If, by January, there is not a severe crackdown on steroid usage by baseball players, Senate Commerce Committee Chariman John McCain said on Friday that he would instigate legislation inflicting drug-testing procedures on professional athletes. Under this warning, Major League baseball promised to act upon more rigorous drug tests. Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig mentioned that the league and the players’ union had been making progress on a stricter drug policy, according to washingtonpost.com.
Rumsfeld remains in the pentagon
Administration aides said on Friday that President Bush has decided to keep Donald H. Rumsfeld as defense secretary for a second term. After facing calls for his resignation this past summer due to the mistreatment of Iraqis at the Abu Ghraib military prison, Republicans said it would be a mistake to replace him. They believed it would appear to be an allowance for administrations to make wrong decisions in Iraq. At age 72, he is the oldest Pentagon chief in America’s history, according to washingtonpost.com.
Stagnate search for Bin Laden
The search for Osama bin Laden has been inactive with no recent knowledge indicating where he or his top leaders are hiding, according to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Musharraf also suggested that the United States is in partially at fault due to the fact that we do not have enough troops in Afghanistan. Challenges in Afghanistan would be better dealt with “if the Afghan national army is raised faster, in more strength, so that they can reach out to fill these voids that I am talking about, where U.S. forces or coalition forces are not there,” he said, according to washingtonpost.com.
21 Iraqis by insurgents’ attacks
17 civilians died when insurgents attacked them at about 8:30 a.m. Sunday near the north-central city of Tikrit, officials said. Occupants of two cars opened fire as they were just about the get off a bus taking them to work. A second attack occurred around 9:30 a.m. in northern Iraq. A car comb killed four Iraqi security personnel, while about 18 other civilians were wounded. The attacks were the latest attempts by insurgents to disrupt the country’s scheduled Jan. 30 elections. Iraqi interim government officials have said they will hold the elections as planned, according to cnn.com.
Doctors urge caution for new drug
Rimonabant, a new drug that supposedly sheds pounds, helps people become uninterested in fattening foods. It is supposed to make you lose weight mainly in the abdominal area, while lessening any cravings for alcohol or nicotine. However, researchers say that there is no reasonable explanation for how it works. Rimonabant has been approved for sale in the United States or anywhere else, due to the fact that it has not been submitted for Food and Drug Administration’s approval. Sanofi-Aventis, the company who discovered this drug, plans on applying early next year, according to nytimes.com.
