XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio have agreed to merge. The deal, announced Monday, would consolidate the only two companies in the emerging business of subscription-only satellite radio, but it is sure to face tough scrutiny from federal regulators. The two companies said in a statement that Mel Karmazin, the CEO of Sirius, would become chief executive of the new company. Gary Parsons, the chairman of XM, would remain in that role.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain said the war in Iraq has been mismanaged for years and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld will be remembered as one of the worst in history. “We are paying a very heavy price for the mismanagement – that’s the kindest word I can give you – of Donald Rumsfeld, of this war,” he said Monday.
The launch of a Russian-built nuclear power plant in Iran could be delayed because Iran has fallen behind in payments, Russian officials said Monday. Top Iranian officials swiftly denied that payments had been disrupted, in the latest dispute surrounding the deal at the heart of the two countries’ nuclear cooperation. Last year, Russia agreed to ship nuclear fuel to Bushehr – Iran’s first nuclear plant – by March 2007 and launch the facility in September, with electricity generation to start by November. Under a separate deal, Iran agreed to return to Russia all spent fuel from the plant in southern Iran for reprocessing – a move intended to assuage global concerns that the fuel could be diverted to make nuclear weapons.
The first set of three-way talks among Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli and Palestinian leaders ended Monday with little progress other than a commitment to meet again. The talks were initially billed as a new U.S. push to restart peace efforts. In a 90-second statement following the two-hour meeting, Rice said the three discussed the changed political circumstances arising from a Palestinian power-sharing deal that includes Hamas militants.
Insurgents staged a bold daylight assault against a U.S. combat post Monday – first striking with a suicide car bombing, then firing on soldiers pinned down in a former Iraqi police station. At least two soldiers were killed and 17 wounded, the military said. The head-on attack north of Baghdad was notable for both its tactics and target. Sunni insurgents have mostly used hit-and-run ambushes, roadside bombs or mortars on U.S. troops and avoided direct assaults on fortified military compounds to avoid U.S. firepower.
