POLITICAL HOT TOPICS: Monday, April 16, 2012

The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world. Click on the headlines for more.

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL:

CNN: A behind-the-scenes look at the GSA investigation
The halls of Congress are rarely as quiet as on a Sunday, especially when spring break is coming to a close. But inside the Republican offices of the House Oversight Committee, it was hardly quiet. Chairman Darrell Issa of California and his aides were engaged in last-minute strategizing for Monday's hearing on excess spending at the General Services Administration, the agency charged with making sure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely.

CNN: Fund-raising tops on candidates' agendas ahead of primaries
Fresh into second quarter fund-raising, both President Barack Obama and presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney will make the rounds this week in hopes of puffing up their coffers.

CNN: Republicans call Romney tax return squabble a distraction
Democrats pressuring likely GOP nominee Mitt Romney to release 10 years of his personal tax returns are creating a political diversion, two leading Republicans said Sunday. The claim came two days after the White House released Obama's own tax returns, an annual disclosure Democrats turned into a political event by pairing the release with a call for Romney to disclose the same information.

CNN: Geithner criticizes Romney's 'ridiculous' analysis
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Sunday called Mitt Romney's argument that women have been disproportionately affected by the economic downturn "ridiculous." Geithner said Romney's premise that 92.3% of the jobs lost in the country were among women has been debunked, adding that men, women and families alike have been hurt by the economy.

NATIONAL:

CNN: Obama calls for 'rigorous' probe into Secret Service prostitution allegations
President Barack Obama called Sunday for a "thorough" and "rigorous" investigation into allegations involving prostitutes and Secret Service agents in Colombia. Some 11 Secret Service agents and officers are being investigated over preliminary findings that they allegedly brought back several prostitutes to a hotel in Cartagena, U.S. government sources familiar with the investigation have told CNN.

CNN: Storm aftermath: 'Remarkable' more lives are not lost, governor says
While authorities from Texas to Minnesota on Monday tally the storm's toll - from destroyed businesses to flattened homes, from downed power lines to overturned tractor-trailers - people in Woodward are making plans to bury their dead.

CNN: Jury selection to begin in perjury retrial of baseball's Roger Clemens
Federal prosecutors will take another crack at former Major League pitcher Roger Clemens, some nine months after a mistrial was declared in his perjury trial. Jury selection is expected to begin on Monday.

CNN: Cosby says guns, not race, the key issue in Trayvon Martin case
The race of Florida teen Trayvon Martin had less to do with his death than the fact that the neighborhood watch volunteer who killed him was carrying a gun, comedian Bill Cosby told CNN in an interview that aired Sunday.

INTERNATIONAL:

CNN: Afghan forces say they have cleared insurgent positions after attacks
Afghan security forces have cleared the positions in Kabul and in Logar Province from which insurgents had mounted sustained attacks, a spokesman for the Afghan Interior Ministry said Monday. A wave of attacks by militants took place in Kabul and three other areas of the country on Sunday. Government forces said they had repelled the offensives, but some of the violence spilled into Monday.

CNN: North Korea's young leader breaks the mold
The third generation of the Kim dynasty pledges to build on his family's legacy. But already, just with this speech, he is veering from their path. It is something his father never did. North Koreans I speak to say they can't recall ever hearing his voice.

CNN: Suspect in Norway mass murder goes on trial
The trial of the man accused of killing 77 people in a bomb and gun rampage in Norway began Monday. Anders Behring Breivik entered the courtroom in a black suit and raised his hand in a clenched-fist salute. He told the court he did not recognize it.

CNN: U.N. monitors to begin work in Syria on Monday
The first members of a U.N. observer team will begin their work in Syria on Monday, tasked with monitoring a tenuous cease-fire that is showing signs of collapse. "They will be liaising with the Syrian government, security forces and the opposition members to establish the monitoring process across the country," said Kieran Dwyer, a spokesman for peacekeeping missions at the United Nations.

BUSINESS:

CNN Money: New World Bank pick expected Monday
The World Bank is expected to announce its next president on Monday, and for the first time ever, it's got a competition on its hands. Throughout its more-than-60-year history, the bank has been led by an American. Now, candidates from the developing world are trying to shake things up.

Financial Times: China relaxes currency peg
China expanded the daily trading range that its currency can fluctuate against the US dollar on Saturday in an important step towards allowing the Rmb to eventually float freely.

CNN Money: Stocks: Investors brace for volatility
The stock market has wobbled throughout April, and the week ahead on Wall Street will probably be another rough one. Stocks ended a choppy week lower on Friday as concerns about an economic slowdown in China overshadowed a batch of better-than-expected corporate earnings reports.

In case you missed it…
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D) New York , and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R) Washington, discuss the battle for women voters.