h'West Wing' actor dies

h'West Wing' actor dies
LOS ANGELES -- John Spencer, who played a dedicated politico on "The West Wing" who survived a serious illness to run for vice president, died of a heart attack Friday, his publicist said.
Spencer, 58, died at a Los Angeles hospital, said publicist Ron Hofmann. He would have been 59 next week.
Spencer played Leo McGarry, the chief of staff to President Jeb Bartlet (Martin Sheen) through the first few seasons of the NBC series. In a sad parallel to life, his character suffered a heart attack that forced him to give up his White House job.
The character recovered and was picked as a running mate for Democratic presidential contender Matt Santos, played by Jimmy Smits; the campaign has been a central theme this season for the drama.
Spencer, who also starred on "L.A. Law" as attorney Tommy Mullaney, received an Emmy Award for his performance on "The West Wing" in 2002 and was nominated four other times for the drama.
Presidential address
WASHINGTON -- President Bush will address the nation about Iraq on Sunday evening, his first speech from the Oval Office since he announced the beginning of the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003.
The White House said it was asking television networks for live coverage of the president's address, expected to run less than 20 minutes.
"The Iraqi people have just concluded a historic election and we now are entering a critical period for our mission in Iraq," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.
"The president will talk about the importance of our mission and the way forward in 2006," he said.
Power plant accident
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- Molten metal splashed from a smelter at a Russian nuclear power plant, killing one worker and severely burning two others, but authorities said Friday that no reactors were affected and no radiation escaped.
While relatively minor, the accident Thursday occurred on the same day prosecutors announced a "catastrophic radioactivity situation" involving improperly stored materials at a chemical factory in the southern Russian region of Chechnya.
The occurrences were the latest to draw questions about how Russia stores, handles and disposes of nuclear materials and waste in the wake of the 1986 explosion of a reactor at Chernobyl that spewed out radioactivity for days in the world's worst civilian atomic accident.
Debate on Iran continues
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Iran could face sanctions if it keeps provoking Israel and the West, European leaders warned Friday, even as the Tehran regime's interior minister said the Iranian president's remarks had been misunderstood.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad aggravated tensions with the West this week by calling the Holocaust a myth, a statement that came two months after he called for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
European leaders said Ahmadinejad's remarks were the latest "provocative political moves" from Tehran since May.
"These comments are wholly unacceptable and have no place in civilized political debate," said a draft statement at a European Union summit that EU leaders were expected to adopt.
EU leaders warned Tehran they would review diplomatic options for possible sanctions against Iran.
Sinn Fein expels member
BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Sinn Fein expelled a prominent party member Friday and accused him of spying for Britain, a strange twist in a scandal that wrecked Northern Ireland's power-sharing administration.
Gerry Adams, leader of the Irish Republican Army-linked party, said Denis Donaldson, its former top administrator in the home of the power-sharing government, confessed to passing information to British intelligence agents for the past 20 years.
The accusation came after British state prosecutors last week mysteriously dropped all charges against Donaldson, his son-in-law, Ciaran Kearney, and former British civil servant William Mackessy, who had been accused of spying for Sinn Fein.
Associated Press