House appropriators: Sack Al-Hurra chief

A congressional subcommittee urged Condoleezza Rice to fire the news director of a U.S.-funded Arabic language broadcaster.Nine of 15 members on the U.S. House of Representatives’ Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, which approves spending for the State Department, signed a letter Wednesday to the U.S. secretary of state calling on her to remove Larry Register as news director of Al-Hurra. The letter was led by Rep. Steve Rothman (D-N.J.), who has criticized Register for allowing Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other terrorist leaders to speak at length on the channel.Rice has defended Register, saying he needs to present all sides in order to maintain the broadcaster’s credibility. Register was hired 18 months ago to turn around the station, largely ignored until then in the Arab world.