USA
Fishermen and protesters on Vieques Island in Puerto Rico stalled US Navy bombing exercises Saturday when they entered restricted waters in speedboats. Security ships eventually chased the boats out of the waters, but not before they had dropped protesters off and halted ship-to-shore shelling for about three hours. Anti-Navy activists, who are working to end the exercises on Vieques, said at least 19 people were still hiding on the range, but the Navy said it was "confident the range was clear" and that bombing had resumed.
As he prepared for a month-long vacation, President Bush told reporters he will make a decision on whether to allow federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research before Congress returns to work in September. Bush is expected to stay largely secluded on his Crawford, Texas, ranch until Labor Day, making the trip the longest presidential absence from the White House since Richard Nixon's in the early 1970s.
Legislation banning executions of the mentally retarded was signed by North Carolina Governor Mike Easley Saturday. Easley acknowledged he had reservations about the bill, but agreed to sign it because of its widespread support, including from the state district attorney's association and attorney general. Seventeen other states and the federal government have similar bans in place, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
President Bush will refuse to compromise further on a patients' bill of rights, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said. The legislation passed by the House of Representatives last week limits damages to $1.5 million, far less than the $5 million backed by the Senate and House Democrats. Senate Democrats have declared the House version unacceptable, but Thompson said Bush would veto anything else.
Some three dozen state leaders have gathered in Providence, R.I., at the National Governors Association summer meeting. The governors will meet until tomorrow, with the slowing economy and shrinking state coffers as a leading topic. They are also discussing urban sprawl, education, and Medicaid. Bush's proposal to give states more flexibility with federal health-insurance programs drew bipartisan praise from the governors on Saturday.
Residents along the Gulf Coast braced for flooding yesterday as Tropical Storm Barry moved toward Florida, gaining strength as it went. A hurricane warning extended from eastern Mississippi to the Florida panhandle, and the storm was expected to reach land by this morning. Meanwhile, another storm swamped parts of Kentucky and Tennessee Saturday, causing flash floods that damaged roads and houses and killed at least one person. Below, Derrick Gilliam pushes out mud from a Wheelwright, Ky., inn.
