J POST– Over 600 passengers from the Gaza-bound flotilla which was raided by Israeli forces on Monday were detained on Monday evening and Tuesday morning. Forty-five detainees were deported on Tuesday from Ben Gurion International Airport, while an additional three were waiting for flights out of the country.

Some 130 activists were transferred early Tuesday afternoon to the Ela Prison in Beersheba, where 480 other detainees were being held.

The Israel Prison Service (IPS) said that the prisoners would not be brought before a court due to the special Interior Ministry orders they were  being detained under. They also stated that the prisoners would be permitted to meet with attorneys or consuls from their home countries.

Among the detainees is the leader of the Islamic Movement’s northern branch, Sheikh Raed Salah, according to Israel Radio. Salah was said to have been injured in the Monday raid, but the reports turned out to be false.  Arab MK Haneen Zoabi had been detained, but was released after she was questioned by authorities.  

© COPYRIGHT J POST, 2010

YAHOO NEWS – Perhaps you saw news footage of President Obama in Grand Isle, La., on Friday and thought things didn’t look all that bad. Well, there may have been a reason for that: The town was evidently swarmed by an army of temp workers to spruce it up for the president and the national news crews following him.

Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts, whose district encompasses Grand Isle, told Yahoo! News that BP  bused in “hundreds” of temporary workers to clean up local beaches. And as soon as the president was en route back to Washington, the workers were clearing out of Grand Isle too, Roberts said.

“The level of cleanup and cooperation we’ve gotten from BP in the past is in no way consistent to the effort shown on the island today,” Roberts said by telephone. “As soon as the president left, they were immediately put back on the buses and sent home.”

Roberts says the overnight contingent of workers was there mainly to furnish a Potemkin-style backdrop for the event — while also making it appear that BP was firmly in command of spill cleanup efforts.

New Orleans NBC affiliate WDSU reports that the workers were paid $12 an hour and came mostly from neighboring Terrebonne and Lafourche parishes.

News of 11th-hour spruce-up brigade spread rapidly Friday afternoon and infuriated locals. One popular radio host, WWL’s Spud McConnell, suggested that the Coast Guard and the White House may have been involved in setting up the “perfect photo op.”

“Who else has the kind of authority to bring a bunch of strangers to Grand Isle when the president is in town for a visit? You think they did background checks on all those people?” wondered McConnell. “I’d be a lot less upset about this if they would have at least stayed to clean the beach.”

Yahoo! News could not reach BP for comment.

Brett Michael Dykes is a national affairs writer for Yahoo! News.

© COPYRIGHT YAHOO NEWS, 2010

LA TIMES– With its immigration overhaul effort bogged down in Congress, the Obama administration will deploy up to 1,200 National Guard troops to the violence-plagued Mexican border, officials said Tuesday.

News of the expected deployment came just hours after Obama met with GOP senators over lunch and discussed immigration and other issues on his agenda. Republicans last month wrote to the president asking for a larger National Guard deployment along the border to deal with drug-running and the smuggling of people.

The administration will seek $500 million to pay for the Guard and other border-protection measures. The Guard is expected to focus on efforts against drug trafficking, which has made the border region a murder zone. The troops are not expected to do law enforcement.

The last time the Guard was sent to the border was in 2006, when President George W. Bush sent thousands of troops to handle support issues and to free up U.S. Border Patrol agents.

In an afternoon appearance on the Senate floor, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called for a renewed effort to bring the border region under control. In televised remarks,  McCain, who had been a leading proponent of immigration overhaul, argued that troops were needed to prevent the human rights violations carried out by smugglers bringing undocumented workers into the U.S.

The dispatch of federal troops comes as the national spotlight has again turned to immigration issues after Arizona passed a law that gives police the power to stop people they suspect of being undocumented workers.

Liberals have vowed to overturn the law, arguing it is unconstitutional. Conservatives, however, have backed the law as needed to secure the borders.

Obama has pushed immigration issues, but his efforts have been rebuffed in this midterm election year. On Tuesday, he told the Republican lawmakers that he needed their help in getting a sweeping overhaul through the Senate.

Obama has repeatedly argued for better border security, a position backed by Mexico President Felipe Calderon, who recently visited the White House.

But Obama has also called for a program targeting employers of undocumented workers and a plan to give those immigrants a path to citizenship after paying penalties.

Written by Michael Muskal, twitter.com/LATimesmuskal