Daily News Digest

Quote of the Day.
"This is a momentous occasion when perhaps the will of God isn''t entirely clear to many of us. So I ask you for your prayers to help the Holy Spirit be present among us, to open our hearts and our minds to what is the will of God for his people throughout the world." Cardinal Francis George of Chicago on the opening of the conclave to select a new pope.
(Chicago Tribune)

Quote of the day.
"When everyone started carrying their own communication and telecommunications on their bodies, the boundaries between work and life collapsed." Rick Segal, president of a global ad agency, on the effect of smartphones and tablets on workers.
(USA Today)

1. Rand Paul filibusters over U.S. drone hits.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul staged the longest talking filibuster in recent Senate memory from Wednesday into early Thursday, railing with his colleagues for more than 12 hours against what they called the danger of drone strikes to U.S. citizens on American soil.
(Politico)

2. Administration debates stretching 9/11 law to go after new al-Qaeda offshoots.
A new generation of al-Qaeda offshoots is forcing the Obama administration to examine whether the legal basis for its targeted killing program can be extended to militant groups with little or no connection to the organization responsible for the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
(Washington Post)

3. Senate committee starting votes on curbing guns.
President Barack Obama's prospects for winning near-universal background checks for gun purchases seemed shaky as the Senate Judiciary Committee prepared for Congress' first votes on curbing firearms since December's horrific shootings at a Connecticut elementary school.
(Associated Press)

4. House G.O.P. plans a budget that retains tax increases and Medicare cuts.
House Republicans will preserve Medicare cuts that their presidential nominee loudly denounced last year and accept tax increases they sternly opposed just months ago in a new tax-and-spending blueprint that would bring the federal budget into balance by 2023.
(New York Times)

5. With positions to fill, employers wait for perfection.
American employers have a variety of job vacancies, piles of cash, and countless well-qualified candidates. But despite a slowly improving economy, many companies remain reluctant to actually hire, stringing job applicants along for weeks or months before they make a decision.
(New York Times)

6. North Korea ramps up nuclear rhetoric.
North Korea has ramped up rhetoric ahead of a U.N. vote on sanctions in response to its nuclear test. Accusing the U.S. of pushing to start a war, it vowed to exercise its right to launch a pre-emptive nuclear attack against its aggressors.
(BBC)

7. U.S. seeks better ties with Venezuela, but says they may not come soon.
The Obama administration is treading carefully in response to the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, extending an olive branch while warning there may not be any early improvement in relations between the two countries.
(Washington Post)

8. Afghan dynamics altering U.S. efforts to wind down war.
U.S. efforts to wind down the 12-year war are being altered by local politics and an increasingly assertive Karzai, who in recent weeks has issued orders to limit coalition airstrikes and bring under Afghan control the various unofficial militias recruited by coalition forces. 
(Chicago Tribune/Los Angeles Times)

9. Egypt court suspends April elections.
The Cairo Administrative Court said the electoral law promulgated by President Mohammed Morsi needed to be reviewed by the Supreme Constitutional Court.
(BBC)

10. Syria rebels urged to release UN peacekeepers.
Armed fighters linked to the Syrian opposition have detained about 21 U.N. peacekeepers in the increasingly volatile zone separating Israeli and Syrian troops on the Golan Heights.
(Al Jazeera)

Quote of the day.
“Arizona's elected leaders should stop wasting the public's time, money, and patience trying to pass and enforce unfair laws.” Betty Guardado, Phoenix, Ariz., secretary-treasurer of Unite Here Local 631, after a three-judge appellate panel unanimously upheld an injunction preventing the state from enforcing a part of SB 1070 that would prohibit motorists from stopping traffic to solicit day laborers.
(Chicago Tribune)

1. GOP seeks to smooth roughest cuts.
Even as the military would bear a $43 billion cut over just seven months, the new GOP measure released Monday would give the Pentagon much-needed funding for readiness. It would also ease the pain felt by critical agencies like the FBI and the Border Patrol.
(Associated Press)

2. Republicans fear fallout of cuts to health programs.
Anxiety is rising among House Republicans about a strategy of appeasement toward fiscal hard-liners that could require them to embrace not only the sequester but also sharp new cuts to federal health and retirement programs.
(Washington Post)

3. Cabinet picks could take on climate policy.
President Obama on Monday named two people to his cabinet who will be charged with making good on his threat to use the powers of the executive branch to tackle climate change and energy policy if Congress does not act quickly.
(New York Times)

4. Bipartisan group of senators reaches deal on gun trafficking.
A bipartisan group of senators has reached a deal on a bill that would make it a federal crime to buy a gun for someone who isn't legally allowed to own one.
(NBC News)

5. Obama pushing to diversify federal judiciary amid GOP delays.
The new wave of nominations is part of an effort by Obama to cement a legacy that long outlives his presidency and makes the court system more closely resemble the changing society it governs.
(Washington Post)

6. Cardinals move toward selection of new pope.
The cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church moved deliberately but inexorably on Tuesday toward the selection of a new pope after the resignation of Benedict XVI, meeting for a third time for discussions and to hear speeches — both inspirational and informational.
(New York Times)

7. Early Kenyatta lead over Odinga in Kenya election.
Kenyans are awaiting results in their country's presidential election, after millions cast their votes on Monday. With over a third of polling stations reporting, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta held an early lead over his main rival, PM Raila Odinga.
(BBC)

8. Saudis, IAEA, voice doubt over Tehran's intentions.
The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency charged Iran Monday with using delaying tactics to put off inspection of a key military research site — just hours after Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister told Secretary of State John Kerry that Iran’s only interest in nuclear talks is “further negotiation” to give its nuclear program more time.
(Christian Science Monitor)

9.  N. Korea vows to cancel Korean War cease-fire.
North Korea vowed Tuesday to cancel the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War, citing a U.S.-led push for punishing U.N. sanctions over its recent nuclear test and ongoing U.S.-South Korean joint military drills.
(Associated Press)

10. Dozens of Syrian troops killed in Iraq ambush.
Armed men from Syria have carried out an ambush in western Iraq killing 48 unarmed Syrian soldiers and nine Iraqi guards, the Iraqi defence ministry said.
(Al Jazeera)

Quote of the day.
"This is so important to me because I admired those women with their incredible fighting spirit. This is an area that you don't hear much about. We know very little about the role of women in the flight for freedom." Doris Wilkinson, professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky, on an exhibit she created: Warriors in the Shadows: Women of the Underground Railroad.
(McClatchy News)

1. Congress heads out as the sequester blows in.
One day before automatic spending cuts were due to hit the Pentagon and other federal agencies, Congress on Thursday abandoned efforts to avert the reductions and left town for the weekend. The sequester is here, and policymakers have no plans to end it.
(Washington Post)

2. House renews Violence Against Women Act.
The House on Thursday gave final approval to a renewal of the Violence Against Women Act, sending a bipartisan Senate measure to President Obama after a House plan endorsed by conservatives was defeated.
(New York Times)

3. Senate postpones deliberations on gun bills.
Senators working on legislation to curb gun violence postponed consideration of the measures for at least a week, a move that gives a bipartisan group working on a plan to expand the nation’s gun background check system more time to reach an agreement.
(Washington Post)

4. Americans had a right to know 'true cost of war.'
Bradley Manning, the soldier accused of the biggest unauthorized disclosure of state secrets in U.S. history, has pleaded guilty to being the source of the leak, telling a military court that he passed the information to a whistleblowing website because he believed the American people had a right to know the "true costs of war."
(Guardian)

5. Incarceration rates for Blacks have fallen sharply.
Incarceration rates for black Americans dropped sharply from 2000 to 2009, especially for women, while the rate of imprisonment for whites and Hispanics rose over the same decade.
(New York Times)

6.  Pope Benedict XVI leaves the Vatican.
The Swiss Guards vanished into the palace to change out of their colorful garb, their responsibility to protect the pope over for the moment. The papal apartment in the Vatican was sealed. Pope Benedict XVI's retirement had taken effect, propelling the Roman Catholic Church into a highly unusual and uncertain interregnum.
(Chicago Tribune/Los Angeles Times)

7. Japan to begin restarting idled nuclear plants.
Japan will begin restarting its idled nuclear plants after new safety guidelines are in place later this year, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Thursday, moving to ensure a stable energy supply despite public safety concerns after the Fukushima disaster.
(New York Times)

8. Iran sees chance to improve ties with U.S.
Iran's foreign minister said he sees a chance to improve ties with the United States, despite a longrunning standoff with major powers over his country's disputed nuclear program.
(Reuters)

9. Rebel cooperation in Syrian town shows challenge of isolating Islamists.
Sophisticated new weapons now in the hands of rebels in north-central Syria underscore how difficult it will be, once more lethal aid begins to arrive, to keep those weapons from Islamist extremists who’ve become key to rebel military advances throughout the country.
(McClatchy News)

10. Eurozone unemployment hits 11.9 percent.
The rate of unemployment in the eurozone rose to a fresh record high in January, official figures show.
(BBC)