Politics

Nuclear Weapon Hypocrisy

U.S. Presses Europe on Iran Nuclear Breaches
VIENNA -- Washington and Europe were split on Thursday over how strongly the U.N. nuclear watchdog should condemn Iran's 18-year concealment of sensitive atomic research the United States says is part of a covert weapons programme. In a new report on Iran, the U.N. The United States, which labelled Iran part of an "axis of evil" with North Korea and pre-war Iraq, wants the board to find Iran in "non-compliance" with its NPT obligations and report Tehran to the U.N. Security Council, which can impose sanctions. Washington also wants the resolution to include some kind of "trigger mechanism" in the event of further breaches by Iran.

U.S. House Approves Bush Nuclear Weapons Funds
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday gave President George W. Bush much of the money he wanted to study new types of nuclear weapons as Republican leaders worked toward a deal that will let them wrap up the rest of Congress' unfinished budget work this week. The House voted 387-36 to pass the funds as part of a $27.3 billion spending bill for energy and water programs in 2004. It now goes to the Senate and then to Bush to be signed into law.

At Least Four Killed by Car Bombs in Iraq
KIRKUK, Iraq -- A suicide car bomber has killed at least four people in an attack near the offices of a leading Kurdish party in northern Iraq, hours after two others were killed in a car bombing west of Baghdad. The bombings near the Kirkuk offices of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) -- whose leader is currently head of Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council -- and a U.S.-backed local council appeared to target the American-led occupation. In Kirkuk, about 250 km (150 miles) north of Baghdad, a huge explosion threw up a cloud of black smoke, shaking buildings across town. The blast flattened a wall around the green-painted headquarters of the PUK and shattered windows at a nearby primary school, wounding several children.

Bush Hints That U.S. Might Not Reduce Troops in Iraq
LONDON -- President Bush said today that he was open to rethinking the Pentagon's plan to reduce the size of the United States military force in Iraq next year. Asked at a news conference with Prime Minister Tony Blair how it was possible for the United States and Britain to start bringing troops home next year when the security situation in Iraq is so unsettled, Mr. Bush challenged the premise of the question and said he would rely on his military commanders to judge how many troops were needed to deal with conditions on the ground. "I said that we're going to bring our troops home starting next year?" Mr. Bush replied, in a tone that conveyed that he was committing himself to no such thing.

Bush Wants US to Back EU Cybercrime Treaty
[GLOBALIST] President GW Bush has asked the US Senate to ratify the first international cybercrime treaty. In a letter to the Senate on Monday, Bush called the Council of Europe's controversial treaty "an effective tool in the global effort to combat computer-related crime" and "the only multilateral treaty to address the problems of computer-related crime and electronic evidence gathering".

$280 Billion Spending Bill
Still Stuck On Overtime Pay
WASHINGTON -- Lawmakers negotiating a vast end-of-session spending bill are defying the Bush administration over television station ownership limits, but remain gridlocked over whether to challenge the White House over overtime pay rules. With little fanfare, House-Senate bargainers decided Wednesday to include a provision that would block the Federal Communications Commission from allowing companies to own stations watched by 45 percent of viewers. That would leave the current limit of 35 percent in effect.

At Least 27 Killed, 400 Hurt as
Bank and Consulate Are Bombed
ISTANBUL -- Two explosions rocked Istanbul today, one at the British consulate and the other at the British international bank HSBC, killing 27 people and wounding more than 400, Turkish government officials said. International news agencies and the Turkish private television station NTV reported that the British Consul General, Roger Short, was among those killed in the attack. The reports quoted the religious affairs official of the consulate, Ian Sherwood. "In today's attacks, there were again trucks loaded with explosives and it's highly likely that both were suicide attacks," the Turkish foreign minister, Abdulkadir Aksu, said.

Bad Radar Prompts White House Evacuation
WASHINGTON -- Air Force fighter jets were scrambled and the White House was briefly evacuated on Thursday after birds or possibly disturbances in the atmosphere tripped radar that keeps watch on restricted air space around the complex. "It's a false radar target," said William Shumann, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman. "When the NORAD fighters got to the location of the alleged violation, they found nothing." The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, is the command center for the defense of U.S. and Canadian airspace.

Posted by Editor at November 20, 2003 04:17 PM