EARLY EDITION

Biden Predicts Democrats Will Retake The House
Vice President Biden on Friday predicted re-election for himself and President Obama, along with a regained majority for Democrats in the House of Representatives.
The vice president, addressing House Democratic lawmakers at their retreat in Maryland, said he saw victories for Democrats this fall after a campaign based on drawing stark contrasts with Republicans. "I really do think that we're going to win back the House," Biden said. "I think we will win based purely on the merits of our position." Biden also predicted victory for Obama this fall, too, telling lawmakers over their applause that he envisions this year's battle with Republicans concluding with him and the president, standing on the steps of the Capitol next year, being sworn into office for a second term. MSNBC
VOA VIEW:  Biden is delusional.

FDA Blocks Orange Juice Shipments From Canada
The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that it had detained orange juice shipments from Canada after they tested positive for low levels of a banned fungicide previously found in Brazilian juice. The FDA announced earlier this month that it would begin testing foreign orange juice shipments for the presence of the fungicide carbendazim before allowing them to enter the country. On Friday, the agency said that among 80 shipments from around the world it tested so far, six from Canada and five from Brazil had tested positive. The samples that have tested positive so far had carbendazim levels of between 10 and 52 parts per billion. The Environmental Protection Agency says carbendazim levels under 80 parts per billion do not raise safety concerns. CNN

House Republican Says ‘Three Is A Trend’ In Another Stimulus-Funded Green Company Bankruptcy
The third federally subsidized green energy company to declare bankruptcy seems to indicate a pattern, said Rep. Cliff Stearns, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations. “One bankruptcy may be a fluke, two could be coincidence, but three is a trend,” Stearns said in a written statement. “Our investigation continues, and we are working to ensure taxpayers never are never again stuck paying hundreds of millions of dollars because of the administration’s risky bets.” Ener1, which makes batteries for electric vehicles, announced Thursday it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company had been awarded a $118.5 million from the Energy Department through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, better known as the stimulus. CNS News

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Secret Service Probes Bullet-Ridden Obama Image On Facebook
The U.S. Secret Service is investigating the origins of a photo on an Arizona police officer's Facebook page that shows a group of armed youths posing in the desert with what appears to be a bullet-ridden image of President Barack Obama on a T-shirt. Max Milien, a Secret Service spokesman, said on Friday that the agency was looking into the picture taken of seven youths, four of them toting guns, that turned up on the Facebook page of Sergeant Pat Shearer of the Peoria, Arizona, police department. "Any time information is brought to our attention where an individual or a group of individuals expresses unusual direction of interest in one of our protectees, we conduct appropriate follow-up," said Milien. Reuters

Obama Asks All To Restore ‘American Promise’
President Obama on Friday called on all Americans to share in the responsibility of shoring up the country’s still wobbly economy, but denied his policies are pitting the wealthy against the middle class in a class war. Building on his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, Mr. Obama,  speaking to House Democrats gathered at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay Hotel for their annual strategy retreat, said “common purpose and common resolve” will ensure the United States is  the “greatest country, the largest economy and [has] the broadest middle class on earth.” “We do not succeed on our own, we all have to pull weight and to our own work,” he said. “America is not about handouts but we always understand we’re more successful when we do it together.” Washington Times
VOA VIEW: Obama is socialistic mad.

Unsold Goods Weigh On Future Economic Growth
The U.S. economy perked up late last year as hiring accelerated and factories ramped up production. Unfortunately, a lot of what those factories made is still sitting in warehouses and on store shelves. That doesn’t bode well for growth in the coming months. At first blush, the numbers posted by the Commerce Department for gross domestic product in the last three months of 2011 looked strong. Overall growth advanced by 2.8 percent on an annual basis, a little weaker than economists had expected based on a series of other positive economic reports. That was much better than the 1.8 percent pace in the third quarter and the best showing since the second quarter of 2010. But much of the fourth quarter growth came from businesses restocking inventories, which swelled by $56.0 billion, adding nearly 2 percentage points to GDP growth. The so-called ”final sales” number, which tracks how much was actually sold, rose a meager 0.8 percent. MSNBC

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Obama Administration Bolsters Homeowner Lifeline
The Obama administration on Friday expanded its main foreclosure prevention program and pushed to open it up to loans backed by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, a move that could meet resistance from their regulator. In a joint announcement, the Treasury and Housing and Urban Development departments proposed using money from the Home Affordable Modification Program to provide incentives for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to reduce loan principal. Government-controlled Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own or guarantee about half of all U.S. home loans, and their participation in principal reduction could greatly expand the reach of the $29.9 billion HAMP program. Reuters
VOA VIEW: Madness!

Rivals Hold Their Fire On Big Gingrich Funder
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s biggest financial backer, billionaire Las Vegas casino tycoon and staunch Israel promoter Sheldon Adelson, is proving a mixed blessing with GOP voters for his  favorite candidate, but to date Mr. Gingrich’s presidential rivals have studiously refrained from making the donor a campaign issue. Mr. Adelson, whose gambling empire extends from Las Vegas to Macau and Singapore, and his wife have pledge a combined $10 million so far to the “super PAC” Winning Our Future in support of Mr. Gingrich’s presidential campaign. But even as the new super PACs rewrite the rules for campaign financing this election cycle and candidates routinely call one another to task for “independent” attack ads, none of Mr. Gingrich’s rivals has to tried to play up his heavy reliance on a single donor and a donor whose business background and pet cause could cause problems for Mr. Gingrich with some Republican primary voters. Washington Times

Romney Snags Endorsement From Puerto Rico Gov. Luis Fortuno
Hoping to further ingratiate itself to Florida's Hispanic community, Mitt Romney's campaign announced Friday the endorsement of Puerto Rico's Governor Luis Fortuno. Puerto Rico has 23 delegates up for grabs in its March 18 caucuses -- 11 more than New Hampshire. An important issue to Puerto Rican voters is that of statehood, which will be voted on by the commonwealth later this year. Fortuno leads the pro-statehood New Progressive Party, and earlier today, Romney said he would lend his full support to Puerto Rico were they to vote in favor of seceding to the U.S. Should the referendum vote determine that Puerto Rico would like to become a state, Congress and the president would need to make final approval of such an addition. CBS

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Obama Tuition Proposal Would Have Only Tiny Impact On College Inflation
President Barack Obama said Friday he was “putting colleges on notice,” about rising tuition. However, the proposal would only touch a small part of federal aid to colleges. Obama touted the idea that colleges and universities that kept tuition low would get more federal dollars, while institutions that raised tuition would get less. This proposal covers Perkins loans for students and work study programs. Those campus-based aid programs constitute $3 billion out the total $142 billion in federal grants and loans the federal government distributed in 2011. Obama is proposing increasing this aid to $10 billion, but distributed differently. CNS News

Obama To House Dems: I "Have Your Back"
President Obama rallied House Democrats today telling them "I believe in you guys. You guys have had my back at some very tough times. I'm going to have your back as well and together we're going to move this country forward." The relationship between Mr. Obama and some House Democrats was strained for parts of last year as left-leaning Democrats urged the president to do more to help the poor and needy and some saw time the president spent negotiating with Republicans over deficit reduction and spending priorities as a waste of time. Mr. Obama, who spoke to Democrats for just over 20 minutes, said that Democrats should be ready to work with Republicans on making the tax code more fair for the middle class, investing in clean domestic energy and on education and job training programs. CBS

New Fed Task Force Subpoenas 11 In Mortgage Fraud Probe
A new federal and state task force was created today to investigate mortgage fraud that contributed to the 2008 financial crisis, and the panel immediately subpoenaed 11 financial institutions. Attorney General Eric Holder said the new unit would consist of 55 Justice Department lawyers and analysts and 10 FBI agents to work with state attorney general’s offices to investigate how mortgage backed securities were created, sold  and valued by financial institutions. The creattion of the unit was announced by President Obama in his State of the Union address on Tuesday. ABC

Mortgage Deal Draws Detractors From All Sides
A draft settlement between states and mortgage companies that would let the nation's biggest banks pay out billions to compensate for a raft of foreclosures has public interest groups across the political spectrum hopping mad over a deal they say was forged behind closed doors and is being strong-armed by the Obama administration.  The draft proposal, which was sent to state officials Monday for approval, is supposed to overhaul the mortgage industry and help homeowners. In it, the country's five largest mortgage lenders offer to pay out as much as $25 billion to cover new terms for homeowners driven out by foreclosure. But people who lost their homes are unlikely to get them back or see much financial benefit from the deal. Fox News

Romney’s Forceful Body Language Scores In Debate
The hands came out of the pockets. The gaze was intense. Mitt Romney leaned confidently into the lectern. Even with the sound turned off, Romney would have stolen Newt Gingrich's debate thunder with a surprisingly commanding and aggressive performance in the latest Florida faceoff, body language experts said Friday. To some, in fact, it was as if the two Republican presidential candidates had swapped roles, with Gingrich, the aggressor (and ultimate victor) in South Carolina, suddenly seeming the uncomfortable, squirmy candidate in Florida. It was a marked change for Romney, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, an expert in political communication at the University of Pennsylvania. "All his nonverbal cues suggested directness," she said. "The halting delivery was gone. He didn't hesitate before responding. The indecisiveness disappeared." Las Vegas Sun

Gold Up, Dollar Down
Gold prices rose modestly in New York Friday as the dollar fell against the euro and the yen. On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, gold gained $11.80 to reach $1,741.70 per troy ounce. Silver added 15 cents to hit $33.89 per ounce. The dollar index fell 0.71 percent to 78.84. The euro stumbled when Fitch Ratings downgraded credit scores for five eurozone countries, then came back to $1.322 from Thursday's $1.3109. Against the yen, the dollar fell to 76.84 yen from Thursday's 77.45 yen. The British pound rose to $1.5726 from $1.569. Against the Hong Kong dollar, the greenback was lower at 7.7544 from 7.7566. UPI News

Texans Pay Perry's Campaign Security Tab
Texans paid $800,000 for troopers traveling with Gov. Rick Perry to mainly out-of-state presidential campaign events from September to November, data indicated.  The Texas Department of Public Safety report said most of Perry's 48 destinations outside Texas were to Iowa to campaign before the Jan. 3 caucuses, New Hampshire to stump before its Jan. 10 primary, and South Carolina, where he announced he was suspending his campaign before last Saturday's primary, the Austin American-Statesman reported Thursday. The DPS report, for security reasons, did not reveal how many troopers went with Perry or his wife, Anita, when they traveled. UPI News

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Katrina Breach Sites Nominated For National Register Of Historic Places
A grassroots group is pushing to have the sites of two levee breaches during Hurricane Katrina placed on the National Register of Historic Places. The group's founder said Thursday that the mission is to change the belief that the storm caused the flooding in New Orleans after Katrina struck in 2005, killing hundreds across six states, with a majority of fatalities in Louisiana. "It was engineering failure," said Sandy Rosenthal, who also serves as the director of the group, Levees.org The two nominated sites, which caused most of the flooding in New Orleans, are the 17th Street Canal and the Industrial Canal near the Lower 9th Ward, which is owned by the corps. CNN

Newt Gingrich Takes A Backseat To Mitt Romney On The Florida Airwaves
Newt Gingrich is not just getting outspent by Mitt Romney and his allies on the Florida airwaves, he’s getting creamed. The Romney campaign and a super PAC supporting him is spending nearly quadruple the amount that Gingrich and the pro-Gingrich super PAC, Winning Our Future, has spent to air television and radio ads ahead of the state’s Jan. 31 primary. So far, Romney has bought $5.6 million worth of airtime and the pro-Romney super PAC, Restore Our Future, has shelled out a whopping $8.2 million, according to a Republican media buyer who is tracking ad spending in the state. ABC

Lehman Says It May Give Creditors $8.1- $10.7B
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEHMQ), which in 2008 filed the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history and has said it’s planning to start paying creditors from its cash holdings, may initially distribute $8.1 billion to $10.7 billion. This would be the first payment of about $56 billion in distributions that the company will make over the next few years, said Lehman, whose creditors range from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to individual bondholders. The Lehman parent company would contribute an estimated $3.3 billion to $4.8 billion, and Lehman’s special financing unit might pay out $4.8 billion to $5.9 billion, the defunct investment bank said in a court filing today. Bloomberg

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Military Plan To Delay Submarine, Engine Projects Could Hurt Connecticut Towns
The sweeping defense cuts outlined by Pentagon chief Leon Panetta will likely be felt all across the country, as the military moves to shrink the Army and push off several equipment purchases. But Connecticut companies could be particularly hard hit, as the Defense Department looks to postpone the ordering of submarines built along the state's southern coast, as well as fighter jets whose engines are made by an East Hartford-based aircraft company. Several members of the state's Connecticut delegation also expressed concern about a new round of base consolidation -- with an eye on the vital submarine base in New London. Fox News

Obama Expands Aid For Delinquent Homeowners
The Obama administration, seeking to help more homeowners lower their interest rates and shed mortgage debt, will relax the rules on a federal loan- modification program and triple its incentives to banks. The revised Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, would pay Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC) to forgive debt on homes that have lost value. The government-owned companies so far have refused to reduce principal, citing cost. That policy has limited HAMP’s reach because the two companies own or guarantee nearly half of U.S. home loans. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, had no immediate comment. Bloomberg

GOP Insiders Rise Up To Cut Gingrich Down To Size
Republican insiders are rising up to cut Newt Gingrich down to size, testament to the GOP establishment's fear that the mercurial candidate could lead the party to disaster this fall. The gathering criticisms are bitingly sharp, as if edged by a touch of panic, a remarkable development considering the target once was speaker of the House and will go down in history as leader of the Republicans' 1994 return to power in Congress. The intended beneficiary is Mitt Romney, a once-moderate Massachusetts governor whom many rank-and-file Republicans view with suspicion. Las Vegas Sun

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UN Urges Israel To Halt Demolition Of Palestinian Homes
United Nations humanitarian coordinator says Israel as "occupying Power" has responsibility to protect Palestinians in W. Bank; comments follow visit to Arab village Anata, where homes were recently destroyed.  By Reuters A senior United Nations official on Friday called upon Israel to immediately halt the demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank. “Israel, as the occupying Power, has a fundamental responsibility to protect the Palestinian civilian population under its control and to ensure their dignity and well-being,” said Maxwell Gaylard, the UN humanitarian coordinator in the Palestinian territories and Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process. The UN official's comments followed a visit to the Arab village of Anata, where he said he saw the ruins of seven Palestinian homes that were destroyed earlier in the week. Jerusalem Post

Barak Calls On World To Stop Iranian Nuclear Threat
Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Friday warned that nuclear weapons in the hands of the Iranian regime would lead to regional proliferation, the spread of terrorism and a threat to oil supplies from the Middle East, UK daily The Guardian reported. Speaking as part of a panel on Iran at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Barak told those assembled that "you can't conceive of a stable world order when Iran has nuclear weapons." Related: Dempsey: Strike against Iran would be 'premature''Iran could ban EU oil exports next week'Barak, appearing alongside Yukiya Amano, the chief of the UN's nuclear watchdog agency, stated that "Iran is prepared to defy and deceive the whole world to turn themselves into a nuclear power," according to The Guardian. Jerusalem Post

Syria Crisis: UN Security Council Mulls Assad Measures
The UN Security Council has met to consider a draft resolution against Syria's government. Activists and the Arab League urged the UN to take stronger action after an upsurge in violence this week in which dozens of people have died. The UK, France and Germany drafted a resolution with Arab states supporting the League's call for President Bashar al-Assad to hand power to a deputy. Russia, an ally of Mr Assad, has indicated it would not back the text. Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin told reporters after the meeting in New York that the draft resolution was unacceptable in parts, but Moscow was ready to engage in talks about it, according to Reuters news agency. Russia and China vetoed a previous draft resolution against Syria late last year. BBC

Philippines Seeks To Strengthen US Defence Ties
The Philippines has confirmed that it is discussing ways to "maximise" defence ties with the US amid territorial disputes in the region. In a statement, the foreign affairs secretary cited the need for more joint military exercises to protect national interests. The statement was in response to a Washington Post story alleging a possible return of US bases. Analysts say the move is an attempt to contain the influence of China. The Philippines accused China last year of intimidation in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, which is home to valuable shipping lanes and which may also hold deposits of fossil fuels. BBC

Twitter Users Threaten Boycott Over Censorship Accusation
"The Tweets must flow", Twitter declared a year ago, and quickly became an instrument of fast-moving revolution across the Arab world, coordinating mass protests in Egypt and sidestepping the state censorship in Syria. But, the microblogging site conceded that the tweets would not flow evenly in every country. The company was accused of censorship by many users and threatened with a one-day boycott on Saturday after announcing that it could remove tweets in certain countries which have "different ideas about the contours of freedom of expression". Twitter insisted that it would not use the gagging system in a blanket fashion, but would apply it on a case-by-case basis, as it happens when governments or organisations complain about individual tweets. Guardian

Hispanic Delegates Baffled By Newt Gingrich Plan To Liberate Cuba
 Newt Gingrich has promised to liberate Cuba one camera at a time. The Republican candidate sought to win over Latino voters in Miami on Friday with a scheme to flood the communist-ruled island with cellphone cameras so the population can film the authorities at work in order to discourage repression. The proposal was met with bafflement from some of the delegates Gingrich was addressing at the Hispanic Leadership Network. After condemning Barack Obama for his support of the Arab spring without pressing for political change in Cuba, Gingrich said that as president he would not negotiate with Havana but use the power of his office to intimidate Cuban officials into the fear of being held accountable for their actions after the communist regime falls. Guardian

Don't Legalise Gay Marriage, Archbishop Of York Dr John Sentamu Warns David Cameron
Marriage must remain a union between a man and a woman, says the Archbishop of York, and David Cameron will be acting like a “dictator” if he allows homosexual couples to wed. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Dr John Sentamu, the second most senior cleric in the Church of England, tells ministers they should not overrule the Bible and tradition by allowing same-sex marriage. The Government will open a consultation on the issue in March and the Prime Minister has indicated that he wants it to be a defining part of his premiership. But the Archbishop says it is not the role of the state to redefine marriage, threatening a new row between the Church and state just days after bishops in the House of Lords led a successful rebellion over plans to cap benefits. Telegraph

Drinking Eight Teas A Day 'Cuts Blood Pressure And Heart Disease'
Having a cup of tea has long been the preferred way for the English to relax. But now scientists have found tea really does lower the blood pressure and could prevent heart disease. Drinking eight cups of black leaf tea, such as Earl Grey or English Breakfast, a day “significantly” cuts blood pressure, researchers at the University of Western Australia found.  Volunteers with normal to high blood pressure were given three drinks a day containing 429 milligrams of the plant chemicals polyphenols – the equivalent of eight and a half teas a day. A second group were given a tea-flavoured placebo. Telegraph

UN Honours Memory Of Children Who Perished In The Holocaust
The United Nations today honoured the memory of the more than 1.5 million boys and girls who perished in the Holocaust, with top officials stressing the need to speak out against intolerance and to protect the lives and human rights of children around the world. “We will never know what these children might have contributed to our world. And among the survivors, many were too shattered to tell their stories. Today, we seek to give voice to those accounts,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a message for the seventh annual International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. UN News

Private Investment Critical To Achieve Universal Energy Access, Ban Tells Davos Forum
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today stressed the importance of private investment to ensure universal and sustainable energy access, as he called on business leaders gathered in Davos, Switzerland, to mobilize their resources and strengthen their partnerships with the public and non-governmental sectors to achieve this goal. “By providing sustainable energy for all, we can revitalize economic growth, protect the planet, protect the environment and spread the benefits of development more equitably. This can be called a triple win,” Mr. Ban said at a panel discussion on his Sustainable Energy for All initiative, held at the World Economic Forum. UN News

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