Iranian feud deepens

Iranian feud deepens

TEHRAN, Iran — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad begins his second term next week undermined by a deepening feud with his fellow hard-liners and under assault from a pro-reform opposition movement that has shown it can bring out thousands of protesters despite a fierce seven-week-old crackdown.

Ahmadinejad sought shelter Friday with his top supporter, declaring that Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is like a father to him. Ahmadinejad accused his hard-line rivals of trying to drive a wedge between him and the man who sits at the top of Iran’s clerical leadership and who has final say in all state matters.

On Monday, Khamenei leads a ceremony formally approving Ahmadinejad’s second term, and two days later Ahmadinejad is to be sworn in before parliament, despite opposition claims that he won the June 12 presidential election by fraud and that his government is illegitimate.

In a sign of the growing challenge the president also faces from some in the religious establishment, an influential clerical group at the seminary in the holy city of Qom called Friday for the opposition to continue its campaign against the election results.

Sen. Dodd has cancer

HARTFORD, Conn. — Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd said Friday that he has been diagnosed with an early stage of prostate cancer and will have surgery in early August, but the prognosis is good, and the illness will not affect his plans to seek a sixth term next year.

Dodd said evidence of possible cancer was detected in June during his annual physical and later confirmed by a biopsy. He said he plans to have surgery at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York shortly after Congress adjourns next week and is “very confident we’re going to come out of this well.”

Hoboken mayor resigns

HOBOKEN, N.J. — Mayor Peter Cammarano III resigned Friday, just three weeks after taking office and a week after vowing to stay in office and fight federal corruption charges against him.

Cammarano, who won a June runoff election, was snared last week in a sweeping federal corruption probe that resulted in the arrests of 44 people, including rabbis and dozens of public officials.

The 32-year-old — Hoboken’s youngest mayor — sent a letter to the city clerk Friday saying his resignation was effective at noon. City Council President Dawn Zimmer entered the city council chamber to a standing ovation and was sworn in moments later as the city’s first female acting mayor.

Italy OKs abortion drug

ROME — Italy has approved the use of the abortion drug RU-486, capping years of debate and defying opposition from the Vatican, which warned of immediate excommunication for doctors prescribing the pill and for women who use it.

The pill is already available in a number of other European countries. Its approval by Italy’s drug regulation authorities was praised by women’s groups and pro-choice organizations, which say the pill will provide women with an additional, noninvasive procedure.

It drew the immediate protest of the Catholic Church, which opposes abortion and contraception.

The Italian Drug Agency ruled after a meeting that ended late Thursday that the drug, which terminates pregnancy by causing the embryo to detach from the uterine wall, cannot be sold in pharmacies but can only be administered by doctors in a hospital.

Tough stance in Honduras

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras’ coup-installed leader has dampened hopes for a negotiated solution to the country’s crisis, capping days of mixed signals by saying firmly that there’s no way the ousted president can return to power.

Also marking a tougher stance, riot police fired tear gas and arrested supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya who blocked a main artery leading into the Honduran capital Friday. Interim President Roberto Micheletti said his government would no longer tolerate street blockades that regularly snarl traffic in Tegucigalpa and other cities.

Micheletti’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement it “reserves the right” to cancel visas for U.S. diplomatic personnel in Honduras, in retaliation for Washington’s decision this week to revoke the diplomatic visas of four Honduran officials.

Associated Press