World/Nation Briefs July 11, 2012

Egypt's president flexes power but yields to caution

CAIRO - The face-off between Egypt's new Islamist president and the old guard military sharpened Tuesday, with parliament defying orders to disband and the highest court slapping back at Mohammed Morsi in what has become an early glimpse into how he may flex his power.

Morsi's rapid-fire moves against Egypt's entrenched institutions show he is willing to push back against the establishment left over from the era of deposed President Hosni Mubarak. But - so far at least - he and his Muslim Brotherhood allies have also displayed restraint and appear intent on avoiding a collision course during a sensitive transition period.

It could point to a complicated and protracted shake-out between Morsi and Egypt's security and judicial power centers, as all sides test the limits of their powers while the country awaits its post-Arab Spring constitution - not expected before the end of the year.

Nuclear plant projects costing billions more

ATLANTA - America's first new nuclear plants in more than a decade are costing billions more to build and sometimes taking longer to deliver than planned, problems that could chill the industry's hopes for a jump-start to the nation's new nuclear age.

Licensing delay charges, soaring construction expenses and installation glitches as mundane as misshapen metal bars have driven up the costs of three plants in Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina, from hundreds of millions to as much as $2 billion, according to an Associated Press analysis of public records and regulatory filings.

Those problems, along with jangled nerves from last year's meltdown in Japan and the lure of cheap natural gas, could discourage utilities from sinking cash into new reactors, experts said. The building slowdown would be another blow to the so-called nuclear renaissance, a drive over the past decade to build 30 new reactors to meet the country's growing power needs. Industry watchers now say that only a handful will be built this decade.

Obama campaign

wants voters to question Romney

WASHINGTON - The Obama election campaign has a politically loaded question it wants voters to think about: What is Mitt Romney hiding?

Not a thing, Romney says. The Democrats are just trying to change the subject from the weak economy.

It's a newly intense back-and-forth as President Barack Obama's campaign team tries to cast his Republican opponent as a secretive rich guy who keeps his money in offshore accounts and refuses to release more of his tax returns.

The coordinated push, which includes stinging criticism from Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, web videos and television advertisements, comes as the Democrats grasp for ways to gain an advantage in a closely contested election and overcome a steady stream of lackluster economic news.

Republicans back repeal of health care

WASHINGTON -

House Republicans generally avoided talk of replacement measures on Tuesday as they mobilized for an election-season vote to repeal the health care law that stands as President Barack Obama's signature domestic accomplishment.

Instead, they lambasted the 2-year-old law as a threat to the nation's economic recovery and predicted some Democrats would join them in repudiating it.

"This is nothing short of economic malpractice," said Rep. Nan Hayworth of New York, citing tax increases, government mandates and other items in the law. "We can and we must do better."

Episcopalians

OK rite for

same-sex unions

Episcopalians approved a churchwide ceremony Tuesday to bless same-sex couples, the latest decisive step toward accepting homosexuality by a denomination that nine years ago elected the first openly gay bishop.

At the Episcopal General Convention, which is divided into two voting bodies, about 80 percent of the House of Deputies voted to authorize a provisional rite for same-sex unions for the next three years. A day earlier, the House of Bishops approved the rites 111-41 with three abstentions during the church meeting in Indianapolis.

Supporters of the same-sex blessings insisted it was not a marriage ceremony despite any similarities. Called "The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant," the ceremony includes prayers and an exchange of vows and rings. Same-sex couples must complete counseling before having their unions or civil marriages blessed by the church.

JetBlue pilot's actions prompted by lack of sleep

LUBBOCK, Texas - A psychologist testified that a JetBlue Airways pilot who screamed about religion and terrorists during a flight had "a brief psychotic disorder" due to lack of sleep, according to a transcript of the trial obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday.

A judge found Clayton Osbon not guilty by reason of insanity during a brief and unpublicized trial earlier this month in Texas. Osbon had been charged with interference with a flight crew for his behavior on a March 27 flight from New York to Las Vegas.

Passengers said they wrestled the pilot to the floor after he ran through the plane's cabin yelling about Jesus and al-Qaida. The flight was diverted and safely landed in Texas.

- The Associated Press