National: The House passed a temporary funding bill to keep the federal government running until September. But the $85 billion in sequester cuts remain. The White House has cancelled tours to save money.

• Kentucky Tea Party Republican Sen. Rand Paul filibustered the President’s nominee for CIA director and did it the “Mr. Smith” way. He talked, and talked and talked. Paul wants the Obama administration to swear it will never use drones to kill Americans in US territory. He said, “I will speak until I can no longer speak.” He lasted 12 hours, 52 minutes.
• The Arkansas legislature approved the country’s strictest abortion law, limiting the procedure to the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. That’s about the point at which a heartbeat is detectable. The US Supreme Court set the limit at 24 weeks, the time at which a fetus might live outside the womb. The Republican legislature overrode the Democratic governor’s veto.
• A new report says the US government didn’t get much bang for its reconstruction buck in Iraq. The US spent $800 billion on the Iraq War, $60 billion of it on reconstruction. The report by a special inspector general says the US didn’t properly consult with the Iraqis about what the country needed and reconstruction was bled by corruption.

Gun Death: States with the most gun control laws have fewer gun deaths, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control. The US has about 30,000 gun deaths a year, the highest percentages in Alaska, Kentucky, Louisiana and Oklahoma, the states with fewest gun laws.

World: The UN Security Council ratcheted up sanctions against North Korea yesterday, only hours after threatening pre-emptive nuclear strikes against South Korea and the US. North Korea has been escalating its rhetoric in recent days, threatening to turn the US into “a sea in flames”.

• Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to one year in jail for leaking the results of an illegal wiretap involving a political rival to his brother who runs a newspaper. Famous for his “bunga bunga” sex parties, Berlusconi has also been convicted of tax fraud, but that didn’t stop him from running in Italy’s recent election. He lost.

Rhoda: Actress Valerie Harper, who became famous first in the 1970s on the Mary Tyler Moore show and then her own spinoff “Rhoda”, announced that she has terminal brain cancer and only months to live. The tumor was discovered when the 73-year-old Harper was rehearsing for a play and had trouble remembering her lines.

Final Note: British Rock guitarist Alvin Lee of the band Ten Years After died at age 68 following what was described as routine surgery. The band’s biggest hit was “I’d Love to Change the World”.

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