Agreement within reach on ‘fiscal cliff’ deal, officials say

President Obama and Senate leaders were on the verge of an agreement Friday that would let taxes rise on the wealthiest households while protecting the vast majority of Americans from historic tax hikes set to hit in January.

The development marked a breakthrough after weeks of paralysis. After meeting with Obama at the White House, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said they would work through the weekend in hopes of drafting a “fiscal cliff” package they could present to their colleagues on Sunday afternoon.

As the Senate began haggling over critical details, the emerging deal faced an uncertain fate in the House, where Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) failed just one week ago to persuade his adamantly anti-tax caucus to let taxes rise even for millionaires.

Still, on Friday, Obama pronounced himself “modestly optimistic” at a brief news conference at the White House. The ordinarily dour McConnell said he was “hopeful and optimistic.” And Reid immediately began preparing Senate Democrats for what could be a difficult vote.

“Whatever we come up with is going to be imperfect. Some people aren’t going to like it. Some people will like it less,” Reid said on the Senate floor before dozens of silent and attentive senators from both parties. But “we’re going to do the best we can for . . . the country that’s waiting for us to make a decision.”

According to people briefed on the talks, the developing package would protect nearly 30 million taxpayers from paying the alternative minimum tax for the first time and keep unemployment benefits flowing to 2 million people who otherwise would be cut off in January.

The deal also would likely halt a steep cut in Medicare reimbursements set to hit doctors in January and preserve popular tax breaks for both businesses and individuals, such as those for research and college tuition.

But the two sides were still at odds over a crucial issue: how to define the wealthy. Obama has proposed letting tax rates rise on income over $250,000 a year. Senate Republicans have in recent days expressed interest in a compromise that would lift that threshold to $400,000 a year, an offer Obama made to Boehner before the speaker abruptly broke off negotiations last week.

In addition to its political appeal, the $400,000 threshold has practical benefits, Republican aides said: It would limit tax increases to the very top tax bracket rather than the top two brackets. And it would avoid a quirk of the tax code that would cause rates to rise more dramatically for those earning between $250,000 and $400,000 than for households with much larger incomes.

The two sides also had yet to agree on another politically sensitive issue: how to tax inherited estates. Republicans — and many Senate Democrats from states with large family farms — want to maintain the current tax structure, which exempts estates worth up to $5 million and taxes those above that level at 35 percent. Obama has proposed a $3.5 million exemption and a tax rate of 45 percent, a proposal that is far more acceptable to liberal Democrats.

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Obama calls for avoiding middle class tax hike

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Saturday urged Congress to protect the middle class from an income tax increase and lay the groundwork for future economic growth as Senate leaders began work to avoid a "fiscal cliff".

"We've got to do what it takes to protect the middle class, grow this economy, and move our country forward," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.

"Leaders in Congress are working on a way to prevent this tax hike on the middle class, and I believe we may be able to reach an agreement that can pass both houses in time," he added.

The comments came after Obama met with top congressional leaders on Friday and said that Senate Democrats and Republicans would work overtime this weekend to try to head off a $500 billion time bomb of tax hikes and spending cuts, dubbed the "fiscal cliff", before a January 1 deadline.

The president, sensing a mandate from his re-election last month, wants to raise taxes on the rich but exempt the middle class. Republicans want only to close tax loopholes to raise revenue and demand significant spending cuts in return.

But if nothing is done by the deadline, all taxpayers will see an increase.

Following the White House talks, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will now head efforts to seek a deal before Tuesday.

But any agreement would also have to pass the House of Representatives, where there is doubt that any deal signed off by the Democratic president would win favor with restive conservatives in the Republican caucus.

According to The Washington Post, the deal -- a "stripped-down" version of earlier proposals dealing mainly with taxes -- was already within reach.

Citing unnamed people briefed on the talks, the newspaper said it would protect nearly 30 million taxpayers from paying the minimum tax for the first time and maintain unemployment benefits for two million people.

The plan also would halt a steep cut in Medicare reimbursements for doctors and preserve popular tax breaks for both businesses and individuals, such as those for research and college tuition, the report said.

But The Post said the two sides were still at odds over where to set the limits of wealthy -- at US$250,000 a year or US$400,000 a year -- and over taxes on inherited estates.

Nor was there agreement on spending cuts so dear to Republicans, the paper said. Hence a deal will not include either them or an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, setting up another fierce battle over the government's borrowing limit in the next two months, according to The Post.

Obama warned, however, that if an agreement was not reached in time, he would then ask the Senate to hold an up-or-down vote on a basic package that protects the middle class from an income tax hike, extends vital unemployment insurance for Americans looking for a job, and, as he put it, "lays the groundwork for future progress on more economic growth and deficit reduction."

He did not elaborate.

"I believe such a proposal could pass both houses with bipartisan majorities - as long as these leaders allow it to come to a vote," the president said. "If they still want to vote no, and let this tax hike hit the middle class, that's their prerogative -- but they should let everyone vote."

Meanwhile, in a weekly Republican address, US Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, vice chairman of the Senate's Republican Conference, expressed some optimism Saturday, saying he believed that "going over the fiscal cliff is avoidable."

But he severely criticized the Democrats' plan to focus mainly on taxes while setting aside the issue of government spending, arguing that inaction on spending "shouldn't be an option".

"The president's proposal to raise taxes on the top two percent of Americans won't even pay one-third of the annual interest that's now owed on this massive US$16 trillion debt," Blunt said. "In fact, the president's tax hike would only fund the government for eight days. Americans deserve to know: What does the president propose we do for the other 357 days of the year?"

- AFP

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Gang-rape victim's fight will not go in vain: Sonia Gandhi

NEW DELHI: Promising swift and fitting punishment for the Delhi gang-rape accused, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday said the nation's "beloved daughter" will get justice and her fight will not go in vain.

"As a woman and mother, I understand how you feel. I appeal you to remain calm and help strengthen our collective resolve to fight the menace of violence against women," Gandhi, who is also the UPA chairperson, said in a televised address.

"Today all Indians feel as they have lost their own beloved daughter, their cherished sister, a young woman of 23 whose life full of hope, dream and promise was ahead of her. Our hearts go out to her parents, family, the whole country shares their pain," she said.

Appealing for peace and calm in wake of the tragic incident, Gandhi said, "Today we pledge that she will get justice and that her fight will not go in vain".

The Congress president said that the tragedy "strengthens our resolve to fight with all our might and with all the powers of our laws and our administration for the safety and protection of all women of our country and to ensure swift and fitting punishment for the perpetrators of such acts.

"It deepens our determination to battle the pervasive shameful social attitudes and mindsets that allow men to rape and molest women and girls with such impunity."

As people hit the streets expressing their outrage over the tragedy, Gandhi said "to all of you who have expressed their anger and anguish publicly, who have poured out in her support, I want to assure you that your voice has been heard.

Gandhi had yesterday sought speedy action against the perpetrators of the "barbarous" attack and had hoped the victim undergoing treatment in Singapore recovered.

Choosing to skip her customary New Year wishes on the sidelines of the 127th Foundation Day of Congress at AICC headquarters here yesterday, Gandhi had said,"..Not so today because our thoughts are with the young woman, who is fighting for her life after the barbarous attack".

She had added, "Our only wish today is that she recovers and comes back to us and that no time is lost in bringing the perpetrators of such a barbarous act to justice".

The Congress chief had earlier shot off strongly-worded letters to home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Delhi chief minister Shiela Diskhit wanting firm steps for the security of women in the national capital, describing the incident as a "matter of shame".

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How to Banish That New Year's Eve Hangover

For those of us who enjoy the occasional cocktail, the holiday season would be incomplete without certain treats of the liquid variety. Some look forward to the creamy charms of rum-laced eggnog; others anticipate cupfuls of high-octane punch or mugs of warm, spiced wine.

No matter what's in your glass, raising one as the year winds down is tradition. What could be more festive? The problem is, one drink leads to two, then the party gets going and a third is generously poured. Soon, the music fades and the morning arrives—and with it, the dreaded hangover. (Explore a human-body interactive.)

Whether it's a pounding headache, a queasy stomach, sweating, or just general misery, the damage has been done. So now it's time to remedy the situation. What's the quickest way to banish the pain? It depends who you ask.

Doctors typically recommend water for hydration and ibuprofen to reduce inflammation. Taking B vitamins is also good, according to anesthesiologist Jason Burke, because they help the body metabolize alcohol and produce energy.

Burke should know a thing or two about veisalgia, the medical term for hangover. At his Las Vegas clinic Hangover Heaven, Burke treats thousands of people suffering from the effects of drinking to excess with hydrating fluids and medications approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"No two hangovers are the same," he said, adding that the unfavorable condition costs society billions of dollars-mostly from lost productivity and people taking sick days from work.

Hot Peppers for Hangovers?

So what's the advice from the nonmedical community? Suggestions range from greasy breakfasts to vanilla milkshakes to spending time in a steamy sauna. A friend insists hot peppers are the only way to combat a hangover's wrath. Another swears by the palliative effects of a bloody mary. In fact, many people just have another drink, following the old "hair of the dog that bit you" strategy.

Whether such "cures" actually get rid of a hangover is debatable, but one thing's for sure: the sorry state is universal. The only people immune to hangovers are the ones who avoid alcohol altogether.

So for those who do indulge, even if it's just once in awhile, see our interactive featuring cures from around the world (also above). As New Year's Eve looms with its attendant excuse to imbibe, perhaps it would be wise to stock your refrigerator with one of these antidotes. Pickled herring, anyone?

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Obama Still Hopeful in Final Days Before 'Cliff'

Dec 29, 2012 6:00am

AP Photo/ Evan Vucci

Three days remain for Congress to pass a federal budget agreement that would avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff” and today President Obama said he believes the House and Senate leadership can squeak out a deal in time.

In his weekly address, released this morning, the president said allowing the package of perilous tax increases and budget cuts set to take effect in the New Year “would be the wrong thing to do for our economy.”

“Congress can prevent it from happening if they act now,” he said. “Leaders in Congress are working on a way to prevent this tax hike on the middle class, and I believe we may be able to reach an agreement that can pass both houses in time.”

The president was referring to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who were attempting to quickly fashion a deal that can pass both chambers of Congress. Although not mentioned specifically in the video, the two leaders and their House counterparts, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., met with the president and his staff at the White House Friday that left both parties’ leadership cautiously optimistic in public statements following the meeting.

INFOGRAPHIC: Fiscal Cliff: Why It Matters

Largely repeating remarks he made following the meeting, the president noted that should the last-minute wrangling fail he has asked Reid to deliver a basic proposal to the Senate floor for a simple up-or-down vote.

“We believe such a proposal could pass both houses with bipartisan majorities -as long as these leaders allow it to come to a vote.  If they still want to vote no and let this tax hike hit the middle class, that’s their prerogative – but they should let everyone vote.  That’s the way this is supposed to work,” he said. “We just can’t afford a politically self-inflicted wound to our economy.”

Reid’s backup legislation would reflect the Democrats’ side in this quagmire, demanding a tax boost for household incomes greater than $250,000 and an extension of unemployment benefits for roughly 2 million Americans that is set to expire without their reauthorization.

Fiscal Cliff: By The Numbers

“You meet your deadlines and your responsibilities every day,” Obama said. “The folks you sent here to serve should do the same.”

The president’s statement came a day before what could be a critical turning point in the “cliff” ordeal. On Sunday, the House of Representatives returns from holiday recess, the same day McConnell and Reid could offer up a hypothetical deal for a vote. Meanwhile, NBC’s “Meet the Press” will air a televised interview with Obama that morning.

SHOWS: Good Morning America World News

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"Sobering realities" in labour market in 2013: Tan Chuan-Jin

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Acting Manpower Minister Tan Chuan-Jin has pointed to some "sobering realities" to the labour market in his latest blog post.

Mr Tan said the overall labour market may become even tighter next year.

Thus, there will be more pressure on businesses to expand through product innovation and creating a more productive workforce.

Mr Tan said Singapore's strong growth in employment may at first glance sound good, but the country's productivity growth has been decreasing.

He explained that the rate of growth in employment level has exceeded the rate of GDP growth.

This means that with every additional worker employed, the economy became less productive on average.

It is only by improving productivity and moving up the value chain, he said, that will ensure a better skilled workforce and in turn wage increases.

Mr Tan said the government will continue to support the efforts of businesses.

For workers, there will be a review of Workfare, to ensure the initiative provides adequate encouragement for workers to upgrade and earn more.

He said: "At the same time, we want to focus our attention on Singaporeans who most require our help - the bottom 20 per cent of Singaporean workers, who are usually older as well. To do so, we will be reviewing the eligibility criteria for the two schemes. We will announce the Workfare review outcome in early 2013."

The Employment Act is also being reviewed to enhance basic employment standards for workers, while giving employers sufficient flexibility to manage their manpower resources.

"We are still seeking feedback from the public and we look forward to announcing the first phase of the recommendations in the first quarter of 2013," said Mr Tan.

- CNA/xq

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Girl shifted for medical reasons, not political: Govt

NEW DELHI: Shifting of the 23-year-old gang rape victim was "purely a medical decision" and there was no political interference in the matter, external affairs minister Salman Khurshid said on Friday.

He also said the government only helped in the logistics like providing passports for travel, hospitalisation and boarding and lodging of the family.

"The shifting was not done due to some political reasons. It was done for medical purposes. It was purely a medical decision take by the doctors," Khurshid said when asked about reports that Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit was instrumental in shifting of the rape victim.

He said, "I am also sure that the doctors would have explored other option like the US, UK or Germany before settling for Singapore. They must have looked at travel time to these destinations before finalising the hospital."

He also hoped that the determination and will power shown by the girl to come this far against all odds will continue and she will be fine.

The rape victim, who was under treatment here in Safdarjung hospital after being brutally gang-raped on December 16, was flown out on December 26 night to Singapore in an air ambulance for specialised treatment in Mount Elizabeth hospital, which has a state-of-the-art facility for multi-organ transplant.

Following the decision to shift her, passport and Singapore visa for the girl and some of her family members accompanying her in the air ambulance were expedited by the external affairs ministry and the Indian high commission in Singapore arranged for the victim to be received at the hospital there.

The minister also talked about the wide-spread protests against the gang rape saying it reflected the "deep-rooted concern" among the public and not anger so much.

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How to Live to a Ripe Old Age

Cento di questi giorni. May you have a hundred birthdays, the Italians say, and some of them do.

So do other people in various spots around the world—in Blue Zones, so named by National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner for the blue ink that outlines these special areas on maps developed over more than a decade. (National Geographic News is part of the National Geographic Society.)

In his second edition of his book The Blue Zones, Buettner writes about a newly identified Blue Zone: the Greek island of Ikaria (map). National Geographic magazine Editor at Large Cathy Newman interviewed him about the art of living long and well. (Watch Buettner talk about how to live to a hundred.)

Q. You've written about Blue Zones in Sardinia, Italy; Loma Linda, California; Nicoa, Costa Rica and Okinawa, Japan. How did you find your way to Ikaria?

A. Michel Poulain, a demographer on the project, and I are always on the lookout for new Blue Zones. This one popped up in 2008. We got a lead from a Greek foundation looking for biological markers in aging people. The census data showed clusters of villages there with a striking proportion of people 85 or older. (Also see blog: "Secrets of the Happiest Places on Earth.")

In the course of your quest you've been introduced to remarkable individuals like 100-year-old Marge Jetton of Loma Linda, California, who starts the day with a mile-long [0.6-kilometer] walk, 6 to 8 miles [10 to 13 kilometers] on a stationary bike, and weight lifting. Who is the most memorable Blue Zoner you've met?

Without question it's Stamatis Moraitis, who lives in Ikaria. I believe he's 102. He's famous for partying. He makes 400 liters [100 gallons] of wine from his vineyards each year, which he drinks with his friends. His house is the social hot spot of the island. (See "Longevity Genes Found; Predict Chances of Reaching 100.")

He's also the Ikarian who emigrated to the United States, was diagnosed with lung cancer in his 60s, given less then a year to live, and who returned to Ikaria to die. Instead, he recovered.

Yes, he never went through chemotherapy or treatment. He just moved back to Ikaria.

Did anyone figure out how he survived?

Nope. He told me he returned to the U.S. ten years after he left to see if the American doctors could explain it. I asked him what happened. "My doctors were all dead," he said.

One of the common factors that seem to link all Blue Zone people you've spoken with is a life of hard work—and sometimes hardship. Your thoughts?

I think we live in a culture that relentlessly pursues comfort. Ease is related to disease. We shouldn't always be fleeing hardship. Hardship also brings people together. We should welcome it.

Sounds like another version of the fable of the grasshopper and the ant?

You rarely get satisfaction sitting in an easy chair. If you work in a garden on the other hand, and it yields beautiful tomatoes, that's a good feeling.

Can you talk about diet? Not all of us have access to goat milk, for example, which you say is typically part of an Ikarian breakfast.

There is nothing exotic about their diet, which is a version of a Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes vegetables, beans, fruit, olive oil, and moderate amounts of alcohol. (Read more about Buettner's work in Ikaria in National Geographic Adventure.)

All things in moderation?

Not all things. Socializing is something we should not do in moderation. The happiest Americans socialize six hours a day.

The people you hang out with help you hang on to life?

Yes, you have to pay attention to your friends. Health habits are contagious. Hanging out with unhappy people who drink and smoke is hazardous to your health.

So how has what you've learned influenced your own lifestyle?

One of the big things I've learned is that there's an advantage to regular low-intensity activity. My previous life was setting records on my bike. [Buettner holds three world records in distance cycling.] Now I use my bike to commute. I only eat meat once a week, and I always keep nuts in my office: Those who eat nuts live two to three more years than those who don't.

You also write about having a purpose in life.

Purpose is huge. I know exactly what my values are and what I love to do. That's worth additional years right there. I say no to a lot of stuff that would be easy money but deviates from my meaning of life.

The Japanese you met in Okinawa have a word for that?

Yes. Ikigai: "The reason for which I wake in the morning."

Do you have a non-longevity-enhancing guilty pleasure?

Tequila is my weakness.

And how long would you like to live?

I'd like to live to be 200.

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White House Says It Has No New Fiscal Cliff Plan

The White House said today it has no plans to offer new proposals to avoid the fiscal cliff which looms over the country's economy just five days from now, but will meet Friday with Congressional leaders in a last ditch effort to forge a deal.

Republicans and Democrats made no conciliatory gestures in public today, despite the urgency.

The White House said President Obama would meet Friday with Democratic and Republican leaders. But a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner said the Republican "will continue to stress that the House has already passed legislation to avert the entire fiscal cliff and now the Senate must act."

The White House announced the meeting after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the budget situation "a mess" and urged the president to present a fresh proposal.

"I told the president I would be happy to look at whatever he proposes, but the truth is we're coming up against a hard deadline here, and as I said, this is a conversation we should have had months ago," McConnell said of his phone call with Obama Wednesday night.

McConnell added, "Republicans aren't about to write a blank check for anything Senate Democrats put forward just because we find ourselves at the edge of the cliff."

"That having been said, we'll see what the president has to propose," the Republican Senate leader said.

But a senior White House official told ABC News, "There is no White House bill."

That statement, however, may have wiggle room. Earlier today White House spokesman Jay Carney said, "I don't have any meetings to announce," but a short time later, Friday's meeting was made public.

It's unclear if the two sides are playing a game of political chicken or whether the administration is braced for the fiscal cliff.

Earlier today, fiscal cliff, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid lashed out at Republicans in a scathing speech that targeted House Republicans and particularly Boehner.

Charles Dharapak/AP Photo

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Reid, D-Nev., spoke on the floor of the Senate as the president returned to Washington early from an Hawaiian vacation in what appears to be a dwindling hope for a deal.

The House of Representatives will meet for legislative business Sunday evening, leaving the door cracked open ever so slightly to the possibility of a last-minute agreement.

But on a conference call with Republican House members Thursday afternoon, Boehner kept to the Republican hard line that if the Senate wants a deal it should amend bills already passed by the House.

That was the exact opposite of what Reid said in the morning, that Republicans should accept a bill passed by Democratic led Senate.

Related: What the average American should know about capital gains and the fiscal cliff.

"We are here in Washington working while the members of the House of Representatives are out watching movies and watching their kids play soccer and basketball and doing all kinds of things. They should be here," Reid said. "I can't imagine their consciences."

House Republicans have balked at a White House deal to raise taxes on couples earning more than $250,000 and even rejected Boehner's proposal that would limit the tax increases to people earning more than $1 million.

"It's obvious what's going on," Reid said while referring to Boehner. "He's waiting until Jan. 3 to get reelected to speaker because he has so many people over there that won't follow what he wants. John Boehner seems to care more about keeping his speakership than keeping the nation on a firm financial footing."

Related: Starbucks enters fiscal cliff fray.

Reid said the House is "being operated with a dictatorship of the speaker" and suggested today that the Republicans should agree to accept the original Senate bill pass in July. Reid's comments, however, made it clear he did not expect that to happen.

"It looks like" the nation will go over the fiscal cliff in just five days, he declared.

"It's not too late for the speaker to take up the Senate-passed bill, but that time is even winding down," Reid said. "So I say to the speaker, take the escape hatch that we've left you. Put the economic fate of the nation ahead of your own fate as Speaker of the House."

Boehner's spokesman Michael Steel reacted to Reid's tirade in an email, writing, "Senator Reid should talk less and legislate more. The House has already passed legislation to avoid the entire fiscal cliff. Senate Democrats have not."

Boehner has said it is now up to the Senate to come up with a deal.

Obama, who landed in Washington late this morning, made a round of calls over the last 24 hours to Reid, Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Related: Obama pushes fiscal cliff resolution.

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India president's son apologises for rape demo remarks

NEW DELHI: The Indian president's son landed himself in hot water with his own family on Thursday for denigrating women who took part in mass protests over a gang-rape as being middle-aged and caked in makeup.

Abhijit Mukherjee, who is also a member of parliament, came in for widespread condemnation after he said that many of those who have taken part in the nationwide protests were "dented and painted" women rather than students.

"These pretty women, dented and painted... have no contact with ground reality," Mukherjee told a regional news channel.

The phrase "dented and painted" is used by mechanics who mask the bruised bodywork and rust on second-hand vehicles with liberal coatings of paint.

Among the most vocal critics was his own sister Sharmishtha, who described his comments as "a bit of a shocker" and said her father, President Pranab Mukherjee, also disapproved.

"It is definitely something that we as a family definitely don't agree with," she told the NDTV network.

"It's not just one protest, it's accumulated rage over the way women are being treated, raped, molested... my father is absolutely with me on this."

The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party said Mukherjee junior's remarks were particularly ill-timed as the 23-year-old victim of the December 16 attack fights for her life in hospital in Singapore.

"I think this is exactly the kind of mindset that the youth is fighting against," said Smriti Irani, head of the BJP's women's wing.

Mukherjee later issued an apology.

"My intention was not to hurt anyone," he told NDTV. "I apologise to all those people whose sentiment got hurt by these sentences and these sentences are withdrawn."

- AFP/xq

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