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বৃহস্পতিবার, ৩ জানুয়ারি, ২০১৩

It's 'cash only' now for tourists at the Vatican

People queue to enter the Vatican Museums, at the Vatican Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013. It's "cash only" now for tourists at the Vatican wanting to pay for museum tickets, souvenirs and other services after Italy's central bank decided to block electronic payments, including credit cards, at the tiny city state. The Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported Thursday that Bank of Italy took the action because the Holy See has not yet fully complied with European Union safeguards against money laundering. That means Italian banks are not authorized to operate within the Vatican, which is in the process of improving its mechanisms to combat laundering. The Vatican says it's scrambling to find a non-Italian bank to provide the electronic payment services "quite soon" but declined to discuss Bank of Italy's concerns. The central bank had no immediate comment on the situation. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Ben Kiniry, of Texas, gets cash from an ATM machine along Rome's Via della Conciliazione, the main road leading to the Vatican St. Peter's Basilica, whose dome is visible in background, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013. It's "cash only" now for tourists at the Vatican wanting to pay for museum tickets, souvenirs and other services after Italy's central bank decided to block electronic payments, including credit cards, at the tiny city state. The Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported Thursday that Bank of Italy took the action because the Holy See has not yet fully complied with European Union safeguards against money laundering. That means Italian banks are not authorized to operate within the Vatican, which is in the process of improving its mechanisms to combat laundering. The Vatican says it's scrambling to find a non-Italian bank to provide the electronic payment services "quite soon" but declined to discuss Bank of Italy's concerns. The central bank had no immediate comment on the situation. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Ben Kiniry, of Texas, gets cash from an ATM machine along Via della Conciliazione, the main road leading to St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2013. It's "cash only" now for tourists at the Vatican wanting to pay for museum tickets, souvenirs and other services after Italy's central bank decided to block electronic payments, including credit cards, at the tiny city state. The Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported Thursday that Bank of Italy took the action because the Holy See has not yet fully complied with European Union safeguards against money laundering. That means Italian banks are not authorized to operate within the Vatican, which is in the process of improving its mechanisms to combat laundering. The Vatican says it's scrambling to find a non-Italian bank to provide the electronic payment services "quite soon" but declined to discuss Bank of Italy's concerns. The central bank had no immediate comment on the situation. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

A Swiss Guard salutes as Pope Benedict XVI leaves at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul IV hall at the Vatican, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? It's "cash only" now for tourists at the Vatican wanting to pay for museum tickets, souvenirs and other services after Italy's central bank decided to block electronic payments, including credit cards, at the tiny city-state.

Deutsche Bank Italia, which for some 15 years had provided the Vatican with electronic payment services, said Thursday that the Bank of Italy had pulled its authorization after Dec. 31.

The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that the Italian central bank took the action because the Holy See has not yet fully complied with European Union safeguards against money laundering. That means Italian banks are not authorized to operate within the Vatican, which is in the process of improving its mechanisms to combat laundering.

The Vatican says it is scrambling to solve the problem for thousands of visitors who flock to its very popular Vatican Museums, which include highlights like the Sistine Chapel. The Holy See had no immediate comment on the Bank of Italy's reported reasons.

Tourists in the long lines Thursday that snaked around Vatican City walls were not happy about the inconvenience.

"It's certainly a disadvantage," said Giuseppe Amoruso, an Italian. "Credit cards provide a useful service, which needs to be accessible to everybody, everywhere."

"A lot of tourists don't have cash on them, so they have to get euros and don't know where to get them," said Fluger William Hunter, an American tourist.

The central bank said a routine inspection found that Deutsche Bank Italia hadn't sought authorization when it first started providing services at the Vatican. When it finally did, the Bank of Italy turned it down because the Vatican's banking norms, including measures to combat money laundering, didn't meet Italy's more stringent criteria of recent years, a central bank official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because there was no official statement on the case.

The Vatican has been striving to upgrade its measures to detect and discourage money laundering, hiring a Swiss expert just a few months ago. Last summer, the Holy See passed a key European financial transparency test but received failing grades for its financial watchdog agency and its bank, formally called the Institute for Religious Works.

The museums, with their entrance fees and popular souvenir shops, are a big money-maker for the Vatican. Other Vatican attractions, such as tours of the Vatican's ancient underground spaces, also charge admission.

___

Giulia Saudelli from Rome contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-03-Vatican-Electronic%20Payments/id-48a854b2822a433995192b9adff66c7e

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Bigger fights loom after tax deadline deal

(Note language, paragraph 12)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans face even bigger budget battles in the next two months after a hard-fought "fiscal cliff" deal narrowly averted devastating tax hikes and spending cuts.

The agreement, approved late on Tuesday by the Republican-led House of Representatives, was a victory for Obama, who had won re-election on a promise to address budget woes in part by raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

But it set up potentially bruising showdowns over the next two months on spending cuts and an increase in the nation's limit on borrowing. Republicans, angry that the "fiscal cliff" deal did little to curb the federal deficit, promised to use the debt-ceiling debate to win deep spending cuts next time.

Republicans believe they will have greater leverage over Democrat Obama when they must consider raising the borrowing limit, likely in February.

The stakes are perhaps even higher in the debt issue than in the fiscal cliff because failure to close a deal could mean a default on U.S. debt or another downgrade in the U.S. credit rating. A similar showdown in 2011 ultimately led to a credit downgrade.

In fact, bond rating agency Moody's Investors Service warned Washington on Wednesday it must do more to cut the deficit than it did in the "fiscal cliff" measure if the country is to turn around its negative sovereign debt rating.

Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said his party had to be ready to do whatever it takes to get spending cuts.

"Our opportunity here is on the debt ceiling," Toomey said on MSNBC. "We Republicans need to be willing to tolerate a temporary, partial government shutdown, which is what that could mean."

Yet Obama may be emboldened by winning the first round of fiscal fights when dozens of House Republicans buckled and voted for major tax hikes for the first time in two decades.

Deteriorating relations between leaders in the two parties during the fiscal cliff episode do not bode well for the more difficult fights ahead.

Vice President Joe Biden and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell had to step in to work out the final deal amid frayed relations between House Speaker John Boehner and Obama.

Obama Praises Deal, Says There's More to Be DonePresident Obama is praising the bill that staves off the fiscal cliff tax hikes and spending cuts. The House of Representatives followed the Senate's lead, and passed the bill late Tuesday. (Jan. 2)

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid also drew the ire of Boehner, who told Reid in the White House to "Go fuck yourself" after a tense meeting last week, aides said. His retort came after the Democrat accused Boehner of running "dictatorship" in the House.

Bemoaning the intensity of the fiscal cliff fight, Obama urged "a little less drama" when the Congress and White House next address budget issues like the government's rapidly mounting $16 trillion debt load. He vowed to avoid another divisive debt-ceiling fight ahead of the late-February deadline for raising the limit.

"While I will negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate with this Congress about whether or not they should pay the bills they have already racked up," Obama said before he headed to Hawaii to resume an interrupted vacation.

NOT TIME TO CELEBRATE

Analysts warned that might not be so easy. "While the markets and most taxpayers may breathe a sigh of relief for a few days, excuse us for not celebrating," said Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at Potomac Research Group.

"We have consistently warned that the next brawl represents a far greater threat to the markets - talk of default will grow by February, accompanied by concerns over a credit rating downgrade," he said.

Financial markets that had been worried about the fiscal cliff showdown welcomed the deal, with U.S. stocks rising on the first day of trading in 2013.

All 10 S&P 500 industry sector indexes rose at least 1 percent, led by the information technology index, up 2.2 percent. Among the strongest names in the sector was Hewlett-Packard, which rose 5.3 percent to $15 after a miserable 2012 when the stock fell nearly 45 percent.

Debate over entitlement programs is also bound to be fraught. Republicans will be pushing for significant cuts in healthcare programs like Medicare and Medicaid for retirees and the poor, which are the biggest drivers of federal debt. Democrats have opposed cuts in those popular programs.

"This is going to be much uglier to me than the tax issue ... this is going to be about entitlement reform," Republican Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee said on CNBC.

"This is the debate that's going to be far more serious. Now that we have this other piece behind us - hopefully - we'll deal in a real way with the kinds of things our nation needs to face," he said.

The fiscal cliff crisis ended when dozens of Republicans in the House of Representatives relented and backed a bill passed by the Democratic-controlled Senate that hiked taxes on households earning more than $450,000 annually. Spending cuts of $109 billion in military and domestic programs were delayed only for two months.

Economists had warned that the fiscal cliff of across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts would have punched a $600 billion hole in the economy this year and threatened to send the country back into recession.

Dozens of House Republicans reluctantly approved the Senate bill which passed by a bipartisan vote of 257 to 167 and sent it on to Obama to sign into law.

Peter Huntsman, chief executive of chemical producer Huntsman Corp, said the vote does little to reduce the U.S. budget deficit and will hinder growth.

"We haven't even begun to address the basic issues behind this," Huntsman told Reuters. "We haven't fixed anything. All we've done is addressed the short-term pain.

The vote underlined the precarious position of Boehner, who will ask his Republicans to re-elect him as speaker on Thursday when a new Congress is sworn in. Boehner backed the bill but most House Republicans, including his top lieutenants, voted against it.

The Ohio congressman also drew criticism on Wednesday from his fellow Republicans for failing to schedule a House vote on a bill passed by the Senate that would provide federal aid to Northeastern states hit by the storm Sandy.

(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey, Richard Cowan in Washington and Gabriel Debenedetti and Ernest Scheyder in New York, Editing by Alistair Bell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/house-republicans-weigh-last-ditch-challenge-fiscal-deal-005743252--business.html

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বুধবার, ২ জানুয়ারি, ২০১৩

Congress OKs cliff deal, signaling future fights

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Congress' excruciating, extraordinary New Year's Day approval of a compromise averting a prolonged tumble off the fiscal cliff hands President Barack Obama most of the tax boosts on the rich that he campaigned on. It also prevents House Republicans from facing blame for blocking tax cuts for most American households, though most GOP lawmakers parted ways with Speaker John Boehner and opposed the measure.

Passage also lays the groundwork for future battles between the two sides over federal spending and debt.

Capping a holiday season political spectacle that featured enough high and low notes for a Broadway musical, the GOP-run House voted final approval for the measure by 257-167 late Tuesday. That came after the Democratic-led Senate used a wee-hours 89-8 roll call to assent to the bill, belying the partisan brinkmanship that colored much of the path to the final deal.

"A central promise of my campaign for president was to change the tax code that was too skewed towards the wealthy at the expense of working middle-class Americans," Obama said at the White House before flying to Hawaii to resume his holiday break. "Tonight we've done that."

The bill would boost the top 35 percent income tax rate to 39.6 percent for incomes exceeding $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for couples, while continuing decade-old income tax cuts for everyone else. In his re-election campaign last year Obama had vowed to boost rates on earnings at somewhat lower levels ? $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for families.

Scores of GOP lawmakers voted for the measure, reversing a quarter-century of solid Republican opposition to boosting any tax rates at all.

The bill would also raise taxes top earners pay on dividends, capital gains and inherited estates; permanently stop the alternative minimum tax from raising levies on millions of middle-income families; extend expiring jobless benefits; prevent cuts in Medicare reimbursements to doctors; and delay for two months billions in budget-wide cuts in defense and domestic programs slated for this year.

Both sides lamented their failure to reach a significant deficit-cutting agreement. But neither much mentioned another omission: The immediate expiration of a two-year, 2-percentage-point cut in the Social Security payroll tax.

That break, which put an extra $1,000 in the wallets of typical families earning $50,000 a year, was an Obama priority two years ago as a way to boost consumer spending and spark the flagging economy, but it fell victim this time to other priorities.

House Democrats voted by an overwhelming 172-16 for the agreement, which was crafted over the weekend by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Vice President Joe Biden.

But Republicans tilted against it 151-85. It is rare for leaders to bring a bill to the House floor that will be opposed by most lawmakers from their own party, and the decision underscored the pressure GOP leaders felt to approve the legislation.

Boehner, R-Ohio, took no public stance on the measure before the vote. But he guided the compromise to the House floor after an unsuccessful attempt by many conservatives to persuade leaders to add spending cuts to the bill.

Had the House inserted those budget cuts and the Senate refused to consider them, the legislation could have died. That left House Republicans worried that voters might blame them for a huge, sweeping tax increase and for any swoon the nation's financial markets might take when they reopened Wednesday.

"You can be right and you can be dead right. Which is it?" said Rep. Rich Nugent, R-Fla., of the quandary Republicans faced. "Right now you need to take the tax issue off the table" and move on to a focus on curbing spending, he said.

Boehner voted for the bill, an unusual step because speakers seldom vote, and he was joined by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the GOP's vice presidential candidate last fall. Voting "no" were the other two top GOP leaders, Reps. Eric Cantor of Virginia and Kevin McCarthy of California.

Passage came nearly 24 hours after a decade's worth of tax cuts enjoyed by tens of millions of Americans expired with the stroke of the new year, technically raising taxes by more than $500 billion in 2013 alone.

Those tax increases ? plus $109 billion in defense and domestic spending cuts that were to be automatically triggered Wednesday ? became known as the fiscal cliff. Economists warned that their combined impact would hurl the economy back into recession, but Obama's signature on the bill would prevent the "cliff" from taking hold.

Obama can sign the bill remotely using a machine called an "autopen," or the bill can be flown to Hawaii for his signature.

Overall, the legislation would add nearly $4 trillion to federal deficits over the next decade compared with what would have happened had all the tax cuts expired, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

"I'm embarrassed for this generation. Future generations deserve better," complained one foe, Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas.

The agreement's journey to passage was a tortured one. It included negotiations between Obama and Boehner on a larger, deficit-cutting deal that collapsed, and a failed effort by the speaker to drum up enough GOP votes to pass a "Plan B" that would have limited tax boosts to incomes exceeding $1 million.

It took weekend talks between McConnell and Biden, former Senate colleagues, to craft the more modest package that focused on averting the worst impacts of the fiscal cliff while postponing any deficit reduction efforts to coming months.

Those first showdowns will come over the next three months, when the government's legal ability to borrow money will expire and temporary financing for federal agency budgets will expire. Republicans have already said that, as they did in 2011, they will demand spending cuts as a condition for extending the debt ceiling.

"Now the focus turns to spending" and overhauling the tax code, Boehner said in a written statement after the vote. He said the GOP will fight for "significant spending cuts and reforms to the entitlement programs that are driving our country deeper and deeper into debt," a reference to costly benefit programs like Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.

In his White House remarks, Obama said that while he was open to compromise, he would demand deficit-cutting savings from added revenue on the well-off, not just spending cuts.

He also pointedly said he would "not have another debate with this Congress" over extending the federal borrowing limit.

"If Congress refuses to give the United States government the ability to pay these bills on time, the consequences for the entire global economy would be catastrophic ? far worse than the impact of a fiscal cliff," he said.

Though its focus was on taxes, the measure approved Tuesday would prevent a potential doubling of milk prices and prevent a $900 salary increase for members of Congress in March. Its extension of jobless benefits would help 2 million people out of work at least six months, and it would prevent a 27 percent cut in reimbursements doctors get for treating Medicare patients.

Weighing in with criticism of the compromise were the chief authors of an influential bipartisan deficit-cutting proposal, former GOP Sen. Alan Simpson and Democrat Erskine Bowles, a former White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton. They called the measure "truly a missed opportunity to do something big to reduce our long term fiscal problems."

___

AP reporters David Espo, Charles Babington, Andrew Taylor and Larry Margasak contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/congress-oks-cliff-deal-signaling-future-fights-080422547--finance.html

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Businesses And Individuals Grapple With Decisions About ...

News organizations preview what's to come in 2013 as provisions of the Affordable Care Act are put in place.

Kaiser Health News: Health Care Predictions For A New Year (Video)
KHN reporters preview some of the big issues coming this year: The fight over controlling spending and what it means for Medicare; state decisions on health law implementation; and changing how hospitals and doctors are paid (1/1).

Politico Pro: The Year Ahead In Health Care: What To Watch In 2013
This year, the Obama administration will have to guide the states through set-up of the exchanges ? or, in many states, set them up entirely on its own. The law will have to withstand at least some level of rate shock as insurers adjust to new coverage requirements. And with deficit reduction sure to be a hot topic this year, the health law may have to withstand new attempts to dip into its funding (Haberkorn, 1/2).

NPR: What The Health Law Will Bring In 2013?
Most of the really big changes made by the 2010 health law don't start for another year. ... But Jan. 1, 2013, will nevertheless mark some major changes. One of those changes that will affect everyone with private health insurance actually took effect last September. But most people won't see it until they renew or apply for new health insurance. It's called a summary of benefits and coverage. The idea is to help people actually understand what's in their insurance policies (Rovner, 1/1).

McClatchy: New Year Means Tax Increases To Pay For Health Care Law
Five new tax increases take effect on Jan. 1 to help pay for the nation?s health care overhaul. New provisions of the Affordable Care Act require affluent taxpayers to pay more for Medicare and, for the first time, have their investment income subject to Medicare taxes as well. Also, people who use flexible spending accounts for health care expenses will pay higher taxes. And taxpayers who spend a lot out of pocket on their health care will find it harder to deduct those expenses from their taxable income (Pugh, 12/31).

The Wall Street Journal: Companies Prepare For Health Law
One of the biggest decisions for many companies this year will be what to do about their health benefits. They have just 12 months before the major provisions of the federal overhaul law take effect on Jan. 1, 2014, reshaping health coverage in the U.S. Employers with at least 50 workers will owe penalties if they don't cover full-time employees. Most Americans will face a parallel "individual mandate" to obtain insurance. And new online marketplaces called exchanges will sell insurance plans in each state, paired with federal subsidies for lower-income people (Mathews, 1/1).

The Wall Street Journal: Under Health Law, Employers Must Insure Workers' Dependents
Large employers who are subject to the health overhaul law's requirement to provide insurance or pay a fee must also extend coverage to their workers' dependent children, according to federal regulations released Friday. The 144-page proposed regulation that the Obama administration unveiled late Friday offered new details for how employers will have to comply with the health overhaul law (Adamy, 12/28).

CBS (Video): Businesses Begin Bracing For The Affordable Care Act
The new legislation will require businesses with 50 or more workers to provide affordable health care for their employees starting in 2014 or pay a penalty of up to $2,000 per worker. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees -- that's 96 percent of all companies, will be exempt. They won't have to do anything. Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a health policy advisor to the White House who helped develop the new plan, said the cost to businesses is a "real concern"?(Mason, 1/1).

This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.

Source: http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2013/January/02/health-reform-law-obamacare.aspx

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মঙ্গলবার, ১ জানুয়ারি, ২০১৩

Intelligence agencies faulted for Libya fallout

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn. listens at right, as the committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Dec. 31, 2012, to discuss the committee's report on the security deficiencies at the temporary U.S. Mission in Benghazi, Libya. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A Senate report has found that the White House did not make major changes in the talking points that administration officials used after the attack on U.S. diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya. Some Republicans had questioned whether the president's staff rewrote the statements for political reasons.

Instead, the report cited changes made by intelligence agencies, including the FBI and the CIA, in its probe of the origin of confusing explanations that came from the Obama administration.

The report issued Monday by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said the White House was only responsible for a minor change.

The committee, led by independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, also said the director of national intelligence has been stonewalling the panel in holding back a promised timeline of the talking point changes.

The U.S. ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three other Americans were killed in the Sept. 11 attack. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said she used the talking points to say in television interviews on Sept. 16 that the attack may have been a protest that got out of hand.

Rice's incorrect explanation may have cost her a chance to be nominated as the next secretary of state, as Senate Republicans publicly said they would not vote to confirm her. President Barack Obama instead nominated Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who is expected to win easy confirmation.

The State Department last month acknowledged major weaknesses in security and errors in judgment exposed in a scathing independent report on the assault. Two top State officials appealed to Congress to fully fund requests to ensure diplomats and embassies are safe.

Testifying before two congressional committees, senior State Department officials acknowledged that serious management and leadership failures left the diplomatic mission in Benghazi woefully unprepared for the terrorist attack. The State Department review board's report led four department officials to resign.

The Senate report said that on Sept. 19, eight days after the attack, National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen told the Homeland committee that the four Americans died "in the course of a terrorist attack."

The same day, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the department stood by the intelligence community's assessment. The next day, Sept. 20, presidential spokesman Jay Carney said, "It is, I think, self-evident that what happened in Benghazi was a terrorist attack." Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also used the words "terrorist attack" on Sept. 21.

Olsen's acknowledgement was important, the report said, because talking points prepared by intelligence officials the previous week had undergone major changes.

A line saying "we know" that individuals associated with al-Qaida or its affiliates participated in the attacks was changed to say, "There are indications that extremists participated."

The talking points dropped the reference to al-Qaida and its affiliates altogether. In addition, a reference to "attacks" was changed to "demonstrations."

The committee said the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, and representatives from the CIA, State Department, National Counterterrorism Center and FBI told the panel that the changes were made within the CIA and the intelligence community. The change from "we know" there was an al-Qaida connection to "indications" of connections to "extremists" was requested by the FBI.

The report said the only White House change substituted a reference of "consulate" to "mission."

Intelligence officials differed over whether the al-Qaida reference should remain classified, the report said. It added, however, that the analyst who drafted the original talking points was a veteran career analyst in the intelligence community who believed it was appropriate to include a reference to al-Qaida in the unclassified version.

The analyst came to that conclusion because of claims of responsibility by a militant group, Ansar al-Sharia.

The committee said Clapper offered to provide the committee a detailed timeline on the development of the talking points. Despite repeated requests, the committee said the information has not been provided.

"According to a senior IC (intelligence community) official, the timeline has not been delivered as promised because the administration has spent weeks debating internally whether or not it should turn over information considered 'deliberative' to the Congress," the report said.

The report added that if the administration had described the attack as a terrorist assault from the outset, "there would have been much less confusion and division in the public response to what happened there on Sept. 11, 2012."

"The unnecessary confusion ... should have ended much earlier than it did," the committee said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-01-Benghazi%20Report/id-5a24e24c793d408296dd8878da419d6e

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Dancing troupe of middle-class taxpayers: Obama's 'fiscal cliff' trump card?

President Obama took to the stage Monday to press Congress not to allow taxes to go up on middle-class taxpayers ? and he had a rambunctious group of them on hand to support him.

By Linda Feldmann,?Staff writer / December 31, 2012

President Obama smiles and gestures as he speaks about the 'fiscal cliff' Monday in the South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington.

Carolyn Kaster/AP

Enlarge

The campaign is over, but when President Obama stepped on stage Monday to make a statement on fiscal cliff negotiations, it felt more like a pep rally than a sober policy update on an issue of global import.

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New Year's Eve 2012: Healthy Ways To Celebrate

New Year's Eve: Endless waterfalls of crisp champagne, party-pumping pop music and the perfect, sequined outfit. Yea, right. In reality, it's usually more like an "open" bar with hour-long waits and watered-down drinks, a stranger spilling a mystery substance down the front of your over-priced outfit -- and, ah yes, January 1's infamous hangover.

This year, why not do things a little differently? Below are eight healthy ways to ring in the New Year. We'll be making our toast to stressing less about this ordinarily high-pressure evening, and celebrating by doing the things that make us feel good, plain and simple. Let us know how you'll be ringing in the new year in the comments below!

Dance The Night Away
Three reasons to shake your groove thing this New Year?s Eve: 1.Dancing can burn upwards of <a href="http://www.healthstatus.com/cgi-bin/calc/calculator.cgi">350 calories per hour.</a> 2. Dancing can improve <a href="http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/10409/1/Health-Benefits-of-Dance.html">your sense of self</a> -- and make you feel super confident. 3. Dancing <a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa022252">may boost your memory</a> and lower your risk for dementia. And a fourth? It's just so fun.
Drink ... Responsibly
Many of us toast to the new year and new beginnings. But here at Healthy Living, we're giving you a nudge to keep moderation in mind. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/30/drinking-benefits_n_1233544.html">You'll reap</a> the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-williams-phd/post_977_b_746290.html">health benefits</a> that are tied to alcohol <em>and</em> be able to enjoy the first day of the year without the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/28/alcohol-effects-body-infographic_n_2333328.html">scary effects</a> that come with overdoing it.
Take A Midnight Yoga Class
Downward dog as the clock strikes 12? Why not? <a href="http://stralayoga.com/news/new-years-eve-yoga/">Lots</a> of <a href="http://www.gaiaflowyoga.com/media/new-years-eve-celebration/">studios</a> offer New Year's Eve yoga classes, so you can bend your way into 2013. You?ll reap the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/25/yoga-stress-inflammation_n_1702316.html">many</a> <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kripalu/yoga-benefits_b_1975025.html">benefits</a> that <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-michael-j-breus/yoga-insomnia_b_1939696.html">yoga</a> has to offer, clear your head and, who knows, maybe even secure that recommitment to yoga you've resolved to for the coming year.
Enjoy A Celebratory Smooch
Chances are, you were planning to plant a peck on someone special at midnight. Smooch on! Kissing can increase oxytocin levels, which helps to reduce stress, anxiety and even your blood pressure, <a href="http://www.shape.com/lifestyle/sex-and-love/5-health-reasons-make-time-cuddling">Shape reports</a>. You can sneak in a little calorie burning while you're at it: Kissing can burn anywhere from <a href="http://www.self.com/health/2010/08/five-benefits-of-kissing-slideshow#slide=5">two to six calories per minute</a>. That may seem insignificant, but hey, we'll take it.
Run A Race
Maybe 2012 wasn?t your year. While we never recommend running from your problems, running toward a solution -- in this case, a clean slate -- might be your best bet. Whatever your reason (and we?re in full support of running strictly for <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/11/28/running-effects_n_2206584.html">endorphins' sake</a>) signing up for a <a href="http://www.race360.com/newyears/">midnight run</a> is a great, healthy way to ring in the new year. Many races end with a celebratory glass of bubbly -- so you can still hang on to old traditions while making new ones.
Volunteer
While we tend to think about giving back more on Thanksgiving and Christmas, New Year's Eve should be no different. Do some research on local shelters or hospitals that are in need of some extra hands. Besides making the New Year better for others, you'll be happy to know that giving back can help release those feel-good hormones like <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/terri-cole/volunteering-health_b_2189477.html">serotonin, oxytocin and dopamine</a>. You'll remember 2012 as the year you gave back and enter 2013 with some good karma to your name.
Host A Potluck
With paper plates. And plastic cups. Take the pressure off serving a perfect, gourmet meal and have all your friends pitch in this year. And since everyone is contributing, you won?t have to worry about <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/20/healthy-christmas-cookies_n_2340766.html">specific dietary needs</a>. Plus, you?ll stress less without the thought of dirty dishes looming over your head <em>and</em> you?ll have more time to enjoy quality time with your friends.
Have A Healthy Mentality About The Night
Whatever your plans, the most important thing may be to lay off on the pressure. We often hype up New Year?s Eve as the night of all nights, and end up disappointed. This year, why not make an early resolution to be present at your celebration, enjoy the company you keep and see the opportunity that tomorrow brings.
Related Video: How To Kiss Someone On New Year's Eve

For more holiday stress busters, click here.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/31/healthy-new-years-eve_n_2376492.html

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Recent posts

New Year's Eve 2012: Healthy Ways To Celebrate

Dance The Night Away

Drink ... Responsibly

Take A Midnight Yoga Class

Enjoy A Celebratory Smooch

Run A Race

Volunteer

Host A Potluck

Have A Healthy Mentality About The Night

Related Video: How To Kiss Someone On New Year's Eve

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