Day: August 6, 2006

Carter said the United States should work for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah and the world community should concentrate on a long-term solution, but he is uncertain whether Bush can accomplish a cease-fire.

By Evelyn Leopold

U.N. Security Council envoys attempt on Sunday to put finishing touches on a draft resolution from France and the United States calling for a halt to fighting between Israel and Hizbollah guerrillas and setting terms for a settlement to the conflict.

The text calls for a "full cessation of hostilities," asks U.N. peacekeepers to monitor it and stipulates principles necessary for a permanent political settlement.

By Scott McDonald

President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair backed a U.N. bid to end fighting in Lebanon, but the plan was greeted with skepticism by some on Saturday who wondered whether it could be implemented.

By Thomas Ferraro

Republican lawmakers will spend their month-long vacation trying to dispel criticism of a "do-nothing" U.S. Congress, ease concerns about the Iraq war and persuade unhappy voters to re-elect them in November.

"For this summer vacation, re-election is job one," said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political science professor who tracks congressional races. "Many Republicans are scared, and they should be."

There is no evidence defense officials intentionally misled the Sept. 11 commission when they gave mistaken accounts about actions at the time of the terror attacks, the Pentagon’s watchdog agency said.

Poor investigating and record keeping contributed to the inaccuracies, according to a summary from the inspector general’s office of the Pentagon.

By TIM TALLEY

OKLAHOMA CITY — Republican state Sen. Nancy Riley, complaining there is no room in her party for moderates, switched to the Democratic Party Thursday and threw a new obstacle at GOP hopes of taking control of the Senate for the first time in state history.

Riley, flanked by a half dozen Democratic Senate leaders, announced her change in party allegiance while criticizing Senate Republicans for what she said was their "lack of compassion for people" and for ignoring her and other political moderates.

"The moderate Republican has been pushed aside for the extreme right wing," Riley said. Riley, a member of the Senate’s GOP leadership team who holds the title of minority whip, said she has received no support among Republicans in the state Senate.

The Tour de France no longer calls him champion. His cycling team cut him loose.

About the only chance Floyd Landis has of keeping his prized yellow jersey will now likely be decided by an appeals process that could drag on for months.

Landis was discredited and disowned in short order Saturday when elevated levels of testosterone showed up in his "B" or second doping sample — as it did in the initial "A" sample released last week.