Government

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Nawaz Sharif, who twice served as Pakistan's prime minister in the 1990s, has decisively garnered enough seats in Parliament to give him an unprecedented third term in the post, analysts said Sunday, as election results continued to pile up in favor of the industrialist's center-right party. "He will not have any problem in forming the new government; that is very clear," said Hasan Askari Rizvi, a political expert in Lahore, long the stronghold of Sharif's party, the Pakistan Muslim League-N.

The legislative department is everywhere extending the sphere of its activity, and drawing all power into its impetuous vortex. - James Madison Federalist 48 But under today's regulatory state, the legislature, although still a source of much mischief, is not the principal threat to liberty. Suppose a federal executive department flagrantly abused its regulatory powers to suppress truthful speech that annoys the government. If you assume the Supreme Court would rectify this assault on the First Amendment's core protection, you would be mistaken.

HERE ARE three things the Obama administration has done that you probably didn't know about: Ever struggle with those accordion-style rubber sleeves on nozzles at the gas station? The sleeve - technically a "vapor recovery nozzle" - was required by the Environmental Protection Agency to keep gasoline vapors from leaking into the air. But most cars and trucks now have technology that does the job better, so last year, the EPA abolished the nozzle requirement. Because each sleeve-equipped nozzle can cost as much as $300, the change will save gas stations thousands of dollars.

THERE'S SOME semigood news and the usual bad news regarding needed reforms in Pennsylvania government and politics. As we end the first quarter of 2013, let's review. Keep in mind that in the Land of Low Expectations anything approaching progress deserves notation. Yes, there is still reluctance to run to the light after the darkness is shown. Take, for example, criminal charges filed last month in a huge, costly "pay-to-play" scandal involving the Pennsylvania Turnpike. If you missed it, shrugged and already forgot about it, state Attorney General Kathleen Kane announced charges stemming from evidence that pike contracts routinely were rigged in favor of campaign donors and those giving graft to pike officials.

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea said Saturday that a detained American allegedly tried to "topple" its government and would soon be put on trial, a potential complication as Washington tries to ease tensions stemming from Pyongyang's recent weapons tests and threats of nuclear attack. Kenneth Bae, a tour operator from Washington state, is the sixth American detained by the North since 2009, but he faces more serious charges than the others. The North used several previous cases as bargaining chips with the United States, drawing rescue-mission visits from former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.

ROME - Center-left leader Enrico Letta forged a new Italian government Saturday in a coalition with former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's conservatives, an unusual alliance of bitter rivals that broke a two-month political stalemate from inconclusive elections in the recession-mired country. The daunting achievement was pulled off by Letta, who will be sworn in as prime minister along with the cabinet Sunday. Letta, 46, is a moderate with a reputation as a political bridge-builder.

LATELY AND ironically, I'm wondering whether good government is bad for governing. I say lately because of that gun vote in Washington last week and coming votes in Harrisburg on transportation. I say ironically because I'm a drum major for good (or at least better) government. But a piece in the Washington Post last Friday caught my attention. Headlined "How the ban on earmarks killed the gun bill," it strongly suggests that the 2011 moratorium on earmarks - those delightful goodies Congress handed out to make things happen - stopped stuff from getting done.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's president-elect blamed the opposition Tuesday for seven deaths and 61 injuries that the government says have occurred in disturbances protesting his election, and he accused the United States of organizing the unrest. Opposition candidate Henrique Capriles later accused the government of being behind the violence. President-elect Nicolas Maduro's accusation against Washington came after the State Department said it would not recognize the results of Sunday's unexpectedly close election without the vote-by-vote recount being demanded by Capriles.

CARACAS, Venezuela - Voters chose Sunday between the hand-picked successor who campaigned to carry on Hugo Chavez's self-styled socialist revolution and an emboldened second-time challenger who warned that the late president's regime has Venezuela on the road to ruin. Nicolas Maduro, the longtime foreign minister to Chavez, pinned his hopes on the immense loyalty for his boss among millions of poor beneficiaries of government largesse and the powerful state apparatus that Chavez skillfully consolidated.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis named eight cardinals from around the globe Saturday to advise him on running the Catholic Church and reforming the Vatican bureaucracy, marking his first month as pope with a major initiative to reflect the universal nature of the church in key governing decisions. The advisory panel includes only one current Vatican official. The rest are cardinals from North, Central, and South America, Africa, Asia, Europe, and Australia. Many have been outspoken in calling for a shake-up of the Vatican bureaucracy, which was last reformed 25 years ago, while others have tried to clean up the church from sexually abusive priests.