UN rights body extends mandate of Libya panel (AP)

GENEVA – The U.N.'s main human rights forum has extended the mandate of its expert panel investigating abuses in Libya.

The U.N. Human Rights Council condemned "ongoing gross and systematic human rights violations" in the North African country, some of which it said "may also amount to crimes against humanity."

The 47-member council agreed without a vote Friday to back the resolution that extends the work of three independent human rights experts until the end of the year.

The panel told the Geneva-based council earlier this month government forces have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes in a conflict it estimates has killed between 10,000-15,000 people.

The council welcomed the rebel authority's pledge to investigate alleged abuses by its forces also mentioned in the report.

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UN panel urges Ireland to probe Catholic torture (AP)

GENEVA – A United Nations panel urged Ireland on Monday to investigate allegations that for decades women and girls sent to work in Catholic laundries were tortured.

The panel said the government failed in its obligation to oversee the nun-run laundries "where it is alleged that physical, emotional abuses and other ill-treatment were committee." It has asked for compensation for the victims.

Human rights groups say young women were abused after being sent to the so-called Magdalene Laundries, a network of 10 workhouses that operated in Ireland from the 1920s to the mid-1990s. Many of the victims were teenagers who arrived as punishment for petty crimes or for becoming pregnant out of wedlock.

The Geneva-based U.N. Committee against Torture said the Irish government "should institute prompt, independent, and thorough investigations into all allegations of torture, and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment that were allegedly committed" at the laundries.

Although child abuse was publicized in films such as "The Magdalene Sisters," Ireland has been slow to confront abuse within Catholic dioceses and church-run institutions.

The U.N. panel's report, published Monday, recommended that the Irish government "in appropriate cases, prosecute and punish the perpetrators with penalties commensurate with the gravity of the offenses committed."

It also called on authorities to ensure all victims received the right to demand compensation.

An international campaign group called on the government to respond swiftly to the U.N. recommendations.

"This is a population of women who are aging and elderly," said the group Justice for Magdalenes, which campaigns for the victims and has demanded a formal apology from the Irish government.

"Having suffered torture or ill-treatment, in which the state directly participated and which it knowingly failed to prevent, the women have the ongoing right to an investigation, an apology, redress and treatment with dignity," said rights expert Maeve O'Rourke, who presented the group's submission to the U.N. panel last month.

The panel made similar recommendations about alleged abuses in boys' institutions.

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U.N. panel's report: http://bit.ly/je3toS

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Panel: Casino industry's future is online (AP)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – Internet gambling is the future of the casino industry, whether it's approved at the federal or state level, a panel of online and brick-and-mortar casino executives said Tuesday.

And a New Jersey lawmaker predicted there will be a ballot question next year asking his state's residents whether to amend the state Constitution to allow Internet gambling.

Speaking at the East Coast Gaming Congress, executives from two online betting organizations and Caesars Entertainment said the Internet provides the gambling industry its best opportunity for growth. But the prospect of a federal law permitting it appears dim in light of recent federal raids on online gambling sites.

"You're not going to stop the Internet," said Jan Jones, senior vice president of government relations for Caesars Entertainment. "You can regulate it, you can put in protections, but it's going to exist."

Melanie Brenner, president of the U.S. Online Gaming Association, said more than 10 million people currently play online poker.

"That's what they look forward to," she said. "This is the path to growth for (the casino) industry."

Panel members estimated the potential annual revenue from legalized Internet gambling in the U.S. at nearly $80 billion.

Richard Bronson, chairman of U.S. Digital Gaming, predicts individual states will approve online gambling soon. He said the recent raids by federal prosecutors on online poker web sites makes it unlikely the federal government will approve Internet gambling, leaving states an opportunity to do it on a piecemeal basis.

"I believe strongly there will not be a national online gambling bill passed in the U.S.," he said. "I've yet to find one governor, one legislator, one lottery director that tells me otherwise. They want this to be a state issue."

New Jersey was on the verge of becoming the first state in the nation to approve Internet gambling within its state borders. But Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill that would have permitted it, voicing concern about its legality. Christie suggested if New jersey legislators are serious about allowing Internet gambling, they should put a proposed Constitutional amendment before the voters and let them decide.

That's exactly what state Assemblyman John Burzichelli, a south Jersey Democrat, said the legislature plans to do.

"Next year there's probably going to be a question on the ballot to allow Internet gambling," he said. "Whether or not New Jersey voters amend the Constitution is up in the air. We came close, and we're going to do it again. We're going to take another run at it."

New Jersey law requires that all casino gambling in the state take place in Atlantic City. The bill Christie vetoed would have had the Atlantic City casinos maintain the servers, thus technically making the transactions happen in Atlantic City. Christie didn't buy that argument, and also worried about bars and restaurants setting up "Internet cafes" that would be fronts for illegal gambling.

In April, federal authorities busted the three largest online poker web sites in the United States on charges of bank fraud and illegal gambling against 11 people, accusing them of manipulating banks to process billions of dollars in illegal revenue. Prosecutors in Manhattan said they've issued restraining orders against more than 75 bank accounts in 14 countries used by the poker companies, interrupting the illegal flow of billions of dollars.

The companies, all based overseas, are PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker and Absolute Poker. The indictment seeks $3 billion in money laundering penalties and forfeiture from the defendants.

The indictment said the companies ran afoul of the law after the U.S. in October 2006 enacted the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which makes it a crime for gambling businesses to knowingly accept most forms of payment in connection with the participation of another person in unlawful Internet gambling.

The American Gaming Association called the prosecutions a "half measure" toward fixing the problem and called for federally sanctioned licensing and regulation of online poker.

The association's president, Frank Fahrenkopf, said millions of Americans bet billions of dollars a year at foreign websites, and will continue to do so as long as there are sites they can access.

"In fact, in the immediate aftermath of online poker's April 15 `Black Friday,' some of the 300 companies that continued to operate in the U.S., in spite of the law, saw a surge in new business," he said. "Today, there are more than 1,000 real-money websites operated by these offshore operators that still target the U.S. market."

Because of that prosecution, individual states will try to approve Internet gambling solely within their own borders, panel members agreed. But they would lose out on a lucrative worldwide market that unscrupulous illegal website operators will fill, they added.

"If we look at this as a state opportunity, we will have lost the single largest opportunity for this industry," said Jones, the Caesars executive. "If you don't have that international capability — Europe, Asia — you can't go in there because you can't go outside your own state. You lost the worldwide opportunity."

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As Battle Rages Over This Year's Budget, House Panel Shifts Focus to 2012 GOP Budget

Graphic shows President Barack Obama and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan projected budget deficit for fiscal years 2011-2021. (AP)

Even though Congress is still locked in a showdown over this year's budget, House Republicans have already begun to push for passage of their proposal for next year's budget -- a proposal that supporters say will check the nation's spending binge, while critics describe it as an assault on the elderly and the poor.

The sweeping $3.5 trillion federal budget blueprint by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., lays the groundwork for a decade of cuts in spending, taxes and deficits. It would be tempered by a shift of costs to future retirees and features a reshaping of the government's two chief health care programs for the elderly and poor, Medicare and Medicaid.

Though the blueprint covers the entire reach of government, much of Wednesday's House Budget Committee debate focused on health and other social programs, from which Republicans were proposing to wring hundreds of billions in savings over the next 10 years. Ryan said that with sky-high deficits, the government needs to limit its mission to programs that are truly needed.

"We don't want to turn the safety net into a hammock that lulls people to lives of complacencies and dependencies, into a permanent condition where they never get on their feet," he said.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the panel's top Democrat, said Republicans are protecting tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy at the expense of the middle class and the poor. The Republican budget proposes whittling the current 35 percent top tax rate on individuals and businesses to 25 percent.

"It doesn't reform Medicare, it deforms and dismantles it," Van Hollen said of the GOP's budget. As for Medicaid, the budget "rips apart the safety net" for poor and older people, he added.

The proposal is a non-binding road map whose taxing and spending changes are supposed to be enacted later in the year in future legislation. But Ryan's plan has no chance of being approved by the Democratic-run Senate, making it more of a statement of priorities that candidates are likely to embrace or attack during the 2012 campaigns.

As committee debate extended into the afternoon, Republicans batted down a parade of Democratic amendments that, like the budget itself, were designed to underscore political points. By party-line votes, the panel rejected one amendment blocking tax cuts for millionaires and another rejecting reductions in Medicaid benefits for elderly nursing home residents.

"It's unconscionable that Republicans are abandoning our seniors, including our sickest and most frail seniors, for a political cause" of reducing the size of government, Rep. Allyson Schwartz, D-Pa., said.

Republicans castigated Democrats for trying to curb the blueprint's tax cuts, saying today's level of taxes and regulation make it harder for businesses to create jobs.

"Why don't you guys like small-business people?" asked Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif.

Liberal lawmakers bashed Ryan's proposal Wednesday as declaring war on the elderly and the poor.

"It is a disgrace to allow insurance companies to make more on the backs of seniors," Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said.

But Ryan says his plan will save the health programs for the elderly and poor.

"We're saving Medicare, we're saving Medicaid and we're getting the debt paid off," he told Fox News.

White House spokesman Jay Carney made clear the president isn't a fan of Ryan's plan.

"Any program or plan that reduces our deficit must reflect American values of fairness and shared sacrifice," he said. "Ryan's plan fails this. It cuts taxes for millionaires and special interest while putting a greater burden on seniors, families struggling with children's disabilities and students who count on Pell grants."

But Ryan disputed that description.

"We repair the social safety net. And when it comes to taxes, we get rid of all these loopholes and deductions, which is what mostly wealthy people lose and lowering taxes as a consequence to get economic growth in this country."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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