U.S. Lends Firepower For Iraq's 'New Dawn'
Five days after Obama announced end of combat operations in Iraq, U.S. troops help repel a complex attack by a group of heavily armed militants against a Baghdad military headquarters

News Wrap: U.S. Markets React Positively to Jobs Numbers

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Thirteen workers survived a Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion 100 miles south of Vermilion Bay in Louisiana. In Pakistan, thousands of Shiite Muslims mourned the loss of 35 people who were killed in a triple-bombing in Lahore.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Coast Guard cutters and aircraft scrambled today after the latest oil fire in the Gulf. They picked up all 13 workers who were on the Mariner Energy platform that exploded and burned. It happened in shallow water 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay in Louisiana and about 200 miles west of where the BP oil spill took place.

For more, I'm joined now by David Hammer with The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. Thanks for joining us, David.

DAVID HAMMER, The New Orleans Times-Picayune: Good to be with you, Hari.

HARI SREENIVASAN: All right, so, what's the latest that we have now?

DAVID HAMMER: Well, as you said, all of the 13 people on board have been brought in to the Terrebonne Regional Medical Center. It seems like all they had was sunburn issues, nothing major. And we have had conflicting reports earlier in the day about oil sheen seen on the water. But the latest from the Coast Guard is that there is no sheen visible at this time. And it seems like there's -- people are on edge a lot because of the proximity to the BP spill four months ago.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Sure.

DAVID HAMMER: But it really doesn't seem to be that related.

HARI SREENIVASAN: OK. And how common are these fires and how common is it that people have to evacuate these rigs?

DAVID HAMMER: Well, there have been about 100 or more fires every year on production platforms, according to federal government data. But very rarely do all of the people on board have to evacuate, and certainly not by jumping into the water, as was the case here. So, this was a more significant fire than what you have seen typically.

HARI SREENIVASAN: All right. David Hammer, from The Times-Picayune, thanks so much for joining us today.

DAVID HAMMER: My pleasure.

HARI SREENIVASAN: A new operation began today at the BP well that caused this summer's disastrous spill. Crews removed a cap, now that concrete has been pumped into the well. With the cap gone, investigators can raise the damaged blowout preventer to the surface for examination.

Thousands of Shiite Muslims mourned today for victims of a triple bombing in Lahore, Pakistan. At least 35 people were killed Wednesday and 250 others were wounded. Today, crowds gathered at a public park near the scene of the explosions. They prayed over the bodies of eight victims, before relatives took them to be buried. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility, but Shiite leaders insisted the extremists will not succeed.

HAIDER MOSVI, Shiite cleric (through translator): They want to destroy this country through sectarianism. They want to create misunderstanding among Sunni and Shiite. We will not accept any misunderstanding among Sunni and Shiite. We will give blood to save our country in unity of the Muslims.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Shiites in Pakistan have faced a series of attacks by Sunni militants in recent years.

In Afghanistan, two more U.S. troops died in fighting in the east and the south. And NATO said up to a dozen insurgents were killed in an airstrike in the north. But Afghan President Hamid Karzai charged, the victims were civilians campaigning for a parliamentary candidate.

Trading on Wall Street was muted today, ahead of tomorrow's report on August unemployment. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 50 points to close at 10320. The Nasdaq rose 23 points to close at 2200.

The days of too big to fail must never return. The chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, made that case today to the commission investigating the financial meltdown. Bernanke said giant institutions helped cause the crisis and hindered efforts to contain it.

BEN BERNANKE, Federal Reserve chairman: The most important lesson of this crisis is, we have to end too big to fail. And I believe that we -- much -- in a much different way than we did before the crisis, we now have the tools to address that.

In particular, tougher regulation and oversight will reduce the risks. There has to be a credible way to let firms fail, in fact, require that they fail. I mean, I think it's -- it's striking that the new rules do not permit discretion.

HARI SREENIVASAN: The new financial overhaul law allows regulators to shut down firms that pose a broad threat to the banking system. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation already has that power over smaller institutions.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit today against Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the sheriff's department there in Maricopa County, Arizona. The suit said he refused to turn over records in a probe of alleged racial profiling. The department said it has never seen a local enforcement agency as uncooperative in 30 years. Arpaio said he's been trying to work with Justice. He called the lawsuit harassment.

American workers are paying a larger share of their health care costs at work. The Kaiser Family Foundation reported today the average employee contribution rose 14 percent this year, to nearly $4,000. The study found companies are passing on premium increases that they would have normally absorbed in the past.

Those are some of the day's major stories -- now back to Judy.

Iraq Dispatch: Surviving Lions From the Saddam Regime

BAGHDAD | During our blogging from Iraq, we've been marking the transformation of a few notable places in Baghdad from 2003 to now.

One symbol of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's extravagances was a zoo the family kept in one of its palaces. Though the palace grounds were badly damaged during the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, the three lions survived -- discovered by coalition forces in a neglected state. Now they and their offspring are thriving at the Baghdad zoo.

Massive creatures, the nine adult lions weigh more than 700 pounds each.

"They are my children," their handler tells us, and introduces some of them by name with the help of a translator:

Not to be outdone, the camels wander over and preen for the camera in a different part of the zoo:

Senior correspondent Margaret Warner wrapped up her week of Iraq reports on Friday with an in-depth look at the country's vexing electricity challenges. Watch her past reports on the U.S. troop drawdown, security concerns and political stalemate.

Global Fund Investigates Possible Theft, Sale of Malaria Medication

Malaria causes about 1 million deaths around the world each year, but not all the medication donated to fight the disease is reaching its intended targets.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria -- the largest international funder of malaria programs -- is investigating the possible theft and sale of donated malaria medications "in a number of countries," the group's communications director Jon Liden said this week. The United States government is the largest single contributor to the Global Fund, giving about $3.5 billion since 2001.

"There have been anecdotes about stolen drugs as long as there have been donated drugs in Africa," said Liden. "This is not a new thing at all, but we have had some more clear or concrete allegations -- though so far not substantiated -- in the last months that has led us to start a full investigation of these issues."

The Global Fund will not comment on the scale of the ongoing investigation and would not reveal the countries involved.

Liden's remarks came in response to new research published Thursday in the journal Research and Reports in Tropical Medicine that found stolen donated malaria medications for sale in several African countries.

The report, coauthored by Roger Bate of the American Enterprise Institute and two colleagues from Africa Fighting Malaria, looked at 11 cities in Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Nigeria over a three-year period.

Nearly 900 sample medications were purchased from private pharmacies and 6.5 percent were found to be donated drugs. For artemesinin combination drugs, the most effective medications available for malaria, the percentage was higher; 15 percent were stolen drugs in 2007, and 30 percent in 2010.

Manufacturers package donated drugs differently than those meant for resale and some are specifically marked "Not for Sale," indicating to the researchers that these drugs were stolen somewhere in the distribution chain.

Bate acknowledged that the sample size for the study was small, and that the actual scale of the problem "may be less significant" than the research indicates."What we don't know is the scale, but what I can tell you is it's worse now than it was before [when we started]," Bate said.

He pointed to a USAID audit of the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative in Angola last year that found malaria drugs were "persistently stolen."

"Four major thefts of the malaria drug, Coartem, valued at over $642,000, have occurred under PMI in Angola," the report reads."Critical malaria commodities are not reaching their intended beneficiaries and more Angolans may be unnecessary victims."

Where exactly in the supply chain these medications are being stolen from the ministries of health they were originally donated to, and who is responsible for the theft is unknown, Bate said. He and the other researchers are calling for improved oversight to stem theft and warned that failure to impose better controls could lead to stock-outs of necessary medications at hospitals and clinics.

Liden said the Global Fund is taking steps to address the root cause of malaria drug theft -- that the highest-quality malaria medications can garner high profits in the private sector. Artemesinin combination drugs would now cost between $6 and $10 on the private market in most African countries, but the group is working to reduce that to 40 cents through a new initiative.

"What we have organized through this initiative is to reduce the prices almost 80 percent from the producers and then add money from the Global Fund to make sure the prices become competitive with the older cheaper medications that no longer work," Liden said.

"In that way, we will not only give medications to all those that need it we will take away incentive for this theft."

Editor's Note: For the record, the Gates Foundation, an underwriter of NewsHour global health coverage, has been a contributor to the Global Fund.

Shields and Brooks Dissect Beck Rally, Brewer Brain Freeze, D.C. Sharks

In their Friday stop at the Rundown, columnists Mark Shields and David Brooks answered some of your hard-hitting questions submitted via Facebook and Twitter, including ones about President Obama's handling of foreign affairs and the debate over whether to let the Bush tax cuts expire, extend them for everyone or everyone except the wealthiest Americans.

They also shared their experiences in the crowd at last weekend's Glenn Beck rally in Washington and delved into the "Brewer brain freeze" -- the awkward silences and grammatical flub during Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer's opening statement of a gubernatorial debate this week.

And cue the "Jaws" theme. Shields heralded news of bull shark encounters near Washington as signs that the Potomac River is getting cleaner, while Brooks remarks that Capitol Hill has always been infested with some sharks.

Follow Hari Sreenivasan on Twitter.
With contributions by Dave Gustafson.