Obama seeks lots of input on job creation
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- No job-creating idea, as long as it's sound, will be dismissed out of hand, U.S. President Barack Obama said Thursday as he opened a White House jobs forum.
Obama and his economic team invited 130 representatives of business, labor, non-profit and academia to explore ideas on how to grow the U.S. economy and stimulate job creation.
The question facing forum participants is, "How do we get businesses to start hiring again," Obama said, "and start seeing a virtuous cycle (when) recovery starts to feed on itself."
Despite improvements made in the U.S. economy since the first of the year, "many business still are skittish about hiring," Obama said.
The forum was held before the November unemployment report -- expected to remain above 10 percent -- was due.
Obama faces criticism on both sides of the congressional aisle about the pace of job creation, with some Democrats urging a second stimulus package while some Republicans say jobless figures show the stimulus package hasn't worked.
The federal government has a critical role in creating the conditions to stimulate economic growth, but "ultimately, the economic recovery will come only from the private sector," Obama said.
"I am open to every demonstrably good idea," Obama said, but resources are limited.
"We can't make any ill-considered decisions right now even with the best intentions," he said. "we're going to have to be surgical and ... creative."
House GOP leader has his own job summit
WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- While President Barack Obama held a jobs forum at the White House Thursday, U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner conducted his own jobs summit as a counter.
"(The) biggest problem that we heard from our economists with regard to why employers aren't hiring is all the job-killing policies that are being offered by this administration and this Congress and creating an awful lot of uncertainty for American employers," the Ohio Republican said after the roundtable.
The White House forum called together a group of business, labor, academic and non-profit leaders to explore ways to stimulate job creation.
Obama's plans for regulation, climate change legislation and healthcare reform would harm the economy, the economists at Boehner's gathering said, The Hill reported.
"(Job) creation in the United States is something that small businesses, entrepreneurs and the private sector will do," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former Congressional Budget Office and Republican adviser. "But they cannot do it if they are burdened by a legacy of debt and the prospect of higher taxes to pay off that debt. And that is the most troubling aspect of the policies this administration is pursuing."
Asked about the absence of representatives of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at the White House jobs forum, Boehner said, "(The) fact that they're not at the White House gives you some indication that they're considering policies that are not going to help employers be more confident about the future of the economy, and, therefore, put employers in a position where they're not going to hire more people."
Somali ministers among 19 dead from blast
MOGADISHU, Somalia, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A male suicide bomber disguised as a woman detonated his explosives during a graduation ceremony in Mogadishu Thursday, killing 19 people, officials said.
The government and media outlets said three government ministers, two journalists, nine students and two doctors died in the explosion at the Hotel Shamo in the southern area of the capital, CNN reported.
Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed blamed the Islamic group al-Shabaab for the attack, CNN reported a Radio Mogadishu journalist as saying.
The government identified the three slain ministers as Education Minister Abdullahi Wayel, Health Minister Qamar Aden and Higher Education Minister Ibrahim Hassan Adow. Sports Minister Suleman Olad Roble was initially was reported has having died in the blast, but his relatives said he was hospitalized in critical condition.
During a news conference, Ahmed displayed a body he said was the bomber, the remains of the suicide belt and shreds of a hijab, a loose, dress-like garment, CNN reported.
The bomber struck during a graduation ceremony for Banadir University's medical school, the African Union said.
The African Union condemned the attack, saying it would "spare no efforts to ensure that perpetrators of this act and such heinous crimes against humanity being carried out in Somalia" would be arrested and tried.
Amanda Knox trial coming to close
PERUGIA, Italy, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The Italian student charged with killing a young British woman in Perugia in 2007 denied Thursday that he was present when Meredith Kercher died.
Raffaele Sollecito, 25, an engineering student from Bari, Italy, denied any role in the killing, CNN reported.
Sollecito and his former girlfriend, Amanda Knox, 22, of Seattle, are charged with the murder of Kercher during a drug-fueled sex game at the house Knox and Kercher shared. Kercher, 21, a University of Leeds student from a London suburb, and Knox were studying in Perugia.
"I am not a violent person," Sollecito said. "I've not killed Meredith. I was not at the scene of the crime. Every day I hope that the guilty one confesses. I ask you to give me back my life."
Attorneys completed final arguments Thursday with the jury scheduled to get the case Friday morning. A verdict was seen as possible by Friday night, the Italian news agency ANSA said. The prosecution is seeking life in prison for Knox.
Rudy Guede, 30, an immigrant from the Ivory Coast, has already been convicted and sentenced to 30 years. Knox and Sollecito face life sentences if they are found guilty.
Knox was described by the prosecution as "wound up like a spring" because of Kercher's complaints and "unleashed" her anger "in a drug-filled rage."
Knox was fed up with Kercher moaning about her bringing boys into the house and having to clean up after her, prosecutor Giuliano Mignini said in his final arguments.
Kercher was found dead in her room with a knife wound to the throat on Nov. 2, 2007.
Bushes hit the road as public speakers
DALLAS, Dec. 3 (UPI) -- Former U.S. President George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, are earning hefty speaking fees that experts say may come to $100,000 for 40 minutes work.
Most recently, Bush appeared at a Get Motivated! seminar in San Antonio, ABC News reported, joining his former secretary of state, retired Gen. Colin Powell, and former NFL player Terry Bradshaw. Laura Bush was the featured speaker Tuesday at the annual dinner of the Association of Chain Drug Stores Foundation.
David Sherzer, a Bush spokesman, said the ex-president had 32 speeches on his schedule in 2009, including at least one other for Get Motivated!, an organization that holds inspirational conferences featuring speeches by prominent people on the secrets of success. Sherzer would not say how much Bush is paid.
"He really enjoys it," says Sherzer. "He jokes that he's getting paid or what he did for free for eight years as president."
John LaRosa of Marketdata Enterprises told ABC ex-presidents can expect fees towards the upper end of a scale that can go to $170,000 for the most celebrated speakers.
"It's easy money," LaRosa said. "You get up there and talk for 40 minutes, and then someone gives you $100,000."
