Opposition boycotts Ahmadinejad’s swearing-in

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been sworn-in for a second term of office as Iranian president. But, former presidents Ali Akhbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ali Khatami were among the opposition leaders who boycotted the ceremony in Teheran. However, most western embassies sent representatives.

In his address to the parliament in Tehran, Ahmadinejad said Iran must continue to resist oppressor nations. He also told Western leaders who had not congratulated him on his re-election that “no-one in Iran was waiting for them.”

Outside the parliament building, riot police were out in force to prevent any opposition protests.
The trial of about a hundred reformists who led demonstrations in the wake of the contested election is set to resume on Thursday.

Ahmadinejad now has two weeks to present a cabinet for parliament’s approval. While he has the formal endorsement of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the President may have difficulty getting his team through the divided parliament, where he faces attacks from both the ultra-conservative and reformist flanks.

William Jefferson, Ex-Congressman, Convicted in Bribery Case

A federal jury in Alexandria, Va., on Wednesday convicted
former Representative William Jefferson, a Louisiana
Democrat, on 11 of 16 counts, including bribery in a case in
which agents found $90,000 in his freezer.

He was accused of accepting more than $400,000 in bribes and
seeking millions more in exchange for brokering business
deals in Africa. The jury deliberated five days before
returning the verdict.

Outrage Over 'Wrong-Way' Crash Revelations

How could she? That's what families of the victims want to know Wednesday morning as they prepare to meet with the Westchester County District Attorney after toxicology tests showed Diane Schuler was drunk and high as she drove the wrong-way on the Taconic State Parkway, leading to a crash that killed herself, four small children and three men. Toxicology reports released Tuesday painted a disturbing and dark picture of 36-year-old Schuler, a woman once perceived as a devoted mother and victim of a terrible tragedy.

Clinton, 2 Freed Reporters Return Home

Two U.S. journalists held for 5 months in North Korea returned to the U.S. Wednesday as a plane carrying former President Bill Clinton and them landed in California. Clinton held rare talks with reclusive leader Kim Jong Il, who pardoned the women sentenced to hard labor for entering the country illegally.