Dems promote troop rest

Dems promote troop rest

WASHINGTON — Democrats on Saturday touted legislation to guarantee troops time at home between deployments to Iraq.

In the party’s weekly radio address, Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., criticized President Bush for threatening to veto the bill, contending his administration’s policies on troop deployments have weakened the military.

The measure would require that regular military units returning from the war receive at least as much time at home as they spent in Iraq. Reserve units would get a home stay three times as long as they spent in the war zone.

Under the Pentagon’s current policy, active-duty troops typically serve deployments of up to 15 months, with a year at home in between. National Guard and Reserve ground units generally can be called up for as long as two years, to be followed by six years at home.

Bush welcomes Sarkozy

KENNEBUNKPORT, Maine — President Bush, using all the trappings of his family’s oceanfront estate, worked on a cozier relationship with France and its new president Saturday.

Bush welcomed Nicolas Sarkozy, the French leader known for his fast-paced style who may also be this White House’s last true chance for better relations between the two nations.

“He’s bringing a good brain, good vision and goodwill,” Bush said from his parents’ compound.

Bush called Sarkozy a friend who could be counted on to speak frankly.

“We have had good disagreements — on Iraq, in particular,” Bush acknowledged about the frayed U.S.-France partnership. “But I’ve never allowed disagreements to not find other ways to work together.”

2 radio journalists slain

NAIROBI, Kenya — Two prominent Somali radio journalists were killed in Mogadishu on Saturday, the first by gunmen in the morning and the second, the radio station’s co-owner, in an explosion hours later as he returned from the reporter’s funeral.

The killings targeted Horn Afrik radio, which has been criticized by the Ethiopian-backed Somali government and also by hard-line members of an insurgency that has been battling government and Ethiopian forces for months.

House fire kills 6

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — A fire broke out in a home without smoke detectors early Saturday, killing six members of a family, officials said. The father escaped by leaping out a second-story window and was being treated for injuries.

The names of the victims, believed to be four children and two adults, weren’t released Saturday. Autopsies were scheduled.

Fire Department investigators were searching for a cause for the slow-burning fire that was reported at 5:32 a.m.

Flossie is Category 4

HONOLULU — Hurricane Flossie strengthened to a Category 4 storm Saturday as it spun more than 1,000 miles south of Hawaii.

The hurricane could pass by Hawaii late Tuesday or early Wednesday, forecasters said, but by then cooler waters should weaken Flossie considerably to a tropical storm.

2 ill hostages to be let go

GHAZNI, Afghanistan — A Taliban spokesman said Saturday that two sick, female South Korean hostages would be released “soon” for the sake of good relations between the Taliban and South Korea. Neither the international Red Cross or the Afghan government could immediately confirm the claim.

The spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said the two women would be freed because they are sick. He said the decision had been made by the Taliban’s high commanders, but he said it had not yet been decided when the women would be freed.

Combined dispatches