Obama, Congress Fail to Avert Sequester Cuts

President Obama and congressional leaders today failed to reach a breakthrough to avert a sweeping package of automatic spending cuts, setting into motion $85 billion of across-the-board belt-tightening that neither had wanted to see.

Obama met for just over an hour at the White House today with Republican leaders House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his Democratic allies, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Vice President Joe Biden.

But the parties emerged from their first face-to-face meeting of the year resigned to see the cuts take hold at midnight.

"This is not a win for anybody," Obama lamented in a statement to reporters after the meeting. "This is a loss for the American people."

READ MORE: 6 Questions (and Answers) About the Sequester

Officials have said the spending reductions immediately take effect Saturday but that the pain from reduced government services and furloughs of tens of thousands of federal employees would be felt gradually in the weeks ahead.

Federal agencies, including Homeland Security, the Pentagon, Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Education, have all prepared to notify employees that they will have to take one unpaid day off per week through the end of the year.

Sequestration Deadline: Obama Meets With Leaders Watch Video

Sequester Countdown: The Reality of Budget Cuts Watch Video

The staffing trims could slow many government services, including airport screenings, air traffic control, and law enforcement investigations and prosecutions. Spending on education programs and health services for low-income families will also get clipped.

"It is absolutely true that this is not going to precipitate the crisis" that would have been caused by the so-called fiscal cliff, Obama said. "But people are going to be hurt. The economy will not grow as quickly as it would have. Unemployment will not go down as quickly as it would have. And there are lives behind that. And it's real."

The sticking point in the debate over the automatic cuts -- known as sequester -- has remained the same between the parties for more than a year since the cuts were first proposed: whether to include more new tax revenue in a broad deficit reduction plan.

The White House insists there must be higher tax revenue, through elimination of tax loopholes and deductions that benefit wealthier Americans and corporations. Republicans seek an approach of spending cuts only, with an emphasis on entitlement programs. It's a deep divide that both sides have proven unable to bridge.

"This discussion about revenue, in my view, is over," Boehner told reporters after the meeting. "It's about taking on the spending problem here in Washington."

Boehner: No New Taxes to Avert Sequester

Boehner says any elimination of tax loopholes or deductions should be part of a broader tax code overhaul aimed at lowering rates overall, not to offset spending cuts in the sequester.

Obama countered today that he's willing to "take on the problem where it exists, on entitlements, and do some things that my own party doesn't like."

But he says Republicans must be willing to eliminate some tax loopholes as part of a deal.

"They refuse to budge on closing a single wasteful loophole to help reduce the deficit," Obama said. "We can and must replace these cuts with a more balanced approach that asks something from everybody."

Can anything more be done by either side to reach a middle ground?

The president today claimed he's done all he can. "I am not a dictator, I'm the president," Obama said.

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Facebook buys advertising firm from Microsoft

SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook agreed Thursday to buy Atlas Advertiser Suite from Microsoft as part of an effort to boost ad revenues at the massive social network.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"Atlas is a leader in campaign management and measurement for marketers and agencies. We believe this acquisition will benefit both marketers and users," Facebook's Brian Boland said in a blog post.

Atlas was part of the aQuantive group acquired by Microsoft, which ended up in a writedown and loss for Microsoft last year.

Microsoft's Dave O'Hara said the deal "will strengthen our existing partnership" with Facebook "for the benefit of both companies and their respective long-term visions."

Facebook has become the world's biggest social network with more than one billion users, but its stock has been hit by concerns about its ability to boost revenues and profitability.

The California group has been working on a number of advertising initiatives for both desktop and mobile Facebook applications.

Facebook shares rose 1.4 percent to end Thursday at $27.25.

- AFP/ac

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Pope's tweets dissolved

The Catholic Church is one of the few remaining organizations that believes in absolutes.

Sometimes, though, this gives an impression of harshness.

No sooner had the pope bid farewell to his flock than his tweets were summarily removed from Twitter. Pope Benedict XVI officially left office today.

It's true that last week the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI's last tweet would be on February 27.

Yet to see the @Pointifex account deserted feels a little severe.

Currently, the account is open, but is marked simply with the words "Sede Vacante," the Latin for "vacant seat."

It's hard not to think that the decision to remove Pope Benedict's tweets was taken by a vacant seat, an apparatchik of absolutism.

The pope's tweets had always been reverential. Would it have truly hurt to leave them there until the next European came to take his place?

More Technically Incorrect

The tweets have not entirely disappeared. They have been archived by the Vatican here.

The pope currently has 1,613,653 followers. Which, to my eyes, is a surprisingly small number for such a universal religion.

But there's a curious sense of discomfort to this action that might disturb some.

It's odd enough that Pope Benedict is the first pope to resign in around 600 years. Rumors -- some concerning his health, some even more concerning -- have been rife over this peculiar departure.

Forbes reports that it will be up to the next pope to decide whether to tweet. This seems curious in itself. If he didn't, many would imagine this was the Church taking a retrograde step at a very difficult time.

Currently, it may well be that the church is still relatively new to social media. But one might have imagined that leaving Pope Benedict's tweets be would have offered some sense of both pride and continuity.

Instead, they leave a tinge of dark mystery.

Thin is the line between absolution and absolutism.

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Vatican hints at start date for papal conclave

VATICAN CITY Much speculation surrounds the date when leaders of the Roman Catholic Church will begin the process of selecting their new pope.

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Pope Benedict XVI: "I am no longer Pope"

The date for the conclave of cardinals to begin their deliberations has not yet been set, although one of Pope Benedict XVI's final acts before resigning his office was to amend the rules governing the election of a successor, allowing the cardinals to meet earlier than the usual 15-day transition between pontificates.

On Thursday, soon after Benedict left the Vatican on his final day as pope, Monsignor Carlo Maria Celli, a papal communications officer, hinted that the date could be March 11.

That could not be immediately confirmed.

The date of the conclave's start is important because Holy Week begins March 24, with Easter Sunday March 31. In order to have a new pope in place for the church's most solemn liturgical period, he would need to be installed by Sunday, March 17 -- a tight time frame if a conclave were to start March 15.

Cardinal Francis George, of the Archdiocese of Chicago, told CBS News he hopes the papal conclave will work quickly to name a new pope when it convenes next month -- but he does not know who he will vote for.

"Not yet, I honestly don't," he said. "I've got four or five names in mind. That's part of the next days' work, to check and see do the others think what I think?"

Regarding the issues the cardinals will be considering as they choose a new Pope, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, told CBS News that cleaning up the church after a number of scandals most likely will be part of the conclave's goal.

"Sadly, tragically, we leaders of the church have often given people reasons not to have trust in the church anymore," he said.

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Benedict XVI's Tenure as Pope Ends

VATICAN CITY -- Benedict XVI's eight-year tenure as pope ended today, after he bade farewell to the faithful and departed the Vatican as the first pope to resign in six centuries.

"Thank you for your love and support," the pope tweeted from his Pontifex account. "May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your lives."

With church bells ringing across Rome, the pope was driven to the helipad on the Vatican grounds for the 15-minute flight to Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence where he assumed the title "pope emeritus" after 8 p.m. local time.

When Benedict arrived at the residence just south of Rome, he was greeted by a crowd of supporters waving flags and banners.

READ MORE: Pope Benedict XVI Delivers Farewell Address

"I am simply a pilgrim beginning the last leg of his pilgrimage on this earth," he told them.

Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty Images

Pope Benedict XVI's Helicopter Ride to Castel Gandolfo Watch Video

Pope Benedict XVI Says Goodbye to Cardinals Watch Video

In his final remarks earlier in the day to colleagues in the Roman Catholic Church, Benedict had promised "unconditional reverence and obedience" to his eventual successor. At a morning meeting at the Vatican, Benedict urged the cardinals to act "like an orchestra" to find "harmony" moving forward.

Benedict, 85, spent a quiet final day as pope, bidding farewell to his colleagues and moving on to a secluded life of prayer, far from the grueling demands of the papacy and the scandals that have recently plagued the church.

His first order of business was a morning meeting with the cardinals in the Clementine Hall, a room in the Apostolic Palace.

Angelo Sodano, the dean of the College of Cardinals, thanked Benedict for his service to the church during the eight years he has spent as pontiff.

When Benedict's resignation took effect once and for all at 8 p.m. local time, the Swiss Guards left his side for the last time, their time protecting the pontiff completed.

For some U.S. Catholics in Rome for the historic occasion, Benedict's departure was bittersweet.

Christopher Kerzich, a Chicago resident studying at the Pontifical North American College of Rome, said Wednesday he is sad to see Benedict leave, but excited to see what comes next.

"Many Catholics have come to love this pontiff, this very humble man," Kerzich said. "He is a man who's really fought this and prayed this through and has peace in his heart. I take comfort in that and I think a lot of Catholics should take comfort in that."

9 Men Who Could Replace Pope Benedict XVI

Pope Benedict's Last Sunday Prayer Service

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U.S. to give Syrian rebels medical, food aid, not arms

ROME (Reuters) - The United States said on Thursday it will for the first time give non-lethal aid to Syrian rebels and more than double its aid to Syria's civilian opposition, disappointing opponents of President Bashar al-Assad clamoring for Western weapons.

The United States cast the aid as a way to bolster the rebels' popular support. It will include medical supplies, food for rebel fighters and $60 million to help the civil opposition provide basic services like security, education and sanitation.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the new steps after a meeting of 11 mostly European and Arab nations within the "Friends of Syria" group.

The aid did not appear to entirely satisfy the Syrian National Council opposition, a fractious Cairo-based group that has struggled to gain traction inside Syria, especially among disparate rebel forces.

"Many sides ... focus (more) on the length of the rebel fighter's beard than they do on the blood of the children being killed," Syrian National Coalition President Moaz Alkhatib said at an appearance with Kerry and Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi.

TALKS ON PRIME MINISTER POSTPONED

In what analysts described as a sign of disappointment, Syria's political opposition has postponed talks to choose the leader of a provisional government, two opposition sources told Reuters in Beirut.

Opposition leaders hoped a Saturday meeting in Istanbul would elect a prime minister to operate in rebel-controlled areas of Syria, threatened by a slide into chaos as the conflict between Assad's forces and insurgents nears its second anniversary.

While one source said the meeting might happen later in the week, a second source said it had been put off because the three most likely candidates for prime minister had reservations about taking the role without more concrete international support.

"The opposition has been increasingly signaling that it is tired of waiting and no one serious will agree to be head of a government without real political and logistical support," said Syrian political commentator Hassan Bali, who lives in Germany.

Bali said the United States and other members of the core "Friends of Syria" nations appeared intent "on raising the ante against Assad but are not sure how."

A final communiqué said participants would "coordinate their efforts closely so as to best empower the Syrian people and support the Supreme Military Command of the (rebel) Free Syrian Army in its efforts to help them exercise self-defense".

More than 70,000 Syrians have been killed in a fierce conflict that began with peaceful anti-Assad protests nearly two years ago. Some 860,000 have fled abroad and several million are displaced within the country or need humanitarian assistance.

The United States has given $385 million in humanitarian aid but U.S. President Barack Obama has so far refused to give arms, arguing it is difficult to prevent them from falling into the hands of militants who could use them on Western targets.

On Thursday, however, Kerry said the United States would for the first time provide assistance - in the form of medical supplies and the standard U.S. military ration known as Meals Ready to Eat, or MREs - to the fighters.

A U.S. official told reporters it would give the aid only to carefully vetted fighters, adding the United States was worried that "extremists" opposed to democracy, human rights and tolerance were gaining ground in the country.

"Those members of the opposition who support our shared values ... need to set an example of a Syria where daily life is governed neither by the brutality of the Assad regime nor by the agenda of al Qaeda affiliated extremists," the official said.

If sending non-lethal assistance goes smoothly, it could conceivably offer a model for providing weaponry should Obama ultimately decide to do so.

The continued U.S. refusal to send weapons may compound the frustration that prompted the coalition to say last week it would shun the Rome talks. It attended only under U.S. pressure.

Many in the coalition say Western reluctance to arm rebels only plays into the hands of Islamist militants now widely seen as the most effective forces in the struggle to topple Assad.

With fighting raging on largely sectarian lines, French President Francois Hollande said at a Moscow summit that new partners were needed to broker talks on ending the crisis, winning guarded support from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"We think that this dialogue must find a new form so that it speaks to all parties," said Hollande, giving few details of his proposal.

Putin said Russia - one of Assad's staunchest allies - would look at Hollande's proposal, "which I think we could consider with all our partners and try to carry out."

REBELS WANT ANTI-TANK, ANTI-AIRCRAFT ARMS

Russia has said Assad's departure must not be a precondition for talks and a political solution, while the West has sided with Syria's opposition in demanding his removal from power.

Kerry's offer of medical aid and food rations fell far short of rebel demands for sophisticated anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to help turn the tables against Assad's mostly Russian-supplied forces.

It also stopped short of providing other forms of non-lethal assistance such as bullet-proof vests, armored personnel vehicles and military training to the insurgents.

Last week the European Union opened the way for direct aid to Syrian rebels, but did not lift an arms embargo on Syria.

Kerry said the U.S. role should not be judged in isolation but in the context of what other nations will do.

"What we are doing ... is part of a whole," he said. "I am absolutely confident ... that the totality of this effort is going to have an impact of the ability of the Syrian opposition to accomplish its goals."

(This story is corrected by deleting erroneous reference to talks next Monday on military support)

(Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Roger Atwood)

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Football: Arsenal reveal plans for Bergkamp statue

LONDON: Arsenal revealed on Wednesday that they plan to honour former striker Dennis Bergkamp by erecting a statue of the Dutchman outside the Emirates Stadium.

Bergkamp follows in the footsteps of former team-mates Thierry Henry and Tony Adams and legendary Arsenal manager Herbert Chapman, who have already been commemorated in bronze statues outside the club's north London home.

Arsenal were forced to confirm plans for the tribute after an image of a cast for the statue appeared online.

"First of all, I am honoured that this is going to happen," Bergkamp said.

"It makes me very proud. Everyone knows that I love Arsenal and that I had a fantastic time at the club.

"For me and my family it was an important period in our lives. Next to that the people were great, the team was amazing and we had a lot of success over the years.

"I will do everything I can to be there when it will be unveiled. It will definitely be a special moment for me, which I don't want to miss."

Bergkamp scored 120 goals for Arsenal and won three league titles and four FA Cups during his 11-year tenure at the club.

"Dennis and everybody at Arsenal are slightly disappointed that some images have been leaked today of the statue in its development, but this will not detract from the excitement we have for the statue's unveiling in the coming months," said Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis.

-AFP/ac

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Physics and Oreos go together like cookies and cream

The video below describes separating an Oreo cookie as a "basic human desire." While it may not be quite as fundamental as all that, separating cookie from cream has become a ritual for Oreo lovers around the world.

But why must we use our soft, weak human hands to pry these cookies apart? Why can't someone invent a hilariously overcomplicated machine to do this painstaking work for us?

Luckily, someone did.

Physicist and "cookie-part preferrer" David Neevel is the mind behind the Rube Golberg-style machine. He describes his automated separator as "entirely based on the dislike of cream." Which is crazy, of course. But it takes a certain kind of mad genius to create a machine as delightfully inefficient as this one.

The video is part of an online marketing campaign for Oreo. You can see more of its work on its YouTube page.

This story originally appeared on CBSNews.com.

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Newtown father's emotional plea to Congress

During emotional testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee today, the father of a first grader slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School fought back tears as he stressed the need to ban weapons like the assault rifle that a gunman used to kill his son, 19 other children, and 6 educators in Newtown, Conn.

Neil Heslin described how his son Jesse "was brutally murdered at Sandy Hook school on December 14, 20 minutes after I dropped him off."

"He said 'It's all going to be OK'," Heslin recalled his son saying as he was dropped off at school. "And it wasn't OK."

"Jesse was the love of my life. He was the only family I have left. It's hard for me to be here today, talking about my deceased son," Heslin said. But he added, "I have to. I'm his voice. I'm not here for the sympathy...I'm here to speak up for my son."

"There's many changes that have to happen to make a change effective," he continued. "Mental health issues, better background checks, bans on these weapons, bans on high capacity magazines - they all have to come together and they all have to work effectively...common sense tells you that."

The hearing was convened to discuss a bill from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., which would ban military style semiautomatic weapons like the Bushmaster rifle that was used to commit the massacre at Sandy Hook. The bill would also ban the manufacture and sale of ammunition magazines in excess of 10 bullets.

Feinstein, who sponsored the original assault weapons ban that passed Congress in 1994 and lapsed in 2004, said that "The need for a federal ban" on these assault weapons "has never been greater."

The committee's ranking Republican, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, extended his condolences to the victims of gun violence in the audience but voiced skepticism about the prospect of enacting new gun laws when, in his view, existing gun laws are not even being properly enforced.

The assault weapons ban is perhaps the most controversial among a raft of proposals to reduce gun violence floated by President Obama in the wake of the massacre at Sandy Hook. Another key propsoal would strengthen and expand the background check system for gun purchasers.

Opponents of gun control argue that many of the proposals would be an unconstitutional infringement on the Second Amendment's guarantee of a right to bear arms. Many also argue that the proposals would be an ineffective deterrent of gun violence.

Supporters of gun control argue that the right to bear arms is not absolute and has previously been legally abridged in a variety of ways. They further point to the dramatically decreased incidence of gun violence in countries whose firearm restrictions are more stringent than our own.

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Newtown Dad's Tearful Plea at Senate Gun Hearing

A father who lost his son in the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School sobbed as he testified at a Senate hearing today in favor of an assault weapons ban.

Across town Vice President Biden alluded to untold horror of the Newtown tragedy in an appeal for help from the nation's attorneys general.

Despite their emotional appeals, the push for gun reforms championed by the White House and many Democrats faces an uncertain future.

"Jesse was the love of my life," said Neil Heslin, sobbing as he described his 6-year-old son before the Senate Judiciary Committee. "He was the only family I had left. It's hard for me to be here today to talk about my deceased son. I have to. I'm his voice."

Heslin's son, Jesse Lewis, was among the 20 children and six teachers and school administrators murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. last December. Heslin recounted his last moments with his son when he took him to pick up his favorite, sausage egg and cheese sandwich and hot chocolate before dropping him off at school on the morning of Dec. 14.

"It was 9:04 when I dropped Jesse off. Jesse gave me a hug and a kiss and at that time said goodbye and love you. He stopped and said, I loved mom too." Heslin and his wife are separated.

"That was the last I saw of Jesse as he ducked around the corner. Prior to that when he was getting out of the truck he hugged me and held me and I could still feel that hug and pat on the back and he said everything's going to be ok dad. It's all going to be ok," Heslin said breaking down in tears a second time. "It wasn't ok. I have to go home at night to an empty house without my son."

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Heslin was one of eight witnesses testifying at a hearing to back a proposed assault weapons ban. Another witness was Dr. William Begg, a physician who made it to the emergency room the day of the Newtown shooting.

"People say that the overall number of assault weapon deaths is small but you know what? Please don't tell that to the people of Tucson or Aurora or Columbine or Virginia Tech, and don't tell that to the people in Newtown," Begg said as he choked up and people in the crowd clapped. "Don't tell that to the people in Newtown. This is a tipping point. This is a tipping point and this is a public health issue. Please make the right decision."

Related: Read More About Heslin's Testimony

The Senate Judiciary Committee is set to consider four gun safety measures, including the assault weapons ban, on Thursday. The three other bills aim to stop illegal gun trafficking, enhance safety in schools, and enact universal background checks.

As the hearing unfolded on Capitol Hill, Biden tapped into the stories that Newtown's first responders have shared with him as he urged attorneys general to help the administration push their gun proposals.

Related: The Tragedy at Sandy Hook

"With the press not here, I can tell you what is not public yet about how gruesome it was," Biden said of the massacre's gruesome aftermath at a Washington luncheon. "I met with the state troopers who were on the scene this last week. And the impact on them has been profound. Some of them, understandably, needing some help."

A spokeswoman for Biden could not clarify the non-public information to which he referred. The vice president suggested that what he heard in private conversations should spur lawmakers to enact some measures aimed at curbing gun violence.

Related: President Obama's Campaign Organization Turns to Gun Control

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