Yeshiva World News

Egypt’s ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons are appearing before a Cairo court, facing charges that they wasted millions of dollars in public funds allocated to renovate presidential palaces.

Wednesday’s session is the first in the case after a months-long pause. The trial initially opened in August, but the court sent it back to the prosecutor general who added four new defendants. The state media says they held management positions in the project.

Last year, the ailing president was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of failing to stop the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that forced him from office. His sentence was canceled on appeal and he is now facing a retrial.

He appeared in court sitting in a wheelchair next to his sons.

(AP)

The deadly clashes in Ukraine’s capital have drawn sharp reactions from Washington, sparked a rapidly growing push for European Union sanctions and led to a Kremlin statement blaming Europe and the West. A roundup of some of the international reactions:

EUROPEAN UNION

EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso on Wednesday expressed “shock and utter dismay” at the violence in Kiev, blamed Ukraine’s “political leadership” and predicted the 28-nation EU will impose sanctions as a result. “We therefore expect that targeted measures against those responsible for violence and use of excessive force can be agreed by our member states as a matter of urgency, as proposed by the high representative/vice president (top EU diplomat Catherine Ashton),” Barroso said in a statement. EU foreign ministers were summoned to an emergency meeting in Brussels on Thursday afternoon to decide on the bloc’s course of action on Ukraine.

UNITED STATES

Vice President Joe Biden called Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yanukovych, to express “grave concern” and to request the pullback of government forces and the exercise of maximum restraint. The White House said Biden made clear that while the United States condemns violence by all parties, the government bears “special responsibility to de-escalate the situation.” Biden also called on Ukraine’s government to address the protesters” ”legitimate grievances” and put forward proposals for political reform.

RUSSIA

The Russian Foreign Ministry blamed the West for the escalation of violence and called on the Ukrainian opposition to work with the government to find an exit from the crisis. It said the West had fueled the violence by failing to clearly condemn the radicals who attacked police.

“What’s going on is the direct result of the policy of connivance on behalf of Western politicians and European structures, which from the very start of the crisis have turned a blind eye to the aggressive actions of radical forces in Ukraine, encouraging them to engage in escalation and provocations against the legitimate government,” it said.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia views the developments in Ukraine as a “coup attempt.” He denied Putin was giving Yanukovych any advice on how to handle the crisis, and said it is up to the Ukrainian government to determine the course of action to defuse the crisis.

GERMANY

Germany’s leaders had refused to back Washington’s calls for sanctions against Ukraine’s government to pressure it into accepting opposition demands for reforms. But after violence in Kiev exploded on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said “Europe’s previous reluctance for personal sanctions must be rethought.”

On Wednesday, Steinmeier said that “a pause for breath is urgently needed” and called on all concerned not to use force — “that goes for the security forces but also for the radical elements among the demonstrators.”

“It is the responsibility of President Yanukovych, the government and the security forces to act level-headedly and de-escalate the situation,” Steinmeier said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said Steinmeier is “examining all options — the question of personal sanctions is on the table.” That could involve identifying those responsible for the escalation of violence and imposing sanctions such as EU entry bans and freezing assets, he said — the EU foreign ministers’ meeting on Thursday is “a good opportunity to weigh up the pros and cons in view of the events and then make a common European Union decision.”

FRANCE

President Francois Hollande expressed “deep indignation” at the violence in Ukraine during a meeting of the French Cabinet on Wednesday, government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud-Belkacem said. “Everything must be done to stop the violence (in Ukraine). Some individual sanctions must be considered by the EU”, Hollande was also quoted as saying.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said,” We are going to take a joint position” with the Germans. He spoke before the beginning of a French-German meeting on Wednesday in Paris.

“There may be a whole scale of sanctions, including personal sanctions” against the persons who are causing the violence,” said Fabius. “The situation must become calm again as soon as possible”.

SWEDEN

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said in a Twitter post on Wednesday: “We must be clear: Ultimate responsibility for deaths and violence is with President Yanukovych. He has blood on his hands.”

VATICAN CITY

Pope Francis issued a special appeal for peace in Ukraine at the end of his general audience on Wednesday, speaking to tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square. “With a troubled soul I am following what is happening these days in Kiev,” he said. “I assure my closeness to the Ukrainian people and pray for the victims of the violence, for their relatives and for the injured. I invite all sides to stop any violent action and to look for harmony and peace in the country.”

POLAND

Prime Minister Donald Tusk told his country’s parliament Wednesday that the time has come to impose sanctions on Ukraine.

DENMARK

“The Ukrainian government must take responsibility to immediately enter a serious dialogue with the opposition on the need for constitutional amendments, a new broad-based government and the preparation of democratic and fair presidential elections,” Foreign Minister Martin Lidegaard said.

UNITED NATIONS

The U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, called Wednesday for “an urgent and independent investigation to establish facts and responsibilities, including the possible use of excessive force, and to ensure accountability for these deadly clashes.”

(AP)

For many older Americans who lost jobs during the recession, the quest for health care has been one obstacle after another. They’re unwanted by employers, rejected by insurers, struggling to cover rising medical costs and praying to reach Medicare age before a health crisis.

These luckless people, most in their 50s and 60s, have emerged this month as early winners under the nation’s new health insurance system. Along with their peers who are self-employed or whose jobs do not offer insurance, they have been signing up for coverage in large numbers, submitting new-patient forms at doctor’s offices and filling prescriptions at pharmacies.

“I just cried I was so relieved,” said Maureen Grey, a 58-year-old Chicagoan who finally saw a doctor this month after a fall in September left her in constant pain. Laid off twice from full-time jobs in the past five years, she saw her income drop from $60,000 to $17,800 a year. Now doing temp work, she was uninsured for 18 months before she chose a marketplace plan for $68 a month.

Americans ages 55 to 64 make up 31 percent of new enrollees in the new health insurance marketplaces, the largest segment by age group, according to the federal government’s latest figures. They represent a glimmer of success for President Barack Obama’s beleaguered law.

The Great Recession hit them hard and for some its impact has lingered.

Aging boomers are more likely to be in debt as they enter retirement than were previous generations, with many having purchased more expensive homes with smaller down payments, said economist Olivia Mitchell of University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. One in five has unpaid medical bills and 17 percent are underwater with their home values. Fourteen percent are uninsured.

As of December, 46 percent of older jobseekers were among the long-term unemployed compared with less than 25 percent before the recession.

And those financial setbacks happened just as their health care needs became more acute. Americans in their mid-50s to mid-60s are more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes than other age groups, younger or older, accounting for 3 in 10 of the adult diabetes diagnoses in the United States each year. And every year after age 50, the rate of cancer diagnosis climbs.

The affordable coverage is “an answer to a prayer really,” said Laura Ingle, a 57-year-old Houston attorney who had been denied coverage repeatedly because she has sarcoidosis, an autoimmune disease. She recently had back surgery for a painful condition that’s been bothering her for months.

One night in September, 64-year-old Glenn Nishimura woke up with wrenching pain that sent him to the emergency room. It was his gallbladder. A doctor recommended surgery.

Instead, Nishimura went home. A consultant to nonprofit groups, he was self-employed and uninsured.

“I checked myself out because I had no idea what this was going to cost,” the Little Rock, Ark., man said. “They didn’t want me to go, but they didn’t stop me.”

Nishimura lost his coverage after leaving a full-time position with benefits in 2007, thinking he could land another good job. The recession ruined that plan. After COBRA coverage expired, he was denied coverage because of high blood pressure and other conditions.

He made it until September without a major illness. A second night of gallbladder pain and a chat with a doctor persuaded him to have the surgery. After getting the bills, he negotiated the fees down to $12,000, which he considered “a big hit, but it could have been worse.” The average cost of a gallbladder removal in Arkansas was listed at three times that. Nishimura dipped into his savings to cover the bill.

In December, he chose a bronze plan on the new insurance marketplace that costs him $285 a month after a tax credit. The deductible is $6,300, so he hopes he doesn’t have to use his coverage. He can get on Medicare in April, just in time for his annual checkup.

“Now there’s the peace of mind of knowing the limits of my obligation if I have catastrophic health needs,” he said.

Dr. Bernd Wollschlaeger said he’s noticed a recent increase in patients in this age group at his family practice in Miami. Lots of them have untreated chronic conditions that have progressed to an advanced stage.

“Many have delayed necessary treatments due to costs and expect a total and quick workup on their first visit,” he said, adding they want referrals to specialists and tests including colonoscopies and mammograms.

The abundance of older patients signing up is no surprise to the Obama administration, which conducted internal research last year that showed the “sick, active and worried” would be the most responsive to messages urging them to seek coverage.

Signing up younger, healthier enrollees is seen as more difficult, but crucial to keeping future insurance rates from increasing. The administration said those age groups may put off enrolling until closer to the March 31 deadline.

“We have always anticipated that those with more health needs would sign up early on, and that young and healthy people would wait until the end,” administration spokeswoman Joanne Peters said.

Some of the aging boomers were determined to get coverage in the marketplace, despite repeated problems and frustration with the federal website.

The hours spent online and over the phone paid off for real estate agent Greg Burke and his beautician wife, Pat. The empty-nesters qualified for a tax credit that will lower their monthly health insurance premiums by nearly half.

The Burkes, from Akron, Ohio, are among the 38 percent of marketplace enrollees in the state between 55 and 64 years old. He’s 61 and had a knee replaced six years ago.

They will now spend $250 a month for health insurance, “a huge savings,” Greg Burke said. Their deductibles also dropped from $2,500 each to $750 each, meaning they will pay less out of pocket.

In Miami, licensed practical nurse Marie Cadet, who is 54, often works double shifts to make ends meet for herself and her 12-year-old daughter. She had been paying more than $150 a month for health insurance, with a $3,000 deductible. In effect, she paid most medical costs out of her own pocket, including about $80 a month for blood pressure medicine.

After choosing a plan from the marketplace, Cadet’s monthly payment dropped to $86 a month, with the government kicking in $300. Her deductible fell to a more affordable $900.

“Now,” Cadet said, “I’m not scared anymore.”

(AP)

It took months of arduous bargaining before Iran and six world powers could agree on a first-step nuclear deal. But the two sides may find the going even tougher Tuesday, when they start to confront hurdles standing in the path of a final accord.

Tehran denies Western accusations that it wants — or worked on — nuclear arms. But on Nov. 24 it agreed to initial curbs on uranium enrichment — which can serve at different levels as the core of nuclear arms or reactor fuel — in exchange for some easing of the sanctions choking its economy.

In effect for six months, the deal is meant to lead to a final accord that minimizes any potential Iranian nuclear weapons threat in return for a full lifting of sanctions.

But as the sides begin haggling over the final pact in Vienna, Gary Samore, who helped the U.S. negotiate with Iran until last year, describes the interim deal as “simply a truce,” with the hard work still ahead.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, is even more pessimistic.

Accusing the Americans of approaching the talks in bad faith, he urged Iranian envoys on Monday to do their best but said the negotiations “will lead nowhere.”

A look at some obstacles:

HOW MANY CENTRIFUGES?

The interim accord says a final deal would leave Iran with an “enrichment program with practical limits and transparency measures” to ensure its peaceful nature. That means haggling over the number of centrifuges, the machines that enrich uranium to high-tech applications that can range from reactor fuel to use in nuclear bombs.

Samore, the former White House arms control coordinator who is now with Harvard’s Belfer Center think tank, says the Iranians will insist on keeping all of the 20,000 centrifuges set up at their enrichment sites. Of those, 10,000 are running and Tehran will push to keep as many of those operating as possible. But the United States fears that having 20,000 centrifuges on site — even with most of them idle — would give Iran the capacity to produce enough weapons-grade enriched uranium within a few months.

Washington and its five negotiating partners — Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany — want only a few thousand of the machines standing. They calculate that would give them a more than a one-year window, if Iran turned on all its centrifuges and started working on weapons-grade uranium from the start to the time it had enough for one weapon.

Centrifuge types also will be in dispute. The Iranians want to upgrade with advanced machines that work up to four times faster than older centrifuges now doing most of the enriching.

Samore says bargaining over enrichment will be the most difficult issue and expects little tangible progress until the end of this year — if at all.

FORDO AND ARAK:

The U.S. and its allies see the underground enriching facility at Fordo as a particular problem because it is heavily fortified against aerial attacks.

Samore says the six powers want Fordo shut down. But because Tehran is opposed to tearing down any of its atomic infrastructure as a matter of national pride, a possible compromise would be to “repurpose” Fordo while keeping it a nuclear facility, perhaps as a storage area for equipment or material.

The reactor under construction at Arak is a concern because it is a heavy-water facility that would produce substantial amounts of plutonium that also can be used as the fissile core of a missile. Converting the reactor to a light-water installation or cutting back on its output would ease big-power concerns.

Samore agrees with Iranian officials that construction is too far advanced to re-engineer the reactor, saying it would make more sense to take a wrecking ball to it and finance the building of a new, light-water reactor. But because of Iran’s insistence that its nuclear facilities be kept intact, he suggests that the six may offer to reconfigure it anyway “to give the Iranians some face-saving.”

BACK TO SQUARE ONE?

The interim agreement says that as a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran will at some point be treated as any other non-nuclear weapons NPT member state, if it honors commitments it takes on under a final agreement.

But the big question is when? And what happens then?

The U.S. and its allies will likely seek to extend the agreement for up to 25 years for maximum assurance that Iran has forsworn any potential nuclear weapons ambitions. Samore says Iran wants the final agreement to end after five years, and when it does expire Tehran can start building its nuclear program like any other non-weapon NPT states.

That could include running tens of thousands of centrifuges, heavy-water reactors that produce substantial amounts of plutonium and other measures now worrying the international community. All are allowed under the NPT as long as the U.N. nuclear agency can find no reason to suspect that any activity is non-peaceful.

Samore agrees that could result in renewed worries but shares the view that it is impossible to single out Iran for restrictions that other NPT member states are not under once it is deemed to have dispelled concerns that it represents a threat.

The plan to push for decades of nuclear curbs rests on hopes of regime change in Iran— for what the United States considers would be a more democratic government.

“That will be so far in the distant future that it is very likely that there will a different leadership,” says Samore.

(AP)

Sen. Chuck Schumer warns that an attack last year on a California power plant proves that terrorists could take down whole stretches of the U.S. power grid.

But the New York Democrat said on Sunday that power companies now have the right to veto proposed security requirements.

The senator is calling for the federal energy regulator and the Department of Homeland Security to draft tougher new security standards overseen by Congress that would end the industry’s veto rights. Schumer has written a letter to both agencies requesting officials to consider such a change.

Last April, multiple snipers shot down 17 transformers at a Silicon Valley plant, firing outside security perimeters. The attack nearly brought down power to all of Silicon Valley. The perpetrators are still at large.

(AP)

An Ethiopian Airlines co-pilot hijacked a plane bound for Rome on Monday and flew it to Geneva, where he wanted to seek asylum, officials said.

The Boeing 767-300 plane with 202 passengers and crew aboard had taken off from the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, and landed in the Swiss city at about 6 a.m. (0500 GMT). Officials said no one on the flight was injured.

Geneva airport chief executive Robert Deillon told reporters that the co-pilot, an Ethiopian man born in 1983, took control of the plane when the pilot ventured outside the cockpit.

“The pilot went to the toilet and he (the co-pilot) locked himself in the cockpit,” Deillon said.

The man “wanted asylum in Switzerland,” he said. “That’s the motivation of the hijacking.”

The hijacking began over Italy, Switzerland’s southern neighbor, and two Italian fighter jets were scrambled to accompany the plane, Deillon said.

The co-pilot himself alerted authorities to the plane’s hijacking, officials added — though passengers on the plane were unaware it had been hijacked. After landing in Geneva, the co-pilot exited the cockpit using a rope and turned himself in to authorities.

Police escorted passengers one by one, their hands over their heads, from the taxied plane to waiting vehicles.

Geneva prosecutor Olivier Jornot said Swiss federal authorities were investigating the hijacking and would press charges that could carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

Geneva airport was initially closed to other flights, but operations resumed around two hours after the hijacked plane landed. “We hope everything will return to normal in the afternoon,” Deillon said.

(AP)

In a significant move, Iran agreed Sunday to provide additional information sought by the U.N. nuclear agency in its long-stalled probe of suspicions that Tehran may have worked on nuclear weapons.

Iran insists it never worked — or wanted — such arms, and the U.N’.s International Atomic Energy Agency was pushing ahead with its investigation with expectations that Tehran would continue to assert that all of its activities it is ready to reveal were meant for peaceful nuclear use.

Still, the IAEA’s announcement that Tehran was ready to “provide information and explanations” for experiments in a type of detonator that the agency says could be used to trigger a nuclear explosion appeared to be the latest indication that Iran’s new political leadership is seeking to ease tensions over its nuclear program.

The agency mentioned its concerns about detonator development three years ago as part of a list of activities it said could indicate that Tehran had secretly worked on nuclear weapons. The technology had “limited civilian and conventional military applications,” it said back then, adding: “given their possible application in a nuclear explosive device … Iran development of such detonators and equipment is a matter of concern.”

Nuclear physicist Yousaf Butt welcomed the agreement as a “positive development. ” At the same time, Butt, who often questions the methods and conclusions of the IAEA probe, said that such detonators are commonly used in oil extraction and related work. As such, he said, experiments with them should not be surprising in oil-rich Iran.

But David Albright, whose Institute for Science and International Security is often consulted by the U.S. government on proliferation issues, said the concession by Iran could “crack open the door” and lead to a resolution of the allegations that it worked clandestinely on atomic arms.

The detonator issue was not on top of the list of the 2011 IAEA report of possible nuclear weapons concerns, with the agency mentioning other suspected activities that it said appeared to have had no civilian applications.

As the two sides met over the weekend in Tehran, diplomats told The Associated Press that Iran now was ready to address agency questions about its suspected nuclear weapons work after years of dismissing the issue as based on fabricated U.S. and Israeli evidence.

But they also said that the process would get underway only slowly. The fact that the Iranians were ready to engage on the detonator issue first reflected caution by both sides after more than six years of stalemate on the probe, with the agency focused on a step-by-step approach, starting with less sensitive issues and progressing to the arms-related queries.

The process began after the two sides reached an agreement three months ago that gave the agency access to several previously off-limit sites not directly linked to any suspected weapons activities.

An IAEA statement Sunday said Iran had complied with the first steps of that deal and both sides on the weekend signed off on an additional “seven practical measures.” Beyond the detonator experiments, they included Iranian agreement to provide “mutually agreed relevant information” on a site where Tehran experimented with laser uranium enrichment as well as a visit to the site where such work took place.

Iranian experts abandoned the experiments years ago and opted instead to develop their centrifuge-based enrichment program. The IAEA reported in 2008 that the laser facilities had been taken over by a private company that said it had no plans to enrich uranium.

Three years later, however, then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asserted that Iran still possessed uranium laser enrichment technology — a claim that the IAEA has not been able to prove or disprove.

While uranium enrichment is not directly linked to the IAEA’s weapons probe, any hidden enrichment work would be a key worry for the United States and its allies. Iran says it is enriching only to make reactor fuel, but uranium enriched to weapons-grade levels is used as the payload of nuclear missiles.

Washington and five other world powers are meeting Feb. 18 with Iran in Vienna as they work to turn a first step agreement into a pact that permanently curbs Iran’s uranium enrichment in exchange for a full lifting of sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Both sides say those talks are off to a promising start. But the U.S. and its allies also are looking to the IAEA-Iran meetings for additional signals that Iran is serious under its new political leadership in wanting to ease tensions over its nuclear program.

The agency is seeking access to individuals, documents and sites linked to alleged nuclear weapons-related work. Among the suspected activities are:

— indications that Iran has conducted computer modeling of a core of a nuclear warhead.

— suspected preparatory work for a nuclear weapons test, and development of a nuclear payload for Iran’s Shahab 3 intermediate range missile — a weapon that can reach Israel.

—information that Iran went further underground to continue work on nuclear weapons development past 2003, the year that U.S. intelligence agencies believe such activity ceased.

(AP)

The Federation of Hungarian Jewish Communities said Sunday it will boycott all government events commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Holocaust in Hungary unless the government cancels some of the planned memorials.

The dispute stems from historical and ideological differences between the federation and Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government about the yearlong series of remembrances centered on the 1944 deportation of more than 430,000 Hungarian Jews to Nazi death camps.

“The known plans do not take into account the arguments or the sensitivity of the victims of the horrors of the Holocaust,” the group said, adding that there had been “no substantive progress on the government side in the dispute over the Hungarian Holocaust Memorial Year.” The federation voted 76-2 in favor of the boycott, with three abstentions.

Mazsihisz, the federation’s Hungarian acronym, wants the government to abandon plans to build a memorial of Nazi Germany’s 1944 invasion of Hungary and a project dedicated to the child victims of the Holocaust.

The “House of Fates” memorial is being built at a Budapest railway station from which Jews were deported to Nazi death camps. The memorial honoring children will include an exhibit and education center, and Mazsihisz said it has been sidelined from the project, whose “historical approach remains unknown” to the federation’s experts.

Mazsihisz fears both memorials will downplay the role of Hungary and Hungarians in the Holocaust.

Mazsihisz also is demanding the dismissal of Sandor Szakaly, a historian appointed by the government to lead a new historical research institute, because of disputed remarks he made about the 1941 deportation to Ukraine of Jews from other Eastern European countries who had sought refuge in Hungary. Some 15,000 of them were killed by Ukrainian militias and German SS troops.

Mazsihisz and leaders of other Hungarian Jewish organizations met with government officials on Thursday, and Orban is expected address their concerns next week.

(AP)

Thousands of consumers who faced enrollment problems and other issues will get three weeks of free coverage from Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the agreement follows a Department of Financial Services probe into complaints about Empire sending out member ID cards late, failing to send out bills on time, and other issues.

The state agency wrote to Empire last month urging that they take immediate action to rectify complaints about enrollment problems among consumers signing up for coverage through the New York State of Health marketplace.

An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 Empire consumers are expected to receive the financial relief. Empire has also committed $2 million to consumer education to encourage enrollment in health care coverage through the state marketplace.

(AP)

Sen. Chuck Schumer says he has an easy fix to the GOP’s latest doubts about overhauling the nation’s immigration laws.

Pass legislation this year, but don’t let the law go into effect until after President Barack Obama’s second term ends.

The New York Democrat offered his idea Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press in response to House Speaker John Boehner. The Ohio Republican recently cast doubts on the prospects for an immigration overhaul this year, saying President Barack Obama can’t be trusted to implement the law.

Schumer said he believes that Boehner’s rap against Obama is false. He said Obama has deported more immigrants living illegally in the U.S. than any other president, but it would be easy enough to pass the law this year to start in 2017.

(AP)

This is the year Chris Christie was planning to be more than just New Jersey’s governor. Yet it turns out that high-profile investigations into his administration and campaign operation in a political payback case could make advancing his agenda a challenge.

Christie came off a decisive re-election victory in November already in the spotlight and with opportunities for some signature accomplishments. He became chairman of the Republican Governors Association, making him the chief fundraiser for the group in a year featuring 36 gubernatorial elections. His state hosted the first Super Bowl played outdoors in a cold-weather locale. The stage was set for him to keep gaining exposure ahead of a possible 2016 presidential bid and to claim a mandate on imposing his policies at home in New Jersey.

The spotlight has indeed intensified for Christie — but it’s due to scandal.

“This has become a major distraction for him and his team,” said David Gergen, a political analyst who served as a White House adviser to Republican Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan and Democrat Bill Clinton. “They are having to fight back on various fronts.”

Last month, emails revealed that Christie’s staff was involved in ordering a September shutdown of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge — apparently for political retribution against a Democratic mayor. The result was massive gridlock in the community of Fort Lee. Christie has denied any involvement.

Also last month, Hoboken Democratic Mayor Dawn Zimmer said two members of Christie’s Cabinet told her the city’s Superstorm Sandy aid would be tied to her support of a real estate development project. Christie’s administration has denied her accusations.

Christie has had few public appearances in New Jersey since a nearly two-hour news conference in mid-January when he denied knowing about the planning or execution of the lane closings.

He’s been more visible outside the state, with recent RGA fundraising trips to Florida and Texas and a trip to Chicago planned next week. The events are private.

So far, there is no evidence that Republican donors are abandoning Christie. Some, in fact, have come away impressed by the personal strength Christie seems to be exhibiting in a crisis.

“He has a very thick hide,” Gergen said. “In his public appearances, he’s not letting this slow him down.”

But Steffen Schmidt, an Iowa State University political scientist, says that in his state, which has the first presidential caucus, Christie’s key supporters are now split on whether they think he’s a viable presidential candidate. “There are too many people who are now dubious about whether they want to stay on the Chris Christie boat,” Schmidt said.

Even without a political crisis, serving as RGA chairman means he’s away from his state frequently.

Gov. Bobby Jindal was out of Louisiana 42 days on RGA business in the 12 months he served as the group’s chairman, before Christie took over in November, according to an Associated Press analysis of his schedules.

Jindal appeared on two Sunday morning news talk shows last week saying he did not believe Christie should step aside from his RGA role. He said the chairman is not as important to the group as critics would believe. Still, Democrats have noted that when Christie was in Texas, neither current Gov. Rick Perry nor Republican gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott appeared with him.

Meanwhile, back in New Jersey, Democratic State Committee Chairman John Currie was criticizing Christie for leaving the state at all.

“Chris Christie is not interested in being honest with us, in addressing the scandals he created, or, even, in doing his job,” he said in a statement last week. “Instead, he is leaving New Jersey behind to take up residency in a state of denial.”

Analysts see 2014 as a key year for Christie at home: If he decides to run for president, it could be his last full year as governor. His policy to-do list includes largely leftover items from his first term, such as cutting taxes and giving local governments more ways to keep spending down now that they are not allowed to raise property taxes by more than 2 percent a year without a vote. Several of Christie’s priorities are things that leaders of the Democrat-led Legislature have already resisted.

Now, New Jersey Democrats, who already had been crafting strategies to counter a second-term governor, are more emboldened to push back against Christie’s policy priorities, as well as the day-to-day parts of being governor, such as his political appointments.

“What’s changed is that now we’re going to be more assertive in advancing our agenda,” said state Sen. Ray Lesniak, a veteran Democrat.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, for example, has indefinitely postponed a confirmation hearing on Kevin O’Dowd, Christie’s chief of staff and nominee for state attorney general. O’Dowd’s name has surfaced in emails subpoenaed in the bridge scandal, and he is among 20 people and organizations close to Christie included in a more sweeping round of legislative subpoenas.

“We can’t have a hearing until we have all the subpoenas to see where Kevin O’Dowd falls in this process,” said Lesniak, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary committee. “Then it will be up to Kevin and the governor to decide whether they want him subjected under oath to questions on the bridge closings and the use or abuse of Sandy aid money.”

New Jersey’s largest newspaper, the Star-Ledger of Newark, came out with an editorial Sunday saying it regretted endorsing him for re-election in 2013, citing the recent “scandal train” tied to him.

Christie’s difficulties are so much the story of the day in New Jersey that when U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews announced last week he was resigning — a decision that came as the House Ethics Committee looks into allegations that he used donor money for personal expenses — he was asked about Christie. The Democrat was quick to point out that he disagrees with Christie on many things but said he had empathy for the governor.

“I think he’s in the middle of this vortex of blood sport,” he said, “where anything he says or does is going to be attacked because it’s good for ratings.”

(AP)

Federal prosecutors on Thursday announced they will seek the death penalty against 20-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the Boston Marathon bombing, instantly raising the stakes in what could be one of the most wrenching trials the city has ever seen.

Attorney General Eric Holder’s decision to press for Tsarnaev’s execution was widely expected. The twin blasts killed three people and wounded more than 260 others, and 17 of the 30 federal charges against him — including using a weapon of mass destruction to kill — carry the possibility of the death penalty.

“The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision,” Holder said in a statement.

Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty. A trial date has not been set.

Prosecutors allege that Tsarnaev, then 19, and his 26-year-old brother, ethnic Chechens from Russia who had lived in the Boston area for about a decade, built and planted two pressure cooker bombs near the finish line of the marathon in April to retaliate against the U.S. for its military action in Muslim countries. The brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, died in a shootout with police during a getaway attempt days after the bombing.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was wounded but escaped on foot and was later found hiding in a boat parked in a yard in a Boston suburb. Authorities have said he wrote about his motivation for the bombing on the inside of the boat.

“The US Government is killing our innocent civilians,” ”I can’t stand to see such evil go unpunished,” and “We Muslims are one body, you hurt one you hurt us all,” he allegedly wrote.

The bombings stunned the nation during one of Boston’s most celebrated events as runners crossed the finish line and friends, families and spectators were gathered to cheer them on.

Killed in the bombings were: Martin Richard, 8, of Boston; Krystle Campbell, 29, of Medford; and Lu Lingzi, 23, a Boston University graduate student from Shenyang, China. At least 16 others lost limbs.

Tsarnaev also is charged in the slaying of an MIT police officer and the carjacking of a motorist during the brothers’ getaway attempt.

Tsarnaev’s case has attracted a high-profile defense team, including Judy Clarke, a San Diego attorney who has negotiated plea agreements with prosecutors to spare her clients the death penalty, among them Unabomber Ted Kaczynski and Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph.

The Tsarnaev brothers had roots in the turbulent Russian regions of Dagestan and Chechnya, areas that have become recruiting grounds for Islamic extremists. The indictment alleges the brothers downloaded bomb-making instructions from an al-Qaida magazine and gathered material online about Islamic jihad and martyrdom.

Massachusetts abolished its state death penalty in 1984, and repeated efforts to reinstate it have failed. Tsarnaev is the third person in the state to be charged under the federal death penalty.

Since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988, 70 death penalty sentences have been imposed, but only three people have been executed, including Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh in 2001. Eight people have been taken off death row by a judicial or executive action, while 59 people remain on death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The last federal execution was in 2003, when Louis Jones Jr. was put to death for the kidnapping and murder of 19-year-old Army Pvt. Tracie McBride.

(AP)

The White House says President Barack Obama’s executive order to increase the minimum wage on new federal contract workers will likely impact a “couple hundred thousand” people.

That’s according to White House spokesman Jay Carney. Obama announced the measure in his State of the Union address Tuesday, but officials would not say at the time how many people would be impacted by the increase in the hourly pay rate from $7.25 to $10.10.

Carney says the White House estimate is imprecise because the executive order Obama will sign is still being finalized. Most of the 2.2 million federal contractors already make more than $10.10.

Obama’s order won’t take effect until 2015 at the earliest and doesn’t affect existing federal contracts, only new ones.

(AP)

Oxfam International said Thursday that American actress Scarlett Johansson’s support of an Israeli company operating in a “West Bank settlement” was incompatible with her role as an Oxfam Global Ambassador.

Oxfam’s statement followed Johansson’s announcement Wednesday that she was resigning her Oxfam role because of a “fundamental difference of opinion.” Oxfam said it accepted her resignation.

The international humanitarian organization said Thursday that it believes SodaStream and other businesses operating in Israeli settlements in the “West Bank” contribute to the “denial of rights of the Palestinian communities that we work to support.”

The charity says it opposes all trade from the Israeli settlements “which are illegal under international law.”

Pro-Palestinian activists who advocate consumer boycotts of goods produced in Jewish settlements, have encouraged the public to shun SodaStream. The company’s main plant is in an Israeli industrial zone next to Maaleh Adumim.

Johansson, who has become a global brand ambassador for SodaStream, is to appear in a high-profile SodaStream ad during the Super Bowl on Feb. 2.

The company makes home soda machines and home beverage carbonation systems. It hopes to use Super Bowl exposure to increase its U.S. market share, which lags far behind its market penetration in Europe.

Johansson’s involvement prompted Oxfam to express concern about her role last week, setting in motion events that led to her resignation.

The company’s chief executive, Dan Birnbaum, told The Associated Press that the campaign to boycott products from Israeli “settlements” had not had any impact on SodaStream.

“To the best of my knowledge, we have not lost a single customer,” he said. “If anything, it advances our awareness around the world, because people are talking about SodaStream.”

He said the company does not want to “sacrifice” the jobs of 500 Palestinians who work in the SodaStream factory “for some political cause of some activists groups.”

(AP)