American Morning
Iranian authorities vow to quell protests on key anniversary
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/09/iran.protests.anniversary.art.jpg caption="Protests by Iranians, such as this one on June 15, have been defended by the reformist figures."]
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) - The commander of Iran's security forces warned that police would "strongly confront" anyone planning to protest Thursday, a day that marks the anniversary of a pivotal point in Iran's reformist movement.
In an interview with the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), Maj. Gen. Esmaeel Ahmadi Moghadam said authorities would confront protesters and that no demonstration permit had been issued for Thursday, the 10th anniversary of a 1999 student uprising that, at the time, posed the biggest threat to the Islamic regime since its inception in 1979.
Tehran's governor Morteza Tamaddon issued a similar warning as the police chief Maj. Seyed Hadi Hashemi told IRNA that authorities are trying to encourage people to leave the capital before Thursday because of severe haze.
Hashemi "urged the citizens to consider Tehran's heavy pollution and travel outside of the Capital for the weekend in order to help reduce traffic," IRNA reported.
Iranian-American journalist Jason Rezaian said Iranians were scared after a brutal crackdown on those who protested what they called the fraudulent outcome of the June 12 presidential elections. Hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner over his chief rival Mir Hossein Moussavi, a reformist candidate.
Bomb parts smuggled into 10 federal buildings during test
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/08/goa.bomb.art.jpg caption="A GAO report cites lax security in federal buildings after investigators got bomb compenents past guards."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Plainclothes investigators sent to test security at federal buildings in four U.S. cities were successful in smuggling bomb components through guard posts at all 10 of the sites they visited, according to a government report.
The investigators then assembled the bombs in restrooms and freely entered numerous government offices while carrying the devices in briefcases, the report said.
The buildings contained offices of several federal lawmakers as well as agencies within the departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security, which is responsible for safeguarding federal office buildings.
CNN obtained the report late Tuesday, ahead of its expected release Wednesday at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, conducted the tests to check on the effectiveness of the Federal Protective Service .The FPS protects federal buildings by having about 1,200 federal law enforcement officers oversee an army of 13,000 private security guards.
In a videotape obtained by CNN, a covert GAO inspector places a bag containing bomb components on an X-ray machine conveyor belt and then walks through a magnetometer at an unidentified federal building. Unlike some covert tests that use simulated explosives, the GAO used actual bomb components in the test and publicly available information "to identify a type of device that a terrorist could use" to damage a building.
The latest on the Jackson investigation
The investigation into the death of the pop icon is ongoing. There are still many unanswered questions. CNN's Ted Rowlands has the latest.
Palin: 'I am not a quitter; I am a fighter'
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) - Sarah Palin's not a quitter, she wants the public to know.
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/07/art.palin.interview.cnn.jpg caption="Sarah Palin's attorney said there is no legal reason that compelled her to resign as governor."]
"I am not a quitter. I am a fighter," Palin told CNN on Monday while on a family fishing trip, on the heels of her Friday bombshell announcement that she was resigning as Alaska's governor.
Palin did her interview standing on the shores of Dillingham, Alaska, wearing hip waders. She granted 10-minute interviews to CNN and three other news networks Monday.
She resigned because of the tremendous pressure, time and financial burden of a litany of ethics complaints in the past several months, she said. The complaints were without merit and took away from the job she wanted to do for Alaskans, Palin said.
"We could end up like Canada"
The Senate's top republican, Mitch McConnell is sounding a warning about a Democratic plan for government-run health insurance. He says "the U.S. could wind up like Canada." So is that so bad? CNN's Dana Bash traveled to Ontario, Canada to find out.
Conservatives taken aback by Palin's decision to resign
[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/06/art.palin.gi.jpg
caption="Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced Friday that she will step down this month."]
(CNN) - Astounding. Risky. Quitter. And that's what fellow conservatives had to say Sunday about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and her decision to step down with 18 months left in her term.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced Friday that she will step down this month.
Democrats left it to Republican and conservative voices to assess what Friday's unexpected announcement by Palin means for her and a possible run for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. For example, Vice President Joe Biden called it a personal decision, offering no analysis of why she did it.
By contrast, those on the political right acknowledged that they didn't know what to make of it.
Karl Rove, the "architect" of George W. Bush's successful presidential campaigns, said the resignation left many of Palin's fellow Republicans "a little perplexed."
"It's a risky strategy," Rove told "Fox News Sunday."
"Astounding," was the pronouncement by Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, and conservative columnist George Will said Palin was declaring herself a quitter.
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