WASHINGTON - A bipartisan Senate immigration bill would cost the government a net $6.3 trillion over the next 50 years to provide benefits for millions of people now living in the U.S. illegally, the Heritage Foundation said in a report Monday, setting off a fierce dispute with fellow conservatives who attacked the study as flawed and political.

By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top Obama administration official said on Tuesday that an immigration bill starting to move through Congress would fix some border control weaknesses that may have contributed to last week's Boston Marathon bombings. The immigration to the United States of two ethnic Chechen brothers who are suspects in the bombings has become a point of controversy in the early debate over the legislation, with some conservatives saying that Congress should now go slower.

By Richard Cowan and Rachelle Younglai WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Tuesday unveiled long-awaited landmark legislation to remove the threat of deportation for millions of illegal immigrants and give them an opportunity to eventually become U.S. citizens. Under the proposal, undocumented immigrants who came to America before December 31, 2011 and stayed continuously could apply for "provisional" legal status as soon as six months after the bill is signed by the president.

Civil servants and pensions in cash-strapped Cyprus could go unpaid this month because of a shortfall of at least 75 million euros ($97 million) in government coffers, an official warned on Monday. Finance Minister Haris Georgiades, meanwhile, cautioned that leaving the eurozone would take Cyprus back "centuries" and insisted the island has no "Plan B" for reneging on a 10-billion-euro ($13-billion) bailout. Accountant General Rea Georgiou told parliament's finance committee that the government was trying to avoid a payment default for the month of April.