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.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS