New York prepares for redemption storm

New York’s mayor claims the city is ready to combat storm.

Michael Bloomberg, New York City Mayor has assured people after failing to help people x during blizzard that the administration would be prepared to tackle with any problems from now taking a lesson from their failure in post-Christmas storms.

It has been predicted however, by the National Weather Service that New York may experience 8-14 inches of snowfall along stormy winds with a speed around 25 miles per hour. Visibility would also be reduced. Therefore, the claims of the administration are not so far from being tested once again.

The Mayor admitted that the city lacked adequate equipment to clear roads and assist emergency needs of people in time but they would ensure this does not happen again.

He declared a “weather emergency” on Tuesday and advised people not to drive. drivers were given caution for parking their vehicles at proper places and it is hoped that no traffic jam will occur due to too many vehicles parked on the roads.

Schools are yet not opened till Wednesday.

Transportation, Parks, and Environmental Protection departments are assisting in clearing off snow from streets and roads. A new 15-point plan has been launched by the city administration to give quick response to people at the time of blizzard. GPS systems and Sanitation Department have also offered their services for emergency hours.

Congresswoman Giffords’ alleged shooter appears in federal court

Phoenix:  While Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is still on a path to recovery from the gunshot injury in Tucson, her shooting suspect, Jared Loughner, has made the first appearance in the court. Jared Loughner, 22, has already been facing five criminal charges that include murders also. Loughner appeared in court with shaved head and a scar marks on his right temple. It is said that he did not have a smooth relation with his family members.

Meanwhile, doctors have said that Gabrielle Giffords’ condition is still critical and not shown any big improvement since Sunday.

US President Barack Obama and other Congress leaders express condolence toward the victims and their families. The president has a schedule to attend a condolence ceremony in Tucson in Wednesday.

The people who are known to Loughner have revealed that for past few years he has had a bitter relations with family and friends; he grew into an extremely erratic personality due to some tragic experiences in life.

Loughner’s parents have not been available for their comments since their son was arrested on Saturday.

As per US voters’ registration details, Loughner decided to move out of his parents’ residence in 2008 and got an apartment for himself in northwest Tucson, but he was forced to go back to his parents as he had no sources of income at all.

US fails to negotiate over enhancing military ties with China

The U.S. Defense Chief Robert Gates agrees to his Chinese counterpart to enhance military cooperation between the two nations.  However, the two delegates remained stubborn over the issues of Taiwan and Chinese ammunition.

Gates and Chinese Defense Minister General Liang Guanglie stated that they are heading toward strengthening military cooperation but the two issues of conflict remained unresolved regarding Taiwan and China’s continuous efforts for modernizing military power.

Gates is on a three-day visit to China. He has also offered Guanglie to visit Washington and discuss nuclear posture, cyber warfare and missile defense.

The US could, however only convince the Chinese diplomat for a strategic dialogue with Chinese military leaders.

Robert Gates also aimed to get some deal over military ties in this visit and expressed this while talking in a joint press conference with Chinese defense minister Gates further stated that the two nations acknowledge the need to minimize misunderstandings between the two countries and establish strong cooperation ties.

However, the Chinese authorities seemed to be interested more in smoothening bilateral relations right now prior to Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Washington.

Liang made it obvious once again that China would never support US for providing weapons to Taiwan. US had recently sold arms worth $5.4 billion to Taiwan following which China showed its displeasure strongly and discontinued military cooperation.

WikiLeaks chief faults US for asking Twitter, Google to divulge information

U.S. administration is trying to pressurize social networking sites to reveal information about WikiLeaks. Under their investigation, the US officials have asked court to order Twitter for disclosing details about WikiLeaks chief –Julian Assange–as he has illegally disclosed government’s secret documents.

The US administration is trying to constitute a criminal case against Assange. Assange stated that the government might also force other social networks and websites as Facebook and Google to divulge information about him. All these sites are owned by American companies.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia has issued an order to Twitter Inc. to disclose all information about accounts related to Assange and his friends and colleagues exchanging messages on the website.

Pfc. Bradley Manning, an intelligence analyst is also under suspicion of providing important information to Twitter. The list of suspects includes parliamentarian Birgitta Jonsdottir, from Iceland and Rop Gonggrijp, WikiLeaks ex-collaborator; and Dutch hacker and Jacob Appelbaum, a U.S. programmer. The court has asked Twitter to give all information about these suspects.

The order was issued on Dec. 14 by Virginia District Court.

Assange severely criticized court’s order and stated that this was aimed to harass him. He has pledged to fight against violation of his right to privacy. He added that had it been Iranian government asking for somebody’s private information from social networks and websites, human right activists would have raised their voices against it, but everybody was silent over actions of the US administration to suppress him.

Obama pins hopes on economic advisors from Clinton’s team

US President chooses his new economic adviser, who had also served to the former president Bill Clinton.  Gene Sperling worked as a senior economic adviser in White House during Clinton’s rule.

Obama finished selecting his core economic team members on Friday and selected Gene Sperling as senior economic adviser.

Sperling will work as the director of Barack Obama’s National Economic Council, He has succeeded Lawrence Summers. Summers will resume teaching economics at Harvard.

Sperling has also assisted Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner as his counselor. Obama has retained many other members of Clinton era in his team. Ex- commerce secretary, William Daley, who also worked with Clinton, has been given a position in Obama’s West wing as the new White House chief of staff.

“Obama stated that Gene’s work during Clinton’s era was well acclaimed leading an economy suffering deficits to surpluses and thus he was the best choice for White House.

The president appreciated increase in employment as mentioned in Friday’s report by the government however added that unemployment was still high and needed more efforts to improve the situation. Jason Furman, who had served Clinton will remain in the National Economic Council and also get a higher rank this time as a deputy director.

Experts say Repeal of healthcare law would cost $230 billion to US

Repealing health care law will be the first objective of Republicans in the House. However experts are saying that the revoke will endanger financial security of more than 32 million people of the USA due to lack of insurance coverage for them.

This would also cause to a larger financial deficit with a raise of $230 billion for the American economy. People will be forced to pay for private health insurance after the cancellation of Obama’s health care law.

Though the opposition has already initiated the process of repeal, they would need a majority in the House. The Republicans have also pledged to minimize financial deficit by introducing a better bill that would replace the health care law.

The experts predict a new trend in the changing political scenario, where the Republicans will control  the House. for Democrats President Obama’s healthcare law is one of their landmark achievements that they will try to retain any how. But even if they succeed in retaining the law, the opposition will create obstacle in its funding.

According to the financial analysis made by CBO [Congressional Budget Office], the repeal of health care law will cost around $145 billion in the initial stage and will reach $230 billion approximately by 2021. Thus, not only it would raise the burden of taxes on Americans but would also hamper many other activities due to shift of funds.

Democrat Malloy joins as Connecticut’s 88th governor

Dan Malloy

Dan Malloy pledges to make Connecticut free from all financial crises. The 55 year old Democrat leader took oath on Wednesday as the 88th governor of the state.

Inauguration also included an inaugural ball followed by an afternoon parade, salute to the new governor with 19 guns and finally a flyover of aircraft.

Malloy has replaced Republican M. Jodi Rell, governing Connecticut for last 6 years. He  has been the mayor of Stamford and also worked as a prosecutor in New York City In his inaugural Malloy stress on fixing the fiscal crisis Connecticut is going through. He faulted lawmakers for aggravating the problems.

However, he did not mention what steps he plans to take to make up for the fiscal deficit of $3.5 as the plan will be disclosed in next month.

Malloy did not commit for not raising taxes even in the poll campaigns. This gives an edge to his political rivals. However he pointed out that there might be a balanced budget plan combining some tax hikes as well as cuts in services to minimize the deficit.

A senior leader from Republican Party– John McKinney– called Malloy’s plan to increase the taxes a wrong step. He stated that the new governor’s priority should be how to reduce the taxes and not raise them.

US navy dismisses official for anti-gay videos

US administration removes Capt. Owen Honors, from captain’s position in navy.  He has been found guilty of wrong judgment and unprofessional behavior. The incidence follows repeal of the law in US defense– ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’

Navy decided to remove captain of an aircraft carrier on the issue of  some videos giving anti-gay messages and slurs. The officials in military are yet not very acquainted with the freedom recently given to homosexuals to serve without hiding their sexual orientation.

Capt. Owen Honors’s showed crude of Norfolk, an aircraft carrier making derogatory remarks on gays. Captain Owen was in command of that ship 4 years back.

“An official from US military admitted that most of the security personnel were highly conservative and disclosure of homosexuality often leads to embarrassment and social stigma within their military units for gays.

Navy’s Fleet Forces Command’s chief, Adm. John Harvey, did not use the exact terms which were used in the video on the basis of which he dismissed Captain Honors.

Harvey further stated that Captain Honors’ failure to make proper judgment and conducting unprofessional behavior has spoiled his credibility to retain the prestigious post. He also added that further investigation was being carried to find out about other officials who were involved in the video episode or had been aware of it.

Opposition preparing to revoke Obama’s healthcare law

Republicans are preparing to repeal Obama’s health care bill by passing another bill opposite to it. However, Republicans are not likely to win. This will be the first session of Congress with Republicans in majority following their victory in midterm polls in November. The opposition wants to challenge Obama’s milestone work in his tenure—heath care law.

The House of Representatives under Republicans’ dominance is heading to repeal the health care law on January 12, stated the party spokesperson Dayspring and hoped it would pass through. He further added that the healthcare law denied jobs in small and large scale businesses therefore Republicans want to revoke it.  Despite Republicans’ majority, Democrats still control the Senate and they would never let the opposition repeal healthcare law.

Democrats warned John Boehner, the new would be speaker for House that canceling the healthcare law would not be good for the welfare of people as it reduces consumer benefits and they would try their best to retain the law.

The warning came in a letter sent to the incoming speaker by senior Democrat leaders. However, an opinion poll reflected confused voters over the issue. The repeal bill seems to be a focus of Republicans’ campaign in House for the incoming session of the Congress. The opposition will try to block funding of the healthcare law even if they fail in revoking it.

Obama signs on 9/11 Health and Compensation Bill from Hawaii

9/11 attack on world trade center, New York

President Barack Obama clears way for the 9/11 health bill with his signature to make it into law in Hawaii on January 2. The US President signed the bill while on vacation in Hawaii therefore no celebrations followed the signature. Obama issued a statement regarding the bill expressing his gladness for signing the bill and said that he felt ‘honored’

The bill includes compensation for the victims of attack on World Trade Centre on September 11, 2001.

The President paid gratitude toward security officials, firefighters and volunteers who took initiatives to save people’s lives. He added that the health bill aimed to help those victims who were physically affected by the pollution caused by the 9/11 attacks.

A copy of 9/11 health care bill was sent to Oahu island of Hawaii, where Obama is spending his vacation with family. He is staying there in a rented vacation home in Kailua, where the bill was signed.

Formally known as the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act also covers aid for the workers who cleared the debris of World trade center towers after the attack. The bill involves a package of $4.2 billion for providing compensation to victims and families of those who lost their lives in the attack. 9/11 remains worst terrorist attack on USA killing 2700 people in New York.