Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/95988
Thursday, November 29, 2012 – Daily News 5A WORLD BRIEFING Conservative GOP Rep. Cole backs quick deal with Obama WASHINGTON (AP) — The first cracks are developing among Republicans over whether to accept a quick deal with President Barack Obama on allowing the top two income tax rates to expire, even as an administration official said the White House was stepping up behind-thescenes negotiations. Conservative Oklahoma GOP Rep. Tom Cole told GOP colleagues in a private meeting Tuesday that it's better to make sure that tax cuts for the 98 percent of taxpayers who make less than $200,000 or $250,000 a year are extended than to battle it out with Obama and risk increasing taxes on everyone. Cole's remarks are noteworthy because he's a longtime GOP loyalist and a confidant of House Speaker John Boehner, ROhio. They were made in a meeting of the House GOP Republican whip team, which is a sounding board for GOP leaders. ''If we don't believe taxes should go up on anybody, why can't we accept a deal that takes 98 percent out and still leaves us free to fight on the other grounds,'' Cole said in an interview on Wednesday. ''I'm not for using the American people for leverage or as a hostage.'' Meanwhile, it was announced that two of Obama's chief negotiators will meet on Thursday with congressional leaders to gauge prospects for a deal. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House legislative chief Rob Nabors will meet separately with Boehner, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California. Bangladesh factory where fire killed 112 made clothes for Wal-Mart DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — A hooded Mickey Mouse sweatshirt from Disney. Piles of children's shorts with Wal-Mart's Faded Glory label. Clothes with hip-hop star Sean Combs' ENYCE tag. The garment factory in Bangladesh where 112 people were killed in a fire over the weekend was used by a host of major U.S. and European retailers, an Associated Press reporter discovered Wednesday from clothes and account books left amid the blackened tables and melted sewing machines at Tazreen Fashions Ltd. Wal-Mart had been aware of safety problems at the factory and said it had decided well before the blaze to stop doing business with it. But it said a supplier had continued to use Tazreen without authorization. Sears, likewise, said its merchandise was being produced there without its approval through a vendor, which has since been fired. The Walt Disney Co. said its records indi- cate that none of its licensees have been permitted to make Disneybrand products at the factory for at least a year. Combs' Sean Jean Enterprises did not return calls for comment. Labor activists have long contended that retailers in the West bear a responsibility to make sure the overseas factories that manufacture their products are safe. They seized on the blaze — the deadliest in Bangladesh's nearly 35-year history of exporting clothing — to argue that retailers must insist on more stringent fire standards. Latest Rice stumbling block WASHINGTON (AP) — A moderate Republican senator, vital to any White House hopes of getting U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice confirmed as secretary of state, said Wednesday she couldn't back any nomination until more questions are answered about the deadly Sept. 11 attack in Libya and Rice's State Depart- ment role during the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombing in Kenya. In a fresh suggestion of eroding GOP support for Rice, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine emerged from a 90-minute, closed-door meeting with the ambassador voicing new criticism of her initial account about Libya. Collins also questioned what Rice, the assistant secretary of state for African Affairs in the Clinton administration, knew about requests for enhanced embassy security before the Nairobi truck bombing. Pressed on how she would vote if President Barack Obama names Rice to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Collins said, ''I would need to have additional information before I could support her nomination.'' At the White House, Obama called Rice ''extraordinary'' and said he couldn't be prouder of the job she has done as U.N. ambassador. Cabinet members joined Obama in applauding Rice, who attended the meeting. Obama has not named a replacement for Clinton, who has said she intends to step down soon. The misgivings from Collins, the top Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, came one day after three other GOP senators said they would try to block Rice's nomination. Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire said they were more troubled than ever by Rice's answers on Libya even though the ambassador conceded that her muchmaligned first explanation was wrong. Obama, Romney to meet privately WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will host his former political rival Mitt Romney for a private lunch at the White House Thursday, their first meeting since the election. Obama promised in his victory speech earlier this month to engage with Romney following their bitter campaign and con- sider the Republican's ideas. ''In the weeks ahead, I also look forward to sitting down with Gov. Romney to talk about where we can work together to move this country forward,'' Obama said at the time. Obama aides said they reached out to Romney's team shortly before Thanksgiving to start working on a date for the meeting. The two men will meet in the White House's private dining room, with no press coverage expected. In the days after his loss, Romney told top donors that the president was re-elected because of the ''gifts'' Obama provided to blacks, Hispanics and young voters, all of which are core Obama constituencies. Obama administration bars BP from new federal contracts WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration put a stop to new federal contracts with BP on Wednesday, admonishing the British oil company for a ''lack of business integrity'' and also disqualifying it indefinitely from winning new leases to drill on taxpayerowned lands. A lengthy list of criminal counts against BP stemming from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to temporarily suspend new contracts with BP and its affiliates, the agency said. Existing contracts won't be affected.