Iraq agreed \in principle"" Thursday to begin destroying stocks of missiles that violate U.N. resolutions, but demanded that U.N. weapons inspectors first begin talks in Baghdad over how and when the missiles will be dismantled.
The Iraqi statement indicates that Saddam Hussein is prepared to back away from his assertion, made in an interview with CBS News this week, that he saw no need to destroy any missiles because none violate U.N. restrictions.
If Hussein agrees to comply with chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix's order to meet a Saturday deadline to begin destroying the al Samoud 2 missiles and related components, it would further complicate the Bush administration's pro-intervention policy. Speaking before release of the Iraqi statement, President Bush reiterated that destruction of the missiles would not be sufficient to meet U.S. demands.
Yet divisions on the Security Council--which have pitted the United States against two longstanding allies, France and Germany, as well as against Russia and China--boiled over Thursday afternoon during a heated three-hour exchange in chamber that one European diplomat described as ""ugly.""
Gov. Jim Doyle signed an emergency budget bill Thursday that eliminates part of the state's shortfall for this fiscal year ending June 30.
According to an Associated Press report, the bill reduces this year's deficit to $283.6 million, which will roll over into the next budget cycle.
The bill cuts $39.8 million from state agency budgets but also retains full funding for health care programs for the poor.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted Thursday to outlaw human cloning--including ""therapeutic cloning,"" which many claim could pave the way for treatments of debilitating diseases.
Therapeutic cloning yields versatile stem cells for research through the creation of a human embryo. Opponents of therapeutic cloning say the embryo is a potential life, thus using and destroying embryos for research is immoral.
The bill still faces the U.S. Senate, where an almost identical law was defeated in 2001. Since that defeat, Republicans have gained a majority in the chamber.
The government lowered the terrorist threat index from orange to yellow Thursday, yet warned that al Qaeda is still poised to strike U.S. targets at home and abroad.
Attorney General John Ashcroft decided to drop the alert after 20 days at orange following a review of new intelligence and because the hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, had ended Feb. 13.
