Republican leaders in the House of Representatives are proposing legislation that would block a Dubai-owned company from taking over operations at several US ports, brushing aside a veto threat from President George W. Bush.
"We want to make sure that the security of our ports are in America's hands," said Representative Jerry Lewis, whose House Appropriations Committee was to approve the measure yesterday.
The move marks the latest step in a Republican revolt in Congress unlike any other in Bush's five years in office. The president has yet to veto any legislation, and GOP leaders have been careful to avoid sending him anything he wouldn't sign.
PHOTO: AP
But now, six months before an election, they have decided to challenge him. All 435 House seats are up for election in November, and Republican Bush's extremely low popularity in the polls has some people saying the party could lose its majority in the House.
"We're not going to let the Democrats get to the right of us on national security," Republican Representative Peter King, the House Homeland Security Committee chairman, said recently.
The legislation is expected to reach the House floor next week as part of a US$91 billion measure for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and aid for Gulf States recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
Republican House leaders informed the White House staff of their intention on Tuesday at a House leadership meeting that was also attended by the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Ken Mehlman. He did not respond when House Republicans detailed the legislation, according to meeting participants.
Efforts by the Bush administration to quell the controversy have failed on Capitol Hill, and voters are largely opposed to the DP World plan.
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
Two Belgian teenagers on Tuesday were charged with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser-known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with 5,000 ants at a guest house, appeared distraught during their appearance before a magistrate in Nairobi and were comforted in the courtroom by relatives. They told the magistrate that they were collecting the ants for fun and did not know that it was illegal. In a separate criminal case, Kenyan Dennis
A judge in Bangladesh issued an arrest warrant for the British member of parliament and former British economic secretary to the treasury Tulip Siddiq, who is a niece of former Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted in August last year in a mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule. The Bangladeshi Anti-Corruption Commission has been investigating allegations against Siddiq that she and her family members, including Hasina, illegally received land in a state-owned township project near Dhaka, the capital. Senior Special Judge of Dhaka Metropolitan Zakir Hossain passed the order on Sunday, after considering charges in three separate cases filed
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