Colorado mine accident kills 2, injures 19

OURAY, Colo. — Authorities are trying to determine exactly what sort of accident occurred in a mine in southwestern Colorado that left two miners dead of carbon monoxide poisoning.

Ouray County officials say they've ruled out an explosion and mine collapse as the cause of the incident at the Revenue-Virginius mine Sunday morning.

Both the Montrose Daily Press and The Denver Post reported that investigators are looking at whether a blast on Saturday may have played a role. Federal mining regulators will be investigating.

The miners who died were identified as 34-year-old Nick Cappanno of Montrose and 59-year-old Rick Williams of Durango.

Nineteen other miners were taken to the hospital but only four were admitted. They were listed in fair condition.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Authorities are trying to determine exactly what sort of accident occurred in a mine in southwestern Colorado that left two miners dead of carbon monoxide poisoning and injured 20 others.

The Ouray County sheriff's office was called to the Revenue-Virginius mine at 7:20 a.m. Sunday, Ouray County spokeswoman Marti Whitmore said.

The miners were underground and were confirmed dead Sunday afternoon.

Authorities said at a late night news conference that the two died from carbon monoxide poisoning, according to The Denver Post. But the source of the gas was under investigation.

The 20 injured were taken to three area hospitals, and most were treated and released.

The Daily Press reports four of the men were hospitalized and were listed in fair condition, according to information from hospital officials. Whitmore, however, said only two were admitted.

The Daily Press reported that 10 miners went to Montrose Memorial Hospital, where officials say they were treated for carbon monoxide exposure. It wasn't immediately clear if the remaining 10 also suffered from exposure to the gas.

Rory Williams, the operations manager for Denver-based Star Mine LLC, said all of the men are required to wear personal respirators and the two who died had them. He said that it doesn't appear to be an equipment malfunction, the Post reported.

Both newspapers identified the dead as 34-year-old Nick Cappanno of Montrose, Colo., and Rick Williams, 59, of Durango, Colo.

"I knew both of these individuals personally," said Rory Williams, who said he is no relation to Rick Williams. "They were hard-working men. They were great men. They will be remembered indeed."

Though the cause of the accident hasn't been determined, Rory Williams told the Ouray Watch newspaper that it wasn't related to a cave-in or mine collapse.

The U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration is at the accident site, which is about 270 miles southwest of Denver.

The Post said that the company has a permit to mine silver, gold and sulfides. About 100 miners work at the site, which will be closed until the end of the investigation, Williams said.

The last major mining disaster in Colorado occurred on April 15, 1981, when an explosion killed 15 people at the Mid-Continent Dutch Creek No. 1 Mine near Redstone.

There have been eight mining deaths in the state since 2002, not including the two Sunday, according to the mine safety agency.

In 2011, a New Mexico contract worker died after being hurt at the West Elk Coal Mine in Somerset, in western Colorado. The agency found the 53-year-old slipped and fell from a beam at a tower construction site.

In 2012, a 25-year-old water truck driver died after losing control of his vehicle at Colowyo Mine in Moffat County.

The Watch reported that in its heyday, between 1876 and the late 1940s, the Revenue-Virginius mine produced more than 14.5 million ounces of silver, enough to weather the Silver Panic of 1893.

Star Mine Operations acquired the property in late 2011.

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Washington Post Co. will become Graham Holdings

NEW YORK — The Washington Post Co. is changing its name to Graham Holdings to reflect the sale of its namesake newspaper.

The switch will become official on Nov. 29, and its New York Stock Exchange ticker symbol will change to "GHC" from "WPO."

Washington Post Co. closed the sale of most of its newspaper business to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on Oct. 1. Bezos reached a deal to buy the venerable Capital broadsheet and other newspapers from the Graham family for $250 million in August.

The company's remaining holdings include the Kaplan education business; several television stations and Phoenix-based Cable One; Slate and Foreign policy magazines, and TheRoot.com; home health care provider Celtic Healthcare, and Forney Corp., which serves the electric utility sector.

Shares slipped 74 cents to $653.85 in morning trading.

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Once a leader, Oregon exchange struggles

PORTLAND, Ore. — With all the problems facing the rollout of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, nowhere is the situation worse or more surprising than in Oregon, a progressive state that has enthusiastically embraced the federal law but has so far failed to enroll a single person in coverage through the state's insurance exchange.

Despite grand ambitions, an early start, millions of dollars from the federal government and a tech-savvy population, Oregon's online enrollment system still isn't ready more than a month after it was supposed to go live. The state has resorted to hiring or reassigning 400 people to process insurance applications by hand.

"We're all surprised and frustrated that we're in the position that we're in now," said Jesse O'Brien, a health care advocate at the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, which lobbied for the exchange.

The state has received about 18,000 paper applications, at 19 pages each, and is scrambling to manually file and clear them. State officials have not been able to say when they expect the online system to launch, nor have they established a deadline to submit paper applications in order for coverage to begin Jan. 1. Meanwhile, the exchange's board is demanding answers from the executive director about when the website will work and how his team will get people enrolled on time.

For consumers, the application process can be long and frustrating.

"I've been trying since the very first day of October just to try to find out the coverage I could get," said Donna George, 43, a bookkeeper from Bend, Ore., who's been uninsured for three years.

When the online system wouldn't work, George submitted a paper application Oct. 7 for herself and her husband. Finally, on Nov. 12, she received an enrollment packet that tells her how much of a tax credit she'll receive and lays out her coverage options. She's now waiting to meet with her insurance agent to pick a plan and return the forms.

Oregon has long prided itself on being a leader in health policy. Its Medicaid system has been a testing ground for new innovations since the early 1990s. The state started laying the groundwork for an insurance exchange a year before Congress passed the health care law that called for one in every state. Gov. John Kitzhaber, a former emergency room physician, is a respected voice on health reform.

The state also has a large population of young, underemployed progressives who might provide a burgeoning market for affordable coverage. Its ultra-competitive health care market led to lower-than-expected premiums. Lawmakers from both parties have embraced the law. And the Portland area is a thriving hub of technology companies known as the Silicon Forest.

In other words, Oregon had everything going for it.

But its exchange, known as Cover Oregon, became a victim of its own lofty ambitions and the state's stubborn refusal to dial them back until it was too late.

While exchanges in many states are telling applicants who appear to qualify for Medicaid to contact a separate agency, Oregon insists its exchange must be a "one-stop shop" for both Medicaid and private insurance. The state also wants its exchange to eventually be able to help enroll people in a wide array of public-assistance programs, not just health care.

Exchange leaders stuck with their plan even as risk consultants warned repeatedly that they were in danger of missing the Oct. 1 deadline to launch.

"We won't know whether we made the right decisions until our system is up and running," said Amy Fauver, chief communications officer for Cover Oregon. "But we're going forward in the way we feel we can best serve Oregonians."

Exchange officials say they haven't fully launched their website because their software still can't accurately determine whether applicants are eligible for Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, particularly for people with complex family arrangements.

Kitzhaber, a Democrat, has pledged that the problems won't "interfere with our objective of making sure that every Oregonian that wants to be enrolled" by the start of the new year "is, in fact, enrolled."

Oregon does have one big success to brag about. The state has enrolled 70,000 people in Medicaid, reducing the ranks of the uninsured by more than 10 percent. The large number of Medicaid enrollments came in large part thanks to a "fast-track" enrollment process approved by the Obama administration. Using income data already on file, the state mailed a simple seven-question Medicaid enrollment form to people in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program who qualify for health coverage under the federal health law's expansion of Medicaid.

Pressure is growing on exchange officials to fix their problems. U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader, a moderate Democrat who took heat after voting for the health care law, released a sharply worded statement on Friday demanding that the exchange and its main contractor, Oracle, make it work.

"The implementation of Oregon's health insurance marketplace has been abysmal," Schrader said. "The current situation is completely unacceptable, and I expect much more from a state with a reputation for being an innovator in the field of health care."

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Follow AP writer Jonathan J. Cooper at http://twitter.com/jjcooper .

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Aberdeen to takeover Lloyds fund management unit

LONDON — Shares in Aberdeen Asset Management PLC surged Monday after the company struck a deal with Lloyds Banking Group PLC that analysts say will make it Europe's biggest independent fund manager.

In a statement, Aberdeen said it will buy Lloyds' asset management unit Scottish Widows Investment Partnership for around 550 million pounds ($885 million) in shares.

In return, Lloyds — still around one-third owned by the British government following a bailout — will get a 9.9-percent stake in Aberdeen. The two will also form a long-term strategic partnership whereby Aberdeen will manage assets on behalf of Lloyds.

Lloyds said it will be a "supportive" shareholder and has committed to maintain its initial shareholding in Aberdeen for at least a year, and a third of it for at least three years.

Aberdeen could make a further 100 million pounds cash payout to Lloyds over five years if certain performance criteria are met. The sale, which is expected to be completed early next year following the necessary regulatory approval, does not include Scottish Widows, Lloyds' life, pensions and investment business.

"We are confident that this transaction will deliver considerable additional value to our expanded client base and this will therefore benefit our shareholders," said Martin Gilbert, Aberdeen's chief executive.

Investors cheered the prospect of another 136 billion pounds worth of funds being added to Aberdeen's current portfolio of around 200 billion pounds. Aberdeen shares were up 14.1 percent to 487 pence in London.

"After the completion of this acquisition Aberdeen Asset Management will become the largest fund management firm in Europe," said Alastair McCaig, an analyst at IG.

For Lloyds, McCaig said the deal is another step the bank has taken to "reorganize its portfolio of exposure." Shares in Lloyds rose 1.4 percent to 76 pence.

Lloyds had to be bailed out by the British taxpayer at the height of the banking crisis in 2008 but has recently shown signs that it is healing. The government recently sold some of its stake in the bank.

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Photographer shot at French newspaper office

PARIS — A gunman opened fire in the lobby of a French newspaper office in Paris on Monday, gravely wounding a photographer's assistant before fleeing. Soon afterward, shots were fired at the headquarters of a major French bank west of Paris, and a gunman briefly took a man hostage nearby.

The Paris police headquarters said that it is not clear whether the three incidents are linked, but that authorities are increasing security in all three places as well as media offices around Paris. As police hunt for the attacker or attackers, a helicopter is flying over the neighborhood that includes the French president's office and the nearby Champs-Elysees avenue.

The motivation behind all three attacks is unclear.

The shooting at the offices of prominent daily newspaper Liberation came three days after a shooting at the BFM-TV news network in Paris that is still under investigation.

Police and representatives of Liberation say a 27-year-old photographer's assistant is in serious condition after being shot in the chest and arm. The culture minister called the newspaper — an outspoken left-leaning voice founded by Jean-Paul Sartre that has seen financial difficulties and layoffs in recent years — a "pillar of our democracy."

Witnesses reported the gunman said nothing during the brief time he was in the lobby Monday morning soon after 10 a.m. Yoann Maras of the police union Alliance said the gunman fired a pump-action rifle.

Less than two hours after the shooting at Liberation, three shots were fired in front of the headquarters of bank Societe Generale in the Paris suburb of La Defense, according to Paris police. Societe Generale, based about 10 kilometers (6 miles) northwest of the Liberation offices, said in a statement that a lone gunman opened fire in front of the building, and no one was hurt.

And very soon after that, a man called police to say he had been taken hostage by a gunman in the town of Puteaux, next door to La Defense. Police said the gunman forced his hostage to drive six kilometers (3½ miles) back toward central Paris, and then let him go on the Champs-Elysees, a chic and busy shopping thoroughfare.

Police are searching the neighborhood and other sites around the French capital, the Paris police headquarters said.

The government positioned police at all major media organizations in Paris, according to Interior Minister Manuel Valls. BFM-TV said authorities were comparing Monday's surveillance footage with video taken Friday, when an armed man fired a weapon and threatened journalists in the news network's lobby before fleeing. The bullet casings are also being compared.

President Francois Hollande, said in a statement he ordered authorities to "mobilize all means to clarify the circumstances of these acts and arrest the perpetrator or perpetrators." Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders denounced the attacks on the journalism facilities.

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Associated Press writers Angela Charlton and Sarah DiLorenzo and Milos Krivokapic contributed to this report.

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U.S. stock indexes hit round-number milestones

NEW YORK  — U.S. stock market indexes briefly broke through major round-number milestones in early trading Monday.

The Dow Jones industrial average crossed 16,000 for the first time and the Standard & Poor's 500 index rose past 1,800 shortly after the market opened.

Within the next half-hour, though, both indexes had slipped below those levels.

Stocks have been rising sharply this year as the U.S. economy improves, companies report bigger profits and the Federal Reserve keeps up its easy-money policies.

The S&P 500 index has risen for six weeks straight and is up 26 percent so far this year. The market hasn't risen that much in a whole year since 2003.

The S&P 500 has closed above major round-number milestones three times this year: 1,500 on Jan. 25, 1,600 on May 3 and 1,700 on Aug. 1.

The S&P 500 was down less than a point, or 0.1 percent, at 1,797 as of 10:10 a.m.

The Dow was up 35 points, or 0.2 percent, to 15,996.

Boeing rose $4, or 3 percent, to $140, the most of the 30 stocks in the Dow. The plane maker booked $100 billion in orders at the opening of the Dubai Airshow.

Tyson Foods jumped $1.10, or 3.8 percent, to $29.86, the most in the S&P 500 index. The food company said its net income surged 41 percent in the latest quarter on higher sales of beef and chicken. The company raised its dividend 50 percent.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.68 percent from 2.71 percent.

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Activists: Kuwait, UAE sentences for tweets

KUWAIT CITY — Twitter users in two Gulf Arab countries received prison terms Monday, rights activist said, in the latest sign of widening crackdowns in the region on social media for posts considered offensive or against state security.

The court decisions in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates are likely to bring renewed protests from international rights groups accusing Gulf authorities of using codes against dissent to try to muzzle open expression on the Internet.

In Kuwait, a court sentenced a Twitter user, Musaab Shamsah, to five years in prison after he was convicted of insulting the Prophet Muhammad, said activist Nawaf al-Hendal.

Sahmsah was arrested following a Twitter post he allegedly made in May that made references to the descendants of Islam's prophet. The post, since taken down, could be taken as endorsing Shiite beliefs in the Sunni-ruled country.

In the UAE, a state worker, Waleed al-Shehhi, received a two-year sentence and a fine of 500,000 dirhams ($137,000) after conviction on state security charges for Twitter posts in May about the trial of 94 people suspected of ties to an Islamist faction, which authorities claim seeks to undermine the country's ruling system, said prominent UAE activist Ahmed Mansoor.

In July, 69 of the defendants were convicted of trying to overthrow the state.

There was no immediate comment from authorities in either country on the cases.

In Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, three lawyers are facing trial over social media posts allegedly criticizing authorities.

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US homebuilder confidence holds steady in November

U.S. homebuilders' confidence in the housing market held steady this month, but many are worried that another fight over the federal budget could cause would-be buyers to put off home purchases.

The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder sentiment index released Monday stayed at 54 this month. October's reading was revised one point lower from its initial estimate.

Readings above 50 indicate more builders view sales conditions as good, rather than poor.

The index has stayed above 50 now for six straight months after being below that level since May 2006. It has held steady, even as mortgage rates have come off their record lows and home sales have slowed. Those readings suggest most builders are still optimistic that the housing recovery will endure.

But the trade association noted Monday that many consumers are holding off on buying a home because of concerns over another looming budget fight in Washington. Lawmakers reached a temporary agreement last month to reopen the government after a 16-day partial shutdown, but another potential shutdown looms.

"Policy and economic uncertainty is undermining consumer confidence," said David Crowe, the NAHB's chief economist.

Builder confidence took a hit in October because of the shutdown. Some buyers found it harder to close on their mortgages.

The budget impasse ended with only a temporary agreement to fund the government through Jan. 15. Lawmakers also agreed to allow the government to continue borrowing normally until Feb. 7.

Those deadlines coincide with the traditional start of the spring home-selling season, the traditional peak period for home sales.

The builders' group did not flag higher mortgage rates as a concern this month. Rates rose sharply over the summer in anticipation of the Federal Reserve possibly reducing its bond purchases. Since then, sales of existing homes have slowed.

But mortgage rates began falling again in September after the Fed surprised markets by voting to keep buying $85-billion-a-month in bonds. Those purchases are intended to keep long-term interest rates low, which include mortgage rates.

The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage has ticked up the past two weeks, amid some signs of economic strength.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said last week that the average on the 30-year loan increased to 4.35 percent from 4.16 percent the previous week. The average, however, is below the levels reached this summer and remains near historically low levels.

Builders' confidence in the market for newly built homes has improved steadily since national measures of home sales and prices began to recover early last year.

In the latest survey, which included responses from 343 builders, a measure of current sales conditions was unchanged from October's reading at 58. But builders' outlook for single-family home sales over the next six months fell one point to 61, while a gauge of traffic by prospective buyers slipped one point to 43.

Though new homes represent only a fraction of the housing market, they have an outsize impact on the economy. Each home built creates an average of three jobs for a year and generates about $90,000 in tax revenue, according to data from the homebuilders association.

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Foreign holdings of US Treasury debt up 1 percent

WASHINGTON — Foreign buyers of U.S. Treasury securities increased their holdings in September, suggesting many shrugged off budget battles in Washington to keep investing in U.S. debt.

Ttotal foreign holdings rose 1 percent September to $5.65 trillion, the Treasury Department reported Monday. That follows a 0.03 percent gain in August.

Holdings had fallen from April through July, possibly reflecting concerns about rising interest rates. In September, holding were 1.2 percent below the record high of $5.72 trillion reached in March.

China, the largest foreign buyer of Treasury debt, boosted its holdings 2 percent in September to $1.29 trillion. Japan, the second-largest buyer, increased its holdings 2.5 percent to $1.18 trillion.

An impasse over the budget led to a 16-day partial shutdown of the federal government in October. And lawmakers didn't reach an agreement to raise the nation's borrowing limit until Oct. 16 — one day before a deadline that, if compromised, would have increased the risk of a default on U.S. debt.

The government re-opened on Oct. 17 after Congress passed legislation to fund the government through Jan. 15 and allow the Treasury to borrow money until Feb. 7. A House-Senate conference committee is working to try to resolve disagreements on spending and tax issues in the hopes funding the government for the full budget year, which runs through Sept. 30.

The September foreign holdings report also noted that the Caribbean banking center countries, which include the Bahamas, Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, trimmed their holdings 0.3 percent to $300.9 billion. Brazil reduced its holdings 1.5 percent to $249.2 billion.

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Fed stimulus, China reform promises buoy stocks

PARIS — Evidence that the U.S. central bank will continue to support the world's largest economy and a new reform effort in China pushed global stocks higher Monday.

Stocks have been buoyant over the past few trading sessions, with some indexes notably in the U.S. striking all-time highs. On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average hit 16,000 point for the first time and the S&P 500 crossed 1,800; both later dropped below those levels but the underlying mood on Wall Street remains positive.

The catalyst to the latest advance has been Janet Yellen, who is slated to become the next chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve. She expressed strong support for the Fed's low interest-rate policies, which have been credited with helping the U.S. economy rebound and have contributed to the gains in stock markets.

"Financial markets are buoyed by Janet Yellen's comments at her confirmation last week, which re-iterated a dovish policy message from the Fed," said Neil MacKinnon of VTB Capital. "Equity markets, at a record high in the U.S., are also presumably sanguine after Yellen said that 'bubble' conditions are not present at the moment."

In afternoon trading in Europe, France's CAC-40 rose 0.5 percent to 4,314, while Germany's DAX was up 0.7 percent to 9,234. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was 0.4 percent higher at 6,723.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.2 percent at 15,988, while the S&P dropped down 0.1 percent to 1,796.

Markets, particularly in Asia, have also been supported by China's announcements of more details to its economic and social reform program, including opening state industries to greater competition, loosening its one child policy, and abolishing its labor camps.

China's leadership has faced pressure to replace a worn out economic model after growth slowed to a two-decade low in the second quarter. The details were announced last Friday after Asian markets had closed so this was the first response local investors had to trade on the news.

"An easing of the one child policy and scope for extensive growth in the financial sector are the sort of factors that have helped drive equities across much of the region," analysts at Monex Capital Markets said in a note.

China's Shanghai Composite surged 2.9 percent to 2,197.22 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 2.7 percent to 23,660.06. South Korea's Kospi was up 0.3 percent to 2,010.81 but Tokyo's Nikkei 225 reversed early gains to close fractionally lower at 15,164.30.

Elsewhere, trading was fairly lackluster. Among currencies, the euro was up 0.3 percent at $1.3535.

In energy markets, benchmark crude for December delivery was down 3 cents at $93.81 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Associated Press writer Eileen Ng in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, contributed to this report.

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