State tax revenues are slowing this year and in some cases falling below projections, a result of the housing market slowdown that has curbed spending.
Despite strict U.N. sanctions on North Korea, Bush administration officials allowed Ethiopia to complete a secret arms purchase from Pyongyang, American officials said.
Toward the end of his first 100 days in office, President George W. Bush suspended proposed Clinton administration regulations to clamp down on arsenic in drinking water, arguing that more study was needed. His action drew the ire of Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer. "I sent Arsenic and Old Lace over to the White House with a note that says, 'Don't you know arsenic kills? Watch the movie,'" she tells U.S. News. "I never got an answer." In the end, Bush allowed the Clinton rule to take effect. Democrats notched a win, but arsenic proved to be just the opening salvo in a red-faced battle over all things green.
Climate pressure continues to build over the White House. Last week, the Supreme Court unraveled one of the Bush administration's principal legal arguments for opposing federal action on climate change by ruling that carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases could be regulated under the Clean Air Act. According to the act, the EPA must regulate emissions, in this case those from automobiles, which "may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare." To date, the EPA has denied petitions to consider whether or not greenhouse gases contribute to climate change. In a split 5-to-4 decision, the majority ruled that the Bush administration offered "no reasoned explanation" for its refusal.
The organization Reporters Without Borders is reporting today that three Iraqi journalists have been killed in as many days in Iraq. Two radio reporters were abducted and later killed in separate incidents, and a deputy TV director died when a truck bomb detonated at the offices of the satellite TV station where he worked.
AP - U.S. warplanes attacked suspected militiamen wielding shoulder-fired rockets Saturday in the second day of fierce fighting against Shiite gunmen south of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi officials and witnesses said.
AP - National Guard Staff Sgt. Gabe Robinson knows he will be married only a matter of months before he's likely to redeploy to Iraq, but considers himself lucky he's been home since 2004.
The captain and five officers of a cruise ship that sank off an island in the Aegean Sea were charged Saturday with negligence and violating international maritime rules. Two French passengers are still missing and more charges could come if they are found dead, an official said. Nearly 1,600 people had to be rescued after the ship hit a volcanic reef.
Iran called for Britain to set up "sensible lines of communication" after the release of 15 UK sailors and marines held by Tehran. Ambassador Rasoul Movahedian told the Financial Times newspaper that Iran had shown "goodwill." "Now it is up to the British government to proceed in a positive way," he was quoted as saying, putting Iran's nuclear program as the top priority.
![[logo]](http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/bbc_news_120x60.gif "BBC News")
![[logo]](http://www.csmonitor.com/images/logo_88x31.gif "Christian Science Monitor"){kind=logo}
![[logo]](http://graphics.nytimes.com/images/section/NytSectionHeader.gif "NYT > Home Page")
![[logo]](http://www.usnews.com/usnews/images/rss/logo_rss.gif "USNews.com"){kind=logo}
![[logo]](http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/nws/th/main_142b.gif "Yahoo! News")
![[logo]](http://image.guardian.co.uk/sitecrumbs/Guardian.gif "Guardian Unlimited")
![[logo]](http://i.cnn.net/cnn/.element/img/1.0/logo/cnn.logo.rss.gif "CNN.com"){kind=logo}
