UPI NewsTrack TopNews

McCain, Obama battle on spending

NASHVILLE, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Republican John McCain again promoted a federal spending freeze during Tuesday's U.S. presidential debate, but Democrat Barack Obama said that would be unfair.

McCain brought up the spending freeze idea in the first debate, and raised the issue again in Nashville.

"I recommend a (federal government) spending freeze that except for defense, veterans affairs and some other vital programs," McCain said, " -- we'll just have to have across-the-board freeze. And some of those (federal) programs may not grow as much as we would like for them to."

Obama said a spending freeze would be the equivalent of using a hatchet when what is needed is a scalpel. He said government should be careful about cutting spending that hurts those most in need of help.

He also attacked McCain on taxes.

"Senator McCain is proposing tax cuts that would give the average Fortune 500 (chief executive officer) an additional $700,000 in tax cuts -- that's not sharing the burden ... I think for a ... lot of people who are listening here tonight is they don't feel as if they are sharing the burden with other folks."

Harper issues Tory platform

TORONTO, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper Tuesday offered up an $8.7 billion, four-year plan to help the country weather the economic storm.

The Conservatives' platform includes a previously announced proposal to cut the diesel tax in half over the coming four years at a cost of about $566 million per year, adding $200 million to the Strategic Aerospace and Defense Initiative and $200 million to the Automotive Innovation Fund over the same period, and abolishing tariffs on imported machinery and equipment at a cost $345 million.

Speaking at the Canadian Club at Toronto's Sheraton Centre, Harper disputed those who maintain "unless a plan is brand new, it's not a plan."

"But the truth is the opposite," Harper asserted. "If you are making it up in response to the latest news, or the latest change in the stock market, then it is obvious you really don't have a plan."

The Tories also propose backing off a plan to withhold tax credits from movies deemed offensive, while supporting passage of legislation that would eliminate early release for serious criminal offenders.

Opposition parties roundly dismissed the Conservatives' ideas as inadequate and coming too late in the election cycle.

Justice Dept. to appeal Uighurs ruling

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- The U.S. prosecutors are trying to head off a court ruling Tuesday ordering the release of Chinese Muslims from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the 17 Uighurs detained at Guantanamo Bay the past seven years be released into the United States by Friday.

"Today's ruling presents serious national security and separation of powers concerns, and raises unprecedented legal issues," Brian Roehrkasse, Justice Department public affairs director, said in a news release announcing the filing of an emergency motion to stay the judge's order.

The United States no longer considers the 17 Uighurs "enemy combatants," so they should be released because they haven't been charged, District Judge Ricardo Urbina said.

Since they've been removed from the "enemy combatant" classification, government officials have been trying to relocate the 17 detainees to foreign countries that would accept them, Roehrkasse said.

"(The) government does not believe that it is appropriate to have these foreign nationals removed from government custody and released into the United States," he said.

The men are to be presented to the court in Washington Friday and a hearing Oct. 16 will determine the conditions of release. During the time between they're presented to the court and the hearing, Roehrkasse said, "the court ordered that the government have no supervision or oversight of the released individuals."

ICE raids S.C. poultry plant, arrests 300

GREENVILLE, S.C., Oct. 7 (UPI) -- About 300 people were arrested Tuesday when U.S. immigration agents searched a poultry processing plant in South Carolina, the Justice Department said.

The raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents at the Columbia Farms poultry processing plant in Greenville, S.C., was part of an ongoing, 10-month criminal investigation into its employment practices, the Justice Department said in a news release.

The investigation already resulted in criminal charges against 11 supervisors and a human resources manager.

"Today's enforcement operation is the latest step in a comprehensive criminal investigation focused on identifying the individuals involved in allowing unauthorized workers to gain employment," said Kenneth Smith, ICE special agent in charge in Atlanta. "By holding employers accountable, we are diminishing the magnet and discouraging others from breaking the law."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin McDonald told WYFF-TV in Greenville that an examination of immigration paperwork for 825 workers at Columbia Farms showed more than 775 of them allegedly contained false information.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International
All Rights Reserved.