The News in 2 Minutes

From The Associated Press

House fails to move gas price gouging bill

WASHINGTON—House Democrats failed Tuesday to get the two-thirds voted needed to resurrect a bill to punish price gouging at the gas pump. The vote was 276-146.

As Democrats prepared a string of energy proposals before lawmakers depart for the July 4 holiday recess, action on legislation that would assure continuation of the ban on oil and natural gas drilling in most of the country’s coastal waters was put off until later this summer after it became increasingly clear that Republican lawmakers may have the votes to lift the drilling moratorium.

The similar bill was put off in the Senate as well.

The House has passed gas g

Everglades land deal covers 300 square miles

WELLINGTON, Fla.—U.S. Sugar Corp., the nation’s largest producer of cane sugar, would go out of business in a $1.75 billion deal to sell its nearly 300 square miles of land to Florida for Everglades restoration, the company and the state’s governor said Tuesday.

Under the deal, announced at a news conference with Republican Gov. Charlie Crist and company representatives, the state would buy U.S. Sugar’s holdings in the Everglades south of Lake Okeechobee, the virtual heart of the ecosystem.

Negotiations are still ongoing, but officials hope to sign an agreement by September. Once the deal is in place, U.S. Sugar would be allowed to farm the 187,000 acres of land for six more years before shuttering its business.

Crist said the deal is “as monumental as the creation of our nation’s first national park, Yellowstone.”

The land would be used to help restore a more natural flow to the wetlands that has been stymied for years by agriculture and development. The deal wouldn’t end sugar production in the Everglades. At least 250,000 acres used by other companies would remain operational.

Report: Justice Department passed over Dems, liberals

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Ivy Leaguers and other top law students were rejected for plum Justice Department jobs two years ago because of their liberal leanings or objections to Bush administration politics, a government report concluded Tuesday.

In one case, a Harvard Law student was passed over after criticizing the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. In another, a Georgetown University student who had previously worked for a Democratic senator and congressman didn’t make the cut.

Even senior Justice Department officials flinched at what appeared to be hiring decisions based — improperly and illegally — on politics, according to the internal report.

“Individuals at the department were rejecting any of our candidates who could be construed as left-wing or who were perceived, based on their appearances and resumes and so forth, as being more liberal,” Kevin Ohlson, deputy director of the department’s executive office of immigration review, complained to Justice investigators.

The report marked the culmination of a yearlong investigation by Justice’s inspector general and Office of Professional Responsibility into whether Republican politics were driving hiring polices at the once fiercely independent department.

Defiant Mugabe refuses to bow to world pressure

HARARE, Zimbabwe — President Robert Mugabe refused Tuesday to give into pressure from Africa and the West, saying the world can “shout as loud as they like” but he would not cancel this week’s runoff election even though his opponent quit the race.

South Africa’s ruling party issued a toughly worded statement calling on Mugabe’s government to stop “riding roughshod” over the opposition headed by Morgan Tsvangirai, who quit the presidential contest and sought shelter in the Dutch Embassy.

The African National Congress also warned against international intervention following a report in the Times of London that Britain has drawn up contingency plans for deploying troops in Zimbabwe to resolve a humanitarian crisis and to evacuate British nationals and their dependents.

It singled out Britain, the colonial power when Zimbabwe was still Rhodesia, saying it had not followed through on pledges to help fund efforts to put more land in the hands of black Zimbabweans. Britain has cited concerns about corruption.

Countries commit $242M to strengthen Palestinians

BERLIN—Countries at an international conference Tuesday agreed to commit $242 million to strengthen the Palestinian Authority’s police and judicial systems, sending what Germany’s foreign minister called a “clear signal of support” for building a Palestinian state.

The money will go to projects that include police training, building a forensic lab and prisons, installing communications networks, and creation of courthouses.

Organizers had hoped for commitments of $190 million going into the meeting, which brought together officials including Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Arab League Secretary-General Amre Moussa.

Rockets hit Israel, which says truce broken

JERUSALEM—Palestinian militants on Tuesday fired three homemade rockets into southern Israel, the first such attack since a cease-fire between Israel and Gaza militants took effect last week.

Israel condemned the attack as a “gross violation” of the truce, but did not say whether it would retaliate.