Bush gains 4 points in support poll
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush gained 4 percentage points in a Wall Street Journal/NBC poll published Thursday but still has just 42 percent approval.
The Journal attributed the increase since its last poll in June with a series of speeches in which Bush asked for patience with the war in Iraq.
However, 54 percent of 1,009 registered voters, contacted Sept. 8-11, say the United States is headed in the wrong direction.
With November mid-term elections approaching, respondents were asked if they would choose a Republican who wants to maintain troop levels or a Democrat who wants to reduce them. Poll respondents choose the Democrat by a 13-percent margin -- 53-40. Offered a choice between a Republican who wants to maintain troop levels and a Democrat seeking "immediate and orderly withdrawal," voters prefer the Republican by 48-41 percent.
The poll has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
U.N. inspectors refute U.S. Iran data
WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- U.N. inspectors are labeling a recent U.S. House committee report on Iran's nuclear capabilities "outrageous and dishonest."
In a letter to the Bush administration and Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the House intelligence committee, the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency cited five major errors in the committee's 29-page report, the Washington Post reported Thursday.
One of the claims the IAEA challenged was that Iran is producing weapons-grade uranium at its facility in Natanz, which the inspectors said was "incorrect." The letter said weapons-grade uranium is enriched to a level of 90 percent or more, while inspectors had only found uranium enriched to 3.5 percent.
Meanwhile, Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., the committee vice chairman, told Democratic colleagues in an e-mail the report "took a number of analytical shortcuts that present the Iran threat as more dire -- and the intelligence community's assessments as more certain -- than they are."
IAEA chairman Mohammed ElBaradei said the suggestion inspectors do not tell the truth about Iran's capabilities is particularly "outrageous and dishonest."
Senior Russian banker gunned down
MOSCOW, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- A senior Central Bank of Russia official responsible for closing corrupt banks died in Moscow early Thursday, hours after being shot by gunmen.
Andrei Kozlov, 41, was a first deputy chairman of the bank and was ambushed in an apparent contract killing as he was leaving a Moscow stadium late Wednesday, the Novosti news agency reported.
His chauffeur was also shot and died at the scene. Kozlov was rushed to a hospital, where he died of head injuries without regaining consciousness, a hospital spokesman said.
The Kommersant newspaper quoted banking sources as saying Kozlov's activities had targeted "gray schemes" used by importers to minimize customs duties and tax payments, as well as by criminal and shadow groups to launder money.
Tributes to his integrity were swift.
"Kozlov frequently damaged the interests of dishonest financiers," Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said. "He was a very courageous and honest man."
Montreal college shooter bragged on blog
MONTREAL, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- The man who opened fire at a Montreal college, killing one woman and injuring 20 others, called himself "the Angel of Death" on the Internet.
While not confirmed by police, several Quebec newspapers on Thursday identified the man who stormed Dawson College was Kimveer Gill, 25, of Laval, north of Montreal, the Globe and Mail reported.
His vampirefreaks.com profile says "His name is Trench. You will come to know him as the Angel of Death," and there are photos of him pointing various weapons at the camera.
At least eight people were in critical condition Thursday and 12 others were recovering from gunshot wounds from Wednesday's lunchtime shooting spree.
The mayhem lasted only a few minutes, as students summoned security when they saw a tall man with a mohawk haircut wearing a long black coat removing an assault rifle from the trunk of a car, the Montreal Gazette said.
An autopsy will determine whether the gunman died from a police bullet or a self-inflicted wound, the report said.
Police Chief Yvan Delorme said the motive for the attack was unclear but denied rumors women or members of specific ethnic or religious groups were being targeted.
Ann Richards dead of cancer at 73
AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Former Texas Gov. Ann Richards died Wednesday at her Austin home of esophageal cancer at the age of 73.
She was surrounded by her family, a statement released by the family said.
Richards became nationally famous in 1988 when as Texas treasurer she told the Democratic National Convention that Vice President George H.W. Bush was "born with a silver foot in his mouth."
Bush went on to win the presidency.
Richards was elected to the governorship 1990, and inaugurated in 1991. Among the accomplishments cited by her family: Texas led the nation for three years in increases in manufacturing jobs and corporate locations during her tenure.
But she was defeated for re-election in 1994 by George W. Bush, the son of her old political adversary, who himself went on to win the presidency in 2000.
The family statement said she is survived by her four children and their spouses, and eight grandchildren.
The family also requested that any memorial gifts be sent to the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders through the Austin Community Foundation.
