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Iranians vote in closely watched election

TEHRAN, June 12 (UPI) -- Iranians voted Friday in what has become a tight presidential race between incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the former prime minister, Mir Hossein Mousavi.

The country's swooning economy has dominated the election, which is being followed closely for indications of any change in Iran's attitude to the world community, the BBC reported Friday.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the two leading candidates voted early, urging Iranians to exercise their right to choose the country's next president.

"I recommend them to just vote based on their own views and decisions," said Khamenei. "God willing, the best and the most deserving person will be elected as the head of the executive body for a four-year period."

Mousavi's campaign picked up momentum in recent weeks. While reliable polling data is hard to come by in Iran, observers and news reports indicate he could be the first candidate in 30 years to unseat an incumbent.

Ahmadinejad thanked Iranians "for their goodness, for their greatness, for their selflessness, their sacrifices, and for their forgiveness," the British broadcaster reported.

"God willing, with the nationwide participation of the public, we will see better and more beautiful days," Mousavi said.

The winner needs a simple majority -- 50 percent plus one -- to take office. If no one gets a simple majority, the top two vote-getters will face each other in a runoff.

Officials hope D-TV switch a non-event

WASHINGTON, June 12 (UPI) -- U.S. federal officials and broadcasters said they hoped a delay in the nation's analog-to-digital TV switch would make Friday's transition a non-event.

Fearing a backlash from nearly 6 million Americans who stood to lose their television signals, President Obama and Congress postponed the planned changeover from Feb. 17 to Friday for most of the country. Some broadcasters, however, already have begun broadcasting digitally.

"We are in much better shape" because of the delay, Joel Kelsey, a policy analyst for Consumers Union, told the Los Angeles Times.

In 2006, Congress set Feb. 17, 2009, as the date broadcasters abandon analog signals and allocated $1.5 billion to provide the coupons for converter boxes, expecting to take in billions of dollars in revenue from leasing use of most of the analog airwaves, the Times reported. The government auction for those leases brought in $19.6 billion last year from telecommunications companies planning to use them to deliver new mobile services.

"We're going from the Dinosaur Age to the Digital Age," Michael Copps, acting Federal Communications Commission chairman, told USA Today.

The most immediate impact will be in the area of free TV, Copps said. For over-the-air TV viewers, there will be "lots more channels and better pictures" as well as improved sound quality, he said.

Congress: No Gitmo prisoners in U.S.

WASHINGTON, June 12 (UPI) -- The Obama administration all-but abandoned plans to allow Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainees cleared for release to live in the United States, officials said.

The decision reflects an acknowledgment by the administration of bipartisan congressional opposition to admitting Guantanamo Bay prisoners, but likely will cause difficulties in U.S. efforts to persuade European allies to accept them, The Washington Post reported Friday.

An administration official said there may be "a few" candidates for settlement in the United States among the dozens of Guantanamo detainees cleared for release, the Post said.

Congressional Democrats Thursday reached agreement on a war funding bill that would allow detainees to be sent to the United States for trial, but the draft legislation didn't include extended U.S. detention without trial. Obama had said the funds were necessary to jail detainees deemed too dangerous to release but who can't be prosecuted.

Meanwhile, four Chinese Muslims released from the the Guantanamo military prison found new homes Thursday in Bermuda. Two other detainees -- one from Iraq and one from Chad -- were returned to their native countries, The New York Times reported.

The Chinese men, members of the Uighur minority in western China, had been in Guantanamo for more than seven years, although for much of that time U.S. authorities said they were not terrorists.

Thirteen other Uighurs remain in Guantanamo, but the Pacific island nation of Palau has said it would take some of the men. The Chinese government insists they are terrorists but the U.S. government says they are not.

U.N. might fine Israel for Gaza damage

JERUSALEM, June 12 (UPI) -- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he is considering assessing an $11 million fine for damage caused to U.N. facilities in Gaza against Israel.

Ban said he was acting on recommendations made by a committee established to determine the damage caused by Israeli security forces to U.N. buildings in Operation Cast Lead in Gaza, Ynetnews.com reported Friday.

Touching on the situation in the Gaza Strip, Ban warned if the border crossings remain closed, "the people of Gaza will slide into even deeper hardship, with the risk of further radicalization."

The report failed to mention which committee recommended Israel be slapped with a monetary fine.

Earlier this month Defense Minister Ehud Barak informed Ban Israel will not cooperate with a special committee headed by South African jurist Richard Goldstone, who was tasked with investigating whether Israel had committed war crimes during the military operation in Gaza earlier this year.

Japan minister resigns

TOKYO, June 12 (UPI) -- Japanese Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kunio Hatoyama, a close ally of Prime Minister Taro Aso, quit Friday in a setback for the government.

The resignation stemmed from a high-profile controversy over the reappointment of the president of Japan Post Holdings Co., Kyodo news reported.

Hatoyama's leaving comes at a time when the government faces a national election which must be held by the fall, the report said.

Although Hatoyama resigned, political observers cited by Kyodo said they saw it as Aso effectively dismissing an ally who helped him become prime minister.

Hatoyama had been strongly opposed to letting Yoshifumi Nishikawa continue at the helm of the state-owned Japan Post and was critical of the firm's attempt to sell a nationwide resort inn network.

"After consulting with my colleagues, I decided to leave gracefully,'' Hatoyama told reporters. "History will prove me right."

He said he would consult his colleagues about continuing in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Kyodo reported.

Hatoyama is the third minister to leave the Aso Cabinet after the resignations of Land, Infrastructure, and Tourism Minister Nariaki Nakayama and Finance Minster Shoichi Nakagawa.

National Public Safety Commission chief Tsutomu Sato was asked to assume Hatoyama's responsibilities, Kyodo reported.