Obama Seeks to Rally Senate Democrats on Final Health-Care Plan 
Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama plans to headto the U.S. Capitol to press Senate Democrats to agree onhealth legislation as lawmakers struggle to resolve disputesover issues including a proposed government-run insurance plan.
Democrats met throughout yesterday to seek an alternativeto Senate Majority Harry Reid’s plan to create the new nationalprogram to cover the uninsured. Opposition within his partyleaves Reid at risk of falling four votes short of the 60 heneeds to pass the legislation, the most sweeping overhaul of thenation’s health-care system in more than four decades.
Obama’s scheduled visit comes as the bill’s backers need ajolt to come together, said Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry.
Sarah Palin in the belly of the beast: Washington
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican firebrand Sarah Palin invaded the city she loves to hate on Saturday and rubbed shoulders with the herd of journalists she usually holds in disdain.
Palin was the guest speaker at the annual winter dinner of the Gridiron Club of leading Washington journalists -- a venue at which many potential presidential candidates have made an appearance, including Barack Obama a few years ago.
Palin, appearing with her husband Todd, gave no clue as to her future plans, but did note that the next stop on her book tour is on Sunday in Iowa, an early voting state that candidates often like to visit to test their mettle.
Medicare cuts focus of Senate health care debate
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans forced Democrats to vote in favor of cutting billions from providers of home care for older people as partisan debate flared Saturday during a rare weekend session on President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.
Obama planned to travel to Capitol Hill on Sunday to help Democrats resolve internal disputes that stand in the way of Majority Leader Harry Reid bringing the 10-year, nearly $1 trillion legislation to a vote.
Ahead of his visit, Republicans, bent on making Democrats cast politically risky votes, offered their third amendment in the debate so far showcasing more than $400 billion in cuts to projected Medicare spending that would pay for the bill, mostly for subsidies to help extend coverage to millions of uninsured.
Baucus: Girlfriend merited US attorney nomination
WASHINGTON — Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus defended recommending his girlfriend for appointment as Montana's U.S. attorney, saying Saturday his one-time staff member and the former state prosecutor is "highly qualified" but eventually withdrew her nomination.
Baucus said that he began dating former state office director Melodee Hanes after they were both separated from their spouses. The Montana Democrat said they did not have an affair, but began dating while she worked for him.
"As we grew closer and things progressed, we knew it was time to begin the process of Mel transitioning out of my Senate office," Baucus said in a statement issued by his office Saturday.
Obama's Climate Summit Trip to Be 'Most Productive'
Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) -- President Barack Obama will delay histrip to a climate-change summit in Copenhagen until Dec. 18, theclose of the sessions, when his participation will be “mostproductive,” an administration statement said.
Obama had planned to visit the two-week conference Dec. 9,on his way to Oslo to receive his Nobel Peace Prize a day later,and before most world leaders would be at the summit.
Participants in the conference, including Obama, said lastmonth that their original goal of completing a climate accord atthe Copenhagen meeting was out of reach. The change in Obama’sschedule announced yesterday reflected revived expectations formovement toward a final agreement next year.
Italian court hands Knox 26 years for Briton's murder
PERUGIA, Italy (Reuters) - An Italian court sentenced American student Amanda Knox to 26 years in prison and jailed her ex-boyfriend for 25 years after they were found guilty of murdering Knox's British roommate during a drunken sex game.
Lawyers for Knox, 22, Raffaele Sollecito, 25, said they would appeal the sentences and Knox's family denounced the verdict as a "failure of the Italian judicial system."
The November 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher and the defendant's 11-month trial in the university town of Perugia, drew huge interest around the world. In 2008 a man was sentenced for his part in the murder.
Obama: efforts aimed at economy's long-term health
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Saturday sought to reassure Americans frustrated by high unemployment that he's concentrating on jobs, while defending his administration's efforts to strengthen the economy on several fronts.
"In the coming days, I'll be unveiling additional ideas aimed at accelerating job growth and hiring as we emerge from this economic storm," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. "And so that we don't face another crisis like this again, I'm determined to meet our responsibility to do what we know will strengthen our economy in the long run."
Obama said he has no intention of backing off his administration's efforts to overhaul health care, improve education, invest in a clean energy economy and deal with mounting federal debts.
Verdict in Italy, but American's Murder Case Isn't Over
PERUGIA, Italy — Tensions and cultural misunderstandings ran high on Saturday after an American college student was found guilty here of murdering her British housemate.
Rather than clarifying the saga of what prosecutors said was a sex game gone fatally awry, the conviction on Saturday of Amanda Knox, 22, a Seattle college student, for killing her roommate, Meredith Kercher, 21, seemed only to heighten the conflicting public opinions voiced in two years of fierce international news coverage.
As the yearlong trial unfolded in the media as much as in the courts, Ms. Knox was often depicted in the United States as an innocent abroad, a fresh-faced young woman caught in the vagaries of the Italian justice system.
Senator Baucus recommended girlfriend for key job: aide
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senator Max Baucus, chairman of the powerful U.S. Senate Finance Committee, nominated his girlfriend to serve as a federal prosecutor earlier this year, the senator's spokesman said on Saturday.
Baucus recommended Melodee Hanes, who served on his staff at the time and has an ongoing romantic relationship with the divorced senator, and two others for the post of U.S. attorney in his home state of Montana, Baucus spokesman Tyler Matsdorf said in an emailed statement.
Matsdorf said Baucus chose to nominate Hanes for the job because of her "extensive background as a prosecutor and extensive legal experience." Hanes worked for Baucus from 2003 until earlier this year, and now holds a post at the U.S. Justice Department.
Italy Verdict Draws Ire in the US
PERUGIA, Italy — Tensions and cultural misunderstandings ran high on Saturday after an American college student was found guilty of murdering her British housemate.
Rather than clarifying the saga of what prosecutors said was a drug-fueled orgy gone fatally awry, the conviction of Amanda Knox, 22, a Seattle college student, for killing her roommate, Meredith Kercher, 21, seemed only to heighten the conflicting public opinions that had formed in two years of fierce international news coverage.
In a statement after the verdict was delivered early Saturday, Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, said, “I have serious questions about the Italian justice system and whether anti-Americanism tainted this trial.” She added, “The prosecution did not present enough evidence for an impartial jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Knox was guilty,” and said Ms. Knox had received “harsh treatment” after her arrest.
