Bush meets with EU leaders in Vienna
VIENNA, June 21 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush began talks with EU leaders in Vienna Wednesday on issues including Iran, Iraq and North Korea.
Hundreds of protesters met Bush, and police bomb squads disposed of several fake bombs, the BBC reported.
The meeting was hosted by Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, who said earlier he intended to push the United States to shut down its military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Austria holds the rotating EU presidency.
EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, told the BBC he would endorse Austria's position, saying Guantanamo Bay was "an anomaly."
Bush also met with EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, and Austrian President Heinz Fischer, CNN reported. The summit was not scheduled to include the heads of other European governments.
For Bush's part he was expected to ask Europe to honor aid pledges totaling $13 billion to the Iraqi government, and for solidarity in dealing with Iran's nuclear program and South Korea's apparent pending ballistic missile test.
Saddam defense lawyer abducted, killed
BAGHDAD, Iraq, June 21 (UPI) -- One of the lead defense lawyers in former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's massacre trial was abducted from his home Wednesday and later found dead in Baghdad.
A fellow attorney said a group of men dressed as Iraqi police stormed the home of Khamees al-Ubaidi and asked him to go to the Ministry of Interior of questioning.
About an hour later, his bullet-riddled body was found near the Shiite district of Sadr City, CNN reported.
Two other defense lawyers were killed last year early in the trial, in which Saddam and seven others are charged with the deaths of 148 Shiite men and boys in the town of Dujail in the 1980s.
The trial is in recess and judges will consider their verdict after final defense arguments on July 10.
Monday, in the prosecution's closing arguments, lawyers called for the death penalty for Saddam and two of his co-accused.
U.S. Democrats split on Iraq position
WASHINGTON, June 21 (UPI) -- Debate on policy in Iraq focused Wednesday in the U.S. Senate on major divisions among Democrats on troop withdrawals.
As of Tuesday night, there were two resolutions set for debate. One, by Sen. John Kerry of Massachusett,s calls for a return of more than 130,000 U.S. troops by July 2007. The other, sponsored by Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan and Jack Reed of Rhode Island, calls for President George Bush to begin an unspecified withdrawal by the end of this year, the New York Times reported.
Kerry, who lost to Bush in the last presidential election and is considering a second attempt, now says the war in Iraq was a mistake although he initially supported it.
Some Democrats told the Washington Post their party's divisions reflect polls showing many in the United States oppose the war but do not want to leave Iraq in chaos.
"The American people have mixed feelings about Iraq -- where we are, where we're going there," Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas.
U.S. House delays immigration debate
WASHINGTON, June 21 (UPI) -- After President George Bush left the country, U.S. House Republicans announced a delay on immigration debate to allow for investigative field trips.
Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., made the announcement after a House leadership strategy session Tuesday, saying several committee chairmen will have field hearings in congressional districts in the South.
"I'm not putting any timeline on this thing, but I think we need this thing done right," Hastert said.
The move means a conference committee on House and Senate versions of reform isn't likely until after the November mid-term elections, The Washington Post reported.
The chambers are at odds on reform, with the Senate favoring a Bush initiative to step up border security but also to create a guest worker program. The House has a harsher approach that includes deportations and no guest worker provision.
Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., one of the main authors of the Senate plan, called the House field trip plan "a cynical delaying tactic," the Post said.
Bush departed for Vienna Tuesday for talks with EU leaders.
Equifax loses personal data in PC theft
ATLANTA, June 21 (UPI) -- Consumer credit information giant Equifax Inc. says personal data on some 2,500 U.S. employees has been taken in a laptop theft.
The computer, which included some full or partial Social Security numbers was stolen May 29 in Britain, and potentially affected employees were informed June 7, the Atlanta Business Chronicle reported Tuesday.
Equifax said it would be extremely difficult for any of the personal data to be used, given the format in which it was stored on the stolen computer.
The company also said it had taken "appropriate disciplinary" action against the unidentified employee whose violation of company security protocols exposed the laptop to the theft.
