News briefs
With each passing day since the House Foreign Affairs Committee passed a resolution condemning the Armenian Genocide, the chances that it will be approved by a full House vote seem increasingly unlikely. Today comes a story in the New York Times highlighting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's slow backing away from the proposal. Radio Free Europe reports that Armenian Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian begins an official visit to Washington, D.C., today and will meet with Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Apparently the Armenian prime minister will not be meeting with President George W. Bush, who yesterday angered China by meeting with the Dalai Lama. The Times article mentions that the chief House sponsors of the Armenian Genocide resolution point out the inconsistency of risking poorer relations with China but not risking a formal recognition of the genocide.
And on a totally different topic, Ellen DeGeneres is calling for a truce in the dog fiasco that she started by crying on-camera during a taping of her show at NBC Studios in Burbank. The Daily News carried a story today about the death threats that the dog agency's organizer says she is receiving as a result of DeGeneres' on-air plea.