Postal Service to end Saturday mail delivery

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Postal Service is planning to drop Saturday delivery of first-class mail by August, a congressional source said on Wednesday.

The cash-strapped mail agency will still deliver packages, said the source, who is familiar with the matter but not authorized to speak on the record.

USPS spokesman Mark Saunders could not confirm the change, but said the agency would issue a news release on Wednesday.

The move is part of the mail carrier's larger effort to aggressively to cut costs amid rising use of email and the Internet as well as looming payments for future retiree's health benefits. USPS lost almost $16 billion last year.

The 237-year-old institution has already run into its legal borrowing limit and defaulted twice on required payments to the federal government.

(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson and Elvina Nawaguna; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Vicki Allen)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/postal-seeks-end-saturday-mail-delivery-132211069--sector.html

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Obama stands firm on gun control despite long odds

President Barack Obama is applauded prior to speaking about his gun violence proposals, Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, at the Minneapolis Police Department's Special Operations Center in Minneapolis, where he outlined his plan before law enforcement personnel. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

President Barack Obama is applauded prior to speaking about his gun violence proposals, Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, at the Minneapolis Police Department's Special Operations Center in Minneapolis, where he outlined his plan before law enforcement personnel. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

President Barack Obama gestures while speaking to outline his plan on gun violence, Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, at the Minneapolis Police Department's Special Operations Center in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

President Barack Obama greets law enforcement officers after speaking on ideas to reduce gun violence, Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, at the Minneapolis Police Department Special Operations in Minneapolis, Minn. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks about his gun violence proposals, Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, at the Minneapolis Police Department's Special Operations Center in Minneapolis, where he outlined his plan before law enforcement personnel. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama gestures as he speaks about his gun violence proposals, Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, at the Minneapolis Police Department's Special Operations Center in Minneapolis, where he outlined his plan before law enforcement personnel. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ? President Barack Obama declared Monday on his first trip outside Washington to promote gun control that a consensus is emerging for universal background checks for purchasers, though he conceded a tough road lay ahead to pass an assault weapons ban over formidable opposition in Congress.

"We should restore the ban on military-style assault weapons and a 10-round limit for magazines," Obama said in a brief speech, standing firm on his full package on gun-control measures despite long odds. Such a ban "deserves a vote in Congress because weapons of war have no place on our streets or in our schools or threatening our law enforcement officers."

The president spoke from a special police operations center in a city once known to some as "Murderapolis" but where gun violence has dropped amid a push to address it from city leaders. Officers stood behind him, dressed in crisp uniforms of blue, white and brown.

The site conveyed Obama's message that a reduction in violence can be achieved nationally, even if Americans have sharp disagreements over gun control. That includes among members of his own party in Washington.

Suggesting he won't get all he's proposing, he said, "We don't have to agree on everything to agree it's time to do something."

The president unveiled his gun-control plans last month after the shootings at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school. But many of the proposals face tough opposition from some in Congress and from the National Rifle Association.

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he wants to give the bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines a vote. But he will not say whether he will support either, and advocates and opponents alike predict they are unlikely to pass.

Putting the controversial measures up for a vote could put some Democratic senators in a tough spot. That includes some from conservative-leaning states who are up for re-election next year and face the prospect of voting against either fervent gun-rights supporters or Obama and gun-control supporters in the party's base.

Reid himself came in for criticism for declining to stand with the president by Minneapolis' Democratic mayor, R.T. Rybak, who accompanied Obama while he was in town. "He's dancing around this issue and people are dying in this country," Rybak said of Reid on MSNBC.

Democratic lawmakers and aides, as well as lobbyists, say an assault weapons ban has the least chance of being approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee that is working up the legislation. They say a ban on high-capacity magazines is viewed as the next least likely proposal to survive, though some compromise version of it might, allowing more than the 10-round maximum that Obama favors.

Likeliest to be included are universal background checks and prohibitions against gun trafficking, they say. One lobbyist said other possible terms include steps to improve record keeping on resales of guns and perhaps provisions that would make it harder for mentally ill people from obtaining firearms.

Asked last week what was likely to be in his committee's bill, committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., said he didn't yet know but "I don't know how anybody can be opposed to universal background checks." He added, "I think gun trafficking, you've got to be able to close that. I don't know how anybody, anybody can object to that."

Obama also was more upbeat on the prospects of universal background checks, including for purchases at gun shows.

"The good news is that we're starting to see a consensus emerge about the action Congress needs to take," he said. "The vast majority of Americans, including a majority of gun owners, support requiring criminal background checks for anyone trying to buy a gun. There's no reason why we can't get that done."

He urged Americans to call their members of Congress to push for his entire package of stronger gun controls. "Tell them now is the time for action."

"Changing the status quo is never easy," Obama said. "This will be no exception. The only way we can reduce gun violence in this country is if the American people decide it's important, if you decide it's important, if parents and teachers, police officers and pastors, hunters and sportsmen, Americans of every background stand up and say, this time, it's got to be different. We've suffered too much pain to stand by and do nothing."

The White House says Obama is not writing off any part of his package despite the long odds for the assault weapons ban in particular before votes are scheduled or he takes his arguments on the road. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who has been helping push the gun control package, said he and Obama spoke on the matter Sunday and agreed that Washington in a vacuum is unlikely to move quickly.

"If this is Washington trying to drive this by itself, it doesn't go very far," Duncan said at a meeting with college presidents who have signed on to help lobby Congress to take action to protect students.

The White House said Obama made his maiden trip on the gun control package to Minneapolis because the city has taken steps to tackle gun violence, including a push for stricter background checks. The city launched a program in 2008 aimed at providing more resources for at-risk youth and helping rehabilitate young people who have already committed crimes.

In January, Minneapolis also hosted a regional summit on gun violence for elected officials from around the Midwest. The county's sheriff, Richard Stanek, is a Republican who has been working with the White House to develop a palatable set of gun regulations, with a particular focus on strengthening background checks.

Ahead of Monday's trip, the White House released a photo of the president skeet shooting at Camp David, the presidential retreat, which prompted more question about the president's experience with guns. White House press secretary Jay Carney said he was not aware of Obama personally owning any firearms. He said Obama has shot a gun elsewhere, although he didn't know when or if he had done so- before becoming president. "He never intended to suggest he had grown up as a hunter," Carney said.

Asked whether the president shoots skeet or trap, Carney told reporters, "I'm not an expert, and I don't think he would claim to be either." But he said of the president's shooting skill, "I think he has gotten better."

On Tuesday, four House members ? two Republicans and two Democrats ? planned to announce bipartisan legislation making gun trafficking a federal crime and strengthening penalties against people who legally buy firearms but give them to others who are barred from purchasing them, such as felons.

House GOP leaders have sent no signals that they intend to move imminently on gun legislation.

"The committees of jurisdiction will look at the issues surrounding violence in our society. And when the Senate produces a bill, we'll take a look at it," said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

___

Associated Press writers Alan Fram and Philip Elliott contributed to this report.

___

Follow Nedra Pickler on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nedrapickler and Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-04-Gun%20Control/id-566ecc26f72345a9bd1b5c22a2d1fa87

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MEPs to vote on fishing reform

5 February 2013 Last updated at 12:08 ET By Roger Harrabin Environment analyst

The European Parliament may approve radical reforms to the controversial EU Common Fisheries Policy on Wednesday.

MEPs will vote on a timetable to stop crews discarding unwanted fish - a common practice under current quotas.

They will also decide on long-term plans to protect stocks from overfishing, and whether to allow fisheries management to shift to a regional level.

A fishing alliance, Europeche, says the reforms are too sudden and too radical.

With an estimated 75% of Europe?s stocks overfished, there has been enormous public and media pressure over this latest attempt to shake up the CFP.

The reform package before the full parliament follows a Fisheries Committee report by the German Social Democrat MEP Ulrike Rodust.

She said the reforms ?will bring an end to the December ritual of fisheries ministers negotiating until 4 am, neglecting scientific advice and setting too high fishing quotas.

?As of 2015, the principle of maximum sustainable yield shall apply, which means that each year we do not harvest more fish than a stock can reproduce. Our objective is that depleted fish stocks recover by 2020. Not only nature will benefit, but also fishermen: bigger stocks produce higher yields.?

She said fishermen had to be helped through a transitional period as fishing capacity shrank to allow stocks to recover.

Tussle over catches

Ian Campbell from Ocean2012, a coalition of more than 170 organisations, told BBC News: ?This is an historic opportunity. Now is the time for MEPs to listen to their constituents and demonstrate to EU fisheries ministers that the tough decisions can, and must, be made.?

Spanish MEP Carmen Fraga of the centre-right European People?s Party (EPP) is leading opposition to the proposals. The EPP says the discards ban should be studied further, as boats are not equipped to measure or store all the fish they land.

The party - the biggest grouping in the parliament - maintains that the proposal for catch limits from 2015, so that stocks can recover, is ?rigid and unrealistic?. The EPP urges gradual implementation by 2020.

This vote in parliament really matters because MEPs are sharing power on the issue for the first time.

Agreement does look possible on plans to support small-scale coastal boats, by awarding them extra catch quotas if they fish sustainably.

'Promising' changes

Steve Rodgers, a fisherman and fishmonger from Seaton in the UK?s West Country, is a member of a Greenpeace campaign on behalf of artisanal fleets.

He told BBC News: ?After many years it does look slightly hopeful. It could all go wrong, but I am daring to hope that it might go right.?

Another local fisherman, Angus Walker, said: ?I have been fishing since the 1960s. We have had some very bad times but things have never looked as promising as they do now. But let?s wait and see. You never know with Europe.?

There also seems broad support for devolving fisheries management to a regional level ? an issue promoted by the UK. Fisheries Ministers Richard Benyon has written to MEPs, saying: ?The reform is a unique and long-awaited opportunity to address the failings of the past.

?The public are outraged by the terrible waste caused by fishermen being forced to discard perfectly good fish. They cannot comprehend the EU?s failure to manage our fish stocks sustainably and the insistence on centralised micro-management from Brussels.?

For environmentalists this reform will be one step in a journey: they want fisheries to recover to something approaching the level where they once were. That would take policies far more radical than these, as one study suggested that over 118 years of industrial fishing, the productivity of one fishery in the UK dropped by 94%.

Follow Roger on Twitter

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21341556#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Syrian opposition group to open New York, Washington offices

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Syrian National Coalition will open offices in New York and Washington as it prepares for meetings of Syrian opposition leaders with U.S. officials and U.N. Security Council members, a U.N. envoy and a Syrian opposition source said on Tuesday.

"That is an important step and it's obviously a potential vehicle for inviting over ... (coalition leader Moaz) Alkhatib to come to New York at some point," a senior Western diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

Najib Ghadbian, an Syrian-American professor at the University of Arkansas, would head the New York office, he added. Ghadbian could not be reached immediately for comment.

Another diplomat said the purpose of the New York office would be to open a channel of communication with the U.N. Security Council, which has long been divided over Syria's 22-month-long conflict that has killed an estimated 60,000 people.

Russia and China support the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and have vetoed three Security Council resolutions condemning it.

A source close to the Syrian opposition confirmed that the Washington office would be headed by Oubab Khalil, a realtor in Frisco, Texas. One of the first tasks of the Washington office would be to prepare for a possible trip to the United States by Alkhatib toward the end of the February, the source said.

That visit could include a meeting with President Barack Obama, the source said.

Khalil was not immediately reachable for comment.

Establishing liaison offices in New York and Washington could help Syria's fractious opposition improve its credibility as it seeks support for rebels fighting to overthrow Assad's government.

The rebels are poorly armed compared to Assad's army and loyalist militias, which means the government can likely keep fighting after nearly two years of civil war, U.N. diplomats said. Although the rebels are receiving some arms from countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, such military assistance is minimal, they said.

The United States and other Western countries are reluctant to arm the Syrian rebels and have limited their support to non-lethal aid.

Alkhatib has urged Syria's government to start talks with the opposition on Assad relinquishing power to save the country from greater ruin after almost two years of bloodshed.

Seeking to step up pressure on Assad to respond to his offer of talks, which dismayed some in his own opposition coalition, Alkhatib said he would be ready to meet with Assad's deputy.

Syria's U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari did not respond to a request for comment on the Syrian National Coalition's decision to open the offices in the United States.

(Additional reporting by Warren Strobel in Washington; editing by Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-opposition-group-open-york-washington-offices-221512368.html

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Milestone of cancer research: Arresting cancers rather than killing them

Feb. 1, 2013 ? The research team of Prof. Dr. Martin R?cken from the Department of Dermatology of the University Medical Center T?bingen has shown for the first time that the immune system is able to drive tumours and tumour cells into a form of permanent dormancy (1). The resulting growth arrest allows tumour control in the absence of cancer cell destruction. This permanent dormancy -- scientifically known as senescence (2, 3) -- may persist for the whole life of the organism. Thus, immunotherapy can prevent tumour development without destroying the cells (1, 4).

Prof. Martin R?cken, Director of the Department of Dermatology of the University Medical Center T?bingen, outlines the current state of tumour therapy as follows: "About 50 years ago the former President of the United States of America Richard Nixon declared the "War on cancer." Strong financial and logistic efforts were undertaken and thought to overcome this devastating disease in relatively short time. At this time, researchers and clinicians learned to use chemotherapeutics or natural killer cells to directly attack the tumour cells and to destroy cancers including their environment. This led to several very important, partly brilliant achievements in the understanding of tumour development and to improved cancer diagnostics. What's more, the treatment of several different cancers was markedly improved by new and innovative operation techniques, radiation, chemo- and immunotherapy. However, the main goal, ie. the decisive victory on cancer, remained absent." "[For some time]," Prof. R?cken explains further, "doubts were raised about the strategy of the "War on cancer" which exclusively focussed on cancer destruction, as for example published in an essay in the journal The Lancet and other recent publications (5, 6, 7)."

Importantly, the work of the R?cken group revealed that immune responses also drive tumours of human origin into senescence. The human body apparently defends itself from cancer by inducing the senescence program in tumour cells thereby inhibiting tumour growth (1).

In this line, two well known signalling molecules of cancer therapy and immunology of infectious diseases move again in the center of attention: the interferons and tumor necrosis factor. Repeatedly, a bulk of researchers and clinicians tried to use these molecules and other techniques to destroy the tumour cells and their supplying blood vessels, and so did the scientists from T?bingen. Surprisingly, however, the R?cken group found that a combination of both signalling molecules, interferon and tumor necrosis factor, stopped the tumour growth in vivo without any signs of tumour or tissue destruction.

In animal experiments, the efficacy of immunotherapy-induced senescence proved to be much better than any other therapy based on "cancer destruction" (4). Most importantly, the common action of both signalling molecules, interferon and tumor necrosis factor, also stopped the growth of human tumours (1).

In the course of a natural immune response, the research team even detected senescence induction in regressing malignant tumours of cancer patients . Seven years ago, it was shown in principle that cancer cells can be shifted towards permanent dormancy or senescence (2, 3). Those theoretical insights were now successfully transferred into a therapeutic approach, here an immunotherapeutic regimen (1, 4).

The new therapeutic option will enable clinicians to approach their goal of a life-prolonging, mainly adverse effect-free cancer therapy. "It is very likely that we can't win the "War on cancer" by exclusive military means.," Prof. R?cken resumes. "Instead, it will be an important milestone to restore the bodies? immune control of malignant tumours."

Notes:

1. Braum?ller et al. M. T-helper-1-cell cytokines drive cancer into senescence. Nature, in press (2013).

2. Michaloglou, C. et al. BRAFE600-associated senescence-like cell cycle arrest of human naevi. Nature 436, 720-724 (2005).

3. Braig, M. et al. Oncogene-induced senescence as an initial barrier in lymphoma development. Nature 436, 660-665 (2005).

4. M?ller-Hermelink, N. et al. TNFR1 signaling and IFN-gamma signaling determine whether T cells induce tumor dormancy or promote multistage carcinogenesis. Cancer Cell 13, 507-518 (2008).

5. Sporn, MB. The war on cancer. The Lancet 347, 1377-1381 (1996).

6. Gatenby, RA. A change of strategy in the war on cancer. Nature 459, 508-509 (2009).

7. R?cken, M. Early tumor dissemination, but late metastasis: insights into tumor dormancy. J. Clin. Invest. 120, 1800-1803 (2010).

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Universitaet T?bingen, via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Heidi Braum?ller, Thomas Wieder, Ellen Brenner, Sonja A?mann, Matthias Hahn, Mohammed Alkhaled, Karin Schilbach, Frank Essmann, Manfred Kneilling, Christoph Griessinger, Felicia Ranta, Susanne Ullrich, Ralph Mocikat, Kilian Braungart, Tarun Mehra, Birgit Fehrenbacher, Julia Berdel, Heike Niessner, Friedegund Meier, Maries van den Broek, Hans-Ulrich H?ring, Rupert Handgretinger, Leticia Quintanilla-Martinez, Falko Fend, Marina Pesic, J?rgen Bauer, Lars Zender, Martin Schaller, Klaus Schulze-Osthoff, Martin R?cken. T-helper-1-cell cytokines drive cancer into senescence. Nature, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nature11824

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/cxjxvUM8tbk/130203212411.htm

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Iran positive but noncommittal about talks with US

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, center, arrives for the Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013. The 49th Munich Security Conference started Friday afternoon until Sunday attended by experts from 90 delegations. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, center, arrives for the Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013. The 49th Munich Security Conference started Friday afternoon until Sunday attended by experts from 90 delegations. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Ehud Barak, Defence Minister of Israel, left, arrivesat the International Security Conference in Munich, southern Germany, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013. The Munich Security Conference started Friday afternoon with experts from 90 delegations including U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, right, hugs Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak as he arrives for the Security Conference in Munich, southern Germany, on Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013. The 49th Munich Security Conference started Friday afternoon with experts from 90 delegations, including Biden. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, right, hugs former NATO Secretary General Javier Solana as he arrives for the Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Sunday, Feb. 3, 2013. The 49th Munich Security Conference started Friday afternoon until Sunday attended by experts from 90 delegations. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

MUNICH (AP) ? Iran's foreign minister on Sunday welcomed the United States' willingness to hold direct talks with Tehran in the standoff over its nuclear program but didn't commit to accepting the offer ? insisting that Washington must show "fair and real" intentions to resolve the issue and complaining about "threatening rhetoric."

Ali Akbar Salehi insisted that no Iranian "red line" is getting in the way of direct negotiations with Washington, but also pointed to deep mistrust between the two countries.

Salehi was speaking at the same international security conference where Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday said the United States was prepared talk directly to Iran. Biden insisted that Tehran must show it is serious and that Washington won't engage in such talks merely "for the exercise."

Washington has indicated in the past that it's prepared to talk directly with Iran on the nuclear issue, but so far nothing has come of it. Meanwhile, talks involving all five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany have made little headway, while several rounds of international sanctions have cut into Iran's oil sales and financial transactions.

The next round of talks with the six powers will be held Feb. 25 in Kazakhstan, Salehi told the Munich Security Conference.

Diplomats from some of those world powers have expressed frustration in recent weeks about what they say are Iran's tactics of proposing several venues but not committing to any single one for the talks.

The EU had proposed dates and venues since December, "so it is good to hear that the Foreign Minister finally confirmed now," said Michael Mann, a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton. "We hope the negotiating team will also confirm."

Salehi said Biden's comments marked "a step forward," but indicated getting the U.S. and Iran together for one-to-one talks will be no easy task.

"We have no red line for bilateral negotiations when it comes to negotiating over a particular subject," Salehi said. "If the subject is the nuclear file, yes, we are ready for negotiations but we have to make sure ... that the other side this time comes with authentic intention, with a fair and real intention to resolve the issue."

Salehi said it was "contradictory" if the U.S. voices willingness to hold direct talks "but on the other side you use this threatening rhetoric that everything is on the table ... these are not compatible with each other."

"We are ready for engagement only when it is on equal footing," he said.

Iran insists it does not want nuclear arms and argues it has a right to enrich uranium for a civilian nuclear power program, but suspicion persists that the real aim is to build an atomic bomb.

Last month Iran, in a defiant move, announced plans to vastly increase its pace of uranium enrichment. That can be used to make both reactor fuel and the fissile core of warheads.

Vali Nasr, dean of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, sounded a skeptical note about direct Iran-U.S. talks any time soon.

"I think these are good statements that both sides are at least open to this, (but) I think there have to be some ideas about how you get them to the table in a credible way," he said. "One of the worst things is that if they went to the table and then they fail ... then we really will be at an impasse."

"So I think that's very key, that when that moment comes there's actually some forward momentum built into the talks," Nasr said.

Salehi underlined Iran's role as "an important regional player" and told the conference: "We are the golden key to the region."

Iran is a key ally of embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad. On the sidelines of the Munich meeting, the minister met the top Syrian opposition leader, Moaz al-Khatib.

Salehi welcomed al-Khatib's statements over the past week that he would be willing to sit down with representatives of Assad's regime as "a good step forward."

But amid international calls for Assad to go, he insisted that "we do not need prescriptions from outside."

"Iran has talked to the opposition, we are not categorizing the opposition, we are ready to talk to all opposition," Salehi said.

"We are ready to be part of the solution," he insisted. "The sooner that we resolve the issue, the better it is."

_____

Associated Press writer Don Melvin contributed to this report from Brussels.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-03-Germany-Security%20Conference/id-d8f8169d66704a4ca5f761eec47a38b6

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Report: FAA lags on fulfilling airline safety law

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Faced with substantial industry opposition, federal regulators are struggling to implement a sweeping aviation safety law enacted after the last fatal U.S. airline crash nearly four years ago, according to a report by a government watchdog.

The Federal Aviation Administration is experiencing lengthy delays in putting in place rules required by the law to increase the amount of experience necessary to be an airline pilot, provide more realistic pilot training and create a program where experienced captains mentor less experienced first officers, according to the report by the Department of Transportation's Inspector General. The report was obtained by The Associated Press.

The FAA is also running into problems creating a new, centralized electronic database that airlines can check prior to hiring pilots, the report said. The database is supposed to include pilots' performance on past tests of flying skills.

In each case, the agency has run into significant opposition from the airline industry, the report said.

"To effectively implement these initiatives in a timely manner, (the) FAA must balance industry concerns with a sustained commitment to oversight," the report said.

Congress passed the law a year and a half after the Feb. 12, 2009, crash of a regional airliner near Buffalo, N.Y., that killed all 49 people aboard and a man on the ground. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation of the accident highlighted weaknesses in pilot training, tiring work schedules, lengthy commutes and relatively low experience levels for pilots at some regional carriers.

The accident was due to an incorrect response by the flight's captain to two key safety systems, causing an aerodynamic stall that sent the plane plummeting into a house below, the NTSB investigation concluded.

"The law is only as strong as the regulations that come from it so this (implementation) process is the true measuring stick of how this law will ultimately be viewed," said Kevin Kuwik, spokesman for a group of family members of victims killed in the crash. The family members lobbied relentlessly for passage of the safety law. Kuwik lost his girlfriend, 30-year-old Lorin Maurer, in the accident.

Driven by the accident and the new safety law, the FAA substantially revised its rules governing pilot work schedules to better ensure pilots are rested when they fly. It was the first modification of the rules since 1985 and "a significant achievement" for the FAA, the report said.

Kuwik said he gives the FAA "a lot of credit" for revising the work schedule rules and for staying in touch with victims' family members. However, he said it's critical that the agency meet deadlines later this year for issuing new regulations on pilot training and qualifications.

"If the foot-dragging continues and missing deadlines..., the potentially significant effects of the safety bill will be lost," Kuwik said.

Responding to the report, the FAA said in a statement that more than 90 percent of air carriers now use voluntary programs in which pilots and others report safety problems with the understanding that there will be no reprisals for their conduct or computer-assisted programs that identify and report safety trends. "This has led to significant training, operational and maintenance program improvements," the statement said.

The agency also noted that it has "delivered seven reports to Congress, initiated five rulemaking projects and continued rulemaking efforts for another four final rules as a result of the" new safety law.

The inspector general's report, however, details how FAA has missed deadlines and run into complications trying to issue regulations necessary to implement key portions of the law.

For example, the FAA is behind schedule on rules to substantially increase the experience required to become an airline pilot from the current 250 flight hours to 1,500 flight hours. The agency currently estimates it will issue the rules in August, a year after the deadline set in the law. Airlines, worried they won't be able to find enough qualified new pilots, oppose the increase, arguing that a pilot's quality and type of flying should be weighed more heavily than the number of flight hours.

The FAA has proposed a compromise that would allow military pilots with 750 hours of flight experience or pilots with 1,000 hours and a four-year aviation degree to qualify to be hired as an airline pilot, but airlines remain opposed. If the FAA doesn't act by the August deadline, the increase to 1,500 hours will take effect without the exceptions offered in FAA's compromise proposals.

Yet the FAA and its inspectors haven't taken steps to ensure regional airlines, which will most affected, will be able to meet the new requirements, the report said. At two regional carriers visited by the inspector general's office, 75 percent of the first officers didn't have an air transport certificate ? the highest level pilot's license issued by the FAA ?which will be required for all airline pilots by the August deadline.

___

Online:

The Federal Aviation Administration: http://www.faa.gov

Department of Transportation Inspector General: https://www.oig.dot.gov/

___

Follow Joan Lowy at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-faa-lags-fulfilling-airline-safety-law-192152725--politics.html

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