Bush withdraws nominee for appeals court in Denver
Washington – President Bush withdrew James Hardy Payne’s nomination to the federal appeals court in Denver following reports he had ruled on cases involving companies in which he owned stock.
Bush’s decision to withdraw Payne, 65, from consideration for a seat on the Denver-based 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was announced in a brief statement. Payne, a federal district judge in Oklahoma, was nominated in September to the appeals court.
“He asked to have his name withdrawn, and we’ve honored that request,” said David Almacy, a Bush spokesman.
In January, Salon.com, a Web-based news magazine, reported that Payne had issued rulings in 18 cases involving companies in which he owned stock. The U.S. judicial code of conduct forbids federal judges from deciding cases involving companies in which they have a financial interest.
Salon.com, citing a review of court records, said Payne had issued 100 orders in cases involving such companies as Pfizer Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and SBC Communications Inc.
Salon.com, citing the judge’s financial disclosure statements, reported that Payne owned stock worth as much as $15,000 in Pfizer and as much as $50,000 in Wal-Mart. He also owned as much as $100,000 worth of shares of SBC Communications, which became AT&T Inc. after its takeover last year of AT&T Corp., the website reported.
WASHINGTON
House OKs vote on ports deal next week
Efforts by House Republican leaders to hold off legislation challenging a Dubai-owned firm’s acquisition of operations at six major U.S. ports collapsed Tuesday when House leaders agreed to allow a vote next week that could kill the deal.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., will attach legislation to block the ports deal today to a must-pass emergency spending bill funding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A House vote on the measure next week will set up a direct confrontation with President Bush, who vowed to veto any bill delaying or stopping Dubai Ports World’s purchase of London-based Peninsular & Oriental Steamship Co.
WASHINGTON
CIA: Meeting Libby’s demand a “burden”
The CIA said in an affidavit released Tuesday that meeting the demand of former White House official Lewis “Scooter” Libby for copies of highly classified intelligence documents he saw before he was indicted would “impose an enormous burden” and divert its analysts from more important tasks.
Attorneys for Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney who has been indicted on charges of perjury, making false statements and obstruction of justice in the Valerie Plame leak case, responded that the CIA was exaggerating the difficulty of finding and turning over the documents. But they also scaled back their request for information in the hope of persuading a federal judge to order the agency to produce the documents.
WASHINGTON
GOP senators block eavesdropping probe
Senate Republicans blocked an investigation into President Bush’s secret domestic spying program on Tuesday, but agreed to expand congressional oversight of the surveillance system in the future.
At the same time, a group of four Senate Republicans began circulating legislation that would restrict the administration’s ability to eavesdrop on U.S. residents without court approval.
The legislation would require the administration to obtain warrants to eavesdrop on U.S. residents unless the attorney general certified to House and Senate intelligence subcommittees that seeking court approval would hurt intelligence gathering.
NAIROBI, Kenya
Thousands protest raids on media outlets
Thousands of opposition supporters and human-rights activists demonstrated in Nairobi on Tuesday to protest last week’s raids on Kenya’s oldest newspaper and its sister television station.
It was the first time since Kenya’s 1963 independence that the government shut down major media operations. The country’s media have been reporting on corruption scandals swirling around President Mwai Kibaki, who has been seen as increasingly politically isolated.
LONDON
2 more arrested in $92 million robbery
Two workers at the security depot that was the site of Britain’s biggest cash robbery have been arrested in the case, police said Tuesday.
The pair, a man who works for a firm contracted to Securitas Cash Management warehouse and a woman who was a former employee of the unnamed firm, were arrested by detectives, questioned, and then released on bail, Kent’s Assistant Chief Constable Adrian Leppard said.
So far, 17 people have been arrested in connection with the Feb. 22 raid on the warehouse in the town of Tonbridge in Kent, about 30 miles southeast of London. Five people – four men and a woman – have been charged. More than $19 million of the $92 million stolen has been recovered, police said.
