Record deficit continues climb

Washington – The federal deficit climbed higher into record territory in July, hitting $1.27 trillion with two months remaining in the budget year.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the July deficit totaled $180.7 billion, slightly more than the $177.5 billion economists had expected.

The Obama administration is projecting that when the current budget year ends on Sept. 30, the imbalance will total $1.84 trillion, more than four times last year’s record high.

The soaring deficits have raised worries among foreign owners of U.S. Treasury securities.

Massive amounts of government spending to combat the recession and stabilize the U.S. financial system have pushed the deficit higher. The cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with depleted government tax revenues, also are major factors.

Man convicted of aiding terrorism

Atlanta – A 23-year-old Georgia man was convicted Wednesday of aiding terrorist groups by sending videotapes of U.S. landmarks overseas and plotting to support “violent jihad.”

A federal jury found Ehsanul Islam Sadequee guilty of all four charges he faced after about five hours of deliberations. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 60 years in prison.

Authorities say Sadequee never posed an imminent threat to the U.S., but he took concrete steps to bolster terrorists when he sent the videos overseas and tried to aid a Pakistani-based terror group while on a trip to Bangladesh.

Sadequee is the second Georgia terror suspect to be convicted in the last two months. A judge convicted Sadequee’s friend, Syed Haris Ahmed, in June on one count of conspiring to support terrorism in the U.S. and abroad.