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Jul29

Ethics Panel Outlines 13 Charges Against Rangel

U.S. House ethics investigators outlined 13 allegations of wrongdoing against New York Democrat Charles Rangel, including soliciting donations from companies with business before Congress.

The allegations, spelled out at a meeting of a House ethics subcommittee, say Rangel sought donations to an academic center bearing his name from companies with business before the House Ways and Means Committee. Rangel stepped aside as chairman of the tax-writing panel in March after the ethics committee cited him for accepting corporate-sponsored travel.

Rangel “denies each and every allegation” of the new charges, his lawyers said in a statement filed with the committee. Rangel didn’t dispense political favors, “did not intentionally violate any law, rule or regulation” and didn’t “misuse his public office for private gain,” they wrote.

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The New York Times reported Sunday that Pakistan's government has allowed members of its spy network to meet with members of the Taliban, the Sunni Islamist group that ran Afghanistan for five years until 2001 when they were ousted by the United States. The Taliban currently is trying to regain its foothold in Afghanistan.

Pakistan receives more than $1 billion a year in aid from Washington to help combat militants, according to documents cited by the New York Times. The organization WikiLeaks, a whistle-blower website, made the documents available.

Immigration fines on rise in New Jersey

NEWARK — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have fined 13 employers in New Jersey nearly $640,000 for hiring undocumented workers, part of the Obama administration's increased focus on targeting businesses that fail to ensure their employees are eligible to work in the U.S.

The amount is about 14 times more than the fines levied in all of fiscal year 2009, when four employers in the state were fined $44,728.

ICE spokesman Harold Ort in Newark said Thursday the fines are part of the agency's focus on building cases against "egregious employers,'' and increasing enforcement of immigration-related employment law.