Monday, June 29, 2009

SPB News for Monday



Can Sanford keep his job?
Graham suggests only way the governor can stay is to reconcile with wife.


Honduran leader forced into exile

E-mails indicate EPA suppressed report skeptical of global warming — The Environmental Protection Agency may have suppressed an internal report that was skeptical of claims about global warming, including whether carbon dioxide must be strictly regulated by the federal government …

USAID soliciting applications for $20 million in grants to destablize Iran The Obama administration is moving forward with plans to fund groups that support Iranian dissidents, records and interviews show, continuing a program that became controversial when it was expanded by President [sic] Bush. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which reports to the secretary of state, has for the last year been soliciting applications for $20 million in grants to "promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in Iran," according to documents on the agency's website. The final deadline for grant applications is June 30. U.S. efforts to support Iranian opposition groups have been criticized in recent years as veiled attempts to promote "regime change," said Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council, the largest Iranian-American advocacy group.

Obama to fund anti-govt. elements in Iran: Report US President Barack Obama is re-branding a Bush-era plan to fund anti-government Iran-based elements through domestic and foreign entities, a report says. The Obama White House has apparently refused to act on the former administration's decision to allocate USD 66 million to Iranian dissidents, devising a new approach instead, USA TODAY reported on Friday. Citing 'security concerns', the State Department and the foreign policy agent declined to name the recipients of the funds. Homeland Security Is Ordered to Respond to Petition on Immigration Jails Substandard and abusive conditions in immigration detention "are of the utmost importance," a federal judge in Manhattan said Thursday, ruling that the Department of Homeland Security’s 2 ½-year delay in responding to a petition for legally enforceable regulations was "unreasonable as a matter of law." The judge, Denny Chin of Federal District Court in Manhattan, ordered the Obama administration to grant or deny the petition asking for detention rules within 30 days. He denied the government’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit, filed last year by two former immigration detainees and two advocacy agencies, seeking to force a response.

Last week's poll had asked:

At least 10 people were killed in Tehran and more than 100 wounded when police clashed with street protesters. What will Iran protests achieve? There was a tie on answers: Readers answered their voices to be heard and nothing . New poll is now up.

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