SINGAPORE: Train services on the Northeast Line have been delayed due to a train fault on Thursday.
A caller to the MediaCorp hotline said a train has apparently broken down.
She said commuters have been told to take the bus to Serangoon station to continue their journey.
Delays of up to 20 minutes can be expected in train services in both directions.
One commuter said she had been stuck in the train for about 30 minutes.
- CNA/xq
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Washington (CNN) -- After progress earlier this week in fiscal cliff negotiations, President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner butted heads Wednesday, setting the stage for a showdown as the deadline looms for an agreement.
The negotiations had focused on a $2 trillion package of new revenue, spending cuts and entitlement changes the two sides have shaped into a broad deficit reduction plan.
Boehner on Tuesday proposed a "plan B," which would extend Bush-era tax cuts on income of up to $1 million. He described it as a fallback option to prevent a sweeping tax hike while negotiations continue on a broader plan.
But the White House on Wednesday threatened to veto "plan B," saying it would bring only "minimal" changes in projected budget deficits.
Obama told reporters earlier in the day that Republicans were focused too much on besting him personally rather than thinking about what's best for the country.
"Take the deal," Obama said to Republicans, referring to the broader proposal, adding that it would "reduce the deficit more than any other deficit reduction package" and would represent an achievement.
"They should be proud of it," Obama said. "But they keep on finding ways to say 'no' as opposed to finding ways to say 'yes.' "
His comments at a White House news conference came less than two weeks before the end of the year, when the nation's taxpayers would face automatic tax increases and deep spending cuts if no agreement is reached.
Economists say that failure to reach agreement could spark another recession.
Boehner issued his own statement Wednesday, saying the president had yet to make a proposal offering a balance between increased revenue and spending cuts.
In a 52-second appearance before reporters, Boehner said the House will pass his fallback plan Thursday limiting tax increases to income above $1 million.
While the plan represents a concession from Boehner's original vow to oppose any tax-rate increase, it sets a higher threshold than the $400,000 sought by Obama.
Once the House passes his plan, the president can either persuade Senate Democrats to accept it or "be responsible for the largest tax increase in American history," Boehner said before walking off without answering shouted questions.
The Obama administration and congressional Democrats said Boehner changed course because he was unable to muster Republican support for the larger deal being negotiated with Obama.
At his news conference, Obama alluded to last Friday's Connecticut school shootings in calling on Republicans to put aside political brinksmanship. "If there's one thing we should have after this week, it should be perspective about what's important," he said.
"Right now, what the country needs is for us to compromise," he continued. He characterized as "puzzling" the GOP refusal to accept his compromise.
Asked why an agreement was proving so elusive after both sides had made concessions, Obama said it might be that "it is very hard for them to say 'yes' to me."
"At some point they've got to take me out of it," Obama said of Republicans, adding they should instead focus on "doing something good for the country."
Boehner responded by arguing that Obama's proposal was not evenly balanced, with more new revenue instead of the spending cuts and entitlement reforms Republicans seek.
The Boehner plan B would leave intact government spending cuts, including those related to defense, which are required under a budget deal reached last year to raise the federal debt ceiling. The threat of cuts was intended to motivate Congress to reach a deal.
Opinion: Art that calls the fiscal cliff's bluff
But Obama said Wednesday that Boehner's proposal "defies logic" because it raises tax rates on some Americans, which Republicans say they do not want, and contains no spending cuts, which Republicans say they do want.
He also criticized the measure as a benefit for wealthy Americans, who would have lower tax rates on income up to $1 million.
The White House and congressional Democrats say plan B has no chance of passing; Obama said that bringing it up only wastes time.
Senior administration officials said Obama and Boehner have not spoken to each other since Monday. GOP leaders planned to vote Thursday on Boehner's proposal, as well as Obama's long-standing proposal to return to higher tax rates of the 1990s on income above $250,000 for families.
Obama on Monday raised the threshold for the higher tax rates to $400,000.
Conservative allies publicly supported Boehner's plan Wednesday.
Anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist provided political cover for Republicans who have signed his pledge against tax increases, saying he could support plan B.
Obama and Democrats argue that increased revenue, including higher tax rates on the wealthy, must be part of broader deficit reduction plan.
Obama made the tax proposal a theme of his re-election campaign, arguing that it would prevent a tax increase for middle-class Americans.
Polls show support for the Obama plan, and some Republicans have called for acceding to the president on the tax issue in order to focus on cuts to spending and entitlement programs.
Budget experts: Fiscal cliff deal could disappoint
Boehner and Republicans initially opposed any rise in tax rates but agreed to raising revenue by eliminating some deductions and loopholes. The offer of a plan with higher rates for millionaires represented a further concession, but Obama and Democrats say it would not suffice.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Boehner's plan appeared to be a result of pressure from tea party conservatives opposing a wider deal.
"It would be a shame if Republicans abandoned productive negotiations due to pressure from the tea party, as they have time and again," Reid said this week.
Boehner's spokesman, Michael Steel, shot back that the plan B proposal gave Democrats what they wanted -- higher tax rates on millionaires.
What happens if the payroll tax cut expires
Obama's latest offer has generated protests from the liberal base of the Democratic Party because it includes cuts in entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Justin Ruben, executive director of MoveOn, which backed Obama's presidential campaigns, said its members would consider any benefit cuts "a betrayal that sells out working and middle-class families."
In particular, liberals cited concessions that Obama made Monday in his counteroffer, including a new inflation formula applied to benefits called chained CPI.
Obama offers fiscal cliff tax concession
Chained CPI includes assumptions on consumer habits in response to rising prices, such as seeking cheaper alternatives, and would result in smaller benefit increases in future years.
Statistics supplied by opponents say the change would mean Social Security recipients would get $6,000 less in benefits over the first 15 years of chained CPI.
But White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama's CPI proposal "would protect vulnerable communities, including the very elderly, when it comes to Social Security recipients." He called the president's acceptance of the chained CPI a signal of his willingness to compromise.
CNN's Dan Lothian, Dana Bash, Deirdre Walsh and Brianna Keilar contributed to this report.
WASHINGTONSenate Republicans on Wednesday proposed a $24 billion emergency aid package for Superstorm Sandy victims, less than half of what Democrats hope to pass by Christmas.
The GOP alternative bill would provide more than enough money to pay for immediate recovery efforts through the spring.
Republicans complain that the $60.4 billion Democratic bill being debated in the Senate is larded with money for projects unrelated to damage from the late October storm, which battered the Atlantic coastline from North Carolina to Maine.
The Republican version does not include $13 billion Democrats want for projects to protect against future storms, including fortification of mass transit systems in the Northeast and protecting vulnerable seaside areas by building jetties against storm surges.
Republicans said however worthy such projects may be, they are not urgently needed and should be considered by Congress in the usual appropriations process next year, not through emergency spending.
"We want to take care of urgent needs now," said Indiana Sen. Dan Coats, ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations homeland security subcommittee, who put forward the bill. "We can look at other needs down the road when we have more time to look at them."
The GOP bill also scraps spending from the Democratic bill that is not directly related to Sandy damages, such as the $150 million for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for declared fisheries disasters in 2012 that could go to New England states, Alaska, New York and Mississippi.
The aid will help states rebuild public infrastructure like roads and tunnels and help thousands of people displaced from their homes. Sandy was the most costly natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and one of the worst storms ever in the Northeast.
More than $2 billion in federal funds has been spent on relief efforts so far for 11 states and the District of Columbia. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund still has about $4.8 billion, and officials have said that is enough to pay for recovery efforts into early spring.
Earlier this month, Govs. Chris Christie, R-N.J., Andrew Cuomo, D-N.Y., and Dannel Malloy, D-Conn., argued in an op-ed that "in times of crisis no region, state or single American should have to stand alone or be left to fend for themselves," pointing to the "hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed, thousands still left homeless or displaced, tens of billions of dollars in economic loss" as evidence that "It's time for Congress to stand with us."
The governors, while recognizing that "our nation faces significant fiscal challenges," strive to separate the disaster-relief needs of their region from the ongoing "fiscal cliff" negotiations consuming Capitol Hill, arguing that Congress must "not allow this much-needed aid to fall in to the ideological divide."
Invoking the somber aftermath of the school massacre in Newtown, Conn., President Obama today appealed to congressional Republicans to embrace a standing "fair deal" on taxes and spending that would avert the fiscal cliff in 13 days.
"If there's one thing we should have after this week, it should be a sense of perspective about what's important," Obama said at a midday news conference.
"I would like to think that members of that [Republican] caucus would say to themselves, 'You know what? We disagree with the president on a whole bunch of things,'" he said. "'But right now what the country needs is for us to compromise.'"
House Speaker John Boehner's response: "Get serious."
Boehner announced at a 52-second news conference that the House will vote Thursday to approve a "plan B" to a broad White House deal -- and authorize simply extending current tax rates for people earning less than $1 million a year and little more.
"Then, the president will have a decision to make," the Ohio Republican said. "He can call on Senate Democrats to pass that bill or he could be responsible for the largest tax increase in American history."
Unless Congress acts by Dec. 31, every American will face higher income tax rates and government programs will get hit with deep automatic cuts starting in 2013.
Obama and Boehner have been inching closer to a deal on tax hikes and spending cuts to help reduce the deficit. But they have not yet had a breakthrough on a deal.
Obama's latest plan would raise $1.2 trillion in new tax revenue over 10 years, largely through higher tax rates on incomes above $400,000. He also proposes roughly $930 billion in spending cuts, including new limits on entitlement spending, such as slower annual cost-of-living increases for Social Security beneficiaries.
Boehner has agreed to $1 trillion in new tax revenue, with a tax rate hike for households earning over $1 million. He is seeking more than $1 trillion in spending cuts, with significant changes to Medicare and Social Security.
The president said today that he remains "optimistic" about reaching a broad compromise by Christmas because both sides are "pretty close," a sentiment that has been publicly shared by Boehner.
But the speaker's backup plan has, at least temporarily, stymied talks, with no reported contact between the sides since Monday.
"The speaker should return to the negotiating table with the president because if he does I firmly believe we can have an agreement before Christmas," said Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., a White House ally.
Schumer said Obama and Boehner are "not that far apart" in the negotiations.
"If they were to come to an agreement by Friday, they could write this stuff over the Christmas break and then we'd have to come back before the New Year and pass it," Schumer said.
Obama said he is "open to conversations" and planned to reach out to congressional leaders over the next few days to try to nudge Republicans to accept a "fair deal."
"At some point, there's got to be, I think, a recognition on the part of my Republican friends that -- you know, take the deal," he told reporters.
"They keep on finding ways to say no, as opposed to finding ways to say yes," Obama added. "At some point, you know, they've got take me out of it and think about their voters and think about what's best for the country."
A UNIVERSAL vaccine. It is the stuff of dreams for flu scientists, but it could be within reach if a new type of vaccine that elicits an immune response from white blood cells is combined with traditional vaccines.
Every year, between 250,000 and 500,000 people of all ages die worldwide after getting seasonal flu, partly because few people are vaccinated for it. When a novel human flu evolves in pigs or poultry and becomes pandemic, the numbers can be even higher. The solution is better vaccines for people and animals.
Flu comes back every year because when you catch it or are vaccinated, your immune system is only trained to identify the flu's large surface proteins. These proteins change from year to year, allowing flu to strike again if you haven't had an updated vaccine.
To end the need for continually updated shots, researchers have tried to create a vaccine for all flu
, with varied success.
Most attempts have been vaccines designed to make us produce antibodies, aimed not at flu's surface proteins, but at internal proteins that are the same in all flu viruses. Success has been mixed. But there is another arm to the immune system. White blood cells called T-cells tend to attack a wider range of invaders than antibodies. If a vaccine sensitises them to internal flu proteins, they could potentially kill all types of flu.
Earlier this year, Sarah Gilbert and colleagues at the University of Oxford equipped the virus used in the smallpox vaccine, which stimulates this cell-mediated immunity, with two proteins common to all flu viruses. They reported that this vaccine prevented symptoms in some people experimentally infected with flu, and those that did get sick had milder symptoms.
Now Colin Butter and colleagues at the Institute for Animal Health in Compton, UK, have tested that vaccine, and a similar one made of a different live virus, in chickens (Vaccine, doi.org/jz6). Just as in people, it did not prevent infection, but the birds' T-cells responded strongly, and less of the virus was passed on.
Neither result sounds very impressive. But, says Butter, the key will be combining these vaccines with the classic kind that elicits antibodies. Gilbert reports that her team has tested such a combination in people, and has seen cell-mediated immunity to the universal proteins, as well as antibodies to specific surface proteins.
Such a combination could be more than the sum of its parts. In chickens, for example, antibodies could knock out the main virus, while T-cells mop up the variants that evade the antibodies and allow the virus to keep spreading - and evolving. "We could finally get vaccines that stop viral spread completely," says Butter.
The "universal" proteins would also give chickens and humans some protection against novel flu viruses. And because they work against all flu, such vaccines can be stockpiled to prepare for pandemics. "I'd love to have a stockpile of vaccine with both antibody and cell-mediated capabilities," says Thomas Reichert of the Entropy Research Institute in Lincoln, Massachusetts. This gives us a chance to beat an adversary we've been defeated by time and again. Or as Reichert puts it: "Now that might bring flu to the negotiating table."
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SINGAPORE: Grassroots organisations under the People's Association umbrella are organising about 50 community countdown parties islandwide to usher in the new year.
80,000 residents are expected to join in the revelry, which will also feature more budding local performers. Some of the highlights include a cosplay event, stargazing, and fireworks.
For example, for the countdown at Boon Lay, local bands will perform for the residents, while at the cosplay event at the Sengkang West countdown party, organisers will try to set the first record for largest cosplay gathering in the Singapore Book of Records.
At Nee Soon GRC's countdown party, the fireworks display will be upped to five minutes - from three minutes in previous years.
People's Association's chief executive director Mr Yam Ah Mee said that in the last few years, he has noticed more youth community leaders getting involved in the planning and organising of these countdown parties.
"These youths have brought together new insights to how they would like to organise the countdown, to provide platforms for fellow other youths and fellow other residents to come - not just to watch the countdown, but to participate in the countdown. And the youths have also planned to involve more of the residents' talents so residents can showcase, using the platform of the countdown, to showcase their talents to fellow other residents," he said.
- CNA/ck
By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN
updated 3:46 AM EST, Wed December 19, 2012
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
(CNN) -- In one case after another, Dominique Strauss-Kahn has managed to put behind him the allegations of sexual misconduct that sidelined his prospects of becoming France's next president.
On Wednesday, the former chief of the International Monetary Fund -- and one time French finance minister -- will find out if he has managed a clean sweep.
A French appeals court will decide whether prosecutors should drop charges against Strauss-Kahn for his alleged participation in a prostitution ring, in what is known in France as the "Carlton affair."
Strauss-Kahn does not deny that he attended sex parties at Hotel Carlton in the northern city of Lille. But, his lawyers claim, he did not know that the young women at the parties were being paid for sex.
So, to charge Strauss-Kahn with aggravated pimping, is "unhealthy, sensationalist and not without a political agenda," his lawyers said.
Strauss-Khan, a 63-year-old economist, was widely expected to become the Socialist presidential candidate -- until his professional career imploded with an arrest in New York in May 2011.
A New York hotel housekeeper, Nafissatou Diallo, told police that a naked Strauss-Kahn emerged from a room of his spacious luxury hotel suite and tried to force himself on her, at one point dragging her into the bathroom and trying to remove her underwear.
Strauss-Kahn alleged the encounter was consensual, but stepped down from his $500,000 job at the IMF.
A grand jury indicted him on seven counts, including sexual abuse and attempted rape, but prosecutors later dropped the charges after concluding Diallo had lied about some details of the alleged attack -- despite forensic evidence that showed a sexual encounter had occurred.
Diallo then filed a civil suit against Strauss-Kahn. The two sides reached a settlement last week, the details of which have not been disclosed.
Earlier in October, a French prosecutor dropped an investigation connecting Strauss-Kahn to a possible gang rape in Washington.
The young Belgian woman whose testimony was the basis for the inquiry withdrew her previous statement and said she would not press charges -- leaving the investigation with no grounds to continue, officials said.
Strauss-Kahn also faced allegations of attempted rape from a young French writer.
Tristane Banon filed a complaint, alleging a 2003 attack. But prosecutors said the case could not be pursued because of a statute of limitations.
Strauss-Kahn denied the allegations and has since filed a countersuit in France, alleging slander.
Updated 3:30 a.m. EST
GENEVA Swiss banking giant UBS AG said Wednesday it has admitted to fraud and agreed to pay some $1.5 billion to U.S., British and Swiss authorities in a probe into the rigging of global benchmark interest rates.
The settlement caps a tough year for Switzerland's biggest bank, which is one of several leading banks that has been under investigation over allegations of manipulating the benchmark LIBOR interest rate, short for London interbank offered rate. It is used to set the interest rates on trillions of dollars in contracts around the world, including mortgages and credit cards.
The rate is a self-policing system and relies on information global banks submit to a British banking authority. American and British regulators have already fined Britain's Barclays $453 million for submitting false information between 2005 and 2009 to keep the interest rate low.
UBS said some of its employees tried to rig the LIBOR rate in several currencies, but that its Japan unit, where much of the manipulation took place, entered a plea to one count of wire fraud in a proposed agreement with the U.S. Justice Department.
The statement from the UBS board of directors said some of its personnel had "engaged in efforts to manipulate submissions for certain benchmark rates to benefit trading positions."
The bank also said some of its employees had "colluded with employees at other banks and cash brokers to influence certain benchmark rates to benefit their trading positions" or had given "inappropriate directions to UBS submitters that were in part motivated by a desire to avoid unfair and negative market and media perceptions during the financial crisis."
Sergio Ermotti, who was appointed CEO of UBS AG in November 2012 in the wake of a major trading scandal, said in the statement that the misconduct does not reflect the bank's values or standards.
"We deeply regret this inappropriate and unethical behavior. No amount of profit is more important than the reputation of the firm, and we are committed to doing business with integrity," he said.
With more than $2.4 trillion in invested assets, Zurich-based UBS is one of the world's largest managers of private wealth assets. At last count, the bank had 63,745 employees in 57 countries. It has said it aims for a headcount of 54,000 in 2015.
Along with Credit Suisse, the second-largest Swiss bank, UBS is on the list of the 29 "global systemically important banks" that the Basel, Switzerland-based Bank for International Settlements, the central bank for central banks, considers too big to fail.
In 2008, UBS was forced to seek a bailout from the Swiss government when it was hard hit by the financial crisis and its fixed-income unit had more than $50 billion in losses. U.S. authorities fined UBS $780 million in 2009 for helping U.S. citizens avoid paying taxes. The U.S. government has since been pushing Switzerland to loosen its rules on banking secrecy and has been trying to shed its image as a tax haven, signing deals with the United States, Germany and Britain to provide greater assistance to foreign tax authorities seeking information on their citizens' accounts.
In April, Ermotti called Switzerland's tax disputes with the United States and some European nations "an economic war" putting thousands of jobs at risk.
In September 2011, the bank announced more than $2 billion in losses and blamed a 32-year-old rogue trader, Kweku Adoboli, at its London office for Britain's biggest-ever fraud at a bank.
Britain's financial regulator fined UBS, saying its internal controls were inadequate to prevent Adoboli, a relatively inexperienced trader, from making vast and risky bets. Adoboli has been sentenced to seven years in prison.
Residents of Sandy Hook, Conn., gather every year under an enormous tree in the middle of town to sing carols and light the tree. The tree is lit this year, too, but the scene beneath it is starkly different.
The tree looms over hundreds of teddy bears and toys, but they are for children who will never receive them. The ornaments are adorned with names and jarringly recent birth dates.
Wreaths with pine cones and white ribbons hang near the tree, one each for a life lost. A small statue of an angel child sleeps among a sea of candles.
A steady flow of well-wishers, young and old, tearfully comes to cry, pray, light candles, leave gifts and share hugs and stories.
CLICK HERE for complete coverage of the massacre at Sandy Hook.
The Christmas season is a normally joyful time for this tight-knit village, but in the wake of a shooting rampage, holiday decorations have given way this year to memorial signs. And instead of cars with Christmas trees on top, there are media vans with satellites.
Connie Koch has lived in Newtown for nine years. She lives directly behind Sandy Hook Elementary School, where Adam Lanza, 20, killed 20 children and six adults before turning the gun on himself. Earlier that Friday morning, he had also killed his mother at home.
Koch said the shocked town, which includes the Village of Sandy Hook, is experiencing a notably different Christmas this year.
"It's more somber, much more time spent in prayer for our victims' families and our friends that have lost loved ones," she said as she stood near the base of the tree.
CLICK HERE for a tribute to the shooting victims.
Her family has been touched by the tragedy is multiple ways.
"My daughter, she lost her child that she babysat for for six years," she said, holding back tears. "And for her friend who lost her mother. And for my dear friend who lost one of her friends in the school, one of the aides.
"It's hard. And there will be much prayer on Christmas morning for these people, for our community."
Koch said her community always rallies in the face of tragedy, but the term "hits close to home" resonates this time more than ever before. She says the only way to make it through is one day at a time.
"It's all you can do, one hour at a time," Koch said. "For me, I don't even want to wake up in the morning because I don't want to have to face it again. You feel like it's still just a dream and with the funerals starting, it's becoming more real. It's becoming more final."
Another Newtown parent, Adam Zuckerman, stood by the makeshift memorial with a roll of red heart stickers with the words, "In Our" above a drawing of the Sandy Hook Elementary School welcome sign. He was selling the stickers to collect money for a Sandy Hook victims' fund.
"It's a lot," he said of the events of the past few days. "We don't know how it's going to affect our community, but I feel very strongly that I needed to do something to keep it positive, to keep this community positive."
Zuckerman's 20-year-old stepdaughter came home from college for winter break the night before the shooting. As a high school student, she worked in one of the town's popular toy stores.
"She knew a lot of the kids," he said of his daughter. "Their parents brought them in over the years. We have other friends who have lost family here and good friends who are dear friends with the principal of the school. … It's pretty rough."
If the universe is just a Matrix-like simulation, how could we ever know? Physicist Silas Beane thinks he has the answer
The idea that we live in a simulation is just science fiction, isn't it?
There is a famous argument that we probably do live in a simulation. The idea is that in future, humans will be able to simulate entire universes quite easily. And given the vastness of time ahead, the number of these simulations is likely to be huge. So if you ask the question: 'do we live in the one true reality or in one of the many simulations?', the answer, statistically speaking, is that we're more likely to be living in a simulation.
How did you end up working on this issue?
My day job is to do high performance computing simulations of the forces of nature, particularly the strong nuclear force. My colleagues and I use a grid-like lattice to represent a small chunk of space and time. We put all the forces into that little cube and calculate what happens. In effect, we're simulating a very tiny corner of the universe.
How accurate are your simulations?
We're able to calculate some of the properties of real things like the simplest nuclei. But the process also generates artefacts that don't appear in the real world and that we have to remove. So we started to think about what sort of artefacts might appear if we lived in a simulation.
What did you discover?
In our universe the laws of physics are the same in every direction. But in a grid, this changes since you no longer have a spacetime continuum, and the laws of physics would depend on direction. Simulators would be able to hide this effect but they wouldn't be able to get rid of it completely.
How might we gather evidence that we're in a simulation?
Using very high energy particles. The highest energy particles that we know of are cosmic rays and there is a well-known natural cut off in their energy at about 1020 electron volts. We calculated that if the simulators used a grid size of about 10-27 metres, then the cut off energy would vary in different directions.
Do cosmic rays vary in this way?
We don't know. The highest energy cosmic rays are very rare. A square kilometre on Earth is hit by one only about once per century so we're not going to be able map out their distribution any time soon. And even if we do, it'll be hard to show that this is conclusive proof that we're in a simulation.
But can we improve our own simulations?
The size of the universe we simulate is a just fermi, that's a box with sides 10-15 metres long. But we can use Moore's Law to imagine what we might be able to simulate in future. If the current trends in computing continue, we should be simulating a universe the size of a human within a century and within five centuries, we could manage a box 1026 metres big. That's the size of the observable universe.
How have people reacted to your work?
I gave a lecture on this topic the other week and the turnout was amazing. Half of the people looked at me as if I was disturbed and the other half were very enthusiastic.
Silas Beane is a physicist at the University of Bonn, Germany. His paper "Constraints on the Universe as a Numerical Simulation" has been submitted to the journal Physical Review D
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