US paid $50K for victims killed in shooting spree

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The U.S. paid $50,000 in compensation for each villager killed and $11,000 for each person wounded in a shooting rampage allegedly carried out by a rogue American soldier in southern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said Sunday.

The families were told that the money came from President Barack Obama. The unusually large payouts were the latest move by the White House to mend relations with the Afghan people after the killings threatened to shatter already tense relations.

Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales is accused of sneaking off his base on March 11, then creeping into houses in two nearby villages and opening fire on families as they slept.

The killings came as tensions between the U.S. and Afghanistan were strained following the burning of Qurans at a U.S. base in February. That act - which U.S. officials have acknowledged was a mistake - sparked riots and attacks that killed more than 30 people, including six American soldiers.

There have been no violent protests following the March 11 shootings in Kandahar province's Panjwai district, but demands for justice on Afghan terms have been getting louder since Bales was flown out of the country to a U.S. military prison. Many Afghans in Kandahar have continued to argue that there must have been multiple gunmen and accused the U.S. government of using Bales as a scapegoat.

Obama to issue blunt appeal to China

SEOUL, South Korea - Trying to muscle North Korea toward peace over provocation, President Barack Obama is broadening his squeeze play from the heart of this tensely divided peninsula, pressuring China to show more influence and warning North Korea that it is headed toward a crippling "dead end" of isolation.

From this capital teeming with pride, Obama sought for a second day Monday to contrast the success of the South to the impoverished North, whose nuclear and missile tests have kept its neighbor on edge and itself on the wrong side of the world community. Already, he said, looking into the North from near the border was like witnessing a "time warp" of despair.

In a speech at Hankuk University, one of Seoul's top-ranked schools, Obama will campaign against the spread of nuclear material and weaponry with North Korea's shadow figuring large. The North plans to launch a satellite with a long-range rocket next month against fierce objections from world powers, as the same technology could be used to fire a missile.

Obama will also try to build diplomatic force by turning to China, North Korea's main ally, when he meets with Chinese President Hu Jintao. That conversation is among a flurry of engagements for Obama, including a final meeting with departing Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, on the sidelines of a major Nuclear Security Summit.

In a news conference here Sunday, Obama challenged North Korea's pride and its plans, questioning whether its new, young leader, Kim Jong Un, was even truly in charge. Obama's trip comes as North Koreans mark the end of the 100-day mourning period for longtime leader Kim Jong Il, who died of a heart attack in December.

Budget plan heats up as campaign issue

WASHINGTON - The new debt-slashing budget plan pushed by House Republicans heated up as a presidential campaign issue Sunday as the proposal's architect, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, sparred with top Democrats over its political fallout and downplayed the possibility he could be tapped as a vice presidential candidate.

Senior White House adviser David Plouffe dismissed the GOP plan Sunday as "a lot of candy, not a lot of vegetables," and charged that it would be "rubber-stamped" as law if leading Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is elected.

"This is really the Romney-Ryan plan," Plouffe said, adding that its mix of across-the-board tax cuts and stiff budget cuts "showers huge tax cuts on millionaires and billionaires paid for by senior and veterans."

Ryan tried to tamp down speculation that he could be tapped for the No. 2 spot on the GOP ticket, although who will be the nominee is far from settled.

- The Associated Press