Congressional opponents of a free-trade pact with Oman raised concerns on Tuesday about provisions they said could jeopardize U.S. port security, but other lawmakers said they were misstating the facts.The exchange came as the House of Representatives was set to vote on Thursday on the agreement. The Senate approved the trade pact with the Gulf Arab state last month 60-34.Rep. John Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat who serves on the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee, said the pact would allow companies such as Dubai Ports World to acquire U.S. port operations by establishing a shell company in Oman. "If Dubai Ports World set up in Oman and then attempts to acquire a U.S. port operation and Congress intervenes ... (the Oman-U.S. Free Trade Agreement) would empower Dubai Ports World to drag the United States before UN or World Bank tribunals to demand we compensate the firm" for lost profits, Murtha said....
http://today.reuters.com
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Editor - 18:10:00 07-18-06
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 Immigration Hearings Draw Complaints |
After more than 50 congressional hearings on immigration, lawmakers complained Tuesday about the prospect of even more hearings in a House-Senate standoff over how to deter illegal immigrants. House Republicans have called for six more hearings this month _ and possibly more in August. The hearings began after the Senate passed a bipartisan immigration bill offering a chance at citizenship to millions of illegal immigrants. The latest round of hearings has been criticized as a political maneuver to delay immigration legislation and to help Republican candidates in an election year. After more than 50 immigration hearings since the 109th Congress began in February 2005, even a Republican joined the criticism Tuesday. "They ought to be called faux hearings," said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. Flake sponsored an unsuccessful House bill that, like the Senate's measure, would offer some amnesty. Republican leaders made no attempt to hide their disdain for the Senate bill. ...
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/18/D8IULQK00.html
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Editor - 18:07:00 07-18-06
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| Romney Moves to Oust Big Dig Chief As Tunnel Repairs Continue |
Gov. Mitt Romney gave written allegations of mismanagement Tuesday to the head of Boston's Big Dig, while crews worked to reinforce tunnels in a highway network where ceiling panels fell and crushed a motorist. Romney said the fatal accident bolstered his long-standing argument that the $14.6 billion highway project has been mismanaged, and Matthew Amorello should be removed as chairman and chief executive of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. A July 27 hearing was scheduled on Amorello's dismissal. Romney refused to release the specific allegations and said the hearing would be private. "I haven't released the personnel records of any person at this stage and wouldn't intend to do it now while this hearing is pending," Romney said. "We believe that the failures at the Turnpike Authority are now so extensive and so clear that a court will agree that Chairman Amorello should be removed." ...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2208046
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Editor - 18:02:00 07-18-06
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| Senate Approves Stem Cell Bill Bush Promises To Use First Veto To Stop Legislation |
The Senate voted Tuesday after two days of emotional debate to expand federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, sending the measure to President Bush for a promised veto, the first of his presidency. The bill passed 63-37, four votes short of the two-thirds majority that would be needed to override Mr. Bush's veto. The president left little doubt he would reject the bill despite late appeals on its behalf from fellow Republicans Nancy Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger. "The simple answer is he thinks murder's wrong," said White House spokesman Tony Snow. "The president is not going to get on the slippery slope of taking something living and making it dead for the purposes of scientific research." Following the vote, Democratic senators appealed to President Bush not to veto the legislation on federal funding. ...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/07/17/national/main1811004.shtml?source=RSS&attr=U.S._1811004
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Editor - 15:44:00 07-18-06
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| Hundreds of Soldiers Reclaim Southern Afghanistan Town From the Taliban |
Hundreds of Afghan and coalition soldiers reclaimed one town from the Taliban and moved on a second Tuesday, following an outburst of violence that has forced thousands of residents to flee their homes, the U.S. military and aid officials said. A top Afghan security official accused Pakistani Islamist groups of helping the Taliban fighters chase police from the two towns in the south, where thousands of U.S., British, Canadian and Afghan soldiers are battling the worst surge in Taliban violence since the 2001 toppling of the hard-line regime. Local lawmakers pleaded with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to do more to stop insurgents crossing the porous border with Pakistan. The aid group International Organization for Migration reported about 4,000 Afghans have fled the violence in Helmand province, where the two towns were taken by the Taliban. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2207964
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Editor - 15:29:00 07-18-06
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| Ethicists Say No Way to Justify Mercy Killing, if That's What Happened in New Orleans |
Despite horrific medical conditions including triple-digit temperatures, no electricity and useless lifesaving equipment, ethicists and even some doctors caught in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath say there's no way to justify killing a sick or dying patient. "You've got at best mercy and panic, but that doesn't add up to an excusable homicide," said University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Arthur Caplan. No one knows if that happened in New Orleans, but a doctor and two nurses were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of murder charges. They are accused of giving fatal doses of morphine and a sedative to four patients stranded at a New Orleans hospital after the catastrophic storm last August. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2208039
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Editor - 15:27:00 07-18-06
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