Bush offers economic stimulus plan
CHICAGO, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush unveiled details of an economic recovery package Tuesday extending unemployment benefits, accelerating 2001 tax reductions, ending taxes on stock dividends and creating new incentives for business investment. White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters Monday that "92 million taxpayers will receive on average a tax cut of $1,083 in 2003" and what he called a "typical family of four making $39,000 in income will receive a total $1,100 in tax relief under the plan. Bush presented the initiative to members of the Economic Club of Chicago.
SoCal's Santa Ana winds to dissipate
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- The Santa Ana winds that have been battering Southern California should begin to die Tuesday afternoon after toppling trees and whipping two brush fires, weather forecasters said. More than 40,000 customers were without electrical power and a fire in Malibu was up to 1,500 acres Tuesday morning, although no homes were burned.
Scientists find biological clock protein
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., Jan. 7 (UPI) -- The biological clock that keeps time for almost every activity within living creatures turns out to be a single protein, Purdue University researchers reported. The finding likely will surprise scientists, Purdue Chemistry Professor James Morré said, because current opinion is the biological clock -- also known as the "circadian rhythm" -- results from a complicated network of biochemical interactions.
EU marks 10 years of border-free trade
BRUSSELS, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Border-free trade in the European Union has created 2.5 million jobs and added $914 billion to the bloc's wealth, the European Commission said Tuesday in a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the world's biggest single market. European Commissioner Frits Bolkestein said: "The internal market has transformed Europe beyond recognition in 10 years. It has dismantled barriers and opened doors. Europeans can now live, study, work or retire wherever they like in Europe and consumers have a wider choice of high quality products."
Papers: Bishop destroyed abuse records
MANCHESTER, N.H., Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Court papers indicate a former bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester destroyed church records detailing the alleged sexual abuse of children by two priests. Reports Tuesday said Bishop Odore Gendron in the 1980s purged the records of the Revs. Philip Petit and Gordon MacRae. Gendron, who headed the diocese from 1975 to 1990, destroyed the records at the request of Petit, who was accused of sexual misconduct, and at the request of the facility where MacRae had undergone treatment for sexual abuse, the Union Leader of Manchester reported.
Factory orders fall 0.8 percent
WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that orders for manufactured goods posted their third decline in four months during November, falling 0.8 percent to $319.3 billion after rising 1.4 percent in October. Wall Street economists were expecting new orders placed with U.S. factories to decline by 0.5 percent during the month. For the first 11 months of 2002, factory orders were down 1 percent, the government agency said.
Markets await stimulus plan
NEW YORK, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Prices on the New York Stock Exchange were slightly lower in fairly active trading early Tuesday afternoon as investors locked in some profits after three days of advances and awaited details of President Bush's economic stimulus plan. Prices rose slightly on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average, which jumped 171.88 points Monday, was down 12.82 points to 8,760.75. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index, which gained 34.24 points in the previous session, was ahead 7.15 points to 1,428.47.
Capriati makes early exit
SYDNEY, Australia, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Jennifer Capriati's preparations for next week's Australian Open were derailed Tuesday with a second-round upset from the Adidas International. The top-seeded American, who earned a first-round bye, dropped her first match of 2003, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, to Russia's Tatiana Panova. "I've just got to forget about it and think about next week," said Capriati, who lost for the first time in four meetings with Panova. "It is the start of the year, my first match back so it's to be expected that I'm not going to play the greatest."
