Obama Sees 'Potential' for Averting the Fiscal Cliff

President Obama says he sees "potential" for averting the "fiscal cliff" in 28 days, but that no deal will get done unless Republicans consent to raise income-tax rates on the top 2 percent of U.S. earners.

"We're going to have to see the rates on the top 2 percent go up and we're not going to be able to get a deal without it," Obama told Bloomberg TV in his first televised interview since the Nov. 6 election.

Obama suggested that Republican opposition to any increase in tax rates has stifled progress in negotiations and at least partly explains why he has not met more regularly with House Speaker John Boehner.

"Speaker Boehner and I speak frequently," he said. "I don't think the issue right now has to do with sitting in a room.

"Unfortunately, the speaker's proposal right now is still out of balance," he added, referring to the GOP plan unveiled Monday that would extend all income tax rates at current levels while imposing changes to Medicare and Social Security.

The GOP proposal would achieve $2.2 trillion in deficit reduction in the next decade, including $800 billion in higher taxes through elimination of loopholes and deductions, slower annual cost-of-living increases for Social Security benefits and a higher eligibility age for Medicare.

Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images

Washington, D.C., Gridlocked as Fiscal Cliff Approaches Watch Video

What Exactly Did Obama Promise Voters on Tax Hikes Watch Video

'Fiscal Cliff' Negotiations: Ball Is in the GOP's Court Watch Video

The plan contrasts sharply with the White House proposal, which calls for $1.6 trillion in new tax revenue -- largely from higher rates on upper-income earners -- modest unspecified savings from Medicare and a new burst of economic stimulus spending.

Both sides have dismissed out of hand the opposing proposal, raising the prospect of continued gridlock as the economy hurdles toward the "cliff."

Income tax rates for the top 2 percent of Americans remain the immediate sticking point. Obama insists that rates must rise at the end of the year as part of any deal; Republicans oppose increasing rates on the wealthy.

Unless Obama and Republicans reach a compromise, a sweeping set of automatic, across-the-board tax hikes and deep spending cuts will take effect, potentially throwing the U.S. economy back into recession.

The "cliff" scenario results from a failure by Congress and the administration at previous intervals to take steps to reduce federal deficits and debt.

In the Bloomberg interview, Obama said he could be flexible on tax rates and entitlement overhaul, but only in broader discussions next year about revamping the tax code and social safety-net programs.

"Let's let [rates on higher-income earners] go up and then let's set up a process with a time certain at the end of 2013, or the fall of 2013, where we work on tax reform, we look at what loopholes and deductions both Democrats and Republicans are willing to close and it's possible that we may be able to lower rates by broadening the base at that point," he said.

The president also said he's "willing to look at anything" that might strengthen entitlements and extend their financial solvency, but did not specify further.

Republicans continued to rebuff the president's proposal Tuesday, claiming the $1.6 trillion package of tax increases could not pass either house of Congress, including the Democrat-controlled Senate.

"Only one person in the country can deliver the members of his party to support a deal that he makes, and that is the president," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

He praised House Republicans for "trying to move the process forward" with their proposal, but stopped short of endorsing it. Some conservative advocacy groups have been assailing GOP leaders this week for consenting to any tax revenue increases in a deal with Obama.

"With our latest offer we have demonstrated there is a middle ground solution that can cut spending and bring in revenue without hurting American small businesses," Boehner said in a statement today.

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Leech cocoon preserves 200-million-year-old fossil

Move over amber. When it comes to preserving soft-bodied animals through the ages, there's a newcomer in town: fossilised leech "cocoons".

The cocoons are secreted by many leech and worm species as mucous egg cases that harden and often fossilise. Almost two decades ago, Norwegian scientists found a perfectly preserved nematode worm embedded in the wall of a fossilised cocoon, but no one had investigated further.

So when Benjamin Bomfleur, a palaeobiologist at the University of Kansas, and his colleagues found fossil cocoons in 200-million-year-old rocks from the mountains of Antarctica, they took a closer look. They dissolved the rock with acid, leaving only the organic material - mostly leaf litter, but also 20 leech cocoons squashed flat by the pressure of aeons. One contained a perfectly preserved ciliated protozoan that appeared identical to modern single-celled "bell animals" (Vorticella) that live in ponds and streams.

The find is one of only a handful of fossilised ciliated protozoans. It suggests leech cocoons could be conservation traps in which, like amber, rarely fossilised creatures might be found.

Journal reference: PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1218879109

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Typhoon smashes into Philippines

MANILA: Typhoon Bopha smashed into the southern Philippines early Tuesday as more than 40,000 people crammed into shelters to escape the onslaught of the strongest cyclone to hit the country this year.

The state weather service said Bopha made landfall on Mindanao island's east coast at dawn, raking across the island of 10 million people, packing gusts of up to 210 kilometres (130 miles) an hour and bringing heavy rain.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or serious damage but Mindanao was in lockdown with residents of coastal and flood-prone areas moving into shelters as floods hit some areas.

Aviation and shipping were suspended, with 80 flights grounded and thousands of ferry passengers stranded at ports as the coastguard ordered vessels to stay in port, the civil defence office said.

More than 41,000 people had moved into nearly 1,000 government shelters across the island by early Tuesday, it said in its latest bulletin.

The commercial centre of Cagayan de Oro, one of Mindanao's largest cities, was hit by flooding as rivers overflowed following heavy rain.

School holidays were declared in Mindanao and large areas of the central Philippines.

President Benigno Aquino led calls for evacuations on Monday, saying: "(Bopha's) destructive potential is no laughing matter. It is expected to be the strongest typhoon to hit our country in 2012."

The Philippines is battered by about 20 typhoons a year, some of them destructive. Bopha is the sixteenth so far this year.

In August, nearly 100 people were killed and more than a million were displaced by heavy flooding caused by a series of storms.

Nineteen typhoons struck the country last year, of which 10 were destructive, leading to more than 1,500 deaths and affecting nearly 10 percent of the total population, according to the government.

- AFP/fa

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McAfee: Photo 'location' leak meant to mislead cops

John McAfee

(Credit:
Personal photo)

The ongoing saga of John McAfee, the tech entrepreneur-turned-fugitive, took a twist today when Vice magazine published a photo that appeared to indicate he had taken refuge in Guatemala.

That deduction was based on the EXIF location metadata associated with the image, which the camera applications included with iOS and
Android devices include, depending on what privacy settings are configured. Some news organizations, as well as Sophos, seized on that apparent security lapse.

But EXIF latitude and longitude data can easily be modified. Freeware utilities like GeoSetter let you do just that. And that's what McAfee says he did to the photo posted on Vice's Web site -- waging, in other words, a kind of electronic disinformation campaign without the magazine's permission.

In a blog post this afternoon, McAfee wrote from an undisclosed location:

I openly apologize to Vice Magazine for manipulating their recently published photo... I, for my own safety, manipulated the xif data on the image taken from my cellphone, and created a fake emrgency so that the urgency of movement led, as I knew it would, to the hasty posting on their website. I felt that our tenuous situation demanded action, and that was the action that I chose.

Vice, an alternative magazine with a snarky take on pop culture that delights in not-quite-safe-for-work commentary with titles like "A SEX TRADE SHOW... ON ACID!", posted an article today titled "WE ARE WITH JOHN MCAFEE RIGHT NOW, SUCKERS." (The original photo was subsequently deleted.)

McAfee was one of the pioneers in creating antivirus software and is
the founder of the company that bears his name -- but he hasn't had
anything to do with the company in more than a decade. He is now on
the lam from Belize authorities.

Gregory Faull, McAfee's neighbor, was found last month shot in the
back of the head days after he filed a complaint about McAfee -- lodging allegations about McAfee's dogs and the men he
hired to provide security -- to municipal officials in Ambergris Caye,
a tropical island just off the coast of Belize.

Police have not charged McAfee with any crime and say they want him
for only for questioning. McAfee fled his home and says he did so
because once learning that Faull was dead, he was sure the police
would try to blame him for the murder. He says he is innocent and on
the run because Belizean authorities are conspiring against him.

According to his blog and the many interviews he's given to news media,
McAfee, 67, has been hiding out, disguising himself, while keeping
company with a 20-year-old woman. The saga has, at times, taken a bizarre turn: At about the same time that Faull was murdered, someone allegedly poisoned McAfee's dogs. McAfee said he buried himself in sand at one point to evade police.

In the weeks leading up the murder, McAfee had given interviews to
reporters from Wired and Gizmodo. He was photographed with shotguns. He boasted about hiring drug kingpins. His home was raided for weapons violations and for manufacturing an antibiotic without a license. No charges were filed in that case.

He had donated a boat to police just weeks before this whole thing started.

McAfee has set up a blog, WhoIsMcAfee.com, to let his fans keep abreast of his life on the lam. A post earlier today said: "I am currently safe and in the company of two intrepid journalist from Vice Magazine... We are not in Belize, but not quite out of the woods yet." The post added that a "double" carrying a North Korean passport under McAfee's name was detained in Mexico and then released.

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Mars Rover Detects Simple Organic Compounds

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has detected several simple carbon-based organic compounds on Mars, but it remains unclear whether they were formed via Earthly contamination or whether they contain only elements indigenous to the planet.

Speaking at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco, Curiosity mission leaders also said that the compound perchlorate—identified previously in polar Mars—appeared to also be present in Gale Crater, the site of Curiosity's exploration.

The possible discovery of organics—or carbon-based compounds bonded to hydrogen, also called hydrocarbons—could have major implications for the mission's search for more complex organic material.

It would not necessarily mean that life exists now or ever existed on Mars, but it makes the possibility of Martian life—especially long ago when the planet was wetter and warmer—somewhat greater, since available carbon is considered to be so important to all known biology.

(See "Mars Curiosity Rover Finds Proof of Flowing Water—A First.")

The announcements came after several weeks of frenzied speculation about a "major discovery" by Curiosity on Mars. But project scientist John Grotzinger said that it remains too early to know whether Martian organics have been definitely discovered or if they're byproducts of contamination brought from Earth.

"When this data first came in, and then was confirmed in a second sample, we did have a hooting and hollering moment," he said.

"The enthusiasm we had was perhaps misunderstood. We're doing science at the pace of science, but news travels at a different speed."

Organics Detected Before on Mars

The organic compounds discovered—different combinations of carbon, hydrogen, and chlorine—are the same or similar to chlorinated organics detected in the mid-1970s by the Viking landers.

(Related: "Life on Mars Found by NASA's Viking Mission?")

At the time, the substances were written off as contamination brought from Earth, but now scientists know more about how the compounds could be formed on Mars. The big question remains whether the carbon found in the compounds is of Martian or Earthly origin.

Paul Mahaffy, the principal investigator of the instrument that may have found the simple organics—the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)—said that while the findings were not "definitive," they were significant and would require a great deal of further study.

Mahaffy also said the discovery came as a surprise, since the soil sample involved was hardly a prime target in the organics search. In fact, the soil was scooped primarily to clean out the rover's mobile laboratory and soil-delivery systems.

Called Rocknest, the site is a collection of rocks with rippled sand around them—an environment not considered particularly promising for discovery. The Curiosity team has always thought it had a much better chance of finding the organics in clays and sulfate minerals known to be present at the base of Mount Sharp, located in the Gale Crater, where the rover will head early next year.

(See the Mars rover Curiosity's first color pictures.)

The rover has been at Rocknest for a month and has scooped sand and soil five times. It was the first site where virtually all the instruments on Curiosity were used, Grotzinger said, and all of them proved to be working well.

They also worked well in unison—with one instrument giving the surprising signal that the minerals in the soil were not all crystalline, which led to the intensive examination of the non-crystalline portion to see if it contained any organics.

Rover Team "Very Confident"

The simple organics detected by SAM were in the chloromethane family, which contains compounds that are sometimes used to clean electronic equipment. Because it was plausible that Viking could have brought the compounds to Mars as contamination, that conclusion was broadly accepted.

But in 2010, Chris McKay of NASA's Ames Research Center and Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez of the National Autonomous University of Mexico published an influential paper describing how dichloromethane can be a byproduct of the heating of other organic material in the presence of the compound perchlorate.

They conducted the experiment because NASA's Phoenix mission had discovered large amounts of perchlorate in the northern polar soil of Mars, and it seems plausible that it would exist elsewhere on the planet.

"In terms of the SAM results, there are two important conclusions," said McKay, a scientist on the SAM team.

"The first is confirming the perchlorate story—that it's most likely there and seems to react at high temperatures with organic material to form the dichloromethane and other simple organics."

"The second is that we'll have to either find organics without perchlorates nearby, or find a way to get around that perchlorate wall that keeps us from identifying organics," he said.

Another SAM researcher, Danny Glavin of Goddard, said his team is "very confident" about the reported detection of the hydrocarbons, and that they were produced in the rover's ovens. He said it is clear that the chlorine in the compounds is from Mars, but less clear about the carbon.

"We will figure out what's going on here," he said. "We have the instruments and we have the people. And whatever the final conclusions, we will have learned important things about Mars that we can use in the months ahead."

Author of the National Geographic e-book Mars Landing 2012, Marc Kaufman has been a journalist for more than 35 years, including the past 12 as a science and space writer, foreign correspondent, and editor for the Washington Post. He is also author of First Contact: Scientific Breakthroughs in the Hunt for Life Beyond Earth, published in 2011, and has spoken extensively to crowds across the United States and abroad about astrobiology. He lives outside Washington, D.C., with his wife, Lynn Litterine.

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Suspect Allegedly Told Cops He Traveled to Kill

A man charged in the death of a teenage barista in Alaska told police that he traveled the country with the sole purpose to kill strangers because he "liked to do it," prosecutors said today.

Vermont and federal prosecutors detailed the meticulous and cold-blooded murder of Bill and Lorraine Currier in Essex, Vt., last year and said the information came from Israel Keyes before he killed himself in an Alaska jail cell Sunday. Keyes provided details that only the perpetrator would know, police said.

Keyes, 34, the owner of an Anchorage construction company, was in jail charged with the February murder of Samantha Koenig, 18. While in jail he had been confessing to at least seven other killings in Washington, New York and Vermont.

Now that he is dead, investigators are wondering how many more killings Keyes might be responsible for and why he committed the crimes.

"He provided some motivation, but I don't think it's really [possible] to pigeonhole why he did this," Tristram Coffin, U.S. Attorney in Vermont, said at a news conference today. "He described to investigators that this was a volitional act of his. He wasn't compelled by some uncontrollable force, but it was something that he could control and he liked to do it. Why someone likes to act like that, nobody knows."

Missing Alaska Barista Had Past Restraining Order Watch Video

Authorities described the murders of the Curriers in great detail, offering insight into how the twisted killer traveled to murder, his criteria for choosing random victims and his careful planning of of the murders.

"When [Keyes] left Alaska, he left with the specific purpose of kidnapping and murdering someone," Chittenden County State Attorney T. J. Donovan said at the press conference. "He was specifically looking for a house that had an attached garage, no car in the driveway, no children, no dog."

The Curriers, unfortunately, fit all of Keyes' criteria. He spent three days in Vermont before striking. He even took out a three-day fishing license and fished before the slayings.

In June 2011, Keyes went to their house and cut a phone line from outside and made sure they did not have a security system that would alert police. He donned a head lamp and broke into their house with a gun and silencer that he had brought with him.

Keyes found the couple in bed and tied them up with zip ties. He took Lorraine Currier's purse and wallet as well as Bill Currier's gun. He left the man's wallet.

He put the couple in their own car and drove them to an abandoned farmhouse that he had previously scoped out. Keyes tied Bill Currier to a stool in the basement and went back to the car for Lorraine Currier.

"Keyes saw that Lorraine had broken free from the zip ties and observed that she was running towards Main Street," Donovan said. "He tackled her to regain control of her."

Keyes took Lorraine Currier to the second floor of the farmhouse and tied her up. He rushed to the basement when he heard commotion and found that Bill Currier's stool had broken and he was partially free.

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Tiny tug of war in cells underpins life

TUG of war could well be the oldest game in the world. Cells use it for division, and now researchers have measured the forces involved when an amoeba plays the game.

Hirokazu Tanimoto and Masaki Sano at the University of Tokyo, Japan, studied what happens during the division of Dictyostelium - a slime mould that has barely changed through eons of evolution. The amoeba uses tiny projections or "feet" to gain traction on a surface.

The pair placed the amoeba on a flexible surface embedded with fluorescent beads. They used traction force microscopy to measure how the organism deformed the pattern of beads: the greater the deformation, the greater the force.

Dictyostelium normally exerts a force of about 10 nanonewtons when it moves, but the pair found this roughly doubles during division. That's because the cell uses its feet to pull itself in opposite directions, as if playing tug of war with itself.

The forces involved are about 100 billion times smaller than those used in the human form of the game, Tanimoto says (Physical Review Letters, in press).

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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Golf: McDowell wins World Challenge

THOUSAND OAKS, California: Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell ended a two-year victory drought Sunday with a three-shot triumph in the World Challenge hosted by Tiger Woods.

McDowell, who capped a stellar 2010 season that saw him win the US Open with a victory in this unofficial post-season invitational, hadn't won anywhere in the world since then.

He carded a four-under par 68 in the final round for a 72-hole total of 17-under 271 and a three-stroke victory over Keegan Bradley.

Bradley, the 2011 PGA Championship winner who started the day two shots off McDowell's lead, posted a 69 for 274.

After taking the 54-hole lead on Saturday, McDowell admitted that even though this tournament isn't part of any tour, it would be nice to grab a win to cap a mixed season in which he settled for a tie for second at the US Open, and a tie for fifth at the British Open.

Bo Van Pelt carded a 70 for sole possession of third place on 278, while tournament host Woods carded a one-under 71 on the rain-soaked Sherwood Country Club course for a share of fourth place on 279.

He was joined by Jim Furyk (70) and Rickie Fowler (69).

- AFP/fa

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Facebook Powerball hoaxer is software engineer, report says

Is that a software engineer's beard?

(Credit:
Screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET)

You have probably barely slept for wondering what kind of sniveling snail would put their picture up on Facebook with a fake winning Powerball ticket.

Or you have probably barely slept for wondering what kind of saintly sort would ask people to share on Facebook his picture with a winning Powerball ticket and offer $1 million to a random sharer.

Either way, the excitement generated by Nolan Daniels has been heated and profound -- especially as more than 2 million people have now shared in the experience.

Now, it seems, we know which Nolan Daniels he is.

The Savannah Daily News, which first brought his tale to prominence, has now announced that this Nolan Daniels is Nolan Ryan Daniels, software engineer.

It says that this Nolan Ryan Daniels is the co-owner of N2 Technologies, based in Mesa, Ariz. This is a company that offers various software services to those in the medical industry.

His LinkedIn profile offers that he is a "Seasoned Computer Programmer and SQL Expert."

The Savannah Daily News says that it has spoken with his brother, Derek, who confirmed his identity and declared: "I think he craves the love from people."

Well, he certainly has enjoyed quite some love -- especially from people who would love it if he would give them quite some money.

Derek Daniels also teased: "He did this to make himself feel better."

Naturally, one has tried to contact this very Nolan Daniels in an attempt to ascertain his own perspective on both his jape and the impact it has enjoyed all over the world.

More Technically Incorrect

Thus far, he has maintained a stoic silence. Which might mean that "The Today Show" or another fine breakfast serial has secured his story.

I am sure there will be software engineers who will admire his sense of humor.

Though a few might feel it denigrates the sheer precision of their profession that he didn't present the numbers in ascending order -- which is normal for a Powerball ticket.

As of this writing, Daniels -- who was, indeed, reportedly named after pitcher Nolan Ryan -- continues to receive messages of goodwill.

Just a couple of hours ago, the improbably named Louan Lheureuxx posted to his Facebook page: "This is not luck! There is no such thing! It is Karma. This man probably really deserved this :) awesome!!!"

It will surely be, um, awesome if he becomes a nationally recognized figure, ready to fool the world again with his next artful dodge.

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Photos: Kilauea Lava Reaches the Sea

• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Into the Sea

  Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters

  A spectacular natural phenomenon was on display early this week as lava from a vent in Hawaii's Kilauea volcano flowed into the ocean, sending up plumes of steam as it made contact with the waves.

  Though lava can still be viewed from Kalapana near the Big Island's Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, ocean entry is no longer occurring, according to the National Park Service.

  Published November 30, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Sea of Fire

  
  Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
  

  The lava traveled 7 miles (11 kilometers) from Kilauea’s Pu'u O'o vent to the ocean. When lava reaches the water, it cools and hardens, forming a lava delta that can be dangerous to nearby onlookers, according to Reuters.

  The news service reported that no communities on the Big Island were threatened by the lava flow.

  Published November 30, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Volcanic Flare

  
  Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters
  

  A burst of volcanic activity erupts from Kilauea’s crater in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park on November 27.

  The volcano has been erupting continuously for nearly 30 years. No major damage has been suffered by a town since 1986, according to Reuters.

  Published November 30, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Fiery Encounter

  Photograph by Hugh Gentry, Reuters

  “Ocean entries are beautiful but dangerous,” said Janet Babb, spokeswoman for the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, in a statement reported by Reuters. She warned that the steam could be more hazardous than it appears.

  Published November 30, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Point of Contact

  
  Photograph by Matt Northam, My Shot
  

  A plume of smoke billows where lava from Kilauea meets the sea in this aerial photo taken November 27.

  Published November 30, 2012

  
  











• 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Photograph by Peter Vancoillie, Your Shot

  Published November 30, 2012

  
  

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