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AGING AMERICA: Poll finds people in denial about the need for long-term care as they get older
• WASHINGTON (AP) -- We're in denial: Americans underestimate their chances of needing long-term care as they get older -- and are taking few steps to get ready.
• A new poll examined how people 40 and over are preparing for this difficult and often pricey reality of aging, and found two-thirds say they've done little to no planning.
• In fact, 3 in 10 would rather not think about getting older at all. Only a quarter predict it's very likely that they'll need help getting around or caring for themselves during their senior years, according to the poll by the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
• That's a surprise considering the poll found more than half of the 40-plus crowd already have been caregivers for an impaired relative or friend -- seeing from the other side the kind of assistance they, too, may need later on.
• "I didn't think I was old. I still don't think I'm old," explained retired schoolteacher Malinda Bowman, 60, of Laura, Ohio.
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Qatar faces backlash among Syrian opposition groups and rebels for outsized role in Syria
• BEIRUT (AP) -- In a war-battered suburb of Damascus, a commander for one of the smaller nationalist brigades fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Assad grumbles about the lack of ammunition for his men. He blames Qatar, saying the oil-rich Gulf state directs its backing to rebels with a more Islamist ideology.
• Tiny, U.S.-allied Qatar has emerged as one of the strongest international backers of the rebellion against Syrian President Bashar Assad. Many in the Syrian opposition laud Qatar, saying it has stepped in while the international community has failed to intervene or send military aid that would help tip the balance in favor of the rebels, three years into the uprising-turned civil war that has ravaged the country and killed more than 70,000 people.
• But its role has also caused tensions within the ranks of the highly fragmented rebellion and political opposition. Some rebel brigades complain they are left out in the cold from the flow of money and weapons, sparking rivalries between secular and Islamist groups. Fighters and opposition activists worry that Qatar is buying out (Continued on page 32)
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