When your inauguration party is being snubbed by all and sundry, it doesn't do to be too fussy about the guest list.

So when a host of senior clerics and political luminaries announced they were boycotting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's endorsement ceremony to protest against his disputed re-election, his aides decided that past indiscretions would be no barrier to filling the empty seats.

Among those present at yesterday's event was Dariush Farziayi, aka Amoo Pourang (Uncle Pourang), presenter of a popular children's TV phone-in programme recently pulled from the schedules after a young caller revealed live on air that his toy monkey was named Ahmadinejad.

Farziayi was among a group of celebrities invited to make up the numbers after leading officials and opposition figures, including former presidents Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, as well as relatives of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, declined to attend.

At least one senior adviser to the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – who endorsed Ahmadinejad for a second term – and Mir Hossein Mousavi, the leading reformist candidate who claims the June election was stolen from him, were also absent.

In their place was a non-political list of figures from the sporting and entertainment world, including Iran's national football team coach, Afshin Ghotbi, an Olympic gold medal-wining weightlifter nicknamed the "Iranian Hercules", Hossein Rezazadeh and several actors.

A state TV presenter, Iman Merati, was forced to shut his blog after receiving more than 2,000 abusive messages – many of them obscene – from respondents furious over an interview last weekend with two jailed opposition figures, Mohammad Ali Abtahi and Mohammad Atrianfar, in which they "confessed" to having falsely called Ahmadinejad's re-election fraudulent.

The two had earlier read a confession at a show trial involving more than 100 detained reformists.

It's enough to make you sick.

Cops painted a mind-boggling picture of death driver Diane Schuler on Tuesday - guzzling vodka and smoking pot with helpless kids in tow before the horrific Taconic State Parkway crash.

The 36-year-old mom drank so much she could barely see. She still had alcohol in her stomach when she crashed, killing herself, her daughter, three nieces and three men in an SUV she hit, police said.

Toxicology tests did not show what she drank, but a jumbo 1.75-liter bottle of Absolut vodka was found in the wreckage of her Ford Windstar minivan.

She consumed at least 10 ounces of liquor during the reckless 90-mile drive from a campground in Sullivan County to Briarcliff Manor in Westchester County, police said.

She smoked pot within an hour of driving the wrong way on the Taconic heading home to Long Island, police said.

The revelations brought outrage from the family of the men killed in the SUV - but silence from Schuler's relatives.

"I'm stunned that anybody would do that with kids in the car," said Robert Guzzo, whose brother-in-law and father-in-law were killed. "I'm very angry. This was not an accident ; it was a murder."

The July26 crash was ruled a homicide and referred to the Westchester County district attorney, but police don't expect charges.

The toxicology tests came as a shock after police initially said it didn't appear Schuler was drunk. Results came in Friday. Cops waited until the burials of the victims to release the results of the tests.

Killed in the Windstar were Schuler's 2-year-old daughter, Erin, and Schuler's nieces Emma Hance, 9, Alison Hance, 7, and Kate Hance, 5. Five-year-old Brian Schuler was the lone survivor.

Three Yonkers men in the SUV died - Guy Bastardi, 49, his father, Michael Bastardi, 81, and family friend Daniel Longo, 74.

"We got very devastating news today," Michael Bastardi Jr. said .

Schuler's blood-alcohol level was 0.19% - more than twice the legal limit, cops said. She had 6 grams of undigested alcohol in her stomach when she died.

"She would have had difficulty with her perception, with her judgment and her memory," said Betsy Spratt, the Westchester County toxicology examiner.

"Around that level of alcohol you start to get tunnel vision where you can't see peripherally all the time." Marijuana intensifies the effects.

Police could not say if Schuler got wasted while driving or stopped along the way. It was unclear if she was drinking before she got behind the wheel to drive the children home from camping.

Her husband, Daniel Schuler, told cops that his wife was fine when they left about 9:30 a.m. He drove one car straight home to West Babylon, L.I., while she took the kids to McDonald's.

Ann Scott, 77, who owns the campsite the family visited for three years, saw Schuler off.

"I got pretty close to her and waved goodbye," she said. "If she had alcohol in her breath, I would have smelled it."

Schuler drove erratically along much of the route. About 1 p.m., she called brother Warren Hance and said she was sick. At 1:30 p.m., Schuler entered the northbound Taconic via an exit ramp. She drove 1.7 miles the wrong way before plowing into the Bastardis.

"I don't even want to think about if the brother knew what she was doing and let those kids get in the car," Guzzo said.

How much Schuler's loved ones knew is a mystery.

"At this point we're getting limited information from the family," said Maj. William Carey of the state police.

The family was notified of the test results Friday, police said. The day before, Schuler and the four girls were laid to rest.

At the funeral, Hance lovingly remembered his three daughters and paid tribute to Schuler's "miracle" boy, Brian. He didn't say a word about his sister.

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"I'm just completely excited for the family and looking forward to seeing them flying home with Bill Clinton," said Marcus Marquez, who went to high school with Ling in Carmichael, a Sacramento suburb.

He added their families were not going to be fully relieved until "they're in their arms."

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US journalists released by North Korea

The pair were reported to be in good health following their ordeal.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il ordered the journalists released after meeting with Mr Clinton, who arrived in North Korea earlier in the day on an unannounced visit. Mr Clinton left the country with both journalists aboard his plane, his spokesman Matt McKenna said. The group have since landed in Japan and will continue their journey to Los Angeles later today.

It has emerged that Mr Clinton offered no apology for the conduct of the two journalists.

"The answer is no," an official said when asked about reports by North Korea;s official media that Mr Clinton had apologised.

Earlier, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il agreed to pardon the reporters after the former president "expressed words of sincere apology" for their "hostile acts."

In June, the nation's top court sentenced Ling, 32, and Lee, 36, to 12 years of hard labor for sneaking into the country illegally and engaging in "hostile acts."

The journalists were working for former Vice President Al Gore's Current TV media venture when North Korean guards seized them in March near the country's border with China.

The journalists' detention came at a time of heightened tension between the U.S. and North Korea over that country's nuclear program.

The U.N. Security Council also has imposed sanctions against North Korea for a May nuclear test.

The families of the two women, who had sent letters pleading for the women's release, issued a joint statement thanking President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the U.S. State Department for their work.

"We especially want to thank President Bill Clinton for taking on such an arduous mission and Vice President Al Gore for his tireless efforts to bring Laura and Euna home," according to the statement posted on a Web site dedicated to freeing the two journalists.

Ling's father, Doug, told reporters outside his home in Carmichael that his daughter's release was one of the best days of his life.

"It's one of the few times something positive has happened to me, besides having the two girls," Doug Ling said, referring to Ling and her sister, Lisa.

Doug Ling said he was heading to Southern California to meet his daughter, who he said was scheduled to fly into the Burbank airport, just north of Los Angeles, early Wednesday.

"I'm going to go down there and see my little girl," Doug Ling said.

Brandon Yip, who is married to Ling's cousin, said the first thing he'll tell Ling when she returns is, "Don't ever do that again."

Yip, who is the worship pastor at Bayside Covenant Church in California, said he prayed throughout the ordeal and felt confident the women would return home. He said he was grateful someone of Clinton's stature was able to negotiate their release.

"I think it needed to be somebody like that," Mr Yip said. "I'm grateful that they finally got to that point where they could at least come together and talk."

Securing his status as an international handshake-for-hire, former President Bill Clinton flew to North Korea Tuesday on a high-stakes diplomatic mission to negotiate the release of two jailed American journalists.

It's unclear how involved the White House was in Clinton's trip, which state media say resulted in a pardon from Kim Jong Il. But one thing was certain: Clinton's wife -- Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has been the face of the administration's efforts to bring North Korea back to the table over its nuclear program -- was not there. The secretary was in Africa on a seven-nation tour.

So ... why Bill?

International affairs analysts say the former president offers something the North Koreans crave -- status and bragging rights. His visit could be considered ransom by itself. Plus Hillary Clinton and Pyongyang aren't exactly simpatico these days, after she and the North Koreans got in a lowbrow war of words during her trip to Asia last month.

"Let's face it. He is a rock star of sorts. And they probably get the most sort of payback, or payoff if you will, from having a visit from him as opposed to the other candidates," said Jim Walsh, a research associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies international security.

The former president, who met with leader Kim Jong Il and the two journalists before apparently winning their release, appears to have been the first choice for the job over several other potential one-shot envoys.

Aside from the secretary of state, other logical choices included former U.N. Ambassador Bill Richardson, who has traveled to the country on similar missions previously; former President Jimmy Carter, who made a tension-defusing visit in 1994; and former Vice President Al Gore, who co-founded the Current TV channel the jailed journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, worked for.

Walsh said he thought Richardson would be tapped to go, but he noted the bad blood between Richardson and the Clintons following Richardson's endorsement of Barack Obama during last year's Democratic presidential primaries.

Robert Hathaway, director of the Asia Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, said Carter is probably one of the only other people who could have made the trip, recalling that he played an "invaluable role" under the Clinton administration despite White House anxiety over that trip at the time.

But when it comes to international cachet, Bill Clinton has the goods. Hathaway said the North Koreans would place an "extraordinary value" on his visit.

As for Hillary Clinton, Hathaway said: "It's certainly a good guess to surmise that she might not have been in the best position to carry out this mission successfully at this point."

During the secretary of state's trip to Asia last month, she touched off a strangely personal spat with the North Koreans after she compared them to "unruly children" demanding attention.

In response, North Korea's foreign ministry called Clinton a "funny lady" who sometimes "looks like a primary schoolgirl and sometimes a pensioner going shopping." The ministry was quoted as calling her remarks "vulgar" and saying "she is by no means intelligent."

The State Department returned fire, saying North Korea's path of isolation will doom the country to a "dismal future."

Doug Bandow, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, said it might be too soon for the secretary of state to show her face before the North Koreans.

"You can eat crow a few months down the line, but trying to eat crow a month or two after, that's a little too recent," Bandow said.

More importantly, Bandow said the Obama administration surely did not want to make the visit an official one by sending its top diplomat.

"I think it's probably a smart way to do it," he said, since Bill Clinton is not a member of the administration, yet he carries stature that is virtually unsurpassed on the world stage.

Though it might appear that the secretary of state is once again on the sidelines -- after grappling with such chatter as she tended to a broken elbow stateside in June and July -- White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs repeated what Clinton herself said last month. She's still part of the team.

Gibbs said Clinton, who landed Tuesday in Kenya, is busier than ever, pointing to her international travel schedule as he tried to debunk a similar narrative coming out about White House counsel Greg Craig. An article in The Wall Street Journal said Craig's job was at stake, which Gibbs denied.

Gibbs also denied reports in North and South Korean media that Bill Clinton had passed on a message from Obama to Kim Jong Il.

"That's not true," Gibbs said. He refused to speak in detail about the mission, citing the sensitivity of the trip.

"I think we're obviously talking about something that's extremely sensitive," he said. "We will have more to say on this hopefully later on."

Analysts, though, said Clinton must have made the trip in coordination with the White House. And they said it's highly unlikely that he went to North Korea without some assurance that he would be able to win the release of the Americans.

"President Clinton is a careful politician, even if he's retired, and he's not going to set himself up for failure. So he would have wanted assurances in advance," Walsh said.

Aside from the release of the journalists, Clinton's meeting with Kim, who is reportedly ailing and setting up his own succession, could also eventually provide the opening for North Korea to return to its long-empty seat at the negotiating table over its nuclear program.

Bandow called the visit a "preliminary step" in moving forward the broader negotiations.

Verizon is opening its Widget Bazaar up to third-party developers to create a richer application store for its Fios TV service.
(Credit: Verizon Communications)

Verizon Communications is about to open up its new Widget Bazaar to third-party developers to create an "app store" for its Fios TV service in a move that could forever change how people watch TV.

Verizon first announced the Widget Bazaar just a couple of weeks ago. Initially, the company described it as a storefront for new widgets or applications developed by Verizon partners for its Fios TV customers. At the time, Verizon executives downplayed the possibility of a sprawling Widget Bazaar teeming with thousands of applications developed by third parties.

Twitter widget for Fios TV.
(Credit: Verizon Communications)

But now Verizon is making it clear that the company has much bigger ambitions for the Fios TV app store, which includes opening its APIs and software development kit to third-party software developers. It also plans to create a process for approving those applications. And like the VCast app store, which was announced last week for new wireless applications, Verizon plans to allow developers to charge for their applications, and it will provide hooks into the company's billing systems so that developers can charge for their applications.

"From the beginning we said we wanted Fios to be a platform for innovation," Verizon CIO Shaygan Kheradpir said. "So we are not limiting innovation to any particular circle of developers. But we are taking things one step at a time. And we will start with applications from our partners, and then we'll move toward opening it up to third-party developers."

Details of how applications will be approved haven't been revealed, but it's likely the business arrangement for the Widget Bazaar will be similar to that of the newly announced VCast app store, which means that developers will likely keep 70 percent of revenue from their applications, while giving 30 percent to Verizon. This is the same ratio Apple uses in divvying up revenue for its popular iTunes App Store.

Kheradpir said Verizon will provide more details in the fourth quarter when it makes the Widget Bazaar developer SDK available.

Enhancing TV viewing
The first two applications created for the new Widget Bazaar were for the social-networking applications, Twitter and Facebook. Kheradpir wouldn't share usage numbers, but he said he has been surprised by the quick uptake in usage over the past couple of weeks. And already the company is evolving the applications based on subscriber feedback. For example, when the widgets launched, Fios TV subscribers were only able to read and access only basic information through the Twitter and Facebook services. But as of this past weekend, users are now able to post updates both on Twitter and Facebook.

Even as the company adds more functionality to the existing Widget services, Kheradpir said the company is being careful not to re-create the Web experience on the TV. This is a lesson that Verizon and others marching down the IPTV path have learned from Microsoft's early WebTV efforts in the late 1990s.

WebTV, which came with a keyboard, allowed people to surf the Net on their TVs. But Kheradpir argued that "surfing" isn't exactly what people want to do when they're sitting in front of their TVs.

"People don't necessarily want a full browser on their TV," he explained. "TV viewing is still very much a sitting back experience. And what people really want is a service that is relevant to the TV viewing experience and also provides a simple interface with one click access."

Kheradpir said that Verizon is not trying to completely change the act of watching TV, but instead the company is looking to enhance the TV viewing experience. He thinks that Verizon can do this by providing interactive applications that are contextually relevant to users and the media they are consuming.

This means allowing Twitter subscribes to view in real time Tweets about the TV shows or live events they're watching. The way it works is that the screen is split into two sections. And on one side a small window plays the video, while on the other side of the screen, the tweets fill up the screen.

On a personal note, Kheradpir said he found that linking Twitter to his Fios TV service actually improved his experience of watching the Academy Awards. The new Fios TV Twitter widget was being beta tested when the live awards ceremony aired in February.

"Awards shows like the Oscars can be really boring," he said. "But when I could watch it with the live Twitter feed, it was really funny. When Danny Boyle (director of the award winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire") took the stage, everyone started Tweeting, "Why is Rudy Guiliani up there?' I hadn't thought about it, but then I realized he does look a lot like Guiliani. It was really funny."

Kheradpir, who says he now relies on Twitter for breaking news updates, also said that Twitter on Fios allows people to be engaged in the discussion right from their couch. Instead of viewers being talked at by newscasters and others on TV, they can now contribute to the dialogue and discussion. And if their views are insightful, the Twitter community rewards them by re-tweeting their comments.

It shouldn't come as a big surprise that people would want to be more engaged while watching TV. Over the past decade since the Microsoft WebTV experiment came and went, the Internet itself has turned into a much more interactive medium. News stories posted on the Web encourage reader feedback with "Talk Back" sections. People have created their own blogs to share their views. User-generated video sites like YouTube have exploded. And now social-networking platforms like Facebook and Twitter allow people to easily link to other items on the Web and share their views on various topics.

And as people become increasingly more mobile, these tools have moved to cell phones, allowing people to remain engaged and interact with one another on the go.

But Kheradpir also believes that creating new applications for the TV is also about leveraging the big, expensive flat-screen HDTVs that people have in their living rooms. And he believes that for many people, sharing their digital content on the biggest screen they own makes sense.

"I've been shocked at the number of Fios TV subscribers who are streaming pictures from their Facebook pages onto their TVs in the past two weeks," he said. "But it's obvious when you think about why people want to look at pictures from Facebook on the living room screen. It is the biggest and best screen in the house."

Kheradpir added that these screens are the most underutilized technology in the home today. And he is probably right. With many digital cameras offering picture quality of 10 megapixels or more, it makes sense to view those photos on the largest screen possible.

For more than a year, Verizon has been offering Fios TV subscribers the ability to access their digital pictures and music stored on home PCs on TVs anywhere in the house. But now the company is allowing subscribers to also view their home videos on TVs throughout the home. And they will soon be able to attach any device with an SD memory card, like a digital camera or a cell phone, to also view and share pictures, video, and music throughout the home.

Verizon will offer an online simulator to allow developers to test their Widget Bazaar applications.
(Credit: Verizon Communications)

Using these basic capabilities in the Fios TV platform, Kheradpir said he envisions developers creating all kinds of new applications. For example, he said a new application could be created that allows people to stream Internet radio while syncing a picture slide show from a laptop or BlackBerry phone.

Kheradpir said the opportunity for developers to create new applications that take advantage of these capabilities is huge. As of the end of the second quarter of 2009, Verizon reported it had more than 2.5 million Verizon Fios TV subscribers. And because most people have multiple TVs in their home, this translates to about 8 million TV screens that developers can access through their applications, he said.

While he couldn't provide too many details since the SDK won't be available until later this year, he did say that Verizon has already created a Web site, code.verizon.com, where developers can go to share ideas and offer suggestions. It will be through this Web site that the SDK will be released, and it will also be the place where developers can submit their applications for approval on the Widget Bazaar.

He also said that the company plans to offer an online simulator to allow developers unable to access the Fios service because they're not located in Verizon's Fios territory to test their applications.

While Verizon's cable competitors are also leveraging their IP networks to offer new services to their subscribers, so far, no one else has opened its network to third party software developers. Still, Verizon is by no means the only company dabbling in widgets for the TV.

The most well-known competitor in this areas is Yahoo with its TV Widgets platform. Yahoo has partnered with HDTV and Blu-ray player manufactures to get its widget technology embedded in the hardware. Some of the manufacturers it's working with include LG, Samsung, Sony and Vizio. Using these TVs or Blu-ray players, users can get access to content from Netflix, Twitter, and Flickr through the Yahoo TV Widgets.

But Kheradpir doesn't seem worried about Yahoo or others who embed technology into consumer electronics products. He said that Verizon's value is in offering its subscribers a total solution.

"Our job is to make it as easy as possible for consumers to consume the applications or services they want to use," he said. "We make it simple."

Just outside Hill Air Force Base, near Ogden, Utah, visitors come to see the Hill Aerospace Museum, a diverse historical collection of military aircraft.

CNET News reporter Daniel Terdiman visited as part of Road Trip 2009.

Pictured here is the Douglas C-124C "Globemaster II," which was delivered to the U.S. Air Force in 1955. With a crew of eight, four Pratt & Whitney R-4360 engines, a range of 2,175 miles and a cost of $1.646 million, the plane was assigned to the 15th Air Transport Squadron of the Military Air Transport Service, in Dover, Delaware.

The plane had a maximum weight of 216,000 pounds, was 48 feet 4 inches tall, and 130 feet long.

Click here for the entire Road Trip 2009 package.

Photo by Daniel Terdiman/CNET

That famous phrase from George H.W. Bush came as he accepted his party's presidential nomination at the Republican National Committee convention in 1988.

At the time, it was exactly the red meat Republicans were looking for. But campaigning and governing are two very different things.

Bush was elected as the nation was slipping into a recession. When confronted with a growing national deficit, he had to find a source of revenue.

That revenue came in the way of raising taxes, a move that especially rankled members of the GOP and became an issue for Democrats to run on in 1992. Democrat Bill Clinton was swept into the White House.

Pushing forward to 2009, another president may have trekked onto the same territory.

On Monday, the White House sought to shoot down concerns that middle-class families may face a tax increase in order to combat rising deficits and a struggling economy after its two top money men floated the idea that tax increases to fund the nation's economic recovery could extend beyond the wealthiest Americans.

"The president was clear during the campaign about his commitment on not raising taxes on middle-class families," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday afternoon. "I don't think any economist would believe that, in the environment that we're in, that raising taxes on middle-class families would make any sense."

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers, director of the National Economic Council, said Sunday that they could no longer guarantee that the middle class will be spared a tax increase.

When pressed Monday on Geithner's and Summers' comments, Gibbs said, "they allowed themselves to get into a little hypothetical back-and-forth." Video Watch Gibbs tackle the question »
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* White House steadfast on pledge of no middle-class tax increase
* Grade Obama on the economy

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama said over and over that the middle class -- which he defined as anyone making less than $250,000 -- would not face any tax increase.

"If you make under $250,000, you will not see your taxes increased by a single dime. Not your income tax. Not your payroll tax. Not your capital gains tax. No tax," he said at a campaign event in 2008.

But as with most presidents dealing with soaring deficits, raising taxes is often a necessary evil, no matter the political costs.

"Clearly, the administration is looking for ways to pay for things, including health care. ... They may have to look for other alternatives," said Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report.

CNN Senior Business Correspondent Ali Velshi argues that the deficit problem is a must-tackle for any administration.

"You've got to fix [the deficit problem]. Because if you don't, it's going to start to hurt everybody, and I think that's what the president's financial advisers and all of those economists are saying: 'Guys, we've got to address this head-on,' And that means lowering the volume on the talk of no new taxes."

James Horney, a director at the nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said that although it's not favorable to raises taxes during an economic slowdown, there has to be a mechanism in place to rein in spending and pay for key Obama programs, such as health care and economic recovery.

"It's clear that as we come out of this economic downturn, we really need to turn our attention to the longer-term deficit problem and take steps that will bring the deficit under control, which will, I believe, necessarily lead to dealing both with reductions in spending and increases in revenue," he added.

"It takes a balance to approach both revenues and spending, and it takes basically putting everything on the table ... taking a good hard look on how best to increase revenues and cut spending."

But should Obama ultimately go against his campaign pledge and decide to raise taxes on the middle class, he could face a bipartisan backlash, given the current anti-tax climate. Video Watch more on the controversy »

Republicans would simply "attack and say, 'there you go; we told you he was a big taxer,' Rothenberg said.

The other factor for Obama would be with fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrats and other Democrats who stood with Obama on the middle class tax pledge.

CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider said, "Republicans are going to jump all over this."

He added that it is very likely that the next time Obama takes questions from the press, "a reporter will ask him whether he endorses or repudiates what Summers and Geithner said."

So is there a way for Obama to raise taxes on the middle class -- despite his repeated campaign promises -- and still remain in good standing with the same constituency?

"By arguing as George Bush, the dad, did. That it was needed. That he had to have this money to fund a variety of things to bring down the deficit," CNN Senior Political Correspondent Candy Crowley said.

Rothenberg said that such a move by the Obama administration "wouldn't have quite the same response in his party that the first George Bush felt when he said 'no new taxes' and turned around and agreed to raise taxes."

"Because the anti-tax fervor is so strong in the Republican Party, than it is in the Democratic Party, so while this president wouldn't particularly suffer from backlash among Democrats ... his greater problem would be among independents and Republicans who will then use that," he said.

And the backlash has begun.

"I think that what the secretary and Mr. Summers said Sunday is actually more true than the press secretary [Robert Gibbs] tried to make it out to be [the next day]," Sen. John Kyl, R-Arizona, said Monday. "It's simply a recognition of a reality that you can't pay for all of this and not impose taxes on middle Americans."
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His colleague Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, said it was likely that Geithner and Summers "were taken to the woodshed" by Obama for their comments on the Sunday talk shows.

When asked about that, Gibbs said they simply had a discussion of the economic situation.
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All About Taxes • Barack Obama • George H.W. Bush

It would be wise to adopt the precautionary principle when thinking about the implications of Bill Clinton's visit to North Korea.

The former US president might well get the release of the two American journalists held by the North Koreans - otherwise, why would he have been welcomed?

But equally it is impossible to be confident that North Korea is suddenly going to change the policies that have resulted in its ability to explode a nuclear device.

Optimists will point to the changed atmosphere since the election of US President Barack Obama, who has dropped the "axis of evil" talk of his predecessor, George W Bush.

And the fact that Bill Clinton has gone perhaps indicates a readiness by North Korea to discuss something wider than freedom for two reporters.

It was on Mr Clinton's watch as US president that an agreement was reached - though later abandoned - to freeze the North's nuclear weapons programme.

However, even if there is some movement - such as the North agreeing to rejoin the six-party talks on its nuclear activities - the question will be how long that change will last until the next reversal.

Previous missions

With North Korea, it is usually one step forward and two steps backwards.

Kim Jong Il visits a military unit (Yonhap, October 2008)
Kim Jong-il has moved North Korea towards a military-first policy

There have been similar rescue missions to the North before and they did not impact on the strategic position.

Authoritarian and dictatorial regimes often like to be courted and asked for favours. Sometimes they grant them and then continue as before.

In 1994, Bill Richardson, then a US congressman, was in Asia on a congressional visit when a US army helicopter was brought down on the wrong side of the demarcation line.

Mr Richardson managed to persuade North Korea to free the surviving pilot and release the body of the other. But the US had to issue a statement of "sincere regret" at the incident.

Not long afterwards, Mr Richardson got the release of two Americans from Iraq, then ruled by Saddam Hussein. It was said that no deal was done and certainly the Iraqi leader's policies did not change.

In 2007, we saw Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad smiling and shaking hands with 15 British sailors and marines seized in the Gulf. Iran carried on with its nuclear policies anyway.

Carter intervention

The most important intervention with North Korea was carried out in 1994, not for humanitarian reasons, but for reasons of international security.

At the time, just before Mr Richardson's mission, North Korea was forging ahead with nuclear development. The US seriously feared that a war would break out on the Korean peninsula.
North Korean border guards with Jimmy Carter (C) and wife Rosalynn on June 18, 1994
Mr Carter's visit in 1994 led to an agreement on nuclear weapons

Mr Clinton asked former president Jimmy Carter to see the then-North Korean leader, Kim Il-sung. Mr Carter got a result.

The North agreed to freeze its nuclear fuel reprocessing and this eventually resulted in an agreement in Geneva later that year.

However, over subsequent years, and under Kim Il-sung's son, Kim Jong-il, North Korea has moved towards a military-first policy.

This even has a name, "songun", and it emphasises that nothing should come before military strength in its domestic and foreign policy.

Since then, the North has left the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and has exploded nuclear devices.

Maybe it is now ready to change. Maybe not.

Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top U.S. bank regulators will speak out on Tuesday against some key elements of the Obama administration's plan to reshape financial regulation, saying parts of it were unneeded or could be disruptive.

The officials' defiance, in prepared congressional testimony obtained by Reuters, came despite a warning given to them on Friday by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

In private remarks punctuated with expletives, Geithner urged the regulators to end their turf battles and show support for President Barack Obama's plan, according to a person familiar with the situation on Monday.

But that seemed to have little impact on John Bowman, acting director of the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), an agency slated for closure under the Obama plan.

"We do not support the administration's proposal to establish a new agency, the National Bank Supervisor (NBS), by eliminating the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency ... and the OTS," Bowman said in written remarks to be given to the Senate Banking Committee at a hearing.

In addition, he said, "The OTS does not support the provision in the administration's proposal to eliminate the thrift charter and require all federal thrift institutions to change their charter."

Such words marked a retrenching of regulators' opposition to portions of Obama's plans to tighten oversight of banks and capital markets amid the worst financial crisis in generations and with the economy mired in a stubborn recession.

"We do not see merit or wisdom in consolidating federal supervision of national and state banking charters into a single regulator," FDIC chairman Sheila Bair said in her remarks ahead of the hearing on regulatory reform.

TENSE MEETING

At a tense, hour-long meeting on Friday, Geithner told Bair, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro to end recent public criticism of the administration's plan and stop airing concerns over their potential loss of authority.

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the meeting, said Geithner vented frustration over the plan's slow progress and told regulators that "enough is enough."

Citing people familiar with the meeting, the newspaper also said Geithner used obscenities and took an aggressive stance in his dressing down of the regulators.

Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams said, "We planned this meeting as a venue to deliver a tough message to regulators that we should work together to get reform done - and focus less on protecting turf."

Under the plan conceived by Treasury, banking supervision would be significantly consolidated.

But Bair, whose populist tone has won allies in Congress, in her prepared remarks for the banking committee hearing, said: "Prudent risk management argues strongly against putting all your regulatory and supervisory eggs in one basket." Continued...

Washington -- The Obama administration said the "cash for clunkers" program has been an enormous success, boosting domestic automakers as momentum gains to persuade the Senate to approve $2 billion in additional funding.

Detroit's automakers accounted for 47 percent of the first 80,000 "cash for clunkers" sales, with the Ford Focus ranking as the top-selling vehicle, the administration said.

Through Saturday afternoon, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had processed 80,500 transactions. And White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said buyers should be able to take advantage of the program until at least Friday. By late Monday, NHTSA had processed more than 120,000 vehicle vouchers.

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The program, which offers car buyers up to $4,500 to trade in their old cars and light trucks for new, more fuel-efficient models, went into effect July 24.

Gibbs warned that the program would likely end by Friday if the Senate doesn't agree to add $2 billion to the original $1 billion pot.

The prospect of the program extension winning Senate approval got a big boost Monday when Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, dropped their opposition and said they would vote to support the additional money. They and others had wanted the program to be reworked to require higher improvements in fuel efficiency, especially among light trucks.

Auto dealers across the country have launched a big lobbying campaign to save the program.

NHTSA said about 250,000 vehicles will be traded in the $1 billion program.

"This is the one stimulus program that seems to be working better than just about any other program. It's a lifeline for automobile workers and automobile makers," U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told CNBC.
Big Three score big

The 47 percent of the first 80,000 sales for the Big Three is above their overall share of the market -- 45 percent.

The Ford Focus is not the only domestic winner. Four of the top-10-selling vehicles are manufactured by General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. or Chrysler Group LLC.

Of non-Big Three purchases, the Transportation Department's preliminary analysis suggests that more than half were manufactured in the United States.

So far, 83 percent of the trade-ins have been light trucks -- SUVs and pickup trucks -- and 60 percent of new vehicle purchases are cars.

In addition, the transactions are generating a 61 percent increase in vehicle fuel economy, Gibbs said. The average fuel economy of new vehicles purchased under the program is 25.4 miles per gallon, and the average fuel economy of trade-ins is 15.8 mpg -- for an average increase of 9.6 mpg.

This is well above the law's minimum requirements of a 2 mpg improvement for trucks and a 4 mpg improvement for cars. Gibbs said the better fuel efficiency will save an average driver $700 to $1,000 a year in gas.

In addition to saving gas money, participating consumers will have safer cars and fewer repair costs, and air pollution will be dramatically reduced, officials said.
Senate considering bill

An additional $2 billion, if approved by Congress, should allow the program to continue through September. The House has approved a funding measure; the bill is now before the Senate.

Supporters and the White House will use the numbers and the job-creating impact of "cash for clunkers" to ease environmental concerns of many Senate Democrats, who argue the efficiency requirements should be tightened.

The Senate is expected to vote Wednesday or Thursday; the White House is pressing it to act.

Senate Democrats still face hurdles to win passage before recessing at the end of the week until after Labor Day. Jim Manly, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Democrats were negotiating with Republicans to reach a deal to allow for a quick vote.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the administration didn't properly manage the program -- but he didn't say how he would vote on an extension.

"We were told this program would last for several months," McConnell said.

"As it turned out, it ran out of money in a week, prompting the House to rush a $2 billion extension before anybody even had time to figure out what happened with the first billion."

WASHINGTON — Former President Bill Clinton went to North Korea on Monday to negotiate the release of two American television journalists who were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegally entering North Korean territory, a person who was briefed on the mission said.
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Times Topics: Euna Lee | Laura Ling
Yonhap/Associated Press

Euna Lee, top, and Laura Ling.

Mr. Clinton landed in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, early Tuesday morning local time, Central TV, a North Korean station, reported. The White House declined to comment.

The journalists, Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36, were detained by soldiers on March 17 near the North Korean border with China. In June, they were sentenced to 12 years in a North Korean prison camp for “committing hostilities against the Korean nation and illegal entry.”

The Obama administration had been considering for weeks whether to send a special envoy to North Korea.

The choice of Mr. Clinton would mark his first public mission on behalf of the administration. His wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, has been deeply involved in the journalists’ case.

The jailing of Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee came amid a period of heightened tension between North Korea and the United States after Pyongyang tested a nuclear device in May and then launched a number of ballistic missiles.

The White House marshaled support at the United Nations for strict sanctions against the North Korean government, including a halt to all weapons sales and a crackdown on its financial ties.

But the administration has tried to keep its diplomatic campaign separate from this case, which American officials have portrayed as a humanitarian issue, appealing to North Korea to return the women to their families.

“Their detainment is not something that we’ve linked to other issues, and we hope the North Koreans don’t do that, either,”‘ the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said to reporters in June.

At the time they were detained, Ms. Ling and Ms. Lee were on a reporting assignment from Current TV, a San Francisco-based media company co-founded by Al Gore, the former vice president.

David Sanger contributed reporting from Aspen, Colo., and Choe Sang-hun contributed from Seoul.
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Australian police arrested four pe Police said members of a Melbourne-based group had 'been undertaking planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Australia' Photo: EPA

About 400 officers from state and national security services took part in at least 19 predawn raids on properties in the southern city of Melbourne, Victoria state police said in a statement.

Police said members of a Melbourne-based group had "been undertaking planning to carry out a terrorist attack in Australia."

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The group was allegedly linked to hostilities in Somalia, the statement said without giving further details.

The Australian newspaper reported those detained were Islamic extremists who had planned to launch a suicide attack on an Australian Army base. Members of the Melbourne group allegedly travelled to Somalia in recent months to train with the extremist group al-Shabaab, and were allegedly planning to use automatic weapons to kill as many soldiers as possible, the newspaper reported, without providing sources for its information.

Police refused to confirm the report or release any further details, but said they would be holding a press conference later Tuesday.

The United States has designated al-Shabaab a foreign terrorist organisation. The US State Department's annual terrorism report in April said al-Shabaab was providing a safe haven to al-Qaida "elements" wanted for the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.ople last night who were planning a suicide attack on a military base.

By David Lightman
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Republican opposition is stalling Senate efforts to keep the popular "cash for clunkers" program alive.

The program, which gives consumers who trade in old gas-guzzlers for more fuel-efficient models as much as $4,500 each, is likely to end by the weekend unless the Senate approves additional funding.

Senate Republican leaders railed against it Monday, calling the program a model of government inefficiency and out-of-control spending. The program originally got $1 billion, but all but exhausted that funding last week, its first. The House of Representatives approved another $2 billion on Friday, but the Senate's balking.

"We were told this program would last for several months. As it turned out, it ran out of money in a week, prompting the House to rush a $2 billion dollar extension before anybody even had time to figure out what happened with the first billion," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

President Barack Obama plans to meet with Senate Democrats Tuesday at the White House to discuss several issues, including keeping "cash for clunkers" alive.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs explained the stakes: "If it doesn't happen this week," he said of Senate action, "it's unlikely that we'll make it to the weekend with a program that can continue."

It's easy for a small group of senators to exploit Senate rules to delay action.

Republican senators are trying to tie the car program's troubles to controversial proposals to overhaul health care and Obama's stewardship of the economy.

"There's a pattern here, a pattern that amounts to an argument — and a very strong argument at that: when the administration comes bearing estimates, it's not a bad idea to look for a second opinion," McConnell said.

While the auto program appears to be popular, polls show rising public wariness of big free-spending government, and Republicans are seizing that political ground. In the July 22-26 Pew Research Center survey, Obama's approval rating dropped 7 percentage points since June to 54 percent. The public's approval of his handling of health care, the economy and the federal deficit also dropped significantly.

As a result, it's unclear if people will see an extension of cash for clunkers as another example of worrisome big government expansion or of government responding helpfully to an important need, said Michael Dimock, a Pew Research Center associate director.

"We just don't know," Dimock said.

Brad Coker, the managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research in Jacksonville, Fla., said he thinks people could make the connection.

"Management of cash for clunkers does call into question how all these other government programs are being run," he said. If things go badly, people could see the clunker program as another reminder that "Obama's never run anything," Coker said.

The GOP is convinced that it can get some political mileage out of stalling. Under Senate procedures, Republicans can delay the bill until at least Thursday, and perhaps longer, even if senators are able to cut off a filibuster.

Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., the Senate's second-ranking Republican, said Monday that "I don't care about the political risk. I'm concerned about the process and about how the government is going to pay for this . . . $4,500 is a lot of money to give somebody to buy a car who was already going to buy a car."
McClatchy Newspapers 2009

A historically African-American fraternity has inducted former U.S. president Bill Clinton as an honorary member.

Phi Beta Sigma, an organization of college students and professional men, welcomed the former president into its ranks at their 95th anniversary conclave in New Orleans, in the southern state of Louisiana.

Paul Griffin, the organization's president, said it was a "high privilege" to welcome Mr. Clinton "into our wondrous band."

The organization cited Mr. Clinton's work with his foundation since leaving the presidency, saying it "makes a significant impact on the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world." They said his work was in lines with the goals and initiatives of Phi Beta Sigma.

Phi Beta Sigma was founded in 1914 at Howard University, a historically black university in Washington, DC. It has counted among its ranks former African presidents such as Ghana's Kwame Nkruma, Nigeria's Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe, and Liberia's William Tolbert.

A number of prominent African-Americans have also been members, including the former head of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People James Weldon Johnson and scientist George Washington Carver.

Phi Beta Sigma currently has more than 150,000 members around the world.

A Continental Airlines flight with a reported 26 injured passengers on board made an emergency landing at Miami International Airport Monday morning, according to WFOR-CBS 4.

Three passengers were transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital with possible serious injuries.

Flight 128 from Rio de Janeiro to Houston landed in Miami at 5:44 a.m. due to the injuries.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded to the scene, and was treating many passengers at the scene.

More details to come.

A woman is on a life support machine after an E.coli outbreak thought to be linked to a fish and chip shop.

Librarian Karen Morrisroe-Clutton, who has an 11-week-old baby, is being treated along with another person at Wrexham Maelor Hospital.

The National Public Health Service (NPHS) for Wales said it was investigating four cases. Llay Fish Bar, Llay, Wrexham has been closed.

Anyone with symptoms should call NHS Direct Wales on 0845 4647.

Ms Morrisroe-Clutton is seriously ill in hospital and her baby Oliver is being cared for by her parents while her husband Paul is at her side.


It is important that anyone who is ill should observe strict personal hygiene to avoid spreading the infection
Dr Judy Hart, NPHS

Ms Morrisroe-Clutton's mother, Rose Morrisroe, said her daughter fell ill last Tuesday after eating a vegetarian burger from the premises under investigation.

She added: "She started with diarrhoea, then developed sickness and was passing blood.

"The doctor became worried and sent for tests, after which she was admitted to intensive care at the Maelor Hospital.

"She's been in a medically-induced coma since then and is on kidney dialysis and a plasma exchange machine.

"Things are improving slightly but she's not out of danger yet. She's just had a baby which we're looking after.

"Thankfully he's young enough not to know. It's a very worrying time."

Dr Judy Hart, consultant in communicable disease control at the NPHS, said: "The National Public Health Service for Wales and Wrexham County Borough Council's environmental health officers are investigating four cases of E.coli O157 in three families from the Wrexham area.

The statement went on to say that two people have been hospitalised and as a precautionary measure, a food premises was closed by the council on 30 July while investigations are carried out.

'Symptoms'

Dr Hart added: "The symptoms of E.coli O157 range from mild diarrhoea, stomach cramps and fever to bloody diarrhoea.

"Most people recover without complications, but the most severe cases can develop kidney failure.

"Anyone who is experiencing these symptoms should contact NHS Direct Wales for advice on 0845 4647."

She said people could become infected with E.coli O157 by eating contaminated food, through contact with farm animals or through contact with contaminated water.

"The infection can also pass from person to person and so it is important that anyone who is ill should observe strict personal hygiene to avoid spreading the infection," said Dr Hart.

"The incubation period for E.coli O157 can range from one to 14 days, but is characteristically three to four days. The length of the illness can vary but people with E.coli O157 are usually ill for up to two weeks."

She said investigations were ongoing and the NPHS and Wrexham Council would continue to monitor the situation closely."

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Katherine Jackson's legal battle for some control of her son's estate returns to court Monday in front of the same judge who is expected to award her permanent guardianship of Michael Jackson's children.
Katherine Jackson has accused the executors of her son's estate of "keeping her in the dark."

Katherine Jackson has accused the executors of her son's estate of "keeping her in the dark."

Dozens of lawyers are expected to pack a Los Angeles courtroom where a judge will consider the Jackson family matriarch's challenge of the lawyer and former music executive named as executors in Michael Jackson's will.

Katherine Jackson's lawyers filed a petition last week accusing the men who now control the estate of being "intent on keeping her in the dark" about deals they've made or are negotiating.

Londell McMillan, Jackson's lead attorney, raised questions about "a suspicious circle of relationships" involving John Branca, the singer's longtime personal attorney, and John McClain, a music industry executive and longtime friend.

Howard Weitzman, one of the lawyers for Branca and McClain, said they've provided "timely information to Mrs. Jackson's counsel regarding potential business opportunities for the Estate."

"Any inference that we have not been forthcoming in providing information to Katherine Jackson's attorneys is not accurate," Weitzman said.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff gave Branca and McClain temporary control of the estate until Monday's hearing.
Don't Miss

* Issue of Jackson doctor-shopping raised again
* Jackson chef: House went from happy to hysterical
* Search warrants seek evidence of drug addiction
* Deal reached for custody of children

Katherine Jackson is asking the judge to order Branca, McClain and others to answer questions under oath about their business agreements to determine whether they are "fit and able" to administer the estate. The men also were served with a 19-page demand for documents.

Branca has refused to let Katherine Jackson see Michael Jackson's contracts with AEG -- the company that was organizing and promoting his planned concerts -- unless she agrees to keep them confidential. Branca's lawyer argued in a court filing that he has no choice, since the contracts have a provision requiring confidentiality.

"There is one agreement being requested by Mrs. Jackson's attorneys where the other party to the contract has agreed to provide the document to Mrs. Jackson and her attorneys but requested that the terms be kept confidential and not be shared with third parties," Branca's lawyer said. "Mrs. Jackson's lawyers have refused that offer."

Branca's lawyers also argued that Jackson's demand for documents was too broad and burdensome.

"Such measures will not be necessary if Mrs. Jackson is appointed a co-executor of the estate," McMillan said.

McMillan, in an interview with CBS Thursday, estimated the Jackson estate was worth $2 billion, while the executors have estimated in court that its value is around $500 million.

The will written in 2002 places all of Michael Jackson's assets into a family trust benefiting his mother, his three children and unnamed charities.

Judge Beckloff will consider at Monday's hearing who will have permanent control of the estate.

The judge is also expected Monday to finalize Katherine Jackson's guardianship of her son's three children. An agreement between Jackson and Debbie Rowe, the mother of the two oldest children, cleared the way for an uncontested custody hearing.

Rowe, who was briefly married to Michael Jackson, agreed not to fight for custody in exchange for visits with the children as recommended by a psychologist.

The agreement does not involve any financial payments to Rowe "apart from the continuation of spousal support payments" that Michael Jackson personally agreed to make to Rowe after their divorce, their lawyers said in a joint statement.

Jackson's children have been living with their paternal grandmother at her Encino, California, home since their father's death.

The oldest child, Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., was born in February 1997. A daughter, Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson, was born the next year. Details of how the children were conceived and who was the biological father have been closely guarded amid much public speculation.

The couple divorced in 1999 with Rowe giving Jackson full custody while she got an $8.5 million settlement, according to court documents. Jackson later agreed to additional support.

Rowe gave up parental rights to Jackson in 2001, but she changed her mind more than two years later and sought temporary custody of the children. A California appeals court later ruled her rights were improperly terminated, opening the door to a possible custody battle.

While the coroner's report on what killed Michael Jackson has been delayed indefinitely, new evidence emerged that the singer shopped for a doctor who would give him the drug investigators suspect led to his death.

Dr. Allan Metzger, whose name appeared on a search warrant served this week, refused Jackson's request in April for the anesthetic propofol -- commonly known by the brand name Diprivan -- Metzger's attorney said.

Investigators suspect another physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, gave the drug to Jackson in the 24 hours before he died, according to a source, who asked not to be named because the individual was not authorized to speak to the news media.

Metzger, who practices in West Hollywood, California, told Jackson during a visit to his Holmby Hills home that the drug was "dangerous and potentially life-threatening and could not be used outside of a hospital," attorney Harland Braun said.

Metzger's medical records for Jackson, whom he treated until 2003, have been given to the coroner, Braun said.

He said Metzger prescribed drugs for Jackson under the alias Omar Arnold and Michael Jackson, which was not illegal since he used both names together. The doctor did that because he thought it was "his duty to protect the privacy" of his patient, Braun said.

Omar Arnold is one of 19 aliases listed in the warrant used by Los Angeles police and federal drug agents Tuesday to search the Las Vegas office and home of Murray, a Texas-based cardiologist.

The warrant also mentioned Cherilyn Lee, a nurse practitioner who treated Jackson earlier this year. Lee told CNN Jackson begged her for the propofol to help him get a good night's sleep. She said she refused, telling the pop star that if he took the medicine, he might never wake up.

The same warrant, signed by a Las Vegas judge, implied that investigators suspected Jackson was a drug addict.

Dr. Deepak Chopra told CNN in a recent interview that when Jackson asked him for a narcotic, he told him absolutely no. "I said to him, 'Michael, you're going to die one day from this,' " Chopra said.

During a world tour in the mid-'90s, sources close to Jackson told CNN, the pop star suffered from insomnia and traveled with an anesthesiologist who would "take him down" at night and then "bring him back up." According to a report on a 2004 Santa Barbara police investigation, security guards in Jackson's inner circle said he traveled the country getting prescriptions from doctors.

The Los Angeles County coroner, who must rule on the cause of Jackson's June 25 death, met Thursday with the Los Angeles District Attorney, who must decide if anyone will be prosecuted for his death.

During the meeting, it was decided that an announcement of the coroner's findings would be delayed indefinitely, according to a source close to the investigation. An official in the coroner's office had previously indicated to reporters that the findings would be made public within days.
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CNN's Randi Kaye contributed to this report.

All About Michael Jackson • Katherine Jackson

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei formally endorsed the second term presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday after a disputed election that plunged Iran into its worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The results, which leading reformists and moderate defeated candidates Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi said were rigged to ensure victory for the hardline Ahmadinejad, led to violent protests and deep schisms within Iran's clerical and political elite.

Leading opposition figures and two former presidents, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami, who backed Mousavi in the vote, were not at the ceremony although they had attended such events in the past, Iranian media reported.

"The official ceremony was held and Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) approved Mr Ahmadinejad's presidency," al-Alam state television said.

Ahmadinejad will be sworn in by parliament on Wednesday.

He then faces the hard task of forming a cabinet that will be acceptable to the mostly conservative parliament, which may object if he names only members of his inner circle. Parliament has in the past rejected some of Ahmadinejad's cabinet choices.

Mousavi and Karoubi say the next government will be illegitimate.

Khamenei has endorsed the June 12 election result and demanded an end to the protests at which more than 20 people have been killed.

Iranian officials deny any fraud in the election, in which Ahmadinejad was declared to have won 63 percent of 40 million votes cast, against 34 percent for Mousavi.

Part of Iran's influential Shi'ite clerical establishment has also signaled misgivings over the aftermath of the poll, which has touched off the country's worst internal upheaval since the 1979 revolution.

ROUGH RIDE

Without Khamenei's support, any cabinet list could get a very rough ride as many lawmakers have been critical of Ahmadinejad since the vote.

The power struggle can only hamper the leadership's ability to tackle the Islamic Republic's economic problems, as well as the struggle over its nuclear program, which Iran says is only peaceful, but which the West suspects is aimed at bomb-making.

In an apparent effort to deter street protests, Iran on Saturday put 100 protesters, including several senior moderate figures, on trial. They face a range of charges, including acting against national security, which is punishable by death.

Rights groups say hundreds of people, including senior pro-reform politicians, journalists and lawyers, have been detained since the election. Continued...

HONG KONG — Several Chinese developers are planning to raise billions of dollars by listing on the Hong Kong bourse to take advantage of a strong rebound in the housing market, a report said Monday.

The plans come as the southern Chinese city's Hang Seng Index has registered massive gains over the past few months, while a resurgent real estate sector on the mainland has boosted hopes of a recovery soon.

Evergrande Real Estate of Guangzhou hoped to raise a billion US dollars in an initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong by the end of the year after aborting in March 2008 due to a property market crash, the South China Morning Post said.

It added that Evergrande had recently taken potential investors on tours of its building sites in central and southern China.

Glorious Property Holdings, which owns land along the upscale Bund in Shanghai, also aims to raise a billion US dollars, investment bankers familiar with the plan told the newspaper.

And Shenzhen's Fantasia Group was set to launch a 500 million-dollar share sale for its mid-to-high-end development projects in the Pearl River Delta, according to the paper.

The three developers were among a dozen in the pipeline to list in Hong Kong, the Post said.

House prices in 70 large and medium-sized Chinese cities were up 0.8 percent in June from May, rising for the fourth straight month, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Real estate investment nationwide rose by 9.9 percent in the first half of this year, compared with the same period last year, the statistics showed.

But the rebound was sounding alarms amid reports that Chinese authorities will tighten lending policies to cool growth and avoid a bubble in the property market.

A commentary from the state-run Xinhua news agency last week said the recent boom defied the sensible picture and accused low-level governments of artificially pushing up property prices.

Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

The fate of the popular, but financially strapped, federal "cash for clunkers" program remained up in the air Friday, but that hasn't stopped the White House from encouraging consumers to take advantage of it.

"If you were planning on going to buy a car this weekend, using this program, this program continues to run," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said.

But where will the cash come from if the initial $1 billion runs out? That question remains to be answered.

The House voted overwhelmingly Friday to rush $2 billion into the program, which provides rebates for new cars when people trade in their less-efficient vehicles. The Senate still has to give its blessing, and by next week -- before it goes on summer vacation.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said the Obama administration assured lawmakers that "deals will be honored until otherwise noted by the White House." But he suggested that "people ought to get in and buy their cars."

Opposition already is mounting in the Senate.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said by Twitter that extending the program with taxpayer money isn't affordable.

"Idea was to prime the pump, not subsidize auto purchases forever," she wrote.

The program was launched last week and has been publicized heavily by automakers and dealers. The $1 billion was supposed to last four months, but apparently, it took only a week to exhaust the funds.

Called the Car Allowance Rebate System, or CARS, the program is designed to help the economy and the environment by spurring new car sales. Car owners can receive federal subsidies of up to $4,500 for trading in their old cars for new ones that achieve significantly higher gas mileage.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said the new money for the program would come from funds approved earlier in the year as part of an economic stimulus bill.

But Senate Republicans are threatening to use delay tactics to kill the bill.

A spokeswoman for Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told FOX News that he rival will object to the bill next week, even mounting a filibuster.

"I not only wouldn't vote for the extra $2 billion, I was opposed to the initial billion," McCain told FOX News Radio.

McCain marveled at how recovery funds are being used to subsidize the domestic auto industry.

"It's really an incredible process that we've gone through where recovery money that is supposed to be used in order to keep people in their homes and help the economy recover, we're now again bailing out the automobile corporations, two of which we own,"he said. "It's remarkable."

McCain predicted that the program's flaws will soon be exposed.

"Within a few weeks, we will see that this process was abused by speculators and people who took advantage of what is basically a huge government subsidy of corporations that they already own," he said.

But Obama pointed out Friday that skeptics were unsure just a few weeks ago that the program would succeed.

"But I'm happy to report that it has succeeded well beyond our expectations and all expectations, and we're already seeing a dramatic increase in showroom traffic at local car dealers," he said.

Obama called on the Senate to pass the legislation, urging lawmakers to keep the American consumer in mind.

"The program has proven to be a successful part of our economic recovery and will help lessen our dangerous dependence on foreign oil, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving the quality of the air we breathe," he said in a written statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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