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PARIS - President Bush has finally set a target date for reining in U.S. emissions of greenhouse gases but the plan is falling flat in the international arena, where critics have long accused him of not moving quickly enough on tackling global warming. "Losership instead of leadership," Germany's environment minister said Thursday of Bush's new strategy. A major disappointment, South Africa said. Too little and too late, a Chinese official added. Bush's speech Wednesday, in which he said the United States must stop the growth of its emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases by 2025, dominated U.S.-sponsored climate...

WASHINGTON, March 31, 2006 – The beefed-up force in and around Baghdad is helping curb violence and likely will stay at current levels as Iraq's new unity government forms, the force's commander told Pentagon reporters today. Army Maj. Gen. James Thurman said Multinational Division Baghdad, with about 32,000 Iraqi security forces and just over 29,000 U.S., Georgian, Macedonian and Estonian troops, is likely to keep its current strength until the government becomes operational. "I see that as being a critical piece in getting the overall rule of law of law established in all of Iraq," and specifically, Baghdad, he told...

WASHINGTON - Republicans will try for quick action on a measure that would end asbestos lawsuits in exchange for a trust fund to compensate victims, the incoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee (news - web sites) said Tuesday, despite a two-year deadlock. "It is my hope to be able to present a bill through markup at a very, very early date," said Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), R-Pa., who will become Judiciary chairman later this week. "Whether that can be done in late January or early February remains to be seen." Republicans say Democrats wouldn't let previous...