Romney defends investments, readies tax returns (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has criticized rival Newt Gingrich for earning more than $1.6 million in consulting fees from Freddie Mac even though he has as much as $500,000 invested in the U.S.-backed lender and its sister entity, Fannie Mae.

A day before Romney planned to release his income tax returns, his old investments in two controversial government-backed housing lenders stirred up new questions at the same time his campaign targeted Gingrich for his work for Freddie Mac.

The dimensions and the sources of Romney's wealth, which he has estimated to be as much as $250 million, have become pivotal issues in the roiling GOP primary campaign. For months, Romney dismissed calls to release his personal income tax records. But after mounting criticism from his rivals and others, coupled with his stinging weekend loss to Gingrich in the South Carolina primary, Romney agreed to release his 2010 return and 2011 estimate.

Romney's most recent financial disclosure report listed several investments in U.S.-backed lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Romney, Gingrich and other GOP critics repeatedly have all singled out the two quasi-government entities as prime villains in the housing crisis that played a central role in the nation's long and deep recession.

While continuing to hammer Gingrich for his consulting work for Freddie Mac, the Romney campaign sought to deflect questions about the former Massachusetts governor's investments. They include a mutual fund worth up to $500,000 that includes assets from both lenders among other government income, and separate investments in each of the lenders in Romney's individual retirement account, each worth between $100,000 and $250,000.

Romney campaign officials said Monday that a trustee handles the investments and that Romney had no role in choosing or managing them.

The tax returns Romney planned to release Tuesday could provide new details about his investments and his annual take as founder of the Bain Capital private equity firm. Gingrich released his own 2010 federal tax return last weekend, during a South Carolina GOP debate, and his campaign said he would disclose his full contracts with Freddie Mac on Monday night just before the debate in Tampa, Fla.

Romney's tax returns are likely to sketch out critical information about the tax strategies he employs. Tax experts said these likely include his use of a low 15 percent capital gains rate to reduce the taxes he pays on dozens of large investments that flow into his blind trust, charitable donation strategies that benefit philanthropies but also further reduce his tax burden and investments routed through offshore affiliates that could help him defer some tax payments.

Romney already has acknowledged that his current tax rate is about 15 percent, a level far lower than standard rates for high-income earners and similar to the capital gains rate. But some tax law and tax policy experts suggest that Romney likely has paid similarly low rates throughout his Bain years, continuing through the 13 years since he left the firm.

Joseph Bankman, a Stanford University business and law professor who has testified before Congress on the taxes paid by private equity firms like Bain, said Romney's background as a financier, coupled with his growing wealth and ability to use sophisticated tax tactics, makes it highly likely that he has paid taxes at the capital gains rate for most of his career.

"There is no reason to believe that Romney ever paid more that the going rate for capital gains," Bankman said.

The current lowest rate for long-term capital gains is 15 percent, but a higher rate of 20 percent had been in effect since 1981 until President George W. Bush signed into law a massive tax cut program in 2001.

Romney's 2010 return and 2011 estimate, Bankman said, could detail whether he continues to make any "carried interest," a lucrative investment arrangement typical among private equity managers that earns at least 20 percent of an investment fund's profits. The bulk of Romney's profits from his "carry," as the maneuver is often called in the private equity world, came during his tenure as Bain's founder and managing director in the 1980s and 1990s, but reportedly continued in the years after he left the firm.

At least six of Romney's investments, worth between $5 million and $25 million, were made in funds that have offshore affiliates based in the Cayman Islands, a well-known haven for companies seeking to attract foreign and non-profit investors. One of those funds, which is invested in Romney's retirement IRA, could be used to defer some of his tax payments, Columbia University law professor Michael Graetz said. It is uncertain if any offshore accounts would be identified in Romney's new tax disclosures.

Romney's vast investments contain other funds than the ones he profited from as a Bain Capital executive. But it was unclear Monday whether he had any direct role in handling the investments in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that appear on his 2012 presidential disclosure.

One investment, listed as a "Federated Government Obligation Fund" and worth between $250,000 and $500,000, was a mutual fund that included both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac assets among a larger pool that included other government securities.

The holding was not listed in Romney's blind trust, which led some Democratic Party activists to suggest that the investment was under his direct control.

"He is relentlessly attacking Newt Gingrich over his ties to Freddie Mac despite the fact that he personally invested up to a half a million dollars in both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," said Ty Matsdorf, a senior adviser with American Bridge 21st Century, a PAC associated with Democratic Party and liberal causes.

Former GOP Rep. J.C. Watts, a Gingrich supporter, said Monday that Romney was on a slippery slope calling his opponent a lobbyist and raising doubts about Gingrich's work for Freddie Mac. But he did not directly address Romney's investments with the lender or with Fannie Mae.

"Some might see it as splitting hairs. But Newt Gingrich was not walking the halls of House and Senate," Watts said on a conference call arranged by the campaign. "He was never doing the hand-to-hand combat doing the lobbying, consulting, whatever you want to call it."

A Romney campaign official who insisted on anonymity to discuss that investment in greater detail said that Romney's trustee had bought the government investment fund in 2007, before the housing crisis broke.

The Romney official said that the government fund was purchased through a charity trust that does not appear in Romney's presidential disclosure but will show up on his income tax return for 2010. That trust, called a Charitable Remainder Unitrust, is a standard tax strategy among the wealthy that provides investors with a fixed payout each year. What remains in the account at a later date, or when the investor dies, is turned over to charity, the official said.

Romney does not directly control the investment account, Romney campaign senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said earlier on Monday. "His investments are controlled by a trustee," Fehrnstrom said.

Separately, Romney's IRA retirement account lists both a Fannie Mae and a Freddie Mac security, each worth between $100,000 and $250,000. But because those are in Romney's IRA, they also appear to be under control of the trustee.

Tax experts said Romney's income tax returns may contain other charity structures and tax strategies designed to both boost his income and charity donations, while minimizing his involvement because of his presidential ambitions.

Roberton Williams, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Center, a branch of the nonpartisan Urban Institute in Washington, said much can be gleaned by looking at Romney's sources of income and his itemized deductions. The latter would include Romney's 10 percent annual tithing to the Mormon Church, which would lower his tax liability and counteract higher taxes he would otherwise pay on non-investment income, like speaking fees.

An annual study of charity giving by the ultra-rich has shown that tax strategies are only one of several motivations, said Una Osili, a professor of economics and philanthropic studies at Indiana University. The most recent 2010 study of "high net-worth philanthropy" found that religious ties and volunteer and donor relationships are also important, said Osili, director of research for the studies.

Osili noted that more than 90 percent high net-worth donors tend to make donations in either cash or checks. But Romney's own family charitable foundation, the Tyler Charitable Fund, has showed signs that Romney has also donated stock investments to charity ? and his 2010 returns could provide more evidence of that trend.

___

Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt and Brian Bakst in Tampa contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_el_pr/us_romney_s_wealth

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A Case of Mistaken Citizenship: How Does an American Prove He's Legal? (Time.com)

Antonio Montejano was born and raised in Los Angeles. He lives in an apartment building in a middle-class area sandwiched between Beverly Hills, the L.A. Country Club and UCLA. He is a law-abiding citizen who labors as a construction worker and comes home to a wife and four kids. But last month he was detained for four days under suspicion of being an illegal immigrant. He says local police officers and jail officials didn't listen when he pleaded repeatedly that he was a U.S. citizen. They eventually realized he was right, but not before he was transferred to L.A. County Jail, where he was kept in a cell without a bed or mattress. "I told them, If you give me the opportunity to call, I can tell my wife to get my passport and my birth certificate," says Montejano, 40. "But they never paid attention to what I was telling them."

Montejano's case is one of several recent incidents in Southern California in which incorrect government information has led authorities to detain U.S. citizens for investigation and possible deportation. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has reported three similar cases in the area and says four others have occurred even more recently. "A lot of calls are coming in," says Jennie Pasquarella, a lawyer for the group.

The incidents are worrisome for immigration lawyers and rights groups, who underscore that it is illegal for immigration agents to hold Americans for investigation for deportation proceedings. The ACLU, which helped Montejano and others get out of jail, says the problem lies in the Department of Homeland Security's Secure Communities program, or S-Comm, which checks FBI fingerprint records against immigration databases to see if people are lawfully present in the country. It says officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, rely too heavily on the S-Comm program, which is electronic, instead of doing investigative spadework like checking local records and documents.

(MORE: A Phony War on Deportation?)

Pasquarella says another reason this is happening is that there isn't an adequate way for people to protest their detention. Those detained locally find themselves in a sort of catch-22 in which local authorities say they can't help because they're acting under orders from federal officials and the feds say they can't do anything because the individuals aren't yet under their custody, Pasquarella explains. The problem is compounded by officials' failure to correct their records after erroneous detentions, she says. "It's a basic Fourth Amendment problem," she says, referring to the right against unreasonable search and seizure. "They're essentially detaining someone and investigating later."

Montejano's troubles began when he went Christmas shopping with his family. After a couple of hours at Sears, the family left the store and forgot to pay for a $10 bottle of cologne that Montejano had put in their shopping cart for his son. He offered to pay for it when he realized his error, he says, but the store called the police, and he was taken to the station. Even though officers told him he would be there for four hours, he was put in a cell on an immigration hold. Montejano remained detained even after an immigration judge ordered the police to let him go, he says. He later found out that he triggered the government's database because immigration officials had mistakenly deported him to Mexico in 1996 ? and didn't fix their records to show that he is indeed a citizen.

Federal immigration officials say they don't have statistics readily available on how many U.S. citizens are detained at any time. Northwestern University professor Jacqueline Stevens estimates that "a low but persistent" number of people placed on immigration holds are citizens. One study she conducted found that 82 of around 8,000 people detained on immigration holds in Arizona from 2006 to 2008 ended up being citizens. Many of them aren't detained under the S-Comm program but are identified by jail officials while serving time for misdemeanors, Stevens says. "One percent may seem low, but if we think of the total number of people being snagged by the ICE dragnet, it's actually quite alarming," she says.

(MORE: California Dreaming: Will the State Give Scholarships to Its Undocumented Youths?)

ICE officials say they haven't seen Stevens' study but find it "hard to believe." "The cases that are cited represent highly unusual fact patterns," says an ICE official who spoke on background. "We're constantly worried about this issue. We don't believe it's a widespread issue." In a bid to prevent U.S. citizens from being erroneously detained, ICE recently announced a new 24-hour toll-free hotline that people can call if they are or believe they are U.S. citizens. "This is a very important safeguard," the official said. ICE also established that authorities may not detain a person for longer than 48 hours on an immigration hold. Officials say they are working to clean up records so that previous mistaken detentions like Montejano's are noted in their databases. As for that case, they said they caught the problem "very quickly." "Secure Communities is not designed and should not be used to detain U.S. citizens and we work hand-in-hand with our state and local partners to ensure that it is used appropriately," ICE said in a statement.

It didn't feel very quick to Montejano and his family. Most troubling to him was his perception that he was detained because he looked Mexican. He says his 8-year-old son is now worried he might be detained because he looks Mexican too. "He told me, 'Daddy, can they detain me too because I look like you?' " he says. ICE officials deny that racial profiling is involved in their detention processes, stressing that the S-Comm program is electronic. Still, that's not so comforting for the construction worker. "They didn't believe me because of the color of my skin," he says. "But what can you do when things happen like that? You feel powerless when you're inside the jail. You're nothing in there when nobody believes you."

MORE: Census Update: What the World Will Look like in 2050

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EU finance chiefs to meet as Greek talks stall (AP)

PARIS ? European finance ministers will try on Monday to give new momentum to talks on a Greek debt relief deal that is crucial to avoid a default, but a European diplomat warned that a final agreement may have to wait until a leaders' summit next week.

A deal would see Greece's private creditors ? banks and other investment firms ? swap their Greek bonds for ones with a 50 percent lower value, thereby cutting the country's debt pile by some euro100 billion ($129 billion). The new bonds will also have much longer maturities, pushing repayments decades into the future, and a much lower interest rate than Greece would currently have to pay on the market.

However, even though the Greek government and representatives for the private creditors are moving closer to a final deal, issues remain ? in particular over the interest rates on the new bonds.

If the interest rate is too high, a second, euro130 billion bailout for Greece may not be enough to put the country back on its feet. Several eurozone states and the International Monetary Fund would have to provide more loans, but they are reluctant to do so.

The talks with the private creditors will likely drag on until a summit of European Union leaders next Monday "even if technically speaking a deal is at hand," a European diplomat said Monday.

"This has to be fixed at the highest level," said the diplomat, who was speaking on condition of anonymity because the negotiations are confidential.

French finance chief Francois Baroin, who met German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble in Paris before heading to Brussels for a eurozone ministers' meeting, told reporters that a deal "seems to be emerging."

Investors appeared confident that a deal would be struck eventually, pushing the euro, stocks and bonds higher. The borrowing rates for fiscally weak countries like Italy and Spain continued to slide, suggesting growing confidence in their financial futures.

Greek officials say negotiations are continuing over the phone, while no appointment has been set yet for new face-to-face talks this week.

Last week, officials from the Institute of International Finance, which represents the private creditors, held three days of intensive talks with Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos on the bond swap, which is officially called-Private Sector Involvement, or PSI.

The negotiations had been due to resume Saturday, according to Greek officials. But IIF chief Charles Dallara left for a "long-standing engagement" in Paris on Saturday.

Dallara told The Associated Press over the weekend that the talks are "coming together."

The IIF's legal and financial advisers are still in Athens working on several "outstanding issues" and Dallara will return "as needed," a spokesman said.

Greek government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said there was "absolutely no" question of the talks failing.

"Tonight's eurogroup meeting is important, and we hope significant steps will be taken there towards an agreement," he told state NET radio Monday.

On Sunday, Dallara was quoted by private Antenna TV as saying he had presented Athens with "the best possible" proposal on the debt writedown.

"I believe the elements now are in place for a historic voluntary PSI deal. It is a question now really of the broader reaction of the European official sector and of course the IMF to this proposal," he said.

Having the creditors accept the deal voluntarily would avoid the payout of insurance on the restructured bonds. The EU and IMF are trying hard to keep it a voluntary deal, but Dallara suggested their demands were pushing the limits of what the private creditors could consider voluntary.

"Our offer that was delivered to the Prime Minister is the maximum offer consistent with a voluntary PSI deal," he added. "We are in a crossroads. Either we choose a voluntary debt restructuring (or) the alternative is to choose the path of default."

Dallara said he was "quite hopeful" that common ground can be reached "in the very, very, very short term."

The writedown is a key part of Greece's second international bailout, agreed in October but not yet finalized. Since May 2010, the country has been surviving on a first euro110 billion ($142 billion) batch of rescue loans agreed on condition of deep spending cuts and sweeping public sector reforms.

Debt inspectors from the EU, the European Central Bank and the IMF ? collectively known as the troika ? will be meeting government officials in Athens this week on the course of the austerity program. Without approval from the troika, Greece will be cut off from its rescue loan lifeline, which would force it into a messy default on its debts in late March and even possibly see it leave the euro.

___

Paphitis reported from Athens. Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_europe_financial_crisis

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More Evidence for Oxaliplatin as Colon Cancer Chemotherapy (HealthDay)

FRIDAY, Jan. 20 (HealthDay News) -- Adding oxaliplatin to a standard chemotherapy regimen boosts survival rates for patients with advanced colon cancer, according to a new study that bolsters previous research on the drug by looking at a broader group of patients.

"Physicians and patients should be reassured from our findings that oxaliplatin is associated with marginally but consistently superior survival for patients diagnosed before age 75 years in community settings," the study authors said in a news release.

In past studies, oxaliplatin, as an adjuvant to the established treatment of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), improved survival by up to 23 percent. But the new study looked at a different group of colon cancer patients, who were older, sicker, more racially diverse and had never participated in a controlled clinical study.

The study, led by Dr. Hanna Sanoff, an assistant professor of medicine, hematology and oncology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, appears in the Jan. 20 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Colon cancer is one of the world's deadliest diseases, with more than 100,000 Americans diagnosed last year, the researchers noted. Of these, roughly a third had an advanced -- stage 3 -- cancer, for which surgery is the principal treatment.

Surgery alone produces disease-free survival rates of between 15 percent and 50 percent five years following treatment, according to study background information. To improve their chances, patients often also undergo post-surgical chemotherapy.

Up until 2004, the drug 5-FU -- given in combination with leucovorin, which boosts its effects -- was the chemotherapy of choice for colon cancer, sparking a 26 percent drop in death rates compared to patients undergoing surgery alone.

But in 2004, several U.S. National Cancer Institute studies indicated that by adding oxaliplatin to the 5-FU mix, patients could see survival rates rise by yet another 23 percent.

The one caveat: Only a tiny slice of cancer patients (less than 2 percent) participated in those clinical trials, and those tended to be younger, healthier and less diverse than the larger general population of colon cancer patients.

To determine whether oxaliplatin would show a similar benefit among a "real-world" population of patients, the authors sifted through five cancer registries containing survival information on more than 4,000 people with stage 3 colon cancer. All were younger than 75, and all had begun chemotherapy -- either a standard regimen or in combination with oxaliplatin -- within four months of having surgery between 2004 and 2009.

Researchers compared their survival rates with those of nearly 8,300 patients who had participated in one of five different clinical trials using oxaliplatin.

The addition of oxaliplatin to standard chemotherapy protocols was found to be just as effective in prolonging survival among the community-based set of patients -- including the elderly, minorities and those with additional complicating health issues -- who were not enrolled in studies.

For her part, Dr. Felice Schnoll-Sussman, a gastroenterologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in New York City, said the finding "goes along with what we've previously known."

"So, it's not surprising," she said. "But, certainly this is positive. The analysis doesn't focus on some of the most common adverse reactions seen with this combination. But in terms of survival, it certainly supports our previously held belief that oxaliplatin increases survival and lowers the chance of cancer returning in some of those stage 3 post-surgery patients."

More information

For more on colon cancer, visit the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/cancer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120121/hl_hsn/moreevidenceforoxaliplatinascoloncancerchemotherapy

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Kim Kardashian Mocks Claim That O.J. Simpson Is Khloe's Dad

Is O.J. Simpson Khloe Kardashian's father?! It would be one of the most shocking paternity scandals in recent years... if it were true.

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Are CM Punk?s days as WWE Champion numbered?

CM Punk has faced ? and overcome ? many challenges during his rise to becoming WWE Champion. Not only did he fight tooth-and-nail to wrest the coveted title from John Cena ? twice ? he had to work just as hard to get it back from Alberto Del Rio. However, after everything that's transpired on Raw SuperShow over the past several weeks, Punk could be up against his biggest challenge yet when he faces Dolph Ziggler at the 25th anniversary of Royal Rumble. (PREVIEW)

On Raw SuperShow, EVP of Talent Relations and Interim Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis admitted that he?s going to try and screw Punk out of his title when he serves as the guest referee at Royal Rumble (WATCH). And if history is any indication, guest refs have been notorious for being anything but fair. (SPECIAL GUEST REFEREES: NOT SO BLACK AND WHITE) Immediately after the shocking confession, Punk responded in a WWE.com Exclusive Video. (WATCH)

Finally, on top of worrying about what Laurinaitis might do, Punk will have his hands full in battling Ziggler ? who has proven to be a formidable competitor for any Superstar. His resume includes Intercontinental, United States, and World Heavyweight Championship reigns.

Now that he has shown his true colors, will Laurinaitis get what he wants? Or will the WWE's Second City Saint find a way to leave Royal Rumble with his title intact? Sound off now at WWE InterAction.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2012-01-16/are-punks-days-numbered

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Radiation, rusty metal seen in tsunami-hit reactor (AP)

TOKYO ? Radiation-blurred images taken inside one of Japan's tsunami-hit nuclear reactors Thursday showed steam, unidentified parts and rusty metal surfaces scarred by 10 months' exposure to heat and humidity.

The photos that were the first inside look since the disaster found none of the reactor's melted fuel or its cooling water but confirmed stable temperatures and showed no major damage or ruptures caused by the earthquake last March, said Junichi Matsumoto, spokesman for the plant operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co.

Pipes and grates inside the reactor's containment vessel were seen in some images. Other photos were dark and blurry, resembling abstract paintings. Experts are studying the most obscured photos to identify which reactor parts are there. Radiation was visible as static, or electronic interference with the equipment being used.

The photos also showed the inner wall of the container had been heavily deteriorated by the high temperatures and humidity, Matsumoto said.

TEPCO workers inserted the endoscope ? an industrial version of the kind of endoscope doctors use ? through a hole in the beaker-shaped container at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant's No. 2 reactor, hoping the first look inside since the crisis would help them better assess reactor conditions and make repairs.

High temperatures and radiation leaks had prevented the close-up view until now. Results of the 70-minute operation were mixed.

"Given the harsh environment that we had to operate, we did quite well. It's a first step," Matsumoto said. "But we could not spot any signs of fuel, unfortunately."

He said it would take more time and a better technology to get to the melted fuel, most of which has fallen straight down into the area that the endoscope could not reach. TEPCO hopes to use the endoscope to look inside the two other reactors that had meltdowns but that also would require customization of the equipment and further reduction of radiation levels.

The endoscope failed to find the water surface, indicating less-than-expected levels inside the primary containment vessel and questioning the accuracy of water monitors, Matsumoto said.

Radiation-tainted cooling water has been leaking from all three damaged reactors, pooling in massive amounts around the nuclear plant. Determining the No. 2 reactor's water levels could have helped locate cracks or damage causing some of the leaks.

Better assessment will help workers know how best to plug holes and cracks in the containment vessel ? a protective chamber outside the core ? to contain the radiation leaks and gradually work toward dismantling the reactors.

Three of six reactors at the Fukushima plant melted down after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out the plant's cooling systems and set off the world's worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.

TEPCO and nuclear officials have said that melted fuel probably fell to the bottom of the core in each unit, most likely breaching the bottom of the core and falling into the primary containment vessel, some dropping to its concrete floor.

Experts have said those are simulation results and that exact location and condition of the fuel could not be known until they have a first-hand observation inside.

The probe Thursday successfully recorded the temperature inside the containment vessel at 44.7 Celsius (112 F), confirming it stayed below the boiling point and qualifying a "cold shutdown state," the stable condition that the government had declared in December despite skepticism from experts.

The government has said that it would take 40 years until the Fukushima plant is fully decommissioned.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_nuclear

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