ABIDJAN (Reuters) - At least 61 people were crushed to death in a stampede after a New Year's Eve fireworks display at a stadium in Ivory Coast's main city Abidjan early on Tuesday, officials said.
Witnesses said police had tried to control crowds around the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Stadium following the celebrations, triggering a panic in which scores were trampled.
"The estimate we can give right now is 49 people hospitalized ... and 61 people dead," said the chief of staff of Abidjan's fire department Issa Sacko.
Crying women searched for missing family members outside the stadium on Tuesday morning. The area was covered in patches of dried blood and abandoned shoes.
"My two children came here yesterday. I told them not to come but they didn't listen. They came when I was sleeping. What will I do?" said Assetou Toure, a cleaner.
Sanata Zoure, a market vendor injured in the incident, said New Year's revelers going home after watching the fireworks had been stopped by police near the stadium.
"We were walking with our children and we came upon barricades, and people started falling into each other. We were trampled with our children," she said.
Another witness said police arrived to control the crowd after a mob began chasing a pickpocket.
President Alassane Ouattara called the deaths a national tragedy and said an investigation was under way to find out what happened.
"I hope that we can determine what caused this drama so that we can ensure it never happens again," he said after visiting the injured in hospital.
The country, once a stable economic hub for West Africa, is struggling to recover from a 2011 civil war in which more than 3,000 people were killed.
Ivory Coast's security forces once were among the best trained in the region, but a decade of political turmoil and the 2011 war has left them in disarray.
At least 18 people were killed in another stampede during a football match in an Abidjan stadium in 2009.
(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly and Alain Amontchi; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Michael Roddy)
SINGAPORE: Mid-career professionals in Singapore without accounting work experience or accounting-related qualifications can now be hired and trained as accounts or audit professionals.
This has been made possible by a new pilot programme, a result of a partnership between NTUC's Employment and Employability Institute (e2i) and professional accounting body CPA Australia.
Under the programme, e2i will provide participating employers training allowances and subsidise up to 70 per cent of course fees for successful candidates. Employers that hire candidates for professional accounting roles under this programme can apply for training support of up to S$8,450 per eligible employee.
Employers will commit to offer jobs to successful candidates on a permanent and full-time basis.
The candidates will also have starting salaries of at least S$2,000, and receive a basic salary increase of at least 15 per cent when they complete the programme.
During their training, candidates will enrol in the CPA Programme Foundation Level course, which will equip them with the necessary basic accounting knowledge. It also provides them with a direct pathway to advance to the Professional Level course, which will confer the globally-recognised CPA Australia professional accounting designation.
Candidates will also undergo six months of on-the-job training with participating employers.
Mr Gilbert Tan, acting CEO of e2i, said: "e2i creates employment and employability solutions for PMEs interested in developing their careers. This Place-and-Train programme for accounts and audit professionals was initiated to help address the manpower needs of the accounting sector, as well as provide a way for locals to tap into accounting or audit-related job opportunities."
Mr Melvin Yong, Singapore General Manager of CPA Australia, said: "As Singapore positions itself to become a global accountancy hub, this partnership between CPA Australia and e2i will provide an ideal doorway for those in mid-careers looking for an opportunity to join the accounting profession.
"For employers, this is a potential avenue to recruit experienced staff amidst Singapore's current tight labour market."
The programme is part of the labour movement's continuous outreach to professionals in the financial and business services cluster.
The hacking collective Anonymous has clarified that it has no plans to fade away in the New Year. It issued a statement over the weekend that warned the world to "Expect us 2013."
Along with the statement, the group created a video that boasts of its campaigns and exploits carried out in 2012. The video details the group's temporary shutdown of the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, Universal Music, and the Motion Picture Association of America's Web sites in protest of the U.S. government's indictment of the operators of popular file-hosting site MegaUpload.
The video also shows newsreels of Anonymous' campaign against Syrian government Web sites because of that government's alleged shutdown of the Internet, along with Anonymous' "cyberwar" against the Israeli government in protest of government attacks on Gaza. The group also recounts its hack into the Web site of the Westboro Baptist Church in response to plans by the controversial church to picket the funerals of those massacred at the elementary school in Newtown, Conn.
"The operations which are listed in the video are only examples, there are far more operations," Anonymous wrote in the statement. "Some of them still running, like Operation Syria. We are still here."
Despite the hacking group's threats, some believe that the collective may not actually make a big impact in the online world in the coming year. Security firm McAfee Labs released its "2013 Threat Predictions" last week and claimed the decline of Anonymous.
The firm argued that a lack of structure and organization, false claims, and hacking for the simple joy of it has affected the group's reputation. McAfee also said, however, that higher-level professional hacking groups may take up the slack, and promote a rise in military, religious, political, and "extreme" campaign attacks.
HARRISBURG, Pa. Gov. Tom Corbett said Tuesday he plans to sue the NCAA in federal court over stiff sanctions imposed against Penn State University in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal.
The Republican governor scheduled a Wednesday news conference on the Penn State campus in State College to announce the filing in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg.
The sanctions, which were agreed to by the university in July, included a $60 million fine that would be used nationally to finance child abuse prevention grants. The sanctions also included a four-year bowl game ban for the university's marquee football program, reduced football scholarships and the forfeiture of 112 wins.
The governor's office announced the news conference late Tuesday afternoon. His spokesman did not respond to repeated calls and emails seeking to confirm a Sports Illustrated story that cited anonymous sources saying a lawsuit was imminent.
Corbett's brief statement did not indicate whether his office coordinated its legal strategy with state Attorney General-elect Kathleen Kane, who is scheduled to be sworn in Jan. 15.
Kane, a Democrat, ran on a vow to investigate why it took state prosecutors nearly three years to charge Sandusky, an assistant under former football coach Joe Paterno. Corbett was the attorney general when that office took over the case in early 2009 and until he became governor in January 2011.
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Who's who in the Penn State child sex abuse scandal
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Pa. Atty Gen: Penn State officials showed "callous lack of concern"
State and congressional lawmakers from Pennsylvania have objected to using the Penn State fine to finance activities in other states. Penn State has already made the first $12 million payment, and an NCAA task force is deciding how it should be spent.
The NCAA, which did not respond to calls seeking comment Tuesday, has said at least a quarter of the money would be spent in Pennsylvania.
Republican U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent called that an "unacceptable and unsatisfactory" response by the NCAA to a request from the state's U.S. House delegation that the whole $60 million be distributed to causes within the state.
Last week, state Sen. Jake Corman, a Republican whose district includes Penn State's main campus, said he plans to seek court action barring any of the first $12 million from being released to groups outside the state.
The fine was just part of college sports' governing body's sanctions on Penn State for its handling of the abuse scandal involving Sandusky, who was convicted in June on charges he sexually abused 10 boys, some on campus. The landmark sanctions, though, didn't include a suspension of the university's football program, the so-called death penalty.
Sandusky, 68, was convicted on 45 counts. He's serving a 30- to 60-year state prison term.
Eight young men testified against him, describing a range of abuse they said went from grooming and manipulation to fondling, oral sex and anal rape when they were boys.
Sandusky did not testify at his trial but has maintained his innocence, acknowledging he showered with boys but insisting he never molested them.
The Republican-dominated House of Representatives is taking an up-or-down vote on a bipartisan Senate deal to avert the "fiscal cliff."
House Republicans agreed to the up-or-down vote Tuesday evening, despite earlier talk of trying to amend the Senate bill with more spending cuts before taking a vote.
If House Republicans had tweaked the legislation, there would have been no clear path for its return to the Senate before a new Congress is sworn in Thursday.
The Senate passed the same bill by an 89-8 vote in the wee hours of New Year's Day.
Before deciding on the up-or-down vote in the House, GOP leaders had emerged from a morning conference meeting disenchanted by the legislative package devised by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Mo., and Vice President Biden early this morning, with several insisting they could not vote on it as it stood.
"I do not support the bill," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said as he left the meeting. "We're looking for the best path forward. No decisions have been made yet."
House Speaker John Boehner refused to comment on the meeting, but his spokesman said, "the lack of spending cuts in the Senate bill was a universal concern amongst members in today's meeting."
Bill Clark/Roll Call/Getty Images
'Fiscal Cliff' Negotiations: Congress Reaches Agreement Watch Video
Fiscal Cliff Countdown: Missing the Deadline Watch Video
"Conversations with members will continue throughout the afternoon on the path forward," Brendan Buck said in a statement.
As lawmakers wrestled with the legislation, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the bill's added spending combined with the cost of extending tax cuts for those making under $400,000 would actually add $3.9 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years. The Joint Committee on Taxation reached a similar conclusion.
The impasse once again raised the specter of sweeping tax hikes on all Americans and deep spending cuts' taking effect later this week.
"This is all about time, and it's about time that we brought this to the floor," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said after emerging from a meeting with Democrats.
"It was a bill that was passed in the U.S. Senate 89-8. Tell me when you've had that on a measure as controversial as this?" she said of the overwhelming vote.
Pelosi could not say, however, whether the measure had the backing of most House Democrats.
"Our members are making their decisions now," she said.
Biden, who brokered the deal with McConnell, joined Democrats for a midday meeting on Capitol Hill seeking to shore up support for the plan.
While Congress technically missed the midnight Dec. 31 deadline to avert the so-called cliff, both sides have expressed eagerness to enact a post-facto fix before Americans go back to work and the stock market opens Wednesday.
"This may take a little while but, honestly, I would argue we should vote on it today," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who sits on the Budget Committee. "We know the essential details and I think putting this thing to bed before the markets is important.
"We ought to take this deal right now and we'll live to fight another day, and it is coming very soon on the spending front."
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leaderKim Jong-un called for an end to confrontation between the two Koreas, technically still at war in the absence of a peace treaty to end their 1950-53 conflict, in a surprise New Year speech broadcast on state media.
The address by Kim, who took over power in the reclusive state after his father, Kim Jong-il, died in 2011, appeared to take the place of the policy-setting New Year editorial published in leading state newspapers.
Impoverished North Korea raised tensions in the region by launching a long-range rocket in December that it said was aimed at putting a scientific satellite in orbit, drawing international condemnation.
North Korea, which considers North and South as one country, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is banned from testing missile or nuclear technology under U.N. sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear weapons tests.
"An important issue in putting an end to the division of the country and achieving its reunification is to remove confrontation between the north and the south," Kim said in the address that appeared to be pre-recorded and was made at an undisclosed location.
"The past records of inter-Korean relations show that confrontation between fellow countrymen leads to nothing but war."
The New Year address was the first in 19 years by a North Korean leader after the death of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-un's grandfather. Kim Jong-il rarely spoke in public and disclosed his national policy agenda in editorials in state newspapers.
The two Koreas have seen tensions rise to the highest level in decades after the North bombed a Southern island in 2010 killing two civilians and two soldiers.
The sinking of a South Korean navy ship earlier that year was blamed on the North but Pyongyang has denied it and accused Seoul of waging a smear campaign against its leadership.
Last month, South Korea elected as president Park Geun-hye, a conservative daughter of assassinated military ruler Park Chung-hee whom Kim Il-sung had tried to kill at the height of their Cold War confrontation.
Park has vowed to pursue engagement with the North and called for dialogue to build confidence but has demanded that Pyongyang abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions, something it is unlikely to do.
Conspicuously absent from Kim's speech was any mention of the nuclear arms program.
SEOUL: North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-Un called for a "radical turnabout" in the impoverished country's economy in a rare New Year's address Tuesday that also urged improved relations with the South.
While the heart of his lengthy speech was devoted to turning the North into an "economic giant" and raising living standards, Kim stressed that military power remained a national priority.
"The military might of a country represents its national strength. Only when it builds up its military might in every way can it develop into a thriving country," he said in a voiced message broadcast on state television.
The address will be closely parsed for meaning in South Korea which just elected its first woman president, the conservative Park Geun-Hye, who has signalled a willingness for greater engagement with Pyongyang.
The voiced message was the first of its kind since Kim's grandfather, the North's founding president Kim Il-Sung, delivered one in 1994, the year of his death.
Kim's comments on the economy are likely to fuel speculation that he might be set to implement economic reforms that observers have been predicting since he came to power a year ago after the death of his father Kim Jong-Il.
The year 2013 will be a year of "great creations and changes in which a radical turnabout will be effected," Kim said, adding that "the building of an economic giant is the most important task" facing the country.
Praising the success of the North's space scientists in launching a long-range rocket last month, Kim said a similar national effort was required on the economic front.
"The entire Party, the whole country and all the people should wage an all-out struggle this year to effect a turnaround in building an economic giant and improving the people's standard of living," he said.
When Kim Jong-Il died, he left a country in dire economic straits -- the result of a "military first" policy that fed an ambitious missile and nuclear programme at the expense of a malnourished population.
Despite a rise in staple food output, daily life for millions of Koreans is an ongoing struggle with under-nutrition and a lack of vital protein and fat, according to a recent World Food Programme report.
Some observers had seen a glimmer of reformist hope in the handover of power to the Swiss-educated Kim Jong-Un, only in his late 20s.
Instead, Kim focused on consolidating his power base with a series of high-profile personnel changes, notably within the military elite, while at the same time pursuing Kim Jong-Il's missile programme.
Tuesday's address called for a "radical" increase in output across the board, from light and heavy industry to agriculture, as well as an improved transport infrastructure.
But it offered no specific policy directives for how this might be achieved by the isolated state which relies on its sole major ally China for 70 per cent of its foreign trade.
Kim's address came as the UN Security Council is still considering how to punish Pyongyang for its recent rocket launch, which most of the world saw as a disguised ballistic missile test.
The speech lauded the launch as a historic national achievement and stressed the need to develop more "sophisticated military hardware" in order to bring about a "fundamental change" in combat preparedness.
On South Korea, Kim sounded a conciliatory note and urged a scaling down of tensions on the Korean peninsula.
"An important issue in putting an end to the division of the country and achieving its reunification is to remove confrontation between the North and the South," Kim said.
"The past records of inter-Korean relations show that confrontation between fellow countrymen leads to nothing but war," he said.
South Korean president-elect Park Geun-Hye has distanced herself from outgoing President Lee Myung-Bak's hardline policy towards Pyongyang and spoken of the need for greater engagement with the North.
But in her first post-election victory policy statement, Park made it clear she still viewed Pyongyang as a serious threat and would put the South's national security before any trust-building programme.
Whether readers want to learn the complexities of how the Mars Curiosity rover was able to enter the Red Planet's atmosphere or just see photos of cats being weird, they can go to Reddit. The social news site announced today its end-of-year stats and it appears that users are frequenting the site at an ever-increasing rate.
Reddit revealed that in 2012 it received 37 billion page views, 400 million unique visitors, and 30 million posts -- not bad for one of the most simple Web sites on the Internet.
The site's user population has skyrocketed since its inception. According to The Next Web, Reddit achieved 1 billion monthly page views in February 2011 and by December of that year it more than doubled that number. By October 2012, the site recorded more than 3.8 billion monthly page views and more than 46 million unique visitors.
The huge increase in traffic means Reddit has had to add more servers and other equipment and bring in more staff to maintain its site. This growth has forced it to spend money to keep up with the flow, while also promoting paid subscriptions and advertising.
One of the ways Reddit has driven more traffic to its site this past year is by hosting high-level AMAs, or "ask me anything" sessions. In August, Reddit hosted President Barack Obama, whose impromptu hour-long interview crippled the site's servers. Reddit has also done AMAs with the Mars Curiosity rover team, Gangnam Style's PSY, and U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren who asked users for ideas on a bill to protect Web sites accused of copyright violations.
Here are Reddit's top 10 posts of 2012 by page view:
I am Barack Obama, President of the United States -- AMA (5,598,171 page views)
What's your "picture you can't see without laughing"? (2,450,140 page views)
What's your favorite picture on the whole Internet? (2,148,400 page views)
Reddit, what do you look like before and after makeup? Is there a real difference? (2,142,071 page views)
Today, a homeless looking man handed me $50 and this note. Do any of you have any idea what it means? (1,756,748 page views)
What GIF makes you laugh every single time? (1,749,185 page views)
I've been playing the same game of Civilization II for almost 10 years. This is the result. (1,651,956 page views)
I am South Korean Singer, Rapper, Composer, Dancer and Creator of Gangnam Style PSY. AMA (1,514,034 page views)
What's your secret that could literally ruin your life if it came out? (1,482,935 page views)
I'm Snoop Lion! Ask me anything!! (1,467,071 page views)
Update: 10:20 P.M. EST -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's physicians released more information about her condition in a statement Monday afternoon:
"In the course of a routine follow-up MRI on Sunday, the scan revealed that a right transverse sinus venous thrombosis had formed. This is a clot in the vein that is situated in the space between the brain and the skull behind the right ear," Clinton's doctors Dr. Lisa Bardack of Mt. Kisco Medical Group, and Dr. Gigi El-Bayoumi of George Washington University, said in a statement. "It did not result in a stroke, or neurological damage. To help dissolve this clot, her medical team began treating the Secretary with blood thinners. She will be released once the medication dose has been established. In all other aspects of her recovery, the Secretary is making excellent progress and we are confident she will make a full recovery. She is in good spirits, engaging with her doctors, her family, and her staff."
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remains hospitalized at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan on Monday for a blood clot.
Clinton reportedly suffered a concussion Dec. 13 after falling and hitting her head after fainting from a stomach virus that caused serious dehydration. She hasn't been seen in public since, but was expected to return to work this week before being hospitalized for the blood clot.
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How serious is Hillary Clinton's condition?
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Hillary Clinton has blood clot in her head
"She is being treated with anti-coagulants and is at New York-Presbyterian Hospital so that they can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours," Spokesperson Philippe Reines said in a statement. There has been no announcement on the location of the clot, which was discovered during the course of a follow-up exam.
Doctors are expected to decide soon whether any further action is required, Reines said, adding that they will continue to assess Clinton's condition, "including other issues associated with her concussion."
A blood clot is a clump that occurs when blood hardens from a liquid to a solid.
Dr. Jack Ansell, chairman of the department of medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, who has no special knowledge of the secretary's case, tells CBSNews.com he suspects Clinton is either experiencing a clot that originated in a blood vessel in the brain, called cerebral venous thrombosis, or one that could have occurred in one of the veins in the leg, called deep venous thrombosis (DVT).
Ansell's field of study is thrombosis, which is the formation of a blood clot inside a vessel.
Where does Clinton's concussion come in?
Ansell said the brain is rich in substances that stimulate clotting, so in general, people with a brain injury may face a higher risk for having a blood clot. Therefore it's possible a clot could have originated in a nearby vessel in the brain. However, if someone is lying around recuperating following a concussion or stomach virus, that increase in inactivity could also raise risk for DVT, he said. A person who experiences this dangerous blood clot deep in the leg could be at risk if the clot travels to the lung, becoming what's called a pulmonary embolism.
Dr. Richard Figler, a primary care sports medicine specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, told CBSNews.com that he doesn't believe Clinton's head injury was a direct cause of the blood clot, but said timing and other factors could have contributed. He also suspects that Clinton may have rested more following the stomach virus and concussion than she typically does, and going from an active to sedentary lifestyle may have combined with other factors that can influence blood clotting, like age and genetics.
"I'd have a hard time blaming the concussion for the clot itself," he said.
Ansell said these types of clots are easily treatable and respond well to therapy, so while there is potential harm from complications, he would give the secretary a good prognosis. Patients typically receive anti-coagulant therapy for three to six months, he said, and are monitored up to every week with a blood test to ensure they aren't having any blood flow irregularities.
"I would expect her to recover and not have a problem," he said.
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How serious is Secretary Clinton's condition?
One potential complication from treatment with an anti-coagulant, such as Coumadin (warfarin), is an increased risk for bleeding. That presents a problem for head injury suffers, according to CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook, who is affiliated with the hospital where Clinton is receiving care but has no knowledge of her case.
LaPook says that it is unusual for someone to be given blood thinners after suffering a head injury, because more bleeding in the brain can be deadly.
"The reason is when somebody falls and hits their head, you're worried about bleeding into the skull, into the brain, like Natasha Richardson had, so the last thing you would want to do is thin their blood," he said. "At this point the reason to give anti-coagulation, blood thinner, would be to prevent another clot from forming," he said.
Actress Natasha Richardson hit her head while skiing in Quebec in 2009 and later died from bleeding underneath the skull. That type of clot in the brain is called a subdural hematoma.
LaPook said the doctors treating Clinton may be between a rock and a hard place.
"They want to thin her blood to prevent a further clot, on the other hand they're afraid to give her blood thinners because that could increase bleeding in somebody who's smacked their head recently, so they're going to observe her very closely in the hospital," he said. That observation could also rule out other potential causes for the blood clot, such as heart problems.
Figler said a brain bleed from a head injury is only a major risk within 48 hours of the initial injury, and if the blood clot originated in the secretary's leg, as some suspect, the anti-coagulant therapy shouldn't present a major risk.
Ansell said that while doctors may have balanced Clinton's underlying head injury initially, such as by waiting a few days to make sure brain tissues healed, he also said it's likely safe to treat her with anti-coagulants, adding that many patients with brain injuries or strokes take these types of medication and it's not even certain if the secretary's concussion caused bleeding in the brain.
"I don't think there's any concern for any special risks for bleeding in the brain," he said.
Both doctors also said that anti-coagulants are not typically prescribed for brain bleeds caused by head injuries.
To Figler, the fact that doctors separately diagnosed a clot in addition to the secretary's other recent health woes, speaks to the doctors' ability to find other potential symptoms of a blood clot, such as leg swelling or calf soreness.
"Some docs may say don't worry about it, it could be soreness," he said, noting that a leg ultrasound isn't a typical test given following a concussion. "To be honest, it takes an astute physician to figure those things out."
The so-called "fiscal cliff" came tonight -- but now there is a specific deal on the table to try to soften it after the fact, according to congressional sources.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the deal would get a vote in the Senate tonight. The House would not vote before Tuesday, having adjourned for the evening before word of the agreement spread.
"It is a compromise, so we don't love it," said a senior White House official. "But it is the right thing to do for the economy."
Vice President Joe Biden met this evening with Senate Democrats in order to convince them to support the proposal, which would extend Bush-era tax cuts permanently for people making less than $400,000 per year and households making less than $450,000, the sources said.
The steep "sequester" budget cuts scheduled to go into effect with the new year would be postponed two months, said sources. They said half the money would come from cuts elsewhere, and the other half from new revenue.
The deal also would affect taxes on investment income and estates, and extend unemployment benefits for a year, the congressional sources added.
Biden was asked to confirm the deal as he entered a meeting with Senate Democrats tonight, but only smiled and said, "Happy New Year." Senators later were seen leaving the meeting later, but made few comments.
"We're waiting to see how the vice president brings his party along," a McConnell aide said.
"The end is in sight," said a Democratic aide with the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "If everyone cooperates, it's possible things can move pretty quickly."
After the midnight deadline passes, lawmakers could still prevent a tax hike by making retroactive any legislation that passes in the weeks ahead, experts said. The IRS said it has not yet advised employers to withhold more from their employees' paychecks, pending a deal.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
'Fiscal Cliff': Lawmakers Scramble for Last-Minute Deal Watch Video
But the deal, if it can pass through Congress, does not entirely solve the problem of the "fiscal cliff." In fact, it could set up a new showdown over the same spending cuts in just two months that would be amplified by a brewing fight over how to raise the debt ceiling beyond $16.4 trillion. That new fiscal battle has the potential to eclipse the "fiscal cliff" in short order.
Earlier, during a midday news conference, Obama said he was optimistic about compromise.
"It appears that an agreement to prevent this New Year's tax hike is within sight, but it's not done," he said. "There are still issues left to resolve, but we're hopeful that Congress can get it done."
Congressional and White House negotiators worked out a tentative plan that, in addition to extending current tax rates for households making $450,000 or less, would raise the estate tax from 35 to 40 percent for estates larger than $5 million; and prevent the alternative minimum tax from hammering millions of middle-class workers, according to sources familiar with the talks.
Capital gains taxes would rise to 20 percent from 15, according to a senior White House official.
The deal would also extend for one year unemployment insurance benefits set to expire Tuesday, and avert a steep cut to Medicare payments for doctors, congressional sources said.
"I can report that we've reached an agreement on the all the tax issues," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in an afternoon speech on the Senate floor.
At the time, McConnell said that federal spending cuts remained a sticking point. That hurdle later appeared to be cleared by postponing the debate two more months.
The White House had proposed a three-month delay of the cuts to allow more time to hash out details for deficit reduction, while many Senate Democrats wanted a flat one-year delay. Republicans insisted that some spending cuts should be implemented now as part of any deal.
"In order to get the sequester moved, you're going to have to have real, concrete spending cuts," said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. Without that, he said, "I don't know how it passes the House."
Some Republicans also said Obama unduly complicated progress toward an agreement by seeming to take a victory lap on taxes at his campaign-style event at the White House.
"Keep in mind that just last month Republicans in Congress said they would never agree to raise tax rates on the wealthiest Americans," Obama said, raising the ire of several Republicans. "Obviously, the agreement that's currently discussed would raise those rates, and raise them permanently."
Those words drew a sharp retort from Republican Sen. John McCain.
Rather than staging a "cheerleading rally," McCain said, the president should have been negotiating the finishing touches of the deal.
"He comes out and calls people together and has a group standing behind him, laughs and jokes and ridicules Republicans. Why?" said McCain.
Several Democrats also voiced disappointment with the president and the emerging deal.
