Saturday, 1.7.12 ON THE WEB: www.yankton.net the world PRESS DAKOTAN NEWS DEPARTMENT: [email protected] 5 Santorum Says Cuts In Social Security Needed KEENE, N.H. (AP) — Risking the wrath of older voters, Republi- U.S. Ends Year With Hiring Surge can presidential candidate Rick Santorum is calling for immediate cuts to Social Security benefits and says the country can’t wait to phase in reductions as most of his rivals have advocated. “We can’t wait 10 years,” even though “everybody wants to,” Nation Adds 200,000 Santorum told a crowd while campaigning in New Hampshire Fri- day, breaking with opponents who say immediate cuts would be Jobs In December too big a shock to current and soon-to-be retirees. BY PAUL WISEMAN Calling for cuts in Social Security often triggers strong opposi- AND CHRISTOPHER S. RUGABER tion, and politicians typically suggest phase-in periods of up to a AP Economics Writers decade when broaching the topic. Santorum, who was trying to leverage his strong Iowa showing WASHINGTON — Four painful years after in New Hampshire, argued that everyone must sacrifice now be- the Great Recession struck and wiped out 8.7 cause the nation’s “house is on fire” with soaring federal debt. He million jobs, the United States may finally be argued that he is being courageous and honest by telling Ameri- in an elusive pattern known as a virtuous cans they can’t afford to wait to rein in Social Security’s growing cycle — an escalating loop of hiring and costs. And he said he anticipated possible attack ads on his posi- spending. tion, four days ahead of New Hampshire’s GOP primary. The nation added 200,000 jobs in Decem- ber in a burst of hiring that drove the unem- U.S. Scraps 8-Decades-Old Definition Of Rape ployment rate down two notches to 8.5 percent, its lowest in almost three years, and WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Friday ex- led economists to conclude that the improve- panded the FBI’s more than eight-decade-old definition of rape to ment in the job market might just last. count men as victims for the first time and to drop the requirement “There is more horsepower to this econ- that victims must have physically resisted their attackers. omy than most believe,” said Sung Won Sohn, The new definition will increase the number of people counted an economics professor at California State as rape victims in FBI statistics, but it will not change federal or University, Channel Islands. “The stars are state laws or alter charges or prosecutions. aligned right for a meaningful economic money to spend. The means greater demand 940,000 added during 2010. In 2009, the most The White House said the change was not motivated by the re- recovery.” for goods and services and results in busi- bruising year of the Great Recession, the na- cent Penn State child sex-abuse scandal. The expansion has been It was the sixth month in a row that the nesses hiring even more people. That results tion lost more than 5 million. long awaited because policymakers and lawmakers use crime sta- economy added at least 100,000 jobs, the in even more spending and leads to even But it will take 6 million more jobs to get tistics to allocate resources for prevention and victim assistance. longest streak since 2006. The economy more hiring. the United States back to what it had in De- Senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett called the change a added jobs every month last year, the first That would be the reverse of the vicious cember 2007, when the recession began. “very, very important step.” The issue got top-level White House at- time that has happened since 2005. cycle that took hold during the Great Reces- Economists forecast the nation will add al- tention starting last July, when Vice President Joe Biden raised it at And the unemployment rate, which sion. People lost jobs and spent less, so busi- most 2 million this year. a Cabinet meeting. peaked at 10 percent in October 2009 and nesses rang up less sales and were forced to The unemployment report was the first to Biden, author of the Violence Against Women Act when he was stood at 9.1 percent in August, has fallen four lay off more people. That led to even less be released since Republicans across the in the Senate, said the new definition is a victory for women and months straight. It was 8.7 percent in spending and more layoffs. country began voting to determine a candi- men “whose suffering has gone unaccounted for over 80 years.” November. “The labor market is healing,” said Diane date to face President Barack Obama this fall Calling rape a “devastating crime,” the vice president said, “We If economics textbooks and the best Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial. in an election that will turn on the economy. can’t solve it unless we know the full extent of it.” hopes of millions of unemployed Americans She cautioned that “we still have a long way Obama appears bound to face voters with are confirmed, the virtuous cycle may be to go — years — to recoup the losses we the highest unemployment rate of any presi- U.S. Warship Rescues Iranians Taken Hostage under way, which would suggest the job mar- have endured.” dent running for re-election since World War ket will continue to strengthen. Indeed, the economy added 1.6 million II. Unemployment was 7.8 percent when WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. Navy destroyer has rescued an When people are hired, they have more jobs for all of 2011. That is better than the Obama took office. Iranian fishing boat that had been commandeered by suspected pi- rates just days after Tehran warned the U.S. to keep its warships out of the Persian Gulf. American forces flying off the guided-missile destroyer USS Kidd responded to a distress call from the Iranian vessel, the Al Molai, Explosion In which had been held captive for more than 40 days, the U.S. Navy said Friday. The Kidd was sailing in the Arabian Sea, after leaving Romney’s Rivals Look To S.C. Syrian Capital the Persian Gulf, when it came to the sailors’ aid. BY DAVID ESPO A U.S. Navy team boarded the ship Thursday and detained 15 AND PHILIP ELLIOTT suspected Somali pirates. They had been holding the 13-member Associated Press Kills 25 Iranian crew hostage and were using the boat as a “mother ship” BY BASSEM MROUE for pirating operations in the Persian Gulf. MANCHESTER, N.H.— Mitt Amid escalating tensions with Tehran, the Obama administra- AND ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY Romney’s rivals are all but con- Associated Press tion reveled in delivering the news. ceding defeat in next Tuesday’s “This is an incredible story. This is a great story,” State Depart- New Hampshire primary, looking ment spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, explaining that the very BEIRUT — A bomb exploded past a weekend debate double- Friday at a busy Damascus in- same American ships the Islamic republic protested for recently header in the Granite State and traveling through the Strait of Hormuz were responsible for the tersection, killing 25 people and focusing on South Carolina as wounding dozens in the second Iranian vessel’s recovery. their best chance to slow his major attack in the Syrian capi- march to the Republican presi- tal in as many weeks, officials Deported Texas Teen Headed Back To U.S. dential nomination. said, vowing to respond to fur- Romney campaigned in both ther security threats with an EL PASO, Texas (AP) — A 15-year-old Texas girl who was de- states on Friday, prominent party “iron fist.” ported in May to South America after claiming to be an illegal immi- leaders by his side, President The government blamed grant was headed back to the United States on Friday, the U.S. State Barack Obama on his mind. “terrorists,” saying a suicide Department said. Giving no ground when the bomber had blown himself up Jakadrien Lorece Turner left Colombia on Friday and was on her government reported the cre- in the crowded Midan district. way to the U.S., State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland ANDY JACOBSOHN/MCT But the country’s opposition said. ation of 200,000 new jobs in De- Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor demanded an independent in- The girl’s mother, Johnisa Turner, told The Associated Press cember, Romney said America Mitt Romney is joined by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who addresses vestigation, accusing forces she’ll be meeting her daughter when she arrives in Dallas and said deserves better than the eco- a crowd during a spaghetti dinner-style campaign stop at the Tilton School loyal to the Syrian regime of she has “a gazillion questions” for Jakadrien. nomic results Obama has deliv- in Tilton, New Hampshire, Friday, January 6, 2012. Romney stopped in being behind the bombing to “I am very excited,” Turner said. “I feel like a weight has been ered. “Thirty-five consecutive Tilton ahead of the New Hampshire Primary on January 10, 2012. tarnish a 10-month-old uprising lifted. But at the same time, I won’t just feel really, really good until months of unemployment above against President Bashar Assad. I’m able to touch her. Until I’m able to put her in my arms.” 8 percent is no cause for celebra- “Is there anything worse tion,” he said in a written is one of the most intense of the never did anything about it,” Paul than these crimes?” said Majida statement.