Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/111961
8A Daily News ��� Wednesday, February 27, 2013 WORLD BRIEFING Hot air balloon catches fire, killing 19 in Egypt Obama says no smart way to let budget cuts kick in LUXOR, Egypt (AP) ��� The terror lasted less than two minutes: Smoke poured from a hot air balloon carrying sightseers on a sunrise flight over the ancient city of Luxor, it burst in a flash of flame and then plummeted about 1,000 feet to earth. A farmer watched helplessly as tourists trying to escape the blazing gondola leaped to their deaths. Nineteen people were killed Tuesday in what appeared to be the deadliest hot air ballooning accident on record. A British tourist and the Egyptian pilot, who was badly burned, were the sole survivors. The tragedy raised worries of another blow to the nation���s vital tourism industry, decimated by two years of unrest since the 2011 revolution that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak. The southern city of Luxor has been hit hard, with vacant hotel rooms and empty cruise ships. It also prompted accusations that authorities have let safety standards decline amid the political turmoil and infighting, although civil aviation officials said the balloon had been inspected recently and that the pilot may have been to blame, jumping out rather than stopping the fire. Authorities suspended hot air balloon flights, a popular tourist attraction here, while investigators determined the cause. NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) ��� No progress to report in efforts to stave off looming government-wide spending cuts, President Barack Obama on Tuesday singled out for praise the few Republicans who say they���re open to aspects of his approach, seeking to turn up the heat on GOP leaders ahead of Friday���s deadline. Obama rejected a proposal floated by Senate Republicans to give the president more flexibility to pick and choose which programs should be cut to reach the $85 billion over seven months mandated by the so-called sequester. ������There���s no smart way to do that,������ he said. ������These cuts are wrong. They���re not smart, they���re not fair. They���re a selfinflicted wound that doesn���t have to happen,������ Obama added at a shipbuilding site in Virginia. The White House has warned the $85 billion in cuts could affect everything from commercial flights to classrooms to meat inspections. The cuts would slash domestic and defense spending, leading to forced unpaid days off for hundreds of thousands of workers. The impact won���t be immediate. Federal workers would be notified next week that they will have to take up to a day every week off without pay, but the fur- loughs won���t start for a month due to notification requirements. That will give negotiators some breathing room to keep working on a deal. Report of a drop in Taliban attacks wrong WASHINGTON (AP) ��� The American-led military coalition in Afghanistan backed off Tuesday from its claim that Taliban attacks dropped off in 2012, tacitly acknowledging a hole in its widely repeated argument that violence is easing and that the insurgency is in steep decline. In response to Associated Press inquiries about its latest series of statistics on security in Afghanistan, the coalition command in Kabul said it had erred in reporting a 7 percent decline in attacks. In fact there was no decline at all, officials said. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who is among the senior officials who had publicly repeated the assertion of an encouraging drop-off in Taliban attacks last year, was disturbed to learn of the error, said his spokesman, George Little. ������This particular set of metrics doesn���t tell the full story of progress against the Taliban, of course, but it���s unhelpful to have inaccurate information in our systems,������ Little said. A coalition spokesman, Jamie Graybeal, attributed the miscounting to clerical errors and said the problem does not change officials��� basic assessment of the war, which they say is on a positive track as American and allied forces withdraw. Senate votes to end GOP filibuster of Hagel nomination WASHINGTON (AP) ��� The Senate cleared the way Tuesday for confirmation of Chuck Hagel to be the nation���s next defense secretary after Republicans dropped their unprecedented delay of President Barack Obama���s choice to head the Pentagon. On a vote of 71-27, the Senate ended a Republican filibuster, setting the stage for the widely expected confirmation of the former two-term Republican senator from Nebraska later in the day. Eighteen Republicans joined 51 Democrats and two independents to move forward with the contentious nomination. If confirmed, Hagel would succeed Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and join Obama���s retooled national security team of Secretary of State John Kerry and CIA Directordesignate John Brennan. Hagel���s nomination bitterly split the Senate, with Republicans turning on their former GOP colleague and Democrats standing by Obama���s nominee. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asked what the filibuster had done for ������my Republican colleagues.������ Snowstorm paralyzes parts of Midwest KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) ��� For the second time in a week, a major winter storm paralyzed parts of the nation���s midsection Tuesday, dumping a fresh layer of heavy, wet snow atop cities still choked with piles from the previous system and making travel perilous from the Oklahoma panhandle to the Great Lakes. The weight of the snow strained power lines and cut electricity to more than 100,000 homes and businesses. At least three deaths were blamed on the blizzard. The Missouri Department of Transportation issued a rare ������no travel������ advisory, urging people to stay off highways except in case of a dire emergency. Conditions were so bad that some snowplows slid into ditches, underlining the danger to even wellequipped travelers. ������It���s straight hell. It���s snowing, blowing, drifting, everything,������ said Robert Branscecum, a trucker from Campton, Ill., who was hauling Wal-Mart merchandise to Dallas. He had been stranded since Monday evening at Beto Junction, about 80 miles southwest of Kansas City. ������The cars are stuck in the parking lot. Some of the trucks that tried to leave got stuck,������ he said. ������I���m not leaving anytime soon.������ Retired Benedict XVI to be called ���emeritus pope��� VATICAN CITY (AP) ��� Two pontiffs, each wearing white and each called ������pope������ living a few yards (meters) apart, with the same archbishop serving both. The Vatican���s announcement Tuesday that Pope Benedict XVI will be known as ������emeritus pope������ in his retirement, called ������Your Holiness������ as an honorific and continue to wear the white cassock associated with the papacy fueled renewed questions about potential conflicts arising from the peculiar reality soon to face the Catholic Church: having one reigning and one retired pope. Benedict���s title and what he would wear have been a major source of speculation ever since the 85-year-old pontiff stunned the world by announcing he would resign, the first pope to do so in 600 years. 92ND 1921 ~ 2013 APRIL 19, 20, 21, 2013 (530) 527-1000 ��� 1-800-545-3500 visit us at: www.redbluffroundup.com Like us on facebook RODEO AMERICA���S ORIGINAL EXTREME SPORT! TICKET OFFICE NOW OPEN FOR BEST SELECTION CALL NOW!!!