The Minnesota Department of Commerce reminds travelers to ...

91.1 million Americans plan to travel this holiday season.? Those?who plan to travel via plane will be presented with the option to buy travel insurance upon the purchase of their airfare.? Many consumers do not know whether travel insurance fits their budget or their travel needs. The Minnesota Department of Commerce urges travelers to understand what travel insurance is, what it actually covers, and what conditions to watch out for.

?The holiday season creates lasting memories and for most families, travel is a part of the experience,? said Commerce Commissioner Mike Rothman.? ?When planning your holiday travel, understand the travel insurance options available and make sure they fit your specific needs to ensure you spend more time enjoying your holiday and less time worrying about the possible issues that could arise.?

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What Is Travel Insurance?

Travel insurance can protect against the loss of non-refundable travel costs, such as airfare, hotel and tour expenses. Other types of travel insurance offer limited protection against losses due to medical emergencies, damage to personal property, and even a death which could occur away from home while on vacation.

A typical travel insurance policy will cover?trip cancelation, travel delay, and trip interruption insurance.??Often, it will include?limited?medical, medical evacuation, and accidental death insurance.??Finally, most travel insurance plans will include?lost baggage.

Keep in mind, there is no guarantee your policy will include each of these items. Consumers will need to review each policy?s specific terms and conditions to determine its effectiveness. For example, purchasing ?trip cancelation? insurance does not necessarily mean you can cancel your trip without consequence.?

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Should You Buy It?

The decision to purchase travel insurance relies on many factors.? Here are some things to consider before you make up your mind:

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• Travel insurance policies are not all the same.? If you buy travel insurance, be sure to review the policy, especially the list of covered reasons and exclusions for canceling your trip. For example, a travel insurance policy may not reimburse you if you decide not to make a trip because a conference was canceled.

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• Before purchasing a travel insurance policy, ask about pre-existing conditions and age limits.? Some policies cover pre-existing conditions if you buy the coverage within a week or two of booking your trip. Others will not pay for pre-existing conditions or charge a higher premium to cover them. Some insurers charge more for older travelers.

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• Cruise and tour operators may offer Cancellation Waivers.?Keep in mind that waivers are not insurance policies and are not regulated. Read all of the restrictions before you buy a Cancellation Waiver.

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• Review all of the policies you have now prior to purchasing travel insurance.?If you have life, health or homeowners insurance, you may not need to buy certain types of travel insurance. Read your policy and speak with your insurance company or agent to learn what personal property and medical coverage you have while you?re traveling. Also, ask what insurance benefits you may have if you use a credit card to pay for the trip.

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• No policy can guarantee your safety?when you are traveling, but knowing you are covered for medical emergencies or the loss of personal property may help you relax and enjoy your vacation.

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• Check the refund policies on prepaid expenses before buying travel insurance.?Some will refund your money if you cancel months in advance, but few will offer any refund if you cancel at the last minute.

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• Ask around.?If you are working with a travel agent you trust, ask about his or her experiences with travel insurance companies. Have their customers filed claims? Were those claims paid? If you are planning an adventurous vacation (i.e. skydiving, scuba diving), ask if the insurance will cover those activities.

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Go to the?Minnesota Department of Commerce?website?for more information on travel insurance and the different types of plans that are offered.? If you are having a problem with a company that sold you a travel insurance policy, contact the Department?s consumer response team by calling:?651-296-2488?or?1-800-657-3602.

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Source: http://multiculturallife.org/?p=16226

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Doyline, Louisiana Evacuated After 6 Million Pounds Of Explosive Material Found

State police superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson said that boxes and small barrels of explosive material were found outdoors and crammed into unauthorized buildings leased by Explo Systems Inc. at Camp Minden. (AP Photo/The Daily Reveille, Catherine Threlkeld)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? Louisiana state police are launching a criminal investigation of a company after finding about 6 million pounds of explosive material that they say was stored illegally.

State police superintendent Col. Mike Edmonson said Sunday that boxes and small barrels of the M6 artillery propellant were found both outdoors and crammed into unauthorized buildings leased by Explo Systems Inc. at Camp Minden, the former Louisiana Army Ammunitions Plant.

Police are evacuating the town of Doyline, about 270 miles northwest of New Orleans. About half the town's 800 residents left Friday.

M6 propellant is used in howitzers and other artillery. Police began investigating the company after an explosion at the site Oct. 15.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/03/louisiana-town-evacuated-explosive-materials_n_2229479.html

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Police raid Japan tunnel operator after collapse

AAA??Dec. 4, 2012?3:18 AM ET
Police raid Japan tunnel operator after collapse
By ELAINE KURTENBACH??By ELAINE KURTENBACH

A worker inspects the structure inside the 1.65-kilometer (1-mile) Tsuburano Tunnel on the Tomei Expressway in Yamakitamachi, Kanagawa Prefecture, eastern Japan, Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. Concrete ceiling panels fell onto moving vehicles deep inside a tunnel on another expressway in Japan Sunday, and authorities confirmed nine deaths before suspending rescue work Monday while the roof was being reinforced to prevent more collapses. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA

A worker inspects the structure inside the 1.65-kilometer (1-mile) Tsuburano Tunnel on the Tomei Expressway in Yamakitamachi, Kanagawa Prefecture, eastern Japan, Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. Concrete ceiling panels fell onto moving vehicles deep inside a tunnel on another expressway in Japan Sunday, and authorities confirmed nine deaths before suspending rescue work Monday while the roof was being reinforced to prevent more collapses. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA

Workers inspect the structure inside the 1.65-kilometer (1-mile) Tsuburano Tunnel on the Tomei Expressway in Yamakitamachi, Kanagawa Prefecture, eastern Japan, Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. Concrete ceiling panels fell onto moving vehicles deep inside a tunnel on another expressway in Japan Sunday, and authorities confirmed nine deaths before suspending rescue work Monday while the roof was being reinforced to prevent more collapses. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA

Workers inspect the structure inside the 1.65-kilometer (1-mile) Tsuburano Tunnel on the Tomei Expressway in Yamakitamachi, Kanagawa Prefecture, eastern Japan, Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. Concrete ceiling panels fell onto moving vehicles deep inside a tunnel on another expressway in Japan Sunday, and authorities confirmed nine deaths before suspending rescue work Monday while the roof was being reinforced to prevent more collapses. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA

Firefighters work at the exit of the Sasago Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway in Otsuki, Yamanashi Prefecture, central Japan, Monday morning, Dec. 3, 2012. Concrete ceiling slabs fell onto moving vehicles deep inside the tunnel Sunday, and authorities confirmed nine deaths before suspending rescue work Monday while the roof was being reinforced to prevent more collapses. The sign attached to a mobile lighting pole, left, reads "Land and Transport Ministry." (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA

Workers inspect the structure inside the 8.5-kilometer (5.3-mile) Enasan Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway in Achimura, Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, Monday morning, Dec. 3, 2012. Concrete ceiling panels fell onto moving vehicles deep inside another tunnel on the same epressway Sunday, and authorities confirmed nine deaths before suspending rescue work Monday while the roof was being reinforced to prevent more collapses. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA

TOKYO (AP) ? Police investigating an expressway-tunnel ceiling collapse that killed nine people searched the offices of the tunnel operator Tuesday to see if there is any evidence that the company neglected safety.

Hundreds of concrete slabs collapsed Sunday deep inside the Sasago Tunnel west of Tokyo, falling on three moving vehicles. The accident is raising calls for more spending on Japan's aging infrastructure.

The tunnel, a major link between Tokyo and central Japan, opened in 1977 at about the peak of the country's postwar road construction boom. Central Nippon Expressway Co., its government-owned operator, said it had no record of any repairs performed since then, but company official Satoshi Noguchi said an inspection of the tunnel's roof in September found nothing amiss.

Authorities early Tuesday raided several of the company's offices, including its headquarters in the central city of Nagoya. About a dozen uniformed police were shown on television entering the headquarters, toting cardboard and plastic boxes.

"Yes they are searching our offices here. We will be fully cooperating with them," said Osamu Funahashi, another company official.

The transport ministry, meanwhile, has ordered inspections of 49 other highway and road tunnels of similar construction around the mountainous country.

An estimated 270 concrete slabs suspended from the arched roof of the tunnel, each weighing 1.4 metric tons (1.54 short tons), fell over a stretch of about 110 meters (120 yards), Noguchi said. Two people suffered injuries in the collapse.

The operator was exploring the possibility that bolts holding a metal piece suspending the panels above the road had weakened with age, he said. The panels, measuring about 5 meters (16 feet) by 1.2 meters (4 feet), and 8 centimeters (3 inches) thick, were installed when the 4.7-kilometer-long (3-mile-long) tunnel was constructed in 1977.

Crews had to stop recovery work Monday in the tunnel about 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of Tokyo because the roof needed to be reinforced to prevent more collapses, said Jun Goto, an official at the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.

By Tuesday, crews were removing the concrete slabs from the tunnel, said Goto, who added that authorities do not expect to find any more victims inside.

___

Associated Press writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-04-Japan-Tunnel%20Collapse/id-7a2923cc78754959957bd10c86d712b5

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Cuomo says he's 'optimistic' on Sandy aid

WASHINGTON (AP) ? New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo emerged Monday from meetings with top Obama administration officials and congressional leaders "optimistic" that Congress will act quickly to provides tens of billions of dollars to help his state recover from Superstorm Sandy, one of the Northeast's most destructive storms.

"People are still reeling from this trauma and New York needs help," Cuomo said after meeting with Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii; Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, the panel's senior Republican, and Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., who chairs its subcommittee on homeland security.

"New York has been there for other parts of the country when they needed help," Cuomo said. "We're asking for the same today. So far I'm optimistic."

President Barack Obama is expected to send Congress his request for emergency Sandy recovery aid this week. The initial amount is certain to be less than the $42 billion that Cuomo is seeking for his state alone.

Cuomo began his day at the White House, where he met with Chief of Staff Jack Lew, Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan and other top aides to President Barack Obama. He then went to Capitol Hill for meetings with top members of the Senate Appropriations Committee and leaders of both parties.

Donovan and Craig Fugate, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency in charge of the storm relief efforts, are scheduled to testify Wednesday before Landrieu's subcommittee.

Landrieu, whose state was devastated by Hurricane Katrina, said she would work hard to win more aid for East Coast states.

"I'm going to step up for New York, New Jersey and the East Coast," Landrieu said. "We know what a successful recovery needs."

Facing tight budget constraints amid the fiscal cliff budget talks, Congress is not expected to approve large amounts of additional spending all at once.

States hit hard by Sandy are pressing White House officials for as much money as possible, as soon as possible. The administration's request could get tied up in the talks aimed at averting the fiscal cliff before the Dec. 31 deadline ? a $6 trillion combination of automatic tax increases and spending cuts? beginning in January.

"The closer it gets to December 31, the more worried we are," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who attended the meeting with Cuomo and top appropriators. "We know it's not going to be easy."

New York is asking for about $42 billion, much of it for destroyed homes, transit systems, hospitals and small businesses. That includes about $9 billion to better protect the power, transit and sewage treatment systems from the next big storm, including vulnerable seaside areas by building new jetties to protect harbors and shorelines against storm surges in the future.

The storm in late October was one of the most destructive ever to hit the Northeast, killing more than 120 people, flooding much of lower Manhattan and hammering coastal homes in New Jersey and New York. More than 300,000 homes were seriously damaged from New York City to the eastern tip of Long Island alone, according to officials.

Cuomo, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Connecticut Gov. Daniel Malloy are teaming up in a regional effort to land nearly $83 billion in federal aid. Christie is expected to be in Washington on Thursday to press for aid, Cuomo said.

Christie, a Republican, is seeking much of the estimated $37 billion cost for recovery and rebuilding, including $7.4 billion for preventive measures from future storms that he says his state needs. Malloy, a Democrat, says Connecticut's bill is $3.5 billion.

Some fiscal conservatives such as Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who sits on the Appropriations Committee and is the top Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, has said at least some of the new spending for Sandy relief and rebuilding should be offset by spending cuts in other government programs.

That's the same view taken in the past by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan and other fiscal conservatives.

Cuomo said House Speaker John Boehner said he would review Obama's request on an "expedited basis" and that Boehner "wants to get something done this year for New York." Cuomo said they did not discuss the issue of spending offsets.

Lawmakers from states hit by Sandy say they expect the fight for more money to drag on for months and that several emergency spending bills will be needed. State officials worry that Congress's willingness to provide aid will lessen as time wears on.

The government has so far provided about $2 billion in federal funds ? about half for direct assistance to individuals ? to the two most heavily damaged states and nine others hit by Sandy. There's about $5 billion left in the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund, but under last year's budget agreement President Barack Obama can seek another $5.4 billion without hitting a ceiling on spending.

States other than Connecticut, New York and New Jersey now getting federal aid include West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, New Hampshire, Delaware, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, as well as the District of Columbia.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cuomo-says-hes-optimistic-sandy-aid-205554828.html

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Thousands support Egypt president in rival rally

CAIRO (AP) ? Thousands of people waving Egyptian flags and hoisting large pictures of the president are demonstrating across Egypt in support of him.

The Muslim Brotherhood, from which President Mohammed Morsi hails, hopes the turnout at the Saturday rallies will counteract earlier opposition protests. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets twice this week opposing Morsi's decrees last week to grant himself sweeping powers.

Morsi says he acted to prevent courts led by former regime holdovers from dissolving the assembly and delaying a transition to democracy.

"The people support the president's decision!" chanted crowds outside Cairo University, where several thousand had gathered.

Saturday's rallies also aim to show support for a draft constitution passed by an Islamist-led assembly early Friday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/thousands-support-egypt-president-rival-rally-102045998.html

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Dell's $1,549 Ubuntu-based XPS 13 goes on sale, $50 more than Windows variant

What once was just an internal skunkworks project, Dell's Project Sputnik has taken off with the release of the XPS 13 Developer Edition. The thin and light darling of the Ultrabook crowd is now shipping with a Precise Pangolin Ubuntu build pre-installed, along with feature-complete drivers that ensure maximum peripheral compatibility right out of the box. Also bundled in the XPS 13 are a couple of Project Sputnik's open source tools -- Profile Tool and Cloud Launcher -- that are designed to help developers install and deploy their projects quickly and efficiently. The hardware packs quite a punch, with either an Intel i5 or i7 Ivy Bridge CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256 GB SATA III SSD. All that Linux goodness comes at a cost, however -- the Developer Edition retails for $1,549, which is around $50 more than the Windows equivalent. Still, it might be well worth it for one of the best specced pre-assembled open-source laptops we've seen to date.

Filed under: Laptops, Dell

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Source: Dell, Ars Technica

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/c9BOYmj3ARY/

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HTC 8X for Verizon shipping unlocked, works with AT&T and T-Mobile SIMs

Consider it a trend: Verizon's wireless charging 8X variant will work out of the box with U.S. GSM networks. According to Windows Phone Central, users have reported success swapping in AT&T and T-Mobile micro-SIMs, indicating that the devices are shipping unlocked. And it's not just hearsay either, as we've confirmed on our own review unit that this does indeed work. In fact, with the network openness afforded by recent additions like the Droid DNA and iPhone 5, this is quickly becoming more rule for the carrier than exception. Certainly we can all agree that it's a welcome break from Big Red's stodgy past.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, HTC, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile

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Source: Windows Phone Central

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/M3ZPOdlu9t8/

Election Coverage 2012