Obama, lawmakers to discuss immigration
WASHINGTON, June 25 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama Thursday prepared to lay the groundwork for another major U.S. policy issue -- immigration reform.
Obama was to meet with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders to begin the process of developing immigration reform, the White House daily calendar said.
Senate Democrats outlined their plans Wednesday to overhaul U.S. immigration laws, including a provision that would require all U.S. workers verify their identity through fingerprints or an eye scan, The Washington Post reported.
Speaking on the eve of the White House meeting, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., chairman of an immigration subcommittee, said a national system to verify work documents was necessary because Congress hasn't cracked down on employers and illegal immigrants with fake documents.
"I'm sure the civil libertarians will object to some kind of biometric card -- although ... there'll be all kinds of protections -- but we're going to have to do it. It's the only way," Schumer said. "The American people will never accept immigration reform unless they truly believe their government is committed to ending future illegal immigration."
A top aide to Obama told The New York Times the president won't get out in front of any proposal until there is a strong bipartisan commitment to pass it.
"His position is very clear: he thinks we need comprehensive immigration reform," David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president, said in an interview. "But that's not something that's going to happen simply on his volition. Obviously work needs to be done, and not just from our end, but from the proponents in Congress, to bring it to the point where it can get passed."
Rally delayed as Iran hardens response
TEHRAN, June 25 (UPI) -- Organizers delayed a ceremony honoring victims of Iran's post-election violence after witnesses said police quelled rallies the day before with force.
The postponement was announced on the party Web site of presidential candidate Mehdi Karroubi, CNN reported.
Thursday's ceremony was meant to commemorate the "the martyrs of the republic and freedom," the statement on the Etemad-e-Melli (National Trust) party site said. The event was delayed for a week but no date was given.
Official figures indicate 17 people died in clashes between protesters and government forces since the demonstrations began protesting the June 12 election in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the landslide winner over his nearest challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi
Mousavi's Web site reported after the opposition leader met with university teachers Wednesday, police arrested 70 attendees and took them to an undisclosed location. CNN said it could not independently confirm the information.
Witnesses reported security forces used overwhelming force to turn back protesters who went to Baharestan Square near the parliament building in Tehran. The witnesses said police charged at the gathering, clubbing demonstrators, beating women and old men and firing weapons into the air to disperse the crowd.
Iran's ambassador to Mexico defended his country's actions, saying taking to the streets and attacking buses and banks were not acceptable ways of addressing electoral fraud, if any occurred.
"The minority can't impose their opinion on the majority," Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri told CNN en Espanol. "They can't impose a dictatorship, saying that the majority is not going to govern."
Butt out, Ahmadinejad tells Obama
TEHRAN, June 25 (UPI) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinijad, the declared winner in the country's disputed election, has told U.S. President Obama to butt out of Iran's affairs.
Ahmadinejad's remarks, reported by the semi-official Fars news agency, came amid reports that more than a third of Iran's 290-member Parliament cold-shouldered a victory party for him Thursday, The New York Times reported.
The Iranian news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in remarks directed to Obama, "I hope you will avoid interfering in Iran's affairs and express regret in a way that the Iranian people are informed of it."
Ahmadinejad was declared the winner by a landslide in the June 12 election over his nearest challenger, moderate Mir Hossein Mousavi, who charged ballot fraud. Protests against the election results occurred daily, turning violent Saturday, when more than a dozen people died. The Iranian government has cracked down both on demonstrators and on foreign media coverage.
Obama, who has said he wanted to explore opening a dialogue with Iran, was cautious in his response to the election results, but has become harder since, saying Tuesday he was "appalled and outraged" by events in Iran.
Obama, Ahmadinejad said, "made a mistake to say those things. ... Our question is why he fell into this trap and said things that previously (President George W.) Bush used to say," Fars news agency reported.
Stimulus fund distribution speed debated
WASHINGTON, June 25 (UPI) -- Less than one-half of 1 percent of money for transportation projects in the U.S. stimulus package has been dispersed, Transportation Department figures show.
House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar of Minnesota said the government is moving quickly while the committee's top Republican, John Mica of Florida, said stimulus funding is trickling out to states slowly because of excessive federal regulations, USA Today reported Thursday.
Transportation Department officials were to give the House panel a progress report on spending the package's $64.1 billion in transportation and infrastructure funding.
So far, states received about $132 million of the stimulus package's $27.5 billion in road construction funding, department figures indicate. As of May 31, the 13 states with double-digit unemployment rates received about $22 million in highway money, department figures released in advance of the committee hearing indicate.
"There should be no reason why, with the economy in dire straits, that we can't get the money out there," Mica told USA Today. "It's tied up in red tape."
Oberstar countered that a better measurement of progress is the amount of money promised for specific projects because states get money after construction has begun.
Toronto stinks on Day 4 of trash strike
TORONTO, June 25 (UPI) -- Hot, humid weather and no garbage collection for four days had the city of Toronto smelling like rotting food Thursday as strike negotiations continued.
An insider with the Canadian Union of Public Employees told the Toronto Star little had been achieved in talks since 30,000 city workers walked out before sunrise Monday.
The key issues are pay raises equal to what was given emergency workers last year, and the city's desire to drop bankable sick days and replace them with short-term disability insurance.
Meanwhile, residents sweltered in line-ups to drop off bags of garbage at collection sites where strikers limited the number of people entering, local media said. City officials said 19 new temporary drop-off sites for residential garbage would be announced in various parking lots.
Dr. David McKeown, the city's medical officer of health, downplayed fears of disease.
"A well-managed temporary garbage site, even if it's a large one, does not necessarily create a health hazard," he said. "It may be unattractive and cause odors, but this will not cause human disease."
The border city of Windsor, Ontario, is into its 11th week of a garbage strike, but provincial Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday he has no plans to call a special legislative session to force workers back in either city as long as talks are ongoing, the Globe and Mail said.
Foreign largesse goes to National Archives
WASHINGTON, June 25 (UPI) -- Foreign governments were very generous in the gifts they gave members of the George W. Bush administration, a U.S. State Department report indicated.
The report said when former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Tripoli -- the first visit by a U.S. official to Libya in more than a half-century -- Moammar Gadhafi gave her some serious bling -- a diamond ring and other items with a total value of $212,225, Politico reported.
In January 2008, Saudi King Abdullah gave Rice a "gold, diamond and sapphire set with necklace, ring, bracelet and earrings" along with a robe and scarf, worth a cool $230,145, the State Department said.
By law, federal officials are required to relinquish such gifts to the government, which either sells them or stores them at the National Archives. Sometimes a few items are kept for display at government offices or bought by the recipient, the Washington publication said.
Bush, an avid biker, received many cycling related gifts -- all apparently on the road to the National Archives. The State Department report indicated that in 2008, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa proffered mountain bikes, while Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert gave Bush "a hydration system cycling backpack" and bike shorts displaying Bush's name and Israeli flags.
