Unwelcome mat: Obama team weighs strategy to blunt Netanyahu’s visit, message on Iran talks
WASHINGTON (AP) - In what is becoming an increasingly nasty grudge match, the White House is mulling ways to undercut Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming trip to Washington and blunt his message that a potential nuclear deal with Iran is bad for Israel and the world.
There are limits. Administration officials have discarded the idea of President Barack Obama himself giving an Iran-related address to rebut the two speeches Netanyahu is to deliver during his early March visit. But other options remain on the table.
Among them: a presidential interview with a prominent journalist known for coverage of the rift between Obama and Netanyahu, multiple Sunday show television appearances by senior national security aides and a pointed snub of America’s leading pro-Israel lobby, which is holding its annual meeting while Netanyahu is in Washington, according to the officials.
The administration has already ruled out meetings between Netanyahu and Obama, saying it would be inappropriate for the two to meet so close to Israel’s March 17 elections. But the White House is now doubling down on a cold-shoulder strategy, including dispatching Cabinet members out of the country and sending a lower-ranking official than normal to represent the administration at the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the officials said.
Vice President Joe Biden will be away, his absence behind Netanyahu conspicuous in coverage of the speech to Congress. Other options were described by officials, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal deliberations.
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New woes for HealthCare.gov: Tax filing delays after wrong info sent to nearly 1 million
WASHINGTON (AP) - In a new setback for the health care law and the people it’s supposed to help, the government said Friday it made a tax-reporting error that’s fouling up the filings of nearly a million Americans.
After a successful sign-up season, the latest goof could signal new problems with the complex links between President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul and the nation’s income tax system.
Officials said the government sent the wrong tax information to about 800,000 HealthCare.gov customers, and they’re asking those affected to delay filing their 2014 returns. The issue involves a new government form called a 1095-A, which is like a W-2 form for health care for people who got subsidized private coverage under Obama’s law.
People can find out whether they’re affected by logging in to their accounts at HealthCare.gov, where they should find a message indicating whether they were affected or not. They also can check by phoning the federal customer service center at 800-318-2596.
Separately, California announced earlier that it had sent out inaccurate tax forms affecting about 100,000 households. The state is not part of the federal market but runs its own insurance exchange.
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High-rise tower in Dubai’s Marina district catches fire, no reports of casualties
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) - One of the world’s tallest residential towers caught fire early Saturday in Dubai’s Marina district, sending bright yellow flames several stories high, but there were no reports of casualties, civil defense officials said.
The fire broke out at about 2 a.m. in the 86-story Torch tower on the northeastern end of the densely populated district, which is packed with multi-story skyscrapers. Debris from the fire cluttered nearby streets after the blaze appeared to be extinguished. High winds whipped through the area.
The civil defense officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there were no reports of deaths or injuries.
The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.
The Marina area is home to dozens of towering apartment blocks and hotels, many of them built over the past decade. The apartments are popular with Dubai’s large number of expatriate professionals.
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With a week to go before bailout ends, Greece and European creditors reached deal on extension
BRUSSELS (AP) - Following weeks of recrimination and distrust, Greece and its creditors in the 19-nation eurozone reached an agreement Friday on extending the country’s rescue loans, a move that should dramatically ease concerns it was heading for the euro exit as soon as next month.
The agreement, which looked a long way off Thursday when one German official compared Athens’ request for more time to the infamous Trojan Horse, will mean that Greece will avoid going bankrupt, at least over the four months of the extension. It should also mean that capital controls won’t be needed and that Greek banks will have enough money to stock up their ATMs.
To get the money though, the Greek government has one more hurdle to clear. On Monday, it has to present a series of unspecified economic reforms measures that are deemed acceptable by creditors and rooted in Greece’s previously enacted bailout agreement - something the government had promised not to do.
Still, the Greek government will be the author of the reforms pursued and that represents a change from the past five years when Greece has relied on rescue money to avoid going bankrupt and was effectively ordered to enact a series of austerity measures.
“We have established common ground again,” said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the eurozone’s top official, after the meeting in Brussels.
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Police: Suspect in Vegas road-rage killing told friends he fired over 22 shots
LAS VEGAS (AP) - The teenage neighbor arrested in what has been described as the road-rage slaying of a Las Vegas mother boasted about the shooting and told friends that he emptied several clips from his semi-automatic handgun during the gunbattle, according to a police report released Friday.
The documents depict a fierce shootout last week involving 19-year-old Erich Milton Nowsch Jr., victim Tammy Meyers and her 22-year-old son.
Police said Nowsch bragged of firing more than 22 shots at them that night - first, a few blocks from their home, then in the cul-de-sac outside their house.
According to investigators, Nowsch portrayed the Meyers family as the aggressors, saying he saw someone in their car waving a gun out the window at him.
“Got those kids. They were after me, and I got them,” he was quoted as telling friends.
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NJ’s Chris Christie aims to right ship amid ’16 jockeying at meeting of the nation’s governors
WASHINGTON (AP) - As the nation’s governors convened in Washington, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and his team worked quietly Friday to right a nascent presidential bid struggling to build momentum.
The often-outspoken governor has no public appearances planned at the weekend gathering of the National Governors Association. Instead, he arranged an aggressive schedule of private meetings aimed at boosting his positon among the major donors and Republican activists he’ll need to fuel a successful White House campaign.
Aides and Christie loyalists tried to project a sense of calm in the face of news that many longtime backers, both in New Jersey and across the country, are signing on with other likely candidates - most notably former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who has assembled a mammoth fundraising operation far earlier than many expected.
Christie’s team doesn’t expect to match Bush’s fundraising, but they’re confident they will have the money needed to compete in the race. They’ve also started to frame Christie as an underdog fighting against Bush, the son and brother of former presidents, and his family’s longstanding network of donors.
“This is a marathon, not a sprint,” said Ray Washburne, the finance chairman of Christie’s political action committee and the former finance chief at the Republican National Committee. “I didn’t leave the RNC thinking I was going to get on a dead horse.”
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Ferries freeze amid ’Siberian Express’ in eastern US, which returns next week
The deep freeze that broke records in hundreds of cities across the eastern half of the United States on Friday will last most of next week.
Another widespread round of ice, snow or freezing rain is set to start falling Saturday from Missouri to the mid-Atlantic and as far south as Alabama and Georgia.
“Higher amounts over the next two days will probably be across southern Indiana and Illinois and eastward through Ohio into western Pennsylvania,” said Bruce Sullivan, a senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “That’s where it looks like the jackpot will be.”
But even before the latest snowstorm, residents had to deal with school cancellations, power outages, road hazards and water main breaks from the punishing cold.
Here’s a look at the latest weather and the effect it is having around the country:
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Antarctica: Earth’s wildest, most desolate continent holds clues to mankind’s past and future
DECEPTION ISLAND, Antarctica (AP) - Earth’s past, present and future come together here on the northern peninsula of Antarctica, the wildest, most desolate and mysterious of its continents.
Clues to answering humanity’s most basic questions are locked in this continental freezer the size of the United States and half of Canada: Where did we come from? Are we alone in the universe? What’s the fate of our warming planet?
The first explorers set foot in Antarctica 194 years ago hunting 19th century riches of whale and seal oil and fur, turning tides red with blood. Since then, the fist-shaped continent has proven a treasure chest for scientists trying to determine everything from the creation of the cosmos to how high seas will rise with global warming.
“It’s a window out to the universe and in time,” said Kelly Falkner, polar program chief for the U.S. National Science Foundation.
For a dozen days in January, in the middle of the chilly Antarctic summer, The Associated Press followed scientists from different fields searching for alien-like creatures, hints of pollution trapped in ancient ice, leftovers from the Big Bang, biological quirks that potentially could lead to better medical treatments, and perhaps most of all, signs of unstoppable melting. The journey on a Chilean navy ship along the South Shetland islands and vulnerable Antarctic Peninsula, which juts off the continent like a broken pinky finger, logged 833 miles (1,340 kilometers) and allowing the AP team a firsthand look at part of this vital continent.
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A riddle wrapped up in an enigma: US museum showcases ’Imitation Game’ code-breaking machines
NATICK, Mass. (AP) - A little-known war museum outside Boston is drawing back the curtain on a key secret of “The Imitation Game,” giving visitors a rare chance to use the complex Nazi Enigma coding machines at the center of the Oscar-nominated film.
The Museum of World War II’s new exhibit “The Most Secret Top Secret: The German Enigma Code Machines” is billed as the largest public display of the encryption machines, which the Nazis used for nearly every level of military communication, from the mundane to the top secret.
Among the nine machines in the exhibit are two that visitors can use to encrypt and decrypt their own messages.
Museum founder and historian Kenneth Rendell says only the National Security Agency has more Enigma coding machines. The NSA owns more than 50 and loans them out to museums around the country.
“But this is the only collection where you actually can touch the machines and you can operate them,” he said Thursday from his museum 20 miles outside Boston. It’s regarded by many history buffs as one of the more comprehensive collections of World War II artifacts in the U.S.
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It’s on: Floyd Mayweather says he and Manny Pacquiao to meet May 2 in richest fight ever
LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Fight is finally on.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. will meet Manny Pacquiao on May 2 in a welterweight showdown that will be boxing’s richest fight ever. Mayweather himself announced the bout Friday after months of negotiations, posting a picture of the signed contract online.
“I promised the fans we would get this done and we did,” Mayweather said.
The long anticipated bout at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas will almost surely break every financial record, and make both boxers richer than ever. Mayweather could earn $120 million or more, while Pacquiao’s split of the purse will likely be around $80 million.
The fight, which matches boxing’s two biggest attractions of recent years, has been in the making for five years. It finally came together in recent months with both fighters putting aside past differences over various issues - including drug testing and television rights - to reach agreement.
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