June 29, 2009

Political upheaval in Honduras, Argentina:

The president of Honduras was removed in a coup and his replacement has declared martial law in the Central American country.

In Argentina, the party of President Cristina Fernandez was handed a large political defeat in parliamentary votes.

The actions in Honduras have generated calls from international leaders that President Manuel Zelaya be returned to power. Zelaya was deposed Sunday ahead of a vote on a potential constitutional change that would have allowed him to seek a second term.

The military, lawmakers and courts of Honduras support newly installed President Roberto Micheletti.

This threatens to expand beyond the Central American country's borders as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned he'll use military force to restore Zelaya to power.

In Argentina, Fernandez' Justicialist Party lost control of both houses of the legislature. Fernandez had succeeded her husband as president and the results of the election could hurt her chances of re-election in 2011, ending that political dynasty.

End of Supreme Court term:

Decisions in several of the biggest cases of the term, including one that may up the rhetoric in the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor, are handed down Monday.

The case involving Sotomayor is one from Connecticut in which a group of firefighters sued because the results of a promotion test were nullified because not enough of the people who scored high enough for promotion were minority candidates. The plaintiffs claim discrimination.

Sotomayor was among an appeals court panel that supported the trial court's decision granting a summary judgment.

The decision is likely to increase debate on Sotomayor's Supreme Court nomination but isn't seen as having the potential to derail it.

Other Supreme Court decisions expected: A states vs. federal government fight on who gets to investigate banks with a national charter and a political speech case involving a group that tried to air an anti-Hillary Clinton film and whether such a communication should be regulated as a campaign ad.

It's also the swan song of Justice David Souter, whose resignation led to Sotomayor's nomination. Souter has served on the court since October 1990.

Iran's election fight:

Iran's leaders agree to a partial recount of the vote in which official results indicated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won in a landslide and continue to search for a scapegoat of the post-election protests.

For a while it was the fault of the United States -- with President Barack Obama being accused of interfering with internal Iranian issues and the FBI and CIA seen as having a role in the discord -- but now Tehran has turned on the British.

Iran's intelligence minister said the British Embassy in Tehran "played a crucial role in the recent unrest through its local staff and via media." Embassy officials are accused of ordering their local employees into the streets to "escalate the riots."

Tehran has expelled two British diplomats and London has answered tit-for-tat.

Protests continue in Iran, although not on as a large a scale. At least 17 protesters have been killed by police in the demonstrations.

Michael Jackson remembered:

The BET Awards were transformed into a Michael Jackson tribute three days after the singer's death.

Jackson's sister Janet appeared on the program, saying her brother "was the biggest star in history. I feel sorry that the biggest star in the world is gone."

The Los Angeles Times reported that a private pathologist carried out a second autopsy that Jackson's family had requested. Results of the official authopy by the Los Angeles Coronor's Office aren't expected for abotu six weeks.

Emergency personnel were called to Jackson's Los Angeles house Thursday when Jackson was found unresponsive. He was declared dead a short time later at a hospital.