POLITICAL HOT TOPICS: Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The CNN Washington Bureau’s morning speed read of the top stories making news from around the country and the world. Click on the headlines for more.

WASHINGTON/POLITICAL:

CNN: House Republicans launch all-out assault on health care law
House Republicans continue their all-out assault on President Barack Obama's signature health care reform law Wednesday, with a planned vote to repeal the measure. The vote will be the latest of more than 30 House GOP efforts to undermine the 2010 Affordable Care Act, including previous Republican-led moves to repeal the measure or cut funding for various provisions.

CNN: Bush tax cut fight could derail Senate small-business bill
The Senate voted Tuesday to begin debate on a bill to give tax breaks to small businesses that hire new workers or boost pay for existing workers. But the overwhelming 80-14 vote masks the broad expectation that because of an unrelated fight over the Bush tax cuts, the small business bill is unlikely to pass the chamber.

CNN: Lawmakers promote revised 'stolen valor' law
Capitol Hill lawmakers made a fresh push Tuesday to gain passage of a law that punishes those who lie about earning high military honors. The Supreme Court ruled June 28 that the Stolen Valor Act of 2006 was unconstitutional, saying it violated the free speech rights of those making false claims about winning the Medal of Honor and other combat citations.

CNN: House Ethics Committee clears powerful GOP congressman
The House Ethics Committee announced Tuesday that it has cleared Florida Republican Vern Buchanan in an investigation, finding no evidence that he purposely omitted information from the annual financial disclosure forms he is required to file. But while the committee closed the case on this matter, it did not comment on other allegations involving Buchanan's business practices, his campaign finances, and accusations that he tried to try to stop a witness from talking. Buchanan remains the target of at least four congressional and federal investigations into those allegations.

NATIONAL:

CNN: Man accused of Pentagon bomb plot accepts plea deal
The man accused of plotting to use model airplanes loaded with explosives to attack the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol agreed Tuesday to a plea deal. Rezwan Ferdaus, a 26-year-old from Ashland, Massachusetts, will plead guilty to two of the six charges against him and faces 17 years in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release, according to a statement from the Justice Department.

CNN: Lawyers: Ex-president of Penn State denies learning of abuse
Former Penn State President Graham Spanier told investigators hired by the university that he was never informed of any incident involving Jerry Sandusky that described sexual abuse or criminality, Spanier's lawyers said Tuesday. Spanier met Friday with investigators for former FBI Director Louis Freeh, who is leading an internal review of Penn State's handling of the scandal that is unrelated to criminal investigations.

CNN: Lance Armstrong refiles suit against anti-doping agency
Champion cyclist Lance Armstrong refiled a lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency in a bid to halt a doping case against him. One day earlier, a federal judge threw out Armstrong's original suit, blasting the seven-time Tour de France champion in a sharply worded ruling. In his brief order, U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks wrote that the case was full of legally irrelevant claims "included solely to increase media coverage of this case" and stir up hostility toward USADA. He urged the cyclist to refile his lawsuit without "any improper argument, rhetoric, or irrelevant material."

CNN: Ex-banker's courtroom death an apparent suicide
The death last month of a 53-year-old former investment banker who collapsed in an Arizona courtroom, minutes after a jury found him guilty of torching his palatial Phoenix estate, appears to have been a suicide, police said Tuesday. Michael Marin was facing a sentence of seven to 21 years in prison on June 28 when courtroom video shows that he appeared to put something into his mouth and swallowed. Minutes later, he appeared to put something else into his mouth, and again swallowed. Shortly afterward, he went into convulsions and was taken to Maricopa County Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

INTERNATIONAL:

CNN: Annan to brief Security Council on Syria after talks in Iran, Iraq
International Kofi Annan will brief the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday after a flurry of diplomatic efforts to end 16 months of carnage in Syria. The briefing comes a week before the council must decide what to do with 300 U.N. observers in Syria whose work has been suspended due to the relentless bloodshed in the country.

CNN: Mix of pathogens caused mystery illness in Cambodia, doctors say
The World Health Organization, in conjunction with the Cambodian Ministry of Health, will conclude that a combination of pathogens is to blame for the mysterious illness that has claimed the lives of more than 60 children in Cambodia, medical doctors familiar with the investigation told CNN on Wednesday.

CNN: Ecuador: Still no decision on Assange asylum request
Ecuador is weighing the asylum request of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and will make the decision on its own, in its own time, the country's president said Tuesday. Assange has been living inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since applying for political asylum on June 19. He is seeking to avoid being sent to Sweden over claims of rape and sexual molestation and said he fears if he is extradited there, Swedish authorities could hand him over to the United States.

CNN: Parents charged in UAE after hidden baby found in carry-on
An Egyptian couple has been charged with putting their child at risk and attempted smuggling after security officers at an airport in the United Arab Emirates found their 5-month-old boy hidden in a small handbag. Police said the baby was discovered by an X-ray screening at Sharjah International Airport as the couple was traveling through the airport.

BUSINESS:

CNNMoney: Calls for QE3 grow as economy wanes
Is more stimulus on the way from the Federal Reserve? Wall Street sure thinks so. In fact, nearly two-thirds of the 30 investment experts surveyed by CNNMoney agree that the Fed's latest move to extend its so-called Operation Twist policy was warranted. The same group also thinks the central bank may reconsider a third round of asset purchases, a policy known as quantitative easing or QE3, if the economy and financial markets deteriorate further.

CNNMoney: N.Y. Fed asked Barclays about Libor in '08
Four years ago, the Federal Reserve of New York asked Barclays about how it submitted its suggested Libor rates - and that has spurred Congress to question what U.S. regulators knew about manipulation of a key financial indicator during the financial crisis. Lawmakers want to learn more after a New York Fed statement released Monday. The bank said it had received "occasional anecdotal reports from Barclays of problems with Libor."

CNN: RIM execs push salvation plans at shareholder meeting
Shares of BlackBerry maker Research in Motion are down 50% this year, and the company is bleeding cash. That's usually enough to make shareholders grab pitchforks, but RIM's annual meeting on Tuesday was a remarkably quiet affair. The gathering at Wilfrid Laurier University in the company's hometown of Waterloo, Ontario, drew a small and sympathetic crowd. Both before and during the meeting, attendees took only gentle jabs at their ailing local icon.

In case you missed it…
Democratic House candidate Tammy Duckworth responds to criticism she overplays her military service on campaign trail.