Obama Unveils $5 Billion Veterans Jobs Proposal
President Barack Obama unveiled a new $5 billion veterans jobs plan Friday that the administration says will put thousands of men and women who once wore their country's uniform back to work. The new Veterans Jobs Corps initiative, first mentioned in the president's State of the Union address last week, involves partnerships with the Veterans Administration and the Interior Department, as well as state and local law enforcement agencies. Under the blueprint, the administration will award $166 million in grant money to communities that show a preference for hiring post-9/11 veterans for new law enforcement positions. In addition, $320 million in grant money will be awarded to various fire departments who pledge to hire and train new veterans. Money for those grants has already been appropriated by Congress. CNN
VOA VIEW: More deficit spending, which will not secure real long term employment for veterans.

Hackers Claim To Have Intercepte Call Between FBI, Scotland Yard
A sensitive conference call between the FBI and Scotland Yard was recorded and released online by the hackers in Anonymous, the group claimed Friday. The group released a roughly 15-minute-long recording of what appears to be a Jan. 17 conference call devoted to tracking and prosecuting members of the loose-knit hacking group and its spinoff group LulzSec. There was no classified information on the call, FBI sources tell Fox News, noting that unsecure phones are not used for sensitive information. "The information was intended for law enforcement," the source said, and those responsible will be held accountable. Fox News

Komen Foundation Reverses Decision To End Planned Parenthood Grants
Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced Friday it was reversing its decision to end grants to Planned Parenthood, after facing mounting pressure from pro-choice lawmakers and accusations that the breast cancer awareness organization had bowed to political influences. "We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives," the group said in a statement. The statement from Komen founder Nancy Brinker and the Board of Directors defended the organization's intentions. The group has claimed all along that its decision was not a political one and that it was merely setting responsible standards for grant money. Fox News

Bain's Romney Problem
Mitt Romney has raised lots of money from current employees at his professional alma mater, but I'd have to think that Bain Capital would be much better off if someone (anyone?) else was challenging Barack Obama. Chances are that the firm will begin raising another giant general private equity fund sometime next year, and it certainly runs the risk of brand toxicity. Particularly among public pensions that have historically demurred due to Bain's 30% carry, but which might reconsider if offered the same "1/30 or 2/20" option that Bain recently gave to investors in its Asia fund. It's easy for public pensions to make follow-on fund commitments, but new deals come with all sorts of perception risks for the elected trustees who make the final call. CNN

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Some Colleges Cut Tuition, Hasten Graduation
Even before President Barack Obama announced plans last month to push colleges to improve affordability, a number of schools beat him to the punch by lowering tuition and helping students graduate in fewer semesters. These schools -- typically small private colleges like University of Charleston, Cabrini College and Midland University that lack the cachet of top-tier colleges and compete with less expensive state schools -- are bucking the widespread trend of increasing costs. In the last year, a few have cut tuition by as much as 20 percent. Others promise that students will earn their degree in four years or the college will pick up the cost of additional coursework. While there's no hard data, dozens of schools already have cut costs or implemented graduation guarantees. More such initiatives are expected to be announced this spring. Such programs have clearly intrigued students and parents, but skeptics fear they may have a negative impact on the quality of education. Reuters

Cooked Eggs Recalled In 34 States For Possible Listeria
A Minnesota company is recalling cooked eggs distributed in 34 states because of possible listeria contamination. Michael Foods, of Minnetonka, is recalling eggs in brine sold in 10- and 25-pound pails for institutional use under the brand names: Columbia Valley Farms; GFS; Glenview Farms; Papetti's; Silverbrook; and Wholesome Farms. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says there have been no reports of illness connected to the eggs. The company says the eggs could be contaminated with a listeria strain that can sicken people with weak immune systems. The recall covers: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia. MSNBC

Recovery Is Gathering Speed, Jobs Data Confirm
The U.S. economy is like a flywheel: It takes a lot to get it going. Once it starts moving, it can pick up speed pretty quickly. To see why, look no further than Friday’s jobs report, which offered convincing evidence that the U.S. recovery is finally gaining momentum. After months of subpar growth in their payrolls, American companies added 243,000 new jobs in January, considerably more than the 150,000 that forecasters expected. That drove the unemployment rate down by two percentage points to 8.3 percent, extending a rapid decline from 9.1 percent last August. Since last fall, a series of economic reports have pointed to gradual improvement. But the January employment report tore the cover off the ball. “It’s very unusual to get an unambiguous jobs report; usually you have a lot of cross currents in the data,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics. “This is unambiguous. Everything is good.” MSNBC
VOA VIEW: Figures lie, and liars figure.

Senate Passes Insider Trading Ban For Its Members
Ending a week that began with consensus but fractured into contention, the Senate voted Thursday to strengthen insider-trading bans for its members, and in the process agreed to ban bonuses for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives. After spending the afternoon voting on a score of amendments that had hampered negotiations earlier in the week, the Senate overwhelmingly passed on a 96-3 vote the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act. Only Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Richard Burr of North Carolina, both Republicans, and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico Democrat, were opposed. Washington Times

Obama Presses Congress Not To Muck Up’ Growing Economy
Seizing on news of another drop in the unemployment rate, President Obama Friday urged Congress to extend a payroll tax holiday for workers and spur the economic recovery even as he called for more than $5 billion in new spending. “I want to send send a clear message to Congress: Do not slow down the recovery that we’re on,” Mr. Obama said. “Don’t muck it up. Keep it moving in the right direction.” The president traveled across the Potomac to Fire Station #5 in Arlington, Va. to promote a plan to hire more veterans as first-responders. His remarks came on the same morning that the government reported the national unemployment rate had dropped to 8.3 percent, down from 8.5 percent in December. Washington Times
VOA VIEW: There is no real recovery.

Romney: I "Misspoke" With Comment About The Poor
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said Thursday he "misspoke" when he told CNN on Wednesday he was "not concerned about the very poor." In an interview with Nevada political reporter Jon Ralston, Romney sought to downplay the comments, which have been widely criticized. "It was a misstatement. I misspoke," Romney said. "I've said something that is similar to that but quite acceptable for a long time. And you know when you do I don't know how many thousands of interviews now and then you may get it wrong. And I misspoke. Plain and simple," Romney added. The morning after winning Tuesday's Florida primary by a large margin, Romney went on the morning television shows to promote his campaign's message of helping the middle class. CBS

Santorum Turns Tough Rhetoric Against Gingrich
His rivals often decry Newt Gingrich's scotched-earth rhetoric, but they are increasingly getting into the act themselves. Witness the newest broadcast ad from Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, which calls Gingrich's economic proposals "fiscal insanity." The ad's wording and tone also borrows a read-between-the-lines theme that front-runner Mitt Romney has been using against Gingrich - that he is mentally unstable and therefore unfit for the presidency. In addition to liberal use of the word "insanity," a digital press release accompanying the ad makes note of "Gingrich's erratic behavior" and "wild ideas." CBS

Obama Swing State Fund Taps Wealthy To Aid Key States
President Obama’s campaign money machine has begun to funnel cash to state Democratic parties in key 2012 battlegrounds, according to Federal Election Commission filings released Tuesday. The transfers through the  Swing State Victory Fund — a joint fundraising account run by  Obama for America — signal a new effort to broaden and strengthen the state-level apparatus working to win the president a second term. The fund raised more than $1.3 million in December, the month it was created, FEC documents show.  It dispersed a small fraction of that cash — $5,500 total, in $500 increments – to Democratic Party organizations in 11 states, with much more expected in the months ahead. ABC

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Boehner Unhappy Despite Jobs Increase, Wants Dems To Pass GOP Proposals
House Speaker John Boehner and members of his Republican leadership team scoffed at the positive jobs data this morning, suggesting that despite new signals that the economy is improving, the president’s economic agenda has failed and the country would be better off if the GOP’s policies are implemented. Boehner bluntly advised President Obama’s reelection campaign to prod Senate Democrats to “get off their rear ends” in order to bring the unemployment rate down even further.  He once again called on the president to pressure Senate Democrats to consider more of the GOP’s House-passed legislation, 27 of which the speaker said are stalled in the upper chamber. ABC

Fed’s Bullard Says ‘Surprising’ U.S. Data Weakens Case For Bond Purchases
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said reports on the U.S. economy such as today’s better-than-forecast employment data indicate that more Fed purchases of bonds aren’t necessary. “The economic news and economic data, including today’s data, has been surprising to the upside,” Bullard said today in a Bloomberg News interview. “I need to see significant deterioration in the economy and some threat of deflation or inflation moving significantly below our inflation target before I would consider more QE,” he said, referring to bond purchases known as quantitative easing. Bloomberg

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Romney Says He’ll Rescind Contraception Mandate Not Just For Religious Institutions, But For Everyone
The Republican presidential campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney told CNSNews.com today that if elected Romney will rescind in its entirety a regulation finalized last month by the Obama administration that requires all health-care plans in the United States to cover sterilizations and all FDA-approved contraceptives, including those that cause abortions. The Obama administration’s final version of the regulation effectively exempted only an actual church—such as a Catholic parish—from the regulation, while insisting that it would be fully enforced on individuals, private business owners, non-religious private-sector organizations and insurers. CNS News

Santorum Warns Voters Of Country's Likely Demise; 'We Cannot Listen To The Siren Song'
Rick Santorum's campaign slogan could very well be one word: doomsday. To hear him tell it, the United States will collapse under the weight of its health care system and basic freedoms will be history. Iran will annihilate Israel and then South Carolina if Iran isn't blocked from building a nuclear weapon. And divorce will yield higher taxes for all Americans. Unless, of course, Republicans pick Santorum as the party's presidential nominee and he goes on to defeat President Barack Obama.
"Go back and read what the sirens did once you arrived on that island," Santorum warned students at Colorado Christian University this week, invoking mythology. "They devour you. They destroy you. They consume you." CNS News

Stanford Had Secret Fund For Bribes, Yacht: Witness
Texas financier Allen Stanford drew on a secret Swiss bank account for personal expenses like yacht maintenance and to pay bribes, the government's top witness said at Stanford's fraud trial on Friday. Stanford, 61, is accused of bilking thousands of investors out of their savings by selling fraudulent certificates of deposit through his bank in the Caribbean. Prosecutors say the $7 billion Ponzi scheme is one of the biggest white collar crimes since Bernard Madoff's scam. Stanford has pleaded not guilty to all charges. "The monies flowed from Stanford International Bank CDs to this slush account at SocGen," former Stanford Chief Financial Officer James Davis told jurors. "It was a slush fund." Reuters

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Big Donors And What They Want
The millionaires, billionaires and companies giving big sums to political committees supporting Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Barack Obama have important business with the next president. Some are already in trouble with the government. Some are pressing for new laws or regulations that would benefit their interests in energy, mining and high finance. The Associated Press reviewed financial reports, regulatory filings, court records, public statements and more to identify favors that the biggest donors so far in the presidential campaign might want in return for their contributions worth $100,000 or more. In some cases, these donors have given $1 million or more to help Obama's challengers or the president. An exhaustive review of their motives is nearly impossible, since new federal rules governing such contributions allow donors to effectively remain anonymous if they funnel cash into the campaign through corporate partnerships or other mechanisms that can frustrate investigation. Las Vegas Sun

Taliban Leader Sent Letter To Obama
Reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar wrote to President Barack Obama last year indicating an interest in talks key to ending the war in Afghanistan, current and former U.S. officials told The Associated Press. The letter purportedly from Omar was unsigned. It was passed through a Taliban intermediary in July and intended for the White House. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the letter and its contents are part of sensitive diplomacy with a fighting force that still targets U.S. troops. The previously undisclosed communication was considered authentic by people who saw it, but skeptical administration officials said they cannot determine it actually came from Omar. The Obama administration did not directly respond to the letter, two officials said, although it has broadened contacts with Omar's emissaries since then. Las Vegas Sun

Super PACs Opened Door, And Companies Step In
GOP primary & caucus calendar Corporations appear to be embracing, albeit slowly, new campaign rules that allow them to make direct contributions to political groups. The super PACs that have been playing a significant role this election season are getting more of their funding from corporate coffers — 23 percent, according to an analysis of federal records. That is up slightly from 19 percent in the 2010 cycle, when super PACs were first formed following the Supreme Court's landmark Citizens United decision that year. In that case, the high court ruled that, under the First Amendment, the government could not restrict corporations from giving. Newsday

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Romney: Obama Doesn’t Deserve Credit For Jobs Report
Mitt Romney said President Barack Obama doesn’t deserve credit for good news about the economy, saying the man he's seeking to replace in November has stymied U.S. growth. “This president has not helped the process, he’s hurt it,” Romney, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, told 14 local businessmen he met with at a home-and- yard supply company in Sparks, Nevada. “If I’m the president, I will see what you do as being a very good thing, a patriotic and good thing.” In data announced today, the U.S. jobless rate unexpectedly fell in January to the lowest in three years as payrolls climbed more than forecast. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.3 percent, the lowest since February 2009. The 243,000 increase in jobs was the biggest in nine months and exceeded all forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. Bloomberg

Poor Republicans Want More Help For Poor
While Republicans with low incomes distrust the U.S. government, they also say it should do more for poor people, the Pew Research Center says. The needs of the poor became an issue this week when Mitt Romney, the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, told CNN he is not concerned about the very poor or very rich. He said the poor have a safety net while the rich have the wherewithal to take care of themselves. In a survey conducted Sept. 22 to Oct. 4, Pew found that 25 percent of voters who describe themselves as Republican or Republican-leaning have annual incomes of less than $30,000. More than half of that group, 57 percent, said the federal government does not do enough for poor people while 18 percent said it does too much. UPI News

Gold Price Fall $18 An Ounce
The price of gold lost $19 an ounce Friday to settle at $1,740.30 on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Silver fell by 43 cents, to end the session at $33.75 an ounce. The euro was virtually flat at $1.3146, up from Thursday's $1.3144. Against the yen, the dollar rose to 76.57 from Thursday's 76.22 yen. The British pound was $1.5816 Friday from $1.5833 Thursday. Against the Hong Kong dollar, the dollar was 7.7537 from Thursday's 7.7553. The dollar was 0.9936 Canadian dollars compared to 0.9991 Canadian dollars on Thursday. The Australian dollar was $1.0780 from $1.0709 Thursday. UPI

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'UN Council Awaits Russian Word On Syria Draft'
UN Security Council envoys awaited a decision by Moscow on Friday on the latest version of a European-Arab draft resolution endorsing an Arab League plan for Syria, and some diplomats said the Kremlin may go along with it. A senior Western envoy said the council's 15 ambassadors had agreed the new text on Thursday, but that the final decision rested with national capitals. "The Russians said ... on ambassadorial level ... they stand by the text ... and the Chinese said the same thing," the envoy said. Related: Syrian forces break up protest marking killingsJordan removes its monitors from Syria missionHowever, early word from Moscow was that Russia's leadership was not yet satisfied. Interfax news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov as saying the draft was "not enough for us to be able to support it in this form." Jerusalem Post

US Anxiety Grows Over Possible Israeli Plans On Iran
The Obama administration is increasingly anxious about Israeli leaders' provocative public comments on Iran's nuclear program but does not have hard proof that Jerusalem will strike Iran in the next few months, US and European officials said. The US uncertainty and lack of information about Israel's plans on Iran were behind an alarming assessment of the situation reportedly voiced by US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, the officials said. 'We'll back any nation fighting Zionist regime''UK's Clegg concerned over int'l conflict with Iran'David Ignatius, a Washington Post columnist who specializes in intelligence matters, reported that Panetta believed there was a "strong likelihood" that Israel would attack Iran's nuclear program within the next six months -- as early as April, Ignatius wrote. Jerusalem Post

Malaria Deaths Hugely Underestimated - Lancet Study
Worldwide malaria deaths may be almost twice as high as previously estimated, a study reports. The research, published in the British medical journal the Lancet, suggests 1.24 million people died from the mosquito-borne disease in 2010. This compares to a World Health Organisation (WHO) estimate for 2010 of 655,000 deaths. But both the new study and the WHO indicate global death rates are now falling. The research was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It used new data and new computer modelling to build a historical database for malaria between 1980 and 2010. The conclusion was that worldwide deaths had risen from 995,000 in 1980 to a peak of 1.82 million in 2004, before falling to 1.24 million in 2010. BBC

Motorola Makes Apple Pull IPads And IPhones In Germany
Apple has pulled several iPad and iPhone models from its German online store after Motorola Mobility enforced a patent injunction against its rival. The move follows a December ruling that Apple had failed to license one of Motorola's wireless intellectual properties. iPhone users in Germany may also face the loss of their push email iCloud service after a separate patent victory by Motorola. Apple has said it will appeal. The dispute may eventually pit Apple against Google. The search giant is in the process of taking over the Razr handset-maker. The deal still needs to clear the competition authorities. BBC

Brain Trauma Experts Call For 'Hit Count' To Prevent Injuries To School Athletes
Scientists in Boston have collected more than 100 brains of athletes where CTE has been diagnosed upon autopsy Link to this video Experts on repetitive brain trauma suffered by players of sports such as football, ice hockey and soccer have drawn up radical new proposals designed to limit the risk of potentially fatal brain injury in child athletes. The proposals, presented in a white paper by the Sports Legacy Institute, come in response to growing alarm about the exposure to brain injuries of thousands of American schoolkids. The youngest identified of case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disease linked to blows to the head, was recently discovered in a high-school football player, Nathan Stiles, who collapsed on the field and died aged 17. Guardian

US Moves To Restrict Iran Financing Oil Exports Through Banks
Banking transactions with Iran and financing for its oil shipments could come under tougher scrutiny after a sanctions bill passed a key US Senate committee. The bill, if it becomes law, would direct the White House to press the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (Swift) to shut out Iran's central bank and the country's other financial institutions from the system used to move money between banks across the world. "It is inconsistent and troubling that financial communications services providers continue to service those financial institutions" in Iran that are otherwise subject to sanctions, said the provision passed on Thursday and proposed by the Democratic Senator Robert Menendez. Guardian

Anaesthetic Use Linked To ADHD
Children repeatedly exposed to anaesthetic early in life are more likely to develop Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), an American study suggests. Drugs used to sedate children for surgery could have subtle effects on the developing brain, believe doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. They found repeated exposure to anaethesic while young appeared to more than double the chance of developing ADHD. Specifically, those who had undergone anaesthesia at least two times by the age of three were more than twice as likely to have been diagnosed with ADHD by the time they were 19. The study did not prove that repeated anaesthetic caused ADHD, the authors noted. However, they did say it warranted "further investigation". Telegraph

Silvio Berlusconi Rules Out Return As Italian Prime Minister
Three months after sex scandals and a national economic crisis forced his resignation, the billionaire media tycoon declared that he was still young at 75 and showed off a bruise which he claimed he had sustained while playing ice hockey with Vladimir Putin, Russia's prime minister. He claimed that his approval ratings remained at 36 per cent, making him more popular than Angela Merkel in Germany or France's Nicholas Sarkozy, and said he might stand for election again as an MP. "I still have strong popular backing ... If I walk out in the street I stop the traffic. I'm a public danger and I cannot go out to do the shopping." Telegraph

For World Cancer Day, UN Stresses Early Diagnosis To Reduce Mounting Deaths
Early diagnosis is the key to reducing the nearly eight million deaths caused by cancer across the globe annually, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said today, stressing the importance of screening programmes for healthy people to detect the disease promptly for easier treatment. To mark World Cancer Day, which is observed on 4 February every year, WHO reminded the world that cancer is responsible for close to 13 per cent of deaths globally, accounting for 7.6 million deaths in 2008. UN News

UN-Backed Court Sentences Key Khmer Rouge Figure To Life In Prison On Appeal
The appeals chamber of the United Nations-backed tribunal in Cambodia trying cases of mass murder and other crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge regime today sentenced the former head of a notorious detention camp to life in prison, upholding an earlier conviction and extending the existing jail term. The Supreme Court Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) upheld the conviction of Kaing Guek Eav, alias Duch, and ordered that he be jailed for life, the maximum sentence under the law for crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions.They deserve the highest penalty available to provide a fair and adequate response to the outrage these crimes invoked in victims, their families and relatives, the Cambodian people, and all human beings. UN News

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