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The dilemma of what to do with the detainees at Guantanamo Bay has become one of Barack Obama's most challenging policy issues. Now, Attorney General Eric Holder has announced that the fates of half of those imprisoned have been determined, and only a quarter will face trial. There are 229 detainees held in the controversial prison in Cuba, and the vast majority of them will likely be held indefinitely. Reuters reports that those held without trial will face a "periodic review of their status." The issue of where to hold the prisoners once Gitmo closes became a political hot potato as many politicians said they would not stand for having suspected terrorists in their constituents' backyards.
The turmoil in Iran may not be going away any time soon. One group of analysts say that the crisis could last through the "long, hot summer," as neither side appears to be losing momentum. The reformist protesters in Iran are certainly not backing down, as election runner-up Mir Hussein Mousavi has called for his supporters to flock to mosques tomorrow and mourn their fallen compatriots, who officially number seven, though other reports put the number higher. The call for more protests directly contradicts Ayatollah Khamenei, who has said the dispute should be carried out through the Iranian electoral system. Meanwhile, Iranian authorities have stepped up their threats to protesters and foreign reporters. One official even threatened protesters with the death penalty. The Revolutionary Guard of Iran is also attempting to undermine the social networking sites that have proved so crucial to coordinating protests, while blaming foreign media and the U.S. for stoking the furor.
U.S. Senator John Ensign resigned from his post as chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee Wednesday after publicly confessing to an affair with a staffer. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell announced Ensign's resignation, which is another blow to the embattled Republican Party that bills itself as a champion of family values. Ensign, 51, held the fourth ranking post in the Party and was seen as a 2012 presidential contender. He confessed to an affair in 2007 with a staffer who was married to another of his employees.
President Obama extended some benefits to the unmarried partners of federal workers Wednesday, but gay advocacy groups say there's still a long way to go on the road to equality. Though the partners of gay federal employees will enjoy some benefits, the Defense of Marriage Act prevents the government from extending health or life insurance to them. Obama said Wednesday the memorandum is "just a start" and reiterated his commitment to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act with the help of Congress. A Department of Justice memo from earlier this week defended the 1996 law, causing several prominent gay rights advocates to back out of a big Democratic fundraiser.
The 100 day marker is long gone, and not all of President Obama's constituents are still basking in the afterglow. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released today revealed skepticism about Obama’s policies, with the biggest drop in approval ratings among self-described political independents. “It’s not personal. It’s professional,” said NBC News chief White House correspondent and political director Chuck Todd. According to the poll, 69 percent of people are concerned about government intervention in the economy, with 53 percent of respondents saying they disapproved of the GM and Chrysler bailouts. Another 58 percent said the government should try to control the budget deficit rather than focus on boosting the economy, but 46 percent—the highest in four years—expressed optimism that the economy would improve in the next year. The presidential approval rating still stands strong at 56 percent, and a high percentage of people like Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. But Republicans aren't getting a boost from Obama skepticism: the image of the Republican Party is at an all-time low.
Times must really be tough for the Ohio police force. Two of the state’s police chiefs are under investigation for breaking into the home of the surrogate mother carrying Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick’s unborn twins. The cops' plan? To sell information to a tabloid, Us Weekly reports. It's unclear which tabloid recieved the material but The publication turned the cops, Chief Barry Carpenter and Chief Chad DoJack, into authorities after learning how the information was obtained. "I'm 100 percent innocent in this and my department is as well," Carpenter told a local television station. Meanwhile, a publicist for Broderick said the expectant parents have faith in the legal system and look forward to "the healthy delivery of their daughters."
Who says you have to get all your news from Twitter? Defying the foreign press ban, longtime Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk is cruising the streets of Tehran, witnessing firsthand confrontations between reformist protesters and supporters of Ahmadinejad. Fisk reports that a violent confrontation between roughly 10,000 Mousavi supporters and 15,000 Ahmadinejad supporters was avoided due to a comparatively small group of security forces. Interestingly, the soldiers actually protected the "Mousavi men," perhaps signaling a change in opinion among the authorities. Fisk also says that it is likely many more protesters have been killed than is being reported, as seven people were buried secretly by the police. In the correspondent's opinion, the movement is not an all-out revolution; it is a protest clearly directed at Ahmadinejad alone. As the protests continue, Iran's national soccer team has shown their solidarity with the reformist movement by wearing green arm bands, the color of the movement.
In Rhode Island, they're getting ready to inhale: Overriding the objections of Republican Gov. Don Carcieri, Rhode Island has become the third state in America—and first in the East Coast—to permit marijuana sales for medical purposes. Joining California and New Mexico in giving ganja the legal 'go.' Rhode Island's House voted unanimously to override Carcieri's veto, while the Senate voted 35-3 to allow a regulated store for selling medical marijuana, reports NPR. To a standing ovation, Democratic Rep. Thomas Slater, who has cancer and says he will smoke marijuana for pain relief, explained the law's logic: "This gives a safe haven for those who have to go into the seedy areas to try and get marijuana. I think that this center will definitely help those who most need it." In California, patients can buy marijuana at licensed stores; in New Mexico, medical marijuana growers are licensed. Legislation similar to Rhode Island's is under consideration in Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. Arizona and Maine both have ballot initiatives coming up on the use of medical marijuana.
It’s Splitsville for Billy Joel and his wife Katie Lee. The couple announced today that they are separating after five years of marriage. “Billy and Katie remain caring friends, with admiration and respect for each other,” the couple’s publicists said in a statement. Lee, who is best known for her season-long stint as the host of Bravo’s Top Chef, was Joel’s third wife. She followed model Christie Brinkley. No word yet on whether Joel and Lee will divorce, but perhaps if they do it’ll give the Piano Man a crop of new material to pull him out of his years-long music hiatus.
Need a lesson in email aggression? Elizabeth Becton, the scheduler and office manager for Rep. Jim McDermott, traded an absurd series of 19 emails with a woman who had the audacity to call her “Liz.” “I do not go by Liz,” Becton wrote in an email to an executive assistant with a consulting firm. “Where did you get your information?” Despite the assistant’s apologies—six in all—Becton grew suspicious that someone in D.C. was out to “tick” her off with the unholiest of unholy names. “Quit apologizing and never call me anything but Elizabeth again. Also, make sure you correct anyone who attempts to call me by any other name but Elizabeth. Are we clear on this?” A McDermott spokesman said they're issuing an apology to the berated assistant.
Impersonation: the little-known sixth stage of grief? A New York man was charged today for impersonating his mother, who died in 2003, and attempting to renew her driver’s license. Thomas Parkin aimed to collect $117,000 in government benefits by impersonating his mother at a Brooklyn Department of Motor Vehicles in April, following six years of fraud described by a district attorney as "unparalleled in its scope and brazeness" and included elaborate costumes, makeup, even an oxygen tank. Parkin started by falsifying the death certificate of Irene Parkin and managed to receive $700 a month in Social Security. He also managed to get $65,000 in rent subsidies by claiming he had a disability and that his mother was his landlord. What finally foiled Parkin’s plot? A picture of Irene’s tombstone at a local cemetery. Rookie mistake!
10 months ago, John Edwards came clean about his scandalous affair with a campaign videographer, Rielle Hunter. Since then, he has been almost completely out of the spotlight. Now, Edwards has spoken at length with The Washington Post in his first interview since the scandal broke. Can you guess what topics were not discussed? Despite not addressing Hunter, or the paternity of her child, or the federal investigation into his campaign, the interview does reveal Edwards struggling to cope with his lot in life. He has quietly traveled several times to lend a hand in humanitarian projects in Latin America, and says he is willing to "dig a ditch or hammer a nail." He also worries about his legacy, saying that much of the positive work by pushing issues of poverty and health care to the fore is now regarded as phony and insincere. Edwards does not see any slow comeback a la Eliot Spitzer, and says that for now he is devoted to his family—though he doesn't rule out a return to a more public role. "Sometimes you just keep your head down and work hard and see what happens," he said.
Evidence now that the split that started in Iran’s streets has worked its way into the country’s leadership: the country’s most senior ayatollah, Ali Montazeri, said “no one in their right mind can believe [the official results].” Meanwhile, the National Iranian American Council reports that the death toll has risen to 32.
One of the greatest rivalries in sports today is between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal—but could Nadal, the current number one player in the world, be prematurely destroying his body? A new profile in the New York Times Magazine examines this issue, while also reporting on Nadal's colorful uncle Toni, who has been his lifelong coach. Toni encouraged Nadal, who is right-handed, to play with his left, and also instilled in him a humility and level-headedness that has served him well. Both men are unconcerned with the consequences of Nadal's physical style of play and their principle philosophy is "play every point as though it were the last." If Nadal makes it to Wimbledon in spite of the tendinitis in his knee, fans shouldn't be surprised.
The world hasn't heard the last of Carrie Prejean. The ex-Miss California and her lawyer, Charles LiMandri, are threatening to sue the pageant organization, saying Prejean was “set up" for failure. According to LiMandri, the pageant and director Keith Lewis gave Prejean an impossible list of events to attend, including the premiere of a movie that supported gay marriage rights, a topic Prejean has spoken out against publicly. “There was really a lack for trust and a lack of respect," LiMandri said. “He was trying to set her up. Keith Lewis and [pageant coordinator] Shanna Moakler wanted her out, pure and simple. They finally found a way to get their way.” Lewis fired back at the accusations, saying that Prejean didn’t uphold her contract and missed more than 30 scheduled events.
North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan...the list goes on. So, how does Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cope? By requesting the advice of her predecessors, apparently. On Tuesday all but one of the living secretary's of state convened at Madeline Albright's home in Washington, D.C. to talk diplomacy. The list of those seated at the dinner table was full of political all-stars, including Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, and James Baker. It's hard to imagine working up much of an appetite while considering all the turmoil around the world at the moment.
Here’s an eye-grabbing paragraph: “A Swiss jury convicted the former mistress of one of France's richest men of murder Wednesday after she admitted killing him during an argument over $1 million as he was dressed in a latex suit and tied up in a chair during their sex game.” Cecille Brossard shot Edouard Stern in the head, then three more times after he called her a $1 million prostitute. His body was found in a head-to-toe latex suit. Broussard told the court, “I am not a thief. I am not poisonous. I am just desperately in love with a man and I will be forever.” During the trial, she turned to Stern’s former wife and his children and asked for forgiveness.
This story pushes the limits of cuteness. Trakr, a famous police K-9 that is credited with having found the last survivor in the wreckage of the World Trade Center, has been cloned five times over. Trakr died in April and his owner won a contest sponsored by BioArts International by explaining why his pooch deserved another chance at life. Controversial South Korean doctor Hwang Woo-Suk carried out the cloning process. This will be Woo-Suk's first return to the limelight since his made international news for faking evidence of human cloning. The dogs' owner says that if the pups behave like the original he will train them to be rescue dogs as well.
Award-winning sculptor Patrick Farrow, 66, was found dead in his Vermont home late Monday night, People reports. Patrick was the older brother of actress Mia Farrow, who also lost her 35-year-old daughter Lark Previn to illness in December. Patrick's body was found following an emergency call from an unidentified woman, and the Vermont State Police have requested an autopsy. In a statement, one police lieutenant said, "The death is considered suspicious."
Give them an ‘A’ for effort: Mexican authorities seized over a ton of cocaine on Tuesday that had been hidden inside more tan 20 shark carcasses. Those in charge of the shipment tried to say that the drug was a conserving agent. According to Reuters, “Drug gangs are coming up with increasingly creative ways of getting drugs into the United States—in sealed beer cans, religious statues and furniture—as Mexico's military cracks down on the cartels moving South American narcotics north.”
Sarah Palin certainly doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to attorneys general, so there’s no knowing whether this one will last. The Alaskan governor announced Tuesday that she nominated Daniel S. Sullivan, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, as Alaska’s Attorney General. Palin fell under fire for dismissing attorney general Talis Colberg, her last nomination embroiled in the Troopergate scandal, and NRA director Wayne Anthony Ross was rejected by state lawmakers in April, for, among other reasons, calling gays "immoral" and "degenerate." Third time's the charm?
The House of Representatives passed a bill today that will fund the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq through September to the tune of $106 billion, The Washington Post reports. A vote for the bill came as a sign of support for President Obama, if not his strategy for increasing troops in Afghanistan. “We are in the process of wrapping up the wars. The president needed our support,” said Rep. Anthony Weiner, a Republican who initially opposed the spending but voted for it. "But the substance still sucks." The bill includes $7.7 million in pandemic flu provisions. Its $80 million initiative to close Guantanamo Bay, however, was removed by Congress. The Senate may pass the bill later this week, but many are expected to oppose the included $1 billion program that would provide vouchers to people looking to trade in old cars for fuel-efficient upgrades.
Did Bill Clinton have a wild night on the town in Buenos Aires? After a meeting in the capital of Argentina, “there were the widespread news reports that Clinton and his entourage later had a noche de soltero [boys' night out] at a well-known cabaret called Crocodilo, where a certain Andrea Rincón, a morocha [brunette] who was pulposa [well-endowed] and a former participant in the popular TV reality show Big Brother, did a private baile hot for him, according to the Web site of the news weekly Perfil, though it's not clear exactly what that dance involved. The dancer claims she did not speak to Clinton, and Clinton’s spokesman said the report “is completely false.” What did the president do, then? “They were at the hotel playing cards with the former and current presidents.”
More demonstrations in support of Mir Hossein Mousavi are set in Iran for Wednesday—who, exactly, is this man millions of Iranians are supporting? Though he is the “reformist” option, Mousavi was a social conservative as prime minister in the 1980s, supports the clerical system, and was an early proponent of Iran’s nuclear program. President Obama recognizes this, saying on Tuesday that "Although there is amazing ferment taking place in Iran, the difference in actual policies between [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad and Mousavi in terms of their actual policies may not be as great as advertised.” Meanwhile, The Daily Beast’s Reza Alsan told CNN Tuesday night that Iran’s Assembly of Experts—86 clerics who have the power to remove Khamenei from power—gathered last night to discuss what to do about Khamenei.
The unrest in Iran continues. Apparently the government raided university dormitories overnight and arrested two pro-reform figures. The BBC reports that Mir Hossein Mousavi supporters will protest in Tehran today, and Tuesday's demonstrations are believed to have been peaceful. On top of that, Mousavi has disobeyed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's request that Iranian candidates refrain from riling up their supporters and avoid "any action that would create tension". The Associated Press reports that Mousavi has asked supporters to join peaceful protests or gather in mosques on Thursday to mourn those killed during demonstrations. If supporters do as he asks, it will mark six straight days of demonstrations. Due to a government crackdown on foreign media, the protests have been difficult to cover. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, "In the elections, voters had different tendencies, but they equally believe in the ruling system and support the Islamic Republic."
Will it prevent future financial catastrophes? Obama released his overhaul plan for the nation's financial system Tuesday night, according to The Washington Post. In an 85-page white paper, the White House explained the roots of the current financial crisis: banks exploited gaps in regulation to sell too-expensive loans to borrowers, and funding came from new types of investments that regulators didn't really understand. Firms gave big bonuses to employees instead of squirreling money away in case their plans failed. The solution, according to the White House plan, is to allow the Federal Reserve greater freedom to regulate banks, and to create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency with a broad mandate to overhaul federal regulations, including lending laws.
Recession-hit Americans looking for a job might do well to remember the Alamo. San Antonio, that is, which is the best-off city in the country when it comes to weathering the economic downturn. A new study by the Brookings Institution crunched the numbers on the top 100 metropolitan areas in order to gain new insight on the effects of the recession on employment, wages, housing prices, foreclosure rates, and production. While no city has survived unscathed, five of the top 10 healthiest economies are in Texas and another two are in nearby Oklahoma, powered by strong government and health care sectors that are less affected by the recession. Manufacturing-based economies are among the worst off, with the Rust Belt suffering major job losses. Nowhere is this more evident than in Detroit, the bottom ranked city on the list thanks to the auto industry's moribund state. Cities in California and Florida, which have been hit hard by the housing collapse, are also in bad shape, comprising 7 of the bottom 10 metropolitan areas.
Has proof of Sammy Sosa’s long-suspected steroid use finally emerged? Sosa apparently flunked a drug test in 2003—his name is on a list of 104 players who tested positive in an anonymous survey that year. The survey does not identify the drug. Sosa, who is sixth on the all-time home runs list, retired in 2007. In 2005, he testified before Congress, saying, "To be clear, I have never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs."
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