Report: Deal may delay shutdown
WASHINGTON, April 8 (UPI) -- U.S. budget negotiators were working on a plan Friday to fund the government for a few days while talks proceeded on a budget bill, a senior Democrat said.
Citing the source, CNN reported late Friday the short-term measure would exclude issues such as federal funding for Planned Parenthood. The source said it was not clear the last-minute arrangement could win congressional approval by midnight EDT, in time to keep the government operating.
Democrats and Republicans said Friday no one wants the U.S. government to shut down and blamed each other for failure to reach a compromise. Democrats said some Republicans were holding women's health hostage. Republicans countered that Democrats were holding up payment to U.S. troops.
The federal government marched closer to a midnight Friday deadline, when funding runs out, meaning furloughs for about 800,000 federal employees and curtailment of some government services and programs.
CNN said President Barack Obama spoke to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, about progress in resolving the budget impasse.
"Republicans want to shut down the nation's government because they want to make it harder for women to get health services," Reid said on the Senate floor, charging that Title X funding, in which the federal government provides funding for family planning services, was targeted by Tea Party activists. Title X funding does not provide money for abortions but Planned Parenthood offers abortion services and receives federal funds for other health services.
Democrats agreed to "hard but important" cuts to reach agreement on a budget for the remainder of the fiscal year, but "now the Tea Party, among others … is trying to move this extreme social agenda that has nothing to do with the budget," Reid said.
Not so, Boehner said.
"The issue is spending," Boehner told reporters. "We're close to a resolution on policy issues. When will the White House and when will Senate Democrats get serious about cutting spending?"
He urged the Senate to approve a House Republican-sponsored stopgap measure that would, among other things, extend current funding for a week, fund the Defense Department through the end of the fiscal year and include about $12 billion in cuts.
Obama said he would veto the House measure if it reaches his desk.
Witnesses: 17 protesters killed in Syria
DAMASCUS, Syria, April 8 (UPI) -- The government of Syrian President Bashir al-Assad used deadly force on protesters Friday, witnesses said.
State news organizations blamed protesters, saying "saboteurs and conspirators" fired on security forces and civilians, The Daily Telegraph reported.
The protests began after Friday prayers.
Some of the worst violence occurred in Daraa in the southern part of the country, which has been one of the major protest sites. Witnesses said at least 17 protesters were killed there, while the government put the number of deaths at two.
Government forces were dressed in civilian clothes, witnesses said.
Scores of people have died in Syria since large-scale protests broke out. Assad has offered concessions, including extending citizenship this week to thousands of Kurds who were stripped of their citizenship in 1962.
Assad also has fired some provincial governors.
U.S. President Barack Obama issued a statement Friday calling on the Syrian government "to stop repressing its citizens and to listen to the voices of the Syrian people calling for meaningful political and economic reforms."
"I strongly condemn the abhorrent violence committed against peaceful protesters by the Syrian government today and over the past few weeks," he said. "I also condemn any use of violence by protesters."
The president said the Untied State extends its condolences to families "and loved ones" of the victims and called upon Syrian authorities "to refrain from any further violence" against peaceful protesters. He said "arbitrary arrests, detention, and torture of prisoners that has been reported must end now, and the free flow of information must be permitted so that there can be independent verification of events on the ground."
"Until now, the Syrian government has not addressed the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people. Violence and detention are not the answer to the grievances of the Syrian people," Obama said.
Iranian dissidents clash with Iraqi police
BAGHDAD, April 8 (UPI) -- Iranian dissidents living in a guarded compound in northeastern Iraq said Friday security forces killed more than 10 people in a clash.
The government blamed the People's Mujahedin of Iran for the deaths, saying residents of Camp Ashraf began the confrontation by throwing stones, The New York Times reported. A spokesman said troops showed restraint and did not fire.
"Our reaction to them was very normal and does not violate the law," Ali Al-Dabbagh said.
The Kuwaiti news agency, KUNA, put the number of deaths at 30. The agency cited sources who said at least five Iraqi officers were killed and that some of the Iranian casualties were women.
The People's Mujahedin or Mujahedin-e-Khalq is classified as a terrorist group by the U.S. government. The group has supplied information about Iran's nuclear program.
Found votes leapfrog GOP judge over rival
MADISON, Wis., April 8 (UPI) -- Wisconsin's top election official said his staff will examine votes disclosed Thursday that gave a big electoral lead to a sitting state Supreme Court justice.
Kevin Kennedy, director of the Government Accountability Board, issued a statement saying he was sending staff members "to review the business processes and verify the reported results" of vote totals from Brookfield, Wis. -- which were disclosed Thursday by Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus.
State Supreme Court Justice David Prosser gained a net 7,582 votes due to "human error," Nickolaus said in announcing the votes had been found after unofficial returns were announced for Tuesday's election.
Such error in not adding votes to the tally database is "common in this process," Nickolaus said, and "the purpose of the canvass is to catch these kind of mistakes."
"This is not a case of extra votes or extra ballots being found," Nickolaus, a Republican, said. "This is human error, which I apologize for."
Prosser, who has served the court for 12 years, had trailed Democratic challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg by 204 votes out of nearly 1.5 million cast statewide before the uncounted votes were discovered.
Assistant Attorney General Kloppenburg declared victory Wednesday based on the unofficial totals, which said all precincts were counted.
Kennedy said he had been in "close contact" with Nickolaus since her announcement Thursday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Friday.
"I … have directed her to make the official returns from the polling places available for public inspection," Kennedy said in the statement. "These documents are public records. I believe she is now taking steps to ensure transparency and public confidence in the official results."
Kennedy told reporters Friday the Kloppenburg campaign would be given access to the figures produced by Nickolaus Thursday.
The election has become a proxy referendum on Wisconsin's controversial law that would take away nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers. Wisconsin has become a focal point of a national battle between Republican governors and labor organizations, The Wall Street Journal said.
Unions threw their support behind Kloppenburg in an effort to gain a liberal majority on the court, which Thursday was asked by the administration of Republican Gov. Scott Walker to hear a legal challenge to the union-limiting law.
Prosser, seen by many as part of a 4-3 conservative majority on the high court, also picked up 224 votes in the Oshkosh, Wis., county after a discrepancy was found in that county's figures, the Winnebago County clerk said.
Canvassers around the state updated their totals Thursday, with Prosser and Kloppenburg both making gains, the Journal Sentinel reported Thursday night.
County clerks have until April 15 to reconcile their vote counts and report their totals to the state.
The losing candidate has until April 20 to request a recount.
Kloppenburg campaign manager Melissa Mulliken declined to say Friday whether the campaign would ask for a recount, the Journal Sentinel reported.
