Deadly blasts greet Bhutto's return
KARACHI, Pakistan, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Two explosions near the motorcade of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto killed an unknown number of people, but officials said Bhutto was safe.
The twin explosions occurred in Karachi near the motorcade of Bhutto, who returned to Pakistan Thursday after eight years of self-imposed exile, CNN reported. Thousands of people turned out for her return.
Ashraf Jehangir Qazi, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, expressed sorrow about the loss of life, but added "the good news is Benazir is safe and sound."
"(This) was a very joyous occasion," the ambassador told CNN, "but such an attack was a possibility."
Witnesses said dozens of people were dead and hundreds were injured. A CNN reporter said he counted at least 10 bodies, adding he saw "more bodies than I can count."
Police recovered the body of "what they say is a suicide bomber," CNN reported.
Bhutto's convoy was snaking through a sea of people in Karachi when the explosions occurred.
House falls short on SCHIP veto override
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- The U.S. House of Representatives, voting 273 to 156, failed to override President George Bush's veto of State Children's Health Insurance Program funding.
The House veto override effort fell about a dozen votes shy of the two-thirds majority necessary.
"Let us come together and do the right thing," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., exhorted his colleagues during the debate before the vote.
"It's not about compassion, it's about fairness," Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said in closing remarks before the vote. "I urge my colleagues to think about the children. Let's truly send a signal when we are about the future."
The Democrat-controlled Congress passed a measure that would have increased funding for the state-run health insurance program for children of families who don't qualify for Medicaid but can't afford private insurance to $35 billion over five years and financed by a 61-cent-a-pack tax increase on cigarettes.
"I would hope that the political games would come to an end," House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said. "Let's sit down and work together in a bipartisan manner to resolve our differences ... and put poor children first."
Shimon Peres rebukes Iran
JERUSALEM, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Israeli President Shimon Peres on Thursday made dire comparisons of Iran’s president and the despotic regimes of Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.
A statement from the president’s office said, “Many times in history it was too late to prevent horrors and bloodshed, for instance with Stalin and Hitler. We are nearing a similar turn of events with (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad.”
The statement said that the Iranian leader made repeated statements regarding the destruction of Israel and warned against an “extremist Persian empire that would rule the entire Mideast.”
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert left Israel for Moscow and a visit with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss Iran’s nuclear program, the Israel News said.
Speaking of the visit, Sharon voiced opposition to Russia’s support for Iran’s nuclear program, stating, “everybody knows what Iran’s true intentions are.”
Putin recently returned from Tehran where he discussed cooperation with Iran’s nuclear program. Some Western leaders claim Iran is using its nuclear program to develop a weapons programs. Iranian leaders said the program is for power generation.
Rice 'encouraged' by Middle East trip
LONDON, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary Condoleezza Rice said Thursday she was "encouraged" by her talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on the creation of a Palestinian state.
"This trip was important to get a sense of where the parties are, to have a chance to see what needs to be done to help them achieve what they're trying to achieve," Rice said while traveling from Tel Aviv to London, where she will close her visit. Rice talked to the groups' leaders in advance of U.S.-sponsored peace talks in November between the Israelis and Palestinians.
"The teams are serious, the people are serious, the issues are serious," Rice said. "And so I'm not surprised that there are some tensions. I'm not surprised that there are some ups and downs. ... But I was encouraged by what I heard."
Negotiators are working on a document regarding Palestinian statehood scheduled to presented the peace conference in Annapolis, Md. While Israel seeks a vague declaration of principles, Palestinians want more specific language on the issues.
Putin details nuclear weapons development
MOSCOW, Oct. 18 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Thursday Russia would continue to develop nuclear as well as conventional weapons for its armed forces.
In a televised news conference, Putin said a development program running through 2015 would enhance all levels of Moscow’s nuclear forces, including strategic air and missiles based on land and aboard submarines.
According to the RIA Novosti news service, Putin said Russia was developing a next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and sub-based missile.
Novosti said Russia also announced it had successfully tested an improved RS-12M Topol ICBM. The RS-12 has been deployed since the 1980s and is undergoing modernization.
Twisters, high winds hit Texas, Fla., Mo.
SPRINGFIELD, Mo., Oct. 18 (UPI) -- The National Weather Service on Thursday was assessing damage from tornadoes in Texas, Florida and Missouri, where two people died in the storms.
The Missouri Highway Patrol said a possible twister killed two people in a mobile home on a hog farm in Laclede County in rural south central Missouri and winds snapped tree limbs and downed utility lines.
At least three homes were damaged by tornadoes near Verona, Chesapeake, Ash Grove, Willard and Morrisville west and east of Springfield, Mo., the Springfield News-Herald reported.
Severe weather hammered the U.S. south from Texas to Florida, and a twister touched down in Pensacola, Fla., Thursday, triggering a statewide weather alert, Several tornadoes in Escambia County, Fla., downed trees causing roof damage, the Pensacola (Fla.) News Journal said. Winds flipped over a dozen cars in a Target parking lot.
A funnel cloud spotted on the ground near Buna in East Texas caused no damage, the Houston Chronicle said.
In Tulsa, Okla., 21 people attending an Oktoberfest were injured Wednesday when high winds clocked at 85 mph blew down beer tents and damaged mobile homes.
