Nation briefly Sept. 24

Palestinians submit request for UN membership

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The Palestinian leader took his people's quest for independence to the heart of world diplomacy on Friday, hoping to galvanize their flagging statehood campaign by seeking U.N. recognition of Palestine and sidestepping negotiations that have foundered for nearly two decades under the weight of inflexibility, violence and failure of will.

The bid to recognize a state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem - submitted against the will of a U.S. administration that had pressured President Mahmoud Abbas to drop it - laid bare the deep sense of exasperation the Palestinians feel after 44 years of Israeli occupation. International reservations about the move has had the perhaps unintended effect of reenergizing international efforts to seek a negotiated settlement.

After Abbas submitted his formal application, international mediators called on Israelis and Palestinians to return to long-stalled negotiations and reach an agreement no later than next year. The "Quartet" - the U.S., European Union, U.N. and Russia - urged both parties to draw up an agenda for peace talks within a month and produce comprehensive proposals on territory and security within three months.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the proposal "represents the firm conviction of the international community that a just and lasting peace can only come through negotiations between the parties."

And the Quartet statement was radically different from what diplomats had been hoping to draft since it became clear that Abbas would not back down. U.S. and European officials had been trying to craft a statement that would itself outline parameters of the negotiations, including a reference to borders being based on the 1967 lines and affirm Israel's identity as a Jewish state.

Congress hits new impasse over disaster aid

WASHINGTON (AP) - Just a week away from a possible government shutdown, lawmakers boxed themselves into a new budget impasse Friday.

With Congress' approval ratings already at an all-time low, a tit-for-tat over disaster aid left Republicans and Democrats - and the House and Senate - in a faceoff that's all too familiar to millions of Americans. Deep partisan disputes pushed the government to the edge of a partial shutdown in April, and to the brink of a debt ceiling crisis in late July.

On Friday, the Democratic-controlled Senate blocked a Republican House bill that would provide stopgap federal spending, plus aid for people battered by hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters.

The legislation also calls for $1.6 billion in spending cuts to help defray the disaster costs.

Democrats say it's unprecedented and unfair to require spending cuts to accompany badly needed emergency aid. They are especially unhappy that the GOP measure would tap clean-energy programs credited with creating jobs.

Republicans say that with a $14 trillion-plus national debt, business-as-usual spending is no longer acceptable.