the idea has some basis

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Ah, science. Sure, it does plenty of amazing things for society: finding treatments for cancer, putting people in space. But along the way, scientists also discover some truly bizarre things about the way the world works. From DNA-devouring worms to M&M-crazed bees, here are some of the strangest science stories of the year.

Hold the sex, pass the DNA

Sure, birds do it, bees do it, but rotifer worms don't bother. Having sex is a key way for species to increase their genetic diversity and prevent the buildup of harmful genetic mutations. But an all-female worm called the bdelloid rotifer seems to have kept its kind alive for 80 million years without engaging in sex. Instead of cozying up to a fellow rotifer, the creature devours fungi and bacteria and incorporates some of that DNA into its own genetic code. The DNA meals may provide a healthy dose of antioxidants, the researchers propose.

Colorful honey

Hives of sugar-crazed bees in France are turning chocolate M&Ms into colorful honey. The bees got hooked on the candy because a biogas plant in the region processed waste from a local Mars Chocolate Factory. The bees collected the sugar in their storage stomachs and then transferred it to other bees in the colony. The artificial coloring in the candy dyed the honey striking shades of blue and green.

Mother-child brain meld

And you thought pregnancy hijacked the brain. New research revealed that fetal cells migrate to a woman's brain, where they can linger for decades. The scientists found traces of male sex chromosome DNA in the cadavers of women as old as 94. While scientists don't understand exactly what these cells do, some theorize they may help the woman's body repair tissue and may even play a role in Alzheimer's disease.

Living longer with a snip

File this under life-prolonging treatments few would want to try. Until 1894, some Koreans had their testicles removed in order to rise in a traditional court hierarchy and get invited to exclusive sleepover parties at the royal palace. The Korean eunuchs lived up to 20 years longer than their intact male counterparts. Though it's not clear exactly why this happened, the male sex hormone, testosterone, is known to suppress the immune system and worsen heart health. [Extending Life: 7 Ways to Live Past 100]

Fossil forests return

One unforeseen side effect of global warming: Ancient fossilized Arctic forests may come back to life, according to one study. With temperatures across the globe rising fast, these forests, which lived about 2.5 million years ago, may soon revive. The forests grew when the annual temperature was around freezing, or 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees C). The current average yearly temperature in the Arctic is 5 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 15 degrees C), but if the climate warms significantly, grandchildren of people living today may be able to visit newly revived Arctic forests.

Cockroach to the rescue

Cockroaches: They can go where no man can and are impervious to the most hostile conditions. Now scientists have turned those bugs into features by creating remote-controlled cyborg cockroaches that could scurry into disaster areas to look for survivors. Because they are so small, the remote-controlled roaches could skitter under rubble after an earthquake.

Bridge to nowhere

A giant bridge of dark matter, an elusive substance that can be sensed only by its gravitational pull, lies between two massive galaxy clusters about 2.7 billion light-years from Earth. The findings support the idea that galaxy clusters form where dark matter filaments cross. The Subaru telescope in Hawaii picked out evidence of the filament in 2001, but it wasn't until this year that physicists went back and discovered the mysterious bridge.

Maggots ID the dead

Just when you thought CSI couldn't get any stranger, it's now possible to identify human bodies from the maggots that eat them. Police in Mexico identified a body that was so badly burned there was no soft tissue left. The bugs harbored traces of human DNA in their intestinal tracts, allowing forensic scientists to identify the body as the remains of a girl who had been abducted several days before.

Baby crime fighters

What's the best way to fight crime? Put up adorable images of chubby little babies. At least, that's the strategy a few shopkeepers are turning to in Gravesend, a rough part of London that was heavily looted in riots last year. The hope is that would-be vandals will look at the innocent little faces and find that their looting, stealing hearts are turning to mush. While it may sound silly, the idea has some basis: Previous research showed baby faces activated loving, caring circuits in the brain.

New human species

Neanderthals and hobbits aren't the only species that may have coexisted with modern humans. Scientists in southwest China have discovered the bizarrely shaped skulls of a possible new human species called the Red Deer Cave People that existed until the end of the ice age, about 11,000 years ago. The odd skeletons had prominent jaws and jutting cheekbones, and middling-sized brains more commonly seen in human ancestors from hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+. 

Top 10 Mysteries of the First Humans The 10 Weirdest Animal Discoveries of 2012 The Sex Quiz: Myths, Taboos and Bizarre Facts Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

In addition

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The end game at hand, the White House and Senate leaders made a final stab at compromise Friday night to prevent middle-class tax increases from taking effect at the turn of the new year and possibly block sweeping spending cuts as well.

"I'm optimistic we may still be able to reach an agreement that can pass both houses in time," President Barack Obama said at the White House after meeting for more than an hour with top lawmakers from both houses.

Surprisingly, after weeks of postelection gridlock, Senate leaders sounded even more bullish.

The Republican leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, said he was "hopeful and optimistic" of a deal that could be presented to rank-and-file lawmakers as early as Sunday, a little more than 24 hours before the year-end deadline.

Said Majority Leader Harry Reid: "I'm going to do everything I can" to prevent the tax increases and spending cuts that threaten to send the economy into recession. He cautioned, "Whatever we come up with is going to be imperfect."

House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican who has struggled recently with anti-tax rebels inside his own party, said through an aide he would await the results of the talks between the Senate and White House.

Under a timetable sketched by congressional aides, any agreement would first go to the Senate for a vote. The House would then be asked to assent, possibly as late as Jan. 2, the final full day before a new Congress takes office.

Officials said there was a general understanding that any agreement would block scheduled income tax increases for middle class earners while letting rates rise at upper income levels.

Democrats said Obama was sticking to his campaign call for increases above $250,000 in annual income, even though in recent negotiations he said he could accept $400,000.

The two sides also confronted a divide over estate taxes.

Obama favors a higher tax than is currently in effect, but one senior Republican, Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, said he's "totally dead set" against it. Speaking of fellow GOP lawmakers, he said they harbor more opposition to an increase in the estate tax than to letting taxes on income and investments rise at upper levels.

Also likely to be included in the negotiations are taxes on dividends and capital gains, both of which are scheduled to rise with the new year. Also the alternative minimum tax, which, if left unchanged, could hit an estimated 28 million households for the first time with an average increase of more than $3,000.

In addition, Obama and Democrats want to prevent the expiration of unemployment benefits for about 2 million long-term jobless men and women, and there is widespread sentiment in both parties to shelter doctors from a 27 percent cut in Medicare fees.

The White House has shown increased concern about a possible doubling of milk prices if a farm bill is not passed in the next few days, although it is not clear whether that issue, too, might be included in the talks.

One Republican who was briefed on the White House meeting said Boehner made it clear he would leave in place spending cuts scheduled to take effect unless alternative savings were included in any compromise to offset them. If he prevails, that would defer politically difficult decisions on curtailing government benefit programs like Medicare until 2013.

Success was far from guaranteed in an atmosphere of political mistrust — even on a slimmed-down deal that postponed hard decisions about spending cuts into 2013 — in a Capitol where lawmakers grumbled about the likelihood of spending the new year holiday working.

In a brief appearance in the White House briefing room, Obama referred to "dysfunction in Washington," and said the American public is "not going to have any patience for a politically self-inflicted wound to our economy. Not right now."

If there is no compromise, he said he expects Reid to put legislation on the floor to prevent tax increases on the middle class and extend unemployment benefits — an implicit challenge to Republicans to dare to vote against what polls show is popular.

The president also booked a highly unusual appearance on Meet the Press for Sunday, yet another indication of his determination to retain the political high ground that came with his re-election.

The guest list for the White House meeting included Reid, McConnell, Boehner and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

The same group last met more than a month ago and emerged expressing optimism they could strike a deal that avoided the fiscal cliff. At that point, Boehner had already said he was willing to let tax revenues rise as part of an agreement, and the president and his Democratic allies said they were ready to accept spending cuts.

Since then, though, talks between Obama and Boehner faltered, the speaker struggled to control his rebellious rank and file, and Reid and McConnell sparred almost daily in speeches on the Senate floor. Through it all, Wall Street has paid close attention, and the meeting was still going on at the White House when stocks closed lower for the fifth day in a row.

The core issue is the same as it has been for more than a year, Obama's demand for tax rates to rise on upper incomes while remaining at current levels for most Americans. He made the proposal central to his successful campaign for re-election, when he said incomes above $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples should rise to 39.6 percent from the current 35 percent.

Boehner refused for weeks to accept any rate increases, and simultaneously accused Obama of skimping on the spending cuts he would support as part of a balanced deal to reduce deficits, remove the threat of spending cuts and prevent the across-the-board tax cuts.

Last week, the Ohio Republican pivoted and presented a Plan B measure that would have let rates rise on million-dollar earners. That was well above Obama's latest offer, which called for a $400,000 threshold, but more than the speaker's rank and file were willing to accept.

Facing defeat, Boehner scrapped plans for a vote, leaving the economy on track for the cliff that political leaders in both parties had said they could avoid. In the aftermath, Democrats said they doubted any compromise was possible until Boehner has been elected to a second term as speaker when the new Congress convenes on Jan. 3.

Further compounding the year-end maneuvering, there are warnings that the price of milk could virtually double beginning next year.

Congressional officials said that under current law, the federal government is obligated to maintain prices so that fluid milk sells for about $20 per hundredweight. If the law lapses, the Department of Agriculture would be required to maintain a price closer to $36 of $38 per hundredweight, they said. It is unclear when price increases might be felt by consumers.

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Associated Press writers Alan Fram and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.

not just military weapons.

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UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The leading U.S. pro-gun group, the National Rifle Association, has vowed to fight a draft international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global arms trade and dismissed suggestions that a recent U.S. school shooting bolstered the case for such a pact.

The U.N. General Assembly voted on Monday to restart negotiations in mid-March on the first international treaty to regulate conventional arms trade after a drafting conference in July collapsed because the U.S. and other nations wanted more time. Washington supported Monday's U.N. vote.

U.S. President Barack Obama has come under intense pressure to tighten domestic gun control laws after the December 14 shooting massacre of 20 children and six educators at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. His administration has since reiterated its support for a global arms treaty that does not curtail U.S. citizens' rights to own weapons.

Arms control campaigners say one person every minute dies as a result of armed violence and a convention is needed to prevent illicitly traded guns from pouring into conflict zones and fueling wars and atrocities.

In an interview with Reuters, NRA President David Keene said the Newtown massacre has not changed the powerful U.S. gun lobby's position on the treaty. He also made clear that the Obama administration would have a fight on its hands if it brought the treaty to the U.S. Senate for ratification.

"We're as opposed to it today as we were when it first appeared," he said on Thursday. "We do not see anything in terms of the language and the preamble as being any kind of guarantee of the American people's rights under the Second Amendment."

The Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects the right to bear arms. Keene said the pact could require the U.S. government to enact legislation to implement it, which the NRA fears could lead to tighter restrictions on gun ownership.

He added that such a treaty was unlikely to win the two-thirds majority in the U.S. Senate necessary for approval.

"This treaty is as problematic today in terms of ratification in the Senate as it was six months ago or a year ago," Keene said. Earlier this year a majority of senators wrote to Obama urging him to oppose the treaty.

U.N. delegates and gun-control activists say the July treaty negotiations fell apart largely because Obama, fearing attacks from Republican rival Mitt Romney before the November 6 election if his administration was seen as supporting the pact, sought to kick the issue past the U.S. vote.

U.S. officials have denied those allegation.

The NRA claimed credit for the July failure, calling it at the time "a big victory for American gun owners."

NRA IS 'TELLING LIES'

The main reason the arms trade talks are taking place at all is that the United States - the world's biggest arms trader, which accounts for more than 40 percent of global transfers in conventional arms - reversed U.S. policy on the issue after Obama was first elected and decided in 2009 to support a treaty.

Supporters of the treaty accuse the NRA of deceiving the American public about the pact, which they say will have no impact on U.S. domestic gun ownership and would apply only to exports. Last week, Amnesty International launched a campaign to counter what it said were NRA distortions about the treaty.

"The NRA is telling lies about the arms treaty to try to block U.S. government support," Michelle Ringuette of Amnesty International USA said about the campaign. "The NRA's leadership must stop interfering in U.S. foreign policy on behalf of the arms industry."

Jeff Abramson of Control Arms said that as March approaches, "the NRA is going to be challenged in ways it never has before and that can affect the way things go" with the U.S. government.

The draft treaty under discussion specifically excludes arms-related "matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any State."

Among its key provisions is a requirement that governments make compliance with human rights norms a condition for foreign arms sales. It would also have states ban arms transfers when there is reason to believe weapons or ammunition might be diverted to problematic recipients or end up on illicit markets.

Keene said the biggest problem with the treaty is that it regulates civilian arms, not just military weapons.

According to the Small Arms Survey, roughly 650 million of the 875 million weapons in the world are in the hands of civilians. That, arms control advocates say, is why any arms trade treaty must regulate both military and civilian weapons.

Keene said the NRA would actively participate in the fight against the arms trade treaty in the run-up to the March negotiations. "We will be involved," he warned, adding that it was not clear if the NRA would address U.N. delegates directly as the group did in July.

The NRA has successfully lobbied members of Congress to stop major new gun restrictions in the United States since the 1994 assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004. It also gives financial backing to pro-gun candidates.

EXPLOSIVE ISSUE

European and other U.N. delegates who support the arms trade treaty told Reuters on condition of anonymity they hoped Newtown would boost support for the convention in the United States, where gun control is an explosive political issue.

"Newtown has opened the debate within the United States on weapons controls in ways that it has not been opened in the past," Abramson said, adding that "the conversation within the U.S. will give the (Obama) administration more leeway."

Keene rejected the idea of bringing the Newtown tragedy into the discussion of an arms trade treaty.

"I find it interesting that some of the folks that advocate the treaty say it would have no impact whatever within the United States but that it needs to be passed to prevent another occurrence of a school shooting such as took place in Newtown," he said. "Both of those positions can't be correct."

Obama administration officials have tried to explain to U.S. opponents of the arms trade pact that the treaty under discussion would not affect domestic gun sales and ownership.

"Our objectives for the ATT (arms trade treaty) have not changed," a U.S. official told Reuters. "We seek a treaty that fights illicit arms trafficking and proliferation, protects the sovereign right of states to conduct legitimate arms trade, and meets the concerns that we have articulated throughout."

"In particular, we will not accept any treaty that infringes on the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens to bear arms," the official added.

Supporters of the treaty also worry that major arms producers like Russia, China, Iran, India, Pakistan and others could seek to render the treaty toothless by including loopholes and making key provisions voluntary, rather than mandatory.

The United States, like all other U.N. member states, can effectively veto the treaty since the negotiations will be conducted on the basis of consensus. That means the treaty must receive unanimous support in order to be approved in March.

But if it fails in March, U.N. delegations can put it to a vote in the 193-nation General Assembly, where diplomats say it would likely secure the required two-thirds majority.

(Editing by Todd Eastham)

House Speaker John Boehner

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WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama was holding a last-chance meeting with Congressional leaders Friday to discuss how to avoid austerity measures that kick in next week and threaten to spin the country back into recession. Grumbling senators, called back to Washington, found themselves little to do, while the House of Representatives wasn't convening until Sunday evening.

There was no sign that a deal would be reached in time to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff" of tax increases for nearly every American and deep spending cuts across the board.

Obama's meeting with Congressional leaders would be the first since Nov. 16. The president, who had cut short his Hawaiian holiday to return to Washington, called for the meeting as top lawmakers blamed each other while claiming to be open to a reasonable last-minute bargain.

"I don't know timewise how it can happen now," a grumpy Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said.

Despite early talk of a grand bargain between Obama and the top Republican negotiator, House Speaker John Boehner, that would reduce government deficits by more than $2 trillion, expectations Friday were far less ambitious.

Both the White House and Congress are in this situation because of their inability, or unwillingness, in recent years to come to terms with the country's chronic deficit spending. A bitterly divided Congress hasn't helped.

Adding pressure is this week's warning from Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner that the government would hit its $16.4 trillion borrowing limit on Monday, the final day of the year. That would make it harder for the U.S. to pay its bills.

Republicans and Democrats said privately that any agreement would likely include an extension of middle-class tax cuts that had been set to expire at the end of the year, with increased tax rates at upper incomes —a priority that was central to Obama's re-election campaign.

The deal also would likely put off the scheduled spending cuts and extend expiring unemployment benefits, officials said.

Some in Congress say this only delays the tough decisions.

"We'll do some small deal and we'll create another fiscal cliff to deal with the fiscal cliff," Sen. Bob Corker told CBS on Friday. Corker said there has been "a total lack of courage, lack of leadership" in Washington.

Even to reach a lesser deal now, Obama and Reid would have to propose a package that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell would agree not to block.

McConnell on Thursday warned, "Republicans aren't about to write a blank check for anything the Democrats put forward just because we find ourselves at the edge of the cliff."

Nevertheless, he said he told Obama in a phone call late Wednesday that "we're all happy to look at whatever he proposes."

If a deal were to pass the Democratic-controlled Senate, Boehner would have to agree to take it to the floor in the Republican-controlled House.

Boehner discussed the fiscal cliff with Republican members in a conference call Thursday. Rep. Tom Cole, an ally of the speaker, did not rule out Republican support for some increase in tax rates — which Republicans usually don't like.

Boehner, McConnell, Reid and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi are all scheduled to attend Friday's White House meeting.

If a deal is not possible, it should become evident then. If that occurs, Obama and the leaders would leave the resolution to the next Congress to address in January.

Such a delay could unnerve the stock market, which performed erratically Thursday amid the developments in Washington. Economists say that if the tax increases are allowed to hit most Americans and if the spending cuts aren't scaled back, the recovering but fragile economy could sustain a shock.

But a sentiment is taking hold that Congress could weather the fiscal cliff without significant economic consequences if it acts decisively next month.

The debate over spending cuts, however, would have to start anew.

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Associated Press writers Alan Fram, Jim Kunnhehn, Charles Babington and David Espo contributed to this report.

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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The death of a man who was shoved in front of an oncoming New York City subway train spurred a police hunt on Friday for the woman seen pushing him, as the second such violent death this month left its imprint on the city's millions of subway riders.

The victim was shoved onto the tracks by a woman, described as heavy-set and Hispanic, who approached him from behind on the platform of an elevated station in the borough of Queens on Thursday evening, New York Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne said in a statement.

The victim was pinned under the first car of an 11-car train. Police said they had yet to identify him due to the extent of his injuries.

The woman fled the scene of the chilling incident. Police released a copy of surveillance video showing her running down a street.

Witnesses said the woman appeared to be in her 20s, had been pacing back and forth on the platform and was talking to herself before the train arrived, according to police. It was unclear whether she knew the victim.

It was the second time in the past month that a New York subway rider was pushed to his death in front of a train and came just ahead of the New Year's holiday in a city choked with visitors.

On December 3, Ki-Suck Han was killed after being shoved onto subway tracks in Manhattan as a train entered the 49th Street station near Times Square. A suspect, Naeem Davis, has been charged with second-degree murder.

In 2011, 146 people were struck by New York subway trains, 47 of them fatally, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Such incidents have prompted subway riders to take precautions while waiting for trains. Commuter Chloe Morris, traveling from New Jersey, said she prefers to sit on a bench rather than stand on a station platform.

"I don't come close to the edge until a train comes," Morris said as she waited in the Times Square station, away from the tracks. "There's too many crazy people in the world."

Installing safety doors along subway platforms that block access to the tracks, which are in use in several major cities around the world, would help, said New Yorker Tom Walker as he waited for a subway on Friday.

New York's subway system, which is more than 100 years old and is one of the world's busiest, does not have barriers between the platforms and the tracks.

"It's an antiquated system. Of course people are going to fall in," Walker said.

(Additional reporting by Ian Simpson; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst, Jeffrey Benkoe and Leslie Adler)

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MERIDEN, Connecticut (Reuters) - A $100 million claim on behalf of a 6-year-old survivor is the first legal action to come out of the Connecticut school shooting that left 26 children and adults dead two weeks ago.

The unidentified client, referred to as Jill Doe, heard "cursing, screaming, and shooting" over the school intercom when the gunman, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, opened fire, according to the claim filed by New Haven-based attorney Irv Pinsky.

"As a consequence, the ... child has sustained emotional and psychological trauma and injury, the nature and extent of which are yet to be determined," the claim said.

Pinsky said he filed a claim on Thursday with state Claims Commissioner J. Paul Vance Jr., whose office must give permission before a lawsuit can be filed against the state.

"We all know its going to happen again," Pinsky said on Friday. "Society has to take action."

Twenty children and six adults were shot dead on December 14 at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. The children were all 6 and 7 years old.

Pinsky's claim said that the state Board of Education, Department of Education and Education Commissioner had failed to take appropriate steps to protect children from "foreseeable harm."

It said they had failed to provide a "safe school setting" or design "an effective student safety emergency response plan and protocol."

Pinsky said he was approached by the child's parents within a week of the shooting.

The shooting, which also left the gunman dead, has prompted extensive debate about gun control and the suggestion by the National Rifle Association that schools be patrolled by armed guards. Police have said the gunman killed his mother at their home in Newtown before going to the school.

(Reporting by Mary Ellen Godin Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst)

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NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women in California and Texas have varying access to "getting their tubes tied" immediately after giving birth, according to a new study, but the reasons are still unclear researchers say.

Analyzing the records of nearly 890,000 mothers across 499 hospitals in both states, they found that more women in Texas got the voluntary sterilization procedure after delivery in 2009 than did women in California.

But the differences were not clearly linked to obvious factors - such as cost or religiously affiliated hospitals that refuse to do the surgery. Further, sterilization rates ranged from zero to 15 percent in California hospitals and between zero and 30 percent in Texas hospitals.

"This huge variation we're seeing both between the two states and within facilities raises a red flag," said study author Dr. Daniel Grossman, senior associate at Ibis Reproductive Health. "Our paper raises more questions than it answers," he told Reuters Health.

Differences in federal funding could explain some of the discrepancies. Federal funds through Title X and Medicaid programs reach more women in California than Texas, Grossman said.

In his team's report, published in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, the researchers suggest that Texas women have fewer low-cost family planning options, which may act as an incentive to get their tubes tied for contraceptive purposes.

Conversely, the more generous family planning funding in California might mean that women have access to low-cost options beyond sterilization after delivery.

Nonetheless, surgical sterilization remains very popular in the U.S. and nearly a third of women with children use it for family planning purposes, according to some estimates.

A 2011 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for example, found that tubal sterilization was performed following every one in 13 births in the U.S. between 2001 and 2008, while insertion of a contraceptive IUD was done after one in every 37,000 births. (See Reuters Health story of August 26, 2011.)

In the new study, Grossman and his colleagues found that in California, one in every 15 women had her tubes tied after delivery, compared with Texas where one in 10 women was sterilized after delivery.

They looked at several factors that might explain the variation in rates, but none stood out as a clear cause. Variation was similar among private versus publicly insured patients and among mothers who delivered by cesarean section - a procedure that might make it easier to have elective sterilization right after delivery.

The age of the mothers also did not explain the disparities. The data did not include the number of previous children the women had.

Differences in accessibility might arise from several other sources, the researchers suggested. Catholic hospitals ban sterilization, but non-Catholic hospitals could also have policies that limit tube tying.

"It doesn't matter if it's at an institutional level or a state level, it's always the least mobile, the poorest (women) who don't have the choice," said Dr. Cori Baill, a physician at The Menopause Center in Orlando, who has counseled mothers in family planning issues.

Baill, who was not involved in the current study, said poor women who lack prenatal care will not have sterilization as an option since Medicaid requires expectant mothers to sign consent forms 30 days before delivery. "It's ridiculous that Medicaid rule still exists," Baill told Reuters Health.

Night and weekend staffing could also affect the variation in tube tying since doctors may not be around to perform the elective surgery, Baill added.

Though the current study did not examine how many mothers requested their tubes tied after delivery, Grossman and colleagues are examining the demand for sterilization in an ongoing pilot study in El Paso, Texas.

"Women across the country should be able to access the form of contraception that they want," Grossman said. "We need more information to determine what accounts for this variability."

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/Uqx8hQ Obstetrics & Gynecology, online December 20, 2012.

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Friday urged dock workers, port owners and shippers to resolve a labor dispute that threatens to deteriorate into a strike that could affect 15 ports on the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

"Federal mediators are assisting with the negotiations, and we continue to monitor the situation closely and urge the parties to continue their work at the negotiating table to get a deal done as quickly as possible," White House spokesman Matt Lehrich said.

Dock workers, port operators and shippers face a deadline on Saturday for resolving the dispute.

The International Longshoremen's Association, the union representing the dock workers, and the U.S. Maritime Alliance, a group of shippers and port operators, are deadlocked over an employment contract that expired at the end of September but has been extended. The union has said that if the contract expires without a resolution, it could call a strike a day later.

The White House had no comment on whether the president would consider invoking federal law to impose a cooling off period. Florida Governor Rick Scott, a Republican, asked President Obama to invoke the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, which allows the president to prevent or interrupt a work stoppage.

The law calls for an 80-day cooling off period and mediation.

(Reporting By Mark Felsenthal and Roberta Rampton; Editing by Vicki Allen)

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WASHINGTON (AP) — An animal rights group will pay Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus $9.3 million to settle a lawsuit the circus filed after courts found that activists paid a former circus worker for his help in claiming the circus abused elephants.

The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said Friday it was not admitting any wrongdoing in settling the lawsuit. The New York-based animal rights group was one of several involved in a lawsuit filed in 2000 against the circus' owner, Feld Entertainment Inc., claiming elephants were abused. Courts later found that the animal rights activists had paid a former Ringling barn helper involved in the lawsuit at least $190,000, making him "essentially a paid plaintiff" who lacked credibility.

Two courts agreed the former barn helper, Tom Rider, wasn't credible and didn't have a right to sue. As a result, they didn't address claims the circus violated the federal Endangered Species Act by allegedly chaining the elephants for long periods and allowing trainers to use sharp tools called bullhooks.

The Vienna, Va.-based Feld Entertainment Inc. sued the animal rights groups and Rider in 2007, accusing them of conspiring to harm the company's business and other illegal acts. The lawsuit claims the groups were working together with the goal of permanently banning Asian elephants from circuses.

Friday's settlement covers only the ASPCA. Twelve other defendants including The Humane Society of the United States, the Animal Welfare Institute and The Fund for Animals are still involved in the lawsuit.

The ASPCA said in a statement that "this litigation has stopped being about the elephants a long time ago" and that officials decided it was in the group's best interest to resolve the lawsuit after more than a decade.

The chairman of Feld Entertainment, Kenneth Feld, said in a statement that the settlement was a vindication for the company and its employees.

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Follow Jessica Gresko at http://twitter.com/jessicagresko

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CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago police say it's too soon to say whether the city has had its 500th homicide of the year.

The Chicago Police Department homicide tally stood at 499 on Thursday before a man was fatally shot in the head outside a convenience store on the city's West Side. That would have made 40-year-old Nathaniel Jackson the 500th homicide victim.

But police clarified Friday afternoon that the department's official homicide tally still stands at 499 because a death in a domestic dispute earlier in December has been classified by the coroner's office as inconclusive pending toxicology tests. It was originally logged as a homicide.

The last time Chicago reached the 500-homicide mark was in 2008, when the year ended with 512 killings. Last year, city records show Chicago had 435 homicides.

Subdued mood on the last holiday shopping weekend

Subdued mood on the last holiday shopping weekend
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In this Thursday, Dec. 20, 2012…

ATLANTA (AP) — Christmas shoppers thronged malls and pounced on discounts but apparently spent less this year, their spirits dampened by concerns about the economy and the aftermath of shootings and storms.

Talk about more than just the usual job worries to cloud the mood: Confidence among U.S. consumers dipped to its lowest point in December since July amid rising economic worries, according to a monthly index released Friday.

Marshal Cohen, chief research analyst at NPD Inc., a market research firm with a network of analysts at shopping centers nationwide, estimates customer traffic over the weekend was in line with the same time a year ago, but that shoppers seem to be spending less.

"There was this absence of joy for the holiday," Cohen said. "There was no Christmas spirit. There have been just too many distractions."

Shoppers are increasingly worried about the "fiscal cliff" deadline — the possibility that a stalemate between Congress and the White House over the U.S. budget could trigger a series of tax increases and spending cuts starting Jan. 1

The recent Newtown, Conn., school shooting also dampened shoppers' spirits atop the fall's retail woes after Superstorm Sandy's passage up the East Coast.

The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, which account for 24 percent of retail sales nationwide, were tripped up by Sandy when the enormous storm clobbered the region in late October, disrupting businesses and households for weeks.

All that spelled glum news for retailers, which can make up to 40 percent of annual sales during November and December. They were counting on the last weekend before Christmas to make up for lost dollars earlier in the season.

The Saturday before Christmas was expected to be the second biggest sales day behind the Friday after Thanksgiving.

After a strong Black Friday weekend, the four-day weekend that starts on Thanksgiving, when sales rose 2.7 percent, the lull that usually follows has been even more pronounced. Sales fell 4.3 percent for the week ended Dec. 15, according to the latest figures from ShopperTrak, which counts foot traffic and its own proprietary sales numbers from 40,000 retail outlets across the country. On Wednesday, ShopperTrak cut its forecast for holiday spending down to 2.5 percent growth to $257.7 billion, from prior expectations of a 3.3 percent rise.

Online, sales rose just 8.4 percent to $48 billion from Oct. 28 through Saturday, according to a measure by MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse. That is below the online sales growth of between 15 to 17 percent seen in the prior 18-month period, according to the data service, which tracks all spending across all forms of payment, including cash.

At the malls, overall promotions were up 2 to 3 percent from last year heading into the pre-Christmas weekend, after being down 5 percent earlier in the season, according to BMO Capital Markets sales rack index, which tracks the depth and breadth of discounts.

Attempting to drum up enthusiasm, retailers have expanded hours and stepped up discounts.

At The Garden State Plaza, teen retailer Aeropostale discounted all clothing and accessories by 60 percent. Charles David, Cachet and AnnTaylor had cut prices by 50 percent of all merchandise. At AnnTaylor, racks of discounted clothes had been marked down by an additional 25 percent. One dress, originally priced at $118, was marked down to $49 but with the additional 25 percent, it cost $21.30.

But the deals at the mall failed to impress Wendy McCloskey, 35, of Lebanon, Ind., who started her holiday shopping Sunday at the Castleton Square Mall in Indianapolis. A snow storm that blustered through the Midwest this week delayed her shopping plans, and a busy schedule with her children also got in the way.

"I was so surprised. I figured they'd have better deals," she said.

And at The Garden State Plaza in Paramus, N.J., Linda Fitzgerald said she didn't feel like shopping this season, facing a sister's cancer diagnosis atop worries about the economy and the Connecticut shooting.

"It's so hard to put yourself in the mood," said Linda Fitzgerald, a 51-year-old nurse from Yonkers who went out weekend shopping with her 17-month-old granddaughter in tow.

___

Anne D'Innocenzio reported from New York. Tom Murphy in Indianapolis contributed to this report.

Drone kills two Qaeda militants in south Yemen-officials

Drone kills two Qaeda militants in south Yemen-officials

SANAA (Reuters) - At least two militants were killed on Monday in what security and local officials said was a U.S. drone strike on a suspected position of al Qaeda-linked insurgents in southern Yemen.

Washington has escalated its use of drones to kill suspected al Qaeda militants in Yemen, where the group exploited anti-government protests last year to seize swathes of territory in the south of the country before being driven out by a military offensive in June.

The officials said the drone hit a vehicle in a town in southern al-Bayda province, killing at least two suspected militants. One of those killed in the attack was a Jordanian citizen, a local official and a resident said.

Family members of one of the men, Abdul Raouf Naseeb, confirmed he was one of those killed. According to several security experts who monitor the group, Naseeb narrowly escaped a U.S. drone strike in November 2002 that killed several al Qaeda operatives.

Yemen's stability is a priority for the United States and its Gulf Arab allies because of its strategic position next to top oil exporter Saudi Arabia and shipping lanes, and because it is home to one of the most active wings of al Qaeda.

The U.S.-backed military offensive drove the militants out of areas they seized in the south but has not prevented them from launching attacks that have dealt damaging blows to the army and security apparatus.

Naseeb had fled to al-Bayda from southern Lawdar province during a U.S.-backed military offensive in Lawdar earlier in 2012.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Rania El Gamal; Editing by William Maclean and Alison Williams)

Chilean street dogs are protesters' best friends

Chilean street dogs are protesters' best friends
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SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — They don't have demands, but they're loyal to the cause and are always on the front lines of the fight. They run with protesters, lap up shots from water cannons, bark at police in riot gear and sometimes even bite officers.

Stray dogs are truly Man's Best Friend for thousands of students and workers who demonstrate and clash with police nearly every day to press demands for education improvements, redistribution of Chile's wealth and environmental protections. As the protests become fixtures in this modernizing capital, normally unnoticed street dogs have become stars in their own right, with the Facebook fan pages and fawning media coverage to prove it.

"Blacky," a mutt adopted by young protesters, has become the most visible mascot, with rival fan pages totaling more than 7,000 subscribers or "likes." Blacky's admirers constantly upload pictures of him, many showing the mutt with a checkered kaffiyeh around his neck symbolizing the Palestinian resistance movement, dodging tear gas or growling at baton-wielding officers.

"Dogs are super loyal. They stand with the people and I think they support the students," said Catalina Echenique, 17, who is planning to study psychiatry.

Free-roaming dogs number in the millions in Chile in a situation the nation's Humane Society has called alarming. Dog owners rarely spay or neuter their pets, and commonly leave them outside when they go to work in the morning. Many roam the streets all day.

Dogs lurk around the presidential palace, take naps in parks and always seem in search of a bite to eat or the next protest.

While strays are feared in countries such as India, where tens of millions of street dogs have a reputation for biting people and spreading rabies, Chileans often feed and take care of strays. Protesters, for one, are glad to have the dogs on their side of the fight.

Students have been hitting the streets for more than a year and a half demanding overhauls to a school system that's been privatized since the 1973-90 dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet. Protesters say families must struggle with underperforming public schools, expensive private universities and education loans at impossible interest rates.

Two military officers in impeccable white uniforms walked out of a subway station recently as two blackened mutts followed them ahead of a crowd of young protesters who booed and shouted insults.

More dogs followed the sounds of sirens — and the promise of a water jet some blocks away. Police fired tear gas and the hounds ran to chew on the canisters. From a plume of smoke, Blacky dashed out, this time wearing an orange bandanna.

A mass of students and hooded members of anarchist groups loitering at nearby parks flooded into the streets for yet another confrontation.

Meanwhile, Echenique sat in a circle with other students, a stray napping next to them while they prepared to clash with police.

"With a good education we can generate conscience to protect animals," she said.

Despite the propensity of dog packs to join protesters, they're not at constant war with the police.

Just a few blocks from the recent confrontation, police and pooches appeared to be enjoying a peaceful timeout. One stray snoozed under the noon sun next to a traffic officer at a busy intersection, while another quietly napped in the shade cast by paintings propped on artist easels in Santiago's main square, the Plaza de Armas.

"I see the ritual everyday: police dogs patrolling the streets and strays watching over their territory," said Mario Guitierrez, a 52-year-old artist at the square who plans to make the protest dogs the subject of his next work.

"They meet, they stare, and it seems like the police dogs get scared. The street dogs are brave!"

Police officer Eduardo Basaez of the department's canine training unit strolled by with Lola, his 7-year-old German shepherd. They have both been part of street clashes, but Basaez said police dogs and horses are being used less these days to keep them safe.

"Dogs go to the protests because of a pack instinct. They play with the water jets, they're happy and don't know what's going on," Basaez said. "I'm a dog lover and I feel sorry for the street dogs. I live in an apartment but if I had a tract of land I would take them all home with me."

___

Luis Andres Henao on Twitter: https://twitter.com/LuisAndresHenao

Fifth-gen iPad reportedly due in March along with Retina iPad mini

Fifth-gen iPad reportedly due in March along with Retina iPad mini
iPad

Rumors that a second-generation iPad mini with a Retina display is set to launch ahead of Apple’s typical annual schedule next year have been swirling, and now it appears Apple’s (AAPL) full-size iPad may be sticking to its new semiannual release schedule. According to a report from Japanese blog Makotakra that cites an anonymous “inside source,” Apple plans to launch a new thinner, lighter 9.7-inch iPad as soon as March 2013. The fourth iPad model was just released last month alongside the iPad mini, but March was also suggested in recent Retina iPad mini rumors. Makotakra states that the new iPad will adopt styling queues from the current iPad mini model, unifying the look of Apple’s larger tablet with the iPad mini and iPhone 5.

[More from BGR: First photos of BlackBerry 10 ‘N-Series’ QWERTY smartphone leak]

This article was originally published by BGR

Japan MP Kishida appointed foreign minister

Japan MP Kishida appointed foreign minister

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appointed lower house lawmaker Fumio Kishida to the key post of foreign minister on Wednesday as the government seeks to balance a bolder diplomatic stance with the need to repair frayed ties with China and South Korea.

Kishida entered politics after working at the now-defunct Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan and previously served as a state minister in charge of issues related to Okinawa island - host to the bulk of U.S. military forces in Japan - in Abe's first cabinet. He is nominal head of an LDP faction previously led by the late Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa and has an image as something of a foreign policy dove, political analysts said.

The hawkish Abe must balance the need to stabilize relations with key trade partner Beijing and U.S. ally Seoul - which have been strained by rows over territory and wartime history - while bolstering Tokyo's alliance with Washington and trying to loosen the limits of the pacifist constitution on the military.

(Reporting by Linda Sieg; Editing by Edmund Klamann)

Egyptians fret over economy after rancorous vote on constitution

Egyptians fret over economy after rancorous vote on constitution

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt prepared to announce on Tuesday the result of a vote on a new constitution that Islamist President Mohamed Mursi hails as a step toward stability in a country beset by political and economic crisis.

But critics say that by ramming through the basic law, Mursi has angered his liberal, leftist and Christian opponents, and may have squandered any chance of building a broad consensus on tax rises needed to rein in a crushing budget deficit.

Unofficial tallies from Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood showed the charter was approved by a 64 percent majority. The electoral commission will announce the official result at 1700 GMT, with the final numbers widely expected to confirm earlier estimates.

Mursi believes the constitution will end a protracted period of turmoil that has haunted the most populous Arab nation since the fall of military-backed strongman Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

But ordinary people and some commentators worry that Mursi's approach in pushing through the contentious text will only galvanise his rivals to capitalise on any public backlash against austerity rather than help sell reforms to the nation.

Hossam El-Din Ali, a 35-year-old newspaper vendor in central Cairo, said he agreed the new constitution would help bring some political stability but like many others he feared the possible austerity measures lying ahead.

"People don't want higher prices. People are upset about this," he said. "There is recession, things are not moving. But I am wishing for the best, God willing."

If the "yes" vote is confirmed, a parliamentary election will follow in about two months, setting the stage for Islamists to renew their struggle with more liberal-minded opponents.

On the political front, tensions remain high. The opposition says the constitution, crafted mostly by Mursi's Islamist allies, fails to guarantee personal freedoms and the rights of women and minorities. The government denies this.

ECONOMIC WORRIES

Once a darling of emerging market investors, Egypt's economy has taken a hammering since Mubarak's fall.

The budget deficit surged to a crippling 11 percent of gross domestic product in the financial year that ended in June 2012 and is forecast to exceed 10 percent this year.

In a further worrying sign, Egypt has made it illegal for travellers to carry more than $10,000 in cash in or out of the country amid growing fears the government may not be able to get its fragile finances under control.

Reflecting investor concerns, Standard and Poor's cut Egypt's long-term credit rating this week and said another cut was possible if political turbulence worsened.

Adding fuel to people's worries, the central bank also said it was taking steps to safeguard bank deposits, in a statement which emerged after some Egyptians said they had taken out cash out of concern their accounts would be frozen by authorities.

Without broad support, Mursi will find it hard to implement reforms needed to secure a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.

Shortly before the referendum, Mursi enraged many by introducing hikes on the sales tax on goods and services that ranged from alcoholic beverages, cigarettes and mobile phone calls to automobile licences and quarrying permits.

In an embarrassing policy U-turn, he withdrew them within hours under criticism from his opponents and the media.

Facing public anger, the Muslim Brotherhood's party, which propelled Mursi to office in an election earlier this year, may now also face a tougher fight in the parliamentary election.

Over the fiscal cliff: How hard a landing?

Over the fiscal cliff: How hard a landing?
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Efforts to save the nation from going over a year-end "fiscal cliff" were in disarray as lawmakers fled the Capitol for their Christmas break. "God only knows" how a deal can be reached now, House Speaker John Boehner declared.

President Barack Obama, on his way out of town himself, insisted a bargain could still be struck before Dec. 31. "Call me a hopeless optimist," he said.

A look at why it's so hard for Republicans and Democrats to compromise on urgent matters of taxes and spending, and what happens if they fail to meet their deadline:

___

NEW YEAR'S HEADACHE

Partly by fate, partly by design, some scary fiscal forces come together at the start of 2013 unless Congress and Obama act to stop them. They include:

— Some $536 billion in tax increases, touching nearly all Americans, because various federal tax cuts and breaks expire at year's end.

— About $110 billion in spending cuts divided equally between the military and most other federal departments. That's about 8 percent of their annual budgets, 9 percent for the Pentagon.

Hitting the national economy with that double whammy of tax increases and spending cuts is what's called going over the "fiscal cliff." If allowed to unfold over 2013, it would lead to recession, a big jump in unemployment and financial market turmoil, economists predict.

___

WHAT IF THEY MISS THE DEADLINE?

If New Year's Day arrives without a deal, the nation shouldn't plunge onto the shoals of recession immediately. There still might be time to engineer a soft landing.

So long as lawmakers and the president appear to be working toward agreement, the tax hikes and spending cuts could mostly be held at bay for a few weeks. Then they could be repealed retroactively once a deal was reached.

The big wild card is the stock market and the nation's financial confidence: Would traders start to panic if Washington appeared unable to reach accord? Would worried consumers and businesses sharply reduce their spending? In what could be a preview, stock prices around the world dropped Friday after House Republican leaders' plan for addressing the fiscal cliff collapsed.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has warned lawmakers that the economy is already suffering from the uncertainty and they shouldn't risk making it worse by blowing past their deadline.

___

WHAT IF THEY NEVER AGREE?

If negotiations between Obama and Congress collapse completely, 2013 looks like a rocky year.

Taxes would jump $2,400 on average for families with incomes of $50,000 to $75,000, according to a study by the non-partisan Tax Policy Center. Because consumers would get less of their paychecks to spend, businesses and jobs would suffer.

At the same time, Americans would feel cuts in government services; some federal workers would be furloughed or laid off, and companies would lose government business. The nation would lose up to 3.4 million jobs, the Congressional Budget Office predicts.

"The consequences of that would be felt by everybody," Bernanke says.

___

THE TAXES

Much of the disagreement surrounds the George W. Bush-era income tax cuts, and whether those rates should be allowed to rise for the nation's wealthiest taxpayers. Both political parties say they want to protect the middle-class from tax increases.

Several tax breaks begun in 2009 to stimulate the economy by aiding low- and middle-income families are also set to expire Jan. 1. The alternative minimum tax would expand to catch 28 million more taxpayers, with an average increase of $3,700 a year. Taxes on investments would rise, too. More deaths would be covered by the federal estate tax, and the rate climbs from 35 percent to 55 percent. Some corporate tax breaks would end.

The temporary Social Security payroll tax cut also is due to expire. That tax break for most Americans seems likely to end even if a fiscal cliff deal is reached, now that Obama has backed down from his call to prolong it as an economic stimulus.

___

THE SPENDING

If the nation goes over the fiscal cliff, budget cuts of 8 percent or 9 percent would hit most of the federal government, touching all sorts of things from agriculture to law enforcement and the military to weather forecasting. A few areas, such as Social Security benefits, Veterans Affairs and some programs for the poor, are exempt.

___

THERE'S MORE AT STAKE

All sorts of stuff could get wrapped up in the fiscal cliff deal-making. A sampling:

— Some 2 million jobless Americans may lose their federal unemployment aid. Obama wants to continue the benefits extension as part of the deal; Republicans say it's too costly.

— Social Security recipients might see their checks grow more slowly. As part of a possible deal, Obama and Republican leaders want to change the way cost-of-living adjustments are calculated, which would mean smaller checks over the years for retirees who get Social Security, veterans' benefits or government pensions.

— The price of milk could double. If Congress doesn't provide a fix for expiring dairy price supports before Jan. 1, milk-drinking families could feel the pinch. One scenario is to attach a farm bill extension to the fiscal cliff legislation — if a compromise is reached in time.

— Millions of taxpayers who want to file their 2012 returns before mid-March will be held up while they wait to see if Congress comes through with a deal to stop the alternative minimum tax from hitting more people.

___

CALL THE WHOLE THING OFF?

In theory, Congress and Obama could just say no to the fiscal cliff, by extending all the tax cuts and overturning the automatic spending reductions in current law. But both Republicans and Democrats agree it's time to take steps to put the nation on a path away from a future of crippling debt.

Indeed, the automatic spending cuts set for January were created as a last-ditch effort to force Congress to deal with the debt problem.

If Washington bypassed the fiscal cliff, the next crisis would be just around the corner, in late February or early March, when the government reaches a $16.4 trillion ceiling on the amount of money it can borrow.

Boehner says Republicans won't go along with raising the limit on government borrowing unless the increase is matched by spending cuts to help attack the long-term debt problem. Failing to raise the debt ceiling could lead to a first-ever U.S. default that would roil the financial markets and shake worldwide confidence in the United States.

To avoid that scenario, Obama and Boehner are trying to wrap a debt limit agreement into the fiscal cliff negotiations.

___

SO WHAT'S THE HOLDUP?

They're at loggerheads over some big questions.

Obama says any deal must include higher taxes for the wealthiest Americans. Many House Republicans oppose raising anyone's tax rates. Boehner tried to get the House to vote for higher taxes only on incomes above $1 million but dropped the effort when it became clear he didn't have the votes.

Republicans also insist on deeper spending cuts than Democrats want to make. And they want to bring the nation's long-term debt under control by significantly curtailing the growth of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security — changes that many Democrats oppose.

Obama, meanwhile, wants more temporary economic "stimulus" spending to help speed up a sluggish recovery. Republicans say the nation can't afford it.

___

IT'S NOT JUST WASHINGTON

Seems like they could just make nice, shake hands and split their differences, right?

But there's a reason neither side wants to give ground. The two parties represent a divided and inconsistent America. True, Obama just won re-election. But voters also chose a Republican majority in the House.

Republican and Democrats alike say they are doing what the voters back home want.

Neither side has a clear advantage in public opinion. In an Associated Press-GfK poll, 43 percent said they trust the Democrats more to manage the federal budget deficit and 40 percent preferred the Republicans. There's a similar split on who's more trusted with taxes.

About half of Americans support higher taxes for the wealthy, the poll says, and about 10 percent want tax increases all around. Still, almost half say cutting government services, not raising taxes, should be the main focus of lawmakers as they try to balance the budget.

When asked about specific budget cuts being discussed in Washington, few Americans express support for them.

___

THE COUNTDOWN

Time for deal-making is short, thanks to the holiday and congressional calendars. Some key dates for averting the fiscal cliff:

— Lawmakers aren't expected to return to the Capitol until after Christmas, leaving less than a week to vote on a compromise before year's end.

— Obama and his family also left town for a Christmas vacation in Hawaii. The president said because the fiscal cliff was still unresolved, he would return to Washington this week.

— If lawmakers reach Dec. 31 without a deal, some economists worry that the financial markets might swoon.

— The current Congress is in session only through noon Eastern time on Jan. 3. After that, a newly elected Congress with 13 new senators and 82 new House members would inherit the problem.

___

Associated Press writers Jim Kuhnhenn, Alan Fram and Andrew Taylor and Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

___

Follow Connie Cass on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ConnieCass

The grassroots movement to get Piers Morgan deported: Could it actually work?

The grassroots movement to get Piers Morgan deported: Could it actually work?
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More than 60,000 people have signed a petition to get the CNN commentator kicked out of the country for his outspoken views on gun control

Can a foreign-born political commentator be deported for making political comments? That's the question — and the goal — of more than 60,000 Americans who have signed a petition to deport British journalist Piers Morgan for his outspoken views on gun control. On a recent episode of his CNN series Piers Morgan Tonight, Morgan called guest Larry Pratt, the executive director of Guns Owners for America, "dangerous" and "an unbelievably stupid man" for arguing that the U.S. needs more guns to fight gun violence. Pratt responded by calling Morgan "morally obtuse." (Watch a video of the heated exchange below.) The subsequent petition to get Morgan deported, which was started by "Kurt N" from Austin, Texas, argues that Morgan is "engaged in a hostile attack against the U.S. Constitution by targeting the Second Amendment" and "[demands] that Mr. Morgan be deported immediately."

The irony, of course, is that deporting Morgan for his "hostile attack" on the Constitution would be a violation of the constitutional right to free speech. Even as a British national, Morgan is "afforded various rights under national security law and due process," says immigration attorney Mark Schifanelli at ABC News. Morgan's comments are protected unless they present "immediate danger" to the United States, and his opinion on gun control isn't likely to meet that requirement.

So the government is very unlikely to take action against Morgan — but what about CNN, which airs Piers Morgan Tonight? "His bosses have every right to fire him if they want: That's not a breach of First Amendment rights," says Tim Worstall at Forbes. But there's no indication that Morgan's job is on the line, and given that he was hired as a political commentator, he's not likely to land in hot water for making political comments. In fact, the controversy may end up proving to be a ratings boost, offering a life raft to the relatively low-rated show.

Getting past the fairly ludicrous question of deportation, there's a much more serious issue at hand: Is Morgan doing damage to the gun control movement? "He's certainly given conservatives a gift by allowing them to portray gun control as the issue of choice of foreign liberals," says Tim Stanley at The Telegraph. "And, frankly, asking an interviewee 'You're an incredibly stupid idiot, aren't you?' fosters the impression that liberals are engaging not in constructive debate but an assault on the character of their opponents."

Morgan, for his part, remains unrepentant:

I don't care about petition to deport me. I do care about poor NY firefighters murdered/injured with an assault weapon today. #GunControlNow

SEE MORE: How MSNBC is catching up to Fox News

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) December 24, 2012

SEE MORE: Can Jeff Zucker turn CNN around?

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Two drone strikes kill five in Yemen: officials

Two drone strikes kill five in Yemen: officials

SANAA/ADEN (Reuters) - At least five people were killed in two drone strikes in south Yemen on Monday in what security and local officials said were attacks on suspected al Qaeda-linked insurgents.

Improving stability and security in Yemen is a priority for the United States and its Gulf Arab allies because of its strategic position next to the world's top oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, and shipping lanes, and because it is home to one of the most active wings of al Qaeda.

Monday's strikes were the first in almost two months by pilotless aircraft against suspected al Qaeda men in Yemen, an impoverished country of mountains and desert on the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula.

The United States has escalated its use of drones against al Qaeda in Yemen, where the group exploited mass anti-government unrest last year to seize swathes of territory in the south before being driven out by a military offensive in June.

The officials said the first drone strike hit a vehicle in a town in al-Bayda province, killing at least two suspected al Qaeda militants. One of those killed in the attack was a Jordanian citizen, a local official and a resident said.

Family members of the other man, a Yemeni called Abdul Raouf Naseeb, confirmed he was one of those killed.

A Yemeni al Qaeda militant of that name narrowly escaped a U.S. drone strike in November 2002 that killed several al Qaeda operatives including Qaed Salim Sinan al Harithi, an alleged plotter behind the bombing of the USS Cole off Yemen in October 2000 in which 17 U.S. sailors were killed.

In the second drone strike on Monday, at least three people riding two motorcycles and carrying pistols were killed by a missile in Hadramout province, a security official said, adding that they were suspected members of al Qaeda.

Residents said the Hadramout attack happened on the outskirts of the coastal town of al-Sheher. The residents said a fourth person was wounded in the strike.

The U.S.-backed military offensive drove the militants out of areas they seized in the south but has not prevented them from launching attacks that have dealt damaging blows to the army and security apparatus.

Naseeb had fled to al-Bayda from Lawdar province during a U.S.-backed military offensive in Lawdar earlier in 2012.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari and Mohammed Mukhashaf; Writing by Rania El Gamal and Mahmoud Habboush; Editing by William Maclean and Mark Heinrich)

Effect of looming 'fiscal cliff' tax increases

Effect of looming 'fiscal cliff' tax increases

A big package of tax cuts first enacted a decade ago are set to expire at the end the year, unless Congress and the White House reach a deal to extend them. How the looming tax increases would affect households at different income levels.

___

Annual income: $20,000 to $30,000.

Average tax increase: $1,064.

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Annual income: $40,000 to $50,000.

Average tax increase: $1,729.

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Annual income: $50,000 to $75,000.

Average tax increase: $2,399.

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Annual income: $75,000 to $100,000.

Average tax increase: $3,688.

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Annual income: $100,000 to $200,000.

Average tax increase: $6,662.

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Annual income: $200,000 to $500,000.

Average tax increase: $14,643.

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Annual income: $500,000 to $1 million.

Average tax increase: $38,969.

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Annual income: More than $1 million.

Average tax increase: $254,637.

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Source: Tax Policy Center

Tale of lost military jacket prompts curiosity

Tale of lost military jacket prompts curiosity
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In this Dec. 20, 2012 photo, Mary…

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This Dec. 20, 2012 photo shows…

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — As soon as she read the news, Mary Helen Taft went straight from her computer to her closet, pulling out a gray jacket that, until that moment, she had thought was an elaborate costume.

When the story of an 80-year-old military tunic found among Superstorm Sandy debris at the Jersey Shore made national headlines, she knew the item she had picked up on consignment about 20 years ago was no longer just a run-of-the-mill coat stashed in the back of her closet.

After examining the worn-down label inside, Taft uncovered the jacket's own storied past.

"I really had no idea what the history behind the jacket was, or that it may be meaningful or valuable to somebody," said Taft, 63, who lives outside Zimmerman, Minn. "Suddenly there was a face and a history of service and a human connection that is very real and it made me see the jacket with new eyes.

"Isn't that what motivates us all — those heart-touching human connections and a sense of community?"

The alumni association for the U.S. Military Academy at West Point has researched a handful of inquiries from people wanting to put a face with their second-hand finds since the story last month about the discovery of a 1930s jacket belonging to the late warrior Chester B. deGavre. The AP reported on a New Jersey woman who found the jacket among Sandy debris, tracked down its owner with the help of the storied military academy and reunited the jacket with deGavre's 98-year-old widow on Virginia's Eastern Shore.

"Maybe they thought it was just a neat thing to have, but then it kind of got them thinking about the person behind the coat and who that person was," said Kim McDermott with the West Point Association of Graduates, who has searched alumni databases, yearbooks and memorial pages to help curious owners of the jackets, which have been used at the academy since 1816. "We're just wired for stories, as humans."

With its tails, intricate stitching, and slanted gold braids on the shoulders, the jacket hasn't changed much since it was first adopted and is still worn by cadets for formal occasions and in parades. The heavy coats, studded with brass buttons down the front and sleeves, have been issued to nearly 70,000 cadets over the years, so it's no wonder some have changed hands from their original owners.

When people buy antique china, they often wonder how many tables it's been on or what conversations took place around it. But with everyday apparel, "I don't think anyone really thinks much about it," said Adele Meyer, executive director of the Association of Resale Professionals, which represents more than 1,100 consignment and thrift stores.

"A military jacket — that's different. That has a history to it," Meyer said.

Taft has learned that the coat hanging in her closet for so many years belonged to Joseph Francis Albano, a 1971 graduate and football standout from New Jersey known as "the Jersey Streak."

After graduation, Albano was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Army and served five years of active duty at Fort Benning in Georgia; in Germany; and at West Point in the athletic department. Following years in the finance business, the 64-year-old now splits his time between Florida and Wyoming.

News of his jacket being found brought back a lot of fond memories for Albano of his time at the academy, which he said he admired for its rich history and tradition. Albano said he isn't sure how the jacket ever left his possession and invited Taft to contact him.

For 43-year-old Michael McCoy of Baltimore, finding the name of the owner of the jacket he picked up in the mid-1990s at a Pennsylvania antique store for $100 is only the beginning.

"It's an object that has meaning now," said McCoy, who has begun tracing the life of John Loren Goff, a 1920 graduate from New Jersey who was first assigned to the Army Coast Artillery Corps. Goff retired as a colonel from Fort Lewis, Wash., in 1953 after serving in World War II and as the base's inspector general. He died in 1985 at the age of 86.

"It was neat because it was a West Point jacket ... but now it's a West Point jacket that's owned by this gentleman who had this military career."

Two of the jackets are even appearing on stage in Connecticut for the Hartford City Ballet's inaugural performance of the holiday classic, "The Nutcracker."

Dartanion Reed, the ballet's artistic director, said he acquired the coats from another theater troupe that had shut down.

"I just thought they were a brilliant costume," Reed said. "We always say that people (in performing arts) add bells and whistles to things, but these actually have bells and whistles."

Now that Reed knows the jackets belonged to 1943 graduate Frank Williams Jones Jr. and 1937 grad Harry Francis Van Leuven, he plans to preserve them and use them more often.

"Historic preservation goes hand in hand with what we do in the performing arts every day," he said. "It's wonderful to learn where they come from."

___

Michael Felberbaum can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/MLFelberbaum .

Zimbabweans brace for bleak holidays

Zimbabweans brace for bleak holidays
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HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabweans are facing bleak holidays this year amid rising poverty, food and cash shortages and political uncertainty, with some describing it as the worst since the formation of the coalition government in the southern African nation.

President Robert Mugabe, in a four-year-old coalition with former opposition leader Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, announced an extra public holiday Monday which has created chaos for holiday shoppers and travelers. Banks have closed, ATMs have run out of cash and transport services have been paralyzed.

This caps a year of political uncertainty, a deadlock in constitutional reforms and calls for elections in coming months, seen as critical for Mugabe, 88, who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980.

In 2008, Mugabe's party was accused of vote-rigging and blamed for the worst election violence since independence. As the election tempo quickens, political intimidation has resurfaced, according to independent human rights groups.

Zimbabwe's unemployment is pegged at around 80 percent with many people in Harare, the capital, eking out a living by selling vegetables and fruits on street corners.

Matthew Kapirima, 60, waits outside a busy supermarket for customers to buy his boxes of weather-beaten peaches and litchis for $10 each.

But holiday shoppers go about their business without even giving him a second glance.

Kapirima has not sold any fruit in days and with a day left before Christmas, he said has to concede that he won't be able to provide his family with food and new clothes this year.

"This is the worst Christmas ever," Kapirima told The Associated Press.

Kapirima has four wives and 25 children living in the rural areas, but all he has managed to get them this Christmas is a 40-kilogram (88 pound) bag of maize seed to plant on his small-sized family plot in Mudzi.

He said he can't travel to his rural home because transport operators are taking advantage of the holiday rush to charge exorbitant fares.

"I have to forget about going there and continue working for school fees for January," he said.

Christmas in Zimbabwe is also the hunger season — the time between harvests from September to March — for most of the nation's impoverished rural population who depend on food handouts.

Kapirima's family joins the 1 million Zimbabweans who live in drought-prone areas who have received food handouts for Christmas this year from the United Nations.

Food shortages are "worse" this year compared to the last three years due to drought and constrained access to cash to buy seed and fertilizer for rural farmers, said World Food Program Zimbabwe country director Felix Bamezon.

Bamezon said the Zimbabwe government for the first time has assisted by providing grain to give to starving communities in rural areas.

"This is good because they don't interfere to tell us which people to give the food to," he said.

The World Food Program has been donating hampers of 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of cereal, vegetable oil and mixed beans to each person in qualifying households every month since September.

For those who live in areas where there are grain traders, WFP gives out $3 per person in a household to buy the grain from traders instead of the food hampers.

An average household has five people, making it $15 for a family to spend for Christmas.

Bamezon also said their organization helps vulnerable communities by engaging them in "food for work" projects where people work to get food during the time they are not provided food assistance.

Rural communities have come up with coping mechanisms such as cutting down the number of meals a day from three to one and selling their prized livestock, furniture and household goods. Bamezon said he had heard reports that some young girls are given away to elderly men for early marriages.

The U.N.'s childrens agency, UNICEF, has in previous research this year noted that girls and young women have been pressured by destitute families to solicit as prostitutes in bars and shopping areas.

In the troubled economy, money is not trickling down from the nation's urban elite, who own luxury cars and mansions, to the urban and rural poor.

"Life is getting harder in this country," said fruit vendor Kaparima. "There is nothing to celebrate this Christmas."

Conn. shooting site draws hundreds of visitors

Conn. shooting site draws hundreds of visitors
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NEWTOWN, Conn. (AP) — The Sandy Hook section of Newtown was a gathering place this weekend for hundreds of people drawn to the scene of the recent massacre to share in the community's mourning and come to terms with the shocking school tragedy.

The village's downtown was clogged with traffic Sunday, with license plates from all across New England and beyond.

Residents across Newtown, meanwhile, were seeking to move forward through faith, community and a determination to seize their future. Many have taken advantage of counseling services.

Both groups are trying in their own way to cope with the puzzling Dec. 14 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School that took the lives of 20 children and six adults. Police say the gunman killed his mother before heading to the school and committed suicide afterward.

People with bouquets of flowers, teddy bears and cameras walked along the closed road to the makeshift memorial near the school. Mark Burkhart brought his wife and daughter from Wingdale, N.Y., to pay their respects.

"We felt we had to come here to grieve a little bit," he said. "You find yourself not sure what to do or what to say, so this kind of helps."

Connor Collier, 21, of Newtown, said visitors earlier in the week were mostly with the media. But that changed during the weekend to "just regular people" from as far away as Washington State and Florida.

"Frankly, I like this a lot better. Everybody wants to help," said Collier, who has spent the past week near the village Christmas tree selling green and white bracelets that read, "Angels of Sandy Hook." He said he has raised $40,000 for a fund established for the victims.

A man dressed as Santa greeted visitors Sunday while a group of saxophone players from Newtown High School serenaded the crowd with Christmas carols.

Anne Spillane, 51, of Sandy Hook, drove some of the band members, including her daughter. She said the brother of one band member was killed in the shooting. He was one of several victims the Sillane family knew.

She said she and others in town have been buoyed by the outpouring of support.

A family that lives about three hours away in New Bedford, Mass., came Saturday with a life-sized Santa Claus that held a scroll with the names of all the victims engraved on it, Sillane said.

And a police officer from New Britain gave her a box of homemade Christmas ornaments with the names of each victim on them, Sillane said.

"I gave those to our monsignor, and he's going to give them to the families," she said. "People are just so good. We understand. They just want to do something."

At religious services in Newtown on Sunday, parishioners recognized their church leaders for helping them to cope with the shooting deaths.

After the Sunday service at Newtown's Trinity Episcopal Church, the Rev. Kathleen Adams-Shepherd received hugs and kisses from a long line of parishioners. She choked up as she read the names of the victims and offered a prayer for all of them, including gunman Adam Lanza and his slain mother, Nancy.

Monsignor Robert Weiss of the St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church thanked the community for giving him strength to get through a week filled with funerals. St. Rose of Lima lost eight children and two adults in the massacre.

"This has been the worst week of my life," Weiss said.

Deacon Rick Scinto of St. Rose of Lima said church officials will be teamed with professional counselors and therapists to provide assistance.

"I don't see us taking a lead role, but I certainly see us taking a cooperative role in any kind of counseling that they need. We have our niche. We're religious and we can talk about God and how the Lord figures in this whole mess," Scinto said.

To deal with the short-term trauma, the state sent dozens of mental health professionals to Newtown. Sessions were available every day, at a half-dozen locations. Relief also has been provided by therapy and service dogs, massage therapists, acupuncturists and art therapists, from around Connecticut and the nation.

Dennis Stratford, who works for the school district, happened to be making a delivery to Sandy Hook Elementary when the gunman attacked. He saw dead children. He saw the remains of dead children on those who survived. He waited agonizing minutes for his own child to emerge unharmed from the school. Two of his neighbors' children did not.

"I go home and cry every night, and I cry every morning," Stratford said.

He went to one counseling session, but the horrific images remain. What helps more is work: sorting through the warehouses full of gifts, delivering them where they need to go or doing whatever else needs to be done for his town.

"There were nine minutes of evil, and an infinity of goodness after that," Stratford said, sitting on a forklift loaded with gifts. "This is therapy for me."

___

Associated Press writers Brock Vergakis and Michael Melia contributed to this report.

2 firefighters die in ambush at blazing NY house

2 firefighters die in ambush at blazing NY house
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WEBSTER, N.Y. (AP) — A gunman ambushed four volunteer firefighters responding to an intense pre-dawn house fire Monday morning outside Rochester, N.Y., killing two and ending up dead himself, authorities said. Police used an armored vehicle to evacuate more than 30 nearby residents.

The gunman fired at the firefighters when they arrived shortly after 5:30 a.m. at the blaze near the Lake Ontario shore in Webster, town Police Chief Gerald Pickering said. The first Webster police officer who arrived chased the suspect and exchanged gunfire with him, authorities said.

"It does appear it was a trap" for the first responders to the fire, Pickering said at a news conference.

Authorities didn't say how the gunman died or whether anyone might have died in the fire itself.

One of the dead firefighters was also a town police lieutenant; it wasn't clear whether he returned fire. An off-duty police officer who was driving by was injured by shrapnel, Pickering said.

"These people get up in the middle of the night to go put out fires; they don't expect to be shot and killed," Pickering said.

The fire started in one home and spread to two others and a car, officials said. The gunfire initially kept firefighters from battling the blazes. Police say four homes were destroyed and four damaged.

The West Webster Fire District learned of the fire early Monday after a report of a car and house on fire on Lake Road, on a narrow peninsula where Irondequoit Bay meets Lake Ontario, Monroe County Sheriff Patrick O'Flynn said.

The fire appeared from a distance as a pulsating ball of flame glowing against the early morning sky, flames licking into treetops and reflecting on the water, with huge bursts of smoke billowing away in a brisk wind.

Two of the firefighters arrived on a fire engine and two in their own vehicles, Pickering said. After the gunman fired, one of the wounded men managed to flee, but the other three couldn't because of flying gunfire.

A police armored vehicle was used to recover two of the men, and eventually it evacuated 33 people from nearby homes, the police chief said.

The dead men were identified as Police Lt. Michael Chiapperini, 43, the Webster Police Department's public information officer; and Tomasz Kaczowka, also a 911 dispatcher, whose age was not released.

Pickering described Chiapperini as a "lifetime firefighter" with nearly 20 years with the department, and called Kaczowka a "tremendous young man."

The two wounded firefighters, Joseph Hofsetter and Theodore Scardino, were in guarded condition in the intensive care unit at Strong Memorial Hospital, authorities said. Both were awake and alert and are expected to recover.

Hofsetter, also a full-timer with the Rochester Fire Department, was hit once in the pelvis, and the bullet lodged in his spine, authorities said. Scardino was hit in the chest and knee.

Monday's shooting and fires were in a neighborhood of seasonal and year-round homes set close together across the road from the lakeshore. The area is popular with recreational boaters but is normally quiet this time of year.

"We have very few calls for service in that location," Pickering said. "Webster is a tremendous community. We are a safe community, and to have a tragedy befall us like this is just horrendous."

O'Flynn lamented the violence, which comes on the heels of other shootings including the massacre of 20 students and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

"It's sad to see that that this is becoming more commonplace in communities across the nation," O'Flynn said.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the State Police and Office of Emergency Management were working with local authorities.

"Volunteer firefighters and police officers were injured and two were taken from us as they once again answered the call of duty," Cuomo said in a statement. "We as the community of New York mourn their loss as now two more families must spend the holidays without their loved ones."

Webster, a middle-class suburb, now is the scene of violence linked to house fires for two Decembers in a row.

Last Dec. 7, authorities say, a 15-year-old boy doused his home with gasoline and set it ablaze, killing his father and two brothers, 16 and 12. His mother and 13-year-old sister escaped with injuries. He is being prosecuted as an adult.

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Associated Press writers Chris Carola, George Walsh and Mary Esch in Albany, N.Y., contributed to this report.

Venezuela's Chavez "improves slightly" after surgery: official

Venezuela's Chavez "improves slightly" after surgery: official

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's condition has "improved slightly" after a cancer operation in Cuba, the information minister said on Monday, amid doubts over whether the former soldier is in good enough health to continue governing.

"The patient has shown a slight improvement in his condition," Venezuelan Information Minister Ernesto Villegas said during a terse televised statement, adding the president has maintained contact with family members.

Chavez has not been heard from in two weeks following a fourth operation for an unspecified type of cancer in the pelvic region. The government has said he suffered post-operatory complications including unexpected bleeding and a lung infection, but offered few details about his actual condition.

His death, or even his resignation for health reasons, would upend the politics of the South American OPEC nation where his personalized brand of oil-financed socialism has made him a hero to the poor but a pariah to critics who call him a dictator.

His allies are now openly discussing the possibility that he may not be back in time to be sworn in for his third six-year term on the constitutionally mandated date of January 10.

Opposition leaders say a delay to his taking power would be another signal that Chavez is not in condition to govern and that fresh elections should be called to choose his replacement.

They believe they have a better shot against Chavez's anointed successor, Vice President Nicolas Maduro, than against the charismatic president who for 14 years has been nearly invincible at the ballot box.

But a constitutional dispute over succession could lead to a messy transition toward a post-Chavez era.

Maduro has become the government's main figurehead in the president's absence. His speeches have mimicked Chavez's bombastic style that mixes historical references with acid insults of adversaries.

Opposition leader Henrique Capriles, who lost to Chavez in the October presidential vote, slammed Maduro in an interview published on Sunday for failing to seek dialogue with the opposition at a time of political uncertainty.

"Maduro is not the one that won the elections, nor is he the leader," Capriles told the local El Universal newspaper. "Because Chavez is absent, this is precisely the time that (Maduro) needs help from people (in the opposition camp)."

Chavez has vastly expanded presidential powers and built a near-cult following among millions of poor Venezuelans, who love his feisty language and social welfare projects.

The opposition is smarting from this month's governors elections in which Chavez allies won 20 of 23 states. They are trying to keep attention focused on day-to-day problems from rampant crime to power outages.

(Reporting by Brian Ellsworth; Editing by Sandra Maler)

4 foreign sailors kidnapped off Nigeria coast

4 foreign sailors kidnapped off Nigeria coast

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — Gunmen attacked a supply tug boat off the coast of Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta, kidnapping foreign sailors, including Italians, in the latest attack in the West African region that is increasingly dangerous for shippers and oil companies, officials said Monday.

The attack happened 40 nautical miles off the coast of Bayelsa state in the Niger Delta on Sunday night, as the gunmen stormed the moving vessel, the International Maritime Bureau said Monday in a warning to other shippers. The gunmen seized four workers and later fled, the bureau said. Those remaining onboard safely guided the ship to a nearby harbor, the bureau said.

The bureau did not identify the shipper, nor the sailors. However, a separate notice to private security contractors working in Nigeria and seen by The Associated Press identified the four hostages as foreigners.

In Rome, the Foreign Ministry confirmed the kidnapping, saying the four hostages were members of the crew. A Foreign Ministry official said three of the four were Italian. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information publicly, said he didn't know the nationality of the fourth hostage.

Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi was following the case personally, and the ministry was working with Nigerian officials to secure the safe return of the crew, the official said. The official and the private security notice seen by the AP identified the vessel attacked as the Asso Ventuno, operated by Augusta Offshore SpA, a Naples-based shipping company.

Calls to the company were not successful on Monday, Christmas Eve. Someone who answered the phone hung up when contacted by the AP, and then didn't pick up on subsequent calls. The company's website says it does business with oil companies Total SA and Exxon Mobil Corp. in Nigeria.

Commodore Kabir Aliyu, a spokesman for Nigeria's navy, declined to immediately comment Monday.

Pirate attacks are on the rise in West Africa's Gulf of Guinea, which follows the continent's southward curve from Liberia to Gabon. Over the last year and a half, piracy there has escalated from low-level armed robberies to hijackings and cargo thefts. Last year, London-based Lloyd's Market Association — an umbrella group of insurers — listed Nigeria, neighboring Benin and nearby waters in the same risk category as Somalia, where two decades of war and anarchy have allowed piracy to flourish.

Analysts believe many of the attackers come from Nigeria, whose lawless waters and often violent oil region routinely see foreigners kidnapped for ransom. Increasingly, criminal gangs also have targeted middle- and upper-class Nigerians as well.

Typically, foreign companies operating in Nigeria's Niger Delta pay cash ransoms to free their employees after negotiating down kidnappers' demands. Foreign hostages can fetch hundreds of thousands of dollars apiece.

Foreign companies have pumped oil out of the Niger Delta, a region of mangroves and swamps the size of Portugal, for more than 50 years. Despite the billions of dollars flowing into Nigeria's government, many in the delta remain desperately poor, living in polluted waters without access to proper medical care, education or work. The poor conditions sparked an uprising in 2006 by militants and opportunistic criminals who blew up oil pipelines and kidnapped foreign workers.

That violence ebbed in 2009 with a government-sponsored amnesty program that offered ex-fighters monthly payments and job training. However, few in the delta have seen the promised benefits and sporadic kidnappings and attacks continue. The end of the year in Nigeria usually sees an uptick in criminal activity as well, as criminal gangs target the wealthy returning to the country to celebrate the holidays.

Sunday's kidnapping is just the latest attack in the region. On Dec. 17, gunmen kidnapped five Indian sailors on the SP Brussels tanker as it sat about 40 miles (64 kilometers) off the coast of the Niger Delta. That came the same day gunmen abducted four South Koreans and a Nigerian working for Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. at a construction site in the Brass area of Bayelsa state. Those workers were later released, though the Indians are still believed to be held by the abductors.

___

Nicole Winfield reported from Rome.

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Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP .