Obama to lay out economic growth plan in State of Union speech

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will describe his plan for spurring the economy in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, offering proposals for investments in infrastructure, manufacturing, clean energy and education, a senior administration official said on Saturday.

In the annual presidential address to Congress, Obama plans to show he has not lost sight of the economic woes of middle-class Americans - issues that dominated the 2012 election campaign but have been overshadowed recently by efforts to cut the deficit, overhaul immigration laws and curb gun violence.

"The potential success of his second term is hugely dependent on the rate at which the economy grows," said Ruy Teixeira, a political scientist with the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress.

"There's no problem the Democrats have that can't be solved with faster growth. Conversely, there's not much they'll be able to do if growth stays slow."

Obama previewed his economic growth plan in a speech to House of Representatives Democrats this week, telling them he would stress the importance of education, development of clean energy, and infrastructure.

There were no details on the new initiatives for infrastructure, manufacturing, clean energy and education, elements first reported by the New York Times.

But any new spending will face tough opposition from Republicans in Congress who are focused on cutting spending and reducing the deficit.

Obama has urged Congress to take steps to postpone harsh government spending cuts slated to take effect on March 1, and the White House took pains on Friday to describe how the cuts would affect ordinary Americans' lives.

Obama has said he is willing to cut a "big deal" with Republicans to trim spending on the Medicare and Social Security programs for the elderly, but has insisted in ending long-standing tax breaks for oil companies, private equity firms and corporate jet owners to create more revenue for government.

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-lay-economic-growth-plan-state-union-speech-022047207.html

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Pope resigning on Feb. 28, conclave in March

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Pope Benedict XVI announced Monday that he would resign Feb. 28 ? the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years. The decision sets the stage for a conclave to elect a new pope before the end of March.

The 85-year-old pope announced his decision in Latin during a meeting of Vatican cardinals on Monday morning.

He emphasized that carrying out the duties of being pope ? the leader of more than a billion Roman Catholics worldwide ? requires "both strength of mind and body."

"After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry," he told the cardinals. "I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only by words and deeds but no less with prayer and suffering.

"However, in today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of St. Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary ? strengths which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me."

The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism among competing papal claimants.

Benedict called his choice "a decision of great importance for the life of the church."

The move sets the stage for the Vatican to hold a conclave to elect a new pope by mid-March, since the traditional mourning time that would follow the death of a pope doesn't have to be observed.

There are several papal contenders in the wings, but no obvious front-runner ? the same situation when Benedict was elected pontiff in 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-resigning-feb-28-conclave-march-111658944.html

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Fox attacks 4-week-old baby boy at London home

LONDON (AP) ? British police are investigating a fox attack on a 4-week-old baby in his home in London.

Scotland Yard said the boy was admitted to a hospital Wednesday after the fox injured his hand. British media including the BBC and the Press Association reported Saturday that the fox bit one of the baby's fingers, and that the boy was recovering after surgery.

It was not clear how the fox entered the home.

Mayor Boris Johnson is calling for more to be done to tackle what he called the "growing problem of urban foxes." Some have called for a cull of the animals, which are a common sight at night in quieter areas of the capital.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fox-attacks-4-week-old-baby-boy-london-142327392.html

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Bulgaria to brief EU ministers on bus bombing

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) ? Bulgaria will brief other EU nations on the results of the probe that linked the Shiite group Hezbollah to last year's bus bombing that killed five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian driver, Bulgaria's foreign minister said Sunday.

The findings, announced on Tuesday, brought renewed pressure on the European Union from the U.S., Israel and Canada to designate the group a terrorist organization and to crack down on its fundraising operations across Europe.

Foreign Minister Nikolay Mladenov said that in the Feb. 18 meeting of EU foreign ministers Bulgaria's position will be made clear, and that the EU should also send a clear message to Hezbollah. The EU, which regards Hezbollah as a legitimate political organization, has resisted calls to blacklist Hezbollah or declare it a terrorist organization.

Hezbollah, a Shiite militant group and political party in Lebanon that emerged in response to Israel's 1982 invasion, has been linked to attacks and kidnappings on Israeli and Jewish interests around the world. The group has denied involvement in the Bulgaria bombing.

Mladenov denied that the decision to publicly name Hezbollah as the chief suspect in the July 2012 bombing at the airport in Burgas, which also killed the suspected bomber, was a result of pressure from the United States and Israel, which consider Hezbollah a terrorist group.

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said he will travel on Tuesday to The Hague, Netherlands, where "additional measures will be planned together with Europol director Rob Wainwright to investigate the Burgas terror act on EU territory."

Tsvetanov said that the U.S., Canada, Australia and Israel are helping in the probe. He said two of the suspects had been living in Lebanon for years ? one with a Canadian passport and the other with an Australian one.

"The investigation is entering a new stage: collect direct evidence on the perpetrators of the attack," Interior Ministry official Kalin Georgiev said Saturday.

Requests regarding the criminal investigation have been sent to several countries including Canada, Australia and Israel, as well as to Lebanon where Bulgarian officials say the bomber's two suspected accomplices are believed to live.

"The printer, which had printed out the fake documents of the bus bomber and his two accomplices, has been tracked down to Beirut," Georgiev said.

He also said that investigators had found out that before the attack the suspects were in Warsaw, Poland, and traveled via Prague and Romania on their way to Bulgaria. "They spent some time at the seaside and pulled out on the same route after the attack," Georgiev said.

While investigators have the names of the two suspects at large, the identity of the bomber remains unknown even though his DNA samples have been shared with foreign intelligence agencies, but no match has been found in their databases, Tsvetanov said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-10-EU-Bulgaria-Israelis-Attacked/id-42b087166fd444aab50d7fe20f6783c3

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ATL: Spelman College Update

Feb. 4-9
Sustainable Spelman Week

Feb. 7
Spelman College Museum of Fine Art Presents Opening Reception for "Multiple Choice: Perspectives on the Spelman College Collection" @ 6:30 p.m.

Feb. 8 - Basketball
Spelman at Bennett University @ 6 p.m.

Feb. 9
Third Annual AUC Recylemania Kickoff Event

Basketball - Spelman at Salem College
@ 2 p.m.

Feb. 12-13
Entertainment Industry College Outreach Program Career Conference

Feb. 13
Health Careers Program Hosts 10th Annual Health Recruitment Fair

Feb. 21
Professor, political analyst and author, Melissa Harris-Perry lectures as part of the Ida B. Wells-Barnett Distinguished Lecture Series @ 6 p.m. in the Cosby Academic Center Auditorium

Feb. 22-24
Family Weekend 2013

Source: http://www.bmorenews.com/community/atl-spelman-college-update.shtml

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Eisenhower staff to launch 3-year WWII exhibit

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) ? A new World War II exhibit starting this summer at the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum will pay tribute to the millions who fought, but organizers also have another purpose for the ambitious three-year project: getting young people engaged in the war's relevance.

Karl Weissenbach, executive director of the library and museum in Abilene, said the "Leaders, Battles and Heroes" exhibit will be directed at younger generations that often know little about the war, its significance in world history or the impact of its outcome.

"It's amazing how little information and understanding they have about World War II," Weissenbach said. "You ask them questions and often you get a blank stare. That's really unsettling."

Eisenhower museum curator William Snyder said not every battle will be depicted, but the hope is for people to see the war through the eyes of those who were there, using first-person accounts of what happened from the late 1930s through the war's end.

"It continues to impact our lives on a daily basis. I hope people will realize this didn't happen in the far-off history books," Snyder said.

The 10,000-square-foot exhibit opens in June and runs through the end of 2016. It will rotate artifacts periodically from a collection of 78,000 items to reflect the advancement of U.S. forces during the war, leading to the surrender of Japan and Germany in 1945. Among the items to be displayed will be a newly acquired Soviet uniform and diary that were obtained with the help of the State Department.

Beyond artifacts and photographs, Snyder said the plan is to use new technology to deliver the story of the war in a way that's compelling and relevant to young people. Visitors will be able to scan quick response, or QR, codes with a mobile device to link to more detailed content about specific events or items ? a far cry from the telegraphs, shortwave radios and landline telephones used during the war.

"It's hammering home how different things were, just getting people to realize how much slower things were," Snyder said.

Younger generations are not getting a full enough picture of World War II because of the way history is taught today, with major events often lumped together with other social sciences, said Anita Specht, history professor at Kansas Wesleyan University.

"When I survey my students what their favorite topic is, the majority will say World War II," Specht said. "I think maybe our young people are frustrated with their understanding."

She said history teachers may need to be more creative in the future about how they cover the war in their classrooms.

Weissenbach said the exhibit will be the largest the Eisenhower staff has presented. It will involve both the library and museum and include educational programs and symposiums.

Staff will be collaborating with officials in Europe, Japan and South America to bring their artifacts and perspectives to the U.S. for the exhibit.

"World War II is still so relevant. I believe it's our responsibility being the Eisenhower library and with his legacy that we thank our veterans and our allies," Weissenbach said. "Hopefully, our goal is to make sure that kids have an appreciation of what their grandparents or great-grandparents sacrificed.

"We're putting all of our resources into this program. We are obligated to do this. This is Gen. Eisenhower's hometown and what the public rightfully expects."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eisenhower-staff-launch-3-wwii-exhibit-184833829.html

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Rebels, troops battle for key Damascus highway

In this Friday February 8, 2013, photo, a Free Syrian Army fighter sits behind an anti-aircraft weapon in Aleppo, Syria. Syrian rebels brought their fight within a mile of the heart of Damascus on Friday, seizing army checkpoints and cutting a key highway with a row of burning tires as they pressed their campaign for the heavily guarded capital, considered the likely endgame in the nearly 2-year-old civil war. (AP Photo/Abdullah al-Yassin)

BARBARA SURK

BEIRUT (AP) ? Opposition forces targeted Damascus with mortars, a roadside bomb and a suicide attack on Sunday as they pressed ahead in their quest for the seat of President Bashar Assad?s power.

Outside the capital, government troops battled rebels for the fifth straight day for control of a key highway. Both sides consider the fight for Damascus the most likely endgame in a nearly two-year-old civil war that has already killed more than 60,000 people.

Sunday?s fighting was the heaviest in Damascus since the first rebel push into the capital in July. The rebels then managed to capture several neighborhoods, but were soon bombed out during a punishing government counteroffensive.

Since then, the rebels have threatened the heavily fortified capital from opposition strongholds around the city. Damascus, however, has been spared the kind of violence and destruction that has been seen in other major urban centers during the conflict.

Checkpoints on the main artery into the capital have changed hands several times since Wednesday when the latest rebel campaign for Damascus started. The road is strategically important because it leads to northern Syria and the regime uses it to move troops and supplies. Rebels cut the road off from Damascus with burning tires on Friday after seizing checkpoints from regime troops in fighting that brought the civil war within a mile of the heart of the capital.

A rebel fighter told The Associated Press that opposition forces on Sunday overran another roadblock, al-Adnan checkpoint in Jobar, northeast of Damascus. He spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

But the Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-regime activist group, said that while the fight for the highway continues, government troops regained control of the area on Sunday after using fighter jets to bomb rebel positions the day before.

A mortar that hit a Damascus street near Shabandar Square killed four people and injured several others, a government official told the AP on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to brief the media.

State-run SANA news agency said a roadside bomb detonated at Arnous street, in the heart of Damascus, injuring several people. In another part of the city, a suicide bomber blew himself up. He was the only one who died in the blast in Rouken al-Deen neighborhood, the official news service said.

The rebels? latest push for Damascus is similar to rebel offensives in other Syrian cities. The opposition controls large swathes of land outside urban centers ? like Homs in central Syria and Deir el-Zour in the east, and even whole neighborhoods like in the northern city of Aleppo ? but cannot oust all government troops because of the regime?s superior fire power.

The fighting has settled into a bloody stalemate and shows no signs of stopping, despite several tentative proposals from both sides to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Also on Sunday, rebels fought a fierce battle with troops for control of military airport and artillery base that houses the Syrian army?s 113th Brigade just outside the city of Dei el-Zour, the Observatory said. The Observatory said the rebels were using tanks they previously captured from the military in their assault on the regime?s outposts in the city, which has the same name as the oil-rich province along Syria?s border with Iraq that has been the scene of some of the heaviest fighting in the civil war.

Syria?s Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi reiterated the regime?s mantra that the only solution to the conflict is national dialogue in Syria, among Syrians, without foreign interference and in line with Assad?s peace proposal that would keep him in charge of a reconciliation process.

?There is absolutely no other alternative,? al-Zoubi told reporters after attending the enthronement of a new patriarch in Damascus. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister, Faisal Mekdad, who was also at the ceremony, warned the West to stop interfering in Syrian affairs and called on opposition leaders to start talks with the regime without preconditions.

The opposition in January rejected Assad?s initiative because it would keep him in power. The opposition and its Western backers insist Assad step down before any talks can begin. Late last month, the head of the Syrian National Coalition, Mouaz al-Khatib, changed course, saying he was willing to talk to the regime if it would help end bloodshed.

He suggested that Assad release tens of thousands of political prisoners as a first step.

Members of the opposition criticized al-Khatib?s offer to talk to the regime, and the government flatly rejected it.

Late Friday, al-Zoubi said Damascus was ready for dialogue with the opposition so long as the rebels lay down their weapons. He said anyone who responds will not be harmed.

The initiative is unlikely to gain any traction among the Syrian opposition and fighters on the ground, a highly decentralized force with weak links to the political leaders that deeply distrusts the regime. Most groups are unlikely to stop fighting so long as Assad remains president.

In Cairo, al-Khatib met with international peace envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, to discuss the opposition leader?s initiative for talks with the Assad regime, according to a U.N. statement. The statement said the envoy ?reiterated his support for (al-Khatib?s) initiative and encouraged the coalition to continue in this direction.?

Brahimi?s efforts to stop the fighting in Syria have failed so far, leaving the international community at a loss for ways to end the civil war.

___

Associated Press writer Zeina Karam and Aya Batrawy in Cairo contributed to this report.

Source: http://lite.washingtonexaminer.com/?p=85420&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rebels-troops-battle-for-key-damascus-highway

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