World/Nation Briefs December 28, 2012
<p>Cody Mooney, visiting from Loveland, Colo., tosses his 17-month-old daughter Willow in the air as snow geese take flight behind, Thursday, in the Skagit Valley near La Conner, Wash. Bird watchers took advantage of a day without rain Thursday to gaze at some of the tens of thousands of snow geese that spend the winter near the mouth of the Skagit River there. The geese migrate from their mating grounds in Alaska and Siberia in late November to spend the winter in wetlands and farm fields of the Skagit Valley and other areas of northwest Washington. </p>
Obama, Congress running out of time to avoid cliff
WASHINGTON - A deadline looming, President Barack Obama will meet with congressional leaders at the White House today in search of a compromise to avoid a year-end "fiscal cliff" of across-the-board tax increases and deep spending cuts.
The development capped a day of growing urgency in which Obama returned early from a Hawaiian vacation while lawmakers snarled across a partisan divide over responsibility for gridlock on key pocketbook issues. Speaker John Boehner called the House back into session for a highly unusual Sunday evening session.
Adding to the woes confronting the middle class was a pending spike of $2 per gallon or more in milk prices if lawmakers failed to pass farm legislation by year's end.
Four days before the deadline, the White House disputed reports that Obama was sending lawmakers a scaled-down plan to avoid the fiscal cliff of tax increases and spending cuts.
Chief of staff: Bush receiving great treatment
HOUSTON - Former President George H.W. Bush, who has been hospitalized for more than a month, is getting excellent medical treatment and would advise people to "put the harps back in the closet," his longtime Houston chief of staff said Thursday evening.
But Jean Becker also pointed out in her statement that the 88-year-old Bush is sick and likely will be in the hospital for a while after a "terrible case of bronchitis which then triggered a series of complications."
Bush, the oldest living former president, has been in intensive care since Sunday. He was admitted to Methodist Hospital in Houston on Nov. 23 for treatment of what his spokesman Jim McGrath described as a "stubborn" cough. He had spent about a week there earlier in November for treatment of the same condition.
Becker said "most of the civilized world" contacted her Wednesday after disclosures Bush had been placed in the intensive care unit after physicians were having difficulty bringing a fever under control.
"Someday President George H.W. Bush might realize how beloved he is, but of course one of the reasons why he is so beloved is because he has no idea," Becker said in the at-times lighthearted statement that made multiple references to jokes and the former president's sense of humor.
Central African Republic calls for help with rebels
BANGUI, Central African Republic - The president of Central African Republic on Thursday urgently called on France and other foreign powers to help his government fend off rebels who are quickly seizing territory and approaching the capital, but French officials declined to offer any military assistance.
The developments suggest Central African Republic could be on the brink of another violent change in government, something not new in the history of this resource-rich, yet deeply impoverished country. The current president, Francois Bozize, himself came to power nearly a decade ago in the wake of a rebellion.
Time runs short for pact with longshoremen
NEW YORK - In just a few days, a walkout by thousands of dock workers could bring commerce to a near standstill at every major port from Boston to Houston, potentially delivering a big blow to retailers and manufacturers still struggling to find their footing in a weak economy.
More than 14,000 longshoremen are threatening to go on strike Sunday - a wide-ranging work stoppage that would immediately close cargo ports on the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico to container ships.
The 15 ports involved in the labor dispute move more than 100 million tons of goods each year, or about 40 percent of the nation's containerized cargo traffic. Losing them to a shutdown, even for a few days, could cost the economy billions of dollars.
"If the port shuts down, nothing moves in or out," said Jonathan Gold, vice president of supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation. And when the workers do return, "it's going to take time to clear out that backlog, and we don't know how long that it's going to take."
- The Associated Press