Vindication for 2013 Rock Hall of Fame inductees

Randy Newman's glad he didn't have to do anything drastic to get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The members of Rush are choosing to let bygones be bygones. And Quincy Jones, well, he's still mad.

For most of this year's inductees, inclusion was a long time coming.

"I'm very happy," the 69-year-old Newman said Monday from his home in Los Angeles. "I thought I'd have to die first, but I'm glad I'm around to see it."

Newman is joined in the 2013 class by the eclectic group of rockers Rush and Heart, rap group Public Enemy, "Queen of Disco" Donna Summer and bluesman Albert King. Jones and his friend Lou Adler will enter the hall as Ahmet Ertegun Award winners for their contributions to rock beyond performance.

They will be inducted into the hall of fame April 18 in Los Angeles. The ceremony will mark the end of a long wait for fans of five of those six acts, who've been eligible for entry for some time. Public Enemy was inducted on its first ballot appearance, swelling the ranks of hip-hop entries.

In many ways, the 2013 class balances the scales, though not nearly soon enough for some new members.

"Well, it's about time, man," Jones said late Monday night in an interview from his home in Los Angeles. "But I promise you I'm not sitting around worrying about it."

Summer, who passed away at age 63 in May, gains entry after six years as a nominee. King, a deep influence on Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn who died in 1992, now takes his place along all the other legendary blues guitarists in the hall.

Rush, one of the most-played staples of classic rock radio, gained entry following its first appearance on the ballot. But the Canadian trio became eligible in 1998 and was repeatedly left off the list, to the great consternation of its legion of fans who cried bias against prog rock. Heart also waited a decade to make it on the ballot, gaining entry during its second appearance.

After years of disappointment, then disinterest, Rush's Alex Lifeson said the band now feels "wonderful" about its entry into the hall and is especially happy for its followers.

"First of all it's all water under the bridge and it was a very tiny bridge," the 59-year-old guitarist said in a phone interview from his home in Toronto. "I think our fans are more upset than we were because they feel a real bond to this band and it's been an important part of their lives in some form, and to be snubbed was snubbing them at the same time. ... Perhaps there were times when I thought if this ever happens I'm not going to bother going, or who cares or whatever, but at the end of the day positive karma is an important thing and this is an important thing to a lot of our fans and people we know."

Jones was less forgiving of the long wait he had. The 79-year-old entertainment icon's fingerprints are all over the hall of fame. He pops up often at key moments in rock 'n' roll history and was even Ray Charles' presenter during the soul singer's induction at the inaugural 1986 ceremony. He never expected to wait so long for his own entry.

"I was pissed off about it at first because I saw how it was going down and who was going in and who wasn't," Jones said with a deep laugh. "But I'm used to it, man. I've been around a long time, and I know how it works, you know. It's still an honor, man."

The 2013 class also continues the process of opening the hall of fame's doors a little bit wider.

In many cases, the delayed entry of this year's inductees had to do with a debate among its membership over the hall of fame's direction. The rock 'n' roll family sits under a big tent, but just how big it should be has been a matter of debate for the Cleveland, Ohio, institution.

The class may signal a new direction.

"That is an eclectic group," Newman said. "Well that's nice. It seems like they're broadening what they think rock 'n' roll is. That's good. There's no point being doctrinaire about music. ... People get awful strict. It's a hell of a thing to get strict about, isn't it?"

There was clearly no debate among the hall's membership about Public Enemy, which gained membership on its 25th anniversary.

The openly militant, always angry group helped elevate and define nascent rap in the 1980s and '90s. MC Chuck D said the group's induction is about more than simple membership.

"It's a great piece of news for the genre and our intention was to spread the light that our music is as legitimate as any other music," Chuck D said as the group traveled through Wyoming on tour Monday. " ... So this is significant to be alongside Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five, Run DMC and the Beastie Boys and just to be able to say this accomplishment, we don't think it's solely due to us."

Lifeson hopes the hall's membership keeps up with the trend.

"Maybe it should be the Music Hall of Fame and not so much the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame," Lifeson said. "But maybe it all is rock 'n' roll. It started as a little seed and grew into this great big tree with a lot of branches. That's why it's so sad the whole progressive movement, bands like Yes and King Crimson, are not included in this. And I hope one day that they are because they deserve to be in there way before we do. They were huge influences on us and so many other bands that have done fantastic work over the years. I know Deep Purple were up for this as well. It's a little unfortunate that they didn't make it in because they were extremely influential. I hope there comes a time when these other artists and bands are included because they were equally as influential as any of the ones that are being inducted today."

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Follow AP Music Writer Chris Talbott: http://twitter.com/Chris_Talbott.

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Surprise: New insurance fee in health overhaul law

WASHINGTON (AP) — Your medical plan is facing an unexpected expense, so you probably are, too. It's a new, $63-per-head fee to cushion the cost of covering people with pre-existing conditions under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

The charge, buried in a recent regulation, works out to tens of millions of dollars for the largest companies, employers say. Most of that is likely to be passed on to workers.

Employee benefits lawyer Chantel Sheaks calls it a "sleeper issue" with significant financial consequences, particularly for large employers.

"Especially at a time when we are facing economic uncertainty, (companies will) be hit with a multi-million dollar assessment without getting anything back for it," said Sheaks, a principal at Buck Consultants, a Xerox subsidiary.

Based on figures provided in the regulation, employer and individual health plans covering an estimated 190 million Americans could owe the per-person fee.

The Obama administration says it is a temporary assessment levied for three years starting in 2014, designed to raise $25 billion. It starts at $63 and then declines.

Most of the money will go into a fund administered by the Health and Human Services Department. It will be used to cushion health insurance companies from the initial hard-to-predict costs of covering uninsured people with medical problems. Under the law, insurers will be forbidden from turning away the sick as of Jan. 1, 2014.

The program "is intended to help millions of Americans purchase affordable health insurance, reduce unreimbursed usage of hospital and other medical facilities by the uninsured and thereby lower medical expenses and premiums for all," the Obama administration says in the regulation. An accompanying media fact sheet issued Nov. 30 referred to "contributions" without detailing the total cost and scope of the program.

Of the total pot, $5 billion will go directly to the U.S. Treasury, apparently to offset the cost of shoring up employer-sponsored coverage for early retirees.

The $25 billion fee is part of a bigger package of taxes and fees to finance Obama's expansion of coverage to the uninsured. It all comes to about $700 billion over 10 years, and includes higher Medicare taxes effective this Jan. 1 on individuals making more than $200,000 per year or couples making more than $250,000. People above those threshold amounts also face an additional 3.8 percent tax on their investment income.

But the insurance fee had been overlooked as employers focused on other costs in the law, including fines for medium and large firms that don't provide coverage.

"This kind of came out of the blue and was a surprisingly large amount," said Gretchen Young, senior vice president for health policy at the ERISA Industry Committee, a group that represents large employers on benefits issues.

Word started getting out in the spring, said Young, but hard cost estimates surfaced only recently with the new regulation. It set the per capita rate at $5.25 per month, which works out to $63 a year.

America's Health Insurance Plans, the major industry trade group for health insurers, says the fund is an important program that will help stabilize the market and mitigate cost increases for consumers as the changes in Obama's law take effect.

But employers already offering coverage to their workers don't see why they have to pony up for the stabilization fund, which mainly helps the individual insurance market. The redistribution puts the biggest companies on the hook for tens of millions of dollars.

"It just adds on to everything else that is expected to increase health care costs," said economist Paul Fronstin of the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute.

The fee will be assessed on all "major medical" insurance plans, including those provided by employers and those purchased individually by consumers. Large employers will owe the fee directly. That's because major companies usually pay upfront for most of the health care costs of their employees. It may not be apparent to workers, but the insurance company they deal with is basically an agent administering the plan for their employer.

The fee will total $12 billion in 2014, $8 billion in 2015 and $5 billion in 2016. That means the per-head assessment would be smaller each year, around $40 in 2015 instead of $63.

It will phase out completely in 2017 — unless Congress, with lawmakers searching everywhere for revenue to reduce federal deficits — decides to extend it.

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Michigan passes right-to-work bills

LANSING, Michigan (Reuters) - Michigan legislators on Tuesday approved laws that ban mandatory membership in public and private sector unions, dealing a stunning blow to organized labor in the home of the U.S. auto industry.

Republican Governor Rick Snyder was poised to sign the bills into law within days. That would make Michigan the 24th U.S. state with so-called right-to-work laws that prohibit unions from establishing a "closed shop" requiring employees to join unions and contribute dues.

As more than 12,000 unionized workers and supporters protested at the capitol in Lansing, the Republican-dominated House of Representatives gave final approval to the bills. In less than a week, Michigan was transformed from a bastion of union influence to the verge of joining states, mostly in the South, that have weakened legal protections for unions.

While labor leaders decried the legislation, Republican Representative Lisa Lyons said during the debate in the House that the right-to-work laws are not an attack on unions.

"This is the day Michigan freed its workers," she said.

Opponents argue that they undermine a basic union tenet of bargaining collectively with employers for better wages, benefits and working conditions. They also allow workers to opt out of a union, potentially reducing membership.

By weakening unions, Republicans also could hurt the Democratic Party, which traditionally receives a significant portion of its funding and grassroots support from labor unions.

Supporters of right-to-work say some unions have become too rigid and workers should be given a choice of whether to join. They also say that a more flexible labor market encourages businesses to invest and open plants in right-to-work states.

CRIES OF "SHAME"

Right-to-work was approved to cries of "shame" from protesters inside the Capitol building, which was closed to visitors when it reached capacity of 2,200, Michigan State Police Inspector Gene Adamczyk said.

An estimated 10,000 more people demonstrated outside in cold and snowy conditions, including members of the United Auto Workers union, and teachers, who shut down several schools in the state to attend the rally.

A few protesters were ejected from the Capitol after they chanted slogans from the gallery during the debate. Protesters tore down two tents set up for supporters of right-to-work on the grounds of the Capitol but Adamczyk said two people were arrested after scuffling with officers.

The show of force by unionized workers recalled huge rallies in Wisconsin two years ago when Republicans voted to curb public sector unions.

Teamsters union national president, Jim Hoffa Jr., whose father Jimmy Hoffa Sr. was one of the nation's most famous labor leaders and disappeared in 1975 in Michigan, denounced Republican leaders in a speech to the protesters.

"Let me tell the governor and all those elected officials who vote for this shameful, divisive bill - there will be repercussions," Hoffa said. "Some day soon, they will face the voters of Michigan and they will have to explain why they sided with the billionaires to back this destructive legislation."

Unions have accused Snyder of caving in to wealthy Republican business owners who wanted right-to-work passed.

The right-to-work movement has grown in the United States in recent years. Indiana earlier this year became the first state in the industrial Midwest to approve right-to-work and several other states are watching the Michigan action closely.

LEGAL CHALLENGES LOOM

Wisconsin Republicans in 2011 passed laws severely restricting the power of public sector unions. While Wisconsin did not attempt to pass right-to-work, the success of Republicans there in curbing powerful unions such as teachers and state workers encouraged politicians in other states to follow suit.

Republicans in Michigan also were emboldened by the defeat in the November election of a ballot initiative backed by unions that would have enshrined the right to collective bargaining in the state constitution.

Michigan is home of the heavily unionized U.S. auto industry, with some 700 manufacturing plants in the state. The state has the fifth highest percentage of workers who are union members at 17.5 percent. Only New York, Alaska, Hawaii and Washington state are more heavily unionized.

The Detroit area is headquarters for General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co and Chrysler, which is majority owned by Fiat SpA.

The UAW was founded in Michigan after a 1932 protest at a Ford plant in Dearborn left five people dead, increasing public sympathy for industrial workers during the Great Depression and leading to national legislation protecting unions.

Democrats and unions have vowed to challenge the new laws in the courts, to try to overturn them in a ballot initiative and possibly oust some Republicans who voted for right-to-work through recall elections.

Democratic Representative Douglas Geiss said right-to-work laws would lead to a resumption of the protests that led to unions some 70 years ago.

"There will be fights on the shop floor if many workers announce they will not pay union dues," Geiss said.

(Additional reporting by Robert Carr and David Bailey; Editing by Greg McCune and Bill Trott)

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Pakistan: US drone strike kills al-Qaida commander

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan (AP) — A U.S. drone strike has killed an al-Qaida commander in Pakistan's northwest, the second member of the Islamic militant network killed in the area in less than a week, Pakistani intelligence officials and a Taliban militant said Monday.

Mohammad Ahmed al-Mansoor died Sunday when drone-launched missiles hit a house in Tabbi village in the North Waziristan tribal area, the main sanctuary for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in the country, the officials and militant said.

Al-Mansoor was a close aide to senior al-Qaida leader Sheik Khalid bin Abdel Rehman al-Hussainan, who was killed in a drone strike in North Waziristan on Thursday, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. Al-Hussainan was also known as Abu Zaid al-Kuwaiti.

Covert CIA drone strikes have killed a series of senior al-Qaida and Taliban leaders in Pakistan's tribal region over the past few years. The attacks are controversial because the secret nature of the program makes it difficult to determine how many civilians are being killed.

Pakistani officials often criticize such strikes as a violation of the country's sovereignty, which has helped make them extremely unpopular in the country. But senior Pakistani officials are known to have cooperated with strikes in the past, and many people believe they still do.

There were conflicting accounts of who died in the strike Sunday along with al-Mansoor.

The intelligence officials said his wife and son were also killed, while the militant said two Punjabi Taliban fighters died with him. The Taliban militant spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being targeted by the government.

Al-Qaida's central leadership in Pakistan has been dealt a series of heavy blows in the past few years, including the U.S. commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad last year. A significant number of senior al-Qaida leaders have also been killed in U.S. drone attacks in the country.

Also Monday, Taliban militants armed with a rocket, hand grenades and automatic weapons attacked a police station in northwestern Pakistan, killing six people, police said.

The attack occurred in the city of Bannu, which serves as a gateway to the North Waziristan tribal area and which has been hit by repeated attacks over the years.

The militants began the attack by firing a rocket at the gate of the police station and tossing hand grenades, triggering a battle with police that last lasted over an hour, said senior police officer Wagar Ahmed.

Three policemen and three civilians were killed in the attack, said Ahmed. The civilians were coming out of a nearby mosque when they were shot by the militants. Eight people were wounded, including three policemen and five civilians.

Three militants were killed during the attack and one escaped.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan claimed responsibility for the attack in a telephone call to The Associated Press from an undisclosed location.

Elsewhere in the country, gunmen attacked a checkpoint manned by paramilitary forces on the outskirts of the southern city of Karachi, killing two soldiers, said police officer Azhar Iqbal. Two policemen were wounded in the attack, he said.

In the eastern city of Lahore, an elderly Swedish woman who was shot and critically wounded a week ago by an unknown assailant was flown home for medical treatment, said police officer Zahoorul Haq Qureshi. The woman, Bargeeta Almby, is in her 70s and was a volunteer at a church in Lahore. She was flown home in an aircraft sent by the Swedish government, Qureshi added.

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Associated Press writers Ijaz Muhammad in Bannu, Pakistan, Zaheer Babar in Lahore, Pakistan, and Adil Jawad in Karachi, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

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China party chief stresses reform, censors relax grasp on internet

BEIJING (Reuters) – China must deepen reforms to perfect its market economy and strengthen rule of law, Communist Party chief Xi Jinping said in southern Guangdong, echoing groundbreaking comments by reformist senior leader Deng Xiaoping in the same province 20 years ago.

Xi’s call for reform was reported on Monday, coinciding with an apparent easing of Internet search restrictions that the party has energetically used to suppress information that could threaten one-party rule.

China’s largest microblog service unblocked searches for the names of many top political leaders in a possible sign of looser controls a month after new senior officials were named to head the ruling party.

Searches on the popular Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblog for party chief Xi Jinping, Vice Premier Li Keqiang and other leaders – terms that have long been barred under strict censorship rules – revealed detailed lists of news reports and user comments.

Xi’s comments on the economy came on Sunday during a trip to Guangdong where he paid tribute to Deng, whose visit in 1992 ushered in an era of breakneck economic reform and growth.

“The government earnestly wants to study the issues that are being brought up, and wants to perfect the market economy system … by deepening reform, and resolve the issues by strengthening rule of law,” Xi was quoted by Xinhua state news agency as saying.

Experts say that unless the stability-obsessed party leadership pushes through stalled reforms, the nation risks economic malaise and social woes that could deepen unrest and threaten its grip on power.

It was too early to detect a change of heart on censorship, but Zhan Jiang, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said the signs were good.

“Things are changing quietly, and it matches what Xi Jinping said before – to achieve progress and change in a steady way,” Zhan said.

Various search terms for Premier Wen Jiabao, who was at the centre of recent New York Times reports that said his family had accumulated massive fortunes during his tenure, were still blocked on Monday.

Chinese social media sites have posed a unique challenge for party leaders whose overarching goal is to maintain political control, while at the same time allowing people to blow off steam.

Analysts have been searching for signs that China’s new leaders might steer a path of political reform. Many expected at least a temporary loosening of censorship rules after the 18th Party Congress.

“Excessively strict control of the Internet will only make things worse,” said Hu Xingdou, a professor at Beijing Institute of Technology. “So we need to allow people to speak and allow them to voice their grievances.”

(Writing by Michael Martina and Terril Yue Jones. Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard, Sally Huang and Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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'Zero Dark Thirty,' 'Lincoln' make AFI top-10 list

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kathryn Bigelow's Osama bin Laden thriller "Zero Dark Thirty," Steven Spielberg's Civil War epic "Lincoln" and Christopher Nolan's superhero tale "The Dark Knight Rises" are among the American Film Institute's top-10 movies of the year.

Also on the AFI top-10 announced Monday: Ben Affleck's Iran hostage-crisis drama "Argo;" Benh Zeitlin's low-budget hit "Beasts of the Southern Wild;" Quentin Tarantino's slavery saga "Django Unchained;" Tom Hooper's Victor Hugo musical "Les Miserables;" Ang Lee's shipwreck story "Life of Pi;" Wes Anderson's first-love romance "Moonrise Kingdom;" and David O. Russell's misfit love story "Silver Linings Playbook."

The AFI also picked its top-10 TV shows for the year: "American Horror Story;" ''Breaking Bad;" ''Game Change;" ''Game of Thrones;" ''Girls;" ''Homeland;" ''Louie;" ''Mad Men;" ''Modern Family;" and "The Walking Dead."

Creative ensembles for the films and TV shows will be honored at a luncheon in Los Angeles on Jan. 11.

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Online:

http://www.afi.com

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Surprise: New insurance fee in health overhaul law

WASHINGTON (AP) — Your medical plan is facing an unexpected expense, so you probably are, too. It's a new, $63-per-head fee to cushion the cost of covering people with pre-existing conditions under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

The charge, buried in a recent regulation, works out to tens of millions of dollars for the largest companies, employers say. Most of that is likely to be passed on to workers.

Employee benefits lawyer Chantel Sheaks calls it a "sleeper issue" with significant financial consequences, particularly for large employers.

"Especially at a time when we are facing economic uncertainty, (companies will) be hit with a multi-million dollar assessment without getting anything back for it," said Sheaks, a principal at Buck Consultants, a Xerox subsidiary.

Based on figures provided in the regulation, employer and individual health plans covering an estimated 190 million Americans could owe the per-person fee.

The Obama administration says it is a temporary assessment levied for three years starting in 2014, designed to raise $25 billion. It starts at $63 and then declines.

Most of the money will go into a fund administered by the Health and Human Services Department. It will be used to cushion health insurance companies from the initial hard-to-predict costs of covering uninsured people with medical problems. Under the law, insurers will be forbidden from turning away the sick as of Jan. 1, 2014.

The program "is intended to help millions of Americans purchase affordable health insurance, reduce unreimbursed usage of hospital and other medical facilities by the uninsured and thereby lower medical expenses and premiums for all," the Obama administration says in the regulation. An accompanying media fact sheet issued Nov. 30 referred to "contributions" without detailing the total cost and scope of the program.

Of the total pot, $5 billion will go directly to the U.S. Treasury, apparently to offset the cost of shoring up employer-sponsored coverage for early retirees.

The $25 billion fee is part of a bigger package of taxes and fees to finance Obama's expansion of coverage to the uninsured. It all comes to about $700 billion over 10 years, and includes higher Medicare taxes effective this Jan. 1 on individuals making more than $200,000 per year or couples making more than $250,000. People above those threshold amounts also face an additional 3.8 percent tax on their investment income.

But the insurance fee had been overlooked as employers focused on other costs in the law, including fines for medium and large firms that don't provide coverage.

"This kind of came out of the blue and was a surprisingly large amount," said Gretchen Young, senior vice president for health policy at the ERISA Industry Committee, a group that represents large employers on benefits issues.

Word started getting out in the spring, said Young, but hard cost estimates surfaced only recently with the new regulation. It set the per capita rate at $5.25 per month, which works out to $63 a year.

America's Health Insurance Plans, the major industry trade group for health insurers, says the fund is an important program that will help stabilize the market and mitigate cost increases for consumers as the changes in Obama's law take effect.

But employers already offering coverage to their workers don't see why they have to pony up for the stabilization fund, which mainly helps the individual insurance market. The redistribution puts the biggest companies on the hook for tens of millions of dollars.

"It just adds on to everything else that is expected to increase health care costs," said economist Paul Fronstin of the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute.

The fee will be assessed on all "major medical" insurance plans, including those provided by employers and those purchased individually by consumers. Large employers will owe the fee directly. That's because major companies usually pay upfront for most of the health care costs of their employees. It may not be apparent to workers, but the insurance company they deal with is basically an agent administering the plan for their employer.

The fee will total $12 billion in 2014, $8 billion in 2015 and $5 billion in 2016. That means the per-head assessment would be smaller each year, around $40 in 2015 instead of $63.

It will phase out completely in 2017 — unless Congress, with lawmakers searching everywhere for revenue to reduce federal deficits — decides to extend it.

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States anxious over debt talks stalemate

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A plunge over the federal "fiscal cliff" may sound like a terrifying risk for many state officials anxiously watching as Washington struggles to avert automatic tax hikes and spending cuts set to start with the new year. Yet their greatest angst may stem not from the potential loss of billions of dollars, but the confusion surrounding it all.

The longer the White House and Congress remain at odds, the more difficult it becomes for governors and lawmakers who are trying to piece together their own budgets. Many states depend on federal grants to help finance education, environmental and community programs that are on the chopping block. Their economies are powered by military bases and defense contractors that could get whacked. And their state income tax revenues could rise or fall as a direct result of federal tax hikes.

All that of that is to say that states have a lot riding on the strained negotiations between national Democrats and Republicans over some way of raising revenues and reducing spending that would avoid a more drastic deficit-reduction plan, known as the "fiscal cliff" because it could send the country back into an economic recession.

"From a general economic standpoint, the sooner they could do something the better," said Missouri budget director Linda Luebbering in a bit of understatement.

If nothing is done, states stand to lose $7.5 billion in federal funding for 161 grant programs subject to automatic spending cuts, according to the Federal Funds Information for States, a Washington-based organization that tracks the effects of policy decisions on states. The biggest of those cuts could come to federal aid for schools that teach large numbers of low-income students. Funding for special education, early childhood programs and food subsidies for women and children also could take sizable cuts.

If nothing is done, state economies could get jolted by an automatic $33.6 billion of spending cuts for defense contracting and military wages — hitting especially hard in places such as Virginia, California and Texas, according to the FFIS report.

And if nothing is done, state budgets also would feel the ramifications of federal tax increases, though not necessarily in a negative way. Because of how their tax codes are linked to federal regulations, more than half the states could see an increase in state income tax collections if cuts are made to federal income tax deductions and credits.

But that potential boost in state revenues could be wiped out if the plunge over the fiscal cliff were to result in another recession, said Ingrid Schroeder, a research director at the Pew Center on the States. Rising unemployment could mean more people qualifying for Medicaid and other government services, costing states additional money.

This past week, bipartisan groups of governors and state lawmakers met with President Barack Obama to urge a solution that doesn't pass the buck to local governments.

"Don't make the states pay the lion's share of whatever this medicine is that we've all got to swallow," said Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe.

As governors pressed for resolution, state financial directors churned out dire predictions.

New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli warned that state and local governments may have to consider additional tax hikes to counter a projected $5 billion reduction in federal funding over nine years. The burden would fall on some residents who "are literally digging out from (Superstorm) Sandy's devastation," he said.

A report prepared for the Texas Senate estimated that nearly 4,000 jobs could be lost as a result of a projected $565 million cut in federal funds for child care, job training, cancer and AIDS screenings and other services affecting nearly 2 million Texas residents.

Oklahoma Gov. May Fallin said the state could lose as many as 8,000 jobs in the aerospace and defense industries, and Minnesota state economist Tom Stinson forecast "ultimate gloom" under a fiscal-cliff induced downturn that he said could cost 115,000 jobs in 2013-2014 and hundreds of millions of dollars of lost state tax revenues.

In California, letters have been sent to 360,000 jobless residents warning that a federally funded extension of their benefits could expire.

Even through the federal spending cuts and tax hikes have yet to kick in, some state officials believe they already are suffering the effects. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick ordered spending cuts this past week to help close a projected $540 million budget hole that he blamed largely on the federal stalemate. Businesses are reluctant to make capital investments without knowing what will happen, he said.

"By all accounts, that uncertainty and the resulting slowdown in economic growth is the direct cause of our budget challenges," Patrick said.

In many states, confusion reigned. Governors often must present a budget to legislators early in 2013. That means their financial experts are working now on estimates of how much tax revenue they'll receive and how much federal funding they can rely upon. The ongoing negotiations in Washington are forcing some to leave question marks in their calculations.

"States have already had to make really tough budget decisions over the last couple of years," said Schroeder, of the Pew Center. "This uncertainty about exactly what their revenue is going to be makes an already difficult process that much more difficult."

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Associated Press writers Chuck Bartels in Little Rock, Ark; Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa; Patrick Condon in St. Paul, Minn.; Michael Gormley in Albany, N.Y.; Carla Johnson in Chicago; Judy Lin in Sacramento, Calif.; Bob Salsberg in Boston; Tim Talley in Oklahoma City; and Will Weissert in Austin, Texas.

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Pakistan: US drone kills senior al-Qaida leader

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A U.S. drone strike has killed a senior al-Qaida leader in Pakistan's tribal region near the Afghan border, Pakistani intelligence officials said, in the latest blow to the Islamic militant network.

Sheik Khalid bin Abdel Rehman al-Hussainan, who was also known as Abu Zaid al-Kuwaiti, was killed when missiles slammed into a house Thursday near Mir Ali, one of the main towns in the North Waziristan tribal area, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

Al-Kuwaiti appeared in many videos released by al-Qaida's media wing, Al-Sahab, and was presented as a religious scholar for the group.

Earlier this year, he replaced Abu Yahya al-Libi, al-Qaida's second in command, who was killed in a U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan in June, the intelligence officials said. Al-Libi was a key religious figure within al-Qaida and also a prominent militant commander.

Al-Kuwaiti appeared to be a less prominent figure and was not part of the U.S. State Department's list of most wanted terrorist suspects, as al-Libi had been.

Covert CIA drone strikes have killed a series of senior al-Qaida and Taliban leaders in Pakistan's tribal region over the past few years. The attacks are controversial because the secret nature of the program makes it difficult to determine how many civilians are being killed.

On Sunday, four drone-launched missiles blew apart a house near Miran Shah, another main town in North Waziristan, killing three suspected militants, intelligence officials said. North Waziristan has become the main hub for al-Qaida and Taliban militants in Pakistan.

Pakistani officials often criticize such strikes as a violation of the country's sovereignty, which has helped make them extremely unpopular in the country. But senior Pakistani officials are known to have cooperated with strikes in the past, and many people believe they still do.

Al-Kuwaiti's wife and daughter were wounded in Thursday's drone attack, according to the intelligence officials. His wife died a day later at a hospital in Miran Shah.

Al-Kuwaiti was buried in Tappi village near Mir Ali on Friday, the officials said.

A Pakistani Taliban commander who frequently visits North Waziristan told the Associated Press by telephone that he met some Arab fighters on Saturday who were "very aggrieved." The Arabs told him they lost a "big leader" in a drone strike, but would not reveal his name or his exact position in al-Qaida.

The Taliban commander spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of revealing his identity to the Pakistani government.

Al-Qaida's central leadership in Pakistan has been dealt a series of sharp blows in the past few years, including the U.S. commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad last year. A significant number of senior al-Qaida leaders have also been killed in U.S. drone attacks in the country.

Many analysts believe the biggest threat now comes from al-Qaida franchises in places like Yemen and Somalia.

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Mahsud reported from Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan.

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'Skyfall,' 'Guardians' duel for box-office win

LOS ANGELES (AP) — James Bond is in a box-office photo finish with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny over what looks to be the last slow weekend of the holidays.

According to studio estimates Sunday, Sony's Bond tale "Skyfall" took in $11 million to move back to No. 1 in its fifth weekend.

That put it narrowly ahead of Paramount's "Rise of the Guardians," the animated adventure of Santa, the Easter Bunny and other mythological heroes that pulled in $10.5 million.

The two movies inched ahead of Summit Entertainment's "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2," which had been tops for three-straight weekends. The "Twilight" finale earned $9.2 million, slipping into a tight race for No. 3 with Disney's "Lincoln," which was close behind with $9.1 million.

The top movies were bunched up so closely that rankings could change once final weekend revenues are released Monday.

The weekend's only new wide release, Gerard Butler's romantic comedy "Playing for Keeps," flopped with $6 million, coming in at No. 6.

"Skyfall" raised its domestic total to $261.6 million and added $20.3 million overseas to bring its international income to $656.6 million. At $918 million worldwide, "Skyfall" has the best cash haul ever for the Bond franchise and surpassed "Spider-Man 3" at $890 million to become Sony's top-grossing hit.

The "Twilight" finale also is a franchise record-breaker, surpassing the $710 million worldwide haul of last year's "Breaking Dawn — Part 1." The finale's domestic total now stands at $268.7 million.

It was another traditionally quiet post-Thanksgiving weekend, with big November releases continuing to dominate in the lull before a pre-Christmas onslaught of movies.

The box office is expected to soar next weekend with the arrival of part one of "The Hobbit," Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" prelude. After that comes a steady rush of action, comedy and drama through year's end, including Tom Cruise's "Jack Reacher," Quentin Tarantino and Jamie Foxx's "Django Unchained," Seth Rogen's "The Guilt Trip" and Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe's "Les Miserables."

"The last couple of weeks of the year are some of the strongest every year," said Paul Dergarabedian, an analyst for box-office tracker Hollywood.com. "We are on the cusp of some really huge box office. There's a lot of money still left in the year despite this slow period right now."

Hollywood's domestic revenues have topped $10 billion so far this year, with the industry expected to finish 2012 ahead of the all-time high of $10.6 billion set in 2009.

Trashed savagely by critics, FilmDistrict's "Playing for Keeps" stars Butler as a washed-up soccer star trying to reconnect with his ex-wife (Jessica Biel) and young son. The all-star cast includes Catherine Zeta-Jones and Uma Thurman as soccer moms with the hots for Butler.

In limited release, Bill Murray's Franklin Roosevelt drama "Hyde Park on Hudson" opened solidly with $83,280 in four theaters, averaging a healthy $20,820 a cinema. By comparison, "Playing for Keeps" averaged $2,115 in 2,837 theaters.

Released by Focus Features, "Hyde Park on Hudson" stars Murray as Roosevelt, whose intimate relations with a distant cousin (Laura Linney) become both a source of strength and distraction as the president plays host to the king and queen of England on the eve of World War II.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Where available, latest international numbers are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. "Skyfall," $11 million ($20.3 million).

2. "Rise of the Guardians," $10.5 million ($26 million international).

3. "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2," $9.2 million.

4. "Lincoln," $9.1 million.

5. "Life of Pi," $8.3 million.

6. "Playing for Keeps," $6 million.

7. "Wreck-It Ralph," $4.9 million ($5.8 million international).

8. "Red Dawn," $4.3 million.

9. "Flight," $3.1 million.

10. "Killing Them Softly," $2.7 million.

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Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

http://www.rentrak.com

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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

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