World/Nation Briefs March 5, 2013
Diplomats: U.S., China agree on sanctions
UNITED NATIONS - U.N. diplomats say the United States and China have reached agreement on a new sanctions resolution to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test.
Late Monday evening, the Security Council scheduled closed-door consultations on North Korea for today.
The diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because no official announcement has been made, say the United States is expected to circulate a draft resolution to the full council at the meeting.
All 15 council members approved a press statement condemning the nuclear test and pledging further action hours after North Korea carried out its third atomic blast on Feb. 12.
Answers sought on Vatican corruption talk
VATICAN CITY - Cardinals said Monday they want to talk to Vatican managers about allegations of corruption and cronyism within the top levels of the Catholic Church before they elect the next pope, evidence that a scandal over leaked papal documents is casting a shadow over the conclave and setting up one of the most unpredictable papal elections in recent times.
The Vatican said 107 of the 115 voting-age cardinals attended the first day of pre-conclave meetings, at which cardinals organize the election, discuss the problems of the church and get to know one another before voting.
The red-capped "princes" of the church took an oath of secrecy and decided to pen a letter of "greeting and gratitude" to Benedict XVI, whose resignation has thrown the church into turmoil amid a torrent of scandals inside and out of the Vatican.
"I would imagine that as we move along there will be questioning of cardinals involved in the governing of the Curia to see what they think has to be changed, and in that context anything can come up," said U.S. Cardinal Francis George.
The Holy See's administrative shortcomings were thrust into stark relief last year with the publication of documents stolen from Benedict's desk that exposed the petty infighting, turf battles and allegations of corruption, nepotism and cronyism in the highest echelons of the Catholic Church.
GOP looks to address military, FBI budget cuts
WASHINGTON - Republicans controlling the House moved Monday to ease a crunch in Pentagon readiness while limiting the pain felt by such agencies as the FBI and the Border Patrol from the across-the-board spending cuts that are just starting to take effect.
The effort is part of a huge spending measure that would fund day-to-day federal operations through September - and head off a potential government shutdown later this month.
The measure would leave in place automatic cuts of 5 percent to domestic agencies and 7.8 percent to the Pentagon ordered by President Barack Obama Friday night after months of battling with Republicans over the budget. But the House Republicans' legislation would award the Defense and Veterans Affairs departments their detailed 2013 budgets, giving those agencies more flexibility on where money is spent, while other agencies would be frozen at 2012 levels - and then bear the across-the-board cuts.
The impact of the new cuts was proving slow to reach the broader public as Obama convened the first Cabinet meeting of his second term to discuss next steps.
Jeb Bush: Don't give illegals path to citizenship
WASHINGTON - Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush writes in a new book that the nation needs to completely overhaul its immigration policies but cautions against providing a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, a position that puts him at odds with some Senate reformers within his own party.
In "Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution," Bush writes that the immigration debate holds serious consequences for the nation and members of his Republican party, calling fellow Republicans "remarkably tone-deaf when it comes to courting Hispanic voters - to the extent they court them at all." If the GOP fails to change, he says the influence of Hispanic voters "will doom" the party's future.
The son and brother of U.S. presidents writes that lawmakers should create a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants who live in the U.S. and agree to plead guilty to a crime of illegal entry. But unlike a bipartisan Senate proposal pushed by fellow Florida Republican Marco Rubio and others, Bush says tougher border security should not be a prerequisite and a pathway to legal status should not include citizenship for those who entered illegally as adults.
Bush's book, to be released today, arrives as President Barack Obama and Congress consider the revamping of the nation's immigration laws following Obama's re-election, which exposed a large deficit for Republicans among the nation's growing Hispanic electorate. Bush and co-author Clint Bolick, an attorney and vice president for litigation at the Arizona-based Goldwater Institute, contend immigration reform is essential to economic growth and the nation's future but must be governed by the rule of law.
- The Associated Press