White House, GOP draw red lines in debt debate

President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama arrive on Air Force One, Sunday, Jan. 6, 2013, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., as they return from their Hawaii vacation. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Struggling for the upper hand in the next round of debt talks, Republicans and Democrats this weekend drew lines in the sand they said they'd never cross when it comes to the U.S. debt limit.

The tough talk on the Sunday morning talk shows doesn't bode well for voters who are frustrated by the political gridlock.

"I believe we need to raise the debt ceiling, but if we don't raise it without a plan to get out of debt, all of us should be fired," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

Last week's deal to avert the combination of end-of-year tax increases and spending cuts known as the "fiscal cliff" held income tax rates steady for 99 percent of Americans but left some other major pieces of business unresolved.

By late February or early March, the Treasury Department will run out of options to cover the nation's debts and could begin defaulting on government loans unless Congress raises the legal borrowing limit, or debt ceiling. Economists warn that a default could trigger a global recession.

Also looming are deep automatic spending cuts expected to take effect at the beginning of March that could further erase fragile gains in the U.S. economy. Then on March 27, the temporary measure that funds government activities expires, and congressional approval will be needed to keep the government running. That's one more chance to fight over spending.

Republicans say they are willing to raise the debt ceiling but insist any increase must be paired with significant savings from Medicare, Medicaid and other government benefit programs. President Barack Obama has said he's willing to consider spending cuts separately but won't bargain over the government's borrowing authority.

"One thing I will not compromise over is whether or not Congress should pay the tab for a bill they've already racked up," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi made a similar remark Sunday in insisting the two issues — raising the debt ceiling and reducing spending — shouldn't be coupled.

"Right now we have to pay the bills that have been incurred," Pelosi said. "And if you want to say cut spending for what we do next, fine, but don't tie it to the debt ceiling."

But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said spending cuts would have to be part of the equation if the proposal was to get any kind of GOP support.

McConnell on Sunday suggested Republicans were prepared to see the nation default on its spending obligations.

"It's a shame we have to use whatever leverage we have in Congress to get the president to deal with the biggest problem confronting our future, and that's our excessive spending,"

Meanwhile, Democrats said further tax increases for the wealthiest Americans were still possible as Congress looks to close the gap between revenues and expenditures. They say Obama has already agreed to significant spending cuts, and that the latest deal only gets the nation to about half of the revenue it needs to resolve the red ink.

"Trust me, there are plenty of things within that tax code — these loopholes where people can park their money in some island offshore and not pay taxes. These are things that need to be closed. We can do that and use the money to reduce the deficit," said Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Senate Democrat.

But McConnell bluntly declared that the "tax issue is over" after last week's agreement.

"We don't have this problem because we tax too little; we have it because we spend too much," McConnell said.

McConnell spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press," ABC's "This Week" and CBS' "Face the Nation." Pelosi was on CBS' "Face the Nation." Durbin and Graham appeared on CNN's "State of the Union."

Biofuels cause pollution, not as green as thought - study

OSLO (Reuters) - Green schemes to fight climate change by producing more bio-fuels could actually worsen a little-known type of air pollution and cause almost 1,400 premature deaths a year in Europeby 2020, a study showed on Sunday.

The report said trees grown to produce wood fuel - seen as a cleaner alternative to oil and coal - released a chemical into the air that, when mixed with other pollutants, could also reduce farmers' crop yields.

"Growing biofuels is thought to be a good thing because it reduces the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere," said Nick Hewitt, who worked on the study with colleagues from England's Lancaster University.

"What we're saying is 'yes, that's great, but biofuels could also have a detrimental effect on air quality'," he added.

The report, in the journal Nature Climate Change, looked into the impact of a European Unionscheme to slow climate change by producing more biofuels.

Hewitt told Reuters there would be a similar impact wherever biofuels were produced in large quantities in areas suffering air pollution, including the United States and China.

Poplar, willow or eucalyptus trees, all used as fast-growing sources of renewable wood fuel, emit high levels of the chemical isoprene as they grow, the study said. Isoprene forms toxic ozone when mixed with other air pollutants in sunlight.

"Large-scale production of biofuels in Europe would have small but significant effects on human mortality and crop yields," said Hewitt.

"As far as we know, no one has looked at the air quality of growing biofuel crops before," he added.

The report estimated that ozone from wood-based energy to meet the European Union's 2020 goal would cause nearly 1,400 premature deaths a year, costing society $7.1 billion.

The European plan would also would reduce the annual value of wheat and maize production by $1.5 billion since ozone impairs crop growth, the study added.

LUNG PROBLEMS

Siting new biofuel plantations far away from polluted population centres would help limit ozone formation, the study suggested. Genetic engineering might be used to reduce isoprene emissions, it said.

Ozone can cause lung problems and is blamed for killing about 22,000 people a year in Europe. Overall air pollution, mainly from fossil fuels, causes about 500,000 premature deaths in Europe a year, according to the European Environment Agency.

Sunday's study did not compare the potential damage caused by biofuels to the impact on human health from producing coal, oil or natural gas as part of policies to slow global warming. "We're not in a position to make that comparison," Hewitt said.

He noted that the main reason to shift to biofuels was to cut emissions of carbon dioxide, mainly from fossil fuels, that U.N. studies project will become ever more damaging this century.

The United Nations' World Health Organization estimates global warming has caused more than 140,000 deaths annually worldwide since the 1970s.

The biggest impact was recorded in developing nations where the floods, droughts and other disasters blamed on climate change left millions suffering from diarrhea, malnutrition, malaria and dengue fever.

Burning biofuels is viewed as neutral for climate change because plants soak up carbon when they grow and release it when they burn or rot. Fossil fuels, on the other hand, add carbon to the atmosphere from underground stores millions of years old.

Biofuels are often blamed for causing food price spikes by competing for cropland. Responding to such criticisms, the European Commission said last year it aimed to limit crop-based biofuels - such as from maize or sugar - to five percent of transport fuels.

Indian women hope brutal rape will spark change

FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012 file photo, Indian students hold placards and shout slogans during a protest rally in Gauhati, India. For decades, women have had little choice but to walk away when groped in a crowded bus or train, or to simply cringe as someone tosses an obscene comment their way. Even if they haven't experienced explicit sexual abuse themselves, they live with the fear that it could happen to them or a loved one. The gang rape and beating of a 23-year-old university student on a moving bus in India's capital has taken sexual violence - a subject long hidden in the shadows of Indian society - and thrust it into the light. (AP Photo/Anupam Nath, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013 file photo, Indian women carry signs as they march to mourn the death of a gang rape victim in New Delhi, India. For decades, women have had little choice but to walk away when groped in a crowded bus or train, or to simply cringe as someone tosses an obscene comment their way. Even if they haven't experienced explicit sexual abuse themselves, they live with the fear that it could happen to them or a loved one. The gang rape and beating of a 23-year-old university student on a moving bus in India's capital has taken sexual violence - a subject long hidden in the shadows of Indian society - and thrust it into the light. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin, File)

NEW DELHI (AP) — Preeti Singh worries each time her 20-year-old daughter has a late night at the hospital where she's a medical student. If her daughter has to stay late, Singh tells her to wait for daylight to come home.

"I was brought up with the fear that once it's dark you should be at home," says Singh, a 43-year-old kindergarten teacher inBangalore, India's technology hub. "I can't shake that fear."

Across India, women tell similar stories. Now there is hope for change.

For decades, women have had little choice but to walk away when groped in a crowded bus or train, or to simply cringe as someone tosses an obscene comment their way. Even if they haven't experienced explicit sexual abuse themselves, they live with the fear that it could happen to them or a loved one.

The gang rape and beating of a 23-year-old university student on a moving bus in India's capital has taken sexual violence — a subject long hidden in the shadows of Indian society — and thrust it into the light.

Following the Dec. 16 attack in New Delhi, which resulted in the woman's death, hundreds of thousands of Indians — both men and women — poured onto the streets of cities across the country, holding candlelight vigils and rallies demanding that authorities take tougher action to create a safe environment for women.

"At least now people are talking," says Rashmi Gogia, a 35-year-old receptionist in a New Delhi law office.

Associated Press journalists interviewed women across India, from the northern cities of Lucknow and Allahabad, to Bangalore in the south, and from the eastern cities of Patna and Gauhati to Ahmadabad in the west.

The outrage sparked by the heinous attack has given women at least a measure of hope that the country of 1.2 billion people will see meaningful improvement in how women are treated, though most realize any change is likely to come slowly.

"These protests have at least given women the confidence to talk about sexual violence," says Singh, the kindergarten teacher in Bangalore. "For too long, women have been made to feel guilty for these things."

Like every woman in India, Singh has her own rules for her daughter's safety. "We make sure she messages us when she reaches (the hospital) and when she leaves for home," she says.

Women who were willing to talk about an unwelcome touch or a crude remark they'd experienced said they had learned to ignore it. Most said they convinced themselves to shrug off these routine assaults and humiliations to avoid angering their attackers, or for fear of bringing shame upon themselves and their families.

"What can you do? You have to work, you have to commute," says Yasmin Talat, a 20-year-old graduate student and career counselor in Allahabad whose parents do not allow her to go out alone after 7 p.m.

"Sometimes I do get angry and say something," she says, "but I'm also scared. You never know what could anger these men."

Aparna Dasa, a 35-year-old saleswoman at a Gauhati department store, said whenever she gets into a crowded bus men try to hold her hand as she grasps the overhead support bar. "They try and touch at every opportunity."

"When I'm on a crowded bus and someone says something bad to me, in my heart I want to give him a tight slap, but I've learned to ignore it," says Gogia, the New Delhi receptionist. "What's the use? All the blame always comes back to the woman.

"We stay silent from a sense of shame," she adds, "or are made to stay silent."

The harassment and violence faced daily by millions of Indian women is a deeply entrenched part of a culture that values men over women.

The mistreatment starts early — with sex-selective abortions and even female infanticides that have wildly skewed India's gender ratio. India's 2011 census showed that the country had 914 girls under age 6 for every 1,000 boys.

Indian movies and television shows routinely trivialize women. In the often suggestive songs and dances of Bollywood films, it's not unusual for the leading man and a gang of his buddies to chase a coyly reluctant actress, touching, pulling and throwing themselves on top of her.

On television, the most popular soap operas show the ideal Indian woman as meek, submissive and accepting of her traditional role inside the home.

Any discussion of sexual violence has so far been taboo. In the past, politicians have said that women should dress modestly and not stay out late to avoid rape and molestations.

But following the New Delhi gang rape, a usually lethargic government machinery has responded more quickly, and with more empathy than before. Perhaps sensing the intensity of public anger — some activists and protesters have demanded that all rapists be chemically castrated, given the death penalty or even lynched in public — the government has vowed to enlist more women police officers and toughen sexual assault laws.

The public outpouring of anger and support has made many women across India feel like their fears and concerns are finally being heard.

Ranjana Kumari, director of the Center for Social Research and a longtime women's rights activist, said the fact that boys and men had joined the protests "gives us hope."

"Then it becomes everyone's issue, and not just a women's issue," she said.

But no one imagines that change will be quick.

"The process is gradual," Kumari said. "Extremely patriarchal societies don't change in short bursts. But this movement will certainly not go to waste."

___

Associated Press writers Biswajeet Banerjee in Lucknow, Aijaz Rahi in Bangalore, Indrajit Singh in Patna, Wasbir Hussain in Gauhati and Rajesh Kumar Singh in Allahabad contributed to this report.

Parents of kids allegedly killed by nanny speak out on Facebook

By Holly Bailey, Yahoo! News | The Lookout – 4 hrs ago

Leo, Lulu and Nessie Krim in an undated photo (Photo via the Krim Family blog)NEW YORK—The parents of two young children killed last fall allegedly by their nanny are speaking out publicly for the first time about their loss, saying they draw strength to go on from their surviving 4-year-old daughter.

Kevin and Marina Krim, whose children Lucia "Lulu", 6, and Leo, 2, were found stabbed to death in their Manhattan home last October,write on a Facebook page established in their kids’ honor that their daughter, Nessie, is helping them to recover from their heartbreaking loss.

“She is very smart, beautiful and tough,” Kevin Krim, a CNBC media executive, wrote in a message on Facebook. “She’s grown so much over the past two months. She saves us every day.”

On Oct. 26, Marina Krim returned to the family apartment with Nessie after a swimming lesson to find her two other children stabbed to death in a bathtub. Police say she also found Yoselyn Ortega, the family nanny, who had slit her own throat. Ortega, who has been hospitalized since the killings, was charged with first-degree murder in the deaths. Ortega has pleaded not guilty.

After the funerals, Kevin, a CNBC executive, and Marina, a stay-at-home mom, returned to their native California to be closer to their families. At the same time, they established the Lulu & Leo Fund to raise money for arts and sciences and began writing brief entries on Facebook, a page that quickly gained more than 5,000 followers. The page was first reported by the New York Post.

Most of the entries have been pictures and memories of Leo and Lulu, but last month the Krims took to Facebook to express their condolences in the aftermath of the school shooting in Newtown, Conn., that claimed 26 lives, including 20 children.

“We are hurting so much as we think about the violent tragedy in Newtown,” the Krims wrote. “As parents who are dealing with loss and grief, we understand how much these children will be missed every minute of every day.”

As they continue to grieve, the Krims announced via Facebook that they would return to New York to begin rebuilding their lives there. Last week, they left Southern California, where their families live, to begin a cross-country road trip with friends back to New York—and have been documenting their drive on the social site.

“Along the way, we are hoping to experience some inspiring moments that will help us with our healing and rebuilding when we get back to NYC,” the Krims wrote.

Indian Rape Suspects Might Be Turning Against Each Other

An India woman participates in a protest against the recent gang rape of a young woman in moving bus, in New Delhi, India, Monday, Jan. 7, 2013. An Indian magistrate ruled Monday that the media will not be allowed to attend pre-trial hearings or the trial of the five men accused of raping and killing a young student in the Indian capital, a police official said. (AP Photo/Tsering Topgyal)