House Plans Up-or-Down Vote on 'Cliff' Deal

The Republican-dominated House of Representatives is taking an up-or-down vote on a bipartisan Senate deal to avert the "fiscal cliff."

House Republicans agreed to the up-or-down vote Tuesday evening, despite earlier talk of trying to amend the Senate bill with more spending cuts before taking a vote.

If House Republicans had tweaked the legislation, there would have been no clear path for its return to the Senate before a new Congress is sworn in Thursday.

The Senate passed the same bill by an 89-8 vote in the wee hours of New Year's Day.

Before deciding on the up-or-down vote in the House, GOP leaders had emerged from a morning conference meeting disenchanted by the legislative package devised by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Mo., and Vice President Biden early this morning, with several insisting they could not vote on it as it stood.

"I do not support the bill," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said as he left the meeting. "We're looking for the best path forward. No decisions have been made yet."

House Speaker John Boehner refused to comment on the meeting, but his spokesman said, "the lack of spending cuts in the Senate bill was a universal concern amongst members in today's meeting."

Bill Clark/Roll Call/Getty Images

'Fiscal Cliff' Negotiations: Congress Reaches Agreement Watch Video

Fiscal Cliff Countdown: Missing the Deadline Watch Video

"Conversations with members will continue throughout the afternoon on the path forward," Brendan Buck said in a statement.

As lawmakers wrestled with the legislation, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill's added spending combined with the cost of extending tax cuts for those making under $400,000 would actually add $3.9 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years. The Joint Committee on Taxation reached a similar conclusion.

The impasse once again raised the specter of sweeping tax hikes on all Americans and deep spending cuts' taking effect later this week.

"This is all about time, and it's about time that we brought this to the floor," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said after emerging from a meeting with Democrats.

"It was a bill that was passed in the U.S. Senate 89-8. Tell me when you've had that on a measure as controversial as this?" she said of the overwhelming vote.

Pelosi could not say, however, whether the measure had the backing of most House Democrats.

"Our members are making their decisions now," she said.

Biden, who brokered the deal with McConnell, joined Democrats for a midday meeting on Capitol Hill seeking to shore up support for the plan.

While Congress technically missed the midnight Dec. 31 deadline to avert the so-called cliff, both sides have expressed eagerness to enact a post-facto fix before Americans go back to work and the stock market opens Wednesday.

"This may take a little while but, honestly, I would argue we should vote on it today," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who sits on the Budget Committee. "We know the essential details and I think putting this thing to bed before the markets is important.

"We ought to take this deal right now and we'll live to fight another day, and it is coming very soon on the spending front."

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N.Korea leader vows "radical" economic shift

SEOUL: North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-Un called for a "radical turnabout" in the impoverished country's economy in a rare New Year's address Tuesday that also urged improved relations with the South.

While the heart of his lengthy speech was devoted to turning the North into an "economic giant" and raising living standards, Kim stressed that military power remained a national priority.

"The military might of a country represents its national strength. Only when it builds up its military might in every way can it develop into a thriving country," he said in a voiced message broadcast on state television.

The address will be closely parsed for meaning in South Korea which just elected its first woman president, the conservative Park Geun-Hye, who has signalled a willingness for greater engagement with Pyongyang.

The voiced message was the first of its kind since Kim's grandfather, the North's founding president Kim Il-Sung, delivered one in 1994, the year of his death.

Kim's comments on the economy are likely to fuel speculation that he might be set to implement economic reforms that observers have been predicting since he came to power a year ago after the death of his father Kim Jong-Il.

The year 2013 will be a year of "great creations and changes in which a radical turnabout will be effected," Kim said, adding that "the building of an economic giant is the most important task" facing the country.

Praising the success of the North's space scientists in launching a long-range rocket last month, Kim said a similar national effort was required on the economic front.

"The entire Party, the whole country and all the people should wage an all-out struggle this year to effect a turnaround in building an economic giant and improving the people's standard of living," he said.

When Kim Jong-Il died, he left a country in dire economic straits -- the result of a "military first" policy that fed an ambitious missile and nuclear programme at the expense of a malnourished population.

Despite a rise in staple food output, daily life for millions of Koreans is an ongoing struggle with under-nutrition and a lack of vital protein and fat, according to a recent World Food Programme report.

Some observers had seen a glimmer of reformist hope in the handover of power to the Swiss-educated Kim Jong-Un, only in his late 20s.

Instead, Kim focused on consolidating his power base with a series of high-profile personnel changes, notably within the military elite, while at the same time pursuing Kim Jong-Il's missile programme.

Tuesday's address called for a "radical" increase in output across the board, from light and heavy industry to agriculture, as well as an improved transport infrastructure.

But it offered no specific policy directives for how this might be achieved by the isolated state which relies on its sole major ally China for 70 per cent of its foreign trade.

Kim's address came as the UN Security Council is still considering how to punish Pyongyang for its recent rocket launch, which most of the world saw as a disguised ballistic missile test.

The speech lauded the launch as a historic national achievement and stressed the need to develop more "sophisticated military hardware" in order to bring about a "fundamental change" in combat preparedness.

On South Korea, Kim sounded a conciliatory note and urged a scaling down of tensions on the Korean peninsula.

"An important issue in putting an end to the division of the country and achieving its reunification is to remove confrontation between the North and the South," Kim said.

"The past records of inter-Korean relations show that confrontation between fellow countrymen leads to nothing but war," he said.

South Korean president-elect Park Geun-Hye has distanced herself from outgoing President Lee Myung-Bak's hardline policy towards Pyongyang and spoken of the need for greater engagement with the North.

But in her first post-election victory policy statement, Park made it clear she still viewed Pyongyang as a serious threat and would put the South's national security before any trust-building programme.

-AFP/ac

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Global rights bodies slam India for 'weak' rape laws

NEW DELHI: The Indian government has come under attack from global human rights bodies for its inadequate laws against sexual violence or treatment of survivors.

Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said, "The government needs to act now to prevent sexual assault, aggressively investigate and prosecute perpetrators, and ensure the dignified treatment of survivors."
The US embassy, in a statement, also mourned the death of the victim — ""We are deeply saddened to learn that the victim of a horrific assault in New Delhi Dec 16 has died," an embassy statement said. "As we honour the memory of this brave young woman, we also recommit ourselves to changing attitudes and ending all forms of gender-based violence which plagues every country in the world."

Meanwhile, UNICEF drew attention to the fact that an alarmingly large number of victims of sexual violence in India are children. "It is alarming that too many of these cases are children. One in three of the rape victims is a child. More than 7,200 children , including infants are raped every year. Given the stigma attached to rapes, especially when it comes to children, this most likely is only the tip of the ice berg," said Mr. Louis-Georges Arsenault, UNICEF Representative to India.

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Space Pictures This Week: Ice “Broccoli,” Solar Storm

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  Happy Trails

  Photograph by Alex Cherney, TWAN

  Amateur astronomer Alex Cherney captured these star trails as they blazed above Lake Tyrrell, a salt lake in Victoria, Australia in October 2011 and posted to The World At Night website December 25, 2012.

  (See pictures of another Australian salt lake, Lake Eyre.)

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











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  Tokyo From Space

  
  Image courtesy DLR

  The sprawling Japanese capital Tokyo looks like a funky computer chip in this image taken by Germany's Earth-observing satellite TerraSAR-X and released December 20.

  Launched in 2007, the satellite's radar sensors map Earth from 319 miles (514 kilometers) up in a near-polar orbit.

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











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  Extreme View

  
  Image courtesy SDO/NASA

  NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory snapped this extreme ultraviolet view of an active region on the sun as it rotated into view from December 16 to December 18. Ultraviolet light makes it easier to trace the whorls and loops created by superheated gas, or plasma, and the sun's magnetic field lines.

  Active solar regions such as this create space weather that, when aimed at Earth, can disrupt satellite communications and electronics. (See more pictures of solar activity and space weather.)

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











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  Saturn’s Dark Side

  
  Image courtesy SSI/Caltech/NASA

  This image of the unlit side of Saturn's S rings, released December 24, was taken with visible light by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

  The shadow of Saturn's innermost major moon, Mimas, is visible as a black oval south of the rings' shadow. For those with completely dust-free computer monitors, Janus, another Saturnian moon, is visible as a tiny white speck above the planet's north pole. (Learn about Saturn's major moons.)

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











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  A River Runs Through It

  
  Image courtesy ESA/JAXA

  The European Space Agency released this picture—taken by Japan's satellite ALOS—of Italy's longest river on December 14.

  The Po river and its surrounding fields divide Italy into its northern and southern regions. The Japanese used ALOS, which they lost contact with in late April 2011, to generate precise land maps, monitor disasters, and conduct resource surveys. (Read an excerpt from National Geographic magazine about the Po river.)

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











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  Glacial "Broccoli"

  
  Image from DigitalGlobe/Getty Images

  The Moshniy glacier, located on the Russian archipelago Novaya Zemlya in the Arctic Ocean, calves chunks of ice and debris into a pattern reminiscent of broccoli in an image released December 20.

  Novaya Zemlya was a sensitive military area during the Cold War, and was also the site of the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated. The energy released by the 50-megaton "Tsar" bomb was ten times that of all the explosions set off during World War II.

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  











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  Image courtesy Caltech/SSI/NASA

  Published December 31, 2012

  
  

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Fiscal Cliff Deal Reached; Biden Pitches It to Dems

The so-called "fiscal cliff" came tonight -- but now there is a specific deal on the table to try to soften it after the fact, according to congressional sources.

"It is a compromise, so we don't love it," said a senior White House official. "But it is the right thing to do for the economy."

Vice President Joe Biden still had to convince Senate Democrats to support the proposal, which would extend Bush-era tax cuts permanently for people making less than $400,000 per year and households making less than $450,000, the sources said.

The steep "sequester" budget cuts scheduled to go into effect with the new year would be postponed two months, said sources. They said half the money would come from cuts elsewhere, and the other half from new revenue.

The deal also would affect taxes on investment income and estates, and extend unemployment benefits for a year, the congressional sources added.

A vote could come tonight or Tuesday in the Senate, and likely Tuesday in the House, which adjourned for the evening before word of the agreement spread.

But the deal, if it can pass through Congress, does not entirely solve the problem of the "fiscal cliff." In fact, it could set up a new showdown over the same spending cuts in just two months that would be amplified by a brewing fight over how to raise the debt ceiling beyond $16.4 trillion. That new fiscal battle has the potential to eclipse the "fiscal cliff" in short order.

Biden was asked to confirm the deal as he entered a meeting with Senate Democrats tonight, but only smiled and said, "Happy New Year."

"We're waiting to see how the vice president brings his party along," a McConnell aide said.

"The end is in sight," said a Democratic aide with the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "If everyone cooperates, it's possible things can move pretty quickly."

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

'Fiscal Cliff': Lawmakers Scramble for Last-Minute Deal Watch Video

After the deadline passes, lawmakers could still prevent a tax hike by making retroactive any legislation that passes in the weeks ahead, experts said. The IRS said it has not yet advised employers to withhold more from their employees' paychecks, pending a deal.

Earlier, during a midday news conference, Obama said he was optimistic about compromise.

"It appears that an agreement to prevent this New Year's tax hike is within sight, but it's not done," he said. "There are still issues left to resolve, but we're hopeful that Congress can get it done."

Congressional and White House negotiators worked out a tentative plan that, in addition to extending current tax rates for households making $450,000 or less, would raise the estate tax from 35 to 40 percent for estates larger than $5 million; and prevent the alternative minimum tax from hammering millions of middle-class workers, according to sources familiar with the talks.

Capital gains taxes would rise to 20 percent from 15, according to a senior White House official.

The deal would also extend for one year unemployment insurance benefits set to expire Tuesday, and avert a steep cut to Medicare payments for doctors, congressional sources said.

"I can report that we've reached an agreement on the all the tax issues," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in an afternoon speech on the Senate floor.

At the time, McConnell said that federal spending cuts remained a sticking point. That hurdle later appeared to be cleared by postponing the debate two more months.

The White House had proposed a three-month delay of the cuts to allow more time to hash out details for deficit reduction, while many Senate Democrats wanted a flat one-year delay. Republicans insisted that some spending cuts should be implemented now as part of any deal.

"In order to get the sequester moved, you're going to have to have real, concrete spending cuts," said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. Without that, he said, "I don't know how it passes the House."

Some Republicans also said Obama unduly complicated progress toward an agreement by seeming to take a victory lap on taxes at his campaign-style event at the White House.

"Keep in mind that just last month Republicans in Congress said they would never agree to raise tax rates on the wealthiest Americans," Obama said, raising the ire of several Republicans. "Obviously, the agreement that's currently discussed would raise those rates, and raise them permanently."

Those words drew a sharp retort from Republican Sen. John McCain.

Rather than staging a "cheerleading rally," McCain said, the president should have been negotiating the finishing touches of the deal.

"He comes out and calls people together and has a group standing behind him, laughs and jokes and ridicules Republicans. Why?" said McCain.

Several Democrats also voiced disappointment with the president and the emerging deal.

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From partisan perspective, ‘cliff’ may not be that scary

To many Americans, what’s going on in Washington looks like a circus show that isn’t the least bit entertaining — the nation’s leaders seemingly unable to come up with a deal that keeps most people from paying higher taxes.

But there is a logic to it. For all the posturing of the last few weeks, both sides see a measure of political upside in going over the “fiscal cliff” — or, at the least, an advantage in waiting until the last minute, since they want to avoid drawing the ire of their most loyal supporters by appearing to cave too quickly.

“This is a town where each side seems to see a political advantage to their position when nothing is happening,” said Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), who will retire Thursday and cautioned his colleagues against leaving the tricky negotiations for newcomers who will take office in a few days. “There’s enough blame to go around.”

Late Sunday, Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) were engaged in high-stakes, last-minute talks on a deal that would avert the most significant economic effects of the fiscal cliff. There remained hope on Capitol Hill that a breakthrough could lead to votes in the House and Senate on Monday, ahead of a midnight deadline.

Lawmakers said they were deeply frustrated — even disgusted — by the spectacle of the lurching talks. But they said they have become resigned to last-second dealmaking in a divided Congress.

“It’s under the crucible of a time constraint that this place acts,” Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) said.

For both parties, there are some logical incentives to go over the cliff.

Democrats are fresh off electoral victory in November and fighting a reputation that they too easily give ground. The way they see it, they’ll get what they want no matter what. Either they get a deal that includes tax increases on the wealthy or they go over the cliff. At that point, taxes would go up for everyone, and the Democrats would immediately move to cut rates for all but the wealthy.

They may, in fact, get more of what they want by waiting. As of late Sunday, for instance, Democrats appeared willing to agree to raise rates only for those making more than $400,000. But if they go over the cliff, Democrats would have less need to negotiate and could seek to set that number at $250,000, their original goal.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) on Sunday reiterated a view she has pressed repeatedly with her Democratic colleagues: Going over the cliff is better than agreeing to a bad bargain. “We can’t accept a bad deal just because we’re here,” she said. “We have to keep working to get a good deal.”

Deal or no deal, the longer the current dynamic lasts, the longer Democrats will seek to portray Republicans as beholden to the rich at the expense of the middle class.

“They say that their biggest priority is making sure that we deal with the deficit in a serious way, but the way they’re behaving is that their only priority is making sure that tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans are protected,” President Obama said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “That seems to be their only overriding, unifying theme.”

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Gang hits gem-cutting plant in Brazil, takes hostages

BRASILIA: Military police killed the leader of a gang that had spectacularly blasted its way into a gem-cutting plant on Sunday, traded fire with police and made off with nine hostages who were later safely freed.

Three of the assailants died in the assault in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, a military police official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The dead included Elisandro Falcao, 31, one of the state's most wanted men. He led a gang that specializes in robberies using explosives to target banks and automated teller machines, reports said.

Surviving attackers fled with their hostages -- one of whom was a 12-year-old girl -- into a wooded area of the town of Cotipora, with police pursuing in cars and helicopters, the official said.

At least 100 military police, backed by helicopters, worked into the night in the search for five assailants and their captives.

After an hours-long operation, police freed all nine hostages safely, but also exchanged more fire with the assailants, killing three more of them, while two police officers were injured, officials said.

The area where the strike was carried out is in the heart of the gem-cutting industry in Brazil, which is a world leader in exporting many semi-precious stones such as topaz, aquamarine and amethyst.

The robbers detonated dynamite to storm into the plant, then ran into police on their way out, the military police official said.

"There was an intense firefight. Three assailants died and two police were injured," Rio Grande do Sul state military chief Sergio Abreu told reporters.

Police have recovered part of the loot, but gave no figure for its value.

As they made their escape, the attackers split into two groups. One took two people who were in a bar hostage, and the other broke into a home and abducted seven people, apparently all members of the same family.

The forest where the gang fled is thick and hard to navigate, but police surrounded it, said state deputy military commander Altair de Freitas.

Helicopters and special operations teams with sniffer dogs took part in the search, he added. News reports said the remaining gang was made up of nine men armed with rifles.

Governor Tarso Genro stressed that the hostages' lives were the top priority.

- AFP/al

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Castrate all rapists, says Zubin Mehta

BEIJING: World famous composer of Indian origin, Zubin Mehta, called for castration of all accused in the Delhi gang-rape case and others found committing the rape in India. He expressed excitement about the protests against the gang-rape of Nirbhaya and expects positive changes to come out of it.

"I am fuming, but I see a very healthy sign of public objection, public demonstration. I hope it will not die down. I hope it will not be short-lived," Mehta told Toi in an exclusive interview.

He said the Indian government should realize what the people really want from it. "It is not only about justice, but the future of India. Police has to take it seriously".

Mehta said the issue is being discussed the world over like the case of Malala, the Pakistani girl, and brought shame to Indians. He also questioned the government's decision to shift the rape victim for medical treatment to Singapore. "Where they trying to remove her from the locality, for her own safety?" he asked.

The least that should be done is to castrate all the four accused in the Delhi gang rape case, he said. "I heard that a girl who reported rape was advised to marry one of the criminals. How can a human being do such a thing?" he asked.

"An important issue that needs to be addressed is how to look after the poor ladies who have been attacked," he said.

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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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Hillary Clinton Hospitalized With Blood Clot

(MICHAL CIZEK/AFP/Getty Images)

By DANA HUGHES and DEAN SCHABNER

Secretary Hillary Clinton was hospitalized today after a doctors doing a follow-up exam discovered a blood clot had formed, stemming from the concussion she sustained several weeks ago.

She is being treated with anti-coagulants and is at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital so that they can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours, Deputy Assistant Secretary Philippe Reines said.

Her doctors will continue to assess her condition, including other issues associated with her concussion. They will determine if any further action is required, Reines said.

Clinton, 65, originally fell ill from a stomach virus following a whirlwind trip to Europe at the beginning of the month, which caused such severe dehydration that she fainted and fell at home, suffering a concussion. No ambulance was called and she was not hospitalized, according to a state department official.

The stomach virus had caused Clinton to cancel a planned trip to North Africa and the United Arab Emirates, and also her scheduled testimony before Congress at hearings on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

According to a U.S. official, the secretary had two teams of doctors, including specialists, examine her after the fall.  They also ran tests to rule out more serious ailments beyond the virus and the concussion. During the course of the week after her concussion, Clinton was on an IV drip and being monitored by a nurse, while also recovering from the pain caused by the fall.

Medical experts consulted by ABC News said that it was impossible to know for sure the true nature or severity of Clinton’s condition, given the sparse information provided by the State Department. However, most noted that the information available could indicate that Clinton had a deep venous thrombosis,which is a clot in the large veins in the legs.

“A concussion (traumatic brain injury) in itself increases risk of this clot. Likely the concussion has increased her bed rest,” said Dr. Brian D. Greenwald, Medical Director JFK Jonson Rehabilitation Center for Head Injuries. “Immobility is also a risk for DVT. Long flights are also a risk factor for DVT but the recent concussion is the most likely cause.

“Anticoagulants are the treatment,” he said. “If DVT goes untreated it can lead to pulmonary embolism (PE). PE is a clot traveling from veins in legs to lungs which is life threatening. Many people die each year from this.

“Now that she is being treated with blood thinners her risks of PE are decreased,” he said. “Blood thinners carry risk of bleeding but are common and can be safely used.”

Dr. Allen Sills, associate professor of Neurological Surgery at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said it was most likely that the clot was not located in Clinton’s brain, since she is being treated with anticoagulants.

“This is certainly not a common occurrence after a concussion, and is most likely related to either inactivity or some other injury suffered in the fall,” he said.

Dr. Neil Martin, the head of Neurovascular Surgery at the University of California, Los Angeles, Medical Center, said blood thinners are often given for blood clots in the legs, and it is “very unusual” for anticoagulants to be given for blood clots in the head.

But he cautioned about speculating too much about Clinton’s condition before more information is available.

“If we don’t know where it is, there is the possibility of several different indications,” he said. “I don’t know if there is any connection between what she’s got now and the concussion. All I can tell you is, at this point, it’s almost impossible to speculate unless we know what’s going on there.”

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