World Briefly

Published Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Key Democrats oppose Obama budget plan to limit itemized tax deductions for high earners

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's proposal to limit itemized tax deductions for high earners is running into opposition from key Democrats in Congress who worry that charities and the housing market would be hurt.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus questioned Wednesday whether the proposal was viable, a day after his House counterpart also expressed reservations.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said tax increases on families making more than $250,000 a year are necessary to make a down payment on health care reform and to limit future budget deficits. But, he said, he was willing to work with lawmakers on proposals they objected to.

"We recognize there are other ways to do this," Geithner told the Finance Committee.

Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said he thought the administration would be flexible on the proposal. "They want health care reform as much as I do," he told reporters.

Geithner and White House budget director Peter Orszag returned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday for a second day of hearings on Obama's $3.6 trillion tax and spending proposal. Both faced tough questions about the tax package.

___

Clinton blasts Iran for posing missile threat, promoting terrorism and seeking to intimidate

BRUSSELS (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton swiped hard at Iran on Wednesday, accusing its hardline leaders of fomenting divisions in the Arab world, promoting terrorism, posing threats to Israel and Europe, and seeking to "intimidate as far as they think their voice can reach."

Her remarks, at the conclusion of two days of talks in Egypt, Israel and the West Bank, were notable for coming from an Obama administration that has raised the prospect of diplomatic engagement with Iran as part of a new direction in U.S. foreign policy.

In remarks to reporters aboard her plane en route from Ramallah to Brussels, Belgium, Clinton said that in her talks with Arab foreign ministers and other leaders she heard "over and over and over again" a deep-seated worry about threats posed by the Iranians.

"It is clear that Iran intends to interfere with the internal affairs of all of these people and try to continue their efforts to fund terrorism, whether it's Hezbollah or Hamas or other proxies," she said.

In Tehran on Wednesday, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused President Barack Obama of following the same mistaken path as the Bush administration with his "unconditional" support of Israel. Khamenei also called Israel a "cancerous tumor" that is on the verge of collapse. He said Israeli leaders should be put on trial for its military offensive in Gaza, which ended with a shaky cease-fire in mid-January.

___

Gov't housing plan aims to help 9 million borrowers, but those 'under water' won't qualify

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration's housing plan is intended to help 9 million struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure, but it leaves out tens of thousands of borrowers in the most battered housing markets who won't qualify because their homes have lost too much value.

The $75 billion program detailed Wednesday offers refinanced mortgages or modified loans with lower monthly payments. Yet its refinancing plan is limited to borrowers who owe up to 5 percent more than their home's current value. Loan modifications are unlikely for severely "underwater" borrowers.

In the California cities of Stockton, Modesto and Merced, more than one out of every 10 homeowners with a mortgage won't qualify for any help because they owe more than 50 percent more than their house's current value, according to data from real-estate Web site Zillow.com.

The plan doesn't help homeowners in states "that are at the epicenter of the housing debacle," said Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com.

The ineligible households are concentrated in California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona, but can also be found in struggling cities such as Detroit and Grand Rapids, Mich. Even houses in the outlying suburbs of the nation's capital, where the economy is relatively healthy, have dropped substantially in value.

___

Private planes, boats searching for 2 missing NFL players, 3rd man missing 4 days off Fla.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Private boats and planes searched Wednesday for two NFL players and a third man missing for four days since their boat capsized in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida, family members said.

The Coast Guard called off the official search Tuesday for Oakland Raiders linebacker Marquis Cooper, who owned the boat, free-agent NFL defensive lineman Corey Smith and former South Florida player William Bleakley. But their families appealed for help to keep hunting.

Two or three charters left in the late morning from a St. Petersburg marina and at least one had friends of the families of the missing men aboard, said Don Beggs, who owns one of the local docks. Three private planes also had searched, according to Cooper's father, Bruce Cooper.

A fourth man on the fishing trip, Nick Schuyler, was rescued Monday after crews found him clinging to the boat. His doctor said it's a "miracle" Schuyler survived in the cold water for nearly two days after the boat carrying the men on a fishing trip overturned in rough seas off the Florida coast Saturday.

Dr. Mark Rumbak said the 24-year-old is in good condition but will remain in intensive care in case there are complications. Schuyler was in 63-degree Gulf of Mexico water for around 46 hours and probably could have lived only another five to 10 hours if he wasn't rescued Monday, Rumbak said.

"I think he is extremely fortunate having been in the water for 46, 47 hours and that he's even alive," Rumbak said. "I can't explain it. Some divine providence, I really think."

___

High court upholds $6.7 million award to amputee, rejects limits on suits against drug makers

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court forcefully rejected calls Wednesday for limiting consumer lawsuits against drug makers, upholding a $6.7 million jury award to a musician who lost her arm to gangrene following an injection.

The decision is the second this term to reject business groups' arguments that federal regulation effectively pre-empts consumer complaints under state law.

Diana Levine of Vermont once played the guitar and piano professionally. Her right arm was amputated after she was injected with Phenergan, an anti-nausea medicine made by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, using a method that brings rapid relief, but with grievous risks if improperly administered.

In a 6-3 decision, the court turned away Wyeth's claim that federal approval of Phenergan and its warning label should have shielded the company from lawsuits like Levine's.

"Next to getting my hand back, it's the best they could do and the least they could have done," the 63-year-old Levine said. She now plays with one hand and sings.

___

NJ insurance workers' policy of pooling together lottery ticket money wins them $216M

WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. (AP) — It may go down as the best memo Bob Space ever wrote: "We won the big one!"

He sent it Wednesday morning to nine fellow employees at an insurance company in central New Jersey who may soon share a $216 million Mega Millions jackpot.

The 10, who work in Chubb Corp.'s technology department, showed off their winning ticket Wednesday outside the office in Whitehouse Station.

Each person threw in $5 toward a 50-ticket purchase, which Space made Monday night at a Singin Oil gas station in Toms River, near his home in Manchester and the Garden State Parkway entrance he uses to go to work each day.

Lottery officials say no one has officially come forward to claim the prize yet, but the ticket the group showed to reporters Wednesday matched the winning numbers. The 10 have not discussed when they will claim the prize but have a year to do so.

Space stopped by the station again Wednesday morning to get a printout of the winning numbers to check the tickets.

___

Conn. woman mauled by chimp lost hands, may have brain damage; recovery prospects unclear

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut woman mauled by a chimpanzee two weeks ago lost her hands, nose, lips and eyelids and may be blind and suffering brain damage, and hospital officials say it's still unclear if her condition can improve at all.

The Cleveland Clinic, revealing the specific injuries Wednesday for the first time, told The Associated Press in a statement that 55-year-old Charla Nash also lost the bone structure in her face when she was attacked on Feb. 16 in Stamford, Conn.

Her wounds have been stabilized, but "critical issues still remain related to a significant traumatic brain injury and injuries to her eyes that threaten her vision," the hospital said.

Neurosurgeons and ophthalmologists are working to evaluate and manage her injuries, but "the full extent of these injuries and her potential for recovery, if any, remain unclear at this time," the hospital said.

Nash remains sedated in the hospital, which performed the nation's first face transplant in December. Hospital officials say it's too early to know if she will be a candidate for a face transplant.

___

Is my chemo working? New scans may answer that agonizing question in days, instead of weeks

NEW YORK (AP) — When Mike Stevens learned his lungs were riddled with cancer, it took only a week to start chemotherapy — but six weeks to find out if it was doing any good.

"You're going through all this suffering and stuff and you want to know, am I going to survive? Is this stuff working?" said Stevens, 48, of La Jolla, Calif. "Your whole life is in sort of a limbo."

Doctors typically must wait weeks or months to see if a treatment is shrinking tumors or at least halting their growth. But researchers are exploring a new use for medical imaging that could shorten the stay in purgatory, possibly revealing within a few days whether chemo is working.

That speed could save both lives and money. It would allow doctors to switch more quickly from an ineffective drug to a different one, and save health care dollars by waving doctors off expensive but futile treatments.

The same approach may also prove useful for monitoring radiation therapy.

This experimental imaging relies on a familiar hospital workhorse: PET scans, typically used for things like detecting cancer or revealing the effects of a heart attack. Unlike CT scans or MRIs, PET scans can show a tumor's internal activity, not just its size.

___

Eagle that smashed through truck windshield in Nevada survives, likely to return to wild

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The eagle has landed — with a thud — after crashing through the windshield of a tractor-trailer on a Nevada highway.

State wildlife officials said Wednesday that a 15-pound golden eagle with a 7-foot wing span has a swollen head but otherwise appears unhurt after crashing into a Florida truck driver's big rig on Monday.

Matthew Roberto Gonzalez of Opa Locka, Fla., was driving on U.S. Interstate 80 in northeast Nevada near Wells, about 60 miles west of the Utah line, when the eagle came crashing into the cab of his truck.

"It looks like she hit it head first. One side of the head is swollen, but there does not appear to be any permanent damage," said Joe Doucette, a spokesman for the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

"The guys in the truck immediately bailed out because it was one ticked off bird. She was pretty feisty," Doucette told The Associated Press. "Even the officer who responded didn't want to go in there so we had one of our wildlife biologists do it."

The eagle was recovering at the Northeast Nevada Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Spring Creek.

Gonzalez and a passenger were unhurt.

___

Person familiar with talks tells AP: Dodgers, Ramirez agree to $45 million, 2-year deal

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The dawn of a rainy late-winter day brought a breakthrough in the stalemate between Manny Ramirez and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

During a 6 a.m. meeting Wednesday at the Malibu beach house of Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, the sides reached a preliminary agreement on a $45 million, two-year contract.

The deal is subject to the outfielder passing a physical, a person familiar with the talks said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because the contract was not final.

"We got a great meeting," Ramirez told KCAL-TV as he emerged from his physical in suburban Inglewood. "I'm happy to be here. We got some unfinished business, and that's why I'm here."

Ramirez gets $25 million this year and has until November to decide whether to void the second season, which calls for a $20 million salary. The deal includes a full no-trade provision, and some of the salary will be deferred.

"We all wanted the same thing and that's what was apparent to me," said Dodgers manager Joe Torre, who left spring training in Arizona with general manager Ned Colletti to attend the session.

---

WOULD YOU LIKE TO SHARE THIS STORY?

---