Obama Still an 'Optimist' on Cliff Deal

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

WASHINGTON D.C. – Ten days remain before the mandatory spending cuts and tax increases known as the “fiscal cliff” take effect, but President Obama said he is still a “hopeless optimist” that a federal budget deal can be reached before the year-end deadline that economists agree might plunge the country back into recession.

“Even though Democrats and Republicans are arguing about whether those rates should go up for the wealthiest individuals, all of us – every single one of us -agrees that tax rates shouldn’t go up for the other 98 percent of Americans, which includes 97 percent of small businesses,” he said.

He added that there was “no reason” not to move forward on that aspect, and that it was “within our capacity” to resolve.

The question of whether to raise taxes on incomes over $250,000 remains at an impasse, but is only one element of nuanced legislative wrangling that has left the parties at odds.

For ABC News’ breakdown of the rhetoric versus the reality, click here.

At the White House news conference this evening, the president confirmed he had spoken today to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, although no details of the conversations were disclosed.

The talks came the same day Speaker Boehner admitted “God only knows” the solution to the gridlock, and a day after mounting pressure from within his own Republican Party forced him to pull his alternative proposal from a prospective House vote. That proposal, ”Plan B,” called for extending current tax rates for Americans making up to $1 million a year, a far wealthier threshold than Democrats have advocated.

Boehner acknowledged that even the conservative-leaning “Plan B” did not have the support necessary to pass in the Republican-dominated House, leaving a resolution to the fiscal cliff in doubt.

Ceding the point, the president admitted that a comprehensive budget ill was unlikely by calling instead for a paired down, temporary stop-gap measure.

“In the next few days, I’ve asked leaders of Congress to work towards a package that prevents a tax hike on middle-class Americans, protects unemployment insurance for 2 million Americans, and lays the groundwork for further work on both growth and deficit reduction,” Obama said. ”That’s an achievable goal.  That can get done in 10 days.”

Complicating matters: The halls of Congress are silent tonight. The House of Representatives began its holiday recess Thursday and Senate followed this evening.

Meanwhile, the president has his own vacation to contend with. Tonight, he was embarking for Hawaii and what is typically several weeks of Christmas vacation.

However, during the press conference the president said he would see his congressional colleagues “next week” to continue negotiations, leaving uncertain how long Obama plans to remain in the Aloha State.

The president said he hoped the time off would give leaders “some perspective.”

“Everybody can cool off; everybody can drink some eggnog, have some Christmas cookies, sing some Christmas carols, enjoy the company of loved ones,” he said. “And then I’d ask every member of Congress, while they’re back home, to think about that.  Think about the obligations we have to the people who sent us here.

“This is not simply a contest between parties in terms of who looks good and who doesn’t,” he added later. “There are real-world consequences to what we do here.”

Obama concluded by reiterating that neither side could walk away with “100 percent” of its demands, and that it negotiations couldn’t remain “a contest between parties in terms of who looks good and who doesn’t.”

Boehner’s office reacted quickly to the remarks, continuing recent Republican statements that presidential leadership was at fault for the ongoing gridlock.

“Though the president has failed to offer any solution that passes the test of balance, we remain hopeful he is finally ready to get serious about averting the fiscal cliff,” Boehner said. “The House has already acted to stop all of the looming tax hikes and replace the automatic defense cuts. It is time for the Democratic-run Senate to act, and that is what the speaker told the president tonight.”

The speaker’s office said Boehner “will return to Washington following the holiday, ready to find a solution that can pass both houses of Congress.”

This blog has been updated.

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PM Lee "considering seriously" if by-election should be held for Punggol East

SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says he is considering seriously if a by-election should be held for the Punggol East single-member constituency, and if so, when to hold one.

The parliamentary seat in Punggol East fell vacant following the resignation of the MP for the area Michael Palmer.

Mr Lee was replying to questions from the Singapore media at the end of his visit to India on Friday.

Mr Lee said that if he decides to hold a by-election, then it is within the rights of any of the opposition parties to contest, and it is also up to the voters who they decide to support.

People's Action Party (PAP) will field the best possible candidate and work its utmost to win and retain voters' support in Punggol East, added Mr Lee.

The prime minister said he was very surprised and saddened by what had happened in the case of Mr Palmer.

Mr Lee said that it was quite clear that once the PAP understood what had happened, Mr Palmer had to resign.

- CNA/ir

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BJP activists protest Sanjay Nirupam's remarks against Smriti Irani

MUMBSI: BJP workers on Friday staged a protest against Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam for his reported derogatory remarks against TV actor and BJP member Smriti Irani.

Activists of BJP's youth and women's wings took out a morcha and demanded an apology from Nirupam for his remarks against Irani, who is also a Member of Parliament.

Around 300 BJP cadres participated in the procession which concluded at Nirupam's office in suburban Borivili.

Nirupam made an irresponsible statement at a time when crimes against women are rising and there is anger among people, a BJP functionary said.

He made the controversial remarks yesterday during a debate on a news channel on the Gujarat Assembly election results. The Congress MP questioned the credentials of Irani to analyse poll results given her background as a TV actress.

He reportedly said "till some time ago you were dancing on the TV screens and now you have become a psephologist."

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Hollies Get Prickly for a Reason

With shiny evergreen leaves and bright red berries, holly trees are a naturally festive decoration seen throughout the Christmas season.

They're famously sharp. But not all holly leaves are prickly, even on the same tree. And scientists now think they know how the plants are able to make sharper leaves, seemingly at will. (Watch a video about how Christmas trees are made.)

A new study published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society suggests leaf variations on a single tree are the combined result of animals browsing on them and the trees' swift molecular response to that sort of environmental pressure.

Carlos Herrera of the National Research Council of Spain led the study in southeastern Spain. He and his team investigated the European holly tree, Ilex aquifolium. Hollies, like other plants, can make different types of leaves at the same time. This is called heterophylly. Out of the 40 holly trees they studied, 39 trees displayed different kinds of leaves, both prickly and smooth.

Five holly leaves from the same tree.

Photographs by Emmanuel Lattes, Alamy

Some trees looked like they had been browsed upon by wild goats and deer. On those trees, the lower 8 feet (2.5 meters) had more prickly leaves, while higher up the leaves tended to be smooth. Scientists wanted to figure out how the holly trees could make the change in leaf shape so quickly.

All of the leaves on a tree are genetic twins and share exactly the same DNA sequence. By looking in the DNA for traces of a chemical process called methylation, which modifies DNA but doesn't alter the organism's genetic sequence, the team could determine whether leaf variation was a response to environmental or genetic changes. They found a relationship between recent browsing by animals, the growth of prickly leaves, and methylation.

"In holly, what we found is that the DNA of prickly leaves was significantly less methylated than prickless leaves, and from this we inferred that methylation changes are ultimately responsible for leaf shape changes," Herrera said. "The novelty of our study is that we show that these well-known changes in leaf type are associated with differences in DNA methylation patterns, that is, epigenetic changes that do not depend on variation in the sequence of DNA."

"Heterophylly is an obvious feature of a well-known species, and this has been ascribed to browsing. However, until now, no one has been able to come up with a mechanism for how this occurs," said Mike Fay, chief editor of the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society and head of genetics at the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens. "With this new study, we are now one major step forward towards understanding how."

Epigenetic changes take place independently of variation in the genetic DNA sequence. (Read more about epigenetics in National Geographic magazine's "A Thing or Two About Twins.")

"This has clear and important implications for plant conservation," Herrera said. In natural populations that have their genetic variation depleted by habitat loss, the ability to respond quickly, without waiting for slower DNA changes, could help organisms survive accelerated environmental change. The plants' adaptability, he says, is an "optimistic note" amidst so many conservation concerns. (Related: "Wild Holly, Mistletoe, Spread With Warmer Winters.")

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NRA to Speak on Stopping Newtown Repeat

For the past week, leadership at the National Rifle Association has largely stayed away from the media, but this morning the group may weigh in on how to keep a deadly shooting massacre like last week's at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school from happening again.

The NRA will hold a news conference in Washington, D.C., just before 11 a.m.

Its leadership has held off on interviews this week after refusing to appear on Sunday morning public affairs shows this past weekend.

The group came under pressure after Adam Lanza, 20, killed 20 children and six adults before shooting himself at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown last Friday.

"Out of respect for the families, and as a matter of common decency, we have given time for mourning, prayer and a full investigation of the facts before commenting," the group said in a press release Tuesday. "The NRA is prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again."

NRA News anchor Ginny Simone said Thursday that in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, membership surged "with an average of 8,000 new members a day."

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said the NRA is partially to blame for the tragedy.

"We're not trying to take away your right to advance the interests of gun owners, hunters, people who want to protect themselves," Bloomberg told "Nightline" anchor Cynthia McFadden in an interview Thursday. "But that's not an absolute right to encourage behavior which causes things like Connecticut. In fact, Connecticut is because of some of their actions."

Christian Gooden/St. Louis Post-Dispatch/AP Photo

President Obama Launches Gun-Violence Task Force Watch Video

President Obama on Gun Control: Ready to Act? Watch Video

Joe Biden to Lead Task Force to Prevent Gun Violence Watch Video

The guns used in the attack were legally purchased and owned by the shooter's mother, Nancy Lanza, who Adam Lanza shot to death before his assault on the school.

In the aftermath of the shooting, many, including Bloomberg, have called for stricter regulations on the type of weapons used in this and other instances of mass gun violence this year.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has said she intends to introduce a bill banning assault weapons on the first day of next year's Congress -- a step the president said he supports.

President Obama announced Wednesday that Vice President Joe Biden will head a task force of leaders from across the country that will evaluate the best solutions to reduce gun violence in the United States.

Obama said he will "use all the powers of this office to help advance efforts aimed at preventing more tragedies like this."

Mayors Against Illegal Guns, of which Mayor Bloomberg is co-chair, released a letter to President Obama signed by more than 750 mayors calling on him to produce a plan to "make it harder for dangerous people to possess guns."

The letter asked for mandatory background checks for gun buyers, a ban on high-capacity rifles and ammunition magazines, and a designation of gun trafficking as a federal crime.

ABC News' George Stephanopoulos looked at whether strict gun control laws like those that have worked for the United Kingdom and Japan could work for the U.S. on "Good Morning America" Thursday.

Others have argued that, rather than banning guns, the government should be arming teachers and administrators in schools so that they can defend students in the event of another school shooting.

While Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder vetoed a measure that would have let guns into schools on Tuesday, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell praised the idea.

Speaking on the NRA's daily news program Tuesday, Dave Koppel of the Independence Institute said the teachers at Sandy Hook should have had weapons.

"We'd certainly be talking about fewer innocent people and children dead," Koppel said.

While a national debate over the necessary solutions to prevent a tragedy of this nature from ever happening again wages on, Connecticut residents will have to wait "several months" before the final Connecticut State Police report on the Newtown shootings is complete.

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In the Loop’s presidential election contest winners

(Marlon Correa)
The presidential popular vote counting is just about over — although Cook Political Report guru David Wasserman, who has President Obama at 50.97 percent of the vote now, says there are still some yet to be counted.

But if we’re going to get t-shirts out to the winners of the In The Loop election contest (popular vote) in time for Christmas, we’ve got to stop the count now (kind of like the Supreme Court did in 2000).

So here are the winners — ties broken by time of entry.

1. Emil Marcus, a teacher from Matawan, N.J., who was .03 percent off, predicted on Sept. 11 that Obama would win 51 percent of the vote.

2. Matthew Thomas, a restaurateur from Fredericksburg, Va. predicted 51 percent the next afternoon.

3. Martha Steinbock, a retiree from Silver Spring, was the third person to enter with the same percentage.

4. Stuart Davis, a retired teacher from Arlington — and winner of the electoral vote portion of the contest — wins again with his entry of 51 percent.

Three people predicted a lower vote than Obama got, but only by .07 per cent:

5.William Bennett, not the former secretary of education but a Washington lawyer, predicted Obama would get 50.9 percent of the popular vote.

6. Frank W. Krogh, a lawyer from Arlington, entered the same calculation.

7. Walter Smith, of the District of Columbia, the executive director of a nonprofit advocacy organization. also was in that winning category.

8. Henry Resnikoff of Essex, Conn. was next, predicting Obama would garner 51.06 percent of the vote, so he was just .09 percent off.

A number of Loop Fans predicted Obama would win 51.1 percent of the vote — .14 percent too high.The first in with those guesses were:

9. Michael G. Pilot, a retired economist from Arlington; and,

10. Joe Foley of Potomac, who runs a lobbying and public affairs firm.

In addition to an official In the Loop t-shirt, the winners can also note that their predictions were closer than the formidable statistician and blogger Nate Silver’s 50.80 prediction.

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Football: Milan-Barca, Madrid-United top last-16 line-up

NYON: Ties between Barcelona and AC Milan and Manchester United and Real Madrid topped the bill in the draw for the Champions League last 16 at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland on Thursday.

Arsenal were drawn against last season's beaten finalists, Bayern Munich, while Celtic's reward for reaching the knockout phase is a rendezvous with Italian champions Juventus.

Big-spending French club Paris Saint-Germain will take on Valencia, with German champions Borussia Dortmund slated to face their Ukrainian counterparts Shakhtar Donetsk.

In the remaining ties, competition debutants Malaga tackle Porto and Turkish outfit Galatasaray meet German side Schalke.

The first-leg matches will be played on dates between February 12-13 and February 19-20 and the return legs between March 5-6 and March 12-13.

Champions League last 16 draw:

Galatasaray (TUR) v Schalke 04 (GER)

Celtic (SCO) v Juventus (ITA)

Arsenal (ENG) v Bayern Munich (GER)

Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) v Borussia Dortmund (GER)

AC Milan (ITA) v Barcelona (ESP)

Real Madrid (ESP) v Manchester United (ENG)

Valencia (ESP) v Paris Saint-Germain (FRA)

FC Porto (POR) v Malaga (ESP)

- AFP/jc

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Perpetrators of rape should be made 'impotent', NCW chief Mamta Sharma says

NEW DELHI: Demanding enactment of stringent laws to deter people from committing crimes like rape, the National Commission for Women (NCW) on Thursday favoured capital punishment for perpetrators and even suggested that they should be made "impotent".

"Capital punishment is very important. I suggest that they should be made impotent so they repent every day of their life. It is very important, unless such punishments are meted to the culprits, I don't think women will feel secure in our country," NCW chairperson Mamta Sharma said here.

Sharma, who broke down during the inaugural address at the national consultation on reviewing the strategies to improve the provision of PC and PNDT Act, termed the gang rape of a 23-year-old paramedical student as shameful not only for Delhi but also for the entire country.

"There is a need to strictly work in such cases." The NCW along with its member organisations and NGOs from nine states on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution demanding strict action against the accused.

They also asked for enactment of stringent laws to prohibit such crimes and said mere removal of tinted glass and increase in police patrol won't solve the purpose.

Sharma, however, said just passing a resolution won't be sufficient and the step needs to be backed by strong action.

She also demanded sensitisation of the police and insisted that the probe of rape case shouldn't be handled by an officer less than the rank of deputy superintendent of police. She also pointed that a detailed report of the crime should be presented within a month.

"I am not saying that all officers are insensitive towards rape victims but there have been instances when the victim is not treated properly when she goes to a police station to file her complaint. We want rape investigations to be carried out by the officers not below the rank of DSP," she said.

While expressing concerns about rape victims, Sharma said that necessary changes should be made in rape laws so that the accused don't get away easily. A strong deterrent should be put in place and an example should be set by punishing the culprits in the strictest manner.

"Life becomes tough for a rape victim. Unlike in a murder case where the issue ends with the offence, in a rape case the issue begins with the commission of crime," she said, adding it wasn't the time for political bickering.

She insisted that concerted efforts need to be taken to deal with the increasing violence towards women.

"Whenever such an incident happens, questions are asked from NCW. The commission has no magic wand. The process should involve concerted efforts only then an effective and forceful law will come into place," she said.

Talking about the female foeticide, Sharma said it was a serious issue and "we need to emphasise on the need to control this menace.

"The situation is very scary. In the coming twenty years or so nearly two crore of our boys won't get girls to marry," Sharma said, adding that it was unfortunate that female foeticide was more prevalent in the literate society.

Emphasising the need for more awareness programmes in this regard, she said the NCW has also written to the concerned ministries asking them to raise extra funds in this regard.

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Detecting Rabid Bats Before They Bite

A picture is worth a thousand words—or in the case of bats, a rabies diagnosis. A new study reveals that rabid bats have cooler faces compared to uninfected colony-mates. And researchers are hopeful that thermal scans of bat faces could improve rabies surveillance in wild colonies, preventing outbreaks that introduce infections into other animals—including humans.

Bats are a major reservoir for the rabies virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. Previous research shows that bats can transmit their strains to other animals, potentially putting people at risk. (Popular Videos: Bats share the screen with creepy co-stars.)

Rabies, typically transmitted in saliva, targets the brain and is almost always fatal in animals and people if left untreated. No current tests detect rabies in live animals—only brain tissue analysis is accurate.

Searching for a way to detect the virus in bats before the animals died, rabies specialist James Ellison and his colleagues at the CDC turned to a captive colony of big brown bats (Eptesicus fuscus). Previous studies had found temperature increases in the noses of rabid raccoons, so the team expected to see similar results with bats.

Researchers established normal temperature ranges for E. fuscus—the bat species most commonly sent for rabies testing—then injected 24 individuals with the virus. The 21-day study monitored facial temperatures with infrared cameras, and 13 of the 21 bats that developed rabies showed temperature drops of more than 4ºC.

"I was surprised to find the bats' faces were cooler because rabies causes inflammation—and that creates heat," said Ellison. "No one has done this before with bats," he added, and so researchers aren't sure what's causing the temperature changes they've discovered in the mammals. (Related: "Bats Have Superfast Muscles—A Mammal First.")

Although thermal scans didn't catch every instance of rabies in the colony, this method may be a way to detect the virus in bats before symptoms appear. The team plans to fine-tune their measurements of facial temperatures, and then Ellison hopes to try surveillance in the field.

This study was published online November 9 in Zoonoses and Public Health.

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Obama Invokes Newtown on 'Cliff' Deal

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."

Fiscal Cliff Negotiations: Trying to Make a Deal Watch Video

House Speaker John Boehner Proposes 'Plan B' on Taxes Watch Video

'Fiscal Cliff' Negotiations: Deal Might Be Within Reach Watch Video

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."

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