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



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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Duke-NUS governing board chairman to step down






SINGAPORE: Mr Tony Chew Leong-Chee is to step down as Chairman of the Duke-NUS' governing board on Monday.

The business leader has been at the helm for seven years.

He remains on the Duke-NUS Board till the end of February 2013.

Ex-banker Mr Kai Nargolwala, who joined the Duke-NUS Board in January this year, will assume the appointment of Chairman from 1 January 2013.

Mr Nargolwala is the Chairman of Clifford Capital, a company supported by the Singapore Government to facilitate the financing of long-term cross border projects by Singapore-based companies.

National University of Singapore (NUS) president Tan Chorh Chuan said the university is grateful to Mr Chew for his outstanding leadership and immense contributions.

Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, President, National University of Singapore (NUS) said: "It has really been a great pleasure and privilege to work closely with Mr Tony Chew. His vision, passion, extraordinary commitment and meticulous attention to details created among the stakeholders, the strong sense of common purpose that has underpinned the remarkable progress that the school has made in a very short time.

"We are all very proud of the many achievements which Duke-NUS has made in Singapore and internationally. We are indeed grateful to Tony for his outstanding leadership and immense contributions."

Chancellor for Health Affairs at Duke University, Dr Victor Dzau said Mr Chew's visionary leadership and remarkable commitment has been absolutely critical and has made an incredible difference to the school.

Dr Dzau said: "The success of Duke-NUS has been integral to the success of Duke Medicine's mission of transforming medicine and health to improve peoples' lives around the world through service, research and education.

"Mr Tony Chew's visionary leadership and remarkable commitment as the inaugural Chairman of Duke-NUS has been absolutely critical and has made an incredible difference to the School. We are deeply indebted to him for his support and contributions."

Established in 2005, Duke-NUS is a landmark collaboration between Duke University in the United States and NUS.

It is Singapore's first American-styled, research-oriented, graduate entry medical school.

The School's governing board provides strategic direction and oversight on the development and management of the School to advance its objectives in education and research.

There are 16 members on the Board, who each serve a renewable three-year term.

- CNA/xq



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President Pranab Mukherjee's son calls anti-rape protesters 'dented, painted'

NEW DELHI: Abhijit Mukherjee, the son of President Pranab Mukherjee, courted controversy on Thursday when he said the recent protests in the capital over the gang rape of a 23-year-old in a moving bus did not appear to involve students.

"What's basically happening in Delhi is a lot like Egypt or elsewhere, where there's something called the spring revolution. Women who are participating in candlelight vigils and those who are protesting have no connection with ground reality. These pretty ladies coming out to protest are 'highly dented and painted, they're giving interviews on TV, they've brought their children to show them the scenes. I have grave doubts whether they're students, because women of that age are generally not students'," he said in an interview in West Bengal.

His sister, Sharmishta later apologized. "If he has said this, I apologize on his behalf. As a family, we do not agree with his remarks."

Abhijit Mukherjee contested his parliamentary seat Jangipur in Bengal and won by a slender margin.

Meanwhile, the 23-year-old Delhi gang-rape victim was admitted on Thursday morning to the Mount Elizabeth Hospital's intensive care unit in Singapore in an extremely critical condition. The country is witnessing widespread protests over the incident with protesters demanding a more effective legal system and better safety in the capital, known as one of the least safe cities in the world for women.

Over the weekend, protests in Delhi turned into violent clashes with the police; a constable trying to control the crowd died of his injuries.

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Space Pictures This Week: Green Lantern, Supersonic Star









































































































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Okla. Senator Could Prevent Gun Control Changes












If there's one person most likely to keep new gun-control measures from passing Congress swiftly, it's Sen. Tom Coburn.


Conservatives revere the Oklahoma Republican for his fiscal hawkishness and regular reports on government waste. But he's also a staunch gun-rights advocate, and he's shown a willingness to obstruct even popular legislation, something in the Senate that a single member can easily accomplish.


That mixture could make Coburn the biggest threat to quick passage of new gun-control laws in the aftermath of the Newtown, Conn., shooting that has prompted even pro-gun NRA-member lawmakers like Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to endorse a new look at how access to the most powerful weapons can be limited.


Coburn's office did not respond to multiple requests to discuss the current push for gun legislation. But given his record, it's hard to imagine Coburn agreeing to a major, new proposal without some fuss.


The last time Congress considered a major gun law -- one with broad support -- Coburn held it up, proving that the details of gun control are sticky when a conservative senator raises unpopular objections, especially a senator who's joked that it's too bad he can't carry a gun on the Senate floor.


After the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, Congress heard similar pleadings for new gun limits, some of them similarly to those being heard now. When it came to light that Seung-Hui Cho, the mentally disturbed 23-year-old who opened fire on campus, passed a background check despite mental-health records indicating he was a suicide threat, a push began to include such records in determining whether a person should be able to buy a gun.




Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., a longtime gun-control advocate whose husband was killed in a mass shooting on the Long Island Rail Road in 1996, introduced a widely supported bill to do just that. The NRA backed her National Instant Check System Improvement Amendments Act of 2007.


But Coburn didn't. The senator blocked action on the bill, citing concerns over patient privacy, limited gun access for veterans, and the cost of updating the background-check system,


In blocking that bill, Coburn pointed to a government study noting that 140,000 veterans had been referred to the background-check registry since 1998 without their knowledge.


"I am certainly understanding of the fact that some veterans could be debilitated to the point that such cataloguing is necessary, but we should ensure this process does not entangle the vast majority of our combat veterans who simply seek to readjust to normal life at the conclusion of their tours. I am troubled by the prospect of veterans refusing necessary treatment and the benefits they are entitled to. As I'm sure you would agree we cannot allow any stigma to be associated with mental healthcare or treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury," Coburn wrote to acting Veterans Secretary Gordon Mansfield.


Coburn succeeded in changing the legislation, negotiating a set of tweaks that shaved $100 million over five years, made it easier for prohibited gun owners to restore their gun rights by petitioning the government, and notifying veterans that if they abdicated control of their finances they would be added to the gun database. The bill passed and President Bush signed it in January 2008.






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Democrats push for tax cuts they once opposed



President Obama has put the extension of the tax cuts for most Americans at the top of his domestic agenda, a remarkable turnaround for Democrats, who had staunchly opposed the tax breaks when they were written into law about a decade ago.




With Obama leaving his Hawaii vacation for Washington on Wednesday and lawmakers returning Thursday, the main dividing line between Republicans and Democrats has come down to whether tax rates should increase for top earners at the end of the year, when the Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire. While Republicans want to extend all the cuts, Democrats are pushing to maintain lower rates on household income below $250,000. Those lower rates significantly reduce the taxes of nearly all American households that earn less than $250,000 — and many who earn more, even if tax rates are allowed to increase on income above that figure.

While it is increasingly unlikely that the two parties will reach an agreement to avoid the fiscal cliff before Jan. 1, it is all but certain that their ultimate deal, whenever it comes, will make permanent the lower rates for most Americans.

R. Glenn Hubbard, dean of the Columbia Business School and an architect of the Bush tax cuts, said it is “deeply ironic” for Democrats to favor extending most of them, given what he called their “visceral” opposition a decade ago. Keeping the lower rates even for income under $250,000 “would enshrine the vast bulk of the Bush tax cuts,” he said.

Democrats say they have reconsidered their opposition to the Bush tax cuts for several reasons. The cuts were written into law from 2001 to 2003 after a decade in which most Americans saw robust income growth. Over the past decade, by contrast, median wages have declined, after adjusting for inflation, amid a weak economy. Allowing tax cuts for the middle class to expire would further reduce take-home pay.

“We’ve had these tax cuts in place since 2001. The world changes, and the economy is where it is,” said Steven Elmendorf, who was chief of staff to former House minority leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), a primary opponent of the Bush tax cuts. “With people’s economic status, we should not be raising taxes on people earning under $250,000.”

What’s more, income inequality has been growing. Sparing the middle class higher taxes while requiring the wealthy to pay more would tip the scales slightly in the other direction.

“The reason there’s been this movement toward broad consensus on renewing the tax cut for working- and middle-class families is that will give us a sharper progressivity in the tax system that is very much desired by Democrats and progressives who’ve seen an income distribution more and more distorted toward the wealthy,” said Betsey Stevenson, former chief economist in Obama’s Labor Department and a professor at the University of Michigan, who added that taxes may have to rise even more than currently contemplated to meet the country’s needs.

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NParks steps up checks to prevent falling trees during storms






SINGAPORE: The National Parks Board (NParks) has stepped up measures to ensure that fewer trees fall during storms.

In the last five years, an average of 300 trees fell a year in bad weather.

To ensure public safety, NParks has increased the number of checks on trees since the beginning of last year.

Checks on trees near busy roads are now made once every 12 months, up from once every 18 months.

For trees on non-busy roads, checks are conducted once every two years.

Oh Cheow Sheng, Director of Streetscape Division at National Parks Board, said: "We've stepped up checks on the trees along busy roads, and trimmed the crowns of trees. We've also removed trees that may be vulnerable to the impact of storms. As for trees with a heavier crown, we trim the crown to lighten its weight, so as to reduce the chances of the trees falling during heavy storms."

- CNA/de



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Snowfall likely in Kashmir on New Year

SRINAGAR: If you are planning to head to the Kashmir Valley to usher in the New Year, you are most likely to be greeted by snowfall.


"There is a possibility of widespread snowfall in the Valley from December 29," a spokesman of the MET office said on Wednesday.


The news is sure to bring smiles on the faces of holiday-makers who are camping in the Valley especially the famous ski resort of Gulmarg in North Kashmir.


Light rains and snowfall are expected at isolated places in the Valley during the next 24 hours, which will end the ongoing dry spell since the onset of the 'Chillai Kalan', a 40-day harsh period of winter which began on December 21.


Kashmir Valley is witnessing unusual sunny weather since the beginning of Chillai Kalan which has made days warmer than normal for this time of the year but the night temperature continues to hover several degrees below freezing point.


The minimum temperature recorded in Srinagar was minus 2.9 degrees Celsius compared to yesterday's minus 1.8 degrees Celsius. The summer capital recorded the season's low of minus 4 on Sunday.


The MET spokesman said Kargil in frontier region of Ladakh was the coldest place in the state with a low of minus 15.4 degrees Celsius.


The nearby town of Leh, also in the cold desert of Ladakh, was freezing at a low of minus 13.8 degrees Celsius, the spokesman said.


He said Gulmarg recorded a minimum of minus 7.0 degrees Celsius followed by Pahalgam (minus 6.8), Kupwara (minus 3.7), Qazigund (minus 3.2) and Kokernag (minus 2.1).

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Photos: Humboldt Squid Have a Bad Day at the Beach

Photograph by Chris Elmenhurst, Surf the Spot Photography

“Strandings have been taking place with increased frequency along the west coast over the past ten years,” noted NOAA’s Field, “as this population of squid seems to be expanding its range—likely a consequence of climate change—and can be very abundant at times.” (Learn about other jumbo squid strandings.)

Humboldt squid are typically found in warmer waters farther south in theGulf of California (map) and off the coast ofPeru. “[But] we find them up north here during warmer water time periods,” said ocean sciences researcherKenneth Bruland with the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC).

Coastal upwelling—when winds blowing south drive ocean circulation to bring cold, nutrient-rich waters up from the deep—ceases during the fall and winter and warmer water is found closer to shore. Bruland noted that climate change, and the resulting areas of low oxygen, “could be a major factor” in drawing jumbo squid north.

Published December 24, 2012

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Winter Storms Spawn Tornadoes Across South













A nasty Christmastime storm system spawned blizzard conditions in some states and at least 15 reported tornadoes in the South, damaging homes, taking out power lines and dangerously snarling holiday travel.


Severe weather swept across the United States during the Christmas holiday, bringing tornadoes and intense thunderstorms to the Gulf Coast, while dumping heavy snow and freezing rain on the Southern Plains.


At least 15 tornadoes were reported today from Texas to Alabama, putting this storm system potentially on track to be one of the largest Christmas day tornado outbreaks on record.


One large tornado was reported in Mobile, Ala., where there are about 19,000 customers without power and 23,429 statewide, according to Alabama Power. Kerry Burns, a Mobile resident originally from Boston, said the storm "sounded like a freight train."


Some buildings in the area, including some churches and a local high school, were reportedly damaged. Ray Uballe, another Mobile resident, said his dad was shaken up.


"He was in his apartment," Uballe said. "He said it sounded like an airplane and then the door flung open and then there was just debris flying."


Douglas Mark Nix, president of the Infirmary Health System, said one of their Mobile hospitals lost power and sustained damage. There were no early reports of injuries to staff or patients.


"We are operating now on generator power," he said. "We do not have substantial damage but we do have a number of windows out and we have some ceiling tiles down, throughout the facility at the main hospital.


"We can run for at least two weeks but I saw power crews out all over the city so I fully expect power to be restored within the next day or so," Nix added.






Melinda Martinez/The Daily Town Talk/AP Photo















Winter Weather Causes Holiday Travel Problems Watch Video





At least eight states were issued blizzard warnings today, as the storms made highways dangerously slick heading into one of the busiest travel days of the year.


Oklahoma got about 7 inches of snow all over the state making for treacherous road conditions. ABC News affiliate KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City said the weather was being blamed for a 21-vehicle wreck on Interstate 40, but no one was seriously injured.


Ice accumulation in Arkansas bent trees and power lines, leaving at least 50,000 customers across the state without power. About 10 inches of snow fell on Fayetteville, Ark.


The storms, which first wreaked havoc on the West Coast before moving east, are being blamed for at least one death in Texas.


Investigators in the Houston area told ABC state KTRK-TV in Houston that a young man was trying to move a downed tree that was blocking the roadway when another one snapped and fell on top of him. He was later pronounced dead at a hopsital.


The last time a number of tornadoes hit the Gulf Coast area around Christmas Day was in 2009, when 22 tornadoes struck on Christmas Eve morning, National Weather Service spokesman Chris Vaccaro told ABC News over email.


The deadliest Christmastime tornado outbreak on record was Dec. 24 to 26, 1982, when 29 tornadoes in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi killed three people and injured 32.


The last killer tornado around Christmas, Vaccaro said, was a Christmas Eve EF4 in Tennessee in 1988, which killed one person and injured seven. EF4 tornadoes can produce winds up to 200 mph.


No official word yet on the strength of the string of tornadoes reported today.


While some were preparing for a Christmas feast, others were hunkered down.


More than 180 flights nationwide were canceled by midday, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com. More than half were canceled by American Airlines and its regional affiliate, American Eagle.


The storm system is expected to continue east into Georgia and the Carolinas Wednesday and could potentially spawn more tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service.


ABC News' Matt Gutman, Max Golembo and ABC News Radio contributed to this report.



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