Bush, Lee to discuss N. Korea at Camp David

A new South Korean leader who talks tough about North Korea represents a welcome change for a Bush administration that thinks Seoul has been too soft on its communist neighbor.

President Bush and Lee Myung-bak, in two days of talks to begin Friday, will be eager to signal a new, cooperative tone as they push a reluctant Congress to ratify an ambitious free trade deal and discuss ways to persuade the North to fulfill commitments in six-nation nuclear negotiations.

A spat over a ban of American beef which had been on the leaders' agenda was resolved early Friday. The South Korean Agriculture Ministry said Seoul would allow U.S. beef imports from cattle younger than 30 months. Younger cows are believed to be less at risk for mad cow disease.

South Korea said it would allow beef from older cattle after the U.S. strengthens controls on feed to reduce chances of infection.

While taking a harder line with the North, Lee also will propose creating a permanent high-level diplomatic channel between North Korea and South Korea, including establishing the first liaison offices in the nations' capitals after nearly six decades of division, The Washington Post reported in Friday editions.

"Both North and South Korea must change their ways," Lee said in an interview Thursday with the newspaper's editors and reporters.

He said he wants to establish a permanent channel so the nations could have a regular dialogue, rather than intermittent contacts elicited by crises. He said that offices should be headed by officials with direct access to the leaders of each country.

"Between the two Koreas we need to always have dialogue going on," Lee told the Post.

Lee, a former construction chief executive nicknamed "The Bulldozer" for his determination to get things done, has ended a decade of liberal rule in which South Korea sought to embrace the North and refrained from criticism. The relief in Washington has been evident in the Bush administration's praise of Lee's insistence that the North follow through on nuclear pledges before receiving aid from its southern neighbor and rival.

Lee's position on North Korea may turn out to be even tougher than Bush's because the United States is pressing hard for an agreement. Nuclear talks are stalled over whether the North will hand over a promised full declaration of its nuclear programs in return for concessions. The Bush administration apparently has decided that the declaration's exact contents are less important than an assurance that the nuclear negotiators can check up on the Kim Jong Il's government to make sure it has told the truth.

This has prompted skepticism even from within Bush's own party.

California Rep. Ed Royce, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs terrorism, non-proliferation and trade subcommittee, said he raised the need to verify any North Korean actions in a meeting Thursday with Lee. "Congress is carefully watching the six-party talks, and solid verification is a must if the process is to move forward," Royce said in an interview.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tried Thursday to head off criticism that the Bush administration was being too lenient or trusting. The administration insisted it was not giving up leverage over North Korea in the nuclear talks and would not take the North at its word.

The highlight of Lee's Washington visit will come when he is feted at the Camp David presidential retreat in mountains north of the capital, where he was to stay overnight Friday. Jack Pritchard, the State Department's special envoy for North Korea negotiations until 2003, said at a recent conference that the Camp David invitation is an "extraordinary symbolic gesture and a guarantee of success of the summit, even if they just showed up and shook hands."

Several other signs also point to the leaders hitting it off. Bruce Klingner, a Northeast Asia analyst at the Heritage Foundation, said in an interview that both men are former businessmen with conservative free-market ideas; both are Christian; both say they want to hold the North accountable to its nuclear pledges, and both view the U.S.-South Korean relationship as crucial to Asian security.

By contrast, Bush's meetings with Lee's predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun, who was elected on an anti-America platform, were often notable for their awkwardness, fueling the perception that the leaders did not like each other. Roh favored a "sunshine" policy that provided aid without demanding concessions from North Korea.

Lee also has begun to address North Korea's mistreatment of its citizens, which the previous two South Korean presidents during Bush's tenure shied away from.

Also high on the presidents' agenda will be an accord to slash tariffs and other barriers to trade. That deal could be in trouble as lawmakers, including Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, voice increasingly anti-free trade sentiments.

Source: USA Today

Astros drop series finale to Phillies

Geoff Blum didn’t mince his words. Neither did Brandon Backe. They looked in the mirror Thursday afternoon, and the reflection was quite unappealing, even for two of the best-looking Astros.

Blum and Backe didn’t want to speak for their teammates. Yet, their personal assessments fit almost everybody wearing Astros uniforms after the Philadelphia Phillies beat Backe 10-2 at Citizens Bank Park.

“I (stunk),” Blum said after committing two errors. “For me, personally - I can’t speak for anybody else - but I know I (stunk) the whole way around.”

He was right.

So was Backe, who failed to record an out in the fourth inning before an appreciative crowd of 33,526.

“Obviously this is something that is hopefully going to be rare throughout this whole season,” Backe said after giving up 10 hits and six runs (five earned) with two walks and two strikeouts over three innings. “It starts with me today just not having a good day. I think it trickled on down to most of us on the team today out there on the field."

Brett Myers, who held the Astros to five hits and one run with one walk and eight strikeouts over seven innings, got all the support he needed for the victory as the Phillies took a 3-0 lead in the first inning.

"When you give up three runs in the first (inning) it’s very difficult to come back," Backe said. "From that point on it just didn’t go well for myself and the rest of us. Let’s just hope those are few and far between.”

Just hours after manager Cecil Cooper bragged about his team’s defense, specifically Blum’s work at third, the Astros delivered arguably their worst performance of the season.

Blum committed two errors, almost equaling the three errors the Astros had for the season while coming into the afternoon tied for the fewest errors in the majors. The offense wasn’t much better outside of shortstop Miguel Tejada and Carlos Lee, who accounted for the club’s scoring with solo home runs.

The bullpen struggled, too. Dave Borkowski escaped without giving up a run even though he was shaky in the fourth inning. Righthanders Oscar Villarreal and Jose Valverde weren’t as fortunate. Villarreal gave up two solo home runs, and Valverde gave up a two-run homer.

“Today was definitely a stinker,” Cooper said. “It was not a good day for us in any way. We didn’t swing it very well. When you don’t hit, you don’t pitch, you don’t catch it, it’s not a good day.”

So Taguchi led off the first with a single through the left side. Greg Dobbs followed with a single to right. One out later, Ryan Howard hit an RBI single to right. Pat Burrell made it 2-0 with an RBI infield single to short. Geoff Jenkins added an RBI double to center field, where Michael Bourn retrieved the ball and hit cut-off man Tejada, who delivered a perfect throw home to get Burrell for the second out. Chris Coste then reached on third baseman Blum’s first error.

The Phillies threatened again in the second inning, but the Astros caught a tremendous break and didn’t give up a run as Chase Utley hit a one-out double off the right field wall to load the bases. Because Myers hesitated near second, he could only reach third on the play. That threat ended with Howard’s double play grounder to second base. Backe wasn’t as fortunate in the third, when Blum’s second error led to an unearned run.

After issuing a leadoff walk to Burrell, Backe got Jenkins to hit what should have been a double play chopper toward third. Blum fielded the ball cleanly, but he sent his throw past second baseman Mark Loretta and toward the outfield. Instead of having two outs, the Phillies had men at the corners with nobody out. Coste followed with an RBI single to left. Backe was finally pulled after Utley hit a two-run home run to right field in the fourth inning.

“I say we didn’t pitch very well today,” Cooper said. “That’s what I would say today. Yes, (the Phillies) are a very good offensive team, but we didn’t pitch very well. But when we don’t pitch well and we don’t catch it, bad things happen. Today was one of those days.”

Source: Chron

Nevada execution on hold

While the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a lethal injection method that's similar to Nevada's, the state's highest court won't immediately lift a stay that has delayed a convicted murderer's execution.

State Supreme Court spokesman Bill Gang said justices will review the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld Kentucky's use of lethal injections to determine its effect on pending Nevada cases, including that of condemned inmate William Castillo.

"There's not just an automatic dropping of the (Castillo) stay," said Gang, adding that he couldn't say how long the state high court's review would take.

The state Supreme Court halted Castillo's execution in mid-October, just 90 minutes before he was to get a lethal injection for beating an elderly Las Vegas woman to death with a tire iron.

State Corrections Director Howard Skolnik said Castillo, who has declined to file appeals that could keep him alive, is the only one of the 84 convicts under sentence of death in Nevada whose execution is being delayed by a court stay.

"We don't have anything on the table right now," Skolnik said. "Castillo is still on a stay, and of course still has the right if he chooses to appeal his case and stop everything. I do not know what he will do next. That's up to him."

"What we will do is whatever the courts and the law require," Skolnik added.

Lee Rowland of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada said she's disappointed by the U.S. Supreme Court decision, but added, "As with so many Supreme Court decisions, it leaves more questions unanswered than answered."

Because of concerns expressed in the opinion by one justice about the use of pancuronium bromide, a muscle relaxant, in executions, Rowland said a key element of the ACLU's argument against Nevada's execution method remains alive.

The drug, one of three used in a lethal "cocktail" both in Nevada and Kentucky executions, "serves no purpose other than to mask pain," Rowland added. The ACLU contends that's a constitutional First Amendment violation because witnesses don't see what a condemned inmate experiences when the drugs are injected.

Nevada's injection formula also includes sodium thiopental, a "downer" that causes unconsciousness and death in some cases, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart.

In the Castillo case, the state Supreme Court has received legal briefs from both prosecutors trying to get the stay lifted and from death penalty opponents. But a date for oral arguments has not been set.

Gang said he didn't know whether the state high court would call for additional briefs from both sides now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled. He noted that the Nevada court could act on its own after studying the latest decision.

Source: USA Today

Chauffeur and Paparazzi Blamed in Diana’s Death

After six months of hearings and testimony by more than 250 witnesses, a jury at a British inquest found on Monday that Princess Diana and her lover, Dodi al-Fayed, were unlawfully killed by the negligent driving of their chauffeur and photographers who pursued the couple’s speeding Mercedes into a Paris underpass over 10 years ago.

The case has seized attention in Britain and around the world since then, with rumors, conspiracy theories and allegations swirling around the collision in August 1997, that snuffed out the life of a woman whom Tony Blair, the former prime minister, called the “people’s princess.” Coming soon after Diana’s divorce from Prince Charles, her death inspired a wave of soul-searching among Britons that threatened to dissolve their attachment to the monarchy.

An earlier police inquiry had found that Diana and Mr. Fayed had died in a tragic accident as they sought to escape the attentions of the paparazzi photographers camped outside the Ritz Hotel in Paris owned by Mohamed al-Fayed, Dodi’s father. They were being driven to Dodi al-Fayed’s apartment.

But Mr. Fayed insisted that his son and the Princess had been killed in a conspiracy by the British security services acting under instruction from Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II.

The judge presiding at the inquest, Lord Justice Scott Baker, had ordered the jury to discount those allegations.

The jury’s finding on Monday was a majority verdict and represented the toughest judgment available to the panel of six women and five men, who began to deliberate their decision on April 2.

During the hearings they had been told that a verdict of unlawful killing was tantamount to manslaughter.

The verdict surprised some people who had forecast that the inquest would confirm the previous police assessment that the road-crash, which also killed the French driver of the Mercedes, Henri Paul, had been an accident. But the jury resolved that the ‘’crash was caused, or contributed to, by the speed and manner of the driver of the Mercedes and the speed and manner of the pursuing vehicles.”

The jury reached its decision by a majority vote of 9-2. Among the causes of recklessness, the panel found that Mr. Paul’s judgment had been impaired by alcohol. Other contributing factors included the fact that Diana, in the rear of the car with Mr. Fayed, had not been wearing a seat-belt and that the Mercedes slammed headlong into a pillar when it crashed after entering the Alma underpass at over 60 m.p.h. twice the speed limit for that section of road.

Mr. Fayed senior, who had pressed for years for a public inquiry, said he was disappointed at the result of the inquest, insisting that members of the royal family should have been called as witnesses.

‘’Noone should be above the law,” he said in a written statement that suggested he had not abandoned his belief that Diana was murdered.

Apart from considering the exact circumstances of Diana’s death, the inquest also shone an unforgiving spotlight into details of her private life that had been previously been kept secret.

Highly unusually, members of the Britain’s MI6 secret services were called to testify that they had not mounted a conspiracy to assassinate her. Mr. Fayed has frequently insisted that Diana was pregnant with his son’s child and was killed to prevent her from bearing the child. But Lord Scott Baker said the theory was ‘’without substance.”

The inquest cost around $6 million but the overall cost of investigations into the road-crash was around $20 million.

The start of the inquest was delayed until French legal processes were complete and the British police inquiry had reached its separate findings. Charges of manslaughter in France were brought against nine photographers who pursued the Mercedes and took photographs after it crashed. None of those paparazzi were found guilty in the manslaughter proceedings but three photographers were convicted in 2006 of invading privacy.

In December, 2006, a British police inquiry found that the deaths had been an accident. ‘’Our conclusion is that, on the evidence available at this time, there was no conspiracy to murder any of the occupants of the car,” Lord Stevens of Kirkwhelpington, who led the inquiry, told reporters at the time. ‘’This was a tragic accident.”

On Monday, the jury’s finding raised the question of whether criminal charges against the paparazzi could be revived. However, on Monday, Lord Stevens said he hoped ‘’everyone will take this as closure.”

Source: My Times

Bill Clinton campaigns in Puerto Rico

Bill Clinton took his wife's presidential campaign to Puerto Rico on Sunday night, telling islanders that Sen. Hillary Clinton is the best candidate to fix a struggling economy.
The former president arrived for a two-day visit ahead of the U.S. Caribbean territory's June 1 Democratic primary, which could give Puerto Rico a rare opportunity to have a say in national politics

In a speech at the island's largest public housing complex, he promised that Sen. Clinton would help Puerto Rico overcome a limping economy and unemployment that is roughly double the U.S. rate of 5.1%.

"She will bring work to the people of Puerto Rico," Clinton told a cheering crowd of several hundred.

Puerto Ricans have no voting representation in the U.S. Congress and cannot cast ballots in the presidential election, but the island's 63 delegates to the Democratic convention could help determine whether the nomination goes to Hillary Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama.

On Sunday, Clinton promised his wife would ensure that Puerto Ricans, who are U.S. citizens, receive the same access to affordable health care as mainland residents.

"It is a good thing that your voice will be heard all across the United States," he said.

Some residents of the Llorens Torres housing complex said they were surprised to see a former president in their midst.

"We are poor and we didn't expect him here. It is very special that he came to this place," said Margarita Pagan Bruno, 55. "We hope she wins the U.S. presidency."

There has been little indication of whether Obama or Clinton will fare better in Puerto Rico, where local politics largely revolve around the island's relationship to the U.S. mainland.

But with the national spotlight on Puerto Rico, the local Democratic Party changed the June 1 contest from a caucus to a primary to encourage more people to participate.

At stake are 56 delegates to the party convention, to be awarded proportionally. They will be accompanied by seven superdelegates — among them Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila, who backs Obama and has vowed to attend despite facing federal charges of campaign financing.

Only three remaining states — Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Indiana — have more Democratic delegates up for grabs.

Clinton was to attend a private fundraiser later Sunday night.

Source: USA Today