North Korea could reach U.S. with nuclear arms: Pentagon

By David Alexander

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea's continuing development of nuclear technology and long-range ballistic missiles will move it closer to its stated goal of being able to hit the United States with an atomic weapon, a new Pentagon report to Congress said on Thursday.

The report, the first version of an annual Pentagon assessment required by law, said Pyongyang's Taepodong-2 missile, with continued development, might ultimately be able to reach parts of the United States carrying a nuclear payload if configured as an intercontinental ballistic missile.

North Korea launched a multi-stage rocket that delivered a satellite into orbit in December, an advance that "contributes heavily" to the country's development of a long-range ballistic missile capability, the report said.

It is also continuing to refine its atomic weapons capability, including with a nuclear detonation in February, and is capable of conducting "additional nuclear tests at any time," the report said.

"These advances in ballistic-missile delivery systems, coupled with developments in nuclear technology ... are in line with North Korea's stated objective of being able to strike the U.S. homeland," the report said.

"North Korea will move closer to this goal, as well as increase the threat it poses to U.S. forces and allies in the region, if it continues testing and devoting scarce regime resources to these programs," it said.

The document characterized North Korea as one of the biggest U.S. security challenges in the region because of its effort to develop nuclear arms and missiles, its record of selling weapons technology to other countries and its willingness to "undertake provocative and destabilizing behavior."

The report comes at a sensitive time in the region, with friction between Washington and Pyongyang only now beginning to ease following two months of increasingly shrill rhetoric that seemed to edge the Korean peninsula close to war.

Tensions between the two countries rose sharply after North Korea put the satellite into space in late December and conducted the nuclear test in February. The test triggered new U.N. sanctions, which led to a barrage of threats from Pyongyang.

North Korea went so far as to warn of nuclear strikes on the United States and South Korea, as its new leader, Kim Jong-un, marked his first year in office following the death of his father.

The U.S. and South Korean militaries went ahead with a long-scheduled military exercise despite the threats and Washington sending stealth bombers and other planes to the region in a show of force.

North Korea signed a deal to get rid of its nuclear program in exchange for aid in 2005 but later backed out of the pact and now says it will not give up its atomic weapons program.

The United States has firmly rejected North Korean demands that it be recognized as a nuclear-armed state. Washington has stepped up its diplomacy with China over the issue.

(Reporting By David Alexander; Editing by David Brunnstrom)

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Mini-stroke could limit Algeria president ambition

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — The mini-stroke suffered by Algeria's president has cast fresh doubt on his perceived ambition to run for a fourth term next year as leader of one of Africa's largest and richest countries.

The possibility that President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, 76, could step down could affect the stability of this key U.S. ally in the fight against terror but might also open up its long-stagnant politics.

Bouteflika on Saturday had a brief blockage of a cerebral blood vessel known as a transient ischemic attack, which authorities said he quickly recovered from and had no lasting complications. He was sent to a military hospital in Paris for tests, however, and remained there Sunday night.

Algeria's state news agency has been uncommonly open about the president's latest health problem but insisted he will be back to work soon.

"He has not had any lasting damage and no motor or sensory function has been impaired," Rachid Bougherbal, the director of the institute of sports medicine, told the state news agency.

Such mini-strokes — known as TIAs — have symptoms of confusion and disorientation. They are quite brief but can re-occur. In a third of the cases, a full stroke can happen within a year, according to the American Stroke Association.

The mini-stroke has come during a delicate time in Bouteflika's 14-year-reign, as rumors over his poor health have proliferated and he has rarely appeared in public.

Charges of corruption have also dogged his administration. Terrorist groups, including one that carried out a massive attack on an Algerian gas field in January, are also known to be in remote desert areas along Algeria's borders.

There has also been a great deal of social unrest in this North African nation of 37 million, especially over Algeria's high unemployment rate.

Despite announcing that he would step down at the next presidential election, it is widely believed that Bouteflika wants to run for a fourth term in April 2014.

So convinced are residents of this unspoken desire of the president that there has been no talk of other candidates, only when he will make his announcement.

"This totally ends the chances of his fourth term," said Chafik Mesbah, a political analyst and former member of the military intelligence.

"This is ultimately a good thing," he added, explaining that the army and the intelligence services were increasingly upset over the rising tide of corruption.

Bouteflika's last term has seen a proliferation of corruption charges that have embroiled many of his former ministers and associates, mostly revolving around bribes paid by foreign companies to win lucrative oil or infrastructure contracts.

The charges had even reached up to the president's brother, Said Bouteflika, who had been amassing power as the leader's main adviser until he was forced to resign.

Even before the latest scare, the president's diminished health had been slowing down the pace of government, said analyst Mohammed Saidj.

"The council of ministers, which is an important institution for transmitting laws, hasn't met since December," he said. "All these absences can only be explained by one thing: his health doesn't allow him to assume the full duties of the president."

Bouteflika was elected in 1999 to a country with a devastated economy that had been savaged by years of civil war with Islamists. He is widely credited with ending the war and putting the country back on its feet, aided by soaring energy prices.

Algeria weathered the 2011 Arab Spring protests partly because of a lack of organized opposition but also because of massive sums spent on increasing subsidies and raising salaries to keep residents happy.

But as his health has declined, Bouteflika has become a shadow of his former energetic self when he was the world's youngest foreign minister in 1963 after Algeria won independence from France and became one of the faces of the non-aligned movement.

He doesn't seem to be ready, however, to let the next generation take over.

University of Algiers political professor Rachid Tlemcani said, like most authoritarian rulers, "he wishes to die in power."

But Tlemcani says Bouteflika stepping down would be a good thing for Algeria.

"I think the political game would be open, which would be really good," he said. "It can only be positive for Algeria — the game has been very closed so far."

Life on the streets of Algiers, the capital, went on as usual the day after the president's health scare. Most people seemed more focused on the country's upcoming soccer club final.

Walking through Algiers' El Biar neighborhood, Achou Slimani shrugged.

"It's normal that he fell sick, it's not the first time," he said. "He was already sick, he recovered, he came back."

______

Associated Press writer Aomar Ouali contributed to this report.

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Italian government could be settled on Saturday: sources

By Paolo Biondi

ROME (Reuters) - Italian prime minister-designate Enrico Letta could announce a new government on Saturday and spell out its programme early next week, political sources said on Friday, while outgoing premier Mario Monti said he did not expect to be a minister.

Letta, deputy leader of the centre-left Democratic Party, has been in discussions to iron out remaining differences with Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party following an initial round of talks on Thursday.

After two months of political stalemate following an inconclusive general election in February, Letta is under pressure to move quickly and form a government capable of leading Italy out of recession.

In a series of lengthy meetings, he conferred with President Giorgio Napolitano, Monti and PDL national co-ordinator Angelino Alfano.

Monti said in an evening television interview that he advised Letta not to put frontline politicians from any party in key cabinet posts in order to reduce potential tensions. He said this meant he himself would be excluded.

"I don't believe I will be in the cabinet and I have not requested to be," he told TV channel La7.

Several political sources close to Letta said he expected to announce his cabinet on Saturday and take Sunday to prepare an initial speech to parliament on Monday, which would be followed by confidence votes in the two houses of parliament.

The horse-trading around the formation of a new government represents a cooling of post-election hostilities and few politicians or commentators doubt the government will be formed.

Yet big problems remain, including securing the lasting support of Letta's own divided party and ensuring cohesion in a cabinet of long-time adversaries.

One potential stumbling block is the PDL's demand for the abolition and repayment of a housing tax introduced last year by Monti's technocrat government.

Scrapping the tax for 2013 and repaying last year's contribution would blow an 8 billion euro ($10.40 billion) hole in this year's budget plans and create further problems for medium-term finances in the years ahead.

In an interview with Italian newspapers on Friday, Berlusconi expressed optimism that a solution could be found but, in a sign that problems remained, politicians on both sides avoided public comment on how talks were progressing.

Letta has declared his chief priorities will be measures to create jobs and help small business and to reform ineffective political institutions, including an electoral law that was a leading cause of the deadlocked vote.

He has also joined a chorus of voices calling for a change to the European Union's austerity mantra to put more emphasis on economic growth and investment, a line that Berlusconi's PDL has also pushed strongly.

VIABLE COALITION?

Letta's Democratic Party has come close to breaking apart after a mutiny last week over the election of the president of the republic which forced Pier Luigi Bersani to resign as party leader.

Many in the party refuse to accept any coalition with the scandal-plagued Berlusconi, their enemy for almost 20 years, who is appealing against a four-year sentence for tax fraud and fighting charges of paying for sex with a minor.

Younger party activists have protested loudly against any deal and there has already been speculation that some rebels may refuse to support Letta in confidence votes in parliament.

The anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, Berlusconi's former allies in the Northern League and the PD's own former allies in the leftist Left Ecology Freedom party have already declared they will not be in a government dominated by the PD and PDL.

The PDL insists that the government be made up mostly of politicians from the main parties rather than technocrats, putting it at odds with many in Letta's party.

Berlusconi pressed for Renato Brunetta, a combative former economics professor who is currently the PDL's lower house leader, to be given the economy ministry, ruling out Bank of Italy official Fabrizio Saccomanni, who had been mooted.

Other possible candidates include former prime minister Giuliano Amato, while either Monti or former prime minister Massimo D'Alema have been considered possible foreign ministers.

Berlusconi claimed a role in a group deciding institutional reforms and urged a transformation of the electoral system to include a directly elected head of state along the lines of the French model.

($1 = 0.7689 euros)

(Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Tom Pfeiffer)

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Rush to help airlines, travelers could crack open budget door

By David Lawder and Doug Palmer

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress got rid of a headache on Friday when it rescued the flying public from flight delays caused by its budget cutting. But in the view of many lawmakers, the pain is just about to begin.

Members of Congress and groups representing people hit by across-the-board budget cuts, ranging from cancer patients to welfare recipients, say the quick action on air traffic control staffing underscored the importance of being visible to millions of Americans.

"What are we going to do, every time there's a fire we're going to put it out by moving some funds around? That's a shell game," said Representative Gerald Connolly, a Democrat from northern Virginia.

"I'm going to predict that there's going to be more weeping and gnashing of teeth, as sequestration sets in and we're going to continue to approach this on a piecemeal basis," he said.

Next in line for individual funding relief will be advocates for national parks, low-income housing, AIDS funding, meals on wheels and Community Development Block Grants, Connolly said, adding that budget cuts for these and other safety-net services will be felt severely by local communities.

Representatives for some of these other programs said it was the television images of lines in airports and the interviews with angry passengers that led to action, combined with the lobbying power of the travel industry.

"It means we worry about who's going to scream the loudest now," said Chris Hansen, president of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, which has been lobbying against cuts in federal funding of medical research.

A heavy dose of lobbying from the airline and travel industry preceded the legislation enacted Friday, which permitted the Federal Aviation Administration to move money to avoid the furloughs of air traffic controllers that were causing the delays.

Sequestration - the $109 billion in automatic across-the-board budget cuts enacted by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama - formally took effect in March and barring Congressional action to replace it may continue for a decade.

Some programs won relief from Congress in March, notably the meat and poultry industry, which fought successfully to prevent furloughs of U.S. Department of Agriculture meat inspectors.

But because the furloughs in other programs, such as the FAA, were not immediately implemented, the impact was slow to build.

TRAVEL LOBBY

The travel industry began to accelerate its lobbying effort after it learned early last week from the FAA that as many as 6,700 flights per day could be delayed, potentially reducing capacity at major airports by 30 to 40 percent.

Nicholas Calio, president of Airlines for America, or A4A, the main airlines industry group, worked the phones throughout the week, said Jean Medina, senior vice president for communications at A4A.

"He certainly was in very close contact with a lot of people to make sure they understood what needed to happen," she said.

Its first course of action was to ask the administration for a 30-day delay.

When that was denied, the industry group began focusing on a legislative fix that would clear both houses with bipartisan support and be signed into law by Obama.

US Airways Chief Executive Doug Parker, who would head the world's largest airline if his carrier's merger with AMR Corp's American Airlines is approved, said he spent the past week making calls to government officials in his airline's hub markets to express concern about the furloughs.

"What I know is we're doing great disservice to the flying public and to the citizens of the United States and we need for this to get resolved," Parker told Reuters from Arizona earlier this week.

The non-profit U.S. Travel Association said it mounted its own "sequester offensive" in response to the furloughs and began a consumer texting campaign that connected travelers who had been delayed at airports to members of Congress.

The association also asked industry workers to contact their representatives in Congress to explain that the travel delays put their jobs at risk.

"We were in frequent contact with Congress urging them to solve this problem as soon as possible," Erik Hansen, director of domestic policy at the U.S. Travel Association, said on Friday. "We were able to generate hundreds of calls and emails to Congress and we're hoping that helped to move the ball forward," Hansen said.

VISIBILITY

Airlines for America reported about $6.3 million in lobbying expenses in 2012 according to the Center for Responsive Politics; the U.S. Travel Association spent about $1.7 million; US Airways and Delta about $2.8 million each.

While other interest groups have a lobbying presence in the national capital, they are hard pressed to match the visibility of air travel.

Compared to "longer lines at airports," said Cynthia Pellegrini, a vice president at the March of Dimes, which raises funds to improve the health of mothers and babies, "you can't see that a child's belly is emptier because her family couldn't get food assistance."

"We are not as well-heeled as the travel industry," said Deborah Weinstein, executive director of the Coalition on Human Needs, an alliance of social welfare organizations. "But I think as more people learn of this appalling choice," that Congress made on Friday, "they will get as mad as I am."

Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, home to a major Delta Air Lines hub in Minneapolis, was among the members backing an FAA budget fix on Thursday when the Senate passed it.

She called it a "practical, pragmatic answer to an immediate problem," but acknowledged that it does nothing to get Congress closer to fixing the problems caused by sequestration. More effects of the cuts, demonstrated dramatically to the public, could do that, she added.

She may not have long to wait. Organizations that have been more quietly protesting the budget cuts were rethinking their strategy on Friday in the wake of Congress' action.

"It is inexplicable why proven and effective Meals on Wheels programs get overlooked from exemption from the sequester when both the business and social case exists," said Ellie Hollander, President and CEO of Meals on Wheels Association of America.

"I guess that's because we need to be a different kind of squeaky wheel."

(Additional reporting by Karen Jacobs, Susan Heavy and Karey Van Hall; Editing by Fred Barbash and Tim Dobbyn)

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North Korea Moves Missile, Could Be Preparing a Test

north korea

U.S. officials suspect that North Korea may be preparing for a test of its Musudan medium-range missile after seeing evidence of it being transported to North Korea's eastern coast. Such a launch would be the latest in a series of provocations by North Korea in recent weeks.

Earlier Thursday, South Korea's defense minister told his nation's lawmakers that a North Korean missile with "considerable range" had been transported to that country's eastern coast. Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin said he could not explain the movement and added that the missile was not capable of reaching the United States.

U.S. officials have identified the missile as a mobile-launched Musudan missile estimated to have a range of between 1,800 and 2,500 miles that could put U.S. military bases in Okinawa and Guam within its range.

RELATED: North Korea Relocates Long-Range Missile in Latest 'Rhetorical Threat'

The officials said that, two days ago surveillance satellites detected the movement by train of a Musudan mobile launcher as well as fuel and equipment needed for a missile launch.

One official said it is possible that as many as two missiles could be readied for a potential launch because there were more missile components spotted than might be needed if only one missile was being launched.

The U.S. is trying to locate the location on the eastern coast where the launcher and missile components are currently located.

The officials said there is speculation that a missile test could be in the works and that it could occur soon. Unlike long-range missiles, which can spend weeks on a launch pad in preparation for a launch, mobile-launched missiles can be launched fairly quickly and with little warning.

PHOTOS: Inside North Korea

The Musudan is a medium-range missile that has never been tested before, though it has been publicly paraded by North Korea in the past. U.S. officials have been expecting it to be tested at some point over the past few years.

A U.S. official said that, so far, North Korea has not provided a notice to mariners about a potential missile launch. During previous long-range launches, the North Koreans have listed advance warnings to mariners and aviators. In addition to serving as safety warnings that a missile may land near a body of water, they have also served as indicators of a possible launch. The official said launching this missile without such an advance advisory would be seen as a provocation.

READ MORE: N. Korea's Real Power, Kim Jong Un's Aunt, Uncle

One of the officials said there is also concern about how Japan might react if a North Korean missile were to overfly its territory. Placing the Musudan on the eastern coast indicated the trajectory might take it over Japan. Last December, in advance of North Korea's long-range missile test that month, the Japanese government gave orders to its military shoot down a missile should it appear to be headed for Japanese territory.

That did not happen, as the Unha 3 missile was launched on a southward trajectory away from the Korean Peninsula. Japan has both land-based and ship-based missile interceptors like the ones aboard U.S. Navy ships.

In light of North Korea's recent threats to launch missiles at the United States, the Pentagon has assigned two of its missile-defense-capable Navy destroyers to provide missile defense if needed.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon confirmed the destroyers USS John S McCain and USS Decatur had been sent to pre-determined locations in the western Pacific.

The USS Decatur will soon be replaced by the destroyer USS Fitzgerald so that it can return to its homeport of San Diego after a seven-month deployment.

RELATED: U.S. Troops Stand 'Poised to Respond' at NKorea Border

Japan and South Korea both have short-range air missile defense systems, the U.S. Navy ships can provide backup if the trajectory is beyond that range and pose a threat to other partners in the region and U.S. territory.

In the wake of North Korea's missile threat on Wednesday, the Pentagon announced that it was sending a land-based missile defense system to Guam.

North Korea also has a mobile-launched, long-range missile known as the KN-08. North Korea has never tested the missile, but it is of particular concern because it can be launched with little warning and is believed to be able to reach parts of the United States.

One official said there has been no worrisome activity related to the KN-08.

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Could Mark Sanford Lose House Race?

Mark Sanford has overcome his past-for now. The disgraced former South Carolina governor ran a successful Republican primary campaign for the House seat he held in the 1990s, besting attorney and former Charleston County Council member Curtis Bostic Tuesday night in a runoff.

Sanford's win followed a 16-way first round of the GOP primary, in which he rose above a large and varied field of South Carolina politicos.

But more importantly, it followed nearly four years in the political wilderness. In 2009, Sanford revealed an extramarital affair with Maria Belen Chapur, now his fiancee, during one of the most memorable and strange political press conferences of the century, punctuated by personal openness and tears, after going AWOL for seven days, leading staff and public alike to believe he was hiking on the Appalachian Trail. It seemed he would never surface in politics again.

Sanford said as much, two years later: "No, I'm not," Sanford told Fox News' Sean Hannity in 2011, when asked if he was considering a return to politics.

It's difficult to say whether Sanford's win on Tuesday night was triumphant.

He took 57 percent to Bostic's 43 percent-a substantial margin, but perhaps not what one would expect of a former statewide officeholder with near-universal recognition in the district.

Forgiveness was an early theme in Sanford's campaign, featured in his first TV ad in the district, and Sanford will now test voters' forgiveness against Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of Comedy Central host Stephen Colbert.

The question now becomes: Could Sanford blow it?

The First District favors Republicans, in a big way. No Democrat has represented it in Congress since 1981.

Still, Sanford brings his unique problems to the race.

Aside from the question of whether Sanford's highly public extramarital affair will damage his standing, particularly among female voters, one South Carolina Republican insider suggested to ABC News that voters would forgive his personal conduct-but not his "abandoning" the state while on his then-mysterious Argentinian trip.

Another South Carolina GOP politico, who worked for Sanford primary rival Larry Grooms, suggested Colbert Busch has a real shot.

"Yes, very much so," said Hogan Gidley, a former state party director and former consultant for Rick Santorum's presidential campaign. "She's well-known, she's well-liked and she's well-respected. It's just a political reality that it will be very difficult for Sanford to attack her in any way … [that] could trump party loyalty as a motivator. If it does you'll see the fiscal conservatives and social conservatives sending a loud message we are not just about winning, principals really do matter."

No poll has been conducted in the district that meets ABC's standards for reliability. Although Colbert Busch claims to lead Sanford both in horse-race polling and in favorability, based on a survey her campaign commissioned, she hasn't yet endured the withering attacks sure to come her way, almost certain to paint her as an Obama-loving liberal who lacks fiscal-conservative cred. The National Republican Congressional Committee is already criticizing Colbert Busch for her support for parts of the president's health law, although not yet in paid advertising. On top of that, Mitt Romney won the district handily over President Obama in the fall.

One South Carolina Republican questioned whether Colbert Busch's star power, and the attention that Democrats from other states will give her, would help or hurt her in a heavily Republican district.

Sanford will have until May 7 to tell voters about his opponent, as the focus now shifts from his own improbable comeback to a race against a Democratic opponent who, some think, could turn a deep red district blue.

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Could Amanda Knox be Extradited to Italy?

Today's ruling by Italy's Supreme Court ordering a new murder trial for Amanda Knox guarantees the legal drama will drag on for several more years and will be expensive.

It also raises the possibility that if Knox is found guilty and that verdict is upheld by Italy's Supreme Court, Knox could eventually face a request to extradite her and put her back in prison.

An extradition request would likely turn on whether being prosecuted again after being exonerated constitutes double jeopardy.

Knox and her ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were convicted in 2009 after a lengthy and controversial trial for the murder of her British roommate Meredith Kercher in 2007. Knox was sentenced to 26 years in prison while Sollecito got 25.

That verdict was tossed out in 2011 by an appeals court that blasted the prosecution's handling of critical DNA evidence and the case in general.

Knox had hoped today's Supreme Court ruling would uphold her innocence and put an end to her six year ordeal. Instead she was "shocked" when the court ordered the appeals court to retry the case.

Knox, 25, now faces years of legal maneuvering and hearings starting when the case is expected to go back to trial early next year.

FULL COVERAGE: The Amanda Knox Trial

Knox, who has already spent four years in an Italian prison, does not intend to return to Italy for the proceedings, possibly putting her lawyers at a disadvantage. She won't be able to testify on her own behalf and she won't be able to take advantage of Italy's right of "spontaneous declarations" in which the defendant can stand and make a statement to defend herself against particular testimony.

Her absence at the new trial could prompt the appellate court to declare her in contempt of court, but that carries no additional penalties.

The outcome of the retrial is certain to be appealed to the Supreme Court by whichever side loses.

If Knox is again convicted and the verdict is upheld by the Supreme Court, Italy would be expected to seek her extradition in order to put her back in prison.

"We've got a [extradition] treaty," said Bruce Zagaris, a Washington-based attorney who specializes in extradition cases. "The Senate has already ratified that treaty and decided that Italy is a country with which we ought to have a treaty. They wouldn't have ratified if they didn't think the Italian process was fair and due process was sufficient."

"She can try to fight extradition, but it will be an uphill battle," Zagaris said.

In the American legal world being retried for the same crime sounds like "double jeopardy," a principle in the U.S. judicial system and enshrined in the Constitution that outlaws being tried twice for the same crime.

American unease with double jeopardy could give Knox a "fighting chance" to appeal any extradition in a U.S. court, said Christopher L. Blakesley, a professor of international law University of Nevada Las Vegas.

"There's room to fight extradition," Blakesley said, "and double jeopardy is the spot to fight on…. In the treaty, we functionally accept their system of justice, but it's up to a magistrate to decide whether" the double jeopardy clause of the Constitution was violated and if that trumps the treaty.

Asked about Knox's prospects for extradition, a State Department spokesman said "we never talk about extradition from the podium," during the daily briefing for reporters, and said the U.S. would wait for the final explanation from the Italian Supreme Court before commenting.

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Karl Rove: 'I Could' Imagine A GOP Presidential Candidate Supporting Gay Marriage

Fox News contributor and former Bush deputy chief of staff Karl Rove said this morning on "This Week" that he can imagine a future Republican presidential candidate supporting gay marriage.

When asked, "Can you imagine the next presidential campaign, a Republican candidate saying flat out I am for gay marriage?" Rove responded "I could."

Rove's comment came days after Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman, whom Mitt Romney considered as a running mate in the 2012 election, announced that he had shifted his position and supported gay marriage. The vast majority of Republicans in Congress do not support same-sex marriage. Portman is the only sitting Republican senator to support same-sex marriage.

The "This Week" roundtable also addressed gun violence-prevention measures now being discussed in Congress. Rove said that universal background checks would not have stopped the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary that left 20 children dead in December. "Let's be clear about this, this was prompted by the Sandy Hook murders. Those guns were legally purchased with a background check, " Rove said. "This would not have solved something like that. Let's be very careful about quickly trampling on the rights of people." Former Obama 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina pushed back, arguing the importance of background checks. "Look, 40 percent of all gun sales currently don't go through background checks. The background checks have stopped two million people from getting guns they shouldn't get," Messina said. "But we know there are loopholes all over the place. And Karl, just saying no, which is what the NRA and your party is doing right now, isn't moving us forward." Like "This Week" on Facebook here . You can also follow the show on Twitter here .

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Obama's Charm Offensive Could Work, Lawmakers Say

WASHINGTON - President Obama's newly initiated charm offensive with Republicans just might work as he tries to resolve the recently enacted sequester cuts and attempts to avert another budget showdown near the end of the month, lawmakers on Capitol Hill said today.

"If we're going to really get to an agreement, this is a good step," Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told George Stephanopoulos on ABC News' "This Week." "You have to start meeting with people. You have to start developing relationships. You've got to spend a fair amount of time figuring out what we agree on first."

"I'm welcoming with open arms. I think the president is tremendously sincere. I don't think this is just a political change in tactic," Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who called the president "my friend" said on NBC's "Meet the Press.

"It's time to start leading, and the way you do that is quit poking your finger in people's eyes and start building relationships, and I think he's got a great chance to accomplish a big deal," he said. "But, you know, you've got a lot of scabs and sores on people that it's going to take a while for that to heal."

Coburn and Johnson were among the 12 Republican senators who dined with Obama at the Jefferson Hotel earlier this week - the president's first overture in his GOP courtship. On Thursday, he sat down for lunch at the White House with Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget committee, and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the ranking Democrat on the committee, a meeting Ryan described as his first ever detailed discussion with the president.

"This is the first time I've ever had a conversation with the president lasting more than, say, two minutes or televised exchanges," Ryan said on "Fox News Sunday." "I've never really had a conversation with him, on these issues before. I am excited that we had the conversation. We had a very frank exchange. We come from different perspectives. I ran against him in the last election."

Ryan said the budget plan he will unveil later this week will "promote repealing Obamacare and replacing it with a better system."

Next week, the president is expected to continue his wooing of lawmakers, traveling to Capitol Hill over three days as he attends each party's weekly meetings.

"He's coming to the House conference, which I think is positive. He's only done that once before, but he should come and listen and communicate and try to find where we can find common ground, where can we bring that accountability back to government. That's what Republicans are looking for," House Republican Whip Kevin McCarthy said on CNN's "State of the Union."

"Any time that both parties are talking, it's a good thing," he said. "Now, this should have happened four years ago. I'm glad it's happening now. But is this about politics or is this genuine?"

Democrats also said the president's outreach was a positive step.

"I think the meetings are a good idea because you understand each other better and you may get a measure of courage," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on CNN's "State of the Union. "All of us come here to get a job done for the American people, and certainly that is the case with the president of the United States. He's been very bipartisan in his approach.

"These meetings are not something to say, well I'll do this with you now, and I'll do that with them later," she said. "I think it is let's get some things done together to make elections less important. Let's come together for the benefit of the American people."

But as the president makes strides to meet with Republicans in the coming weeks, Rep. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., said he doesn't expect the outreach to result in an agreement immediately, saying on NBC's "Meet the Press," "I hope that he's genuine, but I don't think we'll be doing the Harlem Shake anytime soon."

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PM Note: Sequesterfreude, Holder Says Obama Could Kill Americans in America, But Won't, CPAC's Choice

Hugo Chavez Dead at 58 - ABC coverage here - http://abcn.ws/YM5qKx The Contrary View on Chavez - Praise from one U.S. Congressman - http://bit.ly/XoFYiu

Why ABC Didn't Air Anti-Menendez Story - http://abcn.ws/Z8E4ma

Jeb Bush Seems Rusty - He's two days into a media blitz for his book "Immigration Wars" and Jeb Bush has already had three positions on a Path to Citizenship. The one he had in June, the one he had yesterday, and the one he has now, which seems closer to June. http://abcn.ws/YUiWOz

In at CPAC: Donald Trump. Out at CPAC: Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell - The annual conservative gathering has black listed some of the party's more intriguing potential presidential candidates, but they're embracing the party's brash reality TV host. - More from Michael Falcone - http://abcn.ws/VBvpsF

Snow Wimps - Flashback '09 - "When it comes to the weather, folks in Washington don't seem to be able to handle things. We are going to have to apply some toughness to this town." - Newly inaugurated Barack Obama back in 2009. http://abcn.ws/Z8v7t5

Sequesterfreude - We'll retest Obama's snow assertion tomorrow, but will this town be tough enough to handle sequester?

The White House cancelled all White House tours. That seems innocuous until you realize that it'll be Capitol Hill lawmakers whose offices will be calling their constituents to say their upcoming vacation might be in jeopardy. One Republican on Capitol Hill called the move "vindictive and unnecessary." - http://abcn.ws/WN1wY9

Otherwise, reporters are looking high and low for sequester pain. It still seems a bit early, but the White House is racking up quite a lot of "pinocchio's" from the Washington Post's full time fact checker for some of their sequester warnings. http://wapo.st/Zej8qB

Those Fact Checks are a bit pedantic. If overtime a worker expects is cut, does that count as a pay cut? The worker would probably say yes. But the fact we're talking about janitors on Capitol Hill is indicative of the larger sequester problem. The White House is in a position of schadenfreude. And that's never a very good position to be in, particularly when you're the nation's CEO.

Yep, Obama Could Kill Americans on U.S. Soil - But, Eric Holder added in a letter to Rand Paul, "The question you have posed is therefore entirely hypothetical, unlikely to occur, and one we hope no President will ever have to confront. It is possible, I suppose to imagine an extraordinary circumstance in which it would be necessary and appropriate under the Constitution and applicable laws of the United States for the President to authorize the military to use lethal force within the territory of the United States. For example, the President could conceivably have no choice but to authorize the military to use such force if necessary to protect the homeland in the circumstances of a catastrophic attack" like Pearl Harbor or 9/11. More from Yahoo!'s Olivier Knox - http://abcn.ws/YM5qKx

Extended Cut - Martha Raddatz Interviews John Kerry - http://yhoo.it/166vis3

Chris Good and Sarah Parnass are on the hunt for effects of budget cuts as they slowly kick in:

Sequester Meat Shortages Months Away, Says USDA Secretary - The sequester likely won't cause meat and poultry shortages for a while-thanks, in part, to union negotiations and USDA inspectors' lack of email access. http://abcn.ws/XQVUd6 (Chris Good)

Sequester at Home: New Hampshire http://abcn.ws/XTD2qI (Sarah Parnass) (What state should we consider tomorrow?)

GOP Hunts for More Cuts: 'Spending Is the Problem' - Is Medicare Solution? - After a weekend absorbing the reality that sequestration has begun to slash spending, House Speaker John Boehner and his leadership team emerged from a conference meeting this morning emboldened and ardent for more spending cuts. http://abcn.ws/WMF7dA (John Parkinson)

Brennan Inches Closer to Being Next CIA Director- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has indicated that he'd like the full Senate to vote on John Brennan's nomination at some point this week. http://abcn.ws/13DPEsQ (Sunlen Miller)

TSA to Allow Pocket Knives (Up To 2 Golf Clubs, Hockey Sticks and Ski Poles) On Planes-As the nation braces for potentially extended airport security lines because of the federal budget sequester, the Travel Security Administration (TSA) has announced they will allow small pocket knives and certain sporting goods on planes for the first time in more than a decade. No baseball bats, though. http://abcn.ws/XRa7GY (Serena Marshall)

Lawmakers Again Introduce Legislation to Pardon Boxing Legend - Maybe the ninth year's the charm. A number of legislators, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., reintroduced legislation this week to posthumously pardon boxing legend Jack Johnson, who was convicted 100 years ago of transporting a woman across state lines for an "immoral purpose" in a trial they said was tainted by race. http://abcn.ws/Yu9ja2 (Anjuli Sastry)

Henry Kissinger Hospitalized After Fall - Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was admitted to the hospital after a fall in his home, New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center announced Tuesday. http://abcn.ws/14pvhvC (Anjuli Sastry)

Kerry on Iran: Lines 'Have Been Passed' - At the end of his first overseas trip as Secretary of State, John Kerry sat down with ABC's Martha Raddatz in Qatar, where he acknowledged that despite the continued diplomacy and tough sanctions being leveled against Iran, the regime continues to get closer to having a nuclear weapon. http://abcn.ws/W2lWtl (Dana Hughes)

Biden: America's Not Bluffing On Iran - Tough talk from Vice President Joe Biden today, warning that the U.S. is determined to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. http://abcn.ws/WICKrW (Dana Hughes)

Parents of Violent Children with Mental Disorders Share Their Stories - http://abcn.ws/12sezjV (Matthew Larotonda)

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Obama: could not avoid weighing in on gay marriage court case

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Friday he felt compelled to weigh in on a California same-sex marriage case before the Supreme Court because of his and society's "profoundly positive" evolution on gay rights.

Obama's administration on Thursday filed a brief urging the court to allow same-sex marriages to resume in California, which banned them in a 2008 voter-approved measure known as Proposition 8.

Obama did not have to submit an opinion on the case and the court's nine justices are under no obligation to give it weight. But the president said he wanted his position to be known.

"Last year upon a long period of reflection, I concluded that we cannot discriminate against same-sex couples when it comes to marriage," Obama told reporters, referring to his announcement during the 2012 election campaign.

"I think that the same evolution that I've gone through is an evolution that the country as a whole has gone through. And I think it is a profoundly positive thing," he said.

Obama has made gay rights a priority during his time in office, helping end the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy that prevented gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military.

His position on marriage took his support for gay rights to a new level, however, and activists were encouraged when he noted the issue prominently in his second Inaugural Address, hoping that was a sign of more action to come.

The Obama administration is involved in another gay rights case before the court, challenging the constitutionality of a central part of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage under federal law as being between a man and a woman.

Obama said he thought his administration could not avoid weighing in on the California case as well. He said the measure did not provide any rationale for discriminating against same-sex couples.

"I felt it was important for us to articulate what I believe and what this administration stands for," he said.

"If the Supreme Court asks me or my attorney general or solicitor general, do we think that meets constitutional muster, I felt it was important for us to answer that question honestly. And the answer is no."

(Editing by Xavier Briand)

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AP INTERVIEW: Iraq PM warns Syria war could spread

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's prime minister warned Wednesday that a victory for Syria's rebels will spark sectarian wars in his own country and in Lebanon and will create a new haven for al-Qaida that would destabilize the region.

The comments by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in an interview with The Associated Press marked one of his strongest warnings yet about the turmoil that toppling Syrian President Bashar Assad could create in the Middle East.

It comes as his government confronts growing tensions of its own between the Shiite majority and an increasingly restive Sunni minority nearly a decade after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Fighting in Syria has sharp sectarian overtones, with predominantly Sunni rebels battling a regime dominated by Alawites, an offshoot Shiite Islam.

Assad's main allies are Shiite Iran and the Shiite militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Al-Maliki too is a Shiite and his sect dominates Iraq's government.

His comments reflect growing fears by many Shiites in Iraq and elsewhere that Sunnis would come to dominate Syria should Assad be pushed from power.

The toppling of Assad would deal a serious blow to the regional influence of Syria's patron Iran, which has built increasingly strong relations with Iraq's Shiite-dominated government.

Iraq has tried to maintain a neutral stance toward the civil war in Syria, saying that the aspirations of the Syrian people should be met through peaceful means.

Speaking from his office in a Saddam Hussein-era palace inside Baghdad's heavily guarded Green Zone, al-Maliki reiterated his stance that foreign military intervention is not a solution to ending the crisis in Syria.

He called on outside countries to "be more reasonable regarding Syria."

"If the world does not agree to support a peaceful solution through dialogue ... then I see no light at the end of the tunnel.

"Neither the opposition nor the regime can finish each other off," he said. "If the opposition is victorious, there will be a civil war in Lebanon, divisions in Jordan and a sectarian war in Iraq."

Al-Maliki, 62, has long been accused by many Sunnis of promoting his Shiite sect at their expense and for being too closely aligned with neighboring Iran.

His government has faced two months of unexpectedly resilient protests from the Sunni minority, whose members held many senior positions in Saddam's regime and lost their political prominence to the Shiites after he was ousted in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion.

The Sunni rallies, which have been largely peaceful, erupted in Iraq's western Sunni heartland of Anbar in late December following the arrest of bodyguards assigned to Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi, one of the most senior Sunni politicians in government.

Although the detentions were the spark for the demonstrations, the rallies tap into deeper Sunni grievances, drawing on feelings of discrimination at the hands of al-Maliki's government.

Al-Maliki and his political allies initially dismissed the protesters. But as their rallies gained strength and spread throughout parts of Iraq where Sunnis are concentrated, the stern-faced premier began to offer concessions.

His government bowed to one of the protesters' early demands and released more than 2,000 detainees, including some held without charge. He also set up a committee to examine other grievances.

He vowed Tuesday to let the protests continue as long as they remain peaceful.

But he made a point of distinguishing between the protesters and the political leaders who back them.

He also suggested, as he has done in the past, that outside influences — an apparent allusion to predominantly Sunni countries such as Turkey and the Gulf states — are helping to fuel the unrest.

"What is going on in Iraq is connected to what is happening in the region. It is also connected to the results of the so-called the Arab Spring and some sectarian policies in the region," he said.

"Our patience will continue because we believe that there are people in these provinces that are patriotic and they reject sectarianism, believe in the unity of the country and denounce the voices uttering sectarian words."

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Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed.

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Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at http://twitter.com/adamschreck

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