網路城邦
回本城市首頁 往事曾經如此
市長:blackjack  副市長: juntruth
加入本城市推薦本城市加入我的最愛訂閱最新文章
udn城市政治社會政治時事【往事曾經如此】城市/討論區/
討論區時事與國際新聞 字體:
看回應文章  上一個討論主題 回文章列表 下一個討論主題
英文新聞轉載
 瀏覽6,515|回應48推薦0

blackjack
等級:8
留言加入好友
本欄轉載一些英文的新聞與舊聞。
回應 回應給此人 推薦文章 列印 加入我的文摘

引用
引用網址:https://city.udn.com/forum/trackback.jsp?no=51040&aid=1199019
引用者清單(330)
2006/12/25 07:28 【Gay movie mpeg muscle】 Gay movie mpeg muscle
2006/12/25 07:18 【Water bondage video】 Water bondage video
2006/12/25 07:17 【Masturbation penis stimulation technique】 Masturbation penis stimulation technique
2006/12/25 07:11 【Juicy white ass】 Juicy white ass
2006/12/25 07:07 【Deep throat swallow cum】 Deep throat swallow cum
more...
 回應文章 頁/共5頁 回應文章第一頁 回應文章上一頁 回應文章下一頁 回應文章最後一頁
Saddam to sue over prison photos
推薦0


blackjack
等級:8
留言加入好友

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4567341.stm

Saddam to sue over prison photos
The Sun's front page showing Saddam Hussein in his underpants
The Sun says this is an "extraordinary iconic news image"
Saddam Hussein plans to take legal action after a British newspaper published photos of him half-naked in his prison cell and doing his washing.

"We will sue the newspaper and everyone who helped in showing these pictures," said Saddam Hussein's chief lawyer Ziad Al-Khasawneh, speaking from Jordan.

The Sun newspaper said it would fight any legal action and said it planned to publish more photos on Saturday.

The US has launched an investigation into how the photos were leaked.

HAVE YOUR SAY
It is disgusting to see Saddam's pictures
Akash, Birmingham

The US military and legal experts said the photos - possibly taken more than a year ago - may breach Geneva Convention rules on the humane treatment of prisoners of war.

The conventions say countries must protect prisoners of war in their custody from "public curiosity".

Saddam Hussein is being held by US troops at an undisclosed location in Iraq as he awaits trial on numerous charges, including murdering rivals, gassing Iraqi Kurds and using violence to suppress uprisings.

'Aggressive' investigation

The photos show the 68-year-old former leader with a moustache, rather than the beard he sported when he was captured in December 2003, and again when he appeared in court last July.

The Sun's front page showed him wearing a pair of white underpants.

Other pictures show him washing his trousers, shuffling around and sleeping.

These pictures are an extraordinary iconic news image that will still be being looked at the end of this century
Graham Dudman
The Sun

The Sun quoted US military sources who said they handed over the pictures in the hope of dealing a blow to the resistance in Iraq.

"It's important that the people of Iraq see him like that to destroy the myth," the paper's source was quoted as saying.

However, several Arab commentators have suggested the photos could increase anti-American feeling in the region.

Khaled al-Maeena, the editor of Saudi Arabia's Arab News told the BBC the photos would be seen as "an insult and an affront".

The Sun's managing editor Graham Dudman defended the decision to publish the images.

"People seem to forget that this is a man who is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children and all that's happened to him is someone has taken his picture," he told BBC Radio 4's PM programme.

"This is a sort of modern-day Adolf Hitler. These pictures are an extraordinary iconic news image that will still be being looked at the end of this century."

A statement from the US military said it was "disappointed at the possibility that someone responsible for the security, welfare, and detention of Saddam would take and provide these photos for public release".

The US military would "aggressively" investigate, the statement said.

But President George W Bush said he did not think the photos would encourage insurgents in Iraq.

"I don't think a photo inspires murderers. I think they're inspired by an ideology that's so barbaric and backwards that it's hard for many in the Western world to comprehend how they think."

回應 回應給此人 推薦文章 列印 加入我的文摘
引用網址:https://city.udn.com/forum/trackback.jsp?no=51040&aid=1262486
White House hits out at Newsweek
推薦0


blackjack
等級:8
留言加入好友

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4557929.stm

White House hits out at Newsweek
Muslims protest against Newsweek and the US in Mumbai
The report triggered protests across the Muslim world
The White House has urged Newsweek to take the lead in repairing the US' image among Muslims after its retracted report about desecration of the Koran.

The magazine on Monday said its report that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay had flushed a copy of the Koran down a toilet was based on flawed sources.

A White House spokesman said Newsweek had done "lasting damage".

At least 15 people were killed in anti-US riots in Afghanistan following the article's publication.

We regret that we got any part of our story wrong, and extend our sympathies to victims of the violence
Mike Whitaker
Newsweek editor

As well as the deaths in Afghanistan, more than 100 people were injured in violent protests across the Muslim world, from Pakistan to Indonesia.

Insulting the Koran or the Prophet Muhammad is regarded as blasphemy and punishable by death in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

US policies

White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters that Newsweek had an obligation to help reverse the effects of its report.

"There has been some lasting damage that has been done to our image... and it's going to take some work to repair that damage," Mr McClellan said.

The magazine should consider writing about US military policies which banned Koranic desecration, he said.

But he acknowledged it was not his job "to get into telling people what they can and cannot report".

'Lying'

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
Some 520 people remain incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay

Newsweek's original story claimed that a military investigation was set to reveal evidence of desecration of the Koran at Guantanamo.

It followed repeated allegations by former prisoners at the camp in Cuba that interrogators had prevented them from worshipping or had sought ways to insult their faith.

But on 16 May, the magazine said the investigation in question had not looked at the desecration charges, and that its sources had also backed away from the story.

Defence department spokesman Lawrence Di Rita told a news conference that the charges of desecration had not been considered credible enough to probe.

It was "very likely" that any detainees making such a charge were lying, he said.


回應 回應給此人 推薦文章 列印 加入我的文摘
引用網址:https://city.udn.com/forum/trackback.jsp?no=51040&aid=1260987
Taiwan Ruling Party Wins Special Election
推薦0


blackjack
等級:8
留言加入好友

 

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Taiwan-Election-Results.html?ex=1116734400&en=61430f580a3ed930&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVERNEWS

Taiwan Ruling Party Wins Special Election

Published: May 14, 2005

Filed at 10:17 a.m. ET

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) -- Taiwan's ruling party won elections Saturday for a special assembly charged with amending the island's constitution, giving a big boost to President Chen Shui-bian's policy of resisting unification with rival China.

With 99 percent of the ballots counted, the Central Election Commission said the Democratic Progressive Party had won 42.5 percent of the vote, against 38.9 percent for the opposition Nationalist Party.

The vote -- for the ad hoc National Assembly -- had developed into a test of strength for Chen's policies, following the visits to China of Nationalist chief Lien Chan, and James Soong, head of the People First Party.

That party garnered only 6.1 percent of the vote, coming in fourth behind the Taiwan Solidarity Union, a pro-independence party, whose spiritual godfather is former President Lee Teng-hui. The TSU won 7 percent of the vote.

Chen's supporters had urged followers to vote in large numbers, saying that a vote against the Democratic Progressive Party was a vote for eventual unification with China.

Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a protracted civil war. Lien and Soong support eventual unification with the mainland but Chen wants to strengthen Taiwan's status as a self-governing entity -- a desire that exasperates Beijing, and changed the nature of Saturday's poll.

In the election, voters chose a party list of delegates to consider a package of constitutional reforms -- reducing the legislature from its present 225 members to 113, extending lawmakers' terms from three to four years, amending the electoral system to reduce the number of lawmakers per constituency, and enshrining public referenda as the only means for approving future constitutional changes.

Both the DPP and the Nationalists support the changes, and they are expected to be approved by the new National Assembly.

回應 回應給此人 推薦文章 列印 加入我的文摘
引用網址:https://city.udn.com/forum/trackback.jsp?no=51040&aid=1258319
Chen's party wins Taiwan poll
推薦0


blackjack
等級:8
留言加入好友

 

Relations with China dominated the election agenda

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A106AC8A-F995-468C-9F9D-1E92189F8D73.htm

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party has won an election, securing a fresh mandate to pursue an independence-leaning policy towards rival China.

Reuters

Although the National Assembly poll was held for the sole purpose of ratifying constitutional reforms already approved by parliament, relations with China dominated the agenda as the vote followed bridge-building visits by opposition leaders to the mainland.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won 42.52% of votes to affirm its standing as Taiwan's largest political party, figures from the Central Election Commission showed. The main opposition Kuomintang (Nationalist Party, KMT) finished with 38.92%.

"It helps ease pressure on Chen to improve relations with China," said Philip Yang, a professor of political science at National Taiwan University. "Chen can breathe a sign of relief."

China relations

However, he said the record low turnout - estimated at 23% - showed many people did not care about the poll.

China has sought to engage the
anti-independence KMT

With his political adversaries seeking to build relationships with rival China, Chen had been under rising pressure to find ways to break the ice with Beijing, which refuses to deal with him or his government because of their independence stance.

China claims the democratic island of 23 million as its own, and enacted an anti-secession law in March sanctioning war if Taiwan pushes for formal statehood.

China had sought to marginalise Chen by engaging the opposition KMT and People First Party (PFP), which both oppose Taiwan independence.

Demands toned down

In meetings with KMT leader Lien Chan and PFP leader James Soong, Beijing offered Taiwan a slew of economic incentives, aiming to win the hearts of the island's people. 

Put on the defensive, Chen has toned down his independence views in recent months - angering some of his core supporters - but still rejects Beijing's cherished one China principle.

The poll had a record low turnout 
of just 23% of the electorate

"With the DPP shrinking from its position on Taiwan independence and the KMT leader shaking hands with Hu Jintao in China, we need smaller parties to counter the China mania," said 82-year-old retiree Cheng Ah-lai.

Cheng braved heavy rain lashing most of Taiwan on Saturday to vote for the small Taiwan Solidarity Union, which advocates the creation of the Republic of Taiwan, but ended up with only 7.05% of votes. The PFP came fourth with 6.11%.

'Victory for Taiwan'

Analysts say the election has focused on China rather than the constitutional reforms because the two biggest parties, the DPP and KMT, support the changes. With 81% of the Assembly's 300 seats between them, the reforms are set to be approved.

The constitutional amendments will halve the size of the legislature, revamp the electoral system and introduce referendums to approve future changes to the constitution.

"It helps ease pressure on Chen to improve relations with China" 

Philip Yang, a professor of political science at National Taiwan University

China fears Taiwan could use a referendum to assert independence.

"With more than half of the votes cast in favour of constitutional reform, this is a victory for democracy, a victory for reform and a victory for Taiwan," Chen said in a statement.

"Taiwan's 23 million people have once again overcome difficulties and written new history to deepen Taiwan democracy."

Independence boost

At the last national election in December, the legislative polls, the DPP had won 35.7% of votes compared to the KMT's 32%.

Chen's pro-independence policies got another boost earlier on Saturday when isolated Taiwan re-established ties with the
tiny Pacific island of Nauru, scoring a modest victory in the diplomatic tug of war with China.

The National Assembly, a legacy from Taiwan's former dual parliament system, is being formed only for the purpose of voting on the constitutional amendments, and will be dismantled by the end of the year.

回應 回應給此人 推薦文章 列印 加入我的文摘
引用網址:https://city.udn.com/forum/trackback.jsp?no=51040&aid=1258318
US troops kill Iraqi civilians
推薦0


blackjack
等級:8
留言加入好友

 

The US soldiers opened fire on a civilian car while on patrol

US troops kill Iraqi civilians


US troops have shot and killed eight Iraqis, including five civilians, during an attack on a patrol.

Agencies

US troops killed three fighters who fired on their convoy after trying to ram it on Friday in Mosul, 390km north of Baghdad, the American military said.

 

The soldiers then opened fire on two cars that approached the patrol and appeared to be hostile, killing five civilians, the military said. The incident is under investigation.

 

Other attacks

 

Three civilians, believed to be municipal workers, were killed and four people were wounded in a Baghdad bomb blast on Saturday, hospital officials said.

 

The explosion, at 7.30am (0330 GMT), in Baghdad's southern district of Dura, was caused by a roadside bomb and might have caught the workers as they cleaned the street, medics said.

 

An Interior Ministry official confirmed there had been a blast, but put the toll at one dead and three wounded.

 

In a separate attack a US soldier was killed and four others were wounded when a car bomb exploded on Friday near their patrol near Baiji, about 180km north of Baghdad, the US military said in a statement.

 

At least 1238 US military and Pentagon personnel have been killed in action in Iraq since the start of the 2003 invasion, according to Pentagon figures.

 

Explosion

 

An explosion rocked central Baghdad on Saturday, sending a large plume of smoke rising into the sky.

 

The cause of the blast at 1.25pm (0925 GMT) was not clear. The US military had no immediate information.

回應 回應給此人 推薦文章 列印 加入我的文摘
引用網址:https://city.udn.com/forum/trackback.jsp?no=51040&aid=1258316
Taiwan's Chen wins crucial vote
推薦0


blackjack
等級:8
留言加入好友

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4546437.stm

Taiwan's Chen wins crucial vote
Voters post ballots in Taiwan
Officials offered incentives for people to vote
The party of Taiwan's president has won most seats in an assembly to change the constitution - a move China fears could lead to the island's independence.

Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) won 42.5% of the vote - the opposition Nationalist Party 38.9%, election officials announced.

Mr Chen will see the result as a vote of confidence in his policy towards China, says the BBC's Chris Hogg.

Beijing had tried to build support for anti-independence parties.

It invited opposition leaders to Beijing for historic talks in the run-up to the poll.

After the result, Vice-President Annette Lu congratulated the party and criticised China.

Taiwan belongs to its 23 million people
Annette Lu
Vice-President

"I would like to thank the Chinese Communist Party, because each time there is pressure from China, the people show that democracy is what people embrace here in Taiwan," she said.

"One billion three hundred million Chinese friends on the mainland and (Chinese) President Hu Jintao, you have heard the voice of Taiwan's people, Taiwan belongs to its 23 million people."

New system

Taiwan's government says it wants to change the constitution to improve the way the island is run.

The most controversial plan would be to subject any future change to the constitution to a national referendum.

The amendments include:

  • Halving the number of lawmakers in the island's parliament

  • Extending their term of office by a year

  • Changing the way they are elected.

Chinese President Hu Jintao, right, gestures to James Soong at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, 12 May 2005
Beijing has been courting Taiwan's opposition leaders

Both the governing DPP and the opposition nationalists - or Kuomintang - support the proposed changes to the constitution.

And this ballot came to be seen instead by many as a referendum on wider issues, most importantly, the best way to move forward relations with China, says our correspondent.

The result will be a boost for President Chen's robust approach, he says.

It is a setback for the nationalist leader, Lien Chen, who made a historic trip to Beijing in the run up to the polls to meet China's President Hu Jintao, our Taipei correspondent says.

Low turnout

Voters in the election were for the first time asked to vote for parties rather than individuals in each constituency.

The parties put up lists of candidates, declaring whether or not they support the constitutional changes.

Those who gain a seat are then obliged to vote in the assembly according to the position their party set out on the ballot paper.

Fewer seats should mean a better choice of candidate, President Chen says.

Our correspondent in Taipei says the legislative chamber has in the past been better known for its punch-ups than the standard of debate there.

Voters were offered raffle tickets with prizes ranging from electronic gadgets to a million Taiwanese dollars ($32,000) in cash, as an incentive to turn up.

In the event, only about 23% turned out - a new record low.

A national assembly will now be formed based on the proportion of votes cast for each party.

It will begin the ratification of a number of constitutional amendments at the end of this month.

回應 回應給此人 推薦文章 列印 加入我的文摘
引用網址:https://city.udn.com/forum/trackback.jsp?no=51040&aid=1258313
Anti-US protests spread in Afghanistan
推薦0


blackjack
等級:8
留言加入好友

 

Newsweek alleged the Quran was descretaed in Guantanamo Bay

 

Thousands of Afghans protested in 10 provinces

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/10A18C5B-CF56-4B05-8613-9CB1CB343BCC.htm

Anti-US protests spread in Afghanistan

 

Anti-US protests sparked by reports of desecration of the Quran by American interrogators at Guantanamo Bay have spread across Afghanistan, leaving three more people dead.

Seven people have been killed and at least 76 injured during three days of violent demonstrations, all of them in clashes with security forces and police in towns east of the capital Kabul.

Angry Afghans shouting "Death to America" poured on to the streets of Kabul on Thursday for the first time as protests at the reported desecration also broke out in 10 of the country's 34 provinces.

The United Nations and foreign aid agencies evacuated hundreds of workers from Jalalabad fearing further violence.

Worsening violence

Two protesters were killed when gunfire broke out as police stopped them from marching into the eastern city of Jalalabad, deputy governor of Nangarhar province Mohammad Asif Qazizada said.

Another person died and four were wounded when rioters attacked a police station in the Chak district of Wardak province, Interior Ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal said.

The protests were sparked by a small report in Newsweek magazine last week stating that interrogators at the US military detention centre in Guantanamo Bay desecrated copies of the Quran by leaving them in toilet cubicles and even stuffing one down a lavatory to rattle Muslim prisoners.

The controversy has also spread to Pakistan, where demonstrations were held in Peshawar and Quetta, two major cities close to the border with Afghanistan.

The US has promised to investigate the desecration claim.

Rice statement

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday called disrespect for the holy book abhorrent and promised to punish offenders.

"If they are proven true, we will take appropriate action. Respect for religious freedom for all individuals is one of the founding principles of the United States"

Condoleezza Rice
US secretary of state

"Our military authorities are investigating these allegations fully," Rice said. "If they are proven true, we will take appropriate action. Respect for religious freedom for all individuals is one of the founding principles of the United States."

But the top US military officer said a review of interrogation logs has so far found no evidence to corroborate the explosive allegations.

"They cannot confirm yet that there was ever the case of the toilet incident except in one case, a log entry that they still have to confirm, where a detainee was reported by a guard to be ripping pages out of a Quran and putting them in a toilet to stop it up as a protest," said General Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Agencies
回應 回應給此人 推薦文章 列印 加入我的文摘
引用網址:https://city.udn.com/forum/trackback.jsp?no=51040&aid=1257613
Taiwan's Soong meets Hu Jintao
推薦0


blackjack
等級:8
留言加入好友

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4537417.stm

Taiwan's Soong meets Hu Jintao
Chinese President Hu Jintao, right, gestures to James Soong at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, 12 May 2005
Hu Jintao and James Soong pledged to improve cross-strait ties
James Soong, the head of Taiwan's opposition People First Party (PFP), has held talks in Beijing with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

Mr Hu praised his guest for the PFP's opposition to Taiwanese independence, and said that cross-strait relations were at a "crucial moment".

Mr Soong said the world was watching to see what progress the two could make.

The men then issued a joint statement pledging to work together to end hostilities between Beijing and Taipei.

The statement was virtually identical to one issued by Mr Hu and Lien Chan, leader of Taiwan's biggest opposition group, the Nationalist Party, who also visited Beijing recently.

"We must show the world that the Chinese people on either side of the Taiwan Strait have the ability and the wisdom to solve the contradictions and disagreements before us," Mr Hu told reporters during his televised meeting with Mr Soong.

"No matter who or which party it is, and no matter what that person or party said or did in the past, as long as they recognise the One China principle... we are willing to talk to them about the relations across the strait and the promotion of peaceful reunification," Mr Hu said.

His comments were a thinly-veiled reference to Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian, who, in contrast with the two opposition leaders, has not been invited to the mainland for an audience with Mr Hu.

Both opposition parties favour Taiwan's eventual reunification with China, as long as it is by then democratic.

Mr Chen's party, the Democratic Progressive Party, favours Taiwanese independence and refuses to accept Beijing's One China principle, which stresses that Taiwan is part of China.

Charm offensive

Both opposition leaders have been feted by China during their trips to the mainland.

Back home in Taiwan, though, opinion is divided.

Some people praise their efforts at improving cross-straits relations, while others say their trips have been divisive.

All eyes will now be on Taiwan's National Assembly elections on Saturday - an important gauge on how China's charm offensive is playing with the island's voters, according to a BBC correspondent in China.


回應 回應給此人 推薦文章 列印 加入我的文摘
引用網址:https://city.udn.com/forum/trackback.jsp?no=51040&aid=1257240
Stand-Up For Her Man
推薦0


blackjack
等級:8
留言加入好友

 

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1059054,00.html

From the Magazine | Nation

Stand-Up For Her Man

Laura Bush gets the laughs, but her mission is no laughing matter

By MATTHEW COOPER

Posted Sunday, May. 08, 2005
The White House theater was not built for stand-up comedy. But two Fridays ago, Laura Bush was definitely, as they say at the Friars Club, "in the house." She was practicing a then secret, now acclaimed comedy routine that she would deliver the next night at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, a tribal feast on the Potomac where some 3,000 reporters--and their sources--converge in a hotel ballroom for steak and fish, wine and laughs. Traditionally, the President does the wisecracking. But earlier this year, after surveying the string of press dinners on his calendar, Bush told aides, "Laura should give one of these." So there she was, rehearsing her shtick in front of her staff and Bush aides Nicolle Devenish and Dan Bartlett, as well as Landon Parvin, who penned her jokes. As she practiced, Laura cracked herself up but also asked her audience, "Do y'all think this is funny?"

They did, and they weren't alone. Mrs. Bush brought down the house the next night with a string of withering one-liners that skewered her husband's sleeping (and, well, never mind) habits, her in-laws' hyperkinetic vacation style, the Vice President's seemingly willful resistance to exercise and, of course, her own poor, pitiful plight as a long-suffering spouse. "Ladies and gentlemen, I am a desperate housewife," she deadpanned. "I mean, if those women on that show think they're desperate, they oughta be with George." If the performance turns out to be Laura's most memorable, it was also a reminder that the least outspoken First Lady since Pat Nixon nonetheless plays a crucial role in her husband's presidency, reminding his critics that someone can, if nothing else, bring him down to size. Plus, she's the ultimate character witness. A Republican lobbyist remarked after her performance, "He must not be all bad if she likes him."

The comic tonic came at a helpful moment for the Bush operation, which is off to one of the slowest second-term starts in memory. The President's plan for an overhaul of Social Security is flat on its back, and most Washington Republicans privately say it's unlikely to get back up. Bush's popularity is sagging again, as gasoline prices have jumped, the economy has struggled to show sustained momentum, and American casualties in Iraq are mounting. Several veteran reporters at the White House correspondents' dinner noted that one reason the comedy routine fell to Laura was that Bush didn't have much to joke about.

But it is also true that Laura has avoided the dusty cables that have tripped up other contemporary First Ladies. It's not easy in the modern age to find a role that's supportive but not threatening, true to oneself and helpful to the elected spouse. The First Lady--the title itself is a quaint anachronism--is scrutinized like the heroine of an Edith Wharton novel for any flaw, real or perceived. Nancy Reagan got in trouble for ordering high-priced china during a recession. Barbara Bush was poked for being far frostier behind the scenes than her doting public persona suggested, a point Laura gently affirmed to her audience when she said her mother-in-law is less grandmother and more Don Corleone. (Barbara is telling Houston friends she loved the routine and has taken to calling herself the Don.) For her part, Hillary Clinton underestimated public resistance to her role as a policymaker. By the perverse logic of the job, Laura's great achievement is that she hasn't tried to have one--which is why she is a success. But what, really, is Laura's role? Chiefly, she has three functions.

SHE IS AN ENVOY TO PURPLE AMERICA

Laura can't win over the Bush haters. But a comedy routine that was at times racy is a reminder that Laura is not a founding member of Focus on the Family. Whatever hard-core Democrats may imagine, she has never been a nodding Stepford wife. Her bookshelves contain Gore Vidal and The Da Vinci Code. In Austin, Texas, she had out-there, colorful friends like Kinky Friedman, the writer-musician who toured with his band the Texas Jewboys. She told TIME last year that she had no problem with a gay couple staying at the White House, although she wouldn't necessarily know their sexual orientation because she's too decorous to ask.

Besides, there's a long-standing Bush tradition of winking at the country, particularly when the family has to pay homage to the conservative wing of the Republican Party. Laura's earthy jokes--for instance, about Bush knowing so little about animals he once tried to milk a male horse--all but said, "We're not as different from you as you think. So don't be afraid." Laura and her mother-in-law Barbara both have signaled that they are pro choice on abortion, despite what their husbands may think.

SHE PUTS A SOFTER FACE ON HIS POLICIES

Laura has her causes, from discouraging kids from joining gangs to promoting literacy. They didn't garner a lot of attention when the President's agenda was working, but they could matter more if his policies continue to sputter. She and all the living First Ladies will donate red dresses this week to raise money to promote her campaign to combat heart disease. She will travel to Jordan later this month to deliver a speech on democracy at the World Economic Forum. And in a gambit previewed by Barbara Bush more than 15 years ago, the President's team will roll out Laura when nothing else is working. When the re-election campaign was in trouble last year, Laura showed up in her husband's TV ads, first as a quick, cutaway picture on his desk and then with speaking roles, as aides realized how her power registered with focus groups. "She's obviously the most popular figure in politics today," says Matthew Dowd, Bush's campaign pollster. "It's clear a lot of people who don't like the President like her. She adds to the President's humanity."

SHE IS HIS GREATEST DEFENDER

Laura has been saving Bush for decades. She persuaded him to stop drinking on his 40th birthday. He converted to her Methodism, giving him the religious faith that has guided his remarkable trajectory. At the moment she has no plans to campaign for his signature, second-term Social Security proposal, but a senior White House official says, "We're not ruling anything out."

Like her mother-in-law, Laura is a shrewd defender of the President's agenda. She stepped up to support his strict position against federal funding for research on new embryonic stem cells, and she created a stir last year when she told TIME that she approved of the Swift Boat ads against John Kerry. (She noted that the Democrats deserved them for not opposing independent 527 groups.) Even after the correspondents' dinner, the First Lady waxed serious, testifying to what a joy her husband is. All that remained was for Bush to provide the final touch, noting a few days later in a malapropism so goofy it may just have been intended: "My wife has become quite a one-liner." --With reporting by John F. Dickerson/ Washington

回應 回應給此人 推薦文章 列印 加入我的文摘
引用網址:https://city.udn.com/forum/trackback.jsp?no=51040&aid=1242715
Chen warns on China 'interfering'
推薦0


blackjack
等級:8
留言加入好友

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4528277.stm

Chen warns on China 'interfering'
James Soong (L) speaks with Wang Daohan, chairman of the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait
James Soong's trip to Beijing follows shortly after a trip by Lien Chan
Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian has accused Beijing of trying to interfere in elections to choose a new National Assembly, due to be held on Saturday.

Mr Chen said Beijing was trying to seek the support of Taiwanese opposition parties against his reform proposals.

These proposals include authorising the use of referendums for future changes to Taiwan's constitution.

Mr Chen's comments came as a Taiwanese opposition leader, James Soong, continued his visit to the mainland.

Mr Soong's visit follows soon after that of another opposition leader, Lien Chan.

Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian had given both trips his blessing.

But despite being the island's leader, Mr Chen himself is unlikely to receive such an invitation.

Beijing refuses to talk to Mr Chen until he accepts its one-China policy - acknowledging Taiwan is a part of China.

'Chess game'

China has certainly rolled out the red carpet for Taiwan's opposition leaders, according to the BBC Taiwan correspondent Chris Hogg.

In recent days, Nationalist Party leader Lien Chan and James Soong, chairman of the People First Party (PFP), have both been feted by the Chinese leadership.

But in a set-piece television interview on Monday, Mr Chen accused the Communist leadership in Beijing of using the visits to try get involved in Taiwan's domestic affairs.

They are trying "to direct the chess game", he said.

On Saturday, Taiwan goes to the polls to elect a National Assembly.

giant pandas (file picture)
China says its conservation measures are bearing fruit

This body will be asked to pass controversial constitutional amendments, including a proposal to hold public referendums to change the constitution still further.

President Chen insists the amendments are needed to streamline the island's system of government.

But Beijing fears the measures will be another step towards independence for an island it regards as nothing more than a breakaway province.

A spokesman for the PFP denied that his party's unwillingness to accept the changes had been influenced by his leader's trip to China.

Lee Yung-ping told the Associated Press news agency that the party had long opposed constitutional reform.

Welcome guest

During Mr Lien's meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao earlier this month - the first between Nationalist and Communist Party leaders since the Nationalists fled to Taiwan after losing China's civil war in 1949 - the two men agreed to reduce cross-strait tension.

Mr Soong's visit is continuing in a similar vein.

"Taiwan independence will bring war and disaster," Mr Soong told a group of Taiwanese business executives on Sunday. "We want factories and markets, not battlefields."

Mr Soong spent Monday visiting Juyucun in Hunan Province, the town where he was born. Large crowds welcomed his arrival.

He is also due to hold talks with Mr Hu, in a meeting scheduled for Thursday.

But according to the South China Morning Post, Mr Soong's trip has not been completely to Beijing's liking.

He apparently made reference to the "Republic of China" in a speech at the mausoleum of Emperor Huangdi on Friday, prompting Chinese TV (CCTV) to suspend its live broadcast of a subsequent visit.

Beijing objects to the term "Republic of China" because it is seen to imply that Taiwan is an independent nation.

In contrast, all major events attended by Mr Lien were broadcast live.


回應 回應給此人 推薦文章 列印 加入我的文摘
引用網址:https://city.udn.com/forum/trackback.jsp?no=51040&aid=1242713
頁/共5頁 回應文章第一頁 回應文章上一頁 回應文章下一頁 回應文章最後一頁