Obama to sign healthcare fixes bill
ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 30 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama is to sign a bill of fixes to the new healthcare law Tuesday, ending a long and difficult legislative journey.
The signing ceremony will be at Northern Virginia Community College at Alexandria, Va., the White House said. Obama will be introduced by Jill Biden, an instructor at the college and the wife Vice President Joe Biden.
Among other things, the package of fixes expands health insurance subsidies for lower- and middle-income families and closes the so-called "doughnut hole" for out-of-pocket expenses paid by seniors for prescription drugs under Medicare, CNN reported. The measure increases the overall cost of the healthcare reform legislation to $940 billion over the next 10 years, $65 billion more than the healthcare bill Obama signed into law last week.
One section of the fixes package overhauls the college student loan program by moving government funding for loans from commercial banks to new education initiatives.
The package of changes passed Congress Thursday without Republican help in either house. Among other things, Republican leaders said the measure will lead to cuts in Medicare services while doing little to check spiraling medical costs.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told CNN "repeal and replace" would be the Republicans' mantra in the campaign for the midterm elections.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California questioned the wisdom of such a tactic. She said Republican candidates would have to favor ending popular benefits in the legislation, such as barring insurance companies from denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions.
Rescuers work to save men in flooded mine
BEIJING, March 30 (UPI) -- About 1,000 rescuers worked Tuesday to save 153 workers trapped in a flooded coal mine for two days in China's northern Shanxi province, officials said.
Despite showers in the area, the rescuers worked through Monday night to install more machines to pump water from more than 600 meters (nearly 2,000 feet) underground, China Daily reported. Water enough to fill 56 Olympic-size swimming pools was estimated to have flowed into the mine.
The state-run Wangjialing Coal Mine, which was under construction, was flooded Sunday afternoon, trapping 153 of the 261 miners in the pit, the report said. The remaining 108 managed to escape.
Liu Dezheng, a rescue team spokesman, warned about guarding against gas, which is present in high concentrations in coal mines.
"Rescuers have to face the danger of toxic gas, while fighting the water," he said.
Earlier this month, 32 miners died when underground water flooded a mine being built in the north Inner Mongolia region.
In the worst accident of this type in China, 172 miners died in August 2007 in a flooded mine in Xintai, Shandong province, China Daily reported.
Myanmar junta blamed for poll boycott
YANGON, Myanmar, March 30 (UPI) -- The United States, blaming Myanmar's military rulers, said it respects the decision of Aung San Suu Kyi's party to boycott the elections to be held this year.
Reacting to the decision by the National League for Democracy to stay out of the elections because of election restrictions from the ruling junta, State Department spokesman Philip Crowley termed the situation in Myanmar disappointing, the Voice of America reported.
Crowley said the United States "understands and respects the decision" by Suu Kyi's NLD because the junta has refused to open up the political process to people like Suu Kyi and ethnic groups.
The junta's election rules are described by critics as a ploy to continue in power.
One rule bars people like Suu Kyi, who are seen as having a criminal record because she has been under house arrest for most of the past 20 years for her pro-democracy activities.
Registered parties also must swear allegiance to the 2008 constitution, which would set aside 25 percent of parliament seats to the military.
The NLD announced its unanimous boycott decision Monday after a meeting of its members.
The new elections are to be held sometime this year but the military government has not announced the dates.
The New York Times reported that under the elections laws the NLD's latest decision could mean its dissolution.
Khan travel limits eased
LAHORE, Pakistan, March 30 (UPI) -- Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan will have more freedom of movement but may not do interviews on nuclear issues, a court said.
Justice Ijaz Ahmad Chaudhry of the Lahore High Court said Monday that Khan, regarded in his country as the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, may move freely but left in place restrictions preventing him from speaking to media on nuclear weapons and proliferation, Pakistan's Daily Times reported.
The judge, citing security concerns in his ruling on Khan's petition, said the scientist must keep the government informed a half hour before going anywhere within Islamabad and a day in advance when traveling outside the Pakistani capital, the report said.
Ali Zafar, an attorney for Khan, welcomed the ruling and claimed his client was now a "free man," the report said. Zafar was quoted as saying Khan already has submitted an affidavit assuring he will not talk about nuclear proliferation or the country's nuclear program.
Khan was detained by former President Pervez Musharraf in 2004 after he admitted operating a network that allegedly helped sell nuclear weapons technology to North Korea, Iran and Libya. Lately, Khan has been allowed greater freedom of movement.
The proliferation issues have stood in the way of Pakistan's effort to secure a civilian nuclear deal with the United States, similar to the one its archrival India has secured. Both India and Pakistan also are nuclear weapons powers.
