Free Republic

ISTANBUL — Opinion polls show opposition candidate Ekrem Imamoglu pulling ahead of his rival from Turkey's ruling party in his bid to recapture the post of Istanbul mayor. He briefly held the position before electoral officials revoked his mandate and forced a new election next month.Citing technical irregularities earlier this month, the Supreme Electoral Council (YSK) canceled the results of Istanbul’s March 31 mayoral election in which Imamoglu of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) squeaked out a victory with a winning margin of just 13,729 votes out of the 8.5 million ballots cast. The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has controlled the...

A local academic has emerged as the leading source of dark forecasts in a recession-fueled debate over whether California's war on global warming will hurt or help its economy. Sanjay Varshney, dean of the business school at California State University, Sacramento, predicts dire consequences if the state moves forward with plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions. His figures – dismissed by some economists – have been cited by business groups and politicians calling on the state to delay carrying out AB 32, the state's landmark climate change law. In a July paper paid for by the California Small Business Roundtable,...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is pressing her claim that she opposed her husband's free trade push when he was president, despite her favorable words about it at the time. Both Clinton and her Democratic presidential rival Sen. Barack Obama are criticizing liberalized trade agreements as they campaign for blue-collar votes in Pennsylvania, where shuttered factories speak of a decline in manufacturing. The state holds its Democratic primary April 22. Both candidates oppose the free trade agreement with Colombia that President Bush has submitted for congressional approval. They've had more trouble dissociating themselves from the much more consequential North...

JERUSALEM - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has signaled that Israel might cede the disputed Chebaa Farms area to Lebanon if the Lebanese carry out all provisions of their cease-fire with Israel, including the disarming of Hezbollah guerrillas, Israeli media reported on Friday. In a meeting with Russian Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday, Olmert said if the U.N. decides the area is Lebanese, and if Lebanon implements U.N. resolutions ending the war, "we'll agree to discuss it," the Haaretz newspaper said. When Israel withdrew its troops from southern Lebanon in 2000, ending an 18-year occupation, the U.N.-drawn international line did not...

LOS ANGELES U.S. Rep. Gary Miller has avoided paying millions of dollars in taxes on real estate deals under a tax break that protects people forced to sell their property, but officials dispute they ever made him sell his land, a newspaper reported Sunday. Miller, R-Diamond Bar, sold 165 acres to Monrovia, a suburb about 10 miles east of Los Angeles, in 2002 for a profit of more than $10 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. Following the sale, he told the Internal Revenue Service and the state he was forced to sell under threat by the city of...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A federal judge halted a $320 million irrigation project Thursday for fear it could disturb the habitat of a woodpecker that may or may not be extinct. The dispute involves the ivory-billed woodpecker. The last confirmed sighting of the bird in North America was in 1944, and scientists had thought the species was extinct until 2004, when a kayaker claimed to have spotted one in the area. But scientists have been unable to confirm the sighting. Still, U.S. District Judge William R. Wilson said that for purposes of the lawsuit brought by environmental groups, he had...

OCEANSIDE – Representatives of a national lawyers association are calling many of Oceanside Unified's 224 protest-related suspensions potentially illegal because they stemmed from students refusing to return to class when directed by school personnel. James Lafferty, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild Los Angeles chapter, which champions the rights of minorities and seeks to protect civil rights, said the state Education Code makes it illegal to suspend students for truancy. And Kate Yavenditti, a representative for the San Diego branch, agrees that students with complaints of unjust treatment may have a basis for challenging the suspension. “Really what they're...

A bill that for the first time would require the state to negotiate for the best price on textbooks -- inspired by a Mercury News investigation -- now sits on Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk awaiting his signature or veto. In an odd alliance, Senate Republicans have joined with state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell, a Democrat, to try to derail the measure. They say the bill would require hiring expensive, highly skilled negotiators to haggle prices with publishers. But educators and taxpayers groups, urging the governor to sign, say the expense would be negligible compared with the potential millions...

<p>The state is poised next month to extend a telecommunications contract - valued at $1 billion - that some say could saddle agencies with obsolete technology and force taxpayers to needlessly spend more than $100 million for services, according to internal state documents obtained by The Orange County Register.</p>

<p>AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) A Maine Senate panel voted unanimously Monday to declare Democrat Christopher Hall the winner in a disputed election that will determine which party will control the Senate for the next two years.</p> <p>After reviewing 44 disputed ballots in Hall's race against Republican Leslie Fossel of Alna, the Senatorial Vote Committee voted 7-0 with Democrats united with the three Republicans on the panel to recommend that the full Senate formally seat Hall.</p>