Senate Says No: Day 13. Democrats and Republicans rejected each other’s financial solutions yesterday as the Thursday deadline approaches for raising the national debt ceiling. Congress accomplished little more than talking, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “I hope that our talking is some solace to the American people and the world.”

  The Senate will be in session this afternoon as world financial leaders pressure the US government to settle its problems.

The Statue of Liberty re-opens today under a deal in which states can shoulder the cost of running national parks while the federal government is out of order. New York is among five states that decided to take the deal because the lack of tourists in national parks is killing local business.

Arizona is paying $651,000 to open the Grand Canyon for seven days. Utah opened parks, including Zion, at a cost of 1.67 million for 10 days.

Heard It Here First: Among the Republican “message” points for the coming week according to our reliable sources: “Hardworking Americans do not want a government shutdown and they do not want Obamacare” and, “House Republicans remain committed to solutions that will reopen the government as soon as possible.”

World: Secy of State John Kerry says the US and Afghanistan have reached a preliminary agreement for the presence of American troops beyond 2014. A sticking point is the US insistence on prosecuting soldiers who break Afghan law under American law.

• Eastern India has been hit by an enormous cyclone that has ripped out trees, brought down power lines and forced the evacuation of half a million people. Winds reached 130 mph, but there appear to be few casualties.
• About 90 people died today and 100 were injured in the stampede of Hindu worshippers crossing a bridge to a temple in central India. A rumor had spread through the crowd that the bridge was collapsing.
• A Cargo truck used as a bus in Peru plunged 650 feet into a ravine, killing 51 people. Accidents like this are common on mountain roads in Peru. Last year 4,000 people died in similar incidents.

Cold Case. Twenty-two years after an unknown child nicknamed “Baby Hope” was found dead in the woods in upper Manhattan, the girl has been identified and her uncle arrested. It was a notorious case at the time. The child was only recently identified as Anjelica Castillo, between 3 and 5 years old. Police say Conrado Juarez, 53, kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and smothered the girl with the help of his wife. The girl’s mother now says she did not report her daughter missing in 1991 because she was afraid of the child’s father. Having found no family, detectives paid for the girl’s headstone.

Is It Me?: The actor who had agreed to star in the movie version of the erotic novel 50 Shades of Grey has pulled out of the production. Hunky Charlie Hunnam, 33, stars in “Sons of Anarchy” on the FX channel and says he can’t fit the movie shoot into his busy television schedule. This will re-start an international argument about who’s the perfect fantasy male to play the kinky millionaire Christian Grey. Just read the book.

-30-