SPB News for Thursday.

Limbaugh comes out for Obama — (CNN) - He has publicly urged Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton to keep the divisive Democratic nomination fight alive, but talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said Wednesday it's Barack Obama who he really wants to be the party's nominee.


Sharpton arrested during protest

Protests a response to acquittals of NYC cops in shooting of unarmed man.

Bush raises mega- bucks for GOP

Tells House Repubs that 2008 will not be a rerun of 2006's election losses.

U.S. deploys more than 43,000 unfit for combat More than 43,000 U.S. troops listed as medically unfit for combat in the weeks before their scheduled deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan since 2003 were sent anyway, Pentagon records show.

Bill Targets Oil Firms and OPEC --Democrats Would Levy Windfall Tax Democratic leaders in Congress unveiled energy legislation yesterday targeting big oil companies and members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. The package drew sharp criticism from Republicans, oil firms and foreign policy experts. The legislation, dubbed the Consumers First Energy Act, features a 25 percent windfall profits tax on oil companies operating in the United States, a rollback of existing tax breaks for oil and gas companies worth $17 billion over 10 years, and an authorization for the U.S. attorney general to bring price collusion charges against OPEC members.

Democrats in US Congress Prepare Iraq-Afghanistan Funding Measure --Majority Democrats are preparing for a possible vote on legislation to fund war operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The debate, which could take place on Thursday, involves the bulk of the money President [sic] Bush requested last year for Iraq and Afghanistan, including funds to help the Pentagon [Blackwater, KBR] get through the early months of 2009.

US Accuses Iran of Interfering in Afghanistan --A senior U.S. official says Iran is interfering in Afghanistan's politics and lending support to the Taliban 'insurgency.' Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher says Iran is known to have funneled weapons to the Taliban on several occasions, and suggests Tehran wants a weak and unstable Afghanistan.

Israel: Iran could have nukes by '09 With Iran racing forward with its nuclear program, Israel now believes the Islamic Republic will master centrifuge technology and be able to begin enriching uranium on a military scale this year, The Jerusalem Post has learned. The new assessment moves up Israel's forecasts on Teheran's nuclear program by almost a full year - from 2009 to the end of 2008.

Iran's ambassador meets Iraqi president Iran’s ambassador to Baghdad Hassan Qazemi-Qomi and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani held talks on Tuesday. According to a report released by Talabani’s office, the two sides discussed issues of mutual interest and ways to strengthen cooperation between the two countries.

Lawyers for Guantánamo Prisoners Accuse U.S. of Eavesdropping In interviews and a court filing Tuesday, lawyers for prisoners at Guantánamo said they believed government agents had monitored their conversations. The assertions are the most specific to date by Guantánamo lawyers that officials may be violating legal principles that have generally kept government agents from eavesdropping on lawyers.

Canadian becomes first child soldier since Nuremberg to stand trial for war crimes An inmate at the US-run Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba is set to be the first child soldier to go on trial for war crimes since Nuremberg, after a military judge ruled that there were no legal obstacles preventing the camp's special military tribunals from prosecuting him. Omar Khadr, a Canadian national, was 15 at the time of his alleged crimes. His defence team said his age should see him treated as a victim and rehabilitated, rather than prosecuted as a war criminal.

Burma cyclone: death toll 'could be 100,000' The number of dead Burma's cyclone disaster could climb to more than 100,000 lives, it has been claimed. As survivors battled to stay alive with little relief in sight five days after Cyclone Nargis struck, the US embassy in Rangoon issued a new estimate of the scale of the human cost in the disaster. "The information that we’re receiving indicates that there may well be over 100,000 deaths in the delta area," said Shari Villarosa, the US charge d’affaires.