Bush calls for US immigration overhaul in 2007 http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1089901
The embattled president's proposals include the creation of a temporary guest worker program and clearing the way for some undocumented immigrants to become US citizens, coupled with a series of tougher security measures. His ideas divide his party, with many Republicans saying they want to see tougher enforcement of border controls and deriding his guest worker program as an improper "amnesty". Bush's Democratic critics, who took control the US Congress in January, are generally more receptive, though some with close ties to US unions worry that immigration puts downward pressure on wages. The US Congress in late May is expected to take up the debate on what to do about the estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, according to a congressional source. Bush put special emphasis on border security and enforcement, noting he was pushing to double the size of the US Border Patrol and advocating new high-tech ways of detecting people sneaking in. But he said any comprehensive deal must also create a temporary worker program; hold employers accountable if they hire undocumented workers; resolve the states of the undocumented workers already in the United States; and ensure that those who want to stay speak English and know US history.
Dems decline Bush offer http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-ex-bush10apr10,0,1098393.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel
President Bush invited congressional leaders of both parties to the White House next week to talk about legislation to pay for the war in Iraq, but Democrats promptly dismissed his offer because it carried a condition that Congress drop a timetable for withdrawing American forces from Iraq. The president also complained that the separate war-spending bills passed by the House and Senate included considerable pork-barrel domestic spending as well as about $100 billion for the war. He invited congressional leaders to a White House meeting next week to work on what officials said would be a "clean" measure providing money just for the war. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada complained that Bush was setting conditions for the White House talks with congressional leaders. Bush said that if Congress does not provide the funds he seeks for the war--without deadlines for ending the troops' deployment--some forces already in Iraq would see their missions extended because there would be insufficient money to train replacements, and other units already trained would see their time at home shortened before being sent back there. Although Bush is only one of many top administration officials who have publicly warned of dire consequences if Congress does not pass the war spending bill by mid-April, in reality the cutbacks would be far less serious. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates warned failing to pass the supplemental could hamper training for units preparing to go to Iraq, for example, but without new money, the Pentagon would be able to shift funds from various other spending programs to cover Iraq-related costs for some time. The president said that the Democratic leaders were bent on delivering a political statement on the war, and added, "They need to get it to my desk quickly so I can veto it". On Sunday, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, signaling the split with the congressional Democratic leadership, said the Senate would not cut off funding for the war, even as it kept pressure on Bush to achieve a settlement with Iraqi leaders that would end the violence.
China accelerating testing of new missiles: US intelligence report http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1089914
China is accelerating the testing of new medium and long-range ballistic missiles, according to new US intelligence reports. The new Chinese missile development could affect Taiwan and US strategy toward China, especially if China were ever to attack Taiwan, the Aviation Week and Space Technology (AW and ST) reports citing the intelligence reports. The Asian giant is also demonstrating a wide range of new tactics with those missiles. Much of this information, the report says, comes from several US Air Force Defense Support Programme (DSP) missile warning spacecraft watching China from geostationary orbit, 22,300 miles above the Earth. China, the report says, is beginning an unprecedented surge in the flight test of new ballistic missiles at the same time that the US is starting a lengthy transition of missile-warning satellite systems, critical for providing intelligence on this test activity.While recent media focus has been on Iranian missiles, "there is much more going on inside the Chinese missile programmes than is generally known to the public," according to another analyst with GlobalSecurity.org. China's January anti-satellite weapons test was only the most spectacular manifestation of this new strategic push by China, he says.
Putin Tightens Internet Controls Before Presidential Election http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a2Zf7wMQnNQ4&refer=home
As the Kremlin gears up for the election of Vladimir Putin's successor next March, Soviet-style controls are being extended to online news after a presidential decree last month set up a new agency to supervise both mass media and the Web. All three national TV stations are state-controlled, and the state gas monopoly, OAO Gazprom, has been taking over major newspapers; self-censorship is routine. That has left the Internet as the main remaining platform for political debate, and Web sites that test the boundaries of free speech are already coming under pressure. In December, a court in the Siberian region of Khakassia shut down the Internet news site Novy Fokus for not registering as a media outlet. The site, known for its critical reporting, reopened in late March after it agreed to register and accept stricter supervision. Anticompromat.ru, which wrote about Putin's pre-presidential business interests, had to find a U.S. Web server after a Russian service provider pulled the plug March 28, saying it had been warned by officials to stop hosting the site. Last year, the authorities shut down a Web site called Kursiv in the city of Ivanovo, northeast of Moscow, that lampooned Putin as a ``phallic symbol of Russia'' for his drive to boost the birthrate. Putin, 54, isn't allowed to run for re-election in 2008 under Russia's two-term constitutional limit. Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, whose policy of glasnost, or openness, ushered in media freedom in the late 1980s after decades of Soviet censorship, has condemned the state propaganda on the airwaves. Oleg Panfilov, head of the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations in Moscow, predicted in a telephone interview that ``pressure on the media is going to worsen'' as the presidential succession draws nearer. The government, meanwhile, has been expanding Gazprom's media role. The company already took control of independent channel NTV in 2001 and bought long-established Russian daily Izvestia in 2005. Last year, Kommersant, once owned by tycoon and exiled Kremlin critic Boris Berezovsky, was sold to Alisher Usmanov, a steel magnate who is head of a Gazprom subsidiary. And Gazprom said in November it will acquire Russia's biggest-selling daily, Komsomolskaya Pravda, which has a circulation of 800,000. Vladimir Rakhmankov, editor of the Web site that lost its Russian server after mocking Putin, said the Web crackdown is part of the final phase of a campaign to stifle free speech.
Pak to close down brothels http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1089936The Pakistan government has apparently decided to resolve the stand-off with a group of radical Islamic clerics by accepting one of their key demands of closing down all brothels in the capital city. The government is ready to force the closure of brothels operating in Islamabad to meet one of the demands of the clerics of Lal Masjid, who control a large madrasa in Islamabad, as a quid pro quo deal for veiled girls of the seminary to end their occupation of a children's library in the city, local daily 'The News' reported. The administration of Jamia Hafsa, had claimed that there were as many as 26 brothels in sector G-6 in Islamabad but without explaining how it discovered these spots. Monday's meeting attended by Musharraf reportedly decided to rely mainly on negotiations for resolving the piquant situation created by the militant clerics as well as veiled girls students of the madrasa, who created a stir by issuing a fatwa against Tourism Minister Nilofar Bakhtiar for hugging a French paratrooper after a para jump in Paris. Given the multiplicity of the crises the government is facing at the moment, a decision has been taken to resolve them through political means. Meanwhile, a petition was moved in the Pakistan Supreme Court on Monday against Lal Masjid imam Maulana Abdul Aziz and Jamia Hafsa principal Abdul Rashid Ghazi for setting up a Qazi Court and forming a private army against the state.
Eritrea dismisses US charge it destabilises Somalia
http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSL10301298._CH_.2400
Eritrea dismissed on Tuesday allegations by the top U.S. diplomat on Africa, Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer, that it was trying to destabilise Somalia as a way of hurting its arch foe Ethiopia. Frazer met members of Somalia's Ethiopian-backed interim government on Saturday and urged them to open the political process to all Somalis who renounced violence and extremism. The New York Times quoted her as accusing Eritrea of destabilising Somalia, and said it was widely known that Eritrea "would do anything" to hurt its arch foe Ethiopia. Eritrea also said it had held talks with a former leader of Somalia's Islamists, ousted late last year in a swift offensive by Ethiopian and Somali government forces. The United Nations and United States accused Eritrea of arming the SICC during the hardline movement's six-month rule over Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia. Eritrea denied the accusations. Washington has accused Somali Islamists of links to al Qaeda, but has said it views Ahmed -- who now lives in exile in Yemen -- as a moderate who could help national reconciliation.
Mystery cat takes regular bus to the shops
London Bus drivers have nicknamed a white cat Macavity after it has started using the No 331 several mornings a week. The feline, which has a purple collar, gets onto the busy Walsall to Wolverhampton bus at the same stop most mornings - he then jumps off at the next stop 400m down the road, near a fish and chip shop. The cat was nicknamed Macavity after the mystery cat in T.S Elliot's poem. He gets on the bus in front of a row of 1950s semi-detached houses and jumps off at a row of shops down the road which include a fish and chip shop. Since January, when the cat first caught the bus he has done it two or three times a week and always gets on and off at the same stops.
No comments:
Post a Comment