World Briefly

By The Associated Press | Clanton Advertiser

Published Monday, February 2, 2009

Daschle apologizes and fights to keep his Cabinet nomination alive; Obama, key senator back him

WASHINGTON (AP) — Fighting to salvage his Cabinet nomination, Tom Daschle pleaded his case Monday evening in a closed meeting with former Senate colleagues after publicly apologizing for failing to pay more than $120,000 in taxes. President Barack Obama said he was "absolutely" sticking with his nominee for health secretary, and a key senator added an important endorsement.

The White House both underscored the magnitude of the problem and tried to downplay it in the space of seven words. "Nobody's perfect," said press secretary Robert Gibbs. "It was a serious mistake. ..."

Nobody was predicting defeat for Daschle's nomination as secretary of health and human services, but it was proving an unsavory pill to swallow for senators who only last week confirmed Timothy Geithner as treasury secretary despite his separate tax-payment problems. It's an issue that strikes a nerve among lawmakers' constituents who are struggling with their own serious money problems.

On the bright side for Daschle, he got warm words of support from the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, the panel that will have the first say on his fate. Daschle has been "an invaluable and expert partner" in efforts toward health care reform, said Democrat Max Baucus of Montana — an especially important endorsement since the two men have had tussles in the past over Baucus' handling of GOP tax-cut proposals, Medicare changes and other issues.

Republicans weren't so quick to get in line.

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Senate Republicans want mortgage relief and larger tax cuts in stimulus bill as debate opens

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Republicans pressed for mortgage relief as well as larger tax cuts Monday as debate opened on the emergency economic stimulus measure atop President Barack Obama's agenda. Democrats came under pressure to reduce spending in the bill.

"What we can't do is let very modest differences get in the way" of swift enactment of the legislation, Obama said as new layoffs rippled through the economy and the Commerce Department reported an unexpectedly large sixth straight drop in personal spending. He invited Democratic leaders to the White House to discuss changes in the $884 billion measure, in hopes of avoiding a party-line vote like the one last week in the House.

Republicans said their goal was the change the bill, not to block it. "Nobody that I know of is trying to keep a package from passing," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader.

"We need to fix housing first," he said, and officials said the GOP was coalescing behind a proposal to have the federal government assume some of the risk inherent in mortgages. The goal was to have banks lower the interest rate to 4 percent or 4.5 percent on 30-year fixed rate loans for many primary residences, by directing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy the mortgages.

The officials who described the emerging proposal did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss it.

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Sen. Gregg says he would agree to join Obama's Cabinet only if his replacement is a Republican

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama moved closer to nominating his secretary of commerce Monday as his top choice, GOP Sen. Judd Gregg, revealed an apparent deal by which his Senate seat would stay out of Democratic hands.

"I have made it clear to the Senate leadership on both sides of the aisle and to the governor that I would not leave the Senate if I felt my departure would cause a change in the makeup of the Senate," Gregg said in a statement.

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch confirmed the "understanding," stopping just short of promising to appoint a Republican or an independent to serve out the remaining two years of Gregg's term.

The White House tried to stay out of the back and forth. But officials there did nothing to squelch the expectation that Gregg would be nominated to the post.

"Obviously, the president has great respect for Senator Gregg," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday. "I'm not going to get into personnel announcements before we are there."

Getting to a deal took days of negotiating after it became known last week that Obama was considering appointing the former Budget Committee chairman from New Hampshire to his Cabinet. A flurry of telephone calls among the White House, the Senate and New Hampshire yielded these terms: Obama wanted Gregg for Commerce. Gregg would accept only if Lynch agreed to appoint a Republican or an independent.

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Hard lessons from Iraq's rebuilding not being applied in Afghanistan, government watchdogs say

WASHINGTON (AP) — Waste and corruption that marred Iraq's reconstruction will be repeated in Afghanistan unless the U.S. transforms the unwieldy bureaucracy managing tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure projects, government watchdogs warned Monday.

The U.S. has devoted more than $30 billion to rebuilding Afghanistan. Yet despite the hard lessons learned in Iraq, where the U.S. has spent nearly $51 billion on reconstruction, the effort in Afghanistan is headed down the same path, the watchdogs told a new panel investigating wartime contracts.

"Before we go pouring more money in, we really need to know what we're trying to accomplish (in Afghanistan)," said Ginger Cruz, deputy special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. "And at what point do you turn off the spigot so you're not pouring money into a black hole?"

Better cooperation among federal agencies, more flexible contracting rules, constant oversight and experienced acquisition teams are among the changes urged by the officials in order to make sure money isn't wasted and contractors don't cheat.

Cruz, along with Stuart Bowen, the top U.S. official overseeing Iraq's reconstruction, delivered a grim report to the Commission on Wartime Contracting. Their assessment, along with testimony from Thomas Gimble of the Defense Department inspector general's office, laid out a history of poor planning, weak oversight and greed that soaked U.S. taxpayers and undermined American forces in Iraq.

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Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi elected leader of African Union to dismay from rights groups

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Moammar Gadhafi of Libya was elected Monday as leader of the African Union, a position long sought by the eccentric dictator who wants to push his oil-rich nation into the international mainstream after years of isolation.

Gadhafi, once ostracized by the West for sponsoring terrorism, has been trying to increase both Libya's global stature and its regional influence — mediating African conflicts, sponsoring efforts to spread Islam on the continent and pushing for the creation of a single African government.

Still, some African leaders offered tepid praise for the choice of the strongman who grabbed power in a 1969 coup. Rights groups called him a poor model for Africa at a time when democratic gains are being reversed in countries such as Mauritania and Guinea.

He attended the session dressed in a gold-embroidered green robe and flanked by seven extravagantly dressed men who said they are the "traditional kings of Africa." Gadhafi told about 20 of his fellow heads of state that that he would work to unite the continent into "the United States of Africa."

Gadhafi arrived at the summit Sunday with the seven men, one carrying a 4-foot gold staff, and caused a stir when security officials did not admit them because each delegation gets only four floor passes. All seven "kings" were seated behind Gadhafi when he accepted the chairmanship.

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Hoses and floodlights: US seamen are getting more training in fending off pirate attacks

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — With an alarming number of tankers and cargo ships getting hijacked on the high seas, the nation's maritime academies are offering more training to merchant seamen in how to fend off attacks from pirates armed not with cutlasses and flintlocks but automatic weapons and grenade launchers.

Colleges are teaching students to fishtail their vessels at high speed, drive off intruders with high-pressure water hoses and illuminate their decks with floodlights.

Anti-piracy training is not new. Nor are the techniques. But the lessons have taken on new urgency — and more courses are planned — because of the record number of attacks worldwide in 2008 by outlaws who seize ships and hold them for ransom.

At the California Maritime Academy in Vallejo, Calif., professor Donna Nincic teaches two courses on piracy. Students learn where the piracy hotspots are and how they have shifted over the years.

"If I've done anything, I've shown them that this isn't a joke, it's not about parrots and eye patches and Blackbeard and all that," Nincic said. "It's very real and it's a problem without an easy solution."

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Boulder police taking back JonBenet investigation, 6 years after turning it over to DA

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — The investigation of JonBenet Ramsey's slaying has been returned to Boulder police, who say they will apply new technology and expertise in hopes of solving the 12-year-old case.

The decision, announced Monday, came six years after police transferred the probe to the district attorney amid criticism of how it was handled.

"Some cases never get solved, but some do," Police Chief Mark Beckner told the Camera newspaper in Boulder. "And you can't give up."

JonBenet, a 6-year-old beauty pageant contestant, was found bludgeoned and strangled in the basement of her Boulder home in December 1996.

L. Lin Wood, an attorney for JonBenet's father, John Ramsey, said the decision was a "positive sign in terms of my hope that the Boulder Police Department will take not only a new review in terms of a cold case review, but that it will go in this time with an objective review."

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New Mexico canyon dwellers were earliest in what is now US to use chocolate

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chocolate for your sweetheart this Valentine's Day?

Folks may be surprised to know how far back chocolate goes — perhaps 1,000 years in what is now the United States.

Evidence of chocolate was been found in Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon, N.M., the earliest indication of the tasty substance north of Mexico, Patricia L. Crown of the University of New Mexico and W. Jeffrey Hurst of the Hershey Center for Health and Nutrition report in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Drinking chocolate was associated with a variety of rituals in ancient Central America, including weddings, but Crown said she is not sure of its exact uses in her area.

The discovery, dated to between A.D. 1000 and 1125, indicates trade was under way between the Chaco Canyon residents and cacao growers in Central America.

But the nearest cacao plantation would have been more than 1,000 miles away, so importing the material would have been a major undertaking, she said. Chocolate was probably something not consumed often, she said in a telephone interview.

It also probably tasted bitter compared with what is available today. Central Americans didn't sweeten their chocolate and sometimes mixed in hot peppers. Crown said honey might have been available in new Mexico but she didn't know if it was used.

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No song in Jersey's heart? Lawmakers postpone state song vote, leaving it sole state sans tune

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey lawmakers are singing the same old tune — nothing.

They put off a vote Monday on choosing four state songs, leaving the state the only one without an official ditty.

A state Senate panel considered a bill that would have adopted an official state anthem, children's song, popular song and ballad.

Republican Sen. Kevin O'Toole derided the bill for proposing several songs instead of one. Democratic Sen. Loretta Weinberg says the state should solve the economic crisis instead.

Efforts to adopt a state song date to 1960. The committee didn't say when it would discuss the measure again.

New Jersey has struggled with its identity before. It held an ultimately unsuccessful contest in 2005 to determine a state slogan.

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People familiar with talks: Oliver Perez and New York Mets agree to $36 million, 3-year deal

NEW YORK (AP) — Oliver Perez and the New York Mets reached a preliminary agreement Monday on a $36 million, three-year contract.

The deal is subject to the pitcher passing a physical, two people familiar with the talks said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement wasn't final. The physical is scheduled for Tuesday.

New York had offered Derek Lowe — another client of agent Scott Boras — a $36 million, three-year contract, but Lowe accepted a $60 million, five-year offer from Atlanta. In addition to Lowe, the Mets also held talks with agents for Tim Redding and Randy Wolf, and agreed with Redding on a $2.25 million, one-year deal.

With the agreement, the Mets' projected rotation includes Johan Santana, John Maine, Perez, Mike Pelfrey and either Redding, Freddy Garcia or Jon Niese. New York has not ruled out re-signing Pedro Martinez, but hasn't appeared interested in bringing him back.

Perez was 10-7 with a 4.22 ERA in 34 starts last year. He struck out 180 and also walked 105 in 194 innings. His 4.87 walks per nine innings were fourth-highest in the majors behind only Barry Zito, Daisuke Matsuzala and Ian Snell.

He will receive $12 million in each of the three seasons, up from the $6.5 million he made last year after winning in salary arbitration.

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