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Obama: Won't favor ideology over science

CHICAGO, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama says he respects the scientific process and will work to restore the United States as a world science leader.

Speaking Saturday in his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama said we will not disregard "inconvenient" scientific evidence in favor of ideological dogma, a frequent complaint leveled by scientists against the Bush administration, the Washington publication The Hill reported.

Obama stressed the importance of science, saying it "holds the key to our survival as a planet and our security and prosperity as a nation," adding, "It's time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore America's place as the world leader in science and technology."

Obama pledged he would ensure "that facts and evidence are never twisted or obscured by politics or ideology," and promised to listen "to what our scientists have to say, even when it's inconvenient -- especially when it's inconvenient."

Obama also announced he has named Harvard professor John Holdren to serve as assistant to the President for Science and Technology and as well director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, The Hill reported.

Survey: Bush disapproval at new low

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- A survey indicates only 11 percent of U.S. adults believe George W. Bush will go down in history as an outstanding or above-average president.

The Pew Research Center for People and the Press said its survey of 1,489 U.S. adults, conducted by telephone between Dec. 3 and Dec. 7, found 64 percent of respondents believe the Bush administration will be better remembered for its failures than its accomplishments, while a 34 percent plurality said history will view the 43rd president as a poor chief executive.

The center said 68 percent of those surveyed said they disapprove of Bush's performance as president and 53 percent of respondents said they strongly disapprove. The Pew center said the numbers marked the largest disapproval rating measured during Bush's two terms in office.

Only 24 percent of those polled said they approved of the president's performance.

The survey had an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Teacher faces trial for slaying student

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- A 23-year-old Egyptian teacher is set to go on trial for causing the death of an 11-year-old pupil by hitting him in the stomach, observers say.

The teacher, Haitham Nabeel Abdelhamid, allegedly took the boy, Islam Amr Badr, outside the Alexandria classroom and hit him violently in his stomach when he failed to hand in his mathematics homework, the BBC reported Saturday.

The British broadcaster said Egypt's education minister is expected to be called as a witness while the boy's father, Amr Badr Ibrahim, is calling for others to stand trial with the teacher, claiming, "The problem is the teaching and the teachers because they cannot find good teachers."

It is common for young, inexperienced and under-resourced teachers to be put in of control classes of between 60 and 100 children in Egypt. The government says it is working on education reforms such as new teacher testing, the BBC said.

Rice: Only 'idiot' would trust N. Korea

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice says only an "idiot" would trust North Korea, reiterating the United States will suspend heating oil aid to Pyongyang.

Speaking before the Council of Foreign Relations in Washington, the Voice of America quoted Rice telling the group, "I mean, who trusts the North Koreans? You'd have to be an idiot to trust the North Koreans," Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, reported Saturday.

When she made the comment, Rice was defending the Bush administration against criticism from U.S. conservatives that the United States was placing too much trust in Pyongyang in the ongoing six-party talks aimed at the denuclearization of North Korea.

The latest round of the six-party talks ended in Beijing without an agreement last week. North Korea refused to sign on to a verification protocol for its nuclear materials list, although Rice said Pyongyang has advanced a preliminary protocol that she says can be used as a basis for further talks, Yonhap said.

Rice also restated Washington's position that it will suspend heating oil aid to North Korea until Pyongyang signs a complete verification protocol, although Russia has said it will proceed with shipments.

N. Korea claims Kim Jong Il slay plot

SEOUL, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- North Korea says it has arrested an agent it claims was sent by South Korea to assassinate its reclusive leader, Kim Jong Il.

Pyongyang says the man, who is now allegedly under arrest, crossed the border earlier this year and had been planning to use poison to kill Kim after receiving training in South Korea, the BBC reported Saturday.

South Korea has denied any involvement in the alleged plot, which comes at a time of heightened tensions between the two Koreas. Pyongyang has cut back on contacts between the two countries as a protest against what it calls the hard-line policies of South Korean President Lee Myung-bak.

North Korea made its allegations Thursday via its official news agency, KNCA, the BBC said. Pyongyang says that the man, named Ri, was under orders from South Korea's intelligence agency, saying, "The organization sent him speech and acoustic sensing and pursuit devices for tracking the movement of the top leader and even violent poison."

"This has nothing to do with us," a South Korean intelligence agency official told reporters.

Kim, 66, is reportedly in ill health after suffering from one or more strokes.