November 05, 2005
Saturday

Bush chooses Alito for Supreme Court

President Bush named appeals court Judge Samuel Alito as his third nominee to the Supreme Court. Alito was immediately accepted by conservatives who had slammed Bush's previous choice, White House counsel Harriet Miers. But abortion-rights Democrats warned they might try to block Alito. "The filibuster's on the table," Sen. Barbara Boxer of California said.

Bush outlines bird-flu plan

President Bush asked Congress for $7.1 billion to prepare the country for an epidemic of bird flu. The money would help pay for vaccine development, drug and vaccine stockpiling, disease surveillance and health departments' manpower needs. Federal plans said sustained person-to-person spread of the bird flu anywhere in the world could prompt the United States to impose travel restrictions.

CIA running secret prison system

The Washington Post reported the CIA has been questioning important al Qaeda captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe. U.S. and foreign officials said the facility is part of a secret prison system set up by the CIA nearly four years ago. At various times, the CIA has operated out of sites in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern Europe, as well as the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

Democrats extract GOP promise on Iraq inquiry

After an angry speech by Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, Democrats forced the Senate into a closed session to debate whether the Bush administration twisted intelligence to justify the war against Iraq. The ploy won a promise from Republicans to speed an inquiry into the White House handling of intelligence. An outraged Senate GOP leader Bill Frist said the chamber "has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership," and he called it a "slap in the face."

Rosa Parks laid to rest

Thousands of people paid their respects at the funeral of civil-rights icon Rosa Parks in her adopted hometown of Detroit. Earlier, thousands filed past her coffin as Parks, who died last week at age 92, lay in state in Alabama and then Washington, D.C. At her funeral, former President Bill Clinton led the tributes. Parks' refusal to give up her seat on an Alabama bus to a white man inspired the civil-rights movement.

Libby pleads innocent

Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, pleaded innocent in the CIA leak scandal, and his lawyer said Libby "wants to clear his good name, and he wants a jury trial." Libby is charged with lying to investigators and a federal grand jury about leaking the status of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame to reporters.

Bush sidesteps questions on scandal

President Bush went to Argentina to meet with Latin American leaders. At a news conference, his first since the indictment of Lewis Libby in the CIA leak case, the president refused to say whether he owes the American people an apology for the scandal or whether he will shake up his staff. "We're going through a very serious investigation," Bush said. "I have told you before that I'm not going to discuss the investigation until it's completed. My obligation is to set an agenda and I have done that."

Drilling in Arctic refuge moves closer

The Senate rejected Democratic attempts to save the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil drilling. The 51-48 vote defeated an amendment that would have removed a provision allowing drilling from the budget reconciliation bill. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., hailed it as "the beginning of the end" of one of the biggest environment arguments of the past quarter-century.

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