Israeli leader blames Palestinians for talks
WASHINGTON – Seeking to salvage an elusive Middle East peace plan, President Barack Obama pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday to make the “tough decisions” needed to move forward on talks with the Palestinians.
But facing a U.S.-imposed April deadline, the Israeli leader declared pessimistically that, “Israel has been doing its part and, I regret to say, the Palestinians have not.” Netanyahu’s comments underscored the slim prospects of reaching an agreement to the long-running conflict, despite a robust effort led by Secretary of State John Kerry.
Obama and Netanyahu spoke before an Oval Office meeting on a snowy Monday in Washington.
Obama to seek funds for new infrastructure
WASHINGTON – Striving for unity among Democrats rather than compromise with Republicans, President Barack Obama will unveil an election-year budget today that drops earlier proposals to cut future Social Security benefits and seeks new money for infrastructure, education and job training.
But Obama’s almost $4 trillion budget plan is likely to have a short shelf life. It comes just three months after Congress and the White House agreed to a two-year, bipartisan budget pact that has already set the parameters for this election year’s budget work. Democrats controlling the Senate have already announced they won’t advance a budget this year and will instead skip ahead to the annual appropriations bills for 2015, relying on new spending “caps” set by December’s budget deal that provide $56 billion less than what Obama wants in 2015.
North Korea fires more missiles into sea
SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea fired two short-range missiles into the sea Monday in the second such launch in less than a week, amid ongoing annual military exercises between Seoul and Washington, South Korean officials said.
The launches appear to be a continuation of North Korea’s protest of the drills, which it calls preparation for an attack, and a test of the country’s weapons systems. They followed South Korea’s announcement that North Korea on Thursday fired four short-range Scud missiles with a range of more than 200 kilometers (about 125 miles) into the North’s eastern waters.
The United States said the latest launches were of Scud-class, short-range ballistic missiles.
Associated Press
