NYC 9/11 memorial deal reached
NEW YORK, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- A deal to restart construction of the Sept. 11 museum at New York's Ground Zero was reached at the 11th hour, just before the terror attacks' 11th anniversary.
The deal -- worked out late Monday by Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and independent New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg -- ends a yearlong funding dispute between the foundation that operates the memorial and museum and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the land where the memorial is located.
It calls for the foundation to pay $17 million to the Port Authority to satisfy a disagreement over funding that had held up the construction, a six-page memorandum of understanding reviewed by United Press International indicated.
The Port Authority will also get greater access to the foundation's financial books, and the foundation will improve the transparency of all its actions, the memorandum said.
The $680 million National September 11 Memorial & Museum is now scheduled to come in at $1.4 billion, a figure Bloomberg, the foundation's chairman, and other foundation officials argue is grossly overstated, the New York Daily News reported.
They say it's closer to $710 million. Bloomberg said in 2006 any cost over $500 million would be "inappropriate."
Chicago board chief hopeful of strike end
CHICAGO, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- The Chicago public-school teachers strike went into its second day, with both sides apart, but the school board head said differences could be resolved Tuesday.
"We believe we should resolve this tomorrow," School Board President David Vitale told the Chicago Tribune late Monday. "We are close enough to get this resolved. This is hard work."
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis responded, "Wow," when told of Vitale's comments.
"That really is up to them," she said.
Striking high school English teacher Vicki Turbov, who has two children in Chicago high schools, told the Tribune: "There is a lot of anger. This is about big stakes, the future of education in our country. This is not about a 2 percent increase."
The district has offered teachers a 3 percent raise the first year and 2 percent raises the next three years, amounting to a 16 percent raise for the average teacher over the four years when factoring in other increases, the district said.
Two other key issues involve rehiring laid-off teachers from schools that get shut down or shaken up, and a new teacher-evaluation process the union says puts too much emphasis on student test scores.
3 die in attack on U.S. facility in Bagram
KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- At least three people died in a missile attack by militants on a U.S. military installation in Parwan province in Afghanistan, Afghan security officials said.
The security official said the victims of Monday's attack were members of the Afghan intelligence service, Khaama Press reported.
A spokesman for the coalition forces said several rockets hit Bagram Airfield in Parwan, destroying one helicopter and damaging several aircraft.
The attack that came hours after coalition forces transferred responsibility for Bagram prison to Afghan authorities.
Meanwhile, the International Security Assistance Force confirmed Tuesday two senior Taliban leaders, including the man suspected of orchestrating a 2008 ambush in which several French soldiers died, were killed in a weekend airstrike.
Xi's absence stirs rumors in China
BEIJING, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- Vice President Xi Jinping, tipped to be China's next top leader, has not been seen in public for about a week and that has set the rumor machine spinning.
Xi, 59, has missed some meetings, including one scheduled with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but thus far there has not been any official statement about his absence.
His lack of public face time comes as the country is preparing for this year's once-in-a-decade leadership change, during which Xi has been expected to be named president and general secretary of the Communist Party, succeeding Hu Jintao.
Speculation about his absence has spread on the Internet, from questions relating to his health to whether his political position is in trouble, The New York Times reported.
The report quoted some diplomats they'd heard Xi may have pulled a muscle while swimming or playing soccer. The report also said a well-connected political analyst in Beijing said in an interview Xi might have had a mild heart attack.
LED light of technology may hurt health
HAIFA, Israel, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- So-called eco-friendly, short wavelength illumination, better known as LED lighting, causes the most adverse health effects, researchers in Israel say.
Professor Abraham Haim, a leading authority on light pollution, who coordinated the 21st International Congress of Zoology held at the University of Haifa, Israel, said most are in agreement that exposure to light at night affects circadian rhythms in humans, animals and plants. and when thrown off could result in various illnesses and adverse symptoms.
Haim presented one of his studies showing the adverse effects of exposure to light at night -- particularly short wavelength blue LED -- in the blind mole rat and in seeing rats, both of which showed varying levels of damage to their metabolic rates, hormone production, body mass and oxygen consumption following exposure, as well as suppressed levels of melatonin production, which is responsible for tumor growth.
"We expect to find similar results of damage from human exposure to LED lighting," Abraham said in a statement. "Western youngsters are typically surrounded by this sort of lighting in the confines of their own bedroom -- from the smartphone, computer screen and television."
