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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Pakistan expected to unblock YouTube

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is expected to unblock access to the popular video sharing website YouTube Saturday after taking measures to filter blasphemous material and pornography, a cabinet minister said.

Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf in September ordered the blocking of YouTube after the US-based website refused to heed the government's call to remove a controversial anti-Islam video.

Weeks of protests in Pakistan over the crudely made "Innocence of Muslims" film saw more than 20 people killed and caused serious damage in major cities.

Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Twitter the decision to allow access was due to huge public demand, and that the telecom regulator would install a firewall to maintain a block on unseemly content.

"There was a great demand to unblock YouTube from all sections of society... expect the notification today," Malik said.

"PTA (Pakistan Telecommunication Authority) is finalising negotiations for acquiring a powerful firewall software to totally block pornographic and blasphemous material," he added.

Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK) said they have not yet received the notification, but welcomed the minister's announcement.

ISPAK Convener Wahajus Siraj told AFP that when the ban first came into force, Internet video traffic in Pakistan plummeted by up to 30 per cent.

"It is a good development because many people, especially students and institutions, were using YouTube for education, and were facing difficulties as alternate websites were not as good," he said.

According to PTA there are 2.1 million Internet subscribers in Pakistan.

- AFP/ck

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Japan's PM seeks security ties with India, Australia: Report

TOKYO: Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sought to expand the Japan-US security partnership to India and Australia as it faces a bitter territorial row with China.

"The Japan-US alliance is the cornerstone," Abe, sworn in as Prime Minister on Wednesday, said in an interview with the mass-circulation Yomiuri Shimbun published on Saturday.

"It's good to expand it to security cooperation among Japan, the United States and India. (Co-operation) among Japan, the United States and Australia will also contribute to stability in the region," Abe said.

"It is important to regain the region's power balance," he added without elaborating.

Abe won conservative support in national polls earlier this month with forthright pronouncements on the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, vowing not to budge on Japan's claim to them.

China also lays claim to the island chain, which it calls the Diaoyu.

Beijing has sent ships into the islands' waters many times since Tokyo nationalised the chain in September, with analysts saying China intends to prove it can come and go as it pleases.

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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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As ‘fiscal cliff’ deadline nears, OPM updates furlough guidelines

With talks on averting the “fiscal cliff” apparently stalled, the Office of Personnel Management posted new guidance to federal workers for administrative furloughs on its Web site Thursday afternoon.

“We wanted to take some prudent steps to keep federal employees informed in case of an order for sequestration,” said Thomas Richards, OPM’s communications director.

He added that the guidelines were not issued as “a reaction to any specific action” involving the talks between President Obama and congressional leaders.

“It’s nothing more than that,” Richards said.

Nonetheless, after months of the White House expressing confidence that the standoff would be resolved before a crisis hit and that furloughs would be unnecessary, the guidance reflects the reality that little time remains on the calendar to avert the automatic cuts that will be triggered by a failure to reach a deal by the year’s end.

Obama returned to Washington from Hawaii on Thursday in an effort to keep the talks alive. As the deadline approaches, federal workers have grown increasingly worried about the potential threat to their jobs.

The guidance notes that “agencies are responsible for identifying the employees affected by administrative furloughs based on budget conditions, funding sources, mission priorities (including the need to perform emergency work involving the safety of human life or protection of property), and other factors.”

Employees will be given a minimum 60-day notice before any furlough of longer than 22 days takes place, according to the document. A 30-day notice will be given for shorter furloughs.

The guidance also specifies that employees may not take other forms of paid time off, including annual or sick leave, in lieu of being furloughed. Nor is an employee allowed to volunteer to do his or her job for free, unless otherwise authorized by law.

The guidelines are updated from a previous version issued in April by OPM in response to the possibility of a government shutdown at the time.

“The policy folks are diving down deep into the weeds,” Richards said. “We wanted to make sure the guidelines were up to date to reflect the possibility of sequestration.”

Richards said the OPM will soon post answers to frequently asked questions on the agency’s Web site (opm.gov/furlough).

“It will be questions like, ‘Do I need to show up for work on January 2nd? Yes, you do,’ ” Richards said.

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Corporate spending on festive dining mixed: industry players

SINGAPORE: It is the time of the year when year-end office parties and corporate functions are in full swing, but players in the food and beverage (F&B) industry are reporting mixed demand from corporate customers this festive season as companies keep an eye on their budgets.

F&B players also had to cope with manpower shortage and rising costs.

Uncertainty in the world of business and economics has spilled over to hospitality service providers.

"Be it the festive month or the regular months, the bookings are actually quite about the same," said Patsy Lim, sales and marketing manager at Morton's The Steakhouse restaurant.

"But of course during the festive month, we have more of the corporate businesses that are celebrating over dinner in the private room, as well as cocktail events."

There were also dining outlets which reported a surge in bookings.

"We've definitely seen an increase of bookings - I would say about 20% upwards compared to last year," said Leslie Pereira, general manager at Hotel Fort Canning.

Companies could have become more conservative due to woeful headline growth numbers. Singapore's economy is expected to grow only 1.5 per cent this year.

Still, hospitality players say companies do want to celebrate, but more are demanding greater value for money.

Mr Pereira said: "It is very important during this time to be able to tailor make packages towards their budgets, be flexible with prices, be flexible with tailor making menus. Gone are the days where you just have a set menu and say, take it or leave it. The competition out there is so much."

For Fine Palate Catering, it has been a good year, especially with product launch events.

"Banks haven't quite come back yet and their expenditure is really on hold. They're only doing events where its absolutely necessary and there's definitely no mega budgets," said Heather Barrie, founder and director of Fine Palate Catering & Cafe.

"So that is definitely felt, but it has been that way for a while with banks anyway, so it hasn't really made that much difference - other areas of business have picked up to cover for it."

The caterer also has a cafe, but it is in no hurry to expand that part of its business.

This year, the Singapore government imposed restrictions on the hiring of foreign workers in a bid to improve labour productivity.

The move has impacted small and medium enterprises the most, particularly those in domestically-oriented sectors like services and retail.

- CNA/xq

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Shinde says decision on Telangana in one month; 'unhappy' TRS chief calls for shutdown on Saturday

NEW DELHI: Union home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, who chaired a meeting of Andhra political parties on the Telangana issue on Friday, has said a decision on formation of the separate state will be taken in a month.

"I have said earlier that this will be the last all-party meeting on this issue. I have complete faith in the people of Andhra Pradesh and that some solution will be found," Shinde told reporters after the nearly 90-minute meeting.

The all-party meeting, attended by two representatives each of eight Andhra parties - Congress, Telangana Rashtriya Samiti (TRS), TDP, Jaganmohan Reddy's YSR Congress, BJP, CPI, CPM and AIMIM -- predictably saw the Congress articulating a divided stand. While pro-Telangana representative Suresh Reddy opened the discussion by rooting for separate statehood, G Venkat Reddy, who was the last to speak, insisted on keeping Andhra united.

The TRS, BJP and CPI supported creation of Telangana, in line with their declared positions. Not to be outdone, the TDP too seemed to have shed its ambivalence with its representatives seeking to reiterate the stand taken in a 2008 letter to the then President, favouring a separate state. While CPM backed a united Andhra Pradesh, YSR Congress adopted a safe line, with party leader M V Mysura Reddy saying that the party will go by the Centre's decision.

Importantly, TRS declared its "disappointment" with the all-party meeting, with party chief K Chandrasekhara Rao slamming the "continued ambivalence of Congress, TDP and YSR Congress" on the issue. "I am totally disappointed...the government is not serious about creating Telangana. I feel this assurance of a decision in a month is just humbug," Rao told the TOI after emerging from the meeting.

TRS has decided to protest against the refusal of Congress, YSR Congress and TDP to spell out its stand on Telangana as well as the government's indecision by calling for a Telangana bandh on Saturday. The party will announce its future course of action after consulting its representatives in a day or two.

AIMIM favoured a united Andhra Pradesh, but said that if a state has to be created, Hyderabad should be its capital and the new state should comprise Rayal-Telangana region.

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How to Live to a Ripe Old Age

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Did anyone figure out how he survived?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

All things in moderation?

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

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

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

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

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

You also write about having a purpose in life.

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

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

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

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

Tequila is my weakness.

And how long would you like to live?

I'd like to live to be 200.

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White House Says It Has No New Fiscal Cliff Plan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Charles Dharapak/AP Photo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Related: Starbucks enters fiscal cliff fray.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Related: Obama pushes fiscal cliff resolution.

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Hawaii’s lieutenant governor is named to the U.S. Senate

Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie (D) selected Lt. Gov. Brian Schatz on Wednesday to fill the vacancy created by the death last week of veteran U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D).

With the “fiscal cliff” five days away and critical decisions facing the Senate, the White House said Schatz would fly to Washington on Wednesday evening with President Obama. Schatz said he would be in place to be sworn in Thursday.

Abercrombie chose Schatz, 40, a former state Democratic Party chairman and state lawmaker, over U.S. Rep. Colleen W. Hanabusa (D), whom Inouye had indicated shortly before his death would be his preference to replace him.

“No one and nothing is pre­ordained,” Abercrombie told reporters in Hono­lulu. He said Inouye’s views were taken into account but so were those of grass-roots activists and his own analysis of what was best for the state.

He said Schatz, a native of Michigan, was best positioned to help Hawaii begin to rebuild its congressional seniority.

He called Schatz “intelligent, forceful, insightful, committed.”

Schatz will be joined in the Senate next month by Rep. Mazie K. Hirono (D), who was elected in November to replace retiring Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D).

The pair of newcomers will replace one of the nation’s most stable lawmaking teams: A modest World War II hero, Inouye had represented the Aloha State in the Senate since 1963, becoming president pro tempore of the chamber and chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee. Akaka has served in the Senate since 1980.

Schatz will hold the job for two years until Hawaii voters choose a replacement to fill out the final two years of Inouye’s term.

Schatz, who will be one of the Senate’s youngest members, told reporters that he is planning to stand for election in 2014 to complete Inouye’s term and then to run for reelection in 2016.

“No one can fill Senator Daniel K. Inouye’s shoes — but together, all of us, we can try to walk in his footsteps,” Schatz said, indicating he would focus on retaining federal funding for the state and addressing climate change.

The selection of Schatz was something of a surprise, given Inouye’s wishes and the esteem with which he is held in the state. But Abercrombie is close to Schatz and indicated that he was hesitant to choose Hanabusa and force a new special election to fill her House seat.

Jennifer Sabas, Inouye’s chief of staff, indicated in a statement that Hanabusa’s selection was ­Inouye’s “final wish.”

“While we are very disappointed that it was not honored, it was the governor’s decision to make. We wish Brian Schatz the best of luck,” she said.

Rising Democratic star Tulsi Gabbard, 31, an Iraq war veteran and former Hono­lulu City Council member who was elected to the House in November, had some strong supporters nationally, including Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who endorsed her for the Senate seat via Twitter.

The appointment of Schatz came at a particularly critical time, with Democratic leaders anticipating a potentially close vote in the coming days on a tax plan designed to avert the most serious economic impacts of the year-end fiscal cliff.

In the absence of a broad, bipartisan deficit-reduction package, Obama has called on Congress to at least pass a bill to extend tax breaks for the middle class and potentially forestall automatic budget cuts set to hit in January.

Democrats hope that Republicans will agree to forgo a filibuster and allow an up-or-down vote on a temporary fix, requiring only a bare majority to pass. If the GOP requires a 60-vote threshold for the bill, as has increasingly become standard in the Senate, Democrats hope that a handful of Republicans would join Democrats in supporting the measure and send it to the House.

Either way, Democrats will need every vote they can muster if the legislation is brought to the floor. A bill passed by the Senate in July to extend tax rates first enacted under President George W. Bush for those making less than $250,000 a year was adopted by a narrow 51 to 48 margin.

All Republicans opposed the measure, along with Sens. James Webb (D-Va.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.).

With tax hikes set to hit virtually every American in a matter of days, a similar measure could pick up additional support this time around. But the possibility of a squeaker vote led Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) to take the unusual step of urging Abercrombie to fill the Hawaii seat quickly.

“It is critically important to ensure that the people of Hawaii are fully represented in the pivotal decisions the Senate will be making before the end of the year,” Reid said in a statement Saturday.

Hawaii law required that Abercrombie choose a replacement from a list of three finalists selected by the state Democratic Party.

The party’s central committee met Wednesday — several days earlier than had been planned before Reid’s request for speed — to hear two-minute speeches from most of the 14 candidates who had formally asked the party to consider them for the role.

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