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 If you like Bill O’Reilly, read this. Don’t like him, read it anyway. It’s interesting.

 TBA: Oct. 6 he and Jon Stewart will co-juice up a live mock debate rumble, 90 minutes, in DC’s nice air-conditioned George Washington University auditorium. Filmed, available subsequently on DVD, it’ll stream worldwide on the Internet.

 Cost: $5. Money to charity. Former “Fox and Friends” host E.D. Hill moderates.

 Why? Why not. They’ve done one another’s programs. They like each other. And both can outtalk Obama. Even Clinton.

 Another thing. A two-hour movie job of O’Reilly’s best seller “Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever” grabs National Geographic Channel early next year. Ridley Scott, exec producer. Tom Hanks, narrator. Through great-great-great-grandfather John Hanks, Oscar winner Hanks is also a third cousin, four generations removed, from Abraham Lincoln.

 EMMA Watson, Paul Rudd, Joan Cusack, Dylan McDermott grace the new film “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” based on a best seller — banned from some schools — about love, not love, more love, less love, lots of love, hope, fear, a little sex, a lot of bacchanalia, and some heavy love.

 Emma’s character, named Sam, is charismatic but melancholy. Who cares what she is? Nobody can take their eyes off her. Her first major role since becoming a “Harry Potter” star at 11, she’s now a face of Lancome and attends Brown University.

 Screenings organizer Andrew Saffir told me: “The film’s starting 7:30. Emma’s arriving 7:15.” Right. She showed promptly 7:50.

 “Watching yourself in a movie is a struggle,” she said. “Not just now but even in early childhood days. Every second of the time I’m on-screen, I’ve had to step back and try to see myself. It’s intense. Looking at myself, I had to try and explain: Am I just being me, or am I really the character?

 “I’m just back from filming in Iceland with Darren Aronofsky, who got an Oscar nomination for directing ‘Black Swan.’ He’s so caring of his actors. He was always making sure I’m OK. I’d never seen Iceland before. The place is like going into space.”

 She looked pretty heavenly herself. Short bob. Half-cutout all white dress by new designer Brood. Large middle finger ring.

 “I seem to have passed over the ‘Harry Potter’ crazy. Nobody shouts that out at me anymore. When they see me now, they just call out, ‘Hey . . . Emma . . .’ ”

 Then — since it was late — somebody shouted out, “Hey . . . Emma . . . ” — and off she went.

 ONE of the most beautiful things on earth is the logo of 1stdibs, where Gloria Vanderbilt, 88, displayed her artwork. Most beautiful thing Anderson Cooper showed for a fast hello. Most beautiful Four Seasons private pool room got redecorated just for a private dinner afterwards in her favorite red — lights, flowers, cloths, seats, candles — by event planner Jerry Sibal, who just did the Princess of Doha’s palace wedding. And may that last as long as Gloria.

 ROCKER Madame Mayhem celebrating her Social Life cover at the Sanctuary Hotel . . . Jonathan Goldberg’s Cherub Improv cheering up the Kittay House elderly . . . Christy Cashman, in Parker Posey’s new film (which I don’t know what it is), modeled Callua Lillibelle for a fashion spread in Brooklyn.

 IT’s mumbled that New Yorkers may form their own country, taking along other Blue States — Oregon, California, Hawaii, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and the whole Northeast.

 We have Cuomo, Hillary, stem-cell research, the best beaches, Statue of Liberty, Golden Gate Bridge and two-thirds of tax revenue. Also Intel, Microsoft and Harvard. Red States have Texas, Oklahoma, the slave territories, Bobby Jindal and Todd Akin, OpryLand and Dollywood. Also Alabama and Mississippi. And Perdue. We — 85 percent of entrepreneurs and venture capital. Plus Hollywood and Yosemite. Them — majority of single moms and obese Americans, most tornadoes, hurricanes, mosquitoes, 99 percent of Southern Baptists, and 100 percent of all televangelists.

 We control the fresh fruit, fresh water, domestic wines, most low sulfur coal, and all redwoods, sequoias and condors. Red Staters consider life sacred except for the death penalty or gun laws, and 61 percent of those crazy bastards claim higher morals then we north of the Mason-Dixon.

 We’ll be known as Citizens of the Enlightened States of America.

 BROADWAY bus. Cute head of a little white dog in a carrier poked out. Passenger alongside asked: “What’s its name?” The owner: “None of your business.” The questioner burbled, “Ohhh, sorry . . . I didn’t mean to intrude . . . ” Owner: “Oh, no, it’s OK. That’s her name. I named her ‘None of Your Business’ because she always sticks her head out and gets into everything.”

 Only in New York, kids, only in New York. ||||| In his “Talking Points Memo” tonight, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly announced he’ll be pairing up with Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart for a 90-minute debate. It will stream online on Oct. 6.

 O’Reilly said the debate will center on three topics: the national debt, American relations in Muslim countries and gas prices.

 “I feel so strongly about this that I’m teaming up with my pal Jon Stewart to do a 90-minute debate on those and other vital issues,” O’Reilly said.

 He said they were calling it “The Rumble in the Air-Conditioned Auditorium” and it will be formatted like a presidential debate, “without all the phoniness and pomposity.” Furthermore, O’Reilly said there will be a Q&A with the live audience and those streaming online can submit questions.

 The tickets are available for pre-order at TheRumble2012.com for $4.95. O’Reilly said fifty-percent of the profits “if there are any” will go to “a bunch of very worthy charities.”

 The New York Post‘s Cindy Adams wrote this morning and said CNN anchor E.D. Hill will moderate.

 From The O’Reilly Factor:

 [ooyala code=”hiNnF3NTrM7RsUAGJ1tR5FGW8KaspF9D”]

 And here’s the promo for the debate:

Summary: – Bill O'Reilly and Jon Stewart always make for an entertaining pair, so mark your calendars for Oct. 6. That's when they'll be debating issues including the national debt, America's relationship with the Muslim world, and gas prices, O'Reilly announced last night on his show. The 90-minute debate will be just like a presidential debate, except "without all the phoniness and pomposity," O'Reilly promised. It will be streamed online and will include a Q&A session with the audience, The Blaze reports. Tickets to the amusingly named "Rumble in the Air-Conditioned Auditorium" are $4.95, and 50% of the proceeds go to charity. Former Fox and Friends host ED Hill will moderate, the New York Post reports, and a DVD will be sold after the fact.


The Australian radio presenters who made a prank call to the hospital treating the Duchess of Cambridge three days before the nurse who handled the call apparently killed herself have been taken off the air until further notice.

 The Sydney station 2Day FM released a statement on Friday evening expressing its sadness at Jacintha Saldanha's death and saying the presenters responsible for the call, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, were "both deeply shocked".

 It was not clear whether the pair had been suspended, nor whether they would return to their jobs.

 "Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) and 2Day FM are deeply saddened by the tragic news of the death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha from King Edward VII's hospital and we extend our deepest sympathies to her family and all that have been affected by this situation around the world," said the statement.

 "Chief executive officer Rhys Holleran has spoken with the presenters. They are both deeply shocked and at this time we have agreed that they not comment about the circumstances. SCA and the hosts have decided that they will not return to their radio show until further notice out of respect for what can only be described as a tragedy."

 Vicki Heath, PR manager for Southern Cross Austereo, which owns 2Day FM, said she was being inundated with calls.

 Speaking to the Guardian in the early hours of the morning in Australia, Heath said: "We've just heard about it and I guess there's still a lot of detail that we are unaware of."

 Heath said the process of removing content relating to the prank from the station's website was under way.

 She said: "We are working through all of that at the moment. We are just having to get the right people out of bed."

 Heath added that the station had learned of the nurse's death when it was contacted at around midnight, local time, by the Daily Mail. ||||| Australian radio station boss refuses to sack Royal prank DJs and claims THEY are the victims

 Jacintha Saldanha found unconscious near King Edward VII Hospital

 Mother-of-two transferred prank call from Australian DJs asking about Kate

 William and Kate 'deeply saddened' by death and said they did not complain

 Presenters behind the hoax are taken off air following tragedy

 Australian media regulator inundated with complaints about prank

 Companies pull advertising from station following incident

 Mel Greig and Michael Christian boasted about prank as tragedy unfolded

 Both deleted their Twitter accounts after global backlash following death

 Hospital has written letter to radio station's parent company

 Described the prank as 'truly appalling' and 'extremely foolish'

 By Mario Ledwith and Richard Sears

 |

 The boss of the radio company at the centre of the royal hoax call today refused to sack the DJs behind the stunt and painted them as victims.

 2DayFM presenters Mel Greig and Michael Christian were taken off air after it emerged the nurse who took their prank call at Kate Middleton's hospital had died in a suspected suicide.

 Jacintha Saldanha, a 46-year-old mother of two, had been manning the hospital switchboard when the Australian hoaxers called and she transferred the call to the Duchess of Cambridge's ward.

 Tragic: The grieving husband of nurse Jacintha Saldanha who died in a suspected suicide has tonight told of his devastation at her death. She is pictured centre, believed to be with her two children

 Loss: Benedict Barboza, a 49-year-old hospital accountant, also known as Ben, posted a tribute to Mrs Saldanha on his Facebook page. He is pictured, left. It is believed the youngster on the right is the couple's son

 Rhys Holleran, the chief executive of Southern Cross Austereo, which owns the station, said the presenters were 'completely shattered' and had been offered counselling.

 His comments were made before King Edward VII hospital said they had sent a letter of complaint to the company about the 'truly appalling' prank earlier today.

 Lord Glenarthur, chairman of the hospital , said that he wanted to 'protest' against the prank and seek assurances that the station would never do anything similar again.

 Mr Holleran told a press conference in Melbourne that the primary concern was for the family of Jacintha Saldanha, whose body was found yards from the King Edward VII Hospital yesterday.

 He said: 'I spoke to both presenters early this morning and it's fair to say they are completely shattered.

 Nurse Jacintha Saldanha, 46, died yesterday in an apparent suicide after she transferred a hoax call from Australian DJs who retrieved sensitive information about Kate Middleton while in hospital

 ' These people aren't machines, they're human beings. What happened is incredibly tragic and we’re deeply saddened and we’re incredibly affected by that.’

 He added: 'I think prank calls as a craft in radio have been going for decades and decades and are not just part of one radio station or network or country.

 'No-one could have reasonably foreseen what ended up being an incredibly tragic day.'

 Mr Holleran declined to reveal who had dreamed up the prank call but said: ‘These things are often done collaboratively.'

 A source confirmed that 2DayFM’s lawyers had listened to audio of the entire call and had given it clearance to go to air.

 Mr Holleran said it was ‘a bit early’ to be drawing conclusions from what was really a ‘deeply tragic matter.’

 He added: ‘I don’t think anyone could have reasonably foreseen that this was going to be a result.'

 This evening, the grieving husband of nurse Mrs Saldanha has told of his devastation at her death.

 Benedict Barboza, a 49-year-old hospital accountant, also known as Ben, posted a tribute to Mrs Saldanha on his Facebook page.

 He wrote: 'I am devastated with the tragic loss of my beloved wife Jacintha in tragic circumstances, She will be laid to rest in Shirva, India.'

 Mrs Saldanha found herself at the centre of the controversy after answering the DJs' call, when they obtained intimate details about Kate Middleton's condition by posing as the Queen and Prince Charles.

 The grieving family of the 'excellent' nurse said: 'We as a family are deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved Jacintha.'

 Scroll down for video

 Facing the media; Southern Cross Austereo CEO Rhys Holleran came out in defence of the DJs behind the prank call to Kate Middleton's hospital

 Tragedy: Kate and WIlliam have said they are 'deeply saddened' by Jacintha Saldanha's death and paid tribute to the care the Duchess received at the King Edward VII Abuse: Australian radio presenters Christian Michael and Mel Greig, whose prank call about the Duchess of Cambridge was transferred by nurse Jacintha Saldanha, have been bombarded with abuse on Twitter following news of her suspected suicide. They later removed their accounts

 Prince William and his pregnant wife Kate told how they are 'deeply saddened' by the tragedy. A Palace spokesman said the couple had not made a complaint about the prank call. 'Their thoughts and prayers are with Jacintha Saldanha’s family, friends and colleagues at this very sad time,' a statement said. When asked if they had expressed concern, the spokesman added: 'On the contrary we offered our full and heartfelt support to the nurses involved and hospital staff at all times.'

 Sombre: Police guard the front of King Edward VII's hospital yesterday where Jacintha Saldanha had worked as a nurse for four years

 The shockwaves over the death of the nurse have spread rapidly around Australia.

 Australia's media regulator was inundated with complaints about the prank.

 The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), which regulates radio broadcasting, has said it is currently in the process of discussing the matter with the Sydney-based station.

 A spokesman for the ACMA said it had received 'a lot' of complaints but declined to give a figure.

 'Terrible tragedy': Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has offered her condolences to Jacintha's family

 The spokesman said: 'We've had a lot but it doesn't actually matter, we only need one complaint to launch an investigation.

 'But we haven't launched an investigation yet, we're engaging with the licensee at the moment.'

 ACMA chairman Chris Chapman said: 'These events are a tragedy for all involved and I pass on my heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased nurse in London.

 'The ACMA does not propose to make any comments at this stage, but will be engaging with the licensee, Today FM Sydney, around the facts and issues surrounding the prank call.'

 British-born Prime Minister Julia Gillard described the death as 'a terrible tragedy' and, through a spokesman, passed on her deep-felt condolences to the family of Jacintha.

 Mrs Saldanha, also known as Jess, is thought to have come to the UK from southern India ten years ago and settled in the UK with her partner, 49-year-old hospital accountant Benedict Barboza.

 The couple bought their £123,000 three-bedroomed home in 2005 in the Westbury-on-Trym district of Bristol.

 After registering as a nurse in 2003 when she initially worked for the North Bristol NHS Trust, which runs Frenchay and Southmead hospitals, it is believed the nurse chose to apply for a job at King Edward VII four years ago and appears to have been living in the nursing accommodation ever since.

 She has a son called Junal, 16, and daughter, believed to be 14. She stayed in London when she was working before returning to her family on days off.

 Mrs Saldanha is thought to have been from the Mangalore region of India. She is thought to have spent time in the Middle East before moving to Britain .

 The hospital said Mrs Saldanha had not been disciplined over the call.

 'Deeply saddened': Body believed to be that of Jacintha Saldanha was found in lodgings only yards from the hospital where she worked Death: A police officer stands outside the home of Jacintha Saldanha in Bristol yesterday evening

 Distraught: Nurses at the hospital head inside while clinging to eachother after hearing the news about Jacintha

 Shattered: Hospital chief executive John Lofthouse spoke of their pain and sadness at the news of Jacintha's death - and clearly linked it to the hoax call she took from the Australian DJs

 Told about the tragedy last night, Vicki Heath, a spokesman for 2DayFM, said: ‘Is this is a hoax call? You’re having me on, aren’t you?’ Assured that the call was genuine, she burst into tears.

 ‘I can’t believe this – I just can’t believe it,’ she said. ‘Oh my God, oh no.’

 The owners of the radio station that employ Mel Greig and Michael Christian announced that the duo will not return to their show until further notice.

 It is believed that senior management at 2Day FM were so shocked at the death of Jacintha that bosses have ordered the pair off the air.

 Concerns were expressed last night about the well-being of the DJs.

 Jeff Kennett, Melbourne-based chairman of the Beyond Blue group, which deals with people with mental issues, said: ‘Australians should support, rather than crucify, the pair for a prank made in good faith.’

 He added: 'This is going to have terrible ramifications in terms of the impact on people’s lives well beyond the nurse in the UK.

 ‘I hope that both Mel and Michael are strong and firm. Nothing they did was offensive, it was a joke, a prank, never intended to have any ramifications of this sort

 ‘We’ve got to be careful we don’t become so politically correct that we deny ourselves the opportunity right now to extend to these two all the support we can to ensure that they come through this as strongly as possible.’

 Others have come out in support of the DJs and said they were not to blame for what happened to the nurse – rather, the hospital should have had more strenuous security measures in place

 The telephone giant Telstra, joined a list of companies removing their advertising from the radio station last night.

 The station's owner was forced to pull advertising over panic from advertisers.

 Patrol: Police officers walk outside King Edward VII hospital

 Scene: A police car outside the lodgings where Jacintha Saldanha's body was found yesterday morning

 Accommodation: The lodgings where Jacintha was staying - around the corner from the hospital

 Guard: An officer guards the entrance to the block where the nurse's body was found

 'A FIRST CLASS NURSE WHO CARED DILIGENTLY FOR HUNDREDS'

 King Edward VII hospital spoke of the their shock at the death of Jacintha Saldanha in a statement:

 'It is with very deep sadness that we confirm the tragic death of a member of our nursing staff, Jacintha Saldanha.

 'Jacintha has worked at the King Edward VII’s Hospital for more than four years. She was an excellent nurse and well-respected and popular with all of her colleagues.

 'We can confirm that Jacintha was recently the victim of a hoax call to the hospital. The hospital had been supporting her throughout this difficult time.'

 John Lofthouse, Chief Executive at King Edward VII’s Hospital, said: 'Our thoughts and deepest sympathies at this time are with her family and friends. Everyone is shocked by the loss of a much loved and valued colleague."

 Lord Glenarthur, Chairman of King Edward VII’s Hospital, says, 'This is a tragic event. Jacintha was a first class nurse who cared diligently for hundreds of patients during her time with us. She will be greatly missed.'

 A statement from the station owners said: 'Southern Cross Austereo (SCA) and 2Day FM are deeply saddened by the tragic news of the death of the nurse, Jacintha Saldanha from King Edward VII Hospital and we extend our deepest sympathies to her family, and all that have been affected by this situation around the world.

 'CEO Rhys Holleran has spoken with the presenters, they are both deeply shocked, and at this time we have agreed that they not comment about the circumstances.

 'SCA and the hosts have decided that they will not return to their radio show, until further notice out of respect for what can only be described as a tragedy.'

 News of the death broke in the middle of the night in Australia and it was only during the evening London time yesterday that Australians woke to hear about the tragedy.

 It led the news on every radio station, including the national broadcaster ABC. It reported that there had been an outpouring of anger in the UK and said thousands of people had demanded that the DJs be fired.

 The Palace declined to say whether the Duchess met Jacintha Saldanha but it was very possible.

 Staff at King Edward VII hospital were not believed to be disciplining Jacintha over the incident. It said it announced her death with 'very deep sadness.'

 The statement added: 'Jacintha has worked at the King Edward VII Hospital for more than four years. She was an excellent nurse and well respected and popular with all over her colleagues.'

 Ms Saldanha answered the hoax call at 5.30am on Tuesday morning and transferred the call through to Kate's ward.

 Another nurse then told the giggling DJs, Mel Greig and Michael Christian, who were pretending to be the Queen and Prince Charles, how the Duchess was about to 'get freshened up'.

 The station apologised for 'any inconvenience caused' but provoked widespread fury and disbelief by continuing to promote its hoax, calling it 'the prank call the world is talking about', before playing clips of the recording.

 As the backlash grew the DJs both deleted their Twitter accounts.The radio station's Facebook page was bombarded with thousands of abusive comments from outraged users.

 Shock: The exact cause of Jacintha's death has not yet been confirmed but it is being treated as suicide

 Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said: 'This is tragic news, and the thoughts of all at the Royal College of Nursing go to the family of Jacintha Saldanha.

 'It is deeply saddening that a simple human error due to a cruel hoax could lead to the death of a dedicated and caring member of the nursing profession.'

 Officers from Scotland Yard launched an investigation yesterday and are treating the death as ‘unexplained’.

 A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister’s thoughts are with the family and colleagues of Jacintha Saldanha at this sad time.’

 The exact cause of death remained unclear. However, one source indicated that the woman appeared to have killed herself.

 A neighbour said the family have lived in their £130,000 terraced home in Bristol for about eight years.

 Household: The Bristol home of Jacintha Saldanha following news of her death yesterday

 The neighbour said: 'They're a lovely family - Ben gives my lad a lift when he goes refereeing at Bristol Rovers with Junal.

 'It's so so tragic, she was such a lovely woman.

 'She must have thought there was no way back, that's the only thing I can think of.'

 Another neighbour of Mrs Saldanha described the tragic nurse as 'a lovely woman'.

 Marianne Homes, 49, said: 'I've always known her as the doctor, she was always very smartly dressed.

 'Their son was always really into football, we always saw him with a ball kicking it about with his friends.

 'She was a lovely woman, everytime I saw her she would talk to me.

 'I hadn't seen her for a while, I wondered what had happened to her it's so sad to know this has happened.

 'She was always so smartly dressed and well presented.

 'I think her kids are secondary school age, she definitely has one boy and one girl.'

 A former neighbour of the nurse described her as a 'nice, lovely lady'.

 Boast: 2dayFM kept a recording of the prank on their website days after it was first broadcast

 Pose: DJ Mel Greig lies across the laps of One Direction when they flew into Australia this year

 Still boasting: DJ Michael Christian's Twitter feed pictured after the incident

 Abuse: DJ Mel Greig has deleted her Twitter account after she was bombarded with messages calling on her to quit Fighting back tears, she said: 'What a terrible tragedy - just before Christmas as well. Oh those two young boys - they'll be heartbroken. Her and Ben were a lovely couple.

 'They didn't live here very long, but they were such nice neighbours - they invited us in for a curry when they moved in.

 'They lived here seven or eight years ago, if not more. They kept themselves to themselves mostly.

 'They bought their own house and moved on - they were just renting here I think.

 'I can't believe what happened. It's so sad, so tragic. They always spoke to us - she was such a nice lady.

 'It's devastating to hear she's gone - and in such circumstances that could be so easily avoided.

 'Those Australians that called the hospital want stringing up.' Even yesterday, before news of the death, DJ Michael Christian was urging people to tune in to their show to hear more about the prank. In the 5.30am call, Mrs Saldanha had connected them to another nurse who gave details of Kate's condition.

 The presenters, from 2Day FM, remarked during their show how their efforts were the 'easiest prank call ever made', as they put on mock British accents they later described as 'terrible'.

 The Australian station and presenters advertised the stunt worldwide. Both presenters have deleted their Twitter accounts after an online backlash called for them to lose their jobs. One user, Alison Hassell, told Greig: 'If you have any kind of conscience or morals..... Right about now you should be typing your resignation.'

 Scott Ashworth tweeted: 'You scumbag, hope you get what's coming to you!', while another user, Michael Hird, wrote: 'I hope you're happy now.. The receptionist you rang has COMMITTED SUICIDE! You have blood on your hands now!'

 Greig also received what appeared to be threats on the social networking site.

 Costas Loizou swore at the presenter and ended his message: 'I might start calling your mum and leaving messages..in fact expect one on xmas day....'

 Other users directed abuse at her co-presenter Christian. Justine Daniel told him the hoax was a 'sick joke' and added: 'Hope you're banished from being on air forever.' Peter Timmins wrote: 'There are no words to describe the disgust that everyone else is feeling about the prank you thought so funny.'

 Sinead Gavaghan called him a 'vile, stupid creature', while Chris Campbell claimed: 'You should be fired and the station shut down.'

 In the call at 5.30am on Tuesday impersonating the Queen, Miss Greig said: ‘Oh, hello there. Could I please speak to Kate please, my granddaughter?’ Row: The DJs - known simply as Matty and Mel - have been linked to the suspected suicide by the hospital Jacintha worked in Shame: Mel Greig pictured with Australian singer Natalie Bassingthwaighte, bragged along with her co-presenter for days of their hoax phone call Thinking she was speaking to the Queen, the receptionist replied: ‘Oh yes, just hold on ma’am’. She then put the presenters through to one of the nurses who was caring for the Duchess. The nurse also believed she was speaking to the Queen and went on to make a number of deeply personal observations about Kate’s health. A recording of the entire conversation was played on the Sydney-based radio station 2Day. A radio station spokesman later apologised for the 'inconvenience' caused by the call.

 According to the website of the talent agency that promotes Greig, the prank was 'a bit of fun and indicative of Mel's high energy, anything for a laugh, personality'. Her profile reads: 'Mel started at 2Day FM, Sydney's number one hit music station, in early 2012 after five years experience in commercial radio and off the back of running her own radio school from her home town in Adelaide.

 'Mel is well known and loved for her stint on The Amazing Race Australia in 2011 with sister Alana.

 'She is also the consummate MC and has hosted everything from fashion events, modelling comps and award nights.'

 Hospital boss John Lofthouse confirmed his staff had passed on information about Kate, saying: 'This was a foolish prank call that we all deplore.' Third visit: Prince William arrives at the King Edward VII Hospital to visit his wife the Duchess of Cambridge in central London

 A Scotland Yard spokesman said yesterday: ‘Police were called at approximately 9.25am on Friday, December 7, to a report of a woman found unconscious an address in Weymouth Street, W1. ‘London Ambulance Service attended and the woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

 'Inquiries are continuing to establish the circumstances of the incident. ‘The death is not being treated as suspicious at this stage’. In a statement, the Royal College of Nursing said: 'The Royal College of Nursing has expressed sadness at the death of the nurse from the London hospital treating the Duchess of Cambridge who took a hoax call about the Duchess's condition. 'Jacintha Saldanha, who was found dead this morning, had worked at the King Edward VII Hospital for more than four years and was described by the hospital as a first-class nurse who had cared diligently for hundreds of patients during her time there.'

 Dr Peter Carter, RCN Chief Executive & General Secretary, said: 'This is tragic news, and the thoughts of all at the Royal College of Nursing go to the family of Jacintha Saldanha. 'It is deeply saddening that a simple human error due to a cruel hoax could lead to the death of a dedicated and caring member of the nursing profession.'

 MailOnline did not publish details of the tragedy until the hospital confirmed the woman's family had been contacted. Scrum: John Lofthouse the Chief Executive of King Edward VII's hospital and Lord Glenarthur, the hospital's Chairman, deliver a statement LEVESON: AUSSIE HOAX PROVES NEW PRIVACY LAWS NEEDED

 The prank call by Australian radio presenters who got a condition report from the Duchess of Cambridge's nurse by pretending to be the Queen and Prince Charles proves the need for new privacy laws, Lord Justice Leveson has said. He blamed the 'historic failure' of successive British governments for failing to curb media intrusion and added individuals who tweet or use social media platforms are not beyond reach of the criminal law.

 The judge also criticised European magazines for publishing photographs of Kate topless on holiday and blamed the 'historic failure' of successive governments to curb media intrusion.

 During a speech in Sydney, he refused to respond to what he described as 'misconceived' criticism of his milestone report into the press.

 He was speaking to a £620-a-head audience at the Shangri-La Hotel.

 Leveson criticised 'certain sections' of the press which had “started to push against ethical boundaries and in some instances have pushed too far'. He then highlighted the 'recent Australian intrusion' into the Duchess of Cambridge’s 'private life while she was in hospital'. The Duchess of Cambridge is now resting at the London home she shares with Prince William after her release from the hospital where she had been recovering from hyperemesis gravidarum. She was forced to cancel a string of engagements because of her acute morning sickness. Kate, who was admitted to hospital on Monday, returned to Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace and cancelled upcoming engagements after doctors told her to rest. And she may have to recuperate without Prince William by her side, as he may be returning to duty with his Search and Rescue squadron at RAF Valley in Anglesey, it has been reported.

 She missed a planned fundraising engagement in the City of London on Wednesday because she was confined to hospital. William and the Duchess of Cambridge had been hoping to keep the news they were expecting a baby to themselves until Christmas Day.

 But with Kate admitted to hospital with acute morning sickness, they had little choice but to make the announcement.

 They delighted millions around the world – including their own families – with the happy news.

 But as the word spread, the parents-to-be were together in hospital, facing the first hurdle in a much longed for pregnancy.

 Kate, 30, who is barely eight weeks pregnant, was taken to the hospital just after Sunday lunch by her husband and immediately put on a drip to stop her becoming dehydrated.

 For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 08457 90 90 90 or visit a local Samaritans branch. 'ROYAL HOSPITAL PRIDES ITSELF ON DISCRETION AND EXCELLENT CARE '

 King Edward VII hospital is one of the most exclusive private hospitals in the country, attracting world-class medical specialists

 It has been treating the Royal Family since it opened in 1899 at the suggestion of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and its patron is the Queen.

 It prides itself on 'a strong tradition of excellence in nursing', with one of the best nurse-to-patient ratios in the country, far exceeding the national average.

 Its website states: 'Our nursing staff are some of the very best and - unlike many hospitals - the vast majority are permanently employed by us.'

 It also states there has never been a case of hospital acquired MRSA or C-difficile.

 The hospital has been run by John Lofthouse, who has been chief executive since June 2009. Prior to that he worked as a general manager at the privately owned Circle Health, managing the Nottingham NHS Treatment Centre.

 Previous royal patients of King Edward VII include Prince Philip, who was treated for a bladder infection in June. Other royal patients are said to include Prince Charles, the Queen herself, the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and the Countess of Snowdon.

 However, it is unlikely that the new arrival to the family will be born at King Edward VII. St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, is the said to be the bookies' favourite, helping to affirm the new tradition of The royal family of having children in NHS hospitals.

 Both Prince William and Prince Harry were born there, as were Zara and Peter Philips, the Princess Royal’s children. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie were born in the private Portland Hospital, while older generations, including Prince Charles, have traditionally been born at Buckingham Palace.

 As a registered charity, there are currently around 1,800 Friends of the Hospital who contribute £40 per year. The hospital also claims to have more than 4,000 supporters and the 2010 annual report shows that more than £2 million was raised through fundraising.

 Founded by Agnes Keyser in 1899 as a hospital for sick and wounded Officers returning from the Boer War, subsidies are automatically offered to all Service patients and are given regardless of rank, length of service or treatment.

 ANNA HODGEKISS

 VIDEO: RADIO STATION BOSS 'DEEPLY SADDENED' BY NURSE DEATH

Summary: – The Australian radio hosts whose royal hoax led to the apparent suicide of the nurse they tricked are off the air for the time being, reports the Guardian. Sydney station 2Day FM said Mel Greig and Michael Christian were "both deeply shocked" at the death of Jacintha Saldanha. "They will not return to their radio show until further notice out of respect for what can only be described as a tragedy." Earlier this week, the male-female radio team called up the London hospital where Kate Middleton was being treated and tricked Saldanha into giving them information by impersonating the queen. The mother of two was found unconscious today near King Edward VII hospital. "We as a family are deeply saddened by the loss of our beloved Jacintha," said a family statement. A hospital spokesperson called her an "excellent nurse," reports the Daily Mail.


See more of D'Arreion Nuriyah Toles on Facebook ||||| Close Get email notifications on Venton Blandin daily!

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 Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. ||||| He said it made him feel “like you can’t be who you are in America.”

 In one of the videos, Mr. Toles is in an elevator and Ms. Mueller follows him. He says, “So now you’re going to follow me?”

 “I am,” she replies.

 In another video, she trails him in a hallway, saying she wants to introduce herself because he is a neighbor.

 “I do not want to speak with you,” he says. “Please stop following me. I’m going to call the cops for harassment. That’s my next step.”

 The last video shows Ms. Mueller outside his unit, with Mr. Toles standing in the doorway. “You just followed me all the way to my door,” he says. “And you see my keys in the door.”

 “As a record I just want to say, ‘Hi, what is your name?’” she begins to say before Mr. Toles cuts her off.

 “Ma’am — you just — no. Have a good night, ma’am,” he says. “Don’t ever do that again.”

 Brandon Mueller, Ms. Mueller’s estranged husband, said in an interview on Sunday that he was shocked to learn about the encounter after he got messages and notifications on Facebook.

 On Facebook, Mr. Mueller, who has a black father and white mother, posted a video in which he said he was disappointed about what happened. He said he had been separated from Ms. Mueller for more than a year and had not lived in the Elder Shirt Lofts building for just as long. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites.

Summary: – In the latest high-profile "living while black" incident, a white woman attempted to block a black man from entering his building in St. Louis, then called the police on him after he successfully made his way into his apartment. D’Arreion Toles recorded the Friday night encounter with Hilary Brooke Mueller, who was outside with her dog and repeatedly asked Toles what unit of the Elder Shire Lofts condominium complex he lived in. After he managed to get past her and into the building, she followed him into the elevator and all the way to his door, the New York Times reports. About 30 minutes later, police arrived at the unit and told Toles that Mueller had reported being "uncomfortable" with his presence; he told police he rented the unit and had shown Mueller his key fob. No one was cited, KMOV reports. He posted videos of the encounter on Facebook, where Mueller became known as "Apartment Patty" (reminiscent of "Permit Patty" and other such nicknames). Eventually her identity was uncovered and her employer, real estate management company Tribeca-STL, posted a statement on its website saying she had been fired. (The website is currently down.) Neither Mueller nor the police have yet commented on the situation, but Toles tells the Times he felt unsafe, even concerned he could end up like Botham Jean, the black man shot dead by a police officer in his own Dallas apartment. Even so, he asked supporters not to attack Mueller. "I am not upset with her. I am not going to go after her legally or anything like that," he says. "I wish her the best. I would still have a conversation with her." (This woman called 911 on a black lawmaker.)


“It is true that he’s broadened the search,” Kellyanne Conway said. | AP Photo State Department choice: None of the above? The final four of Romney, Giuliani, Corker and Petraeus has been expanded.

 Donald Trump’s short list for secretary of state is getting longer.

 Two new candidates are retired Adm. James G. Stavridis and Rex W. Tillerson, the CEO of ExxonMobil. Both are expected to meet with Trump this week, according to sources familiar with the transition. At one point during the summer, Stavridis was mentioned as a possible vice presidential pick for Hillary Clinton.

 Story Continued Below

 The president-elect, who teased that “almost all” of his remaining Cabinet choices will be named this week, will interview more secretary of state candidates, senior adviser Kellyanne Conway said Sunday.

 “It is true that he’s broadened the search,” Conway said during a press briefing inside Trump Tower, confirming earlier comments from Vice President-elect Mike Pence.

 Trump’s transition team last week identified former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker and former CIA Director David Petraeus as the top four contenders.

 “That list is expanding because at the moment, there are no — there is not a finite list of finalists only because he will interview with additional candidates early this week,” Conway said, later clarifying that the short list of candidates stands at “more than four.”

 “But who knows how many finalists there will be,” she said. “It’s a big decision, and nobody should rush through it.”

 The widening search for secretary of state suggests none of the initial final four candidates has stood out to Trump as the clear choice. Romney has been mocked by Conway and others, Giuliani has been bogged down by reports of foreign entanglements, senators have expressed support for Corker but Trump hasn’t been as vocal, and tapping Petraeus would be treated as hypocritical, given how aggressively the president-elect went after Democratic nomineeClinton on the trail for her handling of classified information as secretary of state.

 Conway downplayed the expansion, though, remarking that all that has changed since Trump narrowed his list to four is “a lot of qualified people.”

 “There’s many qualified people who have expressed an interest in serving,” she said. “I think one thing that really strikes us — and this is not unique to this president, who is unique — but there are a number of people that we may not have thought wanted to leave their very lucrative private industry positions to go and serve the government, and they are coming forth now and expressing interest, and it’s exciting, frankly, to at least get their counsel.”

 Pence had hinted earlier Sunday in an interview with host Chuck Todd on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that the secretary of state list would grow.

 “With regard to secretary of state, we’ve been winnowing the list, but it might grow a little bit,” he said. “I think to talk to the president-elect is to know he’s simply looking for the best men and women to advance the agenda that we know will make America great again.”

 Asked what it is about the current field that has prompted Trump to broaden his search, Pence argued that expanding the short list isn’t a reflection of the field.

 “I think everyone that he’s talked to and has been talked about, whether it be Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney or General Petraeus or Senator Corker, John Bolton and others, bring extraordinary background and qualities to this,” Pence said.

 “But I think you're going to see the president-elect continue that process, to ensure that as he has a vision for really reengaging the world with an America-first agenda, advancing America’s interests in the world economically and diplomatically that he’s going to make sure that he has the right person in that role just like he is in every role.”

 POLITICO reported Friday that Trump’s team would be closely monitoring Petraeus’ interview with ABC’s “This Week” to see how he would handle concerns over his possible nomination.

 The retired general and former CIA director was candid in his Sunday interview, acknowledging that it was a mistake to share classified information with his biographer and admitting to lying, albeit unknowingly at the time, he said, to the FBI.

 “I made a mistake. I have, again, acknowledged it,” Petraeus said. “Folks will have to factor that in and determine whether that is indeed disqualifying or not.”

 As for whether Petraeus is even nominated to head the State Department, Pence said Trump will “factor the totality of General Petraeus’ career in making that decision.”

 Conway, who has voiced her opposition to Romney, stressed that America’s chief diplomat “is an incredibly important position for any president to fill” and said Trump is “very fortunate to have interest among serious men and women” who understand their primary role “would be to implement and adhere to the president-elect’s America-first foreign policy — if you will, his view of the world.”

 “So, he continues to — he continues to talk to different people,” Conway said.

 Reince Priebus, Trump’s incoming chief of staff, said while “things are moving fast,” the choice for secretary of state “is just taking a little bit longer, and I think it’s just fine.”

 “Everything doesn’t have to happen all at once, but he’s taking his time, making a smart decision. And we’ll see where that goes,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

 Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, another vocal Romney critic, praised Trump for his patience, crediting him specifically for not rushing to choose Romney or hastily opposing him, either.

 But Gingrich noted that as tough and deliberately aggressive as he has been against choosing Romney, “I’ve gotten no blowback from anybody, including Reince.”

 “There’s a sense of you’re allowed to have your own opinion. This is like ‘The Apprentice,’” he said. “When we get to a decision, we ought to all be on the same team. But until that decision’s made, you know, it’s a fair conversation.”

 Gingrich insisted he will support Trump’s decision, even if it’s Romney, but stressed that the real estate mogul needs “to build a real team.”

 “He can’t possibly do it by himself, and he’s showing that he understands that,” Gingrich said.

 The vocal anti-Romney campaign could ultimately prove fruitful, though. As Gingrich said, Trump generally gives more weight to what people tell him in person, but “on occasion, it helps to reinforce that on TV.”

 Alex Isenstadt contributed to this report. ||||| Vice President-elect Mike Pence speaks at a "Get Out The Vote" rally to stump for Republican senate candidates in New Orleans, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (Associated Press)

 Vice President-elect Mike Pence speaks at a "Get Out The Vote" rally to stump for Republican senate candidates in New Orleans, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) (Associated Press)

 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times local):

 11 a.m.

 Kellyanne Conway is saying that President-elect Donald Trump is expanding his secretary of state search beyond the four finalists announced last week.

 Conway told reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower on Sunday that Trump would have "additional interviews" this week but she did not identify the new candidates.

 Conway, who was Trump's campaign manager, said that all the candidates "need to understand" that they must "be loyal" to the president-elect's view of the world.

 Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman is one candidate who might be considered, according to someone close to the transition process who was not permitted to speak publicly about the process.

 The previously identified finalists are Mitt Romney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former CIA director David Petraeus and Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker.

 ___

 10:10 a.m.

 Alec Baldwin says if Donald Trump releases his taxes, he'll stop impersonating him.

 The actor is lashing back at the president-elect's swipes of his performance on Saturday Night Live.

 Trump, who has repeatedly criticized the show and Baldwin's impersonation specifically, tweeted late Saturday night that the show is "unwatchable! Totally biased, not funny." He added that "the Baldwin impersonation just can't get any worse. Sad."

 Baldwin began impersonating Trump on the NBC show in the later months of the campaign and has continued the stint since Trump won the election last month.

 Baldwin replied, through the Twitter handle of the Alec Baldwin Foundation, "Release your tax returns and I'll stop."

 Trump has long said he would release his taxes following the completion of an audit.

 ___

 9:30 a.m.

 Vice President-elect Mike Pence says Donald Trump's phone call with Taiwan's leader was a "courtesy call" and does not necessarily reflect a shift in U.S. policy.

 The phone call drew an irritated response from China, whose foreign minister called the contact a "small trick by Taiwan" and noted that "healthy" U.S.-China relations hinge upon the so-called "one-China" policy.

 In a Sunday interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," Pence shrugged off China's annoyance as media hype and noted the estimated 50 calls Trump has had with world leaders since the Nov. 8 election.

 Pence said he's not aware of any contact between Trump or his advisers and Chinese officials since the incident. When asked if there might be a follow-up phone call to Chinese leaders this week, Pence said probably not.

 ___

 7:40 a.m.

 Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is confident that President-elect Donald Trump will soon realize the level of responsibility his job entails.

 Despite Trump's pro-Russian statements during the campaign, Russian politicians are concerned about reports that Trump is considering Mitt Romney, known for his harsh stance on Russia, to be his secretary of state.

 Putin said in an interview with the NTV channel to be broadcast later on Sunday that Trump's business accomplishments show him to be a "smart man."

 He added that "if he is a smart man, that means that he will fairly soon become aware of a different level of responsibility. We expect that he act with these considerations in mind."

 ___

 7:35 a.m.

 President-elect Donald Trump is threatening heavy taxes as retribution for U.S. companies that move their business operations overseas and still try to sell their product to Americans.

 In a series of early-morning tweets Sunday, Trump vowed a 35 percent tax on products sold inside the U.S. by any business that fired American workers and built a new factory or plant in another country.

 Trump campaigned on a vow to help American workers but also to reduce taxes and regulations on businesses.

 Trump tweets "there will be a tax on our soon to be strong border of 35 percent for these companies wanting to sell their product, cars, A.C. units, etc., back across the border."

 He says companies should be "forewarned prior to making a very expensive mistake."

Summary: – Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Bob Corker, and David Petraeus: Donald Trump's shortlist for secretary of state is evidently not as short as previously thought, reports Politico. "It is true that he’s broadened the search," said Kellyanne Conway, who's made no secret of her personal contempt for Romney, on Sunday at Trump Tower. "I think you've all seen the list before that already existed. I think there'll be additional interviews with other candidates for secretary of state and other Cabinet positions, and deputy Cabinet positions as well." That reveal syncs up with what Mike Pence earlier told Meet the Press: "With regard to secretary of state, we've been winnowing the list, but it might grow a little bit." The AP floats a potential addition, citing an anonymous transition source: Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. Pence is downplaying Trump's call to Taiwan's leader as a "courtesy call." China was not happy. Meanwhile, in Russia, Vladimir Putin is praising Trump as a "smart man" as evidenced by his business acumen. Further, "if he is a smart man, that means that he will fairly soon become aware of a different level of responsibility. We expect that he act with these considerations in mind." Putin is said to be antsy that Trump might appoint Romney, whose stance toward Russia is harsh.


— The CIA said Thursday that it had opened an “exploratory” investigation into the conduct of former director David Petraeus, who resigned after admitting to adultery, on the same day that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered the military services to review ways to strengthen ethics standards “that keep the military well led and well disciplined.”

 The CIA and Pentagon actions were the latest fallout from the shocking resignation of Petraeus, a retired four-star Army general, and revelations that four-star Marine Corps Gen. John Allen exchanged inappropriate emails with the woman who triggered the FBI probe that exposed Petraeus’ affair.

 The military brass also has been rattled by a slew of lesser-known, more serious cases, including a one-star general recalled from Afghanistan who is facing criminal charges of sexually assaulting or committing adultery with five women. The Pentagon, however, insisted that the timing of Panetta’s directive was “coincidental.”

 The FBI, meanwhile, was trying to determine if Paula Broadwell, the Army Reserve intelligence officer with whom Petraeus was romantically involved, had the security clearances needed to possess all of the classified materials found on her personal computer, according to a senior law enforcement official, who requested anonymity in order to discuss the sensitive subject.

 "There are levels of clearance that she may not have had authorization for certain documents,” the senior law enforcement source said. “That’s what they’re really trying to sort out is classification levels, clearance levels."

 The FBI investigation could take a while, the official said, because the bureau wants "to conduct a thorough investigation to see if there was any classified information that was either compromised or mishandled. That’s something (the FBI takes) very seriously."

 Broadwell, 40, who voluntarily allowed the FBI to search her Charlotte, N.C., home on Monday night and remove two computers, had her security clearances withdrawn by the Army on Wednesday.

 The preliminary investigation by the CIA inspector general’s office into Petraeus was apparently aimed at assessing his general conduct during his 14-month stint as the nation’s top spy.

 “At the CIA we are constantly reviewing our performance. If there are lessons to be learned from this case we’ll use them to improve,” said a statement quoting an unnamed CIA spokesperson. “But we’re not getting ahead of ourselves; an investigation is exploratory and doesn’t presuppose any particular outcome.”

 The scope of the investigation wasn’t disclosed, including whether it would involve questioning the CIA security team that accompanied Petraeus everywhere, 24 hours a day.

 Meanwhile, Petraeus will testify Friday before closed-door hearings of both the House and Senate intelligence committees on the circumstances surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. consulate and a nearby CIA annex in Benghazi, Libya. They resulted in the deaths of four Americans, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, a State Department staffer and two CIA contract security officers.

 The attacks ignited a political firestorm, with critics questioning whether the Obama administration had provided adequate security, reacted properly and offered accurate accounts of what happened.

 “The opportunity to get his views is very important,” Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said of Petraeus.

 CNN reported that Petraeus told one of its reporters in a conversation that his resignation had nothing to do with the Benghazi attack and that he wanted to testify.

 Panetta’s order to Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for the ethical standards review by the service chiefs was announced during a visit by the defense secretary to Bangkok, Thailand.

 The assessment “is intended to reinforce and strengthen the standards that keep the military well led and disciplined,” Pentagon spokesman George Little said. “The secretary believes that the vast majority of our senior military officers exemplify the strength of character and the highest ethical standards the American people expect of those whose job it is to provide for the security of our nation.”

 The review’s findings will be used as the basis for a report that will be presented to President Barack Obama by Dec. 1.

 Some independent experts welcomed the announcement in light of the scandal enmeshing Petraeus and Allen, who is the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

 “These are people who in their leadership role are supposed to set an example,” said Nicholas Fotion, a professor of philosophy and military ethics at Emory University in Atlanta. “If they don’t do that, they do more harm than if an ordinary male soldier has an affair with a female soldier. If you accept a leadership role, you accept certain responsibilities.”

 Petraeus and other U.S. military leaders have been “glorified” by the American public during more than a decade of war, and some may have come to believe that they could relax their standards of conduct, he said.

 “The high status we gave them has gone to their heads,” said Fotion.

 Frances V. Harbour, a professor of international security issues at George Mason University in Virginia who specializes in military ethics, said that the new review appeared to be aimed at reinforcing at senior levels lessons in “making the right choices” that military academies work to inculcate in cadets.

 She said that the pressures from long overseas deployments away from families to which service members have been subjected is “part of the explanation” for troubling behavior by senior officers. “But that doesn’t mean it’s an excuse,” she added.

 “You are still obligated by the special promises you made to not just follow normal moral codes, but to follow these military codes which are much stricter,” she said.

 Petraeus, 60, who has been married for 38 years, disclosed his affair with Broadwell, his married biographer, in resigning on Friday, saying his behavior was “unacceptable.”

 On Monday, Panetta announced that he’d ordered the Pentagon inspector general to investigate more than 20,000 emails and other documents that Allen exchanged with Jill Kelley, a Tampa, Fla., socialite who threw parties for prominent citizens and senior officers from MacDill Air Force Base, home of the U.S. Central Command.

 Kelley, 37, and her husband were friends with Petraeus – who served as CENTCOM commander from October 2008 until June 2010 – and Allen, 58, who served as Petraeus’ deputy, and his wife.

 Kelley’s complaint earlier this year to an FBI agent who she knew about threatening anonymous emails triggered the FBI investigation that led to Broadwell and uncovered her affair with Petraeus. The first email reportedly was sent in May to Allen, who subsequently forwarded it to Kelley.

 The military also has been rocked by Panetta’s decision this week to penalize William Ward, a former four-star general who led U.S. Africa Command, and order him to repay $82,000 for taking extravagant and unauthorized trips with his wife, and the sexual assault and adultery charges facing Brig. Gen. Jeffrey Sinclair of the 82nd Airborne Division.

 In another recent case, James H. Johnson III, a former commander of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, was convicted of bigamy and fraud stemming from an improper relationship with an Iraqi woman and her family, busted in rank and expelled from the Army.

 Greg Gordon of the Washington Bureau contributed.

 Email: jlanday@mcclatchydc.com; Twitter: @JonathanLanday ||||| Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said on Thursday that the F.B.I. investigation into a cyberstalking case that revealed the affair concluded that e-mails Mr. Petraeus and Ms. Broadwell exchanged did not violate national security.

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 Speaking at a news conference in New Orleans to announce a settlement with the oil company BP, Mr. Holder said the White House and Congress were not notified about Mr. Petraeus’s situation until last week because the national security concerns had been allayed.

 “As we went through the investigation, we looked at the facts and tried to examine them as they developed,” Mr. Holder said. “We felt very secure in the knowledge that a national security threat did not exist that warranted the sharing of that information with the White House or with the Hill.”

 The spotlight will turn to Mr. Petraeus on Friday, when he testifies in closed session to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees — not about his affair, though that may well come up, but mainly about the attacks on the American Mission in Benghazi, Libya.

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 Mr. Petraeus gave his first interview since resigning, telling Kyra Phillips of CNN that he had never given classified information to Ms. Broadwell and that his resignation had been solely because of their relationship. He said it had nothing to do with disagreements over the attack on the American Mission and a C.I.A. safe house in Benghazi.

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 Leading administration officials, meanwhile, met privately with lawmakers for a third straight day to explain how the Petraeus investigation was handled and explore its national security implications. Among those appearing before the House and Senate Intelligence Committees were James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence; Michael J. Morell, the acting C.I.A. director; and Sean Joyce, the deputy F.B.I. director.

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 After a four-hour closed hearing on Thursday, Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat who heads the Intelligence Committee, said the panel had reviewed a detailed chronology of the attack on Sept. 11 that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. It included a video made from a composite of sources, including Predator drone video of the events that night.

 Ms. Feinstein said that in addition to meeting with Mr. Petraeus on Friday to hear his account of the attack — as well as an assessment of a visit he made just two weeks ago to the C.I.A.’s station in Tripoli, Libya’s capital — the committee would hold at least three additional hearings on the matter.

 Photo

 “We are in effect fact-finding,” she said.

 Ms. Feinstein and the panel’s senior Republican, Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, declined to tell reporters what questions they had asked the witnesses, but Mr. Chambliss and his colleagues said previously they would examine possible intelligence flaws, security lapses and the Obama administration’s handling of the issue.

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 “Were mistakes made?” Mr. Chambliss said. “We know mistakes were made, and we’ve got to learn from that.”

 Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters.

 Earlier in the day, the same administration officials faced tough questioning from members of the House Intelligence Committee.

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 Representative C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland, the committee’s top Democrat, said after the hearing that he was satisfied the F.B.I. had behaved properly in not notifying the White House or lawmakers about the inquiry sooner, in keeping with post-Watergate rules set up to prevent interference in criminal investigations.

 Leading Republicans, including Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, have criticized the United States ambassador to the United Nations, Susan E. Rice, for suggesting that the siege in Benghazi was a spontaneous protest rather than an opportunistic terrorist attack.

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 But Mr. Ruppersberger said on Thursday that this criticism was unfair and that the intelligence community’s assessment of what had happened was now roughly what Ms. Rice recounted on several Sunday talk shows. “You had a group of extremists who took advantage of a situation, and unfortunately we lost four American lives,” he said.

 Mr. Ruppersberger also underscored what intelligence officials have said for weeks: that the attack on the diplomatic mission seemed disorganized, and without good command and control, but that the second attack, a mortar strike on the C.I.A. base nearly eight hours later, was much more sophisticated. It was clearly the work of terrorists, he said.

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 Representative Adam B. Schiff, a California Democrat on the panel, said that Benghazi would be the main focus of Friday’s hearing, but that lawmakers still had many questions “with respect to the facts about the allegations against General Petraeus.”

 While the intelligence committees questioned witnesses behind closed doors, Democrats and Republican sparred openly at a hearing on Benghazi by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which heard testimony from outside experts.

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 Michael J. Courts, a specialist from the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, told lawmakers that his agency warned three years ago in a report that the State Department’s diplomatic security division had failed to devise an effective strategic plan to deal with a growing number of operational challenges in increasingly dangerous overseas posts like Pakistan, Yemen and Libya.

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 Representative Ed Royce, a California Republican on the committee, suggested that the United States had been ill-prepared to cope with the threats posed in eastern Libya on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, despite a string of assaults against the Red Cross and Western diplomats in the previous several months. “Somebody forgot to circle the calendar on 9/11,” he said.

 Others, like Representative Gerald E. Connolly, a Virginia Democrat who visited Libya in May, said that the Foreign Service was inherently dangerous in certain places, but that American diplomats needed to keep doing their jobs.

 Libya was a case in point, Mr. Connolly said.

 “When I landed at Tripoli, there was a militia, not the government, guarding the airport in Tripoli,” he said. “It’s an inherently unstable situation after 40 years of autocratic rule by Qaddafi. Tragedies happen.” ||||| * No CIA documents on mistress' computer -sources

 * Spy agency launches probe of its own

 * Petraeus says resigned CIA post over affair, not Benghazi

 By Mark Hosenball and Andy Sullivan

 WASHINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Classified material kept by the woman who conducted an affair with former CIA Director David Petraeus predates their liaison and does not come from the spy agency, sources briefed on the investigation told Reuters on Thursday.

 The finding appears to bolster assertions by both Petraeus and his biographer, Paula Broadwell, that their affair did not put national security secrets at risk - a central question hovering over the scandal that brought down one of the United States' most respected public figures last week.

 The CIA said on Thursday it had opened an "exploratory" investigation into Petraeus' conduct, building on the FBI's probe. Law enforcement officials have said they believe the FBI investigation is likely to end without criminal charges.

 The scandal has cast a spotlight on the private lives of some of the nation's top national security officials.

 The commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Marine General John Allen, now faces a Pentagon inspector general's review of what sources describe as "flirtatious" emails with a Tampa socialite.

 Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered the military's top brass to look for any gaps in ethics amid concerns officers' lapses in judgment could erode public confidence in the military. Traveling in Bangkok, Panetta said he knew of no other military officials who have been drawn into the investigation.

 Petraeus and Broadwell have separately told investigators they did not share security secrets, and Petraeus has repeated that assertion to associates and a television reporter.

 In his first public comments on the matter, Attorney General Eric Holder said on Thursday the FBI did not see any possible threats over the course of the investigation that were urgent enough to notify President Barack Obama or lawmakers until shortly before Petraeus stepped down.

 BROADWELL HAD SECURITY CLEARANCE

 FBI agents have found a substantial amount of classified information on Broadwell's personal computer since they searched her Charlotte, North Carolina, home with her consent on Monday.

 Sources briefed on the investigation said the documents date from before August 2011, when Petraeus took up his post at the CIA and the two started their affair. None of the material comes from the CIA.

 As an Army reserve officer involved in military intelligence, Broadwell had a security clearance that allowed her to handle sensitive documents. However, she would still have to comply with strict rules that lay out how sensitive materials must be protected.

 Broadwell's security clearance has now been suspended. She could have it revoked and face harsher penalties if it is found she mishandled classified data.

 Petraeus' remarks notwithstanding, investigators said on Thursday they had not ruled out the possibility that he passed on classified material to Broadwell. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing law enforcement investigation.

 Broadwell, who has not been charged with any wrongdoing, has made no public comment since the scandal erupted last week.

 'PRETTY CRITICAL INTERVIEW'

 Some lawmakers have questioned why they were not notified of the probe until after last week's presidential election.

 Holder, at a news conference in New Orleans, defended the Justice Department's handling of the case and its sharing of information with top Obama administration officials.

 "After a pretty critical interview occurred the Friday before we made that disclosure, when we got to that point where we thought it was appropriate to share the information, we did so," Holder said at a news conference.

 Petraeus is due on Friday to face lawmakers who are examining the September attacks in Benghazi, Libya, which led to the death of four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador. The attack has turned into a flash point between Obama and Republicans who accuse his administration of misleading the public in the days following the attack.

 The questioning will be confined to the events in Benghazi, said one lawmaker who is expected to participate.

 "We'll get his perspective on what information he knew and how his assessment of that intelligence changed over time," said Democratic Representative Adam Schiff.

 Petraeus told the television network HLN that he resigned because of the affair, not Benghazi.

Summary: – The CIA announced yesterday that it is opening its own investigation into the conduct of former chief David Petraeus, and sources tell the New York Times the investigation will center around whether Petraeus misused any CIA assets—from security details to private jets—to carry out his affair with Paula Broadwell. The CIA itself didn't shed much light into the scope of the probe, reports McClatchy. "At the CIA we are constantly reviewing our performance," said a spokesperson. "If there are lessons to be learned from this case we’ll use them to improve. But we’re not getting ahead of ourselves; an investigation is exploratory and doesn’t presuppose any particular outcome.” Meanwhile, sources tell Reuters that the classified information held by Paula Broadwell predated her relationship with Petraeus, backing up his assertion that he divulged none and that their affair did not put national security at risk. Eric Holder announced yesterday that the FBI probe that originally uncovered the affair found that Petraeus and Broadwell did not violate national security in their email exchanges. Petraeus is set to testify before a Congressional committee today on the Benghazi attack that killed US Ambassador Chris Stevens.


This view from the Viking 2 shows Utopia Planitia on Mars in 1976. Some researchers think that the Viking lander's main instrument may have burned up organic molecules in collected soil samples.

 Over 40 years ago, a NASA mission may have accidentally destroyed what would have been the first discovery of organic molecules on Mars, according to a report from New Scientist.

 Recently, NASA caused quite a commotion when it announced that its Curiosity rover discovered organic molecules — which make up life as we know it — on Mars. This followed the first confirmation of organic molecules on Mars in 2014. But because small, carbon-rich meteorites so frequently pelt the Red Planet, scientists have suspected for decades that organics exist on Mars. But researchers were stunned in 1976, when NASA sent two Viking landers to Mars to search for organics for the first time and found absolutely none.

 Scientists didn't know what to make of the Viking findings — how could there be no organics on Mars? "It was just completely unexpected and inconsistent with what we knew," Chris McKay, a planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center, told New Scientist. [Viking 1: The Historic First Mars Landing in Pictures]

 A technician checks the soil sampler on the Viking Lander in 1971 before the probe traveled to Mars. Some scientists think that the organic molecules in the soil samples collected by the lander were burned up accidentally. Credit: NASA.

 A possible explanation arose when NASA's Phoenix lander found perchlorate on Mars in 2008. This is a salt used to make fireworks on Earth; it becomes highly explosive under high temperatures. And while the surface of Mars isn't too warm, the main instrument aboard the Viking landers, the gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GCMS), had to heat the Martian soil samples to find organic molecules. And because perchlorate is in the soil, the instrument would have burned up any organics in the samples during this process.

 The discovery of perchlorate reignited scientists' convictions that the Viking landers could have found organics on Mars. "You get some new insight, and you realize that everything you thought was wrong," McKay said.

 However, finding perchlorate didn't provide concrete proof that the Viking landers found and accidentally destroyed organic molecules, so the investigation continued.

 The variety of organic molecules that Curiosity recently discovered on the Red Planet included chlorobenzene. This molecule is created when carbon molecules burn with perchlorate, so scientists suspect that it could have been created when the soil samples were burnt, according to New Scientist.

 Researchers were inspired by this indirect evidence to dig a little deeper and find more evidence that the Viking landers could have found and then destroyed organics. In a new study, published in June in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, Melissa Guzman of the LATMOS research center in France, McKay and a handful of collaborators revisited the Viking lander data to see if anything was missed.

 This team found that the Viking landers also detected chlorobenzene, which the researchers said could have formed from burning organic material in the soil samples.

 Still, this is not proof that the Viking landers found organic molecules and then accidentally burned them, the researchers told New Scientist. Even the scientists who completed this investigation are divided.

 Guzman said she still isn't completely convinced that the chlorobenzene they detected formed when organics in Martian soil were burned. She said that the molecule could have come from Earth aboard NASA equipment.

 But despite this skepticism, others are convinced; "this paper really seals the deal," Daniel Glavin, an astrobiologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center who was not involved in the study, told New Scientist.

 Email Chelsea Gohd at cgohd@space.com or follow her @chelsea_gohd. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com. ||||| NASA/GSFC

 NASA recently announced its Curiosity rover had discovered complex organic molecules – key raw materials for life as we know it – on the surface of Mars. But now it seems a previous NASA probe may have made the same discovery more than 40 years ago, then accidentally burned it up.

 In 1976, NASA’s twin Viking landers conducted the first experiments that searched for organic matter on the Red Planet. Researchers had long known that all planets receive a steady rain of carbon-rich micrometeorites and dust from space, meaning that Mars should be …

Summary: – Much was made of NASA's announcement last month that "building blocks of life" had been found on Mars. But new research suggests the same organic molecules may actually have been discovered by Viking landers NASA sent to Mars in 1976—and then accidentally burned, New Scientist reports. The landers' main instrument was a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer, which used heat in an attempt to find organic matter. But scientists now know that due to a chemical in the soil on Mars, that process would have destroyed anything organic. At the time, scientists were "shocked" when the Viking landers reported finding nothing organic, USA Today reports. "It was just completely unexpected and inconsistent with what we knew," a NASA scientist explains, per Space.com. Small, carbon-rich meteorites frequently hit Mars, so researchers had long assumed there would be organic matter on the planet. When scientists discovered perchlorate, a salt that's explosive under high temperatures, in Mars soil, they realized what might have happened during the 1976 mission. The new study corroborates the idea of the Viking landers possibly discovering and then destroying organic matter, but it doesn't conclusively prove it.


Supreme Court blocks ruling that let transgender Va. student use boys' bathroom

 The Supreme Court signaled in an order Wednesday that it is highly likely to grapple with the issue of transgender bathrooms in its coming term.

 Acting on a 5-3 vote, the justices put on hold a groundbreaking court ruling requiring a Virginia school district to accommodate a transgender high school student’s request to use the boys’ bathroom.

 Story Continued Below

 It’s the first time the high court has shown interest in the transgender bathroom issue, which has prompted nearly half of states to sue the Obama administration over its interpretation of federal civil rights law. The Justice and Education Departments have said transgender students are offered sweeping civil rights protections under federal law, including their right to access bathrooms and locker rooms in alignment with their gender identity.

 The American Civil Liberties Union is representing student Gavin Grimm in the case. Senior staff attorney Joshua Block said, “We are disappointed that the court has issued a stay and that Gavin will have to begin another school year isolated from his peers and stigmatized by the Gloucester County school board just because he’s a boy who is transgender. We remain hopeful that Gavin will ultimately prevail.”

 Francisco Negrón, general counsel and associate executive director of legal advocacy at the National School Boards Association, said the high court eventually will have to resolve the issue of transgender bathroom access.

 "A quick court resolution would be a welcome thing," he said, as schools and districts are struggling with conflicting messages and policies from the federal government, states, districts and court cases.

 Attorneys for the school board said they welcomed the Supreme Court’s action "as the new school year approaches."

 "The Board continues to believe that its resolution of this complex matter fully considered the interests of all students and parents in the Gloucester County school system," the school board said.

 The Justice Department declined to comment.

 Justice Stephen Breyer joined with the court’s four GOP appointees to lift—for now—the obligation of the Gloucester County school system to allow Grimm to use the bathroom of his choice in accordance with Obama Administration guidance.

 In a statement accompanying the order, Breyer said he was agreeing to the stay as a “courtesy” because the court is in recess and putting the ruling on hold "will preserve the status quo." The three other Democratic appointees opposed the stay.

 However, since only four justices are needed to grant review in a case, the fact that the four Republican appointees favored the stay sought by the school district is a strong sign the high court will agree to take up the case this fall.

 Nathan Smith, director of public policy for the LGBT advocacy organization GLSEN, said "preserving the 'status quo’ unfortunately means allowing a school district to discriminate against a transgender student."

 "But it doesn’t seem like the decision here was on the merits of the case, so we feel pretty confident that they’ll ultimately rule in a just way," Smith added. "But at least in the short-term we’re pretty disappointed.”

 A Richmond, Va.-based federal appeals court ruled in April that the U.S. Department of Education acted within its authority when issuing guidance to school systems on the transgender bathroom issue and that Grimm’s school had a duty to follow it.

 The school board filed an emergency application with SCOTUS last month, asking Chief Justice John Roberts to suspend a lower court’s decision granting Grimm bathroom access while they ask the Supreme Court to take up the case. As is customary, Roberts referred the request to the full court.

 Authors: ||||| The school board said it intended to file an appeal petition by the end of this month that formally asks the high court to review the 4th Circuit's decision. If the justices agree to hear the case, which now seems likely, it would be one of the court's major cases of the coming term. If a 4-4 deadlock is averted, the case could yield the court's first ruling on the issue of transgender rights. ||||| RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia school board can block a transgender male from using the boys restroom when school starts next month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

 In a 5-3 decision, the high court put on hold a lower court ruling that ordered the Gloucester County School Board to let Gavin Grimm use the bathroom that matches his gender identity. The school board is expected to ask the justices to further intervene in the case later this month.

 The decision means Grimm will be barred from using the boys bathroom for at least the first half of his senior year, said Josh Block, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who's representing Grimm.

 The school board says it plans to formally ask the Supreme Court to review 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Grimm's case by the end of August and then it will be months before the justices decide whether to do so.

 Block said he's disappointed the teen will have to begin another school year being "stigmatized and isolated from the rest of his peers just because he is transgender." But he said he remains hopeful that Grimm will ultimately prevail in the case.

 Grimm, who was born female but identifies as male, was allowed to use the boys restroom at his high school for several weeks in 2014. But after some parents complained, the school board adopted a policy requiring students to use either the restroom that corresponds with their biological gender or a private, single-stall restroom. Grimm argues the policy violates Title IX, a federal law that bars sex discrimination in schools.

 The school board counters that allowing Grimm use the boys restroom raises privacy concerns and may cause some parents to pull their children out of school. An attorney for the board didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

 If the justices agree to hear Grimm's case, the order will remain on hold until the court makes a final ruling, the court's ruling said. If they deny the school board's petition for review, the order requiring the board to let Grimm use the boys bathroom will be reinstated.

 The appeals court sided with Grimm in April, saying the federal judge who previously dismissed Grimm's Title IX discrimination claim ignored a U.S. Department of Education rule that transgender students in public schools must be allowed to use restrooms that correspond with their gender identity.

 The appeals court reinstated Grimm's Title IX claim and sent it back to the district court for further consideration. But the high court's decision Wednesday puts Grimm's case on hold until the justices decide whether to intervene.

 Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented. Justice Stephen Breyer said he agreed to put the case on hold to "preserve the status quo" until the court decides whether to weigh in.

 ___

 Follow Alanna Durkin Richer on Twitter at https://twitter.com/aedurkinricher. Her work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/alanna-durkin-richer.

Summary: – Seventeen-year-old Gavin Grimm will start his senior year of high school once again banned from using the boys restroom, the AP reports. In a 5-3 decision on Wednesday, the US Supreme Court put a hold on the decision of a lower court that would have allowed Grimm, a transgender male, to use the boys restroom at his school in Virginia. According to the Los Angeles Times, an appeals court ruled in April that the school board was in violation of Title IX when it barred Grimm from the boys restroom. Grimm's lawyer says the Supreme Court's decision means Grimm will continue to be "stigmatized and isolated from the rest of his peers just because he is transgender." However, Politico reports it's likely the Supreme Court will hear Grimm's case when it reconvenes in the fall. And that's good news for Grimm and transgender students like him: A hearing on the issue will probably result in a 4-4 tie, which will uphold the appeals court's earlier ruling and allow Grimm to use the boys restroom—albeit months from now, according to the Times. The appeals court's ruling will also be upheld if the Supreme Court decides not to hear the case. Grimm used the boys restroom for a few weeks in 2014 until a number of parents complained. The Virginia school board says it wants to "protect the basic expectations of bodily privacy."


Not only did FiveThirtyEight's Silver pick all 50 state winners in the presidential race, he also beat out his polling aggregator rivals for sheer margin of accuracy.

 FiveThirtyEight blogger and statistician Nate Silver. (Credit: CBSNews.com)

 While there's already been whole swimming pools of ink devoted to the Election Day prediction performance of polling aggregators like FiveThirtyEight blogger Nate Silver, CNET is ready to hand out one more round of kudos to the king of the quants.

 By now, anyone following the presidential election knows that Silver successfully predicted the winner in the race between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in all 50 states. That performance was one for the ages, earning him worldwide admiration and validating a polling aggregation model that had drawn mockery and ire from many pundits.

 This CNET chart shows that, among polling aggregators, FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver was more accurate than anyone on Election Day. (Credit: Data by Daniel Terdiman/CNET)

 But Silver wasn't the only one to do exceptionally well in the prediction department. In fact, each of the five aggregators that CNET surveyed yesterday -- FiveThirtyEight, TPM PollTracker, HuffPost Pollster, the RealClearPolitics Average, and the Princeton Election Consortium -- successfully called the election for Obama, and save for TPM PollTracker and RealClearPolitics handing Florida to Romney, the aggregators were spot on across the board when it came to picking swing state victors.

 Read: The post-election tech tally: Winners and losers

 Still, even within the club of those who used computational analysis of thousands of national and statewide polls to peg the outcome of the election, someone had to be the most accurate. And a CNET examination of each aggregator's performance reveals a single winner -- unsurprisingly, Silver.

 In addition to picking the winner in all 50 states -- besting his 49 out of 50 slate in 2008 -- Silver was also the closest among the aggregators to picking the two candidates' popular vote percentages. All told, he missed Obama's total of 50.8 percent by just four-tenths of a percentage point (50.4) and Romney's 48 percent by just three-tenths of a point (48.3) for an average miss of just 0.35 percentage points. HuffPo Pollster and RealClearPolitics tied for second with an average miss of 0.85 points.

 In preparing to make these comparisons, CNET surveyed 11 swing states. In the end, Silver was closest to the final margins among the candidates in seven of them and also had the best overall record, missing by an average of just 1.46 points in the 11 states. TPM PollTracker was second with the closest predicted margins in three states, and the second-best average margin, 1.80 points.

 It is worth noting that while Silver's final pre-election calculations showed a tie vote in Florida, he still predicted a 50.3 chance that the president would prevail in the Sunshine State.

 The performances by Silver and his fellow polling aggregators should be sounding alarm bells in the halls of long-venerated pollsters like Gallup -- which, by the way, predicted that Romney would win the national popular vote by a point.

 For the Nate-haters, here's the 538 prediction and actual results side by side twitter.com/cosentino/stat... -- Michael Cosentino (@cosentino) November 7, 2012

 But the situation does create a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. While the results of pollsters like Gallup and many of its competitors are looking increasingly suspect in the face of more accurate predictions by Silver and other aggregators, and while some may begin choosing to ignore those traditional polls, the aggregators could not do what they do without the standard polling systems.

 In the meantime, even Silver may need to tip his cap to someone who seems to have done an even better job at prognosticating the final presidential election results. In a blog post today, dailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas noted that he had predicted exactly the final Electoral College vote totals and reported an average margin in the swing states that was less than Silver's or that of any aggregator. Moulitsas' methodology? A savvy but seemingly manual reading of last-minute pre-election polls. Maybe the quants don't have all the answers after all.

 Correction, November 8, 4 p.m. PT: The above chart originally misreported the number of points by which TPM PollTracker was off in Florida. The correct figure is 1.7 points. ||||| Two more presidential elections, 2016 and 2020, will be contested under the current Electoral College configuration, which gave Barack Obama a second term on Tuesday. This year’s results suggest that this could put Republicans at a structural disadvantage.

 Based on a preliminary analysis of the returns, Mitt Romney may have had to win the national popular vote by three percentage points on Tuesday to be assured of winning the Electoral College. The last Republican to accomplish that was George H.W. Bush, in 1988. In the table below, I have arranged the 50 states and the District of Columbia from the most Democratic to the most Republican, based on their preliminary results from Tuesday. Along the way, I have counted up the number of electoral votes for the Democratic candidate, starting at zero and going up to 538 as he wins progressively more difficult states.

 This process resembles how the FiveThirtyEight tipping-point analysis was calculated. In the simulations we ran each day, we accounted for the range of possible outcomes in each state and then saw which states provided Mr. Obama with his easiest route to 270 electoral votes, the minimum winning number. The state that put Mr. Obama over the top to 270 electoral votes was the tipping-point state in that simulation.

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 Now that the actual returns are in, we don’t need the simulations or the forecast model. It turned out, in fact, that although the FiveThirtyEight model had a very strong night over all on Tuesday, it was wrong about the identity of the tipping-point state. Based on the polls, it appeared that Ohio was the state most likely to win Mr. Obama his 270th electoral vote. Instead, it was Colorado that provided him with his win – the same state that did so in 2008.

 The worry for Republicans is that Mr. Obama won Colorado by nearly five percentage points (4.7 points was his margin there, to the decimal place). In contrast, Mr. Obama’s margin in the national popular vote, as of this writing, is 2.4 percentage points. We estimate that it will grow to 2.5 percentage points once some remaining returns from states like Washington are accounted for, or perhaps slightly higher once provisional ballots in other states are counted. But it seems clear that Mr. Obama had some margin to spare in the Electoral College.

 Had the popular vote been a tie – assuming that the margin in each state shifted uniformly – he would still have won re-election with 285 electoral votes, carrying Colorado and Virginia, although losing Florida and Ohio.

 In fact, had Mr. Romney won the popular vote by two percentage points, Mr. Obama would still have won the Electoral College, losing Virginia but holding onto Colorado.

 Of course, the relative order of the states can shift a bit from election to election: in 2000, after all, it was Democrats who lost the Electoral College despite winning the popular vote.

 Ohio might be one of the Republicans’ lesser worries. Mr. Obama did win the state, but his margin is 1.9 percentage points based on the ballots in so far, slightly less than his margin of victory nationally, and he may have benefited there from the auto bailout, a one-off event.

 But Mr. Obama did not need Ohio to carry the Electoral College, it turned out. Instead, states where there have been demographic shifts, like Colorado, gave him enough of a cushion.

 Nor was Ohio the only formerly Republican-leaning state to move closer to the Electoral College tipping point. Mr. Obama’s margins in Virginia, Florida and North Carolina also held up well as compared to 2008.

 Virginia, in fact, was incrementally more Democratic-leaning than the country as a whole this year, voting for Mr. Obama by three percentage points.

 In Florida, Democrats now seem to have a real advantage with Hispanic voters. Non-Cuban Hispanics there voted for Mr. Obama by roughly the same two-to-one margins that they did in other states, and the Cuban-American vote, long considered Republican-leaning, is now divided about equally between the parties.

 Mr. Obama lost North Carolina on Tuesday, but he did so by only about two percentage points. By contrast, in 2000 Al Gore lost North Carolina by 13 points despite winning the national popular vote.

 If these states are becoming more Democratic-leaning, which ones are shifting toward Republicans?

 Missouri, once a tossup, is now solidly Republican. And West Virginia, which was once Democratic-leaning enough that Michael Dukakis carried it in 1988, voted for Mr. Romney by 27 points on Tuesday.

 The problem for Republicans is that in states like these, and others like Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas, they are now winning by such large margins there that their vote is distributed inefficiently in terms of the Electoral College.

 By contrast, a large number of electorally critical states – both traditional swing states like Iowa and Pennsylvania and newer ones like Colorado and Nevada – have been Democratic-leaning in the past two elections. If Democrats lose the election in a blowout, they would probably lose these states as well. But in a close election, they are favored in them.

 The Republican Party will have four years to adapt to the new reality. Republican gains among Hispanic voters could push Colorado and Nevada back toward the tipping point, for example.

 States like Wisconsin, New Hampshire and Iowa are overwhelmingly white – but also highly educated, with fairly progressive views on social policy. If Republicans moderated their tone on social issues, they might be more competitive in these states, while regaining ground in Northern Virginia and in the Philadelphia suburbs.

 Finally, some of the Democrats’ apparent advantage in the swing states may reflect Mr. Obama’s voter targeting and turnout operations – which were superior, by most accounts, to John McCain’s in 2008 and Mr. Romney’s in 2012.

 It is not my job to give advice, but the next Republican nominee might be well served to remember that the party won the Electoral College despite losing the popular vote in 2000, when George W. Bush and Karl Rove put more emphasis on the “ground game.” But the Republicans seemed to be at a disadvantage in the last two years when their candidates put less of an investment into it.

 If the parties continue down the same paths, however, this won’t be the last election when most of the swing states turn blue.

Summary: – Nate Silver has a right to gloat, but his first post-election blog post at the New York Times resists the urge. Well, mostly: He acknowledges a "very strong night" and links to a glowing CNET review. Silver does, however, admit to getting one thing wrong on election night: Turns out the "tipping point" state for President Obama as defined by his formula was Colorado, not Ohio as he forecast. Republicans might take heed that Silver thinks they face a "structural disadvantage" in coming elections given that crucial states are turning bluer. "The Republican Party will have four years to adapt to the new reality," he writes. "Republican gains among Hispanic voters could push Colorado and Nevada back toward the tipping point, for example." Read the full post here. Or read about the (fake) "drunk Nate Silver" Twitter meme here.