GOP cloture petition on Medicare bill
WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., Saturday filed a cloture petition to stop an anticipated filibuster on the Medicare prescription drug bill.
Frist interrupted comments in the Senate by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and announced he was moving toward cloture because he was told Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who strongly opposes the compromise measure, intends to seek a filibuster -- the use of continued debate -- to thwart it.
Cloture, which requires 60 votes, if passed would provide for a maximum of an additional 30 hours of debate on the bill.
A cloture petition requires the signature of 16 senators and, according to Senate rules, two calendar days later, one hour after the Senate convenes, the presiding officer is required to bring the cloture question to a vote.
The Senate began debating the $395 billion Medicare prescription drug bill Saturday morning after it passed the House in a 220-215 vote around 6 a.m. A Senate vote is not expected until Monday.
Car bombs kill 14 near Baghdad
BAGHDAD, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Two Iraqi police stations in the notorious Sunni triangle came under attack Saturday, leaving at least 12 Iraqis and two bombers dead.
The first blast rocked the station in Baqouba, a city about 35 miles northeast of Baghdad. Minutes later, a second bomb detonated in Khan Bani Saad, a crowded market town south of Baqouba on the road to Baghdad, United Press International reported.
The Khan Bani Saad explosion killed 10 people, including six policemen, three civilians -- among them a 5-year-old girl -- and the bomber, said Capt. Ryan McCormick of the 4th Infantry Division.
To the north in Mosul, police Col. Abdul-Salam Qanbar, protecting oil installations, was fatally shot Saturday evening while heading to a mosque, a police official said.
Also Saturday a U.S. military source said a DHL cargo plane, enroute to Bahrain, was struck by a SAM-7 missile. It returned to the Baghdad airport with some damage but without injury.
Two Israeli guards die in shootings
JERUSALEM, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Suspected Palestinian attackers shot dead two security guards in eastern Jerusalem Saturday night, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Jenin Martyrs' Brigades, a faction associated with Fatah, took responsibility for the attack.
The two officers were guarding equipment being used for the construction of the controversial security wall between Israel and Palestine, police said.
They were ambushed at close range in their vehicle shortly after 8 p.m. local time by at least two gunmen, police said.
The assailants also stole the guards' weapons before fleeing. The men were pronounced dead at the scene.
Earlier, the militant group Hamas said one of its members was killed by Israeli forces east of Gaza City Saturday.
The Israeli army said a Palestinian, dressed in military fatigues and armed with a rifle and hand grenades, was killed in an area where Palestinians are banned from entering near the border with Israel.
Shevarnadze, Georgian opposition battle
TBILISI, Georgia, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Opposition supporters are in control of government buildings in Tblisi Saturday as President Eduard Shevarnadze declared a state of emergency.
Tblisi is now relatively calm. Earlier United Press International's Natalia Anataleva reports that demonstrators stormed Shevardnadze's empty office in the Chancellory.
The only victim was his chair, brought outside and ripped apart while opposition flags were raised over the residence.
The private Rustavi-2 television reported armored personnel carriers are moving toward Tblisi's Krtsanisi residence where Shevarnadze is believed to be.
Shevarnadze's term does not end until 2005 and he has declared a state of emergency for 30 days while opposition leader, Parliament Speaker Nino Burdzhanadze, says she is assuming the presidency for 45 days.
Anataleva says protesters who stormed Parliament fought lawmakers with the two sides dodging pens and books. Later, army and police let people through to Parliament.
