Congress OKs Iran sanctions

Congress OKs Iran sanctions

WASHINGTON

Congress on Thursday overwhelmingly passed tough new sanctions against Iran, sending a message to the Tehran government that notions of becoming a nuclear power could be accompanied by a steep economic price.

The Senate and House in quick succession approved the penalties that focus on Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard and the country’s imports of gas and other refined energy products.

The measure now goes to the White House for President Barack Obama’s signature.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the legislation, coming after a year in which the Obama administration’s direct diplomacy efforts were largely rebuffed by Iran, represented “the most powerful sanctions ever imposed by the Congress on the government of Iran.”

Napolitano: Obama wants overhaul

DENVER

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano blamed a “bitterly divided Congress” for failing to create an immigration bill but assured Hispanic political leaders Thursday that the president remains committed to overhauling the nation’s immigration laws.

“Make no mistake about it. President Obama and the administration are committed to comprehensive immigration reform,” Napolitano said to cheers and applause of participants at the annual conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, a nonpartisan group that represents more than 6,000 political leaders. “But I think we can all recognize, and you as elected officials can recognize particularly, that some reform takes time.”

Rising deficits worry G20 leaders

TORONTO

World leaders trickled into Canada’s largest city Thursday for global economic talks, but their resolve seemed less focused than at earlier meetings in the fearful atmosphere of the worst downturn since the 1930s. New leaders in Australia, Japan and Britain could alter the dynamics.

With recoveries in their countries proceeding at starkly different paces, leaders of the 20 largest industrial and developing nations found themselves at odds over how to strike the right balance between continued government stimulus spending and confronting ballooning budget deficits.

Palin fund illegal, investigator says

ANCHORAGE, Alaska

Thousands of donors who contributed to a $390,000 legal defense fund for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will get their money back after an investigator said Thursday the fund was illegal because it was misleadingly described on a website.

State Personnel Board investigator Timothy Petumenos said the Alaska Fund Trust inappropriately used the word “official” on its website, wrongly implying that it was endorsed by Palin in her role as governor.

GM aims to sell shares by November

WASHINGTON

General Motors will start the process of putting its shares up for sale by August, with an eye on launching the sale by mid-November, according to two people familiar with the plan.

But no firm decisions have been made about how many of those shares will be drawn from any of GM’s owners — including the federal government and the UAW trust fund for retiree health care.

Analysts have speculated the sale could generate $10 billion or more, placing it among the largest U.S. corporate share offerings.

Associated Press