Tag: Docudharma Times

“No matter how you doctor it

or tailor it,” said Representative

Joe Pitts, Republican of Pennsylvania, “it is a tax.”

Commenting On The

Climate Change Legislation

House Passes Bill to Address Threat of Climate Change



By JOHN M. BRODER

Published: June 26, 2009

WASHINGTON – The House passed legislation on Friday intended to address global warming and transform the way the nation produces and uses energy.The vote was the first time either house of Congress had approved a bill meant to curb the heat-trapping gases scientists have linked to climate change. The legislation, which passed despite deep divisions among Democrats, could lead to profound changes in many sectors of the economy, including electric power generation, agriculture, manufacturing and construction.

The bill’s passage, by 219 to 212, with 44 Democrats voting against it, also established a marker for the United States when international negotiations on a new climate change treaty begin later this year.

Jailed Iran reformists ‘tortured to confess foreign plot’  

Amnesty reports apparent attempt to implicate defeated presidential candidate in conspiracy to overthrow regime

 Robert Tait

guardian.co.uk,

Jailed Iranian reformists are believed to have been tortured in an attempt to force them into TV “confessions” of a foreign-led plot against the Islamic regime.

According to Iranian websites, the “confessions” are aimed at implicating Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the defeated reformist candidates in this month’s presidential poll, in an alleged conspiracy.

Mostafa Tajzadeh, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh and Mohsen Aminzadeh, all Mousavi supporters, are reported to have undergone “intensive interrogation” sessions in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison since being arrested in a mass round-up of opposition figures following Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed re-election.

USA

White House Weighs Order on Detention

Officials: Move Would Reassert Power To Hold Terror Suspects Indefinitely

By Dafna Linzer and Peter Finn

ProPublica and Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Obama administration officials, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, are crafting language for an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely, according to three senior government officials with knowledge of White House deliberations.

Such an order would embrace claims by former president George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Obama advisers are concerned that an order, which would bypass Congress, could place the president on weaker footing before the courts and anger key supporters, the officials said.

Bad day for Gen X

‘These people were on our lunchboxes,’

said fan Gary Giovannetti

Object of Acclaim, Curiosity, The ‘King of Pop’ Dies in L.A.

MICHAEL JACKSON 1958-2009

By Hank Stuever and Matt Schudel

Washington Post Staff Writers

Friday, June 26, 2009

Michael Jackson, 50, died yesterday in Los Angeles as sensationally as he lived, as famous as a human being can get. He was a child Motown phenomenon who grew into a moonwalking megastar, the self-anointed King of Pop who sold 750 million records over his career and enjoyed worldwide adoration.

But with that came the world’s relentless curiosity, and Mr. Jackson was eventually regarded as one of show business’s legendary oddities, hopping from one public relations crisis to another.

In the end there were two sides to the record: The tabloid caricature and the provocative, genre-changing musical genius that his fans will always treasure. There were those whose devotion knew no bounds, who visited the gates of his private ranch north of Santa Barbara, Calif., arriving at Neverland on pilgrimages from Europe and Asia, and who were among the first to flock to UCLA Medical Center as news of his death spread yesterday afternoon. Those were the same kind of fans who camped out at the Santa Barbara Superior Courthouse, to show their support during his 2005 trial. They released doves and wept when he was acquitted.

Miscalculations abound in Iran



By Shahir Shahidsaless

Twenty-eight years ago, on June 20, 1981, after almost two years of friction between the Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MKO) – a militant revolutionary group – and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini – the Iranian leader of the 1979 revolution – the dispute escalated into armed conflict. The ayatollah attacked the MKO leaders and followers as non-believers and “monafeq” (hypocrites hidden inside Islamic society). He encouraged people to confront the movement. The MKO was driven underground, but the fierce campaign, which cost the lives of hundreds of the MKO’s followers, crushed and rooted the organization out of the country.

Now, history is repeating its terrible self. However, misleadingly, while the two events look similar on the surface, there are fundamental differences.

Threatened by supporters of the defeated presidential candidate Mir Hussein Mousavi, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as part of the ruling elite, delivered an unambiguous message during last Friday’s prayer sermon.

USA

Senate panel OKs funds for jailing illegal immigrants

Compensation for state and local governments may be continued, despite Obama’s call to end such payments. California could receive less money than last year.

By Richard Simon

10:41 PM PDT, June 25, 2009

Reporting from Washington — Congress appeared poised Thursday to continue compensating state and local governments for incarcerating illegal immigrants convicted of crimes, ignoring President Obama’s call to eliminate such payments.

That would spare strapped California from another hit on its budget.The Senate Appropriations Committee voted to provide $228 million nationwide next year, acting a week after the House voted to allocate $400 million, the same as this year.

Once the full Senate acts, negotiators from both chambers will meet to reconcile their differences.

California, which receives about 40% of the money, still could end up with less than it received this year.

“That’s better than nothing,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).

The funds are included in the annual bill funding the Justice and Commerce departments and science programs.

He apologizes to everyone including the ‘moral people of the nation.’

To Bad

Mark Sanford

Doesn’t Have

Any Of Those

Limits on Emissions Have Wide Support



By Steven Mufson and Jennifer Agiesta

Washington Post Staff Writers

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Three-quarters of Americans think the federal government should regulate the release into the atmosphere of greenhouse gases from power plants, cars and factories to reduce global warming, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, with substantial majority support from Democrats, Republicans and independents.

But fewer Americans — 52 percent — support a cap-and-trade approach to limiting greenhouse gas emissions similar to the one the House may vote on as early as tomorrow. That is slightly less support than cap and trade enjoyed in a late July 2008 poll. Forty-two percent of those surveyed this month oppose such a program.

Tehran ‘like a war zone’ as ayatollah refuses to back down on election

• Reports militia drafted in and paid to beat protesters

• Ministers threaten to cut diplomatic ties with UK

Mark Tran, Robert Tait and agencies in Tehran

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 25 June 2009 06.02 BST

Bloody clashes broke out in Tehran yesterday as Iran’s supreme leader said he would not yield to pressure over the disputed election. The renewed confrontation took place in Baharestan Square, near parliament, where hundreds of protesters faced off against several thousand riot police and other security personnel.

Witnesses likened the scene to a war zone, with helicopters hovering overhead, many arrests and the police beating demonstrators.

One woman told CNN that hundreds of unidentified men armed with clubs had emerged from a mosque to confront the protesters.

“They beat a woman so savagely that she was drenched in blood and her husband fainted. They were beating people like hell. It was a massacre,” she said.

USA

GOP to press Sotomayor on gun rights

Republicans say they will question the Supreme Court nominee on the divisive issue at her confirmation hearings in hopes of weakening her support among moderate Democrats.

By James Oliphant and David G. Savage

June 25, 2009

Reporting from Washington — Senate Republicans said Wednesday they would press Judge Sonia Sotomayor on gun rights, a politically divisive issue that they hope could weaken Democratic support for the Supreme Court nominee.

Though Republicans are a pronounced minority in both the House and Senate, they have used the gun issue to their advantage to divert the legislative agenda, forcing Democrats from moderate and conservative states to take politically risky votes on gun provisions.

Sotomayor’s judicial record appears to provide the GOP with another opportunity to bring the issue to light. Since the Supreme Court decided in a landmark case last year that restrictive laws in Washington, D.C. — a federal entity — infringed on a constitutionally protected right to own a handgun, the debate has shifted to whether that ruling also affected handgun control laws in individual states.

72% Of All

Americans Support

Health Care Somehow

The Senate Can’t

Figure That Out

Iran elections: Guardian council says ‘no fraud or breach’ in poll

• Ruling body stands by Ahmadinejad victory

• British embassy begins evacuating families of staff

Julian Borger and agencies

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 23 June 2009 07.25 BST

Iran’s state television today reported that the country’s top electoral authority has ruled out annulling the results of the disputed 12 June election, in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was named the winner.

A spokesman for the guardian council, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, was quoted by Iran’s state-run English language Press TV as saying the organisation had found “no major fraud or breach in the election”. As a result, he said, the results would not be annulled.

Ahmadinejad’s main challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has called the election a fraud, insisting he is the true winner.

The wonder of Mars in its seasonal glory

The astonishing diversity of the Red Planet’s landscape is captured by the world’s most powerful camera, reports Science Editor Steve Connor

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

The most powerful camera that has ever been used to survey another planet is capturing spectacular pictures of the surface of Mars to reveal a rich tapestry of geological features. Located on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a Nasa probe launched in 2005, the HiRise camera has already taken detailed images of the outlines of ancient extra-terrestrial seas and rivers – the first unambiguous evidence that shorelines once existed on the Red Planet.

The camera has also witnessed in high-resolution detail the moment when the warmth of the Martian spring forced puffs of dust through the thin polar caps of dry ice – solid carbon dioxide – to form weird “starburst” patterns on the surface of the planet.

“Spring on Mars is quite different from spring on Earth because Mars has not just permanent ice caps, but also seasonal polar caps of carbon dioxide,” said Candice Hansen-Koharcheck, of Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

“What happens on Mars, we think, is that as the seasonal ice cap thins from the bottom, gas underneath the cap builds up pressure. And where gas under the ice finds a weak spot or a crack, it will flow out of the opening, often carrying a little dust from the surface below.”

USA

At Least 6 Killed in Red Line Crash

THE IMPACT: Train Strikes Another, Injuring Scores, Stalling Commute

By Lena H. Sun and Maria Glod

Washington Post Staff Writers

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

One Metro train slammed into the back of another on the Red Line at the height of the evening rush yesterday, killing at least six and injuring 70 others in the deadliest accident in Metrorail’s 33-year-history.Metro officials expected the death toll to rise to at least nine.

The impact of the crash was so powerful that the trailing train was left atop the first train. Witnesses told stories of rescues and people helping others amid the chaos. Firefighters had to use heavy rescue equipment to cut open the cars to reach people trapped inside, and D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D) said fire officials were still going through the trains last night to make sure they had recovered all the bodies.

Shirin Ebadi – Nobel Peace Laureate and HR lawyer –

‘I will pursue those who kill the prtestors’ –

#Iranelection

Iran Admits Discrepancies in 3 Million Votes



By NAZILA FATHI and MICHAEL SLACKMAN

Published: June 22, 2009

TEHRAN – Locked in a bitter contest with Iranians who say the presidential elections were rigged, the authorities have acknowledged that the number of votes cast in 50 cities exceeded the actual number of voters, state television reported Monday following assertions by the country’s supreme leader that the ballot was fair.

But the authorities insisted that discrepancies, which could affect three million votes, did not violate Iranian law and the country’s influential Guardian Council said it was not clear whether they would decisively change the election result.

The news emerged on the English-language Press TV as a bitter rift among Iran’s ruling clerics deepened over the disputed election. The outcome of the vote, awarding a lopsided victory to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has convulsed Tehran in the worst violence in 30 years, with the government trying to link the defiant loser to terrorists and detaining relatives of his powerful backer, a founder of the Islamic republic.

World Bank calls on west to help relieve trillion dollar drain on world’s poor

• Flow of money into developing world halving to $363bn in 2009

• Lack of capital means longer recessions in many poor countries

Ashley Seager

The Guardian, Monday 22 June 2009

The world’s poorest countries will see $1tn (£600bn) drain from their economies this year according to the first detailed analysis of how the global recession is hitting developing nations.

Figures published today by the World Bank show the financial crisis taking a heavy toll, with the flow of money into the developing world halving this year after heavy losses in 2008.

Despite recent talk of economic green shoots in Britain and the US, the lack of international capital means many poor countries will stay in recession for longer as companies and governments are starved of investment.

The World Bank is calling for greater international policy co-ordination and tighter regulation of the global financial system in response. Releasing its authoritative annual Global Development Finance report, the Washington-based institution singles out Africa, central and eastern Europe and Latin America as regions suffering most from the global recession even while rich nations are starting to talk about recovery.

USA

Recovery’s Missing Ingredient: New Jobs

Experts Warn of A Long Dry Spell

By Michael A. Fletcher

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, June 22, 2009

Despite signs that the recession gripping the nation’s economy may be easing, the unemployment rate is projected to continue rising for another year before topping out in double digits, a prospect that threatens to slow growth, increase poverty and further complicate the Obama administration’s message of optimism about the economic outlook.The likelihood of severe unemployment extending into the 2010 midterm elections and beyond poses a significant political hurdle to President Obama and congressional Democrats, who are already under fire for what critics label profligate spending. Continuing high unemployment rates would undercut the fundamental argument behind much of that spending: the promise that it will create new jobs and improve the prospects of working Americans, which Obama has called the ultimate measure of a healthy economy.

“Our hope would be to actually create some jobs this year,” Obama said in an interview with The Washington Post in the days before taking office.

Mousavi we will stand beside you – we will die beside you

US urges Iran to end ‘violence’

Iran’s capital is braced for possible fresh protests as the ongoing political struggle sparked by a disputed presidential poll continues.

The BBC  Sunday, 21 June 2009

State media said calm had returned to Tehran’s streets, and quoted police as saying they had restored order.

But eyewitness accounts suggest several people were injured on Saturday after demonstrators defied official demands for them to end street protests.

It is unclear whether the protests will continue on Sunday.

Protest leader and defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has been quoted as saying peaceful protests should continue and that people have a constitutional right to demonstrate.

The BBC and other foreign media are subject to heavy restrictions which have prevented reporters from leaving their offices to confirm many reports.

US President Barack Obama has warned Iran to stop all “violence and unjust action against its own people”.

Foreign workers for U.S. are casualties twice over

Contract employees injured in the conflict zones of Iraq and Afghanistan and families of those killed there are covered by American taxpayer-funded insurance, but it often fails to deliver.

By T. Christian Miller :: reporting from san fernando, philippines

June 21, 2009

Rey Torres dreamed of a better life for his wife and five children when he left a neighborhood of wooden shacks and burning trash piles to drive a bus on a U.S. military base near Baghdad.

He hoped to send his children to college and build a new home with the $16,000 a year he earned in Iraq — four times what he could make in the Philippines.

Then, in April 2005, Torres, 31, was killed in an ambush by Iraqi insurgents. His widow and children were supposed to be protected by a war zone insurance system overseen by the U.S. government. They were eligible for about $300,000 in compensation.

But Gorgonia Torres knew nothing about the death benefit and did not apply. When she did learn about the insurance, two years later, it was from a reporter. She has since turned down an insurance company’s $22,000 settlement offer. Her only hope of receiving full compensation is a legal fight that could drag on for years.

“He knew it was dangerous. . . . He had second thoughts all the time,” she said of her husband. “But he’d say, ‘If I don’t go, there’s no way we’ll be able to survive.’ “

USA

At V.A. Hospital, a Rogue Cancer Unit



New York Times

For patients with prostate cancer, it is a common surgical procedure: a doctor implants dozens of radioactive seeds to attack the disease. But when Dr. Gary D. Kao treated one patient at the veterans’ hospital in Philadelphia, his aim was more than a little off.

Most of the seeds, 40 in all, landed in the patient’s healthy bladder, not the prostate.

It was a serious mistake, and under federal rules, regulators investigated. But Dr. Kao, with their consent, made his mistake all but disappear.

He simply rewrote his surgical plan to match the number of seeds in the prostate, investigators said.

Google – thank you –

NOW CHANGE YOUR LOGO FOR TODAY –

Sea of Green – RT – #Iranelection

RT RT RT RT RT RT

The Ayatollah speaks – and the protesters are warned

Opposition will be held responsible for bloodshed, says Supreme Leader

By Peter Popham

Saturday, 20 June 2009

The delivery was mild, but the words were incandescent: now Iran’s protesters know exactly where they stand. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei finally spoke on the crisis gripping his nation yesterday, and while he had emollient words for presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi, his threats were explicit.

He demanded an end to the protests that have brought millions on to the nation’s streets this week, insisted that their cause was wrong, that his ally Ahmadinejad was the election’s rightful winner, denied there was any possibility that the election had been rigged, and warned of fearful consequences if the people come out in force again today. “The result of the election comes from the ballot box, not from the street,” he said. “If there is any bloodshed, leaders of the protests will be held directly responsible.”

Greece to unveil Acropolis museum

The long-awaited Acropolis Museum in Athens is to be unveiled later.

The BBC

The modern glass and concrete building, at the foot of the ancient Acropolis, houses sculptures from the golden age of Athenian democracy.

The £110m ($182m; 130m euros) structure also offers panoramic views of the stone citadel where they came from.

Culture minister Antonis Samaras said he hoped it would be the “catalyst” for the return of the Parthenon sculptures from the British Museum.

Some of the sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, originally decorated the Parthenon temple and have been in London since they were sold to the museum in 1817.

The museum has long argued that Greece has no proper place to put them – an argument the Greek government hopes the Acropolis Museum addresses.

Mr Samaras said: “After several adventures, obstructions and criticism, the new Acropolis Museum is ready: a symbol of modern Greece that pays homage to its ancestors, the duty of a nation to its cultural heritage.”

The building, set out over three levels, holds about 350 artefacts and sculptures that were previously held in a small museum on top of the Acropolis.

USA

Primary-Care Doctor Shortage May Undermine Reform Efforts

No Quick Fix as Demand Already Exceeds Supply

By Ashley Halsey III

Washington Post Staff Writer

Saturday, June 20, 2009

As the debate on overhauling the nation’s health-care system exploded into partisan squabbling this week, virtually everyone still agreed on one point: There are not enough primary-care doctors to meet current needs, and providing health insurance to 46 million more people would threaten to overwhelm the system.

Fixing the problem will require fundamental changes in medical education and compensation to lure more doctors into primary-care offices, which already receive 215 million visits each year.

The American Academy of Family Physicians predicts that, if current trends continue, the shortage of family doctors will reach 40,000 in a little more than 10 years, as medical schools send about half the needed number of graduates into primary medicine.

now is dawn – we must go – location not safe –

thank u for supporting Sea of Green

– #Iranelection – people of Iran needs your help

Lawmakers Balk As Administration Tries to Redefine Central Bank’s Role



By Neil Irwin and Binyamin Appelbaum

Washington Post Staff Writers

Friday, June 19, 2009



The Federal Reserve, which has been at the center of the government rescue of the financial system, is now on the hot seat, with a debate on Capitol Hill emerging over its responsibility for the crisis and its proper role in preventing such events in the future.

Lawmakers are simultaneously annoyed that the Fed did not do more to rein in the bad lending and other financial excesses that led to the financial crisis and recession, and wary of the Fed’s aggressive steps over the past two years to combat them. The criticism of the Fed is increasingly loud, bipartisan and from both chambers of Congress.

The Obama administration announced Wednesday that it wants to give the central bank more power to oversee risks to the U.S. economy even as it strips the Fed of power to protect consumers and limits its authority to make emergency loans. But the expansion of its role is already proving to be the most controversial element of the president’s plan to revamp financial regulation.

Iran protests: live

A week after the disputed poll, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will lead Friday prayers today in an attempt to quell continuing anger at the reelection of president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Follow live updates

The orignal page will be updated every minute

9.15am:

Al-Jazeera is showing live pictures of Khamenei at the start of Friday prayers. It quotes him calling for peace.

“I advise you to follow Allah and follow the pious way,” he says according to the translation. “Apply the fear of God,” he adds.

He goes on to cite verses from the Qu’ran about enemies surrounding Mecca. “Psychologically Muslims need a quiet and tranquil heart,” al-Jazeera’s translator quotes Khamenei as saying.

“When we gain stress and worries it will be difficult to find our way. When we are quiet it is easier to find solutions. This is the blessing of Allah. Believers need to find calm and strength.”

USA

Democrats Scramble to Cut Costs From Health Plan



By ROBERT PEAR

Published: June 18, 2009

WASHINGTON – The high cost of securing health insurance for all Americans, the top domestic priority of President Obama, has Congressional Democrats scrambling to scale back their proposals or find ways to trim tens of billions of dollars a year from existing health programs.

According to slides presented at a closed-door meeting this week, members of the Senate Finance Committee are debating several new ideas, including “an automatic mechanism” to reduce the growth of Medicare under an expedited procedure like the one used to close military bases.

The documents displayed in the slides show that the committee is also considering a proposal that would require some employers to contribute to the cost of Medicaid or private health insurance for low-wage workers. One purpose is to discourage employers from foisting the cost of employee health benefits onto the federal government, a maneuver that would push up the cost of revamping the health system.

Every night in Tehran millions of people stand on their balcony and support Sea of Green by chanting ‘Allah Akbar’ – #Iranelection

Iran treads lightly in a culture of martyrs

A Tiananmen-style massacre there would create a new set of heroes for the protest movement.

By Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim

June 18, 2009



Reporting from Tehran — Neither side can drown out the other. Both so far are exercising a measure of restraint. But as authorities try to rein in Iran’s most serious unrest since the Islamic Revolution, they face a diverse opposition united in its rejection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his policies.

After days of ignoring or dismissing the criticism, authorities appear to have recognized that they’re unable to use their hold over electronic communications networks and state-controlled broadcasting to quell the protests over Friday’s election. They have started implementing a softer approach in public. But they may not understand the depth of the problem they face.

Global Insurance Fraud By North Korea Outlined

Government Has Collected Millions Of Dollars on Large, Suspicious Claims

By Blaine Harden

Washington Post Foreign Service

Thursday, June 18, 2009

For Kim Jong Il’s birthday, North Korean insurance managers prepared a special gift.

In Singapore, they stuffed $20 million in cash into two heavy-duty bags and sent them, via Beijing, to their leader in Pyongyang, said Kim Kwang Jin, who worked as a manager for Korea National Insurance Corp., a state-owned monopoly.

Kim said he helped arrange the shipment and watched in February 2003 as the cash was packed. After the money arrived, Kim Jong Il sent a letter of thanks to the managers and arranged for some of them to receive gifts that included oranges, apples, DVD players and blankets, Kim said.

“It was a great celebration,” he said.

The $20 million birthday present and the gratitude of its recipient, who is known as the Dear Leader, were annual highlights of a sophisticated global insurance fraud that North Korea has concocted to provide its communist leadership with hard currency, said Kim, who spent five years as an executive of the state insurance company in Pyongyang and worked for a year at its banking subsidiary in Singapore before defecting to South Korea.

USA

Gay Couples Express Hope Over Benefits Extension



By Steve Vogel

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, June 18, 2009

As Candy Holmes eyes retirement after 33 years of work for the Government Accountability Office, a major worry clouds her outlook.

Her partner, a clergywoman with limited health insurance, is not covered by the health or retirement benefits that Holmes receives from the federal government.

“I’ve been without benefits for my partner the entire time,” said Holmes, an information technology manager at the GAO. “Thank God we have not had any major illness. If we had, I’m not sure how we could manage.”The presidential memorandum signed yesterday afternoon by President Obama extends some benefits to same-sex partners of federal workers, among other things allowing them to be included in the long-term-care insurance program. But it still leaves them without federal health and retirement benefits. That will require the passage of legislation now before Congress.

Logging off – must keep phone line open – will update asap #Iranelection

From Persian Kiwi Twitter

Iran Reports 7 Deaths in Mass Protest Against Vote Result



By NAZILA FATHI and MICHAEL SLACKMAN

Published: June 16, 2009



TEHRAN – Less than 24 hours after the largest demonstrations here since the 1979 revolution, Iranian state radio reported Tuesday that seven people were killed in clashes overnight, ramping up tensions after days of unprecedented protests which have forced a formal review of Friday’s disputed election.

As dawn broke over this tense and divided nation, anticipation grew over what would come next, whether calls for a nationwide general strike and more protests would play out across the country, or if emotions would begin to cool. But, in defiance of the protests, which have undermined his legitimacy around the world, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flew to a regional summit in Russia.

The millions who can’t go home

Refugees and internally displaced people are desperately vulnerable and must be a priority. Remember them on 20 June



António Guterres

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 16 June 2009 08.30 BST

There are at least 42 million victims of conflict and persecution worldwide living as refugees or uprooted within their own countries, many of them for years on end.

Among them are nearly six million refugees who have been in exile, mostly in camps, for five years or longer in what humanitarians call “protracted refugee situations”. But these interminable situations do not include the millions more uprooted people who are displaced within their own countries and who far outnumber the world’s refugees. Many of them have also been unable to return home, sometimes for decades.

Although international law distinguishes between refugees and the internally displaced, such distinctions are absurd to those who have been forced from their homes and who have lost everything. Uprooted people are equally deserving of help whether they have crossed an international border or not. That is why the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, is working with other UN agencies to provide the internally displaced with the help they need, just as we do for refugees. But we have a long way to go.

USA

Calif. Aid Request Spurned By U.S.

Officials Push State To Repair Budget

By David Cho, Brady Dennis and Karl Vick

Washington Post Staff Writers

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The Obama administration has turned back pleas for emergency aid from one of the biggest remaining threats to the economy — the state of California.

Top state officials have gone hat in hand to the administration, armed with dire warnings of a fast-approaching “fiscal meltdown” caused by a budget shortfall. Concern has grown inside the White House in recent weeks as California’s fiscal condition has worsened, leading to high-level administration meetings. But federal officials are worried that a bailout of California would set off a cascade of demands from other states.

With an economy larger than Canada’s or Brazil’s, the state is too big to fail, California officials urge.

“His speech was deceitful

and I call on those who listened to this speech

not to be deceived,” said Mr. Erekat, who added that

Netanyahu would have to wait “1,000 years

to find one single Palestinian who accepts his plans.”

Iran Bans Opposition Rally as Critics Are Detained



By ROBERT F. WORTH and NAZILA FATHI

Published: June 15, 2009



TEHRAN – The Iranian authorities denied permission Monday for the opposition to hold a major rally to protest the outcome of Friday’s presidential vote, according to news reports and an opposition Web site, deepening a mood of confrontation as violence and acrimony over the disputed election intensified.

Word spread on Sunday that more than 100 prominent opposition members had been detained; riots erupted in Tehran and other cities; and the triumphant incumbent hinted that his top challenger risks punishment for questioning the result.

Early Monday, security forces raided a dormitory at Tehran University and 15 people were injured, opposition Web sites reported, but there was no immediate confirmation of the incident from the authorities.

Netanyahu’s speech prompts anger from Palestinians, praise from the White House

Palestinian negotiator Erekat calls it a ‘slap in the face,’ while the White House calls the speech ‘an important step forward.’

By Joshua Mitnick | Correspondent

from the June 14, 2009 edition

TEL AVIV – The White House praised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s endorsement Sunday of a Palestinian state as “an important step forward,” giving the Israeli leader a key victory in his attempt to mend a diplomatic rift with the US over the Israeli-Arab peace process.

In Israel, however, the foreign policy speech immediately drew fire from Palestinians and all sides of the Israeli political spectrum. But Mr. Netanyahu appeared to garner enough initial backing to keep his governing coalition out of danger of faltering.

PALESTINIANS NOT IMPRESSED

Although right-wing ideologues in his coalition assailed the speech as “dangerous” for supporting the creation of a Palestinian state, Palestinians said Netanyahu closed the door for peace talks by ruling out the repatriation of refugees to Israel and by insisting that Jerusalem remain united under Israeli rule.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat assailed the speech as a “slap in the face” to President Obama’s recent efforts to bring peace to the region.

USA

Obama Is Pressed to Tax Health Benefits

Seeking GOP Votes, Democrats Split Over Plan for New Levy

By Lori Montgomery and Ceci Connolly

Washington Post Staff Writers

Monday, June 15, 2009

The White House is caught in a battle within its own party over how to finance a comprehensive overhaul of America’s health-care system, as key Democrats advocate a tax plan that could require President Obama to break his campaign pledge not to raise taxes on the middle class.

Sensitive to voter anxiety about a soaring federal deficit, Obama and congressional leaders have vowed to pay for a sweeping expansion of the health-care system — expected to cost more than $1 trillion over the next decade — without additional borrowing.

Much of the money is likely to come from reining in spending on federal health programs for the elderly and the poor.

Ahmadinejad hailed the vote, saying it was a “great ordeal” but one that pointed “the way to the future.”

“The people of Iran inspired hope for all nations and created a source of pride in the nation and disappointed all the ill wishers,” Ahmadinejad said in his television address. “This election was held at a juncture of history.”

Ahmadinejad The Man Racing Towards Not

The Future But The Middle Ages

Some in Palau are worried about Guantanamo detainees

The laid-back island republic is unaccustomed to geopolitics, and some question why the U.S. is sending them Chinese Muslims. But others say their culture is welcoming to foreigners.

By John M. Glionna

June 14, 2009

Reporting from Koror, Palau — Sipping guava juice under cover from a steamy tropical downpour, Tommy Remengesau Jr. says he’s always considered his Pacific island home a refuge from the troubles of the outside world.

“While the rest of the planet was in conflict, waging its wars, we remained a little piece of paradise,” the former Palauan president said as his pet fruit bat swayed upside down in a nearby cage. “Now, the world’s headaches have come home to roost in Palau.”

This isolated republic of more than 300 scattered islands, set amid a vast stretch of aquamarine ocean 4,500 miles southwest of Hawaii, had its reverie rocked last week when officials here announced that they would accept several Chinese Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Palau’s decision to offer refuge to more than a dozen ethnic Uighurs once suspected of terrorism was hailed by the Obama administration, which is eager to disperse Guantanamo detainees as part of a plan to close the notorious prison early next year.

Riots erupt in Tehran over ‘stolen’ election

Shock as Ahmadinejad claims victory as rival calls poll ‘dangerous charade’

Ian Black and Saeed Kamali Dehghan in Tehran

guardian.co.uk, Saturday 13 June 2009 22.09 BST

Iran faces political turmoil after hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was confirmed today as the winner of the presidential election and outraged supporters of his chief rival took to the streets to protest against a “dangerous charade” after a record 85% turnout.

Tonight riot police in Tehran confronted thousands of demonstrators shouting “death to dictatorship” amid shock and confusion after the official result backed Ahmadinejad’s claim to have won, made barely an hour after polls closed last night.

The moderate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who had been widely expected to beat the controversial incumbent if there was a high turnout – or at least do well enough to trigger a second round – insisted he was the victor and appealed against the result to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader.

Robert Fisk: Iran erupts as voters back ‘the Democrator’

A smash in the face, a kick in the balls – that’s how police deal with protesters after Iran’s poll kept the hardliners in power

Sunday, 14 June 2009

First the cop screamed abuse at Mir Hossein Mousavi’s supporter, a white-shirted youth with a straggling beard and unkempt hair. Then he smashed his baton into the young man’s face. Then he kicked him viciously in the testicles. It was the same all the way down to Vali Asr Square. Riot police in black rubber body armour and black helmets and black riot sticks, most on foot but followed by a flying column of security men, all on brand new, bright red Honda motorcycles, tearing into the shrieking youths – hundreds of them, running for their lives. They did not accept the results of Iran’s presidential elections. They did not believe that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won 62.6 per cent of the votes. And they paid the price.

USA

Obama’s Spending Plans May Pose Political Risks

Concern Mounts in White House as 2010 Elections Loom

By Scott Wilson

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, June 14, 2009

After enjoying months of towering poll numbers, legislative victories and well-received foreign policy initiatives, the White House has become increasingly concerned that President Obama’s spending plans, which would require $9 trillion in government borrowing over the next decade, could become a political liability that defines the 2010 midterm elections.The concern was reflected in the aggressive response from administration officials to criticism that money from Obama’s stimulus plan is arriving too slowly to help the languishing economy, as well as in the president’s public endorsement of “pay as you go” legislation, which would require Congress to make room for new non-discretionary spending with equivalent cuts to other parts of the budget. Yesterday, Obama also outlined billions of dollars in savings that would be used to pay for his health-care reform proposal.