Bhutto to stay under house arrest for another day.
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will remain under house arrest for at least another day. That's according to a senior government official. Bhutto has attempted to lead protests against President Pervez Musharraf over his declaration of emergency rule last week. She also demanded his resignation yesterday, which has deepened Pakistan's political crisis. Meanwhile, the Bush administration is sending its Number 2 diplomat to that country this week to try to end emergency rule.
A national transport strike is crippling parts of France. Some of the country's biggest train stations were deserted during rush hour today. Metro riders in Paris tried to cram on trains still running as transit workers joined the walkout this morning. Others rode to work on their bicycles. Labor unions are in a dispute with French President Nicolas Sarkozy over his plan to curb early retirement benefits of a small group of public sector workers.
A new report out says the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could balloon to $3.5 trillion over the next decade. That's reportedly because of hidden costs like oil market disruptions, long-term healthcare for veterans, and interest payments on borrowed war funding. The projection, by the Democratic majority on the Joint Economic Committee, is more than $1 trillion higher than a recent forecast by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The White House defended the administration's Iraq policies, pointing to reduced violence and also said the report had obvious motivations behind it.
New York governor Eliot Spitzer is expected to abandon a controversial plan today that would grant driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. Last month, Spitzer said his plan was intended to make New York safer, but critics worried about possible voter fraud. About one million people in New York alone reportedly don't have proper documentation. In a debate last week, Senator Hillary Clinton said Spitzer's plan made sense but stopped short of endorsing it.
No comments:
Post a Comment