Violence spreads outward from Tehran
TEHRAN, June 16 (UPI) -- Violence has spread from Tehran to provinces as several universities reported clashes between students and Iranian security forces, witnesses say.
Protests erupted in Tehran shortly after incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner of Friday's election by a landslide over his closest challenger, moderate Mir Hossein Mousavi.
The chancellor of Iran's Shiraz University resigned Tuesday to protest a security force attack, believed to have left one student dead, The Guardian reported.
Mohammad Hadi Sadeghi said he stepped down after riot police and special forces stormed a library and fired tear gas Monday, the latest in a series of student-police confrontations on the campus since last week. More than 100 students were arrested and at least one staff member was assaulted, the British newspaper said.
In Mashhad, the Basij militia and Ansar-e Hezbollah militant group clashed with students at Ferdowsi University, while universities in Sistan-Baluchestan, Kermanshah and Mazandaran also reported unrest, the newspaper said. Unconfirmed reports indicated two people died in Orumiyeh during a rally.
Iran's government Tuesday banned foreign media from covering rallies in Tehran following last week's disputed presidential elections.
Mousavi's supporters took to the streets of Tehran, often clashing with police and Ahmadinejad supporters. Reports from Iranian media indicate seven people have been killed.
In announcing the prohibition of foreign media coverage, Iran's government said some of the coverage and images was biased. International news outlets can report on the rallies in live reports, but cannot leave their hotel rooms or offices, CNN reported.
Iran's Guardian Council, which oversees elections, agreed to recount some of the challenged votes, Iran's state-run Press TV reported Tuesday. However, Mousavi rejected the idea, asking that the results be annulled and a new election held.
Ahmadinejad in Russia for meetings
YEKATERINBURG, Russia, June 16 (UPI) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad proclaimed the end of "the age of empires" Tuesday after flying to Russia to attend two summit meetings.
The president left Iran two days after being proclaimed the winner of a second term, while large demonstrations against the results were rocking the capital, Tehran. His supporters blame the unrest on the United States and other western countries.
Ahmadinejad is in Russia for meetings of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and the BRIC group, which includes four large emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India and China, Time magazine reported. Both are assembling this week in Yekaterinburg.
He said the West has been hit hard by the economic slump and by military debacles in Afghanistan and Iraq.
"It is absolutely obvious that the age of empires has ended, and its revival will not take place," he said.
Ahmadinejad urged the SCO toward "collective decisions on economics, politics and culture."
House passes war funding bill
WASHINGTON, June 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. House Tuesday passed a $106 billion bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through September despite Democratic dissension, officials said.
The Washington Post reported House Democrats approved President Barack Obama's supplemental funding request despite having some questions about his Afghan strategy.
Obama and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner called some recalcitrant Democrats during the day to plead for support for the bill, the Post said. House speaker Nancy Pelosi also urged her colleagues to vote for the bill in a closed-door meeting.
The vote was 226-202, with 32 Democrats and all but five Republicans voting against it.
The U.S. Senate is expected to take up the funding bill later this week. The Post said some senators are threatening to oppose a provision in the bill that provides $1 billion for the "cash for clunkers" program to spur new auto sales.
Pelosi won her across-the bay battle with Rep.Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif. The two Bay Area Democrats were each trying to recruit fellow northern Californians and other Democrats to their side of the issue.
Woolsey, co-chairwoman of the House Progressive Caucus, said she is concerned about repeating the mistakes of Iraq in Afghanistan. "I see no reason to be keeping our troops in Iraq that much longer and to start into Afghanistan when there's no end in sight. If we were voting on funds to bring our troops home from Iraq, I'd vote for it," she said.
Pelosi needed 218 votes from House Democrats and got 221.
Dignitaries attend Bongo funeral
LIBREVILLE, Gabon, June 16 (UPI) -- Scores of dignitaries from around the world converged on Libreville Tuesday for the state funeral of Cabon's late President Omar Bongo.
Among them were French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang, Voice of American and Xinhua reported.
"The death of President Bongo is not only a huge loss for Gabon, but also a great loss for Africa as a whole," Zhang said.
Bongo, 73, who died of cardiac arrest June 8 while in Spain to be treated for cancer, is to be buried in his home village of Franceville Thursday, VOA said.
Among the other heads of state to pass before Bongo's body as it lay in state at the presidential palace were Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of the Congo, Faure Gnassaingbe of Togo, Paul Biya of Cameroon and Francois Bozize of Central African Republic.
Former French President Jacques Chirac also was in attendance.
Bongo was the longest-serving head of state in Africa, having assumed power in 1967. His administration had been dogged by accusations of corruption in recent years.
Nevada's Sen. Ensign admits affair
WASHINGTON, June 16 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said Tuesday he had an extramarital affair with a married campaign worker, calling it "the worst thing I have done in my life."
Ensign flew from Washington to Las Vegas where he read a statement to reporters outside the federal courthouse confessing to his infidelity, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
"Last year I had an affair," he said. "I violated the vows of my marriage. It is the worst thing I have ever done in my life. If there was ever anything in my life that I could take back, this would be it."
The Washington Post reported the nine-month affair with a woman who worked for both the senator's re-election campaign and his Battle Born leadership political action committee began in December 2007.
Ensign did not identify the woman but said she and her husband were both close friends who "both worked for me."
Ensign said he and his wife Darlene have gone through counseling that has strengthened their marriage. The Post quoted Darlene Ensign as saying she still loved her husband.
The two-term senator was seen in some quarters as a potential candidate for president in 20012.
Ensign appeared ready to work his way through the scandal, rather than quit his office. "I am committed to my service in the United States Senate and my work on behalf of the people of Nevada," he said.
