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Journalist to be freed from Tehran prison

TEHRAN, May 11 (UPI) -- Iranian officials said they plan to release imprisoned U.S. free-lance journalist Roxana Saberi Monday, her father said.

A three-judge panel met for five hours Sunday to consider Saberi's appeal of her eight-year prison sentence for an espionage conviction.

Reza Saberi, the journalist's father, told CNN he was waiting outside Tehran's Evin prison for his daughter's release.

Saberi was sentenced to eight years in prison in April for espionage during a one-day, closed-door trial. She engaged in a two-week hunger strike to protest her imprisonment, ending it last Monday after her parents pleaded with her to resume eating.

Saberi's defense team was given enough time before the appeals court to properly defend their client, one of the attorneys told Iran's state news agency, IRNA.

"After hearing the two sides' arguments, one of the (three) judges declared that the hearing had ended and that the verdict would be issued next week," Abdolsamad Khorramshahi said. "Considering the way today's (Sunday's) session went, I am optimistic that fundamental changes will be made in the case of Ms. Saberi, which will be to her benefit."

The Iranian-American journalist was detained in January for buying a bottle of wine, then Iranian officials said she was working as a journalist without proper credentials. Saberi has lived in Iran since 2003 and reported for National Public Radio, the BBC and ABC News. Her press credentials were revoked in 2006, but she continued reporting.

Obama to address rising healthcare costs

WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- Healthcare reform received a huge boost with key players pledging to save $2 trillion in projected cost increases, the White House said.

Representatives from a half-dozen health industry trade groups were to meet Monday with Obama, who also will speak about the group's proposed voluntary measures on reforming the healthcare system to reduce costs, the White House said.

Representatives for physicians, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and insurance companies pledged to cut the growth rate of healthcare spending in the United States during the next 10 years, Obama said in a statement released Sunday. He said the groups "are voluntarily coming together to make an unprecedented commitment."

The proposed savings would cut the rise in healthcare costs by 1.5 percent a year, The Washington Post reported.

"I don't think there can be a more significant step to help struggling families and the federal budget," a senior administration official said during a conference call.

"Over the next 10 years -- from 2010 to 2019 -- they are pledging to cut the growth rate of national health care spending by 1.5 percentage points each year -- an amount that's equal to over $2 trillion," Obama said in his statement.

One former hospital chief executive officer, however, already is running ads against any government-run program.

Rick Scott, founder of Conservatives for Patients' Rights and a multimillionaire investor, is pumping in $5 million of his own money and up to $15 million more from supporters to mount a counter-campaign, the Post reported.

"Everybody wants to say I'm against Obama's plan, but I'm not necessarily," Scott told the Post. "The bottom line is that this is happening fast, and there is not much of a debate going on about what will happen if we go down this path."

Critics say spending shifts hurt military

WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- Critics of White House proposals to shift more defense spending to counterinsurgency say it leaves the United States open to conventional threats.

The architect of the shift, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, returned to Washington from Afghanistan over the weekend and was preparing to defend his new spending priorities during likely contentious budget hearings this week, The New York Times reported.

While in Afghanistan, Gates predicted the United States will face more unconventional warfare in the future, rather than challenges from entire enemy nations, and so must focus more of its military resources on such equipment as medical evacuation helicopters, mine-resistant vehicles and drone aircraft rather than tanks and bombers, the newspaper said.

But critics, mostly U.S. Senate Republicans such as James Inhofe of Oklahoma and John Cornyn of Texas, say the spending shifts are dangerous for the country's ability to meet conventional threats.

Gates' spending plan "is taking us down a path that leads to a weaker military that is poorly equipped," Inhofe told the newspaper.

New postage rates in effect

WASHINGTON, May 11 (UPI) -- Two cents may not buy much nowadays, but it will help a first-class letter mailed Monday reach its destination under new U.S. Postal Service postage rates.

The cost of mailing a letter rose from 42 cents to 44 cents for the first ounce -- about five sheets of paper -- a move necessitated by rising production costs, the USPS said in announcing the hike in February. Postcards now cost 28 cents while large envelopes cost 88 cents for the first ounce to mail, rates on the USPS Web site show.

One way consumers can hedge against the rising costs of snail mail is by using so-called "Forever Stamps," postage without a cent designation that can be used any time for a 1-ounce letter. Forever stamps sell at the going postage stamp price, but can be used when the rate is increased without additional postage.

USPS on its Web site promotes Forever Stamps by urging visitors to "Buy them now, use them forever."

Swiss consider limiting EU migrants

BERN, Switzerland, May 11 (UPI) -- Switzerland says it is considering using a European Union power allowing it to restrict immigration during times of high unemployment.

The clause in its EU treaty allows the Alpine country to limit the number of workers coming into the country from the original 15 EU signatories as well as from Malta and Cyrpus, the EUObserver reported Monday.

Unemployment figures released Friday indicated the country faced a new three-year high in joblessness of 3.5 percent in April.

"Backed by the latest job market and migration statistics, the government will soon make a decision on the possible activation of the protection clause," Swiss Justice Department spokesman Philippe Piatti told local media during the weekend.

Under the EU accords, Bern is allowed to temporarily limit EU workers coming into the country if its jobless levels go up by more than 10 percent in a year when compared with the previous three-year average, the Observer reported.