Republicans Accuse Obama Of Sham Drilling Announcement
House Republicans are accusing President Obama of making a sham announcement to open nearly 38 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas drilling, arguing that the same lease sale was already in the works before he took office and his administration actually delayed it for a year after the BP oil spill. Ridiculing the president for touting the Gulf lease sales as a “major announcement,” Republicans on the House Natural Resources Committee said the Gulf of Mexico area in question was first set to be opened by the Bush administration, so Mr. Obama’s decision to lift the embargo he put in place a year ago will do nothing to open new areas for exploration. Washington Times
VOA VIEW: Everything about Obama is a sham.

Clinton Wants To Step Off Political "High-Wire"
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says she wants to step off the "high wire of American politics" after two decades and is again tamping down speculation that she might stay in government if President Barack Obama wins a second term. Clinton told State Department employees on Thursday that she is ready for a rest and is paying no attention to the Republican presidential candidate debates. She said she wants to find out just how tired she is after working flat out as first lady, senator, aspiring presidential candidate and finally the top U.S. diplomat. "I have made it clear that I will certainly stay on until the president nominates someone and that transition can occur" if Obama wins re-election, she told a town hall meeting. "But I think after 20 years, and it will be 20 years, of being on the high wire of American politics and all of the challenges that come with that, it would be probably a good idea to just find out how tired I am." CBS

Obama Doesn’t Have To Convince Voters They Are Better Off Since He Became President
Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) does not believe President Barack Obama will have to make the case to voters that they are better off now than before he became president. Rather, Lautenberg said a message of shared burden, which Obama hit on in Tuesday’s State of the Union address, would be key. The phrase “fair share” was used four times in Obama’s speech. The word “fair” was used eight times. CNSNews.com asked Lautenberg after the speech, “Will he be able to make the case this year to the American people that they are better off than before he became president?” That is not a needed case to make, Lautenberg responded. CNS
VOA VIEW: Lautenberg is in as much denial as Obama - Obama was done more damage to the country than any enemy in history.

State Pension Assets, Earnings Grew In 2010
Bucking criticism about their financial performance, state retirement systems' assets grew in 2010, with investment earnings rising for the first time since 2007, the U.S. Census reported on Thursday. The pension funds' cash and investments totaled $2.2 trillion in 2010, up 10.7 percent, or $213.9 billion, from 2009, when their cash and investment holdings fell by $610.8 billion. The funds' investment earnings were $289.6 billion in 2010, compared with 2009, when the investments lost $511.5 billion. In November 2010, conservative Republicans and Tea Party members swept many state elections, bringing with them to statehouses and governor mansions skepticism about public employee compensation. For the last year, the country has been in a long, and often angry, debate about how public pensions should work. Reuters

Old Mortgages Rise From The Dead, Haunt Homeowners
Diane Thompson, an attorney with the National Consumer Law Center, says she has defended hundreds of foreclosure cases, and in nearly all of them, the homeowner was not in default. "The record-keeping on the part of the mortgage servicers is not to be trusted." The problems grew from a lot of sloppy recordkeeping that began during the housing boom, when Wall Street built a quick-and-dirty back-office operation to process mortgages quickly so lenders could sell as many loans as possible. As the loans were later sold to investors, and then resold around the world, the back office system sidestepped crucial legal procedures. Now it's becoming clear just how dysfunctional and, according to several state attorneys general, how fraudulent the whole system was. MSNBC

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Marijuana Push In Colorado Likens It To Alcohol
Proponents of marijuana have argued for years that the drug is safer than alcohol, both to individuals and society. But a ballot proposal to legalize possession of marijuana in small amounts in Colorado, likely to be on the November ballot, is putting the two intoxicants back into the same sentence, urging voters to “regulate marijuana like alcohol,” as the ballot proposition’s title puts it. Given alcohol’s long and checkered history — the tens of thousands of deaths each year, the social ravages of alcoholism — backers of the pro-marijuana measure concede there is a risk of looking as if they have cozied up too much, or are comparable, to old demon rum. NY Times

Tired And Broke, Santorum Heads Home To Do Taxes
The former Pennsylvania senator is leaving Florida just days before the Tuesday primary that even he expects to deal him a third consecutive loss. Santorum says he would rather spend his Saturday sitting at his kitchen table to do his taxes than campaigning in a state where the race for the Republican presidential nomination has become a two-man fight between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. The cash-strapped candidate acknowledges that he simply can't keep up with the GOP front-runners in Florida. Charlotte Observer

UN Refugee Chief: Economic Crisis Fueling Conflict
The U.N.'s refugee chief has warned leaders meeting in Switzerland this week that the global economic crisis is fueling conflicts around the world. Antonio Guterres told The Associated Press on Friday that rising food prices and growing unemployment are hitting those already at the bottom hardest. Guterres says existing humanitarian hotspots in Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia aren't going away while new emergencies are emerging in places like South Sudan. He urged donors to increase funding to prevent aid for 500,000 people in the newly independent country from drying up. Kansas City Star

Turkish State TV Airs Holocaust Film
An epic French documentary about the mass murder of Jews under the German Nazi regime has appeared on Turkish television to mark international Holocaust Remembrance Day - the first time the film has been aired on public television in a majority-Muslim country. State television TRT's documentary channel showed the first episode of filmmaker Claude Lanzmann's "Shoah" late Thursday - the eve of the day of remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust. The film has been subtitled into Arabic, Farsi and Turkish by the Paris-based Aladdin Project as part of its campaign to promote understanding between Jews and Muslims and to fight Holocaust denial. Seattle Times
VOA VIEW: A positive move.

Costa Offers $14,460 Per Person For Ruined Cruise
Costa Crociere SpA is offering uninjured passengers euro11,000 ($14,460) apiece to compensate them for lost baggage and psychological trauma after its cruise ship ran aground and capsized off Tuscany when the captain deviated from his route. Costa, a unit of the world's biggest cruise operator, the Miami-based Carnival Corp., also said it would reimburse passengers the full costs of their cruise, their travel expenses and any medical expenses sustained after the grounding. The agreement was announced Friday after negotiations between Costa representatives and Italian consumer groups who say they represent 3,206 cruise ship passengers from 61 countries who suffered no physical harm when the Costa Concordia hit a reef on Jan. 13. The deal does not apply to the hundreds of crew on the ship, the roughly 100 cases of people injured or the families who lost loved ones. Tampa Tribune

Oil Industry Sees China Winning, West Losing From Iran Sanctions
As the European Union prepares to ban Iranian oil and the United States turns the screw on payments, oil executives and policymakers say China and Russia stand to gain the most and Western oil firms and consumers may emerge the biggest losers. Iran will continue to sell much the same volume of oil - 2.6 million barrels per day or around 3 percent of world supply - but almost all of it will flow to China, they reason. And being pretty much Iran's only remaining customer, Beijing will be able to negotiate a much reduced price. Sun Sentinel

Senate Paves Way For Final Debt Increase
Senators voted Thursday to grant President Obama a $1.2 trillion raise in the government’s borrowing limit, completing the largest debt increase in American history and paving the way for the government to borrow enough money to function the rest of the fiscal year. The 52-44 vote in favor of higher debt is the final chapter in the debt fight that dominated most of last year, culminating in the August deal struck by Mr. Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner that allowed more borrowing in exchange for spending cuts. After Thursday’s vote, the government has a full $2.1 trillion in new borrowing authority called for by the deal, though only $38 billion in spending cuts has been enacted — good for just 1.8 percent of the eventual total. Washington Times
VOA VIEW: A major mistake.

Panetta: U.S. To Cut 100K Ground Forces
Pentagon leaders outlined a plan Thursday for absorbing $487 billion in defense cuts over the coming decade by shrinking U.S. ground forces, slowing the purchase of a next-generation stealth fighter and retiring older planes and ships. In a bid to pre-empt election-year Republican criticism, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the plan shifts the Pentagon's focus from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to future challenges in Asia, the Mideast and in cyberspace. More special operations forces like the Navy SEALs who killed Osama bin Laden will be available around the world, he said. "We believe this is a balanced and complete package," Panetta told a news conference, with Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at his side. CBS

Mitt Romney Campaign Launches Surrogate Infiltration At Newt Gingrich Campaign Events
Forget the indirect attacks and distant exchanges between the Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich campaigns through the media. The Romney campaign pledged this week to run a “a full racketing operation,” right in Gingrich territory. A source close to the campaign told ABC News there will be a Romney surrogate at every public Gingrich event in Florida standing by to rebut Gingrich’s speeches to the media. “The campaign is entering a phase now where we are defining the terms of the Florida race,” a Romney staffer said. The staffer said it wasn’t a sign of fear on the Romney campaign’s side. However, the campaign didn’t feel the need to trail Gingrich when he was in 4th in Iowa. ABC

Dole Says Gingrich Will Hurt Republicans
Negative public perceptions of then- U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich didn’t help Republican Bob Dole in his failed 1996 presidential bid. For Dole, it’s payback time. In an “open letter” released today by Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign as Florida’s Jan. 31 primary approaches, Dole calls Gingrich a “a one-man-band who rarely took advice” and whose ideas were mostly “off the wall.” He says that if Gingrich prevails over the former Massachusetts governor in their battle for the party’s nomination, “
it will have an adverse impact on Republican candidates running for county, state, and federal offices.” Dole, 88, makes clear he speaks from experience. Bloomberg

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Foreclosures Keep Pushing House Prices Lower
The ongoing wave of foreclosures continues to drag home prices lower. Foreclosure-related properties, which made up roughly one in five home sales in the third quarter of  last year, sold for an average 34 percent less than homes that were not  “distressed sales,” according to the latest data from RealtyTrac, a housing data research firm. Foreclosures accounted for a smaller share of total sales as banks already glutted with properties slowed the pace of new seizures until they could unload the houses they already owned. The share of distressed sales also slowed last year following a slowdown in new foreclosures after consumer complaints and lawsuits challenging seizures that resulted from “robo-signing” and other questionable document practices. MSNBC

Dems To Obama: Bring On ‘Do-Nothing Congress’ Hit
House Democratic leaders say they welcome a campaign by President Barack Obama against a "do-nothing Congress" even though they're part of it. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Thursday it's not only okay for the president to adopt that strategy, she would encourage it. Democrats argue that Americans will then understand how Republicans are blocking the president's agenda. They say voters will also understand dysfunctional Senate rules that require 60 votes to move legislation. But Democrats control the Senate and have 191 seats in the House. Voters who already hold Congress in low regard could send lawmakers from both parties packing. Republicans counter that the election will be a referendum on Obama's economic record. Las Vegas Sun

Perry’s Texas Ratings Down After Failed Run
Gov. Rick Perry's approval rating in Texas has fallen to a 10-year low since his failed presidential bid, putting him on a par with President Barack Obama in his own home state. More than half of the people who responded to a statewide poll don't want Perry to run for another term as governor and 45 percent said his failed campaign for the Republican nomination for president hurt Texas' image. The poll conducted Jan. 21-24 was conducted for The Dallas Morning News, the Austin American Statesman, the San Antonio Express-News, the Houston Chronicle and the Fort Worth Star Telegram. The newspapers published the poll results Thursday. Las Vegas Sun

Putin Proposes Strict Immigration Law
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin proposed strict immigration regulations Thursday, including swift expulsion of illegals. Putin proposed those expelled be banned for as long as 10 years. Owners of "rubber homes," where migrants can obtain illegal papers, would face charges as well as those who employ the illegals. "Russia is not going to shut itself off, isolate itself from anybody, but what we definitely need is to set higher standards on the quality of migration policy, including the regulation of labor migration," Putin told RIA Novosti. Less than a week ago, Putin wrote an article on the issues facing a multi-ethnic Russia in which he said migrants should respect the customs of the places to which they immigrate. He also proposed mandatory exams in Russian, history and basic Russian law for migrants from 2013 onward to help them adapt to society. UPI
VOA VIEW: The U.S. should impose strict zero tolerance on illegal immigration.

Obama To Target Rising College Tuition Costs
President Barack Obama has put colleges and universities on notice to control tuition costs or face losing federal dollars. Now, schools are waiting to hear how big a stick he plans to wield to enforce his message. Obama was expected to spell out his plan in a speech Friday at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor focused on college affordability. His plan could set a new precedent in the federal government's role in controlling the rising costs of college - a move making people in higher education nervous. Obama's speech will cap a three-day post-State of the Union trip by the president to promote different components of his economic agenda in politically important states. San Diego Union

Obama Courts Latino Voters In 5-State Swing
President Obama is courting Hispanics in politically important states, setting himself up as a champion of the crucial Latino voting bloc and as a foil to Republican candidates fighting for a share of support from the same groups. With Latino voters voting overwhelmingly Democratic, Obama is not in danger of losing the support of a majority of Hispanics. But he does need their intensity, and a Gallup tracking poll shows that while a majority of Hispanics approve of Obama, that approval is not as high as it is among black voters. SF Gate

Business, Social Media To Prevent Babies With HIV
Business and social media leaders teamed up Friday to tackle the transmission of HIV from mothers to babies, saying the medicine and the money are largely in place, and with the right organizational skills they can eliminate HIV-infected births by 2015. John Megrue, CEO of Apax Partners U.S., will chair a business group that includes bankers and consulting experts and will help coordinate work being done by several governments and other international donors, as well as filling in gaps in the funding. Women need to receive antiretroviral drugs to prevent the virus being passed to their unborn babies. "There are no technological issues around it. There are no medical issues around it. It does not exist in the wealthy part of the world," Megrue said. "But there are still almost 400,000 children a year born - primarily in sub-Saharan Africa - with HIV." Miami Herald

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Stocks End In Red On Earnings, Economic Data
U.S. stocks ended in the red Thursday as investors digested a mixed batch of corporate earnings results and remained cautious amid lackluster economic data and ongoing debt talks in Greece. The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) dipped 22 points, or 0.2%, the S&P 500 (SPX) lost 8 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq (COMP) fell 13 points, or 0.5%. The three major indexes started higher but gave up gains throughout the day. Disappointing data on the housing market forced investors to turn cautious, said Sameer Samana, an analyst at Wells Fargo Advisors. CNN

Bernanke Won’t Comment On Whether He Would Resign If GOP Wins White House
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday that he wouldn’t “get involved in political rhetoric” when asked Wednesday whether he would resign if the GOP wins the presidential election and asks him to. Bernanke announced Wednesday that the board would keep interest rates as low as they are until late 2014.  CNS News

U.S. Needs Long-Term Site For Nuclear Wast
The United States must urgently work to find a new central site to house its spent nuclear fuel and probe whether Japan's nuclear disaster has any safety implications for storage at the country's plants, a federal panel said on Thursday. The U.S. government has struggled with how to manage the 65,000 tons of radioactive waste produced by its nuclear reactors over decades and stored throughout the country. Concern over nuclear waste has heightened since a massive earthquake and tsunami hit Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear complex last year, triggering the world's most serious nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. Reuters

Pirates: Raid A Risk To Captives
Pirates moved an American hostage at least three times in 24 hours and threatened Thursday to kill him after U.S. Navy SEALs rescued an American and a Dane in a bold dark-of-night raid that raises questions about whether other Western captives are now in greater danger. "If they try again, we will all die together," said Hassan Abdi, a Somali pirate connected to the gang holding the American, who was kidnapped Saturday in northern Somalia. "It's difficult to hold U.S. hostages, because it's a game of chance: die or get huge money. But we shall stick with our plans and will never release him until we get a ransom," Abdi said. Detroit News
VOA VIEW: Paying rasom puts a target on every American.

Food-Stamp Change Blasted U.S. Official Calls Pa. Asset-Based Plan A Mistake.
The federal official in charge of the U.S. food stamp program said Thursday that Pennsylvania’s plan to tie food-stamp benefits to people’s assets will save the state nothing and create more problems than it solves. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, in Philadelphia to discuss President Obama’s State of the Union message, said the asset test “is not going to save the commonwealth a single dime,” and would, in fact, cost the state money to implement. Mayor Nutter, at a City Hall news conference with Vilsack, was more pointed. “This is one of the most mean-spirited, asinine proposals to come out of Harrisburg in decades,” he said. “I literally cannot understand what problem they are trying to solve.” Philadelphia Inquirer

Romney Rapped For Kosher Cut
Mitt Romney is getting heat for a 2003 veto he cast as governor of Massachusetts to reject $600,000 in additional funds for poor Jewish nursing-home residents to get kosher meals. At the time, Romney said he nixed the funding of about $5 per meal because it “unnecessarily” would lead to an “increased rate for nursing facilities” — even as kosher nursing homes were complaining that state-funding-formula changes could force them to close their kitchens. “I was outraged,” Jeffrey Goldshine, the retired CEO of a company that operated a kosher facility in Massachusetts, told The Post yesterday. “For the elderly Jewish residents of a nursing home that have always been kosher — they should be entitled to continue.” NY Post

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Taxpayers Still Owed $133B From Bailout
Companies that were bailed out during the financial crisis still owe U.S. taxpayers nearly $133 billion. Treasury's plans to recoup that money have been slowed by the volatile stock market and weakness among smaller banks. Some of the money will never be recovered. That's the conclusion of the acting inspector general for the government's financial bailout. Some bailout programs, like the effort to reduce home foreclosures, will last as late as 2017, the inspector general said. Those programs could cost an additional $50 billion or more. Among the largest bailed-out companies, American International Group Inc. still owes taxpayers around $50 billion, General Motors Co. owes about $25 billion and Ally Financial Inc. about $12 billion. Fox News

First Lady Lauds Goya 'MiPlato' Initiative
First lady Michelle Obama Thursday took her Let's Move fitness campaign to Florida, hailing an effort by Goya Foods to make Hispanic dishes healthier. Goya, the largest Hispanic-owned U.S. food company, unveiled "MiPlato," a food group symbol to remind people about healthy food choices and proper proportions. "Some of my best childhood memories involve food," Obama said. "Family and friends gathering together for hours in the kitchen -- that was the living room, the kitchen; you didn't sit in the living room, you sat in the kitchen -- cooking our favorite dishes, making sure that everyone ate until they were full -- beyond full, right? Sitting for hours, talking, laughing, sharing stories. UPI

Romney And Gingrich Come Out Swinging In Latest Debate
Republican presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich came out swinging Thursday night over their views on exploring space and dealing with Cuba, managing their personal finances and running their political campaigns in a debate five days before a pivotal Florida primary that may sort out their tumultuous competition. Staying on the offensive through the two-hour forum, Romney accused Gingrich of "repulsive" and "over-the-top rhetoric" in a campaign ad that had labeled him "anti-immigrant." He demanded an apology for what he called "highly charged epithets," which Gingrich took off the air after Florida Sen. Marco Rubio complained. Gingrich declined to say he was sorry, instead suggesting the phrase was an accurate description of Romney's opposition to his proposal to provide a path to legal residency for "grandmothers and grandfathers" who have been in the country illegally but have deep roots here. USA Today

Obama-Backed Car Battery Company Files For Bankruptcy Protection
Ener1, an electric car battery company that the Obama administration awarded a $118 million stimulus grant to expand its operations, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Thursday after being unable to repay pressing debts. The news comes one year after Vice President Biden visited the company’s new battery plant in Indiana to highlight its progress with federal funds. Ener1 is the third company to seek bankruptcy protection among those the Energy Department backed as part of the president’s signature program to invest in clean energy. Solyndra, a California solar-panel maker, and Beacon Power, a Massachusetts energy-storage firm, entered bankruptcy court proceedings in the fall, after having received taxpayer-guaranteed loans of $535 million and $43 million, respectively. Washington Post
VOA VIEW: More Obama wasteful patronage spending.

Mitt Romney’s Attacks On Newt Gingrich’s Record And Credibility Strain His Own
Mitt Romney last night attacked Newt Gingrich’s record and credibility for the second consecutive debate, aiming to win the Florida primary and the Republican presidential nomination. But in the process, he fudged elements of his own record that undercut his own credibility and fueled the type of criticism that may cost him the general election if not the nomination. It was crystallized in one early moment, when moderator Wolf Blitzer noted the coarseness of the television ad wars in Florida and asked Romney what he meant in one radio ad that accused Gingrich of saying, “Spanish is the language of the ghetto.” Boston Globe

Santorum Defends Romney, Gingrich On Wealth Attack
Presidential candidate Rick Santorum is defending rival Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich on attacks from each other on their wealth. Santorum says Romney is, in his words, "a wealthy guy because he worked hard." He is also defending Gingrich by saying Gingrich's work advising companies after leaving government is not the worst thing in the world. Santorum says Romney's and Gingrich's attacks on each other distract from bigger issues and that they should focus on policy differences. Gingrich says he believe his wealth should be a non-issue but says he must defend himself from attacks. Houston Chronicle

Israel Says Iran 'Drifting' Toward Nuke Goal Line
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Friday the world must quickly stop Iran from reaching the point where even a "surgical" military strike could not block it from obtaining nuclear weapons. Amid fears that Israel is nearing a decision to attack Iran's nuclear program, Barak said tougher international sanctions are needed against Tehran's oil and banks so that "we all will know early enough whether the Iranians are ready to give up their nuclear weapons program." Iran insists its atomic program is only aimed at producing energy and research, but has repeatedly refused to consider giving up its ability to enrich uranium. Atlanta Journal

Prison Dilemma: Surging Numbers Of Older Inmates
In corrections systems nationwide, officials are grappling with decisions about geriatric units, hospices and medical parole as elderly inmates -- with their high rates of illness and infirmity -- make up an ever increasing share of the prison population. At a time of tight state budgets, it's a trend posing difficult dilemmas for policymakers. They must address soaring medical costs for these older inmates and ponder whether some can be safely released before their sentences expire. The latest available figures from 2010 show that 8 percent of the prison population -- 124,400 inmates -- was 55 or older, compared to 3 percent in 1995, according to a report being released Friday by Human Rights Watch. This oldest segment grew at six times the rate of the overall prison population between 1995 and 2010, the report says. Indy Star

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Obama Looks To Bank Votes While GOP Fights
After a soft roll out in the fall with an address to a joint session of Congress and tour of mostly Eastern swing states, Obama kicked off the more overt phase of his re-election campaign on Tuesday with another speech in the House and a push through Western battlegrounds. The fall swing and the current mid-winter blitz are very similar in message and style, but are different in scope and geography. The fall speech and tour now looks like a rehearsal for the current post-State of the Union re-election push. This campaign trip and the speech that launched it are about making an early effort to lock up votes that Democrats believe will fall their way eventually. This is, in military terms, trying to get to the high ground first. Fox News

What's Behind Netflix's 20% Spike?
Netflix is the highest flying stock on the S&P 500 (SPX) Thursday, but was its fourth-quarter earnings report enough to justify a 20% run up in the stock? The short answer: no. The streaming video and DVD by mail firm is a heavily shorted stock. Roughly 22% of all Netflix (NFLX) buyers have shorted it, or borrowed the stock on a bet that its price will fall. It's not a surprise for a company's stock to get a lift following strong earnings but in this case, the better-than-expected results pushed investors who borrowed the stock to sell it at a higher price for a loss, according to two traders who have been buying and selling the stock today. CNN

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Peres: Iran Is Greatest Threat To Mideast Peace
Iran is the greatest obstacle to peace in the Middle East, President Shimon Peres said Thursday at the Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Describing Hezbollah and Hamas as Iran's two agents in the region, Peres said Iran has turned the Gaza Strip into a base for launching missiles at Israel. The president added that the international community should encourage the Iranian people to overthrow the regime in Tehran. Related: Palestinians: Peace talks end with no progressIn Gaza, Ashton calls for continued peace talksSpeaking in a panel alongside Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the president said he believes "we are closer than we think" to reaching peace with the Palestinians. Jerusalem Post

Ahmadinejad: Sanctions Can't Harm Iran's Economy
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday that his country's economy would not be damaged by newly imposed Western sanctions, AFP reported. “At one point our trade with Europe was around 90 percent but now it is only approximately 10%, and even this 10% we don't need... History has shown that the Iranian nation can not be hurt [by Western sanctions],” Ahmadinejad said. Ahmadinejad's comment came just one day after he agreed to increase bank interest rates on bank deposits up to 21%, hoping to halt a spiraling currency crisis intensified by the new sanctions. Jerusalem Post

Egypt Travel Ban For Son Of US Transport Secretary
The son of a senior US cabinet minister is among several foreigners working for civil society groups who have been banned from leaving Egypt. Sam LaHood, the son of Transport Secretary Ray LaHood, was stopped as he tried to board a flight leaving the country. His organisation, International Republican Institute (IRI), was one of 17 recently raided by authorities. IRI is a US-funded non-profit that encourages democratic governance. Egypt's military government has vowed to investigate how pro-democracy and human rights organisations are funded, and has said repeatedly it will not tolerate foreign interference in the country's affairs. BBC

Libyan Detainees Die After Torture, Says Amnesty International
Several people have died after being tortured by militias in Libyan detention centres, human rights group Amnesty International has said. It claimed to have seen patients in Tripoli, Misrata and Gheryan with open wounds to their head, limbs and back. Meanwhile, charity Medecins Sans Frontieres has suspended operations in Misrata after treating 115 patients with torture-related wounds. The UN says it is concerned about the conditions in which patients are held. "The torture is being carried out by officially recognised military and security entities as well as by a multitude of armed militias operating outside any legal framework," a spokesman for London-based Amnesty said. BBC

Bill Gates Tells Davos 'Economic Crisis Is Not An Excuse For Cutting Aid'
Bill Gates tells the World Economic Forum: 'the economic crisis mustn't overshadow poverty battle' Link to this video Bills Gates has pledged $750m (£478m) to the troubled Global Fund – which fights aids, tuberculosis and malaria – through his charitable foundation and called on governments around the world not to let the economic crisis affect their commitment to the life-saving fund. The Microsoft co-founder played down concerns surrounding the Fund, which is facing accusations of misuse of funds, and said he hoped governments would continue to support the 10-year old fund, despite the constraints of their economies and the concerns about the way money was being spent. Guardian

Santorum Sticks To The Fundamentals – And Finds Votes Hard To Come By
The former Pennsylvania senator has built his campaign around what he calls "the fundamentals – faith, family and freedom". He takes pride in his willingness to address social issues, including gay marriage, abortion and stem cell research, criticising his rivals for their less strident approaches. This strategy led him to an unexpected victory in the Iowa caucuses. But then, he came a disappointing third in conservative South Carolina. Now, he is barely campaigning in Florida; after Thursday's CNN debate in Jacksonville he will spend Friday and Saturday in Virginia. Guardian

Newt Gingrich Promises American Colony On The Moon
In a speech near Nasa's Kennedy Space Centre, the Republican hopeful and space-travel enthusiast pledged that by 2020 American families would be living and working on the lunar surface. He even proposed that that when the colony's population reached 13,000 it could apply to become the fifty-first state of the union. Mr Gingrich, whose interest in space is matched only by his fascination with zoos, said that exploration of the universe would inspire the country's young to feel “part of a generation of courageous people who do something big and bold and heroic.” Telegraph

Taliban Diplomats Arrive In Qatar
The envoys from the former regime have assembled in the past month and the first tentative talks could begin within weeks according to former Taliban officials now part of Hamid Karzai's peace council. A Taliban declaration earlier this month that the movement would open an office "to come to an understanding with other nations" is seen as the most significant political breakthrough in ten years of conflict. The delegation was apparently granted safe passage to the Gulf state despite several members still being on a United Nations' sanctions blacklist banning international travel. Telegraph

Women’s Education ‘Smartest Global Investment,’ Ban Tells World Economic Forum
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called today on business leaders attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to increase their investment in women’s education and health to ensure their well-being and encourage their participation in the world economy. “Investing in the health of women and girls is the right thing to do and the smart thing to do for national economies and global stability,” Mr. Ban said at an event organized by the Every Woman Every Child initiative, a global effort launched in 2010 to mobilize and intensify global action to save the lives of 16 million women and children and improve the lives of millions more. UN News

Return Of UN Political Presence To Mogadishu ‘Historic’ Step, Says Envoy
The re-establishment of the United Nations political presence in Mogadishu will allow the world body to work more closely with Somalia during a crucial period in its peace process, the UN envoy to the country said today. On Tuesday Augustine P. Mahiga, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative, moved to the capital of the Horn of Africa nation from Nairobi along with a number of his core staff from the UN Political Office for Somalia (UNPOS). The move comes one and half months after Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced during his visit to Mogadishu that the UN office will relocate to the city to provide further assistance at what he called a “critical juncture” for the future of the Somali people. UN News

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