US Politics Special: Dream On --- Congress Turns Back the DREAM Act for Immigrants

President Obama still retains options to address the issue of immigration reform, including possible use of his executive order powers, but he appears to be caught between a rock and a hard place: declare an amnesty for the children of illegal aliens, risking a political backlash, or accept the suspension of the legislation. Onn one side, he faces a resurgent opposition committed to tougher controls to stop more immigrants entering America and to laws, like Arizona’s SB 1070, encouraging illegal aliens to leave the country. On the other side, there is a growing demographic of Hispanic voters –-- who some analysts are now crediting with providing the votes that helped Democrats retain a majority in the Senate --- whose top priority is an easing of the requirements for undocumented aliens to gain legal status.

Click to read more ...

Belarus Updates: US Declares Elections Illegitimate

UPDATE 1915 GMT: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports that opposition candidate Vladimir Neklyayev, who was hospitalised on Sunday after he was beaten unconscious by police, was subsequently snatched from his hospital bed by men in plainclothes.

Now See Wednesday's Updates: 5 Presidential Candidates, 12 Others Accused of "Organising Riots"

UPDATE 1900 GMT: Activists claim that independent exit polls showed President Alexander Lukashenko was preferred by 40% of voters, followed by Vladimir Neklyayev with 19.3% and Andrei Sannikov with 13%.

The official return declared Lukashenko the victor with 80%, with no opponent getting more than 2.56%. Neklyayev was reportedly beaten unconscious and taken to hospital during Sunday protests.

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (21 December): Tremors

2030 GMT: Diplomatic Protest. Twenty leading MPs, including Ahmad Tavakoli, Ali Motahari, and Elyas Naderan, have written to Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani to protest last week's dismissal of Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. The MPs have demanded that Parliament's National Security Commission "address the issue as soon as possible".

1850 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. Thomas Erdbrink (see 1840 GMT) also reports that business in department stores had fallen off even though Iranians are celebrating Shab-e Yalda, their festival for the winter solstice.

1840 GMT: The Truckers' Strike. Interesting news from Thomas Erdbrink of The Washington Post in Tehran....

Click to read more ...

US Surveillance Special: Your Government is Watching You...More and More (Priest/Arkin)

Nine years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, the United States is assembling a vast domestic intelligence apparatus to collect information about Americans, using the FBI, local police, state homeland security offices and military criminal investigators.

The system, by far the largest and most technologically sophisticated in the nation's history, collects, stores and analyzes information about thousands of U.S. citizens and residents, many of whom have not been accused of any wrongdoing.

The government's goal is to have every state and local law enforcement agency in the country feed information to Washington to buttress the work of the FBI, which is in charge of terrorism investigations in the United States.

Click to read more ...

WikiLeaks Follow-Up: Columbia University to Students "You Can Discuss the Documents"

"Last Tuesday, SIPA’s Office of Career Services received a call from a former student currently employed by the U.S. Department of State who pointed out that the U.S. government documents released during the past few months through WikiLeaks are still considered classified.  The caller suggested that students who will be applying for federal jobs that require background checks avoid posting links to these documents or making comments about them on social media sites such as Facebook or through Twitter."

Click to read more ...

So You Think You Know Iran? An IQ Test for Foreigners (Nabavi)

Q1: You are on the right-hand side of a street. How do you get to the left-hand side?

A1: Find a pedestrian crosswalk and stand there at the curb. No driver will yield and allow you to cross the street, but don't give up! Thirty more people will gradually gather at the crosswalk. You will all start to chant "Death to the dictator!" The police will immediately swoop in and detain you and the others. Approximately six months later, you will be dropped off on the left-hand side of the street.

Click to read more ...

US Politics, Obama, and Congress: Tax Cut Deal Opens Up Splits among Democrats...and Republicans

President Obama; Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnellThe only coherent story emerging after a chaotic week in Washington is that no one is happy with recent events in Congress. Against the backdrop of a recent Gallup poll showing that 83% of Americans disapprove of the way Congress is working --- a 30-year historic low ---, Steny Hoyer, the Democrat Majority Leader in the House of Representatives, announced on Friday: “There are at least 434 of my colleagues who are not happy about anything right now.” Then, noting that there are 435 members of the House, he added, "I want you to know I will make that a unanimous judgment. I'm not happy, either."

There is similar discontent in the Senate, where members sat in a rare weekend session to attempt to settle the contentious issues of the DREAM Act, supporting education for the children of illegal aliens, and the repeal of the "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" restriction on gays and lesbians in the US military. While there was some resolution --- the DADT provision was overturned, while the DREAM Act failed to pass ---unhappiness inside and outside of Washington with the current political process is sure to continue.

Click to read more ...

Iran Document: The Family of Detained Journalist Nourizad Write the Supreme Leader

Mohammad Reza Nourizad, journalist and filmmaker, has been imprisoned since March, primarily because of letters he wrote to the Supreme Leader about the post-election crisis in Iran. He reportedly has been on hunger strike for more than a week, and other reports says he has been hospitalised.

Last week, the family of Nourizad and the wife of the detained reformist leader Mostafa Tajzadeh gathered in front of Evin Prison. They were accosted by security forces and detained for several hours. Nourizad's wife was reportedly sent to hospital with heart complaints after she was released.

On Saturday, the Nourizad family posted this open letter to Ayatollah Khamenei:

Click to read more ...

Belarus Video: Thousands of Anti-Government Protestors Storm Government Building

Footage of protests in Minsk and a report on the demonstrations from Russia Today. The crowd assembled outside a Government building after Belarus elections gave President Aleksandr Lukashenko 79% of the vote on Sunday. See also the story, "Police Beat Back Anti-Government Protest over Elections".

Russia Today's Raw Footage for Its Report (see below)

Click to read more ...

The Latest from Iran (20 December): Gasoline, Bread, and Diplomacy

1754 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Detained attorney Nasrin Sotoudeh has ended her hunger strike.

Sotoudeh's refusal of food and water was her third since she was detained in early September.

1750 GMT: Subsidy Cuts Watch. Fars reports that the "real" price of bread will be posted tomorrow.

1745 GMT: Policing Cyber-Knowledge. Peyke reports that Iranian authorities have blocked the websites of Google Books, 4Shared, and Dehkhoda Encyclopedia.

1615 GMT: Corruption Watch. Iran Prosecutor General Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei has said that 1st Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi will have to stand trial on corruption charges.

Click to read more ...