Fiscal Cliff Talks' Latest Victim? Sandy Relief

President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner just can't seem to break through an impasse in their "fiscal cliff" talks, increasing pessimism about a deal by Christmas and now threatening to sidetrack billions in federal aid for victims of superstorm Sandy.

After weeks of public posturing and private negotiations, both sides remain firmly dug in with their opposing positions on tax hikes and spending cuts for deficit reduction.

"The president wants to pretend spending isn't the problem. That's why we don't have an agreement," Boehner told reporters today.

House Republicans are demanding significant changes to entitlement programs to curb spending, which Democrats flatly oppose. The White House, invoking the president's re-election and public opinion polls on its side, still insists there will be no deal without a tax-rate increase on the top 2 percent of U.S. income-earners.

"Until the Republicans realize this, are willing to do what is right, we are going nowhere," said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.

The gridlock on how to best reduce the deficits and debt threatens to derail another pressing piece of business at hand: the White House's $60 billion emergency-relief request for states devastated by Sandy.

Carolyn Kaster/AP Photo; Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo

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Some Republicans are balking at the size of the request -- which was endorsed by the governors of the affected states, including New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie -- noting that its price tag would nearly wipeout any deficit savings Democrats are seeking next year by raising tax rates on the rich.

Other lawmakers have said the aid package should be offset with a fresh batch of spending cuts, which could be hashed out in committee hearings early next year. FEMA still has $5 billion in its Disaster Relief Fund, they say, enough to last until March.

Congressional leaders on both sides warned members Wednesday to prepare for a working Christmas in Washington unless a compromise can be reached soon. The "fiscal cliff" hits in 19 days, triggering a cascade of automatic tax hikes and deep spending cuts that could thrust the economy back into recession.

Obama and Boehner have traded a series of proposals over the past few days, speaking at least once by phone this week. The president lowered his desired target for new tax revenue from $1.6 trillion to $1.4 trillion; Boehner has indicated his willingness to raise more than the $800 billion he put on the table.

But the Ohio Republican said today that the two sides are nowhere near a deal.

"More than five weeks ago, Republicans signaled our willingness to avert the fiscal cliff with a bipartisan agreement that is truly balanced and begins to solve our spending problem," Boeher said. "The president still has not made an offer that meets these two standards."

Obama predicted Monday that Republicans will ultimately accept tax hikes for the wealthy and signaled new willingness to make "tough" spending cuts. But he did not offer specifics.

"If the Republicans can move on that [taxes], then we are prepared to do some tough things on the spending side," Obama told ABC's Barbara Walters this week. "Taxes are going to go up one way or another. And I think the key is that taxes go up on high-end individuals."

In the event both sides cannot reach a broad deal, there is still some optimism about a last-ditch effort by both parties to prevent an income tax hike on 98 percent of earners.

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Russia says Syrian rebels might win

MOSCOW/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels are gaining ground and might win, Russia's Middle East envoy said on Thursday, in the starkest such admission from a major ally of President Bashar al-Assad in 20 months of conflict.

"One must look the facts in the face," Russia's state-run RIA quoted Mikhail Bogdanov as saying. "Unfortunately, the victory of the Syrian opposition cannot be ruled out."

Bogdanov, a deputy foreign minister and the Kremlin's special envoy for Middle East affairs, said the Syrian government was "losing control of more and more territory" and Moscow was preparing to evacuate Russian citizens if necessary.

Syria has relied on war planes and helicopters to bombard rebel districts but Damascus denied accusations by U.S. and NATO officials that it had fired Scud missiles in recent days.

The foreign ministry said the long-range missiles were not used against "terrorist groups," a term it uses for the rebels, who now hold an almost continuous arc of territory from the east to the southwest of Damascus.

The head of NATO said he thought Assad's government was nearing collapse and the new leader of Syria's opposition told Reuters the people of Syria no longer needed international forces to protect them.

"The horrific conditions which the Syrian people endured prompted them to call on the international community for military intervention at various times," said Mouaz al-Khatib, a preacher who heads Syria's National Coalition.

"Now the Syrian people have nothing to lose. They handled their problems by themselves. They no longer need international forces to protect them," he added in the interview on Wednesday night, accusing the international community of slumbering while Syrians were killed.

He did not specify whether by intervention he meant a no-fly zone that rebels have been demanding for month, a ground invasion - which the opposition has warned against - or arms.

He said the opposition would consider any proposal from Assad to surrender power and leave the country, but would not give any assurances until it saw a firm proposal.

In the latest blow to the government, a car bomb killed at least 16 men, women and children in Qatana, a town about 25 km (15 miles) southwest of Damascus where many soldiers live, activists and state media said.

The explosion occurred in a residential area for soldiers in Qatana, which is near several army bases, said Rami Abdelrahman, head of the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

He put the death toll as 17, including seven children and two women. State news agency SANA said 16 people had died.

State television showed soldiers walking by a partly collapsed building, with rubble and twisted metal on the road.

The pro-government Al-Ikhbariya TV said a second car bomb in the Damascus suburb of al-Jadideh killed eight, most of them women and children.

Apart from gaining territory in the outskirts of Damascus in recent weeks, rebels have also made hit-and-run attacks or set off bombs within the capital, often targeting state security buildings or areas seen as loyal to Assad, such as Jaramana, where twin bombs killed 34 people in November.

The Pakistani Foreign Office said security concerns had prompted it to withdraw the ambassador and all Pakistani staff from the embassy in the central suburb of East Mezzeh, a couple miles from the Interior Ministry.

BACK TO THE WALL

With his back to the wall, Assad was reported to be turning ever deadlier weapons on his adversaries.

"I think the regime in Damascus is approaching collapse," NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Thursday.

Human Rights Watch said some populated areas had been hit by incendiary bombs, containing flammable materials such as napalm, thermite or white phosphorous, which can set fire to buildings or cause severe burns and respiratory damage.

The British-based Syrian Observatory said war planes were bombing rebel-held eastern suburbs of Damascus on Thursday and artillery was hitting Daraya and Moadamiyeh, southwestern areas near the centre where rebels have been fighting for a foothold.

At least 40,000 people have been killed in Syria's uprising, which started in March 2011 with street protests which were met with gunfire by Assad's security forces, and which spiraled into the most enduring and destructive of the Arab revolts.

The United States, European powers and Arab states bestowed their official blessing on Syria's newly-formed opposition coalition on Wednesday, despite increasing signs of Western unease at the rise of militant Islamists in the rebel ranks.

Western nations at "Friends of Syria" talks in Marrakech, Morocco rallied around a new opposition National Coalition formed last month under moderate Islamist cleric al-khatib.

Russia, which along with China has blocked any U.N. Security Council measures against Assad, criticized Washington's decision to grant the coalition formal recognition, saying it appeared to have abandoned any effort to reach a political solution.

Bogdanov's remarks were the clearest sign yet that Russia is preparing for the possible defeat of Assad's government.

"We are dealing with issues of preparations for an evacuation. We have mobilization plans and are clarifying where our citizens are located," Bogdanov said.

A British Foreign Office spokesperson said the Russian position remained largely unchanged but the situation on the ground gave Moscow an interest in finding an agreed solution, even if the chances of such a solution remained slim.

"If Russia's position on Syria had been a brick wall, it is now a brick wall with a crack in it," the spokesperson said.

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Ukrainian MPs brawl in parliament as PM re-appointed

KIEV: The Ukrainian parliament Thursday voted to reinstate its prime minister after dozens of opposition and pro-government lawmakers brawled for a second day in the chamber notorious for its fisticuffs.

Newly-elected world boxing champion Vitali Klitschko sought to stand above the fray by staying well out of the fighting that came just before parliament voted to re-appoint Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.

Deputies in suits and shirtsleeves climbed on tables, shouted and grappled with opponents in an angry protest against lawmakers pressing electronic buttons to vote for absentee colleagues.

While lawmakers are legally obliged to vote in person, many of them run around pressing buttons for absent colleagues.

Opposition politicians rose to their feet and rushed to blockade the speaker's tribune, while being pushed back by pro-government lawmakers.

Amid angry shouts and calls for calm, some clambered on desks from where they dealt blows and jumped down on opponents.

At least one opposition lawmaker had a bruised face after being thrown to the floor and receiving punches and kicks from ruling party lawmakers, the Interfax news agency reported.

The towering boxing champion Klitschko, whose opposition party UDAR, or punch, has won 42 seats in the parliament, refrained from joining the skirmishes and could be seen seated, watching the fight calmly.

"You could call the fists of a world champion a nuclear weapon. I don't think we will use this weapon yet," Klitschko said, quoted by his party press service.

But he added: "We do support the blockading of the tribune."

After a break, the parliament managed to restore calm and hold a vote to reappoint prime minister Azarov that had been postponed from Wednesday.

A total of 252 deputies out of 450 in the single-chamber parliament supported Azarov's return to office, including President Viktor Yanukovych's ruling Regions Party, the Communists and several independents.

Three opposition factions - Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party close to jailed ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the UDAR party of Klitschko and the Svoboda nationalist movement - did not back Azarov.

"The politics of the Regions Party of which Azarov is a representative is anti-Ukrainian, anti-social and anti-democratic," said comments from Svoboda.

It remained unclear why Azarov, 64, took the dramatic step of resigning earlier this month, with the presidency saying at the time that Yanukovych had accepted his request to give up his post and become an MP.

Azarov called on the parliament to leave behind the "confrontation" to "face together outside challenges" including the global economic crisis that is already hurting Ukraine.

The parliament's opening session on Wednesday had earlier seen fighting erupt between opposition lawmakers and deputies whom they accused of defecting to the pro-government camp.

In a typically raucous session, feminist group Femen also staged a topless anti-corruption protest outside the entrance to the parliament wearing only black pants.

The brawls were an ugly start to a new parliament apparently still controlled by Yanukovych's Regions Party, which claims to have won a majority in legislative elections on October 28.

The October polls were widely criticised by the international community, coming as Tymoshenko continues to serve a seven-year prison term for abuse of power that she argues is politically motivated.

The Ukrainian parliament is often the scene of scuffles with lawmakers throwing eggs and letting off smokebombs.

Two years ago several opposition deputies were badly injured in a bloody brawl prompted by the opening of a criminal probe into Tymoshenko that saw punches thrown and chairs hurled.

- AFP/de

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iPhone infringes on patents from MobileMedia, rules jury

Apple has lost a courtroom case pitting it against patent holder MobileMedia.

A U.S. court ruled today that the iPhone infringes on three patents held by MobileMedia, according to a tweet from Bloomberg. CNET has contacted MobileMedia for comment. A person at the company had no details to share but said that the PR representative was in the process of preparing a statement on the matter.

The jury trial kicked off just last month in a case in which Apple was accused of violating patents held by MobileMedia, a company jointly owned by Sony, Nokia, and a Denver-based outfit called MPEG LA, which licenses patents for the MPEG standards.

It's unknown at this time which three patents were included in the ruling. CNET will update the story as we receive more information.

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Golden Globes: "Lincoln" leads with 7 nominations

Nominees for the 70th Golden Globe Awards were announced Thursday morning, and "Lincoln" is in the lead.

The Civil War epic is up for seven nominations, among them best drama, director for Steven Spielberg and acting honors for Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones.

Tied for second-place with five nominations each, including best drama, are Ben Affleck's Iran hostage-crisis thriller "Argo" and Quentin Tarantino's slave-turned-bounty-hunter tale "Django Unchained."

Other best-drama nominees are Ang Lee's shipwreck story "Life of Pi" and Kathryn Bigelow's Osama bin Laden manhunt thriller "Zero Dark Thirty."

Nominated for best musical or comedy were: the British retiree adventure "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"; the Victor Hugo musical "Les Miserables"; the first-love tale "Moonrise Kingdom"; the fishing romance "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"; and the lost-soul romance "Silver Linings Playbook."

The directing lineup came entirely from dramatic films, with Affleck, Bigelow, Lee, Spielberg and Tarantino all in the running. Filmmakers behind best musical or comedy nominees were shut out for director, including Tom Hooper for "Les Miserables" and David O. Russell for "Silver Linings Playbook."

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Golden Globe nominees 2013

Along with Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln in Spielberg's epic, best dramatic actor contenders are Richard Gere as a deceitful Wall Streeter in "Arbitrage"; John Hawkes as a polio victim trying to lose his virginity in "The Sessions"; Joaquin Phoenix as a Navy veteran under the sway of a cult leader in "The Master"; and Denzel Washington as a boozy airline pilot in "Flight."

Nominees in the dramatic actress category are Jessica Chastain as a CIA analyst hunting Osama bin Laden in "Zero Dark Thirty"; Marion Cotillard as a whale biologist beset by tragedy in "Rust and Bone"; Helen Mirren as Alfred Hitchcock's strong-minded wife in "Hitchcock"; Naomi Watts as a woman caught up in a devastating tsunami in "The Impossible"; and Rachel Weisz as a woman ruined by an affair in "The Deep Blue Sea."

For musical or comedy actress, the lineup is Emily Blunt as a consultant for a Mideast sheik in "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"; Judi Dench as a widow who retires overseas in "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel"; Jennifer Lawrence as young widow in "Silver Linings Playbook"; Maggie Smith as an aging singer in a retirement home in "Quartet"; and Meryl Streep as a wife trying to save her marriage in "Hope Springs."

Nominees for musical or comedy actor are Jack Black as a solicitous mortician in "Bernie"; Bradley Cooper as a troubled man fresh out of a mental hospital in "Silver Linings Playbook"; Hugh Jackman as long-suffering hero Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables"; Ewan McGregor as a British fisheries expert in "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen"; and Bill Murray as Franklin Roosevelt in "Hyde Park on Hudson."

Competing for supporting actor are Alan Arkin as a Hollywood producer helping a CIA operation in "Argo"; Leonardo DiCaprio as a cruel slave owner in "Django Unchained"; Philip Seymour Hoffman as a mesmerizing cult leader in "The Master"; Tommy Lee Jones as firebrand abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens in "Lincoln"; and Christoph Waltz as a genteel bounty hunter in "Django Unchained."

The supporting-actress picks are Amy Adams as a cult leader's devoted wife in "The Master"; Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln in "Lincoln"; Anne Hathaway as a mother fallen into prostitution in "Les Miserables"; Helen Hunt as a sexual surrogate in "The Sessions"; and Nicole Kidman as a trashy mistress of a Death Row inmate in "The Paperboy."

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Golden Globe 2013: EW editor talks nominees

The awards are handed out by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Jessica Alba, Megan Fox and Ed Helms were on hand to help announce the nominees on Thursday morning from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Globe acting winners often go on to receive the same prizes at the Oscars. All four Oscar winners last season -- lead actors Meryl Streep of "The Iron Lady" and Jean Dujardin of "The Artist" and supporting players Octavia Spencer of "The Help" and Christopher Plummer of "Beginners" -- won Golden Globes first.

The Globes have a spotty record predicting which films might go on to earn the best-picture prize at the Academy Awards, however.

The Globes feature two best-film categories, one for drama and one for musical or comedy. Last year's Oscar best-picture winner, "The Artist," preceded that honor with a Globe win for best musical or comedy.

But in the seven years before that, only one winner in the Globe best-picture categories - 2008's "Slumdog Millionaire" - followed up with an Oscar best-picture win.

Along with 14 film prizes, the Globes hand out awards in 11 television categories.

Jodie Foster, a two-time Oscar and Globe winner for "The Accused" and "The Silence of the Lambs," will receive the group's Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement at the Jan. 13 ceremony.

The Golden Globes will be hosted by Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Both were nominated for best actress in a TV comedy, Fey for "30 Rock" and Poehler for "Parks and Recreation."

The nominees for best television drama series are "Boardwalk Empire," "Breaking Bad," "Downton Abbey," "Homeland" and "The Newsroom." In the best comedy series category, the nominees are "The Big Bang Theory," "Episodes," "Girls," "Modern Family" and "Smash."

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Royal Hoax: Station to Give $500K to Nurse's Family

The Australian radio station that employed the DJs who prank-called the London hospital where Kate Middleton was being treated has cancelled their show and will donate at least $500,000 to the grieving husband and children of the nurse who took the call and later apparently killed herself.

Australia's 2Day FM released a statement today saying it hopes to "help [Jacintha] Saldanha's family with the support they need at this very difficult time."

After days of suspended advertising, the radio station at the center of a global firestorm announced it will resume airing commercials Thursday. All its profits for the rest of the year will go directly to the family of the unsuspecting nurse at the center of that joke.

The Sydney-based station also issued a company-wide suspension of prank calls after the nurse who initially answered the hospital call was found dead.

Saldanha's husband and two teenage children met with officials at the hospital Monday, and spoke publicly for the first time, although via a member of the British Parliament.

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"This is a close family," Keith Vaz said. "They are devastated by what has happened. They miss her every moment of every day.

Although radio pranks have been a staple of shock DJs for years, DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian of Australia's 2Day FM might have crossed the line last week when they pranked the hospital, prompting the question of whether this is the end for radio pranking.

"Entertainers try to use real-life everyday circumstances and try to find humor in them," Radio DJ J Niice of B96 in Chicago, who does regular pranks on his show, told ABC News.

DJ Niice says his station has no intentions of pulling the plug on prank calls because it doesn't need to.

Based on U.S. law, such calls only become problematic when any resulting damage or injury could have been foreseen.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was famously pranked while running for vice president by a notorious Montreal-based comedy duo, who pretended to be then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"You know, I see you as a president one day," one of them told Palin, to which she replied with a giggle, "Maybe in eight years.'"

A prank caller even managed to make his way through security to speak to Tony Blair while he was still British prime minister. But it was no laughing matter in 1998 when Opie and Anthony, DJs from a Boston radio station, were fired for telling listeners on April Fools' Day that the city's mayor had died in a car accident.

While the Australian DJs' show has been terminated, it's still unclear whether they will be.

They could face criminal charges if police determine their call was illegally recorded. And the same joke at which they initially laughed is now the reason for their tears.

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IMF loan to Egypt delayed as crisis deepens

CAIRO (Reuters) - A vital $4.8 billion International Monetary Fund loan to Egypt will be delayed until next month, its finance minister said on Tuesday, intensifying the political crisis gripping the Arab world's most populous nation.

As rival factions gathered in Cairo and Alexandria for a new round of demonstrations, Finance Minister Mumtaz al-Said said the delay in the loan agreement was intended to allow time to explain a heavily criticised package of economic austerity measures to the Egyptian people.

The announcement came after President Mohamed Mursi on Monday backed down on planned tax increases, seen as key for the loan to go ahead. Opposition groups had greeted the tax package, which had included duties on alcoholic drinks, cigarettes and a range of goods and services, with furious criticism.

"Of course the delay will have some economic impact, but we are discussing necessary measures (to address that) during the coming period," the minister told Reuters, adding: "I am optimistic ... everything will be well, God willing."

Prime Minister Hisham Kandil said Egypt had requested that the loan be delayed by a month.

"The challenges are economic not political and must be dealt with aside from politics," he told a news conference.

Kandil said the reforms would not hurt the poor. Bread sugar and rice would not be touched, but cigarettes and cooking oil would go up and fines would be imposed for public littering. In a bid to rebuild consensus, he said there would be a national dialogue about the economic program next week.

In Washington, the IMF said Egypt had asked for the loan to be postponed "in light of the unfolding developments on the ground". The Fund stood ready to consult with Egypt on resuming discussions on the stand-by loan, a spokeswoman said.

GUNMEN OPEN FIRE

On the streets of the capital, tensions ran high after nine people were hurt when gunmen fired at protesters camping in Tahrir Square, according to witnesses and Egyptian media.

The opposition has called for a major demonstration it hopes will force Mursi to postpone a referendum on a new constitution.

Outside the presidential palace, dozens of protesters succeeded in pushing down two giant concrete blocks forming a small part of a wall blocking access to the site.

Thousands of flag-waving Islamist Mursi supporters, who want the vote to go ahead as planned on Saturday, assembled at a nearby mosque, setting the stage for further street confrontations in a crisis that has divided the nation of 83 million.

In Egypt's second city of Alexandria, thousands of rival demonstrators gathered at separate venues. Mursi's backers chanted: "The people want implementation of Islamic law," while his opponents shouted: "The people want to bring down the regime."

The upheaval following the fall of Hosni Mubarak last year is causing concern in the West, in particular the United States, which has given Cairo billions of dollars in military and other aid since Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979.

The turmoil has also placed a big strain on the economy, sending foreign currency reserves down to about $15 billion, less than half what they were before the revolt two years ago as the government has sought to defend the pound.

"Given the current policy environment, it's hardly a surprise that there's been a delay, but it is imperative that the delay is brief," said Simon Williams, HSBC economist in Dubai. "Egypt urgently needs that IMF accord, both for the funding it brings and the policy anchor it affords."

The IMF deal had been seen as giving a seal of approval to investors and donors about the government's economic plans, vital for drawing more cash into the economy to ease a crushing budget deficit and stave off a balance of payments crisis.

MASKED ATTACKERS

In central Cairo, police cars surrounded Tahrir Square in central Cairo, the first time they had appeared in the area since November 23, shortly after a decree by Mursi awarding himself sweeping temporary powers that touched off widespread protests.

The attackers, some masked, also threw petrol bombs that started a small fire, witnesses said.

"The masked men came suddenly and attacked the protesters in Tahrir. The attack was meant to deter us and prevent us from protesting today. We oppose these terror tactics and will stage the biggest protest possible today," said John Gerges, a Christian Egyptian who described himself as a socialist.

The latest bout of unrest has so far claimed seven lives in clashes between the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and opponents who are also gathering outside Mursi's presidential palace.

The elite Republican Guard which protects the palace has yet to use force to keep protesters away from the graffiti-daubed building, now ringed with tanks, barbed wire and concrete barricades.

The army has told all sides to resolve their differences through dialogue, saying it would not allow Egypt to enter a "dark tunnel". For the period of the referendum, the army has been granted police powers by Mursi, allowing it to arrest civilians.

The army has portrayed itself as the guarantor of the nation's security, but so far it has shown no appetite for a return to the bruising front-line political role it played after the fall of Mubarak, which severely damaged its standing.

OPPOSITION MARCHES

Leftists, liberals and other opposition groups called for marches say the hastily arranged constitutional referendum is polarizing the country and could put it in a religious straightjacket.

Mohamed ElBaradei, a prominent opposition leader and Nobel prize winner, said the referendum should be postponed for a couple of months due to the chaotic situation.

"This revolution was not staged to replace one dictator with another," he said in an interview with CNN.

Opposition leaders want the referendum to be delayed and hope they can get sufficiently large numbers of protesters on the streets to change Mursi's mind.

Islamists, who dominated the body that drew up the constitution, have urged their followers to turn out to show support for the president and for a referendum they feel sure of winning.

The opposition says the draft constitution fails to embrace the diversity of the population, a tenth of which is Christian, and invites Muslim clerics to influence lawmaking.

(Writing by Giles Elgood; Editing by Peter Graff and Will Waterman)

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OPEC sits tight before oil output meeting

VIENNA: OPEC maintained Tuesday its oil demand growth forecasts ahead of a meeting to discuss output levels and pick a new secretary-general for the cartel that pumps out more than a third of the world's crude.

While the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was expected to hold its oil production ceiling at 30 million barrels per day (mbpd) in Vienna on Wednesday, there was uncertainty over who would become the group's new administrative head.

The world's biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia was battling against Iraq and political foe Iran to succeed Libya's Abdullah El-Badri, who as OPEC secretary-general for the past six years has steered the cartel through the financial crisis.

A vote to pick his successor was postponed in June after OPEC failed to reach the required unanimous decision. Another delay could see El-Badri stay on beyond the maximum of two, three-year terms, analysts said.

The oil ministers of Kuwait and Venezuela were not attending Wednesday's meeting because of political events in their countries, while it was not known if the absences would affect the outcome of the secretary-general vote.

Asked if OPEC would decide on a new secretary-general at the ministerial meeting in Vienna, home to the cartel's headquarters, Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi simply told reporters: "Maybe."

UAE Energy Minister Mohammad bin Dhaen al-Hamli added: "I hope we will solve this issue tomorrow."

Hamli meanwhile insisted that there was "no need to do anything" over OPEC's current oil production levels. Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Qasemi added to the expectation of there being no change, stating that crude supply and demand was "relatively balanced" and that "prices are okay."

OPEC is said by analysts to be producing about one million oil barrels above its official daily ceiling, as Saudi Arabia compensates for lost Iranian output caused by a Western embargo on the Islamic Republic, and as other nations look to maximise profits while oil prices remain high.

World oil prices rose Tuesday on expectations of fresh stimulus measures from the Federal Reserve to perk up the struggling US economy, traders said, with benchmark Brent North Sea crude adding 70 cents to $108.07 a barrel.

An expected drop in oil demand next year risks dampening crude prices despite a background of Middle Eastern unrest, notably over Iran's disputed nuclear programme.

OPEC on Tuesday kept its forecast for growth in world oil demand unchanged for this year and next. World oil demand was expected to reach 88.80 mbpd in 2012, up from 88.04 mbpd in 2011, the dozen-member cartel said in its monthly report.

Next year, global demand was set to grow to 89.57 mbpd, it forecast.

OPEC, which pumps 35 percent of the world's oil, said much of its demand growth this year came from Japan, which has turned to oil after shutting down nuclear power plants in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

Massive power outages in India in the summer also helped growth there, even as members of the OECD club of industrialised nations and China saw weak economic growth that pushed down oil demand.

For 2013, OPEC was more optimistic, citing an improving economy in the United States and a potential return to growth in the eurozone, "although this might prove challenging."

As for oil production, Iran -- OPEC's second largest producer last year after Saudi Arabia -- appeared to be feeling the impact of international economic sanctions imposed over its suspected nuclear weapons drive.

In the third quarter of 2012, after an EU oil embargo took effect on July 1, Iranian crude production sank to 2.73 mbpd, from 3.09 mbpd in the second quarter and 3.39 mbpd in the first, OPEC said citing secondary sources.

-AFP/ac

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Netflix ranks ISPs by streaming performance, Google Fiber wins

The top 7 performing ISPs, according to Netflix. A larger list is available in the full report.

(Credit:

Netflix)

Internet service provider (ISP) performance is notoriously hard to quantify, but there's at least one company that has tons of real-world data: Netflix.

The streaming-video king released a report this morning ranking 21 major US ISPs based on real-world streaming performance. Google Fiber came in the lead by quite at bit, with an average of 2.55 Mbps in November, with the next closest competitor (Verizon FiOS) coming in at 2.19 Mbps. Unsurprisingly, DSL services came in behind all the major cable/fiber services, with the best performer averaging just 1.42 Mbps in November. The best mobile service to crack the list is Verizon at a relatively pokey 0.76 Mbps.

Netflix says this is just the first installment in what will be a regular monthly report, which is good news for keeping ISPs honest about bandwidth throttling.

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Mandela "responding" to treatment for infection

JOHANNESBURG South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela is suffering from a recurring lung infection and is responding to medical treatments, the nation's presidency said Tuesday.

The ailing Mandela, 94, has been hospitalized since Saturday for medical tests at 1 Military Hospital near South Africa's capital, Pretoria.

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Nelson Mandela

The announcement ended speculation about what was troubling the ailing anti-apartheid icon. Government officials had declined repeatedly to say what caused the nation's military, responsible for Mandela's care, to hospitalize the leader over the last few days. That caused growing concern in South Africa, a nation of 50 million people that largely reveres Mandela for being the nation's first democratically elected president who sought to bring the country together after centuries of racial division.

The tests Mandela underwent at the hospital detected the lung infection, said presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj in a statement.

"Madiba is receiving appropriate treatment and he is responding to the treatment," Maharaj said, referring to Mandela by his clan name as many do in South Africa in a sign of affection.

In January 2011, Mandela was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital for what officials initially described as tests but what turned out to be an acute respiratory infection. The chaos that followed Mandela's stay at that public hospital, with journalists and the curious surrounding it and entering wards, saw the South African military take charge of his care and the government control the information about his health. In recent days many in the press and public have complained about the lack of concrete details that the government has released about Mandela's condition.

Mandela has had a series of health problems in his life. He contracted tuberculosis during his years in prison and had surgery for an enlarged prostate gland in 1985. In 2001, Mandela underwent seven weeks of radiation therapy for prostate cancer, ultimately beating the disease.

In February, Mandela spent a night in a hospital for a minor diagnostic surgery to determine the cause of an abdominal complaint.

Mandela was a leader in the struggle against racist white rule in South Africa and for preaching reconciliation once he emerged from prison in 1990 after 27 years behind bars. He won South Africa's first truly democratic elections in 1994, serving one five-year term. The Nobel laureate later retired from public life to live in his remote village of Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, and last made a public appearance when his country hosted the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament.

Mandela disengaged himself with the country's politics fairly successfully over the last decade and has grown increasing frail in recent years.

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