The Roman Catholic church on Thursday said it has sufficient support in the Philippine congress to defeat a controversial family planning bill promoting sex education and the use of contraceptives.

`The bishops are confident they have the numbers,` said Maria Fenny Tatad, executive director of the church lobby group Bishops-Legislators Caucus of the Philippines.

Democrats in the US Congress proposing an additional 25-billion-dollar bailout for ailing automakers stalled Wednesday as Republican lawmakers maintained the sector should use funds from a previous bill.

WASHINGTON, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - US State Department Inspector General Howard Krongard and his brother have been summoned to another hearing in Congress over their alleged involvement with private security firm Blackwater, congressional officials said.

Blackwater has been accused of shooting and killing civilians in Iraq.

WASHINGTON, Nov 16, 2007 (AFP) - The US Senate unanimously adopted a resolution Friday urging an upcoming ASEAN summit to suspend military-ruled Myanmar from the grouping for its bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

The move came as President George W. Bush and Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda condemned Myanmar's military generals for the violent suppression in September, after talks at the White House.

WASHINGTON, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - US Congressional support flagged Wednesday for a resolution calling the World War I massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks 'genocide' amid concern over Turkey's threat to cut off support for the Iraq war.

In apparent retreat from their initial stance, a group of Democrats in the House of Representatives, including the influential John Murtha, said they would 'very vigorously' oppose the measure cleared last week by a committee.

'If voted today it would not pass on the floor,' Murtha said.

WASHINGTON, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - President George W. Bush's pick for US attorney general vowed Wednesday not to sacrifice civil liberties as he attempts to help safeguard US national security.

'Protecting civil liberties, and people's confidence that those liberties are protected, is a part of protecting national security, just as is the gathering of intelligence to defend us from those who believe it is their duty to make war on us,' Michael Mukasey told the Senate Judiciary Committee at a hearing on his nomination to become top US prosecutor.

WASHINGTON, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - Looking to defuse tensions with a key US ally, US President George W. Bush on Wednesday urged the Congress to drop a resolution calling the World War I massacre of Armenians in Turkey 'genocide.'

'One thing Congress should not be doing is sorting out the historical record of the Ottoman Empire,' Bush said at a press conference, branding the measure 'counterproductive.'

ROGERS, Arkansas, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - The White House Monday strongly discouraged Congress from approving, or even considering, a resolution calling WWI mass killings of Armenians 'genocide' which could bring tough reprisals from Turkey.

'This is an important time for US-Turkish relations, and we would strongly encourage the speaker not to bring this to a vote, and should it come to a vote, we will strongly encourage members not to support it,' spokesman Tony Fratto said.

BEIJING, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - Past Chinese leaders Jiang Zemin, Li Peng and Zhu Rongji attended the opening of the Communist Party's five-yearly Congress here on Monday, sitting alongside the nation's current chiefs.

Although not formal delegates, the three former heavyweights attended on 'special invitations', a spokesman for the Congress told reporters.

The invitations give them the 'same rights' as all other 2,213 formal delegates, spokesman Li Dongsheng said.

BEIJING, Oct 15, 2007 (AFP) - China's Communist Party gathered on Monday for its five-yearly Congress, the country's most important political event. The following are key facts about the 17th Congress.

A gathering of the Communist Party elite from around the country. Delegates meet to endorse the broad direction of the party's agenda and formally elect the party's -- and therefore the country's -- top leadership.

THIS YEAR'S SIGNIFICANCE

BEIJING, Oct 13, 2007 (AFP) - China's Communist Party gathers on Monday for its five-yearly Congress, the country's most important political event. The following are key facts about the 17th Congress.

A gathering of the Communist Party elite from around the country. Delegates meet to endorse the broad direction of national policies and formally elect the Party's -- and therefore the country's -- top leadership.

THIS YEAR'S SIGNIFICANCE

BEIJING, Oct 7, 2007 (AFP) - China's Communist Party gathers on October 15 for its five-yearly Congress, the country's most important political event. Following are key facts about the 17th Party Congress.

A gathering of the Communist Party elite from around the country. Delegates meet to endorse the broad direction of national policies and formally elect the Party's -- and therefore the country's -- top leadership.

THIS YEAR'S SIGNIFICANCE

WASHINGTON, Oct 6, 2007 (AFP) - US Republican lawmaker Jo Ann Davis, who represented Virginia in the House of Representatives, died Saturday after losing a battle with breast cancer, her office announced. She was 57.

Davis was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005 and had a re-occurrence earlier this year, officials said.

President George W. Bush said in a statement he was 'deeply saddened' by Davis's passing.

'She was a fine example of a public servant who worked hard to cut government waste to ensure the people's money was used wisely,' Bush said.

WASHINGTON, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - US lawmakers voted Thursday to bring private security firms in Iraq out of legal limbo as the FBI took over an investigation into Blackwater, the contractor accused of gunning down innocent Iraqis.

However, officials were loath to say whether the FBI's takeover of a State Department probe could herald criminal charges against Blackwater, the best known of the well-paid US security contractors working in Iraq.

WASHINGTON, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - The US House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday making security contractors in war zones subject to action in US courts, stepping into the row over private Blackwater guards in Iraq.

The Democratic-led House voted 389 to 30 in favor of the bill, as controversy rumbles about the role of the US private security firm in a shootout which killed at least 10 Iraqis on September 16.

WASHINGTON, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - President George W. Bush Wednesday vetoed an emotive children's health bill, igniting a fierce new clash with Democrats, now spoiling for a fight on domestic issues after failing to end the Iraq war.

Bush has repeatedly defied Democratic attempts to change his war strategy, so his political foes are now plotting new lines of attack on health, delinquent mortgages and student loans, as elections loom in 2008.

WASHINGTON, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - US Democratic Senator Joseph Biden Monday hit out at Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the US embassy in Baghdad, over criticisms of his plan for a federal subdivision of Iraq.

Biden, a 2008 presidential candidate, defended his non-binding plan, which overwhelmingly passed the Senate last week, and asked for a meeting with President George W. Bush to explain it did not amount to partition.

CAIRO, Oct 1, 2007 (AFP) - The Arab League on Monday condemned a US Senate plan to split Iraq along ethnic and religious lines as a 'dangerous interference' in another country's affairs.

'The resolution is a dangerous form of interference in the internal affairs of another country which could create a precedent of disorder in international relations,' Arab League chief Amr Mussa told reporters.

'The Arab League position is clear, this is unacceptable,' he said.

BAGHDAD, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - Shiite and Sunni figures in Iraq dismissed Saturday a US Senate plan to split Iraq along ethnic and religious lines, while the Kurds welcomed it as the 'only viable solution' to the present chaos.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said upon his return from the United States that the idea being floated there by a US senator and presidential hopeful would 'be a catastrophe not only in Iraq but also on the region.'

'It is Iraqis who decide and they are keen to maintain the unity of their country,' Maliki told state-run Al-Iraqiya television.

TEHRAN, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - Iran on Saturday condemned a US Senate plan to split Iraq along ethnic and religious lines, saying it amounted to 'blatant interference' in its western neighbour's affairs.

'The US Senate's act is blatant interference in Iraqi internal affairs and violates this country's national unity and territorial integrity,' foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hoseini said in a statement.

'The recent move is among mistakes that Americans will have to correct,' the spokesman said.

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia, Sept 29, 2007 (AFP) - The 57-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference on Saturday condemned a US Senate plan to split Iraq along ethnic and religious lines, saying it would only fuel more violence.

OIC chief Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu said the Bosnia-style plan, billed as a way out of the sectarian strife since the 2003 US-led invasion, would only 'deepen the roots of unrest and sectarian killing amongst the children of the state'.

BAGHDAD, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - The Iraqi government on Friday firmly rejected a Bosnia-style plan approved by the US Senate to divide Iraq on ethnic and religious lines, saying Iraqis will themselves decide their future.

'The government and its prime minister (Nuri al-Maliki) reject this vote,' said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh.

'It is the Iraqis who decide these sorts of issues, no one else,' Dabbagh said on state-run Al-Iraqiya television.

'The Iraqi parliament too should express its total rejection of this plan.'

DUBAI, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) on Friday condemned a US Senate non-binding resolution to divide Iraq on ethnic and religious lines, saying it would complicate matters further in the war-torn country.

The Bosnia-style plan, which was touted as a way out of the sectarian strife which has risen steadily since the 2003 US-led invasion, 'would add new complications to the already difficult Iraqi situation,' GCC chief Abdulrahman al-Attiyah said in a statement.

WASHINGTON, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The White House on Thursday shrugged off US Senate approval of a Bosnia-style plan to divide Iraq on ethnic and religious lines, saying the non-binding measure would not change US policy.

'It's not something that shifts policy in Iraq,' spokesman Tony Fratto said one day after the lawmakers backed what backers touted as the sole hope of forging a stable federal state out of deadly sectarian strife.

WASHINGTON, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The White House on Thursday shrugged off US Senate approval of a Bosnia-style plan to divide Iraq on ethnic and religious lines, saying the non-binding measure would not change US policy.

'It's not something that shifts policy in Iraq,' spokesman Tony Fratto said one day after the lawmakers backed what backers touted as the sole hope of forging a stable federal state out of deadly sectarian strife.

CAIRO, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The Arab League on Thursday firmly rejected a US plan to divide Iraq on ethnic and religious lines, instead lambasting Washington for destroying Iraq and turning it into the main base for Al-Al Qaeda.

The declaration came after the US Senate on Wednesday passed a non-binding resolution on a Bosnia-style plan to divide Iraq that has been touted as a way out of the sectarian strife rising steadily since the 2003 US-led invasion.

WASHINGTON, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - The US Senate has called for Iran's Revolutionary Guards to be officially designated a 'foreign terrorist organization,' a day after the House of Representatives passed a similar measure.

The Senate on Wednesday voted 76-22 for the non-binding amendment sponsored by Republican Jon Kyl and independent Joseph Lieberman to place the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, or Pasdaran, on the US terrorist blacklist.

Such a designation if adopted by the US government would open the corps and affiliated companies to economic sanctions.

WASHINGTON, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - The US Senate approved Wednesday a Bosnia-style plan to divide Iraq on ethnic and religious lines, touted by backers as the sole hope of forging a federal state out of sectarian strife.

In a vote of 75 to 23, the Senate passed the non-binding resolution touted by backers as the best hope to produce a political solution to murderous sectarian strife in Iraq.

WASHINGTON, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - The US Senate approved Wednesday a Bosnia-style plan to subdivide Iraq on ethnic lines, touted by backers as the sole hope of forging a federal state out of sectarian strife.

In a vote of 75 to 23, the Senate passed the non-binding resolution touted by backers as the best hope to produce a political solution to murderous sectarian strife in Iraq.

The measure would not force a change in President George W. Bush's war strategy, but provides a key test of an idea drawing rising interest in Washington.

TEHRAN, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - Iran angrily condemned on Wednesday as 'worthless and invalid' a vote by the US House of Representatives branding its elite Revolutionary Guards force as a terrorist organization.

The vote came a month after it emerged that the administration of President George W. Bush was considering blacklisting the Guards, the Islamic republic's ideological army and one of its key institutions.

TEHRAN, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - Iran on Wednesday condemned as baseless and unprecedented a vote by the US House of Representatives branding its elite Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization.

'Branding the armed forces of a UN member as a terrorist group is a strange and unprecedented act. It is worthless and invalid,' foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in an angry statement.

'These kinds of ill-considered decisions and baseless acts do not help in implementing peace and security in the world.'

WASHINGTON, Sept 25, 2007 (AFP) - The US House of Representatives aimed a sharp jab at Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Tuesday, slapping new energy sanctions on Tehran, and branding its Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group.

A measure targeting the elite military corps and the lucrative Iranian energy sector sailed through the House by 397 votes to 16, hours before Ahmadinejad's speech to the United Nations General Assembly.

WASHINGTON, Sept 24, 2007 (AFP) - The US Senate is expected to vote as early as Tuesday on a Bosnia-style plan to subdivide Iraq on ethnic lines, touted by backers as the sole hope of forging a federal state out of sectarian strife.

Though the measure is non-binding, and would not force a change in President George W. Bush's war strategy even if it passes, the vote will provide a key test of an idea drawing rising interest in Washington.

WASHINGTON, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - A decades-long US presence in Iraq would cost around 25 billion dollars a year in combat conditions, and up to 10 billion even in more peaceful times, a new congressional report said Thursday.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) tallied up the price-tag for a long stay in Iraq after the White House said in May the half-century US military presence in South Korea could be a model for future Iraq deployments.

BEIJING, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - There's no sign outside this compound in an old section of Beijing that behind its high walls lies the headquarters of the Chinese Communist Party's internal disciplinary body.

The low-key setting masks what has become one of the country's most feared organs, the epicentre of a battle against the official corruption that is one of the country's hottest political issues.

WASHINGTON, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - President George W. Bush's administration Wednesday thwarted the latest bid by Democrats to derail its Iraq strategy, as the Senate blocked a bid to limit the numbers of troops ready for deployment.

After wavering Republican Senators came under fierce political pressure, the bill garnered 56 votes in the 100-member chamber, but in a stinging defeat for Democrats, fell four votes short of the required 60-vote supermajority.

WASHINGTON, Sept 19, 2007 (AFP) - President George W. Bush's administration Wednesday beat off the latest bid by Democrats to derail its Iraq strategy, as the Senate blocked a bid to limit numbers of troops ready for deployment.

After wavering Republican senators came unde