Blast near Pakistan's Swat valley kills 41

Mon Oct 12, 2009 10:17am EDT

The leader of the attack, a former soldier who deserted in 2004 and joined a militant group based in Punjab province, was the only attacker captured alive but wounded, Abbas said.

The man, identified as Aqeel, also known as Dr Usman, was from Punjab, he said.

Abbas said that while the Taliban and Punjabi militant groups had links there were no militant "safe havens" in Punjab, Pakistan's biggest and economically most important province.

Earlier on Monday, Pakistani Taliban spokesman Azam Tariq claimed responsibility and threatened more attacks.

"It was carried out by our Punjab unit," Tariq said by telephone. "We will take revenge for our martyrs and will carry out more attacks, whether it's the GHQ or something bigger," he said, referring to the army's General Headquarters.

A ground offensive in South Waziristan could be the army's toughest test since the militants turned on the state.

The army has not said when it would begin but Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on the weekend it was "imminent."

The military has been conducting air and artillery strikes for months, while moving troops, blockading the region and trying to win over factions.

Military aircraft attacked in the region on Monday killing up to five militants, an intelligence official said, a day after about 16 militants were killed in air strikes.

"There is no mercy for them because our determination and resolve is to flush them out," Malik told Reuters in an interview in Singapore. "They have no room in Pakistan, I promise you."

About 28,000 troops have been put in place to take on an estimated 10,000 hard-core Taliban, army officials said earlier.

Monday's blast, the fourth big attack in a week, triggered selling on Pakistan's main stock market, which fell 1.3 percent.

"The market witnessed a correction due to security concerns across the country," said Furqan Punjabi, analyst at Topline Securities Ltd.

Source: Reuters

Lobbyists Out in Full Force as Senate Prepares to Vote on Health Care Bill Tuesday

By JAKE TAPPER
Oct. 12, 2009

As the Senate Finance Committee prepares to vote Tuesday on its version of health care legislation, White House officials say they have momentum as the narrative shifts from whether a bill will pass to what it will contain.

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The Senate Finance Committee is set to vote on health care reform legislation.

But, even as conservative commentators admit that health care overhaul will happen, lobbyists are leading a final push to sidetrack the legislation.

A new report by health industry lobbyists at America's Health Insurance Plans, prepared by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, concludes that health coverage costs for families would increase by 111 percent in the next 10 years under provisions proposed by the Senate Finance Committee. That means costs would jump, on average, to $25,900 for families by 2019, and to $9,700 for individuals.

But some experts say the report is flawed in many ways, pointing out that it does not take into account federal subsidies for lower-income families to help them pay for coverage. The report itself acknowledges that it doesn't account for the advantages the legislation hopes to achieve from an excise tax imposed on employers who offer high-cost insurance plans, saying that although "we expect employers to respond to the tax by restructuring their benefits to avoid it," the report does not factor in those hypothetical responses.

The White House assailed the report as inaccurate and biased.

"This is a self-serving report paid for by opponents of health reform and was prepared by a firm that specializes in tax shelters," said Linda Douglas, spokeswoman for the White House Office of Health Care Reform. "It ignores all cost savings in the bill, such as tax credits, and ignores the conclusion of nonpartisan government analysts, who found that it will cover 94 percent of Americans and help to reduce the deficit."

The bipartisan Congressional Budget Office last week gave the committee's bill something of a green light, saying that the legislation, devised mainly by Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., would cover 29 million uninsured Americans, ultimately achieving 94 percent coverage and costing a total of $829 billion over 10 years. President Barack Obama had set $900 billion as the acceptable threshold for health care legislation costs.

The White House desperately wants to be able to call the bill bipartisan and is doing everything it can to secure the support of Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, thought to be the only Republican on the Senate Finance Committee who might vote for Baucus' legislation. Having struggled to get any current Republican officials to support Obama's reform efforts, the White House is now touting former GOP officials who are pushing for bipartisan compromise.

Dr. Louis Sullivan, former secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services under President George H.W. Bush, told ABC News that the Senate Finance Committee's bill is more bipartisan, compared to the four other Democratic bills circulating in Congress.

"We need to come together towards the middle and this is what the Baucus bill represents," Sullivan said. "It represents a compromise that has elements that, indeed, I think all individuals, Republicans and Democrats, can support."

Even though he doesn't agree with all the provisions in the bill, Sullivan said it's time for Congress to push health care overhaul and pass a bill.

"We're not going to get a perfect answer," he said. "Our system is too large and too complex to accomplish that in one action, but we need to have a beginning. I'm more concerned about not having the beginning of reform of our health care system. These concerns I have I think can be addressed in due course, but we need to really come together and enact health care reform now."

Source: ABC News

The Upsides to New Storage Buildings For Your Home

The truth is in life, people tend collect a great many personal items and in some of these cases, it is very difficult to get rid of them. Whether people actually need these things or they just have a difficult time getting rid of them, people like to keep their excess possessions near them. That is why many people are turning to small metal kit personal Storage Buildings to house their extra items. There are many benefits aside from a good place to store things and that is what makes these building so popular.

Most people either had a garden shed in their yards when they were a kid or perhaps you have one right now. Whatever the case may be, these sheds were problematic at best. Firstly they were not known as the world's most sturdy buildings, and the old flimsy storage sheds did not and do not hold up very well when it comes to the elements. The bottom line is because of weather and the harsh elements of the outdoors, a run of the mill wood or vinyl storage shed will need replacing every couple of years, unless of course you and your neighbors like visual eye sores. Modern day steel storage units are stronger and are able to handle harsh outdoor elements. Therefore, you can be sure that if you should experience rough weather (and which part of the country does not) or just the hard conditions an outdoor structure will have to endure, your storage facility will be able to stand up to them and them some.

The good thing about these types of buildings, outside of the fact that they are spacious and sturdy is that the styles and colors of these Storage Buildings vary as well. That means that whatever your particular style of house is, you are likely to find a storage unit that will match or adequately complement the residential aesthetics of your home. Therefore, not only will you have useful and functional storage area, it can also look rather good as well.

The reality is that most home owners will find that there is a need for additional storage, if you are using your garage for a workshop as well as an indoor parking area for your cars, or perhaps your garage is already full to capacity. Then one of these new storage units might be just the thing for you to manage and keep your stuff stored and organized. They come with easy to follow plans, are often made of surplus US steel to keep the cost low, and are easy to self build.