Want to reduce negative politics: Rahul tells party leaders

NEW DELHI: Newly-appointed Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Wednesday said he wanted to try and reduce the "negative politics" and get into "positive politics", which would take the country forward.

Addressing party leaders at the 24, Akbar Road party office here, Gandhi said he wanted to make the Congress party "accessible to as many people... this is my sentiment".

He said political discussions tended to be "extremely acrimonious, fighting with each other over small reasons... want to try and reduce that, don't want to get into negative politics, want to get into positive politics as that is what will take the country forward".

"We are a dynamic country and this country can do wonders... Lately I feel a lot of the discussion is negative... there is a lot of positive things happening everyday... Many youngsters are transforming things."

He was elevated Saturday to the post of party vice president at the Congress Chintan Shivir in Jaipur.

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Foes of NYC soda size limit doubt racial fairness


NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents of the city's limit on the size of sugary drinks are raising questions of racial fairness alongside other complaints as the novel restriction faces a court test.


The NAACP's New York state branch and the Hispanic Federation have joined beverage makers and sellers in trying to stop the rule from taking effect March 12. With a hearing set Wednesday, critics are attacking what they call an inconsistent and undemocratic regulation, while city officials and health experts defend it as a pioneering and proper move to fight obesity.


The issue is complex for the minority advocates, especially given obesity rates that are higher than average among blacks and Hispanics, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control. The groups say in court papers they're concerned about the discrepancy, but the soda rule will unduly harm minority businesses and "freedom of choice in low-income communities."


The latest in a line of healthy-eating initiatives during Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration, the beverage rule bars restaurants and many other eateries from selling high-sugar drinks in cups or containers bigger than 16 ounces. Violations could bring $200 fines; the city doesn't plan to start imposing those until June.


The city Board of Health OK'd the measure in September. Officials cited the city's rising obesity rate — about 24 percent of adults, up from 18 percent in 2002 — and pointed to studies linking sugary drinks to weight gain. Care for obesity-related illnesses costs more than $4.7 billion a year citywide, with government programs paying about 60 percent of that, according to city Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley.


"It would be irresponsible for (the health board) not to act in the face of an epidemic of this proportion," the city says in court papers. The National Association of Local Boards of Health and several public health scholars have backed the city's position in filings of their own.


Opponents portray the regulation as government nagging that turns sugary drinks into a scapegoat when many factors are at play in the nation's growing girth.


The American Beverage Association and other groups, including movie theater owners and Korean grocers, sued. They argue that the first-of-its-kind restriction should have gone before the elected City Council instead of being approved by the Bloomberg-appointed health board.


Five City Council members echo that view in a court filing, saying the Council is "the proper forum for balancing the city's myriad interests in matters of public health." The Bloomberg administration counters that the health board, made up of doctors and other health professionals, has the "specialized expertise" needed to make the call on limiting cola sizes.


The suit also argues the rule is too narrow to be fair. Alcohol, unsweetened juice and milk-based drinks are excluded, as are supermarkets and many convenience stores — including 7-Eleven, home of the Big Gulp — that aren't subject to city health regulations.


The NAACP and the Hispanic Federation, a network of 100 northeastern groups, say minority-owned delis and corner stores will end up at a disadvantage compared to grocery chains.


"This sweeping regulation will no doubt burden and disproportionally impact minority-owned businesses at a time when these businesses can least afford it," they said in court papers. They say the city should focus instead on increasing physical education in schools.


During Bloomberg's 11-year tenure, the city also has made chain restaurants post calorie counts on their menus and barred artificial trans fats in french fries and other restaurant food.


In general, state and local governments have considerable authority to enact laws intended to protect people's health and safety, but it remains to be seen how a court will view a portion-size restriction, said Neal Fortin, director, Institute for Food Laws and Regulations at Michigan State University.


___


Follow Jennifer Peltz at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz


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Te'o Tells Couric He Briefly Lied About Girlfriend













Manti Te'o briefly lied to the media and the public after discovering his online girlfriend did not exist and was a part of an elaborate hoax, he admitted in an exclusive interview with ABC News' Katie Couric.


The star Notre Dame linebacker, who has been hounded by the reporters since the story broke Jan. 16, told Couric in a taped interview Tuesday that he was not lying up until December. Te'o said he was duped into believing his online girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, died of cancer.


"You stuck to the script. And you knew that something was amiss, Manti," Couric said.


"Katie, put yourself in my situation. I, my whole world told me that she died on Sept. 12. Everybody knew that. This girl, who I committed myself to, died on Sept. 12," Te'o said.


Te'o said he received a phone call Dec. 6 from a woman claiming she was Kekua, even though Kekua had allegedly passed away three months earlier.


"Now I get a phone call on Dec. 6, saying that she's alive and then I'm going be put on national TV two days later. And to ask me about the same question. You know, what would you do?" Te'o said.


See more exclusive previews tonight on "World News With Diane Sawyer" and "Nightline." Watch Katie Couric's interview with Manti Te'o and his parents Thursday. Check your local listings or click here for online station finder.


Te'o, 21, was joined by his parents, Brian and Ottilia, in the interview.


"Now many people writing about this are calling your son a liar. They are saying he manipulated the truth, really for personal gain," Couric said to Te'o's father.








Man Allegedly Behind the Manti Te?o Dead Girlfriend Hoax Watch Video









Manti Te'o Girlfriend Hoax: The Man Accused of Elaborate Prank Watch Video









'Catfish' Documentary Creator on Manti Te'o Hoax Watch Video





"People can speculate about what they think he is. I've known him 21 years of his life. And he's not a liar. He's a kid," Brian Te'o said with tears in his eyes.


Click here for a who's who in the Manti Te'o case.


Diane O'Meara told NBC's "Today" show Tuesday that she was used as the "face" of the Twitter account of Manti Te'o's online girlfriend without her knowledge or consent.


O'Meara said that Ronaiah Tuiasosopo used pictures of her without her knowledge in creating Kekua.


"I've never met Manti Te'o in my entire life. I've never spoke with him. I've never exchanged words with him," O'Meara said Tuesday.


The 23-year-old marketing executive went to high school in California with Tuiasosopo, but she says they're not close. Tuiasosopo called to apologize the day Deadspin.com broke the hoax story, she said.


Timeline of Manti Te'o girlfriend hoax story


In an interview with ESPN last week, Te'o said he had received a Twitter message from Tuiasosopo apologizing for the hoax.


The Hawaiian also spoke to Tuiasosopo on the phone the day the Deadspin report came out, according to ESPN.com. He found out that "two guys and a girl are responsible for the whole thing," he said.


But he did not know the identities of the other individuals involved, other than the man he says was Tuiasosopo.


Tuiasosopo, a 22-year-old resident of California, has not admitted involvement publicly. Tuiasosopo graduated from Paraclete High School in Lancaster, Calif., in 2007 and has posted dozens of videos online signing Christian songs.


Those who knew him say he was a devout Christian and a good athlete. His former football coach Jon Flemming described him as gregarious, and from a "good loving family." Flemming said Tuiasosopo is the kind of guy who gives you a hug when he sees people he knows.


"He's doing good. Wishing everyone would go away," Flemming told ABC News Wednesday after a recent correspondence with Tuiasosopo.


Flemming said Tuiasosopo is "somebody I'd want my kid to grow up like. He's responsible, respectful, disciplined, dedicated."


Tessi Toluta'u, a Polynesian beauty queen, told ABC News this weekend that "Lennay Kekua" reached out to her in 2008 about entering pageants.


When visiting Los Angeles in 2009, Toluta'u was supposed to meet Kekua, but she failed to appear. Tuiasosopo met Toluta'u instead.


"[It's a] sick joke that went way too far," Toluta'u said.



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Israel goes to polls, set to re-elect Netanyahu


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israelis voted on Tuesday in an election that is expected to see Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu win a third term in office, pushing the Jewish state further to the right, away from peace with the Palestinians and towards a showdown with Iran.


However, Netanyahu's own Likud party, running alongside the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu group, looks set to have fewer seats than in the previous parliament, with opinion polls showing a surge in support for the far-right Jewish Home party.


Political sources said Netanyahu, concerned by his apparent fall in popularity, might approach centre-left parties after the vote in an effort to broaden his coalition and present a more moderate face to Washington and other concerned allies.


"We want Israel to succeed, we vote Likud-Beitenu ... The bigger it is, the more Israel will succeed," Netanyahu said after casting his ballot alongside his wife and two sons.


Some 5.66 million Israelis are eligible to vote, with polling stations closing at 10 p.m. (2000 GMT). Full results are due by Wednesday morning, opening the way for coalition talks that could take several weeks.


The lackluster election campaign failed to focus on any single issue and with a Netanyahu victory predicted by every opinion poll, the two main political blocs seemed to spend more time on internal feuding than confronting each other.


"There is a king sitting on the throne in Israel and I wanted to dethrone him, but it looks like that won't happen," said Yehudit Shimshi, a retired teacher voting in central Israel, on a bright, hot mid-winter morning.


No Israeli party has ever secured an absolute majority, meaning that Netanyahu, who says that dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions is his top priority, will have to bring various allies onboard to control the 120-seat Knesset.


The former commando has traditionally looked to religious, conservative parties for backing and is widely expected to seek out the surprise star of the campaign, self-made millionaire Naftali Bennett who heads the Jewish Home party.


Bennett has ruled out any peace pact with the Palestinians and calls for the annexation of much of the occupied West Bank.


His youthful dynamism has struck a chord amongst Israelis, most of whom no longer believe in the possibility of a Palestinian deal, and has eroded Netanyahu's support base.


The Likud has also shifted further right in recent months, with hardline candidates who reject the so-called two-state solution, dominating the top of the party list.


"TRENDY PARTIES"


Surveys suggest Bennett may take up to 14 seats, many at the expense of Likud-Beitenu, which was projected to win 32 in the last round of opinion polls published on Friday -- 10 less than the two parties won in 2009 when they ran separate lists.


Acknowledging the threat, Netanyahu's son Yair urged young Israelis not to abandon the old, established Likud.


"Even if there are more trendy parties, there is one party that has a proven record," he said on Tuesday.


Amongst the new parties standing for the first time in an election were Yesh Atid (There is a Future), a centrist group led by former television host Yair Lapid, seen winning 13 seats.


"All our lives we voted Likud, but today we voted for Lapid because we want a different coalition," said Ahuva Heled, 55, a retired teacher voting with her husband north of Tel Aviv.


Lapid has not ruled out joining a Netanyahu cabinet, but is pushing hard for ultra-Orthodox Jews to do military service -- a demand fiercely rejected by some allies of the prime minister.


Israel's main opposition party, Labour, which is seen capturing up to 17 seats, has already ruled out a repeat of 2009, when it initially hooked up with Netanyahu, promising to promote peace negotiations with the Palestinians.


U.S.-brokered talks collapsed just a month after they started in 2010 following a row over settlement building, and have laid in ruins ever since. Netanyahu blamed the Palestinians for the failure and says his door remains open to discussions.


Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says he won't return to the table unless there is a halt to settlement construction.


That looks unlikely, with Netanyahu approving some 11,000 settler homes in December alone, causing further strains to his already notoriously difficult relations with U.S. President Barack Obama, who was sworn in for a second term on Monday.


IRAN THREAT


Tuesday's vote is the first in Israel since Arab uprisings swept the region two years ago, reshaping the Middle East.


Netanyahu has said the turbulence - which has brought Islamist governments to power in several countries long ruled by secularist autocrats, including neighboring Egypt - shows the importance of strengthening national security.


If he wins on Tuesday, he will seek to put Iran back to the top of the global agenda. Netanyahu has said he will not let Tehran enrich enough uranium to make a single nuclear bomb - a threshold Israeli experts say could arrive as early as mid-2013.


Iran denies it is planning to build the bomb, and says Israel, widely believed to have the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, is the biggest threat to the region.


The issue has barely registered during the election campaign, with a poll in Haaretz newspaper on Friday saying 47 percent of Israelis thought social and economic issues were the most pressing concern, against just 10 percent who cited Iran.


One of the first problems to face the next government, which is unlikely to take power before the middle of next month at the earliest, is the stuttering economy.


Data last week showed the budget deficit rose to 4.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2012, double the original estimate, meaning spending cuts and tax hikes look certain.


(Additional reporting by Ori Lewis, Jeffrey Heller and Tova Cohen; Editing by Giles Elgood)



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Taxi drivers in S. Korea threaten to go on strike






SEOUL : Taxi drivers in South Korea are threatening to go on a partial strike from January 30.

It is in protest against a government decision to block legislation that would give them subsidies for public transport.

The so-called "Taxi Bill" was passed in Parliament earlier this month, but was vetoed by President Lee Myung-bak and will go back to Parliament for another vote.

If Parliament fails to pass the bill, all taxis across the country will go on strike from February 20.

The question being asked in South Korea is whether taxis should be considered public transportation, the same way that buses, subways and trains are.

Most lawmakers in Parliament have said "yes", but President Lee's government disagrees.

Yim Jong Yong, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, said: "Public transportation refers to mass transportation, operating along specific routes and fixed timetables, so taxis cannot be included in this category."

The taxi bill was passed in Parliament earlier this month, with overwhelming support from both the ruling and opposition parties.

Classifying taxis as part of the country's mass transportation system means they can get state subsidies on fuel, tax and other benefits, just like bus and subway operators do.

Reports say central and local governments spend about 1.2 trillion won - or about US$1.1 billion - subsidising the bus industry every year.

If taxis are included, critics say the government would have to more than double its spending on subsidies, costing it an additional 1.9 trillion won a year.

They point out that taxis account for only about 9 per cent of transportation, whereas buses make up over 30 per cent.

Subways and trains account for more than 20 per cent.

But taxi drivers argue that they should be considered part of the public transport system.

Koo Soo Young, head of the Taxi Drivers Union, said: "There is a reason why taxis should be classified as public transport. Buses carry about 13 million passengers in one day, while taxis carry about 11 million passengers. Also the number of trains and subways is only about half the number of taxis. This shows that a large number of people use taxis because the fares are so cheap."

Although the government has rejected the bill, it said it is willing to help the taxi industry.

It is planning to come up with a plan that would give some subsidies to taxi drivers and at the same time appease bus drivers, who worry they will have to share government subsidies with taxis.

Taxi drivers are threatening to go on strike over this bill. But experts have pointed out that subsidies in the Taxi Bill will likely only benefit taxi companies, and not the drivers themselves. So drivers will really need to think this through and see what the government has to offer first.

- CNA/ms



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Chidambaram in Hong Kong, seeks to reassure foreign investors

HONG KONG: India's economy will grow "no better than" 5.7% in the current fiscal year but will regain traction in 2013/2014, the finance minister said on Tuesday, as he sought to reassure international investors that the government remained committed to pro-growth policies and reforms.

P Chidambaram made the comments at a media briefing after meeting investors in Hong Kong as part of a four-city tour to try and boost capital flows into Asia's third-largest economy.

The minister also sought to allay fears that India was in danger of losing its investment-grade credit rating and being downgraded to "junk" status, as policymakers struggle to revive economic growth, rein in subsidies and hold down the fiscal deficit without triggering a backlash ahead of 2014 elections.

"I was not worried when I took over (as finance minister) in August 2012, and after so many steps that we have taken, I think I should be less worried. In fact, all of us should be less worried. There should no case whatsoever for anybody to downgrade India," he said.

"The silver lining is we are able to finance the current account deficit without reserves. Thankfully there are enough inflows of FDIs and FIIs (foreign institutional investment) and companies are able to raise money abroad under external commercial borrowing," he said.

Fitch and Standard and Poor's last year cut their ratings outlooks for India to "negative", citing its slowing growth and bloated deficit and putting it in danger of being the first of the BRICs grouping of fast-growing economies to be downgraded to sub-investment-grade status.

Chidambaram said he expected the economy to grow by no more than 5.7% in the current fiscal year ending in March, but predicted it would pick up momentum in the following year beginning in April, expanding by 6-7%.

India's economy extended its long slump in the July-September quarter and looked on track for its worst full-year performance in a decade, highlighting the urgency of politically difficult reforms to revive activity.

Since Chidambaram was appointed the government has opened up the retail sector and pushed reforms to allow more foreign investment in its insurance and pension sectors and simplify its tax laws.

Last week it allowed state fuel retailers to raise prices to gradually align them with market rates and help cut its fuel subsidy bill.

The finance minister said there was also room to sell off more state assets to ease fiscal strains. He forecast the government would raise $5 billion from such divestments in the current fiscal year and said he had approval for further sales in the next few years.

Chidambaram will also meet investors in Singapore, London and Frankfurt over the next week.

"The finance minister was both clear and confident of what needs to be done, how and when it will be done, and timelines," said a research note released by Citi, which hosted Chidambaram's meeting earlier in the day with more than 200 equity and fixed-income investors.

"The market has been cautious leading into what is seen as an 'election/populist' budget in February 2013. The finance minister was decidedly more positive. He suggests the fiscal deficit target will be met, taxes will not be raised and while policy will and should be biased towards the poor, the budget will offer a lot."

The minister assured investors that the government's top priority is curtailing spending in the short term, while in the medium-term it aims to cut the fiscal deficit by 60 basis points per year, reducing it to 3% in four years from an expected 5.3% this fiscal year, the note from Citi said.

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Flu season fuels debate over paid sick time laws


NEW YORK (AP) — Sniffling, groggy and afraid she had caught the flu, Diana Zavala dragged herself in to work anyway for a day she felt she couldn't afford to miss.


A school speech therapist who works as an independent contractor, she doesn't have paid sick days. So the mother of two reported to work and hoped for the best — and was aching, shivering and coughing by the end of the day. She stayed home the next day, then loaded up on medicine and returned to work.


"It's a balancing act" between physical health and financial well-being, she said.


An unusually early and vigorous flu season is drawing attention to a cause that has scored victories but also hit roadblocks in recent years: mandatory paid sick leave for a third of civilian workers — more than 40 million people — who don't have it.


Supporters and opponents are particularly watching New York City, where lawmakers are weighing a sick leave proposal amid a competitive mayoral race.


Pointing to a flu outbreak that the governor has called a public health emergency, dozens of doctors, nurses, lawmakers and activists — some in surgical masks — rallied Friday on the City Hall steps to call for passage of the measure, which has awaited a City Council vote for nearly three years. Two likely mayoral contenders have also pressed the point.


The flu spike is making people more aware of the argument for sick pay, said Ellen Bravo, executive director of Family Values at Work, which promotes paid sick time initiatives around the country. "There's people who say, 'OK, I get it — you don't want your server coughing on your food,'" she said.


Advocates have cast paid sick time as both a workforce issue akin to parental leave and "living wage" laws, and a public health priority.


But to some business owners, paid sick leave is an impractical and unfair burden for small operations. Critics also say the timing is bad, given the choppy economy and the hardships inflicted by Superstorm Sandy.


Michael Sinensky, an owner of seven bars and restaurants around the city, was against the sick time proposal before Sandy. And after the storm shut down four of his restaurants for days or weeks, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars that his insurers have yet to pay, "we're in survival mode."


"We're at the point, right now, where we cannot afford additional social initiatives," said Sinensky, whose roughly 500 employees switch shifts if they can't work, an arrangement that some restaurateurs say benefits workers because paid sick time wouldn't include tips.


Employees without sick days are more likely to go to work with a contagious illness, send an ill child to school or day care and use hospital emergency rooms for care, according to a 2010 survey by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center. A 2011 study in the American Journal of Public Health estimated that a lack of sick time helped spread 5 million cases of flu-like illness during the 2009 swine flu outbreak.


To be sure, many employees entitled to sick time go to work ill anyway, out of dedication or at least a desire to project it. But the work-through-it ethic is shifting somewhat amid growing awareness about spreading sickness.


"Right now, where companies' incentives lie is butting right up against this concern over people coming into the workplace, infecting others and bringing productivity of a whole company down," said John A. Challenger, CEO of employer consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.


Paid sick day requirements are often popular in polls, but only four places have them: San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and the state of Connecticut. The specific provisions vary.


Milwaukee voters approved a sick time requirement in 2008, but the state Legislature passed a law blocking it. Philadelphia's mayor vetoed a sick leave measure in 2011; lawmakers have since instituted a sick time requirement for businesses with city contracts. Voters rejected a paid sick day measure in Denver in 2011.


In New York, City Councilwoman Gale Brewer's proposal would require up to five paid sick days a year at businesses with at least five employees. It wouldn't include independent contractors, such as Zavala, who supports the idea nonetheless.


The idea boasts such supporters as feminist Gloria Steinem and "Sex and the City" actress Cynthia Nixon, as well as a majority of City Council members and a coalition of unions, women's groups and public health advocates. But it also faces influential opponents, including business groups, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has virtually complete control over what matters come to a vote.


Quinn, who is expected to run for mayor, said she considers paid sick leave a worthy goal but doesn't think it would be wise to implement it in a sluggish economy. Two of her likely opponents, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu, have reiterated calls for paid sick leave in light of the flu season.


While the debate plays out, Emilio Palaguachi is recovering from the flu and looking for a job. The father of four was abruptly fired without explanation earlier this month from his job at a deli after taking a day off to go to a doctor, he said. His former employer couldn't be reached by telephone.


"I needed work," Palaguachi said after Friday's City Hall rally, but "I needed to see the doctor because I'm sick."


___


Associated Press writer Susan Haigh in Hartford, Conn., contributed to this report.


___


Follow Jennifer Peltz at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz


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Inauguration: 7.5 Things You Should Have Seen


A presidential inauguration is a big, long event that lasts all day and into the night–and who has time to really watch it? People have jobs, ones that don’t let you off for a federal holiday.


Everyone (or, at least, some) will be talking about it, which means potential embarrassment for anyone who doesn’t know what happened. Thankfully, ABC employs  news professionals stationed in Washington, D.C., to pay attention to these kinds of things and boil off some of the less noteworthy or interesting stuff, presenting you with short videos of everything that really mattered. Or at least the things a lot of people were talking about.


A full day of paying attention to President Obama’s second Inauguration leads one of those professionals to offer these 7 1/2 things:


1. Beyonce Sang the National Anthem


Boy, howdy! Did she ever? Beyonce has essentially become the Obama’s go-to female performer: She recorded a music video for Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” initiative in 2011, and she performed at the president’s last inauguration in 2009. Her velvety, soulful “Star Spangled Banner” is getting good reviews.




2. Kelly Clarkson Also Sang


Kelly Clarkson is not as “in” with the First Couple as Beyonce seems to be, but they let her sing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee,” and she did a pretty good job with it. This was kind of weird, though, because at one point she said she loved Ron Paul, although she later said she would vote for Obama.




3.  Obama Talked About Gay Rights


This may not seem shocking since more than half the country, including President Obama, supports gay marriage. But the president made a point of mentioning gay rights during his speech, equating the struggles of the LGBT community with those of  past civil rights movements, and in doing so made history.


He name-checked Stonewall, the New York City bar that was raided by police in 1969 sparking riots to protest the anti-gay crackdown. And he actually used the word “gay”: “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well,” Obama said in his address.


Plenty of inaugural addresses have been chock full of rhetoric about freedom and equality, but in the last four years, the political culture surrounding gay rights has changed significantly, as more states legalized same-sex marriage and as broad swaths of the country got more comfortable with homosexuality in general. Obama’s “evolution” on gay marriage, and now his inaugural address, have helped signify that change.




4. Joe Biden Made Jokes and Shook Hands With People


Could we expect anything less?


Here’s how the Vice President toasting Sen. Chuck Schumer instead of President Obama at the big luncheon:  ”I raise my glass to a man who never, never, never operates out of fear, only operates out of confidence, and a guy–I’m toasting you, Chuck.” Watch it:



And here he is, scurrying around and jovially shaking hands with people along the parade route:




5. Richard Blanco Read a Poem That Was Sort of Whitman-esque, But Not Entirely


Cuban-born Richard Blanco became America’s first openly gay, Latino Inauguration poet. He read a nine-stanza poem entitled “One Today,” which set a kind of unifying American tableau scene.




6. Obama and Michelle Walked Around Outside The Limo


President Obama walked part of the parade route, from the Capitol to the White House, with Michelle. They waved to people. It is not entirely abnormal for a president to do this at an inaugural parade. But they walked quite a ways.




7. John Boehner: ‘Godspeed’


The speaker of the House presented American flags to Obama and Biden, telling them: “To you gentlemen, I say congratulations and Godspeed.”




7 1/2. Sasha and Malia Were There. 


Obama’s daughters, Sasha and Malia, were there. They didn’t really do much, but they did wear coats of different shades of purple that got a lot of  attention on Twitter.


Reports of the daughters looking at smartphones and applying lip gloss highlighted their day. As did this .gif of Sasha yawning.

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Algeria hostage toll rises with report of Japanese deaths


ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian forces have found the bodies of two Canadian Islamist fighters after a bloody siege at a desert gas plant, a security source said on Monday, as the death toll reached at least 80 after troops stormed the complex to end the hostage crisis.


Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal is expected to give details on Monday about the siege near the town of In Amenas, which left American, British, French, Japanese, Norwegian, Filipino and Romanian workers dead or missing.


Much remains unclear about events after the jihadists staged the attack last Wednesday. However, an Algerian newspaper said they had arrived in cars painted in the colors of state energy company Sonatrach but registered in neighboring Libya, a country awash with arms since Muammar Gaddafi's fall in 2011.


The Algerian security source told Reuters that documents found on the bodies of the two militants had identified them as Canadians, as special forces scoured the plant following Saturday's bloody end to the crisis.


Veteran Islamist fighter Mokhtar Belmokhtar claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of al Qaeda, and an official Algerian source has said the militants included people from outside the African continent, as well as Arabs and Africans.


A security source said on Sunday that Algerian troops had found the bodies of 25 hostages, raising the number of hostages killed to 48 and the total number of deaths to at least 80. He said six militants were captured alive and troops were still searching for others.


A Japanese government source said the Algerian government had informed Tokyo that nine Japanese had been killed, the biggest toll so far among foreigners at the plant. Six Filipinos died and four were wounded, a government spokesman in Manila said.


The raid has exposed the vulnerability of multinational-run oil and gas installations in an important producing region and pushed the growing threat from Islamist militant groups in the Sahara to a prominent position in the West's security agenda.


Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has ordered an investigation into how security forces failed to prevent the attack, the daily El Khabar said. The militants had used nine cars in Sonatrach colors and all with Libyan registration plates, it quoted unnamed security sources as saying.


Algerian Tahar Ben Cheneb - leader of a group called the Movement of Islamic Youth in the South who was killed on the first day of the assault - had been based in Libya where he married a local woman two months ago, it said.


ONE-EYED JIHADIST


Belmokhtar - a one-eyed jihadist who fought in Afghanistan and Algeria's civil war of the 1990s when the secular government fought Islamists - tied the desert attack to France's intervention across the Sahara against Islamist rebels in Mali.


"We in al Qaeda announce this blessed operation," he said in a video, according to Sahara Media, a regional website. About 40 attackers participated in the raid, he said, roughly matching the government's figures for fighters killed and captured.


Belmokhtar demanded an end to French air strikes against Islamist fighters in neighboring Mali. These began five days before the fighters swooped before dawn and seized a plant that produces 10 percent of Algeria's natural gas exports.


U.S. and European officials doubt such a complex raid could have been organized quickly enough to have been conceived as a direct response to the French military intervention. However, the French action could have triggered an operation that had already been planned.


The group behind the raid, the Mulathameen Brigade, also threatened to carry out more such attacks if Western powers did not end what it called an assault on Muslims in Mali, according to the SITE service, which monitors militant statements.


In a statement published by the Mauritania-based Nouakchott News Agency, the hostage takers said they had offered talks about freeing the captives, but the Algerian authorities had been determined to use military force.


"We opened the door for negotiations with the Westerners and the Algerians, and granted them safety from the beginning of the operation, but one of the senior (Algerian) intelligence officials confirmed to us in a phone call that they will destroy the place with everyone in it," SITE quoted the statement as saying.


BLOODY SIEGE


The siege turned bloody on Thursday when the Algerian army opened fire, saying fighters were trying to escape with their prisoners. Survivors said Algerian forces blasted several trucks in a convoy carrying both hostages and their captors.


Nearly 700 Algerian workers and more than 100 foreigners escaped, mainly on Thursday when the fighters were driven from the residential barracks. Some captors remained holed up in the industrial complex until Saturday when they were overrun.


The bloodshed has strained Algeria's relations with its Western allies, some of which have complained about being left in the dark while the decision to storm the compound was being taken.


Nevertheless, Britain and France both defended the military action by Algeria, the strongest military power in the Sahara and an ally the West needs in combating the militants.


Among other foreigners confirmed dead by their home countries were three Britons, one American and two Romanians. The missing include five Norwegians, three Britons and a British resident. An Algerian security source said at least one Frenchman was also among the dead.


The raid on the plant, which was home to expatriate workers from Britain's BP, Norway's Statoil, Japanese engineering firm BGC Corp and others, exposed the vulnerability of multinational oil operations in the Sahara.


However, Algeria is determined to press on with its energy industry. Oil Minister Youcef Yousfi visited the site and said physical damage was minor, state news service APSE reported. The plant would start up again in two days, he said.


Algeria, scarred by the civil war with Islamist insurgents in the 1990s which claimed 200,000 lives, insisted from the start of the crisis there would be no negotiation in the face of terrorism. France especially needs close cooperation from Algeria to crush Islamist rebels in northern Mali.


(Additional reporting by Anton Slodkowski in Tokyo, Balazs Koranyi in Oslo, William Maclean in Dubai, Estelle Shirbon and David Alexander in London, Brian Love in Paris and Daniel Flynn in Dakar; Writing by David Stamp; Editing by Giles Elgood)



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Parents-to-be welcome new pro-family incentives






SINGAPORE: From 1 May 2013, working fathers will be legally entitled to one week of paid paternity leave.

Parents welcome the move, but some pro-family organisations are calling for bolder measures.

Eileen Chan and Alvin Tan tied the knot two years ago. They are expecting their firstborn in April, and with that, the bumped-up Baby Bonus.

"I think the extra S$2,000 will come in handy, especially when it comes to immunisation for the kid," said Ms Chan. "In the first year, kids tend to fall sick more often."

For the Tans, the most welcome new measure is paternity leave. Mr Tan plans to take the week off right after his wife delivers.

He said: "Especially when the baby is new-born, as a father I'd like to spend more time at home with the kid, with my wife to help settle the kid in."

Alvin is optimistic his employer will grant his paternity leave, even though his child will be born just before the measure officially kicks in on 1 May 2013.

Employers are encouraged to offer paternity leave to all eligible employees with children born on or after 1 Jan 2013, and this will be reimbursable by the government.

Ms Chan can also share one week of her maternity leave with her husband.

It's a move the National Family Council welcomes, but its chairman Mr Lim Soon Hock is calling for a whole month of maternity leave to be made gender-neutral.

Mr Lim said: "If we were to have longer paternity leave, essentially what we are creating is an opportunity for our women to go back to work earlier. But fundamental to this thinking must be that we have to move away from the notion that men are more valuable in the workplace than women."

The slew of bonuses is good news, but it is not the reason why the Tans want to have two children.

Mr Tan said: "The baby itself is the bonus, so all these incentives, we're just happy to receive them!"

The new Marriage and Parenthood Package also makes adoption leave a legal entitlement.

Working, married women who adopt children under a year old will be entitled to four weeks of government-paid leave.

Previously, this was offered by employers on a voluntary basis.

- CNA/xq



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