Speier Calls Congress 'Enablers of Sexual Assault'

Jackie Speier

Lawmakers came down hard today on military leaders, the morning after allegations emerged of another head of a military sexual assault prevention program engaging in the very behavior he was charged with stopping.

Late Tuesday the Army announced that the coordinator of a sexual assault prevention program at Fort Hood, Texas, is under investigation "for pandering, abusive sexual contact, assault and maltreatment of subordinates." He has been suspended from all duties while his case is investigated by the Army's Criminal Investigative Command.

That report came a week after the lieutenant colonel in charge of the Air Force's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office was arrested for the alleged sexual battery of a woman in a parking lot near the Pentagon.

"Another sex scandal rocks the military," Rep. Jackie Speier said Wednesday. "Is Congress really going to stand by and let the military handle this? "Congress has been an enabler of sexual assault by not demanding that these cases be taken out of the chain of command."

Rep. Speier has a bill pending in Congress that would do precisely that, called the STOP Act. Staff for Speier said the U.S. Capitol Police are investigating threats against the congresswoman.

Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin said these reports were evidence of "a disgraceful culture of abuse" within the armed services.

"Reports of a soldier at Fort Hood, Texas, assigned to prevent and report sexual assaults, being accused of serious sexual misconduct, abuse, and maltreatment of soldiers is reprehensible," Sen. Durbin, D-Ill., said in a statement released Wednesday. "Next week, the Army will be before my subcommittee and they will face tough questions about these accusations."

Other lawmakers on Twitter called the Fort Hood scandal " unacceptable," " horrific" and " v[ery] disturbing."

Tuesday Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordered that all of the military's sexual assault prevention coordinators and military recruiters to be retrained, re-credentialed and rescreened.

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McCain calls for select committee to investigate Benghazi ‘cover-up’

McCain (ABC News)

Sen. John McCain continued his criticism of the White House's handling of the Sept. 11 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, calling for a select committee to investigate what he called the Obama administration's "cover-up."

"Now, what you’ve got to look at this in the context of the times there," McCain told Martha Raddatz in an interview that aired on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "We are in the midst of a presidential campaign. The narrative by the Obama campaign is that bin Laden is dead, that al Qaeda is on the run, not to worry about anything, and her comes this attack on Benghazi. And there are so many questions that are unanswered. We need a select committee."

"The president didn’t call it an act of terror," the Arizona Republican continued. "In fact, two weeks later, before the U.N., he was talking about hateful videos and spontaneous demonstrations. What he did say the day after was he condemned acts of terrorism, but then that night ... and throughout the next two weeks, he kept saying that it was caused by a spontaneous demonstration sparked by a hateful video. He kept saying that over and over again and condemning that."

McCain repeated his assertion that the administration is guilty of a "cover-up."

"I’d call it a cover-up," he said. "I would call it a cover-up to the extent that there was willful removal of information, which was obvious."

[Related: McCain claims ‘massive cover-up’ on Benghazi]

Last week, fellow Republican Sen. James Inhofe suggested President Obama could be impeached for his role in the case.

"Of all the great cover-ups in history—we’re talking about the Pentagon Papers, the Iran-Contra, Watergate and all the rest of them—this is going to go down as the most serious, most egregious cover-up in American history," Inhofe said.

In the interview that aired Sunday, McCain did not invoke the "i-word."

"With all due respect, I think this is a serious issue," he said. "I will even give the president the benefit of the doubt on some of these things. [But] we need a select committee."

McCain said he'd like to see former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—who testified before Congress on Benghazi before leaving her post—testify again. Emails, uncovered last week, suggested the White House's talking points on Benghazi underwent 12 revisions.

"She had to have been in the in the loop some way, but we don’t know for sure," McCain said. "What I do know is that her response before the Foreign Relations Committee—'Who cares?' Remember when she said, 'Well, who cares how this happened?' in a rather emotional way? A lot of people care, I say with respect to the secretary of state."

Clinton, though, is not McCain's only target.

"We need a select committee that interviews everybody," McCain said. "I don’t know what level of 'scandal' this rises to, but I know it rises to the level where it requires a full and complete ventilation of these facts. Now, here we are, nine months later, and we’re still uncovering information which frankly contradicts the original line that the administration took. And so, we need the select committee and I hope we’ll get it. And the American people deserve it."

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US calls for NKorea amnesty for sentenced American

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. called Thursday for North Korea to grant amnesty and immediately release a Korean-American sentenced to 15 years' hard labor for "hostile acts" against the state.

Kenneth Bae, 44, a Washington state man described by friends as a devout Christian and a tour operator, is at least the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009. The others eventually were deported or released without serving out their terms, some after trips to Pyongyang by prominent Americans, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

Analysts say Bae's sentencing could be an effort by Pyongyang to win diplomatic concessions in the ongoing standoff over its nuclear program. But there was no immediate sign a high-profile envoy was about to make a clemency mission to the isolated nation which has taken an increasingly confrontational stance under its young leader Kim Jong Un.

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the U.S. was still seeking to learn the facts of Bae's case. He said the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which handles consular matters there for the U.S., did not attend Tuesday's Supreme Court trial and that there hasn't been transparency in the legal proceedings.

"There's no greater priority for us than the welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad, and we urge the DPRK authorities to grant Mr. Bae amnesty and immediate release," Ventrell told a news conference, referencing the socialist country's formal title, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korea has faced increasing international criticism over its weapons development. Six-nation disarmament talks involving the Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia fell apart in 2009. Several rounds of U.N. sanctions have not encouraged the North to give up its small cache of nuclear devices, which Pyongyang says it must not only keep but expand to protect itself from a hostile Washington. Tensions have escalated since it conducted its third nuclear test since 2006 in February.

Pyongyang's tone has softened somewhat recently, following weeks of violent rhetoric, including threats of nuclear war and missile strikes. There have been tentative signs of interest in diplomacy, and a major source of North Korean outrage — annual U.S.-South Korean military drills — ended Tuesday.

Patrick Cronin, a senior analyst with the Washington-based Center for a New American Security, called Bae's conviction "a hasty gambit to force a direct dialogue with the United States."

"While Washington will do everything possible to spare an innocent American from years of hard labor, U.S. officials are aware that in all likelihood the North Korean regime wants a meeting to demonstrate that the United States in effect confers legitimacy on the North's nuclear-weapon-state status," Cronin said in an email.

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters traveling aboard Air Force One en route to Mexico that if North Korea is interested in discussion, they should live up to their obligations under the six-party talks.

"Thus far, as you know, they have flouted their obligations, engaged in provocative actions and rhetoric that brings them no closer to a situation where they can improve the lot of the North Korean people or re-enter the community of nations," Carney said.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency announcement of Bae's sentencing came just days after it reported Saturday that authorities would soon indict and try him. It referred to Bae as Pae Jun Ho, the North Korean spelling for his Korean name. The State Department had appealed Monday for his release on humanitarian grounds.

Bae, from Lynnwood, Wash., was arrested in early November in Rason, a special economic zone in North Korea's far northeastern region bordering China and Russia, state media said. The exact nature of Bae's alleged crimes has not been revealed.

"Kenneth Bae had no access to a lawyer. It is not even known what he was charged with," the human rights group Amnesty International said in a statement. "Kenneth Bae should be released, unless he is charged with an internationally recognizable criminal offense and retried by a competent, independent and impartial court."

Ventrell said the Swedish embassy's most recent access to Bae was last Friday. It has only had a handful of brief opportunities to see him since he was arrested in early November, according to U.S. officials.

Friends and colleagues say Bae was based in the Chinese border city of Dalian and traveled frequently to North Korea to feed orphans. Bae's mother in the United States did not answer calls seeking comment Thursday.

There are parallels to a case in 2009. After Pyongyang's launch of a long-range rocket and its second underground nuclear test that year, two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor after sneaking across the border from China.

They later were pardoned on humanitarian grounds and released to Clinton, who met with then-leader Kim Jong Il. U.S.-North Korea talks came later that year.

In 2011, Carter visited North Korea to win the release of imprisoned American Aijalon Gomes, who had been sentenced to eight years of hard labor for crossing illegally into the North from China.

On Thursday, Carter's press secretary, Deanna Congileo, said by email that the former president has not had an invitation to visit North Korea and has no plans to visit.

Korean-American Eddie Jun was released in 2011 after Robert King, the U.S. envoy on North Korean human rights, traveled to Pyongyang. Jun had been detained for half a year over an unspecified crime.

Jun and Gomes are also devout Christians. While the North Korean Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, in practice only sanctioned services are tolerated by the government.

U.N. and U.S. officials accuse North Korea of treating opponents brutally. Foreign nationals have told varying stories about their detentions in North Korea.

The two journalists sentenced to hard labor in 2009 stayed in a guest house instead of a labor camp due to medical concerns.

Ali Lameda, a member of Venezuela's Communist Party and a poet invited to the North in 1966 to work as a Spanish translator, said that he was detained in a damp, filthy cell without trial the following year after facing espionage allegations that he denied. He later spent six years in prison after a one-day trial, he said.

___

Kim reported from Seoul. Associated Press writers Lou Kesten and Nedra Pickler in Washington contributed to this report.

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US calls for NKorea amnesty for sentenced American

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. called Thursday for North Korea to grant amnesty and immediately release a Korean-American sentenced to 15 years' hard labor for "hostile acts" against the state.

Kenneth Bae, 44, a Washington state man described by friends as a devout Christian and a tour operator, is at least the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009. The others eventually were deported or released without serving out their terms, some after trips to Pyongyang by prominent Americans, including former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

Analysts say Bae's sentencing could be an effort by Pyongyang to win diplomatic concessions in the ongoing standoff over its nuclear program. But there was no immediate sign a high-profile envoy was about to make a clemency mission to the isolated nation which has taken an increasingly confrontational stance under its young leader Kim Jong Un.

State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said the U.S. was still seeking to learn the facts of Bae's case. He said the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang, which handles consular matters there for the U.S., did not attend Tuesday's Supreme Court trial and that there hasn't been transparency in the legal proceedings.

"There's no greater priority for us than the welfare and safety of U.S. citizens abroad, and we urge the DPRK authorities to grant Mr. Bae amnesty and immediate release," Ventrell told a news conference, referencing the socialist country's formal title, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

North Korea has faced increasing international criticism over its weapons development. Six-nation disarmament talks involving the Koreas, the United States, Japan, China and Russia fell apart in 2009. Several rounds of U.N. sanctions have not encouraged the North to give up its small cache of nuclear devices, which Pyongyang says it must not only keep but expand to protect itself from a hostile Washington. Tensions have escalated since it conducted its third nuclear test since 2006 in February.

Pyongyang's tone has softened somewhat recently, following weeks of violent rhetoric, including threats of nuclear war and missile strikes. There have been tentative signs of interest in diplomacy, and a major source of North Korean outrage — annual U.S.-South Korean military drills — ended Tuesday.

Patrick Cronin, a senior analyst with the Washington-based Center for a New American Security, called Bae's conviction "a hasty gambit to force a direct dialogue with the United States."

"While Washington will do everything possible to spare an innocent American from years of hard labor, U.S. officials are aware that in all likelihood the North Korean regime wants a meeting to demonstrate that the United States in effect confers legitimacy on the North's nuclear-weapon-state status," Cronin said in an email.

White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters traveling aboard Air Force One en route to Mexico that if North Korea is interested in discussion, they should live up to their obligations under the six-party talks.

"Thus far, as you know, they have flouted their obligations, engaged in provocative actions and rhetoric that brings them no closer to a situation where they can improve the lot of the North Korean people or re-enter the community of nations," Carney said.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency announcement of Bae's sentencing came just days after it reported Saturday that authorities would soon indict and try him. It referred to Bae as Pae Jun Ho, the North Korean spelling for his Korean name. The State Department had appealed Monday for his release on humanitarian grounds.

Bae, from Lynnwood, Wash., was arrested in early November in Rason, a special economic zone in North Korea's far northeastern region bordering China and Russia, state media said. The exact nature of Bae's alleged crimes has not been revealed.

"Kenneth Bae had no access to a lawyer. It is not even known what he was charged with," the human rights group Amnesty International said in a statement. "Kenneth Bae should be released, unless he is charged with an internationally recognizable criminal offense and retried by a competent, independent and impartial court."

Ventrell said the Swedish embassy's most recent access to Bae was last Friday. It has only had a handful of brief opportunities to see him since he was arrested in early November, according to U.S. officials.

Friends and colleagues say Bae was based in the Chinese border city of Dalian and traveled frequently to North Korea to feed orphans. Bae's mother in the United States did not answer calls seeking comment Thursday.

There are parallels to a case in 2009. After Pyongyang's launch of a long-range rocket and its second underground nuclear test that year, two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor after sneaking across the border from China.

They later were pardoned on humanitarian grounds and released to Clinton, who met with then-leader Kim Jong Il. U.S.-North Korea talks came later that year.

In 2011, Carter visited North Korea to win the release of imprisoned American Aijalon Gomes, who had been sentenced to eight years of hard labor for crossing illegally into the North from China.

On Thursday, Carter's press secretary, Deanna Congileo, said by email that the former president has not had an invitation to visit North Korea and has no plans to visit.

Korean-American Eddie Jun was released in 2011 after Robert King, the U.S. envoy on North Korean human rights, traveled to Pyongyang. Jun had been detained for half a year over an unspecified crime.

Jun and Gomes are also devout Christians. While the North Korean Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, in practice only sanctioned services are tolerated by the government.

U.N. and U.S. officials accuse North Korea of treating opponents brutally. Foreign nationals have told varying stories about their detentions in North Korea.

The two journalists sentenced to hard labor in 2009 stayed in a guest house instead of a labor camp due to medical concerns.

Ali Lameda, a member of Venezuela's Communist Party and a poet invited to the North in 1966 to work as a Spanish translator, said that he was detained in a damp, filthy cell without trial the following year after facing espionage allegations that he denied. He later spent six years in prison after a one-day trial, he said.

___

Kim reported from Seoul. Associated Press writers Lou Kesten and Nedra Pickler in Washington contributed to this report.

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Malaysia's Najib calls election, close race expected

PARIS, April 2 (Reuters) - Paris St Germain 2 Barcelona 2 - Champions League quarter-final, first leg result At Parc des Princes Scorers: Paris St Germain: Zlatan Ibrahimovic 79, Blaise Matuidi 90+4 Barcelona: Lionel Messi 38, Xavi 89 penalty Halftime: 0-1; Teams: Paris St Germain: 30-Salvatore Sirigu; 26-Christophe Jallet, 13-Alex, 2-Thiago Silva, 17-Maxwell; 29-Lucas, 32-David Beckham (24-Marco Verratti 70), 14-Blaise Matuidi, 27-Javier Pastore (19-Kevin Gameiro 76); 18-Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 11-Ezequiel Lavezzi (7-Jeremy Menez 66) Barcelona: 1-Victor Valdes; 2-Daniel Alves, 3-Gerard Pique, ...

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Tom Tancredo Disavows Rand Paul, Calls Him 'Softer' Than Obama on Immigration

Former Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.) regrets his previous endorsement of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), disavowing the former ally because he has "flip-flopped" on immigration.

"Rand Paul began his speech in Spanish and it went downhill from there," Tancredo wrote in an op-ed titled "Why I No Longer Stand with Rand Paul" in the Christian Post. "His speech was filled with virtually every single discredited pro-amnesty cliché you could imagine."

On Tuesday, Paul gave a speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington calling for comprehensive immigration reform, including allowing undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States, work legally, and eventually become citizens. Paul, however, never used the word "citizenship" or "pathway to citizenship" in his address.

Tancredo said he even regretted the contribution he gave to Paul's campaign. He actually praised Mitt Romney's "self-deport" stance, saying there are not just two options available: legalization or deporting all 12 million undocumented immigrants.

"The problem is that not one congressman or major commentator has called for deporting all 12 million illegal immigrants," Tancredo wrote. "Rather, we argue that strict enforcement of employer sanctions and allowing local police to cooperate in immigration enforcement will encourage most illegal to, in Mitt Romney's words, 'self-deport.'"

Tancredo, who has spent most of his career calling for stricter immigration enforcement, goes on to write that Paul is "softer" than President Barack Obama on immigration for his proposal.

"Both Obama and the Gang of 8 say that the illegal immigrants must pay a penalty for legal status, while Rand Paul told reporters after his speech he is not 'not as a big a stickler' on these items, because the illegals would not be able to afford the fines," Tancredo said.

Paul's speech this week had a welcoming tone and he peppered his address with Spanish phrases as well as calling Hispanic voters "natural" Republicans, something the RNC also said this week in their "autopsy report," which pledged to open up the party to more Hispanic voters and use more welcoming language. Tancredo doesn't believe it.

"Rand Paul said that the only reason why the GOP is losing the Hispanic vote is because we have turned them off with 'harsh rhetoric over immigration,' Tancredo writes. "Paul doesn't give a single example of what that 'harsh rhetoric' was. Presumably it could have included his pre-flip flop position on immigration."

Tancredo goes on to call Paul a RINO (Republican in Name Only) and "just another politician" saying he doubts "the grassroots conservatives who elected Rand to Senate and whose support he expects if he runs for president in 2016 feel the same."

"When I endorsed Rand Paul, I did not expect to agree with him on every issue," Tancredo wrote. "I respect people with strongly held beliefs regardless of what they are. Most importantly, I felt that I could trust him to maintain his campaign promises. I was wrong. Oh how I long for a Republican leader who exhibits true courage and integrity. That's the stuff leaders are made of."

During his time in Congress, Tancredo tried to establish English as the official national language, as well as many other legislative efforts to try and restrict immigration. He left Congress in 2009 after making a failed bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, where he also focused on immigration.

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Harry Reid Commemorates Dead Marines, Calls for End to Sequester

Democrat Harry Reid commemorated the seven Marines killed in an explosion at Hawthorne Army Depot in his home state today, and called for an end to sequestration budget cuts at the Department of Defense.

The Marines were killed and at least seven others injured during a training exercise.

The Senate majority leader began his speech on the floor today expressing his condolences for those who died and their families, but soon turned to the sequester cuts.

"One of the things in sequester is we cut back in training and maintenance. That's the way sequester was written," the Nevada senator said. "It's just not appropriate, Mr. President, that our military can't train and do the maintenance necessary. These men and women were Marines who were training there in Hawthorne, and with the sequester, it's going to cut this stuff back."

"I just hope everyone understands the sacrifices made by our military," Reid added. "They are significant. Being away from home, away from families, away from their countries."

Reid said a 2014 budget that Senate Democrats are hoping to pass would allow the military some "flexibility" in its budgeting.

Reid later tweeted a video of his statements on the Senate floor.

My heart goes out to those injured and to Marines who lost their lives in an explosion near Hawthorne Army Depot bit.ly/149HU2B

— Senator Harry Reid (@SenatorReid) March 19, 2013

Reid did not indicate how exactly sequestration cuts could have been involved with the accident.

The Department of Defense has said on numerous occasions that sequester cuts hurt the military's readiness and capabilities.

Some Republicans have accused Democrats of inflating the effects of the sequester in order to make them as painful as possible.

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., accused the Obama administration of "touting" negative sequester effects today, some of which he said were "over the top."

"They've threatened thousands of teachers will get a pink slip, federal prosecutors would have to close cases and let criminals go; even programs like Meals on Wheels that provide our seniors with assistance would be cut; millions of seniors would lose this assistance - another claim; thousands of students - I think 70,000 they said - would lose access to Head Start programs. And I think I even saw the DHS secretary threaten long lines and delays at our airports because of TSA cutbacks," Issa said at a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. "Unfortunately, all of these statements I believe to be exaggerations."

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Jeb Bush Calls Media 'Crack Addicts' for Politics

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called the media "crack addicts" Sunday after he was asked who is more likely to end up in the White House one day - him or Sen. Marco Rubio, his fellow Floridian for whom Bush served as political mentor.

"Man, you guys are crack addicts. You really are obsessed with all this politics. Marco Rubio's a great guy," Bush said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"You know, I've been called a lot of things," host David Gregory said.

"OK, heroin addict. Is that better?" Bush said. "Put aside the politics for a moment. We've got big challenges, and Marco Rubio, to his credit, is working on those. And he deserves a lot of credit for it, and I'm very proud of him."

The relationship between Bush and Rubio came to the spotlight earlier this week after the former Florida governor released a book that did not support a path to citizenship in immigration reform - a point Rubio is promoting in his Gang of 8 proposal. One day later, Bush changed direction and said he would endorse a path to citizenship.

Bush later pointed out Rubio did not support the measure when he was writing the book.

"When we were working on this, Marco Rubio wasn't for a path to citizenship," Bush told the Washington Post.

In an interview with Time Magazine last month, Rubio said his conversation with Bush regarding immigration reform while the former governor was writing the book amounted to a text message.

Bush told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos Sunday that he is "in sync" with the bipartisan group of senators on immigration reform.

"Senator [Lindsey] Graham and I talked. He was responding to concerns that were expressed before the book was actually published," Bush said ABC News' "This Week." "I told him that I support his efforts and I applaud what he's doing. And he concluded, after he heard what the thesis of the book is, that we're in sync. We're on the same - on the same path."

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Gay group calls for apology from Scottish cardinal

LONDON (AP) — A Scottish cardinal who stepped down from church leadership after admitting sexual misconduct should apologize to gay people for his years of "vicious and cruel language" about them, Britain's leading gay-rights group said Monday.

Officials in the Vatican refused to say whether they would formally investigate allegations against Cardinal Keith O'Brien. He resigned last week as Britain's most senior Roman Catholic cleric after being accused of inappropriate behavior by three priests and a former priest.

Until his abrupt resignation as archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, O'Brien had been due to join cardinals from around the world in Rome for a conclave that will elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI.

The cardinals met Monday, without O'Brien, for the first of their pre-conclave meetings.

O'Brien has not directly addressed the allegations against him, which include "an inappropriate approach" to a seminarian after night prayers and "inappropriate contact" with another priest.

But he said Sunday that "my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal."

"To those I have offended, I apologize and ask forgiveness," he said.

Stonewall Chief Executive Ben Summerskill said Monday that the gay-rights group noted "with sadness that the cardinal didn't find it in him to apologize to gay people, their families and friends for the harm his vicious and cruel language caused."

The Scottish Catholic Media Office said the complaints against O'Brien had been reported to the Vatican, and it expected there would be an investigation.

The Vatican refused to confirm or deny Monday whether it was investigating O'Brien, and declined to say when it learned of the allegations against him. The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, repeated his statement from last week, which was that the original four accusers had sent their complaint via the papal ambassador to Britain, and the pope had been informed.

Pressed to respond to reports of a purported fifth accuser, who reportedly approached the Vatican directly in October with accusations, another spokesman, the Rev. Thomas Rosica, read O'Brien's statement and said the Vatican would say no more.

O'Brien, 74, had been a staunch advocate of church teaching against homosexuality, calling same-sex marriage "a grotesque subversion of a universally accepted human right" and saying that British government plans to legalize same-sex marriage would "shame the United Kingdom in the eyes of the world."

Last year, Stonewall named O'Brien "Bigot of the Year" for his hard line on homosexuality.

Despite his views on same-sex relationships, O'Brien was long known for his relatively liberal stance on some social issues.

Shortly after he was named cardinal in 2003, O'Brien made an unusual public pledge to defend Roman Catholic Church teaching, having previously suggested there should be more open discussion on issues such as the requirement of celibacy for priests and the church's ban on contraception.

The cardinal largely kept those views to himself over the next decade, although he reiterated them in an interview with the BBC just before the allegations against him emerged. O'Brien told the broadcaster that he was open to priests marrying and having children.

"The celibacy of the clergy, whether priests should marry — Jesus didn't say that," he said in the interview last month. "When I was a young boy, the priest didn't get married and that was it. I would be very happy if others had the opportunity of considering whether or not they could or should get married."

Another British cardinal, Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, said Monday that the claims against O'Brien weren't necessarily evidence that the 1.2 billion-strong Catholic Church — which has been wracked by scandals over sexual abuse by priests — was in need of deep reform.

"There's always been sinners in the church but there's always been saints," he told BBC radio from Rome.

Murphy-O'Connor — who, at 80, is too old to vote in the conclave — said that while sometimes wrongdoing was the responsibility of the church, "sometimes it is just the weakness of individuals and the wrong that they do."

"To say that this is all in the church, I just don't think it is true," he said.

___

Nicole Winfield in Rome contributed to this report.

Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless

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Egypt's Morsi calls parliament elections in April

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt's Islamist President Mohammed Morsi has issued a presidential decree calling for staggered parliamentary elections, starting April 27 and ending in June.

The decree, announced late Thursday, says the vote will take place in four stages and the new parliament will convene on July 6.

Since the ouster of longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising in 2011, Egyptians have gone through a series of referendums, presidential and parliamentary elections. The first elected parliament was disbanded by a court order last June.

Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood has emerged as the country's dominant political group.

The call for the balloting comes as Egypt is in deep turmoil, bitterly divided between the fundamentalist Brotherhood and their backers on one side, and secular liberal political parties and youth groups on the other.

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