DHS detains UK cabinet minister, Muslim, 2nd time in 2 yrs; US hands Karbala to Iraqi forces; UN says Gaza fuel cuts unacceptable...

30 October :: US Dept. of Homeland Security has for 2nd time in 2 years detained, searched and interrogated Shahid Malik, the UK's international development minister and its first Muslim cabinet minister; on both occasions, he had been in the US to meet with members of the Dept. of Homeland Security itself... Bloomberg reporting "Karbala province, scene of some of the worst sectarian attacks since the fall of Saddam Hussein, was handed over to Iraqi forces after the U.S. judged them ready to take responsibility for security in the Shiite Muslim area"... UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon has said Israel's fuel, electricity cuts to Gaza Strip are unacceptable collective punishment of entire population for actions of radical group; Israel gov't says cuts —limited to 15% or less— are a nonviolent means of pressuring Hamas leadership... Two competing philosophies on patent law go head to head in pushing for changes to federal law governing damages for infringement, strength of patent protections; each side says their way would protect intellectual property, innovation, while the other would hurt it... Adriana Cortes, of Bajio Community Foundation seeking to create job opportunities in small rural towns in Mexico, as incentive to promote economic development, prevent emigration to the north; Cortes says motivation is to prevent long-term social and economic hardships that result from damaging, sometimes hellish process of migration... Violence erupts as Spanish authorities attempt to clear Canada Real shanty outside Madrid, Europe's largest shanty-town, home to 30,000 people; residents are mostly immigrants, who say they have nowhere else to go, Spanish authorities have initiated an audacious plan to raze all shanty-towns across country, relocate families affected... Budget tussle between Bush, Democrats intensifies as president says Congress has "worst record" in years for pushing appropriations bills —which specify funding priorities—, Congress pushes "$9 billion more than [Bush] wants for various domestic social programs, from cancer research and early childhood education to helping the poor heat their homes this winter", as reported by Reuters news service... The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has found that funding for the war in Iraq could reach $2.4 trillion by 2017, accounting for interest, because administration has funded war with borrowed money; CBO calculates interest alone will cost over $700 for the period from 2001 through 2017; $604 billion has been spent so far, with $11 billion in Iraq, per month, and costs on the rise; Pres. Bush is currently seeking an additional $196 billion for the two wars, funding to take the military campaign only through 30 September 2008...