal government will hit its $16.7 trillion borrowing limit on Oct. 17.

 Obama is not interested in giving away pieces of his health care law just to fund government’s operations. And Boehner’s conservatives – who are taking their lead from Cruz – are not interested in giving up on their fight to defund Obamacare. There’s next to no trust in leadership’s strategies, and even less in Boehner himself.

 (VIDEO: Mitt Romney thinks there's a better way to stop Obamacare)

 The last few weeks have been a game of whack-a-mole for Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.): they’ve cycled through a number of strategies to both fund the government, and lift the debt limit. But each time they do, the party’s conservative wing shoots it down and demands a new plan.

 GOP leadership will try once again to wrangle support for something – anything – on Saturday, when they meet in a closed session in the Capitol basement. House leadership said they might not even vote on a CR Saturday; that vote could slip until Sunday, Republicans lawmakers and aides said. ||||| “The planning itself is disruptive,” an exhausted Hale told reporters. “People are worrying right now about whether their paychecks are going to be delayed, rather than focusing fully on their mission.”

 Shutdown planning has eaten up “probably thousands of hours in employee time better spent on supporting national security,” Hale said.

 The tempo was similar at just about every federal agency this week, with managers racing from planning meetings to town hall gatherings with their employees.

 Hundreds of thousands of employees who got word Friday that their jobs would not be essential prepared to turn in their government-issued BlackBerrys and

 iPhones on Tuesday morning, while colleagues who must still report to the office wondered how their agencies would carry out their missions.

 In the Defense Department, about 400,000 civilians will have to stay home if Congress does not pass a bill to keep the government open, Hale said.

 Preparing for even a partial closure is a unique challenge for the Defense Department, which has a global reach that includes about 200 schools, 250 commissaries, and 700 hospitals and clinics. The department’s mission is singular within the federal government. The Pentagon must continue to support its combat operations in Afghanistan and deployments in many corners of the world.

 In his Office of Public Affairs on Friday, Army Col. Steve Warren was coming to grips with the reality facing his staff.

 “I’ve got no essentials in here, and I’m concerned,” Warren said, as CNN reported on his flat-screen television about the latest developments on Capitol Hill.

 Half the press staff is active-

 duty military and the other half civilians, a common mix throughout the agency. The uniformed officers must come to work in a shutdown.

 Warren was worrying about manning hundreds of Pentagon Web sites and Twitter and Facebook, which get information to the public. “Guess who runs most of them?” he said. “Civilians who are not essential.”

 Some Defense Web sites are run by contractors who will probably be working, since their funding has been approved. But if the federal workers supervising them are furloughed, the contractors may not be able to work. ||||| Among the affects of a federal shutdown: delays in processing passport and visa applications, issuing gun permits, continuing U.S. bankruptcy court cases and approving mortgage applications.

 In this Nov. 15, 1995, file photo, a U.S. Park Service police officer stands in front of closed signs at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, during a partial shutdown of the federal government. (Photo: AP file photo) Story Highlights If budget deal is not worked out, federal government will shut down after midnight Monday

 Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid payments would continue during a shutdown

 About 41 percent of nondefense federal employees would be furloughed

 WASHINGTON – If Democrats and Republicans don't reach a spending deal by midnight Monday, a partial government shutdown will take effect.

 The 2013 fiscal year ends at midnight Monday. Many federal programs and activities will stop beginning Tuesday and won't restart until a new deal is in place.

 Here's a guide to understanding how Congress got to this stage and how a shutdown would affect you.

 Question: Will the entire government come to a standstill if a deal isn't reached?

 Answer: No. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other "entitlement" programs that are funded automatically will escape the worst effects. But government agencies that rely on yearly congressional appropriations will be hit a lot harder. That includes giant agencies such as the Pentagon and smaller ones such as the National Park Service.

 WHERE DO YOU FIT?: Breaking down the Affordable Care Act

 Federal agencies have prepared plans to continue programs they deem critical to maintaining public safety and protecting property despite the shutdown. Employees who perform those critical functions will continue to work and get paid.

 For instance, air traffic controllers and firefighters contracted by the National Forest Service would continue to work, but park rangers and researchers who conduct clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health would be furloughed.

 USA TODAY estimates that about 41 percent of nondefense federal employees will be furloughed, but the remaining 59 percent will continue working.

 Q: Will I still get my mail?

 A: Yes. The U.S. Postal Service isn't funded by taxpayers. Independently financed agencies like the Postal Service won't be affected.

 Q: How did Congress get in this situation?

 A: In a word, partisanship. Differences between Democrats and Republicans are deepening over virtually every issue, and federal spending is the biggest one of all.

 A temporary spending measure -- a continuing resolution, or CR -- approved by the GOP-controlled House on Sept. 20 would have kept the government running until mid-December but would have cut funding to implement the Affordable Care Act.

 The Democratic-majority Senate rejected that plan, designed to gut President Barack Obama's signature health care law. On Friday the Senate approved its own CR that included money for the law known as "Obamacare."

 House leaders are meeting over the weekend to consider their next move. If the House modifies the Senate CR as Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has promised, then the Senate has to approve the amended version before it reaches the White House.

 It's unclear if and when those legislative steps will be fulfilled. Short answer: Things remain in limbo.

 Q: What will be the impact of a shutdown?

 A: All national parks and federal wildlife refuges would be closed for the duration of the shutdown, the Interior Department said Friday. About 9 million visitors were turned away from parks, museums and monuments run by the National Park Service in the mid-1990s, the last time the government shut down temporarily.

 About 40 percent of the nation's 2 million federal workers would be furloughed. Though Congress has approved restoring lost pay retroactively in the past, there's no guarantee lawmakers will do that this time.

 About 1.4 million active-duty military personnel must remain on the job but won't get paid until a new deal is signed into law. Active National Guard units also must continue to work. Most civilian employees of the Defense Department face furloughs.

 Some other possibilities: Delays in processing tens of thousands of passport and visa applications, issuing gun permits, continuing U.S. bankruptcy court cases and approving mortgage applications.

 Many congressional and White House staffers also may have to stay home. But members of Congress and the president are exempt from furloughs

 Q: Has the government been shut down in the past?

 A: Yes. The last one lasted 21 days from Dec. 15, 1995, to Jan. 6, 1996, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service. It came soon after a five-day shutdown that lasted from Nov. 13-19, 1995. A disagreement over tax cuts between then-President Bill Clinton and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., precipitated those shutdowns.

 Since 1976, there have been 17 shutdowns, though before the 1980s the government continued operating at reduced levels without furloughing workers.

 Q: Isn't there going to be another showdown over raising the debt limit?

 A: That's highly likely. Republicans, particularly ultraconservative tea party members, argue the debt ceiling shouldn't be raised unless Congress makes sizable spending cuts.

 Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew has said the government will run out of money around Oct. 17. In addition to using tax revenues, the Obama administration has to borrow more money to pay bills the nation has already racked up. But Congress has to raise the debt limit to allow increased borrowing -- and that permission won't come without another fight.

 If the debt ceiling isn't raised, the U.S. economy will suffer even more that under a shutdown, Obama said Friday. For instance, interest rates on credit cards, student loans and mortgages loans could rise. And the nation's creditworthiness -- and global influence -- would take a beating, experts say, though critics dismiss such talk as hyperbole.

 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/19IaFCl |||||

Write a summary.

– John Boehner planned a strategy session later today with House Republican leaders to plot their next move, but the prospects of avoiding a government shutdown before Monday's midnight deadline are getting bleaker by the hour, reports Politico. For one thing, no negotiations between Republicans and Democrats are even on the horizon, because both sides feel they've already staked out their positions. The Hill also thinks a shutdown is "increasingly likely," and USA Today has rolled out a primer on what it would mean to ordinary citizens: Yes, you'll get your mail, and neither Medicare, Social Security, nor Medicaid will be affected. But scores of other federal programs and activities will come to a halt: Forget visiting a national park or museum, and expect delays in everything from passport applications to gun permits to mortgage approvals. USA Today estimates that 40% of non-defense federal workers will be furloughed during the shutdown, and the Washington Post has details on how the Pentagon is scrambling to prepare. In short, it's a logistical mess, with about 400,000 civilian employees told they'd have to stay home unless a deal is reached. “The planning itself is disruptive,” says the Defense Department's comptroller. “People are worrying right now about whether their paychecks are going to be delayed, rather than focusing fully on their mission.”