WASHINGTON (AP) – Fresh off a rollicking celebration in the shadow of Abraham Lincoln, President-elect Barack Obama is shaping the final day of his pre-presidential life around another giant figure, the Rev.,”Obama turns focus to King's legacy as nation's transfer of power draws near
WASHINGTON (AP) – Fresh off a rollicking celebration in the shadow of Abraham Lincoln, President-elect Barack Obama is shaping the final day of his pre-presidential life around another giant figure, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Obama is taking part in a community renovation project in the Washington area to honor King, the civil rights leader who was assassinated in 1968. Monday is the federal holiday commemorating the birthday of King, who advocated peaceful resistance and equality among all races. He blazed a trail for Obama, soon to be the nation's first black president.
The vice president-elect, Joe Biden, is also taking part in volunteer service on Monday. His wife, Jill, and Obama's wife, Michelle, are helping with a service project, too.
Transition aides declined to name the locations or details of the projects.
The run-up to Obama's inauguration on Tuesday has, like his election itself, been defined by enormous public enthusiasm, carefully choreographed events and a lofty spirit of unity. What awaits, as Obama often reminds the nation, is many months, if not years, of tough work.
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Israel to pull troops out of Gaza by time Obama is inaugurated if militants hold fire
JERUSALEM (AP) – Israel plans to pull all of its troops out of the Gaza Strip by the time President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated Tuesday, but only if Hamas militants hold their fire, Israeli officials said.
Thousands of troops have left Gaza since Israel declared Saturday its intention to unilaterally halt fire after a devastating, three-week Israeli onslaught. Gaza's Hamas rulers ceased fire 12 hours later. Large contingents of Israeli soldiers have kept close to the border, prepared to re-enter the territory if violence re-ignites.
A swift troop withdrawal would reduce the likelihood of clashes between militants and Israeli forces that could rupture the truce.
By getting its soldiers out before the Obama inauguration, Israel hopes to pave the way for a smooth beginning with the Obama administration and spare the incoming president the trouble of having to deal with a burning problem in Gaza from his first day, the Israeli officials said.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the plan.
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Recordings taken from US Airways plane reveals 'the sound of thumps,' backing up pilot's story
NEW YORK (AP) – The black boxes recovered from the US Airways jetliner that safely splashed down in the Hudson River last week captured thumping sounds, the sudden loss of engine power and the pilot's calm mayday request, evidence that seems to back up the crew's account of hitting a flock of birds shortly after take off.
The pilot, Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, credited with helping save the lives of all 155 people aboard, reports that the plane has hit birds and lost both engines shortly after investigators heard "the sound of thumps and a rapid decrease in engine sounds," National Transportation Safety Board member Kitty Higgins said.
Sullenberger then discussed alternate landings at New Jersey airports before deciding to attempt a river landing, she said. Ninety seconds before ditching the plane, he told passengers to "brace for impact" and informs controllers "they will be in the Hudson River," Higgins said.
The dispatches on the cockpit voice recorder were described as "a very calm, collected exercise," Robert Benzon, a veteran safety board investigator, said Sunday.
Said Higgins: "It was very matter of fact."
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Ukrainian PM heads to Moscow to oversee signing of deal ending natural gas cutoff to Europe
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) – The Ukrainian prime minister headed to Moscow on Monday as Russia and Ukraine prepared to sign a deal ending a contentious dispute that cut off Russian natural gas shipments to Europe for nearly two weeks.
Yulia Tymoshenko and her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin reached a preliminary agreement over the weekend to restore gas supplies to Europe and Ukraine.
Tymoshenko's office said a formal deal on the shipments will be signed Monday by Russia's gas monopoly Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz. Naftogaz says it will take up to one and a half days to pump gas to its western border once Russia restarts deliveries.
Russia stopped shipping gas to Ukraine for domestic use on Jan. 1 in a dispute over prices. It then halted all gas shipments to Europe via Ukraine on Jan. 7, alleging that Ukraine was siphoning off Europe-bound gas. Ukraine disputed this, claiming that Russia was not sending enough "technical gas" to push the rest further west.
The confrontation deeply shook Europeans' trust in both Russia and Ukraine as reliable energy suppliers and forced over 15 nations to scramble to find alternative sources of energy. The dispute was further complicated by geopolitical struggles over Ukraine's future and over lucrative export routes for the energy riches of the former Soviet Union.
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Britain announces plans for 2nd bank bailout, including protecting banks from toxic assets
LONDON (AP) – Britain revealed Monday a second bailout plan for its ailing banks, aimed at protecting them from bad assets in an effort to boost lending to the wider economy.
The government did not say how much the new plan would cost, but some experts warned it could strain public finances.
The new plan would require banks to identify their riskiest assets and would allow them to pay a fee to insure them with the government. By offering to insure bank loans, the government is exposing taxpayers to billions of pounds of potential losses.
But banks would have to enter legally binding agreements requiring them to lend more money to borrowers, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday.
He said the purpose was to spur lending that isn't happening now. "This is not help for the banks but help for businesses and families," Brown said.
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European markets jump as Britain announces 2nd bailout plan; Asian stocks gain modestly
BANGKOK (AP) – Most Asian stock markets rose modestly Monday as exporters got a boost from hopes a massive stimulus package will kick-start the U.S. economy but expectations of dire fourth quarter earnings kept a lid on gains. European bourses opened higher as Britain announced plans for a second bailout of banks.
With President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration on Tuesday, sentiment has been supported in recent days by hopes that the new U.S. administration will act boldly to revive the ailing American economy, a vital export market for Asia. An $825 billion stimulus package is making its way through the Congress.
Still, the optimism could quickly fade amid a litany of dismal earnings results, which could drag the Dow below 8,000 points, said Castor Pang, an analyst at Sun Hung Kai Financial in Hong Kong.
"Most investors fear the U.S. markets will continue to tumble. Once Obama's inauguration is out of the way, companies will release fourth quarter results and they are expected to be very poor," Pang said.
"The global economy is still continuing to slump," he said. "It would seem that there will be no sign of recovery in the first half of this year and that will keep sending markets south."
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Woman in northern China is country's 2nd bird flu death this year; child in critical condition
BEIJING (AP) – A woman in eastern China has died from the H5N1 strain of bird flu, the Health Ministry said, the second death from the virus this year as the country's biggest festive season approaches and contact with poultry increases.
The woman, whose surname was Zhang, lived in Jinan, the capital of Shandong province. She died Saturday, the ministry said on its Web site late Sunday. The notice did not say how Zhang, 27, who fell sick on Jan. 5, contracted the virus.
A man who answered the telephone at the Shandong health department refused to comment.
The fatality comes less than two weeks after a 19-year-old woman died from the H5N1 virus in a Beijing hospital after buying and cleaning ducks in a market in a neighboring province. It was the first death from bird flu since last February.
Also Monday, a 2-year-old girl was in critical condition in the northern province of Shanxi with bird flu. Ta Kung Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper backed by the mainland's communist authorities, reported that the girl's mother died recently of what doctors "highly suspected" was also bird flu. The paper did not give any other details, and Shanxi health officials refused to comment on the mother's death.
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Obamas and Bidens join huge crowd for star-studded concert at the Lincoln Memorial
WASHINGTON (AP) – Under the gaze of Abraham Lincoln's statue, Bruce Springsteen and a red-robed gospel choir kicked off a spirited preinaugural concert Sunday before tens of thousands on the National Mall.
The crowd erupted in cheers when Obama and his wife, Michelle, arrived, walking down the steps of the memorial, and kept applauding for the high-energy Springsteen act and the performances that followed.
There was no red carpet, but the event had the feel of a Hollywood awards ceremony, with stars taking the stage to praise, serenade, and even impersonate the next president.
Performers including Bono, Beyonce and James Taylor were on the bill.
A crowd expected to reach up to a half-million was stretched past the reflecting pool separating the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.
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