Gingrich: Romney self-deportation plan a fantasy (AP)

DORAL, Fla. ? Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Wednesday ridiculed rival Mitt Romney's call for self-deportation of illegal immigrants as an "Obama-level fantasy" that would be inhumane to long-established families living in America.

The former House speaker ripped that part of Romney's immigration policy during a forum Wednesday with the Spanish-language network Univision. The interviewer also asked sharp questions about Gingrich's marital history.

Gingrich laughed at the idea of self-deportation and said it wouldn't work.

During a debate earlier this week, Romney said he favors self-deportation over policies that would require the federal government to round up millions of illegal immigrants and send them back to their home countries. Advocates of Romney's approach argue that illegal immigration can be curbed by denying public benefits to them, forcing them to leave the United States on their own.

"You have to live in a world of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island accounts and automatically $20 million income for no work to have some fantasy this far from reality," Gingrich said, alluding to details in Romney's income tax returns made public on Tuesday. "For Romney to believe that somebody's grandmother is going to be so cut off that she is going to self-deport, I mean this is an Obama-level fantasy."

But Gingrich's campaign has spoken of the self-deportation policy he ridiculed Wednesday.

Romney's campaign directed reporters to past comments by Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond, who said that only a small percent of illegal immigrants would likely be allowed to stay in the U.S. under Gingrich's plan. Hammond went on to say that the vast majority of them would likely "self-deport."

At the forum, Gingrich spoke instead about border control and establishing a guest-worker program to better manage the influx of immigrants. Gingrich said he favors a path to citizenship for illegal immigrant children who serve in the military but not for simply completing college.

As to communist Cuba, not far off Florida's southern shore, Gingrich said he would be open to using everything up to covert operations to replace stalwart Fidel Castro's regime. "Hands off Cuba, that's baloney," he said. "The people of Cuba deserve freedom."

Florida is home to many Hispanics of Puerto Rican or Cuban descent and who view immigration policy as a priority. Thirteen percent of the state's registered voters are Hispanic.

While the questions were mostly about Hispanic concerns, moderator Jorge Ramos asked Gingrich whether it was hypocritical for him to criticize then-President Bill Clinton and pursue his impeachment in the 1990s when Gingrich was also being unfaithful to his second wife.

Gingrich snapped at the premise of the question and said it was Clinton's false testimony under oath that bothered him most.

"The fact is I've been through two divorces. I've been deposed both times under oath. Both times I told the truth in the deposition," Gingrich said. "I have never lied under oath. I have never committed perjury."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_el_pr/us_campaign_hispanics

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Palestinian leader: Talks with Israel over

The European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, left, and UNRWA Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi sign a financial agreement during a meeting in Gaza City, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. Ashton is on a 3-day visit to Israel and Palestinian territories, part of her ongoing efforts to encourage the two sides to resume negotiations. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

The European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, left, and UNRWA Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi sign a financial agreement during a meeting in Gaza City, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. Ashton is on a 3-day visit to Israel and Palestinian territories, part of her ongoing efforts to encourage the two sides to resume negotiations. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

The European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton speaks at a press conference in Gaza City, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. Ashton is on a 3-day visit to Israel and Palestinian territories, part of her ongoing efforts to encourage the two sides to resume negotiations. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) ? A low-level dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians about a future border has ended without any breakthrough, the Palestinian president said Wednesday, reflecting the impasse plaguing the negotiations for at least three years.

President Mahmoud Abbas said he would consult with Arab allies next week to figure out how to proceed now. While frustrated with the lack of progress, Abbas is under pressure to extend the Jordanian-mediated exploratory talks, which the international community hopes will lead to a resumption of long-stalled formal negotiations on establishing a Palestinian state.

Israel said Wednesday it's willing to continue the dialogue. Abbas didn't close the door to continued meetings, saying he'll decide after consultations with the Arab League on Feb. 4.

A Palestinian walkout could cost Abbas international sympathy at a time when he seeks global recognition of a state of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

The gaps between the leaders are vast, and Abbas believes there is no point in returning to formal negotiations without assurances, such as marking the pre-1967 war lines as a basis for border talks and halting Israeli settlement building on occupied lands. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says everything should be discussed in negotiations and insists he is serious about reaching a deal by year's end.

Though there have been talks off and on, the last substantive round was in late 2008, when Israel informally proposed a deal and the Palestinians did not respond. When Netanyahu took office the next year, he took the proposal, including a state in most of the territories the Palestinians claim, off the table.

A round started in late 2010 by President Barack Obama quickly sputtered over the settlement issue.

Visiting EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is scheduled to meet separately over the next two days with Abbas and Netanyahu to try to salvage the exploratory talks. Two officials involved in the contacts said she is trying to put together a package of Israeli incentives that would keep the Palestinians from walking away.

"We need to keep talks going and increase the potential of these talks to become genuine negotiations," Ashton said.

Before his meeting with Ashton, Netanyahu said, "We've been trying to make sure that the talks between us and the Palestinians will continue. That is our desire."

Under Jordanian mediation, Israeli and Palestinian envoys have met several times over the past month, including on Wednesday. The Quartet of international mediators ? the U.S., the U.N., the EU and Russia ? said last fall that it expected both sides to submit detailed proposals on borders and security arrangements in these meetings.

Palestinian officials said they submitted their proposals, but that Israel did not. Abbas suggested that exploratory talks could continue if Israel presented a detailed border plan.

"If we demarcate the borders, we can return to negotiations, but Israel does not want to do that," Abbas said Wednesday, after talks in Jordan with Jordan's King Abdullah II. His remarks were carried by the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Palestinians are flexible on security arrangements, but would object to any Israeli presence in a Palestinian state, he said.

Netanyahu has said he would not give up east Jerusalem, the Palestinians' hoped-for capital, but has never outlined where he would draw a border.

Such a demarcation could set off a political firestorm in his governing coalition, particular among pro-settler parties, because it would spell out how many settlements would have to be dismantled at a minimum.

In the exploratory talks, Israel submitted a list of 21 issues that would need to be discussed, but didn't present positions.

The Palestinians have accused Netanyahu ? a reluctant latecomer to the idea of Palestinian statehood ? of seeking negotiations as a diplomatic shield, with no real intention of reaching an agreement.

An Israeli government official said Israel is committed to reaching a full accord before the end of the year. "We hope that the Palestinians aren't looking for an excuse to walk away from the table," the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.

The two sides even disagree on how much time was set aside for these talks. The Palestinians said the deadline is Thursday, or three months after the Quartet issued its marching orders, while Israel believes it has until early April, or three months after the start of meetings.

In other developments Wednesday, the Geneva-based Interparliamentary Union protested the arrest of Hamas lawmakers by Israel in recent days. Five legislators have been arrested since last week, including Speaker Abdel Aziz Dwaik. The IPU, which represents 159 parliaments worldwide, said it is "extremely concerned" and demanded that the lawmakers be released.

Currently, 24 of 45 Hamas legislators from the West Bank are in Israeli detention on charges of membership in an illegal organization. Hamas lawmakers have been subject to arrest by Israel since the group defeated Abbas' Fatah movement in the 2006 parliament election.

Hamas alleged that the arrests are meant to sabotage presidential and parliamentary elections, tentatively set for late spring. Hamas has said it would only participate in elections if its candidates are safe from arrest by Israel.

Israel says the arrests are not politically motivated.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-25-ML-Israel-Palestinians/id-5ea2b7e5923a408aa19eb427fe96a535

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US stocks mixed as Greece negotiates to cut debt

In this Jan. 18, 2012 photo, trader Gregory Rowe, left, and specialist Glenn Carell work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Hopes that Greece will eventually reach a deal with private creditors on lowering its debt supported markets on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, as investors looked past delays in reaching an agreement that would further ease Europe's debt crisis. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

In this Jan. 18, 2012 photo, trader Gregory Rowe, left, and specialist Glenn Carell work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Hopes that Greece will eventually reach a deal with private creditors on lowering its debt supported markets on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, as investors looked past delays in reaching an agreement that would further ease Europe's debt crisis. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks are swinging between small gains and losses in midday trading Monday. European stock indexes and the euro rose on hopes that Greece will reach a deal with private creditors on lowering its debt. The euro neared its highest level against the dollar this year.

The Dow Jones industrial average is down 49 points to 12,670 as of 12:15 p.m. Eastern time. Procter & Gamble fell 1.7 percent, the biggest drop in the Dow.

Creditors are in negotiations with the Greek government to reduce that country's debt burden to help it avoid default. European finance ministers are expected to give new momentum to a debt-relief deal. One proposal would have Greece's private creditors, mostly banks and big investors, swap their bonds for new ones that are worth 50 percent less.

The euro rose 1.2 percent to $1.302, its highest point since Jan. 3.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 5 points to 1,310, a fall of 0.4 percent. The Nasdaq composite fell 15 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,771.

Stocks are still off to a strong start in 2012, as investors' biggest fears have slowly faded. Stronger than expected job growth in the U.S. and falling borrowing costs for European governments have helped the S&P 500 index post gains for three weeks in a row. The index is now up 4.2 percent for the year.

Maybe the biggest boon to markets this year is the lack of scary headlines, said Jeff Lancaster, a principal at the investment firm Bingham, Osborn & Scarborough. "When everybody is feeling distressed, anxious and worried as they were at the end of last year, it doesn't take a lot of good news for the mood to change," he said. "It just takes a diminishing quantity of bad news."

Energy companies were making large moves in early trading. Chesapeake Energy Corp. jumped 4 percent after the country's second-largest natural gas producer said it plans to cut production, a response to plunging prices. Natural gas futures rose 4.8 percent to $2.50 per 1,000 cubic feet. Gas futures were trading above $4 just six months ago.

Stocks of other gas producers shot higher. Southwestern Energy Co. rose 7.4 percent and Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. 6.8 percent.

Apache Corp. inched up less than 1 percent after the oil and gas producer said it plans on buying Cordillera Energy Partners in a $2.85 billion deal. It's the largest merger announced in the U.S. this year.

Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of BlackBerry mobile devices, sank 6.8 percent after its new chief executive said no drastic changes are needed. The company's founders announced they were stepping down as co-CEOs late Sunday.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-23-Wall%20Street/id-5cf5e9476d33450cbcf8df90730f7bd3

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Obama to take on economy in State of the Union

FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2012, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama commands center stage in a political year so far dominated by Republican infighting, preparing to deliver a State of the Union address that will go right to the heart of Americans' economic anxiety and try to sway voters to give him four more years in office. He is expected to urge higher taxes on the wealthy, propose steps to make college more affordable and offer new remedies for the still worrisome housing crisis. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2012, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama commands center stage in a political year so far dominated by Republican infighting, preparing to deliver a State of the Union address that will go right to the heart of Americans' economic anxiety and try to sway voters to give him four more years in office. He is expected to urge higher taxes on the wealthy, propose steps to make college more affordable and offer new remedies for the still worrisome housing crisis. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Addressing a divided nation amid a determined GOP campaign to take his job, President Barack Obama is preparing to issue a populist cry for economic fairness as he aims to corral the sympathies of middle-class voters 10 months before Election Day.

Obama delivers his third State of the Union address Tuesday in a capital and country shot through with politics, with his re-election campaign well under way and his potential GOP opponents lobbing attacks against him daily as they scrap for the right to take him on.

Obama's 9 p.m. EST address to a joint session of Congress and millions of television viewers will be as much as anything an argument for his re-election, the president's biggest, best chance so far to offer a vision for a second term.

Senior political adviser David Plouffe said Tuesday morning the president is "happy to have a debate" about his performance. Asked in an interview about Republican candidate Newt Gingrich's description of Obama as the "food stamp president," Plouffe replied, "It's a cheap applause line for the Republican base."

Bill Galston, a former Clinton administration domestic policy adviser now at the Brookings Institution, said, "Almost by definition it's going to be at least as much a political speech as a governing speech."

"The president must run on his record," Galston said, "and that means talking candidly and persuasively with the country about the very distinctive nature of the challenges the American economy faced when he took office and what has gone right for the past three years, and what needs to be done in addition."

With economic anxiety showing through everywhere, the speech will focus on a vision for restoring the middle class, with Obama facing the tricky task of persuading voters to stick with him even as joblessness remains high at 8.5 percent. Obama can point to positive signs, including continued if sluggish growth; his argument will be that he is the one to restore economic equality for middle-class voters.

Implicit in the argument, even if he never names frontrunners Gingrich and Mitt Romney, is that they are on the other side.

Obama's speech will come as Gingrich and Romney have transformed the Republican campaign into a real contest ahead of Florida's crucial primary next week. And he'll be speaking on the same day that Romney, a multimillionaire, released his tax returns, offering a vivid illustration of wealth that could play into Obama's argument about the growing divide between rich and poor.

Asked in an interview Tuesday about Romney's relatively modest tax rate in the range of 15 percent, given that he's a multi-millionaire, Plouffe said, "We need to change our tax system. We need to change our tax code so that everybody is doing their fair share."

Obama will frame the campaign to come as a fight for fairness for those who are struggling to keep a job, a home or college savings and losing faith in how the country works.

The speech will feature the themes of manufacturing, clean energy, education and American values. The president is expected to urge higher taxes on the wealthy, propose ways to make college more affordable, offer new steps to tackle a debilitating housing crisis and push to help U.S. manufacturers expand hiring.

For three days following his speech, Obama will promote his ideas in five states key to his re-election bid. On Wednesday he'll visit Iowa and Arizona to promote ideas to boost American manufacturing; on Thursday in Nevada and Colorado he'll discuss energy; and in Michigan Friday he'll talk about college affordability, education and training. Polling shows Americans are divided about Obama's overall job performance but unsatisfied with his handling of the economy.

The lines of argument between Obama and his rivals are already stark, with America's economic insecurity and the role of government at the center.

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the House Budget Committee, said that Obama "can't run on his record."

The president has offered signals about his speech, telling campaign supporters he wants an economy "that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few." Gingrich, on the other hand, calls Obama "the most effective food stamp president in history." Romney says Obama "wants to turn America into a European-style entitlement society."

Obama will make bipartisan overtures to lawmakers but will leave little doubt he will act without their help when it's necessary and possible, an approach his aides say has let him stay on offense.

The public is more concerned about domestic troubles over foreign policy than at any other time in the past 15 years, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. Some 81 percent want Obama to focus his speech on domestic affairs, not foreign ones; just five years ago, the view was evenly split.

On the day before Obama's speech, his campaign released a short Web ad showing monthly job losses during the end of the Bush administration and the beginning of the Obama administration, with positive job growth for nearly two Obama years. Republicans assail him for failing to achieve a lot more.

House Speaker John Boehner, responding to reports of Obama's speech themes, said it was a rehash of unhelpful policies. "It's pathetic," he said.

Presidential spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that Obama is not conceding the next 10 months to "campaigning alone" when people need economic help. On the goals of helping people get a fair shot, Carney said, "There's ample room within those boundaries for bipartisan cooperation and for getting this done."

Plouffe appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" with Ryan and Plouffe also was interviewed on NBC's "Today" show and "CBS This Morning."

___

AP White House Correspondent Ben Feller contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-24-State%20of%20the%20Union/id-b772ea196de44c5e914fcf6cc21216a3

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Landslide hits Papua New Guinea, deaths reported (AP)

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea ? A landslide struck villages in mountainous central Papua New Guinea with local media reporting Wednesday 40 bodies recovered and 20 people missing.

The South Pacific island nation's National Disaster Center director Martin Mosi said several villages are close to where the landslide occurred near the town of Mendi early Tuesday and that fatalities are likely but unconfirmed.

Three National Disaster Center officials were headed to Mendi on Wednesday, where they will be flown by helicopter to join police at the disaster site.

"Most likely lives have been lost. We cannot tell how many," Mosi said.

Local lawmaker Francis Potape told Radio Australia's indigenous language service that the landslide completely covered two villages while people slept.

"There are people buried underneath and a number of them are, from what I have heard, children," The National newspaper reported Potape as saying.

The Post Courier newspaper reported that Prime Minister Peter O'Neill would fly to the state later Wednesday.

Local media reports that the destruction extended more than one mile (2 kilometers), leaving roads to villages cut off.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_as/as_papua_new_guinea_landslide

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Playtech in talks with possible U.S. partners (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? Playtech, the world's biggest provider of online gaming software, is holding talks with a number of potential partners in the United States as it gears up for the possible re-opening of the potentially lucrative market, CEO Mor Weizer said.

The United States Justice Department said in December that only betting on sporting contests is unlawful, clearing the way for other types of internet gambling such as poker and casino games to be legalized.

"We have lots of potential customers that approached us or that we approached that would like to have us as their suppliers of online gaming products when the market opens up," Weizer told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

"There is a lot of work being done behind the scenes in various states by various local authorities. We have people on the ground now in the U.S. working with us in order to monitor all these processes," Weizer added.

Online gaming was effectively outlawed in the U.S. by legislation passed in 2005. Weizer said it was too early to say if those laws will be overturned in the current year.

Playtech said it was seeing increasing opportunities as gambling laws are relaxed across the world and was confident of meeting full-year expectations.

The company also announced joint ventures with German gaming machine business Merkur and South African gaming and hospitality business Peermont as well as the 11 million pound ($17.2 million) acquisition of sportsbook and lottery software firm Geneity.

($1 = 0.6412 British pounds)

(Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Adveith Nair)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120124/wr_nm/us_playtech

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Utah professor in porn-on-plane case resigns job (AP)

SALT LAKE CITY ? A University of Utah professor charged with viewing child pornography on a plane has resigned.

University spokesman Remi Barron says 47-year-old Grant Smith stepped down last month, several weeks after he was arrested Nov. 26 following a flight from Salt Lake City to Boston.

He had been placed on paid administrative leave upon his arrest, but Barron tells the Deseret News ( http://bit.ly/xmWxcT) Smith left before the school started any internal disciplinary action against him.

Prosecutors say a fellow first-class passenger saw Smith viewing the images and took a cellphone photo before alerting a flight attendant.

Smith was a materials science and engineering professor at the university. He has pleaded not guilty to child pornography possession.

___

Information from: Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_us/us_plane_arrest_child_porn

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