Cabinet nominations — President Barack Obama on Monday made three Cabinet nominations. Obama picked Sylvia Mathews Burwell, the president of the Walmart Foundation in Arkansas, to be the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget; Ernest Moniz, the director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Energy Initiative, as energy secretary; and Gina McCarthy, the assistant administrator in charge of air and radiation at the Environmental Protection Agency, as Environmental Protection Agency administrator. All three positions are subject to Senate confirmation.
Next pope — Cardinals said Monday they want to talk to Vatican managers about allegations of corruption and cronyism within the top levels of the Catholic Church before they elect the next pope, evidence that a scandal over leaked papal documents is casting a shadow over the conclave and setting up one of the most unpredictable papal elections in recent times. The Vatican said 107 of the 115 voting-age cardinals attended the first day of pre-conclave meetings, at which cardinals organize the election, discuss the problems of the church and get to know one another before voting.
Syria conflict — Dozens of Syrian soldiers who had crossed into Iraq for refuge were ambushed Monday with bombs, gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades in an attack that killed 48 of them and heightened concerns that the country could be drawn into Syria’s civil war. The fact that the soldiers were on Iraqi soil at all raises questions about Baghdad’s apparent willingness to quietly aid the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Korea sanctions — The United States and China have reached agreement on a new draft sanctions resolution to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test, U.N. diplomats said late Monday. The U.N. Security Council announced late Monday evening that it would hold closed consultations on North Korea and nonproliferation this morning.
Chavez setback — President Hugo Chavez is breathing with greater difficulty as a new and severe respiratory infection has taken hold, Venezuela’s government said, describing the cancer-stricken president’s condition as “very delicate." A brief statement read on national television by Communications Minister Ernesto Villegas late Monday carried the sobering news about the charismatic 58-year-old socialist leader’s deteriorating health.
Borneo siege — Malaysia launched airstrikes and mortar attacks against nearly 200 Filipinos occupying a Borneo seaside village early today to end a bizarre three-week siege that turned into a security nightmare for both Malaysia and the Philippines. The assault follows firefights in Malaysia’s eastern Sabah state this past week that killed eight police officers and 19 Filipino gunmen, some of whom were members of a Philippine Muslim clan that shocked Malaysia and the neighboring Philippines by slipping by boat past naval patrols last month and storming an obscure village.
Immigration policy — Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush writes in a new book that the nation needs to completely overhaul its immigration policies but cautions against providing a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, a position that puts him at odds with some Senate reformers within his own party. In “Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution," Bush writes that the immigration debate holds serious consequences for the nation and members of his Republican party.
Iran inspections — The head of the U.N. nuclear regulatory body urged Iran on Monday to permit access by international inspectors to a military site near Tehran to ascertain whether tests have been carried out there on nuclear bomb triggers. Yukiya Amano, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was speaking at the body’s headquarters as its board of governors began a routine meeting just weeks after IAEA inspectors returned from talks in Tehran that failed to obtain access to the Parchin site, 20 miles south of Tehran.
Drug patent — India’s patent appeals office has rejected international drug maker Bayer AG’s plea to stop an Indian company from manufacturing a cheaper generic version of a patented cancer drug. The ruling Monday by India’s Intellectual Property Appellate Board is being hailed as an important precedent for getting inexpensive lifesaving drugs to the poor.
Cannibal plot case — After offering grisly images into evidence, federal prosecutors in Manhattan rested their case Monday in the trial of Gilberto Valle, the New York City police officer charged with plotting to kidnap, kill and cannibalize women. For his part, a defense lawyer asked the judge for an immediate judgment of acquittal, arguing that the government had failed to prove the officer’s guilt.
— From wire reports