Senate OKs nuclear trade with India
The Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly endorsed a plan allowing the United States to ship civilian nuclear fuel and technology to India, handing President Bush an important victory on one of his top foreign policy initiatives.
Senior lawmakers from both political parties championed the proposal, which reverses decades of U.S. anti-proliferation policy, saying it strengthens a key relationship with a friendly Asian power that has long maintained what the United States considers a responsible nuclear program. The vote was 85-12.
Even with the strong approval by the Senate, however, hurdles loom before India and the United States could begin civil nuclear trade.
First on that list, lawmakers in the House, which overwhelmingly endorsed the plan in July, and the Senate must now reconcile their versions into a single bill before the next congressional session begins in January.
Critics argued that the plan would ruin the world’s nonproliferation regime and boost India’s nuclear arsenal. The extra civilian nuclear fuel that the deal would provide, they say, could free India’s domestic uranium for use in its weapons program.
Detroit
Man arrested after shootings
A man was arrested Thursday after a series of shootings that left two people dead and three others wounded within a span of 10 minutes.
All the shootings were in a three- to four-block area on the city’s west side, Detroit police spokesman James Tate said. The shootings were believed to be random, police said.
Killed were Arthur James Smith, 49, and Othelia Fry, 58, both of Detroit, according to police.
Police arrested the suspect Thursday afternoon at a house about a half-mile from the shootings, the Detroit News reported on its Web site.
Investigators received a tip from a woman who said the suspect told her he had shot five people in the morning, the newspaper said.
Tate said earlier that investigators believed there were two gunmen, but police told the Detroit Free Press late Thursday that witness accounts may have been wrong and one man may have been responsible.
Wichita, Kan.
Suspect shoots self in groin
A botched kidnapping ended with one of the assailants shooting himself in the groin, police said.
The man had just stuck the gun in his waistband when it fired, shooting him in the left testicle, authorities said. He cringed, causing the gun to fire again and strike him in the left calf, they said.
The 23-year-old man managed to walk into a hospital for treatment. He and his two alleged accomplices, ages 18 and 20, were arrested on attempted kidnapping charges. They were accused of trying to kidnap a teenager in a dispute over stereo speakers.