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Autistic Toddler Left Alone On Bus, Driver And Matron Arrested

2009-07-11T12:31:05Z

Nicholas Arroyo, a 3-year-old autistic boy, spent the day strapped to a car seat inside a minibus after the bus driver and matron left him behind, police and his parents said. Long Beach police arrested the driver, Roger Pierre, 57, of Hollis, and matron Ebony Blackwell, 26, of Brooklyn.

Obama Campaign Plane Emergency Could Have Led To Disaster

2009-07-11T04:18:09Z

Reporting from Washington -- Airplane control problems last summer could have led to disaster for then-Sen. Barack Obama and his presidential campaign, according to a report released Friday by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Early CBO Score on Public Plan Says It Should Net $150 Billion In Savings: TNR

2009-07-11T03:50:05Z

According to a pair of Capitol Hill sources, preliminary estimates from the Congressional Budget Office suggest that a strong public option--the kind that the House of Representatives is putting in its reform bill--should net somewhere in the neighborhood of $150 billion in savings over ten years.

Environmentalists Turn On Obama As Compromiser

2009-07-11T03:19:56Z

For environmental activists like Jessica Miller, 31, the passage of a major climate bill by the House last month should have been cause for euphoria. Instead she felt cheated.

Stimulus Aid Said To Be Moving Faster After "Learning Curve"

2009-07-11T03:15:43Z

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration says it has been on a "learning curve" with the economic-stimulus package but has figured out how to spend some of the available billions more quickly.

Obama Admin: No Grounds To Probe Afghan War Crimes

2009-07-11T03:08:23Z

WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials said Friday they had no grounds to investigate the 2001 deaths of Taliban prisoners of war who human rights groups allege were killed by U.S.-backed forces.

The mass deaths were brought up anew Friday in a report by The New York Times on its Web site. It quoted government and human rights officials accusing the Bush administration of failing to investigate the executions of hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of prisoners.

U.S. officials said Friday they did not have legal grounds to investigate the deaths because only foreigners were involved and the alleged killings occurred in a foreign country.

The Times cited U.S. military and CIA ties to Afghan Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, whom human rights groups accuse of ordering the killings. The newspaper said the Defense Department and FBI never fully investigated the incident.

Asked about the report, Marine Corps Col. David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, said that since U.S. military forces were not involved in the killings, there is nothing the Defense Department could investigate.

"There is no indication that U.S. military forces were there, or involved, or had any knowledge of this," Lapan said. "So there was not a full investigation conducted because there was no evidence that there was anything from a DoD (Department of Defense) perspective to investigate."

A Justice Department official said the FBI had no jurisdiction to investigate. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. Separately, Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller declined to comment.

A spokesman for former President George W. Bush did not have an immediate comment Friday night.

Reacting to the Times' report, human rights group Physicians for Human Rights called for the Justice Department to begin a criminal investigation into whether the Bush administration blocked inquiries into the Taliban deaths.

"For U.S. government officials to claim that there is no legal basis to investigate this well-documented mass atrocity is absurd," said the groups deputy director, Susannah Sirkin.

The allegations date back to November 2001, when as many as 2,000 Taliban prisoners died in transit after surrendering during one of the regime's last stands, according to a State Department report from 2002.

Witnesses have claimed that forces with the U.S.-allied Northern Alliance placed the prisoners in sealed cargo containers over the two-day voyage to Sheberghan Prison, suffocating them and then burying them en masse using bulldozers to move the bodies, according to the State Department report. Some Northern Alliance soldiers have said that some of their troops opened fire on the containers, killing those within.

Dostum, the Northern Alliance general who is accused of overseeing the atrocities, has previously denied the allegations.

A former U.S. ambassador for war crimes issues, Pierre Prosper, told the Times that the Bush administration was reluctant to investigate the deaths, even though Dostum was on the payroll of the CIA and his soldiers worked with U.S. special forces in 2001.

Dostum was suspended from his military post last year on suspicion of threatening a political rival, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai recently rehired him, the Times reported.

Palin Report Overstates Costs Of Ethics Complaints: $30,000 An Hour Attorney?

2009-07-11T02:55:18Z

There's some double counting and other problems with a spreadsheet outlining $1.9 million in state costs for ethics complaints, public records requests and lawsuits directed at Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

Obama Suggests Sanctions For Iran: Analysis

2009-07-11T02:41:20Z

WASHINGTON — After a half-year of extending patient feelers to Iran, President Barack Obama has set a timeline _ warning Tehran it must show willingness to negotiate an end to its nuclear program by September or face consequences.

If the West weighs new moves against Iran this fall, as Obama suggested Friday, it will likely mean new U.N. sanctions or unilateral U.S. penalties, rather than military strikes.

Obama told reporters in Italy, where he met with other world leaders, that there is now a September "time frame" for Iran to respond to offers to discuss its nuclear program. While he did not call it a deadline, he said the world cannot afford to wait long for Iran to make its intentions clear.

"We're not going to just wait indefinitely and allow for the development of the nuclear weapon," he said.

Obama said that in September "we will re-evaluate Iran's posture toward negotiating the cessation of a nuclear weapons policy." If by then it has not accepted the offer of talks, the United States and "potentially a lot of other countries" are going to say "we need to take further steps," he said.

The president did not say what steps he has in mind. He mentioned neither sanctions nor military force. But it seems clear that a next step to pressure Iran would entail some form of sanctions.

"The administration and the other powers would probably like to leave the toughest forms of sanctions to be used if they feel that diplomacy has not gone anywhere _ not in this pre-diplomacy period," said Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council, which supports expanded U.S.-Iranian contacts.

Working against Obama's expression of urgency is the political paralysis in Tehran, where protesters this week sought to revive street demonstrations over the country's disputed presidential election. Iranian authorities, while accusing the U.S. and other Western countries of secretly instigating the protests, seem likely to put nuclear negotiations on the back burner until the election dust settles.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley acknowledged as much on Friday, saying, "This (postelection turmoil) has clearly diverted the attention of the Iranian government from offers of engagement."

At the Group of Eight summit in Italy, world leaders issued a joint statement deploring Iran's crackdown on protesters. They also said they remain committed to finding a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue and said that in September they would "take stock of the situation" on the nuclear front.

Jon B. Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center For Strategic and International Studies, said that if reports of rifts among some of Iran's ruling clerics are true, then it will be hard for the government to agree on a policy response to the West's offer of direct negotiations.

He sees the prospect of movement toward sanctions this fall. That could mean any combination of additional financial penalties, trade restrictions, limits on travel by Iranian government officials and other actions.

"Clearly the world is moving toward presenting Iran a choice" between diplomacy and isolation, Alterman said.

Before the June election, the Obama administration had figured that once the result was in, the Tehran government could be expected to make clear whether it intends to take up the offers of nuclear talks.

"All of that has been completely put on its head" by the postelection turmoil, said Parsi. He believes Iran's political paralysis will continue as long the protest movement is alive.

But the clock keeps ticking, moving Iran closer to obtaining the nuclear bomb that the U.S. and much of the rest of the world says it cannot be allowed.

By U.S. estimates, Iran is one to three years away from the capability to make nuclear weapons. Some think they are closer, and the fact is that no one outside Iran really knows. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council _ Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States _ as well as Germany have offered Iran incentives to stop reprocessing uranium that could fuel a nuclear bomb.

Iran so far has ignored the offer and continues to amass enriched uranium, sparking grave fears, especially in Israel, which has not ruled out military strikes to deal with the threat.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insists the program is intended only for peaceful nuclear purposes.

The U.S. has not publicly ruled out using military force against Iran, but it seems far from that stage.

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday that military action could backfire.

"I worry a great deal about the response of a country that gets struck," he said. "It is a really important place to not go, if we cannot go there in any way, shape or form."

___

Editor's Note: Robert Burns has covered national security and military affairs for the AP since 1990.

AIG In Talks With U.S. Over Another $250 Million In Bonuses

2009-07-11T02:25:07Z

American International Group's recent discussions with President Obama's compensation czar have centered on whether the company should pay about $250 million in promised bonuses that come due during the next nine months.

Cash-Strapped Boston Zoo May Be Forced To Close Doors, Euthanize Animals

2009-07-11T02:11:13Z

The Franklin Park Zoo, an inner-city Boston institution that has drawn generations of city and suburban families, may be forced to close its doors and possibly euthanize some of its animals as a result of the deep budget cuts imposed by Governor Deval Patrick, zoo officials said today.

Porn-Blaring Man To Take Anger Management Classes

2009-07-11T02:06:23Z

PHOENIXVILLE, Pa. — A suburban Philadelphia man has agreed to take anger management classes for blaring a pornographic soundtrack to chase away kids playing outside his home. Michael Buck was arrested May 31 at his upscale Phoenixville cul-de-sac after irate neighbors told police they could hear the sexually explicit audio a block-and-a-half away.

The 27-year-old man will also perform 20 hours of community service under terms of a 90-day agreement reached in court Thursday.

If Buck complies with the terms, he'll return to court in October and plead guilty to a noise violation charge. He had faced more serious charges of corruption of minors and disorderly conduct.

Neighbors at the hearing said they're satisfied with the agreement.

___

Information from: The Mercury, http://www.pottsmerc.com

Obama Leading Pawlenty By 11 Points In Minnesota: Survey

2009-07-11T01:32:41Z

Minnesota continues to make news this week. Following word from Ohio that Barack Obama's approval numbers have edged down into mere mortal range, a new survey from Public Policy Polling of Minnesotans--those lucky souls now boasting a full contingent of two US senators--shows Obama beating Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty in a potential head-to-head presidential matchup, 51 percent to 40 percent.

Chaz Bono Steps Out With Girlfriend Jennifer Elia (PHOTOS)

2009-07-11T00:34:22Z

Cher's son Chaz Bono made his first public appearance since announcing his female-male gender transition. Thursday he and girlfriend Jennifer Elia came to the 2009 Outfest film festival's opening night gala of 'La Mission' in LA.

Also there were some of the movie's stars, like Benjamin Bratt, whose brother Peter directed the San Francisco-set drama, and other supporters.

PHOTOS:

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Michelle Obama In Ghana (PHOTOS)

2009-07-11T00:30:27Z

The first family started their day at the Vatican, and ended it in Ghana.

For her arrival in Africa, Michelle Obama wore a classic look: a slim-fitting black dress, a strand of pearls, and her hair in a bun.

See photos below. The slideshow will be updated throughout the visit.

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Barbara Corcoran, The Jim Cramer Of The Real Estate Business

2009-07-11T00:01:34Z

It's pouring rain outside, but in a green room at the "Today" show's Rockefeller Center studios, the sun is shining in the form of Barbara Corcoran. Cue cards? Check. Coffee with cream and copious amounts of sugar? Check. Almost every Friday, the pixieish real estate queen with the short blonde hair comes here in her shiny, fluorescent suits and delivers her ebullient shtick about what a great time it is to buy a home, recession be damned.