Eye on Books Visitors walk on steps displaying the logo of the book fair in Leipzig, eastern Germany today. More than 2,000 exhibitors present their new editions in Leipzig until March 21. AP Photo/dapd/Eckehard Schulz

 

Jobs bill passage expected
     WASHINGTON (AP) — Companies that hire unemployed workers get a temporary payroll tax holiday under a bill headed for likely Senate passage Wednesday.
     A positive vote would send the legislation to the White House for President Barack Obama’s signature.
     It would be the first of several election-year jobs bills promised by Democrats to be enacted into law, though there’s plenty of skepticism that the measure will do much to boost hiring.
     The bill contains about $18 billion in tax breaks and a $20 billion infusion of cash into highway and transit programs. It would exempt businesses that hire the unemployed from paying the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax through December and give employers an additional $1,000 credit if new workers stay on the job a full year. Taxpayers would reimburse Social Security for the lost revenue.

Medvedev: Defend Arctic rights
     MOSCOW (AP) — Russia must defend its claims to mineral riches of the Arctic in increasing competition with other powers, President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday.
     Medvedev said global climate change will likely fuel arguments between nations seeking access to energy and other resources.
     “Other polar nations already have taken active steps to expand their scientific research as well as economic and even military presence in the Arctic,” he told a session of the presidential Security Council.
     Medvedev added that attempts have been made to limit Russia’s access to Arctic resources, but he didn’t name a specific nation.

Heist nets $75 million in drugs
     HARTFORD, Connecticut (AP) — In a Hollywood-style heist, thieves cut a hole in the roof of a warehouse, rappelled inside and scored one of the biggest hauls of its kind — not diamonds, gold bullion or Old World art, but about $75 million in antidepressants and other prescription drugs.
     The pills — stolen from the pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co. in quantities big enough to fill a tractor-trailer — are believed to be destined for the black market, perhaps overseas.
     “This is like the Brink’s pill heist,” said Erik Gordon, a University of Michigan business professor who studies the health care industry, alluding to a famous bank delivery truck robbery. “This one will enter the folklore.”