Egypt's Mubarak talks for 1st time since detention

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's former president, Hosni Mubarak, has spoken to the public for the first time since his detention two years ago, saying he is dismayed at the country's state of affairs and particularly the plight of the poor.

The 85-year old Mubarak spoke to Al-Watan newspaper after a session of his retrial for his role in the killing of hundreds of protesters during the uprising that forced him to step down in 2011.

He was detained two years ago and put on trial. He has since been hospitalized, sentenced to life in prison and then granted a retrial.

Mubarak told the newspaper that it was too early to judge his elected successor, the Islamist Mohammed Morsi.

Mubarak's comments were published Sunday, a day after his trial session.

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Pope accepts invite to Israel, urges peace talks

By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis urged Israelis and Palestinians to resume talks and make "courageous decisions" to bring peace after his first meeting with Israel's President Shimon Peres on Tuesday and accepted an invitation to visit the Holy Land.

The two discussed the civil war in Syria, tensions in Iran and the scourge of anti-Semitism during half an hour of private talks in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace.

The pope hoped for "a speedy resumption of negotiations" to reach an agreement that respected the legitimate aspirations of both Israelis and Palestinians, the Vatican said.

Peres told the pope he believed "there is a chance" to open negotiations and called Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "a genuine partner for peace", an Israeli statement added.

U.S.-sponsored negotiations on the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel stalled in 2010 over a dispute about Israeli settlements in occupied territories.

"I am expecting you in Jerusalem, not just me but the whole country of Israel," Peres told the pope in the presence of reporters after the talks.

The pope accepted the invitation "with willingness and joy", a Vatican spokesman said, but there was no indication when a trip would be made.

A statement from Peres said he and the pope discussed anti-Semitism and quoted the pope as telling Peres: "Anti-Semitism goes against Christianity - as Pope I will not tolerate any expression of anti-Semitism".

Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, has focused on building up relations with Jewish leaders and, when he was archbishop, wrote a book with an Argentine rabbi, Abraham Skorka.

The Catholic Church's relations with Jews were revolutionized in 1965 by a Second Vatican Council document that repudiated the concept of collective Jewish guilt for the death of Jesus.

Both of Francis's two immediate predecessors, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, visited the Holy Land, including the Palestinian territories, in 2000 and 2009 respectively.

Peres asked Francis "to pray for all of us" and told the pope he would pray for him during a trip on Wednesday to the central Italian city of Assisi, where he will visit the tomb of St. Francis, whose name Bergoglio adopted when elected.

(Editing by Andrew Heavens)

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SKorea: We'll take 'grave measure' if NKorea rejects talks

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea is warning of a "grave measure" if North Korea rejects a call for talks on a jointly run factory park that has been shut down for nearly a month.

Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk on Thursday refused to describe what Seoul would do if Pyongyang doesn't respond by a deadline Friday to a demand for formal working-level talks.

But Seoul may be signaling it will pull out its remaining workers from the factory across the border in Kaesong. That could lead to the end of a complex considered the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean cooperation.

Pyongyang suspended operations in early April and withdrew its 53,000 workers.

Pyongyang has recently eased the near daily threats it issued for several weeks. But tensions between the rivals are still high.

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W.Va. lawmakers start budget talks close to deal

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Disagreements over funding for state Department of Education staff and in-home care for seniors on Medicaid, among other areas, await compromise this week as the West Virginia Legislature works on a new state budget.

The Senate and House of Delegates passed dueling versions of an $11.4 billion spending plan just before their regular session ended Saturday. Each reflects relatively minor changes to what Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin proposed. The Democrat submitted a budget bill when the session began in mid-February and then revised it earlier this month, partly because counties provided more in property tax revenues for public schools than estimated.

During the week's extended session, a House-Senate committee will focus largely on a $4.1 billion portion of the budget supported by general tax revenues. The House and Senate are less than $2 million apart on this spending, with delegates proposing $5 million less than the governor and senators proposing $3.7 million less.

The governor's general revenue budget was already smaller than what passed the Legislature last year. Exempting such areas as direct classroom spending, Tomblin ordered 7.5 percent cuts for agencies under his part of the executive branch. That saved around $75 million. The Supreme Court, which has independent budget authority, agreed to reduce its spending by $4 million.

"When there's no money, there's not really a lot to fight over," said Senate Finance Chair Roman Prezioso, a Marion County Democrat. "Really, we're not that far off."

The House version cuts $850,000 from Department of Education personnel costs, following through on a mandate added to Tomblin's wide-ranging public schools legislation. A critical audit of West Virginia's education system found it unusually heavy with state-level staffers when compared to most other states. The governor's bill, signed last week, requires the department to trim personnel spending by 5 percent in each of the next two years.

The Senate did not include a personnel cut in its version but did add $37,600 for professional development. The House, meanwhile, cut $48,871 meant to cover paid rest leave for West Virginia's Teacher of the Year. The House Finance Committee learned that the winners haven't taken up the sabbatical offer for a number of years.

As recommended by the governor in his April 2 follow-up, the House included $2.1 million so each classroom teacher would have an additional $100 to spend. Teachers currently get $200, but must routinely hand over half to faculty senates for school-wide needs, lawmakers were told. The Senate's budget has no money for classroom supplies. Delegates, meanwhile, also proposed $240,000 in one-time spending so Hampshire High School can build an animal science facility.

The two chambers also differ over $1.7 million that the House added for counties that fuel their school buses with biodiesel. Another successful measure from Tomblin's agenda refocuses bus fuel incentives on West Virginia's ample natural gas supply.

Lawmakers must reconcile mortgage funding for primary care centers, which the Senate increased by nearly $212,000 and the House by $78,000. Each proposed hike would blunt the 7.5 percent cut ordered by Tomblin.

The Senate similarly sought to ease cuts to domestic violence and anti-sexual assault programs by a total of $193,000, while the House added more than twice that to restore them completely to current levels. Responding to another 7.5 percent cut, each version increased funding for a Charleston-based poison control hotline that West Virginia University had previously provided through its budget. Delegates also added $140,190 for independent living aid provided by the Division of Rehabilitative Services.

The governor's initial budget proposal mistakenly left out $380,000 for the Division of Forestry, needed for its tree nursery, amid an internal debate over whether to discontinue that program. Fixing another omission, the House cut personnel costs at the Division of Culture and History by just over $262,000 to satisfy the 7.5 percent order.

In the recurring battle over programs that seek waivers from federal officials so Medicaid patients can stay out of nursing homes and other institutions, the House budgeted $14 million for in-home senior care. Tomblin and the Senate's version proposed $11.9 million.

____

Follow Lawrence Messina at http://twitter.com/lmessina

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As U.S. talks up diplomacy, N. Korea takes hard line

TOKYO (AP) — The United States and Japan opened the door Sunday to new nuclear talks if North Korea lowered tensions and honored past agreements, even as the saber-rattling government rejected South Korea's latest offer of dialogue as a "crafty trick."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in Tokyo that North Korea would find "ready partners" in the United States if it began abandoning its nuclear program.

Japan's foreign minister, Fumio Kishida, also demanded a resolution to a dispute concerning Japanese citizens abducted decades ago by North Korean officials.

The diplomats seemed to point the way for a possible revival of the six-nation talks that have been suspended for four years.

China long pushed has for the process to resume without conditions. But the U.S. and allies South Korea and Japan fear rewarding North Korea for its belligerence and endless repetition of a cycle of tensions and failed talks that have prolonged the crisis.

Kerry's message of openness to diplomacy was clear, however unlikely the chances appeared that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's government would meet the American's conditions.

"I'm not going to be so stuck in the mud that an opportunity to actually get something done is flagrantly wasted because of a kind of predetermined stubbornness," he told U.S.-based journalists.

"You have to keep your mind open. But fundamentally, the concept is they're going to have to show some kind of good faith here so we're not going to around and around in the same-old, same-old," he said.

Tensions have run high on the Korean Peninsula for months, with North Korea testing a nuclear device and its intercontinental ballistic missile technology.

The reclusive communist state hasn't stopped there. It has issued almost daily threats that have included possible nuclear strikes against the United States. Analysts and foreign officials say that is still beyond the North Koreans' capability.

While many threats have been dismissed as bluster, U.S. and South Korean say they believe the North in the coming days may test a mid-range missile designed to reach as far as Guam, the U.S. territory in the Pacific where the Pentagon is deploying a land-based missile-defense system.

Japan is the last stop on a 10-day trip overseas for Kerry, who visited Seoul and Beijing as well in recent days.

In South Korea, he strongly warned North Korea not to launch a missile and he reaffirmed U.S. defense of its allies in the region. In China, he secured a public pledge from Beijing, the lone government with significant influence over North Korea, to rid the North of nuclear weapons.

Before returning to the United States, Kerry planned a speech Monday in Japan on the Obama administration's Asia policy.

So far, Republican lawmakers in the U.S. have largely backed the administration's efforts on North Korea.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told CBS' "Face the Nation" that he was encouraged by Kerry's China visit and that he hoped "we can get the Chinese to care more about this issue.

U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona suggested on CNN's "State of the Union" that the U.S. make a counter-threat by using missile interceptors to hit any North Korean missile that is test-fired.

At each stop on his trip, Kerry stressed that the United States wanted a peaceful resolution of the North Korea situation six decades after a cease-fire ended the Korean War.

But North Korea on Sunday served a reminder of the difficult task ahead. Its Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said the government had no intention of talking with Seoul unless the South abandons its confrontational posture, as the North called it.

Seoul had pressed North Korea to discuss restarting operations at a joint factory park on the border and President Park Geun-hye has stressed peace opportunities after taking power from her more hard-line predecessor, Lee Myung-bak. The presidency expressed regret with North Korea's rebuttal Sunday.

At a news conference in Tokyo, Kerry stressed that gaining China's commitment to a denuclearized North Korea was no small matter given its historically strong military and economic ties to North Korea.

But he refused to say what the Chinese were offering to do concretely to pressure the North into abiding by some of the conditions it agreed to in a 2005 deal that required it to abandon its nuclear program.

"They have to take some actions," Kerry said of North Korea. "How many or how much? I'd have to talk to folks back in Washington about that. But if the Chinese came to us and said, 'Look, here's what we have cooking,' I'm not going to tell you I'm shutting the door today to something that's logical and might have a chance of success."

In remarks to U.S. journalists, Kerry said that under the right circumstances, he even would consider making a grand overture to North Korea's leader, such as an offer of direct talks with the U.S.

"We're prepared to reach out," he said. Diplomacy, he added, required risk-taking and secrecy such as when President Richard Nixon engaged China in the 1970s or U.S. back-channel talks were able to end the Cuban missile crisis a decade earlier.

Given their proximity and decades of hostility and distrust, Japan and South Korea have the most to fear from the North's unpredictable actions.

Kerry clarified a statement he made Saturday in Beijing, when he told reporters the U.S. could scale back its missile-defense posture in the region if North Korea goes nuclear-free.

It appeared to be a sweetener to coax tougher action from a Chinese government which has eyed the increased U.S. military presence in its backyard warily, but which has done little over the years to snuff out funding and support for North Korea's weapons of mass destruction program.

Kerry said America's basic force posture wasn't up to debate. "There is no discussion that I know of to change that," he said.

But he said it was logical that additional missile-defense elements, deployed specifically in response to the Korean threat, could be reversed if that threat no longer existed.

"I was simply making an observation about the rationale for that particular deployment, which is to protect the United States' interests that are directly threatened by North Korea," he said.

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Obama budget aims to kickstart deficit-reduction talks

By Mark Felsenthal and Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday proposed a budget that sharply trims the U.S. deficit over three years by forcing millionaires to pay more in taxes and enacting spending cuts that replace the "sequester" reductions that went into place last month.

President Barack Obama's fiscal 2014 budget blueprint ensures that those making $1 million a year or more would have to pay at least 30 percent of their income, after gifts to charity, in taxes, officials said.

That increase, along with spending cuts and a 28 percent cap on tax deductions for high earners, would bring the U.S. budget deficit down to 2.8 percent of GDP by 2016, senior administration officials told reporters. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office in February projected the U.S. deficit to be 5.3 pct of GDP this year.

Obama is due to release his full budget at 11:15 a.m. EDT (1515 GMT) and to make remarks at that time.

The president's budget stands little chance of being enacted into law. However, senior administration officials said that, in spite of Republican leaders' resistance to tax increases, they hoped it could lead to a deficit reduction accord.

"There continue to be people who are on the Republican side ... in the Senate at least, who are saying things that would give you some hope that there is a path to a deal," a senior administration official told reporters.

The president is breaking from the tradition of using the largely symbolic budget release to outline his ideal tax and spending proposals. Instead, he is trying to relaunch talks to resolve a long-running fiscal battle with his Capitol Hill adversaries.

To do so, Obama is offering a concession that has enraged many of his supporters: adopting a less generous measure of inflation to calculate cost-of-living increases for the beneficiaries of many federal programs. One result would be diminished benefits for most recipients of the popular Social Security retirement program.

Although Obama has pledged to shield some of the most vulnerable beneficiaries, the proposal has drawn strong opposition from Democrats and groups representing labor and the elderly.

At the same time, his budget proposal faces seemingly insurmountable opposition from Republican leaders, who reject any new tax revenues.

Obama's hope is to build a coalition of lawmakers willing to compromise, although most observers see that as unlikely. He has invited 12 Republicans to dinner at the White House on Wednesday in an effort to soften resistance.

"The question is, are Republicans going to be willing to come to us to do the serious thing that they say is so important in terms of reducing our deficit," a senior administration official said in a conference call with reporters the day before the budget release.

Both sides are so dug that they were unable to prevent some $85 billion in across-the-board "sequestration cuts" from going into effect March 1.

Obama's budget proposal would replace those cuts with his original deficit reduction proposal from December. That offer included $930 billion in spending reductions and some $580 billion in tax revenues.

The president's budget includes spending on policy priorities such as infrastructure and early childhood education. He would pay for those programs with additional new taxes and the elimination of some tax breaks for the well-off.

The budget also includes a 10 percent tax credit for small businesses that raise wages or hire new workers.

The president's advisers said the budget proposal would achieve $1.8 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years. Added to the $2.5 trillion in deficit cuts from past efforts, the total would be above the $4 trillion reduction both Republicans and the White House have said would be an acceptable goal.

Obama's budget is a clear contrast with a rival blueprint put forward by Representative Paul Ryan, the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee and potential 2016 presidential candidate.

"You can invest in the middle class, create jobs, and reduce our deficits," a senior administration official said. "We don't have to choose between deficits as far as the eye can see and the sort of austerity that's in the Paul Ryan budget."

(Reporting By Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Bill Trott)

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Sex, power scandals to loom over Vatican pre-vote talks

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The sex and power scandals haunting the Catholic Church look set to play a big role in meetings before next month's papal election after two senior cardinals called on Tuesday for more internal debate about them.

A leading support group for victims of clerical sexual abuse also made what it called a "last-ditch plea" to Pope Benedict to use his authority before resigning on Thursday to discipline bishops who have protected predatory priests in their dioceses.

The abuse issue took on new urgency after Scotland's Cardinal Keith O'Brien, accused of improper behavior with young priests, quit as Edinburgh archbishop on Monday and pulled out of the Sistine Chapel conclave to elect a new pope.

A Scottish Catholic Media Office spokesman has said O'Brien was taking legal advice and contested the "anonymous and non specific" allegations against him.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, now the only British prelate due to attend pre-conclave talks among cardinals at the Vatican next week, said in London the sexual abuse of children was the most serious scandal in the Church.

"That will be one of the main things the cardinals will be discussing," said Murphy-O'Connor, who cannot vote because he is over 80 years old but can join the cardinal electors in their closed-door discussions about the challenges for the next pope.

French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran said in a newspaper interview that the cardinal electors, who number 115 after O'Brien stepped down, should also be informed about a secret report on Vatican corruption prepared for Pope Benedict.

The retiring pontiff has decided to reserve the report for his successor, but the three cardinals over 80 years old who drew it up will be allowed to inform the cardinal electors about some of its findings during next week's consultations.

ASKING TO NAME NAMES

"The cardinal electors cannot decide to choose this or that name to vote for if they don't know the contents of this dossier," Tauran told La Repubblica newspaper.

"If it's necessary, I don't see why they should not ask for names," said Tauran, a former Vatican foreign minister who now heads its department for interreligious dialogue.

Italian newspapers have been speculating for days about conspiracies and alleged sexual scandals inside the Vatican that may have influenced Benedict to become the first pope in some six centuries to step down rather than die in office.

The Vatican has accused these newspapers of spreading "false and damaging" rumors in an attempt to influence the cardinals who are starting to arrive in Rome for the pope's farewell meeting with them on Thursday.

Two directors of the United States-based abuse victims' network SNAP arrived in Rome on Tuesday to draw attention to their demands for tougher Church policies.

"We're here to make a last ditch plea to Pope Benedict to use the remaining hours of his papacy to take decisive action to protect kids," said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

He acknowledged that Benedict had met some abuse victims and made some strong statements condemning the molestation of minors by priests, but said he only acted under public pressure.

"We long for the day when Church officials announce that this cardinal or this bishop is being demoted because Church officials have found proof of wrongdoing and Church officials want to clean things up," he told journalists.

SNAP saw no papal candidates ready to fire bishops for shielding wrongdoers, he said, but added: "It's hard to believe there aren't some cardinals who are grabbing their colleagues by the lapels and saying 'We simply have to do better'."

CATHOLICS CRITICAL OF ABUSE HANDLING

Spanish Cardinal Julian Herranz, one of the three who drew up the secret report for Benedict, echoed the Vatican attack on the media in an interview on Monday with the daily El Pais.

"This wanting to see snake pits, warring mafias, internal hatreds - all this is absolutely false," he said.

Because conclaves are such secretive events, it is hard to see what effect the heightened public pressure over the abuse issue might have on the cardinals who will elect the next leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics around the globe.

Italian newspapers, which dedicate several pages a day to the papal story, have begun mentioning Cardinal Sean O'Malley as a possible "clean hands" candidate because he was sent to Boston to deal with abuse scandals that erupted there in 2002.

But other factors could lead them to choose a man whose main strengths lie elsewhere, such as an aptitude to promote its "new evangelization" drive, aimed at rekindling the faith in Europe and boost it in other regions.

Recent polls in two important national churches, in the United States and Germany, show that Catholics give their leaders low marks for their handling of the abuse crisis.

A Pew Forum poll last week showed U.S. Catholics have become increasingly critical, with those saying Benedict has done a poor job rising from 40 percent in 2008 to 63 percent now.

A survey in January for the weekly Die Zeit showed that only 28 percent of German Catholics polled believed the Church really wanted to clean up the mess the scandals have caused.

(Reporting By Tom Heneghan; Editing by Will Waterman)

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5 Ways to Deal with Financial Aid Uncertainty as the Fiscal Cliff Talks Continue

If the sequester automatic spending cuts goes into effect on March 1st, the financial aid award notification from your college may not be 100 percent accurate. The Department of Education is set to cut about $4,021 million--meaning funding for the Office of Federal Student Aid and the Office of Postsecondary Education may be slashed. These offices are responsible for distributing work-study and grant opportunities that make college possible for many students.

Out of 1,096 college students that NerdScholar interviewed on the issue of the fiscal cliff, 85 percent said they are worried about what kind of impact it would have on their aid. Twenty-five percent said they would even consider dropping out of school rather than ask their parents for help or take out private loans.

What does this mean for you? If the sequester goes into effect, the awards that colleges say they will give may not be the exact amount you will receive.

You may get what they tell you in their award letter, but due to the fiscal mess, you may get less. Still, it is helpful to be prepared to make sure you are financially covered to pay for next year's tuition. Here are five ways to deal with the uncertainty about your financial aid award in the:

1. Double check the FAFSA deadline for the state where you are applying to college. Every state has its own deadline, but you should aim to get your FAFSA submitted as soon as possible. Remind your parents to file their taxes early so you are able to input the most accurate income information. Also, early submission is key since many state- and college-aid disbursements are made on a first-come, first-serve basis.

2. Estimate what you could pay out-of-pocket. Due to the fiscal cliff, you won't know for sure how much money will be set aside for you until the talks wind down, congress makes decisions, and there is more certainty about federal education funding. After filling out the FAFSA, you will not know exactly how much you are awarded until your school sends you an award letter. However, based on the cost of attendance of your school and the knowledge of your family's income after filling out the FAFSA, you can look up your estimated out-of-pocket costs using the National Center for Education Statistic's College Navigator. Simply input your college, look up your family's income level, and you can get a rough estimate of how much you're expected to pay out of pocket. Take this number as how much money you should find in scholarships.

3. Maximize your federal aid. After filling out your FAFSA, you have your Estimated Family Contribution (EFC). Go back to the College Navigator and if your EFC does not match up with what is the suggested out-of-pocket cost, that may be an indication that school is going to give you the most aid. In other words, you can gauge how aid-friendly a school will be.

4. Be persistent and find scholarships to avoid private loans. Even after you've been admitted to your college of choice, continue looking for scholarships to try to cover your out-of-pocket costs with scholarships. Most scholarship deadlines are between January and March, so make sure to give yourself enough time to write essays, gather letters of recommendation, and put together any other application requirements.

5. Sit down and make a budget to outline your true costs of living. After receiving your financial award letter, knowing how much you are expected to pay factoring in scholarships and loans you should give you a good idea of how much money you will have to eat and pay for rent.

Although the fiscal cliff mess is making student aid more difficult to predict, you can take these steps to be extra prepared as you enter your next year in college.

Laura Pereyra is a Communications Analyst for NerdScholar, brought to you by NerdWallet, which provides free scholarship search, student loan calculator, and college comparison tools.

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