Gunman kills 7, wounds 6 in Philippines
MANILA, Philippines, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- A man went on a shooting rampage Friday in the Philippines, killing seven people and wounding six before being shot to death by police, authorities said.
A second man was being sought but police said it was not clear if he was an accomplice in the shootings in Cavite, south of Manila.
The gunman went from house to house in search of victims before police shot him, the Philippine Star reported.
Cavite Police Superintendent Dionicio Borromeo identified the gunman man as Ronald Bae.
The people killed by the gunman included a pregnant woman identified as Rhea Alberto and Michaela Caimol, 7, both neighbors of Bae, the Star said.
Investigators said the gunman fired randomly. Others shot included at least two other children, who were hospitalized, a tricycle driver and a fruit vendor, they said.
The shooter had at least two guns, one of them a .45-caliber pistol, the report said.
Provincial Gov. Jonvic Remulla quoted local residents as saying Bae had been hiding after being named on a police drug watch list. Bae had recently returned to the Cavite area and had been drinking heavily and also may have been using drugs, the report said.
Cuomo to Congress: Show me Sandy aid
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he won't trust Congress to vote as promised on $60.4 billion in Superstorm Sandy aid until lawmakers show him the money.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, reversed an earlier decision to pull the relief package from consideration after being lambasted by Republican lawmakers and top officials from the affected states.
Boehner, re-elected as speaker Thursday amid open dissent from conservatives, said the House would now hold a "suspension vote" Friday on part of the package -- a $9.7 billion bill to replenish the National Flood Insurance Program so it can pay claims from the storm.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency says the flood-insurance program it manages will likely run out of money next week.
Nearly 140,000 Sandy-related flood insurance claims have been filed, FEMA said, with most still not paid or not paid in full.
Friday's promised suspension vote -- involving a motion to suspend House rules and automatically pass the $9.7 billion bill -- would be followed by a regular House vote Jan. 15, the first day of the new Congress, on an additional $51 billion to repair housing, rebuild mass transit and provide other post-Sandy assistance, Boehner said.
"I've heard a lot of things, and until I see the cash, I reserve judgment," Cuomo, a Democrat, said during a meeting of his Cabinet in Albany, N.Y., Thursday.
Cuomo, sometimes mentioned as a 2016 presidential hopeful, called congressional Republicans "disingenuous and dysfunctional" in their handling of the aid needs.
Geithner said set on leaving this month
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner plans to leave his job around Inauguration Day, a spokesman says, and he'll leave, debt-ceiling deal or not, Politico says.
His decision to leave the administration this month and return to New York is pretty firm, now that the "fiscal cliff" showdown is over and President Barack Obama signed a bill to raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans, a source close to Geithner told Politico.
Geithner, 51, a key player in the cliff negotiations, had long planned to leave Washington after the cliff fight was over, the source said.
Geithner is the last remaining member of Obama's original economic adviser team that shaped the president's response to the 2008 financial crisis.
His intention to leave the administration increases pressure on Obama to name a successor as Treasury secretary, Politico said.
White House Chief of Staff Jacob Lew, a former Office of Management and Budget director, remains the leading contender for the Treasury job, Politico and CNN reported.
British hospital discharges Malala
BIRMINGHAM, England, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Malala Yousufzai, the teenage Pakistani activist shot by the Taliban, was discharged from a British hospital, officials said.
Malala left the hospital Thursday after doctors determined "she would benefit from being at home" with her parents and two brothers, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Malala, 15, was shot in the head in October as she was returning home from school. Officials said she was targeted because she refused to back down from her campaign for girls' education in Pakistan.
She was flown to Britain and was receiving treatment at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
She is to undergo cranial reconstruction surgery either in late January or early February "as part of her long-term recovery," her doctors said.
Malala had been leaving the hospital for"home leave" visits to spend time with her parents and siblings at their "temporary home" in the West Midlands, officials said.
During those visits "assessments have been carried out by her medical team to ensure she can continue to make good progress outside the hospital," prompting the decision to release her even though she maintains her rehabilitation regimen, officials said.
Hospital Medical Director Dave Rosser said the teen is making "great progress in her treatment," the Telegraph said.
"Malala is a strong young woman and has worked hard with the people caring for her to make excellent progress in her recovery," he said.
