Obama: U.S. must lead energy development
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- The United States must win the global competition for developing new energy resources, President Barack Obama said Friday in Massachusetts.
"The nation that wins this competition will be the nation that leads the global economy. I am convinced of that," Obama said at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. "And I want America to be that nation. It's that simple."
He touted the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act for channeling $80 billion for a number of job-producing, energy-related projects, including new battery technologies for hybrid cars, modernizing the nation's electric grid, making homes and businesses more energy efficient and doubling the capacity to generate renewable electricity.
He noted that ground would be broken soon in Boston on a new wind technology testing center because of a $25 million Recovery Act investment.
"Now, even as we're investing in technologies that exist today, we're also investing in the science that will produce the technologies of tomorrow," Obama told the audience of about 750 people, including MIT faculty and staff, business and community leaders, entrepreneurs, local political leaders and congressional members. "The Recovery Act provides the largest single boost in scientific research in history."
Before his comments, Obama toured an MIT research lab that demonstrated wind, solar and battery power.
He also called for "the passage of comprehensive legislation that will finally make renewable energy the profitable kind of energy in America."
Calling such legislation, which already passed the House, a bipartisan issue, Obama said, "Everybody in America should have a stake ... in legislation that can transform our energy system into one that's far more efficient, far cleaner, and provide energy independence for America."
Pelosi counts votes for public option
WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spent Friday trying to debunk speculation she lacks the votes for a so-called robust public option for healthcare reform.
The California Democrat called an emergency caucus meeting to tell Democrats she hasn't abandoned the provision that would pay medical providers the same rates as Medicare plus an additional 5 percent and is preferred by party liberals, The Hill reported Friday.
Pelosi met Thursday with the Progressive Caucus, the bloc of Democrats most supportive of a robust public option, to assure them it remained viable, a caucus member told the Washington publication.
The Hill previously reported Pelosi and her leadership team were a handful of votes shy of the 218 needed to guarantee passage of a healthcare reform bill with the public option.
During Friday's caucus meeting, leaders polled members attending -- 196 of the 256 House Democrats — on whether they support a robust public option, The Hill said.
One member supportive of the public option there was "overwhelming support" for the Medicare-plus-5-percent option among members in attendance. The person conceded that many of the absent members could be up in the air.
Pelosi can lose no more than 38 Democrats on any healthcare bill vote if Republicans vote as a bloc against healthcare reform.
Czechs sign on to new missile defense plan
PRAGUE, Czech Republic, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- The Czech Republic has agreed in principle to participate in the new version of the U.S. missile defense program, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Friday.
"(Today) we discussed the potential role the Czech Republic could play in a new architecture, a better architecture -- an architecture that has the capacity to actually protect Europe and is not just focused on the United States of America," Biden said during a joint appearance with Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer in Prague.
Biden said he was "very appreciative of the prime minister's statement to me that the Czech Republic is ready to be a part of that new architecture."
The vice president also met with Czech President Vaclav Klaus. Biden's visit to the Czech Republic wraps up a three-country trip that included stops in Poland and Romania.
A high-level defense team will visit Prague in November to follow up on the role for the Czechs, who had agreed to host a radar facility under a missile defense shield advocated by former U.S. President George W. Bush, Biden said.
"I used this opportunity to express our readiness, as a NATO member, to participate in this new program," Fischer said. "The Czech Republic is ready to take part in it."
Biden also thanked Prague's efforts to promote greater interconnectivity for the European Union's gas and electric networks and the country's efforts to diversify in the nuclear power arena.
Noting the country was marking the 20th anniversary of the so-called Velvet Revolution, Biden said he didn't think Czechs, because they were staging the revolution, understood how they inspired the world.
"You are the model ... for democracy that (other countries) look to," Biden said. "And I am confident with your leadership you will help them ... as they make their journey toward a full democracy."
Blast kills 6 near Pakistan security area
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- A suicide bomber, in the latest attack on Pakistani security forces, struck near an air force facility Friday, killing at least six people, authorities said.
Meanwhile, officials reported a car bomb, described by witnesses as a "huge blast," exploded near a security check post in Peshawar, injuring at least 15 people.
Witnesses told British broadcaster Sky News the Peshawar blast appeared to have destroyed a number of buildings.
The air force facility attack occurred at a check post near the Kamra Aeronautical Complex in Attock district in Punjab province, northwest of Islamabad, Geo TV reported.
At least eight more were injured in the latest in a series of deadly terror strikes by militants, apparently in retaliation for the military's current air and ground offensive against the Taliban, al-Qaida and other terror groups in South Waziristan.
Attock police official Fakhar Sultan told Geo TV a suicide bomber blew himself up when stopped by security personnel near the aeronautical facility and those killed included two security personnel and four civilians.
The state-run Associated Press of Pakistan reported at least a dozen people were injured.
Militants have targeted security installations or police posts in their recent attacks, which have killed more than 180 people so far in October.
On Thursday, two men on a motorcycle shot and killed an army brigadier and a soldier in a residential area of Islamabad. On Tuesday, two near simultaneous suicide blasts killed at least six people, three of them women, at Islamabad's International Islamic University and injured several more.
Hijacked ship spotted off Somalia coast
HOBYO, Somalia, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- The European Union anti-piracy force says the hijacked Chinese bulk carrier De Xin Hai has arrived off the coast of Somalia.
EU NAVFOR said Thursday on its Web site a EU NAVFOR Maritime Patrol Aircraft confirmed the De Xin Hai was spotted near the Somalia harbor city of Hobyo.
"It is not yet known if the pirates have contacted the owners and made their demands known," the anti-piracy force said.
China's official state-run Xinhua news agency reported the Chinese vessel, which has 25 crew members, was hijacked in the Indian Ocean Monday.
The carrier belongs to Qingdao Ocean Shipping Co. and was shipping coal from South Africa to India when commandeered.
Xinhua said China is one of a dozen countries that sends naval ships to the Gulf of Aden region to protect maritime shippers from pirates.
Indonesia hit by 5.8-magnitude earthquake
MANOKWARI, Indonesia, Oct. 23 (UPI) -- The head of Indonesia's meteorological agency said a 5.8-magnitude earthquake took place Friday off the north coast of Papua, Indonesia.
Indonesian meteorologist Fauzi, who only uses one name, told CNN the quake occurred at a depth of 21.7 miles and did not result in a tsunami warning being issued.
"No reports of damage yet, no tsunami warning," Fauzi said. No injuries were reported in connection with the quake.
Friday's earthquake near Manokwari comes months after the West Papua capital was hit by multiple powerful tremors in January. Two quakes in early 2009 had a magnitude of more than 7.0 and resulted in the deaths of four people and the destruction of multiple buildings.
More recently, a 6.1-magnitude quake shook the Sunda Strait between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra last Friday.
That quake came after a 7.6-magnitude quake hit Sumatra Sept. 30, followed by a 6.6-magnitude quake on Oct. 1. The two powerful quakes killed more than 1,000 people.
CNN said Indonesia routinely faces strong quakes because the Asian country rests on the so-called Ring of Fire, an arc of geologic fault lines in the Pacific Ocean.
