Egypt's legislature approves election law

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Islamist-dominated legislature approved a revised version of the law organizing the country's parliamentary elections on Thursday, after a court ruled an earlier version was invalid and delayed the vote.

The parliamentary elections had been scheduled to start this month, but the ruling said the law must be reviewed by the Supreme Constitutional Court before elections can be called. That body had asked for amendments to the earlier draft.

Thursday's approval was made by Egypt's Shura Council, the upper house of parliament now fully entrusted with legislation until new elections are held. It also referred the text to the Supreme Constitutional Court for review, Egypt's state news agency reported.

The Supreme Constitutional Court could take up to 45 days to rule on the new law. President Mohammed Morsi has said he expects the elections to be held in October.

Also on Thursday, Morsi promoted the heads of Egypt's air force, air defense forces and navy to the rank of Lieutenant-general during a meeting with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. The decision came amid recurrent media reports of strained relations between the presidency and the military.

Egypt's state news agency quoted an official close to the meeting as saying Morsi expressed his appreciation for the role of the armed forces, and his rejection for any attempts to "slander" it. He has repeatedly denied tensions with the military.

Opposition members were not immediately available for comment on the electoral law. But Egypt's opposition said it was not consulted on its drafting and had said before it would boycott the vote.

The opposition, represented by the National Salvation Front, had expressed concerns over gerrymandering by Islamist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood. The opposition had also criticized a recent decision by the council to allow the use of religious slogans during the campaigning period.

Members of the council discussed the law over the last month. In televised sessions, they voted over the redrawing of districts, one of the changes the Supreme Court had asked for. Members said security officials, who oversee and secure the voting, had approved much of the redrawing.

Morsi and his supporters view the parliamentary elections as a step toward bringing stability to the country and capping months of turmoil. They accuse the opposition of stirring up unrest to derail the voting.

But the mainly liberal and secular opposition had called for a boycott of the vote, saying Morsi must first find some political consensus and ease the wave of popular anger. Regardless of whether the opposition boycotts or not, the Islamists would likely win a parliamentary majority.

Egypt's has been increasingly mired in highly polarized politics, waves of protests and deadly violence.

Recent sectarian violence since the weekend has left eight people dead, including at least six Coptic Christians.

It was the worst bout of such violence since Morsi was elected in June 2012. Morsi strongly condemned the clashes, but the Coptic Pope was highly critical of the authorities' response to the violence, during which the main Coptic Cathedral in Egypt came under attack.

The violence which started Saturday in Khosoos, a town north of Cairo, left another five dead — including four Christians.

More clashes broke out Sunday at the cathedral after funerals for the Christian victims. An angry mob of Muslims threw firebombs and rocks at the church, leaving two people dead, one of them a Christian.

Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's estimated 84 million people. They have long complained of discrimination by the state and by some among the majority Muslims. Clashes break out occasionally with Muslims over the building of churches or because of inter-religious love affairs.

Over the two years since Egypt's uprising against longtime leader Hosni Mubarak, the community has grown more concerned about its future as Islamist political forces, long repressed under the previous autocratic regime, grew more assertive. Attacks against Christians have grown bolder and more frequent, particularly in poorer and rural areas.

Also on Sunday, a traditional reconciliation meeting was held in Khosoos between local religious figures from both sides. The session was also attended by security officials and one of the president's aides, Emad Abdel-Ghaffour.

Clashes and disputes between Christians and Muslims are usually addressed through such reconciliation gatherings, mediated by security and religious leaders. Rights group say the informal sessions preclude criminal prosecution for crimes and contribute to a climate of impunity that permits such assaults.

On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch appealed to Morsi's government to break the "cycle of impunity" in sectarian violence, which it said is "rarely properly investigated and punished."

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Mariam Rizk in Cairo contributed to this report.

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U.N. overwhelmingly approves global arms trade treaty

By Louis Charbonneau

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the first treaty on the global arms trade, which seeks to regulate the $70 billion business in conventional arms and keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers.

The National Rifle Association (NRA), a powerful U.S. pro-gun lobbying group that has opposed the treaty from the start, said it was a sad day for the United States, which joined the vast majority of U.N. member states by voting for the pact.

Iran, Syria and North Korea cast the sole votes against the treaty. The same three states last week prevented a treaty-drafting conference at U.N. headquarters from reaching the required consensus to adopt the pact.

The official U.N. tally showed 154 votes in favor, three against 23 abstentions, though diplomats and U.N. officials said the actual vote was 155-3-22. They said Angola was recorded as having abstained, though it had attempted to vote yes.

Iran, which is under a U.N. arms embargo over its nuclear program, is eager to ensure its arms imports and exports are not curtailed, while Syria's government is embroiled in a two-year civil war and relies on arms from Russia and Iran, envoys said.

North Korea is also under a U.N. arms embargo due to its nuclear weapons and missile programs.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the vote, saying the treaty "will help to keep warlords, pirates, terrorists, criminals and their like from acquiring deadly arms."

The treaty will be open for signature on June 3 and will enter into force 90 days after the 50th signatory ratifies it. Mexican U.N. Ambassador Luis Alfonso de Alba told reporters it normally takes two to three years for a treaty to come into force, but said he hoped it would happen sooner in this case.

Major arms producers China and Russia joined Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua and other countries in abstaining. Although a significant number of countries abstained, putting the treaty to a General Assembly vote was the only way its supporters could get it adopted after the treaty conference collapsed last week.

NRA: 'A SAD, YET TELLING, DAY'

Many of the countries that abstained, among them India, complained the treaty favored exporting over importing states. Russia said Moscow would take a hard look at the treaty before deciding whether to sign it.

Several delegates told Reuters the treaty's effectiveness would be limited if major arms exporters refused to sign it.

The United States, the world's No. 1 arms exporter, voted in favor of the treaty despite fierce opposition from the NRA, whose lobbying wing - the NRA Institute for Legislative Action - issued a statement condemning the U.N. vote.

"This treaty disregards the Second Amendment to our Constitution and threatens individual firearm ownership," said Chris Cox, head of the NRA-ILA. "It is a sad, yet telling, day when the president of the United States and his administration refuse to defend America's Constitution on the world stage."

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement the U.N. adopted "a strong, effective and implementable Arms Trade Treaty that can strengthen global security while protecting the sovereign right of states to conduct legitimate arms trade."

"Nothing in this treaty could ever infringe on the rights of American citizens under our domestic law or the Constitution, including the Second Amendment," he added, referring to the U.S. Constitutional amendment that guarantees the right to bear arms.

The NRA has vowed to fight to prevent the treaty's ratification by the U.S. Senate when it reaches Washington.

Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari repeated that his government opposes the arms trade treaty because it does not ban the sale of weapons to non-state actors and "terrorists" like those it says are active in Syria. The civil war there has claimed at least 70,000 lives, according to U.N. estimates.

Syria routinely refers to rebels trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad as "terrorists" backed by foreign governments.

The treaty does not ban transfers to armed groups, but says all arms transfers should be subjected to rigorous risk and human rights assessments first.

British Prime Minister David Cameron hailed the vote as a "landmark agreement that will save lives and ease the immense human suffering caused by armed conflict around the world."

SCRUTINY ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Mexico issued a statement on behalf of 98 U.N. member states saying, "an effective implementation of this treaty will make a real difference for the people of the world."

U.N. member states began meeting on March 18 in a final push to end years of discussions and hammer out a binding international treaty to end the lack of regulation over cross-border conventional arms sales.

Arms control activists and rights groups have said a treaty was needed to halt the uncontrolled flow of arms and ammunition that they say fuels wars, atrocities and rights abuses.

The Arms Trade Treaty aims to set standards for all cross-border transfers of conventional weapons. It would also create binding requirements for states to review all cross-border arms contracts to ensure that arms will not be used in human rights abuses, terrorism or violations of humanitarian law.

"The agreement of the Arms Trade Treaty sends a clear message to arms dealers who supply warlords and dictators that their time is up," said Anna Macdonald of the global development group Oxfam.

The main reason the arms trade talks took place at all is that the United States, the world's biggest arms trader, reversed U.S. policy on the issue after President Barack Obama was first elected and decided in 2009 to support a treaty.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Paul Simao, Stacey Joyce, Todd Eastham and Lisa Shumaker)

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U.N. overwhelmingly approves global arms trade treaty

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The 193-nation U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved on Tuesday the first-ever treaty on global arms trade that seeks to regulate the $70 billion international business in conventional arms ranging from light weapons to battle tanks and warships.

There were 154 votes in favor, 3 against and 23 abstentions.

Iran, Syria and North Korea last week prevented a treaty-drafting conference at U.N. headquarters from reaching the required consensus to adopt the treaty. That left delegations that support it no choice but to turn to a General Assembly vote to adopt it.

The treaty will be open for signature June 3 and will enter into force 90 days after the 50th signatory ratifies it.

Major arms producers China and Russia joined Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and other countries in abstaining. A number of countries complained that the treaty favors exporting over importing states.

The United States, the world's No. 1 arms exporter, said last week it would vote in favor of the treaty despite opposition from the National Rifle Association, a powerful U.S. pro-gun lobbying group.

The NRA opposes the treaty and has vowed to fight to prevent its ratification by the U.S. Senate when it reaches Washington. The NRA says the treaty would undermine domestic gun-ownership rights, a view the U.S. government rejects.

Syrian U.N. Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari repeated that his government opposes the arms trade treaty because it does not ban the sale of weapons to non-state actors and "terrorists" like the ones active in Syria, where a two-year-old civil war has claimed at least 70,000 lives, according to U.N. estimates.

Syria routinely refers to rebels trying to oust President Bashar al-Assad as "terrorists" supported by foreign governments.

(Reporting By Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Philip Barbara)

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Senate approves funding bill to avert government shutdown

By David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate leaders on Wednesday cleared roadblocks to a vote on legislation to avert a government shutdown next week, denying some senators' attempts to attach provisions that would shield pet programs from automatic spending cuts.

The Senate began considering a limited number of amendments on the stop-gap measure to keep the government running the rest of this fiscal year, before a vote on final passage later on Wednesday.

Government agencies and programs face a shutdown after March 27 when current spending authority expires, and Congress is scheduled to start a two-week recess on Friday.

Controversy over proposed amendments aiming to protect money for programs ranging from meat inspection to air traffic control also delayed the Senate's consideration of its first budget resolution in nearly four years.

Late last week, there were more than 100 proposed amendments to the budget resolution that would apply to the next fiscal year that starts on October 1, including many requests to shift funds to ease effects of across-the-board cuts under the so-called "sequester."

But a deal reached between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell paved the way for consideration of just a handful of these proposals.

Republican Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas on Tuesday had tried to block Senate consideration of the spending bill for the rest of this fiscal year unless he was promised a vote on his proposal to shield air traffic controllers at small, rural airports from the spending cuts.

Moran's sparsely populated home state depends heavily on small airports and is home to several civil aircraft manufacturers. He said staff reductions or shutdowns of rural control towers would remove a critical safety layer in the air traffic control system.

"Once there is an accident, and somebody dies and a plane crashes, the question will always be ‘what if there had been an air traffic control tower there? What if we had left the program in place?" Moran told the Senate.

Moran's amendment will not be considered, but the Senate approved a proposal to shift some $55 million in Department of Agriculture funds to prevent temporary layoffs of meat inspectors. A plan to shift some national parks-related funding to keep White House tours open was defeated.

The Senate funding measure keeps the $85 billion in sequester cuts for this year in place, but contains some updates to spending provisions for the military and some domestic agencies that allow more flexibility to help ease the cuts.

The measure would need to be approved again by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, which had passed a much simpler version, giving additional spending flexibility just to military programs.

Once the temporary spending measure gets through Congress, the Senate will turn its attention to a Democratic-focused budget plan for next fiscal year that calls for raising nearly $1 trillion in new tax revenue, while replacing the sequester cuts and making some other modest spending cuts.

The Democratic plan, which also calls for $100 billion in new spending on infrastructure and job training, envisions annual U.S. deficits in the $400 billion to $600 billion range over the next 10 years.

It stands in stark contrast to the Republican budget now being debated in the House, which calls for deep cuts to social programs to reach a small surplus by 2023.

The budget blueprint does not carry the force of law, but sets a starting point for a new set of fiscal negotiations that could come to a head by early August, when current U.S. borrowing authority will be exhausted.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Vicki Allen)

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Senate intelligence panel approves Brennan's CIA nomination

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats on Tuesday resolved a dispute with the White House over access to classified legal opinions on "targeted killings," including drone strikes on U.S. citizens, clearing the way for a committee vote on John Brennan's nomination to be CIA director.

In a statement, committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said that she had "reached an agreement with the White House to provide the committee access to all" Justice Department opinions related to the "targeted killing of Americans."

The agreement "will pave the way for the confirmation of John Brennan to be CIA director," she said.

The committee has set a closed-door meeting for Tuesday afternoon at which a vote on the Brennan nomination was to be taken. A vote on Brennan's confirmation by the full Senate could then be scheduled.

The intelligence committee's vote had been delayed due to a squabble between senators and the White House over access to the Justice Department legal papers, as well as to records related to the U.S. response to the September 11, 2012, attacks on U.S. outposts in Benghazi, Libya.

Some committee Democrats, including Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall, had hinted that they might vote against Brennan's nomination if the White House did not turn over all the Justice Department papers they were seeking. Until this week, the White House had only been willing to turn over four out of what were estimated to be 11 relevant documents.

Committee members and some aides are being allowed to review the documents but will not be allowed permanently to retain copies of them on Capitol Hill.

(Reporting by Mark Hosenball; editing by Jackie Frank)

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Senate approves Lew as new Treasury chief

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday backed President Barack Obama's nominee to head the U.S. Treasury, Jack Lew, despite some concerns about his perks from previous employers, clearing the way for a confirmation vote in the full Senate.

With the 19-5 vote, about half the panel's 11 Republicans opposed Lew's nomination. Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said he was hoping to consider Lew's nomination on Wednesday, but was still seeking agreement with Republicans.

Five Republicans on the committee also voted against Timothy Geithner, the previous Treasury secretary, who left last month.

Some Republicans hold deep reservations about the nomination and it is unclear whether they will throw up procedural hurdles to the vote. Nevertheless, Lew is expected eventually to win confirmation in the Senate, where Democrats hold a 53-45 majority.

Senate approval would pitch Lew into the heated budget battle between the White House and congressional Republicans. Both sides oppose the estimated $85 billion in across-the-board government spending cuts set to take effect on Friday, but disagree about alternatives.

Previously Obama's chief of staff and budget director for both Obama and former President Bill Clinton, Lew is a policy wonk who has spent much of his career in public service in Washington. But some observers have questioned his financial expertise and international credentials.

'NOT ANOTHER ACOLYTE'

The top Republican on the Finance Committee, Senator Orrin Hatch, said he supports Lew as head of the Treasury Department in deference to Obama, but has "serious reservations" about him.

"I hope we end up with the Jack Lew of the Clinton administration, not just another acolyte of the Obama White House," Hatch said before the panel vote.

At a hearing on his nomination earlier this month, Republicans also grilled Lew about an investment he once held in a fund linked to the Cayman Islands and a nearly $1 million dollar bonus he received from Citigroup in 2009 just before the bank got a taxpayer-funded bailout.

In addition, Senator Charles Grassley, the No. 2 Republican on the Finance Committee, said he was unsatisfied with Lew's response to questions about a $1.4 million loan he received while working as an executive with New York University.

"If Mr. Lew will not answer our questions now, why should we on this committee expect him to answer any questions if he's confirmed?" Grassley said before voting against Lew.

TAX PRIORITIES

Lew has said revamping the U.S. tax code would be a top priority if he wins confirmation. The tax system was last fully overhauled in 1986, though prospects for achieving tax reform are clouded by Washington's constant fiscal fights and conflict over whether new revenue is needed to cut budget deficits.

He will also deal with implementing new financial regulations, China's growing economic clout and winding down government-controlled mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

In addition, he may have to start paying more attention to Europe, where financial markets are on edge over election results in Italy that some analysts fear could exacerbate the euro zone's debt crisis.

Lew answered at least 444 written questions from the senators on the Finance Committee on these matters and others. Geithner was required to answer fewer than half that number when he was seeking confirmation.

While a few lawmakers, including Senator Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the Budget Committee, plan to vote against Lew when his confirmation gets to the full Senate, Senate Democrats believe they have the requisite 60 votes to get Lew through the process even if some hurdles are raised.

(Additional reporting by Rachelle Younglai; Editing by Todd Eastham)

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