Lieberman: Agent was at Obama's hotel
WASHINGTON, April 23 (UPI) -- A Secret Service agent tied to a prostitution scandal stayed at the Colombian hotel where U.S. President Obama lodged two days later, a top lawmaker said.
It is not clear what the agent's alleged role in the scandal was -- or what he "is being charged with and why he's been put on administrative leave -- but now you're into the hotel where the president of the United States was going to stay," Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman, Ind-Conn., said on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday.
"And it -- it just gets more troubling," he said.
The agent implicated in the events was staying at the Hilton in Cartagena, Colombia, not the Hotel Caribe, the hotel that has received most of the public attention.
"The White House advance person knows exactly where the president is going to be at any time," Lieberman said separately on "Fox News Sunday." "If anybody -- thinking the worst -- wanted to attack the president of the United States, one of the ways they might find out -- the path he would follow in Cartagena -- is by compromising the White House advanced personnel."
The Secret Service and the Pentagon are conducting parallel investigations of events, including interviews with women believed to be prostitutes brought into Hotel Caribe April 11, two days before Obama arrived for the weekend Summit of the Americas.
Rubio stumps with Romney in Pennsylvania
ASTON, Pa., April 23 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Mark Rubio, R-Fla., joins likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney on the campaign trail a day before primaries in five states.
Rubio has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential candidate, although the freshman senator has expressed interest in representing Florida in Congress and sought to deflect some of the speculation about his future during the weekend, CNN reported.
Rubio suggested former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush as a possible GOP vice presidential candidate, telling CNN Sunday Bush would make a "fantastic vice president."
Romney has said he doesn't have anyone in mind as a running mate.
Rubio was to join Romney in an event in Aston, Pa., Monday, Romney's Web site indicated.
Tuesday's primaries in Pennsylvania New York, Connecticut, Delaware and Rhode Island are the first contests Romney will participate in without a major challenger.
Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who had been the leading challenger, withdrew from the GOP field April 10.
CNN said Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, will watch the results from New Hampshire, where he won his first primary in his White House bid.
Egypt terminates gas supply to Israel
JERUSALEM, April 23 (UPI) -- Most Israeli officials downplayed Egypt's decision to terminate a natural gas supply to Israel, calling it a business dispute, not a politically motivated one.
Egypt announced Sunday it was ending its natural gas export contract with the Israeli company East Mediterranean Gas company, known as EMG, Ahram Online said.
"We are following what is happening in Egypt and hope everything will work out for the best," Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Israel Radio Monday in response the decision to halt the gas service.
Lieberman said Israel desires to uphold its peace accords with Egypt.
Knesset member Isaac Herzog described Egypt's decision to terminate the gas supply as a "negative development" but cautioned against over-reaction. "On a policy level it is clear to us all, both to Israel and to Egypt, to continue to maintain the peace treaty," he told Israel Radio.
Some Israeli officials called the decision a blatant violation of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, Haaretz said.
Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz described the decision as one of "great concern," both politically and economically. "This is a dangerous precedent that casts a pall over the peace agreements and the peaceful atmosphere between Israel and Egypt," Steinitz said.
Report: Abbas, Fayyad in 'silent crisis'
RAMALLAH, West Bank, April 23 (UPI) -- A feud is brewing between Palestinian leaders, with President Mahmoud Abbas refusing to talk to Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, sources told al-Quds al-Arabi.
The sources described the situation as a "silent crisis" between the two senior Palestinian officials, the London-based Arabic newspaper said.
Tensions between the men escalated after Fayyad refused to deliver a letter from Abbas to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem Tuesday.
In his letter, Abbas detailed his conditions for a renewal in talks. He called on Israel to halt settlement construction, demanded that Israel accept the June 5, 1967, lines (its borders before the Six-Day War that year) as a basis for a future agreement and called for the release of Palestinian prisoners held before the signing of the 1993 Oslo Accords.
Because of Fayyad's refusal to meet Netanyahu, Abbas was forced to send others, including Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, the report said. The incident caused Abbas great embarrassment, the newspaper said.
Since then, Abbas has refused to accept Fayyad's telephone calls or schedule a meeting with him, the report said.
