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ByNicoleWinfield The Associated Press VATICAN CITY Pope Fran- cis has taken the biggest step yet to crack down on bishops who cover up for priests who rape and mo- lest children, creating a new tribunal section inside the Vatican to hear cases of bishops accused of failing to protect their flock. The initiative has signif- icant legal and theological implications, since bishops have long been considered masters of their dioceses and largely unaccountable when they bungle their job, with the Vatican stepping in only in cases of gross negligence. That reluctance to inter- vene has prompted years of criticism from abuse vic- tims, advocacy groups and others that the Vatican had failed to punish or forci- bly remove bishops who moved predator priests around from parish to par- ish, where they could rape again, rather than report them to police or remove them from ministry. The Vatican said Wednes- day that Francis had ap- proved proposals made by his sexual abuse advi- sory board to address that lapse. The board includes two survivors of abuse and experts in child protection policies and their proposals call for a new mechanism by which the Vatican can now receive and examine complaints of "abuse of of- fice" by bishops, and bring them to trial in a Vatican tribunal. A special new judicial section, with permanent staff, will be created inside the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith "to judge bishops with regard to crimes of the abuse of of- fice when connected to the abuse of minors," a Vatican statement said. Details must still be worked out, including pos- sible punishments and the statute of limitations to de- termine whether old cases of negligence by bishops dating back 20 or 30 years can now be heard. The congregation cur- rently reviews all cases of priests who have abused mi- nors and the statute of limi- tations is 20 years, though the congregation can waive that limit. "Really pleased the Holy Father has approved our proposal," commission member Marie Collins, her- self a survivor of abuse, told The Associated Press in an email. The main U.S. victims group SNAP was more cau- tious, noting that there are bishops currently in of- fice who have delayed re- porting abuse and yet no punishment has ever been meted out. "In the face of this wide- spread denial, timidity and inaction, let's be prudent, stay vigilant and withhold judgment until we see if and how this panel might act," said SNAP's David Clo- hessy. The sex abuse scandal ex- ploded decades ago in the U.S., Ireland, Australia, and elsewhere in large part be- cause bishops and heads of religious orders moved pedophile priests around or sent them off for ther- apy, rather than report the crimes to police and con- duct church trials as canon law requires. Their aim was to prevent scandal and hold onto their priests at almost any cost. In 2001, the Vatican re- quired all bishops and reli- gious superiors to send all their abuse cases to Rome in a bid to crack down on the abusers. In the ensuing years, thousands of priests were sanctioned and hun- dreds defrocked. But the bosses who enabled them to continue abusing were never punished. The Vatican had long ar- gued that the pope had lit- tle power to sanction bish- ops when they botched cases of abuse, citing the decentralized structure of the church and the theo- logical concept of a bish- op's relationship to Rome. That argument served the Vatican well in the face of U.S. lawsuits seek- ing to hold the pope ulti- mately responsible for abu- sive priests, with the Holy See insisting that the pope doesn't exercise enough control over bishops to be held responsible when they covered up for priests who rape children. VATICAN Pope creates tribunal for bishop negligence in abuse cases By Haggag Salama and Sarah El Deeb The Associated Press LUXOR, EGYPT A suicide bomber blew himself up Wednesday close to the an- cient pharaonic temple of Karnak in southern Egypt, a site visited by millions every year, the government said. No tourists were hurt and the Nile-side monu- ment was not damaged. The attack was the sec- ond this month near a ma- jor tourist attraction in Egypt, marking a shift in tactics in a campaign of violence waged by Islamic militants against the gov- ernment of President Ab- del-Fattah el-Sissi. The at- tacks suggest extremists are shifting from shootings and bombings of security forces to targeting Egypt's vital tourism industry. The industry is only just beginning to recover from the turmoil in the coun- try since 2011. On June 3, gunmen on a motorcy- cle opened fire outside the famed Giza Pyramids on the outskirts of Cairo, kill- ing two police officers. In Wednesday's violence, officials said security at Karnak prevented the sui- cide bomber from entering the temple complex, and the forces battled two gunmen who were with him, killing one and capturing the other. Karnak is one of Egypt's biggest tourist draws, a complex of temples, colossal statues, obelisks and mas- sive columns built by a suc- cession of pharaonic dynas- ties. The oldest sections date back nearly 4,000 years. Mohammed Sayed Badr, the governor of Luxor prov- ince, told The Associated Press that the attack was "an attempt to break into the temple of Karnak." "They didn't make it in," he said. Badr said the suspicions of police were raised when they saw three men carry- ing bags get out of a car in a parking lot. One began running when police or- dered them to stop, so the police fired at him and an explosive belt he was wear- ing blew up. The Tourism Ministry said in a statement that the man detonated his "explosive device," killing himself instantly. A second man had a gun and opened fire at po- lice before he was shot and killed. The third attacker was wounded in the shoot- out and arrested, Badr said. The exchange of fire wounded four people, in- cluding two policemen and a staffer at the site, accord- ing to the Interior Ministry, which is in charge of police. Badr said the nationali- ties of the attackers have yet to be determined. There were only a hand- ful of tourists and Egyp- tians inside the temple at the time of the attack, secu- rity officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The blast scattered de- bris across the parking lot. Hundreds of onlook- ers and workers from a line of stores just outside the temple watched as ambu- lances rushed to the scene. AP video showed what were believed to be the remains of the bomber covered with a black plastic sheet with pools of blood nearby. Tourism Minister Khaled Ramy said he expects the industry's slow recovery to continue despite the at- tack. "Security forces were there. It's a very important message to everyone," he told the AP on a flight from Cairo to Luxor. After meeting with the interior minister and the prime minister, el-Sissi praised the police and called for increasing secu- rity at tourist sites. Karnak temple direc- tor Mohammed Abdel-Aziz said the monument "is safe and unaffected, and visitors continue to arrive." Four groups of foreign tourists visited the temple after the attack, according to Mohammed Othman, deputy director of the local association of tour operators. There was no claim of re- sponsibility, but it bore the hallmarks of Islamic mil- itants who have been bat- tling security forces in the strategic Sinai Peninsula. TOURIST ATTRACTION Suicide bomber targets Egyptian temple in Luxor HASSANAMMAR—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Security officials stand guard Wednesday as tourists visit the ruins of the Karnak Temple in Luxor, Egypt. ALESSANDRA TARANTINO — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Pope Francis leaves at the end of his weekly audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, on Wednesday. By Joan Lowy The Associated Press WASHINGTON The engi- neer in last month's fatal Amtrak crash wasn't us- ing his cellphone to talk, text or download anything just before the train sped off the tracks, investigators said Wednesday, addressing one big question about what might have caused the acci- dent but only deepening the mystery of what did. Eight people were killed and about 200 were injured in the crash in Philadelphia. For reasons still unknown, the train accelerated to 106 miles per hour in the min- ute before it entered a curve where the speed limit is 50, investigators have said pre- viously. In the last few sec- onds the brakes were ap- plied with maximum force, but the train was still trav- eling at over 100 mph when it left the tracks. In its updated report Wednesday, the National Transportation Safety Board said an examination of the cellphone of the en- gineer, Brandon Bostian, also indicated he didn't ac- cess the train's Wi-Fi sys- tem while he was operat- ing the locomotive. Bostian suffered a head injury in the May 12 crash, and his attorney has said he doesn't remember anything after the train pulled out of Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, the last stop before the derailment. Bostian provided inves- tigators with his passcode to the phone, allowing them access to the data, the NTSB said. While investigators have ruled out the most obvious uses of the phone before the crash, they have not elimi- nated some others such as the use of an app, NTSB board member Bella Dinh- Zarr said at a Senate Com- merce Committee hearing on train safety Wednesday. The agency says that to de- termine whether the phone was powered off, investiga- tors in its laboratory have been examining its operat- ing system, which contains more than 400,000 files of metadata. Investigators are also ob- taining a phone identical to the engineer's and will be running additional tests to validate the data. MYSTERY NT SB : Am tr ak e ng in ee r wa sn 't talking, texting on cellphone JOSEPH KACZMAREK — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO Emergency personnel work the scene of a train wreck in Philadelphia. Accident investigators said Wednesday the engineer driving the Amtrak train wasn't using his cellphone in the moments before the train derailed in Philadelphia last month. By Matthew Perrone The Associated Press WASHINGTON Fed- eral health advisers said Wednesday that a highly- anticipated cholesterol-low- ering drug from Amgen Inc. should be approved for pa- tients with dangerously high levels of the artery- clogging substance. But as with their review of a similar drug a day ear- lier, the Food and Drug Administration experts stressed that long-term re- sults are needed to judge the drug's real benefit. The FDA advisory panel voted that Amgen's inject- able drug Repatha appears safe and effective for some patients at high-risk from cholesterol, particularly those with inherited condi- tions that cause cholesterol buildup. The FDA is not re- quired to follow the group's advice, though it often does. The endorsement came despite pending study re- sults on whether Repatha ultimately lowers rates of heart attack and death. Re- sults from an Amgen study on that question aren't ex- pected until 2017. Repatha is part of a new class of biotech drugs that lower cholesterol more than older statin medications, which have been the stan- dard treatment for more than 20 years. Amgen is racing rivals Sanofi and Regeneron Phar- maceuticals, who received a positive vote on Tuesday for their own drug, Praluent. An approval decision on Amgen's drug is due by Aug. 27, about a month af- ter Sanofi and Regeneron's July 24 target date. Both drugs lower low- density lipoprotein, or LDL, cholesterol more powerfully and in a different way than statins. HEALTH FDA panel backs Amgen cholesterol drug Please help sponsor a classroom subscription Call Kathy at (530) 737-5047 to find out how. ThroughtheNewspapersinEducation program, area classrooms receive the Red Bluff Daily News every day thanks to the generosity of these local businesses & individuals. •DR.ASATO&DR.MARTIN • FIDELITY NATIONAL TITLE CO. • DOLLING INSURANCE • GUMM'S OPTICAL SHOPPE • OLIVE CITY QUICK LUBE • QRC • WALMART • TEHAMA CO. DEPT. 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