UPI NewsTrack TopNews

Obama team pragmatic about expectations

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama is learning that governing is different than campaigning, a one-time aide to former President George W. Bush says.

In recent days, Obama announced a series of new policies that undid several directives of the Bush administration, from raising vehicle fuel efficiency standards to effectively banning torture of terrorist suspects in U.S. custody to closing the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He also announced strict lobbying limits for political appointees -- but the White House found itself in the discomforting position of issuing a waiver for William Lynn III, a former Raytheon lobbyist up for a deputy Defense secretary post.

"Governing is a lot more complicated than campaigning," former Bush aide Peter Wehner, now a senior fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center, told The Washington Post. "He's the candidate who has presented himself as moving the Earth. ... When you set those kinds of expectations, it's tough to pull them back."

Obama enjoys high approval ratings, which aides say puts him in a position to push for the changes promised during the campaign. However, aides note the overhaul won't happen quickly, the Post said.

"I don't doubt that there are some that believe that all of this can be done overnight," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. "My caution to them is that this will take time. But we feel good about the pace of our progress."

CBO: House plan offers 'noticeable impact'

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- The bulk of spending and tax cuts in a House-crafted plan to stimulate the U.S. economy would have a "noticeable impact" by 2010, budget analysts said.

A Congressional Budget Office report issued Monday indicated about two-thirds of the measures in the $825 billion package would migrate into the economy by the end of fiscal year 2010, producing "a noticeable impact on economic growth and unemployment," The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The package is scheduled for a House vote Wednesday.

The non-partisan office concluded the measure would cost the federal government about $816 billion over the next decade and that approximately $526 billion, or about 65 percent, would be spent by the end of September 2010. That percentage falls short of President Barack Obama's goal of injecting at least 75 percent of the cash into the economy during the next 19 months to create millions of jobs and ease the pain of the recession.

The final analysis is only slightly different from a preliminary CBO cost estimate that caught the eye of congressional Republicans when it was released last week, the Post said, with House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio saying the preliminary figures proved that "slow-moving government spending programs" would do little to revive the economy compared with GOP-preferred tax cuts.

House Speaker Nancy of California praised the new CBO report Tuesday, calling it the "first analysis of the entire House recovery bill," and saying it proved the measure "provides immediate stimulus to help create jobs."

Lavrov, Clinton to meet Moscow

MOSCOW, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his U.S. counterpart, Hillary Clinton, will meet before an April world financial ministers summit, he said Tuesday.

"I agreed with Hillary Clinton that we would meet before the G-20 summit due on April 2 in London," Lavrov said during a Moscow news conference.

He and Clinton spoke by phone this week, as did Russian and U.S. presidents Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported. Medvedev and Obama agreed to conduct a bilateral meeting soon.

"Both conversations were constructive," Lavrov said. "Both parties confirmed their interest in restarting Russian-U.S. relations."

Several sources told RIA Novosti that Obama and Medvedev would meet when Obama conducts his first European tour as president in April, but offered conflicting information about when the two world leaders would meet. U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton likely would visit Russia in March, but the Foreign Ministry said the date hasn't been determined.

The G-20, or the Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, is a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 economies. It is scheduled to meet April 2 in London.

Blagovich criticizes impeachment from NYC

SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich kept up his assault on his impeachment proceedings from afar Tuesday, telling an early-morning TV audience he is innocent.

"I did nothing wrong," Blagojevich said in-studio on CBS' "The Early Show," adding he expected to be "out of work in the near future" as the impeachment trial entered its second day in the Illinois Capitol.

He said he wasn't trying to soften a potential jury pool in case he's indicted on federal corruption charges. Instead, he said he was appealing to senators to change rules governing the impeachment so he could call witnesses and air all the audiotapes made covertly by federal officials.

Resignation wasn't an option, Blagojevich said, because it would send the wrong message to his daughters.

Since being arrested on federal corruption charges and impeached by the Illinois House, Blagojevich said he has been going through "a very lonely period."

Meanwhile, Illinois state senators were expected to hear selected segments of four recordings purporting to show Blagojevich trying to get campaign funding, as well as testimony from the FBI agent who wrote the criminal affidavit leading to the governor's arrest in December, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The recordings and agent's appearance were approved by U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who earlier asked lawmakers when they were deciding whether to impeach the governor not to venture into federal issues because the criminal case against Blagojevich continues.

Impeachment prosecutor David Ellis dismissed Blagojevich's complaints that he could not call witnesses such as White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett. Federal prosecutors asked that such witnesses not be called because of the criminal investigation, and lawmakers obliged, the Tribune said. Blagojevich, who missed the deadline for filing a witness list, is not mounting a defense.

Kim Jong Il makes New Year's appearance

SEOUL, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- North Korean official media say reclusive leader Kim Jong Il has attended a performance by the country's state chorus celebrating the lunar New Year.

The North's Korean Central News Agency, in a statement issued Tuesday and monitored in Seoul, said Kim praised the performers and expressed the "expectation and conviction that all of them would conduct dynamic revolutionary art activities and thus fully display the might of buglers in the Songun (or 'military first') era," the South's Yonhap news agency reported.

The KCNA report said Kim Ki Nam, secretary of the Workers Party of Korea's Central Committee and Jang Song Thaek and Kim Yang Gon, department directors of the WPK Central Committee, were also among the audience. But Yonhap noted the KCNA report didn't reveal the exact date or venue of the musical performance.

Kim last week made his first appearance with a foreign guest since he reportedly suffered an August stroke, meeting with a visiting Chinese official, Yonhap said.

FedEx cargo planes crashes, pilots safe

LUBBOCK, Texas, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Two pilots were safe Tuesday after crash-landing a Federal Express-contracted twin-engine turboprop cargo plane in Lubbock, Texas, officials said.

Officials said the FedEx ATR-42 flight, originating from Fort Worth (Texas) Alliance Airport, came down at the end of the runway at Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport, veered off and caught fire about 4:40 a.m. Tuesday, KCBD-TV in Lubbock reported.

The TV station said one pilot, a 52-year-old man from Portland Ore., was in satisfactory condition and the other, a 26-year-old woman from Tacoma, Wash., was treated and released.

The small fire was quickly extinguished.

The aircraft was operated by Empire Airways under a contract with FedEx Corp., based in Memphis, FedEx spokeswoman Sandra Munoz told the broadcaster.

Munoz indicated she was unsure about the extent of the damage to the aircraft or why the fire started.

She said the plane skidded off the runway while a light freezing rain was falling in Lubbock. However, airport officials said weather was not a factor in the crash although runways at the Lubbock airport were closed due to icy conditions Tuesday with deicing under way, KCBD-TV said.

The aircraft appeared to have come to rest between the taxiway and a runway.

KCBD-TV said the airport initially was closed after the crash, but had since resumed some operations. At least several flights were delayed.