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Thursday, September 9, 2010 – Daily News – 3B WORLD BRIEFING Combative Obama insists on ending Bush tax cuts for rich CLEVELAND (AP) — Politically weakened but refus- ing to bend, President Barack Obama insisted Wednesday that Bush-era tax cuts be cut off for the wealthiest Americans, join- ing battle with Republicans ‚Äî and some fellow Democrats ‚Äî just two months before bruising midterm elections. Singling out House GOP leader John Boehner in his home state, Obama delivered a searing attack on Republicans for advocating "the same phi- losophy that led to this mess in the first place: cut more taxes for millionaires and cut more rules for corporations." Obama rolled out a trio of new plans to help spur job growth and invigorate the slug- gish national economic recov- ery. They would expand and permanently extend a research and development tax credit that lapsed in 2009, allow business- es to write off 100 percent of their investments in equipment and plants through 2011 and pump $50 billion into highway, rail, airport and other infra- structure projects. The package was assembled by the president's economic team after it became clear that the recovery was running out of steam. There was a political component, too: With Democ- rats in danger of losing control of the House in November, Obama is under heavy pressure to show voters that he and his party are ready to do more to get the economy moving and get millions of jobless Ameri- cans back to work. However, none of Wednes- day's proposals, nor Obama's call for allowing tax rates to rise for the wealthiest Americans, seems likely to be acted on by Congress before the elections, reflecting the battering Obama and congressional Democrats have taken in public opinion polls. Fla. minister determined to hold Quran burn on 9/11 GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The leader of a small Flori- da church that espouses anti- Islam philosophy said Wednes- day he was determined to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11, despite pressure from the White House, religious leaders and others to call it off. Pastor Terry Jones said at a press conference that he has received a lot of encourage- ment, with supporters mailing copies of the Islamic holy text to his Gainesville church of about 50 followers. He pro- claimed in July that he would stage "International Burn-a- Quran Day" to mark the ninth anniversary of 9/11. "As of right now, we are not convinced that backing down is the right thing," said Jones, who took no questions. Jones said he has received more than 100 death threats and has started carrying a .40-cal- iber pistol since announcing his plan to burn the book Muslims consider the word of God and insist be treated with the utmost respect. Jones, 58, was flanked by an armed escort Wednesday. Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Kabul, took the rare step of a military leader taking a position on a domestic matter when he warned in an e-mail to The Associated Press that "images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extrem- ists in Afghanistan ‚Äî and around the world ‚Äî to inflame public opinion and incite vio- lence." BP points the finger at itself and others NEW ORLEANS (AP) — BP took some of the blame for the Gulf oil disaster in an inter- nal report issued Wednesday, acknowledging among other things that it misinterpreted a key pressure test of the well. But in a possible preview of its legal strategy, it also pointed the finger at its partners on the doomed rig. The highly technical, 193- page report attributes the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history and the rig explosion that set it off to a complex chain of fail- ures both human and mechani- cal. Some of those problems have been made public over the past 4 1/2 months, such as the failure of the blowout preventer to clamp the well shut. The report is far from the definitive ruling on the cause of the catastrophe. For one thing, government investigators have not yet begun to fully analyze the blowout preventer, which was raised from the bottom of the sea over Labor Day week- end. But it provides an early look at the company's probable legal strategy ‚Äî spreading the blame among itself, rig owner Transocean, and cement con- tractor Halliburton — as it deals with hundreds of lawsuits, bil- lions of dollars in claims and possible criminal charges in the coming months and years. Critics of BP called the report self-serving. Castro tells journalist Cuban economic model doesn't work HAVANA (AP) — Fidel Castro told a visiting American journalist that Cuba's commu- nist economic model doesn't work, a rare comment on domestic affairs from a man who has conspicuously steered clear of local issues since step- ping down four years ago. The fact that things are not working efficiently on this cash-strapped Caribbean island is hardly news. Fidel's brother Raul, the country's president, has said the same thing repeat- edly. But the blunt assessment by the father of Cuba's 1959 revolution is sure to raise eye- brows. Jeffrey Goldberg, a national correspondent for The Atlantic magazine, asked if Cuba's eco- nomic system was still worth exporting to other countries, and Castro replied: "The Cuban model doesn't even work for us anymore" Goldberg wrote Wednesday in a post on his Atlantic blog. He said Castro made the comment casually over lunch following a long talk about the Middle East, and did not elabo- rate. The Cuban government had no immediate comment on Goldberg's account. Since stepping down from power in 2006, the ex-president has focused almost entirely on international affairs and said very little about Cuba and its politics, perhaps to limit the perception he is stepping on his brother's toes. Consumer borrowing falls again in July WASHINGTON (AP) — Consumer borrowing fell again in July as households cut back on their credit card use for a 23rd consecutive month, adding more drag on an economy struggling to mount a sustained rebound. Borrowing dropped at an annual rate of $3.6 billion in July, the Federal Reserve reported Wednesday. That marked the 17th drop in credit in the past 18 months. Americans did boost bor- rowing for auto loans in July but this gain was offset by fur- ther reductions in the category that includes credit cards. The latest drop in overall borrowing was slightly higher than economists' expectations and followed a $1.02 billion decline in June, which was revised from an initial estimate that total credit had dropped by $1.3 billion that month. Analysts said that consumer credit is continuing to be con- strained by all the problems fac- ing households including tighter lending standards on the part of banks struggling with high loan losses. Remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine flood northern Texas ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — The remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine caused wide- spread flooding in northern Texas and began buffeting southern Oklahoma on Wednes- day, killing at least two people and submerging low-lying pockets of Arlington under sev- eral feet of water. Firefighters used trucks and ladders to reach residents of one Arlington apartment complex who were stranded on the upper floors of their homes by murky water that suddenly surrounded them. The sudden deluge, which surprised many residents because of the relatively weak punch the storm packed when it made landfall Monday night, sent at least one vehicle floating across the complex's parking lot. In a neighborhood nearby, firefighters were asking home- owners if anyone had been swept away by the creek's fast- moving waters, which turned an open field of wild grass and flower into a temporary lake. The waters carried away tram- polines and storage sheds, knocked down fences and retaining walls and uprooted trees, which could be heard cracking in the nearby woods. The creek appeared to be about 15 feet above its normal levels, nearly overtaking a four- lane bridge and flooding a park. A paved walking path through the park ended abruptly in the water. Coffee-colored floodwaters rushed past roller coaster tracks at a Six Flags amusement park. Bewildered residents surprised by the extent of the flooding waded through waist-deep water in the streets. Emanuel will weigh plans on mayor race CLEVELAND (AP) — White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Wednesday he has "no doubt" that chief of staff Rahm Emanuel will be weighing his future options now that the race for Chicago mayor is wide open. "Obviously something like that doesn't come around a lot," Gibbs told reporters traveling with the president to Ohio. "I presume that Rahm will take some time and make a decision about that." Still, Gibbs said that for now, Emanuel is focused on being President Barack Obama's chief of staff, and, "the enormous number of tasks we have in front of us as an administra- tion." Emanuel has made no secret of wanting to run for Chicago mayor one day. But he was sur- prised along with everyone else when the job came open when longtime Mayor Richard M. Daley announced his retirement this week. Gibbs said he hadn't spoken with Emanuel about his plans and he wasn't sure if Emanuel had talked with the president. Emanuel represented Chicago in Congress before going to work for Obama. Google revs up search engine SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Google is accelerating its search engine by displaying the results as soon as users begin to type in their requests. The new "Instant Search' intro- duced Wednesday means people will start to see an ever-evolving set of results in the middle of the page with each character they type into the search box. The new fea- ture will gradually roll out throughout the rest of the day. Instant Search grew out of Google Inc.'s quest to deliver search results as quickly as possi- ble. Google believes this feature will enable its search engine to anticipate what a person is looking for with just one keystroke. Google is counting on the latest innovation to help maintain its dominance of the lucrative search market as rivals Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. join forces. Tehama County’s Personal/Professional Service Directory Bankruptcy Attorney Local Bankruptcy Attorney Jocelyn C. 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