2/ 1/05 Tuesday
Paul II was rushed to the hospital tonight with breathing
difficulties and an inflamed throat while battling the flu during
an icy spell that has swept Italy, the Vatican said. Anxiety has
been running high over the 84-year-old pope's Parkinson's disease
and other ailments, but Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls
told The Associated Press that the decision to hospitalize him was
"mainly a precaution."
Iraq's interim president said that tens of thousands of people may
have been unable to vote in the country's historic weekend election
because some polling places - including those in Sunni Arab areas -
ran out of ballots. As clerks pounded vote-count tallies into
computers to compile final results, President Ghazi al-Yawer also
said chaos and a power vacuum in Iraq mean U.S. forces need to stay
for now, even though a new government will be formed after the
results are known.
Lawmakers and military officials said today that President Bush's
proposal to boost government payments to families of U.S. troops
killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and other war zones was a good start
but too narrow. Republicans suggested that those who die while
training for combat missions also should be eligible for the
increased death benefits. Democrats argued that the benefits
should extend to all military personnel who die while on active
duty.
2/ 2/05 Wednesday
President Bush challenged a hesitant Congress this evening to
"strengthen and save" Social Security, saying the nation's
costliest social program was headed for bankruptcy unless changed.
Bush's plan would cut guaranteed retirement benefits for younger
Americans but would not affect checks for people now 55 and older.
Bush, in his State of the Union address, pledged to work with
Congress "to find the most effective combination of reforms,"
although he has ruled out some remedies such as raising Social
Security taxes.
Congressional Democrats hit President Bush this evening for his
Iraq policies and planned Social Security overhaul, hoping a
vigorous response to his State of the Union speech will fuel a
turnabout from their election setbacks last fall. The prime-time
address offered center stage to the president. Democrats, though,
were hoping their retorts would cast them as a moderate but
energetic alternative to Bush and the Republicans who control
Congress.
Pope John Paul II's doctors were on guard for complications today,
a day after the frail, 84-year-old pontiff was hospitalized with
the flu and breathing trouble. Pneumonia remained a potentially
deadly threat, but the Holy See insisted there was "no cause for
alarm." Roman Catholics from Poland to the Philippines prayed for
his recovery.
The Federal Reserve pushed short-term interest rates higher today,
part of a campaign begun last June and expected to continue well
into this year to keep inflation and the economy on an even keel.
Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues raised the target
for the federal funds rate by one-quarter of a percentage point, to
2.50 percent. It was the sixth such increase since last summer.
The rate is the interest that banks charge each other and is the
Fed's main lever for influencing economic activity.
2/ 3/05 Thursday
Iraqi officials today released the first partial returns from
national elections, showing a commanding lead by candidates backed
by the Shiite Muslim clergy. Sunni insurgents unleashed a wave of
attacks, killing at least 30 people, including three U.S. Marines
and a dozen Iraqi army recruits. Meanwhile, election officials
said strict security measures may have deprived many Iraqis in the
Mosul area and surrounding Ninevah province of their right to
vote. The admission is likely to fuel complaints by Iraq's
minority Sunni Arabs, who make up the heart of the insurgency, that
they were not represented in the vote.
Facing stiff resistance, President Bush began searching state-by-
state for support for his plan to overhaul Social Security and
conceded today that not all lawmakers believe the program has a
serious problem. "The math doesn't work," Bush insisted, saying
Social Security would pay out more money than it brought in
beginning in 2018. "And in 2042, it's bust," he said. That's the
year in which the system would be able to cover only about 73
percent of benefits owed unless it is changed, according to Social
Security trustees.
Alberto Gonzales won Senate confirmation as attorney general
despite Democratic accusations that he helped formulate White House
policies that led to overseas prisoner abuse and was too beholden
to President Bush to be the nation's top law enforcement official.
The Senate voted 60-36 to put the first Hispanic ever into the job,
with all of the "no" votes coming from Democrats and Democratic-
leaning Independent Jim Jeffords of Vermont. Last week, 12
Democrats and Jeffords voted against Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice's confirmation.
President Bush's Social Security proposals stirred fresh political
worries today among Republicans and brought calls from some
lawmakers to abandon the president's central idea: letting people
divert part of their payroll taxes to private retirement accounts.
"I've talked to some of my colleagues and they're panic-stricken,"
said Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who said he welcomes a serious debate
over the sweeping changes Bush outlined in his State of the Union
address Wednesday.
2/ 4/05 Friday
President Bush will propose a nearly 5 percent increase for next
year's defense spending while calling for cuts in payments to
farmers and work on a nuclear waste storage site in Nevada,
according to documents and federal officials. Bush also will
propose boosting the size of Pell grants for low-income college
students as he seeks to abolish a widely used college loan program
and to shrink federal subsidies for banks that lend money to
students.
U.S.-backed Prime Minister Ayad Allawi was trailing a Shiite
ticket with ties to Iran in Iraq's historic election, according to
partial returns released today. Three U.S. soldiers were killed
and 12 wounded in the north, and gunmen seized an Italian
journalist in Baghdad. The United Iraqi Alliance, endorsed by
Iraq's top Shiite clerics, captured more than two-thirds of the 3.3
million votes counted so far, the election commission said. The
ticket headed by Allawi, a secular Shiite, had about 18 percent -
or more than 579,700 votes.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice joined British and German
allies pledging today to help Israel and the Palestinians seize an
opening for peace in the Middle East. They also said diplomacy can
neutralize a nuclear threat in Iran. "Now is the time for our
diplomacy to put our alliance to work in the service of great goals
and great opportunities that stand before us," Rice said.
2/ 5/05 Saturday
Facing the prospect of a Shiite Muslim landslide, Sunni politicians
offered today to participate in mapping the nation's political
future. But Sunni rebels showed no sign of compromise, killing
three U.S. troops and at least 33 Iraqis in a string of attacks.
Officials of the Shiite-led coalition that has rolled up a big lead
in last weekend's elections said it wants the prime minister post
in the upcoming government - casting doubt on chances that U.S.-
backed Prime Minister Ayad Allawi can keep his job.
Russia needs to show a commitment to a free press and other "basics
of democracy," and cooperate with former Soviet republics such as
Georgia and Ukraine where democracy is taking hold, Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice said today. Rice, moving quickly through
Europe on her first trip as President Bush's chief diplomat, also
said European diplomats seem eager to put in the past the
estrangement caused by the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
NATO helicopter gunships found the shattered wreckage of a missing
Afghan airliner on a frigid mountain east of the capital today, and
officials said they believed none of the 104 people aboard could
have survived the crash. Six Americans were believed to have been
on board, the U.S. Embassy in Kabul said, double the number
previously reported.
President Bush's budget will propose slashing grants to local law
enforcement agencies and cutting spending for environmental
protection, American Indian schools and home-heating aid for the
poor, The Associated Press learned today. Bush molded the roughly
$2.5 trillion spending plan for 2006 as a response to a string of
record federal deficits, and is sends it to Congress on Monday.
2/ 6/05 Sunday
The United States will ask Israel to make "hard decisions" as it
moves toward peace with the Palestinians, and both sides must live
up to their promises, Condoleezza Rice said today during her first
trip to the Middle East as secretary of state. Rice's two-day
visit to Israel and the West Bank headquarters of the newly elected
Palestinian government is meant to nudge both sides to take hold of
what Rice called "a time of opportunity" and end four years of war.
In Jacksonville, Fla., the Patriots won their third Super Bowl in
four years today, 24-21 over the Philadelphia Eagles.
President Bush's $2.5 trillion budget is shaping up as his most
austere, trying to restrain spending across a wide swath of
government from popular farm subsidies to poor people's health
programs. Vice President Dick Cheney today defended the plan
against Democratic criticism that Bush had to seek steep cuts in
scores of federal programs because he is unwilling to roll back
first-term tax cuts that opponents contend primarily benefited the
wealthy.
2/ 7/05 Monday
President Bush proposed a $2.57 trillion budget today that would
erase scores of programs and slice Medicaid, disabled housing and
many more but still worsen federal deficits by $42 billion over the
next five years. In one of the most austere presidential budgets
in years - one that faces precarious prospects in Congress - Bush
would give nine of the 15 Cabinet-level departments less money in
2006 than they are getting this year. Overall, he would cut non-
security domestic spending - excluding automatically paid benefits
like Medicare - by nearly 1 percent next year. Bush said it was
the first such reduction proposed by the White House since
President Reagan's day.
A Kurdish ticket pulled into second place ahead of U.S.-backed
Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's candidates in Iraq's national election
after votes were released today from the Kurdish self-governing
area of the north. Insurgents struck Iraq's security forces with
suicide bombs and mortar fire, killing more than 30 people. First
election returns from the Sunni heartland - including Saddam
Hussein's hometown of Tikrit - confirmed today that many Sunnis
stayed away from ballot box, leaving the field to Shiite and
Kurdish candidates. A Shiite-dominated ticket backed by the Shiite
clergy leads among the 111 candidate lists, with a final tally of
last week's election for a 275-member National Assembly expected by
week's end.
Ellen MacArthur has endured stormy seas, 65 mph winds, a broken
sail, burns, bruises and exhaustion - even a close encounter with a
whale. The payoff: a solo around-the-world sailing record. The
28-year-old Englishwoman completed the 26,000-mile
circumnavigation at 5:29 p.m. EST today by crossing an imaginary
finish line between Ushant, France, and the Lizard peninsula in
Cornwall on the south coast of England.
2/ 8/05 Tuesday
In a crucial step heralded as a fresh start to peacemaking, Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas
promised today to halt all acts of violence and agreed to meet
again soon to tackle the tougher issues that for decades have
blocked the road to peace. Even if their cease-fire pledge sticks,
much negotiating lies ahead as the two sides work to rebuild the
trust destroyed in four years of deadly attacks.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took the argument over American
ideals and influence to her European critics' door today, and urged
cooperation to move beyond disagreements over the war in Iraq. "It
is time to open a new chapter in our relationship and a new chapter
in our alliance," Rice told Paris' Institute of Political Studies
as she defended the Bush administration's foreign policy in hostile
territory.
Army soldiers are being issued new fatigues with easy-to-use Velcro
openings and a redesigned camouflage pattern that can help conceal
them as they move rapidly from desert to forest to city in places
like Baghdad. "It might give you the extra second you need, save
your life maybe," Sgt. Marcio Soares said today after trying on the
new all-in-one camouflage uniform that is the first major redesign
in Army fatigues since 1983.
President Bush today promoted his entire domestic agenda - from a
massive Social Security overhaul to a new, austere budget - as
changes needed for faster job growth and a solid economic
expansion. Bush addressed the Detroit Economic Club but aimed his
comments as well at Congress, where some of his proposals face
bipartisan resistance. He defended the cuts and restraints in the
$2.57 trillion proposal he sent to Capitol Hill on Monday.
2/ 9/05 Wednesday
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran today that it risks
U.N. action if negotiations with Europe over its nuclear program
don't progress. Nearing the end of a fence-mending tour of
European allies, Rice also said she encountered "a kind of coming
together of common purpose" on another troubled front: Iraq.
Several countries committed to help train Iraqi forces and
participate in an upcoming NATO training mission.
President Bush added Medicare to the government's fix-it list today
after new figures showed the first full decade of the program's
prescription benefit will cost taxpayers $724 billion.
Iraqi officials said today they must recount votes from about 300
ballot boxes because of various discrepancies, delaying final
results from the landmark national elections. Hundreds - perhaps
thousands - of other ballots were declared invalid because of
alleged tampering. Postelection violence mounted, raising fears
that the Jan. 30 balloting had done little to ease the country's
grave security crisis.
In the latest salvo in a long-running battle between Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. and organized labor, the company said today it will
close a Canadian store where about 200 workers are near winning the
first-ever union contract from the world's largest retailer. Wal-
Mart said it was shuttering the store in Jonquiere, Quebec, in
response to unreasonable demands from union negotiators, that would
make it impossible for the store to sustain its business. The
United Food & Commercial Workers Canada last week asked Quebec
labor officials to appoint a mediator, saying that negotiations had
reached an impasse.
2/10/05 Thursday
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld arrived in Iraq for a daylong
visit to review Iraq security forces and meet with Iraqi and
American leaders. The visit was not announced publicly in advance
for security reasons. His first stop was to be at a combat
surgical hospital to meet wounded soldiers.
North Korea boasted publicly for the first time today that it has
nuclear weapons and said it will stay away from disarmament talks,
dramatically raising the stakes in the 2-year-old dispute. The
Bush administration called on Pyongyang to give up its atomic
aspirations so life can be better for its impoverished people.
North Korea's harshly worded pronouncement posed a grave challenge
to President Bush, who started his second term with a vow to end
North Korea's nuclear program through six-nation disarmament talks.
Thirty years after their first romance, Prince Charles and Camilla
Parker Bowles, both now graying divorcees, will finally wed in a
civil ceremony and put the official seal on a relationship Princess
Diana blamed for the breakdown of her marriage to the man who would
be king. In a nod to those who have not warmed to Parker Bowles,
the royal family said today she will never hold the title of queen
but eventually will be called HRH Princess Consort instead. But
usually reserved Charles seemed overjoyed simply to be able to take
her as his wife.
2/11/05 Friday
A vegetable truck rigged with explosives blew up today outside a
Shiite mosque northeast of Baghdad, and gunmen sprayed automatic
fire into a bakery in a Shiite district of the capital in sectarian
violence that killed at least 23 people. The attacks occurred as
election officials announced provisional final results from the
Jan. 30 elections for provincial councils in 12 of the 18
provinces, showing Shiite religious groups winning handily over
secular tickets in local races in much of the country.
Arguing it was burned before in one-on-one talks with North Korea,
the United States said today it had no interest in resuming direct
discussions on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program. The White
House said it continued to support a six-nation process designed to
negotiate the elimination of the communist country's nuclear
armaments.
Americans are feeling a bit more optimistic about the future of
Iraq, a bright spot for the administration in an Associated Press
poll that indicates many are souring on President Bush's job
performance. Half in the AP-Ipsos poll, 51 percent, said they
think a stable, democratic Iraq is likely, up slightly from the 46
percent who felt that way before the Iraq elections.
2/12/05 Saturday
A car bomb killed 17 people today and injured 21 others in a mostly
Shiite Muslim town south of Baghdad, and U.S. troops backed by
tanks battled rebels in the country's third-largest city as the
insurgency showed no sign of abating after national elections.
Officials plan to announce the final results of the Jan. 30 vote on
Sunday, election commission spokesman Farid Ayar said. Another car
bomb exploded in an eastern Baghdad neighborhood as a U.S. military
convoy passed, killing an Iraqi woman and wounding three others but
causing no American casualties, Iraqi police said. The bomb
exploded about half a mile from a U.S. Army base.
New national Democratic Chairman Howard Dean promised today to
rebuild the party in the most conservative regions of the country,
help develop state and local organizations and let congressional
Democrats set the tone on policy. Electing Dean on a voice vote
during their winter meeting, Democrats put the party's leadership
in the hands of the skilled fund-raiser and organizer whose
sometimes caustic, blunt comments can lead to controversy. The
physician now must contend with a state-by-state political map in
which Republican red overwhelms Democratic blue.
2/13/05 Sunday
Clergy-backed Shiites and independence-minded Kurds swept to
victory in Iraq's landmark elections, propelling to power the
groups that suffered the most under Saddam Hussein and forcing
Sunni Arabs to the margins for the first time in modern history,
according to final results released today. But the Shiites' 48
percent of the vote is far short of the two-thirds majority needed
to control the 275-member National Assembly. The results threw
immediate focus on Iraqi leaders' backdoor dealmaking to create a
new coalition government - possibly in an alliance with the Kurds -
and on efforts to lure Sunnis into the fold and away from a bloody
insurgency.
Iran rejected a European demand to stop building a heavy-water
nuclear reactor that provides a simpler way of extracting weapons-
grade fuel, and it warned the United States today "not to play with
fire" by repeatedly threatening Tehran. Iran has indicated
previously it will keep its heavy-water reactor, but today's
announcement that it will not replace it with a light-water reactor
was the clearest statement yet of its nuclear plans and represented
a hardening of its position.
2/14/05 Monday
In Beirut, Lebanon, a powerful bomb tore through the motorcade of a
former prime minister today, killing him, carving a 30-foot hole in
a street and turning armored cars into burning wrecks. The
devastation harked back to Lebanon's violent past and raised fears
of new bloodshed in the bitter dispute over Syria, the country's
chief power broker. The blast wounded 100 people and killed 10,
including the main target: Rafik Hariri, a billionaire businessman
who helped rebuild Lebanon after its civil war, but had recently
fallen out with Syria.
President Bush asked Congress today to provide $81.9 billion more
for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and for other U.S. efforts
overseas, shoving the total price tag for the conflicts and anti-
terror fight past $300 billion. Republicans hope to push the
package through Congress by early spring, reflecting both parties'
desire to finance U.S. troops in the field and give Iraqis more
responsibility following their national elections.
A test of the national ballistic missile defense system failed
today when an interceptor missile didn't get out of its silo, the
second failure in as many months. The failed test came less than a
week after North Korea declared it had nuclear weapons, giving new
attention to a possible threat from that nation.
From J.Lo to James Brown, Usher to U2, the Grammys had it all this
year - except a lot of interested viewers. An estimated 18.8
million people watched Ray Charles' swan song clean up with eight
awards Sunday night, a startling 28 percent drop from the 2004
Grammys. After two years on an upswing, Grammy ratings sunk to
their lowest level since 1995, according to Nielsen Media
Research. It may be an ominous sign for the granddaddy of awards
shows, the Academy Awards, Feb. 27 on ABC.
2/15/05 Tuesday
The government is setting up a special monitoring board to keep
checking on medicines once they're on the market, responding to
complaints that officials reacted too slowly to reports linking
prescription painkillers to heart attack and stroke. Plans for the
board were announced today on the eve of a three-day scientific
meeting on the safety of painkillers such as Vioxx and Celebrex,
drugs that blossomed into a $5 billion-a-year business before risks
from potential side effects came to light.
The United States pulled its ambassador from Syria today,
expressing "profound outrage" over the assassination of a Lebanese
leader who had protested Syrian influence in his country. In
Lebanon, noisy street processions mourned former Prime Minister
Rafik Hariri a day before the funeral that will bring international
leaders to Beirut. Angry Lebanese attacked Syrian workers in his
hometown of Sidon, injuring several and shattering the windows of a
Syrian-owned bakery.
The Kyoto Global Warming Pact took effect today. It was the first
concerted step to roll back the emission of "greenhouse gases"
believed linked to climate change. The agreement, negotiated in
Japan's ancient capital of Kyoto back in 1997 and ratified by 140
nations, calls on 35 industrialized countries to rein in the
release of carbon dioxide and five other gases from the burning of
oil and coal and other processes.
2/16/05 Wednesday
Speaking with one voice, President Bush's top intelligence and
military officials said today that terrorists are regrouping for
possible new strikes against the United States. They said the best
defense was for Congress to approve the president's military and
anti-terror budget. But some in Congress, including prominent
Republicans, were questioning some of that spending.
Top Shiite politicians failed to reach a consensus today on their
nominee for prime minister, shifting the two-man race to a secret
ballot and exposing divisions in the winning alliance. In a
chilling reminder of challenges facing the winner, a videotape
showed a sobbing Italian hostage pleading for her life. After
hours of closed-door meetings, members of the United Iraqi Alliance
agreed to hold a secret ballot to choose between Ibrahim al-Jaafari
and Ahmad Chalabi, most likely on Friday, said Ali Hashim al-
Youshaa, one of the alliance's leaders.
A hockey season on the brink is now a season gone bust. The NHL
canceled what was left of its decimated schedule today after a
round of last-gasp negotiations failed to resolve differences over
a salary cap - the flash-point issue that led to a lockout. It's
the first time a major pro sports league in North America lost an
entire season to a labor dispute. The resulting damage could be
immeasurable to hockey, which already has limited appeal in the
United States.
2/17/05 Thursday
President Bush named John Negroponte, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq,
as the government's first national intelligence director today,
turning to a veteran diplomat to revive a spy community besieged by
criticism after the Sept. 11 attacks. Ending a nine-week search,
Bush chose Negroponte, who has been in Iraq for less than a year,
for the difficult job of implementing the most sweeping
intelligence overhaul in 50 years.
Increasing Social Security taxes for the wealthiest Americans could
raise more than $100 billion a year - enough to shore up the
retirement system's finances for 75 years, pay for President Bush's
plan for private accounts, or part of each. As it is, only the
first $90,000 of a workers' wages are subject to the tax, but Bush
says he's willing to consider changing that.
Congress sent President Bush legislation today aimed at
discouraging multimillion-dollar class-action lawsuits by having
federal judges take them away from state courts, a victory for
conservatives who hope it will lead to other lawsuit limits. The
legislation the House passed, 279-149, is the first of Bush's 2005
legislative priorities to win congressional approval. The Senate
voted 72-26 for the bill Feb. 10. The president has described
class-action suits as often frivolous, and businesses complain that
state judges and juries have been too generous to plaintiffs.
2/18/05 Friday
Many kneeling in prayer, Shiite Muslims were attacked in their
mosques and on the streets today on the eve of their holiest day,
with five bombings killing 36 people in the deadliest day in Iraq
since the Jan. 30 national elections. There were no immediate
claims of responsibility for the blasts - three of them suicide
attacks - in Baghdad and Iskandariyah, south of the capital. But
Shiites blamed radical Sunni Muslim insurgents, who have staged car
bombs, shootings and kidnappings to try to destabilize Iraq's
reconstruction.
Millions of people who depend on the popular painkillers Celebrex,
Bextra and Vioxx should be allowed to keep using them despite risks
of heart problems and strokes, government advisers said today,
concluding that benefits to suffering patients outweigh the
dangers. The advisers concluded that Vioxx, which its maker Merck
& Co. pulled off the market last fall, poses the greatest risk and
that Celebrex has the fewest side effects.
At least 700 people had their identities stolen during a yearlong
scam by con artists who had signed up as clients of data-broker
ChoicePoint Inc., the Los Angeles task force in charge of the
criminal investigation confirmed today. When word first emerged
this week that still unknown scammers had illegally obtained
detailed dossiers on 35,000 people by posing as legitimate
customers of ChoicePoint, the company portrayed it as a relatively
minor criminal case, limited to California.
2/19/05 Saturday
Eight suicide bombers struck in quick succession today in a wave of
attacks that killed 55 people as Iraqi Shiites marched and lashed
themselves with chains in ritual mourning of the 7th century death
of a leader of their Muslim sect. Ninety-one people have been
killed in violence in the past two days. For the second year
running, insurgent attacks shattered the commemoration of Ashoura,
the holiest day of the Shiite religious calendar, but the violence
produced a significantly smaller death toll than the 181 killed in
twin bombings in Baghdad and the holy city of Karbala a year ago.
President Bush is extending an olive branch to European leaders who
opposed his Iraq policies. Recent international developments, plus
a whirlwind charm offensive by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
have bolstered the prospects for a trans-Atlantic reconciliation.
Bush's own re-election, along with elections in Iraq and the
Palestinian territories, have helped put Bush and most European
leaders on the same page.
Former President Bill Clinton's voice trembled with emotion as he
and George H.W. Bush put aside their once-bitter political rivalry
today in the intense heat of a Thai fishing village where children
gave the American politicians drawings of giant waves sweeping away
their relatives. School children in red caps and white shirts
waving paper American flags were among hundreds who greeted the
former leaders in the shattered village of Ban Nam Khem where Bush
and Clinton saw the tsunami's devastation at the start of their
relief mission to the hardest hit countries. About 2,000 people -
a third of those killed by the tsunami in Thailand, died in and
around the village.
The NHL season is dead - again. After 6 1/2 hours of negotiations,
with Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux at the bargaining table, talks
broke down today, leaving the already canceled hockey season beyond
saving. "It's certainly not going to be resurrected after today,"
players' association senior director Ted Saskin said. "It's 100
percent certain coming out of today's meeting that nothing could
impact the cancellation of the season."
2/20/05 Sunday
President Bush dismissed the rift with Europe over Iraq as a
"passing disagreement of governments" and urged greater trans-
Atlantic cooperation, including more support for the fledgling
Iraqi government. "Now is the time for the established democracies
to give tangible political, economic and security assistance to the
world's newest democracy," Bush said in a speech intended for both
European and American consumption.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Cabinet began charting Israel's
future borders in a historic session today, giving final approval
to a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and a revised route for the
West Bank separation barrier that would move Israel's border closer
to that of its original frontier. Meanwhile, Israel began to
release a first wave of 500 Palestinian security prisoners,
fulfilling a promise made at an Israeli-Palestinian summit meeting
in Egypt earlier this month, where leaders declared an end to four
years of bloodshed.
U.S. Marines and Iraqi security forces launched a new offensive
today against insurgents in troubled cities west of Baghdad after
two days of carnage that left nearly 100 people dead. Sunni Muslim
tribal leaders met to determine their place in a Shiite-dominated
Iraqi government. As the Shiite majority prepared to take control
of the country's first freely elected government, tribal chiefs
representing Sunni Arabs in six provinces issued a list of demands
- including participation in the government and drafting a new
constitution - after previously refusing to acknowledge the vote's
legitimacy.
2/21/05 Monday
A powerful earthquake shook central Iran, killing at least 80
people, injuring more than 300 and disrupting power to the region,
state-run television reported. Provincial governor Mohammad Ali
Karimi was quoted by the TV station as saying that "several
villages have been destroyed" by the 6.4-magnitude quake in Kerman
province.
President Bush scolded Russia for backsliding on democracy today
and urged Mideast allies to take difficult steps for peace,
appealing for Europe's help in both troubled areas to "set history
on a hopeful course." Bush opened his discussions with a gesture
of reconciliation toward disgruntled allies, hosting an elegant
dinner for French President Jacques Chirac, the harshest critic of
the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Ahmad Chalabi, a secular Shiite once known for his ties to
Washington, and Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the conservative interim vice
president, will face off in a secret ballot Tuesday to determine
who will be the Shiite majority's choice for Iraqi prime minister,
officials said. The decision to hold a secret ballot came after
the clergy-backed United Iraqi Alliance, which has most of the
seats in the 275-member National Assembly, was unable to decide on
a nominee - despite days of negotiations.
Mudslides trapped people in their homes today and forced others to
flee as Southern California was soaked by yet another of the
powerful storms that have pounded the region this winter. At least
four deaths were blamed on the weather and part of the area's
commuter rail service was halted.
Supermarket giant Winn-Dixie Stores Inc. said today it has filed
for bankruptcy reorganization, less than two weeks after reporting
decreased revenues and increased losses from a year ago. Winn-
Dixie and 23 of its U.S. subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11
reorganization late today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern
District of New York, a company news release said.
2/22/05 Tuesday
President Bush and European leaders settled simmering differences
about Iraq but plunged into a troublesome new dispute today over
the lifting of an arms embargo against China. Bush warned Congress
might retaliate if Europe revokes the 15-year ban. Bush said
lifting the embargo, imposed after the bloody 1989 Tiananmen Square
crackdown on pro-democracy activists, "would change the balance of
relations between China and Taiwan and that's of concern." But
French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder said the ban should go. "It will happen," Schroeder
said.
Under a cold, driving rain, survivors wailed over the bodies of the
dead and dug through the ruins of mud-brick houses searching for
their loved ones after a powerful earthquake flattened villages in
central Iran, killing at least 420 people. The toll was expected
to rise, because rescue teams did not have a final count from the
three most isolated villages in the mountainous region. About
30,000 people were affected, many left homeless when some villages
were reduced to piles of dirt and stone by the magnitude-6.4
earthquake. The number of injured was estimated at 900.
Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the head of a religious party who fought Saddam
Hussein and took refuge in Iran for a decade, was chosen today as
the dominant Shiite ticket's candidate for prime minister - making
him the overwhelming favorite for the post. Al-Jaafari's
selection came after former Washington ally Ahmad Chalabi dropped
out of the race following three days of round-the-clock
bargaining. Al-Jaafari has been seen as having close ties to
Iran's ruling clergy, though he denies any links to a government
that President Bush has said is part of an "axis of evil."
Californians braced for even more rain today as they struggled to
recover from storms that have left at least nine people dead,
triggered mudslides and tornadoes, and washed away roads and
runways. Among the victims was a Nevada woman caught in an
avalanche while cross-country skiing near Lake Tahoe, and a 16-
year-old Orange County girl doing homework on a computer when a
mudslide crashed through the wall of her home.
2/23/05 Wednesday
President Bush and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder agreed today
to turn down the volume on arguments about Iraq and Iran, demanding
in unison that Tehran abandon its nuclear ambitions and exploring
whether allies should use rewards or punishment to achieve that
goal. Nearing the end of a five-day reconciliation visit to
Europe, Bush also prepared for a showdown Thursday with Russia's
Vladimir Putin in Bratislava, the snow-covered capital of Slovakia.
Interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said today he was forming a
broad coalition to fight for the post of prime minister after
Iraq's dominant Shiite political party nominated a conservative
candidate. The haggling over the new government came against the
backdrop of more violence. A car bomb killed two people and
wounded 14 in the northern city of Mosul, and a U.S. soldier was
killed in a separate bomb attack north of Baghdad, officials said.
2/24/05 Thursday
Pope John Paul II underwent a successful operation tonight to
insert a tube in his throat to relieve his breathing problems,
hours after he was rushed back to the hospital for the second time
in a month with flu-like symptoms of fever and congestion, the
Vatican said. The pontiff was conscious in his hospital room after
the tracheotomy, breathing with the help of a respirator, the
Italian news agency ANSA reported.
A suicide bomber wearing a police uniform blew up his car at police
headquarters in Tikrit, killing at least 15 people in Saddam
Hussein's hometown in the bloodiest of several attacks that claimed
30 lives. Two American soldiers were among the dead. The suicide
bombings and other attacks came today as politicians negotiated
behind the scenes to forge the alliances needed to win enough
backing in the 275-seat National Assembly for the post of prime
minister.
Prime Minister Paul Martin said today that Canada would not join
the contentious U.S. missile defense program, a decision that will
further strain brittle relations between the neighbors but please
Canadians who fear it could lead to an international arms race.
The Bush administration has tried to make a public show of
understanding that Martin heads up a minority government that could
fall over such a contentious debate. But after the announcement,
U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci told reporters he was perplexed over
Canada's decision, which he said effectively allows Washington to
decide what to do if a missile was headed toward Canada.
A winter storm blanketed the Northeast today, forcing the federal
government and schools around the region to close early and
triggering a spate of accidents during the afternoon rush hour.
The snow coated an area that included Delaware, Pennsylvania,
Maryland, New Jersey and New York, and was expected to move north
later in the day. Several cities reported accumulations of about 6
inches, and some were bracing for up to 9 inches.
2/25/05 Friday
A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of young
Israelis waiting outside a nightclub near Tel Aviv's beachfront
promenade, killing at least four other people, wounding dozens and
shattering an informal Mideast truce. The blast, just before
midnight this evening, ended several weeks of calm and presented
the first serious test to the unofficial cease-fire declared by
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Mahmoud
Abbas on Feb. 8 at a dramatic summit in Egypt.
The Iraqi interim government announced the arrest of a man it
described as a key figure in the country's most feared terrorist
group and expressed confidence today it was tightening the noose
around his leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Word of the capture came
as insurgents ambushed a U.S. patrol, killing three American
soldiers and wounding nine. Today's attack took place in Tarmiyah,
about 20 miles north of the capital.
Pope John Paul II munched on cookies today and jotted messages to
an aide about his condition as he recovered from surgery to ease
another breathing crisis. The Vatican took pains to emphasize the
positive: the 84-year-old pope was breathing on his own, showed no
signs of pneumonia and ate a breakfast that included coffee with
milk, yogurt and 10 small cookies.
In Homosassa, Fla., the family of a 9-year-old girl who disappeared
from her bedroom pleaded for her return today, calling her an
"angel" who needs to be home. The father and grandparents of
Jessica Marie Lunsford cried as they described a girl who they say
would never run away.
2/26/05 Saturday
A 31-year manhunt for a serial killer who taunted police with
letters about his crimes ended today when authorities said they
finally caught up with the man who called himself BTK and linked
him to at least 10 murders. "The bottom line: BTK is arrested,"
Wichita Police Chief Norman Williams said Saturday, setting off
applause from a crowd that included family members of some of the
victims.
A major oil fire raged today after insurgents blew up a pipeline in
the north of the country. The family of an anchorwoman for a U.S.-
funded state television station - a mother of four who was
repeatedly shot in the head - found her body dumped on a street in
the northern city of Mosul. Insurgents, meanwhile, killed two
civilians in a roadside bombing west of Baghdad, a suicide car
bomber killed an Iraqi national guardsman and injured 7 people
southwest of the capital and the U.S. military announced the death
today of a U.S. Marine during military operations in Babil, just
south of Baghdad.
Whenever Jessica Marie Lunsford went out to play, her father and
grandparents trusted her to come home when she was supposed to.
But now she's missing, vanished from her bedroom during the night,
and her father fears she has been kidnapped. Hundreds of police
and volunteers turned out today to search for the missing 9-year-
old, and a $25,000 reward was posted. Jessica, who lives with her
father and his parents, has not been seen since Wednesday night,
when her grandmother tucked her into bed. Mark Lunsford told
authorities he was getting ready for work Thursday morning when he
realized his daughter's alarm clock was sounding and she wasn't
there. The clothes she had laid out for school were still in
place.
2/27/05 Sunday
The man arrested on suspicion of being the BTK serial killer
confessed on the day of his arrest to six slayings, a source close
to the investigation said today. Investigators, who allege Dennis
L. Rader committed a decades-old string of 10 slayings, also are
looking into whether he was responsible for another three killings
including at least one that occurred after the restoration of the
Kansas' death penalty in 1994, the source told The Associated Press
on condition of anonymity.
Iraqi officials said today that Syria captured and handed over
Saddam Hussein's half brother, a most-wanted leader in the Sunni-
based insurgency, ending months of Syrian denials that it was
harboring fugitives from the ousted Saddam regime. Iraq
authorities said Damascus acted in a gesture of goodwill. Sabawi
Ibrahim al-Hassan, who shared a mother with Saddam, was nabbed
along with 29 other fugitive members of the former dictator's Baath
Party in Hasakah in northeastern Syria, 30 miles from the Iraqi
border, the officials said on condition of anonymity. The U.S.
military in Iraq had no immediate comment.
2/28/05 Monday
In the deadliest single strike since the fall of Saddam Hussein, a
suicide car bomber attacked mostly Shiite police and National Guard
recruits lined up for physical exams at a medical clinic today,
killing 115 and wounding 132 there and at a nearby market. The
bombing presented the boldest challenge yet to Iraq's efforts to
build a security force that can take over from the Americans.
With shouts of "Syria out!" 25,000 protesters massed outside
Parliament in a dramatic display of defiance that forced out
Lebanon's pro-Syrian prime minister and Cabinet today, two weeks
after the assassination of a popular politician touched off
increasing unrest. Minutes after Prime Minister Omar Karami
announced he was stepping down, jubilant demonstrators - shouting,
waving flags and handing red roses to soldiers - demanded that
Syrian-backed President Emile Lahoud bow out, too, and pressed on
with their calls for Syria to withdraw its troops from the country.
The father of a missing 9-year-old girl pleaded again for her safe
return today - the fifth and final day of a full-scale search for
Jessica Marie Lunsford. "Just drop her off. I'll come get her,"
said Mark Lunsford, repeatedly choking back tears. "I know whoever
has got Jessie, they have to have a heart."
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