Obama embraces Senate immigration plan in call for reform

By Michael O'Brien, Political Reporter, NBC News




Updated 3:34 p.m. ET - President Barack Obama hailed the Senate's bipartisan immigration framework at a major speech on that topic this afternoon in Nevada, but threatened to send his own alternative legislation to Capitol Hill if Congress fails to act.

The president embraced of a statement of principles offered Monday by four Democratic and four Republican senators, which would strengthen border security and employment verification in exchange for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants in the United States.

"The good news is that -- for the first time in many years -- Republicans and Democrats seem ready to tackle this problem together," Obama said in his speech in Las Vegas, according to prepared excerpts.

Jason Reed / Reuters
President Barack Obama arrives in Las Vegas, Jan. 29. Obama arrived in Nevada to deliver remarks on immigration reform.

"And yesterday, a bipartisan group of senators announced their principles for comprehensive immigration reform, which are very much in line with the principles I've proposed and campaigned on for the last few years," the president also said. "At this moment, it looks like there's a genuine desire to get this done soon. And that's very encouraging."

But in a speech in Nevada -- a Southwestern border state that has experienced a boom in its Hispanic population -- the president said he refused to allow comprehensive immigration reform "to get bogged down in an endless debate."

"It's important for us to realize that the foundation for bipartisan action is already in place," he said. If lawmakers fail to advance their own proposal, Obama said he would send legislation to Congress based on his own principles "and insist that they vote on it right away."

He said at the top of his speech: "I'm here because the time has come for common-sense, comprehensive immigration reform."

The president used Tuesday's speech in Nevada to outline many of those principles, which rest on four pillars: strengthening border security, cracking down on employers who hire undocumented workers, streamlining legal immigration and -- most importantly -- offering undocumented workers an earned path to citizenship.

Those pillars mostly resemble the bipartisan Senate framework unveiled on Monday by lawmakers, which has prompted hopes that Congress would finally be able to advance a comprehensive immigration reform law, a priority that eluded Obama during his first term, and President George W. Bush before him.

The primary sticking point in those fights has been the pathway to citizenship, which conservatives deride as "amnesty" for those who have broken the law. Already, some prominent conservatives have expressed their skepticism of the Senate framework for exactly that reason.

"Yes, they broke the rules," Obama said of those undocumented immigrants. "They crossed the border illegally. Maybe they overstayed their visas. But these 11 million men and women are now here."

Republicans in particular had been closely watching Obama's actions for cues as to how the administration might handle immigration, and the emerging Senate deal. Republican lawmakers have openly worried that the president might stake out stark positions and oppose some of the enforcement measures included in the Senate framework, namely the trigger that would only allow a pathway to citizenship once the border enforcement mechanisms had been verified.

"There are a lot of ideas about how best to fix our broken immigration system," said Brendan Buck, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "Any solution should be a bipartisan one, and we hope the President is careful not to drag the debate to the left and ultimately disrupt the difficult work that is ahead in the House and Senate."

But Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a rock star to conservatives who's seen as eyeing a run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, has taken an active lead in selling this proposal to the right. Rubio has appeared in conservative media to both discourage Obama from opposing enforcement provisions, but also talk up the proposal as the best chance at compromise for Republicans.

"If, in fact, this bill does not have real triggers in there -- in essence, if there's not language in this bill that guarantees that nothing else happens unless these enforcement mechanisms are in place -- then I won't support it," Rubio, a member of the bipartisan gang of eight, told conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on Tuesday. "But the principles clearly call for that."

But the president generally spoke in broad terms, and did not draw any bright lines as it relates to the Senate proposal.

"I believe we are finally at a moment where comprehensive immigration reform is finally within our grasp," he said.

Double-arm transplant soldier 'excited for the future'

A 26-year-old who lost all of his limbs in a bombing in Iraq in 2009 has received a rare double-arm transplant. NBCNews.com’s Dara Brown reports.

By Linda Carroll

NBC News

updated 1 hour 53 minutes ago

The soldier who lost all four limbs in an IED explosion in Iraq in 2009, showed the world his newly transplanted arms Tuesday.

Brendan Marrocco, 26, the first soldier to survive after losing all four limbs, received his new arms in a 13-hour operation that involved 16 surgeons on December 18 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
“I feel like I’m getting a second chance to start over after I got hurt,” Marrocco, an infantryman who was injured by a roadside bomb attack in Iraq in 2009, said during a news conference at the hospital. “I’m excited for the future.”
Marrocco received his two new arms from a deceased donor, becoming one of only seven people in the United States who have undergone successful double-hand transplants.

 

Brendan Marrocco, who lost all four of his limbs in a 2009 bomb attack in Iraq, talks about his road to recovery after receiving a double-arm transplant and what he is looking forward to accomplishing.

His transplants involved the connection of bones, blood vessels, muscles, tendons, nerves and skin on both arms, and was the most extensive and complicated limb transplant procedure so far performed in the U.S., according to a hospital statement.
Though doctors say it will take years for Marrocco to fully recover, it appeared as he brushed the hair from his forehead with his left arm at the news conference, that he may get there far faster than predicted.
The main limiting factor in recovery is the slow growth of nerves, said the surgical team’s leader, Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, plastic surgery chief at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Dr. Jamie Shores agreed.
“We expect it will take two to three years to see what that final function will be,” said Shores, the hospital's clinical director of hand transplantation. "The nerves make the muscles work as well as giving sensation.”
As Marrocco continues to regain strength in his new arms, he said he was looking forward to swimming and driving. He was in high spirits as he answered questions about how he’d be spending the rest of his life.

“I’ve got the job I always wanted, doing nothing,” he said with a smile. “I guess I’ll just be a drain on society.”

NBC News

U.S. Army infantryman Brendan Marroco discusses his double arm transplant

To explain how much recovery Marrocco can expect, Lee pointed to the results from another patient who had a similar surgery three years ago.
“He was showing me how he was now able to tie shoe laces with his transplanted hands,” Lee said of the previous patient. “Also, in addition to being able to tie his shoes, he sent us a video of him using chopsticks with his transplanted hand.”
In reality, Marrocco likely won’t have much spare time. “He’ll be doing therapy to make his hands work six hours a day,” Shores said. “There’s no amount of surgery we can do to make something work if the patients aren’t going to put an incredible amount of effort into this afterwards. He isn’t just sitting a home playing video games. It’s a full time job. That’s why we picked him. He’s demonstrated how hard he’s willing to work. He’s go that fighting spirit.”
Not to miss the last word, Marrocco said with a smile, “I think video games can be great therapy.”
Related:
Texas mom gets go-ahead for historic double-arm transplant
Double hand transplant recipient wants to feel grandkids' faces
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

John W. Schoen , NBC News

Despite recent revival, US economy still needs life support

Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Electrician Calvin Warren helps build a Toll Brothers Inc. home in the Azura community on Nov. 20, 2012, in Boca Raton, Fla. The economy is showing signs of life in many sectors, including housing, but it's too soon to take it off life support.

After four years of government prodding – from federal stimulus spending to the Fed’s historic easy-money policies – the U.S. economy finally is showing signs of sustainable growth. 
But it’s not out of the woods yet.
The hopeful signals are coming from a broad range of indicators - from upbeat reports on home and car sales to business investment and manufacturing orders. Those reports have raised hopes that the ongoing move to balance the federal budget with tax increases and spending cuts won’t dampen the emerging recovery.
“We think the U.S. economy will be able to power through that this year – even with the drag,” said Tony Fratto, an economist at Hamilton Place Strategies and former Treasury official under President George W. Bush.
But when Federal Reserve officials wrap up their two-day meeting Wednesday, they’re widely expected to continue to keep their foot on the gas pedal by extending their aggressive program of holding interest rates near zero. 
Though some critics think it may be time for the central bank to begin winding down its epic easy-money strategy, Fed policy makers have already promised to stick with it until the unemployment rate falls below 6.5 percent.  

The halting pace of the recovery is expected to be highlighted Wednesday when the government takes its initial estimate of the growth of gross domestic product for the last three months of 2012. Analysts polled by Reuters expect the report to peg expansion at a weak 1.1 percent annual rate, down from a 3.1 percent rate in the previous three months.
But a basket of separate reports this week is expected to confirm the marked pickup in growth as the year drew to a close.Orders for durable goods jumped by 4.6 percent in December, the Commerce Department said Monday, more than double what private forecasters had expected. Though many business managers complained loudly that uncertainty in Washington had left them unwilling to take on new workers, they were busy investing in new plant and equipment to keep up with rising demand from customers.
“CEOs may have been worrying about falling off the cliff but demand for big-ticket items still soared,” said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors.
The report followed wider signs of a broad pickup in demand throughout the economy. Rising home sales, which began to pick up in the second half of last year, continue to push prices higher, helping convince reluctant buyers and sellers that the market has finally bottomed out.  
Car sales jumped 16 percent in the fourth quarter of last year compared to the previous year, and are on pace for another annual sales increase. Automakers will report monthly sales on Friday and are expected to post another month of robust demand. The prolonged sales downturn during the Great Recession left behind an aging fleet of cars and trucks that buyers are now replacing.  

Despite a lackluster holiday shopping season, overall retail sales in the last three months of the year were up 6 percent from a year ago. Manufacturers are also seeing a solid pickup in orders for new goods. Lower energy costs -- the result of an ongoing boom in natural gas production -- have helped them win bids against low-cost foreign competitors. 

But unemployment remains stubbornly high, as the latest reading, due this Friday, is expected to show. Economists are looking for a net gain of just 163,000 new jobs for the latest month. That’s barely enough to keep up with population growth and not enough to move the needle of the unemployment rate which forecasters expect to remain stuck at 7.8 percent.
To be sure, the Fed’s easy money policy is helping some households – especially those with investments in the stock market. With interest rates at near zero, investors looking for a positive return have few alternatives. 
Stocks are up 15 percent since June. In January alone, investors sank $55 billion in new cash into stock mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, the biggest monthly inflow on record, according to TrimTabs Investment Research. 

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Fears of a financial meltdown in Europe have faded. Last year’s worries about a sharp slowdown in Asia have eased for now. And despite continued threats of political disruption in Washington, the long-running battle over the federal budget seems to be inching toward resolution.
On Monday, credit rating agency Fitch said last week’s deal to delay suspension of the country's debt limit have reduced the odds that it might strip United States of its AAA rating. Another rating agency, Standard and Poor’s, cut the U.S. debt rating one notch after the last debt ceiling debacle in July 2011 pushed the Treasury to the brink of defaulting on its bonds. 
But the recovery remains weak by historical standards. Four years after a recession, pent-up demand typically produces a strong rebound in growth and a sustained hiring spree by employers. So far, that hasn’t happened.
Most forecasters expect the slow steady pace of expansion to continue through this year and into 2014, with the unemployment rate gradually falling.
The consensus sees GDP picking up to a 2.7 percent annual rate by the end of this year and 3.0 percent by the end of 2014, according to the latest survey by Blue Chip Economic Indicators. That pace is expected to pull the unemployment rate down to 7.5 percent by the end of this year and to 7.0 percent by the end of next year.
If that scenario plays out, it will be awhile before the Fed reaches its 6.5 percent jobless rate target and begins to throttle back its money-making machinery.      

“At some point were going to have to wean ourselves off that kind of support,” said Fratto. “And I think we’re going to see that this year. But we have to go through that – and it’s going to bode well for the future.”

Rights group: At least 65 people found bound, shot in head in Syria 'massacre'

By Alexander Dziadosz and Oliver Holmes, Reuters

BEIRUT -- At least 65 people, apparently shot in the head, were found dead with their hands bound in a district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Tuesday, a pro-opposition monitoring group said.
The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll could rise as high as 80 in what it called a "new massacre."

It was not clear who carried out the killings.
Photos posted online by activists showed the muddied bodies of about a dozen men lying by a small river in what they said was the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood of Aleppo.
Close-up shots of some of the corpses showed they had what appeared to be gunshot wounds to the head.
Government forces and rebels in Syria have both been accused by human rights groups of carrying out summary executions in the 22-month-old conflict, which has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
Rebels pushed into Aleppo, Syria's most populous city, over the summer, but have been stuck in a stalemate with government forces. The city is divided roughly in half between the two sides.
Related:

Syrian refugees: 'We escaped death'

Photos reveal Syrian rebels taking fight to Damascus

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters run across a street in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter rest as another fighter aims his rifle in the Zamalka neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters walk in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

A look at the violence that has overtaken the country.

A look at the violence that has overtaken the country.

Slideshow: Syria uprising

 

As the Free Syrian Army continues to battle government forces in Damascus, Reuters photographer Goran Tomasevic has become one of the first independent photojournalists to reach rebel-held areas of the Syrian capital.
Syria's civil war is unleashing a "staggering humanitarian crisis" on the Middle East as hundreds of thousands of refugees flee violence including gang rape, the New York-based International Rescue Committee said on Monday.
-- Reuters
Related content:

• Goran Tomasevic's photos of the battle for Aleppo
• 'We escaped death': Syrian refugees struggle with cold, hunger and uncertainty
• Syria rebels form their own secret police
• Video: Dozens killed in Syria air attacks

Immigration reform seen boosting US economic growth

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP - Getty Images

US President Barack Obama walks to Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House January 29, 2013 in Washington, DC. Obama is traveling to Las Vegas to speak about immigration reform.

Edward Krudy

The sluggish U.S. economy could get a lift if President Barack Obama and a bipartisan group of senators succeed in what could be the biggest overhaul of the nation's immigration system since the 1980s.

Relaxed immigration rules could encourage entrepreneurship, increase demand for housing, raise tax revenues and help reduce the budget deficit, economists said.

By helping more immigrants enter the country legally and allowing many illegal immigrants to remain, the United States could help offset a slowing birth rate and put itself in a stronger demographic position than aging Europe, Japan and China.

"Numerous industries in the United States can't find the workers they need, right now even in a bad economy, to fill their orders and expand their production as the market demands," said Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration specialist at the libertarian Cato Institute.

The emerging consensus among economists is that immigration provides a net benefit. It increases demand and productivity, helps drive innovation and lowers prices, although there is little agreement on the size of the impact on economic growth.

President Barack Obama plans to launch his second-term push for a U.S. immigration overhaul during a visit to Nevada on Tuesday and will make it a high priority to win congressional approval of a reform package this year, the White House said.

The chances of major reforms gained momentum on Monday when a bipartisan group of senators agreed on a framework that could eventually give 11 million illegal immigrants a chance to become American citizens.

Their proposals would also include means to keep and attract workers with backgrounds in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. This would be aimed both at foreign students attending American universities where they are earning advanced degrees and high-tech workers abroad.

An estimated 40 percent of scientists in the United States are immigrants and studies show immigrants are twice as likely to start businesses, said Nowrasteh.

Boosting legal migration and legalizing existing workers could add $1.5 trillion to the U.S. economy over the next 10 years, estimates Raul Hinojosa-Ojeda, a specialist in immigration policy at the University of California, Los Angeles. That's an annual increase of 0.8 percentage points to the economic growth rate, currently stuck at about 2 percent.

GOP's Hispanic push

Other economists say the potential benefit to growth is much lower. Richard Freeman, an economist at Harvard, believes most of the benefits to the economy from illegal immigrants already in the United States has already been recorded and legalizing their status would produce only incremental benefits.

While opposition to reform lingers on both sides of the political spectrum and any controversial legislation can easily meet a quick end in a divided Washington, the chances of substantial change seem to be rising. Top Republicans such as Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana are not mincing words about the party's need to appeal to the Hispanic community and foreign-born voters who were turned off by Republican candidate Mitt Romney's tough talk in last year's presidential campaign.

A previous Obama plan, unveiled in May 2011, included the creation of a guest-worker program to meet agricultural labor needs and something similar is expected to be in his new proposal.

The senators also indicated they would support a limited program that would allow companies in certain sectors to import guest workers if Americans were not available to fill some positions.

An additional boost to growth could come from rising wages for newly legalized workers and higher productivity from the arrival of more highly skilled workers from abroad. Increased tax revenues would help federal and state authorities plug budget deficits although the benefit to government revenues will be at least partially offset by the payment of benefits to those who gain legal status.

In 2007, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that proposed immigration reform in that year would have generated $48 billion in revenue from 2008 to 2017, while costing $23 billion in health and welfare payments.

There is also unlikely to be much of a saving on enforcement from the senators' plan because they envisage tougher border security to prevent further illegal immigration and a crackdown on those overstaying visas.





Under such a system, the government would auction a certain number of visas employers could trade in a secondary market.


"A more efficient, more transparent and more flexible immigration system would help firms expand, contribute to more job creation in the United States, and slow the movement of operations abroad," according to a draft report, soon to be published as part of a study by the Hamilton Project, a think tank.

There was no immediate sign that either the Obama or the senators' plan would include such a system.

The long-term argument for immigration is a demographic one. Many developed nations are seeing their populations age, adding to the burden of pension and healthcare costs on wage-earners.

Immigration in the United States would need to double to keep the working-age population stable at its current 67 percent of total population, according to George Magnus, a senior independent economic adviser at UBS in London,

While Magnus says a change of that magnitude may prove too politically sensitive, the focus should be on attracting highly skilled and entrepreneurial immigrants in the way Canada and Australia do by operating a points system for immigrants rather than focusing mainly on family connections.

"The trick is to shift the balance of migration towards those with education (and) skills," he added.

Hard road

Academics at major universities such as Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology often lament that many of their top foreign graduates end up returning to their home countries because visas are hard to get.

"We have so much talent that is sitting here in the universities," said William Kerr, a professor at Harvard Business School. "I find it very difficult to swallow that we then make it so hard for them to stay."

The last big amnesty for illegal immigrants was in 1986 when President Ronald Reagan legalized about 3 million already in the country. Numerous studies have shown that subsequently their wages rose significantly.

Research on how immigration affects overall wages is inconclusive. George Borjas at Harvard says immigration has created a small net decrease in overall wages for those born in the United States, concentrated among the low-skilled, while Giovani Peri at UC Davis found that immigration boosts native wages over the long run.

Hinojosa-Ojeda stresses that any reform needs to make it easier for guest workers to enter the country to avoid a new build-up of illegal workers.

"If we don't create a mechanism that can basically bring in 300,000 to 400,000 new workers a year into a variety of labor markets and needs, we could be setting ourselves up for that again," said Hinojosa-Ojeda.

Nowrasteh at Cato also believes an expanded guest worker program would stem illegal immigration and allow industries to overcome labor shortages.

He found that harsher regulations in recent years in Arizona were adversely affecting agricultural production, increasing financial burdens on business and even negatively impacting the state's struggling real estate market.

Some large companies have fallen foul of tougher enforcement regulations.

Restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc fired roughly 500 staff in 2010 and 2011 after undocumented workers were found on its payrolls. Putting the chill on other employers, it is now subject of an ongoing federal criminal investigation into its hiring.

"The current system doesn't seem to work for anyone," Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold said.

Senators Pitch Immigration Overhaul

1/28/2013: CNBC's Eamon Javers reports 8 senators offered a bipartisan proposal to overhaul immigration; and Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) offers insight on the plan. Mark Hannah, Democratic Political analyst; Robert Costa, National Review; and Phil Mus...

Rights group: At least 65 people found bound, shot in head in Syria 'massacre'

By Alexander Dziadosz and Oliver Holmes, Reuters

BEIRUT -- At least 65 people, apparently shot in the head, were found dead with their hands bound in a district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Tuesday, a pro-opposition monitoring group said.
The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll could rise as high as 80 in what it called a "new massacre."

It was not clear who carried out the killings.
Photos posted online by activists showed the muddied bodies of about a dozen men lying by a small river in what they said was the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood of Aleppo.
Close-up shots of some of the corpses showed they had what appeared to be gunshot wounds to the head.
Government forces and rebels in Syria have both been accused by human rights groups of carrying out summary executions in the 22-month-old conflict, which has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
Rebels pushed into Aleppo, Syria's most populous city, over the summer, but have been stuck in a stalemate with government forces. The city is divided roughly in half between the two sides.
Related:

Syrian refugees: 'We escaped death'

Photos reveal Syrian rebels taking fight to Damascus

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters run across a street in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter rest as another fighter aims his rifle in the Zamalka neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters walk in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

A look at the violence that has overtaken the country.

A look at the violence that has overtaken the country.

Slideshow: Syria uprising

 

As the Free Syrian Army continues to battle government forces in Damascus, Reuters photographer Goran Tomasevic has become one of the first independent photojournalists to reach rebel-held areas of the Syrian capital.
Syria's civil war is unleashing a "staggering humanitarian crisis" on the Middle East as hundreds of thousands of refugees flee violence including gang rape, the New York-based International Rescue Committee said on Monday.
-- Reuters
Related content:

• Goran Tomasevic's photos of the battle for Aleppo
• 'We escaped death': Syrian refugees struggle with cold, hunger and uncertainty
• Syria rebels form their own secret police
• Video: Dozens killed in Syria air attacks

Brazil club blaze survivor: 'An angel saved my life'

Slideshow: Nightclub fire in Brazil

Felipe Dana / AP
A fast-moving nightclub inferno claimed the lives of more than 230 people in southern Brazil.

By Keir Simmons and Laura Saravia, NBC News


SANTA MARIA, Brazil -- At 2 a.m. on Rua Dos Andradas, a crowd of young people stands in silence. There is nothing to say.


As survivors try to cope with the aftermath of the horrific nightclub fire that killed over 130 in Santa Maria, Brazil, four people have been arrested. BC's Keir Simmons reports.


Two nights ago, on this same street, at this same time, a tragedy unfolded that is hard to comprehend.


Outside the Kiss nightclub, where a blaze and its panicked aftermath claimed the lives of at least 230 partygoers – most of them students at the local university – the smell of smoke lingers in the air.


Now it has become a place to mourn and remember.


Among the survivors is Adreen Righi, 20, who is still trying to make sense of how the disaster unfolded.


“I was dancing with my friends,” she says, recovering at home. “People started pushing. I looked at the stage and there was smoke.”


Pushed over in the panic, she was trampled to the ground but still found air. “Breathe, breathe, come on now breathe,” she told herself as others climbed over her.

Keir Simmons / NBC News

Mourners stand outside the Kiss nightclub in the early hours of Tuesday, two nights after a devastating fire killed at least 230 clubbers.


Then, she recalls, “an angel saved my life.” A woman she didn't know pushed her outside, to safety.

In the fresh air, she hugged her friends. But some were missing.


Her classmate, Juliano, had gone to the bathroom 15 minutes before the fire. She will never see him again.


“He was a good person,” she says, “always smiling. Making jokes. He was a good guy.”


She is “very happy” to be alive, but adds: “I can't explain how I feel about my friends, about the city.”




Locals help evacuate injured victims after the Kiss nightclub fire early Jan. 27.


Santa Maria is in mourning, but there is also growing anger.


Investigators must now seek answers to the questions being asked here: Why did the nightclub apparently have only one exit? Why did fire extinguishers not work, as some witnesses have reported? Why did security staff briefly block exits to stop people leaving without paying their drinks tabs?


On the street outside the nightclub, a hand-made poster says: ‘Nada justifica, 231 assassinatos' – meaning ‘No justification – 231 murdered’.
 
The final death toll is still unclear, but the message is stark.





Keir Simmons / NBC News

'No justification – 231 murdered'. A sign posted outside the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria.

Globo television said 53 seriously-injured victims remain in Porto Alegre, state capital of Rio Grande do Sul,where a support unit has also been set up with psychologists to help relatives of victims.

A firefighter carries a victim after a fire broke out at a nightclub in Santa Maria, Brazil, early Jan. 27.

Police officials said four people are still under temporary arrest over the disaster. Local media reports on Monday said those detained were two owners of the Kiss club and two members of a band whose pyrotechnic display is thought to have set light to the club's sound-proofed ceiling. None of the arrests imply any criminal accusation, police said.

Protesters marched through the town late Monday, carrying flowers, balloons and placards with the names of the victims, according to Globo, which reported that as many as 30,000 took part.

People take part in a march to honor the victims of the fatal fire inside the Kiss club, in Santa Maria on Jan. 28.

Among them, Eglon Do Canto told The Associated Press: "We hope that the justice system, through its competent mechanisms, succeeds in clarifying to the public what happened, and gives the people an explanation."


Edgar Zuniga Jr, NBC News in Atlanta, contributed to this report.


Related:

Brazil nightclub fire survivor: 'I felt her heart stop beating'
Shoes, blood, lime slices scattered across nightclub floor

Painful memories for survivors of 2003 club fire in Rhode Island

Rights group: At least 65 people found bound, shot in head in Syria 'massacre'

By Alexander Dziadosz and Oliver Holmes, Reuters

BEIRUT -- At least 65 people, apparently shot in the head, were found dead with their hands bound in a district of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on Tuesday, a pro-opposition monitoring group said.
The U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the death toll could rise as high as 80 in what it called a "new massacre."

It was not clear who carried out the killings.
Photos posted online by activists showed the muddied bodies of about a dozen men lying by a small river in what they said was the Bustan al-Qasr neighborhood of Aleppo.
Close-up shots of some of the corpses showed they had what appeared to be gunshot wounds to the head.
Government forces and rebels in Syria have both been accused by human rights groups of carrying out summary executions in the 22-month-old conflict, which has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
Rebels pushed into Aleppo, Syria's most populous city, over the summer, but have been stuck in a stalemate with government forces. The city is divided roughly in half between the two sides.
Related:

Syrian refugees: 'We escaped death'

Photos reveal Syrian rebels taking fight to Damascus

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters run across a street in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter rest as another fighter aims his rifle in the Zamalka neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

Goran Tomasevic / Reuters

Free Syrian Army fighters walk in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus on Jan. 15, 2013.

A look at the violence that has overtaken the country.

A look at the violence that has overtaken the country.

Slideshow: Syria uprising

 

As the Free Syrian Army continues to battle government forces in Damascus, Reuters photographer Goran Tomasevic has become one of the first independent photojournalists to reach rebel-held areas of the Syrian capital.
Syria's civil war is unleashing a "staggering humanitarian crisis" on the Middle East as hundreds of thousands of refugees flee violence including gang rape, the New York-based International Rescue Committee said on Monday.
-- Reuters
Related content:

• Goran Tomasevic's photos of the battle for Aleppo
• 'We escaped death': Syrian refugees struggle with cold, hunger and uncertainty
• Syria rebels form their own secret police
• Video: Dozens killed in Syria air attacks

Cabinet shuffle: LaHood to leave Department of Transportation

By NBC's Domenico Montanaro

Ray LaHood becomes the latest member of President Obama's cabinet to say they are leaving as the president begins his second term.
LaHood announced today he will leave his post as secretary of the Department of Transportation once a successor is confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
"As I look back on the past four years, I am proud of what we have accomplished together in so many important areas," LaHood said in a statement.
The former Illinois congressman was one of two Republicans President Obama appointed to cabinet secretary positions at the beginning of his first term. (Bob Gates at Defense was the other). Obama has nominated Chuck Hagel, a former Republican senator from Nebraska, to take over at Defense. He's expected to be confirmed.
LaHood's replacement was not immediately clear.
As he exits, LaHood touted accomplishments, including the stimulus, fuel-efficiency standards, high-speed rail, as well as initiatives on distracted driving, combatinng pilot fatigue, and highway safety.
Here's his full statement:

“I have let President Obama know that I will not serve a second term as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation.  It has been an honor and a privilege to lead the Department, and I am grateful to President Obama for giving me such an extraordinary opportunity.  I plan to stay on until my successor is confirmed to ensure a smooth transition for the Department and all the important work we still have to do.
As I look back on the past four years, I am proud of what we have accomplished together in so many important areas.  But what I am most proud of is the DOT team. You exemplify the best of public service, and I truly appreciate all that you have done to make America better, to make your communities better, and to make DOT better.
Our achievements are significant.  We have put safety front and center with the Distracted Driving Initiative and a rule to combat pilot fatigue that was decades in the making.  We have made great progress in improving the safety of our transit systems, pipelines, and highways, and in reducing roadway fatalities to historic lows.  We have strengthened consumer protections with new regulations on buses, trucks, and airlines.
We helped jumpstart the economy and put our fellow Americans back to work with $48 billion in transportation funding from the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009, and awarded over $2.7 billion in TIGER grants to 130 transportation projects across the Nation.  We have made unprecedented investments in our nation’s ports.  And we have put aviation on a sounder footing with the FAA reauthorization, and secured funding in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act to help States build and repair their roads, bridges and transit systems.
And to further secure our future, we have taken transportation into the 21st century with CAFE Standards, NextGen, and our investments in passenger and High-Speed Rail.  What’s more, we have provided the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy with the funding and leadership it needs to prepare a new generation of midshipmen to meet our country’s rapidly-evolving defense and maritime transportation needs.
Closer to home, we also have made great strides.  In December, the DOT was recognized as the most improved agency in the entire Federal government in the 2012 “Best Places to Work” rankings published by the Partnership of Public Service.  Even more impressive, DOT was ranked 9th out of the 19 largest agencies in the government.
Each of these remarkable accomplishments is a tribute your hard work, creativity, commitment to excellence, and most of all, your dedication to our country.  DOT is fortunate to have such an extraordinary group of public servants.  I look forward to continuing to work with all of you as the selection and confirmation process of the next transportation secretary moves forward.  Now is not the time to let up - we still have a number of critical safety goals to accomplish and still more work to do on the implementation of MAP-21.
I’ve told President Obama, and I’ve told many of you, that this is the best job I’ve ever had.  I’m grateful to have the opportunity to work with all of you and I’m confident that DOT will continue to achieve great things in the future.
Thank you, and God bless you."

Discuss this post

Pat Boston MA.

H/T: The Obama Diary:
On Hillary Clinton leaving the State Department, this is quite a story:
Last week campaign disclosure reports revealed that Hillary Clinton had finally retired the debt from her 2008 presidential campaign—with a little help from the guy who beat her, Barack Obama. Clinton’s debt once totaled more than $20 million, although it had dwindled to about $250,000 by last year. That’s when a team of top Obama donors decided to surprise Clinton, and thank her for her loyal service, by raising enough money to pay off her bills. As secretary of state, she was forbidden from political fundraising.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-28/obamas-parting-gift-to-hillary-clinton

Ray LaHood, thank you for your service to the people of America.

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#1 - Tue Jan 29, 2013 10:21 AM EST

Forrest Grump 2.0

Obama and Clinton set a good example as to how most people wish our elected government officials should operate, they were pretty nasty to each other during the campaign, but then set that aside after the elections and worked together for the common good of the nation.

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#1.1 - Tue Jan 29, 2013 10:26 AM EST

Pat Boston MA.

Forrest, as Hillary said on 60 Minutes - they're professionals.
No question that they set a good example.

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#1.2 - Tue Jan 29, 2013 10:29 AM EST

Ben-636050

Did you see the disclaimer immediately following the 60-Minutes segment? It said -- "This political ad has been paid for jointly by the Hillarious for President 2016 and the Stab Joe Biden in the Back campaigns." Kicking in was the ASAA -- the American Softball Association of America seen frequently on ESPN 8 - the Ocho.

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#1.3 - Tue Jan 29, 2013 10:43 AM EST

Allen - Omaha

"We helped jumpstart the economy and put our fellow Americans back to work with $48 billion in transportation funding from the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009, and awarded over $2.7 billion in TIGER grants to 130 transportation projects across the Nation. We have made unprecedented investments in our nation’s ports. And we have put aviation on a sounder footing with the FAA reauthorization, and secured funding in the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act to help States build and repair their roads, bridges and transit systems."
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Wow...look at that, a Republican touting investment (ie...Government spending) as a good thing. 40 lashes I say...and 3 cheers for building the danged wall...electrifying anything that touches it...guns for all...pro-life, except in cases where it's our mistress...build more tanks..screw the poor, the lazy b*stards and a hip hip hooray for the job creators!!!

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#1.4 - Tue Jan 29, 2013 10:45 AM EST

First Thoughts: Obama to embrace Senate deal

Obama expected to embrace Senate deal… The reason Obama is headed to Las Vegas: No state has better epitomized the power of the Latino vote… The Kabuki dance… On Rubio selling reform to the conservative base… On Schumer becoming the Democrats’ dealmaker… And Senate is set to confirm John Kerry as secretary of state.
By Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Brooke Brower

*** Obama to embrace Senate deal: When President Obama delivers his immigration speech at 2:55 pm ET today in Las Vegas, he will hug the principles that the bipartisan group of senators outlined yesterday. “POTUS will applaud the bipartisan Senate agreement that is very consistent with his long-held view and lay out his vision for immigration reform,” top White House aide Dan Pfeiffer just tweeted. Obama also will call on the Senate to act on the legislation soon. While one publication is reporting that the White House has developed its own immigration-reform plan that’s more liberal than the bipartisan Senate outline, that information is outdated. Had the bipartisan senators NOT acted yesterday, you likely would have seen Obama offer his own plan. But the senators did act, and their plan is the plan. The last thing the White House wants to do is blow up this fragile coalition. As we reported yesterday, the White House floated the idea of doing a more liberal or progressive bill during a meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus last week, as a counter to what was being offered in the Senate, and the CHC shot the idea down. The CHC’s advice to the White House was let the Senate work its will – at least for now. That said, the White House insisted last night to reporters that if the Senate coalition falters and if bill shows signs of dying, the president will step in with his own legislation.

Related: Obama’s vs. Senators’ immigration reform plan: 6 points on what overlaps, what differs

Larry Downing / Reuters
President Barack Obama speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House, Jan. 24, 2013.

*** Vegas, baby: So why is the president giving his speech in Las Vegas? There is no state that better epitomizes the power of the Latino vote in American politics than Nevada. In 2010, Harry Reid won 69% of Latinos in his race against Sharron Angle, according to the exit polls, saving his Senate seat from a GOP that was convinced was theirs for the taking. And two years later, Obama won 71% of that vote -- matching what he received nationwide. The three states that have moved the most dramatically in presidential contests since 2004 have been Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico, and it’s due primarily to the Latino vote in all three states. (New Mexico is not even remotely a purple state anymore.) In Nevada, in particular, Latinos make up 27% of the state’s population and 19% of the voters in the 2012 election. Translation: The Latino influence in the state has even more room to grow.

*** Kabuki dance: While Obama will embrace the bipartisan Senate framework today, one Republican senator who’s part of the deal -- Sen. Lindsey Graham -- was criticizing Obama on FOX last night. “In 2008, he promised comprehensive immigration reform in the first year of his presidency, and it took all the oxygen out of the room,” Graham said. More: “In 2007, when we were trying to do immigration reform, he folded like a cheap suit because labor, the AFL-CIO, got mad at the bill to allow temporary workers... So I don't need a lecture from Barack Obama about bipartisanship; he was never very good at it in the Senate.” Moreover, top Marco Rubio staffers last night tweeted that Obama was “to oppose security and enforcement triggers,” even though the article that was cited never explicitly said that; it simply said Obama “does not favor linking legal status to border security.” So what’s going on here? This is all Kabuki theater to show that these Republicans aren’t in bed with the White House. The best way some Republicans privately believe they have to get more folks on board (or at least to convince some groups not to be overly aggressive AGAINST this plan) is to not look like they are “giving” the president a “win.” Politico also makes this point: “Whether he likes it or not, the president’s top legislative priority rests in the hands of McCain, his former 2008 rival, and Rubio, one of the GOP’s leading candidates to take back the White House in 2016.”

*** On Rubio selling reform to the conservative base: That said, this is an important test for Marco Rubio. He has spent the last several days selling comprehensive immigration to conservatives. And today, he speaks with Rush Limbaugh, who has criticized the bipartisan Senate framework. (“This immigration bill that everybody’s touting on TV is essentially the Bush immigration bill that was beat back in 2007,” Limbaugh said yesterday.) One of Ronald Reagan’s great talents was selling compromise to his party -- and declaring victory. Can Rubio pull this off, especially on an issue that base conservatives have opposed in the past two presidential elections? Rubio’s job with Limbaugh isn’t to convince him to sign on; we’re not sure that’s possible. What Rubio’s goal is today is to convince Limbaugh not to aggressively be AGAINST what he’s doing. If he can pull this off, it will be quite the feather in his hat as we get closer and closer to 2016 -- and perhaps show Rubio has some Reagan-like political skills.

*** On Schumer becoming the Democrats’ dealmaker: For those who closely follow American politics, Chuck Schumer is an easy target to mock. The running joke, for years, has been that the most dangerous place in DC is to be between Schumer and a TV camera. Perhaps lost in this caricature, however, is that Schumer has become the Democrats’ mover and shaker on key legislation -- dare we say the most effective dealmaker on the Democratic side of the aisle right now. On immigration, he’s reaching across the aisle to work with John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Marco Rubio. And on guns, the legislation that has the best chance of passage is Schumer’s (on universal background checks) where he just might MIGHT convince Republican Tom Coburn to come on aboard his bill. What made Ted Kennedy a lion of the Senate was that he had influence with his Democratic colleagues (if he was backing something, they had cover to get on board) but also the ability to reach across the aisle. And so it’s worth asking: Is Chuck Schumer the closest thing to that right now? And we haven’t even touched on how relentless (and effective) Schumer has been the Senate Democrats’ de facto political director. Is there anyone better at candidate recruiting and clearly primary fields right now than Schumer?

*** Senate set to confirm Kerry: In non-immigration news, U.S. Senate today is expected to vote on John Kerry’s nomination to be secretary of state, and he’s a sure bet to win an easy confirmation. As one of us reported yesterday, if Kerry is confirmed and if his letter of resignation is received tomorrow, Massachusetts will set the special general election for June 25 -- with the primaries to take place on April 30. Also, Gov. Deval Patrick (D) is expected to announce his pick of an interim senator to fill the seat until the special election.

Poison suspected in deaths of 10 endangered pygmy elephants in Borneo

Sabah Wildlife Department via AFP - Getty Images

A baby pygmy elephant stands beside a dead adult in the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve in Malaysia's Sabah state.

 

By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

Ten endangered pygmy elephants have been found dead in suspicious circumstances in Malaysia, according to reports.
Sen Nathan, head veterinarian at the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve in Sabah state on the island of Borneo, said officials “highly suspect” the animals were poisoned, but tests are still to be carried out to determine whether they were deliberately harmed, BBC News reported.
"It was actually a very sad sight to see all those dead elephants, especially one of the dead females who had a very young calf of about three months old. The calf was trying to wake the dead mother up," he said, according to the BBC.
Nathan added the elephants, aged between four and 20, were believed to be from the same family group.
Malaysia’s The Star newspaper said the first elephant died on Dec. 29 and the last was found on Jan. 24.
The paper reported that the dead animals were found in an area that it described as an “industrial tree plantation.”
The Star said it was not known how the elephants had died, and noted it was possible they had eaten poisonous plants or pesticides.
The BBC cited Masidi Manjun, environmental minister for the Sabah area, as saying it was “a sad day for conservation and Sabah.”

Sabah Wildlife Department via Reuters

Malaysia's wildlife officials inspect a dead pygmy elephant.

Conservation charity WWF runs an “adopt a pygmy elephant” campaign.
According to its website, the animals are found “only on the northeast tip of the island of Borneo, and inhabit forests near water sources and grasslands. “
“Borneo pygmy elephants are smaller than other Asian elephants, chubbier, and have bigger ears and tails,” it said. “They eat roughly 300 pounds of food daily—mostly roots, grasses, leaves, bananas and sugar cane.”
WWF estimates that there are possibly as low as 1,600 individuals in the wild.
“The top threats to pygmy elephants are habitat loss and conflict with humans,” it added.

Senate passes $50.5 billion in Sandy funds

 About damn time!! Wht is wrong with this congress...Oh, Right. Most of them are Republicans and they must cut the deficit no matter who it hurts . But if this had been red states in trouble, move aside the repub express passing through.  Three months unbelievable, these people have had to wait 90+ days to get help, these people are living in shelters, because they basically have NOTHING!!!!!!

By Tom Curry, NBC News

The Senate Monday night passed a $50.5 billion emergency spending bill to aid people in New York and New Jersey who are trying to rebuild their homes and businesses after last October’s devastation from super-storm Sandy.
The vote was 62 to 36, with 60 votes needed for passage.
Before approving the spending bill, the Senate defeated, 62 to 35, an amendment by Sen. Mike Lee, R- Utah, that would have offset the new Sandy outlays by reducing discretionary spending (including defense) by 0.5 percent over the next nine years.
The House had passed the Sandy spending bill two weeks ago. But the House action had come only after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and House members from the Northeast harshly criticized Speaker John Boehner for not allowing a vote on a Sandy relief bill on New Years’ Eve.
Congress has already passed $9.7 billion in additional borrowing authority for the National Flood Insurance Program to help pay Sandy claims from homeowners in New York and New Jersey.