“Our portion of the system, the CGI was responsible for our functionality worked.”

“And they didn’t?”

“Yes.”

“It did not in the end result, correct?”

“When it became part of an integrated end-to-end system……”

“But you knew it was going to be integrated. There were many subcontractors. That wasn't a surprise.”

The contractors said they warned the Obama administration about insufficient testing in the entire healthcare.gov website, but government decided to go public with its plan October 1. 

 

Meanwhile the Obama administration continues to say it’s working to make sure Americans who buy health insurances anytime during the open enrollment period that ends March 31 will face no penalties. But NPR’s Julie Rovner reports, there’s still no details on how that will happen.

 

As it stands, people can sign up for insurances until the end of March. But in an order to avoid tax penalty, they have to make that purchases by the middle of February. The White House Spokesman Jay Carney said the administration is working to make sure those to wait until the end of open enrollment aren’t penalized either. 

“If you have an insurance by March 31, because you purchased but hasn’t kicked in you should not be penalizing. And we’re working to make sure that does not happen.”

Carney, however, and the officials at the Department of Health and Human Services both say the guide on how they would make that is not yet finished. Julie Rovner, NPR News, Washington. 

 

President Obama is making another attempt to get comprehensive immigration bill through Congress. At The White House today, NPR’s Mara Liasson reports the president told a group of immigration reform advocate now it’s the time to act. 

A big bipartisan majority of Senators have already passed the bill that includes the path to citizenship for undocumented workers in the US, and large bipartisan majority of Americans support the legislation. But the bill has been stuck in the House, and Mr. Obama wants House Republicans to act this year. 

“It’s not smart; it’s not fair. That doesn’t make sense. We’re kicking this particular can down the road for too long.”

But for House Republicans, the politics of immigration are complicated. Many represent districts with few Latino voters are the pressure to pass it now is not as great as it will be after the midterm election when Republicans were looking to run for president in the national election and they have to repeal to the growing block of Hispanic voters. Mara Liasson, NPR News, the White House. 

 

The number of people filing first time unemployment claim fell last week, but less than it expected. Analysts blamed contractor layoff from government shutdown and backlog applications in California. 

 

On Walls Street today, the Dow closed up 95 points; the NASDAQ gained 21. 

 

It is NPR.

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is apparently not satisfied by President Obama’s assurances yesterday that the US National Security Agency is not taping their phone calls. Arriving in Brussels today for an European Summit, Merkel said allegations in US spy on its allies is a shatter trust in the Obama administration. Other European leaders are also expressing outrage over the reports including France where NIC is allegedly swept up more than 70 million phone records in one month. 

 

Off the coast of Nigeria, two Americans have been kidnapped from a US flagship. NPR’s Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports that US officials say the sailors were abducted by pirates. 

The American captain and an engineer from Louisiana-based Edison Chouest Offshore, C-Retriever were abducted when their all-supply vessel came under attack in international waters off the gulf of Guinea, off Nigerian coast. It’s unclear whether a ransom has been demanded for the two US nationals as increasingly the case in pirate’s attacks in a massive ocean region. That’s difficult to monitor and place. Such attacks are rise by 1/3 this year as ships passing through a major commodity route become the targets of guns, seeking to profit from cargos and snatching vulnerable crews. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, NPR News, Abuja. 

 

Walmart says it’s planning to expand its business in China by opening up 110 new stores between 2014 and 2016. The world’s largest retailer sets its focus on building Walmart’s supercenters and Sam's Clubs.