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Obama to lift HIV/AIDS travel ban

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- The ban on HIV/AIDS-infected visitors and immigrants entering the United States will be repealed after the New Year, President Barack Obama announced Friday.

"We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic -- yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bars people from HIV from entering our own country," Obama said during a signing ceremony for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009.

Obama said a final rule would be published in the Federal Register that eliminates the travel ban effective just after Jan. 1.

"If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it," he said. "Congress and President (George W.) Bush began this process last year ... . We are finishing the job."

The re-authorization bill is named for Ryan White, the Indiana teen who became the poster child of the AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus and AIDS in the United States. White was expelled from school when news of his infection became public, eventually having to move elsewhere.

"Ryan showed the courage and strength," Obama said. "And because he did, we didn't just become more informed about HIV/AIDS, we began to take action to fight it."

Obama noted that the legislation has evolved from an emergency response to a comprehensive national program since it was enacted nearly 20 years ago.

"We can't give Ryan White back" to his mother, Jeanne White-Ginder, who attended the ceremony, Obama said.

"But what we can do," he said, "is honor the courage that he and his family showed. What we can do is to take more action and educate more people. What we can do is keep fighting each and every day until we eliminate this disease from the face of the Earth."

House health bill boosts spending by $600B

WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. House healthcare plan would raise federal healthcare spending by nearly $600 billion over the next 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office said.

In a report sent Friday to congressional health leaders, the CBO measured the impact of the latest healthcare proposals in the House and Senate based on a number of criteria of interest to lawmakers, The Washington Post reported.

The House measure would reduce federal deficits over the next 10 years by $104 billion while the Senate bill would reduce deficits by $81 billion.

Another yardstick lawmakers sought was whether the bill would increase overall federal spending on healthcare, a more complicated figure, the Post reported. To measure that effect, the CBO looked at the cost of expanding coverage -- $829 billion in the Senate Finance bill versus $1trillion in the new House bill -- and subtracted other charges, such as proposed reduced spending on Medicare and Medicaid programs in both bills.

Based on all of the reductions, the Senate bill would only raise federal health expenditures by $85 billion during the next 10 years, the CBO said.

By contrast, only about half of the proposed the House coverage expansion would be offset by other changes, leaving the government spending $598 billion more on healthcare by 2019, the non-partisan office said.

European Union urges climate change aid

BRUSSELS, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- The European Union Friday said it proposes rich countries provide financial aid to developing countries to help those lands fight the effects of climate change.

The Financial Times said the European Union wants as much as $74 billion in funds transferred from rich countries a year by 2020 to help in the world's fight against global warming.

EU officials, meeting in a preliminary session in Brussels, did not specify the European Union's expected financial contributions to those efforts.

An agreement regarding how the requested aid from richer EU members to help poorer members of the 27-member bloc would be split was not reached Friday, the Times said.

The proposal from the European Union comes after old and new EU members were divided regarding what position the international organization will take at the global climate talks in Denmark next month.

Poland and other Eastern states warned during their preliminary session in Brussels that if they can't reach an agreement, they may go to the Copenhagen meeting with their own proposals different than the rest of the union.

Plane hits house in Georgia

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga., Oct. 30 (UPI) -- A twin-engine plane hit a house in Lawrenceville, Ga., Friday, setting off a major fire, police said.

There was no information available about any injuries, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Gwinnett County police Cpl. David Schiralli said emergency crews had been dispatched to the scene of the 1:30 p.m. crash, the newspaper said.

The Cessna 310 had taken off from the Gwinnett County airport for a flight to Spart, Tenn. It crashed into a house near the intersection of Oracle and Walker drives, WSB-TV reported.

Search continue for air crash survivors

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Searchers focused on a debris field to look for survivors of a military aircraft collision, but a Pentagon spokesman said finding survivors was unlikely.

The crash occurred Thursday about 15 miles east of San Clemente Island, Calif., when a Coast Guard C-130 aircraft with seven people aboard collided with an AH-1W Super Cobra helicopter with two pilots on board, the Defense Department said in a release.

"The search is still on, but it's likely taken the lives of nine individuals," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said, calling the collision a "tragic event."

A large debris field has been found and is the focus of a search and rescue mission following the collision of a Coast Guard plane and a Marine helicopter off the southern California coast.

Crews -- including personnel from the Coast Guard, Navy and Marine Corps -- were searching on the sea and in the air in a debris field, operating under the presumption the nine people were alive, CNN reported.

"We have not found any human remains at this point, or survivors," Coast Guard spokesman Capt. Thomas Farris said.

The Coast Guard also is investigating what caused the collision during training mission, the Pentagon said. Navy personnel reported to the Coast Guard they observed what appeared to be an in-flight collision, the Coast Guard said.

Obama's property taxes up only 1 percent

CHICAGO, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Property taxes on President Barack Obama's tony Chicago home bumped up only 1 percent this year, figures released by the Cook County assessor show.

The president and Michelle Obama will pay real estate taxes of $22,456.43, just $223.09 more than they paid last year, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Friday.

The hike is well below the median increase of 9.6 percent for Chicago homeowners, the newspaper says.

Chicago politicians who fared better than average this year include Mayor Richard Daley, whose tax bill is up just 3.52 percent for his South Loop townhouse.

Cook County Board President Todd Stroger must pay only 3 percent more in real estate taxes for his Avalon Park bungalow.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn got hit with the biggest increase -- a 13 percent hike in property taxes for his home on Chicago's Northwest Side.