Federal workers make more for the same job

WASHINGTON?? The average federal worker earns about 2 percent more than a private sector worker in a comparable profession, though the government's generous pension system means that overall compensation is significantly higher, a government study released Monday said.

Once pension and health benefits are factored in, the average federal worker reaps 16 percent more in total compensation than do private sector workers.

The Congressional Budget Office study said federal workers in lower-level jobs make more than private sector workers but that those with advanced degrees earn more in the private sector. Federal workers with a high school education or less earn about $4 more an hour than private sector employees in similar jobs.

The CBO study comes as House GOP leader have scheduled a vote this week to extend the current federal worker pay freeze for an additional year and have been pressing to make federal employees contribute more for their pensions.

"While millions of Americans continue to struggle with stagnant wages and high unemployment, government bureaucrats in Washington continue to enjoy significant advantages over those whose tax dollars finance their compensation," read a statement by the office of Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the House Budget Committee.

The average benefits package for federal workers, including health insurance and a defined benefit pension plan, costs the government about 48 percent more than for private sector workers in comparable jobs. Defined benefit pensions ? in which retirement payments are based on a formula involving wages and length of service ? are becoming far less common in the private sector.

The federal government employs about 2.3 million civilian workers, or about 1.7 percent of the U.S. workforce. Total compensation for civilian federal workers costs roughly $200 billion a year. Civilian worker pay has been frozen for the past two years in response to exploding budget deficits.

President Barack Obama has proposed lifting the pay freeze next year but limiting the increase to a small 0.5 percent hike.

Supporters of federal workers say the government has difficulty competing for highly qualified workers like doctors and engineers because federal pay isn't as high. Indeed, federal workers with a professional degree or a doctorate earn, on average, 23 percent less than private sector employees. On the other hand, the government offers far greater job security and comparable benefits.

For workers with a college degree, private and public sector wages are about the same, but the government's benefits package means overall compensation costs about $7 more an hour, on average.

Lower-skill workers with a high school diploma or less fare significantly better as government workers than they would in comparable private sector jobs, with 21 percent higher wages and far better health and pension benefits.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46194863/ns/business-us_business/

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Romney and Gingrich Vie for Last-Minute Votes in Florida (ContributorNetwork)

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney looks to have regained his lead over fellow contender Newt Gingrich in new polls in advance of the Florida primary, according to Reuters. Polls released on Sunday show Romney leading Gingrich by an estimated 12 percentage points.

Gingrich had gained support in Florida after he won the South Carolina primary on Jan. 21 by almost 13 percentage points over Romney. Polls last week had showed the two men virtually tied for first place.

Here are some of the details behind Romney's resurgence in the polls leading up to the Florida primary on Tuesday.

* According to the Wall Street Journal, all major polling conducted in Florida over the weekend shows Romney with anywhere from an eight- to 16-point lead over Gingrich.

* Gingrich on Sunday said a large voter turnout Tuesday will likely prove pivotal for both men's campaign.

* Bloomberg has reported Gingrich is trailing among Florida voters who cast early ballots.

* The Los Angeles Times and other outlets have asserted Gingrich's polling numbers began to decline after Florida's two Republican debates last week.

* Other outlets, like the Huffington Post, have pointed to the money a pro-Romney super PAC known as Restore Our Future has spent on anti-Gingrich ads as also being a factor in the change in polling numbers.

* Restore Our Future has spent double the amount of money in Florida that the pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future has. In South Carolina, those two super PACs reportedly spent equal amounts of money on campaign ads and direct mail.

* Romney's campaign and the combination of pro-Romney super PACs are outspending Gingrich's campaign and PAC supporters by a margin of 4-to-1 in Florida.

* Romney spent the weekend courting Hispanic voters, making a campaign stop in Hialeah, a largely Hispanic suburb of Miami, according to Reuters.

* Gingrich spent Saturday and Sunday courting the votes of Florida's evangelical constituents and tea party supporters, according to the Washington Post.

* While Gingrich has referred to Romney as a "pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-tax increase liberal," Romney for his part has been referencing Gingrich's time as a consultant to Freddie Mac and his "checkered past when it comes to ethics and honesty," as the reason he is not a good choice for a presidential candidate.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120130/pl_ac/10901963_romney_and_gingrich_vie_for_lastminute_votes_in_florida

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World stocks fall ahead of EU summit (AP)

LONDON ? World stock markets fell Monday as uncertainty about a tentative deal to resolve Greece's debt crisis weighed on investor sentiment ahead of a summit of European leaders.

The leaders gathering in Brussels hope to focus on how to stimulate economic growth and create jobs at a time when huge government spending cuts threaten to push many countries back into recession.

The latest data showed Spain was one step closer to recession ? technically defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction ? after its economy shrank in the last three months of 2011.

Experts say Europe's efforts to cut its high levels of debt will be for nothing if its economies remain uncompetitive. The leaders will also discuss a new treaty on tightening budget controls and setting up a permanent bailout fund.

But the meeting will be dominated by another topic that is not officially for discussion ? Greece's debt problem.

Greece has reached a tentative deal with its private creditors that could avert a disastrous default this spring. Investors holding euro206 billion ($272 billion) in Greek bonds would exchange them for bonds with half the face value. The replacement bonds would have a longer maturity and pay a lower interest rate. When the bonds mature, Greece would have to pay its bondholders only euro103 billion.

But because Greece has been in recession for years, some experts fear it could need more rescue loans from its bailout partners ? other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund ? if it is to remain solvent.

Richer countries like Germany, however, are losing patience with giving Athens loans, saying the Greek government is not implementing reforms and austerity cuts quickly enough.

A German official even proposed to have an EU official directly oversee Athens' government spending. The idea was quickly rejected, however, by both the European Commission and Greek leaders.

Despite progress in Greece's debt talks with private creditors, the continued uncertainty over its finances pushed markets lower Monday.

Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.8 percent to 5,689.76 and Germany's DAX lost 0.9 percent to 6,4552.51. France's CAC-40 shed 1.1 percent to 3,281.48. Wall Street was also headed for a lower open, with Dow Jones industrial futures falling 0.6 percent to 12,533 and S&P 500 futures down 0.8 percent to 1,302.50.

Sentiment, which has been relatively buoyant so far this year on hopes for a recovery in the U.S., was also dented by Fitch Ratings agency's announcement late Friday that it had downgraded five eurozone countries, including Italy and Spain.

Looking ahead, investors will keep an eye on an Italian bond auction and more earnings, which were mixed Monday in Europe ? airline Ryanair beat expectations but appliances maker Philips disappointed.

In Asia, most indexes closed lower as investors there reacted to Friday's release of data showing the U.S. economy grew more slowly than expected in the last three months of 2011. The U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the October-December quarter, lower than the 3 percent that economists were expecting.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index shed 0.5 percent to close at 8,793.05. South Korea's Kospi was 1.2 percent lower at 1,940.55 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.7 percent to 20,160.41. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.4 percent at 4,272.70.

Benchmarks in mainland China, Singapore, Indonesia, India and the Philippines also fell. Taiwan and New Zealand rose.

Japan's Mitsubishi Electric Corp. plummeted 14.8 percent after the Defense Ministry and the Cabinet Satellite Intelligence Center said they would not sign contracts with the electric machinery manufacturer, which acknowledged it had overcharged on defense and space-related projects, Kyodo News agency reported.

Traders are awaiting more data this week for clues about which way the U.S. economy is headed. On Wednesday, the Institute for Supply Management will release its manufacturing index for January and the U.S. Labor Department will release monthly employment data Friday.

"Because the market has been expecting rather good economic data from the U.S. ... I am afraid if those figures disappoint the market, it may trigger further correction in the stock market," said Louis Wong, dealing director of Phillip Securities Ltd.

Benchmark oil for March delivery was down 60 cents to $98.96 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 14 cents to end at $99.56 per barrel on the Nymex on Friday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.3129 from $1.3208 late Friday in New York. The dollar fell to 76.70 yen from 76.72 yen.

___

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets

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Oregon Special Election 2012: David Wu's Vacated Seat Has Democrats Spending Big

WASHINGTON - JULY 26: U.S. Rep. David Wu (D-OR) waits for an elevator while he is on his way for a vote on the House floor July 26, 2011 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Wu announced earlier in the day that he will resign from his position after accusations of an 'unwanted sexual encounter' from the 18-year-old daughter of a donor. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Associated Press

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Magnetic soap could make your next oil spill less oily

Instead of spending millions upon millions to clean up the next oil spill, why don't we just all pitch in and buy some soap? That's basically what researchers at the University of Bristol are proposing, with a new kind of soap that's apparently like no other. This soap, you see, is magnetic, which means it could be easily removed from water without leaving behind any hazardous chemicals -- a potentially major selling point for cleanup crews and environmentalists alike. To create it, the team collected water with chlorine and bromine ions, and used it to dissolve iron particles, creating a metallic core. They proceeded to test their creation by placing the soapy particles within a test tube, underneath layers of water and oil. Much to their delight, they were able to remove the particles with only a magnet, ostensibly providing a template upon which disaster response crews may build.

Magnetic soap could make your next oil spill less oily originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Iranian film in running for foreign language Oscar (AP)

LONDON ? Their settings span the globe, but this year's foreign-language Academy Award nominees are united in giving local stories a universal resonance.

The five finalists range from World War II Poland to modern-day Israel and Quebec, from an Iranian divorce court to the bruising world of Belgian cattle-rearing.

Front-runner among the contenders announced Tuesday in Los Angeles is "A Separation," the story of a marital breakdown and its far-reaching consequences from Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi.

The widely praised film ? hailed by some as a vital cultural bridge at a time of souring relations between Iran and the West ? has already won the Golden Globe for best foreign language film, and also gained Farhadi an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay.

Farhadi said in a statement that it was a very personal project ? a sentiment echoed by other nominated filmmakers.

"For a long time I had this picture carved inside my head," he said. "I don't know how it got there, but once it was there I just knew I had to make this film and here we are today with not one but two nominations."

"A Separation" is up against four other films, including "Footnote," a mordant tale of rivalry between father-son Talmudic scholars by Israel's Joseph Cedar.

Cedar said there was "something poetic" in the fact that Israeli and Iranian films were both nominated. The two countries are bitter enemies, and Israel has been a leading voice in international calls to halt Iran's nuclear program.

Cedar, who was Oscar nominated in 2008 for "Beaufort," said it was "very flattering" to be nominated in what he called "a great year for foreign film at the Oscar."

Lior Ashkenazi, who plays the son, said he was shocked to hear the film had been nominated given its subject ? "two Talmudic scholars, the most drab thing that could be."

"Who could imagine it?" he told Israel Radio. "It's not exactly an action movie."

Israel has emerged as a surprising powerhouse in the foreign film category, garnering four Oscar nominations since 2007. Two of those nominations have gone to Cedar.

Belgian director Michael R. Roskam gained a nomination for his feature debut "Bullhead," a crime drama set in the world of cattle rearing and hormone dealing.

Producer Bart Van Langendonck welcomed the recognition for a film that "was written so it could be appreciated all over the world, even if the theme of the cattle mafia is extremely Belgian."

The nominees also include the gritty, realistic "In Darkness" by Poland's Agnieszka Holland, based on the true story of Leopold Socha, a Polish petty criminal who hid Jews from the Nazis in the sewage canals of Lviv during World War II.

Holland uses the character to explore the ambiguous attitudes of Poles toward Jews during the Nazi occupation of their country. Some Poles were deeply anti-Semitic and helped the Nazis track down Jews for extermination, but others risked to own lives to help Jews.

The director dedicated the film to the more than 6,000 Poles, including Socha, named by Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial as "Righteous Among the Nations," an honor reserved for non-Jews who risked their lives to save Jews.

It's a third Oscar nomination for 63-year-old Holland, one of the country's best-known directors, after "Europa Europa" and "Angry Harvest," both of which also dealt with the Holocaust.

Holland said she felt the nomination defied a "stereotype" that everything has already been said about the Holocaust.

"People react emotionally both in Poland and in the United States. And afterward, the film goes from the heart to the mind and awakens thoughts," she told news channel TVN24. "People feel the film is enriching."

The fifth contender is "Monsieur Lazhar," Canadian director Philippe Falardeau's story of an Algerian immigrant substitute teacher who helps a group of children get over a death.

It's the second straight year a filmmaker from Quebec has made the shortlist. Denis Villeneuve was nominated last year for his war drama "Incendies."

Falardeau said he was overwhelmed by the recognition for the French-language film, adapted from a play by Evelyne de la Cheneliere.

The director likened himself to "a hockey player trying to describe the feeling after he wins the Stanley Cup ? he looks stupid because it is indescribable and unbelievable."

"So there you are: indescribable and unbelievable," he said.

"I think I rejoice myself in the fact that an intimate film like 'Monsieur Lazhar' can exist alongside major Hollywood productions in the biggest gala in the world," Falardeau said. "I think it says a lot about the fact that we have to make the movie that we have inside of us and not try to imitate any kind of recipe."

But he admitted the looming ceremony left him with a dilemma ? "I don't have a tux."

This year's Oscars contest already has an international flavor. The race is led by Martin Scorsese's Parisian fantasia "Hugo," with 11 nominations, and "The Artist," a French-made silent tale of old Hollywood, with 10.

Winners of the 84th annual Oscars will be announced at a Feb. 26 ceremony at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre.

___

Associated Press writers Raf Casert in Antwerp, Belgium, Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.

____

Online: http://www.oscars.org

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_en_mo/eu_oscar_nominations_foreign_films

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Senator Kirk faces some paralysis after stroke (Reuters)

CHICAGO (Reuters) ? Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois could face paralysis in his left arm and possibly in his left leg after suffering a debilitating stroke over the weekend, his physician said on Monday.

But the Republican lawmaker should recover his full mental and speaking abilities, doctors said.

Surgeons at Chicago's Northwestern Memorial Hospital on Monday removed a portion of Kirk's skull to relieve pressure from post-stroke brain swelling. His surgeon, Dr. Richard Fessler, said at a news conference the senator had "tolerated that surgery very well."

Kirk, 52, who won President Barack Obama's former Senate seat in 2010, is under sedation in a neurological intensive care unit at the hospital, Fessler said.

He suffered an ischemic stroke, which is when blood flow is impeded by a blockage, in this case through the carotid artery, damaging the right side of Kirk's brain.

"It will affect his ability to move his left arm, possibly his left leg, and possibly will involve some facial paralysis," said Fessler, who performed the surgery.

Had it happened on the left side of his brain, Fessler said,

"it would have affected his ability to speak, understand, and think. So we're very hopeful that when we get through his recovery, all of those functions will be intact."

"We're happy with his current status," Fessler told reporters, adding that Kirk can recognize people when he is not sedated.

Kirk checked into a hospital in the northern Chicago suburb of Lake Forest, Illinois, on Saturday, suffering from headache and dizziness, and was transferred to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Kirk aide Richard Goldberg said, "We are confident that the fighter in him will prevail."

Kirk is a U.S. Naval Reserve pilot who has flown missions over Iraq. A moderate Republican on domestic policy, he has pressed the administration to enforce strict sanctions on Iran aimed at thwarting the country's nuclear ambitions.

A native of Champaign, Illinois, Kirk was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2000 representing the northern suburbs of Chicago, and narrowly beat Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias for the Senate seat.

Kirk recently endorsed former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination to challenge Obama for the White House in 2012.

"I am extremely distressed by the news that my friend Mark Kirk is hospitalized for emergency medical treatment. I wish him a speedy recovery and a swift return to the U.S. Senate chamber," Romney said in a statement.

(Additional reporting by Andrew Stern in Chicago; editing by Paul Thomasch)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120124/us_nm/us_usa_senator_stroke

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Coordinated sect attack kills 143 in north Nigeria

A victim of Friday's bomb blast and gun attacks lies in Murtala Muhammad specialist hospital in Kano, Nigeria Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Coordinated attacks claimed by a radical Islamist sect killed at least 120 people in north Nigeria's largest city, hospital records seen Saturday show, as gunfire still echoed around some areas of the sprawling city. (AP Photo/Salisu Rabiu)

A victim of Friday's bomb blast and gun attacks lies in Murtala Muhammad specialist hospital in Kano, Nigeria Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Coordinated attacks claimed by a radical Islamist sect killed at least 120 people in north Nigeria's largest city, hospital records seen Saturday show, as gunfire still echoed around some areas of the sprawling city. (AP Photo/Salisu Rabiu)

A victim of Friday's bomb blast and gun attacks is transported in Murtala Muhammad specialist hospital in Kano, Nigeria Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Coordinated attacks claimed by a radical Islamist sect killed at least 120 people in north Nigeria's largest city, hospital records seen Saturday show, as gunfire still echoed around some areas of the sprawling city. (AP Photo/Salisu Rabiu)

A victim of Friday's bomb blast and gun attacks lies in Murtala Muhammad specialist hospital in Kano, Nigeria Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Coordinated attacks claimed by a radical Islamist sect killed at least 120 people in north Nigeria's largest city, hospital records seen Saturday show, as gunfire still echoed around some areas of the sprawling city. (AP Photo/Salisu Rabiu)

A victim of Friday's bomb blast and gun attacks lies in Murtala Muhammad specialist hospital in Kano, Nigeria Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Coordinated attacks claimed by a radical Islamist sect killed at least 120 people in north Nigeria's largest city, hospital records seen Saturday show, as gunfire still echoed around some areas of the sprawling city. (AP Photo/Salisu Rabiu)

A victim of Friday's bomb blast and gun attacks lies in Murtala Muhammad specialist hospital in Kano, Nigeria Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Coordinated attacks claimed by a radical Islamist sect killed at least 120 people in north Nigeria's largest city, hospital records seen Saturday show, as gunfire still echoed around some areas of the sprawling city. (AP Photo/Salisu Rabiu)

KANO, Nigeria (AP) ? A coordinated attack by a radical Islamist sect in north Nigeria's largest city killed at least 143 people, a hospital official said Saturday, representing the extremist group's deadliest assault since beginning its campaign of terror in Africa's most populous nation.

Soldiers and police officers swarmed Kano's streets as Nigeria's president again promised the sect known as Boko Haram would "face the full wrath of the law." But the uniformed bodies of security agents that filled a Kano hospital mortuary again showed the sect can strike at will against the country's weak central government.

Friday's attacks hit police stations, immigration offices and the local headquarters of Nigeria's secret police in Kano, a city of more than 9 million people that remains an important political and religious center in the country's Muslim north. A suicide bomber detonated a car loaded with powerful explosives outside a regional police headquarters, tearing its roof away and blowing out windows in a blast felt miles away as its members escaped jail cells there.

Authorities largely refused to offer casualty statistics as mourners began claiming the bodies of their loved ones to bury before sundown, following Islamic tradition. However, a hospital official told The Associated Press at least 143 people were killed in the attack.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the death toll to journalists. The toll could still rise, since other bodies could be held at other clinics and hospitals in the sprawling city.

State authorities enforced a 24-hour curfew in the city, with many remaining home as soldiers and police patrolled the streets and setup roadblocks. Gunshots echoed through some areas of the city into Saturday morning.

Nwakpa O. Nwakpa, a spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross, said volunteers offered first aid to the wounded, and evacuated those seriously injured to local hospitals. A survey of two hospitals by the Red Cross showed at least 50 people were injured in Friday's attack, he said.

A Boko Haram spokesman using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks in a message to journalists Friday. He said the attack came because the state government refused to release Boko Haram members held by the police.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Saturday that he was "shocked and appalled" by the attacks in the former colony.

"The full horror of last night's events is still unfolding, but we know that a great many people have died and many more have been injured," Hague said in a statement. "The nature of these attacks has sickened people around the world and I send my deepest condolences and sympathies to the families of those killed and to those injured."

The U.S. Embassy said it had canceled all staff travel to northern Nigeria after Friday's attacks.

President Goodluck Jonathan also condemned an attack he said saw innocent people "brutally and recklessly cut down by agents of terror."

"As a responsible government, we will not fold our hands and watch enemies of democracy, for that is what these mindless killers are, perpetrate unprecedented evil in our land," Jonathan said in a statement. "I want to reassure Nigerians ... that all those involved in that dastardly act would be made to face the full wrath of the law."

But Jonathan's government has repeatedly been unable to stop attacks by Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north. The group has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law and avenge the deaths of Muslims in communal violence across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people.

Authorities blamed Boko Haram for at least 510 killings last year alone, according to an AP count, including an August suicide bombing on the U.N. headquarters in the country's capital Abuja. So far this year, the group has been blamed for at least 219 killings, according to an AP count.

Boko Haram recently said it specifically would target Christians living in Nigeria's north, but Friday's attack saw its gunmen kill many Muslims. In a recent video posted to the Internet, Imam Abubakar Shekau, a Boko Harm leader, warned it would kill anyone who "betrays the religion" by being part of or sympathizing with Nigeria's government.

"I swear by Allah we will kill them and their killing will be nothing to us," Shekau said. "It will be like going to prayers at 5 a.m."

Friday's attacks also could cause more unrest, as violence in Kano has set off attacks throughout the north in the past, including postelection violence in April that saw 800 people killed. Kano, an ancient city, remains important in the history of Islam in Nigeria and has important religious figures there today.

Amid the recent unrest and attacks, at least two journalists have been killed in Nigeria. Journalist Enenche Akogwu, who worked as a correspondent in Kano for private news station Channels Television, was shot Friday while reporting on the attacks, colleagues said. In central Nigeria's city of Jos, Nansok Sallah, a news editor for a government-owned radio station called Highland FM, was found dead in a shallow stream Thursday, the victim of an apparent murder, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

___

Salisu Rabiu in Kano, Nigeria, and Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report.

___

Jon Gambrell reported from Lagos, Nigeria and can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

Associated Press

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Obama to press Congress to revisit $1.2T in cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) ? In its budget submission next month, the Obama administration will urge lawmakers to revisit the failed attempt by a congressional supercommittee to cut the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion, the White House says.

The proposal runs counter to the common wisdom in Washington that any major deficit reduction effort is unlikely in a presidential election year. Instead, lawmakers are focusing on a one-year extension of a payroll tax cut and supplemental jobless benefits sought by the president as part of last fall's jobs agenda.

But also looming are sweeping across-the-board spending cuts required next year because of the supercommittee deadlock. Top lawmakers like House Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif., are focusing on a less ambitious one-year plan to give the Pentagon a reprieve from cuts that both the administration and Republicans say would cripple the military.

The White House plan, likely to reprise new taxes and fee proposals that are nonstarters with Capitol Hill Republicans, would turn off the entire nine-year, $1.2 trillion across-the-board spending cuts, referred to as a "sequester."

"We have a sequester coming less than a year from now unless Congress acts," said a senior administration official. "We're going to ask Congress to do now what we think Congress should have done in December, which is enact more than $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction, turn off the sequester and maintain the (spending caps)."

The official required anonymity as a condition to speak to a reporter on the plan.

That plan of budget cuts would be imposed under last summer's budget and debt pact between Obama and Congress that imposed $900 billion in savings from accounts appropriated by Congress each year and promised at least $1.2 trillion more from the work on the deficit supercommittee, or, failing that, across-the-board cuts to a sweeping set of defense and domestic programs.

The threat of the across-the-board cuts was supposed to prod the panel, but it never got on track and collapsed just before Thanksgiving over intractable differences on tax increases and cuts to popular programs like Medicare.

The failure of the panel capped a long, difficult budget year in which the warring sides were only able to agree when facing either a shutdown of the government or an unthinkable default on U.S. obligations. Policymakers face the prospect of more gridlock this year as election-year politics promise to even further cripple the already limited ability of Obama and Capitol Hill Republicans to work together.

In that light, the administration's proposal could be doomed to dead-on-arrival status despite widespread desire to turn off the automatic cuts

At the same time, a new wrinkle has emerged due to the collapse of the supercommittee: a new set of spending caps for the 2013 budget year that begins Oct. 1 that require cuts of about $8 billion from the $554 billion budget for defense programs, the first outright cuts since the so-called peace dividend of the early 1990s.

The required defense cuts are separate from those that would be imposed under the sequester, but the administration official predicted lawmakers might revisit them when turning to the annual appropriations bills later this year.

The budget is slated to be released Feb. 6.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-20-US-Obama-Budget/id-8f2c11eb2a4348379cd7942ce1869bc4

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Interpol chief says countries not using databases (AP)

LONDON ? Interpol's chief sounded an alarm Thursday that countries are still failing to check identity documents against its database ? a warning that comes just months ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

Ron Noble, secretary-general of the international police agency based in France, said out of the 1.1 billion travelers last year, ID documents of some 500 million people were not checked against Interpol's database, which is one of the world's most detailed.

"It will take a tragedy ? a specific kind of tragedy ? for behavior to change," Noble told The Associated Press after speaking to foreign correspondents in London.

Noble has said Britain is the only EU country to systematically check passports against those registered with Interpol as missing worldwide. Britain carried out 140 million checks last year against the database ? more than the rest of Europe combined.

Last year, he said more than 11,000 people were caught trying to enter the U.K. using lost or stolen passports.

France carried out the second-highest number of checks at 10 million.

"The only problem the U.K. appears to have is the number of people at immigration posts," Noble said. He was not voicing concerns over the Olympics.

A special Interpol team will be sent specifically for the Olympics, helping British authorities determine whether anyone trying to enter the U.K. is wanted, whether their documents have been listed as lost or stolen and whether they are considered a threat.

"We know terrorists use fraudulent ID documents," Noble said.

The U.K. Border Agency faced intense criticism last year after passport checks were relaxed during the height of the summer tourist season to lessen lines at London's Heathrow Airport, Europe's busiest. A government report on Thursday blamed poor communications, a lack of supervision and other shortcomings for the problems.

Olympics security has been a primary concern since 1972, when 11 Israeli athletes and coaches were killed at the Munich Games.

Noble said while there was no specific intelligence that the games would be targeted, such events provide an array of opportunities for criminals, including pickpocketing, forced prostitution, illegal Internet betting rings and hoaxes.

And then there is still the threat of terrorism. Noble said while al-Qaida's ranks had been depleted, affiliates were actively recruiting in places like Somalia.

Another fear that Noble said "keeps him up at night" is the threat of a nuclear or biological attack. Interpol has been alerted to some 2,715 instances where there were questions of whether there had been illicit trafficking of nuclear material.

Noble stressed, however, that didn't mean there were more 2,000 cases of trafficked nuclear material.

While most of the cases involved non-nuclear radioactive material cases ? 2,535 ? there were 200 cases involving nuclear material. Only four cases involved the attempted sale of highly enriched uranium, Noble said.

The United States, he said, had the most cases in the database ? mostly because of its reporting through the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Council. After that, Eastern Europe has had the most and some of the most significant cases of concern in terms of criminality, Noble said.

As for whether terror groups were becoming more capable of unleashing biological attacks, Noble pointed to advances in both technology and biotechnology. He said the risk was increasing ? partially because technology can be misused ? but that did not mean there was an increased likelihood of a bio-terrorist attack.

"It's so easy to think about how an attack can be carried out because the screening of passengers doesn't focus on that at all," Noble said. "That's why it's important to identify people who are engaged in conduct that is suspicious or illegal."

Noble is American and a former head of the U.S. Secret Service. Interpol is based in Lyon, France.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_interpol

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Common substance may fight food poisoning hazard

NEW YORK (AP) ? A substance found in nuts and whole grains may someday help doctors fight the kind of food poisoning that sickened thousands of people in Europe last summer, a study in mice suggests.

While a variety of germs can cause food poisoning, the European outbreak involved a dangerous strain of the bacterium E. coli. It infects people and pumps out a poison called Shiga toxin. Some other bacteria also produce this toxin, which overall causes more than 1 million deaths a year worldwide. The European food poisoning outbreak included about 4,000 people and 50 deaths.

There's no definitive treatment for Shiga toxin. But in Friday's issue of the journal Science, scientists report that they could protect mice against a lethal dose by injecting them with the mineral manganese.

The animals were injected daily, starting five days before they were exposed to the toxin. While untreated mice died within four days, the injected mice remained healthy. The manganese made the toxin vulnerable to being destroyed by cells.

Scientists still need to do more research before they can assess the usefulness of manganese in treating people. Manganese is already approved for medical use and it's inexpensive, they note. So that might make it especially useful in developing countries, where nearly all cases of Shiga toxin poisoning occur, wrote the researchers, from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

___

Online:

Science: http://www.sciencemag.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2012-01-19-US-SCI-Food-Poisoning-/id-5f531e1218c54d5a92c29ab033f4697f

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Tanier: This weekend's tight ends are future of NFL

Teams' tight ends impossible to defend due to their size, speed and versatility

Ezra Shaw / Getty Images

49ers tight end Vernon Davis breaks a tackle by Saints defender Malcolm Jenkins.

ANALYSIS

updated 10:25 p.m. ET Jan. 17, 2012

Mike Tanier

Twenty-five years ago, tight ends were going extinct.

The run-?n?-shoot offense provided roster space for eight wide receivers and zero tight ends. The West Coast Offense offered a niche as a king-sized possession receiver, but as specialization and substitution increased, the tight end became a threatened species, if not an endangered one.

Gradually, tight ends evolved into the modern Tony Gonzalez-Jason Witten breed: beefed up slot receivers for whom blocking is a nights-and-weekends job. These latter-day of tight ends are often the best overall athletes on the field, but that makes sense -- when a species is pressured, only the fittest survive.

Tight ends are still evolving. Given how athletically gifted they are, it?s not surprising that the 49ers and Patriots are finding new roles for players like Vernon Davis, Delanie Walker, Aaron Hernandez, and Rob Gronkowski.

Just when you think the Patriots tight ends are old news, they turn into running backs. Just when you think you have Davis figured out (Greek statue come to life, though sometimes with the hands to match), he proves that he is as dangerous a deep threat as any of the wide receivers left in the playoffs.

If these guys represent the next stage -- Version 4.0 -- in the metamorphosis of the tight end, we should get a better handle on what they are doing. The Super Bowl could hinge on something as unlikely as the tight end around, a play a fan could go a decade without seeing before this season.

The running threat
Just how unusual is it for a tight end to take a handoff? The top five active reception leaders among tight ends ? Tony Gonzalez, Jason Witten, Antonio Gates, Jeremy Shockey, and Todd Heap -- have combined for 3,473 receptions but just 11 running plays. So rushing accounts for about 0.3 percent of a tight end?s production, though even that number is skewed by broken plays, fake punts, and other odds and ends that count as ?runs? in the official stats.

Greats like Witten, Gates, and Kellen Winslow the First went their whole careers without a carry.

It wasn?t always that way. The ?tight end around? was a playbook standard through the 1960s, and as recently as the late 1970s, a great tight end like Ozzie Newsome might take a few handoffs per season as a fullback or on a reverse. Tight end handoffs disappeared by the early 1980s, but the Patriots and Niners are at the forefront of a revolution in tight end running.

Jim Harbaugh is determined to revive the tight end around, no matter the costs. Davis and Walker combined for five carries this season, all of them outside runs. Some of those runs came at unusual times, like in the red zone and third-and-long. Most, however, were unsuccessful. Walker gained 14 yards on one end-around, but the other four plays lost yardage. Still, Harbaugh was calling Walker?s number as late as Week 14, and the man that gave us the Alex Smith shotgun sweep for a touchdown against the Saints will do anything to diversify his running game.

The Patriots don?t run many tight-end arounds. Instead, Hernandez lines up in the backfield and takes old-fashioned handoffs. Hernandez rushed six times for 45 yards in the regular season and added five rushes for 61 yards on Saturday against the Broncos. Gronkowski is also credited with a two-yard touchdown rush, but that was more of a short screen pass that happened to be travel backward in the air.

There is nothing new about lining tight ends up in the backfield on passing downs, but they are usually there for pass protection, not as rushing threats. For the Patriots, Hernandez?s rushing is just one more advantage for their no-huddle offense; even if the running backs are split wide or on the sideline, defenders cannot ignore the possibility of a handoff.

But really, no team needs an extra reason to get the ball into the hands of athletes like Davis, Walker, Hernandez and Gronkowski. They are almost as fast as wide receivers and bigger and stronger than most running backs. Tall ball carriers are at a disadvantage when running between the tackles because they expose the football (and the ribs) when plunging into the line. That is less of a problem on the edge, and when a 250-pounder like Hernandez reaches the sideline ? where only 190-pound cornerbacks are available to tackle him ? good things can happen for an offense.

The deep threat
Tight ends have always run deep routes; the ?seamer? is an important part of every playbook. The next-gen tight ends are going a step further. Instead of settling for a role as occasional deep threats, they are on their way to becoming their teams? primary deep threats.

Table 1 shows just how often the Patriots and Niners tight ends were targeted for deep passes (more than 15 yards downfield in the air).

Player Att Comp Yards TDs Avg Yards in Air Hernandez/Gronkowski 39 21 501 8 22.5 Davis/Walker 28 15 374 3 25.3 Pettigrew/Scheffler 24 15 341 3 20.1

Gronkowski and Hernandez are targeted about three times per game on deep passes. Davis and Welker are targeted less frequently, but the Niners do not pass nearly as often as the Patriots. As a percentage, their role in the long passing game is similar to the one Gronkowski and Hernandez play, and their ?long passes? are actually longer than the Patriots? bombs.

For comparison?s sake, I added Brandon Pettigrew and Tony Scheffler, another tight end tandem that plays a major role in the deep passing game. The Lions? duo is targeted nearly as often as the Davis and Walker, but again, the Lions pass much more often than the Niners do. Davis and Walker combined for 39.4 percent of the Niners' deep passing attempts. Scheffler and Pettigrew accounted for just 20 percent of the Lions' deep passing. Hernandez and Gronkowski account for 38 percent of the Patriots' deep passing.

Pettigrew and Scheffler are fine players, but they are Version 3.0 tight ends. Version 4.0 models are full partners in all facets of the passing attack.

The next step
The most interesting thing about the Patriots and Niners tight end tandems is that they are tandems: both teams make extensive use of two tight-end attacks. The Lions and Panthers are also committed to the two tight end package as one of their base offensive sets.

Sure, these tight ends motion into the slot, split wide, or line up at fullback. But they are recognizable as tight ends. If you told a coach from 1990 (when even the Redskins had given up their two tight-end formation for the three-receiver ?posse?) that some of the most successful, explosive offenses in the league would be built around tight end passing, he would have sent four 5-foot-9 Smurf receivers to chase you and hit you as hard as they could (not very).

The old, lumbering tight end is not quite extinct, as the Giants' Jake Ballard will prove on Sunday. But defenses must brace for a new breed of player that can not only work the slot and seam like Gonzo and Witten, but take handoffs, run the full route tree, and stay on the field on every situation. And block. Players like Walker have not forgotten that part of their job description.

So if you are watching a Saints game three years from now and see Jimmy Graham as a Wildcat quarterback, or if Jermichael Finley starts lining up in the I-formation for the Packers next year, remember how it all started.

It?s nothing to be afraid of. It?s evolution, baby.

Mike Tanier writes for NBCSports.com and Rotoworld.com and is a senior writer forFootball Outsiders.

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