World/Nation Briefs July 24, 2013

House GOP plan on immigration gets cold shoulder

WASHINGTON - House Republicans took a tentative step toward offering citizenship to some unauthorized immigrants Tuesday, but hit an immediate wall of resistance from the White House on down as Democrats said it wasn't enough.

The dismissive reaction to the GOP proposal to offer eventual citizenship to some immigrants brought illegally to the U.S. as children underscored the difficulties of finding any compromise in the Republican-led House on the politically explosive issue of immigration.

That left prospects cloudy for one of President Barack Obama's top second-term priorities. Congress is preparing to break for a monthlong summer recess at the end of next week without action in the full House on any immigration legislation, even after the Senate passed a sweeping bipartisan bill last month to secure the borders and create a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants already in the country illegally.

At a hearing of the House Judiciary immigration subcommittee Tuesday on how to deal with immigrants brought here illegally as children, Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., suggested that "we as a nation should allow this group of young people to stay in the U.S. legally." House Republican leaders have embraced offering citizenship to such immigrants, and Goodlatte is working on a bill with Majority Leader Eric Cantor toward the goal.

It is something of a turnaround for Republicans, many of whom in the past have opposed legalizing immigrants brought here as kids. And some Democrats and immigration advocates said it was a welcome development showing the GOP has moved forward since nominating a presidential candidate last year, Mitt Romney, who suggested that people here illegally should "self-deport."

Bomb blast at Egypt security building hurts 19

CAIRO - A bomb blast outside the security headquarters in one of Egypt's Nile Delta cities wounded 19 people, security officials said early Wednesday, raising fears of deteriorating security after President Mohammed Morsi's ouster.

Eleven people have been killed in clashes between supporters and opponents of the ousted president since Monday. Most were killed in pre-dawn street battles near a pro-Morsi protest camp as the country remained mired in turmoil three weeks after the military overthrew the Islamist leader.

A pro-Morsi group claimed Wednesday another two people were killed in a march in Cairo by assailants who fired on them from rooftops. Police and health officials could not immediately be reach for confirmation.

The bloodshed is widening the divisions between Morsi's supporters and the military-backed administration and diminishing the chances of reconciliation.

The police force, widely hated for its brutality and widespread abuses over the years, has been the target of fierce attacks in Egypt's volatile northern Sinai Peninsula. More than a dozen security officials have been killed there since Morsi's ouster earlier this month. A minor explosion recently struck a police post between Cairo and northern Sinai.

Anthony Weiner caught in second sexting scandal

NEW YORK - Anthony Weiner found himself caught in another sexting scandal Tuesday like the one that destroyed his congressional career, but stood side-by-side with his wife to say he won't drop out of the race for mayor of New York.

"This is entirely behind me," Weiner said at an evening news conference, hours after the gossip website The Dirty posted X-rated text messages and a crotch shot that it said the former congressman exchanged with a woman after he left office.

Weiner admitted sending a woman sexually explicit photos and messages and acknowledged the activity took place as recently as last summer, more than a year after he resigned from the House in disgrace for the same sort of behavior with at least a half-dozen women.

But with his wife, Huma Abedin, smiling shyly an arm's length away from him, he said: "I want to bring my vision to the people of the city of New York. I hope they are willing to still continue to give me a second chance."

Weiner then turned the microphone over to his wife, who did not appear with him at the June 2011 news conference when he stepped down from Congress over a scandal that began with a Twitter photo of his bulging underpants.

The woman with whom he exchanged the messages was not identified by The Dirty. She told the website that she was 22 when she began chatting with Weiner on a social networking site. She said their online relationship began in July 2012 and lasted six months.

She said that Weiner used the alias "Carlos Danger" for their exchanges but that she knew she was talking to the former congressman.

The exchanges posted on The Dirty consist of sexually explicit fantasizing about various sex acts. The woman said Weiner promised to help her get a job at the political website Politico and suggested meeting in a Chicago condo for a tryst.

The woman said she and Weiner also exchanged nude photos of themselves and engaged in phone sex.

- The Associated Press