Postmaster takes case for five-day mail delivery to skeptical senators

Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe took his controversial plan for five-day mail delivery before a congressional hearing Wednesday, where he told senators that the Postal Service “needs your help.”

Donahoe’s refrain was familiar.

●The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is losing $25 million a day.

●Last year, the Postal Service lost $15.9 billion.

●It defaulted on $11.1 billion owed to the Treasury.

As he has before, Donahoe pleaded with Congress, this time the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, to approve comprehensive postal reform legislation. Now, more than before, it looks as though Congress will do so.

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (Md.), the ranking Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told the Senate panel that after two months of negotiations, “we are close, very close” to agreement on a bipartisan, bicameral bill.

Without some assistance from Congress, said Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), chairman of the Senate committee, “the Postal Service will drift toward insolvency and, eventually, the point at which it must shut its doors. . . . We have never been closer to losing the Postal Service.”

Although in some ways Donahoe’s appearance echoed his many other pleas for congressional action, this hearing drew a standing-room-only crowd on the third floor of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. That was probably influenced by all the attention generated by his surprise announcement last week that Saturday mail delivery will end in August.

Donahoe’s written testimony outlined several key legislative goals, but five-day mail delivery was not specifically listed among them. After repeatedly urging Congress to end the six-day requirement, Donahoe said postal officials had determined that he could take that action without congressional approval.

Moving to five-day delivery would close just 10 percent of the postal budget gap, Donahoe said, yet the controversy surrounding it stole the focus from other important financial issues.

Among them is a controversial proposal to move postal employees from the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, which serves all federal workers, to a health insurance program run by the USPS.

Donahoe presented an updated health insurance proposal, but it received little attention compared with his five-day delivery plan.

Last year the Senate approved legislation, co-sponsored by Carper, that would allow five-day delivery two years after its enactment. The delay was designed to allow the Postal Service to study the impact of five-day delivery. Carper was among those who have expressed disappointment with Donahoe’s plan to implement it unilaterally.

“We are taking every reasonable and responsible step in our power to strengthen our finances immediately,” Donahoe told the committee. “We would urge Congress to eliminate any impediments to our new delivery schedule.

“Although discussion about our delivery schedule gets a lot of attention, it is just one important part of a larger strategy to close our budgetary gap,” he added. “It accounts for $2 billion in cost reductions while we are seeking to fill a $20 billion budget gap.”

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US, UN urge Iran to ensure 'progress' at talks

WASHINGTON: Top US and EU leaders urged Iran on Thursday to help ensure "progress" in the next round of talks over its nuclear program, even as moves to boost UN inspections of Iranian sites failed.

US Secretary of State John Kerry cautioned the next negotiations, due on February 26 in Almaty, Kazakhstan, "can only make progress if the Iranians come to the table determined to make and discuss real offers."

And he warned as he met with UN chief Ban Ki-moon that the United States was determined not to get trapped in "a delay-after-delay process."

"Countries that have peaceful programs do not have problems proving to people that they are peaceful," Kerry told reporters.

"I think it is incumbent on the Iranians to prove that they are prepared to meet our willingness... to be open to a diplomatic resolution."

It took weeks of negotiations to agree on a date and venue for the next talks aimed at getting Tehran to rein in its nuclear enrichment program between the world powers, known as the P5+1, and Iran.

Ban also expressed hope that the P5+1 meetings would "bring fruitful progress."

And EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who met with Kerry separately Thursday at the State Department, said: "I always look for success... and I will do my best on behalf of the P5+1."

"It is important that we continue to track and make our efforts successful," she said.

But the chief UN atomic inspector said Thursday that separate talks with Iran had failed again to agree on enhanced inspections of its nuclear program.

"We had discussions on the structured approach document but could not finalize the document," Herman Nackaerts of the International Atomic Energy Agency told reporters after returning from Tehran.

"We will work hard now to resolve the remaining differences, but time is needed to reflect on the way forward."

- AFP/jc

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Helicopter scam: Jaswant agrees change in specifications made during NDA rule

NEW DELHI: Even as the BJP kept up its attack on the government over alleged kickbacks in the VVIP chopper deal, senior party leader Jaswant Singh on Thursday agreed with former IAF chief S P Tyagi that the change in specifications of the helicopters was done at the behest of then national security adviser BrajeshMishra. Singh, however, defended the decision, saying it was done to avoid a single-vendor situation.

Singh also said the guilty in the matter was an Italian company and people had "forgotten them".

"We should not make wild allegations against a former IAF chief. It is not in the interest of both the air force and the country. The probe is on. As Mr Tyagi himself is saying, the probe should be held early. Why don't you agree to his suggestion," Singh told reporters.

Supporting Tyagi, who has been accused of taking bribes in the deal through his cousins, Singh said one should be careful while alleging "guilt through association". "Don't start judging people simply because of association or simply because former air chief marshal Tyagi has cousins who are also known as Tyagis," he said.

The former defence and external affairs minister added, "One of my own cousins, first cousin, he was known as a smuggler. Does that make me a smuggler? If another relative of mine commits a crime, does that make me a criminal?"

On its part, BJP demanded that the CBI probe into the Rs 3,600 crore deal should be monitored by a competent authority so that the investigation was not "delayed" as was done in the 2G case. "Ordering a mere CBI inquiry is not enough. It must be monitored. In the 2G spectrum case, CBI probe was ordered in 2009 but the agency did nothing for 15 months. It was only when the Supreme Court started monitoring the case suo motu that things started moving," party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.

He maintained that three questions were of utmost relevance in the probe -- when the order was placed, when the alleged kickbacks were paid and who recipients were.

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In Need of "Sausage and Mash"? Visit an East London ATM

Visitors to East London in search of a cash machine while attending the Olympics this past summer might have been puzzled by the ATM on Commercial Street. Tap the screen and a prompt pops up: English or Cockney? If Cockney is chosen, the next prompt advises the customer in search of "fast sausage and mash" (cash) to select the amount. Among the options: A "Lady Godiva" (£5), "speckled hen" (£10), or "horn of plenty" (£20), to be dispensed after the customer enters a "Huckleberry Finn" (pin). (Take a tour of East London with this photo gallery from National Geographic magazine.)

The shtick (not a Cockney word) was the idea of Bank Machine, an ATM operator based in the United Kingdom. "We wanted to introduce something fun and of local interest to our London machines," a company official explained when the machines were launched a few years ago. (Your London Pictures: See the city through the eyes of Nat Geo fans.)

No one is certain when Cockney rhyming slang became the verbal currency of East End London, but British lexicographer Jonathon Green, author of Cassell's Rhyming Slang, guesses it was around the 1820s or '30s. Rhyming slang, he says, was created by market traders, or costermongers, in part for the sheer pleasure of playing with language but also, more subversively, as a way of talking over the heads of authorities and the police. In Cockney rhyming slang, a common word is replaced by a rhyming phrase (traditionally, the secondary rhyming word is omitted). For example: To use your loaf (short for loaf of bread) in rhyming slang means to use your head.

Rhyming slang, says Green, who has spent his life career as its chronicler, is the dark side of language. "It is what Freud would call the id, or unfettered self," he says. "The themes are sex, insults, defecation, racism, nationalism, or calling someone mad, fat, or stupid." So it is with Cockney slang, where a "Johnny Bliss" is a piss.

Changing Scene, Changing Sounds

Is it still viable? East End London has changed. Displaced by the influx of immigrants, not to mention the metamorphosis of gentrification, the original East Enders, the Cockney white working class, have long since moved to outlying areas east or northwest of the city. These days in East London you may hear more than 200 different languages—Bengali, Urdu, and Swahili among others—and the lingua franca of the younger generation is something called Multicultural London English, a mix of West Indies, hip-hop, and bits and bobs of traditional Cockney.

Cockney rhyming slang hasn't disappeared, says Paul Kerswill, a professor in the University of York's Department of Language and Linguistics. "It's regenerating itself in new circumstances." And so it has. These days the ne plus ultra of fame is to have a Cockney rhyming slang sobriquet named after you: A "Britney Spears" (or a "Britney" for short) is a beer. "Posh and Becks" (celebrity couple Victoria Beckham, aka Posh Spice, and husband David Beckham) is Cockney slang for sex.

Like much else in the world, Cockney slang has been commercialized. "It's like tourist London," says Jonathon Green, the lexicographer. "Think black cabs and red buses." It's also, predictably, been Hollywood-ized (think Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle, Bert the Chimney Sweep in Mary Poppins, and Guy Ritchie's bumbling thugs.) There's even an app—TripLingo UK Edition, a cyber-translator with a Cockney option. And for those in search of "bread and honey" (money)—cash from a Cockney-speaking ATM.

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Ship Overcomes Towing Issues, Inches Closer to Port

The agonizingly slow progress of the stricken Carnival Triumph cruise ship carrying 4,000 passengers and crew was further delayed today by problems with the tug boats towing it in, meaning exhausted passengers may not get off the ship until nearly dawn.

The ship is now expected in port between 9:30 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. CT, according to Carnival. It could take up to five more hours to get everybody off the huge ship.

"There are some limitations. We know that up front," Carnival Cruise Senior Vice President of Marketing Terry Thornton said at a news conference this afternoon. "The ship still does not have power. We only have one functioning elevator aboard."

Thornton said that anyone with special needs and children will be the first to get off the boat. He said the company's number one priority is to make the process as "quick, efficient and comfortable" for guests as possible.

"We're not anticipating any additional difficulties," he said.

Click here for photos of the stranded ship at sea.

The passengers were achingly close to port about noon today as the ship began to enter the channel and proceed to the cruise terminal. At 1 p.m., the lead tow boat had a tow gear break, so a spare tug boat that was on standby had to be sent in to replace it.

But once the second tug was in position and the lines were re-set, the towing resumed only briefly before the tow line snapped.

"We had to replace that tow line so the ship did not begin progressing back into the cruise terminal until 2 p.m.," Thornton said

Lt. Cmdr. Paul McConnell/U.S. Coast Guard/AP Photo

Stranded Carnival Cruise Ship On Its Way to Port Watch Video

Carnival Cancels All Scheduled Voyages Aboard the Triumph Watch Video

Carnival Cruise Ship Making Its Way to Port Watch Video

Passengers desperate to get off the vessel waved at media helicopters that flew out to film the ship and passenger Rob Mowlam told ABCNews.com by phone today that most of the passengers on board were "really upbeat and positive."

Nevertheless, when he gets off Mowlam said, "I will probably flush the toilet 10 times just because I can."

Mowlam, 37, got married on board the Triumph Friday and said he and his wife, Stephanie Stevenson, 27, haven't yet thought of redoing the honeymoon other than to say, "It won't be a cruise."

Alabama State Port Authority Director Jimmy Lyons said that with powerless "dead ships" like the Triumph, it is usually safer to bring them in during daylight hours, but, "Once they make the initial effort to come into the channel, there's no turning back."

"There are issues regarding coming into the ship channel and docking at night because the ship has no power and there's safety issues there," Richard Tillman of the Mobile Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau told ABCNews.com.

When asked if the ship could be disembarked in the dark of night, Tillman said, "It is not advised. It would be very unusual."

Thornton denied the rumors that there was a fatality on the ship. He said that there was one illness early on, a dialysis patient, but that passenger was removed from the vessel and transferred to a medical facility.

The U.S. Coast Guard is assisting now and there are multiple generators on board. And customs officials will board the ship while it is being piloted to port to accelerate the embarkation, officials said.

After eight miserable days at sea, the ship's owners have increased the compensation for what some on board are calling the vacation from hell.

All 3,143 passengers aboard the 900 foot colossus, which stalled in the Gulf of Mexico after an engine room fire early Sunday, were already being given a full refund for the cruise, transportation expenses and vouchers for a another cruise. Carnival Cruise Lines is now boosting that offer to include another $500 per person. Gerry Cahill, president and CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines, announced the additional compensation Wednesday.

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Obama urges a move away from narrow focus on politics of austerity

Just about every argument in Washington since the 2010 midterm elections, which returned control of the House to Republicans, has centered on reducing the federal deficit. On Tuesday night, President Obama leaned into his second term by declaring that a single-minded focus on deficit reduction would jeopardize the nation’s future. And he sounded an urgent call to rebuild.

Reelected by an ascendent coalition, the president spoke from a position of strength in his fourth State of the Union address. The economy is improving. The Republican Party is in disarray. The time has come, Obama indicated, to pivot away from the politics of austerity.

“Most of us agree that a plan to reduce the deficit must be part of the agenda,” he said. “But let’s be clear: Deficit reduction alone is not an economic plan. A growing economy that creates good middle-class jobs — that must be the North Star that guides our efforts.”

The president rejected the fiscal brinkmanship that defined the past two years. Instead, he framed future fiscal debates as opportunities to shape a “smarter government” — one with new investments in science and innovation, with a rising minimum wage, with tax reform that eliminates loopholes and deductions for what the president labeled “the well-off and well-connected.”

Second-term presidents have a narrow window of time to enact significant change before they become lame ducks, and Obama, while echoing campaign themes of reinforcing the middle class, made an urgent case for a more pragmatic version of populism, one that emphasizes economic prosperity as the cornerstone of a fair society.

Over and over, he noted that the time to rebuild is now.

The “Fix-It-First” program that Obama outlined to put people to work on “urgent repairs,” such as structurally deficient bridges, bore echoes of President Bill Clinton’s call in his 1999 State of the Union address to “save Social Security first.” Clinton’s was an effective line, one that stopped — at least until President George W. Bush took office two years later — a Republican drive to use the budget surplus to cut taxes.

Although Obama’s speech lacked the conciliatory notes of some of his earlier State of the Union addresses, he did make overtures to Republicans and cited Mitt Romney, his presidential challenger, by name.

He combined tough talk about securing the border, which brought Republicans to their feet, with a pledge to entertain reasonable reforms to Medicare, the federal entitlement program that fellow Democrats are fighting to protect.

“Those of us who care deeply about programs like Medicare must embrace the need for modest reforms,” he said.

Obama also pledged to cut U.S. dependence on energy imports by expanding oil and gas development. And he singled out one area where he and Romney found agreement in last year’s campaign: linking increases in the minimum wage to the cost of living.

Obama set a bipartisan tone at the start of his speech, quoting from President John F. Kennedy’s address to Congress 51 years earlier when he said, “The Constitution makes us not rivals for power, but partners for progress.”

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EU must press ahead with bank oversight reforms: report

BRUSSELS: Europe has made real progress in setting up a single bank supervisory system but it is only a first step and provisions for winding up failed lenders and protecting depositors are urgently needed alongside it, a report prepared for the International Monetary Fund warned Wednesday.

In December, the eurozone agreed to set up a Single Supervisory Mechanism under the oversight of the European Central Bank as a first step toward a wider banking union, aiming to prevent any repeat of the debt crisis driven by the collapse of over-extended banks.

"Time is of the essence," with a banking union the "logical conclusion of the idea that integrated banking systems require integrated prudential oversight," said the report, written by IMF economists but which does not represent IMF policy.

Progress is necessary on all three elements -- supervision, winding up failed banks and depositor protection, it said, adding that the SSM must "ultimately supervise all banks".

The SSM negotiations were marked by sharp differences between France, which wanted all eurozone banks included, and Germany which wanted only several hundred of the biggest to be covered, at least initially.

Eurozone leaders also agreed on the need to set up a bank resolution and deposit protection system but there are concerns that with the debt crisis easing recently, the momentum for reform could slow.

The report said that if there is no provision for winding up banks and a safety net for depositors, "an SSM will do little to weaken vicious sovereign-bank links."

Failing banks were at the heart of the debt crisis as governments tried to keep them afloat with massive injections of capital, a step which only weakened their own financial position and in some cases, as in Ireland, forced them to seek an international bailout.

The report recommended that to head off fresh problems on this count, "it will be important to undertake as soon as possible direct recapitalisation of frail domestically systemic banks by the European Stability Mechanism."

The ESM, which became operational last year, is the eurozone's debt rescue backstop. Once the SSM is fully in place, expected by early 2014, the ESM will have the authority to intervene and inject funds into failing banks directly so as to head off any wider problems.

The report also picked up on importance of relations between the eurozone/SSM oversight system for the 17-nation eurozone and the 10 non-euro members, among them Britain which is home to one of the world's most important financial centres in London.

"A banking union is necessary for the euro area but accommodating the concerns of non-euro (members) ... will augur well for consistency with the EU single market," it said.

- AFP/jc

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From Our Vault: Port Said, Egypt, Circa 1920

Egyptian President Mohmed Morsi imposed a curfew and a state of emergency in Port Said, and two other cities, at the end of January. Residents of the northern gateway city to the Suez Canal defied Morsi's order with riots that left an estimated 40-plus locals dead.

The riots were set off by the announcement of death sentences for 21 fans of the Al Masry soccer club for their role in stadium violence last February that resulted in 74 deaths.

Al Masry—which means "The Egyptian"—was founded in 1920 to be the first team to represent the native Arabs of Port Said, then occupied by the British.

This shot of the then bustling port city's Arab quarter was purchased by National Geographic illustrations chief Franklin L. Fisher in Egypt and brought back to headquarters in Washington, D.C., that same year.

Those were prosperous days for Port Said, which sits on the Mediterranean, not far from Europe. Traffic on the Suez Canal was brisk and the international community was growing ever larger. The city's population verged on nearly 100,000 residents. It's still one of Egypt's largest cities, with about 600,000 people today.

Until Al Masry was formed, Port Said's football clubs were made up mostly of European expats who were part of the city's boom: Scottish canal engineers, French bankers, and Greek tobacconists.

Editor's note: This is the second in a series of pieces that looks at the news through the lens of the National Geographic photo archives.

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Ship Stranded: Love Boat to Horror Honeymoon

A Texas couple's fantasy wedding quickly turned into a nightmare honeymoon when the fire-damaged Carnival Cruise ship carrying them became stranded in the Gulf of Mexico.

Rob Mowlam, 37, and Stephanie Stevenson, 27, of Nederland, Texas, got married on the Carnival Triumph on Saturday. The four-day cruise was meant to be back to shore on Monday, but was left disabled by an engine fire on Sunday.

The ship is being slowly towed to shore and is expected to dock in Mobile, Ala., on Thursday if weather permits. The vessel is without air conditioning, many working toilets and some restaurant service. Passengers, many who are sleeping in tents on deck, have told ABC News the smell on the ship is foul.

That is the honeymoon setting for Mowlam and Stevenson.

"[Rob Mowlam] had been with his girlfriend, or fiance, for a long period of time and they just took the next step," Mowlam's brother James Mowlam III told ABCNews.com. "The captain is the king of the world when they're on the boat and he hitched them up."

James Mowlam said he was shocked when he heard about the stranded boat and the increasingly dire conditions on the ship.

"It is an atrocious scene to be subjected to," he said.

Mowlam said he has not been able to communicate with his brother, but that his father has had sporadic communication with him.

"It would be my guess that this would probably not be on anyone's great list of memorable wedding experiences," Mowlam said with a laugh. "Although, my mom told him that she was hoping they had a memorable wedding and I think this would classify as a memorable wedding experience."

Lt. Cmdr. Paul McConnell/U.S. Coast Guard/AP Photo

Carnival Cruise Ship Stranded for Third Day Watch Video

Carnival Cruise Ship Stranded off Yucatan Peninsula Watch Video

Cruise Ship Stranded Without Power in Gulf of Mexico Watch Video

The bride's brother, Justin Davis, told ABCNews.com that his sister works for a doctor's office and the cruise was a gift from the doctor to the staff.

Davis has not been able to speak to Stevenson but said that her two young sons are being cared for by her mother. He said his sister is tough and he guesses she's probably not scared.

"She might be a little aggravated at the situation, but I'd say she's [probably] handling it really well," he said.

Others on the ship do not seem to be handling the situation so well.

Elderly and disabled passengers aboard the ship are struggling to cope with the worsening conditions, according to at least one passenger.

"Elderly and handicap are struggling, the smell is gross," passenger Ann Barlow text-messaged ABC News overnight. "Our room is leaking sewage."

The head of Carnival Cruise Lines said the British-U.S.-owned company was working hard to ensure the thousands of passengers stranded on the disabled ship were as comfortable as possible while the vessel was being towed to a port in Alabama.

"I need to apologize to our guests and to our families that have been affected by a very difficult situation," Carnival Cruise Lines president and CEO Gerry Cahill said at a news conference Tuesday evening.

It was the first time since a fire erupted in Triumph's engine room Sunday, knocking out its four engines, that a company representative had spoken publicly. The Triumph, with roughly 4,200 people on board, was left bobbing like a 100,000-ton cork for more than 24 hours. Giant sea-faring tugboats then hooked up to the ship and began towing the nearly 900-foot-long ship to land.

Carnival spokeswoman Joyce Oliva told The Associated Press Tuesday that a passenger with a pre-existing medical condition was taken off the ship as a precaution. Everyone else will likely have to weather conditions such as scarce running water, no air conditioning and long lines for food.

Back on land, passenger Barlow's 11-year-old twins told ABC News Tuesday they are worried as more passengers continue to talk about living with limited power and sanitation.

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Chinese in Costa Rica set record for fried rice

SAN JOSE: Members of Costa Rica's Chinese community celebrated the the arrival of the Year of the Snake by setting the world record on Tuesday for the largest amount of fried rice ever cooked.

Briton Ralph Hannah, an inspector with the Guinness World Records, certified the win after putting the giant meal - enough to feed some 7,000 people - on a scale.

The official weight: 837 kilogrammes (1,845 pounds), which nearly doubles the previous record.

Armed with shovel-sized spoons, 52 cooks toiled over an enormous wok built especially for the event in San Jose's recently inaugurated Chinatown.

Some 735 kilogrammes of rice were used, along with 200 kilogrammes of chicken, 120 kilogrammes of ham, 20 kilogrammes of Chinese sausage, hundreds of eggs and vast amounts of chopped vegetables.

The Chinese Association of Costa Rica came up with the idea for the giant meal, said Godwin Pang, who helped coordinate the event.

Pang said the Chinese community wanted to mark the Year of the Snake, which began on Sunday, with a big event.

Most Chinese residents in Costa Rica are in the restaurant business. Chinese restaurants can be found even in small towns across this Central American country of 4.7 million.

Hannah, the Guinness representative for Latin America, said this was the first time that Costa Rica enters the world record book.

- AFP/de

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