He will also make calls to "resolve without amnesty and without animosity the status of the millions of illegal immigrants that are here right now," according to White House spokesman Scott Stanzel.

On the immigration issue Bush is facing a new congressional leadership that is friendlier to his views but is also facing the same dynamics that scuttled his last attempt: a cooperative Senate but bipartisan opposition in the House.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, has told the White House she cannot pass a bill with Democratic votes alone, nor will she seek to enforce party discipline on the issue.

Bush will have to produce at least 70 Republican votes before Pelosi considers a vote on comprehensive immigration legislation, a task that might be difficult for a president with low approval ratings.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party's conservatives, particularly freshmen who seized their seats from Republicans, had to weather a barrage of attacks on the issue before their victories in November last year, and are not eager to relive the experience.

A recently leaked White House presentation devised after weeks of closed meetings with Republican senators suggests some hardening of Bush's positions.

The new proposals will suggest that illegal alien workers apply for three-year work visas, renewable indefinitely at a cost of 3,500 U.S. dollars each time.

In order to obtain a green card that would make them legal permanent residents, they would have to return to their home countries, apply for re-entry at a U.S. embassy or consulate, and pay a fine of 10,000 dollars.

More green cards would be made available to skilled workers by limiting visas for parents, children and siblings of U.S. citizens.

Temporary workers would not be able to bring their families into the country.

Key Democrats have said the plan would unacceptably split families while creating a permanent underclass of temporary workers with no prospects of fully participating in U.S. society.

El Salvadorian President Elias Antonio Saca on Sunday hailed the U.S.- Brazil plan to set up an ethanol plant in El Salvador, despite criticism of the scheme in the region.

The plan was a piece of "excellent news" for El Salvador's national development and economy, the president said on his Sundayradio program in San Salvador.

The plan would consolidate El Salvador's regional status as "the best prepared one to develop biofuels and renewable energy," he said.

U.S. President George W. Bush and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva last week announced the joint biofuel plan which will bring Haiti, the Dominican Republic, St. Kitts and Nevis and El Salvador into the biofuel cooperation program.

Under the plan, a plant will be established in El Salvador to produce biofuels from sugarcane.

On Wednesday, Saca said the government was working on a law to regulate the sugarcane harvesting for ethanol production and use.

Although the U.S.-Brazil plan will drastically increase the production of clean fuel, it has drawn harsh criticism from some South American countries as well as environmentalists.

Some critics said that Washington aims to use the plan against the influence of oil-rich Venezuela in the region, while others fear that enlarging plantations of sugarcane, a main ingredient for ethanol, would aggravate the shortage of food staples in the Caribbean countries.

Iran on Monday celebrated the one-year anniversary of the country‘s first success in enriching uranium, as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad prepared to announce new progress in the key process that the United Nations has demanded Iran halt.

The U.N. has imposed limited sanctions on Iran until it suspends enrichment a key process that can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or the basis of a warhead. The United States and its allies accuse Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons, a claim the country denies.

Gen. Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, who is also deputy interior minister for security affairs, was quoted on the state TV Web site as saying that his six-day journey to Moscow, which ended Monday, showed "the ineffectiveness of the resolution."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Krivtsov confirmed that Zolqadr visited Russia. He told The Associated Press that the resolution does not prohibit visits by the listed individuals, instead calling for heightened vigilance and attention, and that "this vigilance is directed first of all at people who are directly related to nuclear programs," suggesting that Zolqadr was not.

Tensions are also high between Iran and the West following the 13-day detention of 15 British sailors by Iran. The sailors, who were seized by Revolutionary Guards off the Iraqi coast, were released on Wednesday, but since then have said they were put under psychological pressure by their captors to force them to "confess" to being in Iranian waters when captured, angering many in Britain.

Diplomats from developing nations were attending Monday‘s celebrations at Natanz, but diplomats from European Union boycotted to protest Iran‘s refusal of the U.N. demands, said the Foreign Ministry in Germany, which currently holds the EU presidency.

Cline tried to sue Ashland Inc., Chevron Phillips Chemical, and ExxonMobil Corp., which produced the benzene he believed caused his disease. The judge presiding over the case ruled in favor of the defendants, stating that Cline waited too long to sue.

The judge’s ruling was based on a 1979 precedent that held that the two-year statute of limitations begins on the date of the last incidence of chemical exposure.

In Alabama, another precedent allows lawsuits only by persons who can show “manifest harm” or demonstrable injury. But because Cline’s illness was not diagnosed until 1999—four years after his last exposure—there was no allowable time period during which he could have sued, according to both precedents.

Cline’s lawyer, Leslie Brueckner, is arguing that the state ruling violated the 14th amendment, denying Cline due process of law.

If the U.S. Supreme Court accepts the case, oral arguments should begin sometime in the fall or winter.

The report, which was adopted after a five-day set of discussions between scientific experts and government delegates from more than 120 countries, broke down its findings into regions for the first time.

Africa, a continent mainly composed of less developed countries, will be the hardest hit by the adverse effects of global warming, according to the report.

"New studies confirm that Africa is one of the most vulnerable continents to climate variability and change because of multiple stresses and low adaptive capacity," experts said in a 21-page summary of the whole report for policy makers.

By 2020, between 75 and 250 million people in Africa are projected to be exposed to an increase in water shortages, the report said.

As a result of climate change, the area suitable for agriculture, the length of growing seasons and yield potential are expected to decrease, which will further adversely affect food production in the continent as it was already suffering from malnutrition.

In some countries, yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50 percent by 2020, the report warned.

The poverty-inflicted continent may also have to spend at least five to ten percent of their gross domestic products to cover the cost of adaptation to climate change, the report said.

Two lawyers from Godfrey & Kahn, S.C. were among 17 people recognized as outstanding volunteers by The Milwaukee 7 at its recent advisory council meeting: Christine Liu McLaughlin, shareholder and member of the Labor & Employment Practice Group in the firm’s Milwaukee and Waukesha offices, and Mark C. Witt, shareholder and member of the Corporate Practice Group in the firm’s Milwaukee office. The awards were presented in appreciation of McLaughlin’s and Witt’s professional connections that helped open the door to many CEOs during the Milwaukee 7 CEO Call Program.

The Milwaukee 7, launched in September 2005, was formed to create a regional, cooperative economic development platform for the seven counties of southeastern Wisconsin: Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth, Waukesha and Washington. The CEO Call Program includes a team of 135 volunteers who have visited with the CEOs of 450 companies to aggregate information for a more systematic understanding of the business climate and address concerns to help attract, retain and grow diverse businesses and talent.

Christine Liu McLaughlin
McLaughlin provides counsel on an array of issues including hiring, discipline and termination; family and medical leave; federal and state disability discrimination; federal and state civil rights and fair employment; sexual and other unlawful harassment; workplace violence; contingent workforce; and affirmative action and compliance. She has conducted workshops and seminars on these and other employment law topics in Wisconsin as well as nationally. Additionally, McLaughlin was instrumental in the creation and implementation of Legal Resource Training, Godfrey & Kahn’s interactive training service initiated as a proactive tool to help clients avoid employment litigation.

McLaughlin is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management and the Human Resource Management Association of Southeastern Wisconsin.

Mark C. Witt
Witt’s practice is focused on business law, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance, private equity and venture capital. Mark has been involved in numerous public and private business transactions as counsel to buyers, sellers, lenders and investors. He also is experienced in international business transactions and restructurings, including private equity and hedge fund investments in Asia. He assisted with the creation of Godfrey & Kahn's Shanghai office.

Witt serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the YMCA Holton Youth Center, and is a member of the Advisory Board of WIN-Milwaukee, and the Board of Directors of the Milwaukee Curling Club.

Founded in 1957, Godfrey & Kahn maintains offices in Milwaukee, Madison, Appleton, Green Bay, and Waukesha, WI; Washington, DC; and Shanghai, PRC. With more than 190 attorneys, Godfrey & Kahn provides legal and business advice to clients ranging from small businesses and governmental entities to large privately and publicly held national and international companies.

http://www.gklaw.com