The WonkLine: June 30, 2009

Max Blumenthal writes that “major American news outlets have broadcast on a virtual loop the video of the killing of Neda Agha-Soltan, an unarmed 26-year-old Iranian woman, by Iranian security services…Yet when Palestinians employ direct action tactics to protest Israeli oppression, and when Israeli forces respond with wanton brutality, they are ignored by the US media.”

The Telegraph reports that “Mir Hossein Mousavi, the leading challenger to Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has issued a fresh call to his supporters to maintain peaceful protests after the government confirmed the result of the disputed election.”

A powerful Taliban faction in a northwestern tribal region has said it is withdrawing from a peace deal with the government to protest continuing strikes by American drones, confronting the Pakistani military with a possible two-front campaign against militants.

President Obama praised the passage of the Waxman-Markey climate bill by the House, but is speaking out against the trade sanctions within the bill. He warns that, because of the state of the economy, the U.S. should “be very careful about sending any protectionist signals out there.”

The Energy Department issued new standards for lighting that would save large amounts of energy by boosting the efficiency of fluorescent tubes. From 2012 to 2042, the US would save as much as $4 billion annually and avoid up to 594 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, roughly the equivalent to removing 166 million cars from the road for a year.

Africa’s farmers need help to access loans, fertiliser and export markets to avoid future food supply crises caused by climate change and commodities speculation, a top agricultural expert said today.

The Washington Post reports that the LGBT community is lauding the imminent release of a proposed regulation that would end a 1987 U.S. travel and immigration ban for foreigners infected with HIV.

Bank of America has been accused by several ex-employees of exploiting their Latino immigrant customers, implementing a series of tactics to sign them up for multiple services that helped the bank incur high interest rates and fees at the financial expense of their immigrant clientele.

US District Judge Joseph Tauro ordered the release of Sunday Agbata, an undocumented Nigerian immigrant who was imprisoned for nearly a year after receiving his deportation order, as immigration officials failed to justify why they had detained him for so long.

CNN Money reports that AIG is expected to formally install its new board today, at its “first annual shareholders meeting since U.S. taxpayers were given majority control.”

The New York Times reports that “starting Wednesday, the federal Education Department will begin offering a repayment plan that lets graduates reduce their loan payments, based on their income.” Also tomorrow, the interest rate on new federal Stafford loans will drop to 5.6 percent, from 6.8 percent.

Noam Scheiber at The Stash asks some Treasury Department insiders if the Public-Private Investment Fund is still needed: “[T]hey generally say they’d be pretty happy if it turned out the PPIP were unnecessary.”

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