Bush rejects stem cell bill with his first veto

By Richard Benedetto and Andrea Stone, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — President Bush issued his first veto in 5½ years in office Wednesday, rejecting a bill that would have overturned his policy limiting federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.

Bush's veto came in the face of strong public support for research and bipartisan congressional backing for the bill.

He announced the veto in a White House East Room ceremony with a gaggle of adopted babies, all from frozen embryos, behind him. Hours later, the House of Representatives fell short of the 286 votes needed to override Bush's veto. The vote was 235-193.

Bush has signed 1,130 bills since becoming president. Wednesday's veto and legislative action capped years of fierce, personal debate about science and morality that divided Bush's Republican Party and is already spilling into the fall elections.

"This bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others," Bush told a group of 200 supporters. "It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect. So I vetoed it."

Bush said: "These boys and girls are not spare parts. They remind us of what is lost when embryos are destroyed in the name of research."

Arab FMs hold emergency meeting in Cairo over Israeli assault on Lebanon

15 July 2006

CAIRO, Egypt - Foreign ministers of 18 Arab countries held an emergency summit in Cairo on Saturday over Israel’s expanding assault on Lebanon - the worst Israeli attack on its neighbour in 24 years.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh presented his fellow Arab League members with a draft resolution condemning Israel’s military offensive and supporting Lebanon’s “right to resist occupation by all legitimate means.”

The draft , a copy of which obtained by The Associated Press, also said the Arab League demanded the release of Lebanese captives and detainees in Israeli prisons, and supported Lebanon’s right to “liberate them by all legitimate means.”

Salloukh told reporters on Friday that he was “expecting Arab support from this malicious Israeli aggression.”

“We call for mobilization to remove the Israeli aggression from Lebanon, which is considered a sinful and barbaric attack that breaches the international conventions,” he told reporters Friday upon arriving in Cairo. Salloukh also repeated his government’s call for UN Security Council intervention.

Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa issued a statement Friday calling on Israel to halt its military operations in Lebanon, and asking the UN Security Council to intervene. He met late Friday with UN officials in Cairo, including UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s special envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen.

Israeli warplanes renewed attacks on Lebanon early Saturday, targeting bridges and fuel storage tanks and gas stations in the east and south, security officials said.

Israel launched its offensive after Hezbollah guerrillas crossed the Israel-Lebanon border on Wednesday and captured two Israeli soldiers. Israel has bombarded Lebanon’s airport and main roads and destroyed Hezbollah’s headquarters in south Beirut. Hezbollah has responded by launching hundreds of rockets into Israel.

At least 73 Lebanese have died, most of the them civilians in the four-day Israeli offensive. Eight Israeli soldiers and four civilians have been killed in the fighting, and the loss of the sailors threatened to drive the death toll higher.