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PARIS (AFP) – The Dalai Lama accused China on Wednesday of pursuing a crackdown in Tibet in spite of the Olympic Games, French lawmakers said following talks with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. Asked during a private meeting at the Paris Senate whether China was respecting the "Olympic truce", the Dalai Lama's "answer was very clear: no," said former French justice minister Robert Badinter. "While the Games are taking place, the oppression of the Tibetan people and repression continue," said the opposition lawmaker, who oversaw the abolition of the death penalty in France. The 73-year-old Buddhist leader, who arrived on...

The state's looming budget cuts have some legislators eyeing a multibillion-dollar pot of money that for years has built playgrounds, fixed tiny teeth, provided preschool for poor kids, funded craft workshops and doled out books and other freebies in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Supporters of the state's First 5 program say it provides essential health care, education and child care services for infants, toddlers and their parents. But some legislators question the program's spending decisions and oversight. They say First 5 money -- estimated at $580 million a year and $2.4 billion in reserve accounts -- would be better...

When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proclaimed a statewide drought in June and then urged passage of a $9.3 billion water bond, Democrats and environmental critics became suspicious. They still are. “Last year we did have record low rainfall, but whether or not there is a drought is somewhat debatable,” said the Sierra Club’s Jim Metropulos. “The governor calling it a drought--that carries no legal significance. It’s interesting he calls for a drought, and couple of weeks later, he calls for a water bond.” The Republican governor proposes a $9.3 billion dollar water bond for the November ballot, arguing that passage of...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US lawmakers Wednesday accused China of reneging on a commitment to improve human rights when it won the right to host the Olympics, saying it had instead intensified a crackdown on dissent. "There were early indications that China was prepared to improve its behavior as the games approached," said Howard Berman, the Democratic head of the House of Representatives foreign affairs panel. But "the hope was short-lived, as China failed to honor these commitments," he said, citing as examples Beijing's "failed" pledges to allow greater press freedoms and improve its general human rights situation. Reporters Without Borders...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee on Thursday said Congress should examine Countrywide Financial Corp's mortgage loans to Democratic Sens. Christopher Dodd and Kent Conrad. "My view is that these allegations should be considered by the appropriate bodies, and I understand that the Senate Ethics Committee has already begun to look into the matter," Rep. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement.

WASHINGTON – House leaders are doing well financially during this economic slump. Their lucrative investments and, in many cases, well-compensated spouses supplement their House salaries. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., one of the wealthiest members of Congress, and her real estate-magnate husband Paul Pelosi spent between $1 million and $5 million to buy the home they'd been living in on San Francisco's Broadway. They also own a vineyard in St. Helena, Calif., worth between $5 million and $25 million and a town house in Norden, Calif., valued between $1 million and $5 million, according to annual financial disclosures released Monday. The...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Countrywide Financial, the largest mortgage lender at the center of the US housing crisis, regularly gave loans on favorable terms to prominent lawmakers and former cabinet members, according to US media. The preferential treatment for senators including Democrat Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and a recent presidential candidate, was approved by Angelo Mozilo, chief executive of Countrywide Financial, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. CondeNast Portfolio magazine first broke the story on Wednesday, saying the recipients of the favorable terms were known as "Friends of Angelo" in internal company documents and e-mails. "Make an...

From an e-mail I received, a good time to put pressure on your elected representatives: Ask your senators and congressmen: 1. China is drilling for oil 60 miles off our coast, why aren't we? 2. Who do you trust more to drill 60 miles from our coast, China or a U.S. company? 3. If President Clinton hadn't vetoed drilling in a very small (.01%) are of the Alaska wildlife area (ANWR) we would be producing 1,000,000 barrels of oil per day. Why aren't we? 4. Why are you supporting a windfall profit tax on oil companies which would just be...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Two House members said Wednesday their Capitol Hill computers, containing information about political dissidents from around the world, have been hacked by sources apparently working out of China. Virginia Rep. Frank Wolf says four of his computers were hacked. New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith says two of his computers were compromised in December 2006 and March 2007. The two lawmakers are longtime critics of China's record on human rights. In an interview Wednesday, Wolf said the hacking of computers in his Capitol Hill office began in August 2006. He says a computer at a House committee office...

Salaries of California lawmakers and top elected officials should be cut to share the pain of a massive budget deficit, the head of the state's independent salary commission has concluded. Charles Murray said Friday that he plans to propose a cut of perhaps 10 percent when the California Citizens Compensation Commission meets Tuesday in Sacramento City Hall. "It's across-the-board for everybody under our power – from the governor on down," Murray said. If approved by the seven-member commission, a 10 percent cut would slice annual pay by amounts ranging from about $21,000 for the governor to $11,600 for legislators. Because...

BAGHDAD - Lawmakers loyal to anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr accused the Iraqi government of trying to crush the movement and warned Saturday of "black clouds" on the horizon for truces that have eased fighting between al-Sadr's militia and security forces. The Sadrist Movement has heightened its rhetoric against the government in recent days, raising concerns over the cease-fires in the southern city of Basra and Baghdad's Sadr City district, the stronghold of al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia. Still, the lawmakers and other al-Sadr officials said they are adhering to the truces. The cease-fires are crucial to Iraqi security forces' sweeps in...

California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez is leading a delegation of lawmakers to Mexico, a week before he gives up his leadership post. The Los Angeles Democrat was invited by Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Nunez described the four-day trip as a working visit to strengthen ties with California's most important trading partner. He is scheduled to meet with Calderon, business leaders and Mexico's top education and health officials. Last year, Nunez was criticized for spending about $70,000 from his campaign account to pay for luxury goods and meals at high-end restaurants while traveling abroad. He told reporters during a news conference...

WASHINGTON - Members of Congress have as much as $196 million collectively invested in companies doing business with the Defense Department, earning millions since the onset of the Iraq war, according to a study by a nonpartisan research group. The review of lawmakers' 2006 financial disclosure statements, by the Washington-based Center for Responsive Politics, suggests that members' holdings could pose a conflict of interest as they decide the fate of Iraq war spending. Several members earning money from these contractors have plum committee or leadership assignments, including Democratic Sen. John Kerry, independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman and House Republican Whip Roy...

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela's National Assembly opened an investigation Wednesday into a congressman's accusations that two of President Hugo Chavez's brothers acquired 17 ranches in recent years — if true a potential stain on the image of Chavez's socialist movement. Lawmaker Wilmer Azuaje detailed his allegations in a closed-door committee session, presenting documents that he says show how an assortment of ranch lands were obtained by Chavez's brothers Argenis and Narciso. Azuaje said afterward that he asked the congressional audit commission to visit the haciendas for an inspection and to summon those who sold the properties for questioning. Azuaje, of...

WASHINGTON - Democratic lawmakers are questioning a Bush administration plan to eliminate requirements for farms to disclose air pollution from animal waste. Currently farms must report to federal, state and local officials when emissions of hazardous substances like ammonia and hydrogen sulfide exceed certain levels. In a little-noticed proposed rule change published in the Federal Register on Dec. 28, when Congress was on its winter recess, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed eliminating the reporting requirement. EPA argued that the requirement created an unnecessary burden for farms and that the emission release reports weren't acted on at the federal level, anyway....

Eight California lawmakers are traveling overseas this week to study high-speed rail systems and other matters as the Legislature takes an 11-day spring break. Assembly members Charles Calderon, D-Whittier, Mary Hayashi, D-Hayward, Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, and Roger Niello, R-Fair Oaks, are on a trip to Spain sponsored by the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy. Sen. Jim Battin, R-Palm Desert, and Assembly members Anthony Adams, R-Hesperia, Bonnie Garcia, R-Cathedral City, and Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, are part of a delegation visiting Japan. One reason for the trips is to study the development of high-speed rail systems in...

BAGHDAD - Parliament cleared the way Wednesday for provincial elections this year that could give Sunnis a stronger voice and usher in vast changes to Iraq's power structure. The new law — which set the vote for Oct. 1 — is one of the most sweeping reforms pushed by the Bush administration and signals that Iraq's politicians finally, if grudgingly, may be ready for small steps toward reconciliation. Passage of benchmark reforms on healing the country's sectarian and ethnic rifts — along with a reduction in violence — were the primary goals of the 30,000-strong U.S. troop increase that President...

When armed carjackers last month relieved state Senate Pro Tem Don Perata of his state-owned vehicle, it raised two eyebrows -- one for the brash daylight crime on a North Oakland street, the other for the flash of Perata's ride. While more lawmakers are going hybrid-green, the Capitol's most powerful Democrat was rolling candy-apple red in a $38,600 Dodge Charger with 22-inch rims, yo. Turns out Perata, D-Oakland, was far from alone among state lawmakers -- and not even in the top 10 -- in his taste for gas-slurping automotive luxury at mostly taxpayer expense. More than half the senators...

WASHINGTON - Two U.S. lawmakers scheduled to meet Thursday with former Pakastani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and President Pervez Musharraf were advised to leave the country after Bhutto's assassination. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said in a telephone interview from his Islamabad hotel room that he and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., were to dine with Musharraf and meet later in the night with Bhutto. He said he heard about the attack on Bhutto as he was dressing for the dinner with Musharraf. "Our foreign policy had relied on her presence as a stabilizing force," Specter said, emotionally describing her death as...

AUSTIN -- House Speaker Tom Craddick has asked lawmakers to review the Texas Department of Transportation's multimillion-dollar ad campaign promoting toll roads and the Trans-Texas Corridor. Craddick, R-Midland, included a review of the Keep Texas Moving campaign on a list of topics that the House State Affairs Committee will study leading up to the 2009 legislative session. Craddick also asked the Appropriations Committee to review transportation spending over the past five years and study alternatives for funding future transportation needs. The transportation matters were among the "interim charges" that Craddick assigned last week. Other matters to be reviewed in advance...