Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday pressed Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf to ensure that next month’s elections are free and fair and urged him to boost counterterrorism cooperation with the U.S. and neighboring Afghanistan. Meeting with Musharraf here on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, Rice praised him as a steadfast ally in the war on terror whose country would continue to receive substantial U.S. support. But she stressed that Musharaf must uphold his stated commitment to democracy.
Top House leaders and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson met Wednesday to tally the cost of measures to jolt the economy out of its slump as the three sought a swift bipartisan deal on a recovery package that could move through Congress within weeks. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, are taking the lead in Capitol Hill negotiations, with the centerpiece of the measure expected to be a tax rebate similar to, but bigger than, the $300-$600 checks sent out in the summer of 2001. The two huddled for a lengthy working breakfast at the Capitol with Paulson, Bush’s point man on the package, and planned another gathering this afternoon.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians on foot and donkey carts poured into Egypt from Gaza Wednesday after masked gunmen used land mines to blast down a seven-mile barrier dividing the border town of Rafah. The border breach was a dramatic protest against the closure of the impoverished Palestinian territory imposed last week by Israel in response to increasing rocket attacks by Gaza militants. The closure cut off fuel and food supplies.
A suicide bomber pushing an electric heater atop a cart packed with hidden explosives attacked a high school north of Baghdad on Tuesday, leaving students and teachers bloodied and bewildered as insurgents appeared to be expanding their list of targets. The bombing — one of two attacks near Iraqi schools on the same day — follows a wave of recent blasts blamed on al-Qaida in Iraq against funerals and social gatherings.
