Obama's pick for Iraq ambassador withdraws

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Real-time gene sequencing used to combat superbug

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40 years on, Watergate crime scene is forgotten

WASHINGTON (AP) ? When the Watergate complex was built in the 1960s, it was just a group of buildings on the western edge of the nation's capital. Then, 40 years ago Sunday, police in Washington arrested five men breaking into the office of the Democratic National Committee there.

Scandals, from Monicagate to Troopergate, haven't been the same since.

These days, though, there's little marking the location of the 1972 crime that ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. The office building that was the site of the break-in is still in use, though tenants have changed. The adjacent hotel where the burglars stayed is currently closed. And another hotel across the street where a lookout watched the night of the break-in, with a walkie-talkie on hand, has been turned into a college dorm.

Jane Freundel Levey, the chief historian for Cultural Tourism DC, a coalition of city cultural and heritage groups, says there's talk of installing a set of historical signs in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood where the buildings sit. If that happens, the spaces that played a part in the Watergate drama will certainly be marked, she said.

"We are a nation of people who make pilgrimages," she said, adding that people like knowing when they're standing on a historic spot.

Now, however, most tourists visiting Washington head to see the Capitol, the Declaration of Independence, the theater where President Abraham Lincoln was shot and the Smithsonian museums, where interactive exhibits and tour guides await. There's nothing like that at the Watergate, which sits along the banks of the Potomac River next to the city's John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The site is about a half-mile from the nearest subway station and not on the route of the city's red, double-decker tour buses. The surrounding neighborhood is full of George Washington University students and federal government workers, but the Watergate is a little farther away.

"It's somewhat quiet down there," said Carolyn Crouch, founder of Washington Walks, a group that takes people on neighborhood walking tours and who leads a tour of the area about twice each year. "It's really pretty peaceful."

What visitors get if they make the trek is city dwellers, going about their business.

The Democratic National Committee, the burglars' target, moved out of the Watergate long ago. The group's offices are now across town, just south of the U.S. Capitol. The sixth-floor office space the committee once occupied now houses the office of the Iraqi embassy's military attach? and a doctor's office. A real estate company that bought the building in 2011 has plans for millions of dollars of upgrades, but half the building is currently vacant.

Empty, too, are the more than 200 rooms of the Watergate Hotel, the building next to the office where the burglars checked into rooms 214 and 314 under assumed names. When police arrived to search the rooms, they found electrical equipment, blue surgical gloves and thousands of dollars in brand-new 100-dollar bills. The hotel was closed for renovations in 2007, and its current owners have said they plan to make changes including adding more than 100 rooms, but the hotel won't open until at least 2013.

Perhaps the biggest changes have been to what was the Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge across the street from the Watergate office building. That's where former FBI agent Alfred C. Baldwin III sat in a hotel room and listened to telephone wiretaps placed by the burglars at the Democratic National Committee offices during a first, undetected burglary in May. Baldwin was in room 723 on the night of the second fateful caper, June 17.

The hotel's owners eventually capitalized on the room's fame, installing a brass plaque declaring the space "The Watergate Room" in 1996. Inside, they hung framed reproductions of newspapers from that era and stocked the room with Watergate videos and books. It didn't last.

George Washington University bought the hotel three years later and turned it into a dorm. Students assigned to the seventh floor initially participated in Watergate-related activities, and Room 723 remained empty because of its historical significance. But the university changed its mind in 2001, gathering up memorabilia that had been in the room, depositing it in the school's archives and assigning the room to students.

Sarah Steckler, who graduated in 2007 and is now an attorney in New York, lived in the room her freshman year. She said she remembers students taking pictures with the plaque outside her door or knocking and asking to see inside. The students, born years after Nixon's infamous resignation, were generally disappointed with what they saw.

"Inside it was a standard dorm room," she said.

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Greece pro-bailout parties could form govt

ATHENS, Greece (AP) ? The pro-bailout New Democracy party came in first Sunday in Greece's national election and could gather enough support to form a pro-bailout coalition to keep the country in the eurozone.

As central banks stood ready to intervene in case of financial turmoil, Greece held its second national election in just six weeks to try to select a new government after an inconclusive ballot on May 6.

Sunday's vote was seen as crucial for Europe and the world, since it could determine whether Greece is forced to leave the joint euro currency, a move that could have potentially catastrophic consequences for other ailing European nations and the global economy.

Although official projections late Sunday showed that no party will win enough seats in the 300-member parliament to form a government on its own, Greece's two traditional parties ? the conservative New Democracy and the socialist PASOK ? would have enough seats to form a coalition together.

They have both expressed a willingness to work with other European nations to stay in the 17-nation eurozone.

The projections showed New Democracy winning 29.5 percent and 128 seats. The radical left Syriza party, which has vowed to repeal Greece's international bailout deal, was expected to come in second with 27.1 percent and 72 seats. PASOK trails with 12.3 percent and 33 seats.

To form a majority government, a coalition would need at least 151 seats.

The parties vying to win have starkly different views about what to do about the ?240 billion ($300 billion) in bailout loans that Greece has been given by international lenders.

Greece has been dependent on rescue loans since May 2010, after sky-high borrowing rates left it locked out of the international markets following years of profligate spending and falsifying financial data. The spending cuts made in return have left the country mired in a fifth year of recession, with unemployment spiraling to above 22 percent and tens of thousands of businesses shutting down.

New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras says his top priority is to stay in the euro but has promised to renegotiate some terms of the bailout.

Syriza head Alexis Tsipras, a 37-year-old former student activist, has vowed to cancel the terms of Greece's international bailout deal and repeal its austerity measures.

"There are many power-sharing possibilities that include a vote of tolerance from parties," Syriza member Nikos Voutsis said on state television. "But we'll see.'"

The party that comes first in Sunday's vote gets a bonus of 50 seats in the 300-member Parliament and gets the first try at forming a new government with a majority in Parliament. If they fail, the next highest party gets to try.

Earlier, the exit polls projected seven parties in all beating the 3 percent threshold for seats in Parliament, including the extremist right-wing Golden Dawn party, which vehemently rejects the neo-Nazi label but has been blamed for numerous violent attacks against immigrants.

Golden Dawn was projected at winning between 6 and 7.5 percent, roughly maintaining the level of the nearly 7 percent it won in May ? a meteoric rise for a fringe party that had polled at just 0.3 percent.

The small Democratic Left party was projected at winning between 5.5 and 6.5 percent, with the right-wing Independent Greeks tied with Golden Dawn at 6-7.5 percent.

There are no rules governing a country's exit from the eurozone. A Greek exit could cause economic chaos in Europe, prompt investors to flee stocks in the U.S. , and spark a panic that other debt-strapped European nations ? Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy ? might also have to leave the eurozone.

That domino scenario ? known in economic terms as contagion ? could engulf the euro, causing a global financial panic not unlike the one that gripped the world in 2008 after the investment firm Lehman Brothers failed in the U.S.

Virtually unknown outside of Greece four months ago, Tsipras and his party shot to prominence in the May 6 vote, where he came a surprise second and quadrupled his support since the 2009 election.

Tsipras, has vowed to rip up Greece's bailout agreements and repeal the austerity measures, which have included deep spending cuts on everything from health care to education and infrastructure, as well as tax hikes and reductions of salaries and pensions.

But his pledges, which include canceling planned privatizations, nationalizing banks and rolling back cuts to minimum wages and pensions, have horrified European leaders, as well as many Greeks. Tsipras' opponents argue that the inexperienced young politician is out of touch with reality.

"We have beaten fear. Today we open a road to hope," Tspiras said, adding that he was confident of victory. "Today we open a road to a better tomorrow, with our people united, dignified and proud. In a Greece of social justice and prosperity, an equal member of a Europe that is changing."

Samaras, meanwhile, cast Sunday's choice as one between the euro and returning to the drachma. He has vowed to renegotiate some of the bailout's harsher terms but insists the top priority is for the country to remain in Europe's joint currency.

"Today the Greek people speak. Tomorrow a new era for Greece begins," Samaras said after voting in southern Greece.

Earlier Sunday, about 10 men armed with sledgehammers and wooden bats attacked a polling station in central Athens, wounding two policemen guarding it and setting fire to the ballot box shortly before polls closed. The attack ? the only one reported so far ? took place in the Athens neighborhood of Exarhia, a traditional haven for leftists and anarchists.

Greek police were also investigating the discovery Sunday of two unexploded hand grenades outside private Skai television station on the outskirts of Athens. Greek government spokesman Demetris Tsiodras denounced the devices as an attempt to spoil the smooth running of the election.

___

Menelaos Hadjicostis, Demetris Nellas and AP television in Athens contributed.

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Possible outcomes in pivotal health care law case

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Some are already anticipating the Supreme Court's ruling on President Barack Obama's health care law as the "decision of the century." But the justices are unlikely to have the last word on America's tangled efforts to address health care woes. The problems of high medical costs, widespread waste, and tens of millions of people without insurance will require Congress and the president to keep looking for answers, whether or not the Affordable Care Act passes the test of constitutionality.

With a decision by the court expected this month, here is a look at potential outcomes:

___

Q: What if the Supreme Court upholds the law and finds Congress was within its authority to require most people to have health insurance or pay a penalty?

A: That would settle the legal argument, but not the political battle.

The clear winners if the law is upheld and allowed to take full effect would be uninsured people in the United States, estimated at more than 50 million.

Starting in 2014, most could get coverage through a mix of private insurance and Medicaid, a safety-net program. Republican-led states that have resisted creating health insurance markets under the law would face a scramble to comply, but the U.S. would get closer to other economically advanced countries that guarantee medical care for their citizens.

Republicans would keep trying to block the law. They will try to elect presidential candidate Mitt Romney, backed by a GOP House and Senate, and repeal the law, although their chances of repeal would seem to be diminished by the court's endorsement.

Obama would feel the glow of vindication for his hard-fought health overhaul, but it might not last long even if he's re-elected.

The nation still faces huge problems with health care costs, requiring major changes to Medicare that neither party has explained squarely to voters. Some backers of Obama's law acknowledge it was only a first installment: get most people covered, then deal with the harder problem of costs.

___

Q: On the other hand, what if the court strikes down the entire law?

A: Many people would applaud, polls suggest.

Taking down the law would kill a costly new federal entitlement before it has a chance to take root and develop a clamoring constituency, but that still would leave the problems of high costs, waste, and millions uninsured.

Some Republicans in Congress already are talking about passing anew the more popular pieces of the health law.

But the major GOP alternatives to Obama's law would not cover nearly as many uninsured, and it's unclear how much of a dent they would make in costs. Some liberals say Medicare-for-all, or government-run health insurance, will emerge as the only viable answer if Obama's public-private approach fails.

People with health insurance could lose some ground as well. Employers and insurance companies would have no obligation to keep providing popular new benefits such as preventive care with no copayments and coverage for young adults until age 26 on a parent's plan. Medicare recipients with high prescription drug costs could lose discounts averaging about $600.

___

Q: What happens if the court strikes down the individual insurance requirement, but leaves the rest of the Affordable Care Act in place?

A: Individuals would have no obligation to carry insurance, but insurers would remain bound by the law to accept applicants regardless of medical condition and limit what they charge their oldest and sickest customers.

Studies suggest premiums in the individual health insurance market would jump by 10 percent to 30 percent.

Experts debate whether or not that would trigger the collapse of the market for individuals and small businesses, or just make coverage even harder to afford than it is now. In any event, there would be risks to the health care system. Fewer people would sign up for coverage.

The insurance mandate was primarily a means to an end, a way to create a big pool of customers and allow premiums to remain affordable. Other forms of arm-twisting could be found, including limited enrollment periods and penalties for late sign-up, but such fixes would likely require congressional cooperation.

Unless there's a political deal to fix it, the complicated legislation would get harder to carry out. Congressional Republicans say they will keep pushing for repeal.

Without the mandate, millions of uninsured low-income people still would get coverage through the law's Medicaid expansion. The problem would be the 10 million to 15 million middle-class people expected to gain private insurance under the law. They would be eligible for federal subsidies, but premiums would get more expensive.

Taxes, Medicare cuts and penalties on employers not offering coverage would stay in place.

___

Q: What if the court strikes down the mandate and also invalidates the parts of the law that require insurance companies to cover people regardless of medical problems and that limit what they can charge older people?

A: Many fewer people would get covered, but the health insurance industry would avoid a dire financial hit.

Insurers could continue screening out people with a history of medical problems; diabetes patients or cancer survivors, for example.

That would prevent a sudden jump in premiums. But it would leave consumers with no assurance that they can get health insurance when they need it, which is a major problem that the law was intended to fix.

Obama administration lawyers say the insurance requirement goes hand in hand with the coverage guarantee and cap on premiums, and have asked the court to get rid of both if it finds the mandate to be unconstitutional.

One scenario sends shivers through the health care industry: The Supreme Court strikes down the mandate only, and delegates other courts to determine what else stays or goes.

___

Q: What happens if the court throws out only the expansion of the Medicaid program?

A: That severely would limit the law's impact because roughly half of the more than 30 million people expected to gain insurance under the law would get it through the expansion of Medicaid, the federal-state health insurance program for low-income people.

But a potentially sizable number of those low-income people still might be eligible for government-subsidized private insurance under other provisions. Private coverage is more expensive to subsidize than Medicaid.

States suing to overturn the federal law argue that the Medicaid expansion comes with so many strings attached it amounts to an unconstitutional power grab by Washington. The administration says the federal government will pay virtually all the cost and that the expansion is no different from ones that states have accepted in the past.

___

Q: What happens if the court decides that the constitutional challenge is premature?

A: The wild card, and least conclusive outcome in the case, probably also is the most unlikely, based on what justices said during the arguments.

No justice seemed inclined to take this path, which involves the court's consideration of a technical issue.

The federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., held that the challenge to the insurance requirement has to wait until people start paying the penalty for not purchasing insurance. The appeals court said it was bound by the federal Anti-Injunction Act, which says that federal courts may not hear challenges to taxes, or anything that looks like a tax, until after the taxes are paid.

So if the justices have trouble coming together on any of the other options they could simply punt.

The administration says it doesn't want this result. Yet such a decision would allow it to continue putting the law in place, postponing any challenge until more of the benefits are being received. On the other hand, it might give Republicans more ammunition to press for repeal in the meantime.

___

Online:

Supreme Court: http://tinyurl.com/3zukoc4

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THG Giveaway: Win Justin Bieber Tour Tickets!


Justin Bieber will embark on a North American tour this fall, and THG was just wondering:

WOULD YOU LIKE TO ATTEND OPENING NIGHT?

Yes, Beliebers, we're giving away two (2) tickets to the Justin Bieber concert in Glendale, Arizona on September 29 to one (1) lucky reader. They are seats 6 and 7 in section 223. They can be yours by simply following the steps below...

Justin Biener Album Cover

  1. Follow The Hollywood Gossip on Tumblr. (NOTE: Be sure to turn on the "Ask Me Anything" option so we can contact you with the potentially great news.)
  2. Re-blog our Justin Bieber Tumblr photo.
  3. Include your favorite Justin Bieber song in the caption and.... that's it! You are now eligible to win!

The contest is open to U.S. residents only and we will select a Tumblr follower at random on Monday, July 2. Best of luck, Beliebers.

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