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‘what you need to know’ Category

Obama Sees ‘Glimmers of Hope’ for the Economy
President Obama said on Friday that there are “glimmers of hope” concerning the battered American economy, including an increase in lending to small businesses.In the last month, there has been a 20 percent rise in loans under the largest program run by the Small Business Administration, the president said after conferring at the White House with his financial advisers.

“And what that means is that small businesses are starting to get money that allows them to keep their doors open, make payroll,” Mr. Obama said. “And that is going to contribute to overall economic growth, as well as help make sure that people are able to keep their jobs.”

Stimulus Aid Being Doled Out, Slowly
Building repairs are underway on public housing in Imboden, Ark., and Cumberland, Ill., states across the country are receiving money to weatherize the homes of low-income residents, and the Silver Star Construction Co. is about to start work on two road-resurfacing projects in south-central Oklahoma with a total cost of $12 million.

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Obama seeks $83 billion for Iraq, Afghan wars
President Barack Obama is seeking $83.4 billion for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, pressing for a war supplemental spending bill like the ones he sometimes opposed when he was senator and George W. Bush was president.

Obama’s request, including money to increase U.S. troops in Afghanistan, would push the costs of the two wars to almost $1 trillion since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to the Congressional Research Service. The additional money would cover operations into the fall.

Obama to Push Immigration Bill as One Priority
While acknowledging that the recession makes the political battle more difficult, President Obama plans to begin addressing the country’s immigration system this year, including looking for a path for illegal immigrants to become legal, a senior administration official said on Wednesday.

Mr. Obama will frame the new effort — likely to rouse passions on all sides of the highly divisive issue — as “policy reform that controls immigration and makes it an orderly system,” said the official, Cecilia Muñoz, deputy assistant to the president and director of intergovernmental affairs in the White House.

U.S. to Join Talks on Iran’s Nuclear Program
The United States said yesterday that it would directly participate “from now on” in international talks with Iran over its nuclear activities, the latest move in the Obama administration’s promised diplomatic outreach to the Tehran government.

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Obama returns home after jam-packed trip
“There is still a lot of work to do here,” President Barack Obama declared in Baghdad.

He could have been talking about every stop of his jam-packed, eight-day, six-country overseas trip. Or his to-do list now that he’s back in the United States.

In London, Obama joined other world leaders in trying to tackle the spiraling global economic crisis. In France, he sought help from NATO allies in dealing with the deteriorating war in Afghanistan. In the Czech Republic, Obama pledged to end the threat of nuclear weapons. In Turkey, he sought to start repairing America’s dismal standing in the Muslim world. And in Iraq, he pushed for Iraqis to “take responsibility for their own country.”

U.S. Crew in Standoff With Pirates Off Somalia Coast
Hours after pirates commandeered a United States-flagged container ship with 20 American crew members off the coast of Somalia on Wednesday, the pirates and crew appeared to be in a standoff, with the ship under control of its crew once again but the skipper a captive of the pirates.

There were conflicting reports about the drama unfolding on the container ship, the Maersk Alabama — the first ship with an American crew to be seized by pirates in the Horn of Africa, one of the most notoriously lawless zones on the high seas. By late afternoon Washington time, when it was night off Somalia, the situation was unresolved, although there had apparently been no bloodshed.

Justice Dept. to Name New Leader of Internal Ethics Unit
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is preparing to name a new person to lead the Justice Department’s internal ethics unit, moving to put his stamp on a department reeling from the dismissal of criminal charges against former senator  Ted Stevens and accusations of political motivation during the Bush years.

Holder will name Mary Patrice Brown, a well-respected career prosecutor in the District, as the new leader of the Office of Professional Responsibility as early as this afternoon, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Brown, who leads the criminal division at the U.S. attorney’s office in the District, will become only the third chief of that unit since it was established in 1975 after the Watergate scandal.

Jackson subject of congressional ethics inquiry
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. confirmed Wednesday that he is the subject of a preliminary inquiry from a congressional ethics board looking into his attempts to be appointed to the Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama.

The Illinois Democrat said he is cooperating with a review from the Office of Congressional Ethics. The board is looking into Jackson’s interactions with former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was indicted last week on a variety of corruption charges including allegations he attempted to sell the vacant Senate seat.

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In Baghdad, Obama Presses Iraqi Leader to Unite Factions
President Obama made an unannounced trip to Iraq on Tuesday, his first visit as commander-in-chief to one of the two wars he inherited and must now see through to an end.

Reiterating his pledge to end a war he opposed from the start, he told a cheering crowd of American troops that it was time for Iraqis “to take responsibility for their country and for their sovereignty.” Later, with a hint of impatience in his words, he urged Iraq’s leaders to unite the country’s deeply divided ethnic and sectarian factions and incorporate them all into government and security forces.

Red Cross: Medical ethics violated at Gitmo
Medical personnel who monitored the harsh CIA interrogations of “high value” prisoners at secret overseas sites violated medical ethics, the International Committee of the Red Cross says in a report.

The 2007 report, based on interviews with 14 detainees who were held at the secret sites before being transferred in September 2006 to the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said the health personnel monitored detainees as they were subjected to techniques such as waterboarding — which simulates drowning — and prolonged stress positions.

Vermont Legislature Makes Same-Sex Marriage Legal
The Vermont Legislature on Tuesday overrode Gov. Jim Douglas’s veto of a bill allowing gay couples to marry, mustering one more vote than needed to preserve the measure.

The step makes Vermont the first state to allow same-sex marriage through legislative action instead of a court ruling. The law goes into effect Sept. 1.

D.C. Council Votes to Recognize Other States’ Gay Marriages
The D.C. Council voted today to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, on the same day that Vermont became the fourth state to legalize same-sex unions.

Domestic partnerships are already legal in the nation’s capital. But today’s vote, billed as an important milestone in gay rights, explicitly recognizes relocated gay married couples as married.

The initial vote was 12-0. The unanimous vote sets the stage for future debate on legalizing same-sex marriage in the District and a clash with Congress, which approves the city’s laws under Home Rule. The council is expected to take a final vote on the legislation next month.

Absentee ballots widen Franken’s Senate lead
Democrat Al Franken’s lead in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race widened Tuesday to 312 votes after previously rejected absentee ballots were added to the counting.

Franken did better than Republican Norm Coleman by a nearly 2-to-1 margin as the ballots were opened and counted as part of a lawsuit brought by Coleman over the statewide recount.

A three-judge panel ruled earlier that 351 ballots had been improperly rejected during the election and should be restored.

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