White House slams GOP budget plan
WASHINGTON, March 12 (UPI) -- The White House Tuesday slammed a Republican budget proposal that aims to balance the budget in 10 years.
The budget proposal, besides an attempt to balance the budget, overhauls entitlement programs, including Social Security; repeals the Affordable Care Act and rolls back discretionary spending and taxes.
"While the House Republican budget aims to reduce the deficit, the math just doesn't add up," a White House statement said. "Deficit reduction that asks nothing from the wealthiest Americans has serious consequences for the middle class. By choosing to give the wealthiest Americans a new tax cut, this budget as written will either fail to achieve any meaningful deficit reduction, raise taxes on middle class families by more than $2,000 -- or both."
The statement said, "By choosing not to ask for a single dime of deficit reduction from closing tax loopholes for the wealthy and well-connected, this budget identifies deep cuts to investments like education and research -- investments critical to creating jobs and growing the middle class. And to save money, this budget would turn Medicare into a voucher program -- -undercutting the guaranteed benefits that seniors have earned and forcing them to pay thousands more out of their own pockets. We've tried this top-down approach before. The president still believes it is the wrong course for America."
U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan unveiled the budget plan Tuesday
Ryan, R-Wis., last year's Republican Party vice presidential candidate and chairman of the House Budget Committee, offered a preview of a budget plan in a column published by The Wall Street Journal.
He said Republicans plan to introduce legislation that will balance the federal budget within 10 years without raising taxes.
Ryan's proposal includes entitlement reforms and plans for about $41 trillion in government spending through 2023. That's $5 trillion less than the status quo, he writes.
On energy, his budget plan mirrors legislation supported by party members that calls for more oil and natural gas development on federal land.
French Cardinal will announce new pope
VATICAN CITY, March 12 (UPI) -- The Vatican conclave to select a new pope began Tuesday after the 115 cardinals participating in the process filed into the Sistine Chapel.
French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran will announce the name of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's successor to the world, the Vatican said.
Tauran, 69, has been chosen to declare "habemus papam," the formal Latin declaration meaning, "We have a new pope," once the conclave has elected a new leader of the Roman Catholic Church," the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
His announcement will come after white smoke curls up from the Sistine Chapel where the cardinal electors will vote.
The announcement of his selection came as a pre-conclave mass concluded at St. Peter's Basilica.
Cardinal Angelo Sodano invited the faithful to pray for the next pope.
"Let's pray so that the Lord grants us a pontiff who carries out his luminous mission with a generous heart," said Sodano, the dean of the College of Cardinals.
S. Korea: North Korea can't void treaty
SEOUL, March 12 (UPI) -- The cease-fire ending the Korean War remains valid despite North Korea's saying it nullified the deal, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
Ministry spokesman Cho Tai-young said terms of the agreement "cannot be unilaterally invalid or terminated" and demanded North Korea withdraw its threats, Yonhap reported.
North Korea declared the cease-fire "completely invalid" in response to a fourth round of U.N. sanctions against the country for its third nuclear test and in reaction to the annual joint military drills between South Korea and the United States.
North Korea also threatened to launch pre-emptive nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States, as well as other actions, because of the new sanctions and the drills.
Cho said South Korea will "strengthen coordination and cooperation with the U.S. and China, and sternly deal with any attempt from North Korea to scrap the Armistice Agreement."
Rebel attack in Colombia injures 17
POPAYAN, Colombia, March 12 (UPI) -- Rebels are being blamed for a bomb attack that wounded three policemen and 14 civilians at a police station in southwestern Colombia, officials said.
Police Commander Mauricio Cartagena of Cauca department told Colombia Reports the motorcycle bomb attack on Monday also caused significant damage to nearby buildings.
Cartagena said the type of explosives used in the bomb indicate the perpetrators were members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC.
Cauca department is one of FARC's most important strongholds in Colombia.
Snowstorm sweeps through Europe
PARIS, March 12 (UPI) -- An unseasonable snowstorm swept through Europe early Tuesday grounding flights at Germany's largest airport and killing at least one person in northern France.
Weather forecasters called the snowstorm 10 days before the start of spring "remarkable for the season, as much for its quantity as for its length" Radio France Internationale reported.
French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault activated a crisis cell to coordinate efforts to deal with the storm that stranded thousands of motorists.
A 58-year-old homeless man found dead in the Brittany town of Saint-Brieuc apparently died from the cold, officials said.
Electricity was cut off to 43,000 households in Normandy and another 22,500 were reported without power in Britanny.
