Ronaiah Tuiasosopo spoke publicly for the first time in an interview with Dr. Phil McGraw for the "Dr. Phil Show," the first part of which aired Thursday.

The 22-year-old Tuiasosopo said he built the online persona of Lennay Kekua, a nonexistent woman who Te'o said he fell for without ever meeting in person and later believed to have died of leukemia.

Tuiasosopo said he felt Kekua was a part of him, and grew feelings and emotions for Te'o that he could not control. He acknowledged that the hoax was cruel, but said it was never intended as a joke and that he got no financial gain from it.

"I pretty much had this escape of Lennay and this was where my heart had pretty much invested, not just time, but all of my energy went into this," he said.

"As twisted and confusing as it may be, yeah, I cared for this person," he said, referring to Te'o. "I did all that I could to help this person become a better person, even though I wasn't getting nothing out of it."

When the ruse was reported by Deadspin.com on Jan. 16, the report raised the questions about whether Te'o was involved. The story about how the All-American played through pain learning about the deaths of his girlfriend and grandmother on the same day led to an outpouring of support from Notre Dame fans. It became the backdrop to the Fighting Irish's undefeated regular season and run to the BCS championship, where they lost to Alabama.

Tuiasosopo said Te'o knew nothing of the hoax, and doesn't believe he ever suspected Kekua wasn't real.

"He had no involvement," Tuiasosopo said. "He did not know anything."

Te'o won seven national awards for his play and was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy. He has denied any involvement from the beginning, and Notre Dame said an investigation of the player's claims backed up his story.

But Tuiasosopo said he felt Te'o became a better person as a result of the relationship.

"If you really look at all his interviews, he felt that," he said. "When he was under the understanding that he lost her, he realized all the good that Lennay had done for him."

Through a spokesman, the Te'o family declined comment.

Tuisasosopo said he decided to confess to Te'o earlier this month as the hoax was unraveling because he felt he could not go any further with his own life until the truth was out.

"You've heard of recovering drug addicts? It takes a lot of courage to stand and say that," he said "To recover from homosexuality and this type of thing. Not only that, coming back to your real life, as hard as a task as that is I'm going to do all that I can to live right."

McGraw said that statement bothered him.

"I hope it's a pressure you don't put on yourself," he said.

Tuiasosopo said he killed the Kekua character on the day in September Te'o learned his grandmother died, following an argument with Te'o.

The football star had told Kekua he didn't need her, Tuiasosopo said.

"It hurt me," he said. "It hit me like a brick wall. I was like, 'Whoa, I've given so much into this. And I realized right then in that moment, that I poured so much into Lennay, that I myself was getting nothing, and look what I was left with."

Te'o said he first learned that something was amiss when Keuka called him on Dec. 6, and told him she had faked her death.

He told his parents about what had happened while home for Christmas break and called Notre Dame coaches on Dec. 26 to let them know. Notre Dame officials said that they interviewed Te'o and retained Stroz Friedberg, a New York computer forensics firm, to investigate the case. They learned on Jan. 3 that there were no records indicating Lennay Kekua existed.

Tuiasosopo said he was the voice of Kekua but initially refused to recreate it when pressed by McGraw. He eventually agreed to do the voice behind a privacy screen, something McGraw promised to show during part two of the interview on Friday.

"Was I a good mother?" Cissy Houston, 79, was quoted as telling the celebrity magazine in an advance excerpt released on Wednesday from the magazine's Friday edition.

"I still wonder if I could have saved her somehow. But there's no book written on how to be a parent. You do the best you can."

Whitney Houston drowned accidentally in a Beverly Hills hotel bathtub on February 11, 2012, after taking cocaine and after a well-chronicled battle with drug addiction. She was 48.

Cissy Houston, a singer in her own right, talked to People about her daughter's personal life and career while promoting her upcoming memoir, "Remembering Whitney."

In the memoir, Cissy Houston says she was not aware of the early "partying" days of her daughter, known to the family as "Nippy."

"I had no idea about Nippy's 'partying.' And the truth is, back then I didn't really want to know about it," she writes, according to excerpts released to People.

Cissy Houston also discussed her daughter's ex-husband Bobby Brown, who has had his own substance abuse problems and run-ins with the law. "He didn't help her, that's for damn sure," Houston told the celebrity magazine of Brown.

The Grammy-winning singer left behind her only child, Bobbi Kristina, 19, who was hospitalized twice with anxiety after her mother's death.

Last fall, Cissy, Bobbi Kristina, the singer's brother and sister-in-law starred in a 14-episode reality show for cable channel Lifetime about their struggle to cope after Houston's death called "The Houstons: On Our Own."

Houston told the magazine she was "worried" about granddaughter Bobbi Kristina and "trying to make sure she doesn't (follow the same path)" as her famous mother.

Cissy Houston's interview with People, and excerpts from her memoir, can be found in the issue which reaches newsstands on January 25.

(Reporting By Zorianna Kit; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Claudia Parsons)

John used to share a room with his brother Jim and, like many siblings, they would place tape down the middle of the room to claim their turf.

Their story has already been told. And told. And told.

"Every story has been told," he told reporters Monday.

"We're not that interesting. There's nothing more to learn. The tape across the middle of the room story, OK, you got it? It's OK.

"It was just like any other family, really."

Baltimore shocked the New England Patriots 28-13 on Sunday to win the AFC and reach the Super Bowl, while the San Francisco 49ers, coached by Jim Harbaugh, edged the Atlanta Falcons 28-24 in the NFC to set up a HarBowl on February 3 in New Orleans.

The brothers have already squared off in the regular season, U.S. Thanksgiving 2011, when the Ravens defeated the 49ers 16-6 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

John Harbaugh, 50 years old and 15 months older than Jim, is hoping the spotlight of the Super Bowl would not be on the coaches.

"I really hope the focus is not so much on that," he said. "We get it, it's really cool and it's exciting and all that. But it's really about the team, about the players, about the guys you're talking about.

"It's about the players, the guys out there on the field who are actually in the arena whose face is marred with dust and sweat and blood, you know?

"Remember that one (a Theodore Roosevelt quote)? That's what it's about. The more we focus on those guys, I think the better it is for everybody."

The game will mark the first time that brothers will face each other in a professional championship game as coaches.

"I guess it's pretty neat," said Harbaugh. "But is it really going to be written about? It's not exactly like Churchill and Roosevelt or anything.

"It's pretty cool, but that's as far as it goes."

Jim also hopes to keep talk of the 'Battle of the Brothers' to a minimum but says there is a negative side to facing the Ravens.

"I think it's a blessing and a curse. A blessing because that is my brother's team. And also personally I played for the Ravens. Great respect for their organization. Know many of the Baltimore Ravens players and have a great respect for them and their team and I'm happy for them," he told reporters on Monday.

"The curse part would be that the talk of two brothers playing in the Super Bowl and what that takes away from the players that are in the game. And every moment that you're talking about myself or John that's less time that the players are going to be talked about.

"I just feel like the fighters are first. The ones that are playing in the game, the players, they're the ones that have the most to do with it. And they're the ones we should be talking about," he said.

John has been the Ravens' head coach since 2008 while Jim, a former quarterback who played in the NFL from 1987 through until 2001, is in his second season on the 49ers sideline.

"He's an incredibly competitive person," John said of his brother. "He will fight you for anything. Whether it was a game of cards growing up, whatever, he was going to find a way to win no matter what.

"That's what made a great player, it's what made him a good student in college, it's what makes him the man he is."

(Additional reporting by Simon Evans; Editing by Frank Pingue)

Heineman said that if a complete elimination of the two taxes could not be passed, he would push to lower rates on both individuals and corporations. He promised to make up the lost revenue by reducing business exemptions to the sales tax.

Last week, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal said he wanted to eliminate all personal and corporate income taxes in his state. Louisiana's personal income tax rate is 3.9 percent.

Nebraska's personal income tax rate is 6.84 percent, higher than every one of its neighbors -- Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Colorado and Wyoming -- according to a table accompanying Heineman's remarks.

Heineman's fellow Republicans control Nebraska's single-house legislature.

Most U.S. states tax both individual and corporate income, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization that measures federal and state taxes.

But seven states -- Texas, Florida, Washington, Alaska, Nevada, South Dakota and Wyoming -- do not tax individual income, according to the Tax Foundation.

Two others -- New Hampshire and Tennessee -- do not tax the earned income of individuals, but do tax interest and dividend income.

Three states -- Nevada, South Dakota and Wyoming -- have no corporate income taxes, according to the Tax Foundation. Three others -- Ohio, Texas and Washington -- have no corporate income tax but tax the gross receipts of businesses.

Other states in the country's midsection, including Oklahoma and Kansas, have also recently considered lowering taxes.

(Reporting by James B. Kelleher; Editing by Greg McCune)

A sanitized all-white set saw elegantly suited, droid-like gentlemen file by in Saturday's fall-winter 2013 menswear show with galactic high collars, and super high buckled waists. They cut the torso in half against a palette of lab white, luminous deep midnight blue as well as gray and black.

Though at times there was a slight feel of vintage Pierre Cardin the collection's starting point was apparently the sci-fi movie "Gattaca," in which humans are genetically modified to be better prepared for the future.

One result of this futurist exploration was the businessman as superhero.

As it happens, the other result was also one of the stronger shows the Belgian designer has done in a while.

"The first silhouettes look Wall Street. But little by little you understand that they are not so classic. There is a secret about them," Van Assche told The Associated Press backstage.

A red pin stripe recurs as a futuristic cult-like symbol, a triangle within a square; shoe heels are encased in a smooth, clear plastic so they don't leave a trace; and traceless, too, are the smoothly covered zipper fastenings.

This secret Dior man will pass through time minimalist and unnoticed.

In Raf Simon's recent women's wear designs for Christian Dior, waists were cinched in a reworking of the 1950s bar jacket with peplum.

Here Van Assche is adding his menswear voice to the fashion conversation, by echoing this style through delineating the waist. He raised it, military style, through a belt almost halfway down the torso; this was mirrored, beautifully, by the cult-like symbols, which bisected the waist at the exact same point.

This Dior man can indeed afford look to the future with a collection like this, it's a bright, if sanitized, place.

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Follow Thomas Adamson at http://Twitter.com/ThomasAdamsonAP

When a 62-year-old financial advisor bought a two-bedroomco-op recently, he showed up at the closing with a check for the full $970,000 purchase price. No mortgage? The money I had in cash was sitting getting 0% interest, explains the man, who asked not to be named. It made absolutely no sense to borrow.

There were other benefits as well to buying for cash, he says. He figures he got a liquidity discount for being able to close quicklythe asking price had been $1.05 million. And he avoided the hassles and paperwork that come with getting a mortgage these days. At the closing, he gloats, they spent more time making photocopies than anything, so we sat discussing Broadway plays.

Similar closing scenes are playing out across the country these daysminus the theater chitchat. Rates for 30-year fixed mortgages are hovering at 4%, and 15-year fixed loans can be had for 3.5% or less, the lowest in more than 50 years. Yet theestimates that roughly 30% of U.S. home buyers are now making their purchases 100% in cash, compared with 15% in 2008.

Some cash buyers are foreigners, who have never easily qualified for U.S. mortgages. Some are very-high-net-worth folks who have long favored cash for their multimillion-dollar trophy mansion purchases. The increase in cash buying comes mainly from two other groups: real estate investors, who nowadays rarely qualify for mortgages at all, and older buyers (like thefinancial advisor) who could qualify for mortgages but dont want to.

In foreclosure-plagued Florida, where prices in some areas are down 55% from the peak, investors and snowbirds bearing cash dominate the market. Charlie Brasington is chief executive of , which since 2008 has been using cash from private investors to buy distressed Tampa- and Palm Beach-area condo buildings from banks. Hoffman fixes the properties up and then sells the units to end users. Brasington reports two-thirds of the roughly 300 units Hoffman has sold so far have gone for cash, as have all eight of the $1 million-plus penthouses it has moved.

These people probably have $5 million or more, so to take 10% of it out and buy a quality home in Florida and know that youve got your stake in the sand, that may be a good investment, Brasington says. Your cash is not making money in a CD, thats for sure, and in the stock market theres volatility. In real estate, sure, you may have some downward trend still, but theres not that volatility anymore.

A sales pitch? Sure. But recent cash buyers make similar points, and signs abound that Florida prices may have bottomed. If youre considering a cash purchase, here are some pointers.

Cash buyers often get a discount

Until recently Id say sellers didnt care that the buyer was coming in all cash or financed, they just wanted the highest number. Now the game has changed, says Tracie Hamersley, a senior vice president at Citi Habitats, a New York City-based realty firm. While banks are lending again, it is much more onerous, and there are many hoops to jump through. So someone who can close in cash can in most cases qualify for somewhat of a price discount based on that sureness of a sale.

That cash-is-king phenomenon is being reported by Realtors across the country. Its like all of a sudden having this four-star gold status, says Karen Bergin of Coldwell Banker Advantage in Overland Park, Kans., who has represented three baby boomer cash buyers so far this year. One of her clients, a couple selling their western Kansas farm to relocate to thearea, even managed to secure an extended closing period while they awaited a buyer for their farm.

Closing costs are lower with cash

Cash buyers can also save on closing costs. You dont have to fork over money to pay a bank attorney for the mortgage. This is an expense that can run $750 and up (although it can be wise to retain your own lawyer). You dont have to put real estate taxes in escrow up front nor pay the estimated $300 to $600 for a mortgage application plus additional thousands in loan origination fees and assorted junk charges. And you arent required to cough up $400 to $600 for an appraisal, which mortgage lenders insist upon, or, in a growing number of cases, multiple appraisals. (The multiple appraisal requirement is popping up in foreclosure-riddled areas where nondistressed homes have few sales to be compared against.)

Should you get an appraisal anyway? Most Realtors still strongly recommend one, in addition to a home inspection, to ensure you arent overpaying or buying hidden structural problems. But if its clear youve negotiated a good price, an appraisal may not be an imperative.

Another expense that will drop: title insurance, which offers protection against problems with the chain of ownership and preexisting claims like unpaid property taxes or liens placed by stiffed contractors. On a $600,000 house with a 20% down payment, title charges, which include researching local land records, can easily top $2,000. But roughly one-third of that is for coverage that protects only lenders (which, of course, they mandate you get and pay for). Cash-only buyers dont have lenders, so theres an immediate savings right there. Indeed, as a cash buyer, its up to you whether you want title insurance at all. Realtors say its a prudent add-on.

Getting a mortgage is not guaranteed

No matter how good your credit, if you havent gotten a mortgage in a while, you could be in for a shock. Even if your finances pass muster, the lender will likely pull the funding if the required home appraisal doesnt reach the price youve agreed to pay. Thats the biggest issue hampering home sales this year, says Jed Smith, a managing director at the National Association of Realtors, which tracks sales data. (Some Realtors gripe that gun-shy appraisers are low-balling property values.)

The mortgage approval process also takes longer these daysan average of 45 days, up from 30 in 2008, according to online mortgage supermarket LendingTree.

Heres another factor to be aware of. The maximum size for conforming government-backed loansthose carrying the lowest rates with a traditional 20% down paymentwas reduced in October. In highest-cost jurisdictions, such as New York City, Bergen County, N.J. and , the maximum is now $625,500, down from $729,750. Most everywhere else the maximum is now $417,000, down from $443,750. Those taking larger nonconforming loans generally must pay a 0.5% higher rate, put 30% down and meet even tougher credit standards.

On the other hand, if you are a cash buyer, all these mortgage difficulties are to your benefit, since they could wipe out other potential bidders who do need a loan. (If youre paying cash, make a bid that doesnt have a mortgage contingencyand stress that point to the seller.)

Youre giving up a tax breaknow

Interest on up to $1.1 million in mortgage principal originally used to buy, build or improve a first (and second) home is currently tax-deductible. But if you later borrow against your equity for anything other than home improvements (say, for college tuition) your deduction is far more limited. In that case, interest on only the first $100,000 of home-equity borrowing is deductible, and even that isnt allowed when youre calculating whether you owe more under the dreaded alternative minimum tax. (You might be stuck in the AMT if you pay high state and local taxes and earn between $200,000 and $500,000.)

Keep in mind that this is all under current law. Theres been lots of talk inabout a tax reform that might lower tax rates while curbing tax breaks, including the mortgage interest deduction.

Even without a mortgage you get two other tax breaks from owning a primary residence. First, when you sell, the initial $500,000 in capital gains profit per couple ($250,000 for a single) isnt taxed. Second, youre getting a tax-free economic return on your investment in the form of free rent for all your years of residency.

Cheap money is relative

With rates so low, why not take out a mortgage and use your spare cash to invest? Thats an attractive option, but only if you believe your aftertax return on that investment will be greater than your aftertax cost for the mortgage, says James Maule, a VillanovaSchool professor who specializes in taxes. He explains, It depends on where you think your cash will make the most money or be the safest investment.

Finally, dont let the mortgage question obscure the bigger issue. Since you can always rent, is buying a house in the market youre looking at a good investment? That depends on whether prices have bottomed (or are close to bottom) and how high local rents are.

Remember that New York financial advisor who paid cash for his co-op? Heres a little insight into how this longtime renter decided the time was finally right to buy.

He figures the apartment he bought would rent for $5,000 a month or $60,000 a year, a 6% yield on his $970,000 investment. But he pays the co-op corporation $2,540 a month, or $30,480 a year, in maintenance charges to cover things like building operating expenses, property taxes and debt service on the buildings own borrowings. If he itemizes he gets to deduct his share of those tax and interest bills. So he reckons hes still getting a 3% yield on his $970,000 investment, compared with the 2% that U.S. Treasury bonds are paying.

That assumes no appreciation of the apartmentand he does expect some. After fallingfrom their 2008 peak, Manhattan co-op prices have been showing signs of a revival. Moreover, rents there are rising fast, up 7% in the year through October, .

All in all, a sound use of money hed otherwise have sitting in cash. Not that he intends to rent out the apartment, mind you. He and his wife plan to enjoy their new home, particularly the five walk-in closets, a coveted amenity in the cramped quarters of Manhattan.

The rules, the most sweeping food safety guidelines in decades, would require farmers to take new precautions against contamination, to include making sure workers' hands are washed, irrigation water is clean, and that animals stay out of fields. Food manufacturers will have to submit food safety plans to the government to show they are keeping their operations clean.

The long-overdue regulations could cost businesses close to half a billion dollars a year to implement, but are expected to reduce the estimated 3,000 deaths a year from foodborne illness. The new guidelines were announced Friday.

Just since last summer, outbreaks of listeria in cheese and salmonella in peanut butter, mangoes and cantaloupe have been linked to more than 400 illnesses and as many as seven deaths, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The actual number of those sickened is likely much higher.

Many responsible food companies and farmers are already following the steps that the FDA would now require them to take. But officials say the requirements could have saved lives and prevented illnesses in several of the large-scale outbreaks that have hit the country in recent years.

In a 2011 outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe that claimed 33 lives, for example, FDA inspectors found pools of dirty water on the floor and old, dirty processing equipment at Jensen Farms in Colorado where the cantaloupes were grown. In a peanut butter outbreak this year linked to 42 salmonella illnesses, inspectors found samples of salmonella throughout Sunland Inc.'s peanut processing plant in New Mexico and multiple obvious safety problems, such as birds flying over uncovered trailers of peanuts and employees not washing their hands.

Under the new rules, companies would have to lay out plans for preventing those sorts of problems, monitor their own progress and explain to the FDA how they would correct them.

"The rules go very directly to preventing the types of outbreaks we have seen," said Michael Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner for foods.

The FDA estimates the new rules could prevent almost 2 million illnesses annually, but it could be several years before the rules are actually preventing outbreaks. Taylor said it could take the agency another year to craft the rules after a four-month comment period, and farms would have at least two years to comply meaning the farm rules are at least three years away from taking effect. Smaller farms would have even longer to comply.

The new rules, which come exactly two years to the day President Barack Obama's signed food safety legislation passed by Congress, were already delayed. The 2011 law required the agency to propose a first installment of the rules a year ago, but the Obama administration held them until after the election. Food safety advocates sued the administration to win their release.

The produce rule would mark the first time the FDA has had real authority to regulate food on farms. In an effort to stave off protests from farmers, the farm rules are tailored to apply only to certain fruits and vegetables that pose the greatest risk, like berries, melons, leafy greens and other foods that are usually eaten raw. A farm that produces green beans that will be canned and cooked, for example, would not be regulated.

Such flexibility, along with the growing realization that outbreaks are bad for business, has brought the produce industry and much of the rest of the food industry on board as Congress and FDA has worked to make food safer.

In a statement Friday, Pamela Bailey, president of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, which represents the country's biggest food companies, said the food safety law "can serve as a role model for what can be achieved when the private and public sectors work together to achieve a common goal."

The new rules could cost large farms $30,000 a year, according to the FDA. The agency did not break down the costs for individual processing plants, but said the rules could cost manufacturers up to $475 million annually.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said the success of the rules will also depend on how much money Congress gives the chronically underfunded agency to put them in place. "Resources remain an ongoing concern," she said.

The farm and manufacturing rules are only one part of the food safety law. The bill also authorized more surprise inspections by the FDA and gave the agency additional powers to shut down food facilities. In addition, the law required stricter standards on imported foods. The agency said it will soon propose other overdue rules to ensure that importers verify overseas food is safe and to improve food safety audits overseas.

Food safety advocates frustrated over the last year as the rules stalled praised the proposed action.

"The new law should transform the FDA from an agency that tracks down outbreaks after the fact, to an agency focused on preventing food contamination in the first place," said Caroline Smith DeWaal of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

The bill's passage on a bipartisan 257-167 vote in the House sealed a hard-won political triumph for the president less than two months after he secured re-election while calling for higher taxes on the wealthy.

Moments later, Obama strode into the White House briefing room and declared, "Thanks to the votes of Republicans and Democrats in Congress I will sign a law that raises taxes on the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans while preventing tax hikes that could have sent the economy back into recession."

He spoke with Vice President Joe Biden at his side, a recognition of the former senator's role as the lead Democratic negotiator in final compromise talks with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

In addition to neutralizing middle class tax increases and spending cuts taking effect with the new year, the legislation will raise tax rates on incomes over $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for couples. That was higher than the thresholds of $200,000 and $250,000 that Obama campaigned for. But remarkably, in a party that swore off tax increases two decades ago, dozens of Republicans supported the bill at both ends of the Capitol.

The Senate approved the measure on a vote of 89-8 less than 24 hours earlier, and in the interim, rebellious House conservatives demanded a vote to add significant spending cuts to the measure. But in the end they retreated.

The measure split the upper ranks of the Republican leadership in the House.

Speaker John Boehner of Ohio voted in favor, while Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia and California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the party's whip, opposed the bill. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the party's 2012 vice presidential candidate, supported the measure.

Supporters of the bill in both parties expressed regret that it was narrowly drawn, and fell far short of a sweeping plan that combined tax changes and spending cuts to reduce federal deficits. That proved to be a step too far in the two months since Obama called congressional leaders to the White House for a postelection stab at compromise.

Already, both sides were maneuvering for the next round in a seemingly ceaseless struggle about taxes and spending.

In a statement after the vote, Boehner said, "Now the focus turns to spending. The American people re-elected a Republican majority in the House, and we will use it in 2013 to hold the president accountable for the 'balanced' approach he promised, meaning significant spending cuts and reforms to the entitlement programs that are driving our country deeper and deeper into debt."

Majority Republicans did their best to minimize the bill's tax increases, just as they abandoned their demand from earlier in the day to add spending cuts to the package.

"By making Republican tax cuts permanent, we are one step closer to comprehensive tax reform that will help strengthen our economy and create more and higher paychecks for American workers," said Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.

He urged a vote for passage to "get us one step closer to tax reform in 2013" as well as attempts to control spending.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi also said the legislation included "permanent tax relief for the middle class," and she summoned lawmakers to provide bipartisan support as the Senate did.

The bill would also prevent an expiration of extended unemployment benefits for an estimated 2 million jobless, block a 27 percent cut in fees for doctors who treat Medicare patients, stop a $900 pay increase for lawmakers from taking effect in March and head off a threatened spike in milk prices.

It would stop $24 billion in across-the-board spending cuts set to take effect over the next two months, although only about half of that total would be offset with savings elsewhere in the budget.

The economic as well as political stakes were considerable.

Economists have warned that without action by Congress, the tax increases and spending cuts that technically took effect with the new year could send the economy into recession.

Even with enactment of the legislation, taxes are on the rise for millions.

A 2 percentage point temporary cut in the Social Security payroll tax, originally enacted two years ago to stimulate the economy, expired with the end of 2012. Neither Obama nor Republicans made a significant effort to extend it.

House Republicans spent much of the day struggling to escape a political corner they found themselves in.

"I personally hate it," Rep. John Campbell of California, said of the measure, giving voice to the concern of many Republicans that it did little or nothing to cut spending.

"The speaker the day after the election said we would give on taxes and we have. But we wanted spending cuts. This bill has spending increases. Are you kidding me? So we get tax increases and spending increases? Come on."

Cantor told reporters at one point, "I do not support the bill. We are looking, though, for the best path forward."

Within hours, Republicans abandoned demands for changes and agreed to a simple yes-or-no vote on the Senate-passed bill.

They feared that otherwise the Senate would refuse to consider any alterations, sending the bill into limbo and saddling Republicans with the blame for a whopping middle class tax increase. One Senate Democratic leadership aide said Majority Leader Harry Reid would "absolutely not take up the bill" if the House changed it. The aide spoke on condition of anonymity, citing a requirement to keep internal deliberations private.

Despite Cantor's remarks, Boehner took no public position in advance of voting the bill as he sought to negotiate a conclusion to the final crisis of a two-year term full of them.

The brief insurrection wasn't the first time that the tea party-infused House Republican majority has rebelled against the party establishment since the GOP took control of the chamber 24 months ago. But with the two-year term set to end Thursday at noon, it was likely the last. And as was true in earlier cases of a threatened default and government shutdown, the brinkmanship came on a matter of economic urgency, leaving the party open to a public backlash if tax increases do take effect on tens of millions.

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said the measure would add nearly $4 trillion over a decade to federal deficits, a calculation that assumed taxes would otherwise have risen on taxpayers at all income levels. There was little or no evident concern among Republicans on that point, presumably because of their belief that tax cuts pay for themselves by expanding economic growth and do not cause deficits to rise.

The relative paucity of spending cuts was a sticking point with many House Republicans. Among other items, the extension of unemployment benefits costs $30 billion, and is not offset by savings elsewhere.

Others said unhappiness over spending outweighed fears that the financial markets would plunge on Wednesday if the fiscal cliff hadn't been averted.

"There's a concern about the markets, but there's a bigger concern, which is getting this right, which is something we haven't been very good at over the past two years," said Rep. Steve LaTourette of Ohio.

For all the struggle involved in the legislation, even its passage merely cleared the way for another round of controversy almost as soon as the new Congress convenes.

With the Treasury expected to need an expansion in borrowing authority by early spring, and funding authority for most government programs set to expire in late March, Republicans have made it clear they intend to use those events as leverage with the administration to win savings from Medicare and other government benefit programs.

McConnell said as much moments before the 2 a.m. Tuesday vote in the Senate two hours after the advertised "cliff" deadline.

"We've taken care of the revenue side of this debate. Now it's time to get serious about reducing Washington's out-of-control spending," he said. "That's a debate the American people want. It's the debate we'll have next. And it's a debate Republicans are ready for."

Obama addressed the same point in his brief remarks. He said he is prepared to take steps to control spending this year, and noted pointedly that savings must be found in Medicare. "I believe that there's further unnecessary spending in government that we can eliminate," he said.

Countering McConnell and other Republicans, the president said future legislation must combine additional revenues and spending cuts, and he warned the GOP not to try and use the expiration of the Treasury's borrowing authority to force spending cuts.

The 89-8 vote in the Senate was unexpectedly lopsided.

Despite grumbling from liberals that Obama had given way too much in the bargaining, only three Democrats opposed the measure.

Among the Republican supporters were Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, an ardent opponent of tax increases, as well as Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, elected to his seat two years ago with tea party support.

___

Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor, Larry Margasak and Julie Pace contributed to this story.

Ireland, the only EU member state that currently outlaws the procedure, is preparing legislation that would allow limited access to abortion after the European Court of Human Rights criticized the current regime.

The death last month of an Indian woman who was denied an abortion of her dying foetus and later died of blood poisoning has intensified the debate around abortion, which remains a hugely divisive subject in the predominantly Catholic country.

"I hope that everyone who believes that the right to life is fundamental will make their voice heard in a reasonable, but forthright, way to their representatives," Cardinal Sean Brady said in a Christmas message on Tuesday.

"No government has the right to remove that right from an innocent person."

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, a regular Mass goer, is bringing in legislation that would allow a woman to have an abortion if her life was at risk from pregnancy.

The country's Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that abortion was permitted when a woman's life was at risk but successive governments have avoided legislating for it because it is so divisive.

The death of Savita Halappanavar, who repeatedly asked for an abortion while she was miscarrying in an Irish hospital, highlighted the lack of clarity in Irish law that leaves doctors in a legally risky position.

Halappanavar's death re-ignited the abortion debate and prompted large protests by groups both in favor of and against abortion.

Kenny and his conservative Fine Gael party have been criticized for tackling the abortion issue and some party members have indicated that they may not be able to back the law.

Relations between the Irish government and the once dominant Catholic Church are at an all-time low in the wake of years of clerical sex abuse scandals.

Kenny told parliament last year that the Vatican's handling of the scandals had been dominated by "elitism and narcissism" and accused it of trying to cover up the abuse. The speech prompted the Vatican to recall its ambassador, or nuncio, to Ireland.

Brady, who has faced calls this year to resign over accusations he failed to warn parents their children were being sexually abused, said in his Christmas message that he wanted relations with government to improve.

"My hope is that the year ahead will see the relationship between faith and public life in our country move beyond the sometimes negative, exaggerated caricatures of the past."

(Reporting by Carmel Crimmins; Editing by Sandra Maler)

The secrecy surrounding his visit was sure to add to the uncertainty surrounding Chavez's condition, despite reassurances Monday from Venezuelan officials that the president was slowly improving.

The Venezuelan leader has not been seen or heard from since his Dec. 11 surgery. Venezuelan officials have given few specifics about his condition and have offered no information about his long-term prognosis.

Luis Vicente Leon, a pollster who heads the Venezuelan firm Datanalisis, said the government's daily but vague updates on the president's health seem designed to calm anxious Chavez supporters rather than keep the country fully informed. For government opponents, however, he said the updates likely raise more questions than they answer.

"It's more for the Chavez movement than the country in general," Leon said. "There's nothing that one can verify, and the credibility is almost nil."

Morales did not speak to the foreign media while in Havana. Journalists had been summoned to cover his arrival and departure, but hours later that invitation was canceled. No explanation was given, though it could have been due to confusion over Morales' itinerary as he apparently arrived later than initially scheduled.

Cuban state media published photos of President Raul Castro receiving Morales at the airport and said he came "to express his support" for Chavez, his close ally, but did not give further details.

At an event in southern Bolivia on Monday, Morales made no mention of his trip to Cuba, even though aides had told reporters that he might say something about Chavez's recovery. Later, Morales' communications minister did not respond directly to a question about whether the two South American presidents had met face-to-face, saying only that he "was with the people he wanted to be with" and had no plans to return to Cuba.

"The report that President Morales has given us is that Chavez is in a process of recovery after the terrible operation he underwent," Amanda Davila told The Associated Press.

Morales is the second Latin American leader to visit since Chavez announced two weeks ago that he would have the operation. Rafael Correa of Ecuador came calling the day of the surgery. Uruguay's Jose Mujica has expressed interest in making the trek.

The visits underscore Chavez's importance to regional allies as a prominent voice of the Latin American left, as well as how seriously they are taking his latest bout with cancer.

Chavez underwent his fourth cancer-related operation of the last year-and-a-half on Dec. 11, two months after winning reelection to a six-year term. Venezuelan officials say Chavez is stable and his recovery is progressing, though he was treated for a respiratory infection apparently due to the surgery.

If Chavez is unable to continue in office, the Venezuelan constitution calls for new elections to be held. Chavez has asked his followers to back his vice president and hand-picked successor, Nicolas Maduro, in that event.

In Caracas, Venezuelan Information Minister Ernesto Villegas read a statement Monday saying that Chavez is showing "a slight improvement with a progressive trend," is keeping up with events back home and sends Christmas greetings to Venezuelans.

Maduro and several Cabinet ministers attended a Christmas Eve Mass in Caracas to pray for the president. Maduro again assured Venezuelans that the president was recovering, though he and other officials continued to strongly suggest that Chavez would not return in time for his Jan. 10 inauguration.

Opposition leaders have argued that the constitution does not allow the president's swearing-in to be postponed, and say new elections should be called if Chavez is unable to take the oath on time.

But Attorney General Cilia Flores insisted the constitution lets the Supreme Court administer the oath of office at any time if the National Assembly is unable to do it Jan. 10 as scheduled.

"Those who are counting on that date, hoping to thwart the Revolution and the will of the people, will end up frustrated once again," Flores said. "What we have is a president who has been re-elected, he will take over, will be sworn in on that day, another day, that is a formality."

Jaqueline Farias, the head of government for the Caracas area, told the AP outside the church that "we are very happy because each hour the 'commandante' is showing signs that he is overcoming this phase of the operation, his fourth operation."

When asked if the president was breathing on his own, she said she didn't know and walked off, refusing to answer more questions.

Dozens of Chavez supporters gathered outside the church, some carrying posters of the president or wearing red T-shirts decorated with a photograph of just Chavez's eyes. Some women rushed to the church after seeing footage of the Mass on state television and yelled at security guards to let them inside.

"Chavez is going to be mad, if he sees this," said Andres Sanchez, an unemployed Chavez supporter watching a woman shouting at a guard that she wanted to pray for Chavez, too. "He told the ministers to talk to the people."

"Venezuela without Chavez is like a ship without a rudder," Sanchez said, his voice wobbling. "I pray to God that he recovers because he is a man who loves the people, the children, the elderly and everyone a little bit."

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Olson reported from Caracas, Venezuela. Associated Press writers Christopher Toothaker and Vivian Sequera in Caracas and Paola Flores in La Paz, Bolivia, contributed to this report.

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Peter Orsi on Twitter: www.twitter.com/Peter_Orsi