U.S. to stop using strike aircraft as fighting in Libya rages on

The use of U.S. strike aircraft in Libya is set to expire Monday as uncertainty lingers about whether Western allies will arm opposition members trying to oust Libyan ruler Moammar Gadhafi. Over the weekend, fierce destruction permeated the city of Misrata, which has been choked off by pro-Gadhafi forces surrounding the city. "We need a lot of help in Misrata. There's so much death there," said Mustafa Abdul Hamali, a 46-year-old taxi driver who lost half of a leg. "I was driving in my car with my wife, and my car just blew up. I don't know what happened." Khalid Moteridi, a 32-year-old businessman-turned-rebel fighter, said the situation in Libya's third-largest city has turned dire.

"It¹s a tragedy by all means," he said. "No electricity, no food, no water. We¹re trapped from all sides by the Gadhafi forces." A doctor in Misrata told CNN government forces shelled a clinic, leaving one dead and 15 injured on Sunday. Last week, a hospital official said 398 people have been killed since the Libyan conflict began last month. He feared there were more deaths that his hospital didn't know about. Some rebels from Misrata got a bit of a reprieve Sunday, when a Turkish hospital ship picked up more than 300 of the wounded fighters. Their injuries included amputated limbs, broken bones and shrapnel wounds.

6.7-magnitude quake strikes off Indonesia

Indonesia-Apr 4: Hundreds of residents fled an Indonesian port town for higher ground today when an earthquake struck south of Java with a magnitude estimated by US seismologists at 6.7. The epicentre in the Indian Ocean was 24 km miles deep, the US Geological Survey said, after initially estimating it at 10 km underground, and 277 kilometres south of the Javanese coast. Indonesian seismologists put the magnitude at 7.1 and issued a tsunami warning, saying the tremor had the potential to cause a killer wave and asking recipients of its public alert SMS to warn others of the danger. The warning was later cancelled. When the quake struck hundreds of residents in the seaport town of Cilacap fled inland and to higher ground by motorbike, car and on foot, an AFP reporter said. "They were all panicking and shouting ''quake, quake''," the reporter said. Suharjono, the technical head of Indonesia''s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, said shaking from the tremor had been felt in Pangandaran and Cilacap districts in Java. "This quake roused people from their sleep," he said. "We have not received any reports of damage or casualties so far." The US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre had said that there was no risk of a widespread destructive wave, but there was a "very small possibility of a local tsunami". The earthquake epicentre was 241 km from the remote Australian territory of Christmas Island, and seismologists said the tremor was felt there, but no tsunami warning alert was issued for Australia. "We had reports from there that they felt it," Geoscience Australia seismologist David Jepson told AFP, adding that it was described as a "moderate type quake".

Obama to Push Internet Privacy Bill

It looks like Senate Democrats and Republicans may finally have found something they can agree on -- limiting the data collection abilities of internet marketing firms.

The Obama administration, according to The Wall Street Journal, is expected to announce to Congress today an internet privacy bill that will force some data miners to make major changes. Sen. John McCain (R, Ariz.) was a critical opponent of net neutrality, but he was actually a sponsor of the draft of the privacy bill, along with a fellow Presidential runner-up, Sen. John Kerry (D, Mass.).
The bill looks to expand the powers of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, giving it the ability to enforce the new provisions. The proposal follows a December U.S. Department of Commerce report [PDF], which complained that Facebook, Google, and a host of smaller firms weren't up front with customers about what information they were collecting and sharing with advertisers.

Dubbed an online "Privacy Bill of Rights", the measure would prevent information from being used for any purpose other than collected, unless you give them permission. In other words, if you fill out a registration form for the website, they will no longer legally be able to sell that information to advertisers, unless they ask you if it's okay.

Five Republicans woo Iowa voters ahead of 2012 race

Five possible Republican White House hopefuls including Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty courted conservative voters on Monday in Iowa, the state that holds a critical early contest on the road to the party's 2012 presidential nomination.

Former House of Representatives Speaker Gingrich, former Minnesota Governor Pawlenty, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer and former Godfathers Pizza CEO Herman Cain took turns bashing President Barack Obama.

Republicans aim to deny Obama a second term as president.

The Iowa caucuses, an important early prize in the race for the Republican nomination, are scheduled for February 6, 2012. No leading Republican, including the five who appeared at the event in Iowa, has yet formally launched a candidacy.

Meanwhile, a top aide to real estate tycoon Donald Trump visited Iowa on Monday to gauge interest in the idea of a Trump bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

Trump, a billionaire and the celebrity star of NBC's "The Apprentice," has been flirting with a presidential run, speaking to a conference of conservatives in Washington last month. Many Republicans doubt he is serious.

Obama Tells Panel U.S. Recovery Harmed

President Barack Obama told the first meeting of his panel of outside economic advisers that the U.S. must deal with stubbornly high unemployment even as the recovery from the recession is well under way.

“The biggest challenge that we’re seeing right now is that unemployment is way too high,” Obama told the 23-member President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness yesterday. The advisory group, led by General Electric Co. chief executive officer Jeffrey Immelt, replaces the President’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, which was headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

In the month since he delivered his State of the Union address, Obama has sought to make the case that investments in education, infrastructure and innovation will help create more jobs. He reiterated that message yesterday, telling members of the panel, “We’re going to have to up our game in this newly competitive world.”

Obama told the group that he wants them to provide “some concrete deliverables” that will help lower the 9 percent unemployment rate.

Today the president is scheduled to meet at the White House with 14 Democratic governors -- including Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, Martin O’Malley of Maryland and Dan Malloy of Connecticut -- to discuss ways Washington can work with states to help spark job creation, according to a White House statement.

Protest and Counter-Protest of King's Muslim

Two groups of protesters met on Tuesday outside King's office, one to protest the hearings and the other to support them.

According to the Wall Street Journal, about 100 people showed up to represent each side. No arrests were made, but police intervened to set up barricades between the two groups after individual confrontations erupted into shouting matches.

King acknowledged the support shown him. "Al-Qaida is recruiting right under our radar screen," he said in an interview. "We are not going to cave to political correctness. There is a real threat to the country from the Muslim community and the only way to get to the bottom of it is to investigate what is happening."

Inna Arolovich of the American Association of Jews from the Former Soviet Union supports King and the hearings. "I believe that radical Islam is threatening each of us, including peaceful Muslims," she said. "It is a very real threat."

Dr. Shaik Ubaid of the Muslim Peace Coalition USA's New York chapter explained their concerns. "We are worried about the way the hearings are being conducted. It will demonize the Muslim community. He should work with the Muslim community who has been working with the FBI and others and get to the root cause of this."

Pax Christi also protested the hearings, as did several individuals, at least one of whose Muslim son Mohammad Salman Hamdani was an EMT who died during the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York.

"American Muslims also died," Hamdani's mother said. "We sacrificed for this nation, for our nation. We are fighting on the front also. We are contributing members of society. For anybody to accuse the American Muslims of collective guilt is not right. We were attacked by foreign terrorists, criminals without a nation, al-Qaida."

---

View this : Automotive parts

---

State of the Union, Barack Obama must turn words into action

President Barack Obama’s State of the Union

address Tuesday contained the usual laundry list of initiatives big and small — including many that require bipartisan cooperation for success.

But a POLITICO look at his wish list shows that, at best, he’ll probably be able to check off only a few of his agenda items, and Republicans are only part of the problem.

He put Democrats on the spot with an earmark ban, irked them by renewing his call for a freeze on discretionary spending and challenged them to limit medical malpractice lawsuits.

But heading toward his 2012 reelection, these are fights Obama seems willing — even eager — to have. He might not get everything he wants or even very much of it. But if Republicans balk, Democrats, led by the president, can call them out on it. If Democrats resist, Obama can create distance between himself and his less popular colleagues on the Hill.

POLITICO rates the odds of success for 10 key proposals. Items scoring zero have the least chance of happening. Those scoring 5 have the easiest track.

Five-year freeze on domestic spending

Idea: Obama proposed the cap as a “down payment toward reducing the deficit.”

Pro: The president claims the move would cut the deficit by more than $400 billion over the next decade, giving him a punchy talking point to show he is serious.

Con: It’s barely a dent. The deficit for this fiscal year alone is $1.5 trillion, congressional scorekeepers say.

Barack Obama's energy message failed

If President Barack Obama is going to sell Congress and the American public on energy legislation, he should forget the words “climate change,” Sen. Richard Lugar said Monday.

Lugar is preparing his own energy measure this year, and while he offered the Clean Economy Summit few specifics, the Indiana Republican said he will keep “social inertia” and marketing in mind – something he said Obama failed to do.

Obama’s energy message was eclipsed by cap-and-trade in the public mind, said Lugar. “The Obama administration’s focus on carbon reductions caused almost any energy security proposal to be viewed through the prism of climate change,” he said.

“The theological adherence to climate orthodoxy among some and absolutist denial by others left little room for serious debate on energy questions,” Lugar added.

Using feedback from the “practical energy plan” he introduced last summer aimed at reducing dependence on foreign oil, Lugar is passing his new energy bill around to newly-elected senators.

President Obama to get a little more personal

President Barack Obama is once again the big draw at this year’s House Democratic Caucus retreat, but instead of giving a big motivational speech to the crowd, he’s planning to get a little more personal this time around.

On Friday evening in Cambridge, Md., according to aides, the president will show up to work the room, glad-handing with Democrats individually and in small groups at the Hyatt Regency, signaling a more hands-on approach to House Democrats who are still getting used to life in the minority.

Obama’s move to give more personalized attention to Democrats is also a reflection of the new political realities. After moving Obama’s ambitious agenda for the past two years, many liberals feel stung now that the president has started to work more closely with Republicans.

Obama’s appearance before House Democrats is slated to be closed to the media. House Democrats also will hear from Vice President Joe Biden, in the only portion of the three-day retreat that is open to the media.

Battles on budget and healthcare loom for Obama

After a good end to a not-so-good year, President Barack Obama faces even tougher challenges in the months ahead as looming fights over spending and healthcare set the stage for a difficult 2012 re-election campaign.

When a new Congress convenes on Wednesday, Obama will be confronted for the first time by a Republican majority in the House of Representatives and a strengthened Republican minority in the Senate.

Whether he strikes deals with those newly powerful foes and continues the momentum built in December's "lame-duck" Congress or becomes mired in another bout of legislative gridlock could be a critical factor in Obama's prospects for a second term.

"The political climate is about to completely change for Obama, and how those budget and healthcare battles play out will really determine his status for the race in 2012," said Steven Schier, a political analyst at Carleton College in Minnesota.

A burst of accomplishment in Congress during the final days of December produced a tax deal with Republicans, repeal of the ban on gays serving openly in the military and ratification of a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia.